RTHK: Russia's Lavrov warns of 'real' danger of world war

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that peace talks with Ukraine would continue, while warning there was a "real" danger of a third world war.

Speaking to Russian news agencies, he criticised Kyiv's approach to the talks, adding: "Good will has its limits. But if it isn't reciprocal, that doesn't help the negotiation process.

"But we are continuing to engage in negotiations with the team delegated by (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy, and these contacts will go on."

But Lavrov accused former actor Zelenskyy of "pretending" to negotiate.

"He's a good actor," he said.

But he added: "If you watch attentively and read attentively what he says, you'll find a thousand contradictions."

Given the current tensions, Lavrov said the danger of a third world war was "real".

"The danger is serious, it is real, you can't underestimate it," Lavrov told the Interfax news agency.

Of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, he said he was confident that "everything will of course finish with the signing of an accord.

"But the parameters of this accord will be defined by the state of the fighting that will have taken place at the moment the accord becomes reality," he added. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2022-04-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Immediate Military Class Action Relief Needed NEWS PROVIDED BY

Liberty Counsel

April 26, 2022



TAMPA, Fla., April 26, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- Liberty Counsel filed a memo today urging federal Judge Steven Merryday to issue a class-wide preliminary injunction in Navy SEAL 1 v. Austin for the entire class of the service members in every branch of the military and provide relief from the unlawful shot mandates. Liberty Counsel represents plaintiffs from all branches of the military who were denied religious exemptions from the COVID shot mandate. The legal memorandum of law argues that the request for class certification meets all the legal requirements and is necessary to prevent irreparable harm. The legal brief also states that Liberty Counsel is working directly with 1,061 service members, of which 384 have received denials. The class certification requests protection for the more than 24,000 service members who have filed a Religious Accommodation Request and have been denied. The memo states in part: "Every day our staff communicates with service members and their spouses. Every week one of our attorneys communicates with hundreds of service members on conference calls in which they share heart-wrenching stories of the pressure, abuse, and unlawful violations of their religious free exercise rights protected under the First Amendment and RFRA. We can affirm to this Court that these service members are desperate. Very desperate. Some have self-admitted to the ER because of the overwhelming stress they face. Each day they hope for this Court to grant class certification, so they too can have similar court-ordered protection as do some of the Plaintiffs in this case. However, each day that passes their hopes fade as they wait, and wait, and wait for relief. These honorable service members are looking to this Court for relief. This Court has before it the only case in which there is a class certification request that covers every branch of the military." Liberty Counsel's legal memorandum of law concludes with these words: "Plaintiffs could come to this Court each day with a new emergency motion seeking injunctive relief to prevent the harm that is imminently facing each service member who has requested accommodation for their sincerely held religious beliefs. Absent class-wide relief, the list grows every day, the harm increases every day, and servicemembers face separation and discipline every day. Only class-wide relief can prevent this irreparable harm from occurring to the heroes who sacrifice all so that the Nation would enjoy religious freedom. They merely ask that we return the favor and uphold the law for which they are willing to sacrifice even their lives. We urge this Court to use the pen to protect those who carry the sword." The brief also overviews the many plaintiffs and putative class members that are currently facing irreparable harm and who need immediate relief. Below is a sample of the consequences facing plaintiffs, putative class members, and service members seeking a religious accommodation: Plaintiff Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, United States Marine Corps, has been forced into the Individual Ready Reserve, which made her inactive, unable to drill, unable to earn points towards advancement or benefits, and imposed substantial burdens on her religious beliefs;



Plaintiffs Captain 2 and Captain 3, United States Marine Corps, have been removed from Expeditionary War School a mere 75 days from graduation, and been placed on the Officer Disciplinary Notebook, which is a fatal blow to a Marine's career, and Captain 2 has been slated for a Board of Inquiry, which is the last step in the separation process;



Plaintiff First Lieutenant, United States Marine Corps, has been relieved of his command, ordered to attend a Transition Readiness Seminar, and issued a Report of Misconduct and Notification of Separation with a recommendation that he be immediately separated from the Marine Corps for failure to accept a COVID-19 shot that violates his sincerely held religious beliefs;



Plaintiff Chaplain, United States Air Force, has sustained a Letter of Counseling and a Letter of Reprimand for failing to accept a COVID-19 shot in violation of his sincerely held religious beliefs, and has been removed him from instructor duty responsibilities and assigned behind-the-scenes duties, which precludes him from engaging in his duties to tend to the sincerely held religious beliefs of Air Force service members (ironically for following his own sincerely held religious beliefs);



Plaintiff Reserve Lieutenant Colonel 1, United States Air Force, has been issued a Letter of Reprimand for failure to obey an order to vaccinate and sent her to Individual Ready Reserve, denying her a Board of Inquiry, access to the Transition Assistance Program and a referral to a medical specialist at a military medical center;



Plaintiff Reserve Lieutenant Colonel 2, United States Air Force, has been issued a Letter of Reprimand, issued a negative referral for Officer Performance Report, and has been posted to the Unfavorable Information File, which begins the process of separating him from the Active Guard Reserve and involuntarily transferring him to the Individual Ready Reserve;



Plaintiff Master Sergeant Sere Specialist, United States Air Force, has been removed from his leadership position, issued two separate Letters of Reprimand, effectively beginning his separation process, all while requiring him to continue as "mission essential personnel" for the execution and carrying on of critical mission requirements;

Putative Class Member Lance Corporal Administrative Specialist, United States Marine Corps, was separated from military service for her failure to receive a COVID-19 shot that violates her sincerely held religious beliefs;



Putative Class Member Lance Corporal Administrative Specialist, United States Marine Corps, was separated from military service for her failure to receive a COVID-19 shot that violates her sincerely held religious beliefs; Putative Class Member Captain 4, United States Marine Corps, was removed from command, issued an administrative counseling order, and was given a written promotion hold, effectively ending his career;



Putative Class Member Staff Sergeant, United States Marine Corps, was served with Article 90 violation papers and administrative separation papers for failure to receive a COVID-19 injection that violates her sincerely held religious beliefs;



Putative Class Member Major 1, United States Air Force, has been stripped of all duties and titles, removed from flight status and his $1,000 per month flight pay, and notified that he is going to be placed on the Individual Ready Reserve;



Putative Class Member Tech Sergeant, United States Air Force, has been given three separate orders to vaccinate or separate, despite his sincerely held religious beliefs, and expects that, despite 18.5 years of service, he will be involuntarily separated from the military at any moment;



Putative Class Member Air Force Reserve Lieutenant Colonel 2 was given a Notification of Involuntary Reassignment - Non-participating Individual Ready Reserve from his commander recommending him for an involuntary reassignment to the Individual Ready Reserve and faces impending separation;



Putative Class Member ROTC Midshipman, United States Navy, has received an order from the Navy disenrolling him from college and placing him on leave of absence pending disenrollment; and



Putative Class Member Brigadier General (SELECT), United States Air Force, Director of Cyberspace Operations and Warfighter Communications was forced to retire at a lower rank (after 26 years of service) rather than violate her sincerely held religious beliefs. Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, "The U.S. military will continue to lose highly qualified and experienced personnel simply because they choose to serve God and America. With more than 24,000 servicemembers expecting denials of their religious accommodations, every service member deserves protection from this unlawful abuse." 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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Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA), in partnership with RAK Ports, has announced the appointment of Zaiton Consultancy to support the Emirates cruise tourism.



Dubai-headquartered Zaiton Consultancy, a leader in developing and promoting cruise services, will be responsible for developing and marketing Ras Al Khaimahs burgeoning cruise sector.



The announcement comes as the global industry gathers at the Seatrade Cruise Global event in Miami until April 28, where Zaiton Consultancy is participating as Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authoritys representative.



One of the fastest growing sectors in tourism, cruising saw an annual passenger growth rate of 5.4% from 2009 to 2019, with services now close to pre-pandemic levels owing to immediate action and thoughtful planning. In recognition of the importance of cruise tourism, the Authority and RAK Ports have worked together on a number of projects to further develop the Emirates offering.



This includes the transformation of its old ferry terminal into a modern and efficient boutique cruise passenger terminal and the development of marine transport infrastructure around it. The Authority has also invested in designing bespoke visitor itineraries for arrivals to attract a larger segment of leisure cruise passengers and welcome new audiences from across the world to the destination.



Considered as one of the most diverse and fastest growing destinations in the region, a key part of the Authoritys strategy to attract three million visitors a year by 2030 is to ensure accessibility via all means of transport, including luxury cruise ships. These passengers will be welcomed to the Emirate via the dedicated terminal, which is able to accommodate multiple cruise ships of up to 214m in length docking simultaneously.



To ensure a continuation of the service levels luxury cruise passengers expect, the terminal features cutting-edge security measures such as facial recognition CCTV, luggage and personal baggage X-ray machines, delivering a seamless, hassle-free experience.



We are ready to receive the worlds most elite cruise ships and showcase our beautiful nature Emirate to this growing segment of travellers, said Iyad Rasbey, Executive Director, Destination Tourism Development & MICE at Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority.



Weve seen first-hand the significance of cruises to the destinations overall tourism eco-system. We also recognize that water transportation is becoming increasingly important in terms of connectivity and will support our aviation strategy in bringing tourists directly to Ras Al Khaimah. He further added: With its wealth of experience and recognition within the cruise industry, Zaiton Consultancy is the perfect partner to take our strategy to the next stage. We look forward to working with the team to boost cruise tourism in the Emirate and attract new audiences from across the world.



It is a huge honour to work with Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority and RAK Ports to develop and market the Emirates growing cruise proposition, said Executive Director of Zaiton Consultancy, Jasem Zaiton.



With an initial strategy based around smaller passenger ships before moving our focus to mainstream cruise liners, we will bring our global expertise to market Ras Al Khaimahs truly unique offering and one-of-a-kind experiences to cruise passengers around the world, he added.



While the port facilities are currently suited to Luxury, Discovery and Expedition cruises, these smaller passenger ships suit the Emirates commitment to sustainability, supporting its mission to ensure that every aspect of its travel and tourism sector is developed with environmental protection front of mind.



With the aim of attracting 50 cruise ship calls each season, and some 10,000 passengers within the next few years, the focus will be on Explorer/Expedition Cruises, where emphasis is placed on the experience ashore, excursions and ports of call.



Ras Al Khaimah is perfectly suited to this segment, offering an experience of a lifetime where travellers can feel the Emirates beating heart across a range of landscapes from the sea and beach, desert and mountain range. With over 7,000 years of fascinating history, traditions and culture, Ras Al Khaimah promises an authentic and easily accessible Arabian experience.



A haven of year-round sunshine, the Emirate features pristine beaches, lush mangroves and terracotta dunes, as well as the dramatic, awe-inspiring vistas of the majestic Hajjar mountains, including the UAEs highest mountain peak  Jebel Jais. Named the Gulf Tourism Capital for both 2020 and 2021 by the Gulf Cooperation Council, the destination set a global benchmark in becoming the first city in the world to secure the Bureau Veritas Safeguard Label and World Travel and Tourism Councils Safe Travel Stamp.  TradeArabia News Service
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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KEARNEY  An Arapahoe liquor distillery wants to be among vendors when the Kearney Farmers Market resumes in a few weeks at Hilltop Mall.

Long Dogs Distillery of Arapahoe produces a variety of spirits, according to the companys website, and would dispense those products at the farmers market.

According to a memo from Kearney City Clerk Lauren Brandt to the Kearney City Council, which meets on Tuesday, a 2021 Nebraska statute makes it possible for Nebraska craft breweries, micro distilleries and farm wineries to sell their products at farmers markets.

Long Dogs application lists 2-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays as hours of operation at the farmers market.

Part of this license becoming valid requires approval of a permit from the local governing body, following issuance of the license by the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, Brandt wrote to the council.

She said Long Dogs contacted her on April 13 to indicate the distillerys interest in participating in the farmers market.

In response to Long Dogs interest, Brandt said a local permit application and local permit have been created that will be sent to the liquor license holder after the Liquor Control Commission provides a copy of the license to the city clerks office.

The liquor license holder must complete the local permit application and return to the city clerks office for final processing, Brandt said. The city clerks office will then process the permit application, and as long as the application is complete, a local permit will be generated and provided to the liquor license holder at no cost.

The city clerks office then will notify the liquor commission of approval of the local permit. The Kearney Police Department also will be notified.

Brandt concluded her memo to the council by saying city staff recommends the council approve the permit for Long Dogs Distillery.

The council meeting is open to the public and begins at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers at City Hall.
Will Musks hands-off ideal for Twitter have broad appeal?

Coming up with $44 billion to buy Twitter was the easy part for Elon Musk. Next comes the real challenge for the worlds richest person: fulfilling his promise to make Twitter better than ever as a lightly regulated haven for free speech. Many of Musks proposed changes reflect his own experience as a high-profile and outspoken Twitter user with more than 85 million followers and a swarm of pesky impersonator accounts. But a key question is how the changes he is prioritizing will be received by the more than 200 million other users who arent getting banned or flooded with spam.

US urges more arms for Ukraine amid fears of expanding war

TORETSK, Ukraine (AP)  The U.S. is pressing its allies to move heaven and earth to keep Kyiv well-supplied with the weapons it needs to repel Russian forces, as Moscow rains fire on eastern and southern Ukraine. In other developments, Poland and Bulgaria say the Kremlin is cutting off natural gas supplies to the two NATO countries starting Wednesday, the first such actions of the war. Moscow has warned that the flow of weapons could trigger a wider war. Those concerns grew in Moldova, where explosions hit the separatist region of Trans-Dniester for a second straight day. Russian forces also hit a strategic railroad bridge in the south. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says that more help for Ukraine is on the way and that the West wants to ensure Russia won't be able to bully its neighbors.

Poland, Bulgaria say Russia suspending natural gas supplies

WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Officials in Poland and Bulgaria say Russia is suspending deliveries of natural gas to their countries starting Wednesday. The cutoffs would be the first since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last month that unfriendly foreign buyers would have to pay in rubles instead of dollars and euros. That demand came after sanctions were levied against Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine. Europe imports large amounts of Russian natural gas for residential heating, electricity generation and the fuel industry. The imports so far have continued despite the war. Polish and Bulgarian authorities say they don't anticipate restrictions on domestic gas consumption due to the cutoffs.

CDC estimates 3 in 4 kids have had coronavirus infections

NEW YORK (AP)  Government researchers say three out of every four U.S. children have been infected with the coronavirus. Among Americans of all ages, more than half had signs of previous infection. The figures come from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Tuesday. It looked in the blood of more than 200,000 Americans for virus-fighting antibodies made from infections, not vaccines. They found that signs of past infection rose dramatically between December and February, when the omicron variant surged. CDC officials stress that the previously infected should still get COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC report came out the same day one vaccine manufacturer, Pfizer, sought permission to offer a booster dose to kids ages 5 to 11  just like people 12 and older can get.

What Musk's past tweets reveal about Twitter's next owner

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Brash, outspoken and sometimes juvenile, Elon Musk has long been a prolific user of Twitter, the social media platform he now hopes to buy. Musks past tweets show how the worlds richest man has used social media to craft his public image as a billionaire unafraid to offend people. They could also provide a glimpse into how Musk might run the platform. For Musk, Twitter has been a tool to promote his enterprises and punch back at critics. His tweeting has also gotten him in trouble with government regulators and led to big fines for Musk and his company Tesla.

Deputies protect school killer after potential juror threat

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  Deputies protecting Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz had to pull him aside and surround him after members of a jury pool became potentially threatening. Judge Elizabeth Scherer said a potential juror had to be removed by bailiffs after he began mouthing possible threats toward Cruz. Others also started acting threatening, so deputies moved in to protect Cruz. The entire 70-person panel was then dismissed. Scherer said they became belligerent in the hallway. Cruz is facing a possible death sentence for murdering 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland four years ago.

Oklahoma governor signs ban on nonbinary birth certificates

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed a bill prohibiting the use of nonbinary gender markers on state birth certificates. The first-term Republican signed the bill Tuesday. Experts say some states only offer male or female gender options on birth certificates, but Oklahoma is the first to write the prohibition into law. It follows a flap last year over the state health agencys agreement in a civil case to allow a nonbinary gender option. The birth certificate in that case was issued to an Oklahoma-born Oregon resident. People who are nonbinary do not identify with traditional male or female gender assignments.

TSA: Airport security finds loaded gun in Cawthorn's bag

Officials say a loaded gun was found in North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorns carry-on bag at an airport security checkpoint. It's the second time in a little more than a year that a weapon has been found in his possession at an airport in his home state. Transportation Security Administration spokesperson R. Carter Langston said that when Cawthorn went through a Charlotte Douglas International Airport checkpoint with the gun Tuesday morning, TSA officers notified Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police. Police say Cawthorn acknowledged that the gun was his and he was issued a citation for possession of a dangerous weapon on city property.

Harris positive for COVID-19, Biden not a 'close contact'

WASHINGTON (AP)  Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for COVID-19, the White House says. It's a sharp new reminder of the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to revert to pre-pandemic normalcy. Neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a close contact of Harris in recent days. The White House says Harris has exhibited no symptoms. After consulting with her physicians, Harris is taking Paxlovid, the Pfizer antiviral pill. Harris will isolate at her residence but continue to work remotely, and will only return to the White House once she tests negative for the virus.

Delta to begin paying flight attendants during boarding

Delta Air Lines will start paying flight attendants during the time that passengers are boarding. That's a first for a major U.S. airline. Flight attendants in the U.S. generally don't begin getting paid by the hour until the doors close after boarding. Delta said Tuesday that the change will take effect in June, and it comes on top of pay raises for flight attendants. The pay increase comes as Delta faces another attempt by unions to organize its non-union flight attendants. Delta said the new boarding pay would be on top of 4% raises that it granted to flight attendants last month.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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POKROVSK, Ukraine  As Russian forces intensify their shelling of eastern Ukraine, more people are leaving their homes in search of safety.

In Pokrovsk, a town in the Donetsk region, people lined up Tuesday to board a train headed to the far west of the country along the border with Hungary and Slovakia. One person was lifted onto the train in a wheelchair, another on a stretcher.

The passengers took with them cats, dogs, a few bags and boxes, and the memory of those who did not flee in time.

We were in the basement, but my daughter didnt make it and was hit with shrapnel on the doorstep during shelling on Monday, said Mykola Kharchenko, 74. We had to bury her in the garden near the pear tree.

He said his village, Vremivka, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) from Pokrovsk, was under heavy fire for four days and everything was destroyed. With tears in his eyes, Kharchenko said he somehow held himself together at home, but once he reached the train station he fell apart.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Putin gets what he didnt want: Ukraine army closer to West

 Top Russian diplomat warns Ukraine against provoking WWIII

 Frances victorious Macron boosts weapons, stakes in Ukraine

 Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra organized by Met, Polish operas

Follow all AP stories on Russia's war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed in principle that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians from a besieged steel plant in Ukraines southeastern city of Mariupol.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that during their one-on-one meeting Tuesday, Guterres and Putin discussed the proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians from conflict zones, namely in relation to the situation in Mariupol.

The sprawling Azovstal steel plant has been almost completely destroyed by Russian attacks but it is the last pocket of organized Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.

An estimated 2,000 troops and 1,000 civilians are said to be holed up in bunkers underneath the wrecked structure.

Dujarric said that following the Guterres-Putin agreement in principle, discussions will be held with the U.N. humanitarian office and the Russian Defense Ministry on the evacuation.

WASHINGTON  The State Department says U.S. diplomats have begun returning to Ukraine by making day trips to temporary offices in the western city of Lviv from neighboring Poland.

The department said the first group of diplomats crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border and traveled to Lviv on Tuesday morning before returning to Poland later in the day.

The step came just two days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Ukrainian leaders during a secrecy-shrouded visit to Kyiv that the U.S. would start restaffing its diplomatic facilities in Ukraine this week.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the agency has accelerated its review of re-opening the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, which was closed shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. He said operations at the embassy would resume as soon as possible depending on the security situation in the capital.

UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned about reports of new security incidents in a Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova and urges all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions that could escalate tensions.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Tuesday that Guterres has called for efforts to lower tensions throughout Trans-Dniester. Explosions rocked the region for the second day in a row, knocking out two powerful radio antennas close to the Ukrainian border. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukraine all but blamed Russia.

Russian speakers of the strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine nominally seceded from Moldova in 1990, one year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, fearing the country might shortly merge with Romania, whose language and culture it broadly shares.

The separatist region fought a brief war with Moldova in 1992 and declared itself an independent state, though it remains unrecognized by any country, including Russia which bases about 1,500 troops there, calling them peacekeepers. Concerns are high that those forces could be used to invade Ukraine from the west.

Haq said the U.N. continues to fully support efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to reach a political settlement of the Trans-Dniester conflict in the so-called 5+2 process which comprises Trans-Dniester, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE with the United States and the European Union as observers. The aim is to strengthen Moldovas independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, with a special status for Trans-Dniester.

BERLIN  Germanys vice chancellor says his country has come very, very close to independence from Russian oil and an embargo on deliveries would now be manageable.

Germany, which has Europes biggest economy, has said so far that it aims to end Russian oil imports by the end of this year.

Speaking Tuesday during a visit to Poland, Economy Minister Robert Habeck  who is also the vice chancellor and responsible for energy  said that his country has cut Russias share of its oil supply from 35% before the war in Ukraine to about 12%.

Habeck said the situation is such that an embargo has become manageable for Germany. He added that the problem that just a few weeks ago seemed very big for Germany has become significantly smaller  so that independence from Russian oil imports has come very, very close.

Russian gas imports, however, are a bigger issue for Germany. Berlin has said that it will need longer to do without gas supplies from Russia.

LONDON  Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain does not want war to escalate beyond Ukraines borders, and rejected an allegation by Moscow that the West is fighting a proxy conflict with Russia.

But Johnson said Ukrainians are being attacked from within Russian territory and have a right to protect and defend themselves by striking inside Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused NATO of pouring oil on the fire with its support for Ukraine, and said the risk of World War III should not be underestimated. Russia has singled Britain out for criticism after a U.K. government minister said it was legitimate for Ukraine to hit fuel depots in Russia with U.K.-supplied weapons.

In an interview with British station Talk TV, Johnson said its very, very important that we dont accept the way that the Russians are trying to frame what is happening in Ukraine.

He said: They are trying to frame this as a conflict between Russia and the West, or Russia and NATO. Thats not what is going on.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia  Slovakias President Zuzana Caputova released a video addressing the invading Russian soldiers, their commanders and all whom it may concern, urging them to stop the war in Ukraine.

In the three-minute video in Russian with the subtitles in Slovak, Caputova condemned war crimes against women, children and civilians.

You justify your invasion by talking about liberation, Caputova told them. How were you intending to liberate Tatiana from Irpin, killed by a Russian grenade together with her two children? Or Olena from Hostomel, raped by one of you in a car? she asked.

Referring to testimonies of women who have survived, Caputova says they find that words are not enough when they try to describe the pain you have made a part of their lives simply because... Well, why even? None of us knows Do you?

She says with each passing day, you are only increasing the army of wounded souls and bodies of women, children and innocent people.

If you still feel any leftover of humanity in you, bring it to life and end this horrible war.

MOSCOW  Russias President Vladimir Putin says Moscow still hopes to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Ukraine, even as the fighting has continued.

Speaking at a Kremlin meeting Tuesday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Putin noted that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators made what he described as a serious breakthrough in their talks in Istanbul, Turkey, last month. He claimed, however, that the Ukrainian side later walked back on some of the tentative agreements reached in Istanbul.

In particular, Putin said Ukrainian negotiators have changed their position on the issue of the status of Crimea and separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, offering to leave it for the countries presidents to discuss. Putin charged that the shift in the Ukrainian stand makes it hard to negotiate a future deal. Ukrainian officials have been evasive about the details of talks and the Russian claims of Ukraine walking back from its earlier proposals.

Putin has demanded that Ukraine recognize Russias sovereignty over Crimea and recognize independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as part of a future agreement on ending the hostilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that those issues could only be decided by a future nationwide vote.

During Tuesdays Kremlin meeting, Guterres criticized Russias military action in Ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbors territorial integrity. He also urged Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped at a giant steel mill in Mariupol surrounded by the Russian forces.

Putin responded by claiming that the Russian forces have offered humanitarian corridors to civilians holed up at the Azovstal steel plant, charging that the Ukrainian defenders of the plant were using civilians as shields and not allowing them to leave.

KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about the tensions in a Moscow-backed separatist region of Moldova.

The ministry noted that an attack on an administrative building in Tiraspol, the center of the separatist Trans-Dniester province of Moldova, along with explosions that hit broadcast antennas and other facilities in the region follow a Russian officers statement about Moscows intention to fully take control of Ukraines south and build a land corridor to Trans-Dniester.

It said in a Tuesday statement that Ukraine resolutely supports Moldovas territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and condemn attempts to draw the Trans-Dniester region of Moldova into the full-fledged war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine and call for deescalating tensions.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land with about 470,000 people, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, nominally as peacekeepers.

WARSAW, Poland  The Polish climate minister gave assurances on Tuesday that the country has plenty of natural gas on reserve, following reports that Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland.

Anna Moskwa, minister for climate and environment, tweeted: Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security  we have been effectively independent from Russia for years. Our warehouses are 76% full. There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes.

Her tweet followed reports by the Onet news portal that Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract. Onet reported that a crisis team had gathered at the Ministry of Climate to deal with the matter. Onet said, citing unnamed sources, that Russia had insisted on a Friday deadline for payment in rubles and that Poland has said it would not pay in rubles.

Poland has been working to wean itself off of Russian energy sources and was due to end its reliance on Russian gas this year.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany  U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the war in Ukraine has already weakened Russias military capability.

Austin said after meeting allies and partners at the United States Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday that, since Russia began the invasion, its land forces have sustained pretty substantial casualties, as well as lost a lot of equipment and used a lot of precision-guided munitions.

He said that they are, in fact, in terms of military capability, weaker than when they started, and  itll be harder for them to replace some of this capability as they go forward because of the sanctions and the trade restrictions that have been placed on them.

Austin reiterated that we would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.

He criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs warning that the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated.

Austin said that its unhelpful and dangerous to rattle sabers and speculate about the use of nuclear weapons.

MOSCOW  A senior Kremlin official says that Ukraine may split into several parts.

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said in remarks published Tuesday that the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states.

The statement comes as Russia says it has focused on expanding control over Ukraines eastern industrial heartland called Donbas. Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian troops there since 2014 when conflict erupted following Russias annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula.

Moscow launched military action in Ukraine on Feb. 24, days after recognizing the separatist regions independence.

Last week, a senior Russian military officer said that along with taking control over Donbas, Russia also wants to overtake southern Ukraine, saying such a move would also open a land corridor between Russia and the separatist Trans-Dniester region of Moldova.

MADRID  Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Tuesday he was very worried by the explosions this week in the separatist region of Trans-Dniester, adding that they reminded him too much of occurrences in the Donbas region immediately prior to Russias invasion of Ukraine late February.

I remember before Feb. 21, there have been some series of false-flag operations in Donbas region, so called people republics, that were used as the pretext by Russia to recognize and then to sign the so-called friendship and assistance treaties and then to start the military operation, Rinkevics told reporters in Madrid.

Im very worried about the current trend in Trans-Dniester because that resembles a little bit that pattern that we have seen, he added.

Police in Trans-Dniester say two explosions Tuesday in a radio facility close to the Ukrainian border knocked two antennas out of service. On Monday, several explosions were reported to have hit the Ministry of State Security in Tiraspol, the regions capital.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land in Moldova, has been under the control of separatists since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops there. The United States has warned that Russia could launch false-flag attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops to those nations.

Rinkevics was in Madrid to meet his Spanish counterpart and discuss the Ukraine war and the upcoming NATO summit in the Spanish capital.

The Russian military has warned it could strike Ukrainian decision-making centers in the Ukrainian capital and said wouldnt be stopped by the possible presence of Western advisers there.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused the U.K. of making statements encouraging Ukraine to use Western weapons to carry out strikes on the Russian territory, warning that if it happens the Russian military could retaliate by hitting government structures in Kyiv.

It directly pointed at U.K. Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, who told Times Radio that it was not necessarily a problem if Ukraine British-donated weapons were used to hit sites on Russian soil.

The ministry said in a statement that the Russian armed forces are ready to deal retaliatory strikes with long-range precision guided weapons on Kyiv centers that would make such decisions. It noted that the presence of citizens of one of Western countries in the Ukrainian decision-making centers wont necessarily pose a problem for Russia in making a decision to launch retaliatory action.

The Russian military so far has avoided striking presidential, government and military headquarters in Kyiv during its campaign in Ukraine that has entered a third month.

WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging Congress to fully fund the Biden administrations proposed budget for the State Department, telling lawmakers the spending is critical to ensuring that the war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for Russia and a message to other countries that might invade their neighbors.

Blinken said his weekend visit to Kyiv with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had left him with the indelible impression that Ukraine is winning, particularly in the capital. It was right in front of us: the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv, he said.

Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the U.S.-led global response to Russias invasion had underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy. He said the $60.4 billion budget proposal for the next fiscal year was needed to continue to rally partners and allies in the cause.

We will, we have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are the strategic opportunities and address risks presented by Russias overreach, as countries reconsider their policies, priorities, their relationships, Blinken said. The budget request before you predated this crisis, but fully funding it is critical in my judgment to ensuring Russias war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for the Kremlin and serves as a powerful lesson to those who might consider following its path.

Blinken did not name other nations that might be considering following Russias lead but his comment was seen as a veiled reference to China, which has sided with Russia in the Ukraine conflict and has made no secret of its desire to re-unify the island of Taiwan with the mainland.

CHERNOBYL, Ukraine  The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency says it was possible that an accident could have occurred when Russian troops seized control of the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster during the war in Ukraine.

Speaking on a visit to the former nuclear power plant Tuesday on the 36th anniversary of the meltdown, Rafael Mariano Grossi said the situation in 1986 was completely different. In this case, what we had was a nuclear safety situation which was not normal, and could have developed into an accident.

Russian troops moved into the radiation-contaminated Chernobyl exclusion zone in February on their way toward the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and withdrew late last month as Russia switched its focus to fighting in eastern Ukraine. The site is now back in Ukrainian hands and communications which were disrupted have been restored.

Russian forces continue to hold a working nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia plant, where there was fighting nearby in early March which damaged the plants training facility.

Clearly, the physical integrity of one nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, was compromised, we also had situations where the external power was interrupted including here (Chernobyl) so there were a number of events that were compromising the normal operations of any nuclear power facility, Grossi said.

Those were avoided but of course, as I was saying, the situation was not stable and we have to stay on alert.

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 ongoing review into Wisconsins 2020 election appears poised to continue beyond the end of its latest contract extension, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said following growing pressure among some Republicans, including Donald Trump, to keep the GOP-ordered probe alive.

Vos, who had previously indicated plans to begin wrapping up Michael Gablemans review by the time his contract expires on Saturday, issued a statement Tuesday that Gablemans office will remain open as we guarantee the legal power of our legislative subpoenas and get through the other lawsuits that have gridlocked this investigation.

We are grateful for Justice Gablemans offer to reduce his salary as we are all concerned about the judicious use of taxpayers dollars, said Vos, R-Rochester. Our intention is to remain within the original budget allocated for the investigation.

Vos did not say what Gablemans reduced pay will entail or provide further details on the new agreement. The former justice has been receiving $11,000 a month for his work as part of the $676,000 taxpayer-funded review. Vos spokesperson Angela Joyce said the details of Gablemans new agreement are being finalized. Gableman has missed multiple deadlines to conclude the review since it launched last year, prompting a bipartisan call from some state lawmakers for him to wrap up the probe.

Vos comments come one day after Assembly elections committee chair Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, issued a statement urging him to keep Gablemans review open. Gableman told former Trump adviser Steve Bannon earlier this month that Vos staff had notified him of plans to dismantle his Brookfield office by the end of April.

If Speaker Vos shuts down the Office of Special Counsels investigation now, not only will he be condoning cheating, hell be legalizing it, Brandtjen said.

A recount, court decisions and multiple reviews have affirmed that President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. Only 24 people out of nearly 3.3 million who cast ballots have been charged with election fraud in Wisconsin.

Trump, who has continued to make unfounded claims of election fraud, also issued a statement Monday directed at RINOs, an acronym for Republican in Name Only. The statement does not directly name Vos.

Anyone calling themselves a Republican in Wisconsin should support the continued investigation in Wisconsin without interference, Trump said. After all of the evidence the report brought to light, how could anyone want to stop it? I understand some RINOs have primary challengers in Wisconsin. Im sure their primary opponents would get a huge bump in the polls if these RINOs interfere.

Media reports and the statement put out by Representative Brandtjen were incorrect, Vos said Tuesday.

The offices for Gableman and Brandtjen did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Focus pivots

Vos hired Gableman last year to lead the review at a cost of $676,000 in taxpayer funds, but said earlier this month he would like to see the effort come to a conclusion in the near future.

As weve said before, the investigation will now turn its focus to resolving the lawsuits that have been brought against our efforts by liberal activists, Vos said on April 8. We hope to have Justice Gableman help us do that so we can once again focus on reforming the election process.

After extending Gablemans contract through the end of April, Vos later said he was considering rescinding subpoenas issued by the former justice so that a Republican attorney general if elected in November could file criminal charges against the subpoenaed individuals, though he did not provide specifics on what charges could be pursued. The latest contract maintains Gablemans existing budget, but does allow for the possibility of added funds to cover the costs of legal battles related to the probe.

Gableman has pushed back against withdrawing his subpoenas, which he wants to see pursued in court. He has issued subpoenas to local and state election officials, the mayors of the states five largest cities and two companies that make vote-counting systems, Election Systems & Software and Dominion Voting Systems. Many of the subpoenaed parties have rejected Gablemans requests for in-person meetings or documents, while the former state Supreme Court justice has also withdrawn some requests, including one filed with immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera Action.

Legal challenges

Gablemans subpoenas have been met with a slew of legal challenges, with Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filing a lawsuit in October challenging Gablemans authority to demand in-person interviews. Kaul has argued demanding private interviews outside a public setting is illegal.

A Waukesha County Circuit Judge has scheduled a July 11 hearing to decide if Gableman has the authority to demand that the mayors of the states five largest cities and other officials be jailed for not cooperating with his subpoenas.

In addition to his subpoenas, Gableman and Vos have become the target of three open records lawsuits filed by liberal watchdog group American Oversight seeking records related to the election review.

In one case, Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington ordered Gableman last week to not delete or destroy any records that may be responsive to American Oversights original request pending further action from the court on the matter. The order was issued after an attorney representing Gableman indicated in court filings that the office routinely deletes documents, including emails and text messages, that are deemed irrelevant or useless to the investigation.

An analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Council back in October found that deleting such records, even by a state contractor like Gableman, violates state law.

Remington on Tuesday scheduled a hearing for June 10 to determine if Gablemans team should be held in contempt of court for the deletion of any requested records.

In a separate case, Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn in March held Vos in contempt of court for failing to provide requested public documents related to the probe. A hearing in that case has been scheduled for next month.

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I stop scrolling, look up from my phone, and out the window. I see a complicated but beautiful world. Its still going to be there no matter who owns Twitter. And we'll continue to find ways to live in it, talk about it, and share with each other our thoughts, fears, and dreams.


Having lost their loved ones, the deceased families hope for justice is fading and their battle has now turned to earning two square meals a day.

Tarique Anwar | TwoCircles.net

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Firozabad/Meerut/Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh)/New Delhi  It has already been over two years, but not even an FIR has been registered so far. So, justice appears to be a distant dream for us.

Salahuddin Ansari, 43, has lost hope that killers of his younger brother Aleem Ansari, 24, would be punished.

A resident of Ahmadnagar in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh, Aleem was shot dead allegedly by the police on December 20, 2019 as the protest against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 turned bloody.

Passed by the Parliament on December 11, 2019, the CAA overtly introduced religion as the basis for Indian citizenship, allowing Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians) from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to get the citizenship if they entered India before the end of December 31, 2014.

The law was globally criticised as discriminatory and unconstitutional as it does not grant such eligibility to Muslims from the three Muslim-majority countries.

Aleem, the sole breadwinner of his family, succumbed to bullet injuries in his head during the police crackdown at Hapur Road.

It was Friday. He dialed and informed me that a few people in civilian clothes were barging into shops and forcing them to shut. He asked me to go home as the situation was tense. But he didnt return. Later, we came to know that he died of gunshots. We were given no time by the police to perform his last rites properly. The police asked for quick, midnight burials, Salahuddin told TwoCircles.net.

Salahuddin, who is partially disabled, has approached the police station, district magistrates office, the magisterial enquiry committee and the Human Rights Commission to get an FIR registered. All in vain.

On the day Aleem was killed, various towns and cities of Uttar Pradesh saw protests against the CAA, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).

With five deaths, Meerut recorded the second-highest toll (officially five and unofficially six) after Firozabad  where seven died. They included a scrap dealer, a worker at a roadside eatery, an e-rickshaw driver and a tyre repairman.

At least 25 Muslims were killed across the country after the police opened fire on the protestors. Twenty three deaths were reported in Uttar Pradesh alone and hundreds suffered injuries.

But in its compliance report to the Allahabad High Court, the government acknowledged 22 deaths injured included 83 people, 455 police personnel; 833 people were arrested.

Having lost their loved ones, the hope for justice for families of the deceased is fading. Survival has become their priority.

TwoCircles.net spoke to several such families in Firozabad, Meerut, Bijnor, Lucknow and Kanpur. In addition to the governments apathy, what hurts them most is the death of public memory over the loss of their loved ones.

Life no longer is the same for the family of 22-year-old Nabi Jaan, who allegedly fell prey to police bullets. He was a worker at a bangle manufacturing unit in Firozabads Urvashi Road and the youngest of six siblings. While his father Ayyub still hopes for justice, it has remained elusive so far.

My son was shot in the chest while returning home from his workshop. Its been over two years. We are still waiting for justice. We dont even have enough money to make ends meet, how can one expect us to continue fighting the case for so long? said Ayyub, adding that the FIR makes no mention of bullet injury as he allegedly wrote what the police wanted him to write.

Salman, a civil services aspirant in Bijnor, was killed when he was returning from Friday prayers.

Na mera bachha laut kar kabhi aayega, aur na hi hamen kabhi insaf milega, ye maine taslim kar liya hai (Neither my son will ever never return, nor will I get justice. And I have accepted the truth), said the deceased father, asking what will happen now when nothing happened in the past two years.

Rashid, 25, was the eldest among four sons and two daughters of 55-year-old Noor Mohammed alias Kallu. A resident of Ferozabads Kashmiri Gate under Ramgarh police station, Rashid was partially handicapped and earned Rs 150-200 per day serving water at bangle workshops. He had gone to collect his wages when he was hit by a bullet during the police crackdown on the anti-CAA protesters.

He had nothing to do with the protests, said Kallu, accusing the police of forcing them to bury his body around 4 in the morning.

Denying that he was hit by a bullet, a police officer told TwoCircles.net that Rashid suffered head injury because of stone pelting. And therefore, a case under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section of 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) was registered.

Kallu, however, said, His brain had spilled out. This cannot happen due to stone-pelting.

His medical record suggested a serious skull injury without any bullet marks.

A resident of Nagla Kothi under Ramgarh police station in Firozabad, Muqeem died at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on the night of December 23, 2020. The eldest of eight children of Mubeen, he did zari work on bangles for a living.

Mubeen said that his son was returning from work when shot in the stomach, and was first taken to SN Hospital, where he was referred to Delhis Safdarjung Hospital.

We were told that all the important documents related to his death were handed over to the police. We were given only a panchnama, he added.

Two years later, whats the status of cases?

It has been over two years, and not a single FIR has been registered yet against the policemen who were involved in killing five in Meerut, said Advocate Riyasat Ali, a senior criminal lawyer in the district who is representing families of the five dead men pro bono.

We moved an application under Section 156(36) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC) the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Meerut, pleading the court to order registration of an FIR for each of the five killings. The proceedings are going on, he said.

Section 156(3) of the Cr.PC) empowers magistrates to order a probe.

But Salahuddun said justice delayed is justice denied.

He said six people died in the police firing, but police records reflect five deaths. The police killed six people. Five postmortems took place here and no autopsy was carried out on the one who succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment in Delhi, he said and alleged, Eyewitnesses have clearly said police directly fired on protesters.



The lawyer said the families of the five deceased lodged complaints in Brahmpuri, Lisadi Gate and Nauchandi police stations in Meerut within a week of the incident, naming the cops who fired at the victims.

When a complaint is lodged, it becomes mandatory for the police to file an FIR. But in this case, the police are flouting due process of law, he added.

A team of the National Human Rights Commission visited Meerut in October 2021 for an inquiry into the December 2019 killings. NHRC investigation is underway, said Ali.

Following our cases and the petitions in the high court, the police finally conceded in affidavits to Allahabad HC that police bullets caused the deaths, but the police didnt receive any such complaint on the day of the incident, said Ali. Goli police ki taraf se hi chali thi (The bullets were fired only by the police).

The lawyer representing the deceased in Firozabad alleged the police did not record the sequence of events described by them and concocted a story to protect the men in uniform.

Referring to their post-mortem reports, which mentioned that they died of bullet wounds, we argued in court that how can the police file FIRs under Section 304 instead of Section 302 (murder) of the IPC. Sensing trouble, the investigators, without wasting time, filed a closure report and concluded that the seven were shot dead by co-protesters, alleged Advocate Saghir Khan, who is representing few of the deceased in Firozabad.

Subsequently, Khan filed a protest petition in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, who ordered a reinvestigation into one of the cases. Lets see what happens now, Khan said, adding that the police registered a separate FIR and arrested 14 people after the court pressured them to act due to their botched-up investigations.

At least four petitions were filed in the Allahabad High Court in January 2020, appealing it to order a judicial probe into the violent crackdown.

Two hearings were held in the case before the lockdowns in 2020, but no hearing has been held since then. A public interest litigation (PIL) demanding an investigation into police and the deaths in UP is also pending in the high court.

Tarique Anwar is a Delhi-based journalist. He tweets at @TariqueReports
Vice President Kamala Harris Tests Positive for COVID-19

WASHINGTON (AP)  Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.

Harris press secretary Kirsten Allen said neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a close contact of Harris in recent days. Harris had been scheduled to attend Bidens Tuesday morning Presidential Daily Brief but was not present, the White House said. Because of their travel schedules, the last time Harris saw Biden was Monday, April 18.

The vice president returned on Monday from a weeklong trip to the West Coast.

Harris tested positive on both rapid and PCR tests but has exhibited no symptoms, the White House said. She will isolate at her residence but continue to work remotely, and will return to the White House only when she tests negative for the virus.

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Harris, 57, received her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine weeks before taking office and a second dose just days after Inauguration Day in 2021. She received a booster shot in late October and an additional booster on April 1. Fully vaccinated and boosted people have a high degree of protection against serious illness and death from COVID-19, particularly from the most common and highly transmissible omicron variant.

Harris diagnosis comes a month after her husband, Doug Emhoff, recovered from the virus, as a wave of cases of the highly transmissible omicron subvariant has spread through Washingtons political class, infecting Cabinet members, White House staffers and lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Allen said Harris would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and the advice of her physicians. It was not immediately clear whether she is being prescribed any antiviral treatments.

The White House has put in place strict COVID-19 protocols around the president, vice president and their spouses, including daily testing for those expected to be in close contact with them. Biden is tested regularly on the advice of his physician, the White House has said.

After more than two years and nearly a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing more than 300 people a day in the U.S., according to the CDC. The unvaccinated are at a far greater risk, more than three times as likely to test positive and 20 times as likely to die from the virus than those who have received at least a primary dose of the vaccines, according to the public health agency.

Harris diagnosis comes as the Biden administration is taking steps to expand availability of the life-saving COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid, reassuring doctors that there is ample supply for people at high risk of severe illness or death from the virus.

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Paxlovid, when administered within five days of symptoms appearing, has been proven to bring about a 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease.
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

A justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has concluded that indefinite suspension, rather than disbarment, is appropriate for an attorney's intentional misappropriation of funds entrusted by longtime clients

I have considered carefully the parties' arguments and reviewed the respondent's answer, the parties' proposed findings of fact and rulings of law, the voluminous exhibits and record of proceedings before the hearing committee and the board, and the hearing committee's report. I conclude that the record provides ample bases for the hearing committee's conclusions, which the board adopted, that the respondent intentionally misused client funds, with deprivation resulting, and committed a number of other violations. Nevertheless, I conclude that on the facts of this case, including the respondent's efforts at near-total voluntary restitution and the absence of evidence of fraudulent or deceitful conduct by the respondent, indefinite suspension is warranted. I therefore order that the respondent be indefinitely suspended from the practice of law.

The clients

The respondent knew and provided legal services to Paul and Lorraine Higginbottom (Higginbottoms) for more than forty years. Over the years, he represented them in various matters involving family law, collections, real estate transactions, and other real estate matters. The respondent represented the Higginbottoms in the purchase of a condominium in December 2017. When he agreed to represent them in this new transaction, the respondent did

not provide the Higginbottoms with a written communication setting out the scope of the representation and the basis or rate of the fees and expenses for which they would be responsible. The respondent and the Higginbottoms discussed the terms of the representation and came to an oral agreement.

The misappropriated funds related to the transaction.

Respondent had no prior discipline.

Sanction

While the defendant committed multiple acts of misconduct, the bulk of these violations occurred with respect to a single representation of one set of clients over the course of less than a year. The cases on which the hearing committee relied, like many others in which multiple violations were weighed in aggravation, involved violations over a number of years and with respect to multiple clients.

(Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2022/04/a-justice-of-the-massachusetts-supreme-judicial-court-has-concluded-that-indefinite-suspension-rather-than-disbarment-is-ap.html


Mahant Bajrang Muni Udasin was arrested earlier in April 2022 for threatening to kidnap and rape Muslim women, but was soon released on bail. In this profile of the controversial priest, what emerges is a pattern: of repeated hate-filled comments against Indias Muslims and other minorities.

Vipul Kumar | TwoCircles.net

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NEW DELHI  Within ten days of his arrest for publicly threatening to kidnap and rape Muslim women, a local court in Uttar Pradesh granted bail to Mahant Bajrang Muni Udasin and on April 24, he was released.

Right after his release, Muni told the media, If I have to go to jail a thousand times, I will. I feel no guilt or regret about what I did. Everything I said was to protect my religion and our Hindu women.

Muni was arrested on charges of sexual harassment through words, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman, uttering words with deliberate intent to hurt the religious feelings of any person.

Many journalists have observed a pattern in the arrests and bail cases related to communal charges. The pattern reveals clear bias in granting bail based on religion.

Bail granted: Bajrang Muni (10 days), Yati Narsinghanand (1 month), Rambhakt Gopal (1 month), Pinky Chaudhary (1 month), Deepak Singh Hindu (2 months), Vinod Sharma (2 months) Bail denied & in jail since almost 2 years: Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha  Kaushik Raj (@kaushikrj6) April 24, 2022

Bajrang Muni and his idols

Muni is the chief priest of Badi Sangat Ashram in the Khairabad area of Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh. Son of a sub-inspector in Madhya Pradesh Police, he claims to have pursued Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA) and worked for Jet Airways before deciding to quit his job and work for religion, according to a 2017 Bhaskar report.

In the latest Uttar Pradesh elections, Muni campaigned for Rakesh Rathore who emerged as a winner from the same seat. He also expressed his desire for Yogi Adityanath to be re-elected as the CM.

In a video uploaded on 19 December 2016, Muni was threatening Muslims and Christians to learn a lesson. He said, We young saints are not here to run a shop, we are here to protect our religion. He gave examples of Dara Singh who shook Christians abroad and Pragya Singh who taught lessons to the Muslims in India. There are still many others like them who can annihilate you, destroy you, he said, threatening Muslims and Christians.

Dara Singh is serving a life sentence for leading a mob that set fire to the station wagon in which Graham Staines, a Christian Missionary and his two sonsa ten-year-old and a seven-year-old were sleeping. All three were burnt to death on January 23, 1999. Pragya Singh is accused of September 2006, Malegaon bomb blast. The blast took place in a Muslim cemetery, adjacent to a mosque in Malegaon, in the Nashik district of Maharashtra. The blast left ten people dead and several injured.

In a video uploaded on January 23, 2017, on the 18th anniversary of Stains murder, Bajrang Muni recorded a video garlanding a photo of Dara Singh, saying, This is our revered, god-like and warrior Dara Singh Ji, who burnt to death a sinner like Graham Stains in the same way as lord Ram did to Ravan. He celebrated 23rd January as Vijay Diwas (Victory Day).

Muni calls Yati Narsinghanand his idol. Narsinghanand is accused of giving hate speeches in Haridwar Dharma Sansad held on 17-18-19 December 2021.

In a video from November 19, 2018, Muni was seen showing support for Yatis demand for a population control bill. He also said, I want to tell the Central and state governments that if they dont listen to Yati Narsinghanand then monks will come out from each corner of India and will burn politicians and bureaucrats alive in their homes.

Bajrang Munis anti-minority videos and assaults

On April 2, a video went viral in which Muni was seen threatening Muslim women with mass sexual violence in the presence of the police.

The video was shot on the occasion of Hindu New Year in Sitapur.

On April 2, he was also heard speaking to a gathering of hundreds of people, in which he raised provocative slogans like Jab Mulle kaate jayenge toh Ram Ram chillayenge (When Muslims will be murdered, they will scream Lord Rams name). In the same video, he can also be heard asking his supporters to sing praises of Prabhu (God) and make mullahs(Muslims) sing it too

In another video which surfaced on the internet after Munis April 2 hate speech video, he can be heard saying, If you kill one Hindu, I will kill 10 Muslims. If you commit atrocities on one Hindu girl by trapping her into love jihad, I will trap 10 Muslim girls into loving Sanatan and persecute them. You will dupe them but I want to say this openly that I will abduct them in broad daylight.

Later, in the same video, he talks about grabbing Muslim land in the ratio of 1:10, if Muslims capture Hindu land. He also suggested violence against those Hindus who vote for Muslims. He termed such Hindus as Jaichands which is a commonly used terminology for traitors. While he speaks, police could be seen present on the spot.

On February 16, 2022, there was an alleged altercation between Muni and a group of Muslim men for possession of land nearby an ashram. After that, the Mahant was admitted to a trauma centre in Lucknow. Muni alleged Piyush Kumar Singh, Circle Officer, City of Sitapur, of plotting his murder.

In another video from October 2020, Muni was seen leading a mob and assaulting a person brutally in the Khairabad area in Uttar Pradesh. BJP leader Saket Mishra has protested against Munis alleged land grabbing. The leader suspected that Mahant was complicit in an attack on his house.

Prominent Muslim leaders have been targeted by Muni too. In a video uploaded on June 29, 2017, flashing an axe, Muni announced a reward of 5 lakhs to any soldier of the Indian army who chops off Azam Khans tongue.

Mahant Udasin has also used Indias most communally charged, sub judice topics in his speech and has suggested violence. Before the Ram Mandir verdict was given by the Supreme Court on November 9, 2019, Udasin said, I believe Ram Mandir can not be built until Hindus pick arms and execute every hurdle coming in the way and make ladders of their corpses leading to Ayodhya. This video was uploaded on December 11, 2018.

In another video from August 15, 2017, Muni was seen addressing a gathering of Bajrang Dal members where he was flashing a weapon in his hand. He suggested violence for the construction of Ram Mandir. Our religion wont be defended unless Muslims are killed, he added.



Vipul Kumar is a freelance journalist and a student at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. He tweets at @vipulizm
Since the beginning of 2021, at least 17 states have passed measures aimed at how public schools can teach highly debated subjects, says the publication EducationWeek .

These efforts, however, have caused concern among some teachers of Advanced Placement, or AP, classes. These are college-level classes taught to high school students. AP classes in U.S. History, for example, require discussion of subjects like slavery and European colonization.

Legislative measures aimed at limiting disputed ideas in schools have been mainly led by Republican Party lawmakers. Some of the measures are aimed at preventing the teaching of Critical Race Theory, or CRT.

CRT is a way of understanding American society that places great importance on how race shaped its politics and culture. It is taught in universities. Some officials say there is little evidence that CRT is being taught a lot in American public schools.

EducationWeek says several other states have similar bills currently under consideration. It has been following efforts to pass these kinds of education measures around the country.

The measures are different depending on where they are being introduced. In Ohio, for example, a bill that was introduced last May would ban school districts from teaching, advocating, or promoting divisive concepts. Divisive concepts are ideas that cause a lot of disagreement between people. A New Hampshire bill would ban teaching a negative account or representation of the founding and history of the United States of America

But some teachers doubt it is possible to teach some subjects without raising questions that cause people to disagree. Tassie Zahner is an AP American history teacher in Montgomery County, Maryland. She told VOA last year that it would be very hard to teach her class without teaching Americas history of racism.

In order to teach an AP U.S. history class correctly you have to talk about those things, she said. You cant prepare studentsif youre not teaching the truth about U.S. history.

AP is a nationwide program that provides high school students with college-level classes. Through the AP program, students can, in many cases, earn credit towards a college degree. Classes offered include history, English, math and art.

The College Board is the non-profit organization based in New York City that creates the curriculum for high school AP classes. AP classes are unlike other classes in American high schools. The curriculum of most classes is set by local school districts.

The College Board told EducationWeek in January that it does not know of any examples in which state requirements conflict with the standards of college-level AP courses. But in March, the group sent teachers a reminder of APs most important ideas and values, called principles. The principles suggest the organization could bar schools from offering AP classes in districts where teachers are limited in what they can teach.

Students are expected to analyze different perspectives from their own, the principles state. The AP statement of principles also says: if a school bans required topics from their AP courses, the AP Program removes the AP designation from that course and its inclusion in the AP Course Ledger provided to colleges and universities.

Most of the legislative measures are aimed at kindergarten through 12th grade schools. But the New York-based non-profit organization PEN America says it found 40 bills that target what can be taught at colleges and universities.

Some political officials have said they oppose the teaching of disputed ideas in colleges.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said on Twitter in February: I will not stand by and let looney Marxist (University of Texas) professors poison the minds of young students with Critical Race Theory. He added: We banned it in publicly funded K-12 and we will ban it in publicly funded higher ed.

Some college professors oppose many of the bills. In a statement last year, the American Association of University Professors said that when politicians mandate the academic content that faculty can and cannot teach  they prevent colleges and universities from fulfilling their missions.

Frank Scott is an AP U.S. history teacher in Texas. He said discussing topics like racism and violence in the U.S. do not make students dislike the country.

He told EducationWeek that When youre honest with the things that are not very pleasantyou have students that come around to loving this country even more, because of what its been through.

Im Dan Novak.

Dan Novak wrote this story for VOA Learning English.

Quiz- Advanced Classes Might Be at Risk in Some US High Schools Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

________________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

advocate  v. to support or argue for

negative  adj. harmful or bad

curriculum  n. the courses that are taught by a school, college, etc.

district  n. an area or section of a country, city, or town

standard  n. a level of quality, achievement, etc., that is considered acceptable or desirable

perspective  n. a way of thinking about and understanding something

looney  adj. crazy or foolish

faculty  n. the group of teachers in a school or college
The first private astronaut crew to visit the International Space Station (ISS) has returned safely to Earth.

The team flew to the ISS and back on the spaceship Crew Dragon. The SpaceX company vehicle landed as planned in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida on Monday. SpaceX also provided the Falcon 9 rocket that carried the team to orbit.

The return to Earth marked the end of a two-week science mission aboard the ISS. The flight was the first to be organized and operated by a private company involving a completely commercial astronaut crew.

Welcome back to planet Earth," SpaceX Mission Control said in a radio message to the crew. We hope you enjoyed the extra few days in space.

The ISS mission was supposed to last just over a week. But weather conditions kept the crew in space for more than two weeks.

Before departing the space station on Sunday night, the group thanked their seven ISS hosts, including three NASA astronauts whose own mission will end soon.

The crew was led by Michael Lopez-Alegria, a retired astronaut for the American space agency NASA. He now works as the vice president of Axiom Space, which organized and operated the ISS mission.

The 63-year-old Lopez-Alegria was described as the mission commander. He was joined by the mission pilot, Larry Conner, a 72-year-old businessman and private pilot from Ohio. The other members were 64-year-old Israeli man Eytan Stibbe, a fighter pilot and 52-year-old Mark Pathy, a Canadian businessman. Stibbe and Pathy served as mission specialists.

After being helped out of the capsule, the crew members were picked up by a recovery ship and given a quick health examine. The team was then flown to NASA in Florida for more detailed medical check-ups.

"Everybody looks great and is doing reasonably well," Axiom operations director Derek Hassmann told reporters. He described the astronauts as being "in great spirits."

Connor called the experience an amazing mission. Lopez-Alegria said his adventure aboard the ISS was even longer and more exciting than he imagined it would be.

Pathy said the mission was eye-opening in so many ways, and would surely have a lasting impact on my life.

The mission was praised by Axiom, NASA and industry officials as a turning point in the latest expansion of commercial space activities.

"We proved that we can prepare the crew in a way that makes them effective and productive on orbit," Hassmann said. "What it demonstrates to the world is that there is a new avenue to get to low-Earth orbit."

In the past, the ISS has accepted some visits by private citizens. But the latest mission marked the first all-commercial team of astronauts sent to use the station as an orbiting laboratory. The crew brought 25 science and biomedical experiments with them to carry out in orbit.

It was the sixth human spaceflight for SpaceX in nearly two years. The company has a contract to fly three more Axiom astronaut missions to the ISS over the next two years. Axioms second flight is planned for next spring.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

mission  n. an important project or trip, especially involving space travel

commercial  adj. related to buying and selling things

host  n. a person who organizes a party or special event

for guests

amazing  adj. very surprising

adventure  n. an exciting and sometimes dangerous experience

impact  n. the effect that a person, event or situation has on someone or something

avenue  n. a possible way of doing or achieving something

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Ngoc Anh of Vietnam knows the value of trees.

For years, he worked as a logger. He cut trees down illegally to sell as timber. He often worked with others to carry 100-kilogram logs out of a quickly thinning forest.

But very high rainfall and floods increasingly damaged his community in the central province of Quang Binh. The 36-year-old Ngoc started reading about the climate and nature crises. He changed his work and became involved in tourism and environmental conservation.

Now, Ngoc Anh is one of 250 former loggers to receive training from a tourism company. He works as a travel guide. He mostly leads foreign tourists through forests and into some of the worlds largest caves in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.

"Before, whenever I saw a large tree, my head calculated how tall the tree was and how to cut it into logs of different sizes." Ngoc Anh said, "But now that I'm in the tourism business, when I see such a tree, I tell the tour group how valuable this tree is because there aren't many left.

Global Forest Watch estimates that Vietnam lost about 3 million hectares of tree cover between 2001 and 2020. That is a 20 percent decrease in 20 years. The losses were mostly driven by logging.

In 2007, the government started taking more measures to prevent illegal logging, which has helped slow the rate of deforestation. Vietnam has also joined an international promise to end deforestation by 2030.

Joined by a park official, Ngoc Anh and other tour guides help guard the trails to keep poachers away. They remove animal traps and clean up any waste.

Ngoc works for less than half the money of what he earned as a logger. But he hopes to earn more as tourism and travel return to Vietnam.

Im Jill Robbins.

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by Reuters.

________________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

logger  n. someone whose job is to cut down trees for wood

timber  n. trees that are grown in order to produce wood

conservation  n. the protection of animals, plants, and natural resources

calculate  v. to find (a number, answer, etc.) by using mathematical processes

poacher  v. to hunt or fish illegally
In the early 1900s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requested an order of Callery pear tree seeds from China. The agency hoped the seeds might be a solution for a bacterial disease harming American pear production.

Today, however, experts from the USDA are studying the best ways to kill Callery pear trees. The flowering fruit trees have become aggressive, invasive plants.

University of Cincinnati researchers Theresa M. Culley and Nicole A. Hardiman wrote about the plants history in 2007 for the publication BioScience. They said that, in the early 1900s, a bacteria called fire blight was badly hurting the production of pears in the U.S. Scientists discovered that combining a pear tree that produced the edible fruit with the Callery pear tree created a specimen that could survive the bacteria.

Over the years, 25 different kinds of ornamental trees were created from this combination. The well-known Bradford pear tree was one of them. All of them were able to survive difficult conditions and were planted across the United States.

In 1971, the U.S. Department of Agriculture even created a small publication about their care. The agency described them as trees that flower several times during the year and do well in many climates and soils.

That ability to survive easily is part of what makes the trees invasive.

Seeds from the inedible fruit that the trees produce can spread easily. In addition, the roots can produce above-ground growth. If the growth is not cut down often to stop it from flowering, it can create a fertile seed with the rest of the tree.

It is possible for a wild population to come from a single tree that someone plants on their property, said Culley, one of the University of Cincinnati researchers.

Callery pear trees are the third most common kind of tree planted along New York City streets, said city parks department spokesman Dan Kastanis.

But the city is no longer planting them, Kastanis said. Cities in Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, and Indiana have also banned or are banning the sale of all kinds of Callery pear trees.

Some states, including Missouri and Alabama, are asking homeowners and landowners to stop planting them or to cut existing ones down and use chemicals on what remains. Other states, including North Carolina, are offering free native trees to landowners who show photographic evidence that they have cut down Callery pears on their property.

Without regular work and attention, fields near seed-producing trees can be covered with small seedlings within a couple of years, said scientist James J.T. Vogt. He is a scientist at the U.S. Forest Services Southern Research Station in Athens, Georgia.

Theyre a real menace, said Jerrod Carlisle. He lives in southern Indiana. He discovered that four trees on his property and one on his neighbors property had created thousands more of the trees on 20 hectares of land.

He and his 17-year-old son have cut down an estimated 1,400 Callery pears. But he estimates that there are about 1,000 more to go.

Carlisle thinks he is finally getting ahead of his invasion. Native trees that have been planted for reforestation are creating enough shade to finally slow the growth of Callery seedlings.

Im Gregory Stachel.

Will Dunham reported this story for Reuters. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English.

________________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

edible  adj. suitable or safe to eat

specimen  n. something (such as an animal or plant) collected as an example of a particular kind of thing

ornamental  adj. used to make something more attractive: used for decoration

seedling  n. a young plant that is grown from seed

menace  n. a dangerous or possibly harmful person or thing

shade  n. an area of slight darkness that is produced when something blocks the light of the sun

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Since October 2020, Rebekah Gasperino  the Albany mom accused of killing her 3-year-old daughter  and her husband Scott Gasperino have been going through a divorce, and court paperwork shows both he and the Oregon Department of Human Services sounded the alarm on the suspect's potential mental health issues.

Rebekah has a spiritual vision in which Sophia is dead and she is unsure how Sophia is killed in her vision, a Department of Human Services caseworker wrote in a March 23 protective action plan.

Meanwhile, twice during Linn County Circuit Court proceedings, Scott Gasperino filed motions seeking custody of their daughter Sophia Saffron Gasperino by asserting that she was in immediate danger from her mother, court paperwork shows.

The alleged murder

The Albany Police Department arrested Rebekah Gasperino, 32, Saturday, April 23 on suspicion of first-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and first-degree criminal mistreatment.

At around 2:30 a.m., according to a news release, an officer stopped a vehicle occupied by Rebekah Gasperino. During the traffic stop, police learned the suspect could pose a danger to herself or others and officers decided to check on Sophia immediately.

Arriving to the 2000 block of Sun Place Southeast in Albany, officers searched the cul-de-sac home where they found Sophia already dead. No other children were in the home.

Court documents filed Monday, April 25 allege the murder was unlawful, intentional and premeditated.

In the news release, Albany police said Scott Gasperino and extended family members were cooperating with the investigation.

Sophia's death comes after more than a year of marital conflicts in court between her parents during which Scott Gasperino expressed concern for his daughter's safety.

Divorce and custody battles

In November 2020 court filings, Scott Gasperino said he believed the marriage could be repaired with help, but he also reported his wifes alleged mental health problems.

My wife has been observed to be unfit to be alone with our daughter by her family and by others at Mercy House Shelter. She had been hearing voices, and obeyed said voices to make dangerous choices, Scott Gasperino wrote.

In related paperwork, he wrote there was an Oregon Department of Human Services case against Rebekah Gasperino. She was not seeking the counseling the agency wanted her to get or the psychological evaluation it had recommended multiple times, he said.

Based upon a preponderance of the evidence presented in 2020, Judge Thomas McHill ruled that Sophia Gasperino was not in immediate danger at the time, and he denied the motion.

The court process to dissolve their marriage continued, and on March 31, Scott Gasperino again signed a motion for order of immediate danger against his wife.

He wrote that DHS had created a protective action plan that called for Sophia to live with him at his parents house, and for Rebekahs parenting time to be supervised.

DHS has requested I take legal action to extend the plan past its expiration date of April 3, 2022, Scott Gasperino added. The protective action plan, attached to the court filing, included details about Rebekah Gasperinos aforementioned vision of her daughters death.

A hearing on the motion was held on April 1 before Judge Rachel Kittson-MaQatish, and the parties stipulated that Scott Gasperino would move back to the family residence and that his motion for an order of immediate danger would be dismissed.

However, in an April 12 letter to Kittson-MaQatish, Rebekah Gasperino requested that the dissolution of marriage proceed to trial because she had concerns that werent being addressed.

She claimed it was her husband who had mental health issues and said she tried to file for a restraining order when Scott Gasperino took custody of Sophia between March 21 and April 3.

Scott has been saying I have poor mental health, he used that as an excuse to have Sophia and keep her from me for the most part, Rebekah Gasperino wrote.

I feel like Scott is robbing me of parenting Sophia because of his claims about my mental health and I feel like he is not being fair. He stopped letting me watch Sophia like I normally would. He also wont let me take Sophia to the store and to Church (sic), she wrote, later in the letter to the judge.

Rebekah Gasperino believed that if she finalized the divorce without a trial, her husband would try to bully her and keep Sophia from her in the future, like he did when he took Sophia to live with his parents for two weeks from March 21 and April 3, she added.

Kittson-MaQatish responded on April 13 via letter: Because you have an attorney, I need you to communicate with your attorney. I believe the court is waiting for one of the attorneys to file a stipulated general judgment of dissolution with the court, Kittson-MaQatish wrote.

That divorce case remains open, according to Oregons online court database.

Arraignment

More than a dozen family and friends of Scott Gasperino gathered in a Linn County courtroom Monday afternoon for Rebekah Gasperino's arraignment. During the proceedings, Rebekah Gasperino was arraigned on one charge of aggravated murder, the conviction of which could result in a sentence of 30 years to life.

Linn County Circuit Court Judge Keith Stein ordered Gasperino be held without bail at the Linn County Jail.

During the court proceedings, prosecutor Jessica Cooney alleged Rebekah Gasperino admitted to killing Sophia in a probable cause affidavit for the case.

Stein ordered that an attorney from the Oregon Office of Public Defense Services be appointed as Rebekah Gasperino's defense attorney.

The next court appearance in the matter is scheduled for at 8:30 a.m. May 9.

Maddie Pfeifer covers public safety for Mid-Valley Media. She can be contacted at 541-812-6091 or Madison.Pfeifer@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter via @maddiepfeifer_

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A Mason City truck-washing business was caught by a state environmental officer illegally dumping diluted corn oil on the ground when the officer went to the site to follow up on the business illegal dumping of a green agricultural chemical the day before, according to a recent Iowa Department of Natural Resources administrative order that imposed a $10,000 fine on the company.

Those back-to-back violations followed the DNRs first investigation of Brookstone Specialty Services in December 2020, not long after it opened, when someone reported a petroleum smell in a nearby creek and dead fish.

Brookstone cleans large trucks and their trailers after they haul various items. A DNR investigation revealed the creek contamination was, in part, brown sludge left over from distilling grain that had been cleaned from one of the trucks. The business mistakenly allowed the material to drain into a basin that empties into Cheslea Creek, thinking that it went into the citys sewer system instead, the administrative order said.

A DNR environmental specialist evaluated the creek and found that a significant amount of livestock bedding had also been washed into the creek. Brookstone was required to hire someone to scoop the bedding from the creek, and that company hauled four truckloads of material from it, totaling about 12 cubic yards.

Then, in June 2021, someone reported the illegal dumping of a neon green liquid at the site.

We had a complaint that they were dumping this green stuff out back, said Jacob Donaghy, an environmental specialist for the DNR who investigated the complaint. We went there and sure enough, there was green stuff out back. It was just being dumped on the soil.

Workers had been transferring the chemical  which is used to keep nitrogen from leeching from farm fields  into a larger container, Donaghy said. Someone cleaned out the equipment used to transfer the chemical with about 1,000 gallons of water and then dumped that water. The company said it was a mistake by a new employee.

But when Donaghy followed up the next day, he arrived to find a trailer with a tank that was discharging a yellow liquid into the same area. This time, it was corn oil wash water.

We were very surprised because we had just been there the previous day, Donaghy said.

Brookstone agreed to pay a $10,000 fine to settle the matter, the maximum allowed under the departments administrative agreements. The company saved up to an estimated $11,000 by dumping the liquids rather than paying to dispose of them properly, the administrative order said.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
Press Release

University of Nebraska - Kearney

KEARNEY  Vanessa Lo was willing to pitch in wherever she was needed Saturday, even if it meant handling a nail gun for the first time.

The University of Nebraska at Kearney student admits that part of her community service project was a little nerve-wracking, but she enjoyed learning to install siding at the Habitat for Humanity build site at 17th Street and Avenue P.

I want to help as much as I can so when I drive by this house I can say, I did that, said Lo, a junior from Lexington who will start pharmacy school this fall. It makes you feel good when you can do something like this to help other people.

About 25 members of UNKs Kearney Health Opportunities Program (KHOP) assisted with the house construction as part of The Big Event, the universitys largest single-day service project.

Organized by UNK Student Government, the annual event allows Lopers to give back to the community and say thanks for all the support Kearney provides. Roughly 550 students from a variety of campus organizations participated this year.

The Kearney community does a lot for us and its important for us to give back, said UNK senior Henrique Adabo, a pre-medical student from Columbus.

Adabo, a member of KHOP and the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, also signed up for The Big Event as a freshman. He believes it exemplifies the UNK student body and their dedication.

The fact that nearly 600 students are participating is a very special thing, Adabo said. I dont think youll see that at many other universities.

UNK students volunteered at about 60 job sites in the Kearney area, completing spring cleaning, assisting with yardwork, landscaping and painting, building picnic tables and tackling other tasks.

Chapter President Taryn Hadwiger and 12 more members of the Alpha Phi sorority walked the ditches along U.S. Highway 30 while collecting aluminum cans, plastic bottles and other discarded items in big, orange trash bags. The cleanup covered a 1-mile section on the citys east edge adopted by Kearney Elks Lodge #984. Hadwiger was also part of a similar project a couple weeks ago just west of Kearney, where the Order of Omega Greek honor society sponsors a stretch of highway.

At UNK, we want to get involved in the Kearney community. Were here to help and were here to support them as much as they support us, said Hadwiger, a junior from Amherst.

Around 60 members of Alpha Phi took part in Saturdays event, with students spread across multiple locations. Spencer Kuhl was happy to have them at the highway cleanup site.

Our Kearney Elks Lodge members are aging and its harder and harder to get volunteers, he said. This allows us to continue doing this project. Without them, it would be harder to accomplish, thats for sure.

For students like Lo, The Big Event serves as inspiration by showing them how to stay involved in community service after graduation.

Were literally building a house for somebody, she said. Thats proof that we can make an impact in the community.
CAMBRIDGE  Fifteen days after a wildfire consumed 35,000 acres in Gosper and Furnas counties, a wildfire that broke out on Friday, April 22 forced the evacuation of several southwestern Nebraska communities and has burned over 40,000 acres, so far.

While the fire weather situation has been volatile for weeks, April 22 featured a number of factors that brought fire conditions to a peak.

The prior lack of rainfall had extended Extreme Drought Conditions (D3) down into the local area and where the fires occurred in Red Willow and Furnas counties. Some areas havent seen an inch of precipitation between March 1 and April 20.

The National Weather Service  Hastings had also issued a high wind warning on Friday due to the wind gusts. Maximum wind gusts were around 60 to 70 mph. The NWS Goodland, Kan., office reported an 82 mph gusts near Trenton.

The fire began in Norton County, Kan. and quickly spread across the state line, driven by the high winds out of the south.

Cambridge, Bartley, Indianola and Wilsonville, communities in Furnas and Red Willow counties, were given evacuation orders Friday evening after a fire began to spread north and eventually west as strong winds gusting over 70 mph fueled the flames.

Lexington Fire Chief Bo Berry said they received a call around 7 p.m. to help fight the fire. A crew of four in a grass rig was operating near Cambridge until midnight when they suffered tire trouble.

More firefighters went down to help get the rig back up and running by midnight. Berry said he was in communication with the crew once every hour, owning to the extremely dangerous situation.

In total, the crew was on scene for around 12 hours. Berry said the situation was similar to the Gosper/Furnas County wildfire earlier this month, owning to the high winds and dangerous fire conditions.

Evacuation orders were lifted for all towns around 12:30 p.m. Saturday. However, around 1:15 p.m., officials said the fire flared up again south of Cambridge, along the border of Furnas and Red Willow counties. Residents of Cambridge were told to be on standby in case the evacuation order was reinstated.

A retired Cambridge fire chief was killed as a result of the fire.

Alyssa Sanders, with NEMA, said 66-year-old John P. Trumble, of Arapahoe, was overcome by smoke and fire after his vehicle left the road Friday because of poor visibility from smoke and dust, his body was found early Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

At least 15 firefighters have been injured battling the blazes, including five who were hurt in the fire that killed Trumble.

The fire had burned more than 78 square miles in Red Willow, Furnas and Frontier counties by Sunday afternoon.

The Road 702 Fire is estimated at 50,000 acres. A Multi-Mission Aircraft (MMA) from Colorado is currently flying the fire and will be able to provide a more accurate size as well as identify locations within the fire area where hot spots exist. This will allow firefighters to focus on areas that still pose a risk to life and property, according to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

As a fire gets larger and additional resources are brought in, the fire is broken into geographic areas called Branches and Divisions to help focus suppression efforts and to help with supervisory span of control. We will use these terms in our updates to provide specific information about each part of the fire perimeter, NEMA stated.

Branch One encompasses the area from Cambridge west along the fire edge and south to Lebanon. Firefighters in this area are continuing to secure existing fire lines by mopping up any hotspots that remain. Primary areas of concern are timbered draws especially in the Republican River breaks, according to NEMA.

Branch Three encompasses east and south perimeters of the fire from Cambridge south to Wilsonville and into Kansas. Firefighters in this area are continuing to mop up and secure the fire line along the Republican River and US-6 working south towards Wilsonville, NEMA stated.

Areas of concern are timbered draws and hay bales near the fire edge. Additional operations personnel are scouting the fire edge south of Wilsonville and coordinating with resources in Kansas.

The public is being asked to avoid the area and to use caution when driving in areas with reduced visibility due to smoke and dust.

There was 47 percent containment of the fire as of Tuesday morning according to the Nebraska Forest Service.

In wildfire response, "containment" refers to a line built or established around a fires perimeter that will keep it from growing under almost any conditions. The most common and effective way of achieving that perimeter line  sometimes called a fire line  is to remove all vegetation and burnable fuel in the fire's path, making any further expansion impossible, the Nebraska Forest Service stated.

Blazes have been reported in 14 counties in around the state since Friday, including Perkins, Dundy, Burt, Butler, Scotts Bluff, Cheyenne, Duele, Blaine, Cherry, Brown and Thomas counties. NEMA said those other fires had either been extinguished or mostly contained by Sunday afternoon.
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The leader of the Holmen School Board apologized Tuesday for using a fake social media account to engage in discourse about the spring election.

Cheryl Hancock confirmed with the Tribune Tuesday that she used a Facebook profile, which she called an "alter ego," under the pseudonym of "Annie Allmaras," during a particularly contentious election for the Holmen School Board.

"I can do better and be better," Hancock said in a statement. "While my intention was to use the profile to correct misinformation, I recognize it was a lapse in judgment which I regret and apologize for."

Hancock, who was not up for reelection, said the account has since been deactivated and that she will step away from social media for a while.

"Although we're all entitled to our thoughts and opinions, I know that I can do better," Hancock said.

She emphasized in her statement that the opinions she shared using the page were her own, and do not reflect the opinion of the school board, district, or its staff and students.

A document that was shared with the Tribune by Bill Feehan, chairman of the La Crosse County Republican Party, appears to show the Facebook profile engaging with residents and school board candidates. The comments ranged from the spring election, COVID-19 and mask policy and other school board and district matters.

Josh Neumann, who lost in the election for school board earlier this month, said on his campaign Facebook page on Tuesday that he had 87 messages with Hancock's fake account and at times asked her to stop engaging with him on social media.

"She doubled down on the deception over and over and made deceiving statements to the very public she's sworn to represent. She felt invincible and above the rules," Neumann wrote.

Neumann stated he was made aware the profile was being run by Hancock in early February and reported the matter to the police. The document shared by Feehan, which was also circulated online on Monday, also stated that sensitive details uncovered by "investigators" were shared with the police.

It was reported that Hancock told the school board about the profile just before the board meeting Monday night, but it was not broadcast on the board's livestream. Hancock was reelected as board president at the meeting.

"I'm grateful for the reelection as president and your confidence in me in doing that and I look forward, again, working with you," Hancock said.

In her statement, Hancock pointed to a board workshop on the books for the summer that will address "this very type of situation and how to move forward and unite."

Hancock said, "I am sorry that my actions may have affected our progress but am committed to being a better person and regain the trust of many of our staff, community members and other stakeholders."
Coming up with $44 billion to buy Twitter was the easy part for Elon Musk.

Next comes the real challenge for the worlds richest person: fulfilling his promise to make Twitter better than ever as a lightly regulated haven for free speech.

His vision for improving the 16-year-old company leans heavily on a pledge to make speech as free as reasonably possible on the platform -- a commitment thats been celebrated on the political right and among followers of former President Donald Trump, whose account last year was permanently banned. And for others who worry that Musk will open the floodgates to agitators who spew hate, lies and other harmful content, making the platform too toxic for advertisers and average users  Musk has offered few assurances.

The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all, he tweeted Tuesday.

Many of Musks proposed changes reflect his own experience as a high-profile and outspoken Twitter user with more than 85 million followers and a swarm of pesky impersonator accounts that use his name and photo to promote cryptocurrency schemes. For example, he has highlighted the need to defeat spambots that mimic real users.

But what about Twitters more than 200 million other users who arent getting banned or flooded with spam? Theres still a lot of uncertainty about whether his ideas are technologically possible and how well know if these changes would benefit most regular users, or serve some other purpose.

Hes made it pretty clear hes not interested in making Twitter a profitable enterprise," said Joan Donovan, who studies misinformation at Harvard University. Its about the power and the influence of Twitter itself and its importance in our culture."

Experts who have studied content moderation and researched Twitter for years have expressed doubt that Musk knows exactly what he is getting into. And some of the problems he has identified aren't felt by most users.

The spambots, for him, are highly visible and somewhat personal, said Donovan. Most people dont see a lot of these spammy accounts.

And for those unhappy with the company's crackdown on hate, harassment and misinformation, there are plenty of fledgling examples of free speech focused platforms that have been launched in the past few years as Twitter antidotes, largely by conservatives. Many have struggled to deal with toxic content, and at least one has been cut off by its own technology providers in protest.

This move just shows how effective (moderation features) have been to annoy those in power, said Kirsten Martin, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame. I would be worried as to how this would change Twitters values.

The fact that no other bidders emerged in public before Musks deal was a sign that other would-be acquirers might find Twitter too difficult to improve, said Third Bridge analyst Scott Kessler.

This platform is pretty much the same one weve had over the last decade or so," Kessler said. "Youve had a lot of smart people trying to figure out what they should do, and theyve had trouble. Its probably going to be tough to make a lot of headway.

Musk received some effusive, if highly abstract, praise from an unexpected quarter  Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who praised Musk's decision to take Twitter  back from Wall Street  and tweeted that he trusts Musk's mission to  extend the light of consciousness   a reference to Dorsey's notion that Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness.

But others familiar with Twitter say they're still dismayed at Musk's successful bid for the company.

Twitter is going to let a man-child essentially take over their platform, said Leslie Miley, a former Twitter employee who has also worked for Google and Apple. Miley, who was the only Black engineer at Twitter in a leadership position when he left the company in 2015, echoed doubts about Musk's grasp of the platform's complexities.

I am not sure if Elon knows what he is getting, Miley said. He may just find that having Twitter is a lot different than wanting Twitter.

The more hands-off approach to content moderation that Musk envisions has many users concerned that the platform will become more of a safe place for disinformation, hate speech and bullying, something it has worked hard in recent years to mitigate. Wall Street analysts said if he goes too far, it could also alienate advertisers.

In Europe, officials reminded Musk about a new law, the Digital Services Act, that will force tech companies to step up policing of their online platforms.

Be it cars or social media, any company operating in Europe needs to comply with our rules  regardless of their shareholding, tweeted Thierry Breton, the European Union commissioner in charge of the blocs internal market. Mr. Musk knows this well. He is familiar with European rules on automotive, and will quickly adapt to the Digital Services Act.

Musk's takeover is not yet a done deal and still awaits stockholder approval. Twitter previously scheduled its annual shareholders meeting for May 25, but a vote on the takeover is not yet on the agenda.

It will take six-to-eight months for the purchase to go through, and while there are likely to be some bumps along the way, there don't appear to be serious enough obstacles to stop the deal, according to Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, sees as serious enough to stop the deal.

Normally when companies go private, dissenting shareholders are forcibly cashed out. Some could challenge the stock price in court, contending that Musk should pay more, but that probably wont hold up the sale, Elson said.

Its likely that Musk would dissolve the current board and replace it with a new one that would agree with his management direction. And once Twitter is private, Musk will face fewer gripes from shareholders that often bring lawsuits, Elson said. Private companies also dont face as much scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been a finger in Musks eye for years, often because of statements he's made on Twitter.

On Tuesday, shares of Twitter traded around $50, a touch below the $54.20 purchase price.

Twitter will offer a glimpse into the health of its business when it reports its quarterly financial results Thursday. An annual shareholder meeting is set for May.

Twitter's constituents aren't the only ones anxious about Musk's $44 billion investment.

Shares of Musk's electric car company, Tesla, have lost about 17% of their value since Musk announced his stake in Twitter, including about a 10% decline on Tuesday. Analysts say investors are fearful that Musk will be distracted by the social media company and less engaged in running Tesla.

Hes going to be spending more time with another venture, Edward Jones Senior Equity Analyst Jeff Windau said of Musk, who also runs SpaceX, The Boring Co., which digs tunnels, and Neuralink, a computer-brain interface company. Theres a potential limit on the amount of bandwidth that you can apply to each of these companies, Windau said.

Krisher reported from Detroit. O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island. AP Business Writers Marcy Gordon in Washington, Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, Kelvin Chan in London and Sam Petrequin in Brussels contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Following an independent investigation into allegations of workplace misconduct and questionable leadership, Daniel Hardman will return to his positions with the Village of Lake Delton.

The Dells-Delton EMS and Delton Fire Commissions agreed Tuesday to a unanimous decision made a day before by the Village Board of Trustees to reinstate Hardman as the police chief and director of public safety effective Wednesday. After a two-plus month investigation by an outside law firm that included interviews with members of IAFF Local 5026, the union which issued a vote of no confidence against Hardman on Feb. 7, Hardman was cleared of any wrongdoing.

In this case, I believe that a very fair and thorough investigation was done into the allegations against Chief Hardman and he was exonerated, said Lake Delton Village Attorney Benoit LeTendre, of West & Dunn law firm.

Local 5026 represents emergency medical technicians and paramedics working for Dells-Delton Emergency Medical Services. Stafford Rosenbaum LLP conducted the investigation, and attorney Ted Waskowski presented the findings orally to the Village Board during a closed session Tuesday.

Ultimately, Ted Waskowski found one: Absolutely no evidence of criminal misconduct, said LeTendre. Second: There was no substantiating evidence related to any kind of sexual or workplace harassment. Accordingly, he recommended that no disciplinary action be taken.

Attempts to reach Hardman for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.

LeTendre added that after extensive deliberations from the Village Board and the two commissions, the decision was made to fully reinstate Hardman to his positions.

Sometimes he is a little abrupt and he can be harsh in his criticism at times, but nothing rising to the level of certainly sexual misconduct and certainly nothing rising to the level of actual workplace harassment, LeTendre said.

The Village Board, in conjunction with the commissions, changed the grievance process for Dells-Delton EMS employees. All complaints will be addressed to the services director, Dillon Gavinski. Prior to the investigation, such complaints went to Hardman. If any availability conflicts arise with Gavinski, the complaints will go to Lake Delton village administrator Tim McCumber, and then village President John Webb if McCumber is not available.

Gavinski declined to comment on the reinstatement of Hardman.

This is to avoid a lot of the friction that seems to exist between, right now, Dan Hardman and EMS, said LeTendre. He will no longer entertain or review those complaints and grievances.

McCumber, after conversations with Waskowski and Gavinski, said that he anticipates employee departures from Dells-Delton EMS as a result of the decision to reinstate Hardman. He said the losses should be minimal at best.

As far as the relationship with EMS, obviously, we have to work to rebuild their trust in the organization, said McCumber. At the same time, were giving them new avenues to address their grievances directly to the EMS director rather than Mr. Hardman to try and keep those internal to the department.

Hardman was placed on paid administrative leave on Feb. 8 during an emergency meeting of the Village Board and the two commissions after a letter  signed by all 16 current Dells-Delton EMS employees  was released by IAFF Local 5026 President Spencer Nett detailing allegations of discrimination, harassment, sexism and unwanted physical touching in Hardmans role as director of public safety.

Attempts to reach Nett for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Even on face value, while the initial complaint somewhat caught us off guard, reading it, there was nothing there that would have risen to the level of needing to terminate the chief for any reason, McCumber said. One of the primary reasons we hired Stafford Rosenbaum was to make sure that we did not have a systemic or deeper problem we werent aware of.

Another finding of the investigation were allegations of misconduct by Delton Fire Department Fire Chief Darren Jorgenson. With the findings, Jorgenson has been placed on paid administrative leave while another investigation by Stafford Rosenbaum LLP is conducted.

As director of public safety, Hardman oversees day-to-day operations of emergency medical and fire services for the local area along with his role as police chief.
Signaling a recommitment to teaching the histories of First Nations peoples, the Madison School District on Monday acknowledged in a ceremony organized by students that the land its schools occupy was once home to the Ho-Chunk Nation.

Marena Fox Baker and Isa Saiz, student leaders of Native American Student Associations at East and West high schools, led the charge to have plaques installed at Madison schools to acknowledge the Ho-Chunk people as the areas original inhabitants and to better incorporate Indigenous history into the districts curriculum.

Indigenous students in our community wanted to feel safe, seen and acknowledged, Fox Baker said. The art on the walls did not reflect us, nor did the curriculum that was taught. This is known as Indigenous invisibility.

Throughout her time in the district, Fox Baker, now a junior at East, said she saw little to no representation of Indigenous people in her schools. That feeling of invisibility led to the formation of the Native American Student Association, which began to explore ways to honor and acknowledge Indigenous history and students. The land-acknowledgement plaque project was the first the organization tackled.

Her concerns come despite 30-year-old state law that requires Indigenous history education in the public schools. Wisconsins 1989-91 biennial budget bill included provisions that required the study of American Indian history, culture and tribal sovereignty of the 11 federally recognized nations and tribal communities in Wisconsin. The budget also allocated funding for the American Indian Studies Program at the Department of Public Instruction.

Mondays ceremony at the districts Holtzman Building, 333 Holtzman Road, which is used for special education services and professional development for teachers and staff, included speakers from the Ho-Chunk Nation as well as drums, songs and the exchange of gifts.

This project is much more than the plaques themselves, Fox Baker said. To us, they represent the commitment that (the district) is making and a step toward being acknowledged in our community.

The plaques, to be affixed to all district schools over the next three years, read: It is with great respect that our school acknowledges and celebrates the inherent sovereignty of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the 11 indigenous First Nations within what is now referred to as the State of Wisconsin. The land you are standing on is the sacred ancestral land of the Ho-Chunk people. Our school will continue to grow and build upon our partnerships with the Ho-Chunk Nation and all First Nations.

A path forward

Along with the land acknowledgement, the district committed to further bringing awareness to Indigenous history as well as to current Indigenous presence and to providing additional professional development for teachers, although it did not specify how it would do so.

This is the beginning of us looking at wrong done and a path forward, Superintendent Carlton Jenkins said. Now its time to dig deeper into our curriculum and make sure those things are acknowledged in a different way. Its not just for our Indigenous students; its for all students.

The Madison area was known as Teejop, or Four Lakes, by the Ho-Chunk before they were forcibly removed under an 1832 treaty. According to oral histories, the Ho-Chunk tribe had lived in the region since the glaciers receded, which was about 11,000 years ago.

For decades after the 1832 treaty, both the state and federal governments engaged in ethnic cleansing by repeatedly forcing the Ho-Chunk people out of their homes in Wisconsin. Many died during the forced removals and during the arduous journeys to new states. Despite several removals, the Ho-Chunk people kept returning to Wisconsin by foot or canoe.

Tara Tindall, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the districts Native American Teacher Leader, said her ancestors were removed repeatedly from the area and returned each time out of love and dedication to the land.

Accurate history

We know this and were teaching our kids about the first peoples who were here before this land was taken, district deputy superintendent and former state superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor said. Its providing an accurate history.

The land acknowledgement ceremony was the first to be held by a school district in Wisconsin, according to Stanford Taylor. The Native American Student Association began planning for the event, in partnership with the districts Title VI American Indian Parent Committee, in 2019 but the ceremony was delayed due to COVID-19.

Each day when Im here in this community, Im always happy and cheerful because my feet are walking the path that my ancestors once walked, Janice Rice, a Ho-Chunk elder said. Every day when I see the birds and hear the songs and see the waters of the age-old area, I feel blessed and comforted and happy because Im walking the lands that my grandparents and great-great-grandparents walked.

State Journal reporter Emilie Heidemann contributed to this report.

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Documents unveiled last week in the Republican investigation of the November 2020 election show election officials from Milwaukee and other Democratic-leaning Wisconsin cities working closely on election administration matters with various outside election-related interest groups  some with clear Democratic leanings or past connections.

But there doesnt appear to be evidence that the coordination gave interest groups access to confidential voter information or otherwise broke state law. In fact, at one point in 11 months worth of email correspondence, Milwaukees elections chief rebuffs an attempt by one outside group to get closer to state elections records than she felt was appropriate.

Among the more than 300 files Special Counsel Michael Gablemans office posted online last week are copies of subpoenas and other legal documents, pages of law books, drafts of Gablemans remarks or reports, and contracts or reimbursement logs for people working for the conservative former state Supreme Court justice.

The files also contain thousands of pages of emails.

One 120-page tranche titled Milwaukee Hearing Document includes an 18-page table presumably created by Gablemans office that raises questions about some of the interactions between elections officials and outsiders in the emails that follow.

Why is the city receiving training from NVAHI on how to conduct Central Count? reads one question in the table, referring to a Sept. 29-30 exchange about NVAHI  the National Vote at Home Institute  reportedly training Milwaukee elections workers on how to run their central location for counting ballots once polls closed on Election Day.

In another interaction highlighted in the table, Josh Goldman of the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life says in a July 28, 2020, email that his group has a lead on an experienced elections staffer that could potentially embed with your staff in Milwaukee. A Gableman staffer notes next to it: Putting people on Milwaukee staff.

The Chicago-based and Mark Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life, or CTCL, has drawn particular scorn from Gableman, who sees it as the main player in a conspiracy among left-leaning nonprofits and Democratic activists to boost turnout in Democratic-leaning areas of the state by flooding them with money to help safely run elections during a pandemic.

The five Democratic-leaning municipalities  Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha and Green Bay  did get from two to four times more money per capita than other state municipalities that got the CTCL grants, but CTCL has said no one who applied for the money was denied and federal courts have ruled there is nothing illegal about outside elections funding.

Not comfortable

Gablemans investigators appear to have paid particular attention to one interaction in the documents between Claire Woodall-Vogg, Milwaukees elections administrator, and Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein, a former Democratic activist who at the time was working for NVAHI and has become a favorite target of conservatives for his persistent efforts to insert himself into elections administration in Green Bay, including directing poll workers and asking if he could help correct missing information on absentee ballot envelopes.

The city has said employees of private election groups never had any decision-making power over the election or access to ballots, and Woodall-Vogg seemed to draw a similar line when Spitzer-Rubenstein suggested in a Sept. 16, 2020, email that nonprofit U.S. Digital Response be given a walkthrough of the states voter database, WisVote.

It would be helpful to just understand the system and maybe the USDR folks can figure out a way to simplify something for you, he writes.

USDR is a volunteer-driven civic tech nonprofit that helps government with the technology side of its various responsibilities, including running elections. Among its advisers are people who worked in the Obama administration.

Woodall-Voggs response is polite but definitive: While I completely understand and appreciate the assistance that is trying to be provided, I am definitely not comfortable having a non-staff member involved in the functions of our voter database, much less recording it.

Neither Gablemans office, Woodall-Vogg nor Spitzer-Rubenstein responded to requests for comment for this story.

Constitutional amendment

There is nothing in state law to prohibit the kinds of funding or other help provided to state elections officials by outside groups in 2020, although Gableman has contended the CTCL grants amount to illegal election bribery.

In February, state Republicans introduced a constitutional amendment that would ban outside funding for elections and ban anyone who is not employed by state or local government from helping to carry them out.

The amendment passed the Legislature on party-line votes later that month and would need to be approved by the Legislature seated next year before going to statewide referendum. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would not be able to veto it.

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The ongoing review into Wisconsins 2020 election appears poised to continue beyond the end of its latest contract extension, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said following growing pressure among some Republicans, including Donald Trump, to keep the GOP-ordered probe alive.

Vos, who had previously indicated plans to begin wrapping up Michael Gablemans review by the time his contract expires on Saturday, issued a statement Tuesday that Gablemans office will remain open as we guarantee the legal power of our legislative subpoenas and get through the other lawsuits that have gridlocked this investigation.

We are grateful for Justice Gablemans offer to reduce his salary as we are all concerned about the judicious use of taxpayers dollars, said Vos, R-Rochester. Our intention is to remain within the original budget allocated for the investigation.

Vos did not say what Gablemans reduced pay will entail or provide further details on the new agreement. The former justice has been receiving $11,000 a month for his work as part of the $676,000 taxpayer-funded review. Vos spokesperson Angela Joyce said the details of Gablemans new agreement are being finalized. Gableman has missed multiple deadlines to conclude the review since it launched last year, prompting a bipartisan call from some state lawmakers for him to wrap up the probe.

Vos comments come one day after Assembly elections committee chair Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, issued a statement urging him to keep Gablemans review open. Gableman told former Trump adviser Steve Bannon earlier this month that Vos staff had notified him of plans to dismantle his Brookfield office by the end of April.

If Speaker Vos shuts down the Office of Special Counsels investigation now, not only will he be condoning cheating, hell be legalizing it, Brandtjen said.

A recount, court decisions and multiple reviews have affirmed that President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. Only 24 people out of nearly 3.3 million who cast ballots have been charged with election fraud in Wisconsin.

Trump, who has continued to make unfounded claims of election fraud, also issued a statement Monday directed at RINOs, an acronym for Republican in Name Only. The statement does not directly name Vos.

Anyone calling themselves a Republican in Wisconsin should support the continued investigation in Wisconsin without interference, Trump said. After all of the evidence the report brought to light, how could anyone want to stop it? I understand some RINOs have primary challengers in Wisconsin. Im sure their primary opponents would get a huge bump in the polls if these RINOs interfere.

Media reports and the statement put out by Representative Brandtjen were incorrect, Vos said Tuesday.

The offices for Gableman and Brandtjen did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Focus pivots

Vos hired Gableman last year to lead the review at a cost of $676,000 in taxpayer funds, but said earlier this month he would like to see the effort come to a conclusion in the near future.

As weve said before, the investigation will now turn its focus to resolving the lawsuits that have been brought against our efforts by liberal activists, Vos said on April 8. We hope to have Justice Gableman help us do that so we can once again focus on reforming the election process.

After extending Gablemans contract through the end of April, Vos later said he was considering rescinding subpoenas issued by the former justice so that a Republican attorney general if elected in November could file criminal charges against the subpoenaed individuals, though he did not provide specifics on what charges could be pursued. The latest contract maintains Gablemans existing budget, but does allow for the possibility of added funds to cover the costs of legal battles related to the probe.

Gableman has pushed back against withdrawing his subpoenas, which he wants to see pursued in court. He has issued subpoenas to local and state election officials, the mayors of the states five largest cities and two companies that make vote-counting systems, Election Systems & Software and Dominion Voting Systems. Many of the subpoenaed parties have rejected Gablemans requests for in-person meetings or documents, while the former state Supreme Court justice has also withdrawn some requests, including one filed with immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera Action.

Legal challenges

Gablemans subpoenas have been met with a slew of legal challenges, with Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filing a lawsuit in October challenging Gablemans authority to demand in-person interviews. Kaul has argued demanding private interviews outside a public setting is illegal.

A Waukesha County Circuit Judge has scheduled a July 11 hearing to decide if Gableman has the authority to demand that the mayors of the states five largest cities and other officials be jailed for not cooperating with his subpoenas.

In addition to his subpoenas, Gableman and Vos have become the target of three open records lawsuits filed by liberal watchdog group American Oversight seeking records related to the election review.

In one case, Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington ordered Gableman last week to not delete or destroy any records that may be responsive to American Oversights original request pending further action from the court on the matter. The order was issued after an attorney representing Gableman indicated in court filings that the office routinely deletes documents, including emails and text messages, that are deemed irrelevant or useless to the investigation.

An analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Council back in October found that deleting such records, even by a state contractor like Gableman, violates state law.

Remington on Tuesday scheduled a hearing for June 10 to determine if Gablemans team should be held in contempt of court for the deletion of any requested records.

In a separate case, Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn in March held Vos in contempt of court for failing to provide requested public documents related to the probe. A hearing in that case has been scheduled for next month.

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Business owner Tim Michels, the latest entrant in the crowded Republican gubernatorial field, said Monday he will not seek large individual donations and will refuse contributions from political action committees and lobbyists  underscoring that the millionaire plans to run a largely self-funded campaign.

Michels, 59, joins former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, business owner Kevin Nicholson and state Rep. Timothy Ramthun, R-Campbellsport, in the Aug. 9 GOP primary. The winner will face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is seeking a second term this year, in the general election on Nov. 8.

Today begins a new era in Wisconsin, Michels told a crowd of about 200 supporters, family members, Michels Corp. employees and others gathered inside a company maintenance building in Brownsville on Monday.

Enough of the political bickering, Michels said. Enough of the left and right not getting along. We need to bring people together.

In a Monday interview with WISN-AM, Michels positioned himself as a political outsider seeking to address weak leadership in Madison, similar to campaign stances already taken by Nicholson and Ramthun, who entered the race earlier this year.

The U.S. Army veteran, who registered his gubernatorial campaign on Friday and launched a television ad buy over the weekend, said he will never ask anyone for a donation and will limit individual contributions, which can be as large as $20,000 under state law, to no more than $500.

Im not going to owe anyone anything, Michels said. I dont give a rip about the lobbyists, the special interests, the PACs.

Michels is co-owner of Michels Corp., a family-owned international energy and infrastructure construction business. He last ran for office in 2004, when he lost to Russ Feingold in the U.S. Senate race.

Speaking with conservative radio host Jay Weber Monday, Michels confirmed he had recently met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago and he would certainly welcome any support from the former president. Trump has not formally endorsed a candidate in the race.

Michels said he aims to turn Madison upside down in a campaign video posted online over the weekend.

The radical left, theyre destroying everything we love about America, Michels said. And too many establishment Republicans, theyre along for the ride. Im not some career politician, Im a self-made businessman who doesnt give a rip about the special interests or their money.

The candidates

Kleefisch  a former television journalist who served eight years as lieutenant governor under Scott Walker and who strategists say is the odds-on favorite to win the nomination  has primarily focused her campaign on unseating Evers.

Nicholsons campaign has included a focus on challenging what he has dubbed the Madison machine of established Republicans, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, who earlier this year urged Nicholson not to run while deeming Kleefisch the best choice to defeat Evers.

Nicholson ran for U.S. Senate in 2018, but lost in the Republican primary to Leah Vukmir, who went on to lose to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison.

Ramthun, who has falsely claimed that Trump won Wisconsins 2020 election, has drawn praise from the former president, who called the state lawmaker in early December to thank him for his efforts to overturn the election, according to Rolling Stone. Trump has continued to falsely claim he won the 2020 election, despite recounts, audits and court decisions affirming that President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes.

A February Marquette Law School Poll found that 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 or have no opinion of Kleefisch, compared with 80% for Nicholson and 86% for Ramthun.

The other Republicans in the race have remained quiet on Michels since he entered the field, but Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said in a statement Monday the field of GOP candidates represents a case of quantity over quality.

Tim Michels is the fourth candidate to enter this mess of a nomination fight  and the Republicans still dont have a single candidate who isnt too divisive for Wisconsin, Wikler said.

Michels positions

Michels served on Kleefischs advocacy group, the 1848 Project, a nonprofit she launched in 2020 leading up to her gubernatorial campaign. The group put out a list of more than 50 policy ideas last year dubbed The Forward Agenda. They include a few that have riled up the partys base recently, such as banning critical race theory from classrooms and shifting responsibility for election rules from the Wisconsin Elections Commission to the state Legislature.

A lot of people have questions about the last election. So do I, Michels told Weber. We have to have, in Wisconsin, in any state, in the United States, fair and transparent elections.

Michels said he would also support GOP efforts to ban private funding for administering elections, expand private school vouchers and prohibit instruction about systemic racism. He also said he would back anti-abortion bills and efforts to limit firearm restrictions  measures Evers has adamantly opposed.

Michels also defended his previous stance on state labor laws, a topic that could result in GOP criticism as the primary election heats up. Michels Corp. was a member of the Wisconsin Contractor Coalition, which fought Wisconsins right to work law, which prohibits employers and unions from requiring the payment of monthly union dues by nonunion members at unionized worksites. The law was passed in 2015 under the Walker/Kleefisch administration.

Michels told Weber he supports right-to-work laws, but added he also works with unions. Michels Corp. is also a member of the Construction Business Group, which partners with International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139. The union launched ads in 2018 targeting Walker over the former governors level of transportation funding. The ads accused Walker of failing to properly address potholes, which were dubbed Scottholes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Public Health Madison and Dane County is seeking information about a dog bite that occurred on Madison's far East Side early Sunday morning.

The dog, described as a large shepherd or lab mix with a black and brown coat, bit the victim near the intersection of Littlemore and East Hill Parkway by Milwaukee Street and Sprecher Road at around 9 a.m. Sunday.

A stray dog that was wearing a dark colored collar with multiple tags allegedly bit the victim as they walked their own dog on a leash.

Anyone with information about the dog is asked to call (608) 255-2345 and ask for animal services officers. If the dog is not found, the bite victim may be required to complete a series of costly injections to prevent rabies.

Further details about the bite victim have not been released.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Candidates for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvanias open U.S. Senate seat charged into Monday night's live-televised prime-time debate with extra incentive to attack Mehmet Oz after the celebrity heart surgeon received former President Donald Trump's endorsement.

And attack they did, almost solidly throughout the one-hour debate at the studio of WHTM-TV with barely three weeks to go to the May 17 primary election.

Ex-hedge fund CEO David McCormick called Oz a flip-flopper to suggest that he is pretending to be a conservative.

Former Trump ambassador Carla Sands called him Turkey First  as a play on Trump's America First" governing philosophy  to highlight Oz's Turkish citizenship.

And conservative activist Kathy Barnette said Trump only endorsed Oz because Oz is well-known.

Trump earlier this month endorsed Oz  best known as daytime TVs host of The Dr. Oz Show"  and the Trump endorsement hovered over the debate. Oz raised it repeatedly, just hours after Trump announced that he will come to western Pennsylvania next week for a rally to promote Oz.

Oz gamely defended himself. People care about what he stands for, not where hes from, he said. Trump endorsed him because he is a true conservative, he said. And he keeps his Turkish citizenship to visit his ailing mother in Turkey, he said.

He also counterpunched, primarily against McCormick. He accused McCormick of lying about his record and repeating Trump's suggestion that McCormick is pro-China because of McCormick's former hedge funds portfolio that catered to Chinese investors investing in China.

Dishonest Dave is at it again," Oz said. He went groveling to President Trump with  again  these types of allegations. President Trump saw right through him, did not endorse him, and then he endorsed me.

McCormick repeatedly attacked Oz, turning practically every question to Ozs long public past as a TV show host and accusing him of having long-advocated liberal positions.

The reason Mehmet keeps talking about President Trumps endorsement is because he cant run on his own positions and his own records, and what's true is that he has flip-flopped on every major issue we're talking about in this campaign, McCormick said.

Then McCormick slipped in a reference to criticism that Oz promoted quack treatments and cures on his show.

And the problem doctor, is theres no miracle cure for flip-flopping, McCormick said.

The race is primarily an expensive duel between McCormick and Oz, who combined  with super PACs that support them  have reported spending more than $37 million out of the more than $50 million reported being spent on the GOP primary.

The five candidates on stage met the polling threshold set by the stations parent company as they vie for the nomination in a seven-person field to succeed retiring two-term Republican Sen. Pat Toomey in the presidential battleground state.

The campaign is one of this years premier Senate contests, with carpetbaggery a prominent and persistent issue following the recent arrival of three wealthy and well-connected candidates from other states  McCormick, Oz and Sands.

Real estate investor Jeff Bartos summed up the debate in his closing remarks as out-of-state candidates fighting with each other as he pressed his case as the only lifelong Pennsylvanian in the race.

Otherwise, the candidates all seemed to agree with party talking points, including on the question of banning abortion, banning transgender women from competing in women's sports, criticizing President Joe Biden's handling of the economy and the border and promoting Trump's baseless conspiracy that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election.

They also took pains to demonstrate their devotion to Trump principles.

Sands maintained that her service on a Trump's economic council and as his ambassador to Denmark makes her the only proven America First candidate.

I actually did it, Sands said. "Everyone talks about it."

On a question about how to deal with supply chain issues, McCormick took umbrage over Bartos' suggestion that out-of-state candidates "cannot help save Main Street Pennsylvania if you cannot find Main Street Pennsylvania.

I'm not going to be out-Pennsylvania'd or out-America First by anybody on this stage," McCormick said.

Barnette  who has allied herself with pro-Trump conservatives  took a different tack: Trump's Make America Great slogan, or MAGA, doesn't belong to Trump, she said.

MAGA does not belong to President Trump, Barnette said. "MAGA, although he coined the word, MAGA actually belongs to the people. Our values never, never shifted to President Trumps values. It was President Trump who shifted and aligned with our values.

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/timelywriter

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
POKROVSK, Ukraine  As Russian forces intensify their shelling of eastern Ukraine, more people are leaving their homes in search of safety.

In Pokrovsk, a town in the Donetsk region, people lined up Tuesday to board a train headed to the far west of the country along the border with Hungary and Slovakia. One person was lifted onto the train in a wheelchair, another on a stretcher.

The passengers took with them cats, dogs, a few bags and boxes, and the memory of those who did not flee in time.

We were in the basement, but my daughter didnt make it and was hit with shrapnel on the doorstep during shelling on Monday, said Mykola Kharchenko, 74. We had to bury her in the garden near the pear tree.

He said his village, Vremivka, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) from Pokrovsk, was under heavy fire for four days and everything was destroyed. With tears in his eyes, Kharchenko said he somehow held himself together at home, but once he reached the train station he fell apart.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Putin gets what he didnt want: Ukraine army closer to West

 Top Russian diplomat warns Ukraine against provoking WWIII

 Frances victorious Macron boosts weapons, stakes in Ukraine

 Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra organized by Met, Polish operas

Follow all AP stories on Russia's war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed in principle that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians from a besieged steel plant in Ukraines southeastern city of Mariupol.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that during their one-on-one meeting Tuesday, Guterres and Putin discussed the proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians from conflict zones, namely in relation to the situation in Mariupol.

The sprawling Azovstal steel plant has been almost completely destroyed by Russian attacks but it is the last pocket of organized Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.

An estimated 2,000 troops and 1,000 civilians are said to be holed up in bunkers underneath the wrecked structure.

Dujarric said that following the Guterres-Putin agreement in principle, discussions will be held with the U.N. humanitarian office and the Russian Defense Ministry on the evacuation.

WASHINGTON  The State Department says U.S. diplomats have begun returning to Ukraine by making day trips to temporary offices in the western city of Lviv from neighboring Poland.

The department said the first group of diplomats crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border and traveled to Lviv on Tuesday morning before returning to Poland later in the day.

The step came just two days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Ukrainian leaders during a secrecy-shrouded visit to Kyiv that the U.S. would start restaffing its diplomatic facilities in Ukraine this week.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the agency has accelerated its review of re-opening the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, which was closed shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. He said operations at the embassy would resume as soon as possible depending on the security situation in the capital.

UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned about reports of new security incidents in a Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova and urges all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions that could escalate tensions.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Tuesday that Guterres has called for efforts to lower tensions throughout Trans-Dniester. Explosions rocked the region for the second day in a row, knocking out two powerful radio antennas close to the Ukrainian border. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukraine all but blamed Russia.

Russian speakers of the strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine nominally seceded from Moldova in 1990, one year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, fearing the country might shortly merge with Romania, whose language and culture it broadly shares.

The separatist region fought a brief war with Moldova in 1992 and declared itself an independent state, though it remains unrecognized by any country, including Russia which bases about 1,500 troops there, calling them peacekeepers. Concerns are high that those forces could be used to invade Ukraine from the west.

Haq said the U.N. continues to fully support efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to reach a political settlement of the Trans-Dniester conflict in the so-called 5+2 process which comprises Trans-Dniester, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE with the United States and the European Union as observers. The aim is to strengthen Moldovas independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, with a special status for Trans-Dniester.

BERLIN  Germanys vice chancellor says his country has come very, very close to independence from Russian oil and an embargo on deliveries would now be manageable.

Germany, which has Europes biggest economy, has said so far that it aims to end Russian oil imports by the end of this year.

Speaking Tuesday during a visit to Poland, Economy Minister Robert Habeck  who is also the vice chancellor and responsible for energy  said that his country has cut Russias share of its oil supply from 35% before the war in Ukraine to about 12%.

Habeck said the situation is such that an embargo has become manageable for Germany. He added that the problem that just a few weeks ago seemed very big for Germany has become significantly smaller  so that independence from Russian oil imports has come very, very close.

Russian gas imports, however, are a bigger issue for Germany. Berlin has said that it will need longer to do without gas supplies from Russia.

LONDON  Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain does not want war to escalate beyond Ukraines borders, and rejected an allegation by Moscow that the West is fighting a proxy conflict with Russia.

But Johnson said Ukrainians are being attacked from within Russian territory and have a right to protect and defend themselves by striking inside Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused NATO of pouring oil on the fire with its support for Ukraine, and said the risk of World War III should not be underestimated. Russia has singled Britain out for criticism after a U.K. government minister said it was legitimate for Ukraine to hit fuel depots in Russia with U.K.-supplied weapons.

In an interview with British station Talk TV, Johnson said its very, very important that we dont accept the way that the Russians are trying to frame what is happening in Ukraine.

He said: They are trying to frame this as a conflict between Russia and the West, or Russia and NATO. Thats not what is going on.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia  Slovakias President Zuzana Caputova released a video addressing the invading Russian soldiers, their commanders and all whom it may concern, urging them to stop the war in Ukraine.

In the three-minute video in Russian with the subtitles in Slovak, Caputova condemned war crimes against women, children and civilians.

You justify your invasion by talking about liberation, Caputova told them. How were you intending to liberate Tatiana from Irpin, killed by a Russian grenade together with her two children? Or Olena from Hostomel, raped by one of you in a car? she asked.

Referring to testimonies of women who have survived, Caputova says they find that words are not enough when they try to describe the pain you have made a part of their lives simply because... Well, why even? None of us knows Do you?

She says with each passing day, you are only increasing the army of wounded souls and bodies of women, children and innocent people.

If you still feel any leftover of humanity in you, bring it to life and end this horrible war.

MOSCOW  Russias President Vladimir Putin says Moscow still hopes to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Ukraine, even as the fighting has continued.

Speaking at a Kremlin meeting Tuesday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Putin noted that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators made what he described as a serious breakthrough in their talks in Istanbul, Turkey, last month. He claimed, however, that the Ukrainian side later walked back on some of the tentative agreements reached in Istanbul.

In particular, Putin said Ukrainian negotiators have changed their position on the issue of the status of Crimea and separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, offering to leave it for the countries presidents to discuss. Putin charged that the shift in the Ukrainian stand makes it hard to negotiate a future deal. Ukrainian officials have been evasive about the details of talks and the Russian claims of Ukraine walking back from its earlier proposals.

Putin has demanded that Ukraine recognize Russias sovereignty over Crimea and recognize independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as part of a future agreement on ending the hostilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that those issues could only be decided by a future nationwide vote.

During Tuesdays Kremlin meeting, Guterres criticized Russias military action in Ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbors territorial integrity. He also urged Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped at a giant steel mill in Mariupol surrounded by the Russian forces.

Putin responded by claiming that the Russian forces have offered humanitarian corridors to civilians holed up at the Azovstal steel plant, charging that the Ukrainian defenders of the plant were using civilians as shields and not allowing them to leave.

KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about the tensions in a Moscow-backed separatist region of Moldova.

The ministry noted that an attack on an administrative building in Tiraspol, the center of the separatist Trans-Dniester province of Moldova, along with explosions that hit broadcast antennas and other facilities in the region follow a Russian officers statement about Moscows intention to fully take control of Ukraines south and build a land corridor to Trans-Dniester.

It said in a Tuesday statement that Ukraine resolutely supports Moldovas territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and condemn attempts to draw the Trans-Dniester region of Moldova into the full-fledged war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine and call for deescalating tensions.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land with about 470,000 people, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, nominally as peacekeepers.

WARSAW, Poland  The Polish climate minister gave assurances on Tuesday that the country has plenty of natural gas on reserve, following reports that Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland.

Anna Moskwa, minister for climate and environment, tweeted: Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security  we have been effectively independent from Russia for years. Our warehouses are 76% full. There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes.

Her tweet followed reports by the Onet news portal that Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract. Onet reported that a crisis team had gathered at the Ministry of Climate to deal with the matter. Onet said, citing unnamed sources, that Russia had insisted on a Friday deadline for payment in rubles and that Poland has said it would not pay in rubles.

Poland has been working to wean itself off of Russian energy sources and was due to end its reliance on Russian gas this year.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany  U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the war in Ukraine has already weakened Russias military capability.

Austin said after meeting allies and partners at the United States Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday that, since Russia began the invasion, its land forces have sustained pretty substantial casualties, as well as lost a lot of equipment and used a lot of precision-guided munitions.

He said that they are, in fact, in terms of military capability, weaker than when they started, and  itll be harder for them to replace some of this capability as they go forward because of the sanctions and the trade restrictions that have been placed on them.

Austin reiterated that we would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.

He criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs warning that the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated.

Austin said that its unhelpful and dangerous to rattle sabers and speculate about the use of nuclear weapons.

MOSCOW  A senior Kremlin official says that Ukraine may split into several parts.

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said in remarks published Tuesday that the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states.

The statement comes as Russia says it has focused on expanding control over Ukraines eastern industrial heartland called Donbas. Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian troops there since 2014 when conflict erupted following Russias annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula.

Moscow launched military action in Ukraine on Feb. 24, days after recognizing the separatist regions independence.

Last week, a senior Russian military officer said that along with taking control over Donbas, Russia also wants to overtake southern Ukraine, saying such a move would also open a land corridor between Russia and the separatist Trans-Dniester region of Moldova.

MADRID  Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Tuesday he was very worried by the explosions this week in the separatist region of Trans-Dniester, adding that they reminded him too much of occurrences in the Donbas region immediately prior to Russias invasion of Ukraine late February.

I remember before Feb. 21, there have been some series of false-flag operations in Donbas region, so called people republics, that were used as the pretext by Russia to recognize and then to sign the so-called friendship and assistance treaties and then to start the military operation, Rinkevics told reporters in Madrid.

Im very worried about the current trend in Trans-Dniester because that resembles a little bit that pattern that we have seen, he added.

Police in Trans-Dniester say two explosions Tuesday in a radio facility close to the Ukrainian border knocked two antennas out of service. On Monday, several explosions were reported to have hit the Ministry of State Security in Tiraspol, the regions capital.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land in Moldova, has been under the control of separatists since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops there. The United States has warned that Russia could launch false-flag attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops to those nations.

Rinkevics was in Madrid to meet his Spanish counterpart and discuss the Ukraine war and the upcoming NATO summit in the Spanish capital.

The Russian military has warned it could strike Ukrainian decision-making centers in the Ukrainian capital and said wouldnt be stopped by the possible presence of Western advisers there.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused the U.K. of making statements encouraging Ukraine to use Western weapons to carry out strikes on the Russian territory, warning that if it happens the Russian military could retaliate by hitting government structures in Kyiv.

It directly pointed at U.K. Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, who told Times Radio that it was not necessarily a problem if Ukraine British-donated weapons were used to hit sites on Russian soil.

The ministry said in a statement that the Russian armed forces are ready to deal retaliatory strikes with long-range precision guided weapons on Kyiv centers that would make such decisions. It noted that the presence of citizens of one of Western countries in the Ukrainian decision-making centers wont necessarily pose a problem for Russia in making a decision to launch retaliatory action.

The Russian military so far has avoided striking presidential, government and military headquarters in Kyiv during its campaign in Ukraine that has entered a third month.

WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging Congress to fully fund the Biden administrations proposed budget for the State Department, telling lawmakers the spending is critical to ensuring that the war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for Russia and a message to other countries that might invade their neighbors.

Blinken said his weekend visit to Kyiv with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had left him with the indelible impression that Ukraine is winning, particularly in the capital. It was right in front of us: the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv, he said.

Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the U.S.-led global response to Russias invasion had underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy. He said the $60.4 billion budget proposal for the next fiscal year was needed to continue to rally partners and allies in the cause.

We will, we have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are the strategic opportunities and address risks presented by Russias overreach, as countries reconsider their policies, priorities, their relationships, Blinken said. The budget request before you predated this crisis, but fully funding it is critical in my judgment to ensuring Russias war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for the Kremlin and serves as a powerful lesson to those who might consider following its path.

Blinken did not name other nations that might be considering following Russias lead but his comment was seen as a veiled reference to China, which has sided with Russia in the Ukraine conflict and has made no secret of its desire to re-unify the island of Taiwan with the mainland.

CHERNOBYL, Ukraine  The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency says it was possible that an accident could have occurred when Russian troops seized control of the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster during the war in Ukraine.

Speaking on a visit to the former nuclear power plant Tuesday on the 36th anniversary of the meltdown, Rafael Mariano Grossi said the situation in 1986 was completely different. In this case, what we had was a nuclear safety situation which was not normal, and could have developed into an accident.

Russian troops moved into the radiation-contaminated Chernobyl exclusion zone in February on their way toward the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and withdrew late last month as Russia switched its focus to fighting in eastern Ukraine. The site is now back in Ukrainian hands and communications which were disrupted have been restored.

Russian forces continue to hold a working nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia plant, where there was fighting nearby in early March which damaged the plants training facility.

Clearly, the physical integrity of one nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, was compromised, we also had situations where the external power was interrupted including here (Chernobyl) so there were a number of events that were compromising the normal operations of any nuclear power facility, Grossi said.

Those were avoided but of course, as I was saying, the situation was not stable and we have to stay on alert.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
A Mount Pleasant couple has been federally charged for allegedly trafficking guns and drugs.

The defendants are Deandre L. Rodgers, 36, of Mount Pleasant, and Viridiana Garcia-Ramirez, 24, of Los Angeles.

In a Monday release from the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling announced that the DOJ was charging Rodgers and Garcia-Ramirez "with conspiring to violate the laws of the United States in ... dealing in firearms without a license ... making a false statement to a federal firearms licensee ... unlawful possession of a firearm by a prohibited person ... distribution of a controlled substance ... using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime ... and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance."

According to prosecutors, the duo "engaged in a conspiracy" in which they would purchase guns from Wisconsin stores, then "alter or obliterate the serial numbers" on the guns and then sell those guns.

The release continued: "As part of the conspiracy, Rodgers and Garcia-Ramirez purchased 11 handguns and 1 rifle from local gun stores between December 2021 and March 2022."

On April 5, federal agents reported executing a warrant on a Mount Pleasant hotel; inside Garcia-Ramirez's and Rodgers' room, they said they found 29 bags containing crack cocaine, a pair of digital scales and $800 in cash, but none of the guns.

Rodgers is a felon and thus cannot legally possess a firearm.

Investigating the case was the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The case is to be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip T. Kovoor.
BURLEY  A non-profit organization, Simply Hope, designed to offer support to families struggling with divorce, codependency, addiction and suicide asked the Cassia County Commissioners on Monday for a portion of the federal American Rescue Plan Funding it received.

Cassia County Clerk Joe Larsen said the county received $2.3 million last month in ARPF money and will receive a similar second payment next year.

In December, Simply Hope asked the commissioners for $500,000 to hire staff for the center and a youth-based program implemented last year called Teen Hope.

Along with support groups, the outreach also connect people with professional resources within the community.

The ARPA funds can be used for water, sewer and broadband infrastructure and other uses along with support for public health expenditures.

Simply Hope Project Director Sheri Allred said the organization would use the money to staff the Simply Hope center and Teen Hope, which currently operates solely through volunteers. They would also hire a grant writer.

In the last four weeks, there were 43 volunteers who worked 282 hours, she said.

I support Simply Hope financially and otherwise, community member Mike Ramsey said.

Ramsey said many of the drug problems in the community stem from issues with mental health.

The reason we need more police officers and a jail comes from mental health issues, he said.

Ramsey said there is not a lot of free mental health care in the community and by supporting Simply Hope and Teen Hope the county can ultimately save money.

Cassia County Commissioner Board Chairman Leonard Beck asked if the organization had also asked for money from Burley, Rupert and Minidoka County.

Allred said many people have issues finding transportation from Rupert and Minidoka County, so they cant fully extend services to them.

The group is working on writing a transportation grant to address that issue.

Allred said they intend to visit with the Burley City Council in the next few weeks.

Beck also asked if any of the volunteers had professional credentials.

Simply Hope Administrative Director Nancy Winmill said they were asking for funding to help pay for professionals.

Allred said the center works with licensed professionals in the community and refers individuals requiring more than support to them.

Cassia County Commissioner Bob Kunau said the ARPA funding is finite money, and asked how they would pay for the staff in the future.

Allred said during an interview with the Times-News that the organization would hire a grant writer and they would also continue to fundraise, to cover the costs of staff in the future.

The commissioners did not make any decisions.

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A former Idaho lawmaker has been convicted of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern after a dramatic trial in which the young woman fled the witness stand during testimony, saying I cant do this. The verdict was returned Friday. The intern told a Statehouse supervisor that Aaron von Ehlinger raped her at his apartment after the two had dinner at a Boise restaurant in March 2021. He said the sex was consensual. At the time, von Ehlinger was a Republican state representative from Lewiston, but he later resigned. Von Ehlinger was found guilty of rape. He was found not guilty of sexual penetration with a foreign object. Afterwards, prosecutors lauded the victim for her courage in coming forward.
A Magna Vista student died Monday night after falling out of the back of a pickup truck.

Logan Smith, 18, of Martinsville was pronounced dead at the scene of a single-vehicle traffic incident that occurred at 10:20 p.m. on Route 683 (Meadowood Trail in the Preston area), one tenth of a mile north of Route 859 (Tanyard Road), a Virginia State Police release stated.

There were two males in the back of a 2001 Dodge Dakota driven by Trinity L. Davis, 18, of Martinsville when Smith fell from the back of the truck onto the roadway, the release stated.

The other male, also a high school student, was not injured.

The release did not state who the other male was or what high school he attends.

The incident remains under investigation, the release stated.

We were deeply saddened to learn of Logan Smiths passing and are working to support Magna Vista High School students and staff as they remember him. We appreciate the communitys thoughts for the Warrior community in the days ahead, said Henry County Schools Communications Director Monica Hatchett by text.

No other details were made available.

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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The early voting period for the May 17 primary elections starts on Thursday and will last for more than two weeks.

The one-stop absentee voting for the primary starts at 8 a.m. Thursday and ends at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 14. Early voting will be held at the McDowell County Board of Elections office at 2458 N.C. 226 South in Marion.

Early voting will take place from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28, and Friday, April 29. The early voting will continue Monday, May 2, through Friday, May 13, from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The last day of the early voting period in the primary is Saturday, May 14, and it will last from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The actual primary elections will be held on Tuesday, May 17, and voting will take place on that day in all 17 precincts of McDowell.

Throughout North Carolina, Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians alike will go to the polls to select their respective candidates for the general election in November.

Here in McDowell, three local races will be on the ballot for the primary election and they are all for Republican candidates.

In the race for the clerk of Superior Court, incumbent Melissa Adams is facing opposition from fellow Republican Geneva Jennie Rhom.

In the race for the office of district attorney, incumbent Ted Bell will face opposition from fellow Republican Krinn Evans.

In the race for the McDowell County Board of Commissioners, three seats are up for election. Incumbents Tony Brown, David Walker and Brenda Vaughn are facing opposition from fellow Republicans Lynn Greene, Robert Toney McCall and Mike Seay. The top three vote-getters from either party will face Democrat Phillip Price in the November election for the County Commission.

In addition, a District Court judgeship will be contested in the local GOP primary. The candidates are Anthony Morrow and Ellen Shelley.

Two Republicans are seeking the nomination of their party for the District 46 seat in the N.C. Senate. They are Mark Crawford and Warren Daniel. This race appears on both GOP ballots.

McDowell County is now split into different N.C. House districts, so there is not just one Republican ballot. The ballot depends on where the voter lives in the county, said Deputy Director Jane Dale Propst.

But some parts of McDowell are now in District 113 for the N.C. House of Representatives. Two Republicans are seeking the nomination of their party for the District 113 seat in the N.C. House of Representatives. They are Jake Johnson and David Rogers.

Other offices in the primary election are the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, the N.C. Court of Appeals and the N.C. Supreme Court.

As for the Democratic primary in McDowell, only the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives will appear on the local ballot.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot form is 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 10.

The deadline to return an absentee ballot is 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 17.

Propst said any voter can go to https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/ and get more information. This link will give the voter all of their information, how they are registered, their precinct, as well as their sample ballot.

For more information, contact the McDowell County Board of Elections at 659-0834.
The work to transform the old Marianna Hotel in downtown Marion into a new apartment building and small business location is underway.

Allen Roderick, the new owner, said he plans to transform the historic landmark into an attractive place to live as well for new and updated spaces for small businesses.

A licensed contractor for more than 30 years, he has rebuilt and renovated numerous old structures in downtown Asheville and is now doing the same for one of Marions most historic and iconic buildings.

Its all I have ever done, he said.

After working on buildings in Asheville, Roderick heard about the old Marianna Hotel (later named the Hotel James) from one of his clients. He became interested in the potential of the large brick structure at 14 N. Main St.

The Marianna Hotel was designed by North Carolina architect James McMichael, and constructed in 1909 to serve as a central focus for Marion. It was for many years one of the finest places to stay and eat in McDowell County, if not all of western North Carolina, during the early 20th century. It opened for business before the Grove Park Inn.

This multi-level brick structure offered lots of rooms and a top-quality restaurant typical of the finer inns of the era. Roderick estimated it had around 40 to 50 rooms for guests and they were quite small compared to hotel rooms today.

The famous author Sinclair Lewis stayed there when he came to Marion to write about the bloody strike at Marion Manufacturing in 1929. The hotel with its bay windows and graceful front porch quickly became a downtown Marion landmark.

In later years, it became known as the Hotel James, and this is the name that is more familiar to local folks today. But the name Marianna still graces the entrance.

In recent decades, this four-level building stood mostly empty at the corner of North Main and East Court streets and has gone through one owner after another.

After the hotel closed, the building became the home of Johnsons Book Store in the 1970s. The lower level along courthouse hill was the home of a taxicab business and a barbers shop back then.

In the 1990s, the bay windows, the front porch and the decorative railing along the rooftop were all removed and the building lost much of its charm. Many of the windows on the upper levels were covered over but pigeons still found a way to get inside.

This structure then became the home of Carolina Chocolatiers. When that popular eatery closed more than a decade ago, the structure stood empty for years.

The most recent use of this building occurred when it was the location of the Big Orange Hoagie Factory, which was owned and operated by Creed Burleson.

In mid-January 2018, Burleson took ownership of the old Hotel James building from the previous owners Dogan Don Altuner and his wife Kathy. Not long after that, Earth and Soul Studio opened in one section of the building followed by Blooming Iris florist shop in another storefront. The Big Orange Hoagie Factory, Earth and Soul Studio and Blooming Iris all closed or vacated the building.

These previous owners used only the main level that fronts along the street. They were not able to make renovations to the rest of this multi-level building.

Roderick and the crews from D.H. Griffin Companies are doing just that. On the second floor, they are working to remove old electrical wiring and plumbing that has been inside it for more than 100 years. They are leaving the original wood frame in place.

Light fixtures that were installed during the long history of the building have been removed and debris from the demolition of the interior is piling up.

Roderick said this is an historic building tax credit project, similar to ones he has already done.

To take advantage of the tax credits, you have to be income producing for five years, he said to The McDowell News. The best way to do that is to put in apartments but also this town needs downtown living space.

To fill that need, he plans to install 16 apartments in the old hotel building with three on the street level, three on the lower level, five on the second floor and five more on the third floor.

He also plans to install two commercial spaces on the street level. When asked what they will be, Roderick said he doesnt know yet. But he added these businesses will not be a restaurant or a bar. Thats because people will be living in the apartments elsewhere in the structure and they will not want to hear the noise from those types of businesses at night.

Other property owners in downtown Marion are doing similar projects. For instance, the building across the street at 44 S. Main St., now owned by Ledbetter Properties, will have upstairs apartments, too.

It fills up vacant buildings with places to live for folks, said Roderick. That happened in Asheville.

Roderick believes it can happen here, too. To prove his commitment, he has purchased a house in Marion where he can more closely supervise what is happening to the old Marianna Hotel.

As part of the renovation, he plans to put the bay windows and the decorative railing back and restore the old Marianna Hotel to its former glory. He hopes to have this project completed in a year and a half.

When news of the new ownership was announced in November, Mayor Steve Little said, This will be the greatest enhancement to downtown Marion in years, as it will remove the blighted, abandoned appearance of this stately vintage building and apply historic exterior restoration.

City Planning Director Heather Cotton said in November the city of Marion, McDowell County, Marion Business Association and McDowell Economic Development Association have all been working with Roderick during 2021 while he has conducted his due diligence on the purchase of property at 14 N. Main St.

The old hotel was identified as a contributing building in Marions Main Street Historic District in 1991.

Over the years, a number of alterations have been made to the building, especially on the upper floors. In order for this project to be financially viable, it will require both state and federal historic tax credits. The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service are the two agencies responsible for determining if a rehabilitation project is eligible for state and federal historic tax credits, according to Cotton.

An application is first sent to the State Historic Preservation Office for review. If approved, that application is forwarded to the National Park Service for final consideration. The evaluation considers the condition of the building and whether the historical integrity is still intact and if the proposed rehabilitation will preserve the historical integrity.

Last year, Roderick submitted an application to the State Historic Preservation Office. The city of Marion, McDowell County, McDowell Economic Development Association and the Marion Business Association signed a joint resolution of support to accompany the application in favor of Rodericks redevelopment plans. Roderick told The McDowell News how much he appreciates the help from Cotton, Building Inspector Spencer Elliott, City Manager Bob Boyette, Economic Development Director Chuck Abernathy, Marion Business Association Director Freddie Killough and McDowell County officials in getting this project underway.

The state confirmed that the building was located in the boundaries of a nationally registered historic district, and considered it to be a certified historic structure for the purpose of rehabilitation. The application was forwarded to the National Park Service for consideration, and on Wednesday, Aug. 4, local officials were notified that the National Park Service had approved the application. This cleared a path forward for the project to receive both state and federal historic tax credits for the rehabilitation of the old hotel building.

In November, the mayor, whose law office is just a couple of doors away from the old Marianna Hotel, said the long-awaited renovation of this historic and large structure in the middle of downtown Marion could help other downtown buildings get new life.

It should encourage other downtown building owners to move forward on creating living space in the upper levels, for which there can be significant tax advantages, Little told The McDowell News in November.

Based on recent developments, several building owners in downtown Marion are doing just that.
The main jihadist alliance in the Sahel is holding a Russian member of the private military company Wagner, captured in central Mali, according to a claim on behalf of the movement.

This is the first time that the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM) has announced the capture of a Russian engaged in the anti-jihadist struggle in Mali. However, the GSIM did not provide any evidence to prove the veracity of its announcement made in a statement on Sunday night.

Mali, which has been run by the military since 2020, has made massive use of what it describes as instructors from Russia to support its army, while Paris and Washington regularly denounce the presence in the country of mercenaries from the private Russian group Wagner, accusations firmly denied by Bamako. It was during the first week of April that the GSIM claimed to have captured a soldier from the Russian Wagner forces in the Segou region in central Mali.

These murderous forces participated with the Malian army in a parachuting operation on a market in the village of Moura where they confronted several mujahideen before surrounding this locality for five days and killing hundreds of innocent civilians, the GSIM communique added, in Arabic, without further details on the link between the capture of the Russian and the events in Moura.

According to corroborating sources, a Russian national operating with Malian soldiers was killed on April 19 in central Mali. This is the first confirmed death of a Russian in military operations in the country since the junta took power in 2020.

On Monday, according to military sources and a local politician, four Malian soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device in the Bandiagara-Bankass area (center), but the toll of this attack could still be only provisional, the politician stressed.

On Sunday, the Malian army announced the death of six soldiers in three simultaneous attacks with vehicles packed with explosives against three military camps in the center of the country. The attacks were claimed by a group of GSIM fighters, and, among other damage, the Malian army reported a slightly damaged helicopter.
The African Union congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron on his brilliant re-election after his victory Sunday over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, calling for continued establishment of renewed and mutually beneficial relations between France and Africa.

I extend my warm congratulations to President Emmanuel Macron on his brilliant re-election, AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat wrote on Twitter. I am happy to continue with him our commitment to build between Africa and France, and more broadly Europe, renewed and mutually beneficial relations, he added.

For his part, Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, very involved in the fight against jihadism in the Sahel, also congratulated Emmanuel Macron for his brilliant re-election that crystallizes a crowning achievement of his internal political action and his international commitment.

The outgoing president was re-elected to the presidency of France with more than 58.5% of the vote, against 41.4% for Marine Le Pen, who recorded a historic score passing for the first time the 40% mark.

During his first term, Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to dust off the relationship between France, a former colonial power, and the continent, addressing particularly the youth, especially during the speech of Ouagadougou in November 2017 where he had promised a break in French policy in Africa.
The trial of one of the alleged killers of Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara began on Monday 25 April in Celle, Germany. Bai Lowe is a former jungler, a military corps created in the early 2000s to protect and serve President Yahya Jammeh.

The 46-year-old suspect, Bai Lowe, arrived at the hearing with his face hidden by a green briefcase and his head covered by a black hood. Arrested in Hanover in March 2021, he must answer before the court in Celle (Lower Saxony) for crimes against humanity, murder and attempted murder between 2003 and 2006. This is something we have waited almost 18 years for. We never thought it would come true, says Baba Hydara, son of journalist Deyda Hydara. This trial will bring us a part of the justice we have waited so long for, only a part () But it is the beginning of a whole process because Bai Lowe is someone who obeyed orders.

Lowe is accused of being involved in two murders and one attempted murder while working as a driver for the hit squad, known as the Junglers, between December 2003 and December 2006.

This unit was used by the then-president of Gambia to carry out illegal killing orders, among other things with the aim of intimidating the Gambian population and suppressing the opposition, according to federal prosecutors.
Spains foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares told Algeria that his countrys position in support for Moroccos autonomy plan is a sovereign decision.

This came in a reaction to multiple statements by Algerian officials and President Tebboune himself who blamed Spain for its new position in support of Moroccos territorial integrity.

Without fueling sterile debates, Spain took a sovereign decision within the framework of the international law and there is nothing to add, Albares told radio Onda Cero.

Algeria has once again shown its real face as the main party behind the perpetuation of the Sahara conflict when it recalled its ambassador from Madrid, after the Spanish Prime Minister sent a letter to King Mohammed VI describing Moroccos autonomy initiative as the most serious, realistic and credible solution to the Sahara conflict.

President Tebboune told his regimes media that the decision was that of Sanchez and had nothing to do with the Spanish state, a statement that shows his ignorance of how decisions are made in a democracy.

Sanchez had said that support for Moroccos autonomy plan is a state policy and that the Spanish government would act accordingly.

Albares, in his radio interview, said however that what matters for Spain is that Algeria would uphold its gas supply deals with Spain.

El Confidencial in a recent article said that Spain and Europe are supporting Morocco, a source of stability and a gate to Africa, while dealing with Algeria only as a mere gas supplier.

It wrote that Algeria cannot cut gas because that is what it lives on!
Manish V. Bais, a BU Goldman School of Dental Medicine assistant professor of translational dental medicine, has found the lysine-specific demethylase 1 protein is a potential oral cancer druggable target, knowledge that may one day help doctors take down tumors. Credit: Cydney Scott for Boston University Photography

The most common head and neck canceroral squamous cell carcinomaoften starts off, as many other cancers do, quite innocently. Perhaps as a little white patch in the mouth or a small red bump on the gums. Easy to ignore, to downplay. But then something changes, and the little blotch becomes more ominous, starts growing, burrowing into connective tissue.

Patients who are lucky enough to see a dentist before things take a nasty turn have a shot at being able to prevent the lesions from turning cancerousor can at least make sure treatment starts when it's most effective. But for those who aren't that lucky, the outlook can be bleak: the five-year survival rate of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is around 66 percent. More than 10,000 Americans die of oral cancer every year; smokers and drinkers are hardest hit.

Now, researchers at Boston University's Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine have found that dialing backor even genetically deletinga protein that seems to spur the cancer's growth might help limit a tumor's development and spread. They say their findings make the protein, an enzyme called lysine-specific demethylase 1, a potential "druggable target"something that doctors could aim chemo and immuno-oncology therapies at to take down a tumor. The study was published in February in Molecular Cancer Research.

Given that at least one-third of Americans don't visit a dentist regularly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the discovery could be a future lifesaver for those who miss out on preventative care.

"These findings have significant implications for new and potentially more effective therapies for oral cancer patients," says Manish V. Bais, a lead author on the study and SDM assistant professor of translational dental medicine. "This study is an important step toward the development of novel groundbreaking therapies to treat oral cancer."

Maria Kukuruzinska, SDM's associate dean for research and a coauthor on the study, says it was rare in the past for dental schools to be diving into the science behind head and neck cancers, with most of the research happening in cancer centers. But that's changing and "dental schools have an advantage over traditional cancer centers when it comes to investigating the science behind the development of OSCC," she says, "because we can get access to premalignant lesions, where cancer centers basically just see patients who are presenting with fully developed disease."

Helping the body fight back: Anti-tumor immunity

Once OSCC takes hold, says Bais, there's little chance of eliminating it completely. Clinicians can try chemotherapy and radiotherapy, even cutting out a tumor. "But there is no cureyou can shrink the tumor, but not eliminate it," Bais says.

In previous research, Bais had found that lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1)an enzyme that typically plays a crucial role in normal cell and embryo developmentgoes out of control, or is "inappropriately upregulated," in a range of cancers, including in the head and neck, as well as those in the brain, esophagus, liver, and lung.

"The expression of this enzyme goes up with each tumor stage," says Bais, who's also a member of BU's Center for Multiscale & Translational Mechanobiology. "The worse the tumor, the higher the expression of this protein."

In his lab, Bais began testing what would happen to tumors in the tongue if LSD1 was blocked. To restrict the enzyme, the researchers either knocked it outby manipulating genes so LSD1 is effectively switched offor used a type of drug called a small molecule inhibitor, which enters a cell and impedes its normal function. Already in clinical trials for treating other cancers, small molecule inhibitors haven't previously been tested against oral cancer. Bais found that disrupting LSD1 curbed the tumor's growth.

"The aggressiveness, or bad behavior, of the tumor went down," he says. "We found that when we inhibit this protein, it promotes anti-tumor immunityour body tries to fight by itself."

But LSD1 isn't the only troublemaker in the tumor: when it's upregulated, it messes with a cell communication processthe Hippo signaling pathway-YAPthat normally helps control organ growth and tissue regeneration. Bais says YAP, LSD1, and a couple of other proteins then get stuck in a vicious cycle, each one pushing the other into increasingly aggressive and harmful moves. "We need to break this cycle," says Bais.

To find a new way of doing that, the researchers coupled the effort to inhibit LSD1 by targeting YAP with a different inhibitor, a drug called verteporfin. Originally developed to help treat serious eye conditions like macular degeneration, verteporfin is being tested by other researchers as a potential cancer treatment, including in ovarian cancer. The combination proved effective, according to Bais. He also threw a third drug into the mix. Bais says using the LSD1 inhibitor in combination with a common immunotherapy drug that helps white blood cells in the immune system kill cancer cellsan immune checkpoint inhibitor called anti-Programmed Death 1 ligand antibody"showed a favorable response."

"Our findings provide a basis for future clinical studies based on the inhibition of LSD1, either as monotherapy or in combination with other agents to treat oral cancer in humans," he says. The work was recently boosted with a new $2.6 million National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research grant. "Although our studies are preclinical, restricted to mice and some human tissue, we want to expand to look at human clinical trial samples."

Predict success in humans

According to Kukuruzinska, Bais' focus on the biology of oral cancer may also help make the development of other future treatments more efficient.

"People get very excited when you have a drug that may show some positive preliminary results, but very frequently, these studies move forward to humans, cost billions of dollars, and then eventually fail," says Kukuruzinska, who's also director of SDM's predoctoral research program and a professor of translational dental medicine. "If you really understand what pathways, what cell processes are impacted by these inhibitors, then it allows you to predict in advance whether something is going to be successful in human patients."

At BU, the dental school has a teaching clinic on site and shares a campus with the BU School of Medicine and its primary teaching hospital, Boston Medical Center. It's also home to BU's Head & Neck Cancer Programwhich pairs basic science researchers with clinicians to look at the underlying mechanisms of oral cancersand Center for Oral Diseases, a multidisciplinary clinical-research collaborative.

"So, we can think about disease interception," says Kukuruzinska. "And perhaps think about preventing the tumor from happening."

With access to a clinicas well as head and neck surgeons from the neighboring hospitalresearchers like Bais can test any new treatments and approaches on human tissue samples.

"It's a holy grail," Kukuruzinska says of the human samples. "We can interrogate them for responses to small molecule inhibitors, by capturing tumor slices and trying to treat them with different inhibitors to see the response."

Eventually, it could also open the door to personalized, precision medicine, with researchers trialing different therapies on tissue from individual patients. "And then it will predict whether this person can be treated with this study," says Kukuruzinska. "This is something we really want to develop."

With students involved in many of the research projectsthree were coauthors on Bais' paper and another, Thabet Alhousami (SDM'22), was a lead authorit means future dentists produced at BU will head into the clinic with a sharper eye for potential malicious bumps and blotches.

"They will be able to say, 'This is precancerous or cancerous'it will impact their diagnoses," says Bais. "Then, in terms of therapy, because they're now aware of what can work, what immunotherapy can work, they can make specific reference to where patients should go next. It can improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment in the long term."

Explore further Anti-cancer dream cream shrinks oral tumors

More information: Thabet Alhousami et al, Inhibition of LSD1 attenuates oral cancer development and promotes therapeutic efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade and Yap/Taz inhibition, Molecular Cancer Research (2022). Journal information: Molecular Cancer Research Thabet Alhousami et al, Inhibition of LSD1 attenuates oral cancer development and promotes therapeutic efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade and Yap/Taz inhibition,(2022). DOI: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-21-0310
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Anna Lynn Heine has thought about dropping out of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg more times than she cares to admit.

Or she'll work on an essay and wonder what is even the point.

Anxiety about the planet's future has also kept the 21-year-old from enjoying dinner with family or drinks with friends. A plastic cup can send her into an existential spiral.

"Where did this food come from? Where's this plastic going to go and how many fossil fuels were burned for it to arrive at my table?" she'll ask herself. "And is this going to go to a landfill if I don't finish it?"

Mental health professionals have a term for the stress and grief many feel about the planet's future: eco-anxiety. The American Psychiatric Association defines it as "chronic fear of environmental doom." It can lead to anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

A Nature study published in September surveyed 10,000 young people in 10 countries and found that most respondents are "very worried" or "extremely worried" about climate change. Nearly half of them said climate anxiety impacts their daily lives.

Heine is an environmental studies major in Jo Huxster's climate change communications class at Eckerd College. The assistant environmental studies professor said almost every student in her class has eco-anxiety.

Huxster's course examines the psychology of climate denial and the ways different sectorsthe media, government, corporationsdiscuss climate change. Students learn how to run an organizing campaign to address climate policy and ways to talk about it with climate denialists and the apathetic.

Heine, who mostly grew up in Miami and Key West, said she's most anxious about the rising threat of natural disasters due to climate change and the suffering that will occur along class and racial lines.

She mourns for her hometown of Miami, where scientists predict sea level rise will displace nearly a third of the current population by the end of the century.

"It's going to be a painful ending," Heine said, "and it's going to happen in an unjust way."

'What do you have control over?'

Anxiety about the planet's future increasingly comes up in Orlando therapist Kaley Sinclair's sessions with clients.

Sinclair, a licensed mental health counselor and trauma specialist, said her adolescent and young adult clients discuss feeling a sense of doom about the environment. Those with young children, or thoughts of having kids, contend with the guilt of forcing the next generation to inherit a hotter, less inhabitable world.

Many, she said, are childhood trauma survivors, who struggle with a pervasive feeling of being unsafe.

Sinclair didn't learn to treat climate anxiety or grief in graduate school, but realized that the number of clients needing professional help will only grow. In February, she registered with the Climate Psychiatry Alliance, a professional group that offers resources and training.

The Alliance created the Climate-Aware Therapist Directory, a resource to help people find therapists who have pledged to recognize the climate crisis is a threat to physical and mental health. There are about 100 therapists in the directory, but Sinclair is one of just two in Florida.

About a third of her clients have shared anxiety or grief about the environment. Her response is tailored to each client, but she encourages them to stay grounded in the present and think about constructive ways to improve their feelings.

"Okay, what do you have control over?" Sinclair tells them. "What can you do to try to make an impact while validating that a lot of things are outside of your control?"

Huxster tells her students the best thing any individual can do is to talk about the climate crisis. About 70 percent of the U.S. population knows climate change is real, she said, but only 30 percent talk about it. She hopes to direct attention towards effective climate action: transitioning away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy and electrifying transportation.

"Your own carbon footprint is very small," Huxster said. "What's most important about your actions is how they affect the actions of the people around you."

'We didn't create this problem'

Love for the ocean brought one of Huxster's Eckerd students, Anya Cervantes, from suburban Massachusetts to Florida to study the environment. Fear for the oceans fuels her eco-anxiety.

The 22-year-old is a licensed scuba diver. She finds peace underwater, among swaying coral, a vibrant ecosystem that supports a quarter of all marine life.

"It's a spiritual experience for me," she said.

Her dream is to see Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which is already 60 percent bleached due to heat stress. She hopes she'll make it in time to see what remains, but she also feels guilty for wanting to go at all (The United Nations predicts that airplane emissions of carbon dioxide will triple by 2050).

Huxster's class has helped Cervantes think about ways she can combine her passion for environmental justice and her second major, visual arts, into a career that could help address the problems the world faces.

While the 22-year-old can't imagine not dedicating herself to alleviating the climate crisis, she's also frustrated about the pressures placed on her generation to solve it.

"The younger generation is almost put on a pedestal to save the planet," she said. "It's like, we didn't create this problem."

'I would rather try'

For Huxster, researching climate changecontending with the dire data on a near daily basiscreates a source of anxiety. She has a 2 year old son and worries about what the future will look like for him and the people he will know.

But her work also makes her feel good. This semester, she said three students decided to pursue careers in translating climate science to different audiences. Every year, more students sign up for her 25-person course than it has space for.

The professor dedicates the last week of her class to discussing eco-anxiety and grief.

Students share how they feel and read a chapter of Per Espen Stoknes' book "What We Think About When We're Trying Not To Think About Global Warming."

The chapter, titled "It's Hopeless but I'll Give It My All," discusses taking action even when the odds are overwhelming.

Heine admits that she needs to find a way to care about the climate that's sustainable for her mental health. And so that she can continue to wake up every day and do the work.

She knows she won't drop out. She will finish the essay. And she plans to have kids.

"I wouldn't prevent new life that could build things to be better just because of fear. I would rather try to continue to build the future."

Explore further Americans report mental health effects of climate change, worry about future

2022 Tampa Bay Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID

New research to be presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal (23-26 April), suggests that the clinical trajectories and characteristics of long COVID may be different depending on the severity of the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The large population-based study conducted during the first three waves of the pandemic, by Dr. Pontus Hedberg from the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden and colleagues, also found a substantially higher rate of outpatient primary care use among individuals with long COVID-19, indicating persistence of the condition well beyond the initial infection.

The occurrence and risk factors of post COVID-19 condition, more commonly known as long COVID, and associated healthcare use before and after initial infection remain poorly understood.

To find out more, researchers conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study of 205,241 adult residents (aged 18 or older) of the Stockholm Region who had received a positive SARS-CoV-2 test between 1st March 2020 and 31st July 2021, and were alive 90 days after their test result, with and without a long COVID diagnosis. Individuals were determined to have long COVID if they received a diagnosis of post COVID-19 condition anytime between 90 and 360 days after their first positive test.

Modeling was used to analyze associations between age, sex, severity of infection, underlying medical conditions, previous healthcare usage, sociodemographic factors (eg, region of birth, education level and residential area type) and long COVID in non-hospitalized, hospitalized patients, and ICU-treated individuals.

In addition, individuals with long COVID-19 were propensity score matched to individuals without long COVID-19 by these factors as well as month of first positive test to assess healthcare use before and after the initial infection.

Among 205,241 adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection, almost a third (32%) of those treated for COVID-19 in ICU developed long COVID, as well as 6% of those hospitalized, and 1% of outpatients.

Fatigue was the most common registered symptom diagnosis among non-hospitalized patients (26%); while shortness of breath was the most frequently registered symptom diagnosis in both hospitalized patients (23%) and those treated in ICU (39%).

Analyses suggest that women were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with long COVID compared to men among individuals with milder forms of initial infection, who did not require hospital care. A weaker association with female sex was also found among hospitalized but not ICU-treated individuals.

A history of mental illness or asthma was associated with twice the risk of being diagnosed with long COVID in people with initially mild COVID-19. This association was less pronounced among hospitalized individuals, and not seen among ICU-treated individuals.

The study also found a strong association between a history of outpatient primary care visits and long COVID-19 in those with initially mild COVID-19, but not in those who were treated in hospital or the ICU.

In addition, the researchers found the rate of outpatient care visits in people with long COVID-19 were substantially higher in the 10-12 months after the initial infection compared to before, indicating persistence well beyond the acute infection.

According to Dr. Hedberg, "Many of the symptoms and risk factors reported in this study have been previously implicated in long COVID, but different study populations, assessment windows, and definitions of long COVID-19 prevents direct comparison between different studies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the long COVID diagnosis issued by the WHO has been investigated across different severities of the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection."

He continues, "Our findings reveal different associations between age, sex, comorbidities, symptoms, and healthcare use in people with more severe and milder forms of disease, which indicates different clinical trajectories and characteristics of long COVID. Future research should focus on better understanding the persistence of this debilitating condition across different groups of individuals."

Despite the important findings, this is a retrospective observational study of a new diagnosis, and as such the observed associations do not necessarily indicate causation. In addition, the researchers acknowledge that they were unable to explore the impact of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination or the recent Omicron variant on long COVID, or to rule out the possibility that other unmeasured factors may have affected the results.

Provided by European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
Researchers with IU's Observatory on Social Media considered the question of how misinformation affects COVID-19 vaccination behavior. Credit: Liz Kaye, Indiana University

Misinformation posted online about the COVID-19 vaccine was associated with hesitancy toward inoculation and lower vaccination rates in some geographical areas of the United States, according to a paper written by a team of researchers from Indiana University's Observatory on Social Media, known as OSoMe.

"Online misinformation is linked to early COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy and refusal," published April 26 in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, also found that counties whose residents were more hesitant to receive vaccinations were more likely to have a higher number of Republican voters or Black residents.

The research was a collaboration between OSoMe and the Polytechnic University of Milan in Italy. The researchers studied the relationship between misinformation, behaviors and health outcomes, specifically the way COVID-19 vaccination rates and vaccine hesitancy correlate with levels of misinformation online.

"Misinformation is generally assumed to have a big impact on behavior, but there are few studies that investigate this topic," said John Bryden, executive director of OSoMe. "We hope this work adds to the picture."

Bryden said the researchers considered the question of how misinformation affects vaccination behavior after seeing a lot of misinformation posted online during the vaccine rollout and wondering why some states were lagging behind others in vaccination rates.

In 2021, the OSoMe team developed CoVaxxy, a publicly available dashboard, to explore the relationship between misinformation on Twitter and attitudes about COVID-19 vaccines. They used CoVaxxy to collect data from Twitter from Jan. 4 to March 25, 2021. The timeline was chosen because once the vaccine became available to everyone, the issue was no longer supply but demand, said Filippo Menczer, director of OSoMe.

Vaccination has been the key to fighting the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, and populations must reach a threshold rate to achieve herd immunity. However, examples of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine have included claims that they genetically manipulate the population, or contain microchips that interact with 5G networks, the researchers said in the paper.

Misinformation was identified by considering tweets that contained links to articles from a list of low-credibility sources, as compiled by a politically neutral third party.

The researchers also collected vaccine hesitancy results from surveys posted on Facebook, and obtained state- and county-level vaccination rates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccine uptake was measured by the number of daily vaccinations in each state from March 19 to 25, 2021, according to CDC measurements.

The research shows a link between online misinformation and lower vaccination rates. Credit: Francesco Pierri

More than 22 million individual responses to daily surveys on Facebook in February and March 2021 found high levels of vaccine hesitancy, with about 40 to 47 percent of American adults hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine, the researchers wrote.

The research found that political partisanship was strongly associated with lower vaccination rates, notably in conservative regions. Republican-majority states and counties showed higher levels of misinformation, greater vaccine hesitancy and lower vaccination rates.

"It was not initially obvious that there would be a connection with politics, but it turned out to be," Menczer said.

Ethnicity also had a big impact on hesitancy, with Black Americans having a lower vaccination rate. Historical disparities in how Black people and other minorities have been treated in the U.S. health care system compared to white people could have been an additional factor contributing to hesitancy and lower vaccination rates, Menczer said.

The study, for the time period examined, confirmed previous results that linked a number of factors to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, the researchers said, with hesitancy rates in the U.S. highest among three groups: African Americans, women and conservatives.

The researchers wrote that the data predict COVID-19 will remain a problem in the U.S., and they explain the importance of combating misinformation.

"While people have a constitutional right to free speech, it is important to maintain an environment where individuals have access to good information that benefits public health," the researchers said.

Francesco Pierri, the paper's first author and a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, was brought into the research as a visiting scholar at OSoMe because of his research on understanding the spread of misinformation, disinformation and digital misbehavior in online social networks.

The paper's other authors were Matthew R. DeVerna, Kai-Cheng Yang and Alessandro Flammini, from OSoMe, and Brea L. Perry, from the Department of Sociology in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

More information: Francesco Pierri et al, Online misinformation is linked to early COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy and refusal, Scientific Reports (2022). Journal information: Scientific Reports Francesco Pierri et al, Online misinformation is linked to early COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy and refusal,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10070-w
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

People who have high premeditated or impulsive aggressive tendencies online are likely to cyberbully others, according to a new University of Michigan study.

But anyone can be an online offendernot just certain groups of people, the study indicated.

Researchers from the School of Information and the Law School examined what psychological characteristics predicted how internet users behaved in aggressive online conflict.

Online harassment can range from a brief, single incident between strangers to sustained threats. U-M researchers sought to learn more about these behaviors and their consequences.

"We focus on specific behaviors that are most likely harmful rather than the label 'harassment,'" said Song Mi Lee, the paper's lead author and School of Information doctoral student.

More than 300 adults completed self-reports about situations of disapproval or anger against other people. About 162 of them engaged in at least one harassing behavior.

Among the factors studied included impulsivity, moral disagreements, disinhibition, reactive/proactive aggression and impulsive/premeditated aggression.

The respondents were asked if they have called someone an offensive name, have spread reputation-damaging rumors about someone, have shared embarrassing photos or videos of someone without their permission and more.

Credit: University of Michigan

"This approach, we believe, captures more accurate self-reports than bluntly yet ambiguously asking, "Have you ever harassed others online?'" Lee said. "We want to get rid of the idea that harassers are a particular group, or a special species. Everyone has the capacity to cause harm to others in online spaces."

Some common assumptions about perpetrators of online harassment have been tied to demographic factors, such as white men or those with certain political views. Many previous studies focused on how particular populations tend to engage in harassing behavior, Lee said.

But the study shows a different picturepsychological factors such as aggressive tendencies are stronger predictors of online harassing behavior. The current iteration of the survey with a nationally representative sample also supports this finding.

Lee said social media platforms have relied on after-the-fact remediation of online harassment, such as deleting posts or banning reported usersafter the harm has already been done.

"We explore if we can have preemptive measures against online harm, which requires a more in-depth understanding of who harasses others online, and why," she said.

Explore further Survey: 4 in 10 US adults have experienced online harassment

More information: Characteristics of People Who Engage in Online Harassing Behavior. Characteristics of People Who Engage in Online Harassing Behavior. programs.sigchi.org/chi/2022/program/content/73298
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A newly discovered gene defect among people of Inuit ancestry in Greenland, Canada and Alaska will possibly lead to screening of all newborn Inuits as they will otherwise be at risk of dying from child vaccines or simple viral infections.

The gene defect was discovered in close collaboration between researchers from Aarhus University and Newcastle University as well as pediatricians and clinical immunologists in Denmark, Greenland, Alaska and Montreal in Canada.

For several weeks, medical doctors at Rigshospitalet had difficulty diagnosing a very ill 22-month-old Greenlandic child. The child showed signs of meningitis, and there was also a suspicion of tuberculosis, which is relatively common in Greenland. The treatment did not work as intended and the child's condition was serious. So the medical doctors contacted Professor Trine Hyrup Mogensen at the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University in March 2021.

Trine Hyrup Mogensen's group has extensive expertise in diagnostics conducted via whole genome sequencinga method in which the researchers map the entire genome of a person based on a laboratory analysis of blood or tissue.

The results of the analysis of the child's genetic genome were surprising.

Must not lead to vaccine hesitancy

"A whole genome sequencing was carried out and this revealed a defect in the gene IFNAR2. Initially we didn't think that the defect was responsible for causing the disease, because it's a new mutation that doesn't appear in databases as pathogenic," explains Trine Hyrup Mogensen.

The researchers carried out analyses of the patient's cells and infected these with herpesvirus and measles virus. It quickly became apparent that the patient's cells were unable to mount any kind of antiviral response. The cells could not form the signal molecule interferon, which is normally released by cells during viral infections to mobilize the body's antiviral defense mechanisms. There was uncontrolled viral production in the patient's cells and the cells simply died.

Trine Hyrup Mogensen's group came into contact with colleagues in Newcastle, who also work with gene defects in the immune system.

The British researchers were focusing on children from Alaska and Canada.

"The children died or became very ill after COVID-19 infection, influenza or two or three weeks after the MMR vaccine. This is very unusual, but when we compared gene sequences, there was a match," says Trine Hyrup Mogensen.

"The new mutation is not classified as being pathogenic, but it's quite clear that it is a gene defect," she explains.

The next step was to examine how frequent the serious defect is, and this was possible in collaboration with University of Copenhagen, which has a biobank of blood samples from 4600 Greenlanders. It turned out that 1 out of 1500 had inherited the gene defect from both parents and were therefore extremely susceptible to viral infections and vaccines with live viruses such as the MMR vaccine.

This led to both a research effort and a preventive initiative to protect Inuit families from being affected by the gene defect and suffering serious viral infections.

"The discovery means that screening ought to be carried out. At the same time, it's extremely important that this doesn't lead to vaccine hesitancy among the populations affected. In Greenland, 80% are MMR vaccinated, but the figure is only 40% in more remote areas," explains Trine Hyrup Mogensen, who is in contact with the chief medical officer in Greenland.

Deaths can be avoided

"The gene defect is so frequent in the population that we're able to publish the study and hopefully create a change for many families. Deaths can be avoided. It's a question of the families allowing themselves to be vaccinated and examined. Children with the gene defect shouldn't be given live vaccines, and they must be given preventive, antiviral drugs and non-living, safe vaccines against influenza and COVID-19 at an early stage," she says.

The researchers are currently applying for access to the heel prick blood test that all Greenlandic newbornslike Danish newbornsundergo when 2-3 days old.

"In collaboration with the pediatricians from Rigshospitalet, we're ready to conduct analyses of heel prick test samples as soon as we get the green light. If all goes well we'll be given permission within six months and new guidelines will be ready within a year," says Trine Hyrup Mogensen.

Inuit is the shared name for a number of Arctic peoples living in Greenland, Canada and Alaska. Trine Hyrup Mogensen does not know exactly why this gene defect is common here rather than in e.g. Europe or the U.S..

"The Inuit population in Greenland originated from Northern Alaska more than a thousand years ago, and the genes from that time must have been selected in the remote societies, perhaps because they had a protective effect and have thus been beneficial in relation to other diseases," she says.

"It's quite possible that some of the children who have so far died under unexplained circumstances in these regions have died as a result of serious viral infections after natural infection or vaccination with live-attenuated vaccines due to the gene defect."

The research was published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Explore further Chickenpox virus fatal in newly discovered immunodeficiency

More information: Christopher J.A. Duncan et al, Life-threatening viral disease in a novel form of autosomal recessive IFNAR2 deficiency in the Arctic, Journal of Experimental Medicine (2022). Journal information: Journal of Experimental Medicine Christopher J.A. Duncan et al, Life-threatening viral disease in a novel form of autosomal recessive IFNAR2 deficiency in the Arctic,(2022). DOI: 10.1084/jem.20212427
The energy of pump signal at 1.55m band was converted to the idler signal at 1.9m via four-wave mixing (FWM) and then it was amplified by a thulium-doped fiber (TDF) to output. Credit: Jiawei Shi, Mingsheng Li, Huajun Tang, Jiqiang Kang, Najia Sharmin, Amir Rosenthal, Kenneth K. Y. Wong

An advancement in ultrasound imaging is photoacoustic imaging (PAI), in which the skin or tissue absorbs pulses of laser light. The thermoelastic expansion of the skin or tissue emits sound, which is processed by the machinery to develop high-resolution images. Recent developments have theorized the existence of vibrational PAI, which could penetrate further into the skin.

In a new paper published in eLight, a team of scientists led by Professor Kenneth K. Y. Wong of the University of Hong Kong has developed a high-power hybrid laser emitter designed to penetrate deep into the skin. The paper, titled "Hybrid optical parametrically oscillating emitter at 1,930 nm for volumetric photoacoustic imaging of water content," sought to map out the water content in the body to analyze the biological properties of cells, tissues, and organs.

The PAI technique needs to generate high-resolution images with a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The laser needs to have a high laser pulse energy, fast pulse repetition rate, and accurate wavelength tunability to achieve this goal. Water absorbs energy at a relatively low wavelength of about 1000 nm, which usually requires milli-joule level pulse energy. That sort of energy can burn the skin, while the lasers that operate at that level are expensive.

The research team developed a high-power all-fiber hybrid optical parametrically-oscillating emitter (HOPE) at 1930 nm. It is the best wavelength for determining the water content of tissue and fats. The HOPE emits laser pulses every 15 nanoseconds (ns), with a 1 nm bandwidth. The research team verified the performance of their system through a proof-of-concept optical-resolution PA microscope system.

A same piece of pork sample was scanned at both 1930 nm and 1750 nm for volumetric visualization of lipid-rich and watery components respectively. Credit: Jiawei Shi, Mingsheng Li, Huajun Tang, Jiqiang Kang, Najia Sharmin, Amir Rosenthal, Kenneth K. Y. Wong

The team found that the 1930 nm system improved penetration depth by 2.4 mm. The research team owed it to reducing photon scattering in the tissue within the shorter wavelength near-infrared lasers. The improved penetration ability could facilitate measurable imaging of water content in the deep tissue.

A piece of fresh salmon fish was imaged in a step of 30m. The imaging depth is around 2.4 mm, which is a result from the compromise between low scattering coefficient and high absorption coefficient of the water at 1930 nm. Credit: Jiawei Shi, Mingsheng Li, Huajun Tang, Jiqiang Kang, Najia Sharmin, Amir Rosenthal, Kenneth K. Y. Wong

Better measuring of water content could improve the quality of medical diagnosis going forward. These excellent advantages could help open broad biological research and disease diagnosis avenues.

Explore further Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy innovation enables simultaneous multicontrast imaging

More information: Jiawei Shi et al, Hybrid optical parametrically-oscillating emitter at 1930 nm for volumetric photoacoustic imaging of water content, eLight (2022). Jiawei Shi et al, Hybrid optical parametrically-oscillating emitter at 1930 nm for volumetric photoacoustic imaging of water content,(2022). DOI: 10.1186/s43593-022-00014-2
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Despite the ability of any Michigan pharmacy to dispense medication to combat opioid overdose without writing prescriptions, slightly more than half of pharmacies in the state offer the drug in such a way.

The standing order for naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, was passed by the Michigan legislature in 2016. This allows any pharmacist to dispense the overdose reversal drug without a prescriptionallowing friends, family members or other individuals to obtain naloxone for emergency use.

Researchers at Michigan Medicine conducted a survey of 662 standing order pharmacies for the paper published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. Findings reveal that just 54% of Michigan pharmacies offer naloxone without requiring a prescription.

"Our county maps reveal that areas with higher fatality rates had fewer pharmacies participating in the standing order or lacked any nearby pharmacy access," said Chin Hwa (Gina) Dahlem, Ph.D., FNP-C, FAANP, lead author of the paper, nurse practitioner and a researcher at the University of Michigan School of Nursing. "Naloxone is a life-saving medication for a person experiencing an opioid overdose. We need to continue our efforts to expand naloxone access through pharmacies, hospitals and community naloxone distribution programs to prevent overdose deaths."

Among pharmacies participating in the standing order in eight southeastern Michigan counties, 85% percent actually had naloxone available and 82% had ever dispensed it.

"It's not just enough to participate in the standing order, but you also have to have naloxone available on the shelves in those moments when somebody asks for it," said Keith Kocher, M.D., M.P.H., senior author of the paper and an emergency physician at University of Michigan Health. "The more pharmacies make naloxone available and have it on the shelves, the more likely we can get it into the hands of individuals at risk for an overdose to reduce harm and death from opioids."

Explore further Rapid increase in naloxone distribution after kits became available at Ontario pharmacies

More information: Chin Hwa Dahlem et al, Factors associated with naloxone availability and dispensing through Michigan's pharmacy standing order, The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse (2022). Chin Hwa Dahlem et al, Factors associated with naloxone availability and dispensing through Michigan's pharmacy standing order,(2022). DOI: 10.1080/00952990.2022.2047714
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A new study in breast cancer survivors has found that chemotherapy, while a critical part of breast cancer therapy, may also have some lasting dampening effects on natural immunity, but moderate fitness improvements can offer some protection against this effect.

Ohio State University researchers assessed participants' immune response to a typhoid vaccine, which was used in the study to stimulate the immune system in the same way unfamiliar disease-causing bacteria or viruses do.

The study measured same-day changes in inflammatory proteins and white blood cells that occurred during the women's innate immune responsethe first line of defense when an unrecognized substance invades the body. While all study participants produced the expected signs of inflammation after receiving the vaccine, three conditions led to a smaller response: previous chemo treatment, greater abdominal obesity (belly fat), and a low fitness level.

The fitness-related findings, however, also showed that participants whose fitness level exceeded the average by just a bitas measured by peak oxygen consumption during exerciseproduced a significantly larger immune response.

"As a group, breast cancer survivors, on average, have a lower level of fitness than their peers. In this study, women representing the average were in a low fitness category. Even within this group, moderate differences in fitness were associated with a better vaccine response," said lead author Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research (IBMR), professor of psychiatry in the College of Medicine and a member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Ohio State.

"It's important to tell breast cancer survivors, and others, that this doesn't mean you have to be at an Arnold Schwarzenegger level of fitness to benefit innate immunity. Relatively mild fitness can make a difference in response to a vaccine, and probably in response to an infection in real life."

The research is published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

Of the 158 postmenopausal participants, 108 had received chemo treatment between one and 10 years before the study began. Researchers assessed the women for central obesity based on abdominal fat composition and cardiorespiratory fitness level based on their maximum oxygen consumption while riding a stationary bike.

The uniform dose of the typhoid vaccine functioned as a model immune challenge, Kiecolt-Glaser said, which offered a window into how breast cancer survivors' innate immunity would respond to a viral or bacterial pathogen. Participants received either the vaccine or placebo over the course of two visits. As expected, the vaccine produced a significantly higher inflammatory response than the placebo.

To gauge the participants' natural immune response in the 7 1/2 hours after vaccination, researchers measured levels of two pro-inflammatory proteins, IL-6 and IL-1Ra, and white blood cells in blood draws taken every 90 minutes and compared them to pre-vaccination levels.

"We are born with innate immunity. As soon as you inject something that's foreign, you're going to stimulate these responses," said study co-author John Sheridan, associate director of the IBMR and professor of biosciences in Ohio State's College of Dentistry. "You need that inflammatory response, which is associated with immediate protection, to ultimately generate the other forms of the adaptive immune response.

"Anything that knocks down the early proinflammatory response puts you at risk for delayed development of adaptive immunity."

The adaptive immune response is specific to invading pathogens and is carried out by neutralizing antibodies and specialized white blood cells called T cells and B cells.

After controlling for participants' baseline differences in inflammatory markers, the results showed past chemo treatment, greater abdominal obesity and lower fitness were associated with lower IL-6 and white blood cell responses. Prior chemo had the strongest effectgenerating 44% and 35% lower levels of IL-6 and white blood cells, respectively, than levels produced by participants who did not receive chemo. This effect was consistent, regardless of how long ago the women had undergone treatment.

More promising, however, were results showing that a fitness level just slightly above the average increased IL-6 and the white blood cell count by at least 33%.

Kiecolt-Glaser said the study has important public health implications: greater awareness that innate immunity against infections may be reduced in breast cancer survivors even 10 years out from chemo treatment, and the health upside for just about anybody to engaging in a daily walkor even sitting less.

"The paper gives us more data in terms of why cancer survivors may have additional risks," she said. "And the findings send a clear message of just how important physical activity and minimizing belly fat is for robust immune function among breast cancer survivors, and particularly for those who received chemotherapy."

Kiecolt-Glaser also said that routine vaccinations, as recommended by a physician, are important for maximizing protective immunity in breast cancer survivors.

"Chemotherapy is life-saving for so many breast cancer patients, but there is a trade-off with some long-term side effects," said Dr. Peter Shields, deputy director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. "While we do not know if the immune effects in this study translate to actual later illness, exercise is an important antidote."

Explore further Third COVID-19 vaccination improves immune response in blood cancer patients

More information: Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser et al, Breast cancer survivors' typhoid vaccine responses: Chemotherapy, obesity, and fitness make a difference, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (2022). Journal information: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser et al, Breast cancer survivors' typhoid vaccine responses: Chemotherapy, obesity, and fitness make a difference,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.03.019
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For individuals in a committed relationship, there is a well-established two-way association between relationship quality and each partner's mental health. But what exactly about relationships shapes mental health? And which direction is strongerfrom mental health to relationship quality or relationship quality to mental health?

A new study from the University of Illinois and the University of Georgia sought to answer those questions by investigating associations between relationship factors and depressive symptoms among African American couples.

"This study aims to really understand what is it about relationship quality that seems to influence individuals' depressive symptoms, concurrently and over time. Relationship quality is a very broad term, and we wanted to look at more specific processes," says Allen Barton, assistant professor and Extension specialist in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at U of I and lead author on the paper, published in the Journal of Family Psychology.

The researchers surveyed 174 African American couples (348 individuals) four times over a 25-month period. The couples were part of a larger study on a family-centered relationship intervention program, selected from the control group that did not receive the intervention for the duration of the study. All couples were either married or cohabitating, and they were co-parenting at least one pre-adolescent child. All couples lived in rural Georgia and were mostly low-income families.

In the current study, the authors examined the effects of three aspects of relationship qualityrelationship satisfaction, ineffective arguing, and partner supportand their respective associations with depressive symptoms over time. Effects were considered in comparison to levels of other individuals ("between-person") as well as fluctuations relative to individuals' average levels ("within-person").

The authors found between individuals, higher relationship satisfaction and lower levels of ineffective arguing were associated fewer depressive symptoms, consistent with prior research. However, when looking at patterns of change over time within individuals, only partner support emerged as a significant factor.

"When an individual experienced higher than typical levels of partner support, relative to their personal average, they reported decreases in depressive symptoms over the next eight months. And conversely when an individual reported higher than average levels of depressive symptoms, they reported decreased partner support over time," Barton explains.

While the association between relationship factors and mental health goes both ways, the researchers found one direction to be more influential than the other.

"Our results also indicated partner support had a stronger effect on changes in depressive symptoms over time than depressive symptoms had on changes in partner support. The causal direction is stronger from relationships to mental health than the other way around," Barton says.

These findings have implications for research and practice.

"As researchers, we need to be methodologically rigorous in thinking about change over time. When working with complex bidirectional associations, we have to make sure we have the right modeling to be able to make causal inferences," Barton notes.

"For practitioners, these findings suggest partner support is a very relevant construct to target that influences mental health for individuals in a committed relationship. When looking to help couples, strengthening the sense of their partner being there for them, and they can turn to their partner in times of need, seems to have positive effects immediately and over time," he explains.

"Relationships and mental health are complex issues. When someone has mental health concerns, fixing their relationship will not necessarily be exhaustive. But our study provides strong evidence that relationship factors do influence mental health."

Barton notes there may be unique factors pertaining to minority couples, who often encounter external stress factors that could influence both relationship quality and mental health.

"Although not the focus of this research, it is possible partner support is particularly influential for African American couples because of specific challenges they face, such as racial discrimination and other stressors. It's a question for future research to show whether these findings hold across other populations," he says.

Barton is director of the Illinois Strong Couples project, an online research-based program offered in partnership with University of Illinois Extension. Couples seeking relationship assistance can sign up online to participate in the program, which is free of charge for qualifying couples in Illinois and other states.

The Department of Human Development and Family Studies is in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois.

The paper, "African Americans' Relationship Quality and Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Investigation of the Marital Discord Model," is published in the Journal of Family Psychology. Authors include Allen Barton, Justin Lavner, Naya Sutton, Sharde Smith, and Steven Beach.

Explore further New program for African American couples leads to stronger relationships, improved health

More information: Allen W. Barton et al, African Americans' relationship quality and depressive symptoms: A longitudinal investigation of the Marital Discord Model., Journal of Family Psychology (2022). Journal information: Journal of Family Psychology Allen W. Barton et al, African Americans' relationship quality and depressive symptoms: A longitudinal investigation of the Marital Discord Model.,(2022). DOI: 10.1037/fam0000967
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Obesity gaps are larger between segregated schools and smaller in racially-integrated schools among child populations, according to a new study in Obesity journal. This is the first study to examine childhood obesity disparities specifically within integrated schools to begin to elucidate the role of school segregation in the racial/ethnic patterning of obesity among youth.

"School-level racial segregation matters for child health disparities. Programs and policies to reduce gaps in obesity early in life must prioritize socioeconomically disadvantaged schools, and segregated schools attended primarily by children of color," said Brisa N. Sanchez, Ph.D., MS, MSc, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, Pa. Sanchez is the corresponding author of the study.

Recent studies have observed that racial or ethnic adult health disparities revealed in national data dissipate in racially integrated communities, supporting the theory that "place, not race" is a key driver of racial/ethnic health disparities. In other words, the characteristics of places and the systems or policies that influence place characteristics are more important than personal characteristics of individuals. This study tested this theory among children.

Publicly available overweight/obesity rates obtained from the California Department of Education (CDE) for fifth, seventh and ninth grade students attending state public schools in the 2018-2019 school year who participated in the California FitnessGram test were evaluated in this cross-sectional study for childhood obesity disparities. The FitnessGram is a physical fitness test required for all children in the aforementioned grades that is administered in the spring of the academic year.

The main outcome of interest is the body-composition assessment of the FitnessGram test. For this assessment, objectively measured height and weight are used to obtain children's body mass index (BMI). BMI is then compared with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's age- and sex-specific BMI reference distributions to categorize children into three groups: healthy fitness zone, needs improvement and high risk, which correspond to the BMI categories of normal weight, overweight and obese.

More than 1.3 million students were involved in the body composition assessment of the FitnessGram test of whom 54% were Latino, 23% were White, 9.5% were Asian, 5.4% were Black and 2.4% were Filipino. Data for the five major racial/ethnic groups included in the study was collected in more than 8,900 schools. Other races/ethnicities were excluded from the study due to small sample sizes within schools that led to masking of most of their data.

Results showed disparities within integrated schools and between segregated schools. The overweight/obesity gap between Latino, Black and Filipino children compared with White children was larger between segregated schools, relative to disparities within integrated schools:

Whereas the disparity in overweight/obesity between Latino and White children was 22% when comparing Latino children in Latino-segregated schools to White children in White-segregated schools, the disparity narrowed to 11% when comparing rates between White and Latino children in integrated schools.

The statewide disparity in overweight/obesity prevalence between Black and White children was 18% when comparing Black children in Black-segregated schools to White children in White-segregated schools, but narrowed to 6% within integrated schools.

The disparity between Filipino and White children was 8% between segregated schools, but reversed to -1% within integrated schools.

Overweight/obesity differences between Asian and White children were similar statewide and between segregated schools.

"Findings from this study suggest school segregation can foster the development of obesogenic conditions that disproportionately affect Latino, Black and Filipino childrens' obesity risks.

While this study sheds light into the importance of school segregation, further research is needed to identify the mechanisms through which racial/ethnic integration and segregation in schools influence the current disparities in childhood obesity rates," said Liliana Aguayo, Ph.D., MPH, an expert in childhood obesity disparities, TOS member and research assistant professor at Emory University's Hubert Department of Global Health in Atlanta, Ga. Aguayo was not associated with the research.

The study's authors add that future research should examine the joint role of individual-level economic factors and racial/ethnic segregation to shed additional light on disparities and ways to reduce them. The researchers add that they were unable to conduct analyses that jointly examine economic and racial/ethnic disparities because the publicly available data from the CDE does not allow cross-classification of these factors within schools. Future research should also employ analytical approaches to disentangle the confounding effects of segregation and person-level race/ethnicity and produce valid estimates of individual-level disparities attributable to person-level factors, and, thus amenable to individual-level interventions, instead of disparities driven by segregation and concomitant place-based or structural interventions. Given findings from this and previous studies, estimating disparities within more granular levels of geography is critical to more accurately assess environmental determinants of disparities.

Other authors of the study include Nuha Mahmood of the University of Michigan Medical School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh, San Francisco University, San Francisco, Calif; and Mika Matsuzaki of Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.

The study, titled "Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Childhood Obesity: The Role of School Segregation," will be published in the May 2022 print issue.

More information: Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Childhood Obesity: The Role of School Segregation, Obesity (2022). Journal information: Obesity Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Childhood Obesity: The Role of School Segregation,(2022). onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.23416
It seemed a simple prospecttake a low-dose baby aspirin tablet once a day and reduce your risk of ever suffering a heart attack or stroke.

But new science has shown it's not that simple.

Noting the drug's risk of dangerous bleeding, the nation's leading panel of preventive health experts has reversed course and now recommends that most people not start taking daily low-dose aspirin to prevent their first heart attack or stroke.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) updated its guidelines Tuesday to recommend against initiating daily low-dose aspirin in people 60 and older.

The choice for people between 40 and 59 would be between themselves and their doctor, but the task force warns that the "net benefit of aspirin use in this group is small."

The guidelines' change is mainly based on data from three large clinical trials published in 2018, all of which showed that the benefits of aspirin were minimal and definitely outweighed by the increased risk of gastrointestinal and brain bleeding.

"Those trials really showed essentially no benefit in reducing cardiovascular events but showed increased rates of bleeding," said Dr. Eugene Yang, chair of the American College of Cardiology's Prevention Section Leadership Council. "I think what we have really learned is that the benefit is really not apparent, and the harm has been consistently demonstrated in terms of increased major bleeding."

The task force also gathered data from 14 other randomized controlled trials regarding the potential bleeding harms of aspirin, said task force member Dr. John Wong, chief of clinical decision making and interim science officer at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Those trials involved more than 300,000 patients.

"We found that the taking of an aspirin on a daily basis might increase the odds of having a major gastrointestinal bleed, such as an ulcer, by about 60%," he said. "It also looks like the risk of bleeding within the brain is increased, between 20% to 30% depending on the type of bleeding."

Aspirin thins the blood by blocking the action of platelets, the blood cells that clump together to form clots and scabs.

Doctors had hoped that by reducing clotting, low-dose aspirin would also reduce the risk of clot-related heart attacks and strokes. A low dose is between 81 milligrams and 100 milligrams.

The update brings the task force recommendations closer in line with the primary prevention guidelines of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. Those guidelines were revised in 2019 to recommend that no one 70 or older start taking aspirin to prevent a stroke or heart attack, Yang and Wong said.

The new recommendation does not apply to people with existing heart problems who are taking low-dose aspirin, Yang said. That includes people who have had open heart surgery, undergone angioplasty, have had a stroke or heart attack, or have diagnosed blockages in major arteries.

"For those patients, where aspirin is clearly beneficial, the recommendation does not change," Yang said.

In addition, people who are already taking daily low-dose aspirin to prevent their first heart attack or stroke shouldn't just drop the practice without discussing it with their doctor, Wong said.

"Before any patient considers whether to stop a medication, I would strongly urge them to have a conversation with a trusted clinician," he said.

For his part, Yang said he will generally recommend that his patients stop taking daily aspirin.

"In my practice, if the patient is taking it, I will generally have a discussion and tell them that there really isn't a clinical need to continue taking it because there's no benefit, and most of the time the patients will stop based on my recommendation and our discussion," Yang said. "Some will elect to continue, but most patients will say, 'I don't want to take all these extra pills.'"

The new USPSTF guidelines were published April 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Explore further Should you take aspirin to prevent heart attacks?

Copyright  2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
MaR1 reduces pro-inflammatory cytokines in the spinal cord of EAE mice. Plot showing the fold change in cytokine protein levels of different cytokines in the spinal cord of EAE mice treated with MaR1 relative to those treated with vehicle (dotted line). Gray bars highlight those cytokines that are significantly regulated by MaR1. *p Journal of Neuroinflammation (2022). DOI: 10.1186/s12974-022-02386-1

A team led by the Institut de Neurociencies at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) managed to reduce chronic inflammation associated with multiple sclerosis in mice thanks to the administration of a type of lipid that mediates inflammation. The team found that these types of mediator substances, responsible for resolving the inflammatory process when it is no longer beneficial, are minimized in people with multiple sclerosis as well as in animal models of the disease. The use of these mediators could become a good strategy for the treatment of this autoimmune disease.

Acute inflammation is a protective response to infection that promotes tissue regeneration after injury. Once its function has been performed, a series of mechanisms regulated by lipids acting as mediators are responsible for resolving it. An error in the resolution response results in uncontrolled inflammation that is detrimental for the tissues. In multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disorder in which the body's defense cells attack the lining of the tail of neurons (myelin), the inflammation is persistent and plays a key role in the development of the disease.

A research team led by Ruben Lopez-Vales, Professor of Physiology at the UAB and researcher at the Neuroplasticity and Regeneration Group, INC-UAB, has managed to reduce the chronic inflammation associated with multiple sclerosis in a mice model of the disease, by administering one of the resolving lipid mediators of inflammation, Maresin-1. The substance exerted a therapeutic effect on mice, drastically reducing the amount of proteins promoting inflammation (cytokines), as well as the number of cells in the immune system in both the spinal cord and the blood. A continuous administration of the lipid over time also protected neurons from demyelination and improved the effects of neurological deterioration caused by the disease.

In the study, published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation, researchers looked at samples from patients with multiple sclerosis and from mice models, and found that there was insufficient production of Maresin-1 and other lipid mediators that end inflammation. The levels of these immunosuppressive substances, which were almost undetectable, prevented the inflammatory process from stopping.

"Our results suggest that one of the body's mechanisms for resolving inflammation is not working properly in patients with multiple sclerosis, which could partly explain the episodes of autoimmunity they experience," says Dr. Lopez-Vales.

The study, conducted in collaboration with the University of Montreal and the Universidad de La Republica in Uruguay, points to therapy with inflammatory-resolving mediators as an innovative and promising strategy for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases needing further research.

Finally, Lopez-Vales explains that the next steps will be a series of tests and experiments to demonstrate the safety of the administration of this lipid, which could allow them to address possible efficacy studies in humans.

Explore further Study shows that intranasal Rx halts memory decay in experimental Alzheimer's model

More information: Alba Sanchez-Fernandez et al, Administration of Maresin-1 ameliorates the physiopathology of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, Journal of Neuroinflammation (2022). Journal information: Journal of Neuroinflammation Alba Sanchez-Fernandez et al, Administration of Maresin-1 ameliorates the physiopathology of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis,(2022). DOI: 10.1186/s12974-022-02386-1
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Turkey on Tuesday lifted one of its last remaining COVID-19 restrictions, the wearing of masks in crowded indoor locations.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the relaxation in a televised meeting of the scientific board that has guided Turkey through two years of the pandemic. He said the board would not reconvene unless "extraordinary" circumstances arose.

"The obligation to use masks in closed spaces  has been completely removed," Erdogan said from Ankara. "Mask application will be continued for a while only on public transport vehicles and in health institutions until the number of (daily) cases falls below 1,000."

Over-65s and those with other health problems would be advised to continue wearing masks, he added.

The number of daily cases has dropped dramatically since early February, when more than 110,000 infections were recorded. Monday's daily data from the Health Ministry showed 2,604 cases and 15 deaths.

At the start of March the government lifted rules on wearing masks outside or in indoor areas with sufficient air circulation and social distancing. It also ended the need for people to show a cell phone app logging their personal health record when entering venues such as shopping malls.

Some 53 million of Turkey's population of 84.6 million have received at least two doses of vaccine, with nearly 28 million having had a third dose.

Explore further Turkey reports record daily number of COVID-19 deaths

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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The number of people living with atrial fibrillationa dangerous heart condition and major cause of strokehas increased by 72% in England over the last two decades, according to new research.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) now outstrips the combined number of people diagnosed with the four most common types of cancer (breast, prostate, lung and bowel cancer) and exceeds the number of people living with heart failure.

In the largest and most detailed study into AF, Leeds researchers used anonymized GP and hospital data from 3.4 million people in England to analyze those diagnosed with AF for the first time between 1998 and 2017. The participants included were representative of age, sex, ethnicity and socioeconomic status for the UK.

The number of people diagnosed with AF in England each year increased 72% from 117,880 in 1998 to 202,333 in 2017. Cases increased in men and women across all age groups.

The researchers, led by Chris Gale, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine in Leeds' School of Medicine, found that the increase in AF is largely due to an aging and more unhealthy population, putting immense pressure on healthcare services.

Over the study, more people were living with other health conditions at the time of their diagnosis, including high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, and the number of people with three or more other health conditions increased from 48% in 1998 to 68% in 2017.

After adjusting for age and sex, they found that the number of people diagnosed with AF increased by 30% across the two decades. More men were diagnosed with AF and at an average of five years earlier than women, which is thought to be partly due to more men having diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, coronary heart disease and having smoked.

The youngest and oldest individuals were most likely to be diagnosed in hospital. This suggests that new-onset AF is particularly troublesome in these groups, and measures should be put in place to prevent and detect AF early to reduce hospital admissions.

Health inequalities

The researchers also found that compared to the most affluent patients, people from the most deprived communities were 20% more likely to have AF, were diagnosed at an earlier age and had more health conditions at the time of diagnosis. They also revealed regional differences across England.

Despite these numbers, many more people will be living with hidden and poorly managed AF as not everyone experiences symptoms and detecting it is difficult.

AF comes and goes, and so an episode might not happen during the patient's appointment. It can also occur without symptoms, so a person may not know they have AF until they have a related cardiovascular event such as a strokearguably when it is too late.

AF happens when the electrical impulses in the top chambers of the heart fire chaotically when they should be steady and regular, causing them to quiver or twitch. This can cause blood to pool in these chambers which increases the risk of clots, life-threatening strokes and a decline in brain function. People with AF are five times more likely to have a stroke, and the stroke is more likely to be debilitatingwith a lower chance of survival.

Now, the team say that unveiling this "blueprint" should lead to changes in the way AF is prevented, detected and treated to bring cases, and the growing burden, back down.

Professor Gale and his team have already developed a new digital prediction tool for AF that aims to detect it early, which they hope can soon be trialed in the NHS.

Professor Gale says that "changes to healthcare are driven by data, and we've created the first blueprint of AF that lays bare the growing impact it is having on society. Our study paints a clear picture of the trends and gaps that need to be urgently addressed to achieve health equity and prevent unnecessary strokes. We hope that it can be used as a reference point to determine if new interventions and health strategies are successful in curtailing the rising tide of cases and burden that comes with AF."

Staggering rise

The research, which was published today in The Lancet Regional HealthEurope, was funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, BHF Medical Director, says that "the sheer rise in the number of people now living with AF is staggering, and yet on top of this, many more people will be unaware that they also have this hidden stroke risk in their heart."

"This research also highlights the health inequity that exists in AF and other health conditions such as obesity and high blood pressure that contribute to its development. It emphasizes that we need more targeted prevention strategies and new innovations to equip doctors to better detect the condition early so people can benefit from anti-clotting drugs and other life-saving treatment."

Dr. Jianhua Wu, Associate Professor of Biostatistics in Leeds's Faculty of Medicine and Health, says that "the increasing burden of AF is not just ringfenced to England. Population structures and health trends in England are similar to those seen across the rest of the UK, Europe, North America and Australasia, and so we can safely assume that the burden of AF is at an all-time high in these countries too."

Explore further Heart complications after a stroke increase the risk of future cardiovascular events

More information: Jianhua Wu et al, Temporal trends and patterns in atrial fibrillation incidence: A population-based study of 3.4 million individuals, The Lancet Regional HealthEurope (2022). Jianhua Wu et al, Temporal trends and patterns in atrial fibrillation incidence: A population-based study of 3.4 million individuals,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100386
AFTER THE controversial flyover issue, now the rice purchase made by the local government for Zamboanguenos at the height of the Covid-19 pa...
You brush your teeth twice a day to keep plaque from building up and see a dentist regularly for extra maintenance. It's just good hygiene.

But how often are you practicing mental hygiene?

Whether you have a specific concern or are just trying to get through your day a little better, taking about 15 minutes each morning to maintain your mental health is something everyone could benefit from, said Broderick Sawyer, a clinical psychologist in Louisville, Kentucky.

"This is the mental health equivalent of brushing your teeth before you need a root canal," he said.

The hygiene comes in the form of lowering levels of cortisol, the main stress hormone. An intentional daily practice for stress relief not only makes you feel better today -- studies suggest it could improve your well-being later in life.

Increased cortisol levels can lead to a number of physical health complications, according to research from 2020. And a study from 2016 found that emotional regulation has been shown to improve health resilience in older age.

Sawyer has culled together a method for mental health hygiene. He explained why it should be part of your routine and how you can build it into your life.

Yes, you do have 15 minutes

If you are stressed and overwhelmed, carving out 15 minutes in your morning for relaxation sounds like just another hurdle on your to-do list. That addition, however, will make the rest of the list easier to get through, Sawyer said.

"It's not about I don't have time, you have time for a lot of things," he said. "If we really can (practice mindfulness) throughout the day, then our mental health needs less of our energy, less of our juice."

Taking time to reset your mental space at the start means that the stressors of the day aren't piling on top of an already overwhelmed system.

And if you start the day stressed, that is often the baseline you come back to the rest of the day, Sawyer said. When you start with a clear, relaxed mind, you have a calm reference point to which you can return.

"Having a practice of mental health hygiene is like cleaning your mirror and looking into it, and you look in it and know what is and is not you," Sawyer said.

That understanding of what a relaxed baseline feels like and what brings you away from that can help you have compassion for yourself and others who may also get anxious or upset, he added.

"When we do these things every day, we essentially 'practice feeling happy,'" Sawyer said. "Then in turn, this can make us feel more confident when stressful life situations come up -- because we do a good job nourishing ourselves."

Here's how to build in your daily practice.

1. Try new activities

The first step in improving your mental health hygiene is experimenting with different activities -- anything that brings calm and lowers cortisol, Sawyer said.

"It's just learning to treat and cultivate that inner space with awareness," he added.

To start, set aside 15 minutes in the morning every day as time to slow down and intentionally focus on your inner well-being. The things you fill that time with could be ones you do every day anyway but made more relaxing -- like drinking your morning coffee slowly with some deep breaths or swapping talk radio for music you enjoy on your commute, Sawyer said.

But it also could help to switch things up, like sitting outside, going for a walk or stretching, he added.

The important thing is to continue trying new activities until you find something that works for you -- and don't be discouraged if it takes some time to see the benefit.

2. Track how it makes you feel

An important part of the experimentation is journaling, Sawyer said.

After trying a new activity in your 15 minutes, making note of how you felt afterward and during the rest of the day can help you discern what kind of things work best for you.

Are you calmer throughout the day? More energized? Better able to handle stress? The feeling you are looking for may change, but the aim is to cultivate a baseline feeling that helps you feel better as you go about the day.

Journaling can also help keep a positive attitude if you don't immediately get the results you are hoping for from your practice, he said.

"You just sort of trip onto those things through your own practice of intuitively trying things out. Then if they don't work, that's OK and just write that down," Sawyer said.

3. Pay attention to what you need at different times

No one action will work all the time, Sawyer said. It can make a big difference to keep an eye on what you need in different contexts.

"So, if I have a workday with a lot of meetings, maybe I need to be a little more chipper and buoyant. Maybe I need to be more laser-focused because it is a heavy writing day. Those are different energies," Sawyer said.

That could mean ending your 15 minutes with a shot of espresso on one day or doing a concentration meditation another day, he added.

4. Add through the day as needed

Eventually, that 15 minutes in the morning might not seem like such a chore. In fact, you might start to crave some check-ins with your mental state at more points throughout the day.

At any time that feels good, but at least three days a week, Sawyer suggested adding in some low-impact physical activity, like walking, biking or yoga.

It's also helpful to add in some time to wind down at the end of the day if you can, turning off work notifications, stepping away from screens and taking time to decompress, he added.

"Once we find that tool or collection of tools for ourselves, we then get to master how well we use it," Sawyer said.

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NEW ORLEANS (AP)  State House members in Louisiana voted Monday to fine-tune a law enabling either the House or the Senate to end or alter a governors emergency declarations.

The bill by Abita Springs Republican Lawrence Frieman follows clashes between Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and some GOP officials over now-expired mitigation efforts, such as mask mandates and public gathering limits, against COVID-19.

Current law already allows either chamber of the Legislature to cancel an entire emergency declaration by using a petition signed by a majority of its members.

The bill approved Monday at the Capitol in Baton Rouge would allow partial cancellation  a move backers said is needed because a complete cancellation could endanger federal funds.

It allows us to go in with a scalpel, Frieman said.

The bill was approved on a 65-31 vote over the objections of opponents who said the concept of allowing a single legislative body to cancel an emergency without the assent of the other is unconstitutional.

They also questioned language in Frieman's bill that changes a requirement that the legislative bodies consult with the state Health Department secretary before moving to end a public health emergency. The bill requires consultation with a public health specialist" with a degree from an accredited public health school. Frieman argued that the the law shouldn't require consultation with an appointee of the governor who makes the declaration.

Rep. Dustin Miller, an Opelousas Democrat, said Frieman should consider requiring consultation with a panel of experts as the bill moves through the legislative process. The bill goes next to the Senate.

House members voted in 2020 to end an Edwards public health emergency declaration. A state judge ruled that the law enabling one legislative body to cancel the declaration was unconstitutional, but the case never ended with a definitive appellate or Supreme Court ruling. An appellate court ruled the issue moot after the emergency order in question had expired.

If Frieman's bill becomes law, it would take effect on Jan. 8, 2024, when a new governor takes office, succeeding the term-limited Edwards.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
As home prices continue to climb to record highs in Missoula, community nonprofits are turning modular homes that were once intended for workers in the Bakken oil fields into permanently affordable housing for two lifelong area residents.

Homeword and Habitat for Humanity of Missoula are working together to help two East Missoulians attain homeownership using money from Missoulas new Affordable Housing Trust Fund and a long-term lease that ensures permanent affordability.

The modular homes will be available for two residents  a retired house painter and a working diesel mechanic  to purchase at a fifth of the cost of Missoulas median home price, said Heather Harp, the executive director for Habitat for Humanity of Missoula.

The project comes as home prices in Missoula continue to rise. The median home price in Missoula County has climbed to a new high of $510,000, according to a report released recently by the Missoula Organization of Realtors.

This is a beautiful partnership because youve got two nonprofits that are working on an innovative solution, said Andrea Davis, the executive director of Homeword. Is it only two homes? Yes, but every household that gets impacted is a win. And this is a model that can be used by other people and inspire other land sellers.

The homes will be placed on permanent foundations on land in East Missoula that a family sold at a discounted price to Habitat for Humanity. Homeword bought the modular homes from a surplus that was intended for workers in the once-booming Bakken oil fields of western North Dakota and northeastern Montana.

Habitat will use $190,000 from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund that the Missoula City Council unanimously approved spending to purchase the structures from Homeword and pay for costs associated with moving and repairing the homes.

After placing the homes on foundations and making any necessary repairs, Habitat will sell the homes to the new owners and hand over land stewardship to Trust Montana, a statewide community trust working to increase affordable properties for Montanans. Homeword will also help prepare the prospective homeowners by providing them with financial education.

Harp said the homes will be available for purchase by the prospective homeowners who make under 80% of the area median income. The area median income (AMI) is the midpoint of an areas income distribution, meaning half of the families in the area earn more than the median and half of the families earn less. Harp also said the mortgages for the homes will not exceed 30% of each households income.

A model for success

The project is based on a model that has proved successful in the past. Several years ago, Homeword purchased 10 modular homes that originally were meant for oil workers and placed six of those homes on permanent foundations in what was called the Montana Street Homes project.

The six homes were sold to households earning 80% or less of the area median income, which was about $36,900 or less for one person or $56,300 or less for a family of four in 2018, according to the American Community Survey. The 450-square-foot, one-bedroom home sold for $98,000 and the 550-square-foot two-bedrooms sold for $120,000. The land under the homes is permanently owned by Trust Montana, and the homebuyers lease it via renewable and inheritable 75-year agreements, according to Homewords website.

Homeword is no longer affiliated with the project because the land was transferred to Trust Montana after Homeword developed the properties. But Davis said that, to her understanding, all of the original homeowners from 2018 have remained.

The model of homeownership using a community land trust ensures long-term affordability for current and future homeowners and helps them build equity, Davis said.

But Davis also noted that community land trusts are only one tool for helping create affordable housing for Missoulians and said that many other changes, such as more development and changes to zoning that allow for more townhome development, are needed.

For their part, community land trusts are an effective way for Habitat for Humanity and its affiliates across the country to house more families, Harp said. The nonprofit will be able to place both the homes on the same lot because Missoula Countys zoning regulations allow developers to increase density for the purpose of permanent affordability.

The use of modular homes will allow Habitat for Humanity to house the two residents in East Missoula in a quarter of the construction time it typically takes the organization to complete a project.

Habitat is trying to pivot so that we can increase our production above and beyond two homes per year, Harp said. In order to do that, it requires us to be innovative so were looking at our construction methods.

In addition to conventionally built homes, Harp said Habitat for Humanity plans to pursue more modular homes.

Apart from the quick construction timeline, the use of modular homes also helps address a lack of homes for people who live alone.

According to AARP, the percentage of nuclear family households, or households that consist of two parents and one or more children, has been on a steady decline over the past 50 years while the percentage of single-person households has been on the rise. But the housing market hasnt kept up with the shift.

With this particular project, we got to do something weve never done before, Harp said. We got to focus on the single people, and this is the first time in our history that weve been able to do that and its in large part because these were already designed to be one bedrooms.

Davis said Homeword still has two modular homes that the organization is looking to place on land, and added that it would like to hear from anyone who might be interested in donating or selling land at a discount to nonprofits.

Harp also said Habitat for Humanity of Missoula will be holding a town hall meeting to educate the public about community land trusts on May 25.

We need to inform and educate people about the work we do, and we also need to inspire people to be the change we need to see happen, Harp said. Just like (those) who donated the lots to us a few years ago, we hope to inspire others to do the same.

This story was originally published in the Montana Free Press.

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Authorities arrested over a dozen people on Monday in connection to an all-day drug raid in Polson.

Polson police identified three houses throughout city limits believed to be interconnected in the use and distribution of meth and fentanyl, according to a Polson Police Department press release. In the two and a half week investigation, police determined there were kids living in one of the homes.

"We are committed to drug endangered children and to that end, residential search warrants were executed to safely remove these children from an atrocious environment," the press release said.

The operation started at 8:30 a.m. on Monday and wrapped up around 6 p.m. The homes targeted by law enforcement were located at 13th Avenue West, Seventh Avenue East and 12th Avenue East, Polson Police Captain George Simpson said.

Thirteen individuals were taken into custody on charges ranging from criminal possession of dangerous drugs, endangering the welfare of children, drug paraphernalia and resisting arrest, the release said. Four additional people were arrested but are not in custody due to jail overcrowding.

Two children were removed as part of a simultaneous CPS investigation.

Searches of the properties turned up suspected fentanyl and meth, along with multiple firearms and drug paraphernalia.

Decaying wildlife parts were located and seized, prompting a Flathead Tribal Game Warden investigation for possible wildlife violations. Multiple junk vehicles were also towed from the houses.

Names of the arrested individuals haven't been released yet to protect the privacy of the children and ongoing investigations, the release said.

Assisting agencies included Northwest MT regional SWAT team, Kalispell Special Response Team, Two Bear Air, Flathead Tribal Police, Tribal CPS, Tribal Game Warden, Flathead K-9 Foundation and Lake County Emergency Dispatch Center.

This would not have been possible without the cooperation from our community, assistance from our northwest Montana law enforcement partners and investigation by your outstanding Polson Officers," Police Chief Wade Nash said.

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A University of Montana official got to brag on Tuesday about improved freshman enrollment numbers for the first time in a decade. Missoulas mayor, at the same event, called for state tax reform measures to reduce the increasing burden on property owners as Missoula sees unprecedented demand for housing.

Kelly Webster, the associate vice president for strategic planning and implementation at the University of Montana, joined Missoula Mayor John Engen and others at the annual State of Missoula presentation hosted by the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce.

Webster noted that theres a lot of positive news in terms of student enrollment and retention at the institution.

Over the past four years  this is going to sound like a small number, but in higher education and public education its a huge number  the retention rate of our students at the University of Montana has grown by 7%, she said. Thats exceeded by only one of our peer institutions across the region."

About 75% of new students at UM are now continuing to their second year, up from about 68% four years ago. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the retention rate at public four-year institutions in the U.S. was 81% overall from the fall of 2018 to the fall of 2019.

Webster also noted that this years freshman class was 30% larger than last years freshman class, the first time that UM enrollment has rebounded in 10 years.

And all indications are it looks good for next year as well, Webster said.

The Missoula economy is closely intertwined with the University of Montana's fortunes, she observed, after noting that almost everyone in the crowd of over 200 had either graduated from UM, had family members who did or employed a UM grad.

Webster concluded her remarks by reiterating that the university also hit a historic milestone this past February when it earned the top-tier "R1" research status, which only about 3.7% of degree-granting institutions in America have obtained.

Mayor John Engen spoke to the crowd about what his constituents constantly ask him about. Property tax is the third thing he hears most about from Missoulians, he said, behind only housing and homelessness.

If I didnt have to charge (property taxes) I wouldnt, Engen said. Thats the short version. But I do. We have a broken tax system in the state of Montana. The tax system has crumbled over time.

He said that Montana used to rely on corporate taxpayers, industrial taxpayers and resource extraction taxes.

The economy of this state is much different than what it was 50, 75, 25 years ago, Engen said. Which has resulted in residential taxpayers paying more than their fair share of keeping the wheels on the bus, keeping the basic services that we rely on every day in the community, maintaining a level of service that allows us to be safe, sound and healthy, a place where people want to live.

Engen said local government has to find a balance between relying on Montanas tax system, which he called antiquated, challenging and upsetting, and getting work done.

Making sure that when you call 911, somebody shows up, he said. Making sure that when the toilets flush, it goes somewhere.

He said the city needs to make sure streets are kept up, public lighting works and parks are maintained.

The burden of paying for all that, Engen said, falls heavily on property owners in Montana because Montana has no statewide sales tax. That means that renters, by extension, are also saddled with that tax through the rents charged by their landlords. Montana also has the 15th highest individual income tax rate, according to WalletHub.

Engen said that the Montana Legislature needs to hear from people, especially property owners who have seen the value of their property rise, that a local option sales tax would benefit communities.

A (local option sales tax) is a creative tool that is deployed around the state in creative fashion, Engen said. In Whitefish, for example, infrastructure gets built all day long and property owners get a rebate at the end of the year. That is a system that works in Whitefish, it works in Red Lodge, it works in St. Regis and it can work in the city of Missoula.

The states current laws allow only small resort communities to implement a resort tax. Elected officials from Missoula and Bozeman have repeatedly pushed state lawmakers to allow larger cities to implement a local option sales tax, but bills that would do so have repeatedly died in the Legislature.

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If youve been looking for a way to foster pets and support fellow Missoulians, the YWCA needs local families to temporarily house pets while their owners transition into safety.

YWCA staff are looking to fill pet advocate positions. An advocate is a volunteer and can be anyone who lives in the Missoula vicinity, as long as they have the time and space to host a dog, cat or small mammal.

Pet foster families take in animals while their owners are getting services they need to be safe from domestic violence, YWCA Volunteer Coordinator Alena Haugo explained.

Animals know when their humans are in crisis, Haugo said. (Were looking for people who) have the time and energy to slow down with that animal and to give them the time and space while their human is getting the resources they need through us.

Stays typically range from 60 to 90 days, but can be as brief as two weeks.

A person interested in housing survivors pets will go through a brief, one-on-one training with Haugo. The training includes going over policies and guidance on how to care for the animal and avoid situations that might put them in harms way.

Haugo noted the YWCA hopes local landlords can be more pet-friendly.

Thats such a huge barrier both for people wanting to be pet advocates and for our survivors and un-housed families who want to go to permanent housing and keep their pet companions with them, Haugo said.

Some survivors cant part with their animals when they come to the shelter. The YWCA is looking to accommodate this through renovating three rooms in its on-site domestic violence shelter to make them pet-friendly.

Staff noticed individuals werent accessing YWCA emergency services because they couldnt bring their pets with them.

Its really hard to be separated from your pet in a time of crisis, Haugo said. Thats when we really started exploring the option of what we could do to remove that barrier."

Haugo brought the Humane Society of Western Montana in to consult on how to make the rooms friendly to four-legged mammals. The renovation will include installation of wood and tile floors as well as finding a designated outdoor area for animals.

Along with volunteers for foster families, Haugo says the YWCA needs pet supply donations and a veterinarian partnership.

The YWCA hopes this volunteer program can offer survivors peace of mind about their pets well-being while they seek emergency services, Haugo said.

Wed love to be able to offer that respite of making sure their animal is loved while theyre trying to put together the pieces, she said.

To sign up or get more information on volunteer advocate positions, call the main YWCA phone line at 406-543-6691.

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SHONTO, Ariz. (AP)  Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, whose tenure has been dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, is seeking a second term in office.

Nez made the announcement over the weekend from his hometown of Shonto. Nez, 46, highlighted his administration's handling of COVID-19 and said he wants to ensure that plans to rebuild the economy, and extend power and water lines continues.

We must continue on the path of recovery and healing together, he said in a statement.

A handful of others also have said they'll seek the position, including Buu Van Nygren, Ethel Branch, Frank Dayish Jr. and Earl Sombrero.

Nygren, a vice presidential candidate in the tribe's 2018 election, recently resigned as chief commercial officer at the Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority.

Branch, who served as Navajo Nation attorney general while Nez was vice president, launched a COVID-19 relief fund for Navajo and Hopi families that has raised over $18 million, according to its website.

Dayish lost a bid for the tribal presidency in 2006 after serving as vice president under Joe Shirley Jr. Dayish has since worked in administrative positions in the health care and housing industries.

Sombrero is the manager of a Navajo chapter, or precinct, near the Arizona-Utah border.

The deadline to file for the tribe's top elected post is May 4. More than a dozen people typically run for president of the Navajo Nation, which has the largest land mass of any Native American tribe in the U.S. and is second in population with about 400,000 tribal members.

The primary election is Aug. 2. The top two vote-getters move on to the November general election.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Candidates for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvanias open U.S. Senate seat charged into Monday night's live-televised prime-time debate with extra incentive to attack Mehmet Oz after the celebrity heart surgeon received former President Donald Trump's endorsement.

And attack they did, almost solidly throughout the one-hour debate at the studio of WHTM-TV with barely three weeks to go to the May 17 primary election.

Ex-hedge fund CEO David McCormick called Oz a flip-flopper to suggest that he is pretending to be a conservative.

Former Trump ambassador Carla Sands called him Turkey First  as a play on Trump's America First" governing philosophy  to highlight Oz's Turkish citizenship.

And conservative activist Kathy Barnette said Trump only endorsed Oz because Oz is well-known.

Trump earlier this month endorsed Oz  best known as daytime TVs host of The Dr. Oz Show"  and the Trump endorsement hovered over the debate. Oz raised it repeatedly, just hours after Trump announced that he will come to western Pennsylvania next week for a rally to promote Oz.

Oz gamely defended himself. People care about what he stands for, not where hes from, he said. Trump endorsed him because he is a true conservative, he said. And he keeps his Turkish citizenship to visit his ailing mother in Turkey, he said.

He also counterpunched, primarily against McCormick. He accused McCormick of lying about his record and repeating Trump's suggestion that McCormick is pro-China because of McCormick's former hedge funds portfolio that catered to Chinese investors investing in China.

Dishonest Dave is at it again," Oz said. He went groveling to President Trump with  again  these types of allegations. President Trump saw right through him, did not endorse him, and then he endorsed me.

McCormick repeatedly attacked Oz, turning practically every question to Ozs long public past as a TV show host and accusing him of having long-advocated liberal positions.

The reason Mehmet keeps talking about President Trumps endorsement is because he cant run on his own positions and his own records, and what's true is that he has flip-flopped on every major issue we're talking about in this campaign, McCormick said.

Then McCormick slipped in a reference to criticism that Oz promoted quack treatments and cures on his show.

And the problem doctor, is theres no miracle cure for flip-flopping, McCormick said.

The race is primarily an expensive duel between McCormick and Oz, who combined  with super PACs that support them  have reported spending more than $37 million out of the more than $50 million reported being spent on the GOP primary.

The five candidates on stage met the polling threshold set by the stations parent company as they vie for the nomination in a seven-person field to succeed retiring two-term Republican Sen. Pat Toomey in the presidential battleground state.

The campaign is one of this years premier Senate contests, with carpetbaggery a prominent and persistent issue following the recent arrival of three wealthy and well-connected candidates from other states  McCormick, Oz and Sands.

Real estate investor Jeff Bartos summed up the debate in his closing remarks as out-of-state candidates fighting with each other as he pressed his case as the only lifelong Pennsylvanian in the race.

Otherwise, the candidates all seemed to agree with party talking points, including on the question of banning abortion, banning transgender women from competing in women's sports, criticizing President Joe Biden's handling of the economy and the border and promoting Trump's baseless conspiracy that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election.

They also took pains to demonstrate their devotion to Trump principles.

Sands maintained that her service on a Trump's economic council and as his ambassador to Denmark makes her the only proven America First candidate.

I actually did it, Sands said. "Everyone talks about it."

On a question about how to deal with supply chain issues, McCormick took umbrage over Bartos' suggestion that out-of-state candidates "cannot help save Main Street Pennsylvania if you cannot find Main Street Pennsylvania.

I'm not going to be out-Pennsylvania'd or out-America First by anybody on this stage," McCormick said.

Barnette  who has allied herself with pro-Trump conservatives  took a different tack: Trump's Make America Great slogan, or MAGA, doesn't belong to Trump, she said.

MAGA does not belong to President Trump, Barnette said. "MAGA, although he coined the word, MAGA actually belongs to the people. Our values never, never shifted to President Trumps values. It was President Trump who shifted and aligned with our values.

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/timelywriter

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NEW YORK (AP)  Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he has no intention of rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated following Elon Musks agreement to buy the social media giant for roughly $44 billion.

Trump told Fox News that he will instead focus on his own platform, Truth Social, which has been mired in problems since its launch earlier this year.

I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on Truth, Trump was quoted telling the network. I hope Elon buys Twitter because hell make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth.

Trump was barred from major social media platforms after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, with Twitter citing the risk of further incitement of violence." The decision denied him the megaphone he had used to generate media attention and speak directly to his followers, which had been integral to his political rise.

At the time, the former president had roughly 89 million followers on Twitter alone.

Musk, the worlds wealthiest person and a self-described free-speech absolutist, had said he wanted to buy and privatize Twitter because he believed it wasnt living up to its potential as a free speech platform. It raised questions about whether he might reinstate Trumps account as the former president lays the groundwork for another White House run in 2024.

Trump has continued to spread lies about his 2020 election defeat in speeches and statements since leaving office, and it is unclear how Musk would approach those statements if Trump were ever to return to the site.

In recent weeks, Musk has voiced a number of proposed changes for the company, including relaxing its content restrictions, and said he would be very reluctant to delete content and cautious of permanent bans.

After being kicked off social media platforms, Trump launched his own social media app and sued Twitter, Facebook and Google's YouTube, claiming he and other conservatives had been wrongfully censored, even though posts by conservative commentators are routinely the most widely shared.

On Monday, he said he welcomed Musk's purchase and told Fox News he didnt see Twitter as his own product's competition.

Truth Social will be a voice for me, he said. And thats something nobody else can get.

At a rally in Ohio on Saturday, Trump also urged his supporters to join him on Truth Social.

Go out and sign up now," he told them. "Have a lot of fun.

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 weekend blizzard that brought snow, rain, ice and strong winds to western North Dakota downed hundreds and possibly thousands of electrical poles, destruction that might be among the worst ever seen.

"The damage we have assessed so far is unprecedented. Its the worst damage Montana-Dakota Utilities has had on its system," spokesman Mark Hanson said. "We have hundreds of cross arms broken and miles of poles down."

MDU's history dates to 1924.

The utility will have at least 15 crews -- up to 60 workers -- in northwestern North Dakota this week, possibly more if aerial surveys Monday show even more damage than anticipated.

"Well get a look at the lines our crews could not view from the ground," Hanson said.

Thousands out

At one point during the two-day blizzard MDU had about 18,000 customers in western North Dakota and eastern Montana without power. By late afternoon Monday that figure had been cut to about 1,300, according to the utility's outage map and poweroutage.us.

Poweroutage.us does not track all electrical providers, however, and there are several in western North Dakota that are not on the list and whose outages are not included in the state tally. North Dakota Emergency Services spokesman Eric Jensen told The Associated Press that more than 19,000 people were without power Monday and it could be even more that, noting that tracking the outages is a complicated process.

Rural electric cooperatives provide power to parts of the state hit hardest by the storm, and linemen from elsewhere in North Dakota were traveling to their territories Monday to help restore electricity. Private contractors also were working with co-ops.

"One of the great benefits of our electric cooperative system is during disasters of this magnitude, cooperatives lean on other cooperatives to aid in restoring the power," said Josh Kramer, executive vice president and general manager for the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives.

Bismarck-based Capital Electric Cooperative, for one, sent linemen west to help with damage in McLean Electric Co-op's territory, Capital Electric spokesperson Wes Engbrecht said.

Bakken blasted

The outages hit much of the Bakken oil patch, causing the phone of North Dakota Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad to ring off the hook Monday as energy companies called in to report on how the storm had impacted their operations.

Kringstad estimated that the state's daily oil output fell by as much as 60% relative to the start of April, due to a loss of electricity across the region and snowy roads making it impossible for trucks to reach energy infrastructure. North Dakota recently had been producing 1.1 million barrels of oil per day, a figure that he believed had already fallen 25% a week and a half earlier when another blizzard hit the state.

North Dakota's oil industry was just starting to recover from that drop when the storm hit this past weekend and sent production plummeting again, Kringstad said. Everything from pump jacks to small pipelines that gather oil and natural gas from well sites to major oil transmission lines and gas processing plants rely on electricity to operate. How long their operations will be curtailed will depend on how quickly power is restored, he said.

Restoration efforts

For some parts of western North Dakota, that could be a matter of days or weeks.

The northwestern communities of Hamlet, Wildrose, Epping, Wheelock and Springbrook were expected to have power restored late Monday or Tuesday, Hanson said. MDU anticipated restoring power to Crosby, Noonan, Kincaid, Northgate and Zahl by Thursday and to Corinth and McGregor by the end of the week.

Other communities such as Alamo, Ambrose, Hanks and Appam were expected to be without electricity until next week, given extensive damage to MDU's infrastructure in the area, Hanson said.

Williston State College, which closed on Monday, announced that with power being restored, it would resume classes on Tuesday.

Burke-Divide Electric Cooperative serves the far northwestern corner of the state. The co-op tallied more than 650 broken power poles and hundreds of broken cross arms, which are pieces of equipment attached to poles that hold up power lines. Members without electricity could be in the dark for several days, the co-op posted to its Facebook page Monday.

Sheridan Electric Cooperative straddles the Montana-North Dakota border, serving both states. The co-op estimated it had 500 broken poles.

Verendrye Electric Cooperative, which serves about 12,000 customers in north central North Dakota, had about 250 power poles down and about 350 meters out, according to spokesman Tom Rafferty. Some customers, such as farms, have more than one meter, he said. At the peak of the storm, the co-op had about 1,500 meters out.

"We're going to work all day," he said early Monday. "Conditions are a lot better -- it's sunny at least and not as windy. We're hoping to get some work done today, but there are still issues with roads. It's kind of hard to say what will happen, but we're still expecting people to be out for several days."

Basin Electric Power Cooperative and the Western Area Power Administration operate large transmission lines that carry electricity to the region. Basin Electric spokesman Andy Buntrock on Monday said that the co-op was working to repair damage to its transmission system, which he said was nearly fully operational and was expected to be back to normal by Wednesday.

One of WAPA's high-voltage lines that runs from the Montana-North Dakota border to Williston sustained damage, and another was already out for scheduled maintenance, spokesperson Lisa Meiman said. Several other lines operated by WAPA on behalf of local utilities were damaged as well, she said. Meiman attributed most of the outages to icing issues.

Flooding concerns

The blizzard dropped as much as 1  feet of snow on western North Dakota, and also brought widespread freezing rain that coated trees and power lines, and winds gusting around 50 mph. Snowfall totals from the National Weather Service included 2 inches in Minot -- which had received 4 feet of snow from two earlier snowstorms this month -- 7 inches in Regent, 12.5 in Watford City, 13 in Dickinson, 16 in Grassy Butte and 18 in Niobe.

Bismarck-Mandan did not get any snow, but it did get about an inch of rain.

The precipitation from the three storms the past two weeks could lead to ponding of water due to ditches and other natural drains being filled with snow, according to the weather service. There's also a small chance of overland flooding and minor stream flooding, but dry, thawed soils should soak up a lot of the moisture.

Much of the area is still in some form of drought, even after the earlier storms, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a partnernship of the National Drought Mitigation Center, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The next drought map update is Thursday.

Another weather system late this week could bring another inch or two of rain to North Dakota, though it might not worsen flooding concerns in the west and central regions.

"It's kind of just dependent on the week; if we're able to dry out, the ground might absorb the moisture," weather service Meteorologist Matthew Johnson said. "If not, it could turn into runoff. At the moment, our hydrologist is not too concerned."

Flooding was occurring Monday in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota, which saw heavy rain over the weekend. Some highways were closed. Moderate river flooding is expected in many locations this week, according to the weather service. Some county roads in the region are water-covered or washed out.

Volunteers and National Guard members in northwestern Minnesota spent two days sandbagging to fortify Crookston from an expected record flood along the Red Lake River, AP reported. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz authorized 100 Guard soldiers to assist with the flood fight after heavy rains forced the tributary of the Red River to spill its banks.

Officials in Grand Forks and neighboring East Grand Forks, Minnesota, have started to activate some of their permanent flood protection measures put into place after the devastating 1997 Red River flood, according to AP. Forecasters expect a crest of 48 feet later this week on the Red in Grand Forks. Flood stage is 18 feet. Officials on Monday planned to close one of the bridges that connects the two cities. Built-in floodwalls were being activated on both sides of the river, officials from the two cities said.

People in Valley City have been sandbagging to protect against the rising Sheyenne River. Fargo officials donated 29,000 sandbags to help, according to AP.

Valley City Mayor Dave Carlsrud said the community pride was evident in the number of people, including students from Valley City State University, who volunteered.

People are just, thats why I like living in North Dakota. Last week, when it was blowing snow in my face, I wasnt too sure. But today, I am again, Carlsrud said.

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Tyre Sampson's mom on fatal fall from ride: "My personal opinion, it's murder"

Nekia Dodd can't stop thinking about the last conversation she had with her 14-year-old son, Tyre Sampson.

"He turns around and says, 'I'll see you Saturday or either Sunday.' And that was my last time speaking to my son," Dodd said during a news conference on Tuesday in St. Louis, Missouri.

Sampson died last month after he slipped through the seat of the Orlando Free Fall ride. His parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Icon Park as well as the manufacturer and the operator of the ride.

"It came out as a tragic accident. It's not an accident," Dodd told CBS News. "My personal opinion, it's murder."

The phone call she received about the incident broke her heart, Dodd said.

"I'm like, it's a movie. I'm thinking I'm in a movie. Am I dreaming?" she said. "I mean, worst nightmare ever. You see your child on a vacation with family and friends, and he didn't return from a vacation. That's, oh, that's gruesome. That's horrible."

A makeshift memorial for Tyre Sampson is viewed outside the Orlando Free Fall ride at the ICON Park entertainment complex, Sunday, March 27, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. Sampson fell to his death while on the ride. / Credit: Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP

Sampson's family believes a $22 seatbelt could have saved Sampson's life and is calling for them to be installed on similar rides.

Dodd wants accountability for the son who was affectionately called a "gentle giant."

"He didn't deserve this. He did not deserve this," she said.

A recent safety report concluded Sampson's seat's safety sensors were manually adjusted to allow for larger riders, leaving a gap between the harness and the seat more than twice the typical size. Sampson weighed 380 pounds, according to the medical examiner. But the ride had a 287-pound maximum, according to the ride's safety manual.

Michael Haggard, an attorney for the family, said there were no warning signs that someone of Sampson's size should not have been allowed on the ride.

"And that's the problem," Haggard told CBS News.

Orlando Slingshot, which operates the Free Fall, said it's cooperating with the investigation, adding "all protocols, procedures and safety measures provided by the manufacturer of the ride were followed."

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A pair of hikers reported missing has been found.

The mother and her 8-year-old son were reported missing Monday morning in Caldwell County.

April Tester and her son Desmond parted ways from their family in the Harper Creek Trail area in Collettsville around 5 p.m. Sunday. Tester and Desmond had not been seen by family by early Monday, prompting a search, a Facebook post from Caldwell County government said.

The mother and son are novice hikers and were not prepared for an overnight stay, the post said. Tester was wearing shorts, a pink tank top and flip-flops. Desmond was wearing black shorts, a T-shirt and sneakers.

Caldwell emergency workers searched the area for the hikers.

Tester and Desmond were found safe, an updated Facebook post said. No more details were released.

Caldwell County Emergency Management, the Caldwell County Sheriffs Office, surrounding fire departments and an emergency services special operations team were involved in the search.
Ramsay School sixth-grader Adelaide Thomson won a gold ribbon at the 67th Annual Montana State Science Fair March 28 for her project Dirty Pipes.

But thats not all. She also won the Peterson Grand Award for sixth grade physical science and was nominated to compete in the 2022 Broadcom MASTERS, a national middle school STEM competition put on by the Society for Science. MASTERS stands for Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering for Rising Stars.

When asked how she felt about earning these awards, Thomson said, I didnt really think about that. I just had a lot of fun.

The inspiration behind Thomsons project came from her noticing the water from the modules, where the sixth- through eighth-graders go to class, tasted different than the water in the main building.

Thomson said that some of her friends also thought the water in the modules tasted soapy, like chemicals or left a lingering nausea headache after drinking it. When her school science fair came around, she thought it would be a great opportunity to get to the bottom of why the water from the modules tasted different than the water in the main building.

She tested for chlorine, lead and copper in the modules, and compared it against data for the different water sources in the main building that were provided by her father, who works at Water & Environmental Technologies. She also asked students from each grade what the water in the modules tasted like to them and graphed the results.

Thomson said the reason she chose to test for these contaminants was because she saw some of the signs that indicated the contaminants might be in the water, such as foggy water, scum and discolored rings around the sink.

I actually had a lot of fun with the chlorine because we could self-test it, Thomson said. I had a testing kit, and its a colorimeter, so it was a lot of fun because I liked watching the colors change.

The results? Inconclusive. The water samples she collected from the modules were low for all three contaminants she tested for, whereas the data from WET for the main building were higher, but below action levels.

She won first place in her grade for physical science at her school science fair for her project, and the first place winners for the grades were invited to compete at the Montana State Science Fair at the University of Montana.

Thomson chose to go, and spent a long day waiting for her work to be judged. The categories at the state fair were divided by grade level and whether the project was physical or biological science.

The next day, the results of the fair were announced on a Zoom call. Thomson herself was unable to tune in because she was in class, but her mom, Amy Thomson participated.

I just had it going in the background, and I had no expectations, Amy Thomson said of the Zoom call. And then I heard her name.

Adelaide Thomson wasnt the only Ramsay School student to receive a ribbon at the Montana State Science Fair, but she was the only one to receive a Peterson Grand Award and a nomination to the Broadcom MASTERS.

"I was really impressed with the science projects this year," said Ramsay School teacher Kim Snodgrass, who helped the students with their science projects. "And I knew the students would excel from all grades."

At the Montana State Science Fair, Ramsay School students Alex Cranney won a silver ribbon in sixth-grade biological science, Trace Knighten won a gold ribbon in seventh-grade physical science, Karissa Shope won a bronze ribbon in seventh-grade physical science and Shayna Callarman won a gold ribbon in eighth-grade physical science.

They all did great, said Ramsay School Principal Chris Kellogg. Were pretty happy with it.

If Thomson were to do this project again next year, she said she would test the water for iron, hydrogen sulfide and coliform bacteria. Although she will be going to another school next year, she said she could pass the project on to a younger student who wants to take it on, or she could come back and do it herself.

To be part of the Broadcom MASTERS, students must fill out an application and submit their project. The top 300 projects submitted will be chosen and announced on Sept. 7. Thomson said she intends to apply.

Of the 300, 30 finalists will be chosen to receive $500 and go on an all-expenses-paid to Washington D.C. with a parent or guardian to showcase their projects, compete in teams and visit sites that celebrate innovation through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, according to the Society for Sciences website.

If selected to be in the top 30 finalists, Thomson will be eligible to win more prizes at the Broadcom MASTERS.

"We're proud of Addie," Snodgrass said. "And I hope she takes this as far as she can."

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In the many years I had the privilege of teaching Montana history, one of my absolute favorite chapters was on the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention. The diversity of people gathered at our state capitol during the wintry months of 1972 created a document that has stood the test of time and been admired and emulated across this nation. Tragically, in this year of celebrating the 50th anniversary of that document, our Montana Constitution is facing unprecedented attacks by the very people who have sworn to uphold it.

Our Declaration of Rights is broader and bigger than the Bill of Rights and its Right to Know guarantees that all Montanans have the ability to examine government operations and exercise citizen influence against government power. This Right to Know along with the Right of Participation are affectionately, and appropriately, known as the Sunshine Laws.

Recently, a legislative committee met to discuss and examine how the courts respond to the publics requests for information on their inner workings. As it turns out, not just the courts but the Legislature and state agencies are doing a lot of work to make sure the public can exercise its Right to Know. One glaring omission from that examination was the Governor's office. Republicans have done much hand-wringing over the judiciarys practices, but have failed to look into whether Governor Gianforte maintains the same standards of transparency and accountability to the public.

This week, we learned more about Governor Gianfortes attempt to deny the Right to Know to Montanans seeking information on how and why he decided which bills to support or oppose during the most recent legislative session. The Governor's office wouldnt hand over the memos tracking that decision making, claiming that these documents are under attorney-client privilege. But thats not how the Right to Know works. You cant defeat our rights just by having a lawyer write your documents or copying one on an email. The public has the Right to Know what policy advice the Governor asks for and receives.

We also know that the Governor's office has been charging exorbitant fees to avoid giving members of the public access to their government records. Requests have been made for the Lieutenant Governors emails, which are unquestionably information the public has a Right to Know. The decisions and communications of senior government officials are at the heart of what Right to Know means. But these requests were effectively denied when the Governor's Office said the records would be handed over only after charging the citizens tens of thousands of dollars. The records have been compiled, but the Governor wont give them over without a massive payout.

Finally, the Governor's office has obstructed the publics Right to Know through unconscionable delays. For example, a citizen wanted to discover why the Governor decided to drop bad actor actions against Hecla Mining, which had previously stopped that corporation from continuing to poison our land and water. The Governor's office staff and their compensation have grown massively, so it shouldnt take long for someone to perform one simple search on their email server. But months later, the Governor's office still hasnt handed over the documents the public clearly has a right to see.

With these indefensible actions, the Governor is betraying our history, our Constitution and our rights, including the Right to Know what hes up to behind closed doors. This is what we need to investigate  and change  if we care about upholding our Constitution, and if were serious about limiting government power.

Rep. Moffie Funk (D-Helena) is a retired teacher and represents House District 82 in the Montana Legislature.

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Fifty years ago I was unbelievably blessed to be the research staff for the Declaration of Rights Committee of the Montana Constitutional Convention. As we approach the 50th anniversary, I must give a solemn nod to the recent passing of two giants: Bill of Rights Committee Chairman Wade Dahood and Committee member Bob Campbell, primary reasons Montana has such a spectacular document. They had a lot of help, from committee members Chet Blaylock, Dorothy Eck, George James, Don Foster, Marshall Murray and Lyle Monroe as well as other delegates, including Mae Nan Ellingson, Arlyne Reichert, and Leo Graybill. While only ten of the original 100 are still with us, they left a legacy unmatched in any state or national constitutions.

The Montana Constitutions Declaration of Rights remains the strongest assemblage of protections of civil liberties and political freedoms ever put to paper and adopted. In Sources of Democracy, renowned constitutional scholar Saul Padover surveyed hundreds of years of historical documents and concluded his book with Montana's Declaration of Rights. He saw it as the very best in the long history of documents designed to favor rule by the governed over control by elites or monarchs, by the privileged, or by authoritarians and other deniers of the belief that principled citizens are the best guides in public life, so long as they search for the common good. Wade, Bob and their fellow delegates monumentally succeeded in that.

Montanas declaration of rights includes: the fundamental rights of free speech, assembly and religion; an inalienable right of all citizens to a clean and healthful environment; the right to pursue life's basic necessities. Here the dignity of the individual is an inviolable right. Montanas strong right of individual privacy can be infringed only on showing of a compelling state interest. Our right to know and obtain documents is limited only when the demand of individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure. Montana is the only state with a Constitutional right of participation in governmental decision-making before the decisions occur. Citizen access and ability to participate is a requirement placed upon all levels of government in Montana, including the previously secretive legislature. Government often fights that, but the Constitution prevails.

There are limits on the ability of the government to shield itself from lawsuits brought by citizens who have been harmed by government, overcoming the ancient rationalization that the "king can do no wrong." Our strong anti-discrimination provision applies to government, but also to private entities that can and have denied civil or political rights on account of race, color, sex, culture, social origin or condition or political or religious views. The Equal Rights Amendment is enshrined right there  the delegates made it clear on the floor that Montana should not stand by and wait for the federal government to see the light and constitutionally guarantee women equal rights, something that still has not happened.

There is a clear guarantee of equal protection of the laws. The right of suffrage is not to be impaired in any way, an issue that is maddeningly still under attack, a threat all too real in our discomfiting history. Persons under the age of majority are guaranteed the same rights as adults unless special protections are warranted. The criminal justice system is required to prevent crime, promote reformation, public safety and restitution. Felons are to obtain full rights upon completion of their penalty. There is an individual right to keep and bear arms that provides the same individual right that was found in the 1889 Montana Constitution. In fact, the 1972 Constitutional Convention adopted all rights in the earlier Constitution and built upon them. To the ends of the earth, you will look in vain for another comparably broad and inclusive Declaration of Rights. No one has more rights and protections than the citizens of Montana.

While some lightly or cavalierly attack our Constitution and Declaration of Rights for political advantage, the late, great Chairman Wade Dahood, the man I have called the shepherd of the Bill of Rights, bluntly stated in his last recorded interview that Montanas Declaration of Rights should be left alone, respected and protected by citizens and public officials alike. For the ages.

In addition to his work at Montanas 1972 Constitutional Convention, Rick Applegate, originally from Libby, has over the last half century worked in Montana, in Congress and the Northwest on a broad range of critical natural resource issues.

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I met Russian-American dual-citizen Andre Kamenshikov, representative of Nonviolence International (NI), at a 1992 peace conference in Iowa hosted by my employer, the Muscatine-based Stanley Foundation.

In August 1994 I traveled throughout Russias Stavropol krai as member of an Iowa Sister States delegation and then stayed on and joined Andre in a war prevention visit to the border region of nearby Chechnya. Weve kept in touch over the years as he did civil society human-rights activism throughout the former U.S.S.R. punctuated by trips here and elsewhere on behalf of NI and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict.

Andre has resided in Kyiv for the past six years since Moscow-based operations became impossible due to the banning of foreign agents as his work was branded. He last came here in 2018 when he served as interpreter for a visiting delegation from Muscatines Ukrainian sister city Drohobych.

A few days ago he wrote: While in the past I made numerous visits to areas suffering from conflict and war, this winter war decided to pay a return visit to the city where I live. Personally I've been lucky to live in one of the city suburbs least affected by the conflict. Ive known and admired and trusted this professional peacebuilder for three decades. Now I commend to you his appeal to all Iowans.

Daniel G. Clark, Muscatine

Two months ago, on February 24, I woke up at 5 a.m. to the sounds of explosions and realized that I woke up to a new reality, at least a new reality for Europe. Not the war as such; wars, unfortunately, have happened many times before, and I have been to some. But for one country to openly attack a neighbor with its full arsenal of modern weapons (except for weapons of mass destruction, so far) without any reason whatsoever  this is something the European continent has not witnessed for nearly 80 years. Now in a matter of weeks, I fear, maybe a month or so, not just Europe but the whole world may awaken to a new reality, the reality of nuclear war.

The Russian side is failing. The Ukrainian side, with western support, is heading toward a military victory. I was confident this would happen, based on my previous experiences in former-Soviet conflict zones.

The near future worries me deeply. It is not unimaginable that, facing the prospect of military defeat that will inevitably put in jeopardy his political regime, the Russian dictator will turn to his only remaining trump card  weapons of mass destruction, most likely tactical nuclear weapons.

While all-out nuclear holocaust is unlikely soon (dictators and those around them prefer to live, after all), the use of tactical nukes on non-NATO soil is something Kremlin planners do contemplate. From their perspective this may help them reach two objectives: 1) avoid a complete military disaster in the field; 2) demonstrate to the world that they are insane enough to carry out whatever threats they make.

If it does happen, our entire world will have entered a new, uncharted territory where nuclear weapons can be used on the battlefield. No one can predict the future limits of our new reality once nukes have been used and will likely be used again. Its hardly necessary to point out that such a turn of events would lead to immense loss of life and human suffering.

We must apply all possible means to avoid that disaster. However insignificant our actions may appear, even with a microscopic chance of success, we must all do whatever we can.

If there is any person in the world today whose advice the dictator may find difficult to ignore, it is his Chinese friend Xi Jinping. There is a still a reasonable chance that friendly advice not to cross a particular red line, when it comes from the leader of China, may become a decisive factor influencing Putins decision.

The current U.S.-China relationship is far from ideal, but the goal of preventing the war in Ukraine from going nuclear is worth putting aside disagreements. For U.S. officials who deal with Chinese counterparts on a vast web of complex, sensitive, and entangled matters concerning human rights, coronavirus, trade, sanctions, and so on, it is understandably difficult to swiftly change priorities.

However, the world knows about President Xis special fondness for Iowa. Therefore, I conclude that a letter from a group of friends, including Iowa people who happen to personally know Xi, could be useful at this moment. After all, for Mr. Xi Jinping to perform a key role in preventing a nuclear disaster would be important for in his international standing and benefit future relationships.

I am not sure what would be the best practical way to move forward. Perhaps a letter to Xi may be combined with a letter to U.S. leaders to prioritize this particular matter in relationships with China at the current moment, to put it above all others.

What I do know is that time is critical. It is time for everyone to think about what can be done to avoid an unthinkable outcome.

And who knows, it just may be that the lovely town of Muscatine on the banks of the Mississippi will employ its unique and important links and help avert disaster.

Andre Kamenshikov, Kyiv, Ukraine

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Henry Dinkins, accused of killing 10-year-old Breasia Terrell, will have his trial in Linn County, not Scott County.

Dinkins, 49, of Davenport, is accused of kidnapping Breasia on the morning of July 10, 2020. He is alleged to have shot her to death. Her remains were found March 22, 2021, by two fisherman in a Clinton County pond. Dinkins has since been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. Each of the charges is a Class A felony under Iowa law that carries a mandatory prison sentence of life without parole.

In court documents filed Thursday, the Iowa Supreme Court stated the trial will be moved to Linn County. The supreme court ordered that District Judge Henry Latham  who is presiding over Dinkins case  and a court reporter be reimbursed for travel and subsistence expenses related to the shift in location.

The trial is scheduled for Oct. 17, according to court records. Dinkins consented to the change in venue on April 11, though the change was not finalized at that time.

Dinkins and his former court-appointed attorney, Miguel Puentes, requested a change of venue. Latham ordered it March 30 without establishing the location.

Puentes withdrew from the case after he and Dinkins could not reconcile a break in their attorney-client relationship, according to court records.

Dinkins attorneys, Chad and Jennifer Frese of Marshalltown, were appointed April 4 by Latham.

Dinkins is being held in the Marshall County Jail.

Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane said on April 12 that Dinkins was moved so he could to be closer to his new attorneys.

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On the afternoon of Dec. 8, frantic text messages and phone calls began to spread among a group of active and retired teachers from Lafayette High School and P.S. 65 in Buffalo.

This was hours after an international audience had watched, captivated, as a Coast Guard rescue swimmer dangling from a helicopter pulled a woman from a vehicle lodged in the raging Niagara River, just yards from the brink of the American Falls, and carried her in bracing winds to the riverbank.

Now, colleagues were asking each other in disbelief:

Was that Miss Bell who went into the water?

Amanda Jordan, who taught English to refugee students at P.S. 65 with Bell, tried reaching her friend.

I knew when Miss Bell didnt answer her phone that thats what happened, Jordan said in an interview.

Authorities determined a 69-year-old Williamsville woman drowned after intentionally driving into the river but otherwise have shared little about her and declined to reveal her name.

A police report released in response to a public-records request, along with interviews with family and former colleagues, offer previously untold details about the victim and that day's events.

Beverly C. Bell is described as a bright, talented musician who grew up downstate and later taught French, Spanish and English as a second language here for 20 years.

At an age when many peers are long retired, Bell continued teaching through the Covid-19 pandemic before going on medical leave last fall.

An only child who never married or had children, Bell had suffered health issues. But friends and family dont understand what led her to steer her sedan into the river on that frigid morning.

And they struggle to reconcile their warm memories of Bell in life with the painfully public way she died.

Things had to have been impossible for her to bear, said Patricia Laing, who taught with Bell for several years. I just, I just can't imagine.

Long Island to Buffalo

Bell's mother, Wavie Maye Cook, moved to this country from Canada after marrying Edward Bell, who worked for the Long Island Rail Road, said Geoffrey Drew-Brook, a first cousin of Bells.

Drew-Brook remembered her regular visits to Canada and the occasional trips his Canadian contingent made to visit Bells family and spend time on Long Islands beaches.

She liked playing with the younger cousins. And she was also very active on the piano, said Drew-Brook, who was six years younger than the cousin known as "Cheri" for her middle name, Cheryl.

Drew-Brook said he doesnt know when she moved to Western New York. Records show she lived on East Spring Street in Williamsville.

Bell began teaching in Buffalo in 2001, according to district records.

She initially taught French and Spanish but transitioned to English as a new language  primarily working with refugee students.

Bell spent many years as a substitute and thats one reason she kept teaching into her late 60s, colleagues said.

A quiet talent

The longest stretch of Bells time with the district was spent at Lafayette and, most recently, at P.S. 65, the Roosevelt Early Childhood Center, in Riverside.

She was quirky. A lot of quirks. But she was also very intelligent and talented, especially with music, said Alyssa Wallace, who taught English as a new language with Bell at Lafayette. Her colleague shunned the spotlight but, Wallace said, everyone knew Beverly.

On one occasion, Laing and Bell were in a classroom during a planning period at Lafayette when a skeptical colleague asked Bell if she really could sing.

Challenged, Bell launched into a beautiful rendition, in the original French, of Dominique, a 1963 hit by the performer known as the Singing Nun, Laing recalled, stunning their colleague.

She was not a joiner. She was kind of a quiet person, said Laing, who worked with Bell from around 2011 to 2015 and remembered anxiety that drove Bell to arrive at school 90 minutes early.

During the pandemic, when classes shifted online, Jordan invited Bell to her Town of Tonawanda home, where she helped Bell teach virtually.

It was an adventure, I'll say that, said Jordan, who was decades younger but considered Bell  always Miss Bell, not Beverly  a friend.

Jordan said Bell didnt like to cook, loved showing off clothes she bought on sale at Macys and occasionally purchased stuffed animals to give to her elementary-age students.

She taught me a lot and I taught her a lot, said Jordan, recalling Bells flashes of wit.

Recent health concerns

In mid-September, Bell hurt herself when she fell, or fainted, in a bathroom at P.S. 65, Jordan said, badly injuring her hip.

This came on top of other health issues Bell developed in recent years, friends said, including vision problems and a diabetes diagnosis that prompted her to throw all sugary items out of her apartment.

Bell went out on medical leave and moved into Beechwood Continuing Care for rehabilitation to try to return to the classroom, friends said.

To be honest with you, she should have retired, Laing said. But she did not want to retire. She wanted to keep teaching.

Drew-Brook said he had talked to his cousin several times in November. He said he was aware of some of her health issues but Bell didnt seem overwhelmed by any of it.

On Dec. 6, Bell called to ask Jordan to take a day off from work to ferry her from Beechwood to a medical appointment. Jordans husband and mother ended up taking her.

Before they left, an employee at Beechwood urged them to take Bell directly from the rehab unit to the appointment and back again  even if Bell asks to stop somewhere else, Jordan recalled.

This instruction sticks in Jordans mind given what happened two days later.

Retracing her steps

A State Park Police incident report shows that a friend of Bells, whose name is redacted, had picked Bell up from Beechwood about 8:35 a.m. Dec. 8 to take her to another medical appointment.

Afterward, this friend  who wasn't Jordan  took Bell to her apartment. The friend went inside to get clothes and mail for Bell, presumably to take to Beechwood, while Bell remained in the friends vehicle.

By the time the friend returned, around 10:30 a.m., Bell had driven off in her own car and was gone.

Bells car wasn't spotted again until 11:45 a.m., when a witness saw it in downtown Niagara Falls, with its trunk open, near the Seneca Niagara Casino and about to enter Niagara Falls State Park. Police found no evidence she had been inside the casino.

Witnesses did not see the vehicle enter the river, but investigators found tire tracks in the snow on the riverbank, between the Goat Island pedestrian and vehicle bridges, with no skid marks or other indications Bell tried to stop.

The responding officer found Bells 2018 Toyota Camry sedan in the rapids, about 60 yards from the brink. Witnesses said they saw at least one woman yelling for help in the car.

Officials, after determining it wasnt safe to attempt a rescue from shore, called in a Coast Guard rescue copter from Detroit, setting up the scene replayed on social media and on the news around the world.

Park Police said she had drowned before the swimmer reached Bell, who had an iPhone, a bank card and medical discharge papers on her. Three days later, her vehicle was swept over the Falls in a windstorm.

Hard to understand

Drew-Brook said Park Police called him as a family contact to inform him of Bells death.

I was shocked, and so were the rest of the cousins, Drew-Brook said. We just didnt see that coming.

All these months later, friends and family say theyre still grappling with Bells death. She did not leave a suicide note.

I couldnt imagine her doing that because she was scared of a lot of things, Wallace said. So I couldnt imagine her, like, willing herself to do that.

Celia Spacone, coordinator of the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Erie County, said suicide is the 12th leading cause of death in the United States but the rate declined from 2019 to 2020.

This trend, also seen in Erie County, might appear counterintuitive, Spacone said, given the myriad pandemic-induced personal and professional stresses.

But, she said, she suspected more people grew comfortable discussing mental health concerns and reaching out for help.

Loved ones tend to look for one specific trigger for a suicide attempt but, Spacone said, Its usually multifaceted and very complex.

Jordan, in hindsight, pointed to her friends lingering concerns about her health.

She recalled Bell telling her: I tried praying. I tried going to the doctors. Nobody can tell me what's wrong. I don't understand.

Jordan remembered her friend as stubborn, once she made up her mind, but she still wonders about Bells intentions.

I'm not even sure If she knew what she wanted to do, as she did it, Jordan said. She could have just, in frustration, hit the gas and really didn't mean it.

Drew-Brook is left to plan a memorial service for his cousin that should take place later this spring or early summer.

It just doesn't make any sense, he said.

Anyone contemplating self-harm can call the 24-hour National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.

Harris press secretary Kirsten Allen said neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a "close contact" of Harris in recent days. Because of their travel schedules, the last time Harris saw Biden was Monday, April 18.

The vice president recently returned from a weeklong trip to the West coast.

Harris tested positive on both rapid and PCR tests but "has exhibited no symptoms," the White House said. She will isolate at her residence but continue to work remotely, and will return to the White House only when she tests negative for the virus.

Harris, 57, received her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine weeks before taking office and a second dose just days after Inauguration Day in 2021. She received a booster shot in late October and an additional booster on April 1. Fully vaccinated and boosted people have a high degree of protection against serious illness and death from COVID-19, particularly from the most common and highly transmissible omicron variant.

Harris' diagnosis comes a month after her husband, Doug Emhoff, recovered from the virus, as a wave of cases of the highly transmissible omicron subvariant has spread through Washington's political class, infecting Cabinet members, White House staffers and lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Allen said Harris would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines "and the advice of her physicians." It was not immediately clear whether she is being prescribed any antiviral treatments.

After more than two years and nearly a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing more than 300 people a day in the U.S., according to the CDC. The unvaccinated are at a far greater risk, more than three times as likely to test positive and 20 times as likely to die from the virus than those who have received at least a primary dose of the vaccines, according to the public health agency.
The Easter Bunny was representing the prosecution in several hundred Polk County criminal cases.

At least thats what Iowa Courts Online, the court systems official, statewide web-based repository of court records, indicated for most of April.

On April 4, the online docket sheets for hundreds of Polk County cases  primarily misdemeanors and drunken-driving cases  were revised to indicate the prosecution of those cases had been transferred from one particular assistant county attorney, Kailey Gray, to another prosecutor in the county attorneys office by the name of Easter Santa Bunny.

And thats where the cases remained as of Thursday morning.

Bret Lucas, an assistant county attorney, said Thursday the situation stemmed from a recent realignment of cases within the county attorneys office. Gray took over a colleagues cases, and Iowa Courts Online accurately reflects the transfer of those cases. But Grays old cases, he said, were transferred to the Easter Bunny until all of the work on the digital case transfer could be completed.

We had contacted the Judicial Branch and they worked with their information technology department to facilitate the mass transfer of cases, Lucas said. Apparently, the Judicial Branch and the IT department decided to put that placeholder in there because, obviously, no one else would have that name.  So they were all aware of that, and it sounds like they must still be in the middle of that transfer process.

Stacy Curtis, a supervisor for the criminal division of the Polk County Clerk of Courts Office, said the references to the Easter Bunny should not be visible to the public either through a name search or in the docket sheets for the individual cases. She said the office took extra steps to make sure members of the public didnt see any reference to the Easter Bunny and only clerks, lawyers, judges and others with higher security clearance could see it. It appears that the opposite may have occurred, as the Easter Bunny references could be seen by members of the public who werent even logged into the site.

This has been a nightmare for me, Curtis said. We moved everything from Kaylie to the Easter Bunny, and those should have all been cleaned up so you wouldnt be able to see that.

Many of the cases that were publicly assigned to the Easter Bunny are open, active cases, but hundreds of others are dormant, though not technically closed because of probationary sentences that have yet to be completed or fines that have yet to be paid.

The only practical effect of the Easter Bunny designation is that some defendants may see that information online and not know who to contact at the county attorneys office about their case.

After being contacted by the Iowa Capital Dispatch on Thursday, court officials were working to erase from the website any mention of the Easter Bunny, and by late afternoon it appeared they had succeeded.

Santa bailed out by Rudolph

The Easter Bunny cases are not the only criminal matters listed on the court systems official website to have featured nonexistent lawyers or defendants. In what appear to be training exercises for clerical staff, fictitious test cases are sometimes created and then posted to the public website but never removed.

For example, a December 1997 case shows Santa Claus being convicted of felony burglary and kidnapping, with a charge of assault on a peace officer dismissed by the court. The court records indicate a sentence of 999 years in prison was imposed.

As part of that same test case, the court imposed a no-contact order prohibiting Santa from having any contact with Mickey Mouse. Santas bail  listed as one million bucks in a possible punning reference to Santas reindeer  is stated to have been posted by Rudolph.

In 2014, Santa Claus was charged with second-degree robbery in Scott County, according to the Iowa Courts Online site. Although theres no record of a conviction in that case, Claus right to carry a gun was revoked.

The court systems website also shows that in 2014, Mickey Mouse filed a small claims case against Donald Duck in Marion County.

For more information, visit iowacapitaldispatch.com.
MultiChoice and eMedia Holdings are fighting it out over DStvs plan to cut four E-tv channels.

On Monday, the Competition Tribunal heard eMedias application for interim relief against MultiChoices decision to drop the eMovies, eMovies Extra, eExtra and eToonz channels from its DStv packages.

The broadcaster planned to suspend these channels from its service at the end of March 2022. It delayed the removals by two months after E-tv decided to take the issue to the Competition Commission.

eMedia Holdings legal counsel Tembeka Ngcukaitobi argued that MultiChoices decision amounted to a dominant player refusing to supply a scarce service, in contravention of the Competition Act Section 8.

The company believes it will lose as much as 19% of its advertising revenue should the channels be suspended.

In his opening arguments on the matter, Ngcukaitobi stated that MultiChoice did not justify its decision during negotiations or in response to a letter of demand from eMedia.

MultiChoice had only stated the decision was based purely on commercial considerations.

It was only in its first answering affidavit to the case brought before the Competition Tribunal that MultiChoice elaborated.

Initially, its rebuttal included that it had satellite capacity constraints.

MultiChoice said it had to cut eMedias four channels so it could accommodate three yet-to-be-launched SABC channels that it must carry under South African broadcasting laws.

But eMedia disputed this, claiming that its calculations showed MultiChoice had more than enough bandwidth on one of the satellites it has capacity on.

eMedia alleged MultiChoice held satellite bandwidth broadcast capacity from 23 transponders on Intelsat IS-20 and 28 more on the Intelsat IS-36 satellite.

MultiChoices initial affidavits didnt reveal which satellite it uses for the four E-tv channels. It also disputed eMedias calculations and said it had only 21 transponders on IS-20.

Curiously, it included data on the IS-20 satellites capacity to try and support its case, implying that this was the satellite on which E-tvs channels were broadcast.

When E-tvs experts performed calculations based on this input, it worked out that E-tvs 720p HD Ready channels would take up between 3.5Mbps and 5Mbps of capacity.

That means they would occupy a combined maximum of 20Mbps of bandwidth out of an estimated 1,150Mbps on IS-20  or a 1.7% share.

MultiChoice had claimed that IS-20 could host four more channels for uplink from South Africa.

Ngcukaitobi also stressed that DStv doesnt have to carry SABCs additional channels immediately, but only sometime in the future following negotiations with the SABC.

Confusion over satellite in question

However, MultiChoice subsequently claimed that the channels took up more than 11% of capacity, with each drawing up to 6.5Mbps for 26Mbps in total.

While DStv did not directly clarify which of the satellites it hosts E-tvs channels, its new data suggested they were actually broadcast on IS-36.

Ngcukaitobi repeatedly emphasised that MultiChoices first affidavits seemed to completely ignore the broadcasters capacity on the IS-36 satellite, continually suggesting that IS-20 was the satellite being used.

In another affidavit, MultiChoice backtracked on the capacity constraint argument and said it was never told to specify details around bandwidth capacity on the actual satellite used for E-tvs broadcasts.

Ngcukaitobi described MultiChoices apparent flip-flop as astonishing and an attempt to turn the litigation into a game of catch me if you can.

The only reason why the capacity defence is abandoned is because it has been shown to be unsustainable in their evidence, Ngcukaitobi stated.

E-tv needs DStv

eMedia contends under the prevailing market dynamics, its channels were dependent on DStv to remain competitive.

Ngcukaitobi argued presence on the DStv platforms allows E-tv to maintain customer contact, generate advertising revenue, and ensure a high-quality broadcasting service.

The company has also argued that carrying the four E-tv channels was economically feasible for MultiChoice, as eMedia provided them for free, and two were in DStvs top 10 most popular channels.

MultiChoices other reasons for denying a carriage renewal agreement included that the channels did not meet its strategic objectives for local content, black empowerment, value propositions, and its aim to decrease the frequency of repeats.

Ngcukaitobi said MultiChoices claims that the decision was based on E-tv not meeting DStvs strategic objectives were contrived.

He argued two of the four channels were sharply focused on local content, while eMedia was a majority black-owned business.

He also maintained MultiChoice had not provided evidence it would replace the channels with other offerings that met its criteria.

Ngcukaitobi surmised that MultiChoices action was done from a desire to inflict harm on a potential rival by undercutting its revenue.

The hearing continued this morning from 10:00.
DStv subscribers will no longer have access to the Lifetime TV channel (DStv 131) from 31 May 2022, after eight years on the platform.

A+E Networks UK  the broadcast company responsible for Lifetime  announced that it was closing the African version of the channel following the closure of Lifetime in Great Britain, Ireland, and Malta.

A+E Networks Africa is closing its Lifetime Africa channel, on both linear and non-linear platforms on 31 May 2022, TV journalist Thinus Ferreira quoted A+E Networks Africas regional manager, Nazarene Khan, as saying.

This will coincide with the shutdown of the channel in Poland.

Lifetime is known for shows such as Married at First Sight, Love at Second Swipe, and Four Weddings South Africa.

Khan explained that A+E Networks Africas History channel and Crime and Investigation would remain on DStv.

This is not the first time DStv lost access to a channel this year.

The broadcaster dropped Russian state-controlled RT News in March 2022 after its distributor for the region stopped providing the feed due to sanctions imposed on Russia.

As of 2 March 2021, Russia Today (Channel 407) shall not be carried on the DStv platform until further notice, MultiChoice said.

Sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union have led to the global distributor of the channel ceasing to provide the broadcast feed to all suppliers, including MultiChoice.

DStv also plans to cut four E-tv channels from its offerings. However, eMedia has taken the matter to the Competition Commission, and hearings are ongoing.

Now read: Amazon streaming video hiring spree in South Africa
Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos posed a provocative question after Elon Musk clinched a $44 billion (R690 billion) takeover of Twitter Inc.: whether that will make things difficult for Tesla Inc. in China.

In a series of tweets, Bezos drew attention to the EV giants close ties with China, the worlds biggest electric vehicle market and home to Teslas first overseas factory.

About half the companys cars sold globally last year were produced at its plant in Shanghai, and Musk has said that figure may double.

Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square? tweeted Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post.

My own answer to this question is probably not, he added in a follow-up.

The more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter.

A representative of Musks family office didnt immediately respond to a request for comment after business hours.

Musk championed free speech on the platform in one of his first tweets after sealing the take-private deal.

But Twitter  like most American social media platforms  is banned in China by officials wary of the impact on public discourse.

Tesla has boomed in China thanks in part to tax breaks, cheap loans and the green light to wholly own its domestic operations.

But the company last year came under fire after state media and regulators questioned Teslas attitude toward customers.

Bezoss company also operates in the country, but its a distant competitor to local leaders Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc.

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

Now read: Elon Musk to buy Twitter
MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita has said that although newly assigned spectrum helps South Africas mobile network operators, more spectrum will likely be needed as technology advances.

He also said that delays in releasing spectrum might have severely hurt network development in South Africa.

We are very happy that we have had this multi-band spectrum auction finally come through, Mupita said during an online interview with Bruce Whitfield.

We probably lost a decade and a half of development in South Africa, he added.

Mupita spoke to Whitfield during the What is the future of the mobile industry segment of PSGs Think Big webinar series.

The spectrum auction helps a bit. What we secured now will help us for the next three or four years, Mupita said.

He added that he believes mobile network operators will need to be provided with a lot more spectrum as new technologies emerge.

South Africas long-awaited spectrum auction was concluded in March 2022, generating R14.5 billion for the national fiscus.

MTN won 100MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz, 2,600Mhz, and 3,500MHz bands for R5.2 billion.

The biggest winner  Vodacom  spent almost R5.4 billion to acquire 110MHz in the 700MHz, 2,600MHz, and 3,500MHz bands.

Mupita said he expects less infrastructure-level competition in South Africa and that network operators and service providers would compete on products.

This is because he expects fewer mobile network operators in the country.

Using the US as an example, Mupita said he expects there to only be two or three very strong mobile network competitors in South Africa in the future.

The US has three prominent mobile network operators  T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T.

Mupita also spoke briefly on the future of 2G and 3G services in South Africa, saying he doesnt expect them to be available in the country in five years.

LTE and 5G will replace 2G and 3G in the country, with voice over data platforms (like WhatsApp) shifting to voice over LTE.

MTN previously told MyBroadband that it would take several years to decommission its old 2G and 3G networks.

It also expects to switch off 3G first as there are a lot of telemetry applications that still rely on 2G networks.

The mobile network also stated that, currently, LTE is MTNs dominant data technology, which it expects to continue to grow as compatible handsets become more accessible in the market.

Now read: Data price reality check for South Africa
Six global trends that will shape Vietnams future: HSBC

Vietnam is recovering strongly and there are signs that the economy is shifting from survival to growth mode, said CEO of HSBC Vietnam Tim Evans, stressing the need for the country to effectively navigate global megatrends that will shape its future and ensure that it reaches its full potential in the coming years.









Vietnam is an example with a high coverage rate. (Photo: VNA)



The first trend is climate change. According to Evans, climate change is both an opportunity and a challenge for a country like Vietnam. As a nation with an extensive coastline and one of the worlds most important rice producers, the prospect of rising sea levels and falling crop yields is a threat to its well-being and prosperity.



The Mekong Delta is on the front line of climate change. If action is not taken now, Asia could face between 2.8 trillion USD and 4.7 trillion USD in lost annual GDP by 2050, accounting for two thirds of the worlds loss caused by climate change, he said, adding that the negative impacts of climate change could reduce Vietnams national income by up to 3.5 percent by 2050.



He emphasised the importance for Vietnam to work hard to reduce its dependence on coal both as a source of power generation and as a major export. Coal currently accounts for about a third of the countrys operating energy mix but the government has recently committed to cutting it to less than 10 percent by 2045 and boosting renewables to more than half from todays 12 percent.





The second trend is digitalisation, as the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a seamless digital world and has triggered changes in consumers behaviour that are likely to have lasting effects.









CEO of HSBC Vietnam Tim Evans (Photo: VNA)





According to Evans, one of the most powerful effects of the digital revolution is the way that it has levelled the global playing field, allowing countries like Vietnam to compete with more advanced economies. Companies like VNG, MoMo, and VNPay  all unicorns founded in the country  are world-class competitors, but if the nation is to continue to build on their success, it needs to continue to invest in building a thriving digital ecosystem that drives innovation.



Regarding vaccine equity, recent events have shown that unless every country and community can obtain vaccines quickly and fairly, no one will be able to return to normal, and a truly global economic recovery will not be possible.



Vietnam has been a model in this regard. Almost 80 percent of the population has already been vaccinated, one of the highest rates in the world. The Ministry of Health has set a target to complete the vaccination campaign for children aged 5 to 11 in the second quarter of this year.



This is a significant achievement considering the position the nation was in 12 months ago. There is an opportunity to use this expertise to help neighbouring countries to reach herd immunity. Unless they can achieve similar rates, Southeast Asias regional recovery will fail to reach its full potential. A prime example is Thailand, a major hub for tourists en route to Vietnam, where the rates are still high.



Strengthening global cooperation in vaccine research and development would help countries that struggle to compete with richer nations to obtain affordable vaccines and key medical supplies, he said.



The fourth trend is trade, Evans said, noting that trade still offers the shortest and most direct route back to economic growth.



So far, Vietnam has signed 15 free trade agreements (FTAs)  including the recent Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership which has been in force since the beginning of this year  making it one of the most open economies globally. These FTAs are expected to play a major role in boosting economic growth this year. Since the nation has fully opened its borders for international travel since March, the government wants to ensure that the country returns to its pre-pandemic growth cadence. This strategic goal can be achieved with the aid of Vietnams FTAs and other bilateral agreements.



The ratification of these agreements will open up a world of opportunities for Vietnamese corporates. Challenges remain as the country will need to embark on further domestic reforms to ensure it can remain competitive. The country will also need to continue to work with other Asian nations to facilitate cross-regional investment flows and dismantle non-tariff barriers if the region is to reach its full trade potential, he said.



Regarding geopolitics, the HSBC Vietnam leader said that the ongoing geopolitical tensions are expected to continue to inject unwelcome uncertainty into the global economy. Vietnams openness and principled stand on settling international disputes by peaceful means and in accordance with international law is a valuable voice in a confused international environment.



The inclination to withdraw within ones own borders at times of turmoil and uncertainty is natural but misguided. The biggest issues can only be overcome with greater collaboration.



Finally, for inequality and an inclusive recovery, Evans stressed that the impact of the pandemic has been profound, leaving a legacy of increased inequality and elevated debt. It hit the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest, pushing millions more into poverty and entrenching inequality.



It is imperative that low-income developing countries are given the vaccines and support they need to recover. This is also an opportunity to build community resilience to minimise the impact of natural disasters and prevent future crises, he added./.
According to a tweet published by Sea Waves Magazine on April 22, 2022, Spain sent the Roro (troopship) Reina Ysabel to Poland with weapons to support Ukraine.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

Spanish Roro Reina Ysabel (Picture source: Portalmorski)

Reina Ysabel has a length of 149,38 m, a draft of 5.85 m, and a beam of 21 m. She can reach a top speed of 18 knots, a cruising range of 7200 miles and she can carry a crew of 18 sailors and 110 trailers.

She is powered by two Wartsila 9L32 engines with a power of 11,258 horsepower, has a displacement of 16,361 tons, and is based at the Carthagena Arsenal.

Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using a platform vehicle, such as a self-propelled modular transporter.

In March and April 2022, Spain already delivered VAMTAC 4x4 armored vehicles, Instalaza C-90 anti-tank grenade launchers, and unspecified ammunition.

The URO VAMTAC is a multi-role light tactical vehicle that can be used for a wide range of missions for military and security forces. Granted, the URO VAMTAC can be configured as an anti-tank guided missiles carrier, with radars and very short-range air defense equipment, and as a command and control vehicle.

The vehicle has a length of 4.845 m, a width of 2.175 m, and a height of 1.9 m. The curb weight of the vehicle ranges from 3,000 kilograms to 3,500 kilograms and has a payload capacity ranging from 1,500 kg to 2,000 kg.
EU considers additional funds for eastern countries for a deal to ban Russian oil

Armenia PM to visit Netherlands

Germany's finance minister warns that wage increases could further fuel inflation

Ursula von der Leyen travels to Hungary to persuade Orban to support sanctions on Russia

NEWS.am digest: Armenia marks May 9, Shushi liberation; Azerbaijan opens fire on Sotk gold mine

Ursula von der Leyen says unanimous vote on key areas of EU policy no longer makes sense

Resistance movement marches through central streets of Yerevan

US First Lady meets with Slovak President

North Korea urges citizens to strictly adhere to antiviral measures in connection with COVID-19

Armenian TV host dies after falling into river

Javelin manufacturer to double production of anti-tank missile systems

Sri Lankan Prime Minister submits his resignation to the President

Marukyan: There should have been half million people on streets now if people really wanted change of power in Armenia

Russia envoy to Armenia: Everyone should avoid steps that could aggravate situation

Oil prices drop in Saudi Arabia after COVID-19 outbreak in China

Armenia army general staff ex-deputy chief: I will say its a lie if someone says it was possible to win 44-day war

Georgia condemns presidential elections in South Ossetia

ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party official says authorities plan to divide Armenian diaspora

Azerbaijan continues attempts to appropriate Armenian Dadivank Monastery

Bitcoin is trading at a low since the summer of 2021

Armenia ambassador-at-large: Whoever says 'they want Artsakh to be part of Azerbaijan' probably wants it

Turkeys Erdogan to attend Teknofest in Azerbaijan

System Of a Down members welcome opposition Resistance Movement actions in Armenia (PHOTOS)

Journalist attacked in Baku

19 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia in past 5 days

Novak: Russia has already started selling oil to a number of new buyers

Putin: NATO countries did not want to hear Russia

Two Chinese ships enter Japanese territorial waters

China assures Australia of peaceful intentions in cooperation with Solomon Islands

Holy Etchmiadzin clergy visit Victory Park memorial in Yerevan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Let us live for new victories

Armenia ex-defense minister: Wedding at Mountains ideologically impossible after change of power

NATO Secretary General urges Putin to withdraw troops from Ukraine

Karabakh negotiation process did not fail under Armenia ex-President Serzh Sargsyan, says Seyran Ohanyan

Armenia ex-defense minister: Resistance Movements breakthrough moment already passed

Karabakh President visits Stepanakert Memorial on May 9 anniversaries

Armenia Investigative Committee chief on including PM Pashinyan as defendant: We have just accepted proceedings

Heavy snowfall recorded in Armenia rural community, in May!

Karabakh President: Shushi is in captivity again, Artsakh must always be Armenian and impregnable

Armenias Pashinyan to Russias Putin: Memory of great past obliges us to strengthen our inherited friendly ties

Armenia PM arrives at Victory Park accompanied by enhanced security

Armenia ex-President Serzh Sargsyan: For stateless servile creatures, cost of peace is homage paid to enemy

Azerbaijanis desecrate Armenian church in occupied Togh village of Artsakh (VIDEO)

Armenia PM: Blood of our martyrs who gave their lives to Motherland should not be forgotten

Armenia premier, president, others are at Victory Park

Armenia marks May 9

Armenia PM visits Yerevan military pantheon

Zelenskyy and German Parliament Speaker discuss heavy weapons supply to Ukraine

Bloomberg: Hungary continues to block EU oil sanctions against Russia

Israel to abolish mandatory PCR testing at airport as of 20 May

US and G7 countries introduce new package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus

Syrian President visits Iran

Canada PM visits city of Irpin in Ukraine

Armenia's ex-president Serzh Sargsyan is on France Square

Ukrainian media report on US First Lady's visit to Uzhhorod, Ukraine

Marine Le Pen still hopes to defeat Macron in parliamentary elections

German Parliament Speaker arrives in Kiev

German media reports Russian hacker attack on German government website

Resistance Movement rally in Gyumri ends: next rally will take place tomorrow in France Square

Armenia Ombudsman's Office to monitor rallies also in Gyumri

Media: IS militants fire seven rockets at Tajik Armed Forces

Rally of Resistance Movement in Gyumri

Germany registers steepest rise in diesel prices among EU countries since February

Minute of silence declared in Artsakh on 9 May in memory of those killed fighting for homeland

Bloomberg: G7 leaders to discuss possible new sanctions against Russia

Ex-security chief John Lee named new leader of Hong Kong

Xi Jinping Delivers a Keynote Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022

Resistance movement heads to Gyumri with car march

Andy Warhol's portrait of Marilyn Monroe breaks all records at auction in New York

Ancient Roman 2,000-year-old relic bought in US for $35

Ferrari bans Justin Bieber from buying its sports cars

St. Kirakos Armenian Church in Diyarbakir reopened seven years later

NATO chief warns of further escalation of Ukraine situation in coming weeks

Azerbaijan intensely firing toward Armenias Sotk gold mine, 1 wounded

Iran FM discusses nuclear talks in Vienna with UN Secretary General

Yerevan.Today: Azerbaijani journalists are in Armenia

Candidate with Turkish citizenship and served in Turkey army is nominated for US Senate

Opposition Yerevan rally participant remanded in custody

Armenia Investigative Committee comments on cases of blocking streets with trucks

Resistance Movement holding rally in Vanadzor

US accuses Russia of using chemical weapons in Syria

Women kick off march in downtown Yerevan

Man found dead under Yerevan bridge

Armenia Judge Boris Bakhshiyan released from custody

Armenia President meets with Security Council secretary

Biden demands to stop leaks of US intel sharing with Ukraine

At least 22 dead in explosion at 5-star hotel in Cuba

Newspaper: Armenia PM had arrangement with ruling political teams parliament faction

G7 leaders to discuss possible new sanctions on Russia

Armenia Security Council chief: No talk of withdrawing Russian peacekeepers from Artsakh

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Newspaper: Armenia consumer market inflation was 2.3% in April compared to March

Pentagon announces additional $150M in aid to Ukraine

Sri Lanka's president declares state of emergency amid mass protests

Austria needs several years to give up on Russian gas

Biden to sign new arms package for Ukraine worth at least $100 million

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2nd Chamber of Istanbul Regional Court dismisses appeals by lawyers in Hrant Dink case
During the plenary session of the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), a debate took place between the Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Turkish delegates. The debate arose after Eduard Aghajanyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE and a member of the ruling majority "Civil Contract" Faction of the National Assembly of Armenia, stated in his speech that Azerbaijan was taking advantage of the situation in Ukraine and had been putting psychological pressure on the people of Artsakh's (Nagorno-Karabakh) border areas since February 2022, creating a humanitarian crisis, and violating the European Convention on Human Rights and fundamental human rights.

After Eduard Aghajanyan, another member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE Vladimir Vardanyan, a member of the "Civil Contract" Faction, reminded that on April 24, when all Armenians commemorated the victims of the Armenian Genocide, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had made the sign of the Gray Wolvesthe Turkish ultra nationaliststo the peaceful demonstrators participating in the commemoration ceremony in Uruguay of the Armenian Genocide victims. Vardanyan stated that such actions endanger the process of possible formation of trust between the two societies.

Vladimir Vardanyan also noted that Armenia is committed to European values and continues to do everything possible to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations, hoping that the Turkish associates will have enough will to reciprocally open the border and establish normal relations with Armeniapromoting de-escalation and the establishment of lasting peace in the region.

After Vladimir Vardanyan, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE Samad Seyidov made a speech, accusing the Armenian delegates of deviating from the topic, noting that everything is presented in black. He also asked why the Armenian delegates do not declare that Cavusoglu was attacked.

Then he stated that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had agreed on a peace agenda under the auspices of Charles Michel, the President of the European Council.

"I have a cognitive dissonance in my mind because your prime minister said that We agree with Azerbaijan's proposals, we agreed to accept Azerbaijan's proposals which we passed on to our Armenian colleagues, and now the representatives of the Armenian delegation to PACE speak against the position of their prime minister. They are speaking against the national interests of Armenians, who are striving for peace in the region," he said, adding that Azerbaijan has done and will do everything to establish peace.

And after the aforesaid Azerbaijani delegate, Turkish delegate Kamil Aydin made a speech, noting that the topic of the current PACE session was the Russian aggression in Ukraine, whereas the colleagues were deviating from this agenda. He also noted that Vladimir Vardanyan made baseless accusations against Cavusoglu in connection with the Grey Wolves sign. The Turkish delegate noted that this sign is used by all Turkish politicians.
On April 24, Armenians around the world and many other nations commemorated the Armenian Genocide. A crime against humanity, which is denied by the two members of the Council of Europe: Turkey and Azerbaijan. Armen Gevorgyan, an MP of the opposition Armenia Faction in the National Assembly of Armenia, stated this in his remarks at the PACE spring session on Monday. He added as follows, in particular:

"The International Association of Genocide Scholars calls denial the last stage of the same genocide crime.

There is another thing that these days Azerbaijan denies, with the support of Turkey; that is, the right of Armenians to live in their historical homeland.

After the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan in the fall of 2020 in the Artsakh Republicin Nagorno-Karabakhthe Armenian people are facing a dilemma. Either to continue on the path of its independent development and dignified life, preserving the national identity, or to repeat the terrible fate of our compatriots who once lived in the region called Nakhichevan, which is now part of Azerbaijan.

During 70 years within Soviet Azerbaijan, the entire Armenian population of Nakhichevan has completely disappeared. The Armenian cultural and religious heritage of Nakhichevan has been completely destroyed. Now Azerbaijan is trying to force the Armenians of Artsakh to suffer the same fate.

I call on the Council of Europe to send a clear and strong signal to all parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that the international community will continue to support the three key principlesset out by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairsfor the settlement of the conflict.

I believe peace in our region has no alternative. For long and sustainable peace solutions are needed that must be mutually acceptable. The important challenge for our organization is to limit Azerbaijani efforts to secure the silent consent of Europe in its business of denying the right of people of Artsakh to self-determination in exchange for [natural] gas and oil.

And finally, Mr. President, it was a shock to see yesterday that Turkish Foreign Minister [Mevlut] Cavusoglu, who has been the President of this Assembly for two years, communicates with the descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors through the gestures of a well-known Turkish nationalist terrorist organization. Such behavior should be unacceptable and condemned by the Council of Europe. I call on the Turkish representatives to work with the same diligence to recognize the Armenian Genocide."
The Resistance Movement of Armenia held an awareness march in the capital Yerevan Monday, and today it will continue from 7.30pm.

Also, a march to Yerevan started from Ijevan city Monday morning, in which the MPs of the opposition "Armenia" Faction in the National Assembly (NA) are also taking part. And this morning, the next group of the Resistance Movement will start marching from Tigranashen village of Ararat Province to Yerevan.

Before the start of the Resistance Movement, a group of members of the Youth Union and Nikol Aghbalyan Student Union of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party of Armenia blocked a Yerevan intersection Monday. The situation there became tense and a large number of special police forces apprehended four participants of this protest action.

A number of other youth disobedience actions also took place in Yerevan.

During this time, Artur Vanetsyanthe leader of the opposition "With Honor" Faction of the NA and chairman of the opposition Homeland party of Armenia who has been on a sit-in at Freedom Square in downtown Yerevan since April 17and his supporters also carried out acts of disobedience. Also, they have closed off a number of streets in Yerevan since Monday evening and staged held a sit-in.

And in the end, the Resistance Movement and the marches led by Vanetsyan met each other at France Square in downtown Yerevan.
The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsperson) of Armenia, Kristinne Grigoryan, on Monday participated in the discussion entitled "Security Sector Governance and the Reform - Ensuring Effective Security Sector Oversight in Geneva, Switzerland. The discussion was organized by the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance (DCAF).

The Defender made a speech within the panel entitled "Human Rights in the Armed Forces and the Role of Defense Institutions," the Human Rights Defenders office informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Grigoryan presented the constitutional mandate and the toolkit of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia to protect human rights in the armed forces.

The ombudsperson presented the challenges and activities implemented by the Human Rights Defenders Office during the COVID-19 and 44-day war in 2020, especially the fact finding activities on war crimes of Azerbaijan, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment of Armenian prisoners of war and captives.

Highlighting the importance of close cooperation between the National Assembly and the Human Rights Defender elected by the National Assembly, the Defender presented concrete recommendations jointly with the National Assembly.

Reference was also made to the international experience related to the Military Ombudsman Institute.
The Armenian-Indian business forum was held Tuesday on the margins of the working visit to India by Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan of Armenia, Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.

At the opening ceremony of the event, the FM delivered remarks, in which, he particularly noted:

I am delighted to welcome you all to the Armenian-Indian business forum and I thank the Confederation of Indian Industry for hosting us today.

It is the first time that such numerous and solid Armenian business and investment delegations travel to India to meet and greet their counterparts, establish mutually beneficial cooperation, collaborate to overcome the challenges of todays world and create value for our societies. Indeed, today we open a new page in the history of Armenian-Indian economic cooperation and let me say, revive excellent traditions of trade, development, and shared prosperity between our nations.

Throughout the years, India has become an important economic partner of ours. At the same time, there is a huge untapped potential, for the utilization of which we must work together.

India - the worlds sixth-largest country by nominal GDP and the fastest-growing economy among major powers, can become a land of unlimited opportunities for Armenian businessmen, technologists, and startupers. In its turn, Armenia, being situated at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, has a lot to offer to India. Armenia's membership in the Eurasian Economic Union with a population of around 200 million and 1.8 trillion US dollars GDP, Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with the European Union, as well as the GSP regime with the US, Japan, Canada, Norway and Switzerland, are tangible advantages in the investment attractiveness of Armenia and for effective cooperation with foreign partners.

I would also like to note that our Government is continuously undertaking the necessary steps to ensure a positive business environment in Armenia so that businessmen, entrepreneurs, and investors can have favourable conditions to work and create. In this regard, I would like to mention the ambitious reforms aimed at the promotion of rule of law, the fight against corruption, and the establishment of a free, truly competitive economy and market relations.

Armenia and India can establish mutually beneficial cooperation in nearly every sphere of the economy, but especially high-tech, IT, education, tourism, aviation, logistics, and pharmaceuticals are among the most promising and forward-looking areas for partnership. Today all the best and the brightest people from these spheres are gathered here, hence I am sure that the success of todays event is guaranteed.

In conclusion, dear participants, I wish you productive and interesting work. And I think this is the very correct time for politicians to step back and give the floor to businesses.

Representatives of the Confederation of Indian Industry, the director of the Enterprise Armenia Foundation, the director of the Tumo Creative Technology Center, and several others delivered presentations and remarks during the business forum.
Philippine Senator Ramon Revilla Jr has demanded clarification from Facebook over a series of blocks on his posts and information shared by officials and ordinary netizens, the Philippine News Agency reported on Tuesday.

In a letter to Facebook Philippine Office Director John Rubio, the senator is said to have stressed that he "joins government and media concerns about unmotivated incidents in the performance of official functions and their impact on national security, sovereignty and fundamental freedoms."

According to the agency, the Deputy Secretary of the President of the Philippines for Communications, Lorraine Badoy, criticized the manifestations of censorship on Facebook, but messages about this were then blocked both on media accounts and ordinary users.

The Philippine National Press Club called the incident not only an act of humiliation and shameless violation of civil liberties, but also a violation of the country's sovereignty, the agency said. According to him, the posts of government bodies, including the agency itself, are blocked on Facebook with the addition that they violate "public standards."

The Philippine agency specifically mentions that under the same pretext, the account of lawyer Vic Rodriguez, who represents presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the upcoming May 9 elections, was blocked for 30 days from April 25. In the Philippines, they do not rule out that this is an attempt to influence the outcome of the elections in the country.

Facebook, represented by Meta, explained what was happening only as a technical problem, which is being worked on. More detailed explanations, as stated, did not follow.
Political activity differs from business, in that in business, as a rule, they do not blindly follow the demand, but try to generate supply. Political scientist Garnik Gevorgyan stated this during a debate Tuesday.

According to him, the society longs for populism, and this causes conceptual problem.

"How are we going to overcome the situation? If we want to replace the current Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan with another Nikol Pashinyan, that is the easiest way. But in that case, the existing problems will not be solved in any way. Today's problem is in the mechanism of the political process. The current political process is based on frustration, shows, and insults," Gevorgyan said.

As per the political scientist, the Armenian society is quite able to find a replacement for the current PM, but that will not solve essence of the problem, and therefore Gevorgyan proposed going along a more difficult and longer way.

"The reason because of which Nikol Pashinyan was able to come to power must be eliminated; that is, the political mechanism must pass from the format of a showdown to a format which presupposes the existence of an idea, ideology, program," Garnik Gevorgyan explained.
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Azerbaijan took advantage of the international community's total concern about the crisis in Ukraine and took rude actions in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Eduard Aghajanyan, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations, said addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) during the spring session.

Based on the governments request, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) indicated temporary measures, calling on Azerbaijan to refrain from actions that may contribute to the violation of the conventional rights of civilians, the deputy said.

However, he noted that, even after the indication of interim measures by the Court, Azerbaijan continues to violate its obligations under the Convention.

Since February 2022, the Azerbaijani armed forces have been constantly terrorizing the population of the border villages of Artsakh through various criminal acts of physical threat and psychological pressure, through direct, threatening and intimidating statements against the civilian population using loudspeakers. In regularly played statements, the population of the border villages is asked to stop farming and leave their homes, otherwise they are threatened with physical reprisals against their families, Aghajanyan said.

He also noted that during the same period, on March 7, the gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh was disrupted, as a result of which more than 150,000 people were left without heating, with 1.5 meters of snow on the ground and unprecedented frosty conditions.

All of the above is a classic example of an act of ethnic cleansing. And if on international platforms Azerbaijani officials often state that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is over and the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh can live peacefully in their homes, on the ground Azerbaijan is trying to speed up the last round of ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, taking advantage of the fact that the international community has been distracted from Ukrainian crisis, the MP added.

Armenia remains committed to the peace agenda in the South Caucasus and sees a final and peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group, Aghajanyan concluded.
Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 25.04.22:

During the PACE spring session in Strasbourg, Armenian MP Armen Gevorgyan touched upon the issues of Armenian rights in Karabakh and Turkish FMs recent nationalist gesture of Gray Wolves organization.

First, Gevorgyan noted that the international community cannot demand the Armenian people of Artsakh to live under the rule of Azerbaijan.

According to him, Azerbaijan has been carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing of Armenians, a state that has unleashed three large-scale wars against them in three decades.

He said Azerbaijan is a state trying to rewrite the history of the region in order to deny the mere existence of Armenian heritage and culture, a state that is not shy to publicly declare territorial ambitions against the Republic of Armenia.

He further said it was shocking to see that the person who was the President of this Assembly for two years, the Minister of Foreign of a member state Mevlut Cavusoglu flashing the gesture of a Turkish nationalist terrorist organizations to Armenians.

Such behavior should be unacceptable and condemned by the Council of Europe, he noted.

Meanwhile, Eduard Aghajanyan, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations, noted that Azerbaijan took advantage of the international community's total concern about the crisis in Ukraine and took rude actions in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

And if on international platforms Azerbaijani officials often state that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is over and the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh can live peacefully in their homes, on the ground Azerbaijan is trying to speed up the last round of ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, taking advantage of the fact that the international community has been distracted from Ukrainian crisis, he added.

It has been highly active in recent weeks after they announced protests against the current governments actions to protect Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

Opposition "Armenia" Faction MP Anna Grigoryan, a group of youth from the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party of Armenia, as well as ordinary citizens today marched to the capital Yerevan from Tigranashen village of Ararat Province.

Ishkhan Saghatelyan, the National Assembly deputy speaker from the opposition "Armenia" Faction, said the opposition will march to Yerevan from the symbolic places in Armenia. One of these places is Ijevan citythe hometown of PM Nikol Pashinyan, and an opposition march to Yerevan started from there Monday.

Also, an awareness march of the Resistance Movement is scheduled today in Yerevan.

The opposition youth held protest actions, with the flags of Artsakh Nagorno-Karabakh), at the Yerevan universities.

First, they placed the flag of Artsakh at the yard of the Armenian State University of Economics, after which they released colored smoke into the airand as a sign of their fight.

The participants of this protest action urged the university students to join the fight that has started for Artsakh and sovereignty.

Holding a huge flag of Artsakh, they then continued their awareness campaign in the other Yerevan universities as well.

However, the police dragged and apprehended an opposition member participating in this demonstration.

The other participants were shouting "Shame on you," "fight," and "We will not retreat, we will fight!"

Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that the conflict in Ukraine risked escalating into a third world war and that NATO was in essence engaged in a proxy war with Moscow by supplying Kyiv with weapons.

In a wide-ranging interview broadcast on state television on Monday, Lavrov said the risk of a nuclear conflict must not be underestimated and that the core of any agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine would depend largely on the military situation on the ground.

About 5.2 million Ukrainians have fled the country since Russia launched its invasion on February 24, the UN says, noting that the outflow has slowed since the start of the war.

As Europe mobilises to accommodate the growing number of Ukrainians fleeing the country  now more than four million  stateless Ukrainians are fighting a losing battle for protection and recognition. Not recognised as nationals by Ukraine or any other state under the operation of its laws, stateless Ukrainians, who number approximately 40,000, are denied access to basic rights and have been the targets of pervasive discrimination as they seek refuge abroad

The UK government says it believes 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion two months ago.

The UK defense secretary, Ben Wallace, estimated Russia's losses on Monday as a quarter of its pre-invasion strength, with more than 2,000 armored vehicles knocked out, including at least 530 tanks, as well as 60 aircraft

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan held phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to Putins spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, the sides discussed the Ukrainian conflict.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also had a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Expressing that they are ready to provide all possible assistance during the negotiation process and offer the necessary support, including mediation, Erdogan said that Ankara is positively considering providing security guarantees to Kyiv.
Finland and Sweden can jointly decide whether to join NATO, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, Reuters reported.

"Now that Sweden has decided to bring forward somewhat their own parliamentary process, it is possible that the decisions related to joining, if they are taken, will take place on the same days or at least within the same weeks," Haavisto told reporters, commenting on media reports on Monday about the timing of the move

He did not give an exact date for the decision, citing the need to give the parliaments of both countries time to discuss the issue.

Stockholm is conducting a security policy review that includes a position on possible NATO membership, with results due by mid-May. Its eastern neighbor Finland said it plans to decide whether to apply to join the alliance within a few weeks.

Haavisto acknowledged that applying for membership alone would not bring the two Scandinavian countries under NATO Article 5, which ensures that an attack on one ally is an attack on all. "But at the same time NATO member countries have an interest in that no security breaches would take place during the application period," Haavisto said.

According to him, Finland is in talks with various NATO member countries to strengthen joint exercises that can improve the country's security during the transition period.
Member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, head of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration Armen Gevorgyan and PACE President Tiny Kox discussed recent developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In a separate meeting, Gevorgyan and Kox discussed the need to ensure guarantees for Gevorgyan's parliamentary activities in the context of Armenia's commitments, the RA NA Standing Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration informed NEWS.am. The direct participation of Armen Gevorgyan in the works of PACE was mutually highlighted.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed regional developments, particularly the issue of Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the necessary attention of the Council of Europe to the solution of that issue.

The sides highlighted the consistent institutional work of the opposition with the PACE structure in order to have full information about the events taking place in Armenia.
Faculty who advanced the innovation enterprise with their discoveries recently were honored by Emory Universitys Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) at its 16th Annual Celebration of Technology and Innovation. The ceremony was held in person for the first time since COVID-19.

Three new awards were added this year  for corporate partnerships, female entrepreneurship, and inclusion, diversity and equity  taking the total number of categories to seven.

Read about the winning work here and visit the OTT website for interviews with the winners.

Innovation of the year

KeyStrike: Securing communications from an untrusted computer

Ymir Vigfusson

Modern cybersecurity is unable to detect if an end-user is physically sitting at an authorized device, or if it has been compromised by a hacker seeking to gain further access into a remote server. To help address this issue, Vigfusson developed KeyStrike, a small USB device that connects to the USB port of a computer. When an end-user enters a key on their keyboard, KeyStrike will forward the keystroke with additional keystrokes. If the server receives a keystroke from the user without the corresponding additional characters, it can be known immediately that the computer may be compromised. Without access to the secret key, the hack would be detected with overwhelming probability.

Deal of the year

License with Eli Lilly & Company: Specific JAK inhibitors as potential antiviral agents

Raymond Schinazi, PhD; Christina Gavegnano, PhD

The COVID-19 pandemic has left a devastating impact throughout the world, putting pressure on hospitals and health care systems everywhere. At many times, hospitals found themselves overwhelmed with severely ill COVID-19 patients in need of care. Schinazi and Gavegnano originally intended for this therapeutic to treat HIV with reduced likelihood of resistance and an enhanced safety profile. However, through more research, it was discovered that baricitinib could be used to treat COVID-19 in individuals who require supplemental oxygen or a ventilator. In November 2020, baricitinib was given Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 2021, Emory University entered into a non-exclusive license agreement with Eli Lilly & Company to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients with baricitinib.

Start-up of the year

Cambium Medical Technologies: Preparation and usage of heparin-conjugated fibrinogen- depleted pooled human platelet lysate for regenerative medicine

Edmund Waller, MD, PhD; John Roback, MD, PhD

Cambium Medical Technologies was founded in 2013 by four professionals from Emory University. They are focused on developing and commercializing regenerative therapeutics created from novel processed human platelets. Since the licensing of the Emory technology in 2014, Cambium Medical Technologies has successfully completed a Phase 1 and 2 FDA dry eye clinical study for their product Elate Ocular. In 2021, Cambium received approval from the FDA to begin two Phase 3 clinical trials for their biologic.

Significant event of the year

FDA emergency use authorization of molnupiravir

Gregory Bluemling, PhD; George Painter III, PhD; Michael Natchus, PhD; David Guthrie, PhD; David Perryman, JD

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an incredibly large strain across the globe. Molnupiravir, an antiviral oral therapeutic against certain RNA viruses, was invented at Emory through the Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE). The therapeutic was sub-licensed to Ridgeback Biotherapeutics in 2020. It was found that molnupiravir could treat mild to moderate COVID-19 infections in those who are at a high risk for hospitalization or death, with the goal of keeping COVID-19 patients out of the hospital. In December 2021, the FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization of molnupiravir for the treatment of COVID-19.

Corporate partnership of the year

Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx)

Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD; Greg Martin, MD; Julie Sullivan

In 2020, Emory University, along with other partners, received a $31 million federal grant from the National Institutes of Health for the purpose of rapidly transforming innovative technologies into easily accessible diagnostic tests for COVID-19. Researchers at Emory, Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta and Georgia Institute of Technology were selected to lead a national effort in testing validation under the umbrella of the RADx program. More than 100 companies participated with RADx to get their tests validated, de-risked, and deployed to market. RADx has since expanded to meet the needs created by the increasing number of variants and the shortage of available tests available to the public, bringing in a total of $64 million of funding. The efforts of the RADx program have helped facilitate FDA authorization for 41 diagnostic tests and have increased testing capacity in the U.S. by more than one billion. Emory OTT provides ongoing support for RADx by efficiently managing the more than 75 research contracts needed to continue their collaborative work with industry and academic partner organizations.

EmpowHER award

Chemo/immuno precision medicine software app for leukemia

Nicki Panoskaltsis, MD, PhD

The Emory community is proud to have some of the most cutting-edge research teams led by women. Female scientists at Emory are responsible for a variety of innovative discoveries in biomedical sciences and technology. Some of their inventions have had profound positive impact on the scientific community and society. Panoskaltis and a team of researchers have developed an algorithm that utilizes patient, leukemia and treatment-specific data from standard clinical chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments. Her goal is to dynamically predict disease progression before, during and after treatment, as well as optimize treatment outcomes through the personalization of drug selection, dosage and schedule.

Inclusivity, Diversity and Equity award (IDEAward)

Interleukin-37 enhances the effectiveness of car t-cell therapy

Curtis Henry, PhD; Sunil Raikar, MD; Sarwish Rafiq, PhD

A diverse team of researchers at Emory have developed IL-37-expressing CAR T-cells to treat B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. These cells not only boost the function of aged T-cells, but also enhance the effectiveness of CAR T-cell therapy. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a highly aggressive type of leukemia and requires very early treatment. Unfortunately, CAR T-cell therapy leads to unsustainable remissions in many patients, and major toxicity due to cytokine release syndrome. Inventor Henry also serves on the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Advancement committee within the Cancer Biology graduate program. The goal of the scientists on this project is to take a proactive stance in the creation of an academic environment that is inclusive, welcoming, and celebrates contributions of brilliant scientists from underrepresented groups.

About Emorys Office of Technology Transfer
MIAMIA new study found that when red tides began in early summer and continued into the fall, low oxygen areasor dead zones were more likely to also occur. This study by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, and NOAA collaborators is the first study to link low oxygenor hypoxiato red tides across the west coast of Florida and offers new information to better understand the conditions favorable for combined events as they are expected to increase as Earth continues to warm.

Red tides are becoming a near annual occurrence off the west coast of Florida, which are caused by massive blooms of the algae Karenia brevis fueled in part by excess nutrients in the ocean. These algae blooms turn the ocean surface red and produce toxins that are harmful to marine mammals, sharks, seabirds and humans causing a range of issues from respiratory irritation, localized fish kills to large-scale massive mortalities to marine life. Hypoxic areas are typically referred to as dead zones.

These events are so disruptive they are being incorporated in population assessments of some grouper species for use in fishery management decisions. During the 2005 red tide that also had hypoxia, it was estimated that about 30% of the red grouper population was killed, said Brendan Turley, an assistant scientist at the UM Rosenstiel School and NOAAs Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Studies. There are also concerns that the conditions favorable for combined red tide and hypoxia events will increase with climate change projections into the future.

The study, conducted as part of NOAAs Gulf of Mexico Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Program, examined nearly 20 years of oceanographic data that included temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen from the surface to the seafloor across the West Florida Shelf to determine the frequency of hypoxia and association with known red tides. The researchers found that hypoxia was present in five of the 16 years examined, three of which occurred concurrently with extreme red tides in 2005, 2014, and 2018. There is an ongoing effort to collaborate with commercial fishermen in Southwest Florida to monitor for red tide blooms and formation of hypoxia, which incorporates data collected during various NOAA surveys conducted in the region annually.

The study, titled Relationships between blooms of Karenia brevis and hypoxia across the West Florida Shelf, will appear in the May issue of the journal Harmful Algae, which is currently online. The studys authors include: Brendan Turley from the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies; Mandy Karnauskas, Matthew Campbell, David Hanisko from NOAAs Southeast Fisheries Science Center and Christopher Kelble from NOAAs Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.

This research was carried out, in part, under the auspices of the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, cooperative agreement # NA20OAR4320472.
The patients arrived at the largest emergency hospital in Lviv by the dozens, transported hundreds of miles via ambulance and other vehicles from the eastern region of war-torn Ukraine. Seventy casualties arrived on one day, 30 on another, nearly 100 on yet another occasion.

Most were civiliansmen and women with the worst of injuries: a 40-year-old woman whose arm was so badly mutilated it may have to be amputated; a man with shrapnel wounds to his arms, back, and feet; and a woman with a severely fractured skull.

Their wounds were quite familiar to trauma surgeon Enrique Ginzburg. After more than 30 years working at one of the nations top trauma centers, hes seen his fair share of life-threatening injuries.

But one difference stood out. These were large projectile wounds. So, the injuries to the extremities, chest wall, and abdominal areas were much more massive, said Ginzburg, a professor of surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and trauma medical director and chief of surgery at Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson South Medical Center.

He and two other physiciansJohn Holcomb, a retired Army colonel who is now a professor of trauma and acute care surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Steven Wolf, professor and chief of burn and trauma surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branchhad traveled nearly 6,000 miles from Miami to the Lviv Clinical Emergency Hospital to mentor and train the young Ukrainian trauma surgeons who are treating civilian casualties of the now two-month-old Russia-Ukraine war.

Many of the surgeons they mentored only recently completed their residencies, and ever since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, they have been dealing with an influx of serious war injuries. The hospitals director of trauma, a position at U.S. medical centers thats typically occupied by someone in their late 40s or even early 50s, is only 33, Ginzburg said. But he and the other Ukrainian surgeons are all good, exceptionally good. And theyre doing a wonderful job.

Ginzburg deployed to the region in early April as a volunteer physician with the Global Surgical and Medical Support Group (GSMSG), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit of trauma surgeons and other health care providers who train doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel working in high-threat conflict areas around the world. Buffalo, New York, surgeon Aaron Epstein founded the organization.

Miller School of Medicine surgeon Enrique Ginzburg, right, and John Holcomb, center, a surgeon from the University of Alabama Birmingham, consult with Hnat Herych, chief of surgery at a Ukrainian hospital.

During Ginzburgs stint at the 1,200-bed hospital, he, Holcomb, and Wolf toured the wards of the wounded, looking in on patients and sharing with their young Ukrainian counterparts their knowledge of treating combat injuries.

And that knowledge is extensive. The doctors who volunteer through GSMSG practice emergency and trauma medicine in some of the leading hospitals in the U.S. and have deployed to hot spots from Afghanistan and Iraq to Syria and Somalia.

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Ginzburg spent a week at a medical facility in Kurdistan. And in 2010, as part of renowned Miller School neurosurgeon Barth Greens Project Medishare, he helped establish and operate a 250-bed field hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated that country, killing tens of thousands of people and injuring a multitude of others.

When this came about, I wanted to help, he said of the opportunity to go to Ukraine.

He was still in the first week of a 14-day vacation at the time and wrestled with the idea of whether he should go. I spoke to my wife and said, What am I going to do? Just stay here in Miami for another week?  recalled Ginzburg, whose grandparents emigrated from Europe in the 1940shis grandfather from Kyiv and his grandmother from Poland, both making new lives for themselves in Cuba.

In Ukraine, I knew Id have a chance to do something meaningful, both personally and perhaps to set an example, he said.

So, he decided to go, reaching out to Epstein, who was already in Lviv, to work out the logistics.

Along with his wife, Barbara, a licensed occupational therapist, and Holcomb and Wolf, Ginzburg flew into Warsaw, then took a regional flight to Rzeszow, where members of the 82nd Airborne Division were stationed.

From there, GSMSG security personnel transported them from the Polish border to a secure location in Ukraine, clearing a multitude of checkpoints.

Once in Lviv, they hit the ground running. From visiting patients to observing surgical procedures in the operating room to discussing administrative details such as mass casualty triage, equipment, and staffing, their days at Lviv Clinical Emergency Hospital started early and ended late.

They lectured to Ukranian medical students on combat casualties. And they met with the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Ivanovych Sadovyi; the World Health Organizations regional director for Europe, Hans Henri P. Kluge; and Ukraines minister of health, Viktor Lyashko.

At last count, close to 280 hospitals in Ukraine have been damaged, with 19 of them destroyed. As such, the needs of Lviv Clinical Emergency Hospital and a local burn center are immense. During meetings with high-ranking hospital officials, Ginzburg and his colleagues discussed how GSMSG could help Ukraine meet those needs.

Among the projects they discussed: developing a telemedicine infrastructure that would expand throughout the country to eastern-front hospitals and clinics that are still standing; instituting a two-week ongoing rotational schedule for trauma surgeons at several Lviv-area hospitals; and providing extensive training for the hospitals administration and trauma network.

During their stay, Lviv had been largely spared from Russian attacks, making the city a refuge for people fleeing the violence. But still, occasional air-raid sirens rang out, though no bombs or missiles ever hit the center of town while Ginzburg and the others were at the hospital, he said.

The injured civilians with whom Ginzburg spoke during patient rounds had received initial medical help at health care facilities in the east and were transferred to Lviv for definitive care. One case in particular hit him hard, he admitted.

Olga Zhuchenko, who operated a grocery store in Ukraines Luhansk region with her husband, had been sitting in her apartment when seven Russian bombs hit her neighborhood, destroying everything she owned.

She seemed so vulnerable, Ginzburg said of the 40-year-old woman. It was just heartbreaking that one minute she was sitting in her home, and then a massive weapon almost takes her life.

But were amazed at the incredible resolve of the patients we saw, Ginzburg continued. Theyre very strong emotionally. What they told us was that even if Putin destroys the whole country, theyre not going to give up. Theyre not going to become slaves.
Members of the new leadership team of Student Government hails from Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Florida, but a common interest brought them together at the University of Miami.

Today, Jamie Williams-Smith, Chika Nwosu, and Tatiana Alvarado each draw from their campus involvement to formulate initiatives that will enhance student and campus life, academics, and health and wellness.

With her involvement as the junior class senator and the vice president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, Williams-Smith, a double major in business technology and strategic communication, brings a wealth of leadership knowledge to her new role as president. Nwosu previously served as Student Government director of outreach, resident assistant, and as a member of Presidents 100providing her with a wealth of experience to advocate for student voices on campus as vice president. And Alvarado, who is the treasurer, plans to dedicate her time and knowledge to ensure all students feel that they are heard and empowered.

This dedicated team has its sights now clearly focused on its future and the future of its classmates. Sworn into office during a ceremony on the Foote University Green on April 5, the leaders are busy formulating their strategy to achieve the platform they ran onworking closely with the Universitys administration to make a difference.

They will spend the summer collaborating with the other branches and agencies that make up the Student Governmentincluding Category 5, the Environment and Conservation Organization (ECO), the Elections Commission, and What Matters to U. When they return to campus in August for the start of the fall semester, Williams-Smith, Nwosu, and Alvarado will be primed to implement their campus-wide initiatives. Among them will be the syllabus bank, which will provide more details about some of the Universitys most popular courses. This will give students more information before they build their schedules.

Normally a syllabus for a class will outline what you're going to learn, what you should know coming in, etc., said Williams-Smith. So, let's say you're a transfer student and you want to see if a class you took last semester kind of aligns with something you want to take, or is the next sequencethe syllabus bank will be really helpful for students to see what they're getting into before getting in the class then possibly having to withdraw.

Maria Galli Stampino, dean of undergraduate affairs, whose role includes working closely with the Student Government executive board on its proposed initiatives, recently met with the elected officers to discuss their ideasincluding the syllabus bank, an initiative the University supports.

UM has acquired an electronic tool that will allow faculty to post syllabus templates that students will be able to peruse, said Stampino, who believes working with Student Government is significant to her position at the University. I appreciate the student perspective: I want to support all students, but I cannot talk to all 11,000. Student Government is critical in making me aware of what is a priority and what has the deepest impact on undergraduate students.

Additionally, Williams-Smith, Nwosu, and Alvarado indicated that by providing more resources for students to gain knowledge about what the University has to offer them, there will be better individualized experiences.

One of the main concerns a lot of students always have is that they sometimes don't know where to find certain resources or certain information, said Alvarado, a junior majoring in business legal studies and political science. Were working toward making sure Student Government is putting out information, so that students know what's going on.

Nwosu, a junior studying biology and psychology, said she has been working toward her position since she was a first-year student. Ive known Ive wanted to be VP since I was on the Freshman Leadership Council, said Nwosu. Its a full-circle moment of realizing that Ive accomplished what Ive been dreaming of doing for the past two years.

Alvarado said the realization of her new role hit her on the day the trio was inaugurated.

Just to see everyone standing together, raising our right hands, and looking at our families in the crowd, it was a moment, said Alvarado.

Already, we have worked so well together and the work we have done foreshadows all that we could really do together, noted Williams-Smith. As a trio of amazing women of color, we are looking forward to everything next year has to offer.
The annual University of Miami Canes Day of Service was held on Saturday, April 23, with 10 participating Canes Communities hosting events, including Atlanta, Broward County, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Tallahassee, and the Tampa Bay area.

The flagship event was hosted at Virginia Key Outdoor Center, where volunteers participated in shoreline and coastal cleanup. At an interactive lunch and learn following the debris removal, researchers from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science provided information about the impactful efforts of coral reef restoration.
Following the official launch of the Climate Resilience Academythe new interdisciplinary research and instructional hubon Earth Day, the University hosted the inaugural symposium at Lakeside Village Expo Hall on Monday that featured Miami-Dade Countys first chief heat officer as the keynote speaker and presentations of 10 University Laboratory for Integrative Knowledge (ULINK) funded projects that propose solutions for climate-related challenges.

Rodolphe el-Khoury, dean of the School of Architecture, and Sharan Majumdar, professor in the Rosenstiel Schools Department of Atmospheric Sciences, who together led the planning process that established the foundations of the academy, welcomed students and community guests to the symposium geared to promote a resilience culture and to build momentum for the new initiative.

Jeffrey Duerk, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, noted that the inaugural symposiuma green certified eventrepresented the aims of the academy to address climate and resilience issues collaboratively and across multiple disciplines.

This first symposium, which brings together a community of scholars, serves the Universitys mission as a convener but even more importantly extends beyond convening and studying to ultimately deploying solutions and finding solutions that are actionable, Duerk said.

Eric T. Levin, a former University trustee and former member of the University of Miami Citizens Board, described his motivation to donate $5 million toward the initiative, a gift that propelled the formation of the academy.

Climate change is the challenge of a lifetime, and here in Miami we sit at the epicenter of the climate challenge, Levin said. Its imperative to get others involved to work collaboratively to tackle these big problems, he added.

The academy is designed to complement and enhance the Universitys existing strength, to create more dialogue and form an organization platform that will foster long-lasting relationships and partnerships with stakeholders in South Florida and well beyond, explained Levin.

He suggested that many of the projects fostered through the academy will ultimately become entrepreneurial ventures which will implement business solutions to the stressors of climate change, create more revenue, and become self-sustaining and financially additive to the overall mission of the University.

Keynote speaker Jane Gilbert, named the countys chief heat officer 10 months ago and who served previously as the City of Miamis first chief resilience officer, welcomed the call to engage a new army of advocates and experts to develop solutions for climate change and related stressors.

Its going to take people from across all fieldsdesign, architecture, education, law, policy, business, said Gilbert. The increasing costs of extreme heat create an urgency and gives us the opportunity to reinvent how we live, move, work, and play in a resilient way.

In contrast to the property damages from environment disasters like flooding and hurricanes that are so visually compelling, Gilbert noted that extreme heatwhich impacts health, lives, and livelihoodis the deadliest weather-related killer, more devastating and pervasive than any of the other climate-related hazards combined.

In South Florida we have chronic rising heat, and it doesnt hit us all equally, Gilbert pointed out. Some people are more exposed day in and day out, and most [threatening conditions] are preventable through education, mitigation, and communication.

She noted that her office and a recently convened climate and heat health task force are focused on developing solutions, such as a heat vulnerability assessment, and a resilience tool kit.

Ten different teams presented TED-like talks on their ULINK projects. These projects, which have been funded in their incubator phase by the University, seek broader support and financial backing that may well be provided through the partnership focus of the new Climate Resilience Academy.

This years projects include Living with Spinal Cord Injuries and Climate Change: Risk and Resilience in Miami, Climate Gentrification: Creating Tools to Drive Community-Lead Neighborhood Resilience, Comprehensive Approaches to Heat-Related Equity in Miami-Dade, and The Future of Miamis Main Artery: PortMiami, among others. View a full listing of the projects.

Elvis Baffoe, a Ph.D. student in civil engineering, attended the symposium to learn more about the Universitys sustainability efforts and said that he was glad he did. Baffoe maintained that looking for solutions to climate change is a practical response that many Universities should be doing.

If we can come up with strategies to combat climate change through a symposium like this, I think it will be very beneficial to the world. And I hope the University will do this annually, he said.

Claudio Rizzi, a Ph.D. student in finance, was at the forum to present a poster about his research on climate risk for the financial markets. However, he also enjoyed listening to the keynote speech, along with the U-LINK presentations.

It was good to meet others doing similar work and to integrate other ideas into my finance research, he said. For example, I am learning that the ways different researchers are calculating pollution or assessing flood risk could be very useful to me.
Oklahoma State University announces inaugural Hamm Institute for American Energy executive director

Media Contact: Jordan Bishop | Editor, Department of Brand Management | 405-744-7193 | jordan.bishop@okstate.edu

Oklahoma State University announced the appointment of Kenneth Wagner as the inaugural executive director of the Hamm Institute for American Energy on Tuesday in Oklahoma City.

With 23 years of experience in the energy industry, including serving as Oklahomas secretary of energy and environment, Wagner brings a high level of expertise to the role.

Kenneth Wagner

Kens appointment to lead the Hamm Institute for American Energy represents a strong investment and commitment to the institutes mission to become a global energy leader, OSU President Kayse Shrum said. Kens experience and deep knowledge of the energy industry will serve the institute well as it lives out its mission to educate the next generation of energy leaders and position Oklahoma as a global energy leader.

I look forward to Ken making an immediate impact as he works to help shape energy leadership in Oklahoma, the United States and beyond. On behalf of Oklahoma State University and the OSU/A&M Board of Regents, I want to congratulate Ken on being named executive director of the Hamm Institute for American Energy.

The Hamm Institute for American Energy is founded on the guiding principle of solving humanitys greatest energy needs. The Hamm Institute will develop the energy leaders of tomorrow by engaging industry and academia and developing practical, global, science-based solutions through collaboration, research and development.

Kens knowledge of the industry and Oklahomas energy landscape makes him the perfect fit to work with energy leaders from around the world and help live out the institutes mission, said Hamm Institute Founder and Continental Resources Chairman Harold Hamm. I am confident with Kens leadership the Hamm Institute will be recognized as the global leader for all things energy. The Hamm Institute will be a place where the best and brightest come together to responsibly solve the worlds energy needs.

The announcement was made at Tuesdays 15th Annual Oklahoma State University Energy Conference, which was hosted at the Hamm Institute for American Energy.

Serving the people of this great state and country has been an honor. That service will continue as I have the privilege to lead the Hamm Institute in solving the worlds energy needs. With the current state of energy globally, there has never been a more important time for the Hamm Institute than now, Wagner said. I am grateful to President Shrum and Mr. Hamm for trusting me to step into this role and am ready to hit the ground running.

Wagners experience includes a variety of regional and national energy industry positions. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma, he attended the University of Tulsa College of Law before founding a full-service law firm that focused on corporate, energy and environmental cases. He then served as senior advisor to the administrator of regional and state affairs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since 2019, he has served as Oklahomas secretary of energy and environment for Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, promoting the growth of responsible, clean and affordable energy while protecting Oklahomas natural resources and biodiversity. He will continue in this role until a replacement is named.

Having worked with Ken as Oklahomas secretary of energy and environment, I can confirm firsthand that his leadership, knowledge and dedication to energy will serve the Hamm Institute well as it lives out its mission to champion energy and educate future generations, Stitt said. I am confident this appointment will allow the Institute to thrive and further elevate Oklahoma as a national leader in energy stewardship, research and education. I look forward to seeing how Kens leadership helps grow and strengthen the energy industry in Oklahoma.

From left: Harold Hamm, Kenneth Wagner, Dr. Kayse Shrum and Jerome Loughridge. (Photo by Piper Reese)

In December 2021, an historic donation from the Harold Hamm Foundation and Continental Resources established the Hamm Institute for American Energy at Oklahoma State University. A popular location to host symposiums, authors, speakers, summits and global conversations  and with a state-of-the art lab featuring wells drilled below the building, an auditorium and classrooms  the institute will be the premier hub of energy innovation.

For more information about the Hamm Institute for American Energy, visit go.okstate.edu/hamm-institute.
Three Chinese nationals killed in Pakistan bombing

The remains of the van that was carrying three Chinese nationals when it was hit by a bomb blast in Karachi. Photo: AP

A bomb blast ripped through a passenger van carrying Chinese nationals in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on Tuesday, killing three of them and a Pakistani, police said.



The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group claimed responsibility for the blast, which took place near a university campus, adding in an email sent to a Reuters reporter that it had been carried out by a woman suicide bomber.



The blast was the first major attack against Chinese nationals in Pakistan since last year when a suicide bomber blew up a passenger bus in northern Pakistan that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese.



Tuesday's attack on citizens of longtime ally China appears to be the first big challenge for newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of Chinese nationals.



Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi told reporters the blast killed three foreigners and a local.



"The reports we have got is that they're Chinese," he said in comments telecast live from the scene of crime. He said the three Chinese were teachers at Karachi University.



The BLA attacked two army bases in southwestern Balochistan province earlier this year, killing seven soldiers, and it lost 13 of the attackers in an hours long gun-battle with Pakistan army.



Baloch separatist guerrillas, who say they are fighting for a greater share in regional resources of mines and minerals, usually attack gas projects, infrastructure and the security forces.



They also attack Chinese projects, and occasionally kill Chinese workers despite Pakistani assurances that it is doing everything it can to protect the projects. (Reuters)
Western advisers in Ukrainian decision-making centres will not be a problem as part of the response, Russia said, RT reported.

"The Russian Ministry of Defense drew attention to the statement of the deputy head of the British defense department, James Hippie, that 'it will not necessarily be a problem' if the weapons provided by the UK to Kiev are used to strike targets on Russian territory," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Such provocation in the event of an attempt to implement such strikes by Ukraine "will immediately lead to a proportional response", the ministry stressed.

"Advisers from among the nationals of one of the Western countries, located in Ukrainian decision-making centers in Kiev, 'will not necessarily be a problem' when Russia makes decisions on retaliatory actions," the Ministry of Defense said.

Earlier developments show that the British authorities will send 120 armoured vehicles and anti-ship systems to Ukraine as part of the next package of military assistance.

--IANS san/arm

( 200 Words)

2022-04-26-21:54:04 (IANS)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 26 (ANI/PRNewswire): Quest Global, one of the world's fastest growing engineering services firms, unveiled its new corporate brand purpose and logo today. The visual splash of striking rich colors and new design marks the 25-year old company's declaration to be and remain the most trusted partner for the world's hardest engineering problems. Currently hiring over 125 engineers a week, the new look is one of many steps Quest Global is taking to build a brand even more meaningful to its customers, employees, and exponentially-growing recruits. "2022 is a landmark year for Quest Global, we turned 25!," exclaimed Quest Global's Chairman and CEO, Ajit Prabhu. "As we celebrate this glorious occasion, our new identity reflects our ambition and passion to be a centenary organization. It reflects how we have evolved over the years and how we continue to push ourselves to be better for society, our people and our customers. We embrace this new chapter with both humility and pride, while continuing to create a better future." A Revitalized Look for a Traditional Field The new logo retains the magnifying glass in a nod to the company's original logo in 1997, and its reputation for being skillfully precise. "Our new corporate brand identity paves the way to engage better with our people, our customers and the community. It helps us communicate that we are not just service providers, we go beyond. Our relentless drive is to be the most trusted partner for the world's hardest engineering problems and reach newer heights. This new identity perfectly illustrates our passion and commitment, but with links to our heritage," said Yumi Clevenger-Lee, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Quest Global. Optimistic yellow and harmonious purple combine with various new visually encoded elements to capture a global company of achievers and caregivers working with customers across many industries to solve engineering's hardest problems all around the world. The new logo truly embodies Quest Global's belief that the business of engineering is really about building a brighter future--of solving the problems of today that stand in the way of tomorrow. "We wanted to make sure Quest Global's brand marque not only stood out from the sea of black and blue competitors, but also stood for their unique positioning of 100 per cent Achiever blended with 100 per cent Caregiver. It needed to be both modern and timeless, relevant but different, dependable but daring. The results speak for themselves," said David Buchan, Founder and Creative Director at Ocean Branding, the agency that designed Quest Global's logo. We are Quest Global. We're in the business of engineering, but what we're really building is a brighter future. It's not just what we do, but why we do it that makes us different. We believe engineering has the unique opportunity to solve the problems of today that stand in the way of tomorrow. For 25 years, we have strived to be the most trusted partner for the world's hardest engineering problems. As a global organization headquartered in Singapore, we live and work in 17 countries, with 56 global delivery centers, driven by 13,000+ extraordinary employees who make the impossible possible every day. Quest Global brings deep industry knowledge and digital expertise to deliver E2E global product engineering services. We bring together technologies and industries alongside the contributions of diverse individuals and their areas of expertise to solve problems better, faster. This multi-dimensional approach enables us to solve the most important and large-scale challenges across the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Energy, Hi-Tech, Healthcare, Medical Devices, Rail and Semiconductor industries. 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 26 (ANI/OP Jindal University): "Legal aid to the poor does not mean poor legal aid. What does one require for that? The contribution from the members of the Bar. The members of the bar, the leaders at the Bar, those who are established senior advocates, must render pro bono services," said Hon'ble Justice U.U. Lalit, Judge, Supreme Court of India, delivering the Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer Memorial Lecture on the theme of 'Constitutionalism, Rule of Law & Access to Justice'. The Memorial Lecture was also marked by the Presentation of the Award to Jindal Global Law School for being ranked 70th globally and 1st in India for the third time in a row. The Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has once again retained the No.1 position in India while its global ranking this year improved to 70th, a jump of six places from 2021, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject (Law) 2022 released recently. "Do we really have legal aid programmes which satisfy what Justice Iyer had thought of? Day in and day out what we find is an empty ritualistic kind of approach which is exhibited by those who are given the charge and briefs to appear in legal aid issues. We as judges, who man the process, we are only facilitators, we can lay down laws, we can engage the services. The final dispensation of legal aid in court is only through lawyers. What we find is, in India, court based litigation legal aid is just about 5% of all the matters. If 60% of our population is below the poverty line, then that percentage doesn't match with reality. Where have the 55 other percent people gone?" Justice Lalit added. Highlighting and bringing forth the significant role of legal education and law schools, in the context of India, Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University said, "Legal education bears the foundation for building the new generation of lawyers who are going to shape the future of legal education and legal profession. We simply cannot address the challenges of access to justice and also focus on dispute resolution mechanisms that can instil faith among the people on protecting the rule of law unless and until we are able to train law students who end up becoming law graduates and become lawyers and judges and that's why we need to focus on legal education. The third aspect why we need to focus on legal education is that law as we know is a dynamic social institution, it requires constant evolution, re-examination, reinterpretation and examine its impact on life itself. The journey of law is not about logic but experience. It means that we need to constantly evolve when it comes to legal interpretation. One of the ways by which this has happened is the work of academic scholars, researchers and those who are involved in publishing serious articles and have an impact with their work. Unfortunately, a good part of Indian legal academia, has not contributed sufficiently towards advancing this aspect of legal education. At best, the leading Indian law schools are reasonably good when it comes to teaching, but largely mediocre when it comes to research. At worst, they do both teaching and research in a mediocre manner. There are numerous data banks that will talk about the fact that there are 1,700 law schools in India, nearly 13 national law schools, all of them having huge challenges when it comes to ensuring academic excellence. Paying tribute to Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar said, "This lecture is a tribute to an extraordinary man who till his death remained committed to the idea of the rule of law and also to be deeply sensitised about access to justice." Presenting the QS World University Rankings by Subject - Law 2022 Edition Award to Jindal Global Law School, Dr Ashwin Fernandes, Regional Director, Middle East, Africa and South Asia, QS Quacquarelli Symonds, said, "Today we are here to celebrate a great milestone by the Jindal Global Law School of the O.P. Jindal Global University, which has been ranked 70th amongst the best law schools in the world. Not just that, it is ranked No.1 in India and to add on it jumped six places from its global position of 76th to 70th this year, as well as ranked 6th in the BRICs economies and 12th across the whole of Asia." On receiving the award, Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar said, "I want to thank our Founding Chancellor and benefactor Naveen Jindal for not only making a contribution to build this university philanthropically but also committing himself to ensure there is academic freedom, autonomy, independence which are so critical for development of the institution." Giving the vote of thanks, Professor Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik, Registrar, O.P. Jindal Global University, said, "Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer has been a great friend and a mentor to the University and supported the initiative since the very beginning. In a short span of time, O.P. Jindal Global University has achieved many milestones and there are many more to come. And we will continue to provide world class education benchmarking with the best in the world faculty, education, research, collaboration." This story is provided by OP Jindal University. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/OP Jindal University)
Kochi (Kerala) [India], April 26 (ANI/BusinessWireIndia): Ayatana and WelcomHeritage, part of the ITC Group, partner to bring to Kerala, its newest hotel, Azora by Ayatana. Situated on Calvathy Road, Fort Kochi, the heritage hotel was inaugurated on April 25 by Hibi Eden (MP, Kochi), KJ Maxi (MLA, Kochi), and Roji M John (MLA, Angamally). "We are excited to be a part of Azora, a heritage hotel conceptualized to preserve history and celebrate luxury and modernity together," said Saravana RG Kumar, Director of Operations, Ayatana Resort. The Historic old courthouse dated more than 200 years, has played many roles. Constructed during the Portuguese reign, the building witnessed decades of court proceedings before taking on a new avatar as the first banking office of Gridlays. Later, the structure like many others situated on the iconic Bazaar road, duly served as a warehouse for spices and teas. After undergoing a complete art deco renovation in 2016, the old courthouse took on its current role as a heritage hotel, accommodating 16 rooms, a rooftop pool, and a gym. The hotel hosts Cafe Noir, an urbane cafe chain operating in Mumbai and Bengaluru specializing in French casual cuisine. The boutique hotel offers specialized services with houseboat cruises and expert-guided tours of Fort Kochi and its culinary landscape. 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 26 (ANI/NewsVoir): Dalmia Group has announced that it has planned to support 20,000 medical professionals every year, adding upto 2 lac doctors in 10 years timeframe, under their exclusive program for Foreign Medical Students from CIS countries. The group will further place these medical professionals in the group-owned hospitals or help them finance their clinics, pathology labs, healthcare centers etc. Dalmia Biz Education Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with several medical universities in CIS countries that are recognized by World Health Organization and offer 5 years course in Doctor of Medicine (MD) in English language. Under the arrangement, the company will facilitate Indian students to study medicine abroad and prepare them to pass the Indian National Medical Commission exams namely Foreign Medical Graduate Exam (FMGE)/National Exit Test (NExT). Dalmia Biz Education will identify, shortlist and screen the students as per the eligibility criteria and standards of the University. Finally, the most competent student profiles will be forwarded for university program enrolments. Post successful completion of the program, Dalmia Healthcare Limited - a Dalmia group venture into healthcare domain will provide 100% assistance to these professionals for their placements or setting up their healthcare centers in India. Sanjay Dalmia, the Chairman of Dalmia group commented, "We have an unprecedented opportunity to create a world-class medical education system, well equipped with modern and technologically advanced infrastructure. We are on a mission to contribute in developing a strong foundation in medical education domain to support India in harnessing its demographic dividend to become a "Vishwa Guru" once again." He further stated that "Over 50% of the students from CIS countries, who aren't able to clear the FMGE or NEXT examination, conducted by NMC every year, fail to fulfill their career goals. Dalmia Group has proposed to setup an online facility, for the best in-class training of these students, through especially designed courses mapped to the Indian requirements to qualify the test." Dalmia Group's move is in line with government's objective of transforming medical education and making it affordable and accessible for every aspiring student. Recently, PM Narendra Modi in his speech said that the nation is set to have a record number of doctors in the next 10 years. Dalmia Biz Education is set to build a strong presence in the education space with the Foreign Medical Students Program with CIS countries. The company is also entering into the school business from April-June quarter with the sole aim of transforming education and to make it affordable for all. Dalmia Healthcare Limited is set to build a robust presence across the healthcare ecosystem, including Hospitals, Diagnostic Clinics, Pharmacies (Ayurvedic & Allopathic) and Medical Tourism. The company provides plant-based formulations (Ayurvedic/herbal) and allopathic drugs, that have undergone rigorous scientific validation and clinical trials, conducted at its research centre, Dalmia Centre for Research and Development (DCRD). The company has a presence in more than 30 countries globally, including South-Eastern European countries, Latin America, CIS countries etc. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC Ltd (TA'ZIZ) have signed a formal shareholder agreement for setting up a chemical project at TA'ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone, Ruwais in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to a joint statement issued by the companies on Tuesday. Reliance is India's largest diversified conglomerate and a strategic partner with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, in TA'ZIZ EDC & PVC, a world-scale chemicals development at the TA'ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais, UAE. The TA'ZIZ EDC & PVC joint venture will construct and operate a Chlor-Alkali, Ethylene Dichloride (EDC) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) production facility, with a total investment of over $2 billion (AED 7.34 billion), according to a joint statement issued by Reliance Industries, TA'ZIZ and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). These chemicals will be produced in the UAE for the first time, unlocking new revenue streams and opportunities for local manufacturers to "Make it in the Emirates", it said. The formal shareholder agreement was signed by senior executives during a visit of Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, to ADNOC headquarters. During the visit, Ambani met with Sultan Al Jaber, UAE's Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, and discussed opportunities for partnership and growth in upstream, new energies and decarbonisation across the hydrocarbon value chain. "I am happy to see the quick progress made by The TA'ZIZ EDC and PVC joint venture between Reliance Industries Limited and TA'ZIZ in a short time. This joint venture is a testimony to the strong and growing ties between India and the UAE and will be a benchmark for more such projects built on strengths of the two nations. I am looking forward to implementation of the project at an accelerated pace, taking a step further in enhancing lives of our people in the region," Mukesh Ambani said in the statement. The TA'ZIZ EDC & PVC project is well-positioned to strengthen domestic supply chains and support the UAE's national strategy to empower the industrial sector and become the driving force of a dynamic and robust domestic economy over the next 50 years. It is anticipated that the TA'ZIZ complex will benefit from the free trade agreement between India and the United Arab Emirates, which was signed in February of this year. Bilateral trade between both nations will be boosted as new trade and development opportunities, such as TA'ZIZ, are further unlocked. Commenting on the deal, Sultan Al Jaber, UAE's Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, said, "Reliance is a valued strategic partner and our collaboration at TA'ZIZ underscores the important role of industrial and energy cooperation as a means of strengthening the deep-rooted and friendly ties between the UAE and India. We are building on this partnership and the progress at TA'ZIZ to unlock more opportunities to drive the UAE's industrial and manufacturing growth, while advancing cooperation on decarbonisation, new energies and upstream production." TA'ZIZ EDC & PVC project is making solid progress towards the detailed design phase in advance of the Final Investment Decision (FID) which is expected to be taken later this year, the statement said. During their meeting, Al Jaber and Mukesh Ambani exchanged a signed framework agreement between ADNOC and Reliance to explore collaboration in the exploration, development and production of conventional and unconventional resources in Abu Dhabi as well as in decarbonisation of operations, including in carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. During his visit to the UAE, Mukesh Ambani also met Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, to explore potential opportunities for collaboration in renewable energy and green hydrogen, both of which are key priorities for the UAE and India. (ANI)
New Delhi [India], April 26 (ANI/SRV): Organised by the Tool & Gauge Manufacturers Association of India (TAGMA India), India's most sought-after platform for the die mould industry is scheduled to take place from April 27 - 30, 2022 at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai. With the regular participation of leading brands who showcase their latest proven technologies and visitors like CEOs, Consultants, and Decision Makers; DMI is today known to be a one-stop shop for die mould professionals. DM Sheregar, President of TAGMA India, said, "With the ongoing pandemic still posing challenges, Indian manufacturers are taking a variety of approaches to radically transform their businesses and find new ways to differentiate themselves. Companies are continually looking for technologies that can help them achieve accuracy and reduce cycle time. The 2022 edition of Die Mould India is going to highlight the latest development in the field of tooling as companies are gearing up to showcase smart manufacturing solutions, newer tool geometries, the latest CNC machines, and additive manufacturing solutions, integrated automation solutions, among others. With over 300+ exhibitors showcasing their technologies and solutions, we expect this edition to be a grand success." The tooling industry plays a critical role in the manufacturing value chain by providing dies and moulds needed for mass production of various parts and thereby forms the backbone of industrial growth. As per the latest Indian Tooling Report compiled by TAGMA India and Nomura Research Institute, Ltd., the market size of the Indian tooling industry stands at ~INR 18,000 crore with more than half of the total demand attributed to the automotive and auto components sector. Most major global auto manufacturing hubs have a strong domestic tooling industry with India being a notable exception, where a significant portion of tool demand is still met via imports. Looking at the prevailing positive sentiment of the industry after the challenging two years, the show, which will be held after a gap of four years, is likely to get a good response from various industry verticals. D Shanmugasundaram, Vice President, TAGMA India said, "The die mould India exhibition is the only dedicated event for tool and die makers which makes it unique and attracts visitors from diverse industries. In this edition, we are inviting delegates from 50+ OEMs and the public sector, and 10+ user industry associations to explore business opportunities for tool makers. On behalf of TAGMA India, I invite industry professionals to visit the show and witness some of the latest developments in the industry" India is seeing growing demand for tooling in the last few years. However, a significant number of tools are still imported. This is not a desirable scenario since it results in significant value addition happening outside the borders. Promoting indigenous manufacturing provides advantages such as employment creation; development of domestic machinery manufacturers; boost in R&D and reduction in supply chain inefficiencies and risks. Thus, having a strong tooling industry is a must for India to enhance its manufacturing industry. At the upcoming Die Mould India show, the Indian tooling industry will showcase its capabilities and preparedness for growth opportunities. Exhibit range of the show includes Dies & Moulds, Press Tools, Mould base & standard parts of Dies & Moulds, Hot Runner System, Tool Steel, Heat Treatment, Texturizing, Gauges, Additive Manufacturing, CAD/CAM system related to Dies & Moulds, Die Spotting, Digitizing, Additive Manufacturing/ 3D Printing, Rapid Prototyping & Modeling, Machine Tools for Dies & Moulds, CNC Milling/Machining Centre, EDM, etc. Moulding machine/ Die Casting machine, Accessories for Machine Tools, Die/moulding polishing machines, Cutting Tools, Measuring Machines, materials, equipment, accessories & services covering Die & Mould industry. TAGMA India established in 1990 serves as a forum for the Indian Tool Room & Die and Mould Industry whose activity involves design, sales or manufacture of dies for pressing, stamping, punching and forming; injection and compression moulds; die casting dies; patterns and pattern equipment; jigs and fixtures; standard tooling components; CAD/CAM; rapid prototyping; gauges; precision machining; special machines and related products. Some of the important objectives of TAGMA are -- To promote training and the diffusion of knowledge relating to standards in the manufacture of Tools and Gauges to improve the standards or the connected trade therewith or with allied industries and to impart relevant and appropriate training to all those engaged in the manufacture of tools and gauges. To promote and encourage improvements in tool room industries for greater efficiency. To organize relevant seminars, workshops and exhibitions etc. to impart useful knowledge to the tool and gauge manufacturers. To establish, run and maintain a library connected with the industry To enhance the contribution of tool room industry to the growth and development of the Indian National Economy and to encourage members to be progressive. To publish a directory of members with details of products manufactured and services offered TAGMA over the years has been successful in achieving some of the objectives mentioned above, prominent amongst them are -- Diemould India International Exhibition is the most popular mould & die show in India showcasing the capabilities of the industry Established Online library for members via Internet and Computer Based Training (CBT) modules at NTTF-TAGMA Library, Bangalore Periodical surveys of the Tool Room industry Delegations/Country Pavilion at the overseas exhibitions Facilitators for Joint Venture by circulating Outsourcing enquiries For more information, visit - www.diemouldindia.org and www.tagmaindia.org This story is provided by SRV Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/SRV)
Surat (Gujarat) [India], April 26 (ANI/NewsVoir): The Surat Chapter of the 2022 IIMUN conference was inaugurated at Surat Indoor Stadium on 22 April commencing the three-day event hosted by Shantaben Haribhai Gajera Trust which manages various schools and educational institutions in and around Surat. The inauguration ceremony was attended by former Ambassador to Kazakhstan for India His Excellency Ashok Sajjanhar, Director General of Indian Council of Cultural Relations and former Ambassador Suresh Goel, MLA Darshana Jardosh, MLA Smt. Zakhnaben Patel and Smt. Hemali Boghawala mayor of surat, noted media personalities Terence Lewis and Cyrus Broacha, Trustees Chunibhai Gajera and Kinjal Gajera and thousands of learners and educationists from all over the city. The inauguration commenced with Trustee Chunibhai Gajera welcoming the gathering to celebrate life and learning. He expressed happiness for being able to come together once again with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. Speakers and educationists present at the ceremony spoke to the learners about the need for the youth to take active interest in politics and governance. They averred that conferences like this offer the young a springboard to help their careers. The three-day IIMUN conference came to an end on 24 April, Sunday with prize distribution with also doubled up as the closing ceremony. The previous day, that is, on 23 April the delegates socialised after the conference closed for the day. The three-day event was a success for it achieved what it sought to achieve - learners took active interest in the workings of the government and the constitutional process. With mock sessions like these, they will be better able to answer when the call to lead comes. We need better leaders, better policy makers and better thinkers who have the best interest of the society in mind. We believe we have been able to plant the seed. Time will tell when this acorn grows into an oak. For more information, please visit gajeratrust.org. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 26 (ANI/NewsVoir): After 2 years of virtual editions, the 25th edition of India's most prestigious and sought-after technology event ''Bengaluru Tech Summit 2022' will be held physically from November 16 to 18 in Bengaluru. Karnataka's Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai yesterday hosted a pre-summit gathering with over 100 CEOs and executives from the electronics, IT & biotech industries and invited them to participate in the 'Bengaluru Tech Summit 2022'. The Chief Minister also reviewed infrastructure, regulatory improvements, rule simplification, and the need for qualified workers during a three-hour closed-door meeting. The doors of our government are open, the doors of my heart are open. We will march ahead with you lending shoulder to shoulder. Government is always ready to cooperate with you, the Chief Minister assured the industry stalwarts during the interaction. The tech summit, Co-hosted by STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) and organised by the department of electronics, IT, BT, and S&T, brings together businesses, talented individuals, researchers, consultants, academia, professionals, and other stakeholders. "Our government will lend shoulder to shoulder for the IT, BT industry to march ahead together. We will provide every possible help. Karnataka is in a command position in the IT, BT sector. The Bengaluru Tech Summit is celebrating its silver jubilee. Over 100 heads and CEOs in the IT, BT and Startup sectors participated in the interaction and appreciated the initiatives of the State government," Shri Bommai said. "The State government would walk hand in hand and lend shoulder to shoulder with the companies in IT, BT and other sectors to create more and more startup clusters and attract research talent," he added. "India is different from the western countries. India has its own social structure. Hunger and hurry for progress is a natural instinct of man. There is tremendous interest for integrated development of all industrial sectors in the country and it is supplementing state's growth," Shri Bommai said. "We all need to work together to develop Bengaluru as the number one Silicon City in the world. Growth of every sector is a challenge and provides opportunities for the government. We need to use the challenges and opportunities as the springboard to reach greater heights," Shri Bommai said. "CEOs of various companies have conveyed the need for policy changes, simplification of rules and the need for skilled human resources. We have started working on these aspects in our own way," he added. "HSR Layout, Koramangala and Indiranagar have a high concentration of IT, BT companies and Startups. These areas have evolved into Technology hubs. But they are not planned layouts. Plans have been drawn up to ramp up infrastructure facilities in Bengaluru to give a big boost for IT, BT, Research and Startup sectors," Shri Bommai added. "About Rs. 8000 cr has been provided for this purpose in the budget. Work to fix the roads would be taken up immediately after the monsoon season. Metro Third Phase, Bengaluru Suburban Rail, Peripheral Ring Road and STRR works would be taken up. Tumakuru, Hubballi, Mysuru and other cities are being provided with good infrastructure under the 'Beyond Bengaluru' project to ensure fair spread of companies all over the state," the Chief Minister said. "Recently the State government has implemented its Data Centre Policy-2022 with a target of attracting Rs. 10,000 cr investments in the next 5 years," he added. Minister for Higher Education; IT & BT, Science & Technology; Skill Development, Entrepreneurship & Livelihood, Govt. of Karnataka, Dr CN Ashwathnarayan said, "Preparations for the big event has already started in all seriousness and programmes would be organised in USA, England, Japan and other countries as supplementary events to make Bengaluru Tech Summit to be held at Palace Grounds a grand success." "Karnataka has set a target of contributing USD 1.5 Trillion in making India a USD 5 Trillion economy, he added. Karnataka has drawn the biggest share of 40% of the Foreign Direct Investment India drew in the last financial year. It amounts to USD 17.3 Billion. Karnataka is at the top spot in exports too in the country," Dr Ashwathnarayan added. Head of State IT Vision Group Kris Gopalakrishnan, Startup Vision Group head Prashanth Prakash and other senior officials were also present during the event. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
New Delhi [India] April 26 (ANI/NewsVoir): Once Upon a Trunk, the affordable e-commerce marketplace and a home-grown brand, has announced its rebranding to 'Taggd'. Founded by Shivaani and Saanchi Jain, Taggd has made a mark in the fashion space as the fastest-growing indigenous home-grown and D2C delivery e-retailer. Keeping in mind its brand ethos, the fashion aggregator has entered the next phase of development and is a company that connects brands with customers through digital celebrities and new-age influencers, the fresh and vibrant rebranding was a conscious effort to create a new wave in the business. Further, the new identity connects with GenZ, whose members are bolder and love to explore new trends in fashion. "We at Taggd are tagging our customers with the best of fashion and style guides from digital celebrities. It's a terminology that sits very popular amongst the millennials and we've created quite a collection on the platform that will truly satiate the fashion needs of our patrons. So let's all be Taggd together," said, Shivaani Jain, Founder, Taggd. 'Taggd' will continue to create opportunities for exclusive home-grown brands. The unique model of i-commerce (influencer commerce) and virtual stores offers its services to emerging brands while simultaneously targetting home-grown and fledgling young D2C brands and Instagram boutiques. In addition to apparel, it also offers studios, stylists, content, and merchandise for influencers, making it not just a store but an experience. Besides, Taggd will seek to aid influencers in content creation while also facilitating engagement with consumers. Fashion never fades away, and like fashion, Taggd is here to stay. And with its new identity, this brand is all set to be the new face of fashion. Taggd, a venture of Shivaani Jain and Saanchi Jain, is an e-commerce marketplace that exhibits the collections of India's home-grown brands at affordable prices. Based in Delhi, the platform was launched in 2015 with a vision to become the fastest home-grown delivery e-retailer brand. The portal caters to the fashion aspirations of women in the age group of 25 to 45 years. The online portal reaches out to 22,000+ pin codes of Metropolitan and Tier 1 cities. Boosting the fashion quotient in the market, Taggd has been manifesting designers' true potential and offering customers a vast range of apparel, jewellery, home decor, and kidswear. Delivering to the farthest regions, the platform is catering to consumers across the country and further envisions to reach out to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in the near future. Website Link: www.taggd.com. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
The price band for the much-awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) of India's largest insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), has been set at Rs 902-Rs 949 per share. A discount of Rs 45 has been set for retail and employees, while the bid lot size has been fixed for 15 shares per lot, sources told ANI. According to the sources, LIC has decided to give a discount to policyholders of the company. "A discount of Rs 60 per share has been set for the policyholders of LIC." On April 23, 2022, the LIC board gave its nod to cut down the issue size to 3.5 per cent from 5 per cent due to the market condition. A proposal to reduce the size of LIC's IPO to 3.5 per cent from 5 per cent proposed in its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) was tabled and approved at a board meeting held on Saturday. A total of 22.13 crore shares will be offered in this IPO. Out of the total shares, 10 per cent or 2.21 crore shares are reserved for the policyholders. LIC's IPO is to open on May 4 and close on May 9, sources told ANI. Last month, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the initial public offering proposal of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The company has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). It has time until May 12 to launch the IPO. If it is not done by May 12, the company would be required to file fresh papers with the market regulator. The government had initially wanted to list LIC in the last financial year that ended March 31 but had to delay the sale after the Russia-Ukraine war triggered a market rout. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered the interim release of the youth who was detained in the Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO) centre on the basis of an Aadhar and an Indian Passport. He was lifted by the Bangladeshi deportation cell and was in the FRRO's custody and was to be deported to Bangladesh. He had challenged the deportation order. Justice Jasmeet Singh on Monday ordered the release of Mohammad Sahil, a resident of the New Seemapuri area of Delhi after considering the copies of documents attached with the petition. The bench observed, "The prima facie view is that the petitioner Mohammad Sahil is an Indian citizen. For the said reasons, the criminal application is allowed and the petitioner is directed to be released from the detention centre of FRRO till further orders." Justice Jasmeet Singh noted in the order, "The petitioner Mohmmad Sahil has filed with the petition, a photocopy of his Adhaar card and passport. As per the passport, the address of the petitioner is New Seemapuri, Delhi." The High Court directed that the petitioner shall report to the Foreigner Cell, Shahdara district, Delhi every Monday at 11 am and mark his presence. He shall not be kept waiting for more than an hour. He shall give his mobile number and the same shall be operated throughout the pendency of the petition. The petitioner Mohammad Sahil along with his father Shah Alam, mother and minor brother in January 2022, had challenged the deportation order issued by the authorities by moving a petition through Advocate Nikita Sharma. The petition had stated that the petitioner Mohammad Sahil who is an Indian citizen was illegally lifted by the Bangladeshi cell deportation centre in November 2021. On November 18, 2021, his father made a representation before authorities for the release of Sahil. The petition alleged that the family produced all the documents including a passport. Even after that, the authorities chose to pick the petitioner for deportation and ignored the legality of the documents being presented before them. It is also alleged that the address of Bangladesh mentioned in the deportation order has no connection with the petitioners. It is fabricated and concocted tale of the deportation cell. The petitioner through Advocate Nikita Sharma moved an application seeking release from the deportation centre till the disposal of the petition. It was submitted that the applicant was in the custody of the Bangladesh deportation cell since November 9, 2021. It will take a long time for the disposal of the petition in which the deportation order has been challenged. Injustice would be caused to him if he is kept in custody during the pendency of the petition. (ANI)
"We received a call around 6 p.m. regarding a bomb being planted at Jhandu Park, Mohammadpur, RK Puram," a Fire Department official said, adding that one fire tender was immediately pressed into service.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Southwest, Manoj C., however, told IANS that no explosives were found. "It just seems like an old toy of a round shape," he said, denying reports that a hand-grenade was found from the spot.

"We are still examining it," he said.

Meanwhile, the police personnel have cordoned off the area and a bomb disposal squad was called to examine the toy.

--IANS uj/vd

( 133 Words)

2022-04-25-20:06:02 (IANS)
The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by independent MP-MLA couple Navneet Rana and her husband Ravi Rana, respectively, seeking to quash the second of two FIRs registered against them for resisting arrest on Saturday after a huge row over their plans to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside the private home of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. A division bench of Justice P. B. Varale and Justice S. M. Modak also observed that there was considerable merit in the submissions made by Special Public Prosecutor Pradip Gharat. The judges upheld his contention on the FIR pertaining to chant religious verses near the personal home of the CM since such an act at the residence of another person or at a public place is a breach of personal liberty of the other person, and the Maharashtra government was justified in its apprehensions that it could lead to a law and order situation in Mumbai. "Persons in public life are expected to act responsibly. With great power comes great responsibility... that those who are active in public life are expected to act responsibly is not an extra but a basic expectation," the court said in its strong observations while dismissing the Rana couple's plea. The judges said that in case the state government wanted to initiate action against the Ranas under the second FIR, then they would give 72 hours notice to the petitioners (Ranas) before initiating any such measures. The Ranas' lawyer Rizwan Merchant said that after they receive the 72-hour notice from the police, they would decide their further course of action, and moved sessions court for bail. After two days of high political drama, police in suburban Mumbai's Khar booked and arrested the Rana couple on Saturday under Indian Penal Code Section's 153 (A) (promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion race, etc), and the stringent IPC Section 124 (A), pertaining to sedition. The Mumbai Police also filed a second FIR around 2 a.m. on Sunday, against the Ranas invoking IPC's Section 353 for alleged assault of a public servant and obstructing public servant from discharging their official duties. Merchant argued that the second FIR was "an abuse" of the legal process and the subsequent addition of the offence of sedition was unsustainable. SPP Gharat countered this, saying that the second FIR was registered for a separate offence relating to obstructing police from discharging their duties, for which the court has granted relief to the extent of serving the Ranas a 72-hour notice for any action. On Saturday, the Ranas were served with a notice under Bombay Police Act's Section 149, requesting them to refrain from carrying out their plans, but they did not heed, after which they were detained and arrested that evening. SPP Gharat said that despite the notice, the Ranas continued to give media and online interviews, creating apprehensions in society, and their statements posing a serious threat to the law and order situation after which the action was taken against them. Later, amid high drama at their Khar home, the Rana couple was arrested on Saturday evening and produced before a Bandra holiday Magistrate Court which remanded them to 14 days' judicial custody while posting their bail plea for hearing on April 29. Through her lawyer, Navneet Rana has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla about alleged harassment by the police, even as the couple moved a bail plea before the Sessions Court which is likely to be heard on Tuesday. Later, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis alleged that in police custody, she was mistreated, abused, subjected to casteist slurs, and even denied water or permission to go to the washroom. However, Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil denied the allegations as totally "baseless". --IANS qn/vd ( 639 Words) 2022-04-25-20:20:05 (IANS)
A team of senior leaders including Union Minister Anurag Thakur met on Monday to discuss the programme at party national headquarters here.

A committee has been formed by the BJP for the purpose.

Union ministers Thakur and Rajeev Chandrashekhar, BJP general secretaries Arun Singh, C.T. Ravi and D. Purandareswari and chief spokesperson Anil Baluni, Member of Parliament Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Rajdeep Roy and Aparajita Sarangi besides other party leaders Shiv Prakash and Lal Singh Arya are part of the committee.

The committee is expected to draw plans for the celebration by May 5.

The Covid outbreak in 2020 ruled out any major celebration and public programmes during the first two anniversaries of the second term of Modi government.

A party source said that as of now, a draft has been prepared, and the list of programmes and activities will be finalised in the coming days to highlight various achievements of the government.

Prime Minister Modi took oath for the second term on May 30, 2019.

In his second term, several of BJP's core ideological issues including the removal of Article 370 and the starting construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya has been fulfilled.

With the Covid situation under control despite a recent spike in its numbers in a few states, the ruling party hopes that it can finally mark the government's eighth anniversary, including Modi's first term, at a much grander scale.

--IANS ssb/pgh

( 272 Words)

2022-04-25-21:52:03 (IANS)
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson lashed out at the Tory MP who likened Angela Rayner to Sharon Stone in 'Basic Instinct' on Monday, saying whoever was behind the 'sexist, misogynist tripe' would suffer 'the terrors of the earth' if identified, Daily Mail reported. The UK Prime Minister lashed out amid controversy over the anonymous Conservative backbencher who accused Labour's deputy leader of putting the PM off at Prime Minister's Questions by crossing and uncrossing her legs. A Conservative MP suggested Rayner likes to distract the Prime Minister when he is at the despatch box by deploying a Parliamentary equivalent of Sharon Stone's police interview scene in the 1992 erotic thriller, Daily Mail reported. They said Rayner "knows she can't compete with Boris' Oxford Union debating training, but she has other skills which he lacks". On the election trail in Bury, Johnson was asked whether there was a cultural problem in the Parliament. He told reporters: "It's hard to say on the basis of that particular story. But I have to say I thought it was the most appalling load of sexist, misogynist tripe. "I immediately got in touch with Angela and we had a very friendly exchange. If we ever find who is responsible for it, I don't know what we will do, but they will be the terrors of the earth. It's totally intolerable, that kind of thing." --IANS san/arm ( 251 Words) 2022-04-25-22:08:03 (IANS)
Assam police on Monday re-arrested Independent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, soon after a court in Kokrajhar district granted bail to him, six days after he was arrested by Assam police in connection with an "objectionable" tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The police from Barpeta district arrested Mevani on different charges, including outraging the modesty of a woman police officer. The other charges levelled against the legislator include IPC 294 (obscene acts or words in public), IPC 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 354 (Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will there by outrage her modesty). A woman sub-inspector had filed a complaint with the Barpeta Road police station on April 21 against Mevani alleging "on April 21 while I was escorting the arrested accused person, Jignesh Mevani, from Guwahati airport to Kokrajhar along with other police officials, the arrested accused person uttered slang words towards me". "When I asked him to behave, he got agitated and used more slang words. He pointed finger towards me and tried to frighten me and pushed me on my seat with force. He thus assaulted me during the execution of my legal duty of being a public servant and outraged my modesty by touching me inappropriately while pushing. After reaching Kokrajhar, I immediately informed the matter to my senior officers," read the complaint, which is available with IANS. The Gujarat legislator was first arrested on Wednesday night in connection with an "objectionable" comment against the Prime Minister he made through a tweet on April 18. Mevani was flown to Guwahati on Thursday morning from where he was taken to Kokrajhar by road. The Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Kokrajhar district on Thursday rejected the bail petition of the Dalit activist and sent him to three-day police custody. On Sunday, after hearing his bail petition, the court reserved its order and sent him to one-day judicial custody and asked the police to produce Mevani again in the court on Monday. Before his re-arrest, Mevani said that it is a deep-rooted conspiracy by the BJP and RSS. "They (BJP and RSS) are doing this to tarnish my image and are doing this systematically. They did it to Rohit Vemula, they did it to Chandrasekhar Azad, now they are targeting me," he told the media outside the court complex. The Gujarat legislator was arrested last week from his home state following a complaint filed by an Assam BJP leader seeking action against him under the IT Act. Ever since the arrest of Mevani, who had earlier pledged outside support to the Congress, the party has been holding demonstrations in different parts of Assam, terming the arrest as a 'conspiracy'. It also sent its legal team to Kokrajhar to look into the matter. Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah had alleged that it is a conspiracy and 'Goonda Giri' by the police, while accusing the BJP government of misusing the state's police force to deal with a simple tweet. A delegation of the All India United Democratic Front also visited Mevani at the police station. CPI-M legislator Manoranjan Talukdar and Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi too had met Mevani at the police station. The 41-year-old lawmaker was charged with criminal conspiracy, offence related to place of worship, outraging religious feelings, and provocation that might cause breach of peace. In his complaint, BJP leader Arup Kumar Dey had alleged that Mevani's comments could "incite a section of the people belonging to a certain community". --IANS sc/arm ( 618 Words) 2022-04-25-22:18:05 (IANS)
BJP workers protested in front of the Coimbatore Collectorate on Monday in protest against the removal of a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Vellalor panchayat office near here a few days ago. The party workers raised slogans against Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and condemned the DMK government for having removed the photograph of the Prime Minister. The protesters, led by the party's state treasurer S.R. Segar and Coimbatore south district vice-president K. Vasantharajan, demanded that the photograph of the Prime Minister is reinstated in the panchayat office. The BJP workers also demanded action against DMK councilor Kanagaraj and party worker Kannan. Vasantharajan in his petition demanded the Coimbatore district collector to install photograph of the Prime Minister in all panchayat offices in the district. He said that otherwise the district administration must grant permission to the BJP to install the photograph of the Prime Minister in all panchayat offices. The BJP leader said that the district administration must initiate action against DMK councilor Kanagaraj and party worker Kannan for removing the photograph of the Prime Minister. He said that the party had approached the town panchayat executive officer and only with his permission they had hung the photograph in the room. He said that it was removed and thrown away by the DMK councilor and party worker. --IANS aal/arm ( 235 Words) 2022-04-25-22:28:32 (IANS)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has called for a national policy on natural farming. Addressing the NITI Aayog virtual meet on Natural Farming on Monday, Reddy said that while there has been a quantitative increase in the production of food grains through the green revolution, there is a need for qualitative measurement to keep the society healthy by reducing the usage of synthetic chemicals in agriculture, in the present time. Noting that it would take 3-5 years for farmers to follow the natural farming methods, Reddy emphasised on the need for a national policy for natural farming to ensure that more incentives are given to the farmers, thus facilitating their gradual and smooth transition. He also spoke in favour of setting up mechanisms to reward states that are actively taking up natural farming. "I request that states having larger areas in natural farming should be given higher weightage in finance commission recommendations. Since they are helping the country in climate change mitigation and carbon neutrality goals. Further, the syllabus in agriculture universities should include natural/organic farming in the curriculum. There is a need for systematic research for natural farming," said Jagan Mohan Reddy. He also noted that funding for state governments transmitting into natural farming should be liberal and norms should be different. At present, the centrally sponsored schemes are at 60-40 ratio but I would strongly recommend it should be 90-10 at least, Reddy said. Andhra Pradesh has enrolled 6.31 lakh farmers utilising natural farming techniques in 2021-22, covering 2.9 lakh hectare and these initiatives are being implemented through 3,009 out of 10,778 Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBK) in the state, the chief minister said. "After seeing the efforts of Andhra Pradesh in natural farming, the German government has agreed to fund setting up Indo-German Global Centre for Agro-Ecology Research and Learning (IGGARL) and the project is in the final approval stage. The German government has agreed in principle to provide a grant of 20 million euros over a period of five years. Together, we have committed to set up world-class agro-ecological research and learning centre which would produce graduates and post-graduates to integrate scientific knowledge with natural farming," said the Chief Minister. --IANS pvn/pgh ( 379 Words) 2022-04-25-23:08:04 (IANS)
Visiting Singaporean Minister Dr. Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman on Monday met Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur and discussed various issues related to digital media, youth exchanges and bilateral relations, an official statement said. Dr Maliki, who is the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, as well as the Second Minister for Education and Foreign Affairs, informed him about the regulatory framework of digital platforms and digital media in Singapore and Thakur, discussing India's version of regulations, told him that India has a three tier mechanism for regulation, an Information and Broadcasting Ministry statement said. Thakur also apprised him of India's experiment with fact checking in form of a dedicated Fact Check Unit under Press Information Bureau and said that this is easily accessible to anyone on WhatsApp or email. He also told Maliki that India was in its 75th year of independence and since Singapore got independence on August 9, 1965, both the countries could explore celebrating a week as India-Singapore Independence Week and this could include cultural and knowledge exchange, among other things. "India is a country with a huge youth population with aspirations and I believe it is the actions taken by the youth today that will transform India for the next hundred years," Thakur said, and also informed the visiting dignitary about India's efforts to skill its young population through various skilling initiatives. Dr Maliki also invited Thakur to pay a visit to Singapore. --IANS ssb/vd ( 255 Words) 2022-04-25-23:18:06 (IANS)
Raising concerns over the surplus sugarcane production in Solapur, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday urged sugar mills owners to reduce the production of sugar and increase the production of ethanol. Gadkari was in Solapur on Monday for the foundation stone-laying ceremony of national highway projects. The minister said if the production goes on like this, then farmers would have no option other than suicide. Meanwhile, India's sugar exports surged by 64.9 per cent to $4.6 billion in the financial year 2021-22 from $2.79 billion recorded in the previous year, according to the latest government data. As per data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), India exported sugar to 121 countries across the world during the financial year ended March 2022. India is the world's second-largest sugar producer after Brazil. Since 2010-11, India has consistently produced surplus sugar, comfortably exceeding the domestic requirements. The record exports would enable the sugar producers to reduce their stocks and would also benefit the sugarcane farmers, as the increased demand for Indian sugar is likely to improve their realisations, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka account for nearly 80 per cent of the total sugar production in the country. The other major sugarcane-producing states are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Haryana, and Punjab. (ANI)
The body of the woman was found in a well.

"A woman was allegedly gang-raped and murdered at a village in Dausa district. The Woman's body was found in a well. She was walking towards her parents' house when the accused offered her a lift in their vehicle," said Dausa Additional Superintendant of Police Lal Chand Kayal.

The investigation is underway. (ANI)
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, informed on Tuesday that the country's cumulative vaccination coverage has exceeded 187.95 crore (1,87,95,76,423) through 2,30,89,167 sessions, as per the provisional reports till 7 am. According to the ministry, the COVID-19 vaccination for the age group of 12-14 years was started on 16 March 2022 and 2,70,96,975 (1st dose) and 37,27,130 (2nd dose) have been administered to them. The people of the age group 15-18 years have been provided with 5,82,03,865 1st dose and 4,15,67,113 2nd dose of the Coronavirus vaccine, said the ministry. Of this cumulative vaccine coverage, 2,69,76,618 precaution doses have been administered to the ones eligible. As many as 47,15,948 precaution doses have been given to the health care workers (HCWs) and 74,02,619 jabs of it were given to the front line workers (FLWs). 1,02,702 precaution doses have been given to the people belonging to the age group 18-44 years, and 3,65,509, and 1,43,89,840 were given to the ones belonging to the age group 45-59 years and over 60 years, respectively. However, the HCWs were given with the 1,04,04,823 (1st Dose) and 1,00,13,086 (2nd Dose) against Covid-19, whereas 1,84,15,129 (1st Dose) and 1,75,33,583 (2nd Dose) were given to the FLWs. The people in the age group were administered with 55,55,33,820 (1st Dose) and 47,60,68,522 (2nd Dose) against Covid-19, whereas 20,28,90,196 (1st Dose) and 18,74,97,026 (2nd Dose) were given to the ones in the age group 45-59 years. The senior citizens (with the age of more than 60 years) have been given 12,68,43,833 (1st Dose) and 11,68,04,704 (2nd Dose) vaccines against the Coronavirus. With India's current active caseload at 15,636, the active cases now constitute 0.04 per cent of the total positive cases in the country. "Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.75 per cent. 1,970 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 4,25,23,311," it said. With 2,483 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, the country saw a total of 4,49,197 COVID-19 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 83.54 Crore (83,54,69,014) cumulative tests. The weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 0.58 per cent and the Daily Positivity rate is also reported to be 0.55 per cent. (ANI)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to launch a mega drive across the country to spread Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message urging farmers to take up organic farming. BJP Kisan Morcha chief Rajkumar Chahar will launch the Jan Abhiyan Yatra (people's movement) on April 28 from Bihar. He will lead a 5 km Yatra with the participation of around 2000 farmers from the Bakhtiarpur area of Patna district in Bihar. "In the first phase of this public awareness campaign, the Yatra will make its way through villages on the banks of the river Ganga in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand," Chahar told ANI. The BJP Kisan Morcha will also be organizing Kisan Sammelans and Kisan Sabhas to educate farmers about the benefits of organic farming and the schemes of the Central government supporting it. "It will be a mass movement. We will connect with farmers and inform them about the schemes of the Central Government related to organic farming. We will tell them about the support government is extending to farmers and how in the long run they will reap huge benefits from this," said Chahar to ANI. The Lok Sabha MP from Fatehpur Sikri in Uttar Pradesh, Chahar, further said that since 2015 the Central Government has extended the support of Rs 1,632 cores to encourage farmers to opt for organic farming. "From financial year 2015-16 to 2019-2020, the central government has given funds worth 1,632 crores to encourage farmers to take up organic farming. Through the government support about Rs 50,000 per hectare is also being provided via different schemes for organic farming," he said. The BJP leader further said that PM Modi on many occasions has warned about the dangers of pesticides and imported fertilizers, urging small farmers to turn to organic or natural farming. "He has also emphasized the perils of using pesticides and chemicals pesticides leading to increase in the input cost and impact on the health of human beings," he added. Earlier, while addressing a webinar on the positive impact of Union Budget 2022 in the Agriculture sector, PM Modi had said, "We are encouraging organic farming because of which the market for organic products has reached Rs 11,000 crore. Organic exports have risen to more than Rs 7,000 crore from Rs 2,000 crore rupees six years ago." (ANI)
The BJP leader said Mumbai police circulated a fake FIR against him on April 23 for assault. He will file a complaint regarding this today at Khar Police Station.

Taking to Twitter, Somaiya on Monday wrote, "Mumbai Police circulated a FAKE FIR of mine on April 23 for assault. I have not filed any FIR. Bandra Police Station refused to register my FIR on 23 April. I will file a complaint tomorrow at 12 noon at Khar Police Station against this criminal conspiracy of bogus manipulated FIR.

Earlier on Saturday, Somaiya claimed he was injured in alleged stone-pelting by Shiv Sena workers in Mumbai. In a series of Twitter posts, Somaiya said, "Heavy stone-throwing at Khar Police Station by Shiv Sena gundas (goons), my car window glass broken, I am injured, rushing to Bandra police station," Somaiya said.

Following that BJP leader on Sunday said Mumbai Police has refused to register his FIR after he was allegedly attacked by Shiv Sena goons.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Manjunath Shinge said a case has been registered based on Somaiya's complaint. (ANI)
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Monday accepted the request of the organizers for taking out a religious procession on Parshuram Jayanti in the coming days. This year, Parashuram Jayanti will be celebrated on May 3. Addressing the reporters on Monday, Mishra said, "I have given instructions to the District Collector and Police Commissioner of Indore to ensure that the procession is taken out peacefully. Complete arrangements will be made soon." Highlighting about the recent communal violence that broke out in the Khargone area of the state, the minister said, "The situation is completely normal in Khargone. The day and night curfew has been completely lifted." Narottam Mishra further said on the BJP and Shiv Sena are locking horns in the Hanuman Chalisa controversy in Maharashtra. "MVA government in Maharashtra is getting shaken. It is getting difficult for Shiv Sainiks to run the government there," he said. Earlier on Monday, Misra and MLA Mahendra Hardia reached the hospital to meet Shivam Shukla, a victim of Khargone violence. While talking to the injured admitted to CHL Hospital in Indore, Narottam Mishra inquired about his condition and discussed it with his family members. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on a petition seeking direction to prepare the layout and execute the work of construction of the "Judicial Vista" over the land adjoining the present premises of the apex court. A bench of Justices Vineet Saran and JK Maheshwari listed the matter for further hearing on July 20. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union of India, had made a statement that the problems pointed out can be looked into by the Central Government in consultation with the Registry and petitioner, the Court observed. The Court also said that the Senior Advocate V Giri, appearing for top court may coordinate with SG Mehta and apprise him of problems that need to be resolved. The court was hearing a petition filed by Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad seeking to prepare the layout and execute the work of construction of "Judicial Vista" over the land adjoining the present premises of this Court enabling access to better and dignified working conditions for the Judges, the members of the Bar and the officials of the registry of this court as well as to provide better facilities to the litigants visiting the premises of this court for the hearing of their cases. The petition also sought to direct the Government of India to Constitute an independent Central Authority for the sole purposes of judicial infrastructure exclusively funded by the Consolidated Funds of India, for the purpose of ensuring that the infrastructure in the Courts/Tribunals in India is adequate for the Judges, Advocates, and the Litigants, so as to ensure that the quality of dispensation of justice is further improved. The present matter is being filed in the public interest, raising several important issues that are faced by the court, the registry, and the advocates, primarily practising at the Supreme Court of India. The petitioner said that he is seeking the realisation of the rights guaranteed under Article 14/19(1)(g)/21 of the Advocates, the staff, and the litigants at large. "The present writ petition in the public interest is being filed in view of the infrastructural deficit in this Court in terms of the space and other infrastructure for the smooth functioning of this Hon'ble Court, keeping in mind the needs of the Judges, the Registry and its staff, the Senior Advocates, Advocates on Record and the Advocates, their staff, and most importantly the Litigants, and seeks a direction for the construction and development of a "Judicial Vista", " the court said. The petition has sought to issue direction to the Centre to redevelop and construct a "Judicial Vista" and to constitute a Central Authority, fully funded by the Consolidated Fund of India, to cater to the peculiar and specific needs of judicial infrastructure at the Subordinate Judiciary, Statutory Tribunal, High Courts and this Court, under the Administrative Control of the Chief Justice of India. The petitioner said that there is a grave need for a Central Authority dedicated to the infrastructural needs of the Judiciary at the Apex level, the High Court level, the Subordinate Judiciary level, the Statutory Tribunal level etc. He said that the Judicial Vista and other projects ought to be undertaken by such authority, in furtherance of the peculiar and specific need for judicial infrastructure. (ANI)
A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao dismissed the plea asking the lawyer not to ask for reliefs which cannot be granted by the court.

As advocate Vishal Tiwari, who also filed the plea, submitted that the situation is alarming and only a one-sided investigation was going on, Justice Rao said, "You want an inquiry to be headed by former Chief Justice of India? Is anybody free? Find out. What kind of relief is this... Don't ask for such reliefs which can't be granted by this court. Dismissed."

The plea sought directions to hold an inquiry into the clashes that took place in Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat during Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti.

The PIL sought directions to set up a similar committee to inquire into the arbitrary action of 'Bulldozer Justice' in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. (ANI)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced that a Knowledge Sharing Agreement has been signed between the state government of Delhi and Punjab. Addressing a press conference in the national capital in this regard, Kejriwal said, "We have just signed the knowledge sharing agreement. It is a new step in the history of India that we have signed an agreement to share knowledge. It is wrong to say that till now, only we have done good work. We know that many state governments have done good work. But till date, we have not done the work of learning from each other. Several states chose to remain divided among the parties." "Good work done in the field of education and healthcare in Delhi is being discussed all over the world. CM Bhagwant Mann was on a two-day visit to Delhi with his ministers and officials in this regard. He visited the schools, hospitals, Mohalla clinics etc here," he said. Earlier on Monday, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the Punjab government will replicate Delhi's education model in the state where students from all economic backgrounds will get quality education. The Delhi Chief Minister also slammed those who opposed Delhi's model of education. He said today, "Our leader Manish Sisodia is on a visit to Finland to know about their education system. Sisodia, after garnering information, will try to implement Finland's model of education here. However, some say that Delhi's government is being run from Finland, Italy. What is the matter with them? Later, such critics will say that Tamil Nadu government is being run from Delhi, is it?" Recently, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin visited the national capital and lauded Delhi's model of education. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed its dissatisfaction with the Uttarakhand government for allowing the Dharm Sansad event despite prior notice and asked the state's Chief Secretary to ensure that "no hate speeches are made" at the event to be held in Roorkee on Wednesday. A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar also asked the top official to file an affidavit and explain the preventive steps taken so far and no untoward statement will be made at the event. When senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for petitioners, informed the apex court about another scheduled Dharm Sansad event in Roorkee tomorrow, the bench told counsel of Uttarakhand, "We are now informing you about an event tomorrow. Take action." It even warned that the Chief Secretary would be asked to be present if the state failed to take preventive steps in view of Dharm Sansad proposed in Roorkee, Uttarakhand. "There is no confidence that such a thing will not happen again. You know what is said at these Dharm Sansad," the bench observed. "You know what are preventive measures... you will have to do it. And if it still happens, we will ask the Chief Secretary to remain present. We are directing you to take all these steps. You are bound to. You are not doing a favour on us by following the directions," the bench told the counsel appearing for the Uttarakhand government. It also recorded the statement of the counsel for Uttarakhand that the Dharm Sansad event which is set to take place tomorrow will not have any "untoward incident". While the state of Uttarakhand's counsel told the apex court to have "trust and faith in them", the bench reminded the Uttarakhand government about the judgment passed by the Supreme Court regarding preventive measures. It said, "Trust is for everyone but things are different on the ground. Despite the repeated pronouncement of this court, there is the Poonawala judgment and subsequent judgment enlarging the precautionary measures to be taken and corrective measures to be taken, yet things are happening." Sibal said another application has been filed by the petitioners against the proposed Dharm Sansad event in Roorkee tomorrow. The apex court also asked the Himachal Pradesh's Secretary of Home Department to file an affidavit regarding the preventive and corrective measures taken after the Dharm Sansad event which took place from April 17 to April 19 in Himachal Pradesh's Una. It directed that the affidavit be filed on or before May 7 and posted the matter for hearing on May 9. Counsel for Himachal Pradesh submitted that preventive measures were taken by the government. "We have taken preventive measures. Then we have undertaken an investigation," counsel said. To this, Justice Khanwilkar said, "You have to stop the activity and not just do the investigation. File an affidavit disclosing what steps you have taken to prevent it thereafter". "These incidents don't happen suddenly. They are announced well in advance. The local police have to get into action immediately. You file an affidavit explaining those steps. Did you spring into action immediately or not?" the bench asked. Sibal told the court that as per the permission of the bench the petitioners informed the Collector and Superintendent of Police (SP) about the Dharm Sansad event in Una, Himachal Pradesh but nothing was done. "They have been holding Dharm Sansad throughout the country. It was in Una. The Collector and the SP did nothing," added the senior counsel. The bench was hearing a plea filed by former High Court judge and senior advocate Anjana Prakash and journalist Qurban Ali seeking an independent probe into the alleged hate speech targeting the Muslim community delivered at the Dharm Sansad in Haridwar and Delhi. Later, an application was filed against a similar event in Himachal Pradesh. Earlier, the top court had expressed dissatisfaction at the affidavit filed by the Delhi Police which stated that there were no instances of hate speech against the Muslim community at the event of Hindu Yuva Vahini held in Delhi on 19 December 2021, and asked it to file a "better affidavit". Delhi Police conceded before the bench that it needs to have a relook at its affidavit and it will file a fresh affidavit. In its affidavit, the Delhi police had said that "no specific words against any particular community were used". It had also submitted that the speech delivered by the Sudarshan News TV Editor Suresh Chavhanke at the Hindu Yuva Vahini event in Delhi's Govindpuri did not amount to hate speech since none of the words used in the speech by Chavhanke could create an environment of paranoia against any religion." Counsel appearing for the Uttarkhand government had submitted that the investigation in the cases have been completed and the charge sheets have been filed. The plea had stated that between December 17 and 19, 2021, at two separate events organised in Delhi (by the Hindu Yuva Vahini) and Haridwar (by Yati Narsinghanand), hate speeches were made, consisting of open calls for genocide of Muslims in order to achieve ethnic cleansing. The plea said that it is relevant to note that no action has been taken by the Uttarakhand government and Delhi Police in relation to the event held there, despite the fact that open calls for genocide (that are available on the internet) were made therein. The plea also highlighted a video that had gone viral where a police officer was seen acknowledging his allegiance to the offenders. (ANI)
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party's Devendra Fadnavis of misleading the people on the Hanuman Chalisa row in Mumbai. "Devendra Fadnavis is misleading people. No one is punished for chanting Hanuman Chalisa. If anyone wants to chant it, they can do it in their homes or temples. Trying to get inside someone else's home and destroying their peace is wrong," said Raut. Raut's reply came after Fadnavis (on Monday) alleged that the state government has "taken up the role of Hitler." The police took action against MP Navneet Rana and her husband Ravi Rana after they threatened to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence in Mumbai. "The Maharashtra government wants to crush and kill the Opposition. Will Hanuman Chalisa be spoken in Pakistan, if not in Maharashtra? If sedition charges get imposed on Navneet and Ravi Rana, we will all chant Hanuman Chalisa. If the government has the guts, try charging us with sedition," Fadnavis said on Monday. Meanwhile, on the same day, the Bombay High Court also dismissed the petition moved by the couple for quashing the FIR registered against them for allegedly assaulting the police officer who came to arrest the couple. The MP-MLA couple was arrested in Mumbai on Sunday. Currently, MLA Ravi Rana is lodged in Taloja Jail and MP Naveneet Rana is lodged in Byculla Jail. On Saturday, a row started when the MP-MLA couple stated that they plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside 'Matoshree' (Maharashtra CM's Mumbai Residence), after which a huge crowd gathered outside the residence of the political couple waving flags with an aim to prevent them from reaching the CM's residence. The Ranas withdrew their plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa amid the protests from Shiv Sainiks that culminated in their arrest on the charge of creating enmity between different groups. Notably, issuing clarification over the row, Navneet Rana wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla stating that she wanted to ignite the flame of 'Hindutva' in Shiv Sena, not to create any religious tensions by chanting the "Hanuman Chalisa" outside the residence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. (ANI)
Just a day after the Delhi Police found an unidentified bag with a grenade in the Mohammadpur area of South West Delhi, a local BJP councilor Bhagat Singh Tokas has reportedly received a threat call. Tokas on Tuesday said that the hand grenade that was found on Monday in the Mohammadpur area in Delhi is the mischief of an anti-social element to threaten him and the people of Mohammadpur. "Yesterday, a hand grenade was found in Mohammadpur. So, this is the mischief of an anti-social element to threaten me and the people of my village. The investigation is going on. Someone has brought an old grenade and has kept it near my house, but I would like to say that we are celebrating the 75th Azaadi's Amrit Mahotsav and these elements should have been abolished at the time of independence. I would like to thank Delhi state BJP President Adesh Gupta that a big campaign under his leadership will be held soon for the remaining 40 more places that are named after Mughals who looted us," Tokas told ANI. Speaking about the resolution passed in the corporation for changing the name of Mohammadpur village to Madhavpuram, Tokas said, "Last year, we passed a resolution of renaming Mohhamadpur in the Zonal committee. Keeping the sentiments of the people of our village in mind, the resolution was passed by the corporation." He further spoke about the threats that he received after the resolution was passed. He said, " From then onwards, I have been receiving threat calls asking me why do I want to rename Mohammadpur to Madhavpuram. FIR was also registered for that threat and that call came from Hyderabad." "Two days before, our Delhi BJP State President Adesh Gupta held a press conference in which he asked Kejriwal that the file of renaming the place has been sent by the Chief Town Planner of MCD and yesterday a hand grenade was found in Mohammadpur," he said. "We have passed the name from the corporation. Delhi government does only appeasement politics," added the BJP leader. (ANI)
Soon after Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sought a detailed factual report from the Maharashtra government regarding independent Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana's allegation about her arrest and "inhumane treatment" at Khar Police Station, Mumbai police chief shared a video of the couple to counter the MP's allegation. In the video, with the caption "Do we say anything more" shared by the Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey, Navneet Rana and her husband Ravi Rana are seen very comfortably sipping a drink at the police station. In her letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, the MP accused Mumbai Police of not providing her drinking water in custody while allegedly citing her "neechi zaat" (lower caste), and abusing her on the basis of caste. Navneet and her husband Ravi Rana, who is an independent MLA, were arrested on Saturday from their Mumbai residence after declaring that they would recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's home in Bandra. Rana was lodged after her arrest at Khar Police Station. She was later moved to the Byculla women's prison on Sunday evening. The two were booked in two FIRs lodged on charges of sedition, promoting enmity, and assaulting a public servant to prevent discharge of duty. Earlier today, officials said the MHA took the action following a request made by Lok Sabha Privilege and Ethics Committee. "MHA has sought a factual report from the Maharashtra government regarding independent Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana's allegation about her arrest and "inhumane treatment" meted out at Khar PS. Lok Sabha Privilege and Ethics Committee had asked MHA to seek a report earlier," said the officials. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has also sought details from the Maharashtra government within 24 hours on the arrest of independent MP Navneet Rana in Mumbai, after receiving a letter from the Amravati lawmaker that she had been subjected to "inhuman treatment" by the police following her "illegal" arrest two days ago. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday appointed former IPS officer Kiran Bedi to supervise a committee, formed to monitor the functioning of Rohini Ashram Housing Women. The court last week had expressed its unhappiness over the management of Rohini ashram housing several women who were alleged to be living in animal-like conditions. The bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla on Tuesday directed to constitute a committee led by a concerned District Judge having jurisdiction of the area, comprised of Concerned District Magistrate, DCP (Women Cell), Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, one nominee of Delhi Commission for Women and District officer of Women and Child Department, who shall be the convenor and shall also act as the Nodal Officer. The court also said the functioning of the said committee shall be supervised by Kiran Bedi, a retired IPS officer and it shall be the obligation of the GNCTD to provide whatever assistance is required by her in the discharge of her functions. The court while issuing direction to form a committee also said there should a proper inspection and vigilance and Government of NCT Delhi should strictly enforce the Women's and Children's Institutions (Licensing) Act, 1956. Earlier, the Court observed that prima facie the institute/ashram is functioning in violation of the Women's and Children's Institutions (Licensing) Act, 1956. The court had allowed the petitioners' parents to meet their daughters and asked the DCP concerned to ensure their protection. The bench had also expressed grave concern over the condition of over 100 girls alleged to be illegally confined in Adhyatmik Vidyalaya, a spiritual ashram in Rohini led by absconding self-styled godman Virendra Dev Dixit. The court was hearing a plea filed by an NGO, Foundation of Social Empowerment, alleging that the girls living in the premises of the educational institution were not allowed to leave the area or meet their respective families. Taking note of this, the High Court had asked the police, Delhi government and Delhi Commission for Women, to visit the place and assess the situation. (ANI)
Celebrations are to be held from 11 am to 5 pm in Hyderabad. More than 3000 members have been invited to the meeting.

The general body meeting will be held where elected representatives, MLA, MPs and ministers will come and Hyderabad corporators, Zilla Parishad Chairman and Municipal Chairman, ZPTC and MPP.

"We apologise for not inviting the party Karyakartas," said KTR.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will release the vision and introduce 11 resolutions tomorrow at the TRS formation day.

"We will discuss how the COVID-19 situation was dealt. Demonetisation and Centre's incompetence will be discussed. Discussion on farmers' problems and unemployment will also be held," he added.

KTR has asked all the panchayats heads and district division heads to hoist the party flag across 12,900 Gram Panchayats and celebrate it as a festival. (ANI)
Mumbai Sessions Court on Tuesday asked the Special Public Prosecutor to file a reply on April 29 to the bail plea of jailed independent MP Navneet Rana and MLA Ravi Rana in connection with the Hanuman Chalisa recital row. The court will hear the bail pleas of the Rana couple on April 29. "The court has a lot of workload, so we have accepted a reply to the bail application on April 29, after which the court will decide on further hearing. It can happen on April 29 and later as well," said Rizwan Merchant, lawyer of the Rana couple. In her application, Navneet argued that the arrest is illegal as she was not told on what grounds she was arrested. Also, notice under 141CrPC was not served before the arrest. The Mumbai police had on Saturday arrested Navneet and her husband Ravi Rana, who is an independent MLA. They were arrested on Saturday from their Mumbai residence after declaring that they would recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's home in Bandra. The Rana couple was booked on charges of sedition, promoting enmity, and assaulting a public servant to prevent discharge of duty. Earlier on Monday, the Ranas approached the Bombay High Court seeking cancellation of the FIR in connection with the Matoshree (Maharashtra CM's Mumbai Residence) Hanuman Chalisa row. However, the High Court dismissed the petition moved by the Rana couple for quashing the FIR registered against them for allegedly assaulting the police officer who came to arrest the couple. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sought a detailed factual report from the Maharashtra government regarding independent Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana's allegation about her arrest and "inhumane treatment" meted out at Khar Police Station in Mumbai, top government officials said on Tuesday. The officials said the MHA took the action following a request made by Lok Sabha Privilege and Ethics Committee. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has also sought details from the Maharashtra government within 24 hours on the arrest of independent MP Navneet Rana in Mumbai, after receiving a letter from the Amravati lawmaker that she had been subjected to "inhuman treatment" by the police following her "illegal" arrest two days ago. (ANI)
The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Tuesday took suo-motu cognizance of the alleged gang-rape and murder of a woman murdered at a village in the Dausa district of Rajasthan. NCW has also announced that a team led by Chairperson Rekha Sharma will visit the crime scene on April 28, and will also meet the police officials and the family of the victim. Directing the Director-General of Police, Rajasthan to immediately file an FIR, the body has sought the arrest of all accused at the earliest. "The National Commission for Women has come across several articles regarding the alleged gang rape and murder of women at a village in Dausa district of Rajasthan. It has also been reported that the accused after murdering her, dumped the body of the victim in a well. The police have so far managed to arrest only one accused. The commission has taken serious note of the heinous crime," NCW said in an official statement. "The chairperson of NCW Rekha Sharma has written to the Director-General of Police, Rajasthan to immediately file an FIR in the natter under relevant provisions of the law. NCW has also sought the arrest of all the accused at the earliest. A team led by NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma will be visiting the crime scene on Thursday that is April 28, 2022. The NCW team will also meet the concerned police officials and the family of the victim," the notice further stated. A copy of NCW's letter has been sent to Superintendent of Police, Dausa and the commission has sought a report on the action taken in the matter within three days. According to the police, a woman was allegedly gang-raped and murdered at a village in the Dausa district, said police on Monday. The body of the woman was found in a well. "A woman was allegedly gang-raped and murdered at a village in Dausa district. The Woman's body was found in a well. She was walking towards her parents' house when the accused offered her a lift in their vehicle," said Dausa Additional Superintendant of Police Lal Chand Kayal. (ANI)
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Tuesday granted an emergency use authorisation (EUA) to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for the age group of 6-12 years. The Hyderabad-based Pharma company Bharat Biotech in a statement said that it had conducted phase II/III, open-label, and multicenter studies to evaluate the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of Covaxin in healthy children and adolescents in the 2-18 age group. The clinical trials conducted in the paediatric population between June 2021 to September 2021 have shown robust safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity. "The data readouts were submitted to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) during October 2021, and received emergency use nod for children aged 12-18 from DCGI during December 2021," it said. Dr Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, said, "We have established COVAXIN as a universal vaccine for adults and children. Safety of the vaccine is critical for children and we are glad to share that Covaxin has now proven data for safety and immunogenicity in children. We have achieved our goal of developing a safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccine for adults and children." Clinical trials in children documented seroconversion at 95-98 per cent, four weeks after the second dose, indicating superior antibody responses in children when compared to adults and also displayed Th1 bias. "In earlier Covaxin studies in adults, cross-reactive memory T cells against all variants of concern was reported. Data from neutralization studies against Delta and Omicron variants have been published along with the impact of cell-mediated immune responses. Since Covaxin, is an inactivated vaccine corroborative results are expected in children similar to that of adults," the statement further reads. A booster dose of COVAXIN in adults, generated robust neutralizing antibody responses against both Omicron (B.1.529) and Delta (B.1.617.2) using a live virus neutralization assay. "100 per cent of test serum samples showed neutralization of the Delta variant and more than 90 per cent of serum samples showed neutralization of the Omicron variant. These data add to the body of evidence that the broad-spectrum mechanism of action of a whole virus inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, like Covaxin (BBV152), is a viable option in this continuously evolving pandemic," it added. Covaxin is formulated uniquely such that the same dosage can be administered to adults and children alike. Covaxin is a ready-to-use liquid vaccine, stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius, with 12 months shelf life and a multi-dose vial policy. It further said that the same vaccine can also be used for two-dose primary immunization and for booster dose vaccinations, making it truly a universal vaccine. Bharat Biotech has readily available more than 50 million doses of COVAXIN in vials, and more than 200 million doses as a drug substance. Additional production capacity is also available to meet product demand. (ANI)
Earlier on Monday, Mevani was re-arrested by Barpeta Police for assaulting a policewoman, soon after he was granted bail in the matter connected to his tweets about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mevani was arrested by an Assam police team from Palanpur town in Gujarat on Wednesday over a couple of his tweets.

An FIR was filed against him after a complaint was filed by an Assam BJP leader, Arup Kumar Dey.

A case was lodged against Mevani under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), section 153(A) (promoting enmity between two communities), 295(A), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and sections of the IT Act.

A couple of tweets on Mevani's Twitter handle are not visible on his feed with a message displaying that the tweets have been withheld in India based on a "legal demand".

Mevani claimed that he was arrested out of a political vendetta against him.

The Assam state Congress unit had protested the arrest of the Gujarat legislator.

Elected as an independent MLA, Mevani had extended his support to Congress in September 2019. (ANI)
West Bengal Police used water cannon to disperse BJP workers who were taking out a protest rally against the state government towards Bikash Bhavan in Kolkata on Tuesday. Lok Sabha MP and BJYM national president Tejasvi Surya was leading the protest rally while West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar, BJP MP Raju Bista, BJYM State In-charge Shakti Singh, MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato and Priyanka Tibrewal were also present at the rally. State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar alleged lathi-charge by the police. "Mamata Banerjee has killed democracy in West Bengal. We told the police to arrest or detain us but not resort to lathi-charge. But they did not. Male cops attacked our women workers. As per my info, four workers need hospitalisation, one is already hospitalised", said Sukanta Majumdar. He added, "Mamata Banerjee is a fascist and a photocopy of Hitler. The state police's only job is to stop the BJP, they do not have any other work. Mamata Banerjee, being a woman said that the woman who was raped was pregnant and had an affair." Speaking to ANI about the rally, Surya said, "Land of Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore, land that had guided the country in education in the context of the freedom movement is now sinking as far as the education system is concerned. Yuva Morcha is protesting against the politicisation and corruption in our education system". According to Surya, job recruitment in Bengal takes place based on nepotism and political connection. "It is our endeavour that we will go to Vikas Bhavan, gherao there and demand our rights. This is TMC's police and they won't work as per the Constitution. We will do our work and the police will do their work," he added. (ANI)
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured that the Centre will give positive consideration to the state government's request for inclusion of the Hatti community in the Scheduled Tribes list. Thakur told ANI on Tuesday that all the formalities to include the Hatti community in the tribal community list will be completed soon. The community has been demanding tribal status since 1968. Thakur met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday. The Hatti community is demographically spread in four Assembly constituencies of the Sirmour district - Shillai, Paonta, Renuka and Pachhad. The community has tribal status in Uttarakhand which shares a border with the Sirmour district. "They were accorded this status long back in 1968 and share similar culture and socio-economic conditions with those residing in district Sirmour," Thakur said. "In 1967, half of their family members who went to the Jaunsar area of Uttarakhand became tribals and those who remained on the Himachal side were not included. We have been trying to address the matter for some time," he added. The Chief Minister said that the move will benefit about three lakh population of 154 panchayats of Trans Giri area in the state. The Chief Minister said the state government has provided the Union Home Ministry all the technical information that was sought by the Registrar General of India. "The Hatti community in Himachal Pradesh has been demanding tribal status for a long time. I met Union Home Minister and discussed this. All technicalities will be fulfilled soon and the Hatti community will be given the status of the tribal community," Thakur told ANI. The Chief Minister referred to the long struggle for getting the tribal status during Congress governments and said it was turned down many times. However, he said, that BJP governments at the Centre and state always took a favourable stand for the cause of the Hatti Community and the present central government has understood the genuineness of the long-pending demand and struggle of the community. Thakur said that the BJP is ready for the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh later this year. "We will come back to power again in the state," he said. Himachal Pradesh Energy Minister Sukhram Chaudhary, who represents Sirmaur said people of the Hatti community have struggled for a long time. "We have raised this demand from time to time. Today, the Chief Minister of the state took up this matter again and we are happy that the Centre has agreed to fulfil the demand," he said. (ANI)
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said that the state is witnessing a "slight" rise in COVID-19 cases, but there is "no need to panic". "The state is witnessing a slight rise in COVID-19 cases. But there is no need to panic. Precautionary measures would be taken in border areas to control the pandemic", Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said. Karnataka logged 85 new COVID cases taking the total active cases in the state to 1686, stated the bulletin on Tuesday. Speaking to mediapersons at the Vijayapura, he said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold a video conference with the Chief Ministers of all states tomorrow to review the COVID-19 situation." He will be presenting his details on measures taken to control COVID-19 in the state. Effective measures like screening at airports and precautionary measures especially at the state's borders with Maharashtra and Kerala would be taken, he added. "Recently two countries have witnessed an upsurge in COVID cases. The numbers are increasing in neighboring countries like Thailand, Indonesia and China. Following this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has instructed for preventive measures in the country. We held a meeting with our Technical Advisory Committee yesterday and decided to reintroduce some of the precautionary measures. Wearing a face mask has been made compulsory, and instructions have been issued to maintain social distance", Bommai said. (ANI)
On Tuesday, CM KCR paid a visit to the multi-super speciality hospitals at Kothapet (LB Nagar), Erragadda Chest Hospital (Sainath Nagar), and Alwal in Hyderabad city. He addressed the gathering after laying the foundation stone for super speciality hospitals in Alwal.

"We will further strengthen the medical system in the state and provide medical services to Hyderabad from all directions," he said.

He said that the number of beds and facilities in rural hospitals has increased. He said that 6,000 beds are going to be increased in the hospitals in Hyderabad, Not only that, KCR assured that special ambulances would be set up.

It is worth mentioning that the Telangana Chief Minister will release the vision and introduce 11 resolutions tomorrow at the TRS formation day. (ANI)
A Delhi Court on Tuesday in a case related to Northeast Delhi violence framed charges against 10 accused persons for rioting, arson and vandalism including other sections. The case pertains to violence in the area of the Police Station of Gokul Puri in February 2020. Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhatt framed the charges against 10 accused, namely, Mohd. Shahnawaz @ Shanu, Mohd Shoaib, Shahrukh, Rashid, Azad, Ashraf Ali, Parvez, Md. Faisal, Rashid@ Monu and Mohd. Tahir for alleged rioting, arson and vandalism including others. The Court said, "In the case at hand, the material on record prima facie discloses that the accused were the members of an unlawful assembly on 24 February 2020 which had been formed with the objective to create fear and panic amongst the people belonging to Hindu community, to threaten them to leave the country and to cause arson, loot etc. as well as to set ablaze the shops/houses belonging to them. The material on record also disclosed the commission of offences of rioting, looting, and setting ablaze the house of the complainant by the accused. The Court observed, "Undoubtedly if the evidence collected during the course of investigation as annexed with the charge sheet remains unrebutted, the conviction of the accused is reasonably possible. Thus there is no escape from the conclusion at this stage that the accused were members of unlawful assembly which resorted to vandalization, rioting etc. and in the process robbed and set ablaze the house of the complainant. No case for discharge is made out. It is, thus, held that the charges under sections 147, 148, 436, 452, 454, 392, and 427 read with 149 IPC are liable to be framed against all the accused. Special Public Prosecutor R C Bhadauria argued that there is sufficient material on record to frame charges against all accused. All the above named accused constituted an unlawful assembly on 24 February 2020 at about 2.30 PM and in furtherance of the object of the assembly, they vandalised, robbed and set ablaze the house of the complainant Satish Kumar. In this case, the FIR was registered on 4 March 2020 on the complaint dated 1 March 2020 lodged by the complainant Satish Kumar. During the investigation, it was found that all the 10 accused are in custody in another case of Police Station Gokulpuri. They were interrogated in the jail and statements were recorded. The court rejected the contention of the defence counsel that there is an unexplained delay of nine days in the registration of FIR and none of the accused named in the same which indicates that the accused have been named as assailants in this case later on falsely. (ANI)
Muslim scholar Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi has urged religious bodies to take note of the Supreme Court and reduce the decibel of loudspeakers to a "permissible" level. "There is a necessity to think about the matter of loudspeaker volume coming from mosques and temples. Being a religious scholar, I request everyone should take note of the Supreme Court guidelines and reduce the volume of loudspeakers", said Maulana Shahabuddin who is also Secretary-General of All India Tanzeem Ulama-e-Islam.He added, "No one needs to feel insulted as there will be no harm to their dignity. Rather it will be good for our society and favourable to the people living in cities and villages".The Supreme Court's June 2005 order had banned the use of loudspeakers and music systems in public between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. (except in cases of public emergencies), citing the serious effects of noise pollution on the health of those residents who live in such areas.Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi said in his video statement, "Lot of problems are being faced due to loudspeakers, so there is no harm in reducing the volume. In some mosques, like Jama Masjid Al Shams at Mira Road in Mumbai, the mosque's trustee Muzaffar Hussain has made a beginning".He added, "Similarly, the ulemas of various mosques in Mumbai in a meeting have decided to fix the noise level of loudspeakers at the permissible level during 'Azaan'. They have already implemented it. Similarly, I request all the people that they themselves should decrease the volume so that we can ease noise pollution".Several religious organisations and members of the Muslim community are appealing to the mosque trustees to abide by the Supreme Court guidelines related to playing loudspeakers at religious places.The issue of Azaan giving on loudspeakers has been gaining traction ever since MNS chief Raj Thackeray gave an ultimatum for the removal of loudspeakers at mosques by May 3. (ANI)
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Tuesday granted an emergency use authorisation (EUA) to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for the age group of 6-12 years. Following the DCGI's move, Paediatric Pulmonologist at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr Dhiren Gupta welcomed the decision and urged parents not to hesitate to get their children vaccinated. Meanwhile, Corbevax has been granted emergency use authorisation for the age group 5-12 years while Zydus Cadila's two-dose Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for children more than 12 years of age. "It is a good move to approve vaccines for kids. Our vaccine system has been elaborated and now we have vaccines for kids also. In the past one month, since the kids are going to school, they are getting infections. The vaccine doesn't prevent the infection but definitely helps in confidence-building for the family. Secondly, Omicron is a milder variant but in future, it will help in other variants," Dr Dhiren told ANI. The Paediatric Pulmonologist clarified that these approved vaccines are safe as experts have reviewed the data several times. He said, "This vaccine is not like experimentation. This vaccine has been there for four months. Scientists have stated its efficacy and that is why it has been rolled out for 5-12 years. We want a safe vaccine for this age group. There is no doubt that we should vaccinate our kids." Commenting on the uptick in COVID cases, Dr Dhiren termed it a "mini-surge." Speaking about the symptoms witnessed in children, the doctor said, "In April, we witnessed high-grade fever, cold and cough as the main symptoms. Not a single patient got admitted. Many who got infections in January-February are getting reinfected so don't get complacent. Prevention is going to be the cure. In the paediatric age group, other symptoms are loose motions, vomiting and nasal blockage." Dr Sameer Bhati, Public Health Expert, Member Vaccination Awareness Committee said, "During the surge in cases, this step of government will help in herd immunity. This will support reopening of schools and will be helpful for parents. People have confidence in Covaxin because it has been administered on children of 15-18 years and real-time data is also available. Corbevax is also efficacious and administered in the age group of 12-14 yrs old. Similarly, ZycovD was earlier approved for three doses, but now the DCGI has approved a two-dose regime that will improve the production. Overall the decision taken by the government will boost vaccination in India." Welcoming the vaccination for kids, Dr Nita Radhakrishnan, Associate Professor and HOD, Department of Paediatric Hematology-Oncology, Post Graduate Institute of Child Health, Noida said, "The approval for COVAXIN for children of 6 to 12 year-old kids in India could not have come at a better time than this. For children, this is a boon as it ensures protection from the virus and helps them continue schooling as it should be. These vaccines have a good safety record and have been shown to have efficacy in clinical trials. It is also helpful for children with compromised immunity as it allows them to continue treatment for cancer, bone marrow transplant or solid organ transplantation, immunosuppression for many autoimmune diseases etc. without the fear of severe COVID." Covaxin is formulated uniquely such that the same dosage can be administered to adults and children alike. Covaxin is a ready-to-use liquid vaccine, stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius, with 12 months shelf life and a multi-dose vial policy.(ANI)
The report was initially submitted before Home Department and was handed over to Chief Minister today.

The controversy came to the fore on March 20, 2021, when Param Bir Singh levelled serious 'extortion' charges against Anil Deshmukh.

In a letter to CM Thackeray in March last year, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh was involved in several wrongdoings, including asking Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore from bars and restaurants in Mumbai.

However, Deshmukh rejected these claims and announced that he will file a defamation suit against Singh.

However, he stepped down as the Home Minister after the Bombay High Court directed the CBI to carry out a preliminary enquiry into these allegations.

On April 21, the CBI registered an FIR against the NCP leader and unknown individuals under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120 B of the IPC.

Later, the former Maharashtra Home Minister was arrested by ED in November, last year in connection with the alleged Rs 100-crore extortion and money laundering case.

The special PMLA court in Mumbai has refused to grant him relief and as a result, Deshmukh continues to languish in the Arthur Road Jail.

Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested the dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze in March 2021 in connection with the investigation into the recovery of explosives from a car parked near Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani's house Antilia in Mumbai. (ANI)
The South East Central Railway, Bilaspur issued an order on April 23, 2022, stating that the operation of a total of 23 express and local trains passing through Chhattisgarh has been stopped for the next one month from April 24, 2022.

In a telephonic conversation with Vaishnaw, the Chief Minister apprised him of the difficulties faced by commuters due to the cancellation of these trains.

"Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel had a telephonic conversation with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and apprised him of the problems being faced by the passengers of the state due to cancellation of operation of about 23 passenger trains passing through the state," said CMO.

Baghel urged the Railway Minister to resume the operation of these trains in view of public interest.

The Railway Minister assured that the demand of the CM would be resolved soon after taking a suitable decision.

Earlier, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister objected to the decision of the Railways to halt the operation of 23 local trains passing through the state from April 24, 2022, for track upgradation work.

Chhattisgarh government wrote to Railway Board urging it to continue the operation of local trains passing through the state.

According to the state government, no alternative arrangement has been made for the passengers before the closure of services of these trains.

The Chhattisgarh government said earlier a total of 10 trains were discontinued by a similar kind of order by the South East Central Railway issued on March 2022.

The state government wrote to Railways on April 5 requesting to continue the operation of the above trains but the request of the state government was ignored. (ANI)
Speaking at the Assembly, the Chief Minister said a statue of the former chief minister Karunanidhi will be installed at Chennai Omandurar government estate in Chennai.

"Karunanidhi has implemented many good schemes for Tamil Nadu which is an identity of our state. Karunanidhi was a role model for many in our country. Karunanidhi loved and lived for Tamils. Karunanidhi's birthday on June 3 will be celebrated as a government function in the state. His statue will be installed at Chennai Omandurar government estate," announced Stalin at the State Assembly, while listing out the various pro-people initiatives of his late father in various sectors.

Karunanidhi, whose political career spanned over 60 years, passed away at 94 due to an age-related illness in Chennai in 2018. (ANI)
Preparing for the year-end assembly polls, the youth wing in Himachal Pradesh BJP unit has completed the 'One Booth 20 Youth' campaign. The BJP youth wing has planned to connect with 20 youth who are not politically associated with any party, in each polling booth in the states. "In four phases, we have completed 'One Booth 20 Youth' in all the 7,792 polling booths of Himachal Pradesh and throughout the campaign, the BJYM has enrolled around 1.53 lakh youth across the state," Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Himachal Pradesh president Amit Thakur told IANS. During the campaign, BJYM Himachal Pradesh workers reached out to 20 youths who are not associated with any parties and explained to them about BJP ideology and agenda for the youth and the country, and motivated them to volunteer for us. "Among the 1.53 lakh youth who joined us, about 1 lakh are those who are not politically associated with any political party," Thakur said. Talking about the verification of new youth associated with the party, Thakur said that it was done digitally. "To make Himachal Pradesh BJYM paperless, we have completed the verification process digitally by using a mobile app to reduce the chances of human error while compiling the data. Even the enrolment process was done digitally," Thakur said. Now, the party will form WhatsApp groups of these youth to share the content which will be further spread by them to different social media platforms. In the recent assembly polls the BJYM has successfully executed the 'one booth-20 youth' in Uttar Pradesh, where it has formed 5,000 WhatsApp groups of youth who were not politically affiliated to any party. "Today youth play an important political role in deciding the fate of any political party and incumbent government. Through the campaign, our workers reached out to 20 youth and motivated them to volunteer for us," a BJYM functionary said. --IANS ssb/pgh ( 330 Words) 2022-04-26-19:12:05 (IANS)
After the meeting, Sidhu tweeted: "Had a wonderful meeting with my old friend PK... Old wine, Old gold and Old friends still the best!!!"

Sidhu has been left out in the cold ever since the party lost the elections in Punjab earlier this year. He was asked to resign after the party appointed Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as the new President of Punjab Congress. Since then the Congress has set up a new team in Punjab, reportedly annoying the former state Congress chief.

Meanwhile, after declining the offer to join the Congress on Tuesday, Kishor said the party needs leadership and collective will to fix deep-rooted structural problems.

"I declined the generous offer of #Congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections," Kishor tweeted.

"In my humble opinion, more than me, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms," he added.

The Congress on Tuesday officially announced that election Kishor will not be working for the party as he declined to be part of the empowered action group for the 2024 general elections.

The declaration came a day after Sonia Gandhi had announced the constitution of the group.

--IANS miz/arm

( 242 Words)

2022-04-26-19:25:07 (IANS)
The Supreme Court said that fair investigation is undoubtedly imperative to protect the rights of the victims, as it expressed discontent over the investigation conducted into the death of a 17-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district. The top court handed over the probe to the Inspector General of Police on a complaint by his mother alleging brutal murder in police custody in May last year. A bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M. Trivedi said: "We are prima facie of the view that the manner in which the investigation has been conducted by the investigating officer cannot be said to be fair and impartial and the complaint of the petitioner, in our considered view, deserves indulgence of this court." The bench added that it cannot endorse its satisfaction of a fair and independent investigation and the manner in which the investigation has been conducted by the circle officer of the police station, under whose jurisdiction the charge-sheet was filed on the basis of the charges later been framed under Section 302 IPC on December 2, 2021. The bench said: "The need to ensure fair investigation of crime is undoubtedly imperative because it protects at one level the rights of the victim and the fundamental rights of every citizen in ensuring that crime is investigated and dealt with in accordance with law." The bench said it has gone through the statements recorded by the investigating officer during investigation of various police officers under Section 161 Cr.P.C. "No one has supported the case of the prosecution, but still the charge-sheet was filed under Section 304 IPC and the Sessions Judge has framed charges later under Section 302/34 IPC," it noted. The boy was allegedly assaulted in police custody for violating coronavirus restrictions in the state. The bench noted that fair investigation is the backbone of the criminal justice system and the object of the probe is to search for the truth so that it would help in meeting the ends of justice by way of fair trial in court. The bench said it has an option either to send the matter to CBI for further re-investigation, but after it heard counsel for the parties, consider it appropriate at this stage to let a senior police officer, Bhagwan Swarup, Inspector General of Police, Intelligence, HQ, Lucknow to personally undertake further investigation. The bench emphasised that the investigation on the complaint made by the petitioner on which FIR was registered, should be in a fair and impartial manner and report be furnished before it within a period of eight weeks. The bench has listed the matter for further hearing on July 19. Deceased Mohammad Faisal was reportedly selling vegetables outside his house in Bangarmau town in Unnao beyond curfew timings. According to the boy's father, the accused policeman Vijay Chowdhary and homeguard Satyaprakash allegedly started beating him for breaking curfew rules. The family alleged that he was arrested and taken to the local police station, and the police officials assaulted him further. Later, he was taken to the community health centre, where he was declared dead. --IANS ss/pgh ( 534 Words) 2022-04-26-19:32:41 (IANS)
A unique megalithic burial site, dating back to around 800 BC, has been discovered at a cashew nut plantation near Ramakunja village in Kadaba taluk of Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district, it was announced on Tuesday. Based on the information provided by villagers, a team of experts visited what is known as the "Pandavara Guhe" (cave of Pandavas) and found the megalithic site, which had some startling feastures. "Usually, megalithic burials are marked by stone circles, menhirs, and stone cairns. But, it is the first time in India, a sepulchre is marked by a circle or zero. It brings up interesting questions like did megalith era people knew zero or did they invent it first?" Prof. Murugeshi T., Associate Professor and Dean of the Department of History and Archaeology, MSRS College, said. In the case which is presently under study, there is no central opening but, a huge engraving of a circle, of about 7 feet diameter, was found above the laterite surface and exactly below this in same dimension, a hemispherical cave with a side opening of about 2 feet in height, he said. This side entrance is designed like a doorframe and it's oriented to the north-east direction, he added. Perhaps, it was the first rock engraving of megalithic period found from Dakshina Kannada, says Prof Murugeshi T., adding that no grave goods were found inside the cave, but, in the centre, an altar-like pit was noticed and it is also curious. Also very small pieces of red, black, and red pottery were found in small quantities in the cave. Most probably, the cave had been robbed by the locals, the professor said. There are 2.5 or 3 feet circular openings in the centre cut into the laterite about a metre deep and the bottom is cut into a hemispherical shape with the various depths and circumferences, he said, adding that this type of rock-cut caves are common in the southern west coast of Karnataka. A small variation is found in Kerala, with side openings in the subsurfce, but central opening was common in both the cases. Evidence of megalithic culture, including its burial sites and other unique features, has been frequently found in south India, including Karnataka. Coastal Karnataka and Kerala recorded a very special type of megalith phenomenon like rock-cut caves, scooped out in the laterite earth. "I am thankful to Nischith and his family for their local hospitality and grateful to Yusuf Haider of National Gold and Diamonds, Mangalore for providing the vehicle. I also appreciate my students, Shreyas, Goutham, Shariq, Karthik, Dishanth and Vishal Rai for their 2 days of hard work in excavating the cave," Prof. Murugeshi added. --IANS mka/vd ( 466 Words) 2022-04-26-19:54:05 (IANS)
Clashes broke out between police and BJP activists, on Tuesday afternoon, after the latter tried to approach West Bengal Education Department headquarters at Bikash Bhavan in Salt Lake to protest against the alleged irregularities in West Bengal State Service Commission recruitments. The police used water cannons in a number of phases to stop approaching BJP activists led by BJP youth wing BJP Yuva Morcha national President Tejasvi Surya, and West Bengal unit President, Sukanta Majumdar. However, the police, which was already ready with a three-layered barricade in front of Bikah Bhavan, was ready much before the protesters reached. However, after the BJP supporters broke through the first layer of the barricades, police used water cannons to disperse the mob. Speaking to the media persons, Surya accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of ruining the education system in the state. "And now we are organising a protest demonstration in a democratic manner, we are being stopped by police," he added. After being stopped by police, Majumdar, along with his associates organized a sit-in demonstration in front of Bikash Bhavan. "There had been massive irregularities in recruitment in WBSSC, where genuine and eligible candidates were denied jobs and instead confidants of the state's ruling party were offered berths. So naturally as the state's principal opposition party we will protest. But the police throttled our democratic movement by using police in an undemocratic manner," he claimed. State Education Minister, Bratya Basu, however, said that BJP has no right to speak about alleged WBSSC irregularities, when Madhya Pradesh, under the BJP's rule, witnessed the Vyapam entrance examination scam. The CBI is probing the scam, which reportedly took place when current state Commerce and Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee was Education Minister. --IANS src/vd ( 299 Words) 2022-04-26-20:04:04 (IANS)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said no citizen should be deprived of his or her property without authority of law, as it would be a violation of the Constitution. A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Vikram Nath said: "Construction/widening of road no doubt would be a public purpose but there being no justification for not paying compensation, the action of the respondents would be arbitrary, unreasonable and clearly violative of Article 300-A of the Constitutiona. The bench said Article 300A though not a fundamental right but nevertheless it has status of being a constitutional or a statutory right and it provides that no citizen would be deprived of his property save without authority of law. "Depriving somebody of his property, where it is land, can be made by number of modes e.g. by acquisition, surrender or by transfer and other facets also," it said, adding that in the present case, land being utilised for the road to be owned by the panchayat/municipality, could either have been voluntarily surrendered, transferred by way of title deeds, or by way of acquisition as may be provided under the statute. The top court's judgment came on a plea filed by eight farmers challenging a Kerala High Court judgment, which dismissed their appeals for compensation for taking over their 1.7 hectares of land for widening of road by Sulthan Bathery Municipality. The high court relied on the Panchayat's contention that they had voluntarily surrendered their land for no consideration. The top court noted that the high court proceeded on a wrong premise on shifting the burden on the appellants. "The assertion that it was surrendered voluntarily without any claim for consideration is by the panchayat/municipality. The PWD has only stated that it received the land from the panchayat and that it was given to understand that the land was surrendered voluntarily. Thus, it is the stand of the panchayat/ municipality which is to be taken note of," it noted. The bench said the panchayat and the PWD have failed to produce a single piece of document or evidence in any other form in support of their defense that the appellants have surrendered their land voluntarily. "The consistent stand of the appellants, on the other hand, has been that they have not given their land to the panchayat voluntarily and that they were assured that they would be suitably compensated," it noted. The top court said in this matter there is neither any acquisition proceedings nor any transfer of rights by the appellants by way of sale, gift or otherwise. "The appellants are farmers and the land utilised is agricultural land. It was part of their livelihood. Depriving them of their part of their livelihood and also of their property without authority of law would be violative of Article 21 and Article 300A of the Constitution," it said, as it set aside the judgment passed by the division bench of the high court in 2018, and maintained the single judge bench's decision, which directed for disbursal of amount as may be determined by the Collector after ascertaining the market value of the property to the parties concerned. --IANS ss/vd ( 541 Words) 2022-04-26-20:08:03 (IANS)
Senior officials of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs have told the police of the four eastern Indian states -- West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha to remain alert during the next 15 days over possible Maoist activities. The alert was issued by senior officials of the Union ministry of home affairs at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Zonal Council that took place at the West Bengal state secretariat of Nabanna here on Tuesday. Besides senior officers of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the meeting was also attended by the chief secretaries and home secretaries of the four eastern Indian states, among others. Although, none of the attendees in the meeting was ready to face the media to detail the discussions on the meeting, highly placed sources from the West Bengal government told IANS on the condition of anonymity that as the alerts of MHA officials the next 15 days are extremely crucial for these four states as there are central intelligence inputs of resurgent Maoist activities in the region during that period. Although there had been no Maoist activities in West Bengal recently, the West Bengal police is worried about the recovery of Maoist posters in the once Maoist stronghold of Junglemahal area scattered over the three districts of Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore. Even the state police director general, Manoj Malviya had visited the Junglemahal area and reviewed the security arrangements there. It is learned that in Tuesday's meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Zonal Council, the West Bengal government representatives complained about withdrawal of central armed forces from the erstwhile Maoist bastions without prior discussions with the state government concerned. The state government also presented the details of the current security arrangements in the Junglemahal area. In the meeting, the representatives of the West Bengal government also stressed on greater coordination between Border Security Force and local police personnel in the Indo-Bangladesh bordering villages in the state. The issue of raising barbed fencing at the borders was also discussed. --IANS src/pgh ( 349 Words) 2022-04-26-20:30:03 (IANS)
Ca Mau Airport upgrade may need over VND100 billion

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has just proposed a plan to upgrade the Ca Mau Airport which may need VND100 billion (USD4.56 million) in funding.





Ca Mau Airport



In a report recently sent to the Ministry of Transport, CAAV said that Ca Mau Airport now has a 1,500-metre-long runway, a taxiway and plane parking area with two slots. The airport can now only serve the ATR 72-500, AN-2, MIA-17, King Air B200 and similar planes. Only VASCO currently operates these models. The ATR 72-500 is already being used for the direct Ca Mau-HCM City flights.



According to CAAV, Bamboo Airways has proposed to operate the Embraer 190 plane from Ca Mau Airport to Hanoi and HCM City. To serve that plane, it is necessary to upgrade the runway, taxiway, and parking area at the airport, which is estimated to take two and a half months and cost VND105 billion.



Ca Mau Airport functions as both a commercial and military facility.



Ca Mau Provincial People's Committee previously proposed to the PM to approve the decision to upgrade Ca Mau Airport in the 2021 to 2025 period and create favourable conditions for airlines to invest, open new air routes and encourage healthy competition.



"In order to build the master transportation plan with a view to 2030, it's an urgent matter to upgrade Ca Mau Airport including a longer runway and larger civil terminal to receive Airbus 320 and Airbus 321 and similar planes for Ca Mau-Hanoi and Ca Mau-Danang routes," the committee proposed.


The Central government has told the Supreme Court that there is no provision under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (PWDV) Act, to release funds to state governments, yet for the effective implementation of the Act, funds are released for schemes pertaining to safety and security of women and children. In a counter affidavit, the Ministry of Women and Child Development said: "Though under the PWDV Act, there is no provision to release funds from Central government directly in the name of PWDV Act, yet for effective implementation of the Act, funds are released to states/UTs under various central schemes/ programmes pertaining to safety and security of women and children." The ministry emphasised that it is working in tandem with state governments and UTs for effective implementation of the PWDV Act and "also constantly endeavouring to combat all the crimes against the women including cases of domestic violence". The top court had asked the government to indicate broadly what are the desirable qualifications and eligible terms for the creation of a regular cadre of protection officers, as well as the nature of their training and other standards. To this, the Centre said it may not be in position to prescribe a uniform and regular cadre structure for appointment of protection officers as their appointments are by states, depending on their requirements - such as the number of districts, number cases, and number of magistrates to look after domestic violence cases etc., The affidavit added: "As per information received from states/UTs, a total of 2,95,601 complaints/litigations have been registered under PWDV Act, whereas number of courts for the purpose has been reported as 6,289. There are 807 shelter homes and over 700 one stop centres (OSCs) to take care of women affected by violence and in distress across the country." It said as per the provisions of PWDV Act, the responsibility of its implementation mainly lies with the state governments and UT administrations, as they have been authorised to appoint protection officers in each district by notification. "As per information received from states/UTs, total number of protection officers notified under PWDV Act in the country is 3,637 and out of which 710 are holding regular charge, 272 are working on contract basis and remaining are holding additional charge," it added. The ministry said states/UTs have assigned additional charges of the post of protection officer to the departmental officers looking after child welfare or protection, or women welfare. It added that the protection officers are appointed by the state governments and they can be selected/appointed from a non-government organisation also. On the aspect of a separate cadre for protection officer for various Acts for women - The Dowry Prohibition Act, the PWDV Act, The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act 2013, The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, etc, the ministry said: "Majority of states/UTs have proposed for a separate cadre structure for protection officer for effective implementation of PWDV Act, as per information received from them so far." According to the Centre, there are 35 projects or schemes being implemented by various ministries, under Nirbhaya Fund. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati represented the Central government in the top court. The Centre's response came on a plea filed by NGO 'We the Women of India" seeking to plug massive gaps in infrastructure under PWDV Act, across the country for providing effective legal aid to females abused in matrimonial homes. The NGO also sought creation of shelter homes for women post lodging of complaints against husbands and in-laws. The NGO was represented by advocate Shobha Gupta. On February 25, a bench headed by Justice U.U. Lalit and comprising Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and P.S. Narasimha noted that the Union has indicated that in some states, if not all, the situation is far from satisfactory. "Many states have chosen to designate Revenue Officers or members of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) as protection officers. This clearly was not the intent of the lawmakers, since such revenue or administrative officials would be unable to devote time to discharge the fairly intense work required and expected of protection officers," noted the bench, in its order. The top court had asked the Centre to file an affidavit on the nature of central programmes/plans outlining assistances to support the efforts under the domestic violence act by various states, collect state-wise relevant data of litigation under the Act with respect to the complaints made, number of courts, and, the relative number of protection officers (POs), and other aspects connected with POs. --IANS ss/vd ( 776 Words) 2022-04-26-20:50:03 (IANS)
Opposing the appeal filed by JNU scholar-activist Umar Khalid for denying bail to him, the Delhi Police on Tuesday argued that the trial court rightly dismissed his bail application by a well-reasoned order. In its reply, the Delhi Police said the Appellant before the Trial Court raised dogmatic arguments seeking to conduct a mini-trial at the stage of deciding the bail application and to view the Appellant's role in isolation in the case of conspiracy which is impermissible in law. The Trial Court rightly dismissed the bail application of the Appellant by a well-reasoned order dealing with each and every speculative argument raised by the Appellant. At the cost of repetition, it is humbly submitted that the impugned order suffers from no illegality which merits interference by this Court, the Delhi Police submitted. On March 24, a Delhi court dismissed the bail application of former JNU student-activist Umar Khalid in a case related to the alleged "larger conspiracy" behind the Delhi riots. Denying bail, the court observed that the contention that he is a researcher and his bent of mind can be assessed from his doctoral thesis on welfare aspects of tribals of Jharkhand and other writings is not a relevant consideration while deciding the bail application. In the order, the court held that if the bent of mind is to be assessed in this manner, then the co-accused Sharjeel Imam has written a thesis on riots but any thesis or research work done by any accused, by itself, cannot be a ground for assessing his bent of mind. A bail application must be decided on facts presented in the charge sheet, it said. The court said it agreed with counsel that there are some inconsistencies in the statements of some protected witnesses, however, a finding has to be given on a cumulative reading of statements of all the witnesses and other events presented in the charge sheet. --IANS jw/pgh ( 335 Words) 2022-04-26-21:22:02 (IANS)
Following Delhi High Court's order, nurses of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) called off the strike on Tuesday night. "We are accepting the decision of the Delhi High Court. We have been asked to appear in court on Wednesday. We will do so and based on the decision of the court, we will chalk our future course of action," said a representative of the AIIMS nurses union. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the AIIMS nurses union to ensure that the employees including nurses who are on strike join duties immediately. On Tuesday AIIMS moved Delhi HC seeking direction to the Nurses Union and any staff of AIIMS to desist from resorting to strike or in any manner disrupting the general functioning of the petitioner's institute and hospital. The bench of Justice Yashwant Varma on Tuesday directed Nurses Union to ensure that its workers including nursing officers immediately start working and issued notice to the nurses union. The court listed the matter for a detailed hearing on Wednesday morning while hearing a petition moved by the AIIMS administration against the ongoing strike by nurses. In response to the suspension of the President of AIIMS Nurses Union, Harish Kajila, the nursing staff of the hospital on Tuesday went on an indefinite strike. The nurses union has demanded the immediate revocation of Kajla's suspension. In a letter addressed to the AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria, the Union wrote, "In response to your unilateral decision to suspend Harish Kajila, president of AllMS Nurses Union, without even citing proper reasons, the union called an emergency executive meeting and took the decision to go on indefinite strike from 8 AM on April 26 demanding immediate revocation of suspension of Harish Kumar Kajla and stopping of all kinds of retaliative measures against union executives and Union members of main operation theatre (OT)." "The union has always been receptive and open to expressing our genuine concerns and version throughout this issue. But unfortunately, we were neither called, nor contacted via any communication which forced us to go on an indefinite strike to safeguard the basic rights of our members. We would like to remind you that the undemocratic AllMS administration will be solely responsible for the consequences if any," the letter read. On April 23, AIIMS witnessed a dispute between the nursing officer Harish Kajila and the Resident Doctors Association. The nursing staff were protesting over the lack of manpower and late duty hours in the main operation theatre. (ANI)
Google on Tuesday said it is rolling out a new data safety section in the Play Store, where developers will be required to give people more information about how apps collect, share and secure users' data. App developers have till July 20 to add the information to their listings. "As app developers update their functionality or change their data handling practices, they will show the latest in the apps' Data safety section," the company said in a blog post. Users will start seeing the Data safety section in Google Play from Wednesday. The new initiative on Google Play Store follows the launch of a similar feature on Apple's App Store in late 2020. "We designed the Data safety section to allow developers to clearly mark what data is being collected and for what purpose it's being used. Users can also see whether the app needs this data to function or if this data collection is optional," said Google. Google said it has also worked hard to give users control of installed apps through simple permissions features. "The taxonomy and framework of the Data safety section on Google Play may differ materially from those used in other app stores," the company said. The initiative is meant to "help people understand the data an app collects or shares, if that data is secured, and additional details that impact privacy and security." --IANS na/ ( 244 Words) 2022-04-26-21:44:03 (IANS)
On the 33rd birthday of the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the United States on Monday (local time) urged the People's Republic of China (PRC) to account for his whereabouts, who remains missing since 1995. "Today marks the 33rd birthday of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, who remains missing since PRC authorities abducted him as a six-year-old child on May 17, 1995," US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. The PRC continues to deny members of the Tibetan community access to the Dalai Lama-designated Panchen Lama, the second most revered figure in Tibetan Buddhism, and instead continues to promote a state-selected proxy, said the statement. "We urge PRC authorities to account for Gedhun Choekyi Nyima's whereabouts and well-being immediately and to allow him to fully exercise his human rights and fundamental freedoms, in line with the PRC's international commitments," the statement said. According to the statement, the United States supports Tibetans' religious freedom and their unique religious, cultural, and linguistic identity, including Tibetans' right to select, educate, and venerate their own leaders, like the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, according to their own beliefs and without government interference. After the death of the 10th Panchen Lama, Dalai Lama and his search party (in Tibet) started searching for the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama and finally on May 14, 1995, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, a 6-year-old boy in Tibet was recognized as the 11th Panchen Lama, reported Tibet Rights Collective. However, things turned worst when the 6-year-old boy and his family were kidnapped on May 17. For nearly 27 years, Tibetans have not seen their 11th Panchen Lama pictures. The Chinese officials have only given words to the world that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family are doing well, reported Tibet Rights Collective. Last Panchen Lama, the 10th Panchen Lama stayed back in the region after the revolt broke out between Tibet and Chinese officials. While he was in the region, he submitted a 70,000-word petition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which led to his arrest. Dalai Lama, another head of the Gelugpa sect, took shelter in India and garnered international support, and made the people of the world aware of the atrocious acts that were happening in Chinese occupied Tibet. (ANI)
The speculation of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan amid Beijing's support for Russia's military operation in Ukraine has triggered an unprecedented capital flight from China with a large offloading of Chinese government bonds by overseas investors in recent months, said a media report. China is facing a huge trust deficit from international investors as it witnessed portfolio outflow worth nearly USD 18 billion last month, reported The Hong Kong Post. The country witnessed a record bond-market retreat by foreign investors in recent months with an offloading of Chinese bonds worth USD 5.5 billion in February, reported CNN citing data from the Chinese government. This comes as China's ambiguity concerning the Ukraine-Russia war is scaring away the investors. Though the communist country refuses to criticize "friend" Russia's actions in Ukraine, Beijing has not done anything to help Moscow for the fear of attracting crippling sanctions from the West. "There is nervousness about China's ambiguous, but Russia-leaning stance on the Ukraine conflict, which raises worries that China could be targeted by sanctions if it helps Russia," CNN quoted Martin Chorzempa, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, as saying. The American media outlet also cited "rate hike in the United States and China's strict COVI-related lockdowns" as a reason behind the capital flight. China's rigid 'Zero-COVID' policy that led to the complete shutdown of scores of cities and towns, including Shanghai, its ports and airports, halting manufacturing and trade, has increased "uncertainties about future growth", reported The Hong Kong Post. According to analysts, the Chinese government's crackdown on private businesses late last year to instil fiscal discipline also had a cascading effect on the economy, affecting industry morale and making foreign investors more nervous as they don't want to play regulatory guessing games or worry that tomorrow's news may deplete another company or business model in China. Amid such a situation, international organizations and investment banks have slashed their growth projections for China this year with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reducing its prediction from 4.8 to 4.4 per cent. (ANI)
Lavrov spoke with various Russian news agencies where he criticized Ukraine's approach to the peace talks, reported The Moscow Times. He said: "Goodwill has its limits. But if it isn't reciprocal, that doesn't help the negotiation process."

On the recent meeting between Russia and Ukraine, held in Istanbul, Turkey, Lavrov mentioned that Kyiv had presented a draft agreement which marked a departure from its previous stand.

Further, Lavrov asserted that Russia will continue to engage in negotiations with the team assigned by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But, he added that Zelenskyy was pretending on peace talks.

Lavrov warned that the danger of World War III is as real as it sounds.

"The danger is serious, it is real, you can't underestimate it," the Russian Foreign Minister quoted by The Moscow Times. (ANI)
Alarmed by the critical humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, independent UN human rights experts on Monday called for the United States to end its freeze on Afghanistan's foreign assets. The Da Afghanistan Bank has more than USD 7 billion in blocked reserves that could be used to provide desperately-needed humanitarian relief to tens of millions in the country, said the group of experts. "We are gravely concerned about the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which puts at serious risk the lives of more than half of the country's population, with disproportionate impact on women and children," they said. In February, US President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order to continue to block the cash and reportedly use part of the funds for purposes within the US, instead of the immediate and longer-term humanitarian needs in Afghanistan. The rights experts appealed to Washington in a statement, saying that humanitarian exemptions to Afghan sanctions - agreed to by UN Security Council last December - has led to "no significant progress" in financial or commercial aid to Afghanistan, as many foreign banks were concerned about breaching restrictions. Gravely concerned about the humanitarian crisis in the country, the experts added that it "puts at serious risk the lives of more than half of the country's population". "While gender-based violence has been a long-standing and severe threat to women and girls, it has been exacerbated by the measures imposed by the US, together with the drought and widening gender-based discrimination adopted by the de facto authorities", the statement continued. Echoing the words of the UN Secretary-General, who recently called it an 'epic humanitarian crisis on the verge of a development catastrophe', the experts urged States to re-assess any adopted unilateral measure and lift all obstacles in providing the necessary financial and humanitarian aid. In January, the UN launched its largest-ever humanitarian appeal for a single country, requiring more than USD 5 billion this year to help the Afghan people. According to international assessments, Afghanistan has now the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world, with more than 23 million in need of assistance, and approximately 95 per cent of the population having insufficient food consumption. Of particular concern is the vulnerability of more than four million internally displaced, including people belonging to minorities and over 3.5 million seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. Furthermore, the experts highlighted that since the December adoption of Security Council resolution 2651 and the establishment of humanitarian exemptions to existing sanctions, there has been no significant progress in financial or commercial flows for development and humanitarian purposes to Afghanistan by States or international financial institutions. The uncertainty caused by banks' zero-risk policies and over-compliance with sanctions has left humanitarian actors facing serious operational challenges. According to the experts, the US Executive Order may "exacerbate the climate of uncertainty among relevant actors...resulting in over-zealous compliance with sanctions," thus preventing Afghans from "access to basic humanitarian goods". The UN experts called on the US to seriously consider the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and re-assess its decision to block the Da Afghanistan Bank's foreign assets, recalling that States have an obligation under international human rights law to guarantee that activity under their jurisdiction does not result in human rights violations. They concluded by calling US authorities to take all appropriate action to reverse the unilateral measure and contribute to international efforts in addressing the growing humanitarian crisis in the country. Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. They are independent from any government and are not paid for their work. (ANI)
The ongoing crisis in Sri Lanka, which is the worst in the country's history, is a man-made problem while warning signs visible for a year were ignored, said Professor Mick Moore, a highly acclaimed political economist and professorial fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. In an interview with Amsterdam based think tank European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) last week, Moore said the Sri Lankan economic crisis is almost entirely caused by government decisions that were extremely unwise. Moore in the interview analysed the prevailing political and economic situation in Sri Lanka and the possible trajectories in the coming months. Professor Moore suggested that the current economic conditions in Sri Lanka translate into the country's worst economic crisis in recorded history and that this crisis, although exacerbated by falling tourism revenues due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and rising food and fuel prices, was caused almost entirely by unwise policy decisions made by the Rajapaksa administration. Professor Moore outlined that a rapid decrease in national foreign exchange reserves has created major restrictions on the availability of imported everyday goods, creating fuel, energy, food, and medicine shortages. The decrease in foreign exchange reserves has come as the result of the government taking on a growing number of loans in foreign currencies without being financially capable of servicing the debt, according to the Professor. Moore highlighted that this growing payment pressure has not been sprung on the Rajapaksa government suddenly, as it was already evident for more than a year that the national foreign exchange reserves would run out soon, and response to this looming balance of payments crisis robbed the country of its valuable negotiation time. Most of the acquired debt has been accumulated due to the government taking out significant loans to fund domestic infrastructure projects that were politically popular, which practically reinforced rent-seeking behaviour and patronage networks, while economically they made very less sense. Domestically, Professor Moore pointed out, the Rajapaksas, who have inserted several family members into key political positions, have enjoyed significant support due to their role in the civil war. This base of popular support, however, has been rapidly eroded by economic and financial mismanagement and the Rajapaksa's assumption that the family could push through any kind of policy. When discussing the role of Chinese investments in infrastructure and their alleged contribution to the economic and political crisis in the country, Moore stated that it is important to mention that China is not the only funding body in those projects and thus the responsibility for the status quo is shared together with other actors. According to him, the current unfavourable circumstances are the result of debt accumulation, policy missteps and ill-conceived infrastructure projects built with Chinese funds. Professor Moore further explained how given the geostrategic importance of Sri Lanka, the competition for economic and political influence on behalf of foreign actors is inevitable; hence, the involvement of China is not isolated. Answering a question on long-term structural reforms, Professor Moore argued that the long-term economic outlook for Sri Lanka is not at all bleak, as the country has benefited greatly from Asia's economic growth, and there are new economic activities emerging. When it comes to the fiscal crisis, he said one conceivable solution would be to reverse the recent changes made by the government regarding the tax cut. (ANI)
The Russia-Ukraine war has brought a new evolution in the geopolitics of energy. In the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the European Union and other western countries imposed sanctions on Russia after which, the countries are looking towards Central Asian countries as an alternative for the supply of gas. The Repower EU initiative has three objectives with an aim at strengthening the EU's energy structure and they are--(i) increase natural gas imports from non-Russian sources, (ii) enhance the import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from non-Russian sources, and (iii) boost the development of bio-energy and promote the production of renewable energy. With the aim to achieve the third objective, which focuses on boosting the development of bio-energy and promotion of the production of renewable energy, EU countries are looking towards Central Asian countries and it seems that Turkmenistan is their primary choice for gas supply to Europe. The gas supply for the EU from other countries (except Central Asian Countries) is unfeasible. Israel, which has gas export agreements with a number of countries, its own gas supply is fragile. Qatar, on other hand, transports only 10 to 15 per cent of LNG to Europe, according to a report in the European Times. After all this, Turkmenistan seems the right option but China will become a major competition for Europe as the Communist country is the largest buyer of Turkmen gas accounting for over 60 per cent of pipeline imports in 2019. The payment dispute with Russia and Iran in 2016 and 2017 respectively, left China as the only major export market for Turkmenistan. Not only this, but the Communist country is also Turkmenistan's primary international lender, having provided over USD 8 billion in loans to develop the country's gas infrastructure. Turkmenistan repays the loan with the revenue which Beijing give due to its gas deal, this enables China to have a continued influence on Turkmenistan, European Times reported. Beijing has apparently monopolized exports of Turkmen natural gas to such an extent that gas has been used as a de-facto form of currency in economic contracts between the two countries. In the view of the current limited gas capacity of Turkmenistan, the supply of natural gas to Europe will lead to a situation where the "fighting for gas" can be created and even the cost of China's gas imports may also go up as the Turkmen gas price will go high due to its huge demand. Once the EU enters the Central Asian gas market, the United States may follow the same path. Therefore, the Central Asian Caspian region could face a new round of geopolitical risks, which may negatively impact China's political diplomacy, trade and economic investments, and many more. (ANI)
"Yes, the EAM will pay a one-day visit to Dhaka on Thursday," Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters in Delhi on Monday.

"He will carry a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to invite Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to visit India," Shringla was quoted as saying by Dhaka Tribune.

Shringla made these remarks in response to queries from journalists at an event at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.

Foreign Secretary and Bangladesh High Commissioner Muhammad Imran on Monday attended the award-giving ceremony for felicitating winners of a competition conducted on the occasion of India-Bangladesh Friendship Day.

During the event, Shringla shared views on strengthening the bilateral partnership.

Both representatives felicitated the winners of the Maitri Diwas logo and backdrop competition conducted on the occasion of India-Bangladesh Maitri Diwas.

"FS @harshvshringla and Bangladesh High Commissioner Muhammad Imran felicitated the winners of the India-Bangladesh #MaitreeDiwas logo and backdrop competition. Also shared views on further strengthening bilateral ties, including youth connect, innovation and emerging areas," said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted. (ANI)
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned 46 dissident Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members of the National and Punjab assemblies to appear before it on April 28 and May 6 respectively, reported local media. The ECP on Monday issued notices to 20 PTI members of the National Assembly and 26 members of the Punjab Assembly, asking them to appear before the commission, reported the Dawn newspaper. The decision was taken at an ECP meeting where the commission deliberated upon a letter written by the PTI chairman Imran Khan. Notably, ahead of the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan-led government, the PTI had filed a reference against its 20 dissident members of the National Assembly, seeking their disqualification. Further, Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is also said to have sent references against 26 dissident members to the ECP. However, after his ouster, Imran Khan, in a letter, informed the ECP over a week ago that the party lawmakers had resigned from the National Assembly and asked the commission not to appoint any of them as Leader of the Opposition or a member of any parliamentary committee, according to the media outlet. In the letter, Imran Khan said that the PTI refused to recognize the "imported government" formed in an "unconstitutional way" and thus, the party had resigned from all the seats in the National Assembly on April 11, while references had also been filed for action against the defiant members under Article 63-A of the Constitution. "I hereby withdraw the names of women and minority members on the reserved seats of PTI MNAs, the party will not be responsible for any action taken by these members. PTI MNAs have resigned, so no member should be nominated in the name of PTI as the Leader of the Opposition or member of the parliamentary committee," the media outlet quoted Khan as saying. Notably, the letter, submitted by Babar Awan to the ECP, also demanded strict action against those who use PTI's name at any forum. (ANI)
Senior executives, business leaders of private sectors, venture capitalists, the institutional investors, who represented combined assets under management of over USD 1 trillion, attended the meeting with Sitharaman.

In the meeting with the investors in the clean energy sector, the minister discussed topics pertaining to India's potential for producing sustainable energy, waste-to-energy, and energy alternatives.

The minister told the investors that over the next few years, India is prepared to be the world's fastest-growing major economy.

President of USIBC, Atul Keshap moderated the meeting while the Chief Economic Advisor, V Ananth Nageswaran, India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, along with other senior officials attended the roundtable.

"Where technology and capital converge! Excellent exchange of ideas at @USIBC @FollowCII #fintech roundtable w FM @nsitharaman in #SiliconValley. Friends frm industry deliberated on opportunities that #India's fast digital journey & reforms offer to VCs, funds & asset managers." Sandhu tweeted.

After a roundtable with the members of the semiconductor industry, the Finance Minister visited Applied Materials', Maydan Technology Centre, located in the Silicon Valley, to observe research in the field of semiconductors.

Earlier, the Finance Minister also met with World Bank President, David Malpass, in Washington on Friday, discussing important economic issues, India's continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. (ANI)
Dismissing the news alleging that the former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's both sons were part of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's official delegation to Saudi Arabia, Hassan Nawaz Sharif, son of Nawaz Sharif said that the news about his trip is fake and run with malicious intentions. "The news run about my Saudi visit is completely fake and run with malicious intentions. I never had any plan to go to Saudi Arabia. I didn't apply for a visa and I am very much in London. I am in London with my father and I have no plans of visiting Saudi Arabia anytime soon," Hassan was quoted as saying by Geo TV. When the publication contacted Nawaz's other son, Hussain Nawaz then he also denied the news and said that he arrived in Saudi Arabia on March 25 at his own expense and alone. "I came to Jeddah at my own expense and am staying at my own house which is an hour away from Haram. Madinah Pak is only 3.5 hours away from my house. We have our own cars, I have no idea who added me to the list and for whatever purpose. I have never used state expense for anything. We have been living and working in Saudi Arabia for over two decades and it's a well-known fact," Hussain Nawaz was quoted as saying by Geo TV. Pakistan PM Sharif's son-in-law Imran Ali, who lives in London, also reacted to the list of travellers going along with the PM to Saudi Arabia and said, "I am surprised that my name was added to the list. I am not part of any official delegation and I have no immediate travel plans for any place. Someone has published fake news about me." The delegation, according to sources, will include the following individuals, among others: PM Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Balochistan National Party (Mengal) (BNP-M) chief Akhtar Mengal, BAP (Balochistan Awami Party) leader Khalid Magsi and many others, reported Geo TV. The same list claimed that from London to Jeddah, Hussain Nawaz and his wife will be part of the delegation. A private TV channel claimed that Hassan Nawaz will also be travelling. Both of them have denied the news. Shehbaz Sharif is scheduled to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the next few days. Dozens of officials and political leaders will accompany the Pakistan Prime Minister on his maiden visit to the Kingdom. Meanwhile, on Monday, the newly-elected Pakistan PM presided over a meeting here to review preparations for his official visit to Saudi Arabia. During the meeting, he said that Pakistan valued its long-standing brotherly ties with Saudi Arabia and it was looking forward to enhancing the same in future. According to The News International, he directed the relevant authorities to make effective recommendations for strengthening the Pak-Saudi Arabia bilateral ties. (ANI)
Afghanistan's former President Hamid Karzai has raised concerns over the closure of schools for girls, above grade 6, by the Taliban regime, stating that the people of Afghanistan want their girls to return to schools. "There is no way... that the country can live without our girls going to school. It can't be. The Afghan people will not allow that and I am sure the schools for girls will reopen because that is what the Afghan people want and want clearly," Karzai said as cited by Tolo News. The Taliban has received constant backlash from other countries as well owing to its decision to shut schools for girls from grades 7 to 12 and it has been about 120 days since Afghan girls have been barred from going to school. Several Afghan clerics, notable politicians and members of the civil society have urged the Taliban to consider the reopening of schools for the female students and grant them access to education, reported Tolo News. Further, Human Rights Watch has expressed concerns that banning girls from going to school will lead to a rise in early marriages for them. Associate Director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, Heather Barr said that thousands of Afghan girls have been denied education for almost a year, emphasizing that blocking them from receiving education will become the cause of child marriage and forced marriage. "They are imposing a new law with each passing day, but there is a serious will to reopen the schools," said Naveeda Khurasani, a women's rights activist as reported by Tolo News. Earlier, the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said that the closing of secondary and high schools for girl students is a serious issue. It has also planned on paying a two-month emergency cash support of about 200,000 to the teachers across Afghanistan and has provided over 35 million textbooks in the country so far. (ANI)
Shehbaz Sharif is scheduled to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the next few days. Dozens of officials and political leaders will accompany the Pakistan Prime Minister on his maiden visit to the Kingdom.

After Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) raised questions about this visit, Pakistan Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb responded on Monday, saying Shehbaz Sharif would travel to Saudi Arabia at his own expenses.

She slammed PTI leaders for spreading "lies" about the trip set to take place later this week. "Contrary to lies being propagated by PTI, Prime Minister will be travelling to Saudi Arabia later this week on a commercial flight at his own expense," Marriyum said on Twitter.

"Even during his 10 years as CM Punjab during 2008-18, he always travelled commercially and at his own expense," she added.

Earlier on Monday, the newly-elected Pak PM presided over a meeting here to review preparations for his official visit to Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting, he said that Pakistan valued its long-standing brotherly ties with Saudi Arabia and it was looking forward to enhancing the same in future.

According to The News International, he directed the relevant authorities to make effective recommendations for strengthening the Pak-Saudi Arabia bilateral ties. (ANI)
"It was a pleasure meeting Mr @HonTonyAbbott, former PM & current Australian PM's Special Representative. Had a fruitful discussion on issues of trade & strategic importance to further strengthen the bilateral relations, following the success of #IndAusECTA," tweeted Scindia.

Notably, earlier this month, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met Tony Abbott, the Australian Prime Minister's Special Trade Envoy, in Melbourne during his three-day Australia visit.

Goyal had said that Abbott has played a key role in realizing the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA).

ECTA is the first trade agreement of India with a developed country after more than a decade and provides for an institutional mechanism to improve trade between the two countries.

Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India and India is Australia's 9th largest trading partner. The ECTA is expected to almost double the bilateral trade from USD 27.5 bn (2021) to about USD 45 to USD 50 Billion in the next five years.

ECTA is expected to create new employment opportunities, raise living standards and enhance the overall welfare of the people of both countries. Additional employment generation is expected to be 10 lakhs within the next five years. (ANI)
Humanitarians have launched a renewed appeal for war-ravaged Ukraine calling for USD 2.25 billion to provide assistance and protection to nearly nine million people, the United Nations announced on Monday. The figure is more than double the initial appeal published just days after Russia invaded the country on February 24, UN News reported. "Two months on, needs have continued to rise, while the humanitarian response has expanded significantly in scale and scope - enabled by the rapid funding allocated against the initial Flash Appeal - prompting a revision and extension of the Ukraine Flash Appeal until August 2022," they wrote. The conflict has caused the world's fastest-growing displacement crisis since the Second World War, uprooting nearly 13 million people. More than seven million are internally displaced while 5.2 million have crossed into neighbouring countries, such as Poland, and beyond. The massive devastation of urban centres and the destruction of civilian infrastructure have severely disrupted healthcare and other critical services. Last week, the UN Office in Ukraine reported that some 136 attacks on health care facilities have been recorded since the start of the war, representing nearly 70 per cent of worldwide attacks on the sector so far this year. It is organized under five main strategies, which include delivering aid in the hardest-to-reach areas. UN-led convoys have so far delivered supplies on five occasions, and more are planned in the coming weeks and months. The plan further calls for providing assistance as close as possible to people in need, including supporting organizations working in areas under threat and ensuring supplies are available in the event pipelines are cut off. Humanitarians are also scaling up cash transfers to displaced people, with the number of people reached rising from just under 18,500 to more than 263,000 in the past three weeks alone. The appeal places people, gender equality and protection at the centre of the response, and includes measures aimed at enhancing accountability and preventing sexual exploitation and abuse. Humanitarians also will ensure their work is principled, realistic and feasible, as well as suitable and accessible for all gender and age groups. The revised plan comes ahead of the UN Secretary-General's meetings this week with both the Foreign Ministers and Presidents of Ukraine and Russia. UN chief Antonio Guterres is travelling to Moscow, after having met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday. (ANI)
Negligence of authorities in Pakistan's Karachi has resulted in the worst cholera outbreak in the city, affecting both children and adults, reported local media. Karachi has been witnessing a massive increase in the number of cholera cases as observed in the past two months, reported The News International. According to experts, hundreds of civilians, including children and adults, are being treated for cholera in public and private hospitals. But, even as the city is suffering from the worst-hit cholera outbreak, some health authorities are concealing facts from the public. As a result, Karachi civilians are unable to take precautionary measures to prevent themselves from getting infected by this disease. Various officials at the Karachi hospitals have already declared that the city is experiencing the worst outbreak of cholera in recent years, reported the media outlet. The medical superintendent of the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital and Research Center (SIDH&RC), Abdul Wahid Rajput, confirmed that they were receiving lab-confirmed cholera cases for the last few weeks, adding that at least five children and an adult had tested positive for cholera at their health facility. Meanwhile, confirming the cholera outbreak in Karachi, another health expert at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), said they were witnessing an increase in diarrhoea and cholera cases as reported from different parts of the city. However, turning a blind eye to the plight of the people and contradicting the statement of health centres, Azra Pechuho, the Health Minister of Sindh said that there has been no evidence of any lab-confirmed case of cholera in Karachi so far. (ANI)
The people of Balochistan protested against the Pakistan security forces over the killing of civilians in the Chagai district of the province. The protest, which was organized in the third week of April, witnessed people demonstrating against the firing that took place over peace protestors in the Nok Kundi area of Chagai and left at least five people injured. The people also protested against the killing of a driver in the desert area of Chagai, who died in firing by troops of the Frontier Corps. The protest was held outside a camp of Frontier Corps in Balochistan. Notably, following these incidents, many people on April 21 took to the streets against the atrocities on Balochis in different parts of the country with the slogan of "Stop Baloch Genocide". The local people also took part in a rally from Degree College to the University of Balochistan against the Chagai incident. Further, a large number of people gathered outside the National Press Club, Islamabad on April 21 with placards of 'Chagai Bleeds' and 'Will I Get Justice'. Earlier on Wednesday, various political parties staged a protest in several parts of Pakistan's Balochistan province against the killing of a truck driver in Chagai as well as injuries to those who had taken to the streets against the incident. Workers of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-Mengal), National Party (NP) and Baloch Students Organisation-Pajjar (BSO-Pajjar) staged a joint protest outside the Dalbandin Press Club, demanding justice for the recently killed truck driver, Dawn newspaper reported. BNP-M Nushki district president Haji Bahadur Khan Mengal and Kharan district's Nadeem Siapad also called upon the authorities to lodge an FIR against those officials who opened fire on protesters in Nokkundi and Chagai towns. Further, the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) boycotted the National Assembly proceedings on April 18 over the killings of civilians by security forces in their province. In the absence of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif from the house, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif responded to the protesting BNP-M lawmakers, stating that the Balochistan issue had been there since the 1960s. He admitted that excesses had been committed with the people of Balochistan and agreements with them were violated, according to Dawn. (ANI)
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn on Tuesday said that the sanctions imposed by European Union on Russia are the only possible way to remind President Vladimir Putin that they can be excluded from the international community if they won't stop the attack in Ukraine. Speaking at an event in New Delhi, Asselborn acknowledged that the financial sanction on Russia will be effective for only a few months. "We know that if we discussed the sanctions with Security Council then we have no chance of getting approval as China and Russia who are permanent members of UNSC would never give the vote to our sanction. So this was in our means, and only possible way to say to the Russian President that if you do this then you will be excluded from the international community," the Luxembourg Foreign Minister said. Asselborn said that he knows the sanctions, especially financial sanctions will be effective for three-four months but still he finds that this is the only way of restricting Moscow. He further stated that if NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) intervened in Ukraine, then it will have a negative impact on Europe's peace. Earlier, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar reiterated India's position amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and asked the western countries not to forget other important issues in the world like Afghanistan. Jaishankar said the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a dominant issue, not alone in principle and values but also for its practical consequences. (ANI)
The two PTI workers- Attaullah Niazi and Faheem Khan- were arrested by the Pakistan police soon after Tariq Mehmood Jahangir, Judge of Islamabad HC annulled their pre-arrest interim bail.

At the court hearing today, complainant Jamal Mandokhail's counsel Raja Nazeer accompanied by Advocate Faisal Siddique put forward their arguments before the court, reported the News International.

Upon hearing the arguments from both parties, the court decided to revoke the pre-arrest bail of the two accused PTI members. They were taken into custody outside the courtroom.

Last month, PTI lawmakers and workers stormed into the Sindh House as a form of protest against the dissident members of the ruling party post the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. A mob of PTI workers, including MNA Ataullah Niazi and Faheem Khan, took part in the agitation, chanting slogans, supporting the ex-Prime Minister. (ANI)
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Lucknow-based Shia Muslims group while expressing concern over attacks on the community in neighbouring countries has stated that Pakistan is nursing terrorism. In a letter dated April 26, All India Shia Husaini Fund (AISHF) in Lucknow said that the terrorist organizations operating in Pakistan are engaged in the blood bath of Shia minorities for the last 35 years. "During the same time period, approximately 30,000 Shias have lost their lives while offering Namaz at Shia mosques, which had been targeted by the terrorist organizations of Pakistan. In another neighbouring country Afghanistan, Shia Hazara community had been targeted while schools and mosques belonging to the Shia community are attacked to massacre the people," read the letter by the secretary-general of the group Syed Hasan Mehdi. Noting that the terrorists in Pakistan and those around the world are the common enemies of India and the Shia community, he stated, "We Shia Muslims of India had sought permission from the Government of India to kindly allow us to enter Pakistan and Afghanistan to lay down our lives while fighting with terrorists." The AISHF further said that Pakistan is "nurse of terrorism". "We hope our government will allow us to lay down our lives graciously while fighting the terrorists," it added. Notably, a blast in a Shia mosque in Pakistan's Peshawar on March 4 resulted in the death of over 60 people, including seven children below 10, and left nearly 200 people injured. The attack also laid bare intolerance against Shia Muslims in Pakistan. (ANI)
Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar said that they discussed the challenges in the Indo-Pacific and the Ukraine conflict.

"Glad to meet FM @WBHoekstra of Netherlands. A good discussion on bilateral cooperation, including water and agriculture. Also spoke about the challenges in the Indo-Pacific and the Ukraine conflict," Jaishankar tweeted.

Earlier on Monday, Jaishankar held talks with Poland counterpart Zbigniew Rau where both sides shared their commitment to growing India-Poland partnership. The EAM also expressed gratitude to the Poland FM for facilitating the evacuation of Indians from conflict-ridden Ukraine under 'Operation Ganga'. (ANI)
As per Geo TV, the blast took place at 1:52 pm in a van near Confucius Institute -- a Chinese language teaching centre at Karachi University.

Following the blast, rescue and security agencies reached the location and cordoned off the areas, initiating rescue operations, the media outlet reported.

As per Geo TV, the deceased Chinese nationals have been identified as the director of the Confucius Institute Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng, Chen Sai, and their Pakistani driver Khalid.

Two of the injured have been identified as Chinese national Wang Yuqing and a guard named Hamid. Meanwhile, three people are said to be in critical condition, as per sources.

As per police sources, there were seven to eight people in the van; however, the exact number of casualties is yet to be reported.

Last year, nine Chinese nationals were killed in a blast in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.

Pakistan's Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has claimed to have arrested two men for their alleged involvement in the blasts on a bus carrying Chinese nationals in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhawa in August and in Lahore's Johar Town in the last week of June 2021.

Beijing has also stepped in to probe this bus attack. The Chinese forces were allowed to investigate this matter despite the fact that the previous Imran Khan government repeatedly stated that it won't allow foreign security set up on its land. (ANI)
Brussels [Belgium], April 26 (ANI/Sputnik): The European Union commends countries supporting sanctions imposed on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine and expects those seeking to become member states to also fully implement them, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said on Tuesday. "We commend those countries who have implemented EU sanctions against Russia. We further emphasize however that sanctions must continue to be implemented in full. This is what is expected from every country aspiring to become a member of the EU," Metsola said at the EU Meets the Balkans Forum in Sofia. On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after recognizing the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics". Western countries and their allies responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Russia. The European Union has vowed to reduce its dependency on Russian energy. On April 8, the bloc announced the fifth package of anti-Russian sanctions, which included a ban on imports of coal and other solid fossil fuels from the country starting from August 2022, a ban on the entry of Russian ships into EU ports and restrictions on Russian and Belarusian road transport companies. (ANI/Sputnik)
Iran has accepted new Afghan diplomats at Afghanistan's embassy in Tehran and has accredited three diplomats sent by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to the country, according to media reports. Citing sources, Khaama Press on Tuesday reported that the new diplomats included the third secretary of the embassy and the other two are normal employees of the embassy. Afghanistan's embassy has not been closed yet despite the change of regime in the country and is led by the previous envoy, as per the Afghan media citing BBC. Quoting the spokesperson of Iran's Foreign Ministry Saeed Khatibzada, Khaama Press reported that the exchange of diplomats between Afghanistan and Iran is compatible with international conventions and has nothing to do with recognition. Meanwhile, an Afghan delegation led by the Taliban's acting minister of refugees and repatriations is set to visit Iran's capital Tehran to hold talks over refugee-related challenges and the border tension, local media reported. "We are trying to visit Iran to talk about all the problems that Afghans are struggling with there. We hope we can talk and solve the problems," said Khalilurahman Haqqani, acting minister of refugee and repatriations, according to TOLOnews. Afghan students and refugees residing in Iran said that they have always faced visa issues as well as residence and employment problems across Iran. Notably, the financial situation of Afghanistan is getting worse day by day. The World Food Program (WFP) on Twitter has earlier announced the continuation of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. WFP continues to help people in need across Afghanistan, helping 900,000 people in Badakhshan in the past three months alone, reported Tolo News. According to UN figures, 23 million people in Afghanistan are currently starving and 95 per cent of Afghans do not have enough food to eat three times in 24 hours. (ANI)
Regional authorities later confirmed that the shooting had taken place in the village of Veshkayma, reported Moscow Times.

Notably, Russia has been rocked by a series of deadly school and university shootings in recent years, prompting the authorities to crack down on online communities they blame for the incidents. (ANI)
According to Express Tribune, this move comes after Iqbal on Sunday, said Pakistan wanted to become a strong country for which it needed a strong economy at the global level, adding that he did not want Pakistan to turn into Cuba or North Korea.

In a response to Iqbal's comments, Ambassador Caro tweeted: "Fortunately, Minister Ahsan Iqbal's disrespectful mention of Cuba in his press conference in Lahore does not represent and has nothing to do with Pakistanis' true respect and deep affection for Cuba."

Following the ambassador's tweet, Iqbal clarified on Twitter that his remarks were "only in the context of foreign policy".

He said: "We have deep respect for the people of Cuba and deep affectionate relations with Cuba," The Express Tribune reported. (ANI)
China is exploiting the security vacuum in Iraq that was created after US's withdrawal from the West Asian country, with its companies aligning with militia groups to gain a strong foothold in the oil industry of the country, a media report said. China has relied on its close ties with Iran-backed militia groups operating within Iraq to create a security blanket for Chinese interests in the region while leaving competitors exposed to a number of difficulties associated with corruption and outright violence against their interests, Geopolitca reported. Over the years, Iraq has become China's third-largest source of oil imports. In 2021 alone, Beijing struck infrastructure deals in excess of USD 10 billion in Iraq and Baghdad is keen to secure further Chinese investment in its infrastructure sector. The impetus and timing of these investments aren't coincidental, the report said, adding that the ongoing withdrawal of the USA from the region leaves a profound vacuum in a resource-rich region with instability, violence and endemic corruption. A key driver for the favourable deals China has been able to secure is a relative lack of competition due to the unfavourable business environment, in part driven by the concerted actions of Iran-backed Shiite militia groups. These militias are often in direct physical control of Iraqi oilfields and cannot be challenged, as their permission, in return for commissions, is essential to operating the oil business in this region, the report said. International oil companies have been unfavourably impressed with the risk-to-reward presented by the circumstances in Iraq, especially when confronted by the risk of violence and instability in the region. On the contrary, China's close ties with Iran and cooperation with Iran-backed militias within Iraq means that Beijing's own interests are much less affected by the adverse business conditions than those of its competitors. Earlier this year, the report said, Exxon Mobil finalized a deal to sell its 33 per cent stake in the West Qurna-1 oilfield, one of the world's largest oilfields with an expected recoverable reserve of more than 20 billion barrels. As things stand, it looks as if the targeted violence and corruption in the region are being weaponized to create a lack of competition, which in turn is allowing favourable terms for Chinese corporations in their dealings, as well as the development of strategic strongholds, the report said. Beijing has demonstrated a resolve to create a sphere of influence notwithstanding the instability and violence in the region, which China likely regards as endemic, the report said. This represents a judgement that the rewards outweigh the risks and instability, and warrant a departure from their traditional policy of dealing only with governments while committing to external investments, the report further said citing the alacrity of Chinese corporations to begin mineral prospecting in Afghanistan after Taliban takeover as another example of the same. This state of affairs has been exacerbated by the recent developments in Ukraine, which have caused drastic spikes in the demand for oil and other scarce natural resources, the report said. The newfound willingness of China to align itself with militia groups, while convenient in this instance, can only have the effect of undermining confidence in sovereignty and represents a serious and growing threat to the rules-based international order, the report concluded. (ANI)
Local media reported that during a courtesy call at the prime minister's office, Kishida said bilateral ties must be improved, while the visiting delegation handed him a letter from Yoon.

"We have no time to spare in improving Japan-South Korea relations," the Japanese leader said, adding that "we need to resolve issues lying between Japan and South Korea including the wartime labor of Koreans, which has been a major sticking point."

The delegation, for its part, said that bilateral relations are important and it hopes that both sides work together to improve them.

The delegation is here on a five-day trip to Japan through Thursday ahead of Yoon's inauguration on May 10.

Kishida's attendance at Yoon's inauguration ceremony was not requested, a Japanese government source was quoted as saying. (ANI/Xinhua)
Wealth of Farah Khan, a close friend of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's wife Bushra Bibi, grew exponentially during the PTI government and does not match with the declared source of income, as per the reports. The reports reveal that Farhat Shahzadi also known as Farah Khan and her husband Ahsan Iqbal Jameel exchanged millions of rupees' gifts and loans during the Imran Khan government, reported The New International. This comes at a time when Farah Khan left Pakistan for Dubai amid corruption allegations and Imran Khan in a recent presser ducked a question about his relationship with Farah and simply walked away. Both husband and wife are the alleged beneficiaries of the whitening of the black money scheme during the PTI government. They had declared Rs 328.7 million and Rs 20 million respectively under the Tax Amnesty Scheme 2019. The corruption saga is not limited to Farah and her husband. The assets of Farah Khan's family, including her husband, her sister, and her father-in-law, also grew rapidly within a year after the Imran Khan government came into power. Farah's sister Musarrat Khan also bought 15 residential plots in the LDA City in Lahore and three residential plots in DHA, Lahore. She had received Rs 84 million in foreign remittances in two years despite having no declared assets/business abroad. Musarrat Khan told News International that her assets had been declared with the tax authorities and all her sources of income were legitimate. Apart from that, the investigation by the media outlet unveils that Farah Khan's father-in-law Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, who publically disassociates himself from Farah Khan and Ahsan Jameel, was also a beneficiary of their growing fortune. Earlier a photograph of Farah Khan seen on a flight with a handbag that is claimed to costs USD 90,000, had gone viral on social media. According to reports in local Pakistan media, PMLN leader and former finance minister Miftah Ismail alleged that the handbag was worth USD 90,000 (Rs16.5 million). (ANI)
Pakistan People's Party Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hit out at former Pakistan PM Imran Khan for "bullying" the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to influence the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) foreign funding case. The PPP chairman's comments came in the wake of the PTI announcing protests outside the offices of the ECP throughout the country on Tuesday against the CEC over his allegedly biased behaviour, demanding his resignation, Dawn reported. However, CEC Raja said he had no intentions of doing so and that he would continue working in the best interests of the country. Continuing his tirade, Bilawal said that people knew that the only reason Khan was targeting the ECP was that the CEC, who had been selected by the PTI itself, had refused to turn the commission into the former ruling party's "Tiger Force". Raja has stood with his institution and the Constitution, and if this continued then there were hopes of seeing an empowered ECP in the future, the PPP chairman added. He also chastised Imran Khan for giving a protest called at ECP offices, saying it was a blatant pressure tactic to further "bully, blackmail and pressure" the institution into not releasing the "damning" decision in the PTI's foreign funding case. A two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended the single-bench ruling in PTI foreign funding case till the next hearing on May 17, said the media reports. The foreign funding case 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 and is pending since November 14, 2014. However, he also asked the ECP to probe into the funds of all political parties under the law. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had filed a petition on Saturday in Islamabad High Court against the alleged bias of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the prohibited funding case. (ANI)
Tibetan community in France protested in Paris to mark the 33rd birthday of Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima. Around 200 members of the Tibetan community in France participated in the demonstration on Monday. Speaking at the event, President of the Tibetan Community Karma Thinlay described the abduction of the Dalai Lama selected 11th Panchen Lama, by the Chinese authorities. He said that the time has come to intensify the campaign to pressurise China to release the Panchen Lama in order to allow him and his family to live a free life. Anti-Chinese slogans were also raised at the event. The participants also prayed for the long life of Panchen Lama and celebrated his birthday by performing traditional Tibetan dances. After the death of the 10th Panchen Lama, Dalai Lama and his search party (in Tibet) started searching for the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama and finally on May 14, 1995, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, a 6-year-old boy in Tibet was recognized as the 11th Panchen Lama, reported Tibet Rights Collective. However, things turned worst when the 6-year-old boy and his family were kidnapped on May 17. For nearly 27 years, Tibetans have not seen their 11th Panchen Lama pictures. The Chinese officials have only given words to the world that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family are doing well, reported Tibet Rights Collective. Last Panchen Lama, the 10th Panchen Lama stayed back in the region after the revolt broke out between Tibet and Chinese officials. While he was in the region, he submitted a 70,000-word petition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which led to his arrest. Dalai Lama, another head of the Gelugpa sect, took shelter in India and garnered international support, and made the people of the world aware of the atrocious acts that were happening in Chinese occupied Tibet. (ANI)
First round of India-UAE UN consultations at the Director General (DG) level was held in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday where both sides resolved their commitment to work closely on key issues on the UNSC agenda and mutual support on multilateral issues. The Indian delegation was led by Prakash Gupta, Joint Secretary (UN- Political) along with officials from the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi, while the UAE delegation was led by Ahood Al Zaabi, Director of the United Nations Department of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. "Both sides exchanged views on areas of priority during their ongoing UNSC tenure. In keeping with their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, they agreed to work closely together on key issues on the UNSC agenda, in particular on their shared commitment to reformed multilateralism and counter-terrorism," said the press release by the Ministry of External Affairs. India also congratulated UAE on its successful Presidency of the UNSC in March 2022. Both sides welcomed their convergences and mutual support on multilateral issues. (ANI)
With a spate of attacks in minority-dominated areas of Afghanistan in recent weeks, the assurances that the Taliban regime gave to the world after the takeover of Kabul in August last year seem to be falling apart, a media report said. The series of attacks in the last few days all over Afghanistan killed at least 77 people, including children, the Frontier Post reported. The devastating attacks are further destabilizing a nation already in economic free fall and further increase doubt that the Taliban can protect the Afghan people -- especially minorities -- from violence and terror, the report said. The attacks started last Tuesday, with double bombings at the Abdul Rahim Shaheed High School and in the vicinity of the Mumtaz Education Center, both in the capital Kabul, the report said, adding that there were at least six deaths and 17 injuries at the Abdul Rahim Shaheed High School in the predominantly Shia and Hazara Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood. Attacks continued, with a bombing at a Shia mosque in Mazar-e-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan that was claimed by the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K). The attack killed at least 31 people and injured many more, the report said citing Washington Post. ISIS-K said that the bomb was in a bag that was left in the mosque; it exploded when the mosque was filled with worshippers. "When the mosque was filled with prayers, the explosives were detonated remotely," the ISIS-K statement claimed, also alleging that 100 worshippers were injured. Around the same time, ISIS-K attacked a bus in Kunduz province, killing four and injuring 18, the report said. This week's attacks indicate that the Taliban either doesn't have as much control over the security situation in Afghanistan as the leadership had indicated it would after US and NATO forces left the country in August, or isn't particularly interested in providing protection to minorities, the report said. It doesn't help matters that the country is facing destabilization wrought by economic sanctions against Taliban leaders, coupled with the Taliban's persecution of women, journalists, human rights workers, and other groups, the report further said. The Taliban has a history of targeting Afghanistan's Shias, however, the group agreed in the lead-up to its takeover that minorities would be protected under a new Taliban government. The Hazara, an ethnic minority group that mostly practices Shia Islam, has been historically marginalized, with few opportunities for education or employment. They are Afghanistan's third-largest ethnic group, behind Pashtuns and Tajiks. While the Taliban has said it would not interfere with Shia worship and will protect all ethnic groups, the group is responsible for the deaths of dozens of Hazara over the past eight months, as well as mass forced displacements of Hazara people, the report said. "When the Taliban are pushed on issues of rights and economic well-being of the Afghan people, they push back by touting their ability to provide security for all Afghans, including minorities," Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert at the US Institute of Peace was quoted as saying. "Yet under the Taliban, vulnerable minorities -- in particular the Hazara -- continue to be one of the main targets of violence. This is a source of enormous insecurity and raises questions about the Taliban's ability to provide security in general and against minorities in particular," Mir further said. If the point is to use terror to create further instability, chaos, doubt, and violence to delegitimize the Taliban government, the attacks on civilians this past week could certainly have that effect -- whether or not they were all perpetrated by ISIS-K, the report concluded. (ANI)
The monitor overseeing the British government's use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras has asked the UK government to clarify its positions on buying surveillance cameras from controversial tech company Hikvision implicated for its involvement with the Chinese state's human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Hikvision cameras and facial recognition technology have been implicated in systematic human rights abuses against the Uyghur people and other minorities in the Xinjiang province of China. This persecution is known to rely heavily on surveillance technology including facial recognition software designed to detect racial characteristics. The Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner Fraser Sampson has challenged central and local government ministers to clarify their position on Hikvision which is part-owned by the Chinese state. The British Government has already formally recognised the widespread, systematic persecution in Xinjiang, including the extra-judicial detention of over a million Uyghur Muslims and other minorities, reported the UK Press release. Professor Sampson said: "If it is the case that the Department of Health has ruled out Hikvision from future procurement exercises, then that is a step in the right direction as far as I am concerned. "There are serious unanswered questions about Hikvision's involvement in appalling human rights abuses in China. The company seems unwilling or unable to provide assurances about the ethics of some of its operations and about security concerns associated with its equipment," he added. The move comes after media reports quoted an unnamed Whitehall source saying that Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, had banned Hikvision for competing for new business in the Department of Health after a procurement review revealed "ethical concerns" about the company. "If companies won't provide the information needed to do proper due diligence in relation to ethics and security, then they clearly should not be allowed to bid for contracts within government, or anywhere else in the public sector for that matter. If Mr Javid has banned Hikvision for those reasons, then he should be congratulated," Professor Sampson said, as per the press release. "If the decision as reported is true, the same considerations would apply equally to all branches of government, and, arguably, the whole of the public sector. If other areas of national and local government have carried out due diligence in relation to their human rights obligations, I'd be interested to see the information they used; if they haven't then I'd be interested to understand how the risks are being properly addressed," he added. Sampson also raises concerns about potential security implications of the use of surveillance equipment with dormant functions, such as voice recording and facial recognition, which can be switched on remotely. Professor Sampson, the independent Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner has repeatedly challenged Hikvision to come clean about the extent of its involvement with the Chinese state's human rights abuses in Xinjiang. However, Hikvision has, for more than eight months, failed to answer the questions put to them. Professor Sampson has raised the matter in a formal letter sent to the Michael Ellis QC MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, and to Michael Gove MP, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who is the minister responsible for local government. Javid was also copied into the correspondence, as per the release by the UK government. (ANI)
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's dream institution, Al Qadir University, which is receiving millions of rupees in donations, has only 37 students enrolled in the so-called college. Constructed and launched with land donated by a real estate giant during Khan's rule in 2019, the University is run by a trust which includes trustees -- Imran Khan, Bushra Khan, Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari and Zaheer ud din Babar Awan, The News International reported. Al Qadir management claims it is a university, but it has not yet been recognised by the Punjab Higher Education Department. It has so far been allowed to teach only one subject Bs-MS (Management Sciences) and can enrol maximum of 50 students with its affiliation with Government College University Punjab. All sorts of expenses were being taken care of by the donor as per their agreement. Al-Qadir institute also charged tuition fee from these students, as per the Pakistani publication. Notably, from January 2021 to December 2021, trust received donations of 180 million rupees. From July 2020 to June 2021, the total income of the trust was 101 million rupees. However, the total expenditure including the salaries of the staff and workers was around rupees 8.58 million only, The News International reported. On March 12, 2021, Imran Khan launched plantation drive in Al Qadir University, Sohawa, Jhelum. On November 29, 2021, Imran Khan inaugurated university's academic blocks. On April 22, 2020, Imran Khan as chairperson of Al Qadir Trust Islamabad wrote a letter to the joint sub registrar, Islamabad, informing him that Zaheer ud Din Babar Awan and Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari have been dropped or deleted from the trust. As part of the donation, the real estate company purchased land measuring 458 Kanals situated in Mouza Bakrala, Tehsil Sohawa, District Jhelum in the name of Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari as custodian of Al Qadir Trust project and on 22 January 2021, after creation of the trust, Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari transferred this land in the name of the trust. On March 2, 2022, a trust deed titled 'Endowment Fund for Al-Qadir Institute" was registered in the office of the sub-registrar Sohawa. The name of the trustees in this deed are "Bushra Khan, Farhat Shahzadi and Dr Arif Nazeer Butt while the author of this deed is Imran Khan. (ANI)
Pakistan's Masih minority community staged a demonstration outside police station Sukkur in Sindh province against the country's disregard for the community and the kidnapping of Aftab Masih, one of the community members, even when the court decision was in his favour over a dispute regarding monetary transactions. On Thursday last week, people belonging to the Masih community of Pakistan gathered outside Police Station to stage a protest and raise their voices over the complete abandonment of the Masih minority in the country. Aftab Masih, who belongs to the minority community in Pakistan, was allegedly abducted by one Muhammad Shahid Omar and his friends from outside District and Sessions Court in Sukkur. People were protesting outside the Sukkur police station and blamed the police officials who refused to lodge a complaint regarding the abduction of the youth, Aftab Masih. According to reports, Shahid Omar and Aftab Masih had some disputes regarding monetary transactions and the Court had given the decision in favour of Aftab Masih. After this Aftab was abducted. Some Masih leaders also attended the protest and said that the Masih Community is an abandoned community in Pakistan and blamed the Police officials for not cooperating with them. (ANI)
India-Norway Blue Economy Cooperation consists of Maritime Cooperation, Cooperation on Fisheries and Aquaculture, Research and Science, Marine Pollution Initiative among others.

Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar wrote, "A good meeting with FM @AHuitfeldt of Norway. Our health and education partnership advances steadily. Discussed further cooperation in blue economy and energy. Shared perspectives on Myanmar, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Agreed to continue our close cooperation in the UNSC."

The then Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, paid a visit to India on January 7-9, 2019, at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Solberg was accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising State Secretaries, senior officials and business leaders.

The two Prime Ministers noted the importance of sustainable use of the oceans, including for food security, energy sources, mineral exploration and climate-friendly maritime transport. They welcomed the signing of the MoU on the India-Norway Ocean Dialogue and the establishment of the Joint Task Force on Blue Economy under the aegis of the MoU, in order to promote multi-sectoral cooperation in various aspects of Blue Economy.

Huitfeldt is on a three-day official visit to India from April 25-27. Earlier, the Norwegian FM highlighted the cooperation between India and Norway in various fields over the years including "a number of joint projects on climate change and the environment." (ANI)
Taking to Twitter, the Prime Minister expressed grief over the death of Chinese nationals who were killed in the explosion near Confucius Institute -- a Chinese language teaching centre at Karachi University.

"I am deeply grieved on the loss of precious lives including of our Chinese friends in the heinous attack in Karachi today. My heartfelt condolences go to the bereaved families. I strongly condemn this cowardly act of terrorism. The perpetrators will surely be brought to justice," Sharif said in a Tweet.

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Imran Khan also took Twitter to condemn the blast.

"Strongly condemn the terrorist attack targeting Chinese teachers of Karachi University. This is yet another attack with a specific agenda of trying to undermine Pak-China strategic r'ship. We must ensure defeat of this foreign-backed agenda of our enemies," Imran Khan tweeted.

Four people including three Chinese nationals were killed in a car explosion today.

As per Geo TV, the blast took place at 1:52 pm in a van near Confucius Institute -- a Chinese language teaching centre at Karachi University.

As per Geo TV, the deceased Chinese nationals have been identified as the director of the Confucius Institute Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng, Chen Sai, and their Pakistani driver Khalid.

Last year, nine Chinese nationals were killed in a blast in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.

Pakistan's Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has claimed to have arrested two men for their alleged involvement in the blasts on a bus carrying Chinese nationals in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhawa in August and in Lahore's Johar Town in the last week of June 2021.

Beijing has also stepped in to probe this bus attack. The Chinese forces were allowed to investigate this matter despite the fact that the previous Imran Khan government repeatedly stated that it won't allow foreign security set up on its land. (ANI)
After talks with International Monetary Fund (IMF) amid the ongoing economic crisis in the country, Sri Lanka's Mass Media Minister Nalaka Godahewa on Tuesday said that the country is in talks with China as well for refinancing its debt. "Now that IMF (International Monetary Fund) is ready to cooperate with Sri Lanka, other countries are aware that we have support. We were guaranteed the support of the World Bank and other (financial) agencies," Godahewa said, adding that the negotiations with Beijing are at an early stage, Sputnik reported. China is Sri Lanka's biggest creditor having provided the Island nation with USD 3.5 billion of credit, the report said citing local media. Last Tuesday, the Sri Lankan Finance Ministry said the IMF and India pledged assistance to mitigate the economic crisis that has gripped the country. An IMF official on Tuesday advised Sri Lanka to tighten its monetary policy, raise taxes and adopt flexible exchange rates to overcome its debt crisis, according to media reports. Sri Lanka is facing one of its worst economic crises resulting in widespread protests against the Rajapaksa family leaders, including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The recession is attributed to foreign exchange shortages caused by a fall in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reckless economic policies, which have resulted in the country being unable to buy enough fuel, and people facing an acute scarcity of food and basic necessities, heating fuel, and gas. (ANI)
India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) is coordinating with the Bangladeshi officials to dismantle the network run by Pakistan's ISI-backed syndicate and pumping fake currency into India via Bangladesh, local media reported. India is actively working with Bangladesh to track and curb the Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) network in the country. Recent recoveries of fake notes in Bangladesh have exposed Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI of its involvement in running the network for pumping fake notes inside Indian borders. In addition to the ISI, some transnational criminal gangs are also involved in carrying out the smuggling, reported Bangladesh Live News. In November 2021, Dhaka Police arrested two Bangladeshi nationals namely, Fatema Akter and Sheikh Md. Abu Talab for smuggling FICN and recovered a consignment worth 7.35 crores. Using its bases in Bangladesh, the network was smuggling fake currencies into India. Another such incident came to light in February 2022 when Dhaka police seized some gunny bags filled with a large quantity of FICN and arrested some people suspected to have been involved in the racket. Upon investigation, it was found that the arrested individuals were a part of a transnational FICN syndicate, being guided and handled by Pak ISI and operating in at least seven countries including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and UAE, reported Bangladesh Live News. Investigation in the recent cases confirms the years old mode of operation: FICN is printed in Pakistan and then illicitly imported into India either directly through the border with Nepal and Bangladesh or through other routes linking Dubai, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Colombo. ISI-backed FICN network received global attention in 2011. In 2011, the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report of the US State Department confirmed the flow of counterfeit currency produced in Pakistan to India and that terrorist and criminal networks used this money to finance their activities in the country. (ANI)
As Pakistan's foreign currency continues to witness a drop-down, the crisis-hit country requires dollar inflows of USD 9 to USD 12 billion in the shape of rollovers and fresh loans from bilateral donors and commercial banks to get a breathing space. The revival of the IMF will only be possible till the end of June 2022 if everything goes well between the two sides. Pakistan and the IMF will have to strike a staff-level agreement after holding talks in mid-May and then the Fund's Executive Board requires a 4 to 6 weeks period to get approval on the next tranche of USD 960 million under the USD 6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), media reports stated. Without the support of bilateral partners and seeking more loans from commercial banks, this gap cannot be fulfilled on a short-term basis, the report stated further. Pakistan has sought a nine-month extension into an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with an increase in the size of the program by USD 2 billion to jack up total funding of USD 8 billion. The IMF program was going to expire in September 2022 but with the request for an extension now it would be matured in June 2023. Keeping in view the conservative estimates, the current account deficit might touch USD 16 to USD 17 billion by the end of the current fiscal year. However, some independent economists suggest that it might touch $18 to $20 billion for the current fiscal year. "Pakistan will have muster up dollar inflows of USD 9 to USD 12 billion depending upon the level of current account deficit in remaining months so the government will have to ensure rollover of commercial loans and deposits from China, seeking more generous package from Saudi Arabia and securing commercial loans from a consortium of banks in the remaining period of the current fiscal year," top official sources confirmed while talking to The News, on Monday. Seeking fresh deposits and utilization of oil facilities on deferred payments, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be visiting Saudi Arabia this week. The Ministry of Finance has worked out a proposal for seeking an extension in deposits of USD 3 billion in line with the extension into the IMF programme, reported The News. Saudi Arabia has previously deposited USD 3 billion in Pakistan's central bank to help the cash strapped country with the foreign reserves, suggested a statement by Saudi Fund for Development. (ANI)
Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged on April 26, 1964, to form the United Republic of Tanzania, a deal which was witnessed by Tanganyika's founding President Julius Nyerere and Zanzibar's founding President Abeid Karume.

A statement by the Minister for Home Affairs, Hamad Masauni, said the presidential amnesty benefitted prisoners who have served over a quarter of their jail terms and those that were jailed before Feb. 22, 2022.

The statement mentioned other inmates to benefit from the presidential amnesty as those suffering from chronic diseases and approved by qualified medical personnel.

Prisoners aged over 70 years and women with breastfeeding children and pregnant women will also gain the presidential pardon, said the statement.

According to the statement, other beneficiaries of the presidential amnesty include prisoners jailed for economic sabotage but have served more than 20 years, those jailed for money laundering who served more than 20 years in jail and those convicted of embezzlement of public funds and property who have served over 15 years jail terms. (ANI/Xinhua)
A helicopter has been deployed to control the raging forest fire at a section of the conservation area lying on the outskirts of Kathmandu as Nepal continues to witness a rise in forest fire incidents with the onset of the dry season. A forest fire broke out in Shivapuri National Park in Budhanilkantha and has been raging high since Tuesday afternoon, police confirmed. "The fire broke out in the forest on the south side of Jogal Danda Nani Gumba in ward 2 of Budhanilkantha Municipality. It still is out of control and we are attempting to douse it. Past dawn, the helicopter has been returned back to the hangar as it would pose more risk to fly it during night time," Metropolitan Police Circle, Teku Superintendent of Police Dineshraj Mainali said. The personnel of the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, and Nepal Police along with the locals are at work to control the fire that broke out this afternoon. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. (ANI)
Chinese Embassy in Pakistan condemned the blast inside the premises of a University in Karachi in which three of its nationals were among the four who were killed in Tuesday's explosion. In a statement, China expressed condolences to the victims from both countries. "The Embassy and Consulates General of China in Pakistan express deep condolences to the victims from both countries and sincere sympathy to the injured and the bereaved families, and will make every effort to handle the incident with the Pakistani side," the statement said, according to Xinhua News Agency. Four people including three Chinese nationals were killed in a car explosion today around 1:52 pm in a van near Confucius Institute -- a Chinese language teaching centre at Karachi University. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and former Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the blast today. "I am deeply grieved on the loss of precious lives including of our Chinese friends in the heinous attack in Karachi today. My heartfelt condolences go to the bereaved families. I strongly condemn this cowardly act of terrorism. The perpetrators will surely be brought to justice," Sharif said in a Tweet. "Strongly condemn the terrorist attack targeting Chinese teachers of Karachi University. This is yet another attack with a specific agenda of trying to undermine Pak-China strategic r'ship. We must ensure defeat of this foreign-backed agenda of our enemies," Imran Khan tweeted. As per Geo TV, the deceased Chinese nationals have been identified as the director of the Confucius Institute Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng, Chen Sai, and their Pakistani driver Khalid. Last year, nine Chinese nationals were killed in a blast in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. Pakistan's Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has claimed to have arrested two men for their alleged involvement in the blasts on a bus carrying Chinese nationals in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhawa in August and in Lahore's Johar Town in the last week of June 2021. Beijing has also stepped in to probe this bus attack. The Chinese forces were allowed to investigate this matter despite the fact that the previous Imran Khan government repeatedly stated that it won't allow foreign security set up on its land. (ANI)
During the combat, the terrorists opened fire on the security forces in the Sararogha area of the tribal district, said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

Among the ones killed were 26-year-old Lance Naik Umar Ali Khan, a resident of Bannu, and 23-year-old Sepoy Muhammad Siraj ud Din, a resident of DI Khan, reported ARY News.

Following the input received on the presence of terrorists, the security forces launched an operation in the area.

"Pakistan Army is determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve," the ISPR said. (ANI)
Owing to the difference in economic and geographic size between the two neighbours, it is easy to perceive the India-Bhutan relationship as being tilted in favour of one but the truth is that the relationship is a mutually beneficial relationship based on shared cultural values and genuine all-weather friendship. The India-Bhutan relationship is unique in more ways than one. Compared to other bilateral ties in India's neighbourhood, the relationship with Bhutan is relatively trouble-free and cordial. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were formally established in 1968 with the appointment of a resident representative of India in the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu. The India House (Embassy of India in Bhutan) was inaugurated on May 14, 1968, and Resident Representatives were exchanged in 1971. Ambassadorial level relations began with the upgrading of residents to embassies in 1978. The basis for bilateral relations between India and Bhutan is formed by the Indo-Bhutan Treaty of 1949, which provides for, among others, "perpetual peace and friendship, free trade and commerce and equal justice to each other's citizens." This relationship becomes even more important because four Indian states, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, and West Bengal - share a 699-kilometre-long boundary with Bhutan. India is important to Bhutan in multiple ways. India is Bhutan's largest trading partner - both as a source and a market for its goods. As a landlocked country, most of Bhutan's third-country exports also transit through Indian ports. Similarly, Bhutan is also important to India. Bhutan was one of the first nations to recognize the independence of India in 1947. India considers Nepal and Bhutan as important frontiers in its Himalayan foreign policy of mutual trust and cooperation. Democratic development started in Bhutan only in the 21st century. The kingdom held its first elections in 2007 and the following year it became a constitutional monarchy guided by Buddhism. The Constitution is based on values derived from Buddhist philosophy, and the International Convention of Human Rights and inspired by a comparative analysis of 20 other modern constitutions. Buddhism provides a strong foundational basis for the friendship between India and Bhutan. Both countries' belief in peace and democratic values solidifies this foundation. History was made once again in 2018 when LotayTshering became the Prime Minister of Bhutan. His party, which only began in 2013, swept 30 out of the 47 seats in Bhutan's Parliament. He was congratulated on his election victory by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also invited him to visit India. The state visit took place on December 27-29, 2018. PM Tshering was joined by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs Tandi Dorji and Loknath Sharma, Bhutan's Royal Government's Economic Affairs and Senior Officials. It was Lotay Tshering's first international trip since taking office in November. Moreover, it took place in the year of the golden anniversary of Indo-Bhutan diplomatic ties. It was in keeping with the diplomatic relations between India and Bhutan, where regular high-level interactions between the two countries have become a tradition. Thimphu was also the destination of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first foreign trip after winning his first election. This demonstrates that both countries see each other as excellent neighbours who want to keep their friendly relationship alive. Deepening collaboration with border states could help to improve bilateral relations even further. Assam, West Bengal, and other Northeastern states can gain much by investing in economic and social relations with Bhutan. Bhutan is also an important part of India's Neighbourhood First foreign policy. As part of the Act East policy, India also discussed the potential of using waterways for the progress of Bhutan and also India's Northeast region. The NW 2 (or the Brahmaputra river region) can be leveraged for this purpose. India is responsible for Bhutanese security. Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) is based in Bhutan to provide training to Bhutanese security forces. Regular India-Bhutan security and border management meetings have taken place, during which the two countries discuss a number of key issues, including threat perceptions, security and border management issues, sharing of real-time information, coordination of Indo-Bhutan border entry-exit points, and SSB escorts of Bhutanese people and vehicles. The talks act as a spark for furthering collaboration amid the two countries' long-standing amicable relations. Indian funding and investments have been critical in the growth of the hydropower sector in Bhutan, which generates electricity for India as well. The Indo-Bhutan relationship has never been a zero-sum game. The economic relationship is not one-way, since India is also reliant on Bhutan in certain areas. For example, most of West Bengal's businesses now rely on electricity imported from Bhutan. Bhutan also plays a key role in safeguarding India's Siliguri Corridor, a tiny swath of terrain that connects the Indian Northeast with the rest of the country. The advantages of Indo-Bhutan interactions are also evident in other sectors, such as education and culture. The Indian government awards roughly fifty scholarships to Bhutanese students each year to pursue higher education in India. A large number of Indian instructors contribute to Bhutanese education, with many of them being sent to educate in rural areas. In addition, Sherubtse College in eastern Bhutan has grown into a leading tertiary education institution in Bhutan, thanks to its connection with Delhi University. Under the bilateral cultural exchange programme, the interchange of cultural troupes and artists between Bhutan and India has also become a regular practice. A strong tradition of official visits at various levels has further facilitated ideas/views to be exchanged and areas of cooperation to be identified and enlarged between the two nations. Besides everyday people-to-people contact at the informal level, ministers, parliamentarians, civil servants as well as representatives of the business community all make regular official visits. The Indo-Bhutan connection is possibly the only bilateral relationship in South Asia that pays off handsomely for both parties. Bhutan has expressed gratitude to India for its economic aid, while India has shown sensitivity to Bhutan's developmental requirements. Bhutan has been able to build a distinctive growth trajectory based on gross national happiness thanks to the connection. Bilateral ties have matured into comprehensive cooperation over the last few years, spanning a wide variety of issues, like hydro-power, information technology, intelligence sharing, disaster risk management, education and culture. (ANI)
The book "Missile Life" records the life stories of 12 experts and was released by the Second Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) at the Space Day on Sunday.

The commanders and designers have been responsible for China's first-generation surface-to-air missiles, HQ-1, HQ-2, JL-1, HQ-7 and HHQ-7, as well as China's third-generation air defense weapon system, Global Times reported.

Many of them have made outstanding contributions to several areas of military science, especially missiles in various generations.

Qian Wenji, chief designer of China's first generation of surface-to-air missiles, served as chief designer of the "543" surface-to-air missile weapon system, HQ-1 and HQ-2, making important contributions to the development of China's communication electronic and missile technology, and computer application, the Chinese media outlet said.

Chen Huaijin, the chief designer of HQ-2 surface-to-air missile, participated in the establishment of China's first radar force and made outstanding contributions in the field of aircraft guidance, automation and simulation.

Chen Guoxin, the chief designer of HHQ-7 surface-to-air missile and the new field weapon system, pioneered in the field of the shipborne ultra-low altitude missiles in the history of China's air defense development, it added.

The Second Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation is country's largest research and development unit of air and space defence and is considered the cradle of China's missile industry, as per the Chinese media. (ANI)
On Tuesday, at around 2:30 pm a van carrying Chinese nationals to Karachi University's Confucius Institute blew up with an explosion leaving several passengers and their security staff dead and injured, reported ARY News.

The registrar at Karachi University said the academic activities and public dealings will remain suspended for a day.

In-charge Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Raja Umar Khattab informed that the explosives used in the blast were not locally made. A schoolbag like a device was made and was attached with a bag of a suicide bomber woman, he added.

Karachi police chief Additional IG Ghulam Nabi Memon said that those injured in the blast have been rushed to the hospital for medical treatment. He said the injured included a foreigner and a Rangers official.

Following the blast, rescue and security agencies reached the location and cordoned off the areas, initiating rescue operations, the media outlet reported.

As per Geo TV, the deceased Chinese nationals have been identified as the director of the Confucius Institute Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng, Chen Sai, and their Pakistani driver Khalid.

Two of the injured have been identified as Chinese national Wang Yuqing and a guard named Hamid. Meanwhile, three people are said to be in critical condition, as per sources.

Beijing has also stepped in to probe this bus attack. The Chinese forces were allowed to investigate this matter despite the fact that the previous Imran Khan government repeatedly stated that it won't allow foreign security set up on its land. (ANI)
Russia has expressed interest in cooperating with the United Nations, in providing assistance to civilians in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov informed on Tuesday. "Russia interested in cooperating with UN in assisting Ukrainian civilians," the Russian foreign minister said in the bilateral talks between Moscow and the United Nations. According to TASS, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had managed to send five humanitarian aid convoys to Ukraine along with the aid that was delivered there every day by the Russian Defense Ministry and Emergencies Ministry, as well as by various Russian public organizations, emphasised Lavrov, in his statement. "We are interested in cooperating with our colleagues at the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross in terms of additional efforts to alleviate the sufferings and plight of civilians in Ukraine," he added. According to him, after the UN chief had contacted the Russian Defense Ministry, a working group was formed under the ministry in Moscow to discuss specific issues with UN officials and help organize the safe delivery of humanitarian aid. "Today, we discussed ways to boost our cooperation on this track. I think that following the Moscow talks, we will be able to outline such steps, which may be important in the current situation," the Russian top diplomat said. Notably, Russia launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, which the West has termed an unwarranted war. As a result of this, the western countries have also imposed several crippling sanctions on Moscow. (ANI)
US Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for COVID-19 with no symptoms and has isolated herself, as per a White House statement on Tuesday (Local Time). According to the release, Vice President Harris will continue to discharge her duties from her residence and will return once she tests negative. "Today, Vice President Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on rapid and PCR tests. She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the Vice President's residence. She has not been a close contact to the President or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules. She will follow CDC guidelines and the advice of her physicians. The Vice President will return to the White House when she tests negative," said the White House press release. (ANI)
China's security agreement with the Solomon Islands is becoming a cause of concern for the US which is worried about Bejing's long-standing policy of opening foreign naval bases with one example being Djibouti on the Horn of Africa where the Chinese entered initially into a security agreement but eventually it evolved into its naval base, reported a Canada-based think tank. International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS) said that though US is angry about the China-Solomon Islands bilateral agreement, Washington can not take punitive actions like cutting down on aid to the Islands as these actions will move the Islands much closer to the Chinese. In a bid to woo the Islands, the US is now providing development funds and even vaccines to it. Another matter of concern is the moving closer of China's naval bases to Australia's north-eastern coast. Even if China does not get a naval base in the Islands, what China needs is the "ability to bring ships and military personnel to the Solomons". Americans suspect though Prime Minister Sogavare has ruled out hosting a Chinese base, the signed pact itself is a matter of "danger" because it will "disrupt regional security, allowing Chinese naval vessels to replenish in the Solomons". The Solomons switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019, and Sogavare said in a speech at the ceremony that the decision had "placed the country on the right side of history". Apart from US and Australia, New Zealand and Tonga have also raised the issue with the agreement between China and Solomon Islands. New Zealand and Tonga have said that they will "raise the issue at an upcoming meeting of Pacific Islands Forum leaders". Japan, on the other hand, will send a vice foreign minister to the Solomon Islands this month. One of the other options that the US has is that it "could also accelerate basing opportunities in north-eastern Australia to monitor Chinese forces or conduct more naval patrols in the region," said Derek Grossman, a senior defence analyst focused on the Indo-Pacific for the RAND Corporation think tank. (ANI)
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) workers staged protests in several cities on Tuesday against the alleged biased conduct of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, Pakistan media reported. Police were deployed outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) office in Karachi ahead of the protest and three mobile vans were also present at the site as part of security arrangements. The demonstrations were held in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Gujrat and Faisalabad, among other cities, Dawn reported. The report further stated, that PTI lawmakers from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, including Zahir Shah and Abdul Salam, who were among the protesters, raised slogans against the CEC, calling him biased. They questioned why only the PTI's funding was being investigated while other parties were not facing similar probes. The protest in Peshawar, however, ended around 1 pm. Meanwhile, in Islamabad, former interior minister Sheikh Rashid and PTI leader Shibli Faraz spoke to the media during the protest out of the ECP office. Making an allusion to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his entourage, who will be leaving for his first foreign trip as the country's premier this week, Rashid added: "Robbers, looters and thugs are going to Saudi Arabia. They got their names removed from the exit control list (ECL)." Dawn also reported that the main PTI rally was barred from reaching the ECP office in Islamabad and was stopped at Nadra Chowk, while the Red Zone had been sealed with containers. Police were deployed outside the ECP office, while the protesters shouted slogans such as "Pakistan army zindabad" and demanded CEC Raja's resignation. PTI Senator Ejaz Chaudhary called out the ECP for "delaying proceedings on references against dissident PTI lawmakers" and alleged that the PTI was being "targeted in the foreign funding case," announcing that Imran was reaching Lahore tomorrow and would address party workers there. He said the PTI wanted fair elections, where votes were not bought and sold, Dawn quoted, citing sources. Earlier, PTI workers also held flags of Pakistan, during the demonstrations, accompanied by shouting slogans against the ouster of the ex-Prime and PTI chairman Imran Khan. Following the ouster of Imran Khan, on April 10, through a no-confidence vote, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) took out protests in several cities of Pakistan chanting slogans in the former Prime Minister's favour. (ANI)
"Met Niclas Kvarnstrom, Andreas von Uexkull & their colleagues yesterday to discuss the humanitarian response, rights of all Afghans, recent attacks on civilians, & the economic situation in detail. Grateful for Sweden's partnership, expertise, & robust commitment to the Afghan people," West tweeted.

Recently, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had expressed concerns over the series of attacks that led to the deaths of over 50 boys and girls, calling it a "grave rights violation" in Afghanistan.

"In one week alone, more than 50 girls and boys have lost their lives in a series of heinous grave rights violations in Afghanistan," Paloma Escudero, UNICEF Director for Global Communication and Advocacy, was quoted by Tolo News as saying.

The UN agency also highlighted the delay in reopening of schools for girl students in Afghanistan saying, "It's been one month since Afghanistan's de facto authorities barred teenage girls from returning to school."The Taliban regime in Afghanistan had barred girls from attending school over grade six after issuing a decree last month.

Meanwhile, the Taliban's Ministry of Education said that the schools for girls in grades 7-12 will be reopened in the near future. (ANI)
Amid the ongoing economic crisis, Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday said he will not step down from his post. He made these remarks during the meeting with the members of provincial councils and local government representatives at Temple Trees (the PM's official residence). Rajapaksa said that he believes the problems arising in the island nation now can be resolved in a short time, according to Colombo Page. Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Rajapaksa has called for an immediate end to disruptions to essential services, including fuel, gas, electricity and medicine, as well as the existing queues for them. "We have already implemented the necessary arrangements for that," he added. He urged the people to keep in mind that he is behind every step taken to recover the country from this crisis, Colombo Page reported. Speaking about the island-wide protests demanding the Prime Minister and the government's resignation, Rajapaksa said the issues should be resolved through negotiations. "We are resolving the situation that has arisen in the country one by one. Organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and friendly countries have come forward to help us at this time," Rajapaksa said. "...I urge you to have faith in us and play the necessary role in keeping the people with us in the country. You made one request that I do not resign. No, I will not resign. Do not be afraid," he further stated, according to Colombo Page. Sri Lanka is facing one of its worst economic crises resulting in widespread protests against the Rajapaksa family leaders, including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The recession is attributed to foreign exchange shortages caused by a fall in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reckless economic policies, which have resulted in the country being unable to buy enough fuel, and people facing an acute scarcity of food and basic necessities, heating fuel, and gas. (ANI)
"Prime Minister Bennett extended an invitation for [Biden] to visit Israel, which he accepted and will do. We don't have a date yet to announce," Psaki said during a press conference.

The announcement comes amid US-Israeli engagement on issues including negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program and a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as well as increased tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

Last week, the Israeli police said that hundreds of Palestinians, some wearing masks and flying the Hamas flag, engaged in mass riots on Temple Mount. According to Israeli law enforcement officers, the demonstrators were throwing stones, setting off fireworks and building barricades, thus creating a threat to Israelis praying at the Western Wall.

The Israeli police said they waited for the end of the morning prayer for worshipers to leave and then used special equipment to disperse the crowd and restore order. (ANI/Sputnik)
The husband of the woman who blew herself up at Karachi University in Pakistan said her selfless act has left him speechless but he is proud of what she did. On Tuesday, an explosion took place near Confucius Institute -- a Chinese language teaching centre at Karachi University. Taking to Twitter, Afghan journalist Bashir Ahmad Gwakh said that Habitan Bashir Baloch, husband of female suicide bomber Shari Baloch, tweeted from an unknown location saying that he is proud of what she did. He also informed that Shari Baloch has had two kids (8 and 5 years old). Her husband, Habitan Bashir Baloch, is a dentist and her father was a lecturer. Gwakh also shared a snapshot of the tweet posted by Baloch's husband. The tweet stated, "Shari Jan, your selfless act has left me speechless but I am also beaming with pride today. Mahroch and Meer Hassan will grow into very proud humans thinking what a great woman there was. You will continue to remain an important part of our lives." Talking about the first 'Baloch woman to carry out a suicide attack', Afghan journalist Gwakh informed that the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) said the 30-year-old joined the group two years ago and volunteered herself for a "self-sacrificing mission". She had a Master's degree in Zoology and MPhil in education while teaching at a school, Gwakh said. Earlier, Gwakh shared CCTV footage showing a burqa-clad woman, blowing herself up as the van passes through the road. In an explosion, at least four people, including three Chinese citizens, were killed and several others were injured. The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan condemned the blast inside the premises of a University in Karachi. Meanwhile, in the wake of a deadly attack inside the premises of Karachi University, it has decided to remain suspended for Wednesday. (ANI)
One man is in custody and another is in the hospital following a stabbing in Seattles Pioneer Square neighborhood Monday evening, according to the Seattle Police Department.

At 6:21 p.m., a 911 caller reported seeing two men in a physical fight near 3rd Avenue and Yesler Way.

As officers were en route to the scene, another witness called 911 to report that one of the two men had been stabbed.

Arriving officers located the victim, who had multiple stab wounds, and began providing aid before Seattle Fire Department medics arrived.

Medics began additional treatment once they arrived, before transporting the 51-year-old victim to Harborview Medical Center in serious condition.

As authorities were responding to the victims injuries, additional SPD officers located the 38-year-old suspect a block away and recovered a knife at the scene.

He will be booked into King County Jail for first-degree assault.

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Bam Bam, owned by Maggie Estby, of Champlin, Minn., sits on the throne after being crowned the winner of the annual Drake Relays Beautiful Bulldog Contest, Monday, April 25, 2022, in Des Moines, Iowa. The pageant kicks off the Drake Relays festivities at Drake University where a bulldog is the mascot. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Charlie Neibergall/ap

Bam Bam the bulldog is ready for his closeup!

On Monday, the five-year-old dog from Chaplin, Minnesota, took home the crown at Drake University's 43rd annual "Beautiful Bulldog" contest. According to the Des Moines Register, the furry tradition began in 1979.

Over a thousand spectators watched from the stands at the Iowa college as Bam-Bam celebrated his coronation. Thrity bulldogs from across Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Missouri competed for the 2022 title.

According to his owner Maggie Estby, a zookeeper at the Minnesota Zoo, Bam Bam is a dog of many passions.

"He loves people, he loves chewing bones, he loves going for short walks, he loves to sunbathe, he loves to cuddle," she said, per a release from Drake University.

RELATED: Nova Scotia Bulldog Stuns Owners by Giving Birth to a Bright Green Puppy

As part of the competition, the participating bulldogs donned creative costumes to see who would be crowned as the 2022 mascot for the Drake Relays  an outdoor track and field event at the university.

Bam Bam and his owner caught the judges' attention with their adorable costumes, based on the Pixar movie Up. Estby dressed as Carl, the elderly curmudgeon with a heart of gold, and Bam Bam went as Russell, the hopelessly excited boy scout who ultimately shares the adventure of a lifetime with Carl.

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.

The 2021 contest winner, Myrtle Mae, also attended the competition and got a chance to strut her stuff one last time as the honorary Drake Relays mascot.

Although Bam Bam clinched this year's top prize, his competitors didn't head home empty-handed. Three other bulldogs received honorable mentions at the event.

Bella Torres, owned by Rafael Torres, was the 2022 second runner-up, while the first runner-up, Elwood, owned by Jake and Jennie Roh, also won the Porterhouse People's Choice award.

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RELATED VIDEO: French Bulldog Gets New Lease on Life

The 'Beautiful Bulldogs' contest contained additional awards, including the Best Dressed Award, won by Beverly Pancakes, the Rescue Dog Award, won by Bubba, and the Drake Spirit award, won by Kevin.

RELATED: Giant Schnauzer Named Bayou Wins Best in Show at the AKC National Championship Dog Show

The Drake Relays congratulated Bam Bam for his win via their official Twitter account, sharing that they are looking forward to having Bam Bam represent them.

"Congratulations, Bam Bam!" the university tweeted on Monday. "See you this weekend on the Blue Oval!"
In this article:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attends the 2021 Met Gala. Mike Coppola/John Shearer/Getty Images/Insider

This year's Met Gala will be held on Monday, May 2.

Mitt Romney attended the Met Gala in 2018 wearing a tuxedo he bought on Amazon.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wore a dress with "tax the rich" written on it in 2021.

Hillary Clinton, then a US senator, attended the Met Gala in 2001.

Hillary Clinton at the 2001 Met Gala. Evan Agostini/Getty Images

She wore a cheetah-print ball gown with a shiny shawl to the event, which was themed "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years."

Before he was president of the United States, Donald Trump was a fixture at the Met Gala.

Donald Trump and Melania Trump (then Knauss) at the Met Gala in 2004. Evan Agostini/Getty Images

The theme of the 2004 gala was "Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century."

Trump attended with his future wife Melania  they got engaged that year.

Trump appears to have worn the same tuxedo to the event every year, while Melania's outfits varied.

Melania Trump and Donald Trump at the 2005 Met Gala. Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Melania wore an Alexander McQueen ball gown in 2005.

While pregnant with Barron, Melania wore a white empire-waist dress with a black belt.

Donald and Melania Trump at the 2006 Met Gala. Evan Agostini/Getty Images

The theme of the gala was "Anglomania."

At the 2007 gala, Trump wore his black tuxedo with a bow tie, and Melania wore a shimmering gold dress.

Donald Trump and Melania Trump (then Knauss) at the 2007 Met Gala. Brian ZAK/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Melania's dress was designed by Roberto Cavalli.

Melania wore a hot pink Vera Wang gown in 2008.

Donald Trump and Melania Trump at the 2008 Met Gala. BILLY FARRELL/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

The theme of the 2008 gala was "Superheroes."

The tuxedo made another appearance at the 2009 gala, while Melania wore a black Dolce & Gabbana dress.

Donald Trump and Melania Trump arrive at the Met Gala in 2009. CHANCE YEH/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Guests dressed according to the theme "The Model As Muse."

In 2010, Trump sported his go-to tux while Melania wore a navy satin dress by Christian Siriano.

Donald Trump and Melania Trump at the Met Gala in 2010. BILLY FARRELL/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Siriano later stated that he would not dress Melania Trump while she served as first lady.

"I think for a while everyone was trying to figure out what to do. Unfortunately, it really doesn't have anything to do with [Melania], but she is representing what's happening politically and what's happening politically right now is not really good for anyone," he told Time magazine in 2017.

For the "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" Met Gala in 2011, Melania wore a gold dress by Reem Acra.

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Donald Trump and Melania Trump attend the 2011 Met Gala. Larry Busacca/Getty Images

She paired the dress with a gold Alexander McQueen bag, while Trump wore his go-to tuxedo.

At their last Met Gala appearance, Trump wore what appears to be the same tuxedo, and Melania chose a dramatic white minidress with pointy shoulder pads.

Donald Trump and Melania Trump at the 2012 Met Gala. Stephen Lovekin/FilmMagic/Getty Images

The theme that year was "Schiaparelli And Prada: Impossible Conversations."

Mitt Romney attended the Met Gala in 2018 with his wife, Ann, while wearing a tuxedo he bought on Amazon.

Ann Romney and Mitt Romney at the 2018 Met Gala. Dia Dipasupil/WireImage/Getty Images

Apparently, Ann didn't want him telling anyone where he got his suit, but he couldn't resist.

Before he was mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg attended the Met Gala with Mary Jane Salk in 1998.

Mary Jane Salk and Michael Bloomberg attend the Met Gala in 1998. Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

The theme of the gala was "Cubism and Fashion." Bloomberg wore a black tuxedo with a taupe bow tie and black shoes with gold detailing. Salk wore a black dress with a floral pattern and a black shawl.

While serving as mayor, he wore a charcoal suit to the 2007 gala.

Michael Bloomberg, Anna Wintour, Cate Blanchett, and Nicolas Ghesquiere at the Met Gala in 2007. BILLY FARRELL/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

The theme of the gala in 2007 was "Poiret: King of Fashion."

These days, male attendees often skip suits and opt for something a little more unexpected.

Bloomberg wore a red bow tie to the event in 2008.

Michael Bloomberg and Diana Taylor at the 2008 Met Gala. BILLY FARRELL/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

His partner, business executive Diana Taylor, wore a purple mermaid-style gown.

He exchanged the bow tie for a red tie in 2010, while Taylor wore a beaded gown in earth tones.

Michael Bloomberg and Diana Taylor at the 2010 Met Gala. Bryan Bedder/WireImage for Vogue

The theme of the evening was "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity."

Bloomberg went with a blue bow tie in 2012, and Taylor wore a green dress with an accent at one shoulder.

Michael Bloomberg and Diana Taylor attend the Met Gala in 2012. Larry Busacca/Getty Images

The theme of the gala was "Schiaparelli And Prada: Impossible Conversations."

In 2014, he wore white-tie attire.

Diana Taylor, Michael Bloomberg, and Georgina Bloomberg attend the Met Gala in 2014. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Diana Taylor wore a velvet burgundy dress, while Bloomberg's daughter Georgina wore a blue gown.

He wore a tuxedo with a silver bow tie for the 2019 gala, themed "Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion."

Georgina Bloomberg, Michael Bloomberg, and Diana Taylor at the 2019 Met Gala. Kevin Tachman/MG19/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Georgina wore a black-and-white gown with a sparkly gold lining, while Taylor chose a black flapper-inspired look.

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, who represents New York's 12th congressional district, attended the Met Gala that same year in an ornate black, silver, and gold gown.

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney at the Met Gala in 2018. Taylor Hill/Getty Images

The dress fit the theme of "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & the Catholic Imagination."

At the 2019 gala, she wore a neon-yellow Vassilis Zoulias dress with a firefighter jacket she vowed to wear until the passage of her bill for 9/11 first responders.

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney at the 2019 Met Gala. ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

"Anytime anyone sees me wearing the coat, I can feel it tugging on their conscience, and I can feel their remembering," Maloney told People magazine in 2019. "And many people then have to tell me where they were on 9/11. This jacket speaks louder and more eloquently than any speech that can be given on the floor."

The Never Forget the Heroes Act became law in July 2019.

In 2021, Maloney wore a dress made of "equal rights for women" pennants in keeping with the theme "Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion."

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney attends the 2021 Met Gala. Dimitrios Kambouris / Staff / Getty Images

The multicolored dress was covered with a cape made of individual pennants that said "equal rights for women."

Maloney carried a purse that said "ERA YES," voicing support for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio wore a blue velvet tuxedo by Brooklyn-based designer Dreu Beckemberg in 2021.

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio with his wife, Chirlane McCray, and son, Dante, at the 2021 Met Gala. ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

He walked the red carpet with his wife, Chirlane McCray, who wore an orange Fe Noel gown, and their son, Dante.

The mayor's spokesperson Bill Neidhardt told Politico that de Blasio attended the gala to "highlight the return of the city's fashion industry jobs."

At her first Met Gala appearance in 2021, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wore a dress with "tax the rich" written on it.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the 2021 Met Gala. Kevin Mazur/MG21/Getty Images For The Met Museum/Vogue

The Brother Vellies dress was strapless and had a tulle mermaid-style skirt.

"Tax the rich" was written on the back in large red type.

Read the original article on Insider
Since 2019 , Abletons Learning Synths website has been a fun and free way to learn all the cool things you can do with synthesizers. If you dont know what oscillators, filters and envelopes do, the company will teach you. Best of all, you dont need anything other than a modern web browser to start. And if you want another excuse to check it out, Ableton just rolled out a new update.

The latest version of the website allows you to export whatever you create with the included Playground soft synth to Ableton Live. Its now also possible to capture up to 60 seconds of audio, allowing you to record the synth as you experiment with it. On the interface front, Ableton has added an Open in Playground button that enables you to jump directly to the soft synth from a lesson. Additionally, the synth includes a new configurable XY pad adding to the amount of experimentation possible. Oh, and theres a dark mode now too, and the addition of Turkish, Finnish and Portuguese language support. All of that should make the tool accessible to even more people.
When hes not busy inventing, Val Matula works as the president of the Kiwanis Club of Granville. I saw the impact Kiwanis had on the community and knew Id like to be part of the club.

GRANVILLE  Hes been a pioneer in the computer industry for decades  and it all started when he was a youngster.

As a kid, said Val Matula, I was interested in computers, math, Scouting and the space program.

He went on to work at places like AT&T, Lucent and Avaya Labs.

One aspect of my work of which Im especially proud, he noted, is that Ive been awarded nearly 100 U.S. Patents, with more still on the way as applications are being processed. They focus mainly on call center features, customer service agent support, artificial intelligence, speech recognition, use of robots in the house, social media for customer service, real time sign language translation and video communication. For example, I led a project with France Telecom in 2005 to enable video calls to doctors on flip-cell phones, two years before the iPhone was invented.

When hes not inventing, hes also president of the Kiwanis Club of Granville.

I joined Kiwanis with my wife Lisa in 2013, he said. Lisa was president of Kiwanis 2018-19. I decided I wanted to contribute as she did, so I ran for president a few years later. Since October 2021 Ive served the club as its president.

Now 65, Matula grew up east of Cleveland, near Chagrin Falls. He graduated from high school in 1975, then studied computer and control engineering at Case Western Reserve University and the University of Michigan. He earned a Ph.D. from Case Western in 1986.

I was always interested in being an active part of the community, and in trying to help others, he said. We didnt have a lot of money, so as a family we didnt travel much. I always dreamed of having a future where work would take me to different places to visit, but at the same time establishing deep roots in one community with a family.

He first worked 5 years at a startup technology company in Cleveland, then joined AT&T Bell Labs in 1987. He then worked at Lucent, then Avaya Labs. He retired from Avaya Labs in 2021 after almost 34 years.

Story continues

When we moved to Granville in 1990, he said, I saw the impact Kiwanis had on the community and knew Id like to be part of the club. After the kids were out of school, it freed me up to join Kiwanis.

Members quickly recognized his abilities.

As a club, assessed Mike Birkmeyer, a past chairman of the Granville Fourth of July celebration, we value his experience, insight and ability to see both the big picture and to break down problems into solvable pieces

I do it, Matula responded, because Im a hands-on person.

I like to use my ability to organize activities, he concluded, in a way to help people in the community. Ive been very lucky and blessed.

For more

To learn more about Granville Kiwanis, log on www.granvillekiwanisclub.org.

Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs  whether theyre unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at advocate@newarkadvocate.com or 740-328-8821.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Aces of Trades: Granville Kiwanis' Val Matula loves inventing
PATERSON  Week after week, month after month, community activist Ernest Rucker was relentless in his public condemnation of the illegal ways he said some candidates were using mail-in ballots in Patersons 2020 City Council elections.

Rucker hammered at the issue long before the New Jersey Attorney Generals Office in June 2020 filed election fraud charges against Alex Mendez, the winning candidate in the citys 3rd Ward race.

Rucker eventually made Mendez his primary target after the state criminal charges were filed.

Yet on Sunday afternoon, just two weeks before Paterson voters go to the polls to pick a mayor, Rucker changed his tune. He attended a fish fry at the Paterson Masonic Lodge with Mendez and endorsed the councilman's mayoral campaign.

That was then; this is a different day, Rucker said during an interview on Monday when asked about backing someone he had so forcefully attacked.

Now that its in the court process, the courts will decide, Rucker said when asked if he still believes  as he has said in the past  that Mendez broke the law.

Paterson activist Ernest Rucker (left) with city Councilman Alex Mendez (center) and Justin Rucker, the activist's nephew, at a Masonic Lodge event on Sunday. Ernest Rucker endorsed Mendez's mayoral bid at the event.

Ruckers endorsement of Mendez represents the latest in a series of strange alliances in Patersons elections.

Mayor Andre Sayegh, who is seeking a second term, has donated money to a longtime political foe, council President Maritza Davila, and visited her campaign headquarters recently.

Meanwhile, former 2nd Ward Councilman Mohammed Akhtaruzzaman has endorsed Aslan Goow, another mayoral candidate. Ten years ago, Goow successfully filed a lawsuit that briefly removed Akhtaruzzman from the council.

And convicted former Mayor Joey Torres is backing Mendez as well  though only after a court dashed Torres' hopes of running himself.

Fraud case: Paterson election fraud case against Councilman Mendez centers on two voters

Paterson elections: Who is mayor backing in City Council race? He says no one, despite donation

Mendez on Monday shrugged off the fact that Rucker had taken so many shots at him two years ago. Mendez said Rucker at the time had simply been supporting his friend, then-Councilman William McKoy, in a bitter battle between Mendez and McKoy for the 3rd Ward seat.

Story continues

He was supporting his candidate. Thats all, Mendez said.

But McKoy said he finds Ruckers support for Mendez inexplicable. Considering everything he said about the attorney general and voter fraud, I dont understand it, McKoy said of Rucker. Its rather perplexing.

Elections are strange. They make for strange bedfellows, added McKoy, who is endorsing Sayegh, a man he repeatedly criticized when the two of them served on the City Council together years ago

Sayegh dismissed Ruckers support for Mendez, noting that he already has gotten the backing of Gov. Phil Murphy, the states two United States senators and the congressman who represents Paterson, as well as various labor groups.

Just what impact the endorsements will have on the outcome of the mayoral election, if any, is hard to gauge. Political insiders say endorsements typically matter only when the endorser provides campaign resources, including street volunteers and money, to make sure their followers vote for the person they are backing.

Whether Rucker can sway any support for his onetime target remains to be seen.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.

Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ mayor race: Ernest Rucker endorses Alex Mendez
The Daily Beast

Lauderdale County SheriffLoved-up prison guard Vicky White has died after she and her jailhouse beau Casey White were caught following an extraordinary 11 days on the run, the Associated Press reported.Vicky White, 56, had been taken to a hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, while 38-year-old Casey White, no relation, surrendered and was taken into custody, WAAY 31 reported.Weve captured them, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding told the outlet, adding that they were involved in
An Air Force general learned his sentence after being convicted by a military judge of one of three specifications of a charge of abusive sexual contact in the first-ever military trial of an Air Force general.

Maj. Gen. William T. Cooley was found guilty on April 23 of one specification of the charge of abusive sexual contact for forcibly kissing a civilian woman.

>> RELATED: Split verdict in first-ever Air Force general military trial

In August 2018, Cooley forcibly kissed the victim in a car after a barbeque in Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to a release from the Air Force Materiel Command. He was accused of one charge, with three specifications related to the incident.

Cooleys general court-martial began April 18, 2022 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Col. Christina M. Jimenez, senior military judge, found Cooley not guilty of two other specifications of the charge, including alleged inappropriate touching.

>> Man shot on I-675 in Washington Twp. during road-rage incident, deputies say

On Tuesday, Cooley, a former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, was sentenced to a reprimand and forfeiture of $10,910 per month for five months.

If this result influenced just one survivor to know that his or her attackers rank or status would not prevent them from being held accountable, that is a win for the United States and the military justice system, Lt. Col. Matthew Neil, government lead trial counsel, said after the sentence was announced Tuesday.

Cooley faced a maximum punishment of dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and confinement for seven years, according to a release.
An Austin man called 911 and told an operator that he "blacked out" just minutes after he allegedly shot and killed his wife and 14-year-old stepson at their home on Friday, according to an arrest warrant.

David Ontiveros Jr., 42, was arrested at the scene and is facing two counts of capital murder.

Christina Limon, 29, was pronounced deceased after police found her suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and transported to a local hospital. Her son, 14-year-old Rudy Limon-Lira, was pronounced deceased at the home.

Detectives acquired video and audio from a security system at the home, according to the arrest warrant.

AUSTIN ON TRACK TO SHATTER HOMICIDE RECORD AFTER BRUTAL JANUARY

The victims arrived at the home in East Austin on Friday afternoon with groceries and Limon asked "Ontiveros why he is sitting in the dark."

"Seconds later, at 3:35:53 PM, multiple gun-shots begin to ring out and screams of terror from both Limon and her son can be heard," a detective wrote in the arrest warrant.

Ontiveros then "calmly" walked out of the home to his vehicle and got in, but returned about 20 minutes later. After returning to the home, he called 911 and told the operator his stepson "came at him with a knife and a gun he was holding in his hand went off," and that he "blacked out."

His twin brother arrived at the home a minute later and police arrived shortly thereafter. Detectives did not find knives near either of the victims.

Ontiveros is currently being held on a combined bond of $1,000,000, according to jail records.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin affirmed on Tuesday he does not believe that Russias invasion of Ukraine will result in a nuclear war despite remarks from Russias foreign minister that the threat of nuclear conflict should not be underestimated.

I do not. And I certainly, you know, everyone thats in this neighborhood, thats a part of the international community, is going to do what it, you know, everything thats necessary to make sure that that doesnt happen, Austin told Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin in an interview on Tuesday.

Having said that, Ukraine has a right to protect itself. And were going to continue to support Ukraine, he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian state media late Monday that the threat of nuclear war is real. It should not be underestimated.

Griffin asked Austin about Lavrovs comments and how he would respond.

What I think it is, Jen, is its dangerous. And any kind of a rhetoric like that, you know, I think is unhelpful, Austin answered.

You know, weve said over and over again that a nuclear war cannot be won by either side. And so I think saber-rattling and rhetoric like that is just unhelpful. And so, again, hard to say whats motivating Mr. Lavrov, but, again, I think that kind of talk should be avoided, he continued.

The development comes as Ukrainian and top U.S. officials earlier this month indicated that the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine should not be taken lightly.

Given the potential desperation of [Russian] President [Vladimir] 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, CIA Director WIlliam Burns said at Georgia Tech.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is struggling to close the gap with the main opposition ahead of an upcoming general election, a poll showed on Tuesday, amid criticism over his handling of a security pact between China and Solomon Islands.

A poll for The Australian newspaper showed centre-left Labor maintaining its 53-47 lead on a two-party preferred basis against the conservative Liberal-National coalition, even as it showed Morrison extending his lead as the preferred leader.

With Australia going to polls on May 21, national security has dominated the election campaign after China last week struck the security deal with the Solomon Islands, stoking concerns in Canberra and Washington.

Morrison, who has often attacked Labor as being "soft" on China, said the opposition was "playing politics with the Pacific and the only ones who are benefiting... is the Chinese government."

Morrison on Sunday said China building a base in the Solomon Islands would be a "red line" for Australia, even as Beijing insisted the pact would only help the Solomon Islands maintain social order and cope with natural disasters and humanitarian relief.

Morrison said "it would not be responsible for me to be speculating in public about what Australia, the United States and others would be doing in circumstances such as that."

His political opponents cast the security pact as a failure of Morrison's government.

"This has occurred on Morrison's watch," Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong told reporters, as she pledged A$525 million ($379 million) to boost defence aid for Pacific countries if Labor wins the election. "(The government's) response appears to be more chest beating. There is no point in beating your chest if you're beaten to the punch."

($1 = 1.3852 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Renju Jose. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev (Photo: Official website of President of Azerbaijan

Read also: 62nd day of Putin's war. One person killed in shelling in Zaporizhzhyia, Ukrainian air defenses shoot down 10 enemy aircraft in a day

"The media on Monday (April 25 - ed.) reported that the Republic of Azerbaijan will pay in rubles the cost of gas imported from Russia. This information is not true, a company spokesperson said.

The supply of Russian gas to Azerbaijan is currently carried out within the framework of an agreement on the seasonal exchange of natural gas, signed in July 2021 between the state company Azerkontrakt and the Russian state-owned gas enterprise Gazprom Group.

The agreement is valid until 2023. The document provides for the supply of gas from Azerbaijan to Russia in the summer season, and similar volumes of gas from Russia to Azerbaijan in the winter season. The volume of supplies will depend on the level of gas production and consumption in Azerbaijan in the summer months.

Read also: Ukrainian military holds firm across Donbas contact line as Russia attempts to inch closer

However, these contracts are traditionally settled in US dollars or euros - not Russian rubles, until Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a decree on March 31 obliging several gas purchasers to do so. This was done in order to both bolster the Russian economy, which is currently suffering under comprehensive sanctions packages imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, as well as to avoid having payments added to Russian-owned US dollar accounts currently frozen by various Western banking institutions. EU countries have largely rejected this decree.

Read also: France supports embargo on Russian energy
Reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny will star in the new Spider-Man spin-off "El Muerto," becoming the first Latino lead in a Marvel live-action superhero movie, according to Sony Pictures. Sanford Panitch, president of Sony Motion Picture Group, made the announcement at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Monday.

"Sometimes we get lucky with the perfect casting, and I think that's what we've got here," Panitch said, according to Entertainment Tonight.

Bad Bunny speaks onstage during the CinemaCon opening night and Sony Pictures Entertainment presentation during CinemaCon 2022 at Caesars Palace on Monday. / Credit: Getty Images

Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, is an avid wrestling fan and will play El Muerto, a hero wrestler, in the upcoming movie. The Puerto Rican artist appeared in Wrestlemania last year and named a song after wrestling icon Booker T in his "El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo" album.

At Monday's CinemaCon, he told the crowd that playing El Muerto will be "epic."

"I love wrestling, I'm a pro wrestler, I don't know if you know," the two-time Grammy winner said, according to ET. "This is why I love this character. I think it's the perfect role, to me."

The movie is set to debut in theaters on January 12, 2024, according to Sony Pictures.

Bad Bunny (@sanbenito) takes the #CinemaCon stage to announce his starring role as El Muerto during @SonyPictures Presentation. @ElMuertoMovie is exclusively in movie theaters January 12, 2024. pic.twitter.com/jMhBId2CT7

 Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) April 26, 2022

El Muerto is a super-powered wrestler who fought Spider-Man in a charity match and nearly unmasked the webbed hero, Comicbook reports. They later teamed up to defeat El Muerto's rival, Dorado. El Muerto first debuted in 2006 and has only two comic appearances to his name, the website said.

Sony has two other Spider-Man spinoff movies scheduled for next year: "Kraken the Hunter," which will premiere January 13, and "Madame Webb," which will be released July 7, Comicbook reported.

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Beijing orders more than 20 million people to test for COVID to try and avoid a full lockdown
President Joe Biden's administration said Tuesday it is doubling the number of outlets where at-risk Americans can obtain free Covid-19 therapeutic pills.

Oral therapeutics such as Pfizer's Paxlovid pill are seen as an important new weapon in the struggle to knock out a virus that at its peak a year ago killed more than 3,000 people a day in the United States alone and disrupted economic activity around the globe.

While sharply reduced in lethality, the latest Omicron variant continues to spread and the White House hopes the growing combination of vaccinations, natural immunity and therapeutics will help Americans finally turn the corner on the pandemic.

"One of the most effective available treatments is Pfizer's oral antiviral pill, Paxlovid, which has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by about 90 percent," a senior government official told reporters.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain called Paxlovid a "miracle pill" and tweeted that "almost all Covid deaths can be prevented if people who test positive take" it.

With 20 million pill packs ordered for government purchase, they are now "in ample supply" and distribution will be ramped up from the current 20,000 locations to close to 40,000, the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters.

The pills are available in pharmacies, community health centers, hospitals, and government medical facilities, including those run by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Food and Drug Administration cleared the medicine for use by people 12 and older who are at high risk after Covid infection.

The official said that so far, about half a million courses of antivirals had been used and that the rate is on the increase.

"I think through about a month ago, we were at around 22,000 courses, recorded as used in a week. And I think last week, we were over 55,000," the official said.

"We're trying to dramatically increase the footprint of the ways treatments are available."

Story continues

The Biden administration's strategy for the long-term assault on Covid-19 -- including domestic programs and a large-scale foreign vaccine donation drive -- is at risk, however, with Congress so far deadlocked on approving more funding.

A package currently close to approval would inject $10 billion into fighting Covid-19, with half of that going to therapeutics, but none to foreign vaccine programs.

The senior official said there was already funding to buy all the promised 20 million packs of therapeutics, but what "we're really worried about, going forward, are future treatments. And so we need funding from Congress to secure the essential needs."

While Paxlovid is being reserved for at-risk patients, these would include anyone diagnosed as obese or with diabetes, among other categories, meaning large numbers of people are eligible.

The therapeutic course must be taken within five days of symptoms appearing.

sms/sst
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday wielded his clemency powers for the first time, announcing pardons for three people, including the first Black man to serve in the White House's Secret Service detail.

Biden also announced the commutation of sentences for 75 others, mainly going to those serving lengthy terms for non-violent drug offenses.

"America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation," Biden said in a statement.

The pardons are for "people who have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities," he said.

One recipient is Abraham Bolden, an 86-year-old former member of the US Secret Service and the first African American to protect a president, joining the detail in John F. Kennedy's administration.

He was charged with crimes related to attempting to sell a copy of a Secret Service file and convicted after two trials, although the White House says that key witnesses later admitted to lying.

Related video: Branson urges Singapore not to execute disabled man

Bolden always maintained his innocence and said he was targeted "in retaliation for exposing unprofessional and racist behavior within the US Secret Service," the White House said in a statement.

Bolden went on to win multiple awards for his activism and contributions to the community after release from prison, the White House said.

The other two pardons went to a man and a woman convicted on drug charges, but who also went on to reform their lives and work with their communities.

The president said that many of the 75 commutations affected people "on home confinement during the Covid pandemic  and many of whom would have received a lower sentence if they were charged with the same offense today."

sms/sst
US President Joe Biden and Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will discuss the increasingly contentious issue of migration across their common border this week, the White House said Tuesday.

The virtual meeting on Friday will cover the neighbors' economy, security and energy concerns, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

They will also discuss the June regional Summit of the Americas "and how North America can lead on priority initiatives for the region."

However, the most closely watched topic is likely to be what Psaki called "cooperation on migration."

The problem of heavy flows of would-be migrants and asylum seekers through Mexico and into the southern United States is a political hot potato for Biden ahead of November midterm legislative elections.

Biden's Democratic Party is on the defensive against Republican attacks that the situation on the US-Mexico border is out of control, while the White House says it is up to Congress to enact laws fixing what Psaki calls a "broken immigration system."

The issue is bubbling up again with the planned expiry on May 23 of the Title 42 policy, a health regulation that allowed rapid expulsion of undocumented migrants due to the coronavirus pandemic.

There are concerns that with those restrictions lifted, the already heavy flow of migrants will dramatically expand.

However, following a lawsuit by a group of southern US states, a court on Monday issued a temporary stay on the lifting of Title 42.

Another front in the migration battle opened Tuesday in the Supreme Court, which was hearing arguments on Biden's attempt to suspend a policy instituted by his predecessor Donald Trump, forcing asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are under consideration.

Trump imposed the rule as part of his hardline policies, popular on the far right, while critics called it inhumane, forcing already desperate people into dangerous conditions on the Mexican side of the border.

sms/sst
SOUTH KINGSTOWN  Ellen Jones heard something at the back door, pulled aside the curtain and saw a bear standing on his hind legs at the screen.

He showed his teeth and growled.

She called to her husband. "Honey, I think you need to be here. There's a bear at the back door."

"'Why don't you invite him in? Maybe he wants a cup of coffee.' He thought I was kidding."

The black bear spotted in South Kingstown on Sunday night.

This year they mounted a camera

This is the third year Ellen and Paul Jones have seen a bear in their yard. This year they had a mounted, motion-sensitive camera ready.

The bear visits only once a year. This year their feeder was on a 72-inch pole, and he was taller, they said. He bent the pole at its base.

A state wildlife staffer had told them to take bird feeders down at the end of April.

RI's newest resident: This tiny species of bat was just found for first time in Rhode Island

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Bird seed is 'a bear no-no.'

David Kalb, the supervising wildlife biologist at the R.I Department of Environmental Management's Division of Fish & Wildlife, called eating bird seed "a bear no-no."

He said the bear looked like an adult male black bear, of average size, probably over 250 pounds. "Bears enter and leave their winter torpor based on food resource availability. More food will lead them to go down late and come out early but generally mid-April is about right for emergence.

He guessed that the bear lives in Rhode Island and said this was the first report of a bear being out this spring.

dnaylor@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7411

On Twitter: @donita22

Walking RI: Best place for a hike and osprey spotting? Try the Great Swamp in South Kingstown

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 6-foot black bear emerges from hibernation returns to same RI house
Antony Blinken Photo by Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images

Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, following his weekend trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

In Kyiv, Blinken said he "saw the signs of a vibrant city coming back to life" after Ukrainian forces fended off a Russian attempt to capture the city. "[I]t was right there in front of us: the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv," he added, according to The Guardian.

Blinken also said that continued U.S. support "is critical in my judgment to ensuring that Russia's war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for the Kremlin."

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) asked Blinken whether the U.S. would accept a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in which Ukraine agreed not to join NATO or the European Union. "We, Senator, are not gonna be more Ukrainian than the Ukrainians," Blinken responded, adding that the U.S. is working to put Ukraine in the best possible negotiating position and will support Ukraine's leaders regardless of their decision.

He also fielded questions from a number of senators on reducing European dependence on Russian energy exports. Blinken said the U.S. is stepping up production and working to ensure steady supplies of oil and natural gas to Europe, but is committed to doing so in a way that will not "inflate energy prices and line [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's pockets" but will "advance ... the transition, over time, to renewables."

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Columbus police homicide detectives talk outside while investigating a fatal shooting Tuesday at the Executive Barber Salon, located in a commercial strip mall at 5880 N. Meadows Blvd. The homicide is the city's sixth in five days.

Columbus police homicide detectives have identified a barber who was fatally shot early Tuesday afternoon just outside the barbershop where he worked on the city's North Side.

Lawrence Jefferson, 51, of Reynoldsburg, was working inside Executive Barber Salon, located down a small flight of stairs from a food market in a multi-space commercial building at 5880 N. Meadows Blvd. when a man walked into the shop shortly after noon, police said.

The barber and the man talked briefly then went just outside the shop to a landing area near the bottom of the stairs. Another barber and a customer inside then "heard gunshots," homicide detectives said.

Jefferson was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:12 p.m. by paramedics.

The suspect fled on foot. Detectives say they are looking for a person of interest described as a black male with a medium build who was wearing a black ballcap, gray hooded sweatshirt and large, dark sunglasses.

Police have released a photo of someone they say is a person of interest in the homicide.

Masonique Saunders: Mother: Killing of 20-year-old may have been retaliation for her role in fatal robbery

Troy Cherry, who owns the barbershop, said the barber  later identified by police as Jefferson  had no problems that he was aware of.

"He just started working here about a month ago and was a good guy as far as I'm concerned," Cherry said. "I'm just waiting to hear what happened like everyone else."

Cherry said he was not in the salon at the time of the shooting. Neither the other barber or the customer inside the shop was harmed, police said.

Sgt. Joe Albert said the investigation is preliminary and it is not yet known if the victim was targeted, if the shooting was the result of an attempted robbery or if there was another motive.

Detectives were canvassing the area, which contains multiple small strip malls and commercial buildings, as well as townhomes, for video footage.

The barbershop staircase entrance is located next to the Sunshine International Food Mart & Smoke Shop, where police had the alcove area blocked off with crime scene tape. The strip mall is about a quarter-mile south from Ohio 161.

Story continues

Man identified as victim of second fatal weekend shooting at a Columbus park

On Monday night, Columbus police also identified a 19-year-old man who was killed at a Southeast Side park on Saturday evening.

Damarion Dawson was found shot in Nafzger Park, located on Noe-Bixby Road, around 6:10 p.m. Saturday. He died at a hospital a short time later.

No suspects have been named in Dawson's death.

Homicide database: Here's where homicides have occurred in Columbus since 2017

There have been six homicides reported in Columbus since Friday morning. Police have not announced any arrests or suspects in any of those cases.

Columbus has reported 37 homicides to date in 2022, a 40% decline over the same time in 2021.

Columbus Division of Police released a photo of person it says is a person of interest in the homicide.

Anyone with information about this or any other Columbus homicide is asked to detectives at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS.

Dispatch reporter Cole Behrens contributed to this report.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Homicide detectives investigating slaying outside N. Side barbershop
Three juveniles from the same group of minors accused of stomping on a woman in downtown Boston last week, allegedly targeting her in an unprovoked attack because of her race and hairstyle, were arrested again on Monday after allegedly assaulting McDonalds employees and police officers.

This comes as the Boston Police Department has described in police reports over the past several weeks "a recent barrage of juvenile incidents" withing District A-1 "involving young teenagers fighting in public, causing disturbances inside businesses, vandalizing storefronts by smashing glass window with blunt objects, aggravated assaults, assaults on police officers, and civil rights violations."

The Boston Herald reported that three juveniles were arrested early Monday morning in connection to an incident that erupted at the Roxbury McDonalds at 301 Warren St around 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

BOSTON JUVENILES' BROAD DAYLIGHT BEATING OF WOMAN ALLEGEDLY TARGETED FOR RACE, HAIRSTYLE CAPTURED ON VIDEO

A police report says a group of minors began throwing rocks and water bottles at customers and employees in the drive thru. One of the workers responded by throwing items back at the minors.

Washington and Winter Streets in Downtown Crossing on April 19, 2022, in Boston, Massachusetts. Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images

When a cup of soda splashed onto one of the teens jeans, the juvenile allegedly came inside and punched the worker in the face. Boston 25 reported the worker dialed 911 but refused medical treatment.

The group of minors came back less than an hour later to try to fight employees, and one of them was spotted allegedly swinging a metal cane toward the restaurants lights.

The kids took off running but were apprehended by police around the corner. A police report says one of the juveniles hurled racial slurs at an officer and threatened to "f--- him up."

Washington and Winter Streets in Downtown Crossing on April 19, 2022, in Boston. Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images

The minors allegedly struck one of the officers and kicked another in the genitals. Three were apprehended but because of their ages were not held in custody and were returned to their parents, Boston 25 reported.

Story continues

Local news reports say the three minors were part of the same group of juveniles accused of beating down a 20-year-old woman in broad daylight in an attack in the Downtown Crossing area.

A police report says the victim told investigators a group of as many as 20 Black girls swarmed around her and called her "a white b---- with braids." The victim said she identified as "Hispanic" and tried to leave, but the group came up from behind, grabbed her by the hair and began punching and kicking her.

Five juveniles were charged in connection to the incident captured on video. The police report said the juveniles, including one as young as age 12, were trying to instigate a violent confrontation with police and hurled "rude and racially motivated insults" at officers placing some of them under arrest.

The report also cites "a specific group of violent juveniles terrorizing the Downtown Crossing area."

Last month, an 81-year-old man was assaulted by a group of four juveniles, described as one Black boy and three Black girls, while he was eating a hamburger at a different McDonalds on Washington Street.

According to a police report, they smacked him in the head and nailed him with whip cream before later moving on to a nearby bar and grill. The group allegedly requested alcohol but were denied service, then began shouting "Black Lives Matter" and hurled racial slurs and spat on patrons.

They shattered a door as they were escorted out, the police report said. Just days later, the same group allegedly punched a female victim who refused to buy them ice cream and again shouted racial slurs.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  A Brazilian federal court on Monday upheld the suspension of an environmental license for what would be the largest open-pit gold mine in the nation's Amazon rainforest, dealing a blow to the Canada-based company behind the project.

Belo Sun Mining Corp. was appealing the same courts 2017 ruling, which found that the company's consultation with local Indigenous peoples and study on the projects socio-environmental impacts didn't meet the criteria required by the National Indian Foundation.

In a 3-0 vote, the court maintained its prior ruling. Belo Sun can appeal the decision to a higher court.

The company's Volta Grande project is located on the banks of the Xingu River, in the state of Para. It is located about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from Belo Monte, the worlds third-biggest hydroelectric dam. The Belo Monte dam has reduced the flow in the Volta Grande (Big Bend) stretch of the Xingu River, where the Belo Sun project is located. Among other impacts, the fish population, a local staple food, is diminishing, endangering endemic species, such as the Hypancistrus zebra.

My community wasnt consulted about the Belo Sun project, Lorena Curuaia, a leader from the Iawa village, told The Associated Press by phone. Belo Monte already has had a major impact on the Xingu. A second project could mean the death of the local peoples."

Belo Sun has argued that it already consulted the Indigenous peoples, and that their closest community is more than 10 km (6 miles) away. The Federal Prosecutors Office states that the company only considered officially demarcated areas, and that Indigenous communities outside these places should also be taken into account.

Contacted by phone and email Monday, Belo Suns office in Brazil didnt respond to AP requests for comment about the court's decision or if it would appeal.

According to the company, the project covers 2,400 hectares (5,930 acres).

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This is another victory for the Indigenous and riverine people of Volta Grande do Xingu, federal prosecutor Felicio de Araujo Pontes Jr. said in a text message. They know that a mining project can have devastating impacts on the region. The judgment shows the resilience of this population.

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Apr. 26The Broomfield Police Academy is hosting its Inside Teen Academy, a chance for teens to learn about the department, this summer.

The academy will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 6-10 at the Broomfield Police Station, 7 Descombes Drive, Broomfield.

The academy will allow teens to interact with the police department and will provide an interactive way for them to learn about the department's functions and duties.

Teens also will get an overview of the different sections in the department, like SWAT, crime scene investigators, K-9 units, school resource officers, detention officers and investigators.

Participants can apply at bit.ly/3EJVaju. Those who pass a background check and are accepted will be required to sign a separate waiver on the first day of the academy.
A Burnsville man was sentenced last week to 20 years in prison for selling meth.

Eric Michael Dungy, 50, pleaded guilty in November to two counts of possession with intent to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court.

In addition to the 20-year prison term, Dungy will spend another five years on supervised release, court documents say.

Authorities began investigating Dungy in August 2020, and determined he was selling meth out of a Bloomington hotel, where they arrested him the next month, according to the charges against him.

At the time of his arrest, police found he was carrying heroin and more than $16,000 in cash on his person, and a search of his car and hotel room turned up more than 6 pounds of methamphetamine, three pipes, needles, an electronic money counter and a 9-mm handgun, the charges said.

After being released on bail from Hennepin County jail, Dungy was arrested a second time when he agreed to sell 3 pounds of meth to an undercover cop for $15,000. Officers who searched his two rooms in another Bloomington hotel found 6.5 pounds of meth, 13.5 grams of heroin, three digital scales, 11 phones and more than $12,000.

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This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

From their dislike of local teachers unions to a lack of confidence in school administrators, California voters are more disillusioned with the state of education than voters nationally, a new poll has found.

Commissioned by the reform-oriented nonprofit, Murmuration, likely California voters who were also parents were much less satisfied with the performance of traditional neighborhood public schools during the pandemic than in every other state polled, including Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, New Jersey, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia.

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Many places in California struggled to get remote learning set up and make it effective. There were also fights with the unions when it came to school reopenings, said Brian Reich, vice president of communications at Murmuration. I think that over the course of the pandemic, issues just continued to compound themselves.

In California, controversy over remote learning and how school reopenings were handled were particularly extreme, Reich said. In San Francisco for example, three school board members were recalled for the first time since 1983 because parents felt the board was prioritizing progressive politics over school reopenings, said Reich.

Ultimately I think what really frustrated parents was expectations being set and not met and the lack of transparency with decision making, said Reich. It felt very much to a lot of parents in California that they were not being listened to by school officials during the pandemic.

Since the pandemic, people have been paying more attention to education nationally, bringing long standing issues to light, said Josh Starr, the CEO of Phi Delta Kappa and former superintendent of the Montgomery County Public School System in Maryland.

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Theres more eyes on education right now. Everyone is suddenly paying attention and forming an opinion, Starr said.

This attitude was reflected in the poll. Nationally, 84% of respondents said that education was important to them and 90% said that education was crucial to making communities and the country stronger in the future.

The poll sampled nearly 7,000 registered voters across the 10 states of all ages, races, and political affiliations who all see public education as a top issue, just below health care, economy, and foreign policy and above immigration and climate change.

Voters in California were the least supportive of local teachers unions than voters in any other state polled  with 29% of voters viewing teachers unions negatively compared to 27% nationally and just 12% in the District of Columbia.

17% of voters in California view local teachers unfavorably compared to just 9% in Missouri and 7% in the District of Columbia. 25% of voters in California view school administrators unfavorably, while only 15% do in D.C. 19% of California voters view their Parent Teacher Organization unfavorably while just 10% of voters do in D.C.

On top of the fact that D.C. is much smaller than California and the school districts are more easily manageable, Reich also said that the mayor and the school board officials in D.C. likely did a better job at making parents feel like they were taking their needs and concerns into account during the pandemic.

Voters in California reacted the most negatively of all states polled towards parent teacher organizations; and it was the only state to prefer national teachers unions to local teachers unions. 50% of California voters viewed the national teachers union favorably and only 48% saw the local union favorably.

This was surprising since typically voters are satisfied with local institutions, but dissatisfied with the state of national politics, said Pedro Noguera, Dean of USC Rossiers School of Education.

The distinction is important, Noguera said. I wouldnt be surprised if there is some lingering resentment toward local unions because of their stance on keeping schools closed during the pandemic.

In March of 2021, the U.S. department of education released data that showed that California lagged behind almost every other state in the country in reopening schools. Only Washington, Oregon, and Maryland had higher percentages of schools still closed last spring.

Reich said that since local school boards were the ones making the public decisions during the pandemic, the local government caught more flak in California. Voters are now starting to see issues in education that go beyond how problems were handled during the pandemic.

California has a big problem. They are very disjointed in terms of education. There are a lot of local initiatives, but theres no alignment, Noguera said. For example, lots of schools are under-enrolled. Theres no coherence on how to solve that issue. People are starting to really see these problems.

In July 2020, the progressive think tank, The Century Foundation, released a study that showed that California spent $6,000 less per student than the national average, making California schools some of the most underfunded in the nation.

All of this attention on local education is affecting politics and it will surely affect local election races this year, particularly for the school board, said Starr.

The poll was administered in March by the research group SocialSphere on behalf of Murmuration and was conducted just three months before the June primary election for Los Angeles school board members and eight months before the November election for governor.

California is unlike many other states in that mayors and the governor have no direct control over schools. The school board holds all of the power. Reich said that a lot of California voters are probably feeling helpless right about now, which is reflected in their responses to the poll.

Its really hard for voters in California to actually have an outcome in how schools are affected. I think theres a sense of resignation and powerlessness amongst voters right now, said Reich. Its why people say education is a local issue. It truly is in California. The real decisions are made at the individual, district level.

Rebecca Katz is a recent graduate of the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism Masters Program and a Los Angeles native. She received her bachelors in English literature and political science from USC. She is passionate about mental health and education reform.

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By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) - The Canadian government will change its sanctions law to allow for seized and sanctioned foreign assets to be redistributed as compensation to victims or to help in rebuilding a foreign state from war, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said.

Canada is among a number of countries to have imposed sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it calls a "special operation."

"Today, we are seeking the capacity to not only seize but to allow for the forfeiture of the assets of sanctioned individuals and entities and to allow us to compensate victims with the proceeds," Joly said in a statement on Tuesday. "These changes would make Canada's sanctions regime the first in the G7 to allow these actions."

The sanctions were already crippling Russias economy and depleting President Vladimir Putin's resources to continue the war, the minister said.

"We will continue to apply maximum pressure on the Putin regime and impose severe costs for this war of choice," Joly added.

The changes that Canada aims to bring to its sanctions law will mean that funds or property seized from Russia could be paid out to help rebuild Ukraine or to those impacted by Russia's invasion.

The measures will be part of the budget implementation bill.

The legislation will also lay out a requirement for banks to provide lists of foreign assets frozen by Canadian government sanctions so that Ottawa has an inventory of what has been seized, the Globe and Mail reported.

Canada has sanctioned over 1,100 individuals and entities that Ottawa says have been complicit in the conflict in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
Chicago Reader co-owner Len Goodman and three board members stepped down Tuesday amid protests from employees, freeing the embattled alternative newspaper to transition to a nonprofit organization.

The Reader has been stuck in limbo since December, when a planned transition to a nonprofit model was delayed over concerns about alleged censorship of an opinion piece written by Goodman, who pushed for an investigation into the matter and more representation on the successor board.

Goodman announced Tuesday he was stepping away from the Reader immediately over an unresolvable impasse with fellow co-owner, Chicago real estate developer Elzie Higginbottom, who wanted to move forward with the planned transition to a nonprofit newspaper.

We cannot continue the fight without destroying the Reader, Goodman said in a statement. I am stepping aside. I will sign off on the sale so that the Reader can transition immediately to NFP status.

Board members Dorothy Leavell, Sladjana Vuckovic and Carol Bell, who were aligned with Goodmans concerns, announced they were also stepping down immediately

Frustrated Reader editorial employees organized a rally last week in front of Goodmans Lakeview East home and planned another one for Thursday morning in an effort to get the Chicago criminal defense attorney to relinquish control and let the newspaper move forward as a nonprofit. Goodman blamed Reader management for not addressing his concerns.

In 2018, Goodman and Higginbottom bought the Reader from the Chicago Sun-Times for $1 and the assumption of debt. Since then, they have invested more than $1 million each to keep it afloat, weathering the pandemic and supporting the money-losing publication as it planned to transition to a more sustainable nonprofit model.

That plan was delayed after editors pushed back on a November opinion piece by Goodman expressing concerns about vaccinating his 6-year-old daughter against COVID-19, which created backlash on social media for some disputed scientific claims.

More to come.

rchannick@chicagotribune.com
China has announced its plan to test its asteroid monitoring and defense system that will attempt to alter the paths of space rocks as early as 2025.



Wu Yanhua, the deputy director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), revealed the plan during an event that celebrated Chinas seventh national space day in Wenchang, Hainan Province, on Sunday. The event also marked the 52nd anniversary of the launch of Dongfanghong-1, Chinas first satellite.



Speaking to Global Times, mission insiders shared that the system, which is currently in its project establishment phase, is being reviewed by several different departments for approval.



Without elaborating on the specifics, Wu said CNSA plans to test this system by launching a spacecraft known as a kinetic impactor in the direction of an asteroid in 2025 or 2026 to alter the space rocks original path.



CNSA is also developing simulation software that will test and verify operations against any near-Earth objects. China plans to set up a combination of ground-based and space-based monitoring and warning systems that will analyze any asteroids that pose potential threats to Earth.



The idea to launch a near-Earth object defense system has been floating around in China for years. In October 2021, the East Asian country held its first Planetary Defense Conference. In January, it released a space white paper that gave details about its defense system project and its ability to monitor, catalog and respond to near-Earth objects.





China yesterday opened its first Planetary Defence Conference, touching of radar astronomy, early warning systems, small-body exploration, impact simulation, space-based monitoring, impacts, impactors, lasers & other deflection possibilites.https://t.co/plNlZwx6Is pic.twitter.com/N5Sqbz83sn

 Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) October 26, 2021







In addition to China, the U.S. and Russia are developing their own asteroid monitoring and defense systems to prepare for any potential planetary threats, military expert and space observer Song Zhongping told The Global Times. In November 2021, NASA launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which it said is the first-ever full-scale mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards.



Feature Image via Pixabay (Representation purposes only)

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China called for "restraint" after Russia's foreign minister raised the prospect of the "real" threat of nuclear war over Ukraine.

"No one wants to see the outbreak of a third world war," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

Wenbin added, "We hope that relevant parties can keep cool-headed and exercise restraint."

China on Tuesday called for "restraint" after Russia's foreign minister raised the prospect of the "real" threat of nuclear war amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

"No one wants to see the outbreak of a third world war," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday.

Wenbin added, "We hope that relevant parties can keep cool-headed and exercise restraint, prevent escalation of tension, realize peace as soon as possible and avoid inflicting a heavier price on Europe and the world."

"We should reflect on why Europe has again got caught up in the geopolitical conflict more than 30 years after the end of the Cold War, on how to build a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture, and on how to strengthen the global security governance system," Wenbin said.

Wenbin was responding to a question about recent remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who warned the West to not underestimate the "serious" and "real" risks of a third world war by getting involved in Russia's two-month-long war with Ukraine.

During an interview broadcast on Russian state TV on Monday, Lavrov was asked about the risks of a third world war and whether US and Russia tensions could be compared to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, Reuters reported.

Lavrov claimed Russia was aiming to prevent another world war but said "the risks now are considerable," Reuters reported.

"I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it," Lavrov said, according to the news outlet.

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Russia's war against Ukraine has already left thousands dead and caused more than 5 million people to flee the eastern European country since Russia invaded on February 24.

Last week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said China would "strengthen strategic coordination" with Russia no matter what.

"No matter how the international landscape may change, China will continue to strengthen strategic coordination with Russia to achieve win-win cooperation, jointly safeguard our common interests and promote the building of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind," China's Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said to the Russian ambassador to China Andrey Denisov, CNN reported.

China has boosted its alliance with Russia in recent years, and the two countries have become major trade partners.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut at a press conference in Hartford, Connecticut in January 2020. Brad Horrigan/Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

According to a new book, Trump made governors grovel for federal disaster aid after a tropical storm in 2020.

"Ask me nicely," Trump reportedly told Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont.

Lamont said he "felt a little bit like Zelenskyy," a reference to Trump's infamous withholding of military aid in 2019.

When Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut asked former President Donald Trump to send much-needed federal disaster aid to his state following a tropical storm in 2020, he said he found himself in a position not unlike that of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to an excerpt from "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future," a forthcoming book from the New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, the governor called Trump in August 2020 after Tropical Storm Isaiah left large portions of his state without electricity.

Lamont hoped that the president could help him obtain federal disaster aid via the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), aid that Trump was reportedly willing to provide to states like Texas and Florida  both of which have GOP governors with close ties to Trump  without any question.

But when Lamont's call to the White House was returned by Trump himself, the former president reportedly made the governor grovel for the aid.

"There's something you want me to ask about FEMA?" Trump asked, according to Lamont. "Well, ask me nicely."

Lamont confirmed that account on Monday, telling CT Insider that he "felt a little bit like Zelenskyy," who Trump asked to 'look into' Joe Biden and his son Hunter in exchange for the release of much-needed military aid to the country in 2019.

Trump was later impeached by the House of Representatives, and acquitted by the Senate, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in relation to the event.

"Look, it was really important for the state of Connecticut and represented tens of millions of dollars in money we could use to help people get their electricity back up and oriented," Lamont told CT Insider. "So I was happy to ask and really happy to get the response we got."

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According to the book excerpt, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland  a blue-state Republican who's long been critical of Trump  got the same treatment.

"You have to call and ask me nicely," Hogan recalled Trump saying to him.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Apr. 26A former Dayton charter school director cannot be held liable for the more than $50,000 that the school's former treasurer embezzled during the 2009-2010 school year, according to an Ohio Supreme Court ruling issued Tuesday.

The treasurer, Carl W. Shye Jr., was sentenced in 2012 to two years in prison in a federal court case. But the Ohio Attorney General's Office later sued New City Community School Director Robert Burns, Shye, and three others in 2018 trying to recoup the funds.

As the director, Burns approved the grant fund applications for the charter school and approved the school's annual budget. But Shye did not report to Burns  he was an independent contractor based in Columbus who reported to the board of education overseeing the charter school.

The Ohio Supreme Court's ruling was that Burns did not have oversight authority over Shye. The court's 4-3 majority ruling said Burns must have "received or collected" the public money to be held liable for its return. Those terms indicate some element of control, Justice Michael P. Donnelly wrote, and "the record is quite clear that Burns did not control the misappropriated funds."

Justices Sharon L. Kennedy, R. Patrick DeWine and Melody Stewart joined Donnelly's opinion.

Two judges, Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor and Justice Patrick F. Fischer, dissented from the new court ruling. Fischer, who wrote the opinion, said the meaning of "collect" involves an "active seeking of funds" and noted Burns was the one who sought state and federal grants to operate the school.

The law does not state Burns had to "control" the money to be responsible for paying it back, and he can be held liable, Fischer concluded.

Justice Jennifer Brunner dissented without a written opinion.

Shye stole more than $470,000 in federal education funds that went to four now-closed charter schools, including three in Dayton  George Washington Carver Preparatory Academy, NuBethel Center of Excellence and New City Community School, according to court records. He handled the finances of more than a dozen former charter schools in Columbus, Dayton and Youngstown.

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Ohio audited New City for the 2009-2010 fiscal year and in April 2012, the Ohio auditor's office issued a finding for recovery of $51,670. The audit cited questionable expenditures by Shye and others. The auditor made a separate finding for recovery against Shye for $28,320. It is the $51,670 amount that was in question in this case.

When Shye was sentenced, he also forfeited his CPA license, meaning he could no longer practice as an accountant, and was required to repay the money he stole.

An FBI investigation found Shye accessed the money in many ways between 2005 and 2011, including changing his contract without telling his bosses, making loans to another school and then pocketing the money when the loan was paid back and falsely reporting services that never occurred.
PARIS (Reuters) - Cross-border mergers are not part of Orange's strategy in Europe, the new boss of France's top telecoms group said on Tuesday, adding that the company's priority was to strengthen its position in existing markets.

"Orange's strategy doesn't involve cross-border, European consolidation, or a big M&A project," said Christel Heydemann at her first news conference since she succeeded Stephane Richard as chief executive on April 4.

"We have a lot of value in the business that we can already bring to our existing customers in our existing geographies," she added.

Heydemann told financial analysts in an earlier call that she would share her vision and strategic priorities for Orange by the end of the year.

Asked if Orange needed a consolidation of the French telecoms market and if it could take part in such merger talks after the failure of several attempts to cut the number of operators from four to three, Heydemann said she would welcome any opportunity but said such a deal wasn't a necessity for the company.

"It can't be the core of our strategy for Orange," she said, referring specifically to a potential merger within the French telecom sector.

Orange is currently in exclusive merger talks with its Spanish rival MasMovil with the aim of reducing the competitive landscape in a country whose poor performance has weighed on its results.

Heydemann also cited Belgium and Romania, where the company took control of other companies in either broadband or mobile to expand its services, as examples of recent deals that made sense for the group.

"We'll be opportunistic," Heydemann said. "All opportunities to create value, we'll look at them."

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Luka Modric agreed to join Tottenham 14 years ago (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Archive)

Tottenham signalled their intentions by agreeing a 16.5million deal to sign Luka Modric from Dinamo Zagreb on April 26, 2008.

The then 22-year-old agreed a five-year contract to move to White Hart Lane following his appearance at that summers European Championship with Croatia.

Modric said: Im happy to be joining such a big club. It will be a real pleasure to play in the English league, which is the best in Europe, with three English clubs in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

The midfielder had reportedly attracted interest from the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal after signing for Dinamo in 2005.

Modrics signature was a major boost to Tottenham in their quest to break the stranglehold of the Premier Leagues big four and secure Champions League football.

Modric made his competitive Premier League debut in a 21 defeat by Middlesbrough in August 2008 but had a slow start to life in England, suffering with a knee injury and struggling to adapt to the physical nature of the league.

Luka Modric is now in his 10th season with Real Madrid (John Walton/PA) (PA Wire)

Under manager Harry Redknapp, Modric began to shine, helping Spurs to that elusive top-four spot in 2009/10 and signing a new six-year contract.

The worlds biggest clubs began circling and, in August 2012, Modric signed for Real Madrid, where he has cemented his status as one of Europes best ever midfielders.

In 2018, Modric won the FIFA award for the worlds best player along with the Ballon dOr.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP)  Central defender Ronald Araujo has agreed to a contract extension with Barcelona through the end of the 2025-26 season, the Spanish club said Tuesday.

Barcelona said that the 23-year-old Uruguay international will sign his new deal on Friday.

Araujo, fast enough to keep up with the speediest strikers and strong in the area, is considered Barcelonas most talented young defender. He shares playing time now with veteran Gerard Pique and Eric Garcia.

The club prioritized Araujo's extension, needing to solidify the future of its defense as the 35-year-old Pique enters the twilight of this career.

Araujo has scored six goals in 78 career appearances with Barcelona.

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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Wilder could soon be back in the ring (Getty Images)

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman says he expects Deontay Wilder to be back in the ring this year.

Wilder could become world champion once again as he is ranked No 1 by the WBC and could be in contention to compete for the belt if it is vacated by Tyson Fury. The Gypsy King beat Wilder twice in a legendary trilogy to claim and defend the belt but he hinted he was retiring after he defeated Dillian Whyte at Wembley on Saturday.

Sulaiman says Furys past rival Wilder is up to the task of taking back the belt.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Sulaiman said: Hes taking it easy, hes weighing up his plans for the future, he had a very busy reign as a champion, two knockout losses to Fury, difficult but hes matured and hes doing very well.

Hes having a good time with his wife, hes enjoying life but Im sure hell be back.

Hes one of those fighters that you rarely see in the ring that has the ability to knock somebody out with one punch and he has had many exciting fights. Hes a great fighter and great person. Im sure he will fight this year.

Fury has backed Wilder to reclaim the belt if he doesnt come back to the sport.

Id like to see Deontay Wilder fight whoever for it again, Fury told Behind The Gloves after Saturdays fight. I do believe hes still the second-best heavyweight in the world. I believe he knocks everybody else out but me.

Fury was billed to fight the winner of Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyks rematch in a unification bout but he wants to have some family time.

He said after Saturdays fight: You know I promised my lovely wife Paris of 14 years that after the three [Deontay] Wilder fights that would be it, and I meant it. It was a great trilogy but I meant that.

I got offered to fight at Wembley at home and I believe I owed it to the fans, every person in the UK, to fight at Wembley. I think this is it - this might be the final curtain for the Gypsy King. What a way to go out.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday called Florida legislators back into a special session to address Floridas failing property insurance market, an issue that was left unresolved during the regular legislative session earlier this year.

The session, which will be set for May 23-27, marks the second special session called by DeSantis in the past two months.

Last week, lawmakers wrapped up a contentious special session on congressional redistricting maps and a last-minute bill to strip The Walt Disney Co. from its special taxing district and governing body.

READ MORE: Wild scene in Florida House as congressional map passes while Democrats protest

The upcoming special session will focus on property insurance, reinsurance and changes to the Florida building code to improve the affordability of property insurance, and other related issues.

It comes as DeSantis and Republican lawmakers have come under scrutiny for failing to stabilize the property insurance industry in Florida.

In recent years, homeowners rates have spiked by double digits in some cases, and some companies have canceled policies or suspended business in the state. Legislators were unable to pass any reform efforts on the issue during their regular session earlier this year.

In response to the call, House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said in a statement that the Legislature made great strides on meaningful property insurance reforms in 2021, and we are already seeing the positive impacts of that work.

We look forward to working with our partners to evaluate whether there is more we can do to address the availability and affordability of property insurance, he said. The Florida House will remain primarily focused on addressing the needs of the policyholders of Florida.

Florida has accounted for 79% of the nations homeowners insurance lawsuits over claims filed while making up only 9% of the nations homeowners insurance, claims, DeSantis said.

Florida citizens are seeing the effects of this higher litigation in their rising premiums, he said.

The governor also added that it is necessary for the State of Florida to act to stabilize the insurance market for Florida policyholders before the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which begins on June 1st, 2022 and ends on November 30th, 2022.

DeSantis announced last week that a special session would take place in May, but he had not offered a date or specifics.
Donald Trump and some of his allies were suspended from Twitter over spreading misinformation or inciting or advocating violence. (Associated Press)

With Elon Musk buying Twitter, there's speculation that former President Trump and many of his allies could have their bans lifted.

During the Trump era, Twitter barred many on the far right, including extremist groups, from using the platform. A number of Trump supporters were kicked off for spreading falsehoods, inciting or advocating violence, "harmful activity" or other violations of Twitter rules.

De-platforming can limit the spread of harmful speech, including misinformation and disinformation, studies have shown. Amy Bruckman, a Georgia Tech professor of interactive computing and a lead author on one study, said that the prevalence of ideas spread by three far-right or conspiracy-theorist figures went down dramatically after their Twitter accounts were disabled. The "toxicity of their followers went down after they were kicked off," she said.

If such figures were to be reinstated, Bruckman said, "the ideas come back and the toxicity of their followers comes back too."

Musk has hinted in several tweets that he hopes to overhaul Twitter's content moderation policy. 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 wrote in a regulatory filing, adding that the company would not fulfill that potential "in its current form."

The tech billionaire has not publicly committed to reinstating any banned user and has made no comments regarding Trump, who has said he has no plans to return to Twitter even if his access is restored.

Here is why Trump and others from his orbit were banned:

Donald Trump

The former president was permanently suspended two days after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of Trump supporters. Twitter determined that Trump had encouraged violence and posed a "risk of further incitement."

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Trump has since started his own platform, Truth Social, which aims to compete with Twitter but has floundered so far. Fox News on Monday reported that Trump told the outlet: "I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on TRUTH.... I hope Elon buys Twitter because hell make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). (Samuel Corum / Tribune News Service)

Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, is the only sitting member of Congress to be permanently banned from Twitter. After numerous temporary suspensions, her personal account was banned on Jan. 2, 2021, for violating the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy; she had tweeted critical and misleading messages about public health measures put in effect to control the pandemic.

Greene still maintains a presence on the platform with her official account; she tweeted Monday morning, anticipating that her personal account would be reinstated.

Prepare for blue check mark full scale meltdown after @elonmusk seals the deal and I should get my personal Twitter account restored. pic.twitter.com/MKBQvHCoAH  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) April 25, 2022

Stephen K. Bannon

Former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

Stephen K. Bannon, former Trump campaign chief and former White House chief strategist, was banned Nov. 5, 2020, after he called on his podcast for the beheading of FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments top infectious disease expert.

David Duke

The former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and onetime member of the Louisiana House of Representatives was kicked off Twitter on July 30, 2020. It was unclear which of his tweets violated the platform's hateful conduct policy.

Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell

On Jan. 8, 2021, Twitter removed the accounts of Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security advisor, and pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell. The two had spread content relating to the QAnon conspiracy theory, Twitter said. Powell had also spread falsehoods about the election, making claims but never offering proof about voter fraud. Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and was the only White House official to be convicted in connection with the Trump-Russia investigation, was pardoned by Trump in late November 2020.

Alex Jones

Alex Jones, center, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Far-right talk show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was banned on Sept. 6, 2018, after violating Twitter's abusive behavior policy. Jones, among other falsehoods, had long claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six educators was a hoax.

He recently appeared before the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.

Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts past violations. https://t.co/gckzUAV8GL  Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018

Mike Lindell

MyPillow chief executive and Trump supporter and donor Mike Lindell was taken off Twitter on Jan. 25, 2021. He had been a vocal and constant proponent of the falsehood that the 2020 election was rigged. He also claimed that the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot was "peaceful." Twitter said he had repeatedly violated its "civic integrity policy."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Marina Zenovich is not religious, yet she directed a new HBO Max docuseries about a religiously complex and controversial faith community in Brentwood.

Who am I to step into this world and judge these people? But then we spoke to so many people who talked about how they were traumatized, Zenovich said about making The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, which airs Thursday.

The docuseries is about Remnant Fellowship church and its founder Gwen Shamblin Lara, the controversial author of the book The Weigh Down Diet who died in May in a plane crash at Percy Priest Lake.

Zenovich said the series is for those who attended Remnant and who were hurt by their experience.

Ross Dinerstein, the films producer and founder of Campfire Studios, says the story is for a broader audience.

Part two: 'The Way Down' follow up explores Gwen Shamblin plane crash and aftermath

Percy Priest Lake: Gwen Shamblin Lara, other leaders of controversial church presumed dead after plane crash

Remnant Fellowship Church founder Gwen Shamblin, left, sings with others from the church during services in June 2011 in Brentwood.

Both agree the documentary exists to call out the corruption and abuse they uncovered. This is not what religion is supposed to be. This is about power and control. Its wrong and they need to be called out, Zenovich said.

On Wednesday, Remnant church said its ministry is "based on love, care, mercy and kindness."

Remnant Fellowship categorically denies the absurd, defamatory statements and accusations made in the HBO documentary, the church told The Tennessean in an email. "Despite rumors, we do not body shame anyone, as we know that God created all of us uniquely with all kinds of different sizes, shapes, and weights."

The documentary explores the life of Lara, who became well-known for her faith-based weight loss teachings, and her impact on Remnant members. Lara founded Remnant Fellowship in 1999 in Brentwood, and the church says it has another 150 congregations across the world.

Lara was at the center of multiple controversies, including insensitive comments about thin Jews and her support for two Remnant congregants convicted of murdering their son.

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The HBO Max docuseries explores the churchs alleged effort to control most aspects of congregants lives, including what they eat, the medication they receive, and the people they marry.

'Continue the dream': 'Continue the dream': Remnant Fellowship Church founder's children will keep church going after her death

The documentary started when investigative journalist Nile Cappello approached Dinerstein with the idea. Dinerstein, who attended Vanderbilt University, was immediately intrigued. Dinerstein then asked Zenovich if she wanted to direct it.

This is really about helping people get out, Zenovich said, adding she hopes Remnant members watch the documentary and it causes them to think differently about their experience there.

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Gwen Shamblin documentary: What director says about HBO Max project
An El Paso doctor accused of not properly accounting for huge amounts of opioids has agreed to pay a $350,000 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dr. Herbert J. Nassour was accused of violating the Controlled Substances Act for not maintaining proper inventory and dispensing records for more than 11,000 doses of hydrocodone, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas said Monday.

Nassour was a physician with a private practice who was registered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to issue prescription opioids.

More: El Paso County gets nearly $700,000 settlement with Johnson & Johnson over opioid epidemic

The civil settlement resolves allegations Nassour violated provisions of the Controlled Substances Act. The financial settlement is not a determination of liability, the U.S. Attorney's Office noted.

The case was investigated by the DEAs El Paso Diversion Group.

Nation: Teen overdose deaths are spiking despite drug usage falling, study finds

More: 1 pill can kill: El Paso sees large increase in fentanyl seizures, related overdose deaths

"Opioid misuse and abuse remain at epidemic levels in the United States," Greg Millard, special agent in charge of the DEA El Paso Division, said in a statement.

"Because the majority of opioid addictions in America start with prescription pills, registrants must do their part and comply with the rules and regulations set forth by the Controlled Substance Act. Through our oversight, DEA will ensure that registrants comply with the law."

Daniel Borunda may be reached at 915-546-6102; dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso doctor accused of opioids mismanagement agrees to settlement
COP26 Ambassador hails Vietnams climate change commitments

Ken O'Flaherty, regional ambassador of the UK Government at COP26 to Asia-Pacific and South Asia, has hailed strong Vietnamese commitments to tackle climate change made at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).









Ken O'Flaherty, regional ambassador of the UK Government at COP26 to Asia-Pacific and South Asia, works with representatives of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Photo: moit.gov.vn)



During his recent trip to Vietnam, OFlaherty worked with leaders of relevant ministries and agencies, applauding Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinhs strong commitments at COP26 on emissions reduction measures in a bid to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.



He went on to emphasise the UK's willingness to support the country in fulfilling these commitments, especially those regarding the nation's energy transition.



While in Hanoi, the diplomat took part in the Second COP26 Energy Transition Council National Dialogue with Vietnam co-hosted by the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission and the British Embassy. Attendees discussed a range of issues that require solutions to climate change from government agencies, development partners, and the private sector.



He also paid a visit to the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho where he met with representatives of Can Tho University, environmentalists, and researchers to learn more about the opportunities and challenges of the Mekong Delta region in responding to climate change. He also took a boat trip on the Hau river to learn first-hand effects of climate change on the environment, the community, and the economy in the region.



The diplomat also visited a number of wind power projects in Vinh Chau town in the southern province of Soc Trang. He noted that the wind farms coming into operation will definitely contribute to national energy security, thereby creating jobs and increasing the income of local people.



He stressed that these projects are suitable for development orientations of Soc Trang in particular and Vietnam in general, with a specific focus on environmental protection and the sustainable development of coastal areas.



While staying in Ho Chi Minh City, OFlaherty worked alongside local authorities, noting green growth and sustainable development requires the co-ordination of the state, the private sector, and businesses which have specific strategies.
More than 17,000 people have been detained since the state of emergency came into force

El Salvador's defence minister has praised the extension by Congress of emergency measures which he says are having a "positive" effect in the battle against rampant gang violence.

Rene Merino said that more than 17,000 suspected gang members had been arrested since the state of emergency was declared a month ago.

On Sunday, Congress extended the measure by another 30 days.

It came into force on 27 March after 62 people were murdered in one day.

The emergency measures have been controversial as they limit some constitutional rights, such as allowing the security forces to arrest suspects without a warrant.

The sentences for convicted gang members have also been raised to a maximum of 45 years in jail.

Defence Minister Merino said that crimes such as extortion had dropped since the emergency measures were introduced.

"The aim is to make these gangs disappear altogether from El Salvador," he said in a televised statement.

He added that "the honest population is very satisfied with the work we're doing against the gangs" but did not say if any polls had been carried out which supported his statement.

Rights advocates have been highly critical of the mass arrests carried out in the past month.

The UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned earlier this month that thousands of Salvadoreans had been detained without an arrest warrant and that some had reported being subjected to "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment".

OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell said that changes to El Salvador's criminal procedure also meant that "criminal trials could now be held in absentia, in the case of alleged gang members, or presided over by so-called 'faceless; judges whose identity remained 'confidential'".

Mr Merino said on Monday that those arrested who were found to have no links to gangs would be freed.

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"This is going to keep happening, that we stop someone, we question that person and then we notice that the person has no links [to gangs] and then we set that person free."

"The people need to know that if they're not involved in anything bad, nothing bad will happen to them," Mr Merino said.

The defence minister said that "honourable" citizens need not worry

But rights group Human Rights Watch has condemned tweets by the Salvadorean police which showed suspects being arrested and said that the government's strategy "seems to be 'first arrest, then tweet, and investigate later'".

Homicide figures had been dropping since Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019. The 40-year-old campaigned on a promise to tackle rampant gang violence and political corruption.

In 2021, El Salvador registered 1,140 murders, compared to a high of 6,656 in 2015.

But there has been a rise in homicides since the beginning of this year, with 26 March standing out as having been the most deadly day in decades.
By Nafisa Eltahir

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Up to 550 Ethiopian peacekeepers working in Sudan have sought asylum rather than return home for fear they will be persecuted due to their Tigrayan ethnicity, an official with direct knowledge of the plan said on Tuesday.

The soldiers, numbering between 525 to 550, were part of a U.N. peacekeeping force working in Abyei, a contested oil-rich area on Sudan's border with South Sudan, the official working in refugee response told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu and military spokesman Col. Getnet Adane did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the soldiers seeking asylum. Nor did spokespeople for the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, nor the U.N. peacekeeping office.

The official said that the soldiers were at the peacekeeping mission's rear base in Kadugli in South Kordofan and that UNHCR was planning to move them to one fenced camp near a refugee camp for Eritreans in Sudan's Gadaref state.

Thousands of Tigrayans, including civilians and soldiers, were imprisoned in squalid conditions in Ethiopia without charge after war erupted in the Tigray region in November 2020.

The fighting pits Ethiopia's government and its allies against rebellious Tigrayan forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a political party that once dominated national politics and now controls the Tigray region.

Since the fighting started, rights groups have said ethnic Tigrayans have been repeatedly detained without trial. The state-appointed rights commission said last year thousands of ethnic Tigrayans were detained, including very elderly people, nursing mothers and babies. At the time, police denied targeting any ethnic group, saying they targeted suspected TPLF supporters.

The United Nations has said at least 15,000 Tigrayan civilians were arrested or imprisoned across Ethiopia under the state of emergency declared in November and lifted in February.

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At the beginning of the conflict, Tigrayan police and soldiers were disarmed and put in secure areas. It is not clear if they have been released.

Tigrayan peacekeepers serving in U.N. missions in Darfur have previously sought asylum.

The government has repeatedly said it is fighting against the TPLF and not Tigrayans in general.

(Reporting by Nafisa Eltahir in Khartoum and Hereward Holland in Nairobi; writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Katharine Houreld, Alexandra Hudson)
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

The EU is considering price caps and tariffs on Russian oil to undercut Moscow's finances, per the FT.

Russia provides about one-quarter of the EU's oil imports, according to the bloc's stats agency.

Germany has warned that a full embargo on Russian oil imports would cause severe economic damage.

The European Union is considering price caps and tariffs on Russian oil imports to squeeze a vital revenue stream for the Kremlin, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.

The measures have been proposed ahead of EU talks about implementing further sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, per the FT.

Price caps or tariffs on Russian oil imports would allow the EU to undercut Moscow's finances while averting the economic chaos that would be caused by a full embargo. Russia provides about one-quarter of the EU's oil, according to Eurostat, the bloc's statistics agency.

Italy has supported the idea of capping Russian oil prices but other EU countries aren't as keen. Germany, the EU's largest economy and the bloc's premier importer of Russian energy, would be most affected by measures designed to squeeze Russian energy.

One senior German official told the FT that a price cap would be challenging and in breach of contract, while another said capping costs "isn't being taken seriously."

The European Commission didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Western nations have taken different approaches to Russian energy imports since the Ukraine invasion began on February 24. The US decided to ban Russian energy imports but the EU, which relies on Russia for around a third of its oil and natural gas, is reluctant to do so.

Germany, which buys about 25% of its oil from Russia, has said it will stop importing Russian oil by the end of the year, and has asked for patience as pressure mounts to impose a full embargo sooner.

Russian oil production fell about 9% from February to the beginning of April, according to data from OilX shared with Insider.

Exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky told the BBC that Putin would suffer a "very serious blow" if European countries banned Russian oil and gas.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Elon Musk may be buying Twitter to loosen its content moderation, but he might not get to be quite as free-wheeling as he'd like. European Union internal market commissioner Thierry Breton told The Financial Times in an interview that Musk's Twitter will still be subject to EU regulations, including the new Digital Services Act governing efforts to fight misinformation. The Tesla chief is "welcome," but "there are rules" he still has to follow, Breton said.

The Digital Services Act requires Twitter and other internet companies to share how they're curbing false claims on their sites. It also bans ads targeting minors as well as specific ethnicities, political affiliations, religions and sexual orientations. Firms also have to share how their recommendation systems work, offer non-profiling alternatives and share data with researchers. Any company that doesn't comply risks fines of up to six percent of global turnover and, if they refuse to change, an EU ban.

It's not certain how Musk will address the warning. We've asked Twitter for comment. However, it's safe to say that Musk's self-proclaimed "absolutist" approach to free speech will clash with political realities worldwide, not just the EU. The UK punishes companies that fail to limit content deemed harmful, and it's doubtful authoritarian countries like Russia would allow Twitter without heavy censorship, if at all. Musk may have to accept that some restrictions will remain, even if they aren't quite as pronounced as they are today.
Russias war on Ukraine is, in many ways, a war on women. The fact that most women do not fight on the battlefield does not mean that their war experiences are less traumatic than male soldiers realities.

Most of the 5 million Ukrainian refugees are women, children and the elderly, who left behind their husbands, sons and brothers to fight for their homeland.

Even once Ukrainian women reach a place of refuge, they will face problems in finding decent work, which is actually an international legal term that describes safe and fair working environments.

Female Ukrainian refugees are also shouldering new financial burdens as the single heads of household, while at the same time caring for children and elderly relatives.

As a scholar of gender and labor markets, I believe this war and its aftermath are going to be especially harmful to women, children and the elderly. Special measures are needed to help Ukrainian women find work, support their dependents and also contribute to their new host countries economies.

Migration and jobs

Refugees and migrants have been shown to improve their host countries economies over time.

But research, including my own, shows that during times of crisis, countries hosting refugees do not have many opportunities for arriving job seekers and may need to set up new social services and create new jobs to accommodate many new highly skilled workers.

This situation can create work competition between newcomers and locals, which can feed discrimination and resentment.

Turkey, for example, is home to more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, 11 years after the Syrian civil war first broke out. While Turkish people initially welcomed the early waves of Syrian refugees, public support for Syrians has decreased over the past few years.

One reason is that there is a growing concern about Syrians taking jobs from local Turks, even though Syrians are mostly doing low-paid work that most Turks would not want.

Unpaid care work

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One critical problem for Ukrainian women is the likely rise in the amount of time they spend doing unpaid household tasks. This work involves child care, cleaning, cooking or other responsibilities that do not result in payment. Women generally do much more of this work than men.

Because Ukraine is barring men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country so they can fight in the war against Russia, Ukrainian women must both care for family members and work to financially support their families.

While older Ukrainian children can attend schools in their new homes in Poland and other parts of the European Union, mothers with babies and toddlers have fewer options. In some parts of Poland, for example, there are no state-run day cares, and affordable or free child care options are limited in general.

Even if host countries provide child care, Ukrainian women with professional degrees will face another challenge: finding work.

Job hunting

Before the war, women made up about 47% of Ukraines formal workforce  a percentage that has decreased from approximately 50% in the past two decades. Women also, increasingly, earn less than men for the same work in Ukraine.

Ukrainian women are, overall, better educated than the average European woman, according to U.S. Agency for International Development data on higher education.

Ukrainian womens university degrees should translate easily in other European countries, placing them in a good position to seek jobs.

The European Union said in March 2022 that it was finalizing paperwork to recognize and accept Ukrainian refugees diplomas.

The problem is that there are a limited number of white-collar jobs in European host countries.

European employers also may not be very welcoming to Ukrainians, because of existing economic crises and rising unemployment, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When womens opportunities to join a host countrys formal workforce are limited or blocked, they become more likely to be forced into early marriages, sex work and human trafficking in order to survive.

A way forward

Unless there are unique policy measures and other responses, even the most highly educated Ukrainian women will not be able to work and have independent lives.

Yet when it comes to host governments feeling public pressure to extend economic and social services  like health care and education  to Ukrainians, it is inevitable that there will be some tension and discrimination against refugees.

Ukrainian refugees integration into new countries would require specific policies that recognize and respond to their unique challenges as women and new single heads of household. This could include subsidized child care or help caring for elderly people.

Philanthropies and global corporations offering aid to Ukrainian refugees could, for example, offer remote, online work opportunities for Ukrainian women.

Ukrainian women now in exile are acutely feeling the stress of caring for children and other family members while trying to work. But these two suddenly colliding demands represent a common fear many mothers share, both in times of peace and war. Solutions to help Ukrainian female refugees support themselves and their families deserve sincere consideration.

[The Conversations Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. Sign up for Politics Weekly.]

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Dilek Cindoglu, Georgetown University.

Read more:



I am a Fulbright scholar from Turkey and faculty at Kadir Has University and affiliated with ISIM, Georgetown University.
Apr. 26A former Clark County auditor employee fired in January for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from the office was indicted a second time Monday after officials discovered he'd also stolen about $2 million in taxpayers' money.

Robert Vanderhorst, 63, was previously indicted in February for a third-degree felony charge of theft in office, meaning the value of property or services allegedly stolen was more than $7,500 and less than $150,000. First-degree felony charges for theft in office mean the alleged amount stolen exceeds $750,000.

The Clark County Prosecutor's Office issued an updated indictment on Monday with three counts of theft in office, two being first-degree felony charges and the third being a third-degree felony charge, according to Clark County Common Pleas court records. Prosecutor Dan Driscoll confirmed the amount that allegedly was taken is "in excess of $1.5 million."

"Vanderhorst's actions, going back more than a decade, are shocking and disappointing," Clark County Auditor John Federer said. "The first dollar stolen is an outrage, and every dollar after that only grows our shared horror at the scope of Vanderhorst's criminal activity."

An employee of the Clark County Auditor's Office since 1991, Vanderhorst was fired on Jan. 12 after the Clark County Auditor's Office said it learned of the allegations.

Federer said that Vanderhorst's charge represents a "shocking betrayal of every Clark County citizen" and employees of his office.

According to the auditor's office, an employee noticed inappropriate vendor payouts in the financial management system in October 2021. State investigators visited the auditor's office and Vanderhorst's home last month to collect evidence.

Driscoll said Vanderhorst's jury trial originally slated for May 17 may be adjusted due to the updated indictment.

Vanderhorst's attorney did not return a request for comment regarding the updated indictment.

Federer created a website, www.clarkcountyfacts.com, with the help of a communications consulting firm that he said has been paid out of his own pocket to outline details about the alleged theft.
NEW CASTLE, Ind.  A former Henry County prosecutor has agreed to plead guilty to at least one count stemming from his 2021 arrest on meth-related charges.

Martin R. Shields, now 68, was arrested last October after he allegedly twice provided meth to an informant for the Henry County Area Drug Task Force.

According to court documents, those transactions took place at Shield's New Castle home, and the informant was wearing audio and video recording equipment at the time.

The informant had told police they had been to Shields' home previously "and observed methamphetamine in plain view," an affidavit said.

EARLIER: Trial set for ex-prosecutor charged with dealing meth

Shields  at the time of his arrest the attorney for Henry County commissioners  was charged in Henry Circuit Court 2 with two counts of dealing in meth and possession of meth.

In late March, Shieds' attorneys  James Bell and Jonathan Bont, both of Indianapolis  filed a motion seeking to have their client's trial, then set for April 4, postponed.

They also indicated Shields had agreed to plead guilty to one or more charges, not specified in the motion. A plea agreement in the case has not yet been filed.

The New Castle attorney had been scheduled to plead guilty and be sentenced at a hearing set for this week in Henry Circuit Court 2.

STAY INFORMED AND SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM: Subscribe today using the link at the top of this page.

However, the defense attorneys were granted a continuance  by Special Judge David Northam of Rush County  because of their participation in a federal court trial.

Shields is now scheduled to plead guilty and be sentenced at a hearing set for June 13. The dealing charges against him are Level 5 felonies carrying up to six years in prison, while the possession charge is a Level 6 felony with a maximum 30-month sentence.

Shields was elected Henry County prosecutor in 1982, but resigned from that position in 1984. He has practiced law in Indiana for more than four decades.

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He also has served as a member of the New Castle-Henry County Public Library Board and the Henry County Election Board.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: New Castle attorney set to plead guilty in meth case
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly told a New York Times journalist in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection that he was exhilarated by the potential damage to then-President Trump, according to a new book.

McConnells comments were reported by Jonathan Martin, a New York Times journalist who wrote about the conversation in his and Alexander Burnss new book, This Will Not Pass.

McConnell reportedly felt exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself.

The exchange was reported by The Washington Post, The Independent and a number of other outlets who obtained excerpts of the book.

The conversation reportedly took place early on Jan. 7, 2021, just hours after the Capitol was ransacked by a group of Trumps supporters.

He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, McConnell said, according to the book. Couldnt have happened at a better time.

Martin and Burns also write that the Republican senator asked them What do you hear about the Twenty-Fifth Amendment? and said he was eager for intelligence about whether his fellow Republicans were discussing removing Trump from office, the Post added.

They added in the book that the Kentucky politician seemed almost buoyant and that he said Trump was pretty thoroughly discredited.

In separate excerpts of the book, McConnell was previously quoted as telling advisers on Jan. 11, 2021, that the Democrats are going to take care of the son of a bitch for us, referring to impeachment, and also said that if this isnt impeachable, I dont know what is.

Trump and McConnell saw their relationship deteriorate toward the end of Trumps term in office. Despite his comments following the insurrection, McConnell did not vote to convict Trump in the Senate over his role in the Jan. 6 attack.

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He has also said he would back Trump if he became the GOPs nominee for the White House in 2024.

The former president has openly slammed the minority leader on multiple occasions in recent months and regularly refers to him as Old Crow.

McConnells office did not immediately respond to The Hills request for comment.

This news comes after a reports surfaced that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told his GOP colleagues he would recommend that Trump resign if he was impeached over the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The FBI served a search warrant at a residence in Nelson County Friday, but its not connected to three long-unsolved cases that federal agents are investigating regarding the disappearance of a Kentucky mother, the death of her father and the death of a Bardstown police officer.

Federal agents executed a search warrant Friday at a home in Boston, a small town in Nelson County, the FBI confirmed. A spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment on what they were looking for or the purposes of the search, but did confirm it had nothing to do with the deaths of Crystal Rogers or Tommy Ballard, Rogers father.

The search also wasnt connected to the death of police officer Jason Ellis, the FBI confirmed.

Rogers has been missing since 2015. Last year agents searched a Bardstown subdivision and found several items of interest that were sent off to FBIs forensic laboratory in Quantico, Va., but the agency hasnt provided an update on the investigation since then.

We are grateful for the outpouring of support we received from the local community, especially the residents of the Woodlawn Springs subdivision, the FBI stated at the time.

Ballard was shot and killed while hunting with his grandson on Nov. 19, 2016, according to the FBI. The death is being investigated as a homicide and is believed to be related to Rogers death. Ballard had been a fierce advocate for identifying who was responsible for his daughters disappearance.

Bardstown police officer Jason Ellis was shot and killed while cleaning debris out of the road shortly after finishing a shift in May 2013. His case is not related to Rogers and Ballards deaths.

An FBI spokesperson declined Monday to provide updates on those investigations.

All three death investigations remain unsolved.

Crystal Rogers investigation updates: What we know about search for Kentucky mom
CONCORD, NH  Here are some share-worthy stories from the New Hampshire Patch network to talk about tonight. PM Patch NH features stories and information published in the past 24 hours. Thank you for reading Patch in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Attorney General's Office: More tips have come in concerning the deaths of Stephen and Djeswende Reid  but more are needed.

If won on Wednesday, the one-time cash payout is expected to be around $272 million before taxes, according to officials.

Plus: Nashua man indicted on drug dealing charges; Lowell man faces on 2 burglary charges; Milford bad checks case indictment.

Andover man indicted on strangulation, reckless conduct charges; Henniker man indicted on drug charges; Concord teen faces theft charge.

The annual ranking released by U.S. News and World Report evaluates public schools based on graduation rates, academic performance and more.

The Londonderry and Derry locations were found to have failed to pay wages to 63 employees  with some servers only being paid tips.

At least one person was taken to Concord Hospital after a crash at Sheep Davis Road near Keith Avenue in Pembroke on Monday.

Plus: Minor from Massachusetts faces DUI, liquor charges; woman arrested on assault charges; man faces stalking, protective order charges.

An average of 9 people die every day in the United States from distracted driving; 3, 142 people died in distracted-related crashes in 2020.

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Also: 35 vie for Charter Commission in special election; fun things to do this week; Dr. Sherman talks about governor's race; need a job?

Also Read

Got a news tip? Send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel.

This article originally appeared on the Concord Patch
(Reuters) -Fidelity Investments said on Tuesday it will allow individuals to allocate part of their retirement savings in bitcoin through their 401(k) investment plans, becoming the first major retirement plan provider to do so.

The family controlled asset manager said MicroStrategy Inc, a major bitcoin corporate backer, will be the first employer to use the new product, which will be made available to other employers by the middle of the year.

Through the new offering, employees will be able to invest in bitcoin through a Digital Assets Account (DAA) within the core lineup of their 401(k) plans, Fidelity said.

Fidelity also said that Newfront, a retirement consulting services provider, has indicated that the DAA will help address a growing need among their client base.

Plan sponsors will be able to decide on employee contribution in the DAA and set limits on exchanging such contribution to bitcoin, Fidelity said, adding that additional updates on the new offering will be made available in the coming months.

Dave Gray, head of workplace retirement offerings and platforms at Fidelity, said the plan will initially be limited to bitcoin, but expects other digital assets to be made available in the future, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report the news. (https://on.wsj.com/3kiKHlq)

The development comes after U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in March requiring the government to assess the risks and benefits of creating a central bank digital dollar, as well as other cryptocurrency issues.

(Reporting by Vishal Vivek, Sohini Podder and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Shailesh Kuber)
Reuters

An Elon Musk tweet saying Japan would "eventually cease to exist" without a higher birthrate set off a flood of sarcasm and anger on Monday - though much of the angst was aimed at a Japanese government many said did little to address the issue. The comment hit a nerve among Japan watchers and in Japan, whose population peaked in 2008 and has declined since due to its low birthrate to about 125 million as of last year despite government warnings and sporadic attempts to grapple with the issue.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks at the 2022 CPAC conference at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando. Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation creating an election police unit.

He said local election supervisors may not be equipped to investigate voter fraud claims.

The election law also ups penalties for ballot harvesting and violating voter registration laws.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Monday establishing a new law enforcement unit aimed at investigating voter fraud and election crimes.

The move comes as part of a nationwide GOP effort to police federal and state elections in the wake of former President Donald Trump's false and debunked claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

"I don't think there is any other place in the country where you should have more confidence that your vote counts than in the state of Florida," DeSantis said at a press conference.

The Florida governor said local election supervisors and law enforcement officers may not have the expertise and knowledge to thoroughly investigate election fraud. Out of 262 voter fraud complaints received by the Florida Department of State, only 75 cases were referred to authorities. There are more than 14 million voters registered in the state.

"Some of them may not care as much about the election stuff," he said. "I think it's been mixed at how those reactions are going to be. So we just want to make sure whatever laws are on the books, that those laws are enforced."

On top of creating a new election police unit, the bill signed into law on Monday also elevated the penalties for violating election laws in the state, making it a felony  rather than a misdemeanor  to send more than two mail-in ballots for other voters, according to CNN. The new election legislation also increased the fine for violating voter registration laws from $1,000 to $50,000.

State Rep. Tracie Davis condemned the election law on Monday, striking it down as nothing more than a bid from DeSantis to appeal to Trump voters who believe the 2020 election was stolen. DeSantis has been floated as a GOP candidate for the 2024 presidential race.

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"DeSantis' so-called election reform legislation is a continued attack by the Republican Party to generate public distrust in the integrity of our elections," Davis told the Associated Press. "The bill is unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer funds."

The move comes after DeSantis proposed a new redistricting plan in the state, pushing a congressional map that would reduce the number of predominantly Black districts.

On March 28, DeSantis vetoed a version of the congressional map approved by state legislators that would have added two Republican seats and subtracted one from the Democrats, according to The New York Times. Last week, the Florida Senate passed DeSantis' congressional map during a special session that would instead create 20 likely Republican seats and leave eight for Democrats, The Times reported.

DeSantis claimed that the new congressional map put out by his office would be "race-neutral."

"I mean, we are not going to have a 200-mile gerrymander that divvies up people based on the color of their skin," DeSantis said, citing a CNN report. "That is wrong. That is not the way we've governed in the state of Florida."

Read the original article on Business Insider
SheKnows

Mothers Day was canceled for one particular family this year  and its pretty impossible to dispute the reasoning. A dad took to Reddits AITA forum to share the awful exchange that led to him nixing his wifes celebration and users quickly rallied around him. I (M/37) have a 13 y.o son. I was a []
A former employee of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration pleaded guilty Friday to issuing fraudulent drivers licenses in exchange for payment, the U.S. Attorneys Office said.

Marion Rose Payne, 55, of Harwood in Anne Arundel County pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce and transfer identification documents without lawful authority. She faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and must pay at least $25,000, which prosecutors said she accepted in exchange for the licenses.

Paynes attorney declined to comment on her plea.

Payne conspired with two others to issue more than 276 fraudulent Maryland drivers licenses from at least July 2015 to March 2016, according to a news release from the office of U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron. Payne and an unnamed co-conspirator were employees at the MVA Largo branch. They worked with Warner Antonio Portillo, 36, of Manassas, Virginia, to issue these drivers licenses, the office said.

Portillo and others met with prospective Maryland drivers license applicants who were willing to pay money to obtain a drivers license illegally, typically because the applicants were aliens without legal status in the United States or were otherwise unable to obtain a lawfully issued drivers license, according to the release.

The applicants paid between $800 and $5,000 in cash for each drivers license. Portillo not only transported these individuals to the Largo branch, where he directed them to Payne or the co-conspirators workstations, but also provided the forged documentation needed to obtain the drivers license.

These include tax information, proof of Maryland residence and other identification documents, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. Four Virginia drivers licenses and a bank statement that belonged to real people were used multiple times.

Portillo paid Payne at least $25,000 in cash and gifts, and these exchanges sometimes happened in the parking lot of the MVA Largo branch. Payne is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 3. Portillo previously pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing.
Don't miss CoinDesk's Consensus 2022, the must-attend crypto & blockchain festival experience of the year in Austin, TX this June 9-12.

Fort Worth, the fifth-largest city in Texas, will become the first U.S. city to start mining bitcoin (BTC) via a new pilot project. The project was approved in a vote by the city council on Tuesday as part of a larger docket of crypto-friendly initiatives.

According to a statement, the city has partnered with the Texas Blockchain Council (TBC), an advocate for blockchain technology in the state, for the program. Fort Worth will maintain three Bitmain S9 mining computers in a climate-controlled location in the Information Technology Solutions Department Data Center located at Fort Worth City Hall, where they will be housed on a private network to minimize security risk. The mining rigs were donated by TBC.

These small but powerful machines mark Fort Worths larger commitment to becoming a leading hub for technology and innovation, said Mayor Mattie Parker. The city aims to experiment with the mining process through this pilot program and will evaluate it again in six months. Crypto software and services company Luxor Technologies and bitcoin miner Rhodium Enterprises are providing strategic guidance for the citys pilot project.

Bitmains Antminer S9 machines are one of the oldest and cheapest bitcoin mining machines available and popular among new miners. Currently, S19 models are more popular among more advanced and industrial-grade miners.

By starting small to learn as they go, Fort Worth is positioning itself to be the bitcoin mining capital of Texas, said Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) President and founder Lee Bratcher.

After Chinas sweeping ban of the crypto sector last year, the U.S., particularly Texas, has become the dominant hub for miners due to its cheap power and mining-friendly local legislations. Fort Worths move is likely to further help the bitcoin-friendly jurisdiction narrative of the state, which comes at a time when both global and other state-level policymakers are pushing for more regulations for the miners.

Most recently, New York lawmakers have advanced a controversial bill that aims to put a two-year moratorium on select proof-of-work crypto mining operations in the Empire State.
Elon Musk describes himself as a "free-speech absolutist," leaving rights groups fearful that Twitter will provide a forum for hate speech and disinformation under his ownership.

The world's richest man has signaled that, following his $44 billion takeover, he intends to reform what he sees as over-zealous policing of tweets.

Civil activists are worried that means Musk, 50, will allow banned extremists back to the platform.

"The last thing we need is a Twitter that willfully turns a blind eye to violent and abusive speech against users, particularly those most disproportionately impacted, including such as women, non-binary persons, and others," Michael Kleinman, technology and human rights director at Amnesty International USA, said in a statement.

Like other social media networks, Twitter has struggled against disinformation, bullying and hate-fuelled content in recent years.

It has banned numerous users for promoting violence or threatening or attacking people based on their race, religion, gender identity or disability, among other forms of discrimination.

High-profile people removed from the platform include former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and ex-president Donald Trump.

Twitter has also cracked down on lies about Covid-19 and removed thousands of accounts linked to the far-right "QAnon" movement, whose followers believe Trump is waging a secret war against a global liberal cult of Satan-worshipping pedophiles.

Many conspiracy theorists joined newer, far-right-friendly platforms such as Gab and Parler.

Trump, who was banned after the assault on the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6 last year as they sought to overturn the 2020 US presidential election result, vowed not to return to Twitter even if Musk reinstated him.

But conservatives, who have long complained about social media platforms being run by Silicon Valley-based liberals, are heralding libertarian Musk's deal.

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"I am hopeful that Elon Musk will help rein in Big Tech's history of censoring users that have a different viewpoint," tweeted Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn.

Derrick Johnson, CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said that while "free speech is wonderful, hate speech is unacceptable."

"Do not allow Twitter to become a petri dish for hate speech, or falsehoods that subvert our democracy. Protecting our democracy is of utmost importance, especially as the midterm elections approach," he said.

- Moderation -

In Brussels, the International Federation of Journalists echoed that call, expressed concern that the billionaire would damage media freedoms "by exacerbating opportunities to attack journalists" on the site.

IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger said Twitter, which has 400 million users, "must be duly moderated, while respecting freedom of speech."

Experts say that once at the helm, Musk may find that staying true to his free speech instincts isn't so simple.

In the European Union for example, Twitter will have to comply with the new Digital Services Act, a major piece of EU legislation ensuring tougher consequences when platforms host banned content.

"He's going to have to have some form of content moderation policy. That's going to be challenging for Musk," New York University politics and media expert Joshua Tucker told AFP.

The entrepreneur will also be wary about making too many changes that contribute to users flocking away from the site, analysts say.

"If it becomes a place of hateful content and it chases away journalists, then it loses its value," Karen North, professor of digital social media at the Annenberg journalism school in California told AFP.

Musk has not specified exactly what restrictions he intends to roll back, but stated in a tweet Tuesday that he is "against censorship that goes far beyond the law."

"If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people," he added.

pdh-jmb-arb/des/mlm
Good Morning Britains staff have threatened to boycott the show amid talks of Piers Morgan returning as a guest to promote his new series.

Morgan left GMB in March 2021 after an on-air argument with weather presenter Alex Beresford.

The controversial presenter is now back on our screens with his new TalkTV show Piers Morgan Uncensored.

According to the Daily Mirror, when GMB staff members heard talks about Morgan returning to the show as a guest, a number of them warned that they would down tools.

Piers has made it quite clear what he thinks of GMB since he flounced out, a source said. Barely a day goes by without him sniping that ratings are down, and that he was the best thing about the show.

So its no surprise there are some who felt reluctant to promote his new gig and threatened to stop working if he came on. Theres also a lot of loyalty for Alex, they added.

Morgan walked off the set of GMB midway through filming after Beresford condemned the comments he made about Meghan Markle.

Piers Morgan storms off Good Morning Britain in March (ITV)

The presenter faced heavy criticism for his remarks about Prince Harry and his wife, following the couples explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.

In the interview, Meghan revealed she previously had suicidal thoughts due to the abuse she had received when joining the royal family.

During what would go on to be his last GMB show, Morgan brought up Markles comments and said: Im sorry, I dont believe a word she said, Meghan Markle. I wouldnt believe it if she read me a weather report.

His remarks were widely criticised by his co-presenters and on social media, with broadcaster ITV also being called hypocritical for allowing him to cast aspersions while also running their mental health campaign Get Britain Talking.

You can read The Independents review of Morgans new series here.
A man who voted in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the 2016 general election has been ordered to pay nearly $5,000 in fines and penalties.

Todd Krysiak, 39, was charged in June 2019 and pleaded guilty Friday to voting in more than one state. He was given a 90-day suspended sentence and ordered to pay a $4,000 fine, plus a $960 penalty. According to prosecutors, he cast ballots in both Alton, New Hampshire, and Leominster, Massachusetts, on Nov. 6, 2016.

Krysiak was registered as a Republican in Alton, according to the 2016 voter checklist. Attorney David Bodanza said Monday that his client voted in Alton, where he lives, and later in the day visited his mother in Massachusetts. She told him his name was on the list of registered voters in her town, where he had previously lived, so he voted there, as well.

He went down to vote, thinking that he could, he said.

Bodanza called the plea a fair resolution, but said the case raised unanswered questions about whether Krysiak acted knowingly in regards to each element of the crime. He said his client did not intend to vote in Massachusetts when he voted in New Hampshire, he said.

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When people think of Switzerland, they tend to think neutrality (and cool pocket knives and stylish watches, I guess). But there was a point when the country was caught up in a religious civil war that their armies tried to resolve with soup, according to lore.

In the early 16th century, conflict arose between the Protestant forces from Zurich and Catholic forces from Zug  Switzerlands Christian Reformation  but legend has it that on the field of Kappel am Albis, no blood was shed. Instead, the armies simply shared some good, hot soup.

There are no records that detail how the soup was made or where it came from, but the story of the milk soup, known as Kappel Milchsuppe has become an integral story in Swiss history.

Made primarily with bread and milk, there is no definitive recipe left from the 1500s. Todays recipes, however, feature various takes with butters, milks, cheeses, onion and garlic.

Though few facts about the original 500-year-old soup can be verified, BBC reported that historians agree the broth was created by accident in June 1529 when two hungry armies met on a battlefield on what is now known as the Milchsuppestein, or milk soup pasture.

The soldiers from both sides mingled and eventually dined together  supposedly the troops from Zug provided the milk, and those from Zurich the bread to make this soup, wrote Swiss cook and blogger Andie Pilot.

This brought to a close the first Kappel War.

Negotiations continued, but to the amazement of everyone, the infantry brokered their own truce over a cooking pot while on the battlefield, former Kappel Abbey pastor and historian Susanne Wey-Korthals told BBC. Naturally, they were hungry after the long march, and Zurich had plenty of bread and salt, while Zug had a surplus of milk from its farms. From that the legend was born.

Unfortunately the bisque was not enough to stop the fighting indefinitely.

The second Kappel War was fought in 1531. Ironically, a food embargo imposed on the Catholics brought the two armies back to war, bringing about a resolution in Switzerlands Protestant Reformation. Ultimately, the Roman Catholics would go on to win when Zurichs Protestant leader Huldrych Zwingli was killed.

Still, the lands of Milchsuppestein and the legendary soup enjoyed by the two warring factions became enduring symbols of Swiss peace. A stone monument to the original bloodless battlefield meeting remains there to this day.

These fields have played witness to some of the most important moments in Swiss history, Wey-Korthals said. Switzerland found a way to compromise here. To concentrate on what we had in common rather than focus on our differences. It sounds remarkable, but we did it over a bowl of soup.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk added Twitter to his stable of companies on Monday, purchasing the social media platform for $44 billion dollars. Whether he made this purchase to finally realize his aspirations as a "free speech absolutist" or just did it to put an end to his nemesis, @ElonJet, once and for all remains to be seen, but changes are abound for the internet's third-favorite hellsite. Engadget's reporters have some thoughts on what those might be.

There are only two predictions I feel confident making: Twitter will get an edit button, and employees are going to head for the door. Even under the best of circumstances, big acquisitions tend to result in a fair amount of employee turnover and executive shakeup. And for many tweeps, Musk taking over is very far from the best of circumstances. Musk rankled the Twitter rank and file before the deal was even official, with tweets about whether Twitter was dying and whether the company's HQ should be converted into a homeless shelter.

But now they have much more to worry about than his usual trolling. Musks bid has already negatively impacted recruiting efforts, according to The New York Times. And current employees still dont have clear answers on how Musks acquisition will affect their stock packages, a significant portion of their total compensation. There are also real, existential questions about how Musks questionable views on content moderation will affect the company and the direction of the service. As CEO Parag Agrawal reportedly told employees following the news, "once the deal closes, we don't know what direction the platform will go."

- Karissa Bell, Senior Reporter

It can't get much worse, right?

While I'm sure Twitter's moderation policy will get watered down, it's hard to imagine the doomsday scenarios where it turns into some kind of 4Chan/Stormfront cesspool.

Twitter is an international company, with international advertisers and international users. It's broadly bound to ensure its content is in line with the laws of the countries in which it operates, which severely limits the ability to create the "free speech" oasis of Musk's dreams, at least if he also would like it to be a functional, broadly breakeven company at the same time. The company's moderation of its platform is already terrible, and people either make do by going private/blocking people, or (hi) give up on the whole tweeting thing altogether. So I'm expecting more of the same, which is to say, I'm expecting it to be mostly awful.

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- Aaron Souppouris, Executive Editor

Ive covered Elon Musk in his roles as both head of Tesla and SpaceX for a few years now, witnessing his sneering contempt for journalism, transparency, basic ethics and accountability up close and in person. Ive sat through his easily-disproved boasts, his myriad empty promises and publicity stunts. This is a man who belittles societys most vulnerable members to gain the panting adoration of 4Chan trolls, who demonizes the helpers to boost his own fragile ego, a man who would declare himself God-Emperor of Mars before paying his income taxes. Is this your king?

I dread the effects this sale will have, not just for Twitter itself, but the internet writ large. The destabilizing effects social media amplification has on societal and democratic norms have been well studied since the 2016 elections. What is not yet fully understood is what happens when we hand control over that mechanism to the world's wealthiest contrarian. As such, my advice to you are the same wise words Samuel L Jackson had for us in Jurassic Park: Hold onto your butts.

- Andrew Tarantola, Senior Reporter

I think the biggest challenge about trying to predict an Elon Musk-led Twitter is separating the guy's online persona from his business practices. Musk catches a lot of flak (often deservedly) for dumb or insensitive tweets, something most other CEOs know or have been trained to avoid. But at the same time, Elon is a rather shrewd businessman, separately helming what has become the world's biggest EV carmaker alongside the most successful private space aerospace company.

With Tesla and SpaceX there's a clear pattern of high-risk, high-reward behavior, which, due to a combination of luck and smarts, has worked out so far. Musk gives the impression of being a move fast and break stuff type, and his latest disruption looks to be bringing free speech (or his version of it) to Twitter, regardless of how that might impact others. This potentially greenlights every tweet that's not explicitly inciting violence or distributing sensitive info (like the plans for a nuclear bomb or whatever).

In the short term, Must will look to help boost Twitter's bottom line, which the company desperately needs after losing more than $200 million in 2021. Engagement (both good and bad) sells, and turning Twitter into an even bigger battleground would almost certainly result in a quick spike in users. Musk might even do something silly like raise the limit on tweets to 420 characters. Down the line, Musks plan to authenticate all humans sounds a lot like a different flavor of Sam Altmans troubled Worldcoin endeavor, and Id bet theres way more crypto integration coming to the platform in general.

The big concern is that some of Twitter's issues regarding harassment and abuse will continue to go unaddressed. Though that actually might be a feature. Moderation costs money, and by pushing Twitter down the free speech path, Elon conveniently might be able to absolve the company of having to protect its users while simultaneously reducing operating costs. Sure, theres a chance that eliminating anonymity and linking every tweet to a specific person could stop people from spouting nonsense they wouldnt dare say in real life. But I wouldnt count on it. So unless better safeguards are coming too, Twitter could devolve into the most chaotic social media platform around.

- Sam Rutherford, Senior Reporter

Yes, Musk is divisive, a puerile troll that at age 50 seems to have finished his emotional growth decades prior; a loudmouth who is almost constantly spouting off easily disprovable nonsense. His ideas on a "free speech" haven are an echo of the wrong-headed thinking that was a north star for social media founders a decade or more ago, and which they have spent the time since regretfully paddling away from. Musk is also, by accounts, a capricious and vindictive boss whose alleged love of free speech is forever subservient to his hatred of dissent.

And all of this is, more than some outward-facing exodus of users, likely to lead Twitter employees to rethink if it's all worth the agita. Who wants to develop for product categories (moderation in particular) that have effectively been marked for death? Who wants to go to a job that feels more like the What Did My Boss Fuck Up Today sitcom?

But that this sale went through at all is indication enough that, whether led by Musk or literally anyone else, Twitter probably is headed for the great dustbin of history. The people whose job it is to do nothing but turn money into more money ran the numbers and determined no one was or would ever bring a better offer, nor was the company  which almost always posts a loss was ever going to stabilize into a recurring source of profit.

Musk, the PT Barnum of techno-magic bullshit solutions, would probably gleefully categorize himself as an accelerationist: Accelerating the accumulation of space junk; the eventual drowning of pedestrians in underground tunnels; the mass adoption of combusting non-combustion cars. And in this instance my sense is he will accelerate the demise of Twitter by a few degrees too, but don't give him too much credit, it was headed that way anyhow.

 Bryan Menegus, Senior News Editor

Reality often sits in between our greatest hopes and worst fears, and I'd expect the same for Twitter under Elon Musk. It's easy to see his laissez-faire content moderation leading to the revival of some hate speech and harassment that Twitter previously removed. At the same time, I don't think a Musk-era Twitter will be a full-fledged calamity. Not everyone who was banned will be eager to come back, and Musk may have to rethink his stance if there are any truly toxic elements that resurface.

I say there's a one-in-three chance that Twitter goes sideways within two years of the deal closing  that is, the content moderation and the company's overall direction lead to serious trouble. Those are very distinct possibilities, but they aren't guaranteed and may take years to unfold. They may hinge as much on users' desires as they do on Musk's decisions. I'd expect many of Twitter's anti-toxicity tools to survive, such as downvoting replies.

With that said, I'm fully prepared to be wrong. Musk is legendary for heading in unexpected directions. This is the man who launched a tunnel company after complaining about LA traffic, after all. I just don't see Twitter facing imminent disaster, and it won't be surprising if the company reins in some of Musk's impulses.

- Jon Fingas, Reporter
HSBC's profits fell by 28% in the first three months of the year as the Russia-Ukraine war continues to have 'devastating consequences'. Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

HSBC's (HSBA.L) profits fell by 28% in the first three months of the year as the lender was hit by provisions for souring loans in Russia.

Europes largest lender recorded profit before tax of $4.2bn (3.29bn) for the first quarter of the year, a decline of $1.6bn from the same period last year.

HSBCs earnings were dented by $642m of new expected credit losses, which include $250m linked to Russian borrowers, and some $160m tied to Chinas property sector.

A year ago, HSBC started cancelling $400m in reserves it had set aside for potential pandemic-related loan losses.

Read more: HSBC boosts bonuses to 2.6bn as annual profits double

Revenue fell 4% from a year ago to $12.5bn, falling just short of the $12.7bn forecast made by analysts.

"While profits were down on last year's first quarter due to market impacts on wealth revenue and a more normalised level of ECL (expected credit losses), higher lending across all businesses and regions, and good business growth in personal banking, insurance and trade finance bode well for future quarters," chief executive Noel Quinn said in a statement.

The bank said it continued to expect "mid single-digit percentage" growth this year for revenue and lending respectively.

HSBCs Hong Kong-listed shares fell 3.5% in the trading session on Tuesday.

The Russia-Ukraine war continues to have devastating consequences both within Ukraine and beyond, Quinn added.

HSBC Russia is not accepting new business or customers and is consequently on a declining trend.

The vast majority of our business in Russia serves multinational corporate clients headquartered in other countries, and as a global bank, HSBC has a responsibility to help them manage these challenging circumstances.

The bank forecast its operation in Russia may become "untenable" if subject to further restrictions.

HSBC's restructuring effort has led it to slash 35,000 jobs and sell its retail operations in the United States and France.

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Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said HSBC has opened the banks reporting season in unspectacular fashion, with the return of loss provisions an unfortunate highlight.

"In the corresponding quarter last year and after the effects of the pandemic had been less severe than forecast, HSBC released $435m of impairments. This year the bank has taken a charge of $642m, with this $1bn swing being the major factor for lower profits. The charge largely relates to deteriorating economic situations in both Russia and China, with general inflationary pressures leading the bank to caution on the likelihood of defaults."

Read more: HSBC to shut 69 bank branches with 400 jobs affected

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, added: The banks share price fell despite beating expectations as investors focused on slowing growth in Hong Kong and a hike in expected losses associated with bad debts linked to the war in Ukraine and mounting inflation.

This represents a reversal from the situation a year ago when the promise of a COVID recovery meant the banking sector was able to release some of the cash buffers built up to withstand the pandemic.

HSBC has also been affected by the slowdown in investment banking  a year ago buoyant markets and surging M&A generated plenty of commission.

Investors interest in HSBC is heavily linked to increased penetration of banking in less mature markets in Asia. With the impact of increased restrictions that growth outlook is clouded which negatively impacts sentiment towards the stock.

Its decision to maintain operations in Russia may come under increasing scrutiny despite a robust defence alongside todays update."

Watch: HSBC boosts profit goal on higher rates
The executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, said Tuesday he will step down after three decades which have seen the New York-based NGO become a thorn in the side of authoritarian regimes and rights abusers across the world.

Roth, who has led the organisation since 1993, will step down at the end of August, HRW said in a statement.

"Nothing can last forever," he said in a video message. "It is time to pass the baton."

He expressed "great confidence" that the HRW team would continue to effectively defend human rights. "While I am leaving Human Rights Watch, I am not leaving our cause."

Under his leadership, HRW has grown from a small-scale campaign group into a global rights organisation that now employs over 500 staff across the globe.

In 1997, it shared a Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to ban antipersonnel landmines and played a critical role in establishing the International Criminal Court.

Evidence gathered by its staff during conflicts around the world helped ensure the convictions at international tribunals of figures including former Liberian leader Charles Taylor over the war in Sierra Leone and wartime Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

"Today, amid the horrific abuse taking place in Ukraine, an infrastructure is in place to hold perpetrators accountable," the HRW statement said.

His role brought controversy and HRW's statement acknowledged that "Roth inevitably earned many enemies."

In April 2021, HRW became the first major international rights group to accuse Israel of using policies of apartheid -- the segregation of blacks and whites in white-ruled South Africa -- against Palestinians.

Israel vehemently denied the allegation and denounced HRW's report. But in February this year a similar allegation was made by HRW's London-based counterparts at Amnesty International.

"Despite being Jewish -- and having a father who fled Nazi Germany as a 12-year-old boy -- he has been attacked for the organisation's criticism of Israeli government abuses," HRW said.

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In recent years, Roth had also become a bitter enemy of the Chinese authorities after repeatedly singling out Beijing over its rights violations.

China imposed sanctions against Roth personally and expelled him from Hong Kong when he travelled there to release HRW's annual World Report in January 2020, "which spotlighted Beijing's threat to the global human rights system", the organisation said.

A search for a successor is now underway, it added.

sjw/tgb/pvh
Charles Hunt, a 56-year-old semi driver from Indiana, is slated to begin his jail term next week for a 2020 traffic crash that killed four people on Interstate 71.

ASHLAND  A semi driver from Indiana is slated to begin his jail term next week for a 2020 traffic crash that killed four people on Interstate 71.

Charles Hunt, 56, pleaded no contest in February to four misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide in Ashland Municipal Court.

He was sentenced April 4 to eight months in Ashland County Jail and will begin serving his term on May 3, according to court records. He was also fined $2,000.

I-71 fatal crash: Firefighter dies, trooper injured while working Wayne County crash scene along I-71 south

The night of the fatal accident

On July 29, 2020, Hunt was driving his semi south on I-71 in Ashland County as a Highway Patrol trooper was pulling over a speeding 2009 Saturn Outlook about two miles north of the U.S. Route 250 exit.

The Saturn was moving toward the shoulder of I-71 but the driver came to a stop in the right lane.

The trooper gave orders over his public address system for the vehicle to pull off the roadway and onto the right shoulder.

Seconds later, Hunt's vehicle struck the rear of the Saturn. The car was pushed off the right side of the highway and into a tree line as the semi landed on top of it, according to the crash report.

Four of the seven people inside the Saturn died. Three others were transported by medical helicopter and EMS vehicles to multiple area hospitals.

Killled were Ah RA Hin, 46, Ma Mya Kahing, 50, both from Ft. Wayne, Indiana; and Be AH Cha, 41, and Onaiza Doa Be, 17, both from Houston.

Another traffic fatality: Loudonville man dead, another seriously injured after Ashland County crash

Video: Haunting I-71 crash video shows incident lasted only 36 seconds

A still frame from the State Highway Patrol's dash cam video shows a Saturn Outlook stopped in the right lane seconds before Charles Hunt's semi crashes into the back, killing four of the vehicle's occupants in 2020. Hunt was sentenced to 240 days in the Ashland County Jail on four counts of vehicular homicide.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge John Good said he still wasn't sure about the proper punishment for Hunt, even after studying the case and watching a video of the crash captured by the Highway Patrol cruiser.

"I think its horrific for a lot of reasons and Im sure its been horrific for you and will continue to be horrific for you for the rest of your life," Good said.

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Good, who found Hunt guilty of the charges, posed a question to Hunt: "So what would you like me to know before I decide what Im going to do?"

Hunt said he'd "do whatever to make it right," adding he has a difficult time explaining what happened. "I certainly can't explain it to an 11-year-old boy," he said, referring to his son.

Hunt said he doesn't want to drive a commercial vehicle again.

Inconclusive evidence over Hunt's cellphone activity at the time of the crash

Chief Assistant Law Director Dave Stimpert noted the crash occurred in 36 seconds from the time of the traffic stop to impact.

When troopers looked through Hunt's semi, they said they found his cellphone with the YouTube app open.

"I know the county's prosecutor's office looked into the matter and it was inconclusive," Stimpert said. "[I] sure hope the defendant wasn't watching YouTube videos when he was driving."

Good agreed the report "wasn't conclusive" about Hunt's action before the crash and said he was not going to jump to the conclusion he was using his cellphone.

"You're driving at a very reasonable speed," Good said. "You're obviously an experienced driver."

Hunt told the judge he saw lights coming from the center lane and he didn't want to change lanes in case he ran the vehicle off the road. Hunt said he then realized he didn't have enough time to stop in front of the Saturn.

"Everybody is important to somebody and these people were important to people," the judge said. "This was a close family. There are people thatve been deeply affected by the deaths of these four individuals and will be forever. So theres a huge amount of harm thats been caused here."

It's tough, Good said, knowing there really isn't much the court can do to bring any sort of justice or satisfaction to the victims.

"It doesn't affect your liability or culpability in my opinion because we've got to have certain responsibility to drive your vehicle at the speed under any condition where you can stop if somebody or something appears in front of you, and that's kinda what happened here," Good said.

"Evidence shows, by your own admission, you looked away. [You] could have slowed down, gotten over or stopped. That makes you guilty of the offense you've been found guilty [of]."

Reach Grant at 419-281-0581, ext. 259 or gritchey@gannett.com

On Twitter: @ritchey_grant

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Indiana man sentenced in I-71 crash that claimed the lives of four
A man in Indiana who was fully qualified to work as a police officer didnt get the job because of his HIV status, federal authorities said.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Clarksville, saying that the towns police department unlawfully revoked a job offer to a qualified law enforcement officer based on his Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) diagnosis, which constitutes a violation of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Title I of the ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified individuals on the basis of disability  which includes withdrawing a job offer to a qualified individual based on unsupported and stereotypical views of the applicants disability.

The man, who wasnt identified in the lawsuit, worked as a volunteer reserve officer for the towns police department for over a year, before he decided to formally apply for a position.

According to the complaint, in October 2015 he received a conditional offer of employment as a police officer  a job that was contingent on his passing a state-mandated medical exam.

The man told his medical examiner that he was under a physicians care for treatment of his HIV and was taking prescribed antiretroviral medications.

HIV is a virus that can weaken the immune system when untreated. Thanks to improvements in the effectiveness of treatments, people with HIV who regularly take antiretroviral therapy medication can keep the virus suppressed and live long and healthy lives.

In fact, according to the lawsuit, the examiner noted that the man had no long-term evidence of active disease from his HIV, and had no other notable health issues.

About a month later, however, he received a letter saying that the job offer had been revoked because he hadnt passed the statewide baseline test required by the Indiana Public Retirement System.

For the next 15 months, the man tried to appeal his erroneous disqualification, hoping to be rehired as a Clarksville police officer  which never happened, even after the force acknowledged that he was in fact qualified for the job.

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According to the lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Clarksville engaged in discriminatory employment policies and practices that violate Title I of the ADA.

Those who are qualified and seek to serve their communities should not be subjected to unlawful discrimination. Individuals living with HIV are entitled to the full protection of our anti-discrimination laws, Zachary Myers, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said in a statement. Our office will work closely with our partners in the Civil Rights Division to ensure that those who seek to serve the public are not unlawfully discriminated against.

This case is being handled by DOJs Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Indiana based on a referral from the Indianapolis District Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

No qualified individual should lose a hard-earned career opportunity because of misguided views about their disability that are not supported by medicine or science, said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the departments Civil Rights Division.

This lawsuit reflects the Justice Departments firm commitment to protecting qualified workers, including those with HIV, from unlawful employment discrimination, she added.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  A court in Iran has sentenced two students to 16-year prison terms each on charges of endangering national security, the judiciarys spokesman said Tuesday.

According to the spokesman, Zabihollah Khodaeian, the two sabotaged public facilities, tried to cooperate with opposition groups and spread propaganda against the system. These actions translated to 10-year, five and one -year prison terms, he added.

If an appeals court upholds the ruling, the 10-year term will go into effect, Khodaeian added.

The authorities detained the two students  Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi  of the prestigious Sharif Industrial University in 2020, prompting an outcry among students and teachers of the university, as well as by Amnesty International and various rights groups. Younesi and Moradi have been in custody since then.

Younesis lawyer Mostafa Nili said the students would appeal the verdict by the Islamic Revolutionary Court, which handles security-related charges.
JERUSALEM (AP)  An Israeli parliamentary committee has sanctioned a breakaway member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's party, handing a small political victory to the Israeli leader as he seeks to stabilize his fragile government and deter any other rebel lawmakers.

The Knesset committee voted 7-0 on Monday to declare Amichai Chikli a defector, a status that bars him from joining a rival party in the current parliament in the country's next election. Bennett had requested the vote.

Chikli broke away from Bennett's Yamina party when the coalition was formed last year, accusing Bennett of betraying the party's hard-line ideology. He has been seen as a potential candidate for the opposition Likud party in the future.

Monday's vote by the House Committee bars Chikli from joining Likud or any other party in parliament when the country next heads to elections. He also is barred from serving as a Cabinet minister or deputy minister in the current parliament. Chikli vowed to challenge the decision in court.

Bennett's move was seen as a warning to Idit Silman, who resigned from Bennett's small Yamina party earlier this month and is also seen as a potential member of Likud in the future.

Other members of Yamina also have expressed misgivings over the coalition, a patchwork of eight parties spanning the political spectrum. The agreement has forced all parties, including Yamina, a hard-line nationalist party, to compromise on some of their core ideological positions.

Silman's exit deprived the coalition of its ruling majority, less than a year after it was sworn in.

The eight-party alliance, made up of ultranationalists, dovish parties and a small Islamist faction, is now deadlocked with the opposition with 60 seats each in the 120-member Knesset. That has greatly complicated the government's ability to pass legislation and raised the risk of plunging the country into snap elections.

Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli, Israel's transportation minister, said Monday that all party chiefs are working together to keep the government intact.

Local media reported that Chikli may form new party, though it is unclear whether he has enough popular support to get into parliament.

Bennett's unwieldy coalition also faces other challenges. Ongoing unrest surrounding a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, has prompted the small Islamist party Ra'am  the first Arab party to serve in an Israeli coalition  to temporarily suspend its participation in protest.
JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed a Palestinian and wounded three others during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The Israeli military said its soldiers had opened fire after rocks and firebombs were thrown at them when they entered a refugee camp near the city of Jericho.

Israel has stepped up military operations in the West Bank, where Palestinians seek an independent state, after a spate of lethal street attacks in Israeli cities last month.

The Palestinian health ministry said a 20-year-old man, Ahmed Ibrahim Oweidat, had died after being shot in the head. Three people were wounded and being treated in hospital.

Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh condemned the killing and denounced "Israeli crimes" in the West Bank.

An Israeli army spokesperson said troops were conducting "counterterrorism activity to apprehend wanted suspects" in the Aqabat Jabr Refugee Camp when they were attacked by dozens of Palestinians.

"The rioters burned tyres, and hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers. The soldiers responded with riot dispersal means and live ammunition," the spokesperson said, adding that no Israeli soldiers were injured.

Witnesses confirmed that Palestinians had thrown rocks at the troops. Two Palestinians, a father and son, were detained by the Israeli forces, locals said.

The killing comes against a backdrop of recent violence in the West Bank and Israel.

Since March 22, Arab assailants have killed 14 people in Israel, including three police officers, and Israeli forces have killed at least 17 Palestinians, among them gunmen and civilians, in the West Bank, medics said.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta; Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Crispian Balmer, William Maclean)
ITV removed one line of dialogue from its broadcast of the 2002 film Spider-Man.

The network aired Sam Raimis superhero film, which stars Tobey Maguire as the titular webslinger, on Saturday (23 April) on ITV2.

A joke, which many viewers have criticised as blatantly homophobic, was edited out of the film by the network.

The line occurs early on in the film when Maguires Peter Parker enters a wrestling contest after discovering his superhero powers.

Thats a cute outfit. Did your husband give it to you? Parker says to his opponent.

ITV removed the second part of his dialogue so that Parker only says: Thats a cute outfit.

In a statement issued to Variety, the network said: We carefully consider the suitability of content we broadcast and appropriateness of language used to ensure that it meets audience expectations, especially when intended for family viewing.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Disney is refusing to remove a line of dialogue from the forthcoming Marvel film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that references a lesbian relationship, meaning that it will not be permitted a theatrical release in Saudi Arabia.

Other Disney films including Onward and Eternals have been banned from the region due to similar reasons.

Warner Bros, however, agreed to remove gay references from the recently released Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore in order to secure a release in China.

Raimis 2002 Spider-Man, which also stars Kirsten Dunst, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
Jimmy Kimmel on Monday provided an update on his feud with right-wing conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who reported him to the Capitol Police for making jokes about her.

I actually met some of the Capitol Police, Kimmel said, noting he was in Washington D.C. over the weekend for the Mark Twain Prize ceremony honoring Jon Stewart. I think Im going to be OK. There was no APB put out, I was able to walk freely around the city.

Then he returned to the business of making more jokes about the Greene Goblin  specifically about Greenes disastrous court appearance last week where she repeatedly claimed she couldnt remember many of her own statements.

She played even dumber than she actually is, Kimmel said as he showed clips of her most awkward moments under oath, at one point calling her Perjury before correcting himself to Marjorie.

Kimmel also created a new product just to help her remember:

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
Tiger King star Joe Exotic, also known as Joseph Maldonado-Passage, recently shared details on how he found love behind bars not long after his divorce filing from estranged husband Dillon Passage.

Exotic, who gained stardom with the release of Netflixs hit series centered on the bizarre underworld of big cat breeding, compared his new relationship to the iconic vampire-themed romance fantasy film Twilight, according to TMZ.

Exotic was sentenced to 21 years in prison on charges of animal abuse and attempted murder for hire after allegedly plotting to kill his competitor, Carole Baskin.

Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic, is seen at the zoo he used to run in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, on Aug. 28, 2013. (Photo: via Associated Press)

Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic, is seen at the zoo he used to run in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, on Aug. 28, 2013. (Photo: via Associated Press)

Despite being locked down, Exotic, 59, said hes found love and even proposed to a fellow inmate, John Graham. They are now engaged, TMZ reported.

In a letter to attorney Autumn Beck Blackledge obtained by TMZ, Exotic shed light on his new courtship, sharing how he met his extremely romantic and caring partner after they were both housed in the same prison unit.

According to the letter, Exotic said he got engaged to Graham last August after being involved with him for over a year.

If you ever watched Twilight, its as close as that, Exotic wrote in the letter describing their relationship, which he calls a fast attraction.

Graham has reportedly since left prison, but the soon-to-be-married couple continue to write to each other multiple times a week and talk on the phone 3 times a day, according to the TV personality.

John talks like he is from 400 years ago, Exotic wrote. He is a practicing witch and is extremely romantic and caring. The love we share is like no other Ive ever experienced.

Exotic filed for divorce from Passage last month in Santa Rosa County, Florida, just one year after Passage shared they parted ways after four years of marriage.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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REZINA, Moldova  The Russian-uniformed border guard holds out his hand and the truck driver hands over his passport and other documents  a routine and otherwise unremarkable transaction except that it's happening hundreds of miles from Russia.

Instead, it's taking place within the tiny European country of Moldova, at the border of the Russia-aligned territory known as Transnistria, which is home to an estimated 20,000 tons of Soviet-era weapons, ammunition and explosives, and more than 1,000 Russian troops. Transnistria sits on the Ukraine border and its neighbors have long worried that Russia would use it as a staging area for an invasion either east into Ukraine or west into Moldova. A series of explosions within Transnistria this week have further heightened concerns.

"It's the reality we're seeing, the surreal reality. That's what really worries a lot of people," said Olena Khorenjenko, 33, a Ukrainian refugee who fled to Moldova and is familiar with Transnistria. "These are our neighbors  not some faraway people."

LATEST UPDATES: Russia shuts off gas to Poland and Bulgaria, US diplomats begin the return to Ukraine

Video: NGO evacuating women and children from Ukraine to Moldova

Americans, especially American journalists, aren't welcome in the breakaway region, but even from the border it's easy to see the Russian influences: guards wear Russian-style camouflage, Cyrillic words are written on buildings across the Dniester River from Rezina in Moldova, and even the Soviet-style hammer and sickle is on the flag.

Transnistria gets its name from being on the east side of the Dniester River, and it occupies a long, narrow slice of land alongside Ukraine. Transnistria is smaller than Delaware, and Moldova as a whole is about the size of Maryland.

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On Monday night, explosions struck the headquarters of Transnistria security forces, who are paid by Russia. More explosions Tuesday destroyed transmission towers used for Russian broadcasts. Moldovan officials said the Monday explosions were caused by grenade launchers.

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The explosions came days after a Russian commander suggested that the Ukraine invasion was part of an effort to end oppression of Russian-speaking people in Transnistria, which experts widely consider to be a pretext. The building hit by explosions was empty because it was a public holiday, although Transnistrian media reported that some windows in surrounding homes were broken by the blast.

Moldovan officials said the attacks were designed "to create pretexts for tensioning the security situation" in the disputed area.

Like many Ukrainians, Khorenjenko worries that Russia will annex Transnistria the way it did the Crimea or the Donbas regions. Few Moldovans visit the area, and many treat it with deep suspicion due to its Russian ties. The Russian soldiers remain there primarily to guard the ammunition depot, left behind as the Soviet army withdrew from Europe at the end of World War II, and to protect a polluting steel foundry that belches smoke over the area.

A steel plant sits on the horizon in Transnistria, a breakaway area within Moldova bordering Ukraine, and a legacy of the Soviet Union's presence in the area. The steel plant is the region's major economic driver. Friday, March 25, 2022

Transnistria broke away from Moldova during the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, and the region is home to people who are linked almost equally to Russia, Romania and Moldova.

Although the United Nations doesn't recognize Transnistria as its own country, about 500,000 people live there, and the territory has its own money and an official name: The Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic.

Transnistrians are in some ways a throwback to the idea of the Soviet Union, said Keith Harrington, an Irish scholar who studies the area: "They try to hold onto the Soviet idea that you have an ethnic identity but that you identify with the region as well."

A border-crossing station sits on the east side of the Dniester River on the border from Moldova into Transnistria, a breakaway region within Moldova that borders Ukraine. Friday, March 25, 2022

Harrington, who has visited Transnistria regularly, said most visitors wouldn't notice a significant difference from being in Moldova, as many of the "Russian" border guards and soldiers were born locally, rather than transferred in from Russia, the way the Soviet Union handled things.

"Most of those troops are people who are born in Transnistria and have Russian citizenship. They're not really Russian troops," Harrington said. "And from what I've heard, there's no appetite for those armed forces to get involved in the Ukraine conflict."

A port city, a steel cage, a palace: The steps that made Putin 'the richest man in the world'

Many Moldovans today view Transnistria with a concern that borders on outright fear, although they're reluctant to discuss those views publicly, in part because they worry Russian intelligence agents might target them, especially if President Vladimir Putin decided to attack Moldova. While visiting the area, a USA TODAY reporter spoke with more than a dozen Moldovan professionals, translators, nonprofit leaders and others familiar with Transnistria..

Moldovan officials have long treated Transnistria with caution over fears Russia could invade or occupy it like it has in Ukraine or Crimea or Donetsk.

A World War II-era Soviet tank display sits near the border of Moldova and the breakaway territory of Transnistria.

In a press conference Tuesday, Moldovan President Maia Sandu reiterated her longstanding commitment to a peaceful relationship with Transnistria. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Sandu formally requested membership in the European Union, which could eventually bring the small country military protection from other E.U. members if requested.

Philip Remler, a former U.S. State Department official who worked extensively in Eastern Europe, Russia and Moldova, said Russia has a long track record of encouraging breakaway areas, from Transnistria to Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Crimea.

Other experts said they see Russia's involvement in Transnistria as largely driven by a desire to frustrate Europe.

"Theres a Russian playbook in these cases  Moscow encouraged separatism as a weapon, and protected the separatists, and while refusing to recognize them as states, gave them some legitimacy as political entities in their own right," said Remler, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Remler said Russia has never seemed particularly serious in its interest in Transnistria, "and its an interest that, I believe, the Transnistrians would rather do without."

More: As Russia escalates attacks, what a new phase of war means for Ukrainians in the east

A truck waits to cross the border from Moldova into Transnistria.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Transnistria, Moldova get new focus amid Russia's Ukraine invasion
Kansas City police are investigating allegations that a man in the Waldo neighborhood has been shooting at animals, including pets.

Tracy Quaethem lives in the neighborhood on East 78th Street and when the COVID-19 pandemic began and Quaethem started working from home, she began noticing a man come out with a pellet gun and appear to shoot at birds. But in recent weeks, Quaethem said she has seen the man shoot at cats and dogs in the neighborhood, concerning her so much that she called the Kansas City Police Department.

People tend to say its just a pellet gun but a pellet gun can hurt an animal, it can hurt a child,  Quaethem said. Waldo has a lot of small children and we wouldnt want anyone to be hit with a pellet gun.

Jake Becchina, a spokesperson for Kansas City Police, said an officer and a sergeant went to the neighborhood Monday and were not able to contact the man, who is described as very elderly. Becchina said police will work to contact the man and if any resources need to be allocated.

Quaethem said she is not sure if any pets have been injured with the pellet gun. In a video she took that she shared with The Star, the man can be seen pointing a gun. Its unclear if he fired the gun or where he pointed the gun.
NUR-SULTAN (Reuters) - Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev quit the ruling Amanat party on Tuesday and handed over the chairmanship to an ally, part of his plan to make the oil-rich Central Asian nation's political landscape more competitive.

Amanat, previously known as Nur Otan, dominates the former Soviet republic's parliament and local councils, but Tokayev has said he wants more political groups to emerge and has moved to ease registration requirements for new parties.

Elected president in 2019, Tokayev reinforced his position this year by sidelining his predecessor and former patron Nursultan Nazarbayev. He then announced plans for a broad range of reforms, including to the constitution.

Delegates at the Amanat congress on Tuesday voted to support Tokayev's nominee Yerlan Koshanov, speaker of the lower house of parliament and previously the president's chief of staff.

Kazakhstan held an election to the lower house last year. The next one is not due until 2026, but Kazakhstan has a history of early elections, and calling one after constitutional and electoral reforms could help Tokayev to reshape parliament.

(Reporting by Tamara Vaal; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Officially, no one at the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department ever heard a word against Roger Golubski during his decades on the force. OK, maybe theyd heard gossip that he liked Black girls. But allegations that hed raped, harassed, stalked, threatened, trafficked and murdered some of these women? Well now this was new, and of course absurd.

How odd, then, that several of the declarations and sworn depositions filed last Friday in the civil case against Golubski and the Unified Government go into great detail about repeated but unsuccessful efforts to get someone, anyone, at the KCKPD to stop then-detective Golubski from continuing to abuse these women he supposedly liked so much.

Lets start with the declaration, signed under penalty of perjury, of highly decorated former KCKPD Sgt. Tim Hausback, who worked for the department from 1972 until 1989, when he had to retire because of an injury suffered in the line of duty. I took great pride in being a police officer, he said, and cared about the North End community he was proud to protect and serve.

Many in the neighborhood were poor, or addicted to drugs, or without stable housing, he said in his April 21 statement. And one thing that really troubled me as an officer was when I saw such persons being abused or exploited. While there were some officers who were sincerely committed to serving this vulnerable population, others leveraged the authority of their badge to prey on the vulnerable. In particular, some took advantage of poor, struggling or addicted women, including those who worked on the streets as prostitutes.

In the mid to late 1970s, Hausback said, I discovered that one of my fellow KCKPD officers, Roger Golubski, was taking advantage of some of the women who worked as prostitutes. On many occasions, I saw Golubski sitting in his patrol car in the Bottoms, an industrial area next to the river at Third and James Street, which was well known as an area where prostitutes were available.

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Golubski had no reason to be in the Bottoms at those times. In fact, he was violating KCKPD orders by being out of district when he should have been patrolling his assigned area. Golubski seemed quite comfortable shirking his assignment and made no effort to disguise that he was looking for prostitutes.

None of this was a secret to anyone, Hausback said. Golubskis activities were widely known within the department, especially in Division 1, where his familiarity with prostitutes would sometimes come up during daily roll call.  What deeply troubled me was that Golubskis pursuit and exploitation of prostitutes in the Bottoms seemed to be accepted in the department. No one questioned it, and no one was doing anything about it.

When Hausback reported all of this to his commanding officer, Maj. Daniel Monchil, who died in 2012, all that happened was that a pimp soon made a false complaint about Hausback, accusing him of extortion. Next, Hausback reported Golubski to internal affairs investigators, to Chief Allan Meyers, who is also deceased, and to an assistant city attorney. They never took any action, either, he said.

Teen victim described being raped repeatedly

Another declaration, also given on April 21, came from Tina Peterson, who when she worked for a battered womens shelter, the Joyce H. Williams Center, in the late 1980s encountered numerous victims of Roger Golubski. As many of these women, including those who worked on the street, described they abuse they suffered, one name came up repeatedly: Roger Golubski.

Women who named him came in bleeding, shaking, crying and afraid. Peterson called the KCKPDs internal affairs department twice to report him, each time leaving all of her contact information and why she was calling. Someone would get back to her, she was told. But no one ever did.

In the most chilling deposition filed in the case, a woman described in gruesome detail how Golubski regularly raped her from the time she was 13 in 1997 until she was almost 18.

Shed grown up in a series of foster homes, and had just gone to live with her grandmother when Golubski called her out of the blue one day, and told her that her name had been mentioned in connection with a criminal case. Unless she wanted to go to jail, he said, she needed to meet him right away, but not at the police station.

I really thought he was trying to help me, you know. Like, I thought it was a mix-up, but we would get it straightened out.

Though she had no idea what case he was talking about, she agreed to meet him in the parking lot of a Walmart that isnt there any more, at 64th and State. When she got there, he never brought up any crime, but asked her to tell him about some of her best friends, and name the person she cherished most in the world.

He came off  as if he cared. And so when I gave him a little bit about my history and the abuse and stuff that Id been through in foster homes and things, I thought he would empathize with me, and you know, maybe even help me get justice at some point.

Instead, he remarked that women sometimes lead men on, and play victim. Then he put his hand on her thigh, and told her that if I want to see my sweet little grandma again shed shut up and do as he said.

Either you love your grandma or you dont, she says he told her. You make the decision.

He told her what color scrubs her grandmother had worn to work that morning, and she believed his threats.

Told her about dumping bodies in the river

Over the next five years, he choked her for sexual pleasure, punched her at his convenience, made her wear a dog collar and walk on all fours, and sold drugs in front of her, conducting his business on burner phones. He complained that she didnt know what she was doing sexually, and waited outside her school on a regular basis, not to pick her up, but to monitor her.

Many times, she said, he took her down to the Bottoms and threatened her with a twisted lullaby: Down by the river, said a hanky-pank, they wont find her until she stank. Anyone who disrespected him was dumped there, he told her, and took personal credit for the foul odor of the water.

Every encounter by the river I thought was my last day on Earth, she said in the deposition. Its not been a day that went by that that song dont come up in my head, even now.

When she finally told her aunt what had been happening, the older woman went down to the police station and reported everything, but came back to the car convinced that it was her niece who has been telling lies. It couldnt be true, her aunt told her, because hed been on duty the times I said.

Her sister saw the busted lip and black eye she came home with that night, after Golubski punished her for being, as he called her, a snitch and a rat.

This woman talked to the FBI long ago, as so many other victims now have. And you know, maybe when there are enough accusers to fill Arrowhead, theyll take some action.
By Humeyra Pamuk and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The influential chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee criticized Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday for failing to condemn Turkey's decision to convict philanthropist Osman Kavala to life imprisonment, a verdict seen as symbolic of President Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on dissent.

Kavala was jailed for life without parole on Monday after he was convicted of trying to overthrow the government by financing protests, in a case that Europe's top court and Western powers called politically motivated.

The State Department issued a statement on Monday saying it was "deeply troubled and disappointed" by the conviction and calling for Kavala's release.

Senator Bob Menendez, the committee's Democratic chairman, said the statement fell short.

"This is why authoritarian figures like Erdogan - they get away with continuing to do what they're doing. We should have condemned the conviction," Menendez said, using his last remarks at a hearing on the State Department budget to blast the statement.

As chairman, Menendez has the right to review arms deals, and Turkey currently is lobbying Congress not to block Ankara's request to buy new F-16 fighter aircraft from the United States.

Turkey last October asked to buy 40 Lockheed Martin Corp-made F-16 fighter jets and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes.

The sale of U.S. weapons to NATO ally Turkey became contentious after Ankara acquired Russian-made defense missile systems, also known as the S-400s, triggering U.S. sanctions as well as Turkey's removal from the F-35 fighter jet program.

Menendez has long opposed the sale of F-16s to Turkey, as long as Ankara kept the S-400s.

Washington has so far refrained from expressing an opinion on the sale, saying it needs to go through the standard arms sale review process.

A State Department letter last month responding to a group of bipartisan lawmakers who specifically asked the Biden administration not to go ahead with the F-16 sale included language that defended "appropriate" defense ties with Turkey.

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"The Administration believes that there are nonetheless compelling long-term NATO alliance unity and capability interests, as well as U.S. national security, economic and commercial interests that are supported by appropriate U.S. defense trade ties with Turkey," the letter said.

But it neither gave any assurances nor provided a timeline for when the sale may or may not go ahead.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Patricia Zengerle in in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Apr. 25LAKE ANDES  A Lake Andes man pleaded guilty Monday to the arson of a Native American resource center in Lake Andes four months after the fire rendered the building unusable.

Donavon Sully, 27, of Lake Andes, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree arson and one count of reckless burning. As part of the agreement, he pleaded down from a more serious charge of first-degree arson, which South Dakota law defines as the intentional burning of an occupied structure. The prosecution also dismissed two additional counts of reckless burning and one count of intentional damage under $100,000.

On Dec. 20, 2021, Sully, donning dark clothes and a ski mask, stuffed a pair of shoes with paper, lit them on fire with a cigarette and placed the burning shoes between a screen door and a storm door to the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center (NAWHERC) in Lake Andes.

In a December court filing, authorities say Sully claimed he was upset that night and had after a friend drove him from a casino to the Gus Stop. While "blacked out," he set multiple fires  including piles of leaves near a propane tank and an electrical box near the city's pool  and slashed the tires of two vehicles around town.

After fire crews determined the nature of the fire to be suspicious, investigators received a tip claiming they saw a man in dark clothes near the NAWHERC around the time of the fire. Hours later, and before authorities had determined who was responsible, Sully turned himself in at the Charles Mix County Sheriff's Office.

Though Charles Mix County State's Attorney Steve Cotton was not immediately available to provide details of the plea agreement, Sully's probation status and a separate concurrent case could complicate his sentencing in the arson case.

Between 2013 and 2020, Sully was convicted in South Dakota for domestic abuse through sexual contact, secret use of a camera to record a person's body, impersonating a police officer, threatening a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, refusing to leave property and failure to appear for a court appearance.

Story continues

With Monday's conviction of two Class 4 felonies, Sully currently faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison plus a $40,000 in fines  unless prosecutors offered a lesser sentence as part of the plea agreement  which will be determined in a July 8 sentencing.

Court documents, however, currently make no mention of an order for Sully to pay restitution to the NAWHERC for losses and damages sustained by the organization.

In January, NAWHERC director Charon Asetoyer told the Mitchell Republic that the fire took away much more than just a community's building  it pushed pause on a food pantry, destroyed a community radio station that served as the area's emergency alert system and took away a safe place for tribal members of the area to commune.

"It's a big loss to the community. It's pretty devastating for some families," Asetoyer said. "[For services] to come to a screeching halt, you can rest assured that the community is feeling it."

Beyond the tangible operations the building held, countless tribal artifacts of historical and cultural significance were also lost, including photographs and recorded interviews with tribal elders.

"The elders  in Indian Country, oral history is extremely important. To be able to interview elders and capture it on tape for the next generation is really important," Asetoyer said. "Within a language is contained your values, your math, your science, your medicines, your info on traditional healing practices  all those things that are so important for survival. ... It's really heartbreaking to see so much of that destroyed."

Reiterating that not everything lost in the blaze had a price tag, Asetoyer estimated physical damages amounted to nearly $250,000.

A GoFundMe page that used to collect general donations

was transitioned to serve as a landing page for those who wish to give money to help with rebuilding.

Since the fire, the NAWHERC has received 93 donations totaling just under $7,800  just over 3% of the estimated cost to rebuild.
Apr. 26CANTON  Given the decline of state funding for probation, St. Lawrence County legislators passed a resolution during Monday's Finance Committee meeting to support probation and other alternatives to incarceration in order to reduce reliance on prisons and jails.

"Dwindling over the last decade has been funding for probation from a variety of sources," said County Administrator Ruth A. Doyle.

"What this resolution's asking, in light of all the changes that have happened the last year and a half, is a recognition of funding necessary to provide these options," she said.

According to the resolution, state funding for probation has decreased from a 46.5% state share in 1990 to less than 10% in 2022, "putting a huge strain on counties and cost to county property taxpayers."

At the same time, it notes, the number of programs and services that county probation departments are required to provide has increased.

The resolution supports a number of potential solutions to energize probation services, including establishing a funding stream through DCJS for 100% of all local probation costs, and eliminating the mandate that pre-sentence investigations be conducted when a sentence of up to one year in jail has been negotiated.

Legislator Harry A. Smithers II, R-Gouverneur, rejected what he called the vagueness of alternatives to incarceration and the idea that we should reduce reliance on prisons. He referenced the recent closure of Ogdensburg Correctional Facility, saying how the board encouraged the state to use that prison rather than close it.

"It seems like this is doing the opposite thing," he said.

Ms. Doyle responded that NYSAC's thinking was, if we're going to move away from reliance on prisons, we need to restore funding to probation.

"We need to restore funding levels to alternatives to incarceration if we're not going to continue the model of prisons," she said.

Mr. Smithers was the only legislator to vote against the resolution, which passed with a majority. It will move to the next full board meeting on May 2.
War crimes need to be prosecuted

Not long after Russias invasion of Ukraine, the international Criminal Court opened an investigation into possible war crimes being committed in the region. Leaders across the world and here in the United States were quick to issue strong condemnations of Russian President Vladimir Putin  and rightfully so.

Its obvious to anyone paying attention to the conflict that Putin has committed serious crimes against the people of Ukraine, and we should all hope to see every Russian leader who is responsible for these crimes be prosecuted to the fullest extent of international law. Having said that, however, one cannot ignore the glaring hypocrisy of so many in our government who, while understandably denouncing Russia, have, themselves been responsible for egregious violations of human rights and international law across the globe.

The most horrific current example of these human rights abuses is U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabias war on Yemen which began in 2014, after the Houthi rebellion had taken hold of the Yemeni government. The Obama, Trump and Biden administrations have provided hundreds of billions in weapons, intelligence, targeted drone strikes and refueling of planes to the Kingdom as a horrific land and air war along with a full blockade has been waged against Houthi-controlled Yemen. Food, medicine and other basic necessities are being kept from entering the country. Close to 400,000 have been killed as a result of this conflict, with 60% of these deaths being attributed to starvation, disease and lack of clean water.

Drawing attention to this conflict is in no way intended to diminish the suffering of those in Ukraine but is instead a call for the application of a morally consistent foreign policy whereby not only Russian officials, but leaders around the world are held legally accountable for aiding and directly committing war crimes.

Daniel Subotnik, Oak Park

Vote yes on Measures A & B

Story continues

Dont be fooled by the millions of dollars that the oil industry is pouring into Ventura County in an attempt to defeat Measures A & B. Despite industry claims, no jobs will be lost, the price of gas will not be affected, there will be no reduction in tax revenues because this will only apply to future oil drilling projects. Yes on A & B will simply require an environmental review of impacts to our water, air and soil when new oil well drilling is proposed.

Currently there are two sets of rules for oil permits. Antiquated oil permits issued between 1920-1970 are the vast majority (approximately 90%) of all the oil and gas permits in Ventura County. These old oil permits allow any number of wells to be drilled, any method of drilling to be used, and they never expire. Ventura County already has over 6,800 active, idle and abandoned oil wells that have been drilled in and near our communities. Over 1,500 of these oil wells have been drilled on top of or through an underground water aquifer, putting at risk of cross-contamination the drinking water of communities that rely on local groundwater for their municipal water systems.

This is a health, safety and economic issue. Over 400,000 Ventura County residents depend on local groundwater for the clean water coming out of their tap. Over 85% of the crops grown in Ventura County that support our $2 billion agricultural economy are irrigated with water pumped from our local aquifers.

Bottom line, when more oil drilling is proposed in Ventura County, yes on Measures A&B will ensure modern-day reviews of future oil drilling projects. Your yes vote will better protect our water, the most essential resource of all.

Louise Roberts, Camarillo

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Letters: Leaders must pay for war crimes; yes to Measures A & B
BERLIN (Reuters) - Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to supply Ukraine with Leopard battle tanks, adding that Germany should speed up the delivery of weapons to Kyiv.

"I am not in the position of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. I can only say what I would do in his place: I would deliver tanks," Nauseda was quoted by Funke media group as saying on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Germany announced its first delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off Russian attacks, after weeks of pressure at home and abroad to do so amid confusion over its stance.

Nauseda said Germany was going in the right direction but if it wants to be consistent, it could not stop halfway.

"It is extremely important that Ukraine gets the military equipment it needs now. Not tomorrow or the day after  then it could be too late," he added.

The head of the NATO member state called on the alliance to transition from air surveillance to air defence, saying the Ukraine war showed the importance of air defence capability.

"With airspace surveillance, our pilots can currently only gather information about airspace violations. But there are no orders to shoot down enemy military jets in an emergency," he said

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Metro Atlanta beekeepers scrambled to try to rescue millions of dying bees that were left on the tarmac at Atlantas airport in the heat this weekend.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Two hundred packages of bees were supposed to be flown directly from Sacramento, CA, to Anchorage, Alaska, four days ago, but somehow ended up at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, according to the Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association.

After four days, the bees started to escape and workers took the cargo containers outside in the heat, WABE reported.

The person who was supposed to get the bees reached out to local beekeeper Edward Morgan.

She said, You dont know me, I got your number from a Facebook group, but I need you to go to the airport to rescue my bees, he said.

Morgan headed to the airport, not sure what to expect, and went to the Delta cargo area.

I started opening them up, and I saw that in at least 10 of the packages the bees were dead, he said. It was devastating just to see dead bees sitting in a can.

The airline told the beekeeper in Alaska the soonest they could fly out was the next day.

I said, What time are they supposed to ship out on Monday? She said 3 p.m. I said, these bees are not going to make it, Morgan said.

Thats when Morgan suggested giving away the bees here locally. He made a call and some social media posts.

It was eye opening how fast people mobilized to save these bees, he said.

Within one hour at least 25 beekeepers showed up.

TRENDING STORIES:

Because people rallied very quickly, we were able to save those bees, and those bees are across the state now. People came from everywhere, Morgan said.

Many of the bees were saved thanks to the quick response of the bee community.

Story continues

People have been congratulating me and saying that Im a hero, and Ive been saying, I actually was just going to make some money, Morgan said. After I saw what was happening I said dont even worry about the fee because I saved some bees.

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Sadly, the vast majority of the bees died in the heat, but several thousand were rescued, according to the MABA.
A longtime presidential speechwriter is offering up some advice to President Biden ahead of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner: Stick to the script.

The most important thing is that he gets up there and is likable. And he doesnt seem petty, says Landon Parvin.

The writing guru knows a thing or two about helping commanders in chief get some chuckles out of buttoned-up Washington audiences. A former speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, Parvin estimates that hes penned remarks for at least 60 black-tie dinners over his 40-year career, including the Gridiron Club and Radio and Television Correspondents dinners, the Alfalfa Club dinner and the annual Correspondents gala.

Facing sinking job approval poll numbers, Parvin says Biden could could do himself a lot of good when he takes to the dais on Saturday at the Washington Hilton for the WHCA event, which was canceled the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic and which former President Trump skipped attending while he was in office.

Hes had a rough few months, and it kind of looks like hes on the ropes. If he did jokes that projected someone who was much more in control, I think that would serve him well, Parvin says of Biden.

Self-deprecating jokes are always funnier when the speaker is riding high, which is not the case right now. But to the extent he can make fun of some of the things that people are taking seriously, is in effect, saying, I can joke about this, and theres no need for you to worry about it. And so he kind of rises above it.

Presidents typically deliver roast-like remarks and one-liners at the Correspondents dinner, but 73-year-old Parvin  whos also written for Democrats including late Democratic Party chairman Bob Strauss and former President Bill Clintons adviser Vernon Jordan  warns that Biden should be careful about how deep his humor cuts, avoiding across-the-aisle jokes that might leave Republicans bruised.

Story continues

I would not attack Republicans because itll make him seem smaller. So no zingers, even though thats the easiest to write, says Parvin.

You can still talk about [House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)] or whatever, but they have to be good-natured.

And steering clear of major gaffes and soiree-related snafus is achievable.

I would say the risk is that his performance wont be good  that he ad libs, says Parvin, who is poised to share more of his political humor memories on Wednesday at The Hill and the Bipartisan Policy Centers Punchlines and Politics event, which also features insight from former Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kansas), author Tevi Troy and former Capitol Steps member Bari Bern.

Asked about the optics of appearing at a swanky dinner amid COVID-19 and Russias invasion of Ukraine, Parvin says theres precedent for having to adjust the presidents planned routine when crises occur on the world stage.

Just days before the 2007 WHCA dinner, a Virginia Tech student shot 32 people on the campus of the Blacksburg, Va., school.

We had planned for President Bush to play a game where he would go into the audience and ask members of the audience funny questions, for which they would receive funny prizes, recalls Parvin, who says staffers had already lined up Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and TV host Larry King to participate.

While Bush still attended the dinner, Parvin says, We canceled any humor.

So, it does happen, and let us hope it doesnt happen this week, he says.

Parvin also says some of 79-year-old Bidens characteristics that could be considered political liabilities might actually serve as strengths in a successful Correspondents dinner speech.

I would probably do some something that relates to his age, in terms of talking about the good ol days or you know, what it was like to work with Woodrow Wilson, that kind of thing. Or maybe the age thing is explaining Twitter, or Tinder, or something that recognizes that he is not necessarily like everybody in that audience, that hes from a different era, suggests Parvin.

I usually tell my clients, whether Republican or Democrat: If youre a Democrat, youre going to make your better laughs If you make fun of Democrats. And if youre a Republican, youre going to get better laughs if you make fun of Republicans, he says.

People, whether they recognize it or not, like the feeling of the geniality.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The parents of Tyre Sampson, the 14-year-old boy who fell from the free-fall ride at ICON Park, are speaking out about what happened.

His mother, Nekia Dodd, spoke in a news conference in St. Louis on Tuesday morning, and his father, Yarnell Sampson, spoke from ICON Park Tuesday afternoon.

The family is taking legal action. They filed a lawsuit against 10 companies, including ICON Park.

READ: Tyre Sampsons mother: Death on FreeFall could have been prevented

The 65-page lawsuit said he shouldnt have been allowed on the ride in the first place.

He was too tall and about 100 pounds over the weight limit.

READ: Tyre Sampsons mother speaks out after family files lawsuit against several companies

The ride also didnt have any safety belts, which the suit says could have prevented his death.

That Sunday, I was waiting for my son to come home because he told me Ill see him Saturday or Sunday. Im still in shock, Dodd said.

READ: Tyre Sampson death: Lawsuit claims that Orlando drop ride at ICON Park was unreasonably dangerous

Tyres parents said their son was in Orlando for Spring Break celebrating his good grades and accomplishments.

No child should lose their life trying to have fun, Yarnell Sampson said.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Monday awarded more than $3.7 million to 21 local law enforcement agencies  including the Mansfield Police Department, which will receive $272,000, and the Northern Ohio Violent Crime Consortium  to help them strategically combat violence in their communities.

The 21 agencies are the first to receive funding through DeWines new Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program, according to a news release from the governor's office.

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DeWine, in partnership with the Ohio General Assembly, created the program last year to give local law enforcement additional tools to hold accountable the small number of criminals responsible for most violent crime in the state.

More: Walker Lake Road residents oppose Menards proposed storage units

This is just the beginning of our concentrated efforts to give local law enforcement the specific tools they need to combat crime through localized strategies, said DeWine. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to fighting crime, and I am dedicated to helping our local agencies prevent violence using the methods they know will make the most difference in their local neighborhoods.

The Northern Ohio Violent Crime Consortium, which includes Richland, Lucas, Summit, Stark, Cuyahoga, Lorain and Mahoning counties, received a total of $130,418.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield police awarded $272,000 to fight crime
The mayor of Mariupol said on Tuesday that a third mass grave had been found near the besieged Ukrainian city.

Vadym Boichenko told Ukrainian television now we see there is another one in addition to those in Mangush and Vynohradne, according to CNN.

Axios noted that Boichenko told Radio Free Europe that satellite imagery showing excavated trenches about 60 to 70 meters long in the village of Staryi Krym corresponds with information gathered by Ukrainian officials.

Boichenko also reportedly told Radio Svoboda that these fascists are involving the local population in digging the graves.

They told us that you need to work hours (for) food, water, he said, USA Today reported. People are forced to do so.

Satellite imagery released on Saturday depicted another mass grave site in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, just as U.S. officials work with Ukraine to help gather evidence of alleged Russian war crimes.

Maxar Technologies, the company that captured the satellite images of the site, also cited social media footage showing dozens of dead civilians being buried en masse in that grave.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied its forces have committed war crimes, including the targeting of civilians, according to Axios, though the International Criminal Court has opened investigations into the actions of Moscows troops.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Lithuanian lawmakers earlier this month that almost every day new mass graves are found.

Updated at 9:51 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
As the country awaits an appeal from the Biden administration regarding the repeal of the federal mask mandate on public transportation, a patchwork of cities and states continue to require masking.

Notably, Los Angeles and New York City have continued to mandate masks on public transportation, while in Chicago, protestors are calling for masking to be reinstated as cases rise with a new Omicron variant taking hold.

The ruling, which came down from U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, has caused confusion about where and when masks are required as well as health concerns for vulnerable populations and young children, who remain ineligible for vaccines.

Dr. Zeke Emanuel, vice provost of global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania and former adviser to thenPresident elect Joe Biden, called the judge's ruling "as incoherent as possible."

All individuals are less protected as a result, he said, though he doesn't see blanket mandates coming back anytime soon.

"I don't think we're going back unless the pandemic gets substantially worse," Emanuel said.

Instructions on a federal mask mandate is still displayed on a screen as Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport worked on updating their signage Tuesday, April 19, 2022, in Providence, R.I. after a court order lifted the mandate Monday. A federal judge's decision to strike down a national mask mandate was met with cheers on some airplanes but also concern about whether it's really time to end one of the most visible vestiges of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Lawrence Gostin, global health law professor at Georgetown Law, also expressed concern about the ruling and its implications in an op-ed for The New York Times, co-written by civil rights attorney Duncan Hosie.

"Judge Mizelles ruling could prevent the federal government from effectively and nimbly responding to future pandemics. And long after this pandemic has faded, her approach and rationale could undermine the federal governments authority to confront other big problems, from occupational health and safety to climate change," they wrote.

Globally, mask mandates have largely been kept in place. Parts of Europe and major cities in China have seen rising cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the latest strain of COVID-19. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and prevention is reporting an even more transmissible variant has been detected in the U.S. and slowly climbing.

Story continues

While the U.S. has yet to see a broad impact from the variant, Emanuel said the fall will be another time to be vigilant after summer travel.

"I have told my university you have to prepare for a surge in the fall. If I were thinking as a head of a company ... I think you have to prepare for that," Emanuel said.

Follow Anjalee on Twitter @AnjKhem

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[](200771):2022( 20220426 15:53:34  ::2022(

::2022( Stock Code200771 Stock ID: Hangqilun B Announcement No.:2022-43

Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.

The First Quarter Report 2022



The Company and its directors hereby guarantee that the content of information disclosure is real, accurate, complete and free from any false record, misleading representation or material omissions.



Important notes

1.The Board of Directors and the Supervisory Committee of the Company and its directors, supervisors and senior

executives should guarantee the reality, accuracy and completion of the quarterly report, there are no any fictitious

statements, misleading statements or important omissions carried in this report, and shall take legal

responsibilities, individual and or joint.

2. Person in charge of the Company, Person in charge of accounting and person in charge of accounting organ

(accounting officer) hereby confirm that the financial information of this Quarterly Report is authentic, accurate

and complete.

3. The first quarterly report audited or not

Yes No

I. Main financial data

(I) Main accounting data and financial indexes

Whether it has retroactive adjustment or re-statement on previous accounting data Yes  No

Retroactive adjustment or restatement of causes

Merger of enterprises under the same control



This period Same period of last year Changes of this period over same period of last year  Before adjustment After adjustment After adjustment Operating revenueYuan 1,788,987,236.29 1,181,683,010.42 1,250,479,486.22 43.06% Net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed companyYuan 184,043,460.08 161,578,759.88 128,410,233.92 43.32% Net profit after deducting of non-recurring gain/loss attributable to the shareholders of listed companyYuan 138,956,828.84 54,440,724.84 54,440,724.84 155.24% Net cash generated from /used in operating activitiesYuan -124,850,206.32 157,547,348.48 133,76,407.99 -193.82% Basic earning per share(Yuan/Share) 0.25 0.22 0.17 47.06% Diluted gains per share(Yuan/Share) 0.25 0.22 0.17 47.06% Weighted average return on equity % 2.25% 1.92% 1.52% 0.73% End of this period End of last period Changes of this period-end over same period-end of last year(%) Before adjustment After adjustment After adjustment Total assetsYuan 16,074,299,760.82 16,319,667,628.76 16,319,667,628.76 -1.50% Net assets attributable to the shareholders of the listed companyYuan 8,420,244,930.35 7,927,485,773.65 7,927,485,773.65 6.22% (II)Items and amount of non-current gains and losses

 Applicable  Not applicable

In RMB



Items Current amount Note Non-current asset disposal gain/loss(including the write-off part for which assets impairment provision is made) -3,768.85 Tax refund, deduction and exemption that is examined and approved by authority exceeding or has no official approval document. 0.00 Governmental Subsidy accounted as current gain/loss, except for those subsidies at with amount or quantity fixed by the national government and closely related to the Companys business operation. 3,471,802.66 Capital occupation charges on non-financial enterprises that are recorded into current gains and losses 0.00 Gains due to that the investment costs for the Company to obtain subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures are lower than the enjoyable fair value of the identifiable net assets of the investees when making the investments 0.00 Gain/loss on non-monetary asset swap 0.00 Gain/loss on entrusting others with investments or asset management 0.00 Asset impairment provisions due acts of God such as natural disasters 0.00 Gains/losses of debt restructure 0.00 Reorganization expenses, such as expenditure for allocation of employees and integration fee 0.00 Gains/losses exceeding the fair value arising from transactions with obviously unfair prices 0.00 Net gain and loss of the subsidiary under the common control and produced from enterprise consolidation from the beginning of the period to the consolidation date 0.00 Gain and loss arising from contingent matters irrelevant with the Companys normal operation business 0.00 Gain and loss from change of the fair value arising from transactional monetary assets, transactional financial liabilities as held as well as the investment income arising from disposal of the transactional monetary assets, transactional financial liabilities and financial assets available for sale excluding the effective hedging transaction in connection with the Companys normal business 12,424,103.43 Reverse of the provision for impairment of accounts receivable undergoing impairment test individually 0.00 Gain/loss from external entrusted loan 0.00 Gain and loss arising from change in the fair value of the investment based real estate measure afterwards by means of fair value model 0.00 Influence upon the current gains and losses from the once-and for all adjustment over the current gains and losses according to the taxation and accounting laws and regulations 0.00 Income from custodian charge obtained from entrusted operation 0.00 Operating income and expenses other than the aforesaid items 37,777,585.65 Mainly due to contract termination of liquidated damages income Less: Influenced amount of income tax 7,873,995.92 Amount of influence of minority interestsAfter tax 709,095.73 Total 45,086,631.24 -- Details of other gains/losses items that meets the definition of non-recurring gains/losses:  Applicable  Not applicable

There are no other gains/losses items that meet the definition of non-recurring gains/losses in the Company.

Explain the items defined as recurring profit (gain)/loss according to the lists of extraordinary profit (gain)/loss in

Q&A Announcement No.1 on Information Disclosure for Companies Offering Their Securities to the Public ---

Extraordinary Profit/loss

 Applicable  Not applicable

There are no items defined as recurring profit (gain)/loss according to the lists of extraordinary profit (gain)/loss

in Q&A Announcement No.1 on Information Disclosure for Companies Offering Their Securities to the Public ---

Extraordinary Profit/loss.

(III)Particulars about material changes in items of main accounting statement and financial index and

explanations of reasons

 Applicable Not applicable



Balance sheet items March 31,2022 December 31,2021 Year-on-year increase or decrease Reason Other current assets 12,282,671.80 66,174,951.42 -81.44% Mainly due to after the merger of Steam Turbine Heavy Industry Co., Ltd last year, the original value-added tax credit that could not be deducted was deducted in the current period. Development expenses 6,158,985.15 0.00 Mainly due to the expected capitalized gas turbine development expenses incurred in the current period. Employees wage payable 66,458,358.00 133,122,509.92 -50.08% Mainly due to the year-end bonus accrued at the end of the previous year was paid in the current period. Tax payable 52,298,356.66 81,622,378.10 -35.93% Mainly due to the value-added tax and income tax balances payable at the end of the period decreased compared with the beginning of the period. Special payable 10,381,765.74 7,249,677.56 43.20% Mainly due to receive more than 4 million yuan of Government subsidies in this period Income statement items Current period Last period Year-on-year increase or decrease Reason Business income 1,788,987,236.29 1,250,479,486.22 43.06% Mainly due to the increase in units delivered in this period, including the delivery of 2 gas turbines. Business costs 1,268,556,153.69 867,218,040.52 46.28% Mainly due to operating costs increased YOY incurred by the increase in operating income. Business tax and surcharge 3,348,834.01 6,813,565.14 -50.85% Mainly due to the original heavy industry value-added tax credit was offset in the current period after the heavy industry was absorbed and merged into the shares, resulting in a decrease in the value-added tax paid in the current period, and a decrease in accrued taxes and surcharges. Financial expenses 5,313,707.09 3,066,720.40 73.27% Mainly due to a net exchange loss in the current period and there was a net exchange gain the same period last year. Investment gain -for loss 12,491,713.99 2,590,048.97 382.31% Mainly due to the increase in the wealth management products with income recognized at maturity in the current period compared with the previous year. Other income 3,751,924.89 10,058,629.52 -62.70% Mainly due to the relocation expenses recognized in other income in the current period decreased compared with the same period of last year; Non-operating income 39,983,542.00 118,072,268.36 -66.14% Mainly due to the received compensation of RMB 109 million paid by Sinosteel Equipment Co., Ltd in the same period of the previous year. Non-operating expenses 2,486,602.85 1,342,295.64 85.25% Mainly due to the increase in quality compensation expenses in the current period. Income tax expenses 40,840,560.27 33,370,278.11 22.39% Mainly due to the increase in the total sales profit in the current period and the increase in the provision of income tax. Cash flow generated by business operation, net -124,850,206.32 133,076,407.99 -193.82% Mainly due to the YOY decrease in the amount collected in the current period and the increase in cash paid for the purchase of gas turbines and other stockpiles. Net cash flow generated by investment 126,672,172.27 -780,529,009.29 116.23% Mainly due to the decrease in the net purchase of wealth management, and there was RMB 688 million paid in cash to purchase the convertible bonds in the same period last year paid. Net cash flow generated by Financing -3,028,838.60 -34,600,606.64 91.25% Mainly due to the YOY increase in net bank loans. II. Shareholders Information

(I) Total number of common shareholders and preference shareholders with voting rights recovered and

top ten common shareholders

In shares



Total number of common shareholders at the period-end 11,106 Total preference shareholders with the voting power recovered at the end of the reporting period(if any) 0 Shares held by the top 10 shareholders Shareholder name Properties of shareholder Share proportion % Quantity Amount of tradable shares with Conditional held Pledging or freezing Status of the shares Quantity Hangzhou Steam Turbine Power Group Co., Ltd. State-owned legal person 63.64% 479,824,800 479,824,800 GUOTAI JUNAN SECURITIES(HONGKONG) LIMITED Foreign legal person 0.91% 6,828,085 0 China Merchants Securities(HK)Co., Ltd. State-owned legal person 0.72% 5,453,675 0 Zhou Jie Domestic Natural person 0.62% 4,695,100 0 VANGUARD TOTAL INTERNATIONAL STOCK INDEX FUND Foreign legal person 0.59% 4,434,453 0 ISHARES CORE MSCI EMERGING MARKETS ETF Foreign legal person 0.53% 4,031,463 0 VANGUARD EMERGING MARKETS STOCK INDEX FUND Foreign legal person 0.51% 3,857,182 0 NORGES BANK Foreign legal person 0.33% 2,514,529 0 Xia Zulin Domestic Natural person 0.32% 2,381,200 0 Gu Yang Domestic Natural person 0.21% 1,568,324 0 Shares held by the Top 10 Shareholders of Non-restricted shares Shareholders Names Number of the non-restricted shares held Share type Share type Quantity GUOTAI JUNAN SECURITIES(HONGKONG) LIMITED 6,828,085 Foreign shares placed in domestic exchange 6,828,085 China Merchants Securities(HK)Co., Ltd. 5,453,675 Foreign shares placed in domestic exchange 5,453,675 Zhou Jie 4,695,100 Foreign shares placed in domestic exchange 4,695,100 VANGUARD TOTAL INTERNATIONAL STOCK INDEX FUND 4,434,453 Foreign shares placed in domestic exchange 4,434,453 ISHARES CORE MSCI EMERGING MARKETS ETF 4,031,463 Foreign shares placed in domestic exchange 4,031,463 VANGUARD EMERGING MARKETS STOCK INDEX FUND 3,857,182 Foreign shares placed in domestic exchange 3,857,182 NORGES BANK 2,514,529 Foreign shares placed in domestic exchange 2,514,529 Xia Zulin 2,381,200 Foreign shares placed in domestic exchange 2,381,200 Gu Yang 1,568,324 Foreign shares placed in domestic exchange 1,568,324 Wang Yihu 1,539,966 Foreign shares placed in 1,539,966

domestic exchange Explanation on associated relationship or concerted action of the above shareholders (1)It is unknown to the Company if there is any relationship among the top 10 common share holders without restriction. (2) Other Shareholders. is not an action-in-concert party with any of other shareholders as described by the Administration Rules of Informational Disclosure about Change of Shareholding Statues of PLCs. Note to the top 10 common stockholders involved in margin financing & securities lending (If any) Not applicable (II) Total shareholders with preferred stock held and shares held by top ten shareholders with preferred

stock held

 Applicable  Not applicable

III. Other significant events

 Applicable  Not applicable

IV. Quarterly financial statements

IFinancial statement

1. Consolidated balance sheet

Prepared by:Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.

In RMB



Items Ending balance Opening balance Current asset Monetary fund 1,635,565,185.39 1,622,883,247.79 Settlement provision Outgoing call loan Transactional financial assets 814,577,649.26 960,645,259.82 Derivative financial assets Notes receivable 176,021,171.62 215,046,941.09 Account receivable 2,247,391,167.66 1,997,950,120.70 Financing receivable 697,446,924.10 816,653,211.21 Prepayments 515,860,422.62 443,770,434.91 Insurance receivable Reinsurance receivable Provisions of Reinsurance contracts receivable Other account receivable 50,531,334.59 44,163,396.56 IncludingInterest receivable Dividend receivable Repurchasing of financial assets Inventories 2,500,247,923.86 3,041,643,747.35 Contract assets 657,370,581.13 583,026,649.99 Assets held for sales Non-current asset due within 1 year Other current asset 12,282,671.80 66,174,951.42 Total of current assets 9,307,295,032.03 9,791,957,960.84 Non-current assets Loans and payment on others behalf disbursed Creditor's Investment Other Creditor's Investment Long-term receivable 139,941,093.20 153,741,093.20 Long term share equity investment Other equity instruments investment 3,830,859,413.28 3,485,440,140.92 Other non-current financial assets 14,654,773.22 14,792,533.96 Property investment 6,696,335.10 6,903,986.07 Fixed assets 1,630,779,659.02 1,658,423,191.83 Construction in progress 442,394,798.76 517,835,956.11 Production physical assets Oil & gas assets Use right assets 30,921,364.79 30,437,778.92 Intangible assets 276,965,578.77 277,469,707.24 Development expenses 6,158,985.15 Goodwill Long-germ expenses to be amortized Deferred income tax asset 387,632,727.50 382,665,279.67 Other non-current asset Total of non-current assets 6,767,004,728.79 6,527,709,667.92 Total of assets 16,074,299,760.82 16,319,667,628.76 Current liabilities Short-term loans 249,800,000.00 250,065,920.45 Loan from Central Bank Borrowing funds Transactional financial liabilities Derivative financial liabilities Notes payable 288,205,243.72 309,404,319.27 Account payable 1,657,896,218.13 1,910,150,188.14 Advance receipts 812,701.37 812,701.37 Contract liabilities 2,695,489,872.73 3,052,515,293.06 Selling of repurchased financial assets Deposit taking and interbank deposit Entrusted trading of securities Entrusted selling of securities Employees wage payable 66,458,358.00 133,122,509.92 Tax payable 52,298,356.66 81,622,378.10 Other account payable 405,555,248.83 434,578,338.13 IncludingInterest payable Dividend payable Fees and commissions payable Reinsurance fee payable Liabilities held for sales Non-current liability due within 1 year 17,180,833.32 17,607,722.97 Other current liability 347,718,193.58 395,640,629.47 Total of current liability 5,781,415,026.34 6,585,520,000.88 Non-current liabilities Reserve fund for insurance contracts Long-term loan 180,804,135.55 180,830,007.55 Bond payable Includingpreferred stock Sustainable debt Lease liability 22,371,192.03 22,575,754.77 Long-term payable 10,711,765.74 7,579,677.56 Long-term remuneration payable to staff Expected liabilities Deferred income 727,017,103.32 729,438,751.74 Deferred income tax liability 515,965,141.88 464,172,915.14 Other non-current liabilities Total non-current liabilities 1,456,869,338.52 1,404,597,106.76 Total of liability 7,238,284,364.86 7,990,117,107.64 Owners equity Share capital 754,010,400.00 754,010,400.00 Other equity instruments Includingpreferred stock Sustainable debt Capital reserves 298,382,910.14 282,946,030.50 LessShares in stock 144,078,948.09 144,078,948.09 Other comprehensive income 2,922,967,041.87 2,629,477,756.99 Special reserve 18,158,565.62 18,369,033.52 Surplus reserves 625,178,089.82 625,178,089.82 Common risk provision Retained profit 3,945,626,870.99 3,761,583,410.91 Total of owners equity belong to the parent company 8,420,244,930.35 7,927,485,773.65 Minority shareholders equity 415,770,465.61 402,064,747.47 Total of owners equity 8,836,015,395.96 8,329,550,521.12 Total of liabilities and owners equity 16,074,299,760.82 16,319,667,628.76 Legal Representative: Zheng Bin Person in charge of accountingZhao Jiamao Accounting Dept Leader: Jin Can

2.Consolidated Income Statement

In RMB



Items Current period Last period I. Income from the key business 1,788,987,236.29 1,250,479,486.22 InclBusiness income 1,788,987,236.29 1,250,479,486.22 Interest income Insurance fee earned Fee and commission received II. Total business cost 1,544,630,767.37 1,147,179,097.27 InclBusiness cost 1,268,556,153.69 867,218,040.52 Interest expense Fee and commission paid Insurance discharge payment Net claim amount paid Net amount of withdrawal of insurance contract reserve Insurance policy dividend paid Reinsurance expenses Business tax and surcharge 3,348,834.01 6,813,565.14 Sales expense 46,212,368.82 46,442,184.93 Administrative expense 135,702,564.20 122,601,686.57 R & D costs 85,497,139.56 101,036,899.71 Financial expenses 5,313,707.09 3,066,720.40 IncludingInterest expense 7,205,885.86 7,819,939.68 Interest income 3,962,049.43 2,706,822.08 Add: Other income 3,751,924.89 10,058,629.52 Investment gain-for loss 12,491,713.99 2,590,048.97 Incl: investment gains from affiliates Financial assets measured at amortized cost cease to be recognized as income Gains from currency exchange Net exposure hedging income Changing income of fair value -67,610.56 29,579.62 Credit impairment loss -75,474,967.16 -70,213,126.20 Impairment loss of assets 16,210,996.87 17,857,537.80 Assets disposal income -3,244.58 -42,944.94 III. Operational profit-for loss 201,265,282.37 63,580,113.72 Add Non-operational income 39,983,542.00 118,072,268.36 Less: Non-operating expense 2,486,602.85 1,342,295.64 IV. Total profit(-for loss) 238,762,221.52 180,310,086.44 LessIncome tax expenses 40,840,560.27 33,370,278.11 V. Net profit 197,921,661.25 146,939,808.33 (I) Classification by business continuity 1.Net continuing operating profit 197,921,661.25 146,939,808.33 2.Termination of operating net profit (II) Classification by ownership 1.Net profit attributable to the owners of parent company 184,043,460.08 128,410,233.92 2.Minority shareholders equity 13,878,201.17 18,529,574.41 VI. Net after-tax of other comprehensive income 293,489,284.88 455,255,032.45 Net of profit of other comprehensive income attributable to owners of the paren t company. 293,489,284.88 455,255,032.45 IOther comprehensive income items that will not be reclassified into gains/losses in the subsequent accounting period 293,489,284.88 455,255,032.45 1.Re-measurement of defined benefit plans of changes in net debt or net assets 2.Other comprehensive income under the equity method investee can not be rec lassified into profit or loss. 3. Changes in the fair value of investments in other equity instruments 293,489,284.88 455,255,032.45 4. Changes in the fair value of the companys credit risks 5.Other II Other comprehensive income that will be reclassified into profit or loss. 1.Other comprehensive income under the equity method investee can be reclassi fied into profit or loss. 2. Changes in the fair value of investments in other debt obligations 3. Other comprehensive income arising from the reclassification of financial assets 4.Allowance for credit impairments in investments in other debt obligations 5. Reserve for cash flow hedges 6.Translation differences in currency financial statements 7.Other Net of profit of other comprehensive income attributable to Minority shareholders equity VII. Total comprehensive income 491,410,946.13 602,194,840.78 Total comprehensive income attributable to the owner of the parent company 477,532,744.96 583,665,266.37 Total comprehensive income attributable minority shareholders 13,878,201.17 18,529,574.41 VIII. Earnings per share IBasic earnings per share 0.25 0.17 (II)Diluted earnings per share 0.25 0.17 The current business combination under common control, the net profits of the combined party before achieved ne

t profit of RMB 0.00, last period the combined party realized RMB0.00. Legal Representative: Zheng Bin Person in charge of accountingZhao Jiamao Accounting Dept Leader: Jin Can

3. Consolidated Cash flow statement

In RMB



Items Current period Last period I. Cash flows from operating activities Cash received from sales of goods or rending of services 1,058,270,245.53 1,283,740,325.19 Net increase of customer deposits and capital kept for brother company Net increase of loans from central bank Net increase of inter-bank loans from other financial bodies Cash received against original insurance contract Net cash received from reinsurance business Net increase of client deposit and investment Cash received from interest, commission charge and commission Net increase of inter-bank fund received Net increase of repurchasing business Net cash received by agent in securities trading Tax returned 2,576,435.19 2,559,611.29 Other cash received from business operation 13,305,845.06 43,896,620.61 Sub-total of cash inflow 1,074,152,525.78 1,330,196,557.09 Cash paid for purchasing of merchandise and services 726,828,613.28 684,534,707.86 Net increase of client trade and advance Net increase of savings in central bank and brother company Cash paid for original contract claim Net increase for Outgoing call loan Cash paid for interest, processing fee and commission Cash paid for policy dividend Cash paid to staffs or paid for staffs 267,198,844.00 259,325,520.36 Taxes paid 88,450,273.16 141,965,913.25 Other cash paid for business activities 116,525,001.66 111,294,007.63 Sub-total of cash outflow from business activities 1,199,002,732.10 1,197,120,149.10 Net cash generated from /used in operating activities -124,850,206.32 133,076,407.99 II. Cash flow generated by investing Cash received from investment retrieving 814,851.80 Cash received as investment gains 12,403,494.81 9,081,744.56 Net cash retrieved from disposal of fixed assets, intangible assets, and other long-term assets 6,500.00 197,987.44 Net cash received from disposal of subsidiaries or other operational units Other investment-related cash received 648,000,000.00 1,137,000,539.97 Sub-total of cash inflow due to investment activities 660,409,994.81 1,147,095,123.77 Cash paid for construction of fixed assets, intangible assets and other long-term assets 31,736,192.54 113,052,133.06 Cash paid as investment 1,630.00 Net increase of loan against pledge Net cash received from subsidiaries and other operational units Other cash paid for investment activities 502,000,000.00 1,814,572,000.00 Sub-total of cash outflow due to investment activities 533,737,822.54 1,927,624,133.06 Net cash flow generated by investment 126,672,172.27 -780,529,009.29 III.Cash flow generated by financing Cash received as investment Including: Cash received as investment from minor shareholders Cash received as loans 23,800,000.00 13,800,000.00 Other financing related cash received Sub-total of cash inflow from financing activities 23,800,000.00 13,800,000.00 Cash to repay debts 23,800,000.00 43,120,172.54 Cash paid as dividend, profit, or interests 2,427,453.62 5,280,434.10 Including: Dividend and profit paid by subsidiaries to minor shareholders Other cash paid for financing activities 601,384.98 Sub-total of cash outflow due to financing activities 26,828,838.60 48,400,606.64 Net cash flow generated by financing -3,028,838.60 -34,600,606.64 IV. Influence of exchange rate alternation on cash and cash equivalents -581,538.97 673,277.86 V.Net increase of cash and cash equivalents -1,788,411.62 -681,379,930.08 Add: balance of cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of term 1,467,538,968.07 1,850,354,648.10 VI ..Balance of cash and cash equivalents at the end of term 1,465,750,556.45 1,168,974,718.02 Legal Representative: Zheng Bin Person in charge of accountingZhao Jiamao Accounting Dept Leader: Jin Can

(II) Auditors 'Report

Is the First Quarterly Report be audited?

 Yes No

The First Quarterly report is not audited.





The Board of Directors of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.

April 27, 2022





 Stock Code200771 Stock ID: Hangqilun B Announcement No.:2022-43Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.The First Quarter Report 2022The Company and its directors hereby guarantee that the content of information disclosure is real, accurate, complete and free from any false record, misleading representation or material omissions.Important notes1.The Board of Directors and the Supervisory Committee of the Company and its directors, supervisors and seniorexecutives should guarantee the reality, accuracy and completion of the quarterly report, there are no any fictitiousstatements, misleading statements or important omissions carried in this report, and shall take legalresponsibilities, individual and or joint.2. Person in charge of the Company, Person in charge of accounting and person in charge of accounting organ(accounting officer) hereby confirm that the financial information of this Quarterly Report is authentic, accurateand complete.3. The first quarterly report audited or notYes NoI. Main financial data(I) Main accounting data and financial indexesWhether it has retroactive adjustment or re-statement on previous accounting data Yes  NoRetroactive adjustment or restatement of causesMerger of enterprises under the same control(II)Items and amount of non-current gains and losses Applicable  Not applicableIn RMBDetails of other gains/losses items that meets the definition of non-recurring gains/losses:  Applicable  Not applicableThere are no other gains/losses items that meet the definition of non-recurring gains/losses in the Company.Explain the items defined as recurring profit (gain)/loss according to the lists of extraordinary profit (gain)/loss inQ&A Announcement No.1 on Information Disclosure for Companies Offering Their Securities to the Public ---Extraordinary Profit/loss Applicable  Not applicableThere are no items defined as recurring profit (gain)/loss according to the lists of extraordinary profit (gain)/lossin Q&A Announcement No.1 on Information Disclosure for Companies Offering Their Securities to the Public ---Extraordinary Profit/loss.(III)Particulars about material changes in items of main accounting statement and financial index andexplanations of reasons Applicable Not applicableII. Shareholders Information(I) Total number of common shareholders and preference shareholders with voting rights recovered andtop ten common shareholdersIn shares(II) Total shareholders with preferred stock held and shares held by top ten shareholders with preferredstock held Applicable  Not applicableIII. Other significant events Applicable  Not applicableIV. Quarterly financial statementsIFinancial statement1. Consolidated balance sheetPrepared by:Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.In RMBLegal Representative: Zheng Bin Person in charge of accountingZhao Jiamao Accounting Dept Leader: Jin Can2.Consolidated Income StatementIn RMBThe current business combination under common control, the net profits of the combined party before achieved net profit of RMB 0.00, last period the combined party realized RMB0.00. Legal Representative: Zheng Bin Person in charge of accountingZhao Jiamao Accounting Dept Leader: Jin Can3. Consolidated Cash flow statementIn RMBLegal Representative: Zheng Bin Person in charge of accountingZhao Jiamao Accounting Dept Leader: Jin Can(II) Auditors 'ReportIs the First Quarterly Report be audited? Yes NoThe First Quarterly report is not audited.The Board of Directors of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.April 27, 2022
The Nevins Farm staff hope adopters will step forward to adopt one or some of the animals (credit MSPCA-Angell)

MSPCA-Angell

The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA-Angell) is searching for homes for several rare residents.

According to an MSPCA-Angell release, the animal welfare organization is caring for "eight head of very rare 'Kerry' cattle, along with one Holstein cow and 22 Saanen, Lamancha, and Alpine-mix goats," at its Nevins Farm facility.

All of the animals are currently up for adoption after MSPCA-Angell rescued the group from neglect at a farm in Amherst. In March, Tom Grenham, the director of law enforcement at MSPCA-Angell, and his team responded to a request from an animal welfare officer in Amherst to investigate a farm in the area.

"It was very clear upon arrival that the animals were in very serious trouble, with one cow having already died and the others in need of dire medical attention," Grenham said of the Amherst farm.

MSPCA-Angell said that one cow and two goats found at the farm were in such poor health that the organization had to euthanize the animals humanely. The other cows and goats discovered on the property were seen by MSPCA-Angell vets, who found that all the animals showed signs of malnourishment and had parasites.

RELATED: 12 Pregnant or Injured Cows Flown by Helicopter Down Swiss Alps During Rescue

Thankfully, many of the animals have recovered and are now ready for a new start. Among the Amherst animals prepared to move on are eight "critically endangered" cows, per MSPCA-Angell's release.

The Nevins Farm staff hope adopters will step forward to adopt one or some of the animals (credit MSPCA-Angell)

MSPCA-Angell

The cows are Kerry cattle, a rare breed believed to be descendants of the Celtic Shorthorn, which were brought to Ireland as early as 2000 B.C., according to MSPCA-Angell. While the "Kerries" were first imported to the U.S. in 1818, they are now hard to find in the country.

"We are working closely with the American Kerry Cattle Association now to help identify an adopter to ensure these individual animals will be well cared for and to aid in the preservation of this majestic breed," Mike Keiley, the director of adoption centers and programs at MSPCA-Angell, shared in the release. "We're excited that the work we have done to protect and care for these animals may also prevent this breed of cattle from going extinct."

Story continues

RELATED: Laidback Llamas Dress in Pop Culture Costumes to 'Spread More Joy' on TikTok and Beyond

Anyone interested in adopting one of the Kerry cows  or another animal rescued from the Amherst farm  can learn more at MSPCA's Nevins Farm website.

MSPCA-Angell added that since it rescued the Amherst farm animals, the organization has filed 35 counts of felony animal cruelty against the animals' former owner, who is set to be arraigned in Eastern Hampshire District Court on May 12.

Animal cruelty is a felony crime in Massachusetts, punishable by up to seven years in prison and a maximum fine of $5,000.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks during the Houston Region Business Coalition's monthly meeting on October 27, 2021 in Houston, Texas. Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Migrants have been thanking Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the free charter bus ride to Washington D.C.

Abbott earlier this month began to send migrants to the nation's capital, in an attempt to "bring the border" to Biden.

But the migrants and advocates say Abbott's plan is unintentionally helpful.

Migrants are thanking Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the free charter bus ride to Washington DC after they cross the border into Texas as immigration advocates say the move is actually helping to resettle immigrants.

"I am very thankful to the governor," Reydel Grau, a Cuban man who traveled nearly a month to reach the US, told the New York Times. "His help is very much welcomed."

Earlier this month, Abbott announced a plan to ship migrants entering the US in Texas to Washington DC to protest the Biden administration's immigration policies as crossings at the border reach record highs.

"We are sending the border to Biden," Abbott told Fox News last week.

The Texas governor added in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that he would also start busing migrants to President Joe Biden's home state of Delaware if it becomes too much in the nation's capital.

But instead of overwhelming Washington, migrants are grateful to Abbott for the free ride to the East Coast.

Migrants are able to volunteer to take the approximately 30-hour bus trip east on chartered buses, according to the Texas Tribune.

One migrant who was on the first bus from Texas told the Tribune she was "very thankful for all the help that has been given" to her family. She said they did not have enough money to make it from Texas to New York.

Santo Linarte Lopez, a migrant from Nicaragua told the Times he did not really understand why Abbott was paying for him to get to DC, but he was grateful as his final destination in the States was North Carolina.

Immigration advocates initially slammed Abbott's plan as a political stunt.

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Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of the Maryland-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, called the busing a "shameless publicity stunt" earlier this month and said migrants were being used as "political pawns," according to CBS News.

But advocates told the Times that Abbott's new program is helping them welcome the busloads of people with open arms.

"In a way, it's actually perfect," said Bilal Askaryar, a spokesman for Welcome With Dignity, a collective of about 100 local and national groups that help migrants, told the Times. "Unintentionally, Governor Abbott sent them to one of the best places in the nation to welcome people. There's all these advocates here who understand the system and understand the needs ... The reality is that we're really well prepared and really excited to welcome these people."

Abbott has so far bussed about 200 migrants to DC since the program began on April 13.

While the White House has yet to respond, Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently said it's "nice the State of Texas is helping them get to their final destination."

Abbott's protest comes as the Biden Administration plans to end Title 42  a pandemic-era immigration regulation restricting migrants from crossing the border  at the end of May.

Read the original article on Business Insider
In the hours after supporters of Donald Trump laid siege to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly said he was exhilarated that the then-president had finally ruined his reputation.

I feel exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself, McConnell told Jonathan Martin, a New York Times reporter who detailed the exchange in a new book, This Will Not Pass. Excerpts of the book were obtained and reported on by The Washington Post on Monday.

He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, the Kentucky Republican reportedly told Martin at the U.S. Capitol in the early hours of Jan. 7. Couldnt have happened at a better time.

He also asked the political correspondent for intelligence on whether the Cabinet and vice president might consider removing Trump from office using provisions of the 25th Amendment, according to the book.

McConnell then reportedly told Martin he had spoken to Democratic leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), about releasing a joint statement telling Trump not to attend President Joe Bidens inauguration.

A spokesperson for McConnell did not immediately return a request for comment.

McConnells immediate reaction in the wake of the riot  both publicly and privately  stand in stark contrast to his actions and statements since.

Publicly, he forcefully denounced Trump, calling his actions on Jan. 6 a disgraceful dereliction of duty and saying it was obvious he incited the riot. Yet he still voted to acquit Trump of the incitement of insurrection charge after Trump was impeached by the U.S. House, arguing it was pointless because hed already left office.

And the next month, McConnell said hed support Trump for president in 2024 if he won the Republican nomination.

In an interview earlier this month, McConnell was asked by Axios Jonathan Swan how he could flip-flop so dramatically from his initial comments about Trump to supporting a potential 2024 candidacy.

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He said it should be no surprise that hed back his partys nominee. Pressed on whether a Republican nominee could do anything to lose his support, McConnell evaded the question.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) also initially supported consequences for Trump privately while publicly changing his tune in the weeks following the assault on Congress.

In an audio recording published by The New York Times last week, McCarthy can be heard clearly telling Republican leadership that he would call Trump and urge him to resign following the events of Jan. 6. Despite the recording, McCarthy called the report false.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
(Reuters) - A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Tuesday postponed for one day its decision in the first of 11 corruption cases against deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a source with knowledge of the court proceedings.

The trials of Suu Kyi, who was arrested by the military during its coup last year, are being held behind closed doors. The source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the verdict is due on Wednesday

(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Ed Davies)
Jessica Watkins is set to become the first Black woman to serve a long duration mission on the International Space Station. Watkins, a former NASA intern, began training in 2017 and is potentially on track to take on upcoming moon missions. She talks to NBC News Lester Holt about the legacy of those who have come before leading up to her big achievement. This is a step in the direction of a very exciting future, she says.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)  Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts signed a law Monday that will allow the state to move forward with plans to build a canal in Colorado to divert water out of the South Platte River because of fears about Colorado's increased water use.

Ricketts proposed the canal project to help protect Nebraska's water rights as the population of Colorado's Front Range increases, although Colorado officials have questioned the need for it.

Water is our most important natural resource after our people. We need to continue to manage, protect and steward it here in our state, Ricketts said.

The law will allow Nebraska to begin work on the roughly $500 million canal, but the measure includes only $53.5 million to design the project and potentially secure purchase options on land that might be used for it in the future.

Officials estimate that it will take eight to 10 years to complete the project, and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources will have to return to the Legislature next year to obtain additional funding.

Ricketts, a Republican, has said the South Platte River Compact agreement that was approved by Nebraska, Colorado and Congress in 1923 gives Nebraska the right to build the canal.

Constructing the project would give Nebraska the right to claim some of the water in late fall, winter and early spring and store it for use in drier times. Colorado has always fulfilled its obligation to provide at least 120 cubic feet (3.4 cubic meters) per second of water during the summer irrigation season, but it has no such duty during the non-irrigation season.

A spokesman for Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has called the project a bad-faith attempt to undermine a century-long and successful compact between Colorado and Nebraska and a costly boondoggle for Nebraska taxpayers.
David Cronenberg dared CinemaCon attendees to sleep well tonight.

The director, an architect of the body horror genre with A History of Violence, Dead Ringers and The Fly, made his first-ever trip to Las Vegas to showcase his next grisly film Crimes of the Future, testing the stomachs of movie theater owners across the nation.

More from Variety

It seems an appropriate place to launch our attack on the world with Crimes of the Future,' Cronenberg told the crowd at Caesars Palace in reference to Sin City.

Though Cronenberg says he started writing the screenplay 20 years ago, Neon, the films distributor, called Crimes of the Future an evolution of Davids work: past, present and future. Without detailing any specifics, it will contain key references to his previous films.

As for the never-before-seen footage, it begins with a man who has several sets of ears on his head and concludes as a woman rips open a mans stomach with her finger and slides her tongue closer to the open wound.

Set in a world where the human species adapt to a synthetic environment and their bodies undergo disturbing transformations and mutations, Crimes of the Future centers on a celebrity couple (played by Viggo Mortensen and Lea Seydoux) who have turned the horrifying process into avant-garde performance art. All the while, their every move is being tracked by an investigator from the National Organ Registry named Timlin (Kristen Stewart). Theyre converging around one mission, believing organ transplants will lead to the next phase of human evolution.

We all thought the body was emptyempty of meaning, Seydouxs character says in the trailer. We wanted to confirm it so we could fill it with meaning.

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Her husband, played by frequent Cronenberg collaborator Mortensen adds, The world is a much more dangerous place now that pain has disappeared.

After the creepy first-look, Neons distribution president Elissa Federoff called the footage wonderful, to laughter from the crowd.

Following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Crimes of the Future will open in theaters on June 5.

CinemaCon attendees also got an exclusive look at Moonage Daydream, a David Bowie film thats been described as neither documentary nor biography, but an immersive cinematic experience. Its expected to hit theaters in September.

Brett Morgen, known for Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, Jane and The Kid Stays in the Picture, directed the project and came to Las Vegas to shed a little light on Moonage Dream, which is based on thousands of hours of rare performance footage of the musician and more than 500 assets from Bowies archive. Its the first film to be officially sanctioned by Bowies estate.

Bowie cannot be defined, he can be experienced, Morgen said. That is why we crafted Moonage Daydream, to be a unique cinematic experience.

Morgen, who said he spent two years scrolling through every piece of material in the Bowie archive to craft the film, looked up to the music icon as a child.

David was there to show me it was OK to be myself. That my differences were my strengths, Morgen told the audience. In 1971, that idea was radical. In 2022, it is mainstream. Thats why David Bowie is the perfect star for this moment.

Former Warner Bros. executive and producer Bill Gerber compared Moonage Daydream to Bradley Coopers A Star Is Born, in the sense that they were both a sonic and visual extravaganza that requires state-of-the-art audio.

With all due respect to Jackson and Ally Maine, but Moonage blew about 100 miles past the visual language of A Star Is Born, with the former drenched in acidic hues, trippy camera angles and abstract skits woven with ear-splitting archive footage from Bowies festival and arena tours.

Neons upcoming slate also includes, Fire of Love, a documentary examining the love story between two intrepid scientists who died in a volcanic explosion.

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Two school buses were struck by gunfire on the 1000 block of N. 12th Street Monday afternoon, according to the Milwaukee Police Department. No injuries were reported.

During an argument, several individuals exchanged gunfire, striking two buses shortly before 3 p.m., police said. The bus drivers were the only people on the buses at the time.

The location of the incident was near the Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning, 1017 North 12th Street. The gunshots occurred prior to student dismissal, according to a statement from Milwaukee Public Schools. The building was locked, with no one allowed in or out.

"Dismissal of students continued as scheduled as we received an all-clear notification from MPD," the statement said.

The school used an alternative exit procedure "to ensure the safety of students and staff."

Milwaukee police are continuing to seek a known suspect and several unknown suspects.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Milwaukee police at 414-935-7360, or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 414-224-Tips or the P3 Tips App.

The incident follows a brutal and violent weekend in Milwaukee. From Friday through Sunday, Milwaukee police reported three homicides and 19 victims of nonfatal shootings across 20 incidents.

The common denominator: firearms, Chief Jeffrey Norman said at a Monday news conference. We need the public. We need the assistance of those who see those carrying firearms to intervene. We need those who can step up and be that voice of reason, because were seeing violence where it should not be at.

How to find support:

Milwaukee's Office of Violence Prevention recommends these resources for free support:

Sojourner Family Peace Center's domestic violence shelter and support: 414-933-2722.

414Life outreach and conflict mediation support: 414-439-5398.

Milwaukee County's 24-Hour Mental Health Crisis Line: 414-257-7222.

Milwaukee's Child Mobile Crisis and Trauma Response Team: 414-257-7621.

Story continues

National crisis text line: text HOPELINE to 741741 to text with a trained crisis counselor.

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255.

Elliot Hughes of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Contact Hannah Kirby at hannah.kirby@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HannahHopeKirby.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 2 school buses in Milwaukee struck by gunfire in shots fired incident
(200771):( 20220426 15:53:36  ::(

::( Stock Code:20077 Stock ID: Hangqilun B Announcement No.:2022-42

Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.

Resolutions of the 16th Meeting of the 8th Term of Supervisory Committee

The members of the Supervisory Committee acknowledge being responsible for the truthfulness, accuracy, and completeness of the announcement. Not any false record, misleading statement or significant omission carried in this announcement.



The notice for calling of the 16th session of the 8th term of Supervisory Committee of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd. was served on April 21,2021, The meeting was held by way means of telecommunication of April 26, 2022And voted by means of telecommunication. And voted by means of telecommunication. There are totally 3 members of the supervisors, and 3 effective votes were received as of April 26,2022. This was complying with the provisions of the Company Law, Articles of Association.

The following proposals were examined at the meeting and passed by open ballot. I. The First Quarter Report 2022

3 votes in favor, 0 objective, 0 waived; The proposal was passed. They issue the opinions as: The producing and examination procedures of the First Quarterly report 2022 were legal and complying with the requirements of the CSRC. The Report is reflecting the financial position and business performance of the Company in the First quarter frankly and completely. There is no false record, misleading statement, or material omission in the report.

For details of the proposal please refer to the announcement disclosed by the company on http://www.cninfo.com.cn on April 27, 2022.







The Supervisory Committee of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd. April 27, 2022



 Stock Code:20077 Stock ID: Hangqilun B Announcement No.:2022-42Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.Resolutions of the 16th Meeting of the 8th Term of Supervisory CommitteeThe members of the Supervisory Committee acknowledge being responsible for the truthfulness, accuracy, and completeness of the announcement. Not any false record, misleading statement or significant omission carried in this announcement.The notice for calling of the 16th session of the 8th term of Supervisory Committee of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd. was served on April 21,2021, The meeting was held by way means of telecommunication of April 26, 2022And voted by means of telecommunication. And voted by means of telecommunication. There are totally 3 members of the supervisors, and 3 effective votes were received as of April 26,2022. This was complying with the provisions of the Company Law, Articles of Association.The following proposals were examined at the meeting and passed by open ballot. I. The First Quarter Report 20223 votes in favor, 0 objective, 0 waived; The proposal was passed. They issue the opinions as: The producing and examination procedures of the First Quarterly report 2022 were legal and complying with the requirements of the CSRC. The Report is reflecting the financial position and business performance of the Company in the First quarter frankly and completely. There is no false record, misleading statement, or material omission in the report.For details of the proposal please refer to the announcement disclosed by the company on http://www.cninfo.com.cn on April 27, 2022.The Supervisory Committee of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd. April 27, 2022
WASHINGTON  U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command lack the artificial intelligence capabilities needed to do their jobs to the fullest and maintain an edge over rival nations, according to the leader of both organizations.

My assessment today is I dont have what I need, as far as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to give the decision space to the president, secretary of defense, the chief of defense staff in Canada, the minister of defense and the prime minister in Canada, Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck said at a Defense Writers Group event April 25.

VanHerck is the commander of NORTHCOM and NORAD. The former is responsible for guarding the continental U.S. and its surroundings. The latter combines U.S. and Canadian efforts to monitor and protect North American airspace, among other things.

NORTHCOM recently asked Congress for an additional $29.8 million to buy information technology equipment and to optimize infrastructure for AI and machine learning at its joint operations center with NORAD. The upgrades would bolster efforts to ingest, process and share data across the Department of Defense, also known as the information dominance enabling capability, according to a fiscal year 2023 unfunded priority list obtained by Defense News.

While this years budget moves the ball down the field with regards to domain awareness, VanHerck said, more is needed to meet new challenges.

Well be able to, hopefully, field over-the-horizon capabilities, which will give us more standoff distance than what we currently have today, he said. But we also need to take that domain awareness  the sensors that we have today and any potential new sensors  and share that data and information and utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning to make that data and information available sooner than we have in the past, and to decision makers.

Congress in fiscal 2022 pitched a $200 million program to boost adoption of AI across combatant commands, dovetailing with the Pentagons AI and Data Acceleration, or ADA, initiative.

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VanHerck told lawmakers last month that advanced capabilities will help give the U.S. an advantage over complex competitors, such as Russia or China. Both have invested in AI for military use.

Incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning into existing capabilities will allow users to pull needed information from existing data sets and share that data with leaders at all levels to expand their decision space and options necessary to achieve desirable outcomes, VanHerck said in testimony submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

VanHercks team already has whats known as the Pathfinder program, which melds data from a bevy of sensors to create a common and more-informed picture that can be used to detect threats. The data was previously siloed, leading to blindspots.

It essentially takes and ingests, aggregates, data from multiple systems, data that would in the past have been ... left on the cutting room floor and not analyzed or assessed in a timely manner, VanHerck said at the virtual Air Warfare Symposium last year. The Pathfinder program uses machine learning to help us analyze that data from multiple systems, not only military systems, but commercial systems, other government agency systems.

Despite those gains, Pathfinder is not enough, according to the general.

What Im focusing on is a global look, across all domains, infusing data and information, VanHerck said Monday.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., was cited for being in possession of a firearm at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Tuesday morning.

A TSA spokesperson confirmed that a loaded Staccato 9mm handgun was detected at checkpoint D around 9:00 a.m.

Cawthorn was cited for possession of a dangerous weapon on city property, which is an ordinance of the city of Charlotte, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

"Cawthorn stated that the firearm was his and he was cooperative with the CMPD officers," police said.

TSA RECOVERS RECORD NUMBER OF FIREARMS IN FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2021

The firearm was seized and Cawthorn was released.

It's the second time that Cawthorn has been stopped with a gun at an airport after security personnel found a 9 millimeter handgun in his carry-on bag at Asheville Regional Airport in February 2021, according to WSOC.

Cawthorn's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

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The 26-year-old congressman is running for re-elction in North Carolina's 11th district and will face several Republican challengers in the GOP primary next month.
Elon Musk has put an end to weeks of speculation with the announcement that Twitter has accepted his offer to buy the platform for $54.20 per share, valuing the social media platform at about $44 billion.

While Musks drawn-out pursuit of Twitter has come to an end, for him at least, the next chapter of Twitter's history and its hundreds of millions of users is just beginning.

The deal drew immediate fears that Musk, a self-styled "free speech absolutist," could turn back the dials on content moderation, potentially unraveling years of work that curbed the unfettered spread of hate speech and misinformation. But experts have been just as quick to warn of the potential privacy implications of the $44 billion buyout to take Twitter private, at a time that even employees are unclear about the company's future.

Per Musk's short 78-word statement, one of his many proposed plans for Twitter raising eyebrows in the industry is the open-sourcing of the platform's algorithmic code to make it publicly available. Musk claims this change  which Twitter has been mulling for some time  will help boost trust in the platform, which has for years faced an onslaught of false news and security incidents breaches, including one that saw hackers hijack high-profile Twitter profiles  including Musk's  to promote a cryptocurrency scam.

But cybersecurity experts fear that Musks open source vision for Twitter could make the platform more susceptible to attackers.

The decision to open source this code likely means that it will be adopted by other social platforms, advertisers and others who are looking to hone their user targeting, Jamie Moles, senior technical manager at security firm ExtraHop, told TechCrunch. Of course, as with any widely adopted open source code, there are significant security implications. As we've seen with Log4Shell and Spring4Shell, vulnerabilities in widely used open source applications are exponentially more valuable. Making its code open source may increase transparency for Twitter users, but it may also make Twitter a much bigger target for attackers.

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Moles says that if done properly, Musk's plan to wage war on so-called spam bots, which have been used to spread malware and propagate political ideologies, could generate "new techniques that improve the detection and identification of spam emails, spam posts and other malicious intrusion attempts, he added. It may well be a boon to security practitioners everywhere."

Professor Eerke Boiten, head of the school of computer science and informatics at De Montfort University in the U.K., warned that open sourcing Twitter's algorithm could lead to malicious actors gaming the algorithm, which could see people treated differently based on their personal characteristics.

Think, for example, of external manipulation of the targeted advertising aspects of Twitter, which is an area of concern for privacy even before it gets gamed, said Boiten. It would then also accelerate the arms race of new ways of gaming and finding countermeasures.

Musk's short statement left much to the imagination. He did not say what his plans were for "authenticating all humans." Some read it as a plan to extend Twitters existing user verification system, or planning to introduce a real-name policy that would require users to provide documented evidence of their legal name. The digital rights group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, voiced concerns that real-name policies have on the human rights value of pseudonymous speech, and that Musk may have not considered the ramifications that a lack of anonymity can have on certain groups of people.

Pseudonymity and anonymity are essential to protecting users who may have opinions, identities, or interests that do not align with those in power, the EFF said in a blog post. For example, policies that require real names on Facebook have been used to push out Native Americans; people using traditional Irish, Indonesian, and Scottish names; Catholic clergy; transgender people; drag queens; and sex workers. Political dissidents may be in grave danger if those in power are able to discover their true identities.

The EFF also voiced concern about the continued lack of end-to-end encryption for Twitter direct messages: Fears that a new owner of the platform would be able to read those messages are not unfounded, the EFF added.

Boiten, too, believes Musks pseudonymity crackdown would be the most concerning aspect of Musks takeover. Anonymity is in many contexts a prerequisite for privacy. Once Twitter is known to have authenticated its users, oppressive governments can demand the authenticating information from them endangering a lot of current subversive use in such countries," he said. "I wonder how many anonymous Twitter accounts are currently run by Tesla employees  Elon Musk plays scrupulously by his own rules  so potential Tesla whistleblowers or unionizers wouldnt be safe to get themselves authenticated on Twitter.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Sen. Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Twitter has been "more forward-leaning than many of its competitors in its effort to tackle false, deceptive and manipulated content," and though he said the company has "significant room for improvement," Warner said he hopes that Musk will "work in good faith to keep these necessary reforms in place and prevent a backslide that is harmful to democracy."

For now, Musk's takeover bid for Twitter remains subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.
By Aaron Ross

DAKAR (Reuters) - When a dozen suspected Islamist militants from a neighbouring country were spotted riding motorcycles through the W National Park in northern Benin armed with AK-47 assault rifles, park rangers snapped into action.

From an operations room at their base, the park director and two senior ranger officers sent anti-poaching units to pursue the men who eventually fled into Nigeria, according to a confidential incident report reviewed by Reuters.

They also directed Benin's army and police where to position their forces and deployed an airplane and helicopter belonging to the park as part of a broader operation to surveil and "neutralise" the target, the undated park report said.

It was prepared by the anti-poaching force to assess the response and make recommendations for improving future collaboration among rangers, army and police, including creating a "rapid intervention/commando unit capable of responding to multiple threats and especially those linked to terrorism."

The previously unreported account of the 36-hour chase in June 2020 offers a rare glimpse into how conservation group African Parks has gone beyond protecting flora and fauna and engaged in pursuing Islamist insurgents in West Africa.

The blurring of lines between conflict and conservation has raised concern among some experts, who say it could encourage governments to lean on rangers to support their depleted armies and undermine security by making rangers a target for jihadists.

"This is not the rangers' fight," said Sergio Lopez, the president of Wildlife Angel, a French non-profit that trained park rangers in Burkina Faso and Niger until 2019. "The fight against terrorism is special forces."

Non-profit African Parks is based in South Africa and manages W and the adjacent Pendjari National Park in Benin.

It is in talks to extend operations to parks in Burkina Faso and Niger and to support the management of a park in Ivory Coast, officials in these countries say.

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All four are on the frontlines of the battle to contain a jihadist threat that has steadily grown since 2012, when al Qaeda-linked fighters first seized parts of Mali. Thousands have been killed in the insurgency and millions displaced.

Asked about the report, African Parks' Chief Operations Officer Charles Wells told Reuters the rangers' actions were consistent with the group's mandate of "ensuring park integrity and countering all threats to it."

"This is an extreme situation, where both the national security as well as the last functioning conservation system at scale in West Africa are at grave risk."

He added that African Parks' role sometimes went beyond its main aim of preserving the natural habitat and supporting local communities' needs.

"In a simplistic and ideal world, there might be such a line. In reality this is indeed blurred."

There have been several attacks in northern Benin since December, including two on Feb. 8 and Feb. 10 by suspected al Qaeda-linked militants that killed four rangers, their French instructor, two African Parks drivers and one Beninese soldier.

Benin's government and defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment about using African Parks to counter the militant threat.

Some other conservation groups have been involved in incidents with suspected militants in the region, but African Parks is by far the biggest.

FRENCH DRAWDOWN

Regional powers have struggled to contain militant violence, and former colonial power France, frustrated by slow progress and facing public hostility to its presence, said it is halving its 5,000-strong counter-terrorism force in the region.

Financed by the European Union and private foundations, African Parks does not charge for its services, although Benin and Rwanda's governments have committed funding to their parks.

The group equips and trains rangers who sometimes find themselves facing off against heavily-armed militants, militiamen and poachers.

A European Union official said the EU was unaware of the 2020 incident.

The official added that Benin forces should lead the response to security threats but that African Parks was, at the same time, responsible for protecting parks it operates in "against any kind of threat".

As African Parks seeks to expand into parklands that form a vast belt of territory used by militants to press south from strongholds in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger into coastal nations, opinion over its role is divided.

Some regional experts hope it will help counter extremists who are waging an insurgency that leaves vast stretches of West Africa's Sahel region beyond the control of governments.

Nassirou Bako Arifari, Benin's foreign minister from 2011-2015, credited the rangers with helping hold the line against encroachment by militants from Burkina Faso and Niger.

"Having this presence is like having a buffer between the national force and the terrorist groups," he told Reuters.

But some critics said African Parks' security-centric response to poaching and militancy, including fencing off large segments of the parks, has alienated some locals who depend on economic activities on those lands, potentially making them more susceptible to militant propaganda.

Wells acknowledged that local access to the parks was "a complex issue" but said African Parks had worked closely with local communities to build a "conservation-led economy".

He added that strong law enforcement was essential to protect the parks and avoid a situation similar to Burkina Faso, where he said the absence of state actors had allowed Islamist militancy to proliferate.

MILITANTS MOVE INTO PARKLAND

In 2020, African Parks had an operating budget of $84 million spread across 19 parks in 11 countries, and its rangers are trained by ex-military officers from Europe and South Africa.

Samaila Sahailou, head of Niger's parks authority, told Reuters talks were ongoing with African Parks about handing over management of Niger's W National Park.

Benoit Doamba, who leads Burkina Faso's parks authority, said his country's talks concerned its W and Arly National Parks. These three parks, along with Benin's W and Pendjari, form the 10,000-square-kilometre "WAP Complex".

The WAP is West Africa's last major refuge for elephants and lions, but much of it has been overrun by militants in recent years.

Ivory Coast's government said last month it planned to work with African Parks to manage and secure Comoe National Park, where militants have carried out several attacks since 2020.

Describing the 2020 showdown with the militants in Benin, where African Parks has about 250 rangers, the report said: "Our ultimate objective is to limit (the group) in its movements, locate it, contain it and organise an offensive operation to neutralise it."

A helicopter and ultra-light aircraft belonging to African Parks were deployed carrying army soldiers and a senior rangers official "in the hope of locating the enemy and destroying it 'on sight' before it crosses the border". Ultimately the militants got away.

Wells said the helicopter was used to transport the soldiers to strategic positions, and the phrase "destroying it 'on sight'" did not appear in his version of the report. Reuters was unable to establish why there might be a discrepancy between the two.

In the aftermath of the incident, Wells said the rangers and army had each created their own quick reaction units, which he said operated with different missions and under different rules of engagement.

The defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Some analysts see African Parks' potential expansion - like the recent arrival of Russian private security contractors in Mali - as evidence of a new security strategy in countries like Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to replace the role played by France and its partners.

"It looks very much like these countries are giving up on Western multilateral counter-terrorism assistance in place of something they will have more control over," said Aneliese Bernard, a former U.S. State Department official in Niger.

France's military, which aims to keep some 2,500-3,000 troops in the region after its partial withdrawal, said it had no comment on African Parks. It added it remains committed to the fight against militants despite the drawdown.

The defence ministers of Burkina Faso and Niger and Mali's army spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on the potential shift.

(Additional reporting by Ange Aboa in Abidjan and Francesco Guarascio in Brussels; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Alexandra Zavis)
Update: This story was updated April 26, 2022 with more information about the deceased.

A 18-year-old man was killed in a shooting on the city's south side Monday afternoon, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

More crime news: What we know after deadly SWAT standoff ended a violent weekend in Indianapolis

More coverage: Man dies after Monday morning shooting on east side of Indianapolis, police say

The man was shot in the 8800 block of St Peter Street and was transported to a hospital before he died, according to the IMPD.

The Marion County Coroner's Office on Tuesday identified the man as 18-year-old Ngun Tha Peng.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Detective Lottie Patrick at the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or e-mail her at Lottie.Patrick@indy.gov.

Alternatively, those with information can call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 to remain anonymous.

Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis crime: Person killed in south side shooting Monday
Stock

The case against a New Philadelphia man accused of trying to shoot a woman at a Columbia Court apartment after threatening to kill her a short time earlier has been bound over to the Guernsey County Common Pleas Court.

Brandon G. Abner, 22, faces single counts of attempt to commit an offense (murder), a first-degree felony, and felonious assault, a second-degree felony, stemming from the alleged incident on March 30.

Fortunately for the intended victim, a 25-year-old Byesville area resident, an individual at the apartment had unloaded the gun a short time before the alleged shooting attempt occurred.

Abner waived his right to a preliminary hearing last week in the Cambridge Municipal Court prompting Judge John Mark Nicholson to bind the case over to the common pleas court.

Abner is also alleged to have struck another unidentified female victim in the face with the gun during a physical altercation at the same residence.

Cambridge Police Department

According to the police reports, officers were dispatched to the Columbia Court home at 11:38 p.m. on March 30 after a caller reported being assaulted by a man with a gun. The caller advised a police dispatcher that the suspect had already fled the area.

Police said the 26-year-old female resident told them Abner had struck her in the face with a gun when he brandished it during an altercation in an upstairs bedroom. The woman said the altercation started when she wanted to check on the well-being of her children.

Abner then allegedly asked the 25-year-old victim to come to the bedroom to "talk down" the resident because she was suffering some form of an anxiety attack.

He did not tell her about the alleged assault.

Officers reported the Byesville area resident said she learned of the assault after asking the resident if Abner "laid hands on her." After receiving confirmation, the woman called for a 31-year-old man who was also at the home visiting the resident to come upstairs.

Abner is alleged to have followed the man up to the bedroom and brandished the gun while ordering the other man to leave the residence. He also allegedly pointed the gun at the 25-year-old woman and threatened to kill her.

Story continues

The group reportedly returned to the main floor of the apartment where Abner claimed he was a police informant and could not get into trouble for his actions. He alleged the other individuals would go to jail for fighting with him.

The male visitor reportedly struggled with Abner for possession of the gun, but was forced out of the home during the skirmish.

It was then the two women reportedly tried to take the gun from Abner, who dropped it during the brief struggle. He was reportedly able to retrieve the gun from the floor and once again pointed it at the Byesville resident while threatening to kill her.

It was then he allegedly pulled the trigger, but the gun had been unloaded by the man locked out of the residence and did not fire.

Learning the gun was unloaded, the two women forced Abner to leave and he allegedly fled in his vehicle. The Byesville area resident told officers she was struck in the mouth by the gun during the fight to get Abner out of the apartment.

Neither victim's injuries were reported to be serious.

Police said the man who unloaded the gun told them he removed the rounds after Abner laid it down following the initial alleged assault involving the female resident. He said Abner was waiving the gun in a manner that made him uncomfortable at the time.

The man told officers he had placed the gun in his pocket, but Abner took it without the bullets a short time later. He said Abner was unaware the gun had been unloaded.

Charges against Abner were filed in the municipal court on April 1.

Abner is free on bond that requires him to comply with electronically-monitored house arrest.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Man faces felony charges for alleged assault, attempted shooting
The 74

It has been obvious since his presidential campaign that President Joe Biden is not a supporter of charter schools. The reason has never been clear to me. Does he oppose the movement for philosophical reasons, or does he believe it is the most politically advantageous path to travel? No matter what his reasons are, his []
WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland is imposing sanctions on 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, the interior minister said on Tuesday, as it seeks to increase pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.Poland this month passed a law allowing it to freeze the assets of Russian entities and ban imports of coal from Russia, above and beyond sanctions imposed jointly by European Union countries.

Companies on the list released by the interior ministry include the energy giant Gazprom and the chemicals and fertiliser manufacturer Akron, as well as the coal trading companies SUEK Polska and KTK Polska. Gazprom has a minority stake in EuRoPol Gaz, an entity that owns the Polish section of the Yamal pipeline that carries Russian gas to Europe. Individuals on the list include billionaire Mikhail Fridman, co-founder and largest shareholder of Alfa Bank; aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska; and Eugene Kaspersky, founder of Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky.

"This is the first sanctions list ... it has 50 items. There are oligarchs and companies that do real business (in Poland)," Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski told a news conference. "It is likely, almost certain, that this list will be widened."

The sanctions include the freezing of assets and, for the individuals named, a ban on entering Poland.

Poland has consistently argued for tougher sanctions against Russia and has previously said it stop importing Russian coal by May and stop using Russian oil by the end of 2022.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West says this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz and Marek Strzelecki; Editing by Robert Birsel and Kevin Liffey)
(200771):( 20220426 15:53:37  ::(

::( Stock Code: 200771 Stock ID: Hangqilun B Announcement No.: 2022-41

Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.

Resolutions of the 24th Meeting of the 8th Term of Board



The members of the Board and the Company acknowledge being responsible for the truthfulness, accuracy, and completeness of the announcement. Not any false record, misleading statement or significant omission carried in this announcement.



The notice for calling of the 24th Meeting of the 8th term of Board of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd. was served on April 21,2022, The meeting was held by way means of telecommunication of April 26, 2022And voted by means of telecommunication. There are totally 8 members of the Board, and 8 effective votes were received as of April 26,2022. This was complying with the provisions of the Company Law, Articles of Association.

The following proposals were examined at the meeting and passed by open ballot 1.The meeting examined and adopted the First Quarter Report 2022Text) 8 votes in favor, 0 objection, 0 waive, the proposal was adopted. The Board inspected and discussed on the First Quarterly Report 2022. All of the members considered the First Quarterly Report 2021 was frankly and completely reflecting the financial situation and business performance in the report term (January 1  March 31, 2022). The Board will

assume joint and individual responsibilities for the accuracy, authentic, and completeness of the Report.

For details of the proposal please refer to the announcement disclosed by the company on http://www.cninfo.com.cn on April 27, 2022.

II. The meeting examined and adopted the Proposal on the Administrative Measures for the Authorization of the Board of Directors

8 votes in favor, 0 objection, 0 waive, the proposal was adopted. For details of the proposal please refer to the announcement disclosed by the company on http://www.cninfo.com.cn on April 27, 2022.

III. The meeting examined and adopted the Proposal on the External Guarantee System (Revised in 2022)

8 votes in favor, 0 objection, 0 waive, the proposal was adopted. For details of the proposal please refer to the announcement disclosed by the company on http://www.cninfo.com.cn on April 27, 2022.

IV. The meeting examined and adopted the Proposal on the Financing Management System (Revised in 2022)

8 votes in favor, 0 objection, 0 waive, the proposal was adopted. For details of the proposal please refer to the announcement disclosed by the company on http://www.cninfo.com.cn on April 27, 2022.





The Board of Directors of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd. April 27, 2022



 Stock Code: 200771 Stock ID: Hangqilun B Announcement No.: 2022-41Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.Resolutions of the 24th Meeting of the 8th Term of BoardThe members of the Board and the Company acknowledge being responsible for the truthfulness, accuracy, and completeness of the announcement. Not any false record, misleading statement or significant omission carried in this announcement.The notice for calling of the 24th Meeting of the 8th term of Board of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd. was served on April 21,2022, The meeting was held by way means of telecommunication of April 26, 2022And voted by means of telecommunication. There are totally 8 members of the Board, and 8 effective votes were received as of April 26,2022. This was complying with the provisions of the Company Law, Articles of Association.The following proposals were examined at the meeting and passed by open ballot 1.The meeting examined and adopted the First Quarter Report 2022Text) 8 votes in favor, 0 objection, 0 waive, the proposal was adopted. The Board inspected and discussed on the First Quarterly Report 2022. All of the members considered the First Quarterly Report 2021 was frankly and completely reflecting the financial situation and business performance in the report term (January 1  March 31, 2022). The Board willassume joint and individual responsibilities for the accuracy, authentic, and completeness of the Report.For details of the proposal please refer to the announcement disclosed by the company on http://www.cninfo.com.cn on April 27, 2022.II. The meeting examined and adopted the Proposal on the Administrative Measures for the Authorization of the Board of Directors8 votes in favor, 0 objection, 0 waive, the proposal was adopted. For details of the proposal please refer to the announcement disclosed by the company on http://www.cninfo.com.cn on April 27, 2022.III. The meeting examined and adopted the Proposal on the External Guarantee System (Revised in 2022)8 votes in favor, 0 objection, 0 waive, the proposal was adopted. For details of the proposal please refer to the announcement disclosed by the company on http://www.cninfo.com.cn on April 27, 2022.IV. The meeting examined and adopted the Proposal on the Financing Management System (Revised in 2022)8 votes in favor, 0 objection, 0 waive, the proposal was adopted. For details of the proposal please refer to the announcement disclosed by the company on http://www.cninfo.com.cn on April 27, 2022.The Board of Directors of Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd. April 27, 2022
Crime scene tape

Police arrested a man Tuesday morning in connection to the killing of Brian Kazan in his Mesa apartment last weekend.

Officers were called to do a welfare check around 8 p.m. Sunday near Country Club Drive and Brown Street, according to a Mesa Police Department news release. The caller told police there was an unresponsive man at the location with "a significant amount of blood" inside the residence.

Police say officers found the body of 59-year-old Kazan with obvious signs of trauma inside his apartment at the location, the release stated. Neighbors claimed to have heard an altercation coming from Kazan's apartment before seeing a man standing outside talking to others.

After an investigation and a review of security video footage, police identified the man seen by neighbors as 33-year-old Joseph Maldonado. Police found Maldonado at 6:15 a.m. Monday in a business complex near Dobson Road and Loop 202.

The release stated Maldonado had multiple active warrants. During the arrest, officers found Kazan's credit card on Maldonado, according to police.

Maldonado was arrested on suspicion of one count of first-degree murder. He was later booked into a Maricopa County jail and is scheduled to make his initial appearance in court Tuesday, according to online records.

Reach breaking news reporter Adam Terro at adam.terro@arizonarepublic.com.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Police arrest man on suspicion of killing 59-year-old man in Mesa
Good morning! Thanks for reading today's Minneapolis Daily.

First, today's weather: Increasing cloudiness. High: 47 Low: 36.

Here are the top 4 stories today in Minneapolis:

1. President Joe Biden will visit Minneapolis on Sunday to speak at the memorial honoring former Vice President Walter Mondale. The service will be held May 1 at the University of Minnesota. (BMTN)

2. More than 2,560 people in Minnesota tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. The state health department reports 255 residents are in the hospital with the virus. (BMTN)

3. A lawyer for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin filed an appeal for a new trial in the murder of George Floyd, KARE11 reports. Attorney William Mohrman argued pre-trial publicity, the threat of further rioting and several other reasons made Chauvins initial trial unfair. (KARE11)

4. Mayor Jacob Frey gave his State of the City address Tuesday at North Commons Park. The speech addressed COVID-19 recovery, the American Rescue Plan Act, violence prevention and more. It is now available to read online. (KARE11)

Today in Minneapolis:

Join the April Supper Series at Farmers Kitchen + Bar . (6 p.m.)

Bingo Wednesday at Lakes & Legends Brewing Company . (7 p.m.)

Rags and Riches performs at Granada Theater. (7 p.m.)

From my notebook:

A livestream will not occur during the state trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyds death. ( CBS )

Cartoonist Steve Sack announced he is retiring after more than 40 years at the Star Tribune. ( CBS )

Red Eye Theater opened a new little pocket for arts in Minneapolis" at 2213 Snelling Ave. S. (Paid source: Star Tribune)

More from our sponsors  thanks for supporting local news!

Events:

New Retirement Savings Webinar (May 2)

Estate Planning Seminar on May 3 & May 5 (May 3)

Hire A Pro to Tackle Mom's To-Do List (May 8)

Taxes in Retirement Webinar on May 10 & May 11 (May 10)

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Loving the Minneapolis Daily? Here are all the ways you can get more involved:

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Send a friend or neighbor this link so they can subscribe

Get your local business listed in front of readers

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

That's all for today, Minneapolis! Thanks for being here. See you tomorrow for another Daily!

 Georgi Presecky



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

This article originally appeared on the Minneapolis Patch
Prince William was said to be "appalled" after Queen Elizabeth II removed a portrait of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from her desk ahead of her annual Christmas broadcast.

The claim was made by former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, who has written a new book about the British royal family titled "The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor  the Truth and the Turmoil."

The bombshell book explores "the scandals, love affairs, power plays and betrayals" that have rocked the royals during the last 20 years. It promises to feature new revelations based on Browns access to palace insiders.

The bestselling author previously wrote a biography on the Princess of Wales titled "The Diana Chronicles," which was published in 2007.

PRINCE HARRY, MEGHAN MARKLE 'STUNNED' AFTER ROYALS 'SHUT THE DOOR,' BOOK CLAIMS: 'MUTAL ADDICTION TO DRAMA'

Tina Brown previously wrote a book about Princess Diana. Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

The incident in question took place in 2019. At the time, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were in Canada just before they quit royal duties the following month. The queen, 96, was gearing up for her televised annual Christmas broadcast, one she has done every year since 1957. Ahead of the televised message, she made a last-minute change that allegedly left her grandson stunned.

" A family portrait of [Prince] Charles, Camilla, the Cambridges and Harry and Meghan were exhibited at Her Majestys elbow," Brown wrote. "But in December 2019, the Sussexes had evaporated, their image excised Her Majesty pointed at a winsome portrait of Harry, Meghan and baby Archie. That one, said the queen. I suppose we dont need that one."

"If the Sussexes had any residual misgivings about whether they wanted out, those doubts vanished when they viewed the queen's 2019 televised Christmas message," Brown continued. "With their own eyes, they saw that they had been kicked to the margins of the monarchy. Her Majesty eloquently made the point in her speech by saying nothing. The subtext was all in the flotilla of carefully arranged family photographs positioned on her writing desk."

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Brown alleged William, 39, was "appalled," believing the move would anger his younger brother.

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In this undated photo, Queen Elizabeth II records her annual Christmas broadcast in Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England. Steve Parsons - WPA Pool/Getty Images

"William was said to have been appalled when he saw the Sussexes had been edited out," Brown claimed. "He knew his brother well enough to predict a Category 5 tantrum brewing."

In January 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they were stepping back as senior members of the British royal family. In March 2021, Harry told Oprah Winfrey in a televised interview that he tried to arrange a chat with a queen, but suggested that a palace aide blocked the meeting.

"That announcement that we put out on 8 January in 2020  the contents of that were put into a letter to the institution  to my father, which was then shared at the end of December, when we were in Canada," Harry explained.

"And to then get back on the 6th after my grandmother had said, 'The moment you land come up to Sandringham, we'd love to have a chat, come and have tea  why don't you stay for dinner because it's going to be a long drive, and you're going to be exhausted,'" the 37-year-old shared.

"The moment we landed in the U.K. I got a message from my private secretary, Fiona at the time... cutting and pasting a message from the queen's private secretary, basically saying, 'Please pass on to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex that he cannot come to Norfolk. The queen is busy, she's busy all week... do not come up here," Harry added.

One palace aide alleged to Brown that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were attempting to blur the line between Elizabeths role as grandmother and reigning monarch in arranging an informal meeting to discuss an issue about their involvement with the royal family.

"Such conversations would have to be done in the spirit of Elizabeth II as sovereign, so there would've been agendas," a palace source claimed to Brown. "Talking points would've been agreed on beforehand between private secretaries... What the Sussexes tried to do was circumnavigate that and go and see her because, on her own, she famously says yes. She caves."

Harry later insisted to Winfrey, 68, that he "would never blindside my grandmother."

PRINCE ANDREW SPENT TWO DAYS ALONE IN PRIVATE CALIFORNIA SUITE WATCHING PORN ON CABLE TV, BOOK CLAIMS

Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Prince Harry, Prince William and Catherine, circa 2018. Neil Mockford/GC Images

"I have too much respect for her," he added.

A palace spokesperson didnt immediately respond to Fox News Digitals request for comment concerning Browns book. However, a spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital that the palace doesnt generally comment "on such books." A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex also didnt immediately reply to Fox News Digitals request for comment.

Markle, a former American actress, became the Duchess of Sussex when she married Harry in May 2018 at Windsor Castle. The couple welcomed a son named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in 2019.



The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs departures from royal duties began in 2020 over what they described as the British medias intrusions and racist attitudes toward the former "Suits" star, 40. The family now resides in the coastal city of Montecito, California.

JEFFREY EPSTEIN TOLD PEOPLE THAT PRINCE ANDREW WAS A USEFUL IDIOT, BOOK CLAIMS

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex reside in California with their two children. Chris Jackson/Pool/Getty Images

In the wake of quitting royal duties, they gave an explosive TV interview to Winfrey in which the couple described painful comments about how dark Archies skin might be before his birth. The duchess talked about the intense isolation she felt inside the royal family that led her to contemplate suicide.



Buckingham Palace said the allegations of racism made by the couple were "concerning" and would be addressed privately.



In June 2021, several months after the interview, the couple welcomed their second child, a daughter named Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

The name pays tribute to both the queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet, and Harrys late mother, Princess Diana.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday she does not have information on over a dozen reported White House meetings between Hunter Biden's former business partner and President Biden when he was vice president.

Asked by Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich whether the president still maintained his position that he had not spoken with Hunter Biden about his business dealings, Psaki said, "He maintains his same statements that he's made in the past."

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing in the James S Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2022. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS PARTNER MADE 8 ADDITIONAL WHITE HOUSE VISITS IN 2016, VISITOR LOGS SHOW

"I know you're referring to WAVES records that were released more than ten years ago," Psaki added. "I really don't have more detail or information on them. I'd note that there was a gap when WAVES records were not released, but I don't have more information about visits from more than ten years ago."

Eric Schwerin, president of the Rosemont Seneca firm, met with Joe Biden while he was serving as vice president under former President Barack Obama, the New York Post reported earlier this week. Schwerin is linked to a variety of Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings. Hunter Biden's finances have come under intense scrutiny as evidence mounts showing his father was used as leverage in negotiations.

Hunter Biden is separately under investigation for potential criminal violations of tax law, foreign lobbying and money laundering laws, but he has not yet been charged with any crime.

GARLAND REFUSES TO ANSWER HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATION QUESTION, DOESN'T COMMIT TO APPOINTING SPECIAL COUNSEL

The meeting with Joe Biden was one of 19 visits Schwerin paid to the White House, where he also met with a variety of aides to the vice president, according to archived visitor logs from the Obama White House.

Hunter Biden and his father, Joe Biden, award designer Michael Kors the World Food Program USA's McGovern-Dole Leadership Award at Organization of American States on April 12, 2016 in Washington, DC. Paul Morigi/Getty Images for World Food Program USA

Psaki previously dismissed the reports on Monday when about the report. Psaki claimed she did not have "any information" about the visits.

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Both Psaki and Biden have maintained that the president has not spoken with his son about his business dealings.

Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki's effort to dodge the truth about President Biden's ties to Hunter Biden's shady business dealings is "unacceptable" during a Tuesday appearance on "Fox & Friends."

Fox News' Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this article.
NextShark

A 91-year-old Korean War Navy veteran is hoping to find his first love, who he met during his time as a second class petty officer in Japan in 1953. Duane Mann, 91, wrote a Facebook post on May 1 hoping to find someone who recognizes the woman in a photo he took in 1953, whose name he says is Peggy Yamaguchi. In the post, Mann explains that while he was stationed in Japan from 1953 to 1954 at age 23, he met Yamaguchi at an Air Force NCO Club, where he worked as a slot machine repairman in his spare time and Yamaguchi worked as the hat check girl.
(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia and Ukraine were continuing talks in an online format.

At the start of his meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Moscow, Putin also said he hopes that the talks would yield a positive result.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
A spring heat wave is scorching parts of India and Pakistan, with record-breaking April temperatures of 120 degrees Fahrenheit forecast along the border of the two countries in the coming days. The extreme heat threatens the health of millions of people as well as the harvest of wheat at a time when climate change and the war in Ukraine have sparked a global food crisis.

The Indian Meteorological Department warned this week that a heat dome, similar to the one that sent temperatures soaring over the Pacific Northwest last year, had formed over the region. Millions of people in the areas of India and Pakistan where temperatures have remained in the triple digits are now at risk of illness and death from the heat.

Its become impossible to work after 10 oclock in the morning, Sunil Das, who works as a rickshaw puller on the outskirts of Delhi, told Quartz India.

A man riding his bicycle in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters)

Following an exceptionally dry month of March, which also set a new temperature record, cities and towns across Indias wheat-growing region have been reporting temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit this week. When April arrived, so did the heat wave, putting the wheat harvest at risk.

The heat spell occurred very fast and also matured the crop at a faster pace, which shriveled the grain size. This also resulted in a drop in yield, JDS Gill, the agriculture information officer in the state of Punjab, told India Today.

Meteorologists predicted that the temperature average for April would likely fall across large portions of India and Pakistan. Such severe heat waves arent normally registered in the region until May and June, but scientists have long warned that because of climate change they will become more common earlier and later in the coming decades.

Workers at the government grain market in Chandigarh, India. (Ravi Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

On Tuesday, the temperature hit 116F in the city of Dadu, Pakistan, tying a record for the warmest day in the Northern Hemisphere on that date. Temperatures are expected to keep rising this week.

India/Pakistan Heat Wave day #1:Today 26 April the Pakistani station of Dadu reached 47.0C,tying the 2022 highest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere (=Matam,Senegal). In India 45.1C at Barmer. Unfortunately this is just the beginning and it'll get hotter in the next few days. pic.twitter.com/RKq7Bp3T4I  Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) April 26, 2022

The formation of a heat dome over India, Nepal and the Himalayas also has potentially worrisome long-term consequences, according to climate researchers. The consensus among scientists is that climate change has sped up the melting of glacier ice in the Himalayas. That's significant because after Antarctica and the Arctic, the region holds the worlds third-largest amount of glacial ice. Its loss would dramatically impact the supply of water to people in the region.

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Drought worsened by climate change and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine have brought the Horn of Africa to the brink of famine. Many African nations import wheat from Ukraine, but the conflict has halted those shipments. Earlier this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured President Biden that India was ready to supply food stock to the world, but that pronouncement came just as the current heat wave was beginning to take hold.

[Wheat] prices will be driven up, and if you look at what is happening in Ukraine, with many countries relying on wheat from India to compensate, the impact will be felt well beyond India, Harjeet Singh, an adviser with Climate Action Network International, told NBC News.

While the overall toll on the wheat harvest remains unclear, the next few days in India and Pakistan will provide a more immediate trial run for how human beings will cope with a hotter future. For now, schools have been closed in several cities in India, workers have been advised to avoid exposure to the sun and the governments of both countries have warned of blackouts as the demand for electricity is expected to surge.
Ukrayinska Pravda

ROMAN PETRENKO - MONDAY, 9 MAY, 2022, 10:45 The flying display part of the parade in Moscow has been cancelled allegedly due to the weather. Source: Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by the Kremlin media Details: On the morning of 9 May, before the start of the [annual military Victory Day] parade, it became known that there will be no flying display in Moscow this year.
Sanna Marin and Magdalena Andersson. Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images

Finland and Sweden are preparing to simultaneously submit membership applications to NATO, and could do so as early as mid-May, Nordic media organizations reported Monday.

The Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reports that Sweden "suggested the two countries indicate their willingness to join" the alliance on the same day, and Finland agreed "as long as the Swedish government has made its decision."

Earlier this month, both prime ministers said they were contemplating membership, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine changed the "security landscape" of Europe. Moscow has warned the countries against applying for membership, saying Russia would be forced to strengthen its defenses in the Baltic in order to "restore military balance."

Finland and Sweden are nonaligned militarily, but became NATO partners in 1995 when joining the European Union. New opinion polls indicate that about 68 percent of Finns are supportive of joining NATO, more than double the number before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while in Sweden, "a slim majority" of residents are in favor of joining, The Guardian reports.

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Workers at Starbucks locations in Cary and Peoria won union elections Tuesday, making the stores the first and second Starbucks to unionize in Illinois.

Starbucks employees in Cary voted 17-4 and employees in Peoria voted 9-2 to unionize, said Esau Chavez, a union organizer with the Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United. Workers United is the Service Employees International Union affiliate that represents the Starbucks workers.

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Were feeling incredibly empowered, said Jon Gill, a barista at the Peoria store at 1200 W. Main St. in the Campustown Shopping Center.

The wins that we are seeing at Starbucks are proof that no massive corporation is invincible, said Gill, who has worked at the Peoria location since December. Gill said they would like to see wage increases as well as a contract with guaranteed hours so employees access to the companys benefits is protected.

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Workers do have power, and if they organize, they can reach that power, Gill said.

Employees at 230 Starbucks locations have filed for union elections in 31 states, according to Casey Moore, a barista on the Starbucks Workers United communications committee. Out of 35 stores that have had elections, 32 have voted to unionize, Moore said.

In statements, organizing committees at both Illinois stores celebrated Tuesdays votes.

This is a win for every store, and really every partner that works for Starbucks. There is still a long road ahead, but we look forward to working with corporate as partners in making Starbucks the best employer for essential workers, said workers at the Cary store, which is located at 620 Northwest Highway.

Our victory here in Peoria is a product of the incredible organizing that Starbucks workers have done across the country. We stand in solidarity with every Starbucks worker and any worker fighting for a better world, the Peoria organizing committee said.

Starbucks said in a statement. From the beginning, weve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed. However, the vote outcomes will not change our shared purpose or how we will show up for each other.

Parties have one week to file objections to the votes with the National Labor Relations Board, said agency spokesperson Kayla Blado. If no objections are filed, the results will be certified.

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A Starbucks spokesperson would not comment on whether the company planned to file challenges, but said it would continue to respect the process outlined by the NLRB.

In Chicago, six stores have filed for elections, according to Grace Easterby, an organizer with the Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United. Three of those stores  in the Loop, Logan Square and Hyde Park  have election dates set for June 7, with ballots going out to workers in early May.

The other Chicago Starbucks that have filed for union elections are in Bucktown, Edgewater and Edgewater Beach.

tasoglin@chicagotribune.com
Louisville, KY  Chef Joe Castro, who served as the executive chef at The English Grill at The Brown Hotel from 1992 to 2007, died on April 23 surrounded by his loved ones. He was 60 years old.

According to Great Chefs TV, Castro was "raised by a Kentucky mother who loved to bake country hams and a Filipino father, also a doctor, who enjoyed fixing fish heads and feeding them to him at midnight." Both Castro's brother and brother-in-law are chefs, and his wife is a pastry chef.

Castro interned at the Lai Lai Sheraton Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan and at the CTIC Chinatrust Hotel in Kaohsuing, Taiwan. Then he worked his way up at the Embassy Row Hotel in Washington, DC. In 1992, Castro was recruited back to Louisville to run The English Grill at the Brown Hotel. He left the hotel in 2007 to become the Culinary Training Manager for General Electric's Monogram Appliances.

Food writer Susan Reigler, who served as The Courier Journal's food critic from 1992 to 2007, said that under Castro's leadership, the English Grill dining room "may well be the finest restaurant in Louisville" in a glowing four-star review.

About half of the tables have been removed from the English Grill at the Brown Hotel to make space for social distancing on Tuesday, August 18, 2020

In her 15 years at the paper, Reigler only named 12 restaurants worth a full four stars. The English Grill was one of them.

"A lot of what he did was using the freshest seasonal ingredients possible and he had a wonderful way of putting a great local twist on it," Reigler said. "Not down-home cooking by any means. They really wanted to make [The Brown Hotel] a destination and a place at the top of the Louisville restaurant [scene] and I think they succeeded beautifully."

More than that, Reigler said, he was a kind person. Castro always had a smile on his face.

Louisville restaurant closing: This beloved brunch spot in NuLu is closing its doors in late May. Here's what to know

His friends and family agreed. Many of those who left notes online in his memory mentioned his upbeat, gentle nature and smiles.

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"Joe was truly one of the nicest human beings I have ever met," wrote a GE Appliances coworker, Mason Carrico. "His caring attitude and genuine kindness are two traits that always made Joe stand out. His passion and talent for cooking were second to none. We love Joe and he will always have a special place in our hearts."

In 1994, Castro was featured on The Discovery Channel's "Great Chefs of the South" and "Great Chefs of America" TV series. He helped launch the Chef's Table premium dining experience at The English Grill in 2000. The program continued until the pandemic began, and is scheduled to resume in the fall.

More than half of the tables have been removed in the lobby area at the Brown Hotel to make space for social distancing on Tuesday, August 18, 2020

He and his brother, fellow chef John Castro, were even featured on "Throw Down with Bobby Flay" on Food Network in 2007, where they prepared Kentucky's famous Hot Brown dish and won the competition.

The Brown Hotel general manager Brad Walker, who worked with Castro at the Brown Hotel for five years, said he "always had an optimistic attitude and was always tweaking the menu and recipes."

"Joe was the best," Walker said. "He was great with his staff and great with our guests. He ensured we put out only the finest food in our restaurants and with weddings and banquet events. Joe helped put the English Grill on the map as one of the finest restaurants in the country."

Chef awards: Three Kentucky chefs named James Beard Award semifinalists in food 'Oscars.' What to know

Chef Anthony Lamas of Seviche, 1538 Bardstown Road, agreed. When he moved to Louisville in 1994, there were three standout restaurants he tried first: Anoosh Shariat's Anoosh Bistro, Kathy Cary's Lily's Bistro, and Castro's The English Grill.

"Anoosh and Kathy were both doing amazing food but I felt like the only true four-star restaurant was The English Grill," Lamas said. "It was true fine dining, a sold-out, special occasion you get dressed up sort of place. No other restaurant was doing it at the time."

Lamas praised Castro's refined dishes and noticed the Filipino flair he added in. Lamas said Castro was a chef before his time.

"When you went there, you felt special," Lamas said. I think America is more casual now but there is something to be said for that true fine-dining tableside, immaculate service and that is what Joe Castro did. He was revolutionary."

Churchill Downs chef: Why this Churchill Downs chef says cooking for 300,000 at Kentucky Derby is 'a celebration'

Castro was preceded in death by his parents, Ignacio Bravo Castro and Mary Margaret Barket Castro. He is survived by his wife, Kathleen Stevens Castro; children, Eleanor Stevens Castro, Max Ignacio Castro and Lydia Stevens Castro; sister, Alfreda Donahue (Lonnie Donahue); and brothers, John Castro (Jack Beeson) and Paul Castro (Jennifer Castro).

There will be a memorial gathering on Saturday, April 30 from 12-5 p.m. at Embry-Bosse Funeral Home, 2723 Preston Hwy.

Features reporter Dahlia Ghabour covers food, dining trends and restaurants in the Louisville area. Send tips on new places or story ideas to dghabour@courier-journal.com or follow on Twitter @dghabour.

Joe Castro's corn bread dressing

Courtesy of Chef Joe Castro, 2006. Serves 10

Ingredients

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1 cup diced celery

1 cup diced onion

6 cups crumbled corn bread (for a 9-by-12-inch baking pan)

1 tablespoon fresh sage

1 teaspoon thyme

3 tablespoons parsley

4 to 5 cups chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a 12-inch cast-iron skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add celery and onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft, about 15 minutes. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix well.

Pack back into the cast iron skilled that you used to cook the vegetables, or into a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown.

Baked sweet potatoes with bourbon ginger glaze

Courtesy of Chef Joe Castro, 2006. Serves 8

Joe Castro's baked sweet potatoes with bourbon ginger glaze.

Ingredients

5 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed, to make 12 cups

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 tablespoon grated ginger

2 tablespoons walnut oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

miniature marshmallows, optional

Directions: Bake these potatoes ahead and reheat in the microwave if desired. Long cooking brings out the sweetness of the potatoes. Of course you may substitute butter or vegetable oil if you don't have walnut oil.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all the ingredients, mix well. Place in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet or a 9-by-13 baking pan and cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil, and stir the potatoes. Return uncovered to oven and bake 45 minutes more or until the potatoes are soft, stirring once or twice more during baking. If desired, top potatoes with a layer of marshmallows and run them under the broiler to melt and brown. Watch carefully.

Joe Castro's special brined turkey

Courtesy of Chef Joe Castro, 2006

Chef Joe Castro helps prepare Thanksgiving dinner at The Brown Hotel in 2006.

Ingredients

1 gallon vegetable stock

1 gallon hot water

1 onion diced

1 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 lemon cut into 8 pieces

5 sprigs thyme

8 sage leaves

1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

1 12-to-18 pound turkey, fresh or thawed

Directions:

Remember that a turkey requires one day for every 5 pounds to thaw, plus one day. So a 15-pound turkey requires four days to thaw in the refrigerator.

Remove giblets and neck from cavity for gravy, if desired. Wash turkey and pat dry. Combine everything but the turkey in a container large enough to hold turkey and brine (large cooler works well). Add the turkey. Cover with a plate. Place a weight on top of the plate to keep the turkey submerged in the brine. Refrigerate (or place in a 35- to 40- degree spot) for six hours.

When ready to cook, heat the oven to 450 degrees. Remove the turkey from the brine, and pat dry. Place the turkey in a roasting pan. Rub the turkey with peanut oil. Place the herbs, onion and lemon from the brine in the cavity of the turkey.

Roast at 450 for 20 minutes, then lower to 325 and cook for a total of 15 to 20 minutes per pound, covering with foil any areas that appear to be over-browning (wing tips, etc). Allow the bird to rest for at least 30 minutes before carving.

Mojito

Courtesy of Chef Joe Castro. Serves 1

Joe Castro's mojito recipe.

Ingredients:

3 thin slices of lime

1 ounce lime juice

2 teaspoons raw sugar

1 sprig mint

1 1/2 ounces rum

club soda

Directions: In a tall highball glass, combine the lime slices and juice with the sugar and three mint leaves. Muddle these ingredients together just like a mint julep, by mashing the fruit and mint with the sugar to draw out the juices. Fill the glass with cubed ice. Add the rum. Top with club soda. Stir, and garnish with the remaining mint.

Gingered watermelon juice

Courtesy of Chef Joe Castro. Serves 1

Gingered watermelon juice by Chef Joe Castro.

Ingredients:

4 cups ripe watermelon, seeds removed, cut into chunks

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and chopped fine

Blender

Directions: Using a blender, liquefy the ripe watermelon with fresh ginger. Strain and chill. Serve cold in a large glass.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Former English Grill Brown Hotel chef Joe Castro dies at 60
Sen. Rand Paul got flak Tuesday for his comments on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with some people criticizing him for echoing one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's talking points.

During an exchange with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Paul pointed out that Russia's attacks, in the recent past, have been on countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.

Putin has publicly dismissed Ukraine's right to function as a sovereign nation separate from Russia.

The Kentucky Republican's comments came during a Senate hearing with Blinken, during which Paul raised concerns about U.S. displays of support for Ukraine potentially joining the NATO military alliance, including during former President George W. Bush and President Joe Biden's administrations.

He asked Blinken: "Knowing full well that Ukraine was unlikely to ever join NATO since it had already been 14 years since they said they were going to become members, why was it so important last fall  before this invasion  to continue agitating for Ukraine's admission to NATO?"

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Blinken pushes back when Rand Paul suggests Biden is responsible for Russia's invasion of Ukraine b/c he supported Ukraine's desire to join NATO, pointing out those are "sovereign decisions."



Paul then makes sure to point out he doesn't actually support Russia's invasion. But. pic.twitter.com/DL9iFlD4K7  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2022

Blinken responded: "It's a question of standing up for the basic principle, that we strongly adhere to, that there should be and will be an open-door policy when it comes to NATO membership."

Paul, who repeatedly has opposed U.S. military involvement in other countries during his political career, questioned the decision to push for "something that we knew our adversary (Russia) absolutely hated and said was a red line."

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"Now, there is no justification to the invasion. I'm not saying that. But there are reasons for the invasion," said Paul, who later added he's "proud of how well the Ukrainians have fought" and is supportive of their cause.

Sen. Rand Paul makes an appearance in Louisville on Dec. 6, 2021 to honor the founders of Phocus, a maker of sparkling water energy drinks, as part of Small Business of the week.

When Blinken noted Russia has, in the recent past, attacked countries that weren't members of NATO  specifically Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova  Paul countered with: "You could also argue the countries they've attacked were part of Russia, or part of the Soviet Union, rather."

Blinken said he disagreed with that proposition, adding: "It is the fundamental right of these countries to decide their own future and their own destiny."

Simil: Rand Paul delayed the historic Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson vote, and people were not happy

"I'm not saying it's not," Paul responded. "But I'm saying that the countries that have been attacked, Georgia and Ukraine, were part of the Soviet Union..."

Blinken jumped in: "That does not give Russia the right to attack them..."

"No one's saying it does," Paul interjected.

Blinken continued: " When everything came to a head, it is abundantly clear, in President Putin's own words, that this was never about Ukraine being potentially part of NATO, and it was always about his belief that Ukraine does not deserve to be a sovereign, independent country."

Related: Only one lawmaker voted against all recent legislation aimed at Russia. He's from Kentucky

Blowback was swift on Paul's comments

Paul's exchange with Blinken was quickly met with disapproval online, including in a critical Rolling Stone article about his comments and tweets by figures like Alexander Vindman, a former National Security Council staffer whose testimony was a key part of former President Donald Trump's first impeachment.

"Paul implies that Russia is justified in attacking Ukraine because, UKR was once part of the USSR. By that logic Britain is justified in attacking the U.S. and colonial powers their former holdings. What century does he live in?" Vindman tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

A stunning exchange between @RandPaul & @SecBlinken

Paul implies that Russia is justified in attacking Ukraine because, UKR was once part of the USSR. By that logic Britain is justified in attacking the U.S. and colonial powers their former holdings. What century does he live in? https://t.co/3e36s2JHP9  Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) April 26, 2022

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., shared a video of Paul's exchange with Blinken and commented: "Rand Paul truly is ridiculous."

Rand Paul truly is ridiculous. He and @TuckerCarlson should bro out. https://t.co/4NgRoWVDft  Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) April 26, 2022

Charles Booker, a well-known Kentucky Democrat who hopes to defeat Paul in the fall election, also criticized the senator's statements Tuesday and asked for campaign donations to help boot him out of office.

"Rand Paul just attempted to justify Russias invasion of Ukraine. He is actively pushing Putins propaganda in the Senate, and I will remove him from office in November," Booker tweeted.

Rand Pauls actions are shameful. My name is Charles Booker, I am a lifelong Kentuckian, proud husband, father, and the person who is going to retire Rand Paul this November. Please help me win this race by chipping in today: https://t.co/ADC1y3APe4  Charles Booker (@Booker4KY) April 26, 2022

Paul's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Morgan Watkins is The Courier Journal's chief political reporter. Contact her at mwatkins@courierjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @morganwatkins26.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul criticized over Russian invasion comments
A rights group is pressing for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to prioritize the safety of civilians in Mariupol as the U.N. chief is scheduled to visit Moscow and Kyiv this week.

After surviving two months of terror, hiding in basements as their city was turned to char and rubble, civilians still in Mariupol urgently need assistance and safe evacuation routes, Ida Sawyer, a Human Rights Watch crisis and conflict director, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Secretary-General Guterres and other international leaders should press top Russian officials to ensure safe passage to Ukraine-controlled territory, Sawyer added.

The rights groups pleas come after Guterres spoke in Moscow of the plight of civilians in Mariupol.

Thousands of civilians are in dire need of life-saving humanitarian assistance, and many, of evacuation, he said of the hard-hit Ukrainian city. The United Nations is ready to fully mobilize its human and logistical resources to help save lives in Mariupol.

But Guterres also spoke of his conversations with Russian leadership, suggesting a peaceful end to the conflict was not likely in the near term.

I had a very frank discussion with the Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and it is clear that there are two different positions on what is happening in Ukraine, the secretary-general said, noting that to Russians the attack is a special military operation but to the U.N. it is a violation of its territorial integrity and against the Charter of the United Nations.

The secretary-generals visit to Moscow has been criticized by a top adviser for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Igor Zhovkva.

We did not understand his intention to travel to Moscow and to talk to President Putin, Zhovka said on Sunday. I really doubt if those peace talks organized by secretary-general of the U.N. would end up with any result.

Guterres is also scheduled to visit Kyiv during his official trip. A United Nations (UN) spokesperson has said that there is no significance in his travels to Moscow first.

Other global leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, have also traveled to Kyiv amid the invasion which began on Feb. 24.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The search is on for Rising Above Bakerys storefront. And founder Shiri Reuveni-Ullrich has her sights set on Bergen County.

Everything at Rising Above  from its crusty sourdough bread to its soft chocolate chip cookies  is made by adults with special needs and learning differences, guided by a troop of enthusiastic volunteers.

Rising Above survives on the orders customers place for pickup. The bakery uses the restaurant The Fish Dock in Closter as a pickup point, though everything is made in Chestnut Ridge in Rockland County, New York.

Now, the nonprofit bakery is raising money and hunting for storefronts to make its baked goods more accessible.

On a recent visit to the bakery, which is in a small room at the back of Reuveni-Ullrichs house, the order of the day was making coconut macaroons, sandwich cookies, chocolate babka, oatmeal cookies and hot cross buns.

Story continues below the gallery

It was also the test day for Rising Aboves new cheesy jalapeno bread, which was slightly spicy with a deeply caramelized crust.

Bakers Connor Carson and Amira Alexandre bustled around the kitchen, dipping macaroons in chocolate and mixing batter.

I love it here, said Alexandre.

Reuveni-Ullrich was formerly a speech therapist who baked as a hobby. She also had an interest in teaching individuals with autism and other developmental differences vital skills. So she started baking classes for adults who are differently-abled.

I just loved how they enjoyed the kitchen, she said.

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Adults with special needs struggle to find employment after leaving school systems. About 19.1% of people with disabilities were employed in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Reuveni-Ullrich describes her ah-ha moment  when she knew she wanted to dedicate her life to Rising Above  when she heard her bakers, many of whom were nonverbal, singing, humming and talking to one another in the kitchen.

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It was as if all their walls came down, she said.

Volunteer Monica Ullrich of Mahwah works alongside Connor Carson, 20, of Hillsdale at Rising Above Bakery, a nonprofit bakery in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y. The duo prepare gluten-free biscuits. The bakery employs special needs adults working alongside volunteers.

She researched how to open a bakery and run a nonprofit for two years before opening in January 2021. The Rising Above team started by making granola for sale.

If you mess that up, its easy to fix, Reuveni-Ullrich said. Everything we do is with the goal to increase their skill level.

The menu has since expanded to include cookies, babka, brownies and  most impressively  bread, from gluten-free buckwheat loaves to rye to Semolina with sun-dried tomatoes to cinnamon raisin.

Shiri Reuveni-Ullrich opened the virtual doors to her nonprofit, Rising Above Bakery in January 2021. The bakery, operating out of her Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., home, employs special needs adults working alongside volunteers.

Bread is the most therapeutic, Reuveni-Ullrich said.

Carson has become a pro at bread shaping, a skill that any baker will tell you takes time and practice. He was Rising Aboves first baker, joining right when it opened in 2021.

I feel a part of something here, said Carson. Its meaningful work.

Most of the ingredients used are locally sourced and organic. Rising Above also offers gluten-free and vegan treats, all made by the bakers, who typically work twice a week for three to four hours.

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Volunteers like Sharon Ronan Daniel also help at the bakery. A retired pediatrician, Ronan Daniel was looking for something to do after her kids were settled in their careers.

I wanted to spend my time doing something meaningful, she said. Im very happy to be here.

Shiri Reuveni-Ullrich opened the virtual doors to her nonprofit, Rising Above Bakery, in January 2021. The bakery, operating out of her Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., home, employs special needs adults working alongside volunteers. Slices of jalapeno cheese bread from the bakery.

She supervises in the kitchen and lends a hand by checking out storefronts and organizing fundraisers. A board of directors also helps guide Rising Aboves baking and business endeavors.

Rising Above has caught the attention of several baking organizations, including the International Baking Industry Expo. Reuveni-Ullrich is set to do a talk during its September convention in Las Vegas.

And while spreading the positive effects baking has had on her bakers is important, Reuveni-Ullrich is focused on raising enough money to expand to a brick-and-mortar. In other words, we could be seeing chewy buckwheat loaves and addictive jalapeno cheese bread in a storefront window in Bergen County soon.

Go to risingabovebakery.org for more information.

Rebecca King is a food writer for NorthJersey.com. For more on where to dine and drink, please subscribe today and sign up for our North Jersey Eats newsletter.

Email: kingr@northjersey.com

Twitter: @rebeccakingnj

Instagram: @northjerseyeats

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rising Above Bakery may come to Bergen NJ soon
(Reuters) -The Russian-backed separatist leader of the Ukrainian breakaway region of Donetsk said on Tuesday that Moscow should launch the next stage of its military campaign in Ukraine after reaching the region's frontiers.

Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said on a Russian talk show broadcast online that the next phase of Russia's military intervention was crucial following security incidents outside the region.

He cited blasts that hit the Moldovan breakaway region of Transdniestria bordering Ukraine on Monday, as well as Russian allegations of shelling of its border regions by Ukrainian forces.

"The pace at which the (military) operation reaches our borders is important to us in order to launch its next phase, which is needed after what we witnessed in Transdniestria and Russia's border regions," RIA news agency quoted Pushilin as saying.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour's military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
Moscow announced that it will be cutting off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria as of Wednesday, according to a Bloomberg report.

Russia had previously threatened to cease gas supplies to any country that refuses Russian President Vladimir Putins stipulation that countries pay for Russias gas in rubles, but the European Union has insisted that in doing so, sanctions on Russia would be breached.

Poland and Bulgaria are both members of the European Union (EU), and the decision to cut off their gas is a major escalation in the fight. Both countries are also members of NATO.

Poland has also served as the main country housing refugees from neighboring Ukraine.

The warnings that gas would soon be cut off came from two different suppliers, PGNiG and Gazprom, according to Bloomberg.

Asked about the development, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday that the administration has been working for several months to increase natural gas supply and options for countries in Europe in anticipation of Russia potentially cutting off gas supplies to European nations.

Last week, the EU announced a series of steps for residents to take to cut back on their energy consumption to aid Ukraine in the fight against Russia.

Using less energy is not only an immediate way for EU citizens to reduce their bills, but it also supports Ukraine by reducing the need for Russian oil and gas, thereby helping to reduce the revenue streams funding the invasion, said the European Commission.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Russia is making good on promises to attack U.S. and allied weapons shipment points and fuel depots in Ukraine, launching rockets at five railway facilities used to funnel critical supplies into the country on Monday.

The attacks across western and central Ukraine targeting supply lines and infrastructure come as billions worth of heavy artillery systems, tanks and armored vehicles begin arriving to help Ukraine face off against what is expected to be a full-scale Russian assault in Donbas.

On Monday, the U.S. secretaries of State and Defense huddled with top Ukrainian officials in Kyiv, where they pledged hundreds of millions more in military aid for the coming fight.

We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it cant do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in Poland Monday. It had already lost a lot of military capability and a lot of its troops, quite frankly, and we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability.



Over the past two weeks, the Pentagon has picked up the pace of its deliveries to the battlefield, rushing in more than $1 billion worth of heavy weaponry and other aid by sea and by air. On Thursday, President Joe Biden approved another $800 million weapons package, including 72 155mm howitzers. By Saturday, those howitzers were already showing up in the country, Austin said Monday.

That is unimaginable speed, he said.

Since August 2021, DoD has given Ukraine enough artillery to equip five battalions for potential use in the Donbas, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said last week. The U.S. military has also begun training several dozen Ukrainian fighters on the new equipment outside of Ukraine, he said.

But in this new phase of the conflict, protecting critical supply lines will be key, experts and former officials say.

The fight for Donbas will be won or lost primarily on logistics: weapons, equipment and ammunition, said Mick Mulroy, a former top Pentagon official and retired CIA paramilitary officer and Marine. There have to be uninterrupted supply lines from the U.S. and NATO.

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Those supply lines have been threatened by Russia since it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, but until now Moscow hasnt explicitly acknowledged it acted on these warnings.



Both Russia and Ukraine are rushing to marshal resources and materiel in the Donbas region in Ukraines east, and western officials are pushing their governments to provide additional aid to Kyiv for the coming fight.

Ukraine is taking in a lot of new Western new equipment, maybe more than the Russians have been capable of moving into the country themselves, so the imbalance in equipment that we saw in the early phases of the war is starting to equalize, said Dmitry Gorenburg, a Russia specialist at nonprofit research institute CNA. But moving tanks and large artillery pieces over the Polish border without attracting Russian attention is more complex than moving truckloads of smaller Javelin and Stinger missiles, which dominated the donations in the early days of the war.

Striking those new, larger shipments, if they come by both rail and road, could prove difficult for Russia over the long run, however. Russias pilots remain wary of testing Ukraines air defenses and the Kremlin will likely need to start conserving some of its long-range precision weapons.

[Russias] stockpiles aren't necessarily large when it comes to weapons such as Kalibr and Iskander precision missiles, Gorenburg said. They are using them up, and they don't want to use them all because that would weaken their ability to fight NATO in the near future.

And so far, Russia has not been effective at disrupting the supply lines, primarily because its military is not very good at dynamic targeting  in other words, hitting a moving object rather than a stationary target such as a building, Mulroy said.



The fighting in the coming days and weeks will likely be different from the small-unit clashes seen in the opening weeks of the war, when Ukrainian anti-armor munitions blunted Russian attacks around the capital of Kyiv in close-in urban fighting.

The war in Donbas has already seen longer-range artillery engagements, and the 90 howitzers supplied by the U.S., alongside newly arrived Canadian howitzers and French Caesar mobile 155mm cannon systems on the way will give Ukrainian forces the ability to match  if not outdistance  Russias long-range capabilities.

Adding to the inflow of armor, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki confirmed Monday that his country had sent T-72 tanks to Ukraine, following the lead of the Czech Republic, which has sent its own Soviet-era tanks in recent weeks.

While the Russian long-range strikes into western Ukraine are expanding the zone of conflict, Ukrainian helicopters last month also conducted a risky operation into Russia, targeting an oil depot over the border in Belgorod. On Sunday night, several explosions rocked two oil facilities, one commercial and one military, in the Russian city of Bryansk close to the Ukrainian border. Those explosions came after a string of unexplained fires at Russian military research facilities over the past week.

As the fight for Donbas gathers strength, British intelligence assesses that Russia has made minor advances in Ukraines east in recent days, and without sufficient logistical and combat support enablers in place, Russia has yet to achieve a significant breakthrough U.K. defense attache Mick Smeath said in a statement Monday.

Britain will also send Ukraine a small number of Stormer armored vehicles fitted with launchers for anti-air missiles, defense chief Ben Wallace announced Monday. This is in addition to a shipment of Challenger 2 tanks that Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Friday.

Since the conflict began, Russia has lost about 15,000 personnel, over 2,000 armored vehicles, and more than 60 helicopters and fighter jets, according to U.K. Ministry of Defence estimates, Wallace said. Over 25 percent of the battalion tactical groups Russian committed to the fight have been rendered not combat effective, he added.

Russia has so far failed in nearly every one of its objectives, Wallace said. These next three weeks are key.
A Ukrainian soldier walks amid the rubble of a building heavily damaged by Russian bombardments in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Felipe Dana / Associated Press)

The United States rallied 40 nations Tuesday to provide long-term military aid to Ukraine as Russia raised the specter of nuclear war if NATO members keep sending arms to the embattled country.

In an apparent response to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, who said Monday that the U.S. wanted Russia permanently "weakened," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of escalating tensions.

Asked on Russian TV whether the current situation was comparable to the Cuban missile crisis, which brought the U.S. and Russia to the brink of nuclear war in 1962, Lavrov said his country wants to avoid nuclear conflict, and then added: "The danger is serious, it's real. It should not be underestimated."

"NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy," he said. "War means war."

Defense officials from dozens of countries met at the U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany, where the agenda focused on accelerating the arms shipments. In a dramatic shift, Germany announced that for the first time it would send air-defense tanks to Ukraine. Other nations pledged howitzers, tanks, rockets, drones, hand grenades and rifles.

Russia expanded its assault on southern and eastern regions of Ukraine overnight, saying its forces killed 500 "enemy personnel"  a claim that could not be verified  and hit military targets in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. Ukraine cited fresh attacks on civilians as well as military sites.

A building heavily damaged by Russian airstrikes in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. (Felipe Dana / Associated Press)

"Russian troops have launched an offensive in all directions," said Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He said Russia was zeroing in on the cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk in the east and Kryvyi Rih  Zelensky's hometown  in the south.

The British Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Russians had also overtaken the city of Kreminna, in the Luhansk region, though Ukraine did not confirm the city's fall.

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Officials said two missiles struck the central city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least one person.

In the southern city of Kherson, which fell to Russia early in the war, the occupiers have scheduled a vote this week on the creation of a so-called independent Kherson Peoples Republic.

The move, which Zelensky called a "sham referendum," would follow a long-term Russian strategy of fomenting unrest in the eastern region of Donbas, where pro-Russia separatists have already declared breakaway republics in Luhansk and Donetsk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that a chief reason he invaded Ukraine was to "liberate" ethnic Russians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks by video from Kyiv on Monday. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office)

The war, now in its third month, has left mass graves and rubble in cities and towns across Ukraine, including the southern port of Mariupol, which Russia claimed victory over last week even as a group of Ukrainian troops remains holed up in a sprawling steel plant. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said a new mass grave  the third to be named, this time in the village of Staryi Krym  was discovered just outside the city.

Kyiv, the capital, which has largely been spared attack over the last month as Russia shifted its offensive south and east, imposed a nightly curfew this week amid increasing concerns about further violence. And in the Black Sea port of Odesa, authorities reported an explosion that damaged a bridge over the Dniester River and cut off rail connections with neighboring Romania.

In an overnight video address, Zelensky said Ukraine  which has lost about 3,000 troops compared with unconfirmed estimates of up to 15,000 deaths among the Russians  would keep fighting to "make the occupiers stay in our land even more intolerable."

Zelensky and Ukraines foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, have dismissed the Russian warnings of nuclear conflict.

"Russia loses last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine," Kuleba tweeted. "Thus, the talk of a real danger of WWIII. This only means Moscow senses defeat."

The war also continued to spill into neighboring Moldova, where local officials in Transnistria, a pro-Russia breakaway enclave, said two radio towers were damaged in explosions Tuesday  a day after similar explosions were reported in the region's capital, Tiraspol.

Ukraine's intelligence agency has described such attacks as "planned provocation by Russian intelligence. Last week, a senior Russian military official told state media that Russia wanted control of southern Ukraine in order to have a land corridor to Transnistria, also known as Trans-Dniester.

At the summit in Germany, the U.S. Defense secretary described Ukraine as "fighting a war of necessity to defend its democracy, its sovereignty and its citizens."

"Russia's invasion is indefensible, and so are Russian atrocities," Austin said, adding that Russia has already been significantly weakened after two months of fighting.

"Casualties are pretty substantial," he told reporters at the air base. "Theyve lost a lot of equipment. They've used a lot of precision-guided munitions.  And so they are in fact, in terms of military capability, weaker than when they started.

Austin said again that the United States aimed to ensure that Russia is never again able to invade a peaceful neighbor. He also derided Russian comments warning of possible nuclear warfare as "clearly unhelpful" saber rattling.

Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told those attending the summit that "time is not on Ukraines side."

"The outcome of this battle, right here, today, is dependent on the people in this room," he said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, rear center, hosts a meeting of Western defense officials at the U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany, on Tuesday. (Michael Probst / Associated Press)

The attendees included representatives from major European nations as well as Turkey and Israel. South Africa and Japan participated virtually.

Ukrainian leaders, who did not succeed in earlier attempts to secure a no-fly zone enforced by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to prevent Russian attacks, had redoubled their efforts on asking for more and deadlier armaments.

"We say again and again: weapon, weapons, weapons! We need weapons to keep standing and defending the values of humankind," Lesia Vasylenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, tweeted Tuesday.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said that in addition to pledging billions in military and humanitarian aid, the U.S. is also holding Moscow accountable through sanctions, export controls and visa restrictions.

"The Moscow that prepared to invade and that on Feb. 24 went forward with its invasion will not be the same Russian Federation in terms of its positioning on the world stage," he said. "You can already see the toll on Russia's economy and its financial system."

He added: "Not only will Ukraine emerge sovereign and independent when this is over, but Moscow will emerge weaker."

Pushing back against sanctions, Russia will suspend natural gas deliveries to both Poland and Bulgaria starting Wednesday, according to officials from both countries. It is the first time Putin has made good on his threat to cut off "unfriendly foreign buyers" unless they pay in Russian rubles.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Putin and Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday.

Underscoring the difficulty of ending a war that has raged without pause through multiple rounds of negotiations, Guterres told reporters in Moscow that his "very frank discussion" with Lavrov showed "it is clear that there are two different positions on what is happening in Ukraine."

He said the U.N. was looking for opportunities to negotiate cease-fires to move civilians to safety.

"We urgently need humanitarian corridors that are truly safe and effective and that are respected by all to evacuate civilians and deliver much-needed assistance," he said.

Guterres is to travel Thursday to Kyiv to meet Zelensky.

The war has resulted in a refugee crisis unseen since World War II, with 5.2 million people fleeing Ukraine  a total that the U.N. said could eventually reach 8.3 million. More than 8 million people have been internally displaced.

Among the cities hardest hit has been Kharkiv, which lies about 25 miles from the Russian border and has been subjected to near-daily shelling  including in residential zones  since the war began.

On Tuesday, a road on Kharkiv's outskirts was full of hundreds of people lined up in front of a half-constructed church, where aid workers with the Noah's Ark Church organization were distributing food.

"Please don't push. There's enough food for everyone," said one man in sunglasses who stood at the gate to manage the crowd. "Be calm, praise God, and glory to Ukraine."

Inside were pallets loaded with bags of potatoes and onions and boxes of apples. There were also items that reflected the difficulty of maintaining a semblance of ordinary life in a city pummeled daily by Russian forces: cleaning products, matches, small candles.

"There's a lot of need right now. Some of these people have been lining up since 4 a.m.," said Andrey Varakuta, a 30-year-old aid worker. "We do this three times a week. Every time we do it, more and more people show up."

Bulos reported from Kharkiv, Kaleem from London and Parvini from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Staff and supporters of the Chicago Reader rally April 21, 2022, outside the Lakeview home of Reader investor Leonard Goodman. A plan to convert the 51-year-old alternative newspaper to a nonprofit has been delayed by one of its two primary investors, Chicago defense attorney Goodman, after editors pushed back on a November column he wrote expressing concerns about vaccinating his child against COVID-19. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Reader co-owner Len Goodman and three board members stepped down Tuesday amid protests from employees, freeing the embattled alternative newspaper to transition to a nonprofit organization.

The Reader has been stuck in limbo since December, when a planned transition to a nonprofit model was delayed over concerns about alleged censorship of an opinion piece written by Goodman, who pushed for an investigation into the matter and more representation on the successor board.

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Goodman announced Tuesday he was stepping away from the Reader immediately over an unresolvable impasse with fellow co-owner, Chicago real estate developer Elzie Higginbottom, who wanted to move forward with the transition to a nonprofit newspaper.

We cannot continue the fight without destroying the Reader, Goodman said in a statement. I am stepping aside. I will sign off on the sale so that the Reader can transition immediately to NFP status.

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Board members Dorothy Leavell, Sladjana Vuckovic and Carol Bell, who were aligned with Goodmans concerns, announced they were also stepping down immediately.

Frustrated Reader editorial employees organized a rally last week in front of Goodmans Lakeview East home and planned another one for Thursday morning in an effort to get the Chicago criminal defense attorney to relinquish control and let the newspaper move forward as a nonprofit. Goodman blamed Reader management for not addressing his concerns.

In 2018, Goodman and Higginbottom bought the Reader from the Chicago Sun-Times for $1 and the assumption of debt. Since then, they have invested more than $1 million each to keep it afloat, weathering the pandemic and supporting the money-losing publication as it planned to transition to a more sustainable nonprofit model.

That plan was delayed after editors pushed back on a November opinion piece by Goodman expressing concerns about vaccinating his 6-year-old daughter against COVID-19, which created backlash on social media for some disputed scientific claims.

It also created a schism among the co-owners and the board after the Reader tried to reel the piece back in, hiring an outside fact-checker for a post-publication edit. Goodman objected to pulling or revising it, and the original version remained online.

Tracy Baim, 59, a longtime Chicago journalist and co-founder of the Windy City Times, took the helm of the Reader under the new owners in 2018 and created the planned transition to a nonprofit organization. She was conciliatory after Goodmans announcement Tuesday.

I am relieved and grateful and looking forward to the challenges ahead, Baim said. I am very grateful for the support Len has given to the Reader the past three and a half years. It has been critical to take us to this point. And this decision will get us to the next phase of the Chicago Reader.

On Dec. 17, the Readers for-profit board, then comprised of three members, passed a resolution urging the planned transition to the nonprofit, set to take place on Dec. 31, not proceed until the issue of censorship of Goodmans piece was investigated and resolved. The board also called for the sale to be contingent on Goodman getting an equal amount of appointees on the successor nonprofit board.

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Leavell, the Chicago Crusader publisher who served as board chair and was initially appointed by Higginbottom, voted for the resolution along with Vuckovic, a Chicago attorney appointed by Goodman. Both followed Goodman out the door Tuesday.

The attempt to rewrite Lens column post publication and the attacks on his character reflect badly on the organization, Vuckovic said in a statement.

Equal partners in the Reader, Goodman has contributed about $2 million, while Higginbottom has put in $1 million and provided free office space for the publication. Each was entitled to appoint two members to the for-profit board and recommend candidates for approval to the 11-member nonprofit board.

The nonprofit Reader Institute for Community Journalism was created by Baim in December 2019, with Eileen Rhodes, president of East Lake Management, the Chicago real estate company founded by Higginbottom, appointed board chair. Nine of the 11 seats had been filled with nonprofit board members including Vuckovic, LGBTQ advocate Kim Hunt and former Chicago public radio host Alison Cuddy.

The co-owners were attempting to negotiate a solution that would allow Goodman to fill the remaining two seats on the nonprofit board and potentially replace at least one existing member. Tuesdays announcement will create some additional board vacancies.

Higginbotton said Tuesday he truly appreciates the support that Len offered to save the Reader and that hes excited about the next phase of the Reader as a nonprofit.

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The shift to a nonprofit model is a growing trend in the struggling newspaper industry, with the Salt Lake Tribune the first major daily newspaper to make the transition in November 2019. In January, the Sun-Times became a nonprofit newspaper when it merged with public radio station WBEZ-FM 91.5 under the banner of Chicago Public Media.

The Reader, which has an annual budget of about $2.8 million, was approaching break-even through a combination of advertising and charitable support, but was running out of money after the ownership impasse delayed the transition to nonprofit.

Launched in 1971 by a group of Carleton College graduates as a free weekly, the Reader changed hands several times in the new millennium as it struggled with declining advertising revenue in the digital age.

For 35 Reader employees and their supporters, Tuesdays announcement offers hope the alternative newspaper has found a viable path forward.

Its wonderful to have a future again, said Philip Montoro, 50, music editor at the Reader and head of its 17-member local unit of the Chicago News Guild. Im grateful to Len Goodman for the support he gave us  it allowed us to get to this point. And Id like to thank him for doing the right thing today, because that means we can keep going.

rchannick@chicagotribune.com
A convoy of Russian armored vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. Associated Press

About 15,000 Russian troops have died in the invasion of Ukraine, per UK's defense secretary.

Roughly the same number of Soviet soldiers died during the nine-year war in Afghanistan.

At least 2,665 civilians have been killed in Ukraine to date, according to the UN's OHCHR.

In nearly nine weeks, Russia lost as many troops during its invasion of Ukraine as it did in the nine years of the Soviet War in Afghanistan.

"It is our assessment that approximately 15,000 Russian personnel have been killed during their offensive," Ben Wallace, UK's Secretary of State for Defense said in a statement released by the British embassy in Washington on Monday. He also estimated that approximately a quarter of the battalion tactical groups were "not combat effective."

The Soviet War in Afghanistan lasted from 1979 to 1989. Many scholars partially attributed the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse to the military failure in the war. About 14,500 Soviet soldiers died then  along with 90,000 Mujahideen soldiers, 18,000 Afghan soldiers, and approximately one million civilians, The Atlantic reported in 2014.

Wallace similarly pointed to a "failure of the Russian Ministry of Defence command and control at all levels."

He also singled out Russia's equipment losses, including the Moskva warship, which sank on April 14 after a Ukrainian missile attack.

"Last week Russia admitted that the Slava-class cruiser Moskva has sunk  the second key naval asset that they have lost since invading  significantly weakening their ability to bring their maritime assets to bear from the Black Sea," he said in his remarks, delivered to the House of Commons on Ukraine.

"Russia has so far failed in nearly every one of its objectives," he added.

Since Vladimir Putin waged war on Ukraine on February 24, at least 2,665 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday, which says the actual number is likely much higher.

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The UK Secretary of State for Defence also estimated that more than 2,000 Russian armored vehicles were totaled or seized, including "at least 530 tanks, 530 Armoured Personnel Carriers and 560 Infantry Fighting Vehicles." They estimate that the country has also lost at least 60 helicopters and fighter jets.

Wallace said Ukraine has "endured indiscriminate bombardment, war crimes, and overwhelming military aggression."

"But they have stood firm, galvanized the international community, and beaten back the army of Russia in the North and the North-East," he added.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The sheriffs department investigating last years fatal shooting on the set of the film Rust said Monday that its still gathering key evidence, throwing cold water on actor Alec Baldwins recent claim that hes been cleared of any wrongdoing.

The Santa Fe County Sheriffs Departments investigation remains open and ongoing, the department said as it released files related to the investigation, including footage of the aftermath of the shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.

The sheriffs office in Santa Fe County, NM has released new footage of its investigation into the deadly shooting on the set of the movie Rust. Body cam video shows the frantic moments after the shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. pic.twitter.com/IpSWECIjox  CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) April 25, 2022

According to Sheriff AdanMendoza, various components of the investigation remain outstanding, including FBI firearm and ballistic forensics, DNA and fingerprint analysis, findings from the Office of the New Mexico Medical Examiner, and analysis of Baldwins phone data.

The investigation will not be handed over to the district attorneys office for review until that evidence is gathered, Mendoza said.

Baldwin, who was starring in and producing the film, released a statement from his attorney last week suggesting a report from the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau had cleared him of malfeasance on set.

We appreciate that the report exonerates Mr. Baldwin by making clear that he believed the gun held only dummy rounds, his lawyer wrote. Additionally, the report recognizes that [his] authority on the production was limited to approving script changes and creative casting.

Baldwin also maintains that he did not pull the trigger.

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During and after production, the films crew complained that those at the helm of the project did not properly explain or enforce firearm safety on set. Investigators found that Baldwins fatal shot was the fourth time a prop gun had fired unintentionally during filming.

The unionized crew eventually walked off the set, citing a lack of firearms safety and medics, as well as poor COVID-19 protocols. Production also failed to provide hotel rooms near the remote filming location, forcing many crew members to commute for an hour on top of their 13-hour shifts, leaving them without adequate time to sleep.

The documents released Monday include text messages of the crews complaints, witness interviews and police officers lapel and dash-camera footage, but none establish how live ammunition got on set.

The newly released videos show Baldwins first conversations with police and investigators, both on set and at the police station. The actor is cooperative, asking that officers tell [him] what to do.

Other footage shows Hutchins and Souza on the ground following the shooting, as well as Souza recounting the ordeal from his hospital room.

The armorer handed the actor a gun, he said, referring to the on-set armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed and Baldwin. I dont know if she said it was cold or clean, but she handed him a gun and there was a bang  a louder bang than Ive heard come from a blank before.

Baldwins legal team did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment on the sheriffs comments and files.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
(Independent)

Exactly how regular matter first transmuted into the, organized self-replicating assemblies of molecules that we call life on Earth is the focus of ongoing scientific research across many disciplines. But a new paper published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications strengthens theories that hold the basis of life came from outer space.

Using new techniques of chemical analysis, Japanese researchers have now shown all the amino acids necessary to form DNA and RNA, the genetic basis of life can be found in small meteorites that fall to Earth. These nucleobases are not examples of extraterrestrial life, but instead the result of chemistry taking place on asteroids while in space, which may then have seeded Earth with the necessary prebiotic material to help the development of life.

That material, the study authors write, may have contributed to the emergence of genetic properties for the earliest life on Earth.

The idea that genetic material could form on carbon-rich asteroids and then ride down to Earth on meteorites small enough to soft-land without vaporizing the prebiotic material is not new and dates back at least 50 years.

In 1969, a meteorite landed in Murchison, Australia, and was found to contain many amino acids, suggesting interstellar chemistry could create the ingredients necessary for life. By the 1990s, planetary scientist Carl Sagan suggested that although the concentration of such organic material in each small meteorite is very small, the higher rate of meteorite impact seen in Earths youth could have led to a significant amount of material falling to our planets surface.

The absolute abundance of nucleobases of extraterrestrial origin could be enough for further chemical reactions on the early Earth, said Yasuhiro Oba, a professor in the Institute of Low Temperature Science at Hokkaido University, in Japan, and the lead author of the new study.

Scientists running simulations of the chemistry taking place on interstellar asteroids seemed to find more evidence supporting the idea that genetic material could form in space, according to Dr Oba. But studies of the Murchison and other meteorites, until now, only showed half of the necessary materials on the fallen space rocks.

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DNA, which encodes the blueprint for each organism on Earth, and RNA, which communicates and implements that blueprint in each organism, are made up of two classes of molecules: the purines such as guanine and adenine, and the pyrimidines, such as cytosine, uracil, and thymine. DNA is constructed of adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine, the four nucleotides creating the base pairs of DNA, while RNA uses uracil in place of thymine.

But while previous studies had identified the purine nucleotides, guanine, and adenine, Dr Ogas study is the first to discover the pyrimidines in meteorites, showing the full range of nucleotides necessary for genetic chemistry can, in fact, fall to Earth on space rocks.

What is not clear, however, is just how much of an impact on Earths early chemistry such meteorites may have had, and Dr Oba is quick to point out that a lot depends on how much prebiotic chemistry may have been active on Earth before considering any extraterrestrial influence.

If the production efficiency of nucleobases on the Earth was much higher than the inputs from space, he said, contributions to the emergence of genetic function and/or life itself from such extraterrestrial nucleobases could not be large.

At the same time, Dr Oba said, he believes its likely the prebiotic chemistry from multiple sources was important to the origins of life  its possible terrestrial and extraterrestrial chemistry made their own contributions.

Dr Oba and his colleagues made their discovery by training new technologies and techniques on three old meteorites, including the Murchison meteorite.

What excites him and his colleagues, they note in the paper, is the opportunity to apply new techniques to new asteroid samples extracted in space, such as from the Nasa mission currently returning samples from asteroid Bennu, and samples from asteroid Ryugu returned by the Japanese Space Agency in December 2020. Such samples they write, will provide us with important insights into the evolution of extraterrestrial organic molecules, and potential clues regarding the origins of life on Earth through chemical analyses of pristine extraterrestrial materials that have not been significantly compromised by terrestrial contamination. 
Shaler Township Police said teams of thieves are going around stealing catalytic converters underneath buses and box trucks.

It only takes them a few minutes to cut them out from underneath and reselling them for hundreds of dollars.

It seems to be something thats happening all over the area, not just Allegheny County but even outside Allegheny County, said Chief Sean Frank for Shaler Township Police.

According to Shaler Township police, seven catalytic converters were stolen along Route 8 in February. Police said Hampton Township was hit shortly after and this is also possibly connected to an incident in Mercer County.

Lately, weve been seeing them targeting buses and box trucks maybe those are larger and more weight for the resale, said Chief Frank.

Shaler police are also investigating attempted catalytic converter thefts that happened earlier this month. Police said the alleged crooks drove a white Nissan kicks.

Chief Sean Frank said they hit a couple of box trucks at a business near route 8.

There were two cuts and they didnt realize until the business owner started the vehicle in the morning, said Chief Frank.

Over in West Mifflin, three people have been charged Monday for stealing a bunch of scrap metal at a local junkyard in February.

The criminal complaint said John Leasa, Brian Rigo and Carley Austen stole a wagon full of scrap metal and the vehicle involved was also a white Nissan kicks.

Not sure if these two are related but we are working with other departments to see if we can connect all the dots here, said Chief Frank. It seems like they work in teams if not three or four people.

As police investigate if these thefts are connected, anyone with information is encouraged to contact Shaler Township police.

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Oliwia Dabrowska as an adult doing volunteer work to support Ukrainian refugees (left) and as a child in Schindlers List (right) (Left: Courtesy of Oliwia Dabrowska  Right: Moviestore/Shutterstock)

Oliwia Dabrowska is a normal person who never meant to become famous. Shes 32 years old and lives in her native Poland with her husband and their rescue dog. She used to be a librarian but switched to working as a freelance copywriter for better pay. She loves books and occasionally volunteers for a dog rescue organization.

Its hard to say something about myself, she tells The Independent. I can tell you facts, but facts dont describe me. I cannot judge myself. I hope Im a good person. Thats all I can say.

Yet to millions of people, one image of Dabrowska is overwhelmingly familiar. When she was three years old, she was cast in Schindlers List. She portrayed the girl in the red coat, one of few elements of color in the mainly black and white film. To director Steven Spielberg, the girl in the red coat symbolized the inaction of governments during the Holocaust: Nothing was being done to slow down the industrialized progress the Nazis were making in the total annihilation of European Jewry, the director once told journalist Richard Schickel. ... So that was my message in letting that scene be in color. It was as obvious as a little girl wearing a red coat walking down the street.

The way she recounts it, Dabrowskas casting in Schindlers List was almost an accident. When the film entered production in Krakow, she says, the production team needed a lot of extras. She jokes that half of the population in the 700,000-people city must have become involved in the movie. Her mother, her grandparents, her aunt, and several of her mothers friends were all extras. At some point, Dabrowskas mother received information for the casting of the girl in the red coat. Dabrowska attended the audition with her grandfather, because no one else was available to take her.

Ive never asked [Spielberg] why he chose me, but I think it was because I wasnt shy, I wasnt afraid, she says. And I wasnt interested, actually. I wasnt trying to show Steven Spielberg my best face. There were other girls who were there with their mothers. It was like a pageant, a competition. She laughs at the memory: My grandfather wasnt interested either. He just took care of me. So I could do whatever I wanted. In the end, she believes her natural behavior was the reason she was picked.

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Oliwia Dabrowska as the girl in the red coat in Schindlers List (1994) (Moviestore/Shutterstock)

Dabrowska doesnt remember much from filming. My actual memories are more feelings than fact, she says. A lot of the anecdotes she knows were recounted to her by her mother. She did impact one scene specifically, she tells me: at one point during filming, the girl in the red coat had to go under a bed. Dabrowska was afraid of the dark (and possible spiders) and didnt want to go in with her head first, but rather her legs first. Steven Spielberg accepted this change, and thats in the movie, she says with a smile. So I had a little bit of influence.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, Dabrowska was reminded of the character she played  and it pushed her to do something. To her, the girl in the red coat was a symbol of trauma, embodying the atrocities of the Holocaust and of the Second World War. On 9 March, she shared an artwork of the same girl, this time in a blue coat, against a yellow background  matching the colors of the Ukraine flag. Inspired by conversations with two of her friends, Dabrowska has reimagined the girl in the blue coat as representing healing in the aftermath of trauma. She was always the symbol of hope, she wrote on Instagram. Let her be it again. The post came as Dabrowska got involved with on-the-ground volunteers to assist Ukrainian refugees, helping them find housing and transportation. The group started out small but now has more than 200 members. Dabrowska now devotes most of her time to volunteer work.

In one instance, Dabrowska helped organize an effort to deliver insulin to diabetic people. At a different time, a 19-year-old girl texted her that shed be arriving by train and was looking for a place to stay. Its not very safe for girls who are alone, Dabrowska says. There are a lot of bad people in the world. She texted the young woman back promptly and helped her find somewhere to go. Once, Dabrowska was home after a long day when she got a call around 10pm. A mother was traveling alone with her child; she was scheduled to take a bus to Berlin, Germany, the next day but needed somewhere to spend the night. Dabrowska called a friend and helped ensure the mother stayed in a safe place.

Dabrowska and the rest of her group have a wide remit in terms of what they will do and who they will help. They have coordinated transportation for people crossing the border from Ukraine into Poland. They have helped refugees find housing and a way to travel there. They have coordinated with other volunteers to help meet everyones needs. And it hasnt gone unnoticed.

Dabrowskas volunteer work, paired with the imagery of the girl in the blue dress, have made headlines around the world. When we speak, she tells me she has been doing interviews for two weeks, sometimes five or six per day.

This has been her first foray back in the public eye since her acting career. After Schindlers List, Dabrowska did commercials and had a few more screen credits. Ultimately, though, she stopped acting because she didnt want to spend her childhood attending casting calls. Maybe I wasnt that talented, she says. It was a different time. There was no internet, no computer in my home. So there were fewer possibilities to find opportunities. She went back to normal life.

Oliwia Dabrowska and other volunteers work to support Ukrainian refugees (Courtesy of Oliwia Dabrowska)

Dabrowska speaks of her work with refugees with respect, empathy, and compassion. The best way people can help, from the US and other countries, is through financial donations, she says. She has started an online fundraiser, aiming to raise 43,000 ($46,000 or 36,000). If people want to donate goods, they can send first-aid supplies (she mentions bandages and tourniquets specifically), as well as clothes for Ukrainian soldiers, shoes, socks, brand-new underwear, and food with a long shelf life, such as canned goods. But money, she says, is the most important resource, because volunteers can allocate it to the most pressing needs. People dont want to talk about money. They dont like it, she adds. But I must be honest: its important. We need that help.

Working with refugees, she has felt the weight of the trauma their generation will experience. I will never understand them, but I can do whatever I can to help them, she says. But its also a very sad feeling, because even if Im doing as much as I can, it wont ever be enough. The needs are bigger than our volunteer groups capacities.  This is very difficult, but we dont stop. We wont stop.
Angelica Glass hikes along Hinckley Basin Road in Santa Cruz County. She starts each trek from her home in the beach town where she has lived all her life. (Nic Coury / For The Times)

It began as a whimsical notion that occurred to Angelica Glass during a bubble bath: She would walk every street in Santa Cruz County.

She had no idea it would unearth her past and change how she experienced life.

She started each walk from her home in this beach town where she has lived all her adult life. She noticed spiraling vines of wild cucumber dripping down fences and how they would bounce back like a spring if she pulled them.

She paused in front of garage doors painted with geometric patterns and studied the quirky metal sculptures on Hanover Street. She noted tree houses, graveyards, rope swings. She made lists of favorite road names, such as Easy Street, Squid Row and Young Love Avenue.

As she wandered, her mind went on its own rambles, throwing up odd memories.

She recalled herself as a little girl, stepping over a low fence and squeezing behind a hedge where each day she found a brown paper bag holding a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was cut on the diagonal, which thrilled her, and it came with a baggie full of chips and an apple. She devoured it all. She was often hungry.

As a child she hadnt questioned where the lunches came from. They were just there. Now she wondered.

Whats going on with you? her wife of 23 years worriedly asked when Glass cried twice in one week, shortly after beginning the walks in 2013.

Angelica Glass had no idea that her walks would unearth her past and change how she experienced life. (Nic Coury / For The Times)

Brisk but pleasant, recently retired as a child welfare program manager in Santa Cruz County, Glass didnt cry. She had always seen her strength as being able to say hard things as kindly as possible. She was pragmatic and not given to what she calls froufrou.

When other social workers said they didnt believe in the system, she thought to herself, It's not God or Santa Claus. Its not for us to believe or disbelieve. It exists and we have to do the best we can.

She recalled her teenage self as a tough girl," a young lesbian with a half-shaved head who believed she could defend herself if jumped  never mind that she weighed 115 pounds.

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But much of her past was vague and shapeless. She had always envied how other people could tell a story about their lives. Shed idly felt she was missing her own tale.

::

At her retirement job as a social worker at a hospital, Glass witnessed the same suffering shed seen in her child welfare work: families traumatized for generations by poverty, addiction and abuse.

On her days off, she would walk more of Santa Cruz.

Her uncle died and left a small token of affection: $800. She wanted to buy something specific with the money and bought a camera to take on her walks.

Angelica Glass hikes along Hinckley Basin Road. As she wandered, her mind went on its own rambles, throwing up odd memories. (Nic Coury / For The Times)

It gave her joy to speak a new language, popping off phrases such as single reflex DSLR and learning concepts such as leading line to direct a viewers eye in a photograph.

Sometimes she took photos of things that at first made her wince and turn away.

On Rabbit Run Road, she saw an eviscerated deer and coyotes in the bushes. When she processed the photos, she looked closely at the deers ribs and matted fur, the bloodstains around the coyotes mouths.

She took photos of other dead animals so she could, as she wrote in notes to herself, study the scoop-shaped hands of a dead mole, the zagged blue scales on the belly of a roadkill lizard or the geometry of bare bones  amazing vessels that had once held life.

Her goal had been to take a photo of something beautiful on every street. But her idea of what could be beautiful was upended.

She became fascinated by men  not in that way. But she had come out at a young age and men had seldom been part of her social circles.

Now, she discovered affable men in garages making things.

There was a man crafting woodworking tools, as his Portuguese family had done for generations. In another garage, a man stacked crab pots hed made, and outside another a man was in the early stages of carving a violin. All were eager to chat about their projects.

One day on a bridge, she was trying to take a photo of a falling leaf. She made a pile of leaves and threw one at a time off the bridge, trying to focus and take the shot.

A woman came along and said, Do you need an assistant?

The woman slowly threw leaves one after another. When the pile was gone, the woman wished her a good day and continued on her way.

She met a beaming woman who had just sold her first painting, a woman watering her lawn with a blue-headed parrot on her shoulder and a man who wanted to take pictures of manhole covers and then take road trips to the foundries where they were made. She called such moments micro-friendships.

On days when she planned to walk, even if it was raining or cold, she couldn't wait to get out there.

Id never experienced that before, being excited to wake up in the morning, she said.

The only feeling I can compare it to was being in love. I fell hopelessly in love with everyone and everything.

Angelica Glass photographs a flower on one of her walks. Sometimes she took photos of things that at first made her wince and turn away. (Nic Coury / For The Times)

In six years, she had walked 4,121 streets of Santa Cruz County. Even before she reached that milestone, she extended her quest to include walking every marked trail in the county.

She had not previously been a hiker, and this was a new world.

After each hike, she would pore over her phone identifying bugs, differentiating mushrooms, trying to understand how she could come across fossilized sand dollars in Scotts Valley, 560 feet above sea level.

She saw red, green, yellow ladybugs  some with spots and some without  and a gray one with pink wings. She learned there are at least 500 different kinds of ladybugs.

More than once, she felt an almost atmospheric change in the air and noted mountain lion scat.

Her interior journeys also continued.

She thought about Mrs. Sutherland, the English neighbor who had lived across the street. When Glass was a little girl, Mrs. Sutherland often invited her to tea, preparing a tray of fragile cups and saucers. One time when her kindly neighbor started to pour milk into her cup, Glass said, I dont want none. I hate milk.

Mrs. Sutherland offered alternative words: None for me, thanks. I dont care for milk. The words felt like marbles in her mouth as she practiced saying them.

Tea time was 4 p.m. On the days Glass showed up late, Mrs. Sutherland would mildly suggest another day when she could make it on time. When Glass pulled out the only dress she could find, dirty and rumpled, and wore it to tea, Mrs. Sutherland told her to go home and change and bring the dress back; Mrs. Sutherland then laundered and ironed it while they had tea and biscuits. When Glass arrived the next time in the clean, pressed dress, Mrs. Sutherland said she looked like a proper little girl and Glass' heart soared.

Remembering all this as an adult, Glass realized Mrs. Sutherlands house was directly across the street from where she had found the secret lunches.

Glass had not completely blocked out her childhood. She knew she and her seven siblings had grown up in a filthy house with a violent mother, a passive father and, for a while, her mothers much younger boyfriend and her fathers girlfriend.

Later, her niece and nephew died at the hands of her older sisters ex-partner. Her sister became an activist against gun violence after the deaths of Shasta, 2, and Johnathan, 4.

But it wasnt until her long walks, usually solo, that Glass started drawing connections between Shasta and Johnathan, her own childhood, and why she became a child welfare professional. She had never before ascribed a larger purpose to her life.

She interviewed her siblings, trying to lay out the bare bones of their childhood, trying to look at the details as unflinchingly as she had looked at her photos of dead animals.

She kept walking. Her mind wandered between past and future. Sorrows and joys.

She wondered how she could justify spending this time, on what she feared was a frivolous project, in a world with so much trauma. But at the same time it felt as vital to her as breathing.

::

On a recent day, hiking through redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Glass pointed out how spider webs can reflect rainbow colors when the sun hits just right. Her scientist brother told her it was because the strands of a web have bumps, like beads in a necklace, but the bumps are irregular so they bounce back different wave lengths of light.

At one startlingly clear stream, she recalled once taking a photograph of a mother newt perched on a stick, protecting her sac of eggs.

In the photograph, she could see clouds reflected in the newts eye.

She told her story. She had one now. But there were still unanswered questions.

According to research into adverse childhood experiences, she was high-risk for emotional and physical problems.

Angelica Glass on one of her ambulations. She had not previously been a hiker, and this was a new world. (Nic Coury / For The Times)

Yet, somehow, here she was at 61 climbing mountains. She had a long-term relationship, a warm connection with her two adult sons, a close-knit circle of friends, and now felt a daily sense of gratitude and joy.

One of the things that had been shown to counteract childhood trauma and increase the chances of resiliency was if a child had at least one adult who looked out for them.

Glass thought of Mrs. Sutherland. She knew little about her, having seen her only through a childs eyes. She didnt even know her first name, but perhaps the widow living alone in a two-story house had helped make a lasting difference in her life.

Glass use to believe her walks started as a lark. A stray thought at bath time.

But, now, after walking almost 3,000 miles, while the world beguiled her and her past knitted together, she believes that, although she didnt know it at the time, the driving force behind her project was a need, more desperate than profound, to find beauty in the world around me.

She found it in the world outside her door.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A new report from the Sacramento Sierra Club shows there were three times as many fires along the American River Parkway last year compared to 2019. It attributes the increase to climate change and the surge in homeless camps in the area over the last few years. The rise in fires happened at the same time the county stopped enforcing an ordinance against illegal camping, the report states . The change followed a federal court decision that found that local governments could not ban camping unless they were providing alternatives, like enough shelters. The Sacramento Sierra Club sent letters to county and city leaders last week to call for immediate action to address the homeless crisis and protect the American River Parkway.
World Intellectual Property Day 2022 offers youth learning opportunity: Official

This years World Intellectual Property Day (April 26) is an opportunity for young people to learn how patents can support their goals and turn their ideas into reality, Director General Dinh Huu Phi of the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (IP Vietnam) has said.













Producing electronic and lighting equipment for cars and motorbikes at Japanese-funded Vietnam Stanley Electric Co., Ltd in Hanoi. (Photo: VNA)

In a recent exclusive interview to the Vietnam News Agency, the official further said the occasion, themed IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future, also aims at celebrating youth-led innovation and creativity.



According to Phi, IP Vietnam always pays attention to raising awareness and the provision of consultation and assistance for the younger generation. It has worked with universities in training IP knowledge from elementary to advanced levels for students and hold contests on scientific research and startups. Notably, the offices training portal has organised four online courses within a year since its establishment, attracting the participation of thousands of youth.



Since 2017, IP Vietnam has implemented models that connect participating research institutes and universities as part of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)s project on enabling innovation environment (EIE) for IP and technology. So far, such implementation has assisted the participants in building their own IP regulations and organising training courses for the establishment and commercialisation of IP rights.



The office also signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with WIPO on the implementation of the EIE project in Vietnam. As a result, a local committee coordinating a network of Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC) and a center of IP and technology transfer (IP-HUB) have been set up.



However, there is still a long way ahead for the formation of a complete IP ecosystem for universities and research institutes nationwide, Phi said.
Richard Townsell, executive director of the Lawndale Christian Development Corp., outside the Dr. King Legacy Apartments in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago on April 25, 2022. The apartments are a new affordable housing development in the community. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Lori Lightfoots administration is set to launch several development projects in the West Side neighborhood of North Lawndale, but a coalition of local community groups and developers said Monday the areas economic troubles have deep roots, and though the mayors initiative is welcome, it wont be enough.

We love the mayors INVEST South/West program and think its great, so we thank the mayor for that, said Richard Townsell, executive director of the Lawndale Christian Development Corp. But since the riots in 1968, North Lawndale has been on a downward trend in terms of population, and one thing is not going to solve it.

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Townsells group, along with partners North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council, North Lawndale Employment Network and Sinai Community Institute, unveiled a report at the City Club of Chicago from the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, detailing both the challenges facing the West Side community of nearly 35,000, and how to reverse decades of disinvestment.

North Lawndale was once the home of Sears, which ran its national mail order business out of a 55-acre complex that stretched across the neighborhood, a beehive of activity that provided thousands of jobs. Sears headed downtown in the 1970s, and other manufacturing giants such as International Harvester and Western Electric also left. Unemployment soared in the ensuing decades, leading to population decline and a deteriorated housing stock. Smaller local businesses also shut their doors, leaving behind a neighborhood with several thousand vacant lots and little economic activity.

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The historic Sears, Roebuck & Co. Printing Building in Homan Square, North Lawndale has been transformed into 181 affordable housing units by nonprofit developer Mercy Housing Lakefront, June 14, 2017. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

My mother escaped sharecropping by moving up from Tennessee in the 50s to North Lawndale, where she went to work, Townsell said. But when you take a business, you lose not only that business, but also the businesses that fed off it, the coffee shops, diners and car washes.

North Lawndale now sits in the middle of a food desert, a region with no sizable grocery stores, forcing residents to spend their money outside the community, according to Teresa Cordova, director of the Great Cities Institute. Thats not just a matter of convenience. Unless those dollars stay in North Lawndale, commercial spaces will stay empty, cutting out an important source of jobs.

The most basic rule of economic development is you have to have dollars circulating in your community, she said. North Lawndale residents have to leave the neighborhood for almost everything because almost every category of goods and services is not available.

North Lawndale residents spend $124 million of their wages outside the community each year, researchers found. Furthermore, businesses did add about 3,000 jobs to the neighborhood between 2010 and 2018, but most went to nonresidents. Thats partly because more than 20% of the jobs require a college degree, a credential held by just 12.7% of North Lawndale residents. Overall, white workers hold more than half of neighborhood jobs, while making up only 2.3% of North Lawndale residents. The mismatches help explain why nearly half of local households are forced to pay 50% or more of their incomes toward rent, leaving little or nothing for savings.

What is needed right now is to plug the leaks, Cordova said.

LCDC and its community partners planned for years to bring in affordable housing, new retail and other economic development, Townsell said, but having such a detailed analysis will help set priorities and ensure future development benefits residents.

The Soul Food Lounge is on the ground floor of the Dr. King Legacy Apartments in Chicago, April 25, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

We knew money was leaking out of the community, but we didnt know quite how much, Townsell said. And it was sobering to see in the richest country in the world how much people were spending of their hard-earned incomes just to find housing.

Lightfoot kicked off her INVEST South/West initiative in 2019, targeting 10 communities on the South and West sides. According to the mayors office, in the first two years it mobilized more than $1 billion of private and public funds for a series of mixed-use developments, including Lawndale Redefined, a $31.4 million project in North Lawndale. A joint venture of GRE Ventures, Imagine Group and 548 Development, it will replace a vacant plot on Ogden Avenue with dozens of apartments and town homes, retail and restaurant spaces, as well as a community center. In addition, earlier this year, the city selected 548 Development and Related Midwest to develop at 4300 West Roosevelt Road the $38.4 million Lawndale Innovation Center, a collection of solar-powered industrial buildings and community centers. The vacant 20.8-acre site was once an illegal dumping ground made infamous in the 1990s by the federal Operation Silver Shovel investigation, which led to the convictions of several aldermen.

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Townsell said the community would also like to see the city appoint an ombudsman for North Lawndale, someone who could cut through any red tape that might delay new development projects. The Great Cities report also shows the neighborhood needs a construction loan program for new, affordable single-family homes, and a flexible emergency fund to help those seeking employment pay for child care or work supplies.

Even though the unemployment rate in North Lawndale is three times higher than the city of Chicago, thats not a reflection of peoples desire to work, said Brenda Palms Barber, president and CEO of North Lawndale Employment Network.

Above all, to improve the quality of life, the neighborhood needs grocery stores, Townsell said.

We found out during the pandemic how important health was, and we need people to have access to healthy, affordable options for produce.

brogal@chicagotribune.com
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Sri Lankas government said Tuesday it is discussing obtaining another loan from Beijing to repay some of its debt to Chinese banks after China told the nearly bankrupt island nation it was not in favor of restructuring existing loans.

Sri Lanka has nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due for repayment this year and will need to repay $ 25 billion over the next five years. A severe shortage of foreign exchange means the country l acks money to buy imported goods, leading to shortages of food, fuel and other essentials.

The economic crisis has brought weeks of protests across the country calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksas resignation.

Government spokesman Nalaka Godahewa said Beijing was balking at restructuring Sri Lankas debt because it does not want to set that precedent. He told reporters the finance ministry will announce details of discussions with China later.

Earlier this month, the government said it was suspending repayment of foreign loans pending negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan restructuring plan.

Sri Lanka's debt problems are partly because it built infrastructure like a port, airport and road networks using Chinese loans, but the projects are not making money.

Rajapaksa had asked Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who visited Sri Lanka in January, to restructure those loans.

The government issued its statement a day after Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong said China was doing its utmost to help Sri Lanka. Qi scoffed at suggestions Beijing has Sri Lanka in a debt trap.

Western developed countries, especially those who colonized Sri Lanka in history, should also come and help, a Tweet from the Chinese embassy quoted Qi as saying.

The debt trap is only a myth, created and hyped by some foreign media and politicians intentionally, Qi said. He said China is neither the biggest nor the only lender to Sri Lanka and Beijing's projects are provided on concessional terms.

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Japan, the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank are other large lenders, having begun the process of aiding Sri Lanka's economy much earlier than China.

Qi said it was unrealistic to expect all projects or loans to be flawless.

Central Bank figures show existing Chinese loans to Sri Lanka total around $3.38 billion, not including loans to state-owned businesses, which are counted separately and thought to be substantial.

Godahewa also said that the Cabinet has approved a project to offer residence visas for up to 10 years to foreigners who buy apartments in the country costing at least $75,000 and those who deposit more than $ 100,000 in local bank accounts.

He said the offer was made to help the construction industry weather the economic crisis and to attract more foreign currency.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the U.S. mission in Ukraine who had relocated to Poland traveled to the country's western city of Lviv on Tuesday, in a first step as Washington works to ensure the return of its diplomats to Ukraine, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

U.S. diplomats departed the Kyiv Embassy nearly two weeks before Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, moving some functions to Lviv before eventually relocating to Poland.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Leslie Adler)
KHARTOUM (Reuters) -After an extended detention facing corruption charges, prominent Sudanese politician and former Cabinet minister Khalid Omer Yousif was released on bail on Tuesday, a lawyer on his defense team said.

Yousif and other politicians were arrested in February after a coup by the military leaders who shared power with the civilian coalition they are part of, following their work on a committee working to dismantle the Omar al-Bashir regime.

Two other prominent members and former officials, Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman and Wagdi Salih, were not released and are being held on other charges, lawyer Iqbal Ahmed told Reuters. The two men were outspoken critics of the military prior to the coup.

Sudanese politicians Babiker Faisal and Taha Othman were ordered to pay a "prohibitive bond" of 25 million Sudanese pounds each, Ahmed said.

"This decision indicates the continuation of the coup leaders' policy of unlawful detentions and malicious charges," Jaafar Hassan, spokesman for the Forces of Freedom and Change coalition, said in a statement, adding that they would not be paying the bonds.

General Abdel Fattat al-Burhan earlier this month said he had discussed the possibility of the men's release, while maintaining they were not political detainees.

Burhan has not yet appointed a new prime minister as numerous initiatives to come to an agreement with political parties have not come to fruition. Donors have demanded a credible civilian government to restart much-needed aid blocked after the coup.

Burhan and other generals have criticised the work of the Committee to Dismantle the June 30, 1989 Regime, which the politicians were part of, and created a new committee to review its decisions. Its members were arrested on charges of betraying public trust.

Many of the committee's decisions regarding the firing of Bashir loyalists from the civil service have been reversed in recent weeks, as analysts say Burhan seeks to rely on the Islamists that were in power before the 2019 uprising to form a new government.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; writing by Mahmoud Mourad and Nafisa Eltahir; editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court has turned away a plea from parents to block a new admissions policy at a prestigious high school in northern Virginia that a lower court has found discriminates against Asian American students.

The high court did not explain its order Monday allowing the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology to continue using its admissions policy while the Fairfax County School Board appeals the lower court ruling.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas said they would have granted the request from the parents group, Coalition for TJ, to suspend the admissions policy.

In February, the group persuaded U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton that a new policy that has boosted Black and Hispanic representation amounted to impermissible racial balancing at the selective school near the nations capital. It is often ranked as one of the best public high schools in the country.

Asian American students constituted more than 70% of the student body. Under the new policy, used to admit the schools current freshman class, Asian American representation decreased to 54%. Black students increased from 1% to 7% and Hispanic representation increased from 3% to 11%.

Hilton had ordered the new policy suspended, but the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, said it could be used while the case continues to play out in the courts.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Neutral Switzerland has vetoed the re-export of Swiss-made ammunition used in Gepard anti-aircraft tanks that Germany is sending to Ukraine, the government said on Tuesday.

Germany earlier announced its first delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off Russian attacks following weeks of pressure at home and abroad to do so.

The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) confirmed a report by broadcaster SRF that it had blocked Germany from sending munitions for the Gepard tank to Ukraine.

SECO received two requests from Germany to transfer to Ukraine ammunition it had previously received from Switzerland. One concerned 35mm ammunition for the Gepard tank. The other concerned 12.7mm ammunition, the agency said in response to a query.

"Both inquiries by Germany as to whether the ammunition received from Switzerland may be transferred to Ukraine were answered in the negative with reference to Swiss neutrality and the mandatory rejection criteria of Swiss war material legislation," SECO said.

SRF said it was unclear which ammunition Germany was now sending to Ukraine along with the Gepards, following the Swiss veto.

Switzerland has parted with past practice and adopted European Union sanctions designed to punish Russia for invading Ukraine, but has said its neutrality does not permit providing arms for use in conflict zones.

Last month it rejected Poland's request for arms to help neighbouring Ukraine.

Switzerland generally requires recipient countries to declare they will not re-export war material without permission.

(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
RED BANK, NJ  If you're looking for something to do this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, April 30 and May 1, will be the popular TEDx Asbury Park event.

Although the event is called TEDx Asbury Park, the two-day festival/speaking series is actually held at Two River Theater in Red Bank.

Inspired by the TED Talks first launched in California, TEDxAsburyPark is the largest, highest-rated TEDx conference on the East Coast. TEDxAsburyPark launched in 2013 and used to be held at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park. They've since moved the series to Red Bank.

Monmouth County's own celebrity Chef David Burke will speak, as will Rumson resident and actress Siobhan Fallon Hogan, plus many others.

This weekend is their JOY experience, "an experience featuring TED Talks and performances where we will explore JOY in ideas. JOY will feature a theatrical lineup of expert speakers, comics, musicians, performers and artists who will share inspiring stories and ideas."

Tickets for the two-day event are available on the Two River Theater website. Ticket prices start at $75.



Line-up of TEDxAsburyPark JOY 2022 Speakers:

David Burke - Food is Joy

Monmouth native David Burke (the owner of Red Horse in Rumson, Drifthouse in Sea Bright and brand-new THE GOAT in Union Beach) owns and operates 18 award-winning restaurants across the globe. As a high school wrestler, he got his start in a local cooking class, and became determined to become a global top chef. Burke grew up in Hazlet and appeared on two seasons of Bravo's "Top Chef." Follow his story in his talk "Food is Joy" at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Composer David Cieri - B-Side/Ourselves

Cieri, composer for many films by Ken Burns and others, will compose and perform his original musical overture for JOY, and share with us about how he gets unstuck in his creative process.

Actress Siobhan Fallon Hogan - Former Saturday Night Live cast member who lives in Rumson - her talk is "Film as Community"

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Hogan, a Rumson/Ireland resident, became "unstuck " in her pro acting career by conceiving, writing, producing, directing and funding two impactful films based on what large communities most cared about.

Erin Maguire - Joy Drought

Montclair resident and national comic and actress, Erin Maguire navigates the entire event with her funny co-hosting and guidance, then wraps it up along with our COVID experience in the Joy Drought.

Roger Mannix - Play Your Way to Joy

Actor turned entrepreneur, Mannix has taught improv and acting at Stanford University and for Fortune 1,000 companies. He now shows us how to bring acting and improvisation to work to be more successful.

Michelle Mitchell - OGs

Returning TEDxAsbury speaker, documentarian/journalist Mitchell, is bringing to life the original gangsters or the outlaw originators of the cannabis movement in the West before it was legal.

Edafe Okporo - Home Is Joy

Okporo is a persecuted Nigerian refugee who arrived home in the U.S. by publishing his new book "Asylum," working with Afghan refugees, getting his MBA at NYU and getting married. He shares how refugees can integrate and feel at home and fully productive in the United States.

Atoosa Rubenstein - Leaving it All to Have it All

Rubenstein, an Iranian immigrant, became the youngest editor at Hearst and transformed several magazines. Then she left it all in order to come to grips with her deeper, inner story that now powers her joy.

Jim Watt, Antonie Drye & Mike Noordzy - 1,000 Watts

Asbury Park artist, architect and producer Jim Watt and jazz artist Antoine Drye will paint to live jazz in a project to support jazz musicians called "1,000 Watts."

Rebecca Barry - The Joy of Death

Barry is the bestselling author of "Recipes for a Beautiful Life: A Memoir in Stories" and later wrote "At the Bar: A Novel in Stories," a New York Times Notable Book. She is co-founder of the magazine Fresh Dirt. A notable MOTH storyteller, she shares about Finding Joy in Death.

Plus, three surprise comedy acts and one surprise band this weekend.

All audience members over the age of five will be required to show proof of a full COVID-19 vaccination and wear masks while inside the theater building. Exceptions are only made for patrons eating and/or drinking in designated areas within one hour prior to showtime.

TEDxAsburyPark Fast Facts

 TEDxAsburyPark talks have been viewed over 6.5 million times

 TEDxAsburyPark events have had over 5,000 attendees

 TEDxAsburyPark has produced over 250 Ted Talks

Get great local news. Sign up to get Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com

This article originally appeared on the Asbury Park Patch
In what many are calling the countrys first #MeToo movement, more than a dozen women have come forward with sexual assault allegations against popular Thai politician Prinn Panitchpakdi.



Prinn, 44, resigned from his post as deputy leader of Thailands Democrat Party on April 14, following an allegation of sexual assault by an 18-year-old woman. Several other women have since come forward with similar accusations against the political figure, who was detained by authorities on Saturday.



Prinn has denied all allegations and claimed innocence, saying that he would leave this case to the justice process. His resignation last week came as a direct response to the accusations, which he said he was shocked and stunned to hear. He was released Sunday on a $20,000 bail.



Victims file charges



On April 20, two days before Prinns resignation, lawyer Sittra Biabungkerd from the pro bono group Peoples Lawyers Foundation revealed that at least 10 woman had contacted him about sexual assault and sexual misconduct incidents in relation to an unnamed deputy party leader. He went on to say they would represent a total of 15 survivors who have filed harassment or rape charges.



The number of women who have filed a sexual assault claim has reportedly grown to at least 18.



The police say that there is a common theme among the allegations. According to the Bangkok Lumpini station, Prinn would supposedly invite women into his condominium for business matters and then would proceed to rape or assault them, sometimes after drugging them.



The most recent allegation is from an anonymous socialite who says that Prinn molested her and tried to kiss her at a condo in 2008. The victims, aged 17 to 30, include students, business women and political party members.



Thailands #MeToo movement



On April 18, several Thai feminist groups gathered in front of the Democrat Party headquarters to show their support for what is currently Thailands most high profile #MeToo case. The feminist demonstrators danced to Sida Lui Faai, meaning Sida Through Fire, a song that has been dubbed Thais feminist anthem.



At that point, Panitchpakdi had already been charged with three counts of sexual harrassment and assault. Protestors brought up to reporters that Panitchpakdi had originally been accused of rape and sexual harassment in London several years prior, but had not been convicted.



They listed five key demands, expressing concerns that politicians would continue to abuse their power by sweeping their scandals under the rug. The demands were as follows:



All political parties should investigate the past criminal record of the former deputy leader of the Democrat Party, including all committee memberships, particularly those related to sexual abuse. An investigation of party members or committee members past abusive sexual behavior. All political parties must have a clear ethical code of conduct for all party members and committee members on sexual harrassment and assault. Political parties should not interfere with court cases. Political parties should apologize sincerely to the public over the case.

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Government spokesperson and Democrat Party member Ratchada Dhnadirek responded by saying that they accepted the demands, but also emphasized that the Democrat Party had a clear sexual harrassment policy in place.



As with the U.S. historic #MeToo movement in 2017, which was triggered by a string of allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and was re-adopted from a phrase coined by activist Tarana Burke in 2006, many of the Thai accusers cited fears of charging a high profile figure as the reason for why they did not come forward earlier. Weinstein was accused of decades of sexual harassment, with Hollywood stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd confirming their own experiences with the producer.



Prinns high-profile career follows in the footsteps of his father, Supachai Panitchpakdi, who is Thailands former deputy prime minister, director-general of the World Trade Organization and former secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.



Responses from party members



Several top politicians have spoken out about the scandal, including Move Forward Party Leader Pita Limjaroenrat, who said earlier last week that the party would not get involved in the case. He emphasized the seriousness of the accusations and stated that sexual assault should not be used as a political tool.



The scandal also led to a series of resignations from top politicians. Deputy Prime Minister Wittaya Kaewparadai resigned last Friday, citing the scandal as the reason.



Senior politician Kanok Wongtrangan, who identifies as an educational consultant of Thailand, also left his role as deputy leader of Thailands Democrat Party.



He announced on Facebook today that he was resigning out of moral conscience due to the ongoing scandal and what he described as his partys failure to satisfy the publics disdain.



He called the incident a violent moral offense that questioned the moral standards of the overall party executives.









Both Wittaya and Kanok have warned that the future of the Democrat Party is in jeopardy and that the executive committee has to do more to restore the partys image.







Feature Image via workpointTODAY

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Karen people flee to Thailand as Myanmars junta carry on with attacks

US Senate passes bill banning maps depicting Taiwan as a part of China

Third-ever historical resolution by CCP paves way for Chinese President Xi Jinping to have third term

Biden admin asks SCOTUS to reject case that says Harvard admissions discriminatory toward Asian students
Texas Instruments announced plans on Wednesday to shutter its Sherman production facility and another site in Dallas by 2025. The semi-conductor and calculator maker has pledged to offer affected employees new jobs or severance packages, but questions remain about the local impact to industry and economic development. [Courtesy photo / Texas Instruments]

The nearly $30 billion expansion of Texas Instruments facilities in Sherman could put "downward pressure" on water rates in coming years, Sherman city officials said this month.

The speculation on water and sewer infrastructure is the latest of many impacts that from the expansion that the city is considering as it heads into its annual budget season.

"We expect that having large customers like this will actually put downward pressure on the rates otherwise. Now, I am not saying we are going to lower our water rates and sewer rates by this amount," City Manager Robby Hefton said. "All I am saying is whereas 30,000 new water customers would put upward pressure on rate, large customers using the same amount as 30,000 customers puts downward pressure on the rate."

More: TI effect: Sherman eyes $161M in water, wastewater projects

TI announcement shifts rate estimates

The expansion of Sherman's Texas Instruments facilities may put "downward pressure" on residential water rates, city officials said.

In late November, TI announced that Sherman would be the location of a new $30 billion four-phase production facility that would allow for a modernization of products from its Sherman plants. While the news of the plant brought excitement from expected growth, revenue and jobs it also brought with it a need for infrastructure and other improvements.

The announcement came only months after the city completed its year-long study on its water rates that recommended a 4-5 percent increase on residential rates each year to pay for needed expansions of services and other upgrades to the system. This would coincide with projects valued between $150 million and $250 million that the city expects to pursue in the same timeframe.

One year later, those estimates and projected rate increases may no longer reflect Sherman and it's ongoing development, Hefton said, based on the sheer size of the project and its expected demand. Earlier this year, the city estimated that once all for phases of the project are complete TI will use about 14 million gallons of water each day  about half of the city's current capacity.

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More: Sherman to pay $2.25M for more land for water treatment expansion

With that in mind, the city is consulting with Wildan, who conducted the first rate study, to update it with the new information on TI. These updated projections are expected to be completed in time for the city's budget retreat over the summer.

"They are baking into their calculations the impacts of our growth and TI," Hefton said. "So, while we don't have details on what impacts all of these things are going to have on our structure, we do have some good maybe anecdotal evidence about what impact that's going to have."

"While I don't expect that (rate increase) to go to zero; I do expect the number just based on what we've talked about to be less than that four to five percent," he added.

While the needed infrastructure improvements could led to high bond debt by the city, Hefton argued that the growth from TI and the revenue it generates for Sherman should be able to sustain that expense.

"In theory we could cut a large water user's rate in half and still pay the bills even with this additional debt service because their incremental costs in providing that service are much lower," he said.

More: Sherman begins budget season in the wake of TI expansion

Impact fees for TI remain in question

Outside of water and sewer rates, Sherman city officials are still determining the fees that will be assessed to TI for its demand on city infrastructure. In late 2020, adopted impact fees as a way of financing infrastructure improvements by assessing fees to new development based on their use and demand on city resources.

One of the infrastructure needs that will be impacted by the new TI plans is related to water treatment. Sherman currently has plans to expand its water treatment plant.

More: The TI Effect: Developers see increasing prices as speculation on TI impact grows

While the fees have been in place for over a year, the TI project represents one of the first large-scale projects that will use the city's fee structure. Sherman Director of Development Services Rob Rae said many of the details needed to calculate the fees have yet to be released and will come through the design and engineering of the project.

One of the more nuanced impacts to calculate for TI is the fee that will be assessed for road infrastructure. Rae said that there are default fees that can be used for restaurants, retail and other uses, however the TI project is a significantly large scope and specialized use, Rae said.

Other impacts, including water and sewer impacts, are easier to calculate, Rae said. These fees will be directly based on the size of the water meter or meters installed at the facility.

Sherman is purchasing about 60 acres of land near its water treatment plant for future storage and expansion.

More: Is Sherman infrastructure ready for the billion dollar TI expansion?

This article originally appeared on Herald Democrat: The TI effect: TI expansion could put "downward pressure" on water rates, Sherman officials say
(Independent)

DJ Tim Westwood has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.

Westwood, 64, is accused of predatory and unwanted sexual behaviour and touching, in incidents between 1992 and 2017.

The allegations have been published in an investigation by the BBC and The Guardian.

He strenuously denies the allegations. A spokesperson also told The Guardian they were completely false and denied in their entirety.

The seven women, who are all black, have given their accounts in the aftermath of anonymous allegations of inappropriate behaviour about Westwood that circulated on social media in June 2020.

In a statement at the time, Westwood denied any wrongdoing, saying the allegations were fabricated, false and without foundation.

Some of the accusers have claimed the white DJ, who was an early supporter of hip-hop in the UK, used his position in the music industry to exploit women.

More to follow
An experimental new David Bowie documentary featuring never-before-seen footage and the late music superstar's own narration was previewed Tuesday at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas.

"Moonage Daydream" will premiere at next month's glitzy Cannes film festival before hitting theaters in September. It is the first film to be approved by Bowie's estate, which gave director Brett Morgen access to thousands of hours of archives.

"Bowie cannot be defined. He can be experienced," said Morgen.

"We've crafted 'Moonage Daydream' to be a unique cinematic theatrical experience -- to offer audiences that which they can't get from a book or an article."

Neither biopic nor traditional documentary, the film blends Bowie's songs, concert clips, extensive fan footage and a series of surreal, trippy and abstract images to create a "sonic and visual extravaganza," said producer Bill Gerber ("A Star is Born.")

Morgen, who previously made "The Kid Stays in the Picture," spent two years trawling through the Bowie vaults.

He was aided by Bowie's longtime music producer Tony Visconti and the sound team behind Oscar-winning "Bohemian Rhapsody."

CinemaCon attendees were shown extended clips from the movie, including Bowie performing "Hallo Spaceboy" and "Heroes."

"I think we took it on our shoulders that we were creating the 21st century in 1971," Bowie is heard explaining, over the top of the footage.

"We wanted to just blast everything in the past. We questioned all the established values and all the taboos.

"Everything was rubbish and all rubbish is wonderful."

The film will be released in the United States by Neon, who also used their CinemaCon slot Tuesday to preview "Crimes of the Future" from David Cronenberg, who pioneered the "body horror" genre.

A disturbing new trailer featuring stars Kristen Stewart, Viggo Mortenson and Lea Seydoux was shown to attendees.

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It included images of a woman slicing open a torso with her nails, and a man with extra ears grafted onto his head.

The film, from the director of "Crash" and "The Fly," imagines a world in which humans are forced to speed up their evolution with grisly organ transplants and body modifications to survive their changing environment.

Cronenberg told AFP the film, which will also premiere at Cannes, was "a difficult film maybe, an extreme film, an unusual film."

"Cannes film festival is the perfect place for that," said Cronenberg.

"This is really a meditation on where the world is going, where the environment is going, how that affects the body.

"This is not a climate change movie, but it does address where we are now, and it's interesting because I did write this script 20 years ago."

CinemaCon, the annual movie theater industry summit, runs until Thursday.

amz/hg/mlm
United Airlines is adding new flights between Chicago and two European cities, as the carrier eyes the return of international travel.

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The two Chicago routes are part of a major trans-Atlantic expansion by United, which plans this spring to begin new or expanded service to multiple international cities and vacation destinations. That includes new service to Amman, Jordan; Bergen, Norway; the Azores and the Canary Islands, among others. Destinations that will get expanded service include Dublin and Frankfurt.

In Chicago, daily flights began this week to Zurich. The route was initially set to begin in March 2020, but was put on hold because of the pandemic.

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The Boeing 767-300 aircraft that are flying the 9-hour route have extra space devoted to business class seats. The flight is intended to cater to both business travelers trying to reach the European financial center and leisure travelers, United executives said in a news release.

On May 6, United will also begin daily flights between Chicago and Milan. The airline currently flies between Milan and New York.

The new flights, announced in October, come as United anticipates the further return of international travel as pandemic restrictions ease. Along with business flights, international travel was especially hard hit during the pandemic.

A person walks past United Airlines signage at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Feb. 23, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

United Airlines said last week it was seeing indications that business travel is rapidly returning and expects more upticks in international travel.

This is really kind of the coming-out party for the real return of business travel and international travel in this quarter, CEO Scott Kirby told analysts during an earnings call. We are in the first inning of that recovery.

The comments came as the carrier reported it expected to return to profitability in the current quarter, after a first quarter loss of $1.38 billion. United is still running fewer flights than pre-pandemic, but said it has reopened lounges, resumed more than a dozen international routes and restarted service to six cities that hadnt been served since before the pandemic.

United executives also said they were pleased mask requirements had ended for airports, domestic flights and some international flights, depending on the arrival countrys mask rules. They called for an end to preflight COVID-19 test requirements, and said the elimination of those rules could make travel easier.

While travel demand is surging, we believe eliminating these requirements will ease the travel experience for our customers, United President Brett Hart said.

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International business travel was increasing, and the airline expected good trans-Atlantic business travel levels compared with 2019, Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella said. It hasnt seen meaningful recovery in business travel to Asia.

While many of the new and expanded routes set to begin in the coming weeks are geared toward vacationers, some of the routes are targeted specifically toward business travelers, said Patrick Quayle, Uniteds vice president of international network. That includes the new Chicago-Zurich flight, and a route between Denver and Munich, he said.

We are seeing strong demand and strong pickup for those flights, he said.

The Associated Press contributed

sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
Detectives with the Washington State Patrol are looking for witnesses to a drive-by shooting on State Route 167 near Auburn on Sunday.

At about 3:45 p.m., WSP communications received a 911 call from someone who witnessed a man being threatened with a gun on southbound SR 167 near the Ellingson Road exit.

Before troopers arrived at the scene, another witness called 911 and reported that the suspect had fled, driving southbound on SR 167.

The incident began when the victim, who was driving a Dodge pickup truck, was traveling SB SR 167 near State Route 18 and the suspect, who was driving a black or gray sedan, was driving next to the victim on the right shoulder.

The suspect struck the barrier on the right shoulder then hit the victims trailer.

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The victim reported he did not know that his trailer was struck at the time, so he continued driving southbound.

The suspect then pulled up alongside the victims vehicle and threatened him with a handgun, telling him to pull over the vehicle.

After the victim pulled over, the suspect exited his vehicle and continued to threaten the victim.

He reportedly forced the victim to unhitch their trailer and put his gun to the victims head.

The suspect then fired one round over his head, towards the victim, and ran back to his vehicle before fleeing the scene.

No injuries were reported from the shooting.

The suspect is described as a black male in his twenties.

WSP confirmed that the suspect vehicle is a sedan, but have not confirmed the color, make or model of the vehicle.

Anyone who witnessed this incident or has information on the suspect or their vehicle is asked to contact WSP Detective Haake at Russ.Haake@wsp.wa.gov.

This is the 23rd shooting investigated by WSP detectives on King County freeways in 2022, according to a WSP news release.
A Florida man who vandalized an LGBTQ street mural with his truck during a pro-Trump rally last year has been ordered by a judge to write an essay about the Pulse nightclub massacre.

During a hearing Thursday, Judge Scott Suskauer with the criminal court in Palm Beach County ordered 20-year-old Alexander Jerich to write 25 pages about the Orlando shooting that left 49 dead in 2016, court documents show.

Jerich was arrested after he used his father's truck to burn tire marks over the rainbow street mural that had been painted at an intersection at Delray Beach on June 14 last year.

The artwork had been unveiled only two days prior to mark LGBTQ Pride month.

Jerich had been participating in a convoy organized by local Republicans to mark former president Donald Trump's birthday.

According to a criminal complaint, a concerned citizen alerted police to a video showing the mural being defaced.

Another person who had attended the rally came forward, telling investigators he heard a man scream, "Adam, tear up that gay intersection."

This witness told police he felt compelled "to come forward, not only as a community member but as a gay man."

On March 1, Jerich pleaded guilty to felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor reckless driving.

He must write the Pulse essay prior to his full sentencing on June 8.

Prosectors want him to be sentenced to 30 days in jail, as well as community service and five years probation.

His attorney, Robert Pasch, instead asked that Jerich receive a sentence of three years probation with community service "crafted restoratively with input from the LGBTQ community."

In a sentencing recommendation, Pasch argued that Jerich "acknowledges and regrets the pain and anger felt by members of the LGTBQ community."

But Rand Hoch, the president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, said in a victim impact statement to the court that Jerich had never apologized to his organization or to other LGBTQ groups in the area.

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"He was not just a young man fooling around with his truck. Jerich sought to make a very public statement against the LGBTQ+ community. And he did," Hoch wrote. "At a welcoming public venue representing inclusion, Jerich literally left marks of hate."

Prior to the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, the Pulse massacre was the deadliest mass shooting in US history.

Jerich's attorney did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Taliban fighters try to stop the advance of protesters marching through the Dashti-E-Barchi neighborhood, a day after the Taliban announced its new all-male interim government with no representation for women and ethnic minority groups, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 8, 2021. (Photo: Marcus Yam via Getty Images)

Taliban fighters try to stop the advance of protesters marching through the Dashti-E-Barchi neighborhood, a day after the Taliban announced its new all-male interim government with no representation for women and ethnic minority groups, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 8, 2021. (Photo: Marcus Yam via Getty Images)

In September, journalists Neamat Naqdi and Taqi Daryabi went out to cover a womens protest in Kabul. They had been assured by the Taliban that there would be no restrictions placed on media and journalists under the new administration, which took over the country the month before.

Daryabi and Naqdi, who worked for the renowned Kabul-based outlet Etilaatroz, began filming the protesters. A squad of Taliban fighters approached them and ordered them to stop recording. I am just doing my job, Naqdi responded. They were both detained and taken to the nearest police station.

Taliban militants separated Naqdi and Daryabi into different rooms, tied their wrists and feet, and beat them almost to death with cable. Naqdi was knocked out after a few minutes. They threw water in his face. One militant smacked him so hard, his left eardrum was ripped. Another kick hit his right eye, causing his vision to blur.

I thought that would be it for me, Naqdi said in an interview conducted in Dari. My whole life flashed before my eyes in a moment  my parents, my school years, all of my struggles and hard work to become a journalist, only to be killed in the hand of a few dirty terrorists at the end.

Journalists from the Etilaatroz newspaper, Nemat Naqdi, 28, a video journalist (left), and Taqi Daryabi, 22, a video editor (right), show their wounds sustained in custody after Taliban fighters arrested them for reporting on a women's rights protest in Kabul. (Photo: MARCUS YAM/LOS ANGELES TIMES via Getty Images)

Journalists from the Etilaatroz newspaper, Nemat Naqdi, 28, a video journalist (left), and Taqi Daryabi, 22, a video editor (right), show their wounds sustained in custody after Taliban fighters arrested them for reporting on a women's rights protest in Kabul. (Photo: MARCUS YAM/LOS ANGELES TIMES via Getty Images)

More than 300 media outlets have shut down since the Taliban takeover, making it more difficult to gather information and report on political violence and protests, according to a report released in February by the International Federation of Journalists. International broadcasters including the BBC, Voice of America News and Germanys DW were taken off the air recently.

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Outlets that remain open face censorship, and journalists who report facts that contradict the Taliban narrative risk being threatened, detained and tortured. Following the Taliban takeover, there has been an increase in violence against journalists  in September in particular, there was a spike in cases of journalists being attacked or harmed at demonstrations, according to a recent report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

Naqdi and Daryabi made it to the U.S., but it wasnt easy. Now theyre watching in dismay as journalists in Afghanistan continue to be threatened and abused.

Every time I watch a video of the Taliban torturing and murdering people on social media, Im taken back to those horrifying moments and have panic attacks and mental torture, Naqdi said. Those horrific moments have haunted me for the rest of my life.

Naqdi sits for a portrait at his home in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on April 23. He has been living in Bethlehem for three months with his wife. (Photo: Hannah Yoon for HuffPost)

Naqdi sits for a portrait at his home in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on April 23. He has been living in Bethlehem for three months with his wife. (Photo: Hannah Yoon for HuffPost)

Following Passion At A Price

Naqdi grew up in Jaghori, a district in the southern province of Ghazni populated by the Hazara ethnic group. He started going to school shortly after the U.S. toppled the repressive Taliban regime in 2001.

I walked four hours every day to and from school because I was so passionate about it, he said.

Naqdi studied journalism at Kabul University and graduated in 2016. He worked for a year at a radio station. He started working at the Daily Etilaatroz as a video journalist in 2020. His work sometimes required him to travel to film footage on the ground. He hoped to become a documentary filmmaker after a few years, and this was a great place to start.

On Sept. 8, he ventured out with Daryabi to report on the womens protest, where the two of them were detained and beaten.

Naqdi and Daryabi were released a few hours after their colleagues came to seek their release from the Taliban. They were taken to the hospital for treatment. They could barely walk for weeks. Due to severe pain, they were unable to sleep on their backs or sides. Naqdis left ear and right eyesight were severely damaged and still have not fully recovered.

Female protesters march through the Dashti-E-Barchi neighborhood in Kabul, Sept. 8. (Photo: Marcus Yam via Getty Images)

Female protesters march through the Dashti-E-Barchi neighborhood in Kabul, Sept. 8. (Photo: Marcus Yam via Getty Images)

The experience has left them both traumatized. Daryabi had nightmares and restless nights for weeks. Naqdi still suffers from panic attacks on occasion.

They feared even more for their safety when photos of the torture went viral. Naqdi and Daryabi were concerned that the widespread exposure might lead to retaliation from the Taliban.

I knew they were coming for us, and theyre just waiting for the reports to die down, Daryabi said. They would not think twice about killing us this time.

There was little chance they would be able to continue working as journalists in Afghanistan under the Taliban, so they both decided to leave the country.

They reached out to people they knew in search of a way out. Daryabi was able to board a flight from Kabul Airport on Oct. 3, but Naqdi missed the flight because he did not have a passport. He learned a few days later that he and his wife, Sabera Saba, could get a flight out of Mazar-e-Sharif International Airport, where they could bypass the passport requirement.

Naqdi sits with his wife, Sabera Saba, for a portrait at their home in Bethlehem on April 23. The two got married in August. (Photo: Hannah Yoon for HuffPost)

Naqdi sits with his wife, Sabera Saba, for a portrait at their home in Bethlehem on April 23. The two got married in August. (Photo: Hannah Yoon for HuffPost)

Naqdi and Saba hurriedly packed their belongings and rushed off for a 10-hour trip north from Kabul. They had to pass through seven Taliban checkpoints along the route, and feared they could be easily identified. Naqdis photos had been widely circulated on the internet by that time, and Saba is a former police officer who worked for the Ministry of Interior, giving the Taliban even more motivation to target them. To disguise his appearance, Naqdi grew a beard and wore glasses.

Because Saba was less likely to be searched by a male member of the Taliban, Naqdi handed all of his sensitive belongings to her. Each time they approached a Taliban checkpoint, they had to come up with believable stories as to where they were heading.

We were both scared because anything could have happened, Naqdi recalled.

They finally made it to the airport and boarded the plane to Qatar after 20 hours.

I had a strange feeling as the plane took off, Naqdi said. You were happy, yet angry and heartbroken deep down about leaving everything behind  your loved ones, your job. Youre also worried about the future. You know you should start again, or you would not be able to continue working as a journalist.

Naqdi sits for a portrait at his home in Bethlehem. (Photo: Hannah Yoon for HuffPost)

Naqdi sits for a portrait at his home in Bethlehem. (Photo: Hannah Yoon for HuffPost)

A New Life

Naqdi and Saba spent two months at a Qatari facility before they were able to move to the United States. They arrived in November and stayed at Fort Pickett Army Base in Blackstone, Virginia, for another two months before finally moving and settling in Pennsylvania.

Naqdis life in Kabul was much easier by his own standards. Hed been pursuing his dream career and was surrounded by his loved ones. Hed been on the right track toward his goals. While moving to the United States saved his life, it also seriously disrupted it.

I have no idea where Im heading, he said.

Starting over in the United States could also mean abandoning his ambition of becoming a documentary filmmaker or deferring it for an unknown length of time. His lack of English proficiency prevents him from communicating effectively and he currently cannot apply for jobs or schools in the media.

Daryabi is in a similar predicament. His inability to continue working as a journalist has been a major setback to his career. However, he is focusing on improving his language abilities in order to apply and get a scholarship at a journalism school.

Naqdi and Saba at their home in Bethlehem. (Photo: Hannah Yoon for HuffPost)

Naqdi and Saba at their home in Bethlehem. (Photo: Hannah Yoon for HuffPost)

It takes time, but I am certain that we can still accomplish our goals here, Daryabi said.

No matter how far theyve moved away from the Talibans oppression, its always difficult for Naqdi and Daryabi to see whats happening in Afghanistan.

Every time I see a journalist being mistreated or silenced for their profession, it reminds me of my ordeal, Naqdi said. Freedom of expression, the only remnant of democracy left in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power, has died.

Like Naqdi and Daryabi, many Afghans who have arrived in the United States since August, are struggling to make their way through an immigration system that is both complicated and unpromising. The current two-year temporary parole status doesnt allow for a more permanent legal status, like asylum or the Special Immigrant Visa, both of which have a large backlog in applications.

Im also always afraid of having to return to the country, Daryabi said. Nothing is certain.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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For the very first time, were hearing from the mother of Tyre Sampson, who died on the Orlando FreeFall at ICON Park.

ABC News got an exclusive interview with Nekia Dodd after she and her family filed a lawsuit against several companies on Monday.

This could have been prevented. It could have been prevented  it should have been prevented, Dodd said.

READ: Tyre Sampsons mother: Death on FreeFall could have been prevented

Dodd made it clear that she wants justice for her son.

According to her lawsuit, the ride has height and weight limits, which her son exceeded, but the ride has no signage posted notifying riders of the restrictions.

The ride also doesnt have safety belts, which the lawsuit said would have only cost $22 per chair, for a total of $660, to put on every chair on the ride.

READ: 9 things to know about the Orlando FreeFall at ICON Park

A state investigation discovered that before Sampson got on the ride, it was modified so the safety sensors would allow Sampsons seat harness to indicate it was locked closed, when it was not. Thus leaving a 7-inch gap between the harness and the seat.

Dodd said the ride wasnt safe to begin with, not just for her son, but for anyone to get on.

READ: Tyre Sampson death: Lawsuit claims that Orlando drop ride at ICON Park was unreasonably dangerous

So as an operator, you have a job to check those rides, you know. The video I saw, that was not done. That was not done. So and if it was done, it shoulda been done more than once, you know.

We know the family is seeking financial damages in the lawsuit, but it plans to leave it up to the jury to decide just how much.

READ: Investigators say Tyre Sampsons restraint was modified to allow larger visitors on Orlando FreeFall

We also reached out to the ride operators and ICON Park for their take on the lawsuit. We are still waiting to hear back from them.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) -The Biden administration on Monday overturned a controversial Trump-era policy that would have opened new swathes of Arctic Alaska to oil development.

The Bureau of Land Management, part of the Department of Interior, resurrected Obama-era management policies in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, a 23-million-acre (9.3 million hectare) area on the western side of Alaska's North Slope. Alaska's oil production has been declining for decades and reached a 45-year low last year.

Those reinstated policies, contained in a plan presented in 2013, allow oil leasing in about half of the reserve while boosting protections for areas considered important to the Arctic ecosystem and to indigenous residents.

The plan announced by the administration of former President Donald Trump in 2020, sought to allow oil development on more than 80% of the reserve. It would have allowed leasing even at Teshekpuk Lake, the North Slope's largest lake and an area prized for wildlife that had been protected under rules dating back to the Reagan administration.

Trump's plan was challenged by two lawsuits filed in the federal court in Alaska. No lease sales were ever held under it. The move to reinstate Obama-era management policies was part of Interior's response to those lawsuits.

After peaking at more than 2 million barrels of daily crude production in 1988, Alaska's oil output has been waning, hurt by reduced investment and better opportunities in the shale fields in other states. In 2021, the state produced just 437,000 barrels of oil a day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The National Petroleum Reserve, the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the United States, has drawn interest from oil companies that are expanding development farther west on the North Slope. Development is clustered in the northeastern corner of the reserve, the area closest to existing pipelines and legacy oil fields on state land to the east.

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ConocoPhillips is the most active company in the reserve. Its interests there include the proposed multibillion-dollar Willow project, which holds an estimated 600 million barrels of oil.

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican and supporter of expanded leasing, criticized the decision as reducing energy security at a time when Russia had invaded Ukraine, even though the Trump-era plan was not expected to immediately boost production, if at all.

"Ukrainian grandmothers are bravely standing up to tanks, but President Biden can't even bring himself to stand up to the woke left and unleash American energy production," Sullivan said on Twitter.

Environmentalists welcomed the Biden administration's decision but called for more protections.

"The answer to energy security does not lie beneath the thawing Arctic permafrost but in accelerating the shift to clean, renewable sources of power generation," said Kristin Miller of the Alaska Wilderness League.

(Reporting by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage, additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Bradley Perrett and Tomasz Janowski)
Ukrayinska Pravda

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO - MONDAY, 9 MAY 2022, 14:34 The Security Service of Ukraine has received testimonies from captured Russian occupiers who had been mobilised in April. Source: The Security Service of Ukraine Details: They were promised big money and relatively quiet tasks: clearing rubble and regulating the streets in the so-called "LDPR" [self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics], transporting and loading the dead and wounded, as well as to be on duty at checkpoints.
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's armed forces minister played down comments by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the possible use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, dismissing them as "bravado".

Earlier Lavrov told the world not to underestimate the considerable risks of nuclear conflict, and said NATO's supply of weapons to Ukraine "in essence" meant that the Western alliance was engaged in a proxy war with Russia.

"Lavrov's trademark over the course of 15 years or so that he has been the Russian foreign secretary has been that sort of bravado. I don't think that right now there is an imminent threat of escalation," James Heappey told BBC Television.

"What the West is doing to support its allies in Ukraine is very well calibrated."

Asked about the possibility of Russia using a tactical nuclear weapon, Heappey said he thought there was a "vanishingly small" possibility of that sort of escalation.Heappey said that while NATO had been reinforcing its eastern flank, it was not providing military aid.

"That has not been a NATO endeavour, that is a community of donor nations who are all making bilateral contributions to the Ukrainians and that donor community extends well beyond the borders of NATO," he told BBC Radio.

"It suits the Kremlin's narrative to claim that they are somehow in a confrontation with NATO. They were saying that before the war even began, but that is nonsense and Lavrov knows it."

Moscow calls its actions a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West says this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.

Heappey said it was completely legitimate for Ukraine to strike Russian logistics lines and fuel supplies and he acknowledged the weapons the international community was now providing had the range to be used in Russia.

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan, Editing by Paul Sandle and Angus MacSwan)
Russian military vehicles move in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol. (AP)

The UK supports Ukraine's right to strike Russian territory using Western supplied weapons, a defence minister has said.

James Heappey said it was "completely legitimate" for Kyiv to targeting Russia supply chains that contribute to "death and carnage on Ukrainian soil".

He added that the weapons the West - including the UK - is giving to Ukraine "have the range to be used over the border" into Russia.

"The fact is that Ukraine was a sovereign country that was living peacefully within its owner borders and then another country decided to violate those borders and bring 130,000 troops across into their country," he told Times Radio on Tuesday.

Read more: Zelenskyy accuses Russia of building millenial Reich and says Putin will lose war

James Heappey told Times Radio it was "completely legitimate for Ukraine to be targeting Russias depth. (PA)

Local residents walk near a damaged military vehicle in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, Saturday, April 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)

That started a war between Ukraine and Russia, and in war Ukraine needs to strike into its opponents depth to attack its logistics lines, its fuel supplies, its ammunition depots, and thats part of it.

He added it is not necessarily a problem if British-donated weapons are used to hit sites on Russian soil after accepting that weapons now being supplied by allies to Ukraine have the range to be used over borders.

There are lots of countries around the world that operate kit that they have imported from other countries, when those bits of kit are used we tend not to blame (the country) that manufactured it, you blame the country that fired it," he said.

Click on this image to see all Yahoo News UK's latest content on the Ukraine crisis

It has now been 62 days since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Russia, causing over five million people to flee Ukraine in search of safety.

Western intelligence suggested Putin expected to have control of the country within a matter of days, but more than two months later his troops have been forced out of the north and reportedly suffered huge losses.

Russia has not put out an exact figure of how many soldiers have died since the beginning of the conflict.

Ukrainian authorities have estimated more than 21,000 Russian soldiers have so far been killed.

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On Monday, Russian defence minister Sergei Lavrov said there was a "real danger" of the conflict slipping into a third world war, and said Russia viewed Nato as being in essence engaged in a proxy war as sovereign nations are supplying Ukraine with weapons.

Lavrov claimed Russia was striving to prevent nuclear war as they continued the invasion.

"This is our key position on which we base everything," he said on Monday.

"The risks now are considerable. I would not want to elevate those risks artificially.

On Monday, Russian defence minister Sergei Lavrov said there was a "real danger" of the conflict slipping into a third world war. (Getty)

"Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it."

But his claim shows Russia senses defeat in Ukraine, his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba said

He said: "Russia loses last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine.

"Thus the talk of a real danger of WWIII. This only means Moscow senses defeat in Ukraine.

"Therefore, the world must double down on supporting Ukraine so that we prevail and safeguard European and global security."
(Bloomberg) -- Russia said it stopped natural gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday, making good on a threat to cut off buyers if they refuse Russian President Vladimir Putins demand to pay in rubles. European gas prices surged more than 20% on the move and the euro fell to its lowest against the dollar since April 2017.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Shenzhen-based drone-maker DJI, the worlds largest producer of unmanned aerial vehicles, halted all business activities in Russia and Ukraine, becoming the highest-profile Chinese company to withdraw from the war-torn region.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met Putin in Moscow, seeking to revive diplomatic efforts to end the war more than two months after the Russian president ordered the invasion of his neighbor. Guterres next heads to Ukraine for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)

Key Developments

Gazprom Says It Cuts Gas to Poland, Bulgaria on Non-Payment

DJI Becomes Most Prominent Chinese Firm to Halt Russia Business

Russia Left Swaths of Ukraine Seeded With Mines, Aid Group Says

Moldova Accuses Moscow-Backed Separatists of Fueling Tensions

German Minister Says Full Embargo on Russian Oil Manageable

Why Russias View of Tactical Nukes Raises Alarms: QuickTake

(All times CET)

Russia Cuts Gas to Poland and Bulgaria (8:27 a.m.)

Gazprom PJSC said it has halted gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria and will keep the supplies turned off until the two countries agree to Moscows demand to pay for the fuel in rubles.

Gas surged more than 20% on Wednesday as traders digested the sudden move and calculated which countries will be hit next.

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Chinese Drone Maker DJI to Suspend Business (6:04 a.m.)

Drone-maker SZ DJI Technology Co. is temporarily suspending business to comply with regulations in various jurisdictions, it said in a brief statement without elaborating. Its halt follows U.S. sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine, which Washington has threatened to enforce broadly.

DJIs move to halt business sets it apart from other major Chinese corporations. China has urged an end to the war in Ukraine but refuses to criticize the invasion, vowing instead to maintain trade relations with Russia, a key global energy supplier.

Read more: DJI Becomes Most Prominent Chinese Firm to Halt Russia Business

Euro Falls, Oil Gains on Gas Flow Worries (3:59 a.m.)

The euro touched the weakest level versus the greenback since 2017 amid worries that Moscow may choke gas flows to Europe, hurting the regions growth in the fallout from Russias invasion.

Oil extended gains, with West Texas Intermediate futures climbing above $102 a barrel after rising 3.2% on Tuesday.

Ammunition Depot Fire in Russias Belgorod, Tass Says (3:58 a.m.)

An ammunition depot caught fire in Russias Belgorod region in the vicinity of border with Ukraine, Tass reported, citing a post on Telegram from Vyacheslav Gladkov, a local governor. The governor said there were no reports of injuries or damage to civilian buildings.

Renault May Transfer Russia Unit to Local Owner, IFX Says (11:30 p.m.)

French carmaker Renault SA may hand its 68% stake in Russian unit AutoVAZ to a research institute that reports to the Moscow government, Interfax reported, citing Russian Industry Minister Denis Manturov.

The sale may take place for a token sum with Renault keeping an option to get the shares back within five or six years if it decides to return to Russia, Manturov told Interfax. A spokesperson for Renault declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.

U.S. Weapons Stockpile Risks Running Low (10:45 p.m.)

U.S. weapons stockpiles could run out in several months if the Biden administration continues to send war-fighting supplies to Ukraine, defense experts told Congress. Its a huge threat to our security, Ellen Lord, former under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said at an Armed Services Committee hearing.

Lord said the U.S. has sent almost a quarter of its stockpile of Stinger missiles to Ukraine. David Berteau, president of the Professional Services Council, said that since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. is readying almost one-third of available weapons stockpiles with no current contracts to replenish them.

Russia to Cut Gas Supplies to Poland and Bulgaria (9:36 p.m.)

Russia will cut off the gas to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday in a major escalation in the standoff between Moscow and Europe over energy supplies and the war in Ukraine.

Moscow is making good on a threat to halt gas flows to countries that refuse President Vladimir Putins new demand to pay for the fuel in rubles. The European Union has rejected the move in principle but now payment deadlines are starting to fall due, governments across Europe need to decide whether to accept Putins terms or lose crucial supplies -- and face the prospect of energy rationing.

European gas prices surged as much as 17% and the euro tumbled to its lowest against the dollar since April 2017.

Putin Open to UN Role in Mariupol, Guterres Says (8:44 p.m.)

Putin agreed in principle to involvement by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross in evacuating civilians from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, according to a UN statement after Secretary-General Guterres met the Russian president in Moscow.

Putin said during the meeting that Russia isnt refusing to negotiate with Ukrainians, according to an excerpt shown on state TV. Officials from both Russia and Ukraine have said the talks are at a dead end. Guterres plans to visit Ukraine on Wednesday.

China Hasnt Yet Supported Russias Invasion, Blinken Says (7:48 p.m.)

The U.S. hasnt yet seen China provide significant military support for Russias invasion of Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Blinken said Chinas refusal to take a stand against the invasion is creating significant reputational risk for Beijing.

Kremlin Weighs Suspending Regional Elections (4:32 p.m.)

The Kremlin is considering a plan to suspend regional elections set for September amid concerns about growing social tension due to the war and sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The proposal could be brought formally to Putin as soon as Wednesday, Kommersant and RBC newspapers reported. While polls show support for Putin has surged since the invasion, the discussions are an indication of the Kremlins worry about the rising political and economic costs as fighting continues and living standards decline.

Kremlin Sees Ukraine Breaking Into Several States (3:32 p.m.)

Ukraine may collapse into several states, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said, in the latest comments by a senior Kremlin official that appear to go beyond attempts to cement control over separatist-held territory.

Patrushev blamed the conflict on the policy of the West and Ukrainian authorities in an interview with the state-run Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper.

Moldova Says Transnistria Forces Behind Blasts (3:30 p.m.)

Moldovas President Maia Sandu said forces within the separatist region of Transnistria that back Russias war in Ukraine were behind the recent blasts that rocked several sites there.

We condemn any provocation and attempts to drag Moldova into actions that may endanger peace within the country, Sandu told journalists as her government raised its level of security readiness at key institutions and infrastructure sites.

An observation mission from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe may arrive in Moldova this week to aid communication between the government in Chisinau and the self-proclaimed administration in Transnistria.

Putin Says Ukraine Should Tell Mariupol Troops to Surrender (2:55 p.m.)

Ukraine should order its troops in Mariupols blockaded Azovstal steel plant to lay down their arms and surrender, Putin told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin has ordered Russian troops not to storm the complex and seal it off instead. Ukrainian officials said at the weekend attacks continued on the plant and it wasnt possible to relieve forces and citizens trapped there.

Germany Says Embargo on Russian Oil Manageable (2:52 p.m.)

Germany has cut its reliance on Russian oil enough to make an embargo manageable, Economy Minister Robert Habeck told reporters in Warsaw.

Oil from Russia accounts for about 12% of German imports currently, down from 35% before the invasion, Habeck said. Germanys long-standing reluctance to stop buying Russian energy has put the country at odds with Ukraine, which accuses it of financing the Kremlins war machine.

UN Projects Up to 8.3 Million Refugees (11:30 a.m.)

As many as 8.3 million refugees are expected to flee Ukraine by the end of this year, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

More than 5.2 million people have fled since Russia attacked on Feb. 24, a spokesperson for the agency said at a briefing in Geneva. The UN agency initially projected Russias invasion could create 4 million refugees. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs doubled its appeal for aid to $2.25 billion due to the worsening situation.

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By Anthony Deutsch

(Reuters) - Three Russian pilots suspected of bombing civilian buildings in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions are among at least seven Russian military personnel that Kyiv is preparing war crimes charges against, the Ukrainian prosecutor generals office told Reuters.

It said the other individuals include two operators of a rocket launcher who allegedly shelled settlements in the Kharkiv region and two army servicemen suspected of murdering a Kyiv area resident and raping his wife.

The prosecutors office said it had notified the individuals that they are suspects and the investigations are ongoing, adding no charges had been filed with the court. It didnt name the suspects or provide evidence to support the allegations. It said some of the suspects were held as captives, without specifying where, while other charges were being prepared in absentia.

Ukraine says it is investigating some 7,600 potential war crimes and at least 500 suspects following Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbour. Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova told Reuters that many of those suspects are in Russia but some have been taken captive by Ukraine as prisoners of war. Speaking in an interview earlier this month, she said that her office intends to follow the chain of command up the Russian political and military hierarchy.

Related video: UN Chief says he's concerned about war crimes in Ukraine

Venediktova added that she plans to pursue prosecutions both in Ukrainian courts as well as at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the worlds permanent war crimes tribunal.

The Kremlin and Russias defence ministry didnt respond to requests for comment. Moscow has rejected allegations by Ukraine and Western nations of war crimes and has denied targeting civilians in what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise its neighbour.

Ukraines probe is at the centre of multiple efforts to investigate potential war crimes related to the conflict, including by the ICC. The probes are at the very early stages, people familiar with them say. The ICC has sent an advance team to the region to establish operations.

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Moscow has accused Kyiv of genocide against Russian speakers, which Kyiv strongly denies. Russia has also opened criminal cases into Ukrainian servicemen's alleged torture of their Russian counterparts.

Ukraine, which is conducting its investigation while still in the throes of war, is scrambling to assemble teams of specialists with war crimes expertise, evaluating potential crimes and developing its prosecution strategy.

You can see they are now exhuming the bodies, so [the investigation is at a] very early stage," a person familiar with the process said. In terms of strategy, Kyiv plans to prosecute as much as it can in Ukrainian courts but would likely leave any cases involving higher-ranking figures to the ICC, the person added.

The UN has also established its own inquiry into possible violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine, including possible war crimes, which could feed into any prosecutions by the ICC.

There is also a European Union-coordinated effort to fast track sharing of evidence between various investigating authorities, including with the ICC. Several European countries have said they will apply universal jurisdiction, the legal principle that some crimes are so terrible they can be heard by foreign national courts, and their prosecutors could launch investigations into Ukrainian atrocities.

For Ukraine, the immediate challenge is the sheer volume of potential evidence and witness testimony that needs to be secured and recorded in a way that is usable in court, legal specialists say. That includes vast amounts of digital imagery as well as material gathered on the ground.

David Schwendiman, a former U.S. federal prosecutor who has also helped prosecute war crimes committed during the Balkan wars in the 1990s, praised Ukraines prosecutor general as talented and courageous but said the country doesnt have experience of an investigation of this scale and will need outside help processing potential crime scenes in a way that meets international standards.

Every one of those bodies is a crime scene. Every one of those buildings is a crime scene. Every city is a crime scene, Schwendiman said. Something as small as a piece of cloth torn from a uniform, an ammunition shell or even a ligature used to tie someones hands could help identify a particular unit involved and so needs to be carefully preserved, he added.

Zera Kozlyieva, deputy head of the war crimes unit in the prosecutor generals office, acknowledged that limited access due to ongoing hostilities and a shortage of war crimes specialists presented challenges. Speaking Thursday on a panel at international affairs think tank Chatham House, she said that Kyiv is seeking help from international experts.

WAR CRIMES ALLEGATIONS

Images of dead civilians in Ukraine, including of mass graves and bodies of bound civilians shot at close range, have prompted international outrage, with U.S. President Joe Biden calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be investigated for war crimes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused invading Russian troops of committing "the most terrible war crimes" since World War Two.

According to the United Nations, as of April 22 more than 2,400 civilians had been killed since the conflict began in late February. But the official count is likely to climb. In the port city of Mariupol alone, local authorities have said thousands of people have been killed.

Under international law, war crimes include intentionally targeting civilian populations, willfully killing or causing suffering, and widespread destruction among other serious violations of laws applicable in armed conflict. Individuals who commit such crimes can be prosecuted by international tribunals such as the ICC and by states.

Experts for the Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe (OSCE) nations said in a report published earlier this month that they found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by Russia in Ukraine. The experts also said in the report that theyd found evidence of violations of international humanitarian law by Ukraine, particularly in its treatment of prisoners of war, but that Russia's violations "are by far larger in nature and scale."

Ukraine has said it checks all information regarding the treatment of prisoners of war, will investigate any violations and take appropriate legal action. Russia has said the report "is based solely on unfounded propaganda theses, contains references to dubious sources and logical stretches in the style of 'highly likely.'"

UKRAINES PROBE

The prosecutor generals office had in recent years established a special unit to investigate potential crimes in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 but Kyiv continues to claim as part of Ukraine, and Donbas.

Moscows February invasion of its Western neighbour forced Kyiv to scale up what had been a relatively small team of prosecutors.

Venediktova and her team have in recent weeks been evaluating sites where atrocities have taken place, including where Russian troops have recently withdrawn.

On April 12, Venediktova visited Bucha, near Kyiv, where French forensic experts had arrived to help Ukraine authorities establish what happened in the town where hundreds of bodies have been discovered. As the group from the French Gendarmerie's forensic science department looked on, workers in hazmat suits dug earth from a shallow grave and lifted out a heavy mass wrapped in an orange blanket. Citing witnesses, Venediktova said during the visit that the burnt body parts inside were those of a woman and her two children.

Russia has said that images and footage of dead bodies strewn across Bucha were fake.

Venediktova is also drawing on international legal expertise and seeking technical assistance. She has announced the formation of a task force of law firms and prominent international human rights lawyers, including Amal Clooney, to advise on securing accountability for Ukrainian victims in national jurisdictions as well as strategic guidance on cooperating with the ICC.

Venediktova is in regular contact with Beth Van Schaack, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice in the U.S. State Department, who said the two have discussed what additional assistance Washington could provide. Van Schaacks office has been helping to deploy specialists on the ground via a joint U.S.-European project.

Van Schaack told Reuters that Venediktovas requests for assistance include forensics expertise, such as helping determine how victims found in mass graves died and whether potential signs of torture were inflicted prior to death. Other requests include help identifying the type and origins of particular ballistics used as well as assistance clearing any mines left by Russians so that her investigators can safely access those areas.

Ukraines potentially biggest challenge, said Van Schaack, will be gaining custody of suspects, particularly those higher up the command chain. If they remain in Russia, they may enjoy impunity for the rest of their days, she said.

(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam; additional reporting by Alessandra Prentice in Bucha, Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv, Max Hunder in London, Stephanie van den Berg in The Hague and Simon Lewis in Washington. Editing by Cassell Bryan-Low)
Behind every great political scandal, there are players whose stories get shoved to the side by the first, second and even third drafts of history.

Gaslit, overpacked but compelling, shoves back  though not quite hard enough. The actors traverse a wide variety of styles, from sardonic satire to raw sincerity. While that stylistic range can feel indecisive in some episodes, its an awfully good cast.

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With a deft balance of social cunning and justifiable paranoia, Julia Roberts takes the lead as mouth of the south Martha Mitchell. Her public statements regarding Richard Nixons ineptly corrupt administration helped bring down a presidential second-term hopeful and various minions intent on smearing the opposition party. Across the eight-part Starz series (seven episodes were available for preview), Roberts occasionally has to fight for screen time in what is an ensemble piece, not a star vehicle. Sean Penn plays her husband, Nixon crony and U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell, encased in a misjudged load of prosthetics. (More on that shortly.)

Sean Penn and Julia Roberts in Gaslit. (Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/Starz)

Gaslit devotes nearly equal time to White House counsel John Dean (Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey) and his wife, Maureen Mo Dean (Betty Gilpin). Gilpin excels as the series voice of reason and  as depicted here  the cool, clear, morally aghast rebuke to the feckless, reckless men, her husband included, making the wrong kind of history all around her.

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The series opens with another major player: dirty-tricks maestro G. Gordon Liddy (Shea Whigham, a serious pleasure as always). We meet him doing Liddys infamous signature move: holding his hand over a candle flame, testing his tolerance for burning flesh, referenced though not shown in All the Presidents Men.

History, Whighams Liddy tells us, isnt written by the feeble masses  the pissants, the commies, the queers and the women. It is written and rewritten by soldiers carrying the banner of kings. By episode seven, in prison for the Watergate break-in, Liddys reduced to going mano-a-mano with a rat in a cell, though like so many co-conspirators, he enjoyed a lucrative career redemption outside politics, post-Watergate.

Dan Stevens as John Dean, left, and Betty Gilpin as Mo Dean in a scene from "Gaslit," now on Starz. (Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/AP)

Other real-life figures take their share of the narrative here, fictionalized to varying degrees. (Its a docudrama, or rather, a docu-comedy-drama, not a documentary.) Patrick Walker is heartbreaking as security guard Frank Wills, who first reported signs of a break-in at the Watergate complex, leading to arrests made early morning on June 17, 1972. Wills was treated as a marginalized pariah for doing his job. Though Martha Mitchells mistreatment at the hands of Nixon operatives centers the adaptation  she was, by various accounts and this shows telling, imprisoned and drugged in an LA hotel suite for talking too much, too dangerously  Gaslit casts a sympathetic eye to various marginalized characters thrown under various buses.

Creator Robbie Pickering and his fellow writers, working under Matt Rosss direction, do many things very well. The period is shrewdly evoked, braking right at the edge of parody. (As a former 12-year-old Watergate hearings viewer, I can attest to the general domestic onslaught of avocado green, harvest gold and simulated wood-paneled interiors.) When Roberts and Penn get a chance to really tear into each other as scene partners, the results are riveting. And the ensemble is full of wily scene-stealers, such as John Carroll Lynch as FBI director L. Patrick Gray, no ones idea of a profile in courage.

Gaslit comes from the Watergate season of the Slate podcast Slow Burn, which began with a 25-minute episode on Martha Mitchell and fanned out from there. The Starz edition of the story strains a bit to find its focus, winding so many other figures around Mitchell.

Theres also a weird visual disconnect with Roberts, whose fine performance is relatively unconcerned with re-creating the Martha Mitchell we know from archival material, up against a nearly unrecognizable Penn as John Mitchell. His jowly prosthetics, to be sure, are first-rate: Kazuhiro Tsuji, who won an Oscar for turning Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, achieves a similarly convincing effect for Penn. Yet is the performance and the series truly better for it? Is Mitchells face Churchill-level iconic? (No.) Why go to the trouble? Even with Penn in the role, would it have been possible to go halfway with this sort of facial sculpting job, and let an actor of Penns skill level do more of the work?

Gaslit owes its brash comic edge to the political work of Adam McKay (Vice, Dont Look Up), an edge that has its payoffs and its limitations. With the Watergate character roster, its hard to avoid comedy, because they delivered so many varieties: the comedy of self-delusion (John Dean), the comedy of straight-faced insanity (Liddy), the comedy of office politics (everyone else). In Gaslit, its hard to take Dean seriously; hes a hapless hollow man in Stevens portrayal, and you have to squint, hard, to see what brought the Deans together. Its like the makeup issue with Penn vs. Roberts, only without the makeup; while Stevens plays almost every line for nervous laughs, Gilpin makes Mo a little bit of everything: funny, melancholy, regretful, defiant.

Films such as Vice and series such as this one, cannot help but point to the inevitable Trump White House projects. How will our previous presidents (first?) term in office be treated on screen? For McKay-style laughs only? When Nixons worst has been so easily bested by recent history, is it possible we already living in a time when satire becomes not simply limiting, but irresponsible?

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On the other hand: It remains a singular historical fact that G. Gordon Liddy was not, in fact, a fictional character. And when an actor as good as Whigham gets lines such as I dont experience human neuroses, Gaslit can be forgiven its flaws.

Shea Whigham portrays Watergate burglary mastermind G. Gordon Liddy in "Gaslit." (Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/AP)

Gaslit  3 stars (out of 4)

Content rating: TV-MA

Running time: Eight episodes, approximately eight hours. Seven episodes were screened for review.

How to watch: Now streaming on Starz.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

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mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

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KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's foreign ministry expressed concern on Tuesday about the situation in Moldova's pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniestria, and condemned what it said were Russian attempts to drag the region into Russia's war against Ukraine.

The ministry said in an online statement that a series of incidents, which included several explosions, "coincided with the statements of the Russian military command about their plans to occupy the entire south of Ukraine and establish a land corridor to the Transdniestrian region of Moldova."

"Ukraine strongly supports the territorial integrity of Moldova in its internationally recognised borders, condemns attempts to involve the Transdniestrian region of Moldova in Russia's ... full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and calls for a de-escalation of the situation," it said.

Moldova's president said on Tuesday that the attacks in the Russia-backed region were an attempt by factions within the territory to increase tensions.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the news was a cause for serious concern and that Moscow was following events closely.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Max Hunder, editing by Timothy Heritage)
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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 Chinese court has sentenced an American man to death for fatally stabbing his girlfriend after she wanted to break up with him.



Shadeed Abdulmateen was found guilty on Thursday of intentional homicide for the death of 21-year-old Ningbo University of Technology student Chen Shijun.



Abdulmateen, who taught English at the same university, met Chen in early 2019. He started a romantic relationship with her and lied about his relationship status and being divorced, according to reports.



Chen tried ending their relationship in May 2019, but Abdulmateen reportedly responded with verbal intimidation and refused to break up.



He convinced Chen to meet him on the evening of June 14, 2019, at a bus stop in Ningbo City in Zhejiang Province. He stabbed her neck and face with a folding knife at around 9:48 p.m. She died at the scene of the incident after sustaining a massive hemorrhage.



The Ningbo Intermediate People's Court found that Abdulmateen killed Chen with premeditation and a motive to seek revenge. In its ruling, the court declared that the defendants crime should be punished accordingly.



During his trial, Abdulmateen was allowed translation services and consular visits. An official from the U.S. State Department confirmed it was aware of the sentence but declined to discuss the situation further due to privacy concerns.







Feature Image via Abdulmateen Shadeed (left, right)

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This 2004 photo shows the cockfighting pit inside the Hilltop Cultural Center in Oklahoma's Cotton County. State voters approved a ballot initiative to prohibit cockfighting.

My tenure as Oklahoma attorney general overlapped with the qualification and passage of State Question 687, an anti-cockfighting ballot question that voters in our state handily approved in November 2002. The provisions of the enacted statute included penalty provisions in line with our anti-dogfighting statute, and commensurate with the penalties of other states prohibitions on cockfighting.

State Rep. Justin Humphrey introduced a bill to gut the penalties in our anti-cockfighting law. Fortunately, state House leaders didnt give it a vote. But now Humphrey has amended his pro-cockfighting language into a second bill, SB 1522. His bill decriminalizes training and possessing birds to fight them. These are bad, worn-out ideas, and I know the people of Oklahoma do not want lawmakers to bless this idea.

We know that there are illegal animal fighting operators engaging in felony-level offenses in our state. A series of investigations have demonstrated that fact. We dont need to encourage this illegal conduct; we need more enforcement to stop acts of animal cruelty and other criminal behavior.

When Oklahomans directly banned cockfighting in 2002, Congress also banned any interstate or foreign transport of fighting animals. Lawmakers subsequently strengthened the federal animal fighting law four times, with the Congress establishing a national ban on animal fighting in 2019, leaving not an acre of American soil a refuge for cockfighting.

Rep. Humphrey mentioned allowing Oklahomans to make money by raising and training fighting animals and shipping them to Guam and the Philippines to make money. But exporting fighting birds to any other jurisdiction, whether a state, territory or foreign nation, is also a federal felony.

I want to be clear that there is no prospect that Congress will weaken that law. Our two most senior congressmen, U.S. Reps. Tom Cole and Frank Lucas, along with the overwhelming majority of Republicans and Democrats voted in favor of the national law. Not a single senator opposed that legislation. Law enforcement agencies and sheriffs enthusiastically backed the federal laws against animal fighting, as did all state and national veterinary organizations. The National Chicken Council supported the national law against cockfighting.

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When Oklahoma voters approved the anti-cockfighting law in 2002, they did so at the recommendation, among others, of then Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe. The Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld the law as constitutional in a unanimous decision after cockfighters challenged it. Lawmakers then rejected a raft of bills to weaken the law and to embarrass our state by trying to legalize an activity that most states banned in the 1800s.

Law enforcement authorities often find that animal fighting is directly tied to other crimes, such as drug trafficking, illegal gambling, gang violence, public corruption, and additional forms of extreme animal cruelty and human-on-human violence.

Public officials should be condemning this disrespect for Oklahoma values and the disregard for the rule of law. It would be an embarrassment to our state to legalize this barbaric practice. I trust that the majority of lawmakers will honor the will of voters and recognize cockfighting as a disreputable and brutal practice.

Drew Edmondson

Drew Edmondson, former Oklahoma attorney General (1995-2011), is co-chair of the National Law Enforcement Council of Animal Wellness Action.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Viewpoint: Cockfighting goes against Oklahoman values
Viola Davis has responded to criticism of her portrayal of Michelle Obama in the new Showtime drama The First Lady.

Davis has been accused of exaggeratedly pursing her lips while playing the former First Lady in the show. One viewer called her depiction unnecessary and borderline insulting.

The Oscar winner has since said it is incredibly hurtful when people say negative things about your work.

Speaking to BBC News, she acknowledged that criticism is an occupational hazard for actors, saying: How do you move on from the hurt, from failure? But you have to. Not everything is going to be an awards-worthy performance.

Some viewers commenting on Daviss expression on social media likened it to duck face  an over the top pouting pose  and joked that her face must have been so tired.

I love Viola Davis so Im just going to pretend this entire episode didnt happen in her career, wrote one person.

Davis said: Critics absolutely serve no purpose. And Im not saying that to be nasty either.

They always feel like theyre telling you something that you dont know. Somehow that youre living a life that youre surrounded by people who lie to you and Im going to be the person that leans in and tells you the truth. So it gives them an opportunity to be cruel to you.

But ultimately I feel like it is my job as a leader to make bold choices. Win or fail it is my duty to do that.

Viola Davis at the premiere of The First Lady (2022 Invision)

She talked about the pressure of playing someone as well known and loved as Obama. Either youre doing too much or not enough, she said.

Obama herself is yet to comment on the performance.

In a two-star review of the show, The Guardians Adrian Horton wrote: Davis is undoubtedly a national treasure, and her intent here seems spiritually aligned with both Obama the icon and Obama the real person, but the performance, especially against [OT] Fagbenles spottily accented Barack, is unsettling, never transcending the uncanniness of impersonation.

The Atlantics Shirley Li, meanwhile, wrote that Daviss work in the series feels like caricature.

The First Lady will air on Paramount+ when the service debuts in the UK later this summer.

Davis recently opened up about the racial abuse she experienced as a child in an intimate interview with Oprah Winfrey released on Netflix, ahead of the arrival of her new memoir Finding Me.
By Dietrich Knauth

(Reuters) - Pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance and other defendants on Tuesday said they were not to blame for the opioid crisis in San Francisco, and that they acted responsibly when providing legal medications to patients in pain.

"Almost all of those prescriptions were written by good, well-meaning doctors," Walgreens attorney Kate Swift said during opening statements in a trial in San Francisco federal court. "It was appropriate for good pharmacists to fill those prescriptions."

The trial, which kicked off Monday, is the first to target drug manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies over the addictive pain medicines.

San Francisco has accused Walgreens, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, AbbVie Inc's Allergan unit, and drug distributor Anda Inc, which is owned by Teva, of creating a "public nuisance" by flooding the city with prescription opioids and failing to prevent the drugs from being diverted for illegal use.

A lawyer for San Francisco said during opening statements on Monday that the entire prescription drug industry was to blame for recklessly expanding the market for opioid drugs.

San Francisco has been hit hard by the opioid crisis, which has caused more than 500,000 overdose deaths nationwide in the past two decades, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Opioid-related health issues now account for 25% of emergency room visits at the city's largest public hospital, according to the lawsuit.

Drugmakers Teva and Allergan said on Tuesday that they were minor players in the crisis compared to companies like Purdue Pharma and the wealthy Sackler family that owns the now bankrupt company.

"This crisis traces back to Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family and their pursuit of profits," said Collie James, an attorney for Teva and its affiliates.

By comparison, Teva's branded opioid drugs Actiq and Fentora, made by its Cephalon unit, were "a barely perceptible blip on the opioid market in San Francisco," James said.

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Allergan attorney Hariklia Karis made similar arguments about Allergan's branded opioids, Kadian and Norco.

"Kadian made no difference in this market," Karis said. "Norco did not move the market."

The members of the Sackler family that own Purdue have said that they acted lawfully, but "regret" that its widely-prescribed OxyContin "unexpectedly became part of an opioid crisis."

San Francisco's lawsuit, filed in 2018, initially included claims against drugmakers Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson and Endo International Plc, and the three largest U.S. drug distributors - McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and AmerisourceBergen Corp. The city previously settled with those defendants ahead of the trial.

The lawsuit was one of more than 3,000 cases filed by state and local governments over the U.S. opioid crisis.

J&J and the three large distributors agreed to a $26 billion nationwide settlement of opioid claims against them, which California and San Francisco joined. But many of the lawsuits are proceeding against other drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Bill Berkrot)
Elon Musk is now on the brink of taking over Twitter outright.

The worlds richest person  and eighth most popular Twitter user  plans to make the platform fully private in order to restore its commitment to what he terms free speech. But his offer, which Twitter gave the green light on Monday, raises as many questions as it does answers.

Follow our live coverage of Elon Musks Twitter takeover bid

Among them: why does he want to take it over? Wheres the money coming from? Would a sale make shareholders happy? And what would the social platform look like if he succeeds?

Why is Elon 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 realisation 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 US presidents 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.

Where will Elon Musk get the funds to buy Twitter from?

Musk may be the richest person on the planet, but most of his wealth is tied up in Tesla stock (he owns 17 per cent of the company) and his stake in the privately held space firm SpaceX. He claims to have significant crypto holdings, mostly bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and some Dogecoin, but he also says he plans to HODL (hold on for dear life) and not sell his cryptocurrency.

During an on-stage interview at the TED 2022 conference earlier this month, Musk noted vaguely that he has sufficient assets to complete the deal, adding, I can do it if possible.

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A securities filing last week revealed he has raised $22.5bn from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding to finance the bid, and will pay the rest by selling equity.

Would Twitter shareholders be happy with the takeover?

Twitter stock surged in pre-market trading on Monday morning in anticipation of the successful bid. The shares have traded above $70 in the past 12 months and peaked at $80.75 in February 2021, though remain much lower than the price offered by Musk.

There has been executive turnover since co-founder Jack Dorseys departure in November left Twitter with a new CEO, Parag Agrawal, whose initial actions have involved internal reorganisations. 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.

How might Elon 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. This could see a return for those banned by Twitter in the past, potentially even seeing Donald Trump reinstated.

He will also crackdown on crypto spam bots, which have plagued the platform in recent years, and has proposed dropping ads from the service  ads are how Twitter makes money  and making its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter.

A recent poll relating to an edit button could see that introduced for all users.

Why are some people concerned about Elon Musk taking over Twitter?

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 Musks 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 US 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?

The deal could be announced as early as Monday, according to reports. You can follow all the latest right here.

Additional reporting from agencies
St. Petersburg will soon be home to a new and innovative type of housing project.

Skytian Capital, an investing firm that operates out of Tampa, Toronto and New York, bought two St. Pete apartment complexes for more than $5 million on March 31, according to Skytian Capitals founder San Eng. The buildings on 425 2nd St. N. and 424 2nd St. N. will be redeveloped into Satoshi Hideout, a housing community with 41 units designed to have flexible leasing options. The project is named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of the blockchain and bitcoin.

Theres a growing need for flexible and affordable housing that caters to people with unconventional working hours, like artists, medical professionals and tech entrepreneurs, Eng said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times. He saw a need to fill a growing void in Tampa Bay.

It just feels very buzzy, like an upcoming Austin or Shanghai back in the day, Eng said about the growth happening across the region.

In this conversation, Eng explained why he isnt focused on high-end apartments and why he wanted to honor bitcoins creator. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you want to build this project in St. Petersburg?

After many years of research in North America and overseas in terms of where we want to invest in again, we fell in love with Florida and specifically Tampa and St. Pete. In earlier projects, we were more looking for opportunities to acquire workforce housing and opportunities to improve the communities. So we typically would acquire and then try to make them a better place to live. This project is a little different in the sense that its downtown. And we found that these are micro units in a bustling area of Tampa Bay. It just feels very buzzy, like an upcoming Austin or Shanghai back in the day. Its creative and techie, it just has fantastic energy with young people and we felt that theres a lack of inexpensive but cool, comfortable housing. So we felt this product is a perfect location that would meet a strong demand: so small units, very high-tech, strong personality, branded, flexible, furnished  but not necessarily five-star costs.

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So is it a hotel, apartment or more like an Airbnb?

Theres a term called midterm housing, its definitely not a hotel, which tend to have high staffing. And its not necessarily a bed and breakfast. Its sort of in the middle. We will employ technologies that would help automate a lot of things for like automated check-ins, all payments will be automated. It will be furnished like a hotel but the majority of rooms will have full kitchen and baths. It can be very attractive for a nurse thats on a three-month contract or just imagine a team of founders that are starting a company here in Tampa, and might stay here two or three months but dont want to stay in a hotel and want to be close to downtown.

Its a very interesting emerging mix because even in Airbnb, more reservations are now longer term as opposed to just touristy two or three days. And thats obviously driven by work from home, (and) accelerated by COVID, but its a trend that was emerging pre-COVID.

Tampas housing market is exploding but some worry theres a growing risk for a cool down or correction. How do you navigate that?

Thats the billion dollar question right? Were very conservative. We dont really acquire assets that dont have cash flow, so stabilized properties. Normally 90-95 percent occupied and often (they) may be neglected by landlords and theres opportunities to truly improve it, but not necessarily gut it 100 percent. As leases expire, we may change the kitchen, upgrade with a washer and dryer appliances or add the amenities like dog parks or to change the courtyard. So we are improving it but were not doing development work. We might make less money than if we were doing ground up, but were OK with that.

What will happen to the people living in the apartments now?

Some of their leases are expiring. Many are month to month. So as they leave, we will upgrade. And obviously those that want to stay we will accommodate them. Its a very high turnover market, but its as with any city.

What would the price be compared to the apartments that are there now?

We havent finalized the price points yet and were still finalizing the design. But I can tell you that if you walk around downtown St. Pete, theres quite a large supply and new supply of luxury condos. And theres a lot of expensive hotels. I can tell you were not at that price point. So we will be more affordable just because the assets are a bit older. We dont want to be another luxury builder.

Were not going to be a one-star hotel, but what we see is a niche where theres so many creatives here or health care workers that are eco conscious and tech savvy travelers that wants something different right. So this is a very nice niche. Were proud to be in Tampa first with this concept. Its the perfect location to test out something like this.

Why did you decide to call it Satoshi Hideout?

Bitcoin was created in the wake of the Lehman Financial Crisis as a sort of anti-Wall Street, anti-establishment because the belief was that centralized powers were screwing the little guys. So the whole idea of decentralization and the use of technology is to really democratize money, as well as society. So this whole ethos, whether you believe it or not, its what hosts a very cohesive, passionate community. This ethos tries to capture that spirit of democracy, sharing this for all and innovation.

The blockchain is massive and its only getting bigger, so we wanted to honor the creator of blockchain because he or she or they, we dont know if Satoshi is a person or a group of people or whether theyre a man, woman, Black, white or Asian. We dont know right? Because nobody does. But we do know that they created this thing, worth billions in Bitcoin and theyre hiding somewhere.
Elon Musk struck an agreement Monday to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, setting up the biggest deal to take a company private in at least two decades.

Scrutiny is likely to be intense. Twitter is not the biggest social platform  it has more than 217 million daily users, compared with billions for Facebook and Instagram  but it has had an outsize role in shaping narratives around the world. Political leaders have made it a megaphone, while companies, celebrities and others have used it to hone images and make money.

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Musks takeover attracted concern about the worlds richest person having control of an influential communication platform. A director at a womens rights organization called it a massively slippery slope.

Twitters board has already unanimously approved the deal. Heres whats next for Twitter:

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 Shareholders will vote on whether to accept the deal. It will also be reviewed by regulators, but they are unlikely to seriously challenge the transaction, former antitrust officials said, since the government most commonly intervenes to stop a deal when a company is buying a competitor.

 It is expected to take three to six months for the deal to close, according to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. He told Twitter employees that he would remain in his role at least until the deal closes, according to two people who attended an all-hands meeting and were not authorized to speak publicly. He also urged employees to operate Twitter as we always have.

 Musk has repeatedly said he wants to transform the platform by promoting more free speech and giving users more control over what they see on it. On Monday, he said he would focus on new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots and authenticating all humans.

 Executives tried to assure employees that they would not be shortchanged by Musks acquisition. Agrawal told them their stock options would convert to cash when the deal with Musk closes. Employees would receive their same benefits packages for a year after the deal was finalized, and there were no immediate plans for layoffs, he added.

 Conservatives, who feel they have been unduly silenced by social media platforms, cheered the news of Musks deal. Agrawal was asked by employees whether former President Donald Trump, who was banned from the service after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, would be reinstated. Agrawal deferred, leaving the question for Musk to answer once he takes over the company. For Trumps part, he told Fox News on Monday that he would stick with posting on his own social network, Truth Social.

c.2022 The New York Times Company
Shares in Google and YouTube parent Alphabet slipped 5% in after-hours trading after the tech giant reported first quarter results below Wall Street expectations.

Video subsidiary YouTube, which has been on a tear in recent quarters, posted slower growth in the period. Ad revenue on the platform increased 14% to $6.87 billion. Comparisons suffered from strong direct-response advertising in the year-ago quarter, executives said.

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CFO Ruth Porat, speaking to analysts on a conference call to discuss the results, said Russias invasion in Ukraine had an outsized impact on YouTube ads. Alphabet paused overall operations in Russia, as did a host of other U.S. companies, and many advertisers pulled back on YouTube ad spending, especially European companies. Asked about lingering impact in the quarter, she said it was too early to comment as hostilities have continued.

Revenue rose 23% to a bit more than $68 billion. Earnings per share fell to $24.62 from $26.29 in the year-earlier period, missing Wall Street analysts consensus forecast by more than a dollar. The top-line sales number also fell short of estimates.

Alphabet stock, which fell 3% during the regular trading day, drifted down almost another 5% after hours to around $2,263.10. It has recently fallen to its lowest point in nearly a year.

Pressed repeatedly by analysts about the state of YouTube, which faces a wave of new competitors like TikTok, executives repeatedly affirmed the strength of the video outlet. About 2 billion registered users log in every month and creators are uploading content at a record clip.

The management team also touted YouTube Shorts, the burgeoning short-form extension that has been ramping up over the last couple of years. Google has established a $100 million fund to reward the makers of the most-viewed shorts, an incentive program operating in more than 100 countries. About 40% of the total population of creators will get proceeds from the fund in 2021, according to Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler.

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Shorts, a direct competitor with TikTok, now draws 30 billion daily views. Were also testing ads on Shorts, Schindler noted, and campaigns are encouraged by the early results.  Were very actively working on what monetization could look like in the future.

A litmus test for advertiser appetite for YouTube overall will be next months annual Brandcast event. The elaborate pitch for media buyers has shifted into the main broadcast upfront week, scheduling the showcase at a Broadway theater in New York on May 17. It will be the first in-person Brandcast since 2019 as Covid restrictions continue to ease.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 18, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

Zelenskyy says Russia's holding of "pseudo-referendums" in occupied Ukrainian areas would mean the end of peace talks.

Any attempts by Russia to form new "pseudo-people's republics" in Ukraine would also be a deal-breaker, he said.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of planning such referendums in order to legitimize Russia's invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has explained the factors that would end any potential peace talks with Russia  namely the latter's holding of "pseudo-referendums" in occupied Ukrainian regions and any attempts by it to annex more territories.

During a press conference at a Kyiv metro station on Sunday, Zelenskyy outlined what would make Ukraine walk away from negotiations with Russia.

"If our people in Mariupol are killed, if there will be pseudo-referendums and the establishment of new pseudo-people's republics, Ukraine will not continue negotiating," Zelenskyy said.

"But our citizens, located on the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson region and many other settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region in the east of Ukraine, they have to know, and they should not assist the occupying forces."

He added that Russia should refrain from holding referendums in occupied areas because it would not facilitate the diplomatic settlement of the conflict.

"This would definitely be the wrong step made by Russia," Zelenskyy added. "This would mean that all those meetings of the diplomatic teams were fiction and that this is just theater  with very bad actors."

Ukraine has previously accused Russia of scheduling referendums in occupied territories from Kherson to Zaporizhzhia.

According to The Kyiv Independent, Ukraine's military has received intelligence of a staged referendum in Kherson, set for April 27. In March, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's minister for foreign affairs, also spoke of this "fully staged" sham referendum in a tweet, disavowing the move and declaring: "Kherson is and will always be Ukraine."

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During Sunday's press event, Zelenskky also said that he did not think any messages being passed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin by friendly nations as a form of mediation would work, signaling that he is open to in-person negotiations.

"This war can only be stopped by the person who started it," Zelenskyy said of Putin. "I want the war to be stopped."

"There is a diplomatic path. There is a military path. And any person of sound mind would always opt for the diplomatic path because they would know that even if it's difficult, the diplomatic path allows one to save hundreds, thousands, or even millions of lives," he added.

Ukraine has put offers on the table, saying it may be open to negotiating with Russia if corridors are opened up for soldiers and citizens alike to evacuate Mariupol. Zelenskyy has also noted that the killing of Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol could end negotiations.

Reports from Ukraine indicate that Putin may have lost interest in peace negotiations and might be looking to grab and annex as much territory as possible. A top Russian general has also voiced similar sentiments, noting that the current goal for Moscow is to "establish full control" over Ukraine's eastern and southern regions.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Campbell County School Board voted Monday to ban inherently divisive concepts from being taught in its school system.

The resolution, which passed unanimously, states Campbell County schools will not teach Critical Race Theory. Nor will CCPS implement the use of divisive materials to supplement board-approved curriculum materials, including the use of the 1619 Project.

The resolution first came to the floor last month when Rustburg representative David Phillips brought forth an item requesting staff to draft a resolution to condemn the use of inherently divisive concepts in Campbell County Schools.

The motion was passed Monday with no questions or discussion from the school board members before voting, but community members did not hesitate to make their opinions known during public comment before the vote.

Reginald Herndon, president of the Campbell County NAACP, told the board, as elected representatives, resolutions you adopt are viewed as the opinion of the people you represent.

People of color are not the majority, but our interest deserves equal consideration, along with everyone elses, when this board is considering any action.

Herndon added, What is divisive is in the eye of the beholder.

Long ago, it was divisive for little Black children to go to school with little white children, drink from the same water fountain, or swim in the same pool.

Another speaker during the public comment section presented a different view.

Although [the resolution] is a good start, there is much needed to clarify the implementation of such an initiative, said Jackie Mendez, a Campbell County resident.

Mendez later said, Learning is no longer encouraged ... kids are indoctrinated with the latest trends of political ideology. Its mental programming.

The resolution is in line with Gov. Glenn Youngkins Executive Order One, which he passed on his first day in office and which ended the use of inherently divisive concepts in Virginia public schools.

Even before the resolution was brought forth, Campbell County Superintendent Robert Johnson said critical race theory was not being taught in the school system.

Critical race theory, commonly called CRT, is an academic concept that examines how policies and the law perpetuate systemic racism.

The 1619 Project is led by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones with writers from The New York Times Magazine. Debuting in 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery, it aims to examine U.S. history by centering slavery and the contributions of Black Americans. Hannah-Jones spoke at the University of Lynchburg last month.

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Hongkongers are returning to the Japanese property market after a two-year absence, taking advantage of a weakening yen, which is at a 20-year low against the US dollar.

Inquiries for Japanese homes from Hongkongers have surged by up to 40 per cent this month, said Anvy Cheung, chief executive of Sakura Global, which specialises in Japanese property. In the past two years, most of them just stayed on the sidelines, adopting a wait-and-see approach [due to the pandemic].

Most of the clients are looking for homes in Japan for investment or for holiday use, with budgets ranging from HK$1.5 million (US$192,000) to HK$2 million, she added.

The Japanese yen, which has fallen 12 per cent since January, may continue to weaken against the US dollar amid expectations the Bank of Japan will lag its peers such as the US Federal Reserve in normalising monetary policy.

As the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US currency, the yens steep devaluation makes property investment more attractive to investors from the city. The easing of travel regulations, which were introduced at the start of the pandemic two years ago, has also boosted investors confidence. ...continue reading
theguardian.com - May 05

They were separated by thousands of miles and the two sets of builders could not conceivably have met or swapped notes, but intriguing parallels between Stonehenge and Japanese stone circles are to be highlighted in an exhibition at the monument on Salisbury Plain.
Fifty years ago, the national networks CBS, ABC and NBC dominated television screens in America and were the primary way voters obtained information: Each network, along with newspapers and radio, told its audience facts first, and all agreed on what the facts were. That meant Americans had a shared understanding of the truth  which is what led to the erosion of both Democratic and Republican public support for then-President Richard Nixon during the Watergate investigation.

But the time of Democrats and Republicans agreeing on facts is no more. In the early 1980s, cable news networks emerged. The late 80s and early 90s brought the internet, and Six Degrees became the first social media platform later in the 90s. With each development, avenues for information grew more abundant. People werent confined to newspapers and the three news stations for information. Instead, we gained the ability to access information anywhere  and with less and less scrutiny.

As access to information without oversight expanded, misinformation skyrocketed. Readers, viewers and listeners became increasingly vulnerable to believing falsehoods. Consider the aftermath of the 2020 election: Donald Trump took to social media and, with the help of far-right platforms and news networks, at one point persuaded nearly 70% of Republicans to believe that Joe Biden was not duly elected president, a poll by Suffolk University and USA Today found. But there is hope for the truth to prevail  and our effort begins by providing students the tools necessary to effectively navigate the information ecosystem and discern fact from fiction.

I am a member of Generation Z, and we are more plugged in than any previous generation. Born between 1997 and 2012, members of Gen Z do not know of a world without social media and the internet. From the day we were born, we instantly became connected with each other virtually. With 97% of those ages 13 to 17 using at least one of seven social media platforms, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center Survey, Gen Zers are defined by social media because it is deeply embedded into our identity.

Gen Zers do not merely use social media to connect with others  we use it to create change. Take, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Social media became an essential tool for young people to organize and promote information about racial justice and equality. Using features such as Instagrams story or posting short, digestible videos on TikTok, young people recognized that social media platforms are one of the most effective ways of getting information to others quickly and easily.

However, as savvy as Gen Zers are with social media, we are not immune to the effects of misinformation. While there are plenty of young people using social media to promote facts, there are just as many employing social media to promote lies. In fact, researchers have found that anti-science and anti-vaccine videos on TikTok have reportedly been viewed by people as young as 9 years old. Coming upon misinformation while scrolling through social media is dangerous  no matter the age.

Misinformation will never be extinguished  especially in the free-for-all of undermoderated social media platforms and channels such as Fox News whose bottom line depends on retaining an audience that believes its extreme statements. To counter this, we should look to the classroom. For students like me and members of future generations who will spend a lot of time online  and therefore will be particularly susceptible to seeing misinformation  information literacy classes could be exactly what is needed to help young people become better stewards of information.

At its core, information literacy classes would be designed to give students critical thinking skills for analyzing information on the internet: In other words, knowing how to evaluate information, distinguish between a lie and a fact, and conduct a fact-check. And fortunately, this is a concept that is underway across the country. Illinois became the first state in the country to require an information literacy class for high schoolers starting with the 2022-23 school year. Better yet, eight states including Massachusetts and Florida are considering bills that would require media literacy education. One antidote to misinformation is understanding what it is and how to combat it.

Reaching consensus on basic facts is becoming increasingly more difficult  to the point in which democracy has become precarious. It will take all hands on deck to reverse course, and the best place to start may just be in the classroom  endowing young people with the skills to identify lies whenever they encounter them.

Information literacy classes for students may well be our nations best hope of returning to an era of mutually agreed upon truths.

Victor Shi is a sophomore at the University of California at Los Angeles. He was elected as the youngest delegate for Joe Biden in 2020. He co-hosts the iGen Politics podcast.
Katelyn Dewaele is the assistant store lead at Dusted Charm located on the 100 Block of West Broadway. She is responsible for leading her team, visual merchandizing, analyzing business performance, assisting customers and much more. To Dewaele, her job is much more than just work. She enjoys being a part of such a passionate team of women and loves the purpose and why behind Dusted Charm.

Dewaele has worked in the retail business for five years and enjoys every aspect of it. From the behind-the-scenes late nights and early mornings to seeing customers smiling faces, her true passion is genuinely helping women feel loved and beautiful.

She believes that the small businesses in Council Bluffs are the strongest tourism assets CB has to offer.

These stores and businesses attract people to our community and provide opportunities and services that not every town has, Dewaele said.

When asked what her favorite attraction in Council Bluffs is, she said I have three dogs who love walks. We enjoy going to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge when its nice!

Her adorable dogs are named Cash, Tobias, and Olaf.

If youre looking for beautiful womens apparel, gifts for a loved one, or home decor items, be sure to visit Dusted Charm at 120 West Broadway or online at www.dustedcharm.com. They are having a Kentucky Derby themed sidewalk sale from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on May 7.

Katelyn and her team at Dusted Charm are joining the Council Bluffs Convention & Visitors Bureau in celebrating National Travel & Tourism week from May 1 through May 7.

 Council Bluffs Convention & Visitors Bureau
Is this Deb Fischer's dash to the wire in 2012 all over again?

Or still an unlikely long shot?

Ten years ago, Fischer was a state senator finishing her final year in the Legislature and matched against Attorney General Jon Bruning and State Treasurer Don Stenberg in a bid for the Republican nomination for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Fischer, in her first statewide election after representing a Sandhills district in the Legislature for eight years, held 12% of the Republican vote in a March survey by Public Policy Polling.

Her share of the pie rose to 25.9% in a We Ask America poll entering May, substantially behind Bruning who was polling at 42.2%.

When the GOP primary votes were counted on May 15, Fischer had 79,941 votes and Bruning had 70,067 and she was the Republican nominee.

It was a successful come-from-behind sprint at the end of the campaign.

That's the dream scenario for Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha as Charles Herbster and Jim Pillen run out front battling one another in this year's hardball gubernatorial contest.

It's a volatile landscape with Herbster battling late-in-the-campaign allegations that he has inappropriately touched or groped a number of women, which he fervently denies.

Pillen, who is supported by Gov. Pete Ricketts and what appears to be most of Nebraska's Republican establishment -- the party itself maintains a neutral stance -- is expected to benefit from that disclosure.

They remain the heavily-funded heavyweights.

But is there another state senator a decade after Deb Fischer moving up from behind and surging toward the wire at the end?

* * *

And now comes Donald Trump.

He's not visiting rural Nebraska -- west of Lincoln -- where he would appear to still be absolute king of the hill, but between Lincoln and Omaha, the population centers that both voted for Joe Biden in 2020.

However, there are plenty of Trump voters to fill the I-80 Speedway venue at Greenwood a mile over the Lancaster County line in Cass County on Friday night. Hmm, Greenwood.

Perhaps Trump, the showman, will get Lee Greenwood to show up at Greenwood to sing "I'm Proud to be an American ... God Bless the USA."

That would light up what already is likely to be an electric night.

* * *

Seldom do you see the kind of grieving appreciation that the death of Brad Ashford prompted.

A good and decent man.

It was emotionally difficult for Sen. Steve Lathrop to deliver his strong, but tender eulogy in the legislative chamber where Ashford served for 16 years as a state senator on the final day of the 2022 session.

"A policy wonk ... non-partisan," Lathrop said. Full of "thoughtfulness; always seeking common ground."

"Brad loved this place," Lathrop told his colleagues, partly because Ashford said Nebraska's unique non-partisan Legislature allowed him to change political parties so many times.

"A friend for 65 years," Sen. John McCollister said, a neighbor who lived four houses down the street in Omaha.

"A gentle giant...an absent-minded professor," McCollister said.

Two tender tributes from a Democrat and a Republican.

And that was a perfect fit for who Ashford was.

He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014 as the Democratic nominee, was ousted by Republican nominee Don Bacon in 2016 after a single term, became friends with Bacon and endorsed him for re-election in 2020.

Party did not matter to him. People did.

Ashford was a successful congressman, innovative, flexible and bipartisan, delivering to his constituents a new Veterans Administration medical facility in Omaha funded through a unique public-private partnership and playing a bi-partisan leadership role in gaining funding for construction of a vital new runway at Offutt Air Force Base.

As the only Democrat in Nebraska's congressional delegation, he had the only tie to the Obama White House and developed a personal relationship with the president, who wrote him a letter of encouragement last month.

I'm not sure anyone disliked Brad Ashford.

But I know a lot of people who liked him a lot.

* * *

President Biden has named former Sen. Chuck Hagel, secretary of defense in the Obama administration, to membership on the board of visitors to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The board provides advice and recommendations to the president related to morale and discipline, curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, academic methods and other matters related to the academy.

Hagel served in Vietnam as an Army sergeant and infantry squad leader and was twice wounded in combat. He is the only enlisted man to ever serve as secretary of defense.

* * *

Finishing up:

* This is the election year of wholly manufactured issues.

* Sen. Rich Pahls of Omaha, who has been absent recently from the Legislature because of health conditions, is on the path to recovery and expects to resume his legislative duties, I am told.

* Politico spotlights "Nebraska's surprisingly effective COVID strategy" in an in-depth look that could be a big political plus for Gov. Pete Ricketts while also acknowledging that Ricketts gradually departed from University of Nebraska Medical Center advice. One UNMC official, in the author's words, said he believes that "the state got too laissez-faire too quickly."

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon
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Officials with the Chicago Teachers Union argued Monday that the halting of the universal masking requirement at Chicago Public Schools last month violated their COVID-19 safety agreement by rescinding a key tenet of the plan without reopening collective bargaining.

The hearing before Nick Gutierrez, administrative law judge with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, was prompted by the unions filing of an unfair labor practice charge shortly after CPS announced masks would be optional for staff, students and visitors to schools beginning March 14.

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They repudiated a key term of the safety agreement and had no legal right to do so, said Robert Bloch, an attorney for CTU.

When the safety agreement was forged with CPS in January, following a volatile battle that led to five days of canceled classes during the omicron surge, masks were still required to be worn indoors in Illinois under the executive order of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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But Bloch said despite universal masking being enforced in Illinois, the union still ensured the universal masking requirement was part of its safety agreement with CPS, as they were well aware public health guidance could change with political pressure.

Leigh Mabry White, center, a Chicago Public Schools mother and member of Activate Chicago Parents, joins other parents and supporters at a news conference supporting masks in schools outside of City Hall on Feb. 28, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

CPS continued universal masking after many Illinois school districts dropped their requirements in response to a Feb. 4 restraining order by Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow in a lawsuit challenging Pritzkers statewide mask mandate and other COVID-19 safety protocols for schools.

Parents who had filed the suit sought to hold CPS CEO Pedro Martinez in contempt of court for continuing to require masks after Grischow found the states mask rules invalid, but the judge declined to weigh in on the request, saying the policy of (CPS) is not before the court.

Pritzker had appealed Grischows restraining order, but the appellate court dismissed the appeal. The court found that because rules from the Illinois Department of Public Health requiring masking and other COVID-19 protocols had been allowed to expire, the appeal was moot.

The governor then appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case but vacated the restraining order. Pritzker announced the same day he was lifting the states universal masking requirement for schools, and CPS followed about a week later, announcing March 7 it was moving to a mask optional but recommended policy.

Kaitlyn Girard, chief labor negotiator for CPS, said at Mondays hearing that she and CTU President Jesse Sharkey engaged in off the record discussions in late February about dropping the universal mask requirement in the safety agreement, and both parties agreed we didnt want us being out on an island as the only district requiring masks.

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The CTU would need to get its house of delegates to agree, and (CPS) needed to get our stakeholders on board, Girard said.

We were facing litigation, deadlines and pleadings with the judge, Girard said. We were losing our ability to make these decisions if it went too far.

Yet Sharkey said he was dismayed the union was not given the opportunity to negotiate prior to the district moving to mask optional, especially given the CPS school board had shown strong support for universal masking since schools had reopened classrooms for in-person instruction last spring.

We always believed wed be part of the agreement, Sharkey said. Our view is, we have a written agreement that CPS needs to abide by.

Dr. Jennifer Seo, chief medical officer at Chicago Department of Public Health, said while universal masking in schools can reduce infection and outbreaks, the lifting of the virus mitigation strategy at CPS does not appear to have had a negative impact on the community.

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More days than not, we are seeing zero deaths in the city, and hospitalizations have stayed stable, Seo said, adding: In terms of universal masking, we do not recommend it at this time because we remain at low COVID-19 levels.

According to the complaint, CTU is asking the labor relations board to require that CPS engage in good faith bargaining prior to implementing unilateral changes in the terms and conditions of employment which affect the health and safety of the employees represented by the union.

CTU also accused CPS in the complaint of not adhering to the safety deal by allegedly withholding information such as the number of KN95 masks distributed to schools; school-level data on COVID-19 tests conducted through the districts free weekly program; and confirmation of the creation of school-based contact-tracing teams.

A decision on CTUs complaint is not expected for at least 60 days.

kcullotta@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kcullotta
Tunisia will send aircraft to Russia to transport Russians holidaymakers, the Tourism Minister of the North African country pointed out Monday as result of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, reports say.

Mohamed Moez Belhassine told Shems fm that authorities have already established contacts with local airlines for the process.

The official indicated that the Russian market is important for North Africas tourism sector.

He last month said Tunisia is looking to attract 660,000 Russian and Ukrainian tourists this year, as much as last year.

We want to reach these figures this year despite the crisis in these countries, he indicated. Last year in October, Tunisian private airline Syphax Airlines signed a deal with Russian tour operator TUI-Russia to fly 50,000 Russian holidaymakers this year.

Per the agreement, Syphax Airlines was ro use Moscow International airport and its services.

Syphax Airlines, based out of Sfax Thyna International Airport Building, has returned to operation since 2018 after difficult years marked by huge debts.
King Mohammed VI has sent his congratulations to French President Emmanuel Macron on his re-election and victory over far-right rival Marine Le Pen.

In his message, the Monarch wished Macron success in his mission and hailed the depth of the multidimensional ties existing between the Moroccan and French people.

By winning a second term after beating far right challenger Marine Le Pen by 58.5 per cent to 41.5 per cent, Macron, a pro-European centrist, becomes the first incumbent to be reelected in France in two decades.
In a swift response to the statement made by the unpopular Algerian president Abdelmajid Tebboune criticizing Spanish support to Moroccos autonomy plan for the Sahara, the Spanish foreign ministry hits backs affirming that its stand on the Sahara is a sovereign decision.

By recognizing the autonomy plan presented by Morocco as the most serious, realistic and credible basis for resolving the Sahara dispute, Spain has taken a sovereign decision, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Onda Cero radio station.

The Spanish governments decision is in line with international legality and there is nothing to add on this subject, underlined the top diplomat, refusing to engage in unproductive sterile controversy.

I am not going to fuel sterile controversy on the Sahara. Our decision is sovereign and it is in line with international legality, affirmed the Spanish Foreign Minister.

In a letter sent to King Mohammed VI, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez voiced his countrys support to the Moroccan autonomy plan offered for the Sahara under its sovereignty, describing the plan as the most serious, credible and realistic basis for the resolution of the Sahara regional conflict.

He reiterated the same stand during his recent meeting in Rabat with the Moroccan Sovereign.

Madrids supportive stand to Moroccan autonomy plan comes after similar positions voiced by the United States, Germany, France, Israel and other countries in Africa and the Arab world.

Furthermore, all the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council since 2007 have commended the autonomy plan and the serious and credible efforts made by Morocco.

Algerias criticism of the Spanish decision has once again shown its real face as the main party behind the perpetuation of the Sahara conflict when it recalled its ambassador from Madrid, after the Spanish Prime Minister sent a letter to King Mohammed VI describing Moroccos autonomy initiative as the most serious, realistic and credible solution to the Sahara conflict.

President Tebboune told his regimes media that the decision was that of Sanchez and had nothing to do with the Spanish state, a statement that shows his ignorance of how decisions are made in a democracy.

Sanchez had said that support for Moroccos autonomy plan is a state policy and that the Spanish government would act accordingly.

Albares, in his radio interview, said however that what matters for Spain is that Algeria would uphold its gas supply deals with Spain.

El Confidencial in a recent article said that Spain and Europe are supporting Morocco, a source of stability and a gate to Africa, while dealing with Algeria only as a mere gas supplier.

It wrote that Algeria cannot cut gas because that is what it lives on!

Meanwhile, several Spanish, American and European influential politicians, analysts and investors have praised the Spanish backing to Moroccos territorial integrity, saying it is the ONLY basis for a just and lasting resolution of the Sahara regional dispute.
The Road 702 Fire in Red Willow, Furnas and Frontier counties covered 41,155 acres as of a 9 a.m. Monday report sent out by Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team One.

The report indicated the fire is 0% contained with many interior pockets of unburned vegetation within the Road 702 Fire perimeter. As winds shift or increase, these areas within the fire may burn. Residents in and around the fire area should expect to see flare-ups and smoke, both due to these unburned islands burning as well as the intense heat that remains in the timbered draws, the report said.

Retired Cambridge Volunteer Fire Chief John P. Trumble was killed Friday evening while working the 702 fire. Trumble, 66, was helping to spot the fire in Red Willow County when his vehicle went off the road in the smoke and dust about 7 p.m., said Paul Wood, Red Willow County attorney.

Trumble was overcome by the smoke and was unable to escape, Wood said. His body was recovered about 3:30 a.m. the next day.

Five people also have been injured while fighting the 702 fire.

The threat of additional fire growth remains as firefighters continue to extinguish hot spots in brushy draws and near structures. No evacuation orders were active Monday, however.

Sunday afternoon, the Multi-Mission Aircraft from Colorado mapped the fire area at 41,155 acres. Firefighters working the night shift patrolled the fire watching for hot spots, flare ups all while monitoring winds that gusted up to 60 mph.

The west branch of the fire stretches from Cambridge west and south toward Lebanon. The fire was active primarily in the timbered draws where the fuels are heaviest. Dozers have tried to mitigate hazards by knocking over fire-weakened trees so firefighters can work in those areas.

On Monday, firefighters, supported by aerial resources, continued to secure the fireline by mopping up hot spots that threaten control lines and working to cool down areas of heat in the timbered draws where it is safe to do so, the report said.

The east branch of the fire stretches from Cambridge south to Wilsonville and into northern Kansas. The fire was very active on this branch Sunday in both the lighter fuels and the timbered draws.

Firefighters, supported by aerial resources, continued to secure the fireline by mopping up the fire edge and worked on containing any unburned islands within the fire perimeter.

Officials are asking the public to avoid the Road 702 Fire area and to use caution when driving in areas where smoke and dust reduce visibility. Officials are also asking residents who return to their homes to be cautious.

For information on other fires in Nebraska, follow NEMA on Facebook at facebook.com/nema.page or Twitter at twitter.com/NEMAtweets.

The Omaha World-Herald and Associated Press contributed to this report.
Nebraska lawmakers launched into the first full-blown filibuster of the 2022 session during the second day of debate.

By the time they headed home Wednesday, filibusters had filled up more than half of the 60 days they met and senators had taken votes on 24 filibuster-ending cloture motions on 15 bills and one resolution.

Its got to be a record, I would think, said Don Wesely, a former state senator and now veteran lobbyist. Thats a lot.

Turns out the number of cloture motions isnt quite a record, but its close, according to a tally kept by the Clerk of the Legislatures Office. There were 25 such motions in 2018 and 24 in 2016, the two previous high years.

But its by far the most without former Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, considered the master of the filibuster, in the Legislature. Chambers was term-limited out of office for a second time in 2020.

Speaker Mike Hilgers of Lincoln and other lawmakers said the number of extended debates this year didnt stop the Legislature from chalking up major accomplishments.

That has been frustrating, but yet, you look at all the things we got done, said Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams. Im thankful and grateful weve done all weve done.

Those accomplishments include a record tax cut package, a plan for using $1.04 billion in federal COVID-19 funds and a state budget that preserves a $1.2 billion cash reserve. Other accomplishments include bills expanding services for children with developmental disabilities, taking the first steps on two major water projects and investing $335 million into North and South Omaha and other high-poverty areas of the state.

But some lawmakers said the filibusters contributed to an atmosphere of resentment and bitterness that sometimes spilled over into personal attacks between lawmakers and difficulty working together.

We certainly did things, but it was more acrimonious and disjointed even for a short session, said Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln.

Filibusters are not unique to the Nebraska Legislature. An example of talking a bill to death showed up in the first session of the U.S. Senate, according to the U.S. Senate Historical Office. The tactic was common enough by the mid-1800s to be dubbed a filibuster, a word derived from Dutch and Spanish terms for pirates.

The use of filibusters has increased dramatically in the U.S. Senate since 2013, contributing to gridlock in Congress. Democrats debated ideas for curbing filibusters at the beginning of the year after being frustrated in their attempts to pass voting rights legislation but have not taken action.

In Nebraska, the Clerks Office tally shows a similar explosion in filibusters. The number of cloture motions remained in the single digits for all but one year between 1992, when the cloture rule was adopted, and 2014. It has been in the double digits ever since.

Lawmakers offered various theories about the reason for the increase. Sen. John Arch of La Vista said he believes lawmakers needed to put more effort into communicating with each other away from the microphone so they could work out differences.

There are certainly differences of opinions, but simply bringing bills to the floor and counting votes isnt the best way to do things, he said.

Others offered similar views. Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn said COVID cut down on the socializing that helped build relationships among lawmakers. Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont said she believes it would help to have a chance before the session for lawmakers to discuss their goals and interests.

The body has gotten polarized, Walz said. We dont take the opportunity to listen to each other.

Lawmakers on both the left and the right used filibusters to block legislation this year. Seven bills died because backers fell short of getting 33 votes for cloture, even if they had the 25 votes to advance the bill.

The bills killed through filibuster included such hot-button measures as a trigger bill that would have banned abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court gave states the power to do so and a bill that would have allowed Nebraskans to carry concealed weapons without getting a permit.

A filibuster also killed a bill that would have limited sentences to address prison overcrowding and a bill that would have boosted private and parochial schools by giving tax credits for donations to private school scholarship organizations.

Wesely said the prevalence of filibusters has increased the support needed to pass controversial legislation, in practice if not in legislative rule. He contrasted that with his legislative tenure when even the most contentious legislation could pass by a narrow 25-24 vote.

Filibusters can be used to pressure a bills backers to negotiate compromises that can gain support for the bill.

Linehan worked out an agreement to add property tax relief to an income tax cut bill to win votes for the package. But she resisted proposals to bring more senators on board and end the tax package filibuster by reducing income taxes for middle-income Nebraskans.

Lengthy negotiations among parties interested in crime and corrections also failed to produce a compromise on the prison overcrowding legislation, which left that bill short of votes for cloture.

I think there were probably opportunities for compromise, Hansen said. There was no desire to do that.

Even with bills that survived, filibusters prevented the Legislature from taking up some controversial amendments. Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha used the tactic to keep lawmakers from amending any of the budget bills to authorize construction of a new prison.

His budget bill filibuster also blocked an amendment that would have barred the State Department of Education from using any of its appropriation to research, adopt or implement state sex education standards for Nebraska schools.

Political viewpoints determine whether the filibusters resulted in wins or losses.

But filibusters ate up time that could have been used to debate other legislation. Hilgers required eight hours of debate before allowing a cloture motion during first-round debate, four hours on second-round debate and two hours at the final stage of consideration.

Lawmakers ran out of time to take up several bills this year, including a popular measure that would have made daylight saving time permanent in Nebraska once federal law changed and three neighboring states adopted similar laws.

However, Sen. Tom Briese of Albion, who introduced LB283, said the extensive discussions that are part of filibusters are part of the purpose of the Legislature. He said legislative sessions should be slow and cumbersome.

And it certainly was this year, he said.

The World-Herald's Erin Bamer contributed to this report.
Brian Kemp and Georgia Perdue, the former allies now battling for the Georgia Republican nomination for the governorship. Photo: Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool

With one month to go before Georgias May 24 Republican primary (and far less than that before early voting commences), Governor Brian Kemp and Trump-endorsed challenger David Purdue had their first of three debates on Sunday. Purdue, the former U.S. senator, made the former presidents 2020 election fables his main focus from the jump.

.@DavidPerdueGAs opening message in the first GOP governors debate: First off, let me be very clear, the election in 2020 was rigged and stolen: #gapol pic.twitter.com/XImXF78Nsg  Patricia Murphy (@MurphyAJC) April 24, 2022

Trailing in every public poll and in fundraising as well, Perdue is trying to remind MAGA voters that they should blame Kemp for both Trumps and Perdues own Georgia losses in 2020. Though he was under tremendous pressure from Trump, the governor certified Bidens presidential win and didnt pursue various unfounded fraud allegations. Indeed, Perdues pretzel logic led to him claim that its Kemp who is dividing the GOP and exposing the party to the awful specter of a Stacey Abrams administration (the Democrat is unchallenged in her bid for governor).

Kemp, who has made nastiness something of a personal brand, fired back in an uninhibited manner, calling Perdue a weak leader who blamed everybody else for their own loss instead of themselves. Perdue took the debate down a favorite Trump rabbit hole, alleging that there was a deal between the state and voting-rights groups over absentee-ballot signature-verification procedures. Kemp was having none of it, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Youre the top cop in this state, Perdue shot back. Its your responsibility to make sure we investigate voter fraud. Kemp bridled at that.

I was secretary of state for eight years and I dont need to be lectured by someone whos lost his last election about what the voting laws are in our state, Kemp said.

The two men went on to bicker over their relative commitment to the safety of the citizenry in the wealthy white Atlanta enclave of Buckhead, which is allegedly besieged by (presumably Black) criminals:

Kemp repeatedly deflected when asked if he supports the affluent, mostly white Buckhead neighborhood seceding from the poorer, Blacker city of Atlanta. That effort died in the state legislature this year amid opposition from business groups, some Republican lawmakers and Atlanta city leaders. Kemp said instead he was focused on reducing crime in Atlanta 

Perdue said that was an example of Kemp being a weak governor, supporting Buckheads exit from Atlanta.

Theyre trying to protect themselves, Perdue said of his support for letting Buckhead split off. And the only way to do that is to get control of their own government. Keep your powder dry? People are getting killed up there right now.

Perdue also took a shot at Kemps inattention to illegal immigration, alluding to a famously demagogic ad the incumbent ran during his first gubernatorial campaign in 2018, showing the candidate in a pickup truck he owned in case I need to round up criminal illegals. What happened, Governor? Pickup break down? Perdue asked.

Kemp responded that he had stationed members of the Georgia National Guard near the (very distant) U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, which gives you an idea of the extent to which these two former allies are battling for high ground on the far right. The incumbent, of course, was himself endorsed by Trump during the 2018 Republican primaries (which probably didnt affect the outcome); part of the ex-presidents incandescent rage toward Kemp is attributable to his erroneous belief that the governor owes him everything.

The bottom line is that Perdue is trying to make the primary a test of loyalty to Trump while Kemp (like Floridas Ron DeSantis) is carving out his own version of Trumpism Without Trump. One of Kemps main talking points in his fight for a second term is that no governor was more eager to reopen their states economy in 2020, even as COVID-19 was still raging. At the time, Trump criticized him for moving too fast. So in the eyes of many conservatives, Kemp was arguably more MAGA than the 45th president himself.

The person who enjoyed the Kemp-Perdue debate most was probably Stacey Abrams. Whoever Republicans nominate will likely have a breeze behind his back, with the midterms expected to be a red wave. But as in the 2021 Senate runoffs in Georgia, Republican divisions and a lack of base enthusiasm could be just enough to produce a Democratic win in this very competitive state.
Emiliano Zapata Academy teachers and elected officials gathered Tuesday outside the Little Village elementary school to protest a proposed $894,000 cut to the schools budget for the upcoming year.

Last month Chicago Public Schools presented preliminary individual school budgets for the 2022-23 school year. If those figures hold, Zapatas budget would be $5.9 million, down from $6.8 million this school year. On Tuesday school community members called on the district to spend federal COVID-19 funds to ensure no school would have to experience cuts, but especially those in Little Village, which was hit hard by the pandemic.

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We here at Zapata are projected to lose eight or nine teachers, which will most definitely dramatically increase class sizes. In my own classroom, I am projected to have 30 distinctly unique little human beings in front of me instead of the 20 that I have this year, Zapata fourth grade bilingual teacher Jaquelina Salgado said. There is no good reason why my future students should be crammed into a classroom where I will have great difficulty meeting their academic, their social, their emotional needs. They deserve so much more.

In a conversation with news reporters last month, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said school enrollment was a major factor in the creation of the individual budgets. District enrollment declined from 340,000 students the last school year to 330,000 students this year. Zapata counted 554 students, down from 621, according to CPS data.

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People rally outside Zapata Academy in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood on April 26, 2022, as they protest a proposed $894,000 cut to the schools budget for the upcoming year. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Martinez emphasized lower-enrollment schools and schools with the greatest needs would have enough resources for the fall, and more support from the central office would be provided to all schools.

Local School Councils at CPS schools were directed to approve school budgets by April 19. Its unclear if the figures the district released last month are the final numbers or if any schools were able to negotiate more money. CPS did not immediately provide comment.

In all, about 200 of CPS 500-plus district-run schools were on track to receive less money, based on figures provided last month by CPS.

Troy LaRaviere, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, said at last months Chicago Board of Education meeting that the raw numbers dont tell the whole story.

LaRaviere said they fail to account for a 5.5% to 6% increase in staffing costs when you factor in raises and step increases, which automatically boost an employees salary for adding a year of experience.

It is a fact that some schools receive roughly the same amounts they received last year. However, the CEO used that fact to imply these budgets would create stability. That was false, LaRaviere said.

Handing (out) the same amount of money provides zero stability for students if that money doesnt secure the same staff and services. If expenses go up and your budget remains the same, you create instability.

Outside Zapata on Tuesday, eighth grade civics teacher and parent Juan Sanchez was among those calling for the use of COVID-19 funding to stabilize school budgets.

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CPS has received over $2 billion in federal funds during the dawn of the pandemic, the majority of which has not made its way to our classrooms, and many of which remains unspent, Sanchez said. CPS has chosen  its a choice  to undercut, to underfund and to undermine schools like Zapatas ability to adequately educate our children.

CPS is expected to receive $2.8 billion in direct emergency pandemic relief funding over five fiscal years. The district recently admitted its been slow to spend this money, but it also said it doesnt want to create positions it cant afford when the pandemic money runs out.

Ald. Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, said he will work with teachers, parents and advocates to restore funding to Zapata and other Little Village schools. CPS is still formulating its overall budget plan for the next school year, which includes capital spending on construction projects. This years budget was $9.3 billion.

A Free the Funds protest over proposed budget cuts is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. outside CPS headquarters in the Loop before Wednesdays monthly board meeting.

tswartz@tribpub.com
This week, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that one American goal in arming Ukraine was to weaken Russia. The anti-anti-Russia coalition of commentators on the right, and elements of the far left, cried out in vindication.

The key thing to understand about anti-anti-Russia thinkers is that their worldview treats the war in Ukraine as if it is being waged by the United States. Absent this premise, their arguments are unintelligible. But if you read them with the assumption that Washington has masterminded the conflict, everything clicks into place.

Anti-anti-Russians had already arrived at the conclusion that Ukraines war was an American plot to undermine Russia. Is the purpose of the arms shipments to strengthen Ukraines hand in reaching a negotiated settlement to the conflict  a process from which the Biden administration and allied governments have so far held themselves aloof? posited the leftist Branko Marcetic last week. Or is it, as some U.S. and British officials have suggested, to turn Ukraine into an Afghanistan-like quagmire for Russia, weakening it and perhaps even triggering regime change, while sending a message to China in the process?

And so, when Austin announced this objective, the anti-anti-Russians cried out in vindication. Here was the skeleton key to understanding the entire conflict. The White House intends to keep the war in Ukraine alive, with the stated goal of weakening Moscow by continuing to pour new and more advanced weaponry into the war-ravaged country, argues the Federalists John Daniel Davidson.

The purest expression of this worldview comes from influential Fox News guest analyst Glenn Greenwald:

Seemed clear from the start this was the US goal for its involvement in the war in Ukraine. Seems clearer each day the US role deepens. Many other side benefits - a huge boon to weapons manufacturers - but weakening Russia is the goal. Sadly, Ukraine's destruction is the price. pic.twitter.com/jpJsfS6TGv  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 25, 2022

This is an inversion of reality Orwell could only admire. Ukraines destruction is the objective of Russias invasion, not the price of American aid to Ukraine. Indeed, American aid to Ukraine is designed to prevent its destruction.

Ukrainians are begging for American aid because they dont want to be destroyed. The absence of assistance from the west would mean Russian troops raping, looting, and bombing their way across the country.

Perhaps the anti-anti-Russians imagine some alternative in which the United States refused to help Ukraine fend off the invasion, and Ukraine peacefully submitted in the face of overwhelming force. But this fantasy ignores Ukraines obvious determination to fight for its independence regardless of what the west did on its behalf. The Ukrainian populace mobilized en masse, enlisting in their home defense in greater numbers than could be absorbed and fashioning homemade arms to defend their neighborhoods block by block.

The anti-anti-Russians have arrived at this bizarre alternative reality after years of delusional thinking. They have spent the better part of two decades refusing to believe that Ukrainians want to live in a sovereign democracy rather than a Russian vassal state ruled by a Putin-aligned kleptocrat. They have accordingly treated every expression of Ukrainian nationalism as a tool of American aggression. The Maidan protests, the election of Zelenskyy, the resistance to the invasion have all been reimagined in their minds as a plot originated in Washington.

Obviously, the United States wants to weaken Russia  because Russia is threatening Ukraine. The war will go on until Russia is too weak to continue waging war in Ukraine. This is perfectly obvious as long as you understand Russia, not the United States, started the war.

The trouble is, some people cannot understand this.
Photo: Glenn Chapman/AFP via Getty Images

Its all pretty straightforward, according to the new management. In a statement announcing his $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter, pending owner Elon Musk wrote in a statement that the companys core policies would remain the same: Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.

But in direct messages and town hall comments on Monday, the people who make Twitter tick were more concerned with debating the future of their employment  concerned that the worlds richest man would not have their best interests in mind. I feel like im going to throw up, one staffer told the New York Times in a direct message. I rly dont wanna work for a company that is owned by Elon Musk. One employee tweeted that they were in need of a stiff drink, while another reportedly complained of Musk supporters inside the company: Elon fan boys are braindead mouth breathers and we have a bunch of them at Twitter for the record. Cant wait [until] he lays half of us off.

At an all-hands meeting, staffers asked if employee protections were negotiated as part of the deal, as CEO Parag Agrawal and chairman Bret Taylor explained that that the site will run as usual until the deal closes in six months, adding that there are no layoffs at this time. Agrawal said that Musk wants Twitter to be a powerful, positive force in the world, just like all of us  a conclusion he came to after after speaking with Musk just a few times.

Many of Twitters 7,000 employees were naturally concerned about what happens to their stock options when the company is owned by a man who wants to take their company private and has tanked his other companys shares on several past occasions by tweeting stupid stuff. At the all-hands, the New York Times reports that Agrawal told employees that stock options would convert to cash when the deal is finalized in three to six months; employees would keep getting bonuses according to the companys vesting schedule and would receive the same benefits for a year after the deal is finalized.

At a company where some staffers make close to half of their total compensation off stock options, employees reportedly worried that they would not have access to the long-run appreciation of the stock; some were also concerned that the value of their initial shares could plummet if Musk succeeds in taking Twitter private. Other questions remained: Would the company move from San Francisco to join Musk in Austin? Will they actually have to go back to the office? What will happen to the platforms moderation policies when the buyer who hates its moderation policies takes over? And what is going to happen to the Trump ban?

At the company meeting, Agrawal did not provide much clarity on the big-picture stuff. Once the deal closes, we dont know what direction this company will go in, he said. But at least one employee found some humor in his precarious situation:

Can someone just tell me if Im rich or fired please  Ned Miles (@nedmiles) April 25, 2022
Independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin has Donkey Party support. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty Images

When a political party is in a hopeless minority position, sometimes it must get creative to stay relevant. Utah Democrats are doing exactly that, as the Washington Post reports:

Utah Democrats have taken the unusual step of endorsing independent candidate Evan McMullin in his race against Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who has faced questions about his furious efforts to overturn the 2020 election to keep President Donald Trump in power.

Democrats voted 57 percent to 43 percent not to back a candidate at their convention on Saturday. They instead hope to lift the candidacy of McMullin.

If the name Evan McMullin sounds familiar, its because hes the conservative ex-Republican Never Trumper who ran a Utah-based independent race for the presidency in 2016. He managed to get on the ballot in 11 states and wound up with 731,000 votes, 243,000 of them from Utah, where he won 21 percent of the vote and finished not far behind Hillary Clinton. Utah was a hotbed of Republican anti-Trump sentiment mostly thanks to Mormons hostility to the idea of a president who behaved as Trump did in the infamous Access Hollywood video. Indeed, one of the publicly announced McMullin voters was Republican U.S. senator Mike Lee.

As noted above, Lee got over his moral compunctions about the 45th president, and by 2020, he was cheerleading Trumps efforts to overturn his presidential defeat. This flip-flop isnt universally appreciated in the Beehive State, as shown by the very different conduct of Lees Senate colleague Mitt Romney, who voted twice to remove Trump from office.

There was just enough Republican grumbling about Lee that his renomination for a third term this year was contested. Though he was endorsed by the state GOP convention over the weekend, he will face two Republican opponents who qualified for an August primary by voter petition. Democrats, meanwhile, abandoned their primary in order to help McMullin, per the Post:

Democrat Kael Weston sought his partys nomination, but a group of party members supportive of McMullin, including former Democratic congressman Ben McAdams, convinced delegates not to nominate anyone, thus allowing McMullin, a former CIA officer, to get as much support as possible.

The independent Senate prospect signaled immediately that he was building a fusion candidacy, as the Deseret News noted:

The unprecedented decision, McMullin said, shows Utah Democrats are putting country over party.

We have a tremendous amount of common ground (in) this coalition of Democrats, independents, principled Republicans  who want to make a change, McMullin said. This idea that our differences are greater than what we have in common are just false.

The Senate race isnt the only example of a Trump-generated split among Utah Republicans. The ex-presidents demonization of voting by mail  central to his 2020 plot to declare victory after Election Day votes gave him an early lead  has led more than a few loyal MAGA folk to try to dismantle Utahs Republican-backed universal voting-by-mail system. It was very popular until Trumps sinister gambit developed, as the Los Angeles Times observed:

By 2019, every county in the state had opted into the states policy allowing counties to mail all active voters ballots, making Utah the fourth state to conduct all-mail elections. On election day, a limited number of polling places remain open.

The practice was so popular that in Utah County there was an outcry from residents after officials in 2018 decided against mailing ballots to all active voters. This is just blatantly wrong. It isnt the American way, a city official said about the decision at the time. Dont we want high turnout?

The county later reversed the decision.

That was then. This is now:

Opponents crowded five overflow rooms to listen to a legislative hearing on a proposal to abolish universal voting by mail earlier this year. Fresh off a failed effort to qualify a measure for the 2022 ballot that would end voting by mail in Utah, members of the anti-mail-ballot crowd referring to themselves as We, the People said they had heard of ballots mailed to voters who had died and urged lawmakers to require postelection independent audits.

Its another example of the collateral damage to the GOP from Trumps selfish efforts to hold on to power perpetually. The Lee-McMullin contest may show whether he can impose his will on a very conservative but occasionally rebellious state.
GRAPHICAL ANALYTICS PRIVATE LIMITED

Major animal healthcare market players in Europe region include Elanco Animal Health, Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck & Co., Inc., Zoetis, Inc., Dechra Pharmaceuticals, and Neogen Corporation.

Pune, India, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



As per a recent industry report put forward by Graphical Research, the Europe animal healthcare market is forecast to register its name in the billion-dollar fraternity down the line of seven years, by exceeding a revenue of USD 49.4 billion by 2027.





Europe animal healthcare market forecast will be positively affected by the rising pet adoption rate due to the high per-capita income. There is a large percentage of the elderly population in the region, which is why the demand for companion animals may witness a notable surge.

Access sample pages of the report, Europe Animal Healthcare Market Forecasts 2027 in detail along with the table of contents (ToC) @

https://www.graphicalresearch.com/request/1343/sample

The hectic lifestyle followed by the working class of the region has made it vulnerable to several mental and physical disorders. Many studies have proved the positive effect pets have on their owners overall health as they keep depression, loneliness, and physical inactivity at bay, thereby fostering their adoption. This factor will also favor the use of animal healthcare products to help owners keep their pets healthy and safe from chronic ailments.

The trends favoring the market outlook are expounded below:

Veterinary services gain traction:

Veterinary services held a share worth $18.6 billion in Europe animal healthcare market in 2020. The demand for daycare services, animal training & grooming, and many other activities is growing among pet owners. These services protect the pets health from infections and promote their welfare.

Moreover, the occurrence of zoonotic ailments is rising at a worrying rate in the region, putting several animals at risk. Such health emergencies may fuel the demand for veterinary services.

Story continues

Demand for companion animals grows:

Companion animals captured more than 57% share of Europe animal healthcare industry in 2020. Governments are introducing initiatives to increase the awareness of animal health among people.

They are also partnering with reputed organizations to bring advancements in the healthcare facilities offered to companion animals. Furthermore, since the region is seeing a commendable rise in the number of pet owners, the use of animal healthcare products is projected to grow.

Pharmacies may become the main distribution channels:

Pharmacies are likely to account for a share worth $14.2 billion in Europe animal healthcare market by 2027. The demand for effective medicines to treat a variety of diseases in animals has augmented the need for pharmacies in the region.

In addition, many people are purchasing livestock and adopting companion animals, which may increase the number of animal surgeries being performed every year. It will amplify the need for vet pharmacies that are easily accessible to pet owners.

Request for customization of this report @

https://www.graphicalresearch.com/request/1343/customize-this-report

UK animal healthcare market forecast remains positive:

The UK captured a share worth over $3.5 billion in Europe animal healthcare industry in 2020. The prevalence of zoonotic ailments, such as brucellosis, dermatophytosis, and campylobacteriosis is growing in the region. It has prompted the government to unveil plans and schemes that increase peoples awareness of animal health and welfare, thereby fostering the production of animal healthcare products to reduce the spread of these diseases.

Europe animal healthcare market size is projected to grow at a considerable rate due to an upsetting rise in the cases of fatal disorders in animals. Well-known companies, such as Neogen Corporation, Boehringer Ingelheim, Zoetis, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Elanco Animal Health, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, and Bayer AG, among a few others, are manufacturing animal pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medicated feed additives, and medical devices for livestock and companion animals. The products will be supplied through pharmacies and online distributors. The firms are also introducing advanced veterinary services for these animals to protect them from falling prey to chronic diseases.

Browse Related Report:

North America Animal Healthcare Market Forecast 2027 By Animal Type (Livestock Animals {Poultry, Swine, Cattle, Fish}, Companion Animals {Dogs, Cats, Horses}), By Product (Pharmaceuticals {Drugs [Antiparasitic, Anti-inflammatory, Anti-infectives], Vaccines [Modified Live Vaccines, Killed Inactivated Vaccines], Medicated Feed Additives [Antibiotics, Vitamins, Amino Acids, Enzymes, Antioxidants, Prebiotics and Probiotics, Minerals]}, Medical Devices {Veterinary Diagnostic Equipment, Veterinary Anaesthesia Equipment, Veterinary Patient Monitoring Equipment, Veterinary Surgical Equipment, Veterinary Consumables}, Veterinary Services), By Distribution Channel (Pharmacies, Online, Distributors), Research Report, Country Outlook (U.S., Canada), COVID-19 Impact Statistics, Price Trends, Historic Data, Growth Prospects, Competitive Industry Share

https://www.graphicalresearch.com/industry-insights/1344/north-america-animal-healthcare-market

Asia Pacific Animal Healthcare Market Forecast 2027 By Product (Pharmaceuticals {Drugs [Antiparasitic, Anti-inflammatory, Anti-infectives], Vaccines [Modified Live Vaccines, Killed Inactivated Vaccines], Medicated Feed Additives [Antibiotics, Vitamins, Amino Acids, Enzymes, Antioxidants, Prebiotics and Probiotics, Minerals]}, Medical Devices {Veterinary Diagnostic Equipment, Veterinary Anesthesia Equipment, Veterinary Patient Monitoring Equipment, Veterinary Surgical Equipment, Veterinary Consumables}, Veterinary Services), By Animal Type (Livestock Animals {Poultry, Swine, Cattle, Fish}, Companion Animals {Dogs, Cats, Horses}), By Distribution Channel (Pharmacies, Online, Distributors), Research Report, Country Outlook (China, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam), COVID-19 Impact Statistics, Price Trends, Historic Data, Growth Prospects, Competitive Industry Share

https://www.graphicalresearch.com/industry-insights/1342/asia-pacific-animal-healthcare-market

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Created in 2014, the Global Teaching Academy recognizes and celebrates exceptional teaching in an international context. Since its inception, the Academy has welcomed some two dozen colleagues and recognized their efforts in internationalizing Auburn Universitys curricula and student experiences. On April 25, the Office of International Programs hosted an induction ceremony to honor the three newest members of the Academy. Interim Provost Vini Nathan, Assistant Provost for International Programs Andrew Gillespie and members of the Academy attended the ceremony to congratulate and celebrate the Academys newest members.

Garry L. Adams, doctoral degree from Florida State University, is an associate professor in strategic management at Auburn. Adams' research interests include corporate governance, power and politics in organizations, organizational learning and resource management, and merger and acquisition integration processes. His work has been published or is in press outlets such as the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Leadership Quarterly, Business Horizons, Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of Business and Psychology, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, Journal of Managerial Issues and the initial volume of The Many Faces of Multi-Level Issues, among others. Adams currently serves on the editorial boards of Group and Organization Management and the African Journal of Management. He has served as a reviewer for the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Research, Knowledge Management Research and Practice and Journal of Applied Social Psychology. He is currently serving as a program director for the Harbert College of Business study abroad programs, leading study abroad, consulting projects, MBA cultural and business trips and student internship programs in South Africa, Morocco, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Italy and Spain. Adams has served as the director of Placement Services for the Academy of Management, in the officer rotation, South Management Association, or SMA, president in the 2018-19 academic year and on the Board of the SMA, as well as the Board of Directors for the Auburn-Opelika Habitat for Humanity and Haddies Home. Adams also has prior work experience in the oil refining industry.

Kelly Ann Krawczyk is an associate professor and the doctoral program director in the Department of Political Science. Krawczyks research focuses on the relationship between civil society and democratic governance. She is specifically interested in how civil society impacts political behavior. Her research has been published in journals of public administration and civil society, including Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations and the Journal of Civil Society. She has also authored book chapters, as well as governmental and professional publications for the Governance Commission of Liberia and the World Bank. She is currently working on an edited volume under contract with Palgrave Macmillan entitled Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives: The Contributions of Women to Development in West Africa," edited by Kelly Krawczyk, Bridgett King and Atta Ceesay.

Krawczyk regularly teaches a course called Public Administration, Civil Society and Democracy, and has traveled with students as part of this course to Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa. This graduate-level course employs an African country as a case study to explore the relationships between public administration, civil society and democracy. The course also includes a two-week trip during the semester. Students learn about governance processes and institutions, public administration and civil society through in-country interaction with civil servants, members of civil society, academics and citizens. The trip also provides students the opportunity to engage in rapid assessment field research and to engage in cultural and tourist activities.

Krawczyk is a founding committee member of the Strengthening Research on Civil Society in West Africa project, an initiative of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, or ARNOVA, funded by the Ford Foundation. She is also a Democracy & Development fellow at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, or CDD-Ghana. Krawczyk is a co-founder of the Global Development Solutions, or GDS, Lab at Auburn. The GDS Lab is an interdisciplinary initiative at Auburn that fosters global research, teaching and community-engaged scholarship. The mission of the GDS Lab is to advance global research, teaching and engaged scholarship that promotes sustainable community development, protects civic space and leverages the synergies between the disciplines of nonprofit studies, philanthropy and social work.



Dan Padgett, doctoral degree from Pennsylvania State University, is an associate professor of marketing who joined Auburn from Tulane University in 2005. His research interests include promotion strategy, pricing, services marketing and international marketing.

His research has been published in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Management International Review, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Journal of Marketing Education, Marketing Education Review and Journal of Global Marketing, among others. He is coauthor of a principles of marketing textbook: Applied Marketing, John Wiley & Sons 2e, which is also available in a Canadian version.

Padgett teaches principles of marketing and strategy courses at the undergraduate and graduate/executive level and has won teaching awards at both levels. He has international experience training marketing and sales managers, particularly in China, having taught executive programs on sales management and marketing strategy for the China Europe International Business School, or CEIBS, in Shanghai and Ghana, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Nordic International Management Institute.

Padgett is the currently director/co-director of the Harbert College of Business, or HCoB, 12-week summer abroad Complete Business Minor program and Fast Track business core program in Rome and Madrid. For Summer 2022 these programs include almost 100 students, 10 faculty members and have a budget of over $1 million. He also served previously as director of the HCoB summer internship programs in London, Dublin, Prague, Rome and Madrid, as well as the consulting project programs in China's cities of Chengdu, Shanghai and Beijing, as well as Rome and Madrid. He has also served on the HCoB Global Programs Committee for the past seven years.

These three faculty members were selected for their accomplishments in international research and teaching and their commitment to internationalizing Auburns curriculum in their respective areas of study. As members of the Academy, the faculty will play an essential role in Auburns biannual International Perspectives on University Teaching and Learning Symposium, scheduled for May 28-30, 2023 at Disneys Coronado Springs Resort, and will strive to uphold the goals of the Academy:

 Recognize our peers for their interest and efforts in globalizing Auburn's curriculum

 Facilitate international course offerings on campus to complement the recent growth of study abroad courses and exchange programs offered overseas

 Create a supportive, interdisciplinary environment for students to internationalize their academic programs

 Induct our recognized academy members into Phi Beta Delta, the honor society for international scholars

For more information on the Global Teaching Academy, please visit the Office of International Programs website.
Kylie Jenner testifies she warned her brother about Blac Chyna https://t.co/EbxUSBo1RZ  Los Angeles Times (@latimes) April 26, 2022

"I will not go into a toxic work environment," Kim testified as she talked about taking a break from filming the family's show after the alleged December 2016 attack. https://t.co/UuJeUbIZgH  BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) April 26, 2022

-Kardashian's requested via court filing to have the case dismissed this week (this is pretty standard and not at all surprising). The filing has not been ruled on by the judge yet.-Kylie, Khloe and Kim all took the stand yesterday and today, this is what they said:-Kylie told the court she warned Rob about Chyna's violent behavior toward Tyga-I felt it was my duty to express my concerns, but ultimately it was up to him,-She said Rob didn't listen to her and dated Chyna anyway-Kylie said Tyga told her his relationship Chyna was violent/tumultuous and he showed her a 6-inch knife scar he said she gave him while abusing drugs and alcohol, Jenner said.-Jenner said that while dating Tyga, she had received at least one threatening text message from Chyna.From what I remember she sent me a bunch of devil emojis, and said something like counting down the days until she could beat me or something, she said. I didnt report it, because I assumed they were empty threats.-Jenner testified that when Rob Kardashian and Chyna began dating in January 2016, she didnt trust that Chynas love was genuine.I felt like me dating the father of her child had something to do with it, and maybe she was out with my brother for other reasons. -Kim stated the family didn't want to film their reality show after Chyna attacked Robb in 2016, not wanting to be involved in the couple's "toxic and volatile" relationship.-"I will not go into a toxic work environment," Kim told the court-Khloe and Kim were questioned by Chyna's attorney on Tuesday, and the sisters refuted the notion that they had Chyna & Rob cancelled-Kim and Khloe testified that they had no control over the future of what the family has described as a Keeping Up With the Kardashians spinoff.-They added they only voiced their concerns to the network and took breaks from filming their own show in the wake of the December 2016 incident-"We dont have the power like I think you're insinuating," Kim told Ciani during her testimony.-On Monday, Ciani showed the jury emails that Khloe and Kylie sent to E! executives, expressing their concerns over Rob's relationship with Chyna after she allegedly strangled him with a cell phone charging cord, hit him with a metal rod, and pointed a gun at him.-Khloe testified on Tuesday that the sisters put their concerns in writing so that the network was "aware of the volatile behavior," but she said she had not been trying to cancel the show."We feel strongly about a lot of things," Khloe said. "That doesnt mean anyone is going to listen to us."-In her email to the network, Kylie had said, "I feel very strongly about canceling Season 2 of Rob & Chyna," Ciani pointed out. Khloe responded that she could not speak to "Kylie's choice of words."-"I wasn't trying to cancel anything," Khloe testified. "I was considering not encouraging such volatile behavior between my brother and Chyna."-In one of them Kim reportedly says, "figure out what you're going to do because Chyna will not be on our show."In another text message, a representative for Bunim/Murray Productions, the production company for KUWTK and Rob & Chyna, raised the possibility of blurring Chyna in footage shot for KUWTK but Kim said "that's ridiculous."
Abraham Bolden at home in Chicago on April 26, 2022, hours after it was announced that he had been pardoned by President Joe Biden. In the 1960s, Bolden was the first Black U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to a presidential detail. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Nearly 60 years after his conviction on what he claimed were racist and retaliatory federal charges, the first Black U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to a presidential detail has been pardoned by President Joe Biden.

Chicagoan Abraham Bolden, 87, who served on the security detail for President John F. Kennedy, was among 78 people granted pardons or commutations of their sentences on Tuesday as part of Bidens first use of his executive clemency powers.

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Bolden, whod warned about lax security practices around the president, was charged in 1964 with attempting to sell a copy of a Secret Service file to a ring of counterfeiters. His first trial ended in a hung jury, and after he was convicted in a retrial, key witnesses said they lied at the prosecutors request.

Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden is seen outside the court at the Federal Building in Chicago on July 7, 1964, where he was being tried for attempting to sell government investigative reports. He continued to maintain his innocence. (George Quinn / Chicago Tribune)

A longtime resident of Chicagos South Side, Bolden served about three years in federal prison. He has long maintained his innocence and wrote a book in which he argued he was targeted for speaking out against racist and unprofessional behavior in the Secret Service.

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Bolden on Tuesday recalled when Kennedy asked him to join his security detail. He said he was denied to see the president but Kennedy approached him, asking if there had ever been a Negro on the White House detail.

When we were in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, he treated me like a son, Bolden told reporters at his home on Tuesday.

He also recalled the head of the White House details racism, calling Bolden the N-word and being bothered by the way Kennedy treated him, Bolden said.

He said President Kennedy meant to bring American people together.

He felt that that was his mission, Bolden said. But he also understood that his life was in jeopardy. I could see it in his eyes. He was afraid of being assassinated.

Bolden said he swore to give his life for the president and he did, but he said his experience helped him gain spirituality.

I was in prison but prison never got in me, Bolden said. I used that time to study, make myself approved in the eyes of God and learn something where humanity could progress.

In a statement announcing the clemencies, Biden said, America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation.

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Elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and law enforcement leaders agree that our criminal justice system can and should reflect these core values that enable safer and stronger communities, the statement read.

In a statement posted Tuesday afternoon on Boldens Facebook page, Bolden said he got the call about the pardon early in the morning and accepted the justifiable action by President Joe Biden with sincere gratitude.

He also thanked his family for giving me the will to fight through some of the darkest days of my life.

Abraham Bolden, secret service agent sentenced to six years in prison for bribery conspiracy charges, walks with his wife, Barbara, in the U.S. courthouse after the jury's verdict on Aug. 12, 1964. Editors note: this historic print has some hand painting on it. (Cy Wolf / Chicago Tribune)

While initial attempts to affirm my innocence were unsuccessful, almost 60 years later, my victory was won, he wrote. It is my hope that my pardon will inspire others to continue to fight for justice and to stand on the truth.

Boldens story was featured in a 2010 Chicago Tribune column by Dawn Turner Trice, including his account of how a chance run-in with Kennedy in Chicago led to him being promoted to Washington to join the presidents protective team.

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In April 1961, Bolden was working as a Secret Service agent based in Chicago and had been assigned to guard a cordoned-off bathroom at the McCormick Place convention center when Kennedy arrived for a political event. He said the president stopped at the restroom door and asked him, Has there ever been a Negro Secret Service agent on White House detail in Washington, D.C.?

Bolden said, I told him, Not to my knowledge, Mr. President. And he asked me if I would like to be the first, and I told him, Yes, sir, Mr. President.

Two months later, Bolden, who was 26 at the time, was sent to Washington, where he said he immediately ran into some harsh racism among the ranks. He said he asked to get off of the detail after enduring racial slurs from fellow agents and small nooses were left around his workplace. He also said he was shocked by the lax security around the president, including agents who womanized and drank on duty. He complained to superiors, and that is when he became a target.

After Kennedys assassination in Dallas in 1963, Bolden said hed planned to try to talk to someone on the Warren Commission, but instead he was suddenly escorted back to Chicago, where he was charged with soliciting a $50,000 bribe from the boss of a ring of counterfeiters.

Former secret service agent and author Abraham Bolden at Mather Cafe in Chicago on Jan. 13, 2010. He wrote a book in which he argued he was targeted for speaking out against racist and unprofessional behavior in the Secret Service. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

The aftermath of Kennedys assassination led to events that would implicate me in a case of bribery, Bolden said in his statement Tuesday. After two high-profile trials, held before a trial judge who told the deliberating jury to find me guilty, I was convicted and served a six-year sentence.

Bolden, who was released after serving about 39 months behind bars, always maintained his innocence. He twice asked President Richard Nixon for a pardon but was denied, and his appeals to a succession of presidents over the years were met by silence from the White House.

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Bolden, meanwhile, stayed in Chicago, working as an automotive quality control supervisor before retiring in 2001. His wife, Barbara, who is now deceased, convinced him to write his memoir, The Echo From Dealey Plaza, and stood by him throughout his ordeal, he said.

She held our family together during these tragic times, Boldens statement read.

Chicago Tribunes Stephanie Casanova contributed.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
Organizations To Host Events for Workers Memorial Day

Workers Memorial Day, held on April 28, honors those who lost their lives while working.

In 2020, thousands of workers lost their lives while working. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 4,700 workers suffered fatal injuries while on the job site in 2020. That means one worker died every 111 minutes.

This week, many organizations will recognize Workers' Memorial Day on April 28. Started in 1970, this is a day to remember those who lost their lives while working. It's also a time to talk about what changes can be made to help worksites be safer.

Many organizations will be hosting both in-person and virtual events on Workers' Memorial Day. OSHA provides a list of these events by state here. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a federation of multiple labor unions representing more than 12 million workers, also has materials for employers and organizations to use, available in English and Spanish. They include a list of actions people can take, such as holding an event with families and workers or hosting a workshop.

According to a press release, OSHA, along with Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, will hold an online ceremony featuring personal stories from workers and families who lost loved ones.

Workers Memorial Day allows us to remember those whose lives were claimed by their jobs, in too many instances, because required safety precautions were not taken to prevent tragedy, said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker in the press release. Every year, thousands of workers are unable to return home to their families and their communities because workplace safety and health were overlooked. We must never underestimate the importance of ensuring OSHA requirements are met and followed as the law requires. As we are sadly reminded again, peoples lives depend on it.

OSHA and United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities also plan to host an event in Nebraska and will sign an alliance to raise awareness of workplace safety, according to another press release. Later that night, a candlelight vigil will be held.
The strife-torn Latin American nation of Colombia punches well above its weight when it comes to petroleum production. The Andean country is the regions third-largest oil producer, even after experiencing a significant deterioration in industrial productivity since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, despite only having proven oil reserves of 1.8 billion barrels. Colombia has not had any major oil discoveries in over a decade, placing ever greater pressure on the countrys scant reserves and its soil-dependent economy. A solution planned by presidential candidate leftist senator Gustavo Petro, who is leading the polls (Spanish) for the May 2022 election, is to end oil exploration while building other more economically productive industries, notably agriculture and manufacturing. The current hard-right government of President Ivan Duque, protege of former President Alvaro Uribe, who is credited with reasserting Bogotas control over Colombias national territory, 2021 doubled down on offshore petroleum exploration.

There is a belief that Colombia possesses similar offshore petroleum potential to Brazil, which if correct would be a game-changer for the Andean countrys struggling oil industry and hydrocarbon-dependent economy. Brazils massive offshore pre-salt oil boom located primarily in the Atlantic Oceans Santos and Campos Basins catapulted the country to Latin Americas leading crude oil producer. There are signs that Colombias coastal waters hold considerable petroleum potential with four recognized offshore basins along the Caribbean coast and a further situated on the Pacific coast. Offshore oil exploration and production holds many advantages over onshore crude oil operations in Colombia. Key are the risks associated with a volatile onshore security environment and deteriorating social license with most local communities opposed to nearby industry operations. Rising cocaine production is fueling conflict among myriad illegal armed groups that predominantly operate in remote regions where there are significant petroleum industry operations.

The Putumayo Basin, which is Colombias second-highest producing basin, like the Catatumbo region near the Venezuelan border that encompasses part of the Llanos Basin, the epicenter of Colombias oil industry, is riven by conflict. Illegal armed groups in those regions are battling for control of lucrative coca cropping territory and smuggling routes. Pipelines bombings and illegal taps for the theft of petroleum, which is rising, remain constant hazards for onshore operations adding to the risk of production outages and higher transport costs. The decline of the petroleum industrys social license is responsible for community blockades and invasions of oilfields as well as legal action by various civil society groups. The latest legal action (Spanish) impeding onshore petroleum industry operations is the first court of Barrancabermeja suspending the environmental licenses for the Kale and Platero hydraulic fracturing pilots. Fracking, which is a highly controversial technique for extracting petroleum in Colombia, is blocked by a moratorium imposed by the countrys highest administrative tribunal the State Council, although this does not prevent pilot projects. Court order requires the operator, Colombias national oil company Ecopetrol, to suspend operations and engage in consultation with the Afro-Wilches community in the municipality of Puerto Wilches, located in the Llanos Basin.

Related: EU In Talks With Alternative Suppliers As It Considers A Russian Oil Ban

Those issues coupled with the considerable uncertainty surrounding unconventional hydrocarbon exploitation in Colombia as well as a dearth of conventional discoveries are deterring onshore investment by energy majors. In fact, in late-2020 U.S. driller, Occidental Petroleum sold its onshore Colombian oil assets but retained its offshore interests. It is estimated that Colombias offshore Caribbean hydrocarbon basins could hold anywhere up to 32 billion barrels of crude oil, or roughly 16-times the Andean countrys current proven reserves. That makes their exploitation an important step required to reinvigorate Colombias petroleum industry and expand production to the all-important target of 1 million barrels per day. Colombias offshore Caribbean hydrocarbon basins are attracting considerable attention. Since 2015 Ecopetrol has reported a series of hydrocarbon discoveries along the Caribbean coast, helping to confirm the considerable oil and natural gas potential thought to exist in the region.

The attractiveness of investing in offshore Colombia is underscored by major international energy companies buying assets in the region during 2021.

Among them was global supermajor Royal Dutch Shell which in early 2021 closed a deal acquiring, from Anadarko, a 50% operating interest in the Fuerte Sur, Purple Angel, and COL-5 blocks in offshore Colombia, with the remaining interest held by Ecopetrol. Then in late-2021, despite having sold its onshore Colombian oil assets a year earlier, Occidental, through subsidiary Anadarko Colombia, signed contracts for four offshore blocks, COL-1, COL-2, COL-6, and COL-7, covering around 3.9 million acres. Those blocks alone are estimated by the ANH to require an investment of $1.4 billion to be successfully exploited.

Offshore Colombia Caribbean Blocks

Source: Colombia Ministry of Mines and Energy.

Colombias Ministry of Energy and Mines expects a total 2022 investment of $80 million for offshore natural gas exploration projects. Most of that spending is expected to come from national oil company Ecopetrol which announced plans to spend almost $65 million on offshore activities. That includes partner Shell spudding the wildcat Gorgon-2 well in the COL-5 Block located in the offshore Sinu Basin. Brazils national oil company Petrobras announced plans to drill with pattern Ecopetrol an exploration well in the offshore Tayrona Block, located in the Guajira Basin, to identify the assets' hydrocarbon potential. The block is believed to sit on a hydrocarbon trend which is an extension of neighboring Venezuelas offshore oilfields. Petrobras, which is the operator and has a 44.44% stake in the Tayrona Block with the remainder held by Ecopetrol, announced in 2020 that it was selling its interest in Tayrona. This forms part of the Brazilian energy supermajors strategy of exiting assets outside of Brazil to focus on its Brazilian offshore pre-salt operations.

Successfully exploring and developing offshore Colombia could prove to be the key to rejuvenating the strife-torn Latin American countrys economically crucial petroleum industry. Onshore crude oil output fell sharply with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to recover. By February 2022 Colombia was only pumping an average of 739,542 barrels per day which was 1% lower than a year earlier and the 878,389 barrels daily produced in February 2020, the last operational month not impacted by the pandemic. A lack of major onshore discoveries in over a decade leaving only six years of production poses a direct threat to Colombias oil-dependent economy where petroleum generates a third of export income and over 3% of gross domestic product. For these reasons expanding offshore exploration activities is crucial to the survival of Colombias hydrocarbon sector, growing crude oil production, and bolstering economic growth.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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A cargo of 2 million barrels of U.S. crude oil arrived this month in Spain. It is, according to Bloomberg, the biggest U.S. oil cargo to arrive in Europe since at least 2016. But it may be only the beginning.

Bloomberg reported on the arrival of the supertanker this week, noting that normally, European buyers get their U.S. oil on smaller vessels. Yet this may be about to change as the EU, which covers most of Europe, increasingly shuns Russian oil and looks for alternatives.

Like LNG, U.S. oil makes the most sense from a political perspective: the U.S. and the EU have demonstrated a close partnership in their sanction action against Moscow, and the U.S. has signaled it would help the EU weather the boomerang effects of these sanctions.

Citing vessel-tracking data, Bloomberg reported that since the start of the year, four supertankers have traveled between the U.S. and Europe, compared with just one a year ago. The vessel that arrived in Spain this month, however, is the first to do so since the U.S. lifted its ban on oil exports seven years ago.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and the EU are privately discussing how the EU could approach its reduction of Russian oil imports, according to another Bloomberg report. In the event of such reduction through an oil embargo, which is being discussed in Europe right now, oil prices are going to rise further, and neither the U.S. nor the EU want higher prices.

This has made the issue sticky for the partners, with little chance of a quick or easy resolution of the problem. Yet, the U.S. will also be among those benefiting from an EU oil embargo by raising its oil exports to the EU.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil and product exports hit an all-time high earlier this month, reaching 10.6 million bpd as buyers seek alternatives to Russian oil and derivatives.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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"If Putin has to redirect oil and gas exports from the European to the Asian markets, he will lose over half of his revenue.

The oil embargo that the European Union is planning to impose on Russia has become the news of the month. And it has not been finalized yet, with little likelihood that it will be finalized anytime soonat least in the form Ukraine wants it. Because the EU gets a quarter of its oil from Russia. The European Union, along with the United States, unleashed a barrage of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. While Russia's oil and gas industry has been an obvious target for sanctions, just as it was in Iran and Venezuela, so far, the only action taken was by the U.S. and the UK, which both announced bans on Russian oil importsneither of which was to take effect immediately.

The EU has been the object of particularly intensive pressure from the Ukrainian government to target Russia's oil and gas, and it has, based on public statements by various officials, made commitments to do that at some later date. Meanwhile, Russia continues to sell both oil and gas to the whole of Europe, even though many European oil buyers have self-sanctioned and reduced their purchases of Russian hydrocarbons.

Even without an oil embargo, the Russian oil industry is already feeling the impact of the sanctions, according to various reports. President Putin himself admitted that the sanctions have affected the normal operation of the industry, saying Russia needed to re-orient its oil flows from Europe to Asia.

Yet just how severe the blow has beenand how severe a blow a full oil embargo from the EU will beremains unclear. This week, one of the most vocal Kremlin critics, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said that "If Putin has to redirect oil and gas exports from the European to the Asian markets, he will lose over half of his revenue," as quoted by Insider.

"Would he be able to continue the war and for how long would he be able to continue the war under those circumstances? It is difficult for me to say," Khodorkovsky also said. "But I think it would be a very serious blow."

Related: EU Steps Up Purchases Of U.S. Oil

Of course, it would have been surprising for an individual as critical of Moscow's policies as Khodorkovsky is to have anything else to say about Russia's vulnerability to an oil embargo. It would also be surprising to expect the Russian authorities to admit the full extent of a potential blow from an oil embargo. The key, however, is not in the absolute effect of such an embargo. It is in the relative effect an oil embargo would have on the EU.

Russia is the world's third-largest producer of crude oil and the largest exporter of both crude and oil products. Before the first waves of sanctions hit it, more than half of Russia's oil exports were going to the EU. Since then, the amount of Russian oil going to the EU has declined and, according to the International Energy Agency, will decline a lot further next month, reaching 3 million bpd because of well shut-ins.

Naturally, such a substantial decline in production will be felt in Moscow, and the feeling will not be pleasant. Yet a fulland, more importantly, immediateembargo on Russian oil will be felt even more unpleasantly in the EU because alternative suppliers will need time to step in and replace the Russian crude.

European governments are already putting measures in place to help their populations cope with higher energy prices, including higher fuel prices. Substantial discounts on gasoline and diesel prices have been implemented in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, for example. The Netherlands, meanwhile, reduce the rate of its excise duty to alleviate the pain at the pump.

All this will seem like nothing if a full embargo comes into effect. More importantly, the EU will need to find a replacement for those more than 3 million bpd in crude and fuels, and find it fast. It is already buying up U.S. oil, but it will need to step up these purchases significantly and quickly, which would be difficult to do, especially the latter part; there is no pipeline running under the Atlantic. And this is precisely why the EU has not yet agreed on a full oil embargo on Russia.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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We need fossil energy as part of this transition. This is a long transition. This is not overnight.

Both the European Union and the United States are firmly on the path to a net-zero economy. This much has been made clear by officials from both sides of the Atlantic despite the EUs hunt for more gas and the Biden administrations calls for more oil production.

Yet before net-zero is achievedif it is ever achievedboth the EU and the US will need more fossil fuels, including coal. And this means that despite calls for more renewables from both governments and the renewable energy industry, despite the active demonization of the fossil fuel industry, investments in more oil, gas, and coal production are likely to riseat least in the short term.

A recent report from Reclaim Finance, an anti-fossil fuel campaign organization, for instance, named and shamed asset managers investing in oil, gas, and coal. According to the report, 30 of the worlds leading asset managers had $82 billion invested in companies developing new coal supply, and $468 billion in 12 major oil and gas companies.

Is the asset management industry changing its investment practices in line with climate science, reducing investments in coal, oil, or gas expansion? Unfortunately, the answer is an emphatic no, said one of Reclaim Finances campaigners, Lara Cuvelier.

Lets be clear: drilling a new oil well or opening a new coal mine is not a normal thing to do in a widespread climate catastrophe, the campaigner added.

Related: EU In Talks With Alternative Suppliers As It Considers A Russian Oil Ban

Unfortunately for Reclaim Finance and all other climate campaigners, drilling a new oil well or opening a new coal mine is the normal thing to do when demand for energy exceeds the available supply. And this is exactly what companies are doing in some parts of the world where climate campaigning is not such a force to be reckoned with. Even in Europe, some countries are reconsidering their climate plans, notably the UK and Germany.

The UK earlier this year reconsidered its intention to gradually suspend all oil and gas drilling in the North Sea amid an energy crunch that began last autumn, caused the price of energy to soar, and pushed millions of households into energy poverty. The change of stance from the government naturally caused protests from environmentalists.

In Germany, plans to gradually move toward a 100-percent net-zero energy system were revisited in light of potential gas shortages amid the war in Ukraine. The German governments response to that potential danger was to plan on speedily building several import terminals for liquefied natural gas to replace Russian gas. The biggest economy in Europe and the EU, in other words, is replacing one source of fossil fuels with another, rather than replacing fossil fuels with renewables.

In the United States, a similar shift is underway. Despite the decidedly green, pro-transition agenda with which President Joe Biden came into power, now that same president is calling on all oil producers willing to lend an ear to pump more because retail fuel prices are high and there are elections to be wonor lostin November.

The administration in the face of the president himself, the Energy Secretary, and the White House Press Secretary has repeatedly said that the transition agenda and the current calls for more oil production are not at odds because the latter is just a temporary measure until, presumably, renewables come into their own. Temporary or not, greater production will require greater investment.

We need fossil energy as part of this transition. This is a long transition. This is not overnight, said Keo Lukefahr, the head of energy derivatives and renewables trading at Motiva, as quoted by Bloomberg.

Not only is the transition not going to happen overnight, but it will also take a lot of effort. And investments. Last month, for instance, a CRU analyst warned the mining industry needed to invest some $100 billion in new copper mines if it was to avoid a supply deficit that could reach 4.7 million tons by 2030. All other transition metals and minerals are in potentially short supply based on demand projections.

The situation at the moment is this: the world needs more energy than it is getting. People, for the most part, do not really care where their electricity comes from as long as it is there. And they tend to become rather unhappy when the prices of everything rise because fuels used to transport goods from one place to another are so expensive because the oil supply is tight.

It is obvious that nobody, not even the most renewable-happy EU member, can build enough wind and solar farms to eliminate the need for additional oil and gas supplies. Investment in oil and gas production, therefore, will increase despite the grim warnings of climate campaigners.

Some argue that the increase will only be needed for the medium term, but energy companies tend to plan ahead for long periods of time. If there is no point in making such a long-term commitment to additional production, they will probably not make it. If they have made this commitment, maybe they expect that demand for fossil fuels will remain steady for more than the next three or four years.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Since the earliest days of its Islamic Republic from 1979, Iran has looked to its petrochemicals sector as being a key to its resistance economy model - the concept of generating value-added returns by leveraging intellectual capital into significant revenue, profit, and technology-acquisition streams wherever possible. The sector has also always carried with it the advantage of occupying a legal grey area in the various sanctions regimes imposed against it over the past 40 years or so. With its long-term partner, Russia, now facing the same sort of sanctions constraints as Iran, it is no surprise that the Tehran has invited Moscow deeper into the development of its petchems business, with a view to Iran becoming the Middle Easts top producer and exporter in the sector by 2027.

More specifically, last week saw the new chief executive officer of Irans National Petrochemical Company (NPC), Morteza Shahmirzaei, invite Russian companies to help it exploit the further opportunities available in its petrochemicals sector. Interestingly, this invitation is not limited to Russian companies investing and working directly in the production and export of petchems products in and from Iran but also is extended for the feedstock for the petrochemicals sector, which of course includes all of Irans oil and gas sector as well. In precisely this vein, Shahmirzaei went on to talk about Irans existing resources and capabilities in those fields. Iran sits on more than 159 billion barrels of oil reserves and about 33 trillion cubic metres of natural gas, he said, adding that currently one billion cubic metres of gas is being produced on a daily basis in Iran and that its crude oil production capacity is about 4 million barrels per day. Part of this output is consumed as feedstock for Iran's petrochemical industry, he underlined. In addition, Shahmirzaei carefully highlighted to Russia the geopolitical opportunities available to it through such cooperation by dint of Irans vast maritime borders. Noting that Iran has access to 5,600 kilometres of coastlines in the north and south of the country, he stressed: The existence of numerous ports on these coasts has provided and facilitated the exchange of products and activities of oil, gas, petrochemicals and other industries for the country. In other words, there are a lot of routes that Iran has been using for 40 years plus to send anything it wants to wherever it wants without much hindrance from anyone else, and these could be open to Russia to use as well. Related: Bearish Momentum Grows, But Traders Remain Bullish On Crude

The key to Russia gaining access to all of these routes in a way that would allow it to circumvent many of the sanctions against it whilst not overtly antagonising the U.S. would be to agree to a series of deals in Irans petchems sector, as Shahmirzaei hinted. In stark contrast to the previous heightened sanctions era against Iran that saw their zenith from late 2011 early 2014 (in 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was agreed in principle) there are currently no E.U. sanctions specifically on Irans petrochemicals business and nor are there plans to impose them. From the U.S. perspective, it cannot currently exert jurisdiction for primary sanctions unless U.S. persons are involved  notably U.S. banks and U.S. employees. Piggy-backing off this arrangement would clearly have advantages for Russia in terms of exporting whatever it wanted in petchems and multiple other sectors.

Even during the height of the U.S. and E.U. sanctions period against Iran from 2011 to 2014, a Washington DC-based senior lawyer with an international litigation and arbitration specialist legal firm, exclusively told OilPrice.com: Although from a strict legal perspective Iran was only able to sell such [petchems] products to customers outside the U.S. and E.U., other channels - notably those in Asia  remained opened to exports of petchems and other products as well. At that time, secondary sanctions were also in place in the U.S. on any person worldwide that purchased, acquired, sold, transported, or marketed Iranian-origin petrochemical products, or provided goods or services valued at US$250,000 or more (or US$1 million over a 12-month period) for use in Irans production of petrochemical products. In the E.U. there was a ban on the import, purchase, or transportation of Iran-origin petrochemical products, and on the export to Iran of certain equipment for use in the petrochemical industry. However, in practical terms, even over this period of heightened sanctions, Irans petchems sector continued to grow its production and revenue streams. Related: Europes Gas Prices Rise As Wind Speeds Fall

Prior to Russia and China agreeing on a more even split in their taking over oil and gas sector exploration and development projects in Iran when the 25-year China-Iran deal was originally agreed in 2019, Moscow was on the verge of taking over several new major oil and gas projects in the Islamic Republic. As it became clearer in 2015 that sanctions would be rolled back [in 2015], Russias committed investment plans for Irans oil and gas sector increased to over US$50 billion and was broadened out in scope, a senior oil and gas industry source who works closely with Irans Petroleum Ministry exclusively told OilPrice.com. This was a strategic plan by Russia to position itself front and centre for when sanctions were eventually removed and contracts for field development were on the table, he said.

This resulted in initial agreements being signed by GazpromNeft for feasibility studies for the Changouleh and Cheshmeh-Khosh oilfields, Zarubezhneft for the Aban and Paydar Gharb fields and Tatneft for the Dehloran field. These were on top of the previous memoranda of understanding (MoU) signed by Lukoil and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for studies of the Ab Teymour and Mansouri oil fields, resulting in Russian firms being assigned seven field studies, the most of any country to that point. Even more significantly, though, was that these deals were only a part of a very wide-ranging 22-point MoU signed by Irans deputy petroleum minister, Amir-Hossein Zamaninia, and Russias deputy energy minister, Kirill Molodtsov, at the time, which included not just the studies and plans for exploration and extraction of oil but also for the transfer of gas, petrochemical swap operations, research on the supply and marketing of petrochemical products, the manufacture of oil equipment together with local Iranian engineering firms, and technology transfer in the refinery sector, said the source.

Given that Russia now will feel less constrained by either the U.S. in developing much closer relations with Iran, and indeed will find many benefits to blurring the lines between Russian and Iranian oil, gas, petchems, and other developments and exports and export routes, it is reasonable to assume the resumption of a Russian strategy in Iran much akin to the original one anticipated in 2015, the Iran source underlined. In the petrochemicals sector to begin with, Russia has enormous expertise in this field and has already shown a willingness to participate in such projects, having talked to the neighbouring Iraqis about taking over the development of its Nebras petrochemicals plant in the southern oil hub of Basra at several points.

This would neatly fit into Irans plans as, prior to the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions in 2018, two of Tehrans key targets were to become the number one Middle Eastern producer and exporter of petchems and to become a major gasoline exporter across the region and beyond. For Iran, the petrochemicals sector generates revenues of around 15 to 16 times more per tonne of product than crude oil and for investors, based on current contract terms, petrochemicals produce rates of return of 30-35 percent against 12-15 percent in the upstream segment, and petrochemical companies have often distributed relatively high dividends among shareholders, said the Iran source. On the gasoline targets, the aim was that within two and a half years from the completion of the PGSR [Persian Gulf Star Refinery], Iran would be meeting at least 10 percent of all of Southern Europes gasoline and diesel needs, as it would be the top producer of gasoline in the Middle East by a big margin by that point, he concluded.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

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Venture Capital firms are also investing huge amounts of cash in battery projects.

The U.S. and Canadian governments are rushing to increase domestic production of key battery metals.

Chinas dominance in the global battery market seems to be slipping.

The worlds supply of advanced batteries, critical for electric cars, could be shifting West, say, analysts, as production grinds to a halt in Asia. Chinas most recent Covid-19 lockdowns have chipped away at the countrys dominance in the battery market, analysts at independent energy researcher Rystad Energy, Susan Zou and Abhishek Murali, explained.

Businesses have been battling with a choked supply since the pandemic began, which has prompted the likes of Tesla and the U.S. and Canadian governments to dish out millions to support production stateside.

The U.S. Department of Energy has offered a conditional loan of $107m (84m) to graphite miner Syrah Resources to expand their Louisiana processing facility in Louisiana.

Canada earlier this month confirmed in its federal budget that it will invest $1.6bn (1.2bn) over the entire electric vehicle (EV) supply chain.

Related: Can Lebanon Repair Its Failing Energy Sector?

While Teslas boss Elon Musk has plans to turn his new Texas car factory, of 338m cubic feet in volume, into the biggest battery cell facility in the world overtime.

Comments made by Musk at the recent unveiling of the factory suggest he is already alive to the attractive returns in the new race for advanced batteries.

The value of venture capital deals in the advanced battery space has skyrocketed over the past year, soaring around 850 percent year-on-year in 2021, according to analytics firm GlobalData.

Chinas EV battery maker SVOLT, based the Jiangsu province  a major manufacturing hub  snagged $930m (*) from investors in December. However, the province has been subject to tough Covid-19 measures which have paused production.

Big deals from VC investors are pushing forward the advanced batteries funding to a new high, said senior disruptive tech analyst at GlobalData, Prasad Kakade.

The interest is likely to be driven by clean energy requirements and the growing demand for zero-emission, all-electric cars. With new opportunities flocking to these areas, battery materials with minimal environmental footprint and sustainable designs would create a new race for battery supremacy.

By City AM

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Reader Update: Whether you are new to the oil and gas industry or an energy market veteran, you will regret not signing up for Global Energy Alert. Oilprice.com's premium newsletter provides everything from geopolitical analysis to trading analysis, and all for less than a cup of coffee per week.

Chart of the Week

- Depressed by draconian lockdowns that might be extended well into May, Chinese refinery runs are set to reach a post-pandemic low this month.

- According to S&P Platts, throughput rates at the countrys four state-owned refiners fell to 76%, the lowest since April 2020, as movement controls in 18 provinces kept demand subdued.

- Even though several refineries are out for spring maintenance, high stocks have led to some 3 million b/d refining capacity being idled currently, especially in most-impacted coastal areas.

- Chinas so-called teapots (independent refiners) are seeing run rates of 50% in April, 25 percentage points lower year-on-year, perpetuating the financial strain on them.

Market Movers

- US refiner Valero (NYSE:VLO) has reported its most profitable results in seven years with its Q1 earnings, with its operating income reaching $1.47 billion.

- US oil service major Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) warned that the impending May 15 sanctions deadline could mean the company will face charges on $340m of Russian assets as trade restrictions are blocking its ability to move out equipment.

- The Dutch activist group Friends of the Earth has stepped up pressure against oil major Shell (LON:SHEL), claiming that if the firm fails to comply with a 2019 Dutch court order to deepen emission cuts, the companys board will be held personally responsible.

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

The extreme volatility in crude prices has kept the oil market fixed to the $100 per barrel mark, with alternating news of further Chinese lockdowns effectively offsetting Europes attempts to find a consensus solution on Russian oil sanctions. Largely thanks to the 180 million barrel SPR release, the US seems to be better positioned to withstand the upcoming turbulence and further bouts of tightness - decreasing net positions in NYMEX/ICE WTI taking place concurrently to marginal increases in net Brent contracts indicate a longer-term structural weakness in Europe.

US Shale Growth Marred by Frac Fleet Shortage. The shortage of frac fleets (equipment to perform hydraulic fracturing) has become one of the main impediments to US crude production this year, with the current number of frac spreads deployed (270) being well below pandemic levels (360-370).

Iran Signals Talks Might be Revived Soon. Top Iranian officials have indicated that the current hiatus in the nuclear talks is not in the interest of either side and that a restart of negotiations, coming to an abrupt halt in early March, might be imminent.

Libya Skirmishes Damage Only Refinery. Continuous armed clashes around the 120,000 b/d Zawiya refinery have reportedly damaged Libyas only refinery and the adjacent storage tank farm, coming on the back of simultaneous efforts of the two rival governments to appease the protesters.

Canada Drilling Heats Up to Unseen Highs. Drilling activity has risen to the highest level on record in Canada, with the latest available January data showing 617 active wells in Alberta, surpassing the previous high set in October 2011.

CPC Terminal Comes Back to Full Capacity. Following a month-long disruption caused by a storm in late March that wiped some 600,000 b/d off the market, the CPC loading terminal in southern Russia returned to full capacity operation, easing the pressure on the worlds largest light sweet stream. Related: Libya May Reach Full Oil Production Within Days

China Keeps Lockdown Impact in the Dark. China-watchers are having an increasingly difficult time gauging the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns in the country as Beijing restricts the release of industry-relevant real-time data such as commodity inventories or cargo traffic data.

UK Wants Mandatory Climate Plans for Companies. The British government launched a new task force to enforce UK-listed companies (over 1,300 firms in total) to publish climate plans with specific short-to-long-term targets, starting as soon as this year.

Rosnefts Megatender Fails Spectacularly. Russias national oil company Rosneft (MCX:ROSN) failed to sell oil in its recently announced tender that offered Urals, ESPO, and Sokol cargoes loading in May-June, arguably triggered by the rouble-payment clauses.

Nigerian Illegal Oil Refinery Blast Kills Dozens. More than 100 people died in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in southeastern Nigeria, another tragedy in the African country that loses as much as 150,000 b/d of crude production due to theft.

Petroecuador Seeks Contract Renegotiation with PetroChina. Ecuadors state-owned oil company Petroecuador has been holding talks with PetroChina (SHA:601857) to renegotiate two supply contracts that run until 2024, in the hope it could free up some products to sell directly in the spot market.

European Power Prices Rise Again as Winds Tame. Day-ahead power prices have been on the rise across Europe as wind generation forecasts indicate a week of below-average speeds, triggering a rebound in gas prices above $100 per MWh despite increased nominations for Russian supplies.

Russia Wants Its Own Lithium Industry. Russias nuclear holding Rosatom and leading metals producer Nornickel (MCX:GMKN) plan to develop a lithium deposit in the countrys northwestern Murmansk region, confronted with curbed supplies as only Bolivia continues to provide it with lithium carbonate.

Germany Legalizes Nationalization of Energy Firms. The German government approved a legal amendment that would enable Berlin to seize ownership of energy companies in the event of an emergency, putting the potentially impacted firms under trust administration, hinting at what might happen to Gazproms (MCX:GAZP) subsidiary.

By Josh Owens for Oilprice.com

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Germany has already cut Russian oil imports by over 20%, with officials now spreading optimism that it could be only a matter of days before the country is capable of a total embargo on Russian oil.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said Tuesday that a full embargo is manageable and that the country hoped to find a replacement for Russian oil within days. According to Habeck, Germany is now very, very close to making a full Russian oil embargo a reality.

So far, Germany has dropped Russian oil imports to around 12% of its total oil imports, down from 35% prior to Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine in late February.

The East German refinery in Schwedt is owned by Russias state-run Rosneft and inputs only Russian oil, as does another East German refinery in Leuna, according to Euractiv.

Instead of relying on Russian piped oil, the German Economy Ministry told the press gathering that deliveries would have to be via port and then truck and train, and that Polands Gdansk port would be the key partner to make this function.

Germanys announcement coincides with another point of pressure on the European Unions largest economy: Contributing weapons to the war against Russia in Ukrainean avenue Germany has avoided until now.

Late on Tuesday, the German government announced that it would supply Ukraine with German-made heavy military equipment, in a complete about-face.

German Defense Minister Christina Lambrecht announced the move during opening remarks at the Ramstein air base in Germany, coming at the start of a US-hosted defense conference on Ukraine.



"Yesterday we decided that Germany will make the delivery of 'Gepard' anti-aircraft tanks possible to Ukraine," German Defense Minister Lambrecht said, as reported by DW.

Germany, together with its allies, stands firmly at the side of its Ukrainian friends who are in dire need, she said, acknowledging criticism of Germany in recent weeks, Lambrecht said.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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A pipeline that Kazakhstan uses to export most of its oil began operating at full capacity over the weekend, one month after key offloading infrastructure was allegedly damaged in a storm.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, or CPC, said in a statement on April 25 that it had restored a buoy mooring device used for loading oil at Russias Novorossiysk terminal to working order after divers were able to take advantage of a short-term improvement in the weather.

At present, the Delta Commander tanker is connected to [mooring device] VPU-3 and loading is being carried out, the company said in a statement.

This is welcome news for Kazakhstan, which sends more than two-thirds of its oil to Europe via the CPC pipeline. After Russia announced the accident at Novorossiysk on March 22, Kazakhstan was forced to reduce oil production and incur considerable losses. On April 19, Finance Minister Yerulan Zhamaubayev told reporters that a preliminary assessment put those losses at up to 150 billion tenge ($337 million).

With the CPC option largely closed off, Kazakh authorities explored alternative routes, such as taking oil across the Caspian Sea and then delivering it to Europe through the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, but this solution proved very costly. Critics of the government have since raised questions about why Kazakhstan failed to diversify oil export routes in good time so as to avoid excess dependence on a single Russian-controlled pipeline.

Following weeks of apparently negligible progress repairing the alleged damage at Novorossiysk terminal, which neither the Western members of the CPC consortium or Kazakhstan were able to inspect independently, Nur-Sultan dispatched a delegation to Moscow. Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov held talks on the situation with CPC General Director Nikolai Gorban on April 18. Discussions appear to have touched on issues both commercial and technical. A few days later, it was agreed that the weather had improved sufficiently for repairs to proceed.

By Eurasianet.org

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When ATF agents and Chicago police arrested 45th Ward boss Charles Sikanich on Monday, police records state, Sikanich made one request over and over: Let me contact Ald. Jim Gardiner, he said, before you put me in custody.

The request went apparently unfulfilled. The next day, Sikanich  ward superintendent and Gardiners right-hand man  was in Cook County court on charges including gun possession and official misconduct. Two years ago, prosecutors said, he tried to sell an antique machine gun to an undercover ATF agent while he was on the clock for his Streets and Sanitation job.

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It was the latest development in a rollercoaster year for the Northwest Side ward. Gardiner has been under federal criminal investigation for months relating to his conduct in office. He and Sikanich are being sued for allegedly having a man harassed, intimidated and ultimately falsely arrested. And Gardiner came under heavy public fire last year for profane and misogynist texts published by an anonymous online group.

Sikanich was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bond after a brief hearing Tuesday. He was still in custody as of early Tuesday evening, according to the sheriffs office.

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The matter dates to February 2020, when the ATF got a tip from a confidential informant that Sikanich owned an MP 40 machine gun and was interested in selling it, Assistant Attorney General Jonas Harger said in court Tuesday. Sikanich asked the informant to find him a buyer, Harger said.

In May of that year, Sikanich met with the informant and an undercover ATF agent, and they tried to negotiate a selling price, authorities said. Agents staking out the meeting saw Sikanich arrive in his Department of Streets and Sanitation vehicle, prosecutors said. And time sheet records show he was on the clock at his city job during the time he allegedly was set to discuss the guns sale, Harger said in court.

A news release from Attorney General Kwame Raouls office also alleged that during the meeting, Sikanich indicated he would have his mother complete the illegal transaction, as he hoped to avoid complications to his role as a superintendent of Chicagos 45th Ward.

More than a year later, in August 2021, federal agents confronted Sikanich, who led them to a secret compartment in his basement where a black duffel bag containing the gun was recovered, Harger said.

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Sikanichs attorney, Blaire Dalton, said in court the gun was a family heirloom, passed down from Sikanichs grandfather. It dates from World War IIs Battle of the Bulge, Dalton said. The gun was plugged with lead and unusable, she said in court, noting that the gun was seized in August but Sikanich was only charged this month.

In response, Harger noted that it took the ATF less than an hour to render the gun usable, and it was still capable of firing shots. Sikanich knew the gun was illegal and intended to sell it for an increased price because of illegality of the gun, he said.

The $100,000 bond set by Judge Barbara Dawkins is higher than the $75,000 that prosecutors had requested, and significantly greater than the $500 that Sikanichs attorney said he could pay.

In a news release Tuesday, Raoul stated that trying to sell a machine gun demonstrates at best indifference toward the publics safety. However, to do so on government time using government property demonstrates a shocking disregard for the people government employees have committed to serve.

Asked about Sikanichs arrest, a Streets and Sanitation spokeswoman said the department would not comment on a personnel issue.

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Gardiner is also being sued for for allegedly violating the First Amendment rights of ward residents who were critical of him on social media by deleting their comments from his official Facebook page and blocking them from posting in the future.

Gardiner could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday on the charges against Sikanich.

The freshman alderman has been a lightning rod for controversy during his first term representing parts of Jefferson Park, Portage Park, Old Irving Park and Norwood Park.

He rose in council chambers during the bodys September meeting to apologize after an anonymous Northwest Side online group published texts he sent a ward employee in which he referred to one City Council colleague as a bitch and the top aide of another council member as his bitch, and also used the term to describe a political communications consultant.

He said he was sorry for his offensive words but said he never acted on any of those rants in published texts in which he appeared to call for ward services to be withheld from political opponents.

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mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is exploring a new energy and climate legislative package that would win the support of Republican senators as a way of releasing massive funds earmarked for related spending.

In an interview with Bloomberg this week, Manchin said that if a bill gains bipartisan support in the Senate, legislators will not need budget reconciliation to greenlight the release of hundreds of billions of dollars currently blocked because of the lack of such support in Congress.

One area where the senator sees potential for agreement is in oil and gas leasing.

"You're going to have to have a leasing program that works, O.K., and making sure that leases are fair, and people are not sitting on leases," he told Bloomberg. "We need to look at all that," he said. "We haven't done that."

What the Biden administration has done in this respect was to call on Congress to penalize oil drillers who don't use the permits they have been granted.

Among Sen Manchin's other proposals are revisions to federal land policy, legislative support for oil and gas pipelines, and a boost in liquefied natural gas production, both at home and overseas, according to an unnamed source quoted by Bloomberg. Critical mineral supply is also on the agenda, according to the source.

Senator Manchin has turned into a thorn in the side of Democrats in Congress with his stiff opposition to the Build Back Better spending plan that Democrats crafted last year.

"I have always said if I can't explain it, I can't vote for it, and I can't explain why my Democratic colleagues are rushing to spend $3.5 trillion," Manchin wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal last September.

Manchin represents West Virginiaa big coal producerand potentially has on his side other legislators from fossil fuel-reliant states from both parties.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Poland announced on Tuesday that it was preparing to impose sanctions on 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, as Polish media report that Russia has stopped gas deliveries to the country, causing European gas prices to get hit with a double-digit surge.

Polands One.pl online news channel reported that Russia had suspended gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract, citing off-the-record sources claiming that the Ministry of Climate has now gathered its crisis team to deal with the situation.

The Polish news agency said that there had been no announcement from Russia, though Russian President Vladimir Putin had threatened to cut Poland off from gas.

An official announcement is expected from the Polish authorities later today, according to One.pl.

Earlier on Tuesday, Polands Interior Minister said the country would impose sanctions on 50 oligarchs and companies after passing a law earlier this month that would allow the authorities to freeze Russian assets and ban imports of Russian coal, Reuters reported.

Moscow earlier demanded that Europe switch to paying for Russian gas in rubles or face supply suspensions. Poland has refused to comply with this demand.

European natural gas futures were trading 4% higher on the day (as of 12:36pm EST).

Source: Tradingeconomics

Outside of Ukraine itself, Poland is the European country most relentlessly pushing a halt to imports of Russian oil, gas and coal across the bloc, hoping to strangle Putins war chest. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki launched a highly public mobile billboard campaign last attempting to garner more public support for the sacrifices necessary to #stopRussianoil.



By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Gasoline prices in the United States climbed higher Monday, despite crude oils brief retreat under $100 per barrel as bearish sentiments emerged over Chinas intensifying COVID lockdown.



The national average price per gallon of regular gasoline climbed to $41.2 Monday, according to AAA, up from $4.09 the previous Monday and up from $2.09 a year ago.



Californians continue to pay the highest price at the pump, around $5.69 per gallon.



As long as the price of [crude] oil stays elevated, the price at the pump will struggle to fall, AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said in a Monday statement, adding that Consumers may be catching a little break from Marchs record-high prices, but dont expect any dramatic drops.

This summer, the Energy Information Administration expects retail gas prices to average $3.84 per gallon, up from $3.06 per gallon last summer but significantly lower than the past months national average. That forecast gives American drivers some hope for relief as the summer driving season prepares to kick off.

Prices of crude oil, the key input for gasoline, briefly fell below $100 on Monday as it became clear that Chinas COVID lockdowns were intensifying and threatening consumption and demand. By 3:15pm EST, Brent prices had climbed back to $102.54, while WTI was still under $99.

Crude oil prices, however, are set to remain highly volatile for the foreseeable future, with Chinas COVID crackdown weighing against sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine and tight supply.

The roller coaster ride at the pump continues, AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said in a statement. After rising two weeks ago, gas prices should remain tied to the price of oil, which was on its way back down last week. Based on wholesale and gasoline futures trends, gas prices could decline 5 to 10 cents, unless oil prices rebound again.



By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Russias state-controlled oil giant Rosneft has failed to place 6.5 million barrels of various Russian crude blends loading in May and June after demanding rubles and 100-percent pre-payment from buyers, Reuters reported on Monday, citing five traders with knowledge of the tender process.

There were no bidders for Urals, Siberian Light, Sokol, and ESPO crudes that Rosneft was trying to sell. Not even Indian state refiners bid to buy that oil because of one-sided terms of the tender, two of the sources told Reuters.

Buyers have found it very difficult to meet the terms of the tender, considering that the Russian state oil giant wanted payments converted in rubles and 100-percent pre-payment, the traders who spoke to Reuters said.

Even without those terms, buyers in Europe wouldnt have bid for Russian cargoes anyway, according to the traders, as many are shunning Russian crude because of ethics or expectations that a potential oil embargo on Russia could make its crude even more toxic than it is now.

Still, some of the 6.5 million barrels on offer could be sold by Rosneft in private deals via talks with individual potential customers.

Rosnefts main objective in the tender was to announce the requirement of ruble payments to the market, and this was achieved, a source with knowledge of the tender told Reuters.

Last week, reports emerged that Rosneft was offering as many as 37.4 million barrels of the flagship Urals crude for May and June loadings, according to a tender document seen by Bloomberg. Rosneft has said it prefers Russian rubles as payment, although in theory, buyers could pay in U.S. dollars, euros, yuans, the UAEs dirham, or Turkish lira, according to the document seen by Bloomberg. Rosneft also wants 100-percent pre-payment on the provisional value of the Urals cargoes.

All these stipulations from Rosneft in the firesale tender suggest that Russia and its oil giant are looking to get paid and get the crude sold before a potential EU ban on Russian oil imports.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Several Russian oligarchs, who have either worked at energy firms or amassed their fortune from oil and gas, have been found dead in suspicious circumstances, not only in Russia but also in the UK and Spain.

One of the latest suspicious deaths was that of Vladislav Avayev, a former vice president at Russian bank Gazprombankthe bank at the center of Russias rubles-for-gas payment schemeand a former Kremlin official. According to police in Moscow, Avayev killed his wife and daughter before killing himself in their Moscow apartment.

Just days after Avayevs suspected murder-suicide, Sergey Protosenya and his family were found dead in Spain. Protosenya worked at Russias top independent gas producer Novatek from 1997 to 2015, the company told Newsweek in an email, following Protosenyas death. Reports have it that Protosenyas mother and daughter were stabbed to death, while Sergey Protosenya had apparently hanged himself in a Spanish villa.

Two former Gazprom executives, Leonid Shulman and Alexander Tyulyakov, were also found dead earlier this year. Shulman was found dead by apparent suicide in January, while Tyulyakov was found dead a day after Russia invaded Ukraine. Both men have reportedly left suicide notes, Fortune reports, but the wave of deaths of gas executives have made many people suspect that there is a purge of energy-related executives or former executives in Russia.

Gennady Gudkov, a former colonel at Russias Federal Security Service (FSB)the successor of the KGBtold Daily Star that the similarities in the deaths of all those gas executives were suspicious, at the very least.

If we already understand that the regime is engaged in the elimination of its opponents and enemies, then why will they not deal with those who are considered traitors who have fled the system, Gudkov was quoted as saying.

At least two of the dead executives knew a lot about Gazproms finances and cash flows, Warsaw Institute reported this weekend.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP)  Texas oldest death row inmate was executed Thursday for killing a Houston police officer during a traffic stop nearly 32 years ago.

Carl Wayne Buntion, 78, was executed at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the June 1990 fatal shooting of Houston police officer James Irby, a nearly 20-year member of the force.

The U.S. Supreme Court had declined a request by Buntions attorneys to stop his execution.

I wanted the Irby family to know one thing: I do have remorse for what I did, Buntion said while strapped to the Texas death chamber gurney. "I pray to God that they get the closure for me killing their father and Ms. Irby's husband.

I hope to see you in heaven some day and when you show up I will give you a big hug.

Buntion, joined by his spiritual adviser, began praying Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd... as the lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began. He took a deep breath, coughed once, then took three less pronounced breaths before all movement stopped.

He was pronounced dead at 6:39 p.m., 13 minutes later.

Several dozen motorcyclists, showing support for the slain motorcycle officer, loudly revved their engines as the execution took place, the roar clearly audible in the death chamber.

Buntion had been on parole for just six weeks when he shot the 37-year-old Irby. Buntion, who had an extensive criminal record, was a passenger in the car that Irby pulled over. In 2009, an appeals court vacated Buntions sentence, but another jury resentenced him to death three years later.

I feel joy," the officer's widow, Maura Irby, said after watching Buntion's execution. I'm sorry someone died. But I didn't think of him as a person. I just thought of him as a thing, as a cancer on the face of my family.

Before his slaying, James Irby had talked of retirement and spending more time with his two children, who at the time were 1 and 3 years old, Maura Irby, 60, said earlier.

He was ready to fill out the paperwork and stay home and open a feed store, she said. He wanted to be the dad that was there to go to all the ballgames and the father daughter dances. He was a super guy, the love of my life.

Leading up to his execution, various state and federal courts had also turned down appeals by Buntions lawyers to stop his death sentence. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday had rejected his clemency request.

Buntions attorneys said he was responsible for Irbys death and deserved to be punished severely for that crime.

But they argued his execution was unconstitutional because the jurys finding he would be a future danger to society  one of the reasons he was given a death sentence has proven incorrect, and also his execution would serve no legitimate purpose because so much time has passed since his conviction. His attorneys described Buntion as a geriatric inmate who posed no threat as he suffers from arthritis, vertigo and needed a wheelchair.

This delay of three decades undermines the rationale for the death penalty ... Whatever deterrent effect there is diminished by delay, his attorneys David Dow and Jeffrey Newberry, wrote in court documents.

With his execution, Buntion became the oldest person Texas has put to death since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on capital punishment in 1976. The oldest inmate executed in the U.S. in modern times was Walter Moody Jr., who was 83 years old when he was put to death in Alabama in 2018.

Buntion was also the first inmate executed in Texas in 2022. Although Texas has been the nations busiest capital punishment state, it had been nearly seven months since it carried out an execution. There have been only three executions in each of the last two years, due in part to the coronavirus pandemic and delays over legal questions about Texas refusal to allow spiritual advisers to touch inmates and pray aloud in the death chamber.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court said states must accommodate requests to have faith leaders pray and touch inmates during executions.

As Texas prepared to execute Buntion, officials in Tennessee canceled the execution of an inmate Thursday in what would have been the state's first execution since the start of the pandemic. Oscar Smith, 72, was scheduled to die for the 1989 killings of his estranged wife and her teenage sons. Republican Gov. Bill Lee didnt elaborate on what issue forced the surprise 11th-hour stop to the planned execution.

Texas prison officials agreed to Buntions request to allow his spiritual adviser to pray aloud and touch him while he was put to death.

The adviser, Barry Brown, placed his right hand on Buntion's right ankle in the moments before the drugs began flowing and prayed for about five minutes. He said Buntion no longer was the hard-headed young man but had been humbled by the walls and cold steel of prison.

While the execution stirred up painful memories for her, Irby said it also reminded her of her advocacy work in public safety after her husbands death, including helping put together legislation that allowed victim impact statements at trials.

I still miss him, 32 years later, she said Thursday night.

Lozano reported from Houston.

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

This story has been corrected to show that Buntion, joined by his spiritual adviser, began praying Psalm 23.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Collecting pinon nuts has been tradition for Native American and Hispanic families in the Southwestern U.S. for generations.

But environmentalists are concerned that without the pinyon jay  a very social bird that essentially plants the next generation of trees by stashing away the seeds  its possible the pinon forests of New Mexico, Nevada and other Western states could face another reproductive hurdle in the face of climate change, persistent drought and more severe wildfires.

The Washington, D.C.-based group Defenders of Wildlife filed a petition Monday with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the bird under the Endangered Species Act, saying the once common species plays an integral role in the high desert ecosystem.

The group points to research that shows pinyon jay numbers have declined by an estimated 80% over the last five decades, a rate even faster than the greater sage grouse.

Patricia Estrella, who represents the group in New Mexico, said that while population declines are well documented, the exact cause remains unclear as multiple threats are at play.

Not only is it difficult to tease apart the effects of interacting factors, together they create even greater threats through positive feedbacks, Estrella wrote in the petition. Successful conservation of the pinyon jay requires addressing and ameliorating multiple threats simultaneously.

Pinon-juniper forests cover more than 75,000 square miles (194,249 square kilometers) in the United States, and wildlife managers in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, and New Mexico already have classified the bird as a species of greatest conservation need.

Nearly 60% of the jay's remaining population can be found in New Mexico and Nevada, but its range also includes central Oregon and parts of California, Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Mexico's northern Baja California.

Pale blue with a white bib, the pinyon jay typically mates for life. When food is abundant, they can nest more than once a year.

Their home range can be large, with the birds fanning out over hundreds of miles when food is scarce.

Research highlighted in the petition notes that more pinon and juniper woodlands are being cleared around the West for housing developments, agriculture, and solar and wind energy projects, and as land managers look to reduce the threat of wildfire.

The Biden administration's infrastructure push includes $500 million over five years for prescribed burns, $500 million for mechanical tree harvesting and another $500 million for clearing fuel breaks. Defenders of Wildlife and others are concerned that managers will be able to move ahead with many projects without public input or more detailed environmental reviews.

The petition states that studies documenting the effects of woodland reduction on pinyon jay populations are few, but some scientists are recommending that land managers avoid nesting and foraging sites.

When the pinon crop is good, jays start the morning by eating seeds. Then they collect seeds, congregate in the tree tops and depart together to caching areas that are usually open spaces where less snow accumulates in the winter.

Research has shown they have excellent memory and recover more cached seeds than other types of jays or nutcrackers, but the seeds that go uncollected are left to germinate.

According to the petition, the loss of pinon trees would disproportionately affect Native American and Hispanic communities in the Southwest. Each fall, families make the trek to the forest to harvest the seeds.

The nuts are usually roasted and salted, but their popularity now extends beyond Southwest cuisine, including pancakes, brownies, pizza and salad toppings.

It will be up to the Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether there's enough information in the petition to warrant further review. That could take months.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Jose Luis Magana / AP)

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday sentenced two North Shore brothers to six months of probation, including 60 days on home detention, for illegally entering the U.S. Capitol during the attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

In rejecting jail time, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan said the conduct that Christian Kulas and his older brother, Mark Kulas Jr., engaged in was somewhat minimal from other rioters who attacked police, damaged property or otherwise tried to disrupt the government that day.

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Hogan also noted that the brothers and their family, including their immigrant parents, have been subjected to sustained attacks on social media since they were charged, including physical threats and anti-immigrant animus that the judge said was very unfortunate.

Kulas Jr., 27, of Lake Forest, and Christian Kulas, 24, of Kenilworth, pleaded guilty in December to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor that called for up to six months in jail.

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The brothers are sons of the wealthy owner of a North Shore maid service, Kulas Maids, and attended Lake Forest High School.

A criminal complaint against Christian Kulas said the younger brother was captured on social media and surveillance images wearing a Burberry coat and a hat with the Donald Trump campaign slogan Keep America Great.

Video clips on an Instagram account associated with Kulas also showed people at a rally where Trump was speaking and video of rioters at the Capitol steps after the rally.

Mark Kulas Jr. was charged in late November, five months after his younger brother.

As part of their plea agreement, each of the brothers agreed to pay a $500 restitution fee. Damages to the Capitol building on Jan. 6 totaled about $1.5 million, according to court records.

According to a statement of offense, the brothers flew from Illinois to Washington the day before the attack. They attended the Trump rally, then marched to the Capitol building. Both wore hats with Trumps political slogans.

The brothers spent about 20 minutes in the Capitol building, entering after rioters earlier had forced the doors open, according to the court document.

There is no evidence that Christian Kulas or Mark Kulas Jr. otherwise assisted the rioters using force against the police line in an effort to open the doorway, and the brothers returned to Illinois on Jan. 7, the statement says.

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The Kulases have remained free on personal recognizance bonds since being charged.

The brothers are among at least 27 Illinoisans charged in the Capitol attack, which has evolved into the largest criminal investigation in the countrys history.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
Generally, when Omaha resident Dan Sitzman leaves his house at 51st and Dodge Streets, he crosses Farnam Street.

He plans his route based on the direction that traffic will be heading on the sometimes-one-way street, and he hope(s) like heck that other people do, too.

It doesnt matter what time of day when I cross (Farnam), either driving, riding my bike or walking, Sitzman said. I always look both ways because Ive seen cars come from both ways all the time.

He was one of about 30 people to attend an Omaha Public Works Department open house Monday night, where organizers collected feedback from business and property owners concerning a proposed project to convert Farnam into a continuous, two-way street at all hours within a section of roadway that runs through the Dundee area.

The project, which planners estimate will cost $2 million to $3 million, is intended to accommodate increased vehicle traffic, eliminate driver confusion and improve vehicle and pedestrian safety.

At present, the two-lane street switches between one-way and two-way operations throughout the day from 46th Street to Happy Hollow Boulevard.

On weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m., Farnam operates as a two-lane, one-way roadway in the eastbound direction, while traffic flows one way in the westbound direction from 4 to 6 p.m. Throughout the rest of the day and all day on weekends, Farnam functions as a two-way street.

The city is undertaking a corridor study regarding potential improvements that could be made to Farnam from Dodge to 46th Streets.

The existing traffic pattern has been in effect since 1958, according to city staff. The arrangement is efficient at moving great loads of commuters in the primary direction of travel during rush hour, but comes at a cost.

Consultants from design firm Felsburg Holt & Ullevig tasked with studying the issue found that 58% of all crashes along Farnam Street occur during one-way operations, which occur for only four hours daily. In addition, 48% of the fatal and injury crashes on Farnam occur during one-way operations.

Currently, between 7,800 and 9,500 vehicles use Farnam each day. By 2040, the number is projected to increase to 9,100 to 11,000.

The study indicates that a two-way orientation is feasible if improvements are made to two Farnam Street intersections at 50th and 52nd Streets. Options at each intersection include the installation of left turn lanes, left and right turn lanes or roundabouts.

Consultants concluded that a roundabout would be the safest option but that a signalized intersection would most improve the efficiency of traffic operations.

City Council member Danny Begley, whose district encompasses a portion of the project area, called any change overdue.

Traffic is crazy over there, he said. It confuses people. When youve got kids driving, especially, its a recipe for bad things.

People interested in the street project can learn more or submit comments online through May 9 at www.keepomahamoving.com. Feedback will be incorporated into a final report, to be completed later this year.

Ultimately, the citys public works staff will select the intersection designs.

Were not going to get a unanimous decision (among property owners), said Assistant Public Works Director Todd Pfitzer. We know that.

The construction timeline, he said, will be contingent on plans being developed by the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which is expanding its campus within the vicinity, along with the creation of a city streetcar system along Farnam and Harney Streets.
Megan Thee Stallion claims fellow rapper Tory Lanez offered her $1 million to keep quiet immediately after he allegedly shot her foot, and says she told authorities she stepped on glass because she was afraid police would open fire.

Megan was moved to tears as she recounted the 2020 incident during an interview that aired Monday on CBS Mornings, claiming Lanez opened fire following an argument after leaving a party at reality star Kylie Jenners house in Los Angeles.

I look down at my feet and Im like, Oh my God. Im really bleeding, Megan told host Gayle King during the emotional interview.

Megan, 27, says the argument occurred because she was ready to leave the party when others werent, and claims Lanez said dance, b---h and shot at her multiple times. She claims Lanez apologized moments after firing the weapon.

He said, Im so sorry. Please dont tell nobody. Ill give yall $1 million if yall dont say nothing, Megan said. And Im like, What are you talking about? Why are you offering me money right now? Help me. And if youre sorry, just help me.

Police were called to the scene, said Megan, who recalled many officers and helicopters arriving.

I was like, Oh my God, were all about to die. The George Floyd incident had just happened, Megan told King. The police are definitely very much shoot first, ask questions after. So Im like, its a hot gun in the car, Im bleeding, Ive been shot, theyre about to kill somebody. Like, something bad is about to happen.

She continued, I didnt want them to kill any of us or shoot any of us, so I just said, I stepped on glass. For some reason, I was just trying to protect all of us because I didnt want them to kill us.

The three-time Grammy winner says she stuck with the glass story after being taken to the hospital, until police left. A doctor then told Megan she had bullet fragments in both feet, she claimed.

The artist, whose real name is Megan Pete, has said she underwent surgery to have the bullets removed.

In Mondays interview, the Savage artist expressed her frustration with people doubting she really got shot and who claim her injuries were the result of stepping on glass.

Im the one who said I stepped on glass, Megan said. I was lying to protect all of us. Sometimes I wish I really wouldve never said that.

The 29-year-old Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, has denied Megans allegation and pleaded not guilty to all charges, which include assault with a semiautomatic firearm. A trial is expected to begin in September.

Megan said she was close friends with Lanez, and that she was looking for a family environment following the death of her mother.

She denied ever being in a romantic relationship with Lanez, and said her anxiety has gotten worse since the alleged shooting.

My relationship with people has gotten very cold because Im not as trusting as I used to be, Megan said. Ive got this wall, and I dont want to make any friends.

Megan won each of her three Grammys, including best new artist, in 2021, and is known for songs such as WAP, Hot Girl Summer and Body.

The Canadian-born Lanez is a Grammy nominee for the song LUV.
HOUSTON (AP)  The execution of Melissa Lucio is off. At least for now.

Lucio, 52, had been set to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday for the death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah in Harlingen, a city of about 75,000 in Texas southern tip.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals intervened Monday, granting Lucios lawyers request for a stay of execution so a lower court can review claims that new evidence would show Mariah's injuries, including a blow to the head, were caused by a fall down a steep staircase.

Nearly half of the jurors who sentenced her to die for the 2007 death of one of her 14 children had called for her execution to be halted and for her to get a new trial. Many lawmakers and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, an advocate for criminal justice reform, and Amanda Knox  an American whose murder conviction in the death of a British student in Italy was overturned  have rallied to Lucios cause. Prosecutors, though, maintain that the girl was the victim of child abuse.

Lucios lawyers had filed various legal appeals seeking to stop her execution. She also had a clemency application before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which had been set to consider her case Monday. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott could have also played a role this week in deciding Lucios fate. If ultimately put to death, Lucio would be the first Latina executed by Texas since 1863, and the first woman the state has put to death since 2014.

Heres what to know about the case:

WHAT ISSUES ARE BEING DEBATED?

Lucios attorneys say her capital murder conviction was based on an unreliable and coerced confession that was the result of relentless questioning and her long history of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. They say Lucio wasnt allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession.

Her lawyers also contend that unscientific and false evidence misled jurors into believing Mariahs injuries only could have been caused by physical abuse and not by medical complications from a severe fall.

I knew that what I was accused of doing was not true. My children have always been my world and although my choices in life were not good I would have never hurt any of my children in such a way, Lucio wrote in a letter to Texas lawmakers.

Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, whose office prosecuted the case, has said he disagrees with Lucio's lawyers' claims that new evidence would exonerate her. Prosecutors say Lucio had a history of drug abuse and at times had lost custody of some of her 14 children.

During a sometimes contentious Texas House committee hearing on Lucios case this month, Saenz initially pushed back on requests to use his power to stop the execution, before later saying he would intervene if the courts didnt act.

I dont disagree with all the scrutiny this case is getting. I welcome that, Saenz said.

Armando Villalobos was the county's district attorney when Lucio was convicted in 2008, and Lucios lawyers allege that he pushed for a conviction to help his reelection bid. In 2014, Villalobos was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for a bribery scheme related to offering favorable prosecutorial decisions.

WHO IS CALLING FOR LUCIOS EXECUTION TO BE STOPPED?

More than half the members of the Texas Legislature have asked that her execution be halted. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers traveled this month to Gatesville, where the state houses female death row inmates, and prayed with Lucio.

Five of the 12 jurors who sentenced Lucio and one alternate juror have questioned their decision and asked she get a new trial.

Lucio's cause also has the backing of faith leaders and was featured on HBOs Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Lucios family and supporters have been traveling throughout Texas and holding rallies and screenings of a 2020 documentary about her case, The State of Texas vs. Melissa.

Before the court decision Monday, Lucio's supporters held a prayer vigil inside the state Capitol in Austin as they waited for word from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on her clemency application. On Saturday, supporters held rallies in 16 U.S. cities, including Houston, Boston, and Columbus, Ohio.

WHERE DO EFFORTS TO HALT HER EXECUTION STAND?

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had been set Monday to consider a request to either commute her death sentence to life imprisonment or grant her a 120-day execution reprieve, but that hearing was put off by the appeals courts order. Lucio also had an appeal pending in federal court to stop her execution. The federal appeal and the clemency petition are now put aside as the case returns to the trial judge in Brownsville.

It was not immediately known when the lower court would begin reviewing her case. Tivon Schardl, one of Lucios lawyers, said they hope to convince the trial judge to recommend that the appeals court grant her a new trial.

If the board had taken up her case and decided to recommend commutation of her sentence or a reprieve, that would have needed Abbott's approval. The governor has granted clemency to only one death row inmate since taking office in 2015. Abbott commuted a death sentence to life without parole for Thomas Bart Whitaker, who was convicted of fatally shooting his mother and brother. Whitaker's father was also shot but survived and led the effort to spare his son's life.

HOW FREQUENTLY ARE WOMEN EXECUTED?

Its rare in the U.S., according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that takes no position on capital punishment but has criticized the way states carry out executions. Women have accounted for only 3.6% of the more than 16,000 confirmed executions in the U.S. dating back to the colonial period in the 1600s, according to the group's data.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, 17 women have been executed throughout the nation, according to the data. Texas has put more women to death  six  than any other state. Oklahoma is next, with three, and Florida has executed two.

The federal government has executed one woman since 1976. Lisa Montgomery, of Kansas, received a lethal injection in January 2021 after the Trump administration resumed executions in the federal system following a 17-year hiatus. The Justice Department has halted executions again under the Biden administration.

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned lower-court orders that have blocked the Biden administration from ending a controversial Trump-era immigration program for asylum-seekers.

Questions from conservative and liberal justices during nearly two hours of arguments suggested that the court could free the administration to end the Remain in Mexico policy that forces some people seeking asylum in the U.S. to wait in Mexico for their hearings.

President Joe Biden suspended the program on his first day in office. After Texas and Missouri sued, lower courts required immigration officials to reinstate it, though the current administration has sent far fewer people back to Mexico than its predecessor.

The heart of the legal fight is whether, with far less detention capacity than needed, immigration authorities must send people to Mexico or have the discretion under federal law to release asylum-seekers into the United States while they await their hearings.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, Biden's top Supreme Court lawyer, told the justices the law does not contain a provision requiring migrants to be returned to Mexico and that there is a significant public benefit to releasing migrants who pass criminal background and other checks into the U.S., keeping detention beds free for more dangerous people.

Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, at least one of whom the administration needs to win the case, suggested that the administration had a better argument than the states.

You lose, right, if the government is right about what significant public interest is, Barrett said in an exchange with Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone II.

Several justices also picked up on Prelogar's point that no administration, including Trump's, fully complied with the requirement to make migrants wait in Mexico.

If the states are reading the law correctly, Justice Clarence Thomas asked, Wouldn't it be odd for Congress to leave in place a statute that's impossible to comply with?

Justice Elena Kagan was among members of the court who wondered whether the lower courts were dipping impermissibly into international relations since reinstating the program depends on Mexico's willingness to accept the migrants and close coordination between the countries.

What are we supposed to do, drive truckloads of people to Mexico and leave them in Mexico? Kagan asked Stone.

Justice Samuel Alito appeared to be the strongest voice on the states' side, questioning the administration's assertion that it assesses migrants on a case-by-case basis before releasing them.

Border agents stopped migrants 221,000 times in March 2022 and nearly 66,000 migrants were released in the United States, according to a government court filing.

Alito said the situation seemed akin to people waiting to get into a Washington Nationals game. If they have a ticket and no alcohol or guns, they're admitted, Alito said.

That's basically what you're doing. You've got a little checklist and you go, boom, boom, boom, Alito said.

About 70,000 people were enrolled in the program, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols, after President Donald Trump launched it in 2019 and made it a centerpiece of efforts to deter asylum-seekers.

After Biden's suspension of the program, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas ended it in June 2021. In October, DHS produced additional justifications for the policys demise, to no avail in the courts.

The program resumed in December, but barely 3,000 migrants had enrolled by the end of March, during a period when authorities stopped migrants about 700,000 times at the border.

The high court pondered what to make of the limited nature of the challenged program. Chief Justice John Roberts said he was sympathetic with the administration's position that it can't detain everyone or possibly comply with the law. But where does that leave us? he asked.

Those being forced to wait in Mexico widely say they are terrified in dangerous Mexican border cities and find it very hard to find lawyers to handle their asylum hearings.

Democratic-led states and progressive groups are on the administration's side. Republican-led states and conservative groups have sided with Texas and Missouri. Those include the America First Legal Foundation, led by former Trump aides Stephen Miller and Mark Meadows.

As the court is weighing the asylum policy, the administration is expected to end another key Trump-era border policy that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. It allows authorities to expel migrants without a chance to seek asylum. The decision to end Title 42 authority, named for a 1944 public health law, on May 23 is being legally challenged by 22 states and faces growing division within Bidens Democratic Party.

A decision in Biden v. Texas, 21-954, is expected by late June.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  Among the sites of the former Soviet Union's frozen conflicts, a long and narrow strip of land in Moldova has been the most stable for three decades. Trans-Dniester hasn't seen fighting since the end of a separatist war in 1992.

But explosions in the past two days have raised concerns that Russia's war in Ukraine could extend there. About 1,500 Russian troops already are stationed in Trans-Dniester. Another outbreak of hostilities would pose a severe challenge to Moldova, one of Europes poorest countries.

WHAT IS TRANS-DNIESTER?

Trans-Dniester extends some 400 kilometers (249 miles) between the eastern bank of the Dniester River in Moldova and the country's border with Ukraine. Most of the breakaway region's population of 470,000 speaks Russian, although residents identify themselves as ethnically Moldovan, Ukrainian or Russian.

Moves to make Moldovan Moldova's official language in 1989, when it still was part of the Soviet Union, alarmed people in Trans-Dniester. The region declared independence in 1990 and clashes broke out. Fighting intensified in March 1992 and lasted until a July cease-fire; more than 700 people are estimated to have died in the conflict.

As part of the cease-fire agreement, a contingent of Russian troops stayed in Trans-Dniester as nominal peacekeepers. Since then, the region has insisted it is not part of Moldova, which declared independence in 1991.

Trans-Dniester has retained many Soviet ways and iconography, including using the hammer-and-sickle image on its flag. But it has remained generally peaceful, and some tourists come to relish the anachronisms.

WHAT HAPPENED THERE THIS WEEK?

Explosions rocked the headquarters of the region's state security ministry on Monday. The building reportedly was empty due to the Orthodox Easter holiday, and no casualties were reported. Officials said the attack was committed with rocket-propelled grenades. Local media showed what appeared to be firing tubes lying on a street.

On Tuesday morning, a pair of explosions at a broadcasting facility knocked two powerful antennas out of service. No claims of responsibility for the attacks have been made.

Trans-Dniesters president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, called Tuesday for imposing anti-terrorist security measures at a red level for 15 days, including setting up blockposts at the entrances to cities.

The United States has warned amid the war in Ukraine that Russia could launch false-flag attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops.

DOES RUSSIA HAVE AMBITIONS IN THE REGION?

Russia does not recognize Trans-Dniester as independent, as it does with other breakaway areas, such as South Ossetia, Abkhazia and the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

It recognition of those areas came either after Russia and Georgia fought a 2008 war or as justification for Moscow's February invasion of Ukraine. An outburst of fighting in Trans-Dniester could change the Kremlin's political calculus; Russia's security policy states it has the right to protect ethnic Russian populations throughout the world.

A senior Russian military official, Rustam Minnekayev, said last week that Russian forces were aiming to take full control of southern Ukraine, saying such a move would also open a land corridor between Russia and Trans-Dniester.

Achieving that military objective would require significant battles to capture Ukraine's Black Sea coast, including the major port city of Odesa. Russian soldiers would surely encounter enormous resistance.

Russia has problems in logistics. If they begin a military operation in Trans-Dniester, to create a corridor to Trans-Dniester, they have to solve the problem of Odesa, Moldovan analyst Anatol Taranu, a former ambassador to Russia, told The Associated Press.

The Russian contingent in Trans-Dniester is focused on guarding ammunition and warehouses, and its fitness for combat is uncertain. Trans-Dniester also has about 10,000 of its own soldiers.

Moldova is constitutionally neutral, so Russia could not cite the country seeking to join NATO to justify an invasion, as Russian President Vladimir Putin did with Ukraine. But expanding to Moldova would give Russia a presence next to NATO member Romania.

Taranu said that from a strategic point of view, taking Trans-Dniester does not seem sensible.

But there is a political logic, he said, considering Russia's failure to take control of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and the intense resistance put up by Ukrainian forces.

Putin "has to tell the public some success story," Taranu said, noting that the Russian leader may want to claim some achievement on Victory Day, the May 9 observance that is Russia's major secular holiday.

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Monday that Ukraine risks provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated.

In an in-depth Russian TV interview, Lavrov blamed Ukraine for stalled talks between the two countries, and accused the United States and Britain of pressuring Kyiv not to reach agreement.

Everyone is reciting incantations that in no case can we allow World War III, Lavrov said, and accused Ukrainian leaders of provoking Russia by asking NATO to become involved in the conflict.

By providing weapons, NATO forces are pouring oil on the fire, he said, according to a Russian transcript on the Russian Foreign Ministrys website.

Lavrov apparently made the remarks after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the United States wants to see Russia weakened to the point where it cant do things like invade Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press in an interview Monday that only discussions between Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin would bring resolution.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 US promises new aid to Ukraine in fight against Russia

 To Europes relief, Frances Macron wins but far-right gains

 Russian officer: Missile to carry several hypersonic weapons

 Follow all AP stories on Russia's war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

NEW YORK  The Metropolitan Opera and the Polish National Opera are organizing a Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra to tour Europe and America from July 28 to Aug. 20.

The orchestra is to gather in Warsaw on July 18 for rehearsals and will include musicians from Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and Odesa plus Ukrainian members of European orchestras, the companies said Monday.

Keri-Lynn Wilson, a Canadian-Ukrainian conductor who is married to Met general manager Peter Gelb, will lead musicians who include members of the Kyiv National Opera, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra and Kharkiv Opera plus the Tonkunstler Orchestra of Vienna, the Belgian National Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

The tour will open at Teatr Wielki, the Polish National Opera, on July 28 and include a televised performance at the BBC Proms in London on July 31.

That will be followed by stops at the Choregies dOrange Festival in France (Aug. 2); Berlin (Aug. 4); Edinburgh, Scotland (Aug. 6); Snape Maltings in England (Aug. 8); Amsterdam (Aug. 11); Hamburg, Germany (Aug. 13); New York (Aug. 18 and 19), and Washington (Aug. 20).

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines foreign minister on Monday urged the U.N. chief to press Russia for an evacuation of the besieged port of Mariupol, calling it something the world body is capable of achieving.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press in an interview he was concerned that by visiting Moscow on Tuesday before traveling to Kyiv, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres could be vulnerable to falling into a Kremlin trap in the war.

Kuleba said Guterres should focus primarily on one issue: evacuation of Mariupol.

An estimated 100,000 people are trapped in the seaside city while a contingent of Ukrainian fighters hold out against Russian forces in a steel mill where hundreds of civilians also are taking shelter.

MARIUPOL, Ukraine  Officials in the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol say a new mass grave has been identified north of the city.

Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities are trying to estimate the number of victims in the grave about 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) north of Mariupol.

Satellite photos released over the past several days have shown what appear to be images of other mass graves.

Mariupol has been decimated by fierce fighting over the past two months. The capture of the city would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.

ZAGREB, Croatia  Moscow is accusing Croatia of having an anti-Russian policy for failing to provide humanitarian passage for 24 Russian diplomats and embassy staff who were expelled from the country over the war in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Monday that the government of Croatia is systematically destroying bilateral relations, according to the Russian TASS news agency.

The inhumane, cynical attitude towards our fellow countrymen wont go without an answer, she added.

Croatia has followed several other European Union states in expelling Russian diplomats for the bloody Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that Zakharovas claims are Russian propaganda and that the expelled Russians already left the country, probably via neighboring Serbia. He added that Russia attacked Ukraine, which is our friendly country, killed women and children and we responded to it like most other countries.

UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are stressing the urgent need for effective access through humanitarian corridors to evacuate Ukrainian civilians and deliver humanitarian aid to communities impacted by the war.

Guterres met Erdogan on Monday in Ankara and expressed support for Turkeys ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the war, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding that they agreed to stay in contact to follow up on ongoing initiatives.

The U.N. chief and the Turkish president reaffirmed that their common objective is to end to the war as soon as possible and to create conditions to end the suffering of civilians, Dujarric said.

During the meeting, Erdogan also said Turkey would continue to work closely with the U.N. to end the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and to help in the evacuation of civilians, .

Guterres is scheduled to travel to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and will then head to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday. The Ukrainian leader has criticized the secretary-general for visiting Moscow before going to Kyiv.

LONDON  The British government says it believes 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion two months ago.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said 25% of the Russian combat units sent to Ukraine have been rendered not combat effective, and Russia had lost more than 2,000 armored vehicles and more than 60 helicopters and fighter planes.

Russia has acknowledged 1,351 military casualties.

Wallace said Russia had failed in most of its military objectives so far. He told British lawmakers that we anticipate this next phase of the invasion will be an attempt by Russia to occupy further the Donbas in order to connect it via Mariupol to Russian-controlled Crimea. He said international aid and weapons are crucial to help Ukraine withstand the anticipated onslaught.

Wallace said Britain had sent more than 5,000 antitank missiles, as well as air-defense systems and anti-air missiles, and would soon send a small number of Stormer armored vehicles equipped with missile launchers.

STOCKHOLM  Two newspapers - one Swedish, the other one Finnish - are reporting that the governments of Sweden and Finland have agreed to submit NATO applications at the same time and that it will happen in the middle of next month.

The Finnish newspaper Iltalehti said that the Swedish government has expressed a wish to Finland that they apply together in the week ending May 22, and Swedish government sources confirmed the information to Swedens Expressen tabloid.

Russias invasion of Ukraine has led to growing support in Sweden and Finland, a Russian neighbor, for joining NATO.

Though not members, both Nordic countries closely cooperate with NATO, allowing, among other things, the alliances troops to exercise on their soil. Helsinki and Stockholm have also substantially intensified their bilateral defense cooperation in the past years.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. State Department says it has approved the sale of $165 million in legacy Warsaw Pact ammunition and other non-standard ammunition to Ukraine to help in its defense against Russia.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved the potential sale and has provided the legally required notification to Congress. Lawmakers can block weapons sales but are unlikely to do so because of strong support for Ukraine following the Feb. 24 invasion.

This proposed sale will support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe, the State Department said in announcing the potential sale Monday.

The sale came at the request of Ukraines government and includes rounds for mortars, automatic grenade launchers and howitzers.

Russia is expelling 40 German diplomats in response to Germany expelling the same number of Russian diplomats earlier this month.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that it had summoned German ambassador Geza Andreas von Geyr for a strong protest at the clearly unfriendly decision to expel the Russian diplomatic staff.

The ministry said von Geyr was told that 40 members of staff at German diplomatic missions in Russia would be officially declared unwelcome in Russia.

Germany announced the expulsion of 40 Russian diplomats on Apr. 4 following mounting evidence of civilian killings and mass graves in Bucha, near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark  Environmental campaigners have used kayaks and a dinghy to stop a Russian oil tanker from unloading its cargo south of Norways capital, saying Norwegian companies are financing Russias warfare.

Greenpeace says its members chained themselves to the Hong Kong-registered Ust Luga, leased by Russian oil company Novatek, as it arrived at its destination, an Essos terminal near Toensberg.

The tanker with 95,000 tonnes of fuel had left St. Petersburg.

Esso spokeswoman Anne Fougner told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet that the oil had been bought before Russia invaded Ukraine. She added that Esso Norway does not have other contracts for the purchase of products from Russia.

Several other activists were stopped by police before they could take part in the action, Norwegian news agency NTB reported.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands  The International Criminal Courts prosecution office is joining a joint investigation team set up by Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland to probe atrocities committed during the war in Ukraine.

The ICCs Prosecutor Karim Khan signed an agreement Monday to participate in the multinational effort that aims to facilitate investigations and cooperation.

Eurojust, the European Unions judicial cooperation agency, says the agreement sends a clear message that all efforts will be undertaken to effectively gather evidence on core international crimes committed in Ukraine and bring those responsible to justice.

Khan said last month he was opening an investigation in Ukraine and has sent investigators there and visited crime scenes himself.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian authorities say at least five people have been killed by Russian strikes on the central Vynnytsia region.

The Vynnytsia regional prosecutors said another 18 people were wounded in Mondays Russian missile strikes on the towns of Zhmerynka and Koziatyn.

Vinnytsia regional Governor Serhiy Borzov said earlier that the Russian missiles targeted critical infrastructure, but didnt elaborate.

The Vynnytsia region is fully controlled by Ukraine and is far behind the front lines.

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine has said the United Nations should step in to oversee an evacuation route for civilians from the besieged steel mill in Mariupol which is Ukrainian troops last stronghold in the port city.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the Telegram messaging app that a Russian announcement of a humanitarian corridor out of the Azovstal plant to operate later Monday was not agreed to by Ukraine. Vereshchuk added that Ukraine does not consider the route safe for that reason and said Russia had breached agreements on similar evacuation routes before.

Ukrainian officials have said that up to 1,000 civilians have sheltered at the sprawling steel plant.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to visit Russia and Ukraine this week. Vereshchuk called on Guterres to be the initiator and guarantor of a humanitarian route out of Azovstal and for U.N. and International Committee of the Red Cross personnel to accompany any evacuees.

MOSCOW  Russias Energy Ministry says a massive fire at an oil depot in western Russia will not cause fuel shortages.

The ministry said in a statement that Mondays fire inflicted damage to a depot containing diesel fuel in Bryansk, and authorities are dealing with the consequences of the blaze.

The ministry said fuel supplies to consumers havent been interrupted and noted that the region has enough diesel fuel for 15 days.

The Emergencies Ministry said earlier that a huge blaze erupted overnight at the depot owned by Transneft-Druzhba, a subsidiary of the Russian state-controlled company Transneft, which operates the western-bound Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline carrying crude to Europe. It wasnt immediately clear what caused the blaze, and whether it could affect deliveries to Europe.

MOSCOW  Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the U.S. and its allies of trying to split Russian society.

Speaking Monday at a meeting with top officials at the Prosecutor Generals office, Putin said Russia has come under unprecedented Western sanctions amid its military action in Ukraine.

He charged that the U.S, and its allies have sought to split the Russian society and to destroy Russia from within, adding that their plans have failed.

Putin urged Russian prosecutors to act more quickly to block unsanctioned demonstrations organized from abroad. He also noted that they should focus on exposing open provocations against the Russian military allegedly involving international media and social platforms.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as encouraging and effective.

Speaking in Mondays video address, he said the U.S. is offering powerful support to his country. Zelenskyy added that they agreed on further steps to strengthen the armed forces of Ukraine and meet all the priority needs of our army. He noted that ramping up sanctions against Moscow also was on the meetings agenda.

Blinken and Austin said the United States had approved a $165 million sale of ammunition for Ukraines war effort, along with more than $300 million in foreign military financing.

Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine would expect the United States to lead other allies in offering a set of security guarantees in the future.

The Ukrainian president also denounced Russia for launching strikes on Orthodox Easter Sunday, describing them deliberate destruction of life in Ukraine.

MOSCOW  The Russian military says it will open a humanitarian corridor for civilians to evacuate from the besieged steel plant in Mariupol.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a humanitarian corridor will open at 2 p.m (1100 GMT) Monday for all civilians to leave the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. It said Russian troops will cease fire to allow civilians to safely exit the plant.

The mammoth steel plant, which has a sprawling maze of underground channels. has remained the last bulwark of Ukrainian resistance in the strategic Sea of Azov port city.

Ukrainian officials have said that up to 1,000 civilians have sheltered there. They have repeatedly urged Russia to offer them a safe exit.

MOSCOW  Russian authorities say a fire has engulfed an oil storage facility in western Russia.

The Emergencies Ministry said a huge blaze at the depot in the city of Bryansk erupted early Monday. Its cause wasnt immediately clear.

The oil depot is owned by Transneft-Druzhba, a subsidiary of the Russian state-controlled company Transneft that operates the western-bound Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline carrying crude oil to Europe. It wasnt clear if the depot was part of the pipeline infrastructure and whether the blaze could affect the deliveries.

Russian news reported that another oil storage facility in Bryansk also caught fire early Monday, and that the cause wasnt immediately known.

Bryansk is located about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the border with Ukraine, where Moscow has waged a military campaign for two months. Last month, two Ukrainian helicopter gunships hit an oil reservoir in Russias Belgorod region that borders Ukraine, causing a fire.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian officials say the Russian military has unleashed a series of strikes on the countrys railways.

Lviv region Governor Maksym Kozytskyy said a Russian missile hit a railway facility in Krasne, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Lviv, early Monday, sparking a fire.

Oleksandr Kamyshin, the head of the state-run Ukrainian Railways, said a total of five rail facilities in central and western Ukraine have been hit by the Russian strikes. He said the attacks have delayed at least passenger 16 trains.

There was no immediate information about the damage from the strikes.

NEAR THE POLISH-UKRAINIAN BORDER  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Russia is failing in its war aims after invading Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Following meetings Sunday in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Blinken told reporters in Poland on Monday that, with Russia having pulled back its troops from around Kyiv and the north of Ukraine to focus on the eastern Donbas region, When it comes to Russias war aims, Russia is failing, Ukraine is succeeding.

In footage of the meeting later released by the Ukrainian presidency, Blinken praised the extraordinary courage and leadership and success that youve had in pushing back this horrific Russian aggression.

We got used to seeing you on video around the world, but its great, its good to see you in person, Blinken said with a smile.

Austin said that the world has been inspired by Ukraine in the war and that America would continue its support.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Ten-year-old Iliana (Lily) Peters was found dead Monday morning, according to Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matthew Kelm, and the missing persons case is now being pursued as a homicide investigation.

During a press conference Monday afternoon, Kelm said Peters body was found at 9:15 a.m. near the Duncan Creek Trail in downtown Chippewa Falls. She was a fourth-grader at Parkview Elementary School.

No suspect is currently in custody, and the Chippewa County Coroner confirmed the deceased body to be that of Iliana Peters. More information will be made available as it becomes available.

At 9 p.m. Sunday, the Chippewa Falls Police Department was contacted by Lilys father who advised that Lily had not returned home from a visit to her aunts house in the 400 block of N. Grove St.

Officers learned that Lily was last seen by family members in the evening. She was supposed to be heading home to the 50 block of E. Birch St. Officers and family checked the area and contacted family and friends, but she was not located.

After dark, officers learned that a bicycle believed to belong to Lily was located in the woods a short distance from her aunts residence near the walking trail between the end of N. Grove Street and the Leinenkugels brewery parking lot.

K9 teams from the Chippewa County Sheriffs Department and the Lake Hallie Police Department were called in to search the area Sunday night. Also, the Chippewa County Sheriffs Departments drone was used to search the wooded area.

Law enforcement and fire/EMS search teams searched this area and conducted door to door canvassing overnight.

The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation was contacted and, at that point, the incident did not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert.

As this is an active investigation, this is all of the information that can be provided at this time.

Anyone with information contact the Chippewa County Dispatch Center at 715-726-7701 Option 1.
Remy Tiu is photographed by her friend Candy Manuel, after they both drove from Elgin to see the blooming cherry trees south of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago on April 26, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

The largest single group of cherry trees in Chicago is at the cusp of full bloom, with peak viewing expected to start within days.

Thousands of people have come to see the 160 trees surrounding the Columbia Basin lagoon, just south of the Museum of Science and Industry, according to Chicago Park District manager of art initiatives Michael Dimitroff.

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Dimitroff said that 5,000 people viewed the pink and white blooms last weekend alone, with some laying out blankets in the spirit of hanami, the Japanese tradition of savoring cherry blossom season with leisurely viewings, picnics and festivals.

It was the picture of harmony, Dimitroff said. It was like Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte  the Seurat painting but the Japanese hanami version.

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Remy Tiu is photographed by her friend Candy Manuel, who drove from Elgin to see the cherry blossoms south of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago on April 26, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Americas romance with cherry blossoms was imported from Japan, where the blooms are celebrated as symbols of spring and the fleeting nature of beauty.

Theres something beautiful about every stage of the process: watching the buds, watching them fully open, when the little heart-shaped petals fall to the ground, the fragrance in the air, said Park District operations support manager Karen Szyjka.

You can go out there even when its raining; (you can go) in the morning or in the evening. Theres something to be appreciated in every moment, she said.

The Park District is posting updates on the blossoms progress and will hold a free Hanami Sakura Celebration Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. at Jackson Park, in partnership with the Japanese Arts Foundation, Japanese Culture Center, Consulate General of Japan in Chicago and the Jackson Park Advisory Council. The event will feature traditional drumming and dancing, origami and haiku

Blooming cherry blossoms south of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Americas signature cherry blossom display was born in 1912, when Japan gave 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, D.C., to be planted along the Potomac River. Those trees would be joined by others, and today Washingtons cherry blossom festival is a tourist attraction and a widely recognized rite of spring.

Chicago, with its notoriously punishing climate, was a less obvious candidate for a mass planting. But beginning in 2013, the nonprofit Project 120 and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago took on the challenge.

They planted trees in Jackson Park to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the 1893 Worlds Fair and the 50th anniversary of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago, according to the consulate general of Japan in Chicago and the Park District.

People take photographs under the cherry blossoms south of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago on April 26, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

There were years when the temperamental young trees barely bloomed or the wind carried off the blossoms within days, but 2021 brought a full-fledged viewing season.

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If the weather holds, this years blossoms could last another week or two, but then again, a storm could bring them down in two days, Dimitroff said.

Its all weather dependent, he said, and thats in keeping with hanami. The idea is, its a fleeting moment in your life, so go out and celebrate.

nschoenberg@chicagotribune.com
Four female Nebraska state senators launched a fund Tuesday to support women who have accused GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles W. Herbster of touching them inappropriately. Meanwhile, Herbsters campaign launched a biting ad rebutting the allegations.

April 14, the Nebraska Examiner reported allegations from eight women who said Herbster had groped them. Sen. Julie Slama was the only named accuser, and The World-Herald did not independently corroborate the other seven accounts. Three people later used their names to corroborate specific details with the Examiner.

The news sent a shock wave through the competitive Republican race, in which Herbster is considered one of the front-runners. Every female state senator condemned Herbster, as did several other powerful political figures.

Herbster has vehemently denied all the allegations, framing them as a political hit job coordinated by fellow front-runner and University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen and his most prominent backer, Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Herbster filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that Slama made false and defamatory statements when she confirmed the allegations to the Examiner and repeated them on Omaha radio station KFAB. Monday, Slama filed a response denying Herbsters accusations, along with a counterclaim alleging battery.

At a Tuesday press conference in La Vista, State Sens. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha, Joni Albrecht of Thurston, Suzanne Geist of Lincoln and Rita Sanders of Bellevue reinforced their support for Slama and announced the creation of the Herbster Victim Witness Defense Fund.

The women, all Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, said they aim to prevent the threat of litigation from silencing women and witnesses by providing them financial resources and connections to legal counsel.

Were standing here today, united, with a message for those who have been subject to sexual misconduct at the hands of Charles W. Herbster: We stand with you. We support you. And, if you choose to come forward or are otherwise targeted, we will have your backs, Albrecht said.

The four senators are listed online as the funds board of directors. They said they were the only four senators at the announcement because of the time it would take to organize the 13 women in the Legislature, and because, as the only five Republican women in the body (including Slama), theyre a team that often works together.

Albrecht and Geist said they have received letters from Herbsters lawyer asking them to preserve records.

The letter to Geist from attorney David Alan Warrington demanded the senator preserve any and all documents, communications, and/or other information that may be pertinent to the defamatory statements described in the letter and contained in the Nebraska Examiner article.

The two senators both said they wouldnt be intimidated into silence.

He knows who these people are, Linehan said. We dont know who they are. So were trying to send a message the only way we know how, that if youre scared, if youre getting bullied, if youre getting letters from lawyers, come to us. We will help you.

The Herbster campaign did not answer a question regarding who else received such letters and directed The World-Herald to Herbsters attorneys.

The legal actions being taken by Charles W. Herbster to clear his name and reputation are in the hands of his attorneys, the campaigns statement reads.

An attorney listed on Herbsters lawsuit did not immediately respond to questions about the letters.

Linehan said fund organizers havent started raising money or identified legal counsel, but she sounded confident they could do both. The fund would keep peoples accounts confidential until they feel thats not needed, she said.

Herbster campaign manager Ellen Keast framed the legislators announcement as just another attempt by the Jim Pillen campaign and Ricketts establishment machine to sling mud at Herbster ahead of the May 10 primary. Keast pointed out that the four lawmakers have endorsed Pillen and received financial donations from Ricketts in the past. The World-Herald verified that information.

It is absolutely shameful that they would use such serious matters to push a political smear campaign, Keast said.

The four senators said their support for Pillen was unrelated to their announcement.

This isnt about Jim Pillen, Sanders said. This is about Julie Slama and other victims that might be out there.

Also Tuesday, Herbsters campaign launched an ad aimed at Slama, Pillen and Ricketts.

Clarence Thomas, then Brett Kavanaugh, the ad starts. Lies stacked up to ruin them. Now, Pillen and Ricketts are doing it to Charles W. Herbster.

The ad lists connections between Ricketts, Slama (without naming her) and Slamas relatives.

Slama was Ricketts campaign press secretary before Ricketts appointed her to the Legislature, and he appointed her now-husband and sister to political posts.

The ad also said Slama continued to contact Herbster after the alleged incident, something Slama has acknowledged. She also has noted what she called the power differential between Republican mega-donor Herbster and herself as a newly appointed legislator.

Slamas attorney, Dave Lopez, said the Herbster ad tried to bully sexual assault victims into silence.

Herbsters ad slanders Senator Slamas family members and promotes a far-ranging conspiracy theory that other people are behind well-corroborated reports of sexual assault and harassment of eight women and at least three on-the-record witness accounts, Lopez said in a statement. Charles Herbster is solely responsible for the harm he inflicted against Senator Slama, and he will answer for it in court.

Lopez said Slama will take the appropriate steps to hold him accountable for this latest round of slander against her and called on news media outlets to conduct their own due diligence and force Herbster to show a factual basis for the conspiratorial claims in this ad for this ad to continue to run.

Tuesday afternoon, Herbsters campaign said it had not canceled anything related to ads.

Linehan called the ad disgusting.

People need to know they can come forward, and they will be protected, she said. And thats why were here today.

At a GOP gubernatorial debate Monday, Herbster said he wouldnt have any trouble working with women in the Legislature after they issued the letter in which they called him unfit to serve.

Geist was less certain.

I think whoever wins the election needs to build a relationship of trust with the Legislature, she said. I would say, speaking for myself, that has been severely tested through this, and it would be very difficult.

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There is some debate about the actual line, which has been repeated two different ways, but if my research is correct, William Congreves 1697 play The Mourning Bride is the original (and probably correct) utterance: Music has charms to soothe a savage breast.

Modernity sometimes sees the word beast instead of breast, but to the extent that both refer to human emotion, either word works.

Ive been trying to avoid as much political news as possible the past few months. In addition to the usual high-stakes drama that we see in electoral politics, it seems to me that there is a lot of citizen anger out there. I get the bulk emails, I see the flags, I notice the social media postings accusing elected officials of all sorts of evil and I suspect the truth is probably somewhere short of where the most passionate among us suggest.

Im not a musician. Eight years of piano lessons in my youth were largely wasted on me. I can read music, but Ive never been a performer. But I am a music appreciator and have supported involvement by my three now-grown children in band and choir through high school and college. The piano, trumpet, drum, guitar and voice lessons that we paid for over the years was money well spent; two of our kids managed to score generous music scholarships to college in addition to their academic scholarships.

As life has shifted to the new normal, weve found ourselves attending far more music events. Since the first of March, weve been to bluegrass, Elton John, college jazz vocal and instrumental concerts and Beethoven with the Lincoln Symphony.

As Ive looked around the rooms, auditoriums and arenas at these events, Ive been able to pick out people I know from all points in the political divide. And for an hour or two, we become one community  not worrying about the politics swirling about outside, but merely experiencing the sounds together. And it doesnt seem to matter what style of music.

The most recent event we attended was the Lincoln Symphonys performance of Beethovens Ninth Symphony. Our son was part of Doane Universitys choir that blended with Nebraska Wesleyans choir and Abendmusik to be a part of the symphonic event. It was a tremendous performance  both from the symphony and from the choirs.

Something struck me at the end of the fourth  and final  movement.

Most who know concert etiquette know that the audience doesnt typically start clapping until the conductor drops his arms, signifying the end of the piece.

More than one person has been embarrassed at the end of a movement when they start clapping while the orchestra is turning pages.

This piece was familiar to many in the audience, and though the audience had been patiently holding applause, when the last note rung out  before the conductor had lowered his arms  the audience rose, almost in unison and began clapping and shouting Bravo! enthusiastically. I didnt put a timer on it, but I think the applause lasted nearly 10 minutes.

As the conductor bowed, the performers all stood and the choral conductors came on stage. And then it continued after the conductor left the stage, and then returned for another bow and hugs with some of his performers. As an audience, we were touched.

A social media post from the Crete High School band department made an exciting announcement a few days ago. I was on the school board when we built the current high school and our band room was designed with the ambitious goal of having something like 120 students in the band at one time.

Within a few years, we exceeded that number and our directors had to get creative in arranging chairs, in breaking out for sectional rehearsals, etc.

There are 165 high school students signed up for band next year and the band program will be offering two band opportunities  a by rehearsal symphonic wind ensemble and the traditional band  with the idea that if they divide them up, they will be able to continue to offer band opportunities to everyone without running out of space. More students in band mean more parents and grandparents at band concerts and more opportunities for us to come together  at least in our own community.

We all need more live music. Music that can take us away from the world for a few hours and music that can bring widely disparate people together for a time.

Laura Ebke is a wife, mother of three and grandma of one. A lifelong Nebraskan who has lived in Crete for more than 25 years, she has a doctorate in political science from the University of Nebraska, serves as senior fellow at the Platte Institute and previously served four years in the Nebraska Legislature and 12 years on the Crete school board.
NORMAL  Carle BroMenn Medical Center recognized National Donate Life Month on Tuesday with an event honoring six patients who donated organs last year.

The event focused on Theo Briggs, who died in July. His surviving brother, Corey Briggs, works at Carle BroMenn, according to Carle Health. The organs donated by the six donors last year saved 18 lives.

Carle BroMenn staff were joined by representatives from Gift of Hope, including CEO Harry Wilkins and Donation Liaison Elizabeth Ewing. Gift of Hope is the organ procurement organization that covers most of Illinois and part of Indiana. It is one of 57 such organizations that together are the national donation system.

There are more than 100,000 people waiting for organ transplant, according to Donate Life America, which organizes National Donate Life Month. Seventeen of those people die each day waiting for a transplant. Last year there were 41,000 transplants from 20,300 donors.

To join the organ and tissue registry through the Illinois Secretary of State's office, visit https://apps.ilsos.gov/organdonorregister.

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BLOOMINGTON  A Normal man faces six felony charges in relation to a January 2021 shooting in Bloomington.

Javon T. Murff, 19, is accused of firing a gun at an occupied residence and vehicle around 6:50 p.m. Jan. 30, 2021, in the 1500 block of Forrest Street in Bloomington.

Court documents said Murff stole a 9 mm handgun from a man through the use or threat of force.

No injuries were reported in the shooting.

Murff is charged with the following:

Two counts aggravated discharge of a firearm (Class 1 felony)

Robbery (Class 2 felony)

Possession of a stolen firearm (Class 2 felony)

Two counts aggravated unlawful use of a weapon (Class 4 felony)

Two counts reckless discharge of a firearm (Class 4 felony)

A warrant for Murffs arrest was issued last week and returned Saturday with a bond preliminarily set at $150,000 at 10%. A judge ordered Murffs bond to remain as set Monday, meaning Murff needs $15,035 to be released from custody.

An arraignment is scheduled for May 13.

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BLOOMINGTON  Development plans for new housing and several new businesses were set to move forward after approval from the Bloomington City Council on Monday.

Council members approved a development agreement with owners of the CII East building at 102 East St., which would be turned into community housing. Council members also approved several measures related to a new QuikTrip fueling station, a new extended-stay hotel and a new breakfast and lunch restaurant.

CII East

In a memo to council members, city staff said a tentative agreement had been reached with the developer, 102 South East LLC, to invest a minimum of $4 million to renovate the building, which has remained vacant for years and fallen into disrepair. In addition to the renovations, the project would add eight apartment units, four short-term rental apartments and 5,600 square feet of private office space.

Managers of the developer are listed as Robert M. Osenga and Andrew S. Kaufmann in state financial records.

Under the agreement, the city would continue to collect the same amount of property taxes it had in 2021 but would waive additional property taxes on the increased property value beyond that amount. It also would waive its 6% short-term rental tax and provide 20 parking spaces in the Lincoln Garage, which is across East Street from the building.

The deal is contingent on the developer finalizing an agreement for property tax abatement with the Bloomington District 87 school district.

Patrick Hoban, president and CEO of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, spoke in support of the agreement, saying the project represented an opportunity to provide new homes and beautify the corridor leading into downtown from the south.

We need something to attract more people because we have more expansion on the way, he said.

QuikTrip development

Council members voted to annex 80 acres west of Interstate 55 and south of West Market Street as part of the agreement for the new station, which would be built near the unincorporated Bloomington Heights neighborhood. A QuikTrip spokesperson said the facility would be aimed at truckers on short trips and would not offer overnight parking, showers or lounges.

Although there were no public comments related to the hotel plans or CII East development, several residents voiced concerns about the fuel station development and its potential to cause light and sound pollution, along with other issues.

The council voted on several individual items related to the QuikTrip development, including annexing the property and rezoning it to align with its intended uses. Members also approved a site plan for the development, which calls for a vehicle fueling station, convenience store and associated parking areas on 7.1 acres.

Each item was passed unanimously by the council with the exception of Ward 4 Ald. Julie Emig voting against the annexation agreement, citing concerns about economic, environmental and quality-of-life impacts.

I see a lot of positives for this development and as a community it does provide solid infrastructure and potentially will help residential development on the west side of town and provides revenue through taxation, Emig said. However there are a variety concerns that have surfaced  in the end I will not be supporting this and voting no to represent some of the legitimate concerns that have been raised.

As part of the annexation agreement, QuikTrip would install what city officials described in a memo as significant infrastructure, including the extension of Wylie Drive and J.C. Parkway, improvements to Bloomington Heights Road, new sidewalks, multi-use paths and improvements to allow pedestrians to cross Market Street safely.

Prior to voting on all four motions, council members heard residents express their wariness about the proposed development.

We could do better for the city of Bloomington by providing housing versus fueling stations, said resident Shannon Ramirez. I just ask that when it is time for you to vote, consider it in your backyard.

Ramirez said the possible increase in sound and light pollution that would come with the influx of vehicles will create a disturbance for residents in the surrounding neighborhood of Bloomington Heights.

Resident Denise Bologna said the other issue is the lack of promises from QuikTrip about prohibiting overnight parking by truck drivers and pointed toward issues at other travel centers around Bloomington like the TA or Pilot travel centers, which have both seen trucks parked with their engines running throughout the night.

When asked about the parking situation, a Pilot employee said police leave the truckers alone as long as theyre not blocking traffic, Bologna said. If the police arent enforcing no parking on Caroline Street, how can our neighborhood be protected from semi trucks parked with engines on along J.C. Parkway and Keen (Crossing).

stayAPT Suites

In other business, the council approved plans for a hotel at 1032 Wylie Drive. The project is being developed by stayAPT Suites, a North Carolina brand of extended-stay hotels with locations scattered throughout the East Coast and plans to expand in the Midwest.

The vote, taken without discussion during the councils consent agenda, included approval of a site plan for the development of the 2.3-acre plot and a special use permit for the 76-room hotel.

Notices were previously mailed to 20 property owners within 500 feet of the hotel development. The citys planning commission held a public hearing April 6 and voted to recommend approval of the plans to the city council.

New restaurant

The council also approved a development agreement with the owners of a new restaurant, Egg Republic, planned for 511 Chancellor Drive. The business owner, Toastman Group II, sought municipal sales tax and food and beverage tax reimbursements as part of its plans to redevelop a vacant former restaurant.

The 4,500-square-foot building had been home to Caffe Italia, which closed in 2018 and has been vacant since.

Under the agreement, half of the sales tax and food and beverage taxes generated by the property would be reimbursed to the Toastman Group II over a five-year period. City staff said the development would not take place without the incentives, which they said were needed to make the project financially feasible.

City staff said the owners operate another restaurant, Jacks Cafe in LeRoy.

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100 years ago

April 26, 1922: This seems minor but it was key to making the lot ready for construction of the McBarnes Memorial Building on Grove Street. The city agreed to vacate 2 feet of property on the east and west sides of East Street. It was the final action needed to prepare the property.

75 years ago

April 26, 1947: A Woodford County jury acquitted the Hollingsworth brothers of the stabbing death of Edward Bennett, 15, of El Paso. A third man admitted to the crime. But Bennets father was upset. He called the verdict mechanics of the law (working) so well to obstruct justice.

50 years ago

April 26, 1972: A special unit of the state police has joined the statewide hunt for Corene Marie Burchies killer. The ISU coeds body was found in Macon County a day after she was reported missing. Meanwhile another coed reported an attempted attack near campus Monday night.

25 years ago

April 26, 1997: Police think they have solved the case of the murders of two Chicago prostitutes. The suspect has confessed to killing eight women, including Cassie Corum, 21. Her body was found in Livingston County last July. Corum was also believed to be a prostitute.

Compiled by Jack Keefe; jkeefe@coldwellhomes.com.
Asian stocks rallied, taking their cue from Wall Street, and European shares are tipped to open over 1% higher.



Yet the headwinds that grabbed market attention on Monday have not gone away and will continue to test the bounceback.



Let's start with Russia. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday warned the world not to underestimate the considerable risks of nuclear conflict. read more



Then, central banks. The European Central Bank's Martins Kazaks joined a chorus of policymakers calling for a swift exit from stimulus, suggesting the ECB should raise rates soon and has room for up to three hikes this year. read more



Finally, China. Three-quarters of Beijing's 22 million people lined up for COVID-19 tests on Tuesday, as authorities in the Chinese capital raced to stamp out an outbreak.



Fears of the kind of city-wide lockdown that has shrouded Shanghai for a month are raising concerns for the world's second-biggest economy. Any slowdown will no doubt ripple out more widely.



Such worries have pummelled the yuan, pushing it 3.5% lower this month. It got minimal marginal respite from the central bank's pledge on Monday to cut the amount of foreign exchange banks must hold as reserves.



The session ahead will be dominated by earnings. In the European banking landscape, HSBC stood out with a 27% Q1 profit drop which contrasted with the resilience displayed by UBS and Santander read more .



Twitter's stock market value has lagged rivals

Key developments that should provide more direction to markets on Tuesday:



- Japan jobless rate hits lowest in almost 2 years



- UK public borrowing above govt forecasts in 2021/22 year



- Hungary's Central Bank expected to hike rates



- US consumer confidence April/new home sales



- US Two-year note auction



- European earnings: Thule, SKF



- US earnings: UPS, 3M, General Electric, JetBluel, Northern Trust, Alphabet, Capital One, Chipotle, General Motors, Microsoft, Mondelez, Visa, Texas Instruments,

Source: REUTERS









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The literacy Promotion Manager of the Ghana Book Development Council (GBDC), Daniel Ofosu-Asamoah, has revealed that Accra has been named to host the 2023 UNESCO World Book Capital.



The designation is meant to promote the local book industry, libraries, books, reading, awareness of literacy, and a lively book culture as well as to promote tourism, and draw national and international attention to the literary heritage of the city and nation.



According to him, Ghana hosting the world book capital in 2023 will help people appreciate the benefits of reading, especially students, as this would help change their mindsets.



He made this statement during the commemoration of the World Book and Copyright Day, which took place on Monday, April 25, 2022, at Omanye Aba Hall, Accra Metropolitan Assembly Head Office, Accra.



The World Book and Copyright Day is an important day celebrated by member states of the United Nations (UN) organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), every year, to promote reading, publishing and copyright.



The event was organised under the theme "reading to develop minds"

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The board of Twitter has agreed to a $44bn (34.5bn) takeover offer from the billionaire Elon Musk.



Mr Musk, who made the shock bid less than two weeks ago, said Twitter had "tremendous potential" that he would unlock.



He also called for a series of changes from relaxing its content restrictions to eradicating fake accounts.



The firm initially rebuffed Mr Musk's bid, but it will now ask shareholders to vote to approve the deal.



Mr Musk is the world's richest person, according to Forbes magazine, with an estimated net worth of $273.6bn mostly due to his shareholding in electric vehicle maker Tesla which he runs. He also leads the aerospace firm SpaceX.



"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Mr Musk said in a statement announcing the deal.



"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans," he added.

"Twitter has tremendous potential - I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."



The move comes as Twitter faces growing pressure from politicians and regulators over the content that appears on its platform. It has drawn critics from left and right over its efforts to mediate misinformation on the platform.



In one of its most high-profile moves, last year it banned former US President Donald Trump, perhaps its most powerful user, citing the risk of "incitement of violence".



At the time Mr Musk observed: "A lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech."



News of the takeover has been cheered by the right in the US, although Mr Trump on Monday told Fox News he had no plans to re-join the platform.



The White House declined to comment on the takeover but spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters: "No matter who owns or runs Twitter, the president has long been concerned about the power of large social media platforms."



On Twitter, MP Julian Knight, chairman of the UK's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, called the deal an "extraordinary development in the world of social media".



"It will be interesting to see how a privately owned Twitter (run by a man who is an absolutist over free speech) will react to global moves to regulate."



Controversial history



Mr Musk, who has more than 80 million followers on Twitter, has a controversial history on the platform himself.



In 2018 US financial regulators accused him of misleading Tesla investors with his tweets, claims that were resolved in a $40 million settlement and that Mr Musk continues to deny.



And in 2019 he was hit with a defamation suit - which he successfully defeated - after calling a diver involved in rescuing schoolboys in Thailand "pedo guy" on the platform.



On Monday, Mr Musk, who has been known to clash with journalists and block critics, suggested that he saw Twitter as a forum for debate.



"I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means," he wrote just hours before the deal was announced.



Can Musk turn Twitter around?



As part of the takeover, which is expected to close later this year, Twitter's shares will be delisted and it will be taken private.



Mr Musk has suggested this will give him freedom to make the changes he wants to the business.



Among other ideas, he has suggested allowing longer posts and introducing the ability to edit them after they have been published.



Twitter shares on Monday closed more than 5% higher after the deal was announced.



But the price remained lower than Mr Musk's $54.20 per share offer, a sign that Wall Street believes he is overpaying for the firm.



Mr Musk has said he doesn't "care about the economics" of the purchase. However, he will take on a company with a chequered record of financial performance.



Despite its influence, Twitter has rarely turned a profit and user growth, particularly in the US, has slowed.



The company, founded in 2004, ended 2021 with $5bn in revenue and 217 million daily users globally - a fraction of the figures claimed by other platforms such as Facebook.



Bret Taylor, chair of Twitter's board, said it had fully assessed Mr Musk's offer and it was "the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders".



It is not clear who will lead the company moving forward. Twitter is currently led by Parag Agrawal, who took over from co-founder and former boss Jack Dorsey last November.



But in his offer document, Mr Musk told Twitter's board: "I don't have confidence in management."

Mr Agrawal told employees on Monday that the future of Twitter is uncertain.



"Once the deal closes, we don't know which direction the platform will go," he said, according to the Reuters news agency.



Shareholder vote



Mr Musk's targeting of Twitter has moved at remarkable speed. It emerged at the beginning of April that he had become the largest shareholder in the firm with a 9.2% stake.



He was then invited to join Twitter's board but turned down the offer before launching a surprise bid for the company on 14 April, saying he wanted to "unlock" its potential as a bastion of freedom of speech.



Twitter tried to fend off his bid, threatening to dilute the shareholdings of anyone who bought more than a 15% stake in the firm. However, its stance shifted after Mr Musk revealed more financial details about his proposed bid.



He has secured $25.5bn of financing for the deal and will take a $21bn stake in the business.



The board unanimously approved the bid, which will now be presented to shareholders for a vote.

Source: BBC









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The United Kingdom (UK) is supporting Ghana in its economic recovery efforts, following the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, has said.

She said given the existing relations between the two countries, the UK would continue to support Ghana to bounce back from the pandemic, which had had devastating consequences on economies across the world.



There are particular sectors where Ghanas government has urgent priority to ensure economic growth and job creation. So the sectors we are focusing on include pharmaceutical, garments and textiles, automotive and agro-processing, Ms Thompson told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday on the sidelines of a press conference.



She did not provide numbers to back her assertion, as she did not have them ready.



Economic conditions



Moreover, she said, the UK government would continue to work with the government of Ghana and its private sector on the economic conditions that would encourage international investment in the sectors mentioned and also the growth of the domestic industry that would help create the jobs that Ghana needed.



Ms Thompson said during the COVID-19 period, the government of Ghana dealt with what was critically a difficult pandemic, resulting in people commending it for the steps it took to contain the spread of the virus.



Frequently, she said, her visitors told her that they were impressed by the discipline among Ghanaians as they wore their face masks.



Other areas



On education, she indicated that the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had a long-standing and deeply held personal commitment to support Ghanas educational sector.



That, Ms Thompson said, was being done at all levels, such as policy development and implementation, support for the Ministry of Education to deliver the reforms it had identified and the training, with the support of the government of Ghana and the University of Cape Coast, of 70,000 teachers, so that children in school would get quality education.



During the pandemic, she said, the UK supported Ghana through remote learning, provision of content through radio and the running of programmes that saw teachers in urban centres providing lessons for children remotely to keep them learning.



Security



In the area of security, the British High Commissioner said there was a long-standing partnership between the UK and Ghana, and that this year we are looking to support Ghanas security and defence forces to support regional security efforts. This will build on the Presidents strong position against coups in the subregion.



Regarding equipment, Ms Thompson explained that the two countries recently signed a contract for the supply of Huskie armoured vehicles to Ghana, which would be delivered soon, as well as the provision of counter identification (ID) equipment.



She said the UK had supported over 20,000 households in Ghana with cash transfers to enable them to buy food and send their children to school.



Russia-Ukraine



On the current Russia/Ukraine issue, she said the war was a war of choice, saying Vladimir Putin, without provocation, decided to attack a sovereign country.



There is increasing evidence of crimes being committed by Russian troops in Ukraine. We have seen them attacking apartment buildings, targetting hospitals (a maternity hospital); we have seen them repeatedly refusing to allow civilians to leave centres of hostilities, despite humanitarian corridors being opened.



So the UK is very clear that Russia is acting in contravention of the UN Charter, international humanitarian laws and we are very glad that the international community is already collecting the evidence, so that when the time comes, the International Criminal Court will be able to decide what crimes have been committed and to make sure those who are responsible have to account, she said.



Effects on Ghana



Undoubtedly, she said, the war was having an effect on Ghana, just like the UK and other countries, as, for instance, there had been increases in the prices of fuel and food.



She said the UK would continue to support Ukraine for the resilience its people were showing and also support their needs.



The UK, she said would love to see a diplomatic solution to the war and condemned the action Russia had taken against a sovereign state.



For her part, the Deputy Head of Political at the British High Commission, Lara Hampshire, said as the Lead on the UN Security Council and multilateral matters, she had the opportunity of going to New York to meet not only the UK Mission but also its Ghanaian counterpart based at the mission in New York.















Source: graphiconline.com









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President Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives Lao Vice President Pany Yathotou

Vietnam and Laos need to maintain the regular exchange of delegations and high-ranking officials and strive to turn economic, trade and investment cooperation into a pillar of bilateral relations, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on April 26.













President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) shakes hands with Vice President of Laos Pany Yathotou (Photo: VNA)



President Phuc made the statement while hosting a reception in Hanoi for Vice President of Laos Pany Yathotou, who is paying an official visit to Vietnam.



The Vietnamese President spoke highly of the contributions made by the Lao Vice President to the development of Laos-Vietnam special relations and congratulated Laos on the countrys important achievements in recent years.



He expressed his belief that under the leadership of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP), its people will effectively carry out the resolution issued at the 11th National Congress of the LPRP as well as the socio-economic development plan for 20212025, bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control, and revive the economy.



Welcoming the results of talks held earlier the same day between the Lao Vice President and her Vietnamese counterpart Vo Thi Anh Xuan, President Phuc underlined that, to promote the efficiency of the bilateral cooperation, the two sides should collaborate in order to carry out agreements reached by high-ranking officials, particularly the outcomes of a State visit by the Vietnamese President to Laos in August 2021.



The two countries were urged to seek new sources and orientations for cooperation projects, especially strategic infrastructure that connects the two economies and capitalise on the seaport system and 17 free trade agreements Vietnam has signed, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), so as to expand markets for exports of both Vietnam and Laos.



He stressed the need to enhance cooperation in defence, security, education-training, healthcare, people-to-people exchanges, partnerships between localities, and continue supporting each other at international forums, especially in maintaining solidarity and the central role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).



For her part, Vice President Yathotou voiced her delight at paying an official visit to Vietnam in her new position and conveyed regards from General Secretary of the LPRP Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith to President Phuc and high-ranking officials of Vietnam.



She highly valued the Vietnamese peoples recent achievements in all fields, especially in the implementation of the resolution issued at the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.



She also thanked the Vietnamese Party, State and people for their support to Laos during the past struggle for national independence as well as the current cause of national construction, protection and development, pledging that she will spare no efforts in strengthening the Laos-Vietnam great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation.



The two sides underscored the significance of the Vietnam - Laos, Laos - Vietnam Solidarity and Friendship Year 2022 and agreed to hold activities marking the 60th founding anniversary of their diplomatic ties, and 45 years of the signing of the Vietnam - Laos Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, thereby contributing to bolstering sentiments among people of the two countries, particularly younger generations.
A Gary man was convicted Monday of killing a womans boyfriend who came to get her from his basement apartment.

Antonio Cadillac West, 54, of the 2500 block of Connecticut Street, was charged in the Sept. 8 murder of Shawn Rhyan Pewitt, 39, of Rockvale, Tennessee.

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His murder conviction carries a penalty from 45-65 years. West was also convicted of a firearms enhancement, which could add up to 20 more years.

Prosecutors said West fatally shot him after Pewitt went to pull the woman, his childs mother, from the apartment after West had supplied her drugs for several hours and forced her to have sex as payment.

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Defense lawyers Kerry Connor and Sonya Scott-Dix said the states case were various pieces of witness testimony that did not line up. It was mixed with sloppy police work including large holes in what forensics were collected from the scene, Connor said.

The woman also went freely with West and at no point  including to Lowell Police  indicated she was in danger or used her cellphone to call for help, the lawyer said.

The woman, Pewitt and another man were at a drug house nearby in Gary on Sept. 7, when West arrived, charges state. They all briefly went outside Wests apartment.

Pewitt wanted her to leave, but West told her to go inside. She did because she was afraid of him, the woman said. West forced her to have sex for six hits of crack cocaine, according to court documents.

Later on, she went with him for an appointment at a Social Security office and waited in the car. She called Pewitt, who told her to get out of the car and walk for help, documents state.

The woman was too scared and waited in the car, going back with West to his apartment, documents said. Pewitt returned to the apartment to get her, documents said.

Lets go, he said, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Hell, no, West responded.

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You want to come outside, Ill crack your head, Pewitt said.

West fired a shot that hit him once in the chest, according to court documents. The woman tried to help him, screaming for someone to call 911. West fled in a white SUV.

Pewitt was transported to Methodist Northlake where he was pronounced dead.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Jacob Brandewie and Arturo Balcazar led the states case. Senior Judge Michael Bergerson filled in for Judge Natalie Bokota during the trial.
The Interior Minister has urged officers of the Greater Accra City Response Team (CRT) to work hard and be disciplined in the discharge of their duties.



Mr. Ambrose Dery, who represented President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, made the call at the passing out ceremony of the first batch of the Greater Accra City Response Team Course 1--2022.



In all, 867 CRT trainees passed out after four weeks' rigorous training at the Army Peace Operation Training School (APOTS) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) at Burma Camp on Tuesday, April 26, 2022.



The Greater Accra City Response Team module is under the 'Operation Clean Your Frontage' campaign which was launched by President Akufo-Addo in October, last year.



The four-week course trained the CRT officers in traffic management, voice procedure reporting, first aid, VIP protection, crowd control, and sensitising Ghanaians on good sanitation practices among others.



Four recruits  Ernestina Afriyie, Florence Jean, Caleb Mensah and Ransford Lartey  were adjudged the Overall Best Student and Best Student in Bravo Company, Best Student in Challenge Company, and Best Student in Delta Company respectively.



Mr. Dery charged the CRT trainees to endeavour to work within the confines of the law.



"....work always within the confines of the law, and in the discharge of your mandate, you must see the citizenry as partners and endeavour to always uphold your relationship with them," he entreated the recruits.



He said it was crucial that Ghanaians put their hands to the wheel and support the Let's Make Accra Work agenda to become successful.



He commended the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council under the able leadership of Honourable Henry Quartey for this initiative, adding that it will make it obligatory for the citizenry and corporate organisations to "clean and green their frontages."



He said the Let's Make Accra Work campaign was a "transformational agenda" in response to President Akufo-Addo's vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.



"...and under the agenda, CRT is expected to enforce traffic regulations, enforce the ban on tricycles on highways, enforce the cleaning and greening of frontages and sanitation bye-laws. They will also sensitise Ghanaians on the need to change their attitudes towards the environment," he enumerated.



Mr. Dery assured Ghanaians that the Akufo-Addo administration was committed to maintaining the peace and stability in the country.



This, he said, will continue to ensure that Ghanaians go about their businesses in peace and stability, adding that it will also help attract investors into the country.



In a welcome address, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr. Henry Quartey, pointed out that the passing out of recruits of the Accra CRT marked another milestone in making Accra a clean agenda.



As part of their mandate, he said l, members of the CRT will assist Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in areas including enforcing sanitation bye-laws, traffic regulations among others.



According to him, the CRT was expected to generate about 3500 jobs for the teeming youth.



"The passing out ceremony gives me great joy because it is an indication that the Let's Make Accra Clean campaign has come to stay," he delightfully expressed.



He was, therefore, optimistic that the trainees of the Accra CRT will deliver on their mandate.



However, he sounded a strong note of caution that any member of the CRT who decides to take the laws into his/her own hands will be dealt with accordingly.



"You will not be spared if any of you take the law into his/her own hands. Always be guided by your code of conduct and the bye-laws that established your outfit."



...don't also arrogate to yourself laws and powers that have not been vested in you," he warned.



Honourable Quartey disclosed that the Secretariat for Operation Clean Your Frontage has been commissioned and was fully operational at his ministry.



He used the opportunity to particularly expressed his ministry's appreciation to the Executive Chairman of Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, for his group's continuous support and all the stakeholders in the Let's Make Accra Work agenda.



While congratulating the CRT officers, he assured them of his ministry's support to enable them to execute their duties effectively.



In a brief remark, the General Officer Commanding the Southern Command, GAF, Brigadier General Amoasi, commended the trainees for undergoing four weeks of rigorous training.



He averred that the objectives of the programme have been "largely" achieved.



He charged the officers to make sure they are always disciplined in the line of duty.



According to Brigadier General Amoasi, cooperation between the military and civilians was important in the development of Ghana.



On display at the parade were 14 branded Greater Accra CRT pick-up vehicles that would be used by the CRT.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









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Mr Mahama Asei Seini, the Deputy Minister of Health, says all efforts must be directed to achieving the ambitious goal of ending AIDS, TB, and eliminating malaria in Ghana and Africa by 2030.



It is the benchmark by which we will be measured individually and collectively. Eliminating malaria is essential to achieving The Africa and for that matter The Ghana We Aspire To: a prosperous nation based on sustainable and inclusive growth and development, the Deputy Minister said.



Mr Asei Seini who was addressing the commemoration of the 2022 World Malaria Day in Hohoe, said the country had made progress against malaria, adding that incidence attributable to malaria had declined to 19.6 percent in 2022 from 22.6 percent in 2017.



He said despite the progress, malaria continued to pose the greatest health risk in Ghana and Africa as everyone was at risk.



Malaria cases remain high, with about 12 million malaria cases suspected out of which 5.7 million were confirmed in 2021. Our most vulnerable population faces the greatest burdens, including rural communities, children, and pregnant women, he said.



Mr Asei Seini said the persistence of malaria made achieving sustainable growth and development a challenge, placing a substantial burden on doctors, nurses, and community health workers as well as increasing costs on the national health insurance scheme.



At current levels, malaria will cost Ghanaians $32 billion over the next 10 years.



This includes more than one billion missed days of work, two billion US dollars in health system expenditures, $29 billion in private-sector losses, and $580 million in reduced household income.



He noted that a reduction in the cost would remove barriers to universal health coverage and sustainable domestic financing of health.



Mr Asei Seini said it was also critical that the fight to end malaria was sustained as a national priority, increase domestic resources, and mainstream responsibility across all sectors and at all levels.



The event was on the theme: Advance Equity. Build Resilience. End Malaria.



Dr Franklin Asiedu Bekoe, the Director of Public Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS), said a country could only progress with healthy individuals, productive workers and citizens.



He said the call to prevent and control malaria was to ensure an environment of good health and wellness and productive citizens.



He said in 2021, there were more than 5.7 million confirmed malaria cases and 391,052 admissions with a rippling effect on social and economic development.



Dr Bekoe said considering the countrys huge malaria burden, progress was critical not only for the nation but the world at large.



He said the malaria fight was one of the most inspiring health stories, resulting in great investments and strong partnerships that had culminated in dramatic progress against malaria over the years.



Working together; the government, donor agencies, health service workers, dedicated partners, civil society organizations, traditional and community leaders, and communities have reached millions of people in Ghana with effective malaria control strategies, supported by the massive deployment of logistics, such as the Long-Lasting Insecticide-treated Nets.



Dr Bekoe said Ghana had made progress with malaria control despite challenging operating conditions, including the rise in the proportion of suspected malaria cases tested from 87.3 per cent in 2017 to 97.0 per cent in 2021 and increase in the proportion of pregnant women who have taken the full dose of Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine for prevention of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp) from 8.7 to 17.0 percent in 2017 and 2021 respectively.



He noted that the government was committed to supporting the programmes in mobilizing the needed funding to implement the various proven strategies as outlined in the National Strategic Plan.



Dr Bekoe said the GHS would continue to work with stakeholders and partners for increased mobilization of domestic and external funding as well as provide guidance for appropriate malaria control policies and interventions.

Source: GNA









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Former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong, says members of the clergy are very apprehensive over the establishment of radio and TV stations by politicians.



According to Rev. Dr. Opuni Frimpong the rate at which politicians are establishing radio and TV stations for aggrandizement, calls for the intervention of the National Media Commission (NMC).



Rev. Opuni Frimpong said this when addressing a gathering at a public lecture organised by Presbyterian Church of Ghana - Akuapem Presbytery Ascension Congregation in Koforidua.



He is, therefore, calling on the NMC to ensure strict enforce ethical standards in the media space.



Until the NMC intervenes to address the issue with the owners of media houses on how to eliminate partisanship of the media and pave way for objectivity to take it course, then we will have a long way to go as a country the Former General Secretary of CCG reiterated.



The public lecture which was on the theme The Church as an Agent for Consolidating Democracy, Economic Transformation, and Social Equity in Ghana: Prospects and Challenges.



It formed part of activities marking the 100th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana - Akuapem Presbytery Ascension Congregation.





Source: gbc









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The Ofaakor Circuit Court has remanded a 31-year-old labourer in prison custody for allegedly stealing his pastor's 12 gold rings valued at GH120,000.



The accused, Danladi Abass, pleaded not guilty to the charge of stealing when he appeared before the court presided over Mr Ebenezer Osei Darko.



Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Charles Annobil, said the complainant, Rev Kelvin Bour, a pastor at the Seventh Day Good News Ambassadors Church and Abass were both residents of Everlip in Kasoa.



He said about a year ago, Abass, who was a church member of the complainant told him (complainant) that he (Abass) had dreamt about someone gifting him gold and was directed to deal in gold business.



The pastor cautioned Abass against engaging himself in the gold business because it was full of fraudsters, the prosecutor said.



Chief Inspector Annobil said the pastor, during the conversation, dashed to his room and brought out 12 gold rings valued at GH120,000 to demonstrate to the accused the quality of real gold.



He said Abass after the meeting, secretly went and stole all the 12 gold rings from his pastor's room and sold them at Adabraka.



The prosecutor said investigation was ongoing to retrieve the gold rings.





Source: GNA









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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has extended his condolences to the Government and people of Kenya over the death of the countrys first opposition President, Mwai Kibaki.



Kibaki, who served as president from December 30, 2002 to April 9, 2013, died on Friday in the capital, Nairobi.



He was 90 years.



"I extend, on behalf of the people and Government of Ghana, my heartfelt sympathies and condolence to President Uhuru Kenyatta, the people and Government of Kenya, over the death of the historic, third President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Nwai Kibaki.



"We take the occasion to renew the ties of friendship and bonds of cooperation that exist between the Ghanaian and Kenyan peoples. May his soul rest in perfect peace," President Akufo-Addo tweeted Monday.



Mr Kibaki's election in 2002 ended 40 years of one-party rule since Kenya's ndependence.



The renown economist was credited for transforming Kenya's economic fortunes that made the country an East African powerhouse.



He is survived by his children Judy Wanjiku, Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagai and Tony Githinji.



Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta who announced the death of Mr Kibaki last Friday, declared a period of mourning for the late leader.



The former head of state will be given a state funeral with the highest honors next Friday.





Source: GNA









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Dr Ebenezer Tetteh Kpalam, a Clinical Psychologist, has disclosed that the use of pain and fear as disciplinary strategies turn to create abusive tendencies in children who grow to become abusers.



Dr Kpalam, therefore, advised parents against using such negative disciplinary strategies to correct the actions of their children.



He said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tema to address the issue of domestic violence and abuse in general.



He explained that abuse was all about having control over other peoples behaviour by inflicting pain on them in diverse ways, which he said was also present in the pain and fear type of discipline.



He said parents, teachers, and caregivers must adopt an approach of explaining things to children who exhibit problematic behaviour and help them to develop good acceptable characters.



Dr Kpalam further said parents must also be consistent when introducing good behaviours to their children as that was the only way they would learn the new ways and desist from abusive tendencies.



He however advised parents who find it very difficult to correct problematic behaviours in their children to seek professional help from a psychologist at an early age to put them on the right path before it becomes too late.



The Clinical Psychologist further cautioned parents against exposing their children to violence especially the domestic type as they grow with the mindset that it was normal to either abuse their spouse or became a victim of abuse.



He also stressed that having children watch movies, videos, and cartoons filled with violence led to a rewiring of their brains to the tendency of violence and end up becoming abusers.



He said focusing on building good characters among children was key to fighting domestic violence in the long term, explaining that when the younger generation receives correction in love and isempowered against abuse, it would create a revolution in peoples homes, families, and society.





Source: GNA









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The Upper West Regional Police Command has urged hostel operators in the region to put pragmatic measures in place to improve the security systems of their hostel facilities to help safeguard the lives and properties of clients.



The command said it has come to its notice that armed robbery and raping of students was occurring in some of the hostels in Wa.



The command noted that many of the hostels in the region were being predominantly occupied by students who were prone to attacks by unscrupulous people.



Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr. Peter Ndekugri, the Upper West Regional Police Commander, raised the issues of poor security at the premises of some hostels at a meeting with operators and managers of hostels in Wa.



He indicated that it was the responsibility of the managers and owners of the hostels to protect the lives and properties of their clients.



The Regional Commander admonished the hostel managers to engage the services of qualified private security agencies to work hard to stop the menace.



We are not going to take it lightly with any hostel that will refuse to provide security for their occupants if they are attacked.



The security of your hostel is important. Do not think of abnormal profit from the hostels, the security of those occupying should be your topmost priority, he said.



Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr. Prince Gabriel Waabu, the Deputy Commander of Police, Upper West Region, warned that any hostel that would be attacked due to the negligence of the managers of that hostel to provide good security, risk having the facility closed.



According to him, improved security of the hostels would also enhance the operation of the hostels as the students would feel secure patronise them.



ACP Waabu cited an instance where a student was raped in one of the hostels because there was no security at the hostel at the time, which he said was unacceptable.



He advised the operators and managers to consider installing CCTV cameras and other detective equipment at their facilities to help fight the menace.



Some of the hostel managers commended the police for the initiative it had taken to help improve the security of the hostels but noted that the attitude of some of the students occupying the hostels was also a worry.



They, therefore, suggested that rigorous sensitisation of the students about security issues and he need to consider their personal security as their topmost priority.





Source: GNA









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A motorbike rider and his pillion have died on-the spot after crashing head-on with a moving vehicle in between Natwi-Akura and Dormabin in the Krachi East Municipality of the Oti Region.



The deceased, identified as Bisipu Iyal, 38, and Bidala Nda, 55, were found lying in the middle of the road dead.



Superintendent of Police, Mr Frank Nana Asamani, in-charge of Motor Traffic and Transport Division (MTTD) of Krachi East Municipal, who confirmed the accident to the Ghana News Agency said the bodies have been deposited at WoraWora government Hospital for autopsy while investigation are underway to ascertain what caused the accident.



He said the deceased crashed into an Opel Astra with the registration number AW1974-Z with the drivers side dented from the impact of the motorbike.



He said the driver, Bright Anku sustained some injuries and was rushed to Tokuroano Clinic and later referred to Ho Teaching Hospital for medical attention.



Mr Asamani said the accident vehicle and motorbike were towed to Tokuroano Police station for safe keeping and testing.





Source: GNA









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Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google, Meta (FB.O)and other large online platforms will have to do more to tackle illegal content or risk hefty fines under new internet rules agreed between European Union countries and EU lawmakers on Saturday.



The agreement came after more than 16 hours of negotiations. The Digital Services Act (DSA) is the second prong of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's strategy to rein in Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google, Meta (FB.O) and other U.S. tech giants.



Last month, she won backing from the 27-country bloc and lawmakers for landmark rules called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that could force Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft to change their core business practices in Europe. read more



"We have a deal on the DSA: The Digital Services Act will make sure that what is illegal offline is also seen and dealt with as illegal online - not as a slogan, as reality," Vestager said in a tweet.



EU lawmaker Dita Charanzova, who had called for such rules eight years ago, welcomed the agreement.



"Google, Meta and other large online platforms will have to act to better protect their users. Europe has made clear that they cannot act as independent digital islands," she said in a statement.



In a statement, Google said: "As the law is finalised and implemented, the details will matter. We look forward to working with policymakers to get the remaining technical details right to ensure the law works for everyone."



Under the DSA, the companies face fines up to 6% of their global turnover for violating the rules while repeated breaches could see them banned from doing business in the EU.



The new rules ban targeted advertising aimed at children or based on sensitive data such as religion, gender, race and political opinions. Dark patterns, which are tactics that mislead people into giving personal data to companies online, will also be prohibited.



Very large online platforms and online search engines will be required to take specific measures during a crisis. The move was triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the related disinformation.



The companies could be forced to hand over data related to their algorithms to regulators and researchers.



The companies also face a yearly fee up to 0.05% of worldwide annual revenue to cover the costs of monitoring their compliance.



EU lawmaker Martin Schirdewan criticised the exemption granted to medium-sized companies.



"Under pressure from the conservatives, an exception rule for medium-sized companies was integrated, this is a mistake. Due to the large number of companies that fall under this definition in the digital sector, the exception is like a loophole," he said.



The DSA will be enforced in 2024.













Source: REUTERS









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The Cyber Security Authority (CSA) and the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) led by their respective Director-Generals met on April 6, 2022, at the Head Office of NITA in Accra.



The meeting was aimed at discussing areas of collaboration in the implementation of the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038) which was assented into law on December 29, 2020.



The Director-Generals exchanged views on the benefits to be derived when they work together and agreed its prudent for them to learn best practices from each other to effectively strategize and implement their respective mandates whilst addressing issues of mutual concern.



They recognized the importance of securing critical information infrastructure (CII) and the fact that NITA, which is responsible for implementing Ghanas IT policies, has been designated as a CII pursuant to section 35 of the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038).



Both highlighted NITAs role as a government ICT lead to work closely with the CSA to ensure the protection of government data and critical systems.



After successful deliberations, recommendations and suggestions, they agreed to collaborate more closely on some critical areas.



The two institutions further agreed to provide each other with all the necessary assistance for the execution of their respective mandates and functions.

The meeting concluded with the issuing of a joint statement between CSA and NITA which outlines the areas of cooperation namely protection of CII, Computer Emergency Response and capacity building.



The Cyber Security Authority and the National Information Technology Agency reaffirmed their commitment to work together and agreed to:



1. Partner to engage their common stakeholders to hold joint discussions with them on the areas of their respective mandates.



2. Collaborate in the development of a sectoral directive for the protection of CIIs in the government sector.



3. Collaborate in the area of capacity building and knowledge transfer through personnel exchanges.



4. Collaborate in the area of incident response as NITA is considered a Sectoral Computer Emergency Response Team (Sectoral CERT) lead pursuant to Section 44 of Act 1038.



5. Collaborate on standardisation, certification and accreditation activities as part of both institutions regulatory mandates.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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On the afternoon of April 22, 2022, Premier Li Keqiang had a phone conversation with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer at Ziguang Pavilion of Zhongnanhai leadership compound at the latter's request.

Li Keqiang once again congratulated Nehammer on his assuming office as Austrian Chancellor. He said, Austria is China's important cooperative partner in the European Union (EU). Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 51 years ago, China-Austria relations have transcended differences in system, culture, and development level, among other aspects, with bilateral cooperation continuously deepening. In 2018, President Xi Jinping and President Alexander Van der Bellen decided to establish the China-Austria friendly strategic partnership, elevating China-Austria relations to a new height. China is ready to work with Austria to strengthen dialogue and communication, deepen practical cooperation in various fields, and push forward the sound and steady development of China-Austria relations.

Li Keqiang pointed out, the current international and regional landscape is complex and volatile, with economic globalization facing headwinds. Noting that China and the EU are comprehensive strategic partners, major economies in the world and important trading partners of each other, he said that the two sides should all the more stick to two-way opening-up and cooperation, strengthen communication and dialogue, and jointly send a signal of stable development of China-EU relations and active progress in bilateral cooperation, so as to ensure smooth logistics between China and the EU, stable industrial and supply chains, as well as food security and energy resource security.

Li Keqiang stressed, China will never waver on the basic national policy of opening-up, which has not only boosted growth for China itself but also brought benefits to the world. No matter how the international landscape may change, China will stay committed to opening-up and deepening bilateral and multilateral international cooperation. A big and open Chinese market will always be a promising land for enterprises from all over the world, including Austrian ones, to invest and do business.

Nehammer said, Austria and China have enjoyed sound relations for a long time, with successful bilateral cooperation in various fields. Noting that China is a vital participant in international affairs, he said that Austria cherishes its relations with China, adheres to the one-China principle, and stands ready to continue deepening cooperation with China and push for the further development of the Austria-China friendly strategic partnership. Austria supports the EU and China in strengthening dialogue and communication to constantly elevate EU-China relations.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine issue.

Li Keqiang expounded on China's principled position, pointing out that China always pursues an independent foreign policy of peace. China holds that countries should abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, uphold international law and universally recognized norms governing international relations, and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. China hopes that all parties will work together to call on the relevant parties to achieve a ceasefire and end the conflict through dialogue and negotiation and in particular, avoid a humanitarian crisis on a larger scale.

Wang Yi and He Lifeng attended the above activity.
Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, one of the founding members of the governing New Patriotic Party, NPP, has opened up about his relationship with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



The now-suspended member of the party claims, he took a lot of risk for the current President at the time that the party needed a formidable individual to become a flagbearer to be able to win the elections from the then government.



He said, because of his closeness to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, he decided that he will go all out for him to ensure he became the flagbearer and eventually the President; because at the time, former President Kufuor failed to win elections prior to 2000.



Speaking to Bridget Otoo on Metro TV's 'One On One' show, Monday, April 25, 2022, the former Military Officer and a Medical Doctor explained:



I was very close to Akufo-Addo, I took a lot of risks on his behalf, he knows it. Because of Akufo-Addo, I deserted Kufuor on principle. After Kufuor was unable to unseat Rawlings democratically, we thought that it should be somebody else.



"In fact, some of us had our minds on Kwame Pianim  another good leader  but unfortunately, because he wanted to unseat the military regime, even though he served over ten years in prison, he was not allowed to contest an election as a leader."



Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe continued: So, some of us decided that ok, Akufo-Addo was then [very] vibrant, we thought he was very strong and he can speak truth to power, so, we followed him.



"We had an election in Sunyani where Kufuor, Akufo-Addo, and others were the main contestants [but] Kufuor won hands down. I was on the committee that was managing the affairs of Akufo-Addo; headed by Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah, Yaw Osafo Maafo was part



"We used to have a meeting at Akufo-Addos house every Tuesday in planning and strategising on how he can come and eventually he succeeded and he came to lead the party," he stressed.



Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe's suspension from NPP



The Greater Accra Regional Executives of the NPP in 2016, indefinitely suspended Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, for undermining the peace and unity of the party.



The decision to suspend him was conveyed by the Regional Chairman of the party at the time, Ishmael Ashittey, following a petition brought before the party by a member in the Ayawaso constituency.



The petitioner, Stephen Asante, had accused Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe of conducting himself in a way that undermined the peace and unity of the party.



The Regional Chairman, without hearing from Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, wrote to Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe on December 31 announcing his suspension from the party.



According to the letter, a committee had been set up by the regional executive to investigate the matter and give Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe an opportunity to respond to the claims made against him.











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Obrempong Kwesi Amoh Kyeretwie I, the Chief of Abirem and President of Birim North Association of Chiefs, has warned his fellow chiefs against interfering in politics since it undermines attempts to achieve development.



He said if chiefs wanted to achieve effective economic and social change in their communities, they should avoid getting involved in politics since it would sabotage development efforts and deprive the people essential socioeconomic advancement.



The Chief, speaking at a meeting held by the Birim North Association of Chiefs in New Abirem, noted that the position of chiefs as traditional rulers and custodians was expected to stay impartial for them to obtain their rightful portions of the national cake.



He urged chiefs to abandon the harmful practice of turning their palaces into courts when dealing with specific matters that may result in penalties.



He said chiefs were enstooled by their royal families to promote peace and protect their people as well as seek their welfare. Adding, It will not serve any good for them to indulge in any selfish interest that could jeopardize the wellbeing of the masses.



As a result, Obrempong Kyeretwie I emphasised the need for chiefs to collaborate with state security heads in their districts to combat crime by organising watchdog groups.



He also utilised the occasion to educate the smaller chiefs on the National House of Chiefs code of ethics, which is intended to govern every chief in Ghana.





Source: GNA









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Traditional Rulers in the Nadowli/Kaleo District of the Upper West Region have appealed to the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Seth Amoama, to consider restoring the military attachment to the Office of the Speaker of Parliament.



At a press conference at Kaleo, the traditional rulers from the five paramountcy and traditional councils in the Kaleo Traditional Area, expressed dissatisfaction with the unnecessary delay in bringing back the military attachment to the office of the Speaker of Parliament



We wish to state that the action by the Military High Command smacks of bad faith. It jeopardises the safety and security of our dear hardworking son, who has lived all his Life serving our dear nation, Ghana, the chiefs stated.



In a statement read by the Sankana Naa, Naa Pagran-Nige Mornaa, Paramount Chief of the Sankana Traditional Area, he explained that the withdrawal of the Military attachment by the Military High Command to the Office of the Speaker of Parliament has made the life of Rt. Hon. Alban S.K. Bagbin as Speaker of Parliament unsafe.



The chiefs contended that over the past one month, they had not been able to sleep over this heart-wrenching development, saying, we seem not to understand the reason given by the Military High Command for the withdrawal of the military attachment to the office of the Speaker.



The chiefs therefore appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is also the Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces to call the Big men of the Military High Command to order.



The statement noted that in Ghanas political history, the current parliament was different from previous ones.



It is a hung parliament, which as we all know, is bedeviled with open fights among the two main opposing groups and there is the urgent need to secure the Office of the Speaker of Parliament with the deployment of soldiers to ensure his safety, the chiefs pointed out.



They acknowledged that in his work as a long serving Member of Parliament and Minister of State, Mr Bagbin had actively and ably contributed to the development of this nation on a scale that is unmatched.



It therefore beats our imagination that such a distinguished citizen, once cherished, awarded and applauded by many for his matchless contribution to the development of this country, is rather the one at the receiving end of his bizarre denial of basic privileges such as the provision of security by the Ghana Armed Forces, most especially given the configuration of the current parliament as it stands.



It must be noted that Rt. Hon. Bagbin has selflessly and diligently contributed the best of his intellect, energy and time to the service and development of Mother Ghana  both in Parliament and Government  mostly at a great discomfort to his personal life and family for almost three decades now, the statement added.



The traditional rulers noted that even before he became a politician and a Member of Parliament, he had throughout his life practice as a Lawyer, kept faith with this oath to defend the defenseless.



According to the Chiefs, they sighted a letter allegedly signed by the Chief of Staff of the Military High Command, which stated that the attachment of the four military officers did not follow the right procedure and that they were being withdrawn for appropriate steps to be taken to regularize their stay.



The Sankana-Naa, Naa Pagran-Nige Mornaa, Takpo Naa, Naa Widaana-Nanga, Kaluri Naa, Naa Tindaana, Gyilli Naa, Naa Badienaang Sanyellah and Gbankor Naa, Naa Jamaa Matarah with other sub-chiefs attended the press conference.





Source: GNA









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Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has lamented the increasing loss of moral values in political engagements.



According to him, it is surprising that people do not practice moral values such as honesty, sincerity and truthfulness which are high requirements in various workplaces when they get into politics.



He said such conduct has led to politicians being viewed by the general public as liars  a situation he finds disturbing.



Addressing participants at this years TEIN-KNUST Alumni Connect programme over the weekend, the legislator opined that in the absence of moral values in politics, it was no surprise that the country was not progressing as it should.



He stated that if care was not taken, politicians and Chief Executive Officers of state enterprises will be lynched and stoned to death as Ghanaians have become tired of deceptive politics.



How is it that in our institutions, in our churches, when we come to school, when we go for an interview for a job, even when we are in a job and it is time for a promotion, the interview panel is looking for some of these values that you have so beautifully ascribed to this great institution established in 1918 before all of us here were born.



But suddenly when we come into politics we say these values dont matter. See how people describe politicians out there. 'Oh as for politicians they are liars, they believe in deception, the one who can twist the facts the more, the one who has no respect for logic, for truth, the one who will not tell you as it is in an honest way'those are the people we celebrate.



Those are the people we call great politicians. Those are the people we give platforms to. Those are the people we cheer. Those are the people we clap for the loudest. Any wonder that this country is not developing? That we are not making the progress we should make.



If politics is about deception, If politics is about lies, if politics is about dishonesty, if politics is about looking people in the eye and telling them sweet words, making promises you never intended to fulfil, distorting the facts.then some of us dont want to be called politicianswe do not want to be part of that game.



These are very important fundamentals that as young people we must begin to reflect on, if not, very soon if it is said that that is a politician coming, that is a Chief Executive coming, we may be lynchedwe may be stoned to death. Ghanaians are fed up with deceptive politics, Mr. Ablakwa emphasized.















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The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision has dismissed a case filed by a private legal practitioner, Justice Abdulai.



The application sought to compel the apex court to review its earlier decision that Deputy Speakers presiding over proceedings in Parliament can vote.



Judgment



On March 9, 2022, in a unanimous decision, a seven-member panel of the apex court held that a Deputy Speaker of Parliament presiding over proceedings in the House has the right to vote on matters for determination, and also be counted as part of the quorum for decision-making.



Consequently, the highest court of the land has ruled as valid the passage of the 2022 budget by Parliament on November 30, 2021, during which the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, who was presiding, counted himself as part of the quorum that made that decision.



Also, the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional, Order 109 (3) of the Standing Orders of Parliament which barred a Deputy Speaker, who is presiding over proceedings, from voting on any issue for determination.



Grave Miscarriage of Justice Vs Abuse Of Court Process



Lawyer Abdulai who filed the matter headed back to the Supreme Court insisting the ruling contained errors of laws which have occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice on the people of Ghana.



In opposing the review application, Deputy Attorney General Diana Asonaba pointed out that it was an abuse of the court processes since it failed to show any exceptional circumstances that should have been considered.



The long reference to previous constitutions does not meet the criteria for a review application. The plaintiff has failed to show how a miscarriage of justice has occasioned or showed any new matter that should have been considered. Present application is unmeritorious and a clear abuse of the court process, she said.



The Court presiding over by Justice Jones Dotse ruled that the Deputy Speaker of Parliament's participation in voting was constitutional.



The application is accordingly dismissed, Justice Dotse said.



The review case was heard by a nine-member review panel comprising Justices Dotse, Nene Amegatcher, Prof Ashie Kotey, Lovelace Johnson, Mariama Owusu, Celemenfe Honyenuga, Gertrude Torkonoo, Prof. Mensah Bonsu and Emmanuel Kulendi.







Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Dr. Richard Amoako Baah, a senior political science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has disclosed that it will be a mistake on the part of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to present John Mahama as its candidate in the 2024 elections.



He said Ghanaians have already seen the performance of the former President, therefore it wont be wise to present him again.



Speaking on Asaase Radio, he said the opposition party might lose in 2024 with Mahama.



It is true that it will be advisable for the National Democratic Congress to present a new candidate, because we know what Mahama has done, there is nothing new, Baah told the host of the programme, Beatrice Adu.



Except that people are looking up to him because what we expected from President Akufo-Addo is not what we have gotten, but then there is the need because he hasnt performed to your standard.



There are many people in the NDC, so why would you still present the same candidate? You dont know what he can do, is it going to be anything different from before? As a matter of fact, the economic situation is 10 times worse, so how is he going to be able to manage this worse situation? Baah asked.



According to Mr. Ephson, the former President cannot win the elections with the former Education Minister partnering him.



In an interview on Joy News, the former president must consider picking any of his political contenders for the flagbearership slot as his running mate.



Mahama would have to repackage himself because a Mahama with the same running mate is going to be difficult [to win 2024 general elections]. He may have to form an alliance or perhaps, pick one of the [NDC presidential contenders] as his running mate.



He explained further that, ...where Mahama is, he has the advantage of being marketed already. And Mahama with all his body language looks like he is retaining his running mate for 2020 [general elections]. If he does, I think he should forget 2024.

Source: Pulse Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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STC CEO, Nana Akomea has cautioned the government not to bloat the E-Levy deductions as the policy begins on Sunday, 1st May, 2022.



The Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) is a 1.5% charge on all electronic transactions, primarily MoMo transactions, aimed to provide infrastructure development and better road networks for the nation.



About 15 million Ghanaians are expected to be affected by the E-Levy.



Making his submissions during a panel discussion on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'' Tuesday morning, Nana Akomea warned the authorities not to overcharge but rather stick to the 1.5% as stated.



He cautioned against any cascading effects on the citizenry stressing the E-Levy shouldn't overburden them.



Calculating how much each Ghanaian will be contributing per year, Nana Akomea advised that the software to be used for the collection of the E-Levy should be very effective.



"The software to manage the E-Levy should be an effective software . . . The effect on Ghanaians should not be drastic and that will depend on the software working well. Then, number 2, the government using the money wisely. If these two things happen [averagely], the average amount that Ghanaians will pay a year on E-Levy will be about 400 to 500 cedis," he said.



He added; "Now, if you pay 400/500 cedis average per person and you see big developmental projects, the impact will be positive . . . for me, if the software works properly and that extra 4 billion, [it] is used wisely - 90 to 95 percent efficiently - Ghanaians will see the impact and it will turn the fortunes of government as far as elections are concerned.''





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A video making the rounds on social media captures a man believed to be Afrobeats star, Kelvyn Boy being heckled by uniform men at the campus of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).



The incident reportedly took place on Saturday during a concert as part of the schools 60th Anniversary Celebration.



Kelvyn who was billed for the concert reportedly decided to perform early at about 8pm and leave for Accra to perform at another concert at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).



However, students allegedly wont let him leave. The #DownFlat hit makers car was allegedly blocked from moving out of the school.



The incident degenerated into him being attacked. A voice commentary in the background of the video kept mentioning Kelvyn Boys name while the uniform men push him and his men back.



The men in uniform according to earlier reports are also students from the schools cadet.

Source: Daily Guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A migration journey through a Bedouin camp in the Negev Desert (Saharan-Arabian desert), Israel (2017)  a scene that will likely be more common in many areas of the world due to increasing 21st Century droughts. Credit: Gallya Lahav

Drought and the potential increase in the number of droughts worldwide due to climate change remains a concern for scientists. A recent study led by Stony Brook University researchers suggests that human migration due to droughts will increase by at least 200 percent as we move through the 21st Century. Based on a series of both climate and social science modeling systems and other social science data, the study findings imply that migration may force the need to adjust sociopolitical policies to offset widespread human displacement in the future. The study is published in International Migration Review.

According to lead author Oleg Smirnov, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Stony Brook University, the research team worked from an ensemble of 16 climate models to generate drought projections for rest of the 21st Century. They centered on two greenhouse gas emissions scenarios: an optimistic one consistent with the Paris Agreement, and a pessimistic one based on current use of energy and greenhouse gas emissions.

It is important to note that while the Groundswell report assesses human migration projections due to climate change by 2050 in six world regions, this study analyzes potential drought-induced human migration around the entire world for the whole century going forward.

Both Smirnov and co-author Gallya Lahav, Ph.D., a migration specialist and associate professor of political science at Stony Brook University, assessed the sociopolitical climates and policies in connection with the climate models. Co-authors and climate experts Minghua Zhang, Ph.D., of Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), and Tingyin Xiao of Princeton University, generated global drought projections for two emissions scenarios for the period of 2008 to 2100 in order to complete the analysis.

Overall, they project there will be a massive increase in drought-induced migration in the coming years200 percent more based on the optimistic climate projections and as high as 500 percent more if world leaders fail to cooperate on climate change mitigation measures.

"One interesting finding is that we also identified a large group of people who will want to migrate but fail to do so as droughts cover large areas of land making possible destinations difficult to get to or inferior to their land of origin," explains Smirnov.

The authors estimate that this segment of "immobile" people will also increase by about 200 percent in the optimistic scenario, yet almost 600 percent under the "business as usual" or pessimistic scenario.

"Our models make us not only concerned about the increasing number of environmentally displaced people that may spread across the globe, but we are equally, if not more, concerned about the large number of these 'immobile' personswho may be desperate to leave but unable to do so, which may contribute to social suffering and instability," emphasizes Smirnov.

Furthermore, "given that environmentally-induced migrants largely fall outside of international legal frameworks like the Refugee Convention which protects those fleeing war or conflict, a multi-lateral holistic policy approach is vital in this gray area," adds, Lahav, a previous consultant to the United Nations Population Division.

Despite the scientific quest to systematically assess and predict future migratory outcomes, the researchers agree that the social science aspect of the study may have additional unknown variables and complexities when projecting because of the political aspects of migration. The authors write "we can only talk about potential migration pressures, as opposed to actual migration, since we do not know how future political responses will affect and potentially constrain future migration flows. Similarly, we do not rely on the absolute number of migrants, since these numbers are sensitive to the arbitrary modeling assumptions."

As the researchers chart the drought-induced migration models toward the end of the 21st Century, they warn that many countries will have large numbers of migrating peoples. They state that the largest number of people displaced by drought under unmitigated change would occur in these countries: Nigeria, Egypt, China, Turkey, Algeria, Mexico, Morocco, and Venezuela. The projected largest number of immobile persons would be those in Turkey, Mexico, Morocco, Algeria, Brazil, Mali, and China.

Overall, say Smirnov and colleagues, the study findings provide solid evidence that global climate change mitigation would be less costly in terms of human suffering and economic loss from drought-induced migration than policies designed to deal with the overwhelming challenges of unmitigated climate change.

Explore further Scientists warn of widespread drought in the 21st century

More information: Oleg Smirnov et al, Climate Change, Drought, and Potential Environmental Migration Flows Under Different Policy Scenarios, International Migration Review (2022). Oleg Smirnov et al, Climate Change, Drought, and Potential Environmental Migration Flows Under Different Policy Scenarios,(2022). DOI: 10.1177/01979183221079850
A fragment of the sphero-conical vessel that was identified as containing a possibly explosive material from Jerusalem. Credit: Robert Mason, Royal Ontario Museum

New analysis into the residue inside ancient ceramic vessels from 11th12th century Jerusalem has found that they were potentially used as hand grenades.

Previous research into the diverse sphero-conical containers, which are within museums around the world, had identified that they were used for a variety of purposes, including beer drinking vessels, mercury containers, containers for oil and containers for medicines.

This latest research, led by Griffith University's Associate Professor Carney Matheson, confirmed that some vessels did indeed contain oils and medicines, and some contained scented oils, consistent with other recent research into the use of the vessels.

However, his findings also revealed that some of the vessels contained a flammable and probably explosive material that indicated they may have been used as ancient hand grenades.

Associate Professor Matheson, from Griffith's Car, said the explosive material he analyzed within the vessels suggested that there may have been a locally developed ancient explosive.

"This research has shown the diverse use of these unique ceramic vessels which include ancient explosive devices," he said.

"These vessels have been reported during the time of the Crusades as grenades thrown against Crusader strongholds producing loud noises and bright flashes of light.

"Some researchers had proposed the vessels were used as grenades and held black powder, an explosive invented in ancient China and known to have been introduced into the Middle East and Europe by the 13th century. It has been proposed that black powder may have been introduced to the Middle East earlier, as early as these vessels from the ninth to 11th century.

"However, this research has shown that it is not black powder and likely a locally invented explosive material."

Associate Professor Matheson said the research also revealed that some of these vessels had been sealed using resin.

"More research on these vessels and their explosive content will allow us to understand ancient explosive technology of the medieval period, and the history of explosive weapons in the Eastern Mediterranean," he said.

The study, "Composition of Trace Residues from the contents of 11th12th century sphero-conical vessels from Jerusalem," has been published in PLOS ONE.

Explore further Early Celts in Burgundy appropriated Mediterranean products and feasting practices

More information: Carney D. Matheson et al, Composition of trace residues from the contents of 11th12th century sphero-conical vessels from Jerusalem, PLOS ONE (2022). Journal information: PLoS ONE Carney D. Matheson et al, Composition of trace residues from the contents of 11th12th century sphero-conical vessels from Jerusalem,(2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267350
On April 22, Beijing Aquarium held an event marking Earth Day to promote the protection of the endangered Chinese sturgeon.

The Chinese sturgeon is one of the oldest vertebrates on Earth, and is of inestimable scientific and social value for studying changes to the planet and maintaining the balance of the ecosystem. However, due to a variety of factors, its natural reproduction has been interrupted, and this ancient species is in urgent need of saving.



"Compared with the giant panda, there are even fewer Chinese sturgeon in the wild today," said Wang Zhechen, general manager of the Beijing Aquarium. "But the Chinese sturgeon is far less famous than the giant panda."

On this year's Earth Day, the Beijing Aquarium and online education platform VIPKid announced they had co-designed a mascot of a Chinese sturgeon named "Houfu." The announcement marks the beginning of a series of marine science projects designed to boost the protection of at-risk species, so that the public  and especially children  can learn more about the endangered Chinese sturgeon, Wang added.

"Houfu" is based on a real Chinese sturgeon bearing the same name which lived in the Yangtze River before it was accidentally caught by fishermen. Despite being close to death, it was taken to the Beijing Aquarium for six months of treatment and eventually recovered thanks to the aquarium's medical experts and breeders, who even developed a special food for it.

However, after its recovery, the sturgeon's condition and age meant that it was unable to return to the wild. As such, it remained in the Beijing Aquarium where it has lived for almost seven years.

Li Yanliang, chairman of the National Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Association, also made an appeal at the event, "Attempts to protect the Chinese sturgeon not only concern the success or failure of protecting a single species of fish, but are also key to the overall protection of the biodiversity and water ecology of the Yangtze River."



The Beijing Aquarium will work with several partners to develop a Chinese sturgeon franchise, including a multimedia ocean science popularization project with VIPKid, and a Chinese sturgeon digital ticket project with online payment platform Alipay.
The Brown howler monkey (Alouatta guariba) is a key species for seed dispersal and hence for perpetuation of the Atlantic Rainforest. Credit: Gisela Sobral/USP

Trees of the species Pouteria bullata, which is endemic to Brazil and whose common name is guapeva-vermelha, are found solely in the Atlantic Rainforest biome and produce sweet succulent fruit.

Their seeds are relatively large (about 2 cm) and cannot be swallowed by birds or small mammals, so they depend on primates like the Brown howler (Alouatta guariba) and Southern muriqui (Brachyteles arachnoides), as well as the South American Tapir (Tapirus terrestris), to disperse their genetic material and perpetuate the species.

Where these animals have disappeared, so has P. boullata, which is indexed as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. Indeed, the animals most important to seed dispersal are the first to disappear as a result of the destruction of the Atlantic Rainforest, according to a paper published in the journal Biotropica.

"Seed dispersal is a complex process involving many types of vertebrates at the same time. Deforestation leads to the extinction of animals, which lose food, and plants, which can no longer disperse their seeds," said Lisieux Fuzessy, first author of the paper.

The study was supported by FAPESP while Fuzessy was doing postdoctoral research at Sao Paulo State University's Institute of Biosciences (IB-UNESP) in Rio Claro, Brazil, and was part of the project "The effect of fragmentation on the ecological functions of primates", also funded by FAPESP. The principal investigator for the project was Laurence Culot, a professor at IB-UNESP.

Fuzessy conducted part of the research during an internship at Donana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC) in Spain, with a scholarship from FAPESP and collaboration by Professor Pedro Jordano.

"We set out initially to investigate the role of primates in seed dispersal, but it soon became evident that we needed to analyze the roles played by all vertebrates," Fuzessy explained.

Besides primates, the investigation encompassed seed dispersal by birds, bats, carnivores, marsupials, rodents and ungulates (deer, tapirs and peccaries, among others). The study thus became an unusually wide-ranging analysis of the animal-plant interactions that maintain biodiversity.

Conserved areas and fragments

To understand the impact of the disappearance of animals from forests, the researchers compared animal-plant interactions in two forest areas of the state of Sao Paulo.

One was Serra de Paranapiacaba, a highly conserved Atlantic Rainforest area, with more than 120,000 hectares including both parks or reserves and private properties. The mountain range (or serra in Portuguese) is home to such highly endangered mammals as the Jaguar (Panthera onca), Bush dog (Speothos venaticus) and White-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), as well as the already mentioned tapir and muriqui. Serra de Paranapiacaba is also the most important refuge for the Black-fronted piping guan (Pipile jacutinga), a large frugivorous bird that is extinct in most Atlantic Rainforest remnants.

The other study area was Reserva de Santa Genebra, a 250-hectare fragment surrounded by urban sprawl and farmland, like most remnants of the biome. Its plant cover was steadily destroyed until 1984 when it acquired protected status. Very few large vertebrates live in the area, which is home mainly to small birds and medium-size mammals such as the Spotted paca (Cuniculus paca), Large American opossum (Didelphis spp.) and Brazilian squirrel (Guerlinguetus brasiliensis). A few large frugivores (fruit eaters) also live there, including A. guariba and the Dusky-legged guan (Penelope obscura). Even so, interaction levels were lower than in the conserved area.

The researchers recorded 1,588 interactions between 133 animals and 315 plants in Serra de Paranapiacaba; and 221 interactions between 54 animals and 58 plants in Reserva de Santa Genebra.

"The difference was highly significant. Key species such as muriquis and tapirs eat a far greater diversity of fruit than birds, for example," Fuzessy said. "In addition to their strong demand for calories, they have a wide gape or gullet, which enables them to swallow large fruit and disperse plants that without them simply disappear in a cascade effect."

This is yet another study that demonstrates the importance of conserving not just species but also functional diversityanimal-plant interactions that enable the forest to thriveand hence serve as a basis for conservation and reforestation projects.

Explore further Human activity affects interactions between plants and seed-dispersing birds

More information: Lisieux Fuzessy et al, Functional roles of frugivores and plants shape hyperdiverse mutualistic interactions under two antagonistic conservation scenarios, Biotropica (2022). Journal information: Biotropica Lisieux Fuzessy et al, Functional roles of frugivores and plants shape hyperdiverse mutualistic interactions under two antagonistic conservation scenarios,(2022). DOI: 10.1111/btp.13065
Manila Skyline from Harbour Square. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Manila and several other coastal Asian cities are sinking faster than the rate of sea level rise, says a study that calls for strict regulatory measure to reduce groundwater extraction, identified as a major cause for land subsidence.

Since 1993, sea level rise has been happening at a rate of around three millimeters per year, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

However, the Philippine capital saw land subsiding by more than 2 centimeters per year between 2015 and 2020, almost seven times faster than the average sea level rise, increasing the likelihood of flooding. The phenomenon of land sinking faster than sea level rise is more pronounced in Asian cities than elsewhere, says the study published in April in Geophysical Research Letters.

The study covered 99 coastal cities all over the world, 33 of which have areas or parts that have subsided by more than a centimeter per year. Researchers Pei-Chin Wu, Matt Wei and Steven D'Hondt from the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island used satellite-based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar to identify "fast-subsiding areas."

The study said excessive groundwater extraction is most likely the reason for the sinking of some areas in these citiespotentially affecting 59 million people. Past studies have cited rapid population increase, expanding industrial and agricultural production, absence of water treatment and poor water quality of available surface water due to pollution are among the major reasons for increasing reliance on groundwater.

"In most cities, part of the land is subsiding faster than sea level is rising," the study said. "If subsidence continues at present rates, these cities will be challenged by flooding much sooner than projected by sea level rise models. The most rapid subsidence is occurring in South, South-East, and East Asia. However, rapid subsidence is also happening in North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia."

Wei told SciDev.Net that land subsidence has lessened in Manila, though unregulated groundwater extraction may negate any gains.

"According to one study, Manila had subsided at 3 centimeters per year from 2003 to 2010. So, our observation of 2 centimeters per year between 2015 and 2020 is slower," Wei told SciDev.Net.

Wei and his fellow researchers say that their findings indicated that subsidence rates in Jakarta, Indonesia and Shanghai, China "have slowed significantly likely due to reduced groundwater extraction rates implemented as government regulations."

Between 1982 and 2010, land in Jakarta subsided by as much as 28 centimeters. In Shanghai, the land subsidence rate between 1990 and 2001 was 1.6 centimeters per year. From 2015 to 2020, however, subsidence fell and most drastically in Jakarta where it was 3 centimeters per year.

While looking for alternative sources of groundwater is a necessary solution, Manila needs to change how economic development is being pursued overall, says Rodrigo Narod Eco, a researcher at the Marine Science Institute at the University of the Philippines.

"I think the problem is fundamentally a development issue, where we have unabated conversion of landscapes and seascapes. For example, the subsiding areas in Manila City are mostly reclaimed land. Same as some other places too, like in Dagat-Dagatan, which was reclaimed during the Marcos dictatorship. Before that, it was a communal fishing ground," he told SciDev.Net.

"I think it can be possible to find alternative water sources, but we should still ask where the demand for water is coming from. Is it from commercial establishments, factories, plantations, fishponds? Even if we have alternative water sources, will it be available to households? Will the distribution be equitable?"

Meanwhile, the threat of land subsidence remains. Indonesia is being compelled to shift its capital to Nusantara from Jakarta where, as the study points out, places like Bekasi regency in the Indonesian capital are subsiding at two centimeters per year due to groundwater extraction.

Semarang, the capital of Indonesia's Central Java province, has seen land sinking by three centimeters per year as with Tianjin in China. This dwarfed the global mean sea level rise by almost 15 times, the study said.

Wei said the authorities in these coastal cities should be able to develop solutions that will address both the problems of land subsidence and sea-level rise. "The government should include coastal subsidence in their plan for sea level rise," he said.

Explore further Sea level rise up to four times global average for coastal communities

More information: PeiChin Wu et al, Subsidence in Coastal Cities Throughout the World Observed by InSAR, Geophysical Research Letters (2022). Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters PeiChin Wu et al, Subsidence in Coastal Cities Throughout the World Observed by InSAR,(2022). DOI: 10.1029/2022GL098477

Provided by SciDev.Net
A pair of European rabbits. Although the natural hosts of the MYXV virus are Sylvilagus rabbits (known in the Americas as cottontails), exposure of European rabbit populations to this virus proved 99% fatal, without any further adaptation of the virus to the European rabbit host. The highly contagious virus, spread through rabbit populations by fleas or mosquitos, produces a lethal rabbit disease known as myxomatosis. MYXV-Tol was found to cause a very similar lethal disease in hares. Credit: Public Domain

Viruses are among the most protean entities in nature, ceaselessly mutating and acquiring new characteristics. These tiny entities follow a simple and relentless imperative: infect as many host organisms as possible. Occasionally, a virus' genomic alterations enable it to leap from one species to another, in a process known as spillover.

In new research appearing in the journal mBio, Masmudur Rahman and his Arizona State University colleagues join international researchers to investigate one such spillover event, when the myxoma virus (MYXV) made a species leap from European rabbits to Iberian hares.

The study describes M159, a virus protein called a "host range factor" that arose very recently through a fortuitous gene pickup in the myxoma virus. The resultant hybrid strain, known as MYXV-Tol, has enabled the virus to expand its existing host range, traversing the species barrier and causing lethal disease in Iberian hares.

Researchers would like to better understand these genomic transitions, as spillover events have profound implications for both human and animal health. One such recent event, caused by mutations in a novel, SARS-like virus of unknown origin, is responsible for the global pandemic of COVID-19 disease, which has killed over five million people globally.

Understanding the subtle alterations enabling viruses to make species jumps may help better prepare for outbreaks of new diseases, limit their transmission, and perhaps allow researchers to outwit viral mechanisms that set the stage for spillover events. Human-engineered therapies against pathogens (including viruses) are part of a never-ending arms race between infectious agents and their host organisms.

In addition to its importance for the study of host- pathogen coevolution, myxoma virus has been investigated for its remarkable ability to target and kill human cancer cells, while leaving their normal healthy cell counterparts unharmed. It is one of the most promising viruses available in the new field of virotherapy, which uses cancer fighting or oncolytic viruses, including myxoma.

The new study suggests that the M159 protein not only enables MYXV-Tol to leap over the species barrier and infect hares but also appears to help this strain replicate even better in human cancer cells, potentially improving MYXV as a cancer-fighting agent.

"M159 protein is a member of the poxvirus C7-like host range factors. In the future, identifying the protein(s) that interact with M159 in hares and human cancer cells will allow us to understand whether M159 targets similar or diverse signaling pathways," said Rahman.

Rahman is a researcher in the Biodesign Center for Immunotherapy, Vaccines and Virotherapy at ASU. He is joined by Grant McFadden, director of the center and by Arvind Varsani, a researcher in the Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics. McFadden, Varsani and Rahman are also researchers in ASU's School of Life Sciences. Additional ASU researchers include first author Ana Agueda-Pinto, Simona Kraberger, Anne Everts, Ami Gutierrez-Jensen and Honor L. Glenn.

Collaborators on the new study include researchers from Universidade do Porto, Vairao, Portugal; Universidad de Oviedo, Campus El Cristo, Oviedo, Spain; and (IRIAF), CIAG del Chaparrillo, Ciudad Real, Spain.

Specialized killer

In studying the mechanisms underlying the ability of viruses to cross species barriers, researchers rely on model organisms. The myxoma virus is a particularly attractive candidate for such investigations and is the most extensively researched field model for this type of study. This fact is due to a historical event in which MYXV was used to control populations of European rabbits in Europe and Australia, beginning in 1950.

MYXV belongs to the poxvirus family of viruses, a very large assemblage of double-stranded DNA viruses which includes many benign members as well as the virus that once caused the notoriously lethal disease smallpox.

Many kinds of viruses have spillover potential. Annual outbreaks of influenza, for example, are the result of spillover events occurring when migratory birds, acting as reservoirs for the virus, spread the disease to other species, including ducks, chickens, pigs and humans. As the virus moves from species to species, mutating strains acquire new abilities to aid their transmission and ability to evade host immune defenses.

Although the natural hosts of the MYXV virus are Sylvilagus rabbits (known in the Americas as cottontails), exposure of European rabbit populations to this virus proved 99% fatal, without any further adaptation of the virus to the European rabbit host. The highly contagious virus, spread through rabbit populations by fleas or mosquitos, produces a lethal rabbit disease known as myxomatosis. MYXV-Tol was found to cause a very similar lethal disease in hares.

Over the long term, the rabbit control strategy with MYXV failed, as evolutionary selective pressures acting on both the virus and host resulted in MYXV-resistant rabbits and attenuated virus variants. Nevertheless, MYXV provides a valuable laboratory tool for the study of the poorly understood dance between infectious agents and the molecular transformations used by species to thwart them.

"Every time a virus leaps from one host species into another, we learn something new about Mother Nature," McFadden says. "In the case of MYXV-Tol, we learned that the acquisition of a single new virus gene allowed this new virus strain access to a new host species that was previously resistant to the virus".

New virus on the block

Evidence suggests that Iberian hares had long been exposed to MYXV or a similar virus since at least the 1990's, with no resulting outbreak of myxomatosis occurring. Then, an altered virus strain known as MYXV-Tol appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. This new variant showed high similarity to the previously endemic form of the virus, known as MYXV-Lau, with one notable genomic exception. The new strain had acquired a small suite of new genes, which it acquired through recombination with an as-yet-unidentified poxvirus. The result was a supercharged variant that proved both infectious and highly lethal to hares living on the Iberian Peninsula, killing hundreds of them beginning in the Autumn of 2018.

Among the genes found in the MYXV-Tol variant was a gene coding for a protein known as M159. The new study explores this single protein as a possible culprit in MYXV-Tol's species-hopping capacity. The researchers examined laboratory cell lines of rabbit, hare and human cells exposed to MYXV variants with and without the M159 protein.

While strains containing the novel protein did not appear more infectious to cells of European rabbits, the M159-containing strains were now highly infectious to cells from European hares, whereas strains without the protein were not, establishing M159 as the key ingredient allowing MYXV to cross the species barrier.

The study also tested two human cancer cell lines that are normally resistant to MYXV, exposing them to the M159-enhanced version. The results were dramatic. Human pancreatic cancer and melanoma cells are typically semipermissive or nonpermissive to MYXV, meaning that the virus usually replicates poorly in these cell types. However, when the M159 protein was inserted into the MYXV-Lau strain, viral replication in both cancer cell lines was significantly enhanced, suggesting the protein could be used to improve MYXV as a cancer-fighting agent against some classes of human tumors.

Further research promises to shed new light on the highly pathogenic MYXV-Tol variant as well as illuminate the mechanisms used by other poxviruses to spillover into new animal species, including humans.

Explore further Towards winning the war on feral wild rabbits

More information: Ana Agueda-Pinto et al, Identification of a Novel Myxoma Virus C7-Like Host Range Factor That Enabled a Species Leap from Rabbits to Hares, mBio (2022). Journal information: mBio Ana Agueda-Pinto et al, Identification of a Novel Myxoma Virus C7-Like Host Range Factor That Enabled a Species Leap from Rabbits to Hares,(2022). DOI: 10.1128/mbio.03461-21
A Canada lynx is released in Schoolcraft County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula on April 12, 2019. U.S. wildlife officials have agreed to craft a new habitat protection plan for the rare, snow-loving Canada lynx that could include more land in Colorado and other western states. Credit: John Pepin/Michigan Department of Natural Resources via AP, File

U.S. wildlife officials have agreed to craft a new habitat plan for the snow-loving Canada lynx that could include more land in Colorado and other western states where the rare animals would be protected, according to a legal agreement made public Tuesday.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faces a 2024 deadline to draft the new plan for the wild cats after settling a legal challenge from two environmental groupsWild Earth Guardians and Wilderness Workshop. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen issued an order late Monday approving the settlement.

The groups sued to enforce a prior court ruling from Christensen that said federal officials wrongly excluded areas of Colorado, Montana and Idaho when they designated almost 40,000 square miles (104,000 square kilometers) in 2014 as critical for the lynx's long-term survival.

On land designated as critical, federal agencies are required to consult with wildlife officials before taking or allowing any activities that could destroy or alter the habitats of a protected species. Those consultations can potentially lead to restrictions of logging in federal forests or limitations on dirt roads used for recreation.

Christensen cited the presence of a reproducing lynx population in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Agency officials had earlier concluded that Colorado and adjacent areas of Wyoming and New Mexico were "not essential" for the recovery of the species, pointing in part to low population densities of snowshoe hares that lynx eat.

To comply with the judge's order, the Fish and Wildlife Service will evaluate which parts of the Southern Rockies and elsewhere are critical for lynx and propose them for potential protections by Nov. 21, 2024, according to a statement provided by agency spokesperson Joe Szuszwalak.

Lynx are elusive, forest-dwelling animals. There is no reliable population estimate, but several hundred are believed to roam parts of the U.S. Rocky Mountains.

The animals also are found in Minnesota, Maine, Washington state and occasionally Michigan.

They were reintroduced to Colorado beginning in the late 1990s and listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act across the contiguous U.S. in 2000.

During Donald Trump's presidency, officials said the lynx had recovered and no longer needed protection after their numbers rebounded in some areas. President Joe Biden's administration reversed course in November and agreed to keep the lynx's threatened species protections. That did not resolve the dispute over what areas they would need to survive.

"There's a lot of really good habitat in Coloradowilderness and really remote areas," said attorney John Mellgren, who represented the environmental groups that reached the settlement.

But he added that those areas face increased pressure as trees in forested areas are killed by beetles, wildfires and other problems that are being worsened by climate change.

Some scientists warn climate change could undo progress in lynx recovery, by melting away their snowy habitat and decreasing the availability of snowshoe hares.

U.S. government biologists in 2016 predicted some lynx populations would disappear by 2100. That was based on models predicting widespread and substantial habitat losses because of climate change.

Under Trump, officials shortened their time span for considering climate change threats, from 2100 to 2050, because of what they said were uncertainties in long-term climate models. A government assessment based on that shortened time span concluded lynx populations had increased versus historical levels in parts of Colorado and Maine.

___

This version corrects the first name of the judge who presided over Canada lynx lawsuits to Dana, not Donald.

Explore further Canada lynx to keep species protections under legal deal

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A survey of public opinion in China conducted by researchers at Rice University, the National University of Singapore and the University of British Columbia shows the country's perceptions of the U.S. plummeted during the presidency of Donald Trump.

"Chinese Public Opinion about U.S.-China Relations from Trump to Biden," based on data collected before and after the 2020 presidential election, appeared in the latest issue of the Chinese Journal of International Politics, published by the Oxford University Press. Songying Fang, an associate professor of political science at Rice and one of the paper's authors, said the study is rare in addressing the topic.

"There are a lot of American public opinion surveys about China. But there are very few up-to-date public opinion surveys about Chinese attitudes toward the outside world in general, and to the United States in particular," she said. "To me, that is missing an important piece of information. If you think about the relationships between the countries, we often think of them as government-to-government relations. But these relationships have domestic foundations, which include public opinions."

Trump's trade policies toward China were a source of significant controversy during his presidency. In January 2018 , he began establishing tariffs and other roadblocks to trade with China in order to force the country to adjust what the U.S. considered to be unfair trade practices and theft of intellectual property.

The survey was conducted in two waves, one before the 2020 U.S. presidential election and another after the election. When Chinese citizens were asked before the election whether they thought the U.S. would take China's interests into consideration in its foreign policy decisions, 76% of the respondents said either "not at all" or "not too much." In the second waveconducted after Biden's electionthat fell to 68%, still far higher than the 38% found in a 2013 by the Pew Global Attitudes Project .

The first-wave survey also found that 75% of Chinese respondents believed the relationship between the U.S. and China had worsened in the past year; only 6% said the relationship had improved. The second-wave survey revealed that only 64% of Chinese respondents believed bilateral relationship worsened, with 15% believing it had improved. Fang said only time will tell if the uptick in favorability lasts.

The researchers also found Chinese youths viewed the U.S. more negatively than their elders. When compared to people born in the 1960s or before, Chinese born in the 1990s or later were about 9% less likely to say that the U.S. cared about China's interests when making foreign policies and 5% less likely to say the U.S. had a positive influence on the Chinese economy.

"We suspect that this is in part because they were exposed to the Trump era while they were still forming their world views, as opposed to people who are in the 40s and 50s," Fang said. "Also, older generations grew up at a time where America was perceived to be much more advanced than China in many ways."

Younger generations have grown up in a China that is much more developed, so they are not as impressed by material conditions of life in the U.S., she said.

But youths were found to be more likely to have positive views if they had lived or studied in the U.S. Fang believes that demonstrates the value of cultural exchanges and study-abroad programs.

"Public opinion is ultimately the foundation of government policy and intergovernmental relationships, so anything that demonstrably improves these relationships is something that's definitely worth doing," Fang said.

The study also found that before and after 2020, 45% and 46% of the respondents, respectively, believed the world would be better off with China as the leading power. About 22% and 20%, respectively, said the best scenario would be the U.S. and China jointly leading the world.

Almost 30% said they did not want China to lead the world. "These individuals may think that it's too costly, and that there is a trade-off between leading the world and fixing domestic problems," Fang said.

Explore further How hawkish is the Chinese public?

More information: Songying Fang et al, Chinese Public Opinion about USChina Relations from Trump to Biden, The Chinese Journal of International Politics (2022). Songying Fang et al, Chinese Public Opinion about USChina Relations from Trump to Biden,(2022). DOI: 10.1093/cjip/poac001
Climate modeling published in Nature: Communications Earth and Environment demonstrate widespread increases in the occurrences of flash flooding events across most of the United States. Credit: Joe Lawton/NOAA/NSSL

The latest U.N. report on climate change documented researchers' efforts that have shown some measures of global warming are now unavoidable, and current research efforts are focusing on mitigation and adaptation strategies. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration describes this as a global problem, felt on local scales. Likewise, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers are providing the data, tools and information to better understand and prepare for climate change. One of the effects being impacted by the warming climate is a change in frequency of flash flooding events, as well as the locations in which they most often occur.

A research team led by the University of Oklahoma, with the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory and collaborators at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, have created simulations from coupled climate and hydrologic models that demonstrate widespread increases in the occurrences of flash flooding events across most of the United States.

The study is led by Yang Hong, a professor of hydrology and remote sensing in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences and in the School of Meteorology at OU. He is the director of the Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing Laboratory and the founding director of the hydrology and water security online master's program at OU. The research team's findings are published in Nature: Communications Earth and Environment. Zhi Li, a doctoral student with the HyDROS Lab, is the first author.

"This study builds upon the state-of-the-art model (EF5/CREST) that is jointly developed by researchers with OU, NASA, and NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory and has initiated collaboration with National Center for Atmospheric Research climate scientists," said Li. "It realizes the concept of 'Digital Twin in Earth System Science,' in which one is our living climate and the other one is our future. Climate change never became so real to me until we successfully collaborated on such research."

"There hasn't been a real definitive study on what's going to happen with flash floods in the future," said Jonathan J. Gourley, research hydrometeorologist with the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory and contributor to the study. "We didn't have that robust of an observational record  so, this study helped to fill in that gap. By using some of the rainfall simulations from a convection-resolving climate model and then coupling with our high-resolution hydrologic modeling system, we can see what sort of flash floods would be produced in the future."

The research team used climate simulations and modeling of a 30-year period, 2070-2100, to predict the location and degree to which flash floods are likely to occur. The effect, what the researchers call "flashiness," describes the likelihood of weather conditions that can cause rapid rainfall and lead to flash flooding.

They found that, if emissions continued at their current rate, flooding events would become 7.9% "flashier" by the end of the century, meaning heavy rainfall events are likely to occur quickly and in concentrated areas that are likely to lead to flooding.

Similarly, their results show a more than 10% increase in flash flooding in the Southwest U.S., the greatest increase in "flashiness" among historical flash flood hot spots. The central U.S. is emerging as a new flash flood hotspot as well, with an 8.6% predicted increase. Overall, their results show future flash flood-prone regions are moving northwards.

"More people will have to learn not just how to survive floods but also how to better live with ever-increasing flash floods," said Hong. "The 20-year return floods will more likely occur every two to five years, especially alarming for the emerging flashiness hotspots that will be facing unprecedented challenges with aging infrastructure and outdated flood risk measures. There is a pressing need to implement climate-resilient engineering infrastructure and develop smart hydrological early warning systems."

However, there is still time to curb some of the more extreme impacts. Gourley says climate mitigation strategies could help.

"Now's the time to start thinking about better flood defenses," he said. "Of course, decreasing greenhouse gas concentrations would be the ultimate solution, but in the meantime, we can think about ways to reduce vulnerabilities and improve flash flooding safety education."

"The majority of fatalities related to flash floods are not floods finding people, but people finding floods, meaning they're out and about," he added. "They're typically driving through a flooded roadway."

The best way to stay safe during flash flooding events is to stay off the roads and avoid standing water.

Explore further Flood-ravaged eastern Australia braces for more wild weather

More information: Zhi Li et al, The conterminous United States are projected to become more prone to flash floods in a high-end emissions scenario, Communications Earth & Environment (2022). Zhi Li et al, The conterminous United States are projected to become more prone to flash floods in a high-end emissions scenario,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-022-00409-6 UN Climate Change Reports: www.un.org/en/climatechange/reports? Journal information: Communications Earth & Environment
Researchers from SIT, Japan, have designed a low-cost sensor chip with graphite-based molecularly imprinted polymer as the electrode. This chip can be used for detecting and monitoring theophylline levels. Credit: Yasuo Yoshimi from SIT, Japan

Theophylline or THO is a natural organic compound whose molecular structure is very similar to that of caffeine present in coffee and cacao. Over the years, due to its therapeutic properties, THO has become one of the most widely studied xanthine group derivates. THO is used to dilate respiratory passages in people having difficulty breathing, and as a muscle relaxant, anti-asthmatic, and diuretic (drugs used to increase urine production and reduce blood pressure). It is also known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor properties, and can regulate our immune responses too.

While THO is beneficial in treating a number of conditions, the drug has a very narrow therapeutic window. This means it can create adverse effects if administered beyond a certain limit (and that limit can be quite easily reached). An accidental or deliberate overdose can be highly toxic and lead to problems such as seizures, rapid heartbeats, excitation of the nervous system, or even death. This makes close monitoring of THO levels during therapy extremely crucial.

In a recent articlewhich was published in Volume 27, Issue 8 of Molecules, made available online on 11 April 2022a team of researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) in Japan describe how they developed a low cost and rapid electrochemical sensor for THO detection. Elaborating on their motivation for the study, Prof. Yasuo Yoshimi (who is the corresponding author of the article) says, "Conventional drug monitoring relies on laboratories outside the hospital to analyze the molecular levels of drugs in blood. Our reagentless sensing tool can easily detect THO directly from whole blood in less than 3 seconds, just like a glucose sensor." This article is a part of the journal's special issue titled "Molecularly Imprinted Polymers: Impactful Technology vs. Academic Exercise."

Therapeutic drug monitoring is essential for optimizing the effects of treatments such as chemotherapy, which require strict control over the drug's concentration in the patient's blood to prevent severe side effects. However, most monitoring techniques are often time-consuming and demand complex procedures that can only be carried out by an expert. The same goes for THO detection methods.

To alleviate these problems, researchers over the years have developed low-cost electrochemical methods that are simple, highly sensitive, and rapid. One of these, a class of electrochemical tools that has recently gained momentum, is molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). These tools have tailor-made molecular cavities that can recognize and bind to specific target molecules, just like receptors in our own body would. Their ability to do so is being widely used in several applications, including drug detection.

In this study, the team of scientists developed a disposable, paper-based THO sensor consisting of an electrode made of molecularly imprinted graphite. Since MIPs are designed using the target molecule as a template, the team used THO as a template when developing the sensor's carbon-based electrode paste. The synthesized paste was then loaded onto a printed sensor chip and its THO detection abilities were tested.

The sensor was found to be highly sensitive (meaning it could detect even small amounts of THO) and showed great selectivity towards the drug. In fact, the sensor could identify THO even in samples with THO concentrations as low as 2.5 g/mL ( g=microgram, i.e., 1/1000 of a milligram). And what's more, this sensor needs only 3 seconds to detect THO! It could do so even in whole bovine blood.

This portable, low-cost, reliable, and rapid sensor has long-term stability and can be used for the real-time detection of drugs like THO without us depending on sophisticated equipment. Furthermore, the fabrication strategy provided in this study can be used to develop efficient electrochemical sensors for various other clinical interventions. Assistant Prof. Aaryashree (who is the first author of the article) concludes, "Existing methods for the analysis of the drugs in blood are expensive and need specialized equipment. This can be a problem for developing countries dealing with a lack of resources and technicians. The paper-based sensor that we have developed is not only easy to use but also economical and can reduce the burden of drug analysis in developing countries. Further, its prototype can be used to develop a bedside therapeutic drug monitoring system, which will alert us of any overdose, avoiding side effects in patients taking these drugs."

Explore further Russian scientists developed sensor for detecting toxic substances in water bodies

More information: Aaryashree et al, A Disposable Sensor Chip Using a Paste Electrode with Surface-Imprinted Graphite Particles for Rapid and Reagentless Monitoring of Theophylline, Molecules (2022). Aaryashree et al, A Disposable Sensor Chip Using a Paste Electrode with Surface-Imprinted Graphite Particles for Rapid and Reagentless Monitoring of Theophylline,(2022). DOI: 10.3390/molecules27082456

Provided by Shibaura Institute of Technology
Diagram of groundwater extraction. Credit: Wang Longhuan

The rapid development of agriculture and industry in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region leads to an increase in water demand. Excessive groundwater extraction often results in the water depletion that may affect ecological and hydrological processes.

Groundwater depletion can be detected using in-situ observations, gravity recovery and climate experiment data, and simulations.

Recently, a joint research team led by researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences investigated the effects of groundwater extraction on hydrological process and energy cycle in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei by high resolution simulations.

Their study was published in Journal of Hydrology.

"Human groundwater extraction deepened the groundwater table depth between 2000 and 2012 across the plains in front of Taihang Mountain," said Prof. Jia Binghao, the corresponding author of the study. "Groundwater extraction used for irrigation changed the water and energy budgets, leading to a significant increasing of latent heat flux within the growing season."

According to this study, groundwater extraction rapidly reduced terrestrial water storage (TWS, exceeding 24 cm per unit area) from 2000 to 2012. TWS changes in 52% of urbanized areas are dominated by groundwater extraction, and 20% of urbanized areas are dominated by evapotranspiration.

"The model in this study can be used for other groundwater extraction hotspots around the world, such as Europe, southern Iran, central United States, northern India, and Pakistan to study the impact of human water use," said Prof. Xie Zhenghui, one co-author of the study.

Explore further Anthropogenic groundwater extraction impacts climate

More information: Longhuan Wang et al, Impact of groundwater extraction on hydrological process over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China, Journal of Hydrology (2022). Longhuan Wang et al, Impact of groundwater extraction on hydrological process over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.127689
Credit: oatawa/Shutterstock

Getting out of prison is often assumed to be cause for celebration and a new beginning. However, many women exiting prison face profound disadvantage, isolation, poor mental and physical health and struggle finding housing.

Further complicating return to civil society is the fact some women are released from prison without formal identification.

We worked alongside members of a not-for-profit group called Seeds of Affinityall women with lived experience of prisonto consider how a technology-based solution may ease the transition from prison to community life.

We then developed a prototype messenger chatbot that helps women in South Australia through the steps involved in acquiring ID after exiting prison.

Getting ID may seem simple. It's not

Formal identification is necessary to create a bank account and to enable Centrelink payments. Neither entity accepts prison paperwork as formal ID, so a piece of official ID is crucial.

While it is possible for support workers in the prison to organize ID prior to a woman's release, often this does not happen.

Getting ID post-release is especially difficult if a woman has never had a driver's license or passport, and is even more complicated if she was born interstate.

Getting a proof of age cardthrough, in the South Australian context, Service SAis not easy either. It requires a copy of a birth certificate, which can set you back A$50 and can take weeks. The process can be highly confusing, as this flow chart outlining the process shows.

Some women exit prison without stable friendship and family networks on which they can rely to help them through this Kafkaesque process, or may not have access to the internet or phone data. They often need workers like Linda to help them.

A flowchart showing the complicated process of getting formal ID in South Australia. Author provided

'Leave no woman behind': The challenges of freedom

As researchers, we are interested in the ways technology can be leveraged to address social problems and promote social change.

In our pilot project, we partnered with Seeds of Affinity in South Australia.

Guided by their ethos of "leaving no women behind," this organization provides caring and judgment-free support to criminalized women.

This is important because many models of service available to criminalized women are rarely helpful or nurturing, and often add to women's distress. This leaves many criminalized women reluctant to trust others.

In our co-design workshops, women with lived experience of prison shared glimpses into their first few weeks following their release from prison.

Every setback a woman faces when negotiating demands after release significantly impacts on upon her mental health; it can lead some women to believe it would be easier to give up and return to prison.

The cost to keep a person in prison varies across states in Australia, but ranges between A$294$559 per day. This money would be better spent in the community. Any intervention is worthwhile if it helps women navigate post-release demands, creates a sense of achievement and steers them away from "giving up" and returning to prison.

Lindabot in action. Author provided

Can co-designed technology help?

Before working with Seeds of Affinity women, we had envisaged an app as being the the best tech-based tool to use.

But after analyzing how they engaged with technology, we identified Facebook's Messenger service as the best solution.

We developed a prototype messenger chatbot named "Lindabot"named after Seeds of Affinity's community coordinator, Linda Fisk.

We did this because we saw that it was the way information and support was delivered that mattered most to criminalized women seeking help.

For this reason, our "Lindabot" prototype does not just provide information. Instead, we have programmed it to use positive, nurturing language based upon the approach used by Seeds of Affinity volunteers.

Testing the tech

To evaluate our prototype, we took Lindabot back to the women for testing and feedback.

Linda bot at work. Author provided

Encouragingly, they found it easy to navigate the familiar tech platform of Messenger. Women also responded positively to being actively involved in designing an intervention.

As one participant said: "Usually, we are told what we need, it was nice to be asked for a change."

Lindabot is still at the prototype stage. However, the development process has shown us more possibilities for Lindabot to help criminalized women meet other needs.

We fully acknowledge technology-based solutions cannot replace human interaction, or undo the harms of imprisonment.

But technology-based solutions informed by end-user's experiences have the potential to enhance and support the work of human service workers (like Linda).

That leaves them more time for advocacy and the face-to-face work needed to support women to transition out of the criminal justice system.

Explore further How going from care to prison compounds women's trauma

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The pandemic and the aging population are both partially responsible for the current labour shortage. Credit: Shutterstock

Last month, unemployment in Canada reached a record low of 5.2 percent. Alongside low unemployment, many industries sawand are still seeinga worker shortage, with the number of job vacancies in Canada reaching 900,000 in January.

Both of these things are good for workers, right?

Prospective employers, desperate for new recruits, are "throwing cash at applicants." Many lower wage jobs have even seen an increase in pay, like the 20 percent wage increase for truckers recently announced by Walmart.

The pandemic is partially responsible for this labor shortage, as the immigrant workforce supply dried up throughout the lockdown. However, the aging population in Canada has also been a factor.

Is automation the answer?

The solution to the worker shortage proposed by the Business Development Bank of Canada's chief economist is increased automation.

Advocates and critics have long argued over the impact of automation on employment. Advocates believe automation can be used to perform mundane or physically demanding jobs, freeing up workers to learn new skills and take on better jobs.

Recent research from the University of Pennsylvania supports the argument that automation creates jobs. The study found that investing in robots boosted the efficiency and quality of work while reducing costs, increasing productivity and creating more job opportunities. Similarly, a 2020 report from Statistics Canada also found that companies that used robots hired more human workers.

The impact of automation on work can only be assessed over the longer term and according to whether vacancies are created by those leaving their jobs or retiring and whether the activities of those departing are fully automated.

But critics have argued that automation and advancements in technology create an hourglass economy where opportunities only exist for highly and lowly skilled workers, leaving less work for semi-skilled workers who must either increase their skills or take lower-skilled (and waged) work.

A common example used to illustrate the detriment of technology to employment is the case of Blockbuster. Once a titan of physical video rental with 60,000 employees, Blockbuster was unable to compete with Netflix's (who only had around 2,500 employees) new streaming services and filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Netflix automated the video rental business while Blockbuster retained its physical labor-intensive model until it was too late.

Automation might not be so bad after all

The reason why automation hasn't had a more detrimental impact for workers can be explained by two factors. Firstly, employees are also consumers. To reduce employment is to reduce the market for products, which is bad for manufacturers and capitalism itself.

As a management professor, I often use an incident that supposedly occurred between Henry Ford II and Walter Reuther, leader of the United Automobile Workers trade union, to illustrate this point.

While showing Reuther the new automated assembly lines at his car factory, Ford subtly threatened the future of the union: "How are you going to get those robots to pay your union dues?" Unfazed, Reuther replied: "How are you going to get them to buy your cars?"

Secondly, firms can easily resolve issues with new technology by employing human workers to take over. Take for example, the failure of automation in the fast food industry and the tale of Flippy, the burger flipping robot, that lasted a single day, only to be replaced by human workers when it couldn't keep up with demand. Such instances reveal the way in which workers offer an easy substitute for automation that fails to cut the mustard (or flip the burger).

The current situation is different because employers are struggling to source workers. The reliance on automation is becoming a necessity, rather than a source of competitive advantage. Moreover, the labor shortage means that turning to workers as a substitute for failing technology is a less viable strategy, so firms are more likely to persevere in introducing new technology.

The future of automation

It has been argued that about half of the activities undertaken by workers could be automated by 2055. This does not mean that all of these activities will be automated. Nor does it mean that 50 percent of jobs will necessarily disappear in the next 30 years without other jobs emerging as a result.

However, current circumstances, especially the shortage of workers, is a powerful motivation for automation. We could see a significant increase in automation use in the workplace over the next few years.

The challenges of filling worker vacancies may be good news for workers now, but the longer terms consequences still remain to be seen.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Chinese culture is becoming more entrenched in young Namibians as they are passionately pursuing the Chinese language.

Rena Stephanus, a communication graduate, based in Windhoek, the Namibian capital, enrolled in a Chinese language course at the Confucius Institute at the University of Namibia this year, in hopes of diversifying her linguistic portfolio.

"Chinese is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Wherever you are in the world, you will be exposed to the language one way or another. My curiosity about China and its people motivated me to enroll," she said Wednesday when the UN Chinese Language Day was observed in the world.

Stephanus believed that Chinese (language) adeptness is essential for her to communicate. "The elimination of communication barriers is the primary reason I enrolled for Mandarin."

Although a beginner in the course, Stephanus has seen her interest grow in China's history and the Chinese culture.

According to Stephanus, Chinese art, music, cuisine and literature have now become an integral part of her life.

"The culturally rich country (China) has so much to be explored and the exposure to the language gradually enhances my basic understanding of China and its people," Stephanus said.

Loide Mateus, a Confucius Institute alumnus, studied the Chinese language for three years.

"At the time, there was a stereotype that the Chinese language is difficult. But the exposure to the Asian language and culture altered my outlook on life," she said, who declared that Chinese proficiency has sharpened her cognitive skills and made intercultural interactions meaningful. "I embrace knowing another language. I love the Chinese culture, celebrate festivals, and the Chinese food is delicious. I see myself as a conduit between China and Namibia."

The ability to speak the language has brought many opportunities for Mateus.

"I had been offered many opportunities by local companies to work on temporary contracts. Not only because of my language skills but also because (of the fact that) I understand cultural diversity and my open-mindedness to life thanks to learning the Chinese language," Mateus said. "Apart from sharing what I know in my immediate social environment, I also share a lot via social media, especially my travels to China and the Chinese culture on my Instagram account. Likewise, answering the questions from friends and community. I have also inspired younger siblings to enroll in the Chinese language."

Ester Nghipondoka, the minister of Education, Arts and Culture, said that continued interactions between Namibia and China had brought mutual benefits, mainly in the areas of education and cultural exchange.

Liu Dianbo, the director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Namibia, said the institute enrolled 20 students this year. More than 5,900 Namibians have been attracted to study the Chinese language course at the institute since its opening in 2013.

To celebrate the UN Chinese Language Day, which is observed annually on April 20, the Chinese Embassy in Namibia, in partnership with the institute, will host a singing competition Friday.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Italian nurse Daniela Poggiali was arrested and convicted of murdering two hospital patients in 2014. Her case attracted the attention of Leiden statistician Richard Gill. After his investigation, together with an Italian colleague, Poggiali was acquitted last autumn. Together with fellow statisticians, Gill is trying to prevent this type of statistical error in the future.

Richard Gill has cooperated before in a similar criminal case. The Dutch nurse Lucia de Berk was convicted of the murder of several patients in 2003 and was finally acquitted in 2010. Gill says that "since then I follow similar cases when they appear in the media. Seven years ago I read about Daniela Poggiali. The case seemed suspicious to me. There were reports that she may have killed a hundred people and that three times as many people died when she was on duty than when she was not. So there was clearly a statistical aspect."

Gill offered his help

Gill sought contact with Poggiali's lawyer and offered his help. He also approached his Italian colleague Julia Mortera from Rome. Together with students, they examined the thick report written by Professors Tagliaro (toxicology/pathology) and Micciolo (epidemiology). These professors often cooperate with the Italian justice system. Gill says that "despite their opposition, we managed to obtain the raw data. We repeated the analyses and did a lot of additional and alternative analyses."

'Mickey Mouse-statistics'

Gill calls the approach of his predecessors "Mickey Mouse statistics" in his blog. "They analyzed the times of all shifts of all nurses and the times of admission and discharge or death of all patients in two years. Using very simple statistics, they compared mortality rates with and without Daniela's presence," Gill says. "They took into account the time of year, day or night, but left out other things that are also very important."

Daniela was a hard worker and she was often there

Many people died in the morning, fewer in the afternoon and evening, few at night. "There are many nurses present in the morning, fewer in the afternoon and even fewer at night. So for every full-time nurse, there are more deaths when she is there than when she is not there. Moreover: Daniela was a conscientious, hard worker. She started her shifts early and finished late. She always made the overlap between shifts, unlike many colleagues."

Gill and his students proved the false correlation

On paper, many people died in the overlap between shifts. In reality, during those 15 minutes, the doctor comes by and officially establishes the death. Gill emphasizes that this is the time at which it was recorded not the time of death. He and his students proved the false correlation between the presence of Poggiali and the death of patients. His Italian colleague Mortera discovered errors in the statistical analysis used by toxicology professor Tagliaro to prove a death by poisoning.

Convicted anyway

Based on this analysis, Poggiali was convicted of murdering two patients after all; also because there were rumors that she had an argument with them. The judges concluded that she had put potassium chloride in the drip. But no account had been taken of statistical uncertainty or the advanced age of the deceased woman. Her age could also explain the high level of potassium chloride. The persistent lawyer and statisticians were finally able to secure an acquittal, but the nurse spent seven years largely in prison.

Task force to prevent this kind of thing

Gill and Mortera recently published their research in the public pre-publication archive ArXiv. They also submitted it to the peer-reviewed journal Law, Probability and Risk. De Berk and Poggiali are not the last nurses to be suspected of murder during their work. That is why Gill is now a member of a specially established task force of the Forensic Statistics Section of the Royal Statistical Society. "We want to advise all stakeholders in future cases like this. There will be a new case in the UK this autumn." There, Lucy Letby is suspected of baby murder.

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More information: Francesco Dotto et al, Statistical Analyses in the case of an Italian nurse accused of murdering patients, arXiv:2202.08895 [stat.AP], Journal information: arXiv Francesco Dotto et al, Statistical Analyses in the case of an Italian nurse accused of murdering patients, arXiv:2202.08895 [stat.AP], arxiv.org/abs/2202.08895
Observing System Experiments show that ESAs Aeolus mission significantly improves short-range forecasts, particularly in the Tropics and at mid-latitudes. The graph shows the standard deviation of changes when assimilating Aeolus data at an atmospheric pressure of 200 hPa (around 12km altitude). Credit: ECMWFM. Rennie/ESA

Launched back in 2018, Aeolus has outlived its 36-month in-orbit design lifebut going above and beyond, it continues to deliver excellent data. This shows that there's life yet in the satellite, meaning ESA's wind mission is now expected to continue shining a light on the wind for another year.

Heralding the start of the Aeolus Third Anniversary Conference in Taormina, Sicily, which highlighted the continued importance of this pioneering wind mission, the Aeolus Mission Manager, Tommaso Parrinello, said, "I believe that the best is still to come, and I'm pleased to announce that with a switch of the laser we are extending the lifetime of this remarkable mission hopefully for another year."

Named after Aeolus, who in Greek mythology was appointed "keeper of the winds" by the Gods, Aeolus is a one-of-a-kind satellite that measures wind from space. It is one of ESA's Earth Explorers missions, which use advanced space technologies to answer critical questions about Earth's natural processes and the impact that human activity is having.

Pulses of ultraviolet light fired from Aeolus' ALADIN laser towards Earth are reflected from air molecules and particles in the atmosphere. Two optical analyzers measure the Doppler shift of the molecular scattering, "Rayleigh," and scattering from aerosols and water droplets, "Mie." By analyzing these Doppler shifts, it is possible to estimate wind speed and direction at various altitudes worldwide, making Aeolus the first satellite mission to deliver profiles of Earth's wind on a global scale.

The uses for Aeolus wind data are many, from predicting the weather and improving climate models, to tracking events in near-real time, such as the recent Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption.

Despite exceeding its design life in orbit, ESAs Aeolus mission continues to deliver excellent data. The uses for Aeolus wind data are many, from predicting the weather and improving climate models, to tracking events in near-realtime, such as the recent Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption. The image shows how the ash from the eruption left its mark in Aeolus measurements on 15 January 2022. A huge blip, or drop, can be seen in the Aeolus signal over the Tonga region, suggesting the plume of volcanic ash must have reached an altitude above the range of Aeolus. Credit: ESA

Despite exceeding its initial lifetime, meteorology experts at the Taormina conference expressed the value Aeolus data continue to have.

"Forecast Sensitivity Observation Impact shows that Aeolus is amongst the most important satellite missions, which is an impressive result for a demonstrator," said Mike Rennie of the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

Nothing connects us quite like the weather. Whether it's to understand what coat to wear, or to determine climate expectations tomorrow, being able to predict it as accurately as possible is key.

Although Mike showed that although the positive impact of the data obtained in 2019 was roughly twice as big as it is now, Aeolus is still proving useful for numerical weather prediction.

"Although the Rayleigh impact is gradually declining as the instrument noise increases, the Forecast Sensitivity Observation Impact shows that Aeolus is still beneficial," added Mike.

Despite exceeding its design life in orbit, ESAs Aeolus mission continues to deliver excellent data. The uses for Aeolus wind data are many, from predicting the weather and improving climate models, to tracking events in near-realtime, such as the recent Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption. The image, processed from data gathered on 18 January 2022, shows how Aeolus tracked volcanic plume as it widened and spread westwards over Australia. Credit: ESA

Gemma Halloran of the UK Met Office, where an expanded Aeolus dataset will be operational in May, concurred, saying, "Almost all weather models improved with the assimilation of Aeolus data."

Vivien Pourret of Meteo France also presented data that put Aeolus amongst the best instruments for improving weather forecasts, third overall in terms of improvement per observation. He noted, "The goal is to operationally assimilate Aeolus data for as long as possible."

Aeolus helped track Hunga Tonga eruption

Aeolus is also proving helpful for tracking events such as volcanic eruptions, thanks to near-real time data reaching the user within three hours via the Aeolus Virtual Research Environment. Earlier this year, scientists working on the Aeolus Data Science Innovation Cluster used the online visualization tool to track the Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption.

On 15 January 2022, a huge blip, or drop, in the Aeolus signal over the region of the eruption suggested the plume of volcanic ash must have reached an altitude above the range of Aeolus, as shown in the image above. The image below uses data from three days later, from 18 January, and shows how Aeolus could track the volcanic plume widening and spreading westwards over Australia.

The Aeolus scientific community gathered in Taormina, Sicily, which very aptly lies just south of the Aeolian Islands named after the very same keeper of the winds, and under Mount Etna, a volcano whose plumes can be better modelled thanks to the assimilation of Aeolus data. Credit: ESA - European Space Agency

After increasing the satellite's range of measurements, by the end of January the whole plume was clearly visible in the stratosphere.

The usefulness of such analyses was made clear by Anna Kampouri of the National Observatory of Athens, who in Taormina also showed how Aeolus data improved models of Mount Etna's ash plume as it traveled across Greece in March 2021.

The effect is important to warn the airline industry of potential hazards, as encounters with ash clouds in high concentrations can reduce visibility and damage aircraft engines.

The future is bright for Doppler wind lidars in space

While Aeolus is set for at least another year, discussions in Taormina inevitably led to potential follow-on missions. "The value of Aeolus is not only scientific, but also economic and societal," said ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programs Simonetta Cheli in her opening address in Taormina. "Following the success of Aeolus and the operational assimilation of data into weather forecast models, it's clear there is growing support for a follow-on mission."

Explore further Aeolus winds now in daily weather forecasts
Map showing the study site of NH 715 (new) passing through the KNP. Credit: Nature Conservation (2022). DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.47.73036

"Is it the road that crosses the habitat, or does the habitat cross the road?" ask scientists at Gauhati University (Assam, India) before agreeing that the wrong road at the wrong place is bound to cause various perils for the local wildlife, habitats and ecosystems. Furthermore, some of those effects may take longer than others to identify and confirm.

This is how the research team of doctoral research fellow Somoyita Sur, Dr. Prasanta Kumar Saikia and Dr. Malabika Kakati Saikia decided to study roadkill along a 64-kilometer-long stretch of one of the major highways in India: the National Highway 715.

What makes the location a particularly intriguing choice is that it is where the highway passes between the Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Assam and the North Karbi Anglong Wildlife Sanctuary, thus tempting animals to move to and from the floodplains of Kaziranga and the hilly terrain of the Sanctuary to escape the annual floods oron a daily basisin search for food and mating partners.

In the beginning, they looked into various groups, including mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, before realizing that the death toll amongst frogs, toads, snakes and lizards was indeed tremendous, yet overlooked. Their findings were recently published in the peer-reviewed scholarly journal Nature Conservation.

"To our surprise, the death toll within that 64-kilometer stretch of the highway was indeed dramatic. We estimated that it has been over 6000 animals that have fallen under the wheels of motor vehicles within a single year. Prior to our study, similar research had focused on big charismatic species like the tiger, elephant and rhino, so when we took into account also the smaller animals: frogs, toads, snakes and lizards, the count went through the roof. Thus, we decided to make smaller species the focus of our work," comments Sur.

In conclusion, the scientists agree that roads and highways cannot be abandoned or prevented from construction and expansion, as they are crucial in connecting people and transporting goods and necessities.

"Yet, we can definitely put some effort into designing and constructing them in a scientifically sound, eco-friendly and sustainable manner, so that they don't become the bane for our ecosystems," the team concludes.

Explore further Rare rhinos among more than 200 animals killed by India floods

More information: Somoyita Sur et al, Speed thrills but kills: A case study on seasonal variation in roadkill mortality on National highway 715 (new) in Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Landscape, Assam, India, Nature Conservation (2022). Journal information: Nature Conservation Somoyita Sur et al, Speed thrills but kills: A case study on seasonal variation in roadkill mortality on National highway 715 (new) in Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Landscape, Assam, India,(2022). DOI: 10.3897/natureconservation.47.73036
Meat substitutes are on the rise. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now investigated why they are consumed. Credit: Gregor Hubl/ University of Bonn

Meat substitutes are on the rise: While they used to have a niche existence in health food stores or organic stores, wheat salami, tofu schnitzel or soy mince can now be found in every well-stocked supermarket. "We wanted to know why consumers choose these alternatives," explains Jeanette Klink-Lehmann, who is doing her doctorate at the Institute of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Bonn in the department of Prof. Dr. Monika Hartmann.

Klink-Lehmann and Hartmann, together with their colleague Nick Marcus, surveyed 441 men and women from all over Germany for the analysis. The participants were asked, for example, to state how much they care about their health, whether they think humanity is heading for an ecological crisis and whether animal husbandry in agriculture should be ethically questioned. They also indicated their attitude toward meat substitutes and their intention to consume them regularly in the future.

Animal welfare and health aspects motivate consumption

"We have now examined the statistical relationships between these responses based on an extension of a recognized behavioral model," says Marcus. The researchers came across a surprising result: greater concern for the environment was not associated with a better rating of meat substitutes, nor with a greater intention to buy them. "We had expected that ecological aspects would also play a role in the intention to consume meat alternatives," Marcus explains. "However, that has not been confirmed."

The researchers can only speculate about the reasons for the discrepancy between the participants' environmental concerns and their behavioral intention. For example, the survey data already dates from 2017a time when the "Fridays for Future" movement did not yet exist. "Since then, the issue of the environment has been much more prominent on the agenda," Klink-Lehmann emphasizes. "As a result, more people are probably aware of the potentially negative environmental effects of meat consumption today than they were five years ago."

Animal welfare concerns played a major role in the respondents' consumption decisions: those who view factory farming critically, (unsurprisingly) have a more positive attitude toward plant-based sausages and veggie burgers on average. This attitude, in turn, has a beneficial effect on the intention to use these alternatives in the future. A pronounced health consciousness is also associated with a greater willingness to consume meat substitutes. Furthermore, the attitudes of friends and close relatives toward meat substitutes has a significant influence on this decision.

Targeted marketing of the advantages

Marcus, Klink-Lehmann and Hartmann recommend, on the one hand, better communication of the ecological advantages of meat alternatives. In addition, the industry should pay attention to a healthy and balanced composition in the manufacture of its products. Moreover, where animal-based foods such as eggs are used in meat substitutes, they should come from farms that pay attention to good animal husbandry. "Animal welfare and health are obviously very important to consumers," says Klink-Lehmann. "So manufacturers would do well to take these aspects into account and then market their foods accordingly."

The research was published in Food Quality and Preference.

Explore further More than half of university students surveyed have tried a meat alternative

More information: N. Marcus et al, Exploring factors determining German consumers' intention to eat meat alternatives, Food Quality and Preference (2022). N. Marcus et al, Exploring factors determining German consumers' intention to eat meat alternatives,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2022.104610
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Following a thorough evaluation, NASA has extended the planetary science missions of eight of its spacecraft due to their scientific productivity and potential to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the solar system and beyond.

The missionsMars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover), InSight lander, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, OSIRIS-REx, and New Horizonshave been selected for continuation, assuming their spacecraft remain healthy. Most of the missions will be extended for three years; however, OSIRIS-REx will be continued for nine years in order to reach a new destination, and InSight will be continued until the end of 2022, unless the spacecraft's electrical power allows for longer operations.

Each extended mission proposal was reviewed by a panel of independent experts drawn from academia, industry, and NASA. In total, more than 50 reviewers evaluated the scientific return of the respective proposals. Two independent review chairs oversaw the process and, based on the panel evaluations, validated that these eight science missions hold substantial potential to continue bringing new discoveries and addressing compelling new science questions.

Beyond providing important programmatic benefit to NASA, several of these missions promise multi-divisional science benefits across NASA's entire Science Mission Directorate (SMD), including their use as data relays for Mars surface landers and rovers, as well as to support other NASA initiatives such as the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS).

"Extended missions provide us with the opportunity to leverage NASA's large investments in exploration, allowing continued science operations at a cost far lower than developing a new mission," said Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA's Headquarters in Washington. "Maximizing taxpayer dollars in this way allows missions to obtain valuable new science data, and in some cases, allows NASA to explore new targets with totally new science goals."

Two of the extended missions, MAVEN and OSIRIS-REx, welcome new principal investigators (PIs).

OSIRIS-APEX (Principal Investigator: Dr. Daniella DellaGiustina, University of Arizona): The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission is currently on its way back to Earth to deliver the samples of asteroid Bennu that it collected in 2020. Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx PI, will remain in place for the primary mission, while DellaGiustina begins her role as the newly named PI for OSIRIS-APophis EXplorer (OSIRIS-APEX). With a new name to reflect the extended mission's new goals, the OSIRIS-APEX team will redirect the spacecraft to encounter Apophis, an asteroid roughly 1,200 feet (roughly 370 meters) in diameter that will come within 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) of Earth in 2029. OSIRIS-APEX will enter orbit around Apophis soon after the asteroid's Earth flyby, providing an unprecedented close-up look at this S-type asteroid. It plans to study changes in the asteroid caused by its close flyby of Earth and use the spacecraft's gas thrusters to attempt to dislodge and study the dust and small rocks on and below Apophis' surface.

MAVEN (Principal Investigator: Dr. Shannon Curry, University of California, Berkeley): The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission plans to study the interaction between Mars' atmosphere and magnetic field during the upcoming solar maximum. MAVEN's observations as the Sun's activity level increases toward the maximum of its 11-year cycle will deepen our understanding of how Mars' upper atmosphere and magnetic field interact with the Sun.

InSight (Principal Investigator: Dr. Bruce Banerdt, JPL): Since landing on Mars in 2018, the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission has operated the only active seismic station beyond Earth. Its seismic monitoring of "marsquakes" has provided constraints on Mars' interior, formation, and current activity. The extended mission will continue InSight's seismic and weather monitoring if the spacecraft remains healthy. However, due to dust accumulation on its solar panels, InSight's electrical power production is low, and the mission is unlikely to continue operations for the duration of its current extended mission unless its solar panels are cleared by a passing 'dust devil' in Mars' atmosphere.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) (Project Scientist: Dr. Noah Petro, GSFC): LRO will continue to study the surface and geology of the Moon. The evolution of LRO's orbit will allow it to study new regions away from the poles in unprecedented detail, including the Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) near the poles where water ice may be found. LRO will also provide important programmatic support for NASA's efforts to return to the Moon.

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) (Project Scientist: Dr. Ashwin Vasavada, JPL): The Mars Science Laboratory and its Curiosity rover have driven more than 16 miles (27 km) on the surface of Mars, exploring the history of habitability in Gale Crater. In its fourth extended mission, MSL will climb to higher elevations, exploring the critical sulfate-bearing layers which give unique insights into the history of water on Mars.

New Horizons (Principal Investigator: Dr. Alan Stern, SwRI): New Horizons flew past Pluto in 2015 and the Kuiper belt object (KBO) Arrokoth in 2019. In its second extended mission, New Horizons will continue to explore the distant solar system out to 63 astronomical units (AU) from Earth. The New Horizons spacecraft can potentially conduct multi-disciplinary observations of relevance to the solar system and NASA's Heliophysics and Astrophysics Divisions. Additional details regarding New Horizons' science plan will be provided at a later date.

Mars Odyssey (Project Scientist: Dr. Jeffrey Plaut, JPL): Mars Odyssey's extended mission will perform new thermal studies of rocks and ice below Mars' surface, monitor the radiation environment, and continue its long-running climate monitoring campaign. The Odyssey orbiter also continues to provide unique support for real-time data relay from other Mars spacecraft. The length of Odyssey's extended mission may be limited by the amount of propellant remaining aboard the spacecraft.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) (Project Scientist: Dr. Rich Zurek, JPL): MRO has provided a wealth of data regarding the processes on Mars' surface. In its sixth extended mission, MRO will study the evolution of Mars' surface, ices, active geology, and atmosphere and climate. In addition, MRO will continue to provide important data relay service to other Mars missions. MRO's CRISM instrument will be shut down entirely, after the loss of its cryocooler has ended the use of one of its two spectrometers.

NASA's Planetary Science Division currently operates 14 spacecraft across the solar system, has 12 missions in formulation and implementation, and partners with international space agencies on seven others.

Explore further New Horizons receives mission extension to Kuiper Belt, Dawn to remain at Ceres

More information: The detailed reports from the 2022 Planetary Science Senior Review may be found at The detailed reports from the 2022 Planetary Science Senior Review may be found at science.nasa.gov/solar-system/  uments/senior-review
Spatial distribution of four OCs (filled red circles). The schematic projection of the Galaxy with its spiral arms is seen from the North pole. (X, Y) kpc show the galactosentric cartesian coordinates. The sun is at 8.2 kpc. Credit: Cakmaka and Karatasa, 2022.

Using data from ESA's Gaia space observatory, astronomers from the Istanbul University in Turkey have inspected four galactic open clusters. Results of this research, available in a paper published April 16 on the arXiv pre-print repository, deliver important insights into the properties of these objects.

Open clusters (OCs), formed from the same giant molecular cloud, are groups of stars loosely gravitationally bound to each other. So far, more than 1,000 of them have been discovered in the Milky Way, and scientists are still looking for more, hoping to find a variety of these stellar groupings. Expanding the list of known galactic open clusters and studying them in detail could be crucial for improving our understanding of the formation and evolution of our galaxy.

Therefore, Turkish astronomers Hikmet Cakmaka and Yuksel Karatasa have examined four OCs in the Milky Way, namely: Berkeley 10 (or Be 10), Berkeley 81 (Be 81), Berkeley 89 (Be 89), and Ruprecht 135 (Ru 135). They analyzed photometric and astrometric data from Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) with the aim of determining astrophysical, structural and dynamical parameters of these clusters.

"In this paper, we study the dynamical evolution of Be 81, Ru 135, Be 10, and Be 89 from Gaia EDR3 photometric/astrometric data," the researchers wrote in the study.

The research found that the largest and most massive OC from the studied quartet is Be 89. It has a radius of about 37.1 light years and its total mass was calculated to be 154.7 solar masses. The cluster is 3.2 billion years old, has a metallicity of 0.0152, and is located some 7,900 light years away from the Earth. It is estimated that Be 89 has at least 221 member stars.

With a radius of about 5.5 light years and total mass of approximately 98.5 solar masses, Ru 135 is the smallest and least massive cluster out of the four described in the paper. At a distance of just 2,900 light years, Ru 135 has an age of about 1 billion years, metallicity similar to that of Be 89, and is estimated to contain 119 stars.

Be 81 is the most distant OC from the sample as it is located some 8,600 light years away. Its radius and mass are estimated to be 9.84 light years and 134.5 solar masses, respectively. The age of this cluster, known to host at least 171 stars, is estimated to be 1.6 billion years, while its metallicity is at a level of 0.024.

When it comes to 1.35 billion years old Be 10, it has a radius of about 21.2 light years and its total mass was calculated to be 109.6 solar masses. Located at a distance of 6,223 light years, this OC is estimated to have 197 member stars, and its metallicity was found to be approximately 0.008.

Summing up the results, the researchers noted that the cluster Be 89 expands with time, contrary to Be 10 and Be 81 as these two showcase the relatively shrinkage cluster radii due to dynamical evolution. In the case of Ru 135, it was found that instead of shrinking in size and mass with time, this cluster may have a primordial origin assumed to be related to high molecular gas density in galactic directions.

Explore further Chinese astronomers discover more than 500 new open cluster candidates

More information: Hikmet Cakmak, Yuksel Karatas, A Dynamical Evolution Study of the Open Clusters: Berkeley 10, Berkeley 81, Berkeley 89 and Ruprecht 135. arXiv:2204.07745v3 [astro-ph.GA], Hikmet Cakmak, Yuksel Karatas, A Dynamical Evolution Study of the Open Clusters: Berkeley 10, Berkeley 81, Berkeley 89 and Ruprecht 135. arXiv:2204.07745v3 [astro-ph.GA], arxiv.org/abs/2204.07745

 2022 Science X Network
Brazilian salmon pink bird-eating tarantula (Lasiodora Parahybana) in the lab of Linda Rayor, senior research associate in CALS. Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University

A survey has found that endangered and threatened insects and spiders, as well as common species that provide valuable ecological services, can be easily purchased without adequate oversightthrough basic internet searches, according to a new Cornell study.

For example, the Luzon peacock swallowtail, one of the rarest butterflies, which is listed as endangered both internationally and in the U.S., and is illegal to trade, was found for sale at Amazon.com pinned in a display box for around $110.

Many species of live tarantulas, which are not threatened with extinction but whose trade is strictly controlled, were also readily discovered for sale as pets without any oversight or enforcement.

These results are concerning given that insects are in steep decline globally due to habitat loss, pesticides, invasive species, urbanization, pollution, and climate change. Some entomologists have estimated that the Earth is losing about 10 to 20% of all insect species every decade, and researchers said an insect or spider species' survival can be greatly impacted when it is collected and sold.

John Losey, professor of entomology and the lead author of the paper, "Insects and Spiders on the Web: Monitoring and Mitigating Online Exploitation of Species and Services," which published April 2 in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation, said the study began as a project for his Insect Conservation Biology course. The paper included 18 student co-authors who were undergraduates in 2019 when the research was done. Paul Curtis, extension wildlife specialist in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, is a senior co-author.

"We surveyed the web to determine if there were species available for sale that are rare, threatened, or for which commerce is in some way regulated," Losey said.

"As they get rarer and rarer, they become more and more valuable to collectors, and then the amount of collecting and sale, if not done sustainably, has greater impact on those species."

In the study, the student investigators began with independent broad searches to see what was out there. After gathering leads, the team formalized its process and divided searches across platformsincluding Amazon, Ebay, Etsy and Alibaba, among others. They focused on vulnerable insect and spider species found on a few key lists.

These included the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) lists, the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and the U.S. Endangered Species List. The Luzon peacock swallowtail, for example, is on the U.S. Endangered Species List and CITES Appendix I, which denotes the most endangered species with the highest level of regulation; international trade of such CITES Appendix 1 species are generally prohibited.

In their searches, the team found 79 species listed across the three lists, including seven species on the IUCN's Red List, which names just the critically endangered. Among those were two stick insect species, a Gooty sapphire tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica) for sale for $232.50, and a Cyprus beetle (Propomacrus cypriacus), which cost $1,100 on eBay.

The most expensive insect they found for sale was a birdwing butterfly species named Ornithoptera allottei, listed on CITES Appendix 2. The pinned butterfly was listed on eBay for $3,850 at the time of the search.

"It was really astonishing how easily endangered species are openly being sold online," said Juan Pablo Jordan, a student co-author who is now a doctoral student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. "It was also surprising how accessible the [endangered species] listings are to find and the complacency of the sale platforms that are essentially supporting the trade of at-risk species that are protected by law."

The students also found for sale species that provide ecological services, such as ladybugs released for pest control and pollinators. Such insects should be purchased through regulated sources, because releasing diseased insects, the wrong strain, or batches not suited to thrive in areas where they are released could impact larger wild populations and have negative effects on the services they provide.

"Hopefully, our findings will lead to better enforcement of the illegal online sale of rare insects and protect those species in the wild," Curtis said.

To that end, the study has been shared with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces illegal trade of species but lacks the resources to monitor the commerce. Losey said he hopes to continue the project with student-specialists who monitor the web for illegal sales and report findings. For insects that provide services, the hope is to put them in the framework of "livestock," so their unregulated sale could then be monitored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Losey said.

Explore further Trade in rare plants on social media must be monitored

More information: John E. Losey et al, Insects and spiders on the web: Monitoring and mitigating online exploitation of species and services, Global Ecology and Conservation (2022). John E. Losey et al, Insects and spiders on the web: Monitoring and mitigating online exploitation of species and services,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02098
Important high pressure terranes marked along the BNS. Credit: Chasebill/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Gangdese porphyry copper deposit belt (GPCDB) is along the southern margin of Lhasa Terrane. The deposits of GPCDB were formed in the Miocene after the India-Eurasia collision. The genesis of these porphyry copper deposits is controversial.

Jiama is a giant porphyry-skarn Cu-polymetallic deposit in the GPCDB. Granite porphyry is the main magmatic rocks in the deposit. Clarifying the origin of granite porphyry is crucial for understanding mineralization.

Combining the geochronology, geochemical and isotopic studies of the granite porphyry in the Jiama deposit, a research team led by Prof. Sun Weidong from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences provided firm constraint on the petrogenesis of granite porphyry and mineralization potential.

The study was published in Journal of Geochemical Exploration on April 11.

Zircon U-Pb dating indicated that the granite porphyry and other felsic porphyries in the Jiama deposit mainly formed during the 1516 Ma magmatic pulse events. The formation age of felsic porphyries is consistent with the metallogenic age.

By compiling the previously published and newly obtained Sr-Nd isotope data, the researchers found that all the felsic magmatic rocks in the Jiama deposit had a similar and narrow variation range of I Sr , indicating that they had an identical magma source.

The zircon Hf-O isotopic compositions suggested their homologous properties as well. All the isotopic data suggested that these felsic porphyries were derived from an identical relatively depleted magma source.

The Sr-Nd isotope two end-member mixing modeling indicated that these porphyries might have originated from melts of juvenile lower crust mixing with a small amount of ultrapotassic magma.

The (La/Sm)N-SiO 2 , (Dy/Yb) N -SiO 2 evolution trends indicated that different from other felsic porphyries in the Jiama deposit, the magma of granite porphyry experienced the fractional crystallization of hornblende and plagioclase. The fractional crystallization of plagioclase during magma evolution gradually lowered the Sr contents and erased the adakitic characteristics.

"The high zircon Ce4+/Ce3+ values demonstrate that the granite porphyries in the Jiama deposit have high oxygen fugacity, which is favorable for CuMo mineralization," said Wang Kun, first author of the study.

Explore further Scientists find reworking of juvenile crust in the late Mesozoic in North Qinling, Central China

More information: Kun Wang et al, Petrogenesis and metallogenic implications of the Miocene granite porphyry in the Jiama Cu-polymetallic deposit, Gangdese belt, South Tibet, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (2022). Kun Wang et al, Petrogenesis and metallogenic implications of the Miocene granite porphyry in the Jiama Cu-polymetallic deposit, Gangdese belt, South Tibet,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.gexplo.2022.106998
Manned submarines will be used to explore the first 4 seamounts of the Cordillera de Coiba, located about 100 kilometers south of Coiba National Park. Credit: Undersea Hunter Group

Last year, Panama expanded the Cordillera de Coiba marine protected area from 17,223 to 67,908 square kilometers (6,650 to 26,219 square miles). On April 27th, an international scientific expedition made up of researchers and students from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), MigraMar, the International Maritime University of Panama (UMIP), the University of Costa Rica and the Ministry of the Environment will set sail on the first mission to explore the seamounts of this protected area.

The scientists will conduct daily dives to depths of up to 450 meters, using a manned submarine, and deploy baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVs) several times a day to document the important biodiversity inhabiting the seamounts in the Cordillera de Coiba, located over 60 miles south of the Coiba National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The results of this expedition will help better focus the efforts aimed at the management of the marine protected area.

With the expansion of the Cordillera de Coiba marine protected area, Panama fulfilled its commitment to protect 30% of its oceans by 2030, an initiative of the Global Biodiversity Framework. This action also improves the connectivity of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor and strengthens the conservation and sustainable use of protected waters between Isla de Coco in Costa Rica, Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, Malpelo and Gorgona Islands in Colombia, and Coiba Island in Panama. However, the Cordillera de Coiba seamounts continue to be largely unexplored.

Hector Guzman, one of the scientists on the expedition, is a STRI marine biologist and member of MigraMar who designed the expansion and management plan for the Cordillera de Coiba protected area together with a multidisciplinary team. Credit: Sean Mattson, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

"The Cordillera de Coiba is the largest marine protected area in the Republic of Panama and it has never been explored," said STRI marine biologist and member of MigraMar Hector Guzman, who designed the expansion and management plan of the protected area together with a multidisciplinary team. "The objective of this expedition is exploration, discovery and learning, since it is the first time that these seamounts have been reached."

"I want to salute Hector Guzman and the entire expedition team for exploring this special blue pocket in the ocean previously unexplored by humans," said Dr. Sylvia Earle, founder of Mission Blue. "Knowing is the key to caring, and with caring there is motivation to take action and protect it. I salute Panama for making the choice to formally protect this Hope Spot and exceed its 3030 ocean protection goals last year. With the upcoming expedition, we may see even further marine protection for Panama on the horizon."

The Cordillera de Coiba, like the Coiba National Park, is considered a Hope Spot by the Mission Blue Foundation, which is led by the renowned American marine biologist and explorer, Sylvia Earle. Today there are 140 Hope Spots around the world: special places that have been identified as critical to the health of the oceans. Hope Spots also have local advocates that Mission Blue supports with communications, expeditions, and scientific advice. In the case of Coiba, it is Hector Guzman.

Through baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVs), the expedition will document the megafauna inhabiting the Cordillera de Coiba. Credit: Candy Real, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

STRI and the Government of Panama reaffirmed their commitment to marine science during the Our Ocean 2022 conference in Palau, with a view to the Our Ocean 2023 conference in Panama. This commitment is based on a strategy to produce the necessary knowledge to safeguard the oceans and support the people who depend on them, with a focus on understanding and protecting biodiversity and generating evidence that allows decision-makers to chart a sustainable path towards the future. The expedition to the Cordillera de Coiba seamounts is just one example of STRI and MigraMar actions that point towards the fulfillment of these objectives.

This first exploratory mission is made possible by funding from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the Collatos Family Foundation, the Hothem Family, Mission Blue, Re:wild, and the Wyss Foundation.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, in Panama City, Panama, is a unit of the Smithsonian Institution. The Institute promotes understanding of tropical nature and its importance to human well-being, trains students to conduct research in the tropics, and fosters conservation by raising public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems.

Explore further Panama expands the limits of the Coiba protected area
Utilizing two glasses with a different refractive index and stacked with a specific arrangement has allowed researchers to develop for the first time a multimodal fiber with a parabolic refractive index with transmission up to the mid-infrared and high nonlinearity. The spectrum of short pulses of light injected into the fiber massively broadens to span from the visible to mid-infrared. Significantly, unlike in conventional multimode fibers, the light beam remains smooth as the result of self-cleaning dynamics induced by the parabolic refractive index. Such a light source with ultrabroad spectrum, smooth beam and high power finds applications in e.g. environmental sensing or high-resolution imaging for medical diagnostics. Credit: Tampere University

Researchers at Tampere University have successfully developed a novel optical fiber design allowing the generation of rainbow laser light in the molecular fingerprint electromagnetic region. This new optical fiber with a self-cleaned beam can help in developing applications for, for example, pollutant tagging, cancer diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and food control. The finding was published in the journal Nature Communications.

When a high-powered ultrashort pulse of light interacts with a material such as a glass optical fiber, a range of highly nonlinear interactions take place that cause complex changes in both the temporal and spectral properties of the injected light. When taken to the extreme, such interactions can lead to the generation of a rainbow laser of light commonly referred to as a supercontinuum light source. Since its first demonstration in a special type of optical fiber in 2000, supercontinuum laser light has revolutionized many areas of science, ranging from metrology and imaging at unprecedented resolution to ultrabroadband remote sensing and even the detection of exoplanets.

The current bottleneck with current supercontinuum sources, however, is that they are based on optical fibers that support a single transverse intensity profile or mode, which inherently limits their optical power. What's more, conventional optical fibers are made of silica glass with transmission limited to the visible and near-infrared region of the spectrum. Extension of supercontinuum light to other wavelength regimes such as the mid-infrared requires optical fibers made of so-called soft glasses, but these possess a lower damage threshold than silica, limiting even more the power of the supercontinuum beam.

Non-silica optical fiber with a self-cleaned beam

Recently, a different type of optical fiber with a refractive index that varies continuously across the fiber structure has been shown to yield a dramatic increase in supercontinuum power, while still preserving a smooth beam intensity profile. "The refractive index variation of such graded-index optical fibers leads to periodic focusing and defocusing of the light inside the fiber that enables coupling between spatial and temporal nonlinear light-matter interactions. This leads to a self-cleaning mechanism that yields supercontinuum light with high power and a clean beam profile. As well as their many applications, they also provide a means of studying fundamental physics effects such as wave turbulence", says Professor Goery Genty, the leader of the research group at Tampere University.

While these fibers have recently attracted significant attention from the research community, their use has been, up to now, restricted to the visible and near-infrared. In collaboration with the group of Profs. Buczynski and Klimczak at the University of Warsaw (Poland) and the group of Prof. Dudley in the University of Burgundy France-Comte (France), the Tampere team demonstrated for the first time the generation of a two-octave supercontinuum from the visible to mid-infrared in a non-silica graded-index fiber with a self-cleaned beam.

"This problem has now been solved by using a particular design that utilizes two types of lead-bismuth-gallate glass rods with different refractive indices drawn to yield a nanostructured core. The result is a graded-index fiber with an effective parabolic refractive index profile with transmission up to the mid-infrared, and, as cherry on the cake, enhanced nonlinear light-matter interactions," says researcher Zahra Eslami.

Great potential in diagnostics and monitoring

The mid-infrared is of crucial interest as it contains the characteristic vibrational transitions of many important molecules.

"The novel solution will lead to more efficient supercontinuum light sources in the mid-infrared with many potential applications e.g., for pollutant tagging, cancer diagnostics, machine vision, environmental monitoring, quality and food control," explains Genty.

The researchers anticipate that this novel type of fiber will very soon become an important and standard material for the generation of broadband sources and frequency combs.

More information: Zahra Eslami et al, Two octave supercontinuum generation in a non-silica graded-index multimode fiber, Nature Communications (2022). Journal information: Nature Communications Zahra Eslami et al, Two octave supercontinuum generation in a non-silica graded-index multimode fiber,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29776-6

Provided by Tampere University
At a forum held at the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) on April 22, scientists and sci-fi writers came together to discuss the intersection of sci-fi and sci-tech. One of the topics discussed was "The Pillars of A Great Power," a soon-to-be-published collection of 13 science fiction stories inspired by key Chinese sci-tech projects such as China's space exploration, advanced nuclear power reactors and photovoltaic power program.

The stories, written by renowned Chinese sci-fi writers including Wang Jinkang, Jiang Bo and Zhou Wen, was recommended by conference attendees, who also stated they are looking forward to a brighter future brought by sci-tech innovations.

The book is the result of a campaign organized by the news center of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), and co-organized by the Future Affairs Administration, an incubator of sci-fi works and talents, as well as Sina Weibo, Guokr, and the Global Times. Together, they invited sci-fi and popular science writers to tour several central state-owned enterprises, such as the SASAC, the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC), the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), China State Railway Group (CR) and China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC). The visits were intended to help them find inspiration to create science fiction based on their own experiences of China's significant national sci-tech projects and programs as well as innovative technologies.

Yan Yong, deputy director of the news center of SASAC, said when sci-fi meets sci-tech, it can help stimulate the innovation vitality of central enterprises and creates new possibilities for a better life for the people of the future. "The pillar projects of China have brought creative inspiration to sci-fi writers, while sci-fi works have given unlimited imagination space for technological innovations," Yan said.

Wu Wei, director of the publicity and culture center of CNNC discussed how the internal cultural mechanism represented by sci-fi promotes the technological innovation of enterprises, and believes that science fiction can inspire thinking ability, innovation ability, and cultivate innovation.

"The stunning feeling brought to us by many sci-fi novels is actually the recurrence and extension of the spiritual experience when facing the miracles of human technology," said Liu Cixin, one of China's most famous sci-fi writers, who attended the event via video link. He said the new book collection of sci-fi stories is the result of writers who have experienced China's most advanced and grand sci-tech projects, "and they bring the upcoming future visions to us."

At the forum, sci-fi writer Zhou Wen recalled her personal experience of walking into the photovoltaic industrial park of the State Power Investment Corporation in Qinghai, and later conceived of a high-sensitivity optoelectronic material used for space flight in her novel. Zhang Zhi, a senior engineer of SPIC, echoed that such sci-fi ideas are very likely to be realized in the near future, and some have already become a reality: "In addition to sunlight, we can also obtain energy by harnessing cosmic rays in the universe, which will be the best source of energy for any future interstellar journey."

When talking about innovative thinking, Yao Hongshuai, a senior engineer of China Nuclear Power Engineering Co. Ltd., who is a big sci-fi fan, added that at the forum, the imagination of sci-fi inspired the innovative ideas of sci-tech workers in central enterprises in real work scenarios.

In 2020, CNNC started to pay more attention to sci-tech cultural aspects by launching a sci-fi content franchise to attract public interest in nuclear technologies. Also on April 22, CNNC announced in a Weibo microblog post that they are developing a nuclear-powered pet dog "Mido" under the franchise, which generated lots of positive feedback.

"Whether it is about sci-fi creation or scientific research, or even in the exploration of the universe, only by knowing where we are can we know who we are and where we are going," said Ji Shaoting, founder of the Future Affairs Administration. She added that it is of great importance for Chinese sci-fi literature creators to be able to understand the real development stage of national innovation and to imagine a step forward based on this.

Han Song, another prominent Chinese sci-fi writer, pointed out the cooperation between central state-owned enterprises and sci-fi writers to popularize science and spread knowledge through sci-fi works has strong practical significance for improving national innovation ability and scientific literacy, as well as boosting China's scientific and technological confidence and cultural confidence.

"Albert Einstein had said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Sci-fi writers imagine various miracles from China's economic development in the future, which provide strong inspiration and enlightenment for us to speed up the construction of an innovative country and enhance our international competitiveness," Han said.
Craugastor cueyatl, one of the newly discovered tiny frog species, sits on a Mexican 10 pesos coin. The coin diameter is 28mm. Credit: Jeffrey W Streicher, The Natural History Museum, London

Scientists have discovered six new species of frog the size of a thumbnail in the forests of Mexico, with one earning the distinction of Mexico's smallest frog.

All six species are smaller than a British 1p coinaround 15mm longwhen fully grown. Adult males of the tiniest of these species, named Craugastor candelariensis, grow to only 13mm.

The newly discovered species are known as 'direct-developing' frogs: rather than hatching from eggs into tadpoles like most frogs, they emerge from the eggs as perfect miniature frogs. And they're so small that they're right at the bottom of the forest food chain.

"With millions of these frogs living in the leaf litter, we think they're likely to play a hugely important role in the ecosystem as a source of food for everything else, from lizards to predatory birds," said Jameson.

The discovery, by researchers at the University of Cambridge, London's Natural History Museum, and the University of Texas at Arlington, is published in the journal Herpetological Monographs.

"Until now these new species have gone unnoticed because they're small and brown and look really similar to other frogs," said Tom Jameson, a researcher at the University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology and University Museum of Zoology, who led the study.

Craugastor rubinus, one of the newly discovered tiny frog species, sits on a Mexican 10 pesos coin. The coin diameter is 28mm. Credit: Jeffrey W Streicher, The Natural History Museum, London

"Their lifestyle is utterly fascinating," he added. "These frogs live in the dark, humid leaf litter of the forests, which is like a secret worldwe don't really know anything about what goes on there. We don't understand their behavior, how they socialize, or how they breed."

The study involved gathering almost 500 frog specimens from museums around the world, which had been collected in Mexico, and using new methods to categorize the relationships between them.

Using DNA sequencing, the team sorted the frogs into groups based on how similar their genes were. Then CT-scanning was used to create 3D models of the frogs' skeletons, so that physical details could be compared. These two very different lines of evidence revealed six new species of frog.

"Frogs in the group known as Craugastor are very difficult to tell apart, so scientists have long suspected that more species may exist. We're really excited to have discovered six new Craugastor species that are completely new to science," said Jameson.

A researcher gently holds the tiny leg of Craugastor rubinus. Credit: Jeffrey W Streicher, The Natural History Museum, London

The new species have been named Craugastor bitonium, Craugastor candelariensis, Craugastor cueyatl, Craugastor polaclavus, Craugastor portilloensis, and Craugastor rubinus. Jameson is particularly pleased with the name cueyatlit means 'frog' in the indigenous language, Nahuatl, spoken in the Valley of Mexico where this species was found.

"We chose the name cueyatl to honor the rich human history of the Valley of Mexico, and the local people who have probably known these frogs far longer than we have," he said.

Known as 'micro-endemics', some of the newly discovered frogs may occur only in one small area, such as a hilltop in a certain part of Mexico. This makes them incredibly vulnerable.

"We named Craugastor rubinus after the garnet mines in the hillside where they're found," said Jameson. "Sadly, it will only take the expansion of one mine and these frogs could be gone."

The name of this newly discovered tiny frogCraugastor cueyatlmeans 'frog' in the indigenous language, Nahuatl, spoken in the Valley of Mexico where it was found. Credit: Jeffrey W Streicher, The Natural History Museum, London

Craugastor rubinus is named after the garnet mines in the Mexican hillside where it is found. Credit: Jeffrey W Streicher, The Natural History Museum, London

Habitat in Estado de Mexico where C. cueyatl is found. Credit: Jeffrey W. Streicher

Habitat loss can also result from climate change. And the frogs are threatened by a deadly fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, that's wiping out amphibian populations across the world.

But the researchers are hopeful that there's a future for their tiny frogs. They have identified key protected areas throughout Mexico where the six new species liveand now hope to work with the government and NGOs in Mexico to connect these areas together.

"These frogs potentially play a really important role in the forest ecosystem," said Jameson. "We need to make sure that they don't just get wiped off the map because no-one even knows they're there."

Habitat in Jalisco, Mexico where C.rubinus is found. Credit: Jeffrey W. Streicher

He thinks there are probably many more species of Craugastor frog still to be discovered, simply because nobody has had a chance to look for them yet.

"We've looked at the maps of where the original expeditions went looking for frogs in Mexico, and found whole valleys and river systems where nobody went," he said. "Because the tiny frogs live in tiny areas we can be pretty confident there's a whole bunch of other undiscovered species thereall we have to do is go and find them."

Explore further Seven new species of night frogs from India including four miniature forms

More information: Tom J.M. Jameson et al, Miniaturization in Direct-Developing Frogs from Mexico with the Description of Six New Species, Herpetological Monographs (2022). Tom J.M. Jameson et al, Miniaturization in Direct-Developing Frogs from Mexico with the Description of Six New Species,(2022). DOI: 10.1655/0733-1347-36.1.1
ARGYLE  A man walking across the road in front of his home was struck and killed by a vehicle early Monday evening, police said.

At 6 p.m. Monday, state police responded to a report of a man struck by a motor vehicle on Brennan Road.

Police said the preliminary investigation determined that Robert T. Brennan, 83, of Argyle, was crossing the roadway in front of his residence when he was struck by a vehicle traveling west.

The vehicle, a 2007 Saturn Aura, was operated by Sandra J. Wolcott, 62, of Argyle, according to the report.

Brennan was declared dead at the scene, police said.

State police were assisted at the scene by Argyle Fire Department and Washington County Sheriffs Office.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

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ALBANY  National Grid, whose utility service region includes a large swath of upstate New York, is touting a hybrid pathway for having gas and electric networks that are free of traditional fossil fuels by 2050.

The company says its plan designed for New York and Massachusetts enables consumer choice while confronting worsening climate change. It would replace fossil fuels with methane and hydrogen while expanding the use of heat pumps and neighborhood geothermal heating to maximize energy efficiency.

Just as we are investing in renewables like wind and solar to decarbonize the energy running through our electric network, we are committing to decarbonize our gas network by transitioning it completely to renewable natural gas and hydrogen by 2050 or sooner, said John Pettigrew, National Grids chief executive officer.

National Grid, in releasing its plan, stepped into the ongoing discussion by the states Climate Action Council, which has been circulating its draft plan to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New York. The company says that while it will stop using fossil fuel gas by 2050, it would harvest methane from landfills and dairy farms.

The Climate Action Council wants to ban the use of natural gas in new homes, with the goal of having new buildings rely on electrification. Currently, an estimated 60% of New York homes are heated by natural gas.

The aggressive climate targets of New York and Massachusetts threaten to make National Grids current infrastructure  networks of pipelines carrying natural gas  obsolete.

National Grids blueprint is already encountering criticism from environmental activists who argue that it does not achieve the goal of decarbonization as it relies on methane, an ingredient of natural gas.

I think that what National Grid has put out there really misses the mark, said Conor Bambrick, director of climate policy for Environmental Advocates, an Albany advocacy group. Its not compliant with New Yorks climate law. And what theyve done is essentially tried to keep their current business model and make it somehow apply to fit the climate law when it really just doesnt.

National Grid insists its plans are consistent with the climate goals of the states in which it operates.

Combined with targeted electrification and enhanced energy efficiency, a 100% fossil-free gas network can deliver a clean energy future that is more affordable and more reliable to over 20 million people across New York and Massachusetts, the company said in announcing its plan.

Gavin Donohue, the president of the Independent Power Producers of New York and a member of the Climate Action Council, said he welcomes the input from National Grid, noting he is encouraged by anything that talks about alternatives to the current draft plan.

National Grid would continue to use its pipelines but replace natural gas with recovered methane and hydrogen developed from its wind turbine assets through electrolysis.

Several trade unions, concerned about the job impacts of the states draft climate plan, have been following a series of public hearings on the issue closely.

In a statement that accompanied the National Grid announcement, Pat Guidice, business manager for IBEW Local 1049, representing some 10,000 utility workers across New York, said the companys plan will ensure that good-paying jobs for generations to come will be protected while ensuring the production and reliable delivery of energy that will bring comfort and safety to the lives of our neighbors.

New York is striving to have 70% of its electricity supply come from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% by 2040.

In a related development, the New York Power Authority announced it has sold more than $608 million in green bonds to finance the development of two large transmission projects that are estimated to reduce millions of tons in carbon emissions.

One of them, Smart Path, involves 78 circuit miles of transmission from St. Lawrence County to Lewis County. The second, Central East Energy Connect, involves new transmission lines and substations between Marcy in the Mohawk Valley and the town of New Scotland in Albany County.

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HADLEY  A Queensbury man was pronounced dead after his vehicle was submerged in the Sacandaga River in the town of Hadley on Sunday.

Police responded at 7:47 p.m. Sunday to reports that a car, operated by Edward Mastrangelo, 66, had gone into the water while traveling on Old Corinth Road. The accident occurred near the Hadley Bow Bridge and required emergency services from multiple local departments.

State police assisted by divers from the Corinth Fire Department located the vehicle and removed the driver who was transported to Glens Falls Hospital and pronounced dead. According to police, Mastrangelo was traveling south on Old Corinth Road when his vehicle went off the east shoulder, down an embankment and rolled before landing in the river and becoming submerged.

An autopsy on the victim is pending.

Jana DeCamilla is a staff writer who covers Moreau, Queensbury, and Lake George. She can be reached at 518-742-3272 or jdecamilla@poststar.com.

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ATLANTIC CITY  Property owners will pay less in 2022 to run local government, and the state will provide $5.7 million less in aid, yet spending on salaries and wages will increase almost 10% and debt service payments more than 7%.

Its made possible by the citys use of $15 million in surplus, according to the budget the city posted on the Finance Departments page on its website late Monday.

And capital spending is falling more than $12 million.

The $235 million budget ($219 million when state and federal grant spending is subtracted) was introduced April 20, and the public hearing on the budget will be May 18.

Casino payments in lieu of taxes will fall about $20 million in this years budget, to $46.65 million from $66.65 million.

That will be made up for with projected increased casino Investment Alternative Tax payments, which will increase about $22.5 million, to $45 million from $22.5 million.

The changes in PILOT and IAT funding are determined by the amended casino PILOT law, which passed the Legislature in December and was quickly signed by Gov. Phil Murphy.

The amended PILOT law has been challenged in court by Atlantic County.

A Superior Court judge found the new law violates a previous court settlement between the state and county over the original PILOT law, but has not stopped the law from taking effect. The state is asking another judge to reconsider that decision.

It is unclear how Atlantic Citys budget would be affected if a decision in the lawsuit only directs the state to pay more to Atlantic County.

But if the amended law is ultimately thrown out and the original PILOT put back into effect, the city would continue to get the additional IAT funds and would also receive much higher PILOT payments.

According to the Office of Legislative Services in a fiscal analysis of the amended PILOT bill (A5587), the city would have received $88.5 million in 2022 under the original PILOT, about $20 million more than it will receive under the amended PILOT.

The budget as introduced raises $38.6 million from local taxpayers, down 3.7% from the $40 million collected from property taxes last year.

That lowers the tax rate to $1.5997 per $100 of assessed property value, down 2.9% from last year.

For the owner of the average home assessed at $125,000, the local government tax bill will fall to about $2,000 from $2,060.

The total tax bill that includes school, library and county taxes will also fall from $3.901 to $3.792 per $100 valuation.

The average homeowner will pay $4,740 in total property taxes in 2022, down from $4,876.25 last year.

The citys assessed valuation (without casinos and other properties under payments-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements) has fallen 0.8% in the past year, to $2.41 billion from $2.43 billion.

Local revenues other than property taxes are projected to fall 2.7%, from $118.4 million to $115.2 million. They include the casino PILOT and IAT as well as $23.5 million in all other revenues.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com

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If you love great food and you love eating for the sake of charity, this week is for you, as two food-focused charity fundraising dinners will take place in South Jersey.

Night of 300,000 Meals

The Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ), Southern Branchs annual event, Night of 300,000 Meals, will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 28, at the FoodBanks Egg Harbor Township location.

The event began in 2018 as Night of 100,000 Meals, but this year, they decided to triple their efforts.

This is the third time we are hosting, says Denise Hladun, director of external affairs for the FoodBank. It was formerly night of 100,000 meals, but its been rebranded as Night of 300,000 meals, and the goal is now to provide 300,000 nutritious meals for our South Jersey neighbors in need.

While that number may seem high, the fact of the matter is that there are 60,000 families in South Jersey who are food insecure right now, making the goal a modest, yet extremely important one.

The format has expanded this year, as well, and will now include an outdoor tent where attendees can enjoy live music from the Eddie Morgan Jazz Duo while sampling various dishes and spirits from local restaurants.

In total, 20 restaurants from Atlantic and Cape May counties will participate in the event, with each serving up tasting portions of some of their signature dishes. In addition, Titos Vodka is a sponsor and will offer specialty cocktails.

We are deeply grateful for the support of the restaurateurs during what we know has been a very difficult few years as well as the support of the community at large for coming together to support this event, Hladun says.

Tickets for the event are $100, and sponsorships are available. The FoodBank is located at 6735 E. Black Horse Pike, Egg Harbor Township. Go to CFBNJ.org.

Feasting on History

The second foodie event of the week is hosted by Historic Cold Spring Village in Cape May, as they celebrate the 20th anniversary edition of Feasting on History. Their annual gala, which allows guests to feast on an array of food and drinks from various local restaurants, breweries, wineries and distilleries and serves as a fundraiser for the historic site, takes place 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, at the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum.

We are incredibly excited to be able to bring this event back, as COVID forced us to cancel it several times. So its our 20th anniversary, but it should have been celebrated in 2020, says Anne Salvatore, executive director at Historic Cold Spring Village.

Salvatore seems particularly happy to see the return of the event for 2022 because as of only a few months ago, the fate of Feasting on History was still up in the air.

In the last couple of months, since the Omicron variant has started to fade away, people that I would see would say: Oh Annie  when are you having Feasting on History? so I started to feel some pressure to make a decision. So we decided to do it.

The events original seeds were planted back in 2000 when Salvatore was searching for a way to bring funds in to support the villages mission of historic education, preservation and heritage tourism.

It was a struggle (to bring in funds) because we really are a seasonal heritage tourism site, she says. So we brainstormed, and came up with the idea of having restaurants donate food for a gala event and we called it Feasting on History. We had 250 people and about 15 restaurants that first year, and its grown ever since. We had 700 people and about 40 vendors  including restaurants, wineries, breweries and distilleries at the most recent event. It was awesome!

Individual tickets to Feasting on History are $85 per person and tables of 10 are $700. All tickets must be purchased in advance no later than 3 p.m. Monday, May 2. The Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum is located at 500 Forrestal Road, Cape May. Go to HCSV.org to purchase tickets.
Meteorologist

It's great to forecast for you in N.J., where I was born and raised. I earned my degree from Rutgers and have been at The Press since Fall 2017. I'm honored to be a 10 time N.J. Press Association award winner and a South Jersey "Top 40 Under 40".
Dark gray rain clouds hung on the horizon on a humid morning near the tip of the Mississippi Delta. Ryan Lambert spotted alligators, roseate spoonbills and several species of ducks as he steered his boat slowly past islands of reeds.

Ryan Lambert

Lambert is in his element. Hes been a hunting and fishing guide for more than 40 years. Speckled trout and redfish swim these waters, he said, as well as the ducks that ply the surface. Its because of places like this that Louisianas license plates declare it Sportsmans Paradise.

Ive seen the best of it, Lambert said. And when I see it going away, thats what makes me so passionate about trying to save it.

Lambert has watched the ground to the west of his lodge in Buras, Louisiana, slip into the Gulf of Mexico. Swaths of land are simply gone. Wooden pilings poke out of the water where homes once stood.

What used to be 4 feet (1.2 meters) high is now 4 feet deep, he said.

Louisiana Coastline: 1932 - 2016 Source: U.S. Geological Survey 1932 Land is disappearing all along the state's Gulf coast. Half a million hectares (1,900 square miles) of its coastal wetlands  an area the size of the state of Delaware  have washed away since the 1930s.

Louisiana is really in a land loss crisis, said Bren Haase, executive director of the states Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. Its really an existential issue for coastal Louisiana.

Wetlands are more than just a sportsmans paradise. They are vital habitat for the states $2 billion fishing industry. And they are a critical buffer for the states population and industrial centers against devastating hurricanes.

The losses are accelerating. Seas are rising faster as the planet heats up under climate change. Up to another million-plus hectares (4,120 square miles) may erode in the next 50 years. Thats about one-tenth of the states total land area, equivalent to most of the state of Connecticut.

New land is emerging where the muddy Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico in Bay Denesse, near Buras, La., Aug. 3, 2021. New land is emerging where the muddy Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico in Bay Denesse, near Buras, La., Aug. 3, 2021. Bren Haase of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority scoops mud from the Mississippi River near Buras, La., Aug. 3, 2021. Sediment washing down from 31 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces created southern Louisiana over millions of years. (VOA News) A cargo ship sails up the Mississippi River near Buras, La., Aug. 3, 2021. For the past century, the river has been locked behind levees built for flood control and navigation, cutting off the supply of land-building sediment. (VOA News) LEFT: Bren Haase of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority scoops mud from the Mississippi River near Buras, La., Aug. 3, 2021. Sediment washing down from 31 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces created southern Louisiana over millions of years. (VOA News) RIGHT: A cargo ship sails up the Mississippi River near Buras, La., Aug. 3, 2021. For the past century, the river has been locked behind levees built for flood control and navigation, cutting off the supply of land-building sediment. (VOA News)

Louisiana has a 50-year, $50 billion plan to try to stanch the bleeding. An aggressive program to restore marshes and build up barrier islands is underway.

It wont be enough. The state still expects to lose more land than it gains. Officials hope to save what they can.

But there will be winners and losers.

The project with the biggest footprint, known as the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, aims to build thousands of hectares of land in the rapidly eroding Barataria Basin about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of New Orleans.

But saving the land may come at the expense of the people who work the waters.

The diversion they are designing is going to wipe out this industry, said oyster fisher Brad Robin. Were fighting for our livelihood.

Men building a protection levee in the floodwaters in Cottonport Louisiana during the great flood of 1927. (Photo courtesy of State Library of Louisiana)

Cut off

Louisianas land loss crisis is a problem of its own making.

After disastrous flooding in 1927, engineers built a system of levees to contain the Mississippi River. In the process, they cut the land off from the mud that sustained it.

The Mississippi carries sediment washed down from 31 states and two Canadian provinces. Over millions of years, it has deposited that sediment where the river meets the Gulf, building the Mississippi Delta.

Sources: USGS and Natural Earth

The levees severed that connection. Without sediment to build it up, the land has been eroding away ever since.

Making matters worse, canals slice up the coastal marshes. Cut for oil and gas drilling and navigation, they allow salt water to penetrate deeper inland, rotting away the wetlands.

The land is also sinking naturally as millennia of river mud compress and subside. Climate change compounds the problem. Warmer temperatures are melting polar ice and expanding the oceans. Seas are rising faster in Louisiana than anywhere in the country, and the pace is increasing.

But there is another story to be told on the opposite side of the river from Lamberts hunting lodge.





Bren Haase (center) of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and fishing guide Ryan Lambert (right) survey a willow grove that took root on newly formed land near Lamberts lodge in Buras, La., Aug. 3, 2021. (VOA News)

Connected to the river

Lambert stepped off his boat into a dense thicket of willow trees 2 meters (6 feet) high growing on the edge of Bay Denesse. These trees were not here last year, he said.

The only reason this is here is because its connected to the river, Lambert said.

Hurricane Camille blasted channels between the Mississippi River and the Gulf here in 1969. Big Muddy The Mississippi has been filling up the bay with sediment ever since.

Lambert, with help from conservation nonprofit Ducks Unlimited, built some terraces in the bay last year to slow down the water and help the process along. The ground has just risen high enough for the willows to take root.

The growing marsh will provide habitat for birds and fish, absorb planet-warming carbon dioxide and provide coastal protection for communities inland.

It just warms my heart, he said.

The biggest exceptions to the states land loss crisis are the few places where the river is allowed to meet the Gulf.

Thats why engineers are planning to build the $2 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion about 55 kilometers (35 miles) upriver from Lamberts lodge. A 3-kilometer (2-mile) channel would cut through the levee and deliver water and sediment to the rivers rapidly eroding west side.

Its the way that Mother Nature had it in the first place, Lambert said. Were just returning it to what it is supposed to be.

CPRA expects it to build 5,000 to 10,000 hectares (20 to 40 square miles) over 50 years. If sea level rise is on the high end of projections, the agency says about one-fifth of the wetlands remaining in the Barataria Basin will only be there because of the diversion.

We cant save everything, Lambert added, but we can pick and choose what we can save.

But where Lambert and the CPRA see creation, shrimp and oyster fishers see destruction.

Just look upriver, they say.





Safety valve side effects

About 48 kilometers (30 miles) upstream of New Orleans, the Bonnet Carre Spillway is like a safety valve on the Mississippi River. When the river gets too high and threatens to flood the city, the spillway diverts water into Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf.

In 2019, the wettest year on record in the upper Mississippi watershed, engineers opened the spillway for 123 days. That was the longest period since it was built in 1931.

The flood of fresh water altered the chemistry of the estuary north of the Mississippi Delta, killing or pushing out creatures that live in saltier waters. That includes shrimp and oysters, the states most valuable and third-most valuable catch, respectively.

In its path, it killed everything, Robin, the oyster fisher, said.

Robin sees the same outcome from the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion.

The same water thats coming to the Bonnet Carre Spillway is the same water that the diversion is going to do, he said.

A quarter of Louisianas shrimpers and oyster fishers work in the Barataria Basin. They are the lifeblood of many communities along the rim of the basin.

The environmental impact report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirms Robins fears. It says the shrimp and oyster fisheries would suffer major, permanent, adverse impacts from the diversion.

Weve adapted to every storm. We adapted to (seafood) imports, adapted to the high price of fuel. But what we cant adapt to is the state government trying to put us out of business for good, said George Ricks, head of the Save Louisiana Coalition, which represents fishers, seafood companies and coastal residents who oppose the diversion.

A shrimp boat sails near Leeville, La., Aug. 8, 2021. Many Louisiana shrimp and oyster fishers are concerned about the impact that the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion will have on their industry. A shrimp boat sails near Leeville, La., Aug. 8, 2021. Many Louisiana shrimp and oyster fishers are concerned about the impact that the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion will have on their industry. Oyster fisher Brad Robin opens a mollusk at his dock in Hopedale, La., Aug. 5, 2021. Oysters depend on a balance of salt and fresh water, which the diversion would alter in some areas. (VOA News) Oyster fisher Brad Robin examines a sample under a microscope at his dock in Hopedale, La., Aug. 5, 2021, while Save Louisiana Coalition head George Ricks looks on. (VOA News) LEFT: Oyster fisher Brad Robin opens a mollusk at his dock in Hopedale, La., Aug. 5, 2021. Oysters depend on a balance of salt and fresh water, which the diversion would alter in some areas. (VOA News) RIGHT: Oyster fisher Brad Robin examines a sample under a microscope at his dock in Hopedale, La., Aug. 5, 2021, while Save Louisiana Coalition head George Ricks looks on. (VOA News)

Dredging up alternatives

Its not that fishers dont see the land disappearing. They point to the maps on their GPS displays that show land where there is none.

We all want coastal restoration, no doubt about it. We see it disappearing every day, Ricks said. Theres a better way to do things.

He said the state should be dredging: using sediment from the bottom of the river or the Gulf to build up land.

Haase, with CPRA, said the state needs both: dredging and diversions.

We cant afford to leave any tool unused, he said.

Dredging is the largest portion of the states restoration budget, Haase noted. But he said Louisiana cant dredge itself out of its land loss crisis.

As soon as a dredging project is finished, the same factors that caused the land loss in the first place are acting on that newly created land. And its a finite amount of time before its gone, too.

The diversions steady stream of sediment is more cost-effective in the long run, he added.

Haase acknowledged the diversion will not be good for everyone.

Is that going to impact people? Of course it will. But doing nothing and letting the land wash away will have impacts, too, he said.

And the state plans to help, he added. It has set aside $305 million to pay for bigger boats for fishers who have to go farther out into the Gulf, or for new fishing gear for those who want to pursue a different catch. It could cover business training for people looking to get out of commercial fishing altogether.

Ricks, with the Save Louisiana Coalition, called the $305 million laughable. Thats not a drop in the bucket.

He noted that the Louisiana fishing industry was awarded $58 million in disaster relief from the 2019 Bonnet Carre Spillway opening alone.

Many say fishing is all they know. What is threatened is a culture going back generations.

My family, thats all we do is fishing. Thats all we (have) ever done, Robin said. My son is a fisherman. My father was a fisherman, and my grandpa was a fisherman. My great-grandfather was a fisherman.

He wants his children and their children to carry on the tradition. But hes not sure they can.





A Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority dredging project builds up Isle Grande Terre, La., Aug. 7, 2021. Many fishers want the CPRA to do more dredging instead of building the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion. (VOA News)

Losing battle

Louisiana is going to lose ground regardless of what the state does. Its adaptation plan contains a startling admission, in bold type at the front of the report:

Louisiana Coastline: 2017 - 2067 2017 Source: CPRA During the next 50 years, Louisiana is projected to lose more land and wetlands along its coast than it can rebuild, even if restoration efforts are completed as currently planned.

For Ricks, that means the industry should be allowed to die a quiet death.

If we dont do (anything), in 50 years were going to lose our fishing industries anyway, he said. But give us that 50 years. Dont kill it now.

Haase disagrees.

We can try to manage that change for the most good for the most people, he said. Or we can allow the coast to continue to deteriorate and inflict its will on us. And thats not an option.

The state expects to make a final decision by late next year, with construction slated to begin in 2023.
A vehicle shooting Sunday in East Moline led to the arrest of two teenage boys for felony gun crimes.

East Moline police were called at about 5:40 p.m. Sunday to Gas N Dash Mart at 809 19th St. in East Moline for a report of shots fired. No injuries were reported.

Officers later determined the shooting occurred in the 900 block of 21st Street, where they recovered shell casings, according to a police news release.

Witnesses told police three vehicles involved  a white car, a black truck and a silver car with no back window  and that they saw an individual point a handgun at the white car, according to the release.

A short time later, police stopped a silver Toyota Corolla with no back window in the 100 block of 2nd Street next to Porkies Restaurant in Silvis. Three teens boys were inside the car, one of whom was found with a loaded handgun during a search, according to police.

Officer also located a black Toyota Tacoma truck that had been shot multiple times. The white sedan had not been located, police said Monday.

The three teens were taken into custody. One was released to his parents. The other two were charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a Class 4 felony, and were being held at the Mary Davis Juvenile Detention Center in Galesburg, according to police.

Police continue to investigate and anyone with information about the shooting is urged to contact the East Moline Police Department at 309-752-1555 or Crime Stoppers of the Quad-Cities at 309-762-9500.

The Rock Island County Sheriff's Office and Hampton Police Department assisted in the traffic stop of the vehicle.

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DES MOINES  Most Iowa gas stations would be required to sell the higher E15 blend of ethanol under legislation that soon could be headed to Gov. Kim Reynolds, who made the proposal to lawmakers.

The Iowa Senates tax policy committee Monday approved Reynolds proposal after making some changes, including the addition of another way for small gas stations to receive an exemption from the proposed requirements and financial assistance for potential equipment upgrades.

Lawmakers may debate and pass the bill out of both chambers Tuesday, which would send it to Reynolds desk for her signature.

If the proposal is passed into law, all Iowa gas stations with at least two pumps would be required to make the corn-based E15 ethanol blend available for sale on at least one pump. E15 is a higher ethanol blend than E10, currently the most prominent ethanol blend sold at gas stations.

The proposal contains ways for some stations, especially smaller stations, to apply for an exemption from the requirement or for financial assistance for any upgrades the station may need to make to sell E15.

Molly Severn, Reynolds liaison to the Iowa Legislature, during Mondays committee hearing called the legislation the result of significant compromise from everyone on the rural supply chain, including gas stations, biofuels producers and corn farmers.

Sen. Waylon Brown, a Republican from Osage who spoke for the bill during Mondays hearing, said Senate Republicans newly added exemption  which would apply to stations that sell fewer than 300,000 gallons of gas annually  would be available to about a third of retail locations, mostly small stations, that make up roughly 6 percent of fuel sales in the state.

Sen. Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs who chairs the Senate tax policy committee, said his goal was to help smaller stations that may not have the ability to invest in significant infrastructure upgrades.

Were really trying to help out these small retailers here in the state, knowing that these support a lot of our rural communities, Dawson said. We definitely want to change the cost share in that program a little bit to help out the small retailers.

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, was the lone voice of opposition to the proposal, saying he opposes the idea of state government mandating a product be sold by Iowa businesses.

Sen. Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, shared a similar concern, but ultimately expressed her hesitant support for the bill.

I still believe that it is the price at the pump that dictates what consumers will purchase, Jochum said. I will hold my nose and vote for this very reluctantly, and primarily because I have in my community a biodiesel plant.  Nonetheless I have some sincere reservations about what we are doing here.

The proposal, House File 2128, is a priority for Reynolds  who made a similar but more prescriptive proposal last year that didnt gain enough traction in the Legislature  and one of the few remaining pieces of legislation keeping state lawmakers from concluding their work for the 2022 legislative session.

The bill also contains tax credits to support ethanol and other biofuels.

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With the global economy under severe stress, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) need an urgent rescue, said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed on Monday.

"The global economy is under severe stress. Many developing countries are reeling from the crippling effects of an uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ticking time bomb of the climate crisis. Vaccine inequities continue. The war in Ukraine is now sending shockwaves through global food, energy and financial markets," she said, speaking on behalf of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the opening of the Financing for Development Forum.

Many economies are at the brink of a downward spiral of insolvency, cuts in critical investments, economic contraction and rising unemployment. Decades of development progress are being eroded. The World Bank predicts that a quarter of a billion people could be pushed into extreme poverty this year. Up to 323 million people could face acute food insecurity. And the essential transition to clean and sustainable energy is at enormous risk, she added.

"There are early signs of a tsunami of potential debt crises, deprivation, discontent and civil unrest. No country, developed or developing, will be isolated from the socio-economic impacts."

The SDGs are in need of urgent rescue. Financing for development is an essential part of the solution, she said.

Because the global response falls far short of the goals, Guterres established the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance. The goal is to ensure high-level political leadership; get ahead of the perfect storm of food security, energy, and financing challenges; and implement a coordinated global response, she said.

The international financial system has deep pockets. The world has the capacity to make sure all countries can get through this crisis with their development prospects intact, she said.

The deputy secretary-general spoke for Guterres, who is on his way to a meeting on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, followed by a discussion on Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev.

In 2015, UN member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a peace and prosperity blueprint with 17 SDGs to be reached through a global partnership.
OAKLAND  Former President Donald Trump will host a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, at his Mar-A-Lago resort on Wednesday.

Miller is in the midst of a heated primary battle against fellow incumbent Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, in the new 15th Congressional District, which includes much of rural Central Illinois.

"Congresswoman Miller is honored that President Trump has endorsed her and is hosting an event for her at Mar-A-Lago because he wants to make sure the Illinois 15th is represented by a bold, America First conservative who will fight against illegal immigration and for the Second Amendment, said Miller campaign spokesman Isaiah Wartman.

Wartman added that, Conservatives in downstate Illinois are fired up to defeat Davis, calling him a Republican in Name Only for supporting measures like red flag gun laws and protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as young children.

Davis' record, however, shows he voted Trump's position nearly 89% of the time during the latter's presidency despite representing a swing district.

Miller and Davis were pitted against each other by Springfield Democrats who controlled the once-a-decade redistricting process last year. Though Miller lives just outside the new district, it includes portions of her current district.

Trump announced his Complete and Total Endorsement (sic)" of Miller in early January, wading into what has become among the most contentious incumbent-versus-incumbent primaries in the country.

The former presidents backing offered Miller a boost against Davis, who is seen as the more seasoned politician and has maintained a significant edge in fundraising as well as support among local GOP officials in the district.

When Davis announced his reelection bid in November 2021, he included a list of the endorsements that included 32 of the districts 35 county party chairs and a slew of local, state and federal elected officials.

And as of the end of March, Davis had more than $1.9 million cash on hand compared with Millers $510,795. But, if there is a good turnout on Wednesday, Miller could raise a large amount of cash fast.

According to an invitation obtained by Lee Enterprises, tickets start at $1,000 per person and go up to $25,000 per person, with the highest-paying donors entitled to a photo with Trump and Miller.

Once Trump endorsed, it was believed to only be a matter of time before he held a fundraiser for Miller. And it appears plans were launched in earnest late last month, when Millers campaign made two separate payments of $5,737.88 and $11,475.75 to Mar-A-Lago Club LLC for event venue and catering, according to campaign finance records.

The resort, purchased by Trump in 1985, has been the former president's home base since leaving the White House in January 2021. It has become a major center of Republican politics, with various elected officials and wannabe candidates vying for Trump's backing passing through.

Federal candidates and committees have paid nearly $1.3 million to hold events at the resort, according to a recent report from the New York Times.

Miller has long been one of Trump's most fervent supporters.

First elected in 2020, Miller is one of the most conservative members of Congress. She is a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.

Following the lead of Trump, Miller objected to the results of the 2020 presidential election in January 2021.

Just days earlier, Miller stoked controversy by invoking Adolf Hitler at a pro-Trump rally outside the Capitol. This drew widespread condemnation, some calls for her to resign and  eventually  an apology.

Last summer, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., headlined a fundraiser for Miller in Effingham. Greene is known for trafficking in far-right conspiracy theories such as QAnon.

There have been whispers of a possible in-district event featuring Trump down the line, but nothing has been confirmed to this point.

Davis' campaign could not be immediately reached for comment.

The primary election is June 28. Early voting begins May 19.

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A 22-year-old Davenport man was recently sentenced to 7  years in prison after pleading guilty to federal drug and firearm charges.

Monterious Deshawn Bullock was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Davenport to 90 months in prison for possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a prohibited person.

Bullock was ordered to serve three years of supervised release following the completion of his prison term and pay a $300 special assessment to the Crime Victim's Fund. There is no parole in the federal system.

According to court documents, members of the Davenport Police Department's narcotics unit executed two search warrants, including one of Bullock's residence in May of last year. The searches resulted in the seizure of two loaded handguns, one with a loaded extended magazine with 9mm ammunition inside, bags of marijuana, two digital scales, $4,860 in cash and various rounds of 9mm ammunition.

In a post-Miranda interview, Bullock  who had felony arrest warrants for charges out of Scott County in addition to a probation violation  admitted to owning the items located in the residence, according to court records. Bullock, who had previously been convicted of a felony, pleaded guilty to the charges in November.

The case was investigated by the Davenport Police Department and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

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An East Moline man faces a 22-year sentence after pleading guilty to a first-degree murder charge that stemmed from the 2018 killing of an innocent bystander during a gang feud.

In return for Nathan C. Lutens plea on Monday, Illinois Special Prosecutor Jonathan Barnard, who is handling the case for the Rock Island County States Attorneys Office, dropped the other first-degree murder charge related to the killing of William T. Fowler, 31, of Moline, according to court records. The plea agreement stopped the trial which was scheduled to begin on Monday.

Special prosecutors can be brought in for a number of reasons, including the risk of a conflict of interest if the county's prosecutors handle a case, according to the state's Appellate Prosecutor's Office.

Fowler was shot on Dec. 9, 2018, in the 400 block of 8th Street in Moline. He died of his wounds not long after while being treated in Iowa City.

Luten, 32, chose not to delay his sentencing, and the sentence was handed down by Judge Peter Church, court records state.

Authorities said Luten was a member of one of two factions in the Maniac Latin Disciples that had come to blows. The fight led to several other incidents involving gunfire.

Also charged with Fowlers killing were Rory D. Bruno Jr., now 21, Silvis, and Emilio W. Rivera, now 18, East Moline. Both also faced first-degree murder charges and their cases were resolved in 2020.

As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Bruno pleaded guilty in September of that year to aggravated discharge of a firearm, court records state. In return, the murder charge was dropped.

Bruno was sentenced to 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, but the sentence was stayed pending Brunos successful completion of a sentence in a juvenile case, court records state. If he does complete the juvenile sentence, the felony case will be dismissed.

Rivera also entered a plea in a juvenile case and, as a result, the adult murder case against him was dropped on Dec. 3, 2020.

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For all those disappointed college applicants whose hopes were pinned on getting into a school highly ranked by U.S. News & World Report or some similar publication, take heart.

This is your chance to be liberated from the tyranny of college rankings.

Tyranny is not too strong a word. The people who publish college rankings wrap their products in a seductive veneer of professional expertise and statistical rigor. They express their evaluations in eye-catching numbers, presented in descending order (from 1 to 391, in the case of the U.S. News national universities list).

According to that list, UCLA, ranked 20th, is better than the University of Southern California, ranked 27th. So, it must be true.

Or is it? If you look at the methods used to produce those numbers, you will see that the entire enterprise, like the Emerald City in the Land of Oz, consists mostly of blue smoke and mirrors.

Consider the formulas used by rankers to compute those numbers. Every step in the process  from the selection of variables, the weights assigned to them and the methods for measuring them  is based on essentially arbitrary judgments.

U.S. News, for example, selects 17 metrics for its formula from among hundreds of available choices. Why does it use, say, students SAT scores, but not their high school GPAs? Faculty salaries but not faculty teaching quality? Alumni giving, but not alumni earnings? Why does it not include items such as a schools spending on financial aid or its racial and ethnic diversity?

Likewise, the weights employed to combine those variables into a total score are completely subjective.

U.S. News has somehow concluded that a schools six-year graduation rate is worth exactly 17.6% of its overall score, but its student-faculty ratio is worth only 1%. To judge a schools academic reputation, it gives a whopping 20% weighting to the opinions of administrators from other colleges, most of whom know very little about the hundreds of schools they are asked to rate  other than where those colleges appeared in the previous years ranking. And the publication gives no weight to the opinions of students or graduates.

In addition, different rankers use different ways to measure each variable. Consider graduation rates. Some are based on the percentage of students who earn a degree in six years. Others use an eight-year measure. Some include transfer students, others not. Rankers sometimes measure student excellence by matriculants average SAT scores or high school GPAs or high school rank-in-class. Others use admissions acceptance rates or yield rates.

Even if you think the rankings formulas make sense, the calculations they rest on are based overwhelmingly on unaudited, unverified data self-reported by the very schools being ranked. Would you invest in a company based on such information?

Throughout their history, the college rankings have been plagued by allegations of fabrication and manipulation of data. In just the past month, USC, Columbia University and Rutgers University have all been accused of submitting erroneous or false reports to U.S. News, and a dean at Temple University was sentenced to prison in March for a fraud scheme aimed at boosting the schools prestige.

Most observers believe that these public revelations represent only the tip of a very large iceberg.

Lurking behind data manipulation lies the even larger problem of schools altering their academic practices in a desperate attempt to gain ranking points. Examples include inflating a schools fall-semester class size index by shifting large introductory lectures into the spring semester. Or boosting its yield rate by expanding early admissions and merit-aid programs that mostly benefit wealthy applicants at the expense of needy applicants. Or improving graduation rates by relaxing academic standards.

Finally, the rankings impose a single formulaic template on hundreds of wonderfully diverse institutions. For example, U.S. News tosses Caltech, Santa Clara University, Chapman University and Fresno State, along with UCLA and USC, into its long list of national universities, as if they were all fungible examples of a uniform product differing only by relative status.

In short, the popular best colleges rankings try to force Americas colleges and universities into a rigid hierarchy, based on arbitrary formulas, fed by unreliable data.

Instead of relying on someone elses subjective idea of what one should want in a college, applicants should ask themselves what they want that will serve their personal goals. Do they see college as a means to immerse themselves in a particular field of study? Obtain an impressive pedigree? Qualify for an economically rewarding career? Prepare for service to the community? Seek guidance for a life of meaning and fulfillment? Or something else?

Part of the tyranny of college rankings is their allure of simplicity. They promise to reduce the complexity of college choice to a simple number. But selecting a college is anything but simple. College is one of the most complex products one will ever purchase. And those four years constitute a hugely important period of exploration and personal development.

Choosing a college should be approached as an exercise of self-discovery. Getting rejected by a school highly rated by some perfect stranger may be just what it takes to set applicants on that path.

Colin Diver is the former president of Reed College and former dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is the author of Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do about It."

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The Douglas School Board viewed a schematic design presentation from DLR Group for the new elementary school at their regular board meeting Monday evening.

Superintendent Kevin Case said the presentation is a first look that will likely change.

The concept tonight is about getting to see whats available and any reactions you might have, Case said.

They will be working with DLR Group over the next few weeks, looking for final approval on the design at the May 9 meeting, he said.

Representatives from DLR Group, a design firm based in Omaha, Neb., gave a presentation highlighting the design features of the new school. The design included a media center, teacher planning centers, outdoor classroom space, and collaborative spaces for students and teachers.

As students are moving through the space, they're not just walking down a 300-foot-long corridor, said Darin Hanigan with DLR Group. There's this idea that they move around the space and there's some exploration and curiosity that starts to develop as they move through the building.

He described the presentation as a mission statement for the district, developed with input from user and community groups, as well as touring other facilities. The companys user groups consisted of 40 people  made up of teachers, administrators and community members  with the intention of gaining an understanding of what the district wanted in an elementary school.

Hanigan said they hope to convey concepts such as connections to nature, a welcoming environment and innovative surroundings to encourage curiosity. The presentation also included practical considerations such as parking, drop-off flow, bus traffic and two levels to aid students in transitions between classes.

Rachael Anderson with DLR Group spoke about the colors and themes they hope to showcase throughout the building, incorporating color schemes reminiscent of sunsets and the Black Hills.

The property for the new school has already been purchased, with site plans in progress. The plan is for a 600-student, pre-K through fifth grade, 130,000-square-foot building.

Plans for the elementary school kicked off in December, with an estimated cost of $60 million. The school district said funding is actively being pursued with the districts congressional delegation and the U.S. Air Force. The district anticipates the project will be funded almost entirely from federal sources to support the influx of students as a result of the B-21 mission at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

Bob Wessel with Gustafson Builders was also present at the meeting to update the board on construction documents and pricing for the new high school, a project underway since November 2019. He told the board that, after vetting numbers from various contractors and sub-contractors, the current estimated number for the high school is $127 million.

The design phase for the high school is already complete, with the project also waiting on funding.

Contact Laura Heckmann at lheckmann@rapidcityjournal.com

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Jibri Bell never intended to get married, let alone be on a national reality television show about marriage.

When he met Miona in Serbia while on tour with his band Black Serbs, he fell in love and it all changed.

I fell in love, which was hard for the band to stomach because I was so focused, we were doing so well as a band, he said. We were in a really good position and I decided to choose love, to do my relationship and do my band, which is super hard to do.

Bell and Mionas relationship, and the fallout of the band, will now play over TLCs ninth season of 90 Day Fiance, a reality television show that follows international couples using the United States' K-1 non-immigrant visa  also known as the fiance visa.

In order to obtain the visa, couples must intend to marry each other within 90 days of entering the U.S. as a K-1 non-immigrant. If married within 90 days of being admitted to the country, the fiance may apply for lawful permanent resident status in the United States.

Bell, who grew up in Rapid City and graduated from Stevens High School, said he met his bride while his band performed in the 2019 EXIT Festival in Serbia, an award-winning summer music festival with more than 1,000 artists who play at more than 40 stages and festival zones.

I looked at her and I said, Hey, if you can do this lifestyle with me and travel with me and perform, this is what I want to do, I want to be on stage, he said. If you can join me in this creative, nomadic lifestyle that Im going to embark on, I will marry you, I will propose to you.

But before Bell became a musician, motivational speaker and TV star known for his bright outfits, he was just Jibri Bell, a bi-racial kid trying to navigate his way through bullying, juvenile detention and the public school system.

Bell was a 5-year-old when he and his mother, Mahala, moved from Chicago to Rapid City to be near his aunt and uncle, Jamie and Qusai Al-Haj.

He said he had a difficult teenage life in South Dakota, struggling with thoughts of suicide, going to the Human Services Center in Yankton, and being in and out of the Pennington County Juvenile Detention Center for truancy and fighting.

It was really hard for me to find my voice in Rapid City, especially as somebody whos a bi-racial black kid growing up in South Dakota, Bell said. There was only a couple of us and I really, really had a hard time.

He said his mom eventually sent him to STAR Academy in Custer when he was 16. The bus ride there from Yankton is what changed his life.

Bell said he was on a prison bus and was in shackles when a large man walked in and sat behind him. He said the man had a swastika on his forehead and derogatory tattoos.

He was breathing down my neck the whole six-hour ride from Yankton to Custer State Park and I just was like, 'Yeah, I dont want this lifestyle, I dont want to get in trouble, I dont want to be this person, he said.

After serving almost 90 days at the academy, he came back to Rapid City and back to Stevens High School. He said he kept his head down and worked hard.

Thats when he met David Brkljac and his twin sister, Luna. The two were Serbian refugees brought to South Dakota through their father who was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Bell and Brkljac became best friends and formed the Black Serbs in 2019.

Throughout high school and after graduation, Brkljac taught Bell the Serbian language and they played music together. Brkljac was the one who brought Bell to Serbia for the first time, Bells first out-of-country experience.

Bell said he hopes people have empathy for each other and uplift one another. He said theres a lot of hate and racial divides, but people need to protect one another.

He said his next steps in life are spreading love and light, and planting seeds of abundance. He said he wants to teach and help kids by sharing his story, and hopes his music reaches all different audiences and sectors of the world.

 Contact Siandhara Bonnet at siandhara.bonnet@rapidcityjournal.com 

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Virginia State Police troopers are searching for the driver who fled after a brief pursuit ended when a vehicle crashed, overturned and struck a tree on Jennie Scher Road in Richmond in the early morning hours Tuesday.

At 2:36 a.m., troopers said they ran the license plate of a black 2004 Volkswagen sedan, which came back stolen, state police said.

Troopers attempted to stop the vehicle with lights and sirens, police said, but the vehicle took off at a high rate of speed. It lost control, overturned, and struck a tree, police said.

The driver fled on foot and was not caught, police said. A passenger was taken to VCU Medical Center with serious, but non life-threatening injuries. The crash is still under investigation.
William Fox Elementary students and teachers are moving into the formerly closed Clark Springs Elementary School next month.

The Richmond School Board in a 5-0 vote, amended a recommendation to move Fox students and teachers out of First Baptist Church to Clark Springs Elementary on May 9. The School Board met Monday for a work session at Huguenot High School, but when it was time for the Fox vote, members Liz Doerr, Cheryl Burke, Dawn Page and Nicole Jones had left the meeting.

Superintendent Jason Kamras had recommended Fox Elementary not hold classes this coming Thursday, Friday and next Monday to allow teachers to move into their new classrooms. The School Board instead decided to keep students in class this entire week and pause classes for the entire first week of May. (All Richmond Public Schools are closed May 3 for Eid al-Fitr).

Kamras recommended for instruction to begin at Clark Springs on May 4, instead, it will begin five days later.

I am delighted to share Clark Springs is ready for students and staff, Kamras said Monday evening.

In February, a three-alarm fire engulfed Fox Elementary, a Richmond Public School located in the heart of the Fan District. The extensive damage closed the school indefinitely. The School Board has approved renovating the 111-year-old school building instead of rebuilding it.

While RPS staff looked to move Fox students and teachers into Clark Springs immediately after the fire, the state of Clark Springs did not allow for a fast transition. Last month, after Fox parents were nearly unanimous in wanting a temporary location while construction occurred at Clark Springs, students and teachers moved into temporary classrooms at First Baptist Church on Monument Avenue.

Kamras thanked First Baptist for being a flexible, generous and loving host.

Ahead of Mondays work session vote, surveys were sent to Fox staff and families to gauge interest on when to move into Clark Springs.

Of the 220 family responses, 75.5% wanted to move into Clark Springs immediately, while 24.5% wanted to stay at First Baptist Church until the end of June, according to the Fox recommendation presentation unveiled Tuesday night.

According to the presentation, of the 58 staff responses, 69% expressed wanting to move into Clark Springs immediately. Staff members were also asked if they needed three, four or five days to move into Clark Springs. Of the 58 responses, 34.5% agreed with three days, with 32.8% for four days and 32.8% for five days. A little over half of the family responses also supported teachers having three days to move into Clark Springs.

During Mondays public comment period, Keri Treadway, an 18-year Fox Elementary teacher, and the buildings union representative, urged the School Board to give teachers more time to move into their Clark Springs classrooms.

There are no words to express the overwhelming amounts of stress and fatigue that weve all experienced these past few months. Weve lost everything, absolutely everything. Our entire lifes work was destroyed and we are literally starting from scratch, Treadway said.

Treadway asked for a minimum of four days for teachers to move out of First Baptist Church and into Clark Springs.

Under normal circumstances, many of us come in at least two weeks before the start of our contracts to prepare, Treadway said, acknowledging school district officials have said classrooms do not need to be set up as they look at the beginning of the school year, three days is simply not enough time to make this happen.

Three teachers who submitted written public comments asked the School Board to approve at least four days to allow for them to move into their new classrooms.

Closed roughly a decade ago, in the last month Clark Springs Elementary has undergone extensive renovations to be able to welcome Fox Elementary. The Randolph neighborhood school has received a fresh paint job, new exterior doors, new ceiling tiles, mold remediation, patches to the leaky roof and more.

While repairs were made to the roof, Clark Springs is in need of an entirely new roof. Costs for a new roof are in the ballpark of $1.5 million and $2 million, according to school system construction staff. A new gym floor is slated to be placed in Clark Springs over the summer.

Clark Springs will remain the home school for Fox Elementary until renovations are completed at the Fan location.
Elena Camacho stood in front of a crowd of over 50 people Monday, holding a small bullhorn in one hand and a manila folder filled with maintenance requests in the other, as she and families from the Southwood apartment community marched toward the landlords office.

Camacho and organizers from the New Virginia Majority  a statewide advocacy organization that focuses on issues facing immigrant communities  are helping to bring awareness to the untenable living conditions of Richmonds largest Latino neighborhood.

The goal of Mondays rally was to submit 62 new maintenance request forms directly to management and hold them accountable should they refuse to act on those requests.

Last winter, the Richmond Times-Dispatch investigated the living conditions of the residents of Southwood who were living among mold, mice and roaches. Since that report, Camacho said some residents have seen a change from the amount of maintenance requests that have been addressed.

I think they have been doing something, Camacho told The Times-Dispatch on Monday. So we want to continue. We dont want tenants [to] think we forgot about them.

In previous correspondence with The Times-Dispatch, Mark Hubbard, a spokesperson for the property management company The Communities at Southwood, detailed some of the work that has been done.

Essential and Overlooked: Federal dollars changed Virginia's course during COVID. For some Latinos, help came too late. This is the second of three stories examining how policy decisions limited public health funding led to startlingly high death rates among Latinos at the beginning of the pandemic.

Hubbard said the property company has answered hundreds of requests from its tenants to address such things as bathroom fixtures, appliance repairs and light fixtures. It has also added outdoor trash containers, increased trash pick-ups and updated some of the 1,300 units.

The property management company has now visited more than 900 apartments, according to Hubbard. However, Camacho said there are still requests that have gone unanswered.

She and fellow organizer Sofia Vega have worked with families in Southwood for more than a year and have seen first-hand the conditions they have had to endure.

Management has been doing some things so theres been some activity, Vega told The Times-Dispatch in an interview on Monday. Theyre trying to make it seem like everythings okay. But on a deeper level, theyre not really changing anything.

Vega said the fact that more than 50 people showed up Monday shows the prevalence of the issue.

Many of the people who werent able to come, sent their neighbors or family members in place as well, Vega said.

The plan was to deliver their written requests in person, but when Camacho, Vega and the tenants of Southwood approached, they said they found the leasing office locked, even though it was during operating hours and there were people inside.

We were basically trying to get as many residents as we could to fill out these forms, just to have the proof that we turned in these repair requests, Vega said. If in a few weeks their issues havent been resolved, then we can be like, Hey, you know, heres the form we were turned in a few weeks ago and proof that they submitted it. Now what are you going to do about it?

Vega said the way she has seen the community grow and unite for a better cause has been amazing  despite their failed attempt to submit the requests face-to-face.

Moving forward, Camacho and Vega said they plan to continue to communicate with Southwoods residents until their living conditions improve.

Vega said theyre still knocking on doors hoping to recruit as many people as they can to their cause.

LGerman@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6340 Twitter: @Lyndon_G Staff writer Sabrina Moreno contributed to this report.
The Virginia Capitol will undergo a makeover that will temporarily remove the iconic South Portico steps and plaza to allow replacement of a portion of an underground roof to waterproof the 15-year-old annex that visitors enter to tour the national historic landmark.

The work is scheduled to begin on Monday and extend at least until December, closing the annex to visitors and legislators alike, as well as members of the news media who currently use a press room on one of the landings along the steps that rise from Bank Street to the Capitol. Visitors will use the west entrance to the Capitol, next to East Ninth Street, during the work.

The Capitol will not close, said Dena Potter, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of General Services.

The work is the second phase of a $4.5 million, two-year project to prevent water from infiltrating into the annex, which opened in 2007 as part of the Capitol renovation completed in time for the 400th anniversary of the founding of the English colony at Jamestown. Last year, the state replaced a leaking skylight over the annex in the plaza at the foot of the South Portico steps.

The work will be conducted as work proceeds to complete a tunnel under Capitol Square between the new General Assembly Building and the Capitol extension, where it will connect on a landing above Meriwethers snack bar. The $25 million tunnel will not be completed until next year.

Digging of the tunnel is underway from both directions to meet sometime in the fall to allow interior construction to begin. The tunnel will not open until sometime in late 2023.

These are complex projects that incorporate renovation, the repair of existing infrastructure and new construction and require the coordination of various design and construction teams as we make improvements to Virginias historic Capitol, Joe Damico, director of general services, said in a statement about the closing of the annex.

Closing the Capitols underground extension is critical to ensure everyones safety as we complete these important projects, Damico said.

Meanwhile, a portion of North Ninth Street will close to traffic between East Broad and East Grace streets until Oct. 17 to allow completion of the new General Assembly Building and a 500-car parking deck on opposite corners of Broad and Ninth streets in downtown Richmond.

The state expects to complete and furnish the interior of the new 422,000-square-foot building for the General Assembly this summer to allow legislators to move into their offices in advance of the legislative session scheduled to begin in January.

We should be moving them in the fall, Potter said.

The state met on Monday with members of the Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association  representing members of the news media who cover the legislature  to prepare for the temporary closing of the press room in the annex directly across from Meriwethers.

The annex includes a gift shop and two large legislative meeting rooms, one each for the House of Delegates and Senate. Once the waterproofing is completed, the state plans to replace the ceiling and lighting fixtures in the entire extension from Bank Street to the Capitol.

Potter emphasized that visitors will still be able to enter and tour the Capitol during construction. Tour buses will drop passengers at the newly renovated entrance to Capitol Square on Ninth Street to allow them to enter the building after security screening at the west entrance.

Capitol Square has been under transformation since 2016, when the General Assembly approved a $300 million project to build a new General Assembly Building and parking garage, and renovate Old City Hall. The clerks of the House of Delegates and Senate are overseeing the projects for the legislature.

Enhancing the visitor experience to and around the Virginia State Capitol is a priority for us and all legislators, Senate Clerk Susan Clarke Schaar and House Clerk Paul Nardo said in a joint statement.

Renovation of Old City Hall, a historic late-19th-century state building between the new General Assembly Building and the Patrick Henry Building on the north side of Capitol Square, is expected to be completed before the end of September.

The work wont end there because the General Assembly has approved planning for a project to move the Virginia Supreme Court and Court of Appeals into a renovated Pocahontas Building on the south side of Capitol Square.

The Pocahontas Building, which fronts on East Main Street next to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has housed legislative offices and meeting rooms during construction of a new General Assembly Building.

Lots going on around Capitol Square, as always, Potter said.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday called for further efforts to combat corruption and build a clean and honest government.



Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks at a State Council meeting on clean governance.

Zhao Leji, secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and Vice Premier Han Zheng, both members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting.

Li said that advancing economic and social development is the basic responsibility of governments at all levels and also an essential requirement for improving Party conduct and building a clean government.

The new, increased downward pressure facing China's economy due to the impact of the greater-than-expected changes in the domestic and international situations deserves great attention, he said.

Li stressed that policy initiatives that have already been formulated must be largely implemented in the first half of this year so as to ensure stable jobs, prices, and supplies, and to keep the fundamentals of China's economy stable.

Governments are urged to shoulder their responsibilities to safeguard food and energy security and keep supply chains stable, according to the premier.

Li called for further efforts to create a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment, noting that tax and fee reduction policies should be implemented in a fair, equitable and efficient manner.

Moreover, the premier stressed the need for greater efforts to oppose pointless formalities, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, with a particular focus on the first two problems.
In a challenge to his partys power structure, Del. Don Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth, faced a rumor circulating among lawmakers that a big-spending political organization called Clean Virginia was somehow behind his effort to unseat House of Delegates Minority Leader Eileen-Filler Corn, D-Fairfax.

But two House Democrats with their pulses on the politics of the situation say the rumor is bogus. And no one has presented any evidence otherwise.

Scotts challenge for his partys leadership in the House is expected to get a vote Wednesday within the 48-member Democratic caucus when lawmakers convene in Richmond to consider Gov. Glenn Youngkins amendments and vetoes to legislation passed earlier this year.

Scott has told people he has the votes to unseat Filler-Corn, who was Virginias first female House speaker before her party lost control of the House in 2021. The unexpected challenge to Filler-Corn is causing concern in her camp; the office of U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., has even made inquiries about it. (Offered the chance to comment on the senators views, Warners office did not respond).

Some Democrats are concerned that their party leadership doesnt understand why they lost the 2021 elections for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and control of the House of Delegates and arent addressing how to win next time.

Amid that backdrop, rumors spread that the Charlottesville-based Clean Virginia was behind Scotts move.

Clean Virginia, funded by wealthy hedge fund owner Michael Bills, began offering money in 2018 to candidates who opt not to accept campaign donations from political powerhouse Dominion Energy, the states largest electric utility.

Dominion has a history of being a top donor to Virginia politicians, who in turn write laws that help the utility earn extra profit at the expense of its customers.

Bills and Clean Virginia have tried to scale back Dominions influence. In the process, they created their own opponents  including House Democratic leadership  some of whom feel Clean Virginia is trying to control them or push them around. For example, House Democratic leadership attacked Bills and Clean Virginia during a 2021 Democratic primary campaign when Clean Virginia was backing a challenger to a leadership-backed incumbent in Prince William County.

A rumor this week that Clean Virginia is backing Scott could have had the effect of turning off some House Democrats leery of Clean Virginias influence. But Scott has never been affiliated with Clean Virginia  in fact, Dominion Energy is his top donor and he has supported the utility politically. And Scott has criticized Clean Virginias approach, the Virginia Mercury reported last year.

The two Democratic delegates Scott wants to join him in leadership, should Filler-Corn be defeated, are Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, and Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax. Both have accepted money from Clean Virginia in campaigns for the House of Delegates.

Clean Virginia executive director Brennan Gilmore said the organization has no involvement in the leadership challenge.

Without saying whether they back Scott or Filler-Corn, two House Democrats say the rumor that Clean Virginia is backing Scott is false.

I am more than confident that they are not involved, said Del. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. Anyone pushing that agenda is ... just desperate to push an agenda thats false.

Bagby wouldnt commit to either candidate but said Scott was well within his right to challenge Filler-Corn.

Del. Jeff Bourne, D-Richmond, said he agreed the Clean Virginia rumor isnt true and is nonsensical.

Don is not the type of man to allow himself to be anyones pawn, Bourne said.

Filler-Corn and Scott declined to comment.
On the heels of firings and suspensions that have demoralized staff at James Madisons Montpelier and shocked history professionals across the nation, staff members fear more retribution is to come.

Staff members say top management has targeted, and continues targeting, employees critical of The Montpelier Foundation for not keeping its June 2021 commitment to share power equally with people from the slave-descendant community at the fourth U.S. presidents home in Orange County. That concept is called structural parity.

On Saturday, a majority of the historic sites full-time staffwith a growing number of part-time staffissued a statement calling on their leaders to reinstate their fired colleagues and immediately implement the promised power sharing on the foundations board.

They said the foundations actions are endangering Montpeliers archaeological sites, artifacts, data and research. They called that unethical and immoral, and a violation of federal law.

Staff also said the foundations latest offer to seat nominees from the Montpelier Descendant Committee in two waves, spaced months apart, is misleading and would create two classes of board members, one with voting power, one without.

Via a spokesman, Montpelier President and CEO Roy Young declined Monday to answer questions about those claims, but promised the Culpeper Star-Exponent an interview on Thursday.

What theyve done is 100 percent retaliation for our speaking with descendants or publicly or privately disagreeing with (Montpelier CEO Roy Young) or the foundation board in the back and forth about structural parity, one staff member said in an interview Sunday. The interpretive staff is terrified. No one is sure what they can talk about, or with whom. Everyone is pretty scared.

On April 18, Young fired Elizabeth Chew, executive vice president and chief curator; Matthew Reeves, director of archaeology and landscape restoration; and Communications Director Christy Moriarty. He also suspended Mary Furlong Minkoff, curator of archaeological collections, and archaeology field director Christopher Pasch. The week prior, Young fired Event Manager Alex Walsh.

Now, staff members are gravely worried about the security of Montpeliers archaeological research, including an excavation halted when Young sacked employees and abruptly ordered others to leave the site.

A lot of data  20 years worth of archaeological work  is at risk of being lost or forgotten, one staff member said.

Staff members said the excavation of what is theorized to be a slave-quarter site near the Madison mansion is vulnerable, the dig stopped halfway through, with data unrecorded. The site is readily apparent to visitors near the Visitors Center from several angles.

When work was stopped, fresh artifacts were being treated in Montpeliers archaeology lab, and were left at risk of destruction, staff members said.

The foundation has defiled archaeological ethics and museum best practices, the staff said in its new statement. (Abandoning) finds and data mid-process is a breach of appropriate and ethical stewardship of Montpeliers unique cultural and heritage resource.

The firing of senior staff at a critical moment jeopardizes a federal Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to organize and digitize Montpeliers archaeological legacy data, staff members said. Critical to this grant is the institutional memory held by Matthew Reeves, whose 22-year history at the site was the rationale for Montpelier receiving the money.

Staff members said Young and Foundation Chair Eugene Hickok hold a more conservative, old-school view of what history is most important to research and interpret for the public at Montpelier than did their immediate predecessors.

Before they took office in early 2020, the Madison plantation had won national awards and acclaim for vigorously interpreting African Americans heritage on site, in collaboration with its descendant community, in addition to the Madisons stories. The National Trust of Historic Preservation, which owns Montpeliers 2,650-acre site, has condemned Youngs actions against his staff.

Their goal is to elevate some stories over others  principally, the story of the U.S. Constitution, a staff member said of Young and Hickok. They see telling stories of the Constitution and slavery as diametrically opposed, that they cannot exist together.

But how do you talk about the Constitutions primary author without talking about slavery? As James Madison wrote these ideas at Montpelier, he sat at his desk watching his (enslaved) people, who had to forcibly work for his welfare.

Enslaved people are just as much American founders as Madison was. They are the founders we dont like to talk about, the history professional said. Gene and Roy dont want to give credit for their stolen skills and knowledge and labor.

Another colleague said staff will keep pressing the foundation to enact structural parity and tell whole-truth history.

They cant fire everyone. Because leadership doesnt have a clue as to how many staff members are in support of this effort, they said. And leadership has shown they dont know what it takes to run the place or what the staff does. Theyve never taken the time to learn.
One of the unfortunate facts of life is that government officials are not always 100% honest, forthright and accurate. On a national scale, we saw a glaring example of that last week.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy emphatically denied a New York Times report that McCarthy had told his GOP colleagues that he would ask then-President Donald Trump to resign following Trumps actions in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Following McCarthys denials, the New York Times released a recording of that conference call. McCarthy definitely said he would urge Trump to resign before his term was up that Jan. 21. As a result, his credibility took a major hit.

Something similar happened more recently on a local scale right here in the Roanoke Valley, with Roanoke County schools. My colleague, Sam Wall, published a detailed story about it Saturday thats worth exploring.

It was about a questionnaire Roanoke County (and most area school systems) take every other year, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. By law, those surveys are anonymous. They help school systems spot trends of potentially risky behavior among students, and address them early.

This year, Roanoke County schools deleted five questions about about sex from surveys that queried seventh and eighth graders.

The questions were whether a student had engaged in sexual intercourse, at what age, with how many partners, was a condom used and whether drugs or alcohol involved. Those questions were on prior surveys taken for the past 20 years.

Wall asked the school system why theyd been deleted. The schools longtime spokesman, Chuck Lionberger, ducked that question. He replied in a March 16 email that a survey committee within the school system had made the decision.

The survey committee determines the questions for the survey each time we do the YRBS [the survey] and some questions are added or removed based on relevance and/or age appropriateness, Lionberger replied in the March 16 email.

When Wall phoned Lionberger and again asked why the questions were deleted, Lionberger ducked it again. And then he said he wouldnt answer any more questions as to why.

Wall next asked for Roanoke County schools documents under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. He sought emails from school board members and school officials that mentioned the survey.

In April, the school system released 41 emails, charging The Roanoke Times $191.40 for search and copying, as FOIA allows.

Guess what? Those emails greatly call into question Lionbergers March 16 statement that the survey committee made the decision to ax the sex questions.

For example, consider a Feb. 5 email to school board members from Roanoke County schools Superintendent Kenneth Nicely.

In that, Nicely wrote, At my direction, the RCPS version of the 7th and 8th grade [Youth Risk Behavior Survey] eliminated all questions about sexual activity this year. Such questions are allowed by state law above grade 6, but we decided not to include them this year in grades 7-8 either.

The surveys were originally scheduled for Feb. 8-10, according to notifications the school system sent parents via email. Those noted that parents are allowed to opt out their students from the survey. Parents of about 200 students (out of 7,000) wanted their children to skip it.

The surveys were delayed after a Feb. 4 request from school board member Brent Hudson. He sent an email to Nicely indicating Hudson had received complaints about some of the survey questions from parents, and that he had discussed the matter with school board members Tim Greenway and Cheryl Facciani.

Facciani later wrote Nicely that she would approve of the survey if the sexual questions have been removed and barring any other serious issues.

It appears clear from the 41 emails that school board members asked the survey be delayed for further review because they had questions about it. And that Nicely ordered the sex questions deleted, and that the survey was given in late March without those questions.

Which brings us back to Lionbergers March 16 statement, that a school system survey committee had deleted the questions.

Monday morning, I sent him an email: Can you explain to me why your March 16 statement seems to directly contradict the disclosures in those FOIAd emails?

Here was his response:

You bring up a good question and its one of process. I asked for more specific details about this process  the superintendent made the request to modify the middle school survey. That was communicated to Dr. [Shawn] Hughes, who is on the survey committee. The survey was then modified accordingly.

Keep in mind, all of that occurred well before Lionbergers March 16 email that claimed the survey committee decided to remove the questions.

At least now, Lionbergers acknowledging that the board and the superintendent played a key role in those questions being deleted.

None of the above necessarily proves Lionberger was intentionally deceptive the first time he answered that question. Its possible he was blissfully unaware on March 16 that Nicely had ordered those questions pulled by Feb. 6.

Its also possible that on March 16, Lionberger had neither the time nor inclination to get the facts. So he issued a non-answer that suggested the deletions were merely a routine action by the survey committee.

Either way, we can consider his Monday acknowledgement a victory for the facts and the truth and greater transparency about the inner workings of a publicly elected board.

Because I was able to get an answer, I decided to press my luck and pose the question from Wall that Lionberger had ducked repeatedly: Why?

Why did Nicely order deletion of the anonymous sex questions that seventh and eighth graders in Roanoke County had been answering since 2002? Lionberger responded late Monday after he talked with Nicely.

Here was the answer:

First, state law prohibits asking sex oriented questions on the sixth grade survey. What we know about young middle school aged adolescents is they mature at different rates so asking a 7th or even an 8th grader to check the box on a subject thats deeply personal does not seem developmentally responsive.

He noted that the sex questions were asked of high schoolers. This is the age level when many students start to become sexually active, Lionberger wrote.

But FYI, they know that because of these risky behavior surveys. And that suggests if trends change and middle school kids begin having more frequent sex, Roanoke County schools will be unaware, because those questions are no longer being asked of the younger students.

Does that seem like the best strategy moving forward?

Or does it seem like sticking your head in the sand, because youd rather not know the answers?

Contact metro columnist Dan Casey at 981-3423 or dan.casey@roanoke.com . Follow him on Twitter: @dancaseysblog .

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A federal judge sentenced a Cleveland man Monday to 60 months in prison for attempting to entice a 13-year-old girl from Roanoke to come to his home for sexual activity.

Matthew Benjamin Foltz, 29, used the messaging application Whisper to engage in sexually explicit conversation, prosecutors said.

The person Foltz believed to be the girl was actually an undercover police officer.

He was arrested after the online conversation turned to his desire to bring the 13-year-old back to his home in Ohio, where he could impregnate her and teach her how to please him sexually, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Foltz pleaded pleading guilty earlier this year to one count of persuading, enticing, or coercing a person to travel in interstate commerce to engage in sexual activity.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Christiansburg Police Department. Judge Elizabeth Dillon imposed the sentence.

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CHRISTIANSBURG  Jo Anne Price is no stranger to breaking new ground, and earlier this spring she made some history in Montgomery County.

Price, 70, was elected chairwoman of the countys Republican Party  and in the process became the first African American to hold the position.

Price stresses that her elevation to the role was due to the trust her peers placed in her to effectively lead the party and uphold its values.

It doesnt matter what color I am, she said. I believe people voted for me because of leadership and the contribution they feel I can make to Montgomery, as a result of effective leadership. I dont believe it was a Black or white issue.

Price replaced Sharon Brockman, who she defeated in the election and who had served as interim chairwoman since former Christiansburg Councilman Harry Collins stepped down as the local party head due to health reasons.

The chair of the Montgomery County GOP serves a two-year term.

Price said her interest in leading the party was rooted in her lifelong passion of what she calls developing others  a term she prefers over the word helping.

I dont like this help narrative that we have, where we look at people as if somethings wrong with them, she said. I like the word overcome. I want to see the potential of an individual.

Prices background includes time as a business owner and working for Xerox as well as the former pharmaceutical company that became Marion Merrell Dow. She also spent time in the aviation and insurance industries and during the early 1970s worked as an administrative assistant for the Central Intelligence Agencys former National Photographic Interpretation Center.

Price currently runs the Christiansburg-based Passing the Baton Training Center, which hosts seminars and offers free classes on a number of subjects that include finance, the U.S. Constitution and cursive writing.

The recent change in the party committees leadership comes as Montgomery County has been a microcosm of the greater state and national landscape on hot button issues, especially when it has come to public education.

Like elsewhere in the state and country, Montgomery County Public Schools was not immune to the polarizing debates over masking and other issues such as policies for the protection of transgender students. The district has also received scrutiny from some area conservatives over whats taught within the schools, again reflecting a greater debate that has occurred at both the state and national levels.

Local public education has been of particular interest to Price, even before she was elected chairwoman. She has regularly attended and spoken at Montgomery County School Board meetings over the past few months.

Price has been specifically critical of policies for transgender students, which supporters and school officials have said were needed to ensure them stronger protections.

But Price argues the policies are not fair to all students, even going as far as saying it robs some of them of their freedoms.

Theyre setting them [transgender students] aside as if theyre weak, and theyre not weak, she said. We should require the same amount of work from them as everybody else.

The county school districts adoption of its policies last year  as with many other districts across the state  was prompted by the General Assemblys previous passing of legislation requiring school boards to adopt measures for transgender students that are in line with the Virginia Department of Educations model policies.

The policies include language on access to facilities such as to bathrooms and locker rooms.

The subject of the policies did not receive uniform support across districts in the state, with some school boards at the time voting down proposed measures and many parents and community members  including in Montgomery County  sharply divided on the matter.

Supporters, however, pointed to factors as such as transgender students increased exposure to bullying. And some local school board members compared the students to other groups who had been marginalized in the past.

For example, school board member Penny Franklin, whos one of just two Black elected officials in Montgomery County, compared the pushback against the policies to the opposition decades ago to desegregation.

Price, however, has arrived at a different conclusion over how that time compares to the issues of equality today.

Price recalls being the only Black child in a class of more than 30 students.

My history teacher would never call on me, she said.

Price said she talked about the issue to her father, who told her to sit on the front row to gain better visibility. She said that led to no changes, prompting her to personally raise the issue with her teacher after class.

Price said her teacher told her that she didnt want to embarrass the student in the event she got an answer wrong. But Price said she wasnt sure how the situation would have been any different than any other classmate answering a question incorrectly.

She was protecting herself. Its selfishness, she said. She was treating me differently.

Price said she sees a similar problem now with certain groups of students, who she argued are being treated differently.

Its the exact same thing, she said, adding that she views the subject of transgender students as one that should be left to parents and not the schools.

Price has more recently been outspoken against an effort among school employees to unionize, another option that opened up in Montgomery County due to the relatively recent passage of state legislation.

Price, like some other opponents of collective bargaining for the states public sector employees, has argued that a school employee union could lead to almost forced tax increases in the future to meet certain pay demands and could undermine the authority of the school division and elected board on district operations.

Price argues collective bargaining is an indicator of issues not being adequately addressed by the school board and district administration. She argues those are the places school employees ought to direct their attention, as opposed to calling for a union.

In addition to speaking out against the recent unionizing efforts, Price has over the past month organized a handful of motorcades across Montgomery County to oppose collective bargaining at MCPS.

Supporters of collective bargaining have pushed back against the suggestion that it would effectively force tax increases, with several saying the process for enacting pay raises would bear little to no difference with how its currently done. They have also said the school board doesnt have the power to raise county taxes  an authority vested with the board of supervisors  and that there will be conditions in place to make pay increases contingent on available funding.

While there are certainly opponents of Prices politics in the community, at least some in the local GOP have voiced full confidence in her ability to uphold the partys values and back several of her points on schools.

Among them is county Supervisor Steve Fijalkowski, who last year sparked some debate over comments he made on the policies for transgender students. Fijalkowski, along with the other three Republicans supervisors on his board, voiced their support of providing vouchers or tax credits to public school students who plan to make the switch to private or home schools.

The discussion over the vouchers drew criticism from many in the county, including several school board members, who voiced concerns that such measures could direct needed funding away from public schools.

Fijalkowski defended his stance by pointing to concerns raised by parents, many of whom he argued seemed to have been ignored by the district. The supervisor brought up Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin winning Montgomery County in his run for office and pointed to how parental involvement in the schools was one of the governors key stances during his campaign.

That should tell the school board that this is the direction the majority of Montgomery County wants you to go, Fijalkowski said. Thats kind of bothersome that theyre not willing to compromise. Compromise is where most business gets done.

Fijalkowski touted Prices views on the schools.

Shes very knowledgeable about issues and she has a lot of ideas to further the party, he said. When you listen to her, she wants the GOP to be more involved in topics that citizens are concerned about and you know thats something all political parties want to get involved in, representing citizens. She just seems to have a plan and shes put into practice.

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After three days of testimony and arguments about Appalachian Power Co.s renewable energy future, a hearing examiner with the State Corporation Commission will issue a written opinion later.

At the end of the hearing Monday afternoon, Mary Beth Adams said her decision is required pretty quickly.

The SCC must sort through a mountain of documents and weigh dueling testimony from experts before deciding whether to approve Appalachians plan on how it will comply with the Virginia Clean Economy Act.

Passed in 2020, the law is intended to fight climate change by requiring Appalachian to provide its approximately 540,000 Virginia customers with all renewable energy by 2050.

The utility  which has relied mostly on coal and natural gas in recent years to generate about 85% of its electricity  filed its plan with the SCC in late December. Commission staff, the Virginia Attorney Generals Office and about a half-dozen organizations and businesses are participating in the complicated process.

This is a whole new world, SCC attorney Kiva Pierce said, borrowing a phrase from the Disney movie Aladdin.

Appalachian is seeking SCC approval to acquire a solar farm in Pittsylvania County and to purchase electricity from three others in Bedford, Louisa and Rockingham counties. The plan also calls for the company to own a wind farm in Logan County, Illinois, and a solar farm in Berkeley County, West Virginia, among other things.

That is for the upcoming rate year that starts in August. An updated plan with additional purchases is required annually by the Clean Economy Act.

To recover the $32 million in costs for renewable energy over the next year, the investor-owed utility is proposing a rate increase that would add $2.37 to the bill of an average residential customer, or one that uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month.

Rate increases would be much higher, Appalachian argues, if it must make a more rapid transformation to wind and solar energy.

Appalachian is asking the SCC to allow it to continue burning coal through 2040 at two large power plants in West Virginia, which currently generate about two-thirds of its output to customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee.

After Adams makes a recommendation, the case will go to the full SCC for a final decision.

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The Democratic delegate who earlier this year said Gov. Glenn Youngkin was using Black bodies as campaign props now hopes to unseat his own partys leader in the House of Delegates.

Del. Don Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth, has spent weeks planning a bid to unseat House Minority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax.

Scott made it public on Sunday by sending a letter to party leaders calling for a House Democratic leadership vote on removing Filler-Corn on Wednesday when the General Assembly convenes to consider the governors vetoes and amendments to legislation passed earlier this year.

Scott resigned his leadership position within the House Democratic Caucus, as vice chair for outreach.

The caucus election will be done by secret ballot. If Filler-Corn loses, Scott wants to be the Democrats leader in the House, where Republicans hold a 52-48 edge. He wants Del. Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, to serve as caucus chair and Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, to serve as vice chair for outreach.

The current caucus chair under Filler-Corn is Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria. If she and Filler-Corn lose Wednesdays vote, House Democrats would need to hold another vote to elect new leadership.

Scott, a lawyer, was first elected in 2019 and re-elected in 2021 in a safely Democratic seat.

He gave a newsworthy speech on Jan. 26, during the regular General Assembly session, in which he rebuked Youngkins use of race in politics.

I understand you found a winning issue in critical race theory, once again, using the old Southern strategy to use race as a wedge issue, to use Black bodies as a prop in your campaigns, Scott said on the House floor. The governor, unsolicited, went to Scotts office afterward to speak with him.

Filler-Corn was first elected to the House in 2010 and in 2020 became the first woman and first Jewish person to serve as a Virginia House speaker.

She faced an unsuccessful leadership challenge in 2019 from then-Del. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg.

But Democrats lost the races for governor, attorney general and lieutenant governor last year  as well control of the House  as Youngkin topped former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe by 2 percentage points.

Thats led some House Democrats to question whether their party leadership has accepted responsibility for what went wrong.

Scott is climbing uphill by challenging his partys power structure. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has learned that Scott has told others he has commitments from 30 Democratic delegates, and needs 25. But because the tally is by secret ballot, the votes in such internal matters can be tricky. Democratic delegates can tell both Scott and Filler-Corn they support them.

Filler-Corn spokesman Jake Rubenstein released a statement Monday from Del. Delores McQuinn, D-Richmond, saying the current leadership led this caucus to historic heights.

Now is not the time to take our best players off of the playing field, McQuinn said.
BRISTOL, Va.  Two Bristol, Virginia police officers who witnessed a fellow officer fatally shoot a suspect last year testified in the officers murder trial Monday.

Officer Timothy Sizemore of the Bristol Virginia Police Department (BVPD) was one of three officers who responded to shots fired at the Rodeway Inn on Euclid Avenue with Officer Johnathan Brown around 3:20 a.m. on March 30, 2021.

The officers found Jonathen Kohler in the parking lot of the motel behind the wheel of his 1994 Ford Mustang. Kohler wouldnt comply with the officers commands, and despite being told to keep his hands up and on the wheel, Kohler reached down several times, Sizemore said.

One of the officers then told Kohler to turn the car off before he backed out of the parking space and attempted to flee. Sizemore testified to hearing the tires squeal and the engine rev as the vehicle moved forward before Brown fired his rifle.

Kohler, who suffered gunshot wounds to the head and neck, died almost instantly. The car then crashed into a parked car with a loud boom, Sizemore said.

It all happened so fast, Sizemore said.

Sizemore said he was afraid Kohler was reaching for a gun. Although the officers didnt know it at the time, there was a loaded pistol under Kohlers seat.

Surveillance footage later revealed Kohler had fired five shots out the window of his Mustang while in the motel parking lot, which prompted four 911 calls. Investigators also discovered extra ammunition in the vehicle and found text messages where Kohler had threatened to shoot into his girlfriends motel room and to shoot up the whole hotel.

Roanoke Commonwealths Attorney Donald Caldwell, the special prosecutor in the case, made clear Monday that the responding officers had no prior knowledge that Kohler had fired the shots or that he was armed when they arrived.

BVPD Chief of Police John Austin called the Rodeway Inn a very dangerous place and a haven for drug users during testimony Monday. According to Austin, his officers treat calls of shots fired like an active shooter situation until they can determine otherwise.

Officer Christopher Stine described Kohler as fidgety and covered in sweat on the cold night. Stine became suspicious Kohler was the shooter when he became verbally defensive with the officers and said, I didnt do anything.

He just wouldnt stay still, Stine said.

The concentration of methamphetamine in Kohlers blood was almost 10 times Virginias presumptive limit to safely operate a motor vehicle, a toxicologist testified.

Stine also said Kohler backed up at a high rate of speed and launched forward. Stine told the EMS responder that Kohler had tried to run over Brown and testified he believed Kohler was an immediate threat to Brown.

Neither Stine nor Sizemore were subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury that indicted Brown on charges of murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and shooting into an occupied vehicle.
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As he begins a second term as France's president, Emmanuel Macron has given the green light for the delivery of artillery pieces to Ukraine
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FLORENCE, S.C.  The Florence County Coroners Office Tuesday released the identity of an 11-year-old boy who was shot and killed at his home in Scranton Sunday.

The victim is Zion Burgess, who was shot at his home on South Glendale Road in Scranton, Florence County Coroner Keith von Lutcken wrote in the release.

The shooting incident happened Sunday morning. The boy was transported to a Florence area hospital where he died.

An autopsy will be conducted Thursday morning at the Medical University South Carolina in Charleston.

Two people  Crandell Cordell Burgess, 27, Scranton, and Montarrio Leverne Graham, 35, Scranton  have been arrested and charged in the incident.

Burgess is charged with voluntary manslaughter and possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime.

Graham is charged with stalking, trespassing/entering premises after a warning to leave and possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a felony.

According to the Florence County Sheriffs Office, Graham and Burgess were involved in an argument. Graham had a gun. Burgess warned Graham to leave several times, but Graham refused. The dispute escalated and shots were fired.

Sheriffs investigators allege the 11-year-old was struck by shots fired from Burgesss gun.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Florence Mayor Teresa Myers Ervin, Florence Police Chief Allen Heidler and Florence County Sheriffs Office Major Michael M. Nunn urged residents to form community watches and report crimes to law enforcement Monday.

After a weekend of violence, killing and loss, Ervin held a press conference at 11 a.m. Monday at the City Center. Ervin, Heidler and Nunn addressed violence as city and county government officials, clergy and community activists stood behind them in a show of support.

Four people were killed in Florence County over the weekend. A fifth Florence County resident was shot and killed Sunday morning in Myrtle Beach.

Another person was shot multiple times Sunday in Florence, and remains hospitalized.

A Florence resident was shot and killed at 4:40 p.m. Saturday in the 1100 block of Brunwood Drive after he refused to give a neighbor a ride to the store. Florence County Coroner Keith von Lutcken identified the victim as Larry Dontaye Joyner, 37. Randolph Eugene Smith has been arrested and charged with murder, possession of a weapon and grand larceny.

Another shooting happened Sunday morning in the 1000 block of Carver Street in Florence. The coroner identified the shooting victim as Willie Dixon, 32, of Florence.

A 17-year-old teenager  Dairyontae Thurston Shaw of Dixon Street  was discovered in a driveway at 700 Philadelphia Place at 2:30 a.m. Saturday.

Autopsies on Joyner, Dixon and Shaw will be performed at the Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston.

A fatal shooting happened on Glendale Road Sunday morning near Scranton. An 11-year-old was killed in the shooting. The identity of the child has not been released.

The Florence County Sheriffs Office has arrested two men  Crandell Corodell Burgess, 27, of Scranton and Montarrio Leverne Graham 35, of Scranton.

According to investigators, Graham carried a firearm onto the property following a verbal dispute with Burgess. After several warnings, Graham refused to leave. Investigators allege the 11-year-old was shot when Graham opened fire on Burgess.

Burgess was charged with voluntary manslaughter and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Graham is charged with stalking, trespassing/entering premises after warning to leave and possession of a firearm by a person convicted of violent crime.

At 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Florence County Sheriffs deputies responded to a call of shots fired in the 1000 block of Carver Street in Florence. Investigators and crime scene forensic experts located spent shell casings where the shooting is alleged to have happened.

A short time later, deputies were notified of a shooting victim at an area hospital. The victim had been taken to the hospital by private vehicle. He has been receiving treatment for gunshot wounds. Additional information about the victim and his condition was unavailable.

In Myrtle Beach early Sunday morning, South Florence High School star athlete and homecoming king, Quay Dickens, was shot and killed. According to reports, Dickens was one of four people shot in the area of Mr. Joe White Avenue and Withers Alley.

Mondays press conference was called in response to those shootings and deaths.

I do not remember a time period where we have experienced such a loss, Ervin said at the press conference. Florence has been greatly touched by this and I do believe we can come together to change this. My plan of action is to get the community involved. It is not only going to take leadership from the government. It is going to take community members, families, parents, the school district. It is going to take all of us to make a difference.

The shootings arent necessarily random acts of violence, Ervin said. Some involve family or neighbor disputes.

There are some things that we may not be able to de-escalate, Ervin said. But I believe if we come together like we have done in the past. We can teach others how to de-escalate situations. We need to protect life and we need to teach people what to do and when to walk away. Florence needs all of us. We are one Florence.

It will take community members working with the Florence police and Florence County Sheriffs Office to bring violence under control and solve crimes, Florence Police Chief Allen Heidler said.

The police department, sheriffs office and solicitors office have developed a witness information identification protection program to help witnesses feel secure when they come forward to report crimes or criminal activity, Heidler said.

Witnesses also can provide anonymous tips to Pee Dee Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

Detectives also will protect witnesses throughout the course of investigating a crime, Heidler said.

We are asking people to help. Heidler said. We understand that you are fearful of retaliation, but we have this program in place to assist you.

Nunn said he agreed with Heidlers comments and urged residents to form community watch organizations to help deter crime.

When you see something, there are several methods and ways you can communicate with us what you know, Nunn said.

He mention the Crime Stoppers program.

Nunn also said the Sheriffs Office has a free app for iPhones and Android phones that allows residents to submit anonymous tips. Sheriffs investigators also will protect witness identities.

We need your help. We cant solve these crimes without your input, Nunn said.

Calvin Robinson, a community activist and pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, said that stress economically and personally builds up to violence.

A lot of crimes are committed because people feel they have nowhere else to turn, Robinson said. Not all crime is that way, but a lot of crimes are. I believe that our community needs to reach our children before they get to the level of committing crimes. We need programs for smaller children and job training in place. These things do not cost a lot of money. It simply takes volunteers and people giving their time and talent to mentor young people. I also think there needs to be revitalization throughout the entire city of Florence and not just one area of the city. We need to spread the wealth.

Help Florence Flourish Executive Director Chris Handley lives in the 1100 block of Brunwood Drive and heard gunshots. He also saw the shooting suspect drive off in the victims vehicle.

We were standing in our front yard when we heard gunshots followed by screaming, Handley said. We normally hear pops like that, but the screaming at the same time made it real. A few moments later, we saw a car driving erratically and we realized that it was the shooter who was driving the victims car. It was devastating to think about. He said he heard about five or six gunshots.

Handley said police, fire and emergency medical services arrived quickly to the neighborhood.

Handley said he never felt unsafe in his neighborhood before the shooting. He said his neighborhood is typically quiet and is a mixed neighborhood.

Suzanne La Rochelle, community activist, said the rise in gun violence in Florence County is a signal of desperation and hopelessness.

I wholeheartedly believe that this is a universal symbol of desperation and hopelessness, La Rochelle said. When our young people dont see a future in tomorrow and when they dont believe they have something to live for, violence is their option. We need to do everything in our power to address poverty. Desperate people do desperate things. We also need to pay attention to the laws that are being passed and the ones that are not being passed. We need to decrease the amount of weapons in our community.

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 "Unstitching Scarlet Letters? Prosecutorial Discretion and Expungement" | Main | "How Statistics Doomed Washington States Death Penalty" 

The now-famous, drug-dealer-serving-LWOP grandmother Alice Marie Johnson, who was granted clemency three months ago by Prez Donald Trump, has authored this lengthy new Fox News opinion piece headlined "President Trump freed me from prison  Im glad he wants to give other nonviolent offenders their freedom." Here are excerpts:

On June 6, I walked out of prison as a free woman after serving almost 22 years of my life sentence on a first-time nonviolent drug conviction, thanks to a decision by President Trump to commute my sentence to time served. I was thrilled to hear the president say this week that he is looking to give early release to additional nonviolent prisoners like me....

I can never thank the president enough. He heard my voice, gave life to my hope and promise to my future. I am a 63-year-old grandmother who just wants to live in peace and enjoy my family. There is zero chance I will ever break the law again....

Many other nonviolent offenders in federal prisons today are  like me  no danger to society, and I look forward to having President Trump and members of his administration examine their cases. Many of these men and women have spent long years in prison and deserve to receive clemency or a commutation of their sentences from the president.

Freeing these offenders early would be an act of justice and mercy, as granting me my freedom was. And early release would save taxpayers the cost of feeding and housing these people for years after they have paid their debt to society.

When President Obama began granting clemency to nonviolent offenders near the end of his presidency, he gave hope to thousands of people like me. By 2016, I was 20 years into my life sentence.

My path to prison began at a time in my life when I faced some desperate choices. I made a terrible decision to participate in a drug conspiracy  a decision I very much regret.

But during my two decades in prison, I accomplished an extraordinary rehabilitation  writing plays, volunteering in the prison hospice, becoming an ordained minister and mentoring to young women in prison. By 2016 I was a new woman living a new life, even if it was a life I thought was destined to be lived only behind bars.

President Obamas clemency initiative gave me hope. I had been told not to hope, not to dream, because I would never be set free. As his presidency came to a close, President Obama began releasing hundreds of other nonviolent offenders, and I became sure I would be released as well. My prison warden, captain, case manager and vocational training instructor all recommended I be granted clemency.

Unfortunately, I was left behind. President Obama left office without giving me the chance to start a new life. And I learned that putting your hope in one man is a mistake, because when that hope dies, you think all your hope has to die. When I received the denial letter from the Office of the Pardon Attorney, I was devastated. I dont know why my request was denied, because no explanation was given. But that decision left me so disappointed.

My petition met all the criteria for clemency. I had reformed my life in prison and I felt it should have been clear to anyone that I would contribute to society if I was released. But President Obama left, President Trump arrived and I was told again to give up hope. I didnt.

I kept fighting for myself because I know that hearts can change, and no matter what administration is in power, you have to be willing to come to the table, sit down and talk about whether you can find common ground.

Thankfully, Jared Kushner and others working for President Trump have worked to keep clemency and criminal justice reform alive. They can see that not every person who makes a mistake deserves for that mistake to define the rest of their life. They know that hope is important, but it must also be turned into meaningful change....

I did not leave prison bitter. I love America and believe in the inherent goodness of the American people and the possibility of redemption. Now it is President Trump who can make history if he takes the opportunity to go further than any president before him by giving second chances to thousands of people who just need someone to hear them.

The president has a power that the Constitution grants to him alone to both show mercy and deliver justice for people who were given excessively long sentences for crimes involving no violence. The people who deserve to be freed are those who have long since recognized their mistakes and who have rehabilitated themselves during their time in prison.

I will never forget what President Trump did for me. He changed my life and gave me the opportunity to fulfill my potential, and now he has the chance to do the same for thousands more.
 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stops execution and remands Melissa Lucio's case for review of her conviction | Main | "Bad Faith Prosecution" 

April 26, 2022

Prez Biden finally uses his clemency pen to grant three pardons and 75 commutations

Because I always am inclined to say better late than never, I was quite pleased to wake up to the news that President Joe Biden is finally starting to make good on his campaign promise to "broadly use his clemency power for certain non-violent and drug crimes." This USA Today piece, headlined "Biden to pardon three felons, commute sentences of 75 others, in first grants of clemency," provides these details:

The nation's first Black Secret Service agent on a presidential detail, now 86 years old living in Chicago, who has worked decades to clear his name for a crime he has said he didn't commit. A 51-year-old woman from Houston who served seven years in prison for attempting to transport drugs for her boyfriend and accomplice  neither of whom faced charges. And a 52-year-old man from Athens, Georgia, who partners with schools to employ youth at his cellphone repair company, two decades after he was charged for letting pot dealers use his pool hall to sell drugs. Three convicted felons  Abraham Bolden Sr., Betty Jo Bogans and Dexter Eugene Jackson  are receiving presidential pardons from President Joe Biden, along with 75 others whose sentences the president is commuting Tuesday, in the first use of clemency power of the Biden presidency. All of Biden's commutations target individuals serving sentences for low-level drug offenses, some of whom have served on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are Black or brown, and the White House said each has displayed efforts to rehabilitate themselves. The clemency announcements, which coincide with national "Second Chance Month," come as Biden will also announce new actions aimed at improving outcomes for felons who reenter society. That includes $145 million for a federal program to train the incarcerated for future employment and the removal of criminal history in applications for Small Business Administration grants. "America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation," Biden said in a statement. "Elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and law enforcement leaders agree that our criminal justice system can and should reflect these core values that enable safer and stronger communities. During Second Chance Month, I am using my authority under the Constitution to uphold those values by pardoning and commuting the sentences of fellow Americans."... The individuals granted clemency came at the recommendation of the Department of Justice's pardon attorney, according to senior Biden administration officials who briefed reporters about the announcement. It marks a return of a practice that was largely bypassed by former President Donald Trump, whose clemency requests often came through close aides. Biden said the three people pardoned have each "demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities."... Nearly one-third of the 75 commutation recipients would have received lower sentences if they had been charged today under the Trump-era criminal justice law, the First Step Act, according to senior Biden administration officials. They have served an average of 10 years in prison and have "shown resilience" in seeking a productive path forward, a White House official said.

The official statement from Prez Biden on these grants is available at this link, and its start provides links to all those granted clemency and other executive action on the reentry front:

America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation. Elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and law enforcement leaders agree that our criminal justice system can and should reflect these core values that enable safer and stronger communities. During Second Chance Month, I am using my authority under the Constitution to uphold those values by pardoning and commuting the sentences of fellow Americans. Today, I am pardoning three people who have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities. I am also commuting the sentences of 75 people who are serving long sentences for non-violent drug offenses, many of whom have been serving on home confinement during the COVID-pandemic  and many of whom would have received a lower sentence if they were charged with the same offense today, thanks to the bipartisan First Step Act. My Administration is also announcing new steps today to support those re-entering society after incarceration. These actions include: a new collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Labor to provide job training; new grants for workforce development programs; greater opportunities to serve in federal government; expanded access to capital for people with convictions trying to start a small business; improved reentry services for veterans; and more support for health care, housing, and educational opportunities.

Though I am still a bit salty that it took Prez Biden 15+ months in office before using his clemency pen, I am pleasantly surprised to see a large number of grants and many commutations to persons serving lengthy terms terms for drug offenses. From a quick scan, it looks like perhaps more than a third of those who received commutations are women, which reminded me of the statements of Prez Trump clemency recipient Alice Marie Johnson that there were thousands of persons like her in prison who deserved commutation. (BOP data show the federal prison population is comprised of less than 7% women, though I sense that much more than 7% of the most mitigated cases involve women.)

A few of many prior recent related posts:

April 26, 2022 at 08:31 AM | Permalink

Comments

Every single one of these commutations has already been released to a halfway house on the first step except 2 people. Is this a joke? Pathetic at best, how about hitting up the people still in prison for 36 years on ghost dope, what a clown move Biden

Posted by: Randy Cowan | Apr 26, 2022 9:40:42 AM

@Randy Cowan: Its not right to pin this on Biden. Most modern presidents have limited their pardons and commutations to obvious and non-controversial cases. Especially with an election 7 months away, no president is going to risk a pardon that has the slightest chance of being controversial.

Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Apr 26, 2022 10:13:04 AM

I agree with Marc Shepherd. Without speaking to the merits of the pardons, which I don't know, give Biden credit for issuing them when he's still politically accountable.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 26, 2022 10:24:45 AM

@marc Shepard, Bill Otis. First of all, let's be honest, trump is responsible for releasing these people due to the First Step Act, Biden just piggybacked (I am No Trump Supporter BTW) I, for one, don't think it's controversial to do what you promised to do. Especially when it partially won you the election, people are tired of family member going to prison for non-violent crimes. (On the low end)

Biden promised to fix what he help create- mass incarceration. Sending people to prison for words. Amounts if drugs spoken- not found, from an unreliable source- someone actually caught with drugs or a victim of ghost dope themselves, looking for a downward departure. Ghost Dope is real and every day someone is forced to plead guilty in the Federal system or face 40 years in trial. For words. Every single commutation was for ghost dope. "Conspiracy" this is the law that is abused- created to catch people like, John Gotti, not Joe down the road. Most are poor and drug users, not traffickers. They arrest them by getting a warrant (on words again) and force them to plead guilty, told they will receive 5 years and then slapped with 15 years of enhancements because they lived in a house and plainly, because they can. You really don't understand until it happens to your child or wife and by then...it's too late. I am a true believer that evidence must be present to go to prison. words from a person with an interest? Is not evidence..

Posted by: Randy Cowan | Apr 26, 2022 11:28:07 AM

As Bill Otis noted, by releasing these pardons & commutations now, 7 months before an election, Biden has actually done more than similarly-situated presidents in the modern era. I am not defending current practices. Its simply a fact that modern presidents just do not take pardon risks when an election hangs in the balance. While I would not call these pardons risky, it is still more than most of his recent predecessors did.

Part of the reason is that pardon (promised or given) do not materially move elections in a president or presidential candidates favor. But a bad pardon could certainly move sentiment against him. You are kidding yourself if you think this had any part in getting Biden elected or would play any part in getting him re-elected.

Biden is far more likely to be punished at the polls for the sloppy Afghanistan exit, inflation, and the failure to enact most of Build Back Better. And you could probably add 20 more things before you get to pardons.

Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Apr 26, 2022 1:13:56 PM

Yes, let's be honest. First Step should've passed under Obama but Sen. Mitch did not want to give him a win. So yes, all credit to the former guy who signed the law (and let's forget his later disavowal of the law).

Posted by: whatever | Apr 26, 2022 3:25:32 PM

For grants like this--

Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 20-year term of supervised release.

Is that home confinement until 4/2023 then supervised release, or is it prison to 4/2023, HC for the remaining term, then SR?

I was wondering why some grants are written that way while others expire the sentence earlier with no reference to HC?

Posted by: Jason | Apr 28, 2022 10:55:12 AM

I saw a report, Jason, that 70 of the 75 are already on home confinement under the CARES Act (but still at risk of getting sent back after the pandemic ends). These grants, as I read them, ensure these folks will stay on HC until the new expiration of their sentence (after which they still need to serve supervised realease).

As to why most have sentences ending 4/2023 and others have other commutation ending dates, that is a real mystery. Indeed, there are likely hundreds, if not thousands, more folks on CARES release that may be similar to this cohort.

Posted by: Doug B. | Apr 28, 2022 11:07:07 AM

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Former President Donald Trump all but said the word pussy  again  in an excerpt from his international interview Monday with British journalist Piers Morgan, and it was as shockingly sexist as ever.

He wielded his latest evocation of the word to attack Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. He called Harry whipped, meaning pussy whipped, a term used to denigrate a partner for being too in love with a woman. There is no common equivalent term for being too enraptured by a man.

Trump predicted the couples marriage would end when Markle decides that she likes some other guy better. He added: Poor Harry is being led around by his nose, and I think hes an embarrassment.

After calling Harry whipped, Trump asked Morgan: Do you know the expression? Morgan responded: Im familiar with the phrase. Americans on Twitter translated the slur for British viewers who might be unfamiliar with it.

The scene brought to mind what was one of the most shocking moments of Trumps 2016 campaign, when he was captured on tape bragging about the ease with which he could grab women by the pussy. (Women attempted to take back the word with pussy hats at massive womens marches after his election.)

Trump uses the slang for female genitalia as an insult. He called former Vice President Mike Pence a pussy for refusing to overthrow the presidential election. He has also bashed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as pussies.

Twitter critics were furious. A member of the House of Lords blasted Trump as a misogynist.

Relationship expert Donald Trump: Harry is whipped .. Im not a fan of Meghan .. I think Harry is being led around by the nose .. Itll end bad .. He has been so disrespectful to the country, and I think hes an embarrassment. pic.twitter.com/uu1iKMO4aa  Ron Filipkowski  (@RonFilipkowski) April 25, 2022

"Whipped" is short for "Pussy-whipped".

In case the fullness of Trump's misogyny was lost on anyone.  RaPUNzel (@RandilynIsIn) April 25, 2022

Trump Translation:

"I value women STRICTLY for their looks,

and smart, strong, independent ones - scare TF out of me.

I also like calling men who respect women, 'pussies,' because they ALSO confuse & intimidate me."  pic.twitter.com/YkMP1UYEKQ  JoanWayne Esq (@EsqJoanwayne) April 25, 2022

I believe the term is 'pussy whipped' that's what Trump really means ... I shudder just reading that.  RamonWites (@RamonWrites) April 25, 2022

He is omitting - or perhaps it has been edited out - a grossly misogynistic term. But the general intention is conveyed.   Sir   Order of the Garter (@DoomlordVek) April 25, 2022

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the expression Trump used about Harry, its pussy whipped and in America is the most offensive thing you can say to a man, while being the most offensive thing you can say about a woman.



Donald Trump said Prince Harry is pussy whipped. https://t.co/IU9LPK2WKz  Donut_EU #BLM  (@CalefateVia6) April 25, 2022

Hld on. Pissy M interviews former US President who is in the worlds mst less marriage, presided over an insurrection, known for groping women & frolicking with prostitutes - just to ask about the person he has been stalking for yrs because she met him once & rejected him.  Stepup (@Stepup27587777) April 25, 2022

If youre gonna say whipped, say the whole phrase. Sadly, we know youre comfortable with the missing word      (@FreeGirlNowNYC) April 25, 2022

X is a whipped man.. like no person Ive ever seen. -

Said misogynist & have been saying since time immemorial 

Why do we not describe women who leave their family & country & are married to successful men as whipped

Trumps take on relationships is worth  https://t.co/kkfPaglcDC  Sayeeda Warsi (@SayeedaWarsi) April 25, 2022

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) kicked off its first international conference on nuclear law in Vienna on Monday.

Lawyers, representatives of national authorities, international organizations, nuclear industry and civil society from 127 countries are participating in the IAEA's first "International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate" to discuss emerging issues and trends in nuclear law and the applicable legal frameworks, according to an IAEA statement.

Rafael Grossi, the IAEA Director-General, said in his opening speech at the conference that nuclear law is "not only about behavior and abiding by very important concepts and principles of law, but also driven by technological development."

He added that nuclear energy, "a force for the greater good," can at the same time "pose challenges that must be solved."

Dong Baotong, vice chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority, said at a forum on the sidelines of the conference that China has established a nuclear law system in recent years and is currently formulating an atomic energy law to safeguard the peaceful development and use of atomic energy.

Dong added that China is willing to share with other countries its experience in the development and legislation of the civil nuclear energy sector.

The IAEA conference, which includes forums, exhibitions and other sideline meetings, will run until Friday.
KYIV, Ukraine  Russia unleashed a string of attacks Monday against rail and fuel installations deep inside Ukraine, far from the front lines of Moscow's new eastern offensive, in a bid to thwart Ukrainian efforts to marshal supplies for the fight.

The U.S., meanwhile, moved to rush more weaponry to Ukraine and said the assistance from the Western allies is making a difference in the 2-month-old war.

Russia is failing. Ukraine is succeeding, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared, a day after he and the U.S. secretary of defense made a bold visit to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Blinken said Washington approved a $165 million sale of ammunition  non-U.S. ammo, mainly if not entirely for Ukraine's Soviet-era weapons  and will also provide more than $300 million in financing to buy more supplies.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took his comments further, saying that while the U.S. wants to see Ukraine remain a sovereign, democratic country, it also wants "to see Russia weakened to the point where it cant do things like invade Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said weapons supplied by Western countries will be a legitimate target," adding that Russian forces had already targeted weapons warehouses in western Ukraine.

Everyone is reciting incantations that in no case can we allow World War III, Lavrov said in a wide-ranging interview on Russian television. He accused Ukrainian leaders of provoking Russia by asking NATO to become involved in the conflict.

By providing weapons, NATO forces are pouring oil on the fire, he said, according to a transcript on the Russian Foreign Ministrys website.

Regarding the possibility of a nuclear confrontation, Lavrov said: I would not want to see these risks artificially inflated now, when the risks are rather significant.

The danger is serious," he said. "It is real. It should not be underestimated.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, its apparent goal was the lightning capture of Kyiv, the capital. But the Ukrainians, with the help of Western weapons, thwarted the push and forced Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops to retreat.

Moscow now says its goal is to take the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region in eastern Ukraine. While both sides say the campaign in the east is underway, Russia has yet to mount an all-out ground offensive and has not achieved any major breakthroughs.

On Monday, Russia focused its firepower elsewhere, with missiles and warplanes striking far behind the front lines.

Five railroad stations in central and western Ukraine were hit, and one worker was killed, said Oleksandr Kamyshin, head of Ukraine's state railway. The bombardment included a missile attack near Lviv, the western city close to the Polish border that has been swelled by Ukrainians fleeing the fighting elsewhere around the country.

Ukrainian authorities said that at least five people were killed by Russian strikes in the central Vynnytsia region.

Russia also destroyed an oil refinery in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, along with fuel depots there, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said. In all, Russian warplanes destroyed 56 Ukrainian targets overnight, he said.

Philip Breedlove, a retired U.S. general who was NATOs top commander from 2013 to 2016, said the latest strikes against fuel depots are part of a strategy to deplete key Ukrainian war resources. The strikes against rail targets, on the other hand, are a newer tactic, he said.

I think theyre doing it for the legitimate reason of trying to interdict the flow of supplies to the front, he said. The illegitimate reason is they know people are trying to leave the country, and this is just another intimidation, terrorist tactic to make them not have faith and confidence in traveling on the rails.

Phillips P. OBrien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said the war is, for now, settling into a campaign of incremental battlefield losses and gains.

The two sides are sort of every day weakening each other, he said. So its a question of what can you bring in thats new and what can you destroy on the other side.

In Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova, several explosions believed caused by rocket-propelled grenades hit the territory's Ministry of State Security. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and no injuries were immediately reported.

Transnistria is a strip of land with about 470,000 people along the Ukrainian border. Russia has about 1,500 troops based there.

Moldova's Foreign Ministry said the aim of todays incident is to create pretexts for straining the security situation in the Transnistrian region." The U.S. warned previously that Russia may launch false-flag attacks against its own side to create a pretext for invading other nations.

Last week, Rustam Minnekayev, a Russian military commander, said the Kremlin wants full control of southern Ukraine, which he said would open the way to Transnistria.

An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian troops holed up in a steel plant in the strategic southern port city of Mariupol are tying down Russian forces and apparently keeping them from being added to the offensive elsewhere in the Donbas. Over the weekend, Russian forces launched new airstrikes on the Azovstal plant to try to dislodge the holdouts.

Some 1,000 civilians were also said to be taking shelter at the steelworks, and the Russian military pledged to open a humanitarian corridor Monday for them to leave.

The Russian offer was met with skepticism by Ukraine. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the Telegram messaging app that Ukraine does not consider the route safe and added that Russia had breached agreements on similar evacuation routes before. She called on the United Nations to oversee an evacuation.

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The world's most expensive lunch will go on sale again this spring when Omaha-based investor Warren Buffett auctions off a private meal to raise money for a California homeless charity one last time.

Buffett, Berkshire Hathaways CEO, held the lunch auction once a year for 20 years before the pandemic began to raise money for the Glide Foundation, which helps the homeless in San Francisco. The auction has been on hiatus for the past two years, but Glide said Monday  a few days before thousands of shareholders are expected to gather at this week's Berkshire annual meeting  that the event will be revived this year.

Every winning bid since 2008 has topped $1 million, and Buffett has raised nearly $34.5 million for the charity over the years.

Many of the past winners have been investors who admire Buffett for his remarkable track record of finding undervalued companies and stocks to buy for his conglomerate. But in the last auction, a cryptocurrency pioneer paid $4,567,888 in 2019 for the chance to dine with Buffett.

Buffetts first wife, Susie, introduced him to Glide after she volunteered there. She died in 2004, but the connection endured.

Buffett has said he supports Glide because they help people in difficult situations find hope again in life. Glide provides meals, health care, job training, rehabilitation and housing support to the poor and homeless.

The 91-year-old billionaire didn't immediately respond to questions about why he decided the end the auction after this year.

The weeklong eBay auction will begin June 12 with an opening bid of $25,000 and continue through June 17. The winner will get to bring up to seven people to eat with Buffett at the Smith & Wollensky steak house in New York City.

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WARSAW, Poland (AP)  The death toll from two coal mine accidents last week in southern Poland has risen to 13 after another injured miner died Tuesday, a doctor said.

The miner died at the Siemianowice Slaskie hospital, which specializes in treating burns, where 20 other coal mine workers were still being treated for injuries from methane gas blasts, Dr. Przemyslaw Strzelec said.

The man's death means that seven miners and rescuers were killed by repeated blasts Wednesday and Thursday at the Pniowek mine, near the Czech border.

The search for seven others who remain missing was suspended after Thursdays blasts hurt 10 rescuers.

In the nearby Borynia-Zofiowka mine, 13 teams of rescuers are searching for four miners gone missing after a tremor and methane gas discharge on Saturday. Six miners died in that accident.

Prosecutors have opened investigations into the accidents. The mines are operated by the Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa, JSW.

Most Polish coal mines are in the southern Silesia region and many have a high presence of methane in the rock.

Some 70% of Polands energy comes from coal, a proportion that has been sharply criticized by the European Union and environmental groups who are concerned about CO2 emissions and meeting climate change goals.

Poland has been trying to scale down its use of coal. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently said Poland has stopped coal imports from Russia and its ally Belarus in response to Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

For years Poland has been reducing its dependence on Russian energy sources that was built in communist-era times before 1990, when Poland was Russia's satellite.

Follow all AP news about climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/climate

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  A Minnesota judge has ruled that the trial of three fired Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting George Floyds killing will not be livestreamed.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill, who cited the threat of COVID-19 to allow livestreaming of last years murder trial of Derek Chauvin in Floyd's death, wrote in an order filed Monday evening that the pandemic has receded to the point that he cannot override the other three officers objections to live audiovisual coverage.

The trial for former Officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng is set to begin with motions on June 13. Jury selection begins June 14 with opening statements set for July 5. Cahill said he expects the evidence phase to take four or five weeks, meaning the trial could last into early August.

Kueng knelt on Floyds back, Lane held his legs and Thao kept bystanders back as Chauvin, who is white, used his knee to pin Floyd, a Black man, to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes on May 25, 2020, in a case that sparked protests around the world and a national reckoning on race.

Thao, Lane and Kueng were convicted in a separate trial in federal court in February of violating Floyd's civil rights. Chauvin pleaded guilty in December to a federal charge of violating Floyd's civil rights. Sentencing dates have not been set in those cases, which were not televised due to federal court rules.

Last year, Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22 1/2 years in the murder case, which was viewed around the world. Prosecutors disclosed during a hearing two weeks ago that the other three former officers had rejected plea deals that would have averted the upcoming trial.

Prosecutors and a coalition of media organizations including The Associated Press had argued for allowing live televised coverage again, citing the continued intense public and media interest in the case, and the potential resurgence of the coronavirus.

But Cahill wrote that the unusual and compelling circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of the Chauvin trial have substantially abated, and court system rules in force at the time that mandated social distancing have been lifted. So, he said, he's bound by Minnesota's normal court rules, which allow cameras during most of a trial only if all parties consent.

It is deeply disappointing that thousands of people interested in this important trial wont be able to watch it, said Leita Walker, an attorney for the media coalition, who noted in an email that an advisory committee to the Minnesota Supreme Court is considering whether the state court system should ease its restrictions on cameras. Our Supreme Court needs to change the rule. They are working on it. I wish they could have worked faster.

Cahill wrote that he agreed with prosecutors that livestreaming Chauvin's trial inspired public confidence in the proceedings and helped ensure calm in Minneapolis and across the country. And he noted that he recommended to the committee that judges should have discretion to allow audiovisual coverage even if a party objects. But he said he has no unfettered mandate to ignore existing rules in the absence of compelling circumstances needed to prevent a manifest injustice.

News organizations will have to cover the upcoming proceedings mostly from a closed-circuit feed in one of at least three overflow courtrooms. Only two pool reporters can be present in the main courtroom. Only four members of the Floyd family and two members from each defendant's family at a time may be in the courtroom. The general public can watch only from an overflow courtroom.

Cahill also ruled that the jury won't be sequestered except for deliberations, but with security restrictions, similar to how he conducted Chauvin's trial.

Find APs full coverage of the killing of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd

The story has been updated to correct that the order was filed Monday evening.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
SIOUX CITY -- An Omaha man involved in a Sioux City robbery in which his accomplice was stabbed with a sword has been sentenced to prison.

Bumatet Duop, 24, pleaded guilty Monday in Woodbury County District Court to intimidation with a dangerous weapon. District Judge Steven Andreasen sentenced him to 10 years in prison in accordance with a plea agreement. Charges of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and going armed with intent were dismissed. Duop had been scheduled to stand trial Tuesday.

On Jan. 17, Duop and Kuyien Kang entered an apartment at 1716 Nebraska St., where Kang pulled out a gun and said "this is a robbery" and hit a man inside the apartment in the head with the gun before Duop took $80 in cash from the man's pockets.

A second man in the apartment grabbed his sword and pointed it at Kang, who then fired at least one shot. The man stabbed Kang in the abdomen before Duop ripped it from the man's hands and fled with Kang, who collapsed outside his own apartment building in the 500 block of 17th Street. Footage from a surveillance camera showed Kang give the gun and an ammunition magazine to Duop, who left around the side of the building.

Kang was found bleeding by a Sioux City police officer and transported to a hospital for treatment.

Kang, 24, of Sioux City, was sentenced on April 8 to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to felon in possession of a firearm and intimidation with a dangerous weapon.

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SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man pleaded not guilty Monday to charges connected to shots being fired in his neighborhood.

Capri Rogers, 33, entered his written plea in Woodbury County District Court to two counts of felon in possession of a firearm.

Rogers was arrested April 3, a day after police received calls about shots being fired in the 1800 block of Jackson Street.

Police at the scene found a car with a window shot out, a bullet hole in the hood and bullet holes in a garage. Witnesses directed officers to Rogers' home, and after he consented to a search, police found a .22-caliber revolver and a shotgun in his bedroom. Police also found 140 spent shell casings in the house and evidence of shots fired at walls, windows, televisions and siding.

Because of previous felony convictions, Rogers was prohibited from possessing firearms.

Prosecutors earlier this month dropped charges of first-degree kidnapping, domestic abuse assault and other gun charges against Rogers while an investigation in the case continues.

While officers searched Rogers' home, a woman identified as his girlfriend told police Rogers had strangled her to the point of blacking out three times in recent weeks and that he had fired a handgun into a mattress next to her head. The woman, who had numerous injuries, required cranial surgery after an April 1 assault in which she said Rogers kicked and punched her and wouldn't let her leave the house to seek medical attention.

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SIOUX CITY -- A man who was shot after allegedly firing shots into a Sioux City apartment in March has been arrested on attempted murder and several other charges.

Ethan Hewitt, 23, of Sioux City, also faces charges of intimidation with a dangerous weapon, attempted first-degree burglary, going armed with intent, felon in possession of a firearm, trafficking in stolen weapons and possession with intent to deliver a counterfeit substance. Many of the charges carry a habitual offender enhancement, which would increase prison sentences for each charge to 15 years if convicted.

Hewitt posted a $250,000 surety bond and was released from custody days after his April 15 arrest.

Police were called to an apartment building in the 1600 block of Nebraska Street at approximately 4:15 a.m. March 21 after receiving reports of shots fired.

According to court documents, a resident of one of the apartments told police he and his girlfriend heard two individuals outside their home. Hewitt is accused of firing several shots, one of them entering a neighboring apartment and the others entering the victim's home. The apartment resident returned fire with a legally owned firearm, striking Hewitt, who fled from the scene with the other individual and dropped a handgun in the street.

Police recovered the handgun, which was determined to be stolen. Officers later searched Hewitt's home, where they recovered firearms and 18 pounds of MSM, a methamphetamine additive.

Hewitt, who was hospitalized for several days recovering from his gunshot wound, and the apartment resident had an ongoing feud because they both had a previous relationship with the same woman, court documents said.

Police said the man who shot Hewitt has not been charged.

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SIOUX CITY -- One person is in custody after a late Saturday stabbing near downtown Sioux City.

The victim was bleeding profusely from a stab wound that had severed an artery in his right arm when he was found at 8:39 p.m. in the parking lot at Save A Lot grocery store, 1730 Pierce St. The victim lost consciousness until Sunday.

According to court documents, the victim identified the stabbing suspect as Joseph McCauley, a man who had stayed with him for several days until the victim kicked him out.

Police located McCauley at 7:40 p.m. Sunday at 16th and Douglas streets, wearing clothing that matched a description provided by the victim.

Officers found a spring-loaded, double-edged knife in his backpack, along with three shotgun shells. He also had 1 gram of marijuana folded up in his left sock.

During an interview after his arrest, McCauley, 34, who was listed in court documents as a transient, admitted to attempting to assault the victim in retaliation for a previous assault between the victim and a third party.

McCauley was booked into the Woodbury County Jail on charges of attempted murder, carrying a dangerous weapon, being a felon in possession of ammunition, going armed with intent and third-offense possession of a controlled substance. He is being held on $150,000 bond.

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SIOUX CITY -- Sioux City Associate Superintendent Kim Buryanek is taking a position with the Iowa Department of Education.

Buryanek has accepted a position as the administrator for the Pre-K-12 Division at the Iowa Department of Education. Her last day with the district will be June 30. Buryanek has been with the district for 10 years.

She starts her new position July 1.

"I'm excited that I'll be able to inspire education in Iowa and have an influence of the education 500,000 students," she said.

School Board members thanked Buryanek for her time and experience in the district.

"Dr. Buryanek is without a doubt in the top one percent of educational minds with whom I've ever worked," said Superintendent Paul Gausman. "I can't imagine the Sioux City Schools without (Buryanek)."

Gausman said Buryanek has helped raise achievement, graduation rates, program offerings, balanced leadership and more.

Board Member Monique Scarlett said Buryanek's leadership in the district was appreciate and is something Scarlett will never forget.

"That's a great reward for being a great assistant superintendent," Scarlett said.

Board Member Perla Alarcon-Flory thanked Buryanek for her integrity, leadership, dedication and skills, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the Monday school board meeting, Rod Earleywine was appointed as interim superintendent. The board discussed the process to appoint a new associate superintendent, which Earleywine would lead.

Board Member Monique Scarlett asked Earleywine to "proceed with caution."

Earleywine said there should be a process to see who is internally interested in the associate superintendent position. The board decided to have those in the district interested in the position send a letter to Board President Dan Greenwell.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to ending the conflict in Ukraine and to creating conditions to end the suffering of civilians, said a UN spokesman.

Guterres met Erdogan in the Turkish capital Ankara on Monday. The UN chief expressed his support for Turkey's ongoing diplomatic efforts in relation to the conflict in Ukraine, Farhan Haq, Guterres' deputy spokesman, told reporters in New York.

"He and President Erdogan reaffirmed that their common objective is to end the war as soon as possible and to create conditions to end the suffering of civilians. They stressed the urgent need for effective access through humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and deliver much-needed assistance to impacted communities," said Haq.

They agreed to stay in contact to follow up on ongoing initiatives, he added.

Guterres and Erdogan also discussed the impact of the Ukraine conflict on regional and global issues, including energy, food and finance, said Haq.

Guterres was in Ankara on Monday before traveling to Moscow and Kiev. Turkey, a major mediator, has also indicated its willingness to become a security guarantor of Ukraine.

The UN secretary-general will visit Moscow and have a working meeting and lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday. He will be received by President Vladimir Putin.

Guterres then will travel to Ukraine, where he will have a working meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and will be received by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday. He will also meet with staff of UN agencies in Ukraine to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance.
Elon Musk to buy Twitter for $44B and take it private

Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the platform where he promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on a wide range of issues to more than 83 million followers. The outspoken Tesla CEO, who is also the worlds wealthiest person, has said he wanted to buy and privatize Twitter because he thinks its not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech. The risk is that Musk goes too far in his hands off approach, potentially alienating users and advertisers. Shares of Twitter Inc. rose 5% Monday to $51.70 per share, below the $54.20 he offered for the company.

The AP Interview: Kyiv wants UN to seek Mariupol evacuation

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukraines foreign minister is urging U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres to press Russia for an evacuation of the besieged port of Mariupol when he visits Moscow on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press in an interview Monday such a move is really something that the U.N. is capable to do. Mariupol is the seaside city where an estimated 100,000 people are trapped. A contingent of Ukrainian fighters are holding out against Russian forces in a steel mill where hundreds of civilians also are taking shelter. Kuleba also expressed satisfaction with U.S. promises of substantial new aid, but expressed frustration that Kyiv's requests for help take a long time to be fulfilled.

Russia hits faraway targets; diplomat warns of risk of WWIII

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russia has unleashed a string of attacks against rail and fuel facilities deep inside Ukraine in an apparent attempt to thwart Ukrainian efforts to marshal supplies. Meanwhile, Russias top diplomat warned against provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated. The U.S. is moving to rush more weaponry to Ukraine and says the Western allies assistance is making a difference in the 2-month-old war. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. wants to help Ukraine remain independent and also see Russia "weakened to the point where it cant do things like invade Ukraine.

White House: Without funding US will lose COVID treatments

WASHINGTON (AP)  After two years at the front of the line for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, the U.S. could soon have to begin taking a number. The White House is warning that other countries are already moving ahead of the U.S. in putting in their advance orders for the next generation of therapies. The problem is lack of funding. Many in Congress are willing to vote for the billions now needed. But Senate Republicans are demanding that as part of the deal Democrats must agree to extend pandemic-related, Trump-era border restrictions. Unless Congress can break that impasse, the White House says, more Americans will get COVID and die.

Judge finds Donald Trump in contempt in New York legal fight

NEW YORK (AP)  A New York judge has found former President Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to adequately respond to a subpoena issued by the states attorney general as part of a civil investigation into his business dealings. Judge Arthur Engoron on Monday ordered Trump to pay a fine of $10,000 per day. New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, had asked the court to hold Trump in contempt after he missed a March 31 court-imposed deadline to turn over documents. Trump, a Republican, has been fighting James in court over her investigation, which he has called a politically motivated witch hunt. Trump spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

French President Macron reelected: What's happening next?

PARIS (AP)  After winning reelection, French President Emmanuel Macron intends to go back to work straight away. His inauguration is expected by May 13, but he will face a crucial parliamentary election in June where he's likely to struggle to keep his majority. The 44-year-old leader plans to quickly head to Berlin, keeping the tradition that newly elected French presidents make their first trip abroad to Germany to celebrate their friendship after multiple wars. Efforts to try to end the war in Ukraine will top the agenda. Macron may also travel to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On Monday, Macron talked to U.S. President Joe Biden about support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Michigan chief IDs officer who fatally shot Patrick Lyoya

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP)  Grand Rapids, Michigan, police have identified Christopher Schurr as the officer who killed Patrick Lyoya three weeks ago. Lyoya was a Black man and native of Congo who was fatally shot in the back of the head after a struggle with the officer. Grand Rapids Chief Eric Winstrom had declined to name the officer but changed course Monday. Schurr has been a Grand Rapids officer since 2015. He grew up in the area and was a star pole vaulter at Siena Heights, a small Michigan college. In 2014, Schurr told Vaulter Magazine that he was getting married in Kenya because he couldn't afford a wedding celebration and take a separate trip to Africa to build homes. So he was going to do both at the same time.

Melissa Lucio's execution delayed by Texas appeals court

HOUSTON (AP)  A Texas appeals court on Monday delayed the execution of Melissa Lucio amid growing doubts about whether she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter. Lucio's effort to halt her execution has garnered the support of lawmakers, celebrities and even some of the jurors who sentenced her to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a request by Lucios lawyers for a stay so a lower court can review her claims that new evidence would exonerate her. It was not immediately known when the lower court might begin reviewing her case. Lucio had been set for lethal injection on Wednesday for the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah in Harlingen.

Parents sue after death of teen from Florida drop-tower ride

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  The parents of a 14-year-old boy who fell to his death from a 430-foot drop-tower ride in central Floridas tourist district have sued its owner, manufacturer and landlord, claiming they were negligent and failed to provide a safe amusement ride. The lawsuit was filed Monday by the parents of Tyre Sampson in state court in Orlando. It says that the defendants failed to warn their 6-foot-2-inch, 380-pound son about the risks of going on the ride and didnt provide an appropriate restraint system on the ride. An initial report said ride sensors had been adjusted to double the size of restraint openings on two seats.

Weary of many disasters? UN says worse to come

A new United Nations report says disasters are on the rise and are going to get worse. In the late 20th century, the world had some 90 to 100 disasters per year. Now a new UN report says disasters that range from climate change to COVID-19 are going to jump to about 560 a year by 2030. One scientist likened the trend to multiple illnesses that weaken a body's immune system. He says it's not just the disasters themselves but the accumulated risk, how they add up and ping-pong against each other.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AP)  An Air Force major general in Ohio who was convicted on one of three specifications of an abusive sexual contact charge was told Tuesday he would receive a reprimand and must forfeit $10,910 of monthly pay for five months.

Maj. Gen. William Cooley, 56, was found guilty Saturday in what was the first-ever military trial of an Air Force general.

The weeklong court-martial at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio had three specifications, one accusing Cooley of a forcible kiss and two alleging forcible touching in 2018. Cooley was convicted of the forcible kissing specification but acquitted of the other two.

Cooley had the option of a trial by court member jurors or by military judge, and chose to have the case heard by the judge. He had faced a maximum punishment of dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and confinement for seven years.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Cooleys civilian attorney, Dan Conway, told The Dayton Daily News that his client is very thankful for the judges compassion here. Conway said the punishment was a very significant sentence, and he said a letter of reprimand may have implications in terms of the rank at which Cooley will be allowed to retire, if he chooses to do so.

A former commander of Air Force Research Laboratory, Cooley was fired from that post in January 2020 after an Air Force investigation and has worked in an administrative job since then. Conway said its still Cooleys hope that he may continue serving in the Air Force.

Officials said the verdict marked the first court-martial trial and conviction of a general officer in the Air Forces 75-year history. Cooleys monthly pay is $15,966, so the total financial penalty against him reaches nearly $55,000.

If this result influenced just one survivor to know that his or her attackers rank or status would not prevent them from being held accountable, that is a win for the United States and the military justice system, Lt. Col. Matthew Neil, who served as lead prosecutor, said Tuesday.

Cooley was charged with abusive sexual contact in an encounter with a woman who gave him a ride after a backyard barbecue in New Mexico nearly four years ago. Officials said the woman is a civilian who is not a Department of Defense employee.

In a statement issued after the verdict was handed down Saturday, the womans attorney Ryan Guilds, said the ruling marks the first time an Air Force general officer has been held responsible for his heinous actions ... Hopefully, this will not be as difficult for the next survivor.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned lower-court orders that have blocked the Biden administration from ending a controversial Trump-era immigration program for asylum-seekers.

Questions from conservative and liberal justices during nearly two hours of arguments suggested that the court could free the administration to end the Remain in Mexico policy that forces some people seeking asylum in the U.S. to wait in Mexico for their hearings.

President Joe Biden suspended the program on his first day in office. After Texas and Missouri sued, lower courts required immigration officials to reinstate it, though the current administration has sent far fewer people back to Mexico than its predecessor.

The heart of the legal fight is whether, with far less detention capacity than needed, immigration authorities must send people to Mexico or have the discretion under federal law to release asylum-seekers into the United States while they await their hearings.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, Biden's top Supreme Court lawyer, told the justices the law does not contain a provision requiring migrants to be returned to Mexico and that there is a significant public benefit to releasing migrants who pass criminal background and other checks into the U.S., keeping detention beds free for more dangerous people.

Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, at least one of whom the administration needs to win the case, suggested that the administration had a better argument than the states.

You lose, right, if the government is right about what significant public interest is, Barrett said in an exchange with Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone II.

Several justices also picked up on Prelogar's point that no administration, including Trump's, fully complied with the requirement to make migrants wait in Mexico.

If the states are reading the law correctly, Justice Clarence Thomas asked, Wouldn't it be odd for Congress to leave in place a statute that's impossible to comply with?

Justice Elena Kagan was among members of the court who wondered whether the lower courts were dipping impermissibly into international relations since reinstating the program depends on Mexico's willingness to accept the migrants and close coordination between the countries.

What are we supposed to do, drive truckloads of people to Mexico and leave them in Mexico? Kagan asked Stone.

Justice Samuel Alito appeared to be the strongest voice on the states' side, questioning the administration's assertion that it assesses migrants on a case-by-case basis before releasing them.

Border agents stopped migrants 221,000 times in March 2022 and nearly 66,000 migrants were released in the United States, according to a government court filing.

Alito said the situation seemed akin to people waiting to get into a Washington Nationals game. If they have a ticket and no alcohol or guns, they're admitted, Alito said.

That's basically what you're doing. You've got a little checklist and you go, boom, boom, boom, Alito said.

About 70,000 people were enrolled in the program, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols, after President Donald Trump launched it in 2019 and made it a centerpiece of efforts to deter asylum-seekers.

After Biden's suspension of the program, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas ended it in June 2021. In October, DHS produced additional justifications for the policys demise, to no avail in the courts.

The program resumed in December, but barely 3,000 migrants had enrolled by the end of March, during a period when authorities stopped migrants about 700,000 times at the border.

The high court pondered what to make of the limited nature of the challenged program. Chief Justice John Roberts said he was sympathetic with the administration's position that it can't detain everyone or possibly comply with the law. But where does that leave us? he asked.

Those being forced to wait in Mexico widely say they are terrified in dangerous Mexican border cities and find it very hard to find lawyers to handle their asylum hearings.

Democratic-led states and progressive groups are on the administration's side. Republican-led states and conservative groups have sided with Texas and Missouri. Those include the America First Legal Foundation, led by former Trump aides Stephen Miller and Mark Meadows.

As the court is weighing the asylum policy, the administration is expected to end another key Trump-era border policy that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. It allows authorities to expel migrants without a chance to seek asylum. The decision to end Title 42 authority, named for a 1944 public health law, on May 23 is being legally challenged by 22 states and faces growing division within Bidens Democratic Party.

A decision in Biden v. Texas, 21-954, is expected by late June.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  The Minnesota House has passed a bill to replenish the state's unemployment insurance trust fund and get bonuses to frontline workers, in a potential breakthrough after months of stalemate.

The bill passed late Monday includes $2.7 billion to replenish the unemployment insurance trust fund and pay back the federal government for jobless aid, and Democrats $1 billion proposal for $1,500 checks for workers who took risks during the pandemic. It would also make hourly school workers eligible for unemployment benefits during the summer months.

House Democratic and Senate Republican leaders, along with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, spent months trying to agree terms but leaders failed to reach a deal by a March 15 deadline, triggering an automatic payroll tax hike on Minnesota employers.

Under the new legislation, employers who paid their tax bills before the April 30 due date would get a refund. House Democrats also included the full $2.7 billion that Senate Republicans and Walz said was needed to refill the trust fund, instead of the $1.2 billion that House Democrats have long insisted would be sufficient.

It passed on a 70-63 vote.

The bill now goes to the Senate, which passed its own bill in February on a bipartisan 55-11 vote. That version did not include bonuses or unemployment benefits for school workers. Both sides voted last year to earmark $250 million in hero pay for frontline workers but couldnt agree on how to parcel it out.

Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said Tuesday that the House had to agree to the Senates request for $2.7 billion for unemployment insurance in order to get the bonuses for frontline workers. A 10-member House-Senate conference committee was appointed Tuesday to work out a deal.

That's how we resolve differences between the House and the Senate, she told reporters. It doesn't do any good to have bills that are two ships passing in the night.

Republican lawmakers said the unemployment insurance fix should have passed on its own and indicated they would chip away at other provisions in the House bill.

While Im happy to see the House take action, they loaded up the bill with other items making it more difficult to find agreement. I remain committed to working towards a compromise agreement, Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, of Winona, said in a statement.

Walz asked lawmakers to reach a compromise during his State of the State address Sunday night, saying the issues should have been resolved in January.

Mohamed Ibrahim is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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JERUSALEM (AP)  An Israeli parliamentary committee has sanctioned a breakaway member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's party, handing a small political victory to the Israeli leader as he seeks to stabilize his fragile government and deter any other rebel lawmakers.

The Knesset committee voted 7-0 on Monday to declare Amichai Chikli a defector, a status that bars him from joining a rival party in the current parliament in the country's next election. Bennett had requested the vote.

Chikli broke away from Bennett's Yamina party when the coalition was formed last year, accusing Bennett of betraying the party's hard-line ideology. He has been seen as a potential candidate for the opposition Likud party in the future.

Monday's vote by the House Committee bars Chikli from joining Likud or any other party in parliament when the country next heads to elections. He also is barred from serving as a Cabinet minister or deputy minister in the current parliament. Chikli vowed to challenge the decision in court.

Bennett's move was seen as a warning to Idit Silman, who resigned from Bennett's small Yamina party earlier this month and is also seen as a potential member of Likud in the future.

Other members of Yamina also have expressed misgivings over the coalition, a patchwork of eight parties spanning the political spectrum. The agreement has forced all parties, including Yamina, a hard-line nationalist party, to compromise on some of their core ideological positions.

Silman's exit deprived the coalition of its ruling majority, less than a year after it was sworn in.

The eight-party alliance, made up of ultranationalists, dovish parties and a small Islamist faction, is now deadlocked with the opposition with 60 seats each in the 120-member Knesset. That has greatly complicated the government's ability to pass legislation and raised the risk of plunging the country into snap elections.

Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli, Israel's transportation minister, said Monday that all party chiefs are working together to keep the government intact.

Local media reported that Chikli may form new party, though it is unclear whether he has enough popular support to get into parliament.

Bennett's unwieldy coalition also faces other challenges. Ongoing unrest surrounding a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, has prompted the small Islamist party Ra'am  the first Arab party to serve in an Israeli coalition  to temporarily suspend its participation in protest.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Homeowners in the Florida Panhandle are being encouraged by one sheriff to shoot burglars who enter their homes.

The comments by Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson come after deputies took into custody a frequent flyer who is accused of breaking into several homes on Wednesday, April 20. Brandon J. Harris, who Johnson said has been arrested 17 times, faces seven charges after his most recent arrest.

Deputies set up a perimeter in the Pace neighborhood when multiple people called about a suspicious person, Johnson said. About 40 minutes after the first call went out, a homeowner shot at Harris, who continued to run throughout the neighborhood.

The sheriff said Harris was caught when he jumped out of a window of a homes bedroom.

Keep scrolling for a ranking of cities with the most break-ins and burglaries

The homeowner who shot at Harris has not come forward, Johnson said.

I guess they think they did something wrong, which they did not, Johnson said. If somebody is breaking into your house, youre more than welcome to shoot at them in Santa Rosa County. We prefer that you do actually.

The homeowner fired multiple shots, but Johnson said Harris came away with just bloody cuts from fencing.

Harris charges include attempted burglary with assault, burglary and resisting arrest.

Floridians are allowed to use force to protect their home and in defense of their property.

A person who is in a dwelling or residence in which the person has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and use or threaten to use, the Florida statute states.

Johnson told the homeowner he or she is not in trouble.

Come see us, the sheriff said. We have a gun safety class we put on every other Saturday and if you take that youll shoot a lot better and hopefully save taxpayers money.

Pace is in the panhandle of Florida about 15 miles north of Pensacola.

***

2022 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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HOUSTON (AP)  A Texas appeals court on Monday delayed the execution of Melissa Lucio amid growing doubts about whether she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter in a case that has garnered the support of lawmakers, celebrities and even some jurors who sentenced her to death.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a request by Lucios lawyers for a stay of execution so a lower court can review her claims that new evidence would exonerate her.

Lucio had been set for lethal injection Wednesday for the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah in Harlingen, a city of about 75,000 in Texas southern tip.

Prosecutors have maintained that the girl was the victim of abuse and noted that her body was covered in bruises. Lucio's lawyers say Mariah died from injuries she sustained in a fall down a steep staircase several days before she died.

I am grateful the court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence," Lucio said in a statement provided by her lawyers. Mariah is in my heart today and always. I am grateful to have more days to be a mother to my children and a grandmother to my grandchildren. I will use my time to help bring them to Christ. I am deeply grateful to everyone who prayed for me and spoke out on my behalf.

Lucio's mother, Esperanza Trevino, tearfully thanked all of her daughter's supporters, saying, Thank God for the miracle."

Lucio was first told her execution had been delayed in a phone call with state Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican who has helped lead a bipartisan effort to halt her execution, said Vanessa Potkin, one of Lucios attorneys who is with the Innocence Project.

She sobbed. She was just overwhelmed," said Potkin.

In a statement, Leach said he was grateful the appeals court had pushed the pause button on her execution, saving the state of Texas from the irreversible blunder of potentially killing an innocent citizen."

The execution stay was announced minutes before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had been set to consider Lucio's clemency application to either commute her death sentence or grant her a 120-day reprieve. The paroles board did not review her clemency petition because of the execution stay. If the case were to come back before the board in the future, Lucio's lawyers would have to file a new petition.

Lucios attorneys say her capital murder conviction was based on an unreliable and coerced confession that was the result of relentless questioning and her long history of being sexually, physically and emotionally abused. They say Lucio wasnt allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession.

Her lawyers also contend that unscientific and false evidence misled jurors into believing Mariahs injuries could have been caused only by abuse and not by medical complications from a severe fall.

It would have shocked the publics conscience for Melissa to be put to death based on false and incomplete medical evidence for a crime that never even happened," said Potkin. "All of the new evidence of her innocence has never before been considered by any court. The courts stay allows us to continue fighting alongside Melissa to overturn her wrongful conviction."

Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a statement he expected the execution to be delayed because various legal issues remain unresolved.

I welcome the opportunity to prosecute this case in the courtroom: where witnesses testify under oath, where witnesses may be cross-examined, where evidence is governed by the rules of evidence and criminal procedure ... That is our criminal jurisprudence system, and it is working," said Saenz, who was not in office when Lucio was tried in 2008.

During a sometimes contentious Texas House committee hearing on Lucios case this month, Saenz had said he disagreed with Lucios lawyers claims that new evidence would exonerate her. Prosecutors say Lucio had a history of drug abuse and at times had lost custody of some of her 14 children.

In its three-page order, the appeals court asked that the trial court in Brownsville that handled Lucios case review four claims her lawyers have made: whether prosecutors used false evidence to convict her; whether previously unavailable scientific evidence would have prevented her conviction; whether she is actually innocent; and whether prosecutors suppressed evidence that would have been favorable to her defense.

It was not immediately known when the lower court would begin reviewing her case. Tivon Schardl, one of Lucio's lawyers, said they hope to convince the trial judge to recommend a new trial. If such a recommendation is made, that would then be sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which would make the final decision on a new trial.

More than half the members of the Texas Legislature had asked that her execution be halted. A bipartisan group of state lawmakers traveled this month to Gatesville, where the state houses female death row inmates, and prayed with Lucio.

One of those lawmakers, El Paso Democratic state Rep. Joe Moody, tweeted that he was relieved for Lucio. A stay confirms what weve said all along: Melissa Lucio shouldnt be on death row," he wrote.

Five of the 12 jurors who sentenced Lucio and one alternate juror have questioned their decision and asked that she get a new trial.

Lucios cause also has the backing of faith leaders and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, and it was featured on HBOs Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Skoda Auto of Czech Republic eyes Vietnam, ASEAN markets

Skoda Auto, the leading automobile manufacturing of the Czech Republic, wants to invest in Vietnam to tap into a market of nearly 100 million consumers and to expand to Southeast Asia, said an executive of Skoda Auto.









Ambassador Thai Xuan Dung (third from left) visits a production line of Skoda Auto in the Czech Republic.



Petr Janeba, head of Sales China, Asia and Overseas of Skoda Auto, was speaking while receiving Vietnamese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Thai Xuan Dung and other officials of the Embassy at the manufacturers headquarters recently.



Janeba said the Vietnamese market holds great potential, high growth prospects, friendly business and investment environment in line with Czech requirements for export markets.



By investing in Vietnam, Skoda Auto wants to penetrate ASEAN - a lucrative, large market in Southeast Asia that boasts approximately 600 million consumers, he added.



Skoda Auto has planned to seek a location in Vietnam to set up a production line. The group has since late 2021 sent a number of delegations to work with relevant Vietnamese ministries and agencies, as well as the administration of Quang Ninh province to explore the market and find partners.



Early this year Skoda Auto unveiled a plan to develop a car factory in Quang Ninh, and if everything goes according to schedule, the first Skoda cars are expected to come out next year.



Ambassador Thai Xuan Dung affirmed that the presence of Skodas car lines in Vietnam will help diversify its automobile market, especially when Vietnam and the Czech Republic are making the most of the opportunities brought by the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA).



He reiterated the Vietnamese Governments commitment to supporting Czech investors in general and Skoda Auto in particular to invest in Vietnam to ensure fair competition and transparency.



The Vietnamese Embassy in the Czech Republic is ready to help connect partners and support the car manufacturer in information, regulations and legal procedures of Vietnam in the near future, assured the diplomat.



Skoda is a long-standing brand that was originally founded in 1925 in the Czech Republic. Later, the company was privatised and has been officially owned by the Volkswagen group since 2000.



At present it has entered more than 100 countries, with sales reaching nearly 900,000 units last year. It has also launched production lines in China, Russia, India, Slovakia, Algeria and India.



Skoda manufactures various types of cars, ranging from sedans, hatchbacks, wagons to SUVs. The company's most popular models include Slavia, Octavia, and Kodiaq.
 Flash

The year 2021 was the deadliest in U.S. history, thanks mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the homicide rate has also soared in several cities since 2020, U.S. television network NewsNation has reported.

The most recent available data from the government shows a 35 percent jump in gun homicides from 2019 to 2020, when 19,384 people were killed, NewsNation reported Saturday, citing a new study.

The study calculated homicide rate increases over the course of the pandemic and found that New Orleans had the highest, followed by Cincinnati, Atlanta, Baltimore, Memphis, Milwaukee, Louisville, Norfolk, Detroit and Dallas.

The 10 lowest were San Francisco, Chandler, Riverside, Austin, Charlotte, Sacramento, Garland, Omaha, Boston, Madison and Lincoln.

In times of financial stress or anxiety, gun sales tend to strengthen, as does violence and racial hostility; with the pandemic, a new stressor may have affected the high homicide numbers, Shaundra Kellan Lewis, a law professor at Texas Southern University, told NewsNation.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP)  A report issued Monday urges a California coastal panel to deny a proposal to build a $1.4 billion desalination plant that would draw on the ocean to expand water sources in Southern California.

Staff for the California Coastal Commission recommended the panel reject Poseidon Water 's proposal to build the 50 million gallon-a-day facility Huntington Beach. The project is up for discussion before the panel on May 12.

This project raises significant and complex coastal protection policy issues, staff wrote in the report, including conformity with policies that require protection of marine life, water quality, environmentally sensitive habitat areas, and policies meant to avoid or minimize hazards associated with sea level rise, floods, tsunamis, and geologic hazards.

The staff also wrote that the proposal raises significant issues about potential impacts on environmental justice communities. It also lacks, however, details about who would ultimately buy Poseidon's water and at what cost, the report states.

Poseidon Water said it believed the commission staff erred in its recommendation.

No water infrastructure project in the state of California has ever undergone this level of study and scrutiny, the company said in a statement. If this recommendation stands, it will effectively be the death knell for desalination in California.

The proposal has been touted by some in California's Orange County as an alternative to a long-running drought and a way to expand water sources as the region grows. But environmental groups have long opposed the plan over concerns marine life will be sucked into the plant and argue that critical infrastructure shouldn't be built in a low-lying coastal areas as the region contends with sea level rise. They also say the water would be too expensive.

The proposal comes as California faces prolonged drought, worsened by climate change, with its nearly 40 million residents heeding repeated calls in recent years to conserve water. It also comes amid rising concern about sea level rise, with a federal report recently forecasting that seas lapping against the U.S. shore could be 10 to 12 inches (0.25 to 0.3 meters) higher by 2050.

Huntington Beach, which is known as Surf City USA" and relies on its waves and scenic shoreline for tourism dollars, approved a proposal more than a decade ago to build the plant near a coastal power facility. The plant would draw on the sea water and convert it so it could be used to replenish the local groundwater system, a key source of drinking water for many of Orange County's 3.2 million residents.

But the state coastal panel in 2013 recommended a series of changes to the project to protect marine life. Additional studies were completed and Poseidon updated its proposals for structures used to draw in ocean water.

Poseidon Water has been running a similar desalination plant in nearby Carlsbad, in San Diego County, since 2015.

Susan Jordan, executive director of the California Coastal Protection Network and member of the Stop Poseidon coalition, praised the recommendation Monday to deny the proposal.

In a statement, Jordan said it's time for Poseidon Water to recognize the deep and irrevocable flaws with this project, cut its losses and publicly recognize this project and this site are not good for Huntington Beach or California  its time to shut it down for good.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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OMAHA  An Omaha fourth grader has accomplished something most musicians only dream about.

Sarah Fernandes performed at the iconic Carnegie Hall.

Sarah, who attends St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic School, played piano in a recital at the historic New York City venue April 15.

For musicians, the hall that first opened its doors in 1891 is hallowed ground.

People who perform there have either made it or are on their way up.

Sarah's music teacher, former Omahan and internationally recognized pianist Washington Garcia, says Sarah is a "special kid" with exceptional talent.

She's someone to watch, he said.

Sarah earned the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall by placing first in the young musicians category of the American Protege 2022 International Piano and Strings Competition.

The competition is open to students and adults of all nationalities. This year it attracted musicians from 21 countries.

"It was really fun to be on stage, because I could share my music with others, and it felt really special," Sarah said.

The hall was "really big and beautiful, just like I expected, because I've seen it in pictures," she said. "And it also surprised me how fancy everything was, especially the chandeliers."

Sarah said she was a little nervous "but mostly I was just happy because I could play for others and make them happy, too."

Garcia said the first time he heard Sarah play "it took my breath away."

Garcia grew up in Ecuador and was a young piano phenom himself. He formerly directed the school of music at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is now the dean of the school of music at Stetson University in Florida.

He gives Sarah lessons remotely via computer.

Sarah is performing at the level of a college freshman, he said.

She has an extraordinary ability to learn music, to master the mechanics and to improvise, he said.

In addition to her trip to Carnegie Hall, Sarah is one of 10 national finalists in piano performance in the ongoing American Prize Competition 2022  the only finalist in the schools division from Nebraska.

She also won a first prize in the Charleston International piano competition in December 2021 in the Romantic division.

Watching Sarah play is both inspiring and humbling.

She plays with an ease, a grace and an intensity well beyond her age  she turned 10 on March 29.

For the recital performance, she played a piece called "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum," composed by Claude Debussy.

"My favorite part about it is it seems really quick, because it feels like your fingers just run across the keyboard, but in a nice and gentle way," Sarah said. "And it gets over quickly."

Pianists played their selections on a Steinway & Sons concert grand piano that appeared gigantic next to the petite Sarah. She slid to the edge of the piano bench, nearly standing, to reach the pedals.

Her mother, Sharmila Braganza, said the family bought a piano in 2013, when Sarah was 1.

"I remember her in the store on her tippy toes trying to reach the keys to try it out," Braganza said.

Sarah started her piano studies at age 4 with Mirela Mlynska in the fall of 2016. She performed in her first recital within three months of starting lessons. Sarah started taking lessons with Garcia in November 2019.

Her musical prowess was evident when she was able to play her older sisters pieces by ear, Braganza said. She has perfect pitch, the ability to recognize a chord or note by ear, she said.

"She can tell exactly what chord or what note someone plays even with her eyes closed," Braganza said.

Sarah said she enjoys the music that comes from the piano, the different sounds it can create and how music can "touch hearts." She has a knack for recognizing the relationship between notes, she said.

"Usually the composers that make the music, they think about which notes might sound good together," she said. "So I usually look for that when I'm listening to music."

One of her favorite things to do is listen to someone's music and then improvise it on the piano.

"I sometimes add stuff like trills and sometimes even I make whole scales that go along really well with the music," she said.

She was thrilled to perform at Carnegie Hall. The performers got chocolates backstage, which she shared with her family. Her father, Praveen, mother and older sisters Rachel, 16, and Hannah, 15, attended the recital.

Nebraskans may remember Hannah as a brilliant speller who earned two trips to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Sarah's too young to be making career choices. But she's sure her future will involve piano.

"There are many things that I might want to be when I grow up, but certainly I think that whatever I do, piano's going to be a part of it. Maybe I'll do two things, and piano will be one," she said. "I'll find time to do both."

It turns out that her Carnegie Hall performance wasn't her only performance in the Big Apple. The second was spontaneous.

While the family was visiting the One World Observatory, Sarah discovered a piano. She played her recital piece, and a crowd gathered. When she was done, the crowd requested an encore.

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When I first started looking at the lives of mother-writers and mother-artists, I said I wanted to write about creative women who left their children. I was thinking of how, when my own two children were small, every move I made away from them was a shock, both to me and to our fragile balance as a family. Motherhood challenged and changed my sense of an independent self, and I imagined I could understand that field of tension by looking, among others, at Doris Lessing.

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Lessing was said to have left her first two children behind in her home country, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), in 1949, when she went to London with the manuscript of her first novel. For choosing her vocation over her motherhood, she has been both vilified and celebrated. British writer Lara Feigel takes Lessing as a model for escape from the constraints of married parenthood and, as she writes in her memoir Free Woman, learns from Lessing that it was more important to live fully than to live contentedly.

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But when I actually looked at Lessings life, I didnt find either heartless abandonment or a bold dash for freedom. Unsurprisingly, the author who brilliantly laid bare the dissatisfactions and self-deceptions of mid-20th-century womens lives, and whose 1962 novel The Golden Notebook explored the rifts between womens personal, public, and creative selves, had a much more complicated story.

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In her memoir Under My Skin, Lessing writes that in 1943, at age 23, she sat down on her suburban lawn with her two toddlers and explained that she was leaving them. Not daring to say she planned to write, she said she was going to fight racial and economic injustice. She thought she was doing the right thing, believing, from experience, that mothers were inevitably frustrated and judgmental, and that only if her children werent mothered at all could they really be themselves.

In the ardent, funny, wry letters that she wrote in her 20s, when she was separated from her children and dedicated to sexual, political, and literary self-discovery, she tells a different story. She writes of enjoying motherhood and of wanting to be with her children, who were not the only obstacle to her freedom. Neither wholly independent nor consumed with guilt, she tries on paper to work out how to be a mother and remain at the center of her own story.

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In the reading room of the University of East Anglia, I scrolled through image after scanned imageover 100 letters in all, many of them six or eight or 10 pages, signed with her childhood nickname, Tigger. This enormous outpouring of thought and feeling was sent, between 1944 and 1949, to two friends, John Whitehorn and Coll MacDonald, whom Lessing had met when they came to Rhodesia for Royal Air Force flight training at the end of the Second World War. Although Doris had a new husband, Gottfried Lessing, she had briefly slept with Whitehorn, running off with him from a party to make love in the grassy velda scene she would later write into The Golden Notebook.

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But Lessings interest in Whitehorn is intellectual as well as romantic: With him and his friend MacDonald, she can talk about literature and try out her own voice as a writer. The future author is very much present in these letters, not only in her astute observations of herself and others but in her increasing seriousness about her vocationthough shes still joking when she writes, One of these days you will be able to say the novelist Tigger. Of course, I know her very well! 

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Almost immediately motherhood enters into the correspondence, in the age-old way: On Jan. 17, 1945, three weeks after their night of love, she tells Whitehorn that she hasnt miscontracepted and isnt pregnant after all. Shes irrationally disappointed, she observes, and is trying to dispel the feeling by remembering in detail what its like to be woken by a crying child and never to have time for herself.

I wish I could have her, but I cant, so thats that.  Doris Lessing on her then-5-year-old daughter, Jean

The overwhelming nature of her maternal feelings is a recurring theme in the letters, as is her fear ofand desire forbeing overwhelmed. She often writes about her two children, John and Jean, now living with their father, Frank Wisdom. She confesses that she had them for the wrong reasonsmarried at 19, when she had just left her parents farm and was looking for company and an adult life; immediately pregnant with a child she wasnt ready for but didnt know how to prevent. She explains that she felt that she was losing herself in her marriage and had to leave, yet she still fantasizes about another child and tries to spend more time with John and Jean.

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Along with others belief that motherhood means total devotion to ones children, she feels limited by her own view of her mother role, especially her conviction that it can never go together with intellectual work. Part of her wants to write and be an activist, while another just wants to stay home, cook, sew, and have babies: These two things dont fit together, you must admit. When a friend marries, she comments, I cant think which is more satisfactory, having a baby, or writing a novel. Unfortunately they are quite incompatible.

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Yet is also occurs to her that the problem is structural, and possibly generational. Her English grandmother had had a nanny, and her grandchildren, she predicted, would have affordable day care. It was her contemporaries who were so disappointed: promised career success, stuck with babies. I havent yet met a woman who isnt bitterly rebellious, she wrote, wanting children, but resenting them because of the way we are cribbed cabined and confined.

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I found her in the letters not trying to get away from John and Jean, but arguing to spend more time with them, an uphill battle against her first husband. The problem was that under Rhodesian law, a woman who left her marriage lost all rights to her children. At the time of the letters, Wisdom was just starting to allow her to visit them again, after a full year in which he had kept them from her.

In March 1945, Doris describes to Whitehorn how she has phoned Frank to ask if she could have the children for Easter. First, he accuses her of neglecting John and Jean after the divorce.

Me. Since I was forbidden to see them at all it is difficult to see what else I could do but neglect them. He. Still, it showed lack of feeling. Me. Apart from  staying married to you I couldnt do anything else. He. Precisely.

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He tells her to come to his office, where he lectures her for an hour on her political views, her bohemian lifestyle, and her culpability in leaving him, then suddenly relents and says yes. Complete collapse of me, but thats all right, she writes, adding that by then she hardly knows how to care for her children, what they like to eat, what they wear. When she asks her son if he would like to come with her, he gives me a considering look for some time and then says I dont see why I should, do you? 

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If her sons coolness hurts, she doesnt say so; instead she writes glowingly about her childrens brains, her sons independence, her daughters beauty. But theres resignation in her words too, when she says she adores 5-year-old Jean, an affectionate and sensitive infant. I wish I could have her, but I cant, so thats that.

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What works best with Frank, she tells Whitehorn, is to make tearful appeals to maternal feeling and her natural rights to the children of her body. But she refuses to stoop to the same pseudo-biological arguments about mother love that are used to keep women in the home. Mother-writers of her generation had to guard against sentimentality; they had to set limits, too, on their partners demands. Doris second husband, Gottfried Lessing, respected her time more than Frank had. A fellow activist in Rhodesias tiny Communist Party, he admired her political skills and didnt expect her to make him his tea. He shared her Marxist disapproval of the bourgeois family and commitment to gender equalityand, since they werent very compatible in bed, agreed to her request for an open relationship.

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But when she left her job as a typist to write a novel, he drew a line. He made it clear to Doris (she complained to Whitehorn in March 1945) that he didnt think any writing was worth doing that didnt serve the Revolution. How was lying in the bathtub reading poetry supposed to advance the class struggle? What good to anyone were her second-rate sonnets? She replied that she didnt know but didnt plan to let that stop her. To MacDonald she reported the following exchange: Do you think, I say meekly, that Lenin would have liked Virginia Woolf? No, says G firmly.

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Doris realized she was stuck in yet another marriage where she couldnt think her own thoughts. She told Whitehorn that Gottfried claimed,  When people have a relationship such as we have, love outside marriage is a betrayal. Well, I agree with him, except I am horrified and frightened by his saying that, when half the things I think I cant tell him, because he disapproves.

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Writers court disapproval, and so do mothers. Writing about other womens mothering has at times made me feel deeply, inexplicably uncomfortable, as if I were trespassing in dark corners of the collective unconscious. In the letters, I see Lessing experiencing that same trepidation and pushing against it, thinking through the experiences she would use in her autobiographical novels Martha Quest and A Proper Marriage, with their pathbreaking honesty about motherhood. When Whitehorn said she was writing too much about children, she informed him that that was his problem and went on being a mother and writer bothespecially after February 1946, when she told him she was expecting another baby.

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In Under My Skin, Lessing describes her third pregnancy as her and Gottfrieds deliberate decision, though to Whitehorn and MacDonald she wrote that it had been an accident, the result of an ill-judged experiment with a newfangled form of contraception. She half hoped for a miscarriage; but she also hoped the new baby would make her feel less lost without John and Jean. Ultimately, she told Whitehorn, she couldnt help but give in to the excitement of bringing a new life out of limbo.

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She still censored herself: Her account of childbirth, in the letters, is stripped of the sensuality and wonder that would animate the birth story in A Proper Marriage. And others judged her: One day at breakfast, 6-year-old Jean asked if she was going to give the new baby away, like she had done with them. When Doris denied that shed given them away, John replied, Thats what Frank says. The conversation left her feeling as if beaten all over, like steak.

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Yet she began to see that it was possible to be a mother without losing herself. Gottfried was an involved and helpful father to their son Peter, and Doris had access to day care and time to work. With Peter in day care every afternoon from about age 1 and Lessing making steady progress on a draft of her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, she was able to find a balance between her vocation and care.

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I ended up seeing Doris Lessing not as a great advocate of freedom, but as a brilliant writer who had both lived and described the entanglements and self-deceptions of motherhood, bringing feelings that had seemed natural into the daylight realm of political action and change. Her story of radical independence turned out to be, when I looked more closely, a false front for a much more complicated narrative of selfhood and mothering, one in which mothers learn to live with divided hearts, to reshape motherhood around their vocation, and to love without losing themselves.

Essay adapted from Julie Phillips, The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem, W.W. Norton & Company.
Dear Prudence is online weekly to chat live with readers. Heres an edited transcript of this weeks chat. (R. Eric Thomas is filling in as Prudie for Jenee Desmond-Harris while shes on parental leave.)

Q. Id take a gift card: My sister and I have an otherwise good relationship, but she is a terrible gift-giver. When her birthday or a special occasion rolls around, I try to give her thoughtful, useful gifts. For my last birthday, she sent me a butt plug as a gag gift. She has consistently sent me similarly unfunny/raunchy gag gifts that, quite frankly, are embarrassing to receive. Beyond it being gauche, I never use these gifts, and I cant exactly give them to someone else.

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Ive tried subtle methods to get her to stop, like hinting at gifts I might prefer. At one point I tried to be more direct and asked her point-blank to stop, but she kind of shrugged it off. How do I get her to reconsider the gifts she sends me? My birthday is coming up and I dont want to have to unwrap another piece of junk.

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A: This is neither here nor there, but from the cursory research I did on a work computer on a public network, it seems that butt plugs are not inexpensive. Your sister is really doing a lot for a joke thats not landing. If she is shrugging off the boundary you set, see if shell respond to a no gifts policy. Tell her you dont want to exchange gifts anymore. You can say that its because of the gag gifts or keep it light by just suggesting youd rather plan experiences together than trade things back and forth. Either way, make it clear to her that youre not accepting gifts for your upcoming birthday. If she brings you one anyway, youre under no obligation to open it and should, instead, just give it right back. Oh, remember, were not doing gifts anymore. Thank you, though. I hope you can return it!

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How to Get Advice From Prudie:

 Send questions for publication here. (Questions may be edited.)

 Join the live chat Mondays at noon. Submit your questions and comments here before or during the discussion.

Q. The kid isnt all right: My daughter (13) has a phone and, like most of her peers, spends a lot of social time texting with classmates, friends, and acquaintances. We monitor her phone behavior and prohibit all social media use, knowing the internet is an unsafe place for teen girls.

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She briefly met a boy Jack in November at an extracurricular school activity. A few days later he texted her detailing their encounter and saying he got her number from an acquaintance. They chatted over text for a few months and he eventually asked her out in January. Hes 14 and in a different social crowd, one grade up. Theyd occasionally bump into one another at school and say hi, but didnt socialize extensively in person, just over text.

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My daughter recently found out the boy shes been texting with for five months, thinking he was her boyfriend, was not Jack at all, but a former friend Nick. This all started after she spurned Nick and set firm boundaries when he got clingy and lacked safe boundaries (like trying to monitor and control her). Nick pulled photos and data about Jack from social media (like younger siblings names and parents jobs) to impersonate him in great detail. Nick texted her daily as Jack, for months, affirming he cared about her and wanted to be in a relationship. She was smitten.

Beyond therapy for my daughter, what actions do you think we should take to ensure Nick gets both help and a clear signal that his behavior is not OK? She has at least one class with Nick. School involvement? Restraining order? Hes 13. And Im scared of him!

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A: School involvement is definitely the right first step here. The school administrators are going to want to know, particularly if much of their involvement happened on school grounds. Ask the administrators to give you a plan of action for making sure your daughter is safe and cared for in school and at school activities, as well as a plan for how to keep kids like Nick from doing this kind of predatory catfishing. Its likely your daughter isnt the only person Nick is or has victimized.

If youre part of a school community where you have access to Nicks parents, you also should give them a call and make sure they understand whats going on. Hopefully, they are the kind of people who see how dangerous this behavior is and will take the lead in getting their son the help he needs. Lastly, if Jacks parents dont already know, you may want to let them know, too. Nick has also victimized Jack and his parents need to know so they can help and protect him going forward.

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Q. Sounds racist: Ive been hearing the phrase Not my circus, not my monkeys more frequently in a professional setting in the last few years (Im in HR). Ive avoided using it because I had believed it had racist origins, though when I looked it up, I found its based on a Polish proverb. However, I still feel uncomfortable using it.

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Whats another way of saying that this situation is not my concern (other than this situation is not my concern)? Id like to find something catchy that maybe my team will pick up on and start using instead.

A: How many professional dumpster fires is your team observing and then excusing themselves from? For this to warrant a new phrase, I have to assume that while your circus may be running smoothly, the circus down the hall is a real disaster. So, I guess, good luck to everyone at your office, their respective circus acts, and whatever primates are in their org chart.

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The process of making a new catchphrase that is both legible outside of the context in which it was invented and also appealing to others is a tricky one. This talent is what keeps both Madison Avenue ad execs and viral TikTokkers rolling in the dough. Im neither of those things, so I dont have a suggestion for a catchphrase for you. Try just saying thats not my concern and keeping it moving. And see if you can find out whose circus it issomewhere in your company a ringleader has really fallen down on the job.

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Q. Nervous daughter: I am moving in with my partner and Im nervous. The last roommate I had was  bad, lets leave it at that. But its overshadowing all the good stuff right now, and Im struggling to focus on the little joys and the fact that Ive done a lot of work to make sure this will be different.

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On top of this, my mother disapproves. She doesnt wholly like my partner, mostly owing to communication issues stemming from at-odds neurodivergences. I dont know how to smooth any of that over, or even if I should try. Mostly its just that her approval matters so MUCH to me, even if Im a 30-year-old professional with a decent job and a dog and an apartment, standing on my own feet by all measures. My mom and I both have anxiety disorders, so I know it comes from a place of love for and worry for me, but I think she lets that overshadow good possibilities sometimes. Ive definitely gotten some of that from her, to the point that Im afraid shes right, even if Ive been over it with myself a hundred times.

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Prudie, can you help me with the social aspect here? Im looking for a polite script to nudge my mother, to the tune of this is a done deal, but your opinion matters to me so if you could refrain from being super vocally negative that would be aces, xoxo.

 and any tips on getting used to living with someone again after five years on my own would be great.

A: Lets start with the tips for living with another person. My biggest strategy is always going to be communication, and overcommunication at first. The weird and wonderful ways that we operate inside of our homes are mysteries, and a lot thats involved with living with another person is giving them the key to the mystery. Dont assume that they can read your mind or are seeing things the same way, even if youve been together for a while. Ask. I tend to like to do laundry when the basket gets full. Do you think thats a good system for us, or do you use another indicator? Stuff that seems almost too simple can become fodder for miscommunication and frustration, so always ask and try to assume the best intentions. Also, make sure you have a conversation about how you both are going to make spaces that are just your own in the new place. Even if its just a drawer or a bedside table thats yours, being able to identify it and use it however you want will be very helpful.

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As for your mom, I think youve really hit on something with the awareness that her anxiety is coming out sideways and its affecting your relationship. Try something like I love you and Im grateful for you. Thank you so much for caring for me. I could really use a cheerleader right now. This is an exciting time for me, but as you know, making life changes can bring up anxiety. Can you be on my team here and help me happily reach this goal? Make it about you and your relationship with your mother. She may object that she doesnt agree with this goal for you, and thats where the kind but firm part of the script comes in: This is what I feel is best for me and Im very excited about it. Lets not let debate get in the way of our relationship. Can you be happy for me?

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Q. Asexual pride: A year and a bit ago, I realized I was asexual (at least, Im like 95 percent sure??? Figuring things out is hard). I might also be aromantic, but Im less sure on that one. Ive otherwise thought I was straight my whole life.

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My question is, am I allowed to go to Pride? For context, Im a cis and probably heteroromantic woman (again, figuring out the romantic side of things), and I guess I just dont know if Im queer enough to be there. I want to, but I also want to make sure Im staying in my lane and not taking up space in a place in which I dont belong, especially because Ive never really felt persecuted for my identity, personally. I want to be the best ally that I can be, and I dont know if I belong in the community (obviously no shame at all to any ace/aro person who identifies as LGBTQ+, Im just unsure about myself personally).

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A: It may be a semantic distinction, but it seems like youre talking about the difference between attending Pride and participating as a member of the community. One of the As in LGBTQIAA stands for asexual, so the door is open if you want to walk through. But youre also perfectly welcome to stand at the periphery and support. Pride parades happen in the street and on sidewalks. I hear your concern about taking up space, but many Prides are as much about building community as they are about creating safe space. So we need you there on the sidewalk, or working a booth, or making signs, or signing petitions. Youll know, I hope, the spaces that are specifically designated or the experiences that are only for people in the community. But I think youll also find many places to simply be your full self, questions and all.

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Q. Re: Sounds racist: One that Ive heard my wife use at work, and that Ive adopted as well: Thats not a today problem, and sometimes Ill add  for us.

But really the big problem with the circus/monkey proverb is that it sounds like youre being dismissive and glib while getting rid of workload. Its probably better to say it in longhand: This has nothing to do with us. Lets pass it over to the appropriate department.

A: I will honestly be thinking for a long time about this workplace where people are constantly setting boundaries using colloquialisms and reminding people of what is and is not their purview. What deliciously organized chaos.

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R. Eric Thomas: Thanks for your questions and comments, everyone! See you next week!

Dont miss Part 1 of this weeks chat: Our Daughter Wants to Cut Us Off From Our Grandson Because of Something My Husband Said.

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Discuss this column on our Facebook page!

From Care and Feeding

My husband straight-up refuses to learn how to do our 3-year-olds hair. He is her stepfather but has been in her life since she was 3 months old, so he views her as his own. Her hair is rather long but extremely thin and silky. It needs to be brushed and put into pretty tight ponytails or braids to keep it out of her face, and to avoid lice.

Our daughter is in a ballet class now that requires the hair to be in a bun, and I am unable to get her ready for it due to my work schedule, but he wont even attempt to learn how to do a bun.
On Monday, CNN reported on a number of text exchanges that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had with various conservatives in the days between the 2020 election and the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

One message stuck out as particularly relevant following a hearing last week in Georgia.

The hearing was about whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene should be disqualified from office under the 14th Amendment for supporting the insurrectionists on Jan. 6. The message was one in which Greene asked Meadows about the possibility that the president might invoke martial law to block Biden from taking the oath of office just three days before the inauguration.

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During her testimony on Friday, Greene testified that she could not recall whether she had ever had such a conversation with Donald Trumps chief of staff, or anyone in the White House including the former president.

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Its not just that Greene may have perjured herself in that testimonya real possibility. Its that proof of this exchange raises a number of questions about how far those conversations about martial law went, how serious they were, who else might have been involved, and what else was considered by Trump.

Heres the video of Greene in court:

From Friday:



Q: "Prior to the inauguration in 2021, did you advocate for martial law with the president of the United States?"



Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: "I don't recall." pic.twitter.com/zNTkKtiMVN  CSPAN (@cspan) April 25, 2022

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And heres a transcript of how the questioning by attorney Andrew G. Celli Jr. went:

Celli Jr.: The question was whether prior to the inauguration of Joe Biden, Ms. Greene, whether you ever advocated for martial law to be imposed in a conversation with the chief of staff of then President of the United States Mr. Trump. Greene: I dont recall. Celli Jr.: Did you ever advocate for martial law prior to the inauguration of Mr. Biden with any member of the White House staff that was part of the Trump administration? Greene: I dont recall. Celli Jr.: Are you aware of any other congressional representatives advocating for martial law to stop the peaceful transfer of power before the inauguration of Mr. Biden? Greene: I dont remember.

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And heres Greenes text to Meadows, dated Jan. 17, 2020, as reported by CNN:

In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law. I dont know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!

This is clear evidence that, despite saying she didnt recall it, Greene had a conversation with the White House chief of staff in which she seems to have advocated for martial law and acknowledged that other members of Congress had done so.

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As others have noted, it seems like those are conversations youd remember.

Indeed, over the course of her three-hour testimony, Greene responded that she could not remember or that she did not recall dozens of times. Its worth considering the other areas where Greenes memory failed in order to get a better insight into just how much further the coup attempt went than what we already know.

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 Greene was asked whether or not she advocated for martial law in direct conversations with Trump in the weeks between the election and the inauguration. She responded: I dont recall ever discussing that.

 Greene was asked if she had any conversations with anyone about the demonstrations planned for Jan. 6 prior to that day. She testified I do not remember any of them.

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 Greene was asked if she had conversations with anyone in governmentand specifically Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, or people in the White Houseabout the Jan. 6 demonstrations in advance of the day. I do not remember, she repeatedly testified.

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 Greene was asked if anyone mentioned to her the possibility that there might be violence on Jan. 6 in advance of that day. I dont remember those conversations, she testified.

 Greene was asked if anybody in governmentrepresentatives, senators, White House staff, the president of the United States at the time mentioned to her the risk that people coming to Washington for Jan. 6 demonstrations might become violent. She responded: I dont recall.

Notably, Greene didnt say I dont recall to every question. When she was asked about a rumor that she and her staff had given tours to insurrectionists and provided them with maps of the Capitol in advance of Jan. 6, she flatly denied the charge. She also denied any advance knowledge that people were planning to enter the Capitol, saying, No, absolutely not, I dont know anything about that.

All of this is to say: Greene remembered things that were exonerating to her and seemed to forget at least one very damning piece of evidence. Its possible well soon find out that other things she swore under penalty of perjury she could not recall happening also happened. In fact, those answers may be coming sooner than we think: The House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack is due to hold hearings as early as June.
On Monday, CNN published a trove of text messages sent to and from Mark Meadows, President Donald Trumps final chief of staff. The texts, sent between Election Day 2020 and Joe Bidens inauguration, dealt largely with various Trumpworld figures strategizing tactics to overturn the election and trading talking points to spin the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

Meadows, who provided the messages to a House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, fielded urgent questions from members of Congress, Cabinet officials, Trump lawyers and advisers, Fox News figures, Trump family members, and other members of the presidents inner circleall scrambling to manage the public narrative around the election. (Meadows has sued to block congressional subpoenas, and he has withheld more than 1,000 messages from the committee.)

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The latest messages published by CNNfrom the 2,319 it said it had obtainedfill out the picture that has been drawn over the past few months as other texts leaked. Those texts have revealed that Trump refused to quickly condemn the violence on Jan. 6; that Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, had accused Biden and the Left of attempting the greatest Heist of our History; that Donald Trump Jr. had developed a strategy for overturning the election even before the election was called for Biden; and that Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Texas Rep. Chip Roy had offered Meadows a statement supporting Trump to leak if it was helpful.

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The new texts hit on the same themes, with additional alarming details, including proof Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had advocated for Trump to impose martial law to remain president. The texts showed how many powerful people urged the president toward conspiracy theoriesand, in a few cases, cast doubt on them.

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They also, at times, showed how simply absurd powerful people can sound when casually texting about matters related to the very integrity of our democracy. Here are some of the oddest exchanges from Mondays trove, left in their original, typo-laden form.

Trumpet

Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, texting on Jan. 9, 2021, the day after the president had been banned from Twitter for his role in inciting the insurrection:

I truly hope he does create a new platform to complete with Twitter and I hope he calls it Trumpet and then we can send out notes to each other! Jennifer and I pray for POTUS daily, and FLOTUS too.

Its nice that Clyde didnt just give Meadows a generic idea but also got him rolling on ideas for its branding.

Yes Sir

An exchange with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Election Day:

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Hannity: Hey NC gonna be ok? Meadows: Stress every vote matters. Get out and vote On radio Hannity: Yes sir On it. Any place in particular we need a push Meadows: Pennsylvania. NC AZ Nevada Hannity: Got it. Everywhere

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While Hannitys support for Trump was no secret, this appears to be the first time it was confirmed Hannity was taking orders from the White House.

The Godfather

Donald Trump Jr., texting about the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021:

Hes got to condem this shit. Asap. The captiol police tweet is not enough. This his one you go to the mattresses on. They will try to fuck his entire legacy on this if it gets worse.

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This is the son of the president of the United States confirming that some men do not, at a certain level of power, outgrow quoting The Godfather to each other.

MyPillow Guy Sighting

Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO and prominent advocate for overturning the election, sent a very long message on Dec. 20, 2020:

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Hey Mark, I felt I was suppose to text you this message You being a man a faith and on the front line of the decisions that are going to be historical! I would ask that you pray for wisdom and discernment from God! I have been sickened by politicians ( especially republicans ) judges, the media not wanting to see the truth ( no matter what the truth would be!) This is the biggest cover up of one of the worst crimes in history! I have spent over a million$ to help uncover this fraud and used my platform so people can get the word not to give up! The people on both sides have to see the truth and when they do . there will not be no civil war , people ( including politicians!) are fearing! The only thing any of us should fear is fear of the Lord! Every person on this planet needs to know the truth and see the evidence!!! Mark .. God has his hand in all of this and has put you on the front line I will continue praying for you to have great wisdom and discernment! Blessings Mike

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Lindell also claimed his ability to investigate deviations in numbers was his gift from God that has made my business so successful.

A Founding Fathers Argument for Jan. 6

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the day before the insurrection:

On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all  in accordance with guidance from founding father Alexander Hamilton and judicial precedence. No legislative act, wrote Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 78, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. The court in Hubbard v. Lowe reinforced this truth: That an unconstitutional statute is not a law at all is a proposition no longer open to discussion. 226 F. 135, 137 (SDNY 1915), appeal dismissed, 242 U.S. 654 (1916).  Following this rationale, an unconstitutionally appointed elector, like an unconstitutionally enacted statute, is no elector at all.

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Jordan appeared to be the only advocate for overturning the election who, in these texts, got into citing historical documents.

Enthusiastic Family

Ivanka Trump, in a text on Nov. 5, to Hope Hicks, Jared Kushner, Mark Meadows, Jason Miller, Dan Scavino, and Bill Stepien:

You are all WARRIORS of epic proportions! Keep the faith and the fight!

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Ivanka seemed to know how important morale was to a task as large as overturning an election.

Less Enthusiastic Family

Jared Kushner, a month later, in one of his only texts to Meadows:

https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2020/12/fact-check-video-from-ga-does-not-show-suitcases-filled-with-ballots-pulled-from-under-a-table-after-poll-workers-dismissed.html

Thats a link to a fact check for one of the most prominent election fraud claims.

Left on Read

Meadows, trying to reach Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, on Dec. 5, 2020:

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mr Secretary. Can you call the White House switchboard at 202 757 6000. For a call. Your voicemail is full

Meadows had twice tried to reach Raffensperger, who had been vilified for certifying his states election. Raffensperger did not appear to reply to Meadows text.

Signing Off

Rick Perry, texting on Nov. 7, 2020, just hours before the election was called:

We have the data driven program that can clearly show where the fraud was committed. This is the silver bullet.Pam Biondi has seen and agrees!! Rick Perry

Perry, the former Texas governor who served as secretary of energy under Trump, had previously been the subject of reports that he had advocated for a strategy to overturn the election. Perry had denied these reports. Thankfully, he signs his texts with his full name.
This article is part of the Free Speech Project , a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.

What if I were to tell you that Twitter is not that important in the world?

Maybe Im wrong. Maybe it is important. Its certainly important to some people, namely an otherwise successful investorthe richest human in the history of the world for nowwho borrowed and begged for $44 billion to buy a company that has almost never made money.

But really. How important is it in a global and historical scale? If it went away tomorrow, would the world be poorer for it?

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Sure, for years a rich troll spewed nonsense via the service and somehow became president of the United States, only to wear out his welcome after violating Twitters rules one too many times by lying about the results of his own election failure and stoking a violent uprising against the United States.

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And sure, most of the influential politicians, journalists, and celebrities are active on the site, which is easy to use and easy to monitor. And sure, most of the scholarship about social media is based on Twitter because its easy to scrape data from it. All of this gives us the impression that what happens on Twitter matters beyond Twitter.

Thats not to say that Twitter is unimportant to those of us who use it. Its important to me. Its important to those politicians, celebrities, and journalists. And its valuable to anyone trying to generate attention among elites for ideas or campaigns.

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Black Twitter is certainly the most visible and influential of all Twitter-based phenomena, and it could not have thrived under any previous or existing platform the way it has on Twitter. Twitter is qualitatively valuable because of its collection of segmented user bases in the United States in ways it fails to be quantitatively important in the world at large.

But lets put Twitter in context. In terms of users, its not among the top 10 social media platforms in the world. Its behind Telegram, Snapchat, and even Pinterest. It has about the same number, 436 million users, as Reddit.

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In contrast, Meta owns four of the top seven (Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram). Alphabet owns YouTube. Tencent owns WeChat, the largest service in China. And ByteDance owns TikTok, the fast riser of the past two years and the years to come. All of the top seven have about or more than 1 billion users. Metas four services have almost 4 billion humans using them regularlymore than half the population of the planet. More than that, Meta is astronomically profitable.

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The fact that Twitter has been a business failure since its inception is no secret. Its been put up for sale many times, yet no smart buyer concluded that its potential for growth or revenue outweighed its headaches and liabilities.

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So when Musk first announced he wanted to buy Twitter, I declared there was no way he was serious. In general, Musk is not a serious person. He tweets all sorts of nonsense and never follows up. And he clearly did not have the cash on hand to do anything like buy a majority of Twitter stock. Plus, I assumed he was at least somewhat rational and informed about how bad a business Twitter is. Why would he want such a headache? I figured he was just trolling everyone, once again ruining the week for journalists and critics for laughs.

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Well, somehow he managed to get the whole $44 billion, making sure that he would pay nothing in taxes for selling his own stock and minimizing his personal risk. It turns out I gave him too much credit for being smart and not enough for being boldperhaps recklesswith other peoples money.

If you want to understand why the board of Twitter capitulated to letting Elon Musk take it over despite having no clear plan to enhance revenue, turn a profit, or even grow user numbers, you only have to focus on the fact that sticking with Twitter meant for them less money, more problems over time. So how could a new owner of Twitter make it more relevant in the world and finally make it profitable and sustainable as a business? None of Musks plans seem to address these two failures.

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Musk wants to add an edit button to Twitter, an expensive reengineering project that would slow the service and generate a bit of goodwill among users. But its potential to seed user growth or engagement is murky, at best. He would prefer tweets be longer than the current 280 characters, which, again, adds nothing to the core value of the service yet adds expense. He wants to authenticate all humans using Twitter, allegedly to limit the proliferation of bots. There are cheaper and easier ways to stifle bots, and Twitter has been at work for years on those functions with some success.

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Most confusingly, Musk wants to make the algorithm that ranks tweets for each of us, determining what we see first when we look at the app or Twitters homepage, open source. But its not clear what he means here.* Does he mean that the algorithm (a myth, as Twitter, like other services, runs on collections of algorithms and real-time human decisions that perform various functions within a dynamic, complex, and growing system) would sit on an editable platform so that anyone could make changes, like we can to Linux? Or does he just mean that a collection of code (perhaps annotated for nonspecialist humans to understand, perhaps not) would be readable in some transparent form? Musk has used open source improperly before, like when he promised to make Tesla patents open source, when, in fact, he only pledged not to file legal action to enforce those patents under some very strict conditions. Tesla did not create a special general patent licence like the free software movement did for copyright.

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Most of the conversation about Musks takeover has focused on his pledge to undo much of the content moderation that Twitter has installed over the past five years. Industry experts consistently conclude that strong content moderation to reduce the presence of threats, hate speech, and harassment makes the experience better for most users and thus increases engagement. As UCLA professor and current Twitter adviser Sarah Roberts has written, content moderation is essential brand management for any large platform.

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Had Musk joined the Twitter board, as he was invited to a few weeks back, he would have faced such clear arguments and would have had to protect strong moderation to fulfil his fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders. If he takes it private, he need not respect the data nor the wishes of most Twitter users. He can starve the place if he wishes, risking only the stock he put forth as collateral for the acquisition loans.

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At no point has Musk told advertisers why spending a dollar (or a rupee or a real) on Twitter would be smarter than spending it on an ad on Facebook or YouTubeproven winners. Thats going to be his chief job going forward. Hes never worked for a firm that depended on advertising for revenue, let alone run one (part time, along with his three other companies). So this cant give much confidence to other investors about the long-term prospects of Twitter.

Twitter has two more revenue sources, neither of which currently constitutes more than a tiny sliver of its cash flow: It charges a small number of Twitter Blue users a small amount per month to have some extra features such as time to revise a tweet before sending it out and access to ad-free, professional content. And it offers other companies access to public user data. As Apple restricts apps from harvesting data without explicit permission from an iPhone user, both targeted advertisements and the value of user data have dropped. Again, Musk has said nothing about how Twitter might address these challenges.

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Twitter is also notorious for lacking the talent, vision, or gumption to create services more interesting than the same old feed we have imbibed since 2009. Yeah, now each annoying tweet can be 280 characters long, but what were Fleets for? And why are Spaces so hard to use compared with other audio conversation platforms? Twitter has sat back, promoting pontifications from professors and politicians, while insurgents like Snap and TikTok have helped the world laugh and dance. Twitter needs to be bold and creativeand fast.

So a smart owner committed to saving Twitter would immediately put resources and attention to recruiting and retaining top talent. That owner should inspire with a vision of a more exciting, satisfying, and comfortable workplace. That seems not to be how current Twitter staff see Musk. Perhaps they know from miserable Tesla workers how bad a boss Musk is.

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In short, everything Musk wants to do to Twitter would seem to work against the goals of improving the service, enhancing revenue, and growing the user base globally. And he seems to have no vision beyond pumping Twitter full of more blatherjust more racist and venomous. Even if Twitter is still important in the world today, a few years of Musk making bad choices might ensure its less influential in coming years. You might not have to worry about quitting Twitter in disgust because Musk owns it. Twitter might quit you soon enough.

Correction, April 26, 2022: This article originally misstated that Elon Musk has never been a coder. In the mid-90s, he programmed at a company he co-founded.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
RaDonda Vaught was working as a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in December 2017 when she made an error that would end a patients life, and alter the course of her own. During one of Vaughts shifts, a patient named Charlene Murphey was admitted to the hospital for a brain bleed. Murpheys condition was reportedly improving when her medical team ordered a PET scan.

The procedure requires the patient to be injected with a radioactive medication, followed by a timed series of images with either a CT or an MRI machine. Because Murphey was claustrophobic, she was also to receive via injection a short-acting anxiety medication, called midazolam (as a generic) or Versed (as its brand name).

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Vaught was responsible for bringing Murphey for the scan and administering the medication. Soon after starting the scan, Murpheys heart stopped, and she stopped breathing. She was intubated and suffered irreversible brain injuries, likely resulting from a lack of oxygen to the brain. Murphey died in the hospital two days later. Vaught had apparently gotten mixed up. Instead of the anxiety medication, she gave Murphey a paralytic agent, called vecuronium.

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The legal quagmire that soon followed has gripped health care professionals since it first emerged. In 2018, an anonymous tip sent to the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services about the incident prompted a hospitalwide investigation. The investigation revealed Vaughts error. Both criminal charges and a professional discipline hearing with the Tennessee Board of Nursing followed. (The Tennessean lays out the whole tangled timeline here.) She lost her nursing license in 2021. Last month, a jury in Nashville found Vaught guilty of negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult. Vaught is now awaiting her sentencing in May and faces up to eight years in prison.

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Many health care workers and institutions have questioned whether the arrest and conviction were the right calls. The American Nurses Association and the American Hospital Association have voiced concerns that Vaughts case sets a dangerous precedent of criminalizing medical errorssuch precedent could dissuade health care workers from openly disclosing their missteps to their employers. As a resident physician, Id have to agree that the verdict isnt likely to make patient care safer for these reasons.

What this case illustrates to me, as someone who has only worked as a physician in COVID times, is how dysfunctional our health system was just a few years agoand the amount of work we need to do to fix it even as COVID recedes to be more manageable.

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Yes, Vaught was the one who ultimately administered the wrong medication. But reading through the details of her case from the initial CMS investigation, it seems clear that the chaotic environment of Vaughts workeven at a world-class medical institution like Vanderbiltcontributed to Murpheys death. (Vanderbilt has declined to comment on the case since December 2019, and declined to comment on the case to Slate.) To start off, it isnt clear to me why Murphey needed a PET scan done so quickly while hospitalized; PET scans generally require significant preparation best done outside of a hospital, and are rarely urgent. In any case, in multiple instances throughout the report, Murpheys medical team expressed concern that her PET scan could be abruptly rescheduled if she werent quickly given the medication she needed for her anxiety. This urgent task fell to Vaught, who was working as a help-all nurse during her shift, floating between a variety of medical teams and patients as needed. While working in this role, Vaught was also tasked with training a nursing student. Even as she was getting the medication, Vaught was teaching the student about how to do a bedside swallow evaluation for a patient they had just seen together in the emergency department. That is: During an urgent situation, involving a patient she was unfamiliar with, she was multitasking.

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Perhaps most concerningly, Vaught has testified that she and her colleagues were instructed to regularly override drug-dispensing machines due to a software change related to their electronic health records system. Such overrides allow for medications to be dispensed more quickly in emergencies. But they also mean bypassing the usual safety checks that would be done by a pharmacist to confirm the medication, dose, and situation before the medication was made available. In Vaughts case, she was given vecuronium, instead of Versed, by the machine after only searching for the first two letters of the drug (VE) and choosing the first option. Had a pharmacist reviewed the dispense request, it is likely they wouldve caught the error.

The context of Vaughts mistake and the pressured environment in which Vaught found herself feels shockingly normal to me, as someone who has only ever operated in a health care system that has arguably collapsed under the weight of the pandemic. After hearing about her case, I wondered what would happen if I were to make a deadly mistake at some point in my career; on op-ed pages in papers across the country, other doctors have thought publicly about the same question. Supporters for Vaught have rallied on social media platforms like Twitter and TikTok, while a petition circulating online calling for clemency has already gained more than 200,000 signatures. In the wake of the verdict, some nurses have quit the profession altogether.

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From decades of research, we know medical errors are bound to happen. Health systems should be designed to spot and address those errors before bad outcomes happen. When an error does happeneven a small onethe response should focus on figuring out a way to make sure it doesnt happen in the future, perhaps by scaling back hours or redesigning workflows. (Vanderbilt submitted a comprehensive plan of correction to CMS as part of the investigation) Too often, the reality of the hospital is that there is more chaos than there needs to or should be. Many health care workersparticularly nurseswork grueling hours while facing distractions, like alarm fatigue, that contribute to making errors. Afflictions like burnout that can decrease job performance are increasingly just part of the description of being a health care worker.

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Let me be clear: Vaughts error was egregious and its right that she lost her nursing license. But jail? From my view, she is taking the brunt of the fall for an issue that isnt personalits systemic. The real issue here seems to be the conditions at work that caused her to grab vecuronium instead of Versed in the first place. As we hobble out of the pandemic, Vaught and her patients story should compel us all to build a better health care system for the futurenot further punish someone who has left the profession. It should entail training more health care workers for the future to better staff our system and to make our work more humane, while redesigning our hospitals in ways that improve patient safety. We otherwise will continue to stretch health care workers to the point of producing horrific errors, left unchecked, that leave patients paying the ultimate price.
The Koruna Turca challenge crosses five mountain ranges.

Hikers relax at the top of the Mincol peak. (Source: TASR)

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The Tatras have long enjoyed more publicity than the neighbouring Fatras, though the latter provides hikers with equally scenic views and adventures.

A few months ago, the Turcianska Zahradka project, founded by Branislav Simko, announced a new hiking challenge  Koruna Turca  to promote peaks in the mountain ranges, including Mala Fatra and Velka Fatra, that surround the Turiec region.

Koruna Turca is a challenge after which you will have walked more than 200 km with an elevation gain of more than 10,000 m, Simko wrote in his blog. The local described it as a hiking massacre.

He explained that hikers can walk across five mountain ridges: Krivanska Mala Fatra, Lucanska Mala Fatra, Velka Fatra, Ziar and Kremnicke Vrchy.

When hikers come to the region, they often set out on hikes to popular peaks such as Ostra and Tlsta or Chleb. But in last years challenge, Simko called on people to hike 21 lesser-known hilltops in Turiec.

Simkos latest hiking recommendations come with tips on where to begin a hike, where to sleep overnight, where to find drinking water in the hills, and what to watch out for.

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1| Krivanska Mala Fatra

Track: Sutovo (village)  Sutovo Waterfall  Chleb  Krivan (s)  Suchy  Chata pod Suchym (hut)  Strecno (village)  Saracniky  Mincol  Martinske Hole

Length: 38 km

Where to eat: Chata pod Chlebom, Chata pod Suchym, Strecno, Martinske Hole (Javorina)

A loop trail that takes hikers around the Turiec region. (Source: Turcianska Zahradka)

Where to sleep: Experienced hikers can complete the track in one day. Otherwise, hikers can spend the night at mountain huts. The Vendovka shelter can be found near the Maly Krivan peak.

Spring: a spring at the Pekelnik peak (It is better to refill bottles at huts, though.)

Potential problems: weather changes and water

2| Lucanska Mala Fatra

Track: Martinske Hole  Veterne  Horna Luka  Hnilicka Kycera  Klak  Fackovske Sedlo

Length: 28.5 km

A view of the Rajec Valley up from the Klak peak. (Source: Peter Dlhopolec/TSS)

Where to eat: no places to eat

Where to sleep: a sleeping bag, Koliba at Fackovske Sedlo, a small shelter made of branches below Hnilicka Kycera

Spring: 2 minutes from a hiking trail sign below Hnilicka Kycera

Potential problems: sleeping place, water, food, bears

3| Ziar

Track: Fackovske Sedlo  Vricke Sedlo  Zavozy  Hadviga (declined German settlement)  Vysehrad  forests above Budis (village)  forests above Dubove (village)  Sklene (village)

Length: 41 km

Where to eat: no places to eat

Where to sleep: no shelters

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Springs: a spring in the Repes BBQ area near the village of Briestie (5 minutes from a hiking trail), springs near the Styri Chotare hut, in the Jalove Lazy cottage area, and near woodsmans cottages below the Maly Vysehrad peak and the Chrenovske Lazy cottage area

Potential problems: most of the hike is through forests, lack of beautiful views

4| Kremnicke Vrchy

Track: Sklene  Bralova Skala  Kozie Chrbty  Vysoka  meadows near the village of Kunesov  Kremnicke Bane (village) and John the Baptists Church (heart of Europe)  Krahule (village)  Skalka  Vyhnatova  Kordicky Stit  Svrcinnik  Maly Sturec (saddle)  Hotel Kralova Studna

Length: 50 km

Where to eat: Kunesov (grocery store), Krahule (bar/restaurant), Skalka

Where to sleep: small shelters near Kunesov, Gorgeis Tunnel, and close to Sturec, and Hotel Kralova Studna

A deck chair below the Skalka viewing platform outside Banska Bystrica. A few metres away from the deck chair, hikers can find a spot named after the Titanic. (Source: The Slovak Spectator)

Springs: near the Kunesov shelter, Krahule, Skalka, near the Cabanka hut, Kralova Studna

Potential problems: wild animals, a long track (It is better to split it into two days.)

5| Velka Fatra

Track: Kralova Studna  Krizna  Ostredok  Ploska  Borisov  Sopron  Maly Lysec  Jarabina  Klak  Lubochnianske Sedlo  Kopa  Krpelany (village)  Sutovo (village)

Length: 50 km

Where to eat: Chata pod Borisovom (hut)

Where to sleep: several shelters (Salas below the Suchy Vrch peak, Salas Mandolina, Prislop above the village of Nolcovo), Chata pod Borisovom

The Borisov peak in the Velka Fatra mountains. (Source: TASR)

Springs: a well below the Ploska peak, Borisov, a well below the Jarabina peak, springs near the Prislop shelter and below the Nizna Lipova peak, Lubochnianske Sedlo, a spring below the Kopa peak

Potential problems: Experienced hikers can complete the track in one day. Otherwise, hikers can spend the night at the hut below Borisov. Simko also warns of wild animals and fallen trees between Maly Lysec and Klak.

Spectacular Slovakia travel guides
Little interest in getting jabbed

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Slovakia could see millions of euros spent on Covid-19 vaccines wasted as they expire in the coming days and months. The country has almost 2.5 million unused vaccines with tens of thousands of them expiring within the next few days.

The vaccines can neither be sold nor donated to another country in such a short time.

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This comes as several thousand more vaccines - the Health Ministry has not said how many exactly - ordered from pharmaceutical companies are due to arrive by the end of the year. While their import could be stopped by the European Commission, which negotiated contracts with the companies on behalf of the member states, if it is not, millions of euros spent by Slovakia will have been wasted.

Several vaccination centres are being closed as interest in vaccinations is low, and the chances of using the stored vaccines are slim. Almost 51 percent of Slovaks have been fully vaccinated.

Millions of euros in vaccines

According to the Health Ministry, Slovakia has paid almost 151 million for vaccines so far.

Currently, there are more than 62,000 vaccines from the American company Moderna stored. These vaccines will expire in the next two days starting from April 26. It is impossible to donate them on such a short notice. Last August, one dose of the vaccine was sold for 23.42. This means that in April alone, Slovakia could lose almost 1.5 million.

However, this is not the only problem. In May, another 61,000 Moderna vaccines are going to expire, meaning another 1.5 million could be lost. A total of three million euros may have been spent on unused vaccines.
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Russia has sent a diplomatic note to the United States calling on Washington to stop supplying Kiev with weapons, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said Monday.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the United States will provide Ukraine with additional security assistance worth 800 million U.S. dollars to bolster its defense against Russia's military operation.

Antonov noted that Washington's decision did not contribute to finding a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis.

Russia "emphasized the unacceptability of the situation where the United States is pumping weapons into Ukraine and demanded an end to this practice," local media reported citing Antonov.

The ambassador said the United States was "aggravating the situation" and "adding fuel to the fire" with its actions, ultimately causing more deaths due to their supply of weapons.

According to the diplomat, the United States has not yet responded to Russia's note.
His own political camp is unconvinced.

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Smer chair Robert Fico's attempts to rouse European politicians to his defence are not going well. Even though he claims the contrary, no top official from governments of the European Union countries or any other European institution has publicly expressed their support for him.

"I am surprised by the reaction, I have had about seven phone calls today," the Smer chair said on Saturday. However, he did not specify who called him.

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Fico sent a letter to dozens of politicians and representatives of European institutions, including the European Commission and the European Parliament. In the letter he says allegations against him of establishing a criminal group and abusing power are a conspiracy by the current government against the opposition. He also claims that Slovakia is not governed by the rule of law.

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Related article Deputy special prosecutor requests Fico's arrest Read more

It's about him

"It's funny," said Czech MEP Tomas Zdechovsky about Fico's attempts to whip up support. The European People's Party, of which he is a member, also received the letter.
A special detector from Slovakia could protect people against chemical weapons. The country has too many unused Covid-19 vaccines.

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Good evening. The Tuesday, April 26 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

Europe gives Fico the cold shoulder

The Tuesday hearing of Smer chair Robert Fico at the police did not last long. (Source: TASR)

In a letter sent to European leaders, the charged former prime minister Robert Fico (Smer) initially names his political achievements before he slanders Slovakia, its government and institutions, for the alleged abuse of criminal law.

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It has nothing to do with democracy, the rule of law and it is a gross trampling of the principles on which the EU stands, he complains.

However, no European leader has backed Fico, who faces several charges, including allegedly being part of an organised crime group. Its funny, said Czech MEP Tomas Zdechovsky about Ficos letter. It seems to me that he is now criticising the situation in Slovakia because it's about him.

Quote: Youre smelling the blood of a Smer politician. - Fico to the journalists waiting for him at the police on April 26, 2022

Other developments on Robert Fico

On Tuesday, April 26, Fico arrived at the police to be heard in his case. He refused to in the end, claiming that he did not understand the charges he was facing. Fico also claimed that investigators had failed to explain the accusation. He left the police after 10 minutes, accusing investigators of not writing the document listing the charges. The Special Prosecutors Office did it, Fico believes.

in his case. He refused to in the end, claiming that he did not understand the charges he was facing. Fico also claimed that investigators had failed to explain the accusation. He left the police after 10 minutes, accusing investigators of not writing the document listing the charges. The Special Prosecutors Office did it, Fico believes. President Zuzana Caputova criticised Fico for his political attacks on Tuesday. She said that Slovakia is not a totalitarian regime and court rulings are not decided in advance, noting that Fico has all the legal means at his disposal to defend himself. The last thing law enforcement needs today is pressure from politicians, she said. Caputova refuses to play Ficos political game as she does not want to imperil trust in justice.

on Tuesday. She said that Slovakia is not a totalitarian regime and court rulings are not decided in advance, noting that Fico has all the legal means at his disposal to defend himself. The last thing law enforcement needs today is pressure from politicians, she said. Caputova refuses to play Ficos political game as she does not want to imperil trust in justice. In a letter addressed to the leaders of EU institutions, a group of Slovak MEPs refuted the statements made by Fico in his letter.

Covid-19 vaccines for millions expiring

A nurse holds a Novavax vaccine during vaccination at a hospital in Banska Bystrica on March 10, 2022. (Source: TASR)

Slovakia owns 2.5 million unused Covid-19 vaccines. Many are already expiring and thousands of the vaccines will have arrived in Slovakia before 2022 ends.

Nevertheless, the interest in getting jabbed among people in Slovakia has decreased. Millions of euros will have been wasted. The country has spent 151 million on Covid-19 vaccines so far.

Having current stocks means that some doses will expire and will have to be destroyed, said Ingrid Ludvikova, a spokesperson for the European Commissions Representation in Slovakia.

The Health Ministry said it would try to sell or donate unused and unexpired Covid-19 vaccines. The European Commission, however, can help tackle the problem with the vaccine surplus as well.

If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription. Thank you.

Coronavirus updates in short:

A total of 1,398 people in Slovakia tested positive for Covid-19 on April 25. The number of people in hospitals fell to 951; and 10 more deaths were reported on Monday. A total of 2,820,925 people have received the first dose of the vaccine. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here.

Photo of the day: Borisov

The Turcianska Zahradka project, founded by Branislav Simko, announced a new hiking challenge  Koruna Turca  to promote peaks in several mountain ranges, including Mala Fatra and Velka Fatra, which surround the Turiec region.

The Borisov peak in the Velka Fatra mountains. (Source: TASR)

Feature story for Tuesday

A special detector of chemical weapons

Most countries have committed themselves to not produce or use chemical weapons, and pledged to dispose of old chemical weapons. However, this is only a formal promise.

That is why countries are looking for ways to defend themselves against them.

"Even a very small amount is enough to kill an adult," said Michal Simko, founder and CEO of the Slovak company SEC Technologies.

His company, which is based in Liptovsky Mikulas, central Slovakia, is developing a device that allows the presence of chemicals in the air to be remotely detected.

Falcon 4G is a device for remote detection of chemical gases in the air. (Source: SEC Technologies)

In other news

The far-right politician Marian Kotleba (LSNS) attempted to enter the parliament building on Tuesday even though he had lost an MPs chair following the Supreme Courts decision. He argued that he had not received the decision. On April 26, Slavena Vorobelova as the new MP replaced Kotleba in the parliament for the first time.

On April 25, 2,051 Ukrainian refugees arrived in Slovakia , and as many as 543 Ukrainian refugees applied for temporary refuge on the same day. Slovakia had granted temporary refuge to 71,250 Ukrainian refugees by Monday. At the same time, a total of 1,552 Ukrainians decided to return to Ukraine.

The authenticity of a document of temporary refuge can now be verified online.

In Slovakia, 5,701 people died in March, which was the highest so far this year, the Statistics Office announced.

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If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
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The security cooperation between China and Solomon Islands is based on equality and mutual benefits. It is within the sovereignty of the two countries and consistent with the international law and international customary practice, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the comment at a press briefing after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands would be a red line for his government.

Wang pointed out that the cooperation is open, transparent, legitimate, lawful and irreproachable. "The speculation that China will build a military base in the Solomon Islands is pure disinformation fabricated by a handful of people who harbor ulterior motives."

The United States and Australian accuse the framework agreement on security cooperation between China and Solomon Islands of not being transparent. However, it is the AUKUS security partnership that is neither open nor transparent, Wang said.

"When will the United States and Australia invite South Pacific island countries and other regional countries to review AUKUS cooperation? The United States claims that China's military presence will cause grave concerns. If we follow this logic, the nearly 800 military bases in 80 countries and regions across the world run by the United States have long been of major concern for the world. When will the United States shut down those bases?" The spokesperson asked.

Island countries in the South Pacific are independent and sovereign states, not a backyard of the United States or Australia, said Wang, adding that their attempt to revive the Monroe Doctrine in the South Pacific region will get no support and lead to nowhere.
The London Classic Yearling Sale (LCYS) entry deadline -- originally this past Friday, April 22 -- has been extended through this week as expressions of interest continue to come in.

The numbers are encouraging, and I think we will be a little bit higher than I had anticipated, said Greg Blanchard, Sales Manager. We had a few more trickle in over the weekend and some more calls today so we have decided to extend the deadline through this week so we make sure that everyone who had planned to enter has the opportunity to do so.

The LCYS will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 18 and Wednesday, Oct. 19 at the Western Fair District Agriplex and will land directly in between the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Finals and Breeders Crown eliminations, both at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

We like this time slot and the feedback I have received so far seems to support that. There will certainly be some high profile individuals offered here this fall and we look forward to announcing some of those in the coming days.

The entry application for this years London Classic Yearling Sale can be found at londonclassic.ca.

(London Classic Yearling Sale)
After more than four years, the University of Mary Washingtons former dining hall, Seacobeck, has been reopened as the new home of the College of Education.

Where generations of college students once gathered to eat Belgian waffles or pizza at any hour of the day, UMW students now gather in model classrooms to learn how to teach the students of the future.

Where a cavernous kitchen once churned out thousands of hot meals, there is now a two-story circular atrium with shiny wood stadium stairs now cuts through, ringed with glass-paneled study rooms that are always full.

Theres a Maker Space outfitted with 3D scanners and printers, sewing machines and robotics kits; a greenroom style Imaginarium; a gleaming performance space; and a curriculum lab filled with books and math manipulatives.

This building says: teaching matters, said Pete Kelly, dean of the College of Education. That we have this now is remarkableand we need it now more than ever.

Seacobeck was built in 1930 as a dining hall and, along with nearby Monroe, Willard and Virginia halls, it makes up the core of UMWs original campus.

When first built, it featured a dome room and two adjacent dining rooms.

Seacobeck is an Algonquin word meaning at the foot of the rock. According to Edward Alveys History of Mary Washington College 19081972, an Indian village bearing the name was once located in Fredericksburg and the rock that the name refers to is the rock formation that prevented Capt. John Smith from traveling farther up the Rappahannock River in 1608.

By 2015, after a century of feeding hungry college students, the building was showing its age and was no longer able to meet the needs of the growing campus.

But the history and architectural significance of the buildingwith its massive white Corinthian columns, ornate plaster crown molding and floor-to-ceiling arched windowsmeant it was important for the university to find a respectful new use for it and that any renovation preserve its historic details, Kelly said.

Hanbury Architectswhich also designed UMWs Hurley Convergence Centerdesigned the new Seacobeck Hall, reconfiguring the inside without changing the outside at all, he said.

The original dome room has been restored to how it looked in 1937. The massive exterior windows have been completely rebuilt and glass panels have been added inside the building to reflect the light they let in.

Kelly said much of the original plaster molding was wrecked and that resurrecting it was a labor of love for the contractors.

Nostalgic alumni can now view the crown molding up close from the top row of seats in the new flex event space adjacent to the dome room.

Anchoring the 140-seat performance space is a custom-built Steinway piano, which was gifted to the new Seacobeck Hall by an anonymous alumni.

The building isnt just aesthetically pleasing, Kelly said. It was designed from the beginning with the input of faculty and students in the College of Education.

We sat down with Hanbury in focus groups to figure out, what does a classroom look like, especially one for teacher preparation? Kelly said.

Seacobeck has three model classrooms that maximize teamwork and technology and mimic the features of K12 classroomssuch as a sink for cleaning up after elementary art projects and a kidney-shaped table for testing small groups of students.

In addition to the College of Education, the building houses UMWs Office of Disability Resources.

Kelly said about 11 percent of the universitys student population is registered with the officea higher percentage than is found at most higher education institutions and one that is closer to that found in K12 school populationsso its fitting that the two programs are co-located.

The new Seacobeck opened for classes this semester and hosted an official ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month.

Kelly said there is already a great sense of pride and ownership among current and former students and faculty for the building.

He hopes it will be a place for ideas and collaboration between UMW and local K12 school divisions and that it will inspire both a love for teaching and an appreciation of what teachers do.

When I take students and parents through here, their eyes light up, Kelly said. I want every kid who is thinking about becoming a teacher to see this place.

Kelly said the new Seacobeck Hall carries forward the original mission of UMW, which was founded 1908 as a normal school, or institution created to train teachers.

People need to understand our commitment to teacher preparation, he said.
Virginia State Police investigators are seeking the publics help in trying to identify two males whose remains were found in Caroline County more than 33 years ago.

Sgt. Jessica Shehan said that on Nov. 10, 1988, two hunters were walking through the woods in the Ladysmith area near the 112-mile marker of Interstate 95 when they came across skeletal remains. State police responded to the discovery and found a second set of remains.

Forensic analysis confirmed that both victims were Hispanic males who apparently went missing between 1987 and 1988. One victim is believed to have been between 40 and 60 years old, while the other was estimated to be between 15 and 30. A leather belt with the word SILVANO on it was found with the older victim.

Despite more than three decades of actively working this case, we have still not been able to identify either individual, Capt. Norman Gray said in a news release. We are still hopeful that someone will . . . help us find their families and let them know what happened to their loved one so many years ago.

Police are investigating the cases as homicides, but no cause of death has been released. Police have also not been able to match the victims with any missing person report.

Facial reconstruction models have been developed for both males that police hope will eventually lead to an identification. Anyone with information is asked to call state police at 804/609-5656 or email questions@vsp.virginia.gov.
GERING  The Legacy of the Plains Museum will be hosting its monthly speaker series program on Tuesday, April 26, at 6 p.m.

Every month, the museum hosts a speaker or panel to discuss the rich and vibrant history of the region and the state. This months panel will be discussing the Homestead Act and modern equivalent programs.

Vickie Sakurada Schaepler, coordinator for the Legacys Japanese Hall and History Project, will be discussing the early history of the Japanese immigrants as they make their way to Nebraska and the events that impacted their lives including WWII and the heroes who emerged. A discussion period will follow the presentation.

The event is free to the public.

For more information, call Legacy of the Plains Museum at 308-436-1989.

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HIGH POINT  Police say they arrested a woman Monday night after she stabbed a 16-year-old Jimmy John's employee.

Officers were called shortly before 6 p.m. to the North Main Street fast food restaurant about an assault by an irritated customer on an employee, High Point Police said in a news release.

Workers told officers that Demetris Holeman, 45, of High Point, came in to complain about her order, threw several items at the employee and stabbed the teenager with an "edged weapon," police said in the news release.

The employee was taken to Moses Cone Hospital with serious injuries but was in stable condition, a police spokeswoman said.

Holeman was arrested at her home a few hours later. She is charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and injury to real property for the damages to the store, police said.

Police ask anyone with information about the investigation to contact Crime Stoppers of High Point at 336-889-4000 or download the P3 mobile app.
Kim Kardashian went on social media on Sunday, April 24, and expressed her opinion about the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

"Today is the 107th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Lets all stand together & remember the 1.5 million people who were massacred. Im so proud that America recognizes the Armenian Genocide," the American Armenian media personality, socialite, model, and businesswoman wrote on Instagram and Facebook, and used the ArmenianGenocide and NeverForget hashtags.

Also, she posted some photos that were taken during her and sister Kourtney and their childrens visit to Armenia in 2019.

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The U.S. Department of Labor has announced the reopening of new student enrollment for in-person instruction and job training at Job Corps centers across the nation.

Staff members at the Blue Ridge Job Corps Center campus in Marion want Southwest Virginia communities to know that the center has immediate availability to serve qualified young people and help train and prepare them for a meaningful career.

Blue Ridge Job Corps Center has the capacity to serve 192 students in areas such as Certified Nursing Assistant, Clinical Medical Assistant, Medical Administrative Assistant, and Patient Care Technician.

Amid the pandemic, Job Corps centers operated under restricted enrollment due to the residential aspects of the program. With new safety measures in place, the decision to reopen Job Corps enrollment lifts the remaining restrictions on enrollment and restores the program to pre-pandemic admission standards.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on many communities, including our own, said Jordan Loupe, BCL/WBL Coordinator at BRJC. We would appreciate the opportunity to spotlight how the Blue Ridge Job Corps campus can help our young people, employers, and community to recover and grow.

Loupe said that in March 2020, all Job Corps students transitioned to remote learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, centers have combined distance learning with some in-person job training and more recently resumed traditional in-person enrollments. Because of the pandemic, the center has many openings right now for new students.

The reopening of new student enrollment at Job Corps is an important step forward in our nations recovery from the pandemic, said Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh in the recent announcement. On-center learning and the supports centers provide helps students take greater advantage of Job Corps training and educational opportunities. In turn, students will be better equipped to contribute and benefit as our nation grows stronger.

Founded in 1964, Job Corps is the nations largest job training and education program. It provides students from 16 to 24 years of age with vocational training and academic experiences to increase opportunities towards gainful employment and career pathways.

Throughout its 57-year history, Job Corps has trained more than 3 million young people in hundreds of fields and career paths including construction, healthcare, IT, firefighting, advanced manufacturing, renewable resources and energy, automotive, and many more industries.

Job Corps may serve as a first choice for many young people for whom the traditional education path is not a good fit, for those who are interested in getting to work immediately, or for those that have young families or personal obligations that may preclude them from participating in other educational programs, said Loupe.

Mostly a residential program in urban and rural areas, Job Corps centers include dormitories and a campus environment similar to small colleges. Administered by the departments Employment and Training Administration, Job Corps is the nations largest residential career-training program. There are currently 121 Job Corps centers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

In the past year, we faced and overcame extraordinary challenges to enable Job Corps students continue their education, said National Director of Job Corps Rachel Torres. Our goal is to return to full, in-person center operations as quickly and safely as possible. By returning all centers to in-person instruction, we can continue Job Corps long tradition of preparing its students for successful careers.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of young Americans applied to Job Corps, Loupe said. We have demonstrated the ability to safely serve students and provide needed supports such as housing, basic healthcare, food/meals. Thanks to the leadership at the Department of Labor, we have recently resumed our traditional enrollment methods and have updated policies that will allow us to on-board students safely and expeditiously.

Blue Ridge Job Corps is a female-only center and enrollment is open to Virginia residents only. For more information, visit https://blueridge.jobcorps.gov/.
WOODLAND  A confrontation among young people in Woodland on Friday left a Clark County 19-year-old dead and a minor arrested.

Nathaniel G. Anderson died at the hospital from head injuries after a minor struck him with a vehicle in the 4000 block of Dike Road, near a popular Columbia River beach, the Cowlitz County Sheriffs Office reports.

Deputies were called to the area at 11:30 p.m. after a group allegedly tried to confront a minor driving recklessly and spraying vehicles with gravel. A driver trying to stop him, pulled ahead of the minors truck, and the two collided without injuries, deputies say.

When a group member tried to open the minors door, the minor drove away, allegedly striking Anderson. Anderson was sent to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver and died, deputies report.

The minor was arrested at his house, and released to his parent. Deputies say charges have not yet been determined.

Washington State Patrol, Woodland police and the Clark County Sheriffs Office assisted. The Cowlitz County Sheriffs Office reports the investigation is ongoing.

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TOLEDO  Greenlee Clark was a sophomore when she heard about plans to renovate her high school. At the time, water seeped through the buildings walls and floors, the clocks and school bells did not work, and basic electrical functions were dodgy at best.

What once seemed so far into the future is now one of the greatest gifts my peers and I could have asked for, said Clark, now a senior and the schools student body president, who spoke Friday afternoon during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completely renovated Toledo High School.

The $26 million project took several years and four failed bonds, despite the schools state of disrepair.

We had a few legislators who came down here to look at the school, and they thought it should be condemned, Superintendent Chris Rust said. Water would seep in through the floors. The walls were so thin. If you were in math, you could hear the German class next door.

State lawmakers then stepped in to offer the district a distressed schools grant, Rust said.

The district would get $10 million through state funding and then an $11 million grant through the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instructions School Construction Assistance Program.

The funding came with a caveat: the district had to get 60% of voters to pass a $7 million bond. Rust said in previous years the bonds they tried to pass were around $12 million and $15 million, which were rejected by voters four different times.

In 2019, voters approved the proposed $7 million bond, greenlighting $28 million in total to completely refurbish Toledo High School. The project actually cost $26 million, with the district putting away the $2 million for future upkeeping and cosmetic costs, like buying new trophy cases.

IBI Group Architects designed the school to resemble a cozy Northwest lodge with the features of a much larger high school, said lead architect Ross Parker.

Floors, walls and ceilings were upgraded, along with electrical wiring, HVAC and air conditioning systems, Rust said. The George Mudrock Gymnasium also was revamped with new floors and gym equipment.

This facility is designed to serve multiple generations, Parker said, with new technology, furniture and collaborative indoor and outdoor learning spaces to help teachers teach and students learn.

Toledo High School students are now known as the Toledo Riverhawks following the 2021 passage of a state law requiring any non-tribal schools that used Native American imagery, names or symbols to pick new mascots.

Toledo to become the Riverhawks The school district is closed on Fridays in the summer and school officials were not available for comment.

Members of the Cowlitz Tribe worked with the school district to design the mascot and name. Member Suzanne Donaldson uncloaked the button blanket she created for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, revealing an updated version of the schools black-and-red logo.

Toledo community voting on new Riverhawks logo The four new choices put forward by the Toledo High School Art Committee all include the head of a hawk in profile around the district's current stylized red T in a circle. They range from abstracted to realistic.

As we were going through the process I had just started on the art about the same time we were going through the issues last year with the Washington state ruling on the name change, Donaldson said. I know thats a tough subject for a lot of people, so I wanted to do this work in a good way and give this work to the school. ... We really love the design.

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NASA: A gigantic 450-meters wide asteroid is going to fly past the Earth on April 28. The asteroid will come terrifyingly close to our planet. Should we be afraid of a potential asteroid strike?

NASA: After a brief period of calm, a massive asteroid is yet again headed towards the Earth, according to the American space agency. The incoming asteroid is a massive 450-meters wide space rock, which can be compared to the famous Golden Gate Bridge located in San Francisco. An asteroid this size is classified as an apollo-class asteroid. But due to its close proximity to the Earth, this near-Earth object or (NEO) has also been labeled as a potentially hazardous asteroid. If this asteroid struck the Earth, it could cause widespread destruction and generate strong earthquakes and tsunamis. So, is there a chance for a potential hit? Read on to find out.

According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory by NASA, the asteroid hurtling towards the Earth is named 418135 (2008 AG33). The 457 meters or 1,500-feet wide asteroid is expected to make its closest approach to the Earth at a distance of 3,240,000 kilometers. Do not make the mistake of considering the distance too large to worry about. It should be remembered that in terms of astronomical distances, it is a small number and considering the high speed of these asteroids, these distances can be covered in a short span of time. In terms of astronomical units, this asteroids closest approach to Earth will be at a distance of just 0.015 au.

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NASA: Massive asteroid headed towards the Earth

The asteroid 2008 AG33 has a massive orbit where one revolution takes it about 18 years to complete. At its closest point to the Sun or perihelion, it comes as close as the Earth and on the other hand, at its aphelion or the furthest point from the Sun, it goes as far as the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Coming from the asteroid belt, this asteroid also possesses a high speed of more than 25,000 km/h. At this speed, if it were to strike the Earth, it could easily flatten tens of kilometers of land. And this is why NASA has been vigilantly watching it.

The Planetary Defense Coordination Office or the PDCO is a department by NASA that not only observes all NEOs, but also comes up with strategies to deviate or destroy asteroids which have a high probability of impact. So far, this particular asteroid seems unlikely to strike and is expected to make a safe passage across the planet. However, the space agency is continuing to observe it in case a sudden deviation happens.
Abhishek Kumar, the final year computer science student at NIT Patna bagged a whopping package of Rs. 1.8 crore from Amazon.

Abhishek Kumar, a student at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Patna has bagged a record pay package of Rs. 1.8 crore from Amazon. He is a final year computer science student. The institute has proudly shared the news through its Twitter handle. NIT Patna wrote, We are so incredibly proud of you. Congratulations! Your sincere effort deserves this success, all the best for the future. Kumar had appeared for the coding test conducted by Amazon last year in December. After qualifying, he appeared for three rounds of interviews at the international level in the month of April. He received the final call from Amazon, Germany on April 21.

Despite the bad effect of Covid-19 on campus placements, this was a record-breaking year for the NIT Patna with 130 per cent overall placements. It seems like offers are returning to their pre-pandemic levels. The Covid-19 epidemic has put a lot of pressure on graduating students during the last two years as campuses were closed and placements were severely impacted. However, now the stability is slowly returning giving students a greater opportunity of securing employment of their preference.

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Kumar is not the only one to make headlines for receiving a record package. Aditi Tiwari, a final year student of Electronics and Communication had made the news for bagging the highest placement of Rs. 1.6 crore from Facebook (now Meta). Before Aditi, a Patna girl Sampreeti Yadav had received a package of Rs. 1.11 crore at tech giant Google. The 2022 placement season broke records for the past five years as the highest package bagged by an NIT Patna student before this year was 50-60 lakhs.

NIT Patna has secured 72nd position in National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2021. One can get admission to it by qualifying JEE Mains.
Elon Musks short-lived effort to take Tesla Inc. private after his infamous funding secured tweet in August 2018 has loomed over the billionaires reputation.

Elon Musks short-lived effort to take Tesla Inc. private after his infamous funding secured tweet in August 2018 has loomed over the billionaires reputation -- and his quest to buy Twitter Inc.

Now, a series of text messages that Musk exchanged with Silicon Valley friends, investors and the managing director of Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund during that saga have come to light as part of an ongoing shareholder lawsuit. The texts provide a window into how Musk operates as he once again attempts -- almost four years later -- to take a publicly traded company private.

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In a text-message exchange with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of the Saudi PIF, an angry Musk discusses a Bloomberg News article that reported the fund was in talks to take Tesla private. The Tesla CEO was upset because he believed hed reached a handshake agreement with Al-Rumayyan weeks earlier, in July 2018, for the fund to finance the transaction.

This is an extremely weak statement and does not reflect the conversation we had at Tesla. You said you were definitely interested in taking Tesla private and had wanted to do so since 2016, Musk wrote in an August 2018 text message, according to a 300-page motion filed late Friday as part of the suit. Im sorry, but we cannot work together.

Its up to you Elon, Al-Rumayyan responded.

You are throwing me under the bus, Musk wrote back.

It takes two to tango, Al-Rumayyan replied. We havent received anything yet.

The back-and-forth continues. Al-Rumayyan tells Musk that we cannot approve something that we dont have sufficient information on, and writes that hes been waiting for more details. Later in the exchange, Al-Rumayyan asks Musk to read the article please.

I read the article, Musk says. It is weak sauce and still makes me sound like a liar. It is filled with equivocation and in no way indicates the strong interest you conveyed in person.

Musk told Al-Rumayyan that Tesla would move forward with private equity firm Silver Lake, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other investors. The next day, however, he published a blog post citing the Saudi PIFs interest in taking Tesla private as the reason he tweeted that he had funding secured.

Al-Rumayyan texted that he was surprised Musk had divulged loose information, despite having signed a non-disclosure agreement and after keeping the PIF waiting for specifics needed to move forward with a deal. Musk scolded Al-Rumayyan again for not pushing back against media reports about whether the Saudi fund would support the go-private transaction.

Reuters reported that two sources from PIF confirmed no interest in Tesla, which is absolutely false, and yet you did nothing until I forced the issue, Musk wrote.

Musk shelved the effort later that month after it became clear many large investors wouldnt go along with it, stunning the financial world with a late Friday night blog post titled Staying Public.

Still Fighting

Since then, Tesla has become profitable and built factories in Shanghai, near Berlin and in Austin, Texas. The company has indisputably ignited the shift to electric vehicles, and its $1 trillion valuation has made Musk the worlds wealthiest person.

But the investors suing Musk in federal court argue that Musks August 2018 tweets were indisputably false and cost them billions of dollars by spurring wild swings in Teslas stock price. The judge in the case ruled earlier this month that no reasonable jury could find Musks tweets on August 7, 2018, accurate or not misleading. Musk and his attorneys have insisted he was entirely truthful and are trying to appeal.

Musk also has stood by his argument that Saudi Arabias wealth fund had agreed to support his attempt to take Tesla private. The text messages were part of a motion filed by Alex Spiro, Musks lead outside attorney.

The filing includes excerpts from Musks deposition with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Musk for securities fraud. The agency settled with Musk and Tesla, with each paying $20 million and Musk agreeing to step down as chair of Teslas board for three years.

Musk has repeatedly said since then that he doesnt respect the SEC, and lashed out at the agency again Monday on Twitter.

Twitter Talks

Starting early this year, Musk quietly began acquiring a more than 9% stake in Twitter and became its largest individual shareholder. After turning down a board seat, he launched an unsolicited $43 billion offer for the company earlier this month.

Twitter has traded below Musks $54.20 offer price, indicating skepticism over the prospects of his acquisition bid. But after securing financing from institutions including Morgan Stanley, Musk spent Sunday meeting with Twitter executives who grew more receptive toward the offer, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The company is working to hammer out terms of a transaction and could reach an agreement as soon as Monday if negotiations go smoothly, according to people who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

While Musk has said hes lined up $46.5 billion to fund his bid for the social media platform, the text messages from 2018 serve as a reminder that the 50-year-old billionaire also can change his mind. They also highlight that, when angered, hell play hardball.

The case is In re Tesla Inc. Securities Litigation, 18-CV-04865, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
ouTube channels BANNED again by Govt! 16 channels also include ones from Pakistan

YouTube channels have been blocked by the Government of India once again. After the ban from last month, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has blocked 16 more YouTube channels in the interest of misinformation against national security. Out of these, there are six channels of Pakistani-origin, while the rest come from India. The ban applies permanently on these news channels as of now.

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"False, unverified information to create panic, incite communal disharmony and disturb public order in India", the statement issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said. These blocked YouTube and Facebook channels used to provide a collected viewership of 68 crores. None of the digital news publishers had furnished information to the ministry as required under Rule 18 of the IT Rules, 2021," it added.

Govt blocks YouTube channels again

The main reason behind the ban was related to these channels and accounts publishing content that referred to members of a particular community as terrorists. These contents were also claimed to incite religious hatred among communities. The blocked YouTube channels from Pakistan were found to be used in a coordinated manner to post fake news about India. The topics include various subjects such as the Army, Jammu and Kashmir and foreign relations in the light of the situation in war-hit Ukraine.

"Such content was found to have the potential to create communal disharmony and disturb public order," it said. The ministry said multiple India-based YouTube channels were publishing unverified news and videos that had the potential to trigger panic among various sections of the society.

"Examples include false claims related to announcement of a pan-India lockdown due to COVID-19, thereby threatening the migrant workers, and fabricated claims alleging threats to certain religious communities etc. Such content was observed to be detrimental to public order in the country," it said.

The list of blocked channels from India include MRF TV LIVE, Saini Education Research, Tahaffuz-e-Deen India and SBB News. The list of banned accounts from Pakistan include AjTak Pakistan, Discover Point, Reality Checks and The Voice of Asia.

"The content of these channels was observed to be completely false and sensitive from the perspective of national security, sovereignty and integrity of India, and India's friendly relations with foreign States," the ministry added.
This might be an unexpected collaboration, but it's all for a cause. Acer has teamed up with National Geographic for the Acer Aspire Vero National Geographic Edition, having a design inspired by nature. The special edition laptop will have limited units in Malaysia, and the promotions will start from 1 May until 31 July 2022.

The laptop is made of 30% PCR plastic throughout its chassis, saving 21% in carbon emissions in the production process. Its bezel also utilizes the 30% PCR plastic and 50% in its keycaps, reducing the carbon footprint. The laptop's cover has several diagonal lines extracted from a topographic map to divide the surface into land and sea and allude to the impact of global warming on rising sea levels. After opening the laptop, you'll find an iconic National Geographic yellow border sitting at the bottom right corner of the keyboard, alongside a message "For Planet Earth" on the spacebar.

Tech spec-wise, the Aspire Vero National Geographic Edition gets powered by Intel Core i7 processor paired with 16GB DDR4 RAM and 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD. It is also equipped with a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display. Furthermore, the laptop provides a generous selection of ports, including USB Type-C and two USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports. There's a RJ-45 Ethernet port and Wi-Fi 6 as well for better connectivity.

Pre-order for the Acer Aspire Vero National Geographic Edition starts on 1 May by retailing for RM4,299. Acer will offer up to RM500 cash rebate for customer who join the trade-in programme to dispose of their old devices. In conjunction with the effort, the company will also reduce the price of Intel Core i7 and Intel Core i5 models for Acer Aspire Vero to RM3,699 and RM2,999 respectively.

What do you think about the Acer Aspire Vero National Geographic Edition laptop? Leave a comment to let us know your thoughts, and stay tuned to TechNave.com for more tech news.
A sign is pictured outside the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, Monday, April 25, 2022. Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the platform where he promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on social and economic issues to more than 83 million followers. Credit: AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn

Tesla CEO Elon Musk stands to be the next owner of Twitter, having pledged roughly $44 billion to buy the social platform and take it private. Assuming that happens, next up on his agenda will be planning how to fulfill his promises to develop new Twitter features, open its algorithm to public inspection and defeat "spambots" on the service that mimic real users.

He'll also need to have the company start "authenticating all humans," as he described it in a statement quoted in the Monday press release announcing the acquisition. What exactly Musk meant by the phrase remains unclear.

So does the question of whether his ideas are technologically possible and how we'll know if these changes would benefit users or serve some other purpose.

Experts who have studied content moderation and researched Twitter for years have expressed doubt that Musk knows exactly what he is getting into. After all, there are plenty of fledgling examples of "free speech" focused platforms launched in the past few years as Twitter antidotes, largely by conservatives unhappy with the company's crackdowns on hate, harassment and misinformation. Many have struggled to deal with toxic content, and at least one has been cut off by its own technology providers in protest.

"This move just shows how effective (moderation features) have been to annoy those in power," said Kirsten Martin, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame. "I would be worried as to how this would change Twitter's values."

A sign is seen outside the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, Monday, April 25, 2022. Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the platform where he promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on social and economic issues to more than 83 million followers. Credit: AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn

The fact that no other bidders emerged in public before Musk's deal was a sign that other would-be acquirers might find Twitter too difficult to improve, said Third Bridge analyst Scott Kessler.

"This platform is pretty much the same one we've had over the last decade or so," Kessler said. "You've had a lot of smart people trying to figure out what they should do, and they've had trouble. It's probably going to be tough to make a lot of headway."

Musk received some effusive, if highly abstract, praise from an unexpected quarterTwitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who praised Musk's decision to take Twitter " back from Wall Street " and tweeted that he trusts Musk's mission to " extend the light of consciousness "a reference to Dorsey's notion that "Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness."

But others familiar with Twitter say they're still dismayed at Musk's successful bid for the company.

"Twitter is going to let a man-child essentially take over their platform," said Leslie Miley, a former Twitter employee who has also worked for Google and Apple. Miley, who was the only Black engineer at Twitter in a leadership position when he left the company in 2015, echoed doubts about Musk's grasp of the platform's complexities.

The Twitter headquarters in San Francisco is pictured, Monday, April 25, 2022. Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the platform where he promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on social and economic issues to more than 83 million followers. Credit: AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn

"I am not sure if Elon knows what he is getting," Miley said. "He may just find that having Twitter is a lot different than wanting Twitter."

The more hands-off approach to content moderation that Musk envisions has many users concerned that the platform will become more of a haven for disinformation, hate speech and bullying, something it has worked hard in recent years to mitigate. Wall Street analysts said if he goes too far, it could also alienate advertisers.

Shares of Twitter Inc. rose more than 5% Monday to $51.70 per share. On April 14, Musk announced an offer to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share. While the stock is up sharply since Musk made his offer, it is well below the high of $77 per share it reached in February 2021.

Musk has described himself as a "free-speech absolutist" but is also known for blocking or disparaging other Twitter users who question or disagree with him.

In recent weeks, he has proposed relaxing Twitter content restrictionssuch as the rules that suspended former President Donald Trump's accountwhile ridding the platform of fake "spambot" accounts and shifting away from advertising as its primary revenue model. Musk believes he can increase revenue through subscriptions that give paying customers a better experiencepossibly even an ad-free version of Twitter.

A sign is pictured outside the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, Monday, April 25, 2022. Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the platform where he promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on social and economic issues to more than 83 million followers. Credit: AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn

Asked during a recent TED interview if there are any limits to his notion of "free speech," Musk said Twitter would abide by national laws that restrict speech around the world. Beyond that, he said, he'd be "very reluctant" to delete posts or permanently banning users who violate the company's rules.

It won't be perfect, Musk added, "but I think we want it to really have the perception and reality that speech is as free as reasonably possible."

After the deal was announced, the NAACP released a statement urging Musk not to allow Trump, the 45th president, back onto the platform.

"Do not allow 45 to return to the platform," the civil rights organization said in a statement. "Do not allow Twitter to become a petri dish for hate speech or falsehoods that subvert our democracy."

As both candidate and president, Trump made Twitter a powerful megaphone for speaking directly to the public, often using incendiary and divisive language on hot-button issues. He was permanently banned from the service in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.

A sign is pictured outside the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, Monday, April 25, 2022. Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the platform where he promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on social and economic issues to more than 83 million followers. Credit: AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn

"If Musk either fires or drives away the team at Twitter that's committed to keeping it clean and making it less hate-filled, he'll see an immediate drop in user activity," said said Siva Vaidhyanathan, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia. "I think he's going to find pretty fast that inviting the bigots back in is bad for business."

In Europe, officials reminded Musk about a new law, the Digital Services Act, that will force tech companies to step up policing of their online platforms.

"Be it cars or social media, any company operating in Europe needs to comply with our rulesregardless of their shareholding," tweeted Thierry Breton, the European Union commissioner in charge of the bloc's internal market. "Mr Musk knows this well. He is familiar with European rules on automotive, and will quickly adapt to the Digital Services Act."

Some users said Monday that they were planning to quit the platform if Musk took it over. To which he responded on Twitter: "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means."

While Twitter's user base of more than 200 million 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 is a prolific tweeter with a following that rivals several pop stars in the ranks of the most popular accounts.

Explore further Elon Musk to buy Twitter for $44B and take it private

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
An Australian company's Louisiana subsidiary can get up to $107 million in U.S. Department of Energy loans to expand a plant that produces materials for electric car batteries the department said Monday.

The loan to Syrah Technologies LLC would be the Biden administration's second clean energy loan.

The money is expected to enable the plant to produce enough graphite-based "active anode material" for about 2.5 million electric vehicles by 2040, "saving an estimated 970 million gallons of gasoline," according to a department blog post.

It would reactivate a program last used more than a decade ago during the Obama administration to lend money to auto makers and would be the program's first use for a supply chain project, the department said. It said previous Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loans went to Ford, Nissan and Tesla.

"Importantly, this project also provides a socially and environmentally responsible U.S. supply chain for graphite," the Energy Department said.

Syrah's plant is in Vidalia, a city of 4,000 on the Mississippi River about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Baton Rouge. It uses graphite from Syrah's huge mine in Mozambique.

Tesla signed a contract in December 2021 with Syrah Resources of Melbourne, Australia, and Syrah Technologies announced plans for a $177,000 expansion in Vidalia two months later. Gov. John Bel Edwards' office said Syrah would add 36 jobs to the 19 employees it had at the time.

The federal loan will create 98 permanent and 150 construction jobs, the Energy Department said.

"Several steps remain, and certain conditions must be satisfied before the Department issues a final loan," the blog post said. It did not say what those are.

Explore further Tesla inks deal to get key battery component outside China

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Microrobot collectives display versatile movement patterns. Credit: MPI for Intelligent Systems

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), Cornell University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have developed collectives of microrobots which can move in any desired formation. The miniature particles are capable of reconfiguring their swarm behavior quickly and robustly. Floating on the surface of water, the versatile microrobotic disks can go round in circles, dance the boogie, bunch up into a clump, spread out like gas or form a straight line like beads on a string.

Each robot is slightly bigger than a hair's width. They are 3D printed using a polymer and then coated with a thin top layer of cobalt. Thanks to the metal the microrobots become miniature magnets. Meanwhile, wire coils which create a magnetic field when electricity flows through them surround the setup. The magnetic field allows the particles to be precisely steered around a one-centimeter-wide pool of water. When they form a line, for instance, the researchers can move the robots in such a way that they "write" letters in the water. The research project of Gaurav Gardi and Prof. Metin Sitti from MPI-IS, Steven Ceron and Prof. Kirstin Petersen from Cornell University and Prof. Wendong Wang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University titled "Microrobot Collectives with Reconfigurable Morphologies, Behaviors, and Functions" was published in Nature Communications on April 26, 2022.

Collective behavior emerges from the interactions between the robots

Collective behavior and swarm patterns are found everywhere in nature. A flock of birds exhibits swarm behavior, as does a school of fish. Robots can also be programmed to act in swarmsand have been seen doing so quite prominently. A technology company recently presented a drone lightshow that won the company a Guinness World Record by programming several hundred drones and flying them side-by-side, creating amazing patterns in the night sky. Each drone in this swarm was equipped with computational power steering it in every possible direction. But what if the single particle is so tiny that computation isn't an option? When a robot is just 300 micrometers wide, one cannot program it with an algorithm.

Three different forces are at play to compensate for the lack of computation. One is the magnetic force. Two magnets with opposite poles attract. Two identical poles repel each other. The second force is the fluid environment; the water around the disks. When particles swim in a swirl of water, they displace the water and affect the other surrounding particles in the system. The speed of the swirl and its magnitude determine how the particles interact. Thirdly, if two particles float next to each other, they tend to drift towards each other: they bend the water surface in such a way that they slowly come together. Scientists and cereal lovers call this the cheerio effect: if you let two cheerios float on milk, they will soon bump into each other. On the flip side, this effect can also cause two things to repel each other (try a hairpin and a cheerio).

Three forces allow for reconfigurability

The scientists use all three forces to create a coordinated, collective pattern of motion for several dozen microrobots as one system. A video shows how the scientists steer the robots through a parkour, displaying the formation that best suits the obstacle course, e.g. when they enter a narrow passage, the microrobots line up in single file and disperse again when they come out.

Credit: Max Planck Society

The scientists can also make the robots dance, alone or as pairs. Additionally, they show how they put a tiny plastic ball into the water container and then aggregate the robots into a clump to push the floating ball along. They can place the tiny particles inside two gears and move the particles in a way that causes both gears to rotate. A more ordered pattern is also possible with each particle keeping an identical distance to its neighbor. All these different locomotion modes and formations are achieved through external computation: an algorithm is programmed to create a rotating or oscillating magnetic field which triggers the desired movement and reconfigurability.

"Depending on how we change the magnetic fields, the disks behave in a different way. We are tuning one force and then another until we get the movement we want. If we rotate the magnetic field within the coils too vigorously, the force which is causing the water to move around is too strong and the disks move away from each other. If we rotate too slow, then the cheerio effect which attracts the particles is too strong. We need to find the balance between the three," Gaurav Gardi explains. He is a Ph.D. student in the Physical Intelligence department at MPI-IS and one of the two lead authors of the publication together with Steven Ceron from Cornell University.

A model for future biomedical and environmental applications

The future scenario for such microrobotic collectives is to go even smaller. "Our vision is to develop a system that is even tinier, made of particles only one micrometer small. These collectives could potentially go inside the human body and navigate through complex environments to deliver drugs, for instance, to block or unblock passages, or to stimulate a hard-to-reach area," Gardi says.

"Robot collectives with robust transitions between locomotion behaviors are very rare. However, such versatile systems are advantageous to operate in complex environments. We are very happy we succeeded in developing such a robust and on-demand reconfigurable collective. We see our research as a blueprint for future biomedical applications, minimally invasive treatments, or environmental remediation," adds Metin Sitti, who leads the Physical Intelligence Department and is a pioneer in the field of small-scale robotics and physical intelligence.

Explore further On-the-fly reconfigurable magnetic slime used as a robot

More information: Gaurav Gardi et al, Microrobot collectives with reconfigurable morphologies, behaviors, and functions, Nature Communications (2022). Journal information: Nature Communications Gaurav Gardi et al, Microrobot collectives with reconfigurable morphologies, behaviors, and functions,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29882-5
The Twitter page of Elon Musk is seen on the screen of a computer in Sausalito, Calif., on Monday, April 25, 2022. On Monday, Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for about $44 billion. Credit: AP Photo/Eric Risberg

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is spending $44 billion to acquire Twitter with the stated aim of turning it into a haven for "free speech." There's just one problem: The social platform has been down this road before, and it didn't end well.

A decade ago, a Twitter executive dubbed the company "the free speech wing of the free speech party" to underscore its commitment to untrammeled freedom of expression. Subsequent events put that moniker to the test, as repressive regimes cracked down on Twitter users, particularly in the wake of the short-lived "Arab Spring" demonstrations. In the U.S., a visceral 2014 article by journalist Amanda Hess exposed the incessant, vile harassment many women faced just for posting on Twitter or other online forums.

Over the subsequent years, Twitter learned a few things about the consequences of running a largely unmoderated social platformone of the most important being that companies generally don't want their ads running against violent threats, hate speech that bleeds into incitement, and misinformation that aims to tip elections or undermine public health.

"With Musk, his posturing of free speechjust leave everything upthat would be bad in and of itself," said Paul Barrett, the deputy director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University. "If you stop moderating with automated systems and human reviews, a site like Twitter, in the space of a short period of time, you would have a cesspool."

Google, Barrett pointed out, quickly learned this lesson the hard way when major companies like Toyota and Anheuser-Busch yanked their ads after they ran ahead of YouTube videos produced by extremists in 2015.

Once it was clear just how unhealthy the conversation had gotten, Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey spent years trying to improve what he called the "health" of the conversation on the platform.

The company was an early adopter of the "report abuse" button after U.K. member of parliament Stella Creasy received a barrage of rape and death threats on the platform. The online abuse was the result of a seemingly positive tweet in support of feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez, who successfully advocated for novelist Jane Austen to appear on a British banknote. Creasy's online harasser was sent to prison for 18 weeks.

Twitter has continued to craft rules and invested in staff and technology that detect violent threats, harassment and misinformation that violates its policies. After evidence emerged that Russia used their platforms to try to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, social media companies also stepped up their efforts against political misinformation.

The big question now is how far Musk, who describes himself as a "free-speech absolutist," wants to ratchet back these systemsand whether users and advertisers will stick around if he does.

Even now, Americans say they're more likely to be harassed on social media than any other online forum, with women, people of color and LGBTQ users reporting a disproportionate amount of that abuse. Roughly 80% of users believe the companies are still doing only a "fair or poor" job of handling that harassment, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults last year.

Meanwhile, terms like "censorship" and "free speech" have turned into political rallying cries for conservatives, frustrated by seeing right-leaning commentators and high-profile Republican officials booted off Facebook and Twitter for violating their rules.

Musk appeared to criticize Twitter's permanent ban of President Donald Trump last year for messages that the tech company said helped incite the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last year.

A sign is pictured outside the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, Monday, April 25, 2022. Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the platform where he promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on social and economic issues to more than 83 million followers. Credit: AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn

"A lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech," Musk tweeted days after Trump was banned from both Facebook and Twitter.

Trump's allies, including his son Donald Trump Jr., have even pleaded for Musk to buy out the company.

"If Elon Musk can privately send people into space I'm sure he can design a social network that isn't biased," Trump Jr. said in the caption of a video posted to Instagram last April.

Kirsten Martin, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame, said Twitter has consistently worked at being a "responsible" social media company through its moderation system, its hires in the area of machine learning ethics and in whom they allow to do research on the platform. The fact that Musk wants to change that, she added, suggests that he's focused on "irresponsible social media."

Twitter declined to comment for this story. A representative for Musk did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

New social media apps targeted at conservatives, including Trump's Truth Social, haven't come remotely close to matching the success of Facebook or Twitter. That's partly because Republican politicians, politicians and causes already draw large audiences on existing, and much better established, platforms.

It's also partly due to floods of inflammatory, false or violent posts. Last year, for example, right-wing social media site Parler was nearly wiped off the internet when it became evident that rioters had used the app to promote violent messages and organize the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol. Apple and Google barred its app from their online stores, while Amazon stopped providing web-hosting services for the site.

Musk himself regularly blocks social media users who have criticized him or his company and sometimes bullies reporters who have written critical articles about him or Tesla. He regularly tweets at reporters who write about his company, sometimes mischaracterizing their work as "false" or "misleading."

His popular tweets typically send a swarm of his social media fans directly to the accounts of the reporters to harass them for hours or days.

"I only block people as a direct insult," Musk tweeted in 2020, responding to a tweet from a reporter.

Evan Greer, a political activist with Fight for the Future, said Musk's lack of experience in moderating an influential social media platform will be a problem if he successfully takes over the company.

"If we want to protect free speech online, then we can't live in a world where the richest person on Earth can just purchase a platform that millions of people depend on and then change the rules to his liking," Greer said.

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

United Airlines plans to offer more flights across the Atlantic this summer than it did in 2019, a wager that international travel will bounce back strongly despite the persistent pandemic.

United said Tuesday that it will boost transatlantic passenger-carrying capacity by 25% over pre-pandemic levels to a combination of new destinations and old favorites such as London.

Patrick Quayle, the airline's senior vice president of international network, said it was the biggest single transatlantic increase in United's history.

"We will be the largest carrier across the transatlantic," he said.

Later this week, United will begin serving several new destinations that it named last fall, including Portugal's Azores and Spain's Canary Islands. The company is also adding flightsfor example, jumping to 22 daily flights from the U.S. to London in late May.

Even before Tuesday's announcement, United had scheduled more passenger-carrying capacity to Europe in June and July than its closest rivals15% more than Delta Air Lines and 36% more than American Airlines, according to data from research firm Cirium. Each carrier also has European partner airlines.

United's annual revenue from U.S.-Europe flights fell from $7.4 billion before the pandemic to $2.2 billion in 2020. It edged higher to $3.4 billion last year, or 14% of total revenue.

There is risk to United's growth plans as international flying has lagged the recovery in domestic travel. Airlines blame that largely on a U.S. requirement that travelers test negative for COVID-19 within a day of boarding a U.S.-bound flight. Some Americans are unwilling to risk being stranded overseas for several extra days if they contract the virus during their trip.

Despite intense lobbying by airlines, the Biden administration has given no indication of lifting the testing requirement.

United had to scale back its summer plansdelaying three new routesbecause of a pilot shortage and the grounding of several dozen Boeing 777 jets after the Pratt & Whitney engine on one of them blew apart over Denver in February 2021.

Quayle said Russia's invasion of Ukraine does not seem to be affecting bookings to Europesomething executives at other airlines have also said. United does not fly to Russia, Ukraine or neighboring countries. Its closest destination is Dubrovnik, Croatia. Quayle said, however, that there might be "a little bit" of weakness for connecting flights into Poland or Romania.

Explore further United sees more travel rebound, adds flights to warm spots

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Claudia Cooke was one of the 185 Ferrum College graduates recognized during Saturdays commencement ceremony, and the first person to graduate as part of the Ferrum Promise program.

The Ferrum Promise program was started in 2020, and guarantees that students who come to Ferrum with an appropriate associates degree from a Virginia community college can graduate within two years, or receive free tuition for their remaining coursework.

Cook transferred to Ferrum in the fall of 2020 after completing her associates degree in general studies, with a specialization in human services, at Patrick & Henry Community College in December 2019. Now, two years later, Cooke leaves Ferrum with a bachelors degree in social work.

When I first started thinking about what I wanted to do, I always wanted to work with kids and I just really didnt know the best way, Cooke said. I went to a career fair in high school and they brought up social workers and ever since then, I was hooked. It was something that just clicked for me.

Cooke grew up in Axton but while attending Ferrum she commuted from Collinsville. Most of the commuting took place over the 2021-22 school year, though.

When I went to Ferrum it was a bigger transition for me, because we had to be going by protocols for COVID and everything was pretty much virtual at that point. So my junior year of college was pretty much virtual, Cooke said.

With a bachelors degree freshly under her belt, Cooke is jumping straight into an online masters program with the University of Pikeville in Kentucky. She will be working and going to school full time.

Im starting grad school May 9 and then I am starting my job with child protective services May 1. ... Im able to actually get my masters in a year, so Im going to be full time both places. ... I just really want that degree, Cooke said, laughing.

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On Arbor Day, April 29, at 1 p.m., Grand Island Tree Board will host an Arbor Day celebration that will recognize Nebraskas 150 years of Arbor Day and a winning tree from the Hall County Champion Tree Program.

The event will be just south of Engelman Elementary School at 1812 Mansfield Road. Engelman kindergarteners will be participating in a tree-planting demonstration.

The event is open to the public and media.

Grand Island Tree Boards mission is, To preserve, educate and enhance the quality of life in the City of Grand Island by wisely managing our community urban forest.

Their slogan is, G.I. Luv Trees.

For more information on the Hall County Champion Tree Program and the Grand Island Tree Board, visit: www.giparks.com/departments/parks-and-recreation/parks-division/tree-board or contact Tree Board President Barry Burrows at 308-385-5426.
A new shopping plaza is coming to South Locust Street, directly ahead of Walmart and a newly opened Bosselman Pump & Pantry location.

The Shops at South Lake is currently pre-leasing for tenants.

Before breaking ground, the owner, former Grand Island resident Hari Dallakoti, wants to have key businesses signed on first, explained Cresa Vice President Johnny Dorn.

Omaha-based Cresa is the commercial real estate firm representing Dallakoti.

The intent is to pre-lease a building before they start to build it, said Dorn. Rather than just building a spec building and trying to lease it out, hes trying to attract some tenants or a tenant beforehand, before we actually break ground.

He added, Its still potentially a year out, but again hopefully sooner rather than later.

The site, with an address of 3509 S. Locust St., is roughly 11,000 square feet and currently zoned for commercial development.

It could be quick-service. We have room for a drive-thru. It would be a great spot for a bank, said Dorn.

The developer is hoping for a bank as an anchor store to the project, explained Pat Schmit, a realtor for Wood Bros Realty in Grand Island.

Theyre hoping to get a bank as an anchor store on one end. Otherwise, theyre open to about anything, Schmit said.

Wood Bros Realty is serving as the listing agent for the project.

There has been great interest in the project, Schmit told The Independent.

Theres been a lot of calls, she said. Most people want it partially started by now, and the owner is not willing to do that.

Among the developments in the area are a new Pump & Pantry site, which opened Monday, and its newly created Lake Street.

This promises to spur additional development down there, said Dorn.

Were hoping to be the first building up as one of those Walmart sub-lots, he said.

Schmit also advocates for the site based on current growth happening there, which includes expanding residential development, as well.

Its an excellent location, now across from Bosselmans travel center. Being completed and opening up, theres a lot more traffic, she said.

The site is also at a key corridor in south Grand Island for Fonner Park and the Nebraska State Fairgrounds.

I think the big sell is all that existing or current development thats going on around that and that it would be a direct access to the (State) Fair and downtown district, said Dorn. Theres not a lot of land where you can build to the south of that Walmart.

No leases have been put in place yet, noted Dorn.

Were still entertaining a few different ones at the current moment, he said.

A groundbreaking is hoped for in the coming year, Dorn said.

Cresa has been marketing the project for nearly one year now.

There have been some offers, said Dorn. Its smaller tenants and, at times, just qualifying certain tenants and making sure its what the owner prefers and whats best for the overall development.

For more information contact Pat Schmit, Wood Bros Realty, at 308-380-8075.

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Nebraska state Sen. Julie Slama on Monday hit back against a lawsuit filed Friday by GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles W. Herbster. Slama's attorney called Herbster's suit a frivolous and bad-faith attempt to bully a sexual assault victim into silence.

Herbster filed a lawsuit after the Nebraska Examiner reported allegations from eight women who said Herbster had groped them. Slama was the only named accuser.

Herbster, a Republican megadonor and Conklin Co. CEO, is among the front-runners competing for the Republican nomination in the May 10 primary.

He has vehemently denied all accusations. Friday, he filed suit in Johnson County District Court alleging that Slama made false and defamatory statements when she confirmed the allegations to the Examiner and repeated them during an interview on Omaha radio station KFAB.

Slama had not yet been served the suit, according to attorney Dave Lopez, but chose to file a response and counterclaim alleging battery. Court documents also show Slama gave notice to depose Herbster May 6, the Friday before Election Day.

These steps will immediately preserve Senator Slamas legal rights and guarantee that Herbsters pending lawsuit against her includes her response and counterclaim, a statement from Lopez reads.

Lopez suggested Herbster was using the news media to cast doubt on Slamas allegations while dodging legal accountability by not serving the suit.

Charles Herbster chose to subject himself to Nebraskas judicial system," Lopez said, "and Senator Slama will hold him to that choice.

The Nebraska Examiner reported April 14 that Herbster reached up Slamas dress without her consent and touched her inappropriately at the Douglas County Republican Partys 2019 Elephant Remembers dinner. Slama confirmed the Examiners reporting in a statement the same day. The World-Herald has not independently corroborated the seven other accounts in the Examiners story.

Herbster has framed the allegations as a political hit job devised by fellow Republican candidate Jim Pillen, who is a University of Nebraska regent and hog producer from Columbus, and Gov. Pete Ricketts, who has backed Pillen.

Herbster alleged in his lawsuit that news media coverage of Slamas statement has brought disrepute and damage to his reputation."

In her response, Slama refuted Herbsters accusations. She also alleged the original lawsuit is defective in several key respects, including that it was filed in an improper venue and doesnt include necessary elements of a public libel claim.

She repeats her allegations against Herbster in the countersuit: Shortly after she entered the dinner, as she headed to her table, Slama  then a 22-year-old, recently appointed state senator  felt Herbsters hand reach up her dress and inappropriately touch her, the countersuit reads.

According to the filing, other people witnessed what happened or were aware of it. The filing also says that Slama and others saw Herbster grab the buttocks of another woman just a few minutes later.

Slama was shocked, mortified, and traumatized by Herbsters actions," the countersuit reads. "Slama was also frightened of retribution that could occur if she came forward because she knew Herbster was a multimillionaire and a major donor for the Republican Party in Nebraska."

Herbster's actions, she alleges, amounted to battery and caused damage to her reputation and mental and emotional health, among other damages. She requested damages and a jury trial.

Deputy Herbster campaign manager Rod Edwards said Monday that the campaign still plans to file a lawsuit against the Examiner. The outlet has said it stands by its reporting.

Herbsters campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Slamas filing.
The chief of Offutts U.S. Strategic Command is happy with the record $813.4 billion Defense Department budget the Biden administration pitched to Congress a few weeks ago.

Except for the matter of a few baby nukes.

Adm. Charles Richard raised eyebrows earlier this month when he wrote a letter to top members of the House Armed Services Committee, calling out the Biden team for dropping a proposed low-yield, sea-launched nuclear cruise missile, first proposed during the Trump administration, from its 2023 budget plan.

While I am satisfied USSTRATCOM priorities are adequately addressed, the current situation in Ukraine and Chinas nuclear trajectory convinces me a deterrence and assurance gap exists, Richard wrote in the April 4 letter to Reps. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee.

Military leaders dont often publicly contradict their commander-in-chief, especially on an issue with political overtones. But his boss, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, backed Richard up a day later in testimony before the same committee. So did the four-star head of the U.S. European Command.

Its probably safe to say, its unusual, said Christopher Yeaw, a top nuclear analyst at the University of Nebraskas National Strategic Research Institute.

Richard asked Congress to fill the gap with a missile equipped with a smaller atomic warhead that can be launched invisibly from a submarine.

Skeptics waggishly call such tactical, or battlefield, nuclear weapons baby nukes because they arent as powerful as the city-destroying bombs that make up the U.S. and Russian air-land-sea nuclear triad.

They do pack enough of a wallop, though, to destroy a military base or a small city, and leave behind a radioactive hellscape.

Were still talking about a Hiroshima-style event, said Tyler White, director of the University of Nebraska-Lincolns national security program.

The United States and the Soviet Union each fielded thousands of tactical nuclear weapons during the Cold War, in anticipation of fighting a land war in Europe. These included nuclear-tipped Tomahawk missiles, launchable from destroyers and attack submarines, along with cruise missiles and atomic artillery shells.

In the early 1990s, President George H.W. Bush and his Russian counterparts signed a series of agreements to mothball or destroy most tactical nuclear weapons. Bush also promised to end production of long-range, sea-launched cruise missiles, and to never build new ones.

They put them in storage, and they never left again, said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, a disarmament advocacy group.

The U.S. has largely stuck to the agreements. Russia did, too, for a while. It stopped in the 2000s  after Vladimir Putin took power, and after the U.S. and NATO intervened against its Serbian allies in the Balkans.

After his election in 2008, President Barack Obama spoke movingly of someday eliminating all nuclear weapons, a view reflected in his 2010 Nuclear Posture Review. The same year, the U.S. and Russia ratified the New START Treaty, capping the number of strategic warheads at 1,550 for each side.

President Obamas intent was to lead the world toward zero, Yeaw said.

But no new treaty covered baby nukes.

The Pentagon destroyed the last of the Navys Cold War-era sea-launched Tomahawks about 10 years ago. Then U.S.-Russia relations curdled in the wake of Russian-backed military actions in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The picture had darkened considerably by the time President Donald Trump launched his nuclear review. Putin had pulled out of a major arms agreement. He began rapidly upgrading Russias Soviet-era arsenal and announced plans to build several new nuclear weapon systems.

By 2018, things didnt look so benign. You really had a degradation of the international environment, said Yeaw, one of the authors of that years Nuclear Posture Review. We really felt we had to rectify matters.

With a 20-1 advantage in tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, Russia made use of battlefield nukes a part of its strategy. Putin calculated the U.S. wouldnt risk Armageddon by launching one of its big city-killing bombs in retaliation for a limited strike.

Russia has invested a lot in these low-yield nuclear weapons, said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. Its in their doctrine, escalate to de-escalate. Use it, and (the U.S.) will back off.

To counter that threat Yeaw and his co-authors included two new types of tactical nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal: the W76-2 Trident submarine warhead, and the Sea-Launched Cruise Missile-Nuclear  known as SLCM-N, or Slick-em.

The W76-2 was quick and easy to deploy. It simply involved putting a smaller warhead on an existing Trident missile and deploying it on the same Ohio-class submarines in place of the larger missile.

The SLCM-N, though, requires a brand-new design for both the missile and the warhead. The program is still in its infancy. Even if Congress moves ahead, it will not be ready for deployment before the 2030s.

Its been funded as sort of a study project for a couple of years. But theyre not bending iron yet, Kristensen said.

Bacon believes developing these weapons gives U.S. military commanders a tool they need, and sends an important message.

It communicates to Russia that we can do the same thing, Bacon said. Were not trying to equal what theyve got. Were just trying to counter their threat.

Still, outside the world of nuclear deterrence theory, it can be hard to fathom why the U.S.  with more than 3,700 atomic weapons in its stockpile, according to Kristensens calculations  needs to recreate a type it hasnt required for the past 30 years.

Weve had overwhelming capability for decades, and were still going to have overwhelming capability, Kristensen said. Why the sky is suddenly falling, I dont know.

He and White believe the U.S. could meet a tactical nuclear strike with a powerful non-nuclear counterpunch. And the unified European response to Russias invasion of Ukraine shows the value of strong allies.

Do we need to come up with whole new nuclear weapons? I dont see the case for it, White said. Having a really formidable conventional capability is a bigger deterrent. NATO is a deterrent.

Even in the progressive wing of the Democratic party, theres been little pushback against the growing defense budget  except for spending on nuclear weapons.

Still, Biden has mostly stuck with the bipartisan commitment to rebuilding Americas aged nukes. His 2023 blueprint proposes $50.9 billion in funding for StratComs arsenal ($7.7 billion more than last year), including $34.4 billion to modernize old weapons.

Since taking command of StratCom in 2019, Richard has stressed the need to push ahead with the rebuild. Russia, he has warned, is several years ahead in its modernization push, and the discovery last year that China is building hundreds of missile silos in its northern desert only adds urgency.

Any disruptions to programmed funding will ... increase strategic risk to the Nation, Richard wrote in his letter to the House committee leaders.

White acknowledged Russias invasion of Ukraine has made opposition to nuclear spending a hard political sell right now.

Congress has never been shy, throwing money at saving these systems, he said. If the administration is going to make a counter-proliferation argument, theyre swimming upstream.

Bacon is more confident than ever that Republicans and centrist Democrats will unite to get Richard the nuclear funding he wants for StratCom  including the Slick-ems.

We have won every nuclear debate, even though were in the minority, he said. I think well end up prevailing.
Q&A with Sal Khan

Sal Khan: Test-Optional College Admissions Adds Ambiguity and is Bad for Students

Founder of Khan Academy Discusses Equity in Education and Removing Barriers to the SAT Exam

Sal Khan has opinions on education.

Democratizing education is the cause hes rallied around since founding Khan Academy in 2008. Then working as a hedge fund analyst, Khan tutored his cousin in math and posted the videos he made to YouTube  and so many people watched them that he decided to meet the apparent widespread need for free online instructional content.

The nonprofit that grew out of his tutoring videos is Khan Academy, on a mission to provide learners of all ages with unlimited access to free educational content that students can master at their own pace. Its courses range from preschool basics to early college education, including math, grammar, biology, chemistry, physics, economics, finance, computer science, history, and more.

Since 2015, Khan Academy has been home to the official SAT practice exam and free personalized SAT test prep, in partnership with the College Board.

With the final SAT School Day of the 2021-2022 school year taking place today at high schools across the country, THE Journal asked Khan whether SAT exams will remain relevant now that some colleges and universities have made them optional, whether testing makes college admissions more or less equitable, and what additional changes he predicts  and hopes to see  that will make college education even more accessible for young Americans.

THE Journal: Is the SAT still relevant, now that many colleges and universities have made test scores optional for admission?

Sal Khan: When I talk to admissions officers, behind closed doors, they will tell you that making tests optional did not remove the need for them to get a signal of college readiness from applicants. The reality is that savvy students continue to submit their test scores, because savvy students know that test scores are one of the strongest signals of college readiness in a world where there's so much unstandardized information. Grades can vary, not just from school to school, they can vary from teacher to teacher. Recommendations are also highly, highly variable  and really, to some degree, based on the art of the recommender, versus the capability of the student. For college application essays, we know that students get various degrees of help, and the people helping them have various degrees of institutional knowledge of what actually makes a great essay.

So standardized tests have continued to be the clearest and most standardized  and frankly, the hardest to game  signal of the students readiness, and savvy families and students continue to submit them. At highly selective schools that went test-optional, the students who didnt submit scores but still got in would have needed some truly exceptional achievement on their application  like winning national academic competitions  that are much harder to achieve than getting a high standardized test score.

During the pandemic, it made sense to have some flexibility, because it was hard for people to take these tests. But when you go test-optional, it actually significantly disadvantages the underserved communities. My family lived below the poverty line, and when I was a kid, if I knew the test was optional, that I could save $60 and not take this test, I probably would have skipped it. And then I would not have been able to compete with kids who who were savvy enough to take the test and do the work.

When you take standardized tests out of the college admissions decisions, what's left are artifacts  essays, recommendations, good grades from good schools  that affluent and educated families can gain much, much better. So for those reasons, I think the SAT is still very relevant.

THE Journal: Do you foresee a return to SAT requirements among higher ed institutions or do you think more institutions will make them optional for admission?

Sal Khan: I think you're going to see the pendulum swing back to requiring SAT or ACT scores when people realize how inequitable it is by making it optional. Once again, all of the advantages stay with the affluent and the people with who know how to navigate the system. MIT just went back to testing being mandatory, and I think you're going to see more and more schools do that. Because all the data shows that it is an important part of the picture  a clear indication of college readiness, which is about making sure that when they come in, that they're going to thrive, in whatever environment it is. So at a school like MIT, they're not doing anyone a favor if they admit someone who's not ready for that environment, because they might go and they might fail at MIT, when they could have gone to another very good engineering school and done just fine. The SAT is a key part of matching would-be students to opportunities that are more suited for them.

Khan World School, in Partnership with Arizona State Prep School, Launching in Fall 2022 On Monday, the two-campus nonprofit Khan Lab School and free tutoring platform Schoolhouse.world announced it has partnered with ASU Prep Digital, an accredited K12 online charter school run by Arizona State University, to launch a new virtual full-time school called Khan World School @ ASU Prep that will be based on the principles of Khans 2012 book The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined. The new school launches with its first class of ninth-graders in Fall 2022, according to the news release; tuition is free for Arizona residents, $9,900 per year for students inside the U.S. but not Arizona residents, and $12,900 for students outside the U.S.

THE Journal: What important changes have been made to the SAT in recent years?

Sal Khan: In the last seven years, there have been significant changes. One was the removal of the SAT Words section, where I believe better scores correlated with wealth and family education. Now the only SAT words that are on the exam are words that you actually would use in college. So I think that's an improvement. Also, a lot of the trickiness of the SAT math section is not there anymore. Now, the exam really goes just into the basics of Algebra 2. If you have a solid foundation in Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 and geometry, every question in the math section is very, very doable. Another change is the scoring system doesnt penalize wrong answers anymore. And recently they've announced the digital SAT coming in the next couple of years, which will make the test more accessible for more people, and they're shortening the tests and so forth, which also will make it more accessible.
Country

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Lelanie Foster, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

Congratulations to photographer Lelanie Foster (right), who was chosen to make the official White House portrait of newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. It unfolded extremely quickly for Foster. She had just completed a project photographing the Black women students at Harvard Law School, Justice Brown Jackson's alma mater, when she was chosen for the job. In fact, that project had been published at The New York Times only the day before.

Being chosen was "a complete shock," Lelanie told The Cut, "and then everything kind of started to settle in, and I felt all the honor and gratitude. Then came the pressure of like, All right, get this shot. I started thinking about all the things that I wanted to say in the image and all the things that I wanted to portray in it. These things come together so quickly; its different from other shoots where you have so much planning involved. Like, when can I scout the White House? You know what I mean?" Just getting into the White House isn't easyshe said that process took two and a half hours.

She played Sade for the shoot, because she finds it calming and "a nice vibe." Justice Brown Jackson not only approved, she even danced a little. The shoot was a family affairthe Justice's daughters helped critique and direct, looking at the computer monitor, and her husband was so moved he had tears in his eyes at one point. Lelanie had a generous 45 minutes to make the portrait.

Asked what the Justice's confirmation meant to her, Foster told Ebony, "for me, its just incredibly empowering. Anytime we see a Black woman, in front and in these kinds of situations, it becomes incredibly affirming. For us to see them recognized, celebrated and honored is beautiful. For me to be just a piece of that and to have spent that time with Justice Brown Jackson in this moment that celebrates her is so special. I feel like I, too, am seen and heard in this way for such a positive reason. It makes me reflect on how important this is for all Black women to see these moments exist. Its encouraging."

The website See in Black describes Foster as "a portrait photographer from the Bronx whose work is centered in honoring the strength and beauty of Black and brown people, particularly that of women. Her projects stretch across the commercial, fashion, documentary and art worlds. Fosters commissions include Nike, Hulu, The New York Times, Universal Pictures, BET, W Magazine, CR Fashionbook, and AnOther Magazine amongst others."

And as for Lelanie Foster's aims for her portrait: "its always about dignity. Its always about poise. Its always about strength, regalness, and reflection. Thats always my guiding light when photographing us."

The portrait was first revealed on Oprah's Instagram account and Beyonce's official website. Here's some more of Lelanie Foster's work, mixed with personal pictures, on Instagram.

Mike

Book o' the Week

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes: a Calvin and Hobbes Treasury by Bill Watterson. I just read a dire, apocalyptic article about mental health during the pandemic, so I decided on trying an "off topic" book rec that is slightly lighter than our usual fare. If you don't appreciate it, don't worry, it's a blog. Something else will be along soon.



New Gear

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)

Featured Comments from:

darlene (partial comment): "I was taken back at first by the portrait, thinking it may have been a 'behind the scene' capture. Then a few days later and after I saw it is indeed the official portrait, I looked at it again, and I came back with a different feeling. Maybe you have to be a woman, or maybe you have to be from a minority that up until the recent past were probably passed over for a particular type of position or job title. I see layers in this portrait. Layers that represent getting to the next level. You will see something different for sure. Art is open to interpretation. Mine is definitely different from yours. I am female and I heard early in my career the guy gets paid more because he has a family to support. Thankfully today all the single mothers do not have to listen to that crap any longer. I think there is more meaning in this portrait than a lot of people will see. I see it for myself and I am happy the photographer and the subject are bold, beautiful and courageous enough to think outside the box. They had to be to get where they got!"
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CARBONDALE  Mourners from all across Carbondale gathered for a candlelight vigil to honor the two Salukis who died in a car accident Thursday morning.

Vamshi Krishna Pechetty and Pavan Swarna, who were 23 and graduate students in computer science at SIU, left many members of the Saluki family heartbroken, according to Paul Frazier.

"We've just been through a lot this year. It's been a really difficult time, Frazier, vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion, said.  In our hearts that will never forget these young men. We'll forget what they meant to us. We will never forget what they meant to this campus that, this university and to our community. As we go forward and we try to remember these two young men, we must dwell on the good times that we have. Share those memories and treasure those members. As we think about him and his time passes, we'll never forget them in our hearts."

Several faculty and friends of Swarna and Pechetty spoke about their fond memories with the two or what they would miss about them.

Madison Lebegue was one of the ones who spoke.

"This is the toughest thing I had to go through," Lebegue said. Pavan wasn't just someone I knew. I knew him like a brother.  I'm never forgetting the last words he said to me. He called me little sister. I'm never forgetting that and hope you guys (never) forget his memories as well.

Shreya Adabala also spoke about her connection and the character of the two who died.

"It breaks my heart to stand and talk a bit about those we lost," Adabala said. " I can only say that they're going be in our hearts forever and then we cherish all the memories..."

Another individual, Pranav Reddy Ala, also told the crowd about various fundraisers to help the families of those grieving and the other student who were involved.

To donate to a fund to help Swarnas family go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-support-pavan-swarnas-family?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer.

To donate to a fund to help one of the surviving Salukis go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-support-karthik-kakumanu?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1.

The incident

Five SIU students, two of whom are dead, were involved in a crash on Illinois Route 3 just north of McClure, according to the Illinois State Police and SIU Chancellor Austin Lane.

We are heartbroken to learn of a tragic car accident that has taken the lives of two members of the Saluki family and injured three others, Lane said in a Facebook post. We send our condolences to the families. We are working to support the families during this incredibly difficult time. Our Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) team is available to help others who are impacted by this tragedy. Our thoughts and hearts are with these students and their loved ones.

Pechetty and Swarna died because of the incident, Lane said.

According to ISP, Marie A. Meunier, 32, of Cape Girardeau, also died.

The following students were also involved in the accident:

Kalyan Dorna, 24, of Carbondale, a graduate student in civil engineering

Karthik Kakumanu, a graduate student in computer science

Yaswanth Uppalapati, 23, a graduate student in computer science

Meunier was traveling southbound on Route 3, just north of Old Cape Road in Union County and when she crossed the center line for unknown reasons, according to a news release from Illinois State Police.

Her car struck the front of a second vehicle, driven by Swarna, according to ISP.

The Union County coroner pronounced Meunier and Swarna dead on scene.

All lanes have been reopened at the site of the accident, ISP said.

No other information has been released at this time.

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SANTEE  The 1,324-acre South Carolina Gateway Logistics Park reached a new milestone on Monday as officials celebrated the completion of a 125,000-square-foot speculative building.

This building marks a milestone for the development of the 6 million-square-foot industrial park, DP World Group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the speculative building.

As one of the largest rail-served industrial parks in the state, the South Carolina Gateway will pave the way for new opportunities. The development will give customers access to a fully integrated park delivering significant benefits to the local community and enhancing the regional economy for years to come, he said.

Dubai-based DP Worlds park is located in what Orangeburg County officials call the Global Logistics Triangle, which is the area bordered by Interstate 26, Interstate 95 and U.S. Highway 301.

The companys 125,000-square-foot spec building is an expandable Class A structure with tilt walls that can be subdivided for smaller users. The building sits on about 22 acres and is expandable to 159,200 square feet, according to marketing materials.

The park's master plan projects upwards of 6.5 million square feet of building space. About 350 acres are currently available for sale or build-to-suit development.

Company officials say the park can handle industrial, warehousing, manufacturing and ancillary services.

Festival of Roses is back after two-year absence After a two-year absence due to the coronavirus, the Orangeburg Festival of Roses is back.

In addition to the 125,000-square-foot building, there are also plans to build a 250,000-square-foot speculative building.

Orangeburg County Council in April agreed to provide DP World with financial incentives to develop additional parcels for the future buildings.

In the coming weeks, we will complete the transformation of the park into a multi-modal industry park shared by Orangeburg and Dorchester counties, Bin Sulayem said. We look forward to welcoming tenants that will be an asset to the county and the great state of South Carolina.

In March 2022, Georgia-based Premium Peanut announced it would locate its peanut-shelling facility in the park. The company is building its own building.

Tenants like Premium Peanut are just the beginning of this development that will attract many quality tenants, Bin Sulayem said. This will create many full-time jobs and enable the influx of capital that will benefit the community for years to come.

Bin Sulayem said as, the global supply chain continues to face disruptions, multi-modal infrastructure is essential to address pressure points.

We aim to provide our customers with options to streamline trade flow in and out of the region, he said.

DP World operates in 60 countries with 93 terminals and ports from Australia all the way to Latin America and Europe. The company handles 71 million containers a year.

Bin Sulayem specifically thanked Congressman James Clyburn, Orangeburg County Council Chairman Johnnie Wright and Orangeburg County Development Commission Chairman Kenneth Middleton for their support in helping to make the project a reality.

As part of a welcoming gift, Orangeburg County officials presented Bin Sulayem with a South Carolina flag.

Orangeburg County Councilman Johnny Ravenell said, Growth is upon us.

We are grateful and proud because any time you have a building of this sort, that means there are more jobs for the people here, not only for the Santee area but surrounding areas as well.

Middleton said the ribbon-cutting ceremony was only the beginning.

Today is a shining example of hope for the future in struggling times. It is an example of how things should be and can be if we truly work together. We are all blessed to be a part of brighter futures for years and years and years to come, he said.

Middleton also spoke of the importance of patience.

This project will change lives for untold centuries. The best is yet to come, he said.

Santee Mayor Donnie Hilliard said the development can only be a positive for the town of Santee.

We look forward to a very prosperous future, Hilliard said.

The Santee community, town council, the citizens are proud to see our family grow, Hilliard said. We are so excited to have the DP World team join the family.

Orangeburg businessman Jim Roquemore, who sold the property for the project over 15 years ago, said former state Sen. John Matthews, D-Bowman, and current state Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, encouraged him to buy the property. He did and the rest is history.

He praised DP World for its patience.

They have done a phenomenal job. It is first-class, of course  everything they do is first class and we are glad to have them in Santee, he said.

Sen. Vernon Stephens, D-Bowman, said, This is truly a dream come true.

Think back to 2005 and 2006 when we started talking about the logistics triangle and the impact of that development on the eastern portion of Orangeburg County with close proximity to 95, 301 and 26. It is here to help economically the communities of eastern Orangeburg County. I see this as a win-win for everyone, he said.

This is just the first step into many adventures we are going to have as far as economic development is concerned in rural Orangeburg County, Stephens said.

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, said I am just thrilled to be here to see this come to fruition.

There have been a lot of conversations over the years about this particular site and I am hopeful that people will see this ribbon-cutting as the promise of what is to come.

"Orangeburg County, especially the eastern end of Orangeburg County, is especially hot right now," Cobb-Hunter continued. "I am just thrilled to see this kind of development come to Orangeburg County and especially to eastern Orangeburg County."

S.C. Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III said, Being ready for prospective industry is key to sustained economic development success, and this new speculative building positions Orangeburg County for the future.

We appreciate DP Worlds commitment to the project and look forward to the positive impact of this development throughout the community.

Premium Peanut President and CEO Karl Zimmer praised the country of Dubai for its innovation.

In a very short period of time, Dubai has become truly a center of global trade as Dubai and DP World, Zimmer said. To accomplish these things takes vision, takes passion, dedication, patience, and that is what DP World has. That is why Premium Peanut is so proud to be a partner with DP World in this site. Premium Peanut has many of those characteristics as well.

Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson noted that Orangeburg County has 11 industrial parks.

This is going to be one of the absolute biggest you will see anywhere with over 1,300 acres, he said.

Orangeburg County Administrator Harold Young said, The County of Orangeburg is delighted about the new speculative building launch, and this economic development reflects County Councils vision to make development in our community a reality.

Central SC Alliance Chairman Keller Kissam said, DP World is partnering with an expansive business community in the county and bringing fresh opportunities for local workers.

DP World Americas, a subsidiary of Dubai World, is the property owner.

DP World was originally founded in the 1970s as a terminal logistics company, but in recent years has focused on parks and logistics in an effort to complement its terminal operations.

DP World purchased the Orangeburg County property in 2006.

According to an OCDC flyer, about 806 acres of the site can be developed.

Land at the site is valued at $18,000 to $30,000 an acre, according to the OCDC flyer.

The site has power through Tri-County Electric Cooperative, natural gas from Dominion, water from the Lake Marion Regional Water System, sewer service from Orangeburg County/Santee, telecommunications through Verizon and Frontier and fire protection from the Santee Fire Service and Orangeburg County Fire Service.

The site also has access to CSX rail.

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DENMARK  Congressman James E. Clyburn will deliver the commencement address when approximately 95 students graduate from Voorhees University.

The commencement convocation will be held in the Leonard E. Dawson Center at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 7. The overflow space will be the Massachusetts Hall auditorium.

Clyburn is the majority whip and the third-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

He serves as chairman of the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, the Rural Broadband Task Force and the Democratic Faith Working Group.

Representing the sixth congressional district of South Carolina, Clyburn has served in Congress since 1993.

He has served as co-president of his congressional freshman class, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, vice chairman and later chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, majority whip and assistant democratic leader.

The Sumter native is a graduate of South Carolina State University.

His memoir, Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black, was published in 2015.

He is the father of three daughters and a grandfather of four. He and his late wife, Emily England Clyburn, were married 58 years.

Prior to the commencement convocation, a baccalaureate service will be Friday, May 6, at 6 p.m. in St. Philips Chapel on the Voorhees University Campus.

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Police are asking for the publics help finding a missing mother, according to the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety.

Tiara Schneider, 31, picked up her children from her mothers home on March 16. She then dropped them off at her nephews birthday party, an incident report said.

No one in the missing womans family has seen her since.

The missing womans mother is taking care of the children.

Schneider previously worked at McDonalds, located at 706 John C. Calhoun Drive in Orangeburg.

Her mother told investigators on Monday that the missing woman drives a bluish green Chevrolet Cobalt with a Delaware license plate.

The front passenger window is broken, according to her mother.

Schneider moved to Orangeburg from Delaware around July or August of 2021, her mother said.

Schneider has light skin, weighs approximately 160 pounds and stands 5-foot-7. She has brown eyes and black hair.

If anyone has information about Schneiders whereabouts, they are asked to call the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety at 803-534-2812.

Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD

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Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College Area Commission members learned last week that several campus projects are moving forward.

OCtech Vice President of Finance Kim Huff reported that the states Joint Bond Review Committee approved phase 2 of the Building K renovation project.

Mechanical and electrical upgrades, including HVAC replacements, are among the work to be done at the Health Sciences Building. Building K was built in 1987.

Repurposed space will create the opportunity for amenities such as study rooms.

The college is waiting until it has a better understanding of how much it will receive from the state before it signs any contracts, Huff said

The college is also waiting to proceed with the renovation of Building Ss downstairs into a student learning/commons area until it finds out what kind of money would be available for renovations and projects.

Plans for the transfer of the machine tool program to Building T, with the help of $2 million in state funds, could be approved soon by the Office of State Engineer.

We may be able to advertise for a contractor within the next couple of weeks for Building T. What that means is for our next meeting in May, I'll be coming back to you with a request for what we think that project's going to cost us, Huff said.

The Office of State Engineer is also considering the replacement of the colleges digital sign and that could be going out for bid in the next two to three weeks as well, he said.

Huff and OCtech Physical Plant Director James Bryant have also compiled list of deferred maintenance items around the campus.

Theres some deferred maintenance or renovation money from the state. So we're trying to go through and prioritize that list. We may even get some help from a mechanical firm to help us assess some of the equipment and its conditions and decide what might need to be first on the list, Huff said.

Huff also gave a March financial report.

We have begun to register for summer and fall. So tuition numbers have changed a little maybe from last month, but it's really too early to know what our summer numbers are going to look like at this point, Huff said.

The colleges continuing education department is showing a profit of around $80,000, he said.

The college feels positive about its current years budget because of federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund funding.

We do feel OK about our current year budget as of June 30. What we don't know is how much of that money will get carried over to next year. We know that some of it will. I'm hoping that it's enough that if we can make some enrollment improvements and have that HEERF money that even next year our budget can be OK, Huff said.

That'll give us a little time to try to address growing our enrollment. That's not something we have to do. Even though (President Dr. Walter Tobin) has a goal for the fall, we might have a little bit of extra time with the HEERF money that's left over to try to hit that, he said.

The college reported revenue of $17.8 million at the end of March, with expenses standing at $14.7 million.

Tuition dollars have been covering shortfalls in funding the college has received from Orangeburg and Calhoun counties.

"Our counties over the last few years have not really changed the amount that they give us each year. Of course, expenses in the physical plant area go up every year, salaries go up, maintenance contracts, vendors that we use, Huff said.

Student services

OCtech Vice President for Student Services Sandra Davis reported that the college is planning end-of-semester activities to be held April 26-28 in advance of final exams the following week.

We have a number of activities planned with the students and the campus community in mind. We want our students to de-stress for success on their exams, Davis said.

The college will have candle making on Tuesday and food truck vendors from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 27 behind buildings S and K.

We'll give each person one ticket for a food truck of their choice. Because we've kind of pooled resources together, we're able to offer this for the entire campus community. Then on Thursday  were going back to some board games just in an effort to try to get students to relax a little, she said

Davis also reported that student registration for summer and fall terms continues, with summer classes slated to start on May 16.

In upcoming events, two spring graduations will be held Tuesday, May 10 in Building R. One ceremony will be held at 3 p.m., with another to follow at 5 p.m.

Resolution

Commissioners updated the South State Bank banking resolution so that an employee from the colleges Information Technology department has access to the colleges safe deposit box.

Contact the writer: dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5534. Follow "Good News with Gleaton" on Twitter at @DionneTandD.

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Daily life of straight-A twin brothers in NW China's Xinjiang

People's Daily Online) 17:00, April 25, 2022

Adilijiang and Amierjiang are twin brothers from the city of Korla, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The brothers both got straight A's in school and have excelled in recitation contests and speech contest in their classes.

Want to know what their daily life is like? Click on the video to find out.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Liang Jun)
BEIRUT  Weapons were seized on the Lebanon-Israel border Monday after the Israeli army spotted an unspecified number of people approaching Israeli territory from the Lebanese side of the security fence separating the two states, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a tweet Tuesday.

Heres what we know:

 The Israeli army has spotted suspects approaching Israeli territory at the security fence from the Lebanese side, Adraee said in his tweet. They then called the security forces who found two weapons and nearly a hundred grenades, Adraee added. We will continue to work against any attempt to violate Israels sovereignty and acts of sabotage or smuggling from the Lebanese border, he added.

 The seizure took place as tension rose between the two countries over the weekend after a rocket was launched toward Israel from Lebanon. The Israeli army responded to the rocket attack by firing more than 20 shells into Lebanese territory. No casualties were reported.

 On Monday, the Israeli army announced that it had identified a member of a drug and arms trafficking gang on the Lebanon-Israel border, and claimed the individual is affiliated with Hezbollah.
Clad in a tucked-in collared shirt and slacks, Seth Clingan filled out his very first job application: a part-time position at Johnny Js Diner.

He joined dozens of other job hunters at Casper Colleges spring job fair Tuesday morning. Some 70 businesses, many of them local, had set up booths there.

Clingans interested in being an engineer one day, though hes not sure what kind yet. For now, he just needs something to help pay for his car when he starts driving.

Everyones been really kind, Mary Clingan, his mom, said. Lots of information.

Things were different when she was applying for her first job. She recalled going door-to-door to different businesses, and filling out hundreds of paper applications.

The fair was a joint effort by Casper College, the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services and the Natrona County School District.

One of the main goals of the fair is to help young people prepare for employment, said Meri Thompson, manager of the departments Casper and Douglas work centers. Even if theyre not ready to apply for jobs, getting exposure to local opportunities helps them plan ahead.

Back in 2019  the last time the job fair took place  they were able to bus students from Natrona County High School over to the college.

Not many high schoolers could make it Tuesday, Thompson said. But organizers had virtual meet-and-greet sessions lined up, so that even people who cant make it in person could take advantage of the event.

Though part of the event was targeted toward Wyomings younger crowd, anyone looking for a job was welcome.

Since the middle of 2021, people have been leaving their jobs in droves  what many have nicknamed the great resignation. Reasons for leaving range: Workers say they arent making enough money, or their schedules arent flexible enough, or their workplace isnt safe or theyre burning out.

In some cases, people took advantage of pandemic-related disruptions to switch into careers that fit their interests better, said Thompson. In others, companies have been left with open positions because their older employees are retiring.

Regardless, hard-to-fill vacancies have been a pattern across countless industries, including the service, education, health care and government sectors.

Wyoming hasnt been spared. State data shows residents have been leaving their jobs at unusually high rates since the start of the pandemic, Wyofile reported earlier this year.

Thats challenged companies to step up their game, Thompson said. Many are raising wages, expanding benefits, letting employees work flexible hours and granting more time off.

Knife River, a materials and construction company, is hiring for a number of positions: labor jobs, drivers, oilers and machinery operators.

Work at Knife River has been pretty steady throughout the pandemic, said April Cotton, an office manager at the company. It didnt face the same disruptions other industries did.

Since the pandemic, the companys hired on a lot more people coming straight out of oil work and restaurant jobs.

A lot of people are looking for something stable, she said.

Cotton said Knife River provides a lot of on-the-job training for newcomers to the industry. As long as a prospective employee is willing to pick up new skills, the company is glad to work with them, she said.

If students are looking for career help, they can check out the college and career counseling resources available at their school, Thompson said.

Those who want assistance practicing interviews or putting together a resume can also schedule an appointment with Caspers Workforce Center by calling 307-234-4591 or stop by the office at 444 W. Collins Drive.

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Casper City Council members will decide today whether to spend $8 million on a downtown office building to serve as the citys new police station.

The transition to the new space, including renovations, is expected to take two to three years if approved during tonights special meeting.

A city memo says the deal is expected to close on Friday with the councils approval. It also includes the covered parking garage attached to the office building.

Right now, the city pays around $250,000 in rent on multiple police buildings, including the main office, dispatch center and evidence storage.

About half of that money goes to the county for use of the first floor and part of the basement of the Hall of Justice on David Street, which also houses the Natrona County Sheriffs Office.

The city expects the new buildings operating costs to add up to $200,000 for the first year under city ownership, but a memo estimates that rent collected from existing tenants in the same period should cover that cost.

For comparison, the department spends over $8 million a year in salaries. City records show around $400,000 went to officer overtime in 2020, and roughly $350,000 was spent on overtime plus $255,000 for holiday pay last year.

The buildings $8 million price tag will be covered by the citys $9,115,340 in American Rescue Plan money. So far, Casper has received half of its allocation, and City Manager Carter Napier said the rest should arrive sometime in May. The city hasnt spent any of that money yet.

Napier said the city looked at around 15 other buildings and had turned its focus to building a new facility before considering the Casper Business Center. The office building, which sits on the corner of First and David streets, wasnt on the market, but Napier said the option came up during a breakfast with Wyoming Financials Bob Moberly.

Building an entirely new structure would have likely cost between $45 and $50 million, Napier said. And construction costs are only going up.

The city allotted more than $3 million for station design in its capital planning budget for this year, but Napier said the design will likely come in around $1.5 million. Its being done by an out-of-state contractor that specializes in police buildings, but will likely be using local labor.

Additional renovation costs will be discussed in future budgets, Napier said, once the design is finalized.

Police have long complained of crowded, outdated quarters in the current facility, and say that having dispatch and evidence in separate buildings means operations arent as efficient as they could be.

The eight-floor facility should eventually hold all police employees under one roof, Napier said, as well as Caspers municipal court. He expects the building to last 40 years after renovations are complete.

Police Chief Keith McPheeters and spokesperson Rebekah Ladd could not comment by press time Monday, Ladd said.

The buildings height  its one of the tallest in Casper  also makes it ideal for telecommunications, like those needed for dispatching officers. The city will potentially lease access to cell phone companies and others looking for tower height in the area, Napier said.

The deal has been in the works for about a year, said Kyle Ridgeway, COO of Wyoming Financial Group (or WERCS). For around nine months, he said, the city was inspecting and evaluating the space.

There are fewer than a dozen offices left in the building, Ridgeway said, including Wells Fargo, Mountain West Technologies, a financial advisory group and several law offices. At least half of the space sits vacant.

Ridgeway said most current tenants are on month-to-month leases. According to Napier, the longest lease active in the building is set to expire next July.

Mountain West Technologies, an internet and phone company based in the building, will lease a small space in the basement and part of the fourth floor for around five years while transitioning its infrastructure to a new facility, Napier said. There will be overlap with police employees moving in, he said, to make sure the companys customers dont lose service.

Follow city and crime reporter Ellen Gerst on Twitter at @ellengerst.

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The clock struck high noon, and a stampede of high school students descended upon Caspers Ford Wyoming Center  each hunting for just the right spot to show off their art for the next three days.

The ritual kicked off the Wyoming High School Art Symposium, an annual convention run by the Wyoming Secondary Art Educators Association.

High schoolers get kudos for their hard work, and a chance to spend half a week with fellow artists from across the state, said Shanoa Gardiner, president of the educators association.

This years symposium had somewhere between three to four thousand pieces from 75 schools, Gardiner estimated. Gardiner teaches art at Mountain View High School in southwest Wyoming.

The goal of the event is to show off a diverse, inclusive portrayal of what high school art looks like, she said. It doesnt matter if youre a small, rural alternative school, or one with more than 1,500 kids, like Natrona County High School, Gardiner said.

During the event, students can enter their art for awards, and interview to win one of six higher education scholarships.

But theres more to it than that  the symposium organizes workshops and networking opportunities for students and teachers, and draws representatives from colleges all around Wyoming.

Its a lot to squeeze into three weekdays. How do they do it all?

It takes a lot, Gardiner said, her voice dropping to just above a whisper.

Students and teachers interviewed by the Star-Tribune called the symposium a source of inspiration for high school artists.

Theres a certain creative energy in the air, said Shannon Borrego, an art teacher from Jackson Hole High School.

And that can be powerful, she said. When she and her students entered the arena Wednesday, she noticed one looked a little dazed.

Are you OK? Borrego asked.

Fine, the student answered  just awestruck by the scale of everything.

The symposium opened to the public Thursday and Friday.

At least a hundred students, teachers and parents took their ease in the arena seats. They peered down on the fair like it was a fish bowl, making the jungle of tables and dividers  and the people meandering among them  feel like one big art project.

Because students pick where to hang up their work, there was no guessing what youd find around the corner. Charcoal drawings, digital animation and ceramic tea seats were just a few paces from each other.

A gaggle of friends crowded around a panel smack-dab in the middle of the arena.

One of the group let out a gasp. Thats sick, she said, gesturing to a sketch of a praying mantis.

Or maybe she was looking at the piece right next to it, a work of charcoal and alcohol ink titled The Silent Corridor. It showed a long, sterile hallway with a haunting air to it  like the basement of an old office building, or hospital or laboratory.

Elsewhere in the crowd, Emilee Watson  a junior at Laramie High School  explored the exhibition with her sisters, Chloe and Claire.

Watsons thinking about becoming an art teacher after she graduates. She looks up to her instructors back home, she said.

If you have an idea, theyll help you, Watson said.

Angel Vigil and her friends, Sunny Butterfield and Bethany Pope  each from Buffalo High School  said they were taken in by how many powerful, deeply personal pieces were on display.

Check out Brewed Beauty on the other side of the arena, they insisted  a portrait of a robed woman breastfeeding her child. The piece, painted entirely with coffee, is the work of Star Valley High School student Maddy Brown.

Perusing the art just a few paces away was Rafael Villa and Karter Jenkins, also from Star Valley High.

Villa remembers seeing Brewed Beauty when it was still in progress.

It turned out really clean, he said.

Villa and Jenkins said they planned to use the rest of the symposium to sharpen their skills, gain exposure to different styles and talk art with friends. Villa was even able to reconnect with a buddy he made at last years symposium.

I called him up and asked him if he was going to be there, he said.

Connections like those help high schoolers push themselves as artists, Villa said. And keeps everyone looking forward to next year.

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With the 2022 midterm elections approaching, almost all of Natrona County's legislative delegation told the Star-Tribune they plan to run for reelection. Only one challenger has so far announced his candidacy.

Casper Reps. Steve Harshman, Tom Walters, Joe MacGuire, Chuck Gray and Pat Sweeney all said they plan to run again. Additionally, Rep. Kevin O'Hearn, R-Mills, said he'll "most likely" run again.

In the other chamber, Casper Sens. Bill Landen and Drew Perkins said they also plan to run again.

No challengers have announced their intentions outside of Bob Ide, who told the Star-Tribune on Tuesday that he plans to run as a Republican for Senate District 29, which has historically been Perkins' district.

Ide, whose politics are farther to the right than the incumbent, ran against Perkins in 2014 and lost by a mere 39 votes or 1.4%.

Casper Sens. Jim Anderson Charlie Scott are not up for reelection this year. Rep. Jerry Obermueller, R-Casper, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, said he is not ready to announce his intentions.

Lawmakers recently redrew Wyoming's legislative map as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process. Despite big changes to Natrona County's districts in the reapportionment process, all lawmakers still live in their respective districts.

Liberty's Place 4 U Wyoming is a group formed in response to concerns over the direction of the Natrona County GOP, which tends to lean more traditional conservative with less reliance on allegiance to Trumpism. The organization is looking to recruit "liberty minded" candidates in Natrona's legislative districts.

"Most difficult is that price to unseat the incumbent," Mike Pyatt, one of the leading members of the group, said in a text message. "In this county it will be about $40-50k to be competitive. Then the passion to run hard."

Fellow members of his group requested that Pyatt, a former Mills town councilman, run against Landen, but he declined.

"4 year term is rather optimistic at my age," he said.

Beyond Senate District 27, Pyatt declined to say which districts the group is focusing on.

On the other side of the aisle, the Democratic Party says it has been experiencing more trouble recruiting this year than in the past because of the increase in vitriol and threats.

The main concern potential candidates ask about is personal safety if they run as a Democrat. This was not a trend in years past, said Sarah Hunt, executive director for the state Democratic Party.

Just recently, a county Democratic Party chairwoman and single mom received a package on her front door that called her a "crazy liberal" and contained red, white and blue confetti with Donald Trump memorabilia in it.

"When you're a single mom or ... have small children there, that stuff's concerning," said Nina Hebert, communications director for the Wyoming Democrats.

In previous years, the Democrats would have already announced candidates for the seats months in advance, but none are slated yet. The party is recruiting a Democrat to run in all of Natrona County's districts, but they're most focused on House District 57.

"People are more interested in challenging Chuck Gray than other districts," Hebert said.

Still, no challenger has been announced.

Gray was the sponsor of the Voter ID bill that passed in the 2021 session and has been a leader on a number of successful pro-life measures.

There is unfinished business, Gray said in a press release. We need to control the growth of government.

More challengers will likely throw their hat in the ring in the next couple weeks, as candidate filings officially open on May 12 and close on May 27.

The primary is Aug. 16, and it feature one of the nation's biggest congressional races between Rep. Liz Cheney and the Trump-endorsed lawyer Harriet Hageman. The race is likely to drive up voter turnout, which will in turn boost voter turnout in down-ballot races like the statehouse.

Follow state politics reporter Victoria Eavis on Twitter @Victoria_Eavis

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College Boy Jesse (Jesse Stewart) is the new leadeer of the legendary D All Starz soca band.

Jesse, the 2020 International Soca Monarch (Groovy), will fill the void left by his late cousin, soca icon Blaxx (Dexter Stewart) on the legendary Roy Cape-founded bands frontline. Blaxx, a huge supporter of Jesses relatively young career, passed away from Covid-19 on March 28.
Not only do young people emphasize selfhood and interests, but also attach great importance to the harmonious relationship between work, life, and family.

Fifty-six new professions, such as electronic data forensics analyst and carbon emission administrator, have been included in Chinas occupational classification system since 2019, providing diverse employment opportunities for young people. They are looking to forge their own path in the changing job market.

All about Passion

According to Lu Zeqian, a 28-year-old Passion Test facilitator, loving what you do is a crucial factor for young peoples job selection, and she is a good case in point.

Following her parents wishes, Lu worked in a bank in her hometown after graduating from college. Surprisingly, she quit her golden job after just half a month. My home is in a small town, and it doesnt even have a coffee house I like, let alone a book club, she said. Being inexperienced and uncertain, the young Lu was confused.

Passion Test, helping people discover what their passion is in life, has a history in the U.S. of more than 30 years.

Lu took the plunge and decided to take the test. After prioritizing my life, I discovered that I have a great passion for brand marketing, she said. Since then, Lu has not only seen exponential development in her career, but also gone on to become a certified Passion Test facilitator herself.

A facilitator will help others find their preferred employment choices, and simultaneously I will understand more about how to live in my passion, which benefits others as well as myself, she said.

Sun Na is one of Lus clients. In her early 30s, Sun was tired of her boring work in a public institution. However, because of her lack of professional skills and physically not in good shape after giving birth, she was anxious and confused about her future life.

With Lus help, Sun chose to follow her heart and began doing interesting things with friends, living a more comfortable lifestyle, learning more about the true meaning of life and going on spontaneous trips. These seemingly simple passions awoke Suns most authentic self. She focused on organizing her own life, starting in her home, and then sharing the process of home organizing online. This indirectly changed the relationships of those around her as they also began organizing their own homes and lives better. Through this transformation, Sun has achieved better time management and body management, and become more confident and assertive. Today, she has become a local influential organizer, and is often invited to give talks online and offline on the subject, realizing her passion.

To date, Lu has provided counseling to more than 200 cases and successfully helped many people discover what they love in life, which has allowed her to witness the huge energy contained in passion.

An undergraduate taking an exam of e-commerce live broadcast vocational skills in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province on May 8, 2020.

Finding Yourself

Livestream salesperson Zhang Zhe admitted frankly that he chose to get into livestreaming because he was optimistic about the industrys prospects. It had nothing to do with being enthusiastic about the business. I am a person who lives in the moment. Society changes, and so do I. There is always a way that suits me and allows me to make continuous progress, said Zhang, who was born in the 2000s. His attitude towards work may represent the way some young people choose their careers.

In recent years, the wide application of AI (artificial intelligence) technology has produced a new profession of AI trainer. In 2019, a recruitment advert pulled post-90s Hui Jianbin into the industry. Hui was unemployed and decided to give it a try. After receiving training from the company, Hui got a deeper understanding of what the profession entailed. An AI trainer helps AI understand pictures, audio, text, and other content, so that it can be quickly identified. For example, an app that helps garbage classification can identify the type of garbage by taking pictures. In the initial stage, it relies on AI trainers to label pictures of garbage, such as glass bottles and plastic cans, which is part of the iterative training of machine intelligence.

Because of his outstanding performance, Hui was promoted to the position of business administrator. In addition to mentoring the companys AI trainers, he is also involved in training new employees. This profession suits my life rhythm, and it also gives me a great sense of accomplishment, he said. The recognition obtained at work makes him feel that his efforts are meaningful. There is a huge shortage of AI trainers, and there are also high requirements for trainers. I will continue to hone and improve my work skills in the future, and lead the team to do a good job, he said.

During Chinas Two Sessions in 2021, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League submitted a proposal on Promoting the Growth and Development of New Professional Youth. Recent survey results show that the most important factor for youth to choose their current jobs is hobbies and interest, accounting for 23 percent. Development space and being able to show ones talents are also at the forefront.

Zhu Di, a researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who participated in the study behind this proposal, believes that contemporary young people, especially the post-95s and post-00s, are not facing difficulties in finding employment, but in choosing a career. They are more willing to experience more choices rather than grabbing a stable job. The employment is now more flexible and covers various fields like food delivery, livestream sales, and hi-tech practitioners. Young people not only focus on themselves and their interests, they also attach great importance to the harmonious relationship between work, life, and family. The flexible employment mode of new occupations and their close connection with life are more in line with the needs of young people, said Zhu.

Lu Zeqing (front center) is passionately sharing with students about the Passion Test.

New Opportunities

According to the 2020 College Student Employability Report jointly released by the China Institute for Employment Research at Renmin University of China and Zhaopin.com (a leading career development platform in China), college graduates are more attracted to new economic sectors. Working as a livestream salesperson is one of the popular options.

Although it was officially included in the new profession as the Internet marketer in June 2020, the occupation has been popular for a long time. According to Gao Wenjun, an associate researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, livestream salespeople rely on relatively mature e-commerce platforms and the stable live broadcast industry. It is therefore easy to form a professional and standardized development path. Meanwhile, they are also faced with the homogenization of livestreaming content and the need of professional training.

Insight China magazine released the Top 100 Live E-Commerce Performance Counties in China list in February 2021, and Yiwu ranked first. Yiwu has a high standard for the development of the livestreaming industry, said Qiu Yang, director of the e-commerce teaching and research section of Yiwu Industrial & Commercial College. He said that to comply with social needs, the college opened a livestreaming program in 2017. The courses cover product designing, short video shooting, script production, live broadcast skills, and effect monitoring to comprehensively cultivate students relevant skills.

In May 2020, entrusted by the Zhejiang Provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department, the college developed professional assessment specifications and question banks for e-commerce live broadcasts. The first batch of 19 students obtained the e-commerce livestreaming professional certificate. The next month, the college established a livestreaming e-commerce school.

Graduating with a major in e-commerce, Zhang Zhe became one of the first batch of students of this school. The training camp co-founded by the school and the 1688.com platform created a good opportunity for him to put into practice what he had learned. Zhang sold nearly RMB 300,000 of goods for three consecutive days. The competition for e-commerce live broadcasts is fierce. The experience gained in school has exposed me to a lot of insights in a short period of time, which has given me a big advantage, said Zhang. Qiu Yang said that the training camp is one of the ways of school-enterprise cooperation to cultivate livestreaming talent. Through the integration of resources from both sides, win-win results for the school, enterprise, and students can be achieved. In addition, the school actively carries out cooperation with partners in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan to build a broader platform for students.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the school built a cloud platform for young people in Zhejiang and Taiwan. In 2020, a total of 1,069 youth from Taiwan were organized online and offline to participate in activities including the Zhejiang and Taiwan Student Entrepreneurship Cloud Class and the fifth Yiwu-Taiwan E-commerce Workshop. The college has become an important stage for young people to build their dreams, and has won many honors.

The e-commerce environment in Yiwu has been maintained relatively well, and many emerging things are easier to develop here, said Qiu Yang. He said the Yiwu government has formulated a series of live streaming policies in recent years to support industrial development and provide a lot of support in talent training. As long as you have paid into social security in Yiwu, you can participate in the vocational ability certificate training for free, and the government will give each person a subsidy of RMB 980. To date, 21 sessions of live streaming e-commerce training have been conducted, and more than 810 people have obtained the vocational certificate.

Su Ke, a cartoon fan and animation exhibition planner, tutoring students in his studio in Qingdao on June 8, 2021.

Guarantee Needed

Lu Zeqian has her own theories about the risk of reduced social identity after resignation. Most people care about the issue of a decent job, but in fact, behind the appearance of decency are numerous contraditions and fierce competition, and more people are concerned about self-recognition. Sun Na said that her parents have seen positive changes in her such as closer relationships with family members, and they are quite supportive of her turning to a new career.

Unfortunately, Lu Zeqian and Sun Na are only the lucky few. According to Zhu Di, from the survey results, most young people in new occupations have a relatively high degree of professional identity, while that of their family members towards their new profession are relatively low. This shows that the social environment and social recognition of new occupations have not yet been established. Hobbies at a higher level can also be used to survive. We should not be biased against this (emerging professions), said Zhu.

According to Zhu, because of the temporary imperfection of business development, the salary of some new professions is not as good as that of other industries. We should increase our efforts to continuously promote the development and improvement of new business modes through innovation, so that young people can not only follow their interests and aspirations, but also have better welfare, he said. In 2020, documents such as the Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Supporting Flexible Employment through Multiple Channels and the Action Plan for Skill Training for Millions of Youth were issued to help protect the employment rights and interests of young people in new occupations. Zhu Di said that the continuous announcement of new occupations by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is an affirmation of progress in this area.

Local governments have also taken practical actions to provide better labor protection and security for people in new occupations. She believes that this is a big challenge for governments at all levels, and also a big step forward. The differences of new occupations are quite large. We call on the government and all sectors of society to continue to pay attention to the needs of practitioners and protect their rights and development, said Zhu.
The two separate cases of teenaged girls who went missing last week and were found in shacks
Two local shelters are staging Mothers Day-themed fundraisers that offer the opportunity to purchase gifts with extra kick  the ability to help homeless women and men.

First up is the Love is the Answer online auction, which opens Thursday, April 28, at loveistheanswer.givesmart.com and continues through May 1. The virtual auction benefits Sister Jose Womens Center, a shelter dedicated to serving homeless women.

We are the only womens shelter that accepts women and their pets, and that is a big deal for them. Many women will stay on the streets if they cant bring their pets with them, and that is so dangerous. The number of assaults on homeless women is sad and shocking, said Nicola Hartmann, chief operations officer.

Founded in 2009, the shelter serves women ages 18 and older and houses up to 40 homeless women and their pets nightly; it also offers day services such as showers, laundry, meals and other resources on site at 1050 S. Park Ave. Additionally, the center will offer a summer cooling station beginning May 2 to provide shade, air conditioning and cold drinks from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday for women and their pets in need of respite from the heat.

An average of 70 women each day utilize services at the center. Hartmann said that the numbers continue to increase and that rising rents are resulting in more elderly and first-time homeless women on the streets.

Many of these people are on fixed incomes and they have been evicted. We had one woman in a wheelchair with her cat who is in her late 70s. It is so sad. People show up with everything they have and just dont know what to do. This is a time in life when they should be relaxing and they have to worry about where they are going to stay and where they will end up, said Hartmann.

Hartmann hopes that promoting awareness  about both the upcoming fundraiser about the center itself  will result in answers to the problem of homelessness.

We are always trying to get the word out so people know what we are doing and understand the plight of these women who are often hidden in the community. When you see homeless people, you are more likely to see men; women hide more because they fear for their safety, said Hartmann.

Art show

The community at St. Francis Shelter  stfrancisshelteraz.com  is also working to support the indigent with outreach and events such as the Mothers Day Art Show from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 7, at the St. Francis Community, 601 E. Fort Lowell Rd.

There is a beautiful courtyard in the center of the grounds where the art show will take place. Mothers Day weekend is a great time to buy art and the artists have agreed to donate a percent of sales to St. Francis Shelter because it is such a good cause. This helps everyone, said Karen Smith, coordinator of the event and a member of the board of directors for St. Francis Shelter.

The shelter and food pantry is operated by a community of seven formerly homeless men that provide a variety of ministries. The shelter, which was formerly located at the inactive school on the grounds of Sacred Heart Church at 601 E. Fort Lowell Road., housed up to 100 homeless men nightly before COVID-19 forced its closure in 2020.

The nonprofit has since relocated to the inactive convent on the parish grounds and remodeled the space to provide limited housing for the St. Francis community. It also operates The All Saints House, which provides temporary housing, food, laundry, and amenities for homeless men. Additionally, it is exploring possibilities for a new winter shelter in partnership with the city of Tucson, according to CEO Carl Zawatski.

Other ministries include a twice-weekly food pantry from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays on the grounds of Sacred Heart Church. The food pantry offers free food boxes with meat, fresh vegetables, dairy, nonperishables and other items to anyone in need with no screening necessary.

The ministries are a labor of humanitarian love for those most in need, according to Zawatski.

We know that lives are saved by the work we do and we hope to have another shelter up by winter. We can use all the help we can get with that, whether through financial donations, volunteering, or a new building. There is lots of work that goes into a shelter, said Zawatski.

Contact freelance writer Loni Nannini at ninch2@comcast.net

If you go Shop for mom and give back What: Love is the Answer video presentation and online auction When: Online auction begins April 28 and continues through May 1. Video presentation begins at 3 p.m. May 1 Where: Register online at loveistheanswer.givesmart.com Cost: Participation in the auction and viewing of the video presentation are free; $100 per person for a VIP Celebrate Love ticket, which includes delivery of your choice of a box of red, white or sparkling wine and gourmet popcorn delivered to your door. Tributes and sponsorships are also available. Note: Festivities include a video presentation at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 1, featuring an inside look Sister Jose Womens Center and its dedication to compassion, dignity and respect for homeless women. The event also features a silent auction that begins April 28 and continues through May 1, with all proceeds benefiting the shelter. For information or to make a donation, visit www.srjosewomensshelter.org/spring2022/ or contact Brenda Druke at bdruke@sisterjose.org or (520) 909-3905. Mothers Day Art Show to Benefit St. Francis Community When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 7. Where: In the courtyard at St. Francis Community, 601 E. Fort Lowell Road. Notes: Festivities include an art show featuring original paintings, multimedia pieces and sculptures by local artists; a percentage of proceeds benefit St. Francis Community ministries to aid homeless men. The St. Francis Community Gift Shop will be be open during the event. For information or to make a donation at stfrancisshelteraz.com

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A local store that is affiliated with the United Nations Association has donated $200,000 to UNICEF, with the funds earmarked for relief efforts in Ukraine.

The United Nations Association of Southern Arizona Center and Gift Store donated $40,000 to relief efforts and that was matched up to five times by an anonymous donor bringing the total donation to $200,000. The original donation, which represents the stores largest one-time donation, was raised through store sales and private donations.

Now, perhaps more than ever in recent history, donations to UNICEF are critically needed, said Phyllis Woods, president of the local associations board. We are so grateful to our customers for their generous support of the store as well as to individuals who have made outright donations for this UNICEF gift earmarked for Ukrainian aid.

The center and gift store, at 6242 E. Speedway Blvd. in the Monterey Shopping Center, marks its 47th year as a United Nations Associations chapter store. Since its founding in 1975, the center has donated more than $2 million to UNICEF.

The center operates under a charter with the United Nations Association, an arm of the United Nations. The Southern Arizona chapter is one of more than 200 UNA chapters nationwide. Of those chapters, only three operate a gift store, with the store in Tucson being the largest.

The store exhibits and sells folk arts and crafts including textiles, ceramics, jewelry and clothing. Its purpose is to raise funds and educate the public about the United Nations mission.

Funds raised go to UNICEF, an organization dedicated to providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. Last fiscal year, the local store donated $43,078, which, after other matching funding, had an impact of $198,634.

The nonprofit, tax-free, international fair-trade store, is staffed by dozens of volunteers, and by two full-time employees and one part-time employee.

The gift shop is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

For more information go to www.unasatucson.org or visit its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/UNASACenter.

Gift store The United Nations Association of Southern Arizona Center and Gift Store is located at 6242 E. Speedway in the Monterey Shopping Center. The gift shop is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

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A 44-year-old man was shot and killed during an argument Sunday night in a house on Tucson's east side, police say.

William Hall was at a house in the 6500 block of East Stella Road, near South Wilmot Road, for hours Sunday when police say he got into an argument with its occupants and was shot.

He died later at St. Joseph's Hospital.

The case continues to be investigated, police said in a news release. The case is likely to be presented to the Pima County Attorneys Office for review.

Anyone with information is asked to call 88-CRIME, the county's anonymous tipster line.

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PHOENIX  It is now up to Gov. Doug Ducey to decide whether parents can sue teachers who they believe have usurped their rights.

And the governor also will get the last word on whether school librarians have to tell parents what books their children are checking out.

The party-line votes Monday by the Republican-controlled House to allow lawsuits against educators came over objections from two Democrats, one a current teacher and the other a former teacher, who said they were concerned specifically about HB 2161. Thats the measure by Rep. Steve Kaiser, R-Phoenix, which guarantees parents have access to both school records as well as the surveys that are given to children in the classroom.

But it is the verbiage about lawsuits from parents who may be unhappy with what their children are hearing that they say concerns them.

As sent to Ducey following prior Senate approval, the measure says that schools shall not interfere with or usurp the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education, health care and mental health of their children.

In fact, HB 2161 is even broader than that.

More than teachers affected

It applies that same restriction  and the same right of parent to sue  to any official at any level of government.

And the legislation says once a lawsuit is filed, the burden is then on the public employee to prove both that the action is essential to accomplish a compelling government interest of the highest order and that the action is narrowly tailored and is not otherwise served by a less restrictive means.

Rep. Jennifer Pawlik, D-Chandler, a former elementary school teacher, said educators work to build trust with their students.

As trusted adults, sometimes students share personal information with their teachers, she said.

One part of our job is to keep students safe, she said. And Pawlik pointed out that some of the more onerous provisions of the measure have been removed, like requiring teachers to out students who come to them to say they question their sexual identification.

And she pointed out that state law already requires teachers to report things like suspected incidents of child abuse.

But I still worry that the bill compromises the trust that teachers build with their students, she said, calling it very concerning that parents who believe that someone usurped their rights to decide the beliefs of their children.

Not teachers rights

The measure moves in the wrong direction, said Rep. Judy Schweibert, D-Phoenix, a high school teacher.

As leaders in our legislature, I believe we need to instead be working to ensure that teachers and parents are working together for the benefit of their students, as I think is the general rule, she said. By contrast, Schweibert said HB 2161 sends a message of division.

But Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, reminded colleagues that the whole purpose of the measure is the rights of parents, parents rights to know whats going on with their children in school.

Not teachers rights, he said.

Parents have a right to know every single thing thats being said, taught, looked at, what have you with their kids, because its their kids, Blackman said. As a parent, I want to make sure that I know everything thats going on in that school and everything thats being reported, and everything that that teacher is saying to my child.

Kaiser, in proposing the legislation, said much of the impetus comes from reports about what students were being asked in surveys.

As approved, HB 2161 says that any time there is a survey the school must provide a copy to a students parent, along with a written consent form which would have to be signed prior to the questions being given to their child.

Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, which supports the measure, said in a prepared statement after the vote that it makes sense.

If schools want to know if there are guns in the home, how much money the parents make, or if they get along, they can ask the parents themselves, she said. Surveys would no longer be used as an end-run around parental rights in public schools.

Library access

HB 2439, which also had been previously approved by the Senate before Mondays House vote, deals with a different aspect of parental involvement in education.

It says that, beginning in 2023, every school board must adopt procedures for parents to access the schools library collection of available books and materials.

Also, beginning in January, any time a school purchases new books it must provide a list within 60 days.

But the proposal by Rep. Beverly Pingerelli, R-Peoria, also says that parents are entitled to receive a list of all books and materials borrowed from the school library by their children.

This is an important parental rights bill, she said during Mondays vote. Its a transparency bill that our neighborhood schools need.

Pingerelli, who serve on the governing board of the Peoria Unified School District, said there was a time when it was considered burdensome for schools to post the grades for every quiz and homework assignment.

Now it is simply the standard and no one could imaging going backwards, she said. In a few years, this, too, will be the standard expectation.

The legislation does exempt schools without a full-time library media specialist of both the requirement to post whats available to students as well as provide parents with a list of what their children are borrowing.

That same exception applies to schools that have agreements with public libraries.

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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Pima County is set to consider changes to zoning regulations for marijuana dispensaries.

The changes include opening industrial and commercial zones to potential marijuana cultivation and production sites, according to an April 13 memo County Administrator Jan Lesher sent out that outlines the changes in broad strokes.

The memo also said the county would consider opening rural areas for cultivation as well, something prohibited in the city.

Further, the county is considering treating social equity licenses the same as established medical/recreational dispensaries. That also differs from city rules. The Tucson City Council voted unanimously to determine a special zoning designation for social equity dispensaries, a process that will last six months.

Pima County released the proposed changes in an Instagram post that features a photo of Sean Penn in his role as stoner Jeff Spicoli in the 80s cult classic, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

The proposed changes still have a way to go before becoming official, said Chris Poirier, a county planning official.

He said the plan is expected to go before the countys planning and zoning commission be fore the end of May. How soon it gets to the Board of Supervisors depends on public reaction.

Poirier said the countys strict rules on dispensaries and cultivation/production sites pre-dates the states approval of medical marijuana.

We wrote our zoning rules before medical marijuana was even approved by the voters, Poirier said, referring to passage of Prop. 203 in 2010, which established Arizonas medical marijuana program. So there was a lot of concerns, primarily from our county attorney and some of our law enforcement, that this could be fairly unregulated and potentially problematic.

Those fears turned out to be mostly unfounded, and the countys proposal to allow for more areas to house marijuana-related businesses and industry should bring it to parity with other counties in the state, he said.

And now that the state has established a recreational adult-use program as well, Poirier said that from the countys perspective it makes sense to treat social equity dispensary licenses the same as established dispensaries.

From a zoning standpoint, purely from land use purposes, we dont see any difference between a medical, recreational or social equity in terms of how theyre going to operate, he said. How theyre going to feel, how theyre going to impact a neighborhood, how they impact surrounding land uses. Theyre all the same.

Some cities in the state, including Tucson, have chosen to subject social equity licensees to a special zoning process, citing the unique, recreational-only nature of those licenses.

Prop. 207 legalized recreational adult-use cannabis use in Arizona in 2020 and created 26 additional social equity dispensary licenses. However, medical dispensaries established before 2020 who petitioned to also carry a dual recreational license, lacked the law to create a mechanism for social equity operators to apply for a medical license.

That distinction has created a headache of proposed zoning changes, like the one in the city for new dispensary and cultivation site operators, according to Demitri Downing, CEO and founder of the Marijuana Industry Trade Association.

The whole situation is just patently absurd, Downing said, criticizing the city for creating an undesirable home for social equity applicants, for social equity license holders, which is the situation right now.

Downing praised Pima County, as well as Flagstaff, for creating what he called do no harm regulations that, short of being welcoming to potential marijuana businesses and industry, at least dont muck things up and get in the way.

Its just kind of ridiculous to think that these dispensaries somehow should be rezoned or even more zoned than the others. But you know, Flagstaff and Pima County have shown Tucson the way.

Still Poirier said that, because of the limited amount of dispensary licenses in the state, he doesnt expect more than two or three new dispensary or cultivation sites to pop up, even with the more liberal zoning rules.

Theres not a lot of licenses to begin with, so I think unincorporated Pima County, we would expect anecdotally to see two or three of these things, whether theyre a dispensary or a cultivation or a manufacturing site, Poirier said. I mean, if thats an influx, I guess its more than zero.

Edward Celaya is a cannabis writer and host of the Here Weed Go! podcast. He graduated from Pima Community College and the University of Arizona and has been with the Arizona Daily Star since May 2019.

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Will Musks hands-off ideal for Twitter have broad appeal?

Coming up with $44 billion to buy Twitter was the easy part for Elon Musk. Next comes the real challenge for the worlds richest person: fulfilling his promise to make Twitter better than ever as a lightly regulated haven for free speech. Many of Musks proposed changes reflect his own experience as a high-profile and outspoken Twitter user with more than 85 million followers and a swarm of pesky impersonator accounts. But a key question is how the changes he is prioritizing will be received by the more than 200 million other users who arent getting banned or flooded with spam.

US urges more arms for Ukraine amid fears of expanding war

TORETSK, Ukraine (AP)  The U.S. is pressing its allies to move heaven and earth to keep Kyiv well-supplied with the weapons it needs to repel Russian forces, as Moscow rains fire on eastern and southern Ukraine. In other developments, Poland and Bulgaria say the Kremlin is cutting off natural gas supplies to the two NATO countries starting Wednesday, the first such actions of the war. Moscow has warned that the flow of weapons could trigger a wider war. Those concerns grew in Moldova, where explosions hit the separatist region of Trans-Dniester for a second straight day. Russian forces also hit a strategic railroad bridge in the south. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says that more help for Ukraine is on the way and that the West wants to ensure Russia won't be able to bully its neighbors.

Poland, Bulgaria say Russia suspending natural gas supplies

WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Officials in Poland and Bulgaria say Russia is suspending deliveries of natural gas to their countries starting Wednesday. The cutoffs would be the first since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last month that unfriendly foreign buyers would have to pay in rubles instead of dollars and euros. That demand came after sanctions were levied against Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine. Europe imports large amounts of Russian natural gas for residential heating, electricity generation and the fuel industry. The imports so far have continued despite the war. Polish and Bulgarian authorities say they don't anticipate restrictions on domestic gas consumption due to the cutoffs.

CDC estimates 3 in 4 kids have had coronavirus infections

NEW YORK (AP)  Government researchers say three out of every four U.S. children have been infected with the coronavirus. Among Americans of all ages, more than half had signs of previous infection. The figures come from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Tuesday. It looked in the blood of more than 200,000 Americans for virus-fighting antibodies made from infections, not vaccines. They found that signs of past infection rose dramatically between December and February, when the omicron variant surged. CDC officials stress that the previously infected should still get COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC report came out the same day one vaccine manufacturer, Pfizer, sought permission to offer a booster dose to kids ages 5 to 11  just like people 12 and older can get.

What Musk's past tweets reveal about Twitter's next owner

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Brash, outspoken and sometimes juvenile, Elon Musk has long been a prolific user of Twitter, the social media platform he now hopes to buy. Musks past tweets show how the worlds richest man has used social media to craft his public image as a billionaire unafraid to offend people. They could also provide a glimpse into how Musk might run the platform. For Musk, Twitter has been a tool to promote his enterprises and punch back at critics. His tweeting has also gotten him in trouble with government regulators and led to big fines for Musk and his company Tesla.

Deputies protect school killer after potential juror threat

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  Deputies protecting Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz had to pull him aside and surround him after members of a jury pool became potentially threatening. Judge Elizabeth Scherer said a potential juror had to be removed by bailiffs after he began mouthing possible threats toward Cruz. Others also started acting threatening, so deputies moved in to protect Cruz. The entire 70-person panel was then dismissed. Scherer said they became belligerent in the hallway. Cruz is facing a possible death sentence for murdering 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland four years ago.

Oklahoma governor signs ban on nonbinary birth certificates

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed a bill prohibiting the use of nonbinary gender markers on state birth certificates. The first-term Republican signed the bill Tuesday. Experts say some states only offer male or female gender options on birth certificates, but Oklahoma is the first to write the prohibition into law. It follows a flap last year over the state health agencys agreement in a civil case to allow a nonbinary gender option. The birth certificate in that case was issued to an Oklahoma-born Oregon resident. People who are nonbinary do not identify with traditional male or female gender assignments.

TSA: Airport security finds loaded gun in Cawthorn's bag

Officials say a loaded gun was found in North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorns carry-on bag at an airport security checkpoint. It's the second time in a little more than a year that a weapon has been found in his possession at an airport in his home state. Transportation Security Administration spokesperson R. Carter Langston said that when Cawthorn went through a Charlotte Douglas International Airport checkpoint with the gun Tuesday morning, TSA officers notified Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police. Police say Cawthorn acknowledged that the gun was his and he was issued a citation for possession of a dangerous weapon on city property.

Harris positive for COVID-19, Biden not a 'close contact'

WASHINGTON (AP)  Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for COVID-19, the White House says. It's a sharp new reminder of the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to revert to pre-pandemic normalcy. Neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a close contact of Harris in recent days. The White House says Harris has exhibited no symptoms. After consulting with her physicians, Harris is taking Paxlovid, the Pfizer antiviral pill. Harris will isolate at her residence but continue to work remotely, and will only return to the White House once she tests negative for the virus.

Delta to begin paying flight attendants during boarding

Delta Air Lines will start paying flight attendants during the time that passengers are boarding. That's a first for a major U.S. airline. Flight attendants in the U.S. generally don't begin getting paid by the hour until the doors close after boarding. Delta said Tuesday that the change will take effect in June, and it comes on top of pay raises for flight attendants. The pay increase comes as Delta faces another attempt by unions to organize its non-union flight attendants. Delta said the new boarding pay would be on top of 4% raises that it granted to flight attendants last month.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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An Afghan woman shows handicrafts at a crafts market in Bamiyan city, central Afghanistan, March 19, 2022. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

The U.S. government has frozen nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars assets of Afghanistan's central bank, which has worsened the war-torn country's already fragile economy.

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Bazaarcha-e-Hunar is a popular crafts market run by women in Bamiyan province. Like every other business in Afghanistan, the bazaar is struggling.

The market selling handicrafts made by local women has been losing popularity as tourism has dwindled to almost nothing.

"The pandemic and political change have ruined my business," trader Humira Ahmadi told Xinhua recently.

In the wake of U.S.-led forces defeat in Afghansitan and Taliban's taking over of the country's power last August, the U.S. government has frozen nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars assets of Afghanistan's central bank, which has worsened the war-torn country's already fragile economy.

U.S. president Joe Biden issued a decree in February, allocating 3.5 billion dollars of the frozen sum to the 9/11 victims' families and earmarking another 3.5 billion dollars to humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.

Photo taken on March 19, 2022 shows a crafts market in Bamiyan city, central Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

"I made up to 150,000 afghani (1,726 U.S. dollars) in past years. Now I am lucky to make 500 afghani each week currently," Ahmadi said. "Before the political change 50 women worked here, nowadays there are only about 10 women. There used to be nearly 100 women's associations in Bamiyan but now more than 500 women have lost their jobs and income," Ahmadi said.

Sabira, a 25-year-old woman who sells handicrafts with her mother at the bazaar complained about the gloomy business.

"In the past, we had more tourists. People came from all over the world, but not now. Local people buy some of our products but it is not as good as before," she said.

"The change in our business is obvious. We had more customers last year and the year before. Our business was lucrative and we could earn 1,000 to 5,000 afghani each day, but nowadays I find it hard to earn 200," the handicraft seller said.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  LGBTQ rights advocates called Tuesday for a Kansas state lawmaker to be formally censured after she publicly said she didn't want to share the women's restrooms at the Statehouse with a transgender colleague.

The Kansas House's top Republican called GOP state Rep. Cheryl Helmers comments unfortunate and Democrats condemned them. The state's leading LGBTQ rights lobbyist saw a new level of toxic bigotry in Helmer's emailed remarks to a University of Kansas student and subsequent interviews about Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Byers.

The furor over Helmer's remarks shadowed GOP lawmakers' attempt to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a bill that would ban transgender athletes from girls' and women's K-12 and college sports.

We know this has been going on in offices, and back rooms and conversations since the day I was elected, Byers said Tuesday. The shocking part is that it came out, that someone actually said it.

Helmer stood firmly by her comments while defending a bill she co-sponsored that would make it a felony for doctors to provide hormones or do gender transition surgery for children under 18. She also said she worried about the safety of young children who visit the Statehouse and decried what she called an in your face approach to promoting transgender rights from Byers, the state's first elected transgender lawmaker.

The 70-year-old Republican lawmaker also said she tried to make a point when she mistakenly entered a mens restroom in the House in early 2021. The men, she said, were surprised and upset, so she asked them how they would like it if a woman regularly used their restroom. Pressed on the issue Monday evening, she said parents shouldnt be allowed to change their childs gender.

You cant lop a penis off and then expect, you know, a little boy to now live his life, she said. Hell be in regret for the rest of his life.

Supporters of the bill on transgender athletes have said they want to preserve fair competition and are not attacking transgender girls and women. LGBTQ rights advocates said Helmer's comments prove anti-trans bigotry is behind the measure.

The Kansas Senate voted 28-10 on Tuesday to override Kellys veto of the transgender athletes bill. A House vote will follow, but it wasnt likely this week.

Republicans in at least 15 states have enacted bans on transgender athletes, and several have outlawed gender-affirming medical care for children. In Michigan, a conservative state senator accused a Democratic colleague of wanting to groom and sexualize young children, prompting a response that went viral on social media.

Helmer is a retired Wichita school counselor and nursing instructor, a conservative Republican elected in 2018 to represent a district south of the state's largest city. She participates in rodeo barrel racing and has a sign in her office that says, My horse is smarter than your honor student.

Byers, 59, is a retired Wichita high school music teacher and band director who was elected to the House in 2020.

In her email Sunday to 25-year-old University of Kansas graduate student Brenan Riffel, Helmer wrote: Now, personally I do not appreciate the huge transgender female who is now in our restrooms in the Capitol. Riffel, who describes themself as trans-feminine and uses the pronouns they/them, released the email to the Kansas Reflector, a nonprofit news provider.

Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, called on the Kansas House to censure Helmer, something that would take a formal complaint from another lawmaker and a two-thirds majority vote.

It is a new level of toxic bigotry that I have not seen in this building before," Witt said.

Equality Kansas later sent a letter to House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., a Kansas City-area Republican, demanding that Helmer be punished. The speaker can strip a House member of committee assignments, but Ryckman noted that committees no longer are meeting for the year.

Ryckman said that if another lawmakers files a complaint, the House will form a committee to investigate, adding, She will be held accountable by her constituents.

Byers said several lawmakers have moved away from her in the elevator, and that the Kansas Republican Partys last platform, drafted in 2018, declares that, We believe God created two genders, male and female.

In her email to Riffel, Helmer wrote, A doctor can inject meds and dilute but cannot destroy what God has done in the perfection of the HUMAN BEING.

Riffel said in an interview that they weren't surprised by Helmer's response, considering what it would take" to sponsor the bill banning gender-affirming care for trans youth.

The rhetoric against the LGBTQ community has been the same for years, that were a threat to society; were going to hurt people, said Riffel. I just want to go about and just be myself."

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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After downgrading the risk level of many of the world's top destinations last week in conjunction with an overhaul of its travel assessments, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added just one location to its "high" risk category on Monday.

The tiny Caribbean island of Saba -- a special municipality of the Netherlands known for its rugged hiking terrain and having the world's shortest commercial runway -- was moved up to Level 3.

The Level 3 "high" risk category is now the top rung in terms of risk level. Level 2 is considered "moderate" risk, and Level 1 is "low" risk. Saba had been at Level 1.

Level 4 is now reserved only for special circumstances. Under the new system, no destinations have been placed at Level 4 so far.

The overhaul comes against a backdrop of US government agencies and the public continuing to react and adapt to an ever-changing pandemic -- and sometimes in sharp disagreement.

Last week, a federal judge struck down the federal mask mandate for transportation. That sent off a quick chain of reactions, and the CDC has asked the Department of Justice to appeal. In the meantime, masks are largely optional for now on planes, trains and public transportation. (Some airports and transit systems have their own masking rules).

Level 3

In the CDC's new system, the Level 3 "high" risk category applies to destinations that have had more than 100 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

Saba is hardly alone on this level, however. Much of Europe is still lodged there with the summer travel season not too far away. On April 25, those popular nations included:

 France

 Germany

 Greece

 Ireland

 Italy

 Portugal

 Spain

 United Kingdom

It's not just European favorites that find themselves at Level 3. Other popular travel spots around the world at high risk include:

 Brazil

 Canada

 Egypt

 Malaysia

 Mexico

 South Korea

 Thailand

There are almost 120 destinations at Level 3 this week, a small drop from the previous week and accounting for just over half of roughly 235 places total monitored by the CDC.

The CDC advises that you be up-to-date with your Covid-19 vaccines before traveling to a Level 3 destination. "Up-to-date" includes not only the full initial vaccinations but any boosters for which you're eligible.

The CDC does not include the United States in its list of advisories, but on its color-coded map of the world, the CDC had it at Level 3 on Monday.

Level 2

Destinations carrying the "Level 2: Covid-19 Moderate" designation reported 50 to 100 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days. Four destinations were moved to this level on Monday. They are:

 El Salvador

 Indonesia

 Oman

 United Arab Emirates

All four of these places had been at Level 3 last week. The CDC had only 13 destinations worldwide at the moderate risk level on Monday.

You can view the CDC's risk levels for any global destination on its travel recommendations page.

In its broader travel guidance, the CDC has recommended avoiding all international travel until you are fully vaccinated.

If you're concerned about a health situation not related to Covid-19, check here.

Level 1

To be in "Level 1: Covid-19 Low," a destination must have 49 or fewer new cases per 100,000 residents over the past 28 days. Three destinations were added on April 25:

 Armenia

 Azerbaijan

 Libya

The drop was most impressive for Libya, which had been at high-risk Level 3. Armenia and Azerbaijan, both in the mountainous Caucasus region where Asia and Europe meet, had been at Level 2.

This level is dominated by destinations in Africa, including Kenya, Rwanda and Senegal. Level 1 had about 55 entries total this week.

Unknown

Finally, there are destinations for which the CDC has an "unknown" risk because of a lack of information. Usually, but not always, these are small, remote places or places with ongoing warfare or unrest.

There was one new entry to this category on Monday: The Gambia, a small nation in West Africa.

Attracting their fair share of visitors in this category are the Azores, Cambodia and Nicaragua. The CDC advises against travel to these places precisely because the risks are unknown.

A medical expert weighs in on risk levels

Transmission rates are "one guidepost" for travelers' personal risk calculations, according to CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen.

We've moved into "a phase in the pandemic where people need to make their own decisions based on their medical circumstances as well as their risk tolerance when it comes to contracting Covid-19," said Wen, who is an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

There are other factors to weigh in addition to transmission rates, according to Wen.

"Another is what precautions are required and followed in the place that you're going and then the third is what are you planning to do once you're there.

"Are you planning to visit a lot of attractions and go to indoor bars? That's very different from you're going somewhere where you're planning to lie on the beach all day and not interact with anyone else. That's very different. Those are very different levels of risk."

Vaccination is the most significant safety factor for travel since unvaccinated travelers are more likely to become ill and transmit Covid-19 to others, Wen said.

And it's also important to consider what you would do if you end up testing positive away from home. Where will you stay and how easy will it be to get a test to return home?

The-CNN-Wire

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Top image: Windwardside, Saba, Dutch West Indies. (zenzen!/Adobe Stock)
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. expressed confidence Monday that tribes would prevail in their latest legal battle before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding tribal sovereignty.

Hoskin made his comments while speaking virtually to local media regarding oral arguments scheduled for Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case with both tribal and state sovereignty implications.

We feel confident in our position, Hoskin said. We look forward to another victory before the Supreme Court of the United States, but in the meantime well continue to do that vital work of governing and creating a criminal justice system that is fair for everyone.

The case before the Supreme Court is known as State of Oklahoma v. Victor Manuel Castro-Huerta.

Last year, the state of Oklahoma appealed a state appellate court ruling in Castro-Huertas case, as well as appellate rulings in at least 30 other cases, regarding whether the state still has the authority to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians within Indian Country and whether the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma should be overruled entirely.

The Supreme Court in January agreed to take up the jurisdiction issue but turned away a request to consider overturning McGirt in its entirety.

The landmark McGirt ruling, issued in July 2020, determined that the Muscogee Nations reservation was never dissolved by Congress and that the state has no jurisdiction over major criminal offenses committed by American Indians within the boundaries of that reservation.

State courts have since interpreted the decision to extend to the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Quapaw and Seminole reservations and to include cases involving American Indian victims of major crimes committed by non-Indians.

Hoskin, who directed nearly all of his comments at Gov. Kevin Stitt and his attempts to overturn the McGirt ruling, said a ruling for the state would turn back the clock on jurisdictional law across Indian Country.

I dont believe he will be successful because, again, the law is on our side; the facts are on our side, Hoskin said. It would be refreshing if the governor would join us in doing the constructive and difficult, at times, work of governing and crafting a criminal justice system that is fair for everyone.

In the Castro-Huerta case, the state of Oklahoma is appealing a ruling by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in a McGirt-related case that determined that Congress has generally delegated all criminal jurisdiction for major crimes involving American Indians to the federal government when the crime occurs within the reservation boundaries of a tribal nation.

State officials in court filings claim that federal law does not preempt state criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians in Indian Country.

Oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The case has drawn interest from a variety of sources.

In addition to a friend-of-the-court filing from the Five Tribes of Eastern Oklahoma, others backing the status quo include a group of former U.S. attorneys, federal Indian law scholars, the Navajo Nation and U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar on behalf of the U.S. government.

Those backing the state of Oklahoma include the city of Tulsa, the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police, the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and the state of Texas.

Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill, during her comments to the media on Monday, talked about state claims that crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians on reservation land would go unpunished if the state were not permitted to file charges.

Hill quoted from the tribes friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court, where it cited only a 36% clearance rate by state prosecutors in violent crime cases in 2019.

Regardless of the states failure to protect Indian victims, the law is still clear: These questions of sovereignty and jurisdiction are the responsibility of Congress, and the United States has exclusive jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians within a reservation, Hill said.

October 2021 video: Hoskin speaks about citys response to McGirt

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OKLAHOMA CITY  Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill on Monday that is designed to bring a large manufacturing facility to the MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor.

House Bill 4455 would provide up to $698 million in rebates based on capital investment and job creation.

Last week, the House passed the measure by a vote of 81-17. The Senate followed suit, passing it by 41-5.

On behalf of the business community, all of us at the Tulsa Regional Chamber applaud Gov. Stitt for signing HB 4455 and for the Legislatures strong support of this bill, Chamber President and CEO Mike Neal said in a statement.

Their continued determination is making Oklahoma one of the most business-friendly states in our nation.

The incentive package will pay dividends for years to come, Neal said.

In an era when the national and even international competition for jobs is fiercer than ever, this incentive package will keep Oklahoma highly competitive, and for that we are most grateful, Neal said.

The state reportedly is trying to lure a Panasonic electric battery plant to the MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor.

HB 4455 calls for a 3.4% state rebate on qualified capital expenditures with a minimum investment of $3.6 billion and a maximum of $4.5 billion. The rebates also require meeting certain employment minimums and other conditions over five years.

The Legislature would front-load $698 million into the Large-scale Economic Activity and Development  or LEAD  Fund, which was created in the state treasury by HB 4455. The money would come from state savings.

The rebate program would close by July 1, 2032.

Critics of the measure in the Senate said it did not help struggling mom-and-pop businesses.

Supporters said the program will create jobs for people who pay income, sales and other taxes.

Supporters also cited a need for the state to diversify its economy.

Gov. Stitt discusses economic incentive 'kicker' to land 'largest factory investment in state's history'

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Oklahomans are closer to having their medical records digitally follow them throughout the state to improve care, closing a contentious chapter in the states quest for health information.

MyHealth Access Network  a Tulsa-based nonprofit health information exchange  has agreed to operate as the states designated health information exchange, or HIE.

MyHealth will operate on a platform built by Orion Health, a global technology company that won a competitive bid against MyHealth in late 2020 to deliver a statewide HIE. The Tulsa nonprofit later unsuccessfully challenged the states bid process.

Health information exchanges are hubs for medical records that allow members, such as hospitals and clinics, secure electronic access to a persons medical history. Advantages also are derived from the opportunity for researchers to analyze vast medical data to drive public health decisions.

MyHealth, Orion Health and the Oklahoma Health Care Authority  all lauded the agreement.

MyHealth has been in Oklahoma for more than a decade connecting and delivering services but has never really had a strong partnership with the state before, which has presented a challenge, frankly, compared to our peer states, said Dr. David Kendrick, founder and CEO of MyHealth.

Under the agreement, MyHealth is named as the states health information exchange, keeps its governance for existing members intact, and will upgrade to Orions software, which the OHCA purchased in the earlier bid process.

The technology part and to an extent the data connectivity part is much easier than the governance and the trust, Kendrick said.

Under the agreement, the state will get three seats added to MyHealths current 18-person board of directors.

Carter Kimble, executive director of the states existing health information exchange, formerly known as OKSHINE, or the Oklahoma State Health Information Network, said the states goal in the bid process was to acquire top-notch technology  not governance or administration.

Kimble said the new partnership is an acknowledgement of that second piece. He described Orions technology as incredible but like a car without gas if providers dont participate.

We think weve been able to kind of thread a needle and get state-of-the-art technology just with the purchasing and expenditure power of the state now partnered up with a trusted, non-state expert and executor to come execute and start our vision here, Kimble said.

He hopes all hospital data interactions will be firing full bore in the system by the end of the calendar year.

Kendrick estimates that MyHealth already had 80% to 85% of health care activity in Oklahoma in its system before the partnership with the state, which he estimates can pretty easily increase the percentage to 95% within 12 to 18 months.

He added that naming MyHealth as the states health information exchange allows federal dollars to flow here in support of HIE efforts.

After standing up the first priorities  such as hospitals  future HIE projects will center on long-term care and rural health.

Kimble said many long-term care entities are hungry for this information but arent technologically equipped to receive or use the data in a meaningful way.

He said home health and telemedicine also are wildly ripe for the transformational opportunity that information about specific patients provides.

For example, some home health providers use tablets to take down notes when they go into a patients home. But where do those notes go? And with accurate information about patients history, telemedicine can become a more personalized experience.

Usually a telemedicine visit  if youre not an established patient  is a patient history and tell me what you know, Kimble said. And then its best guess from there.

Well now were going to be able to equip those telemedicine visits.

Kendrick credited the state for taking a step back, listening to community stakeholders, and then acting on that feedback to help foster the partnership.

We were able to work out a more productive pathway for everybody, he said.

MyHealth wont be paid more than $2.6 million in fiscal year 2022, which ends June 30, according to the contract, which was signed in mid-February.

The state in December 2020 awarded Orion Health a $49.8 million contract to create statewide interoperability of health data in the OKSHINE project.

In the bidding process, MyHealth had submitted a best and final offer of $41.7 million  $8.1 million less than Orion. The nonprofit says it later offered an unsolicited bid of $19.9 million after the state publicized a Medicaid change that essentially allowed MyHealth to cut costs in half without reducing deliverables.

The OHCAs choice of Orion drew concern from an arm of the federal government and 13 major entities in Oklahoma  all of which expressed support for MyHealth.

The Tulsa-based nonprofit filed a protest with the state alleging that the bid process was heavily flawed and arbitrary, but the states purchasing director turned it away as without merit.

Kimble later said the states competitive bid targeted modernizing and connecting disparate health record repositories within the government, not competing with MyHealth.

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Generations of students in Hanoi have provided free meals to disadvantaged people for nearly ten years.

These meals come from leftovers from restaurants, hotels, and households.

Every day, leftover food in families refrigerators or restaurants is often thrown away," said Pham Thu Uyen, an eleventh-grade student from Amsterdam High School in Hanoi, operator of Hanoi Food Rescue Season 10.

"Realizing this issue, we started our project."

'Food Rescue' mission keeps going on

Beginning as a result of a contest hosted by a university, the Hanoi Food Rescue project is already in its tenth year.

The group consists of more than 40 students from high schools in Hanoi.

From Friday to Monday every week, they collect leftovers from restaurants, hotels, and canteens, which they contact and ask for permission to provide leftover food for the needy.

Uyen said the remnants are still fresh so it is such a waste to throw them away.

Therefore, these young people proactively contact hotels, restaurants, and canteens around the capital city to collect leftover food to prepare meals for poor patients and those in need.

In addition, such food is contained in eco-friendly boxes.

Once a part of the project, each member has realized that they have to do something to save food and increase community awareness of the issue, Uyen added.

Recalling a trip to a vocational training center for disabled children to give them food, students from the project talked to and encouraged the kids.

After trips like that, Uyen and her friends found out there are so many people in need of food while they have full meals every day but waste food sometimes.

After the fourth COVID-19 outbreak that hit the country last April, the project has restarted.

More than meals

Aside from giving food to the disadvantaged, the Hanoi Food Rescue aims to raise community awareness of food waste by hosting two annual programs Tet (Lunar New Year) Donation and The Hunger Games.

For the Tet Donation, the group calls on people to donate food, clothes, and books to the poor kids.

During the pandemic, everyone could register to donate through an online form and the organizers went to registered addresses to get the donated items.

Moreover, the group also hosted a garage sale to fundraise for the charity event at Sword Lake Pedestrian Street. Each item sold was a gift for disadvantaged children.

Through the program, more than 3.5 metric tons of food, candies, clothes, books, and notebooks were given to the poor students at Tan Son 1 Elementary School in Luc Ngan District, Bac Giang Province, 50km east of Hanoi, according to Uyen.

The group also 'rescued' agricultural products stuck at border gates.

Besides, they have called for donations to those who lost their jobs, or who lack food or medicine, because of severe COVID-19 outbreaks.

Ngo Ha Chau, founder of Hanoi Food Rescue, is proud of the students who continue her project. They have completed their mission very well, not only running but also expanding the project, Chau said. I expect that they will further expand the project but whatever they do, they should not forget the key purpose of providing food to the needy in Hanoi and more people."

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BAGHDAD, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Three Iraqi soldiers and two Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Tuesday during clashes between the two sides, the Iraqi military said.

Iraq's army force carried out a raid on an IS hideout in an orchard in the Tarmiyah area, some 30 km north of the capital Baghdad, killing two IS militants including a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

A soldier was killed and an officer wounded during the raid, the statement added.

In the western province of Anbar, two soldiers were killed and another wounded in the early morning when the IS militants attacked an army outpost near the international highway outside the town of Heet, some 160 km west of Baghdad, an army source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Over the past few months, Iraqi security forces have carried out operations against the extremist militants to crack down on their intensified activities.

The security situation in Iraq has been improving since the defeat of the IS in 2017. However, the IS remnants have melted into urban centers, deserts, and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. 
LONDON -- A miniature book of poems written by a 13-year-old Charlotte Bronte will return to her windswept Yorkshire home after it was bought for $1.25 million by a British consortium, the buyers said Monday.

Smaller than a playing card, the 15-page manuscript dated 1829 is a collection of 10 unpublished poems that was unveiled in New York last week after more than a century hidden away.

Titled "A Book of Ryhmes (sic) by Charlotte Bronte, Sold by Nobody, and Printed by Herself," the volume is hand-stitched in its original brown paper covers.

Friends of the National Libraries, a British literary charity, confirmed it had raised the $1.25 million, meaning that "inch for inch, (it) is possibly the most valuable literary manuscript ever to be sold".

It will be donated to the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Yorkshire, where the "Jane Eyre" novelist grew up with her siblings including young sisters Emily and Anne.

Ann Dinsdale, the museum's chief curator, thanked all the British benefactors who came together to fund the purchase after the charity was offered first refusal by the anonymous sellers in New York.

"It is always emotional when an item belonging to the Bronte family is returned home," she said in a statement.

"And this final little book coming back to the place it was written, when it had been thought lost, is very special for us."

The book had not been seen in public since November 1916, when it sold at auction in New York for $520.

It was the last of more than two dozen miniature works created by Charlotte Bronte known to remain in private hands.

Along with their brother Branwell, Charlotte, Emily and Anne entertained themselves by weaving intricate stories set in a sophisticated imaginary world.

The sisters went on to write some of the best-loved novels in English literature, including Emily's "Wuthering Heights" and Anne's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".

Henry Wessells of New York-based James Cummins Bookseller told AFP last week that the private owner had found the manuscript "in an envelope tucked into a book".

"It's wonderful to look at it inside and soon the world will be able to see it," Wessells said.

In December, the same charity acting for UK libraries purchased a collection of books and manuscripts, including seven of Charlotte's miniatures, for 15 million ($19.5 million).
Four grade-eight schoolgirls from the north-central Vietnamese province of Nghe An drowned while bathing in a local lake on Monday afternoon, an official confirmed, adding that their bodies were found in the evening of the same day.

The deadly incident happened at around 4:00 pm on the day, according to Ngo Sy Cuong, chairman of Nghia Loc Commune in Nghia Dan District, Nghe An.

A group of six local eighth graders went for a bath at a lake in the commune around that time, Cuong said.

All six children were swept into the deep water and sank, but only two of them managed to escape.

Rescuers came shortly after, before recovering all four bodies by 6:00 pm on the day.

The lake where the students drowned is a two-meter-wide irrigation reservoir for agricultural production in Nghia Loc Commune, with many parts of it as deep as more than three meters, prompting local authorities to erect warning signs against swimming there.

More than 2,000 children aged under 16 years in Vietnam lose their lives every year due to drowning, the World Health Organization cited an estimate in 2020.

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Here are todays leading news stories:\

Politics

-- Vietnam's Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong highly valued the recent progress in the Vietnam - U.S. relations while meeting with U.S. Ambassador Marc E. Knapper in Hanoi on Monday, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Society

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport announced on Monday that a road running parallel to Vo Van Kiet Boulevard in District 1 would be open to traffic on Tuesday to help alleviate traffic congestion in the area.

-- Hundreds of firefighters were mobilized to put out a big fire that broke out at a yarn factory covering about 4,000 square meters at Phu Cuong Industrial Cluster in southern Dong Nai Province on Monday evening.

-- Ho Chi Minh City-based Medical Biomaterial & Pharmaceutical JSC has been fined VND230 million (US$10,000) and required to dispose of three types of medicine due to quality violations.

-- Four eighth-grade schoolgirls from north-central Nghe An Province drowned while bathing in a local lake on Monday afternoon, an official confirmed, adding that their bodies were found in the evening of the same day.

-- The 25R/07L runway of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City was reopened on Tuesday following a two-month closure, marking the completion of a major runway upgrade project at the airdrome.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Court has sentenced six men aged 22 to 29 to between seven and 24 years in prison for robbing commuters by disguising themselves as police officers in 2019.

-- Multiple restaurants and bars in downtown Ho Chi Minh City were recently fined for violating operation time rules and selling banned products such as nitrous oxide balloons (laughing balloons) and shisha, the District 1 administration has confirmed.

Business

-- Vietnams BB Group and Quantum Group from the U.S. signed on Monday an agreement to jointly develop a gas industry center and a seaport in north-central Quang Tri Province, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

World News

-- "Elon Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc for $44 billion cash on Monday in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world's richest person," Reuters reported.

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A US$3 million road running parallel to a boulevard in downtown Ho Chi Minh City was opened to traffic on Tuesday morning in order to alleviate congestion in the area.

The road, measuring 615 meters long and seven meters wide, lies along the section of Vo Van Kiet Boulevard bounded by Nguyen Thai Hoc Street and Pasteur Street in District 1.

Aside from building the road, the developer has also added a lighting system, trees, and sewers as well as renovated the embankment.

Costing VND70 billion ($3 million), the road will contribute to the reduction of regular traffic jams at Vo Van Kiet - Ky Con Intersection, Tran Quang Lam, director of the municipal Department of Transport, said during the inauguration.

It is also part of the preparations for the organization of a bus rapid transit (BRT) service and waterbus route No. 2, Lam continued.

The inauguration of the road running parallel to Vo Van Kiet Boulevard in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, April 26, 2022. Photo: Le Phan / Tuoi Tre

Along with the inauguration of the road, the transport department announced the traffic directions for commuters on this route.

Accordingly, vehicles are allowed to travel in the direction from Nguyen Thai Hoc Street to Pasteur Street.

Trucks with a transport volume of more than 2.5 metric tons are not allowed to travel on this road, while parking is also banned.

On the same morning, the citys transport department opened Dang Thuc Vinh Street to traffic in outlying Hoc Mon District following a four-year renovation, which cost about VND700 billion ($30 million).

Measuring 5.3 kilometers long and 30 meters wide, the expanded road is expected to boost connectivity in the district as well as neighboring provinces of Ho Chi Minh City.

Dang Thuc Vinh Street in Hoc Mon District, Ho Chi Minh City is open to traffic following a four-year renovation, April 26, 2022. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

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A young woman has been fined for taking her hands off the handlebars of her motorbike to perform a hand fan dance while riding on a street in Hanoi.

D.T.H., a 23-year-old woman from the north-central province of Nghe An, was required to pay a VND8.8 million (US$386) fine over such a lawbreaking act, the local Department of Public Security cited a decision issued by police in Bac Tu Liem District on Monday.

Earlier, local police had received a video of a young woman letting go of both hands while riding a motorbike on a street in front of Hoa Binh Park in Bac Tu Liem District, Hanoi.

She was carrying another woman but did the hand fan dance at the same time.

A traffic police team of Bac Tu Liem District was then sent to verify the video.

On April 5, police officers questioned H. and she admitted her violations.

Police officers fined H. for taking both hands off handlebars while riding a motorbike and having no driver's license.

Pursuant to current regulations, motorbike riders will be fined VND6-8 million ($263-351) each if they take both their hands off the handlebars of motorbikes while riding the vehicles.

In addition, their driver's licenses will be revoked for two to four months.

If violators repeat the offense, their driver's licenses will be withdrawn for three to five months and their vehicles will be confiscated.

Furthermore, they will be fined VND1-2 million ($44-88) each for having no driver's licenses.

Hand fan dance, in which dancers move their hands quickly and flexibly like dancing with fans, is a trend among the youth in Hanoi.

While many people think the dance is offensive, many others feel excited and try to learn to do it.

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The life of foreigners in Vietnam will be featured through a humorous lens in a TV film series, Early Risers, which will first be aired locally before being introduced internationally, its producer has said.

Early Risers is the first English-language TV film project funded and produced by Ho Chi Minh City-based Ace1 Picture Corporation, which will coordinate with the U.S.-based Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for international release of the film.

The TV series will have eight to ten episodes, 30 minutes long each, depicting the life of foreigners in Vietnam starting in 2008, when the country began to be home to many foreigners who came to live and work.

The film conveys the spirit of hospitality and the will to better themselves of Ho Chi Minh City residents in particular and Vietnamese people in general.

The screenplay of the TV series was written by Vincent Ngo, a Vietnamese-American screenwriter, who is the author of the 2008 blockbuster movie 'Hancock' (in 2008), which once earned US$625 million worth of global box-office revenue.

Besides Vincent Ngo, the Early Risers project production team includes experienced filmmakers in Hollywood, including producer Peter Toumasis, director Zach Merck, and post-production manager Christos Voutsinas, who just won the 2022 Oscar Award for Best Film Editing for the megahit 'Dune.'

Early Risers is expected to air on the VTV9 television channel in Vietnam early next year before being introduced to the global film market.

A foreign filmmaking crew of 11 people has flown to Ho Chi Minh City to coordinate with their Vietnamese colleagues to shoot the first scenes of the TV series.

The production will be joined by many international actors, including C.S. Lee, Kristian Bruun, Amara Miller, and Omar Elba, along with their Vietnamese colleagues such as Phi Vu, Dat Phan, Paul Yen, and Kathy Uyen, among others.

Producer Peter Toumasis said he received the script by Vincent Ngo three years ago and he has now started working on it after a period of preparation.

The TV series will not only tell the stories of Vietnam but also introduce Vietnamese culture and people to the world, said Chieu Man Tuan, director of Ace1 Picture Corporation.

After producing the first two episodes of the TV series, we will introduce them to some other countries, in the hope that Early Risers will help Vietnamese films expand their shares in the international market, Tuan said.

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Bluey has won legions of fans across the world as a show that appeals to both kids and parents, but when it was first pitched, industry executives didnt quite know what to make of it.

Creator Joe Brumm had returned home to Australia having worked on Peppa Pig when he turned his attention to an idea based his parenting of two daughters.

Ludo Studios co-founder Daley Pearson tells TV Tonight Brumm wanted to creat an animation for pre-schoolers, which tapped into his talent for telling adult stories too.

Joe created a one minute short of Bluey The Weekend. That was Dad pushing Bluey on a swing and Bluey went all the way around. It had a lot of standards and practices issues, he recalls.

We were literally told by everyone. We dont know if this is Peppa Pig or Family Guy. For about a year that went on. We stupidly answered both -but that doesnt exist.

A Trojan horse show for kids that was really for parents

We pitched it as co-viewing  a Trojan horse show for kids that was really for parents. It was a kids show that parents could put up with and love too. Then we realised that we had to make it to prove it to people.

Saying your show is co-viewing is kind of like saying your comedy is really funny.

The answer was to produce something people could watch: a 6 minute pilot which was screened at the Asian Animation Summit in 2016. The reaction was instant.

At that time, there was a real hero with ABC called Michael Carrington. He was running kids at the time and gave us the license fee, to then unlock Screen Australia finance, which hadnt been done for a long time in Kids, Pearson continues.

Both ABC and BBC Studios boarded the series, while Pearson also credits Screen Queensland for their support of the Brisbane-based production company.

Screen Queensland were particularly helpful

Screen Queensland were particularly helpful to people helping themselves. Charlie (Aspinwall, co-founder) and I had real help from them. I always think we would have figure out how to do it, but we would be 10 years behind. Their small encouragement of support rolled us into bigger things.

For Pearson Bluey is the icing on a deep cake. His previous credits include live action comedies The Strange Calls, #7DaysLater and Robbie Hood, plus animation The Strange Chores. Its success is a reminder that persistance pays off.

I worked as a debt collector at GE, I worked at a 24 hour convenience store at Coolum Beach which is where I started to write The Strange Calls. It was overnight, Id literally be sitting there from 12 till 5am at a small, coastal hamlet at night. That opened up being able to do my first series through a number of lovely people helping me like Debbie Lee (previously ABC), and then eventually, Hoodlum.

I knew if I did film or TV jobs, Id probably get fired or something

I knew if I did film or TV jobs, Id probably get fired or something, because I really wanted to make my own stuff. So I just made a lot of shorts with friends as possible.

Blueys success keeps accruing. In addition to stellar ratings, best ever iview figures, global merchandising, live stage play, AirBnB house, Disney+ global broadcasting there are awards from the International Emmy Awards, AACTA Awards, Logie Awards, Kidscreen Awards, Banff World Media Festival Rockie Awards, Australian Directors Guild Awards, Screen Producers Australia Awards, ARIAs and more.

We opened the Ludo Studios animation studio to make Bluey. For half of the (staff) it was their first job out of uni. So there was a lot of nail biting, making that first episode. Is it going to be terrible or is it going to be okay? And everyone led by Joe and Rich, whos now the director, just rose to the challenge.

I was always told in swimming to concentrate on your own lane.

I think being in Brisbane enabled that. We had no distractions. I was always told in swimming to concentrate on your own lane. I think because we were in Brisbane, we had no option but to make it work. The quality kept rising up, the animation team talent kept getting better and better. The producers Sam Moore and Charlie Aspinwall just kept rising to the challenge. We really became our own barometer of success. I think that helped a lot. We werent comparing ourselves to any other show.

Each episode takes 4 months to complete, and while they are produced concurently, a season takes years to complete. And while Bluey has featured big names including Natalie Portman and Eva Mendez and is dubbed into languages including Cantonese and Italian, Pearson says it remains true to its Australian voice.

The voices that were attracted to are those Australian voices you dont hear much anymore

The voices that were attracted to are those Australian voices you dont hear much anymore . country kids or those drawls that you hear. Its really important, especially to Joe, to find that kid in Charleville who only talks that certain way, Dave McCormack (Dad) is a perfect example of it.

Its a very particular Australian accent.

Bluey is available on ABC Kids and iview.
Dateline tonight returns to Norway, 10 years after a terrorist attack on a summer camp.

Episode Seven: Surviving Terror In Norway

Ten years after the far-right extremist terror attack in Norway that killed 77 people, we meet survivors whove transformed their lives. Three brave women have entered politics to pave the way for social equality.

9:30pm tonight on SBS.
Robert James-Collier, who plays Downton Abbeys under-butler Thomas Barrow, is clearly a big fan of Neighbours, and upset the show is coming to an end.

Speaking with Angela Bishop on Studio 10 he joked, I was about to say Ive got an upcoming cameo on Neighbours, but its been shot hasnt it?

Im fuming. We grew up with that. There needs to be a worldwide petition to get Neighbours back on. there is, surely?Whats Paul Robinson gonna do?

I worry about them!

When Bishop suggested he could hurry to Australia to make an appearance before filming ends in June, he agreed.

Works a bit patchy at the minute. Ill fly economy. Honestly!
This week on Foreign Correspondent Eric Campbell and his Moscow crew film inside Russia and neighbouring Georgia for his story The Russian Resistance.

My hope issomebody from Putins circle will just kill him. Pussy Riots Nika sums up the mood of many whove fled Russia for refuge in Georgia. Angry and afraid, Putins opponents fear they cant go home till hes gone.

Since President Putin invaded Ukraine in February, some 200,000 Russians have fled their country, scattering across western and eastern Europe.

Around 30,000 have landed in Georgia, a former Soviet country on Russias southern border, where its cheap to live and visas are easy to get.

Nika cant see herself going home any time soon.

I really think that I will not be able to go to Russia till Putin will, I dont know, die, disappear, become a bug or something. So yes, I think we need to wait for his death.

The Russian refugees are distressed at the invasion of Ukraine and the brutal crackdown on free speech.

Yekaterina and her husband Tikhon were high-profile presenters at the independent station in Moscow, TV Rain. When it shut down shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, they fled.

There is no guarantee that they will arrest you, but theres no guarantee that they wont. So there are much more chances that youre going to be in jail, if you go back and were not ready to have this kind of risks. We have kids, says Tikhon.

It was the most stressful and terrible moment of my life. We have decided everything that we are leaving and to you know pack up stuff and wake up kids in the middle of the night  A couple of hours and your whole life has changed, says Yekaterina.

In a timely story, Eric Campbell and his Moscow crew film both inside Russia and in neighbouring Georgia, meeting the brave people opposing Putin and his war.

In St Petersburg, we meet 76-year-old artist Yelena whos been arrested for protesting against the war but is refusing to stay silent.

There are good Russians too. But now there is so much shame for our country, so much disgrace. Russia always had much to be proud of. But this is all so awful.

Dissidents inside Russia are increasingly isolated as State TV whips up hostility against anyone who questions the government.

But those whove landed in Georgia feel vulnerable too because the Georgian government has been reluctant to criticise Putin for fear of reprisals. Many Russians living in Georgia are unsure how long theyll be welcome there.

We know that Georgian government is not happy with us being here because they are afraid that Georgia will become a safe space for Russian independent journalists, says Tikhon.

It is not a safe space.

Thursday 28th April at 8pm on ABC.
Palestinian workers wait to cross the Erez crossing point between northern Gaza Strip and Israel, on April 26, 2022. Israel on Tuesday decided to reopen the Erez crossing point on the northern tip of the Gaza Strip after economic losses in the impoverished coastal enclave had piled up. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

GAZA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Tuesday decided to reopen the Erez crossing point on the northern tip of the Gaza Strip after economic losses in the impoverished coastal enclave had piled up.

"After an assessment of the security situation, it was decided to resume the entry of workers and merchants from Gaza into Israel through the Erez crossing as of tomorrow, Tuesday," Major General Ghassan Alyan, coordinator of Government Activities in the Palestinian territories, said in a statement to the press on Monday.

"The opening of the crossing to the movement of merchants and workers, and other civilian steps from the Gaza Strip into Israel is conditional on maintaining security and stability in the region," the statement said.

Israel closed the crossing point on Sunday after unknown militants fired several rockets from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel, according to the Palestinian coordination office with Israel.

This happened against the backdrop of growing tension in East Jerusalem and the Israeli arrest campaigns in the West Bank during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Gaza economists said that keeping the crossing open would have constituted a qualitative leap in breaking the current state of economic deterioration and stagnation that has continued for more than 15 years due to Israeli blockade.

They said that some 12,000 Palestinian workers and merchants are crossing from the Gaza Strip to Israel every day, bringing financial liquidity of 5 million Israeli Shekels (1.52 million U.S. dollars) to the coastal enclave.

These revenues, which were supposed to enter Gaza through the workers, would greatly alleviate the economic, social, and living crisis suffered by the Gaza Strip residents. 

Palestinian workers wait to cross the Erez crossing point between northern Gaza Strip and Israel, on April 26, 2022. Israel on Tuesday decided to reopen the Erez crossing point on the northern tip of the Gaza Strip after economic losses in the impoverished coastal enclave had piled up. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
Q+A this week is in Brisbane at the Powerhouse Museum with Stan Grant as host.

As we near the halfway point of the election campaign, this week Q+A is live from Australias fastest growing city, Brisbane. Thirteen people lost their lives in the devastating February floods and record-breaking rains impacted tens of thousands of homes and businesses in the city, with the final clean up bill still not yet known. How is the city recovering and what more needs to be done to help residents and businesses get back on their feet?

Meanwhile national security remains a key campaign issue and this week the focus is on the threat of China in the Pacific region. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says a Chinese naval base in the Solomon Islands would be a red line for Australia, while Defence Minister Peter Dutton says Australians need to prepare for war. Meanwhile, Labor is promising more money for aid, military training and surveillance flights in the Pacific, if elected. What are the consequences for Australia and the world? How much does this issue matter to you?

And after contracting COVID last week, Opposition leader Anthony Albanese is expected to re-join the campaign trail in person later this week. How has Labor fared without their leader?

All this, plus the news of the week  join us for an important discussion.

On the panel:

Anika Wells, Labor MP for Lilley

Campbell Newman, Former Queensland Premier and Senate candidate

Larissa Waters, Greens Senator

Caitlin Byrne, Director, Griffith Asia Institute

Stuart Robert, Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business

8:30pm Thursday on ABC.

Updated.
The UK will enjoy an extra bank holiday in June to celebrate the Queens jubilee. (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The UK is set to enjoy a four-day weekend in June, thanks to the Queens Platinum Jubilee.

The late May bank holiday has been moved to June 2, while the Jubilee bank holiday will be celebrated on June 3giving the UK an extra day off.

Business and hospitality leaders have called on the government to make the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday permanent, as they argue the extra day off will provide an economic boost.

But how are bank holidays created?

Why do we have bank holidays?

Bank holidays originated in the UK in 1871, when banks and financial institutions would take days off.

As time went on, businesses, schools, and the government joined in, and now bank holidays are celebrated by everyone.

While key workers and people who work in retail and hospitality may have to work on bank holidays, they are often offered an extra day off in lieu.

How are bank holidays created?

Bank holidays are created under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 and include days specifically listed in the act as well as days proclaimed by the Queen.

The royal bank holiday proclamations usually change holidays to a different day  but occasionally add a holiday  and are announced every summer in The Gazette.

The Platinum Jubilee bank holiday was created to celebrate 70 years of the Queens reign.

It was intended that the special holiday would only take place this year  but the government has the power to make it an annual celebration.

However, The Guardian reported that No 10 suggested that it is unlikely that the June bank holiday will become permanent.

Johnsons spokesperson said it was a unique event, and said: Im not aware of any plans to make it permanent.

He said each bank holiday presents a considerable and significant cost to our economy and therefore each proposal would have to be considered carefully on that basis.

How does the UKs bank holidays compare to Europe?

England and Wales usually have eight bank holidays a year, while in 2021 Northern Ireland had 10 and Scotland had 11, according to Trades Union Congress (TUC).

According to the TUC, every country in the EU has more public holidays than the UK, with the EU average being 12.8 days.

Romania, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland and Cyprus have the most bank holidays with 15 days each.
(Natasha Pszenicki)

Would you want to live in a so-called buffer state, a nation sandwiched between the competing interests of rival superpowers? Cynical enthusiasts of international relations realpolitik take the view that such buffer states  Ukraine included  are a necessary evil, the peacetime equivalent of no mans land designed to keep otherwise warring factions apart. For these international realists, buffer states should be discouraged from choosing sides. By doing so, theyll only end up antagonising the rejected side, increasing the chances of a major conflict.

Lord Skidelsky, the economic historian and biographer of John Maynard Keynes, offered his own variation on this thinking on Twitter just the other day, warning Finland that applicationto join Nato would be a catastrophic mistake. It would break its 1948 neutrality pact with Russia, the mutually accepted and observed basis of its independence. Funnily enough, this didnt go down too well with Finns who think security promises dating back to the late Forties arent worth the Soviet paper theyre written on.

Buffer states live a precarious existence. Sometimes, superpower rivals cooperate rather than compete: Poles were presumably less than enthusiastic about their buffer state status following the signing of the August 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which paved the way for the German and Soviet invasions the following month: Hitler and Stalin werent exactly the best of friends, but they were more than happy to divide the country that had kept them apart. Buffer states also tend to perform poorly economically. Becoming a fully paid-up member of a customs union is difficult if, having signed up, you are accused by the other side of moving away from neutrality: indeed, you may never receive the invite in the first place if the powers-that-be fear an increase in friction.

Attracting foreign investment is tricky if would-be investors are unconvinced that your claimed neutrality will be maintained in the future. Encouraging your most productive workers not to head elsewhere in search of better opportunities becomes a major challenge if, thanks to neutrality, your economy cannot flourish. Long before Putins invasion this year, Ukraine had been suffering economically, caught between two huge rivals. Its superpower affiliations have been, at times, difficult to pin down. Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraines President between 2010 and 2014, the year in which he was deposed, was more interested in cosying up to Russia and to the ostriches in his private petting zoo than in supporting the aims of those many Ukrainians who demanded closer links with the European Union. Petro Poroshenko, his successor, struggled to deal with a (by then) deeply divided nation thanks to the ongoing activities of pro-Russian separatists and Russias February/March 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. In the midst of all these upheavals, the Ukrainian people were denied the economic opportunities routinely seen elsewhere.

Story continues

A comparison between Poland  former buffer state between East and West  and Ukraine helps demonstrate the point. In 1991, the year in which the Soviet Empire finally crumbled, Ukrainian national income averaged $14,500 per head. The collapse of the Soviet system saw Ukrainian incomes crumble further, dropping to a low of around $6,800 in 1999. Things improved a bit but, by 2020, Ukrainian incomes averaged a mere $12,500, still lower than they had been three decades earlier.

Meanwhile, Poland has flourished. Incomes rose from a mere $10,500 to $29,000 over the same period. In 1999, Poland joined Nato. Five years later, it joined the EU. True, Warsaw and Brussels dont always see eye to eye but, when it comes to lasting economic and political engagement, at least everyone knows which side of Polands bread is buttered. No longer a buffer state, Poland has been able to enjoy the fruits that come with an ever-closer association with like-minded democracies and market economies. Unlike Ukraine, it has not had to face repeated invasion from a hostile neighbour.

Its no wonder, then, that Finland and Sweden are thinking of joining Nato. Unlike would-be realists, they have recognised that we may be living in a new reality.

Stephen King is HSBCs Senior Economic Adviser and author of Grave New World
UK dismisses Lavrov's "bravado", says no imminent threat of escalation in Ukraine Russia's invasion of Ukraine

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's armed forces minister played down comments by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the possible use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, dismissing them as "bravado".

Earlier Lavrov told the world not to underestimate the considerable risks of nuclear conflict, and said NATO's supply of weapons to Ukraine "in essence" meant that the Western alliance was engaged in a proxy war with Russia.

"Lavrov's trademark over the course of 15 years or so that he has been the Russian foreign secretary has been that sort of bravado. I don't think that right now there is an imminent threat of escalation," James Heappey told BBC Television.

"What the West is doing to support its allies in Ukraine is very well calibrated."

Asked about the possibility of Russia using a tactical nuclear weapon, Heappey said he thought there was a "vanishingly small" possibility of that sort of escalation.Heappey said that while NATO had been reinforcing its eastern flank, it was not providing military aid.

"That has not been a NATO endeavour, that is a community of donor nations who are all making bilateral contributions to the Ukrainians and that donor community extends well beyond the borders of NATO," he told BBC Radio.

"It suits the Kremlin's narrative to claim that they are somehow in a confrontation with NATO. They were saying that before the war even began, but that is nonsense and Lavrov knows it."

Moscow calls its actions a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West says this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.

Heappey said it was completely legitimate for Ukraine to strike Russian logistics lines and fuel supplies and he acknowledged the weapons the international community was now providing had the range to be used in Russia.

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan, Editing by Paul Sandle and Angus MacSwan)
Allison Williams has reportedly welcomed her first child with partner Alexander Dreymon.

The Girls actress and The Last Kingdom actor, who have been dating since 2019, reportedly became parents to a son named Arlo during the winter, multiple sources confirmed to People.

The stars were reportedly spotted on vacation in the Bahamas with their son and Allison's father, newsman Brian Williams. The 34-year-old also appeared to be wearing an engagement ring during the outing.

"They seemed to be very happy and very much in love," the insider said. "They are both private people individually, and they made the decision to keep this happy news to just a small circle of family and friends. But they're over the moon."

Allison and Alexander met on the set of the 2020 survival thriller Horizon Line and have been dating since late 2019.

The Get Out star was previously married to Facebook executive Ricky Van Veen between 2015 and 2019. He tied the knot with Chelsea Clinton's business partner, Caroline Kassie, in July last year.

Representatives for Allison and Alexander declined to comment on the report.
JERUSALEM, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli security forces said on Tuesday that they foiled an attempt to smuggle from Lebanon some 100 grenades intended for future "terror attacks" in Israel.

According to a military statement, soldiers spotted two suspects approaching Israeli territory near the security fence along the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon.

The Blue Line is a demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel as well as Lebanon and the Golan Heights published by the United Nations in 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon.

In a search conducted by police and army forces in the area, a bag with 100 grenades and two rifles the suspects left on the border was found.

The Israeli police wrote on Twitter that they had a suspicion that the weapons were "intended to carry out terrorist attacks and that Hezbollah was involved in the smuggling attempt.

The incident came amid heightened regional tensions caused by a string of fatal attacks in Israel, deadly Israeli raids in the West Bank and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police in Jerusalem's flashpoint of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese armed group and party, fought a war in 2006 that ended with a cease-fire. The border area, though mostly quiet, has since remained tense. 
Home to nearly 8,000 students the University of North Georgia's Gainesville Campus expansion has allowed the university to meet both the access and attainment of higher education needs and goals of students in the northeast Georgia area. UNG's allocation and renovation of the former Lanier Technical College property on the east side of campus was meant to address the growing needs of the Gainesville campus.

The biggest of the newly transformed spaces is the 71,242 square foot Health Science building. On the lower level of the health science building lies information technology staff on the Gainesville campus. Within this area is a new server room that provides data support for the entire university as well. Specifically, designed areas to accommodate hardware configurations, computer testing and computer repair are housed in this area as well.

The Department of nursing is located on the upper floor of the Health Science building. 16 simulation stations provide state-of-the-art instructional equipment that will be shared by students on all campuses. Two 100-seat lecture rooms will allow for substantial growth in the nursing cohort to supply the growing demand for nursing graduates in Northeast Georgia. To meet the growing demand for areas where students can gather and collaborate on projects multiple spaces have been designed for each building. The health sciences building features three large lounge spaces where students can study or meet casually. In addition to the new lounges there will also be a new food court area.

The Arts and Technology building houses Continuing Education, Visual Arts and the Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis. A considerably larger area for Continuing Education classes workshops and other events is featured in the front area of the Arts and Technology building. The Visual Arts Department as well as IESA are natural fits to utilize many of the high-ceilinged areas of the former mechanical shops found in the building.

The first building to be renovated was Student Health Services. The Health Center provides walk-in and buy appointment services to all students.

The most transformative space in the Gainesville expansion is the Film and Digital Media building. The new building features three sound stages with the largest measuring about 2500 square feet. It also has a writer's room, three dressing rooms, two-tiered theater seating classrooms, a computer lab, two private editing rooms, a color grading and sound mixing room a makeup room and a craft services room.

The new expansion is now a seamless addition to the current UNG Gainesville Campus. The modifications and expansions of the campus have allowed for departments to be consolidated under one roof, which will ultimately add to efficiency and success of faculty staff and students for years to come.
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Most parts of northern China will see temperature drops up to 10 degrees Celsius in the next three days, while rainfall will continue to slash parts of southern China, the National Meteorological Center said on Tuesday.

Strong gales will bring sandstorms to parts of Inner Mongolia, and sandy weather will sweep regions of Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, and Ningxia in the next three days.

In the coming ten days, temperatures in most parts of China will be close to or lower than the averages in the previous years.

Rainstorms continued to hit parts of southern China on Tuesday after hitting regions in Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Shanghai, and Zhejiang on Monday.

The center said the southern region has now entered a wet season with more rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms, gales, and hail. It called on the public to take protective measures. 
President Joe Biden will commute the 20-year sentence of a Waco woman sent to federal prison in 2008 for trafficking cocaine, the White House announced Tuesday.

Rose Trujillo Rangel, now 66, was among several defendants that U.S. District Judge Walter Smith sentenced in April 2008 for their role in a scheme to drive cocaine from Mexico to Waco.

Trujillo Rangel was accused of acting as an intermediary in the trafficking ring and got 20 years on the charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, as well as three years of supervised release and a $5,000 fine.

Under the commutation grant, Trujillos sentence will now expire Aug. 24, nearly six years early. The fine and supervised release will remain intact.

Biden on Tuesday announced clemency for 78 people, including three pardons and 75 commutations.

Today, I am pardoning three people who have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities, Biden said in a statement. I am also commuting the sentences of 75 people who are serving long sentences for non-violent drug offenses, many of whom have been serving on home confinement during the COVID-pandemic  and many of whom would have received a lower sentence if they were charged with the same offense today, thanks to the bipartisan First Step Act.

Others sentenced in the Waco drug trafficking scheme included Trini Lopez Espinoza, Jasen Gabriel Cervantez, Patricio Loreto Nevarez Jr., Ricardo Renteria and Mirna Renteria.

Federal authorities arrested Espinoza and the Renterias in February 2007 after the Renterias, who were husband and wife, drove 10 kilograms of cocaine from Mexico to the parking lot of New Road Inn on Interstate 35.
A McLennan County prosecutor has agreed to deferred adjudication and a fine for a Dallas-area man accused of shooting an Axtell woman at a Waco-area water park in July 2020.

A defense attorney and prosecutor presented the plea agreement of Marcus Lee Broomfield, 20, of Seagoville, in a video conference Friday with Judge Thomas C. West of the 19th District Court.

Broomfield was accused of firing several rounds into the air after leaving the BSR water park, now known as Waco Surf, McLennan County Sheriffs Office authorities have said.

Several rounds pierced the home of Dorothy Trevino near the intersection of Beaver Lake Road and Old Mexia Road while she was asleep that day. One shot wounded her and caused her to be treated at a local hospital, sheriffs officials said at the time.

A grand jury indicted Broomfield on Sept. 17, 2020, on charges of second-degree aggravated assault in the shooting.

Assistant Criminal District Attorney Will Gray on Friday recommended deferred adjudication probation and a fine as the punishment. Defense attorney Scottie D. Allen of Dallas, representing Broomfield, applied for probation.

Judge West ordered a background investigation for Broomfield on Friday and set a sentencing hearing for July 1. At the sentencing hearing the court will set the term of probation and determine the amount of the fine.

Defendants who successfully complete deferred adjudication probation have the opportunity to remove the conviction from their record. Those who violate such probation may be subject to the full penalty for the underlying offense.

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Waco police have no suspects in the three shootings that occurred in a six-hour period overnight Saturday and left five people needing hospital treatment, and officials have not drawn any connections between the incidents.

I cant definitively say the incidents were connected, Ofc. Garen Bynum, a Waco Police Department spokesperson, said Monday.

The incidents took place in an East Waco neighborhood, a West Waco bar and a South Waco taco truck. Bynum said investigators had not established whether victims at the different locations knew each other.

Detectives are investigating all three shootings and our Crime Scene Unit is processing the evidence, he said.

Investigators ask anyone with knowledge of the incident to call Crime Stoppers at 254-753-4357.

The first shooting began as a disturbance call at a party in the 1200 block of Texas Street around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Bynum said. While officers were on the way, they received a message that shots had been fired.

When they arrived at the disturbance, officers found two people with gunshot wounds, and could not identify the shooter or shooters, Bynum said. American Medical Response, Inc., transported the wounded to an area hospital.

Also at the scene of the disturbance, officers found a large crowd which hindered the investigation, Bynum said.

The second shooting happened about five hours later around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Bynum said.

Officers were in process of responding to a burglar alarm call at the Golden Corral in the 600 block of North Valley Mills Drive when they heard gunshots to the south across Ruby Avenue at Mr. Magoos Bar and saw people running frantically, Bynum said.

Outside Mr. Magoos, the officers found one person with several gunshot wounds and had AMR transport that person to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center, Bynum said.

Police did not identify a shooting suspect at Mr. Magoos, he said.

In the third shooting around 2 a.m., officers responded to a disturbance call in the parking lot of El Pollo Palenque Taqueria in the 1400 block of La Salle Avenue. On the way, Bynum said they received a message that shots had been fired.

Witnesses told officers that as people involved in an argument got in their vehicles and went their separate ways, someone emerged from the sunroof of a vehicle and began to fire shots into the parking lot.

Officers found two people wounded and AMR transported them to an area hospital.

All of the wounded were still alive Monday afternoon, according to reports.

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The first day of early voting in the May 7 city and school board elections in McLennan County ended with 268 voters casting ballots in the countys five early polling places.

The McLennan County Elections Office also received 168 mail-in ballots Monday, bringing the total of mail-in ballots received to 1,357.

The West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd., recorded the largest number of early voters with 108 casting ballots there.

The McLennan County Elections Office received 61; Hewitt City Hall received 51, Waco Multipurpose Center received 29, and Robinson Community Center received 19. Two provisional ballots were cast.

The May 7 election has contested city council races in Waco, Woodway, Lorena and McGregor; school board races in the Waco, La Vega and Lorena school districts; sales tax reauthorization in Bellmead; a school bond election in Connally ISD; and consideration of two Texas constitutional amendments.

Competing for the Waco City Council District 1 seat are incumbent Andrea Barefield, Russell Rhodes and Epharm Herring. In District 2 incumbent Alice Rodriguez faces Tiffany Vidana and Armando Arvizu.

In the Waco ISD school board races, Marlon Jones and Angelo Ochoa are competing for the unexpired term of one of the boards two at-large seats. Hope Balfa-Mustakim and Jonathan Grant are running for the District 4 trustee seat.

The county elections office will conduct elections for each entity except Connally ISD, which will conduct its own election.

Early voting in the Connally election will be at the Connally ISD Administration Building, 200 Cadet Way, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday and 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday.

For the county-conducted elections, early voting will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. The sites will close Sunday and open again from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 2-3.

All eligible voters can cast an early in-person ballot at any of the five early polling places:

McLennan County Elections Administration Office, 214 N. Fourth St., Suite 300.

Robinson Community Center, 106 W. Lyndale Ave.

Waco Multipurpose Community Center, 1020 Elm Ave.

West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd.

Hewitt City Hall, 200 Patriot Court.

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The McLennan County Elections Office has already received more than 1,200 mail-in ballots for the May 7 city and school board elections, nearly ten times the number of mail-in ballots cast in last years spring elections. Early in-person voting will run Monday through Saturday and May 2-3, and mail-in ballots have to be back to the elections office by Election Day.

One of the McLennan Countys most popular polling places, at the First Assembly of God church on Bosque Boulevard, will not be in use for early voting or on Election Day. The West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd., will take its place. It is a little less than a mile away from the church.

The May 7 election will feature contested city council races in Waco, Woodway, McGregor and Lorena; school board races in Waco, La Vega and Lorena school districts; sales tax reauthorization in Bellmead; a $39 million bond election for a new elementary school in Connally ISD and two state constitutional amendments. Every eligible voter in the state has at least the constitutional amendments to weigh in on.

The county will conduct elections for each entity except Connally ISD, which will hold its own election. Connally voters will have to go to separate locations to vote on both the school bond and the constitutional amendments.

For the county-conducted elections, early voting will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday; and open again from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 2-3.

All eligible voters can cast an early in-person ballot at any of the five early polling places:

McLennan County Elections Administration Office, 214 N. Fourth St., Suite 300

Robinson Community Center, 106 W. Lyndale Ave.

Waco Multipurpose Community Center, 1020 Elm Ave.

West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd.

Hewitt City Hall, 200 Patriot Court.

For the Connally ISD bond election, early voting will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; closed Saturday and Sunday; and open again from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 2 and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 3.

The polling place for Connally ISD is the Board Room in the Connally ISD Administration Building, 200 Cadet Way.

County Elections Administrator Jared Goldsmith said 2,996 people had requested mail-in ballots for the May elections conducted by the county with 1,203 ballots mailed in by Friday. A signature verification committee will start reviewing ballots Monday, and voters whose ballots are rejected will be notified and given an opportunity to correct the issue. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot for the May 7 election is 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Last year, the county elections office received only 124 mail-in ballots, but Goldsmith said demand for mail-in ballots tends to be higher in even-numbered years with state primaries, even though primaries are typically held separately. In 2018, the county received 467 mail-in ballots for the May elections.

The May 2020 elections were moved to November 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns, and the county received 10,794 mail-in ballots for that election, pointing to the vastly lower turnout for May elections.

Overall, Waco ISD saw 57.1% of its 52,981 eligible voters turn out in November 2020, compared to just 5.1% of the 50,847 eligible in May last year, and 2.4% of the 8,058 eligible in May 2018. The eligibility number was lower in 2018 because only one Waco ISD board district had a contested race on the ballot, while the other years had an at-large race.

The city of Waco saw 61.5% of its 71,653 eligible voters turn out in November 2020, compared to just 11.4% of the 20,652 eligible in May last year, and 5.6% of the 10,993 eligible in May 2018. Like Waco ISD, the eligibility number varies based on the voting population of the districts whose representatives are up for election.

This year in Waco, the May 7 election will have city council races for District 1 and the unexpired term of the District 2 seat.

District 1 incumbent Andrea Barefield is seeking reelection against challengers Russell Rhodes and Epharm Herring while District 2 incumbent Alice Rodriguez is seeking election against challengers Tiffany Vidana and Armando Arvizu.

Waco ISD will have board races for the District 4 seat and the unexpired term for one of its at-large seats.

Hope Balfa-Mustakim and Jonathan Grant are running for the District 4 seat, and Marlon Jones and Angelo Ochoa are running for the at-large seat.

The two statewide constitutional amendments would reduce the school property tax burden for some homeowners. Proposition 1 would reduce school taxes on the primary residences of elderly or disabled homeowners.

Proposition 2 would expand the homestead exemption for school taxes from $25,000 to $40,000, meaning most homeowners would pay less in school taxes on their primary residence. According to reporting by The Texas Tribune, the author of Proposition 2 said it would knock $176 off the annual tax bill for the average homeowner.

The state plans to provide additional funding to school districts to make up for the lost local revenue, which would cost $600 million annually for Proposition 2 and $744 million between 2024 and 2026 for Proposition 1, according to The Texas Tribune.
HOUSTON  Galveston Independent School District officials last week confirmed the uncovering of a network of cryptocurrency mining devices surreptitiously installed on six separate campuses.

According to The Daily News' John Wayne Ferguson, district IT employees found a number of Bobcat cryptocurrency mining hotspots installed on school networks. The devices were discovered after workers monitoring the district's systems noted aberrations in network traffic, according to Galveston ISD President Tony Brown.

"I can't describe it in any more details, because I'd be in way over my head, as far as what it was and what they did," Brown said, per Ferguson.

Brown stated the devices were installed by a former district employee who was placed on leave after the discovery and has since resigned. The devices were found on April 8, according to Superintendent Jerry Gibson, and an investigation is ongoing.

"Although the investigation related to the employee's misuse of district property is ongoing, it has been confirmed that there was no breach of data resulting from this incident," Gibson said. "We are pleased that the security measures put in place by the district were effective in detecting and preventing any potential issues."

Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are digital currencies traded between users as payment for goods and services. These transactions are authenticated by miners, who use devices like the ones discovered by Galveston ISD employees to provide processing power that helps verify these transactions. The process is highly energy-intensive and requires large amounts of electricity and computer processing power, and miners who provide this service receive new Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in return.

In short, crypto mining is a lucrative, energy-heavy enterprise, and lawmakers across the United States are scrambling to craft legislation in the hopes of attracting or regulating mining in their states as the practice proliferates. New York state senators are poised to vote on a bill in the coming weeks that would ban energy-intensive crypto mining in the state for the next two years. Proponents of the bill say it will disincentivize the use of fossil fuels in the creation of Bitcoin and help keep New York on track to meet its carbon emissions goals.

In Texas, Republican lawmakers are courting large-scale cryptominers and hailing their arrival as enterprising businesses capable of fixing the state's infamously capricious power grid.

Last June, Gov. Greg Abbott touted the arrival of cryptocurrency payment kiosks in a number of H-E-B grocery stores, claiming the Lone Star State would be the nation's "crypto leader" moving forward.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has repeatedly called for an influx of large crypto-mining concerns into the state to raise electricity demand in rural areas, a move he claims would help stabilize the grid by raising baseline demand and energy prices.

"A lot of the discussion around Bitcoin views Bitcoin as a consumer of energy," Cruz said in October. "The perspective I'm suggesting is very much the reverse."
One of the world's wealthiest individuals, Elon Musk, has agreed to acquire Twitter for $44 billion and take it private.

Elon Musk agreed to purchase Twitter for around $44 billion on Monday, marking a major success for the world's richest man in his bid to get control of the powerful social network, which is frequented by world leaders, celebrities, and cultural trendsetters.

Earlier this month, Mr. Musk stated that he was the business's single largest shareholder. He had agreed to sell the company for $54.20 per share, representing a 38 percent premium over the company's share price at the time. If Mr. Musk does decide to take Twitter private, it would be the largest corporate transaction in at least two decades, according to statistics gathered by Dealogic. Mr. Musk has stated that he intends to do so.

The announcement of the transaction was made in a statement. According to Mr. Musk, "free expression is the foundation of a healthy democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where issues critical to the future of mankind are argued." The company and the Twitter community have immense potential, and I am looking forward to working with them to realize it."

With the announcement of the blockbuster agreement, Mr. Musk, 50, has brought an end to what appeared to be an implausible campaign to purchase Twitter  and instantly raised worries about what he would do with the network and how his actions will affect online expression throughout the world.

According to the billionaire, who has more than 83 million followers on Twitter and has romped about the site throwing insult and memes, he wants to "change" the network by supporting more free expression and allowing people greater choice over what they see on it. By turning the firm private, Mr. Musk will be able to concentrate on the service without having to worry about the prying eyes of investors, regulators, and others looking over his shoulder.

However, there will very certainly be a lot more scrutiny. The internet has become a megaphone for political leaders, while businesses, celebrities, and others have used it to refine their images and create their brands. Even if Twitter is not the most popular social media network  it has more than 217 million daily users, compared to the billions who use Facebook and Instagram  it has played a significant part in creating narratives worldwide.

Twitter has also been the focus of criticism in recent years since some users have used the service to promote disinformation and other potentially harmful content. Former President Donald J. Trump routinely used Twitter to taunt and inflame his supporters until the social media platform banned him following a disturbance at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2017. To deal with unanticipated scenarios, the organization has written rules on the fly.

Mr. Musk has had a tense relationship with free expression on the internet. The president attempted to shut down a Twitter account that monitored his private plane this year, citing personal and safety concerns. In addition, he has fallen into difficulties with the authorities because of his tweets.

On Monday, he stated that he hoped his harshest opponents would continue to express themselves on Twitter because "that is what free speech is all about." He said he aimed to enhance trust by making Twitter's technology more transparent, fighting the bots that spam users on the network, and "authenticating all humans" on the platform.

Republicans in Washington, who have long accused Twitter of stifling their political viewpoints, applauded Mr. Musk's agreement.

Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, a Republican senator from Tennessee, expressed her hope that Elon Musk will assist rein in Big Tech's history of silencing individuals who hold opposing viewpoints in a tweet.

Mr. Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Monday that he would continue to post on his own social media network, Truth Social. Although he stated that he would not use Twitter, he did express his desire that "Elon acquires Twitter, since he would make changes to it."

Democrats were muted in their opposition to the agreement. Despite declining to comment explicitly on Twitter's sale, White House press secretary Jen Psaki stated that President Biden "has long been worried about the influence of huge social media platforms" and that they should be "held responsible for the harms that they do." She stated that Mr. Biden favored reforms to internet expression and antitrust rules.

In addition to concerns over free speech, Twitter is being scrutinized for its commercial practices. For years, the firm has battled to attract new customers and keep existing customers returning. Twitter's advertising business, which is the primary source of revenue for the company, has been erratic. The social media platform Twitter has not made a profit in eight of the previous ten years.

Despite generating $5.57 billion in revenue, the corporation lost $493 million in the previous year. On the other hand, meta, the corporation that was once known as Facebook, made $39 billion in earnings and generated $118 billion in sales last year.

It's no surprise that Twitter, which went public in 2013, has had a rocky corporate past. It has battled with board dysfunction and turmoil with its founders on a number of occasions. It has been courted by a number of other potential acquisitions in the past, including Disney and Salesforce. In 2020, the activist investment firm Elliott Management purchased a stake in Twitter and asked for Jack Dorsey, one of the company's co-founders, to resign from his position as CEO. Mr. Dorsey resigned from his position last year.

Twitter's chairman, Bret Taylor, said that the board had "conducted a careful and extensive process" on Mr. Musk's proposal and that the purchase would "provide a considerable financial premium" to shareholders. Mr. Musk has shown interest in buying the company.

Former antitrust officials believe that regulators are unlikely to significantly dispute the purchase since the government most frequently intervenes to prevent a deal when a corporation buys a competitor.

The transaction was completed in a matter of weeks. Mr. Musk, who also serves as the CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla and the rocket manufacturer SpaceX, began purchasing shares in Twitter in January and reported this month that he had built a stake of more than 9 percent in the social media company.

There was instant speculation about what Mr. Musk intended to do with the platform due to this announcement. Twitter's management first welcomed him to the firm's board of directors, but he quickly reversed direction and made a formal effort to acquire the business within days.

At first, any agreement looked to be improbable since the entrepreneur had not said how he intended to fund the transaction. Twitter's executives expressed skepticism as well, maybe because it was impossible to determine how much Mr. Musk was joking around with them. In 2018, he tweeted that he intended to take Tesla private and falsely said that he had "financing secured" for such a transaction.

To counter Mr. Musk's bid, Twitter implemented a "poison pill," which banned the billionaire from amassing more than 15 percent of the company's stock.

The skepticism began to fade last week when Mr. Musk stated in a regulatory filing that he had secured commitments worth $46.5 billion to finance his bid for the Twitter company.

In addition to debt funding, Morgan Stanley and a consortium of other lenders provided Mr. Musk with $12.5 billion in loans against his Tesla shares for a total of $13 billion. He was supposed to bring around $21 billion in equity funding to the table. On Monday, Twitter did not release further information on the equity fundraising. It also did not impose any conditions on Mr. Musk's financing that would have prevented him from completing the transaction.

According to individuals familiar with the issue, Twitter was obligated to consider Mr. Musk's approach seriously because of the financial commitments, mainly because Mr. Musk threatened to take the offer straight to shareholders in a hostile takeover effort.

Throughout the weekend, in a series of phone conversations and video sessions, the board of directors of Twitter and the billionaire's deal makers worked out the specifics of the acquisition. The crews worked on the last touches late Sunday night and into Monday am.

According to the company, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Allen & Company served as Twitter's financial advisers, while Morgan Stanley served as Mr. Musk's primary financial counsel.

Elon Musk Buys Twitter
PRESS RELEASE  EAA AVIATION CENTER, OSHKOSH, Wisconsin  (April 25, 2022)  A new exhibit that opened on April 23 in the EAA Aviation Museums Eagle Hangar honors the late Thomas Hudner, a Korean War Medal of Honor recipient, with a Corsair aircraft that replaced the one Hudner used in his heroic actions that earned him the Medal of Honor.

The airplane has been in the EAA collection for 40 years and was fully restored in 1994 with the markings of World War II ace Kenneth Walsh. Recent research into the aircraft log books, however, showed the Corsair was a replacement for the Corsair that Hudner crash-landed in Korea in 1950 in an attempt to save fellow pilot Jesse Brown, the U.S. Navys first Black naval aviator. Hudner logged many hours and multiple carrier landings in the EAA aircraft, which after its Navy service was owned by several individuals before it was donated to EAA in 1982.

When we discovered that our Corsair had a direct connection to a Medal of Honor recipient, it was an easy decision to restore the airplane to its Korean War markings to honor him, said Ron Connolly, EAA Aviation Museum director. This new exhibit also honors Jesse Brown as a naval aviator and the bond he forged with his squadron mates during that time.

Members of the Hudner and Brown families were at the museum as part of the formal dedication of the display, including Thomas Hudner III, son of Thomas Hudner, and Jamal Knight, grandson of Jesse Brown. They also loaned personal memorabilia that adds to the authenticity of the exhibit.

Born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on October 13, 1926, Brown began an avid interest in aviation at age six when his father took him to an air show. That continued through his early years and during his attendance at Ohio State University. Brown entered the Navys aviation cadet training program in 1946 and earned his naval aviator wings in 1948. He was Americas first Black naval aviator, receiving wide media visibility for the achievement. Brown earned his first carrier assignment to the USS Leyte in 1949, which was directed to Korea in 1950 in support of United Nations military efforts. Browns final assignment was as part of a flight supporting U.S. ground forces near the Chosin Reservoir in December 1950. During that mission, Browns aircraft was shot down and he was forced to crash-land his Corsair in a small valley. He was trapped in the cockpit during the landing, however, and eventually succumbed to his injuries. For his actions, Brown was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, and Air Medal, among others. He also inspired numerous other Black men to become military pilots. The Navy commissioned the frigate USS Jesse L. Brown in his honor in 1973, and a Veterans Administration hospital in Chicago is named in his honor.

The Korean War incident that memorialized Hudner and Brown is the subject of a soon-to-be-released major motion picture titled Devotion, starring Screen Actors Guild award winner Glen Powell, as well as Jonathan Majors, Serinda Swan, and Joe Jonas. That movie is scheduled to be released later this year, and EAA has been in regular contact with the movie production team in an advisory role.
Photo taken on April 19, 2022 shows the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) International Conference Center in Boao, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

"The RCEP and the Boao Forum focus on further integration for trade, networks, and economic networks in Asia and in the world," Turkish scholar Selcuk Colakoglu said.

ISTANBUL, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2022 creates high expectations for contributing to the revival of the world economy and multilateral trade mechanism, especially in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, a Turkish scholar has said.

Founded in 2001, the BFA is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals.

Held annually in Boao, a coastal town in China's southernmost province of Hainan, the forum brings together world leaders, business leaders, scholars and think tanks representatives.

This year's event opened on Wednesday and lasted three days.

Selcuk Colakoglu, director of the Ankara-based Turkish Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, said there were "vibrant discussions" at the forum on integration and globalization in Asia and other parts of the world, which have been impacted by the pandemic.

The forum is specifically important as it came at a time when the world was hit by the pandemic and rising commodity prices, which put increased pressure on all countries, in addition to the problems in the supply chain, said Colakoglu, also an academic at the BNU-HKBU United International College in Zhuhai in China's southern province of Guangdong.

Photo taken on April 21, 2022 shows a culture exhibition featuring tropical rainforest at a theme park of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in Boao, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

"In that regard, Boao Forum may be one of the leading forums, bringing different sectors and organizations and world leaders to discuss current issues and build up joint future projections," the scholar told Xinhua in an online interview.

Along with the BFA, Colakoglu also emphasized the growing role of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement in contributing to the world economy and trade.

The RCEP, the world's largest free trade deal to date, covers 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its five free trade agreement partners, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

"The RCEP and the Boao Forum focus on further integration for trade, networks, and economic networks in Asia and in the world. In this regard, the RCEP is not only important for Asia and Asian integration, but it will also have some solid outcomes for the global economy," he said.

The RCEP countries account for roughly 30 percent of the world's gross domestic product and population. Over 90 percent of trade in goods among approved member states will gradually be tariff-free.

Aerial photo taken on April 15, 2022 shows a view of Shanghai's Yangshan Port in east China. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

A successful implementation of the RCEP will promote further integration in the global economy starting from East Asia, Colakoglu said.

The vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind offers "a win-win solution for everyone because one-sided development is not good enough to create enough prosperity for humanity," he added.

In this regard, China offers to create more areas for international cooperation with globalized economy through the RCEP and BFA, he said. 
In 1994, Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response
WATERLOO  A Waterloo woman is one of 75 people to have their sentences commuted by President Joe Biden.

On Tuesday, the White House announced the commutation of a nine-year prison sentence handed to Andrea Zavala in 2017.

Zavala, a 43-year-old mother of four, had been sentenced on a charge of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. The commutation began Tuesday with the remainder of the sentence to be served on home confinement. A five-year term of supervised release will follow the home confinement.

America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation. Elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and law enforcement leaders agree that our criminal justice system can and should reflect these core values that enable safer and stronger communities. Biden said in announcing the pardons and commutations, which came as part of Second Chance Month.

Zavala was accused of sending ice meth from California to a Cedar Rapids man between 2013 and 2016.

The presidents clemency list included three pardons and 75 commutations, mostly for drug offenses and related crimes.

Two other Iowans received commutations.

Douglas Dean Johnson of Dickens was given home confinement on a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to manufacture meth, pseudoephedrine charges and related offenses handed down in 2008.

Edwin G. Tierney of Council Bluffs received home confinement on a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to distribute meth issued in 2016.

Pardons went to three people who have completed their sentences. They include:

Abraham W. Bolden Sr., 86, of Chicago, a retired Secret Service Agent who was the first African American to serve on a presidential detail. He had been accused of attempting to sell a Secret Service file in 1964. He maintained his innocence, alleging he was prosecuted in retaliation for exposing unprofessional and racist behavior in the Service, according to the White House.

Betty Jo Bogans, 51, of Houston, Texas, who was convicted of crack cocaine charges in 1998 for allegedly transporting crack for her boyfriend and his friend, neither of whom were charged. At the time, she was a single mother with no prior criminal history and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Dexter Eugene Jackson, 52, of Athens, Ga., who was convicted in 2002 of using his pool hall to host marijuana dealers. Since his release from prison, he turned the pool hall into a cell phone repair business that hires high school students. He also works to build and renovate homes for affordable housing.

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WATERLOO  Officials from Waterloo and Cedar Falls will meet Tuesday to discuss the regulation of consumer fireworks, a long-standing issue never before tackled jointly by the two cities.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. at Upper Iowa University, 3563 University Ave. in Waterloo.

The two councils have not met side-by-side in formal session for any topic in recent memory. It could serve as the kick-off to future cooperation between the two governments.

Fireworks have been a hot topic since early 2017 when a new state law permitted their sale for the first time in 80 years and allowed cities to regulate their use.

Director of Cedar Falls' Hearst Center for the Arts leaves for new job After having overseen the free community resource at 304 West Seerley Boulevard for more than four years, Heather Skeens' last day was Friday.

A ban in Cedar Falls followed later in 2017. Waterloo lifted its prohibition in 2019 and now offers a three-day window, allowing fireworks use between noon and 11 p.m. July 4 and between noon and 10 p.m. July 3 and 5.

The conversation was revitalized last year when Waterloo considered banning fireworks outright, but Councilor Margaret Klein was the only vote in support of a ban.

Enforcement of fireworks laws is a challenge because its difficult to prove someone has set them off illegally, and possessing them is legal. Noise, debris and safety are often cites as reasons for a complete ban.

But officials believe it might be beneficial for both cities to have identical laws to limit confusion.

Id like for the Cedar Falls City Council and staff to hear from Waterloo on what led them to change from a ban to a three-day-window, and what implications there would be if Cedar Falls and Waterloo had identical fireworks laws in place, said Cedar Falls Mayor Rob Green in a message to The Courier.

Green said Waterloo Councilor John Chiles approached him about the idea when Chiles was on the campaign trail. Green pushed for the meeting, and noted Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart has been supportive. However, its not the first time calls have been made for a joint plan on the issue.

All 14 members of the two city councils have been invited, along with Cedar Falls Acting Public Safety Director Craig Berte and Waterloo Assistant Chief Joe Leibold, said Green. Ron Gaines, Cedar Falls administrator, will also attend.

Any consensus on a change in ordinance would formally go back to the city councils for consideration and require readings at a later date with opportunities for public comment.

Tuesdays gathering comes on the heels of Gov. Kim Reynolds signing new legislation on Thursday giving cities fewer options to regulate where fireworks can be sold.

Under the new law, cities will no longer be able to restrict fireworks sales to certain zoning categories, like industrial, a regulation some cities made in response to complaints and a rise in injuries. Republicans who called for the new measure said it stops cities from attempting to, in effect, ban fireworks sales.

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A New York judge is holding Donald Trump in civil contempt after the state's attorney general's office said he did not comply with a subpoena for documents as part of its investigation into the former President's company.

Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump failed to abide by his order to comply with the subpoena, and that his attorneys failed to show how a search of materials held by Trump was conducted. Engoron said Trump would be fined $10,000 a day until he complies.

"Mr. Trump, I know you take your business seriously and I take mine seriously. I hereby hold you in civil contempt and fine you $10,000 per day until you purge that contempt," Engoron said at a hearing Monday.

New York Attorney General Letitia James' office has been investigating the Trump Organization for more than two years and previously said her office found multiple misleading or fraudulent misstatements and omissions in the Trump Organization's financial statements, which were provided to lenders and insurers, among others, as part of its investigation.

Andrew Amer, with the attorney general's office, said that Trump has failed to produce "even a single responsive document" for a subpoena that was issued to him in December.

"We are being hampered in our efforts to have a complete understanding because we don't have evidence from the person who sits at the top of the organization," Amer said.

Kevin Wallace, with the attorney general's office, said in some instances it's been "like pulling teeth" to get documents needed for the investigation, and describing the Trump Organization as a closely-held family company with 500 entities and millions of dollars moving around.

Alina Habba, an attorney for Trump, said the former president does not believe he is above the law, but simply does not have the types of written communications that were sought by the subpoena, but that he produced hundreds of thousands of documents through his assistants. Habba said she herself searched Trump's heard copy calendars and physical file locations, and even interviewed her client in Florida.

"President Trump does not email. He does not text message. And he has no work computer at home or anywhere else," Habba said.

"I took it upon myself to get on a plane and flew down and asked him one by one if there was anything that he had on his person that he had not given me I would need that. And he did not," she said.

The judge asked why Trump didn't sign an affidavit swearing that he complied with the subpoena. Habba said that he would.

"My client is an honest person, much to the dismay of certain people in this room," Habba said.

James' office has said in court filings that the Trump Organization is under investigation for engaging in fraudulent or misleading conduct in connection with appraisals and financial statements. The office has subpoenaed both the former president and his company for documents related to its investigation.

Habba argued that the attorney general's investigation has "seemingly become aimless," saying that since it began three years ago, the Trump Organization has been given six separate subpoenas, produced more than 6 million pages of documents, and 13 Trump Organization witnesses have been deposed, among other things.

"The scope is continuously changing to fit the attorney general's needs," Habba said in court. "When it is not satisfied with the evidence it has obtained it pivots and looks for something new."

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WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by Kansas to revive a law, earlier struck down by lower courts, that banned secret filming at slaughterhouses and other livestock facilities.

The justices did not comment in leaving in place a ruling by a federal appeals court panel that the so-called ag-gag law violated the First Amendment by stifling speech critical of animal agriculture.

A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a split decision ruled that even if deception is used to enter private property, Kansas may not discriminate based on whether the person intends to harm or help the enterprise.

The appellate ruling upheld a permanent injunction issued by a federal judge in 2020.

The Kansas law made it a crime for anyone to take a picture or video at an animal facility without the owners consent or to enter the facility under false pretenses.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Center for Food Safety were among the groups that challenged the ban.

Federal appeals courts considering similar laws in Iowa and Idaho had split over the issue, raising Kansas hope that the high court would step in.

In January 2019, a federal judge stuck down as unconstitutional Iowas original ag-gag law, which was passed in 2012 with bipartisan support.

Responding quickly, the Legislature approved and Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the revised measure in March of that year.

But the revision, too, was struck down by a district court judge in March of this year.

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Ada Martin 23 won grand prize at the 2022 Toyama Cup: the 26th Japanese Speech Contest on April 23.

Martin spoke to the audience about sustainability. She shared her experience of seemingly contradicting Japanese practices regarding sustainability: separating trash into many categories and overwrapping. The convoluted trash categories gave her hope that each person can contribute to sustainability. The overwrapping customs taught her the importance of understanding cultural contexts in translating environmental science articles. Martins speech touched many members of the audience.

The Toyama Cup Japanese Language Speech Contest is sponsored by the Toyama Prefectural Government and the Japan-America Society of Oregon (JASO) in celebration of the Toyama-Oregon sister-state affiliation. The first Toyama Cup in 1996 commemorated the fifth anniversary of the friendship between the peoples of Oregon and Toyama. This year marked the 30th anniversary of the Toyama-Oregon sister-state relationship. The Toyama Cup is open to any student studying Japanese at a college or university in the State of Oregon and southwest Washington. Contestants are judged on general Japanese language ability, speech content and presentation.
The wounded 2-year-old San Sanych was taken out of Mariupol by the DPR military on a tank

The family lived in line of sight from Azovstal. Another shell fired from there on March 22 covered them right in the basement of their own house, the shelter did not save them.

My wife was killed right away, she was holding our son in her arms. And I was able to get him out of there. The DPR military helped, they took us out of the city on a tank, handed us over to the Russian military, and they were already taken to the Donetsk hospital, Alexander told the Donbass Decides channel.

The man is grateful to Donetsk doctors for the help, the entire volume of which is provided here for free. San Sanych is waiting for plastic surgery ahead.

WtR
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The United States is simply not qualified to talk about democracy and human rights. What the United States should do is immediately lift its illegal freeze on the assets of the Afghan central bank, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a regular news briefing in response to a statement issued on Monday by 14 UN independent human rights experts. The statement blamed the U.S. government for making life worse for Afghan women by freezing billions of U.S. dollars of Afghan assets.

The 20-year U.S. invasion of Afghanistan claimed the lives of 174,000 Afghans, including more than 30,000 civilians. It turned nearly one-third of Afghans into refugees, and more than half of Afghans faced extreme hunger during the time, leading to a rare humanitarian disaster, Wang said.

The United States decimated a country and laid waste to the future of a generation. In the end, it not only walked away, but also took for itself the money that the Afghan people were depending upon for their survival. This fully exposed the barbarity and cruelty of the so-called rules-based international order of the United States, the spokesperson said.

"What the United States should do is immediately lift its illegal freeze on the assets of the Afghan central bank, apologize and compensate the Afghan people for their lost 20 years, and bring the murderers of the Afghan people to justice," Wang said. 
Big Tech ORDERED to Silence Russia on Ukraine Conflict

EU lawmakers have signed off on the Digital Services Act (DSA), which will have companies like Google and Meta curb Russian media efforts that is alleged to be misinformation amid the military operation in Ukraine.

With the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving like they are too big to care is coming to an end, said Thierry Breton, commissioner for the internal market.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen described the reform as meaning that what is illegal offline will effectively be illegal online in the EU.

Stick around to find out what Western govts dont want you to know

Subscribe to RT t.me/rtnews

The west is seriously running and scared. If you see the truth, you will know positively who us lying

Russia is very open about what is happening. But you cant see it

Ask Why?

WtR
Europe is facing a deep economic and political crisis.

Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Patrushev spoke about the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

The number of Ukrainian migrants in Europe will soon grow to 10 million.

There will be more crime in the EU due to the influx of Ukrainian bandits.

The consequence of Western policy will be the disintegration of Ukraine into several states.

The development of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons by Ukraine poses a threat to Russia.

Moscow is considering the possibility of providing the ruble with gold or goods that are currency values.

The United States is discussing a possible default of Russia, but its time to announce it to them.

WtR
 The German network of construction hypermarkets OBI resumes work in Russia. Already on April 27, the doors of several hypermarkets in Moscow will open their doors, and before the end of the May holidays, it is planned to launch all the hypermarkets of the chain, the companys official statement says.

This is after leaving due to pressure by German Government

Like many companies they open a Russian only branch and are separate from the mother company

WtR
Besides:

The West denies Russia the right to defend its own borders and territories where Russians are oppressed.

By supplying weapons to Ukraine, NATO is essentially entering into a proxy war with Russia.

At the same time, the United States and its allies are trying to devalue the right of veto in the UN Security Council, this is very dangerous.

The United States is holding a Summit for Democracy, which is trying to create an alternative UN platform.

The conflict in Ukraine will end with a treaty, but its parameters will be determined by the stage of military operations during which it will be concluded, the Russian Foreign Minister said.

Zelensky is portrayed as a light of democracy, but in fact he promotes a ban on everything Russian in his state at the legislative level and strengthens Nazism.

This was stated by Lavrov.

Weapons the West supplies to Ukraine will be a legitimate target for Russian forces  Foreign Minister Lavrov

NATO is entering into a proxy war with Russia by supplying weapons to Ukraine  Foreign Minister Lavrov

Moscows position is that nuclear war is unacceptable  Foreign Minister Lavrov

Russia wants Ukrainian people to be able to decide their own fate  Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

NATO expansion is unrelated to its statutory goals, it is incorporating more territories under the US command  Lavrov.

A trustworthy Russia-US communication channel does not exist at the moment  Lavrov.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that negotiations on security guarantees clearly proved that NATO and the United States showed no desire to take into account Russias legitimate interests.

Contacts with Washington on the situation around Ukraine would be useful, but Moscow does not see any interest in them from the US side  Lavrov.

Lavrov: the US and NATO are clearly planning to move the alliances line of defense to the South China Sea

They openly declare that we [Western countries] will be in charge, that NATO has every right to do what it wants. In one statement they can say that NATO is a defensive alliance, so do not be afraid, nobodys security is threatened by NATO. And right there [NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg can say that NATO has a global responsibility for security around the world, including the Indo-Pacific region, Lavrov said.

WtR
After 30 years of peaceful life, Transnistria has become the target of terrorist attacks.

The head of the PMR Krasnoselsky said that the traces of the attacks lead to Ukraine. He assured that Transnistria will be able to defend itself.

In 1992, the Moldovan authorities already tried to resolve the conflict by force, as a result losing control over the PMR.

In the same year, according to an agreement signed by the Presidents of the Russian Federation and Moldova, Russian peacekeepers were introduced into the region. They still remain on the territory of the unrecognized republic.

WtR
DAMASCUS, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Syrian air defenses responded to a fresh Israeli missile strike in the capital Damascus after midnight, according to the state news agency SANA.

People in the capital heard two powerful explosions as a result of the attack and the interception of the Syrian air defenses.

The attack is the latest in a string of Israeli strikes against Syrian military sites over the pretext that it's targeting pro-Iran militias and weapons shipments. 
Ive read only half way through El Altos list of platos fuertes (main dishes) when a petite woman sidles up to my table, her curly hair tied back in a messy bun, a camo mask over her face.

Hi, Im Traci, she says nonchalantly, as if shes not a two-time James Beard Award winner; as if shes not the San Francisco legend who dominated special occasion dining in the city for over 20 years; as if shes not Traci Des Jardins.

El Alto, Silicon Valleys new California-Mexican restaurant, is Des Jardins first outside of the city. Moving into the suburbs was something she hadnt given much thought in the past, but the events of the last few years have subtly shifted the Bay Areas culinary landscape. Although people are sticking closer to home, they are no less hungry for exceptional restaurants that rival those in SF. The time feels right, says des Jardins.

The chef, who grew up on a farm in the Central Valley with a Sonoran Mexican mother and a French Arcadian father, describes El Altos food as rancho cuisine, recipes and ingredients that draw from the centuries of culinary conversation between Mexico and California. The menu is a showcase of the best ingredients from Californias bread basketKing City pink beans, Blenheim apricots, almondsprepared in both modern and traditional ways. One, the terracotta deviled eggs with guajillo chili and nutty, slightly spicy Veracruz-style salsa macha, was even adapted from a late 19th century recipe.

Pescado a la mibrasa at El Alto. (Photography by Aubrie Pick)

Everything on the plate was created in careful collaboration with El Altos chef de cuisine, Robert Hurtado, whose biography includes stints at Coi and Rich Table, as well as three years as chef de cuisine of Des Jardins Arguello. The two worked through 27 different recipes (Okay, not 27, maybe 15, admits Hurtado with a laugh) before deciding on which mole to serve with Liberty duck leg confit. The winner, which simultaneously pays homage to Los Altos historic apricot-growing heritage and the authentic complexity of Oaxacan and Pueblan moles, is a triumph: savory, sweet, and silky with just enough heat to ignite your taste buds.

Like the apricot mole, its in the language of salsas and sauces where El Alto is most eloquent. The salsa verde cocida in which the meaty, cant-believe-they-arent-beef Impossible albondigas bathe is tart and tangy like a warm summer night. The mushroom tamal slathered in mole verde, Des Jardins and Hurtados take on pumpkin seed and tomatillo gravy, is robust with an addictive, subtle earthiness. The pescado a la mibrasa with almond salsa is reminiscent of trout almondine, if the latter was seared on a charcoal grill, stripped of its buttery excess, and kissed with the distinctive anise-and-eucalyptus-toned herb hoja santa.

For all of the careful fussing thats gone into El Altos menu, the restaurants interior is unfussy. Its more laid back than high-concept, more neighborhood restaurant than intentional Michelin bait.

When its windows are rolled up, the lounge becomes an indoor-outdoor space. (Photography by Aubrie Pick)

The bright, high-ceilinged space is anchored around a lounge area made cozy with blue-and-white-striped rugs and cushioned, bent-back chairs and loveseats. As nights grow warmer, the paneled windows that dominate the wall will roll up to expand the restaurants seating into the open air. Across the breezeway, State Street MarketLos Altos new food hall featuring buzzy eateries like Little Blue Door, a casual concept from Ettan chef Srijith Gopinathan, and Bao Bei, a Taiwanese- and Korean-inspired spot from Michelin-starred Maum chefs Michael and Meichih Kimadds to the convivial atmosphere.

Tile work and slatted, wooden window blinds lend color and texture to the bar, for which libation consultant Enrique Sanchez (Arguello, La Mar Cebicheria, and School Night) designed a range of cocktails that combine agave-based mezcals and tequilas with unexpected ingredients like beets and carrots, rhubarb and Topo Chico, and orgeat and cacao. Id even go so far as to call the Holy Water (made with Pueblo Viejo blanco tequila, lime, passion fruit, green chartreuse, and a jolt of vivid hoja santa) a potable masterpiece.

Rustic hanging ropes divide the bar from the dining room, a section dominated by a wide mural evocative of Mexicos agave landscapes. The room is temporarily closed, says Des Jardins because, as is still the case in much of the restaurant world, El Alto is suffering from a shortage of front-of-the-house staff.

With any luck, the dining room will be running at full tilt within the coming weeks. Until then, Des Jardins and Hurtado will keep the moles and salsas coming to the lounge and bar one distinctive dish at a time.

// El Alto is open for dinner Thursday through Saturday; 170 State St (Los Altos), elaltolosaltos.com.
Nicolas Rapp

En espanol

You've had it with relentless robocalls, the automated messages that at best are telemarketing and at worst are pitches from criminals who want to steal your cash or your identity.

Enough is enough with the deluge of unsolicited voice mails and the calls from phone numbers that look like they're local but are spoofed (or disguised) by crooks who claim to be with the IRS or to have important information about your car warranty.

Youve tried blocking numbers, to no avail. Youve signed up on the National Do Not Call Registry. No difference. Youve complained to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Nada.
Xi calls for blazing new path to develop China's world-class universities

Xinhua) 08:03, April 26, 2022

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, waves to teachers and students during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, arrived at Renmin University of China (RUC) for inspection on Monday morning in Beijing, ahead of China's Youth Day, which falls on May 4.

On behalf of the CPC Central Committee, Xi extended festival greetings to the youth of all ethnic groups nationwide, and gave sincere wishes to all faculty and students of the RUC, all people working in the education sector and all those on youth work. Xi said that he hopes all young people will bear in mind the Party's instructions, commit themselves to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and live up to the prime of their lives, to their mission of the times and to the expectations of the people. They should run with all their might on the track of youth, and win the best results the youth today are supposed to get.

Xi stressed that the fundamental issues of education have always been "the education for whom, to whom, and how to educate." To blaze a new path to developing world-class universities based on Chinese conditions and with Chinese characteristics, we must stay committed to the Party's leadership and the guidance of Marxism and serve the cause of the Party and the people. We will also ensure that education performs its fundamental mission of fostering virtue, while passing on the traditions of Chinese revolution. Young people should be staunch believers and active disseminators of the core socialist values, and exemplarily act them out. Learning from heroes, forerunners and role models, the youth should endeavor to become a new generation who will shoulder the mission of national rejuvenation and forge ahead determinedly to realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The RUC is the first modern university founded by the CPC. Its precursors were Northern Shaanxi College founded in 1937 amid the war against Japanese aggression, then North China Union University, North University and North China University. During decades of dedication to higher education, the RUC has focused on humanities and social sciences studies and the teaching and research of Marxism, therefore regarded as "a flagship of China's higher education in humanities and social sciences."

At around 9:20 a.m., accompanied by Zhang Donggang, Party committee secretary of the RUC, and Liu Wei, president of the university, Xi first arrived at the Lide Building to observe an ideological-political class in a smart classroom. Xi sat among young students, listened carefully and joined their class discussions. He affirmed the university's continuous efforts to leverage its unique strength and push forward reform and innovation of teaching to provide top-notch courses.

Whether the ideological-political course can play its due role in fostering virtue or not depends on the level of attention it receives, as well as its adaptability and quality, Xi stressed. The essence of the course is reasoning, and attention should be given to the way of teaching to reason in an insightful, thorough and flexible way. Both teachers and students should be involved attentively to make heart-to-heart communications, enlighten and nourish the mind, and motivate themselves.

Xi said the education on ideological-political theories for the youth is a consecutive process, which should be tailored to different stages of their growth and carried out in a targeted way. He expressed the hope that the RUC would work solidly and persistently, strive for excellence, and provide more "golden courses" in ideological-political theories in colleges, secondary and primary schools across the country. He also encouraged colleges nationwide to jointly develop ideological-political curriculums with secondary and primary schools to push for integration of the subject through all levels of education.

Xi also encouraged the RUC students to remain confident in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive to be trailblazers on the new journey to build China into a modern socialist nation in all respects.

An exhibition on the RUC's history is being held at the school's museum. Xi visited the museum to learn about the school's history and development, and its achievements in teaching and research in recent years.

The RUC was founded in the midst of the war against Japanese aggression and has been developing with the support of the CPC, boasting a glorious tradition and distinct heritage of revolution, which must be carried forward to hold this important ground for the Party, Xi stressed. It is essential to step up efforts to explore, collect and study materials on the RUC's history so that we can tell the stories well of the CPC and its efforts to establish the RUC, and encourage faculty and students to pass on the school's fine traditions and revolutionary legacy.

On the square in front of the museum, Xi met with representatives of senior professors and experts and young and middle-aged teachers, and had cordial exchanges with them. Xi was very pleased to see that the senior professors and experts are all in good shape both physically and mentally.

Xi pointed out that the RUC has long been an intellectual reservoir of talent and masters. Senior professors and experts have devoted all themselves and made great contributions to the Party's education cause. Young and middle-aged teachers should learn from them, aspire to become great educators, and continue to deliver in teaching, research and innovation.

For China to build world-class socialist universities with Chinese characteristics and to cultivate the next generation of socialists, there must be world-class professors, Xi stressed. The RUC should attach high importance to the training of teachers, especially the cultivation of young and middle-aged ones with high competence, and build itself into a hub of talent and innovation in the research and teaching of humanities and social sciences.

RUC Libraries have a collection of more than 4.1 million books, which consist mainly of academic literature in humanities and social sciences. Here, Xi inspected an exhibition of selected books on the CPC history and Chinese classics, as well as digital academic resources such as a modern search portal and e-copies of newspapers and journals. He was also briefed on the libraries' protection and use of literature and ancient books, as well as the application of theoretical research results.

Xi stressed that, RUC Libraries' collection of books on the CPC history, as records of the CPC's endeavors to establish higher education in China, are precious memories that everyone of us must cherish. It is essential to carefully protect these books and digitalize them step by step, to let them enlighten and inspire more and more people.

Modern technologies should be employed to strengthen the protection, restoration and comprehensive utilization of ancient books. What implied in these books such as the philosophical ideas, humanitarian spirit, values and moral norms, should be fully exploited to promote the creative evolution and development of fine traditional Chinese culture.

It is also important to build depositories of academic resources to better disseminate, collect, integrate, edit, expand and share academic literature. We will establish world-class information platforms for academic resources with Chinese features and improve the nation's cultural soft power.

Then, Xi met with representatives of the RUC's teachers and students at the north hall of the Century Gymnasium and gave an important speech. Zhang Donggang, secretary of the RUC Party committee, Gao Mingxuan, laureate of the national honor "People's Teacher", Zhao Feng, professor at the School of Economics, Zhou Xiaohui, PhD candidate in journalism, and Wang Hairong, undergraduate at the School of Philosophy, also gave speeches in a lively and warm atmosphere.

Xi stressed that in China, a country with a unique history, distinctive culture and special national context, we cannot blindly follow others or simply copy foreign standards and models when we build world-class universities of our own. Instead, we must proceed from our country's realities and blaze a new path to building world-class universities with Chinese characteristics.

The RUC has remained committed to cultivating talent for the Party and the country. Dating back to its founding, the RUC was aimed at cultivating "the revolutionary vanguard" when Northern Shaanxi College was launched; "tens of thousands of officials for the nation" shortly after the People's Republic was founded; "model citizens and pillars of society" during the period of reform and opening up; "pioneers for the national rejuvenation and vanguards for a great country" in the new era. All the time, the RUC has demonstrated an ethos of "living up to the Party and the people's trust as a university run by the Party and the people."

The RUC will fulfill the fundamental task of fostering virtue as every institution of learning should and carry forward the traditions of Chinese revolution. The RUC's faculty and students will remain true to the Party conscientiously, Xi hoped.

Xi said universities form an important part of research institutions of philosophy and social sciences in China. At present, upholding and developing the theory and practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics has presented a large number of new issues that need to be addressed urgently.

He noted that the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation. It is imperative to answer the questions of our times: What has happened to the world? Where will mankind go?

He said we must continue to integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with China's actual conditions and with the fine traditional Chinese culture, and continue to adapt Marxism to the Chinese context and our times, bearing in mind the overall strategy of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and profound changes unseen in the world in a century.

Xi added that developing philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, is all in all to construct China's independent knowledge system. We should take China as a reference, take our times as a reference, and base ourselves on China's realities to solve China's problems.

He said we should constantly promote the creative transformation and development of fine traditional Chinese culture, and step up knowledge innovation, theoretical innovation and method innovation, so that China's philosophy and social sciences can truly stand in the academe of the world.

Xi called on researchers in philosophy and social sciences to have a clear orientation, true principles, profound knowledge and upright moral conduct, conscientiously take the questions of China, the questions of the world, the questions of the people and the questions of our times as their academic responsibilities, and take highlighting China's path, governance and principles as their ideals and pursuits.

They should apply their expertise to and achieve fruitful results in studying and addressing major issues of overall, fundamental and critical importance to the Party and the country, he added.

We should give full play to the unique role of philosophy and social sciences in integrating Chinese and foreign cultures and enhancing exchanges among them, Xi said, calling for spreading China's voice, theories and thoughts, making China better understood in the world, and contributing to building a community of shared future for mankind.

Xi stressed that good schools have their own features, but they all share something in common that they have a team of outstanding teachers. For teachers, if they would like to foster their students into a certain kind of people, they should be that kind of people themselves first.

To nurture the next generation who will join and carry on the socialist cause, it is urgent for teachers to be proficient in professional knowledge and exemplary in moral characters. As lecturers of knowledge and paragons of virtues, our teachers should strive to help students solve their doubts with learning, behaving and thinking, Xi said.

Education is a cause that embodies benevolence and love. Only if teachers love their students and the career, they will take corresponding responsibilities. Teachers should be strict with and love their students at the same time. They should provide psychological care for students with the charm of their personalities, and help students gain more wisdom with guidance of their academic achievements. Teachers should love and care every single student, let every student grow healthy and sound, and enable every child to have opportunities to live a rewarding life, Xi said.

What they say should serve as guides for learners and what they do should serve as examples of the times - these are code of conduct for teachers. They should constantly cultivate their moral characters and influence students with their own examples. They should act as masters for students in learning, pursuing career and conducting oneself. Teachers should try to be role models respected and followed by all of society.

Xi pointed out that on the new journey in the new era, the goals of Chinese youth can be boiled down to one point: following the Party, heeding its call and working hard to become a new generation capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation. He said he hoped that all China's youth will measure the motherland with their feet, discover the Chinese spirit through their eyes, listen to the people with their ears and feel the pulse of the times with their hearts. They should integrate their love for the motherland and the people into the pursuit of their study and career, Xi said.

When Xi was leaving the university, both sides of the road were crowded with teachers and students, who greeted the general secretary with excitement. They cheered with one voice, "We will remain faithful to the Party and we will live up to the trust of the people," "We will work hard to become pillars of the national rejuvenation and vanguards for a great country." Xi waved to them amid applause and cheers.

Wang Huning, Ding Xuexiang and leading officials from relevant central departments were also present.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
UNITED NATIONS, April 26 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday condemned the attack in the University of Karachi in Pakistan that led to multiple deaths, said his deputy spokesman.

"I can tell you the secretary-general strongly condemns the attack in Karachi today," said Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman.

The secretary-general expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and wished those injured a quick recovery, he told a daily press briefing.

Haq said UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan, Julien Harneis, also strongly condemned the attack and was deeply saddened by the loss of life.

Harneis said attacks that deliberately target education, teachers, and places of learning are particularly condemnable and sent his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, both in Pakistan and in China, according to Haq.

An explosion ripped through a shuttle passenger van of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi on Tuesday, leaving three Chinese teachers dead, one Chinese teacher injured and causing several Pakistani casualties, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson. 


New Lithium Pegmatite Discovery at Moblan Project

Brisbane, April 26, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Emerging lithium producer Sayona Mining Ltd ( ASX:SYA ) ( FRA:DML ) ( OTCMKTS:SYAXF ) has received positive drilling results from its Moblan Lithium Project in northern Quebec, with the discovery of a new southern lithium pegmatite zone near the main Moblan deposit. Sayona has a 60% interest in this area.Highlights- Discovery of a significant new southern lithium pegmatite zone at Moblan Lithium Project, Quebec- Highlights include 5m @ 1.85% Li2O from 3.5m and 35m @ 1.62% Li2O from 27.6m in hole DDH135 together with 6.6m @ 1.69% Li2O from 2.1m and 27.2m @ 1.53% Li2O from 22.0m in hole DDH136; mineralisation at shallow, 60m vertical depth, open in all directions and near main Moblan deposit- Results demonstrate potential for a northern hub to add to Sayona's established Abitibi lithium hub, as the Company further strengthens its leading lithium (spodumene) resource base in North America.Assay results from two holes, completed at the newly defined Moblan South Discovery, have identified lithium mineralisation at shallow depth, located some 200m south of the main Moblan deposit. Results include 5m @ 1.85% Li2O from 3.5m and 35m @ 1.62% Li2O from 27.6m in hole DDH135 together with 6.6m @ 1.69% Li2O from 2.1m and 27.2m @ 1.53% Li2O from 22.0m hole DDH136 (refer Table 1*).The Moblan South Discovery is a new and distinct spodumene pegmatite zone, open in all directions.The drill holes form part of a 35 hole, 4,683m diamond drill program recently completed at Moblan.Assay results for other drill holes are pending, with a follow-up drilling program planned as soon as possible.Sayona's Managing Director, Brett Lynch said: "These results are excellent, demonstrating the quality of the Moblan Lithium Project and highlighting the potential for a significant resource expansion."Moblan is set to form the basis of a major northern hub for Sayona in Quebec, complementing our established Abitibi lithium hub in the south and adding to our position as holding the leading lithium resource base in North America."The geology and mineralogy are very similar in both holes, with spodumene occurrences throughout the pegmatite and high lithium grades up to 4.02% Li2O. The lithium assay content is consistent with the local variations of spodumene logged in core.The Moblan South discovery is located approximately 200m south of the Moblan deposit, as shown in the cross section and plan below (Figure 2*).The Moblan project is located about 100km north of the town of Chibougamau and approximately 85km from the Cree (First Nations) community of Mistissini. The project is accessible year-round via the Route du Nord and its proximity to Chibougamau and Mistissini with their available infrastructure makes it an ideal location for exploring and mining deposits of industrial energy minerals.Sayona is committed to engaging local communities as the project progresses, including First Nations and other local community members, consistent with its stakeholder engagement approach.The positive results from Moblan follow Sayona's recently announced doubling of its JORC compliant lithium resource base for its flagship North American Lithium and Authier Lithium Projects, with a total JORC combined Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 119.1 million tonnes @ 1.05% Li2O (refer ASX announcement 1 March 2022). Resource details are included in Table 3.In January 2022, Sayona expanded its northern hub with the acquisition of 121 new claims, the Lac Albert Project, located west of Moblan and spanning more than 6,500 ha (refer ASX release 25 January 2022).Analysts Benchmark Mineral Intelligence have reported that the total amount of proposed and existing lithium-ion capacity has more than doubled since the beginning of 2021 to over 6 terawatt hours, with lithium supply described by Tesla founder Elon Musk as the "limiting factor" for electric vehicle adoption globally. As of 24 April, Benchmark's lithium price index was up 487% year-on-year, with its carbonate index up 465% and its hydroxide index up 526%.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Sayona Mining Ltd

Sayona Mining Limited (ASX:SYA) (OTCMKTS:SYAXF) is an Australian, ASX-listed (SYA) company focused on sourcing and developing the raw materials required to construct lithium-ion batteries for use in the rapidly growing new and green technology sectors. The Company has lithium projects in Quebec, Canada and in Western Australia.

Please visit us as at www.sayonamining.com.au


Quarterly Activities Report 31 March 2022

Perth, April 26, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) provide the quarterly activities report for the period ending 31 March 2022.HIGHLIGHTS- Strong Pre-Feasibility Study results and demerger update released for the world class 1.8Bt Richmond vanadium project in northwest Queensland- Toll milling campaigns from the Boorara open pit low grade stockpiles completed with 98,121t processed in total at a reconciled grade of 0.93g/t generating $1.35m net cash- Positive Pre-Feasibility Study results released for the high-grade Cannon underground project with evaluation progressing on the Penny's Find and Rose Hill projects for potential sequential development under a contract mining - toll milling model- CY 2022 exploration drilling program commenced testing multi-commodity targets at Yarmany, Lakewood, the Greater Boorara area and Binduli- Further excellent gold results received from Golden Ridge including:o 2m @ 26.11g/t Au from 69m (GRC21007) and 2m @ 20.77g/t Au from 80m (GRC21007)o 14m @ 3.62g/t Au from 106m (GRC21014)o 5m @ 8.06g/t Au from 57m (GRC21035)- First pass drilling at Yarmany intercepts gold, nickel-cobalt-copper and lithium mineralisation with drilling ongoing along the 50km strike zone- First pass multi-element composite results received south of Golden Ridge with widespread nickel, cobalt, copper and silver mineralisation intercepted- Excellent resource extension drilling results released from the Crake gold project- Historic Feasibility Study review and preliminary concentrate option study completed for the Nimbus silver - zinc project- Divestment of a portion of the Company's listed investments nets $2 million in cash- Cash at the end of quarter of A$3.8 million and listed investments totalling A$7.5 million*To view the quarterly report, please visit:About Horizon Minerals Limited

Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.

Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.

Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.


30,000m Drilling Program to Extend Austral's Mine Life

Brisbane, April 26, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Austral Resources Australia Ltd ( ASX:AR1 ) is pleased to provide an exploration update and announce the commencement of an extensive exploration programme.The Company's exploration team is driving an intensive drilling campaign in 2022. The focus will be on drilling historical and new prospects on granted Mining Leases ("MLs") to organically grow the Company's large JORC complaint copper ("Cu") resource base, and to extend Austral's mine life.Highlights- An aggressive commitment to mine life extension with a budget of AUD$10M over the next 12 months for exploration and drilling.- Dedicated exploration team on the ground to maximise the integration and interpretation of the extensive historical datasets.- The exploration team will be concurrently working on 2-3 prospects, and we expect steady reporting of results and news flow from May onwards.- In addition to the existing 1,340km2 of EPMs, the Company has lodged 800km2 of adjacent applications.- The planned drilling will focus on high priority brownfield exploration targets to organically grow Austral's current JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (420kt of contained copper).High priority oxide Cu targets include:- McLeod Hill - located 5km southeast of the existing Mt Kelly processing facility (on 2 existing MLs 5426 and 5474):- Historical results include: 8m@ 1.81% Cu from 59m - MTKC0096.- +400m of untested strike southeast of existing oxide resource of 1.4Mt@ 0.49% Cu.- Previous resource model was geologically unconstrained, indicating significant upside.- Dividend (located on EPM 16242 within 5km of the Mt Kelly processing facility):- Historical intercepts include: 18m@ 0.5% Cu from 44m (DR007), and 11m@ 0.54% Cu from 23m (DVDC0011).- Drifter - Kechenaj Trend:- >5km of strike potential to host Cu mineralisation.- Historical intercepts of high-grade Cu, include: 8m@ 2.21% Cu from 38m (DRFC0008), and 13m@ 2.11% Cu from 34m (DRFB0025).Mt Kelly Resources and ProspectsMt Kelly deposits consists of a cluster of mined Cu pits (Flying Horse and Mt Clarke), an unmined resource at Lady Colleen, adjacent Cu occurrences such as Dividend and Swagman, and McLeod Hill to the south - see Figure 5.Cu occurrences lay where the McNamara fault is intersected by cross-faults.Flying Horse, Lady Colleen and Mt Clarke account for 24.74Mt of the Company's 30Mt JORC Mineral Resource Estimate, and the exploration team has identified potential for new work to increase resource tonnes.Historical drilling at the Mt Kelly group of deposits reported wide intervals of high-grade sulphide Cu, including:Significant drill intercepts:- Lady Colleen: 32m@ 4.63% Cu/0.18g/t Au from 169m (MTKC0548).- Flying Horse: 11m@ 2.9% Cu/0.05 g/t Au from 334m (MTKCD029).- Mt Clarke: 6m@ 2.34% Cu/0.11g/t Au from 134m (MTKCD011).Brownfield TargetsMcLeod HillThis deposit is located 5km southeast of the Mt Kelly processing facility on Mining Leases (MLs).Mineralisation is controlled by structural features such as shear zones and faults interacting with permissive stratigraphy, suggesting potential for larger scale 'replacement type' mineralised systems. The southern 400m of the host shear within the ML is untested.A high-density composite rock chip sampling program is in progress to define the southern extent with 250 samples collected of a 500-sample program on a 100 x 25m grid.Historical intercepts include: 8m@ 1.8% Cu from 59m (MTKC0096), 15m@ 0.98% Cu from 60m (MTKC0089), and 6m@ 0.67 % Cu from 74m (MTKC0094).1,500m of RC drilling is planned to infill the existing 1.42Mt@ 0.49% Cu resource area and to extend drill testing into the southern extension target zone.DividendExtensive surface Cu anomalism coincident with multiple ironstone ridges define an alteration system of considerable size (500m x 1,500m). Controlling structures continue west directly into the Mt Kelly deposits.Historical drilling defined +500m strike extent of oxide Cu mineralisation. Recent field mapping shows untested structures to the west and north likely represent repeat mineralised zones.Historic intercepts include: 18m@ 0.5% Cu from 44m (DR007), 11m@ 0.54% Cu from 23m (DVDC0011).An initial 2,000m of RC drilling is planned to extend the known mineralisation envelope.Mt KellyIn the Mt Kelly area Cu occurrences lay where the McNamara fault is intersected by cross-faults. Mt Kelly consists of a cluster of mined pits (Flying Horse and Mt Clarke) an unmined resource at Lady Colleen, adjacent Cu occurrences such as Dividend and Swagman, and McLeod Hill to the south.Significant drill intercepts:- Lady Colleen: 32m@ 4.6% Cu/0.18g/t Au from 169m (MTKC0548), 37.1m@ 3.46% Cu/0.09g/t Au from 207.9m (MTKCD038), 17m@ 2.51% Cu/0.15g/t Au from 177m (MTKC0545).- Flying Horse: 11m@ 2.9% Cu/0.05 g/t Au from 334m (MTKCD029).- Mt Clarke: 6m@ 2.5% Cu/0.11g/t Au from 134m (MTKCD011).A review of these deposits (3D modelling of drill data, long section interpretation, incorporating surface geochemistry and geophysics) indicates that each resource has potential for additional discoveries through further drilling outside of current mineralisation envelopes.Within current mineralisation envelopes, infill drilling of these deposits is likely to lead to improved resource classification by converting a proportion of Inferred Resources to Measured and Indicated status (higher confidence of estimate).Additional potential exists to define additional Cu mineralisation at prospects adjacent to the Mt Kelly cluster of mineral prospects such as Dividend, Swagman and Spex. Each of these prospects has outcropping Cu mineralisation, anomalous surface geochemistry and drill intercepts that are being reviewed for follow up programmes.A three-hole diamond drilling programme is being finalised at Flying Horse to collect fresh core samples for metallurgical test work evaluation in Canada. This is to determine the suitability of Mt Kelly sulphide (chalcopyrite) mineralisation for an emerging sulphide heap leach SXEW technology.If the evaluation is positive, there is exciting potential for Austral to have an alternate processing solution for its considerable sulphide resource base of 26.5Mt@ 0.8% Cu (210,000t of contained Cu).This has low capital expenditure potential as the sulphide ore can be processed at the existing Mt Kelly SXEW processing facility.Greenfield TargetsThe exploration team has selected a number of high tenor regional prospects with limited historical exploration for follow up work (and is preparing field programmes), including:Drifter - KechenajStrong zones of oxide mineralisation with intercepts of high-grade Cu: 8m@ 2.3% Cu from 38m (DRFC0008), 13m@ 2.11% Cu from 34m (DRFB0025). Large-scale Zn-Pb anomalism is associated with Cu mineralization indicating potential for a much larger sulphide system at depth.Wild Gecko - Barratt's BendA walk-up drill target. Grades in existing drilling results: 5m @ 1.2% Cu from 70m (WG07004).A large 3km x 1.5km wide soil geochemistry anomaly open to the west with large areas that remain untested by drilling.Investigator CampThe prospect shows remarkable similarities to the Mammoth-Esperanza camp, located 12km along strike to the north (structure, geology and interpreted system architecture). There are numerous Cu anomalies with sparse drilling. Each anomaly ranges between 800m and 1.2km in strike.Investigator north and central areas are the highest priority: 4m@ 1.36 % Cu from 150m (INVC0003, includes 1m@ 4.16% Cu from 150m).Amy's PocketLocated 8km north northwest of the Mt Kelly processing facility with widespread ironstone (to 0.92% Cu (Portable XRF) CST 2012. Sample XS01270) in an area of limited large-scale soil sampling and no drilling. To the northeast is a substantial Zn anomaly that has not been followed-up.Austral's JORC Mineral Resource EstimateAustral has an existing JORC compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of 60Mt@ 0.7% Cu, hosting 420,000t of contained Cu. This is fully tabled in Appendix 3*.A review of these deposits (3D modelling of drill data, long section interpretation, incorporating surface geochemistry and geophysics) indicates that all have potential to be increased through further drilling outside of current resource envelopes.Within current resource envelopes, infill drilling of these deposits is likely to lead to improved resource classification by converting a proportion of Inferred Resources to Measured and Indicated status.Additional potential exists to define additional Cu resources at prospects adjacent to the Mt Kelly cluster of mineral resources such as Dividend, Swagman and Spex. Each of these prospects has outcropping Cu mineralisation, anomalous surface geochemistry and drill intercepts that is being reviewed for follow up programmes.Steve Tambanis, Austral's Chief Executive Officer commented:"Our exploration team has wasted no time reviewing a massive historic dataset, getting on the ground, and selecting priority targets for follow up resource estimate work - some of which are drill ready. Focussing on Cu oxides, they have selected a combination of brownfield and greenfield targets for the initial drill programme.There are a number of lower grade oxide resources near our Mt Kelly processing facility that were not progressed a decade ago due to lower Cu prices. We are looking at the potential of these to deliver short term feed to supplement Anthill ore to our Mt Kelly plant. Our clear objective here is to extend our current four-year mine life through discovery and by commercialising our 420,000t contained Cu resource base.The exploration team has the resourcing to concurrently work on 2-3 prospects, so we expect steady reporting of results and news flow from May onwards.We are also preparing to collect diamond core samples at Flying Horse to provide fresh ore samples for a metallurgical test work programme. This will determine if our sulphide ore is amenable to a newly developed heap leach sulphide process that shows promising results in a North American copper mine. This has transformational potential for AR1 if we can treat sulphide Cu ore at our existing Mt Kelly oxide plant.We look forward to further updating shareholders as we build Cu production from Anthill and scaleup exploration and development activities."*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Austral Resources Australia Ltd

Austral Resources Australia Ltd (ASX:AR1) is a copper cathode producer operating in the Mt Isa region, Queensland, Australia. Its Mt Kelly copper oxide heap leach and solvent extraction/electrowinning (SXEW) plant has a nameplate capacity of 30,000tpa of copper cathode. Austral is developing its Anthill oxide copper mine which has an Ore Reserve of 5.06Mt at 0.94% Cu. The Company expects to produce 40,000t of copper cathode over a four-year period from mid-2022.

Austral owns a significant copper inventory with a JORC compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of 60Mt at 0.7% Cu and 1,940km2 of highly prospective exploration tenure in the heart of the Mt Isa district, a world class copper and base metals province. The Company is implementing an intensive exploration and development programme designed to extend the life of mine and increase then review options to commercialise its copper resources.
SANTA FE  With fires still burning across New Mexico despite several days of cooler temperatures, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Monday issued an emergency fire order calling on city and county leaders to enact local fireworks bans.

The governor, who met with residents at a Las Vegas shelter who had left their homes in advance of approaching flames, also asked federal officials for more resources and said 93% of the state was experiencing severe drought conditions.

But a Lujan Grisham spokeswoman said it would be up to legislative leaders to determine whether to revisit a longstanding law preventing the governor from banning fireworks statewide.

Our focus right now is on supporting communities across the state being affected by wildfires and on saving lives, the governors spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett said. I would defer to the Legislature for their thoughts on the standing statute that they have maintained.

Legislative attempts in past years  most recently during the administration of former Gov. Susana Martinez  to expand the authority of the state, cities and counties to ban all fireworks have been unsuccessful.

But at least one top state lawmaker said Monday that legislators should consider giving the governor more authority to restrict fireworks in times of extreme drought and fire danger.

It seems to me that banning fireworks is something we should consider, said Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque. I just think were going to have to allow governments to do things differently because were dealing with climate change.

Under current New Mexico law, its up to cities and counties to prohibit the sale and use of certain types of fireworks  including aerial devices such as rockets and Roman candles.

Local governments can not issue an outright ban on all fireworks, but they can, in certain cases, restrict firework use to areas that are paved or barren or have water nearby.

Proclamations declaring extreme drought conditions and limiting fireworks must be issued at least 20 days before the Fourth of July. Such proclamations can only last for 30 days, though they can be renewed upon expiring.

AJ Forte, the executive director of the New Mexico Municipal League, said mayors around New Mexico would be participating in a remote meeting this week to discuss the wildfires and possible local-level responses.

A draft ordinance will also be crafted so that mayors and city councils can discuss fireworks restrictions in the comings weeks, Forte said.

Meanwhile, the governor and three members of the states congressional delegation  US. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez and U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan  spoke with officials from several different federal agencies Monday about the various wildfires burning in New Mexico.

During the call, Lujan Grisham requested 25 additional support officers to help coordinate emergency response and recovery efforts, according to the Governors Office.

The governor and State Forester Laura McCarthy also asked for additional ground crews to be dispatched to New Mexico, especially with more strong winds expected later this week.

Last week, Lujan Grisham issued emergency orders freeing up to $750,000 in state funds for five different counties  Mora, Valencia, Lincoln, Colfax and San Miguel.

She also called on New Mexicans to heed mandatory evacuation orders and brace for a long fire season, saying more than 200 structures had already been destroyed by fires this year and an additional 900 structures were being threatened by a pair of large fires that merged and had burned more than 56,000 acres northwest of Las Vegas.
The question isnt whether City Councilor Louie Sanchez calls 911 too much. Its whether police are responding in time to prevent serious crimes and save lives. But you wouldnt know that based on the recent dismissive tone of the Albuquerque Police Department.

Sanchez, who served 25 years with APD before taking office in January, has been pressing city officials about why officers werent dispatched after a recent 911 call in which Sanchez reported a man at a gas station hitting another man with the butt of a gun and pointing the gun.

Rather than immediately dispatching officers, the 911 operator said she was setting up a be on the look out. Meanwhile, the report of a man pointing and striking another man with a gun got no response for about 50 minutes. When officers finally arrived, surprise, they found nothing suspicious. APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos acknowledged Sanchezs March 26 call should have been considered a priority one or two since it included a gun.

Ideally, they would have dispatched officers, gone to the scene, he said. Ideally, they would have victim information, or they could have met with Mr. Sanchez to get more information.

Ideally? A man is reportedly threatening another man with a gun  in a city that had a record number of homicides last year  and ideally police would respond? Gallegos adds Sanchez may have confused 911 by saying he didnt want an officer to contact him, then saying he did. But that doesnt alter the initial message that a person with a gun was striking another.

APD could have acknowledged a mistake and assured the public the operator got additional training or acknowledged APD has difficulty answering calls in a timely manner due to a shortage of officers. Instead, APD tried to deflect, providing call logs showing Sanchez called 911 or 242-COPS on 11 different days between June 2021 and the end of March. The clear insinuation? He complains. A lot. But Sanchez was elected in part because of his APD background and ability to cut through the bureaucracy.

Sanchez owns two Allstate Insurance offices, one at Central Avenue and 61st. Hes reported witnessing a fight in progress involving a stabbing, suspected drug dealing and prostitution, all of which have been known to occur frequently on Central Avenue. Police with one voice encourage the public to be their eyes and ears and report suspicious activity, but turn around and then imply Sanchez does it too much. We hope APD doesnt hold other business owners in such contempt.

If theyre all legitimate emergencies, thats quite a bit for that period of time, Gallegos said. The concern is we dont want him tying up the line for anyone else who does have a legitimate emergency.

Nearly a dozen calls over a 10-month period doesnt appear all that unusual for a Central Avenue business inundated with crime and public nuisances. Then again, Sanchez has been critical of Chief Harold Medina and APD response times, frequently bringing up his calls to 911 and 242-COPS at council meetings. That apparently is rubbing City Hall the wrong way. Officers were eventually dispatched to Sanchezs March 26 call after he called a secure line of the director of the Emergency Communications Center. That, too, rubbed APD the wrong way.

Gallegos says its impossible to know if Sanchezs calls were legitimate or what his intentions were. He also says its concerning on a couple of Sanchezs calls he can be heard arguing with 911. Doesnt that happen every day? No one calls 911 because theyre having a good day and says no, Ill wait. Please take your time.

Sanchez believes calls are getting downgraded from highest priority to not requiring officers be dispatched. As the city struggles with a crime crisis and officer openings, thats a legitimate concern of many. Council services are correct in wanting an audit of 911 emergency response times; hard data should elevate the discussion beyond this blame game.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Mayor Tim Keller has nominated a woman with 25 years of policing experience to the superintendent of police reform position that has been vacant since the end of last year.

LaTesha Watson, who most recently served as the director of the Office of Public Safety Accountability for Sacramento, still needs to be confirmed by the City Council.

If confirmed, she will lead the Albuquerque Police Department along with Chief Harold Medina.

Keller created the superintendent of police reform position last year as a way to divvy up the responsibilities of fighting crime and the work that goes into complying with the Court Approved Settlement Agreement with the Department of Justice. The superintendent oversees all academy operations including cadet training and continuous education as well as reform efforts, internal affairs and police disciplinary matters.

In March 2021, Keller appointed Sylvester Stanley to the position as an interim leader. He retired at the end of December.

Weve put a lot of work into considering what reform means for our community, and how we reach important goals that allow our department to do the best job of protecting and serving the people of Albuquerque, Keller said in a news release. This means putting leaders in place who understand that theres a balance, and who will work to break down roadblocks.

In the news release, Watson praised the model and said it illustrated the citys investment and dedication to implementing long-term sustainable reforms.

The APD team, Albuquerque residents, Chief Harold Medina, and I will remain steadfast in effecting positive change while ensuring transparency, integrity, accountability, and commitment, Watson said.

In her cover letter, Watson said she believes police departments must be introspective, transparent and honest. The Journal had requested all the candidates cover letters and resumes under the Inspection of Public Records Act.

Although police organizations are unique and experience different types of problems, police leaders must identify dysfunctional elements within organizations and effectively implement change, Watson wrote. Great leadership upholding the highest standards encompassing integrity, accountability, and trust can only be experienced with strong support.

According to her resume, Watson had been appointed to the director of the Office of Public Safety Accountability in Sacramento in April 2020. Before that she was chief of police of the Henderson Police Department in Nevada and deputy chief of police of the Arlington Police Department in Texas.

Watson was fired from the Henderson Police Department 16 months into her tenure there. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the city had hired an independent firm to investigate complaints against her, and the firm found the complaints were unfounded or fell short of policy violations. However, the investigators found that there was a serious morale issue and Watson had disobeyed orders from the city manager, according to the newspaper.

In September 2020, Watson filed a federal lawsuit alleging systemic discrimination based on race and gender. She said she was undermined, conspired against, harassed, dehumanized, exposed to centuries old bigotry and experienced back-room retaliation from a city government and its cronies.

That lawsuit is pending.

Watson was one of 34 qualified candidates for the superintendent of police reform position.

Other candidates include two already within APD  deputy chief Mike Smathers and a lieutenant with the Internal Affairs Force Division Matthew Caplan  as well as chiefs of police and other law enforcement professionals from around the state and country.
YAOUNDE, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon's military has killed seven people including separatist fighters in an operation in the country's war-torn English-speaking region of Northwest, security and local sources said on Tuesday.

The offensive carried out late Monday, targeted the locality of Batibo of the region which the military says is a stronghold of separatist fighters.

"It was a cleansing operation. The area had suffered from atrocities committed by the armed separatists and civilians were paying the greatest price. Six separatists were killed during the operation and one civilian unfortunately died, killed by a stray bullet," a military official who asked not to be named told Xinhua by phone.

Early Tuesday, locals told Xinhua some of their kinsmen were arrested during the operation and "several villagers" escaped to the bush where "they are still hiding".

Since 2017, separatist fighters have been clashing with government forces in Cameroon's two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest where they want to create an independent nation they called "Ambazonia". 
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

An Albuquerque native and Air Force general will learn his fate Tuesday.

Air Force Maj. Gen. William Cooley was convicted over the weekend of one of three specifications of abusive sexual contact in connection with an incident after a family barbecue in Albuquerque in August 2018. He is facing up to seven years in prison.

Air Force Judge Col. Christina Jimenez will announce the sentence Tuesday after a sentencing hearing was held Monday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, according to the Dayton Daily News, which covered the court martial.

Cooley is the former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, which has two directorates that are based at Kirtland Air Force Base. Hes also a graduate of Highland High School and he earned a masters degree from the University of New Mexico.

The verdict marks the first court-martial trial and conviction of a general officer in the history of the Air Force.

The case centered around a trip Cooley took to Albuquerque in August 2018 ahead of a work conference at KAFB.

After drinking at a family barbecue, Cooley got a ride from his sister-in-law to pick up some belongings at a nearby home. Cooley was found guilty of abusive sexual contact for forcibly kissing the woman when she parked the vehicle.

The woman testified at length during the court martial and during the sentencing hearing.

I went from being his sister-in-law, a member of his family for almost 30 years, to his victim, she said during the sentencing hearing, according to the Daily News. And, in my eyes, he became a predator, a title he will bear for the rest of his life.

Ryan Guilds, an attorney for the victim, said it takes courage for victims of sexual assault to report the cases and participate in the prosecutions.

It is very hard to be a survivor in a criminal case, he said in a statement. That is one of many reasons you see so few of these cases go to court-martial.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Like Joseph Salazar, many of those who fled the flames in San Miguel and Mora counties late last week are clamoring to get home to care for the livestock they were forced to leave behind.

Salazar, who is now staying in a camper in Las Vegas, ran into a police roadblock when he tried to drive back home Monday to feed his cows, horses and mules.

But fire officials warned during a Monday evening briefing that many residents forced to evacuate likely wont be able to return to their homes anytime soon given the aggressive and complex nature of the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire, which has already burned more than 56,400 acres and is just 12% contained. Authorities are trying to work with ranchers to escort them in to feed their animals when its safe to do so, they said.

Northern New Mexico wildfires have forced widespread evacuations across San Miguel, Mora and Colfax counties.

San Miguel County Sheriff Chris Lopez said Mondays favorable weather allowed officials to get boots on the ground and assess some areas for structure damage.

As we continue on a daily basis to get those reports back in from law enforcement on the ground, well start putting names to those properties, Lopez said. And well start making those calls to let you know, probably starting (Tuesday).

About 5,000 homes are under mandatory evacuations.

Salazars family has lived on small farms and ranches in San Ignacio for generations.

His wife and most relatives evacuated about two weeks ago because of the Hermits Peak Fire. Salazar and his brother stayed behind.

But that changed Friday when the blaze merged with the Calf Canyon Fire.

In no time at all, it pretty much took the whole canyon, Salazar said. We stayed watering around our houses until the fire was right there. We just left the pumps running and generators and everything, and just left, and thats pretty much what saved our houses.

Most of the familys land is charred, but Salazar thinks the houses are still standing.

Our freezers are full of elk meat and cow meat, and were worried about those because we dont have power up there, he said.

About 1,000 people are fighting the fire 24 hours a day.

Super scooper planes on Monday pulled water from Lake Isabel northeast of Las Vegas.

Jayson Coil, the fire teams operations section chief, said fuels are so dry that flames are burning in areas that still have snow on the ground.

The way were triaging things now is based on proximity or perceived threat to private property and to structures, Coil said.

Las Vegas is serving as a hub for evacuees and donated supplies.

On Monday morning, Kimberly Blea, dean of student affairs at New Mexico Highlands University, looked out her office window at a view of Hermits Peak.

The sky was nearly smoke-free for the first time in two weeks.

Everyone at the Las Vegas campus likely has been impacted by the wildfires or knows someone who has, Blea said.

Employees have lost their homes to the fire, and others are still uncertain, Blea said. We also have students who have been displaced.

The university is housing students and employees who were evacuated.

Campus officials are ready to work with San Miguel County to provide more emergency housing if needed.

Students and staff can also access the universitys mental health services.

Memorial Middle School is hosting the Red Cross evacuation shelter. Calvary Chapel is serving as the supply distribution center.

Roads into areas like the Pendaries Village are still closed to the public.

But residents posted in a village Facebook group that the Moosehead Lodge and the local community center had burned.

The sprawling fire and road closures have sent evacuees to neighboring counties.

Ruben Baca, a state livestock inspector in Taos, is helping displaced residents from Mora and other areas house their animals at the local rodeo grounds.

Were doing whatever we need to do to get these people a little comfort, so they dont have to worry about their animals, Baca said.

On Monday afternoon the site was hosting 25 horses, two mules, two yaks and four mini horses.

Residents who want to stay with their livestock have been offered housing at the Taos County Sheriffs Posse clubhouse and the Juan I. Gonzales Agricultural Center.

Baca said that Taos residents have been donating hay bales for livestock, and the local Tractor Supply is offering discounts for farmers and ranchers that need special feed.

A lot of the land here in northern New Mexico has been passed down for generations, Blea said. Its a very trying and difficult time. Were a resilient people, and we will always take care of each other. But expect a long road to recovery ahead for us.

Journal photographer Eddie Moore contributed to this report. Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Last week, when it appeared the Hermits Peak Fire had been just about corralled, Randy Huston and his wife, Julianne, returned to the Rociada Valley home the fire had forced them to evacuate two weeks before.

Thursday morning we moved in because we had the all clear, Huston said in a phone interview Monday. We moved our two horses back in. By Thursday afternoon, there was a big plume of smoke. Thursday night about 10:30, we moved out.

That plume was the tail of the Calf Canyon Fire, which had kicked up Thursday and was running wild. Winds in the 70 mph range put the spurs to it Friday.

The apocalypse rolled through the other day, Huston said. On Friday, it blew through our country right up where our house is. Im a Westerner, an outdoors guy, a cowboy. I know mountains. I have been around fires all my life, and I have never seen anything like this.

Peninsula of fire

By Saturday, the Calf Canyon Fire had linked up with what was left of the Hermits Peak blaze. By Sunday, the tag-team blazes had stampeded through 54,000 acres and forced thousands out of their homes.

Our forest has way too much fuel in it, Huston said. This wind was blowing so hard it was skipping fire around. There are 3,000 acres that are burned and then 400 acres that are not. You have a peninsula of fire that may be only a quarter mile wide, and it explodes out again to 6,000 acres just because of that wind.

Huston, 63, a rancher and a Western musician, grew up in the Las Vegas, New Mexico, area. He spends a lot of his time at his ranch, which is near Santa Rosa. But his home is on 15 acres in the Rociada Valley that he shares with his wife, two horses, three dogs and a couple of cats.

As of Sunday evening, he had heard that his house and barn there were still standing.

I am not terribly scared, because we have a good fire break around it, said Huston. I have a feeling we have a chance to make it through.

But I feel a lot more of our country is going to burn. Usually, when a fire goes through it is done. But not this time. It is back tracking and picking up what it missed. It has left spots behind that are still hot and smoldering and they will take off and catch one of those unburned islands of ground on fire.

Horrible monster

When the Hermits Peak Fire, which started April 6 as a U.S. Forest Service prescribed burn, forced retired wildlife manager Cyn Palmer, 61, to leave her small home between Rociada and Pendaries, she took shelter at the home of a friend in Mora.

But then, like the Hustons, Palmer and her neighbors were allowed to return to their homes last week. The days are starting to run together, but she thinks that was Wednesday.

We were jumping up and down and high-fiving and celebrating, she said. By sunrise Friday, we were hastily throwing things in our cars and scooping up our pets. This horrible monster was coming at us, and we couldnt stop it.

And she couldnt take refuge again in Mora, because the Calf Canyon Fire was moving toward that town and residents were evacuating.

Now, Palmer is staying in a friends small camper in a pasture just east of Las Vegas.

It is very hard for me emotionally to hear about friends who have had total losses, she said Monday. I am still waiting to hear about my place. I take nothing for granted.

What she has heard is that even if her home survives the fire, she will be unable to live in it for weeks or even months because electric power and water services have been destroyed by the blazes.

She knows for certain that the detrimental effects of the fires will endure long after the last embers are extinguished.

There are a lot of people living in northern New Mexico who are land rich and cash poor and they are devastated by this event, she said. While everyone whose property has been damaged or destroyed is experiencing tremendous trauma and grief, those who were already struggling financially are going to be hit exceptionally hard. Many were uninsured or under insured.

Even those whose homes survive are now confronted with the difficult reality of living in an area that is severely impacted. Property values will likely plummet, insurance may be harder to obtain and the ability to sell properties may falter.

As a former wildlife manager, Palmer is also well aware that the effect on the forest, watershed and animal populations is almost incomprehensible.

She said what keeps her going are the many acts of kindness she has experienced and witnessed.

I am overwhelmed by the people who have reached out to me to say, I have a camper, I have a house, I have an extra room. I am clinging to the love of my friends and neighbors and the generosity of others. That is what is holding this community together.

Pretty ominous

Even when the Hermits Peak Fire burned to within a half mile of his Sapello-area home, north of Las Vegas, Gary Morton, a veteran ranch hand and accomplished painter of cowboy life, stood fast. He refused to evacuate the 300 acres he oversees, the five horses pastured there, his home and his artwork.

And when he heard late last week that 91% of the Hermits Peak blaze had been contained, he felt vindicated.

I had stopped being worried about it, he said Monday.

But on Friday, three State Police officers stopped by his place at three different times of the day to warn him about the Calf Canyon Fire.

They said, We cant make you leave, but we sure wish you would,' Morton said.

His gut instinct spoke up as well.

It felt different on Friday, he said. It felt pretty ominous. The prediction for Saturday was that the wind would be coming more directly out of the West and that would have brought the fire right at my place.

Morton decided he was going to load the truck and leave when he saw flames.

I got my important papers, belt buckles I had won, my guns, a bottle of Pendleton whiskey and all my leather  saddles, bridles, all that kind of stuff.

And all the artwork that would fit. Mortons paintings are highly regarded depictions of the ranching life and the Western landscape. He has served as chairman of the New Mexico Arts Commission and as director of the states Department of Cultural Affairs.

I had to leave two big paintings in progress behind, he said. Theres a 40 by 60 of a Bell (Ranch) horse-drawn chuck wagon with the remuda behind it and a 24 by 36, also on the Bell, of a cowboy cutting some cattle out of a herd. They wouldnt fit in the truck. When I pulled out the gate, I could see flames higher up in the Sapello Valley.

Morton spent Friday night in his Ford F-250 truck at Storrie Lake, listening to the wind blow. He moved to a motel in Las Vegas on Saturday.

He said the fire is within a mile or two of his house, but his place is still safe and a wonderful neighbor who stayed is feeding the horses.

A lot of people have lost their homes, he said Monday. But this morning I stepped out of the hotel before daylight, and I could smell rain. The mountains to the northwest were socked in with clouds. I remain hopeful and trust in God.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Judges faced with a backlog of criminal cases from the COVID-19 pandemic are ramping up a program that calls on retired judges to help resolve difficult plea negotiations.

District judges in Bernalillo County launched a pilot program in February in which settlement judges have overseen more than 100 cases, resulting in plea deals in 45% of cases.

Its accomplishing what we want it to accomplish, which is to get everybody together and look at the strengths and weaknesses of cases, and resolve them or set them for trial, 2nd Judicial District Judge Cindy Leos said of the settlement conferences.

The ultimate goal is moving forward out of COVID and getting these cases back where they need to be, she said.

Under the program, the presiding judge in a case orders defense and prosecution attorneys to meet with a settlement judge, who otherwise has no connection with the case.

Since Feb. 1, retired judges Louis McDonald and Charles Brown have held off-the-record settlement conferences to help attorneys negotiate plea deals. Both declined to speak with the Journal for this story.

Settlement conferences do not require either party to accept a plea deal.

The conference is mandatory  the outcome is not, Leos said. Attorneys show up and negotiate to the extent that they can. Sometimes they plead. Sometimes its dismissed.

If the two sides are too far apart, then we set it for trial, Leos said.

From Feb. 1 to April 11, Brown and McDonald held 117 settlement conferences. Plea agreements were reached in 53 of those cases, Leos said. Most of those cases involved defendants who were in jail, she said.

The idea for settlement conferences emerged from an ad-hoc committee formed last year by the New Mexico Supreme Court to find ways to help clear the backlog of criminal cases that built up during the pandemic, said Leos, who serves on the committee.

The Supreme Court cleared the way in January by suspending a rule that prohibited judges from participating in plea discussions. In March, the Supreme Court expanded the initiative statewide.

During the pandemic, Zoom meetings replaced in-person hearings for much of the courts business. Aside from jury trials, most hearings are held remotely under Supreme Court rules intended to minimize the transmission of COVID-19.

Stringent social distancing requirements also limited the number of jury trials held in New Mexico, resulting in a backlog of criminal cases. The number of criminal jury trials statewide declined 46% in two years, from 551 in 2019 to 298 in 2021.

But criminal jury trials are making a comeback, data from the Administrative Office of the Courts shows. District courts statewide held 250 criminal trials in nine months from July 1 through March 31. That compares to 179 from July 1, 2020, through March 31, 2021.

Nevertheless, video hearings remain the norm in most courts.

The reliance on remote hearings means prosecutors and defense attorneys have fewer opportunities to meet face-to-face and negotiate plea deals, said Sarah Pepin, an attorney with the Law Offices of the Public Defender.

Before the pandemic, Pepin said she often negotiated pleas in the courtroom before the judge entered, shuttling between her client and prosecutors. Informal negotiations even took place in hallways, she said. But since 2020, email has largely replaced face-to-face meetings in plea negotiations.

Plea negotiations have become more laborious than they used to be, Pepin said.

Zoom court has really sucked a lot of the small talk out of the process. We havent had a replacement for that informal courtroom process.

Settlement conferences  even though held by Zoom  restore some of the informality that can prove helpful in plea negotiations, said Pepin, who has participated in five.

The conferences also are off-the-record, which allows attorneys to speak candidly.

It reintroduces sort of the live-fire aspect of it, she said.

A key to the success of settlement conferences is the participation of seasoned judges who understand the realities of jury trials.

The judge can highlight to both prosecutors and defense attorneys the strengths and weaknesses of a case and help nudge them toward an agreement, Pepin said.

And for skeptical defendants, it can be helpful to hear from a judge the risks of taking a case to trial, she said.

I think its helpful, not only to the attorneys, but the defendants, Pepin said.

Judge Brown offered some useful advice to her client during an April 6 settlement conference. Antonio Ochoa, 52, was facing two trials on felony charges including breaking and entering and aggravated battery. Brown told Ochoa that if he chose to go to trial, he faced some additional risks because he had been convicted of prior felonies.

If convicted by a jury, Ochoa faced up to 6 years in prison as a habitual offender, in addition to any sentences he received for the new convictions.

Brown also encouraged prosecutors to make some concessions in their plea offer that made it more appealing to the defendant, Pepin said.

The two sides ultimately settled on a plea agreement that capped Ochoas sentence at three years in prison. Ochoa pleaded guilty to two felony counts. His sentencing hearing is set for May 24.

The settlement conference improved the plea in this matter, Pepin said. The judge was able to assist both sides in moving. The settlement conference got us close enough that we could actually agree.

Deputy District Attorney David Waymire said hearings have become less frequent during the pandemic, reducing opportunities for settlements. Before the pandemic, judges commonly held in-person hearings every two or three months in criminal cases.

It would force the attorneys to show up, Waymire said. The defendant had to be present. It put everybody in the same room to talk a little bit.

Settlement hearings provide an opportunity for all parties to meet and talk openly about the case.

I think it can be helpful to just have everybody in the same room, whether its a real room or a digital room, said Waymire, who participated in a recent settlement conference. Thats often where you can resolve cases.
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden has granted the first three pardons of his term, providing clemency to a Kennedy-era Secret Service agent convicted of federal bribery charges that he tried to sell a copy of an agency file and to two people who were convicted on drug-related charges but went on to become pillars in their communities.

The Democratic president also commuted the sentences of 75 others for nonviolent, drug-related convictions. The White House announced the clemencies Tuesday as it launched a series of job training and reentry programs for those in prison or recently released.

Many of those who received commutations have been serving their sentences on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several were serving lengthy sentences and would have received lesser terms had they been convicted today for the same offenses as a result of the 2018 bipartisan sentencing reform ushered into law by the Trump administration.

America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation, Biden said in a statement announcing the clemencies. Elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and law enforcement leaders agree that our criminal justice system can and should reflect these core values that enable safer and stronger communities.

Those granted pardons are:

 Abraham Bolden Sr., 86, the first Black Secret Service agent to serve on a presidential detail. In 1964, Bolden, who served on President John F. Kennedys detail, faced federal bribery charges that he attempted to sell a copy of a Secret Service file. His first trial ended in a hung jury.

Following his conviction in a second trial, key witnesses admitted lying at the prosecutors request, according to the White House. Bolden, of Chicago, was denied a retrial and served three years, nine months in federal prison. Bolden has maintained his innocence and wrote a book in which he argued he was targeted for speaking out against racist and unprofessional behavior in the Secret Service.

Bolden in an interview said he believed Biden sympathized with him and saw a need to honor due process in my case. The pardon came nearly 61 years after he joined the Kennedy detail. He said he asked off of the detail after enduring racial slurs from fellow agents and small nooses were left around his workplace.

I met President Kennedy on April 28, 1961 and on April 25 I got word of the presidential pardon, said Bolden, who first petitioned the White House for a pardon during the Nixon administration. Thats pretty close.

 Betty Jo Bogans, 51, was convicted in 1998 of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine in Texas after attempting to transport drugs for her boyfriend and his accomplice. Bogans, a single mother with no prior record, received a seven-year sentence. In the years since her release from prison, Bogans has held consistent employment, even while undergoing cancer treatment, and has raised a son.

 Dexter Jackson , 52, of Athens, Georgia, was convicted in 2002 for using his pool hall to facilitate the trafficking of marijuana. Jackson pleaded guilty and acknowledged he allowed his business to be used by marijuana dealers.

After Jackson was released from prison, he converted his business into a cellphone repair service that employs local high school students through a program that provides young adults with work experience. Jackson has built and renovated homes in his community, which has a shortage of affordable housing.

Civil rights and criminal justice reform groups have pushed the White House to commute sentences and work harder to reduce disparities in the criminal justice system. Bidens grants of clemency also come as the administration has faced congressional scrutiny over misconduct and the treatment of inmates in the beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons, which is responsible for inmates serving sentences of home confinement.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden in his first commutations of his presidency focused on petitions from individuals who had less than four years to serve.

Biden, as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, helped shepherd through the 1994 crime bill that many criminal justice experts say contributed to harsh sentences and mass incarceration of Black people.

During his 2020 White House run, Biden vowed to reduce the number of people incarcerated in the U.S. and called for nonviolent drug offenders to be diverted to drug courts and treatment.

He also has pushed for better training for law enforcement and called for criminal justice system changes to address disparities that have led to minorities and the poor making up a disproportionate share of the nations incarcerated population.

Inimai Chettiar, federal director of the criminal justice reform advocacy group Justice Action Network, called Bidens first pardons and commutations just modest steps and urged Biden to meet the urgency of the moment.

President Biden ran on a promise to help end mass incarceration, and he has broad public support for that promise, Chettiar added.

Bidens predecessor, Donald Trump, granted 144 pardons and clemency to 238 during his four years in office.

Some criminal justice advocates are pressing for Biden to act with more haste, calling on the president to establish a permanent clemency review board. More than 18,000 clemency petitions are pending, according to the Justice Department.

White House counsel Dana Remus, at a virtual roundtable discussion on Tuesday with formerly incarcerated people hosted by the Biden administration, said that the pardons and commutations are just the beginning.

The President will continue to review clemency petitions over the coming months, Remus said. And we will continue all of this critically important work in supporting formerly incarcerated persons in creating second chances and ensuring that our criminal justice system is more just and more equal.

Trump sought the advice of prison reform advocate Alice Johnson, a Black woman whose life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense he commuted in 2018. He was also lobbied by celebrity Kim Kardashian as well as advisers inside the White House, including daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as he weighed applications for clemency.

The Republican used his pardon authority to help several political friends and allies, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Republican operative Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, the father-in-law of Ivanka Trump.

Among Trumps final acts as president was pardoning his former chief strategist Steve Bannon and Al Pirro, the ex-husband of Fox News host and Trump ally Jeanine Pirro.

Prosecutors alleged that Bannon, who had yet to stand trial when he was pardoned, had duped thousands of donors who believed their money would be used to fulfill Trumps chief campaign promise to build a wall along the southern border. Instead, Bannon allegedly diverted more than $1 million, paying a salary to one campaign official and personal expenses for himself. Pirro was convicted in 2000 on tax charges.

With the slate of pardons and commutations announced Tuesday, Biden has issued more grants of clemency than any of the previous five presidents at this point in their terms, according to the White House.

In addition to the grants of clemency, Biden announced several new initiatives that are meant to help formerly incarcerated people gain employment  an issue that his administration is driving home as key to lowering crime rates and preventing recidivism.

The Labor Department is directing $140 million toward programs that offer job training, pre-apprenticeship programs, digital literacy training and pre-release and post-release career counseling and more for youth and incarcerated adults.

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress last year includes a trio of grant programs that the administration says promote hiring of formerly incarcerated individuals. And the Labor and Justice Departments announced on Tuesday a collaborative plan to provide $145 million over the next year on job skills training as well as individualized employment and reentry plans for people serving time in the Bureau of Prisons.

Biden said the new initiatives are vital to helping the more than 600,000 people released from prison each year get on stable ground.

Helping those who served their time return to their families and become contributing members of their communities is one of the most effective ways to reduce recidivism and decrease crime, Biden said.

___

Babwin reported from Chicago. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
STATE OF NEW MEXICO

COUNTY OF SANTA FE

FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT

No. D-101-CV-2022-00038

WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, AS TRUSTEE OF JUNIPER MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST A,

Plaintiff,

v.

JOE BELTRAN, A SINGLE MAN; DISCOVER BANK; UNKNOWN TENANTS OR OCCUPANTS OF PROPERTY; DOES 1 THROUGH 50,

Defendants.

NOTICE OF PENDENCY

OF ACTION

Notice of suit to:

JOE BELTRAN AND UNKNOWN TENANTS OR OCCUPANTS OF PROPERTY

You are hereby notified that the above-named Plaintiff Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, as Trustee of Juniper Mortgage Loan Trust A has filed a civil action against you in the aboveentitled Court and cause, to enforce judgment and foreclosure sale as to the real property located

in Santa Fe County, commonly known as 3109 Jemez Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507 and more particularly and described as follows:

LOT 15, ACRES ESTATES, TRACT 2, AS SHOWN ON PLAT FILED IN THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY CLERK, SANTA FE COUNTY, NEW MEXICO, ON DECEMBER 28, 1954, RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 6, PAGE 25, AS DOCUMENT NO. 203,682.

(hereinafter the Property)

You are further notified that if you do not file a response in this case on or before thirty (30) days after the third publication of this Notice, a default judgment may be entered against you. Your response must be filed with the above-title Court.

HOUSER LLP

By: /s/ Solomon S. Krotzer

Solomon S. Krotzer, Esq.

100 Sun Ave. N.E., Suite 650

Albuquerque, NM 87109

Telephone: (949)-679-1111

skrotzer@houser-law.com

Attorneys for Plaintiff

Journal: April 5, 12, 19, 26, 2022
NOTICE is hereby given that on March 3, 2022, Ronald G. Morris, PO Box 302, McIntosh, NM 87032, and Francisco Martin Sanchez & Jenny R. Sanchez, 41 Charlotte Rd., Tijeras, NM 87059, filed with the STATE ENGINEER Application No. E-00373 into E-04709 for Permit to Change Point of Diversion, Place, and Purpose of Use from Groundwater to Groundwater within the Estancia Underground Water Basin of the State of New Mexico under Water Use Lease, NMSA 1978 72-6-1 through 72-6-7.

Torrance and Bernalillo Counties are the Counties affected by the diversion and in which the water has been or will be put to beneficial use. This notice is ordered to be published in the Albuquerque Journal.

Under this application, the applicants propose to temporarily discontinue, for a period of 2 years, the farm delivery requirement (FDR) of 0.5 acre-foot per annum (afa), under OSE File Number E-00373, from two Groundwater Points of Diversion (POD), E-00373 & E-00373 S, located within the NW1/4 NW1/4 SE1/4 of Section 25, Township 7 North, Range 8 East, NMPM, for the irrigation of part of 16.8 acres of land described as being within the SE1/4 NE1/4 of Section 25, Township 7 North, Range 8 East, NMPM, Torrance County, New Mexico. Both the POD and land are owned by Ronald G. Morris. The above-described move-from place of use is located approximately 0.35 miles east of Salt Mission Trail, in McIntosh, New Mexico.

The applicants further propose to temporarily commence, for a period of 2 years, the above- described CU of 0.5 afa, under OSE File Number E-00373, to an existing POD, E-04709, within the NE1/4 SW1/4 NW1/4 of Section 10, Township 8 North, Range 6 East, NMPM, located at a point where X=1,623,990 feet, Y=1,432,219 feet, NM State Plane (NAD83), Central Zone, for the commercial drip irrigation use in hoop houses, within 1.0 acre of land, described as being within Lot A, Lands of Louis Peralta, located within Section 10, Township 8 North, Range 6 East, NMPM, Bernalillo County, New Mexico. The above-described well and land are owned by Francisco Martin Sanchez and Jenny R. Sanchez. The above-described move-to tract is located south of Charlotte Road, approximately 0.80 miles west of New Mexico Hwy 337, Tijeras, New Mexico.

This Application is filed under the Water-Use Leasing Act, NMSA 1978, Sections 72-6-1 through 72-6-7 with a start date of March 16, 2022, and an ending date of March 16, 2024.

To view the application and supporting documentation contact the State Engineer District 1 Office to arrange a date and time for an appointment at (505) 383-4000 located at 5550 San Antonio Drive NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87109.

Any person, firm or corporation or other entity asserting standing to file objections or protests shall do so in writing (objection must be legible, signed, and include the writers complete name, phone number, email address, and mailing address). If the protest does not include the complete name, phone number, email address, and mailing address, it may be deemed invalid and not accepted for filing unless Protestant provides with the protest an affidavit stating that it does not have one of the above-listed elements/requirements (phone number, mailing address, email address, etc.). The objection to the approval of the application must be based on: (1) Detriment; if detriment, you must specifically identify your water rights; and/or (2) Public Welfare/Conservation of Water; if public welfare or conservation of water within the state of New Mexico, you shall be required to provide evidence showing how you will be substantially and specifically affected. The written protest must be filed, in triplicate, with the State Engineer, 5550 San Antonio Drive NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, on or before Friday, June 24, 2022. Facsimiles (faxes) will be accepted as a valid protest if the hard copy is hand-delivered or mailed and postmarked within 24-hours of the facsimile. Mailing postmark will be used to validate the 24-hour period. Protests can be faxed to the Office of the State Engineer, (505) 383-4030. If no valid protest or objection is filed, the State Engineer will evaluate the application in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 72 NMSA 1978.

Journal: April 26, May 3, 10, 2022
SEMINOLE, Ala.  Authorities say tattoos have helped identify a body found 22 years ago in Alabamas Styx River as that of a Texas man who helped other migrants find work.

DNA identified the body as Daniel Muniz Jr. after his stepdaughter, Amanda Galleher of Tennessee, found photos of the tattoos in a national database of missing and unidentified people, news outlets report.

The man, whose cause of death was found to be probable drowning, was wearing only jeans when his body was found in March 2000, news outlets reported.

The Baldwin County Sheriffs Office reopened the case in 2019, sending out a news release with photos of distinctive tattoos and posting them on websites about missing people.

Galleher found them in June 2021 on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System clearinghouse and resource center.

I was going through every one of the cases that there was, and I had seen the first tattoo pop up of the Indian head and that was of my fathers ex-wife that they had put on there, Galleher told WALA-TV in Mobile.

It took until April 21 for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences to positively identify Muniz. Al.com reported that he was a migrant worker from Texas. He had been in Baldwin County to help migrant workers find jobs, WPMI-TV reported.

Because his body was found near the community of Seminole, the unidentified man had been listed as Seminole Doe, WKRG-TV reported.

Galleher told WALA that she plans to travel to Alabama to visit her stepfathers grave.

They even got a tombstone, she said. Theres a lot of people in the world who have family and dont even have a tombstone, so I feel like the county hes in did him justice.

She said she plans to have a new gravestone made.
WASHINGTON  Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.

Neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a close contact of Harris in recent days, said the vice presidents press secretary, Kirsten Allen. Harris had been scheduled to attend Bidens Tuesday morning Presidential Daily Brief but was not present, the White House said.

She had returned Monday from a weeklong trip to the West Coast. The last time she saw Biden was the previous Monday, April 18.

I have no symptoms, and I will continue to isolate and follow CDC guidelines, Harris tweeted. Im grateful to be both vaccinated and boosted.

After consulting with her physicians, Harris, 57, was prescribed and is taking Paxlovid, the Pfizer antiviral pill, her office said late Tuesday. The drug, when administered within five days of symptoms appearing, has been proven to bring about a 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease.

Biden phoned Harris Tuesday afternoon to make sure she has everything she needs while working from home, the White House said.

Harris, received her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine weeks before taking office and a second dose just days after Inauguration Day in 2021. She received a booster shot in late October and an additional booster on April 1. Fully vaccinated and boosted people have a high degree of protection against serious illness and death from COVID-19, particularly from the most common and highly transmissible omicron variant.

Harris diagnosis comes a month after her husband, Doug Emhoff, recovered from the virus, as a wave of cases of the highly transmissible omicron subvariant has spread through Washingtons political class, infecting Cabinet members, White House staffers and lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., tested positive on Tuesday.

Allen said Harris would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and the advice of her physicians. It was not immediately clear whether she is being prescribed any antiviral treatments.

The White House has put in place strict COVID-19 protocols around the president, vice president and their spouses, including daily testing for those expected to be in close contact with them. Biden is tested regularly on the advice of his physician, the White House has said, and last tested negative on Monday.

We have a very very contagious variant out there, said White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Aashish Jha on Tuesday. It is going to be hard to ensure that no one gets COVID in America. Thats not even a policy goal. He said the administrations goal is to make sure people dont get seriously ill.

Jha added that despite the precautions it is possible that Biden himself will come down with the virus at some point.

I wouldnt say its just a matter of time, but of course it is possible that the president, like any other American, could get COVID, he said. There is no 100% anything.

Psaki said she would not expect any changes to White House protocols.

After more than two years and nearly a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing more than 300 people a day in the U.S., according to the CDC. The unvaccinated are at a far greater risk, more than twice as likely to test positive and nine times as likely to die from the virus as those who have received at least a primary dose of the vaccines, according to the public health agency.

Harris diagnosis comes as the Biden administration is taking steps to expand availability of the life-saving Paxlovid, reassuring doctors that there is ample supply for people at high risk of severe illness or death from the virus.

In addition to her husbands diagnosis, Harris was identified as a close contact after her communications director tested positive on April 6.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines close contact with an infected person as spending 15 minutes or more with them over a 24-hour period. The CDC says people with close contact do not need to quarantine if they are up to date on their vaccines but should wear well-fitting masks around other people for 10 days after the contact.

___
MOGADISHU, April 26 (Xinhua) -- About 500,000 people have been displaced due to severe drought ravaging several parts of Somalia in the first three months to March, the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)-led Protection and Return Monitoring Network (PRMN) said the above figure is in addition to the 874,000 people already reported as displaced in Somalia in 2021, among whom 245,000 were primarily associated with drought.

"Alarming projections suggest that up to 1.4 million people could be displaced within the next six months," UNHCR said in its latest drought response update released in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

The UN agency has warned that Somalia's drought emergency has deteriorated to a point where the country is facing the risk of famine.

It said communities across the country are experiencing one of the most severe droughts in decades, leading to the declaration of a national emergency by Somalia in November 2021.

"By the end of the first quarter of 2022, the drought situation has rapidly deteriorated, raising a credible risk of famine in pockets across the country and also causing large-scale displacements," UNHCR said.

The UN refugee agency said it has been providing shelter, core relief items and cash to 140,000 drought-affected persons across Somalia.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says even before the current drought, about 7.7 million Somalis were in need of humanitarian assistance and protection this year -- up 30 percent from a year ago.

According to OCHA, the humanitarian situation in Somalia is already grave due to decades of conflict, recurrent climate shocks and disease outbreaks, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UN, government and humanitarian partners say they are ramping up responses in order to meet critical needs and avoid disastrous consequences. 
The historic court martial of an Air Force major general on abusive sexual contact charges ended with a reprimand and a series of monthly fines.

Maj. Gen. William Cooley, a former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, was convicted of forcibly kissing a civilian woman in Albuquerque in 2018. Col. Christina M. Jimenez, the senior military judge in the case, handed down the sentence Tuesday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Cooley will be reprimanded and have to pay $10,910 per month for five months, according to an Air Force news release. That amounts to about two-thirds of his monthly salary, according to The Associated Press. He faced a maximum sentence of dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and seven years confinement.

He was found guilty of a specification alleging abusive sexual contact under the (Uniformed Code of Military Justice;) specifically, kissing the victim without her consent with an intent to gratify his sexual desire, according to the Air Force. Jimenez found Cooley not guilty of the two other specifications, involving alleged inappropriate touching.

The case centered around Cooleys behavior after a family barbecue in Albuquerque in August 2018.

An Albuquerque native who graduated from Highland High School and earned a masters degree at the University of New Mexico, Cooley was in town ahead of a work conference at Kirtland Air Force Base, which is home to two AFRL directorates. Cooley was assigned to KAFB twice during his Air Force career, according to the branchs website.

After drinking bourbon and sangria during the barbecue, Cooley got a ride from his sister-in-law to another home to pick up his belongings. During the trip, he told his twin brothers wife that he had sexually fantasized about her for years, according to court testimony reported by several media outlets. He was convicted of forcibly kissing her in her Jeep after the two returned from the short trip.

Cooleys case marked the first time in the Air Forces 75-year history that a major general faced a court martial.

If this result influenced just one survivor to know that his or her attackers rank or status would not prevent them from being held accountable, that is a win for the United States and the military justice system, said Lt. Col. Matthew Neil, the governments lead trial counsel.

Joshua Kastenberg, a University of New Mexico School of Law professor and former judge and lawyer in the Air Force, said the prosecution was the product of a decade of reforms to change how the U.S. military decides which cases to prosecute. He said those efforts, spearheaded by Congress, aimed to address a practice colloquially called different spanks for different ranks, which means that junior officers faced severe consequences for behavior that would be overlooked if done by those in higher ranks.

It actually resulted in the court martial of a general who was found guilty for the first time so, to me, theres a bigger story than the actual case, Kastenberg said. Its that generals and admirals are not above the law.

No jury was seated in Cooleys case. Jimenez convicted Cooley of a single specification after a week-long trial. There was a sentencing hearing Monday, where both the victim and Cooley read statements to the court, according to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base officials.

The womans three-page statement says that the assault left her humiliated, cost her valuable relationships with family members and continues to impact her to this day.

Ive had to share the details of that horrific night more times than I can count with not only friends and other family members but with complete strangers and now the world, she said. He stole my agency. My ability to tell my story to who I wanted, when I wanted.

The woman and her husband reported the incident to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations in December 2019. She said she ultimately decided to report the incident, in part, to set an example for her daughters.

I felt like a fraud to my amazing daughters, she said. What was I role modeling if I didnt speak up for myself?

The defense never called any witnesses, according to the Air Force. The governments witnesses included Cooleys sister-in-law and his mother and niece, according to media coverage of the case.

Cooleys attorney, Daniel Conway, didnt respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. He told the Dayton Daily News that his client is remorseful but maintains his innocence.

I think the military judge here did send a message that she was in fact taking this seriously, Conway told the newspaper. It certainly could have an impact on his retirement if he were to retire.

Ryan Guilds, the victims attorney, said the case was never about seeking punishment.

She is incredibly grateful for the hard work and dedication of the prosecutors and the support of close family and friends who believed and supported her throughout this incredibly difficult and painful process, Guilds said in an email. She looks forward to serving as an advocate for positive change within and outside the military to address the scourge of sexual assault and hopes that in coming forward and telling the truth her actions will inspire other survivors and serve as a warning to those who seek to use their power to silence victims.
WARSAW, Poland  Polish and Bulgarian officials said Tuesday that Moscow is cutting off natural gas deliveries to their countries due to their refusal to pay in Russian rubles, a demand made by President Vladimir Putin after sanctions were levied against his nation over the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom informed the two EU and NATO member nations that gas supplies will be suspended starting Wednesday, their governments said.

The suspensions would be the first since Putins announcement last month that unfriendly foreign buyers would have to transact with Gazprom in rubles instead of dollars and euros. Only Hungary has agreed to do so, with other countries rejecting the demand as an unacceptable, one-sided breach of contracts and a violation of sanctions.

If deliveries are halted to other countries as well, it could cause economic pain in Europe, driving natural gas prices up and possibly leading to rationing  but it would also deal a blow to Russias own economy.

Wednesdays cutoffs will affect deliveries of Russian gas to Poland through the Yamal-Europe pipeline, according to Polish state gas company PGNiG, and to Bulgaria via the TurkStream pipeline, that countrys Energy Ministry aaid.

The Yamal-Europe line carries gas from Russia to Poland and Germany, via Belarus. Poland has been receiving some 9 billion cubic meters annually, fulfilling some 45% of the countrys need.

PGNiG said it was considering legal action over Moscows payment demand.

But Climate Minister Anna Moskwa said Poland is prepared to make do after having worked to reduce its reliance on Russian energy sources. Several years ago the country opened its first terminal for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, in Swinoujscie, on the Baltic Sea coast, and later this year a pipeline from Norway is to become operational.

There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes, Moskwa tweeted.

Analyst Emily McClain of Rystad Energy concurred, saying that Poland has ample natural gas in storage and has the capacity to ramp up imports.

Bulgaria said it was working with state gas companies to find alternative sources and that no restrictions on domestic consumption would be imposed for now, even though the Balkan country of 6.5 million people meets over 90% of its gas needs with Russian imports.

One feasible and relatively immediate option available to the Bulgarian government would be to increase their imports of Azeri gas.

Poland has been a strong supporter of neighboring Ukraine during the Russian invasion and has acted as a transit point for weapons the United States and other Western nations have provided to Kyiv.

Warsaw said this week that it, too, was sending weaponry to Ukraines army, in the form of tanks. On Tuesday it announced sanctions targeting 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, including Gazprom.

Bulgaria, once one of Moscows closest allies, has cut many of its ties with Russia after a new, liberal government took the reins last fall and also in the wake of the invasion. It has supported sanctions against Russia and sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Bulgaria has been hesitant to provide military aid, but Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and members of his coalition government were expected in Kyiv on Wednesday for talks about further assistance.

Europe buys large amounts of Russian natural gas for residential heating, electrical generation and the fuel industry, with Germany particularly dependent on it. The imports have continued despite the war.

Around 60% of imports are paid in euros, and the rest in dollars. Putins demand was apparently intended to help bolster the Russian currency against Western sanctions.

In Washington, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. had been preparing for such a cutoff by Russia.

Some of that has been asking some countries in Asia who have excess supply to provide that to Europe, Psaki said. Weve done that in some cases, and its been an ongoing effort.

___

Associated Press writers Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Zeke Miller and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

The man convicted of killing a Sandia High School student at a homecoming party and suspected of shooting a young woman playing Pokemon Go is facing new charges from inside the county jail after deputies say he stabbed another inmate more than 20 times as revenge for killing his brother.

Izaiah Garcia, 21, is now charged with aggravated battery, possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner and tampering with evidence. Bernalillo County Sheriffs deputies said he used a 6- to 8-inch long shank made from the broken top of a mop or broom handle to stab 21-year-old Christopher Byers.

Byers is charged with murder in the death of 16-year-old Thomas Nunn, Garcias half brother.

He had been transferred to the same pod Garcia was housed in the day before the April 21 attack.

A Bernalillo County spokeswoman said Byers was taken to University of New Mexico Hospital, treated for superficial injuries, and returned to the Metropolitan Detention Center the same day.

The stabbing occurred in the Echo unit  the same unit where another inmate is accused of beating his cellmate to death last fall. In that case, three correctional officers were each watching two pods  each pod has 32 cells  rather than one officer per pod.

In this case, a Bernalillo County spokesman said a correctional officer was assigned to the pod where the stabbing took place.

Noah Gelb, an attorney representing Byers, said the incident is concerning.

It is the jails responsibility to ensure the health and safety of the people confined there, so its very troubling that this situation was allowed to happen, Gelb said in a statement. We are on ever higher alert for the safety of our clients housed at MDC.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, around 9:45 a.m. Byers was standing in front of a cell on the upper tier talking to another inmate when Garcia walked out of his cell toward the shower.

The top tier was on lockdown at the time, but as a bay orderly, Garcia was able to leave his cell. He was also able to talk with other inmates and access cleaning supplies and other items that couldve been used to manufacture a shank, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, the inmate in the cell next to Garcias had beckoned Byers upstairs right before Garcia stabbed him.

Deputies reviewed video of the incident, which they said showed Garcia leave the shower and walk back toward Byers with his hand in his uniform. Then, the video shows, he took out a large piece of sharpened plastic.

Garcia begins thrusting the shank into the neck of Byers several times while his back is facing Garcia, the deputy wrote in the complaint. Byers appears to have no time to react to Garcias attack  Garcia appears to stab, or attempt to stab, Byers more than 20 times and told him this is for my brother.'

A correctional officer who was overseeing the pod told deputies she was sitting at the officers desk and noticed the commotion but didnt immediately see what was happening. She said as she made her way up there she saw that Garcia was stabbing Byers with something long and sharp.

The officer sprayed Garcia with pepper spray and it stopped the attack.

The officer saw Garcia throw the shank in the toilet and then handcuffed him, according to the complaint. Byers was taken to the hospital.

Garcias case has been assigned to the Law Offices of the Public Defender, however an attorney has not yet been appointed.

Larry Gallegos, the Bernalillo County spokesman, said Garcia is no longer a bay orderly and both he and Byers were moved to alternative housing areas to include alerts entered the Offender Management System ensuring they are not housed in the same area in the future.

He said all serious incidents, including this one, are referred to MDCs office of Professional Standards Unit for investigation. No policies or procedures have been changed at this time.

Byers was arrested in early February after deputies say he and 15-year-old Elias Acuna-Whitley robbed and killed Nunn on Jan. 23. Nunn was found dead on a Southwest Mesa.

Acuna-Whitley was killed in a possible accidental shooting two days later and Byers was injured in a shooting on Jan. 28. Its unclear if Byerss shooting was related to Nunns death.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, messages between Byers and Acuna-Whitley showed they were planning to rob someone, likely Nunn, and discussed shooting him as well. When Acuna-Whitley was shot, he was brought to the hospital in Nunns car.

In August, Garcia was convicted of killing 17-year-old Sean Markey in September 2019. Markey was struck by a stray bullet and was not the intended target.

Prosecutors said Garcia had confronted another teenager outside the party and began chasing him and firing at him but Markey was hit. Garcias attorney had argued that at least seven people were firing guns  five of which were the same caliber  so its impossible to know who fired the fatal shot.

Garcia has not yet been sentenced but he faces a minimum sentence of 30 years.

He is also charged with shooting 21-year-old Cayla Campos, who was playing Pokemon Go with her boyfriend when her car was sprayed with bullets in a Northeast Albuquerque park.

That trial is set for June.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

The New Mexico Business Coalition says the Public Regulation Commission has violated the state Open Meetings Act twice since December by holding secret deliberations on issues that should be aired in public.

The PRC went into closed session in December to discuss a Public Service Company of New Mexico request to sell its stake in the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant to the Navajo Nation, and then again in February to discuss a rate case filed by Southwestern Public Service Co.

The coalition filed two complaints Tuesday with the Attorney Generals Office requesting investigations into both incidents. New Mexicos Open Meetings Act has limited exceptions for when public meetings may be closed and requires a reason be provided for going into closed sessions.

Generally, closed sessions are only for personnel matters and lawsuits, Business Coalition President Carla Sonntag told the Journal. These closed-door deliberations were very much out of the norm and they violated the Open Meetings Act.

By discussing the issues in private, the five PRC commissioners deprived the public of its legitimate right to observe the regulatory process, hear the opinions of commissioners, and understand the basis for final decisions, Sonntag added.

We want all decision-making held in public to listen to the arguments made and to learn about why commissioners come to the conclusions they do, Sonntag said. In these two cases, they didnt do that, and we want the attorney general to look into it because we dont want this to become a pattern. These are critical issues and decisions that impact the state and all ratepayers.

The closed session about the Four Corners plant was particularly egregious, because the commission spent nearly four hours behind closed doors, said coalition board member Wayne Berry. Commissioners then emerged with a decision to reject PNMs proposed sale  despite a PRC hearing examiners recommendation to approve it  with no explanation of what transpired out of public view.

PNM has since appealed to the state Supreme Court to overturn the PRC decision on the Four Corners sale.

This is not how public bodies should conduct themselves, Berry said in a statement. Public officials who are being paid by the taxpayers owe New Mexicans the transparency that a public process requires.

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (NMFOG) said such state agency deliberations should be done in open public meetings.

The Open Meetings Act declares that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible access to the affairs of government, NMFOG Executive Director Shannon Kunkel said in a statement Tuesday. Its critical that discussions on matters that so greatly impact the lives of New Mexicans be conducted in public view. To improperly close a meeting is a violation of both the letter and (the) spirit of the law, and breeds public mistrust in our public institutions.

Two commissioners, Cynthia Hall and Stephen Fischmann, told the Journal they could not comment on the complaints.

I havent seen them, so I dont know anything about them yet, Hall said.

Fischmann, however, said the closed sessions were conducted under advice from the commissions general counsel.

We were advised that not only were the closed sessions legal, but (also) that it was advisable in these particular cases, Fischmann said. Thats really all I can say about it.
Travelers wait to buy tickets for Eid trips at Kamlapur Railway Station in Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 25, 2022.(Xinhua)

by Naim-Ul-Karim

DHAKA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Bangladesh travelers in desperate bid to get advance tickets face "huge snake-like" queues at railway ticket counters in the capital Dhaka.

As the holy Eid-al-Fitr is drawing near, marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the ticket counters at the city railway station have started witnessing a mad rush of people since last weekend.

People of all ages and even women in large numbers are now thronging Kamalapur Railway Station in the capital to buy tickets for Eid trips.

Akhi Akter, a Dhaka dweller, said she managed to get the tickets for her Eid trip to North Bengal, saying she felt lucky to get the reservation as ticket seekers are increasing.

Bangladesh Railway on April 23 began to sell train tickets in advance for Eid travelers who will flock home to join the festival with their kith and kin.

The Muslim majority Bangladesh will celebrate the Eid-al-Fitr festival on or around May 3, depending upon moon sightings.

The desperation for reservation of tickets brings queues of thousands standing for agonizingly long hours that are apparently getting longer day by day.

"I came to the railway station to book tickets to Noakhali district," said Enamul Islam, a ticket seeker.

He said the waiting is getting longer.

"I'm not sure whether finally I could manage a ticket," he said.

Unfortunately, an official who preferred to be unnamed said there is no guarantee for getting a ticket because the number of people seeking tickets is much more than their capacity.

Like previous years, he said, half of the tickets will be sold at counters and the rest online.

Bangladeshi Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan earlier this month said this time advance tickets for Eid would be available in train stations and on the app.

He said they would operate 92 intercity trains in a special arrangement as there would be no weekly break for seven days for trains before Eid.

Professor Md Hadiuzzaman, director of the Accidental Research Institute at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said recently that the mad rush of millions of home-bound people could impact Bangladesh's entire transportation system during this Eid occasion.

"In our research, we found that 11.5 million people left Dhaka for Eid in 2019, but it reduced to only 6 million during the pandemic."

But this time, he said, the number will be doubled again.

"Some 3 million people may leave Dhaka every day in the four days before Eid," he said.

According to the expert, trains, buses and ferries have the capacity to transport 13-14 lakh (1.3-1.4 million) passengers daily. "Therefore, there is no transportation system for (the rest) 1.6 million people," he added. 

Travelers wait to buy tickets for Eid trips at Kamlapur Railway Station in Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 25, 2022.(Xinhua)

A woman shows a ticket at Kamlapur Railway Station in Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 25, 2022.(Xinhua)

Women wait to buy tickets for Eid trips at Kamlapur Railway Station in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 25, 2022.(Xinhua)

Travelers wait to buy tickets for Eid trips at Kamlapur Railway Station in Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 25, 2022.(Xinhua)
Las Vegas: Congress must pass legislation to rein in the market power of the big tech platforms, said Curtis LeGeyt, president-CEO of National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the premier advocacy association for Americas broadcasters.

He was delivering his inaugural State of the Industry address during the 2022 NAB Show.

That includes the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which would level the playing field for broadcasters. This bill would allow us to jointly negotiate the value of our local content that is accessed through these platforms, he said.

LeGeyt demanded that the Congress must take action to rein in the gatekeeping ability of the Big Tech giants who are stifling the economics of local news. A 2021 study found that local broadcasters lose an estimated $2 billion annually when our content is accessed through Google and Facebook. $2 billion! But this is not a copyright problem; its a market power problem. Broadcasters and all local media rely on these platforms to reach online audiences. We have no other choice. Yet their market dominance allows them to offer us take it or leave it compensation terms that significantly devalue our product, he added.

According to him, a report released last Congress by Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell noted that Google and Facebook control an estimated 77 percent of locally focused digital advertising. Yet, broadcasters still operate under a set of rules that pretend they only compete with one another, he said.

During his recent testimony before the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, Joel Oxley, general manager of WTOP in Washington, summarized Big Techs unfair advantage, LeGeyt said.

He stated: Consider the big storm that just blew through the Northeastblizzard conditions. Tons of work at a lot of cost and time for local broadcasters. But not for Facebook, Google and the like. They simply take our coverage, profit from it, and virtually nothing comes back to us. If we dont find a way to have true partnerships with the big platforms, we will not be around  and neither will our coverage, he said.

He warned that there is no long-term business model for local news if we dont fix this existential problem.

Without broadcasters, lives would have been risked during that storm. And that is not all. A recent study by Brookings shows that Americans are harmed when local news suffers. Inadequate local news has been linked to more government corruption, less-competitive elections, and weaker municipal finances, LeGeyt stated.

Commending local broadcasters for doing their best work, serving as a constant lifeline during times of emergency, he said: And heres the part that impresses me most: you did it in a way that binds our communities together rather than divides them. In the most difficult of circumstances, you were the antidote to social media disinformation and cable news politicization, and I have never been more proud to represent this industry.

For years, our critics have tried to write us off as yesterday's technology, predicting a diminished future for broadcasters at the hands of the latest innovation. First it was the advent of television itself, then competition with cable, the VCR, the DVR, social media, and now podcasts and streaming, broadcasters demise has been predicted for decades. But heres the thing. Every single time, real-life events actually brought local broadcasters back to the forefront and demonstrated there is no other medium that can connect and inform the way we do, he said.

He added that our next generation of technologies includes not only the revolutionary new broadcast standard  ATSC 3.0  but also other content delivery methods  whether it's 5G, streaming, or mobile video.

I am also excited by the evolution of radio. Radio in the car is becoming a screen-driven experience. The data capabilities of HD Radio and the connected car give broadcasters powerful new ways to build and extend their listener relationships. Our investment in technology is an investment in localism and the trusted journalism Americans rely on every day, he added.

And as we are making that investment, I am here to tell you that NAB is working with policymakers in our nations capital to ensure they do their part to protect broadcasters ability to innovate and grow our uniquely free service. To that end, I want to briefly outline four areas where policymakers must focus to ensure that broadcasters can continue to compete and thrive in today's environment.

He demanded that lawmakers and regulators must modernise media ownership laws to reflect the realities of the marketplace.

We are adapting our business models and our content to match todays rapidly changing media landscape. But outdated laws force us to compete with one arm tied behind our back for advertising dollars and audience. Congress and the FCC must take a fresh look at whether these decades-old regulations are helping or impeding broadcast competition and media diversity, he said.

Third, as I look forward to discussing with Chairwoman Rosenworcel in a few minutes, we are urging the FCC to reorient how it thinks about broadcast policy more broadly. One hundred years ago, Congress established a system in which broadcast stations were licensed to provide a free service to local communities in the public interest. Broadcasters take these public interest obligations seriously and go far above and beyond in serving their listeners and viewers every day. But to fulfill Congresss vision, it is imperative that the FCC recognize that the broadcast industrys ability to function in the public interest is fundamentally premised on its economic viability. This means the Commission must consider whether each existing and new regulation will help or impede broadcasters ability to thrive in a media environment dominated by other services. It means embracing the tremendous consumer benefits of ATSC 3.0 and adopting policies that enable its growth to the benefit of localism and trusted journalism, he said.
Kantar, data-driven analytics and brand consulting company, has reached an agreement to acquire Blackwood Seven, the Copenhagen, Denmark-based marketing measurement and optimisation company. The transaction is anticipated to complete by the end of April. The move cements Kantars position as a market-leader in marketing ROI measurement; a market forecast to be valued at $3 billion by 2024 (17% CAGR ), and accelerates the firms plans to bring a Unified Marketing Measurement solution to its global client base. Operationally, the Blackwood Seven team will join Kantars Analytics Practice, led by Chris Petranto. Todays announcement represents Kantars sixth acquisition since Bain Capital took a majority shareholding in December 2019.

Founded in 2013 by Henrik Hasselbalch Busch, Thomas Bertelsen and former CEO Carl Erik Kjrsgaard, Blackwood Seven is a leading provider of marketing effectiveness and planning solutions. They offer highly scalable, AI-powered, cookie-less unified marketing measurement globally. Their advanced analytics produce marketing ROI insights at a granular level, enabling marketers to optimise their investments and predict business outcomes. Powered by the Hamilton.AI platform, which continually learns from the effects of past media investments, their solutions model a multitude of scenarios to create future media plans down to an individual publisher level. Sophisticated modelling, which accounts for synergies between channels, macroeconomic factors and competitor activity, allows marketers to make better informed decisions. Continuously refreshed data inputs also facilitate real-time planning and in-flight campaign optimisation.



Commenting on the acquisition, Ted Prince, Chief Product Officer at Kantar, said: Kantars well-established credentials in ROI analysis are bolstered significantly by the addition of Blackwood Sevens technology solution. Clients, including Honda, Suncorp and Telenor, already use their solution for budget setting, competitor analysis, reducing customer acquisition cost, measuring brand equity and minimising customer churn. The move will give Kantars global roster of clients access to the more granular analytics it provides, alongside the strategic guidance we are known for.



Prince continues: Todays marketers need a solution that brings together insights for both strategic and tactical/in-flight decision-making, and that is futureproofed against cookie deprecation and privacy legislation. We see this driving marketing ROI budgets towards Unified Marketing Measurement solutions in the future. Blackwood Sevens unique AI-powered product is a leader in this space, and the team has an impressive track record of winning and retaining clients. We are excited to welcome them into our Analytics Practice.



Henrik Hasselbalch Busch, CEO, Blackwood Seven, added: Blackwood Sevens solution gives marketers a way to bring granularity and depth to measuring the effects of their marketing investments, answering the need for a solution to guide both strategic and tactical decisions. Kantar is uniquely placed to scale the offer and enable more businesses around the world to benefit from its many applications.



Commercial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Leading merchant commerce platform, Pine Labs today announced a brand refresh of key elements in its corporate identity. Revamped brand assets include the companys new purpose statement and a new visual identity for the brand. Pine Labs has decided to dedicate this new bold look to the indomitable spirit of the entrepreneur community.

Commenting on the brand refresh, Jerry Williams, Vice President, Marketing, said, Bold and driven! Thats the merchant of today, our hero, who is constantly moving forward. We salute their entrepreneurial spirit and are delighted to roll out a corporate brand refresh that resonates with their progressive mindset and resilient attitude. With the tagline Our platform, your move we want to reinforce the brand promise to our merchant partners that from Pine Labs they will always get the best tech platform for their omnichannel payment needs. The indomitable entrepreneurial spirit of our merchant community is and will continue to be the focus in all our stories.

Pine Labs is no longer perceived as just a card payment acceptance solution by its merchant partners but is seen as a complete commerce ecosystem through its Pay Later proposition, nifty POS apps, integrated scan to pay and tap to pay contactless payment solutions, foray in the online payments space via the newly launched brand Plural, and a lot more merchant business-friendly solutions that are in tune with the times. Through the brand refresh, Pine Labs is acknowledging the evolving needs of modern businesses that are digital-focused and are looking for the best of fintech to deliver purposeful solutions to their customers. The flying arrowhead in the new logo is indicative of the progressive entrepreneur of today with the square shaped negative space below the arrow signifying the robustness of the Pine Labs platform and how it acts as a solid tech foundation during their journey towards growth.

Our brand purpose is to harness the entrepreneurial spirit of merchants and enrich their world by transforming commerce, added Jerry Williams.

At Please See// we start building a brand by focusing on an emotion that drives business. With Pine Labs, we found that emotion in an unstoppable entrepreneurial spirit. What we all also did together was build more reasons for India's retail entrepreneurs to feel proud of what they do everyday, said Avinash Thadani, Co-founder, Please See, a Mumbai-based creative agency.

In July 2021, Pine Labs had released a film as a part of a multichannel marketing campaign to celebrate the #WarriorsAtWork, the frontline retail warriors and their dedication post COVID-19 pandemic. The brand film has already garnered over 1.5 million views on YouTube. The film was followed by the launch of a microsite which acted as a platform for anyone to dedicate personalised gratitude video to the resilient retailer. The #WarriorsatWork campaign was judged the Best Fintech Marketing Campaign at CMO Asia 2021, bagged a silver for Best Integrated Marketing category at the 2022 Event Marketing Awards by Campaign Asia, and most recently won a Bronze at the 2022 Clio Awards in the Film Craft (Music-Licensed) category.
Publicis Groupe India announced that it has appointed Dheeraj Sinha as the Chairman of BBH India in addition to his existing mandate as CEO & CSO, Leo Burnett, South Asia. Partnering Dheeraj will be Russell Barrett, as CEO & Chief Creative officer, BBH India. Subhash Kamath moves into an advisory role for the Groupe on other strategic initiatives.



Russell Barrett, has been with BBH for 12 years now and has been instrumental in making BBH India a creative powerhouse, winning several accolades including Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils, Andys, Spikes, D&ADs and London Internationals. Dheeraj Sinha comes in with 22 years of experience and under his leadership, Leo Burnett India has topped the agency charts in India and is easily one of the most recognised and awarded agencies on the world stage. The new appointments signify the Groupes focus and investment on its creative brands; BBH being one of the jewels in the crown.



Anupriya Acharya, CEO, Publicis Groupe South Asia said, I would like to thank Subhash for his leadership and contributions on BBH. Today BBH India is synonymous with truly world-class advertising. With Russell as CEO and CCO of BBH India and Dheeraj taking additional charge as Chairman, BBH India, we will further accelerate the agencys spectrum of capabilities and creative product to deliver unmatched value to clients. Dheeraj comes with an impeccable track-record on growth, and this is also a testament of the strong leadership talent we have



Subhash Kamath adds, Its been a fantastic journey of 13 years, having founded this agency from scratch in India. Its an agency built on a very strong peoples culture with creative excellence & strategic thinking at its very core. But Ive been



doing this for a very long time and as I enter the twilight of my 35-year career in advertising, I believe its time to hand over the baton to the next generation of leadership as I transition into an advisory role for Publicis Groupe. Ive known Dheeraj for many years, and I know his passion for strategy & creativity. Along with Russell and Sanjay and many of the talented black sheep in the organization, I know Ill be leaving BBH in very safe hands.



Dheeraj Sinha said, BBH is a dream brand amongst creative agencies. The brand has always believed in great work powered by sharp thinking. I have been a great admirer of its philosophy and the work that BBH has done globally. I am very excited with this opportunity. We have some great work, clients, and teams at BBH. Our goal will be to be one of the topmost agencies in the BBH network globally, creating work for our clients that brings them growth and glory.



Russell Barrett said, BBH is an amazing brand, and this is an exciting new chapter in the exceptional story that has been scripted so far. Ive enjoyed an enriching partnership with Subhash, Sanjay and Arvind, as weve done some proper black sheep work together. I now look forward to partnering with Dheeraj, who Ive worked with before, and I can say from experience, that he brings a lot of energy and dynamism to every interaction and piece of work he touches.
Redefining the Hindi news segment with unique and first of its kind content formats, Times Now Navbharat, in a short span of time has gained immense popularity with the viewers and advertisers alike. Further strengthening its bond with the viewers, the channel has launched a new initiative, Dekhega Navbharat, Jeetega Bharat. A 100 day long nation-wide consumer campaign, the initiative promises to elevate the news viewing experience, keeping the viewers informed and gratified at the same time.

To participate in Dekhega Navbharat, Jeetega Bharat, viewers are required to give a missed call to the number flashed on the channel, anytime during the contest period contest, to receive an SMS question along with 2 answer options. All the questions are based on general awareness related to daily news updates projected on the channel. Selected winners will be rewarded with daily tempting prizes including 7-seater car, Electric Scooter, Gold coins, LED TVs, Vacuum cleaner, Laptops, Mobile, Digital watches, Motorcycle, Grocery shopping or petrol for 1 year and many more exciting gifts.

MK Anand, MD & CEO, Times Network said, The first 2 weeks unrolled viewership data indicates that we have already achieved our first phase ranking target and broken into the A-set of HNCs. The best news is that our TSV performance is on target. We have ensured that our Distribution is the best in class with highest penetration and best locations in the EPGs across platforms giving Times Now Navbharat the highest OTS in the genre. The Dekhega Navbharat, Jeetega Bharat campaign is one of the biggest multimedia campaigns across categories and we are confident that we will see our Reach numbers go to capacity taking us to our final target.







Maximizing the reach, Times Now Navbharat has also launched a reverberating marketing campaign that entails planned On-Air promotions of over 40,000 spots across its bouquet of channels, Hindi GEC, Hindi movies and Social Media platforms and Print Ads in leading national dailies. A TVC featuring the channels prime-time anchors is also released on the Networks channels and social media platforms.
Voltas, Indias undisputed leader in Cooling Products, and the No. 1 AC brand, from the house of TATA, announced its summer campaign - Ghar le aao, pahadon wali saaf hawa around its new range of PureAir ACs. This is Indias First AC with HEPA Filter technology that purifies indoor air. The campaign is designed to communicate the message in an interesting way, that the new AC is specially designed to provide cool, pure and clean air, (like mountain breeze), in the comfort of our homes. These features are complemented with other features for optimization of operating expenses, resulting in significant cost and energy savings.

According to the latest nationwide survey by Voltas, Indian consumers preferences have altered, with comfort, convenience, cooling, health, and technology being the top priorities. Keeping this in mind, Voltas has launched its new PureAir AC range that comes with features like HEPA Filter, PM 1.0 Sensor and AQI Indicator (which is an industry first). Additionally, the AC purifies the indoor air and comes with a 6 Stage Adjustable Tonnage Mode that allows the user to switch between several tonnage options depending on the ambient temperature or the number of people in the room.

Commenting on the new campaign, Deba Ghoshal, Vice-President and Head of Marketing, Voltas Limited, said, Our consumer insights stated that consumers have started prioritizing their health and the hygiene at their homes. The Ghar le aao, pahadon wali saaf hawa campaign aims to communicate that the new range of Voltas ACs with HEPA filter technology helps consumers experience the mountain like air, to elevate their comfort and enhance indoor air quality. With predictions for a hot summer and hybrid work culture becoming the norm, we expect a demand from first time buyers as well as replacement buyers alike. This campaign will help consumers to stay engaged with the brand in a meaningful yet topical manner, giving them a compelling reason to buy a Voltas AC. Along with the television campaign, we will be promoting the key message through our omni-channel approach across print, digital, social and radio.

Conceptualized by Ogilvy, the film has been executed on the same lines of the typical Voltas father and son banter. The protagonist, who is a father, goes searching for clean air to the mountains, only to be disappointed with intrusive traffic and people. And when he returns home, his son provides him the solution, with the Voltas PureAir Adjustable AC. The film comes with the sharp and quirky tonality of Voltas TVCs, which makes the execution stand out.

The campaign creates an image of pure and cool ambience, which is a relief, especially for the scorching Indian summers. With the new AC, consumers can enjoy pleasant indoor air quality ensuring freshness, health and hygiene. For easier accessibility, Voltas has also created www.voltaslounge.com, a one-stop-web store for all Voltas and Voltas Beko products.. This year, like every year, Voltas also offers a variety of consumer finance programmes, extended warranties, and other promotional incentives like 15% cashback, Easy EMI offer, Lifetime Inverter Compressor Warranty and 5-Year Comprehensive Warranty to make the products more affordable and lower the barriers to adoption.
MANILA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine military said on Tuesday that the troops had killed four suspected rebels in separate clashes in central Philippines on Monday.

The military said two New People's Army (NPA) rebels were killed and a soldier was wounded in a clash in Occidental Mindoro province on Monday. Two more NPA rebels were killed in another clash in Masbate province on the same day.

The military said soldiers recovered firearms, including two M16 assault rifles, an antipersonnel mine, and a rifle grenade.

The NPA rebels have been fighting the government since 1969. They concentrate their attacks on rural areas and small-scale skirmishes with the military.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte restarted talks to end the decades-old insurgency when he came to power in 2016, but the negotiations faltered.

The NPA is estimated to have 3,000 members, significantly lower than its peak strength in the 1980s. 
Bangalore-based Yashram Lifestyle Brands Pvt Ltd has awarded its PR mandate to Nucleus PR. The Retail Apparel and Fashion brands and innovations stem from a desire to make a difference in the lives of customers in a meaningful manner. Nucleus PR will be instrumental in strengthening the reputation of the brand that has already won customer trust with its innovative product offerings that solve real life vulnerabilities. A complete made in India brand, the Yashram house of brands includes Morph Maternity and Adira.

Commenting on the win, Tarunjeet Rattan, Managing Partner, Nucleus PR, said Yashram offers some of the best innovations in the market from a womans perspective that are relevant for a changing body. The small apt details make all the difference. When I met Deepa and her team, I was completely taken in by the passion they devoted to their mission. Our energies at Nucleus PR are aligned with their mission of creating comfortable and quality utility wear for women from all sections of society across the world.

I was inspired by women in our country and set out to create a more comfortable world for all of us at our most vulnerable stages in life. Our innovations resonate with the audience as they are developed for women by women of all body types. We are delighted to have Tarunjeet and her team work with us on our mission to reach more women across the country. I am confident that together we will be able to create a positive impact in all their lives., Deepa Kumar, Founder & CEO, of Yashram Lifestyle, also added. Deepa Kumar is also the mind behind the widely popular invention  Period Panty that has found loyal patrons across the country. She holds the patent for the "Sanitary Undergarment invention from the United States Patent Office in March 2015 and an Indian Patent for the same product in February 2019.

Nucleus PR handles clients across MNCs, SMEs and start-ups. Their innovative approach towards PR enables clients to leverage PR strategically to meet their business goals. Their range of services includes overall reputation management, crisis communication, leadership profiling and editorial services, among others. The company has prestigious clients like Nobel Hygiene, Sigtuple, Elever , Ironhill India, Lummo, Evergreen Club, Tonic Worldwide, Cupshup and SoCheers on its roster.

The account will be handled by the agencys Bangalore Office.
SYDNEY, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Australia's cruise industry, which is just resuming business following a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic, has hit a setback with a dozen COVID-19 cases on a ship docked in Western Australia (WA).

WA health authorities have confirmed that 10 passengers and two crew members of the Coral Discoverer tested positive to the virus after the ship docked in the popular tourist destination of Broome on Monday, having completed a 10-day trip from the Northern Territory (NT) capital of Darwin.

The cases, all of whom were fully vaccinated, are reportedly mild or asymptomatic, and several of them have been sent to designated quarantine hotels to complete their isolation period.

"Maritime vessels are permitted to allow positive cases to disembark and move to suitable accommodation to complete their isolation/quarantine requirements," a WA Health spokesperson said.

"All precautions will be taken to ensure the Broome community is protected."

The outbreak on the Coral Discoverer came only days after Australia ended its prolonged ban on cruise ships entering its ports, a safety precaution which immediately stalled an industry estimated to generate about 5.2 billion Australian dollars (about 3.7 billion U.S. dollars) annually.

That ban began in March 2020 following more than 440 COVID-19 cases disembarking from the cruise ship Ruby Princess into Australia's most populated city, Sydney.

The issue of re-establishing the cruise industry while also protecting the public's health remains contentious in Australia.

Speaking to local media Nine News television network on Monday, Australian Medical Association (AMA) vice president Dr. Chris Moy said cruise ships were still "high-risk areas" for the spread of the infectious disease.

"Cruise ships remain places where COVID can spread easily and where super-spreader events can occur," Moy said.

Although states such as New South Wales (NSW), Queensland, Victoria and WA have welcomed the lifting of the national ban from April 17, they have imposed stricter safety measures for cruise ships.

In NSW, for example, requirements include proof of full vaccination for everyone on board over the age of 12, a negative COVID-19 test result before boarding, and the mandatory wearing of masks when boarding or leaving a vessel.

Meanwhile, the island state of Tasmania has yet to join its mainland counterparts, with its government website reading, "Work is underway on a policy to support the safe resumption of cruising in Tasmania, with guidance to be provided for industry ahead of the next cruise season." 
UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres continues to push for a halt in hostilities in Ukraine even though a Russian UN envoy said a cease-fire is not a good option at the moment, said a UN spokesman.

"We continue to call for a cease-fire or some sort of pause. The secretary-general did that, as you know, just last week. Clearly, that didn't happen in time for (Orthodox) Easter," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for Guterres.

"I don't want to give too many details at this stage of the sort of proposals he will have. I think we're coming at a fairly delicate moment. It's important that he is able to talk clearly with the leadership on both sides and see what progress we can make," he told a daily press briefing.

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KIEV -- Russian forces seized the building of Kherson city council in southern Ukraine, Ukrinform news agency reported Monday, citing Kherson mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev.

"Tonight, armed men entered the building of the Kherson City Council, took away the keys, and replaced our guards with their own," Kolykhaiev said.

- - - -

KIEV -- At least five people were killed and 18 others injured on Monday as a result of Russia's airstrike on transport infrastructure in Ukraine's central Vinnytsia region, the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

According to the statement, rockets hit transport infrastructure facilities near the towns of Zhmerynka and Kozyatyn.

- - - -

MOSCOW -- Russia has sent a diplomatic note to the United States calling on Washington to stop supplying Kiev with weapons, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said Monday.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the United States will provide Ukraine with additional security assistance worth 800 million U.S. dollars to bolster its defense against Russia's military operation.

Antonov noted that Washington's decision did not contribute to finding a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis.

- - - -

ANKARA -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that all parties should support the Istanbul process for a solution to the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, Turkey's presidency said.

Guterres met with Erdogan in the Turkish capital Ankara, before heading to Moscow and Kiev for talks on resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 
From Breitbart News, April 19:

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, California  Four times as much fentanyl is flowing across the United States-Mexico border under President Joe Biden compared to two years prior when former President Trump was in office.

The U.S.-Mexican border exists in name only. Joe Biden erased it. His is a wanton act of disregard for the welfare, safety, and security of Americans. Impeachment is a must, should Republicans take charge of the U.S. House next January. Bidens actions amount to willful dereliction of duty that constitutes high crimes. Ranking Biden administration officials running national security or law enforcement departments and agencies are culpable, too. They should be subject to removal proceedings.

The Biden administration is dropping Title 42 this May. That merely opens wider the floodgates to illegals and worse aggressions by Mexicos cartels, which are pumping phenomenal amounts of killer drugs into the country. The mainland Chinese are accessories in this for-profit assault. Fentanyl and meth ingredients are produced by them. Those products are shipped to Mexican cartels, which finish the manufacture, then distribute and sell these poisons in the U.S. An estimate 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, a record. Human trafficking is a lucrative side venture for the cartels, too.

Lax border enforcement has occurred under Democrat and Republican administrations, but never has the southern border been deliberately undone.

President Trump aggressively addressed the border crisis, only to be fought by open border Democrats and stonewalled by pro-cheap labor Republicans.

Make no mistake, the southern border debacle is the result of intentional policy. Biden and Democrats are brazenly advancing the Democrat Partys narrow political aims over Americas vital interests. Democrats seek new constituents and voters; illegals furnish both. The damage being done by this massive influx to communities across the nation has just begun. The longer-term harm caused by this invasion is incalculable.

From Just the News, April 19:

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Tuesday told Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that illegal immigration is an "attack" on American sovereignty and a "conscious decision to rewrite the rules of civilization.

Thats not Gaetz grandstanding. An attack on U.S. sovereignty -- on the very fabric of American society -- is underway. Biden and Democrats are permitting the cartels and China to wage war against their own country.

From Yahoo!News, October 6, 2021:

MISSION, Texas -- Mexican cartel members dressed in military-like outfits and toting AK-47 rifles have been taunting U.S. soldiers assigned to the southern border, an unprecedented act of aggression, Texas authorities say.

We have to wrap our minds around this: the cartels arent mere criminal enterprises; theyre paramilitary outfits. Theyve got firepower like light infantry and employ terrorist tactics. Many of their members are corrupt ex-police and former Mexican military skilled and experienced in combat and killing. Mostly unreported in the U.S., a war is raging in Mexico among cartels vying for turf and power. Bidens open borders practically ensures that that war migrates north.

Now, though, cartels are waging irregular warfare against the U.S. in cahoots with the PRC. Both are motived by profit, not territorial conquest, but the Chinese see advantages in vexing the U.S. by stoking the countrys violent drug trade and degrading society. Chinese criminal gangs are blamed for the trouble, but thats naive. Xi and the Communist Party have an iron grip on the mainland. So lucrative a trade isnt happening without their knowledge and, dare say, the approval of Xi and his cronies. Xis goal is to replace the U.S. as the global superpower.

Law enforcement and cross-border policing in cooperation with the Mexican government -- such as it is -- arent defeating the cartels. The U.S. is fighting a version of the Vietnam War: there are drug interdiction and seizure metrics and body counts, in that some cartel members are captured or killed, but theres no actual progress in winning the fight. Wheres the light at the end of the tunnel?

Enemies are defeated by destroying them. Destroying the cartels means U.S. military forces on ground in Mexico. This, then, requires Mexicos cooperation. Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador must permit U.S. military intervention in alliance with his military. Obrador surely worries about the ongoing threat posed by the cartels to the Mexican governments authority and stability. He should have every incentive to end the terror cartels inflict on the Mexican people.

Yet, the U.S. may have to persuade Obrador with carrots and sticks. China increasingly has its hooks in the Mexican economy.

From Forbes, February 23:

Over the last few years Chinas presence in Mexico has expanded in both legal and illegal activities. According to preliminary data, trade between China and Mexico topped $100 billion in 2021, a new record. Imports from China account for over 90% of total trade between China and Mexico. Chinese foreign direct investments in Mexico tallied $189 billion in 2020.

Moreover, the U.S. must call out and sanction the PRC for its role -- directly or indirectly -- as the cartels chief fentanyl supplier. No slaps on the wrist. Sanctions must be punitive, focusing on curtailment of trade and imposition of painful tariffs. The U.S., coordinating with the Mexican government, must interdict fentanyl and other illicit drug shipments from China or those routed through third parties.

A Republican Congress needs to put legislation on Bidens (or Harris) desk that finishes the wall and hikes budgets for the border patrol, DEA, and ICE. Calls must be made for military action cross border. Anticipating vetoes, Republicans should repeatedly present measures that underscore these aims. Voters in 2024 deserve to see how starkly different Republicans are from Democrats. America First Republicans must lead.

A southern border wall  perhaps, with Mexicos consent, a security zone south of the wall  and greater policing are necessary defensive measures. As President Trumps policies proved, a wall (where completed) and beefed-up border security curtailed the flow of illegals into the country. Among illegals are drug mules and gangsters, so keeping illegals out is critical. Yet border measures alone are inadequate.

The next president must enact a comprehensive roundup and return policy of illegals who will have entered the country during Bidens term. Laws must be pursued that end anchor babies as illegals means of remaining in the U.S. Extensive sweeps of communities are required to remove the worst criminal elements that are now entering the country. States and localities have no constitutional right to establish sanctuaries for illegal aliens.

The cartels are run by ruthlessly ambitious, scheming men. The U.S. is their prime market. Cartel bosses are thoroughly incentivized to work overtime conniving ways to skirt obstacles. Hence, taking the fight to the cartels and destroying their networks and operations is imperative.

Its important to note that while staunching the flow of drugs into the U.S. is critical, it isnt the sole determiner in ending the drug scourge. Consumer demand drives cartels and others in the pursuit of profit. Hedonism and despair seem the principal motivators for Americans appetite for drugs. Modern culture is broken. The repair is a return to faith, traditional values, and intact families. Life must be valued as greater than a thrill or an escape from woes.

Yet, unscrupulous men will seek to exploit weaknesses for money and power. Their evil and the harm its inflicting on Americans cannot be permitted to stand. With courageous leaders, the U.S. can be made freer from the poison, violence, and societal rot that the drug trade brings.

The war Americans need to fight isnt against the Russians in Ukraine. Its right across the Rio Grande. Its a war the U.S. must fight and win.

J. Robert Smith can be found regularly at Gab @JRobertSmith. He also blogs at Flyover.

Image: U.S. Coast Guard
One thing must be conceded to Joe Biden: he is consistent in messing things up. The recent fast-tracking of Ukrainian refugees is the latest Orwellian boondoggle that accomplishes the opposite of its stated goals -- just like Build Back Better, transgender transformation of the nation, racial agitation, and monetizing debt to help the economy. This reverse-Midas touch has now been inflicted on suffering Ukrainian refugees, who are being stopped from finding safety in the false pretense of helping them.

In march, the Biden administration announced the United States would accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. There were no stated conditions for entry, and many Americans with ties to the Ukraine undertook to begin evacuating threatened families. But then President Biden halted that progress, last week announcing a new Uniting for Ukraine policy with stringent restrictions:

This program will be fast, it will be streamlined, and it will ensure the United States honors its commitment to the people of Ukraine, and that they need not go through our southern border, Biden said Thursday at the White House.

Fast? The program halts Ukrainians entering America legally through Mexico, and imposes requirements that each entrant be hosted by Americans guaranteeing to support them financially, with a host of other restrictions. These requirements are more restrictive than existing immigration restraints on all legal immigrants: but these are war refugees in a conflict seeded by Joe Biden and Barack Obama. All this bogus program really offers is

...a web portal through which U.S.-based individuals and groups can apply to become sponsors and upload documents. [Entrants] must also undergo vaccinations, biometric screening and background checks before being granted admission.

Imagine implementing those restrictions at the border with Mexico, to screen gang members fleeing anarchy equally to young children being bombed in war? President Bidens supposed initiative undermines efforts to rescue Ukrainians, despite the deceptive Uniting for Ukraine language. Again, at least Joe is consistent -- he undermined Ukrainians while vice president, and is just continuing the deception otherwise.

In Vermont, a number of faith-based groups with existing ties to Ukraine took President Biden up on his initial call to help rather than hinder refugees. One Vermont organization called Agape Ministries, Inc. 4 Ukraine responded to the call:

Theresa and Scott Cianciolo, who have adopted sons from Ukraine, launched into action when they believed they could bring their Ukrainian friends to Vermont by flying them first to Mexico and crossing into the U.S. from there The Cianciolos kept in close communication with the Shapavalova family, who were in Poland, and Theresa flew to San Diego, hoping that eight of the Shapavalovas could cross over from Mexico through a process called humanitarian parole. ...But moments before the Shapavalovas were set to depart Poland on Thursday, their plan was thrown into chaos when their flight through London to Mexico City suddenly required a new visa.

In addition to other costs, $15,000 of airplane tickets for this family was wasted immediately: they could be in Vermont now, but Uniting for Ukraine assured they are still stuck abroad. Perhaps the Cianciolos will be able to get them here after they vouch for them all with their personal finances -- if they have any money left after this bureaucratic disgrace!

There are an estimated eight million Ukrainian refugees, and it appears the new rules now require their American sponsors to pass a background check:

Any U.S. citizen or entity can apply sponsor Ukrainians and will be required to declare their financial support and pass a background check. Administration officials said there is no limit on how many Ukrainians a person or entity can sponsor.

There is no limit on sponsoring refugees, which sounds so benign except that these restrictions are utterly limiting. In truth, POTUS Biden has shut down the path to safety for these refugee families in the name of saving them. This action resembles Americas shameful rejection of Jews persecuted by Nazis in World War II, or perhaps the fall of Saigon, in which Joe Biden opposed rescuing civilians:

I will vote for any amount for getting the Americans out, Biden said during an April 14th, 1975 Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting. I dont want it mixed with getting the Vietnamese out.

Again, Joe is consistent -- he didnt hesitate to abandon both American citizens and Afghani civilians in that more recent debacle.

Ironically, while parroting Biden administration claims that Uniting for Ukraine is a positive step forward, the leftwing American media has been attacking Israel for not doing more:

Since Russia invaded Ukraine more than two weeks ago, Israel has seen thousands of Ukrainian refugees enter the country to find refuge. Many of these refugees are not Jewish, and thus not eligible for absorption under the Law of Return, which allows anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent to immigrate to Israel. ...As a result, these refugees are also ineligible for the many rights granted to Jewish refugees and asylum seekers -- including access to universal healthcare. ...Instead, asylum seekers in Israel are expected to pay for private health insurance, something which many are unable to afford.

This article goes on to cite cases of Israel rescuing very sick children and others for medical treatment at no cost, but never addresses the contrast with American treatment: is the United States offering universal healthcare to refugees, after American citizens vouch for them financially and get background checks? Israel is accepting far more refugees per capita than America. The press criticizes that country for discriminating in favor of Jews (who are already free to emigrate), not mentioning that since the war began Israel has accepted more non-Jews than Jews.

Flinging open Americas southern borders for unfiltered entry, while clamping down against children fleeing war -- Joe Biden is consistently on the wrong side, ever ready to fast-track disaster.

(Disclosure: John Klar is a member of the Board of Directors of Agape Ministries, Inc. 4 Ukraine, and invites readers to donate.)

Image: Silar
The news about the board of Twitter agreeing to a $44B takeover offer from the billionaire Elon Musk caused both celebrations and meltdowns all over the world.

Musk tweeted the following:

The situation currently on Twitter is such that merely questioning the groupthink can get a user suspended. At times, information is suppressed without the user's knowledge  i.e., the tweet is allowed, but its visibility is restricted. Twitter also allows and promotes trends that are beneficial to the progressive agenda.

For conservatives, the hope is that Musk will liberate the platform from its overwhelming leftward bias and restore free speech. Many conservatives are hoping their suspended accounts will be restored.

The left's meltdown began the very day Musk made his bid public. Twitter employees staged walkouts in protest. MSNBC warned its few viewers that Musk's takeover of Twitter will have "massive, life and globe-altering consequences." SNL took the low road; under the guise of satire, they claimed that Musk's bid was because "White guys want to use the N-word."

Now that the bid has been accepted, the New York Times, in a cliche-ridden article that reads like a parody piece, is claiming that "Musk's reasons for taking control of Twitter aren't about free speech; it's about controlling a megaphone. With his legion of fans, Musk will command a gigantic megaphone and be free to plug his own investments, pooh-pooh sound health regulations and shout down critics." The article also claims that "[f]emale Twitter users, in particular, ought to worry about whether Musk will bring his apparent disdain for women to the company he is about to own. Twitter is already a toxic place for women who use it, particularly those of color."

White House officials and Democrat strategists are reportedly worried about how Musk's $44-billion takeover of Twitter will affect the 2024 presidential election. Their concerns are focused on the possibility that President Donald Trump returns to Twitter.

On Twitter, liberal users are threatening to quit the platform, much like how they threatened to leave the U.S. when Donald Trump was elected president in 2016.

Twitter's board may have accepted Musk's offer, but that doesn't mean things change magically. Twitter has a complex organizational structure. There are copious policies and standards. There are rules of corporate governance that mandate multi-level approvals for any changes. All of this means abundant red tape before any change is allowed to percolate.

It also would be wrong to assume that the powers that be behind the scenes in Twitter, especially those who walked out, are not planning ways to sabotage Musk's agenda to ease restrictions. Perhaps the rules of approval have been made more complex and opaque.

Even if Musk manages to recruit a team who believes in his agenda, it will take a considerable amount of time before changes occur, and there may still be saboteurs within.

It is also not beyond the realm of possibility that the U.S. government will step to regulate the platform, citing hateful conduct or terror threats or any other flimsy excuse.

The point remains that although we hope Musk turns Twitter into a utopia for free expression, we must be cognizant of the forces he is up against.

The Washington Democrat establishment and their allies all over know that if Twitter falls, the remaining social media platforms will either be rendered irrelevant or will have to fall in line and allow free speech.

Do not expect the establishment to surrender; they will not let go without a prolonged dirty war, like the one they are still waging against Trump.

Much like Trump's victory in November 2016, Musk's Twitter takeover in April 2022 is not the end, but the beginning of a long journey.

When Donald Trump won the presidency, the powers that be in Washington should have accepted the public verdict. They should have worked with President Trump to implement his agenda. They should have been humble about their defeat while attempting to learn what went wrong so they could embark on course correction for the next election. This is what civics textbooks have taught us.

But the reality is drastically different. The Washington Democrat establishment rejected the results, claiming that Trump colluded with the Russians to rig the elections. They placed numerous impediments before President Trump by misusing the powers of various agencies to concoct scandals without any basis and using the mainstream media to amplify their lies.

In doing so, they accomplished two goals. The first is that they managed to slow down the pace of Trump's implementation of his agenda. The second is that they managed to convince some voters to vote against the GOP in 2018 and against Trump in 2020. Victory in the 2019 midterms enabled the Democrats to take control of the House, which led to two baseless impeachments of Trump.

It is a miracle that Trump, despite all these impediments, managed to implement a great deal of his agenda on the economy, border security, and so much more. It is also a testament to the astuteness of U.S. voters that Trump managed to secure 74 million votes.

Time will tell if Musk's journey turns out to be merely eventful or successful.

Image credit: Richard Terrell of Aftermath.
BERLIN, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Germany's Federal Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled that several regulations of the Bavarian Constitution Protection Act are incompatible with the country's Basic Law.

In its current form, the Bavarian law would partially violate the general right of personality, the privacy of telecommunications and the inviolability of the home, according to a statement by the court.

The German top court set "clear limits" for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said Bijan Moini, head of the legal team of the Society for Civil Rights (GFF) which filed the lawsuit.

"Despite its special powers and tasks, the domestic intelligence service does not have a carte blanche when it comes to encroaching on fundamental rights," Moini added.

Bavarian Minister of the Interior, Joachim Herrmann, said that he would discuss the consequences of the ruling with his counterparts in the federal and state governments and then "immediately submit proposals for legal changes" that would implement the court's requirements, a statement of the Bavarian government said.

Since 2016, the Bavarian Constitution Protection Act has given the secret service there far-reaching powers, such as retrieving stored data, long-term observation of people, home surveillance or locating cell phones. The GFF saw a number of fundamental rights being violated and wanted to use its lawsuit to prevent it from spreading nationwide. 
When I think of Alaska, I tend to think of a sturdy conservative state that elected Sarah Palin as its governor. Then I remember that Alaskans keep sending Lisa Murkowski to the Senate. Clearly, there's a leftist strain in that state. It was clearly revealed at a Fairbanks School Board meeting regarding a proposed revision to school policies that would have required teachers to wade into controversial, polarizing subjects. That's an interesting discussion and one school boards should have. What I found noteworthy, though, was the desperate speed with which leftist board members moved to silence a conservative board member who peacefully began to read from a book readily found on the high school library shelves.

The district has long had a policy regarding controversial issues in the classroom. Under the old policy, the district was to provide a process for discussing controversial issues that might arise. The proposed revisions would have mandated that the schools teach divisive issues, with the district providing only "guidance." Conservative board members were concerned that this proposed revision, along with other policies, created "just huge open doors" for ideologues to seize control of classrooms.

From the conservative point of view, the proposed revision (which was eventually voted down) was just the icing on the cake when it comes to leftism in Fairbanks schools:

The policy proposal comes on the heels of highly divisive curriculum changes the district has introduced in recent years, pushing LGBTQ themes, explicit sexual education, and many elements of critical race theory philosophy. For those who fail to embrace this agenda, the district has discussed ways of mandating compliance.

These policy changes are the ways in which leftists change a red state into a blue state. Given a few more years of control over educational content, and Alaska will send its version of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Congress.



Image is a YouTube screen grab.

The most revealing part of the meeting came when Matthew Sampson wanted to let fellow board members and those attending the board meeting know exactly what's in some of the edgier books on public library shelves. In the video below (at 3:31:25), you can watch Sampson begin to read from Kevin Kwan's Sex and Vanity. Within a few seconds of his starting to read, another board member, with the backing of the board president, immediately tried to shut him down:

At that point Sampson was interrupted by fellow Board Member Timothy Doran who called for "order." "There is a process if one has concern with books that should be followed," he said. Sampson responded: "There's no concern here. Is there?" School Board President Jennifer Luke then interjected. "I think that your point is very, very understood, and I understand what you're saying and what you're doing and I quite frankly that makes me personally feel uncomfortable," she said. Sampson retorted. "I can tell you, if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander," he responded. "It's in our schools. If the kids can read it, I don't see what the problem is with reading a couple of excerpts from a book[.] ... If it's too inappropriate for the school board, but it's appropriate for the kids, I don't know what to say."

Leftists know exactly what they're doing to our children; they just don't want anyone else to know. As Rhett Butler said to Scarlett O'Hara when she'd drunkenly confessed her many sins to him, "you are in the exact position of a thief who's been caught red handed and isn't sorry he stole but is terribly, terribly sorry he's going to jail." Every time a parent at a school board meeting reads aloud from a book the board wants to have on the shelves, and the embarrassed board members shut that parent down, those members have been exposed  not as hypocrites, but as groomers trying to hide their sins.
With all eyes on Ukraine, few are noticing how Joe Biden is ruining relations with a critical nation next door to us, which is Mexico.

Title 42, which permits the U.S. to reject phony asylum-seekers on COVID concerns, was halted by a federal judge yesterday, but it's a temporary halt, so it may return soon. Whether the Biden administration obeys that order is anyone's guess. There are other judicial orders it's simply ignored as it carried on its open borders policy.

It doesn't matter to Joe Biden that his fellow Democrats  at least eight of them  are warning against this change of policy. It also doesn't matter to Biden that, as polls indicate, the public is against it. Bad as all of that is, he'll get the consequences he deserves come November.

But there's also Mexico, which is pretty unhappy about it, and the consequences, which don't have the steam valve of elections, might just be worse.

Here's Reuters from a few days ago:

MEXICO CITY (Reuters)  Mexican officials are concerned the repeal of a measure adopted under the Trump administration to tighten the U.S. border will encourage a spike in migration and more profits for criminal gangs unless Washington does more to help mitigate the impact. The United States has said it will on May 23 end the so-called Title 42 order issued during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 that has effectively shut down the U.S. asylum system at its shared 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Title 42 has allowed U.S. authorities to quickly expel migrants to Mexico, and its removal risks pushing the record number of migrants attempting to enter the United States higher still, officials and politicians said. "The flow of migrants we have now is already out of control," said Rosa Maria Gonzalez, a lawmaker from Mexico's center-right opposition National Action Party who represents the northern border state of Tamaulipas and heads the lower house of Congress migration committee.

Now, we know that Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a socialist known as "AMLO," is not beyond "schooling" Joe Biden about the significance of his country as a conduit for mass illegal immigration. Last September, AMLO released 15,000 illegal-alien Haitians from a holding pen in southern Mexico to Del Rio, Texas, where they massed under a bridge in a classic third-world hell-hole scenario. I wrote about that here:

The Center for Immigration Studies, sent a senior researcher named Todd Bensman to ask those questions on the ground, going to the immigrants themselves, and he came up with a doozy of an answer: The surprising answer, which the migrants provided independently in different places and at different times, was universal: on Sunday, September 12, the Mexican government effectively sent a mass of migrants it had bottled up for months in its southern states up to the American border. This move, which appears to have been done under the cover of Mexico's independence week of celebration known as El Grito, essentially foisted a humanitarian problem onto the Americans in a single week. Mexico was the one who did it. Turns out Joe Biden promised them some things and based on the available information, apparently never delivered.

Biden responded not by placating Mexico, but by starting night flights to spirit illegal migrants across the country, to prevent more damning camera shots of massed humanity from Fox News. To him, it was a public relations problem, not a warning from Mexico. He didn't do a thing to help Mexico.

But it's pretty clear that Biden's dinner triangle to migrants of all countries to come on in through the Mexican border isn't a welcome thing in Mexico.

The dynamics are pretty simple: mass migration means huge smuggling earnings for Mexico's notorious cartels. Because the U.S. won't guard its own border, cartels have stepped in from the Mexican side and declared that they now control the border. Anyone who wants to cross into the States will have to pay the $1,000 or more for the "fee" to enter.

Needless to say, a wall would stop that entire dynamic right there. But Biden has stopped construction of the wall. So the migrants come in; the fees get paid; and the cartels get very, very rich.

Like all large drug-dealing organizations, the cartels seek political power. That's why they kill politicians and journalists, and not just their fellow drug-dealers, and send out threatening messages to the public, such as bodies hanging on highway overpasses, in areas where they hold control.

Mexico is at war with these monsters. These monsters get cash from migrants, who willingly go along and pay the cartels.

That leaves Mexico holding the bag, having to fight rich cartels with money for huge armored vehicles and other trappings of conquest, all because they have the money to pay for these things. Not only do human-wave surges of mass migration mean big money from "fees," but they mean tied up Border Patrol forces, which gives them space to smuggle even more lucrative drug cargoes into the U.S. Tie the Border Patrol up changing diapers for every unwed mother rolling in from the world's third-world shantytowns, and it pretty well amounts to knocking an enemy out of action.

Money, money, money. The cartels are getting it, as surely as Putin is getting his gas money from Europe, while Mexico itself is getting poorer and poorer.

A recent report from Mexico is that the Mexican equivalent of the Border Patrol, the unarmed agents of the National Migration Institute, are quitting in droves now, over the issue of low pay and the emergence of "more violent" migrants. According to the New York Post:

Border agents in Mexico are fed up to the point of leaving their jobs  and say that, if the US lifts Title 42, things will only get worse. "Work has doubled and even tripled for us. Some weeks we have no days off. We pull in double shifts for the same pay and are sent from one end of the country to the other with less money for our expenses that we must pay up front," said an officer, Jorge, who spoke with The Post on the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal. No statistics are available on how many officers have quit Mexican immigration forces. But Jorge said that, on one team alone, at least half of the 30 officers have quit over the last two years. "It's a nationwide phenomenon," he said.

Gee, low pay and unappreciated government agents. Sound like a formula for payoffs? Well, it always has been.

Cash, in short, is flowing away from Mexico's government and toward Mexico's drug cartels as a result of this migrant surge, and the cartels are getting more powerful. Not only are the cartels getting more powerful, but Mexico's government is getting weaker and more unpopular as a result. We already know that border surges are unpopular with the public in Mexico, bringing in crime, disorder, chaos, and fattened cartels flashing their gold to all the communities they pass through.

That's left Mexico in a bind, courtesy of Joe Biden and his foolish acts to incentivize illegal immigration for all comers. Biden has already broken his treaties with Mexico, and Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, has already left the Mexicans unimpressed.

Now Biden's trying to invite more migrants in with his battle to end Title 42, which sends a clear message to would-be illegal migrants everywhere that the gate's open and there's no need to pay no attention to U.S. border law.

Only a moron of Joe Biden's caliber could fail to discern that this isn't going to go over well with Mexico. Relations will be damaged, and it may take years to repair them. Recall that President Trump had warm and constructive relations with the president of Mexico, despite the differences in the two men's politics. Biden, though, has put the U.S. on a collision course with Mexico, mismanaging this relationship as badly as he has so many others. Mexico, as the late Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz used to say, is the country for Mexico, for which there is "no possibility of divorce." That underlines that relations with Mexico  one of the U.S.'s biggest trade partners, by the way  have always got to be good relations, and that's not just for them, but for us. Mexico can do horrible things to us if relations are not managed properly  and as the warning shot at Del Rio demonstrated, it will. Feckless Joe Biden doesn't seem sentient enough to know this, let alone able to predict human nature. As Bob Gates has posited, he's "wrong on nearly every foreign policy issue."

Image: Fox News screen shot, via YouTube.
As if anyone ever needed proof of the callousness and irresponsibility of the Biden administration regarding its open borders policy, White House spokesweasel Jen Psaki yesterday put everybody to rights.

Here she is in action:

Q: "Does the White House feel any responsibility" for the death of Texas National Guard Spc Bishop Evans?



Psaki: "The National Guard work for the states... and his efforts and operations were not directed by the federal government." pic.twitter.com/DMVhLfA9FR  Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 25, 2022

She was responding to an inquiry about the death of a 22-year-old Texas National Guardsman, who risked his life to save two drowning illegal aliens in the Rio Grande, and lost his own even as he saved theirs.

Texas Army National Guard Specialist Bishop E. Evans, 22, went missing near Eagle Pass Friday while attempting to rescue two migrants who "appeared to be drowning while crossing the river from Mexico into the U.S.," according to the Texas Military Department. His body was found early Monday.

The fine young man, who had his whole life in front of him, died, while the two people whose lives he saved turned out to be loathsome drug-dealers. Their rescuer had no way of knowing who they were  the border's open, so anyone can now come. He was just doing his job and putting his life on the line, as so many who guard our border also do, rescuing illegal crossers who otherwise drown in the river, get tangled up on the border fence, or end up abandoned by human-smugglers in the desert. These guardsmen and Border Patrol agents rescued more than 12,000 of these illegals just last year, according to former acting ICE director Tom Homan, speaking to Fox News.

Notice the absence of compassion in those remarks, prefaced with a cursory "of course our heart goes out to his family" spoken in a flat, formulaic tone. We'd like to know if Joe or Jen went to the trouble of contacting them personally. We know that President Trump would contact the families of fallen servicemen even if they were aligned with Trump-hating Democrats, as happened in the case of the servicemen killed in Niger several years ago. We know that Joe likes to look at his watch when the same situation befalls him  when 13 returning U.S. service people killed in Afghanistan as a result of his bungling left him sending the message, to their families and everyone else, that he had better things to do.

Worse still, notice the absence of responsibility for the border surge that is the main reason why the National Guardsman was stationed near that border. She blames everything but Joe's policies.

It's as disgusting as Biden's bid to frame U.S. Border Patrol agents with the false claim that the long reins on their horses, necessary for any maneuvering in the border badlands, were actually plantation driver whips being used on illegal border-crossers, which they were not. It is something he has yet to apologize for.

Well, he needs to apologize for this, too  a callous response directed at a black service member, no less. Being a coward, with only Jen Psaki to speak for him, Biden's not man enough to do it.

Image: Twitter screen shot.
During a recent flight, across the aisle from me, a four-year-old named Olivia demanded to know why she had to wear a mask, whereas her little brother, who was wrestling their mother for control of an iPad, could go maskless. "Those are the rules" the poor woman said. "Not fair!" Olivia fired back.

On April 18, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, from the Middle District of Florida, agreed with Olivia and threw out the mask mandate for airplanes, trains, and other public transportation. In her 59-page decision striking down the mandate, the judge cited the lack of public notice or comment on the rule, and she also found the mandate as written to be "arbitrary and capricious." Cheers went up on airplanes as the announcements were made.

The administration is smart to let the mandate die, but not smart enough to recognize that in its attempt to simultaneously defend its unpopular mask mandate, it is missing a golden opportunity to pivot toward humble, rational risk assessment. Instead, these people are continuing to divide Americans into the compliant and noncompliant, the good and the bad, the masked and the unmasked, using paper shibboleths.

If the administration had successfully fought for a stay, the mask mandate would have been reinstated immediately, while its appeal would essentially fight the ruling without reinstating the mandate. Attorney General Merrick Garland was asked why he decided against the stay, which he called a "tactical strategy question." So much for following the science.

A rule that said masks are necessary unless you are actively eating or drinking, under the age of three, or disabled never made any sense. Olivia understood that. Judge Mizelle simply finally made it clear in her ruling. "The mandate makes no effort to explain why its purposes-prevention and transmission of serious illness-allow for such exceptions." The ruling goes on: "nor why a two-year-old is less likely to transmit COVID-19 than a sixty-two-year-old. The CDC does not articulate a satisfactory explanation, or any explanation at all, for its action, and fails to include a rational connection between the facts found and the choices made."

In a recent CDC update, Greta Massetti, Ph.D., MPH, of the agency's COVID-19 Incident Management Team, said Americans "can decide if they need to take extra precautions, including masking, based on their location, their health status and their risk tolerance."

That is precisely the kind of thoughtful response Americans have been waiting to hear. Instead, we will be treated to a fake fight. The polling is already being supplied to tell us what we know is not the case. For instance, according to a recent Axios poll, 75 percent of Americans support a mask mandate in airports, and 46 percent say they will continue to mask if they travel, despite the mandate going away.

This week, on my first flight since the mandate was lifted, my unscientific poll of a nearly full 737 reports that one crew member and seven passengers wore a mask, while 200 of us did not. My young friend Olivia and her little brother may have been on there. Good work, Olivia!

Matt Dean (mdean@heartland.org) is senior fellow for health care policy outreach at The Heartland Institute.

Image: Roger Schultz.
Fellow Americans, it is long past time to cancel "cancel culture."

Great thinkers about free speech, including the likes of John Milton, Thomas Jefferson, John Stuart Mill, Alexander Meiklejohn, and Yale law professor Thomas Emerson recognized it as the surest means by which the collision or combat with error could lead to correction. It was the key component in the process by which we can hope to zero out error while we zero in on truth.

Nowhere is the ability to speak freely more important than in the right to criticize our government, its leaders, and its policies. That is why the most vehement attacks from the establishment are directed at those critical of government policies such as voter fraud, open borders, vaccine mandates, education of children, and even "curation" of free speech itself. Though the establishment is loath to admit it, governments too can make mistakes, and the last best hope for correction is allowing the people to speak truth to power.

Recently at Yale law school, the student cancel culture warriors directly attacked free speech. It is impossible to imagine more ironic behavior than what they attempted to do: shouting down a forum on free speech. I contacted the dean, urging her to please do something to stop this dysfunctional embarrassment.

What are the current generation of Yale Law students being taught? When (or if) they graduate and become lawyers, how will they behave when they get to court? Will they, thinking back to the lessons they learned in law school, present the evidence and arguments on their side of the case, and then, when the other side begins its presentation, feel entitled to stand up, screaming and shouting, hooting, hollering, and howling to prevent the court from hearing what the other side has to say?

Imagine: the judge brings down the gavel. "Order in the court! Order in the court!" But the Yale Law grads keep on disrupting, exclaiming that they are simply exercising their First Amendment rights by denying them to others! In the phrase of Emile Zola (18401902) in another context, what we see here is "absurdity doubled with hypocrisy."

Elon Musk recently announced he wanted to buy Twitter, and the establishment became similarly Orwellian. Musk said he wanted to transform Twitter from a social media platform of censorship to one of free speech. He said that that portion of the modern American town square should be an arena of open discussion rather than a playground for censorship. The fascists on the left immediately became unhinged at the very prospect, exposing themselves as the deranged apostles of curtailment.

The excuse they gave was beyond belief, except that it has so often been offered: Musk, they said, was a "threat to our democracy" because he wanted free speech! What was rightly seen by America's founders as the "bulwark of democracy," as the "palladium of the republic" was now to be considered as a profound threat to it!

What? Is it now presumptuous on American soil to ask that we discuss free speech and remind ourselves of its value? To those who say so, let us ask, with Wendell Phillips (18111884): who invented this libel on our democracy?

Under the Constitution, We the People are the sovereigns. The government is our servant. To cancel, curtail, censor, and in some cases criminalize the voice of the people is to reverse the master-servant relationship. It tells the master to shut up. When the Vox Populi is silenced, the servant issues a bitter, undemocratic insult to the people, a slander that must be resented.

Besides claiming that free speech is a threat to our democracy (whose, exactly?), the fascist curtail culturites' most common excuse for censorship is that they supposedly want America to be more harmonious, peaceful, and less polarized. These words do more than substitute Orwellian adjectives for those actually intended: servile, submissive, quiet, obedient. They also create the opposite effect. Each of the above thinkers emphasized some version of what is now known, after Professor Emerson, as the "steam valve" theory of free speech. When the people are allowed to vent, they become less, not more, hostile. They are more likely to say something like: "Well, at least I was able to say my piece." It is when the citizenry are bottled up that the greatest pressure builds. Eventually, the anger is more likely to explode.

Are the establishment curtailists unaware of what has long been known? Or are they perhaps deliberately shutting down the venting process in order to create more dramatic outbursts, to the end that they may declaim "domestic terrorists" and "insurrectionists," thereby justifying still further suppression?

Yes, America, it is high time to curtail curtailment. The way to do so is to continue exercising free speech with determination in every available avenue and venue. No matter how much the fascists attempt to intimidate, We the People must keep on talking!

George W. Shuster is a graduate of Yale Law School in the same class as Bill and Hillary Clinton, with whom he reserves the right to disagree, respectfully, of course (or not).

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.
By the time you read this, you'll already have known for some time that the Twitter board (probably cowed by the prospect of a breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit should it reject a hugely profitable offer for Twitter shareholders) accepted Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter. How the sale ultimately works out remains to be seen. What's enormously fun, though, is watching the response from leftists.

It is detestable, of course, that we are dependent upon the goodwill of one billionaire to undo the incredible damage that a passel of other billionaires and their neurotic leftist minions have done to freedom of speech in this country. But it's telling that these same people are panicking now that Musk is using some of his billions to call them out on their tyrannical sins. It suggests that their hold on power is less stable than we might have thought just one year ago. (It might also just mean that neurotic people will panic over anything.)

Smart, principled people are grateful that Musk seems to be committed to free speech:

.@elonmusks offer to buy Twitter is a good deal for shareholders and raises the prospect that the platform will be a place where free speech can thrive, not a tool for narrative enforcement.  Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 25, 2022

Elon Musk has finally set the blue bird free: pic.twitter.com/LXjzYCS2ZU  Mikey (@MikeDulaimi) April 25, 2022

Elon Musk should restore Donald Trumps Twitter account, regardless of whether he plans to use it or not.



Free Speech on Twitter starts with righting previous wrongs.  Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 26, 2022

They recognize that, when anti-free speech despots control entirely the primary means of communication within a country, freedom is dying. At this point, we can only hope that Musk, who is a genius visionary but also manages to believe in anthropogenic climate change, remains committed to free speech. Currently, he's making the right noises:

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

I'm inclined to think matters are trending in a good direction and that Musk may be wise enough to recognize and surf this trend: leftists have gotten too far over their skis with open borders, trans-mania, sexual indoctrination in K-12 schools, Critical Race Theory, madly printing money, and their machinations to place a declining, demented old man and a vapid, stupid woman in the White House.

Leftists haven't come to terms with the country's new direction, though, so this is our chance to revel in schadenfreude. Here are some of the more amusing reactions. (And remember, it would take a heart of stone not to laugh at these reactions.)

Watergate's John Dean, with panic in his heart, tries to sound a temperate note to make it clear he's not running away from Twitter; he's walking away slowly, with dignity:

Not sure I am interested in Twitter if Elon Musk owns it.  John W. Dean (@JohnWDean) April 24, 2022

Robert Reich's response was a good example of leftism on its own terms (hating on big money) but attained a sort of perfection when paired with his earlier tweet about Trump, a onetime (and still) president of the United States, getting kicked off all social media platforms:

Someone named Jameela Jamil, who is apparently famous, is certain that free speech will be unacceptably evil, so she's retiring from the site...after she shows off her dog:

Ah he got twitter. I would like this to be my what lies here as my last tweet. Just really *any* excuse to show pics of Barold. I fear this free speech bid is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny. Best of luck.  pic.twitter.com/fBDOuEYI3e  Jameela Jamil  (@jameelajamil) April 25, 2022

Rob Reiner, a great director and a singularly uninformed leftist, showed that, almost a year and a half into Biden's presidency, Trump is still drilling into Reiner's brain like some horror movie parasite:

Now that Elon Musk is buying Twitter, the question for all of us is: Will he allow a Criminal who used this platform to lie and spread disinformation to try to overthrow the US Government to return and continue his Criminal activity? And if he does, how do we combat it?  Rob Reiner (@robreiner) April 25, 2022

I'm guessing that Reiner hasn't read any of John Durham's recent court filings.

David Hogg is another wonderfully ill informed leftist who can always be counted on for amusing stupidity. In this case, he seems to have missed the fact that billionaires, China, BlackRock, and Vanguard already own the major social media platforms and newspapers in America:

Somebody having enough money to literally buy off every politician in this country through political donations under citizens United is a threat to national security and American democracy.  David Hogg  (@davidhogg111) April 26, 2022

Or maybe it's just that Hogg doesn't have a principled opposition to billionaires and tyrants owning things  only to free speech billionaires owning things.

George Takei struck a different note. Rather than going the Brave Sir Robin route and running away, he vows to stay and fight in the war to preserve "reason, science, compassion" and (you must laugh when this comes from a Hillary-supporter) "the rule of law."

Im not going anywhere. Should this place become more toxic, I pledge to strive even harder to lift up reason, science, compassion and the rule of law. The struggle against fascism, misinformation, and hate requires tough fighters. I hope you stay in the fight, right beside me.  George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) April 25, 2022

As I said, if nothing else, the fallout from Musk's takeover will be fun.

Image of Elon Musk freeing the Twitter bird is an internet meme, creator unknown.
One thing the left is particularly good at is euphemism. Stalin made his bones as a Bolshevik thug by robbing banks in order to fund the revolution; they called it expropriation. Now the obviously desperate Progressives are pounding the table, demanding that we masses be protected from the scourge of misinformation that's poisoning our minds. Only public statements that are approved for their content by progressive partisans should be allowed to have influence. Hmmm...sounds like censorship to me.

This romance with censorship is nothing new. Back in the 1970s, after an unusually contentious local election, thenSan Francisco supervisor Dianne Feinstein proposed an ordinance that would make it a crime to include a false statement in a political speech. Although I was still a registered Democrat at that time, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of Star Chamber would have to be empaneled to rule on every single political utterance.

As this is being written, Elon Musk's total takeover of Twitter has just been made official. It's within the realm of possibility that he could take a page from George Orwell and rename it The Ministry of Truth. Just kidding.

An oblique form of censorship popular among leftists is to challenge the pedigree of an information source. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls American Thinker "a not so thoughtful far-right online publication." I received this statement in lieu of an actual response to specific "facts" and conclusions made in one of my blog posts. Why bother presenting a plausible contradiction when you can just impugn the source? Lazy minds, don't you know.

Lurking below all of this is leftists' palpable lack of desire to defend their opinions. As Ayn Rand's fictional John Galt stated in his laying out of Objectivism, mystical ideas are the enemy of civilization. Feelings are supposed to have more weight than logic. Take climate worship, for example. There are forces that we will never understand...that are conspiring to destroy our world...unless we destroy them first by strangling the economic basis for modern life.

Standing in the way of this impending disaster is that pesky thing called common sense. Humanity didn't make it this far by not being able to make good decisions. Adversity may not be pleasant, but it can be instructive. Add to this the modern facility for the transmission of information. It started with cheap paper and web printing, then radio, and then TV. Now there are the internet, cell phones, and satellite coverage. Bottom line: It's virtually impossible to monopolize information. Hence the panicked demand for what really amounts to censorship from those who've lost their monopoly.

Image via Public Domain Pictures.
For as long as I can remember, people in positions of authority have had to deal with family members who want to exploit the name for gain. It's a huge problem in Latin America, where a son or brother usually ends up with a mansion or large bank account.

The latest such public figure is President Biden, who apparently never had the courage to tell his son Hunter to get a real job, or the common sense to tell him that appearances matter  i.e., don't introduce me to your business partners on public property.

We just learned that the dad-son connection may have been more active that we were told. This is from the Daily Mail:

Hunter Biden's top business partner had met with then-vice president Joe Biden in one of 19 visits he made to the White House between 2009 and 2015, according to visitor logs from the Obama administration. Eric Schwerin, former president of Hunter's now-dissolved firm Rosemont Seneca, met with Biden on November 17, 2010, just as Hunter was striking multi-million dollar deals abroad, the New York Post reported. The logs revealed that Schwerin made a total of 19 visits to the White House during Biden's vice presidency, with nine of those visits including meetings with Biden, members of his staff and members of Jill Biden's staff.

Jill had a staff? I thought she was married to the vice president. I did not know that the second spouse had a staff, too. Didn't Mrs. Biden understand that all these meetings smelled bad?

Why does all this matter?

First, President Biden denied knowing what his son was doing. Second, voters can forgive you for having crazy offspring, but allowing him to get rich on your name or position is another matter. Third, it is indeed possible that President Biden does not remember details, given his public performances over the last few weeks.

Maybe a special counsel is the only way to persuade voters that the whole thing was clean. Attorney General Merrick Garland needs to appoint one, or this cloud will only get darker over the Biden family.

PS: Click for my videos and podcasts at Canto Talk.

Image: acaben.
I am horrified at the statement of Defense secretary Lloyd Austin at his press conference in Poland following a secret visit to Kyiv. Via The New York Times:

"We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a news conference in Poland, following his secretive trip to Kyiv with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "It had already lost a lot of military capability and a lot of its troops, quite frankly, and we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability."



YouTube screen grab.

The way Russia is weakened, of course, is by being ground up in a prolonged war that is destroying Ukraine. That beleaguered nation is being used as an abrasive to dull Russia's war-making capacity. That's a job that destroys Ukraine in the process of harming Russia.

There is no room for negotiations that could halt the destruction of Ukraine in this goal. The longer the brutal war drains Russia's resources, the better in terms of Austin's goal.
These panel of images from the late 1950s China, depicting young boys hunting sparrows for sport, were taken from a poster aimed at school children. The poster was part of a large campaign to eradicate pests responsible for the transmission of pestilence and disease. Four pests were chosen for eradicationmosquitoes, rats, flies and sparrows. The last on this kill list was deemed responsible for creating shortages in grains and fruits which the bird ate. The ill-conceived idea to tamper with the food chain caused a severe ecological imbalance, and along with other misguided policies the government put in place, it triggered a chain of destructive events that left some 50 million people dead in three years.

The Great Sparrow Campaign was part of an even bigger program called the Great Leap Forward initiated by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1958 to transform the largely agrarian nation to a thriving socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization. In order to take control of agriculture and establish a monopoly over grain distribution and supply, Mao abolished ownership of private land and introduced communal farming. Many peasants, stripped off their lands, were ordered to work on massive infrastructure projects and on the production of iron and steel.

At the same time, Mao launched a patriotic health campaign targeting vermin that spread diseases. Along with mosquitoes, rats and flies, Mao picked up for elimination the Eurasian tree sparrow that fed on grains. Maos advisers calculated that a single sparrow ate four pounds of grain each year, and for every million sparrows killed, there would be food for 60,000 people.

The Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus). Photo credit: hedera.baltica/Flickr

Few people realized the consequence of disturbing the natural balance of the ecosystem, and even if they did, Mao wouldnt have listened to them anyway.

Mao knew nothing about animals. He didn't want to discuss his plan or listen to experts. He just decided that the 'four pests' should be killed, one of China's most prominent environmental activists, Dai Qing, told the BBC.

An incredible slaughter of sparrows followed. Every possible method that existed for killing birds were employed. They were shot from the sky, nests were destroyed, eggs broken and chicks killed. Sparrows were caught in nets or trapped with baits. Those that flew away to the countryside were poisoned with tainted food and water. The most cruel of them was driving them to exhaustion. People were told to come out in the open banging pots and pans and create a ruckus to terrorize the birds. The sparrows took to the air and flew around in circles, too terrified to land, until they dropped dead from exhaustion.

Some sparrows found refuge in the premises of various diplomatic missions in China. In the Polish embassy in Beijing, guards denied Chinese people from entering the premises to scare away the sparrows who were hiding there. The crowd then surrounded the embassy and drummed constantly for two days. In the end, the Poles had to use shovels to clear the embassy of dead sparrows.

Millions of people took part in the activities with merciless efficiency. An account published in the Shanghai newspaper reported that 194,432 sparrows were killed on a single day.

To encourage people to participate contests were held among government workers and school children, and non-material rewards were give to those who handed in the largest number of tails of rats, or dead flies and mosquitoes, or dead sparrows. The movement became something of a sport, for the children at least, who participated with great enthusiasm.

Over the next three years, approximately one billion sparrows, 1.5 billion rats, 100 million kilograms of flies and 11 million kilograms of mosquitos were killed. Although the eradication program was inordinately successful, it came at a great cost.

A direct consequence of the Four Pests Campaign was the Great Famine. It became painfully obvious to the Chinese that the sparrows ate more than grains. They also ate insects. With their primary predator gone, insects wrecked havoc on crops and consequentially, rice yields decreased. Locust populations also ballooned, swarming the country and compounding the ecological problems already caused by the Great Leap Forward, including widespread deforestation and misuse of poisons and pesticides. By the time Mao terminated the programbut not before replacing sparrows with bed bugs in the Four Pests listbetween 20 to 50 million people had died of starvation.

The gruesome episode serves as a lesson for mankind as to what can happen when unadvised changes are made to an ecosystem. Unfortunately, no lesson was learned. In 1998, a similar program was launched in Chongqing. A poster spotted at Southwest Agricultural University directed people to Get rid of the Four Pests, only this time, sparrows were replaced with cockroaches. Again in 2004, China began to cull civet cats in an effort to contain the spread of the SARS virus, even though no evidence has been found linking the cat to the virus. According to the BBC article, officials also planned to launch a patriotic health campaign targeting rats and cockroaches, which is eerily similar to Maos Great Sparrow Campaign.

The delusion that man could conquer nature was one of the most defiant philosophy of Maoone that has left a poisoned legacy in China. Mao had famously said in 1958make the high mountain bow its head, make the river yield the way. China continues to disrespect nature exploiting its natural resources and doing little to stop its degradation, the consequence of which is now seen in the countrys many environmental issues ranging from pollution, deforestation, climate change and natural disaster.
Photo taken on April 25, 2022 shows the scene of the first "International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate" held in Vienna, Austria. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) kicked off its first international conference on nuclear law here on Monday. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

VIENNA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) kicked off its first international conference on nuclear law here on Monday.

Lawyers, representatives of national authorities, international organizations, nuclear industry and civil society from 127 countries are participating in the IAEA's first "International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate" to discuss emerging issues and trends in nuclear law and the applicable legal frameworks, according to an IAEA statement.

Rafael Grossi, the IAEA Director-General, said in his opening speech at the conference that nuclear law is "not only about behavior and abiding by very important concepts and principles of law, but also driven by technological development."

He added that nuclear energy, "a force for the greater good," can at the same time "pose challenges that must be solved."

Dong Baotong, vice chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority, said at a forum on the sidelines of the conference that China has established a nuclear law system in recent years and is currently formulating an atomic energy law to safeguard the peaceful development and use of atomic energy.

Dong added that China is willing to share with other countries its experience in the development and legislation of the civil nuclear energy sector.

The IAEA conference, which includes forums, exhibitions and other sideline meetings, will run until Friday. 

Dong Baotong (on the screens), vice chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority, speaks via a video link at a forum on the sidelines of the first "International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate" in Vienna, Austria, on April 25, 2022. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) kicked off its first international conference on nuclear law here on Monday. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi speaks at the first "International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate" in Vienna, Austria, April 25, 2022. IAEA kicked off its first international conference on nuclear law here on Monday. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi speaks at the first "International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate" in Vienna, Austria, April 25, 2022. IAEA kicked off its first international conference on nuclear law here on Monday. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

Photo taken on April 25, 2022 shows the scene of the first "International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate" held in Vienna, Austria. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) kicked off its first international conference on nuclear law here on Monday. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)
The Rohonc Codex is a 448-page illustrated manuscript book written by an unknown author in an unknown language that has baffled scholars and historians since it was discovered at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in mid 19th century. The codex is named after the Hungarian city of Rohonc, where it was kept until it was donated to the Academy in 1838 by Count Gusztav Batthyany from his Rohonc estate, along with 30,000 other books in his possession. The town is now called Rechnitz, is in Austria, close to the Hungarian border.

Photo: Klaus.Schmeh/Wikimedia

The codex measures 12 by 10 centimeters, with each page having between 9 and 14 rows of symbols. The total number of symbols used in the book is around 800 which is about ten times higher than any known alphabet, but most symbols are used with little repetition, so the symbols in the codex might not be an alphabet, but instead a syllabary, or be logographic in nature, such as Chinese characters. Accompanying the cryptic texts are some 90 pages of illustrations that include religious, laic, and military scenes. The crude illustrations seem to indicate an environment where Christian, pagan, and Muslim religions coexist, as the symbols of the cross, crescent, and sun/swastika are all present.

Some scholars believe that the codex is a hoax, but others believe it to be genuine and have spent years trying to decode the text and illustrations. Analysis of the paper seem to suggest that the codex was written in Venetian paper sometime in the 16th century, but the date is not a certainty because the paper could have been much older than the text. Also, the text could have been copied from a much earlier source. Taking clue from the illustrations, some scholars speculate it was most likely created in the 16th-17th centuries.

Cracking the code

One Hungarian scholar proposed that he could read the book by turning it upside down to resemble a Sumerian ligature. He then associated Latin alphabet letters to the rest of the symbols by resemblance. He also rearranged the order of the letters to produce meaningful words. However, his methods were criticized because he sometimes transliterated the same symbol with different letters, and conversely, the same letter was decoded from several symbols.

A Romanian philologist Viorica Enachiuc proposed that the text had been written in the Vulgar Latin dialect of Dacia, and the direction of writing is right-to-left, bottom-to-top. The alleged translation indicates that the text is an 11-12th century history of the Blaki (Vlachs) people in their fights against Hungarians and Pechenegs. Enachiucs method was also criticized because the symbols that appeared in the same context throughout the codex were regularly transliterated with different letters, so that the patterns in the original code are lost in the transliteration. Besides, there is no relation between the illustrations of the manuscript and Enachiuc's translation.

Another alleged solution was made by the Indian Mahesh Kumar Singh. He claims that the codex is written left-to-right, top-to-bottom with a so far undocumented variant of the Brahmi script. He transliterated the first 24 pages of the codex to get a Hindi text which was translated to Hungarian. Singhs method was also criticized for lack of consistency.

Gabor Tokai and Levente Zoltan Kiraly proposed that the script is a code system that does not indicate the inner structure of words, and the language of the text is most probably artificial. They claim that the codex contains the date 1593 CE as a probable reference to its writing. They also state that is an ordinary Catholic reader mostly containing paraphrases of New Testament texts about the life of Jesus.

The mystery of the Rohonc Codex would perhaps never by fully solved.
Russia warns of WWIII ahead of summit on arms to Ukraine According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

(ANSA-AFP) - KYIV, APR 26 - Russia has warned of the "real" threat of World War III breaking out, ahead of a Tuesday meeting between the United States and allies over sending further arms to war-torn Ukraine. Moscow's invasion of its neighbour has triggered an outburst of support from Western nations that has seen weapons pour into the country to help it wage war against Russian troops. But Western powers have been reluctant to deepen their involvement, for fear of sparking a conflict against nuclear-armed Russia. Speaking to Russian news agencies, Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the risk of a World War III "is serious" and criticised Kyiv's approach to floundering peace talks. "It is real, you can't underestimate it," Lavrov said. For months, President Volodymyr Zelensky has been asking Ukraine's Western allies for heavy weapons -- including artillery and fighter jets -- vowing his forces could turn the tide of the war with more firepower. The calls appear to be resonating now, with a host of NATO countries pledging to provide a range of heavy weapons and equipment, despite protests from Moscow. In a landmark trip to Kyiv over the weekend, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Zelensky and promised $700 million in new aid to Ukraine. "The first step in winning is believing that you can win," Austin told a group of journalists after meeting the Ukrainian leader. "We believe that we can win -- they can win -- if they have the right equipment, the right support." And on the invitation of the United States, 40 countries will also hold a security summit in Germany on Tuesday to discuss further arms to Ukraine -- as well as to ensure the country's longer-term security once the war is over. Among the invited countries are European allies of the United States, but also Australia and Japan -- who fear that a Russian victory in Ukraine will set a precedent and encourage the territorial ambitions of China.



Finland and Sweden -- traditionally neutral countries that have been considering NATO membership since Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- are also on the guestlist. And on the Russian side, President Vladimir Putin is due to hold talks with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, his spokesman told RIA Novosti. (ANSA-AFP).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
ALGIERS - High turnout in Algeria was recorded for a two-day strike organized by 29 unions of the public sector to ask for an increase of the purchasing power and a revision of salaries and bonuses, Messaoud Boudiba, coordinator of CNAPEST, Algeria's largest union in education, told ANSAmed over the phone. He highlighted the high turnout for the strike, especially in the school sector.



Boudiba, who was this morning in the coastal province of Boumerdes, east of Algiers, said that he noticed a high level of participation in the strike in various sectors, like local administrations, professional training and universities. In the eastern outskirts of Algiers, some schools remained closed.



A few days ago, the Algerian labor ministry criticized the general strike called on April 26 and 27, stating that it was launched by illegal unions not recognized by authorities. It added that the Algerian federal confederation (which announced the strike) had not received the declaration of constitution that enables it to legally exercise its activities, because its dossier did not abide by legislation regarding the exercise of union rights. The ministry thus said that the confederation had acted in violation of the law.



The Algerian confederation motivated the strike with the need for the government to intervene in order to fight the deterioration of the purchasing power in light of an unprecedented wave of price increases. For several months, Algeria has recorded a strong growth in prices for many widely used foods, some of which are scarce, like nutritional oils, milk, wheat, and the situation has worsened with the holy month of Ramadan.



On March 10, the Algerian presidency decided to retroactively increase pensions for the years 2021 and 2022, with percentages between 2 and 10%.




BEIRUT - Just three weeks ahead of elections scheduled on May 15, tension remains high in Lebanon after at least six people died in a shipwreck, in the night between Saturday and Sunday, after a migrant boat was rammed, according to survivors, by a Lebanese military cutter off Tripoli. A search operation for the missing continues at sea and along the coast, while the funerals of the six victims were celebrated in Tripoli in a climate of sorrow and rage.



Previously, local sources said nine people had died. The bodies retrieved included one of an 18-month-old girl and of a woman, the mother of three children whose bodies are still missing.



Government news agency Nna quoted a statement of the Lebanese army as saying that the alleged trafficker was arrested. For the army, the tragedy was caused by bad weather and overcrowding on the boat. The survivors instead said that the military officers rammed the boat on purpose.



As of Monday, sit-in protests were ongoing in Tripoli, Beirut and Sidon. Demonstrators expressed rage against the political ruling class, accused of being responsible for the financial collapse that is driving many Lebanese to attempt to flee by sea.



Lebanon has been in default since March 2020. The financial crisis began in the fall of 2019, before the start of the pandemic. The UN said that over 80% of the population residing in Lebanon lives in poverty. A social media campaign has started against Premier Najib Miqati, a billionaire from Tripoli. Images of his yacht docked in the French port of Nice were shown alongside photos of the tragedy of Lebanese migrants over the weekend. Energy Minister Walid Fayyad, who was seen on Sunday night in a bar in downtown Beirut while visibly drunk, was approached by some people who insulted and shoved him. The scene was filmed with cell phones and published online.
MODENA - Father Mattia Ferrari, a young priest at the diocese of Modena and Nonantola, has filed a criminal complaint in Modena to report threats he has received on a social media account allegedly run by Libyan traffickers and mafia members, local newspaper Gazzetta di Modena reports.



Ferrari served as chaplain on the 'Mare Jonio' migrant-rescue ship.



Father Ferrari explained that he went to prosecutors on Liberation Day, Monday, April 25: "Prosecutors in Modena are investigating. Periodically, this account, a mouthpiece of the Libyan mafia, threatens those helping migrants. On March 31, they threatened me heavily. The real problem is that this account is not only a mouthpiece of the Libyan mafia, but it is also connected to deviant secret services from several countries: occasionally, it published photos of military aircraft of Frontex, reserved documents and high-level secrets of Italian State and military agencies", said Father Ferrari.



Democratic Left (PD) lawmaker Giuditta Pini also commented the case: "How could they have all this material? There is a mole. We ask this to the government", she said.




LOS ANGELES, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of pages of U.S. government documents showed that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had delayed for months publicly disclosing a suspected COVID-19 animal-to-human spillover event in Michigan in late 2020, according to a detailed report by National Geographic.

These documents include emails between the CDC and Michigan public health officials and provide the first "behind-the-scenes look" at the CDC's investigation into the suspected COVID-19 mink-to-human spillover event, said the report.

The documents and the CDC's statements in response make clear the CDC was aware that mink on a fur farm in Michigan may have infected humans at least three months before it "quietly" updated its website in March 2021, according to the report.

Emails show Michigan public health officials formally requested the CDC's help in handling the suspected spillover on Oct. 8, 2020, after the state confirmed that mink on a fur farm were infected. Within days, the CDC sent four veterinary epidemiologists to Michigan. The team took virus samples from mink at the farm and people in the surrounding area to investigate how the virus spread.

Ultimately, genome analyses of virus samples from two mink-farm workers and two people with no known connection to mink showed infection with a unique coronavirus variant previously identified in mink and mink-to-human transmission in Europe, the emails revealed.

The CDC did not make a formal public announcement of the findings and only "quietly" updated its website in March 2021. Thus the issue did not get much attention from the media and the public.

Only little media coverage was found online beyond a story in the Detroit Free Press in April 2021, which said four Michiganders -- a taxidermist, his wife and two mink farm employees -- were infected with a unique coronavirus strain connected to minks.

Michigan health officials and the CDC concluded they likely contracted the "first known" U.S. cases of so-called animal-to-human virus "spillover," said the report.

The CDC defended its decision not to make a formal announcement of the event, as spokesperson Nick Spinelli told National Geographic in an email that all "relevant information" was eventually posted on the CDC's website and that because similar cases had been documented in Europe, the news was not "surprising or unexpected."

Throughout the CDC's investigation, the agency's spokespeople repeatedly told National Geographic that there was "no evidence of mink-to-human spread in the United States," including in an early January 2021 email. Yet internal emails and statements from Spinelli indicate that was not the case, said the National Geographic report.

"Mink-to-human spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been reported in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Poland, and new data suggest it might have occurred in the United States," according to the CDC website.

Little is known about the four Michiganders infected with the unique coronavirus variant. Still, the fact that two of them got the mink-associated variant despite having no connection to the mink farm suggests the variant had spread beyond the farm and into the community and continued to circulate for months.

Coronavirus researchers said the delay in publicly sharing this suspected spillover event may have hindered their ability to effectively monitor the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which experts warn could take hold in another species, mutate and then jump back to humans as a more dangerous or transmissible variant.

Scott Weese, a veterinary internal medicine specialist and the chief of infection control at the Veterinary College at the University of Guelph in Canada, said earlier information about the suspected spillover cases could have helped other countries improve their pandemic surveillance and response.

"This should keep reminding us that transparency is important, and the quicker you know things, the quicker you can act," Weese said. 
MADRID - Several people have been reported missing at sea south of the island of Gran Canaria, after a boat with migrants on board in the night between Monday and Tuesday capsized before rescuers reached the location of the tragedy, a spokesman for the Spanish maritime rescue service told ANSA. According to the same source, 34 people were rescued: 22 men, 10 women and two minors. Moreover, one body was recovered.



Based on an alert previously registered by the Regional Coordination Center of the Canary Islands (Ccrc), officials fear that 61 people were on board the boat when it departed from the western Sahara coast. The same figures were also reported by Helena Maleno, a well-known activist and spokesperson for Caminando Fronteras.



During the same emergency operation, the Spanish maritime rescue vessel Guardamar Caliope also rescued an additional 80 migrants. They are expected to arrive soon on the island together with the 34 survivors of the shipwreck, which occurred 132 nautical miles off Gran Canaria. The Spanish maritime service also rescued another 26 migrants, including four minors, who were intercepted off the Andalusian coast (southern Spain): they were taken to Motril, in the province of Granada.
Migrants: shipwreck off Canary Islands-'24 possibly missing' 36 rescued, one body recovered, rescuers say

(ANSAmed) - MADRID, APRIL 26 - A reported 24 people could be missing following a migrant shipwreck south of the island of Gran Canaria last night, the Spanish maritime rescue service has tweeted. The rescuers, who arrived at the scene when the boat had already capsized, rescued 36 people and retrieved a body.



Initially, a spokesman for the maritime rescue service had spoken about 34 survivors, one ascertained victim and 26 possibly missing. According to activist and migration expert Helena Maleno, a spokesperson for NGO Caminando Fronteras, the victims could include 12 women and seven children.(ANSAmed).




MADRID - Spain is commemorating the bombing of Guernica, one of the most dramatic episodes of the civil war in the 1930s, exactly 85 years after the tragedy. As recalled in a video posted on social media by Premier Pedro Sanchez, on April 26, 1937, military aircraft sent by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, which backed the front of General Francisco Franco against the ruling republican government, bombed the Basque site, killing dozens of civilians.



"Eighty-five years later, we remember this day and all its victims. Because memory is essential to continue to constitute a democratic and peaceful society", wrote Sanchez.



At the beginning of April, the historic episode - represented in a famous painting by Pablo Picasso - was remembered also by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a speech in video conference to the Spanish Parliament. "We are in April 2022, but it looks like April 1937", he said, referring to the reported massacres of civilians which the Russians are accused of perpetrating in Ukraine.




F

Diane Abbott has hit out at the journalist who wrote an article about Angela Rayner which has been condemmed as "misogynistic". (PA/Twitter)

Diane Abbott has appeared to mock the appearance of a journalist who wrote an article by Tory MPs that the deputy Labour leader tried to distract Boris Johnson with her legs by crossing and uncrossing them.

The Mail on Sunday published an article written by Glen Owen, who reported on claims by Tory MPs that the deputy Labour leader tried to distract Boris Johnson with her legs by crossing and uncrossing them.

The article included a quote from one MP saying Rayner knows she cant compete with Boriss Oxford Union debating training, but she has other skills which he lacks.

Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will meet the Mail on Sundays editor David Dillon and political editor Glen Owen over the article, which has been universally debunked as "misogynistic".

Taking to Twitter, former frontbencher Abbott said it was "interesting" Owen felt "entitled" to judge females MPs on their appearances.

"This is Glen Owen the Mail on Sunday journalist who wrote the ridiculously misogynistic story about Angela Rayner and her legs," she tweeted.

"Interesting that he feels entitled to judge female MPs by their looks."

Diane Abbott tweeted a picture of Glen Owen in the wake of the article. (Twitter)

Rayner said on Tuesday that the Mail On Sunday went ahead with publishing the article based on comments from anonymous Conservatives despite warnings from Labour officials that they were completely untrue.

Speaking on ITVs Lorraine, Rayner said: Ive been overwhelmed because when I heard the story was coming out and we rebutted it instantly like this is disgusting, its completely untrue, please dont run a story like that.

The Labour frontbencher said she was really down about the article and had to prepare her children for its claims.

She said that all I worry about when Im at the despatch box is doing a good job and being able to do justice to my constituents and the work Im doing, so I was just really crestfallen that somebody had said that to a paper and a paper was reporting that.

It wasnt just about me as a woman, saying I was using the fact Im a woman against the prime minister  which I think is quite condescending to the prime minister and shows you what his MPs think about his behaviour  but it was steeped in classism as well, she added.

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner accused Tory MPs of using anonymous briefings to spread 'desperate, perverted smears' about her. (PA)

She also said the article insinuated she must be thick because she went to a comprehensive school and she is promiscuous because she had a child when she was 16.

I felt it was quite offensive to people from my background, she added.

The MP for Ashton-under-Lyne suggested a wider cultural shift is needed after Johnson condemned the misogynistic tripe published on Sunday.

We have got to teach our sons to be respectful of women and weve got to teach our women to be confident about themselves as well, she said.

She was also puzzled over the picture used to illustrate the article, saying: It was a John Lewis tailored dress  for me thats quite posh.

Rayner wore a trouser suit for her appearance on TV on Tuesday, saying she did not want to be judged for what I wear.

Diane Abbott took to Twitter to comment on the article. (PA)

I wanted to be defiant as well because I dont think that women should be told how to dress, but I didnt want to distract from the fact that, actually, its not about my legs.

Because I feel like Im being judged for what I wear, rather than what Im saying to you and how I come across.

Johnson vowed that the MPs behind the claims would face the terrors of the Earth if they are identified, though this seems unlikely as journalists protect their sources.

Government minister James Heappey backed Hoyle meeting the Mail on Sunday's editor, telling Sky News: If the speaker is going to put a shot across the bows about the way women in parliament are being reported, thats a good thing.

I have no doubt he is protecting freedom of speech and he wont want to see that impinged but I do think that Westminster has got itself into a mess and it looks awful."

Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Mail on Sunday, has declined to comment.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has urged airlines to get reliability back into the system again.

He made the comment as passengers have suffered major disruption in recent weeks.

Travellers have faced long queues at airports such as Birmingham, Heathrow and Manchester.

British Airways continues to cancel around 100 daily flights due to staff shortages.

EasyJet cancelled hundreds of flights in the run-up to Easter.

Passengers queueing to check in bags in departures at Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport (Steve Parsons/PA)

Mr Shapps said airlines underestimated how much demand there will be, and a rise in coronavirus cases would have caused problems with a lot of people off work.

He told Times Radio: I am concerned and Im going to be meeting with some of the airlines who have been routinely cancelling.

Im sure its in their interest as it is (for) the travelling public to see them get their schedules back together, and Im meeting with them this week to understand their plans to bring the schedules back together.

We need to get reliability back into the system again.
On Monday, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office released all files associated with its ongoing investigation into the Rust shooting. Among the materials received by Yahoo Entertainment are crime scene photos and videos. Two videos handed over to police show Alec Baldwin rehearsing with a vintage Colt revolver, just moments before he fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

In the footage, Baldwin is seen sitting in a church pew rehearsing. He's dressed in Western garb and is looking down towards the ground. Near the end of the two-minute clip, he reaches his right hand into his jacket and draws the gun, pointing it to the camera.

Baldwin, who is facing a wrongful death lawsuit by Hutchins's widower, said during his ABC News interview that he did not pull the trigger. Baldwin explained that he and Hutchins were blocking out the scene and he only moved "at her direction."

Alec Baldwin just moments before killing Halyna Hutchins. (Photo: Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office)

"This was a marking rehearsal," Baldwin declared. "And [Hutchins] says to me, 'Hold the gun lower. Go to your right. OK, right there. All right, do that. Now show it a little bit lower.' And she's getting me to position the gun. ... She's guiding me through how she wants me to hold the gun for this angle."

The gun "ended up being aimed right below" Hutchins's armpit, according to Baldwin. The actor said he was told on set it was a "cold gun," meaning there was no live ammunition in the revolver. Among the newly released documents are interviews between Baldwin and police and he reiterated the same thing.

A photo inside the church where Alec Baldwin shot Halyna Hutchins. (Photo: Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office)

During an interview with Det. Hancock, Baldwin said that his finger had been on the trigger but that he did not pull it. Baldwin said that he had pulled the hammer of the gun about three-quarters of the way back and then let it go before it discharged.

Hutchins, 42, was killed when the revolver went off on Oct. 21. Director Joel Souza was also injured. During an interview with police at the hospital, Souza noted how the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, told Baldwin the gun was "cold" or "clean."

In a text message released by police, the film's propmaster, Sarah Zachry, told another Rust crew member that Gutierrez-Reed had wanted to use fake weapons on set, but Baldwin did not.

"Alec never liked anything fake, like guns and even the rubber knife," she wrote. "He always wanted the real knife, but eventually I gave him the rubber without him knowing. He always wanted his real gun."

Two days after the shooting, Zachry texted Baldwin: "I'm truly praying for you and hope you find some rest soon."

Baldwin replied, "You are lovely and kind." He later added, "This sheriffs dept still will not tell me that I won't be charged [with] something."

Hutchins's widower, Matt, gave his own interview two months ago and told NBC News he was "just so angry" watching Baldwin's interview back in December. Baldwin talked "about her death so publicly in such a detailed way and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her."

"It almost sounds like he was the victim," Matt Hutchins told Hoda Kotb. "Hearing him blame Halyna in the interview and shift responsibility to others and seeing him cry about it, I just feel like, are we really supposed to feel bad about you, Mr. Baldwin?"

No criminal charges have been filed yet, although officials say the investigation is continuing.

Baldwin said he feels "exonerated" after New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau released its report last week.

"We are grateful to the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau for investigating this matter. We appreciate that the report exonerates Mr. Baldwin by making clear that he believed the gun held only dummy rounds. Additionally, the report recognizes that Mr. Baldwin's authority on the production was limited to approving script changes and creative casting," a lawyer for the actor said in a statement. "Mr. Baldwin had no authority over the matters that were the subject of the Bureau's findings of violations, and we are pleased that the New Mexico officials have clarified these critical issues. We are confident that the individuals identified in the report will be held accountable for this tragedy."
A British defence minister has backed Ukrainian strikes on military targets behind Russian lines, even if the weapons used have been supplied by the UK.

Armed forces minister James Heappey said on Tuesday there is every chance that Moscows forces will be repelled with the support being supplied to Kyiv by allies.

But he dismissed Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrovs claims that Western allies are pouring oil on the fire by providing Ukraine with firepower.

Defence minister James Heappey has backed the use of UK weapons on Russian soil (David Mirzoeff/PA)

Mr Heappey said of course the UK backs reported strikes on fuel depots in Russia.

He told Times Radio it is completely legitimate for Ukraine to be targeting in Russias depth in order to disrupt the logistics that if they werent disrupted would directly contribute to death and carnage on Ukrainian soil.

And the minister said it is not necessarily a problem if British-donated weapons are used to hit sites on Russian soil after accepting that weapons now being supplied by allies to Ukraine have the range to be used over borders.

There are lots of countries around the world that operate kit that they have imported from other countries; when those bits of kit are used we tend not to blame the country that manufactured it, you blame the country that fired it, he added.

The comments mark a further strengthening of the UKs position, as allies shift from caution against antagonising President Vladimir Putin to supplying more and more lethal aid.

(PA Graphics)

Russian foreign minister Mr Lavrov has warned that the threat of nuclear conflict should not be under-estimated.

He accused Nato forces of pouring oil on the fire by providing weapons, as he warned against provoking World War Three.

But Mr Heappey told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that the chances of nuclear warfare are vanishingly small.

He told Mr Lavrov to reflect on the reason there is a war in Ukraine being that Russia invaded, telling Sky News: All of this noise from Moscow about somehow their attack on Ukraine being a response to Nato aggression is just utter, utter nonsense.

Mr Heappey has said there is every chance that the Ukrainians will see off the Russians in the invasion, arguing that Moscows victory in the east of Ukraine is not inevitable.

Well see a conflict between two forces that are much more evenly balanced, where the Ukrainians have the advantage of defensive positions that have been dug in and prepared over the last eight years, and thats going to make it an extraordinarily difficult nut for the Russians to crack, he told Sky.

And with all the support that the Ukrainians are getting from around the world, theres every chance the Ukrainians can see them off.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine  26 April 2022 Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/agUoc4mRcj  #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/vnxIPbDJOZ  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) April 26, 2022

Britain is sending a small number of Stormer armoured vehicles fitted with launchers for anti-aircraft missiles in the latest shipment to repel the Russians.

Germany is also expected to approve the delivery of Gepard anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in a significant increase of support from Berlin.

In the UK, the Ministry of Defence said it has seen reports that the city of Kreminna, in the eastern region of Luhansk, has fallen to the Russians.

Amid heavy fighting in Izium and forces trying to advance to the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the intelligence update said Moscows troops are likely attempting to encircle heavily fortified positions.
Military veterans have consistently been targeted by predatory colleges eager to take advantage of federal funding available specifically to them.

We once described this target population as being viewed by fraudulent schools as dollar signs with backpacks, Federal Student Aid (FSA) Chief Operating Officer Richard Cordray told Yahoo Finance in an exclusive interview (video above).

FSA, an agency within the Education Department (ED), manages trillions of dollars in outstanding student loans and controls federal funding to colleges and universities across the country.

The ED, the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have been working in coordination over the last decade to launch a series of efforts designed to prevent military veterans from being taken advantage of by predatory schools.

What we're marking is the 10-year anniversary of what are called the Principles of Excellence  President Obama marked the original signing of the executive order, with the purpose in mind of protecting people who serve in the military  [who] find themselves often targeted by schools with fraudulent schemes because they see the dollar signs, said Cordray, who was the head of the CFPB during the Obama administration.

President Biden delivers remarks aimed at addressing health problems suffered by military veterans exposed to potentially toxic environmental situations, in Fort Worth, Texas, March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Veterans are given federal dollars in the form of G.I. Benefits, which they can use to pursue higher education. Low-quality, high-cost for-profit programs aggressively recruit these veterans since those benefits allow schools to circumvent the cap on federal funding.

We found that it was important for us  and I think it was the first time this had been done across the federal government  to have the Department of Education work together with closely with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, to make sure that students were protected, that military service members were not going to be cheated out of their benefits, and not get the benefit of higher education, Cordray explained.

The Principles of Excellence provides more transparency regarding the financial cost and quality of schools through a bunch of efforts, such as through an online customer complaint system, the College Scorecard, a College Navigator, and more.

President Obama, joined by Fed Chair Janet Yellen and CFPB Director Richard Cordray, holds a meeting with financial regulators March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

FSA is also ramping up oversight of schools to actively penalize any engaging in abuse.

In March, the agency announced that it was warning shady schools that engage in aggressive and misleading recruiting practices to take advantage of service members, veterans, and military-connected students would face consequences for doing so, including the termination or limitation of a schools participation in the Departments federal student aid programs.

We are going to be bringing enforcement actions where they're appropriate against schools that cheat students, whether former military or not, but across the board, and I think it's really important for us to have that presence, Cordray said. And for schools to be aware that they're not going to be able to get away with things that they might have thought they could get away with in the past.



Aarthi is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. She can be reached at aarthi@yahoofinance.com. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami.

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U.S. cities had highest homicide rates during pandemic: study

Xinhua) 08:08, April 26, 2022

People wearing face masks walk on a street in New Orleans, Louisiana, the United States, on Aug. 3, 2021. (Photo by Lan Wei/Xinhua)

New Orleans had the highest homicide rate increases over the course of the pandemic, followed by Cincinnati, Atlanta, Baltimore, Memphis, Milwaukee, Louisville, Norfolk, Detroit and Dallas.

NEW YORK, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The year 2021 was the deadliest in U.S. history, thanks mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the homicide rate has also soared in several cities since 2020, U.S. television network NewsNation has reported.

The most recent available data from the government shows a 35 percent jump in gun homicides from 2019 to 2020, when 19,384 people were killed, NewsNation reported Saturday, citing a new study.

The study calculated homicide rate increases over the course of the pandemic and found that New Orleans had the highest, followed by Cincinnati, Atlanta, Baltimore, Memphis, Milwaukee, Louisville, Norfolk, Detroit and Dallas.

The 10 lowest were San Francisco, Chandler, Riverside, Austin, Charlotte, Sacramento, Garland, Omaha, Boston, Madison and Lincoln.

In times of financial stress or anxiety, gun sales tend to strengthen, as does violence and racial hostility; with the pandemic, a new stressor may have affected the high homicide numbers, Shaundra Kellan Lewis, a law professor at Texas Southern University, told NewsNation.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis attend the 94th Annual Academy Awards on March 27, 2022. (Photo: FilmMagic)

Ashton Kutcher is urging people not to let the Russia-Ukraine war "become background noise." The actor sent a message to his 17 million Twitter followers on Tuesday, declaring "we lose" once that happens.

"We must have the nerve to continue to stare pain down the barrel and envelop it with love. Our compassion has power. Don't look away," the actor and investor tweeted.

The minute we allow the war in Ukraine to become background noise we lose. We must have the nerve to continue to stare pain down the barrel and envelop it with love. Our compassion has power. Dont look away.  ashton kutcher (@aplusk) April 26, 2022

Kutcher and his wife, Mila Kunis, have been leading Hollywood's effort to support the people of Ukraine ever since Russia's unprovoked invasion on Feb. 24. The couple's GoFundMe has raised more than $35 million to help refugee and humanitarian aid efforts on the ground.

"I am a proud Ukrainian," Kunis declared. "While we are witnessing the bravery of Ukrainians, we are also bearing witness to the unimaginable burden of those who have chosen safety. Countless amounts of people have left everything they know and love behind to seek refuge. With nothing but what they could carry, these Ukrainian refugees are in need of housing and supplies right away."

Kunis and Kutcher's assistance didn't go unnoticed by President Zelensky. Last month, the Ukrainian politician said he was "impressed by their determination" in raising money for more than 10 million refugees. The trio even had a virtual meeting.

.@aplusk & Mila Kunis were among the first to respond to our grief. They have already raised $35 million & are sending it to @flexport & @Airbnb to help  refugees. Grateful for their support. Impressed by their determination. They inspire the world. #StandWithUkrainepic.twitter.com/paa0TjJseu    (@ZelenskyyUa) March 20, 2022

Kunis was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, in 1983 and moved to the United States at age 8.

"I very much have always felt like an American," Kunis recently reflected to Maria Shriver, but said, "everything's changed."

"[Russia's invasion] happens and I can't express or explain what came over me, but all of a sudden I was like, 'Oh my God, I feel like a part of my heart just got ripped out,'" she added. "It was the weirdest feeling."

Kunis shares two kids with Kutcher and is trying to instill in them that they are half Ukrainian.

"It doesn't take away from who I am as a person but it just adds an entire different layer," she said. "I turned to my kids and I was like, 'You are half Ukrainian, half American!' Like, I literally was like, 'Look, you!' And my kids were like, 'Yeah mom, I get it.' And I was like, 'No! You are Ukrainian and American.' I was like, 'You are half Iowa, half Ukraine.' And they're like, 'OK, I get it.'"

MORE: Ashton Kutcher continues to show support for Mila Kunis's native Ukraine
Sharon Osbourne is opening up about a painful face-lift experience.

In an interview with Britains The Sunday Times, the 69-year-old TV personality, who has publicly addressed her plastic surgery in the past, spoke about the horrendous results of a recent face-lift.

I had a full face-lift done in October and I looked like one of those fing mummies that they wrap (with bandages), Osbourne told the publication. It hurt like hell. You have no idea.

She shared that the cosmetic procedure lasted about five and a half hours and did not turn out how she expected.

Osbourne said, Im telling you, it was horrendous.

At the time, she told her surgeon, Youve got to be fing joking.

She explained that her eyes did not look the same and added, I looked like a fing Cyclops. Im, like, All I need is a hunchback.

Her husband, Ozzy Osbourne, whom she has been married to since 1982, was also taken aback by her surgery.

He said, I dont care how much it costs, well get it redone, she recalled.

While her face is still settling now, she confirmed she is happy with her appearance.

The sit-down with The Sunday Times comes ahead of her return to television as the host of a prime-time talk show. The show will air on a new British TV channel called TalkTV, which will also feature Piers Morgan.

Last year, Osbourne left CBSs The Talk after defending Morgan, who received backlash for calling Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, a liar after her emotional interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The former Meghan Markle revealed in her discussion with Winfrey that she had suffered from depression and other mental health issues while living in the U.K.

"The Talk" co-host Sheryl Underwood and Osbourne got into a heated debate on-air about Morgans remarks. The Talk was put on a temporary hiatus while CBS investigated the matter, and Osbourne ended up leaving the panel.

As part of our review, we concluded that Sharons behavior toward her co-hosts during the March 10 episode did not align with our values for a respectful workplace, NBC News reported the network said in a statement at the time.

Osbourne posted an apology on Twitter in March 2021 that said, To anyone of colour that I offended and/or to anyone that feels confused or let down by what I said, I am truly sorry.

She spoke about the fallout from leaving the show during her interview with The Sunday Times. She said her TV career in the United States was nonexistent afterward. Not one call. Noth-Ing.

Although she said her career was not impacted in England and Australia, it was a much different situation in America.

Here it was like I was dead, she said.
LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will visit Canada next month as part of celebrations to mark his mother Queen Elizabeth's 70th year on the British throne, his office said on Tuesday.

The trip, the 19th the heir-to-the-throne has undertaken to Canada, will see the royal couple travel more than 2000 miles from Newfoundland and Labrador to the Northwest Territories over three days from May 17-19.

"The Prince of Wales has long believed that we need to learn from indigenous peoples around the world how better we should live in and care for nature and the planet," Clarence House said in a statement.

"Canada is seeing the impact of climate change and so this tour will highlight an emphasis on learning from Indigenous Peoples in Canada as well as a focus on working with businesses to find a more sustainable way of living with global warming."

Members of the British royal family have been undertaking tours across the 14 other realms which have Queen Elizabeth as their head of state to mark her Platinum Jubilee as monarch, with Charles's younger brother Prince Edward and his wife currently visiting Caribbean nations.

(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by William James)
Donald Trump and some of his allies were suspended from Twitter over spreading misinformation or inciting or advocating violence. (Associated Press)

With Elon Musk buying Twitter, there's speculation that former President Trump and many of his allies could have their bans lifted.

During the Trump era, Twitter barred many on the far right, including extremist groups, from using the platform. A number of Trump supporters were kicked off for spreading falsehoods, inciting or advocating violence, "harmful activity" or other violations of Twitter rules.

De-platforming can limit the spread of harmful speech, including misinformation and disinformation, studies have shown. Amy Bruckman, a Georgia Tech professor of interactive computing and a lead author on one study, said that the prevalence of ideas spread by three far-right or conspiracy-theorist figures went down dramatically after their Twitter accounts were disabled. The "toxicity of their followers went down after they were kicked off," she said.

If such figures were to be reinstated, Bruckman said, "the ideas come back and the toxicity of their followers comes back too."

Musk has hinted in several tweets that he hopes to overhaul Twitter's content moderation policy. 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 wrote in a regulatory filing, adding that the company would not fulfill that potential "in its current form."

The tech billionaire has not publicly committed to reinstating any banned user and has made no comments regarding Trump, who has said he has no plans to return to Twitter even if his access is restored.

Here is why Trump and others from his orbit were banned:

Donald Trump

The former president was permanently suspended two days after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of Trump supporters. Twitter determined that Trump had encouraged violence and posed a "risk of further incitement."

Trump has since started his own platform, Truth Social, which aims to compete with Twitter but has floundered so far. Fox News on Monday reported that Trump told the outlet: "I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on TRUTH.... I hope Elon buys Twitter because hell make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). (Samuel Corum / Tribune News Service)

Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, is the only sitting member of Congress to be permanently banned from Twitter. After numerous temporary suspensions, her personal account was banned on Jan. 2, 2021, for violating the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy; she had tweeted critical and misleading messages about public health measures put in effect to control the pandemic.

Greene still maintains a presence on the platform with her official account; she tweeted Monday morning, anticipating that her personal account would be reinstated.

Prepare for blue check mark full scale meltdown after @elonmusk seals the deal and I should get my personal Twitter account restored. pic.twitter.com/MKBQvHCoAH  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) April 25, 2022

Stephen K. Bannon

Former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

Stephen K. Bannon, former Trump campaign chief and former White House chief strategist, was banned Nov. 5, 2020, after he called on his podcast for the beheading of FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments top infectious disease expert.

David Duke

The former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and onetime member of the Louisiana House of Representatives was kicked off Twitter on July 30, 2020. It was unclear which of his tweets violated the platform's hateful conduct policy.

Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell

On Jan. 8, 2021, Twitter removed the accounts of Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security advisor, and pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell. The two had spread content relating to the QAnon conspiracy theory, Twitter said. Powell had also spread falsehoods about the election, making claims but never offering proof about voter fraud. Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and was the only White House official to be convicted in connection with the Trump-Russia investigation, was pardoned by Trump in late November 2020.

Alex Jones

Alex Jones, center, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Far-right talk show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was banned on Sept. 6, 2018, after violating Twitter's abusive behavior policy. Jones, among other falsehoods, had long claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six educators was a hoax.

He recently appeared before the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.

Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts past violations. https://t.co/gckzUAV8GL  Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018

Mike Lindell

MyPillow chief executive and Trump supporter and donor Mike Lindell was taken off Twitter on Jan. 25, 2021. He had been a vocal and constant proponent of the falsehood that the 2020 election was rigged. He also claimed that the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot was "peaceful." Twitter said he had repeatedly violated its "civic integrity policy."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Dr. Mehmet Oz attempted to use the shield of former President Donald Trumps endorsement to fend off attacks from his Republican rivals in the Pennsylvania Senate race, which included the top candidates casting doubt on the results of the 2020 election.

Oz was among the five GOP candidates gathered in Harrisburg on Monday night, where he leaned on the recent Trump endorsement to rebut repeated claims that hes not a true Republican. Former hedge fund executive David McCormick, backed by Wall Street donations, has been running attack ads against the celebrity doctor with the messaging that hes a Hollywood liberal.

Dr. Mehmet Oz at a campaign event in Bristol, Pa., on April 21. (Hannah Beier/Reuters)

Theyre designed to fool the electorate, Oz said of the ads. Mr. McCormick approached President Trump with these types of information that was unable to pull the wool over his eyes. President Trump saw right through him. He therefore did not endorse Mr. McCormick, he endorsed me. And out of that, another slew of these ads has arisen once again, trying to tell Pennsylvanians something that President Trump doesnt believe is true and I can state categorically is not true.

Oz and McCormick have separated themselves in both fundraising and polling in the May 17 primary, which does not require the winner to achieve a majority in order to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey on the ballot in November. Oz spent much of the hourlong debate repeating the fact that Trump had endorsed him, while McCormick said Oz had changed positions on a number of issues.

David McCormick at a campaign rally in Danville, Pa., on April 20. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

The reason Mehmet keeps talking about President Trumps endorsement is because he cant run on his own positions and his own record, McCormick said. The problem, doctor, is theres no miracle cure for flip-flopping, and Pennsylvanians are seeing right through your phoniness, and thats what youre dealing with and thats why youre not taking off in the polls.

McCormick targeted Oz for a 2015 episode of his talk show in which he discussed transgender youth. Republicans around the country have pushed anti-transgender laws in recent months, banning trans youths from competing in sports and in some instances equating teaching kids about gender to grooming.

I do television shows, as well I should, about views that need to be expressed, Oz said in reply.

McCormick had tried to earn the endorsement of Trump, attempting to shake off attacks about his business ties with China to present himself as an "America first" candidate. McCormick had earned the support of Sean Parnell, whom Trump had originally endorsed in the race before he dropped out over accusations of domestic abuse. It was announced Monday that Trump would be holding a rally with Oz in western Pennsylvania next month.

Women, in particular, are drawn to Dr. Oz for his advice and counsel, Trump said in an April 9 statement announcing his endorsement. I have seen this many times over the years. They know him, believe in him and trust him. Likewise, he will do very well in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, where other candidates will just not be accepted.

Republican supporters at a "Save America" rally on Saturday in Delaware, Ohio, where former President Donald Trump spoke. (Joe Maiorana/AP)

One area where Oz and McCormick were in agreement was on the issue of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump has baselessly claimed was stolen from him in Pennsylvania. When asked if it was time to move on, both said no, with Oz saying, I have discussed it with President Trump and we cannot move on.  We have to be serious about what happened in 2020, and we wont be able to address that until we can really look under the hood.

Another area of overlap was abortion, access to which has been severely restricted across the country by Republican-backed laws. Both Oz and McCormick said exceptions should be made when the life of the mother is in danger, but when asked directly, neither said that similar allowances should be made if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Both Oz, who moved from New Jersey to run for the seat, and McCormick, who moved from Connecticut, have been criticized for not being true Pennsylvanians. The Republican field also includes Carla Sands, a former Trump-appointed ambassador to Denmark, who moved from California to enter the race.

The two tourists whove moved here to run, they dont know Main Street Pennsylvania, said Jeff Bartos, a Philadelphia-area real estate investor who has served as the state partys finance chair and is also running for the Senate seat. They havent cared to spend time there until they decided to run for office.

I can promise the people of Pennsylvania, when these carpetbaggers lose, you will never see them again, said candidate Kathy Barnette, a conservative political commentator.

Kathy Barnette at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in Camp Hill, Pa., on April 2. (Matt Rourke/AP)

Oz, who attended medical school and business school in Philadelphia, said Pennsylvanians care about what I stand for more than where Im from. McCormick and Sands touted their families multigenerational roots in the state.

The states Democratic Senate candidates had their second televised debate on Monday at Dickinson College, located in central Pennsylvania. It was one of the few remaining times for the rivals of John Fetterman, Pennsylvanias lieutenant governor, to try and stop what has been his steady march to the nomination, fueled by a prolific fundraising haul and name recognition following his high-profile rebuttals of claims of fraud following the 2020 election. Fetterman is running on a platform that includes marijuana legalization, raising the minimum wage, increasing union power, maintaining abortion access and protecting LGBTQ rights.

Fettermans top competitor has been Rep. Conor Lamb, a Pittsburgh-area centrist who has attempted to portray himself as the most electable candidate. Last month, Politico reported that Lamb was trailing Fetterman by 30 points and intended to resort to negative campaigning in an attempt to close the gap. Lamb has followed through on the report, but Fetterman has maintained a comfortable margin, leading Lamb by 24% in a Franklin & Marshall College Poll released earlier this month.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman at a Centre County Democrats' event in Boalsburg, Pa., on April 9. (Marc Levy/AP)

Lamb and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who is Black, have continually highlighted a 2013 incident in which Fetterman  then the mayor of Braddock, a small Pittsburgh suburb  chased down an unarmed Black jogger with a shotgun. Fetterman has disputed the mans claim that he pointed the shotgun at his chest and has emphasized his reelection in the majority-Black community. It was discussed at last weeks debate as well as Monday evening.

Heres the problem: Powerful men like John are used to having to play by a different set of rules, Kenyatta said. He wasnt held accountable because he was the mayor, and hes trying to not be held accountable now.

Fetterman opened and closed the event by pointing out that he was the only candidate running from either party to have already won a statewide race, and he called attention to his campaign work in all 67 counties, part of his efforts to keep down the margins in rural, conservative areas, where Republicans typically win by large spreads.

Pennsylvania is likely the Democratic Partys best chance at picking up a seat in a Senate that is currently divided 50-50. Both the nonpartisan Cook Political Report and the University of Virginias Center for Politics rate the race as a toss-up. In recent years the state has seen a number of close results in big races, including the last two presidential races and Toomeys 2016 reelection, all of which were decided by less than 2 points.
Two buoys mark the location of intake and discharge currently used by a gas-powered unit at the AES Huntington Beach Energy Center. The AES facility is the proposed site of the Poseidon Huntington Beach Seawater Desalination Plant, which would draw ocean water through an existing intake. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Among the many complex arguments over water in California, one particularly heated debate centers on whether the state should seek more drinking water from a plentiful but expensive source: the Pacific Ocean.

The debate has reached a critical stage in Huntington Beach, where Poseidon Water has been trying for more than two decades to build one of the countrys largest desalination plants.

The California Coastal Commission is scheduled to vote next month on whether to grant a permit to build the plant. But in a stance that could hinder the company's plans, the agencys staff recommended on Monday that the commission reject the proposed project.

The staff wrote that the project raises significant and complex coastal protection policy issues. Concerns included flood risks based on updated projections of sea-level rise, the location in an industrial area with a history of contamination problems and higher costs for water that would probably mean significant burdens for low-income communities, which they said would raise environmental justice issues.

The long-running fight has also encompassed contentious issues such as the effects on marine life, power requirements and whether the low-lying site is vulnerable to tsunamis, as well as the companys heavy political lobbying for the lucrative project.

At the heart of the debate, there are fundamental arguments about whether Orange County really needs the water, how the area should adapt to worsening droughts with climate change, and whether the costs would be a reasonable investment to secure reliable water or an exorbitant megaproject that would mean higher water rates for decades to come.

The dispute is playing out as Western states endure rising temperatures and a regionwide drought that scientists say is the driest 22-year period in 1,200 years. Shrinking water sources and depleted reservoirs have prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials to appeal for Californians to reduce water use.

The company and its supporters argue that building the $1.4-billion desalination plant would buttress local water supplies and make the area more resilient. Opponents call it a boondoggle that would benefit parent company Brookfield Infrastructure while saddling ratepayers with the costs.

We're not saying we should never do desalination, but it should be the last resort, said Andrea Leon-Grossmann, director of climate action for the nonprofit group Azul. "It's just not needed."

Andrea Leon-Grossmann, director of climate action for the nonprofit group Azul, opposes the proposed Poseidon desalination plant. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

She said northern and central Orange County have ample water supplies, including groundwater and recycled wastewater, and there are other solutions that are far more economical, such as investing in conservation programs and water-efficiency improvements.

Azul is part of a coalition of environmental groups called Stop Poseidon, which also includes the California Coastkeeper Alliance, California Coastal Protection Network, Orange County Coastkeeper and the Surfrider Foundation. The coalition's members have submitted a 153-page report to the Coastal Commission detailing their opposition to the project.

Leon-Grossmann said the expected increase in water rates would also be an environmental justice issue. If local officials agree to purchase the water, she said, the higher rates would disproportionately affect communities where residents are already struggling economically.

The company has said the costs have yet to be finalized but that monthly water rates could increase by roughly $3 to $6 per household.

The Coastal Commission's staff noted that Poseidon "still has not found a definite buyer for its proposed water," and therefore it's not known exactly how much rates would go up, but that it's clear the "costs for Poseidons water would be higher than other current and planned sources of water."

In Oak View, a neighborhood where the predominantly Latino residents are already coping with rising rents, higher water rates would be an unwelcome burden, said Oscar Rodriguez, co-founder of the local group Oak View ComUNIDAD.

Oscar Rodriguez, activist and co-founder of Oak View ComUNIDAD, explains how the proposed Poseidon desalination plant would saddle poor communities like Oak View with higher water costs. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Unaffordable water is just going to hurt families, Rodriguez said.

That was also the conclusion of a 2019 UCLA report that said building the plant would probably bring moderate to severe rate increases, which would make water less affordable for low-income households.

Activists who oppose the project have pointed to a recent study by the Pacific Institute, which found that investing in existing technologies and standard water-saving practices could improve efficiency to reduce Californias urban water use between 30% and 48%.

Public funding is better spent on such initiatives and not desalination, said Alejandro Sobrera Barboza, coordinator for the Sunrise Movement in Orange County. "We just need to live in a more efficient and sustainable way," he said.

An aerial view of the Huntington Beach Wetlands and the Huntington Beach Energy Center, formerly AES Huntington Beach, a natural gas-fired power station that is the proposed site of the Poseidon desalination plant. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Poseidons Huntington Beach Seawater Desalination Plant would be capable of producing up to 50 million gallons of drinking water a day.

The plant wouldnt be the first of its kind. Sixty miles to the south in Carlsbad, the nation's largest desalination plant has been churning out drinking water since 2015.

Water from the Claude Bud Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant is sold to the San Diego County Water Authority under a 30-year contract. The water accounts for about 10% of whats used by the areas 3.3 million people.

The current price of water under the purchase agreement is $2,710 per acre-foot, substantially more than rates for imported water, which are now less than $1,090 per acre-foot.

The Water Authority says the typical monthly cost is about $5 per household.

A jetty protrudes into the Pacific in Carlsbad, near where the Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant draws in seawater. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

During a tour of the Carlsbad plant, Poseidon Waters managers said the facility is bringing big benefits.

This is the only drought-proof water supply in San Diego County, said Jessica Jones, the companys director of communications. It's also the largest local water supply in the county.

The plant has allowed San Diego County to rely less heavily on water supplies imported from Northern California and the Colorado River.

We're always facing some level of drought in California, and these plants are not built overnight. And so it's important to look forward to the future and do that planning now, Jones said.

Michelle Peters, technical and compliance manager for Poseidon Water, stands by pipes in the pre-treatment section at the Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, which opened on Dec. 14, 2015. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

After the commissions staff recommended rejecting the proposal, the company said in a statement: We believe the Commission staff has erred in its recommendation.

Poseidon Water noted that the project has been approved by other agencies, saying state regulators had determined the facility will use the best available site, design, technology and mitigation measures feasible to protect marine life.

The company said the plant would be safe from the effects of sea-level rise.

Californias elected officials and regulators should consider the dire consequences that this recommendation will have for desalination in California, the company said. No water infrastructure project in the state of California has ever undergone this level of study and scrutiny. If this recommendation stands, it will effectively be the death knell for desalination in California.

Jones said the effects of climate change are accelerating and that regulators should be working hand-in-hand with the private sector to find innovative solutions that reduce our dependence on imported water and improve water resiliency.

The California Coastal Commission is scheduled to vote on whether to approve a coastal development permit at a May 12 meeting in Costa Mesa.

The proposed plant would use some existing infrastructure at the AES Huntington Beach Energy Center, including a 14-foot-wide intake that would draw seawater from the ocean about 1,800 feet offshore. Poseidon has an agreement with AES, if it secures the permit, to buy 12 acres and build the plant on land where three old oil tanks now stand.

State scientists have said the plants intake and discharge would kill significant amounts of plankton and fish larvae that are vital to the marine ecosystem. The company has proposed environmental mitigation projects that include dredging an inlet of the Bolsa Chica wetlands, restoring coastal marshes and laying down an artificial reef off the Palos Verdes Peninsula to provide fish habitat.

A view of a water pipe in the post-treatment section of the Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant in Carlsbad. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Opponents of the project have argued with the company and its supporters about the effects on the marine ecosystem, the extent to which the plant could secure renewable energy, the potential hazards at an adjacent toxic site, and whether an oil spill like the one that occurred last year would affect the plants operations. Activists have also said the plant would be vulnerable to sea-level rise.

The company has studied sea-level rise and other potential hazards and found no risks that the plant couldnt be designed to address, said James Golden, project development manager for Poseidon. He said that once the oil tanks are removed, part of the construction would involve using soil to raise the ground level of the site, which would be between 6.4 feet and 13 feet above the average sea level.

Under all circumstances, our site is not vulnerable to sea-level rise, Golden said.

The company has yet to sign any contracts to deliver water. Officials with the Orange County Water District, which serves an area of about 2.5 million residents, have expressed interest through a nonbinding agreement and, in 2018, discussed initial estimates of what the water could cost.

Still, desalinated water is a divisive issue even for district board members.

Steve Sheldon, the boards president, said desalinated water is necessary in the face of severe drought and the effects of climate change. He pointed out that Southern California water suppliers are expected to receive just 5% of their full allocations from the State Water Project this year, and that the Colorado River is in a worsening shortage.

We need an independent reliable source of water to augment these unreliable sources, Sheldon said.

Years ago, Sheldon worked as a consultant for Poseidon, but that work stopped before the subject came up at the water district, he said.

Kelly Rowe, a fellow board member, strongly opposes the company's plan. He called the proposal an incredibly stupid project.

Rowe, who works as a hydrogeologist and water resources specialist, said the district has a large quantity of available groundwater in northern Orange County, supplemented by recycled wastewater from a large groundwater replenishment system. Groundwater pumping supplies 77% of the district's water, and the remaining 23% is imported at a cost of about $1,200 per-acre foot.

Rowe said he expects the cost of desalinated water would end up being similar to the cost in San Diego County, if not more, and would far exceed the initial estimates.

"We don't need the water," Rowe said.

An aerial view of the Ascon landfill site, a state Superfund site. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Some residents argue that the site is also subject to other hazards. They point to the adjacent 38-acre Ascon landfill site, where drilling waste from oilfields was dumped decades ago and where complicated cleanup work remains unfinished.

This area is like Pandoras box, said Nancy Buchoz, who lives in a neighborhood across the street. She said shes concerned construction work could disturb contaminated soil and release hazardous pollution.

Poseidon said there is no risk of potential contamination from the site. The Ascon cleanup project has conducted groundwater monitoring and there is no evidence that contamination issues extend offsite, Jones said in an email. She said pipelines would run on the opposite side of a road and would be protected from potential groundwater infiltration.

The company would also clean up any contamination found on the construction site, Jones said.

Huntington Beach Mayor Barbara Delgleize said the plant would boost the economy and help the area diversify with a reliable water supply.

Additional supporters include Newsom, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other members of Congress and the state Legislature. According to California secretary of state records, the company has spent more than $979,000 on lobbying since 2019.

Shirley Dettloff, a former Huntington Beach mayor and board member of Amigos de Bolsa Chica, walks along a path at the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach. (Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times)

One of Poseidons local supporters is Shirley Dettloff, a former Huntington Beach mayor and former member of the state Coastal Commission who as an environmentalist fought to protect the Bolsa Chica wetlands from development.

The world is changing, and its changing at a rapid pace, especially climate change, Dettloff said. I just look at the future and see that we've got to plan ahead.

She and other supporters point to countries such as Israel and Australia, where desalination plants have been running for years.

The desalination business has been booming in water-stressed regions around the world. Countries across the Arabian Peninsula, from Oman to Qatar to Kuwait, depend heavily on government-subsidized desalination plants powered by fossil fuels. Plants have also been built in Jordan, Egypt, Spain, Singapore, South Africa and other countries.

In California, Santa Barbara has an operating desalination plant. And the South Coast Water District is moving forward with plans to build the Doheny Ocean Desalination Project in Dana Point, which would draw seawater through slant wells beneath the ocean floor.

Critics of the Huntington Beach proposal say a smaller design using subsurface intake wells would prevent tiny marine life from being sucked in and killed. Poseidon said the regional water board determined that subsurface intakes wouldnt be feasible for all reasonable intake design capacities, and that the Orange County Water District has a goal of securing 50 million gallons per day.

Mandy Sackett, a policy coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation, said a different design could reduce environmental impacts but that the company has other priorities and is taking advantage of California's drought fears.

Susan Jordan, executive director of the California Coastal Protection Network, has been fighting the project since 2010. She said that if the plant is approved, it would set a terrible precedent for the future of California and for water supply alternatives, and it should be only a last resort.

This is not about providing water for California, Jordan said. This is about making profit for global investors and nothing more.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Katerina Gubochkkna, left, her daughter, Oksana Strishko, and her 5-year-old son, Dima Strishko, arrive in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, from the Russian-occupied territory of Vasilyevak. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

It had taken 11 hours of driving, bargaining for passage through 20 checkpoints manned by stern-faced Russian soldiers, along with the knowledge that every mile took you farther away from home, probably for good. But by 6 p.m., the three families crammed into a worn-down Mercedes van had made it out of Mariupol, Ukraine.

There were so many bombs, said Volodymyr Korotky, a 56-year-old mechanic who left Mariupol with his family and only two suitcases' worth of clothes he could save from his destroyed apartment. Im so happy were in Ukrainian territory.

He and his wife, along with nine other people, arrived at the parking lot of an Epicenter store, a sort of Ukrainian Home Depot, here on the edge of Zaporizhzhia, which has become the primary node for the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Melitopol, Berdyansk and Mariupol  cities in the south and southeast that bear witness to the horror and despair of Russias occupation.

For 14-year-old Lizza Onufrieva, the signs of what that occupation would bring came early to her familys home in Mariupols Ilyich neighborhood, on the first day of the war, Feb. 24.

Lizza Onufrieva, 14, and her dog, Businka, escaped Mariupol, Ukraine, with her family in a van with 10 other people Monday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

It was 1 in the morning, and we woke up to something exploding very close to us, she said. The teenager ran down to the basement with her mother, Oksana, and Businka, her Jack Russell terrier.

Back then, they had electricity, and the air-raid sirens were still working. But in the days that followed, the bombardment intensified; they would hide in darkness, waiting  hoping  for the sounds to subside. Eventually, the bombing almost seemed normal.

You just get used to these explosions, and they don't seem so bad until they're near your house, Lizza said. Businka was terrified, hiding under the table. We went to the basement. She was still very afraid, no matter if I was holding her or not.

On one of the scarier days, they looked outside their home to find a Russian tank in their yard. Russian soldiers barged in, demanding to know whether they had seen Ukrainian troops. The tank then began to fire at a car, presumably with Ukrainian soldiers inside.

The worst day for Lizza was March 11, when a trio of bombs slammed into the frontyard of her paternal grandparents home. Her grandfather died that day, not from the ordnance but from the shock that followed. Nine days later, her grandmother died.

Their hearts couldnt take it, she said.

Day by day, Mariupol turned into a hellscape, with more than three-quarters of its 450,000 people escaping the city. Lizza's mother, Oksana, a professor of probability theory and statistical mathematics at Pryazovskyi State Technical University, didnt want to leave without her own parents, who lived in another neighborhood. But she had lost contact with them March 2, when communications went down in much of the city.

Finally, when she heard of the chance to leave with a few other families, she made the decision to go.

We were waiting for news, but the main thing is to ensure Lizzas future, she said. And in Mariupol, I think theres no future.

Juliet Korotvkova, 37  holding her ill 11-month-old son, Michael  fled the Russian-occupied territory of Kyrylivka, in eastern Ukraine, with her husband and four children over the weekend. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Because Korotkys apartment was near a military base, he had been forced to spend about a month and a half in a basement because of the constant bombing. In the beginning, when it was possible to leave more easily, he had decided to stay as authorities in the city said that military assistance would come, that everything would be fine. Besides, though his children were grown and living in the capital, Kyiv, his father was in Mariupol, and Korotky didn't want to leave him.

But the situation kept getting worse. Though it was possible to escape from other parts of Mariupol, the Russians were hunting for Ukrainian snipers in his neighborhood.

"They were shooting at the houses from tanks," Korotky said.

Then a bomb struck the building where his father lived in a second-floor apartment; in a moment, seven floors pancaked onto it.

I couldnt take him out from under the rubble. I couldnt bury him, Korotky said.

The fighting was incessant, transforming swaths of the city into a gantlet of bullets, tank shells and artillery. Although both Ukrainian and Russian authorities repeatedly announced humanitarian corridors, they kept falling through, each side accusing the other of attacking civilians. But with so much of what tied him to the city destroyed, Korotky had to get out.

He received word that his friend Serhiy had found a route out.

He knew the way where you could give a bribe to someone and be able to pass, Korotky said.

Anna Strishko hugs her father, Vitalin, after reuniting with him in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Monday. They had been separated since the war began. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Early Monday morning, Mariupol was relatively quiet, with bombing happening only around the Azovstal steelworks, where the last Ukrainian defenders were besieged by Russian troops. Serhiy called: Korotky had 10 minutes to get his things together and be ready to leave. He and his wife emerged from their basement and ran to the van.

Their route took them through 20 checkpoints. The Russians, Oksana Onufrieva said, didnt take their SIM cards, but combed through their cellphones for any military information.

We had to pay $200 to three of the checkpoints to let us through, she said.

When they got to Zaporizhzhia, about 120 miles northwest of Mariupol, Ukrainian volunteers and police officers greeted them and took down their information for registration.

It's hard, especially when families talk about what happened to them, like people being fired upon when they tried to escape, said Dmytro, a police officer standing watch as one of his colleagues talked to the new arrivals. Some people came with children who werent their own, he added.

You hear kids talking about how their mother and father were killed in front of their eyes. Its so sad and strange," said Dmytro, who gave only his first name for reasons of security.

The Kuznetsova family arrived in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, from the Russian-occupied city of Kherson. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Not all new arrivals in Zaporizhzhia had fled fighting. The situation was relatively quiet in Berdyansk, a coastal city about 45 miles southwest of Mariupol that was captured three days into the Russian invasion. But Leica Kandakova, a 36-year-old manicurist, couldnt accept living under Russian rule.

Her husband, an army medic, had gone missing April 1 during a combat mission. Some of his friends came to talk to her, urging her to leave. So on Monday, she took her 10-year-old daughter, Alexandra, and 11-month-old son, Kyril, and came to Zaporizhzhia. She didnt know where to go exactly, but she knew it was impossible to stay in Berdyansk.

It was like living in an open-air prison. I just couldnt do it, she said.

Korotky expects he'll never be able to return to Mariupol. The next day, he boarded a train to Kyiv, where he would meet his children, and then he and his wife would continue their journey to the city of Khmelnytsky, farther west.

In the meantime, he had decided he would write a book about his experience.

I already have a name for it, he said. 'Mariupol: Life at Zero.'

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
One side of the "pincer effect" bedeviling Disney: protests from its employees over its silence on Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Freedom is awaking from its coma today because of a huge, huge, huge Supreme Court decision  huge, Rush Limbaugh declared in 2010. I cannot tell you how big this is.

What, pray tell, had roused freedom from its slumber?

The Supreme Courts Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision, which ruled that corporations have 1st Amendment rights. I thought then, like most conservatives, that the court was correct. Unlike many these days, I still do. The New York Times Inc. has every right to argue for its preferred policies, and so does Koch Inc.

Its difficult to exaggerate how committed the right once was to this principle and how much it appalled the left. Masterpiece Cakeshop, we conservatives contended, had every right not to be compelled to make gay wedding cakes because of the owner's religious beliefs. Hobby Lobby had a 1st Amendment right to defy provisions of the Affordable Care Act that violated its religious freedom. We won both arguments at the Supreme Court.

That era is now officially over.

Florida recently passed the Parental Rights in Education bill (tendentiously called the Dont Say Gay law by detractors). The Disney Co., under Chief Executive Bob Chapek, tried to stay out of the controversy. But a pincer movement of internal and external political pressure forced the company to publicly oppose the bill.

Worse, a video of a Disney meeting at which executives boasted of their not at all secret agenda to incorporate gay and transgender themes into Disney content was leaked at the worst possible moment. The very online right was already in a full-blown moral panic about pedophilia, basically holding that anyone who opposed the bill was either a groomer or groomer friendly. (Once a term for adults who manipulate underage children for sexual abuse, groomer suddenly meant dissenters from a moral crusade.)

Against the broader backdrop of the populist fatalism of the Trump era, which holds that conservatives never win when they play by the rules, it was something of a perfect storm.

Florida Republicans, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, voted to strip Disney World of its special status under something called the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Crafted by Republicans in 1968, the improvement district deal exempted Disney World from zoning and tax laws in exchange for Disney transforming a massive amount of swampy land into the Magic Kingdom and running it without taxpayer money. Economically and politically, it was win-win for both Disney and Florida  until last week, when a remarkable number of politicians suddenly embraced a purist libertarian opposition to such public-private partnerships of which there are over a thousand in Florida.

Of course, Orlando International Airport and Daytona International Speedway, with similar exemptions, will be fine, because the libertarian arguments are entirely pretextual. This was about punishing Disney. Floridas lieutenant governor even admits that if Disney simply changed its politics, everything could go back to normal. Oh, is that all?

The view on the right is that DeSantis is a courageous brawler, beating back a behemoth of woke capitalism. Its certainly true that DeSantis comes out a winner on the national stage as he contemplates a presidential run in 2024.

I will also concede that DeSantis supporters have a point. If corporations will let themselves be bullied out of their lanes by the left, they shouldnt be surprised if they invite retaliation from the right. As problematic as I find this whole spectacle, it would be a good thing if corporations thought twice about picking sides in the culture war. As Michael Jordan once said, Republicans buy sneakers too.

But whether the costs outweigh the benefits is unknowable, particularly in a climate in which what constitutes winning is redefined on-the-fly by Twitter mobs. After all, as National Reviews Charlie Cooke notes, DeSantis had already won: Disney took its shot at the Florida parental rights bill, and even though all of its sponsors were recipients of Disneys political contributions, Disney lost. But the rights equivalent of Twitter-addicted woke activists wanted a pound of Mouse flesh.

Privately, some defenders say the Reedy Creek Improvement District recission, which doesnt go into effect until next year, will never happen. Saner heads will prevail, opting not to shift massive burdens onto county governments and taxpayers (this would explain why Disney has largely stayed mum). But that theory assumes DeSantis is the mobs master, not its servant.

And even if  a big if  corporate America takes the right lessons here, theres no chance activists on the left or right will, at least for the foreseeable future. When you reward mobs, you get more mobs.

@JonahDispatch





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
In one week, Ohio voters head to the polls for the Republican Senate midterm primary election that is set to be the first major test of former President Donald Trump's endorsement power.

The state has voted increasingly Republican in recent elections, and now, as the race to fill the seat being vacated in November by retiring Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman heats up, many GOP hopefuls are angling to out-Trump one another in hopes of appealing to the former president's robust base in the state.

Trump upended the race with a late-term endorsement earlier this month, throwing his weight behind venture capitalist J.D. Vance, most well-known for his book "Hillbilly Elegy." At a campaign rally in Delaware, Ohio, over the weekend, the former president branded Vance as "an America first warrior."

"He believes so much in making our country great again, and he's going to do a job on these horrible people that we're running against," Trump told the crowd.

The endorsement is a political risk for Trump, who has tried -- to varying degrees of success -- to position himself as a GOP kingmaker. In various polling, Vance has lagged behind Josh Mandel and Mike Gibbons, who have both run campaigns hawking their own commitments to Trumpian "American First" policies.

Nationally, some of the candidates backed by Trump early in their campaigns have failed to deliver wins for him. Trump went as far as to withdraw his endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks after Brooks lagged in the polls and said it was time to stop focusing on Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

MORE: Trump endorsements draw scrutiny inside GOP: The Note

A victory for Vance in next week's primary could show the might of the Trump endorsement. It's certainly given the candidate a newfound sense of confidence going into the final leg of his primary campaign.

"The endorsement has already given us a ton of momentum," Vance told ABC News' Rachel Scott in Ohio on Thursday. "And I think, yeah, it's my race to lose, but at the end of the day, we still have to do the work. I think we're in the lead. I think if the election were held tomorrow, we would win."

PHOTO: ABC Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott speaks with Ohio voters in line to see former President Donald Trump speak at a campaign event in Delaware, Ohio. (ABC News)

Some supporters who lined up to see Vance in Ohio on Saturday said the endorsement from Trump sold them on Vance.

"If Trump supports him, we will too," Ed Gross said.

"I was kind of between him and another one and when Trump said J.D. Vance, that's where I'm going," said Paulette Schwartz, another Trump supporter.

But it's not clear whether the endorsement will be enough. Some voters who stand with Trump said Trump's support doesn't quell concerns they still have about Vance's previously disparaging comments about the former president, including once calling him "reprehensible" and an "idiot."

"We didn't forget that," said one voter, Justin, who declined to give his full name. Another supporter piled on: "You can't support Hillary and then turn around and support Trump," Joby Jeffery said.

MORE: Trump-endorsed candidates emerge victorious in Michigan GOP convention

Trump tried to get out in front of that criticism during Saturday's rally.

"He's a guy that said some bad shit about me," Trump told the crowd of Vance. "But you know what? Every one of the others did also. In fact, if I went by that standard, I don't think I would have ever endorsed anybody in the country."

Zach McNutt, a voter from Mansfield on his way to the rally on Saturday, refused to take a Vance campaign sticker from a volunteer, blasting Trump's endorsement as a mistake.

"That is absolutely unfortunate. I think that he really needs to check his inner circle," McNutt said of Trump.

Candidates who fell short of the Trump endorsement in Ohio are now clinging to voters like McNutt, hoping to paint themselves as the candidate best positioned to advance a Trump-style agenda, even if Trump failed to see it.

GOP hopeful Jane Timken spoke to a room of supporters near Cleveland on Friday, hitting on a variety of Trump talking points including school choice, immigration and the economy. Trump had previously endorsed Timken to lead the state's party but didn't back her for the Senate race. She called his endorsement of Vance "disappointing"

"We've got a lot of show horses in this race, but I'm the real workhorse and I've been in the trenches fighting for the America First policy," Timken told Scott.

Josh Mandel, former Ohio Treasurer, has been running his campaign through churches, pitching religious conservatives on "Judeo-Christian values" he sees as the bedrock of the "America First" movement. At his event, campaign signs branded Mandel as "Pro-God, Pro-Guns, Pro-Trump."

When ABC News met up with Mandel in Ohio on Thursday at a Cincinnati church he was joined by a surprise guest: Michael Flynn, Trump's embattled former national security adviser.

"Let me say it very clear: I believe this election was stolen from Donald Trump," Mandel said in front of a packed church. Cheers erupted. An elderly man jumped up and shouted something about a "cabal" trying to "take the lives of little babies" -- a nod to the far-right Qanon conspiracy theory. Mandel didn't interrupt, nodding and clapping instead.

The race has been contentious. At one point during a debate, Mandel and Gibbons nearly got into a fistfight. Mandel brushed it off, saying he's a "fighter" for conservative values, and he pushed back when asked about his rhetoric that includes running a Twitter poll asking his followers which "illegals" commit more crimes -- "Muslim Terrorists" or "Mexican Gangbangers."

But 100 miles away from Mandel's Cincinnati event, in Grove City, some voters think the party needs to refocus.

"I'm not a Trump fan. I'm a Republican, not a Trump fan," Don Reed said over coffee and eggs at Lilly's Kitchen Table.

He said his party is at a crossroads.

"It seems to be a faction of the Trump supporters who are the more outspoken, I call the name-callers 'the bullier.' Then you've got the other faction where they tried to be conservative, try to be small government without those kinds of tactics," he added.

Only one candidate in the race is ready to move on from some of Trump's most controversial positions. State Sen. Matt Dolan was the only candidate to raise his hand on a debate stage earlier this month when the participants were asked if it was time for Trump to move on from the 2020 election.

PHOTO: ABC Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott speaks with Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance at a campaign event outside Dayton, Ohio. (ABC News)

Dolan said his fellow candidates who are focusing on the 2020 election are taking the "wrong approach." He wasn't angling for Trump's endorsement, he said.

"My entire campaign was about Ohio. I wasn't running an election to get this endorsement," Dolan said. "What's ironic in this whole race, though, is I'm the only one in the race who's actually executed on Trump policies."

The Republican candidate who wins next Tuesday's Senate primary will likely go on to face Democratic frontrunner Tim Ryan in the fall.

Looming Ohio primary promises early test of Trump's endorsement power originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
KYIV (Reuters) - As Russian forces tightened their siege of Mariupol and missiles rained down, Mykhailo Puryshev drove into the city six times last month to evacuate its citizens, somehow surviving despite his red van being all but destroyed.

The 36-year-old Ukrainian, who once ran a nightclub in the city, said he evacuated more than 200 people on his six perilous trips and others began to join him in convoy into his hometown.

Russia last week claimed control over the ruins of the strategic port city, subject to some of the most intense attacks of the war, despite hundreds of Ukrainian forces still being left there sheltering in the catacombs of a vast steel works. Ukraine says around 100,000 civilians are stranded in the city.

Privately organised trips like Puryshev's have been a lifeline for starving civilians as repeated attempts to set up humanitarian corridors failed.

"When I first went (on March 8), the city was like a cloud of smoke, like a bonfire.. The last time I went it was just ash with the black coal of buildings..." Puryshev said.

Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls a special operation to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say the fascist allegation is baseless and that the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.

Puryshev published online videos of his trips that offered a rare glimpse into the city. Mobiles do not work there and information is scant.

His bus, which his friends chipped in to buy especially for the evacuations, had its windshield, three side windows and a side door destroyed in a strike, he said. "Thank God no one was inside."

He repaired the van between trips.

Mykhailo Puryshev poses for a selfie photo in front of a car as he evacuates people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia

"The bus came under shelling, a strike, mortar, rifle fire, to be honest, there are so many marks of war on it."

Drives through Russian-occupied territory took eight hours to Mariupol, passing checkpoints and skirting occasional morasses of mud and corpses, while constantly fearing land mines, he said.

Inside the city, he would try not to look at the corpses strewn on the ground or inside the charred remains of vehicles, fearing he might see a dead child and have a breakdown, he said.

People had been buried in the street near shopping centres, night clubs and even in the grounds of a kindergarten, he said. Some bodies were rolled up in carpets and left on benches.

He had the staff of his old night club set up a bomb shelter in the basement. It held around 200 people including the elderly and pregnant women. Having initially set out to rescue the nightclub staff, he found himself also rescuing those hiding there.

"The scariest moment was when it would go quiet. Once, it was quiet for eight hours. We thought: that's it, it's over. When it did start again, it was so awful that the children wet themselves."

They had scavengers or "stalkers" going out to look for food and clean clothes or even tights for the children who couldn't wash their dirty trousers and underwear. Sheltering children knew him as uncle Misha and he would hand out sweets, he said.

He recalled a widow asking him to take the wedding ring off her dead husband who had been struck down by an airstrike. He said he found himself unable to do so.

He said he was eventually forced to abandon his trips on March 28 when a separatist soldier told him never to come back or else he would be locked up - or worse.

Puryshev said that God had looked after him.

"The only injury I had was a glass shard in my side. But my coat saved me and I only got a scratch. God protected me of course. My bus looked after me."

He has plans for the vehicle after the war.

"We'll turn it into a monument when we return to Mariupol."
WASHINGTON  Twenty-two years ago, a Russian nuclear submarine sank after being rocked by two explosions during a torpedo test launch gone awry. There were 118 sailors on board the Kursk; most of them died at once. But a few survived, sequestering in a rear compartment that had not been destroyed.

For longtime observers of Vladimir Putins rise, it was impossible not to think of the Kursk when the Moskva, the flagship missile cruiser of the Black Sea Fleet, sank on April 14. The two maritime disasters serve as bookends of sorts for the two decades of Russia under Putins rule. The first took place shortly after he assumed the presidency, when dreams of a democratic Russia were battered but not yet dead. The second, the victim of his invasion of Ukraine, comes at a time when Russia is an international pariah and Putin faces the deepest crisis of his reign.

Putins presidency started with Kursk; heres to it ending with Moskva, wrote Ivar Dale, a Norwegian expert in Russian affairs, on Twitter.

Russian supporters welcome the missile cruiser Moskva, a flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, in 2008. (Vasily Batanov/AFP via Getty Images)

The Kursk taught Putin as much as it taught Russia, giving the young and inexperienced president a tragically clear view of what he had inherited  and of what it would take to maintain power in a crumbling empire that for 10 years had been careening between freedom and chaos.

Everything that has long since been typical of Putin was demonstrated after the sinking of the Kursk, investigative journalist David Satter, who was banned from Russia for his reporting on Putins rise to power, told Yahoo News. The xenophobia, mendacity and casual assumption that the lives of people without power have no value.

Above all, the Kursk disaster taught Putin that a free press had no place in the new Russia, for it could only expose how little had changed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union  and how what had changed was mostly for the worse. There could be freedom or order in the new Russia, he decided, but there could not be both.

The entire process of undermining democracy in Russia, in many regards, began with this, the attorney Boris Kuznetsov, who represented some of the Kursk families and later had to flee Russia, said in 2015.

Until the catastrophe, Russia had been on a trajectory encouraged by the West, which saw value in Russia as an unexplored market yearning for investment. The optimism persisted well into the 1990s, even as it was becoming clear that disorder and revanchism were more persistent than Harvard-trained economists had supposed would be the case.

The Russian submarine Kursk at its base in Vidyayevo. (AFP via Getty Images)

Russia has a democracy  imperfect, perhaps, but not now seriously threatened  and a free press in which Moscovsky Komsomolets can print biting political cartoons on its front page and Izvestia amuses its readers nominating an oligarch of the year, Lawrence Summers, then the deputy treasury secretary, said in early 1999, referencing two of Russias most famous Soviet-era newspapers.

Of all the changes to come in the years that would follow, the decline of a free press would prove perhaps the most consequential. After the Kursk, Putin worked assiduously to muzzle the countrys independent media, a campaign that came to its natural conclusion when he invaded Ukraine earlier this year.

As the Ukrainians held on in the face of Februarys initial assault and pro-Kremlin media sought explanations of why the Russian tricolor wasnt yet flying atop Kyivs spires, Putin moved to quickly shutter his countrys last remaining networks and newspapers, the few still interested in telling the unvarnished truth.

The Russian media is dead, a local Russian journalist told Committee to Protect Journalists executive director Robert Mahoney last month.

Putin was remarkably new to Moscow, and national politics, when the Kursk went down. He spent the last years of the Cold War as a midlevel KGB bureaucrat in East Germany. After the collapse of the USSR, he became the deputy mayor of his native St. Petersburg, only to lose that job when his reformist boss Anatoly Sobchak was defeated in a 1996 reelection contest.

Later that year he went to Moscow, assigned to manage the transfer of formerly Soviet property assets. He ascended quickly from there to become prime minister in 1999 and president in 2000  all without ever having won a single election.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a recent concert in Moscow marking the eighth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

Putin had not served in the military, but the poor condition of the armed forces was no secret. President Boris Yeltsin had cut the military budget to only 5% of what it had been during the last year of the Soviet Union, when Red Square parades  troops, rocket launchers, tanks  disguised profound social ills but nevertheless intimidated the rest of the world with their sheer size.

Not since June 1941 has the Russian military stood as perilously close to ruin as it does now, a military analyst for the United States wrote in 1994.

Yeltsin had come to power as a reformer, but his liberalizing project made a few oligarchs rich while impoverishing ordinary Russians and turning a superpower into a laughingstock. Long a heavy drinker, Yeltsin was barely functioning by the time he appointed Putin his prime minister and successor.

Consolidating control over the Kremlin even while Yeltsin technically remained his superior, Putin oversaw Russias response to a series of apartment bombings in 1999 that many experts believe were carried out by Moscows own security services, perhaps at Putins own direction. The attacks were used to justify an invasion of Chechnya, a small, majority-Muslim province that had tried to break away from Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union a decade before.

Afraid that other autonomous republics would follow suit, Yeltsin invaded Chechnya in 1994, expecting an easy victory. But the Chechen rebels exploited Russian military disorganization and corruption, much as Ukrainian fighters have in recent weeks. After a disastrous attempt to take the Chechen capital city of Grozny  allegedly ordered during a bout of drinking  Russia withdrew in 1996, having effectively been defeated.

A Chechen woman near a tank manned by Russian troops on the street of a village south of Grozny, February 2000. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Putin was determined to win back Chechnya, and allowed his generals to do whatever they needed to do as long as they emerged victorious. Mr. Putin is benefiting from the licensed brutality in Chechnya, the Guardian noted in February 1999, quoting a top Russian commanders unambiguous warning of mutiny to the Kremlin: Russias officer corps just cant take another slap in the face. There are even some who think that such a turn of events would put Russia on the brink of civil war.

Putin sanctioned the heavy bombing of Grozny without regard for civilian casualties. On March 20, 2000, as the then-acting president was about to face his first election, Putin landed in a fighter jet in Grozny to proclaim victory. Yeltsin had failed to take Grozny in two years. Putin did it in less than six months.

On August 10 of that year, the Russian navy commenced exercises in the Barents Sea, a body of water south of the Arctic Ocean. The exercises, called Summer-X, involved more than 30 craft, including four submarines and the flagship of the storied Northern Fleet, Pyotr Velkhi (Peter the Great). Western intelligence services watched Summer-X with high anticipation, journalist Ramsey Flynn wrote, as a key test of an emerging do-more-with-less defense philosophy of Russias little-known new leader.

The Kursk went down shortly before noon on Aug. 12, likely because of a hydrogen peroxide leak during the launch of a test torpedo that caused a pair of explosions. After the second, much larger explosion, it came to rest in about 350 feet of water.

A Russian woman adjusts a wreath at a monument in Moscow to those who died in the Kursk submarine disaster. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)

Western intelligence services had picked up strange seismic activity that they realized was something gone wrong in the Summer-X exercises. They quickly reached out to their Russian counterparts, only to be rebuffed. The Northern Fleets confidence was deeply misguided. The Russians did not have the ability to reach the sub to conduct any type of rescue/extraction operations, a subsequent U.S. intelligence report concluded. That same report said it took the Northern Fleet three-and-a-half hours to realize that something had happened to the Kursk.

Vyacheslav Popov, the top Russian admiral aboard the Pyotr Velkhi, seemed to show little concern for the submarines fate, even as it was becoming increasingly clear that something had gone wrong. If a Western military would have responded with an all-hands-on-deck rescue, the Russian armed forces had never recovered from the trauma of Stalins brutal purges of the officer ranks during the 1930s. Secrecy and silence had been crucial to survival in that era  and they were still, even in a supposedly new age of freedom.

Confronted with what seemed like evidence of a huge disaster, Popov did what a long line of senior officers and politicians had done before and after him. He did nothing, the historian Peter Truscott wrote in his book about the Kursk. The Northern Fleet did not declare an emergency until that evening, nearly 12 hours after the Kursk had gone missing.

Putin had left for Sochi, the Black Sea resort beloved by his Soviet predecessors, on the 12th. Only the next morning did his defense minister call with the bad news. Only on the 14th did the Northern Fleet admit that something had gone wrong on the Kursk, grossly underplaying the severity of the crisis and refusing to say who was on board. By then, dark rumors were already circulating among submariners families.

A priest leads a service for those who died in the Kursk submarine disaster on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, Aug. 12, 2020. (Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images)

It would take days for Russian authorities to admit that the submarine had sunk, and that virtually nothing was known about any survivors, in large part because initial Russian rescue attempts had been so hapless.

Putin remained in Sochi, while the press in Moscow assailed him for his inattention to the crisis. He was in a stupor, a Kremlin source would tell the journalist Catherine Belton. He didnt know how to deal with it, and therefore he avoided dealing with it.

Norway and the U.K. offered their own deep-sea experts and equipment, as did the United States. Putin and his admirals refused their offers, not wanting to admit how inferior their own rescue equipment was. They also held on to Soviet-era notions of secrecy, fearing that if Western divers were allowed access to the Kursk, they would steal its military secrets.

At the same time, grief and rage scored Russian media.

The reputation of the Russian leadership is lying on the bottom of the Barents Sea, read a headline in one Moscow newspaper.

Lies and fear are the features of Russian authority. Russia has been persecuting and punishing its people for so long that by now it has simply forgotten how to save their lives, said the newspaper Izvestia, which had been a reliable Kremlin mouthpiece during the Soviet years.

All this reminds us of Chernobyl, the journalist Zinaida Lobanovna wrote in Komsomolskaya Pravda, referencing the 1986 nuclear disaster that was partly responsible for the Soviet Unions downfall.

The destroyed fourth power block of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl a few days after one of its a reactors blew up on April 26, 1986. It is considered the worst nuclear accident in history. (Vladimir Repik/AFP via Getty Images)

Putin recognized that more than military incompetence or public anger, it was negative coverage that could doom his young presidency. President Putin learned to appreciate the medias power to shape public opinion and that the stinging criticism he received could only be checked by controlling the press, military scholar Zoltan Barany has written.

By the time Putin arrived at the Kursk base on the remote Kola Peninsula, on August 20, it had already been more than a week since the Kursk sank. He didnt have any new explanations, but he did have a new story  and new scapegoats.

One witness at the closed meeting said Mr. Putin referred three times to the medias treatment of the crisis, and raged at tycoons who had allegedly robbed the nation and were now manipulating public opinion, went one report from the town hall, which was closed to the press but made the newspapers anyway.

The government had not been guilty of deceit and incompetence during the crisis, Mr. Putin told the families. The media had created such an impression.

Later, Putin preposterously fumed that the grieving mothers he encountered were actually local prostitutes hired by the oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who had been close to Yeltsin and who ran the immensely influential ORT television network. Berezovsky was one of the two oligarchs Putin blamed for how the Kursk was covered. The other was Vladimir Gusinsky, who ran the Media-Most empire.

They stole money, they bought the media and theyre manipulating public opinion, Putin said of the two oligarchs, in a message intended less for the grieving families than for the power elites hundreds of miles away in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Many of the other oligarchs were also Jews; they had suddenly come to power in a country with a long history of antisemitism.

Fugitive Russian media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky, center, leaves leaves Greece's largest penitentiary Korydallos prison on the outskirts of Athens, August 2003. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)

Some had an obvious interest in politics, like industrialist Mikhail Khodorkovsky; others only in media or industry. Their backgrounds or ambitions notwithstanding, they represented the excesses and possibilities of the Yeltsin era. That era was now coming to an end.

Probably the single most arresting episode from the entire Kursk crisis was that of a grieving mother shouting at officials who kept offering explanations, apologies and assurances, each more obfuscatory than the next. This is a disgrace! the mother can be seen and heard shouting in surreptitiously recorded video, her cries overflowing with pain. As she continues to berate the Moscow minister before her, a woman approaches from behind, plunging a syringe full of sedatives into the mothers back.

The incident was broadcast extensively yesterday, to the acute embarrassment of President Vladimir Putin's government, a Guardian report noted.

Several top military officials tried to resign, but Putin prevented them from doing so. He was no longer entitled to seethe at the people who had destroyed Soviet military might and imperial pride, the journalist Masha Gessen would write later. By dint of becoming president, to a great number of his compatriots he had now become one of those people.

A little less than a month after the Kursk sank, Putin traveled to New York for his first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. While in New York, he sat for an interview with Larry King, then the host of a popular CNN news program.

Tell me, King asked, what happened with the submarine?

Russians have never forgotten the haunting, puzzling smile that crossed Putins face, or the two words he offered in response: It sank.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Larry King before a taping of his show, Sept. 8, 2000. (via Reuters)

The admission was as puzzling as it was frank. The crumbling edifice of a former superpower was now his to deal with, Gessen wrote, and there was a certain political audacity to admitting as much.

Families of the Kursk victims received unusually generous compensation packages, angering some families of soldiers killed in Chechnya, as well as some soldiers still fighting there. If you count the boys who died here, the entire nation should be mourning for a year without stopping. But no one cares for us, nor pays us honor when we die. The commanders think that its our job to die here," a 20-year-old sergeant said.

At the same time, Putin moved quickly to reverse the freedoms of the Yeltsin years, which threatened to topple his embattled administration. Accountability and frankness could only take him so far.

A recurrence of self-censorship among Russian journalists is proving to be perhaps the most destructive consequence of the events of the past 12 months, and one that will be extremely difficult to overcome, warned two Russia observers in a New York Times op-ed in January 2002.

Two years later, the assassination of journalist Anna Politkovskaya marked a dangerous new era for anyone in Russia who sought to expose the truth. The new mood allowed the Kremlin to control coverage of crises like the 2004 siege of a school in Beslan, as well as abuses by Russian troops in Chechnya and virtually unchecked corruption on the part of Moscow and St. Petersburg elites.

Khodorkovsky, the outspoken oligarch, went to prison in 2005 on fabricated charges of financial malfeasance. Trying to expose the Kremlins own corruption, the tax attorney Sergei Magnitsky died after being abused in prison, where hed be sent on charges as fictitious as those that had been used to convict Khodorkovsky.

The grave of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in Moscow. (Andrey Smirnov/AFP via Getty Images)

By the time Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014, his control of the media was almost complete, feeding the Kremlins grievances and illusions to millions. And as Russia amassed troops on the Ukrainian border in 2021, Admiral Popov, now retired, resurfaced to claim that the Kursk had in fact been sunk by a NATO craft.

That wasnt true, and Russian authorities had always known as much. In fact, back in 2001, they had been frank  however fleetingly  in their assessment of their own official incompetence. But in 2022, things were different: There was no one around to correct the lie.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill Tuesday explicitly prohibiting the use of nonbinary gender markers on state birth certificates, a ban experts say is the first of its kind in the nation.

The bill followed a flap last year over the Oklahoma State Department of Health's agreement in a civil case allowing a nonbinary option. The birth certificate in that case was issued to an Oklahoma-born Oregon resident who sued after the agency initially refused the request. People who are nonbinary do not identify with traditional male or female gender assignments.

News of the settlement prompted outrage among Republicans, including Stitt, and his appointee to lead the agency abruptly resigned the next day. Stitt then promptly issued an executive order prohibiting any changes to a person's gender on birth certificates, despite the settlement agreement. A civil rights group has challenged the executive order in federal court, but the state has not yet responded.

Many states only offer male or female gender options on birth certificates, but Oklahoma is the first to write the nonbinary prohibition into law, according Lambda Legal, the civil rights group suing Oklahoma.

Currently, 15 states and the District of Columbia specifically allow a gender marker designation outside of male or female, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality. That number will increase on July 1 when Vermont's new statute goes into effect.

People are free to believe whatever they want about their identity, but science has determined people are either biologically male or female at birth, said Oklahoma Rep. Sheila Dills, the House sponsor of the bill, in a statement. We want clarity and truth on official state documents. Information should be based on established medical fact and not an ever-changing social dialogue.

Oklahomans in 2020 elected the nation's first openly nonbinary legislator in the country, Oklahoma City Democrat Rep. Mauree Turner, who said it was painful to have colleagues single out those who are gender diverse.

I find it a very extreme and grotesque use of power in this body to write this law and try to pass it  when literally none of them live like us," Turner tweeted the day the bill was debated.

Republicans in Oklahoma introduced several bills this year targeting transgender and nonbinary people. The governor earlier this year signed a bill prohibiting transgender girls from playing on female sports teams.

The U.S. State Department recently announced it had issued its first passport with an X gender designation, marking a milestone in the recognition of the rights of people who do not identify as male or female, and expects to be able to offer the option more broadly next year.

Doctors and scientists say sex and gender are not the same thing. While sex typically refers to anatomy, gender identity is more an inner sense of being male, female or somewhere in between, regardless of physical anatomy, according to Dr. Jason Rafferty, a pediatrician and child psychiatrist at Hasbro Childrens Hospital in Rhode Island and a lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics transgender policy.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russias top diplomat warned Ukraine against provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated as his country unleashed attacks against rail and fuel installations far from the front lines of Moscows new eastern offensive.

Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Russian forces had taken the Ukrainian city of Kreminna in the Luhansk region after days of street-to-street fighting.

The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east, the British military said in a tweet. It did not say how it knew the city, 575 kilometers (355 miles) southeast of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, had fallen. The Ukrainian government did not immediately comment.

Ukraine's General Staff said Russian forces were shelling Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, as they fought to take full control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which comprise the Donbas in Ukraine's industrial heartland, and establish a land corridor to Crimea.

In the area of Velyka Oleksandrivka, a village in the Kherson region largely controlled by Russians, Ukrainian forces destroyed an ammunition depot and eliminated" more than 70 Russian troops, the General Staff said.

The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said on the messaging app Telegram that the Russians had shelled civilians 17 times over the previous 24 hours, with the cities of Popasna, Lysychansk and Girske suffering the most.

Four people died and nine more were wounded on Monday in the Russian shelling of the Donetsk region, its governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram. He said a 9-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy were among those killed.

The U.S. has been rushing more weaponry to Ukraine and said the assistance from Western allies is making a difference in the 2-month-old war.

Russia is failing. Ukraine is succeeding, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared Monday after he and the U.S. secretary of defense made a bold visit to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Blinken said Washington approved a $165 million sale of ammunition  non-U.S. ammo, mainly if not entirely for Ukraine's Soviet-era weapons  and will also provide more than $300 million in financing to buy more supplies.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin went further, saying the U.S. wants to see Ukraine remain a sovereign, democratic country, but also wants "to see Russia weakened to the point where it cant do things like invade Ukraine.

Austins remarks appeared to represent a shift in U.S. strategic goals since earlier Washington said the goal of American military aid was to help Ukraine win and to defend Ukraines NATO neighbors against Russian threats.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)

In an apparent response to Austin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia has a feeling that the West wants Ukraine to continue to fight and, as it seems to them, wear out, exhaust the Russian army and the Russian military industrial war complex. This is an illusion.

Weapons supplied by Western countries will be a legitimate target," said Lavrov, who accused Ukrainian leaders of provoking Russia by asking NATO to become involved in the conflict. NATO forces are pouring oil on the fire, Lavrov said, according to a transcript on the Russian Foreign Ministrys website.

Everyone is reciting incantations that in no case can we allow World War III, he said in a Russian television interview.

Lavrov said he would not want to see risks of a nuclear confrontation artificially inflated now, when the risks are rather significant.

The danger is serious," he said. "It is real. It should not be underestimated.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter that Lavrovs comments underscore Ukraine's need for Western help: Russia loses last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine. Thus the talk of a real danger of WWIII. This only means Moscow senses defeat in Ukraine."

When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, its apparent goal was to seize Kyiv, the capital. But the Ukrainians, helped by Western weapons, forced President Vladimir Putin's troops to retreat.

Moscow now says its goal is to take the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region in eastern Ukraine, where residents are struggling to survive without many of the basics, collecting rainwater for cleaning and washing up and fervently hoping for an end to the fighting.

When you open a plastic bottle and it makes a crackling sound, you are worried at once (thinking that its an explosion) because of all those blasts. Anything that is happening, any noise, if our neighbours bang the door, a metal door, you are startled," said Andriy Cheromushkin, a resident of Toretsk, a small city south of Kramatorsk.

It's bad. Very bad. Hopeless," he said. You feel so helpless that you dont know what you should do or shouldnt do. Because if you want to do something, you need some money; and there is no money now.

On Monday, Russia was focusing its firepower beyond the Donbas, with missiles and warplanes striking far behind the front lines to try to thwart Ukrainian supply efforts.

Five railroad stations in central and western Ukraine were hit, and one worker was killed, said Oleksandr Kamyshin, head of Ukraine's state railway. Missiles struck Lviv, the western city near the Polish border jammed by Ukrainians fleeing their home.

Ukrainian authorities said at least five people were killed by Russian strikes in the central Vynnytsia region.

Russia also destroyed an oil refinery and fuel depots in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said. In all, Russian warplanes destroyed 56 Ukrainian targets, he said.

The strikes on fuel depots are meant to deplete vital Ukrainian war resources. Strikes against rail targets, both disrupt supply lines and intimidate people trying to use the railways to flee the fighting, said Philip Breedlove, a retired U.S. general who was NATOs top commander from 2013- 2016.

An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian troops holed up in a steel plant in the strategic southern port city of Mariupol are tying down Russian forces, apparently preventing them from joining the offensive elsewhere in the Donbas. Over the weekend, Russian forces launched new airstrikes on the Azovstal plant to try to dislodge the holdouts.

Some 1,000 civilians were also said to be taking shelter at the steelworks.

The city council and mayor of Mariupol said a new mass grave was identified about 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the city. Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities were trying to estimate the number of victims. It was at least the third new mass grave discovered in Russian-controlled areas near Mariupol in the last week.

Mariupol has been gutted by bombardment and fierce street fighting over the past two months. Russia's capture of the city would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and give Moscow a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was maintaining its resistance to make the occupiers stay in our land even more intolerable, while Russia drains its resources.

Britain said it believes 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Russia's invasion began. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said 25% of the Russian combat units sent to Ukraine have been rendered not combat effective."

Ukrainian officials have said about 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed as of mid-April.
By Moira Warburton and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Representative Madison Cawthorn has been cited by police for possessing a gun at an airport, according to local media, adding to a string of controversies for the first-term lawmaker ahead of a contested primary election.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration confirmed that agents had detected a firearm at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina on Tuesday morning, but declined to release passenger details.

The news was reported by WSOC-TV in Charlotte, citing anonymous sources. Neither Cawthorn's office nor the Charlotte police department immediately returned requests for comment. The TSA did not confirm whether a gun had been confiscated.

Cawthorn, who is fighting to hold onto his North Carolina seat in the May 17 Republican primary, had been stopped in February 2021 for attempting to carry a gun through security at an airport in Asheville, North Carolina, but has not faced criminal charges for doing so. He is, however, facing criminal charges for driving with a revoked license and has racked up multiple speeding tickets.

Though he has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, Cawthorn angered many fellow Republicans after calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a "thug" and alleging that he had witnessed cocaine use in Washington and been invited to sex parties.

State Senator Chuck Edwards leads the field of seven candidates looking to unseat Cawthorn. Edwards has been endorsed by U.S. Senator Thom Tillis. If no candidate receives 30%, a runoff will take place on July 26. The seat, based in the mountainous western part of the state, is considered safely Republican.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton and David Shepardson in Washington; editing by Andy Sullivan and Leslie Adler)
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has raised fresh concerns over Russias permanent member status of the United Nations security council.

Ms Truss went on to accuse Russia of using its power to veto decisions of the body as a green light for barbarism in Ukraine.

Russias position as one of five veto-wielding members has limited the security councils ability to censure Vladimir Putins regime.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Conservative MP Nickie Aiken (Cities of London and Westminster) raised the use of rape as a weapon of war which the Russians seem to be using.

She asked: Does (she) agree with me that as the UNs charter mandate is to maintain international peace and security, perhaps it is time that the international community questioned whether Russia should remain a permanent member of the security council?

Ms Truss replied: The security council does have a role to play, under our presidency we have used it to call out Russias lies.

We have also hosted President (Volodymyr) Zelensky to speak to the council.

But she is also right that we do have concerns about an international security architecture that has Russia as one of the permanent members of the security council and they have used their veto as a green light for barbarism and part of our response has been working more closely with allies like the G7, allies like Nato because we simply havent seen enough taking place at a UN level.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (Victoria Jones/PA)

For Labour, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy called on Ms Truss to commit to asking India to oppose Russian President Mr Putins barbaric war.

Mr Lammy said: India is one country which has so far stayed neutral.

The Prime Minister spent last week in India, but No 10 admitted that the Prime Minister failed to even mention Indias neutrality in his meeting with President (Narendra) Modi.

This follows the Foreign Secretarys own failed trip to India where she failed to demonstrate any progress in bringing India into the international coalition condemning Putins aggression against Ukraine.

Ms Truss replied: Of course I have discussed the issue of Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine with the Indian government.

But if (Mr Lammy) thinks the right approach for Britain is to go around finger wagging to the rest of the world rather than working to build strong relationships and partnerships to attract India and others to work more closely with us, he is completely wrong.

On both my visit and the Prime Ministers visit weve succeeded in moving forward our relationships on trade, on investment, on defence, generating jobs in Britain, generating jobs in India, with the ultimate goal of working more closely together as fellow democracies and moving away from dependence on authoritarian regimes.

The fact is (Mr Lammy) prefers gesture politics to actually getting things done.

Conservative former minister Robert Jenrick asked if ministers have raised the cases of Aiden Aslin, who is originally from his Nottinghamshire constituency of Newark, and Shaun Pinner with their Ukrainian and Russian counterparts.

He said: These two British citizens continue to be held in captivity and to be tortured and abused for propaganda purposes by the Russian military.

Mr Jenrick added: We want to see these individuals released as soon as possible.

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly replied: I have discussed the issue of foreign volunteer fighters with the Ukrainian government.

They are clear, we are clear that those fighting under the Ukrainian flag for the Ukrainian armed forces in the defence of Ukraine should be treated as Ukrainian military and treated as prisoners of war, with all the protections that international humanitarian law accords to those individuals.
Marysville, CA (95901)

Today

Partly cloudy. Near record low temperatures. Low 42F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Near record low temperatures. Low 42F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
Musk, a self-proclaimed 'free-speech absolutist', said he wants to reform what he sees as the platform's over-zealous content moderation

NEW YORK: Elon Musk, the world's richest man, struck a deal Monday to buy Twitter for $44 billion, capping a saga complete with hostile takeover threats before delivering him personal control of one of the most influential social media platforms on the planet.

Twitter famously served as a megaphone for former US president Donald Trump before the platform banned him, and Musk -- a self-proclaimed "free-speech absolutist" -- has said he wants to reform what he sees as the platform's over-zealous content moderation.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said in a statement released by Twitter.

"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots and authenticating all humans."

However advocacy groups were wary of the type of content Musk might allow on the platform, and Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP civil rights organization, tweeted, "Do not allow Twitter to become a petri dish for hate speech, misinformation or disinformation. Protecting our democracy is of utmost importance."

At the White House, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said "no matter who owns or runs Twitter," President Joe Biden -- himself a Twitter user -- is "concerned about the power of large social media platforms."

Twitter stock closed 5.6 percent higher in New York trading.

'Back against the wall'

Musk bought a nine-percent stake in Twitter earlier in April, then offered to buy the whole company outright, citing a mission of preserving free speech.

While the firm's board initially said it was reviewing his offer, it later rebuffed him and adopted a "poison pill" plan that would have made it harder for Musk to acquire a controlling position.

But last week, Musk -- whose immense wealth stems from the popularity of Tesla electric vehicles as well as other ventures -- said he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing comprised of debt, a margin loan and his personal fortune.

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, predicted earlier in the day that since the board could not find another buyer, it would likely accept his offer.

"This basically put (their) back against the wall, they had to come to the negotiation table," he said in an interview on CNBC.

The publicly traded firm will now become a private company owned by Musk, who negotiated a purchase price of $54.20 per-share, Twitter said.

"Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important," the company's CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet.

Trump downplays return

Musk's efforts have raised hopes about the commercial potential of Twitter, which has struggled to achieve profitable growth despite its important spot in culture and politics.

Under Agrawal, who took over as Twitter CEO late last year, the company has made progress on new monetization features such as subscription products, Truist securities said in a note, adding that "short term, Musk's involvement at this stage runs the risk of disrupting those efforts."

Progressive groups were particularly concerned that Musk may permit a return to the platform by Trump, who was banned from Twitter after last year's assault on the US Capitol by his supporters seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election result.

"The sale of Twitter to Elon Musk would be a victory for disinformation and the people who peddle it. Musk could unleash a wave of toxicity and harassment and undo Twitter's efforts to increase quality engagement and make its platform safer for users," Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, said in a statement.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said "I am not going on Twitter," preferring instead to stay on his "Truth Social" media network.

"I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth," he said.
The two also discussed bilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and agreed to resume negotiations for proposed Free Trade Agreement

New Delhi: On the second day of her two-day India visit, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when both leaders agreed to establish an EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC) to ramp up trade and security ties, even as the EC president later in the evening blasted Russia for its severe violation of law in the invasion of Ukraine, adding this Russian aggression goes against the core security of Europe which will make sure this aggression becomes a strategic failure.

Speaking about her visit to the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where she saw the mass graves, she added the core principles that underpin peace and security are at stake in both Asia and Europe, adding that the economic sanctions imposed by the West on Russia arent a standalone solution.

The EC chief, who praised India as democracys largest home, further pointed out that Russia and China have forged an unrestrained pact with no limits and no forbidden areas of cooperation, while describing China as a negotiation partner, economic competitor and systemic rival of the EU, but added that Europe would encourage China to play its part in a peaceful Indo-Pacific region.

In the bilateral talks earlier in the day, both leaders urged an immediate end to the violence in Ukraine, with Mr Modi stressing the importance of giving peace a chance, and the need to return to dialogue and diplomacy as the only way to achieve peace. The two also discussed bilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and agreed to resume negotiations for proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which needs to be negotiated by both sides. Both also agreed the two sides would start talks on an Investment Protection Agreement and an Agreement on Geographical Indications, for which the first round of negotiations will take place in June. Jointly combating climate change was also discussed, with Mr Modi inviting the EUs increased participation in green energy in India, with its focus on green hydrogen.

Both sides described the TTC as a strategic coordination mechanism (that) will allow both partners to tackle challenges at the nexus of trade, trusted technology and security, to provide the political steer and the necessary structure to operationalise political decisions, coordinate technical work, and report to the political level to ensure implementation and follow-up in areas that are important for the sustainable progress of the Indian and European economies.

Ms Von der Leyen said the EU and India would strengthen their partnership and deepen bilateral cooperation with a focus on upholding the rules-based global order, supporting economic recovery, fighting climate change and charting the digital transition. She added: Today, we are taking steps to deepen our strategic ties with India -- on trade, trusted-technology and security, notably in respect of challenges posed by rival governance models. This will help us diversify and secure our supply chains, boost economic opportunities for our businesses, and bring significant benefits to our citizens.

Soon after the talks with Mr Modi on Monday morning, Ms Von der Leyen said: I am thinking of three main topics -- trade, technology and security. That is why I am pleased that today Prime Minister Modi and I have agreed to establish an EU-India Trade and Technology Council. The EU has only one TTC so far -- with the US, and I think it is telling that we now establish the second one with India. Also, because India is technologically a powerhouse, and in the trade sector we need to unleash an enormous amount of untapped potential. She also referred to the cooperation with India in tackling climate change.

Addressing the Raisina Dialogue conference in the in the presence of Mr Modi later in the evening, the EC president, asking whether the principle of right of might would dominate the world or else the rule of law, said (Russian President Vladimir) Putins war of choice in Ukraine would impact and deeply affect the Indo-Pacific region too.

As Mr Modi listened, the EC president told the delegates at the Raisina Dialogue: Two weeks ago, I visited Bucha, the suburb of Kyiv which was devastated by Russian troops as they withdrew from north of Ukraine. I saw with my own eyes the bodies lined up on the ground. I saw the mass graves. I listened to survivors of atrocious crimes the Kremlins soldiers committed. I saw the scars of bombed schools, resident houses and hospitals. These are severe violations of international law. Targeting and killing innocent civilians. Redrawing borders by force. Subjugating the will of a free people. This goes against core principles enshrined in the UN Charter.

She also made what appeared to be a veiled reference to cash-strapped Sri Lanka, which has got huge Chinese debt, adding investment cannot be at the cost of independence.

She added: In Europe, we see Russias aggression as a direct threat to our security. We will make sure that the unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine will be a strategic failure. This is why we are doing all we can to help Ukraine fight for its freedom. This is why we immediately imposed massive, sharp and effective sanctions. Sanctions are never a standalone solution. They are embedded in a broader strategy that has diplomatic and security elements.

And this is why we have designed the sanctions in a way to sustain them over a longer period of time. Because this gives us leverage to achieve a diplomatic solution that will bring lasting peace. And we urge all members of the international community to support our efforts for lasting peace.

The EC president added: This is a defining moment. Our decisions in these days will shape decades to come. Our response to Russias aggression today will decide the future of both the international system and the global economy. Will heinous devastation win or humanity prevail? Will the right of might dominate or the rule of law? Will there be constant conflict and struggle or a future of common prosperity and lasting peace?

What happens in Ukraine will have an impact on the Indo-Pacific region. It already has. Countries battered by two years of the Covid-19 pandemic must deal now with rising prices for grain, energy and fertilisers as a direct result of Putins war of choice. Thus, the outcome of the war will not only determine the future of Europe but also deeply affect the Indo-Pacific region and the rest of the world. For the Indo-Pacific region, it is as important as for Europe that borders are respected and that spheres of influence are rejected.

Praising Indias democracy, the EC chief said: Every five years, when Indians cast their vote in parliamentary elections, the world watches with admiration as the worlds largest democracy charts its future path. Because the outcome of decisions made by 1.3 billion people resonates around the globe. This is especially true for Europe. As vibrant democracies, India and the European Union share fundamental values and common interests. Together, we believe in each countrys right to determine its own destiny.

Together, we believe in the rule of law and fundamental rights. And together, we believe that it is democracy that best delivers for citizens. So, despite our geographic distance and despite the different languages we speak -- when we look at each other, we do not meet as strangers but as close friends. Democracy was born more than 2,000 years ago in Europe. But today, its largest home is India.

In a statement, New Delhi said: The leaders had an extensive discussion on climate related issues, including on possibilities of collaboration between India and the EU in areas like Green Hydrogen. In addition, several geopolitical issues of topical importance were discussed during the meeting, including the situation in Ukraine and developments in the Indo-Pacific region.
by Arundathie Abeysinghe

Prime Minister Mahinda, President Gotabaya's brother, plans to support an amendment to the Constitution granting more powers to Parliament. Protesters continue to call for the resignation of the entire government, while some politicians have also called on the premier to leave office.

Colombo (AsiaNews) - A tug-of-war has begun between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda: the latter is preparing to support the reintroduction of the 19th amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, with the aim of reducing the powers of the Head of State and granting more to Parliament.

Political analysts explained to AsiaNews that the premier will soon present a new 19th amendment in Parliament with some changes to the current clauses. The 20th amendment, which grants the Sri Lankan president more powers than the cabinet, had been approved in 2020. Among the proposals, the consensus of all party leaders will be sought to urge Gotabaya to step down.

For weeks, there has been serious instability among Sri Lanka's political parties, including those in the ruling coalition that recently switched to the opposition, which has morphed into an 11-member alliance that is calling along with protesters across the country for the president's resignation.

Several members of the ruling party, including Dullas Alahapperuma, former information minister and cabinet spokesman, have also called on Premier Mahinda to leave office. "I urge the president to appoint a smaller government with true consensus that represents all parties in parliament and stays in office for up to one year," he said.

Senior political sources told AsiaNews that recent new ministerial appointments were launched by the president without consultation with the prime minister. PM Mahinda did not attend the swearing-in ceremonies, a sign of friction between the two brothers in power.

According to political analysts, the prime minister asked the president to include some senior ministers in the cabinet to calm down protesters who have been protesting for weeks in front of the Galle Face Green in Colombo.

Former Prime Minister and United National Party (UPN) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe also hinted that he will support the 19th Amendment and suggested a discussion with leaders of all parties to seek proposals on what kind of solution is needed to resolve the current crisis.

Meanwhile, on April 23, the premier was also pressured to resign by former government allies who switched to the opposition after the worsening economic crisis that is plaguing the country, with blackouts and shortages of resources, including fuel and other essential goods.

However, the premier rejected their demands, insisting that the majority of those in power still support him. "People must be patient to overcome this crisis," he said, rejecting calls for a government of national unity. "There can be no interim government without me as premier."

Information Minister Nalaka Godahewa, previously a staunch supporter of the president, also announced his support for the thousands of protesters outside the presidential secretariat demanding that the Rajapaksa family relinquish power. The prime minister at a press conference announced that Temple Trees (the prime minister's official residence) would be open to "young protesters" if "ready for a discussion." He is of the opinion that "there is a protest. But as long as the protesters do not come for discussion, the demonstrations will continue without a solution being reached."

Meanwhile, on April 23, a march was organized in commemoration of Chaminda Lakshan, the victim of the police shooting in Rambukkana. Banners, wreaths and white flags with red spots reminiscent of blood were displayed in front of the premier's residence.

This month President Rajapaksa excluded two of his brothers, Chamal and Basil (former Finance Minister) and his nephew Namal from the new government, but the protesters rejected the changes considering them only "cosmetic".
Sipri: China and India follow the U.S. in military spending. In 2021 the Chinese arrived at 293 billion dollars (+4.7%). Delhi's defense outlay touches 76.6 billion. Upward trend also for Japan and Australia. After four years, Iran's military budget has increased again. In Qatar, growth of 434% compared to 2010.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - Europe is at war, but in Asia military spending by the main continental powers is growing. According to data published yesterday by the Stockholm Institute Peace Research Institute (Sipri), in 2021 military budgets in the world exceeded for the first time the 2 trillion dollars (2,113, to be precise), an increase of 0.7% over the previous year. After the USA, China and India have the highest military budgets, followed by Great Britain and Russia.

This is the seventh consecutive year that global defense spending has increased, despite the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. While U.S. military spending (1 billion) saw an annual decline of 1.4 percent, Russian military spending rose 2.9 percent to .9 billion: in essence, the Kremlin prepared the field for the invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, the Chinese spent 293 billion dollars on their own defense: a growth compared to 2020 of 4.7%: several analysts consider it underestimated due to Beijing's opacity on the subject. However, this is the 27th consecutive annual increase.

Between 2020 and 2021, Indian military spending grew by 0.9%, touching 76.6 billion dollars: +33% compared to 2012. Sipri notes that 64% of Delhi's defense budget is dedicated to the purchase of Indian-made equipment, a way to support the domestic defense industry.

China's activism in the South and East China Seas, as well as along the Taiwan Strait, has pushed up military spending by countries like Japan and Australia. Tokyo has raised its defense budget to .1 billion. That's an annual increase of 7.3 percent, the highest since 1972.

Canberra came in at .8 billion (up 4 percent). In September, the Australians signed Aukus, a military pact with the U.S. and Britain that will allow them to build eight nuclear submarines with U.S. technology and know-how. Cost: 128 billion dollars, spread over about 20 years.

The data on Iran and Qatar is also relevant. Iranian military spending grew for the first time in four years to .6 billion. Thirty-four percent goes to the Pasdaran, the Guardians of the Revolution in the service of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Instead, with an outlay of .6 billion, Doha has become the fifth largest military force in the Middle East in terms of budget - a 434% increase over 2010.
by Dario Salvi

In spite of the clashes of recent weeks, life in the Strip "flows normally", schools and markets are open. Even the activities in the parish are "full to capcity". Fr. Romanelli reports the Russian war in Ukraine does not seem to affect "everyday life for now". The wish for an end of Ramadan celebration "in peace" and a "solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Milan (AsiaNews) - In spite of the interests of some groups that want to "exacerbate" and destroy Israeli-Palestinian relations, the situation in Gaza is "quite calm, despite fears and underlying tensions: I know it may seem disconcerting, but life flows normally, schools and markets are open, the activities in the parish are fully carried out."

Gabriel Romanelli, an Argentinean priest of the Incarnate Word, tells AsiaNews about life in the Strip, where the faithful have packed the churches for Easter - Latin and Orthodox - and Muslims are heading towards the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and prayer. Even the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with fears of conflict on a global scale (for now) seem a distant echo.

For over a month Israel and the West Bank have been the scene of increasing violence, which has escalated with the approach of the main Christian, Muslim and Jewish holidays (Ramadan and Easter). This is the bloodiest armed drift since the May 2021 blitzkrieg in the Strip.

For the last days of the holy month of fasting and Islamic prayer that ends in early May with the feast of Eid al Fitr, the Israeli police intends to block access to the Esplanade of Mosques, in Jerusalem, to Jewish believers and tourists. Then there is the knot of the al-Aqsa mosque, which for the Muslim world remains an insurmountable "red line".

The parish priest of Gaza says the "common thought" is that there are "interests, but above all different groups" who want to "further exacerbate" relations. Analyzing the situation in the Strip, Fr. Romanelli emphasizes that since last year's war "the daily reality has improved, this year the authorities have issued 20,000 work permits to Gaza citizens who can cross the Erez crossing and go to work in Israel". This improvement also involves Christians, because "there have been no attacks on property or buildings in recent weeks" and were issued "722 permits for Easter, for the first time lasting three months. The faithful were able to visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem, even the Galilee to the north."

A year after the conflict, the priest - in these days in Argentina for a brief visit to his homeland - emphasizes that "neither Israel nor Palestine, nor the same authorities in Gaza want another armed clash" with devastating consequences. In fact, after the first rockets, Hamas leaders have immediately denied any involvement. In the area there are at least 16 brigades or armed political factions, not just one dominant group; however, the common desire of the people, of the citizens is that nobody wants this escalation to turn into a war".

At the same time, the cleric adds, "it must be stated frankly that if solutions are not found to the Israeli-Palestinian issue, peace will be increasingly fragile. It is necessary to work for justice and security, because as Saint John Paul II said, there is no peace without justice, without true reconciliation. This is my wish, that there may be full reconciliation in God and among brothers".

Speaking of peace and reconciliation, one's thoughts inevitably turn to the war launched by Russia against Ukraine and the military escalation of recent weeks, in a thicket of opposing claims and cross accusations that are increasingly distancing the margins for negotiation and dialogue.

"The conflict [in Europe]," says Fr. Romanelli, "affects us in a certain way, but not in daily life where it appears, at least for now, as distant and seems not to touch the people here. They talk about it and, as happens in other parts of the world, there are people in favor of Kiev and others who side with Moscow, those who are close to Putin and others who support Ukraine. Even the fact that two Christian nations are at war is not an element that is emphasized too much, even if the link with these countries remains strong, because many have studied in the past in Ukraine as in Russia and some still identify with the former Soviet Union".

The tensions of the last few weeks and the (distant) echo of the war in Europe did not prevent a large participation in the Easter celebrations, for the first time after two years without any particular restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"In spite of everything - confirms the parish priest - the services were beautiful and well attended. Perhaps with a few less faithful, who benefited from the permits and were able to go to Bethlehem, Jerusalem or Ramallah to celebrate, but this is a positive element. We lived Holy Week and the Easter triduum with great solemnity, thanks also to the commitment of the young people who animated the Way of the Cross on Good Friday. Then on Saturday, the day of the vigil with the meditation of the scriptures, of the Old and New Testament, a beautiful and intense moment of reflection".

The hope is that all, Catholics and Orthodox, Jews and Muslims, can celebrate with joy and harmony. It is unacceptable that "the festivities should be the cause of escalation or a pretext to fuel violence" by extremist groups who "seek provocation to exasperate tempers and spark conflict. The same authorities of Israel - concludes Fr. Romanelli - had to intervene to prevent groups [of the religious right and ultra-Orthodox] to make a sacrifice at the Esplanade of Mosques. These are unacceptable provocations, the hope is that Muslims too can celebrate in peace the feast of the end of Ramadan".

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by Vladimir Rozanskij

Local population protests after killing of a person stopped by police. Tajik government increases military presence and does not launch an investigation into the incident. Internet access in the area reduced. UN asks the Tajik government to take steps towards reconciliation with the region's minority.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - A group of UN experts has expressed deep concern about the growth of tensions in the autonomous province of Gorno-Badakhsan in Tajikistan, and called on the authorities in Dushanbe to defend the "Pamir minority" and respect human rights in the region. The problems stem from the assassination of a local citizen last November by security forces, which sparked mass protests. The government had reacted in a very decisive way, sending army troops and taking very strict measures, including the disconnection of the internet in the whole area.

The panel is led by Fernand de Varenne, special rapporteur for minority issues and Iren Khan, special rapporteur for freedom of expression, along with several other representatives. The demonstrations began in November 2021, when numerous people gathered on the central square of Khorug, the provincial capital located at an altitude of 2,200 meters, near the border with Afghanistan.

Police officers had killed Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, who was accused of kidnapping a person, and the protests denounced the abuse of power as criminal arbitrariness. During the protests two other people were killed, with 17 wounded, while the authorities had reported only the injuries suffered by some men of the security forces.

In the UN statement it is stated that "we are deeply disturbed by the repression of protests, the arrests of several inhabitants of Pamir, and also the excessive and illegal use of military force. We call on the authorities to take measures to counter discrimination against local protesters."

The Dushanbe government has so far not reacted to the demands, but had previously communicated that it is "fighting organized crime groups active in Gorno-Badakhsan province." According to UN experts, of particular concern are the increased presence of the military in the area, the strengthening of checkpoints, arrests and summary interrogations, and also the ban on travel outside the province for participants in the protests. Ziyobekov's own killing in the course of the arrest remained uninvestigated, as did the police officers' violence at the demonstrations.

The activists of the ethnic minority of Pamir are presented in the official press, and in the statements of the competent bodies, only as criminals, supporting this campaign of accusations with the blocking of information and access to the internet, which remains available only to state offices and banks. According to the UN, this choice "further increases tensions and negatively affects the education of youth and children".

After four months, internet access was re-established on April 21, leaving the population with only the 2G band, with very limited browsing speed and the impossibility of opening most applications.

The UN calls on the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rakhmon, together with the entire government, to take concrete steps towards conflict reduction, in favor of national reconciliation with the persecuted minority of the Pamir.
by Nirmala Carvalho

Police arrested Fr Albert, 67, after a Dalit woman filed a complaint against him alleging improper behaviour towards her daughter. The day before, she had asked that her children be enrolled for free at a Church-run school. Bishop Kalist urges the faithful to pray. Fr Albert is innocent, he said, and this will be proven.

Meerut (AsiaNews)  Police in Baghpat, a district in Uttar Pradesh, arrested a 67-year-old Catholic priest from the Diocese of Meerut, Fr Albert S, in connection with the alleged rape of an underage Dalit girl on 22 April after molesting her for weeks.

The girl's mother told police that the priest had threatened her as well, warning her not to tell anyone.

The 67-year-old priest, who serves as parish priest in the village of Lalyana, was taken into custody last Saturday after police summoned him to the local police station, ostensibly to discuss some important matter.

Upon arrival he was taken into custody under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Police also collected DNA samples from the priest and the girl as part of their investigation.

The Diocese of Meerut immediately reacted to the arrest, calling the accusations against Fr Albert false.

In a press statement, the diocese explained the day before the alleged rape, the girls mother went to St Joseph's Hindi medium school, which is run by the diocese, asking that her two sons and daughter be admitted.

School principal Sr Geetanjali told the mother that certain forms had to be filled out, and asked her to come back the next day with the necessary papers to complete the formalities.

However, the following day the mother went to see Fr Albert asking for free admission, uniforms and books.

The priest, who says he never met her before, turned down the request, saying that all the formalities had to be completed first. The next day he was arrested.

We know that Fr. Albert is innocent, writes Bishop Kalist in a statement. Since this false allegation is related to a minor we are in a difficult situation. But we are sure that the Lord who is the Truth will help us to prove the innocence of Fr. Albert.
by Fady Noun

Most of the victims were women and children. While the search at sea continues, hope of finding survivors is diminishing. UNHCR sources say that at least 84 people were on board of the boat. Its sinking has caused outrage with many blaming the countrys Navy. People protested near the prime ministers residence, focusing on him as a symbol of political corruption.

Beirut (AsiaNews)  A boat carrying migrants sank off Tripoli, northern Lebanon, last Saturday night. Lebanese authorities have rescued several passengers, as well as recovered seven bodies, but 30 people, mostly women and children, remain unaccounted for and hope of finding them alive is diminishing by the hour.

In a statement, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) noted that at least 84 people were on board the vessel, intercepted near Lebanese territorial waters, about 5.5 km from the coast. According to local sources, some 39 people are either dead or missing, in large part women and children, some unable to swim.

Ongoing investigation

The Lebanese military has launched an investigation to determine the causes of the tragedy. Several survivors said that the boat sank after it was chased by a patrol boat. A survivor told AFP that it was struck twice before the families of other survivors told him to keep quiet and took him further.

At a press conference on Sunday at the Beirut naval base, the commander of Lebanese Navy, Captain Commodore Haissam Dannaoui, denied this version of events, saying that the 10-metre by 3-metre boat, built in 1974, carried eight times more people than its maximum capacity. He explained that the migrants boat made a wrong manoeuvre in an attempt to avoid the patrol-boat and hit the latter.

A military source added that, upon impact, the ships hull split and the boat sank in five seconds, a claim confirmed by one survivor.

Funerals under tensions

Yesterday, two days after the funerals on Sunday of the six migrants whose bodies were recovered, people in Tripolis Tabbaneh and Qoubbeh districts were still grief-stricken and seething with anger, openly venting their despair and fury.

Sobbing, Mohammad Dandachi, his voice chocking, talked about how his three children, including a 40-day-old infant, drowned. One family lost 11 members in the tragedy.

Protesters blamed the authorities for their inaction, for the widespread poverty, in a country whose currency lost more than 90 per cent of its purchasing power.

Citing survivors, the L'Orient-Le Jour newspaper said that the man who organised the deadly crossing was also on the boat with his wife and children. He had promised to take people to Italy, a stopover before travelling to Germany.

According to several survivors, he demanded a thousand dollars per person, claiming that the money was needed to make the boat seaworthy and safe. He even boasted of having installed two engines on board just in case one broke down.

In Beirut, people held a tense sit-in on Monday outside the residence of Prime Minister Nagib Mikati, which was protected by security forces.

A video shared on social media shows a banner hung in front of a luxury yacht moored in Nice (south-eastern France) that belongs to Prime Minister Mikati. It reads: The people of Tripoli are being murdered by the owner of this yacht.

With a fortune estimated at US$ 2.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine, Mr Mikati, who hails from Tripoli, for many in Lebanon symbolises the countrys system of power, centred on corruption and nepotism, whose members are suspected of getting rich illegally.
by Stefano Vecchia

According to Surfshark, the Philippines ranks second for child exposure to online risks after Thailand but before Turkey. Sexual exploitation, cyberbullying and hacking are the most common dangers. In the last two years, child pornography has also grown in parallel with remote learning.

Manila (AsiaNews)  Philippine children are the second most vulnerable to cybercrimes in the world just behind their cohorts in Thailand, this according to a study by cybersecurity company Surfshark. Turkey comes in third place.

The study is based on data from various sources, including Internet crime reports from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation for the 2015-2020 period, as well as the Child Online Safety Index (COSI) by the DQ Institute, an international think-tank dedicated to setting global safety and digital intelligence standards.

In the Philippines, six out of 10 children aged 8 to 12 were exposed to cyber risks, ranging from sexual exploitation and phishing to cyberbullying and hacking.

Easy access to smartphones, tablets and computers, often without adult supervision, but also the lack of basic knowledge about cyber dangers place children in vulnerable situations online.

Online risk exposure is measured on a 0 to 100 score, from very low to very high risk level. The average global online safety education score is 52/100, but the three aforementioned countries are the only ones in the top level (80/100).

The Philippiness case is peculiar since it tops the world in terms of smartphone use, 74.1 per cent; at the same time, Philippine children are not very knowledgeable about how to safely use this device.

As the second most exposed country to cybercrime (after Thailand), the Philippines has become a hot spot for online child pornography and abuse, the more so after remote education expanded in the past couple of years.

A year ago, Save The Children Philippines spoke out against the problem, describing it as a "silent pandemic".

For its part, the Surfshark study highlights how educating children can help prevention.

What is more, low and lower-middle-income countries have better online safety education than rich ones; for instance, high-income countries like Saudi Arabia and Uruguay have non-existent online safety education.
The main border crossing between Iran and Afghanistan shut down for a day. After recent anti-Shia attacks, Iran wants to lead the fight against Islamic State terrorism. Diplomatic efforts are also underway to solve the situation of Afghan refugees in Iran.

Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies)  A Taliban delegation will travel to Tehran to discuss recent border tensions between the two countries as well as the situation of Afghan refugees in Iran.

This comes after a series of unverified videos were posted online showing Iranian police mistreating Afghan refugees.

On 11 April, protesters attacked the Iranian consulate in Herat, while in Kabul, they chanted anti-Iranian slogans outside the Iranian embassy.

At the same time, border tensions continue. On Saturday, the main crossing between the two countries at Islam Qala-Dogarun was closed for a day after a dispute erupted between Afghan forces, who were paving a road, and Iranian border guards, who obstructed the work.

The Taliban seized an Iranian military vehicle they claimed had crossed into Afghanistan. As a result, the two countries put their forces along the border on high alert, but the next day the situation returned to normal.

We arent unconcerned about our borders. The tensions on Saturday were triggered by a misunderstanding, said Enayatullah Khawarazmi, a spokesman for the Afghan Defence Ministry.

This is the second skirmish between the two countries since the Taliban took power in August last year.

The Iranian government is also very concerned about the security situation in Afghanistan following attacks on a Shia mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif and a Hazara school in Kabul, claimed by the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (IS-K), the local affiliate of the Islamic State group.

A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, yesterday said that the Taliban are unable to protect Afghan citizens, in particular Shias; for this reason, Tehran offered to lead the fight against terrorist groups and IS-K.

Iran President Ebrahim Raisi is quoted as saying that Iran is ready to cooperate and use all its means to counter the threat of Takfiri terrorism and prevent recurrence of these tragedies.

The Iranian embassy in Kabul noted that diplomatic efforts to develop a friendly relationship between the two countries will continue after Ramadan.

Although Iran has not yet officially recognised the Taliban regime, it has accepted the appointment of three new Taliban officials at the Afghan embassy in Tehran.
Today's headlines: Kim Jong-un pledges to strengthen his nuclear arsenal; Chinese Protestants open a theological school in Italy; Malaysia ready to replace Indonesia in palm oil exports; Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala sentenced to life imprisonment; Ukrainian deportees placed in monasteries and hostels of the Russian Orthodox Church.

INDIA-RUSSIA

In the two months since Moscow's attack on Ukraine began, Delhi has purchased more than twice as much Russian oil as it imported in all of 2021: 40 million barrels (scheduled delivery in June) versus 16 million. The Indian government has not sharply condemned Putin's war on Kiev.

NORTH KOREA

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has promised to strengthen his country's nuclear power. The announcement came yesterday during the military parade for the 90th anniversary of the creation of the Pyongyang army. Among the weapons on display was an intercontinental ballistic missile, prohibited by UN resolutions.

CHINA

A group of 55 Christian Churches has opened a theological seminary for Chinese evangelicals in Rome, the first initiative of its kind in Italy. It will train pastors for the Chinese community on Italian soil and in the rest of Europe.

MALAYSIA-INDONESIA

Following the Indonesian government's April 22 ban on refined palm oil exports, Kuala Lumpur says that with the reopening of its post-pandemic borders, its producers will be able to meet global demand.

TURKEY

A Turkish court yesterday sentenced philanthropist Osman Kavala to life in prison, without parole. He was charged with attempting to overthrow the government by financing protest movements, a case the EU says is politically motivated.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

According to the Ukrainian investigative website Sledstvie.Info, a substantial number of Ukrainians deported to Russia have been placed in various monasteries and hostels for pilgrims of the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. It results from interceptions discovered by hackers of Anonymous and DDoSecrets. It would already be at least half a million the number of deported, including 100 thousand children.

TAJIKISTAN

A famous writer, Rakhim Esenov, considered the father of Turkmen literature, died in Ashgabat at the age of 96. For years he had been under the surveillance of the authorities, who wanted to force him to change the subjects of his main trilogy "The Seeker of the Crown", which he wrote over the course of thirty years, printing at his own expense in Moscow about a thousand copies.
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Share This: In late March, Ukraine government leaders approached General Motors with a special request: It needed big vehicles to move people out of war zones.

GM did not hesitate to say yes, said GM spokesman George Svigos.

"We had an international team start working on it," Svigos said, and the team moved quickly.

On April 22, GM confirmed it got 50 full-size Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs across the Ukraine border.

The vehicles have gone to the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure for humanitarian aid, Svigos said. GM partnered with global shipping company Maersk, which donated the transport of the vehicles.

The Tahoes, which are not part of the pool made to sell in the U.S., were moved into Ukraine through a Polish military logistics hub at Rzeszow, Poland, near the Ukraine border, Svigos said.

From the hub in Rzeszow, Polish authorities coordinated to move the trucks over the border, delivering them to the Ukraine government, he said.

"The vehicles will be used to assist with humanitarian aid in the region," Svigos said. "The decision to donate vehicles was made following a request from the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington."

Besides the donation of the 50 SUVs, GM has given $250,000 to date to support humanitarian aid in the region and matched U.S. employee contributions up to $50,000 to specific nonprofit organizations. The match was reached in less than four days, Svigos said.

GM Canada also ran a matching program for employee donations, up to $20,000, to...
Spied undergoing testing in the U.S. of A., the facelifted Cadillac Escalade will bring the usual updates, namely new front and rear ends, revised upholstery and trim in the cabin, and maybe some new gear.Wrapped in thick camouflage, the face hides a new bumper, with what seem to be new DRLs, and different side air intakes. The lower grille appears to be bigger, and the chin is fatter than before. We cannot tell yet whether the headlights have been tweaked, but they will be part of the revisions, and so will the taillights and rear bumper. The rear license plate holder is still mounted in the middle of the tailgate, and the tailpipes look identical.The facelifted Cadillac Escalade will continue to distance itself from the GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe by featuring additional tech gear, and more luxury amenities. It is too early to talk about the exact novelties, but we wouldnt be surprised if GM gives it extra safety features, and at least new infotainment system software, sprinkling everything with new upholstery options, colors, and wheels.Details surrounding the powertrain family are inexistent for now, though it might retain the current iterations units, including the 6.2-liter V8, rated at 420 hp, and the 3.0-liter diesel, making 277 hp. The Escalade-V will still sit at the top of the lineup, though it will be a while until this version gets facelifted too, considering that Cadillac still has to detail it, subsequent to its January unveiling. In all likelihood, the updated Escalade will premiere sometime next year, likely as a 2024 model.
ICE

SUV

According to renowned aftermarket outlets, todays North America battle for the best custom whip rages between the Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Lambo Urus  with other feisty entries like the G-Class, Escalade, or Bentley Cullinan copiously losing ground. As such, it is no wonder that Aston wants a piece of the action and Ferrari finally seems ready to officially unveil its first-ever five-door high-riding family ride.Alas, virtual automotive artists have a slightly different British agenda, if you ask us. Probably seeing that Lotus Cars has prepared a Chinese Urus clone via the fully electric Eletre, they are musing about McLaren taking the challenge of creating something better  and probably-powered just like Urus and Co. So, after we recently saw Germany-based virtual artist Andras Veres, better known as andras.s.veres on social media, propose an  845 FT  contender, here is a second digital opinion.This time around, it arrives (with a pre-release teaser and all) courtesy of Giorgi Tedoradze, a Georgia-based industrial designer better known as tedoradze.giorgi on social media, who has also imagined the sporty yet protean future of McLaren. Frankly, we are not so sure how much longer McLaren can hold on to its cars-only title but at least the CGI experts seem confident it has what it takes to battle the Urus, Purosangue, and DBX707 , among others.Naturally, to make sure everything is exactly as in real life, the authors McLarenproject also comes with an elegant nameplate  Aonic  as well as a proposed release timeframe for the 2024 model year. However, there is just one POV to speak of, which is kind of sad  since we also wanted to see how this crossover would digitally look from behind, the sides, or inside the cockpit!
Aphelion is one of the many companies that want to revolutionize access to space . It plans to do that by miniaturizing and mass-producing launch vehicle technology, which means that its developing a rocket thats low-cost and scalable, intended for regular nanosatellite launch service.Helios is a three-stage vertical launch vehicle using liquid propulsion for the first two stages and solid propulsion for the third one. The company claims that the first-stage propellants and the engine design are common but that the hypergolic propellant is unique. Aphelion says that its using a proprietary chemical blend that was only used in government-funded laboratory research until now. This would be the first time that a company is using it in a flight-scale rocket engine.This technology can be seen as groundbreaking due to the fact that its non-toxic, non-cryogenic, environmentally friendly, and affordable. In turn, this will allow low-cost, on-demand launch services specifically dedicated to nanosatellites.Together with its propulsion R&D partner, Frontier Astronautics, Aphelion conducted a series of hot fire tests at its facility in Wyoming. Over the course of two weeks, the propulsion technology underwent extensive ground testing. This is an important step for the company that plans to conduct its first suborbital launch by the end of this year. Following the qualification of the complete propulsion system, including the engines, the electric pumps, and the engine controllers, an orbital launch will take place in 2024.The Helios rocket will also replace conventional radar-based flight safety systems with an autonomous one, which is supposed to cut costs even further while also boasting advanced materials and the use of additive manufacturing.[YOUTUBE=https://youtu.be/e0vKIa-Mv6A
EV

There are a few remaining hurdles before Elon Musk gets official possession of the famous microblogging service  which, as we all know, is also his favorite means of social media communication  so there could be enough time for the billionaire to celebrate in style. With a matching Twitter Tesla, of course.Musa Rio Tjahjono, the virtual artist better known as musartwork on social media, is always ready to defy conventions and slam all Twitter expectations around. Well, he is willing to bag any expectations if the Head Designer at the outrageously renowned West Coast Customs can have his merry CGI JDM way with it. Thus, is anyone surprised that we are dealing here with a proposal for a special Tesla Model S that Elon Musk could use when rollin' thru to get Twitter?Well, it would not be hard to imagine that Musk will use a Tesla when hitting the corner office of his upcoming, newly-acquired social media company. However, it is anyones guess if that would be a deeply personalized Tesla Model S or something else. For sure, it would be quite fitting for Musk to use thesaloon that is  at least in part  responsible for his massive fortune.However, a custom one might remain just wishful thinking. Perhaps the pixel master should have used Twitter  instead of Instagram (owned by a rivaling social media company, Mark Zuckerbergs Meta Platforms)  to better popularize this proposed celebratory car. That way, it would have blended nicely with its Twitter Bird Blue, Rotiform Aerodisc aftermarket wheels and covers, plus a thoroughly slammed attitude to bode well for the white accents splashed all around.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Hawaiian Airlines kept its impressive performance to arrive everywhere it flies on schedule over the last 18 years. Its been active for 93 years. Now theyre changing a very important aspect of todays world. Connectivity is key, and the company doesnt want to lose customers to competitors. Theyre upgrading almost their entire fleet!Except for the Boeing 717 aircraft that is used for very short flights, Hawaiian Airlines will install the required Starlink hardware on all its airplanes to provide its customers with full, free, unrestricted access to fast internet onboard. The companys Airbus A330, A321neo, and Boeing 787-9 aircraft will all have the necessary modifications done by the end of the next year at the latest.Although the announcement was already made, the final implementation will take place next year. First customers of the popular airline will enjoy free access to the internet via Starlink s network in the second half of 2023.Hawaiian Airlines promises that its customers will be able to do anything they like while traveling at over 30,000 ft (9.1 km) in the air. Guests will be able to stream content, play games live with friends on the ground, work and collaborate in real-time, plan their Hawaii vacation, or share their special island moments on social media, shows the press release.To provide reliable internet almost everywhere in the world, Elon Musk 's Starlink uses satellites that are able to code signals into laser beams that travel at the speed of light. By doing this, users can send or receive hundreds of gigabytes of data per second.Hawaiian Airlines operates almost 130 daily flights, mainly between the U.S. and Asia. JSX already opened the door for this tech to be applied in its aircraft after confirming it'll use Starlink's services. They're also making it free.
AMG

Manny Khoshbin, businessman and car enthusiast, hosts a garage filled with expensive models. There, you can find nine (yes, youve read that right) Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren s and a handful of limited editions. The list of ultra rare cars includes a Bugatti Veyron Rembrandt Edition, a Bugatti Chiron Hermes Edition, a McLaren P1, a McLaren Speedtail, and a Pagani Huayra Hermes Edition.And the real estate tycoon has his eyes set on what other high-performance cars are there and has a list of upcoming models which will be produced in limited numbers. In a recent post on his social media account, the YouTuber shared his top four upcoming 2023/ 2024 new releases that will put out between 1,000 and 1,600 horsepower. Spoiler alert: he's bought every single one of them.Well leave his top choice till the end and start with his fourth option: the Koenigsegg Jesko . This one will get 1,603 horsepower (1,625 ps) and 1,106 lb-ft (1,500 Nm) of torque (on E85 fuel), and only 1,262 horsepower (1,280 ps) on standard fuel. The Jesko has an estimated top speed of over 300 mph (483 kph). Production will stop after 75 models. This wouldnt be the first time he gets behind the wheel of one of the Swedish brands cars, because he used to own a Koenigsegg Agera RS Phoenix.Khoshbins third choice is the highly anticipated Mercedes-One, with Formula 1-inspired technology. While he was awaiting delivery for the delayed One, he received the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series P One Edition and he absolutely loved it . The three-pointed star marque will produce 275 units of the AMG One and each has a starting price of $2.75 million.In the second spot, the real estate mogul placed an Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider , which is AMG Ones direct competition. It will be extremely limited, as the British manufacturer will build just 85 units. So far, the businessman hasnt owned an Aston Martin, but he revealed he ordered the Valkyrie Spider in a video posted seven months ago. Powered by a Formula 1-inspired 6.5-liter hybrid V12 Cosworth engine and an electric motor, it will come with 1,060 hp (1,076 ps). With its roof up, the hybrid has a top speed of 217 mph (349 kph) speed and 205 mph (329 kph) with the roof down.The most exciting upcoming hypercar in Khoshbins opinion is not surprising in the least. We all know how much he loves his Bugattis, so there wasnt much of an alternative. His top-of-the-list hypercar is a Bugatti Bolide , which will be put in motion by the Bugatti W16 quad-turbocharged engine and will develop 1,578 horsepower and 1,180 lb-ft (1,600 Nm) of torque. The Molsheim brand will only produce 40 units, and he has his name down for one already.Has Manny Khoshbin got the list right or do you think he missed important models? Let us know in the comments section below.
Theres no question about it that the most prominent of its kind in the U.S., and the world, for that matter, is the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally , dating back to 1938 and drawing in, in recent times, crowds that regularly exceed half a million people.Then, we have The One Moto Show, Daytona Bike Week, or Laconia Bike Week, among others, and they all conspire to make the launch of new motorcycle events very hard to pull off. But if your name is Harley-Davidson, that should not be a problem.Next year, the Milwaukee company will celebrate its 120th anniversary, and that calls for some unique type of celebration. Well probably see special model launches and other special treats throughout the year, but also something called the Harley-Davidson Homecoming.The festival was announced by Harley this week as an annual event taking place throughout the city, and lasting for four days. As with any such manifestation, well get music, food and moto-culture, all bundled in the same package. In 2023, the Harley-Davidson Homecoming festival kicks off on July 13.We invite everyone, riders, non-riders and fans around the world, to join us in Milwaukee next summer for the Harley-Davidson Homecoming where we will celebrate 120 years of our incredible brand, said in a statement Jochen Zeitz, Harley-Davidson CEO.This will be the first in a series of unforgettable annual events in Milwaukee. Stay tuned for more details in coming months, and we look forward to celebrating with you in 2023.Harley is already offering people a chance to find lodging for the event. Full details can be found here
Over the weekend, Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend, Pete Davidson jetted off to Orlando, Florida, in her private plane. The aircraft, which she has done from the ground up, is a Gulfstream G650ER which she calls "Kim Air." Naturally, it's painted in the same monochromatic shade of gray found in her mansion and part of her car fleet.The billionaire reality star welcomed her aircraft in late February 2022 and has been taking advantage of every opportunity she gets to fly in it again. Its maiden voyage was from Los Angeles to Milan, Italy, where she attended Fashion Week.The G650ER is the extended-range variant of the G650 and is powered by two Rolls-Royce BR725 A1-12 engines, which help the airplane reach maximum speeds of 616 kts (709 mph/ 1,141 kph) and a cruising speed of 516 kts (594 mph / 955 kph), with a range of 7,500 nautical miles (8,630 mi / 13,890 km).Depending on its configuration, the Gulfstream jet can seat up to 18 people and sleep ten. It also promises a quiet journey and a relaxing journey with enhanced air ionization, so you always breathe outside fresh air, plus the lowest cabin altitude available, all designed to mitigate fatigue.Now, she took off with Pete Davidson to Orlando in the same jet. The couple had a black Cadillac Escalade waiting for them just outside the aircraft, to take them to their destination. The reality star also has a Cadillac Escalade ESV back home, which she customized to her hearts desire , thanks to her partnership with Platinum Motorsport. So, its not surprising to see her rent the same ride when she goes on holiday.On April 24, the two flew again together to attend The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to support Jon Stewart, who was honored with the award for lifetime achievement in humor. While there are no pictures of their means of travel, it's safe to assume they were on board "Kim Air" again.
SUV

When you think of Lori Harvey, her recent accomplishments have set her apart from being just Steve Harveys stepdaughter. In 2017, she debuted on the runway for Dolce & Gabbana's Spring Summer 17 show in Milan, Italy, and has created a name for herself in the industry. At just 25 years old, the model-turned-entrepreneur now has her own skin line and created a capsule collection with Naked Wardrobe.And she has quite an eye for powerful vehicles. In a new post on social media, the model has given us a glimpse of what girls night looked like, and it was exactly what youd imagine: glam pictures.She arrived at the restaurant in a GMC Yukon . The SLE trim seats up to nine passengers, and it can be ordered with either a 3.0-liter Duramax Turbo Diesel engine or a 5.3-liter V8 gasoline engine, both mated to a ten-speed automatic transmission. The latter delivers 355 horsepower (360 ps) at 5,600 rpm and a maximum torque of 383 lb-ft (519 Nm) at 4,100 rpm and it's available in both rear-wheel and all-wheel drive.When she arrived at the venue, the model posed with two other black vehicles parked in the background: an old-gen BMW 3 Series and a Rolls-Royce Cullinan.Lori is no stranger to powerful vehicles, as her day-to-day choice is a Lamborghini Urus . But she doesnt get many chances to test the limits of her cars, because, in Los Angeles, traffic is almost always insane, no matter what time of day it is, as she recently told Interview Magazine
Last summer, Radim Passer took out his Chiron for a speed run on the Autobahn. The Chiron s top speed is set at 261 mph (420 kph), and he wanted to see how close he could get to it while still comfortable. He was able to reach 259 mph (417 kph) over a six-mile (9.6-km) stretch of the Autobahn, so mission accomplished.The Autobahn is famous for stretches where no upper limit is imposed, which technically means that you can drive as fast as you want, and your car will allow it. There is one big caveat in the eyes of the law, though: you can only do this as long as youre not posing a danger to yourself and others. When Passers second video with the stunt went viral months later, German authorities took notice for that very reason.From the get-go, Passer said that all precautions had been taken to ensure the safety of other drivers. The stunt took place over a section of the Autobahn with excellent visibility ahead and at a time when traffic was low. The video seemed to reflect that, showing only a few vehicles that, given the Chirons blistering speed, disappeared as soon as it passed them.Still, the local police and the Ministry of Transport launched separate investigations into the stunt, while Bugatti publicly disowned the whole thing. When news of the now-old stunt went viral, and the investigations launched, Passer was looking at a possible jail sentence (two to seven years) and a heavy fine, depending on how prosecutors would be able to charge him. The two possibilities included charging him with illegal racing since you cant charge someone with speeding when you have no upper-speed limit or reckless driving.Both meant prosecutors had to prove that Passer either engaged in an illegal race (with himself) or that he put others in danger. They could do neither, DPA News informs, as cited by the AP . Consequently, Passer wont be charged for the Chiron speeding stunt, as prosecutors have determined that he had, indeed, taken all precautions to ensure that the stunt went off without incident, choosing the best time and conditions for it.Alls well that ends well. Heres the viral video that brought so much unwanted heat onto the millionaire and reopened the can of worms of whether speed limits should be introduced to the Autobahn.
The spacecraft is called Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx , for short. It launched in 2016, headed for asteroid Bennu, and spent three years working on stealing a piece of it.In 2021, OSIRIS began its journey home , carrying with it 60 grams or so of regolith from the asteroid, which should be delivered to Earth sometime in 2023. The samples are to be brought down to Earth by means of a special capsule, while the spacecraft that carried it was supposed to stay in orbit after it reached Earth. But thats no longer the case.This week, NASA and the University of Arizona, which lead the OSIRIS-REx mission, announced the spacecraft would be sent out into the depths of space once more, this time hunting a potentially much more dangerous asteroid than Bennu: Apophis.Officially dubbed 99942 Apophis , partially after the Egyptian deity that was the enemy of the Sun God Ra, the asteroid is estimated to have a size of 1,100 feet (340 meters), and, for all intents and purposes, seems to be the one that threatens our planet the most.Discovered in 2004 by a team from the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Apophis will make scary-close flybys of our planet in 2029, 2036, and 2068. How close? Math shows it could do so at a distance that is closer than some present-day geosynchronous satellites, 20,000 miles (32,000 km) from the planetary surface, being visible from the Eastern Hemisphere (Europe and Africa) with the naked eye.Ever since 2019, there has been talk of making a spacecraft and sending it out to take a closer look at Apophis, but now that this asteroid-poking spacecraft will be reused, theres no need to wonder what happened with that idea.The reconfigured mission of the NASA spacecraft will be called OSIRIS-APEX, which stands for OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer, and will depart 30 days after the Bennu samples are delivered.This time, it will not steal a piece of the asteroid, but study it for no less than 18 months, including actively. That means the spacecraft will approach the asteroids surface and fire its thrusters in a bid to understand what covers the piece of rock.
The first 100,000 vehicles took almost three years to make, but the second hundred thousand units were three times faster to the finish line, with just a year's worth of waiting between them. According to the marque, this is just the beginning, as NIO wants to speed up its production even further, as it makes its NT 2.0-based vehicles.Currently, three models represent the bulk of NIO production. We are writing about the ET7, ET5 , and ES7. Later this year, they will unveil the ES8, ES6, and EC6. The latter three will come with the company's latest tech regarding digital cockpit hardware and software, as well as the retrofit and upgrade possibilities imagined for existing customers.While expanding its line-up along with increasing production, NIO will also enter markets like Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands . The company's goal is to start production at its second manufacturing facility, NeoPark, in the third quarter of 2022.Moreover, NIO is on a hiring spree, as it plans to grow its research and development team to 9,000 people by the end of this year. The company has not specified the size of its current team, but what is mentioned by the company is its plan to double investments in research and development on a year-on-year basis.By the end of this year, NIO wants to open 100 new stores, as well as over 50 NIO Service Centers and authorized service centers in China. After all, making more vehicles per year is nothing if you have nowhere to sell them.What is the most interesting part about this announcement is the fact that there is no mention of the company being affected by the global chip shortage.
#N458BJ was flown to Marana KMZJ two days ago for part out. Only about 42 hours on the clock of this beautiful 2012 747-8BBJ pic.twitter.com/aFhNw5Jzg0  Joel Basler | Aviation Photographer (@jbjetss) April 17, 2022

Delivered in 2012 to the Saudi Arabian Royal Flight group for the personal use of prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud , N458BJ was never even used as it was meant to. The Boeing 747-8 was ordered new, but that was never enough for royal heads , so it was sent for a full VIP refit.The Sultan passed away before the customization was complete, so the jumbo jet was abandoned  and seemingly forgotten  at the Basel airport in Switzerland for a full decade. N458BJ only ever clocked 42 hours of flight time, which, according to Simple Flying , is what a commercial airline totals in a matter of days and a private jet in weeks  and they consisted mostly of test flights.Last week, the 2012 Boeing took off for what will most likely become its final flight, arriving at the Pinal Airpark in the Marana desert 11 hours later. The video below shows the final takeoff of this brand-new, majestic aircraft that never got put to proper usage, but which is believed to have cost over $300 million.Pinal Airpark is a single-runway airfield outside of Tucson, Arizona, which also happens to be one of the most famous aircraft graveyards in the world and, because of it, home of some of the most iconic flying machines ever. The same media outlet notes that N458BJ is probably scheduled for part-out, which means it will be disassembled and sold piece by piece.There is a chance that it might be repurposed if Boeing buys it back, and the move to the U.S. could be indicative of such an intent. However, even if Boeing does buy it back, there is little interest in such a large aircraft right now for commercial purposes , since the international health crisis sealed the fate of the 747 as a commercial plane.At the 3.16-minute mark, the Boeing 747-8 registration number N458BJ takes off from Basel, Switzerland, destination Pinal Airpark. The place where jumbo jets go to die.
The #Ax1 crew and @spaceX Dragon safely splashed down at 1:06 p.m. ET,?Monday, April 25.



The crews arrival back home on Earth officially concludes the first all-private astronaut mission to @Space_Station.



More: https://t.co/rMpXv2e04B pic.twitter.com/0eaMvPF0GR  Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) April 25, 2022

Even though the Russians sent last year the first civilians to the ISS to shoot a film for twelve days straight, they got a lot of help from the government. On the other side of the pond, Americans were ready to do the same. But here, everything worked with involvement from private entities. SpaceX, Axiom, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) worked together to make sure everything ran smoothly.NASA made sure the visitors were healthy enough to temporarily leave Earth, SpaceX provided the rockets, while Axiom made sure everyone was happy about the endeavor. The whole thing cost the three wealthy visitors a reported $55 million each, according to AP . Living together with astronauts, seeing our planet as almost nobody else, and staying up there for more than ten days might be worth it in the end. The crew landed safely in a SpaceX Dragon capsule. The calm Atlantic Ocean welcomed the curious and passionate people. Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe will now recover for a couple of days before resuming their normal activity.NASAs now looking forward to allowing more visits to the ISS before it will come back to Earth in blazing glory. The destruction of the station is set to happen in a little under a decade. The Administration wants to focus on Moon, Mars, and other similar missions, so money coming from commercial flights in Earths lower orbit will ease the dependency on public funds.NASAs Bill Nelson was particularly happy about the event as he welcomed the Axiom crew by posting a message on Twitter. He called the event a landmark mission.As weve previously reported, the explorers were supposed to remain on the ISS for only eight days. But delays and recalculations led to a longer vacation, 248 mi (400 km) above our heads.Even though people are paying a lot of money to enjoy this unique experience, Axiom keeps saying that all this traveling is not tourism but research. They argue that visitors were taught to help MIT researchers with their projects.The crew of the next mission will be revealed soon. Theyre scheduled to blast off from the U.S. next year. Called Ax-2, this will give Axiom and SpaceX the chance to possibly build their own space station or kickstart a partnership in this direction.Just imagine if you could actually pay for a space vacation via a popular traveling website. Wouldnt it be amazing?
After it was purchased by the current owner as a non-running project in 2015, this numbers-matching 1965 BMW R60/2 saw an extensive restoration to get it back in working order. For starters, the bikes bodywork and frame were media-blasted before receiving a seamless coat of fresh paint, while its chromed parts have been re-plated to keep things looking nice and tidy.The deteriorating OEM saddle was discarded in favor of youthful aftermarket replacement, as were the wheels, wiring harness and exhaust pipework. Additionally, you will find a premium selection of modern engine internals replacing the factory items, including new valve guides, seals and gaskets, among other goodies. Honed cylinders, refurbished carbs and an overhauled magneto ignition conclude the powertrain mods.Bavarias vintage icon comes to life thanks to an air-cooled 594cc boxer-twin mill, which is paired with a dry single-plate clutch and a four-speed gearbox. The four-stroke powerhouse carries two valves per cylinder, dual Bing inhalers and a compression ratio of 7.5:1. In the vicinity of 5,800 rpm, a maximum horsepower figure of 30 ponies will be accomplished at the crankshaft.This force is handed over to the rear 18-inch hoop by means of an enclosed driveshaft, and it can result in speeds of up to 90 mph (145 kph). As far as the R60/2 s chassis specs are concerned, its suspension arrangement consists of Earles forks up front and twin shocks down south, while stopping power comes from 200 mm (7.9 inches) drum brakes at both ends.When the bikes 4.5-gallon (17-liter) fuel tank is full, the entire structure tips the scales at 436 pounds (198 kg). This speckless 65 MY charmer will be listed on Bring a Trailer until tomorrow afternoon, so it could make its way to your garage if you act within the next 24 hours. At the moment, a mere $4,500 would be enough to put you in the lead, but this sum isnt very likely to meet the reserve for such a gorgeous machine
The other night, Tyson The Gypsy King Fury defeated Dillian Whyte in the sixth round at the Wembley Stadium in London, UK. The match was part of his spectacular comeback following his mental health and addiction issues, on which hes been very outspoken and may very well be his final one before retiring. Hed promised his wife that hed stop fighting, Tyson told the media.After the fight, Tyson and his entourage went out to celebrate, as one does. However, unlike other celebrities in his place, Tyson kept it real , by heading to the McDonalds Drive-Thru . Here is an experienced boxer and bona fide celebrity worth an estimated $60 million to $120 million, driving himself to get a large serving of the good greasy goodness that only Mickey D can deliver. The Sun notes that Tyson took out one of his Rolls-Royces for the occasion, the Cullinan . He drove himself, and his wife Paris rode in a separate car from the motorcade. No member of the Fury party entered the Hertfordshire junk-food restaurant, but they still caused quite a flurry. Photos are available at the link.With his 2018 comeback, Fury became very open about his struggles with mental health, alcohol and light drug use. Even before that, hed tried to tackle depression by cutting out stress, which, he said, meant downsizing  swapping expensive rides for cheaper, used models, to be more exact.Mo money, mo problems, as the song goes, so Fury made plenty of headlines for flipping his beloved Rolls-Royces for econoboxes. Once, he sold a Rolls-Royce Phantom to buy a 500 ($640, at the current exchange rate) 2006 VW Passat. Before that, he sold another Rolls-Royce Phantom and bought a 2,000 ($2,550) 15-year-old Mercedes S-Class. He was also very fond of a newly-bought but old MINI Cooper he could barely fit into.Downsizing or not, a celebratory dinner deserves a ride to match . Even if its McDonalds takeaway
The @USMC declared Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for the CH-53K heavy lift helicopter, validating the platforms operational readiness to forward deploy Marines and equipment across the globe. #OnlyTheKCan pic.twitter.com/glGYU6xima  Sikorsky (@Sikorsky) April 25, 2022

Designed and built by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin wholly-owned subsidiary, the U.S. Marine Corps' CH-53K is a replacement for the CH-53E. The helicopter can carry nearly 27,000 lbs (12,247 kg) in challenging environments, which is almost three times the lift capacity of the CH-53E.It was also developed to operate at lower costs. Compared to its predecessor, the King Stallion 's T408-GE-400 turboshaft engines deliver 57 percent more horsepower with 63 percent fewer components. This results in the increased potential to transport internal and exterior cargo loads.The helicopter's design is also maintenance-friendly since it has an integrated vehicle health management system that automatically checks and regulates the operation of avionics systems, crucial dynamic components, and engine performance.The CH-53K began its Initial Operational Test and Evaluation last year, and recently, the U.S. Marines have declared Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for the heavy-lifter."This declaration is a vote of confidence from Marine Corps leadership and demonstrates the critical role of the CH-53K, giving forces more range and agility to conduct expeditionary heavy-lift assault transport of armored vehicles, equipment, and personnel. This capability is critical in the Indo-Pacific region and around the globe in support of the joint force and allies," said Sikorsky President Paul Lemmo.In addition to achieving IOC requirements, the aircraft has completed over 3,000 flight hours in a variety of settings, including extreme temperatures. The helicopters have also been used in exercises that include air-to-air refueling with a 27,000-lb (12,247-kg) external load. Furthermore, they have performed over 350 landings and completed live fire testing and evaluation as well.The first deployment of the CH-53K is expected to take place in 2024. The Marine Corps' procurement objective is 200 helicopters.
Massive congratulations to Media.Monks & Netfliix, winners of Site of the Month March for Welcome To The Continent, thanks for all your votes and tweets, heres some words about the winning website.

To celebrate Netflixs The Witcher, we created the ultimate companion website for the show, complete with an interactive map, timeline, and encyclopedia of information. Immersed in a totally in-lore user experience, fans can discover original content that expands on the magic of the series.

For the second season of Netflixs The Witcher, we expanded our interactive map and website to welcome viewers back to the extraordinary world of the show. From an animated introduction voiced by talent to an immersive landing page experience, Welcome to the Continent amplifies the magic of the series. It is the ultimate digital space for any Witcher fan, with every detail built with lore in mind.

Here, users can traverse the map, or dive into the library that includes over 300+ pieces of content. Equally magnificent on mobile and desktop, our website is visited by Witcher fans from all over the world.

Technologies

Vue.JS, WebGL, GSAP Animation, HTML5



Thanks again to everyone who voted, the winner of the years Professional Plan in our Directory is @anonnoruddho, please DM us to collect your prize!
According to an Iranian government statement, Arsen Avagian, the new Armenian ambassador in Tehran, made this clear after handing his credentials to Irans President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday.

Armenia is ready to raise relations between the two countries to the level of strategic relations, Raisis office quoted Avagian as saying.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said Avagian told Raisi that he will do his best to help deepen Armenian-Iranian ties. A ministry statement on their conversation made no references to Yerevans desire to make those ties strategic.

Raisi was cited by his office as noting potentials for the development of friendly, long-lasting relations between Tehran and Yerevan. He said that Tehran supports the territorial integrity of states.

Raisi emphasized that support in a January phone call with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. In this regard, Tehran supports the sovereignty of Armenia over all territories and roads passing through that country, he said at the time.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are to reopen their border to commercial and passenger traffic under the terms of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped their six-week war for Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020. The deal specifically commits Yerevan to opening rail and road links between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly claimed that it envisages an exterritorial land corridor that would pass through Armenias Syunik province bordering Iran. Armenian leaders have dismissed his claims, saying that Azerbaijani citizens and cargo cannot be exempt from Armenian border controls.

Some Iranian officials accused Aliyev last fall of seeking to effectively strip Iran of a common border with Armenia. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian likewise warned that any changes in the regions map are unacceptable to the Islamic Republic.
The protest stems from remarks which Pashinian made in the Armenian parliament on April 13 in response to continuing opposition criticism of his handling of the devastating war that left at least 3,800 Armenian soldiers dead.

They say now, Could they have averted the war? he told lawmakers. They could have averted the war, as a result of which we would have had the same situation, but of course without the casualties.

The remarks angered the families of some of the fallen soldiers. They said that Pashinian publicly admitted deliberately sacrificing thousands of lives and must be held accountable for that.

A group of them submitted a formal crime report to Armenias Office of the Prosecutor-General on April 18. Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian said afterwards that although he does not think that the prime minister admitted to any crime he forwarded the report to another law-enforcement agency which is investigating senior government and military officials actions during the six-week war.

Davtian addressed on Tuesday more than a hundred relatives of fallen soldiers who rallied outside the prosecutors headquarters after marching through the center of Yerevan.

If we had ceded parts of our homeland without a fight, should have there also been an indictment by the same logic? he told the angry protesters, questioning their demands.

The protesters were not convinced by that argument. They jeered the countrys chief prosecutor as he made his way back into the building.

None of us is satisfied with what we heard, said one woman who lost her son during the war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire in November 2020.

What was Pashinian afraid of [before the war?] asked the father of another fallen soldier. Of being called a traitor? They now say worse things about him.

Virtually all Armenian opposition groups hold Pashinian responsible for Armenias defeat in the war with Azerbaijan. For his part, Pashinian has put the blame on former Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian, who now lead two of those groups.

Kocharian ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, while Sarkisian, his successor, lost power more than two years before the outbreak of the hostilities.
LEIDEN, the Netherlands, April 26, 2022 / B3C newswire / -- ProteoNic, a leading provider of premium vector technology and services for efficient production of biologics, and NecstGen, a CDMO and centre of excellence for Cell and Gene Therapy, announce a partnership for the development of improved viral vector manufacturing for gene therapy applications. Both companies, located on the Leiden Bio Science Park, recognise the need to increase viral titres and optimise production processes. Cost-efficiency and manufacturing yield play a critical role in the feasibility of vector-based therapies. Through their combined efforts ProteoNic and NecstGen aim to improve and advance AAV and LV viral vector manufacturing technology and increase production capacity, to the ultimate benefit of patients in need of Gene Therapies.

ProteoNic will apply its established 2G UNic technology platform to improve viral vector performance. NecstGen, specialised in the manufacturing and development of various viral vector types, contributes its viral vector platforms, manufacturing processes and experts as part of this partnership. Ultimately the companies strive for the acceleration of novel Gene Therapies by removing existing roadblocks related to production efficiency and capacity.

Frank Pieper, CEO of ProteoNic commented ProteoNic has a strong track record of improving vector performance and production levels in a range of applications. We believe that together with NecstGen we can improve the production efficiency of viral vectors for Gene Therapy, and thereby alleviate current manufacturing constraints.

Paul Bilars, CEO of NecstGen said This action shows the strength and importance of the local ecosystem, and how working together we can address the challenges of Gene Therapy development and their translation to solutions for patients and society.

About ProteoNic

ProteoNic is a privately held company with offices in Leiden, the Netherlands and in the Boston area, USA. The company offers technology and services for the generation of cell lines with greatly improved production characteristics, including production levels and stability. The company commercializes its proprietary 2G UNic technology through licensing and partnership arrangements.

About NecstGen

NecstGen is a new centre of excellence for Cell and Gene Therapy, located in a purpose-built GMP facility on the largest bio-cluster in the Netherlands, Leiden Bio Science Park. Here, NecstGen provides critical contract development, manufacturing and rental services to academic and small/large industrial therapy developers to deliver a new generation of therapies to patients.

Contacts

ProteoNic

Mark Posno, PhD

Vice President Business Development

+1 617 480 8016

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

NecstGen

Tristan Pritchard-Meaker, PhD

Head of Business Development

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Keywords: Humans; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Regenerative Medicine; Genetic Therapy; Genetic Vectors; Biological Products; Industry; Biotechnology; Netherlands

Published by B3C newswire


Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 45F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 45F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @idesai98 on Twitter.
Kathi Weathington Hughes has been named the winner of the 2022 Gene Phillips Hospitality Award by the Texas Department of Transportations Travel Information Division. This award was presented at the annual Texas Travel Counselors Conference in Grapevine recently.

The award recognizes Hughess career and her dedication to the Texas tourism industry, as well as her outstanding support of TxDOTs Travel Information Centers and the states $57 billion travel industry.

Kathi Hughes brings so much enthusiasm and fun to her important work with the Texas travel industry, so shes an absolute joy to work with, said Joan Henderson, Director of the Travel Information Division at TxDOT. Were thrilled to present her with this well-deserved award in recognition of her distinguished career. Were so grateful for her long-standing support!

Hughes began her career in Texas tourism with the Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau in the early 1989, and for the past 17 years she has served as Director of Jefferson Countys Ben J. Rogers Regional Visitors Center located in Beaumont.

Hughes helped to organize and grow the Southeast Texas Area, Regional Tourism networking group, which works as a partnership of stakeholders in the region to raise awareness and promote the area, and shes active with the Texas Travel Alliance and the Texas Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus in planning and organizing industry conferences held in Beaumont/Port Arthur.

The Rotary Club of Beaumont recently initiated a two-week fundraising project, Stand With Ukraine, to provide immediate assistance to the humanitarian effort in that country.

Using the Rotary network, Beaumont Rotary reached out to the Rotary Club Lviv International and learned that their club was actively working on various projects to provide medical supplies to area hospitals, to support women and children fleeing the fighting in other parts of Ukraine, and to support refugees arriving in Lviv and hoping to travel to Poland or other countries.

Club President Brad Brown invited his fellow Beaumont Rotarians to donate to the effort through a limited campaign in March, quickly raising over $50,000. Funds were sent by wire to Rotary Club Lviv International to immediately assist in procurement and transportation of medical equipment and supplies.

The Rotary Club of Beaumont is asking Southeast Texans who want to support the effort in Ukraine to make a donation to the local club that will be forwarded to Lviv, Ukraine. Gifts can be made online at https://portal.clubrunner.ca/3775 (click on the Ukrainian flag), or checks can be mailed to MCM Elegante Hotel, Suite 213, 2355 IH 10 South, Beaumont, TX 77705. Checks should be made payable to the Beaumont Rotary Foundation. Please include Stand With Ukraine in the memo line.

For additional information, please contact Brad Brown, President of the Rotary Club of Beaumont, at bdbrown@fftam.com or (409) 600-6460; Uliana Trylowsky, Vice President of the Rotary Club of Beaumont, at utrylowsky@lamar.edu or (409) 284-7358.

The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas recently broke ground on the site of what will be the Aati Imaabachi Imiisa Education Center.

The 49,000-square foot facility will serve as the center of education for tribal citizens of all ages. Anticipated for completion in the fall of 2024, the new center will house the Tribes Education Department, Head Start Program, Tribal Youth Program, Tribal Library, two play yards, and a multipurpose gym.

Leaders of our Tribe have long dreamed of building this Education Center, said Ricky Sylestine, Chairman of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas Tribal Council. Throughout our history, this tribe has valued learning and recognized the importance of preparing the next generation for success. This center will help the younger members of our tribe become better citizens while also offering facilities, such as the library, where adults can continue to learn and better themselves as well.

Sylestine added, The construction of this new center also signifies our optimism about the future. We have been in this region for many generations and plan to be part of the East Texas community for a long time to come. Education is the key to a brighter future, for our tribe and for our neighbors.

Do you have a news item like this that your customers or clients need to hear about? A new manager or owner, a major change in your operations? Send it to Opinions@BeaumontEnterprise.com so we can spread the word!
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  The 11 a.m. service at Church for All Nations, a large nondenominational evangelical church in Colorados second-largest city, began as such services usually do. The congregation of young families and older couples swayed and sang along to live music. Mark Cowart, the churchs senior pastor, delivered an update on a church mission project.

Then Cowart turned the pulpit over to a guest speaker, William Federer.

An evangelical commentator and one-time Republican congressional candidate, Federer led the congregation through an hourlong PowerPoint presentation based on his 2020 book, Socialism  The Real History from Plato to the Present: How the Deep State Capitalizes on Crises to Consolidate Control. Many congregants scribbled in the notebooks they had brought from home.

I believe God is pushing the world to a decision-making moment, Federer said, building toward his conclusion. We used to have national politicians that held back the floodgates of hell. The umbrellas been ripped after Jan. 6, and now its raining down upon every one of us. We had politicians that were supposed to certify that  and instead they just accepted it. And, lo and behold, an anti-Christian spirits been released across the country and the world.

Evangelical churches have long been powerful vehicles for grassroots activism and influence on the American right, mobilized around issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Now, some of those churches have embraced a new cause: promoting Donald Trumps false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.

In the 17 months since the presidential election, pastors at these churches have preached about fraudulent votes and vague claims of election meddling. They have opened their church doors to speakers promoting discredited theories about overturning President Joe Bidens victory and lent a veneer of spiritual authority to activists who often wrap themselves in the language of Christian righteousness.

For these church leaders, Trumps narrative of the 2020 election has become a prominent strain in an apocalyptic vision of the left running amok.

Whats going on in our country right now with this recent election and the fraudulent nature of that? Cowart, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, asked in a sermon last year. What is going on?

Its difficult to measure the extent of churches engagement in the issue. Research suggests that a small minority of evangelical pastors bring politics to the pulpit. I think the vast majority of pastors realize there is not a lot of utility to being very political, said Ryan Burge, an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University and a Baptist pastor.

Still, surveys show that the belief in a fraudulent election retains a firm hold on white evangelical churchgoers overall, Trumps most loyal constituency in 2020. A poll released in November by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 60% of white evangelical respondents continued to believe that the election was stolen  a far higher share than other Christian groups of any race. That figure was roughly 40% for white Catholics, 19% for Hispanic Catholics and 18% for Black Protestants.

Among evangelicals, a high percentage seem to walk in lockstep with Trump, the election conspiracies and the vigilante taking back of America,  said Rob Brendle, lead pastor at Denver United Church, who recalled that when he criticized some Christians embrace of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in a sermon the Sunday after the riot, he lost about 100 members of his congregation, which numbered around 1,500 before the pandemic.

He thinks many fellow clergy may share that view. I think the jurys still out, but its not a fringe, he said.

Some of the national evangelical figures who supported Trump during his presidency and his 2020 campaign, such as Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, separated themselves from his insistence that the election was stolen. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham and president of Samaritans Purse, equivocated. Writing on Facebook the month after the election, Graham acknowledged Bidens victory but said that when Trump claimed the election was rigged against him, I tend to believe him.

Others embraced Trumps claims or argued for the preservation of his rule in spite of his loss. Shortly after the election was called for Biden, Paula White, a Florida televangelist who served as the White House faith adviser during Trumps presidency, led a prayer service in which she and others called upon God to overturn the election.

Greg Locke, a preacher who leads the Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, spoke alongside Alex Jones of Infowars at a Rally for Revival demonstration in Washington, D.C., the night before the Capitol attack. Locke offered a prayer for the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group, and for Enrique Tarrio, the organizations leader who has since been indicted on charges of conspiracy for his role in the Capitol insurrection.

Locke  whose congregation is relatively small but who claims a social media audience in the millions  is one of more than a dozen pastors who have appeared onstage at the ReAwaken America Tour: a traveling roadshow that has featured far-right Republican politicians, anti-vaccine activists, election conspiracists and Trumpworld personalities, including Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a central figure in the effort to overturn the election in late 2020.

The event has drawn crowds of thousands of Trump supporters in nine states in the past year. All but one of the tours stops have been hosted by megachurches, and the tour is sponsored by a charismatic Christian media company.

The performances wrap the narrative of election fraud in a megachurch atmosphere, complete with worship music and prayer, and have drawn criticism from some Christian clergy. When the tour came to a church in San Marcos, California, this month, a local Methodist minister denounced it as an irreligious abomination in an opinion essay.

Smaller churches, meanwhile, have proved an important support network for the individual activists who now travel the country promoting the narrative of a stolen election.

Churches and bars, baby. Thats where it was happening in 1776, wrote Douglas Frank, a high school math and science teacher in Ohio whose widely debunked analyses of the 2020 results have been influential with election conspiracists, in a Telegram post last month. This year, more than one-third of the speeches he has promoted on his social media accounts have been hosted by churches or religious groups.

Seth Keshel, a former Army captain and military intelligence analyst who worked alongside Flynn in the weeks immediately after the election, is a popular draw with the same crowds. He attributed the prevalence of churches on the circuit to the instincts of local organizers.

Most conservatives are evangelicals and naturally think church as a venue, he wrote in an email. There are some pastors more fired up about elections and liberty but not all.

Churches are commonly used as spaces for events they do not directly endorse. Often, though, pastors at the churches hosting these speakers have used their appearances as an occasion to opine about the election to their congregation.

This will be your opportunity to find out real information about what really happened at the polls, D.J. Rabe, a pastor of The House Ministry Center, a nondenominational church in Snohomish, Washington, told his congregation at the Sunday worship service before a speaking appearance by Keshel in August. Heres what were going to find out: What everyone thinks happened didnt really happen. The information is coming out.

The connection between churches and election activists has been particularly visible in Colorado Springs, a long-standing hub of conservative evangelical political power that has lately become a hotbed of the election integrity crusade.

The city is home to two particularly active groups dedicated to the cause: the U.S. Election Integrity Plan and FEC United, a right-wing organization that protested COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020 and later became a prominent promoter of election conspiracies.

Both groups have support from local churches. Church for All Nations has twice hosted talks by U.S. Election Integrity Plan leaders in its sanctuary as part of the churchs current events forum. At the first event, after a woman in the audience said, I want to see butts in jail! Ken Davis, a group leader at the church, replied: I think theres a certain punishment for treason in this country, and its not jail.

The second event, in March, was held shortly after the regional NAACP chapter and other groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Election Integrity Plan. The organizations volunteers  some of whom were carrying firearms, the lawsuit claims  visited addresses they believed to be potentially associated with fraudulent ballots, asking residents how they voted in the 2020 election. The lawsuit argues that their actions violated both the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. Holly Kasun, U.S. Election Integrity Plans co-founder, called the lawsuit a baseless claim in an email.

In February, The Rock, a nondenominational evangelical church in nearby Castle Rock, Colorado, hosted FEC United for a talk featuring Shawn Smith, a founder of U.S. Election Integrity Plan, and Tina Peters, clerk and recorder of Mesa County, who has since been indicted on charges that she devised a scheme to copy voting-machine hard drives and share the data with prominent 2020 election conspiracists. (In a statement, Peters, who is running for secretary of state in Colorado, maintained her innocence.)

Smith made headlines when he accused Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold of election fraud and told the crowd: If youre involved in election fraud, you deserve to hang. Mike Polhemus, The Rocks pastor, later distanced the church from the event and told a local TV station that Smiths remarks were inappropriate.

Smith believes in due process and has said so on the record numerous times, Kasun said.

Other pastors have continued to associate with FEC United. The week after its event at The Rock, the group held a meeting at Fervent Church in Colorado Springs. The event was emceed by the churchs pastor, Garrett Graupner.

Graupner also serves as FEC Uniteds chaplain, a role he describes as simply ministering to the groups members. Im the spiritual care guy, he said. If you asked me to be the chaplain of The New York Times, Id say yes.

Graupner has been an outspoken opponent of COVID-19 restrictions throughout the pandemic, and he said his issues of greatest concern were not necessarily the election but rather abortion, gender identity and teaching about systemic racism in schools. CRT  critical race theory  is a hill for me to die on, he said.

Nevertheless, he said, I have seen some evidence to believe that the elections were tampered with at some point.

I could send you tons of material."

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Along the edge of the Gulf, Nathaniel 'Natty' Adams details the people, places, culture and moments that make New Orleans one of America's most colorful and vibrant cities.

At the far eastern end of the Bywater neighborhood, past Poland Avenue and below St. Claude, lies New Orleans most beloved unofficial public park. Across train tracks, through collapsed barbed wire-topped fence, and uphill atop a scruffy levee is how locals reach what they call The End of the World. The spit of land curlsbeckoning fingerlike to the boats on the Mississippiat the mouth of the Industrial Canal, where small ships are waved past a rusted lock by the Army Corps of Engineers. Here the industrial and the natural abut and overrun one another, concrete covering earth, pierced in turn by scrubby marsh grass and skinny shadeless trees.



Canal-side, herons and cormorants stalk at waters edge as the absurd pelican sits on the edge of a bollard with the hauteur befitting an official state bird. The city side of the levee is dominated by a hulking brutalist naval base, shuttered since 2011, that's now home to squatters, transients, scrap metal-hunters who have stripped it down to the window frames, and battalions of feral raccoons. Inscribed along the base's great barrier, a message in graffiti two stories tall: OPEN YOUR EYES.

Open your eyes at the End of the World and youll find lots to look at. In true New Orleans style, this is a syncretic spacewhat a city planner might call multi-usebut its beauty is in being a place bereft of city planning, a featureless gray mass on Google Maps, coy with its true verdant charm, more wild than manicured Crescent Park nearby.

'Ive climbed trains and watched the sunrise at the End of the World.'



Ive climbed trains and watched the sunrise at the End of the World, says New Orleans native Victoria Barkley. Ive been to bonfires. Crescent Park is a cookie cutter. This fits better with New Orleans because New Orleans is a bit f--ked up and thats what makes it special.



The contrast between beauty and blight extends beyond landscapeat any given sunset youre as likely to hear the crack of a pistol in the distance as you are to interrupt a marriage proposal (I said yes! the fresh fiance exulted to all passers-by.)



The End of the World, its various segments comprising an area of roughly 12 acres (not including the naval base) has evolved based on how locals have used it. A graffiti wall intersects the levee at angles. Someone occasionally whitewashes it but within a day theres fresh spray paint again. About 400 feet from the wall, toward the canals mouth is a concrete platform with a corrugated tin shack known as The Hobo Hut. Someone has painted a walking labyrinth on the ground, mandala-like, with stones along its path. Two handmade shrines to dead people have been left; pyramids possibly carried along the levee by the Anarchic Mardi Gras Krewe of Erisnamed after the Greek goddess of discordduring its rogue carnival parade that concludes at dawn at the End of the World.

Emily Kask/Chron

Another shrine has been constructed in the memory of a beloved dog, now deceased. Decorated in New Orleans black-and-gold, it is a rudimentary dog house and includes, alongside faded photos of pets, a painted stone bearing the words To All Our Best Friends.



Apart from the taggers and picnicking punks who bonfire at levees edge (a tight Venn diagram), the most visible World-Enders are the dog owners, who gather daily around five in the evening. There are more mutts and rescue dogs here than at the more civilized dog runs around New Orleans. Here the beautiful bastard breeds nip and wrestle and swim, brindle pit bulls leaping and splashing, shaggy domestic wolves fetching tossed driftwood, little sausagey dachshund mixes trotting across the muddy beachhead at low tide.



Rob M. brings his dogs, Bubba and Stella, every day, rain or shine. Its the only place where Bubba can swim while Stella occasionally wades gingerly like a dignified lady. Just a few feet from where the dogs typically frolic, people fish; mostly middle-aged and older Black men who wade near the mouth of the canal and heave four-foot catfish out of the river two-handed before gutting them and tossing them in their bicycle baskets, bound for a pan of cornmeal and a pot of oil at a Friday Lenten fish-fry. The dogs, intrigued by the entrails, give themselves a good roll in the filth. Rob shrugs: They get back in the water and then I give them a little beer shampoo, he says, indicating the two cans of Founders IPA he brings to sip at sunset as the dogs play.

Emily Kask/Chron



The land once belonged to the Convent of the Ursuline Sisters, but it was bought by the city in 1919 andin the grips of canal fever provoked by Panamalocal authorities tore down the convent to connect the Mississippi River with Lake Pontchartrain. The inauguration of the Industrial Canal in 1923 was an event of great fanfareriverboats and tugs chugging up and down the canal to the excitement of straw-hatted men with crinolined wives.



Recent history begins with Hurricane Katrina, when surging water inundated the canal, flowing back on itself and ultimately topping the levy meant to protect the surrounding neighborhoods. After the storm in 2005, the adjacent neighborhood began to gentrify, and sometime between then and the abandonment of the naval base locals named it the End of the World.



The source of the name is a mystery. Several other areas downriver had been called Worlds End and similar things in the past, so it could be that newcomers, unfamiliar with the geography, heard that term and applied it to the local levee, (especially because the semi-apocalyptic landscape fits the moniker so aptly.) A more critical look notices that the name is referring to the land between the more recently white-majority Bywater and the Black-majority neighborhoods across the canal.

David Melerines family has deep roots in the area. His mother grew up in the Bywater and for a time worked as a secretary at the Naval Base in its heyday. His ancestors owned a part of the land in the 19th century. David has been going to the End of the World since as early as 2008, long before dog walkers were typical. He and many others noted a spike in its popularity during the pandemic.



It was one of the only places with enough physical space, Melerine recalls. Since then its become a sanctuary for many people. I go there and meditate. Ive been there to weep for lost friends. Its an urban Nirvana.



Early in lockdown, someone set up a Free Store in a structure that used to be part of an old gas station, swapping and giving away clothes and home goods. In May of 2021, after the citys second Covid wave had subsided, taking that years Mardi Gras with it, one of the first widely-attended public parties was a gallery show in the station featuring DJs and a neon light show. It was catharsis. People danced and drank, sweaty and grateful to be alive in this city at that moment.

Emily Kask/Chron

Many people discovered it for the first time in those days, including Susan Hecker, who was first invited there on a Tinder date. Her date proposed the location and Susan reasonably confident that she wasnt about to be murdered and dumped in the canalagreed.



For me there is no better date than sitting by the water, having some wine, having a chat, Hecker says. In those respects the date was perfect, and she fell in lovewith the End of the World. Its the best thing that came out of the date, she admits.



Despite living on the other side of town with its own riverfront levees, Suzan prefers to drive all the way to the End of the World, setting up a folding chair, with neither dog nor fishing pole nor can of Krylon paint, just to enjoy the peace and not get around to reading the books she always brings.

'I look at the ships and I wonder about themwhere theyre going, where theyve come from.'

I like to see the movement, she says. All the boats on the river waiting to get into the canal. I look at the ships and I wonder about themwhere theyre going, where theyve come from.



Melerine also took his first post-lockdown date to the End of the World and, overwhelmed by the location, started to cry.



I was thinking about my relationship with New Orleans and my familys connection to this land. And I thought Mm, shes not going to call me back. And she didnt. But thats OK. I still go there and put my feet in the river. Its a place that calls to you. It gets into your dreams.
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For three days, Johnny Depp has been testifying in a libel trial that, at least in theory, is about whether Amber Heard defamed him in a 2018 newspaper op-ed.

The trial has turned into a spectacle in which Depp has testified about everything from taking pills as a child to a near mental breakdown in which the actor said he used his severed finger to write on the walls in his own blood to recount his ex-wifes alleged lies.

WHY IS DEPP DOING THIS?

Heards lawyers had warned that the trial would be a mudslinging soap opera that would expose the real Johnny Depp. Depp denies ever abusing Heard and, despite the public attention brought to his drug use and his violent text messages, he said he's obsessed with revealing the truth and doesn't want to disappoint those who'd looked up to him.

My goal is the truth because it killed me that all these people I had met over the years ... that these people would think that I was a fraud, Depp testified Tuesday.

The actor has said that his movie career suffered after Heard wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post in which she referred to herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse.

Heard never mentioned Depp by name, but Depps lawyers said it was a clear reference to accusations Heard made when she sought a 2016 restraining order against him.

Depp said the accusations and the article made him a Hollywood outcast and cost him his role in the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise.

Heards lawyers have argued that Heards opinion piece was accurate and didn't defame him. They've said Depps ruined reputation was due to his own bad behavior and have argued that The Walt Disney Co. had already decided to ax Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean months before the articles publication.

WHAT ARE HEARDS ALLEGATIONS?

Heard has accused Depp of physically and sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions before and during their brief marriage, often in situations where she said he drank so much he later blacked out.

Depp said Heards allegations of his substance abuse have been grossly embellished and that he was never out of control during that time period. The two met in 2009, got married in 2015 and Heard filed for divorce a year later.

Heards attorneys have highlighted many text messages Depp sent to friends recounting the copious amount of alcohol and drugs he had taken at a time in which he claims he wasn't a problematic drinker.

Depp filed a similar lawsuit in England against a newspaper there and lost. The judge there found that Depp assaulted Heard on a dozen occasions and put her in fear for her life multiple times.

Heard is expected to testify later in the trial.

HOW DID DEPP AND HEARD MEET?

Depp and Heard met through the filming of The Rum Diary, a 2011 Depp-produced movie based upon an initially unpublished novel by the late Hunter S. Thompson that Depp discovered while going through the gonzo journalists papers with Thompson, his friend.

Depp said Heard was the perfect embodiment of the books femme fatale character named Chenault. Thats the Chenault that Hunter wants, Depp recalled. Yep, she could definitely kill me."

They started dating a few years later, with Depp portraying the early part of their relationship as a classic Hollywood romance. Depp would call Heard Slim, while she called him Steve, nicknames used by the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall characters in the 1944 film To Have and Have Not.

Depp, 58, said he was also cognizant of the age difference between himself and Heard, 36, and compared it to the 25-year gap between Bogart and Bacall.

I acknowledge the fact I was the old, craggy fogey and she was this beautiful creature, he said.

HOW DID THEIR MARRIAGE FALL APART?

Depp said things began to change in his marriage when he felt that he was suddenly just wrong about everything in Heards eyes.

Depp said Heard made little digs at him, demeaned and berated him. The insults escalated into full-fledged circular arguments from which there was no way in or out, Depp said. It was sort of a rapid-fire, sort of endless parade of insults, Depp said.

Soon after, Heard began physically attacking him, Depp said. He said she once threw two bottles of vodka at him, the second of which exploded and severed his finger to the point where bone was exposed. Depp said he used the resulting blood to write on his walls and recount lies in which he had caught Heard. At the hospital, Depp said he lied to protect Heard and told the doctors that he had injured himself. Heard's lawyers contend he cut his own finger.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BOSTON FLIGHT?

One of the chief points in contention is what occurred on a 2014 private flight from Boston to Los Angeles that Depp and Heard took while he was filming the gangster film Black Mass.

Heard has said Depp assaulted her on the flight while he was blackout drunk.

Depp testified he took two oxycodone pills  an opiate to which he admits he was addicted at the time  and locked himself in the plane bathroom and fell asleep to avoid her badgering.

He told the court that he drank only a glass of Champagne while boarding the flight. But texts he sent to the actor Paul Bettany at the time referenced drinking half a bottle of whiskey, a thousand Red Bull vodkas and two bottles of Champagne before the flight.

Heard's attorneys have also pointed to text messages Depp sent to Heard after the flight, saying, Once again I find myself in a place of shame and regret.  I must get better."

WHAT ELSE DID DEPP TEXT?

Heard's attorneys have focused on text messages Depp sent to Bettany in which he expressed a desire to kill and defile Heard.

After saying he wanted to burn her, Depp wrote, Lets drown her before we burn her!!! I will (expletive) her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure shes dead.

Depp has apologized to the jury for the vulgar language and said that in the heat of the pain I was feeling, I went to dark places. He also compared his writing to Thompson's gonzo style, which often incorporated brash language and embellished thoughts.

MOMENTS OF LEVITY

Despite the dark accusations and profane text messages being read to the court, Depps testimony has on occasion featured humorous moments.

Asked whether he would sometimes drink whiskey in the morning, Depp responded, I mean, isnt happy hour any time?

And asked whether he had ever given pills to musician Marilyn Manson, Depp conceded that he once gave Manson a pill to get him to stop talking so much.

Depp also admitted that he's never watched Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the 2003 megahit in which he played the unhinged Captain Jack Sparrow. Asked how the film fared, Depp smiled and said, I didn't see it, but ... well, the film did pretty well, apparently.

And then there's the bizarre matter of the alleged penis vandalism. Heard's attorney repeatedly asked Depp whether he was responsible for drawing a penis on a painting inside his home shortly after the actor said Heard severed his finger. Drawing a penis on a painting was not the first thing on my mind, Depp testified.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING IN VIRGINIA?

The trial is taking place in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia.

Heards lawyers had sought to have the case tried in California, where the actors reside. But a judge ruled that Depp was within his rights to bring the case in Virginia because The Washington Posts computer servers for its online edition are located in the county.

Depps lawyers have said they brought the case in Virginia in part because the laws here are more favorable to their case.
Early testimony in the trial of a Beaumont man accused of capital murder seems to hang the case on whether the man shot four people in self-defense.

Defense Attorney Ryan Gertz told a jury of 12 on Tuesday afternoon that Lively Stratton Jr. was attempting to recover stolen property from the duplex where he used to live when one of Stratton's former roommates pulled a knife, blocked the door and the deadly shooting occurred.

The reality is that Lively shot and killed four assailants that were high on methamphetamine in a very small room, Gertz said.

Stratton's trial began Tuesday. He has pleaded not guilty.

Related: No death penalty sought in Beaumont capital murder case

He was indicted for capital murder after allegedly shooting his former roommates on Sept. 29, 2019, at a duplex in the 4100 block of Highland Avenue.

The state, led by Jefferson County District Attorney's Office Criminal Chief Prosecutor Ashley Molfino, gave her opening argument moments before Gertz claimed his client acted in self-defense. She described the chaotic scene and gave jury a preview of witnesses they would hear from during the trial, including a Beaumont police officer who was at the scene.

Elijah Rideau, 34, and Alvin Lee Bellard, 32, died on the scene. Shannon Sutton, 23, and Bobby Wyatt, 39, were taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital where they later died.

RELATED: Dying man names suspect in quadruple slaying

Molfino said the officer wearing a body camera arrived to discover Rideau struggling for life and begging for help with gunshot wounds to the head, arm and torso.

Elijah Rideau told the officers that Lively, he shot us, Molfino said.

Stratton remained motionless as Molfino described the scene and claimed the evidence and testimony would prove that the shooting was not self-defense. She claimed Stratton and Rideau had been in an argument in the weeks before the shooting.

This is nothing more than an execution of four individuals on a Sunday in Beaumont, Texas, Molfino said.

Man accused in quadruple homicide indicted on capital murder charge

On Tuesday, the jury heard from Beaumont police officers, watched police body camera footage and listened to recordings of emergency calls to dispatchers, including from one caller who described hearing six or seven gunshots that night.

The jury heard then heard from a man and a woman who lived directly below Stratton's former roommates. They said they heard the shooting and called 9-1-1.

They told the court that they heard Rideau arguing on the phone with someone and then about 10-20 minutes later heard heavy footsteps up the stairs to where the shooting occurred a short time later.

They later saw Stratton drive away alone in the car.

They were arguing earlier and were coming back to shoot, a witness told 9-1-1 dispatchers.

Beaumont Police Officer James Gillen, who was the first to arrive on the scene, testified next.

He first was told by a witness that nothing was on -- after he coincidentally ran the plates of a silver Mitsubishi car, which Stratton allegedly used to leave the scene.

But when he officer arrived at the top of the stairs, he heard moaning.

Once he opened the door, he discovered the four people, one of whom was calling out for help.

There was just blood everywhere, Gillen said.

The state played graphic video evidence of the car leaving and the officer arriving to the scene. A man is heard on the recording.

"I need help, the man said.

What happened? Who shot you? the officer asked.

Lively, the dying man said.

The jury also watched police body camera footage.

However, during questioning, Gertz began to introduce new details.

He asked an officer if another man on the scene told police he hadn't sought help for the men, which the officer said he was not aware of and agreed was strange.

The officer did a security sweep but did not get warrants to search other rooms for evidence.

He said the man informed officers that Lively had a girlfriend with him, while others said he was alone in the car.

Gertz also discussed justification by self-defense with the officers.

If someone is threatening you with a deadly weapon, the law permits, in fact you are justified in using force and potentially deadly force, correct? Gertz said.

As long as you have a legal right to be where you are when that occurs, yes sir, the officer said.

The trial continued late into the afternoon before breaking at 5 p.m.

The state already has waived the death penalty. If Stratton is found guilty, he will face a mandatory life sentence without parole, 252nd Criminal District Court Judge Raquel West in Jefferson County previously said.

Stratton previously confirmed to the judge that he did not want to look at or discuss an offer that the state is willing to make.

At the time, the attorneys did not know how long the trial would last but expected it to be an intensive trial.

The trial will resume at 1 p.m. Wednesday in Jefferson Countys 252nd Criminal District Court.

meagan.ellsworth@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/megzmagpie
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Sean L. Clifford dreamt of one day opening his own distilling business, digging into his Tennessee mountain whiskey-making roots and bringing his great-great-great grandfather's 250-year-old whiskey recipe to the public.

Thursday, Clifford and family joined with others, raising that very whiskey in a toast "to the success of Port Arthur" in the tasting room of the new Clifford Distilling business.

The grand opening, timed to coincide with the anniversary of San Jacinto Day, which also happened to be Clifford's 50th birthday, kicked off with a ribbon cutting outside before convening inside, where Clifford, surrounded by his eldest son Sean, middle son Zachary and wife Wendy, thanked all those in Port Arthur who helped make the dream a reality.

The list was long, including the Queen family, the Economic Development Corporation, Chamber of Commerce, the Port of Port Arthur, Port Arthur City Council and others. Then the Clifford's received an honor of their own from Governor Greg Abbott, presented on his behalf by Betty Russo.

After his remarks, the real celebration began as son Sean cracked open the first bottles - three varieties of whiskey and two rums, all made on-site at the downtown location on Procter Street.

As son Sean poured the first rounds, owner Sean Clifford talked with guests about the decor of the tasting room and other areas of the venue, most of which were made from materials steeped in Texas history, like the wood from a relative's home damaged in the wake of a hurricane.

The whiskeys and rums are created with two of Clifford's biggest loves in mind - Texas history and the military.

Related: New Port Arthur distillery ferments community connection

The San Jacinto clear and San Patricio dark rums are 82-proof in honor of the 82nd Airborne Division; the whiskeys 101-proof for the 101st Airborne Division.

The whiskeys include the Gonzales, a clear whiskey as it isn't cured in oak -- Clifford says it's essentially Moonshine that's been made to a drinkable level. The Goliad is a single-aged, single-finish whiskey whose name derives from the prisoners of war executed by Santa Ana's army in Goliad, Texas. The San Antonio is their smoothest whiskey, a double-aged variety best suited for drinking straight or on the rocks.

The rums are made with sulfur-free molasses instead of the commonly-used blackstrap molasses, with a sulfuric content that can overpower the sweetness.

Clifford also offered a taste of his newest creation -- one still in the making. It's a malt whiskey made from corn, which will be the only malt whiskey of its kind in the world. It will be called "The Port Arthur."

The opening celebration included tours of the distillery, refreshments, artwork on display and for sale by members of the Artists of Southeast Texas, and plenty of Clifford Distilling merchandise. Outside, the Boss Burger food truck came to join in the event.

Clifford Distilling will be open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Hours may vary with special events.
WASHINGTON (AP)  One of the largest providers of military housing in the United States continues to respond inadequately to mold and other structural problems, threatening the health and safety of service members and their families, according to a Senate panel's investigation.

The allegations against Balfour Beatty Communities LLC are focused on housing provided to service members stationed at Fort Gordon Army Base in Georgia and Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. The company oversees about 1,700 homes at the two bases.

Balfour pleaded guilty in December to committing fraud against the United States from 2013 to 2019. The company was ordered to pay $65.4 million in fines and restitution and was placed under an independent compliance monitor for three years. The Senate panel, led by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., released a report Tuesday concluding that Balfour's practices since 2019 mirror those that occurred in previous years.

Ossoff said that the eight-month investigation by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations stemmed from the complaints he heard from military families about their maintenance requests being ignored. He said that the investigation revealed grave risks to the health and safety of servicemembers and their families."

Two service members recounted their harrowing experiences with military housing at a hearing Tuesday.

U.S. Army Capt. Samuel Choe said his daughter developed a potentially fatal allergy as a result of exposure to black mold and mildew. He said his family made repeated efforts to get Balfour Beatty to fix the problem, but were ignored, disappointed or disregarded at every juncture." His daughter continues to break out with rashes and on her worst days resembles a burn victim, he said.

It will haunt her as well as us for the rest of our lives," Choe said.

Air Force Technical Sergeant Jack Fe Torres described how a mold problem persisted in a Balfour Beatty house that his family lived in at Sheppard Air Force Base. He said that after moving into the home, his wife and children experienced symptoms that included rashes, nausea, memory loss and fungal infections.

Our military families should not be forced to live in fear of their own homes," Fe Torres said.

Richard Taylor, a president at Balfour Beatty, said he made a commitment to Congress in 2019 that the company would get better at monitoring repairs and responding to problems. He said the company gets more than 280,000 work orders annually and that performance metrics indicate the overwhelming majority of residents are happy with their homes.

Im proud to say we have made enormous strides since I made that commitment, Taylor said.

Balfour operates more than 43,000 on-base homes at 55 military bases.

Ossoff read about a dozen emails from military housing residents that included I have a pregnant wife who is high risk and I have to live with this exposed mold on my ceiling." Another read death trap of a house."

He said those emails came in after the 2013-2019 period in which Balfour Beatty had pleaded guilty to defrauding the government. Ossoff asked why lawmakers should believe that a company that engaged in major fraud has changed.

I reject the suggestion that it's a systemic failure," said Taylor, emphasizing that the nearly one dozen complaints Ossoff read must be compared against the 280,000 work orders the company receives annually.

Things go wrong. We don't always get it right the first time. We're not perfect," Taylor said. What's important for us is that we understand where our shortcomings are and we take action to correct those deficiencies."

The committee also heard from military housing advocates critical of Balfour Beatty. Rachel Christian, chief legislative officer for Armed Forces Housing Advocates, said the volunteer organization assists residents with mold remediation, lead exposure and other problems related to military housing.

How many more cases of negligence, fraud and civil rights violations must we present in this building before Balfour Beatty is properly held accountable and banned from receiving further government contracts?" Christian said.

The subcommittee said it reviewed more than 11,000 pages of records from Balfour as part of its review. Staff also interviewed more than one dozen military family members and former Balfour employees, and received briefings from the Department of Defense and advocacy groups for military families.

The report concluded with a call for federal agencies to conduct more robust oversight" of Balfour Beatty to ensure military families get the housing services they deserve.
Texas has been sending migrants unlawfully crossing its Southern border with Mexico to Washington D.C. as part of a new strategy to combat illegal immigration by Gov. Greg Abbott. On April 22, Abbott sent out a press release saying the 10th bus had arrived in the nations capitol.

By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., Texas is sending a clear message: we should not have to bear the burden of the federal government's inaction to secure the border, and the Lone Star State will do whatever it takes to keep Texans safe," Abbott said in the release.

Here are five things to know about the program.

The policy is in response to the end of Title 42

Abbott first announced the policy on April 6. The governor directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to charter buses and flights to D.C. for migrants who have been processed and released from federal custody, a press release said. The transportation is voluntary.

In the release, Abbott said the policy is in response to President Joe Biden ending Title 42, a policy enacted by then-President Donald Trump in March 2020 allowing expulsions of migrants for the purpose of public health. The policy is set to end May 23.

"With the end of Title 42 expulsions looming next month, Texas will immediately begin taking unprecedented action to do what no state has done in American history to secure our border, Abbott said in the release.

Politicians responded to the move

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke tweeted a response to Abbotts policy soon after it was announced. You can always count on Abbott to choose stunts over solutions, ORourke wrote in a tweet. In a recent poll, Abbott leads O'Rourke 50% to 42% among likely voters.

The move received pushback from top Texas Democrats, including San Antonio-area Rep. Joaquin Castro. In a tweet, Castro called Abbott an "incompetent governor" and urged him to "just try to keep the lights on for us" in response to the 2021 winter storm.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican, applauded the move from the governor and took in a step further. In an interview on Fox News, the Houston-area Congressman said Abbott should send migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris' house, as well.

"I would kindly ask the governor to also consider sending them to Kamala Harris' house," Crenshaw said during the interview. "Maybe if you put a busload of illegal immigrants right in her backyard... she can finally start paying attention to this crisis."

Crenshaw wasn't the only Republican to offer up other ideas of where to send the migrants. Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted that Abbott's plan was an "excellent [idea]" and said the governor should also bus migrants to places across the country like Massachusetts, California and Delaware.

The migrants transported are from around the world

Migrants who have taken up Texas offer to go to D.C. have come from multiple countries around the world. According to the April 22 release, migrants transported to Washington have come from Angola, Brazil, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Abbott announced other border measures

In the April 6 release, Abbott announced multiple other measures to curb illegal immigration in Texas. One policy was directing the Department of Public Safety to inspect all incoming commercial vehicles at international ports of entry into Texas. The measure led to multiple hour delays and cost the state $4.3 billion, according to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.

Other measures implemented include boat blockades, installing razor-wire and container blockades. The release said the Texas Military Department is starting mass-migration rehearsals and DPS troops and Texas National Guard will be given riot gear, as well.

Texas is fighting to keep Title 42

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on April 22 to challenge the ending of Title 42, according to a press release. The lawsuit asks the federal court to freeze the ending of the policy.

Biden cannot make such sweeping decisions without going through the process required by federal law, Paxton said in the release. He didnt, so Im suing. Ill hold him accountable and do all I can to protect Texans.

Without Title 42, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said up to 18,000 more migrants may arrive at the Southern border everyday, according to ABC News. While 18,000 is on the high end of the projection, the department said it is preparing for anywhere between 6,000 and 18,000 additional migrants once the policy ends.

On April 26, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing the Biden administration from lifting the policy, a tweet from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said. The lawsuit was originally filed by Missouri, Louisiana and Arizona before multiple other states, like Texas, joined the suit.

"This is a huge victory for border security, but the fight continues on," Schmitt wrote in the tweet.
South Africa: UN team visits KZN to offer assistance in areas affected by floods

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President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to host the President of the Republic of Guinea Bissau, General Umaro Sissoco Embalo, on a State Visit to Pretoria on Thursday. According to a statement by The Presidency, this visit will provide an opportunity for South Africa and Guinea Bisseau to strengthen bilateral, political, and socio-economi... See more
A strategically autonomous France is important for Europe

By Global Times editorial (Global Times) 08:36, April 26, 2022

Photo taken on April 24, 2022 shows the scene of French incumbent President Emmanuel Macron's rally after the presidential runoff in Paris, France. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

The much-anticipated voting in the French presidential runoff election ended on Sunday. The incumbent president Emmanuel Macron once again defeated his "old rival" Marine Le Pen to win the election, making Macron the first French president to be re-elected in nearly 20 years. The two candidates held entirely different views on issues such as the European Union, relations with Russia, the economy, immigration, and pensions. Therefore, the election was also seen as a "historic" choice for voters to choose between the "two Frances that confront each other."

On the surface, this French presidential election is a contest between the centrist and far-right parties, but essentially, it is a competition between European integration and anti-European integration, as well a contest between globalization and anti-globalization. Some Western media said that, if Le Pen had won the second round, it would mean that France would have elected a female president for the first time and the far-right parties would have led the country in an unprecedentedly manner. It is widely believed that such a scenario could have led to a "political earthquake" comparable to Brexit and Donald Trump being elected as the US president. Therefore, after Macron's victory, some French media breathed a sigh of relief saying that the "earthquake" did not happen.

"Strategic autonomy" was the eye-catching label of Macron's first term. As the youngest president in French history, Macron has demonstrated a steady and pragmatic style in domestic affairs over the past five years and inherited France's tradition of independence and autonomy in foreign affairs. He has carefully kept a distance from Washington, believing France and EU should not be forced to take sides between China and the US. Instead, it should become an important pole in a multipolar world. Macron once bluntly criticized NATO, saying it is becoming "brain-dead" and raised the ambitious Initiative for Europe. He also stressed defense autonomy independent from the US, technology autonomy not reliant on other countries, and diplomatic autonomy without subordination to the US. It should be said that France plays an indispensable role in realizing Europe's strategic autonomy and rebalancing international relations.

The reason why the French election this time has global implication is because of current uncertainties in Europe. Europe, once described by Charles de Gaulle as the "Archimedes' lever" of France, is a platform where France can play the role of a major power. But Washington is becoming the biggest influence behind it. Although the Biden administration has repeatedly claimed to "return to multilateralism" and expressed the willingness to repair transatlantic ties, it can hardly conceal its core interest of "America First." From the US withdrawing from Afghanistan to the signing of the AUKUS pact that ripped off France-Australia submarine deal, France and the EU have been made deeply aware of US' selfishness and arrogance. In the Russia-Ukraine crisis that is exhausting the two countries, Washington is attempting to drag Europe to make comprehensive profit.

Against this background, it is very important for France to stabilize its role. The reelection of Macron can at least ensure the continuity and stability of major French policies to a great extent. In fact, the expectations for France, as the leader of the EU and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, from Europe and the whole international society go beyond this. Since the end of WWII, France has played a key leading role at several critical moments in Europe. For Macron, who is holding the banner of "returning to de Gaulleism" and seeking the EU's strategic autonomy, there are challenges, tests, but also ample room in today's France, Europe and the world.

Diversity and multilateralism are in the genes of French culture. Be it during the Cold War or in the post-Cold War era, independent diplomatic routes had brought about huge strategic dividends to Paris. France partially withdrew from NATO in the 1960s and it was the first among Western major countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. After the end of the Cold War, France was the first Western major country to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. It also prompted the EU to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. Against the background when uncertainties are significantly increasing in the world, China and France share many similar views in terms of safeguarding multilateralism and improving global governance. Strengthening cooperation between the two sides is of vital importance to promote world stability and prosperity.

Improving China-France relations is consistent with strengthening Europe's strategic autonomy. We congratulate Macron on his reelection and expect China-France relations can continue to move forward and China-EU relations can go forward steadily during his second term.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
It's official. Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought social media giant Twitter on April 25 for $44 billion. Musk, who also owns SpaceX and The Boring Company, plans to take Twitter private.

Musk's Twitter takeover began on April 5, when it was announced that he would be joining the company's board of directors. However, just five days later, Musk decided not to join, and then on April 14, he made an offer to buy the company. The Twitter board accepted Musk's offer on April 25.

Musk's purchase prompted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to urge the tech CEO to bring the social media company to the Lone Star State. Musk's companies are already well represented in Texas: SpaceX has a launch facility in Brownsville, The Boring Company is headquartered in Austin and Tesla recently opened a gigafactory in the state capitol, as well.

"Bring Twitter to Texas to join Tesla, SpaceX & the Boring company," Abbott wrote in the tweet, tagging Musk.

Abbott wasn't the only Texas politician to react to the news. Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted out a poll asking his followers whether they believe Musk's purchase of Twitter is a "good thing." The poll's options are limited, though, with people being able to answer with "Yes" or "No, I hate free speech."

With over 36,000 votes as of Tuesday morning, more than 96% of people responded "Yes" to the poll.

Musk has not yet said anything about his specific plans for Twitter, nor has he responded to Abbott's call to bring the company to Texas. Twitter is currently headquartered in San Francisco. In a since-deleted tweet, Musk asked his followers in a poll whether the company should turn its headquarters into a shelter for those experiencing homelessness.

The one thing Musk has said in response to his purchase is that he hopes his "worst critics" remain on the social media app because he believes "that is what free speech means," he wrote in a tweet.
Washington will not lift sanctions against Bangladeshs elite force RAB until it shows it can respect human rights, the new ambassador said in the latest U.S. assessment of an issue that is straining bilateral ties.

In his first public comments on the Rapid Action Battalion sanctions since arriving in Dhaka in March, Ambassador Peter Haas conveyed that U.S. officials would keep working with the South Asian nation to combat terrorism and violent extremism.

Regarding law enforcement, I will be honest. There is no scope for repeal of sanctions against the Rapid Action Battalion without concrete action and accountability, Haas said Sunday.

We want to see a RAB that remains effective at combatting terrorism, but that does so while respecting basic human rights.

Despite those concerns, Haas said, sanctions issued against RAB by the U.S. Treasury on Dec. 10, 2021, do not mean that the two nations cannot enhance their strong law enforcement security cooperation. Those sanctions are against the organization and six officers, including RAB Director General Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.

Ambassador Haas made his comments during a seminar in Dhaka on Bangladesh and the United States Relations: Moving toward Enhanced Cooperation and Partnership, attended by Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen and Al-Mamun. The seminar was hosted by the Bangladesh Institute for International and Strategic Studies.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.

Haas said the U.S. would continue to support counterterrorism and transnational crime policing, the Anti-Terrorism Unit, and the specialized units of the Metropolitan Police in Chattogram, Sylhet and Rajshahi despite the sanctions.

During recent meetings with their U.S. counterparts, including the Partnership Dialogue and bilateral Security Dialogue, Bangladesh officials have called on the U.S. to withdraw the sanctions. In the coming weeks, the two countries are to hold two more meetings  the bilateral Defense Dialogue and the high-level Economic Consultation.

At the Dhaka seminar, Momen highlighted RABs role in eradicating terrorism and drug trafficking.

He noted that a former U.S. ambassador had called RAB Bangladeshs FBI, even as he agreed to the need for accountability for the forces actions.

This institution has brought stability not only in Bangladesh, but also in neighboring countries, Momen said.

Abdullah Al-Mamun, meanwhile, defended RAB at the seminar.

We have successfully tackled religious extremism and conducted successful operations in eradicating drug smuggling, human trafficking and against illegal weapons, he said, speaking before Haas.

We want to take our relationship to new heights in the interest of upholding human rights and the smooth functioning of the elite force, Al-Mamun said while calling on the U.S. to be involved in building a safe and secure community.

Al-Mamun also highlighted U.S. involvement in RAB activities.

They [the U.S.] have worked with us before and have had many discussions on our campus, he said.

In the months since the sanctions were imposed, Bangladesh officials have described the Treasury Departments move as unexpected. They have blamed different groups in Bangladesh and elsewhere for seeking to discredit the country.

We believe that the sanctions are unjustifiable, and were imposed based on fabricated and politically motivated inputs given by the same vested quarters, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said recently.

Human rights report

In addition to challenging the sanctions, Bangladesh officials have spoken out against the U.S. State Departments 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The report, released earlier this month, raised specific concerns about RAB.

It said three Rohingya were killed in gunfights with RAB in February and July 2021. In addition, the report said that at least one of two Bangladeshis killed in a May 2021 gunfight with security forces was killed by RAB.

According to international and local civil society, activists, and media, impunity was a pervasive problem in the security forces, including within but not limited to the RAB, BGB [Border Guard Bangladesh], Detective Branch of Police, police and other units, the report said.

Bangladeshi media said the report relied on questionable sources and contained factually incorrect information.

U.S. Ambassador Peter Haas (left) delivers his address at the Bangladesh and the United States Relations: Moving toward Enhanced Cooperation and Partnership seminar in Dhaka, April 24, 2022. [Photo courtesy Bangladesh Institute for International and Strategic Studies]

Bangladesh elections

In his speech on Sunday, Ambassador Haas also spoke about the need for fair polls.

Let me be clear: the United States will not pick a side in the upcoming elections. We simply hope for a democratic process that allows the Bangladeshi people to freely decide who will run their country, he said.

Holding an election consistent with international standards is not just about the day votes are actually cast. Truly democratic elections require the space for civic discourse to take place, an environment where journalists can investigate without fear and the ability for civil society organizations to advocate broadly.

Haas said he was pleased Momen stated that Bangladesh would welcome international observers during the next election.

He said the two countries could work together to promote democracy and protect human rights, while acknowledging the United States is not perfect.

We have embarked on our own democratic renewal. This journey includes tackling our own issues with police accountability and ensuring all Americans can cast their ballots on Election Day, he said.

Momen reiterated Dhakas commitment over the last few years to establishing free, fair and transparent elections.

We had some difficulties but in the last few years, weve done very well, he said.
Prigi Arisandi, the executive director of Ecoton, an Indonesian environmental conservation group, takes a water sample from the Ciliwung River in Java, in this undated photo.

An NGO studying the health of waterways in Indonesia has found that the Ciliwung, the main river which flows through Jakarta on densely populated Java Island, is badly contaminated with small particles of plastic  or micro-plastics  threatening human health and aquatic life.

Prigi Arisandi, executive director of Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (Ecoton), said his group and others collaborated to research the health of the Ciliwung. Those efforts revealed that garbage bags, straws and plastic along with organic waste polluted the river, along with micro-plastics that had drifted from upstream Bogor.

Micro-plastics attack respiratory systems and triggers the death of fish, Prigi said, noting that testing showed as many as 268 particles in 100 liters of water. Those fish are the peoples food source.

The Ciliwung probe follows a 2021 expedition by Ecoton to the Brantas, Bengawan Solo and Citarum rivers in the provinces of East Java, Central Java and West Java, respectively. It found that their health was harmed by pollution from industries located along their banks.

The Brantas  the longest river in East Java  is dotted by mills run by sugar and paper companies, while textile factories operate along the other two rivers.

Some regional drinking water companies use river water as raw material for their end products, Prigi said.

The rivers in Java are ailing, theyre not fine, Prigi said, adding that about 2.6 million tons of plastic waste are dumped into the rivers.

Dont rely on expensive bottled water. Lets take care of the river, he said.

Rahyang Nusantara, co-coordinator of the Zero Waste Indonesia Alliance, said some bottled water also contains micro-plastics.

Prigi said the research is part of an effort by the Nusantara River Expedition (ESN) to record the health of 68 rivers in Indonesia. Expedition teams are expected to spend another year conducting similar research in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua, Nusa Tenggara and Bali.

Workers remove wood and plastic waste items from a river in Jakarta on April 22, 2020  otherwise known as Earth Day around the world. [AFP]

The largest environmental advocacy NGO in Indonesia, Walhi, said rivers around the capital are polluted with 300 to 400 tons of waste a day including disposable diapers, organic waste, glass, metal, plastic bottles and plastic packaging. About 34 percent of that waste flows into Cilwung and the rest into other rivers.

Suci Fitriah Tanjung, the executive director of Walhis Jakartas chapter, said proper waste management could have a positive effect for the region, noting the rivers could be used as sources of drinking water.

There would be no water crisis in Jakarta. The supply of drinking water is only 4 percent from Jakarta currently, the rest comes from outside, she said.

Researchers perform tests on water quality in the Ciliwung River, in this undated photo. [Courtesy Nusantara River Expedition]

Malang rally

Earlier this month, environmentalists demonstrated outside Malang City Hall in East Java province to call for a regional regulation banning single-use plastics such as bottles and other containers.

Alaika Rahmatullah, a researcher with Environmental Green Society, discussed how micro-plastics have been found in the Brantas River as well, according to an Ecoton news release.

These are dangerous particles because they contain toxic compounds. When the toxic compounds are consumed by organisms such as fish and shrimp which are then consumed by humans, they endanger humans themselves, he said, adding the micro-plastics can be a source of cancer.

The citys mayor, Sutiaji, already has taken steps to combat plastic waste, according to the news release.

We continue to control this plastic waste, while we are working on a regional regulation. So that with this regional regulation, it is hoped that there will be punishment and we can reinforce regulations regarding the use of single-use plastics and reducing plastic waste, Sutiaji, who goes by one name, wrote in a letter to the community last year.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (standing, left) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (standing, right) attend a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct. 9, 2019.

The United States on Tuesday voiced concerns over a complete lack of transparency surrounding a new security deal between the Solomon Islands and China and vowed to respond to any attempt to establish a Chinese military base in the island nation.

A draft copy of the security pact was leaked onto social media in late March, but neither party has made public the deal reportedly signed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Solomon Islands counterpart Jeremiah Manele.

The deal has drawn expressions of deep concern from U.S. allies Australia and New Zealand, which say a base on Solomon Islands could enable China to extend its military reach in the Pacific. It also prompted a hasty visit to the Pacific by two top Washington diplomats.

U.S. National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink led a U.S. delegation to Solomon Islands capital Honiara late last week where they held a 90-minute constructive and candid meeting with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.

Kritenbrink told journalists at a teleconference on Tuesday that the lack of transparency of the security agreement was our fundamental concern.

I think its clear that only a handful of people in a very small circle have seen this agreement, and the prime minister himself has been quoted publicly as saying he would only share the details with Chinas permission, which I think is a source of concern as well, the senior U.S. diplomat said.

Of course we have respect for the Solomon Islands sovereignty, but we also wanted to let them know that if steps were taken to establish a de facto permanent military presence, power-projection capabilities, or a military installation, then we would have significant concerns and we would very naturally respond to those concerns, Kritenbrink said.

Red line

The assistant secretary of state declined to elaborate on possible responses to security implications caused by the new agreement but said that Prime Minister Sogavare gave the U.S. three specific assurances that there would be no military base, no long-term presence, no power-projection capability.

In Washington, during a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney called the agreement alarming. In response, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he shared the senators concern. He reiterated the assurances the U.S. delegation had gotten from Sogavare, adding: We will be watching that very, very closely in the weeks and months ahead.

Sogavares words have done little to calm the Solomon Islands neighbors. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that a military base would be a red line for Canberra. The islands occupy a remote but strategic location in the western Pacific, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from the northeastern coast of Australia.

Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), said: I think now that the security agreement has been officially signed, there is little the U.S. or Australia can do to reverse it. The key question now is how fast will China move to establish a permanent presence, leading to a base in the Solomon Islands.

Australia and the U.S. can try to use diplomacy to convince the Sogavare government to not allow this base to be established quickly, or to constrain its size and function, but there is little chance that these efforts will succeed, as its clear that Sogavare has aligned with China, Davis said.

They can also try to contain Chinese influence in the region further by stepping up the Pacific Step Up and making it more effective, he said, referring to the Biden administrations push to increase U.S. engagement in the region. He added: This has greater chance of success given the regional concern about the agreement signed between Solomon Islands and China.

Norah Huang, associate research fellow at Prospect Foundation, a Taiwanese think tank, described the deal as opportunism by the Solomon Islands prime minister. She said the best response might be candid talks with the governing parties in private to walk it back or at least neutralize the deal.

But Australia, the U.S. and New Zealand should be careful not to reward those who play opportunism, Huang said.

Australian Navy officers from the HMAS Canberra arrive at the Tanjung Priok port, as part of the military exercise Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2021, in Jakarta, Oct. 25, 2021. [Reuters]

Regional efforts

Japan became the latest regional power to send a representative to the Solomon Islands to express concern about the security pact. According to Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, the Solomons prime minister on Tuesday repeated assurances to Japanese officials that he had no intention of allowing China to build military bases in his country, Reuters reported.

Davis of ASPI said the China-Solomon Islands deal could presage a move by Beijing to extend its reach in the South Pacific.

I think the greatest risk is that China would choose to extend its influence into Papua New Guinea, where it already has substantial investment, and is openly talking about a fishing facility at Daru Island, which could ultimately be the basis for a port that could support Chinese Coast Guard vessels, he said.

The U.S. and Australia, as well as New Zealand, will now need to adjust their defense policies with the prospect of a forward Chinese military presence in the Southwest Pacific that certainly dramatically increases the military threat to the Australian eastern seaboard, but also severs the sea lane of communication between Australia and the United States, Davis said.

Too little, too late

There have been calls in Australias political and defense circles to prepare for war, and Davis said there should be some review of Australias defense force posture, and greater investment in air, sea, and space capabilities across the Coral Sea.

Yet, the efforts by the U.S. and allies may be too little, too late, said Andy Mok, senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing.

The U.S. has abandoned its embassy in Honiara for nearly 30 years and is only now talking about re-opening it.

In the Pacific, the U.S. seems to be pursuing a strategy of denial towards China. If China seeks something, the U.S. will attempt to prevent China from achieving it even if it is for the greater good, said Mok.

Chinese officials maintain that the security cooperation between China and the Solomon Islands is based on equality and mutual benefits.

Foreign Ministrys spokesman Wang Wenbin retaliated on Monday to the criticism about the lack of transparency behind the security deal with the Solomon Islands, referring to the AUKUS security partnership that is neither open nor transparent.

AUKUS is a newly-established security grouping between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. China has criticized it as fueling militarization in the Indo-Pacific.

While denying that China would build a military base in the Solomon Islands, calling it pure disinformation, Wang said the nearly 800 U.S. bases across the world have long been of major concern.

When will the U.S. shut down those bases? he asked.
Foreign minister of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attend their retreat session in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Feb. 17, 2022.

Malaysias top diplomat has revealed hes had contact with the Burmese shadow government, the first ASEAN country to acknowledge such an interaction, as activists lambasted the bloc on the anniversary of its failed five-point plan to restore democracy in Myanmar.

Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah was responding Sunday to an open letter from a Southeast Asian parliamentarians group to the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In it, they urged the bloc to immediately and publicly meet with the NUG  Myanmars parallel, civilian National Unity Government.

I have informally met [through virtual conference] the NUG Myanmar foreign minister and the NUCC chairman before the last ASEAN Foreign Ministers Retreat. Lets meet and discuss, Saifuddin said via Twitter, referring to a ministerial retreat that took place in a hybrid format in mid-February after being postponed from an earlier scheduled date amid reports of differences among member-states.

Myanmars National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) includes representatives of the NUG, civil society groups, ethnic armed organizations, and civil disobedience groups.

In the tweet, Saifuddin tagged the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), the group that sent the open letter on Sunday, the anniversary of the day when Southeast Asian leaders and the Burmese junta chief, agreed during an emergency summit to a so-called Five-Point Consensus for action on post-coup Myanmar.

Last October, Malaysias outspoken foreign minister had said he would open talks with the NUG if the Burmese junta kept stonewalling in cooperating with ASEANs conflict resolution efforts.

Radio Free Asia (RFA), the parent company of BenarNews, contacted the foreign ministry of Cambodia, this years ASEAN chair, for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Meanwhile, Bo Hla Tint, the NUGs special representative to ASEAN, questioned the Southeast Asian blocs seriousness in solving the Myanmar crisis.

They have failed to implement, during the past year, the basic point of the ASEAN Common Agreements  to end the violence. And then, they failed to comply with the second point  systematic distribution of humanitarian aid, he told RFA.

Id say the ASEAN leadership does not take seriously the policy or framework set down by the ASEAN leadership itself, if the leaders do not take any effective action [against the junta].

A five-point failure

In Malaysia, two analysts praised Saifuddin for breaking from ASEAN and initiating separate action.

Malaysia takes lead on call to review ASEANs approach to Myanmar (after a year of failed ASEAN five-point consensus), acknowledging informal meetings with NUG Myanmar, Bridget Welsh, a political analyst with the University of Nottingham Malaysia, tweeted.

Another analyst, Aizat Khairi, a senior lecturer at Universiti Kuala Lumpur, agreed.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullahs reaction to the APHR open letter is something refreshing, he told BenarNews.

The five-point agreement reached between ASEANs leaders and Burmese military chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on April 24 last year included an end to violence, the provision of humanitarian assistance, an ASEAN envoys appointment, all-party dialogue, and mediation by the envoy.

ASEAN has not succeeded in implementing any of these points, said Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington think-tank.

I think there is no doubt every part of [the consensus] has failed, and with Cambodia as the chair and the junta increasingly backed by China, there is no way the consensus will succeed, or that ASEAN will do anything at all serious about Myanmar, Kurlantzick told BenarNews.

Suspend Myanmar from ASEAN until a return to democratic rule. ... But ASEAN wont do that.

He was referring to Beijings support for Naypyidaw at international forums, including at the United Nations, since Min Aung Hlaing toppled the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government on Feb. 1, 2021.

Under ASEANs long-standing policy that its 10 members take all decisions collectively through consensus, if one member-state opposes a proposed move, it is shelved. And not every ASEAN member is on board with stricter action against Myanmar other than barring junta representatives from attending top ASEAN meetings, analysts have noted.

A five-point failure is what the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), a group of independent international experts, calls ASEANs consensus.

The junta has not held to a single point of the five-point consensus. The agreement has failed and a change of course from ASEAN is needed, SAC-M member Marzuki Darusman said in a statement issued Friday.

In fact, since joining the consensus, Min Aung Hlaing has escalated the militarys attack on the people of Myanmar, and continued to target and detain political opponents, SAC-M said. Nearly 1,800 people, mostly pro-democracy protesters, have been killed by Burmese security forces, since the coup.

This aerial photo taken by a drone shows Bin village in Mingin, a township in Myanmars Sagaing region, after villagers say it was set ablaze by the Burmese military, Feb. 3, 2022. [Reuters]

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said that the flow of arms to Myanmars security forces needed to stop.

These activists urgently need the support of the international community in the form of a global arms embargo to stop the Myanmar military from using weapons of warfare to kill peaceful protesters, Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty Internationals deputy regional director for research, said Friday.

In addition, Human Rights Watch criticized Western governments, saying that the five-point consensus had become a pretext for governments such as the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and European Union member states to delay real action under the guise of waiting for ASEAN leadership.

The junta has exploited the international communitys deference to the regional bloc, which has a long record of neglecting its responsibility to protect the people of Southeast Asia under its principles of noninterference and consensus, HRW said.

Pro-junta group: Peace process cannot be completely one-sided

Supporters of the Burmese junta, however, said that it was moving in the right direction.

How much can the government oblige in the bargaining for peace?  The peace process cannot be completed by one-side only, Thein Tun Oo, executive director of Thayningha Strategic Studies, a group of former military officers, told RFA.

The government as well as the military has declared unilateral ceasefires and made offers for peace talks. we havent seen any satisfactory response from the EAOs [Ethnic Armed Organizations. Now we have a question  what does the international community want to say about that?

But according to the ASEAN parliamentarians, Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing has no intention whatsoever of abiding by the consensus unless he feels a strong pressure to do so.

Given this failure, it is time for ASEAN to move on to sanctioning him. ASEANs credibility depends on its ability to act in accordance with the reality of the situation in Myanmar, APHR said in its letter to ASEAN.

The question  now is: will you allow the military to continue committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and threaten the human security and economic development of the region for another year?

Nisha David and Suganya Lingan in Kuala Lumpur, and Zin Mar Win and Wai Mar Htun of the Myanmar Service of Radio Free Asia contributed to this report.
Authorities in the Philippines have disbanded about 20 private armed groups working for politicians over concerns about potential poll-related violence ahead of the May 9 general election, the national police said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the election commission announced it was taking control in another eight municipalities to directly supervise polling officials and oversee security for the upcoming vote.

Most of the disbanded armed groups were from an autonomous Muslim region in the south, where some members of gun-for-hire organizations are known to have links to militants, police spokeswoman Col. Jean Fajardo told a Manila radio station.

More or less, we have dismantled about 20 from our list of private armed groups, Fajardo said, emphasizing that some of the armed men are members of local terrorist groups who hire themselves out during elections to politicians.

Police and the military had carried out focused operations since the start of the year, she said, adding that politicians known to have employed these gunmen would be charged in court.

At the moment, we have not monitored any credible threats, so to speak, that could disrupt the election, she said. Nonetheless, we will not let our guard down, and intelligence monitoring and gathering are being carried out with our AFP [military] counterparts and other law enforcement agencies.

Last year, police had identified about 155 private armed groups across the Philippines, half of which, officials said, were highly active.

The constitution stipulates that private armies and other groups not recognized by the government shall be dismantled.

Comelec action

Also on Tuesday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced that it was placing under its control another six municipalities in Maguindanao province, along with a city and municipality in Lanao del Sur province, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).

Comelec has assumed direct control of electoral supervision and law enforcement agencies for the safeguarding and integrity of polls in at least 20 municipalities, mostly in the south and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the run-up to the vote, according to officials. The national polls body took similar action in municipalities ahead of the 2016 general election.

As regards to other areas, we are continuously upgrading and updating our assessment status, said Saidamen Pangarungan, the chairman of Comelec, according to PNA.

Under an updated resolution adopted in January, Comelec may place any political division under its direct control and supervision. Leading up to the election, it shall exercise full control and supervision over all national and local law enforcement agencies as well as military officers and men assigned in the political division, subdivision, unit or area concerned.

The resolution, among other things, allows Comelec to take action in communities:

That have a history of or current intense rivalries that could motivate people to engage in violent acts;

That have had incidences of politically motivated violence involving candidates and/or supporters;

And that could have violence facilitated by the employment of private armed groups.

The Philippines, with its long-running gun culture, coupled with feuding clans in tribal areas as well as rival political dynasties trying to outdo each other, has seen gun-for-hire groups commit violence in advance of elections.

During the 2016 general election, as many as 50 people died in poll-related violence, according to police statistics. Three years later, during the 2019 midterm election, 23 people were killed and 50 injured.

The bloodiest election-related violence occurred in November 2009 when members of the Muslim Ampatuan clan massacred 58 members of their rival clan, the Mangudadatu, their supporters and local journalists.

In December 2019, dozens of Ampatuan clan-members were convicted of murder, but more than 50 others  including dozens of police officers and body guards in the employ of the Ampatuans  were acquitted.

Some relatives and members of the Ampatuan clan are back in power and will be contesting local posts in Mindanao next month.

Duterte: I will arrest you and your body guards

About 65 million Filipinos are registered to vote on May 9 to elect President Rodrigo Dutertes successor along with 12 members of the Senate, 316 members of the House of Representatives as well as thousands of officials including governors, mayors, village chiefs and council members.

Last week, Duterte warned candidates to follow election laws, saying that maintaining more than two bodyguards constitutes maintaining a private army.

We have decided and have communicated this with the cabinet. ... The rule should really be followed that more than two bodyguards would be considered a private army, Duterte said.

And if you think there is danger to your person and a certain place or person, call the regional director, call the chief of police and discuss matters to prevent quarrels and the use of guns, he said.

Duterte vowed to let authorities arrest those candidates who would stoke violence during the remainder of the election season.

I will arrest you and your bodyguards. Remember, the government will not allow terrorism in this election. We are not taking sides. We will enforce the law to make the elections peaceful, he said.
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This opinion piece was written by The Food Shelf Work Group, Hunger Council of Bennington County Natalie Basil, Greater Bennington Interfaith Community Services (GBICS) Linda Darlington, Bennington County Head Start and Early Head Start Scott Winslow, The Kitchen Cupboard (GBICS) Dare Chammings, Alliance for Community Transformations  Bennington (ACT) Joni Charbonneau, His Pantry at Sacred Heart St. Francis (SHSF) Madelyn Gardner, Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging (SVCOA) Zach Hebert, Vermont Foodbank. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of the Bennington Banner.
The U.S. is pressing its allies to move heaven and earth to keep Kyiv well-supplied with the weapons it needs to repel Russian forces, as Moscow rains fire on eastern and southern Ukraine
A delayed experiment to enhance tourist access to the Berkshires will finally roll this summer, five years after a subsidy was secured.
GRAPE DUMPLINGS

Different versions of grape dumplings have been passed down and adapted over time  and they are all delicious.
Community Preservation Committee

Community Preservation Committee just gave 11 projects the OK to spend $670K. Here's what you need to know
PITTSFIELD  A delayed experiment to enhance tourist access to the Berkshires will finally roll this summer, five years after a subsidy was secured.

Officials with the Massachusetts and New York transportation departments said Monday that the Berkshire Flyer will provide limited train trips linking New York City with Pittsfield, starting July 8.

If embraced, the service  a Friday afternoon trip from Penn Station in Manhattan to Pittsfield and a return trip Sunday afternoon  could become a regular feature, officials say.

For now, it depends on subsidies and heavy marketing efforts, as well as the willingness of private owners of track to allow trips.

The notion of providing dedicated service to New Yorkers seeking weekend getaways to the Berkshires was proposed as long ago as 2017.

Despite the arrival of the pandemic in 2020, local officials hoped to test the service that fall, until legal issues sidelined the project.

This has been years in the making, state Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, said in a statement. Hinds lined up initial funding for the Berkshire Flyer in 2017, seeing it as a way to develop tourism in the Berkshires.

In an interview in 2020, Hinds said that one year of funding for the project included $240,000 to underwrite operations, a $30,000 fee for a program director and $100,000 for marketing to build ridership.

The service depends on a public sector subsidy, even with the sale of tickets to riders.

A two-year pilot run, for 20 weeks a year, was to start in the spring of 2020, then pushed to the fall  then delayed for nearly two more years.

On Monday, Massachusetts officials said the investment can pay off for the Berkshires.

Western Massachusetts and the Berkshire region offer a whole host of cultural and recreational opportunities during the summer and we hope this pilot service will encourage even more visitors to this part of our state, Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement provided by the state Department of Transportation.

Travel details

The service will leave Penn Station at 3:16 p.m. on Fridays and arrive at the Joseph Scelsi Intermodal Transportation Center, at 1 Columbus Ave. in Pittsfield, at 7:12 p.m.

On the way north, the train will make the same stops as a typical Amtrak Empire Service train, officials say. The Sunday return trip will leave Pittsfield at 3 p.m. and get to New York at 7:05 p.m.

Tickets will go on sale in May and will be available through Amtrak. For tickets, visit Amtrak.com or use the Amtrak app, or by visiting Amtrak ticket desks or by calling 800-USA-RAIL.
After Mayor Jennifer Macksey files a lawsuit, New England Alchemy says it won't open a cannabis business in North Adams You don't want us? Then a cannabis business doesn't want North Adams, its owner, Rustin Kluge, said in effect Friday. Were just choosing another municipality that we feel is a better fit."

Sentiments often characterized as not in my backyard  or NIMBY  are common in the Berkshires, particularly when it comes to pot businesses, as The Eagles April 15 editorial pointed out after North Adams Mayor Jennifer Mackseys lawsuit drove away New England Alchemys proposed operation on Ashland Street despite the fact that the company had already obtained a special permit from the towns Planning Board.

Beyond the cannabis industry, developments that cause neighborhood disruption often meet these sentiments, such as a proposed Becket glamping operation that aims to revive the Dream Away Lodge is facing, with the potential influx of outside visitors being a major concern.

The glamping resort will increase traffic along the two-lane County Road, Becket Road to Lee, and throughout the town of Becket  roads that are already deteriorating and in need of constant repair, one such concern reads from a Change.org petition against the glamping proposal. Another reads: The impact to the environment of development of this size includes deforestation, flattening and trampling on vegetation, chopping of branches for campfires, degrading and destruction of wildlife habitats.

But these sentiments are not universally shared. In fact, views similar to a phenomenon that has taken hold across the nation are being felt in the Berkshires: YIMBY, or yes, in my backyard. YIMBY finds its roots in San Francisco, and has been mostly fueled by rising housing costs and the lack of affordable housing, but its central ideas and sentiments are often present in those who are in favor of new developments, such as proposed businesses that face NIMBY opposition.

The movement is fuelled by the anger of young adults from the millennial generation, many of whom are now in their late 20s and early 30s, Erin McCormick wrote for The Guardian in 2017, when the movement started to spread nationwide. Rather than suffer in silence as they struggle to find affordable places to live, they are heading to planning meetings en masse to argue for more housing  preferably the very kind of dense, urban infill projects that have often generated neighbourhood opposition from NIMBYs.

Locally, YIMBY sentiments have taken the form of backlash to NIMBY, though I would argue that a YIMBY mentality can also take the form of enthusiasm for new development.

This is why it is so important to be engaged in your local politics, former North Adams City Councillor Jessica Sweeney wrote in a Facebook post responding to the New England Alchemy situation. These kinds of moments have ripple effects. Taxes will go up because we were not able to build or stabilize the tax base because new businesses no longer want to come to North Adams, then rents (commercial and residential) will rise, businesses will struggle, and residents will continue to struggle to afford to live here.

Dalton OKs an event permit, two weeks after a neighboring property was denied one Officials in Dalton go to lengths to explain why one event permit approval can't be compared to a neighboring property's recent permit denial.

Perhaps a better example of YIMBYism in the Berkshires came last year, when the Dalton Zoning Board of Appeals received backlash for denying a special permit in 2021 for the long running Halloween-themed Purgatory Road event that benefited the Berkshire Coalition for Suicide Prevention. The decision came after some neighbors expressed concerns, one of which was the increase in car traffic; ironically, two weeks later, the Dalton ZBA approved an event permit for a car show taking place in a neighboring property.

The optics may not be so favorable, but I dont see an issue with this, Daniel Esko, a Dalton Select Board member, said of the approval of the car show.

This instance of YIMBYism also had financial consequences, as supporters of the Purgatory Road event boycotted two businesses of a neighbor who opposed it. He admitted to The Eagle that the boycotts had affected his businesses, and later held a fundraiser for the coalition last fall.

YIMBYism highlights how, while abutting property owners concerns about ambitious development projects deserve to be heard, so do the overall needs of their communities.

In truth, YIMBY and NIMBY are two sides of the same coin, and successful communities need a healthy balance of both to succeed  unchecked development can upheave local communities and ruin natural resources, while unchecked opposition to development stunts an areas economic growth.

It must also be said that such labels are also very limited in their usefulness, presenting a stark binary that isnt always helpful when discussing individual proposals that have contextual nuance within the communities they hope to call home.
SPRINGFIELD  Federal and state officials on Tuesday agreed on a path forward to extend passenger rail service west of Worcester to the cities of Springfield and Pittsfield, an effort designed to finally connect the eastern and western parts of the state by rail.

Speaking with reporters after a meeting at Springfields Union Station, Gov. Charlie Baker and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal described plans for the Legislature to create a new rail authority and an effort to take advantage of recently granted federal infrastructure funds to make the long-sought project a reality.

Baker and Neal did not lay out a project timeframe, but spoke about the accord as if it marked a significant breakthrough.

I thought today that its fair to point out that this was an historic meeting, Neal said. The governor has made a full commitment to east-west rail. The conversation has gone on for a long period of time.

Talks about the project have run for five or six years, Baker said. He said that while he has been seen by some as an opponent, he believes he has secured greater clarity on what he described as important open-ended questions.

There is an agreement on a path forward here and were going to work between now and the end of the legislative session to put the requisite building blocks that we need to put in place at the state level, which will then make it possible for us to leverage a lot of the available federal money thats there because the federal governments very interested and Amtrak in particular is very interested in building out in this Northeast Corridor, Baker said. So I think weve got a real opportunity.

Neal said the agreement pivoted on setting up the new rail authority in a pending infrastructure bond bill and asking for a dedicated funding stream tied to the federal infrastructure bill. Neal said there has been a vigorous discussion about existing sales taxes, paid by by people statewide, that are already dedicated to the MBTA, the rail authority that oversees the vast network of bus, commuter rail and subway services in eastern Massachusetts.

I have been clear about my thoughts that before we do free transportation anywhere we want to make sure that theres a corresponding effort for east-west rail or west-east rail, Neal said, referring to the push in eastern Massachusetts for fare-free MBTA service.

Last August, Baker met for nearly two hours in his office to discuss the project with Neal and U.S. Reps. Jake Auchincloss, Seth Moulton and Stephen Lynch, Neal said. He said rail service in central and western Massachusetts has a great friend in Gov. Charlie Baker.

The congressman identified remaining challenges as agreeing on the makeup of the rail authority board and executing necessary land takings.

Just about every state lawmaker from western Massachusetts was either at Tuesdays meeting at Springfield Union Station, or looped into the meeting via technology, Neal said. This is a huge step forward today, Neal said.

The governor, who had three Western Massachusetts stops in Chicopee and Amherst on his public schedule Tuesday, was asked to attend the meeting in Springfield by Neal and U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester, Neal said. State Transportation Secretary Jamey Tesler also attended.

Out in this side of the state everything goes through Union Station, said Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. So well be here to facilitate anything and everything to make sure that this comes to fruition. He added, Were ready to yell out all aboard the western part of the state to go east.

Asked by reporters, Neal said he would be open to a train station in Palmer. The congressman also said the rail extension and popularity of remote work could help some people solve another problem: housing affordability.

The cost of housing in the Boston suburbs is astronomical, Neal said. We believe that this would provide some relief for those who might want to live out here.

Baker did not specify how much state funding would be needed to satisfy federal matching requirements, noting the federal government has yet to issue guidance on that topic. He said he did not expect the state to have any trouble coming up with its state match.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Galilee was the venue for most of Jesus ministry. It was located in modern-day Northern Israel, which in Jesus day was part of the Roman Empire. One of the three provinces of ancient Palestine, it included the whole northern section of the country, the Jordan River and Sea of Galilee forming the Eastern border. Lower Galilee, with great plain and hill country running down into the Jordan, was one of the richest and most beautiful sections of Palestine, explains Smith's Bible Dictionary Upper Galilee, known biblically as Galilee of the Gentiles, was mountainous.

Jesus grew up in Nazareth, one of the two major cities of Galilee, says Encyclopedia Britannica. Isaiah 9:1 says, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan. Galilee can be translated to mean wheel or revolution. Though much effort was made by the Roman Empire to keep it a peaceful territory, word of Jesus and His followers threatened to disrupt that peace, and eventually reached all the way to Rome.

Where Does the Bible Talk about Galilee?

What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him (John 2:11).

Mentioned 67 times in the Bible, Galilee appears more predominately in the New Testament (64 times) compared to the Old Testament (9). 1 Chronicles documents the fertile land, and its mention in Joshua and 1 Kings describes it as land gifted from Solomon to King Hiram. Isaiah includes it in a prophecy fulfilled in Matthew 4:13-16: when Jesus ministered in Capernaum- near the major highway from Egypt to Damascus, called the Way of the Sea.

Galilee, where Jesus first called his disciples, is the location of many events recorded in the first three Gospels. The apostles were all Galileans by either birth or residence, records Smiths Bible Dictionary. Much of Jesus public ministry occurred there, including nineteen of Jesus thirty-two parables, and twenty-five of Jesus thirty-three miracles, according to Easton's Bible Dictionary. The first recorded miracle was when Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana in John 2:1-11. Biblical scenes such as the Sermon on the Mount and the Transfiguration also occurred there.

The entire province in encircled with a halo of holy associations, wrote Carl Hoffman, connected with the life, works and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Matthew 4:23-25 reads, Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing disease and sickness among the people Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Jesus is often referred to as Jesus of Galilee or Jesus of Nazareth, because custom associated people with cities instead of last names. The region is referenced in the Book of Acts as an identifying factor of His disciples and many early followers. Acts 13:30-31 says, But God raised Him from the dead; and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people.

Its possible The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16) Jesus delivered to His disciples after His resurrection occurred on a mountain in Galilee, commanding from its lofty summit a view of about 80 miles in every direction.

What Is the Historical Significance of Galilee?

King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold he wanted (1 Kings 9:11).

Galilee, a piece of land containing approximately twenty towns, was gifted to King Hiram of Tyre by Solomon for his work in conveying timber from Lebanon to Jerusalem says Smith's Bible Dictionary. During the reigns of King David and King Solomon in the 10th century BC, Encyclopedia Britannica says it came under the northern kingdom of Israel.

Historians have varying theories about why Galilee was largely deserted for over half a millennium after the Assyrian invasion. A century before Jesus, the area was re-populated by Judean immigrants. Galilee was the most pagan of the Jewish provinces, says theologian Frederick Bruner. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia adds, Their mixed origin explains the differences in speech which distinguished them from their brethren in the South, who regarded Galilee and the Galileans with a certain proud contempt.

A large population settled there in the century before Christ. Galilee was a region of great natural fertility, records Bible Hub, continuing that It rejects no plant, for the air is so genial that it suits every variety. It was a rich land and a cultured people. Josephus (a 1st Century AD Roman-Jewish historian) estimates the population at 3,000,000, records the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. This helps us to understand the crowds that gathered and followed Jesus in this district.

During the life of Jesus, Galilee was part of the Roman Empire. Located strategically between Syria and Egypt, Roman leaders and allies were placed in rule there to ensure peace. Ruled by foreigners, relations between the Gentiles and Jewish people were tense. Historically significant is Galilees strong resistance to the Roman Empire, putting up the greatest fight among Jewish populations. Eastons Bible Dictionary notes Galilee was the scene of some of the most memorable events of Jewish history.

How Was Galilee Important in the Earthly Life of Jesus?

After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away (Matthew 26:73).

Jesus lived in Galilee for approximately thirty years. Galilean Jews had a recognizable accent, therefore Jesus disciples were easily identified. Jesus left Judea for Galilee when John the Baptist was arrested, to allude the Pharisees (experts in Jewish law). The way in which He traveled from Judea to Galilee is significant. Originally from Nazareth of Galilee, Jesus would have been very familiar with the route most Jews took to avoid going through Samaria. The Jews and Samaritans hated each other, yet Jesus chose to walk through Samaria before beginning His public ministry in Galilee.

Every step Jesus took on earth was intentional. He had been rejected in His hometown of Nazareth, and so traveled to begin His ministry in the Galilean city of Capernaum. The people Jesus choose to preach to first were looked upon with contempt as rude and boorish, Matthew Henry records. The Galilean people were predominately Jewish, but heritage had been blended over the decades, leaving the purely Jewish element to be relatively small. Christ humbled Himself to begin His preaching, not to scholarly men, but those fit for soldiers.

The people there were living in the darkness, meaning without Christ and without the Gospel truth. Matthew 4:16 says, the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. Jesus pursues His own no matter where and what state they are in. The Christian places his faith, her hope of renewal, his confidence in forgiveness, in the actions of someone else- in Jesus Christ, wrote Kathy Keller for The Gospel Coalition.

What Should Christians Remember about Galilee Today?

Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? The same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:11).

The hope of the early disciples as they gazed up into the clouds to which Jesus ascended is the same hope we cling to in our hearts today. In an effort to provide younger generations with the opportunity to connect with their faith, The Gospel Trail, which takes sojourners from Nazareth to Galilee, marks many of the important biblical events in Jesus life.

While trekking through the paths where Jesus footsteps once blazed a trail can make us feel closer to Him, everything we need to experience His presence is within us through our salvation. Perhaps the most powerful thing we can remember about Galilee today is its real history. Christians have nothing to fear from questions, however searching, or doubts, however scathing, Kathy Keller writes, History is on our side.

Meg writes about everyday life within the love of Christ. An author, freelance writer and blogger at Sunny&80, she earned a Marketing/PR degree from Ashland University. Her first book, Friends with Everyone, is available on amazon.com. Meg leads/teaches Bible Study in Womens and Junior High Ministry. Living in Northern Ohio, shes been wife to Jim for a decade and counting, is mom to two tween daughters, a distance runner, photographer, and Cleveland Browns fan.

Photo credit: GettyImages/irisphoto2
RATHDRUM - The Idaho Transportation Department is offering an intensive five-week training program June 13 through July 15 in Rathrdrum. Applicants selected for the program will receive free hands-on training in heavy equipment operation, cement masonry, welding and ironwork, and more. Applicants can also earn a free Commercial Drivers License.

Now in its fourth year, 75% of the programs graduates have obtained employment with companies in the industry. Students can learn more about the program by watching this video.

ITD is accepting applications until all program spots are filled. To apply, applicants must submit a resume and letter of interest to onthejobIdaho@gmail.com or by mail to P.O. Box 7129, Boise, Idaho 83707.

All applicants must be at least 21, hold a valid drivers license, be available to attend all classes for the duration of the program, and pass a drug screening and DOT physical. No prior construction experience is necessary. Women, veterans, and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply.

For more information, contact Jessika Phillips by email at Jessika.Phillips@itd.idaho.gov or by calling (208) 334-8152.

ITD receives funding through the Federal Highway Administration for this industry-leading program.
State superintendent candidates Debbie Critchfield, Branden Durst and Sherri Ybarra verbally dueled for the Republican nomination Monday night, energetically clashing on school policy and trading one-liners in an hour-long debate broadcast across the state.

The three GOP primary contenders put their campaign messaging on full display during Idaho Public Televisions Idaho Debates. Ybarra flexed her seven years in office, Critchfield struck at Ybarras lack of leadership, and Durst, again, portrayed himself as an outsider in the field.

I believe we need to get government out of the way and let parents lead as God intended, Durst said.

The debate saw:

Durst defend his conduct during a profane exchange that occurred after a legislative committee and decry the Senates decision not to hear a bill that could have included jail time for librarians who disseminate material harmful to minors.

Ybarra and Critchfield, who was president of the State Board of Education early in the pandemic, defend their roles in responding to the pandemic.

The trio split on issues from critical race theory to backsliding early literacy test scores.

The same was the case for early literacy funding, a hot topic in education politics this year.

From open to close, Critchfield questioned Ybarras strength of leadership, arguing that the superintendent has played a back-seat role in securing increased funding for early literacy and more from the Legislature.

Who is it that is driving education? Critchfield rhetorically asked, crediting Gov. Brad Little, and downplaying Ybarras role, in locking down a $46.6 million increase in early literacy funding from the Legislature this year.

Notably, Ybarra had requested $39.3 million for full-day kindergarten programs, a smaller predecessor to Littles $46.6-million ask.

Opposing the literacy funding boost, now signed into law, Durst echoed critical lawmakers, who said increased early literacy funding would cause the shuttering of half-day kindergarten programs for families who want them.

Durst, a former Democratic state senator, repeated his support for a failed bill that would have allowed parents to spend tax dollars on private school tuition through education savings accounts.

I believe that we should have the public schools competing with private schools for money and for students, Durst said.

With some study Critchfield said she would support such a proposal if were not defunding our public schools and it could not come at the expense of our rural schools.

Ybarra repeated a hardline stance that shes made on the campaign trail, opposing any tax money toward private school tuition and saying her opponents are voucher supporters to the vocal opposition of Critchfield.

Things turned testy at times. At one point, as Ybarra touted an increase in the number of charter schools in the state, Critchfield interjected, pointing out that Ybarra isnt on the state charter school commission that authorizes new charters.

Ybarra shot back, Excuse me. Like in a third-grade classroom, we teach our students not to interrupt. I was speaking and you can have your turn in a moment.

The debate closed with stump speech-style closers and final blows that were sprinkled with political overtones.

On May 17, youll get your final chance to do something youve wanted to do for a long time, which is say Lets go Branden, Durst said, playing on the insult of President Joe Biden.

Critchfield in her closing remarks made an apparent dig at Ybarras use of fuzzy data to defend her record, and added, Its not about political rhetoric.

Ybarra ended with, Like the kids say, please vote for Sherri in the primary.

The candidates will debate again Tuesday night at 6 p.m. on KTVB, the last joint appearance they have planned before the May 17 primary. The debate will also air on the Treasure Valley news stations website.

While the superintendents candidates will debate twice, contenders in other statewide offices wont ever square off. Some have refused to debate or reneged on commitments to debate, including Gov. Brad Little and Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin in the governors race; state Rep. Priscilla Giddings of White Bird in the lieutenant governors race; and incumbent Rep. Mike Simpson in his congressional race.

There arent any debates scheduled on the Democratic side of the superintendents race, where former Idaho Education Association President Terry Gilbert is unopposed. The Republican nominee will face Gilbert in the general election in November.
Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, don't know much about history.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
To develop artificial intelligence-powered diagnostic solutions

To better understand how dementia develops in Asians and to advance new strategies that will one day help to predict and delay the progression of the disease, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has launched the Dementia Research Centre (Singapore).

The research centre at NTU Singapores Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) will work with hospitals here to recruit 1,500 patients with mild cognitive impairment, the earliest stage of dementia, to shed light on Asian dementia and capture the changes in the brain before dementia sets in.

Aside from this five-year longitudinal study- Biomarker and Cognitive Impairment Study (BioCIS), the research centre will also work with NTUs computer scientists and mechanical engineers to develop artificial intelligence-powered diagnostic solutions, such as using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to help clinicians accurately predict or assess dementia progression.

The research centre is headed by its Director, NTU LKCMedicines Associate Professor of Neuroscience Nagaendran Kandiah. The team is advised by a panel of renowned neuroscientists from Canada, Australia, and the UK.
This year, pharmaceutical company, Pharma Dynamics celebrates 20 years of increasing access to healthcare.

Source: Supplied. Pharma Dynamics' chief executive officer, Erik Roos.

The miracle of sound

A growing enterprise

To mark the important milestone, it is inviting staff, patients, pharmacists, healthcare practitioners and all those who helped to shape the company in the last two decades to collaboratively participate in the creation of a digital artwork that will take on the form of a heart.Erik Roos, chief executive officer of Pharma Dynamics says choosing the illustration of a heart is not only a symbol of the companys longstanding position as the market leader in cardiovascular medication, but also symbolises the heartbeat of the organisation.The artwork is our story that defines and articulates the way in which each employee and the company as a whole, is improving the human condition in a meaningful and sustainable way. Furthermore, it is symbolic of the connection and causal effect between the company and its stakeholders  together making a difference in the world.Pharma Dynamics digital sculpture takes shape in response to sound. The more people contribute their voices in the form of voice messages, the more intricate the sculpture becomes.Since the introduction of digital technology, sound art is becoming more popular and comes in various forms, including kinetic sound sculptures, sound-walks, poetry and in Pharma Dynamics case, the spoken word. Its a new wave of sonic artistry that uses tones and audio effects to create an artistic expression  the same way a painter uses colours on a canvas.Roos says just like every business is unique and follows a different growth journey of expansion and consolidation, no one journey is ever the same.The artwork represents our transformative business journey from startup to maturity, and is meant to be a compilation of heartfelt stories from people who helped us to get where we are now.Pharma Dynamics has much to celebrate. It is the ninth largest pharmaceutical and sixth largest generic company in South Africa, with 19 market-leading brands, operating in 30 therapeutic areas, which include cardiovascular, neuroscience, pain, digestive health, female healthcare, critical care, antibiotics, and complementary and alternative medicines (CAMS), among others.It is a level 4 BBBEE company and has remained a leading supplier of cardiovascular medication in the country for more than a decade amid fierce competition.Roos says its difficult to fathom that the small company, that started with only a handful of people some 20 years ago, now employs more than 160 staff countrywide. Over the years, the company has significantly contributed to the South African economy, not only in terms of broadening medicine access, but also in terms of job creation and social investment.As we look back on our growth, accomplishments and relationships built with our customers, we would like to thank everyone who has been involved in supporting Pharma Dynamics in reaching 20 years of success. It has been made possible, because of the trust that healthcare professionals and patients put in our products and due to our incredible team that goes the extra mile every day to service customers the best they can.In a way, companies are like families. We build them with all our heart, putting our blood, sweat and tears into making them grow and flourish. At Pharma Dynamics, we are a family and our values of integrity, passion for service excellence, teamwork, respect, care and entrepreneurial spirit underpin everything we do. Our values shape our culture and are our unique heartbeat."Together we have created a company known for its quality products, services and commitment to making healthcare affordable and accessible to all.While we celebrate our 20-year success, we remain future focused. We have already set new goals and benchmarks that we look forward to achieving in the coming years, and are directing our talent, focus and energy toward applying new ideas and tools for improving health for all, says Roos.To participate in Pharma Dynamics sonic sculpture, visit their website for instructions. Your unique contribution is downloadable for you to keep.
Workers' Day is about rewarding all the hard work put in over the year and enjoying a day off. While we all get to enjoy a well-deserved break over Workers' Day weekend, there are those in the service industry who are working to make sure we can all enjoy ourselves. This Workers' Day weekend, Castle Lite's Tips on Tap initiative aims to extend the enjoyment to include SA's hard-working bar staff who will be serving up extra cold refreshments for their loyal patrons all weekend.

To Liten up the bar staffs weekend as well as yours, Castle Lite will be tipping bar staff R5 for every 500ml Castle Lite draught served at participating outlets from Friday 29 April to Monday 2 May, and they are calling on South Africa to raise your glasses in support.Tips on Tap is an initiative about extending the enjoyment to our most loved bar staff this Workers' Day weekend. We wanted to ensure that South Africas bar staff, who will be working over the public holidays, get the extra support they deserve, they are the ones working to ensure you get served a perfect, extra-cold draught after all, says Colleen Duvenage, brand director at Castle Lite.All you have to do to be a part of this worthwhile initiative is to visit your nearest participating outlet, purchase an extra cold 500ml Castle Lite draught, and Castle Lite will tip the bar staff R5, its that easy to spread the enjoyment this workers day weekend!To make it as convenient as possible for every South African of legal drinking age to get involved with this initiative and to maximise our efforts to hit our tip target of over a R1m we have selected outlets all across South Africa. That means wherever you are enjoying your long weekend, you can find a participating outlet and spread the enjoyment.We understand that our restaurants and bars are still recovering from the last few years and we as Castle Lite wanted to show support for them, especially highlighting our skilled bar staff and the hard work they put in day after day.If youre unable to make it to one of the participating outlets over the long weekend, you can keep your eyes on Castle Lites social pages for more ways in which to engage with the campaign, spread the enjoyment, and play your part to ensure the SAs bar staff get the recognition they deserve.This Workers' Day choose Castle Lite, the beer that tips your bar staff. For more information and to locate your nearest participating outlet visit www.castlelite.co.za . Terms and conditions apply.
Finnish dairy giant Valio has completed negotiations around its Russian divestment and will sell its operations in the country to Russian food producer Velkom Group. The transfer will commence immediately.

Source: Supplied

With the completed transaction, Valios operations in Russia have now ended.The sale includes Valios Russian operations and the processed cheese factory in Ershovo. The Viola brand of processed cheese sold and produced in Russia is also part of the deal, which means that the new owner has the option to continue producing and selling Viola processed cheeses in Russia.The Valio brand will still be seen on store shelves in Russia until the packaging materials have been depleted and product expiration dates have been reached.Product brand rights to the Valio Viola fresh cheeses sold in Finland and produced by Valio in Finland are not included in the transaction. The buyer must stop using the brands sold in Russia that are not included in the transaction by the end of the year within the framework of the transition period.Russias attack on Ukraine made it impossible to continue our operations in Russia, both ethically and from a business perspective. Exiting from Russia has proved difficult in this situation because of the constantly changing legislation and the reciprocal sanctions. We have sought out solutions and a suitable buyer throughout spring. With the transaction, we will complete this process and our operations in Russia will end, says Valio CEO Annikka Hurme.In 2020, Valios net sales in Russia were 87m and accounted for approximately 5% of Valios global net sales of about 1.8bn. The company decided on 7 March 2022 to withdraw from operations in Russia.Valio exports products to some 60 countries around the world. The total value of its international operations and exports is about 750m annually, i.e. about 40% of Valios total net sales.
"Are you delivering 10x better, cheaper and faster than your competitors and peers in the same space? Can you radically and exponentially drop your marginal cost of supply? How flexible, agile, scalable, purpose-driven is your organisational structure? Are you a disruptor in your sector?"

Salim Ismail, co-founder and chairman of OpenExO

Chief community officer of OpenExO, Kevin Allen

These are the imperatives of the decade, says Salim Ismail, Co-founder and Chairman of OpenExO, a global ecosystem focused on innovation and digital transformation.OpenExO helps organisations replace incremental innovation with the ability to be flexible, agile, scalable, and purpose-driven, and enables them to implement groundbreaking technologies and profitably achieve ten-fold improvements, fast.As the founder of some of the most influential tech companies at the core of our digital society, such as New York Grant Company, Confabb, PubSub Concepts, Fastrack Institute, Brickhouse, Yahoos incubator for new products and Angstro, which was acquired by Google in 2010.Ismail is also the author of the critically acclaimed 2014 treatise,In more than 150 entertaining, irreverent, epiphany-inducing presentations a year, Ismail shares these secrets with leaders of the worlds largest companies and heads of state.On 4 May 2022, Ismail and the chief community officer of OpenExO, Kevin Allen, will be addressing ECOM Africa 2022. The topic of their presentation isBusinesses that leverage the Exponential Organisations approach show higher financial returns, greater team retention and purpose driven alignment with customers. With Allen live at the CTICC and Ismail joining via video, the pair will discuss the keys to building an exponential organisation and why it is important for e-commerce.We are incredibly excited that OpenExO will be joining us for Ecom Africa and to have Salim and Kevin sharing their insights into building exponential organisations and opportunities for African businesses, says David Ashdown, CEO of the Vuka Group, organisers of Ecom Africa.Vuka Group is in the process of the organic evolution required to adopt the OpenExO operating model, and the impact has been immediate on our business. Salim and Kevin are calling this the Decade of the ExO and it is a massive opportunity for our delegates to hear what it takes to thrive in the 21st century from these globally respected strategists. Wait until you hear the insights of the data relating to the Top 10 companies of the FTSE 100!Over this next decade, pretty much every organisation, every nonprofit, every government department, every impact project will be organised according to these principles and if you are not, you wont be extracting or delivering as much value as others. The data weve recently uncovered ratifies this completely. The imperative becomes how do you apply these principles, says Ismail.Ismails team interviewed the top 200 unicorns around the world to find out what enables them to scale so fast. A second edition of Exponential Organizations is due out this year and will incorporate new data that shows how companies like Tesla, SpaceEx, Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook are operating at 10x the results of anyone else.Ecom Africa 2022 provides the perfect opportunity to hear Ismail and Allen interpret their findings for an African audience."We are excited to be a part of Ecom Africa and to share these insights and our vision with delegates at Ecom Africa 2022. Were also looking forward to working with the Vuka Group on their development journey, said Allen.Ecom Africa is the continents largest e-commerce conference and exhibition. This years expo will be the eighth edition and the first hybrid edition of this gathering of specialists in the e-commerce, e-tailing, and fintech sectors. Limited tickets are available for the in-person event and the online broadcast.The in-person and online conference and expo will take place on 4 and 5 May 2022 at the CTICC in Cape Town.Leading innovators in the current, global e-business evolution will be represented at the upcoming Ecom Africa. These include Zappos, Meta, Nestle, Massmart, OneDayOnly, Bidroom, PicknPay, Chepa, Mantality, Konga, AutoTrader, Loot, UberEats, Sanlam, OneCart and RuggedIn addition to Ismail and Allen, the 40+ speakers include Alex Genov, head of Customer Experience Research at Zappos (USA), Michael Ros, CEO and co-founder of Bidroom (Netherlands), and local innovators Liam McCreedy, founder of Quench, Vincent Viviers, general manager: Pick n Pay Online Marketing & Commercial.Ecom Africa is the perfect opportunity for local and international solution providers to meet e-commerce players from all over Africa. By establishing relationships with these key players, solution providers can open up new opportunities for expansion into the region, says Terry Southam, Group director Retail, Vuka Group.
We examine the programmes tackling youth unemployment



A trip around southern Africa as we share the top places to visit



Prof. Kondlo of the Institute for the Study of Legislatures tells us why public participation is important



The Covid pandemic  is it over yet?

Treasury Deputy Director-General Ismail Momoniat

In this edition we highlight the critical role transport and logistics play in developing the South African economy and dive into what Minister Patricia de Lilles Public Works Department is doing to contribute to growth. We explain why The South African Weather Service is at the forefront of combating climate change through their predictions and we celebrate veterinarians for the work they do and we also briefly discuss the new laws around workplace harassment.In his letter to the country on 1 April  From the Desk of the President  our president celebrated the countrys improved tax revenue which is supporting South Africas economic recovery and growth:Last week, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) announced in its preliminary tax revenue collection outcome that it had collected over R1.5-trillion between April 2021 and March 2022. This a 25% improvement over the previous year and a 15% increase over the last year prior to the COVID pandemic.Over the same period, SARS also paid out its highest amount in tax refunds since it was established 25 years ago.A competent tax revenue collection agency is at the heart of building a capable state.  President Ramaphosa.His Excellency recently attended the Presidential Imbizo in the Free State where he met with community members who raised their service delivery concerns. President Ramaphosa recently announced the new National Commissioner of Police, General Sehlahle Fannie Masemola, and attended The South African Dubai 2020 Expo National Day where he addressed the celebration held at the Al Wasl Plaza. More good news is that His Excellency officiated at the launch of a locally South African-manufactured bakkie, the Isuzu-D Max, in the Eastern CapeThis bumper edition of PSL celebrates Freedom Day in April with a special reminder of why it is so important in our countrys history  and this would not have been possible without including a feature on Madiba. Our Trailblazer this month is financial crime buster Treasury Deputy Director-General Ismail Momoniat and our Woman in Leadership is 'The Knitting Needle Guerilla', Honourable Thandi Modise, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.What is happening at Home Affairs? We take a look at the departments successes under the leadership of Minister Motsoaledi. Our Regional Focus is on the Eastern Cape  looking at the province's attractions, economy and premier; and in Financial Fitness we zoom in on how public debt affects your personal finances and investments. In Other News PSL focuses on gems to visit in southern Africa  and we address a topic which is top of mind  the unemployment situation in the country.Whether you are in the public sector, the private sector, supply chain or an interested individual,has something for you. We hope you enjoy the read.Keep your finger on the pulse! To stay in the loop on all current affairs, check out the latest edition of thepublication on Issuu, here For enquiries , regarding being profiled or showcased in the next edition of thepublication, please set up an appointment with our National Project Manager, Emlyn Dunn, here
Datsun dead again: Production ends in India

Of course, Nissan South Africa had sourced its Datsun wares from the Indian plant. The company's local website still lists the Go and Go+ as being available, though a glance at recent sales figures suggests stock brought into the country from India has now almost run dry.



Nissan SA last registered a three-row Go+ as long ago as November 2021, along with 105 units of the Go in the same month. That figure fell to 47 in December 2021, 27 in January 2022, 14 in February and just 7 in March. The four-strong Go budget hatchback had been priced from R184,600 to R213 800, while the three-variant Go+ line-up had run from R194,700 to R223,800.



A few years back, Datsun had plans to launch a new budget-beating crossover locally, but that vehicle didnt ever materialise. Instead, the Nissan-badged Magnite  which was originally destined to wear the Datsun insignia  was introduced to South Africa in April 2021.



The first Datsun was produced way back in 1931, before the badge disappeared in 1986. After a 27-year hiatus, Nissan announced the revival of the marque as a budget sub-brand for emerging markets in mid-2013. The Go, however, had a rocky start, being handed a zero-star crash-test safety rating by Global NCAP the following year.



This article was originally published on Cars.co.za. Nissan SA last registered a three-row Go+ as long ago as November 2021, along with 105 units of the Go in the same month. That figure fell to 47 in December 2021, 27 in January 2022, 14 in February and just 7 in March. The four-strong Go budget hatchback had been priced from R184,600 to R213 800, while the three-variant Go+ line-up had run from R194,700 to R223,800.A few years back, Datsun had plans to launch a new budget-beating crossover locally, but that vehicle didnt ever materialise. Instead, the Nissan-badged Magnite  which was originally destined to wear the Datsun insignia  was introduced to South Africa in April 2021.The first Datsun was produced way back in 1931, before the badge disappeared in 1986. After a 27-year hiatus, Nissan announced the revival of the marque as a budget sub-brand for emerging markets in mid-2013. The Go, however, had a rocky start, being handed a zero-star crash-test safety rating by Global NCAP the following year.

SOURCE Cars.co.za

Cars.co.za is a leading online automotive retail portal that lists more than 70 000 vehicles stocked by hundreds of dealers countrywide, as well as the top-ranked branded SA YouTube channel. In 2015, Cars.co.za repositioned itself as a consumer champion by optimising its editorial content for the purposes of engaging and empowering its users. The Cars.co.za Ownership Satisfaction Survey, in association with Lightstone Consumer, and the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards  powered by WesBank, underlines the companys objective to be the most comprehensive resource to South African vehicle buyers.

Go to: Cars.co.za is a leading online automotive retail portal that lists more than 70 000 vehicles stocked by hundreds of dealers countrywide, as well as the top-ranked branded SA YouTube channel. In 2015, Cars.co.za repositioned itself as a consumer champion by optimising its editorial content for the purposes of engaging and empowering its users. The Cars.co.za Ownership Satisfaction Survey, in association with Lightstone Consumer, and the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards  powered by WesBank, underlines the companys objective to be the most comprehensive resource to South African vehicle buyers.Go to: http://www.cars.co.za
Twitter, which has been a hub of public discourse and a flashpoint in the debate over online free speech before, has seen the resurfacing of this debate with the announcement that Twitter will be sold to Tesla titan Elon Musk, and going private.

Twitter is the digital town square

In principle, I dont believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.  jack (@jack) April 26, 2022

Staff in an uproar, not happy

Its absolutely insane @ Twitter right now in the virtual valves of private slack rooms & employee group texts, according to an internal source. Their take/breakdown just now:

I feel like im going to throw up..I rly dont wanna work for a company that is owned by Elon Musk1/  talmon joseph smith (@talmonsmith) April 25, 2022

Struggled to generate revenue

With more than 83 million followers, Musk is one of its most prolific users.Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist, has criticised Twitter's moderation says Reuters But what does Musk mean by free speech? In a tweet on Monday, he wrote, I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.said: "He (Musk) wants Twitter's algorithm for prioritizing tweets to be public and objects to giving too much power on the service to corporations that advertise."It further reports that political activists expect that a Musk regime will mean less moderation and reinstatement of banned individuals including former President Donald Trump.However, Trump told CNBC on Monday he wouldnt return to Twitter even if Musk reversed the former presidents ban, saying that hell be on his own service, Truth Social, within a week.Despite this,said: "Conservatives cheered the prospect of fewer controls while some human rights activists voiced fears of a rise in hate speech. Musk has also advocated user-friendly tweaks to the service, such as an edit button and defeating "spam bots" that send overwhelming amounts of unwanted tweets."In a statement on Monday Musk said: Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated."The richest man in the world began amassing a stake of about 9% in January.By March, he had ramped up his criticism of Twitter, alleging that the companys algorithms are biased and feeds cluttered with automated junk posts. He also suggested Twitters user growth was inflated by bots, says Aljazeera After rejecting an invitation to join the companys board, on 14 April, he offered to take Twitter private, saying hed make the platform a bastion of free speech and dropping other hints about the changes hed make as owner.While Musk stated: Twitter has tremendous potential  I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it", it appears that his enthusiasm is not shared by many Twitter employees who have expressed their views on the platform.'I feel like im going to throw up..I rly don't wanna work for a company that is owned by Elon Musk,' one staffer said.Another Twitter employee reportedly complained: 'I don't rly know what I'm supposed to dooh my god, my phone's been blowing upWe have a meeting about it at 5pmthe CEO is going to address everyone about it. I hate (Musk) him, why does he even want this?'In its internal message rooms there was uproar reports The New York Times CEO Parag Agrawal and Bret Taylor, the chair of the board addressed staff at 5pm ET on Monday.It's important to acknowledge that all of you have many different feelings about what is happening. Some of you are concerned, some are you are excited, and some of you are waiting to see how this goes. I know this affects all of you personally. It is an emotional day, and I just want to acknowledge it," Agrawal said, according to two people who attended the meeting and spoke toStaff have been told that their jobs are safe for at least six months, until Musk takes over under the terms of a $44 billion deal accordng to The Mail Online By taking the company private, Musk has to figure out a whole new structure for employee pay. However the tech industry is dealing with a tightening and highly competitive market for talent, with employers are under more pressure than ever to retain what theyve got.And despite its reach and impact, the San Francisco-based one-to-many messaging platform has struggled to generate the kind of revenue seen by social media peers such as Facebook and TikTok.Since its founding in March of 2006, Twitter has amassed 217 million daily active users, more than 80% of them outside the US, but it did not taste profit until the end of 2017, and the following year was its first to finish financially in the black.Twitter reported a loss of $221m last year.
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Creative Programme Manager

Remuneration: cost-to-company Location: Johannesburg Remote work: Remote work allowed optional Education level: Degree Job level: Mid/Senior Own transport required: Yes Travel requirement: Occasional Job policy: Employment Equity position Type: 12 Reference: #YCCMan22 Company: YCC in collaboration with TILT

Job description

Strategic and day-today management of the YCC Programme and its members

Arranging technical and theoretical training sessions

Managing talent search and programme participant engagement

Liaison with funders, clients, implementation partner team, agency and YES team on behalf of the programme

Preparing feedback reports for funders and partners

Maintaining strong relationships with key industry leaders and content creators

Preference for an Alexandra (Johannesburg) resident

Remuneration: R325-R380k p.a.

Requirements

Appropriate tertiary qualification/s preferable

Understanding of photography/videography

Minimum six years relevant experience

Computer literate (Word, PowerPoint/Keynote, Excel, e-mail)

Excellent communication, presentation and writing skills

A can-do attitude and strong work ethic: resourceful/inventive

Proactive: nimble/adaptable

Excellent interpersonal skills

Great project management skills, with detail- and results-orientation

This exciting, funded project  the Youth Content Collective (YCC)  was launched in mid-2021 to help unemployed 18-35 year olds become independent producers of authentic photo, video and illustrated content. Content creation company, TILT, runs the programme.Strategic and day-to-day management of the YCC Programme and its two staff members.Posted on 26 Apr 15:30, Closing date 25 Jun
Managing Editor

Location: Johannesburg, Lonehill, Sandton Company: Creative Space Media

Job description

Managing editorial and production processes

Ensure the effective management of high-quality production of content for multiple media platforms

This includes both executing best quality content on your own as well as managing editorial content of your assigned creative team

Managing a team of writers, designers and video editors

Create content strategies and oversee implementation processes to prioritise content flow

This position is the gatekeeper for quality; oversight of writing/editing copy, articles, social media posts, email marketing content, websites and more

Supervising the content creation process from writing through editing and publishing

Build a deep understanding of brand strategy for each of the companys clients, applying it to everything you create and oversee

Requirements

Experience in content production and managing editorial

Exceptional writing and editing skills, including the ability to write for a variety of audiences and communications mediums to ensure the creative delivery presentations are best in class

Solid understanding of project management principles

Media relations experience, including writing press releases and statements and building media lists

A leading creative agency in Lonehill is looking for a Managing Editor to manage editorial content for multiple lines of digital and web platforms. The candidate should be passionate about creating relevant and dynamic content that inspires and engages. They must have good leadership skills, be a good team player, while continually contributing to, reviewing, and optimising the work the team produces. This role involves working collaboratively with both the production team and content creators to deliver great creative content for web and digital channels.Posted on 26 Apr 10:56, Closing date 25 Jun
Business Development Consultant

Remuneration: basic plus commission Location: Cape Town Education level: Matric Job level: Mid/Senior Own transport required: Yes Travel requirement: Often Type: Permanent Company: Estate Living

Job description

Prospecting

Creating strategic proposals

Phone, Zoom and face to face meetings

Closing sales

Client Service

Making sales target

With an interest and understanding of digital sales mediums

Basic

Commission

On Target Earnings

Phone and Internet stipend

Requirements

Prospecting

Creating strategic proposals

Comfortable with Phone, Zoom and Face to face meetings

Closing sales

Customer relations orientated

Making sales target

With an interest and understanding of digital sales mediums

Positive attitude

Self-motivated

Computer literate

Good communication skills

Fluent in English

Team player

We are looking for a competent Media Sales Executive interested in working with property development & residential estate media. Must be based in Cape Town, professional and efficient in all sales related tasks:Must have own tools: Reliable Transport, Phone, Internet and LaptopWork from the office, with occasional Work from home.Overall responsible for selling media and communication solutions and driving sales across multiple platforms to property developers, estates and their media agencies.Years of experience in media sales: 5+Salary  To be Discussed at application processStart Date  ImmediatelyPosted on 04 May 15:48, Closing date 25 Jun
Former Slate journalist Franklin Foer, who currently works at The Atlantic, sent a draft copy of one of his propaganda pieces to Fusion GPS for editing, according to leaked emails highlighted by Special Counsel John Durham.





Oh dear. @FranklinFoer gave draft copies of his Russia collusion hoax stories to Fusion GPS and asked them to edit. via @Techno_Fog https://t.co/IynMT2naUm pic.twitter.com/YZB7smLRXR  Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 26, 2022

grave, grave journalistic no-no. But for a propagandist participating in a hoax, probably standard operating procedure. And it's not the only time he's been caught doing it with Fusion on a Russia collusion hoax story.  Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 26, 2022

May, 2016:



Here's @FranklinFoer going back and forth with Fusion GPS on Carter Page



Franklin published the Alfa Bank hoax before the election. pic.twitter.com/FaCJjpFXdr  Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) April 26, 2022



From TechnoFog:

Here are e-mails between Franklin Foer and Fusion GPS, in which they discuss going after Carter Page in May 2016.

Fusion GPS and Franklin Foer e-mails - in which Fusion GPS alleges Millian is clearly KGB.

Fusion GPS telling a WSJ reporter to call Adam Schiff or Diane Feinstein about Carter Page.

As Durham makes clear, no lawyers are copied in these e-mails and this doesnt have anything to do with legal advice. And even if there were some type of privilege or work product, it was waived when Fusion GPS distributed the info to the press.

How many times have we seen this before? It reminds me of when Politico's Glenn Thrush (now with the New York Times) got exposed by Wikileaks for sending his articles to the Clinton campaign for editing.







Foer is now writing propaganda pieces for The Atlantic hailing the Zelensky regime as champions of "liberalism."





In the spirit of Passover, I wrote about the miracle of Ukrainian survivaland why it should give hope for liberalism. https://t.co/GLNUMe9YBp  Franklin Foer (@FranklinFoer) April 13, 2022



Zelensky said three weeks ago his goal for Ukraine is not to become a "liberal" state but instead "a Greater Israel."



Follow InformationLiberation on Twitter, Facebook, Gab, Minds and Telegram.
Joe Biden agreed to pay son Hunter's legal fees for his deal with a Chinese government-controlled company, emails reveal.

The revelation ties the president even closer to Hunter's overseas business dealings  and makes his previous claims that he never discussed them with his son, even less plausible.

Joe was able to pay the bills after earning millions of dollars through his and his wife's companies after he left office as vice president.

Some of the wave of cash came from their book deals and speaking engagements.

But the president's financial filings reveal that he declared almost $7million more income on his tax returns than he did on his government transparency reports, an analysis by DailyMail.com of the president's financial records shows.

Some of that difference can be accounted for with salaries earned by First Lady Jill Biden and other sums not required on his reports  but still leaves $5.2million earned by Joe's company and not listed on his transparency reports.

The 'missing millions'  combined with emails on Hunter's abandoned laptop suggesting Joe would have a 10% share in Hunter's blockbuster deal with the Chinese  raise a troubling question: did Joe Biden receive money from the foreign venture?

Emails reveal Joe Biden agreed to pay Hunter's legal fees for a deal with a Chinese government-controlled company

In January 2019, Hunter's assistant Katie Dodge wrote an email to book-keeper Linda Shapero and Biden aide Richard Ruffner, saying Joe had agreed to pay his hundreds of thousands of dollars of bills

One of the last items on a spreadsheet of Hunter's bills was $28,000 in legal fees for the 'restructuring' of Hunter's joint venture with the Chinese government-controlled Bank of China. The spreadsheet listed the bill as 'Faegre Baker Daniels: BHR Restructuring' costing $28,382 and due 'ASAP'.

In January 2019, Hunter's assistant Katie Dodge wrote an email to book-keeper Linda Shapero and Biden aide Richard Ruffner, saying Joe had agreed to pay his hundreds of thousands of dollars of bills.

The math behind Joe's missing $5.2million The president's financial filings show that he declared almost $7million more income on his tax returns than he did on his government transparency reports, raising the question: where did the extra cash come from? Joe Biden's Office of Government Ethics (OGE) filings: 2017 - May 2019 filing: Jill and Joe Biden income of $8,699,787

Income attributable to Joe Bidens company CelticCapri Corp: $7,451,727 May 2019  2020 filing: Income of $907,160

CelticCapri Corp income: $613,737 Total: $9,606,947, including $8,065,464 from CelticCapri Joe Bidens federal tax returns: 2017 Income of $11,031,309 CelticCapri Corp income: $9,636,690 2018 Income of $4,580,437 CelticCapri Corp income: $3,030,667 2019 Income of $985,233 CelticCapri Corp income: $578,178 Total: $16,596,979, including $13,245,535 from CelticCapri Tax return versus OGE difference: $6,990,032 Unaccounted-for difference from CelticCapri: $5,180,071 'I spoke with Hunter today regarding his bills. It is my understanding that Hunt's dad will cover these bills in the short-term as Hunter transitions in his career,' Dodge said.

The assistant attached a spreadsheet of bills with the email, totaling $737,130.61.

One of the last items was $28,000 in legal fees for the 'restructuring' of Hunter's joint venture with the government-controlled Bank of China.

The spreadsheet listed the bill as 'Faegre Baker Daniels: BHR Restructuring' costing $28,382 and due 'ASAP'.

BHR ('Bohai Harvest RST') is a private equity firm and one of Hunter's two major Chinese business ventures. The joint venture was co-owned by the state-controlled Bank of China.

Hunter's personal attorney, George Mesires, is a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels, now called Faegre Drinker.

A separate October 2018 invoice from the law firm shows Hunter spent a total $68,933.41 on the 'restructuring' beginning in September 2016.

The same year Joe took on these bills from Hunter, he promised that 'No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they are a cabinet member, will, in fact, have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country.'

Yet not only did Hunter hold on to his 10% share of BHR through 2021, confirmed by White House press secretary Jen Psaki last February, the emails also indicate Joe knew about it, and even agreed to pay Hunter's legal fees for the firm.

The bills also include $412,309.23 in unpaid taxes dating back to 2015.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that Hunter had taken out a million-dollar loan to pay his delinquent tax bill in an apparent effort to stave off an alleged tax fraud prosecution.

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who along with Senator Chuck Grassley is investigating Hunter's foreign business deals, said Joe Biden's unaccounted-for millions are 'another disturbing piece of information that raises questions that deserve answers.'

'When will the corporate media start doing their job and ask President Biden these questions?' he said. 'And when will President Biden start being honest with the public? The American people deserve the truth.'

Iowa Republican Grassley told DailyMail.com: 'Evidence of the president's financial and business connections to Hunter continues to grow. It's imperative for the first family to show the American people the transparency that they deserve.'
Gonzalo Lira just delivered a decent recap of the war in Ukraine.

Cruciallythe Russians blitz on several axes pre-empted an imminent UKRAINIAN blitzkrieg. The AFU had been about to invade the Donbas. This was the immediate motivation for Russias invasion: To beat them to the punch and scuttle Ukraines imminent invasionwhich they did.

The RF put 30K troops near Kievnowhere near enough to capture the citybut enough to pin down some 100K AFU defenders. The RF also launched several axes of attack, with reinforcements on standby (including a famed 40km long tank column), to see where they might be needed.

Quick recap for those who havent followed whats been going on in Ukraine but want to understand: 02/24: The Russians invaded from the south, south-east, east and north, in a lightning campaign. The Russians invaded with 190K troopsagainst 250K combat troops from Ukraine.

So the main AFU army was left stranded in east Ukraine, with the rest of the Ukr. forces isolated and pinned downwith no easy resupply from the West. The RF then went about hitting AFU command/control and resupply links, further isolating and immobilizing Ukrainian forces.

The Russians soon nominally controlled land the size of the UK in Ukrainebut it was a tenuous control. The south of Ukraine was more fully in Russias grip. The AFU around Kherson simply scattered. Mariupol became a clear battleground, as did the Donbas proper.

What the Russians initially wanted was to:

Short-circuit the imminent Donbas invasion - which they did.

Scare the Zelensky regime into negotiating a political settlement - which they failed to do.

Kiev had no intention of negotiating a ceasefire because of orders given to them from Washington: Fight Russia to the last Ukrainian! Also, the Neo-Nazi goons around Zelensky threatened him if he negotiated and surrendered because they are terrified of the Russians.

So Zelensky launched a massive PR and propaganda campaign, primarily to motivate AFU forces to fight to the death. Myths were created (Ghost of Kiev), false flags were carried out (Bucha, Kramatorsk) and relentless media stories were flogged relentlessly.

The Russians kept negotiating and trying to NOT destroy Ukraine infrastructure. In fact at first they were even trying to minimize AFU casualties. The evidence for this is overwhelming: The RF did not hit civilian infrastructure - water, electric, phone, transportation. They did not hit AFU barracks, command centers, government buildings, etc.

The Russians initial priority was for a *negotiated settlement*. But by late March, they realized this was impossible.

This is why the RF withdrew from Kiev. There was no sense putting men near the city when they were not doing what they were supposed to do - putting political pressure on the Zelensky regime to negotiate. This withdrawal was claimed as a victory in the Battle of Kiev! lmao

Starting in late March, the Russians pulled back and solidified their control over the area they had captured, ceding to the AFU areas that were either pointless to or potentially too costly to control. The Ukraine propaganda machine called all these pull- backs victories.

There was still a glimmer that the war might end in a negotiated settlement but that ended in early April. After the Istanbul talks of 3/30, the Ukraine side gingerly agreed to some compromises but within a week publicly disavowed those concessions.

Thats when the Russians realized the Zelensky regime was agreement-incapable: Their Washington masters, Victoria Nuland and Anthony Blinken in particular, wouldnt allow a peace. They want this war to sap Russia dry. It is a classic proxy war and Ukraine will pay the price.

Something else the Russians realized: Sanctions. They hurt but Russia bounced back with remarkable speed. They didnt really hurt that bad. But the theft of Russias $300 billion in foreign reserves by the West DID hurt - badly. The Russians realized they were in a total war with the West and since their foreign reserves were lost forever (likely to be pilfered by corrupt Western politicos), the Russians now have nothing left to lose. By stealing their reserves, the West lost all power over Russia.

This has sealed Ukraines fate: The Russians now have no incentive to give up what they have conquered. It has cost them too much in terms of men and treasure. And they know that they cant negotiate a ceasefire. The Zelensky regime will simply break it later.

Which means:

The Russians intend to conquer and permanently annex all the south and east of Ukraine. This is why their strategy on the battlefield has dramatically shifted: Now they are carrying out a slow, methodical grinding down and destruction of the AFU.

The war in the first 30 days was speed, feints, nominally capturing vast swathes of Ukraine territory, with the aim of pressuring the Zelensky regime into a negotiated settlement. But the Wests total financial and political break with Russia means they have nothing to lose. And they have a lot to gain: The Donbas is mineral rich, the really productive farmlands of Ukraine are in the east and south, Kharkov is a major industrial city, the Sea of Azov has untold natural gas reserves.

And besides - the people love them. Why would the Russians now give up this hard-won prize?

And they *have* won - make no mistake. Ask any military man who is not a system pig, hell tell you: There is no way for the AFU to retake their country. They have no armor, no air defense, no fuel, no comms - its over.

The great tragedy is that so many THOUSANDS of young men will die, and die NEEDLESSLY!!, in order to postpone the inevitable. These brave boys will have fought so valiantly - and died so young, so cruelly -because of the evil of the Zelensky regime.

Thats the hard truth.

And in the end, this will be the map that will remaina bitter image of Ukraines future. Russia will pour billions into their newly acquired territory. It will prosper and flourish. But the rump-state of Ukraine will be left poor, destroyed, forgotten.

A tragedy.


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IAEA holds first int'l conference on nuclear law

Xinhua) 08:41, April 26, 2022

Photo taken on April 25, 2022 shows the scene of the first "International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate" held in Vienna, Austria. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) kicked off its first international conference on nuclear law here on Monday. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

VIENNA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) kicked off its first international conference on nuclear law here on Monday.

Lawyers, representatives of national authorities, international organizations, nuclear industry and civil society from 127 countries are participating in the IAEA's first "International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate" to discuss emerging issues and trends in nuclear law and the applicable legal frameworks, according to an IAEA statement.

Rafael Grossi, the IAEA Director-General, said in his opening speech at the conference that nuclear law is "not only about behavior and abiding by very important concepts and principles of law, but also driven by technological development."

He added that nuclear energy, "a force for the greater good," can at the same time "pose challenges that must be solved."

Dong Baotong, vice chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority, said at a forum on the sidelines of the conference that China has established a nuclear law system in recent years and is currently formulating an atomic energy law to safeguard the peaceful development and use of atomic energy.

Dong added that China is willing to share with other countries its experience in the development and legislation of the civil nuclear energy sector.

The IAEA conference, which includes forums, exhibitions and other sideline meetings, will run until Friday.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
CFB SHILO  The 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry is conducting pre-deployment training for Operation REASSURANCE in preparation for being stationed in Latvia.

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CFB SHILO  The 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry is conducting pre-deployment training for Operation REASSURANCE in preparation for being stationed in Latvia.

The ongoing training saw 321 soldiers and officers on the ground Monday in preparation for deployment to Europe sometime in June. The unit began training on April 4 and will conclude the exercises on May 9.

"Were already where we need to be. Were just kind of confirming a couple of things and shaking off a couple of cobwebs," said A Company Second-in-Command Lt. James Molyneaux. "I think the company right now that is going to Latvia is ready to go."

The soldiers will spend two weeks moving to a new location each day for exercises on the 100,000-acre training ground at CFB Shilo. Molyneaux and his unit had been camping on the military exercise grounds for four days as of Monday in the rain and snow.

"Every morning you pack all your stuff up and get in your cars and you go do training and every night you occupy a new spot," Molyneaux said. "Youre constantly moving around. You never stay in the same spot for very long."

A soldier with 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry takes his position a deployment readiness confirmation exercise in preparation for Op REASSURANCE Monday at CFB Shilo. (Chelsea Kemp/The Brandon Sun)

The on-the-ground military training helps prepare soldiers for their deployment overseas. They will spend about two-and-a-half weeks out training living outside and practising different exercises from around 6 or 7 a.m. to as late as midnight or 2 a.m.

The training has been a progression of skills, Molyneaux said, because the unit includes amalgamated military members from across Canada. Units will be working with light armoured vehicles (LAV) each day growing from a section level with one vehicle and a crew of people to a full company of 15 LAVs with artillery support and a troop of engineers.

Second Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) members are motivated to prepare for their deployment because the Latvia mission remains critical, Molyneaux said.

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has members serving in Latvia as part of Operation REASSURANCE. Members are stationed in Central and Eastern Europe as part of NATO assurance and deterrence measures. During the operation, CAF is conducting training, exercises and some NATO-specific tasks.

About 1,475 Canadian Armed Forces members are deployed in support of the operation, making it Canadas largest current international military operation.

"Its super important that we have skills up to par because the consequences of not [doing so] are pretty grave. In Latvia, while youre there as a deterrence presence, but the training continues. A lot of our activities over there will look a lot like this just to keep the skills sharpened."

Molyneaux was deployed to Latvia in 2019 for a six-month tour. It is an amazing experience living in Europe, he said, and recommended those who are deployed enjoy their time in the country.

Master Cpl. Cody Monague has been tasked as crew commander of a LAV during the training exercise sitting on top of the vehicle for a birds eye view of the ground to help maneuver effectively with a driver and gunner.

"Theres a lot of great people here, a lot of experienced men who fought over in Afghanistan and learning from them its been great," Monague said.

A Company Second-in-Command Lt. James Molyneaux (left), Master Cpl. Cody Monague and Pte. Avery Scarrett participate in a Mondays deployment readiness confirmation exercise at CFB Shilo. (Chelsea Kemp/The Brandon Sun)

Monague was deployed to Latvia in 2019. It was an amazing opportunity offering important training exercises and the chance to work with different NATO allies.

It is a fast-paced environment getting ready for deployment and ensuring soldiers are qualified on different weapons systems and vehicle operations, Monague said.

There is no typical day for those preparing for deployment. For the past week or so they were practising company-level manoeuvres for attacking an objective and switched to defensive training on Monday.

The training amalgamated different companies into one for the departure, he said. The CFB Shilo exercises offered the opportunity for them to work together for the first time.

"The past couple of days thats what weve been doing, hashing out our standard operating procedures, and its looking pretty well so far," Monague said.

Military training also drives home the need for camaraderie and support so CAF members are ready to step up to the plate if the need arises.

A soldier sorts through his gear during Mondays exercise.

"I like doing my job and Im happy to be out here right now, especially with all the guys," Monague said. "Weve got a great group of guys and everything is going well."

Hailing from Portage la Prairie, Pte. Avery Scarrett, 22, was part of the training exercises in preparation for deployment to Latvia.

"Theyre pretty tiring, but its pretty fun to work with all your co-workers and all your other soldiers," Scarrett said. "It really just shows you the ropes of working in a team  working under your leadership, taking orders and fulfilling those orders."

He is excited to get over to Latvia and work with other countries while furthering his soldiering skills.

"Were just regular people doing our job," Scarrett said.

 ckemp@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp
Montreal-based pianist David Potvin came out on top during the 45th Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition, which took place this past weekend at the Brandon University School of Music.

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Montreal-based pianist David Potvin came out on top during the 45th Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition, which took place this past weekend at the Brandon University School of Music.

By placing first in this years contest, Potvin received a cash prize of $6,000 and will now take part in a cross-country tour that runs throughout October and November.

David Potvin was the winner of the 45th Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition, which took place this past weekend in Brandon. (Submitted)

Potvin got his hands on an additional $1,000 by winning the City of Brandon Prize, which honours the best performance of the competitions annual commissioned piece.

This isnt the first time that Potvins talents as a musician have been recognized, since he has already taken home accolades from the 2017 Stepping Stone and 2018 Shean Strings and Piano competitions.

Outside of his career as a recording artist, Potvin also teaches music in both French and English and serves as a member of the Royal Conservatory of Musics college of examiners.

On Sunday, Potvin described the E-Gre win as "the highlight of my career so far," with the event itself being a "wonderful opportunity to share my passion for Canadian music."

"I am also grateful for the opportunities that the organizers of this competition give to pianists such as myself to perform," he said in a news release. "I look forward to presenting the repertoire that has become dear to me on tour across the country."

Montreal-based pianist David Potvin performs during the 45th Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition, which took place this past weekend in Brandon. (Submitted)

This years E-Gre Competition focused on the piano and featured six finalists who hailed from Quebec and British Columbia.

Gabrielle Gagnon-Picard, also from Montreal, ended up in second place, which entitles her to a cash prize of $2,500. Meanwhile, fellow Montreal-based pianist Edward Enman received $1,500 in cash for getting in third.

The remaining finalists  Risa Tonita, Andrew Zhou and Paul Williamson  all received $1,000 for taking part.

This years E-Gre Competition marks the first time that finalists were able to perform in person since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020 and 2021, musicians had to compete online due to public health restrictions.

The E-Gre Competition itself began in 1976 to pay tribute to famous composer and pianist/violinist Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatte.

Every year, the contest alternates between featuring musicians who specialize in piano, voice and string instruments.

 The Brandon Sun
Employees said they worried that Musk would undo the years of work they have put into cleaning up the toxic corners of the platform, upend their stock compensation in the process of taking the company private, and disrupt Twitters culture with his unpredictable management style and abrupt proclamations. Loading But Musk also has fans among Twitters rank-and-file, and some employees have welcomed his bid. In an internal Slack message seen by The New York Times that asked if employees were excited about Musk, about 10 people responded with a Yes emoji. A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment. If Twitter is worth buying, much of its value is in the employees who build and manage the service, said David Larcker, a professor of accounting and corporate governance at Stanford University. The wild card is, what if it becomes a very different company than they thought they were working for? Its an uncomfortable working relationship, he said. Musk has made some of his intentions clear in regulatory filings, tweets and public appearances: The company must scrap nearly all of its moderation policies, which ban content like violent threats, harassment and spam. It must provide more transparency about the algorithm it uses to boost tweets in users newsfeeds. And it must become a private company.

Twitter has been expanding its content moderation policies since 2008, when its 25th employee was hired specifically to combat abuse on its platform. The teams overseeing moderation and safety have now grown to hundreds of employees. Many Twitter employees feel personally invested in the companys effort to encourage healthy conversation  even if they do not directly work on content moderation  and have pressed executives to crack down further on hate speech and misinformation, six employees said. They see Musks proposal to revert to Twitters early, lax approach as a rebuke of their work. Twitter chief Parag Agrawal told employees that their stock options would convert to cash when the deal with Musk closes. Credit:AP But other employees have argued in internal messages seen by the Times that their co-workers have shifted too far to the left side of the political spectrum, making employees who support Musks plans too uncomfortable to speak up. In a worker-run survey of nearly 200 Twitter employees on Blind, an anonymous workplace review app, 44 per cent said they were neutral on Musk. Twenty-seven percent said they loved Musk, while 27 per cent said they hated him. Although executives and employees at Twitter have agreed with Musk about changes to its algorithm, that work is in its earliest stages and could take years to complete. That could test something Musk is not particularly known for  patience.

One of the top concerns among Twitter workers is whether they will take a financial hit from Musks acquisition. Many Twitter employees make 50 per cent or more of their total compensation from Twitter stock. Some employees said they feared missing out on the long-term value of their stock at Musks price of $US54.20 per share. Loading At a meeting with employees, executives tried to assure employees that they wouldnt be shortchanged by Musks acquisition. Agrawal told employees that their stock options would convert to cash when the deal with Musk closes, which he estimated would take between three and six months. Employees would receive their same benefits packages for a year after the deal was finalised. In an earlier attempt to quell financial worries, Sean Edgett, Twitters general counsel, told employees that any potential buyer would likely be required to keep employee equity as is or provide equivalent compensation, like a cash award. Edgett, who made his comments before the deal with Musk was announced, stressed that employees should not view his guidance as insight into the deal-making. This is meant to provide some peace of mind and explain how these things typically work, not because we believe there will be one outcome versus another, he wrote in messages to employees reviewed by the Times.

Twitter has been on a hiring spree, spending $US630 million on stock-based compensation in 2021, a 33 per cent increase from the previous year. Twitter predicted in a February earnings report that it would spend between $US900 million and $US925 million on stock-based compensation this year. Loading But Musks campaign has also begun to undercut Twitters attempts to recruit new employees, according to internal documents outlining the companys hiring efforts that were viewed by the Times. Prospective hires have expressed scepticism about Musks plans to transform Twitter and upend its content moderation, those documents said. Employees have also wondered: Could he also move Twitters headquarters to Texas, as he did with Tesla? Could he end the companys flexibility about returning to the office, which has become a selling point for employees and recruits? Musk, after all, fought with officials in California to keep his car factory open early in the pandemic. Agrawal tried to calm his workforce. In a Q&A session, he urged employees to operate Twitter as we always have, adding that how we run the company, the decisions we make and the positive changes we drive  that will be on us, and under our control.
The Morrison government is being accused of breaking a promise to victims of paedophiles, who say they are unable to receive compensation while their abusers are allowed to keep their cash locked in their superannuation accounts.

In 2018, the then financial services minister Kelly ODwyer guaranteed to close a legal loophole that allows offenders to quarantine their superannuation savings from civil compensation payouts to victims.

At a press conference held with victim advocate groups, including Bravehearts, ODwyer said legislation would be introduced before the end of the year. It wasnt.

Victims of crime advocate Howard Brown was with ODwyer for the announcement, after earlier presenting her with a petition containing 20,000 signatures demanding the law be changed.
The financial crimes watchdog Austrac says it will work more closely with Victorias casino regulator, in a partnership said to assist law enforcement in investigations into criminal activity.

Austrac on Wednesday said it had signed an updated memorandum of understanding with the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) that would allow the two bodies to share information.

It comes after Austrac last month launched civil action against Crown Resorts seeking penalties for serious and systemic non-compliance with anti-money-laundering laws.

Crown Resorts has also in recent years faced financial penalties in Victoria and a royal commission over its past dealings with junkets  tour operators that bring wealthy gamblers, mainly from China, into casinos.

Austrac chief executive Nicole Rose. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Austrac chief Nicole Rose said the memorandum of understanding was an important step, as it showed both agencies were committed to collaborating and sharing financial intelligence.

The impact on the community of criminals exploiting the gambling industry to launder the proceeds of serious crime cannot be underestimated. It is critical for Austrac and its state and territory-based regulatory and government partners to work together to ensure the gambling industry is hardened against misuse by criminals, Rose said.

VGCCCs executive director of compliance, Adam Ockwell, said the memorandum would give the state watchdog access to financial transaction information, allowing it to identify threats and assist law enforcement agencies.

Having faster access to Austracs financial intelligence will strengthen our work in identifying any emerging financial crime issues so we can take appropriate regulatory action, including education measures, to minimise harm, protect the community and ensure the integrity of the gambling industries in Victoria, Ockwell said.
Former West Australian treasurer given suspended prison sentence on domestic violence charges

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The search for a teenager swept off the rocks on the Illawarra coast has failed to locate the man, after three friends Anzac Day fishing trip came to a distressing end on Monday afternoon.

Emergency services returned to Hill 60 park at Port Kembla about 8am on Tuesday, after responding on Monday to reports that 19-year-old Brenden Buxton Hurd was missing off the headland.

Reports 19-year-old Brenden Buxton Hurd was missing off the headland were made on Monday afternoon. Credit:Nine News

The man had been fishing with his friends, aged 17 and 50, who said he was hit by a large wave and was washed off the rocks into the sea. Emergency services were alerted about 3.45pm.

The friends entered the water in an attempt to rescue Hurd but could not reach him.
The state coroner has recommended the police consult with Queensland Health about prisoners in hospitals, after an officer was forced to defend herself and shoot a man who violently attacked her.

Tyson Lee Jessen died in 2018 in Ipswich Hospital from gunshot wounds to the neck, chest and abdomen after he attacked Senior Constable Leesa Richardson while he was under police guard.

Inquest findings into Jessens death found the Queensland Police Services procedures were inadequate, but also that Jessen had probably lulled officers into a sense of false security with compliant behaviour before the attack.

Jessen had an extensive criminal history in Victoria.
Labors tight control on media appearances and daily messaging has left prominent frontbenchers including Tanya Plibersek and Bill Shorten effectively frozen out, creating growing frustration inside the party about restrictions on who is featured during the six-week election campaign.

A leaked internal memo sent by Labors campaign headquarters on the eve of the election revealed the party would only be releasing transcripts of media appearances for Labor leader Anthony Albanese and a select few shadow ministers.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, centre, with the chosen few and frozen out. Credit:SMH/The Age

All interviews, including regular appearances across TV and radio, also had to be approved by campaign headquarters (CHQ).

Two and a half weeks into the campaign, an analysis of the transcripts and media alerts sent out by Labors CHQ reveals shadow ministers who are part of Albaneses inner circle and leadership group are being heavily promoted and relied upon to deliver the campaigns daily message.
Kyiv: Ukraine accused Moscow of trying to drag Moldovas breakaway region of Transnistria into its war on Kyiv after authorities in the Moscow-backed region said they had been targeted by a series of attacks.

Authorities in Transnistria, an unrecognised sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, said on Tuesday that explosions had damaged two radio masts that broadcast in Russian and that one of its military units had been attacked.

It provided few details, but blamed Ukraine, raising its terrorist threat level to red and introducing checkpoints around its towns. The Kremlin, which has troops and peacekeepers in the region of Transnistria, said it was seriously concerned.

The traces of these attacks lead to Ukraine, Russian news agency TASS quoted Vadim Krasnoselsky, the self-styled president of Transnistria, as saying. I assume that those who organised this attack have the purpose of dragging Transnistria into the conflict.
The youngest of the men, Dania, grabbed Anna by the hood of her coat and dragged her back into the street, where she was instructed to knock on another door. By this point she was paralysed with fear. The three Russians had started arguing among themselves and in all of the commotion became separated from the commander. Now it was just Anna and the two younger men. When they knocked on the final door, the husband of their next victim tried to stop the men from entering. They told him to get back, we will take your woman, Anna said, grimacing. When he refused, they shot him dead in front of me.

The young men then marched the women to an abandoned house and forced them to climb through a broken window. When Anna hesitated, worried that she would cut herself on the shards of glass, the soldiers pushed her through it, berating her. They were being rude to us, Anna said, remembering the derogatory remarks they made about their feed. The Russians were talking to each other and complaining, one is 41 and the other is 43, and the other said well, what can we do? The streets of Borodyanka, near Kyiv, where Anna says Russian soldiers rounded up women in order to rape them. Credit:Ivor Pickett I was afraid, Anna said, as she watched the other woman being led upstairs, leaving her alone with Dania. She begged him not to attack her.

I asked him how old he was, she remembered, shaking as she thought back to the moment he did terrible things to me. Loading He told me he was 19 and I said to him that I could be his mother, that I have a son his age. I asked him how old his mother was but he would not answer me. I think she was my age. After Dania raped her, he threatened Anna that if she disobeyed him, she would be taken to the headquarters and made to serve all of the soldiers. But when he left the room in search of his friend she decided to take her chances and run.

By now it was past midnight and she was screaming her husbands name as she ran down the street. Sobbing, she returned to her house, where she heard her husband whisper her name. Alex was hiding on the roof. She climbed up on to the uneven, corrugated iron and lay next to her husband in the freezing cold where they stayed until daylight. Hundreds of women had been raped by Russian soldiers, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraines president, said last week. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said that war has given rise to gender-based violence, such as rape, sexual violence or sexual harassment. The Ukrainian police forces said they had only officially prosecuted 10 cases of rape so far.

But Kateryna Pavlichenko, deputy interior minister, said this was likely to be just the tip of the iceberg. Pavlichenko said: For Russians, it is a routine tactic. We saw them use similar tactics in Chechnya and Syria. Russians rape to destabilise civilians. She said that Ukraine had formed specialist teams for investigating rape in the wake of the war. The Russian army has been accused of using rape as a tactic during the invasion. Credit:AP The teams, made up of 20 people ranging from psychologists to police officers trained to speak with children, will comb the villages in the Kyiv region that were under Russian occupation to find evidence. Such is the complexity of the situation that the teams will keep returning to villages to allow victims to come forward.

It is a problem that people do not want to admit what has happened to them, she added. We are trying not to press them so as not to retraumatise them, but we try to explain that if they share their story it will help to tell the world the atrocities that the Russians committed in Ukraine. Loading Pavlichenko added: Rape is the hardest crime to talk about ... People want to forget it so the scale could be much bigger than we will ever know. The rape and murder that Anna was subjected to that night has left her with severe anxiety. If a dog barks, she jumps and she still worries that the Russians will return and find her.
Having so far catered to the lead acid battery-powered L3 category of three-wheelers, with its recent foray in (EV), Gujarat-based Ltd. would now be looking to cater to the lithium ion-powered L5 vehicles that compete with conventional three-wheelers.

Recently, the company announced its foray into EV three-wheelers through its wholly-owned subsidiary Atul Greentech Pvt Ltd (AGPL) which is engaged in designing and developing innovative solutions for last mile electric mobility for domestic and export markets.

Over the past few years AGPL has developed automotive grade fixed thermal battery solutions, battery management systems and vehicle telematics solutions. However, recently AGPL announced collaboration with Honda Power Pack Energy India Pvt Ltd and Valeo to develop a prototype cargo and passenger three-wheeler vehicle.

"So far, was only present in the L3 category of electric three-wheelers which mostly comprised pedal rickshaws. However, with AGPL the company is now foraying into the L5 category of EV three-wheelers which compete directly with conventional three-wheelers where we are already present with diesel and alternate fuel models," said Jitendra Adhia, president - finance at Ltd.

The EV business of AGPL will be divided into two separate models. Firstly, AGPL will be selling EV three-wheelers entirely manufactured by Atul Auto with fixed battery solutions. However, the second model involves battery swapping powered by Honda's Mobile Power Pack and Valeo's powertrain system.

AGPL would launch the e-vehicle after successful completion of field trials. The vehicle with swapping battery will be equipped with Valeo's integrated compact electric powertrain system. "This world class swappable solution from AGPL will enable our fleet and individual customers to lower the Total Cost of Ownership and up front capital expenditure," Adhia added.

In its conventional three-wheeler business, Atul Auto Ltd. manufactures 0.5 and 0.35 tonnes capacity vehicles in diesel as well as alternate fuel ranges including and . While passenger vehicles form 50-55 per cent of its business, the rest comes from cargo models. The company has two plants with 60000 units per annum capacity each totaling 120,000 units per annum along with over 10000 batteries per annum capacity. Having witnessed a setback in the last couple of years due to factors led by COVID-19 pandemic, the company is expecting to bounce back in the financial year (FY) 2022-23.

"We expect a stable economic environment as well as availability of retail finance to lead the three-wheeler industry back to normal," said Adhia.

Atul Auto has already incurred a capex of roughly Rs 300 crore for vehicular platform, fixed battery solutions and production facility even as investment continues on product development. For the nine months of FY22, the company reported total revenue from operations of Rs 220 crore while that for the entire fiscal year of 2020-21 stood at Rs 295.90 crore.
Giving its India growth story another fillip, Apple shipped nearly 1 million 'make-in-India' iPhones in the country in the first quarter of 2022, a massive jump of 50 per cent (year-on-year) in iPhone shipments from within the country, data showed on Tuesday.

According to data shared by market intelligence firm CyberMedia Research (CMR), iPhones in India registered an overall growth of 22 per cent in the Q1 2022, led by iPhone 12 and 13 sales.

"Our insights point to the contribution of 'Make in India' iPhones in Q1 2022, increasing 50 per cent YoY. The contribution of newer generation iPhones, such as iPhone 13, is almost equal to iPhone 12," Prabhu Ram, Head- Industry Intelligence Group at CMR, told IANS.

Apple's enhanced and diversified iPhone production capabilities in India, along with aggressive retail initiatives, continue to contribute to its strong growth momentum in India.

Earlier this month, the tech giant confirmed it has started manufacturing its top-selling iPhone 13 smartphone in India.

Apple first started manufacturing iPhones in India in 2017, with iPhone SE.

"As Apple further diversifies its manufacturing base, the newer generation iPhone models will fuel Apple's India growth story," said Ram.

The tech giant manufactures some of its most advanced iPhones in the country, including iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and now iPhone 13 at the Foxconn facility while iPhone SE and iPhone 12 are being assembled at the Wistron factory in the country.

In Q1 2022, iPhone 12 maintained a lead with 52 per cent share, followed by iPhone 13 at 20 per cent and iPhone 11 at 18 per cent in India.

When it comes to iPads, Apple registered a 31 per cent growth in India, led by iPad 9th generation (Wi-Fi) that garnered 45 per cent market share.

Apple is expected to register a 5.2 per cent market share in India this year.

"With its enduring brand appeal, Apple continues to attract premium buyers. This is a break from the past when older-generation iPhone models gained consumer favour through aggressive and attractive price offers," said Ram.

--IANS

na/svn/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Mistry and six other directors have resigned from the board of Eureka Forbes, with the new owner Lunolux Ltd taking control of the vacuum cleaner and water purifier maker.

The board of Eureka Forbes, in a meeting held on Tuesday, approved the appointment of Arvind Uppal as chairman with immediate effect, the company said a regulatory filing.

The board also appointed two non-executive directors and two independent directors, it added.

Uppal is the non-executive chairman of Whirlpool of India Ltd and a nominee of Lunolux Ltd on the board.

Seven directors, including Mistry, have stepped down from the board, it added.

"The Board has also considered and accepted the resignation of Homi Adi Katgara as Chairman of the Board with immediate effect, who will however continue to serve as an independent director on the Board," it said.

Lunolux Ltd is a special purpose vehicle incorporated by AI Global Investments (Cyprus) PCC Ltd, which operates as the investment hub for Asia for all the funds managed by Advent International.

In September 2021, Advent International signed a deal to buy a majority stake in Eureka Forbes Ltd, the consumer durable flagship of the Group, for Rs 4,400 crore.

As per the share purchase agreement, Lunolux has acquired 63.86 per cent of the total issued and paid-up share capital of Eureka Forbes on April 25, 2022.

"Consequent to such transfer, the Acquirer has acquired control over the Company and has become a promoter of the Company with effect from April 25, 2022," said Eureka Forbes Ltd.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The (ED) on Tuesday carried out massive searches at 26 locations of in Mumbai, Pune, and Surat, in connection with its probe into what could be the countrys biggest bank fraud.

Surat-based and its former promoters are accused of duping a consortium of 28 banks to the tune of Rs 22,842 crore.

About 24 locations at Mumbai and one each in Pune and Surat have been covered, said an agency official without giving further details. Searches are to be continued on Wednesday, he indicated.

Early this month, the federal agency had questioned the shipping firms former Chairman Rishi Agrawal.

The enforcement agency is looking into the alleged "diversion" of bank loan funds, the creation of shell firms to launder the public money, and the role of the executives of the company and others.

The ED case has been filed under various sections of the Prevention of Act (PMLA) after the investigators studied the CBI complaint and the forensic audit report, sources said.

ABG is accused of cheating a consortium of 28 banks led by ICICI Bank, with ICICI having the highest exposure of Rs 7,089 crore, followed by IDBI Bank ( Rs 3,639 crore), State Bank of India ( Rs 2,925 crore), ( Rs 1,614 crore) and ( Rs 1,244 crore).
Fintech major has appointed Srinivas Yanamandra as its Group Head  Regulatory affairs and Policy. He has over 20 years of experience in building compliance systems and processes at large and fast growing businesses.

Yanamandras last stint was New Development Bank in Shanghai, where he served as chief of the compliance division. Prior to that, he worked as a compliance professional  both at ICICI Bank and IDFC First Bank in Mumbai  focusing on various aspects of banking regulation including governance, risk management, prudential reporting, risk-based supervision, digital banking, and more.

Yanamandras appointment comes at a time when the fintech ecosystem in India is under the RBIs glare. In March, the central bank directed founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma- promoted Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) to stop opening new accounts amid "material supervisory concerns" observed in the bank.

Later, the promoter also clarified that all user data resides in the country after a report claimed that Paytm Payments Bank Ltd's servers were sharing information with China-based entities that indirectly own a stake in Paytm Payments Bank.

Yanamandra is a member of the policy working group of the Digital Currency Global Initiative, which is a collaboration between Stanford University and the International Telecommunication Union.

He said, Paytms contribution to the Indian fintech landscape is exemplary, augmented by the business-friendly regulatory developments in the country. Im excited to make my contribution in fuelling the companys journey further as it continues to achieve new milestones.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm said, "Indian regulatory initiatives have acted as enablers for Digital India as well as payments & financial services in the country. We are excited to welcome Dr Srinivas to the Paytm team. His years of expertise in the financial industry will further contribute to the rapidly growing Paytm ecosystem.
(RIL) and the Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC (TAZIZ) on Tuesday signed a shareholder agreement for a chemical project in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi.

The development acquires significance as it will focus on chlor-alkali, ethylene dichloride (EDC) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production, which is used in a wide range of industrial applications. This is expected to unlock new revenue streams for RIL as well as the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, who are strategic partners in TAZIZ, a joint venture company.

For the uninitiated, RIL derives over 60 per cent of its revenue and nearly 55 per cent of its operating profit from its oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business. This includes refining, petrochemicals and fuel retail. Retail and telecom, on the other hand, contribute 29 per cent and 17 per cent each to revenue, respectively, said analysts tracking RIL.

The investment in the TAZIZ chemical project is estimated at over $2 billion, though RIL clarified that the final investment decision was expected later this year and was subject to regulatory approvals.

Chlor-alkali enables the production of caustic soda, crucial to the alumina refining process. While EDC is used in the production of PVC, which is used to manufacture a wide range of products including pipes, windows fittings, cables, films and flooring.

RIL said that a formal shareholder agreement was signed by senior executives during a visit of Ambani, who is chairman and managing director (MD) of RIL, to the headquarters.

The company said that Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and MD and Group CEO exchanged a signed framework agreement with RIL for the exploration, development and production of conventional and unconventional resources in Abu Dhabi as well as in decarbonisation of operations.

Experts said that the TAZIZ project would benefit from the free trade agreement between India and the (UAE), which was signed in February this year. Chemicals was a priority sector for the UAE, with RIL considering investing in more such projects.

This joint venture is a testimony to the strong and growing ties between India and the UAE and will be a benchmark for more such projects built on the strengths of the two nations. I am looking forward to implementation of the project at an accelerated pace, taking a step further in enhancing the lives of our people in the region, Ambani said.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Ltd has signed a formal shareholder agreement for the USD 2 billion TA'ZIZ chemical joint venture in the UAE and inked a pact to collaborate with in finding and producing conventional and unconventional resources.

"Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC Ltd (TA'ZIZ) and Ltd (RIL), have signed the formal shareholder agreement for the TA'ZIZ EDC and PVC project," the company said in a statement.

TA'ZIZ is joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) and sovereign wealth fund ADQ.

Under the terms of a strategic agreement, Reliance and TA'ZIZ will build plants with the capacity to produce 940,000 tonnes per annum of Chlor-alkali, 1.1 million tonnes a year of ethylene dichloride and 360,000 tonnes per year of polyvinyl chloride at the TA'ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone.

Chlor-alkali is used in water treatment and manufacture of textiles and metals, while ethylene dichloride is typically used to produce PVC, which has a wide range of applications across housing, infrastructure and consumer goods.

"The TA'ZIZ EDC & PVC joint venture will construct and operate a Chlor-Alkali, Ethylene Dichloride (EDC) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) production facility, with a total investment of over USD 2 billion.

"These chemicals will be produced in the UAE for the first time, unlocking new revenue streams and opportunities for local manufacturers to 'Make it in the Emirates'," the statement added.

The formal shareholder agreement was signed by senior executives during a visit of Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance, to headquarters.

During the visit, Ambani met Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and managing director and Group CEO, and discussed opportunities for partnership and growth in upstream, new energies and decarbonisation across the hydrocarbon value chain, the statement said.

"Dr Al Jaber and Mr exchanged a signed framework agreement between ADNOC and Reliance to explore collaboration in the exploration, development and production of conventional and unconventional resources in Abu Dhabi as well as in decarbonization of operations, including in carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration," it said.

Al Jaber said: "Reliance is a valued strategic partner and our collaboration at TA'ZIZ underscores the important role of industrial and energy cooperation as a means of strengthening the deep-rooted and friendly ties between the UAE and India."



"We are building on this partnership and the progress at TA'ZIZ to unlock more opportunities to drive the UAE's industrial and manufacturing growth, while advancing cooperation on decarbonization, new energies and upstream production," he said.

The TA'ZIZ EDC and PVC project is making solid progress towards the detailed design phase in advance of the final investment decision (FID) which is expected to be taken later this year.

Ambani said: "This joint venture is a testimony to the strong and growing ties between India and the UAE and will be a benchmark for more such projects built on the strengths of the two nations. I am looking forward to the implementation of the project at an accelerated pace, taking a step further in enhancing the lives of our people in the region."



It is anticipated that the TA'ZIZ complex will benefit from the free trade agreement between India and the UAE, which was signed in February this year. Bilateral trade between both the nations will be boosted as new trade and development opportunities, such as TA'ZIZ, are further unlocked.

Ambani also met with Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, to explore potential opportunities for collaboration in renewable energy and green hydrogen, both of which are key priorities for the UAE and India.

He was briefed on the UAE's ambitious plans to grow its world-leading renewable energy portfolio and strengthen its clean hydrogen production capabilities.

In December 2021, it was announced that the UAE will create a global clean energy powerhouse, under the Masdar brand, consolidating the efforts of ADNOC, TAQA and Mubadala in renewable energy and green hydrogen to create a new world-class entity.

During his visit to Abu Dhabi, Ambani was briefed on strong progress made at the TA'ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone, the statement added.

Chemicals is a priority sector for the UAE's industrial growth strategy. The chemicals set to be produced by the TA'ZIZ EDC and PVC joint venture with Reliance have a wide range of industrial applications, enabling local supply chains and meeting growing demand in key export markets.

Chlor-Alkali enables the production of caustic soda, crucial to the alumina refining process. EDC is used in the production of PVC, which is used to manufacture a wide range of industrial and consumer products including pipes, windows fittings, cables, films and flooring.

The production of Chlor-Alkali, EDC, and PVC will create opportunities for export to target markets in Southeast Asia and Africa, as well as provide local industry with a source of critical raw materials manufactured in the UAE for the first time.

(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.)
Telehealth Platform Truemeds, closed its series B funding round at $22 million led by private equity fund Westbridge Capital. The new funding round also saw participation from existing investors including InfoEdge Ventures, Asha Impact and IAN Fund. The round witnessed oversubscription from new and existing investors.

The company plans to utilise the funds to accelerate growth in the untapped domestic market and expand its coverage across the country.

Founded by Ex-Abbott executives, Akshat Nayyar and Dr. Kunal Wani, Truemeds has witnessed phenomenal growth in the last 2 years on the back of strong product-market fit and a massive organic demand.

Commenting on the announcement Akshat Nayyar, Co-founder & CEO of Truemeds said India is one of the very few markets where we have pseudo-categorisation of medicines in branded and generic-generic to create different price tiers between them. 95 per cent of the drugs sold in India are off-patent (thus technically generics). There is absolutely no difference in the scientific composition of generics and branded drugs."

He further added" "Indian generic-generic market is growing at 1.5 times the overall pharmaceutical market and following the US landscape where the generics prescription share moved from 40 per cent in 2005 to over 85 per cent in 2019. The market move towards generics is inevitable and Truemeds will lead that change.

At present, Truemeds have presence in Maharashtra and the company is currently fulfilling over 100,000 orders every month and growing rapidly. In an effort to improve the customer experience and reach, the company plans to triple its fulfilment centres across the country in the next 6 months.

Sandeep Singhal, Managing Director, Westbridge Capital commented, We are excited to partner with Truemeds as they create value for patients by delivering high quality drugs at extremely affordable prices at the patients' doorstep. The founding teams strong category understanding has resulted in the success at Truemeds and we are excited to help take the company to the next level.
India on Tuesday called on developed nations to enhance their commitments, ahead of the next climate summit COP27 to be held later this year.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said so during a meeting with Aminath Shauna, Minister of Environment, and Technology, Republic of Maldives where he discussed about issues relating to vulnerabilities of climate change, cooperation on climate actions, and follow-up to the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.

During the meeting, he underlined the need for developed countries to enhance commitments ahead of COP27 including on climate finance and technology support, adaptation finance provisions, etc.

Yadav appreciated the climate actions taken by Maldives and stressed the importance of concrete actions on adaptation in tackling .

After the meeting, Yadav tweeted that India and Maldives discussed issues related to the dangers posed by .

We should join hands to fight climate change to ensure climate justice to all, especially to the developing countries, he said.

Yadav emphasised that concrete actions are necessary to implement the Glasgow Climate Pact or COP26.

However, implementation of climate actions by developing countries is contingent to adequate delivery of climate finance, technology transfer, and other implementation support from the developed countries, he said.

India and Maldives agreed to further strengthen ongoing bilateral cooperation between the countries not only for combatting environmental issues and climate change, but also to enhance cooperation for greater economic integration, the environment ministry said in a statement.

(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 special court Monday granted the Anti-Terrorist Squad seven-day custody of Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi in connection with an attack on security personnel at the temple earlier this month.

His custody period would begin Tuesday and end on May 3.

The ATS had produced Murtaza in the court of in-charge ATS judge Mohammad Gazali after bringing him from a jail.

It also produced a letter of the jail superintendent, requesting that Murtaza be sent to a jail in Lucknow.

Initially, the court granted his judicial custody till April 30. However, the ATS moved an application seeking Murtaza's custody for seven days.

It was submitted that some important data was received from electronic equipment recovered from him, and his social media platform, and it was necessary to take his custody to interrogate him on these.

Abbasi, an IIT graduate, tried to forcibly enter the famous Gorakhnath temple premises on April 3 and attacked security personnel with a sickle, injuring two Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) constables, police had said.

He was soon overpowered by other security staff and arrested.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is the head priest of the Gorakhnath temple and frequently visits and stays there. The stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) has been invoked against the accused.

The UAPA allows investigating agencies to get a longer remand of the accused and an extended duration to file a charge sheet.

(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 has issued a notice to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya, asking him to join the ongoing probe into the Delhi Chief Minister's residence vandalism case.

"We have issued him a notice to join the investigation," a senior police official told IANS.

When asked whether the police have given any time limit to the leader, the official said that MP Surya is cooperating with the and has assured to meet us once he is in the capital.

A ruckus was created outside the residence of Chief Minister on March 30 during an agitation in which some protesters who breached the barricades, carrying a small box of paint, threw it outside the door and wall of the house.

In the imbroglio, a boom barrier arm was also vandalised along with a CCTV camera

The protest was spearheaded by the BJP's Yuva Morcha over Kejriwal's remarks in the Delhi Assembly on 'The Kashmir Files' that were deemed as "against the Kashmiri Pandit community" among the saffron clans.

The had been continuously demanding from the to make 'The Kashmir Files' tax free in Delhi, however, Kejriwal, turned down all such requests in the Assembly and further asked the saffron party to upload the movie on YouTube and spend the earned money on the welfare of the Kashmiri Pandits.

Furthermore, the Chief Minister also insinuated that 'The Kashmir Files' is a "jhoothi" (not based on facts) film.

Surya is President of the Yuva Morcha.

Meanwhile, observing a serious lapse of security in the vandalism incident, the Delhi High Court on Monday directed Commissioner Rakesh Asthana to look into the matter.

(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 on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, that he be placed under house custody instead of being lodged in prison.

A division bench of Justices S B Shukre and G A Sanap held that his grievances and apprehensions about lack of medical aid and basic facilities at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai, where he is currently lodged, are "ill-founded". The Supreme Court has laid down in past cases that undertrial prisoners can be placed under house arrest depending on the allegations against them, their age, health condition and several other factors, the judges said.

Navlakha's case did not meet any of the criteria, the HC added. "The petitioner has stated that Taloja prison is overcrowded. The conditions and environment of Taloja Central prison is not compatible to the health of the petitioner....The case of the petitioner does not fit in any of the criteria (provided by SC). The apprehension of the petitioner that he will not be provided medical aid and his life will be miserable in unhygienic conditions and atmosphere of the prison, seems to be ill-founded," the high court said. Navlakha (70) approached the HC earlier this year through his lawyer Yug Mohit Chaudhry, complaining about poor facilities at the Taloja prison.

He was denied a chair, pair of slippers, spectacles and a P G Wodehouse book by the prison superintendent, he said. Prison toilets were dirty and his health deteriorated in jail, Navlakha claimed.

His lawyer argued that Navlakha had no criminal antecedents, had cooperated with the police and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and there was no risk that he would abscond, so his was a fit case for house custody.

But Taloja prison authorities denied Navlakha's claims about lack of facilities. The Maharashtra government told the HC that Navlakha was lodged in a high-security cell where he was the only inmate. Inmates of high-security cells are responsible for cleaning the toilet themselves, it added. The high court in its order on Tuesday said the activist has the right to seek basic facilities in prison, but he should have raised his grievances before the special NIA court which is hearing the Elgar Parishad case. Earlier this month, while denying co-accused Varavara Rao permanent bail on medical grounds, the HC had issued several directions to the Inspector General of Prisons, asking the authority to deal with grievances regarding medical aid and basic facilities.

Implementation of the orders in Rao's case should take care of Navlakha's problems too, the judges said.

On Navlakha's argument that trial in the case was not likely to begin anytime soon, the HC said, "It is not that the NIA is dragging its feet. It has come on record that the conspiracy is deep-rooted and, therefore, despite filing of the charge-sheet the investigation is being conducted." The NIA had also opposed Navlakha's plea, arguing that house custody would lead to difficulties such as the inability to prevent him from using social media.

It was common knowledge that India is a crowded nation and Mumbai is overcrowded, hence the Taloja jail being overcrowded was not an adequate reason to grant house arrest, the central probe agency had 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 Commissioner's Office (JCO), which is under attack from various quarters for unavailability of raw materials at the price fixed by the government, on Tuesday said it continues to safeguard farmers' interests but cannot allow "illegitimate" gains for a section of players in the industry by revising the price cap.

The JCO, which looks after orderly development and promotion of the industry in India, also stated that no decision was made as of now to alter the raw price fixed at Rs 6,500 per quintal amid allegations that mills are not getting the golden fibre below Rs 7,000 per quintal amid the bumper crop of 90 lakh bales in the 2021-22 season.

"No farmer or farmers' body has complained about price fixation. If relaxed, it will have illegitimate gain for a certain section of the industry," Commissioner Moloy Chakraborty told a press conference here.

He denied allegations of neglect of West Bengal's jute industry.

BJP MP Arjun Singh, whose constituency Barrakpore has 20 jute mills, had on Monday slammed the central government for neglecting the state's jute industry. He also supported ruling TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's demand for removal of the price cap on raw jute to current market-driven prices to support farmers.

"There is a lot of misinformation around. Almost 95 per cent of farmers are marginal and they have already diluted their produce. The majority of the raw jute is now with traders and middlemen," Chakraborty said.

He said that the raw jute price was fixed at Rs 2,000 over and above the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 4,500 per quintal and it is quite reasonable for the farmers.

To a question on de-hoarding of the golden fibre, the jute commissioner said it is up to the state agencies to step up their action. State enforcement officials claimed that the JCO has not been able to provide a "verified" jute traders list yet.

After Chakraborty's press conference, Arjun Singh claimed that the JCO "painted an untrue picture to satisfy his bosses by ruining the future of millions of workers and farmers"



Several jute mills have downed shutters in the past few months reportedly due to unavailability of raw jute at the price fixed by the JCO.

The claim that the state government had earlier accepted Rs 6,000 per quintal rate is "false as it was temporary because the price had shot up to Rs 9,000 per quintal due to Amphan calamity" in 2020, the BJP MP asserted in a statement.

Earlier this month, Trinamool Congress Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, sought the intervention of the Centre to resolve the jute crisis claiming that 60,000 workers have lost their jobs following the closure of 15 jute mills.

(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.)
With only 4.64 lakh people taking their third Covid jab since April 10, Indians could be grappling with vaccine fatigue, a reluctance to take a booster shot that experts attribute to a combination of fear, confusion and misinformation.

As India's Covid graph inches upwards, not enough people are getting their booster shots. Among the reasons for the apparent lethargy are the fear of adverse effects, the view that Covid is now a mild infection and doubts over whether a precaution dose is indeed useful, said scientists, public health experts and industry insiders.

According to virologist Dr T Jacob John, vaccine fatigue has set in, also because the "cacophony of new experts" has been confusing.

I get a number of questions for clarification on booster doses -- hence I know that the educational activity' of the government that wants to prevent COVID-19 deaths, hospitalisations and severe symptoms by completing the vaccination schedule in highly vulnerable people was more confusing than clarifying, John told PTI.

For a long time, people were told that full vaccination meant two doses so the term precaution dose added to the confusion, added the former director of the Indian Council for Medical Research's Centre of Advanced Research in Virology.

Vaccine fatigue, experts explained, is when people do not take proactive action to get vaccinated.

Last week, (SII) CEO Adar Poonawallah, whose company manufactures the Covishield vaccine, said they have a lot of unsold inventory.

"We stopped production on December 31, 2021. Currently, we are sitting on over 200 million doses. I have offered this to anyone willing to pick them up for free. But there hasn't been a good response to that also.

"Seems there is vaccine fatigue among the people now as even after the price was slashed to Rs 225, there has been no major uptake," Poonawalla said at the Times Network India Economic Conclave.

The firm has slashed the price from Rs 600 to Rs 225 a dose.

In the view of Praveen Sikri, Ikris Pharma Network CEO, people are questioning the need for a precaution dose, thinking the last wave was mild.

The large number of misinformation campaigns launched by anti-vaxxers such as campaigns about children developing liver failure and developing clots and people dying of vaccines had played a role in the reluctance.

and because the Omicron wave has been not a very dangerous one, so it is adding to the vaccine fatigue, said the pharma industry insider who has closely been following India's Covid trajectory.

He added there is need to counter this by developing more conversations around vaccines, letting people becoming involved in decision making. It is important to let people know that countries that have not had adequate vaccination programmes or have had vaccines which are not effective are suffering very severely now due to Covid, Sikri said.

Factual information with believable evidence will allay the anxieties of people, John added.

When the risk from disease has markedly reduced as the epidemic is over, people worry about the risk of serious AEFI (adverse event from immunisation). Once vaccine hesitancy has been created, it is going to be tough to overcome it Prevention is always better than cure, he said.

Dr Ankita Baidya, consultant, infectious disease, at the Manipal Hospital in Delhi, said people are coming forward with complaints following vaccination, particularly the booster dose recommended recently.

As an infectious disease physician, I would like to stress that malaise is a common side effect of vaccination. But I have also seen that summers are ongoing and there are some components of psychological factors that after booster doors people are experiencing such kind of fatigue.

Even if it is there, it should not be long-lasting. If someone feels fatigued or malaise and has body ache in the initial days after vaccination, this could be just a post-vaccination mild side-effect of the vaccine and it will go away, she said.

Counselling over the usefulness of a booster dose is important, Baidya stressed.

Dr Vikas Deswal, senior consultant, internal medicine, at Gurgaon's Medanta Hospital concurred, saying there is lack of understanding of the benefits of the booster doses.

Many believe that double vaccination is enough. A sense of complacency has settled in. But booster doses are very important because they keep us immunised. This ensures that even if the virus attacks us, there are enough antibodies to ensure that the infection is mild.

The only way to counter vaccine fatigue is to constantly explain the benefits of the booster dose, make it more easily accessible and available, he said



While experts debate the reasons for vaccine fatigue, Neha Sharma, a Noida-based IT professional, said her menstrual cramps had worsened after she took her first and second jabs.

Though the doctor told me that it is unrelated to the vaccine, I am still scared to take the third dose. Also I feel that now the Omicron driven infection is getting milder so Covid is akin to seasonal flu... why complicate things by taking a third dose, she said.

Amna Hasan, a resident of Lucknow based homemaker, added that she has just started feeling better after contracting Covid twice.

Why take a chance by inducing the same dead virus in my body again, Hasan, who was infected in both the second and third wave of COVID-19, said.

Shaunak Sharma, a Noida based engineer, has no plans to take the precaution dose either.

We have developed immunity from COVID-19 in the past two years, I recently got my antibodies tested and had enough so though my precaution dose is not due for the next few months. I don't plan to take precaution dose. he said.

On April 10, India began administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres.

An estimated 4,64,910 precaution doses have been administered till Tuesday morning, according to Union Health ministry data . Of these, about half, 2,46,962 were administered in the 18-59 age group between April 20-26.

On Tuesday, India recorded 2,483 new infections. The daily positivity rate was recorded as 0.55 per cent and the weekly positivity rate as 0.58 per cent, according to the ministry. Certain areas are reporting a higher positivity rate.

Delhi, for instance, reported 1,011 fresh cases on Monday and a positivity rate of 6.42 per cent.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A knowledge-sharing agreement was signed on Tuesday between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Singh Mann, who said 117 schools and mohalla clinics will be developed in the state recently won by AAP.

Mann said that education, health and power were a priority of his government and Punjab can learn from Delhi where a lot of work was done in these fields.

Delhi can also learn from Punjab about agriculture, he said.

Kejriwal said India will progress if every state starts learning from the good work done by others.

"It will be wrong to say that only we have done good work. There were several islands of excellence across the country but there were divisions of parties and states, and nothing was learnt from that," he said in a press conference held jointly with Mann.

The Punjab chief minister said that he visited the schools, hospitals and Mohalla Clinic of Delhi and his government will take these facilities to the next level in Punjab.

(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.)
Raising concerns over the surplus sugarcane production in Solapur, Union Minister on Monday urged owners to reduce the production of sugar and increase the production of .

Gadkari was in Solapur on Monday for the foundation stone-laying ceremony of highway projects. The minister said if the production goes on like this, then farmers would have no option other than suicide.

Meanwhile, India's sugar exports surged by 64.9 per cent to $4.6 billion in the financial year 2021-22 from $2.79 billion recorded in the previous year, according to the latest government data.

As per data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI & S), India exported sugar to 121 countries across the world during the financial year ended March 2022.

India is the world's second-largest sugar producer after Brazil. Since 2010-11, India has consistently produced surplus sugar, comfortably exceeding the domestic requirements. The record exports would enable the sugar producers to reduce their stocks and would also benefit the sugarcane farmers, as the increased demand for Indian sugar is likely to improve their realisations, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka account for nearly 80 per cent of the total sugar production in the country. The other major sugarcane-producing states are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Haryana, and Punjab.

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External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr will travel to Dakha on Thursday to invite Bangladesh Prime Minister to visit India.

"Yes, the EAM will pay a one-day visit to Dhaka on Thursday," Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters in Delhi on Monday.

"He will carry a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to invite Prime Minister to visit India," Shringla was quoted as saying by Dhaka Tribune.

Shringla made these remarks in response to queries from journalists at an event at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.

Foreign Secretary and Bangladesh High Commissioner Muhammad Imran on Monday attended the award-giving ceremony for felicitating winners of a competition conducted on the occasion of Friendship Day.

During the event, Shringla shared views on strengthening the bilateral partnership.

Both representatives felicitated the winners of the Maitri Diwas logo and backdrop competition conducted on the occasion of Maitri Diwas.

"FS @harshvshringla and Bangladesh High Commissioner Muhammad Imran felicitated the winners of the #MaitreeDiwas logo and backdrop competition. Also shared views on further strengthening bilateral ties, including youth connect, innovation and emerging areas," said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

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Secretariat on Monday sought a factual report from the Government of Maharashtra within 24 hours in connection with the arrest of Amravati MP Navneet Rana.

"A copy of the email/complaint dated April 25, 2022, received from Navneet Ravi Rana, MP alleging patently illegal arrest and the consequent inhuman treatment meted out to her in Khar Police Station, Mumbai is sent herewith for being placed before the Minister of Home Affairs," reads the letter of secretariat to Ministry of Home Affairs.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs is requested that a 'Factual Note' in the matter may kindly be obtained from the Government of Maharashtra and furnished to this Secretariat within 24 hours for being placed before the Speaker, Lok Sabha," the letter added.

Amravati MP Navneet Rana on Monday wrote to Speaker Om Birla issuing a clarification that she wanted to ignite the flame of 'Hindutva' in Shiv Sena, not to create any religious tensions by chanting the "Hanuman Chalisa" outside the residence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The MP-MLA couple was arrested in Mumbai on Sunday. They were then sent to judicial custody for 14-days by a Metropolitan Magistrate court in Bandra. Currently, MLA Ravi Rana is lodged in Taloja Jail and MP Naveneet Rana is lodged in Byculla Jail.

On Saturday, a row started when MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana stated that the couple plans to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside 'Matoshree' (Maharashtra CM's Mumbai residence), after which a huge crowd gathered outside the residence of the political couple waving flags with an aim to prevent them from reaching the Chief Minister's residence.

However, the Ranas withdrew their plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa amid the protests from Shiv Sainiks that culminated in their arrest on the charge of creating enmity between different groups.

Earlier on Monday, the Ranas approached the Bombay High Court seeking cancellation of the FIR in connection with the Matoshree-Hanuman Chalisa row. However, the High Court dismissed the petition moved by Rana couple for quashing the FIR registered against them for allegedly assaulting the police officer who came to arrest the couple.

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Irked by unscheduled power cuts and shortage of drinking water, people on Tuesday staged protests in different parts of the city with Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) warning that the consumers will stop paying bills if the crisis is not resolved forthwith.

The industrialists also expressed grave concern over the alleged failure of the administration to provide electricity to the industrial estates and said the unit holders are planning to go for single shift work which might lead to retrenchment of the staff.

Over the past 10 days, we are faced with the worst-ever electricity and contrary to the repeated assurances by the administrationpeople are approaching us and are contemplating to stop paying their bills which is a right decision given the situation, JCCI president Arun Gupta told reporters here.

Gupta, who was also flanked by president Bari Brahmana Industrial Association Lalit Mahajan and office bearers of the JCCI, urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to take all possible steps to provide round-the-clock power supply to bail out industry and common households from the crisis.

Mahjan said the has caused huge losses to the unit holders.

In view of the unscheduled power cuts, the industrialists are planning to go for single shift work which will lead to retrenchment of the staff at a time when unemployment is on rise, he said.

Suggesting the administration to go for purchase of power like the governments in the past to overcome the crisis, the JCCI president said the silence of the administration over the crisis is beyond the tolerance of the people who are reeling under rising mercury.

Earlier, a group of Shiv Sena Dogra Front activists led by its president Ashok Gupta staged a protest in the heart of the city to protest against the power and .

Carrying empty utensils and buckets, the protesters chanted slogans in support of the demand for uninterrupted power and water supply.

The situation is very bad due to unscheduled power cuts and non-availability of water, Gupta said, requesting personal intervention of the Lt Governor to provide relief to the public.

Protests against water and electricity departments were also reported from over a dozen places in the city including Talab Tillo, Sidhra, Janipur, Trikuta Nagar and Paloda.

The protesters briefly blocked the roads demanding restoration of water supply and an end to unscheduled power cuts.

We have raised the issue of acute with the concerned department time and again but no action is being taken which is very unfortunate, a resident of Waliabad locality of Sidhra said.

Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta said the first priority of the corporation is to ensure uninterrupted power and water supply to the consumers.

We are aware of the problems and are making steps As far as the are concerned, the Municipal Corporation (JMC) will work with the Public Health Engineering department to ensure water supply to every household in the city, he said.

There are shortcomings which are being taken care of. Lakhs of gallons of water is leaked and wasted, while the water lifting pumps have not been upgraded for the past two decades, he said, adding the corporation will work overtime to fulfill the dream of har ghar nal ka jal' as envisioned by the prime minister.

Even as the power development department is out of the ambit of the corporation, Gupta said he will not hesitate to reach out to the union ministry of power to request for additional supply to overcome the present crisis.

We will take up the issue with the Lt Governor and the concerned department as the power supply is required to lift water and provide it to the consumers, he said.

Apni Party activists led by Jammu provincial president Manjit Singh staged a protest demonstration outside the PDD Chief Engineer's office here against the unscheduled curtailment of the electricity.

As the electricity supply has remained irregular with eight hours long power cuts, the water supply, industrial sector and farmers and other sectors have adversely affected, Singh said.

He appealed to the administration to take immediate corrective measures to supply adequate electricity to the consumers.
Prime Minister on Tuesday called for setting new goals and global vision for the next 25 years while stating India will have global footprints in all spheres of life when India celebrates of Independence.

"It is time to set new goals and take a new oath... After 25 years, India will celebrate of Independence... In this journey of 100 years, India's achievements should be global, and for that our vision should also be global," said PM Modi while addressing the inaugural ceremony of year-long joint celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Sivagiri Pilgrimage and Golden Jubilee of Brahma Vidhyalaya.

PM Modi also said that while many countries deviated from the path of spirituality to materialism, India should not make the same mistake.

"When many countries and civilizations of the world deviated from their religions, they took the path of materialism in place of spirituality. But saints and spiritual leaders here always promoted good thoughts and practices in India," he said.

PM Modi's comments for India to bag global achievements and stay in touch with India's spiritual and cultural powers came days after he laid the foundation of the World Health Organizations (WHO) Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) in Jamnagar of Gujarat.

PM Modi had then said that countries across the globe are putting emphasis on traditional herbal systems to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that Yoga has helped people to find a mental balance by eliminating stress all over the world.

International Yoga Day is also scheduled to be celebrated on June 21.

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Wherever there are major mountain ranges, which invite people to ascend them for adventure, sport or military purposes, there are also local people who form highly skilled teams to rescue adventurers who find themselves in trouble.

In the French Alps around Chamonix, France, the so-called Peleton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne (PGHMP) is the busiest and perhaps the most highly skilled mountain rescue team in the world. PGHM employs around 250 rescue specialists, with each unit having access to helicopter transport and medical support,

An even harsher environment is faced by the Indian Army, which guards thousands of kilometres of Himalayan frontier but, until 2016, relied for high-altitude knowhow mainly on its vast experience in operating in altitudes above 18,000-20,000 feet in legendary battlefields like the Saltoro Ridge, which towers above the Siachen Glacier.

In addition, the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) runs a laboratory that studies the high-altitude environment. Named the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), it is located near Manali and has conducted decades of valuable research on avalanches  one of the biggest high-altitude killers in which tens of thousands of tonnes of snow and ice hurtles down the mountain, obliterating everything in its path.

Now, the army is also assisted by a team of experienced civilian climbers called the Tiranga Mountain Rescue (TMR). Founded by Hemant Sachdev in 2016, TMR is a non-profit organisation that is affiliated with the Indian Army.

TMR provides multiple teams of highly motivated and qualified avalanche rescue professionals who are deployed in snow bound and difficult areas during the winter season. TMR teams have been instrumental in providing dedicated avalanche rescue and mountain craft training to Indian Army personnel.

On Tuesday, Defence Minister recognized the services rendered by TMR, when he interacted with a TMR mountain rescue team in New Delhi. was briefed on the activities of TMR and the defence minister commended TMR for its work in saving the lives of soldiers from deadly threats like avalanches and for raising awareness and training soldiers deployed in super-high altitudes.

Calling the TMR a source of strength for soldiers deployed in avalanche-prone areas, the defence minister appreciated the fact that there had been no army casualties in the locations where TMR is deployed.

The defence minister stressed that TMR has a big responsibility on their shoulders as avalanches are likely to increase in the coming days due to climate change.

described the work being carried out by TMR as a shining example of partnership between the Government and civil society. He emphasised that a Nation moves forward on the path of development only when the government and civil society work together. Government and civil society are the wheels on which the country can achieve the goal of all-round sustainable development, he said.

The chief-designate of the army, Lieutenant General Manoj Pande, the Director General of Military Operations, Lieutenant General BS Raju and other senior military officials were also present when Rajnath Singh felicitated the TMR.
Defence Minister on Tuesday held talks with British Minister of Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin, focusing on bilateral cooperation in areas such as aviation and shipbuilding.

"Had a wonderful meeting with the UK Minister of Defence Procurement, Mr. Jeremy Quin. We discussed the opportunities available in areas pertaining to aviation, ship building and other defence industrial programmes for both the countries," Singh tweeted.

The talks between Singh and Quin took place days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson agreed on a new and expanded India-UK defence partnership.

During his visit to India last week, Johnson announced that the UK is creating an Open General Export Licence (OGEL) for India to "reduce bureaucracy and slashing delivery times" for defence procurement and that London will help New Delhi in the co-development of military hardware including indigenous production of fighter jets.

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Independent MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana will continue to be in jail till a sessions court in hears their application for bail on April 29.

On Tuesday, the court asked the police to file on April 29 their reply to the jailed couple's bail plea.

The couple had on Monday moved the court seeking bail in an FIR registered by the police against them on charges of and promoting enmity, after they gave a call to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree' in suburban Bandra.

When the matter came up for hearing in the court on Tuesday, the police said they want to respond with an affidavit to the bail plea. The court accepted this and posted the matter for further hearing on April 29.

The politician couple was arrested by the on Saturday. While Navneet Rana was sent to the Byculla women's jail here, her husband Ravi Rana was shifted to the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.

Ranas' advocate Rizwan Merchant on Monday said the couple decided to withdraw their bail plea pending before the Bandra magistrate court that had remanded them to 14-day judicial custody on Sunday.

Merchant had said the suburban Khar police initially booked the Ranas under Indian Penal Code Section 153(A), for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups. At the time of their remand, the police informed the magistrate court that they had added the charge of sedition, under IPC Section 124A, against the couple in the first FIR.

Their bail plea said the call to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside 'Matoshree' was not a calculated move to promote feelings of enmity or hatred and the charge under section 153(A) cannot be sustained.

There was no intention on part of the applicants to instigate or create hatred by offering Hanuman Chalisa near 'Matoshree', the couple said in their plea.

It is submitted that by no stretch of imagination can the acts of the applicants be stated to constitute the offence of sedition, the plea said.

Further, the had issued notice under section 149 of the CrPC and the applicant (Navneet Rana) had complied with the police's direction and not stepped out of her residence, it added.

Navneet Rana, the Lok Sabha MP from Amravati in eastern Maharashtra, and Ravi Rana, the MLA from Badnera in Amravati, had eventually dropped their plan to recite the Hanuman Chalisa (hymns dedicated to Lord Hanuman) on Saturday outside Thackeray's home, citing the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mumbai for an event on Sunday.

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Expressing displeasure over the way the investigation was conducted into the death of a 17-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district, the has handed over the probe to the Inspector General of Police on a complaint by his mother.

A bench of Jusices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi said the probe conducted by the investigating officer cannot be said to be fair and impartial.

The boy was allegedly assaulted in police custody for violating coronavirus restrictions in the state.

The top court said fair investigation is the backbone of criminal justice system and the object of the probe is to search for the truth so that it would help in meeting the ends of justice by way of fair trail in court.

"At the same time, the need to ensure fair investigation of crime is undoubtedly imperative because it protects at one level the rights of the victim and the fundamental rights of every citizen in ensuring that crime is investigated and dealt with in accordance with law," the bench said.

The apex court said after going through the records it was of the prima facie view that the complaint of the petitioner deserves indulgence of this court.

"We have an option either to send the matter to the for further re-investigation, but after we have heard counsel for the parties, consider it appropriate at this stage that let senior police officer, Bhagwan Swarup, Inspector General of Police, Intelligence, HQ, shall personally undertake further investigation of the complaint made by the petitioner in a fair and impartial manner, the bench said.

The apex court said the report be furnished to this Court within a period of eight weeks.

The State is directed to hand over all papers including charge sheet and other material to the officer positively within seven days and render all assistance to him, if required.

The matter is listed for next hearing on July 19.

The incident took place when the deceased Mohammad Faisal was reportedly selling vegetables outside his house in Bangarmau town in Unnao beyond curfew timings.

Accused policeman Vijay Chowdhary and homeguard Satyaprakash allegedly started beating him for breaking curfew rules, according to the boy's father.

The teenager was arrested and taken to the local police station where officers assaulted the boy further, his family had alleged.

Following the assault, the boy's condition deteriorated and he was taken to the Community Health Centre, where he was declared brought dead.

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SpiceJet on Tuesday said it will start flights connecting Bhavnagar in Gujarat with and Mumbai from May 5 onwards.

In a statement, the airline said it will also start additional flights on the Ahmedabad- route.

The Bhavnagar- flight will operate under the Central government's UDAN scheme, it mentioned.

Under the UDAN scheme, financial incentives from the Centre, state governments and airport operators are extended to selected airlines to encourage operations from unserved and underserved airports and to keep airfares affordable.

SpiceJet will deploy its Q400 aircraft for the flights.

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Former Chief Minister of and AIADMK Coordinator O.Panneerselvam on Tuesday demanded that the state government transfer the custodial death case of Vignesh to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He also asked Chief Minister M.K.Stalin to pay Rs.50 lakh to the family of Vignesh as compensation and a government job to a family member.

Panneerselvam said two persons, Vignesh and Suresh were taken into custody by the city police recently for allegedly carrying ganja and a knife.

The next day Vignesh, who worked for a horse owner letting the animal for joy ride on the beach, had vomited and died.

Condemning the death while in police custody Panneerselvam said as per reports, the police officials had paid a sum of Rs 1 lakh to the victim's brother.

As per reports, Vignesh's employer had given the amount to the police towards funeral expenses. The city police in turn gave the sum to the victim's brother.

Panneerselvam said people are doubting that the DMK government is trying to cover up the crime.

Though the police officials involved in the incident have been suspended and the case is transferred to the Crime Branch Crime Investigation Department (CBCID), the victim's family feels that justice will not be delivered as the probe agency falls under the state government, Panneerselvam said.

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External Affairs Minister on Tuesday countered criticism of India's position on Ukraine, saying the Western powers have been oblivious to the pressing challenges facing including last year's events in and the continuous pressure on the rules-based order in the region.

In an interactive session at the Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar said the crisis in Ukraine could be a "wake-up call" for to also look at what has been happening in Asia, saying it has not been an "easy part" of the world for the last 10 years.

To a specific question by Foreign Minister of Norway Anniken Huitfeldt on the situation in Ukraine, Jaishankar said India has been pressing for an urgent cessation of fighting and a return to the path of diplomacy and dialogue.

"I think where the conflict in Ukraine is concerned, we have a very clear position that has been articulated. A position which emphasises the urgent cessation of fighting, which urges a return to diplomacy and dialogue which stresses the need for respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states," he said.

"You spoke about Ukraine. I remember, less than a year ago, what happened in where an entire civil society was thrown under the bus by the world," he said.

"I would say quite honestly, all of us would like to find the right balance of our beliefs and interests, of our experience, and that is what all really try to do. It looks different from different parts of the world. The priorities are different and that's quite natural," he added.

The minister was responding to a series of questions from his counterparts from Norway and Luxembourg as well as by former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt on the Ukraine crisis.

"Quite candidly, we have been hearing for the last two months a lot of arguments from saying things are happening in and should worry about it because this could happen in Asia," Jaishankar said.

"Things have been happening in for the last 10 years. Europe may not have looked at it. So this could be a wake-up call for Europe, not just in Europe, it could be a wake-up call for Europe to also look at Asia," he said.

The external affairs minister said it is not that problems are going to happen and that the problems have been happening in Asia.

"This is not been an easy part of the world for the last decade and this is a part of the world where boundaries have not been settled, where terrorism is still practiced often sponsored by states," he said.

"This is a part of the world where the rules-based order has been under continuous stress for more than a decade and I think it is important for the rest of the world, outside Asia to recognise that today," Jaishankar said.

In his question, Bildt asked the external affairs minister what conclusion China could draw from what's happening in Ukraine and whether there was a possibility of Beijing seeing the possibility to do things that otherwise would not be allowed.

Also to the Swedish leader's comment that the conclusion that China could draw from the crisis in Ukraine could have major repercussions perhaps for India's security, Jaishankar said the questions should have been asked to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

"I cannot honestly answer that question. But I do not think international relations necessarily function by precedence. People do not need to see something out there and say aha that's what I am going to do," Jaishankar responded.

"That's how mostly bureaucracy functions. But I think world affairs has sort of a much more self-driven, self calculating way of working," he added. Jaishankar identified events in Afghanistan, the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis in Ukraine and big power rivalry as "major shocks" the world is witnessing and said they have global consequences.

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Haryana's Independent MLA from Meham, Balraj Kundu on Monday alleged that was at its peak in the state, but the BJP-JJP government was in denial mode.

" is at its peak in Haryana, but the government is not ready to accept the fact and is in a denial mode. It trashes the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) figures, which has in the past put the rate at over 30 per cent.

"The government speaks a white lie when it claims the unemployment rate in the state is only around 6 per cent," Kundu told reporters here.

He also said let the government come out with unemployment figures of any district or any one assembly constituency.

"I challenge the government that I will also get an independent survey done later from the same district or constituency and the real picture will be before people," he said.

He said youth are going astray and taking to petty crimes because they are unable to find jobs.

"Nearly 30,000 posts are vacant in the education department, 17,000 posts are lying vacant in the health department, but the government is not filling them up to provide jobs to the youth," he alleged.

Kundu alleged that corruption is rampant and the law and order situation is worsening.

The power situation is also bad, with cuts being imposed daily, he said.

Kundu further said that the government schools are in a bad shape in forcing parents to get their children admitted in private schools.

The legislator also alleged that various sections are fed up with the alleged misrule of the state government, which he claimed has failed on all fronts.

He also hit out at the government after four people died due to inhaling some poisonous gas inside a tank of a sewerage treatment plant at a village in Hisar district on Tuesday.

Two sewage workers had entered the 50-feet deep tank in Buddakhera village for maintenance work while two others went inside to check when they did not come out, but all four died due to inhaling some poisonous gas, police had said earlier.

"Four precious lives were lost in the incident due to government negligence because the workers did not have proper safety gear. I will write to the chief minister urging that the next of kin of each deceased should be given a financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh and a government job," the MLA said.

Kundu, meanwhile, said the government's decision to ban the sale of wheat residue, which is used as cattle fodder, outside the state was an "anti-farmer" step.

"Banning the sale of tudi' (wheat residue) outside the state is not a wise decision. This decision should be withdrawn immediately," he said.

"First farmers had to face difficulties due to unseasonal rains followed by summer setting in early. The vagaries of weather have resulted in loss in wheat yield by 5-10 quintal per acre.

"Rather than compensating the farmers for their loss, the government comes out with decisions of banning sale of 'tudi'," he said.

Kundu along with six other Independent MLAs, had lent post-poll support to the BJP when it came to power in alliance with the JJP after the October 2019 assembly polls.

However, in February 2020, Kundu cited alleged corruption in the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government and levelled allegations against a former minister after which he announced to withdraw his support to the government.

Kundu had also come out in support of the farmers' agitation against the now repealed central farm laws.

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The uptick in export of following the global shortage due to the Ukraine-Russia war has led to a situation where procurement is likely to be lowest in last 12 years from across India, especially from and Haryana, the two largest contributors to the central pool.

was till last week headed to a record production but the heat wave that started in March and continued in April over northwest is set to affect produce, especially in and .

As per Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs data, as on Sunday, 136.93 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of were procured under the central pool in Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2022-23 in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Gujarat, Bihar, and Rajasthan.

In this, procurement in was 74.18 LMT, (36.09 LMT) and Madhya Pradesh was 25.76 LMT. "The procurement is still going on. We can expect the numbers to increase further," said an official.

The Food Corporation of (FCI) data showed that as on April 20, the quantity of wheat procured for RMS 2022-23 in Punjab was 55.25 LMT, followed by 32.39 LMT, Madhya Pradesh 21.58 LMT and smaller quantities from Uttar Pradesh (0.51 LMT), Chandigarh (0.03 LMT), Rajasthan (0.01 LMT) and Uttarakhand (0.01 LMT).

However, there was zero procurement in Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and West Bengal till April 20.

Last 12 years' data from FCI shows that the all India procurement for RMS22-23 of 109.78 LMT is nowhere near the annual all India procurement under RMS 2010-11 (225.13 LMT), RMS 2011-12 (283.34 LMT), RMS 2012-13 (382.15 LMT), RMS 2013-14 (250.72 LMT), RMS 2014-15 (281.31 LMT), RMS 2015-16 (280.88 LMT), RMS 2016-17 (229.61 LMT), RMS 2017-18 (308.24 LMT), RMS 2018-19 (357.95 LMT), RMS 2019-20 (341.32 LMT), RMS 2020-21 (389.92 LMT) and for RMS 2021-22, the procurement was 433.44 LMT.

Similarly for Punjab, the from RMS 2010-11 till RMS 2021-22 was (all in LMT) 102.09, 109.58, 128.36, 108.95, 116.44, 103.44, 106.49, 117.06, 126.92, 129.12, 127.14 and 132.22 respectively, again, far higher than 55.25 LMT procured till April 20 of this RMS.

Haryana story is no different. from RMS 2010-11 till RMS 2021-22 was (all in LMT) 63.47, 69.28, 87.17, 58.55, 65.08, 67.78, 67.52, 74.32, 87.84, 93.20, 74.00, 84.93, almost more than double all years than 32.39 LMT till April 20 this RMS.

"One is that scores of farmers are yet to bring out their produce waiting for appropriate rates. Second, it is clear that much of the wheat is being diverted for private trading, obviously farmers and traders both want to profit in view of the good export prospects," officials said.

India has reported a wheat export worth of USD 2352.22 million in the last three years, including the first 10 months of current fiscal 2021-22.

Earlier last week, a report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) had declared that Ukraine-Russia war led speculation surge for Indian export of wheat may bring down government procurement under Minimum Support Price (MSP).

It had pegged the marketing year 2022/2023 (April-March) wheat production at a record 110 from 30.9 million hectares, and up from last year's record 109.6 MMT from 31.1 million hectares.

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India's in May are set to rise above 600,000 tonnes despite the restriction imposed by on exports as most of the contracted quantity will be loaded before Jakarta's ban becomes effective, traders told Reuters.

The world's biggest palm oil exporter plans from Thursday to stop shipments of refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm olein but will allow exports of crude palm oil (CPO) or other derivative products.



The ban could dent India's imports in June as refiners are struggling to secure supplies from Malaysia, traders said.

"Vessel loading is nearly done for May shipments at Indonesian ports. That quantity would be unloaded in India next month," said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Sunvin Group, a Mumbai-based vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm.

India is the world's biggest importer of palm oil and relies on to fulfil nearly half of its palm oil requirement of around 700,000 tonnes per month.

In March, India imported 207,362 tonnes of palm oil from Indonesia, including 145,696 tonnes of RBD palm olein.

As hasn't banned exports of CPO, Indian refiners will also buy small amounts in the coming months, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

"Indonesian CPO supplies for exports are very limited.

Buyers will switch to Malaysia, but it has limited surplus," the dealer said.

India imported 539,793 tonnes of palm oil in March, while shipments in April are expected to rise to 600,000 tonnes.

Before Indonesia announced restrictions, industry officials were expecting India's in May could rise above 650,000 tonnes, but now they are expecting shipments of slightly more than 600,000 tonnes.

"Indonesia and Malaysia are main suppliers of palm oil, but in coming months industry will try to source more palm oil from Thailand and Papua New Guinea," said Atul Chaturvedi, president of trade body the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA).

But supplies from these small producers are insufficient and there could be a shortage in June, Chaturvedi said.

India also imports soyoil from Argentina, and sunoil from Ukraine and Russia, but their supplies are curtailed.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; editing by David Evans)

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India has a clear position on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Tuesday, stressing that New Delhi "urges a cessation of hostilities, return to dialogue and national sovereignty".

During an interaction at the Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar said the conflict in Ukraine is one of the most dominating issues at present "not only because of interests or values concerned, but also because of the consequences worldwide".

"And there is a wide world out there where sustaining a rules based order is often an issue."

When asked about India's stand on the war, he said: "When rules-based order was under challenge in Asia, the advice we got from Europe was; do more trade. At least we are not giving you that advice."

He also stated that what happened in Afghanistan clearly stated what was the rules-based order.

"We have to find a way to return to diplomacy and to do that, the fighting must stop."

Talking about the wider consequences of the war, the Minister said "there will be no winners out of this conflict" and added that the immediate issue is the effect on oil and food prices.

When asked about what "three things that keeps him up at night", Jaishankar replied: "The shocks that the international order is experiencing, particularly in the past two years -- the Covid 19 pandemic, Afghanistan and Ukraine, and the friction between the West and Russia, the US and China."

He also explained that Ukraine is not a precedent for China, such events have been underway in Asia for the past decade without Europe's attention.

"So, this is a wake-up call for Europe to start looking at Asia. This is a part of the world with unsettled boundaries, terrorism, and continuous challenges to the rules-based order. The rest of the world has to recognise that problems are not 'going to happen', but that they are happening."

On India's role in the Western Indo-Pacific, the Minister said: "We need to reclaim our history. Our ties and trade were disrupted in colonial times, but in a more globalised world, we should focus on how we aim to rebuild and interact with each other, rather than through intermediaries."

He also said that the aim should be to recreate the Indian Ocean community, look for solutions amongst and partner with each other instead of looking to countries far away.

"The Indian and Pacific Oceans have become much more seamless. It is increasingly untenable to see them in compartmentalised terms, which is part of a larger geopolitical shift."

Talking about India's actions towards climate change, Jaishankar said that from New Delhi's perspective, there are two parts to the issue - one is climate action, and the other is climate justice.

"We need both... When it comes to climate action, everyone needs to do their utmost. But we also need to ensure that the more vulnerable, less-resourced countries and societies are supported.

"Today, we do need to find ways to work together - on connectivity, climate change, and India is prepared to step forward in a much more substantive way on these global issues," the Minister added.

--IANS

sk/ksk/

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Parts of and adjoining areas such as Thane saw a power outage on Tuesday following a transmission issue. The outage points to the deepening in the state amid a strong heat wave and a pick-up in industrial activity.

While power supply was subsequently restored within an hour of the outage, Maharashtra continues to face a power deficit of 3,500 megawatts (MW) per day, according to analysts tracking the sector.

In a statement, a Tata Power spokesperson said that a transmission line of the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company had tripped at the 400 kilovolt (KV) Kalwa grid, which supplies power to and suburban areas.

It is a known fact that Mumbai's power network is wired up to keep the city's system safe from widespread outages in case of any major tripping. In such a scenario, automated power supply trimming gets activated, like what has happened today, resulting in load trimming to effectively manage the issue, Tata Power said.

An Adani Electricity spokesperson said that the tripping of the transmission line had affected its customers in areas such as Chembur, Bandra and Santacruz in . "However, through proactive network rearrangements Adani Electricity could restore entire power supply within 40 minutes of the incident," the spokesperson said.

Though Mumbai does not face routine power outages, it has seen disruptions in the past, such as the one that lasted for nearly 18 hours on October 12, 2020 due to a grid failure. This year, however, say sector experts the megapolis may see a few more rounds of power cuts as demand peaks owing to soaring temperatures and a return to normalcy after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.

Currently, Mumbai's power demand is around 3,500 MW per day, which is being met by distributors Adani Electricity and Tata Power, according to informed sources. The rest of Maharashtra has a power demand of around 28,500 MW per day, which an official at the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL), which distributes power to regions outside Mumbai, said was being met to the tune of 88 per cent or 25,000 MW.

So, the power deficit of 3,500 MW per day was being tackled by the state government by buying additional power from producers such as the Coastal Gujarat Power Limited (CGPL), which has a power plant in Mundra, Gujarat.

Power producers in Maharashtra have also been facing a shortage of coal with daily coal requirement at 1,38,710 metric tons (MT) versus supply which is around 84,000 MT.

"Load shedding is inevitable as demand will outstrip supply in summer. However, there is a protocol to be followed with load shedding. Areas where losses are high will see greater load shedding. At the same time, alternative fuel sources such as wind power will not come up now. It will start from May as pre-monsoon winds will pick up by then. Solar power, on the other hand, tends to be intermittent and hydro power depends on the supply of water," Pramod Deo, former chairman, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, said.

MSEDCL, said informed sources, had been allowed by the state government to explore alternative options to purchase power in the event the demand-supply mismatch was high.
By Neha Arora

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Russian and Indian officials met last week in an effort to resolve an impasse over the shipping of to Indian steelmakers, which has dried up since March over payment methods, a trade source and an Indian government source said.

Russia usually supplies about 30% of European Union, Japanese and South Korean needs, while India had planned to double its Russian imports to around 9 million tonnes this year.

Imports make up around 85% of India's overall needs, which total 50-55 million tonnes a year, and New Delhi last year signed a deal to import from Russia.

But complications with processing of payments and logistics as a result of sanctions against Russia mean steel mills are opting for alternative sources such as Australia and the United States, pushing up prices in the process.

Australia, India's top supplier of coking coal, has raised its prices from $200 to $700 per tonne this year, while flows from Russia have dried up completely since March, the two sources said on Monday, raising worries among India's steelmakers over their supplies.

As a result, Indian government officials and executives from JSW Steel met a delegation from Russia in New Delhi on Friday, the sources said of the previously unreported meeting.

Russian trade officials expressed concerns during the meeting over the sanctions imposed by the West and asked India to move forward with last year's deal, the sources said. "Their concern was that they have been hit hard by the sanctions," one of the sources said, adding: "They were primarily interested in how we can take the MoU (memorandum of understanding) forward."

The Russian delegation asked Indian representatives to visit Moscow to work out how to achieve smooth shipments of coking coal, the sources said, while state-owned Steel Authority of India (SAIL) requested better insurance cover for supplies.

The sources declined to be identified as they are not authorised to talk to the media.

Russia's trade ministry declined to comment, while India's federal steel ministry, foreign affairs ministry and SAIL did not immediately reply to requests for comment. In an emailed response, JSW Steel declined comment.

Russian coking coal producers Raspadskaya and Mechel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The head of Russia's customs service said last week it had temporarily suspended publication of import and export data in order to exclude errors and "speculation".

India has not imposed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation", and has abstained from a United Nations vote condemning it.

(Reporting by Neha Arora; Editing by Alexander Smith and Christopher Cushing)

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A burqa-clad Baloch woman suicide bomber struck a van inside Pakistan's prestigious University of Karachi, killing three Chinese nationals and their local driver, in the latest targeted attack against Chinese citizens in the country's financial capital.

The banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) linked Majeed Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack on the teachers that took place near China-built Confucius Institute - a non-profit institute teaching Chinese language to local pupils - in the university. It said the attack was carried out by a woman suicide bomber.

A spokesperson for the university said that three of the victims were Chinese nationals. They were identified as Confucius Institute Director Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng, Chen Sa and Khalid, the Pakistani driver.

The spokesperson added that two others, including Chinese national Wang Yuqing, and Hamid were injured in the blast.

"Academic activities and public dealings will remain suspended at KU on Wednesday to mourn the loss of the Confucius Institute's faculty members," he said.

Counter-Terrorism Department official Raja Umar Khattab said that the suicide attack was carried out by a woman, adding that ball bearings were found at the site of the blast, Dawn newspaper reported.

He said the van was properly guarded as a Rangers team was escorting it.

Four Rangers who were behind the van on motorcycles were also injured. However, their condition is stable.

CCTV footage of the attack showed a burqa-clad woman standing outside the entrance of the Confucius Institute. The woman detonated herself just as the van neared the institute's entrance.

A spokesperson of the BLA, the separatist outfit which is banned in Pakistan, the UK and the US, said that the attack was carried out by Shari Baloch alias Bramsh - the "first female suicide bomber of the brigade". The attack marks "a new chapter in the history of Baloch resistance," he added.

A picture of the bomber in circulation showed the woman along with her two small kids.

In a purported video issued by the group, a BLA spokesman said that the motive of the attack was very clear.

"It was a simple and clear message to and to withdraw immediately from Balochistan," said the masked spokesman surrounded by armed men on a hilly terrain.

"Baloch Liberation Army guarantees you the CPEC will fail miserably on Baloch land," the spokesman, who was holding an assault rifle, said in fluent English.

He warned that a special unit has been formed particulary to attack Chinese officials and installations in Balochistan.

The group opposes Chinese investment in Pakistan, especially in the restive Balochistan, saying local people do not benefit.

Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is home to a long-running violent insurgency. Baloch insurgent groups have previously carried out several attacks targeting the USD 60 billion China- Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said that it was unfortunate that teachers had been targeted.

Asked whether a threat had been issued prior to the attack, the senior officer said that there was "always a threat".

He said tight security arrangements were already in place at the varsity.

Senior police official Muqqadas Haider earlier said that the explosion took place at the van's right side at the institute's entrance.

Urdu language Jang newspaper reported that the van was bringing the foreign nationals who used to teach Chinese at the IBA institute inside the Karachi University from their guesthouse when the blast took place.

Videos of the blast-hit van were also posted on social media with flames of fire completely destroying the vehicle as police and paramilitary rangers reached the scene immediately and cordoned off the area.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah directed the Counter-Terrorism Department and SSP East to immediately reach the site of the incident. He also asked the Karachi commissioner to submit a report.

He later visited the Chinese Consulate where he briefed Consul General Li Bijian about the blast.

The chief minister assured the Chinese official that the incident would be fully investigated, a statement issued by the CM's office said.

"Those involved in the incident will be brought to justice. We value the services rendered by Chinese experts in the country and the province," Shah said.

"Some elements do not like the partnership between the two countries," he said, adding that the miscreants behind the incident would be dealt with an iron hand.

Prime Minister also expressed grief over the blast and assured Shah of the Centre's full help and cooperation in dealing with such incidents.

"The prime minister said that terrorists are [the] enemies of . He vowed to eliminate the remainder of terrorists through collective efforts and unity. He directed for the provision of the best medical facilities to the injured," the PMO said.

"My heartfelt condolences go to the bereaved families. I strongly condemn this cowardly act of terrorism. The perpetrators will surely be brought to justice," the prime minister said on Twitter.

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also condemned the attack. "Sindh police will soon get to the bottom of the incident," he said, adding that the perpetrators would be punished.

He called for steps to be taken to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens.

The Foreign Office spokesperson condemned the attack, offering condolences and sympathies to the families of victims.

"We strongly condemn the reprehensible terrorist attack in Karachi which claimed innocent lives, including those of Chinese nationals working at the Confucius Institute," he said.

It added that the "cowardly incident is a direct attack on the Pakistan- friendship and ongoing cooperation".

"Pakistan and are close friends and iron-brothers. Pakistan attaches great importance to the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan," it said.

This is not the first time Chinese nationals have been the target of terror attacks in Karachi, which is Pakistan's biggest city and economic hub.

In July last year, masked armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on a vehicle carrying two Chinese nationals in Karachi in which one of them was critically wounded.

In the same month, nearly a dozen Chinese engineers were killed when a bus carrying construction workers was "attacked" in northwest Pakistan.

In November 2018, Baloch militants had attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi but failed to break through the security barrier with three of them killed on the spot.

Thousands of Chinese personnel are working in Pakistan on a host of projects being carried out under the aegis of the CPEC.





North Korea parades ICBMs, vows to boost nuclear arms North Korea staged its first military parade in seven months, with leader Kim Jong Un pledging to strengthen his states atomic arsenal as he presided over an event showcasing nuclear-capable weapons that threaten the US and its allies.

The parade was held on Monday night in central Pyongyang, the states official Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday. The event included displays of tactical weapons and the countrys biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17, KCNA said. Bloomberg Russia court orders seizure of $7 mn in Google property A Moscow court has ordered the seizure of 500 million rubles ($7 million) worth of Googles property and funds in Russia, news agencies said, in a lawsuit concerning restrictions the US tech firm has placed on the YouTube channel of a prominent television firm. Russian news agencies reported that the case concerns Gazprom Media Holdings GPM Entertainment Television, which filed a suit demanding that Google restore access to its YouTube account.Reuters

Meta fined over LGBT propaganda A Russian court on Tuesday fined Meta Platforms 4 million rubles ($54,030) for failing to delete posts that contained what it calls LGBT propaganda, the Interfax news agency reported. A 2013 Russian law, decried by Western countries as state-enforced bigotry, bans the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors. Reuters Djokovic can play, no vax required, says Wimbledon Novak Djokovic will be allowed to defend his title at Wimbledon, despite not being vaccinated against Covid-19, because the shots are not required to enter Britain, All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said on Tuesday. Djokovic, a 34-year-old Serb who is ranked No. 1, missed the Australian Open in January after being deported from that country because he was not vaccinated against the illness caused by the coronavirus, which has led to the deaths of millions during the pandemic that began in 2020. PTI Uber agrees to pay fine for misleading users on fee Uber agreed to pay a 26 million Australian dollar ($19 million) fine for misleading riders by falsely warning they could be charged a cancellation fee and for inflating estimates of comparable taxi rides, the ride share firm and Australia's consumer watchdog said on Tuesday. Uber BV, a Netherlands subsidiary of the San Francisco-based Uber Technologies, admitted breaching Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading statements in its app.AP

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Three critically-endangered Sumatran have been found dead after being caught in sling snares in a private oil palm plantation in Indonesia's Aceh province, the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency said.

The agency's head Agus Arianto on Monday said the tiger carcasses were found on Sunday by a member of a non-governmental organisation, who thought that the carnivores had died for days, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We strongly condemn this incident. An investigation is underway," Arianto told Xinhua.

A medical team has taken the body parts of the for necropsy, while the police are conducting a field investigation to uncover other factors causing the deaths.

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An Afghan delegation led by the Taliban's acting minister of refugees and repatriations is set to visit Iran's capital to hold talks over refugee-related challenges and the border tension, local media reported.

"We are trying to visit to talk about all the problems that Afghans are struggling with there; we hope we can talk and solve the problems," said Khalilurahman Haqqani, acting minister of refugee and repatriations, according to TOLOnews.

Meanwhile, Afghan students and refugees residing in said that they have always faced visa issues as well as residence and employment problems across .

"One of the serious challenges is receiving visas, when the students receive visas and come for an education. The second problem is the permission for residence, it takes a long time," TOLOnews quoted Khan Mohammad Seerat, an Afghan student in Iran as saying.

An Afghan delegation visit to comes following the recent tensions between Islamic Emirate forces and Iranian border guards.

On Saturday, a dispute occurred between and Iranian border forces in the Islam Qala district of Herat province after Islamic Emirate forces wanted to pave a road alongside the border.

Afghan and Iranian border forces have faced each other several times in Nimroz and Herat provinces since the Islamic Emirate took power in last year.

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The European Union's internal market chief said on Tuesday that could adapt as he wishes after he acquires the social media site but warned the billionaire that the bloc has strict rules for online platforms to tackle illegal content.

"It will be up to to adapt themselves ... to our rules," Thierry Breton told Reuters and one other media outlet on the deal sealed on Monday by Tesla's chief executive to buy for $44 billion.

"I think knows Europe very well. He knows very well that we have some rules for the automotive industry ... and he understands that. So in Europe, in order to protect freedom of speech and to protect individuals, any will have to fulfill this obligation."

Musk, the world's richest person, calls himself a free speech absolutist and has criticised Twitter's moderation of a hugely influential platform that is populated by millions of users and global leaders.

The EU has rules under which content forbidden offline is also forbidden online, Breton said.

Under a Digital Services Act (DSA) agreed by the EU's 27 member states and lawmakers last week, Alphabet unit Google, Meta and other large online platforms will risk hefty fines if they do not control illegal content.

Breton said big platforms of more than 45 million users would have to have more moderators than smaller ones, including moderators in every European language, and they would have to open their algorithms to regulators.

Under the DSA, big tech face fines up to 6% of their global revenue for violating the rules while repeated breaches could see them banned from doing business in the EU.

The new rules ban advertising aimed at children or based on religion, gender, race and political opinions.

Critics of Musk's takeover of Twitter fear it will mean less moderation and the reinstatement of banned individuals, including former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Breton said he had no intention of interfering in the Trump question because such matters would now be regulated in Europe and company boards would not have a say.

"Remember, the information space does not belong to any private company," he said. "The information space is part of our responsibility as politicians. Like territorial space ...airspace, our digital space is our responsibility to organize."

(Reporting by John Chalmers; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Twitter's India-born CEO has told worried employees that he doesn't know what direction this company will go in once the whopping USD 44 billion deal, which will take the giant private, closes with new owner billionaire .

The remarks by Agrawal, who took over the helm of the social networking giant just five months ago, came during a meeting with employees on Monday afternoon after the company said it had accepted Musk's offer to buy it for about USD 44 billion.

It's important to acknowledge that all of you have many different feelings about what is happening, The New York Times newspaper quoted Agrawal as saying.

The American daily, which listened to the meeting, said that Agrawal told employees that he estimated the deal might take three to six months to complete.

In this moment, we operate as we always have," he said, adding that how we run the company, the decisions we make, and the positive changes we drive that will be on us, and under our control.

Uncertainty now hangs over the fate of employees, who voiced concern over layoffs in the wake of the acquisition by Musk.

The NYT report added that it is unclear how hands-on Musk plans to be at Twitter.

Among the unanswered issues are whom he might pick to lead the company and how involved he would be in running the service, it said, adding that Agrawal is expected to remain in charge at least until the deal closes.

The NYT report added that in the employee meeting, Agrawal acknowledged the uncertainty ahead.

Once the deal closes, we don't know what direction this company will go in, 37-year-old Agarwal said.

Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Twitter Board of Directors, is expected to close in 2022, subject to the approval of Twitter stockholders, the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

On Monday, as Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor announced that Tesla and SpaceX founder Musk will acquire the company, Agrawal tweeted, Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.

The NYT report said that in the meeting with Twitter employees, Agrawal and Taylor nodded to the emotions of the day and how workers were most likely processing the news of a sale.

Agrawal said compensation would remain largely the same under Musk but he did not make the same assurances about Twitter's policies and culture, the NYT report said.

Agrawal told employees that their stock options would convert to cash when the deal closes. Employees would receive their same benefits packages for a year after the deal was finalised, the NYT report said.

In response to a question about whether former President Donald Trump, who was permanently suspended from the social networking site in January 2021, would be allowed back on the platform, Agrawal said We constantly evolve our policies.

Following the acquisition, Musk, the world's wealthiest person, said, Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated."



"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it," the 50-year-old Tesla CEO said.

The site's co-founder Jack Dorsey, who had stepped down in November last year, had declared that his trust" in Agrawal as our CEO is bone deep when he had named the India-born executive as Twitter's new CEO on November 29, 2021.

Dorsey had said that after almost 16 years at the company he had decided it was finally time for him to leave and the first reason he had given for why it was the right time for his departure was Parag becoming our CEO."



"The board ran a rigorous process considering all options and unanimously appointed Parag. He's been my choice for some time given how deeply he understands the company and its needs. Parag has been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around. He's curious, probing, rational, creative, demanding, self-aware, and humble. He leads with heart and soul, and is someone I learn from daily. My trust in him as our CEO is bone deep," Dorsey had said.

Agrawal had said in a note posted on Twitter that he was honoured and humbled by his appointment and expressed gratitude to Dorsey's continued mentorship and your friendship.

An IIT Bombay and Stanford alumnus, Agrawal had joined Twitter 10 years ago when there were fewer than 1,000 employees.

While it was a decade ago, those days feel like yesterday to me. I've walked in your shoes, I've seen the ups and downs, the challenges and obstacles, the wins and the mistakes. But then and now, above all else, I see Twitter's incredible impact, our continued progress, and the exciting opportunities ahead of us, he had said in the post following his appointment.

Our purpose has never been more important. Our people and our culture are unlike anything in the world. There is no limit to what we can do together, he had said.

We recently updated our strategy to hit ambitious goals, and I believe that strategy to be bold and right. But our critical challenge is how we work to execute against it and deliver results - that's how we'll make Twitter the best it can be for our customers, shareholders, and for each of you.

The world is watching us right now, even more than they have before. Lots of people are going to have lots of different views and opinions about today's news. It is because they care about Twitter and our future, and it's a signal that the work we do here matters, Agrawal had said.

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Afghanistan's former President has raised concerns over the closure of schools for girls, above grade 6, by the regime, stating that the people of want their girls to return to schools.

"There is no way... that the country can live without our girls going to school. It can't be. The Afghan people will not allow that and I am sure the schools for girls will reopen because that is what the Afghan people want and want clearly," Karzai said as cited by Tolo News.

The has received constant backlash from other countries as well owing to its decision to shut schools for girls from grades 7 to 12 and it has been about 120 days since Afghan girls have been barred from going to school.

Several Afghan clerics, notable politicians and members of the civil society have urged the to consider the reopening of schools for the female students and grant them access to education, reported Tolo News.

Further, Human Rights Watch has expressed concerns that banning girls from going to school will lead to a rise in early marriages for them.

Associate Director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, Heather Barr said that thousands of Afghan girls have been denied education for almost a year, emphasizing that blocking them from receiving education will become the cause of child marriage and forced marriage.

"They are imposing a new law with each passing day, but there is a serious will to reopen the schools," said Naveeda Khurasani, a women's rights activist as reported by Tolo News.

Earlier, the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said that the closing of secondary and high schools for girl students is a serious issue.

It has also planned on paying a two-month emergency cash support of about 200,000 to the teachers across and has provided over 35 million textbooks in the country so far.

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When Vladimir Putin congratulated on his re-election as France's president and wished him success in your activities, the Russian leader probably was being more polite than sincere.

As he embarks on a second term, with the intention of keeping at the forefront of efforts to force Putin to change course in Ukraine, Macron has given a green light for the delivery of modern artillery pieces to Kyiv that could help stem Russia's new offensive in the east of the country.

Firing six rounds per minute over 40 kilometers (25 miles) or more, the truck-mounted Caesar cannons will allow Ukrainian crews to pound Russian troops from afar, then move and pound them again. Used to great effect against Islamic State forces in Iraq and in other conflicts, they represent a step up in France's assistance to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government.

In another remarkable move, Macron is talking openly about the guns, lifting a veil of secrecy he'd thrown over French military aid. The delivery and the publicity together signal a tougher line from Macron in his dealings with Putin - talking less and engaging more in brinksmanship with the Kremlin.

"Initially, we were a bit shy to show what was being provided," said retired Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France's military mission at the United Nations. But we have been escalating week after week, testing the reaction."



Macron was in the closing stages of his presidential re-election campaign when he name-dropped the Caesar cannons in an April 21 interview with the newspaper Ouest- . He also mentioned Milan anti-tank missiles, although those supplies had already been reported.

Macron didn't give numbers. Citing unidentified French sources, Ouest- said 12 Caesars will be drawn from the French arsenal and that 40 Ukrainian artillery soldiers were arriving for training at a military base in the south of France.

Macron said his red line remains not entering into direct conflict with Russia, but within that limit, we must provide maximum help to the Ukrainians."



We are delivering consequential equipment, he said. "We need to continue down this path.

His armed forces minister tweeted that thousands of shells would also be part of the delivery. Sunil Nair, an analyst who specialises in artillery systems for the defense publication Janes, said the cannons could be used independently of each other or together as a battery.

"It does give you firepower, no doubt about it," he said. It's a question of how they use it and where they use it.

Before and after Russia's Feb 24 invasion, Macron had kept an open line with Putin. But the horrors discovered by Ukrainian troops as they retook control of villages near Kyiv once Russian soldiers withdrew gave Macron pause. His office said last week that the two leaders haven't spoken since March 29.

Macron says that, eventually, he'll need to pick up the phone again - because not talking to Putin will allow the leaders of China, India and Turkey to take the lead in trying to negotiate the peace, whenever that time comes.

We'll have to prepare a cease-fire at some stage, and Europe will have to be around the table, Macron said last week.

In the meantime, French weapons will do some of the talking - in hopes of adding to the pressure on Putin.

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Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau on Tuesday expressed confidence that going forward India would be on the same page as the European nations on the Ukraine issue, noting that there can be different reactions for a certain period due to various reasons, including domestic politics.

Participating in a session at the Raisina Dialogue, Rau asserted that India for Europeans is the "biggest democratic partner" in the world which means that "we share the same values, principles and that we stand for the same political judgements and political solutions".

Asked what message he has for the Indian prime minister to make him see from the European point of view the urgency for Ukraine to prevail, Rau cited the example of the five principles of peaceful coexistence signed between India and China, also known as Panchsheel, and claimed that they point to supporting the victim of Russian aggression.

"We can react in a different way till a certain period of time for various reasons, including domestic politics, but in terms or values and therefore in terms of our future cooperation, I am sure we are going to be on the same page," he said.

Foreign ministers of Luxembourg and Lithuania -- Jean Asselborn and Gabrielius Landsbergis -- stressed on the need for weapons delivery to Ukraine.

"We have a discussion in Europe, should we deliver weapons or not, what kind of weapons is also under discussion. In Germany, very intensive discussions are on about heavy weapons...In EU, we have never been confronted with such a challenge," Asselborn said.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Landsbergis said if Russian President Vladimir Putin is successful in his war in Ukraine then he will "export it further", therefore it is important that Ukraine wins this war and "we have to do our part".

On the issue of weapons delivery, he noted that at the beginning of the war, it was not clear how long the war would take and this perception is changing.

He said now there was increased confidence that Ukraine can win this war.

Asked about sanctions against Russia, Asselborn said there was no alternative as in the UN Security Council, China and Russia would have blocked it, so they had to go the way of European sanctions along with 40 countries.

"This was our only way to say to Putin, 'if you do this you would be excluded, not only for a short time but for a long time, out of the community," he said.

The Lithunia foreign minister said it is a reality that Ukraine is fighting for "all of us in Ukrainian territory".

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Indians moving to were the largest overseas migrant cohort in the past decade and have supplanted as the second-biggest diaspora living Down Under, government data show.

From 2011 to 2021, Indian-born migrants rose by 373,000, followed by 208,000 from and 118,000 from the Philippines, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed Tuesday. As a result, Indians now account for 2.8% of the population, compared with Chinas 2.3%, while Britons lead with 3.8%.

Yet reflecting the distortions of the pandemic, the proportion of Australias population who are overseas-born actually edged down to 29.1% in 2021 from 29.8% a year earlier. That was due to the shuttering of the borders, meaning almost no new arrivals and few Australian departures in the period.

Just under half of all Australians were either born overseas or had a parent who was, according to the most recent data from 2016.

Immigration played a central role in avoiding recession for 28 years until Covid-19 finally sent the economy into reverse.

Chinas fall from second to third place as a source of immigrants came as ties between and its top trading partner were deteriorating.

They went into freefall in 2020 as Prime Minister Scott Morrison led calls for an independent probe into the origins of the coronavirus that first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Beijing, infuriated, responded with a volley of punitive trade actions that have hit commodities from coal to barley, lobsters and wine.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told Bloomberg in an interview last month that Australia will look to reduce its dependence on in the face of economic coercion from Beijing. Indias swelling population -- set to overtake Chinas in 2027 -- suggests ongoing opportunities to diversify the trade portfolio.

FTA Deal

Australia recently signed a free trade agreement with India in a bid to boost trade -- currently dominated by coal -- from a modest A$24.3 billion in 2020.

Arindam Chakraborty at ANZ Banking Group Ltd. said the expansion of Indias diaspora is likely to be a significant source of human capital for Australia in the years to come, and the deal may prove lucrative for energy shipments.

Supportive factors include expectations of Indias rapid growth over the next decade, including an increase in its urbanization rate, which stands at less than 40%, he said. This means, as the economy grows, power demand will rise.

He also sees significant scope for expansion of Indias IT service exports to Australia.
on Tuesday decided to reopen the Erez crossing point on the northern tip of the Strip after economic losses in the impoverished coastal enclave had piled up.

"After an assessment of the security situation, it was decided to resume the entry of workers and merchants from into through the Erez crossing as of tomorrow, Tuesday," Major General Ghassan Alyan, coordinator of Government Activities in the Palestinian territories, said in a statement to the press on Monday.

"The opening of the crossing to the movement of merchants and workers, and other civilian steps from the Strip into is conditional on maintaining security and stability in the region," the statement said.

Israel closed the crossing point on Sunday after unknown militants fired several rockets from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel, according to the Palestinian coordination office with Israel.

This happened against the backdrop of growing tension in East Jerusalem and the Israeli arrest campaigns in the West Bank during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Gaza economists said that keeping the crossing open would have constituted a qualitative leap in breaking the current state of economic deterioration and stagnation that has continued for more than 15 years due to Israeli blockade.

They said that some 12,000 Palestinian workers and merchants are crossing from the Gaza Strip to Israel every day, bringing financial liquidity of 5 million Israeli Shekels (1.52 million US dollars) to the coastal enclave.

These revenues, which were supposed to enter Gaza through the workers, would greatly alleviate the economic, social, and living crisis suffered by the Gaza Strip residents.

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announced his intention to nominate Bridget Brink for US Ambassador to Ukraine, a vacant post since May 2019.

The announcement on Monday by the White House came shortly after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin held a press conference at an undisclosed location near the Polish-Ukrainian border following a secrecy-shrouded visit to Kiev, where they met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Xinhua news agency reported.

Blinken told reporters he shared with Zelensky "a number of things" the US is committed to regarding Ukraine in its military conflict with Russia, "including President Biden's intent to nominate a new Ambassador to Ukraine, Ambassador Bridget Brink."

The US Secretary of State described Brink, a Michigan native appointed by former President Donald Trump to serve as the US Ambassador to Slovakia in August 2019, as "deeply experienced in the region, who'll be a very strong representative for the United States in Ukraine."

The US has been without a Senate-confirmed Ambassador to Ukraine since May 2019, when Trump recalled then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch over claims she was undermining the former President's efforts to press Ukraine to investigate the Biden family's business ties with the country.

Blinken also said US diplomats, who left Ukraine due to the war, will return to the country next week and "start the process of looking at how we actually reopen" the US embassy in Kiev, which ceased operation in the lead-up to Russia's military operation in Ukraine.

--IANS

int/khz/

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More Sri Lankans will slip into this year, the has warned, as it urged the debt-ridden island nation to undertake urgent policy measures to address the high levels of debt, trim the fiscal deficit, and mitigate the adverse impacts on the poor and vulnerable.

is currently in the throes of an unprecedented economic turmoil since its independence from Britain in 1948.

The crisis is caused in part by a lack of foreign currency, which has meant that the country cannot afford to pay for imports of staple foods and fuel, leading to acute shortages and very high prices.

Around 11.7 per cent of people in earn less than USD 3.20 per day, the line for lower-middle income countries, up from 9.2 per cent in 2019, the Bank said in its Spring Update on the South Asian region.

The other reason for the increase in rates in the country was because the government's Samurdhi programme, which covers around 1.2 million poor families in the country, remained inadequate.

Less than half of the poor were beneficiaries of the Samurdhi, Sri Lanka's social safety net programme, and benefit amounts remain largely inadequate, it said.

Due to the pandemic, the Sri Lankan has contracted by 3.6 per cent in 2020, it stated.

The World Bank's April 2022 update of Macro Poverty Outlook for asserted that the heightened fiscal and external risks as well as the challenging political situation pose significant uncertainty to the economic outlook and the country faces an external financing gap in 2022 and beyond.

Sri Lanka's economic outlook is highly uncertain due to the fiscal and external imbalances. Urgent policy measures are needed to address the high levels of debt and debt service, reduce the fiscal deficit, restore external stability, and mitigate the adverse impacts on the poor and vulnerable, the development lender said in its twice-a-year regional update.

The necessary adjustments may adversely affect growth and impact poverty initially, but it will correct the significant imbalances, subsequently providing the foundation for stronger and sustainable growth and access to financial markets, it added.

Last week, the readied a USD 10 million package to Sri Lanka for the purchase of medicines and other essentials.

Sri Lanka needs at least USD 4 billion to tide over its mounting economic woes, and talks with international institutions such as the as well as countries like China and Japan for financial assistance have been going on.

Sri Lankan officials led by Finance Minister Ali Sabry were in Washington last week to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

India has agreed to extend an additional USD 500 million credit line to help Sri Lanka import fuel.

India has already agreed to defer USD 1.5 billion in import payments that Sri Lanka needs to make to the Asian Clearing Union.

Last week, the Sri Lankan government said it would temporarily default on USD 35.5 billion in foreign debt as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine made it impossible to make payments to overseas creditors.

Thousands of demonstrators have hit the streets since April 9, clamoring for the removal of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, blaming him for the gross mismanagement of the .

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Russia accuses NATO of engaging in a proxy battle that created a serious risk of nuclear war as US convened its allies to pledge the heavy weapons Ukraine needs to achieve victory.

With Russian forces having been forced back from Kyiv and now attempting a new advance in Ukraine's east, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin welcomed officials from more than 40 countries to Ramstein, headquarters of U.S. air power in Europe.

"As we see this morning, nations from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia's imperial aggression," Austin said. "Ukraine clearly believes that it can win, and so does everyone here." In a marked escalation of Russian rhetoric, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was asked on state TV about the prospect of World War Three and whether the current situation was comparable to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis that nearly caused nuclear war.

"The risks now are considerable," Lavrov said, according to the ministry's transcript of the interview.

"The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it," Lavrov said. "NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war." U.S. officials have shifted emphasis this week from speaking mainly about helping Kyiv defend itself to talk of a Ukrainian victory that would deliver a blow to Russia's ability to threaten neighbours in the future.

Austin, who visited Kyiv along with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday, said on Monday: "We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine."

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, flying to Tuesday's meeting, told reporters the next several weeks in Ukraine would be "very, very critical".

"They need continued support in order to be successful on the battlefield. And that's really the purpose of this conference."

The aim would be to coordinate aid that includes heavy weapons such as howitzer artillery, as well as killer drones and ammunition, General Milley said.

'BRAVADO'

Kyiv and its allies played down Lavrov's remarks about nuclear war.



Russia had lost its "last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted after Lavrov's interview. "This only means senses defeat."

British Armed Services Minister James Heappey called Lavrov's remarks an example of "bravado" that had become the Russia's foreign minister's "trademark".

"I don't think that right now there is an imminent threat of escalation," Heappey told BBC Television.

The U.S. State Department on Monday approved the potential sale of $165 million worth of ammunition to Ukraine. The Pentagon said the package could include ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers.

Moscow's ambassador to Washington told the to halt shipments, warning that Western weapons were inflaming the conflict.

GUTERRES TO MOSCOW

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was due in on Tuesday to meet President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov, the highest profile peace mission since the war began, although Western countries have said they have little hope of a breakthrough.

Russia's two-month-old invasion of Ukraine has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced more than 5 million people to flee abroad.

calls its actions a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West call this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression.

Russia has yet to capture any of Ukraine's biggest cities.

Its huge invasion force was forced to pull back from the outskirts of Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance last month.

But it has since announced new war aims to focus mainly on the east, and sent more troops there for an assault on two provinces where it has backed a separatist revolt.

"It is obvious that every day - and especially today, when the third month of our resistance has begun - that everyone in Ukraine is concerned with peace, about when it will all be over," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Monday.

"There is no simple answer to that at this time." Ukraine's general staff said on Tuesday that Russia's offensive continued in the eastern Kharkiv region with Russian forces trying to advance towards a village called Zavody.

Russia is probably attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the country's east, the British military said in an update on Tuesday.

Reports say the town of Kreminna has fallen, with heavy fighting in the south of the city of Izyum, as Russian forces try to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Britain's defence ministry said on Twitter.

Russian forces kept up their bombing and shelling of the vast Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where fighters are hunkered down in a city reduced to rubble by Russian siege, Ukrainian presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych said.

(Additional reporting by Reuters journalists; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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says leader has vowed to bolster his country's nuclear capability at the maximum speed.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday that Kim made the remarks during a military parade the previous night.

KCNA cites Kim as saying will continue to take steps to further bolster and develop its nuclear forces at the maximum speed.

Kim's speech came as remains locked in a long-running diplomatic standoff with the United States over the North's nuclear programme.

In recent months, Kim carried out a spate of missile tests in what experts say was an attempt to pressure the U.S. to win sanctions relief and other concessions.

North Korea began a much-anticipated military parade in its capital on Monday to mark the 90th anniversary of its army's founding, with outside experts saying it was likely to display powerful missiles and other weapons capable of targeting the United States and its allies.

South Korea's military said the march began late Monday evening in Pyongyang after a pre-parade ceremony.

It didn't immediately provide other details, such as whether North Korean leader was present.

NK News, a North Korea-focused news site, cited unidentified sources as saying that 12 illuminated flying objects, possibly drones or helicopters, were seen in the sky above Pyongyang, followed by the sounds of fireworks.

In past parades, North Korea has often displayed newly built nuclear-capable missiles and goose-stepping soldiers in an attempt to intimidate its rivals and bolster internal unity.

Kim has also given speeches highlighting his commitment to boosting the armed forces to cope with what he calls U.S. hostility.

The parade comes as Kim is reviving nuclear brinkmanship aimed at forcing the United States to accept North Korea as a nuclear power and remove crippling economic sanctions.

Analysts say North Korea is exploiting a favourable environment to push forward its weapons programme as the United Nations Security Council remains divided over Russia's war in Ukraine.

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have been stalled since 2019 because of disagreements over the potential easing of U.S.-led sanctions in exchange for North Korean disarmament steps.

Kim has stuck to his goals of simultaneously developing nuclear weapons and the country's dismal economy in face of pressure and has shown no willingness to fully surrender a nuclear arsenal he sees as his biggest guarantee of survival.

North Korea has conducted 13 rounds of weapons tests this year, including its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017.

There are also signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that was last active in 2017, possibly in preparation for a resumption of testing.

It could also conduct a banned launch of a long-range rocket to put a spy satellite into orbit or test-fly missiles over Japan, experts say.

North Korean state media did not immediately report the parade.

Earlier Monday, official newspapers ran editorials calling for stronger public support of Kim.

The respected Comrade is the symbol of the mightiness of our party, state and revolutionary armed forces and the representative of their great dignity, the main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial.

All happiness and rosy future lie in following the respected General Secretary Kim Jong Un.

North Korea's recently tested weapons are potentially capable of striking the U.S. homeland as well as South Korea and Japan.

The North has spent much of the past three years focusing on expanding its short-range arsenal targeting South Korea as nuclear negotiations with the United States stalled.

Kim's aggressive military push could also be motivated by domestic since he doesn't otherwise have significant accomplishments to show to his people as he marks a decade in power.

He failed to win badly needed sanctions relief from his diplomacy with former U.S. President Donald Trump, and the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed further shocks to the country's broken economy, forcing him to acknowledge last year that North Korea was facing its worst-ever situation.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to speed up development of his country's nuclear arsenal while overseeing a huge military parade that displayed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), state media reported on Tuesday.

The parade took place on Monday night during celebrations for the 90th anniversary of North Korea's armed forces, the state news agency KCNA said.

Pyongyang has recently stepped up weapons tests and displays of military power as denuclearisation talks with the United States have stalled and a new conservative administration takes power in South Korea.

U.S. and South Korean officials say there are signs of new construction at North Korea's only known nuclear test site, which has been officially closed since 2018, suggesting Pyongyang may be preparing to resume testing nuclear weapons.

"The nuclear forces of our Republic should be fully prepared to fulfil their responsible mission and put their unique deterrent in motion at any time," Kim told the gathering, according to KCNA.

He said the fundamental mission of the North's nuclear force was deterrence, but that its use "can never be confined to the single mission".

"If any forces try to violate the fundamental interests of our state, our nuclear forces will have to decisively accomplish an unexpected second mission," Kim said.

Hong Min, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said Kim's speech could signal a change in his nuclear doctrine to leave open the possibility of "nuclear first use".

"Though he did not specify what makes the 'second mission' or 'fundamental interests', he indicated more broadly that the nuclear force might be used pre-emptively, not only when they're under attack, but also under certain circumstances," Hong said.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kim's remarks could have been aimed at the incoming government of South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who has warned of possible pre-emptive strikes if an attack from the North is imminent.

WEAPONS SHOWCASE

Yoon takes office on May 10. His transition team criticised Pyongyang for developing offensive weapons while appearing to pursue talks.

"The parade proved that has outwardly called for peace and dialogue over the last five years but in reality it focused on developing the means to threaten not only the Korean peninsula but Northeast Asia and world peace," deputy spokesperson Won Il-hee told a briefing.

"Securing the capability to deter North Korea's grave and real threat is the most urgent task," he added, vowing to bolster an alliance with the United States and expand Seoul's deterrence.

Dressed in a white emperor-style suit, a smiling Kim waved and shook hands with senior officials when North Korea's largest known ICBM, the Hwasong-17, appeared in the parade, state television footage showed.

The missile was unveiled in 2020 and first tested last month, but Seoul officials believe it exploded in mid-air.

The video featured what appeared to be hypersonic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) being carried on trucks and launch vehicles.

Kim saluted as a squad of people wearing orange hazardous material suits and gas masks, an apparent symbol of anti-coronavirus efforts.

The procession also included rows of conventional weapons such as rocket launchers and prototype tanks, plus tens of thousands of goose-stepping troops shouting "Long life!" to Kim Jong Un.

is banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions from developing ballistic missile and nuclear weapons, and is under economic sanctions as a result.

On April 16, Kim oversaw the launch of what state media said were short-range missiles that could deliver tactical nuclear weapons.

Visiting Seoul last week, U.S. envoy on Sung Kim vowed to "respond responsibly and decisively to provocative behaviour," while underlining his willingness to engage with Pyongyang "anywhere, without any conditions".

North Korea has said it is open to diplomacy, but has rejected Washington's overtures as insincere and criticised what it calls "hostile policies" such as sanctions and joint military exercises with the South.

(Reporting by Josh Smith, Soo-hyang Choi and Hyonhee Shin; Additional reporting by Jack Kim and Minwoo Park; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Gerry Doyle)

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Foreign Minister Joao Cravinho's visit to India is an opportunity for the two countries to expand their bilateral ties, External Affairs Ministry said on Tuesday.

Taking to Twitter, Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "Glad to welcome FM (Foreign Minister) @JoaoCravinho (Joao Cravinho) of to India. The visit is a renewed opportunity to expand our ties."

Cravinho is in the national capital to attend a conclave on geopolitics and geoeconomics. Foreign ministers of Argentina, Armenia, Guyana, Nigeria, Norway, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland and Slovenia are participating in the event, according to the MEA.

Earlier in the day, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, Jean Asselborn and Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis arrived in New Delhi to attend the conclave.

"Warm welcome to FM Jean Asselborn of Luxembourg @MFA_Lu. The visit will further deepen our bilateral cooperation," MEA tweeted.

Bagchi said that it will be the first visit of Landsbergis to India.

MEA Spokesperson said that Lithuania is an important partner in the Baltics. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are called the Baltic countries.

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Ahead of Shehbaz Sharif's visit to Saudi Arabia, the newly-elected Prime Minister has been caught in the controversy over his plans to travel privately along with a large entourage.

is scheduled to visit the Kingdom of in the next few days. Dozens of officials and political leaders will accompany the Prime Minister on his maiden visit to the Kingdom.

After Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) raised questions about this visit, Pakistan Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb responded on Monday, saying would travel to at his own expenses.

She slammed PTI leaders for spreading "lies" about the trip set to take place later this week. "Contrary to lies being propagated by PTI, Prime Minister will be travelling to later this week on a commercial flight at his own expense," Marriyum said on Twitter.

"Even during his 10 years as CM Punjab during 2008-18, he always travelled commercially and at his own expense," she added.

Earlier on Monday, the newly-elected Pak PM presided over a meeting here to review preparations for his official visit to Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting, he said that Pakistan valued its long-standing brotherly ties with Saudi Arabia and it was looking forward to enhancing the same in future.

According to The News International, he directed the relevant authorities to make effective recommendations for strengthening the Pak-Saudi Arabia bilateral ties.

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unleashed a string of attacks Monday against rail and fuel installations deep inside Ukraine, far from the front lines of Moscow's new eastern offensive, in a bid to thwart Ukrainian efforts to marshal supplies for the fight.

The U.S., meanwhile, moved to rush more weaponry to and said the assistance from the Western allies is making a difference in the 2-month-old war.

is failing. is succeeding, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared, a day after he and the U.S. secretary of defense made a bold visit to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Blinken said Washington approved a $165 million sale of ammunition non-U.S. ammo, mainly if not entirely for Ukraine's Soviet-era weapons and will also provide more than $300 million in financing to buy more supplies.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took his comments further, saying that while the U.S. wants to see remain a sovereign, democratic country, it also wants "to see weakened to the point where it can't do things like invade Ukraine.

Austin's comments about weakening Russia appear to represent a broader U.S. strategic goal.

Previously, the U.S. position had been that the goal of American military aid was to help Ukraine win and to defend Ukraine's NATO neighbours against Russian threats.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said weapons supplied by Western countries will be a legitimate target for Russian forces.

He also warned that the risk of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated.

Speaking in an interview on Russian television, Lavrov said the arming of Ukraine is an attempt to drag on the fighting until the last soldier to inflict the most suffering on Russia.

Regarding the possibility of a nuclear confrontation, Lavrov said: I would not want to see these risks artificially inflated now, when the risks are rather significant.

The danger is serious," he said. "It is real. It should not be underestimated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. and its allies of trying to "split Russian society and to destroy Russia from within.

In other developments, fires were reported at two oil facilities in western Russia, not far from the Ukrainian border. Their cause was not immediately known.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, its apparent goal was the lightning capture of Kyiv, the capital. But the Ukrainians, with the help of Western weapons, thwarted the push and forced Putin's troops to retreat.

Moscow now says its goal is to take the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region in eastern Ukraine.

While both sides say the campaign in the east is underway, Russia has yet to mount an all-out ground offensive and has not achieved any major breakthroughs.

On Monday, Russia focused its firepower elsewhere, with missiles and warplanes striking far behind the front lines.

Five railroad stations in central and western Ukraine were hit, and one worker was killed, said Oleksandr Kamyshin, head of Ukraine's state railway.

The bombardment included a missile attack near Lviv, the western city close to the Polish border that has been swelled by Ukrainians fleeing the fighting elsewhere around the country.

Ukrainian authorities said that at least five people were killed by Russian strikes in the central Vynnytsia region.

Russia also destroyed an oil refinery in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, along with fuel depots there, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said. In all, Russian warplanes destroyed 56 Ukrainian targets overnight, he said.

Philip Breedlove, a retired U.S. general who was NATO's top commander from 2013 to 2016, said the latest strikes against fuel depots are part of a strategy to deplete key Ukrainian war resources.

The strikes against rail targets, on the other hand, are a newer tactic, he said.

I think they're doing it for the legitimate reason of trying to interdict the flow of supplies to the front, he said.

The illegitimate reason is they know people are trying to leave the country, and this is just another intimidation, terrorist tactic to make them not have faith and confidence in travelling on the rails.

Phillips P. O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said the war is, for now, settling into a campaign of incremental battlefield losses and gains.

The two sides are sort of every day weakening each other, he said.

So it's a question of what can you bring in that's new and what can you destroy on the other side.

In Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova that sits along the Ukrainian border, several explosions believed caused by rocket-propelled grenades hit the territory's Ministry of State Security.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility or reports of injuries. Transnistria is a strip of land with about 470,000 people and about 1,500 Russian troops based there.

Moldova's Foreign Ministry said the aim of today's incident is to create pretexts for straining the security situation in the Transnistrian region."



The U.S. warned previously that Russia may launch false-flag attacks against its own side to create a pretext for invading other nations.

Last week, Rustam Minnekayev, a Russian military commander, said the Kremlin wants full control of southern Ukraine, which he said would open the way to Transnistria.

An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian troops holed up in a steel plant in the strategic southern port city of Mariupol are tying down Russian forces and apparently keeping them from being added to the offensive elsewhere in the Donbas.

Over the weekend, Russian forces launched new airstrikes on the Azovstal plant to try to dislodge the holdouts.

Some 1,000 civilians were also said to be taking shelter at the steelworks, and the Russian military pledged to open a humanitarian corridor Monday for them to leave.

The Russian offer was met with scepticism by Ukraine. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the Telegram messaging app that Ukraine does not consider the route safe and added that Russia had breached agreements on similar evacuation routes before.

She called on the United Nations to oversee an evacuation.

The city council and mayor of Mariupol said a new mass grave has been identified about 10 kilometers north of the city.

Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities were trying to estimate the number of victims.

It was at least the third new mass grave discovered in Russian-controlled areas near Mariupol in the last week.

Mariupol has been gutted by bombardment and fierce street fighting over the past two months.

In addition to freeing up Russian troops, the capture of the city would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said that after two months of war, The life of peaceful cities and villages has been turned into hell.

A part of Ukrainian cities and communities has been destroyed down to stone. He said his country's goal is to maintain resistance and make the occupiers' stay in our land even more intolerable, while Russia drains its resources.

Britain said it believes 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Moscow began its invasion. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said 25% of the Russian combat units sent to Ukraine have been rendered not combat effective."



Ukrainian officials have said about 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed as of mid-April.

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Russia's President says Moscow still hopes to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Ukraine, even as the fighting has continued.

Speaking at a Kremlin meeting Tuesday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Putin noted that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators made what he described as a serious breakthrough in their talks in Istanbul, Turkey, last month. He claimed, however, that the Ukrainian side later walked back on some of the tentative agreements reached in Istanbul.

In particular, Putin said Ukrainian negotiators have changed their position on the issue of the status of Crimea and separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, offering to leave it for the countries' presidents to discuss. Putin charged that the shift in the Ukrainian stand makes it hard to negotiate a future deal.

Putin has demanded that recognize Russia's sovereignty over Crimea and recognize independence of separatist regions in eastern as part of a future agreement on ending the hostilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that those issues could only be decided by a future nationwide vote.

During Tuesday's Kremlin meeting, Guterres criticized Russia's military action in as a flagrant violation of its neighbor's territorial integrity. He also urged to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped at a giant steel mill in Mariupol surrounded by the Russian forces.

Putin responded by claiming that the Russian forces have offered humanitarian corridors to civilians holed up at the Azovstal steel plant, charging that the Ukrainian defenders of the plant were using civilians as shields and not allowing them to leave.
accused of creating a serious risk of a by arming Ukraine in a proxy battle as Washington and its allies met on Tuesday to pledge the heavy weapons Kyiv needs to achieve victory. US officials have shifted emphasis this week from speaking mainly about helping Ukraine defend itself to bolder talk of a Ukrainian victory delivering a blow to Russias ability to threaten its neighbours.

They have approved shipments of hundreds of millions of dollars in arms, including artillery and drones they held back from sending in earlier phases of the war.

Nations from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russias imperial aggression, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said, welcoming officials from more than 40 countries to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, headquarters of US air power in Europe. Ukraine clearly believes that it can win, and so does everyone here.



In a notable shift, Germany, where the government had come under pressure after refusing Ukrainian pleas for heavy weapons, announced it would now send Gepard light tanks with anti-aircraft guns.

In a marked escalation of Russian rhetoric, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was asked on state TV about the prospect of World War Three and whether the current situation was comparable to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis that nearly caused .

The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it, Lavrov said, according to the ministrys transcript of the interview. Nato, in essence, is engaged in a war with through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.



Britains armed forces minister played down comments by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the possible use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine- conflict.

Lavrovs trademark over the course of 15 years or so that he has been the Russian foreign secretary has been that sort of bravado. I dont think that right now there is an imminent threat of escalation, James Heappey told BBC.

Attempt to raise tensions, says Moldova, after blasts in pro-Russia region

Moldovas president warned on Tuesday that a spate of attacks in its Russia-backed breakaway region of Transdniestria were an attempt to escalate tensions, blaming pro-war factions within the territory. Meanwhile, the head of the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria said attacks on the territory could be traced back to Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported on Tuesday. I assume that those who organised this attack have the purpose of dragging Transdniestria into the conflict, Vadim Krasnoselsky, the self-styled president of the breakaway region was quoted as saying. Speaking at a news conference after an emergency Security Council meeting, President Maia Sandu said she did not plan to talk with the Kremlin about the incidents over the past 24 hours that included an attack on Transdniestrias interior ministry and the destruction of two radio masts that broadcast Russian radio. Moldovas president warned on Tuesday that a spate of attacks in its Russia-backed breakaway region of Transdniestria were an attempt to escalate tensions, blaming pro-war factions within the territory. Meanwhile, the head of the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria said attacks on the territory could be traced back to Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported on Tuesday. I assume that those who organised this attack have the purpose of dragging Transdniestria into the conflict, Vadim Krasnoselsky, the self-styled president of the breakaway region was quoted as saying. Speaking at a news conference after an emergency Security Council meeting, President Maia Sandu said she did not plan to talk with the Kremlin about the incidents over the past 24 hours that included an attack on Transdniestrias interior ministry and the destruction of two radio masts that broadcast Russian radio.

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Swedish newspaper Expressen on Monday confirmed the information of the Finnish media that and are preparing to jointly apply to on May 16-20.

On Monday, the Finnish Iltalehti newspaper reported that the applications of and to should be published in the week starting May 16. A state visit of the Finnish President Sauli Niinisto to at the invitation of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is scheduled for the same week, May 17 to 18.

"The information is correct and now there should be an agreement between Sweden and that any applications must be submitted in that particular week [week 20], which also coincides with Finland's state visit to Sweden. Finnish President Sauli Niinisto arrives in Stockholm on May 17-18," Expressen reported, citing sources.

Last week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that has warned Sweden and Finland about the consequences of joining .

Russia's military operation in Ukraine launched on February 24 spurred an extensive debate both in Finland and Sweden on NATO membership, with the two countries considering the possibility of abandoning years of neutrality and joining the military bloc. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier that the alliance would welcome Finland and Sweden and would ensure their quick accession if they choose to apply.

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One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies said on Tuesday that was spiralling towards a collapse into several states because of what he cast as a U.S. attempt to use Kyiv to undermine Russia.

The comments from Nikolai Patrushev, the powerful secretary of Russia's Security Council, appeared to be an attempt to blame the for any division of that emerges from the conflict.

In an interview with the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Patrushev said the had for years been trying to instill hatred for everything Russian in Ukrainians.

"Using their henchmen in Kyiv, the Americans, in an attempt to suppress Russia, decided to create an antipode of our country, cynically choosing for this, trying to divide essentially a single people," Patrushev said.

"The result of the policy of the West and the regime in Kyiv can only be the disintegration of Ukraine into several states." His comments, nearly nine weeks into the war, provided the latest indication that Moscow - despite saying at the outset that it had no intention to occupy Ukraine - is set on dismembering the country.

Having been beaten back in an initial attempt to storm the capital Kyiv, Russian forces have regrouped for what Moscow says is a campaign to "liberate" the eastern Donbas region, part of which has been held by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.

Last week a Russian general went further, saying Russia would look to take the whole of the east and south of Ukraine.

Putin says the "special military operation" is necessary because the was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Moscow had to defend Russian-speakers against persecution.

Putin, who says Ukraine and Russia are essentially one country, casts the war as an inevitable confrontation with the United States, which he accuses of threatening Russia by meddling in its backyard and enlarging the NATO military alliance.

Ukraine says it is fighting an imperialist land grab by Russia and that Putin's claims of genocide are nonsense.

The United States says it is helping Ukraine stand up to Russia but that Moscow is angry because Kyiv is increasingly turning westwards beyond Russia's historical sphere of influence, seeking European Union membership and ties with NATO.

"If anything today unites the peoples living in Ukraine, it is only fear of the atrocities of nationalist battalions," Patrushev said - a reference to units of Ukraine's armed forces that Moscow has branded as Nazis.

"However, history teaches that hatred can never become a reliable factor in national unity."

(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Heinrich)

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accused NATO of engaging in a proxy battle that created a serious risk of nuclear war as Washington convened its allies on Tuesday at a German air base to pledge the heavy weapons Ukraine needs to achieve victory.

DIPLOMACY, SANCTIONS, AID

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in Moscow that conditions for a ceasefire in Ukraine should be created as soon as possible.

FIGHTING

The following reports could not be immediately verified by Reuters:



* Russia's defence ministry said its missiles destroyed six facilities powering railways used to deliver foreign weapons to Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region.

* Four people were killed and nine wounded in Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region, the region's governor told Ukraine's public broadcaster.



* Two villages in Russia's Belgorod region came under fire from Ukraine, and at least two people were wounded, the region's governor said.

* Ukraine's general staff said was shelling its second biggest city, Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine and towns and villages to the south but that Ukrainian forces had repelled assaults on three settlements.

* Russian forces carried out strikes on Ukrainian positions in the Azovstal steel plant, the main remaining Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol where more than 1,000 civilians are also sheltering, Ukrainian officials said.

* Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said the Russian military had destroyed 347 health facilities including all in the Luhansk part of the Donbas, threatening thousands of lives. All of Luhansk province was without electricity on Monday after Russian attacks, the governor said.

QUOTES

* "NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war." - Russia's Sergei Lavrov.

* "In terms of Russia's war aims, Russia has already failed and Ukraine has already succeeded." - U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Angus MacSwan)

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have reaffirmed their commitment to ending the conflict in Ukraine and to creating conditions to end the suffering of civilians, said a UN spokesman.

Guterres met Erdogan in the Turkish capital Ankara on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The UN chief expressed his support for Turkey's ongoing diplomatic efforts in relation to the conflict in Ukraine, Farhan Haq, Guterres' Deputy spokesman, told reporters in New York.

"He and President Erdogan reaffirmed that their common objective is to end the war as soon as possible and to create conditions to end the suffering of civilians. They stressed the urgent need for effective access through humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and deliver much-needed assistance to impacted communities," said Haq.

They agreed to stay in contact to follow up on ongoing initiatives, he added.

Guterres and the Turkish President also discussed the impact of the Ukraine conflict on regional and global issues, including energy, food and finance, said Haq.

The UN chief was in Ankara on Monday before travelling to Moscow and Kiev.

Turkey, a major mediator, has also indicated its willingness to become a security guarantor of Ukraine.

The UN Secretary-General will visit Moscow and have a working meeting and lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday. He will be received by President Vladimir Putin.

Guterres then will travel to Ukraine, where he will have a working meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and will be received by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday. He will also meet with staff of UN agencies in Ukraine to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance.

--IANS

int/khz/

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The and its allies pledged new packages of ever heavier weapons for Ukraine during a meeting on Tuesday at a German air base, brushing off a threat from Moscow that their support for Kyiv could lead to .

U.S. officials have switched emphasis this week from speaking mainly about helping Ukraine defend itself to bolder talk of a Ukrainian victory that would weaken Russia's ability to threaten its neighbours.

One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies, Nikolai Patrushev, said Ukraine was spiralling towards a collapse into "several states" due to what he cast as a U.S. attempt to use Kyiv to undermine Russia. The comments seemed to be an effort to blame Washington for any break-up of Ukraine that emerges from the war, now in its third month.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, welcoming officials from more than 40 countries to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, headquarters of U.S. air power in Europe, said: "Nations from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia's imperial aggression." "Ukraine clearly believes that it can win, and so does everyone here."

The has ruled out sending its own or NATO forces to Ukraine but Washington and its European allies have supplied Kyiv with arms including howitzer heavy artillery, drones and anti-aircraft Stinger and anti-tank Javelin missiles.

In a notable shift, Germany, which had come under pressure after refusing Ukrainian pleas for heavy weapons, announced it would now send Gepard light tanks with anti-aircraft guns.

Washington welcomed the move.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, believe Russia will rely heavily on artillery strikes to pound Ukrainian positions while moving in ground forces from several directions to try to envelop and wipe out much of Ukraine's military.

But Washington also estimates that many Russian units are depleted, with some operating with personnel losses as high as 30% - a level considered by the U.S. military to be too high to keep fighting indefinitely.

U.S. officials cite anecdotes of Russian tanks with lone drivers and no crew, and substandard equipment that is either prone to breakdowns or out of date.

WAR BY 'PROXY'

In a marked escalation of Russian rhetoric, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was asked on state TV late on Monday about the prospect of World War Three and whether the current situation could be compared to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis that nearly caused .

"The danger is serious, real," Lavrov said, according to the ministry's transcript of the interview. "NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war."



Pentagon spokesman John Kirby decried Lavrov's comments.

"It's obviously unhelpful... and certainly is not indicative of what a responsible (world power) ought to be doing in the public sphere," Kirby said. "A cannot be won and it shouldn't be fought. There's no reason for the current conflict in Ukraine to get to that level at all." Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters while flying to Tuesday's meeting in that the next few weeks in Ukraine would be "very, very critical".

"They need continued support in order to be successful on the battlefield," he said.

Ukraine's general staff said Russia's offensive continued in the eastern regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk, where it said they were taking "actions along almost the entire line of contact".

Russia is probably trying to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the east, the British military said in an update on Tuesday, adding that forces were trying to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

In an interview with the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Putin ally Patrushev accused the of "trying to divide essentially a single people", echoing Putin's contention that Ukraine is really a historic part of Russia.

"The result of the policy of the West and the regime in Kyiv can only be the disintegration of Ukraine into several states," added Patrushev, who is secretary of Russia's Security Council.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on a visit to Moscow on Tuesday, said he was ready to fully mobilise the organisation's resources to save lives and evacuate people from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

Guterres, who is also due to visit Kyiv, proposed a "Humanitarian Contact Group" of Russia, Ukraine and U.N. officials to seek opportunities "for the opening of safe corridors, with local cessations of hostilities, and to guarantee that they are actually effective".

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said no corridors were operating on Tuesday due to continued fighting.

MOLDOVA

A new source of concern is Transdniestria, a separatist region of Moldova just to the west of Ukraine, which has been occupied by Russian troops since the 1990s. Two radio masts there were destroyed by explosions early on Tuesday, following other blasts in Transdniestria on Monday.

The separatist authorities said they were raising their terrorism threat level to red, while the Kremlin said it was concerned. Russia's TASS news agency quoted the separatist leader as saying the attacks could be traced back to Ukraine.

Moldova's pro-Western President Maia Sandu blamed the "escalation attempts" on "pro-war" factions in Transdniestria.

Moldova expressed alarm last week after a top Russian general said Moscow aims to forge a path through Ukraine to Transdniestria, where he said Russian speakers needed protection from oppression. Moldova, an ex-Soviet state, has close cultural and linguistic ties to NATO member Romania.

Russia's two-month-old invasion of Ukraine has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced more than 5 million people to flee abroad.

Moscow calls its actions a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West call this a false pretext for an unprovoked war to seize territory.

(Additional reporting by Reuters journalists; Writing by Peter Graff and Gareth Jones; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Mark Heinrich)

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The said the world was galvanized against Russia's two-month-old invasion of Ukraine as it hosted defence talks in involving over 40 countries that sought to speed and synchronize the delivery of arms to Kyiv.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hosted the event at Ramstein Air Base following a trip to Kyiv where he pledged additional military support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's war effort, which is at a crossroads.

"As we see this morning, nations from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia's imperial aggression," Austin said at the start of talks.

"Ukraine clearly believes that it can win, and so does everyone here."

U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cautioned that Ukraine needed more security assistance - now - to help it defend against an unfolding and potentially decisive Russian onslaught in the east. He said the coming weeks were "critical."

"Time is not on Ukraine's side," Milley said during closed-door remarks provided to reporters traveling with him.

"The outcome of this battle, right here, today, is dependent on the people in this room."

Milley added: "The Ukrainians will fight. We need to make sure they have the means to fight"

Driven back by Ukrainian forces from a failed assault on Kyiv in the north, Moscow has redeployed troops into the east for a ground offensive in two provinces known as the Donbas.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, assess that will rely heavily on artillery strikes, trying to pound Ukrainian positions as Moscow moves in ground forces from several directions to try to envelop and wipe out a significant chunk of Ukraine's military.

But the also estimates many Russian units are depleted, with some operating with personnel losses as high as 30% -- a level considered by the U.S. military to be too high to keep fighting, officials say.

U.S. officials cite anecdotes like Russian tanks with sole drivers and no crew and substandard equipment that is either prone to breakdowns or out of date.

British assessments showed that about 15,000 Russian personnel had been killed in the conflict while 2,000 armored vehicles including some 530 tanks had been destroyed, along with 60 helicopters and fighter jets, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Monday.

has so far acknowledged only 1,351 troops killed and 3,825 wounded.

still has advanced capabilities and superior force numbers, and has shown a willingness to keep pouring soldiers and units into the fight, U.S. officials said.

Moscow can also economically afford to wage a long war in Ukraine despite being hammered by Western sanctions, defence experts and economists said.

For its part, Ukraine boasts high morale, creative and adaptive battlefield tactics and local knowledge of the terrain, along with arms and intelligence from the and its allies.

"They definitely stand a fighting chance," a U.S. military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The meeting is taking place at Ramstein, a sprawling air base southwest of Frankfurt which only months ago was grappling with an influx of Afghan evacuees after the Taliban takeover of that country last summer.

Organizers said over 40 countries were attending and a scan of the meeting room showed countries mainly from Europe but also from the Middle East including Israel and even Africa. On a screen, representatives from South Korea and Japan attended virtually.

"This gathering reflects the galvanized world," Austin said.

Germany, for the first time, announced the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. "We decided yesterday that will facilitate the delivery of Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine," German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said at Ramstein, according to the script of her speech.

Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States - by far the world's two biggest nuclear powers.

Putin says the "special military operation" in Ukraine is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Ukraine was guilty of the genocide of Russian-speaking people.

Ukraine says it is fighting a land grab by Russia and that Putin's accusations of genocide are nonsense.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; additional reporting by Sabine Seibold in Berlin; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, William Maclean)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The 12th ministerial conference of the will take place from June 12-15 in Geneva.

The Ministerial Conference (MC) is the highest decision making body of the 164-member Geneva-based multilateral body.

The meet was originally scheduled to take place from November 30 to December 3 last year but was postponed in view of the outbreak of Omicron variant, which led to the imposition of travel restrictions and quarantine requirements in Switzerland and many other European countries.

"In a communication forwarded to members on April 25, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chair of the 12th MC Mr Timur Suleimenov of Kazakhstan and General Council Chair Ambassador Didier Chambovey of Switzerland informed delegations that the WTO's 12th MC will take place on June 12-15, 2022 at headquarters in Geneva," WTO said in a statement.

The conference will be attended by trade ministers and other senior officials from the member nations.

Usually, MC happens every two years bringing all members of the WTO together, all of which are countries or customs unions.

The last meet was held at Buenos Aires during December 10-13, 2017.

WTO formulates rules for global exports and imports and adjudicates disputes between two or more than two countries on trade-related issues.

India is its member since 1995.

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Shares of Adani Enterprises hit a new high of Rs 2,412, on rallying 5 per cent on the BSE in Tuesdays intra-day trade amid heavy volumes on multiple report. The trading volume at the counter nearly doubled with a combined 2.3 million equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE till 02.10 pm. The S&P BSE Sensex was up 1 per cent at 57,172.

Adani Enterprises, a flagship of Gautam Adani-led group company, is presently focused on businesses related to airports, roads, water, data centre, solar manufacturing, defence and aerospace, edible oils and foods, mining, integrated resource solutions and integrated agri-supply chain. Adani Enterprises has 122 subsidiaries as on March 31, 2021 which includes Adani Airport Holdings, Adani Cementation and Adani Railways Transport.

In June 2021, Adani Enterprises had incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary namely, Adani Cement Industries to carry on business as manufacturers, producers, processors of all types of cements.

According to a Bloomberg report, Gautam Adanis conglomerate is in advanced talks to acquire Holcim Ltd.s businesses in India. The billionaires Adani Group could sign an agreement to acquire a controlling stake in Ltd. from Holcim as soon as in the coming days, the agency reported quoting familiar with the matter. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT



According to Business Standard report, Adani-owned Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) has reached an agreement with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on resuming revenue payment. The state-owned airport operator is also in final discussions with Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) on the matter. This is likely to begin as early as next month, people aware of the development said. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT



Meanwhile, on April 8, 2022, International Holding Co had agreed to invest $2 billion in three Adani Group companies -- Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises -- through the preferential allotment route. Adani Enterprises had said it will allot 4.02 million equity shares at price of Rs 1,915.85 per share aggregating to Rs 7,700 crore.

The transaction is expected to be completed in a month, after all necessary approvals are obtained. The capital will be utilized for pursuing the growth of the respective businesses, further strengthening of the balance sheet and for general corporate purposes, the company had said in exchange filing.

CARE Ratings also revised and upgraded credit ratings assigned to the principal protected market-linked debenture (MLD) issue, non-convertible debenture (NCD) issue and bank facilities of Adani Enterprises.

"The revision in the ratings takes into consideration the strengthened financial flexibility of the Adani group. The factors are led by established track record of successful incubation of businesses across various verticals, completion of substantial capex in subsidiaries of Adani Enterprises and recovery of passenger traffic in the airport segment during 9MFY22 (refers to the period April 01 to December 31)," said CARE Ratings in rating rational on March 21, 2022.




Shares of firms continued to slide for the second day in a row on Tuesday, plummeting up to 20 per cent.

With the proposed deal with Reliance falling through, investors have been dumping the shares of since Monday even as the broader market made substantial gains after declining for two consecutive sessions.

Future Lifestyle Fashions tumbled 19.90 per cent, Future Supply Chain Solutions plummeted 16.87 per cent, Future Consumer shares tanked 13.08 per cent, Future Enterprises declined 9.89 per cent and fell 4.86 per cent on the BSE.

On Monday also, the scrips witnessed similar trends.

Reliance Industries Ltd, on Saturday, said the secured creditors of Ltd have voted against the proposed deal. In view thereof, the subject scheme of arrangement cannot be implemented, it had said.

Under the scheme, the retail and wholesale business and the logistics and warehousing business of was to be transferred to Ventures Ltd (RRVL) and and Fashion Lifestyle Ltd (RRFLL).

On Tuesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 776.72 points or 1.37 per cent to close at 57,356.61 points.

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India's imports of petcoke are expected to more than double this year, industry officials say, as competitive prices are driving cement makers to switch to the fuel as an alternative to coal.

A tonne of petcoke, a refinery byproduct, is more expensive than coal, but produces more energy when burnt. It is generally not used as fuel because of toxic emissions, but is widely used by the cement industry - its largest consumer, as sulphur dioxide emissions are absorbed by limestone.

Global are near record highs due to fears of a supply crunch following the European Commission's decision to ban coal imports from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

Imports of petcoke are expected to more than double in 2022, a coal trader and two executives at large Indian cement manufacturing companies told Reuters.

"I am expecting 10 million tonnes of petcoke to come into in 2022," said Vasudev Pamnani, general manager at coal trader Iman Resources.

A diversion of domestic coal supplies to utilities to address a power crisis and increased internal use of domestic petcoke by refineries are also contributing to higher imports, the executives said.

Consumption surged 34% to 4.2 million tonnes during the quarter ended March, the fastest pace in nearly six years and the first quarterly growth in over two years, government data shows.

Imported petcoke accounted for nearly half the total consumption during the quarter, with Saudi Arabia and United States accounting for the bulk of shipments, data from trading firm Iman Resources showed.

"Import of fuel-grade petcoke was slow during 2021 due to high price and tightness in supply. But in the near past, fuel-grade petcoke is again becoming competitive to coal and its users are switching from coal," Indian coal trader I-Energy said in a note.

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The Rs 1,581 crores-initial public offer (IPO) of Hyderabad-based Rainbow Childrens Medicare Ltd will open for subscription on Wednesday, April 27, and close on Friday, April 29.

The consists of a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 280 crores and an offer-for-sale worth Rs 1,301 crores by the companys promoters and selling shareholders. The price band of the issue has been fixed at Rs 516-542 per share.

The firm is a multi-specialty paediatric and obstetrics and gynaecology hospital chain operating 14 hospitals and three clinics in six cities with a total bed capacity of 1,500 beds.

While analysts are positive on the issue from a long-term perspective given the companys focus on specialised services, strong clinical expertise, and strong track record of financial and operational performance, they have flagged concerns around increased competition from bigger hospital players, and the inability to sustain profitability levels.

Heres a compilation of brokerage views on the issue:

Swastika Investmart | Subscribe for long-term

The exponential rise in the company's profit during 9 months till December, 2021, might not continue in the future as it was driven by Covid-19 hospitalisations.

The profitability for 9 months ended 31st December 2021 increased substantially to Rs 126.41 crores from Rs 38.53 crores in the same period of last fiscal.

"The specialised nature of the business, experienced management team, proven ability to attract, train and retain high-calibre medical professionals, under penetration of hospitals in India, makes this issue good for long-term investors," said Santosh Meena, head of institutional research at the brokerage.

Angel One | Neutral

The hospital's 70 per cent plus current bed capacity is matured beds, with higher occupancy rates. This is a major positive for the company, in addition to its dominant market position in South India for paediatric and obstetrics.

However, the brokerage believes it could be challenging for the company to maintain EBITDA margins given its plans to increase capacity by 500 beds in the next 4-5 years.

"Average revenue per operating bed (ARPOB) has increased by 57 per cent in the last two years, but it will be difficult to increase it from these levels, which will create pressure on EBITDA margins," said Yash Gupta, Equity Research Analyst at the brokerage.

Based on April-December 2021 numbers, the issue is priced at a price to earning ratio of 30.4 times and EV/EBITDA of 13.8 times at the upper price band, which is in-line with listed peer group.

Axis Capital | Not rated

The ability to recruit and retain high calibre medical professionals is a plus. The chain follows a doctor engagement model where most of their core specialists work exclusively at the hospitals on a full-time retainer basis. This model has led to a high degree of full-time doctor retention (at 81 per cent during April 2019 to March 2021).

Moreover, it follows a hub-and-spoke model in Hyderabad. This model has strengthened their market position in and around Hyderabad, providing them with synergies through referrals for tertiary and quaternary care to their hub arising from the spoke hospitals.

Kotak Securities | Not rated

The hub-and-spoke model has enabled them to evolve from a single secondary care hospital in Hyderabad to six hospitals in the city. The company is implementing a similar model in Bengaluru, Karnataka and planning to replicate it in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and New Delhi-NCR.

Moreover, over the last six years, they have added 985 beds across 10 hospitals, expanding their presence. Going forward, they may seek to expand the hospital network through the acquisition of brownfield assets or development of greenfield assets.

Key risks

Analysts said the companys revenues are highly dependent on hospitals in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. It is also significantly dependent on certain specialties for a majority of its revenues. It may face intense competition from other healthcare service providers. And lastly, its reliability on third-party suppliers, manufacturers and services providers for supplies and equipment and other services exposes it to major risks.
today: After a consecutive two-day sell off, the are likely to start Tuesday's session on a positive note. At 7:30 am, the SGX nifty futures were quoting at 17,121 levels, hinting at a gap-up open of 100 points on the Nifty50.

Meanwhile, here are some stocks that may see market action today:



Q4 Earnings today: Bajaj Finance, HDFC Life, Macrotech Developers, KPIT Technologies, NELCO, Atul, AU Small Finance Bank, Gateway Distriparks, IIFL Securities, Sanofi India, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Mahindra Logistics, Nippon Life India Asset Management, Schaeffler India, Som Distilleries & Breweries, Tata Coffee, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), United Breweries, UTI Asset Management Company, VST Industries, D-Link (India), International Travel House, Gujarat Hotels, Jindal Hotels, JK Agri Genetics, and Jumbo Bag.

GMDC (Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation): GMDC Ltd reported 86.86 per cent growth year-on-year (YoY) in total revenues for Q4 on consolidated basis at Rs1,057.28 crore. The consolidated net profit for Q4 turned around to a profit of Rs176.99 crore compared to a net loss of Rs-184.64 crore in the Q4FY21. Net margins stood at 16.74 per cent in Q4FY22 compared to -32.63 per cent in March 2021.

: Mahindra CIE Automotive Ltd reported 18.22 per cent growth in sales revenues YoY for the Mar-22 quarter on consolidated basis at Rs 2,588.36 crore. The consolidated net profit for Q4 was up nearly 16-fold at Rs 161.43 crore while it doubled on a sequential basis.

Tata Motors: The company has partnered with Lithium Urban Technologies, an electric vehicle-based urban transportation service provider, to deploy 5000 XPRES T Electric Sedans, across the country, for employee transportation. The deiveries will commence in phases and will complete the deployment by next year.

Prestige Estates: The Bengaluru-based company crossed the pre-sales mark of Rs 10,000 crore in FY22. This is the highest ever pre-sales for the company and also the highest among listed real estate players that have released their numbers so far. The Bengaluru-based company crossed the pre-sales mark of Rs 10,000 crore in FY22. This is the highest ever pre-sales for the company and also the highest among listed real estate players that have released their numbers so far. Read more

YES Bank & Zee learn: YES Bank Ltd has moved National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking initiation of insolvency proceedings against Zee Learn. YES Bank has allegedly claimed that the total amount in default with respect to a financial facility is Rs 468 crore. YES Bank Ltd has moved National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking initiation of insolvency proceedings against Zee Learn. YES Bank has allegedly claimed that the total amount in default with respect to a financial facility is Rs 468 crore. Read here

Eveready Industries: Due to lower demand and increase in input cost, dry cell battery maker Eveready Industries India posted a net loss of Rs 38.41 crore on a consolidated basis in the quarter ended March 31. Last year the company had posted a net loss of Rs 442.53 crore. ue to lower demand and increase in input cost, dry cell battery maker Eveready Industries India posted a net loss of Rs 38.41 crore on a consolidated basis in the quarter ended March 31. Last year the company had posted a net loss of Rs 442.53 crore. Read more

Bank of Maharashtra: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) slapped a penalty of Rs 1.12 crore on the bank for non-compliance with certain regulatory directions, including those for know your customer (KYC) norms. This action is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with customers.

Bank of India: Bank of India (BoI) said it will raise up to Rs 2,500 crore by issuing fresh equity shares in order to comply with the minimum public shareholding requirement of 25 per cent. Bank of India (BoI) said it will raise up to Rs 2,500 crore by issuing fresh equity shares in order to comply with the minimum public shareholding requirement of 25 per cent. Read here

Veranda Learning Solutions: The learning solutions provider has acquired T.I.M.E. (Advanced Educational Activities Pvt Ltd), the leading test-prep institute with a pan-India presence operating through 188 centres. The company bought T.I.M.E. for Rs 287 crore.

Ramco Cements: The company said its power generation capacity by using waste heat recovery tech will touch 39.15 MW.
Bank of India said that its board has approved the capital raising plan upto Rs 2,500 crore by issue of fresh equity capital via qualified institutional placement (QIP) or follow on public offer (FPO) or preferential issue.

The government backed lender said that the main purpose of capital raising plan is to increase the minimum public shareholding from the present 18.59% to 25% or above in order to comply with the minimum public shareholding requirements.

For this purpose, the bank has decided to obtain the permission of shareholders in the ensuing annual general meeting or the extra-ordinary general meeting called for this purpose.

Bank of India is a public sector bank. The Government of India held 81.41% stake in Bank of India as on 31 December 2021.

The bank reported a 90% rise in standalone net profit to Rs 1,027 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 541 crore in Q3 FY21. Total income during the quarter decreased by 8% YoY to Rs 11,211 crore.

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Bank of India: The bank said its board of directors considered and approved the capital raising plan upto Rs.2,500 crores by issue of fresh equity capital in the form of QIP / FPO / preferential issue.

Lemon Tree Hotels: The company has signed a license agreement for a 60 room hotel at Kharar, near Chandigarh under the company's brand 'Lemon Tree Hotel'. The hotel is expected to be operational by November, 2025.

Veranda Learning Solutions: The company announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire T.I.M.E. (Advanced Educational Activities Pvt Ltd) for a consideration of Rs. 287 crore. T.I.M.E. is India's leading test-prep institute with a pan-India presence operating through 188 centres including franchisees spread across 98 cities in India.

Hubtown: A meeting of the board of directors of the company, is scheduled to be held on 28 April 2022 to consider and approve the issue of securities (convertible warrants) on preferential allotment basis to persons forming part of promoter and promoter group. Also the board will consider raising of funds by issue of equity shares by way of a rights issue to the eligible equity shareholders.

Avantel: The company said its board will consider bonus issue of shares on 6 May 2022. The board will also consider Q4 March 2022 results and recommend dividend for the financial year 2021-22.

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The domestic equity barometers traded in a narrow range near the day's high in early afternoon trade. The Nifty continued to trade above the 17,150 level.

At 12:24 IST, the barometer index, S&P BSE Sensex was up 638.82 points or 1.13% to 57,218.71. The Nifty 50 index added 204.50 points or 1.21% to 17,158.45.

The broader market traded with gains. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rallied 1.49% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index surged 1.04%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 2,114 shares rose while 1,159 shares fell. A total of 131 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slumped 9.16% to 19.31. The Nifty 28 April 2022 futures were trading at 17,158, at a discount of 0.45 points as compared with the spot at 17,158.45.

The Nifty option chain for 28 April 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 86.5 lakh contracts at the 17,200 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 83.4 lakh contracts was seen at 17,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index rose 1.28% to 6,336.75. The index had declined 4.77% in the past two sessions.

Adani Enterprises (up 3.41%), Vedanta (up 1.94%), SAIL (up 1.86%), Hindustan Copper (up 1.45%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.20%), Tata Steel (up 1.14%) and Coal India (up 1.06%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

IndiaMART InterMESH rose 2.57% to Rs 4933. The company said its board will consider a share buyback on 28 April 2022. The company's board will also consider Q4 March 2022 results and consider final dividend, if any, on 28 April 2022.

Premier Explosives added 3.20% to Rs 390.10. The company received an order from Ministry of Defence, Government of India, worth Rs 57.90 crore. The order is for the supply of 50 MM MTV flares. The order is to be executed within twelve months.

Varun Beverages slipped 1.13% to Rs 1084.55. The company's board will meet on Thursday, 28 April to consider proposal of bonus issue of equity shares. On the same day, the board will also consider financial results for quarter ended 31 March 2022.

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For supply of its range of insulin 'Insugen'

Biocon Biologics, a subsidiary of Biocon, announced that its subsidiary Biocon Sdn. Bhd. in Malaysia has been awarded a three-year contract valued at USD 90 million for its recombinant human insulin brand Insugen, by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.

Biocon Sdn. Bhd. will manufacture and supply its range of insulins to its partners Duopharma Marketing Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of Duopharma Biotech, a leading pharmaceutical and biotech company in Malaysia.

Biocon Biologics' Insugen formulations will be available to patients at all Ministry of Health hospitals, district health offices and health clinics.

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Feature: Chinese artemisinin medicines at front line of Sudan's fight against malaria

Xinhua) 08:56, April 26, 2022

KHARTOUM, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Three weeks into April, Sudan is ushering in an earlier summer as daytime temperatures climbed to over 45 degrees Celsius.

The sudden rise in temperatures augurs badly for the African country because it means an earlier than usual rainy season, and more mosquitoes spreading malaria in the country.

Liu Hongbo, 38, still sweating in his air-conditioned office in northern Khartoum, was lost in his thoughts on the production plans of his company "Shanghai-Sudan Pharmacies LTD," one of the leading producers of artemisinin-based drugs in the country.

Liu said the production of artemisinin-based drugs in his company had been at full speed and capacity since early April, and this year's output of the major product Artemether &Lumefantrine Tablets would be no less than 9 million, equivalent to the level of 2021.

"We are trying to build up an artemisinin umbrella for the Sudanese people against malaria, which still poses one of the gravest threats to public health in Sudan," Liu said.

Liu is the general manager of an eight-member Chinese team managing the Shanghai-Sudan Pharmacies LTD, which was established in 1998 by Shanghai Pharmaceuticals and the Sudanese health ministry.

Now the joint venture is selling anti-malaria drugs in all of the country's 18 states and enjoys some 80 percent share of the anti-malaria medicine in the country.

Esmat Nagi, 31, the Sudanese manager of the company, told Xinhua that 220 Sudanese people were working on the production lines of the company, which was a house-held name in his neighborhood and communities.

Artemisinin drug represents the first-line treatment for malaria and is available in most pharmacies in Sudan, according to Sudanese pharmacists.

"The Artemisinin drug has proved to be highly efficient," said Ahmed Abdalla Khidir, a pharmacist and owner of El Nadi pharmacies group in Khartoum, told Xinhua.

Al-Wathiq Mohamed Ahmed, a drug and toxicology expert in Sudan, said Chinese artemisinin medicines, particularly from the shanghai-Sudan pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, are more competitive than their counterparts from other countries in terms of quality and price.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that more than 240 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have benefited from artemisinin treatment, and about 1.5 million patients have escaped death thanks to the treatment.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in New Delhi yesterday. Both leaders reviewed progress in the vibrant India-EU strategic partnership and agreed to deepen cooperation in areas of trade, climate, digital technology, and people-to-people ties.

The leaders agreed that as large and vibrant democratic societies, India and Europe share similar values and commonality of perspectives on many global issues. They reviewed the progress in the India-EU Strategic Partnership, including the forthcoming re-commencement of negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement and Investment Agreement.

Modi and Leyen announced the establishment of an India-EU Trade and Technology Council.

This new mechanism will bring about high-level coordination on the intersecting aspects of the trade, technology, and security and provide the political steer needed for in-depth strategic engagement.

Both leaders noted the increasing policy convergences in Indo-Pacific and exchanged views on other regional and global issues of mutual interest including cooperation in WTO, G-20, Afghanistan, and Myanmar. They expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and called for an immediate end to violence. Prime Minister Modi stressed the importance of giving peace a chance and the need to return to dialogue and diplomacy as the only way to achieve peace.

The leaders had an extensive discussion on climate-related issues, including on possibilities of collaboration between India and the EU in areas like Green Hydrogen. They also discussed the continuing challenges of COVID and stressed efforts to ensure equitable access to vaccines and therapeutics in all parts of the world.

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The benchmark indices ended with strong gains on Tuesday, snapping a two-day losing streak. Value buying, positive global cues and decent earnings by domestic firms lifted investors sentiment. All the sectoral indices on the NSE closed in the green. Auto, realty and banks stocks were in demand. The Nifty crossed the 17,200 mark.

As per the provisional closing data, the barometer index, S&P BSE Sensex surged 776.72 points or 1.37% at 57,356.63. The Nifty 50 index jumped 246.85 points or 1.46% at 17,200.05. The 50-unit index corrected 2.52% in the past two sessions.

Bajaj Auto (up 6.03%), Bajaj Finance (up 3.61%), Hero MotoCorp (up 4.95%) and Reliance Industries (up 3.46%) boosted indices.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 1.62% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.76%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,951 shares rose while 1,444 shares fell. A total of 107 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

India recorded 2,483 new COVID-19 infections as of Tuesday, slightly lower than the previous day's 2,541 cases. The active cases also dipped to 15,636 from 16,522, while the positivity rate declined to 0.55%.

The country reported 1,399 COVID-related deaths. Of these, 1,347 were reported from Assam to reflect the number of COVID-positive patients who died due to other reasons, the Union Ministry of Health said. The state reported zero COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, it added. Similarly, the 47 deaths reported in Kerala were based on reconciled figures.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Atul tumbled 4.46% after the company's consolidated net profit declined 22.2% to Rs 136.26 crore despite a 22.8% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 1,370.42 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21. Total expenses during the quarter increased by 34.7% YoY to Rs 1,212.68 crore, due to higher raw material costs (up 30.3% YoY), higher power, fuel and water charges (up 46.2% YoY) and higher other expenses (up 33.9% YoY). Profit before tax in Q4 FY22 stood at Rs 181.79 crore, down by 23% from Rs 236.12 crore in Q4 FY21.

Sanofi India rose 0.14% after the company's standalone net profit surged 63.39% to Rs 238.40 crore on a 2.49% fall in revenue from operations to Rs 707 crore in Q1 March 2022 over Q1 March 2021. Profit before tax (PBT) jumped 67.11% to Rs 325.70 crore in Q1 March 2022 as against Rs 194.90 crore in Q1 March 2021.

Mahindra CIE Automotive surged 13.29% after the company's consolidated net profit surged to Rs 161.4 crore in Q1 CY2022 from Rs 10.1 crore in Q1 CY2021.

Revenue from operations increased by 18.2% year on year to Rs 2,588.4 crore in Q1 CY2022. EBITDA improved by 1% to Rs 3,079 crore in Q1 CY2022 from Rs 3,062 crore in Q1 CY2021. EBITDA margin was 12.6% in Q1 CY2022 as against 14.7% in Q1 CY2021.

Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem tumbled 7.26%. The company's consolidated net profit declined 17.09% to Rs 17.51 crore on 9.33% decline in net sales to Rs 98.53 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021. EBITDA declined 18% to Rs 22.3 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021. EBIDTA margin for the quarter was at 23% in Q4 FY22 as against 25% in Q4 FY21. Profit before tax (PBT) fell 22% year-on-year to Rs 18.98 crore during the quarter.

Eveready Industries India rose 0.12%. The company reported a standalone net loss of Rs 38.40 crore in Q4 FY22 as against a net loss of Rs 441.20 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21. Operating income during the quarter declined by 12% YoY to Rs 241.24 crore. The company reported a negative operating EBIDTA of Rs 35.61 crore in Q4 FY22. It had recorded an operating EBIDTA of Rs 40.99 crore in Q4 FY21.

Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation fell 1.65%. The company's net profit fell 16.83% to Rs 175.79 crore on 86.86% increase in net sales to Rs 1,057.28 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21. Core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Core EBITDA) was reported at Rs 459 crore in Q4 FY22 as against Rs 241 crore in Q3 FY22.

IndiaMART InterMESH rose 3.74% after the company said its board will consider a share buyback on 28 April 2022. The company's board will also consider Q4 March 2022 results and consider final dividend, if any, on 28 April 2022.

Premier Explosives jumped 3.23% after the company received an order from Ministry of Defence, Government of India, worth Rs 57.90 crore. The order is for the supply of 50 MM MTV flares. The order is to be executed within twelve months.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Tuesday after a sell-off at the start of the week. Chinese stocks reversed early declines on Tuesday after plunging the previous day, despite COVID-19 fears in China as Beijing expands mass testing.

In the US market, Twitter jumped roughly 5.7% in the previous session after the social media company announced it accepted billionaire Elon Musk's buyout deal valued at about $44 billion.

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Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem fell 7.82% to Rs 2303 after the company's consolidated net profit declined 17.09% to Rs 17.51 crore on 9.33% decline in net sales to Rs 98.53 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021.

On a consolidated basis, EBITDA declined 18% to Rs 22.3 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021. EBIDTA margin for the quarter was at 23% as against 25% in Q4 FY21. Profit before tax (PBT) fell 22% year-on-year to Rs 18.98 crore during the quarter.

For the full year, the company's net profit rose 83.45% to Rs 95.87 crore on 44.38% increase in net sales to Rs 433.65 crore in the year ended March 2022 over the year ended March 2021. EBITDA rose 64% to Rs 117.10 crore in FY22 over FY21. EBIDTA margin for the year was at 27% compared with 24% in FY21. PBT rose 72% y-o-y to Rs 104.12 crore in FY22.

Phase Transfer Catalysts (PTCs) comprised 23% of the revenue during FY22, reporting a revenue growth of nearly 20% y-o-y. These products are used as catalysts in manufacturing pharmaceutical APIs, flavors & fragrances, agrochemicals, etc.

Structure Directing Agents (SDAs) comprised 52% of revenue during FY22 and reported a growth of 87% y-o-y in this segment. SDAs finds application in automotive emission control, petrochemicals, continuous flow chemistry, etc.

During FY22, Electrolyte Salts (ES) comprised 1.3% of the revenue and in absolute numbers revenue grew by more than 87% y-o-y. ES is used in super capacitor batteries, which find application in automobile, electronics and also for energy storage devices.

Under the Pharma Agro Intermediates and Specialty Chemicals (PASC) segment, the firm has seen a y-o-y growth of 12% and revenue has crossed Rs 100 crore, contributing 24% to the revenue.

Chintan Shah, managing director, said: "for Tatva Chintan, FY22 has been a special year, as for the first time, we crossed the revenue mark of  4,000 million, we crossed an PBT of more than  1,000 million, our exports revenue crossed the mark of  3,000 million for the first time and in fact our export revenue of FY22 has exceeded the total revenue of FY21. Last and most memorable was successfully getting listed on Indian Stock Exchange.

We are pleased to inform you that on together for sustainability platform, we have drastically improved our Audit score from 54% to 87%. This is a matter of pride for TATVA CHINTAN and it also demonstrates our genuine efforts in moving towards sustainable solutions.

Our approach of being an integrated manufacturer, producing niche specialty chemical, having leadership position across product categories, diversified geographically with 79% exports as on FY22, focus on green chemistry by using cutting edge technology, in-house R&D facility with 24 employees including 10 senior highly qualified scientists has helped us steadily grow our presence and more importantly helped grow the customer's confidence in TATVA CHINTAN, despite the turbulent macro-economic situation of covid lockdowns and geopolitical tensions globally.

We got listed on NSE/BSE on 29 July 2021, out of our net IPO proceeds of  2,072.81 million,  129.59 million have been utilized during Q4FY22 taking the total amount utilized to  640.97 million as on 31 March 2022. The expansion is underway at our Dahej SEZ manufacturing plant and at our R&D facility at Vadodara."

Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem is an Integrated specialty chemical company, present across the value chain manufacturing phase transfer catalyst, structure directing agents, electrolyte salts and pharma & agrochemical intermediates and specialty chemicals.

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Coming on the back of two postponements, British Prime Minister Boris Johnsons India visit last week more than made up for the apparent loss in time with a serious and focused agenda. The visit was high on symbolism as well as deliverables.

Mr Johnson aptly described the high stakes of the visit by saying, . I dont think things have ever been as strong or as good between us (India-UK) as they are now. Indeed, the visit touched on quite a few firsts and created grounds for further elevation of India-UK partnership across trade, defence and ...
Opposition and Tuesday slammed Chief Minister over the knowledge sharing agreement signed between Punjab and Delhi governments, alleging it was his way to "control" the AAP dispensation in the state from the national capital.

The MoU was signed by Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Singh Mann, enabling the two AAP governments to send and receive officials, ministers and other personnel to learn and share their knowledge, experience and skills for public welfare.

leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa alleged that the purpose of the MoU was to enable Kejriwal to run Punjab by "controlling" the state's bureaucracy.

"This MoU btwn Punjab & Delhi Govt is nothing less than a mortgage of Punjab's interest & sovereignty to @ArvindKejriwal. Kejriwal Ji your East India company like agenda to control & confiscate Punjab is not acceptable to Punjabis! CM @BhagwantMann we urge you not to surrender," Sirsa tweeted after signing of the MoU.

Delhi president Anil Kumar charged that 'Knowledge Sharing Agreement' was Kejriwal's "devious method to remote-control the in an unconstitutional manner."



The recent incident of Kejriwal meeting senior Punjab officials, including the Chief Secretary of the state, undermined the powers of the Punjab CM, Kumar claimed.

member and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri slammed the agreement, saying Kejriwal wanted to rule Punjab sitting in Delhi.

"In the name of this agreement, Kejriwal will now summon ministers and officers of Punjab and run the government of the state from Delhi. It will render Punjab Chief Minister into a puppet," he alleged.

The AAP campaigned in Punjab elections, selling its 'Delhi Model' of governance so everyone knew the government in the state won by the party will follow it, Bidhuri said, and questioned the need of the MoU.

In a joint press conference with Mann after signing of the MoU, Kejriwal hit back at Opposition parties over their criticism.

"Manish Sisodia (Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister) visited Europe and Finland to learn about their education system. It will be stupid if someone says the is being run by Finland.

"Recently, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin visited Delhi. It can't be alleged that the Tamil Nadu government is being run from Delhi," Kejriwal said.

The two-day visit of the Punjab Chief Minister to see working of Kejriwal government's schools, hospitals and Mohalla Clinic, concluded 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.)
The on Tuesday decided to remove former Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar and Kerala leader K V Thomas from all party positions and suspended five of its MLAs in for anti-party activities, sources said.

The Disciplinary Committee recommended action against Jakhar and it was initially decided to suspend him for two years but later toned down their decision keeping in view his seniority in the party.

The panel, which met here this morning, recommended the suspension of the five MLAs in for supporting the ruling Democratic Alliance (MDA) in the state, defying the party's directives.

Congress president has approved the disciplinary panel's recommendations.

had received a letter from the president of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee, Vincent Pala, regarding the five MLAs actions in supporting the present BJP-backed government there.

The committee has said that it discussed the issue extensively and resolved to suspend the MLAs Amrareen Lyngdoh, P T Sawkimie, Kimfa Marbaniang, Mayralborn Syiem and Mohendro Rapsang for a period of three years from the date of this meeting, the sources said.

Regarding Thomas, the panel decided to remove him from the state political affairs committee and the executive committee of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.

On the issue of Jakhar, it was discussed and resolved at the meeting to remove him from all party positions, the sources said.

The sources pointed out that the panel earlier decided to recommend his suspension for two years and removal from all party positions, but later toned down their action and dropped his suspension.

Some members also raised concerns over singling out Jakhar for suspension as other Congress leaders had also publicly made accusations during the election, they said.

Jakhar is considered close to former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and his suspension would have paved the way for him to quit, and the party does not want its leaders to leave at this critical juncture, the sources said.

"Both Jakhar and Thomas will continue to remain in the party. The committee has decided not to take any harsh action against them, keeping in view their seniority and contribution to the party," Tariq Anwar, a member of the panel, said.

The five-member committee is chaired by senior party leader A K Antony and Tuesday's meeting was attended by members Anwar, J P Aggarwal and G Parameswar, besides Antony. Ambika Soni was not present during the meeting.

Soon after the Congress disciplinary panel's recommendations, Jakhar wished his party "good luck" while refusing to reveal his own plans.

"I wish the Congress good luck," he said when reporters sought his reaction to the panel's recommendation. He refused to comment when asked what would be his next step.

Ahead of the Congress disciplinary committee meeting, Jakhar had said those who still have a conscience will be punished.

"Aaj, sar kalam honge unke jinme abhi zameer baaki hai. (Today, those with a conscience will be beheaded). (My apologies to Javed Akhtar Saheb)," Jakhar said in a tweet.

Jakhar had criticised former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and termed him a liability for the party after the Congress lost to the AAP in the state.

He has also been critical of the party leadership in the run-up to the assembly elections in Punjab, which the Congress lost to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Thomas, a former Union minister and senior leader from Kerala, had attended a seminar organised by the CPI(M) on April 9 in the state against the party's wishes and local state leaders had been seeking action against him.

The sources said the five Congress MLAs in Meghalaya had joined the BJP-backed ruling alliance in the state, for which a show-cause notice was sent to them and an explanation sought from them.

The state unit of the Congress had also sought strict action against the MLAS for supporting a BJP government in the state, they said.

The legislators had joined the MDA in February, which brought the two arch foes together in a ruling coalition, and left Congress leaders fuming.

The disciplinary panel had issued a show cause notice to Jakhar, Thomas and the five MLAs, and had asked them to explain why action should not be initiated against them for their actions.

While Thomas had explained, Jakhar preferred not to reply to the panel's show cause notice.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi, April 26: On January 8, 2013, commandos of Pakistan's Border Action Team sneaked into Indian territory in Jammu, ambushed and killed two Indian army soldiers. Their bodies were found mutilated, one decapitated.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party raised passions over the series of such merciless killings reported from the Line of Control during the UPA rule. While visiting the soldier Hemraj's family in Shernagar UP, senior BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, said: "The incident that has happened, we should take revenge If we don't get this (Hemraj's) head, we should get ten of theirs (Pakistani Army's).

Apart from the routine exchange of shelling, India is known to have retaliated with surgical strikes twice: first after the killing of 19 soldiers in a fidayeen (suicide) attack by Jaish-e-Mohammad on a military installation at Uri in September 2016 followed by an Indian Air Force strike on a terrorist training centre at Balakot in February 2019. The Indian action came in retaliation to the killing of 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama.

Previously on February 10, 2018, six soldiers and a civilian, along with the three suicide attackers, had died in an attack on an army camp at Sunjuwan, Jammu.

Notwithstanding the restoration of the year 2003 ceasefire on February 25, 2021, the ripple effects of the Pulwama fidayeen attack continue to persist.

While the militants' capacity to attack the Police and security forces' camps has been drastically emaciated after February 2019, they continued low intensity grenade attacks besides fatal strikes on soft targets. Over a dozen people were shot dead ahead of the Home Minister Amit Shah's visit in October 2021.

A fresh spree of armed attacks on Panches, Sarpanches, members of the minority community in Kashmir and non-local workers has started since March 19, 2022. In a dramatic development on Friday, two days ahead of the Prime Minister's scheduled visit, the Police in Jammu claimed to have killed two Pashto-speaking terrorists in suicide gear at Sunjuwan. They had reportedly infiltrated through the International Border in Samba, a few miles from the PM's venue of the public rally.

But in sharp contrast to the BJP leaders' trademark diatribe, and contrary to the common expectations, Modi's 45-minute speech at Samba on Sunday had no reference to Pakistan or that country's hostilities in in the last 32 years.

"I assure Kashmir's younger generation that they would not suffer the hardships their parents and grandparents did. This is my commitment. We will make it possible at whatever the cost," Modi asserted without any tangential attacks on the Pakistan-sponsored insurgency.

In his address at the Panchayati Raj Diwas, Modi didn't mention even the four Panches and Sarpanches killed in Kashmir in the last 8 weeks. He didn't make even a cursory reference to the Sunjuwan encounter which, according to senior Police officials, signalled the indication of a plan to sabotage PM's visit.

A large number of the members of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), drawn from Kashmir and Jammu, as also the BJP supporters and common people participated in the rally. It was Modi's first civilian visit to after taking over as Prime Minister for his second term on 30 May 2019.

It was also the PM's first civilian visit after creation of the Union Territory in 2019. Modi visited J&K's Rajouri district on October 27, 2019 and November 4, 2021 - both occassions to only celebrate Diwali with the troops.

Contrary to his post-2019 speeches, Modi remained concentrated on development which also dominates his public addresses in UP, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Also avoiding typical attacks on Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, characteristic of the BJP leaders since 2018, Modi didn't speak about corruption or 'dynastic politics'. He was content with just a cursory reference to the gains accruing out of the abrogation of Article 370.

Modi may be simply testing the intentions of the new leadership in Pakistan but there is a context to the dimmed areas of his statement.

Significantly the change in the Indian Prime Minister's tone and tenor vis-a-vis Pakistan and insurgency has been noticed after the change of government in Pakistan early this month. The new Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's positive response to Modi's greetings provided an indication of Islamabad's interest or compulsion of reconciliation with New Delhi. Delhi did not take exception to a routine filler of the 'resolution of the Kashmir issue' in Sharif's letter.

In his first speech at the Assembly, PM Sharif said that Pakistan had been dismembered economically and it was in its history's worst condition.

He said that the total volume of the world debt on Pakistan was Rs 25,000 billion from 1947 to 2018 but Imran Khan's regime had added to it Rs 20,000 billion in just three years.

The industrialist-politician, who has served as Chief Minister of the Punjab province three times, Sharif is supposed to realise that Pakistan's real existential threat was the International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt, rather than India's military might.

Sharif is expected to realise that his country's increasing economic dependence on China would be a big compromise on sovereignty not affordable for Pakistan. His advantage is a harmonious wavelength with the Army on economic policy.

The Army is known to be the only functional and dependable institution in Pakistan that has not only maintained equilibrium with China but also saved Islamabad's nose-diving relationship with the US during Imran Khan's rule. It alone can take Pakistan out of the FATF's grey list. Diplomatic circles in Delhi insist that the recent conviction of the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba founder Hafiz Saeed would not be possible without a green signal from the Army.

India is understood to have communicated its security concern and implications thereof to the Pakistani Army in view the unabated infiltration, smuggling of arms and drugs and recruitment of fresh guerrilla cadres in Kashmir.

Reports from Pakistan suggest that in hours of the Sunjuwan encounter on Friday, the Army swooped on the headquarters of Masood Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammad and seized a quantity of arms and ammunition from the Centre.

Unlike Imran Khan, who claimed to be turning Pakistan into an Islamic caliphate (Riyasat-e-Madina), Sharif's family is known for its camaraderie with India. In June 2014, PM Modi and PM Nawaz Sharif exchanged gifts of shawl and sari for each other's mothers. However the military leadership of that period did not take it well and ultimately ensured the Sharif family's ouster from power.

One day ahead of PM's Jammu visit, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh gave the first signal of the BJP government's change of heart on AFSPA in J&K.

"Some people believe that the Indian Army does not want AFSPA to be removed. I want to say from this forum today that the Indian Army has a minimum role in the matter of internal security. Army only wants that soon the situation in should be completely normal and AFSPA can be removed from there too," Singh said while felicitating the 1971 War veterans and their family members in Guwahati, Assam.

In the changing ground realities, in which the August 2019 Indian interventions in Kashmir are moulding into fait accompli, Modi's muteness on Pakistan and terror could be a harbinger of detente and peace.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

--indianarrative

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Late President and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's birthday (June 3) will be henceforth celebrated as a government function, CM MK Stalin announced on Tuesday.

Making a statement in the state Assembly, Stalin, Karunanidhi's son, also listed out the various pro-people initiatives of his late father in various sectors, including women empowerment and social welfare.

Further, a statue of the stalwart will be unveiled at the Omandurar estate here, the chief minister added.

Stalin also pointed out that the stalwart, a five-time chief minister, had never lost an election in his life, right from the 1957 Assembly polls, when he was elected from Kulithalai constituency to 2016 when he represented his native Tiruvarur in the state Assembly.

(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.)
Poll strategist Prashant Kishor has turned down an offer to join the Congress, party leader and spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said hours after Kishor was invited to join the Empowered Action Group (EAG) 2024, to work as part of a team ahead of the general elections 2024. With this, one chapter in the history of Indias oldest political party appears to have ended.

Following a presentation and discussions with (Prashant) Kishor, president has constituted an EAG 2024 and invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts and suggestions given to the party, tweeted Surjewala on Tuesday.

Kishor confirmed he had turned the proposal down. In a tweet posted on his official account, Kishor said: I declined the generous offer of the to join the party as part of the EAG and take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms.



The proposal to rope Kishor into the was enthusiastically backed by Vadra, but supporters within the party owing allegiance to Rahul Gandhi were less than enthusiastic about it, possibly worried that their own turf would be severely curtailed.

Former chief minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan said: When Kishor met me, he said he was almost ready to join the Congress party but his conditions were that Rahul should not be associated with the party: he can be associated with parliamentary work if he wants to be a future prime minister. But not both.



Chavan said that would never have happened because control of the party represented control of a revenue flow which no president could afford to give up.

Others in the party said although Rahul was abroad, leaders in Delhi were in live contact with him on the phone. He (Rahul) didnt agree to it was the terse comment of another leader.

Rahul returns to Delhi on May 6 and goes to Karnataka where the Bharatiya Janata Party government under Basavaraj Bommai is facing challenges.

Earlier in April, Kishor made a presentation to the Congress top leadership on the changes that the party should effect to become more efficient. This document is yet to be authenticated by Kishor, but is in public domain (leaked mostly by interested Congress members to some of whom it represents an existential political threat). It suggested paring Rahuls role in running the organisation and the appointment of a non-Gandhi as party president.

To deal with this level of disruption via broader consultation, Sonia Gandhi set up an eight-member group which presented a report on it to her on Monday. Apparently, there were differences of opinion among the eight members. The Karnataka group said we will not take directions from Kishor. The Kerala group was not happy, said a leader.

But leaders said even though Kishor has tried to distance himself from his political consultancy I-PAC, the company signed a contract with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekhar Rao. This party is in direct competition with the Congress in Telangana. So Kishors primary loyalty itself was suspect.

You cant be a member of one party and advise another party which is in direct competition with the Congress, said a leader.

Priyanka wanted Kishors political advice, Rahul was cold to it, and Sonia wanted to convey the impression that something is happening because all of us told her, after the Uttar Pradesh elections, that you have to do something: this state of affairs cannot go on, the party is completely demoralised, said leaders.

Party leaders agree that now, for the party reeling from serial electoral debacles, it is back to the drawing board. The Congress will meet in Udaipur, they said, and once again there will be a concerted attempt to make him party president. But this time, there could be some changes.

Conversation on these changes has now begun within the party.
Days after the disciplinary committee issued a show-cause notice to party leader Sunil Jakhar for his reported derogatory statement against party leaders, the leader expressed his displeasure over the party's action.

On April 11, leaders KV Thomas and Sunil Jakhar were issued show-cause notices for breaking party discipline and were asked to reply within a week. Sunil Jakhar, however, has not yet presented any statement before the committee.

Congress disciplinary committee member JP Aggarwal while speaking to ANI had said that a decision on Jakhar is likely to be taken in the committee's meeting which is currently underway.

Speaking to ANI over the phone before the meeting, Sunil Jakhar said that he is very angry and upset with the attitude of the Congress Disciplinary Committee.

Jakhar while giving his opinion on the notice of the disciplinary committee said that he is not a slave of the Congress party but a disciplined worker.

Stating that he has a 50-year-old relationship with the Congress party, Jakhar said, "For years, I have acted as a disciplined worker of the Congress party," he said.

The Congress leader also expressed his displeasure over the Gandhi family, saying that if the party wanted to know anything from him, then core Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi or any other senior Congress leader could have called him to know about the issue against which he had complained.

Expressing displeasure over the members of the Disciplinary Committee, Jakhar said that despite having an old relationship with most of the members of the committee, the party is trying to humiliate him in the eyes of the people.

Adding up, Jakhar said that the committee can take whatever decision it wants to take but he is not ready to bow down.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi [India], April 26 (ANI/NewsVoir): LT Foods, a 70-year-old Consumer Food Company has launched Daawat Biryani Kit for consumers to cook authentic Biryani at home with utmost convenience.

Over the years LT Foods has been growing and solidifying its position in India, North America, Europe, Middle East, while expanding its reach to consumers in more than 60 countries across all channels. At the same time, LT Foods has been expanding its product portfolio through Innovation to meet evolving and emerging consumer trends globally by focusing on Convenience and Health platforms - consistent to its growth strategy.

In the past, the Company has witnessed phenomenal success with new product launches with breakthrough innovation such as launch of Daawat Quick Cooking Brown Rice on health and convenience platform, wherein it met the consumer need of healthier food with convenient cooking. Daawat Brown rice enjoys leadership position in this segment with more than 50 per cent share in India. The Company has been continuously expanding its product portfolio in India and International market such as Daawat Cuppa Rice, Kari Kari Rice cracker Japanese snacks, Royal Ready to Heat Rice products (Royal being leading rice brand in North America).

LT Foods with its strong heritage of Daawat, the Finest, Basmati Rice for Biryani, is taking a significant step forward by combining the Daawat MasterChef culinary expertise to build a "Rice with Spice" journey by introducing a range of Ready to Cook Biryani Kits.

In continuation to its legacy of innovation, the company has decided to launch Ready to Cook Biryani Kit based consumer insights and research i.e. fulfilling consumer need statement on "how to cook fresh authentic biryani at home with convenience". Biryani Kit will be available in three most popular regional variants ie, Hyderabadi, Kolkata, and Lucknowi.

Biryani the most searched recipe, and is perfect blend of finest basmati, choicest spices, flavours and aroma. Perfected by Daawat culinary experts, this is the Finest easy to use Biryani Kit. The Biryani Kit contains all the essentials to prepare the finest and authentic biryani in less than 30 minutes. These recipes are packed with carefully selected, high quality natural ingredients without any preservatives and artificial colours, which are true to the source of their origin in just the right mix.

Speaking on the launch, Ashwani Kumar Arora, MD & CEO LT Foods said, "As a Consumer Foods Company, we are committed to innovation and new product development initiatives which meets the consumer's emerging and evolving needs. Our unconditional commitment is to offer the best quality food products - which have high quality natural ingredients without any preservatives and artificial colours. In this journey, our latest offering Daawat Biryani Kit is to redefine authentic and fresh biryani cooking experience at home. Our Biryani kit is finest blend of authenticity with convenience. We would be taking Biryani experience across our global distribution network. This is one more step in our journey to continuously expand our product portfolio on convenience and health platforms, using innovation and consumer insights."

With the launch of Daawat Biryani kits, LT Foods expects to further increase its household penetration of Daawat. The Company's constant endeavor is to identify and understand consumer needs and staying relevant with all classes and age group of consumers with innovative solutions like Biryani Kit. This initiative will encourage consumers to enjoy freshly cooked Authentic Biryani with their loved ones.

Daawat Biryani Kit shall be available across channels including General Trade, Modern Trade and E-commerce platforms across the LT Foods distribution network within India and International markets.

LT Foods Ltd. (NSE: DAAWAT, BSE: 532783), LT Foods is a 70-year-old Consumer Food Company that is a leading player in the specialty rice and rice products business across the globe, delivering the finest quality and taste experiences in more than 60 countries. The Company portfolio includes a range of power brands that include Daawat- one of India's most loved and consumed Basmati brands, Royal- North America's no. 1 Basmati player and other regional leading brands. The Company is also proudly expanding its organic play by supplying organic food ingredients to leading businesses as well as offering organic staples to consumers in markets across the globe. The Company has consolidated revenue of around Rs 4,773 crore as on FY21. The Company has an integrated "Farm to Fork" approach with well-entrenched Distribution Network with Global Supply Chain Hubs backed by Automated state-of-the art and strategically located Processing Units in India, the US and Europe, and a robust distribution network with 1300+ distributors across globe.

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)

DISCLAIMER

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
20 months after announcing that it would buy Future Groups retail, wholesale and logistics business for Rs 24,713 crore, Mukesh Ambanis on Sunday backed out of it. Reliance said the deal cannot be implemented after the secured creditors of Future Groups flagship firm Future Retail, which operates Big Bazaar and Easyday stores, voted against it. Once Indias second-largest retailer with more than 1,500 stores, Future Retail along with other group are now expected to go to the National Company Law Tribunal as lenders seek to recover their dues of almost Rs 29,000 crore under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The deal has been at the centre of a lengthy legal battle between and Reliance. has challenged the takeover in various forums and obtained legal injunctions that stalled the deal. In August 2019, had invested about Rs 1,500 crore for a 49% stake in Future Retails promoter entity Future Coupons, indirectly gaining a 4.8% stake in the former. Amazon says its 2019 deal came with an agreement that bars Future Group from selling its retail assets to Reliance without its permission. Amazon was looking to expand its foothold in Indias vast retail market. In 2018, Amazon and private equity firm Samara bought food and grocery retail chain More from Aditya Birla Group. When it comes to tapping Indias retail consumer base, like Amazon face more hurdles. Foreign investment in offline multi-brand retail is tightly controlled. India allows 51% FDI in multi-brand retail under the government route, subject to the investor fulfilling several conditions. States can also decide whether to allow foreign-owned multi-brand stores. Indias retail market was worth $883 billion in 2020, according to Forrester Research. The market size is expected to grow to $1.3 trillion by 2024, dominated by the grocery segment. With the Future Groups retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing units, Reliance was aiming to bolster its JioMart app and increase its presence in the online grocery delivery space. Even as the deal fell through, Reliance is in a sweet spot after taking over 947 stores of Future Group, citing non-payment of rent, after transferring the leases to itself. These include 112 Central and Brand Factory outlets of Future Lifestyle Fashions. Reliance may reportedly bid for the remaining Future Group assets at the NCLT, leaving few options on the table for Amazon.

According to Utkarsh Sinha, Managing Director, Bexley Advisors, Future Retail creditors, shareholders ended up worse off following this development. Reliance has scored a win in the short term. If Amazon seeks to limit the growth of Reliance, it can stretch the dispute. Reliance, however, got what it wanted, as it is evident now that Amazon underestimated Reliance.

Future Retail last month said it was committed to taking back its stores which were taken by Reliance, saying it had been surprised by what it called "drastic and unilateral action" by Reliance.

Amazon and the lenders may also support the companys effort in this regard. Meanwhile, Amazon also might continue its legal battle related to the deal between Future and Reliance.

Whatever be the outcome, Reliance will continue to enjoy its undisputable pole position in the countrys retail sector as the fall of Indias original retail king and Future Group founder Kishore Biyani is sealed. As for Amazon, the value erosion of Future Groups assets in the past two years means its effort to make any progress on its offline retail ambitions in India has been futile.

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The Reserve Bank of India last month, in collaboration with the National Payments Corporation of India, launched the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) for feature phone users known as 123Pay.

can, in fact, can be used on feature phones even currently, but the process is USSD based. It can be accessed through NUUP (National Unified USSD Platform) using the short code of *99#. But this option is cumbersome and remains unpopular.

Considering that there are more than 400 million feature phone users in India, 123pay will materially improve the options for such users to access UPI.

Feature phone users will now be able to undertake a host of transactions based on four technology alternatives.

They include calling an IVR number, app-based functionality in feature phones, missed call-based approach and also proximity sound-based payments. Lets go through each option.

UPI payment through pre-defined IVR numbers would require users to initiate a secured call from their feature phones to a predetermined number and complete UPI on-boarding formalities to be able to start making financial transactions without an internet connection.

With the IVR providing multiple language options, customers can avail this service in their preferred languages.

In app-based functionality, an app would be installed on the feature phone through which the user can access several UPI functions. In this type, the interested solution providers will need to partner with the feature phone mobile manufacturers to enable a native payment app.

This UPI apps look and feel is similar to smartphone-based apps, however with certain limitations of the feature phone.

Currently, it can offer the majority of UPI functionality except for Scan and Pay, which is a work in progress.
U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturer ON Semiconductor Corp. has received the green light to reopen its Shanghai distribution center after a temporary shutdown due to the citywide Covid-19 lockdown.

The move follows Onsemis announcement last week that it has suspended operations at the Shanghai distribution center and planned to run some of its shipments through Singapore and the Philippines. That notice fueled market concern about the potential retreat of foreign businesses from China due to its strict zero-Covid policy.
For other categories of seats, as well as in air conditioned and air-cooled theatres, exhibitors can charge Rs 30 more per ticket for seven days.  Twitter

HYDERABAD: The much-awaited Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan starrer Acharya will cost a bit more for movie-goers in the two Telugu states, as both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have agreed for a hike in ticket rates.

The movie is scheduled for release on April 29.

The AP government issued orders on Monday, allowing exhibitors to increase the ticket rates by Rs 50, cutting across all classes of theatres and seats, for 10 days from the date of release of the movie.

In Telangana, the government not only approved a hike in ticket rates, but also allowed exhibitors to have five shows a day -- between 7am and 1am. However, these are allowed only for a week starting April 29, the state home department said in its order on Monday.

Across Telangana, ticket prices for Acharya can be hiked by Rs 50 per seat for recliner seats in single- screen theatres, as well as large screen theatres including IMAX, as also in multiplexes. For other categories of seats, as well as in air conditioned and air-cooled theatres, exhibitors can charge Rs 30 more per ticket for seven days.

There will be no change in admission rates for the movie in non-AC theatres, the TS home department said.
A study released recently in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (and reported by the Canadian Press and Castanet) states "vaccinated people who mix with unvaccinated people have a significantly greater chance of being infected than those who stick with people who have received the shot."

Further, "unvaccinated people's risk of contracting COVIID drops when they spend time with people who are vaccinated."

Sounds good right? You would likely expect that this researcher from Toronto would have actually studied people in the real world, in real time, in order to come up with his conclusions, right? But, sadly, you would be wrong.

Close to the end of the article, well after the attention-grabbing headline and the conclusions outlined in the first few paragraphs, the researcher admits that his study was actually a mathematical computer model.

Then, the very last sentence of the article states, "He acknowledges that a simple mathematical model doesn't fully reflect the real world or the diverse factors that must be taken into account when setting public health policy."

But how many people read all the way to the end? How many read only the headline and said, "See, I knew it. Those anti-vaxxers are wrong! They're putting us all at risk!"? Probably most.

As a consumer of news and information, you have to be very careful what you read and especially what you believe.

Lloyd Vinish, Kelowna
Photo: The Canadian Press

The mother of two deceased boys whose father is accused of killing them is seeking $2 million from the Quebec government, alleging youth protection services failed her family.

In a lawyer's letter dated Friday, Emilie Arsenault accused Quebec's youth protection service of failing to act despite the fact the agency had been allegedly contacted three times prior to her children's deaths.

The letter addressed to the Health Department and the regional authority responsible for youth protection said the provincial agency had been alerted by a hospital worker, provincial police and the mother, between May 2018 and January 2020.

Valerie Assouline, the lawyer representing Arsenault, says youth protection workers did not visit the family at home after any of the calls, adding that the protection service decided to close the files involving the family without taking further action. The system, she says, needs to be held responsible for its failures.

"I dont think the kids should have to pay with their lives because the system was not working," she said Monday in a phone interview.

The bodies of Olivier, 5, and Alex, 2, were found Oct. 13, 2020, in a home in Wendake, Que., a Huron-Wendat First Nation territory near Quebec City.

Their father, Michael Chicoine, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

The details involving what led to the calls to youth protection are subject to a publication ban due to the ongoing court process.

In the letter, the mother said the "wilful blindness of the entire system cost Olivier and Alex their lives" and caused irreparable harm to both the children and their mom.

The Health Department on Monday declined to comment, citing the ongoing legal process.

Assouline represents other families in similar circumstances, including the mother of a seven-year-old girl from Granby, Que., whose 2019 death triggered a widespread re-examination of provinces youth protection system. A commission on children's rights and youth protection released a 552-page report last May, saying the girl's death was a collective failure of Quebec society.

Assouline said junior health minister Lionel Carmant was "very aware" of the problems in the youth protection system, but didn't act quickly enough.

"The lack of training of the case workers," she said. "(Carmant) was aware of the delays that were unreasonable. He had to act immediately."

Assouline said the system underplays allegations of intimate partner violence, often categorizing it as a "parental conflict" instead of the risk factor it is.

She said she recognizes the $2 million her client is asking for is a higher figure than is usually demanded in such cases, but she said an "exemplary" judgment is needed to ensure a similar situation never happens again. Arsenault, she added, is well aware that no amount of money can bring back her children.

"Shes not necessarily doing (this) for a question of money, but a question of imputability, of making sure someone is responsible for failing to protect the children," Assouline said.

"Because she tried to. What more could she do?"

Assouline said that if the government doesn't respond to the letter, the next step is to file a lawsuit.
Mehreen Kaur is in a happy place! She is busy completing the shooting of her Kannada film, and is done with her Telugu comic caper F3.

Her role in F3 is very different from the earlier iterations, and the actress says she will be at her comical best in the Anil Ravipudi directorial.

In F2, my role (Honey) has a lot of spunk and I am like a little kid. But in F3, I look mature. The best part of the role is its layers, says the actress, adding that she liked the spirit of the character.

Mehreen was one of the actresses who was busy working even during the pandemic.

I started working for F3 during that time, she recalls.

For F2, I had time to prepare for the part, but for F3, I havent prepared much, as I had to be spontaneous. Also, this is my first franchise film so its very special and I am excited, she says.

According to Mehreen, her role mirrors her real-life character. I am quite funny and entertaining in general, and Honey is one of my favourite characters.

Everyone loved watching Honey, she says.

F3 is about how the situations in life make people run after money, the actress shares. It has a practical core, but has been told in an entertaining way.

Mehreen says she loves travelling and taking frequent breaks from work. A peek into her social media handle reveals photos from her recent vacation in Turkey.

Travelling is like therapy, she says. I want to meet new people and experience new cultures. I have made a conscious effort to do that more frequently of late, because, due to the pandemic I wasnt travelling, she adds. As someone who travelled extensively, Mehreen finds that, although culturally, people are different, they are all similar when it comes to thought processes. Her six-year-long journey in films, Mehreen says, has been full of learning. I have learnt a lot; I became a better person and my understanding of the craft is strong, she avers.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Quebec's police watchdog is investigating the death of a man who allegedly jumped into a river northeast of Montreal to evade police.

The Bureau des enquetes independantes said police divers found the 27-year-old man's body today, several hours after police tried to stop the man's car.

The watchdog says police attempted to stop a vehicle driving with its headlights off around 1:20 a.m. and began a pursuit when the driver allegedly refused to pull over.

The independent police oversight agency says the driver stopped the car about a kilometre away in the driveway of a private residence in St-Lin-Laurentides, Que.

It says the man fled on foot before he allegedly jumped into the nearby Jourdain River.

Provincial police told the watchdog the man called for help but they lost sight of him.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Twitter's board accepted Elon Musk's US$44-billion bid to take over the social media platform on Monday.

The blockbuster offer made by the controversial Tesla and SpaceX leader, who has Canadian citizenship, will see Musk pay US$54.20 per share, a 38 per cent premium to the closing price of Twitters stock on April 1.

Musk has vowed to transform the company by taking it private, reducing content moderation and launching a long-requested edit button on Twitter.

How did the deal materialize?

In January, Musk began buying significant shares in Twitter, racking up a five per cent stake in the company in March and just shy of 10 per cent in April.

The more than 73.4 million shares he owned made him the company's largest shareholder, though he failed to notify the Securities and Exchange Commission that his stake in the company surpassed five per cent within the required time, violating U.S. laws. Some Twitter investors have sued him for failing to disclose the size of his stake promptly.

Musk was due to join Twitter's board on April 9, though the arrangement prevented him from owning more than 14.9 per cent of Twitter's outstanding stock.

By April 10, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal had tweeted Musk had decided not to join the board and "this is for the best."

But Twitter had not seen the last of Musk. On April 13, he filed his bid to buy the company.

How does Canada figure into the bid?

Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce are two of the 12 banks offering Musk financing for the bid, shows a commitment letter filed by Musk's X Holdings III LLC. RBC offered US$750 million and CIBC has pledged US$400 million.

How did the board arrive at its decision to accept the offer?

Approving bids like the one Musk made largely comes down to money, said Dave Valliere, a professor at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management.

"The job of Twitter's board of directors is to do whatever is in the best interest of shareholders, and so when somebody comes along and offers a big premium over the existing value of the shares, it's pretty hard to turn that down," he said.

What will Musk do with the company?

Musk has mused about making several changes to Twitter.

At an April 14 TED Talk, he said the company should be reluctant to delete tweets and mentioned that it should be "an inclusive arena for free speech."

Musk has also suggested the company should offer users who pay for the company's premium subscription product Twitter Blue a verified mark, allow longer tweets and depend more on subscriptions than advertising for revenue.

Perhaps his most popular recommendation has been an edit button, which he polled users on earlier this month. Twitter has long been working on the feature but has never rolled it out.

While these ideas have generated Musk plenty of attention, Valliere said, "it's not automatically clear to me that he's got any great business strategy that does well for Twitter, the company.'

How will Musk's ownership affect Twitter users?

Just after Musk's bid was accepted, Musk tweeted that he plans to "make Twitter better than ever" by making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots and authenticating all humans.

Valliere believes the deal is really about Musk being "a rich guy that wants to control the megaphone."

"He wants a platform that he has some control over and so that people aren't going to hold him accountable in certain ways that maybe exists now," the professor said.

"I don't see that there's a huge benefit to the other users of Twitter. I don't see the huge benefits for the existing shareholders of Twitter, other than you've already paid them a lot of money."

Musk has a reputation for being a volatile leader known for Twitter rants and rash business decisions. What will this mean for Twitter staff?

Some who see Musk as successful will stick with the company or try to join, said Valliere.

But others may leave because they doubt he has shareholders' best interests at heart and Valliere expects "turmoil at the top."

"Certainly some of the upper management can be expected to depart because if this goes through, this is a vote of non-confidence in the existing team."

How will Musk handle running a company that is being circled by regulators and international governments looking to restrict harmful materials from being posted online?

Valliere believes Musk won't help Twitter weather such conditions better because he is known for picking fights with his critics.

"He's going to try and stick a stake in the ground and so it's going to be an interesting thing because the legislative agenda is pointing towards greater accountability, but he's got lots of money, so which one would you want to bet on?"
Photo: The Canadian Press Motorists wait to cross the border seen from the Moldovan side of the Varnita-Bender crossing between Moldova and the separatist region of Trans-Dniester

Two explosions in a radio facility close to the Ukrainian border knocked a pair of powerful broadcast antennas out of service in Moldova's separatist region of Trans-Dniester, local police said.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land with about 470,000 people, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, nominally as peacekeepers.

Ukrainian officials have expressed concern about Moscow using those forces to invade Ukraine, while the threat of renewed fighting over Trans-Dniester worries Moldovan authorities.

The explosions happened in the small town of Maiac, roughly 12 kilometres west of the Ukraine border, according to the regions Interior Ministry. No one was hurt, officials said.

The two antennas were used for broadcasting Russian radio shows. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts.

The United States has warned amid the war in Ukraine that Russia could launch false-flag attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops.

On Monday, several explosions, believed to have been caused by rocket-propelled grenades, were reported to have hit the Ministry of State Security in Tiraspol, Trans-Dniesters capital.

The Security Council of Trans-Dniester on Tuesday reported there had been a total of three incidents in the region  explosions in Tiraspol on Monday, the ones in Maiac on Tuesday and damage to a military unit in the village of Parcani.

Officials did not offer any details on the military unit incident, but declared a red level of terrorist threat and promised to impose additional security measures in the region.

Trans-Dniesters president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, called Tuesday for imposing anti-terrorist security measures at a red level for 15 days, including setting up blockposts at the entrances to cities.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday that the situation in Trans-Dniester elicits concern in Moscow.

A Ukrainian presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak warned in a tweet that Moldova might be attacked next,

Bad news: if Ukraine falls tomorrow Russian troops will be at Chisinaus gates," he tweeted, referring to Moldova's capital. "Good news: Ukraine will definitely ensure strategic security of the region. But we need to work as a team.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu convened the country's Supreme Security Council on Tuesday to discuss the incidents. After the meeting, she said a security analysis indicated that different forces within the region, interested in destabilizing the situation, carried out the blasts.

The Security Council recommended ramping up border and traffic patrols, and increasing the alert level of institutions responsible for ensuring public order and security.

We condemn any challenges and attempts to lure the Republic of Moldova into actions that could jeopardize peace in the country, Sandu said. Chisinau continues to insist on a peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian conflict.

We will take all necessary measures to prevent escalation, to strengthen the security of the state and to protect our citizens, Sandu added. We remain open to continue the dialogue for the settlement of the conflict in the region in a peaceful, diplomatically negotiated manner.
Photo: The Canadian Press A Canadian passport is displayed in Ottawa on Thursday, July 23, 2015. Canadians appear keen to venture to far shores for the first time since the pandemic began, but passport delays are keeping some on a short leash. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Canadians appear keen to venture to far shores for the first time since the pandemic began, but passport delays are keeping some on a short leash.

Service Canada says it has seen a big boost in demand for passport renewals, which has made for long lineups and longer waits for documents.

The federal agency aims to process passports within 20 business days for mail-in applications, but right now the wait is averaging 26 days.

Service Canada says it processed nearly 1.3 million passports between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022  a sharp increase from the roughly 360,000 passports processed over theprevious fiscal year.

People who plan to travel within the next month have been pushed to the front of the queue, and the agency says staff are working overtime and weekends to get through as many travel documents as possible.

Conservative Michelle Rempel Garner and other opposition MPs have called on the government to do more to bolster the passport offices so travellers can be on their way.
Photo: The Canadian Press Vladimir Putin

Officials in Poland and Bulgaria say Russia is suspending their countries' natural gas deliveries starting on Wednesday.

The governments of the two European countries said Tuesday that Russian energy giant Gazprom informed them it was halting gas supplies.

The suspensions would be the first since Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that unfriendly foreign buyers would have to pay the state-owned Gazprom in rubles instead of other currencies.

Europe imports large amounts of Russian natural gas to heat homes, generate electricity and fuel industry. The imports have continued despite the war in Ukraine.

Around 60% of imports are paid in euros, and the rest in dollars. Putins demand was apparently intended to help bolster the Russian currency amid the war in Ukraine.

European leaders said they would not comply, arguing the requirement for them to purchase rubles and then pay Gazprom violated the terms of contracts and their sanctions against Russia.

The Russian proposal for a two-step payment procedure is in violaton with the current contract and bears considerable risks for Bulgaria, including to make payments without receiving any gas deliveries from Russia, the Bulgarian government said.

Bulgaria said it was working with state gas companies to find alternative sources. The government said no restrictions on domestic gas consumption would be imposed for now even though the Balkan country of 6.5 million meets over 90% of its gas needs with Russian imports.

Polands state gas company, PGNiG, said it was notified by Gazprom that deliveries through the Yamal-Europe pipeline would stop Wednesday.

Poland not only has refused to pay for natural gas in rubles, but the country has been a strong supporter of neighboring Ukraine during the Russian invasion. It is a transit point for weapons the United States and other Western nations have provided Ukraine.

The Polish government confirmed this week that it was sending tanks to Ukraines army. On Tuesday, it announced a sanctions list targeting 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, including Gazprom.

The Yamal pipeline carries natural gas from Russia to Poland and Germany, through Belarus. Poland has been receiving some 9 billion cubic meters of Russian gas annually.

PGNiG said that Russias demand to be paid in rubles represented a breach of the Yamal contract.

Flow charts published on the website of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas showed drastic drops of gas flows at entry points in Kondratki, a town in eastern Poland, and Vysokaye, which is in Belarus.

The Russian news agency Tass cited Gazprom as saying that Poland must pay for its gas supplies under a new procedure.

Poland appeared to be the European customer to have its gas shipments halted by Russia.

Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskwa stressed that Poland was prepared for such a situation after working for years to reduce its reliance on Russian energy sources. She said the country has been effectively independent when it comes to Russian gas for some time.

There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes, Moskwa tweeted.

The minister repeated that message at a news conference, saying: Appropriate diversification strategies that we have introduced allow us to feel on the safe side in this situation, she said.

Poland has been working since the 1990s to wean itself off of Russian energy and was already on track to end its reliance on Russian gas this year. It recently moved to stop imports of Russian coal.

The government in Warsaw has urged other European countries to lessen their dependence on Russian energy sources.
Photo: The Canadian Press Bob Rae, ambassador of Canada to the United Nations, speaks while holding a copy of the United Nations charter at the general assembly hall, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, at United Nations Headquarters. Rae denounced as undemocratic the Security Council's veto power as the General Assembly voted Tuesday to subject the world's most powerful body to more public scrutiny. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Bob Rae, the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, denounced as undemocratic the Security Council's veto power as the General Assembly voted to subject the world's most powerful body to more public scrutiny.

The General Assembly adopted a consensus motion Tuesday that would require any of the five permanent veto-wielding members of the council  Russia, the United States, China, France and Britain  to appear before the 193-country assembly to justify its decision.

The move doesn't get rid of the council's controversial veto power, but with Russia threatening to continue using it to prevent action against its war on Ukraine, Rae says the historic vote sends a signal that the world will be watching.

"The veto power that is held by the five permanent members of the Security Council is as anachronistic as it is undemocratic," Rae said in explaining Canada's support.

The unprecedented motion requires the General Assembly "to hold a debate on the situation" that gives rise to any council veto within 10 working days and for the country that uses it to be among the first to speak.

Representatives from Russia and Belarus spoke against the motion, but they were countered by the envoys of dozens of countries that sponsored the motion, which was led by tiny Lichtenstein and included Canada.

From the floor of the assembly, Rae delivered a blistering condemnation of a broken UN system that he said was enabling what he called a shameful and illegal act of aggression by Russia against Ukraine.

Rae said the recent deadlock over Ukraine has happened when the world most needs the Security Council.

"We're watching the destruction of cities. We're watching the killing of women and children. We're seeing the destruction of an entire infrastructure of a country and we're seeing a country fight back. The Security Council may not be able to act. That doesn't prevent us from having an ability to act," Rae said.

Rae and the world's diplomats were speaking as Russian bombs continued pounding the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, large swaths of which have been reduced to rubble in a war that has killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions to flee their homes.

"The use and threat of the veto in situations where atrocity crimes are being perpetrated in Syria and Myanmar, and Mariupol, for example, or in situations where a permanent member of the Security Council has launched a war of aggression against another UN member state, as the Russian Federation is now doing in Ukraine, are not only shameful, they are also contrary to obligations under the UN Charter and to international law."
Photo: The Canadian Press A police officer walks between parked trucks as he distributes a notice to protesters, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022 in Ottawa.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

A senior Liberal minister says the government has two competing interests when it comes to sharing information about its use of the Emergencies Act: transparency and protecting national security.

Government House leader Mark Holland was responding Tuesday to questions about what information the Liberals will provide to a judge tapped to lead an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the declaration of an emergency.

While the government says Ontario Appeal Court Justice Paul Rouleau will have broad access to classified documents, it has not said whether that will include access to secret documents held by Trudeaus cabinet.

That has sparked questions and frustration from civil liberties organizations and opposition parties who worry the inquiry will not be given access to key documents about closed-door discussions and decisions by ministers.

Holland said the government will provide as much information as possible so Canadians have an absolutely crystal clear picture, right up to the point that its not injurious to national security.

We have two competing interests, he told reporters ahead of a planned cabinet meeting in Parliaments West Block.

The most important thing we can do is make sure the public has all the information they need to see clearly why decisions were made and how they were made. But we also know we have to protect national security. Those are difficult things to balance.

The Liberals and opposition parties have previously butted heads when it comes to transparency and national security, notably over the governments refusal to hand over documents about the firing of two scientists at Canadas highest security laboratory.

Little is publicly known about the firing of scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, who were escorted out of Winnipegs National Microbiology Laboratory in July 2019 and subsequently fired in January 2021.

Holland in December proposed creating a special all-party committee to review the documents, with a panel of three former senior judges determining what could be made public without jeopardizing national security.

But the Conservatives rejected the proposal, pointing out that in the previous parliamentary session the Public Health Agency of Canada ignored multiple orders from a Commons committee and the House itself to produce unredacted documents.

Holland nonetheless pointed to his previous proposal, as well as the governments offer to have Parliaments special intelligence committee review secret documents about the Winnipeg lab, as possible solutions to concerns about the Emergencies Act.

Where there are disputes, I point to the Winnipeg labs example specifically  we responded by creating a different model that allowed expanded access and a greater adjudication of those points independently, he said.

So we continue to be reasonable and rational on this.

Hollands reference to the Winnipeg labs dispute did not sit well with Conservative emergency preparedness critic Dane Lloyd, who accused the Liberals of hiding behind legal tools and called for the production of cabinet documents.

If the Liberals are already suggesting they (intend) to approach this inquiry as they have the Winnipeg lab documents, it signals the Liberals' intent to hide the truth from Canadians, Lloyd said.

To be clear, what Mr. Holland is suggesting when he refers to the Winnipeg Lab situation is to ignore two orders from a committee, and two orders from the House of Commons for the production of the Winnipeg lab documents, all with reasonable safeguards to protect our national security.

The Liberal government declared an emergency under the act for the first time in history on Feb. 14, granting extraordinary temporary powers to police to clear people out and to banks to freeze the accounts of some of those involved.

The temporary powers meant protesters and their supporters could face fines up to $5,000 or five years in prison during the emergency declaration.

The Emergencies Act requires the government to call an inquiry within 60 days of revoking the emergency declaration to examine the circumstances that led to its declaration and the measures taken to deal with it.

Monday was the last day the government could call the inquiry under the law. Rouleau must provide a final report in English and French to the federal government by Feb. 20, 2023.

While many people involved in the "Freedom Convoy" said they were there to demand an end to all COVID-19 restrictions, some, including many of the most vocal organizers, also wanted the Liberal government overthrown.

Throughout most of February, Parliament Hill and the streets around it were packed with people and trucks carrying signs and flags adorned with expletives directed at Trudeau.

The protests significantly affected Ottawa residents and downtown businesses. Officials described a state of "lawlessness" as bylaws went unenforced by police for three weeks and the sound of air horns droned on at all hours of the day and night.

However, several provincial premiers have spoken out against what they characterized as a serious overreach of power by the federal government, arguing police already had all the authority they needed to clear out protesters.

The City of Ottawa's auditor general also launched a review of the local response, and several groups  including the CCLA  have initiated proceedings in Federal Court to challenge the government's use of the Emergencies Act.

Another convoy, this one on motorcycles, is due to arrive in Ottawa next weekend.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has raised concerns the government wants to limit the inquiry to investigating the actions of protesters, but not its own decision making.

The Conservatives have echoed that, accusing the government of trying to "whitewash" the inquiry.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman (PTI) and former premier Imran Khan on Monday said that he, along with his party workers, would stage a sit-in in Islamabad until the announcement of the next general elections, reported local media.

In a video message, Khan asked PTI workers and the people of the country to make preparations for his call for a march on Islamabad in the next few weeks, reported The News International. "Now a defining moment has arrived when we will have to decide whether to live like slaves or as an independent country. We have to rally people for the real independence of Pakistan," the media outlet quoted him as saying.

Reiterating his claims of "foreign conspiracy", the PTI chairman said that all the mafias joined hands to plot the ouster of his government. "Unfortunately, those, who have been involved in corruption for the last 30 years, have been again imposed on us. The incumbent Prime Minister and his son are involved in corruption cases of Rs 40 billion and they are now controlling the FIA, which is investigating the cases of their servants like Maqsood Chaprasi. I have given a call, go out and mobilize people in streets and neighbourhood for real independence," the media outlet quoted him as saying.

Notably, earlier on Sunday, the PTI chairman thanked his online supporters for spreading the narrative of the "foreign conspiracy" that has been rejected by the ruling party and the country's powerful military. "I want to thank all our social media warriors who have valiantly taken our fight against US regime change conspiracy forward on all social media platforms," he said in a Twitter post late Sunday night. "Continue carrying on our movement for Pak's sovereignty & democracy. You are our frontline warriors," he added.

(ANI)

Read More

Pakistan: Row erupts over PM Shehbaz Sharif's 1st foreign visit to Saudi Arabia
Ahead of Shehbaz Sharif's visit to Saudi Arabia, the newly-elected Pakistan Prime Minister has been caught in the controversy over his plans to travel privately along with a large entourage.

Shehbaz Sharif is scheduled to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the next few days. Dozens of officials and political leaders will accompany the Pakistan Prime Minister on his maiden visit to the Kingdom.

After Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) raised questions about this visit, Pakistan Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb responded on Monday, saying Shehbaz Sharif would travel to Saudi Arabia at his own expenses.

She slammed PTI leaders for spreading "lies" about the trip set to take place later this week. "Contrary to lies being propagated by PTI, Prime Minister will be travelling to Saudi Arabia later this week on a commercial flight at his own expense," Marriyum said on Twitter.

"Even during his 10 years as CM Punjab during 2008-18, he always travelled commercially and at his own expense," she added.

Earlier on Monday, the newly-elected Pak PM presided over a meeting here to review preparations for his official visit to Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting, he said that Pakistan valued its long-standing brotherly ties with Saudi Arabia and it was looking forward to enhancing the same in future.

According to The News International, he directed the relevant authorities to make effective recommendations for strengthening the Pak-Saudi Arabia bilateral ties.

(ANI)

Also Read: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warns of World War III
In one of the pleas filed in the top court, the petitioner said the high court has "erred in creating a dichotomy of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience wherein the court has inferred that those who follow a religion cannot have the right to conscience." (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider listing pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict which had dismissed petitions seeking permission to wear hijab inside classroom.

A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for one of the petitioners, that the plea needed an urgent hearing.

"I will list it. Wait for two days," the CJI said.

Several petitions have been filed in the apex court against the Karnataka High Court verdict holding that wearing of hijab is not a part of the essential religious practice which can be protected under Article 25 of the Constitution.

The high court had dismissed the petitions filed by a section of Muslim students from the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi, seeking permission to wear hijab inside the classroom.

The prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to, the high court had said.

In one of the pleas filed in the top court, the petitioner said the high court has "erred in creating a dichotomy of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience wherein the court has inferred that those who follow a religion cannot have the right to conscience."

"The high court has failed to note that the right to wear hijab comes under the ambit of the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It is submitted that the freedom of conscience forms a part of the right to privacy," it said.

The plea said the petitioner had approached the high court seeking redressal for the alleged violation of their fundamental rights against the state government order of February 5, 2022, issued under Sections 7 and 133 of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983.

The high court had maintained that the government has the power to issue impugned order dated February 5, 2022, and no case is made out for its invalidation.

By the said order, the Karnataka government had banned wearing clothes that disturb equality, integrity, and public order in schools and colleges, which the Muslim girls had challenged in the high court.

Challenging the February 5 order of the government, the petitioners had argued before the high court that wearing the Islamic headscarf was an innocent practice of faith and an Essential Religious Practice (ERP) and not a mere display of religious jingoism.

The petitioners had also contended that the restriction violated the freedom of expression under Article 19(1)(A) and Article 21 dealing with personal liberty.
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A juvenile has been charged by the TBI with murdering a 59-year-old woman and her seven-year-old grandson at Chuckey, Tn., in Greene County.

Authorities said, "As a result of an investigation by special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and detectives with the Greene County Sheriffs Office, an arrest has been made in connection with a double homicide.

"At the request of 3rd Judicial District Attorney Dan Armstrong, TBI agents began working alongside the Greene County Sheriffs Office to investigate a double homicide that occurred Sunday evening.

Just before midnight, Greene County deputies responded to a home in the 7100 block of Old Snapps Ferry Road in Chuckey. Upon arrival, they found Sherry Cole and her grandson, Jessie Allen, deceased. During the course of the investigation, a juvenile was identified as a possible suspect.

"This afternoon, the suspect was charged via a juvenile petition in connection with the homicides. The investigation remains active and ongoing."

The murders are believed to have happened outside a home on Old Snapps Ferry Road around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The bodies were found Sunday evening.
The Tennessee House on Monday passed a bill that says teachers do not have to go along with a students preferred pronoun if it does not match their biological sex.

SB 2777/HB 2633 passed the House 67 to 25.

It will be taken up by the Tennessee Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee on Tuesday.

The bill says school employees would not be "civilly liable for using a pronoun that is consistent with the biological sex of the student to whom the teacher or employee is referring, even if the pronoun is not the student's preferred pronoun."

It says the employees would not be "subject to adverse employment action" for not using the students preferred pronoun.

The Tennessee General Assemblys Fiscal Review Committee had said in a fiscal note in February, "If found in violation of federal law, this legislation could jeopardize federal funding in FY22-23 and subsequent years."

The ACLU of Tennessee said, "Today the Tennessee House passed a bill that insulates teachers and school employees who choose to harm or discriminate against transgender students by purposefully misgendering them from any accountability or adverse action."

Henry Seaton of the ACLU said, We are extremely disturbed by todays vote. This bill raises serious statutory and constitutional concerns by singling out trans students for worse treatment than their peers  all other students can be referred to by the pronouns that match their gender. Lawmakers have heard repeatedly how dangerous this bill can be, especially given the horrifying rates of bullying trans people face in Tennessee.

"Some representatives listened and voted on the right side of history  and we thank them. But most made a choice to reject and ignore the needs of a vulnerable population in our schools, and instead protect those who perpetuate bullying, stigmatization, and potentially trauma and violence. We will continue to fight for the thousands of trans children and youth across Tennessee.
A couple on Clear Creek Road told police their house was for sale and that the woman had received a Facebook message from another person saying that a "Christopher Scott Daly" had listed their residence for rent on Facebook. The couple denied knowing a "Christopher Scott Daly," however the man said that one day he heard someone on his roof and he confronted the individual and told him that he did not request any work to be done. He said the worker on the roof told him that "Scott" had requested work on the roof. Police placed the house on the Watch List and informed the couple they should check the status of their home title to make sure no one has attempted to steal it.

* * *

A man on Glendale Drive told police that the windshield on his 1974 Chevy S10 got cracked by some rocks. He said he was not sure of the location, but believed it may have happened while crossing a bridge downtown. He said he believes the rocks came from a red dump truck.

* * *

A man told police he was leaving work at 1700 Broad St. around 3 p.m. and he placed his backpack down while he was getting into his vehicle. He said he forgot the backpack in the parking lot and, upon returning around 4:15 p.m., the backpack was gone. He said it was mostly filled with school supplies, but he did have an iPad in it. He said he was unable to track the iPad.

* * *

Police were in the area of 3600 Highland Ave. and observed two vehicles that were parked the wrong direction on Highland Avenue. Both vehicles appeared to be abandoned. The first vehicle was covered in filth and appeared to have been sitting for some time. The vehicle was stickered as an abandoned vehicle with a 48-hour notice to move the vehicle. The second vehicle had weeds and trash collecting around it and had several flat tires. It was also stickered as an abandoned vehicle with a 48-hour notice to move it. The vehicles were still there after two days and Yates Towing responded and towed the vehicles.

* * *

Police found a Maroon Infiniti (FL tag) that was parked between two driveways on Zachary Alley. The vehicle was unoccupied with the rear driver's side window partially down. The vehicle seemed to have not been driven in a while. Police observed pine needles and a build up of pollen on the vehicle. Police ran the vehicle's tag to ensure it was not stolen and placed an orange 48-hour tow sticker on the driver's side window.

* * *



Police observed a white Kia Spectra (TN tag) was abandoned at 286 Water St. Trash and weeds had gathered around the vehicle and the tires were also flat. The vehicle was stickered as an abandoned vehicle with a 48-hour notice to move it.

* * *



A disorder was reported at Reagan's Place, 24 Station St. The manager told police the disorder

involved a security guard and a white female. At some point during the altercation, the female allegedly pulled the security guard's hair. Neither of them were on scene to confirm or deny the manager's story. The manager only wished to make a report to police due to regulatory board rules.

* * *

A woman on Campbell Street told police a random man has been knocking on her door all week and she is starting to become afraid. Police did not witness anyone in the area. Police told the woman to call back if he came again.

* * *

A disorder was reported at a residence on Carter Street. Police spoke with a woman who explained that she and her husband were having an argument and all she wanted to do was go to sleep. She could not tell police what the argument was over or why she needed police at this

time. When I spoke with the husband, he said his wife gets like this sometimes when she drinks. He implied that she would sometimes drink and become angry and tell him that she was going to kill herself or would attempt to wander off. Police asked the husband if it would be a problem if the wife just went back to the room and went to sleep and he said it would not. Police told him if things looked like they were going to escalate, to leave the area but take the car keys, so his wife would not be able to drive off while intoxicated. The husband said he has some friends he could stay with if it became necessary. Police then spoke with the wife and asked if she was okay going to the room and getting some sleep. She said she could do that. She was asked if there was anything further she needed from the police, and she said there was nothing else she needed.

* * *

A woman on Mansion Circle told police someone had opened an account online with Bank of America using her information. She said she had received an email about it and has notified the bank.

* * *

A man on Chestnut Street told police someone got into his truck and stole several work tools. He said there were no signs of forced entry.

* * *

A man told police he left his vehicle parked in the lot at Gold's Gym, 5510 Highway 153, while he was there last Monday between 6-8 a.m. His wife then discovered damage on it that same day when he got home later around 5 p.m. He said all the damage is on the driver's side front area around the headlight, bumper and fender. He said there are no cameras there, but there might be one nearby at Aldis. He has gotten three estimates, all for around $3,000, and he said the vehicle is actually registered to his wife. There is no proof of how the damage was done or if it was intentional.

* * *



An employee of New Hope Missionary Church, 3777 Wilcox Blvd., told police it was discovered by the van driver that the catalytic converters had been cut off of two church vans. He said they were last driven last Sunday and were left parked there around 2:30 p.m. He said there was no video captured and there have been no estimates for repairs yet, so the value for $1,000 is just a guess.

* * *

A man on Mayfair Avenue told police someone attempted to cut his catalytic converter off his vehicle, but did not remove it completely. He there is not a cut on the converter and he is filing a claim with his insurance company.

* * *

A woman on Alton Park Boulevard told police that sometime over the weekend someone stole her

daughter's women's Huffy Bicycle ($300) from her front porch. There is no suspect information available.

* * *

The manager of Sephora, 2100 Hamilton Place Blvd, told police that at 3:15 p.m. a black female wearing a dark Nike sweat outfit with long hair wearing a mask entered the store. The woman walked over to the Tom Ford fragrance section and removed the security tags on 11 Tom Ford fragrances worth $1,988. The woman then walked past the last point of sale and continued in an unknown direction with the stolen cologne. Police collected a photo of the woman, as well as security footage, which was turned over to Property.
Cleveland State Community College has finalized plans for its Spring 2022 Commencement Ceremony. Approximately 414 degrees and certificates will be awarded during the graduation ceremony. The ceremony will be held on Friday, May 6, at 5:30 p.m. in the L. Quentin Lane Center.



Cleveland State President Dr. Bill Seymour will be the speaker of the ceremony. Dr. Seymour is originally from Dansville, NY, where he attended SUNY at Oswego, receiving a B.S. in psychology. He received his masters in education at the University of Missouri, specializing in counseling & personnel services. Dr. Seymour received his doctorate also from the University of Missouri in higher adult education. He is also a graduate of the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard University, Graduate School of Education.



Dr. Seymour has been an educator in Tennessee for 27 of his 43-year professional career in

higher education. He was appointed by The Tennessee Board of Regents to serve as president of the college on Jan. 1, 2014. Before serving at Cleveland State, he previously served at Jackson State Community College in West Tennessee as vice president for Institutional Advancement and vice president for Student Services. He served as president of Lambuth University and was instrumental in transitioning that college to the University of Memphis.



Under Dr. Seymours leadership, Cleveland State was selected by the College System of Tennessee as the 2019 College of the Year. In 2021, Dr. Seymour received the Shirley B. Gordon Award for Distinction, the highest award for community college presidents presented by Phi Theta Kappa. In 2022, he was named by the American Association of Community Colleges as a finalist for the CEO of the Year Award.



After seven years at the college, Dr. Seymour will be retiring, and his last day in office will be June 30.



My last commencement at Cleveland State will be the definition of bittersweet, said Dr. Seymour. Commencement is our biggest celebration of the year. It is what all of our students and employees have worked toward. I am just happy to celebrate with the Cleveland State family one last time.



For those unable to attend the Cleveland State Community College Spring 2022 Commencement Ceremony, the event will be streamed live and can be viewed at mycs.cc/graduation.
A Chattanooga man who was sentenced to almost 20 years in federal prison for selling cocaine has had his sentence commuted by President Joe Biden.

Brandon Jermaine Huguley was among 75 people across the country getting sentences commuted for non-violent, drug-related convictions.

Huguley was convicted of conspiracy to distribute 280 grams or more of cocaine in Federal Court in Chattanooga.

He was sentenced on Aug.

20, 2012, to serve 235 months in prison as well as five years of probation. The sentence was reduced to 188 months in prison on May 22, 2017.

The Huguley sentence will now expire on April 26, 2023.

The rest will be served in home confinement.

He will continue under probation for the five years.
A federal grand jury in Chattanooga has returned a four-count indictment against 10 individuals who are charged in dealing in meth and Fentanyl.

They are Marquis Rollins, also known as Quez and as Q; Emanuel Rollins, also known as E Man; Malik Young, Keunte Suttles, also known as Kay Kay Watts; Michael Garrick, Brandon Rakestraw, also known as Lil Buddha; Xavier Bickerstaff, Michael Jones, Jr., also known as Mike Watts; Taurus Moore and Corey Long, all of Chattanooga.

A Taurus Moore who lives in Harrison said the Chattanooga man arrested with the same name is younger than he is and is not related.

The indictment alleges that between November 2021 and March 2022 in the Eastern District of Tennessee the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing Fentanyl and 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

If convicted, each defendant faces a mandatory minimum term of 10 years imprisonment and up to a maximum of life imprisonment, five years on supervised release, and a fine of up to $10,000,000.

The indictment is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Chattanooga Resident Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Chattanooga Police Department, Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, and Red Bank Police Department. Numerous agencies from the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force assisted in the investigation.

The investigation was conducted as part of the Department of Justices Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justices drug supply reduction strategy. OCDETF was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nations drug supply.

The investigation was also conducted as part of DEAs Operation Overdrive. Launched Feb. 1, Operation Overdrive uses a data-driven, intelligence-led approach to identify and dismantle criminal drug networks operating in areas with the highest rates of violence and overdoses. DEA, working in partnership with its fellow federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, has mapped the threats and initiated enforcement operations against those networks in 34 locations across 23 states in the initial phase of Operation Overdrive.

Special Assistant United States Attorney Kevin T. Brown will represent the United States. He is a Special Assistant City Attorney with the Chattanooga Police Department assigned to the United States Attorneys Office to prosecute violations of federal firearm and drug laws.
Tennessee First Lady Maria Lee announced the launch of the fourth annual Tennessee Kids Serve Summer Challenge.The first ladys service challenge, which begins Wednesday, June 1 and will run through Monday, Aug. 1, encourages rising kindergarten through sixth grade students to devote a portion of their summer to serving others.From a young age, my parents demonstrated to me the importance of helping others, said First Lady Lee. Through this challenge, it is my hope that kids across our state will see firsthand the long-lasting impacts their service can have in their communities and in their own lives.To fulfill the challenge, kids must complete one activity in four of the eight service categories.The top participants will be invited to attend a carnival at the Tennessee Residence in September to celebrate their accomplishments over the summer.Parents and guardians can register their child and find additional information about the summer challenge here Since the summer challenge began in 2019, more than 800 kids have participated, serving a total of 3,420 hours in their communities.The first lady will visit elementary schools in Knoxville, Lawrenceburg and Jackson in the next two weeks to encourage participation in the Tennessee Kids Serve Summer Challenge.
Police detained the Teachers union leaders near Tummalapalli Kalakshetram, demanding the cancellation of the Central Pension Scheme (CPS) in Vijayawada on Monday. (Photo:DC)

VIJAYAWADA: Police foiled the Chalo CMO march of the United Teachers Federation (UTF) and other organisations demanding cancellation of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). The police arrested the leaders and activists who tried to go to the CMO.

The UTF had started bike rallies under Poru Garjana on April 18. UTF president N. Venkateswarulu and general secretary K.S.S. Prasad demanded that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announce the cancellation of the CPS by April 24. Else, they would hold the Chalo CMO.

Police denied permission and asked the organizations to call off the protest.

However, UTF leaders and activists in large numbers had already reached Vijayawada. On Monday, the police installed pickets on the outskirts and stopped other activists from entering the city at Machilipatnam, Nuzvid, Pottipadu tollgate, Kankipadu, Penamaluru, Mangalagiri and Guntur.

The activists who reached Vijayawada in advance rushed to Tummalpalli Kalakshetram and were arrested. UTFs Venkateswarulu and secretary Prasad said that the CPS affected 2 lakh employees and teachers.
EPB helped its customers adopt 15.6 million kWh of carbon-saving smart energy technologies in 2021, making Chattanoogas municipal utility the number one local power company across the Tennessee Valley Authority seven-state region when it comes to efficient electrification across all TVA EnergyRight programs officials said.EPB was named a top performer in 12 categories when it comes to helping residential and business customers save money and energy through the TVA EnergyRight program in their 2021 Highlights Report.TVA thanks EPB for helping customers embrace the changing energy industry, change their consumption habits and learn about new technologies, said Cindy Herron, vice president of TVA EnergyRight."EPB was also the number one local power company valley-wide for helping its industrial customers convert 11.4 million kWh away from fossil fuels and toward smart energy technologies through the TVA EnergyRight for Industry Smart Energy Technologies program," officials said.Maximizing efficiency for industrial power users makes a huge impact, said John Watts, EPB Energy Pro.EPB and TVA work with industrial users to create customized, plantwide approaches that help them control expenses, boost their bottom lines and use energy more efficiently, in addition to the environmental benefits."EPB helped its business customers save 2.8 million kWh through the same program by providing expert guidance, professional energy evaluation tools, research and service to commercial customers while supporting TVAs load optimization efforts," officials said.By providing energy assessments and incentives, qualifying businesses get to take even more control of their bottom line and energy use, said Mr. Watts."The EPB Energy Pros helped Chattanooga area families save 363,000 kWh in 2021 through its Home Uplift program, one of the top-performing programs in the TVA region," officials said.Home Uplift consists of free home upgrades that increase the energy efficiency and comfort of homes and enable families with limited means to lower their energy bills, said Mr. Watts. Funds are used for HVAC repair/replacement, insulation, air leak reduction, windows and doors, as well as minor health and safety repairs that enable energy upgrades.Officials said, "The EPB Energy Pros also helped families save 128,000 kWh with the DIY Home Energy Assessment, an online evaluation where residential customers can input information about their homes and receive a personalized report with energy efficiency recommendations. First-time participants receive an energy efficiency starter kit as well."EPB was recognized as a top performer for the North Star Award for helping lower the energy burden for underserved communities in the Valley and the Torch Award for increasing participation in the TVA EnergyRight program. EPB also received Community Champion, Communication and Innovation awards in recognition of partnerships with TVA and the state of Tennessee to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles with the goal of bringing over 200,000 EVs to the Valley by 2028 and creating a network of public fast-charging stations every 50 miles along major travel routes across Tennessee by 2030."The EPB Energy Pros can help all customers save energy and money with a free EPB Home Energy Checkup. They can analyze customers homes and provide personalized recommendations about the most cost-effective ways to make their homes healthier and more energy-efficient. This is available to both homeowners and renters in the EPB service territory. The EPB Energy Pros can also do a free energy bill analysis to help customers learn how to track costs, levelize their bills and take advantage of available rebates. They can recommend TVA-approved contractors, and theyll even inspect the contractors work when the project is complete to ensure optimal customer benefit. With 75 years of combined experience, the EPB Energy Pros can answer questions about all things energy including electric vehicles, energy-efficient appliances, home remodeling, new home construction, smart home technology, solar panels and much more."Schedule an in-person visit at EPB.com/energypros or call 423-648-1372 to speak with EPBs local, award-winning 24/7/365 customer service team."
On Saturday, April 30 Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area Programs Coordinator

Terrence Johnson will begin a kayakers dream trip  paddling the length of the Tennessee River,

completing a 652-mile journey. Little did Johnson know when he paddled the first four miles of the river last May during the Tennessee RiverLines official launch celebration, that he would be paddling the remaining 648 miles this year.

Mr. Johnson will leave from Suttree Landing Park Pavilion and Kayak Launch in Knoxville at 6:30 a.m.



As an outdoor and kayaking enthusiast, Ill consider this the trip of a lifetime or perhaps the start of many more adventures, Mr. Johnson said. I hope my trip can help highlight some of what the river has to offer as a recreational and environmental resource for all. I also want to focus on the work people are doing along the river to make that happen.



Mr. Johnson and the MSNHA are working with the Tennessee RiverLine, an initiative led by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Tennessee Valley Authority, as well as community partners across the region, to develop a continuous system of paddling, hiking and biking experiences along the Tennessee River, from its origin in Knoxville to its confluence with the Ohio River in Paducah, Ky. The initiative seeks to catalyze economic development, promote public health, improve equitable access to river spaces and experiences and inspire resource stewardship.

The Shoals was one of the Tennessee RiverLines 2019 pilot communities, and a member of the

Tennessee RiverTowns Programs inaugural cohort in 2021.



As a proponent of the Tennessee RiverLine, Im excited to start this 37-day journey, during which I will be privileged to experience the riverscapes natural beauty. And, perhaps even more importantly, Im excited to meet people of Tennessee River communities who share the same passion for the river as me and interact with other Tennessee RiverTowns and paddlers along the way, said Mr. Johnson.



Part of Mr. Johnson's agenda includes highlighting the importance of river access to a diverse community of paddlers, including those traditionally underrepresented on the water. For the first 10 days of the paddle, Mr. Johnson will be joined by Fred Vail, an adventure paddler and supporter of organizations promoting adaptive paddling and recreational opportunities in the region, such as Team River Runner and SPARC Chattanooga.



Mr. Johnson will post regular updates during his trip on MSNHAs Facebook page, @muscleshoalsnha, and other social media using the hashtag #TJ652. The Tennessee RiverLine will also be sharing Johnsons progress on its social media accounts, @tnriverline.



A partnership program of the National Park Service, National Heritage Areas recognize regions

throughout the country that help tell Americas story. The MSNHA is hosted by the University of North Alabama and focuses on the themes of music Native Americans, and the Tennessee River. Email msnha@una.edu & visit msnha.una.edu for more information.
90 Day Fiance Season 7 stars, Anna-Marie Campisi and her husband, Mursel Mistanoglu welcome their first child together via surrogate. The reality TV stars had to travel to war-torn Ukraine to meet their baby for the first time. Heres their incredible story.

Anna-Marie Campisi and Mursel Mistanoglu, 90 Day Fiance | TLC

Anna and Mursel welcome their first baby together

After 39-year-old Anna found out she would be unable to carry her and Mursels future children, the 90 Day Fiance couple turned to surrogacy. On April 25, the couple announced that they had just welcomed their first child together, a son, Gokhan John, on Instagram. The baby was born five weeks early on Monday, April 11th, via surrogate. Check out the photos of the couples newborn baby below:

Anna shared photos of the newborn with the caption, Mursel and I are excited to announce the birth of our son! Gokhan John He was born 4/11/22, 5 weeks early. Hes doing amazing! Just a small guy at 5.3 pounds, 18 inches. Anna then revealed some details about her surrogate. She wrote, Our surrogate is also doing well! I was able to meet her and shes such an amazing woman!

Anna and Mursels hectic journey to Ukraine to get their baby

To see their child for the first time, Anna and Mursel traveled to Ukraine, where the surrogate is from. She revealed she and Mursel managed to travel to Ukraine safely with the help of a non-profit group, Dynamo Project.

Anna said that once landing in Poland, they could get into Ukraine with the groups help. She explained that Mursel only had a visa that would allow him into Ukraine but not be able to leave it. She explained, If he came with to Ukraine, he wouldnt be allowed to leave.

Anna had to go into war-torn Ukraine alone, but luckily, she could go with the Dynamo Project group. She explained, They planned the logistics including travel into Ukraine, a safe place to stay while in Ukraine, and travel while inside. They were with me the entire time.

She revealed that thanks to the groups, she was able to complete the documents the next day while in Lviv, Ukraine. However, the stress was too much for Mursel, and he was whisked to the hospital due to chest pain. She revealed that Mursel was fine and that his tests came back normal. She revealed, Then I was transported to the border and walked across into Poland with the baby. They got me to the hospital where Mursel was.

Anna and Mursels journey on 90 Day Fiance

Fans first met this couple during season 7 of the franchise, where Mursel moved from a small village in Turkey to Bellevue, Nebraska, on a K-1 or fiance visa. 90 Day Fiance audiences watched as Mursel did his best to step into the role of step-dad for Annas three sons, Joey, Gino, and Leo, from a previous relationship.

While many 90 Day Fiance fans werent convinced that this couple would make it due to the massive language barrier, they proved everyone wrong. Mursel and Anna continued to bond over their shared love of beekeeping and have even since started two successful businesses that incorporate their passions.

90 Day Fiance fans are happy to see Anna, Mursel, and baby Gokhan John are all safe. The journey to parenthood was difficult for this couple but well worth it. Congrats Anna and Mursel!

90 Day Fiance Season 9 airs Sundays on TLC and discovery+.

RELATED: 90 Day Diaries Ukraine Special: How Natalie Mordovtseva Helped Her Mother to Safety
Malia White said she was ready to be one and done after her first season of Below Deck Mediterranean, but it was Captain Sandy Yawns encouragement that inspired her to pursue a career in yachting.

White was a green deckhand when she joined Below Deck Med Season 2. Her experience in boating was working on dive boats so the world of super yachting was new. After a tumultuous season, but also being promoted to lead deckhand, White wasnt entirely sure yachting was for her.

Captain Sandy inspired Malia White to stay in yachting

White is now working on getting her captains license. But at the time she wasnt sure she wanted to continue in the industry. I wasnt in yachting when I got cast for the show, she said on her Total Ship Show podcast. I got cast as a total green crew member. And by green, I mean I had never stepped foot on a yacht before.

Malia White and Captain Sandy Yawn |Virginia Sherwood/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images/Karolina Wojtasik/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

I knew how to tie a line. And I knew what a cleat was, but I had never ever  I hadnt even seen a yacht! she said. So my very first boat was the one I filmed on my first season. And from there I gave being a deckhand a try, and I remember telling Captain Sandy, Im probably gonna just go back to teaching scuba diving. And she was like, No. Youve got this.'

Having a female captain on Below Deck Med changed Malias life

And I was like, you know what? I may give it a go, she said. And that was my intro into yachting. Ive said this before. I dont know if I would have stayed in yachting had I not had a female captain to begin with. So I was very lucky that my intro into yachting was definitely not the norm.

She added that she and Yawn are still friends and keep in touch. Last season White returned as Yawns bosun and they had some tension over an injury that wasnt reported. Fans wondered if the argument they had last season damaged their friendship.

White addressed her relationship with Yawn in an Instagram story last season. Yes, of course! she replied about her friendship with Yawn in an Instagram story Q&A. We can disagree but I still have the utmost respect for her as both a captain and friend.

White also told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that she and Yawn had drama during the last season of the show. There is a lot of drama thats already happened, she said. But there is a lot more to come. And I think you see clips with Captain Sandy and myself this season. Youll see a different side to our relationship. Yeah, definitely, just when you think all the fighting is over.

How did Malia get into yachting?

White applied to be on Below Deck before Below Deck Med Season 2. It didnt work out the first season, but she was cast for the second season the rest is history, she said on the Hollywood Raw podcast.

She recalled when Below Deck producers told her she made the final rounds. They called me and were like hey we put you through again and youve actually made it, she said. If you wanna go you gotta like pack your bags and leave in like a week. Below Deck was my very first yacht that I worked on. And I worked on dive boats, but its not comparable at all. So I remember like the day before like the week before, I was like Googling like what is the bow? and the stern?

RELATED: Below Deck Med: Malia White Says, I Dont Dislike Hannah After Season 5 Drama  F*** All of This
Cuba Gooding, Jr. is an award-winning actor in both television and film. His career took off when he took the role of Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire. He has also had prominent roles in major movies like As Good as it Gets, Men of Honor, Radio, and The Fighting Temptations. Goodings portrayal of O.J. Simpson in the drama series The People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series.

Lately, Gooding hasnt made headlines for his acting but for his behavior offscreen. In 2018, he was accused of forcibly touching a woman at a nightclub. This allegation led to multiple women coming forward with similar stories about the actor. Recently, Gooding pleaded guilty in court after nearly two years of delays.

The allegations against Cuba Gooding Jr.

Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. at the Manhattan Supreme Criminal Court for his trial | Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The trouble began for Gooding when he was at a nightclub in 2018. A waitress accused the Daddy Day Camp star of kissing her without her consent. The allegation led to other women coming forward to tell their stories of non-consensual contact with the actor.

These accusations were made public in October 2018 and June 2019. Both incidents were corroborated by Gooding. A third accusation was made public in October 2019.

Cuba Gooding Jr.s trial has finally begun

Gooding was originally supposed to stand trial in April 2020. However, with the coronavirus pandemic, courtrooms faced extended lockdowns. The case experienced multiple delays, and a motion filed to dismiss the case, which was denied. After nearly two years, Gooding finally received a court date in April 2022.

Gooding entered a guilty plea to forcibly touching a woman, which is a misdemeanor charge in New York. According to CNN, the terms of Goodings plea agreement is that he must continue with current behavior modification treatment for alcohol. The actor must not have any further arrests within the next six months. Following successful completion of the terms, he will be able to re-plead down to an even lesser charge of harassment with a sentence of time already served.

According to Assistant District Attorney Colleen Balbert, Gooding has been in counseling since September 2019 and is continuing with counseling to make sure that he does not re-offend.

Famous men whove experienced similar allegations

NEW: Harvey Weinstein's cronies are still making millions off of Weinstein company properties, a @RollingStone investigation reveals.https://t.co/wZhPcIcQiQ  Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) April 21, 2022

Gooding is not the only prominent entertainer whos been accused of sexual misconduct. There have been many men, though not all of them have faced off with accusers in court. However, some have been sentenced with harsher punishments than Gooding.

One of the most prominent cases over the past few years was that of Bill Cosby, once dubbed Americas Dad, for accusations of sexual misconduct spanning decades. While he was sentenced for one of those incidents, he ended up getting released after his conviction was overturned and served less than three years of his sentence.

Another major player in Hollywood who had to face accusations of sexual misconduct was Harvey Weinstein. The prominent producer was accused of multiple acts against women and stood trial for some of these allegations. He ended up with a 23-year prison sentence after a multi-million dollar settlement for his victims was rejected.

RELATED: The True Story Of The Man Who Inspired The Movie, Radio, Starring Cuba Gooding Jr.
Josh Duggars sentencing appears to be going forward after Judge Timothy L. Brooks granted the defense a postponement. Originally set for early April, the sentencing will now be held on May 25. Ahead of the delay, the prosecution submitted a standard investigation report. The report included a victim impact statement.

A victim submitted an impact statement ahead of Josh Duggars sentencing

According to KNWA, a local news station, one of Joshs victims provided the prosecution with an impact statement ahead of sentencing. The statement was one of two addenda the prosecution submitted to the court on March 18.

The identity of the victim remains unknown. In theory, one of the Duggars Josh victimized when he was a teen could have submitted the statement. Joshs fifth molestation victim could have also provided a statement. The identity of that victim remains unknown to the public. Members of the Duggar familys social circle are reportedly aware of their identity. The fifth victim is not related to the Duggars, according to insiders.

Its also possible that one of the victims that appeared in the child sexual abuse images that Josh downloaded could have provided an impact statement to the courts. The identity of those victims remains confidential, as well.

Josh Duggar speaks during the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) | Kris Connor/Getty Images

According to the United States Department of Justice, a victim impact statement is always filed under seal. They are not considered part of the public court records. Any identifying information included in the statement is redacted in court records. The defense, defendant, prosecution, and judge all have the opportunity to read victim impact letters, though.

Several Duggar family members sat through the trial

While Josh Duggars sentencing wont take place for another month, family followers are already questioning which family members will be on hand at the sentencing. Several family members sat through the entirety of the trial and could possibly appear at the upcoming court date, too.

Joshs wife, Anna Duggar, was at the courthouse daily, as were Derick Dillard and Austin Forsyth. Derick married Jill Dillard in 2014. Austin married Joy-Anna Forsyth in 2017. Josh molested both sisters when he was a teen. Jill and Joy-Anna appeared as well, although neither sat through the entirety of the trial. Jinger Vuolo did not travel from California for the trial. She was also one of Joshs victims.

Jim Bob Duggar appeared at the courthouse during the trial. Joshs siblings Jason Duggar, Justin Duggar, and Jana Duggar, all sat in on the proceedings at various points. Reporters did not spy Michelle Duggar, Joshs mother, at the trial. Michelle remained out of public sight in the months leading up to the trial and several weeks after the conviction. She has just recently resurfaced at a handful of social events.

How long will Josh Duggar spend in prison?

Josh might have been found guilty on both charges in December 2021, but it has taken several months for the judge to review the case. On May 25, hell decide just how long Josh will spend behind bars. While the judge has the final say, he will use minimum sentences, maximum sentences, and guidelines to ensure a fair sentencing.

Josh Duggar | Washington County Sheriffs Office via Getty Images

When federal marshals arrested Josh in April 2021, they charged him two different crimes. The jury found him guilty on both, but he wont serve consecutive sentences. According to legal expert and YouTuber Emily D. Baker, only the more serious charge will factor into his sentencing. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Several legal experts note that a 20-year prison stint is unlikely as Josh is a first-time offender. According to Richard Hornsby, federal guidelines suggest prison terms for first-time offenders between 33 and 41 months. The guideline is a suggestion before aggravating factors are considered. Factors, including the nature of the images, the age of the victims, and the number of images possessed by the defendant, can all affect the length of a sentence. Several legal experts have suggested that Josh could face between eight and 12 years behind bars.

Once Josh is sentenced, federal agents will move him to a federal facility. He has been held at a local detention center since his conviction. Josh will likely serve his prison term at a detention center outside of the state of Arkansas.

How to get help: If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 for free and confidential support.

RELATED: Duggar Family Followers Debate Just How Much Anna Duggar Knew About Joshs Charges Before His Arrest
There is no shortage of show business stories about television actors who seemed wonderful on-screen but were surprisingly difficult to deal with off-screen (Brady Bunch actor Robert Reed comes to mind).

In the case of Leave It to Beavers Barbara Billingsley, this was not the case at all, according to actor Jerry Mathers, who portrayed her son Beaver Cleaver on the series. In fact, he says, she was just as nice as June Cleaver.

Left to right: Tony Dow, Barbara Billingsley, and Jerry Mathers of Leave It to Beaver | Richard Corkery/NY Daily News via Getty Images

The actor began her role of June Cleaver as a widow in real life

Much like June Cleaver, Billingsley was married with two sons when she learned about the role that would make her famous, she told the Television Academy Foundation (TAF). In the pilot, The Beverly Hillbillies actor Buddy Ebsen originally played Ward Cleaver and the show was not called Leave It to Beaver, but Its a Small World.

Billingsley confessed that while she was auditioning: I remember thinking, this is the dumbest thing Ive ever done, Im wasting their time. Because my husband and I were going to Spain, where he was directing a picture, she recalled. That was a Thursday.

Her husband at that time, film director Roy Kellino, died soon after their trip of a heart attack, Billingsley recalled: I lost him on that Saturday. And about six months later, I got a call from my agent [for Leave It to Beaver].

Mathers said Billingsley was just like June Cleaver

Billingsleys Leave It to Beaver son Jerry Mathers in his own conversation with TAF, revealed that (next to his own mother) Billingsley, who died in 2010, was a very tight runner-up when it came to mother figures in his life.

She is the nicest lady, he said. My mother of course is always No. 1 in my heart but Barbara Billingsley is very, very close because she is just so nice and she exemplifies being a lady. She is just the perfect lady, always so nice. Shes as nice as youd think she would be if you met her, as she is on the screen.

I fondly remember Barbara Billingsley, my good friend and mentor, on this her 101st birthday. She was always so upbeat, charming, and the perfect role model. #LeaveittoBeaver pic.twitter.com/Pmqlzl6kN8  Jerry Mathers (@TheJerryMathers) December 22, 2017

Billingsley will forever be known as June Cleaver

Mathers continued, lovingly recalling the actor who played his mother on the pioneering television series: Barbara Billingsley was a New York model, he said. She had worked in a few other things but she was a very, very lovely New York model that came to Leave It to Beaver.

For her part, Billingsley in her interview defended June Cleaver, saying that, although some viewers might have considered Mrs. Cleaver an unrealistic portrait of an American mom, she really was just like most regular mothers.

She used to get teed off with the children, Billingsley said of her classic show character. She didnt always refer to the father as far as punishing was concerned. But she was a loving, happy, stay-at-home mom, which I think is great.

RELATED: How a Glass of Water Got Leave It to Beaver Star Jerry Mathers Noticed by Alfred Hitchcock
Celebrity chef Lidia Bastianichs baby kale-centric Caesar Salad fits the bill for a warm-weather meal. Top it off with her flavorful focaccia croutons and its absolute perfection.

Heres how the public television host makes this hearty dish.

Lidia Bastianich | Rick Kern/WireImage

Bastianich on the popularity of Caesar Salad at her restaurants

On her website, Lidias Italy where youll find the complete recipe, the chef wrote of this salad being one of the most in-demand dishes at her eateries.

Caesar salad was one of the most popular things on the menus at my first two restaurants, she wrote. It is familiar and much loved, but here I add some kale for diversity and flavor. All of the components of this saladthe romaine, the kale, and the dressingcan be prepared beforehand, and kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to dress the salad, just before serving.

For those Caesar Salad purists who prefer the classic dish as it was originally prepared, Bastianich adds, You can use all romaine for a more traditional Caesar, if you prefer.

Lidia Bastianichs Caesar Salad recipe is a quick weeknight meal

With drained oil-packed anchovy fillets, hard-cooked egg yolks, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, dijon mustard, garlic cloves, chopped romaine hearts, baby kale, and grated Grana Padano cheese, this salad comes together easily and quickly.

Caesar salad has become so popular, everybody loves it, Bastianich said on her YouTube video, above, for this recipe. But Id like to give you a little different version; well make Caesar Salad with baby kale. Its easy, its delicious, and, you know, maybe more contemporary of the times, if you will.

Anchovies give Bastianichs Caesar Salad dressing its zing

The chef departs from traditional Caesar Salad even further here with her preparation of the dressing, which is usually made with raw egg yolk.

In a food processor, she places raw garlic cloves, the cooked yolk of two eggs (It really kind of emulsifies the Caesar Salad), the mustard, lemon juice, and white wine vinegar.

Lidia Bastianich here makes a traditional Caesar Salad.

What gives the flavor to all this is the anchovies, she adds. The anchovies join the other ingredients in the food processor. You dont have to cut them. Oil is added as the processor blends everything to give it kind of that creaminess.

Bastianich notes to be careful as you pour the dressing over the lettuces: Im confident that it will need all of this dressing. But otherwise, you know, put it in a little pouring cup and you can always add. Once you have the dressing added, you cant take it back. But you can always add, so always hold back some of the dressing.

Its all tossed together with the greens, croutons, and grated cheese. The focaccia croutons are easily made by cutting day-old focaccia into pieces, toasting them in the oven until theyre nice and crunchy, and setting them aside to cool.

Its delicious, Bastianich says of the salad. The combination of the romaine and the kale with the caesar dressing, really good.

RELATED: Lidia Bastianich on the Role Julia Child Played in Her Success: She Was Such a Grand Lady
When Dolly Parton isnt spending her time writing music or acting in films, shes focusing on philanthropy. Parton has a reputation as a kind and generous celebrity, and she likes putting her time and money where her mouth is. Over the years, she has worked on various causes, from education to animal welfare to public health. Here are just some of the causes that Parton has thrown her weight behind.

Dolly Parton | Jim Dyson/Getty Images

Dolly Parton launched the Buddy Program in her hometown

Partons Dollywood Foundation has helped fund many different programs. The Buddy Program is one of them. In the early 1990s, Parton wanted to tackle the high dropout rate in Sevier County, where she grew up. At an assembly for seventh and eighth graders, Parton told students that if they graduated high school with their chosen or assigned buddy, she would write each student a check for $500.

Per her Imagination Library, the dropout rate for those two classes dropped from 35% to 6%. The initiative also encouraged the community to focus on increasing graduation rates.

She houses bald eagles at Dollywood

Parton is also helping protect bald eagles from extinction.

We have an eagle sanctuary at Dollywood, where we take injured eagles, nurture them, and release them back into the wild, she wrote in her book Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. Back when we started it, bald eagles were beginning to be extinct. Weve helped to get it back to where they arent so scarce anymore.

Good news! One eaglet hatched at Dollywood's Eagle Mountain Sanctuary on April 12. You can watch this eagle family live through this link: https://t.co/14MMbtIutm pic.twitter.com/2051kue2sE  Dollywood Parks & Resorts (@Dollywood) April 17, 2020

The center works to rescue eagles. If they cannot be released back into the wild, they stay at Dollywood. A 2023 expansion of the sanctuary will also include a way station for migrating monarch butterflies.

Dolly Parton provides children with books through her Imagination Library

In 1995, Parton started her Imagination Libary. The monthly program mails free books to children under the age of five. It began as a way to foster a love of reading in Sevier County children. Since then, it has expanded throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

Parton began the program for her father, who could not read.

We never thought it would be this big, she told NPR. I just wanted to do something great for my dad and for my home county and, at the most, maybe a couple of counties over. But then it just took wings of its own, and I guess it was meant to be.

She helped fund a new hospital in Sevier County

In 2007, Parton performed at a benefit concert to raise money for the LeConte Medical Center. Per Billboard, the show raised $500,000, with an additional $500,000 coming from Dollywood and the Dixie Stampede dinner theater. The hospital opened in 2010 and includes the Dolly Parton Center for Womens Services.

LeConte Medical Center celebrated 10 years of being open today. pic.twitter.com/OK2KjnBgsd  Kyle Grainger WVLT (@KyleGrainger) February 27, 2020

Dolly Parton aided Tennessee families after devastating wildfires

In 2016, eastern Tennessee sustained damage after wildfires swept through the area. To help those displaced by the disaster, Parton launched the My People Fund. The program promised $1,000-per-month stipends to all affected families. The stipends lasted for six months, with the families receiving $5,000 in the final month. It also raised scholarship funds for students who lost their homes in the fires.

We started the distribution in December right around the longest night of the year and I know it felt dark and lonely for so many, Parton said, per NPR. But here we are in spring, a time for renewal and a time for hope. I know the money helps but most of all I want people to know we will always provide you a shoulder to lean on.

She donated money to fund coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine research

Most recently, Parton pledged $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Centers coronavirus research. The money helped fund research into the Moderna vaccine.

When I donated the money to the Covid fund I just wanted it to do good and evidently, it is! Lets just hope we can find a cure real soon. pic.twitter.com/dQgDWexO0C  Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) November 17, 2020

Im just happy that anything I do can help somebody else, she told Today. And when I donated the money to the COVID fund, I just wanted it to do good, and evidently it is! And lets just hope we find a cure real soon.

RELATED: 9 to 5: How Dolly Parton Changed an Entire Movie Crew, According to Jane Fonda
TL;DR:

Peacock tweeted a deleted scene from The Office on Pretzel Day 2022

The clip featured Michael (Steve Carell) and Stanley (Leslie David Baker) eating pretzels

National Pretzel Day falls on April 26 every year

The Office: Steve Carell and Leslie David Baker in Initiation | Photo by Justin Lubin/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Happy Pretzel Day! Peacock celebrated the holiday by sharing a deleted scene from the Initiation episode of The Office. In the episode, a pretzel stand is set up at the business park where Dunder Mifflin is located. Michael and Stanely are forced to stand in line all day waiting for their pretzels.

Pretzel Day deleted scene from The Office

Initiation, the fifth episode of The Office Season 3, aired on Oct. 19, 2006. The episode primarily focuses on Dwight initiating Ryan into the sales team by making him do challenges at Dwights farm. Other storylines revolve around Michael and Stanley connecting over their shared love of Pretzel Day and Pam re-connecting with Jim, who moved to Stamford, Connecticut, following the events of the second seasons finale.

At Dunder Mifflin Scranton, Michaels productivity suffers. Jan asks Pam to keep a list of all the things Michael does in one day. Unfortunately, the day in question happens to fall on National Pretzel Day. Free pretzels are given out to all the workers at the office, but the line is long. Michael and Stanley wait in line until they can get their free pretzels. The pair, who are usually at odds with each other, bond over their shared love of pretzels, Pretzel Day, and stopping others from cutting the line.

In the deleted clip, Michael and Stanley eat their pretzels together outside the office. Stanley even makes a Thats what she said joke. How did this clip not make it into the episode? When each episode has to be cut down to 22 minutes, the editors leave out good scenes.

The clip ends with Stanley saying, 364 days, til the next Pretzel Day.

Watch the deleted scene from Twitter below.

A #PretzelDay deleted scene felt necessary today.



Every RT gets Stanley another . pic.twitter.com/eEX43xNrnl  Peacock (@peacockTV) April 26, 2022

Pretzel Day is a real holiday in the United States

If youre wondering if Pretzel Day is a real holiday, you came to the right place! Yes, National Pretzel Day is a real holiday in the United States.

National Pretzel Day happens every year on April 26. In fact, you can even get free pretzels like Michael and Stanley. According to CNET, free pretzels are available at a variety of pretzels shops, including Auntie Annes, Wetzels Pretzels, Philly Pretzel Factory, and Bens Soft Pretzels.

The Pretzel Day storyline in The Office was inspired by a real event

Like so many of the storylines on The Office, the Pretzel Day storyline was also inspired by a real event.

BJ Novak revealed on the Office Ladies Podcast in 2020 that the writers toured office parks and witnessed a variation of Pretzel Day. Novak didnt reveal exactly when and where it happened, but it gave the writers an idea that later became the storyline in Initiation.

You can watch Initiation and all other episodes of The Office on Peacock right now.

RELATED: The Office: Fans Favorite Stanley Line About Pretzel Day Wasnt the Original Line in the Script
Visakhapatnam: Amid the recital of vedic hymns, idols of Rama, Seetha and Lakshman were consecrated at Kodanda Rama temple atop Bodikonda hills in Ramateertham in Nelimerla mandal of Vizianagaram district, about 70 km from Visakhapatnam on Monday.

The temple drew national attention when the idol of Lord Rama was decapitated on 30 December 2020. The State government was quick in announcing Rs 3 crore for construction of the idols, basic infrastructure at the temple and the road to the hilltop.

Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Endowments Kottu Satyanarayana, Minister for Education Botsa Satyanarayana, ZP chairperson Majji Srinivasa Rao, MLCs and local MLAs were present. The head priests of TTD and Dwaraka Tirumala and the main priest of the Ramateertha Temple K. Sairamachartyulu performed the special pujas and yagam.

Speaking to the media on the occasion the endowment minister Satyanarayana said the government proved its commitment by completing the temple works and installation and the consecration of the idols before the scheduled time.

Some vested interests vandalized Hindu temples in several parts of the state two years ago and they tried to slur the image of the YSRC government, the minister said. Regarding destruction of idols at Ramateertham, the minister said the investigation into the incident was going on and very soon the culprits would be arrested.

Minister for Education Botsa Satyanarayana said he had proposed to the chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to conduct Ramanavami festival as the state festival from next year onwards.

The celebration of Navami at Ramateertham is similar to the traditional events being held at Bhadrachalam, Botsa said.

The ministers later felicitated the engineers who completed the temple work in record time.
Selena Gomez has been getting a lot of praise and attention for her role in Only Murders in the Building. Gomez plays the part of Mabel Mora on the Hulu original. However, many of her fans have followed the actor since Disney Channels Wizards of Waverly Place.

It is safe to say a lot has happened since then, on and off the screen. Selena Gomez has recently earned praise for opening up about her bipolar diagnosis and her work advocating and shedding light on mental health.

Selena Gomez shared her bipolar diagnosis

US singer Selena Gomez arrives for the 28th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, on February 27, 2022. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Gomez has always been open and candid about her medical journey. Back in 2014, the star faced a lupus diagnosis. The condition forced Gomez to undergo a kidney transplant. Things have been far from easy for the well-known actor.

In 2020, while speaking on Miley Cyrus Instagram show, Gomez opened up to the public about her bipolar diagnosis. The actor explained, Recently, I went to one of the best mental hospitals in America, McLean Hospital, and I discussed that, after years of going through a lot of different things, I realized that I was bipolar.

Gomez went on to add, When I go to know more information, it actually helps me. It doesnt scare me once I know it  I wanted to know everything about it, and it took the fear away. That perspective and level of vulnerability have gained the star a tremendous amount of support, respect, and followers.

Since then, Gomez continues to speak out on the mental disorder and why her diagnosis provided her with so much relief. One tip Gomez has shared that has helped her is being able to take breaks from social media.

Selena Gomez co-founded Wondermind

The news is out! We are so excited to unveil the building of our mental fitness ecosystem to the world.  Selena, Mandy, and Daniella https://t.co/IN9fZl6uK1  Wondermind (@letswondermind) November 18, 2021

Gomezs latest project is a true testimony to her character and vision. This past year she has launched Wondermind, a community centered around mental health and mental fitness.

Alongside her mom, Mandy Teefey, and Daniella Pierson, Gomez has created a space for people to understand better what mental health can look like. Wonderminds co-founders explained, Weve each had our own mental health struggles, and we realized there was no inclusive, fun, and easy place where people could come together to explore, discuss, and navigate their feelings. So we created it. Welcome to Wondermind.

Through practice and routines, tangible tools, and vulnerable conversations, Wondermind is eliminating stigmas while changing the face of mental health. Gomezs fans and followers probably arent too surprised that the trailblazer would promote a project so close to her and her heart.

Other celebrities who have revealed their bipolar diagnosis

One of Gomezs, and Wonderminds, goals was to help people realize they are not alone. All too often, medical conditions such as anxiety and depression are treated as taboo subjects.

Gomez is one of the most celebrities to make the headlines and media for her bipolar diagnosis. But she is by no means the only one. Kanye West, Pete Davidson, and even Gomezs former friend, Demi Lovato, are just a few other famous names who have opened up about living with a bipolar diagnosis.

RELATED: Selena Gomez Shuts Down Body Shamers After Revealing Fast Food Order: I Dont Care About My Weight
Suzanne Somers, known for playing Chrissy Snow in the groundbreaking ABC sitcom Threes Company credits John Ritter for creating the series magic.

She recounted how iconic her character became in the world of pop culture, sharing how being fired from the series was one of her biggest regrets.

Chemistry was magical between Suzanne Somers and John Ritter

It was a magical time in the television era, she said on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast. I think there was a chemistry between Suzanne Sommers and John Ritter that was magical. And Joyce Dewitt didnt enjoy this role, but she was the setup person for Chrissy and Jack to spar.

Joyce Dewitt, John Ritter, and Suzanne Somers | ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

It was easy to understand, she reflected. It was simple. I was in Israel and people are saying that they learned English watching Threes Company. I was with prime minister Netanyahu last spring. And he said, I know all about the books, but Ive been watching you for 25 years. He said there was one television station in Israel and it was Threes Company. So its been all over the world Chrissy Snow to me, I think of her as different from me. Shes appealing. Shes a woman child.

Somers added, She has a circuitous route to logic. She never tells a lie, shed never steal your husband or boyfriend or girlfriend or anybody. So theres some people who felt protective of her.

Suzanne Somers regrets getting fired from Threes Company

Somers said she doesnt have many regrets in life but one. My only regret was getting fired from Threes Company, she said. I seemed to get fired a whole lot. I asked to be paid what the men were being paid at that time because all the men were making 10 to 15 times more than I was on lesser shows.

Including John was making so much more money than me, she remarked. So when my contract was up, we went to the producers and they wanted to put a stop to Laverne And Shirley. And so they had decided before I even walked into that lawyers meeting that we have to stop this. So we take the biggest female star on television and fire her to stop all the other actresses from having the audacity.

This month marks the 45th anniversary of #ThreesCompanys first episode starring John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt and an unknown girl from San Bruno, California! #TBT It was 1977 and I had no idea at the time full post: https://t.co/2oaGTyO55N pic.twitter.com/xnAmxhXO4m  Suzanne Somers (@SuzanneSomers) March 24, 2022

So I was so sad to be fired from that show because I loved the job, but I was particularly sad that I didnt get to finish the character of Chrissy Snow, she said. I had so much more I was going to do with her and have her grow and become something that no one would ever forget. But maybe it was enough. Maybe theyll never forget her. Maybe it was enough.

And clearly had I stayed on that show, I would have continued doing sitcoms, but I wouldnt have done all these other things, which I think are pretty valuable. So in the big picture from 350 feet, with perspective, I think its all gone as it should have, she concluded.

RELATED: Johnny Carson Told Suzanne Somers She Looked Like F***ing Cream

Is a Threes Company revival possible?

Somers mused about a return to the hit series, even though Ritter died in 2003. She considered a new Threes Company using a hologram for Ritter and his son in real life playing Jack and Chrissys son.

I had suggested a show where you would imagine that Chrissy snow and Jack Tripper eventually got married and they had a child and the child was Jason Ritter, she said. And I had suggested this to Jasons people and that the show would be me and Jason, but that John would appear as a hologram because itd be like he was back and alive, but Jason doesnt want to do anything reminiscent of what his father did. So that kind of went out of the way. That was the last time I got kinda turned on by thinking about doing a series again.

RELATED: Threes Company Actor Blames Suzanne Somers Husband for Her Termination
After a 2-year break due to the pandemic, SCDF's Fire Stations Open House are BACK!









Starting from this Saturday, 30 April 2022, 17 Fire Stations around Singapore will be opened to the public every Saturday in two time slots  from 9.00am to 9.50am and 10.00am to 10.50am.









If you are visiting in group sizes of less than 10 pax, walk-ins are allowed. No pre-booking of slots required.





What to expect at the Fire Station Open House? Kids (and adults) will be able to meet the SCDF firefighters and paramedics, and learn more on how SCDF responds to emergencies.





In addition, kids will get the chance to get up close and learn more about SCDF's fleet of emergency vehicles.









Who knows? They may get a chance to clamber onto a real fire engine or even spray the water hose too!





Which was what Ash did eons ago. 









The listed fire stations with Open House are:





Alexandra Fire Station (3 Queensway S149073)

Ang Mo Kio Fire Station (2874 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 9 S569783)

Bishan Fire Station (1 Marymount Lane S574029)

Bukit Batok Fire Station (80 Bukit Batok Road S658072)

Central Fire Station (62 Hill Street S179367)

Changi Fire Station (491 Upper Changi Road S468965)

Clementi Fire Station (Commonwealth Avenue West S129577)

Jurong Fire Station (22 Jurong West Street 26, S648126)

Kallang Fire Station (2 Guillemard Close, S397623)

Marina Bay Fire Station (70 Marina View, S018962)

Paya Lebar Fire Station (91 Ubi Avenue 4, S408827)

Punggol Fire Station (151 Punggol Central S828727)

Sengkang Fire Station (50 Buangkok Drive S545064)

Tampines Fire Station (1 Tampines Industrial Avenue 3 S528777)

Tuas Fire Station (7 Tuas Road S638483)

Woodlands Fire Station (1 Woodlands Industrial Park D Street 2 S738782)

Yishun Fire Station (533 Yishun Industrial Park, A S768774)





For groups of 10 or more, please register for the visit at this link . Do note that the maximum number of pax for each group booking is 40 pax.





IMPORTANT INFORMATION





SCDF Fire Stations Open House

Dates: Every Saturday (from 30 April 2022 onwards)

Timings: Two time slots  from 9.00am to 9.50am AND 10.00am to 10.50am

Venue: Refer to list of Fire Stations above

Cost: FREE

*No pre-booking required if you are visiting in group sizes of less than 10 pax








Celine Cortes, a Ph.D. student in the School of Biomedical Sciences Anatomy and Vertebrate Paleontology track at OSU-CHS, helps students at the Cherokee Nation Immersion School identify fossils at a simulated dig site at their school.
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A few months back, Cheshire resident and long-time birder Anne McNulty made an exciting discovery: a Eurasian Tree Sparrow was visiting her bird feeder.

McNulty and her husband Henry have a summer home in Old Saybrook, and thats where the sighting took place. I had no idea, and admit that I was naive and somewhat clueless when I first saw the bird, said McNulty.

The lightbulb went off soon after, as McNulty flipped through a copy of the Sibley Guide to Birds. Inside was a picture of the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. That was my bird, she said.

The website allaboutbirds.org states: In late April 1870, a shipment of European birds from Germany was released in St. Louis, Missouri, in order to provide familiar bird species for newly-settled European immigrants. The shipment included 12 hardy Eurasian Tree Sparrows. These chestnut-capped, white-cheeked arrivals prospered in the hedges and woodlots of the region, ultimately spreading through northeastern Missouri, west-central Illinois, and southeastern Iowa. Unlike its relative, the House Sparrow, it is not a bird of cities, instead using farms and lightly wooded residential areas.

When the Eurasian Tree Sparrow next came to the feeder outside her kitchen window, McNulty managed to get a photo of it and promptly posted it online. Within minutes, Matt Bell of The Connecticut Audubon Society commented on the photo, and less than hour later, Bell and several other birders were at McNultys home to see the sparrow in-person. McNulty said Phil Rusch, co-secretary of the Connecticut Ornithological Association, also came out to see the bird.

And in an email from the Avian Records Committee of Connecticut, the group said it unanimously accepted McNultys Eurasian Tree Sparrow sighting as a natural vagrant to the state and listed it as the 450th species on the official state list.

My reaction to seeing the bird was twofold, McNulty said. I felt incredibly lucky that he chose my feeder to visit and I was proud to think that I recognized that it was different from the house sparrows and didnt just leave it at that. On the other hand, if I hadnt just happened to be looking in the guide and chanced to see the picture, I might have let it go at that.

Also, McNulty gave a shout-out to her neighbors in Old Saybrook who she said were extremely tolerant of the many folks with binoculars and long-lenses congregating on their street.
Revanth criticised BJP state president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is currently on a padayatra in Assembly constituencies where the Congress is strong. (DC)

Karimnagar: TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy visited Karimnagar district as part of the preparatory programme of party leader Rahul Gandhis public meeting in Warangal on May 6.

Revanth Reddy accompanied by the personal security team of Rahul Gandhi paid a visit to Hanamkonda district and inspected a private school ground and Arts and Science college ground in Hanamkonda along with a parking area, helipad and arrangements to made for providing meals.

Later, speaking to press persons, Revanth Reddy said that TRS was a dongala party (party of thieves) and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao was more dangerous than a poisonous snake. Congress will not even tolerate it if KCRs shadow falls on it.

If the Congress joins hands with the TRS, then the BJP will be considered the main Opposition party in the state. Why will the Congress take a decision which will create a huge loss for it, he asked.

The TPCC chief also criticised BJP state president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is currently on a padayatra in Assembly constituencies where the Congress is strong.

Sanjay must declare what developmental works he has taken up for the people of Karimnagar who had elected him MP and sent to Parliament, Revanth Reddy said.

In the initial stages, Sanjay created a ruckus by complaining against illegal mining business that is rampant in Karimnagar district but after getting his share of money he turned silent, Revanth Reddy alleged.
Events such as pandemics are major psychological stressors that are often not equally distributed, especially with the most vulnerable amongst us being disproportionately affected. There is a need to show compassion to those amongst us who experience unspeakable suffering during times of loss.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on families and societies. Poor vulnerable communities around the world with magnified vulnerabilities such as under-resourced health systems, housing problems, extreme poverty and high rates of unemployment have been severely affected by the impact of the ongoing pandemic. Most refugees and migrants were separated from their loved ones due to travel and lockdown restrictions, and some of them were not able to access the host countrys government financial support packages which, in most cases, are only available for citizens. Not to mention those amongst us living with chronic illness and are at high risk due to immune disorders.

There is evidence to suggest that the pandemic and associated lockdowns have disproportionately affected the most vulnerable amongst us, who are more susceptible to poorer mental health, loneliness, and heightened levels of suffering. The loss of resources among these vulnerable people is the primary operating mechanism driving the stress reactions and suffering that arise in such circumstances. The resources can be economic (e.g., jobs, financial security), physical (e.g., access to healthcare and exercise), interpersonal (e.g., intimate and social relationships), and psychological (e.g., a sense of control over ones life and a sense of purpose).

Compared to those in wealthier and more affluent areas, vulnerable people in low-income and under-resourced communities not only entered the pandemic with fewer resources (e.g., employment, social security, quality healthcare, and housing) but also lost a greater proportion of the resources they had due to more stringent lockdowns and greater job losses.

Love your neighbor as yourself

How can we respond to these vulnerable communities and people in those contexts experiencing loss and suffering? How can we help them safeguard against the conditions that made them susceptible to loss in the first place?

The satisfying answer to these two questions can be found in the second greatest commandment to Love your neighbor as yourself. This commandment was first seen in Leviticus 19:18 and then used by Jesus in the Synoptic accounts of Mathew (22:39), Mark (12:31), and Luke (10:27). We also see Apostle Paul using the same words in his epistles (e.g., Gal 5:14; Romans 13:9). The instruction to love our neighbor has a broader implication for Christians, as we reflect on how to respond to our neighbors in a time of loss and suffering.

As the world begins to recover from the pandemic, there is a Christian, moral, political and economic imperative to love our neighbors. A Christ-centered response to COVID-related loss would be one that is rooted in the teachings of Christ to love our neighbor.

The Samaritan and Sternbergs Love Triangle

...the parable teaches us that the Good Samaritan showed a better intimacy.

According to psychologist Robert J. Sternberg, love is about intimacy, passion, and commitment. Intimacy is the feeling of closeness to our neighbors and aims to strengthen the bond we share with them. Yet, the parable teaches us that the Good Samaritan showed a better intimacy. He makes a neighbor out of a stranger, rather than the regular neighbor that the Priest and the Levi are willing to help. The better Samaritan would seek redemptive intimacy with people of differing economic, racial, and religious backgrounds.

Yet such intimacy is impossible without a Christ kind-of-like passion. Passion, ordinarily, is a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for a cause or a neighbor. But Christs passion is exemplified in His intimacy with our strange human nature, such that we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched by the feelings of our infirmities (Heb. 4:15). A better Samaritans passion is directed in a significant measure towards those who dont look or live like them  for God commends His love towards us in that when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Roman 5:8).

Commitment, on the other hand, involves a conscious decision to stick with one another, irrespective of the situation. Love, then, is a commitment to building intentional relationships with others, an excitement about the welfare of others, and a promise to protect and stand by one another. The Better Samaritan exemplified this, when he took the robbed and wounded man off the roadside, found a suitable clinic and caregiver for him, paid his bills, and promised to return to check on Him. Thats commitment!

Sternbergs three principles of love are essential to understanding how we can effectively respond to our neighbors in a time of loss and suffering.

Building meaningful relationships

Love has to start with intimacy. This implies the ability to genuinely reach out to the vulnerable amongst us who are suffering due to the compounded effect of loss of resources to covid. Intimacy in the context of Christian relations can be expressed through social support - a psychosocial resource that is accessed in the context of interpersonal relationships and within ones social network. Research generally shows that social support reduces negative emotions in times of adversity, promotes wellbeing, and influences the neural regulation of stress responses during difficult conditions. Churches have an opportunity to build meaningful intimate communities that help facilitate a process of recovery. The goal here would be to understand how the pandemic has impacted those that may have been overlooked due to their socioeconomic and health inequalities. Such a support system can help the most vulnerable amongst us to cope with pandemic-related stressors. Though it is not immediately clear how social support influences wellbeing, the most likely explanation would be that it keeps peoples reactivity to stress relatively low through a positive appraisal of the potential stressors in the context of close relationships.

Expressing enthusiasm

Beyond building intimate communities of faith there is a moral imperative to be passionate about the cause of loving our neighbors. It is not enough to identify with the suffering of others without being a part of their journey toward wholeness. What good is a relationship if it lacks depth? A superficial relationship is one that is only on the surface, often because of the need to please others. This is not love. It is false pretense. It is pride looking for glory by masking as love. In the words of Apostle Paul, Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:4-6). The excitement that comes from loving one another, especially the most vulnerable amongst us, comes with an enduring passion of long suffering for the sake of seeing others thrive and flourish. Our job is not yet done until we see the most vulnerable succeed and regain the resources lost to covid.

Unflinching commitment to love

In order to hang on to that binary thread of hope and enthusiasm for the sake of a neighbors welfare, we need commitment to the cause of love. The commitment process in loving our neighbor can help support the psychological recovery of those who have experienced great suffering due to covid, as they build the spiritual resilience and fortitude to withstand the wiles of loss.

Most importantly, such commitment must see them through to becoming better followers of Jesus through an intentional discipleship process that seeks to love people with purpose and lead them into a deeper relationship with Christ.

Love is the nature of God's outflowing affection. It is an invitation to develop a genuine, meaningful relationship with the most vulnerable amongst us. It is the genuine enthusiasm to love our regular and remote neighbors in times of suffering and loss as Christ would, and a commitment to see the weak amongst us stand strong. If Christ were to walk the earth today, I am sure that his response to Covid would be to love the most vulnerable, and so should you.

The Better Samaritan blog is produced by the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, a research institute which specializes in resilience and spiritual fortitude. To learn more and apply for a M.A. in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership, visit our website

Victor Counted, PhD., is an interdisciplinary psychological scientist and incoming associate professor in the School of Psychology and Counselling at Regent University. He is also a faculty affiliate of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and fellow of Western Sydney Universitys School of Psychology. His work examines how various aspects of psychosocial and psychospiritual resources shape health and well-being across cultures. He can be found online at www.vcounted.com or on Facebook and Twitter @VCounted.
Grove City College insists its not going woke. A new report from the conservative Christian college in Pennsylvania denounced school-sponsored courses and trainings they say promoted CRT concepts and characterized inviting historian Jemar Tisby to speak at a 2020 chapel service as a mistake.

Grove City College has not changed, a committee composed largely of Grove City board members said in the report released last week. It remains a Christ-centered, conservative institution.

The report, a product of the committees assignment to ascertain any mission drift at the college, recommends re-adding the word conservative to the schools mission statement after it was removed in 2021 and lists remedial actions to curb the promotion of critical race theory at the school.

These actions include replacing an education course accused of promoting pop-CRT, rebranding the schools Office of Multicultural Education and Initiatives, and exercising increased scrutiny of guest speakers and student trainings.

Tisby, The New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise and How to Fight Racism, told Religion News Service the report uses CRT as a junk drawer for anything about race or justice that makes a certain type of person feel uncomfortable.

Because of the rhetoric around CRT, he said, much needed conversations about racial justice are being muted in the environments where they are needed most, such as Christian colleges and universities.

Others found the report encouraging. Megan Basham, an author at conservative news outlet The Daily Wire, tweeted that it offered a straight-forward, honest assessment, and said she appreciated its clarifying description of how CRT is incompatible with the schools mission. Well worth reading the entire report. Bravo!

Matt Kennedy, rector at an Anglican church in Binghamton, New York, and his wife Anne Carlson Kennedy praised the report on their podcast.

The best part of it is the description of critical race theory upfront, which is just one of the best short summaries of the problems of critical race theory Ive ever read, said Matt Kennedy.

The report says critical race theory is incompatible with the schools vision, mission, and values because it evaluates people based on their race and antiracist works, cant be separated from political activism, uncharitably detects aggression where none is intended and sometimes demeans rational argument as itself racist and oppressive.

The school, which has just 2,400 full-time students, was first accused of promoting critical race theory, an academic framework that sees racism as embedded in institutions and policies, in a November petition authored by Grove City parents and alumni. The petition alleged that this destructive and profoundly unbiblical worldview was asserted at the college in a fall 2020 chapel presentation by Tisby.

The petition also called into question the chapel screening of a pre-recorded TED talk by Bryan Stevenson, an Equal Justice Initiative founder and criminal justice reform advocate; as well as a Resident Assistant training that invoked the concepts of white privilege and white guilt. Additionally, the petition decried several books used in an education studies class and in focus groups, including Ibram X. Kendis How To Be an Antiracist and Wheaton professor Esau McCaulleys Reading While Black.

That initial petition triggered a flood of follow-up petitions, articles, and open letters debating whether the school had forsaken its traditional values. In February, the colleges board of trustees categorically rejected critical race theory and introduced a committee to investigate the allegations of mission-drift. Grove City College did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The report notes that Tisbys October 2020 chapel presentation is the chapel service that has drawn the most attention from critics. According to the report, most Grove City leaders interviewed said inviting Tisby to speak in chapel was a mistake due to what they described as his evolution.

Most of those in GCC leadership with whom we spoke observed that the Jemar Tisby that we thought we invited in 2019 is not the Jemar Tisby that we heard in 2020 or that we now read about, the report stated, citing Tisbys short stint as assistant director of narrative and advocacy at Ibram X. Kendis Center for Antiracist Research and the progressive policies he advocates in his latest book as evidence of his transformation.

Tisby told RNS that his convictions did not change between 2019 and 2020  what changed was the socio-political climate.

The chapel in question, called The Urgency of Now, was a 21-minute sermon that drew parallels between the biblical story of Esther and the modern-day movement for racial justice. Tisby quoted Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream speech and letter from Birmingham Jail and called on those in attendance to engage in racial justice work.

Many of you, unfortunately, are in the target demographic whom King called the white moderate,' Tisby said in the chapel. Tisby asked the listeners to fill your minds with an awareness of racial justice so that five, 10, 20 years from now, you dont have to say I never knew.'

Tisby told RNS the allegations that his sermon promoted CRT are ludicrous. While the November petition charged Tisby with being an outspoken apologist for CRT, Tisby said he has never been trained in critical race theory.

What most people, including compilers of this report, are calling critical race theory is not critical race theory, he said. My work is influenced by the study of history. It doesnt take a specific training in critical race theory to understand that racism is not simply a matter of personal prejudice but a matter of policy.

The report also found that an educational course called Cultural Diversity and Advocacy effectively promoted pop-CRT because it offered readings such as Kendis How To Be an Antiracist, Robin DiAngelos White Fragility, and Ta-Nehisi Coatess Between the World and Me without a critical or opposing perspective.

It found that the director of Multicultural Education and Initiatives promoted woke concepts in a book club and parroted CRT concepts in a training for Resident Assistants that criticized the concept of race neutrality.

Warren Throckmorton, a professor of psychology at Grove City, said he doesnt have a lot of confidence in the reports findings because it offers a faulty definition of CRT. According to Throckmorton, the report says CRT embraces biological distinctions  however, he said, CRT rejects biological distinctions because it sees race as socially constructed. He also pointed to a footnote that says: Our references to CRT include popular CRT-adjacent advocacy cloaked in the secular or religious language of social justice.

That could be anything, couldnt it? asked Throckmorton. So when they say they found CRT, what did they really find?

While the report promises not to ban books, Throckmorton said that promise has done little to reassure professors who are questioning if and how to teach on topics like health disparities or social justice in the classroom. Natalie Kahler, a Grove City alumna (94) who authored a March 8 petition asking the school not to inhibit discussions about racism on campus, told RNS shes worried the reports findings could lead to indoctrinating and not educating, especially given the fact that Grove City professors dont receive tenure and are given one-year contracts.

If you create an environment where people are constantly afraid for their job, and are afraid something they might say could be interpreted as CRT because everybody is interpreting CRT in very different ways, theyre creating a culture where people arent going to be able to have hard conversations, said Khaler.

In March, Jon Fea, professor of American history at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, wrote an article showing Grove Citys board chair, Edward D. Breen, has advocated for diversity, equity, and inclusion as CEO of the chemicals company DuPont. (I)s the Edward Breen who led the Grove City College Boards condemnation of critical race theory the same guy working for racial justice at DuPont? Fea asks.

Another board member, David Forney, is pastor of a Charlottesville church and has offered a list of racial justice resources to his congregation on the church website, including TED Talks by Bryan Stevenson and the books How To Be an Antiracist and Between the World and Me, both of which the report characterized as promoting pop-CRT.

I am puzzled that these resources are considered fine and helpful for a board member to recommend to his congregation but are considered off-mission for our faculty to assign as study resources for a college course, Throckmorton said in an email to RNS. Neither Breen nor Forney could be reached for comment.

Tisby said that the CRT debate at Grove City points to a broader sorting in Christian higher education between schools working to be more racially and ethnically inclusive and those doubling down on appealing to a very small but loyal constituency that does not want to meaningfully engage with vital conversations around racism.

On his podcast, Kennedy suggested that Grove City is exemplifying how other Christian organizations ought to approach CRT. Congregations, denominations, need to start seeing wokeness as a heresy, said Kennedy. He added that the language employed by especially Christian wokesters is very, very gospel-like. And so the unwary can be pulled-in and you have compassion on them. But the leaders of this thing, those people need to be driven out of the church.

Tisby said Grove Citys response to CRT should be taken as a warning.

(A)nyone, regardless of race or ethnicity, who speaks up for racial justice could be a victim of these kinds of attacks, Tisby said. And, I would say, these actions are all the more lamentable because they come out of Christian institutions. We follow a savior who said, You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. But we have people who profess to be followers of Christ, who seem to be running from the truth about racism.
Federal judge temporarily blocks Biden admin. from ending Title 42 border policy

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from ending Title 42 restrictions enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic aimed at limiting asylum seekers who can apply for protection at the U.S. and Mexico border.

Judge Robert Summerhays, a Trump appointee, granted a motion for a temporary restraining order preventing the Biden administration from lifting Title 42 rules issued under the Trump administration in March 2020. A lawsuit against the administration's plan was filed by Missouri, Louisiana and Arizona.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced the restraining order on Monday.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention implemented the measure to limit the number of asylum seekers applying for protection at the U.S. and Mexico border. But the CDC announced its decision to end the order on April 1, with the Biden administration intending to implement the termination on May 23.

"Today, the Court announced its intention to grant a temporary restraining order in Missouri, Louisiana, and Arizona's lawsuit against the Biden Administration over their planned suspension of Title 42," Schmitt wrote. "This temporary restraining order is expected to keep Title 42 in place until further court proceedings, a critical win for border security and the rule of law. My Office will continue to fight to secure the border and protect Missourians."

Former Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan, who now serves as a visiting fellow at the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, told The Christian Post the judge's ruling the right decision for health protection in this country."

Homan believes Title 42 has been very successful in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and improving border security.

The truth is we want to keep less infection from coming to the United States but also give border patrol more operational capability because when they close the borders, less people are coming, and that means border patrol ... can more than hold down the line, they're vigilant, to protect our national security, the former Trump administration official said.

Several Democrats voiced opposition to lifting the public health directive, including Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly of Arizona. As Roll Call reported, the senators wrote in a March 24 letter to President Joe Biden that while Title 42 "should not be in effect indefinitely," it should remain in place until the administration implemented a better plan to process migrants' claims.

The senators warned that abruptly ending a policy without a clear plan for replacing it would "significantly increase the strain on [Department of Homeland Security], border communities, and local nonprofits that are already near or at capacity."

The senators also contend that the administration had not communicated with local government and community leaders in Arizona about changes to the policy.

Last month when talking to reporters, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., also voiced opposition to lifting Title 42.

"If anything we should be looking at permanency on Title 42," he said. "Maybe that would spur us to get a good immigration policy that works for Americans and secure our borders  the borders have to be secure," he said.

The progressive legal organization American Civil Liberties Union claimed in a March 29 statement that it believes Title 42 has been "misused as a border enforcement tool."

"Our government has the tools it needs to safely screen people at the border, as our laws require, to determine whether they qualify for asylum or other humanitarian protections," the group wrote. "The CDC should resist any political interference from the White House and end Title 42 in its entirety."

The CDC had voted to extend the Title 42 order in late January due to an uptick in COVID-19 cases caused by the omicron variant. This past March, the CDC delayed implementing an order to rescind Title 42 until May 23 to allow Homeland Security to prepare for a dramatic increase in border crossings within the next few months.

According to federal statistics submitted to a federal court earlier this month, DHS reported 221,303 total encounters at the Southwest Border during March. As CBS News reported last month, the government carried out 1.7 million deportations under Title 42.
USCIRF laments 'disastrous downward spiral' for religious freedom in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON  For the first time in 20 years, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is recommending that the U.S. State Department designate Afghanistan as a country of particular concern as the Talibans takeover has led to a surge in the persecution of religious minorities.

At a press conference on Monday, USCIRF Chair Nadine Maenza spoke about the 2022 Annual Report, which highlights both state and non-state actors that are engaged in the most egregious violations of religious freedom.

USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. advisory body dedicated to promoting the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad, she said, explaining that the annual report classifies countries as either a country of particular concern or placement on a special watch list. USCIRF has been authorized to compile reports on violators since the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

The report classifies countries as either a country of particular concern or placement on a special watch list. Maenza defined countries of particular concern as countries whose governments engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.

Meanwhile, countries recommended for placement on a special watch list meet two but not all three of the systematic, ongoing and egregious categories, she said.

The religious freedom violations in Afghanistan, where conditions have deteriorated following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, loomed large in the report.

Religious conditions there went into an immediate and disastrous downward spiral following the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021 and the immediate takeover by the Taliban," Maenza said. "While we had long been concerned about conditions in Afghanistan, the Talibans return to power has had a chilling impact on religious freedom and [the] broader human rights environment.

Given this precipitous decline in 2021, USCIRF has taken the steps of recommending in this years annual report that the State Department designate Afghanistan under the de facto rule of the Taliban as a country of particular concern, or a [CPC] state, she added. USCIRF last recommended Afghanistan for designation as a country of particular concern in 2001, just before the ousting of the previous Taliban regime, which had controlled most of the country since 1996.

According to the report, Afghans who do not adhere to the Talibans harsh and strict interpretation of Sunni Islam and adherents of other faiths or beliefs are at risk of grave danger. Reports indicate that the Taliban continue to persecute religious minorities and punish residents in areas under their control in accordance with their extreme interpretation of Islamic law.

USCIRF has received credible reports that religious minorities, including nonbelievers and Muslims with differing beliefs from the Taliban, were harassed and their houses of worship desecrated," the report adds. "By years end, the one known Jew and most Hindus and Sikhs had fled the country. Christian converts, Bahais and Ahmadiyya Muslims practiced their faith in hiding due to fear of reprisal and threats from the Taliban and separately from the Islamic State-Khorassan Province.

While Maenza praised the Biden administration for its continued prioritization of international religious freedom during the first year, she pushed for stronger condemnation of religious freedom violations in Nigeria.

The State Department labeled 10 of the 15 countries USCIRF recommended for designation as countries of particular concern on its November 2021 list of such countries, but Nigeria and Afghanistan were two of the five additional countries singled out as religious freedom violators that did not make it onto the list.

In addition to Afghanistan and Nigeria, the countries USCIRF also recommended for designation as countries of particular concern that did not make it onto the State Departments official list were India, Syria and Vietnam. Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan comprised the State Departments list of countries of particular concern, which overlapped with USCIRFs recommendations.

The report urged the Biden administrations State Department to add nine additional countries to its December 2021 Special Watch List, which already includes Algeria, Cuba and Nicaragua. USCIRF recommended the addition of Azerbaijan, the Central African Republic, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey and Uzbekistan to the Special Watch List.

A third category, entities of particular concern, listed nonstate actors that engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom, according to the report. This year, the list of nine EPCs consisted of al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Houthis, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), ISIS-Greater Sahara, ISIS-West Africa, Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, and the Taliban.

During the press conference, USCIRF Commissioner Anurima Bhargava said, this year, we actually did not have any dissents on any of the chapters in the report. Bhargava remarked that the absence of dissents reflected that the commissioners agreed on recommendations that were made in the report. Maenza reported that traditionally, all chapters in the report are approved by a majority vote.

The unanimity surrounding the recommendations in the report is notable because the commissioners represent different religious, political and professional backgrounds. USCIRF currently consists of three members appointed by Republicans and five appointed by Democrats. Commissioners include Republican-appointed Tony Perkins of the socially conservative think-tank Family Research Council, a Christian; Democrat-appointed Khizr Khan, a Muslim; and Democrat-appointed Sharon Kleinbaum, a Jewish rabbi.

The report is nearly 100 pages long and devotes about 1,800 words to each of the 27 countries recommended for designation as either a country of particular concern or for placement on the special watch list. Maenza mentioned that USCIRF compiles longer, more in-depth reports about specific countries throughout the year.

In a statement released Friday, Maenza said they were "disheartened by the deterioration of freedom of religion or belief in some countries  especially Afghanistan."

"Religious minorities have faced harassment, detention, and even death due to their faith or beliefs, and years of progress toward more equitable access to education and representation of women and girls have disappeared.
Steve Harvey tells 'Family Feud' audience God has given every living soul a gift

Internationally recognized comedian Steven Harvey used his time between Family Feud segments to speak to the audience about their god-given gifts.

The key is to locate your gift, he said. Its not your talent. Your talent has nothing to do with it. Be very careful with what you're talented in and passionate about. They sound like the same thing. What you are gifted at is your quest.

The 65-year-old TV personality advised the younger audience members to identify their respective gifts because therein lies your greatest chance for success, adding: Every living soul God created at birth, He gave all of you a gift. All of you in this room are gifted. All of you are gifted. Listen to me. All of you are gifted individuals.

Teaching is a gift, he said. Networking is a gift. Working with your hands is a gift. Being a caregiver is a gift. Babysitting is a gift; some people are just really good at it. All of this turns into something.

To make his point  and to show the difference between a talent and a gift  Harvey told the crowd about one of his childhood friends, whom he called Clipper.

Clipper, Harvey recalled, spent all his spare time cutting grass. Nowadays, Harveys 62-year-old friend owns an incredibly successful landscaping business in Cleveland, Ohio, bringing in $4 million a year.

You know what Clipper do? Harvey is heard saying in a clip posted on his YouTube page. Clipper cut grass. He dont do nothin but cut grass. He found his gift and he was gifted at it. His gift has made room for him.

In the video, titled Motivated Steve Harvey, the comedian advised those in the Family Feud audience to copy the Clipper who has found their gift.

Your gift might be frying chicken, Harvey continued. Some of yall bake pie. Some of yall do hair. Some of yall fix cars. Some of yall paint. Go do that. Do your gift. Dont worry about which one of them talents. The reason youre struggling with that talent is because that aint what you was built to do. You were built to do your gift.

Discover your gift, change your life, Harvey instructed. Thats the secret.

Harvey regularly uses his platforms to speak about God and Jesus, including on his new show, "Judge Steve Harvey." However, Harvey stunned many of his Christian fans last year after he revealed that he believes there's more than one way to Heaven.

Last year, Harvey posted a video on his official YouTube channel titled How Steve Harvey Prays that shows him at Abu Dhabis Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is a majority Muslim Persian Gulf nation where Islam is the official religion. While Christian expatriates in the UAE are allowed to worship in private, they are prohibited by law from praying in public or evangelizing.

"There's no one way to Heaven, no one way to paradise, Harvey declared. It's like television, now there's over 800 channels on cable, and they're all pretty entertaining. So I'm pretty sure that to get to Heaven, there's got to be more than one route. Because somebody watching another channel or taking another channel than you, they're still getting entertained, and they probably still getting to Heaven.

In the Bible, however, Jesus clearly states that He is the only way.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me, Jesus said in John 14:6. And in John 8:24 Jesus said: For unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins.

The Apostle Peter echoed the words of Christ in Acts 4:12, saying, Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Harvey captioned the video by writing, Theres many ways to serve GOD and keep your faith. My trip to The Emirates always reminds me how we can live in harmony and in the much-needed peace we all crave globally."

In the nearly five-minute video, Harvey also shows viewers the exterior of the Mary Mother of Jesus Mosque, which is located near St. Andrews Anglican church. The mosque was renamed in 2017 by the order of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan to consolidate bonds of humanity between followers of different religions, Al Arabiya reported at the time.

"Can you imagine a mosque with the name Jesus on it? Yeah, the world could use a little bit more of that, Harvey said while standing outside the mosque that was renamed Mariam Umm Eisa (Mary Mother of Jesus Mosque).
Andrew Garfield drawn to 'spiritual life': If I wasnt an actor, Id be doing theological study

Actor Andrew Garfield who gained international recognition for his superhero role in Spider-Man: No Way Home, revealed that he's drawn to films that deal with faith and spirituality.

Garfield has starred in films based on true stories or about people of faith throughout his career, from playing World War II Army medic Desmond T. Doss in Hacksaw Ridge to evangelist Jim Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

Now he's starring in the true-crime series Under the Banner of Heaven, inspired by Jon Krakauer's bestseller of the same name. In the FX limited series, the actor plays a detective wrestling with matters of faith and murder.

Questions of faith and spirituality, and the mystery of a spiritual life, is what Im drawn to the most, Garfield said in an interview with Vanity Fair.

He continued, If I wasnt an actor, I think Id be doing some kind of theological study, and Dustins adaptation is that. He presents a study and a set of circumstances and unpicks the notion of fundamentalism and extremism, and how it undermines the virtues and the goodness that can come from having faith."

In the past, however, Garfield's views about religion were scattered and confused.

In 2016 Garfield told The Hollywood Reporter, Im not a Christian person. I consider myself pantheist, agnostic, occasionally atheist, and a little bit Jewish, but mostly confused.

It's not clear where Garfield now stands concerning his faith journey because, in 2017, he recalled falling in love with Jesus Christ while playing a priest, Father Sebastiao Rodrigues, in Martin Scorseses film, Silence.

What was really easy was falling in love with this person, was falling in love with Jesus Christ, that was the most surprising thing, the celebrity told America magazine at the time. That was the most remarkable thing  falling in love, and how easy it was to fall in love with Jesus.

In another recent interview with Collider, the 38-year-old revealed that his motivation for portraying characters with faith storylines comes from a fascination with life and death.

Life and death is everything, he noted. The finite nature of being here and then suddenly dying is what intrigues him.

For me, its a very fertile ground that is endlessly interesting, he added. Because if youre dealing with spirituality, youre dealing with faith, then youre really dealing with life and death. And whats more vital? Whats a greater question?
Hyderabad: With the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) all set to celebrate its foundation day on April 27 with a plenary here, hoardings hailing the party head and Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao are visible across TS and in other states as well.

They are on display in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Modi, as also in UP and Bihar.

The TRS hoardings carry Chandrashekar Raos image alongside those of son K.T. Rama Rao, daughter K. Kavitha, and nephew T. Harish Rao, among others.

These hoardings were put up by TRS leader from Qutbullapur constituency, Telangana Sai, who boldly proclaimed that KCR, the Telangana Chief Minister, is the nations future leader.

With the slogan Desh Ka Neta, the hoardings in Gujarats Gandhinagar address the locals there in Gujarati. Those erected in Bihars capital Patna and Uttar Pradeshs Lucknow are in Hindi, highlighting the achievements of the Telangana CM.
Judge holds Trump in contempt of court, orders him to pay $10K each day until he complies

A New York judge has held former President Donald Trump in contempt of court for refusing to hand over documents as part of an investigation into financial dealings and will have to pay $10,000 every day until he complies.

Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York County State Supreme Court ruled Monday that Trump is in contempt of court by refusing to follow an earlier order surrounding the finances of the Trump Organization.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office has been investigating the Trump Organization over concerns about its financial practices, had subpoenaed Trump for various documents relating to the investigation.

James' office is investigating Trump and the Trump organization in an attempt to determine if they "improperly inflated" the value of Trumps assets on annual financial statements to secure loans and tax benefits.

Today, justice prevailed, James said in a statement. For years, Donald Trump has tried to evade the law and stop our lawful investigation into him and his companys financial dealings. Todays ruling makes clear: No one is above the law.

Trump's lawyers have argued that Trump doesn't possess any records that the attorney general's office is asking for. However, Engoron contends that Trump's legal team has not offered any details about how such a search was conducted. Trump's lawyers plan to appeal the judge's contempt of court ruling.

In February, Judge Engoron rejected Trump's attempt to challenge the attorney generals subpoena, instead stating that the former president had to comply in full.

After Trump refused to provide the documents by the end of March, James' office filed a motion for contempt on April 7 against Trump.

The New York Times reports that in a hearing on Monday, an attorney stated that the attorney general's office is preparing to file an action against Trump in the near future, likely a lawsuit.

Trump released a statement last week denouncing the investigation as a never-ending Witch Hunt that ignored more pressing problems in New York.

"[T]he racist and highly partisan Attorney General of New York State, failed Gubernatorial candidate Letitia James, should focus her efforts on saving the State of New York and ending its reputation as a Crime Capital of the World, instead of spending millions of dollars and utilizing a large portion of her office in going after Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization, stated Trump.

This never-ending Witch Hunt must stop. We dont need racist political hacks going after good, hardworking people for highly partisan political gain. The people of our Country see right through it all, and wont take this Radical Left sickness anymore. Make New York Great Again!
PCUSA lost 51K members, 100-plus churches, 4 presbyteries in 2021: report

The Presbyterian Church (USA) lost over 51,000 members in 2021, as well as over 100 congregations, and even four regional bodies known as presbyteries, according to a new report.

The largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States announced the release of its annual statistics on Monday, which were compiled by the PC(USA) Office of the General Assembly.

According to the latest numbers, PC(USA) saw its number of congregations drop from 8,925 in 2020 to 8,813 in 2021. It also saw its active membership decline from approximately 1.24 million in 2020 to 1.19 million in 2021.

The mainline Protestant denomination also saw a drop in the number of clergy, going from 18,785 ministers in 2020 to 18,458 in 2021, or a decline of 372.

In contrast to recent years, PC(USA) also saw a slight decline in the number of presbyteries that make up the denomination, going from a total 170 in 2020 to 166 in 2021.

This loss of four regional bodies can be traced to two events, the first being the reorganization of presbyteries in New Jersey in March of last year, which saw the number of regional bodies in the state go from seven to four.

The second took place in California last July, when the Presbyteries of Sacramento and Stockton merged to form the Presbytery of North Central California. The merger came in response to a drop in member congregations.

In an announcement about the results on Monday, PC(USA) General Assembly Stated Clerk J. Herbert Nelson emphasized that the drop in membership was smaller than the year before.

We have come to the realization that our church has been forever changed by this pandemic, explained Nelson.

But this report shows that even though the number of active members continues to go down, we are seeing a slight slowdown in number of people leaving.

While noting declines in various areas, the statistics also reported a slight increase in the number of youth professions of faith and professions of faith & reaffirmations.

According to the numbers, youth professions increased from 5,319 in 2020 to 5,708 in 2021, while reaffirmations and professions of faith rose from 9,210 in 2020 to 10,921 in 2021.

These numbers are both well below pre-pandemic levels, as 2019 saw 9,023 youth professions of faith and 21,408 professions of faith and reaffirmations.

The challenge for the PC(USA) and other Christian denominations is reaching and retaining young people, developing new leaders for tomorrows church, said Nelson, as quoted in the announcement.

I am encouraged to see this turning around and it will be imperative that we find new ways of being church in the years to come.

Approximately 82% of the churches in the PC(USA) submitted data for the report, representing 91% of all denominational membership.

Over the past couple of decades, as with most other religious groups in the U.S., PC(USA) has experienced a considerable decline in its membership and number of congregations.

In 2011, the mainline denomination slipped below the 2 million active member mark, while in 2014 PC(USA) saw its total number of congregations go below the 10,000 mark.

One factor in its decline has been its increasingly theologically liberal stance on LGBT issues, which has prompted hundreds of congregations to leave in protest in recent years.

In 2010, the PC(USA) voted to allow presbyteries to ordain non-celibate homosexuals and changed its definition of marriage in 2015 from "a man and a woman" to "two people, traditionally a man and a woman."

In 2019, PC(USA) church in Virginia ordained the first clergy candidate who identified as gender nonbinary.
PCUSA Lost Nearly 5 Percent Membership in 2017; Over 800K Decline in 10 Years, Stats Reveal

Presbyterian Church (USA) has continued its years-long decline in numbers, losing nearly 5 percent of its membership in 2017, according to recently released official statistics.

Statistics released by the PCUSA Office of the General Assembly found that the mainline denomination had approximately 1.415 million members in 2017 compared to 1.482 million members in 2016, or a loss of over 67,000 members.

The 2017 membership total is also a quarter of a million fewer than reported in 2014 (1.667 million) and over 1 million fewer members than in 2000.

PCUSA also reported having 147 fewer congregations in 2017 than 2016, with the total going from 9,451 churches in 2016 to 9,304 in 2017. This decrease for 2017 included 45 congregations being dismissed to join other denominations.

The 45 dismissed congregations number is a noticeable decrease from years 20142016, when between 99 and 104 churches were granted dismissal on an annual basis.

General Assembly Stated Clerk J. Herbert Nelson II, head of PCUSA, said in a statement released Monday that he believed it "is clear that Presbyterians are doing poorly at evangelism."

"Churches leaving was a temporary roadblock. Our inability to share the faith, to demonstrate the power and justice of Jesus Christ and His church to change a world where inequality, injustice, violence and war seem to gain strength daily is a critical factor in our failure to grow," said Nelson.

Despite the news of further decline, Nelson also said that he believed the PCUSA was "not dying" but rather "reforming."

"... and that reformation must be built on a vision of God's kin-dom that is compelling to people who find us lacking," continued Nelson, using the term "kin-dom" in place of the usual "kingdom."

"We have that vision  it is part and parcel of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We simply must find new ways to proclaim it and, more importantly, live it out in our congregations."

One factor in the decline has been the increasingly liberal theological direction of the PCUSA, which in recent years has seen hundreds of congregations vote to leave the mainline church for, among other things, its increasing acceptance of homosexuality.

Conservative bodies formed largely from churches that split from PCUSA over the past several years include The Presbyterian Church in America, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, formerly called the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians.

In an analysis of the overall numbers posted Monday, Jeff Walton of the theologically conservative Institute on Religion & Democracy noted that the decline has also made PCUSA less racially diverse.

"The denomination is 91 percent white, not reflective of a diversifying United States population," wrote Walton.

"In 2012, the PCUSA reported that it was 89.9 percent white, indicating that the denomination has somehow become both numerically smaller and less diverse in the same period of time that the United States population grew in size and became more diverse."

The statistics on the PCUSA were released in advance of the denomination's 223rd General Assembly, scheduled for June 1623 in St. Louis, Missouri.
PC(USA) lost over 140 churches, nearly 5 percent of active members in 2018

The Presbyterian Church (USA) lost over 140 congregations and nearly five percent of its active membership in 2018, according to recently released statistics by the denominations Office of the General Assembly.

While still the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, from 2017 to 2018 PC(USA) saw their active membership decline by 62,375 people, going from approximately 1.41 million to approximately 1.35 million.

The number of PC(USA) member congregations also fell, going from 9,304 in 2017 to 9,161 in 2018, or a difference of 143 congregations.

PC(USA) did see a decline in the number of congregations dismissed to other denominations, going from 77 churches in 2017 to 46 in 2018, as well as a slight increase in new worship communities, from 144 in 2017 to 158 in 2018.

In a statement released last week, the OGA of PC(USA) pointed out that the overall decline in active members appeared to be slowing down over the past year.

For example, in 2015 the mainline denomination lost 90,000 active members, a decline much larger than the 67,000 plus lost in 2017, itself larger than the 62,000 plus lost last year.

While the difference is not great, we are encouraged by the slowing trend downward, said the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA), in the statement. The church of the 21st century is changing and we still believe God is preparing us for great things in the future.

God is moving through churches, presbyteries and synods, finding new, innovative ways to share the gospel with a lost world and we are thankful for that.

Nelson also stated that he believed statistics showed that the denomination must do a better job of reaching out to younger generations.

The real work internally is creating opportunities for youth and young adults to be taken seriously by our congregations, continued Nelson.

Many of them bring fresh perspectives to a rapidly changing world that can assist both sessions and congregations to live into 21st century ministries and new evangelism possibilities.

As with other mainline denominations, PC(USA) has seen its number gradually decline over the past few decades. In 2011, the Church had its membership go below the 2 million mark.

In 2000, PC(USA) reported approximately 2.5 million members, meaning that at present the denomination is getting close to having half as many members as they did a generation ago.

Jeff Walton of the theologically conservative Institute on Religion & Democracy wrote that at the current rate of decline, he believed the PC(USA) will not exist in about 20 years.

A net 37 percent of members have died, transferred out, or simply vanished in the past decade, wrote Walton, who pointed out that this decline has continued amidst the PC(USA) pursuing theologically liberal positions.

Walton went on to note that other, more conservative Presbyterian denominations are faring better when it comes to membership numbers.

In 2012, ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, was formed by congregations departing the PC(USA), while the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) split from the PC(USA)s Northern predecessor body in 1981 and has continued to attract congregations from the PC(USA), continued Walton.

Separately, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) split from the PC(USA)s Southern predecessor body in 1973 and has posted 7 percent growth over the past five years.
Satanic Temple sues school board for rejecting After School Satan Club

The Satanic Temple has filed a civil suit against a Pennsylvania elementary school only a few days after the district voted down a parents request to create an after-school Satan club for non-religious students.

The Dillsburg-based Northern York County School Board rejected the establishment of an After School Satan Club at the districts Northern Elementary School in an 8-1 vote on April 19. Samantha Groomer, the mother behind the proposal, said she suggested the club as a secular alternative to the Joy El Christian club, which operates in nine of 16 of the countys school districts and offers off-campus activities.

Parents and others gathered at the Pennsylvania school board meeting applauded after the idea for the club was denied, as seen in a clip of the meeting obtained by The York Daily Record. In response, Satanic Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves promised the group would pursue legal action.

Mathew Kezhaya, general counsel for The Satanic Temple, told The Christian Post that the issue being litigated is whether the school board discriminated against the Satan-worshipping group.

Kezhaya alleged that school officials told The Satanic Temple that removing the word Satan from the clubs name would improve its chance of approval. Another issue regarding the groups equal access to government property stems from the superintendent reportedly expressing concern about public backlash."

"This is direct evidence that the government improperly considered the popularity of the club's communicative activity when determining whether the club should be entitled to equal access to government property," Kezhaya told CP.



"The First Amendment prohibits a government from considering the popularity of communicative activity when determining whether to facilitate that communicative activity on equal terms with other, similarly situated, groups."

Some school districts have adopted extracurriculars sponsored by the Satanic Temple, such as the Jane Addams Elementary School in Moline, Illinois. In January, the school received criticism for passing out flyers promoting an After School Satan Club, defending the decision by claiming it does not discriminate against any groups looking to rent its facilities.

Similarly, the Lebanon City School District in Lebanon, Ohio, also faced pushback in January for allowing the Satanic Temple to host an after-school activity for elementary school children.

The After School Satan Club contends that U.S. Supreme Court precedent grants the club the right to hold meetings on public grounds after regular hours.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 in the case of Good News Club v. Milford Central School that schools operate a limited public forum and that, as such, they may not discriminate against religious speech should a religious organization choose to operate an After School Club on their premises.

In its handbook, the After School Satan Club claims to focus on free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis for which we know what we know about the world around us. The group also contends that it uses Satan in its title because, to them, the devil is not a supernatural being.

Instead, Satan is a literary figure that represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny over the human mind and spirit, the handbook reads.

It is our goal to provide a fun, intellectually stimulating, and non-proselytizing alternative to current religious after-school clubs being offered in our public schools, which aim to indoctrinate children into their religious view, the handbook continues.

We are not offering any materials or lectures to your child about Satanism; instead, our focus will be on free inquiry and rationalism, bolstering scientific understandings of the natural world, and nurturing your childs already awesome ability to be curious about the wonders around them.

The Satanic Temple and the Northern Elementary School did not immediately respond to The Christian Posts request for comment.
COVID-19 restrictions 'harmed' religious minorities, violated freedom to practice faith: USCIRF report

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom warned Wednesday that some countries have used COVID-19 restrictions to discriminate against religious minorities or blame them for the spread of the virus.

USCIRF, a bipartisan commission tasked with informing Congress and the federal government about global religious freedom concerns, released its 2021 annual report detailing the international religious freedom conditions in a year plagued by a pandemic.

The cover of this years report, which details where religious freedom is improving or in peril, features a globe shrouded in a face mask, showing the worldwide implications the pandemic had.

USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin said at a press conference that though public health measures in most countries to slow the spread of COVID-19 complied with international human rights standards, some countries used these measures to discriminate against religious minorities.

Unfortunately, it had a negative impact in many ways , she said. What we found to be unacceptable were where minorities were targeted in much stricter fashion, and their activities were restricted much more harshly than other religions across the country, and thats where the problem arose.

Also, there were countries that literally blamed the COVID-19 virus on a particular religion, [claiming] that they were responsible for the spread of that virus across their country, she continued.

Some countries used the pandemic as an excuse to punish and penalize minority religious groups.

While many of these restrictions were justifiable under public health exceptions defined in international law, some restrictions harmed religious minorities or otherwise violated freedom of religion or belief, the report reads.

Where certain religions were targeted or blamed for causing the spread of the virus, there was a greater risk of being arrested and placed in prison or deplorable conditions.

As the restrictions are lifted, we will be watching very closely to make sure that those restrictions are being lifted fairly across the country to all religions, Manchin said.

One example is Malaysia, where non-Muslim houses of worship, including Hindu temples and Christian churches, were not prioritized for reopening and faced different reopening times than mosques. Additionally, the country banned refugees and migrants from entering mosques.

In Turkey, an individual attempted to set fire to an Armenian church for bringing the coronavirus.

USCIRF noted that in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, government authorities indicated Shia religious communities were responsible for the spread of coronavirus and subjected some neighborhoods and localities to stricter lockdown measures.

In Pakistan, Sunni extremist groups blamed Shia Muslims for bringing coronavirus to Pakistan, calling it the Shia virus. According to the report, these extremists were egged on by government and media claims that the virus came from pilgrims returning from Iran.

USCIRF also reported that Muslims in India and Cambodia faced increased stigmatization because some of the earliest patients to test positive for COVID-19 in those countries came from these communities. In India, Muslims were accused of spreading COVID-19, leading to a reported increase in attacks on members of the community.

In Sri Lanka, authorities insisted on the cremation of those who died from COVID-19, including Muslims for whom the practice is religiously prohibited, the report notes. However, the World Health Organization cites a lack of evidence that cremation of COVID-19 victims is necessary for public health reasons. USCIRF expressed concern about this requirement, and welcomed its lifting in early 2021.

The commission reported that the pandemic also fostered a wave of misinformation targeting religious minorities.

The annual report assesses the religious liberty standards in 26 countries to provide policy recommendations to the U.S. government.

USCIRF recommended that the U.S. State Department recognize over half of the countries analyzed as countries of particular concern. The CPC designation is for the worst of the worst countries whose governments engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. The designation carries with it the possibility of sanctions.

USCIRF named 14 countries to be designated CPCs. These include 10 countries already recognized by the State Department as CPCs: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

The remaining four of the commissions CPC list include India, Russia, Syria and Vietnam, which are designated as CPCs by the U.S. State Department.

The Indian government and its allies have reportedly pressured USCIRF to reverse its recommendation to label India as a CPC.

The commission also noted how China continues to be an egregious violator of human rights, specifically toward Christians and Uyghur Muslims.

Tony Perkins, USCIRF vice chair and president of the conservative Christian organization Family Research Council, said China was one of the most troubling developments in this years report.

China is engaged in mass internment of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang Province, which was declared a genocide and crime against humanity by the U.S. government under the Trump administration in January.

The U.S. was the first country to adopt such terms to describe the CCPs human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims.

USCIRF Commissioner Johnnie Moore noted that the USCIRF first highlighted Uyghur persecution in its first report 25 years ago. But he said the world largely ignored the situation. Over two decades later, the plight of Uyghur Muslims in China has only exacerbated.

This is not the time to give the Chinese Communist Party one inch. , Moore, an evangelical author and public relations executive, said. This issue is an issue that sits alone in its severity and its impact, and we speak with one concerted voice on it.

North Korea, another CPC, is an oppressive abuser of human rights and forbids all competing ideologies outside of the deification of its leaders, USCIRF Commissioner Frederick Davie shared.

North Korea treats religion as an existential threat, considering religious believers as hostile enemies of the state, resulting in intense persecution, Davie added.

Nigeria, a CPC, is plagued with Islamic extremist violence in the northeast, communal violence in the Middle Belt and mass kidnappings. James Carr, a USCIRF commissioner, called Nigeria Africas "diamond in the rough."

Nigeria is a country of 200 million-plus citizens, a standing military of 300,000, and reserves of 100,000, and they tell us they cant stop the kidnappings, the rapes, the murders of schoolchildren as well as adults? Let me quote President Biden, Give me a break, man, Carr said.

Another development in this years report the committee raised is the rise of anti-Semitism globally.

USCIRF released a report earlier this month on the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, which focused on findings in 11 European countries.

We saw, all over the world, the Jewish community, in particular, targeted every way you can imagine as the virus spread, including the appropriation of some of the most obvious, egregious, unconscionable anti-Semitic tropes that should be relegated to the ash heap of history, yet they were almost ever-present in parts of Europe and in other places around the world as COVID-19 spread, Moore explained.

Despite the pandemic and the overall worsening of religious freedom worldwide, the commission noted improvement of religious freedom conditions in some countries over the past year, which led to the removal of three countries from the USCIRF Special Watch List.

Bahrain, Central African Republic and Sudan are no longer recommended for the SWL designation since their conditions had improved and no longer met the requirements for that second-tier State Department classification.

Religious liberty in Sudan began improving after its dictator was ousted in 2019, a new constitutional declaration was issued and the transitional government took steps to improve freedom and human rights.

Bahrain, a small Muslim-majority country, has improved by becoming increasingly tolerant of minority religions in recent years.

Perkins said another positive that came from the past year was religious liberty prioritization in U.S. foreign policy.

In June 2020, the Trump administration administered an executive order on advancing international religious freedom, which established religious freedom worldwide as a political priority of the United States."

The USCIRF report includes recommendations for how the U.S. government should respond to religious freedom grievances for each country included in the report.

The report also included a new section detailing how USCIRF recommendations were implemented in 2020 and early 2021, following the release of last year's report.
Yale Divinity School holds first non-Christian service with 'black ecology,' 'pantheistic mysticism'

Two centuries after its founding, Yale Divinity School marked its first-ever non-Christian service in honor of Earth Day.

Around 80 students gathered on April 22 outside the universitys Marquand Chapel to mark the annual observance with singing and non-denominational prayers, according to The Yale Daily News.

A student organizer told the independent student newspaper it was the first time a non-Christian service was held at the Yale Divinity School in its nearly 200-year history.

Master of divinity student Tasha Brownfield led the event, which she described as Indigenous- and Black ecology-based with a sprinkle of cosmology and Pantheistic mysticism.

The event featured an opening speech from Brownfield that included a land acknowledgment and a call for those in attendance to honor and respect the enduring relationships that exist between Native peoples and their land.

There arent many spaces where people who fall outside a very particular Protestant lens can worship authentically at Yale Divinity School, Brownfield, who said she is trying to launch and curate "pantheistic mysticism" as a religious practice, told the newspaper.

So for my colleagues and myself, I decided to make a space where people could worship authentically and include black Theology, Indigenous ecology, some southern charm that separated from the elitism of the institution to something thats really embodied and grounded within this space.

Attendees took part in a chalice lighting ceremony under the Unitarian Universalist tradition, followed by a prayer to the Hindu fertility god Prithivi, which Brownfield described as the religions personification of Earth.

Another student, Nai Garard, gave a speech on Black Ecology, which reportedly spoke to how pushing back against racialized aspects of climate change can be a means toward black liberation, The Daily News reported.

Another 200-year-old theological institution, Harvard Divinity School, held a similar celebration Sunday for Earth Day called Gathering Light, which also featured musical and video performances.

Founded in 1822, Yale Divinity School has hosted Earth Day festivities for over a decade, but Sunday marked the first time a non-Christian service was held at the school.

The universitys website says training for Christian ministry was a main purpose in founding Yale College in 1701. But it wasnt until theology students asked to be recognized as a group distinct from the general student body that the divinity school was officially founded.

Today, Yale Divinity School professes an "enduring commitment to foster the knowledge and love of God through scholarly engagement with Christian traditions in a global, multifaith context."

"Participating in the vibrant life of Yale University, the Divinity School is uniquely positioned to train leaders for church and society given its ecumenical and international character, engagement with music and the arts, and commitment to social justice," the divinity school website reads. "Rigorous scholarly inquiry, corporate worship and spiritual formation, and practical engagement in a variety of ministries enable students to develop their knowledge and skills in a community that welcomes and affirms human diversity."

The school hasn't shied away from controversy when it comes to orthodox Christian teaching.

In 2008, Yale reportedly introduced a course called "Christian Theology and Harry Potter," which explored the popular series to examine Christian themes such as sin, evil and resurrection.

Yale Divinity School made headlines in 2016 when a spokesperson urged Christians not to vote for then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump but to follow Jesus' command to love him just like He teaches people to "love your enemies."

In a column published in USA Today, Yale Communications Director Tom Krattenmaker said that Jesus' command to "love your enemies" applies even in the American political context.
Youth pastor arrested for sending nude pictures to underage girl

Christopher Jaime Reyes, a former youth pastor at Wesley United Methodist Church on Marco Island, Florida, has been arrested for sending nudes pictures and lewd messages to an underage girl on social media.

Detective Lorenzo Smith of the Marco Island Police Department told Wink News that Reyes, 26, was sending nude photographs, some of himself to the victim.

Reyes was arrested on Friday and charged with transmission of material harmful to minors by electronic device or equipment and soliciting a child for unlawful sexual conduct using computer services or devices, Marco Eagle said.

The former youth pastor worked for Wesley United Methodist Church from 2016 to 2021.

Calls made by The Christian Post to the church seeking comment on Monday went unanswered. The police, however, are reportedly looking into whether or not Reyes preyed on any of the children from the church.

Investigators who began investigating Reyes in October 2021 explained that he did not meet his victim at church.

The relationship formed all on social media platforms, Instagram, Snapchat, Smith told Wink News.

Reyes reportedly started asking his victim for more sexts.

The victim provided us with screenshots of some of the lewd messaging, Smith said.

The detective said as he continued working on the case, the youth pastor even tried meeting up with an underage girl, but the meeting never materialized.

Its always an unfortunate thing when somebody who is a custodian of children, you know, aging from five to you know the teenage years are doing this kind of behavior, Smith noted.

According to a Cybersurvey by Youthworks, of more than 6,000 young people age 13 or older who sexted, 18% said they were pressured or blackmailed into doing it.

The study also showed that between the ages of 14 and 15, the more likely a child would sext. Boys were found to be slightly more likely than girls, 7% to 6%, to share images.

The top reasons researchers found children gave for sexting were because they were in a relationship and wanted to do it or wanted to try it for fun. Others felt they looked good and wanted to show off their body while others simply wanted to see a reaction from the person they sexted.

Children who were already vulnerable offline were found to be more likely to share sexual images. Children with mental health issues were also found to be twice as likely to send explicit images than those who had none.

Anyone with information or the case is being asked to contact the Marco Island Police Department at (239) 389-5050.
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11th Circuit rules against Florida university in free speech lawsuit

A federal appeals court panel has ruled against the University of Central Florida policy banning "discriminatory harassment" because it likely violates students' freedom of speech.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit issued a unanimous ruling Thursday overturning a lower court decision to deny the legal nonprofit Speech First a preliminary injunction stopping the UCF policy. The case has been remanded back to the court for further consideration.

We hold (1) that Speech First has standing to sue because the challenged policies chill its members speech and (2) that the discriminatory-harassment policy likely violates the First Amendment on the grounds that it is an overbroad and content- and viewpoint-based regulation of constitutionally protected expression, wrote Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom for the panel.

Because the district court never considered the bias-related-incidents policys constitutionality on the merits  having erroneously concluded that Speech First lacked standing to challenge it  we remand for a determination of that issue.

According to the ruling, the school's policy defined discriminatory harassment as verbal, physical, electronic or other conduct" based on a long list of factors that include race, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental disability and or political affiliations.

Speech First Executive Director Cherise Trump said in a statement the panel opinion is a huge victory for every student at the University of Central Florida, as well as all students attending schools in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

We are thrilled that the Court sided with us as we work to protect students First Amendment rights. This court decision should send an alarming message to anyone attempting to chill, silence, or bully into submission others opinions, she stated.

Open dialogue and an exchange of ideas are how leaders are formed, censoring students will only stunt their ability to grow intellectually and contribute to society.

In February 2021, Speech First filed a lawsuit against university officials on behalf of students seeking to engage in debates over hot-button issues.

According to the complaint, the university policy was overbroad because it punished students who engaged in verbal acts, name-calling, [or] graphic or written statements (via the use of cell phone or the internet) that other students may find humiliating or offensive.

The lawsuit expressed concern over UCFs bias response team, which according to the lawsuit, could discipline behavior done on or off campus without regard to whether the act is legal, illegal, intentional, or unintentional.

UCF attorneys argued in a brief last October that the university was fulfilling its obligations to prohibit discriminatory harassing speech so that all individuals can be educated and work in an environment that is free from such discriminatory harassing speech that falls beyond the line of protected speech.

When it comes to speech-based harassment, the Supreme Court has been clear: The First Amendment protects speech up to a well-defined line, but discriminatory harassing speech on the basis of a protected trait or characteristic falls beyond that line as one of the recognized categories of unprotected speech, stated the brief, as quoted by the News Service of Florida.

[The policy] is clearly aimed at regulating only unprotected speech and conduct that unreasonably invades the rights of other students.
Chinas armed forces always a force of justice safeguarding world peace

09:13, April 26, 2022 By Yan Yu ( People's Daily

The 20th Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent to Lebanon holds a solemn flag raising ceremony at its camp in southern Lebanon on Sept. 21, 2021, the International Day of Peace.

Recently, 15 members of the 12th Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent to South Sudan received the Sector Commanders Commendation conferred by the Sector West Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Brigadier General Measho Hagos Seyum for their outstanding achievements and great contributions in recent peacekeeping work.

For a long time, Chinas Blue Helmets have built a strong defense line to safeguard peace in regions beset by conflict, demonstrating Chinas sense of responsibility as a major country.

Peace is an aspiration and lofty goal shared by all mankind. UN Peacekeeping, as instrument developed for peace and began in 1948, is aimed at helping countries torn by conflict to create conditions for lasting peace, and has become an important means of safeguarding world peace and security.

Over the past more than 70 years, UN peacekeepers have made selfless devotion and sacrifices in some of the toughest and most dangerous places in the world, while Blue Helmets have become a symbol of peace and hope in war-ravaged lands and Chinese Blue Helmets have grown into a key force in the UN peacekeeping operations (UNPKOs).

In April 1990, Chinas armed forces dispatched five military observers to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) and embarked on a new voyage as a participant in the UNPKOs. On April 16, 1992, China dispatched its first formed military unit of Blue Helmets to Cambodia for UN peacekeeping mission.

Over the past 30 years or so, Chinas armed forces have contributed a growing number of peacekeepers across an expanding range of deployments. From a few military observers at the outset of its involvement, Chinas armed forces are now sending both formed units and military professionals. Chinese military peacekeepers serve on the UN missions in engineer, medical, transport, helicopter, force protection and infantry units, and as staff officers, military observers and seconded officers.

All 410 members of the 19th batch of Chinese peacekeeping force to Lebanon are awarded the United Nations Peace Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the Chinese troops camp in Hanniyah village in southern Lebanon, June 16, 2021.

Batches of Chinese military peacekeepers have embarked on one mission after another with courage and fortitude, becoming steadfast guardians of world peace.

Since 1992, China has sent nearly 50,000 peacekeepers to 25 UNPKOs in more than 20 countries and regions, including Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Liberia, Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus, South Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic.

China is the second largest contributor to both peacekeeping assessment and UN membership fees, and the largest troop-contributing country (TCC) among the permanent members of the UN Security Council.

There are many touching stories about how Chinese peacekeeping forces have brought with them peace, security and the light of hope and warmth to people in war-torn areas.

Since 2013, China has dispatched nine peacekeeping units to Mali, where they carried out duties including armed patrols and armed escorts and earned the reputation of des troupes d'elite of Sector East of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Over the past 16 years since the deployment of Chinese peacekeeping troops in Lebanon, Chinese peacekeepers successfully completed tasks including engineering construction and maintenance, providing medical services and humanitarian assistance, as well as clearing mines and explosives, during which they created the record of zero casualties for such tasks.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) holds an emergency drill for troops in the Juba sector and the UN police officers, April 24, 2020.

The Chinese medical units in the DRC have run a twinning project in SOS Childrens Village Bukavu to offer help for 19 years. Touched by the love and care from the units, children in the village called the female members their Chinese mothers.

In UNMISS, Chinese military peacekeepers have provided agricultural techniques, farming tools and vegetable seeds to local people. They were invited by local middle schools to teach lessons on Chinese culture and language.

Chinese military peacekeepers are not only guardians of peace but also messengers of friendship.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said Chinas contribution to UNPKOs is very important.

Peace needs to be fought for and safeguarded. China is a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of international order. And Chinas armed forces will always be a force of justice safeguarding world peace.

Chinas Blue Helmets have constantly injected positive energy into world peace and will continue forging ahead courageously and unswervingly to safeguard peace with a strong sense of discipline and responsibility.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
HYDERABAD: A row has erupted over the proposed visit of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to Osmania University here on May 7. The university is keeping its fingers crossed.

On the one hand, the TPCC urged OU vice chancellor D. Ravinder Yadav to give permission for Rahul Gandhis visit and interactions with the students on the campus. On the other hand, the TRS partys students wing, TRSV, urged the vice chancellor to deny permission for Rahul Gandhis visit. The university officials landed in a dilemma.

Former Rajya Sabha MP Hanumantha Rao, former MLC Ramulu Naik and some other Congress leaders met the vice chancellor at his chambers on Tuesday and sought his permission for the visit on May 7.

Osmania University students had played a key role in the formation of Telangana state and they had sacrificed their lives for the cause. It was the Congress government at Centre that had granted the separate state, Hanumantha noted.

He said that if the university rejected the permission, the Congress party will intensify its agitations in the state. The TRSV submitted a memorandum to the vice chancellor urging him not to accord permission for Rahul Gandhis visit. TRSV leaders said Rahul Gandhi's visit will spoil the academic atmosphere on the campus.
Texas National Guard soldier feared drowned trying to save illegal migrants smuggling drugs

A Texas National Guard soldier remains missing two days after he attempted to save a pair of migrants who appeared to be drowning as they illegally crossed the river from Mexico to the United States to smuggle drugs into the country. Many believe he drowned during the rescue mission.

The search for the soldier, who went missing Friday after entering a river in Eagle Pass to save the two migrants, carries on, the Texas Military Department said Saturday in a statement.

The soldier, whose identity has not been released, was assigned to Operation Lone Star, Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts effort to combat the illegal immigration crisis at the southern border.

The service member selflessly attempted to help two migrants who appeared to be drowning as they illegally crossed the river from Mexico to the United States.

The two migrants were involved in illegal drug trafficking and are in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol, the department said.

Brave National Guardsman removed his armor before jumping in dangerous waters to save a human life. Please pray for the families of all those impacted, wrote Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, on Twitter.

Brave National Guardsman removed his armor before jumping in dangerous waters to save a human life. Please pray for the families of all those impacted. ???? pic.twitter.com/yo9CwHcw44  Tony Gonzales (@TonyGonzales4TX) April 22, 2022

Dive teams searched the water Friday, but the strength of the rivers current forced the search and rescue teams to cease dive operations, which resumed Saturday, Fox News reported.

The soldier is believed to have drowned in the Rio Grande, The New York Times said.

Its very dangerous, this river, the Rio Grande  its very tricky, Sheriff Schmerber, a former U.S. Border Patrol officer, was quoted as saying.

The Texas Military Department said the search for the missing soldier will continue "until we have exhausted all available resources," adding: The Texas Military Department is thankful to all interagency partners for their continued support in this operation to locate our missing soldier. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the family of the soldier.

Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Rangers and Border Patrol are also supporting the search efforts.

Drownings are not uncommon in the river, the sheriff said, adding that the drowning of a law enforcement officer is considerably more rare. When I was in the Border Patrol, we advised never to jump after anybody, he said.
Collecting guide: the wines of Bodegas Vega Sicilia

Spains pre-eminent wine producer makes classic wines that demand years of patience, as well as modern creations that are highly expressive of the austere Ribera del Duero region

Time turns differently at Bodegas Vega Sicilia. Patience and reflection are enshrined in every barrel, every vine and every bottle. The winery takes the Spanish philosophy of manana to heart, and wines are allowed time to percolate gently in wood and to slumber in bottle. As a result, they are highly sought-after by connoisseurs. Vega Sicilia is seen as the premier cru of Spain, with ageing potential akin to Chateau Latour or Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. Collectors fall in love with the rich, powerful wines of the estate, to the point where gathering every release or vintage into their cellar can become an obsession. A pristine collection of wines from Bodegas Vega Sicilia, at the heart of our Finest and Rarest Wines sale in London on 28 April 2022, comes from the cellar of one such collector. Unico: Spains most collectable wine Unico, the flagship wine of the estate, is so named because it pioneered a unique style in the Ribera del Duero. In 1864, following a trip to Bordeaux, Vega Sicilias founder, Don Eloy Lecanda y Chaves, sank cuttings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot deep into the chalky soil of the Ribera valley in northwest Spain. Local winemakers, focused on the Spanish Tempranillo grape, were shocked.

The estate has maintained plantings of the Bordeaux grapes, and Unico is a blend of Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon, the Cabernet adding weight, drive and grip to the red-fruit warmth, chalky texture and delicate acid backbone of the Tempranillo. Unico rests in French and American oak barrels for 10 to 15 years, and can unfurl and expand in bottle over many decades, thrilling wine lovers upon its eventual awakening when the cork is pulled.

Open a larger version of this image Vega Sicilia, Unico 1962. 1 magnum per lot. Sold for 3,000 on 28 April 2022 at Christies in London

The 1962 vintage is a sensation, being awarded 100 points by critics and capturing the hearts of collectors. The magnum releases of Unico are the most collectable Spanish wines. Every vintage has a different artist label, and only Spanish artists  the likes of Miquel Barcelo and Benjamin Palencia  are invited to create them. For many collectors, putting together a magnum vertical has become as fascinating as seeking out artist-labelled bottles of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. Reserva Especial: a unique product of the winemakers skill The estates passion for unique wines is also apparent in its Reserva Especial. Each release, in distinctive opaque bottles, is a blend of three vintages. The wine reflects the specific terroir of the Ribera del Duero, as well as highlighting the blending skill of the winemaker. Jesus Anadon (1956-1966), Mariano Garcia (1966-1996), Xavier Ausas (1996-2015) and Gonzalo Iturriaga (2015-2022) have all been responsible for releases of Reserva Especial. They have tasted their way through barrels of vintage wine, noted characteristics and then married their chosen vintages into a harmonious blend.

Open a larger version of this image Vega Sicilia, Reserva Especial. 2010 release. Blend of 1991, 1994 and 1995 vintages. In original wooden case. 3 bottles per lot. Sold for 2,750 on 28 April 2022 at Christies in London

The wine then spends 18 months in new oak casks, and 30 months more in old oak. Finding out which vintages are in each bottle has historically been difficult, which adds intrigue for serious collectors. The 2010 and 2011 releases, which represent the 1991-1994-1995 and 1991-1994-1998 vintages, are famous, long-lived wines. Valbuena 5 and 3 Valbuena 5 pays homage to the terroir of the Ribera del Duero, and particularly the village of Valbuena de Duero where the bodega is located. This wine is made from younger vines  commonly 10 to 15 years old  than those that produce Unico. Tempranillo leads the blend, with seasoning from silky, spicy Merlot. The wine is finished with five years (hence the name) in a mixture of new and old oak.

Excitingly for collectors, Valbuena 3, aged for three years in oak, is a discontinued wine: production ceased in 1988. The cool blue label (below) is rarely seen at auction, and old vintages from the 1970s and and 1980s are now very collectable.

Alion: the definition of Tempranillo Alion is an expression of the chalky complexity and red-fruited essence that defines Tempranillo. Three plots contribute to the making of the wine: the heartlands of the Vega Sicilia estate itself; the clay of Padilla de Duero; and the chalky soils of Pesquera de Duero. New oak is important to the style of Alion; indeed, until 2014, it was common for 100 per cent new oak to be used. Since then, 80 per cent has become more usual, and American oak and concrete are sometimes employed to give tension to hotter vintages. Alion can be viewed as a younger sibling to the mighty Unico, but stylistic differences make for wines of singular character.

Open a larger version of this image Vineyards in Valbuena de Duero, the home of Bodegas Vega Sicilia. Photo:  Cephas / Mick Rock

Pintia: full-throated flavour The Duero river wends its way to Portugal  where it becomes the Douro  through the region of Toro. This is home to Pintia, a relatively recent project for the owners of Vega Sicilia, the Alvarez family. Most of Vega Sicilias vines in Toro are on their own roots, because the destructive pest phylloxera has not invaded much of the sandy soil in this region. Thus many of the vines are 50 years old, which gives concentration to the Tempranillo wine.

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The searing heat of the region also adds weight, as well as posing the winemakers greatest challenge. Drawing elegance and freshness from the ripe crop is a skill of the Vega Sicilia team, which produced the first vintage of Pintia in 2001. Subsequent vintages are marvellous examples of Tempranillo with full-throated flavour.
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POKROVSK, Ukraine  As Russian forces intensify their shelling of eastern Ukraine, more people are leaving their homes in search of safety.

In Pokrovsk, a town in the Donetsk region, people lined up Tuesday to board a train headed to the far west of the country along the border with Hungary and Slovakia. One person was lifted onto the train in a wheelchair, another on a stretcher.

The passengers took with them cats, dogs, a few bags and boxes, and the memory of those who did not flee in time.

We were in the basement, but my daughter didnt make it and was hit with shrapnel on the doorstep during shelling on Monday, said Mykola Kharchenko, 74. We had to bury her in the garden near the pear tree.

He said his village, Vremivka, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) from Pokrovsk, was under heavy fire for four days and everything was destroyed. With tears in his eyes, Kharchenko said he somehow held himself together at home, but once he reached the train station he fell apart.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Nuclear chief: Russias Chernobyl seizure risked accident

 Poland, Bulgaria say Russia suspending natural gas supplies

 Putin gets what he didnt want: Ukraine army closer to West

 Top Russian diplomat warns Ukraine against provoking WWIII

 Frances victorious Macron boosts weapons, stakes in Ukraine

 Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra organized by Met, Polish operas

Follow all AP stories on Russia's war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed in principle that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians from a besieged steel plant in Ukraines southeastern city of Mariupol.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that during their one-on-one meeting Tuesday, Guterres and Putin discussed the proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians from conflict zones, namely in relation to the situation in Mariupol.

The sprawling Azovstal steel plant has been almost completely destroyed by Russian attacks but it is the last pocket of organized Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.

An estimated 2,000 troops and 1,000 civilians are said to be holed up in bunkers underneath the wrecked structure.

Dujarric said that following the Guterres-Putin agreement in principle, discussions will be held with the U.N. humanitarian office and the Russian Defense Ministry on the evacuation.

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WASHINGTON  The State Department says U.S. diplomats have begun returning to Ukraine by making day trips to temporary offices in the western city of Lviv from neighboring Poland.

The department said the first group of diplomats crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border and traveled to Lviv on Tuesday morning before returning to Poland later in the day.

The step came just two days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Ukrainian leaders during a secrecy-shrouded visit to Kyiv that the U.S. would start restaffing its diplomatic facilities in Ukraine this week.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the agency has accelerated its review of re-opening the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, which was closed shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. He said operations at the embassy would resume as soon as possible depending on the security situation in the capital.

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UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned about reports of new security incidents in a Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova and urges all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions that could escalate tensions.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Tuesday that Guterres has called for efforts to lower tensions throughout Trans-Dniester. Explosions rocked the region for the second day in a row, knocking out two powerful radio antennas close to the Ukrainian border. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukraine all but blamed Russia.

Russian speakers of the strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine nominally seceded from Moldova in 1990, one year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, fearing the country might shortly merge with Romania, whose language and culture it broadly shares.

The separatist region fought a brief war with Moldova in 1992 and declared itself an independent state, though it remains unrecognized by any country, including Russia which bases about 1,500 troops there, calling them peacekeepers. Concerns are high that those forces could be used to invade Ukraine from the west.

Haq said the U.N. continues to fully support efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to reach a political settlement of the Trans-Dniester conflict in the so-called 5+2 process which comprises Trans-Dniester, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE with the United States and the European Union as observers. The aim is to strengthen Moldovas independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, with a special status for Trans-Dniester.

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BERLIN  Germanys vice chancellor says his country has come very, very close to independence from Russian oil and an embargo on deliveries would now be manageable.

Germany, which has Europes biggest economy, has said so far that it aims to end Russian oil imports by the end of this year.

Speaking Tuesday during a visit to Poland, Economy Minister Robert Habeck  who is also the vice chancellor and responsible for energy  said that his country has cut Russias share of its oil supply from 35% before the war in Ukraine to about 12%.

Habeck said the situation is such that an embargo has become manageable for Germany. He added that the problem that just a few weeks ago seemed very big for Germany has become significantly smaller  so that independence from Russian oil imports has come very, very close.

Russian gas imports, however, are a bigger issue for Germany. Berlin has said that it will need longer to do without gas supplies from Russia.

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LONDON  Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain does not want war to escalate beyond Ukraines borders, and rejected an allegation by Moscow that the West is fighting a proxy conflict with Russia.

But Johnson said Ukrainians are being attacked from within Russian territory and have a right to protect and defend themselves by striking inside Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused NATO of pouring oil on the fire with its support for Ukraine, and said the risk of World War III should not be underestimated. Russia has singled Britain out for criticism after a U.K. government minister said it was legitimate for Ukraine to hit fuel depots in Russia with U.K.-supplied weapons.

In an interview with British station Talk TV, Johnson said its very, very important that we dont accept the way that the Russians are trying to frame what is happening in Ukraine.

He said: They are trying to frame this as a conflict between Russia and the West, or Russia and NATO. Thats not what is going on.

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia  Slovakias President Zuzana Caputova released a video addressing the invading Russian soldiers, their commanders and all whom it may concern, urging them to stop the war in Ukraine.

In the three-minute video in Russian with the subtitles in Slovak, Caputova condemned war crimes against women, children and civilians.

You justify your invasion by talking about liberation, Caputova told them. How were you intending to liberate Tatiana from Irpin, killed by a Russian grenade together with her two children? Or Olena from Hostomel, raped by one of you in a car? she asked.

Referring to testimonies of women who have survived, Caputova says they find that words are not enough when they try to describe the pain you have made a part of their lives simply because... Well, why even? None of us knows Do you?

She says with each passing day, you are only increasing the army of wounded souls and bodies of women, children and innocent people.

If you still feel any leftover of humanity in you, bring it to life and end this horrible war.

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MOSCOW  Russias President Vladimir Putin says Moscow still hopes to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Ukraine, even as the fighting has continued.

Speaking at a Kremlin meeting Tuesday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Putin noted that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators made what he described as a serious breakthrough in their talks in Istanbul, Turkey, last month. He claimed, however, that the Ukrainian side later walked back on some of the tentative agreements reached in Istanbul.

In particular, Putin said Ukrainian negotiators have changed their position on the issue of the status of Crimea and separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, offering to leave it for the countries presidents to discuss. Putin charged that the shift in the Ukrainian stand makes it hard to negotiate a future deal. Ukrainian officials have been evasive about the details of talks and the Russian claims of Ukraine walking back from its earlier proposals.

Putin has demanded that Ukraine recognize Russias sovereignty over Crimea and recognize independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as part of a future agreement on ending the hostilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that those issues could only be decided by a future nationwide vote.

During Tuesdays Kremlin meeting, Guterres criticized Russias military action in Ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbors territorial integrity. He also urged Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped at a giant steel mill in Mariupol surrounded by the Russian forces.

Putin responded by claiming that the Russian forces have offered humanitarian corridors to civilians holed up at the Azovstal steel plant, charging that the Ukrainian defenders of the plant were using civilians as shields and not allowing them to leave.

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KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about the tensions in a Moscow-backed separatist region of Moldova.

The ministry noted that an attack on an administrative building in Tiraspol, the center of the separatist Trans-Dniester province of Moldova, along with explosions that hit broadcast antennas and other facilities in the region follow a Russian officers statement about Moscows intention to fully take control of Ukraines south and build a land corridor to Trans-Dniester.

It said in a Tuesday statement that Ukraine resolutely supports Moldovas territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and condemn attempts to draw the Trans-Dniester region of Moldova into the full-fledged war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine and call for deescalating tensions.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land with about 470,000 people, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, nominally as peacekeepers.

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WARSAW, Poland  The Polish climate minister gave assurances on Tuesday that the country has plenty of natural gas on reserve, following reports that Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland.

Anna Moskwa, minister for climate and environment, tweeted: Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security  we have been effectively independent from Russia for years. Our warehouses are 76% full. There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes.

Her tweet followed reports by the Onet news portal that Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract. Onet reported that a crisis team had gathered at the Ministry of Climate to deal with the matter. Onet said, citing unnamed sources, that Russia had insisted on a Friday deadline for payment in rubles and that Poland has said it would not pay in rubles.

Poland has been working to wean itself off of Russian energy sources and was due to end its reliance on Russian gas this year.

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RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany  U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the war in Ukraine has already weakened Russias military capability.

Austin said after meeting allies and partners at the United States Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday that, since Russia began the invasion, its land forces have sustained pretty substantial casualties, as well as lost a lot of equipment and used a lot of precision-guided munitions.

He said that they are, in fact, in terms of military capability, weaker than when they started, and  itll be harder for them to replace some of this capability as they go forward because of the sanctions and the trade restrictions that have been placed on them.

Austin reiterated that we would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.

He criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs warning that the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated.

Austin said that its unhelpful and dangerous to rattle sabers and speculate about the use of nuclear weapons.

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MOSCOW  A senior Kremlin official says that Ukraine may split into several parts.

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said in remarks published Tuesday that the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states.

The statement comes as Russia says it has focused on expanding control over Ukraines eastern industrial heartland called Donbas. Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian troops there since 2014 when conflict erupted following Russias annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula.

Moscow launched military action in Ukraine on Feb. 24, days after recognizing the separatist regions independence.

Last week, a senior Russian military officer said that along with taking control over Donbas, Russia also wants to overtake southern Ukraine, saying such a move would also open a land corridor between Russia and the separatist Trans-Dniester region of Moldova.

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MADRID  Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Tuesday he was very worried by the explosions this week in the separatist region of Trans-Dniester, adding that they reminded him too much of occurrences in the Donbas region immediately prior to Russias invasion of Ukraine late February.

I remember before Feb. 21, there have been some series of false-flag operations in Donbas region, so called people republics, that were used as the pretext by Russia to recognize and then to sign the so-called friendship and assistance treaties and then to start the military operation, Rinkevics told reporters in Madrid.

Im very worried about the current trend in Trans-Dniester because that resembles a little bit that pattern that we have seen, he added.

Police in Trans-Dniester say two explosions Tuesday in a radio facility close to the Ukrainian border knocked two antennas out of service. On Monday, several explosions were reported to have hit the Ministry of State Security in Tiraspol, the regions capital.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land in Moldova, has been under the control of separatists since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops there. The United States has warned that Russia could launch false-flag attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops to those nations.

Rinkevics was in Madrid to meet his Spanish counterpart and discuss the Ukraine war and the upcoming NATO summit in the Spanish capital.

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The Russian military has warned it could strike Ukrainian decision-making centers in the Ukrainian capital and said wouldnt be stopped by the possible presence of Western advisers there.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused the U.K. of making statements encouraging Ukraine to use Western weapons to carry out strikes on the Russian territory, warning that if it happens the Russian military could retaliate by hitting government structures in Kyiv.

It directly pointed at U.K. Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, who told Times Radio that it was not necessarily a problem if Ukraine British-donated weapons were used to hit sites on Russian soil.

The ministry said in a statement that the Russian armed forces are ready to deal retaliatory strikes with long-range precision guided weapons on Kyiv centers that would make such decisions. It noted that the presence of citizens of one of Western countries in the Ukrainian decision-making centers wont necessarily pose a problem for Russia in making a decision to launch retaliatory action.

The Russian military so far has avoided striking presidential, government and military headquarters in Kyiv during its campaign in Ukraine that has entered a third month.

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WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging Congress to fully fund the Biden administrations proposed budget for the State Department, telling lawmakers the spending is critical to ensuring that the war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for Russia and a message to other countries that might invade their neighbors.

Blinken said his weekend visit to Kyiv with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had left him with the indelible impression that Ukraine is winning, particularly in the capital. It was right in front of us: the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv, he said.

Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the U.S.-led global response to Russias invasion had underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy. He said the $60.4 billion budget proposal for the next fiscal year was needed to continue to rally partners and allies in the cause.

We will, we have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are the strategic opportunities and address risks presented by Russias overreach, as countries reconsider their policies, priorities, their relationships, Blinken said. The budget request before you predated this crisis, but fully funding it is critical in my judgment to ensuring Russias war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for the Kremlin and serves as a powerful lesson to those who might consider following its path.

Blinken did not name other nations that might be considering following Russias lead but his comment was seen as a veiled reference to China, which has sided with Russia in the Ukraine conflict and has made no secret of its desire to re-unify the island of Taiwan with the mainland.

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CHERNOBYL, Ukraine  The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency says it was possible that an accident could have occurred when Russian troops seized control of the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster during the war in Ukraine.

Speaking on a visit to the former nuclear power plant Tuesday on the 36th anniversary of the meltdown, Rafael Mariano Grossi said the situation in 1986 was completely different. In this case, what we had was a nuclear safety situation which was not normal, and could have developed into an accident.

Russian troops moved into the radiation-contaminated Chernobyl exclusion zone in February on their way toward the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and withdrew late last month as Russia switched its focus to fighting in eastern Ukraine. The site is now back in Ukrainian hands and communications which were disrupted have been restored.

Russian forces continue to hold a working nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia plant, where there was fighting nearby in early March which damaged the plants training facility.

Clearly, the physical integrity of one nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, was compromised, we also had situations where the external power was interrupted including here (Chernobyl) so there were a number of events that were compromising the normal operations of any nuclear power facility, Grossi said.

Those were avoided but of course, as I was saying, the situation was not stable and we have to stay on alert.

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Natural gas prices have approached levels not seen in 14 years, briefly crossing the $8 per Mcf level this week before turning lower.

The surge in prices prompted the Energy Analysis team at the American Gas Association to research whats driving prices.

In its findings, the team said the market may be reacting to a confluence of circumstances. First, winter natural gas demand outpaced supply growth even though US natural gas production ended 2021 at record levels. Another factor is that underground storage inventories are lower than average while exports of liquefied natural gas remain at historic levels.

Average natural gas demand increased by 3.9 billion cubic feet per day between Nov. 1, 2021, and April 18, 2022. By comparison, during that same time period, average supplies  including production and Canadian imports  rose by 3.6 Bcf per day. That has led to a net draw from storage, with current US underground natural gas inventories at 1.6 trillion cubic feet  24 percent below year-ago levels and 18 percent below the five-year average. The AGA, however, predicts inventories will rise to 3.5 Tcf by October.

Average US natural gas demand month-to-date is 4.3 Bcf higher than in April 2021, with only 10 percent of that increase attributable to LNG exports, the AGA said. The remainder can be attributed to higher domestic consumption, including residential and commercial heating, and higher gas flows to power generation. Pipeline exports to Mexico are also part of the increase in demand.

The AGA analysts say the US is on course to set new natural gas production records this year, citing an S&P Global Platts forecast that production is set to increase by 4 Bcf per day throughout the year and total flowing gas volumes could reach 97 Bcf per day by December.

US natural gas prices have climbed 140 percent over April 2021 levels, but the AGA analysis points out that European and Asian markets are seeing natural gas contracts regularly trading above $30 per Mmbtu, including $70 contracts following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The AGA analysis sees some price relief coming for natural gas consumers, saying the market indicates easing of prices after next winter. Natural gas futures are priced above $7.00 per MMBtu for contracts through February 2023  as of April 20. After that, the price for contracted gas begins to fall. Contracts from April 2023 on, are trading below $5.00 as of April 20.
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MADRID (AP)  The Spanish government passed a decree Tuesday aimed at boosting transparency in a monarchy still reeling from scandals involving King Felipe VIs father, former King Juan Carlos I.

The government described the decree, approved at its weekly Cabinet meeting, as a step toward modernizing Spain's royal house. The move comes a day after Felipe made public his personal assets of 2.6 million euros ($2.8 million) for the first time.

The decree will subject the accounts of the royal household to the scrutiny of Spain's national Court of Auditors and require members of the royal family to declare any gifts they receive.

Felix Bolanos, who serves as Spain's minister of the presidency and relations with parliament, said the decree was "an advance in transparency, accountability, exemplarity and efficiency that is aligned to the highest standards with other European royal houses.

In recent years, allegations of financial wrongdoing involving Juan Carlos tarnished the reputation of Spains royal family. The most recent involved investigations into millions of dollars in foreign accounts and prompted the former king to leave Spain for the United Arab Emirates in 2020.

The palace said Monday that the unprecedented disclosure of Felipe's estate was part of a wider push to make the monarchy worthy of the respect and trust of its citizens.

The palace said the king's wealth was made up of around 2.3 million euros in savings, current accounts and securities. The rest is in art, antiques and jewelry.

The king does not have any real estate or any financial dealings abroad, a palace official said.

Felipe's wealth stems from his earnings as king and those he received as heir-in-waiting to Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014. The palace said Felipe paid taxes on all of his earnings.

In 2020, Felipe renounced his personal inheritance from his father following the allegations of financial wrongdoings. Spanish and Swiss prosecutors have since shelved their investigations of Juan Carlos' finances.

Juan Carlos, who helped steer Spain back to democracy following the death of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975, was once Spain's most respected public figures. Scandals of one type or another involving the family began to mount in the later years of his reign.
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NEW YORK (AP)  The quirky dance-pop outfit The B-52s are hitting the road one last time for a final tour this summer that will roam from coast to coast.

No one likes to throw a party more than we do, but after almost a half-century on the road, its time for one last blow-out, said Fred Schneider, co-founder and singer for the Athens, Georgia-based band, in a statement.
Shipley Do-Nuts, a staple in Houstonians' lives for more than 85 years, is planning an aggressive expansion that will significantly grow its footprint in Texas and nationwide.

The chain wrapped its first quarter of 2022 by announcing it will open 350 new locations over the next five years, doubling the size of the company.

Shipley is looking to new frontiers with this expansion, having signed franchise agreements for 25 shops in Maryland and 25 in the Atlanta area, both new markets. The first of these are planned to open at the end of 2022.

Shipley is among other iconic Texas brands such as Whataburger and Buc-ee's that have spread the love outside the state in recent years. As with every fast food conglomerate, Shipley started small.

Lawrence Shipley, Sr. and his wife, Lillie, founded Shipley Do-Nuts in 1936, selling doughnuts out of a bakery at 1417 Crockett Street in Houston's First Ward. Over the next decades, the business began offering kolaches, beignets and coffee, and now has 63 varieties of doughnuts.

In 1987, it began franchising. Peak Rock Capital, a private equity firm based in Austin, acquired Shipley in January 2021.

Today, under the leadership of CEO Clifton Rutledge, there are more than 330 Shipley franchise locations in 10 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and of course, Texas.

As well as the 50 upcoming stores in Maryland and Georgia, the company signed an additional 20 franchise agreements for Texas, notably in Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley and in north Texas.

In 2022 alone, Shipley will debut about 40 shops, including the very first one in Tallahassee, Florida, which opened its doors in February.

Rutledge said the company has taken steps to attract franchisees that are already qualified, multi-unit operators of other chains in order to build on Shipley's expansion.

The brand continues to actively recruit potential franchisees and is currently focusing on deepening its presence in the Southeast, Colorado and Oklahoma.






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BERKELEY, Calif. (AP)  UC Berkeley sophomore Terrell Thompson slept in his car for nearly two weeks at the start of the school year last fall, living out of a suitcase stashed in the trunk and texting dozens of landlords a day in a desperate search for a place to live.

The high-achieving student from a low-income household in Sacramento, California, was majoring in business administration at one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Yet, Thompson folded his 6-foot frame into the back seat of his Honda Accord at night, wondering how he would ever find a home in the exorbitantly expensive San Francisco Bay Area city.

Academically it was hard, because Im worried about finding housing and Im worried about my clothes and Im worried about getting my car broken into all the time, said the 19-year-old Thompson, who now lives in a studio apartment he found last September. I was anxious 24/7."

College students across the U.S. are looking for housing for the 2022-23 school year and if 2021 was any indication, it won't be easy. Students at colleges from California to Florida were denied on-campus housing last fall and found themselves sitting out the year at home or living in motel rooms or vehicles as surging rents and decades of failing to build sufficient student housing came to a head.

For some colleges, the housing crunch was related to increased demand by students who had been stuck at home during the pandemic. For others, including many in California, the shortage reflects a deeper conflict between the colleges and homeowners who don't want new housing built for students who they say increase congestion and noise.

In March, the University of California, Berkeley, said it would have to cap student enrollment because of a lawsuit brought by irate neighbors over the school's growth. State lawmakers fast-tracked a fix to allow the campus to enroll as many students as planned for the 2022 fall semester, but the legislation does nothing to produce more housing.

Nationally, 43% of students at four-year universities experienced housing insecurity in 2020, up from 35% in 2019, according to an annual survey conducted by The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University. Students reported being unable to pay utilities, rent or mortgage, living in overcrowded units, or moving in with others due to financial difficulties.

And for the first time since it began tracking basic needs in 2015, the survey found an equal percentage  14%  of students at both four-year and two-year colleges who had experienced homelessness in the last year, said Mark Huelsman, the centers director of policy and advocacy.

This is a function of rents rising, the inability of communities and institutions to build enough housing for students and other costs of college going up that create a perfect storm for students, he said.

For some students, the lack of affordable housing could mean the difference between going to college or not. Others take on massive debt or live so precariously they miss out on all the extracurricular benefits of higher education.

Jonathan Dena, a first-generation college student from the Sacramento area, almost rejected UC Berkeley over the lack of housing, even though it was his dream program. He found a studio at the heavily subsidized Rochdale Apartments for under $1,300 a month, but he might have to move because the bare-bones units may close for a seismic renovation.

Dena, 29, wants to continue living within walking distance of campus for a robust college experience.

But the urban studies major and student government housing commission officer said it's kind of scary how high rents are near campus. Online listings showed a newer one-bedroom for one person at $3,700, as well as a 240-square foot (22 square-meter) bedroom for two people sharing a bathroom for nearly $1,700 per person a month.

If I go to school in Berkeley, I would love to live in Berkeley, he said.

Nationally, rents have increased 17% since March 2020, said Chris Salviati, senior economist with Apartment List, but the increase has been higher in some popular college towns. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, saw a 24% jump in rents and Tempe, Arizona, saw a 31% hike.

In some cases, the rental increases have been exacerbated by a lack of on-campus housing.

Last fall, demand for on-campus housing was so high that the University of Tampa offered incoming freshmen a break on tuition if they deferred until fall 2022. Rent in the Florida city has skyrocketed nearly 30% from a year ago, according to Apartment List.

Rent in Knoxville has soared 36% since March 2020, and it could get worse after the University of Tennessee announced a new lottery system for its dorms this fall, saying it needs to prioritize housing for a larger freshman class.

Even two-year community colleges, which have not traditionally provided dorms, are rethinking student needs as the cost of housing rises.

Last October, Long Beach City College launched a pilot program to provide up to 15 homeless students space in an enclosed parking garage. They sleep in their cars and have access to bathrooms and showers, electrical outlets and internet while they work with counselors to find permanent housing.

Uduak-Joe Ntuk, president of the colleges Board of Trustees, hesitated when asked if the program will be renewed.

I want to say no, but I think we will, he said. Were going to have new students come fall semester this year that are going to be in a similar situation, and for us to do nothing is untenable.

California prides itself on its robust higher education system, but has struggled with housing at its four-year colleges. Berkeley is notoriously difficult, with cut-throat competition for the few affordable apartments within walking distance to campus.

"I definitely was not prepared to be this stressed about housing every year, said Jennifer Lopez, 21, a UC Berkeley senior from Cudahy, in southeastern Los Angeles County, and the first in her family to attend college.

She imagined she would spend all four years on campus in dorms, but found herself in a scramble for a safe, affordable place to sleep. The urban studies major currently splits an attic space in what is technically a one-bedroom apartment shared by four undergraduates, one of whom sleeps in the dining room.

The total monthly rent is nearly $3,700  laughably high in most U.S. cities  but she's grateful for it.

If I hadnt heard about this place, I was either going to end up living in a basement, or in this other apartment I know (where) the girls are struggling with leaks and mold, Lopez said.

The Basic Needs Center at UC Berkeley, which operates a food pantry for students and faculty, found in a snapshot survey that a quarter of undergraduates reported they lacked a safe, regular and adequate nighttime place to stay and sleep at some point since October.

Thats huge, said Ruben Canedo, co-chair of UCs systemwide Basic Needs Committee. This generation of students is navigating the most expensive cost-of-living market while at the same time having the least amount of financial support accessible to them."

Thompson, the business administration major, started looking for an apartment last May, after spending his first year at home taking classes remotely to save money. He quickly realized that his rental budget of $750 was wildly inadequate and as a second-year student, he no longer qualified for priority in the dorms.

By the time classes began in late August, he was in a panic. He tried commuting from his home in Sacramento, leaving before 6 a.m. for the 80-mile (130-kilometer) drive to Berkeley and returning home around midnight to avoid traffic.

But that was grueling so he took to sleeping in his car. Initially he parked far away in a spot without parking limits. Then he parked at a lot between two student dorm complexes closer to campus, where exuberant partying kept him up at night.

He attended classes, studied and ate sparingly to save on ballooning food costs. He looked at apartments where five people were squeezed into two bedrooms with pared-down belongings stored under beds.

He slept in his car for almost two weeks until a sympathetic landlord who had also grown up in a low-income home reached out, offering a studio within walking distance of campus. The rent is $1,000 a month, and he hopes to stay until he graduates.

"I think I have a little bit of a PTSD factor, he said.

Most students have no idea of the housing situation when they choose to attend UC Berkeley, said 19-year-old freshman Sanaa Sodhi, and the university needs to do more to prepare students and support them in their search.

The political science major is excited to move out of the dorms and into a two-bedroom apartment where she and three friends are taking over the lease. The unit is older but a bargain at $3,000 a month, she said. The housemates were prepared to pay up to $5,200 for a safe place close to campus.

You dont honestly know the severity of the situation before youre in it, she said, adding that landlords hold all the cards. They know that whatever price they charge, well inevitably have to pay it because we dont really have a choice except maybe to live out of our cars.

-

AP journalist Terence Chea contributed from Berkeley, California.
David Brock, the conservative journalistic hit man turned Hillary Clinton acolyte, described how he first became a reactionary in his 2002 book Blinded by the Right. Hed arrived at the University of California, Berkeley, at the dawn of the Reagan era as a Bobby Kennedy-worshipping liberal but grew quickly alienated by the campuss progressive pieties.

Rather than a liberal bastion of intellectual tolerance and academic freedom, the campus was  though the phrase hadnt yet been coined  politically correct, sometimes stiflingly so, he wrote.

A formative experience was seeing a lecture by Ronald Reagans U.N. ambassador, Jeane Kirkpatrick, shut down by left-wing protesters. Wasnt free speech a liberal value? he asked. The more Brock challenged the left, the more he was ostracized, and the more his resentment pushed him rightward.

By the time he got to Washington, where he became an influential conservative journalist, hed developed what we might now call an edgelord sensibility. He traveled to Chile to write a defense of murderous dictator Augusto Pinochet. I was flippantly engaging in the extremist one-upmanship that characterized not only me, but many young conservatives of the era, he wrote.

Of course, not just that era. The dynamic Brock described  extremist one-upmanship meant to scandalize hated left-wing persecutors  is a major driver of right-wing cultural innovation. Thats why stories about the American New Right (also called the dissident right, national conservatism and neo-reaction) seem so familiar, even if the movements ideology is a departure from mainstream conservatism.

Last week, Vanity Fair published James Pogues fascinating look at the American New Rights constellation of thinkers, podcasters and politicians, many funded by Peter Thiel, a tech billionaire who once wrote that freedom and democracy are incompatible. Its hard to summarize the scenes politics; a milieu that includes both the aggressively anti-cosmopolitan Senate candidate J.D. Vance of Ohio and the louche hipster podcast Red Scare doesnt have a coherent worldview. What it does have is contempt for social liberalism and a desire to epater le bourgeois.

It is a project to overthrow the thrust of progress, at least such as liberals understand the word, Pogue wrote. One of the movements leading intellectual lights is Curtis Yarvin, a blogger who sees liberalism as creating a Matrix-like totalitarian system and who wants to replace American democracy with a sort of techno-monarchy.

According to Pogue, the movement has become quietly edgy and cool in new tech outposts like Miami and Austin, and in downtown Manhattan, where New Right-ish politics are in, and signifiers like a demure cross necklace have become markers of a transgressive chic. This might be an overstatement, but its pretty clear that theres cultural energy in the opposition to the progressive norms and taboos that are derisively called wokeness.

BuzzFeed News writer Joseph Bernstein captured this energy in a March article about an anti-woke New York film festival funded by Thiel and headed by a Black queer provocateur named Trevor Bazile. Call it, if you must, a vibe shift: a new generation of internet-native tastemakers  like many of the people crowded into Baziles party  who find the moralistic gatekeeping of millennials all a bit passe, wrote Bernstein.

This vibe shift was predictable; when the left becomes grimly censorious, it incubates its own opposition. The internet makes things worse, giving the whole world a taste of the type of irritating progressive sanctimony Brock had to go to Berkeley to find.

Ive met few people on the left who like online progressive culture. In novels set in progressive social worlds, internet leftism tends to be treated with disdain  not a tyranny, but an annoyance. In Torrey Peters Detransition, Baby, a young trans woman reacts with priggish outrage to a dark joke shared between the books heroine, Reese, and her friend, both older trans women. Reese recognizes her as one of those Twitter girls eager to offer theory-laden takes on gender, writes Peters. The girl has listened in on the joke and shakes her head  insensitive!  staring at them over her black-framed glasses with watery, wounded eyes.

For those who get most of their politics online, this can be what the left looks like  a humorless person shaking her head at others insensitivity. As a result, an alliance with the countrys most repressive forces can appear, to some, as liberating.

I suspect this can last only so long as the right isnt in power nationally. Eventually, an avant-garde flirtation with reaction will collide with the brutish, philistine reality of conservative rule. (As Brock would discover, being a gay man in a deeply homophobic movement was not cheeky fun.)

In the short term, however, its frightening to think that backlash politics could become somehow fashionable, especially given how stagnant the left appears. In New York magazine, Sam Adler-Bell recently wrote about a dispiriting lull in progressive movement-building: There appears almost no grassroots energy or urgency of any kind on the Democratic side. The one thing the left could count on in recent years is its cultural capital. What happens if that is squandered?

Michelle Goldberg is a columnist for the New York Times.
TIRANA, Albania (AP)  Albanian authorities have decided to lift all remaining COVID-19 restrictions before the summer vacation season.

The Technical Committee of Experts, the country's highest executive body during the pandemic, said Tuesday that coronavirus-related measures will end in Albania as of May 1.

The decision means masks no longer will be required indoors and nightclubs won't be subject to an 11 p.m. curfew Proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test for the virus won't be needed at border crossings.

Authorities urged residents to continue getting vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Some 60% of Albanias 2.8 million people has received two vaccine doses, while only 12.4% has gotten a third dose. Authorities have encouraged people older than age 60 to get a fourth shot.

Albania has reported a significant drop in new daily cases. Since the start of the pandemic, the Health Ministry has reported some 275,000 confirmed cases and 3,496 virus-related deaths.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California wildlife authorities have arrested nine people on suspicion of poaching sturgeon and other sea creatures and selling the animals on the black market, officials said.

Officers were looking into two separate poaching cases starting last year when they discovered a connection between the suspects and the investigations were merged, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  A Brazilian federal court on Monday upheld the suspension of an environmental license for what would be the largest open-pit gold mine in the nation's Amazon rainforest, dealing a blow to the Canada-based company behind the project.

Belo Sun Mining Corp. was appealing the same courts 2017 ruling, which found that the company's consultation with local Indigenous peoples and study on the projects socio-environmental impacts didn't meet the criteria required by the National Indian Foundation.

In a 3-0 vote, the court maintained its prior ruling. Belo Sun can appeal the decision to a higher court.

The company's Volta Grande project is located on the banks of the Xingu River, in the state of Para. It is located about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from Belo Monte, the worlds third-biggest hydroelectric dam. The Belo Monte dam has reduced the flow in the Volta Grande (Big Bend) stretch of the Xingu River, where the Belo Sun project is located. Among other impacts, the fish population, a staple for the local population, is diminishing.

My community wasnt consulted about the Belo Sun project, Lorena Curuaia, a leader from the Iawa village, told The Associated Press by phone. Belo Monte already has had a major impact on the Xingu. A second project could mean the death of the local peoples."

Belo Sun has argued that it already consulted the Indigenous peoples, and that their closest community is more than 10 km (6 miles) away. The Federal Prosecutors Office states that the company only considered officially demarcated areas, and that Indigenous communities outside these places should also be taken into account.

Contacted by phone and email Monday, Belo Suns office in Brazil didnt respond to AP requests for comment about the court's decision or if it would appeal.

According to the company, the project covers 2,400 hectares (5,930 acres).

This is another victory for the Indigenous and riverine people of Volta Grande do Xingu, federal prosecutor Felicio de Araujo Pontes Jr. said in a text message. They know that a mining project can have devastating impacts on the region. The judgment shows the resilience of this population.

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BEND, Ore. (AP)  Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a drought emergency in four more counties this week and now more than half the land area in the state is under a drought declaration.

The emergency declarations allow people who use water to seek temporary relief measures, such as moving water rights, drilling emergency wells and applying for state and federal aid.
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  A 3-month-old baby who was kidnapped from his San Francisco Bay Area home was found Tuesday and three suspects were detained, police said.

The baby, Brandon Cuellar, was unharmed but was taken to a hospital as a precaution, San Jose Police Department officials said during a news conference.

This incident is a parents' worst nightmare. We are fortunate it resulted in a positive outcome," San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata said, declining to release details on where the baby was found or the identities of the three people who were detained.

The child was taken Monday from his apartment in San Jose by a man who was seen on video walking away with the baby in a carrier.

Police believe they have apprehended the man in the video, who was one of the three taken into custody, said San Jose Assistant Police Chief Paul Joseph.

Also detained was a woman who was with the child's grandmother before the abduction, San Jose Police spokesman Sgt. Christian Camarillo told reporters.

This was a person who was with the grandmother yesterday when they went shopping, she was present at the apartment complex when this happened, he said. There have been some inconsistencies with what she has told us. Obviously, drawing our attention to what she knows about this.

Joseph did not provide details about the third suspect. Initial investigations indicated the abductors had a link to the family, he said.

We know that there is some connection to the family, but we don't know exactly what that connection is," Joseph said.

On Monday, police released a video showing the man walking calmly down the sidewalk holding the baby carrier covered by a white blanket.

Camarillo told reporters Monday that the kidnapping was reported by the baby's grandmother.

According to the grandmother, she came home to this apartment. ... She took the baby in the apartment, went downstairs to unload some groceries," Camarillo said. "In that short amount of time someone entered the apartment ... and left with the baby.

Camarillo said the baby's mother was at work when he was abducted.

Dad right now is out of the picture. He is incarcerated. I don't know, you know, whether that is going to play into this, but obviously we are going to talk to him soon, Camarillo said.
SINGAPORE (AP)  The Singapore Court of Appeal on Tuesday dismissed a last-minute legal challenge filed by the mother of a mentally disabled Malaysian man in an attempt to halt his execution for drug trafficking.

The dismissal of the motion clears the way for the execution of Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, 34, to proceed Wednesday.

The motion, filed Monday by his mother, Panchalai Supermaniam, argued that Nagaenthran may not have received a fair trial because Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who presided over his previous failed appeals, was attorney general at the time he was convicted in 2010, creating a potential conflict of interest.

Nagaenthrans lawyers and supporters say he has an IQ of 69, and that the execution of a mentally disabled person is prohibited under international human rights law.

The court ruled Tuesday that the motion was devoid of merit and that no court in the world would allow the matter to be prolonged ad infinitum.

There must come a time when the last word of the court is the last word, said Justice Andrew Phang, one of the judges.

Nagaenthran was arrested in 2009 for trafficking about 43 grams (1.5 ounces) of heroin into Singapore and was sentenced to death in 2010 under the country's strict anti-drug laws.

He previously failed in appeals to the High Court in 2011, the Court of Appeal in 2019 and a petition for clemency to the president of Singapore.

Following the court ruling Tuesday, Nagaenthran asked for permission to hold his familys hands in the courtroom as a final wish.

He was allowed to do so, and was granted two hours to spend with his family in the Supreme Court building.

He and his mother appeared in court Tuesday without a lawyer, with his mother saying she was unable to find one to represent her.

We need a lawyer, I want my son back alive, that is why I made his application, she said via an interpreter. We are in dire straits now, we really want to speak to a lawyer who can advise us on how to  move forward.

His case has drawn international attention, with public figures such as the founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson, and actor Stephen Fry publicly appealing for him not to be executed.

Immediately dismissing this motion so they can rush Nagen to the gallows at dawn tomorrow lays bare the truth about what fair trial rights and access to justice looks like in death penalty cases in Singapore, despite the governments repeated claims to afford those facing the death penalty full due process, said Maya Foa, director of Reprieve, a private organization.

On Monday, hundreds of people in Singapore held a candlelight vigil at a park to protest the scheduled execution.

Several recent death row cases have put the spotlight on Singapores policy of capital punishment for drug-related offenses. Singapores home affairs ministry says the country has a zero-tolerance stance against illicit drugs and that the death penalty is made clear at its borders.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  The death toll from two coal mine accidents last week in southern Poland has risen to 13 after another injured miner died Tuesday, a doctor said.

The miner died at the Siemianowice Slaskie hospital, which specializes in treating burns, where 20 other coal mine workers were still being treated for injuries from methane gas blasts, Dr. Przemyslaw Strzelec said.

The man's death means that seven miners and rescuers were killed by repeated blasts Wednesday and Thursday at the Pniowek mine, near the Czech border.

The search for seven others who remain missing was suspended after Thursdays blasts hurt 10 rescuers.

In the nearby Borynia-Zofiowka mine, 13 teams of rescuers are searching for four miners gone missing after a tremor and methane gas discharge on Saturday. Six miners died in that accident.

Prosecutors have opened investigations into the accidents. The mines are operated by the Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa, JSW.

Most Polish coal mines are in the southern Silesia region and many have a high presence of methane in the rock.

Some 70% of Polands energy comes from coal, a proportion that has been sharply criticized by the European Union and environmental groups who are concerned about CO2 emissions and meeting climate change goals.

Poland has been trying to scale down its use of coal. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently said Poland has stopped coal imports from Russia and its ally Belarus in response to Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

For years Poland has been reducing its dependence on Russian energy sources that was built in communist-era times before 1990, when Poland was Russia's satellite.

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NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A 3-year-old girl was fatally shot inside a house in New Orleans' French Quarter on Tuesday afternoon, and investigators were questioning her teenage brothers, police said.

Detectives don't know whether the shooting was accidental, Capt. Hans Ganthier, commander of the 8th Police District, said during a brief news conference.
EVERETT, Wash. (AP)  In a change of plans, a man on Monday pleaded not guilty to aggravated first-degree murder in the shooting of Everett, Washington, police officer Dan Rocha.

Richard Rotters lawyer said last week that Rotter planned to plead guilty. But at a hearing Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court, Rotter entered three pleas of not guilty, for the murder charge and charges of unlawfully having a firearm and possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver, The Daily Herald reported.
Gov. Ned Lamont is withdrawing the nomination of Alina Marquez Reynolds as a judge of the Superior Court after questions at her confirmation hearing Monday about whether she had technically practiced law without a license.

Reynolds, 56, is a member of the New York bar admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut, where she prosecuted cases as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1995 to 2019.

At issue is whether she was tardy in obtaining a necessary credential after leaving the U.S. attorneys office to become the general counsel of Grace Farms Foundation in New Canaan in 2019.

As general counsel, she did not appear in any Connecticut court, but state law requires that she be admitted to the state bar either as a fully licensed attorney or with a limited license allowing her to act as a general counsel.

Reynolds was not admitted to the bar as a general counsel until 2021 and as a fully licensed lawyer able to practice law in a Connecticut court until an expedited admission last week.

It was unclear how the Judicial Selection Commission placed her on the list of lawyers qualified for the trial bench in January without being fully admitted to the bar  a requirement to serve as a judge.

The governor can make nominations only from lists of those deemed qualified by the commission for nomination to the Superior Court, Appellate Court or Supreme Court.

To be admitted to practice in Connecticut, lawyers must either pass the bar exam or, in the case of lawyers in good standing in another state, be waived in after a background check.

Given her New York license and long practice in federal courts in Connecticut, Reynolds presumably would have had little trouble being accepted to practice in Connecticut as a general counsel or a fully admitted lawyer.

Rep. Craig Fishbein of Wallingford, the ranking House Republican on Judiciary, immediately challenged Reynolds about her licensing history as soon as she finished her opening statement.

So in October of 2019, you obtained employment as general counsel for a Connecticut firm, but you were not licensed to do so. Is that what Im hearing? Fishbein asked.

That is correct, but I was not appearing in court, she replied.

But Fishbein said state law required licensure for a lawyer to even portray herself as a general counsel.

Thats where Im having a little difficulty, said Fishbein, who noted the law allowed a grace period after beginning employment to complete the necessary paperwork. But its not until like two years later that a license is obtained to do this job in the state. Am I getting something wrong there?

She called it an inadvertent oversight on my part.

Reynolds said she was hired for two jobs at the foundation, one as general counsel and the other advising the foundations Justice Initiative in preventing gender-based violence.

I wore two hats. I was part of the Justice Initiative and did a lot of training, outreach and policy work, advocacy work, she said. As the general counsel, really my function was to manage outside counsel. It was much more of an administrative function.

The Democratic co-chairs of the committee, Rep. Steve Stafstrom of Bridgeport and Sen. Gary Winfield of New Haven, declined to call a vote on Reynoldss confirmation, a blow to her chances in the final full week of the session.

By Monday night, her time as a nominee effectively was over.

The governors office issued a statement to CT Mirror noting that Reynolds had met two prerequisites for the bench: An approval by the Judicial Selection Commission and her admission to the bar.

That said, the governors office respects and understands the concerns raised by the committee today and will formally withdraw her nomination, the office said.

Reynolds was one of 11 lawyers nominated as judges of the Superior Court on April 13, the same day the governor also nominated Joan K. Alexander to the Supreme Court and Hope C. Seeley to the Appellate Court.

The committee voted Monday to recommend the full General Assembly confirm Alexander, Seeley and the other 10 nominees to eight-year terms.

Stafstrom, reached before the governors office moved to withdraw the nomination, called the episode regrettable.

I think its unfortunate in that she was seen as otherwise well-qualified, he said.

Reynolds is her married name. She was born Alina Pilar Marquez in Colombia, the child of parents who fled from Cuba.

We came to the United States because my parents, especially my dad, who only made it as far as the eighth grade in school, knew that it would be here in the United States where we would have the best opportunity to build a new life, she told the committee in her opening statement.

Reynolds was the first in her family to attend college. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Boston College Law School. She began her legal career as an assistant district attorney in New York.

Correction: The headline of this story has been updated to reflect the nomination was for the Connecticut Superior Court.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli forces on Tuesday shot and killed a 20-year-old Palestinian man during a raid in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority's Health Ministry said.

The PA said the man, Ahmad Oweidat, was shot in the head. The army confirmed it carried out an arrest raid overnight at the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp, south of Jericho. It said troops opened fire after dozens of Palestinians threw rocks and firebombs at soldiers.
Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 A 15-year-old boy was arrested at 2:10 p.m. Monday on a disorderly conduct charge after causing a disturbance at Garrison Alternative School, 936 W. Michigan Ave.

ACCIDENTS

 William C.T. Hatchel, 33, of 1648 S. Main St. was arrested at 1:54 a.m. Sunday on charges of improper lane use and leaving the scene of an accident after the truck he was driving went off the road and became stuck in a ditch in the 900 block of West Morton Avenue.

THEFTS, BURGLARIES

 Construction equipment valued at $20,000 was stolen April 10 from the 1000 block of East Morton Avenue, according to a report filed at 1:09 p.m. Monday.

 A man stole an unknown number of steaks from County Market, 1255 W. Morton Ave., about 7:56 p.m. Sunday by hiding them in his clothing.

 A woman took about $1,400 worth of merchandise from CVS Pharmacy, 936 S. Main St., about 2 p.m. Sunday without paying.

 A mailbox valued at $200 was stolen from the 2200 block of Mound Road, according to a report filed at 7:45 a.m. Sunday.

South Jacksonville Police

THEFTS, BURGLARIES

 A lawnmower was stolen from the front yard of a residence in the 200 block of East Greenwood Avenue, according to a report filed at 9 p.m. Thursday.

 Items were taken between Nov. 1 and Sunday from a shed in the 200 block of West Pennsylvania Avenue, according to a report filed at 1:41 p.m. Sunday.

 A license plate was stolen from a car in the 2400 block of Holiday Lane, according to a report filed at 5:13 p.m. Sunday.

Pike County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Ashley R. Fulmer, 26, of Barry was booked into Pike County Jail at 7:24 p.m. April 19 on a petition to revoke.

 Russell C. Coats, 55, of Blandville was booked into Pike County Jail at 7:46 p.m. Sunday on a domestic battery charge.

 Angela M. Reveal, 34, of Griggsville was booked into Pike County Jail at 9:01 p.m. April 18 on a Pike County warrant accusing her of possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of cannabis by a passenger, and bad checks.

 Christopher S. Bushey, 30, of Griggsville was booked into Pike County Jail at 3:18 p.m. Friday on a domestic battery charge.

Pittsfield Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Christopher D. Edwards, 40, of Pittsfield was booked into Pike County Jail at 2:46 p.m. April 18 on charges of criminal damage to property, obstructing justice, theft and burglary.

 James R. Merryman, 55, of Pittsfield was booked into Pike County Jail at 3:31 p.m. Thursday on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.

 Ashley E. Niffen, 36, of Pittsfield was booked into Pike County Jail at 5:09 p.m. Thursday on a theft charge and on a petition to revoke.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP)  A report issued Monday urges a California coastal panel to deny a proposal to build a $1.4 billion desalination plant that would draw on the ocean to expand water sources in Southern California.

Staff for the California Coastal Commission recommended the panel reject Poseidon Water 's proposal to build the 50 million gallon-a-day facility Huntington Beach. The project is up for discussion before the panel on May 12.

This project raises significant and complex coastal protection policy issues, staff wrote in the report, including conformity with policies that require protection of marine life, water quality, environmentally sensitive habitat areas, and policies meant to avoid or minimize hazards associated with sea level rise, floods, tsunamis, and geologic hazards.

The staff also wrote that the proposal raises significant issues about potential impacts on environmental justice communities. It also lacks, however, details about who would ultimately buy Poseidon's water and at what cost, the report states.

Poseidon Water said it believed the commission staff erred in its recommendation.

No water infrastructure project in the state of California has ever undergone this level of study and scrutiny, the company said in a statement. If this recommendation stands, it will effectively be the death knell for desalination in California.

The proposal has been touted by some in California's Orange County as an alternative to a long-running drought and a way to expand water sources as the region grows. But environmental groups have long opposed the plan over concerns marine life will be sucked into the plant and argue that critical infrastructure shouldn't be built in a low-lying coastal areas as the region contends with sea level rise. They also say the water would be too expensive.

The proposal comes as California faces prolonged drought, worsened by climate change, with its nearly 40 million residents heeding repeated calls in recent years to conserve water. It also comes amid rising concern about sea level rise, with a federal report recently forecasting that seas lapping against the U.S. shore could be 10 to 12 inches (0.25 to 0.3 meters) higher by 2050.

Huntington Beach, which is known as Surf City USA" and relies on its waves and scenic shoreline for tourism dollars, approved a proposal more than a decade ago to build the plant near a coastal power facility. The plant would draw on the sea water and convert it so it could be used to replenish the local groundwater system, a key source of drinking water for many of Orange County's 3.2 million residents.

But the state coastal panel in 2013 recommended a series of changes to the project to protect marine life. Additional studies were completed and Poseidon updated its proposals for structures used to draw in ocean water.

Poseidon Water has been running a similar desalination plant in nearby Carlsbad, in San Diego County, since 2015.

Susan Jordan, executive director of the California Coastal Protection Network and member of the Stop Poseidon coalition, praised the recommendation Monday to deny the proposal.

In a statement, Jordan said it's time for Poseidon Water to recognize the deep and irrevocable flaws with this project, cut its losses and publicly recognize this project and this site are not good for Huntington Beach or California  its time to shut it down for good.
SOMERSET, Pa. (AP)  A suspended western Pennsylvania prosecutor facing charges in a sexual assault case has now been charged in an unrelated assault almost a year ago.

Jeffrey Thomas, 36, Somerset Countys elected district attorney, was jailed Monday on charges of simple assault, reckless endangerment and harassment after state police alleged that he was seen on a video call punching a woman as the two rode in a vehicle in May 2021.
SEMINOLE, Ala. (AP)  Authorities say tattoos have helped identify a body found 22 years ago in Alabamas Styx River as that of a Texas man who helped other migrants find work.

DNA identified the body as Daniel Muniz Jr. after his stepdaughter, Amanda Galleher of Tennessee, found photos of the tattoos in a national database of missing and unidentified people, news outlets report.

The man, whose cause of death was found to be probable drowning, was wearing only jeans when his body was found in March 2000, news outlets reported.

The Baldwin County Sheriffs Office reopened the case in 2019, sending out a news release with photos of distinctive tattoos and posting them on websites about missing people.

Galleher found them in June 2021 on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System clearinghouse and resource center.

I was going through every one of the cases that there was, and I had seen the first tattoo pop up of the Indian head and that was of my fathers ex-wife that they had put on there, Galleher told WALA-TV in Mobile.

It took until April 21 for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences to positively identify Muniz. Al.com reported that he was a migrant worker from Texas. He had been in Baldwin County to help migrant workers find jobs, WPMI-TV reported.

Because his body was found near the community of Seminole, the unidentified man had been listed as Seminole Doe, WKRG-TV reported.

Galleher told WALA that she plans to travel to Alabama to visit her stepfather's grave.

"They even got a tombstone, she said. Theres a lot of people in the world who have family and dont even have a tombstone, so I feel like the county hes in did him justice.

She said she plans to have a new gravestone made.
LONDON (AP)  An independent monitor of Britain's use of surveillance cameras has asked for the government to clarify its positions on buying equipment from a Chinese technology company accused of involvement in human rights abuses.

Fraser Sampson, the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner, said he raised concerns with senior Cabinet officials after Hikvision failed to answer questions about the extent of its role in China's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in western Xinjiang province.

There are serious unanswered questions about Hikvisions involvement in appalling human rights abuses in China," Sampson said in a statement Tuesday. The company seems unwilling or unable to provide assurances about the ethics of some of its operations and about security concerns associated with its equipment.

Sampson said the company's cameras and facial recognition technology have been implicated in systematic human rights abuses against Uyghurs. He said widespread persecution of the minority group in Xinjiang is known to rely heavily on surveillance technology, including facial recognition software designed to detect racial characteristics.

The Telegraph newspaper reported earlier this month that the U.K. health department banned Hikvision, which is part-owned by the Chinese government, from competing for new business after a procurement report found ethical concerns about the company.

Sampson said all branches of the British government should rule out contracts with Hikvision until the company provides necessary information on ethics and security.

It wasn't immediately clear how many of the firm's cameras have been purchased by local authorities or are in use in U.K. government buildings, although media reports have estimated that there were more than 1.2 million Hikvision cameras in the country.

In 2019, the firm was blocked from selling to U.S. federal government agencies following security concerns.

Hikvision, which is headquartered in Hangzhou, China, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

The company's website says its products are used in more than 150 countries and regions and that it employs more than 42,000 people worldwide.
GENEVA (AP)  A United Nations team has landed in China ahead of a long-delayed visit by the U.N. human rights chief to Xinjiang, where rights groups and some Western governments allege the Chinese government is committing genocide and serious abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

The U.N. human rights office said Tuesday its staffers arrived in southern China on Monday to prepare for the visit by High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, expected in May.

The advance team of five is initially spending time in Guangzhou, where they are quarantining in line with COVID-19 travel requirements, spokeswoman Liz Throssell said.

Bachelet announced in March that her office reached an agreement with China's government that she could visit Xinjiang in far-western China. The rights chief has long talked about hoping to visit Xinjiang, and her office has also been compiling a long-awaited report into alleged human rights abuses in the region.

Almost 200 rights groups have urged Bachelet to release her report, which diplomats said has been ready  or very close to it  for months.

The advance team is in China to make sure that Bachelet would gain meaningful access to fully understand the human rights situation in China, Throssell said.

Rights groups and researchers accuse China of locking up more than a million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and members of other minority groups in re-education camps, forced labor, forcing women from the region to undergo contraceptive measures and separating children from incarcerated parents.

The U.S. government has declared that Beijings policies against the Uyghurs amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity. Legislatures in Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada have done the same.

China denies the allegations and maintains its policies were meant to de-radicalize those influenced by jihadi propaganda following years of violent outbursts against Chinese rule in the region.
What do we know about the new omicron mutant?

It's a descendant of the earlier super-contagious stealth omicron and has quickly gained ground in the United States.

BA.2.12.1 was responsible for 29% of new COVID-19 infections nationally last week, according to data reported Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And it caused 58% of reported infections in the New York region.

The variant has been detected in at least 13 other countries, but the U.S. has the highest levels of it so far. Scientists say it spreads even faster than stealth omicron.

Cases are rising in places with increasing levels of the BA.2.12.1 variant, such as central New York, suggesting something about it is causing it to out-compete others, says Eli Rosenberg of New York state's health department.

It appears a similar pattern will likely play out nationally, says Kirsten St. George, director of virology at New York states Wadsworth Center Laboratory.

Scientists are trying to figure out other aspects of BA.2.12.1, including whether vaccines are as effective against it as previous variants.

___

The AP is answering your questions about the coronavirus in this series. Submit them at: FactCheck@AP.org. Read more here:

How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed after two years?

How many times can I reuse my N95 mask?

Can your pet get COVID-19?
Galveston Independent School District officials last week confirmed the uncovering of a network of cryptocurrency mining devices surreptitiously installed on six separate campuses.

According to The Daily News' John Wayne Ferguson, district IT employees found a number of Bobcat cryptocurrency mining hotspots installed on school networks. The devices were discovered after workers monitoring the district's systems noted aberrations in network traffic, according to Galveston ISD President Tony Brown.

"I can't describe it in any more details, because I'd be in way over my head, as far as what it was and what they did," Brown said, per Ferguson.

Brown stated the devices were installed by a former district employee who was placed on leave after the discovery and has since resigned. The devices were found on April 8, according to Superintendent Jerry Gibson, and an investigation is ongoing.

"Although the investigation related to the employee's misuse of district property is ongoing, it has been confirmed that there was no breach of data resulting from this incident," Gibson said. "We are pleased that the security measures put in place by the district were effective in detecting and preventing any potential issues."

Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are digital currencies traded between users as payment for goods and services. These transactions are authenticated by miners, who use devices like the ones discovered by Galveston ISD employees to provide processing power that helps verify these transactions. The process is highly energy-intensive and requires large amounts of electricity and computer processing power, and miners who provide this service receive new Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in return.

In short, crypto mining is a lucrative, energy-heavy enterprise, and lawmakers across the United States are scrambling to craft legislation in the hopes of attracting or regulating mining in their states as the practice proliferates. New York state senators are poised to vote on a bill in the coming weeks that would ban energy-intensive crypto mining in the state for the next two years. Proponents of the bill say it will disincentivize the use of fossil fuels in the creation of Bitcoin and help keep New York on track to meet its carbon emissions goals.

In Texas, Republican lawmakers are courting large-scale cryptominers and hailing their arrival as enterprising businesses capable of fixing the state's infamously capricious power grid.

Last June, Gov. Greg Abbott touted the arrival of cryptocurrency payment kiosks in a number of H-E-B grocery stores, claiming the Lone Star State would be the nation's "crypto leader" moving forward.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has repeatedly called for an influx of large crypto-mining concerns into the state to raise electricity demand in rural areas, a move he claims would help stabilize the grid by raising baseline demand and energy prices.

"A lot of the discussion around Bitcoin views Bitcoin as a consumer of energy," Cruz said in October. "The perspective I'm suggesting is very much the reverse."
Facebook / Chambers County Sheriff's Office

Rescue crews on Tuesday recovered the body of a missing 88-year-old angler who didn't return home after a fishing expedition Monday in Trinity Bay east of Houston.

The boater was identified as W.F. Childress, who entered the water at Smith's Point in the southeast portion of the bay around 8:30 a.m. Monday. When he didn't return that afternoon, his wife called the Coast Guard to report he never made it home. Crews from the Coast Guard, Chambers County Sheriff's Office and several fire departments did what they could Monday before storms moved into Southeast Texas and hindered their efforts.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, nearly all Texas public universities responded by making the submission of an SAT or ACT score optional for college admission.

But although COVID infections are down and in-person standardized tests are widely available again, the majority of Texas public universities are keeping the SAT and ACT optional until the spring of 2023 or later.

Even before the pandemic, some universities considered themselves test-optional because of a state law that grants automatic admission to Texas students who graduate in the top 10% of their high school classes. But the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many more schools to become test-optional for all applicants.

It was an opportunity that a lot of schools are grateful theyve been able to take, said Chris Reed, executive director of admissions at Texas A&M University in College Station. The pandemic created an opportunity when it was the right thing to do.  Now we have a living, breathing dataset to evaluate some of those assumptions.

So far, Texas A&M has extended the policy through spring 2023. Stephen F. Austin State University in East Texas and the University of Texas at Dallas have already extended their test score policies through the fall of next year. Texas Tech University has extended its policy until 2025.

Other schools, including the University of Houston, Texas State University in San Marcos and the University of Texas at Tyler, say they will make decisions on test score requirements in the coming weeks or months.

Others, including Sam Houston State University, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Tarleton State University, have extended the test-optional policy indefinitely. Some private universities, including Baylor University and Rice University, have extended their test-optional policies through fall 2023 and say they will reevaluate afterward.

It remains unclear whether the most selective public university in the state  the University of Texas at Austin  will continue to remain test-optional for all students past this fall. The university declined to comment about its plans.

Meanwhile, the states two public historically Black universities continue to require standardized test scores. Texas Southern University in Houston requires test scores only for applicants with a 2.5 grade point average or below. Those with higher GPAs do not need to submit test scores. Prairie View A&M University reinstated its standardized test score requirement for fall 2021 applicants.

A Prairie View spokesperson said most students continued to submit scores but did not explain why the school switched back to a test score requirement. Texas Southern said there has been no discussion to shift to a test-optional policy for all applicants.

Even before the pandemic, there were discussions at some schools to make the SAT or ACT score optional. Some school leaders have argued that the tests are not predictive of student performance in college and are an additional barrier to enrollment for low-income students.

Universities that shifted to test-optional policies said they rely on a holistic approach to applications, giving weight to areas like a students grade point average, the high school transcript and where the student attended high school.

Reed cautions that its too early to definitively state the impact of the change to enrollment with test-optional policies. But he said early data shows that Texas A&M did not see retention rates dip from fall to spring during either of the last two years. Also, the average fall GPA for first-time students remained the same. These data points helped inform the universitys decision to continue the test-optional policy.

Many Texas universities said they saw an increase in applications once standardized test scores became optional for admission. But they havent seen a significant change in the makeup of their freshman classes. College counseling experts said that is likely because the states Top 10% Rule allowed schools to enroll those students year after year.

Many universities said they saw minimal changes in the diversity of students who enrolled.

But a few universities reported some remarkable differences.

The University of Texas at Arlington increased the number of Black students in its freshman class by almost 34%, from 519 to 694, in fall 2021. The number of Black freshmen at Texas State increased by 6%. Texas A&M International University in Laredo reported that it had accepted more students ranked in the top 40% of their graduation classes.

Some schools, including West Texas A&M University, accepted more students who qualify for need-based federal grants, known as Pell grants. The regional public university in Canyon accepts any student who has at least a 2.0 GPA and meets at least one other requirement, which can include test scores. For those who dont meet the qualifications, the school has adjusted its alternative admissions process to include two essay questions and a high school recommendation letter.

The test-optional trend has opened up a lot more opportunities for students who are low-income, who dont come from high schools that emphasize testing like more resourced counterparts, said Sara Urquidez with Academic Success Program Dallas, which helps low-income and first-generation college students apply for and enroll in college at 18 high schools in the Dallas area. But I dont think its changed the fundamental question of college affordability for low-income students.

Many Texas public universities say they still use test scores to determine merit scholarships, but they also take a more comprehensive look at applications from students who apply without SAT or ACT scores.

Yet Urquidez said she saw a stark reduction in the number of merit scholarships awarded to students who did not submit test scores, and many students and families are confused about what schools are using to determine merit scholarships.

Its a black box for students and families, she said. We cant talk about test-optional being a vehicle for change when the vast majority of institutions are still using it in this other way.

Urquidez said she sits on a few private scholarship committees and heard anecdotally from students that they were unaware that applying without a test score could negatively impact their chances of receiving aid from the university.

She said she still encourages students to submit good scores if they have them. Yet some universities across the state saw a majority of students apply without scores for fall 2020 and fall 2021.

At Texas A&M University-Kingsville, just 36% of applicants for admission last fall included standardized test scores. And at West Texas A&M University, which is keeping a test-optional policy permanently, nearly 80% of students did not submit scores. So far, about 35% of students applying to enroll next fall at the University of North Texas had submitted test scores.

In contrast, 75% of Rice University applicants submitted test scores with their applications for the fall 2021 semester. Reed, the executive director of admissions at Texas A&M University, said more than two-thirds of applicants to the College Station school submitted scores.

National experts say if schools want to make it clear they are truly test-optional, then they need to remain agnostic toward the exams. On some university websites, schools will say students wont be negatively impacted if they dont submit test scores but simultaneously encourage students to submit scores if they have them.

Once they start making recommendations, its going to be interpreted as we would prefer this, said Akil Bello with the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, an organization that works to [eliminate] the racial, class, gender, and cultural barriers to equal opportunity posed by standardized tests. You see the same thing with [Advanced Placement] testing.  AP classes are optional, but kinda not really.

The confusion that test-optional policies can create for families is one reason St. Marys University in San Antonio became the first university in Texas to become test-free, meaning it does not consider standardized test scores at all.

Rosalind Alderman, St. Marys vice president for enrollment management, said an analysis of student data determined that for the vast majority, the standardized test did not provide any additional information as to whether students would successfully make it to their sophomore year.

Everyones worried about putting your best foot forward, she said. Sometimes families ... they kind of want a yes or no, and so [we said], No, were not considering it.

While a majority of Texas universities have committed to continuing test-optional policies for the near future, some universities across the country have announced theyre beginning to require the scores again.

Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced it was bringing back the test requirement. The University of Georgia system recently reinstated its test-optional policies at all universities except at the University of Georgia, Georgia College and State University, and Georgia Tech.

Urquidez said shes worried MITs decision will give colleges permission to bring the exams back at their schools, even if their circumstances around selectivity are different than MITs.

Theres some institutions that are going to say we found ways to adjust, but higher ed is guilty of [saying], This is the way weve always done it. This is always a little bit easier.

Disclosure: Baylor University, Prairie View A&M University, Rice University, Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M International University, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Houston, the University of North Texas and West Texas A&M 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 Tribunes journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/26/texas-universities-sat-act-test/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
Gov. Greg Abbott is inviting the public to help pay for buses transporting migrants from Texas border communities to the nation's capital. The Republican leader has added a donations page to his office's website under a "Border Transportation Funding" button on the site's "Border Crisis Update" page.

The page notes that any unused border transportation funding will be applied to the state's border wall funding.

Abbott promoted the donation page during a Sunday appearance on the Fox News program "Sunday Morning Futures" with host Maria Bartiromo. The Republican governor told Bartiromo that as soon as he announced the bus ride initiative, his office's "phone started ringing off the hook [with] people wanting to help."

Twice mentioning the site's address, Abbott said, "You can contribute to us busing those migrants to Washington, D.C., and make the Biden administration deal with it themselves." The web page says donations "as of April 13" are "TBD," so it's unclear when the fundraiser began.

Abbott's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on when it started, how many donations have been made so far or information on other sources of funding.

His office also did not confirm how many migrants have traveled during each trip. Abbott told reporters during a roundtable with San Antonio law enforcement last Wednesday that he does not know how many migrants have been sent.

The governor announced the bus ride initiative on April 6 in response to the Biden administration announcing the end of Trump-era Title 42 pandemic restrictions, which allowed border officials to turn away migrants at the border because of the health crisis. The Republican governor warned of an upcoming influx of migrants if the measure is lifted next month.

"Maria, with the sheer number of people coming across the border, beginning in a month, we will continue these bus routes to Washington, D.C.," Abbott told Bartiromo.

Between April 13 and April 22, 10 of the buses have been sent to Washington, D.C., with migrants from the countries of Angola, Brazil, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, according to Abbott's office.

In a separate Fox News program last Wednesday, Abbott told host Sean Hannity, "If he will not come to the border, I'm going to take the border to President Biden. He will see by these daily flows of buses... what Texans are dealing with and he and members of Congress are going to have to deal with directly."
In a likely unintended outcome, migrants are thanking Gov. Greg Abbott for providing them free rides on charter buses from Texas to the nation's capital after they've crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

Santo Linarte Lopez, a migrant from Nicaragua, told the New York Times that although he doesn't understand why Abbott paid for him to travel north, he was grateful since it got him closer to his final destination: North Carolina. "Imagine, how much would it cost to get from here to all the way over there," Lopez said, adding he only had $45 left of the $1,500 he had raised for his trip to the U.S.

"I am very thankful to the governor," Reydel Grau, a Cuban man who traveled three weeks to reach the U.S., told the Times. "His help is very much welcomed."

Earlier this month, Abbott announced his plan to bus migrants from Texas border communities to Washington, D.C. in order to protest the Biden administration ending Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allowed border authorities to turn away migrants due to the public health crisis. The Republican governor has warned of an upcoming influx of migrants if the measure is lifted next month.

Abbott has stated that the intention of his bus plan was to "take the border to President Biden" so that he and members of Congress could deal with migrants directly. He's even said he's considering sending the buses to Biden's home state of Delaware next. However, some migrant advocates are saying the initiative is actually making their lives a little easier.

"In a way it's actually perfect," Bilal Askaryar, a spokesperson for Welcome With Dignity, a collective of about 100 local and national groups that help migrants, told the Times. "Unintentionally, Governor Abbott sent them to one of the best places in the nation to welcome people."

Askaryar told the Times there are advocates who understand the system and are ready to help migrants with their needs. "It might not have been the governor's intention  I think he clearly wanted to create some kind of chaos  but the reality is that we're really well prepared and really excited to welcome these people," Askaryar said.

As of Monday, approximately 195 migrants have voluntarily made the 30-hour-long bus trip to Washington, D.C. since April 13 and more are en route, according to the Times.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki initially dismissed Abbott's bus program, calling it a "publicity stunt" However, Psaki later said it's "nice the State of Texas is helping them get to their final destination." When asked last week about some migrants expressing gratitude for getting a free ride to D.C., Abbott responded that his intent was to "alleviate the strain put on border communities."
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northwestern Kenedy County in Deep South Texas...

Northeastern Brooks County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 715 PM CDT.

* At 637 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Premont,

moving southeast around 20 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Falfurrias, Falfurrias Junior High School, Pleasant Park, La

Colonia Park, Airport Road Addition, Falfurrias Fire Station,

Flowella, Brooks County Airport, Cantu Addition and Brooks County

Detention Center.

This includes US Highway 281 between mile markers 710 and 726.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service Brownsville TX

646 PM CDT Mon Apr 25 2022

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of northeastern Zapata

County through 730 PM CDT...

At 646 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 15

miles northwest of Escobas, or 16 miles north of Bustamante, moving

southeast at 5 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and half inch hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

This storm will remain over mainly rural areas of northeastern Zapata

County.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

LAT...LON 2727 9908 2715 9898 2700 9927 2726 9934

2727 9930

TIME...MOT...LOC 2346Z 333DEG 6KT 2722 9919

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southwestern Duval County in south central Texas...

* Until 700 PM CDT.

* At 646 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Las Lomitas,

or 7 miles northeast of Hebbronville, moving south at 15 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Realitos.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

Northeastern Jim Hogg County in Deep South Texas...

Northwestern Brooks County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 730 PM CDT.

* At 649 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Las Lomitas,

or near Hebbronville, moving south at 10 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Hebbronville, Las Lomitas, Gruy Stadium, Hebbronville High School

and Hebbronville Border Patrol Station.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Brownsville TX

656 PM CDT Mon Apr 25 2022

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 715 PM CDT

FOR NORTHWESTERN KENEDY AND NORTHEASTERN BROOKS COUNTIES...

At 655 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near La Gloria, or

near Premont, moving southeast around 10 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind

damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Falfurrias, Falfurrias Junior High School, Pleasant Park, La Colonia

Park, Airport Road Addition, Falfurrias Fire Station, Flowella,

Brooks County Airport, Cantu Addition and Brooks County Detention

Center.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...FLOOD ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

* WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues.

* WHERE...A portion of south Texas, including the following

counties, Duval, Jim Wells, Kleberg and Nueces.

* WHEN...Until 900 PM CDT.

* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- At 658 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to

thunderstorms. Minor flooding is ongoing or expected to begin

shortly in the advisory area. Between 2 and 4 inches of rain

have fallen.

- Additional rainfall amounts up to 1 inch are expected over

the area. This additional rain will result in minor flooding.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Kingsville, Alice, San Diego, Bishop, Ben Bolt, Alice Acres,

Palito Blanco, San Jose, Alfred, Tecalote, Alfred-South La

Paloma, Ricardo, Agua Dulce and Lake Alice.

- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads.

The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southern Jim Wells County in south central Texas...

Extreme Southwestern Kleberg County in south central Texas...

* Until 745 PM CDT.

* At 658 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Premont,

moving south at 10 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Premont and La Gloria.

This includes US Highway 281 between mile markers 700 and 708.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Brownsville TX

726 PM CDT Mon Apr 25 2022

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 815 PM CDT

FOR NORTHEASTERN BROOKS COUNTY...

At 725 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Pleasant Park,

or over Falfurrias, moving south at 5 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Law enforcement.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable

tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes,

roofs, and outbuildings.

Locations impacted include...

Falfurrias, Falfurrias Junior High School, Pleasant Park, La Colonia

Park, Airport Road Addition, Falfurrias Fire Station, Flowella,

Brooks County Airport, Cantu Addition and Brooks County Detention

Center.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

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.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHEASTERN JIM HOGG AND

NORTHWESTERN BROOKS COUNTIES WILL EXPIRE AT 730 PM CDT...

The storm which prompted the warning has weakened below severe

limits, and no longer poses an immediate threat to life or property.

Therefore, the warning will be allowed to expire. However small hail

and gusty winds are still possible with this thunderstorm.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHWESTERN JIM WELLS AND

WESTERN KLEBERG COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

Therefore, the warning has been cancelled. However gusty winds are

still possible with this thunderstorm.

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Central Brooks County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 815 PM CDT.

* At 729 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 9 miles southwest

of Falfurrias Junior High School, or 10 miles southwest of

Falfurrias, moving south at 5 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and ping pong ball size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

considerable tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to

mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings.

* Locations impacted include...

Hidalgo City Park.

This includes US Highway 281 between mile markers 716 and 724.

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.

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southwestern Karnes

County through 815 PM CDT...

At 730 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over

Nell, or 13 miles southwest of Kenedy, moving northeast at 15 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 50 mph and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Kenedy, Karnes City, El Oso and Zunkerville.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

LAT...LON 2868 9779 2867 9782 2868 9784 2870 9789

2872 9792 2869 9801 2877 9809 2893 9789

2871 9772 2867 9777

TIME...MOT...LOC 0030Z 243DEG 13KT 2871 9804

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN

MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southeastern Jim Hogg County in Deep South Texas...

Southwestern Brooks County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 900 PM CDT.

* At 812 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 8 miles northeast

of San Rafael Ranch Airport, or 13 miles east of Agua Nueva, moving

south at 10 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Agua Nueva, El Coyote Ranch Airport, San Rafael Ranch Airport and

Puesta Del Sol Airport.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Small 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.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHWESTERN BROOKS COUNTY

WILL EXPIRE AT 815 PM CDT...

The storm which prompted the warning has moved out of the area.

Therefore, the warning will be allowed to expire.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, April 26, 2022

_____

FLASH FLOOD WARNING

Flash Flood Statement

National Weather Service Brownsville TX

1035 PM CDT Mon Apr 25 2022

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1245 AM CDT TUESDAY

FOR WESTERN HIDALGO AND EASTERN STARR COUNTIES...

At 1035 PM CDT, Between 2 and 4 inches of rain have fallen across

much of eastern Starr County. Although the heaviest rainfall has

moved south of Starr County into northeast Mexico, areas of flash

flooding are still ongoing within the warned area.

HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms.

SOURCE...Radar.

IMPACT...Flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas,

highways, streets and underpasses as well as other poor

drainage and low-lying areas.

Some locations that will experience flash flooding include...

Rio Grande City, McCook, Garciasville, La Grulla, Santa Catarina,

Puerto Rico, La Reforma, San Isidro, La Gloria, and La Victoria.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the

dangers of flooding.

...FLOOD ADVISORY HAS EXPIRED...

The Flood Advisory has expired for a portion of Deep South Texas,

including the following counties, Brooks and Jim Hogg.

Flood waters have receded. The heavy rain has ended. Arroyo and

small stream flooding is no longer expected to pose a threat. Please

continue to heed remaining road closures.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHWESTERN ATASCOSA COUNTY

IS CANCELLED...

The storm which prompted the warning has weakened below severe

limits, and no longer poses an immediate threat to life or property.

Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO CORPUS CHRISTI Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Corpus Christi TX

629 PM CDT Mon Apr 25 2022

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHEASTERN DUVAL COUNTY...

At 628 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Concepcion, or

15 miles west of Premont, moving south at 15 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Concepcion, Ramirez, Rios and Cruz Calle.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for...

Western Jim Wells County in south central Texas...

* Until 830 PM CDT.

* At 630 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1 and 3 inches of rain

have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches are

possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected

to begin shortly.

HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms.

SOURCE...Radar.

IMPACT...Flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban

areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as

other poor drainage and low-lying areas.

* Some locations that will experience flash flooding include...

Alice, Midway, Alice Acres, Ben Bolt, Palito Blanco, Tecalote,

Rancho De La Parita and Lake Alice.

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
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
A step-by-step guide on how you can get Canadian permanent residence through the Federal Skilled Worker Program.

How to immigrate through Canadas Federal Skilled Worker Program A step-by-step guide on how you can get Canadian permanent residence through the Federal Skilled Worker Program.

How to immigrate through Canadas Federal Skilled Worker Program A step-by-step guide on how you can get Canadian permanent residence through the Federal Skilled Worker Program.

How to immigrate through Canadas Federal Skilled Worker Program A step-by-step guide on how you can get Canadian permanent residence through the Federal Skilled Worker Program. Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

Sans Font Size A

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Between its launch in 1967 and the start of the pandemic, the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) was the main immigration pathway for skilled workers to come to Canada. Following a temporary pause that has been in place since December 2020, Express Entry invitation rounds for FSWP candidates are set to resume in July. Also, the processing standard for new applicants is expected to return to six months.

The FSWP is an attractive immigration pathway, as candidates can become eligible with no Canadian experience and no job offer.

As a program managed by the Express Entry system, people who are eligible for the FSWP get a score on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). Roughly every two weeks, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) holds Express Entry draws inviting the highest scoring candidates to apply for Canadian immigration.

The following is a step-by-step guide on how you can apply for Canadian immigration through the FSWP:

Get a Free Express Entry Assessment

Step 1: Meet the FSWPs eligibility criteria

In order to be eligible to apply under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, potential candidates must meet the minimum requirements for work, language ability, and education. You also need to score at least 67 under the programs 100-point grid.

The minimum requirements are:

One year of continuous full-time or equivalent paid work experience in the past 10 years in a skilled occupation classified under the National Occupational Classification (NOC) skill level 0, A or B;

Validated language ability equivalent to Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 in English or French across all abilities (reading, writing, listening, and speaking); and

Canadian educational credential (certificate, diploma, or degree) or foreign credential and Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report.

FSWP applicants must get at least 67 points on IRCCs six immigration selection factors. The table below shows the maximum number of points candidates can get for each category.

FSWP grid

Factors Points Education Up to 25 Language Skills Up to 28 Work Experience Up to 15 Age Up to 12 Arranged employment Up to 10 Adaptability Up to 10

Once you are eligible, you can enter the Express Entry pool.

Step 2: Submit your Express Entry profile to the IRCC website

When you go on the government website, create an IRCC secure account and follow the instructions. The online tool will prompt you to create an Express Entry profile, enter your personal reference code if you have one, and enter your personal details.

You have 60 days to complete and submit your Express Entry profile, otherwise, you will have to start again.

Once youve filled out your profile, you can submit it and IRCC will figure out which Express Entry program you are eligible for.

If you are eligible for the FSWP, IRCC will place you in the Express Entry pool with others who are also eligible. You will get a score based on factors like work experience, education, age, and official language ability.

Step 3: Check for an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence

Completing an online Express Entry profile does not guarantee you will be invited to apply for permanent residence. You need to have a score that is high enough to meet the minimum threshold in a given Express Entry draw.

While you are in the pool, get ready for IRCC to send you an ITA. If you receive one, youll have 60 days to submit a complete application. IRCC holds Express Entry draws approximately every two weeks.

Step 4: If you receive an ITA, apply for immigration

If you get an ITA, IRCC will send you a message telling you which program you have been invited for and what to do next. The system automatically invites candidates to apply under one of the Express Entry-managed programs in the following order: Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), Canadian Experience Class (CEC), FSWP, and then Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).

IRCC will ask for proof of the information you submitted in your Express Entry profile. Immigration officers will assess whether the information you provided in your application is different from your profile. If they find false information, or important details left out they may refuse your application, find you inadmissible, or bar you from applying for immigration for five years.

IRCC recommends checking the criteria for the program you have been invited to apply for to ensure you are still eligible. If your personal situation changes, you may have to re-calculate your score before applying. If your recalculated score is less than the minimum CRS cut-off for your round of invitations, IRCC recommends declining the invitation.

Declining an invitation means you will be put back into the Express Entry pool of candidates and you may be considered for future rounds of invitations if you are still eligible. It does not affect whether you are invited to apply later. There is no guarantee you will be invited to apply again, however, you may be able to improve your chance by updating your Express Entry profile or getting a higher CRS score.

If you do not respond to your ITA in 60 days, IRCC will take your profile out of the pool. To be considered for future draws, you will have to fill out a new Express Entry profile.

Other ways to immigrate

The PNP is another significant immigration program. Canada aims to admit more than 80,000 PNP candidates as permanent residents every year over the next three years, according to the 2022-2024 Immigration Levels Plan. Also, IRCC is still holding Express Entry draws every two weeks for PNP candidates.

If you are in the Express Entry pool already, you may be invited to apply for a provincial nomination. Then if you get the nomination, it will mean you get 600 points added to your score and you will be able to apply for immigration as a PNP candidate.

Conclusion

The FSWP has been a prominent way to attract immigrants to Canada since 1967. Although the FSWP has been disrupted by the pandemic, surveys by World Education Services suggest that interest in immigration to Canada is still strong.

Canadas borders have been reopened and IRCC has reduced its Express Entry backlog. This means the FSWP will once again become an important way to attract more skilled immigrants to Canada when Express Entry draws resume this July.

Get a Free Express Entry Assessment

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
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Check out the Land Banks in PA Presentation 

How does a land bank work?

How Does a Land Bank Work?

 Local government passes an ordinance creating a land bank or designating its redevelopment authority to act as a land bank.

 Jurisdiction can be county, municipal or multi-municipal (requires Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement (ICA); county-based land banks often seek municipal members.

 Can be administered by an existing government department or agency, non-profit or private sector provider.

 Governed by a volunteer board of directors selected in accordance with the PA Land Bank Act and the local ordinance  or the RA board.

 Subject to all sunshine and ethics law.
Consultant national pentru elaborarea conceptului unui program guvernamental de stagii pentru tinerii din diaspora - studenti sau absolventi ai institutiilor universitare de peste hotarele tarii
You might think of TikTok as a platform reserved for children, teenagers or renditions of Ratatouille the Musical (yes, that was a real thing). Because of this, charities often feel apprehensive about using it.

However, the platform has over one billion users  making it a social media tool which could be as valuable to a charitys strategy as Facebook or Instagram. Indeed, many charities have already jumped on the bandwagon.



With eight users joining TikTok every second, more charities will be looking at whether the platform can help them raise the profile of their cause.

A spokesperson from CharityComms explains: TikTok can be a great way to let people find you because of your content, not necessarily because of your cause, and then get to know you through your videos.

Reach younger audiences

Battersea has 25,600 followers on TikTok and over 130,000 likes. It posts videos of the dogs and cats in its care, foster journeys and recipes for homemade pet treats.

The animal charity began using TikTok when it noticed younger audiences were underrepresented among its social media followers.

Lauren Rayner, head of digital and innovation at Battersea, says: We know that engaging younger audiences is crucial for driving generational change in the way that rescue is perceived and supported, so we saw an opportunity in TikTok, which has a user base that skews younger than our other social channels, to create a community of advocates for Battersea and the rescue cause, as well as future donors and supporters.

Black Country Living Museum has the largest number of TikTok followers, out of the charities we spoke to, with a staggering 1.3 million followers and over 21.7 million likes. It posts educational videos about the history of the Black Country, as well as videos of employees in historic dress acting out roles from the past. All of its TikTok content is produced in-house.

Similar to Battersea, the younger audience on TikTok was a draw for Black Country Living Museum.

A spokesperson from the charity says: It's a fantastic platform that allows us to reach a wider audience that doesn't normally engage with museum social media. The majority of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 25, an age range that we don't normally engage with.

Having a presence on TikTok gives us an avenue to create brand awareness with a different kind of audience. It's also a great way of giving the museum a personality, allowing us to challenge the stereotype of an old-fashioned museum.

Raise awareness of charitable causes

Shelter uses the platform to highlight its fundraising campaigns such as #NoHomeKit and create educational videos about the housing crisis in the UK.

A spokesperson from Shelter says the charity likes the platform because its universal and if people like what youre doing, your message can spread far and wide.

They continue: Some of our most engaging content has been about breaking down myths around eviction rules, explaining what hidden homelessness is, or giving practical tips such as how to help someone who is sleeping rough, or how to access free sanitary products if youre homeless and living in temporary accommodation.

TikTok is a great platform for us to be able to create short, educational videos that are also entertaining and that show real people working at Shelter.

British Red Cross, which has over 432,000 followers, also produces educational videos about the charity, as well as its response to current issues, such as its work to help Ukraine, and often answers medical questions from its followers.

Nana Crawford, social media manager at the British Red Cross, says TikTok allows the charity to present its content in a different and more engaging way.

Donation stickers helped Red Cross raise 90,000

Donation stickers are an in-app feature, which can be embedded into the videos or livestreams of verified accounts. When viewers click on the sticker they are directed to a donation window.

These stickers were launched in 2020, and British Red Cross, which was one of the charities involved from the beginning, has so far generated over 90,000 from the feature.

Crawford says: Since then we've used TikTok to support emergency appeals. I find that the more exposure you have about the work youre doing then the easier it is to talk about your work as people are already getting information about your organisation.

The charity is careful about how it asks for donations.

We don't always ask for donations on TikTok, Crawford adds. But when we do we position it as a way for people to continue to support our work. We talk about the impact of our donations and the impact our audiences can make; this helps us showcase how our work can make a difference but ultimately how someone's donation impacts another person.

Brand awareness first, fundraising second

The Black Country Living Museum does not use generally use the account as part of its fundraising strategy. Instead it uses it more as an educational tool or as a platform for brand awareness, but the charity has received anecdotal evidence from staff members that people do visit the museum having seen our TikTok account, according to the spokesperson.

Likewise, Rayner from Battersea says that asking directly for donations has not been part of its strategy, but often uses the platform to raise awareness of upcoming fundraising events such as its Muddy Dog Challenge.

So far, our strategy has been focused on establishing our presence on the channel and starting to build a follower base. We see TikTok as playing a role in growing awareness and building connection with new audiences, rather than being a direct driver of funds, she explains.

Once the channel is more established, the charity may begin to experiment with paid advertising or donation stickers, it said.

Similarly, Shelter has said it is exploring ways it can use the platform to fundraise. A spokesperson from the charity said: We would love to become an approved TikTok charity so that we can start using features like donation stickers.

You have to build a following first of supporters before you can start asking for money

It might seem counter-intuitive to spend hours working on a TikTok account and not use it to ask for donations. However, British Red Cross says its imperative charities focus on building a following and presence on the platform before doing so.

Crawford advises: Before even trying to ask money you need to work on building your profile. Who are you as an organisation, what do you stand for and what do you do? You have to build a following first of supporters before you can start asking for money.

When you do decide to ask for donations, then think about it as a campaign rather than simply an ask. How will you showcase the impact of people's donations and what will you be doing with their donations? Working with influencers can help reach new audiences and broaden the effectiveness of your campaign.

What are the downsides of TikTok?

Videos can be anywhere from 15 seconds to three minutes long, which can, according to Crawford, make it hard to keep up with TikTok trends.

Likewise, Rayner from Battersea says creating a TikTok account for a charity requires time and attention, as with any social media channel.

She continues: Its important to spend time building a community, being tapped into the culture and aware of the right trends. The fact that its built on a content graph can make it less predictable than other channels, as videos are shown to users based on their interests, rather than being limited to who they follow. It requires a bit of experimentation, and that takes time, and a willingness to take risks.

Spokespeople from Shelter and the Black Country Living Museum add that creating TikTok content can take up a lot of time.

For this reason, Shelter has begun batch-creating its content and aims to create approximately 40 to 50 TikToks in an afternoon and schedule them over the next few weeks.

Black Country Living Museum said: TikTok can be massively draining on staff capacity with sometimes relatively little return. A video can take upwards of 12 hours to create from conception to delivery, which is a long time for a video that is generally under two minutes long. We are a small team so we don't have the capacity to post every day, as most high-performing accounts would.

Therefore, it is worth considering whether TikTok is worth fits your organisation before starting it, as it can take up considerable time.

Dont be afraid to use the platform

The spokesperson from Black Country Living Museum advises: Don't be afraid to use the platform, it's a great way to engage with new audiences. Having said that, it would be wise to consider if this platform fits your brand, and if the audience youre looking to reach fits the audience profile on TikTok.

Ask yourself: how can I create content that can share my message whilst still be engaging with users of this platform? Its also key to consider the size of your organisation  content creation can be a huge drain on resources and time for staff, so its important to assess whether it is an effective use of time for your charity.

Rayner, from Battersea, suggests that charities should develop a strategy specific to Tiktok.

Its important that charities understand the culture of TikTok and develop a channel strategy, she says. It requires a bespoke approach, and charities need to be immersed in its trends in order to use it effectively. Its not a channel for reposting content from other social accounts. The unpolished nature of TikTok gives freedom to experiment  so take risks!

sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector,
Look, I did say maybe. On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal was first to report that Twitterhaving initially appeared to balk at a takeover bid from Elon Musk, the worlds richest man, that itself followed weeks of tedious horseplay around his intentions as an investor and whether or not hed take a board seatwas now strongly considering his bid and that a deal could be finalized within the week, though we were warned that it could still fall apart. Some twenty-four hours later, a deal was done at a value of around forty-four billion dollars, pending a shareholder vote and regulatory approval. Bret Taylor, who chairs Twitters board, said that the proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitters stockholders. Musk called Twitter the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated, adding,  Yesss!!! .

The deal raised a big and obvious question: What does it mean for Twitter? Staffers at the company were among those seeking answers yesterday, having been kept largely in the dark as talks went on behind the scenes. According to Platformers Casey Newton, the hours before the deal was announced were like a classroom where the teacher is late and students are attempting to self-govern, with not much work getting done; after the announcement, Taylor and Parag Agrawal, Twitters CEO, met with staff and offered some assurances about stock options (will convert to cash) and layoffs (none planned for now), though Agrawal also acknowledged that he isnt sure where Twitter is headed, and deferred to Musk on several key points. A source told Talmon Joseph Smith, of the New York Times, that message boards for Twitter staff went absolutely insane yesterday; the Journals Salvador Rodriguez and Deepa Seetharaman reported that some staffers pledged to resign, while many raised concerns about Musks impact on internal diversity efforts, especially given that Tesla, his car company, has been sued for (allegedly rampant) racial discrimination. Some staffers seem excited about the takeover, but its hard to tell how many. Per Bloomberg, bosses moved to block staffers from making any unapproved product changes for now, lest a disgruntled employee go rogue.

ICYMI: Abstention, the far right, and five more years of Macron

Twitter users sought answers, too, when they werent offering up their own theories and visions of the platforms Muskian future. Many of the latter, particularly among liberal users, were hellish. Numerous users pledged to delete their accounts, in protest and/or to stop Musk getting their personal data (not that this would work, necessarily). The journalist Melissa Chan asked what Musk might do, given Teslas interests in China, should the government there ask him to silence dissidents on the platform; by the end of the day, Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post and founder of Amazon, had chimed in, asking, Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square? Erika D. Smith, a columnist at the LA Times, predicted that Musks takeover would mark the end of #BlackTwitter as an online community mobilizing for real-world change. The founder of a company that California is suing for allegedly silencing thousands of Black employees who complained about racism, she noted, is buying a company that has given millions of Black people a megaphone-like voice to complain about racism.

Ultimately, we dont yet know the direction in which Musk will take Twitter. We do have some concrete clues to work with, though not many. Since before Musk made his investment in Twitter a few weeks ago, he has framed his interest in the company squarely in terms of free speech, and he did so again yesterday; more (though not much more) specifically, he promised to open Twitters algorithms to the public to increase trust, crack down on spam bots, and authenticate all human accounts. (I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, he said separately, because that is what free speech means.) Musk has yet to answer another consequential questionwhether he plans to reinstate the account of Donald Trump, who was banned last year following the insurrectionthough Trump claimed yesterday that he wouldnt return to Twitter even if invited, preferring instead to stick with his beleaguered Twitter knockoff, Truth Social.

Musk, of course, is notoriously trollish and erratic, and Trump is notoriously dishonest, making it perilous to take the things either man says at face value. Trumps claim that he wouldnt jump at the chance to return to Twitter, in particular, strikes me as protesting too much; Musk, for his part, is a free-speech absolutist more in theory than in practice, making it implausible, as both I and my colleague Mathew Ingram have written in recent editions of this newsletter, that he wouldnt draw some significant lines around speech on the platform. Even taken at face value, Musks proposals invite skepticism. Authenticating accounts is a fraught proposition that risks unmasking users who have good reason to want to stay anonymous (at the very least, such users might fear being unmasked, and stay away) and neglecting the ways in which bots can be a form of speech. Algorithmic transparency and reform, meanwhile, is a knotty, time-consuming business. Its not nearly the funniest part of the list of things he intends on doing, The Verges Sarah Jeong argued, but making the algorithms open source and defeating the spam bots are goals that work against each other.

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This leads to an important point: even as critics paint Musk as a maniacal and unpredictable trickster god, we already know that his intentions for Twitter, whatever they may be, will run up against limits. Even the worlds richest man is bound by the laws of logic (money cant reconcile fundamentally contradictory imperatives), business economics (even if making money from Twitter isnt his priority, he cant run it as a total commercial dumpster fire), and, at least sometimes, the actual law (not least in Europe, which just agreed on new measures expanding digital platforms duties around the moderation of content). Twitter cant run itself without employees who know what theyre doing. And it wouldnt be anything without users. It is, ultimately, not in Musks interest to make Twitter so horrible that people simply quit en masse, even if he rationalizes any mass defection as the snowflakes getting mad at free speech. As I see it, you can have a truly maximalist view of online speech or you can be the town square, but you cant do both. If you cant enter the square without witnessing a beheading, say, lots of people will just stay home.

This isnt to say that Musk wont necessarily make Twitter (even more) horrible, and there are ample reasons to be concerned about his takeover, as Ingram and I wrote before. By taking Twitter private, Musk can make its practices (even more) opaque. His approach to content moderation, as currently stated, would surely unchain (even more) abuse and harassment, aimed particularly at women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and other groupsand whenever such voices conclude that a space is too toxic for them to stay, free speech suffers. It would also further corrode public discourse, and Twitters role there really matters, even though its smaller than Facebook and other rivals. As I wrote recently, things that are said on the platform often spill over into real world corridors of power. Whatever you think of it philosophically, reversing the Trump ban would clearly have a significant impact on his ability to amplify his message.

Still, we should be careful, again, not to overstate these concerns. As my even mores above suggest, pre-Musk Twitter is hardly a paragon of respectful, well-policed discourse; indeed, Musks politics, while hard to pin down, dont seem radically different from those of the people who have run Twitter before. (Kara Swisher, of the Times, reckons that Twitters current leadership would probably have let Trump back on anyway, even absent Musks input.) As numerous observers have noted, prior leaders lofty visions of no-limits free-speech utopianism ran into reality, and so will Musks. And, again, users will continue to have power here; Trump returning, for instance, will only lead to his tweets driving the news cycle again if journalists decide that his tweets should drive the news cycle. The internet expert Joan Donovan tweeted yesterday that Trump returning would open the door for a viable 2024 run. That door is wide open already.

If Twitter discourse can spill over into the worlds of politics and media, then it logically follows not only that Twitter is powerful, but that the real town square must be much bigger than Twitter. In the end, the metaphor, to the extent that its useful here, implies a dynamic that has always been fundamental to political speech and the debates around it: that the rules and physical layout of the square are hugely important, but the real town square lives in the people who populate it.

As far as the former goes, our collective problems are much bigger than Musk alone; he may be a sui generis and, in some ways, uniquely zany character, but he operates within a much broader system that gives billionaires outsize power to shape the rules of speech. (It is, quite literally, rich for Bezos to raise questions about leveraging the town square.) Ironically, it is precisely Musks unique zaniness, and the exaggerated outcry around his takeover, that could, as my Columbia colleague Emily Bell noted yesterday, prove a trigger for lawmakers to better regulate the ownership of the platforms that set the rules. Then again, thats another maybe.

Below, more on Musk and Twitter:

The business side: While Twitter is an influential platform that sets the agenda for many in business, politics and society, Jason Karaian writes for the Times, as a business, its a sporadically profitable company with unpredictable cash flow; the company will report its first-quarter earnings on Thursday, and is expected to have generated a profit of nearly $40 million on $1.2 billion in revenuedown on its first-quarter profit last year. Musk recently said that he doesnt care at all about the economics of Twitter, but as Newton writes, given the way he structured his Twitter deal, he will face pressure (if not insurmountable pressure) to see a return on his investment.

While Twitter is an influential platform that sets the agenda for many in business, politics and society, Jason Karaian writes for the Times, as a business, its a sporadically profitable company with unpredictable cash flow; the company will report its first-quarter earnings on Thursday, and is expected to have generated a profit of nearly $40 million on $1.2 billion in revenuedown on its first-quarter profit last year. Musk recently said that he doesnt care at all about the economics of Twitter, but as Newton writes, given the way he structured his Twitter deal, he will face pressure (if not insurmountable pressure) to see a return on his investment. The real estate side: The San Francisco Chronicles Roland Li asks what Musks takeover might mean for the city where Twitter is currently headquartered. There was speculation on social media that Twitters headquarters could move out of state, following Musks relocation last year of Tesla from Palo Alto to Austin, Texas, where its building what it calls a Gigafactory, Li notes, with Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, already calling for such a move. The tech analyst Dan Ives told Li, however, that he views relocation as unlikely. San Francisco is a core part of Twitter and its DNA, Ives said. Musk will view that presence as a key asset, not liability.

The San Francisco Chronicles Roland Li asks what Musks takeover might mean for the city where Twitter is currently headquartered. There was speculation on social media that Twitters headquarters could move out of state, following Musks relocation last year of Tesla from Palo Alto to Austin, Texas, where its building what it calls a Gigafactory, Li notes, with Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, already calling for such a move. The tech analyst Dan Ives told Li, however, that he views relocation as unlikely. San Francisco is a core part of Twitter and its DNA, Ives said. Musk will view that presence as a key asset, not liability. The town square side: In a Twitter thread yesterday, Ethan Zuckerman, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, wrote that he has no idea what Twitter will be like under Elons leadership and neither do you. But thats the point. We do know, he said, that two billionaires will now control four of the major digital public sphere platforms, a reference to Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Its embarrassing that weve been willing to have our public, civic conversations on platforms controlled by corporate boards. Musks purchase of Twitter just makes that absurdity even more apparent.

In a Twitter thread yesterday, Ethan Zuckerman, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, wrote that he has no idea what Twitter will be like under Elons leadership and neither do you. But thats the point. We do know, he said, that two billionaires will now control four of the major digital public sphere platforms, a reference to Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Its embarrassing that weve been willing to have our public, civic conversations on platforms controlled by corporate boards. Musks purchase of Twitter just makes that absurdity even more apparent. The Europe side: Daphne Keller, of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center, argued yesterday that since anyone who tells you they know what Elon will do is lying, we may as well all focus on a more knowable, and massively important, development: the new platform regulations in Europe. The regulations will spell out specific operational obligations, mostly related to content moderation, Keller writes. These rules make it relatively clear what platforms are supposed to do, but they will require significant time and effort for smaller entities to hire, train, devise new UIs, and so forth to come into compliance.



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: On the role of computational prospection in news media

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Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP)  At least 100 people may have died in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in southeast Nigeria, a local oil official said Sunday as the search intensified for bodies at the site and for two people suspected of being involved in the blast.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement, called the explosion a catastrophe and a national disaster.

The explosion Friday night at the facility in Ohaji-Egbema local government area in Imo state was triggered by a fire at two fuel storage areas where more than 100 people worked, state officials told The Associated Press.

Dozens of workers were caught up in the explosion while many others attempted to escape the blaze by running into wooded areas.

Those who died in the disaster are estimated to be within the range of 100, said Goodluck Opiah, the Imo commissioner for petroleum resources. A lot of them ran into the bush with the burns and they died there.

Buhari has directed the nations security forces to intensify the clampdown on such facilities being operated illegally in many parts of southern Nigeria, a spokesperson said in a statement.

Although Nigeria is Africas largest producer of crude oil, for many years its oil production capacity has been limited by a chronic challenge of oil storage and the operation of illegal refineries.

Nigeria lost at least $3 billion worth of crude oil to theft between January 2021 and February 2022, with shady business operators often avoiding regulators by setting up refineries in remote areas such as the one that exploded in Imo, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said in March.

There are no arrests yet but the two culprits are on the run with the police now looking for them, said Declan Emelumba, the Imo State commissioner for information. Officials did not reveal the identities of the suspects.

A mass burial is being planned for those killed in the explosion, many of who were burnt beyond recognition, said Emelumba. Environmental officials have started to fumigate the area.

Such disasters are a regular occurrence in Africas most populous country, where poverty and unemployment  at 33% according to the latest government estimates  have forced millions of young people into criminal activities.

Operating illegal refineries is not as popular in Imo state as it is in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, where militants have gained notoriety for blowing up oil pipelines and kidnapping workers from petroleum companies.

As many as 30 illegal oil refineries were busted in the Niger Delta region in just two weeks, Nigerias Defense Department said earlier this month when it announced a task force to curb crude oil theft.

In the aftermath of the explosion in Imo state, the Nigerian ministry of petroleum told The AP there is a renewed action to tackle illegal activities in the oil sector.

The government and the military are stepping up actions to minimize the criminalities along the oil production lines, said Horatius Egua, a senior official at the petroleum ministry.

But many of the culprits are not deterred including in Imo state, one of the few places producing oil in Nigerias southeast. The problem of illegal refineries has never been this bad and remains difficult to end, said Opiah, the Imo petroleum commissioner.

It is like asking why kidnapping or armed robbery has not stopped, he said. Even with this incident, not many people will be deterred. I am sure more illegal refineries will be cropping up in other places.

About the photo: People gather Saturday April 23, 2022 at the site of an explosion that took place the day before at an illegal oil refinery in Ohaji-Egbema local government area in Imo state, southeast Nigeria. At least 100 people are feared to have died in the explosion, authorities told The Associated Press, as the search for bodies at the site and for two people suspected of being involved in the incident intensified. (AP Photo)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Firefighters were taking advantage of higher humidity and calmer winds Monday to work toward containing a wildfire in rural southwestern Nebraska that has killed one person, injured at least 15 firefighters and destroyed at least six homes, an official said.

Jonathan Ashford, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team, told The Associated Press that more than 80 firefighters, emergency management personnel and others were helping fight the fire, known as the Road 702 Fire. It had burned nearly 65 square miles (168 square kilometers) in Red Willow, Furnas and Frontier counties by late Sunday.

Officials initially reported the fire was spread over more than 78 square miles (202 square kilometers) of mostly rolling rangeland, but Ashford said aerial mapping Sunday gave a more accurate size of the blaze.

The fire that began last week has been fueled by tinder-dry conditions and days of strong winds.

More favorable weather Monday had firefighters scrambling to dig trenches and create other breaks along the blazes perimeter, Ashford said.

Tomorrow, we expect higher winds to return, so time is of the essence, he said.

In addition to the growing number of firefighters turning out to fight the blaze, the effort also has a couple of helicopters available to make water drops, he said.

By late Sunday, the fire had destroyed at least six homes and threatened 660 others, along with 50 commercial or farm buildings, Ashford said.

A retired Cambridge, Nebraska, fire chief who was helping as a fire spotter in Red Willow County died Friday night after his truck went off the road in a blinding haze of smoke and dust. The body of John Trumble, 66, of Arapahoe, was recovered around early Saturday.

Trumble was the second person in a month to die while fighting a wildfire in southwest Nebraska. Elwood Volunteer Fire Chief Darren Krull, 54, was killed in a collision with a water tanker on April 7 in Furnas County as smoke cut visibility to zero.

Fires have been reported in 14 Nebraska counties since Friday, including Perkins, Dundy, Burt, Butler, Scotts Bluff, Cheyenne, Duele, Blaine, Cherry, Brown and Thomas counties, leading some small towns to be temporarily evacuated. Those fires were either extinguished or mostly contained by Sunday.

The region remains critically dry, said Ashford, who urged residents to use caution when doing anything that could spark a fire.

The last thing we need is to have another fire started that we have to then fight, he said.

About the photo: This image provided by the Nebraska State Patrol shows smoke from a wildfire, Saturday, April 23, 2022 near Cambridge, Neb. Several small towns, including Cambridge, Bartley, Indianola and Wilsonville, in Nebraskas southwest and Macy in its northeast, were forced to temporarily evacuate because of the wind-driven wildfires. (Nebraska State Patrol via AP)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Arch Appoints 3 Claims Handlers

Arch Insurance International, a global insurer based in London, has appointed Janet Brook, Sheena Hooda and Tilly Milnes as senior claims handlers.

Brook and Milnes have joined Archs financial institutions claims team. Hooda was appointed to healthcare claims.

Brook, who is an admitted solicitor, was previously a senior associate at Kennedys Law, specializing in professional indemnity claims. She joined Arch in 2015 after holding positions at Shakespeare Martineau.

Milnes, who is a qualified solicitor, focuses on directors and officers, professional indemnity and investment manager insurance. She was most recently a claims adjuster for W/R/B Underwriting, specializing in international directors and officers and other claims. Her previous experience includes claims adjuster roles at AXA, Chubb and Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty. She was also a solicitor at Kennedys Law.

Hooda was a previously a senior claims specialist at Axis Capital Group, a position she held since 2018. Before then she was a senior associate at Davies Group and a clinical claims manager at the National Health Services Litigation Authority. She is a qualified solicitor.

Quality Claims Promotes 2 to Senior VP Roles

Quality Claims Management Corp., a public adjuster and private investigation firm based in San Diego, has promoted Lorraine Tabron and Robyn Bui to senior vice president positions.

Tabron joined Quality Claims in 2009 as manager of the client relations department, the company said in a press release.

Bui joined the company in 2016 as a member of the client relations department and now leads the sales and business development team. Bui has been instrumental in the development of the companys OccuTrack product and heads the product line, the company said.

SCA Appoints Business Development Manager

SCA Claim Services, a national appraisal and adjusting firm based in Burbank, California, had promoted Brandon Cruz to business development manager.

Cruz was previously customer success manager for the company. In his new role, he will be responsible for identifying business opportunities and and nurture new and existing clients, the company said in a press release.

Cruz was previously an associate district manager for ADP in Orange County, according to his Linkedin Page. Before then, he was a shift lead at Malibu Farm in Newport Beach and manager at the Ho Sum Bistro in Newport Beach.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed emergency declarations as 20 wildfires continued to burn Sunday in nearly half of the states drought-stricken 33 counties.

One wildfire in northern New Mexico that started April 6 merged with a newer fire Saturday to form the second-largest blaze in the state at more than 66 square miles (171 square kilometers), leading to widespread evacuations in Mora and San Miguel counties.

Another wind-driven wildfire in northern New Mexico that began April 17 has charred at least 76 square miles (197 square kilometers) of ponderosa pine, oak brush and grass north of Ocate, an unincorporated community in Mora County.

Meanwhile in Arizona, some residents forced to evacuate due to a wildfire near Flagstaff were allowed to return home Sunday morning.

Winds and temperatures in New Mexico diminished Saturday but remained strong enough to still fan fires. Dozens of evacuation orders remained in place.

Fire officials were expecting the northern wildfires to slow Sunday as cloud and smoke cover moves in, allowing the forests to retain more moisture. But they added that the interior portions of the fires could show moderate to extreme behavior, which could threaten structures in those areas.

More than 200 structures have been charred by the wildfires thus far and an additional 900 remain threatened, Lujan Grisham said.

Fire management officials said an exact damage count was unclear because its still too dangerous for crews to go in and look at all the homes that have been lost.

We do not know the magnitude of the structure loss. We dont even know the areas where most homes made it through the fire, where homes havent been damaged or anything like that, said operation sections chief Jayson Coil.

Some 1,000 firefighters were battling the wildfires across New Mexico, which already has secured about $3 million in grants to help with the fires.

Lujan Grisham said she has asked the White House for more federal resources and shes calling for a ban of fireworks statewide.

We need more federal bodies for firefighting, fire mitigation, public safety support on the ground in New Mexico, she said. Its going to be a tough summer. So thats why we are banning fires. And that is why on Monday I will be asking every local government to be thinking about ways to ban the sales of fireworks.

Wildfire has become a year-round threat in the West given changing conditions that include earlier snowmelt and rain coming later in the fall, scientist have said. The problems have been exacerbated by decades of fire suppression and poor management along with a more than 20-year megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.

In Arizona, two large wildfires continued to burn Sunday 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Prescott and 14 miles (22 kilometers) northeast of Flagstaff.

Coconino County authorities lifted the evacuation order Sunday morning for residents living in neighborhoods along Highway 89 after fire management officials determined the Flagstaff-area wildfire no longer posed a threat.

The fire near Flagstaff was at 32 square miles (83 square kilometers) as of Saturday night. It forced the evacuation of 766 homes and burned down 30 homes and two dozen other structures since it began a week ago, according to county authorities.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey declared the fire a state of emergency Friday for Coconino County to free up recovery aid to affected communities.

The wildfire near Prescott began last Monday and was at 4.8 square miles (12.4 square kilometers) and 15% contained as of Sunday morning as helicopters and air tankers dropped water and retardant to slow the fires growth.

The cause of the wildfires in New Mexico and Arizona remain under investigation.

About the photo: San Miguel County Sheriffs Officers patrol N.M. 94 near Penasco Blanco, N.M. as the Calf Fire burns near by Friday, April 22, 2022. Destructive Southwest fires have burned dozens of homes in northern Arizona and put numerous small villages in New Mexico in the path of danger, as wind-fueled flames chewed up wide swaths of tinder dry forest and grassland and towering plumes of smoke filled the sky. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The CMA recommends a UK Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order: Further signs of regulatory divergence?

26 April 2022

The authors* discuss the CMA's recommendation for a UK Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order and explore the potential areas of divergence from the EUs Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation set to expire on 31 May 2022.

*Partner Alex Nourry, Associate Deepaloke Chatterjee and Akif Rahman, Trainee Solicitor, Clifford Chance LLP.

This article was first published by Thomson Reuters, trading as Sweet & Maxwell, 5 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5AQ in the European Competition Law Review as "The CMA recommends a UK Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order: Further signs of regulatory divergence?" in [E.C.L.R. 2022, 43(4) N-92-N94] and is reproduced by agreement with the publishers.

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On 25 March 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that they have reached a preliminary agreement which will foster trans-Atlantic data flows and (allegedly) address the concerns raised by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the 'Schrems II' decision of 16 July 2020 invalidating the Privacy Shield (Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland and Maximillian Schrems, Case C-311/18).

Background

Since the 'Schrems II' ruling (See our article: European Court of Justice renders new Schrems decision on international data transfers ), transfers of personal data to countries located outside the European Economic Area (EEA) that do not offer a protection equivalent to that of the European Union (such as the US) are highly restricted. In particular, 'Schrems II' invalidated the Privacy Shield (legal framework enabling personal data transfers to the US, provided that the data recipient in the US was self-certified with US authorities). Therefore, since 'Schrems II', alternative routes have to be used to transfer data to the US, such as the so-called 'standard contractual clauses' to be accompanied by 'appropriate supplementary measures' if the relevant transfer raises issues in terms of EU data protection once the data are in the US. ( See our more detailed briefing: US and EU Agree on Framework for Privacy Shield Replacement )

This amounts to burdensome assessments, onerous undertakings and legal uncertainty. Lawfulness of data transfers to the US is currently very fragile. For instance, Google Analytics has been declared illegal notably in France and Austria because of the data transfers to the US it entails [See our article: Google Analytics declared illegal in France ] For the same reasons, decisions from EU supervisory authorities on the lawfulness of other tools, such as Facebook Connect, are expected. The new political agreement, the so-called Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework (TADPF), aims to implement a new self-certification mechanism, which may ease transatlantic data flows.

Key points of the agreement

The preliminary agreement between the EU and the US has not been backed up yet with a legal text. However, the White House has announced in a press release that the US made "unprecedented commitments". More details on the agreement were disclosed by the European Commission which notably specifies that the US promises will be included in an Executive Order that will form the basis of a draft European Commission adequacy decision. The statement from the European Commission revealed that under the new TADPF the US would undertake:

To implement new safeguards to limit access to data by US surveillance agencies to what is necessary and proportionate in the pursuit of defined national security objectives.

To establish a two-tier redress system to investigate and resolve complaints of EU individuals on access of data by US surveillance agencies, which includes an independent Data Protection Review Court.

To enhance oversight of intelligence activities.

Legal challenges

Despite those encouraging signals, it remains to be seen if the US commitments under the TADPF will satisfy GDPR requirements, in particular as interpreted by the CJEU.

Moreover, the effectiveness of recourses before the new Data Protection Review Court will likely be key in terms of legal sustainability of the TADPF. Some privacy advocates have argued that the March 2022 US Supreme Court decision in FBI v. Fazaga would make it more difficult for the US and EU to reach a lasting agreement that would withstand a challenge before the CJEU. In Fazaga, the Court ruled that the US Federal government could invoke its state-secret privilege to prevent disclosure of information to individuals who claimed they had been subject to illegal surveillance from US authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). One of the key issues discussed in 'Schrems II ' was the broad scope of surveillance under FISA, and Fazaga may reinforce such concerns when the CJEU inevitably reviews whether TADPF satisfies the GDPR.

Reactions

Although such political agreement has been welcomed by EU and US companies, it has given rise to more cautious reactions, both from data regulators, and from privacy advocates.

Maximilian Schrems, lead litigant in the CJEU's decisions 'Schrems I' and 'Schrems II' and founder of the NOYB association, declared that once the final text of the framework is published, NOYB or another activist group will likely challenge the TADPF before the CJEU if it does not comply with EU law.

Furthermore, on 6 April 2022, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) released a statement on the announcement and welcomed this preliminary agreement. However, it underlined its willingness to pay special attention to "how this political agreement translates into concrete legal proposals", respecting EU law, CJEU case law and previous recommendations the EDPB issued on that basis. In particular, the EDPB specified that it will particularly analyse whether the collection of personal data for national security purposes is limited to what is strictly necessary and proportionate, and how the announced independent redress mechanism including the Data Protection Review Court will respect EEA individuals right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial. More specifically, the EDPB said that it would assess whether the Data Protection Review Court has access to relevant information, including personal data, when exercising its mission and whether it can adopt decisions binding on the intelligence services. The EDPB also said it would consider whether there is a judicial remedy against this Courts decisions or inaction.

Some EU supervisory authorities, such as Danish and Swedish regulators, reacted to this announcement by reminding companies that everything remains 'as is' for the time being. The political agreement does not constitute a legal framework on the basis of which EEA data exporters can transfer data to the US, and data exporters must therefore continue taking the necessary actions to comply with the case law of the CJEU, in particular with the 'Schrems II' decision. Furthermore, companies using 'standard contractual clauses' to carry out their transfers should bear in mind that they have until 27 December 2022 to upgrade their documentation with the new templates issued by the European Commission.

Next steps

The European Commission and the US Government will now have to work on translating this agreement 'in principle' into concrete legal documentation. Before entering into force, the agreement will go through an entire European approval process. This process has historically taken several months (e.g. five months for the adoption of the Privacy Shield in 2016 and four months in the case of the UK adequacy). A final version of the TADPF is therefore not expected for a few months. It is then assumed that an adequacy decision will not be adopted until at least the end of 2022.
China's artemisinin research boosts global war on malaria

Xinhua) 09:20, April 26, 2022

BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) have been widely used to treat malaria over the past two decades, employing Chinese wisdom to save millions of lives around the world.

Malaria, an ancient acute infectious disease caused by plasmodium parasites, is still a threat to human health. According to the 2021 world malaria report released by the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 241 million malaria cases were recorded globally in 2020, and of these, 627,000 malaria patients have died.

In ancient Chinese medicine, the sweet wormwood plant was used to treat various illnesses, including fevers typical of malaria. Around five decades ago, Chinese scientists identified its active ingredient, artemisinin.

In 2005, the World Health Organization recommended ACTs as the most effective malaria treatment available.

In order to achieve the WHO's goal of reducing malaria incidence and mortality by at least 90 percent by 2030 compared with 2015, Chinese researchers have spared no effort in conducting further artemisinin research.

Tu Youyou, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015 for the discovery of artemisinin, is leading a new research team, using new technologies to help artemisinin research play a greater role in malaria control.

The team is focusing on the treatment of the most harmful form of the illness, falciparum malaria. It is also studying artemisinin's mechanism of action and its drug-resistance mechanism. The team has published the relevant research results in a series of papers.

The global malaria epidemic has rebounded in recent years, partly due to disruptions in prevention, diagnosis and treatment services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global demand for artemisinin has increased, but the quality and supply of the substance have not been stable.

The preparation of artemisinin still depends on extraction from sweet wormwood. The researchers have improved the varieties of sweet wormwood available for this purpose, increasing the artemisinin content to about 2 percent.

Another Chinese research team, from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a new technology for producing artemisinin on a large scale.

Compared to the traditional process, the time required to produce the same amount of artemisinin concentrate is reduced by 87.5 percent. Meanwhile, the purity of the final product is greater, reaching more than 99 percent, with less energy consumed in the process.

"This technology solves the main shortcomings in the traditional artemisinin production process and could also provide ideas for the production of other natural products," said Zhang Suojiang, IPE director.

Used in conjunction with other prevention approaches, ACTs have contributed to the global reduction of malaria morbidity and mortality. According to the latest WHO data, the fight against malaria saved an estimated 10.6 million lives globally from 2000 to 2020.

Through developing ACTs, China has contributed its wisdom to the global battle against this disease.

China's contribution can also be seen in the practical application of treatment methods in places where malaria poses a serious health challenge.

It has built a malaria prevention and control center in the African island nation of Comoros, training over 4,000 medical workers there. The number of malaria cases has dropped by 98 percent in Comoros, while the number of deaths from the illness has been reduced to zero.

The experience of anti-malaria cooperation between China and Comoros has provided a useful model for other African nations, such as Kenya, Togo and Gambia.

According to Zheng Zhijie, an official with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the "Chinese experience" in anti-malaria cooperation is highly adaptable and has established an innovative malaria prevention and control model.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
At the end of Block 7, State of the Rockies Fellows Izzie Hicks '22 and Dova Castaneda-Zilly '23 traveled with Dr. Kat Miller-Stevens, director of the State of the Rockies Project, to the Midwest Political Science Associations annual conference in Chicago, Illinois. Hicks and Castaneda-Zilly presented a paper from the State of the Rockies Project's 2021 summer fellowship titled How Anger and Fear Influence Policy Narratives: Advocacy and Regulation of Oil and Gas Drilling in Colorado. The paper was co-authored with Miller-Stevens and Dr. Jonathan Pierce and two other State of the Rockies fellows, Evan Rao '23 and Saigopal Rangaraj '23. Rockies fellow Greta Forseth '23 also helped gather data for the paper.

Hicks and Castaneda-Zilly presented the paper on a panel with three other academic papers applying the Narrative Policy Framework to a variety of policy arenas. Feedback from the conference will be used to revise the paper for submission to an academic journal. The 2022 State of the Rockies summer fellows are continuing the project and will produce a second paper to be presented at the annual conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organization and Voluntary Action in Fall 2022.
The state House passed a bill Tuesday to ban hospitals from pursuing debt collections against patients if the hospitals are not in compliance with a federal law that requires them to post prices online.

If enacted, House Bill 1285 would prohibit noncompliant hospitals from using debt collectors, filing negative credit reports against patients and obtaining state court judgements for outstanding debts. Noncompliant hospitals could still bill patients, but if they pursue collection actions, they must refund any debt paid by the patient, in addition to all legal fees.

Were going to finally have pricing convergence, pricing competition and the macroeconomics of health care, said bill sponsor Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock. Its going to lead to a lot of consumer savings and better health care.

More than a year after it went into effect, only 6% of Colorado hospitals are in full compliance with the price transparency law that allows patients to compare costs between hospitals, according to a report by PatientRightsAdvocate.org. That is below the national average of 14.3% compliance.

The House passed the bill in a 63-1 vote, with only Rep. Janice Rich, R-Grand Junction, voting against the bill. The bill will now be sent to the Senate for consideration.

The bipartisan-backed bill is sponsored by the unlikely duo of Neville and Pueblo Democrat Rep. Daneya Esgar. This is the first time the ideological opponents have co-sponsored the same bill in the eight years they have served together.

We dont always think alike but on this specific bill, were aligned. This is a bill about protecting consumers when it comes to health care costs, Esgar said. Its a good bill to move folks in the right direction and to protect those people who are looking for health care and making sure they know exactly what is going on in terms of pricing.

Though lawmakers are united in support of the bill, hospitals have stood firmly against it. During a public hearing for the bill, large hospital systems claimed the bill would lead to frivolous lawsuits, while smaller hospitals worried it could threaten their businesses because they do not have the resources to comply with price transparency right now.

On Friday, lawmakers amended the bill to give small, critical access hospitals with less than 25 beds more time to comply. For these hospitals, the bill would go into effect in February 2023 instead of this August as it will for all other hospitals.

This will help out in the country, said Rep. Marc Catlin, R-Montrose, who proposed the amendment. This is to give them an opportunity to comply, rather than treating them like some of the folks that have a lot bigger budgets.

Rich  the only no vote against the bill  still opposed the measure, saying she is just tired of the governments meddling in business.

Also this week, the House unanimously passed House Bill 1284, which seeks to expand protections against surprise health insurance bills. If enacted, the bill would align state law with the federal No Surprises Act, which went into effect in January.

The bill offers additional protections for patients, such as by requiring insurers to pay for post-stabilization services at the in-network level and to cover emergency health-care services, regardless of where provided, also at the in-network benefit level.
A state Senate panel unanimously advanced legislation to invest around $100 million into the child care industry as Colorado struggles through an unprecedented child care shortage.

If enacted, Senate Bill 213 would use $50 million of economic recovery and relief money and another possible $50 million in federal funds to pay for staffing, training and expansion of child care facilities. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved the bill on Monday, sending it to the chambers Appropriations Committee.

The purpose is all about making sure were addressing some of the issues that have happened since COVID-19, said bill sponsor Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora. "Many families spend a huge amount of money on child care and others are remaining out of the workforce in order to care for their children.

In Colorado, an average family with two young children spends $28,600  or 14% of their income  on child care annually, according to federal data. Single parents fare even worse, paying on average 49.5% of their income on infant child care at Colorado centers, according to a Child Care Aware of America report.

Some families can't find child care at all. In Colorado, 51% of residents live in child care deserts where there are more than three times as many children as there are licensed child care slots, according to Mile High United Way.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic closed around 7% of licensed child care centers in Colorado, providers only had the capacity to serve 62% of the state's 246,000 kids under 6 whose parents both work, according to a report that cited 2019 figures. That meant a shortage of more than 90,000 child care slots statewide.

Unfortunately, most of that desert area is in rural parts of the state where we dont have the ability to have this type of child care, said bill sponsor Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling. The importance of this bill is how do we take care of kids that may not be taken care of.

The bill received bipartisan support and sponsorship largely due to a portion that would delegate $7.5 million to train informal child care providers  such as babysitters, nannies and family members  on the best practices for teaching, fostering emotional development, nutrition and first aid. Sonnenberg said this informal child care is most common in rural, Republican areas of Colorado.

The bill would also put $19 million towards opening new child care centers and expanding capacity at existing licensed child care facilities. Another $10 million would create employer-based child care facilities for business owners to provide employees with on-site child care, and $15 million would fund an existing grant program to train and recruit child care staff.

The potential $50 million in federal funds would be used to implement the Child Care Sustainability Grant Program, offering licensed child care providers between $2,100 and $31,500 to spend on employee pay, benefits, training or hiring additional staff.

In this session, this may be one of the most important bills that is before us, said Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont. Child care is so needed all over the state, its hurting us everywhere.

During Mondays committee meeting, seven people testified in support of the bill and no one testified in opposition. Organizations backing the bill include Parent Possible, Mile High United Way, the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition and Executives Partnering to Invest in Children.
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Leaders of nations congratulated French President Emmanuel Marcon for being elected to a second term as French president, defeating his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen.

Among the world leaders that extended a message of congratulations is Russian President Vladimir Putin via a telegram, according to a report from Al Jazeera.

"I sincerely wish you success in governance, firm health, and well-being," Putin noted, which the Kremlin posted on its official website on Monday.

Macron and Putin have discussed several times since the start of Russian attacks on Ukraine in the last week of February, per The Independent.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated his French counterpart over the phone.

On Twitter, Zelensky called Macron Ukraine's "true friend" and wished him "further success" for the sake of the French people.

"I appreciate his support and I am convinced that we are moving together towards new common victories," he tweeted.

Felicitations a @EmmanuelMacron, un vrai ami de lUkraine, pour sa reelection! Je lui souhaite de nouveaux succes pour le bien du peuple . J'apprecie son soutien et je suis convaincu que nous avancons ensemble vers de nouvelles victoires communes. Vers une Europe forte et unie!    (@ZelenskyyUa) April 24, 2022

After Macron's convincing victory over Marine Le Pen, European Council President Charles Michel, as well as the prime ministers of Belgium and Luxembourg, were among the first to congratulate him, followed by practically all of the bloc's 27 leaders.

Greetings From Significant Allies

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the outcome of the polls and committed to working with Macron. He also acknowledged that France is among the "closest and most important allies" of the United Kingdom.

US President Joe Biden also praised Macron's triumph. In a tweet, he said France is America's oldest ally and "a key partner" in tackling global concerns.

"I look forward to our continued close cooperation - including supporting Ukraine, defending democracy, and countering climate change," Biden tweeted.

Congratulations to @EmmanuelMacron on his re-election. France is our oldest ally and a key partner in addressing global challenges. I look forward to our continued close cooperation  including on supporting Ukraine, defending democracy, and countering climate change.  President Biden (@POTUS) April 24, 2022

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated his French equal, saying he hopes "to continue working with President Macron" to preserve diplomatic ties founded on "independence, mutual understanding, foresight, and mutual benefit." according to a government media agency.

Read Also: USA, China, India Spend the Most as Global Military Expenses Reach $2 Trillion Mark; Russia Increases Budget Before War

A President for Everyone

In his victory speech in front of his supporters gathered on Champs de Mars in central Paris, Macron vowed to be the president of every French citizen. He also expressed gratitude to his supporters, recognizing that many of them voted for him to keep the extreme right out, as they did in 2017.

Though Macron emphasized that his second term will focus more on addressing France's current problems and that his second term would not be a continuation of his previous administration, CNN reported.

He also sent a message to Le Pen's supporters, saying that his leadership would be responsible for seeking the solution to the "anger and disagreements" that prompted them to vote for the far-right.

According to the Ipsos polling agency, Emmanuel Macron was elected to a second term as French president on Sunday evening with 58.8% of the vote. Marine Le Pen, his far-right opponent, garnered 41.2 % of the vote in an election with the lowest voter turnout in 50 years, per France 24 report.

Ipsos calculated a 28.2 percent abstention rate, up 1.9 percentage points from the first round and 2.7 percentage points from the second round in 2017.

Le Pen considered the loss a "striking victory" and promised to fight back in the June parliamentary elections.

Related Article: Emmanuel Macron's Victory in the Second Round of French Elections Signals the Start of Powerful EU Military

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Jamf has announced a series of significant updates to Jamf Protect, introducing a unique set of technologies designed to make enterprise devices more secure while also identifying and responding to incoming endpoint threats. The company also introduced, Jamf Trust, which aims to make this kind of security simple to use. (The latter is also available for Android and Windows.)

Whats new in Jamf Protect?

The big news for Mac security, Jamf Protect, now offers a comprehensive endpoint and network security solution, supplementing its existing protections with new tools for:

Network threat prevention. This now combines threat prevention and remediation with network-based attack indicators.

Comprehensive endpoint and network threat monitoring and logging. Logging such events makes it easier for InfoSec teams to detect or remediate threats and investigate incidents when they do take place.

Controls to ensure sensitive data can only be written from the Mac to encrypted USB drives. This should help manage data leakage.

Jamf Protect is a powerful tool and provides a unique solution for Mac endpoint protection. It's supported by the companys own in-house team of security researchers. Used on its own, it can prevent and quarantine malware; when used alongside JamfPro for MDM, it can do more to secure deployments, including locking down or erasing compromised Macs.

Why do these moves by Jamf matter?

Apples enterprise market is far bigger now than it has been in decades, with its products in use across most of the worlds biggest firms and a growing place in small enterprise. IDC recently reported that the Mac has become the fastest-growing computer worldwide among enterprises, with iPhones and iPads also seeing a lot of use.

Particularly during the pandemic, this has led businesses to recognize the need to protect these many Apple endpoints, supplementing the platforms industry-leading security with additional protection. Zero-trust, location-specific, user-related single-sign-in approaches have evolved rapidly over the last two years.

These latest new features add a component of automated situation awareness to the mix, which is a promising tech for fleet security.

New on the block: Trust and Safe Internet

JamfTrust is designed to be an easy-to-use employee focused app that gives your staff access to powerful security capabilities without affecting performance or productivity. It provides workflows related to the companys suite of security products and aims to eliminate the friction employees may feel when using these.

The company plans to launch JamfTrust for iPhones, iPads, Macs, Android, and Windows systems next month.

The company has also ramped-up internet protection with its student/K12 education product, Jamf Safe Internet. It combines content filtering and network threat prevention features, including the capacity to protect users from malware and phishing attacks.

The company says it will filter results without invading privacy or affecting the learning experience. This is slated to be available for macOS and iOS in summer.

What Jamf says

Jamf is one of the very few companies in the world that offer both endpoint management and endpoint security  giving Jamf the unique ability to identify, prevent, and remediate security threats automatically, Jamf CEO, Dean Hager told the author.

And of the few companies in the market that do both, Jamf is the only provider that manages and secures the Apple-first enterprise, which is a critical differentiator since the iPhone is the #1 phone in the enterprise; the iPad is the #1 enterprise tablet; and the Mac is the fastest growing computer in the enterprise.

Apple provides the endpoints for businesses of the future. Jamf not only supports this growth, we drive it by delivering a consumer-simple experience that employees love and an enterprise-secure solution that organizations trust, he said.

Organizations should not have to choose between comprehensive security and exceptional usability in todays work anywhere environments, Michael Covington, vice president of portfolio strategy at Jamf, said in a statement. "Thats why we are excited to expand on the security capabilities available in the enterprise-secure, consumer-simple platform our customers know and love.

We want organizations to confidently send devices into the world that have good baseline configurations that can detect and stop malware compromise, and that are equipped with preventative measures to block inbound attacks like phishing from impacting worker productivity.

Jamf is on a roll as Apples enterprise share expands. Not only does it now protect more than 26 million devices, but the company also recently introduced two new Apple admin tools  one to simplify and automate Mac app installations in business, another to manage and secure Apple devices at SMBs.

Were witnessing a rapid increase in activity across the entire Apple integration space as MDM vendors strive to serve this expanding market.

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04/26/2022

Photo (c) Manjurul - Getty Images COVID-19 tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 81,045,532 (80,988,514)

Total U.S. deaths: 991,629 (991,260)

Total global cases: 510,331,384 (509,574,738)

Total global deaths: 6,221,415 (6,218,431)

FDA approves remdesivir to treat young children

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded its approval of the COVID-19 treatment remdesivir to include pediatric patients, including infants.

The drug may be used if children test positive for the coronavirus and are hospitalized. The drug may also be prescribed if a child is at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19.

The FDA action makes remdesivir the first approved COVID-19 treatment for children under 12 years of age. Previously, the drug was only approved to treat certain adults and pediatric patients who are 12 years of age and older and weigh at least 40 kilograms, which is about 88 pounds.

White House to make Paxlovid more available

The White House today said it is taking steps to help more COVID-19 patients get access to Pfizers treatment drug Paxlovid. They say the drug could make the U.S. falling death toll decline even more.

So far, the drug has been underused in the fight against the virus. To turn that around, administration officials say the government plans to double the number of places where patients can access Paxlovid.

We can save more lives by getting this medication to more people, a senior administration official stated. The official said the drug will soon be available at as many as 10,000 locations in the U.S.

Cruise ship reports outbreak

Cruise ships were among the first venues to see a surge in COVID-19 cases in March 2020, before the rest of the nation fully grasped the severity of the pandemic. Now, at least one cruise ship is experiencing a disconcerting case of deja vu.

CBS reports that the Ruby Princess docked in San Francisco earlier this month with 143 passengers who had tested positive for the virus. Travelers reported seeing some of their fellow passengers with symptoms not long after leaving Hawaii.

But unlike two years ago, everyone aboard the cruise ship was vaccinated. The San Francisco Health Department reports that nearly all infected passengers had mild or no symptoms. Only one person was admitted to a hospital for treatment.

Around the nation
Through the years, Johnny Depp has portrayed different roles in his long acting career, both in television and cinema. From Edward Scissorhands to Captain Jack Sparrow, he has showcased versatile acting skills that made him one of the A-list actors in Hollywood.

Born on June 9, 1963, in Owensboro, Kentucky, Depp began his career in music, dropping out of school to pursue a career as a rock musician, which led him to go to Los Angeles after the breakup of his band, The Kids.

Following his appearance in the 1984 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, he landed his first major role in the Fox TV series 21 Jump Street, for which he reportedly earned $45,000 per episode, according to a story published by Marca.

In 1990, Tim Burton cast him in the cult film Edward Scissorhands, marking the start of a long and fruitful collaboration with the renowned filmmaker.

Depp starred in several classic films thanks to his collaboration with Burton. The list includes Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the animated film Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, and Dark Shadows.

Aside from acting, Depp is also involved with his production firm Infinitum Nihil, which he founded in 2004, and his sister Christi Dembrowski, who serves as president.

Depp is a talented musician as well. In 2015, he founded the band Hollywood Vampires with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry.

Read Also: Kanye West Claims "Family is in Danger When He's Not Home" in a New Song Amid Divorce, Custody Battle with Ex-Wife Kim Kardashian

Hundreds Of Millions Lost

Depp's fortunes, on the other hand, suffered when he discovered that he had lost $650 million in movie profits due to suspected financial mismanagement. Depp realized that he owed the IRS $100 million in overdue taxes since taxes had not been paid on his account for 17 years.

According to Variety, Depp's finances were managed by a corporation called The Management Group for most of his career. In 2017, Depp filed a lawsuit accusing them of "gross mismanagement and, at times, outright fraud," alleging that they caused him to lose tens of millions of dollars, racked up more than $40 million in debt without his awareness, failed to file his property taxes properly, made unpermitted loans, and overpaid for security and other services, among other accusation.

The Management Group countersued, saying that, despite receiving $650 million over the preceding 13 years, Depp's extravagant spending practices had left him with insufficient liquid cash to fulfill his basic monthly costs, which exceeded $2 million per month. They argued Depp placed himself in these circumstances through excessive spending.

Lavish Lifestyle

Depp is said to spend $3.6 million a year on a 40-person full-time staff, $30,000 on wine monthly, $150,000 on bodyguards, and $200,000 on private jet flights. He is also said to have spent $75 million on more than 14 properties throughout the world, including a 45-acre castle in France, a horse farm in Kentucky, and various Bahamas islands. He could sell his entire real estate portfolio for $100 million if he wanted to.

He possesses multiple yachts, more than 45 automobiles, memorabilia worth $12 million in 12 storage facilities, and an art collection that includes artworks by Andy Warhol.

Depp is also said to have paid $5 million to get the ashes of Hunter S. Thompson shot from a cannon off a 153-foot tower.

Despite the massive losses in his wealth, Depp is still among the highest-paid performers in Hollywood. He gets $20 million upfront and 20% of the backend for each film.

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise alone has earned more than $300 million as a result of this contract, while backend profits from "Alice in Wonderland" totaled $55 million.

Johnny Depp has a net worth of $100 million, according to Celebs Net Worth. Johnny Depp's several successful films have made over $3.4 billion in the United States and $8.7 billion globally.

With his reported annual income of more than $100 million in some years, Depp ranks among the highest-paid celebrities in the world.

Related Article: Johnny Depp Accuses Ex-Wife Amber Heard of Having Affair with James Franco; Ireland Baldwin Slams "Manipulative, Terrible" Actress Amid Trial

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04/26/2022

Photo (c) naruecha jenthaisong - Getty Images Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a deceptive trade practices lawsuit against the online used vehicle dealer Vroom Automotive, which saw sales grow rapidly during the pandemic.

In filing the lawsuit, Paxton noted that consumers have filed over 5,000 complaints since 2018 with both the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Office of the Texas Attorney General against Vroom and Texas Direct Auto, which Vroom owns.

In a statement, the BBB said it noticed an increase in complaints starting in January 2020 that focused on two areas. Some consumers reported that the cars they received via delivery were not the same vehicles pictured online, or that they were dirty or damaged.

Consumers also stated they were having customer service and communication issues when trying to reach out to the company to address their concerns, the BBB said. The organization added that consumers have also reportedly not received paperwork to get their cars registered, faced delayed deliveries for vehicles, and had issues concerning trade-ins.

Unhappy consumers air concerns

Similar reports have been posted at ConsumerAffairs, especially in recent months. Mary, of Davis, Calif., wrote in mid-April that she bought a Lexus in November and has waited five months for the car to be registered.

Five months after buying my car and three months after the temporary registration expired and I still have no idea if they will ever register my car and no way to find out, Mary wrote.

Todd, of Aurora, Colo., describes the process of purchasing a vehicle from Vroom as a headache. Hes waited even longer than Mary to get his license plates.

Now six months later and we still do not have our plates, he wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. When I call to inquire why, they say they need to log a ticket and send me an email. The email they send is a no reply email.

To be fair, not all of Vrooms ConsumerAffairs reviews are negative. Some consumers report a good experience, though many of the positive reviews are about the experience of selling a car to Vroom.

Rapid growth may contribute to issues

Auto industry analyst Cliff Banks, the publisher of TheBanksReport.com, says Vroom and its competitor Carvana are the only dealers that appear to be producing complaints about delays in titling.

We're not seeing any issue with new car dealers or even large used chains such as Carmax, Echo Park, or Driveway.com, Banks told ConsumerAffairs. I think it's due to them both (Vroom and Carvana) trying to grow quickly and not having the processes in place as they enter new markets to adequately provide the services required in a vehicle transaction.

ConsumerAffairs reached out to Vroom for comment, but the company did not immediately reply to our request. In its last annual earnings report, Vroom told investors that it has encountered operational challenges due to its rapid growth.

During the past six months there has been an increase in customer complaints, leading to an increase in such regulatory inquiries, the report said. We endeavor to promptly respond to any such inquiries and cooperate with our regulators.

What to do

For customers dealing with these issues, the only recourse may be to submit a report about their experience. On forums where customers have aired their frustrations, many later amended their submission to say the issue had been resolved. It seems someone at the company is monitoring the reviews and responding.

It may also pay to file a complaint with the state attorney generals office. WAVE-TV in Louisville recently reported that the Kentucky Attorney Generals office helped two Vroom customers resolve their issues.
On Monday, Media Matters, a progressive media watchdog group, warned that Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter would bring Donald Trump back to the network and give extremists and white supremacists free rein.

Republicans in the United States, however, some in the White House and elsewhere, are cheering a prospective Musk agreement with Twitter, believing that a takeover by the Tesla CEO could reverse the decision that led to Trump's removal from the platform. A group of 209 House Republicans asked for just that on Monday.

Elon Musk Agrees To Buy Twitter For $44 Billion

In a statement, Media Matters president Angelo Carusone stated, "The sale of Twitter to Elon Musk would be a victory for disinformation and the people who peddle it." Following the insurgency in the United States, Trump earned a lifetime ban from Twitter on January 8, 2021, according to Carusone. Within weeks, Capitol would return to the platform.

Donald Trump isn't the only right-wing figure who could return to Twitter following a suspension. US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's account was suspended after she violated the company's COVID-19 disinformation policy, but she began fighting for its reinstatement using her Congressional account on Monday.

Media Matters is pushing Twitter's board of directors to include specific stipulations in any potential arrangement with Elon Musk that would preserve existing community standards, including the expulsion of violators, according to Fortune.

Read Also: President Macron Beats Rival Le Pen, Becomes First French Leader To Win Re-election

Donald Trump Says He Won't Return to Twitter

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has no plans to rejoin Twitter, and the previous president stated on Monday after it became introduced that billionaire Elon Musk sold the social media platform for $ forty-four billion. Instead, he's focusing on his program, TRUTH Social, whose popularity waned following a spike of interest after its buggy App Store debut. Android users are still unable to access it.

Despite not posting since the platform's introduction two months ago, the former president told Fox News that he'd be a frequent user in as little as a week. "I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH. I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUT," Trump told the outlet.

Trump said that his app was receiving a better reaction than Twitter, although he did not explain how. The former president was permanently suspended from Twitter on January 6, last year, after a riot over a sedition message to his supporters. Some of his supporters rushed into the US Capitol that day, Daily Mail reported.

Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter on Monday implies the social media network might undergo significant changes, including the return of Donald Trump, the verification of every human user, and the conversion of the company's headquarters into a homeless shelter.

While Musk has not directly stated that he will allow Trump to return to Twitter, he has stated that the site's existing moderation procedures are excessively restrictive, leading to speculation regarding Trump's comeback. Elon Musk said last week that a social media platform's regulations are excellent if the most extreme 10% on the left and right are equally unhappy, indicating how he would manage content moderation concerns on Twitter.

To combat spam, the billionaire has stated that he wants to authenticate all actual persons that use the site. Furthermore, Musk has stated that he is exploring auditing a Twitter "edit button," and that one approach to minimize misuse of the function may be to "zero out" retweets and likes when a tweet is modified.

Musk has stated that he plans to make Twitter's algorithm public to address concerns raised by certain users who feel that particular tweets are unfairly boosted or degraded, as per New York Post.

Related Article: Elon Musk Takes $46.5 Billion Step to Buy Twitter: What's Next for World's Richest Man?

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DONT fall in love with your improv classmate.

Second City Hollywood/Lara Hillier Countless romances have sprung from two chairs and a suggestion.

I say dont do this, but I know you will. We all do. Improvisers are notorious for falling in love with their classmates. It happens because to be good at improv, you have to dig deep and be emotionally honest. Playing one-dimensional characters is never fun to watch. Think about it: youre improvising a scene with someone where you have to play two people in love, and the only way to sell it for real is to really believe you are in love. Your mind knows youre performing, but your body doesnt. Those feelings of love that you improvised for that scene? Baby, those will linger. For a long time. I have had countless improv crushes and they all stem from something romantic or sexy that happened on stage.

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Also, youre a goofy comedian who makes poop and fart jokes for a living. No one off the stage finds you at all attractive, so you turn to your comedy buddy. But it wont work out. Youll have a secret affair that your improv class will kind of know about and then youll inevitably break up and then there you are, doing a scene with a guy playing a doctor trying to get a flamingo out of your ass, and all you can think about is how this dude saw you naked far too many times.

Almost no improv relationships work out. A few do, but theyre so few and far between that, they dont really need to be acknowledged. Also, a lot of them started as teacher/student relationships. Which by the way-
It comes with the territory of being rich and famous. If youre not careful, some idiot will try to get your cash by threatening to spill your secrets. Here are five times that comedians claimed to be victims of blackmail schemes -- and more often than not, the comics dont come out looking great.

1 Chris Rock

This one started when Rock appeared on Howard Stern with a story about a woman who allegedly tried to get the comic to pay up over a false pregnancy claim. The FBI was involved, according to Rock, investigating a large conspiracy that conned several stars into paying child support for kids that werent theirs.

Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

These are psycho girls, claimed Rock. They know what they are doing."

But the psycho girl turned out to be a Hungarian model who sued Rock for a number of equally ugly offenses, sexual and otherwise, in what The Hollywood Reporter called the filthiest lawsuit ever filed. Rock hired a private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, to investigate the model, who claims Pellicano illegaly broke into her home and took pictures of her daughter. Pellicano eventually went to jail over similar accusations.

The models lawsuit never made it to trial, but Rock eventually paid an undisclosed sum to make the whole thing go away.
A Michigan police officer revealed the identity of the Grand Rapids law enforcement officer responsible for shooting Patrick Lyoya, a Congo native, in the back of the head during an Apr. 4 traffic stop.

The suspect, Christopher Schurr, said Chief Eric Winstrom is the officer that killed 26-year-old Lyoya after a struggle. In a statement, Winstrom said that in the interest of transparency, to reduce ongoing speculation, and to avoid any further confusion, he was confirming the identity of the man responsible for the heinous act.

Identity of Patrick Lyoya Shooter

The police chief said in the aftermath of the shooting and the release of the video footage of the incident that he would withhold the officer's name unless he were charged with a crime. It was known to be a long-standing practice that applied to the public as well as city employees.

The family of the victim and Black leaders, including Rev. Al Sharpton, the host of MSNBC's "PoliticsNation," had repeatedly urged for transparency and the release of the police officer's identity. On Friday, Sharpton shouted that people wanted the officer's name, saying that authorities cannot set a precedent of withholding the names of personnel who have killed others unless he was charged, as per NBC News.

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Chief Winstrom said that the Grand Rapids Police Department would be releasing documents regarding the incident. The shooting started off as a traffic stop where Lyoya then ran from the officer before the situation became a struggle between the two. The officer then shot the victim in the back of the head while the latter was still face down on the ground.

Read Also: Climate Activist Dies After Setting Himself on Fire in Front of Supreme Court on Earth Day

Schurr was on top of the victim, who was unarmed, and was heard on video footage demanding that the victim take his hand off the officer's Taser. A forensic pathologist who conducted an autopsy at the request of the victim's family said that the gun was pressed to Lyoya's head when the shooting took place.

According to WWMT, authorities placed the officer on administrative leave and stripped him of his police powers until the conclusion of the MSP's investigation. Sharpton, prior to the release of the officer's name, argued that if Black people committed a crime, their identities would immediately be made public.

Fatal Police Shooting

Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington acknowledged the demand for the officer's name after the funeral. He said that he would discuss the matter with Winstrom and city employment officials, which later resulted in the reveal of the officer's name.

Michigan state officials have requested the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a "pattern-or-practice" investigation into Schurr's fatal shooting of Lyoya. The reason for the traffic stop is that the victim's car allegedly had an unregistered license plate.

In the past, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR), which was the one that made the request for the DOJ to launch an investigation, made similar requests. An official from the same office renewed the request with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan on Apr. 7, three days after the shooting of Lyoya and before it received significant national media attention, CNN reported.

Related Article: Orsolya Gaal Case: Handyman Lover Gets Jealous, Says He Killed New York Woman After Discovering Texts to Another Man

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The whole goal of advertising is to get peoples attention and secondarily get them to remember a product. Whether the most shocking advertisements actually accomplish both of those goals is up for debate, but we would never deny a mad person their right to reel in the suckers with a boob here or there. Sometimes, though, advertising crosses a line into not fit for human consumption territory. Advertisement

15 Calvin Kleins Pedophiley Brooke Shields Ad (Calvin Klein) Calvin Klein is known for their gross commercials, but they went too far for CBS and ABC in 1980, when the networks banned a commercial featuring a panning shot over the body of a very 15-year-old-looking Brooke Shields, including directly into her crotch, before she peers coyly into the camera and whispers, You wanna know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing. Poor Shields didnt even realize what she was implying about her undergarment situation.
Sorry about that, but yeah  before Wood came on board to talk about tickling his butthole to get his little soldier pumping, Marlon Brando was the one to deliver lines about unleashing "the dog of war" and whatnot. The thought of it is more bananas than watching the scene we got in the end. Natasha Lyonne (who plays Megan, the possessed demon girl) revealed that she still has a VHS copy of the dailies in which Brando appears. She said she had no idea why the man would say yes to doing the spoof and that he was quite chatty on set.

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"(Brando) had an oxygen tank, and he just kind of held my boob because that was in the script. He was supposed to be like, 'The power of Christ compels you ' I just remember being like, 'Ah, this is the surrealism that Andre Breton, Salvador Dali were talking about.' So, I had Brando with the earpiece and the hand on the boob, and the makeup, and 'The power of Christ compels you,' and not to curse, but, 'Your mother sucks cocks in hell,' and so on. This was all happening at once, and I remember like, 'You know, showbiz is alright.' In that moment, showbiz was A-okay."

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Yeah, listen, Lyonne, we're going to need to see those dailies. Time to do the world a solid here.

Of course, Brando's actual final and non-live-action role was equally hysterical: Doing the voice of an old lady, Mrs. Sour, in an unreleased animation called Big Bug Man  a job for which he insisted on going full drag. He said it was the most fun he'd had since playing Julius Caesar.

Zanandi is on Twitter and also on that other platform.

Top Image: Dimension Films
Nadeau's Auction Gallery, a Windsor-based auction house, is kickstarting its spring season with an upcoming auction featuring a number of ancient relics, rare art pieces and other valuable items such as watches and rings.

Over 600 different lots will be available during the auction, all of which coming from a number of New England estates, according to a press release.
The US and its allies have been imposing sanctions on Russia's major enterprises and corporate and political elites, all the way up to President Vladimir Putin, for many weeks.

Alina Kabaeva, the woman the US government thinks to be Vladimir Putin's lover and the mother of at least three of his children, was spared in a last-minute decision.

US Withholds Sanctions on Vladimir Putin's Alleged Girlfriend

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that US authorities decided against implementing penalties against Russian President Vladimir Putin's reputed lover, 38-year-old gymnast and Olympic gold winner Alina Kabaeva, since the move was deemed too harsh.

According to the publication, a probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections indicated that Kabaeva profited from Putin's clout and personal fortune. The US government suspects Kabaeva of hiding part of Putin's riches overseas and believes she is the mother of at least three of Putin's children.

However, possible penalties on Kabaeva were finally delayed since the move was seen as "such a personal blow to Mr. Putin that it may further aggravate tensions between Russia and the United States," according to the Journal.

Kabaeva's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a subject of speculation for years. Putin had planned to divorce his longstanding wife, Lyudmila, to be with Kabaeva, according to the Russian publication Moskovsky Korrespondent in 2008. Two days later, the publication was shut down. Putin stated that he and Lyudmila had split up five years later.

Kabaeva started her international rhythmic gymnastics career in 1996 and went on to win two Olympic gold medals, making her one of the sport's most decorated competitors. She retired in 2007 and was immediately promoted to high-ranking positions in the Russian government and state-owned enterprises.

She was a deputy in the State Duma, Russia's parliament, for the ruling United Russia party from 2007 until 2014. She was named chair of the National Media Group's board of directors in 2014, with major holdings in propaganda-heavy channels including Channel One TV and the Life News tabloid, according to CBS News.

Read Also: John Durham Placed the Clinton Campaign, the DNC Under Subpoena for Alleged Spying on Then-Presidential Candidate Trump

Russia Denies Relationship Between Putin, Kabaeva

Kabaeva's last public appearance was in December 2021, months before Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine. She made a rare public appearance last week in Moscow to attend a junior gymnastics festival, a patriotic event commemorating the Soviet Union's struggle against the Nazis during WWII.

Moscow has long denied a link between Putin and Kabaeva, and Kabaeva has denied it as well. Putin is depicted as living a religious life and committing himself to public service in Russian official media. From his former marriage, he has two known children, ages 36 and 35.

Kabaeva performed a rhythmic gymnastics performance in Moscow on Saturday, demonstrating support for the war. The United States has accused Kabaeva and her family of becoming rich from Putin's ties, and a US intelligence investigation into her 2016 elections nominated her as a beneficiary of Putin's money.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was imprisoned, begged US lawmakers on April 6 to impose sanctions on Kabaeva, claiming he was helping Putin hide his money. The Ukrainian government has also called on Western countries to sanction Kabaeva and Switzerland to ban her from the countries in which she is commonly found.

Kabaeva was in Switzerland, according to the Swiss authorities. In 2008, Russian media initially revealed Putin and Kabaeva's engagement. It was shut down days later after Putin denied the story.

Since 2013, Kabaeva and her family have bought two houses, half-dozen apartments, and a number of acres of land. Kabaeva gave birth to Putin's kid in 2015 in Switzerland, according to officials from the US, Switzerland, and the European Union. The story was refuted by a Putin spokeswoman, as per Daily Mail.

Related Article: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

@YouTube

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Connecticut saw a rise in reports of antisemitic incidents last year, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League.

There were 34 reported incidents in Connecticut in 2021, a 42 percent jump from the 24 incidents recorded in 2020, the data shows. More than half of these incidents  18  were harassment, while the remainder were considered vandalism, the report stated. There were no assaults recorded in 2021, the ADL said.

Reports of antisemitic incidents reached an all-time high nationwide last year. Some 2,717 incidents were reported in the United States in 2021, or about seven incidents each day.

ADL Connecticut Regional Director Stacey Sobel said the data shows that antisemitism remains a serious concern not only in the United States, but also in Connecticut.

From white supremacist propaganda in the public square and on college campuses, to bomb threats against JCCs [Jewish community centers], antisemitism reared its ugly head in every facet of our society last year, Sobel said in a statement.

One of these included a bomb threat that was called into the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven in June 2021. A staffer at the center received a call from a person who made antisemitic comments and the threat, officials said.

More than 300 campers and staff had to evacuate the building while the FBI and state police investigated. The building was closed for the day.

Another one of these 34 reports included a Zoombombing incident during a college readiness meeting in Stamford in early 2021. During the call, an individual joined and wrote death to Jews and yelled the n-word, ADL Connecticut said.

The organization said 18 Connecticut municipalities had at least one antisemitic incident in 2021. Those incidents included schools, vandalism of Jewish institutions and white supremacist propaganda.

ADL Connecticut said the nation saw a surge in these incidents targeting Jewish communities after May 10, 2021 when fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas. For 11 days, more than 4,300 rockets and missiles were fired from Gaza toward Israeli civilian centers, according to the ADL.

This impacted Connecticut as well. The states ADL recorded a spike in antisemitic incidents during the month of May, most of which took place on college campuses.

In the past five years, ADL Connecticut has received 184 reports of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and assault  a remarkable figure that we hope will serve as a stark reminder of the hard work still ahead to tackle all forms of hate and antisemitism here in our state, Sobel added.

Though there was a jump in 2021, the state had seen more incidents in previous years. In 2018, Connecticut had 39 reported incidents  19 harassment, 19 vandalism and one reported assault. The next year, it had 37 reports  21 of harassment and 16 of vandalism.

In 2017, Connecticut saw 49 reported antisemitic incidents. Some 29 of these were considered harassment and 20 were vandalism, the ADL said.

If you have experienced or witnessed an incident of antisemitism, extremism, bias, bigotry or hate, visit ADL.org/ReportIncident. In an emergency, call 911.
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Coming up with $44 billion to buy Twitter was the easy part for Elon Musk.

Next comes the real challenge for the worlds richest person: fulfilling his promise to make Twitter better than ever as a lightly regulated haven for free speech.

His vision for improving the 16-year-old company leans heavily on a pledge to make speech as free as reasonably possible on the platform -- a commitment thats been celebrated on the political right and among followers of former President Donald Trump, whose account last year was permanently banned. For others who worry that Musk will give free rein to agitators who spew hate, lies and other harmful content, making the platform too toxic for advertisers and average users, Musk has offered few assurances.

The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all, he tweeted Tuesday

Many of Musks proposed changes reflect his own experience as a high-profile and outspoken Twitter user with more than 85 million followers and a swarm of pesky impersonator accounts that use his name and photo to promote cryptocurrency schemes. The statement announcing his acquisition of Twitter on Monday highlighted the need to defeat spam bots that mimic real users.

But what about Twitters more than 200 million other users who arent getting banned or flooded with spam? Theres still a lot of uncertainty about whether his ideas are technologically feasible and whether these changes would benefit most regular users, or serve some other purpose.

Hes made it pretty clear hes not interested in making Twitter a profitable enterprise," said Joan Donovan, who studies misinformation at Harvard University. Its about the power and the influence of Twitter itself and its importance in our culture."

Experts who have studied content moderation and researched Twitter for years have expressed doubt that Musk knows exactly what he is getting into. And some of the problems he has identified aren't felt by most users.

The spam bots, for him, are highly visible and somewhat personal, said Donovan. Most people dont see a lot of these spammy accounts.

And for those unhappy with the company's crackdown on hate, harassment and misinformation, there are plenty of fledgling examples of free speech-focused social media platforms that have been launched in the past few years as Twitter antidotes, largely by conservatives. Many have struggled to deal with toxic content, and at least one has been cut off by its own technology providers in protest.

This move just shows how effective (moderation features) have been to annoy those in power, said Kirsten Martin, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame. I would be worried as to how this would change Twitters values.

The fact that no other bidders emerged in public before Musks deal was a sign that other would-be acquirers might find Twitter too difficult to improve, said Third Bridge analyst Scott Kessler.

This platform is pretty much the same one weve had over the last decade or so," Kessler said. "Youve had a lot of smart people trying to figure out what they should do, and theyve had trouble. Its probably going to be tough to make a lot of headway.

Musk received an effusive, if highly abstract, endorsement from Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who praised Musk's decision to take Twitter  back from Wall Street  and tweeted that he trusts Musk's mission to  extend the light of consciousness   a reference to Dorsey's notion that Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness.

But others familiar with Twitter say they're dismayed at Musk's successful bid for the company.

Twitter is going to let a man-child essentially take over their platform, said Leslie Miley, a former Twitter employee who has also worked for Google and Apple. Miley, who was the only Black engineer at Twitter in a leadership position when he left the company in 2015, echoed doubts about Musk's grasp of the platform's complexities.

I am not sure if Elon knows what he is getting, Miley said. He may just find that having Twitter is a lot different than wanting Twitter.

The more hands-off approach to content moderation that Musk envisions has many users concerned that the platform will reanimate accounts that propagated dangerous conspiracies and harassment.

Wall Street analysts said if he goes too far, it could also alienate advertisers  Twitter's chief revenue source. And it could make it harder to retain the San Francisco-based company's more than 7,500 employees, some of whom are already voicing concerns about the possibility of a backslide on content standards.

In Europe, officials reminded Musk about a new law, the Digital Services Act, that will force tech companies to step up policing of their online platforms.

Be it cars or social media, any company operating in Europe needs to comply with our rules  regardless of their shareholding, tweeted Thierry Breton, the European Union commissioner in charge of the blocs internal market. Mr. Musk knows this well. He is familiar with European rules on automotive, and will quickly adapt to the Digital Services Act.

Musks takeover is not yet a done deal and still awaits the approval of a majority of Twitter's stockholders. Twitter previously scheduled its annual shareholders meeting for May 25, but a regulatory filing Tuesday said the company will be convening a special meeting as promptly as reasonably practicable."

While there are likely to be some bumps along the way, there don't appear to be serious enough obstacles to stop the deal, according to Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.

Twitter or Musk can walk away from the deal if its not completed by Oct. 24, but if either Musk or Twitter is deemed responsible for the deal not going forward, they would have to pay a $1 billion termination fee, according to details of the transaction contained in a regulatory filing published Tuesday. The filing also showed that Twitter will drop a poison pill measure it had earlier adopted to defend against Musk's takeover by making it prohibitively expensive.

Normally when companies go private, dissenting shareholders are forcibly cashed out. Some could challenge the stock price in court, contending that Musk should pay more, but that probably wont hold up the sale, Elson said.

Its likely that Musk would dissolve the current board and replace it with a new one that would agree with his management direction. And once Twitter is private, Musk will face fewer gripes from shareholders that often bring lawsuits, Elson said. Private companies also dont face as much scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been a finger in Musks eye for years, often because of statements he's made on Twitter.

On Tuesday, shares of Twitter traded just under $50, below the $54.20 purchase price. Twitter will offer a glimpse into the health of its business when it reports its quarterly financial results Thursday.

Twitter's constituents aren't the only ones anxious about Musk's $44 billion investment.

Shares of Musk's electric car company, Tesla, have lost about 19% of their value since Musk announced his stake in Twitter, including about a 12% decline on Tuesday. Analysts say investors are fearful that Musk will be distracted by the social media company and less engaged in running Tesla.

Hes going to be spending more time with another venture, Edward Jones Senior Equity Analyst Jeff Windau said of Musk, who also runs SpaceX, The Boring Co., which digs tunnels, and Neuralink, a computer-brain interface company. Theres a potential limit on the amount of bandwidth that you can apply to each of these companies."

__

Krisher reported from Detroit. O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island. AP writers Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, Kelvin Chan in London and Sam Petrequin in Brussels contributed to this report.
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Beefed up fire crews made major progress on a large prairie fire burning near the Nebraska-Kansas line on Tuesday and lighter winds allowed firefighters to keep flames from advancing significantly at big fires in the Southwest where some rural towns remain under evacuation orders.

Stiff winds remained a challenge in the Midwest, but eased in Arizona and New Mexico where they're expected to pick up again in the days ahead after fires destroyed dozens of home and charred a combined 225 square miles (580 square kilometers) last week.

It was a very good day, said Terry Krasko, a spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team.

More than 200 firefighters are now battling the blaze in Nebraska that killed a former volunteer fire chief, injured several firefighters and destroyed several homes last week.

No injuries. No more structures lost, Krasko told The Associated Press Tuesday night from Cambridge, Nebraska. I think the biggest loss we had today was a few hay bales.

Overall containment grew there from 47% to 74% on Tuesday. That means crews have dug fire lines around about three-fourths of the fire that has burned 65 square miles (168 square kilometers) of mostly grasses and farmland.

The major footprint of the fire stayed where it was supposed to be despite 30 to 40 mph winds," Krasko said. Critical fire conditions were forecast to return on Wednesday, but not as windy.

More than 3,000 firefighters and support personnel were assigned to multiple fires Tuesday in the Southwest, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The focus was on efforts to corral blazes in northern New Mexico, where evacuations remain in place and several small villages were threatened. Authorities have started to survey the damage but have yet to tally the number of homes and other buildings that were destroyed.

The largest of the wildfires has blackened more than 94 square miles (245 square kilometers) in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Crews continued to make progress on that fire Tuesday, but they were bracing for the weather to take a turn later this week with more hot, dry and windy conditions forecast for the area.

San Miguel County Deputy Manager Jesus Romero described the situation as touch-and-go as the winds cranked up Tuesday afternoon.

Everybody is eager to get back home. Its still not really safe right now," he said. Theres plenty of forest still to be burned, plenty of fuels and its plenty dry and were dealing with the wind. Some places are a little bit better than others, but right now its just too risky.

In Arizona, crews are working to encircle and mop up a 33-square-mile (85-square-kilometer) wildfire on the outskirts of Flagstaff that burned 30 homes and additional structures last week. Aircraft helped firefighters battling a different major fire that continued to grow, burning 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) in the Prescott National Forest in north-central Arizona.

Four new fires were reported Monday, two in Colorado and one in Oklahoma and Virginia, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Nationally, 11 large fires have burned about 342 square miles (890 square kilometers) in six states, the agency reported Tuesday.

___

Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Associated Press reporter Margaret Stafford reported from Kansas City, Missouri. Associated Press writer Paul Davenport contributed from Phoenix. Associated Press writer Scott Sonner contributed from Reno, Nevada.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The Biden administration released a plan Tuesday to deal with an expected increase in already high numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border from the planned lifting of a public health order that prevents people from seeking asylum  and that Republican and some Democratic lawmakers insist should be kept in place.

A memo from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas outlines a more robust effort to enforce U.S. immigration law without the use of Title 42, which was invoked at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

"When the Title 42 public health Order is lifted, we anticipate migration levels will increase, as smugglers will seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable migrants," Mayorkas warns in a memo that comes a day before he is to testify to Congress on an issue that has become a potent element in Republican political messaging.

The plan includes increasing the number of personnel in the border region from Customs and Border Protection and other federal agencies, expanding detention capacity with the use of temporary facilities and aggressively deploying a process known as expedited removal to deport migrants who do not qualify for asylum or some other relief under U.S. law.

It also relies on new Department of Homeland Security initiatives intended to streamline the evaluation of migrant claims, such as the deployment of asylum officers to the border to help determine whether someone should be granted temporary legal residency until an immigration court rules on their case.

Unmentioned is the fact that a court could soon order the government to reverse course and halt plans to lift Title 42 on May 23 because of lawsuits filed by Republican-led states.

On Monday, a federal judge in Louisiana said he would issue an order limiting the administrations ability to prepare but left specifics of the settlement to the federal government and the states.

U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays, a Trump appointee, has scheduled a hearing on May 13 in the lawsuit by Louisiana and 20 other states seeking to keep Title 42 authority in place. Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have also urged the Biden administration to continue the order for now.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday that Republicans are going to insist on a vote on keeping the public health order in place, likely as an amendment to a compromise $10 billion package of pandemic aid. That demand has put Democrats on the defensive ahead of fall elections in which congressional control is in play and some moderates face competitive races.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., conceded that the GOP effort is forcing Democrats to try finding a position they can rally behind. Theres divisions there now, he said. And Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., took the unusual step of criticizing the administration for sending conflicting signals on the issue.

Were puzzled by the administration, some mixed messages around. Is the emergency over or isnt it over? Kaine told reporters. Were confused about it. And that leads different people to be in different spots until we get questions answered.

Migrants have been expelled more than 1.8 million times under the rule, which was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Donald Trump.

Advocates for asylum-seekers support the end to the rule, which they say endangers people fleeing persecution back home and violates rights to seek protection under U.S. law and international treaty. The states challenging the administration say the U.S. is not ready for a likely influx of migrants resulting from the rules end, straining public services.

It comes amid what the administration concedes are historic numbers of migrants attempting to cross the border due to factors that include economic and political turmoil in Latin America, as well as a backlog of people hoping to seek asylum.

The increase in migrant encounters is also due in part to Title 42 itself.

Immigration authorities stopped migrants 221,303 times along the Southwest border in March, a 33% increase from a month earlier, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

But many of those encounters were people coming back after being removed under the public health authority. CBP said the number of unique individuals encountered nationwide in March came to 159,900, still high but significantly below the total.

Biden administration officials argue that the use of expedited removal is more of a deterrent because people subjected to it are inadmissible for five years and can be charged with a felony if they attempt to return to the country. Under Title 42, there are no legal consequences and many people simply turn around and come back.

___

Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.
THOMASTON  Landmark Community Theatre is holding auditions for the rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, 6-9 p.m. May 1, and 6-8:30 p.m. May 2 on the main stage of the Thomaston Opera House.

Auditions will be given on a first come, first served basis and no appointments are required.

Foster Evans Reese will direct and choreograph the show, with music direction by Sean Lewis. Show dates are July 16-17, 22-24 and 29-31, for eight performances.

Rehearsals begin May 9, continuing two to three times a week, depending on cast availability.

All auditioning must be fully vaccinated. Auditioners must bring sheet music with them and be prepared to sing 32 bars (about a minute) of a fully memorized musical theater song showcasing the style and vocal range of the character for which they are auditioning.

Songs from Jesus Christ Superstar will be allowed. Additional vocalizing may also be a part of the audition to determine vocal range and harmonizing skills. An accompanist will be provided; no recorded accompaniment is permitted. This production is comprised entirely of movement and song. Therefore, all people auditioning should be expected to dance at their audition. Please wear appropriate clothing and footwear. Auditioners will be required to wear a mask or face covering until they are seen. Vocal warmups will not be allowed inside the building.

LCT is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion. As such, we encourage performers of all races and ethnicities, gender identities, sexualities, abilities, and ages to attend every audition. To performers with disabilities, you are encouraged to audition. Please indicate if you need special services, assistance, or appropriate modifications to fully participate in this event by contacting Andrea Bingham, Production Manager, andrea@landmarkcommunitytheatre.org

Plot Summary: A timeless work, the rock opera is set against the backdrop of an extraordinary and universally-known series of events but seen, unusually, through the eyes of Judas Iscariot. Loosely based on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Superstar follows the last week of Jesus Christs life. The story, told entirely through song, explores the personal relationships and struggles between Jesus, Judas, Mary Magdalene, his disciples, his followers and the Roman Empire.

The iconic 1970s rock score contains such well-known numbers as Superstar, I Dont Know How to Love Him and Gethsemane. A true global phenomenon and perfect pick for schools, community theaters and professionals alike, Superstar continues to touch new generations of audiences and performers.

Roles:

Jesus Christ - Tenor - Protagonist of the story, leader of the twelve Apostles, and son of God, Messiah and King of the Jews.

Judas Iscariot - Tenor - One of the twelve apostles of Jesus; concerned for the poor and for the consequences of Jesus' fame. A tragic figure, a conflicted man, and a powerfully passionate guy. Most certainly not a bad guy he's as desirous of being pure as Jesus is, and believes he is doing the right thing.

Mary Magdalene- Alto - A female follower of Jesus who finds herself falling in love with him. She's a prostitute, and she tries in her way to care for Jesus, so there is tenderness, and desire, but this is a woman of great strength.

Pontius Pilate -Baritone - Governor of Judea who foresees the events of Jesus crucifixion from beginning to aftermath in a dream and finds himself being presented with that very situation. A man of his time and a leader capable of great brutality, yet also a man of a certain conscience.

Caiaphas- Bass - Joseph Caiaphas was the high priest of Jerusalem who, according to Biblical accounts, sent Jesus to Pilate for his execution.

Annas- Tenor - Fellow priest at the side of Caiaphas who is persuaded by Caiaphas into seeing Jesus as a threat.

Peter- Baritone - One of Jesus' 12 apostles; denies Jesus three times upon the night of Jesus' arrest to save himself.

Simon Zealotes - Tenor - One of Jesus' 12 apostles; urges Jesus to lead his followers into battle against the Romans.

King Herod - Baritone - The King of Galilee; Jesus is brought to him for judgment after first being taken to Pilate.

Ensemble: Apostles, Priests, Soul Girls, Lepers, Merchants, Soldiers.
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FAIRFIELD  Investment, expansion and automation were the topics of the day at the Bigelow Tea Co. headquarters on Monday.

State and local officials came to tour the buildings warehouse after $2 million worth of improvements were recently completed. The new factory floor was abuzz with the whirring of machinery, and robotic carts moved pallets of tea across its main floor as part of a now partially automated packaging process.

In addition to the robotic arms packing shipments and the self-driving carts moving tea around, Cindi Bigelow, Bigelow Teas president, said the factory floor was also reinforced to allow for offices to be built in the mezzanine of the warehouse.

This is a huge investment for our organization, she said. This was a warehouse. What we then had to do was move to a warehouse in Orange. We emptied this out. We reinforced the floor for about $500,000. We put mezzanines in for additional offices, and then we installed all this equipment.

The Orange site is remaining open, she said.

Gov. Ned Lamont said the investments Bigelow made demonstrate innovation, showing it can be down outside of big companies like Amazon or Facebook.

Here you have Bigelow Tea going all the way back to 1945, they have as modern and computerized distribution system as you can ask for, he said. So, theres room for innovation everywhere.

The Fairfield location makes more than 750 million bags of tea a year  a 400 percent increase since 1990, Bigelow said.

That type of growth necessitates investment, she said, adding she anticipates installing more equipment there.

This allows us to grow while maintaining the number of people we have in our workforce, she said, noting Bigelow has 200 employees in Connecticut and 450 system-wide.

Bigelow said workers were very worried when the company notified them of the coming improvements, but many conversations took place with them about how the automation would not threaten their jobs.

When these machines came in, we very much kept our finger on the pulse of their attitude and how employees were, she said. Now that this equipment has been in for two months, they realize that theyre needed more than ever. Its really been a good thing.

Bigelow said the investments have slightly changed how her employees jobs work, but they are still an integral part of the process. She said the new offices added to the building help prepare for the future.

As the business doubles, I dont want the people to double, she said. So, lets say the business doubles, maybe the people go up 30 or 40 percent.

Bigelow said state programs, such as ones that help fund training for employees, free up funds for the company to buy new equipment.

Bigelow said the company that shares her family name was not built on strong margins, but to ensure quality of product.

It makes it very difficult in times of high increases of wages, materials, distribution, she said. We dont have any fat as a business. Were not a greedy organization. We dont spend a lot of money.

The investment she made into the facility furthers the mission of ensuring a quality product, Bigelow said, adding she does not mind investing money for the future.
Robert Todt said he watched from his Massachusetts home as his son was convicted of killing his wife, three children and their family dog.

It was difficult to take, Robert Todt said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

His son, Anthony Todt, 46, a former Colchester physical therapist, was found guilty in Florida this month of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty for the deaths of his 42-year-old wife, Megan Todt; their three children, Aleksander, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4; and their family dog, Breezy.

Osceola County Sheriffs Office / Contributed photo

Following the six-day trial, Todt was sentenced to four consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was also sentenced to one year in county jail for killing their dog.

Todts attorneys, who are public defenders with the Ninth Judicial Circuit in Orange and Osceola counties in Florida, declined to comment. The prosecutors for Todts case did not respond to Hearst Connecticut Medias request for comment.

Todt filed an appeal Friday with the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Florida.

Robert Todt believes there were issues with the prosecution using his sons confessions.

If you look at how he was and listen to what went on, theres a lot of things there that didnt make a whole lot of sense, Robert Todt said. It just didnt seem right.

When police took Anthony Todt into custody in January 2020, they said he was barely able to stand. He was taken to the hospital and told paramedics he took Benadryl to kill himself. He was then involuntarily committed, known as a Baker Act, according to court documents.

Anthony Todts defense was not allowed to present evidence or testimony regarding any mental health issues or diminished capacity he may have had, including his Baker Act commitment, according to court documents.

Robert Todt said the involuntary commitment was a key factor in determining the legitimacy of his sons confessions.

You cant take someone after a tragic situation and expect to basically get the truth out of them. Its distorted, and its not meant to be, but it is, he continued. Tony doesnt remember a whole lot.  It doesnt seem as if he was competent during that time.

Robert Todt has been speaking to his son almost every day since his arrest. He said his son is holding up surprisingly well. Hes hoping his son can be placed in a mental health facility.

Robert Todt knew his son was trying to file an appeal, but knows from firsthand experience that its pretty difficult to win.

Robert Todt was arrested in July 1980 and charged with hiring one of his former students to shoot and kill his wife. The next year, he was found guilty of attempted homicide, criminal conspiracy and criminal solicitation. Robert Todt filed an appeal, which was denied, according to court records.

Robert Todt said his son, who was 4 years old at the time, witnessed the man shoot his mother.

He saw the gun, he saw the guy, he saw everything, he said.

The man who fired the gun told law enforcement that Robert Todt offered him $800 to kill a woman Todt described as a babysitter, according to court records.

Robert Todt said he served five years in prison and said he and his son didnt speak for many years afterward.

I kind of gave up on the position as dad, he said, adding that his sons stepfather stepped in and was very much a leader.

I had no part in raising him, lets face it, Robert Todt added.

Robert Todt also believes his son and thinks hes innocent.

Any father would, he said.

The Todt family was found dead in January 2020 in their home in Celebration, Fla. A family member called police, asking for them to conduct a welfare check on the Todts since they had the flu and they had not heard from them for weeks. Police went to the home on Dec. 29, 2019, but no one answered the door. Police made several other attempts to reach them, according to the familys autopsy report.

Authorities did not discover the family until they served Anthony Todt with an arrest warrant for health care fraud.

In a statement to police, Anthony Todt said he went into his daughters room while she was asleep. He took time to sit with Zoe, 4, and then he rolled over on top of her until she suffocated, Assistant State Attorney Danielle Pinnell said in her opening statement.

He then suffocated and stabbed Alek, Pinnell said. He then went downstairs where Tyler was sleeping and killed him in the same manner, Pinnell told the jury.

In his statement to police, Anthony Todt claimed he and his wife had an agreement that everybody needed to die in order to pass over to the other side together because the apocalypse is coming, Pinnell said.

In the statement, Anthony Todt claimed his wife stabbed herself twice and then he suffocated her with a pillow, Pinnell said. He also suffocated Breezy, their dog, according to Pinnell.

The medical examiner ruled the deaths homicides through violence of unspecified means. The medical examiner also found toxic amounts of Benadryl in all four of them. The medical examiner found stab wounds to the abdomens on Megan Todt, Alek and Tyler, and no evidence of trauma on Zoe, the autopsy report stated.

Anthony Todt maintained his innocence after he was sentenced, saying, I was not there the night my children died.

Megan Todts aunt and godmother, Cynthia Kopko, told the judge that she previously warned her niece about Anthony Todts controlling behavior.

We loved Megan and the kids very, very much, Kopko said with her voice breaking. And all I have is pictures and memories I can hold in my heart.

We watched them grow up, she said. To have this happen is a nightmare.
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BRIDGEPORT  For the family of Emily Todd, it had been a long, agonizing three-year wait to see justice for the Bethel woman, who was shot and left to die by a Bridgeport boat ramp.

But in that moment Tuesday morning, as the jury began to deliver its guilty verdicts against Brandon Roberts, it was as though the air had been sucked out of the courtroom. And then, there was a collective gasp from the family.

We were terrified, Jennifer Lawlor, Emily Todds mother, explained later. You are at the mercy of a jury trial. We were scared, really scared for that answer to come out. It was like a relief period because of how much Emily deserved that word to be said.

Roberts stood between his lawyers and showed no emotion as the 12-member jury repeatedly declared him guilty of murder with a firearm, felony murder, first-degree robbery, and carrying a pistol without a permit. But then he turned and mouthed something at Lawlor and her family.

He then yelled, Im still alive, as judicial marshals hustled him out of the courtroom.

It was just disgusting, to a room full of people who had been demolished. I really hope this makes the jury feel better about their decision, Lawlor said later.

The 29-year-old Roberts faces up to 90 years in prison when he is sentenced by state Superior Court Judge Alex Hernandez on June 24.

Roberts, a 2012 graduate of Ansonia High School, met Todd, a 25-year-old therapist, through an online dating app. She later broke up with him but police said on Dec. 8, 2018, he lured her to the boat ramp where he shot her once in the back of the head and then stole her car.

During a trial that began last week, lawyers representing Roberts didnt challenge evidence showing he pulled the trigger, but argued he was under extreme emotional distress at the time  by the death of his mother the previous year, being homeless, and his tumultuous, three-week relationship with Todd.

During closing arguments Monday, attorneys on both sides focused on Roberts state of mind.

Roberts lawyer, recently retired Public Defender Joseph Bruckmann, said the case was difficult, horrible, and tragic, but asked the jury to convict his client of manslaughter, arguing Roberts was suffering from an emotional whirlwind.

States Attorney Joseph Corradino referred to surveillance footage of Roberts draining Todds bank account at two different ATMs after the shooting, calling the homicide deliberate, intentional, and planned.

Roberts was arrested six days after the shooting at his fathers home in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and charged with Todds murder.

While being questioned in the Shaker Heights police station, Roberts confessed to Bridgeport Police Lt. Chris LaMaine that he had killed Todd and shot another woman near Washington Park a year earlier.

LaMaine stood in the back of the courtroom as the verdict was announced.

I just wish there was more we could do to ease the familys suffering, he said.

Corradino, who prosecuted the case with Assistant States Attorney Susan Campbell, later thanked LaMaine, Capt. Brian Fitzgerald and the detectives who worked on the case.

The jury worked hard to reach the appropriate verdict in the case, Corradino later said.

It had been a long road for the prosecution as well.

In January 2020, it appeared the case was close to being resolved without a trial when Roberts offered to plead guilty in exchange for a 45-year prison term. However, the Todd-Lawlor family loudly protested the deal and a judge instead ordered the case go to trial.

Its important for everyone to understand that the 45-year offer was developed by the person who killed my daughter, Jennifer Lawlor said Tuesday. And thats where the extreme reaction came from our family. We thought long and hard, knowing that there are so many risks from a trial and that it would be very painful. But as a family we had to decide what we could live with and living with that (the deal) wasnt collectively what we could do.
Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked how the US and its allies turned to terror measures in pushing its anti-Russia agenda since the rollout of Russian troops on the Donbas and the campaign to secure the Russian border due to western encroachment.

Western democracies are seen trying to strong-arm or sweeten arm deals to coax those snubbing the West from then on.

Europe, the US Tried To Isolate Moscow

The Kremlin has remarked that Western countries are not satisfied with their moves in the last two months, reported RT.

Repeated failures by Washington and Brussels to destroy Moscow have failed; Kyiv and its alleged handlers in the West use aggressive terror tactics, stated Putin last Monday.

Putin, addressing a meeting of the Prosecutor General's Office Board, explained how, in his opinion, Europe and the United States' priorities regarding Russians and its military operation in Ukraine had evolved in over the last few weeks.

He added that high-ranking diplomats in Europe and the United States were doing unusual diplomacy by coaxing Kyiv to resort to all measures to win on the battlefield.

Following his visit to Kyiv, top EU ambassador Josep Borrell made a contentious speech in which he stated that the fight should be resolved on the battlefield.

Speaking with European Council President Charles Michel, Putin referred to irresponsible statements made by EU members about the need for military intervention in Ukraine.

West Attempts To Divide Russian Society

The West may have thought they could split and attack from within, but the plan has fallen on its face.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russian society has demonstrated maturity, solidarity, and support for its armed forces and attempts to secure Russia's ultimate security and to support the people of Donbas, cited Azerbaycan 24.

Read Also: Volodymyr Zelensky Children: Does the Ukraine President Have Kids?

Mr. Putin claimed the terror of the West has turned into the attempted murder of Russian journalists that turned into a fiasco.

Last Monday, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that it had captured a gang of "neo-Nazis" instructed by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) to murder popular Russian TV host and journalist Vladimir Solovyov. Kyiv has denied involvement in the assassination attempt, noted the Great Awakening.

Furthermore, the names of most Western handlers and all members of Western services, mainly the CIA, who are coordinating with Ukrainian security agencies.

According to the Kremlin chief, they are offering them such instructions. Adding to this is their attitude toward journalists' rights, information dissemination, and human rights in general.

One of the difficulties with the West is the regard for one's rights, with some treasuring imperial dreams and many others adhering to their colonial past in an old-fashioned way. Unfortunately, this will not work in Russia.

The Kremlin's claims have been equivalent to the West's allegations that Moscow suppresses opposition, independent media, and dissent.

An offensive in Ukraine and Moscow's subsequent steps to combat fake news and so-called foreign agents have drawn additional condemnation.

A special operation ordered by Putin on February 24; is due to the refusal of Ukraine to implement the Minsk Agreement signed in 2014.

Recognizing the Donbas republics of the DPR and LPR should have been done as part of their special status, and the failure of Kyiv to be neutral.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that the West is involved in despicable terror measures after the sanctions failed; the western democracies are not satisfied unless they take down Russia.

Related Article: Trapped Neo-Nazi Azov Regiment Allegedly Attacked Mariupol, Demand Conditions From Russian Army After Failing Siege

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BRIDGEPORT  When he was released from federal prison over a decade ago, Ernie Newton had a support system.

I was married. I had a family. A home to go to, Newton recalled Monday.

He is now in charge of a just-opened re-entry welcome center at 480 Bond Street for ex-offenders who do not have those same benefits. The ribbon cutting was Monday.

Theyre gonna bring them to me instead of just sticking them on the streets, Newton said. We have a booklet were gonna give to the prisons. So those people who are six months out (from release) will be able to fill out this booklet to begin to get them thinking, Im gonna get out. What are some of the things I want to do? Now they have a place to come to.

The center is a partnership between two prominent nonprofit agencies that already aid individuals with criminal backgrounds  Career Resources, Newtons employer for the past few years, and the Recovery Network of Programs.

Rob Hebert, Career Resources senior vice president of business development and re-entry affairs, said the goal is to provide immediate aid for returning citizens.

Were gonna help them with transportation. Certainly basic needs. Our partner, RNP, will be doing work around housing, substance abuse and people who are going to come out needing mental health treatment, Hebert said. And were going to have it right there in the center. Boom. Day One. If they need meds, thatll be taken care of.

Modeled after similar operations in Hartford and New Haven, the Bridgeport center has been an oft-stated goal of local officials like Newton, who want to help that population succeed.

A current member of the City Council, Newton in 2005 while a state senator was convicted of federal corruption charges for taking a bribe and diverting campaign contributions to himself. He received a five year prison sentence.

For the last six years Newton has been employed at Career Resources, which provides job training and work placement services, as the nonprofits returning citizen navigator. So shifting from that role to running the center is a natural transition. He will oversee a two-person staff.

The center will also, through its association with Career Resources, help with employment needs. Scott Wilderman, Career Resources president, said at Mondays ribbon-cutting event that, when it comes to the jobs market, two things are helping those with criminal records overcome that traditional stigma  changing attitudes and the low unemployment rate.

Businesses are now more likely to look at returning citizens as part of their workforce, and theyre actually making major accommodations, a lot of them, to be able to do that, he said. So I think employers right now are turning to non-traditional work forces that they would not normally tap and saying, Listen, from warehousing to transportation to customer service, returning citizens have an opportunity to work in all these areas.

And providing those opportunities is important if society wants to give people who have served their time a chance to make it outside of prison walls, he said.

You cant continue to incarcerate people at the rate that we were and not giving them the second opportunity to actually have redemption, Wilderman said.

He also noted how Bridgeport is unique because voters here not only re-elected Newton, but also current Mayor Joe Ganim, who helped lay the groundwork for the opening of the re-entry center in 2016 by establishing the Mayors Initiative for Re-Entry Affairs office in the downtown government center.

Ganim was convicted in 2003 after a dozen years as mayor of federal charges of running a pay-to-play operation out of City Hall. He waged a political comeback in 2015 and won his old job back. He was then re-elected for another four years in 2019 and just launched his 2023 campaign.

But MIRA got off to a slow start, with changes in leadership, little to no support staff, and no actual budget of its own. Things appear to have stabilized and improved under current director, Earl Bloodworth, the third individual to hold that position, who was hired in Septemer, 2019.

Bloodworth too has publicly advocated for a welcome center. And then last fall, when the Ganim administration was distributing millions of dollars worth of federal coronavirus pandemic relief to local non-profits and small businesses, Career Resources applied for and was awarded funds to help open its center.

Ganim was also at Mondays event.

My reentry was probably not as difficult as others, he said. But if you come back to your home, your society, your city, with a mental health issue or with a health issue or with the inability to even get a job, this is the one stop.

But does the city need both the welcome center and MIRA? Ganims current 2022-23 budget proposal pending before the council would spend $222,938 on MIRA.

Hebert said the welcome center and MIRA share similar goals, but the latter also provides additional services.

They have a pardons and expungement program, he said. They have money to help people secure IDs (from) the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The way Newton sees it, he will focus on people who are just getting out of prison, while MIRA can be a resource for individuals who have been released for a while but still have needs. Newton is also co-chairman of the councils budget committee, which is currently reviewing Ganims municipal budget proposal.

Its two different things, Newton said.
Hearst Connecticut Media / Wes Duplantier

UPDATE: A GofundMe page has been set up to help the 6-year-old boy whose family says he was burned after being hit by a ball that had been doused in gasoline and set on fire.

BRIDGEPORT  A child suffered burns after a group of children were playing with fire and gasoline while they were left unattended over the weekend, a city official said Tuesday.
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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in Oklahomas ongoing battle with Native American tribes over the state's authority to prosecute people accused of crimes on Native American lands, following a 2020 Supreme Court decision.

The court agreed earlier this year to consider limiting its 2020 McGirt decision, a ruling that the state says has produced chaos in its courts.

The states appeal is in the case of Victor Castro-Huerta, who was charged with malnourishment of his 5-year-old stepdaughter and has since pleaded guilty to a federal child neglect charge and is awaiting sentencing.

He was initially convicted in state court but that conviction and his sentence were overturned because of the way the state courts interpreted the law in the aftermath of the McGirt ruling. The state appealed with the strong support of Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and is the latest strain on his relationship with tribal leaders in the state.

In the 2020 case, the Supreme Court ruled that a large chunk of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation. The ruling applied to the Muscogee reservation, but led to similar lower court rulings upholding the historic reservations of several other Native American tribes in Oklahoma, including the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Quapaw and Seminole nations that cover nearly the entire eastern half of the state.

The decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, meant that Oklahoma prosecutors lack the authority to pursue criminal cases against American Indian defendants in parts of Oklahoma that include most of Tulsa, the states second-largest city with a population of about 413,000.

Stitt said during his State of the State speech in February that Oklahoma has been robbed of the authority to prosecute crimes.

The Supreme Court does not typically reconsider its decisions so soon. But the state argued that crimes are going uninvestigated and unprosecuted because federal authorities  who can bring criminal cases on tribal land  are overwhelmed.

The state will argue that it has the right to protect Indian victims in front of the Supreme Court this week his spokesperson, Carly Atchison said.

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. of the Cherokee Nation, the state's most populous tribe with about 261,000 citizens, believes Stitt is trying to take away tribal sovereignty after the Supreme Court in January rejected the state's request to overturn McGirt.

I think his goal now is to whittle away at McGirt, Hoskin said, calling it a 19th century mindset toward the treatment of Native Americans.

Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton agreed, calling the state's appeal and Stitt's support of the action an attack on tribal sovereignty.

"Its put a strain on our relationship ... I would like to think its a lack of education rather than a lack of understanding of treaties between two sovereign governments, the United States and the Choctaw Nation, Batton said.

Its becoming harder and harder the more hes not accepting history and what the United States agreed to do and who we are as a Choctaw Nation," Batton said.

The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, made up of leaders of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee and Seminole nations last fall rescinded a 2019 resolution commending and congratulating Stitt, a member of the Cherokee Nation, on his election as governor.

Stitt and tribal leaders previously clashed over Stitts desire to renegotiate tribal gambling compacts that he claimed were expiring. Federal and state courts ruled against Stitt in lawsuits over the gambling question.

Last year, Stitt decided to not renew hunting and fishing license compacts with the Cherokee and Choctaw nations as part of an ongoing dispute between the tribes and the Republican governor.

Stitt has lost support among Native American voters due to his actions, according to Hoskin.

He absolutely has, in my opinion hes the most anti-Native American governor in state history, Hoskin said. I think his defeat (for reelection) would be met with applause by many tribal leaders, certainly by me.

Donelle Harder, manager of Stitt's reelection campaign said Stitt has had disagreements with a small number of top officials of the tribes," but has good relations with tribal citizens he meets during his travels in the state.

I think every Oklahoman knows this is a critical conversation that must be had and no one group or organization should dictate the future of all 4 million Oklahomans, Harder said.
ANSONIA  A local man was charged Monday with fleeing from police after crashing a car into a pedestrian and another vehicle in July 2021, according to the Ansonia Police Department.

Roland Collier, 49, was charged with first-degree assault, reckless driving, engaging in a pursuit, evading responsibility, first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree criminal mischief, police said. He is being held on a $70,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court in Derby Tuesday.

Police said there was also a male passenger in Colliers car who also fled. They have not been identified.

The incident took place on July 16, 2021. Police attempted to stop a silver Audi, driven by Collier, on North Main Street at Liberty Street just before 2 p.m. that day. The Audi sped off and the officer did not pursue the vehicle, police said.

The Audi, which was now traveling north in the southbound lane, crashed into a Hyundai attempting to turn left onto Third Street near North Main Street. The Audi then drove onto the sidewalk, struck a fire hydrant, a pedestrian and a tree before stopping at the entrance to the parking lot of a Daily Mart, according to police.

The pedestrian suffered injuries to her head, arm and leg, and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The driver of the Hyundai and an infant passenger were also taken to a local hospital for evaluation. Two other Hyundai passengers were treated at the scene, according to police.

The driver, identified as Collier, and his passenger ran from the car, through the parking lot and toward Fourth Street. Police determined that the Audi was not stolen.

Collier was arrested shortly after the crash in Massachusetts for unrelated charges. He remained in custody there until Monday.
Business people from Taiwan play active part in development of Hainan province

09:22, April 26, 2022 By Chai Yifei ( People's Daily

A businessman from Taiwan checks mango trees in an orchard in south Chinas Hainan province. (Photo/Chinanews.com)

More and more business people from Chinas Taiwan are seen in Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) in south Chinas Hainan province as they have been attracted by favorable policies in the free trade port and come to the southern island province to seek opportunities and expand business.

Data showed that business people from Taiwan have registered 302 companies and actually invested more than $300 million in Hainan province since 2018; between 2019 and 2021, volume of trade in goods between Hainan and Taiwan grew by more than 50 percent a year; last year, trade between Hainan and Taiwan surged 81 percent year on year to 1.9 billion yuan (about $292 million).

Hainan is endowed with abundant natural resources and advantageous geographical location; and the Hainan FTP enjoys full and high-standard opening-up as well as favorable policies that are not available elsewhere, said Fu Zhiguan, vice president of the All China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots (ACFTC) and president of the Hainan province federation of Taiwan compatriots.

Featuring zero tariffs, low tax rates, and a simple taxation system, policies in the Hainan FTP significantly lower operating costs of companies and provide opportunities for Taiwan compatriots in many aspects, including expanding into global markets, achieving mutual complementarity with related industries, pursuing development of high technologies, as well as introduction of high-end management talents, according to Fu.

Our international medical center in the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone can enjoy franchises including using in bulk drugs and medical equipment that have been launched in the U.S., the European Union, Japan, or other countries and regions but yet to be released onto the market in the Chinese mainland, which is a privilege of Hainan province, Ling Kaijun, president of Enhance Biomedical Holding Company, told Peoples Daily.

Photo taken on March 16, 2022 shows a cargo vessel sailing into a container terminal of Haikou Port in Haikou city, capital of south Chinas Hainan province. (Peoples Daily Online/Wang Chenglong)

In addition to favorable policies for the development of industries, senior management personnel and professionals in the company can also enjoy preferential personal income tax rate, the businesswoman from Taiwan added.

In an effort to promote the construction of the Hainan FTP, Hainan province has also rolled out favorable policies in the agricultural sector. The province has relaxed market access in the seed industry by taking concrete measures including canceling requirements on the area of office space, inspection room, processing plant, storage facility, etc. as well as rigid requirements on inspection room and instrument of seed companies.

Taiwan residents and Taiwan-funded enterprises are allowed to set up or join various forms of farmers cooperatives, including farmers specialized cooperatives in Hainan. Besides, Taiwan-funded agricultural companies and local ones in Hainan enjoy the same farm machinery subsidies and other preferential policies for farmers.

These measures and policies all help business people from Taiwan participate in agricultural projects and try growing and promoting new varieties of agricultural products in Hainan.

Taiwan compatriots who have come to invest or start their own businesses in Hainan have not only brought capital but also advanced technologies and managerial experience to the province. In particular, their investments in the agricultural sector have contributed significantly to the fight against poverty and rural vitalization in Hainan, said an official with the Taiwan affairs office of Hainan province.

Since the beginning of the construction of the Hainan FTP, business people from Taiwan have invested in more and more fields in Hainan; and modern services industry and high-tech industry are becoming key fields for investment from Taiwan, according to the official.

In an effort to better help business people from Taiwan integrate into the development of Hainan and fully enjoy the same treatment as people from the Chinese mainland, Hainan province has introduced measures for promoting economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation across the Taiwan Strait, also known as Hainans 30 measures to benefit Taiwan compatriots, and unveiled an action plan for advancing cooperation between Hainan and Taiwan for the construction of the Hainan FTP.

These measures and plans have improved Hainans working mechanisms for the introduction of talents and related services, offering broader space for the development of Taiwan people and enterprises.

Hainans 30 measures to benefit Taiwan compatriots specify that Taiwan-funded companies and people from Taiwan enjoy the same institutional convenience and policies rolled out by the central government and Hainan province on domestic and foreign trade, investment and financing, entry and exit, fiscal and financial support, as well as introduction of talents.

In addition, Taiwan-funded companies operating in Hainan can apply for accreditation of high-tech enterprises, enjoy as Chinese mainland companies provisions on promoting the development of high-tech industry introduced by Hainan province once officially recognized as high-tech enterprises, and be granted special fund and support from relevant policies, according to the 30 measures.

Photo taken on April 9, 2022 shows a birds eye view of the construction site of the public bonded warehouse for duty-free everyday commodities in Haikou Comprehensive Bonded Zone. The steel structure construction of the project in Haikou city, capital of south Chinas Hainan province, has been completed. (Peoples Daily Online/Shi Zhonghua)

Moreover, the service stations for compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in the six key industrial parks of the Hainan FTP have also played an important part in attracting Taiwan enterprises, facilitating their growth, and better serving the needs of Taiwan people in Hainan.

Favorable policies have brought a sense of gain to Taiwan compatriots and provided strong support for their efforts to fulfill their dreams on the mainland, said Fu.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Newly-released text messages between former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and other officials show that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wanted former United States President Donald Trump to declare martial law following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The conversations, which took place in mid-January 2021, took place just days before the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Greene texted Meadows and revealed that some GOP members privately suggested the order. Last week, the Georgia representative testified that she does not recall whether she encouraged the president to declare martial law or not.

Newly-Leaked Texts

In a text to Meadows on Jan. 17, 2021, Greene said that the only way to save our Republic was for "Trump to call for Marshall law." She said that she was not familiar with those types of things and told the then-chief of staff that she only wanted to let him know. Greene continued to claim that Democrats stole the election and argued they will destroy the country next.

The text was only one of many that Greene sent to Meadows in the post-election period around Jan. 6, 2021. The Georgia lawmaker also told the former chief of staff that "we think" the people who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6 "are Antifa" dressed like Trump supporters, as per CBS News.

The vast trove of Meadows' texts showed that many of Trump's inner circle, supporters, and Republican lawmakers worked behind the scenes to try and overturn the elections. They also showed the reactions to the violent siege of the Capitol prior to Biden's inauguration.

Read Also: First Lady Jill Biden Against Picking Kamala Harris as Joe's Running Mate After Debate Attack, Book Reveals

Meadows selectively provided the logs to the House Select Committee responsible for investigating the events leading up to, amid, and immediately after the Capitol riot. They showed that the former chief of staff was at the core of sprawling conspiracy theories that baselessly claimed voter fraud in the election.

According to CNN, the texts include messages sent by Trump's family, including Ivanka Trump, son-law Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr. The released logs also featured texts from White House and campaign officials, Cabinet members, Republican Party Leaders, Jan. 6 rally organizers, Rudy Giuliani, and several other high-profile individuals.

Conspiracy Theories

Meadows did not appear to respond to Greene's message regarding martial law and the Georgia lawmaker's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The remark was made in response to the large mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in support of Trump, who, for weeks, claimed that the election was stolen from him.

Greene, who has a history of embracing right-wing conspiracy theories, also repeatedly sowed doubts about the integrity of the 2020 election following Biden's win. However, election experts, politicians from both parties, and Trump's own attorney general denied the allegations. They said that the process was not affected by widespread voter fraud.

In a December 2020 text, Greene reached out to Meadows for advice about how to prepare for objections to certifying the election on Jan. 6. "We have to get organized for the 6th," the Georgia representative said, CNBC reported.



Related Article: John Durham Placed the Clinton Campaign, the DNC Under Subpoena for Alleged Spying on Then-Presidential Candidate Trump

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Opinion: Floridas Dont Say Gay law inspired a plethora of states to propose similar legislation. Conservative lawmakers across the country are attempting to erase queer topics from the classroom.

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On March 28, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the homophobic Parental Rights in Education Act. The law restricts discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade classrooms. The act will take effect July 1.

I wrote a piece about this already, before DeSantis signed the bill. Now this is just another example in an alarming trend of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in America. Over a dozen states have since proposed bills mirroring the language of Floridas law. Some states, such as Iowa, propose allowing parents to opt their children in or out of LGBT-inclusive curricula.

All of this turmoil comes from legislators misguided belief that discussing queer topics in school makes children gay. For the narrow-minded individuals who think such, I can assure you thats not the case. For instance, queer relationships and genders outside the binary were not covered in my school curriculum anytime between kindergarten and third grade.

I still came out as queer at 12 years old. Im not the only one.

I spoke with second-year UO student Peyton, who chose to only go by their first name because they are not out to their conservative family members back home. Peyton attended public schools in Texas, where sexual orientation and gender diversity rarely came up in the classroom.

People didnt like it, Peyton said. It was very frowned upon as opposed to having a straight-presenting relationship in a story.

Technically speaking, discussion of cisgender, heterosexual relationships in schools at a young grade should also be restricted based on the language used legislators. However, its clear the terms sexual orientation and gender identity, when used in the context of these bills, refer to LGBTQ+ identities. Otherwise, the Florida law would imply that teachers can not use terms like boy or girl in classroom discussions. Funnily enough, opponents of the law propose doing just that.

Although they saw little representation in their education, Peyton still realized they were queer in seventh grade and that they were non-binary in their junior year of high school.

To a certain degree, I think my early education kept me from being out earlier, Peyton said. If I didnt have that fear, I think I definitely would have discovered who I was sooner.

Avoiding discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms doesnt prevent students from being queer; it just instils a sense of wrongness that is difficult to avoid. I came out when I was relatively young, yet I still fight aspects of internalized homophobia to this day. I dont believe this would be the case if Id witnessed some representation in my learning environment.

In Texas, Peyton didnt receive representation in their education either. Since moving to Oregon, things appear better, but appearances can be deceiving. While Peyton sees more queer acceptance in Oregon, discussion of underrepresentation is often swept under the rug.

Such a big emphasis was placed on being straight and being cisgender in the South, Peyton said. I honestly think that my situation here in the Pacific Northwest isnt that much better than it was back home.

We may consider Oregon to be a LGBT-inclusive state, but thats not necessarily true. According to the 2019 National School Climate Survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, Oregon isnt considered safe for most queer secondary school students. Although our state has nondiscrimination and anti-bullying policies for LGBTQ+ students, 71% of those surveyed reported hearing homophobic slurs within school buildings on a regular basis.

Our numbers arent great, but our current governor doesnt seem to be following in the footsteps of other lawmakers. In response to the Florida law, Gov. Kate Brown came out to show her support for Oregon LGBTQ+ students on Twitter.

Oregon will always be a safe, inclusive, and welcoming place  no matter ones sexual orientation or identity, Brown said.

However, the Oregon gubernatorial election is currently underway, and Gov. Brown cannot run again due to term limits. The densely populated areas in Oregon, such as Portland and Eugene, are generally blue, but the southeastern quarters of the state typically swing red when voting. We cant say who will be leading the state next, nor can we assume they will share the same views on LGBT-inclusive education as Gov. Brown.

For all we know, Oregon may be about to experience a sufficient red wave, and I worry the state may fall into the countrys trend of queer erasure. In terms of legislation, 2021 was categorized as the worst year for LGBTQ+ people with 17 anti-LGBTQ+ bills being signed into law by May. This year is expected to be even worse.

I understand we are all living in a very stressful era, but we can not let American legislators erase the queer community any more. We all deserve to be represented in the classroom, so stop assuming Oregon is a safe haven state and go make it one.
The Daily Mail has never concealed its deep disdain for Emmanuel Macron.

The French president is not only insufferably arrogant and petulant, but he possesses an almost pathological compulsion to stick the boot into Britain.

Yet yesterday we joined the EU in breathing a huge sigh of relief after his election victory. Whatever our misgivings about 'Le Pipsqueak', the alternative would have been worse. Much worse.

Leave aside the ugly far-Right extremism of Marine Le Pen's National Rally party. The fact she wanted closer ties with Vladimir Putin at this of all times made her patently unfit for the Elysee Palace.

The French president is not only insufferably arrogant and petulant, but he possesses an almost pathological compulsion to stick the boot into Britain

But while Macron won resoundingly, this was in no way a glorious triumph.

With an ocean of abstentions, turnout was lower than in any presidential election for half a century. And that Le Pen's neo-fascist party could, in a supposedly enlightened Western democracy, bag four in ten votes is truly horrifying.

Likened by some as a political choice 'between plague and cholera', the electorate held their noses and plumped for Macron.

What does this mean for Britain?

Anyone expecting a more cordial relationship with France now the president is done electioneering is in for a shock. After all, this is a man whose anti-Brexit hatred led him spitefully to trash the AstraZeneca jab, costing countless lives.

Despite our countries' shared commercial, diplomatic and security interests, he has refused to pick up the phone to No10.

Instead of delivering 'Le Snub', a mature leader would seek a constructive relationship on illegal Channel migrants, fishing rights, Northern Ireland and Ukraine.

That this popinjay president tiresomely refuses shows the relationship will for some time be needlessly rocky.

A shameful lottery

Treatment equally available to all is a core principle of the NHS.

A patient living in Cumbria should expect the same care standards as one in Cornwall.

Yet when it comes to accessing replacement HRT drugs due to acute shortages, women are enduring a cruel postcode lottery.

Delays in signing off new medications at local level means tens of thousands of women are unable to ease crippling menopause symptoms.

Some are so desperate they've resorted to the black market to acquire supplies.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid deserves praise for vowing to bang NHS heads together to solve the crisis. But this should have happened sooner.

Local health chiefs will invariably feel pressure to ration care in an attempt to save money. But when a medical issue affects half the population, treatments must be rubber-stamped nationally.

Banks' bad habits

Will a day go by when we don't get more disappointing news about the banks slashing customer services?

Not content with shutting thousands of branches, they've removed almost a quarter of free 'hole-in-the-wall' machines since 2018, says consumer group Which?

As high street lenders seek to swell their vast profits by cutting costs, so countless people are deprived of easy access to their own money.

To the gilded elite of the Square Mile, flashing plastic cards and smartphones in swanky restaurants, banknotes may have gone the way of the dodo. But for millions, especially the elderly and vulnerable, that is a daunting spectre. Many small businesses also rely on cash for their survival.

The banks have fallen back into their old bad habits. If they won't voluntarily ensure consumers can get hold of their money, ministers must strong-arm them.
Want to know the best endorsement of Elon Musk's audacious and game changing $44 billion takeover of Twitter?

How its woke army of censors, er, I mean staff members working from home across outer San Francisco's poshest suburbs reacted.

There were Twitter emoji tears, memes of people having an emotional breakdown and even vows of silence from those 'too in shock to speak', according to the Washington Post.

Ironic given it's this same bunch of people who have spent the past decade silencing any controversial voice who goes against the orthodoxy of the champagne-swilling liberal metropolitan elite millionaires club.

And then there's the army of so-called 'Twitter celebs', a bizarre group of privileged people who believe you should only be accepted online if you sign up to their politically correct world view.

I'll certainly shed no tears over the departure of the deeply unpleasant, Meghan-defending woketopian Jameela Jamil, who vowed that Musk's future ownership meant she had sent her final tweet.

'Ah he got twitter,' she mourned. 'He's buying it for free speech. It's going to become an even more lawless hateful xenophobic, bigoted, misogynistic space.

Jameela Jamil (pictured) vowed to leave Twitter after Elon Musk's takeover of the social media giant

DAN WOOTTON: I'll certainly shed no tears over the departure of the deeply unpleasant, Meghan-defending woketopian Jameela Jamil, who vowed that Musk's future ownership meant she had sent her final tweet

'One good thing about Elon buying twitter is that I will *FINALLY* leave and stop being a complete menace to society on here. So it's win win for you all really.'

But Jamil's temporary flounce off (she'll be back, I guarantee it, her ego won't let her stay silenced), was just the beginning of the hysteria.

Occupy Democrats writer David Weissman raged: 'I still think Elon Musk owning Twitter is a bad idea. He will amplify racists, bigots, and misinformation.

'He is a bad-faith actor with his distorted views of free speech and censorship.'

But that wasn't the end of it.

When all else fails, the hard left who want to control what you consume turn to one thing: Racism.

Activist Shaun King tweeted, before deleting his account like the coward he is: 'It's about white power.

'The man was raised in Apartheid by a white nationalist. He's upset that Twitter won't allow white nationalists to target/harass people. That's his definition of free speech.'

Of course, the irony is lost on Mr King that he's the only racist in the room with such an outrageous comment.

Deranged Sirius XM host Dean Obeidallah went even further, writing: 'Elon musk buying Twitter is a dream come true for white nationalists.

'After all musk is from the former apartheid country of South Africa which the white supremacists idolize.

'Wonder if Elon musk will copy the apartheid rules of his home country South Africa and give us check marks based on our skin color? The whiter the check mark the more rights you have on Twitter. #AskingForAFriend'

DAN WOOTTON: How can any Twitter staff member genuinely accept that it's right for the democratically elected 45th President of the United States Donald Trump to be permanently banned from the platform, while the Taliban and the Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministry continue to spread their very obvious disinformation? (Pictured: Elon Musk)

Such a response would be laughable, if it wasn't so terrifying.

In the tyrannical world of the woke left, where cancel culture runs rampant, the go to solution to any perceived threat is to silence the opposition.

Musk has described the phenomenon as the 'woke mind virus' ripping through Big Tech companies like Netflix, Meta and especially Twitter.

In the meantime, the Tesla and SpaceX boss has been restrained and sensible with a commonsense view that Twitter, which has become the default public square, should be open to everyone.

'I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,' he tweeted just before the deal was done on Monday.

Musk is 100 per cent right.

How can any Twitter staff member genuinely accept that it's right for the democratically elected 45th President of the United States Donald Trump to be permanently banned from the platform, while the Taliban and the Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministry continue to spread their very obvious disinformation?

By the way, my solution is not to ban any of those despotic regimes; I want to know what they think so we can try and combat what they're doing.

But it's very obvious that, for Twitter to ever be taken seriously again, the moment Musk gains control of the toxic cesspit of a platform this autumn he needs to immediately reinstate Trump.

That's just the start though.

The number of people silenced for questioning the orthodoxy on the trans debate, Covid vaccines and lockdowns is, quite frankly, terrifying.

There are too many revolting permanent bans to mention but there are two I'm particularly worked up about.

Dr Robert Malone, the eminent American physician and biochemist whose stellar work helped develop MRNA vaccine technology, who was booted off for raising questions about the rollout.

DAN WOOTTON: It's very obvious that, for Twitter to ever be taken seriously again, the moment Musk gains control of the toxic cesspit of a platform this autumn he needs to immediately reinstate Trump.

Now I don't agree with every word Mr Malone has to say, even though he is an incredibly impressive man, but I happily gave him a platform on my GB News show, because scientific groupthink must be challenged at all times by experts.

Then there's Father Ted creator Graham Linehan who was permanently suspended for standing up for the rights of biological women in the increasingly toxic trans debate that has also seen JK Rowling cancelled by Hollywood (but holding onto her powerful Twitter account).

Lefties hate Musk because, as the world's richest person, he doesn't need them for anything and he loves pricking their bubbles of pomposity on everything from the dangers of remote working to his belief in exploiting the loose rules of capitalism to his own ends.

But Musk has rightly pledged to improve Twitter with a host of new initiatives, including opening up its highly secretive algorithms that dictate which tweets and accounts get seen 'to increase trust'.

Now I'm well aware that most happy, sane and ordinary folk don't use Twitter and I absolutely salute anyone who has stayed away from the platform, which is more than three quarters of Americans, by the way.

Twitter has become a liberal authoritarian bullying hellscape where debate goes to die.

It's a toxic stream of hate 24/7 that sees Be Kind warriors who proudly display the Ukraine flag on their profile wish death upon anyone who disagrees with them on the culture war issue of the day.

But the reason I'm talking about it is because those who set the political and news agenda around the world every day are obsessed with tweets  and they use what's trending to drive the agenda.

Be in no doubt that Twitter has an outsized influence on international politics.

As Musk argued: 'Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.'

But, especially in the US, Twitter has become wholly unbalanced, with 67 per cent of users leaning toward the Democratic party, compared to 30 per cent who tend to support Republicans.

That's no wonder given the rampant bias on display. Musk's challenge now is redressing that imbalance.

Doing so will make him the most unpopular person in polite society internationally.

He is going to be roundly attacked by virtually every newspaper and TV channel in the world, from the New York Times to CNN and the BBC.

They've already revelled in this slight from his rival, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who sneered without a hint of irony, in reference to Musk's business interests in Asia: 'Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?'

But I have faith in him to hold firm against the barrage of hatred set to be unleashed  because he knows that this mission is even more important than sending a man to Mars.

Elon Musk is the final hope to rescue free speech before the woke mind virus takes over big tech once and for all.
This glitzy dance-themed brainteaser promises to put your observation skills to the test.

The seek-and-find puzzle, from international online dance company Bloch, challenges players to find the hidden trumpet hidden in the showbiz scene.

There are dancers and musicians in the scene created to celebrate International Dance Day... but can you find the trumpet in less than a minute?

Scroll down for the reveal and more puzzles!

The seek-and-find puzzle, from international online dance company Bloch, challenges players to find the hidden trumpet hidden in the showbiz scene

To make things a bit trickier, the scene is crammed full of dancers and musicians. But its the trumpet you need to watch out for.

Try not to get distracted by the bright lights of the glitzy scene.

Found it yet? Look closely at the bottom right hand side of the scene.

Still struggling? Scroll down for the answer

Here it is! The trumpet is nestled in the bottom right hand corner of the picture next to a musical note

It comes after from UK-based online experience day provider buyagift.co.uk created a seek-and-find puzzle to challenge players to spot the birthday present box hidden in the vibrant scene.

There are icons of experiences including spa days, glamping and helicopter rides in the scene... but can you find the present box in less than 51 seconds?

The seek-and-find puzzle, from UK-based online experience day provider buyagift.co.uk. challenges players to spot the birthday present box hidden in the vibrant scene

To make things trickier, there are numerous other things to watch out for, such as indoor skydiving and afternoon tea. But its the birthday present you need to look for.

If you're still stuck, look closely, the icons are bold and bright and might distract the eye.

Need a hint? Try looking on the left-hand side of the image for the present box.

Still struggling? Then scroll down for the answer.

There it is! In between the helicopter and supercar experience

It comes after UK-based online printing company instantprint.co.uk challenged players to find the single coffee cup hidden in the office supplies.

There are clocks, staplers and notebooks... but can you find the only coffee cup?

You'll need to look carefully as there are a number of reusable and takeaway coffee cups added to the mix. But it's the traditional mug that you need to keep an eye out for.

The seek-and-find puzzle, from UK-based online printing company instantprint.co.uk, challenges players to find the single coffee cup hidden in the office supplies

The bright colours and patterns will distract the eye - so you'll have to work extra hard to stay on track.

Need a hint? Try looking in the top half of the image for a white cup.

Still struggling? Then scroll down for the reveal.

It's there! Right by the calendar and pile of mail to answer

It comes after Hungarian cartoonist Gergely Dudas, better known as Dudolf, shared one of his classic brainteasers to Facebook, challenging players to find the snake among the tortoises.

The adorable animals are all standing in a forest glade full of trees and ferns.

Hungarian cartoonist Gergely Dudas, better known as Dudolf , shared one of his classic brainteasers to Facebook, challenging players to find the snake among the tortoises

But somewhere in the idyllic scene there is also a single smiling snake.

To make things even trickier, Dudolf has drawn the tortoises so their long necks look snakelike, making it difficult to tell the animals apart.

Still struggling to see it? Look on the left side of the image and pay close attention.

If you give up or need the answer then keep scrolling for the reveal.

The snake is slithering alongside the tortoises on the left side of the image

It comes after Dudolf created a loved-up seek-and-find puzzle in honour of Valentine's Day.

The illustration shows loved-up animals embracing in a field of pink flowers.

But somewhere in this vibrant image there is a single pink love heart. Do you have what it takes to find it?

All loved up! Can you find the single pink heart in this Valentine's Day themed puzzle?

In his typical fashion, Dudolf has made things trickier by adding plenty of little details that are designed to distract the eye.

The canoodling owls, for example, have a single pink flower between them. Elsewhere a grey cat falls in love with his own reflection.

If you're struggling to find the heart then try looking on the left-hand side of the image, near the owls and kissing bears.

Still not having any luck? Then scroll down to check your answer.

There it is! The tiny pink heart is tucked between some flowers, just above the canoodling owls

It comes after players were challenged to find the only love-heart shaped balloon in a busy Valentine's Day scene.

The baffling seek-and-find puzzle was created by British retailers 247 Blinds to celebrate the romantic holiday ahead of February 14.

So, do you think you'll be able to find the hidden balloon ? Give it a try and put your observational skills to the test.

Scroll down for the answer

A tricky brainteaser is challenging players to find the only love-heart shaped balloon in a busy Valentine's Day scene (pictured)

There are many hearts, Cupid's arrows and roses throughout the print, but hidden within the drawings is a love-heart-shaped balloon.

If you're struggling to find the balloon, turn your attention to the middle section of the right hand side of the Valentine's Day scene.

If you still haven't spotted the pesky object, scroll down to find the answer.

There are many hearts, Cupid's arrows and roses throughout the print, but hidden within the drawings is a love-heart-shaped balloon (circled above)

If you want some more, try your hand at these tricky brainteasers below.

Designers have hidden a single open umbrella in this crowded street scene which is sure to leave you baffled.

The extremely tough seek-and-find puzzle was created by hotel chain Premier Inn following a recent poll revealed that brollies are one of the nation's most lost items.

There are many people featured in the crowded design, but only one of them is keeping dry under an umbrella.

So, do you think you'll be able to find it or will you be left scratching your head? Give it a try and put your observational skills to the test.

Hidden in the crowded street scene is a person holding an umbrella - but it's incredibly difficult to spot

The hotel chain commissioned the brain teaser after research found umbrellas are one of the nation's most lost items: 10 per cent of Brits will lose or break 10 or more umbrellas in their lifetime.

Almost a fifth of those polled (18 per cent) said they had broken or lost an umbrella after just one outing.

The survey of 2,000 UK adults also showed 28 per cent have turned up to an important work meeting soaking wet as they didn't have a brolly. And despite almost a fifth of Brits owning three umbrellas, one in 10 have spent up to 50 on replacements.

So, have you been able to spot the hidden brolly? If you're still struggling scroll down for the answer.

So, have you been able to spot the hidden brolly? If you're still struggling take a look at the top left-hand corner of the scene

Premier Inn commissioned the brain teaser to mark its new rental umbrellas trial in 30 of its hotels launched in partnership with DripDrop with a minimum of 15 percent of each borrowing fee going to the hotel chain's charity partner Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (GOSH Charity).

Elsewhere, an infuriating brainteaser challenges players to find a snowflake in an unlikely tropical scene.

The seek-and-find puzzle, created by The French Bedroom Company in collaboration with wallpaper designer Elizabeth Ockford, features beautiful tropical birds and flittering butterflies, as well as palm fronds and ornate bird cages.

But hidden among the tropical picture is a single snowflake, which is almost impossible to spot.

The seek-and-find puzzle features beautiful tropical birds and flittering butterflies. Hidden among the tropical picture is a single snowflake, which is almost impossible to spot

The creators claim it's so difficult that it takes players an average of 7 minutes and 23 seconds to find.

The picture shows colourful budgies, butterflies, parrots and golden cages - but where is the snowflake?

Nestled within elegant illustrations of botanical birds, leaves and butterflies, the snowflake has proved tricky for Brits to find.

Focus your eye on the top corners of the painting - can you see it yet? The answer is below.

Answer: The delicate snowflake can be seen in the top left hand coner of the picture beneath one of the palm leaves

Can your brain handle more strain? Next up, this autumnal seek-and-find quiz challenges you to find the hidden hedgehog, but will you be up to the challenge?

British blinds retailer 247 Blinds have created this challenging brainteaser with a seasonal theme to test your attention to detail.

If you're looking for a clue, try focusing your attention on the bottom of the image and you might have more luck. Still struggling? Simply scroll down for the answer.

Scroll down for reveal

Can you find the tiny hedgehog hiding in this leafy scene for a brainteaser created by British blinds retailer 247 Blinds?

To make it harder, the hedgehog is shaped to look like the items that surround him, so that you'll need to have a proper look at the picture to locate him.

Struggling to find the little critter? Focus your attention on the bottom part of the picture.

Giving up or want to check you got it right? You can scroll down to see the answer.

The small hedgehog was hiding at the very bottom of the picture. It was hard to locate, because it was shaped like a pine cone

Want to try your hand at other fiendishly difficult seek-and-finds? Look below for Femail's selection of some of the trickiest.

To make things even trickier, Dudolf has made only the slightest changes between the mushrooms' markings so you'll really have to be eagle-eyed to spot the difference.

The slight changes in colours patterns and shapes distracts the eye from the task.

Struggling to find the one mushroom without a match? Try looking towards the lower half of the image.

Still having difficulty? Then scroll down for the reveal.

The odd mushroom out has a blue cap with red spots and is situated in the lower half of the image

It comes after another puzzle challenged players to pick out the two safety pins hidden among vibrant sewing equipment.

The brainteaser has been created by Dutch lingerie brand Hunkemoller, with puzzlers asked to spot the two tiny items in the sea of tools.

But thanks to the brightly coloured products cluttering the graphic, it is almost impossible to notice the missing safety pins.

According to the creators the puzzle takes an average of one minute and 23 seconds to solve, but with the mesmerizing colours, how quick can you spot the hidden items?

This new seek-and-find puzzle challenges you to pick out the two safety pins hidden among vibrant sewing equipment (pictured)

There's plenty of little details designed to distract the eye, so it's no wonder that some puzzlers struggle to stay on task and find the pins.

If you're looking for a clue, try focusing your attention towards the centre of the image and you might have more luck.

Still struggling? Don't worry, the answer is coming next so just scroll down to put yourself out of your misery.
As their horrible episode cooled in the summer of 2018, Hunter Biden asked that his brother's widow, Hallie Biden, get tested for HIV, according to correspondence.

In an email to Beau Biden's widow on July 27, 2018, Hunter Biden, 52, urged Hallie to get tested for HIV, approximately a month before he fathered an out-of-wedlock kid with former stripper Lunden Roberts.

Hunter Biden's 2018 Email With Hallie

Hunter Biden also accused Hallie of harming his mental health and attempting to sever ties with his niece Natalie three years after his brother, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died of brain illness at the age of 46. In his April 2021 book, 'Beautiful Things,' President Joe Biden's son disclosed that he and Kathleen Biden separated after his first wife discovered erotic text exchanges between himself and his late brother's widow on an iPad.

Hunter Biden's honest 271-page book detailed his rampages after the divorce, during which he began his affair with Hallie. However, the relationship had worsened by the following summer with Hunter proposing to his ex-girlfriend that she seek treatment, according to the New York Post.

Hallie called Hunter Biden a passive-aggressive a-hole in an earlier email exchange that same month. Hunter Biden advised her to focus on your sobriety. Hunter Biden's remark came in response to an email from the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children's Vice-Chair Fred Sears to Hallie, Hunter, and Valerie Biden Owens, President Biden's younger sister, about salary arrangements for Josh Alcorn. At the time, Alcorn was the Chief Operating Officer of the Beau Biden Foundation.

In his memoir, Hunter Biden claimed that he had no recall of Roberts. Hunter Biden was found to be the biological and legal father of Roberts' kid by an Arkansas judge in January 2020, and he was forced to pay back child support. Roberts became the latest to testify in response to subpoenas filed in the Department of Justice's inquiry into Biden's finances in February of this year.

Hunter Biden's ex-girlfriend, lingerie magnate Zoe Kestan, recently testified before a Delaware grand jury. His excessive spending habits at premium hotels in New York and California were allegedly revealed to the grand jury by Kestan.

Hunter, who is now remarried to South African filmmaker Melissa Cohen, originally announced that his tax affairs were being investigated by the IRS in December 2020. The inquiry is being led by US Attorney David Weiss for the District of Delaware, according to Fox News.

Read Also: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson Celebrates as Emmanuel Macron Wins France Re-Election

Intelligence Declines To Rule Out Russia's Link to Hunter Biden

Meanwhile, intelligence officials had met to advise select members of Congress about potential risks to US elections when No. 3 House Republican Elise Stefanik of New York attempted to shift the conversation to a new topic: Hunter Biden's laptop.

During the April 1 briefing, Stefanik, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, asked the officials if they had any evidence of Russian involvement in the fall 2020 release of Biden's laptop to the news media, a possibility floated by high-ranking former government officials in the weeks leading up to the presidential election.

The inquiry would be best answered by law enforcement, according to intelligence officials. Stefanik's inquiry reflected a prevalent belief among Republicans that questions regarding President Joe Biden's son's business connections remain unaddressed, Daily Mail reported.

Related Article: Hunter Biden Probe: GOP Pushes More To Find The Truth as President Joe Biden Allegedly Met with Son's Business Partner at the White House

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A man with nine 'wives' has claimed he had to create a 'sex rota' to schedule in all of his lovers - while opening up about his 'tough' struggle to cope with the mammoth challenge of balancing his many partners.

Arthur O Urso, from Brazil, made headlines last year after he collectively married his nine girlfriends in a bid to 'celebrate free love' and 'protest against monogamy'.

Arthur and his first wife, Luana Kazaki, started off as swingers, and after meeting eight other women, they decided to formalise their union at a Catholic church in Sao Paulo, although it was not legally binding because polygamy is illegal in the country.

Arthur O Urso during his wedding ceremony to his nine wives, who all claim to enjoy the sex life with their husband

The Instagram model and his original wife Luana Kazaki, who were both swingers before they met eight women to join their marriage officially

There have been ups and downs in the relationship, with one wife divorcing the group.

And Arturo soon found himself struggling to balance the needs of all his partners, and claims he felt forced to introduce a sex schedule to ensure everyone was getting their fair share of lovemaking.

But it proved tricky for the Instagram model who found the set-up to be too structured and stressful.

Arthur, who dreams of having ten wives and a child with each of them, said: 'Our sex life is really fun and pleasurable, and initially I tried to have sex by appointment.

'But following a timetable caused a lot of problems and sometimes I felt like I had to have sex because of the schedule, and not for pleasure.

While Arthur insists his wives don't mind how often the others make love to him, he says jealousy crops up when it comes to gifts and said: 'When I've given one of them an expensive gift and another a smaller or cheaper one, there has been jealousy among them'

Arthur hanging out with his wives: The husband insists his sex life is now fun and pleasurable and unique and enjoys the fact they're all different in bed

'On other occasions I had sex with one wife while thinking about another.'

The issues in the bedroom soon caused Arthur to give up the sex rota altogether and focus instead on letting things 'flow naturally'.

The father-of-one admits his sex life is now better than ever, saying: 'It doesn't take long to get attention or affection when you have so many wives,' he added.

'It didn't seem right so we got rid of it and now the sex flows naturally, it's been great.

'It is very fun, pleasurable and unique to experience everything collectively, and they are all very different in bed.

'One of them, I won't name her to keep her privacy, likes to be dominant and I like a woman who tells me what she wants.'

The father-of-one, pictured on his 'wedding' day, said his dream is to have ten wives and a child with each of them because otherwise 'it would be unfair'

Arthur O Urso during his wedding ceremony to his nine wives in July 2021

While Arthur insists his wives don't mind how often the others make love to him, he says jealousy crops up when it comes to gifts.

He said: 'When I've given one of them an expensive gift and another a smaller or cheaper one, there has been jealousy among them. I'm still learning about our relationship.

'They all demand attention, affection and sex to be part of our everyday life, and I can't do more for one than the other.

Arthur has racked up 50,000 followers on Instagram from sharing sex tips and his unconventional relationship.

Arthur already has a daughter but said 'The love I feel for each of them is the same. I think it would be unfair to only have children with one or two of them'

One wife has had enough of the living arrangement and will be leaving the marriage

One wife, however, had enough. Last month, Arthur, who also runs an OnlyFans account with his wives, revealed one wife will be leaving the marriage.

He said: 'She wanted me all to herself. It didn't make sense  we have to share. I was very sad about the separation and even more surprised by her excuse. She said that she was missing a monogamous relationship.

'My other wives thought her attitude was wrong and that she accepted the marriage for adventure and not for real feelings.

'I know I've lost a wife, but I'm not going to replace her yet.'

Despite his plans to hold off on marrying anyone new for the time being, Arthur hopes to marry two more women to bring his number of wives up to an even 10.

He added: 'I have a dream. My wish has always been to have 10 wives. I only have one daughter, but I want to have [a child] with each one of my wives.

'The love I feel for each of them is the same. I think it would be unfair to only have children with one or two of them.
Most university students find it's enough of a challenge to drag themselves to lectures and hand in essays on time.

But not high-achieving Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, 20, who juggles her degree in history and politics in Oxford with military training back home.

The future queen spent the last weekend of her Easter holiday at a training course in Leopoldsburg, near the Dutch border.

HRH reporting for duty! Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, 20, juggles her degree in history and politics in Oxford with military training back home. The future queen spent the last weekend of her Easter holiday at a training course in Leopoldsburg, near the Dutch border, pictured

Leadership: The Belgian royal family released photographs of Elisabeth in face paint and camouflage combat gear as she joined fellow trainee soldiers to learn essential skills

Talented: Princess Elisabeth enrolled at Lincoln College, Oxford, last October. The Belgian royal family released a series of photos of the royal on campus, including the one above

The Belgian royal family released photographs of Elisabeth in face paint and camouflage combat gear as she joined fellow trainee officers to learn essential skills.

This summer Elisabeth will return to Belgium for a camp run by the the Royal Military Academy (RMA), the university of the Belgian Defense, responsible for the academic, military and physical training of its future officers.

Elisabeth enrolled in a course with the RMA in September 2020 and remains involved in training despite being a full-time first-year student at Oxford.

The balance of academic and military experience is regarded an essential foundation for her future life as queen.

Out in the field: Polished Princess Elisabeth is unrecognisable as she takes part in exercises

Essential skills: The Belgian royal has completed a one-year course at the Royal Military Academy and remains involved with the institution. Above, holding a gun over the weekend

Getting tough: The princess, pictured in front, was just one of the group as she joined other trainee officers at Leopoldsburg, near the Dutch border, over the weekend

Elisabeth is the eldest daughter of King Philippe of Belgium, 62, and his wife, Queen Mathilde, 49. The couple also share sons Prince Gabriel, 18, and Prince Emmanuel, 16, and daughter Princess Eleonore, 14.

The princess completed her secondary education at UWC Atlantic College in South Wales - based at a 12th-century castle and dubbed the 'Hippie Hogwarts' - where she boarded for 18 months.

Spain's Crown Princess Leonor, 16, and Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, 16, are both current students.

Academic star: In October 2021 the Belgian royal household announced Elisabeth had started her undergraduate degree at Lincoln College, Oxford, and shared photos of her on campus

On her own merit: According to a local newspaper, Elisabeth, pictured, completed a written entrance exam in history 'anonymously' so that her social status would not affect her marks

When lockdown hit, Elisabeth returned to live with her parents in Brussels and completed her schooling remotely.

In September 2021 she graduated from her one-year course in social and military sciences at the RMA, where her father also studied.

The following month the Belgian royal household announced the princess had started her undergraduate degree at Lincoln College, Oxford.

Future queen: Elisabeth is the eldest daughter of King Philippe of Belgium, 62, and his wife, Queen Mathilde, 49. The couple also share sons Prince Gabriel, 18, and Prince Emmanuel, 16, and daughter Princess Eleonore, 14. Pictured, the family together at Christmas

According to Belgian newspaper Le Soir, the princess completed a written entrance exam in history 'anonymously' so that her social status would not affect her marks.

Elisabeth is believed to have chosen the course herself, in agreement with her parents, and reportedly consulted with alumni from various universities and made her decision based on what would be most useful to her in her role as queen later in life.

The royal family announced at the time that the princess would 'regularly return to Belgium and remain involved in Belgian public life' while she studies in the UK.
A woman who was part of a teenage gang dubbed the Bling Ring, who stole $3million worth of goods from celebrity homes, claims she has 'empathy' for her past self.

Alexis Haines, who lives in Los Angeles, reflected on her involvement in the crimes that took place between 2008 to 2009 in a discussion with ITV's Lorraine ahead of new Channel 4 documentary Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist.

She claimed that each member of the group had different motives for targeting stars including Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan, but her own was to fund an addiction to drugs.

Alexis said she has 'empathy' for the woman that she was at the time of the offences and claimed her apology to Orlando Bloom - whose home she was involved in stealing from - was cut from the documentary.

Alexis served just over a month in prison for stealing from Orlando Bloom (pictured) to fund her drug addiction

Alexis Haines (pictured), who lives in Los Angeles, reflected on robbing Orlando Bloom's house in a discussion with ITV's Lorraine

The Bling Ring stole more than $3 million worth of cash, art, jewellery and designer goods, while checking gossip sites to see if their crimes were being investigated.

A clip from the new documentary, airing at tonight at 10.05pm on Channel 4, reveals the group found a key for Paris Hilton's house underneath her door mat after returning to rob her house for a second time.

Alexis Haines was given 188 days in prison for robbing Orlando Bloom's house but served just over a month.

Daytime TV host Lorraine admitted that she was 'fascinated' by the documentary but was curious how Alexis justified her actions at the time of the crime.

Alexis said: 'We all had different motivations but I know for me I was really struggling with a bad drug addiction. It was kind of a means to an end financially and a way to continue getting high.

'I had never been in trouble before that and a pretty good kid growing up. My addiction definitely got much worse as I got older and into my late teen years.

'That night, no I wasn't thinking about the consequences. Literally I was just thinking about how I could get more money in order to continue getting loaded.'

Alexis said the new documentary doesn't 'glamorize' the Bling Ring's crimes as much as a film depiction by Sofia Coppola that was released in 2013.

Alexis, who claims she wasn't involved in the Bling Ring's (pictured) other crimes, said she has since dedicated her life to helping other people on their path to recovery

Alexis continued: 'I think the documentary spin on it is like a pop culture spin that tells the story. It's enticing and captivating for the audience to keep people around.

'Miles did an incredible job and this is why I was so excited to do this project. It's really talking about the underlying issues that are taking place for us societally and culturally that really motivated us to do what we did.

'It doesn't glamorize it at all. I'm not concerned about that.

'I'm happy to say that I am no longer a twice convicted felon and that's because I did use it as a turning point. Going to jail was the best thing that happened to me and it saved my life.

'Many people know addiction is dangerous and going to jail really was the best thing for me. It allowed me to take some time away from my life and to see that my behaviour and the disease I was dealing with, addiction and alcoholism, was going to kill me.

'I'm now 11 years sober, I own an alcohol and drug treatment centre with my husband and I dedicate my entire life to helping other people get on the path of recovery.

'None of that would've been possible had this not transpired the way that it did.'

Alexis told presenter Lorraine (pictured left) that she had a traumatic upbringing and therefore has empathy for her teenage self

Despite the Bling Ring's extensive rap sheet, Alexis claims she was only involved in the Orlando Bloom robbery.

Daytime presenter Lorraine asked Alexis if she has had an opportunity to apologise to the Hollywood actor, with Alexis replying that she has a lot of 'empathy' for herself as a young woman.

Alexis said: 'A lot of people don't realise that I grew up in a really traumatic environment in a household that was very toxic. It had every form of abuse.

'And so I have a lot of empathy for myself.

'Regarding Orlando Bloom I've made plenty of public statements saying that if I could go back in time obviously I would not do what I did. At the same time in a weird way that moment saved my life.

'In a bizarre fashion I have this gratitude towards him because I really don't think I would be alive today had I not gone to jail and had I not gone to treatment.

Alexis (pictured) said she has made many public statements sharing her regret, but believes she wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for being caught for theft

'In the documentary I had a very long, emotional apology which got cut. I feel awful about what I did and there are no words.

'There are not enough sorrys that I could give to make it better.'

Alexis's appearance on the daytime show left viewers unimpressed because many claimed criminals shouldn't be given a public platform.

Taking to Twitter, one person wrote: 'As a victim of multiple burglaries, how is #Lorraine giving air time to these burglars? They might have targeted celebrities, but they're still human and still had their homes invaded! shocking'

Another said: 'How can they justify making stupid American thieves famous. Doesn't matter who they burgled they still invaded someone's home and broke the law'

A third added: '#Lorraine Why the f*** are you adding to the glorifying of criminals? Bad enough they've made a TV series. What is wrong with you?'
A former doctor has revealed how she is raking in 6,000 a month after she quit her burgeoning medical career to go travelling with a Tinder date she met while on holiday in the Algarve.

Jenna Carr, from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, and Joao Paias, both 33, met on Tinder in 2017 while she was on holiday in his native Portugal.

They fell in love over their shared passion for travel and have since been on holiday to Greece, Cyprus, France, Switzerland, the US, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. They fund by their trips with their earnings from a website offering advice for travellers on a budget.

When they fell pregnant with surprise baby Leo, now three, they ignored criticism and advice and took him on holiday aged just two weeks.

Sharing parenting travel tips online to fellow nomads saw her audience grow until she was able to give up her stressful job as locum doctor in February.

Jenna Carr, from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, and Joao Paias, both 33, (pictured with their son Leo in the Algarve) met on Tinder in 2017 while she was on holiday in his native Portugal

A former doctor has revealed how she is raking in 6,000 a month after she quit her burgeoning medical career to go travelling with a Tinder date she met while on holiday in the Algarve. Jenna is pictured with Joao in Paris, left and with her son, right, on a cruise

Just a few months after Jenna launched her website, it became so successful Joao quit his job as a civil engineer to work on the website full-time.

Now they go on holiday most months, and fund their lifestyle entirely from advertising and hits on their site and social channels.

'We earned 6,000 last month from our website and have realised we could do everything we did before, just with a baby,' Jenna said.

'We don't have to live a boring life to provide for him.

'It's getting to the point where we can travel and be nomadic and live the life we want to live.

They fell in love over their shared passion for travel and have since been on holiday to Greece, Cyprus, France, Switzerland, the US, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. They fund by their trips with their earnings from a website offering advice for travellers on a budget. They are pictured in Florida

Sharing parenting travel tips online to fellow nomads saw her audience grow until she was able to give up her stressful job as locum doctor in February. Joao is pictured in the Philippines

When they fell pregnant with surprise baby Leo (pictured) , now three, they ignored criticism and advice and took him on holiday aged just two weeks. They are pictured in the Algarve

Just a few months after Jenna launched her website, it became so successful Joao quit his job as a civil engineer to work on the website full-time. Jenna is pictured boarding a flight, left, and at DisneyLand, right

'Taking Leo to Portugal at two weeks old was so easy - he slept the whole flight and was happy enough in Portugal.

'We had bought Glastonbury festival tickets before I knew I was pregnant and decided to take Leo with us.

'It went really well and we realised we could do whatever we wanted to do and it would make him confident and adaptable.

'Joao handed in his notice just a couple of weeks ago and I've been working on the website since February.

'The income we get is significant enough that we can both survive and we know this is the life we want.'

Now they go on holiday most months, and fund their lifestyle entirely from advertising and hits on their site and social channels, they are pictured in the Algarve

Jenna said the couple are now reaching the point where they can 'travel and be nomadic' and 'live the life they want to live'. Jenna and Leo are pictured left in Gran Canaria and right in New York

In April, 2017, Jenna attended a hen party in Albufeira, Portugal, and when it came to leaving decided she wanted to stay and see more of the Algarve.

Then training to be a doctor, she ditched the flight and booked a hostel in Lagos, Portugal - then found herself on Tinder looking for someone to hang out with.

After matching with Joao on the app, the couple spent a few weeks exploring the beautiful beaches of the country and spending time together.

'During the hen party we would go out and lie by the pool, and when it came to leaving I realised I'd barely seen any of the Algarve,' she said.

When Leo was two weeks old, they went to Portugal so Joao's family could meet him and that summer they even took him to Glastonbury festival with them - when he was just 12 weeks old (pictured)

In April, 2017, Jenna attended a hen party in Albufeira, Portugal, and when it came to leaving decided she wanted to stay and see more of the Algarve where she met Joao (pictured with Leo in Mykonsos)

Jenna, pictured in Santorini with baby Leo, says she and Joao don't 'have to live a boring life to provide for him' and want him to see the world

'I ditched the flight home and booked a hostel in Lagos but quickly realised the hostel was a bit dead and there wasn't much to do.

'I went on Tinder to find someone to hang out with and matched with Joao.

'I explained I was in Portugal for a few weeks and he showed me the lesser-known beaches - we went camping on this beach and cooked food outside and just had the best few weeks, it all felt really natural.

'I had texted my friends after one of the first times I'd met him, saying "I'm going to marry this man and have his babies" as a joke.

When she had to leave, they continued to talk on WhatsApp - and Jenna swiftly booked another trip out the Algarve to see him again.

Joao wanted to show Jenna the 'lesser known' parts of the Algarve. Jenna and Leo are pictured in the Bahamas

The couple decided they wanted to give things a go and began a long-distance relationship, meeting up in England and Portugal, and travelling to the Philippines and Bali together. They are pictured in Bali

In August, they decided they wanted to give things a go and began a long-distance relationship, meeting up in England and Portugal, and travelling to the Philippines and Bali together.

In April 2018, Joao moved to England to be with Jenna who was living in her parents' house at the time - and it was only a few months later that they discovered they were expecting a child.

'He moved in with me in England and only a few months later discovered I was pregnant - I had previously tried for a baby for years and had been told I was infertile,' she said.

'I told all of this to poor Joao and said we didn't need to be too careful, so when I found out I was pregnant I was shocked.

Leo Carr-Paias was born on March 15, 2019, and the couple quickly realised they could do everything they did before - just with a baby along for the journey too. He is pictured in Venice, left and right

Jenna's budget travel tips 1. Pack light by using a rucksack as your free personal item so you dont have to pay extra for checked-in luggage. 2. Travel mid-week when flights are less in demand and therefore cheaper. 3. Travel off-season - April to May and September to October usually still have great weather with massively reduced prices compared to summer months. 4. Use flight and hotel comparison sites to look for the best deals - package deals are often more expensive than doing it yourself. 5. Look for rooms with a kitchenette and a nearby supermarket - a bit of effort making a meal or two can save you a lot of money. Advertisement

'It felt like it was bad timing, but secretly deep down I had been wanting a baby for so long and knew Joao was a good guy - we had already established it was a serious thing.

'I knew when we looked back, we would think it was perfect timing and we've now been trying for a second baby for two years and it hasn't happened, so Leo is definitely a bit of a miracle baby.'

Leo Carr-Paias was born on March 15, 2019, and the couple quickly realised they could do everything they did before - just with a baby along for the journey too.

When Leo was two weeks old, they went to Portugal so Joao's family could meet him and that summer they even took him to Glastonbury festival with them - when he was just 12 weeks old.

Next, with Leo, they explored Cyprus and the Greek islands in 2019, as well as Italy, before travelling across the United States - with a quick jaunt to the Bahamas - and finishing in New York.

Jenna's website and her big following on TikTok, where she posts under the username @thetravelmum, since February 2020, now allow her, Joao and their son to travel the world.

So far in 2022, they've spent time in Italy and have plans to visit Japan later this year.

Jenna set up the website - www.thetravelmum.com - in March 2021 to support her social media account, where she gives out budget travel tips to her thousands of followers.
The daughter of Putin critic Alexei Navalny fought back tears as she described living with the reality that her father could be killed in a new documentary about the opposition leader.

Stanford student Dasha Navalny, 21, also known as Daria, described how she had come to the realisation that her father's life is at risk when she was just 13 years old.

'Starting from 13 years old, I would think about "what would I do if my dad was killed?",' she said in 98-minute documentary Navalny, which aired on BBC Two last night and premiered in the US this week.

'We never had "the talk", it's not something you can sit at the table and discuss [the fact that his life was at risk].'

Stanford student Dasha Navalny, 21, also known as Daria, described how she had come to the realisation that her father's life is at risk when she was just 13 years old

Dasha, pictured, fought back tears as she spoke about how her dad risks missing major milestones simply for 'doing the right thing'

Fighting back tears, Dasha continued: 'There was a point a year ago where my dad was almost not there for my high school graduation. He was in jail, once again.

'The whole day I was just thinking about how my dad would have been proud to see me walk on the stage and get my certificate. And he wouldn't get that option because he was in jail for doing the right thing.'

Dasha, who has a younger brother, appears alongside her mother Yulia in the documentary, which follows Navalny as he prepares to return to Russia after an attempt on his life in August 2020.

Navalny - a politician and pro-democracy campaigner who has built his platform on publicly criticising Putin as a 'corrupt thief' - was flying from Tomsk to Moscow when he fell gravely ill with suspected novichok poisoning.

Dasha, who has a brother, appears alongside her mother Yulia in the documentary, pictured together, which follows Navalny as he prepares to return to Russia after an attempt on his life

The documentary offers a glimpse at family life in the Navalny household, with cameras filming as Alexei and Yulia prepare to send daughter Dasha back to university (pictured)

Alexei shares a hug with his daughter Dasha as he prepares to send her off to university. Dasha said she was proud of her father for returning to Russia despite the dangers

The plane made an emergency landing and Navalny was whisked away to a hospital where doctors insisted there was no evidence of foul play and claimed anything from a health condition to 'drinking moonshine' was to blame.

But there were claims the hospital was full of agents of the security service FSB, and his wife Yulia was initially prevented from seeing her husband.

In an extraordinary turn of events, medics later allowed him to be discharged and airlifted to a German hospital where he received treatment.

'To have your dad, an opposition leader, being poisoned by... we don't know what, we don't know how, we don't know when,' Dasha recalled. 'And just be in a random hospital. It was surreal. It was like a book.'

Navalny was arrested in January 2021 after he landed in Russia following an attempt on his life. Above, the politician standing inside a glass cell during a court hearing in Moscow

Dasha Navalny, Maria Pevchikh (Poducer) and Yulia Navalny at the premiere of Navalny in New York earlier this month

Doctors concluded he had been poisoned with a nerve agent from the same class used in the 2018 attack in Salisbury on ex-Soviet spy Sergei Skripal. Navalny blamed Putin for the attack.

The Kremlin said it had no evidence that Navalny was poisoned and denied any Russian role if he was.

How the 'FSB plot' unfolded August 12: Three FSB 'plotters' buy plane tickets to Siberia after Navalny's entourage books a flight there August 13: The alleged FSB team flies to Novosibirsk a day before Navalny arrives. Maria Pevchikh also flies to Siberia and is tailed as she leaves Moscow August 17: Navalny travels on to Tomsk, pursued by the alleged FSB operatives. When he books a flight back to Moscow, the 'plotters' do the same only minutes later August 19: Navalny has a drink at a hotel bar in Tomsk, leaving his room empty. There is a 'surge' in communication among members of the alleged FSB unit August 20: Navalny boards the flight in Tomsk and becomes critically ill on board, forcing an emergency landing August 22: The unconscious Navalny is airlifted to Berlin. A German military lab later finds evidence of Novichok Advertisement

His poisoning and arrest sparked widespread condemnation abroad as well as sanctions from Western capitals.

Moscow's FSB agency  the successor to the KGB  allegedly began tracking Mr Navalny after he announced plans to run against the Russian president.

The documentary uses news reports, interviews and footage from Navalny's own extensive archive to piece together a potted history of the political path that led to him becoming the Kremlin's most outspoken critic, including a video of him attending a far-right rally.

Following the poisoning, Navalny and his family relocated to the Black Forest, in Germany, where they can live in peace and 'walk for hours' without bumping into anyone.

While recovering in Germany, he teamed up with Bellingcat investigative journalist Christo Grozev in an attempt to uncover who was behind the poisoning.

Grozev explains on camera how he pieced together the plot that led to the uncovering of a web of FSB agents suspected in Navalny's poisoning.

Using phone numbers bought on the Russian dark web, Grozev was able to follow a trail to agents including a chemist and ex-military figures.

Agents were said to have kept Mr Navalny under surveillance on at least 37 trips before he was eventually poisoned on a flight from Siberia to Moscow in August 2021.

They would take parallel flights or trains, travelling in twos or threes, mixing up teams to avoid being spotted and often using aliases, the report claimed.

The chain of command led to the top of the FSB and, ultimately, to Putin.

The Kremlin denied Putin's involvement and suggested Mr Navalny was working with the CIA.

Bellingcat named three FSB officers who trailed the lawyer as he travelled from Moscow to Siberia in August, and a further five agents said to have been involved in the operation.

The website, which worked with CNN in the US, Der Spiegel in Germany and The Insider in Russia, said it used telecoms records and travel data, including flight manifests, to track the agents' movements.

Navalny is a politician and pro-democracy campaigner who has built his platform on publicly criticising Putin as a 'corrupt thief'. Pictured, the Russian president yesterday

Cameras recorded Navalny as he phoned the agents one by one to ask them why they did it and eventually recorded one agent calmly discussing how he had placed novichok on the politician's underwear.

Despite the risk to his life, Navalny felt it essential he returned to Russia.

'They are offended because they tried to kill me and I survived,' Nalvany said ahead of his return. 'So now they're threatening to throw me in jail.

'Putin might as well hang a banner over the Kremlin: "Alexei, please, do not under any circumstances come back home." And so I immediately went online and bought tickets for my return trip.'

Dasha was supportive of her father's decision, saying: 'I know that my dad misses Russia, even though it's scary to go back. And if he didn't go back, I would say "you need to go back and fight". It's something worth fighting for.'

There was optimism before Navalny boarded the flight but the documentary ends with him being arrested in Moscow.

'They are so scared of Alexei that they had to lock down everything around here,' his wife Yulia told cameras after he was arrested.

'The most important thing Alexei said today is, he's not afraid. And I'm not afraid either, and I urge you not to be afraid.'

Alexei remains in prison where he faces up to 20 years.
The Duchess of Cambridge gave a touching nod to her sister Pippa at the Anzac Day service yesterday.

Kate Middleton, 40, cut a stylish figure in a white Alexander McQueen coat dress for the occasion, pairing the stunning piece with Princess Diana's Collingwood earrings, a matching headband by milliner Jane Taylor and black accessories.

The mother-of-three also opted to wear a new diamond brooch for the occasion, which featured the same fern design as her sister Pippa's wedding day tiara.

The jewels are believed to be crafted by Chelsea-based jeweller Robinson Pelham.

The Duchess of Cambridge, 40, gave a touching nod to her sister Pippa Middelton at the Anzac Day service yesterday

The mother-of-three also opted to wear a new diamond brooch for the occasion, which featured a fern design which was near identical to her sister Pippa's wedding day tiara (pictured)

Carole and Michael Middleton commissioned a pair of earrings by the designer for Pippa ahead of Kate's wedding to Prince William.

Pippa wore the jewels in her role as chief bridesmaid for the Duchess, before going on to wear the set for her own wedding day to James Matthews in 2017.

The happy couple tied the knot at St Mark's Church in Englefield, the estate of former Conservative MP Richard Benyon.

Kate's brooch appeared to match both Pippa wedding maidenhair fern tiara.

The jewels, which feature the same fern leaves design, are believed to be crafted by Chelsea-based jeweller Robinson Pelham (left, the Duchess' brooch, and right, Pippa's headpiece)

The Middletons are extremely tight-knit, with Kate's brother James and his wife Alizee even spending lockdown at his parents' Berkshire home, and have remained close even as Kate has ascended the ranks of the royal family.

Last year, the Middletons' attended both the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall and her carol service in Windsor.

Their appearance at two major royal events in quick succession appeared to hint at Kate's intention to bring her family even more into the royal fold as she and William continue to take on a more senior role within The Firm.

Kate, who is known for her love of high street brands, showcased her thrifty side yesterday as she wore the dress for her daughter Princess Charlotte's christening in 2015.

The Middletons are extremely tight-knit, and have remained close even as Kate has ascended the ranks of the royal family (pictured in 2012)

Last year, the Middletons' attended both the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall and her carol service in Windsor (Pippa with their parents in 2021)

She also wore the gown to Meghan Markle's and Prince Harry 's wedding in 2018, an event in Belgium in 2017 and Trooping The Colour in 2016.

Yesterday, the Duchess swept her brunette locks behind her shoulders for the occasion, donning a smart white headband with a trendy black bow at the back.

She donned Diana's Collingwood earrings for the service. Kate regularly wears jewellery that honours her mother-in-law, including her sapphire engagement ring, which once belonged to Diana.

Kate recycled a dazzling white Alexander McQueen coat dress yesterday as she attended Westminster Abbey to commemorate Anzac Day

The Duchess swept her brunette locks behind her shoulders for the occasion, donning a smart white headband with a trendy black bow at the back

Meanwhile she kept her makeup neutral for the outing, opting for a sweep of blush and a dash of black eyeliner.

The Duchess could be seen carrying a pair of white Cornelia James for the occasion.

The traditional church service in the abbey featured an address by the Dean of Westminster, readings from the New Zealand and Australian high commissioners, prayers read by children of each country, and a Maori waiata performed by London-based Ngati Ranana London Maori Club.
A man who claims to run the cheapest shop in Britain left viewers of ITV's This Morning unimpressed with his range of budget products.

Stuart, who has been running The 20p Shop in Otley, West Yorkshire, for five years alongside his family members, explained that the shop aims to provide something 'cheap and cheerful' amid the rising cost of living.

The entrepreneur claimed they are able to keep the costs of their goods low by buying in bulk and admitted that he's 'perfectly ok' with people reselling their purchases, having had one customer previously buy a ring that they didn't know was worth 120.

But the segment left viewers unimpressed with some taking to social media to accuse Stuart of selling 'tat', while others noticed that no customers went into the shop during the live broadcast.

Goods on sale include packets of noodles and bars of chocolate that are just past their best before date

Stuart told presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield that his family had a market stall before renting the shop premises.

Stuart said: 'We started the idea on the market stall, selling items for 20p each and it flew out. After that we thought, "Well why not get a shop?" as in winter time working on a market isn't the greatest.

'We brought it indoors and five years later we're still here.

'We get stock from all over and buy quite in bulk to keep the cost down to around 10-20p each. Bits and pieces.

'We try our best to help the local community. That was the main aim behind the shop. Not everything needs to cost a fortune in the current state of the world with everything going up, cost of living go up and everything like that.

'We thought, why not make something cheap and cheerful for everyone?

Stuart (pictured), who has been running The 20p Shop in Otley, West Yorkshire, for five years, left viewers of This Morning unimpressed with his product range

Stuart said the family buy 'bits and pieces' in bulk to be able to keep their prices between 10 to 20p and help the local community. It stocks everything from books to household goods

Bric a brace on the shelves - and it could be valuabStuart claimed that the family doesn't have any issues with customers reselling their purchases to make a profit

'Like every other small business at the moment we struggle, but we're doing our best to stay afloat and doing our best to help everyone out on the way round.'

Stuart claimed press coverage of the family business has turned the shop into a 'phenomenon' with one customer travelling from as far as 120 miles to visit.

Having previously stocked bikes and jewellery worth more than 20p, he claimed that he doesn't mind people reselling their purchases for a profit.

Stuart said: 'If it can help someone out and help the normal person in life to go earn a few quit then why not. It's here to help people and we're not here to make millions of pounds.

Stuart said one customer was able to resell a gold ring for 120 at a local jeweller across the road from his shop

Stuart said his family's shop struggles like all small businesses but they are doing their best to stay afloat. Pictured: A box of hand sanitiser on sale

Stuart told Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that they could buy books, home decorations and greetings cards all for the cost of 1 in total

'We do have a bit of costume jewellery in the shop. One lucky customer came in, bought a ring. Unknowingly it was a golden ring worth 120.

'The same day, they went across the road and sold it to local jeweler.'

Stuart revealed Philip could buy a cook book, crockery, a decorative sign, pasta and a chocolate bar for 1 in his shop.

He told Holly she could get two books, greetings cards and a chocolate bar for the same price.

Stuart told Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby (pictured left) that his family aren't aiming to make millions of pounds from their business

Despite the range of products on offer, viewers took to Twitter to criticize the items on sale in the budget retailer.

One person wrote: 'The shop is pure tat, reminds me of hypervalue shops #ThisMorning'

Another said: 'It's cheap... it's crass... and it ain't worth the travel fees #ThisMorning'

'F******* of tat in that shop. Looks like a cross between a down-market Sue Ryder combined with a fire sale #ThisMorning,' a third commented.

A fourth added: 'People walking past don't look impressed'
A cowboy who has two wives has opened up about how his 'plural marriage' works - from how he navigates bitter jealousy between the women and the way the three of them are raising their kids together to their sleeping arrangements and physical relationship.

Colton Winder, 34, from Utah, who is Mormon, is married to both Tami and Sophie Winder.

The throuple - who appeared in season three of TLC's show Seeking Sister Wife - all live together in one house, along with their three kids, but it is not always easy for them.

Colton admitted that it sometimes feels like he's 'standing in the middle of a tornado' due to his wives 'very different' personalities.

Tami and Sophie both have a physical relationship with Colton, but they do not have a physical relationship with one another.

And despite admitting that there is 'definitely jealousy' between them, the three of them have found a way to make their abnormal relationship work through open communication and hard work.

Colton explained that his choice to marry two different women came down to his 'faith,' adding that there is a 'very religious, spiritual purpose' behind it.

A cowboy who has two wives has opened up about how his 'plural marriage' works - from how he navigates bitter jealousy between the women to their sleeping arrangements

Colton Winder, 34, from Utah, who is Mormon, is married to both Tami and Sophie Winder

The throuple all live together in one house, along with their three kids, but it is not always easy for them

Clashing: Colton admitted that it sometimes feels like he's 'standing in the middle of a tornado' due to his wives 'very different' personalities while chatting with Truly recently

'Plural marriage for us is a little more specific than polygamy,' he told Truly during a recent interview.

'Plural marriage is polygamy lived with a very religious, spiritual purpose behind it. It's more about our faith.'

In the Mormon religion, 'It was held that a person could only attain the highest level of the celestial kingdom after death if they had been a partner in a plural marriage,' BBC reported.

Tami and Sophie both have a physical relationship with Colton, but they do not have a physical relationship with one another

Colton and Tami got married 12 years ago. And although they both believed in 'plural marriage' from the start, they weren't on the hunt for another wife right away because they believed that if it was meant to be, it would happen naturally - and it did.

'When Colton and I got married, we both believed in plural marriage. Eventually, it got to the point of like, if we're supposed to live this way, we'll find another wife, and then we did,' explained Tami.

Colton then wed Sophie in 2017, however, he called their union a 'spiritual marriage' since it is not legal in the state of Utah for a man to marry two women at the same time.

'My plural marriage is not recognized legally. Tami is my legal wife, Sophie is more of a spiritual marriage,' he said.

'In the state of Utah, until very recently, it was actually illegal to live the way we live, now it's not quite illegal but it's still sort of frowned upon.'

Despite admitting that there is 'definitely jealousy' in their relationship, the three of them have found a way to make their relationship work through open communication and hard work

Together forever: Colton and Tami (pictured early on in their relationship) got married 12 years ago

They both believed in 'plural marriage' from the start, but didn't search for another wife because they thought it would happen naturally. Colton and Tami are pictured at their wedding

And it did. Colton then wed Sophie in 2017, however, he called their union a 'spiritual marriage' since it is not legal in the state of Utah for a man to marry two women at the same time

For the first two years of their joint marriage, Tami and Sophie lived in separate houses because they wanted to 'ease into' plural marriage 'at a comfortable pace.'

Sophie admitted that at first, she 'didn't know what to expect,' with Tami adding that it 'took a while' for them to become comfortable with one another.

Colton explained that his choice to marry two different women came down to his 'faith,' adding that there is a 'very religious, spiritual purpose' behind it

When they finally decided to all live under one roof, it was difficult due to a clash in their personalities, but they eventually found a way to make it work.

Sophie shared: 'The hardest part about it was realizing that Tami and I still didn't know each other really well.

'We didn't understand each other's personalities at that point. After moving in together, Tami and I finally got to know each other better and I finally got to know her personality better rather than just being totally clueless.'

At first, Colton said it felt like he was living in the middle of a 'tornado,' and recalled desperately trying to 'get things to stop spinning.'

'One thing that's different about plural marriage is everybody comes with their own personality and Tami and Sophie are very different from each other,' he explained.

For the first two years of their joint marriage, Tami and Sophie lived in separate houses because they wanted to 'ease into' plural marriage 'at a comfortable pace'

Sophie admitted that at first, she 'didn't know what to expect,' with Tami adding that it 'took a while' for them to become comfortable with one another

When they finally decided to all live under one roof, it was difficult due to a clash in their personalities, but they eventually found a way to make it work

'There were hard times, between both Tami and I, Sophie and I, and Tami and Sophie together.

'There were misunderstandings sometimes because personalities didn't quite mesh in the beginning.

'Sometimes it felt like I was standing in the middle of a tornado and trying to reach my hands out and get things to stop spinning for just a moment.'

Colton recalled: 'Tami and Sophie are very different from each other. There were misunderstandings sometimes because personalities didn't quite mesh in the beginning. Sometimes it felt like I was standing in the middle of a tornado'

One major problem that they faced was that Tami and Sophie would often compare themselves to one another, which resulted in them feeling like they weren't good enough wives.

'One of the other challenges I had was feeling like a [good] wife. You make a lot of comparisons,' Sophie admitted.

'I kind of asked Colton, "Do you have certain expectations of me as a wife?" I felt like I was falling short. But he said, "No. You're perfect the way you are."'

And although they insisted that they have a great relationship now, the two women said they still get jealous of one another.

'There's definitely jealousies, as in any relationship. Like when Colton goes on a date with Sophie, I want to go on a date too,' Tami revealed.

One problem that they faced was that Tami and Sophie would often compare themselves to one another, which resulted in them feeling like they weren't good enough wives

And although they insisted that they have a great relationship now, the two women said they still get jealous of one another

'If I'm feeling jealous about something, then there's a need that's not getting met and I need to communicate that need. Then Colton and Sophie will do their best to alleviate that,' said Tami

'But if I'm feeling jealous about something, then there's a need that's not getting met and I need to communicate that need. Then Colton and Sophie will do their best to alleviate that.'

Tami and Sophie do not have a physical relationship with one another, and they now think of each other as 'sisters'

The throuple tries to go on a date night once or twice a month - sometimes with all three of them together and sometimes on separate dates.

Tami and Sophie do not have a physical relationship with one another, and they now think of each other as 'sisters.'

'I think I have a really good relationship with Sophie,' gushed Tami. 'It's taken a lot of work to get here but I think we worked really hard to try and understand each other and to really become sisters.'

As for their sleeping arrangements, the two women each have their own bedroom, and Colton switches between them each night - which sometimes makes Sophie feel alone.

'Tami and I both have our separate physical relationship with Colton but Tami and I do not have a physical relationship with each other,' she said.

'Colton doesn't have his own room, he'll sleep with me one night and then with Tami the next night.

'One of the hard parts of plural marriage is having your husband gone every other night.

'You don't have help with getting up with the children in the middle of the night, but at the same time I know that if I really needed either of [them] I could come and get [them] and they'd help.'

'It's taken a lot of work to get here but I think we worked really hard to try and understand each other and to really become sisters,' gushed Tami

As for their sleeping arrangements, the two women each have their own bedroom, and Colton switches between them each night

Tami welcomed a daughter, named Sadie, in 2016. Sophie then gave birth to a son, Ephraim, in 2020, and a daughter, Isabella, in 2021. Tami is pictured with Sadie and Colton

Working together! 'We're co-parents in everything. We're raising our children together,' said Tami

Colton said that having two wives has provided a lot of 'personal growth' for him because he had to 'learn to live with two different personalities'

Tami welcomed a daughter, named Sadie, in 2016. Sophie then gave birth to a son, named Ephraim, in 2020, and a daughter, named Isabella, in 2021. Tami is now using IVF to try to have another child.

'We're co-parents in everything. We're raising our children together,' added Tami.

Colton said that having two wives has provided a lot of 'personal growth' for him because he had to 'learn to live with two different personalities.'

'The things I enjoy the most from a plural marriage, aside from the religious aspects of it, it's a really great opportunity for personal growth because I've had to learn to live with two different personalities,' he concluded.
Models starring in This Morning's fashion segment were mocked by viewers today after being dressed in outfits inspired by the 1920s to mark the release of the new Downton Abbey film.

Presenting the segment, Lisa Snowdon, 50, who lives in London, said she had been inspired after seeing the cast of Downton Abbey: A New Era walking the red carpet in satin and feathers at the premiere last night.

The presenter went on to reveal how it was that possible to recreate the most popular trends from the 1920s with pieces from the high street, before introducing four different models in satin dresses, head pieces and embellished shoes.

However many of those watching were left unimpressed by the segment, with one posting on Twitter: 'Seriously? Not unless it was for a fancy dress party and even then...'

Models starring in This Morning's fashion segment were mocked by viewers today after being dressed in outfits inspired by the 1920s - with many comparing their outfits to 'fancy dress'

Models were dressed in pieces which presenter Lisa Snowdon called 'the epitome of the Roaring Twenties' including satin wrap dresses (left) and floor-length sequin gowns (right)

Lisa appeared on the daytime show talking to presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield. She introduced the first model, saying: 'Sue, who is the epitome of the Roaring Twenties in the satin and a beautiful headdress, absolutely gorgeous.

'This stunning satin shift dress just oozes elegance.'

Saying the dress was 'very similar' to one worn by an actress in the Downton Abbey: New Era film, she continued: 'Even though the new film is set on the French Rivera the elegance is very much still there.

'I love the sleeve details. As I said, the shift dress is really flattering and get good underwear underneath there then you're good to go.

Social media users claimed they wouldn't wear the outfits for fancy dress, describing the looks as 'vile'

Meanwhile she suggested pairing the dress with a 1920s style headband, a pearl necklace and an art deco bag.

Holly and Philip looked impressed as Lisa prepared to introduce the second model Kim, describing her outfit as 'Downton with a twist'.

Lisa explained: 'Now with a lot of the styles in Downton it's very vintage and hard to wear for a lot of us ladies, so what we've done is a little twist.

'We've gone for this beautiful wrap shape dress but with those kind of muted jewel tones that you see in the twenties. It's got the paisley print and beautiful neckline that I think is super flattering.'

Lisa (pictured right) told presenters Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby (pictured left) that the outfits were 'elegant' and 'Downton Abbey with a twist'

'You've got the belt that cinches you in and that very pretty print which we're seeing a lot of in the film as well. Then the lovely kind of shimmer running through it is very 1920s.'

Calling the outfit 'very pretty and very chic', she continued: 'We've added a headband, a little scarf into the hair, which I think also elevates the look.'

'Little bag, little gold clutch. You can't go wrong you'll wear that again with lots of different outfits.'

'Then can we look at these very pretty shoes? Little satin shoes with that little dip at the front, so flattering.

'You've got diamante around the ankle and diamante at the back as well, which I think is so elegant.

Despite Lisa's enthusiasm for the unusual headpieces and jewels, many of those watching compared the outfits to 'fancy dress' costumes

Lisa gushed about the 'very pretty shoes' paired with the paisley print dress, while claiming shoppers could wear each item repeatedly

Introducing the third model, she said Alison looked like a 'French fancy', explaining: ' Literally you look like you're walking on the French Rivera, you look so beautiful, so romantic in this lovely, beautiful French fancy floral dress.'

'Really flattering. The elasticated waist gives you a bit of a waist but is still comfortable.'

'Then the shoes. This is just proving how much impact and effect that Downton Abbey is having on the High Street.

'Mary Janes are back and it's all this kind of little thin straps that are very reminiscent of the 20s and the 30s.

'A really comfortable heel, muted colour. You could dance all night in them.'

Lisa claimed her last outfit was a 'showstopper' as the model stepped out in an ankle length dress covered in bronze sequins.

Lisa teamed a tiered floral dress with a straw hat as she aimed to create the perfect outfit for being on the French Rivera

She said: 'This is your forever dress. If you buy sparkles you know that you're going to be spending a little bit more money but they are the sort of dresses that you invest in and keep in your wardrobe.

'It's that I've got a big party an invitation comes through the letter box and you're like 'what am I going to wear', 'ah I've got the perfect dress'.

'You've always got that dress in your wardrobe.'

Meanwhile she said the earrings would also add 'twenties glamour', while the shoes were 'stunning' and 'really elegant.'

Despite Lisa's enthusiasm for the segment, a stream of viewers took to Twitter mocking each of the outfits that featured on the show.

Presenter Lisa claimed the looks were inspired by the new Downton Abbey film, and compared one model's look to a gown worn by Laura Haddock in the trailer (pictured)

The stars of Downton Abbey walked the red carpet last night in glittering gowns and thigh-skimming dresses (left, Michelle Dockery, and right, Laura Carmichael)

Commenting on the first look, one person wrote: 'Where might Sue wear such an outfit #ThisMorning?'

Another said: 'These fashion segments always make me howl #ThisMorning'

'These poor women,' a third commented.

A fourth joked: 'I'm so pleased they've done this fashion segment. I often waft about big Tesco dressed like something from the 1920s #This Morning'

One viewer claimed the outfits aren't even appropriate for a fancy dress party, while another commented on the material.

'What the f*** has she dressed the model as... #ThisMorning,' one wrote.

A second added: 'Forget the dress the headband is doing her no favours.'

A third commented: 'Omg this dress is shocking.'
Ulrika Jonsson's daughter has revealed a glimpse of her nanny training at the prestigious Norland College, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's childminder learned her craft.

Bo Jonsson, 21, who splits her time between Oxfordshire and Bath, regularly takes to her Instagram account to share snippets of her schooling - including photos of her in the traditional beige uniform.

The third-year student also showcases to her 2,852 followers the various assessments she must complete - including sewing, cooking various meals such as fresh pasta and roasts, as well as placements caring for children as young as five weeks.

Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo who looks after Prince William and Kate's three young children, George, Charlotte and Louis, is also a graduate of the prestigious Bath nanny school.

Bo, who was born with a congenital heart defect and continues to be treated for the condition today, has held an ambition to work in childcare from a young age.

Ulrika Jonsson's daughter (pictured together, right) has revealed a glimpse of her nanny training at the prestigious Norland College, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's childminder learned her craft

Bo Jonsson (pictured), 21, who splits her time between Oxfordshire and Bath, regularly takes to her Instagram account to share snippets of her schooling - including photos of her in the traditional beige uniform

The most famous nanny in the country! Maria Borrallo with Prince George and his grandmother the Queen at Princess Charlotte's christening in July 2015

She delights her followers with images of her completed assessments, including one of a 'fabric friend' she created from up-cycled materials and embroidery.

Sharing a snap of the cat-like cushion, Bo wrote: 'I really enjoyed making this and challenging my sewing skills.'

Elsewhere, the student posts photos from her placements, where she cares for children, helping them with homeschooling and arts and crafts.

She also completed a course in Makaton during her second year, a language that uses signs and symbols to help people to communicate, and shared a picture of her posing with her certificate.

Norland College has been producing childminders for the rich and famous since 1892.

Bo, left, who was born with a congenital heart defect and continues to be treated for the condition today, has held an ambition to work in childcare from a young age

The third-year student (pictured) showcases to her 2,852 followers the various assessments she must complete - including sewing, cooking various meals such as fresh pasta and roasts, as well as placements caring for children as young as five weeks

The institution's students are known for their distinctive uniforms and are schooled in all aspects of looking after youngsters during their three-year degree course.

The training costs 36,000 in total and includes martial arts training and stunt driving to its curriculum to cater for modern clients - many of whom are celebrities and the super-rich.

Tae Kwon-Do is believed to be the martial art of choice - which has been specially adapted to include how to dodge a potential kidnapper with a pram.

Nannies are also trained in how to deal with paparazzi and are taken to Castle Combe Racing Circuit in Wiltshire to perfect their driving skills and learn how to drive at high speed in any weather condition.

Driving away from pursuing photographers being the main reason for the training.

She also completed a course in Makaton during her second year, a language that uses signs and symbols to help people to communicate, and shared a picture of her posing with her certificate

Ulrika's daughter Bo was born in 2000, during her relationship with German hotel manager Marcus Kempen, who left when their baby daughter was days old.

The former weather presenter is also mother to son Cameron, 26, with John Turnbull, daughter Martha, 17, with Lance Gerrard-Wright and son Malcolm, with ex Brian Monet.

Ulrika has often been open about daughter Bo's heart condition and in April last year revealed that Bo - who has a congenital heart defect - was rushed to hospital.

The star nervously had to await test results for her ill daughter after she was admitted to hospital overnight, with Ulrika given hourly reports on her progress at the time.

Ulrika has often been open about daughter Bo's heart condition and in April last year revealed that Bo (pictured) - who has a congenital heart defect - was rushed to hospital

The star nervously had to await test results for her ill daughter (pictured as a child with her mother) after she was admitted to hospital overnight, with Ulrika given hourly reports on her progress at the time

Bo has been in and out of hospital over the years as a result of her condition - she was born with double inlet left ventricle defect, a congenital defect that affects the valves and chambers of the heart.

As a baby, she had to undergo life-saving surgery on her heart - but Ulrika did not reveal what had caused Bo to be hospitalised.

The previous month Ulrika hailed Bo as a 'warrior' as she went to get a health check up.

The TV presenter shared a series of snaps to her Instagram Stories of Bo lying down at the doctor's office as she received a liver scan.

The former Celebrity Big Brother star posted a photo of the pair sat together in the waiting room as she called Bo her 'CHD Warrior'.
During a trip to the southern border with fellow GOP members, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) warned that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas may face impeachment.

The border trip was intended to kick off a week in which Republicans want to capitalize on the issue to boost their midterm election chances and to put pressure on Mayorkas.

Kevin McCarthy Urges Joe Biden To Go, Witness Southern Border Situation

During the COVID-19 outbreak, the Trump administration and later the Biden administration used Title 42 to turn away migrants at the border. It gave both governments the power to deny asylum claimants a court hearing.

The Biden administration has been sued over the matter, although it has stated that Title 42 would be lifted on May 23. A federal court temporarily prevented the Biden administration from removing the prohibition later on Monday.

Republicans have attacked the administration over border security, while vulnerable Democrats in the House and Senate have chastised President Joe Biden for his decision. Impeachment of Mayorkas by the GOP-controlled House is far from certain.

To retake the majority, Republicans just need to pick up a few seats, and 30 House Republicans have signed on to an impeachment motion against Mayorkas, spearheaded by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), according to The Hill.

According to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the migrant influx is "unsustainable," and it will become "overwhelming" if President Joe Biden's plan to repeal Title 42 is implemented, as per Fox News.

Read Also: Taiwan Develops New Advanced Missiles, Drones, Vows To Protect Migrant Fishermen Amid Abuse Claims

Court Blocks Biden on Lifting Title 42

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from eliminating the pandemic health program known as Title 42 on May 23. The decision postpones what Homeland Security officials said would result in an unprecedented migrant influx to the US-Mexico border, and it is a huge victory for the three Republican states that filed the case in early April, which has now been joined by 18 other states.

The complaint was filed in the United States while the Western District of Louisiana is a federal district court. On Monday, Judge Robert Summerhays issued a temporary restraining order in the lawsuit, instructing the Department of Justice and the states to sort out the terms of the policy's continuation.

Even though Title 42 is still in place, National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd stated that the government had begun detaining some migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, indicating that it was not deporting them. The lawsuit was launched after the Biden administration announced in early April that the restriction would be lifted following 14 months of lobbying from immigration groups, who said the rule unfairly penalizes people seeking asylum.

The three states asserted that the White House's termination of Title 42 violates the Administrative Procedure Act's notice-and-comment obligations. Ending the regulation will encourage many more individuals to try to cross the border, worsening the current migrant problem that began shortly after President Joe Biden entered office, according to Republicans and some Democrats.

Polls reveal that the public is dissatisfied with the administration's handling of the border, prompting centrist Democrats and those running for reelection in November to move away from Biden. The effort to repeal Title 42 has been met with opposition from nine Senate Democrats, Washington Examiner reported.

Related Article: US Top Officials Blinken, Austin To Visit Ukraine Following Deadly Russian Missile Attack On Odesa

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Ivy Getty looks like a natural modeling for Town & Country's May 2022 issue  and that may be because it's in her blood.

The 27-year-old covers the magazine, on newsstands May 3, 39 years after her grandmother, Ann Getty, graced the cover in 1983.

'I still have the magazine, which I keep in good condition,' she admitted.

Ivy  who tied the knot in November wearing some of her late grandmother's jewelry  also has quite a few pieces from her closet, including several she wore for her own Town & Country shoot.

Ivy Getty looks like a natural modeling for Town & Country's May 2022 issue - and that may be because it's in her blood

The 27-year-old covers the magazine, on newsstands May 3, 39 years after her grandmother, Ann Getty, graced the cover in 1983 - and she even wore this dress that belonged to Ann

Ivy has inherited some of her grandmother's fashion and jewelry collection - including the diamonds she holds in her left hand in this photo

Ivy was raised by her grandmother, who died in September 2020 at age 79. She is pictured on her Town & Country cover in 1983

Ivy was raised by her grandmother, who died in September 2020 at age 79.

'I have so much of her in me. She taught me about fashion, but also how to be a human being,' she told Town & Country.

Ann also passed down several of her enviable designer outfits, including the YSL fur coat she wore when she was photographed by Norman Parkinson at Linderhof Palace in Germany for Town & Country in 1983.

'Its my most prized possession. Its an art piece,' Ivy said.

Ivy got to wear some pretty magnificent designer pieces herself for her shoot, including gowns by Dior, Carolina Herrera, Gucci, as she posed alongside actor Tom Blyth.

But she included touches of her grandmother, too, including a shawl that she paired with a Ralph Lauren Collection jumpsuit.

'I have so much of her in me. She taught me about fashion, but also how to be a human being,' Ivy - pictured wearing her grandmother's shawl - said

Ivy said the YSL coat her grandma wore in Town & Country is 'my most prized possession. Its an art piece'

'She appreciated craft, not showing off,' Ivy said of her grandmother's love of jewelry

'Even when my grandma gifted me things, I assumed they were costume. You wouldnt think such beautiful pieces could possibly be real, but they were,' she said

In one shot, Ivy wears her grandma's vintage Christian Dior coat, and in another she holds diamond and platinum necklaces that had belonged to Ann.

'She appreciated craft, not showing off,' Ivy said of her grandmother's love of jewelry.

'Even when my grandma gifted me things, I assumed they were costume. You wouldnt think such beautiful pieces could possibly be real, but they were.'

Ivy wore her grandmother's jewelry at her wedding to photographer Toby Engel at San Francisco's City Hall last fall.

'This day was so important to my grandmother, as she raised me. Being able to wear her jewelry meant everything to me,' she said.

Among the pieces she wore were her grandma's sapphire and diamond earrings.

Ivy got to wear some pretty magnificent designer pieces herself for her shoot, including gowns by Dior, Carolina Herrera, Gucci, as she posed alongside actor Tom Blyth

Ivy is signed to Ford Models and has also appeared in the pages of Vogue

Ivy has said her grandmother was 'really more like a mother to me'

Ann was her paternal grandmother. Her mother was laregely absent

Ivy is pictured with her grandmother when she was a child

'The dress was so stunning and intricate that I needed something simple and these studs brought everything together. If she was here today she would have given me the same exact pair,' she said. 'And it felt as though she was walking down the aisle with me.'

She also wore her grandmother's choker made of freshwater pearls, aquamarine, citrine, and enamel by Italian jeweler Percossi Papi.

Finally, her engagement ring included a center sapphire that belonged to her husband's mother, which was surrounded by her own grandmother's diamonds.

'I felt her presence with me the whole night,' Ivy said. I know she was looking down on Toby and me.'

Meanwhile, she picked designer John Galliano to design her wedding dress as a tribute to her grandmother as well.

'My grandmother always wore John Gallianos designs,' Ivy told Vogue. 'My grandmother always admired him so it felt as if she was there with me during all of this.'

Ivy wore her grandmother's jewelry at her wedding to photographer Toby Engel at San Francisco's City Hall last fall

'I felt her presence with me the whole night,' Ivy said. I know she was looking down on Toby and me'

Her engagement ring included a center sapphire that belonged to her husband's mother, which was surrounded by her own grandmother's diamonds.

Her grandmother likely would have worn Galliano's designs for Givenchy, which he helmed from 1995 to 1996, and Christian Dior, which he became creative director of in October 1996. He was ousted from Dior in 2011 after video surfaced of him going on a drunken antisemitic tirade in Paris, saying 'I love Hitler.'

Getty said that knowing how much her grandmother liked Galliano's designs made it an easy choice.

'After my grandmothers passing  she was really more like a mother to me  I felt this connection to John. I knew I wanted him to create the dress for my wedding. My aunt Vanessa, who I am very close to, was connected to him through a friend, and here we are.'

Galliano had her create a mood board, and took inspiration from it to make the dress  in which he included nods to both her grandmother and her late father, who also died in 2020.

She worked with controversial Maison Margiela designer John Galliano to custom-design her gown. Galliano was a favorite of her grandmother's

'Not physically having two of the most important people in my life with me on my wedding day is extremely hard, but through Johns vision and creativity, he was easily able to bring their presence to life,' Ivy said

First, he included walnuts, which Ivy had put on her mood board because her grandmother had grown up on a walnut farm. He also included guitars, an homage to Ivy's father, who was a musician.

'Not physically having two of the most important people in my life with me on my wedding day is extremely hard, but through Johns vision and creativity, he was easily able to bring their presence to life,' Ivy said.

She also held the reception at her grandmother's home, Getty Mansion.

'When my beloved grandmother passed away, I knew I wanted to have the wedding in my house to honor her,' Ivy said.

'My grandmother interior designed each room of the house which allows me to feel as if she is there with me. I would be able to look around the room and see something that reminds me of her. Her presence is everywhere in that home. The theme of my entire wedding is the house and my grandmother.'
Salma Hayek's daughter Valentina Pinault has scored her first-ever Vogue cover at the tender age of 14  right alongside her movie star mom.

Valentina and Salma, 55, share this month's cover of Vogue Mexico, where the genetically-blessed pair pout side-by-side with matching long lashes and glossy pouts.

In an interview conducted in Spanish, Salma opens up about coming to motherhood later in life, how her daughter steals her clothes, and what she thinks about Valentina following in her Hollywood footsteps.

Meanwhile, Valentina reveals her dreams of becoming an actress and a director, but also stresses the importance of helping others, which she does through volunteering at a soup kitchen.

Salma Hayek's daughter Valentina Pinault has scored her first-ever Vogue cover at the tender age of 14 - right alongside her movie star mom

Valentina and Salma, 55, share this month's cover of Vogue Mexico , where the genetically-blessed pair pout side-by-side with matching long lashes and glossy pouts

'We fight over clothes because she takes everything from my closet,' Salma said of her daughter

Both mother and daughter donned designer clothes for the photoshoot, though Valentina insisted she often wears sweats.

Still, she does benefit from her mother's closet of designer clothes  furnished in part by dad Francois-Henri Pinault's company, which owns fashion brands including Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen, and Yves Saint Laurent.

'We fight over clothes because she takes everything from my closet,' Salma said.

'Since she was little she never let me choose her clothes, and I always liked that,' Salma added. '[And] she's very good with makeup. I'm good at makeup, but now she teaches me.'

The pair have more in common than just clothes: They also both speak Spanish, and like to do so to speak privately in public.

'Since she was little she never let me choose her clothes, and I always liked that,' Salma added. '[And] she's very good with makeup. I'm good at makeup, but now she teaches me'

Valentina wants to follow her mom into Hollywood, first as an actress and then as a director

Valentina also talked about her passion for helping homeless people, 'because I have friends who don't have a home'

'When we are with more people I like it because it is like a secret because nobody speaks Spanish, because with my dad I speak French,' Valentina said.

What's more, Valentina wants to follow her mom into Hollywood, first as an actress and then as a director.

She will no doubt have a leg up thanks to her parents, but Valentina also talked about how importat it is to be passionate about fixing world's problems. In particular, she is moved by the problem of homelessness, 'because I have friends who don't have a home.'

To that end, she volunteers at a soup kitchen  and the people she has met there have opened her eyes.

Salma opened up about becoming a mother in her 40s, and said she almost retired from acting - but her husband, Francois-Henri Pinault, convinced her not to

Her husband convinced her that at some point I might miss my profession' and 'it allows me to unleash my creativity, and because I am an artist'

Valentina has recently begun accompanying her mom to events. The pair are pictured together in October 2021

'I learned that each person who is homeless has a different story,' she said. 'Everyone assumes they are homeless because of drugs or because they don't work.

'What's more, when you see someone sleeping on the street they have the same reaction: you're sorry, but you don't want to get close. I think it's important to get closer and listen rather than ignore them and believe that it's not your problem or our problem.'

Elsewhere in the interview, Salma opened up about becoming a mother in her 40s, saying that by that point in her life she felt that she 'had already done many things in my life' and was 'proud of' her accomplishments.

In fact, when she became a mom, she was ready to give up her acting career altogether  but her husband convinced her to get back to work 'because at some point I might miss my profession' and 'it allows me to unleash my creativity, and because I am an artist.'
The son of polygamous cult leader Warren Jeffs has opened up about growing up on an isolated compound where he had to call his father's child brides 'mom,' saying he was told his father was 'doing God's work' after he was arrested for sexual abuse.

Wendell Jeffson, 21, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), spoke out against his father and his insular community ahead of Tuesday's premiere of Peacock's new true-crime documentary 'Preaching Evil: A Wife on the Run with Warren Jeffs.'

'I grew up having moms that were 15 years old,' he told Insider. 'It's not right, but he was marrying 12-year-olds and I was told that they were my mom, and they weren't even that much older than me.'

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Wendell Jeffson, 21, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), has spoken out against his father, polygamous cult leader Warren Jeffs

Jeffs was convicted of sexually abusing two of his minor wives and sentenced to life in prison in 2011. Dozens of his brides are pictured liked up in front of his portrait

Jeffson, who changed his last name, appears in the documentary with his mother, Vicki Thompson, and his sister Sarah. The four-part series also features an interview with Jeffs' favorite wife and scribe, Naomi Jessop.

'Preaching Evil' explores how Jeffs became the leader of the FLDS Church and established his Yearning for Zion Ranch, a 1,700-acre compound near Eldorado, Texas, before his imprisonment.

The FLDS, a radical Mormon denomination, was founded in 1929 after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned polygamy in 1890 and excommunicated members who refused to give up the practice of plural marriage.

Jeffs grew up outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, in a polygamous household. His father, Rulon Jeffs, had around 75 wives and 65 children.

The FLDS holds polygamy as a fundamental belief, and its men take multiple wives in what are termed 'celestial marriages,' each performed in a ceremony called a 'sealing.'

Jeffson appears in Peacock's new true-crime documentary 'Preaching Evil: A Wife on the Run with Warren Jeffs' with his mother, Vicki Thompson (pictured), and his sister Sarah

The four-part series also features an interview with Jeffs' favorite wife and scribe, Naomi Jessop (pictured)

The FLDS, a radical offshoot of the Mormon Church, believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven and a number of the marriages arranged in the community involved underage girls

The church, which has an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 members, believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven and a number of the marriages arranged in the community involved underage girls.

Rulon became the spiritual leader of the religious sect in 1986 and was considered a prophet of God. Jeffs positioned himself as his successor before officially taking over as prophet following his father's death in 2002.

In his interview with Insider, Jeffson recalled how his father started separating his children from their mothers in Colorado City, Utah, and relocating them to his ranch in Texas, when he was three years old.

He has an early memory of his mother crying over their separation, but he explained that he wasn't old enough to understand what was going on. When he was reunited with his mother six months later, they all lived together in one large home on the compound.

Jeffson described being shut out from the outside world for most of his childhood. He couldn't play with toys and was required to work. Children at the ranch had to wake up at 5 a.m. to help with breakfast before they were sent to the fields to work until lunch.

Jeffs grew up outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, in a polygamous household. His father, Rulon Jeffs (pictured), had around 75 wives and 65 children

In an interview with Insider, Jeffson recalled how his father started separating his children from their mothers in Colorado City, Utah, and relocating them to his ranch in Texas after he became the leader of FLDS in 2002

Jeffson grew up on Yearning for Zion Ranch, a 1,700-acre compound near Eldorado, Texas. He said he wasn't allowed to play with toys and was required to work on the fields as a kid

Jeffson explained that his father would take child brides who were only a few years older than he was, and he 'grew up having moms that were 15 years old'

'There was no music, no internet, no TV, no movies, nothing of that nature,' he said of his father's strict rules. 'He just created an environment where we were only were exposed to things that he wanted us to be exposed to ... he had control over the way that we saw the outside world in every aspect.'

Jeffs was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List for arranging marriages between his followers and underage girls in 2006. That August, he was arrested during a traffic stop near Las Vegas, Nevada, on charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and rape that were issued in Utah and Arizona.

In 2008, police raided the ranch after being tipped off to underage marriages and sexual abuse while Jeffs was in prison.

'I remember those Texas rangers and the SWATs coming in with rifles and everything,' Jeffson told Fox News. 'I didnt know if I was going to survive. We had been taught that these people wanted to eliminate us. It felt like it only confirmed what Warren Jeffs had taught us.'

In 2006, Jeffs was arrested on charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and rape that were issued in Utah and Arizona. He is believed to have about 78 wives and at least 60 children

The FLDS continued without Jeffs (pictured in 2007). In 2008, police raided the ranch after being tipped off to underage marriages and sexual abuse

Jeffs has also been accused of sexually abusing his own children, as well as his niece and nephew, who have come forward with allegations. He is pictured in 2010 (left) and 2011 (right)

Jeffson, who was about seven at the time, was one of the roughly 437 children removed from the property by The Department of Family and Protective Services. He and his sister Sarah were in a state shelter for six weeks before they were allowed to leave with their mother.

Jeffs, who is believed to have about 78 wives and at least 60 children, was sentenced to life in prison in 2011 after being convicted of aggravated sexual assault of two children, ages 12 and 15, that he took as wives.

The FLDS leader has also been accused of sexually abusing some of his own children, as well as his niece and nephew, who have come forward with their allegations.

Jeffson told Insider that he had questioned his father's teachings for years but was hesitant to break free from the church because he was manipulated into thinking he would 'burn in hell' if he did.

When he was about to turn 18 and thinking about dating, his mother explained that he would be assigned a wife and forced into marriage like she was if they stayed in the FLDS.

Jeffson, his mother, and his sister have since left the FLDS. He is now engaged and living abroad without any content with his father

Jeffson's mother is remarried and recently welcomed a baby boy, while his sister is about to graduate high school

'Theres no hiding that he is a pedophile and deserves to be in prison. He ruined so many lives,' Jeffson told Fox news of his father

Jeffson, his mother, and his sister chose to leave the church, and for the first time in his life, he was able to watch television and chose what he ate. His newfound freedom also shined a light on his father's crimes and what it meant to take a child bride.

'Once I was taught these things, I was like, no wonder he's in jail,' he said. 'He was marrying 12-year-old girls and having sex with 12-year-old girls. He deserves to be in jail because he knew better.'

Jeffson's mother is remarried and recently welcomed a baby boy, while he is engaged and living in Guatemala. His sister is about to graduate high school.

He told Fox News that he doesn't have a relationship with his father, saying he has 'no control' over his life anymore. However, he knows that Jeffs still has loyal followers who think is a prophet and was wrongly convicted.

'He was cunning, very manipulative in the way he made everyone love him so much. And he hid it for so long,' Jeffson said. 'Theres no hiding that he is a pedophile and deserves to be in prison. He ruined so many lives.

'I hope people understand they have the freedom to get out from under his control so that they can live their own lives. People need to be careful and watch out for someone like him, who only had his own interests in mind.'
Queen Letizia of Spain cut an elegant figure in an emerald two-piece as she attended the Children and Youth Literary Awards in Madrid.

The 49-year-old wore a light green two-piece, comprised of a sleeveless draped top and high-waisted palazzo pants for the event at the Green Patio Space in Madrid.

Draping a white Felipe Varela coat over her shoulders for her arrival at the event, she completed her look with a pair of slingback Magrit pumps.

She wore her long brunette locks loose and accessorised her look with gold hoops, a statement ring and a matching bag.

The 49-year-old wore a light green two-piece, comprised of a sleeveless draped top and high-waisted palazzo pants as she attended the Children and Youth Literary Awards in Madrid

Queen Letizia exuded elegance as she clutched her gold handbag at the awards

The monarch was accompanied to the event by the Spanish Minister of Education Pilar Alegria, pictured

The monarch was accompanied to the event by the Spanish Minister of Education Pilar Alegria.

She greeted attendees and met with members of staff upon her arrival at the awards, which are also known as 'the Gran Angular' and 'El Barco De Vapor.'

The former journalist spoke with the Education Minister before appearing on stage to make a speech and give the winners their awards.

Queen Letizia is a lover of books and attends the awards in Madrid every April

She completed her outfit with a pair of slingback Magrit pumps for the Madrid awards

The 49-year-old grinned as she arrived at the awards tonight with the Education Minister Pilar Alegria

She is a lover of books and presents the awards every year. Many of her good friends are involved in the awards including Ana Prieto, director of editorial corporate communications at CNN until 2014.

This year's winners were Cristina Fernandez Valls and Gines Sanchez Munoz.

Queen Letizia stepped out for the awards days after attending the Miguel de Cervantes Prize celebrations with her husband King Felipe II.

The King and Queen spent a few days meeting with journalists and literary giants at the annual award ceremony.

The monarch sported golden eyeshadow and light lipstick as she smiled at the event

Many of the Spanish monarch's good friends are involved in the awards including Ana Prieto, director of editorial corporate communications at CNN until 2014

Queen Letizia stood on stage to make a speech and greet the award winners Cristina Fernandez Valls and Gines Sanchez Munoz

The former journalist spoke with the Education Minister before appearing on stage to make a speech and give the winners their awards

Queen Letizia smiles as she addresses the attendees of the Children and Youth Literary Awards

Queen Letizia holds one of the awards for tonight's winners and poses for a picture

This year the prestigious lifetime achievement award has been given to Uruguayan novelist Cristina Peri Rossi.

The 80-year-old writer has more than 37 works to her name including novels and poetry and is most well-known for her novel The Ship of Fools, published in 1984.

The Miguel de Cervantes Prize is considered the most coveted literary award in Spanish literature. The official ceremony takes place every year on 23 April.

Tomorrow Queen Letizia and her husband will preside over the proclamation ceremony for the winner of the 2022 Princess of Girona Foundation Award in the Scientific Research category.
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A clinical psychologist hired to review Amber Heard and Johnny Depp's relationship has claimed that the actress suffers from two personality disorders - and pointed out that symptoms of the disorders include 'taking on the personality' of loved ones and 'dressing like them' - days after Heard was accused of copying her ex-husband's courtroom outfits.

Exes Heard, 35, and Depp, 58 - who tied the knot in 2015, and were married for one year before Heard filed for divorce in 2016 - have been battling it out in court in recent weeks.

The trial, which is still underway in Virginia, is attempting to determine if a 2018 Washington Post essay written by Heard, in which she accused the actor of domestic abuse, defamed Depp.

Last week, many social media users accused Heard of purposely picking out clothes for the $100 million defamation trial that looked similar to ensembles that Depp previously wore in an attempt to 'play mind games' on him.

Now, a clinical psychologist has given a possible explanation as to why she might be attempting to dress like her ex-husband, and the doctor claimed that it's most likely because Heard suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

A clinical psychologist claimed Amber Heard suffers from two personality disorders - and pointed out that symptoms include 'taking on the personality' of loved ones, days after the actress was accused of copying Johnny Depp's courtroom outfits

Clinical psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry (pictured) has given a possible explanation as to why Heard might be attempting to dress like her ex-husband, claiming that it's most likely because Heard suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

Curry, who was called to the stand by Depp's legal team on Tuesday, explained that people with BPD - which she believes Heard (pictured) has - often have 'identity issues' which results in them dressing like the people 'they want to be around'

Clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry, who was called to the stand by Depp's legal team on Tuesday, explained that people with BPD often have 'identity issues' which results in them dressing like the people 'they want to be around.'

'They take on the personality of the people they want to be around. The way they dress. Interest. The way they talk,' explained Dr. Curry to the jury.

Exes Heard, 35, and Depp, 58 - who tied the knot in 2015, and were married for one year before Heard filed for divorce in 2016 - have been battling it out in court in recent weeks. Depp is pictured in court on Tuesday

On the first day of the trial, on April 11, Depp was seen wearing a Gucci tie, which had a bumblebee on it.

And two days later, on April 13, Heard sported a very similar tie, which also had a bee on it.

People also pointed out that Depp donned a gray suit for the first day of the trial, and Heard was then seen wearing a pants and shirt combo of the same color to the courthouse on April 12.

Then, on April 18, Depp showed up to court with his long hair pulled back into a ponytail.

The next day, on April 19, Heard had her long locks styled in a similar way - and many people thought it was not a coincidence.

He has also worn glasses during many days of the trial, and Heard was seen using a pair that looked just like his on April 21.

Depp has continuously denied Heard's allegations against him, and is seeking at least $50 million in compensatory damages and a punitive award of at least $350,000, along with attorneys' fees and court costs.

On the first day of the trial - on April 11 - Depp was seen wearing a Gucci tie, which had a bumblebee on it (left). And two days later - on April 13 - Heard sported a very similar tie, which also had a bee pin on it (right)

People also pointed out that Depp donned a gray suit for the first day of the trial on April 11 (left), and Heard was then seen wearing a pants and shirt combo of the same color to the courthouse on April 12 (right)

Then, on April 18, Depp showed up to court with his long hair pulled back into a ponytail (left). The next day, on April 19, Heard had her long locks styled in a similar way (right) - and many people thought it was not a coincidence

The clinical and forensic psychologist told the court that she concluded Heard had traits consistent with (BPD), as well as Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD) - two conditions found in people with patterns of emotional instability and attention-seeking behavior.

While conducting her evaluation, Curry explained she reviewed various case materials including Heard's medical records, mental health treatment records, court exhibits, witness statements, and audio and video recordings.

She also met with the Aquaman star for several hours over the course of two separate dates in December 2021, before finally coming to a diagnosis.

She concluded that Heard 'grossly exaggerated' her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after her relationship with Depp ended.

Dr. Curry noted that Heard's BPD was marked by an 'underlying terror of abandonment,' and added that somebody with the condition often tends to make 'desperate attempts' to stop it from happening. These could be 'very extreme behaviors,' she added.

Curry also said that as a result of these disorders, somebody like Heard could appear charming at the start of a friendship or relationship, but that they could then turn dark easily.

'You'll see relationships start very intensely, extremely close,' she said.

'This might be their perfect soulmate and initially everything seems great but reality sets in, people are not perfect.

The clinical and forensic psychologist told the court that she concluded Heard had traits consistent with (BPD), as well as Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD). Heard is pictured in court on Tuesday

While conducting her evaluation, Curry explained she reviewed various case materials including Heard's medical records, mental health treatment records, court exhibits, witness statements, and audio and video recordings. Heard is pictured in court on Tuesday

She concluded that Heard 'grossly exaggerated' her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after her relationship with Depp ended. The actor is pictured in court on April 20

'Most of us accept people as a whole, [but] with a person with BPD, things are in these extremes - that person goes from being idealized to dumpster, they are totally devalued, they're the worst.

'Then there will be a repair because the person with this disorder does feel remorse.'

Curry stated that somebody with BPD is usually 'very, very interested in looks and utilizes their looks to get the respect they're looking for.'

Curry called Heard a 'sophisticated' and 'calculated' case of BPD - adding that from her analysis, Heard seemed like somebody who would 'hit you where it hurts' and that she could be 'very, very destructive.'

Meanwhile, the hallmarks of HPD, Dr. Curry explained, include an 'overly dramatic presentation' and 'quick shifts between emotions,' such as going from animated to sad very quickly.

Those with HPD have a 'hypersensitivity to being slighted' and could melt down in the middle of a restaurant if somebody showed up two minutes later, Curry said.

She added: 'They will make a lot of accusations, reactivity, a lot of escalation, they can react aggressively, physically prevent partners from trying to leave.

'Often they will be abusive to their partners, sometimes physically restrain them.'

She stated that people with HPD, such as Heard, live a life marked by 'drama and shallowness,' adding that the underlying drive is to 'always be the center of attention' and without it, a person with HPD would feel 'pretty empty.'

Dr. Curry testified that she was initially hired early last year to review files in the legal battle between the two feuding exes and identify behavior in their relationship that may be consistent with 'intimate partner violence.'

Several people took to Twitter last week to share their thoughts on Depp and Heard's similar looks, with one calling her 'sick in the head' for 'mimicking' his clothes

The psychology expert, however, revealed that her role would shift several months later in October, when she was asked to provide a psychological evaluation of Heard instead.

Every aspect of the trial has been heavily covered by the media and compulsively analyzed by thousands of fans around the world - including what the two stars have worn each day.

Tons of viewers took to Twitter to share their thoughts on Depp and Heard's alike looks last week, with one calling her 'sick in the head' for 'mimicking' his clothes.

They wrote: 'Is anyone gonna address why Amber is mimicking Johnny's outfits every day? This woman is sick in the head.'

'Amber Heard is playing mind games with Johnny Depp by copying his outfits in court,' added another person.

'The fact that Amber Heard is copying Johnny [Depp's] court outfits is something else... Nobody would ever copy their abusers outfits,' said someone else.

Others took to TikTok to discuss Heard and Depp's outfits, with some videos showing off their similar looks racking up millions of views. Stills from a TikTok video in which the user discussed their matching Gucci ties are shown

Every aspect of the trial has been heavily covered by the media and compulsively analyzed by thousands of fans around the world - including what the two stars have worn each day. Heard is pictured on April 18 (left) while Depp is pictured on April 21 (right)

Some people were especially outraged by Heard's choice of clothing, since Depp's sister Christi Dembrowski testified in court that she once overheard Heard slamming Depp's sense of style. He is pictured in court on April 12

'Amber Heard is very scary and manipulative! I realized that she is dressing and mimicking the same outfits Johnny is wearing everyday during this trial,' read a fourth tweet.

A different user tweeted, 'Amber Heard actively copying Johnny's outfits every day at court is freaking me the Hell out, like, b***h, you are crazy, what the Hell?'

'Amber Heard is unhinged,' agreed someone else. 'We knew that, but shorty wearing the same outfits as Johnny Depp in court is next level.'

Another person said they thought she was trying to 'ensure she's still messing with her victim' by copying his outfits, and called it 'disgusting;' while a different Twitter user claimed it 'screamed psychological abuse.'

'The man is literally in court and she's still mocking him,' they added.

'Amber Heard mirroring all of Johnny Depp's outfits is a continued attempt to torment her victim,' wrote another person. 'Didn't think she could be more vile.'

Others took to TikTok to discuss Heard and Depp's similar outfits, with some videos showing off their looks racking up millions of views.

Some people were especially outraged by Heard's choice of clothing since Depp's sister Christi Dembrowski testified in court that she once overheard Heard slamming Depp's sense of style.

'Johnny told Amber that I had just had a meeting with Dior and they were interested in him,' Dembrowski stated.

'Her reaction to that was she was in disbelief and sort of disgust because she said, "Dior - why would Dior want to do business with you? They are about class and they are about style and you dont have style."

'It was insulting. Taking away that one moment, that insult is there.'

In the 2018 article in question, Heard wrote about being a survivor of domestic abuse but never mentioned Depp by name.

However, Depp's lawyer Benjamin Chew said it was clear Heard was referencing the Hollywood leading man.

The trial, which is still underway in Virginia, is attempting to determine if a 2018 Washington Post essay written by Heard (pictured right on April 13), in which she accused the actor of domestic abuse, defamed Depp (pictured left on April 12)

Depp (pictured left on April 14) has continuously denied Heard's (pictured right on April 18) allegations against him, and is seeking at least $50 million in compensatory damages and a punitive award of at least $350,000, along with attorneys' fees and court costs

Depp was accused of slapping the American actress three times in 2013, after she laughed at his infamous 'Wino Forever' tattoo, and attacking her in a cocaine and alcohol-fueled tirade over accusations that she cheated on him with 'rapist' James Franco.

During the trial, Depp stated that Heard (pictured on April 20) was the one who became violent when their relationship soured

But now, nearly seven years after Depp and Heard tied the knot, the Pirates of the Caribbean star stated in court that Heard was the one who became violent when their relationship soured.

Depp claimed that the couple had frequent arguments that included 'demeaning name calling' and 'bullying' by her, when he took the stand last Wednesday.

He also claimed that Heard threw a bottle of vodka at him during an argument which ensued after he asked her to sign a prenup in 2015, and resulted in his middle finger being cut off.

The star also accused her of spreading human fecal matter on his side of their shared bed in 2016.

Attorneys for Heard have argued that she told the truth in her piece, and that her opinion was protected as free speech under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

Heard is seeking $100 million in damages, and has alleged that his legal team falsely accused her of fabricating the claims against Depp.
A single mum's idea of all-in-one travel bed for children has led to a business that's turned over more than $1.1million dollars.

Johanna Constable, from Tweed Coast in New South Wales, launched Pilanky in March 2009 after listening to the needs of parents while selling handmade products at local monthly markets.

The roll-up bed is the brand's 'hero product' and features a comfortable mattress, pillow, detachable double-width sheet and blanket.

From humble beginnings, the 50-year-old only made $5,000 in the first year and now the brand turns over $200,000 annually.

Single mum Johanna Constable, from Tweed Coast in New South Wales, (pictured) launched Pilanky in March 2009 after listening to the needs of parents while selling handmade products at local monthly markets

The roll-up bed is the brand's 'hero product' and features a comfortable mattress, pillow, detachable double-width sheet and blanket (pictured)

The brand also sells a portable nappy change bag (pictured), which includes a waterproof lining, two hand towels and washers, Paw Paw ointment, baby wipes and disposable nappy bags

'I thought it would be great to have an all-in-one bed with a detachable sheet and blanket that's machine washable to make it easier for parents to carry everything,' Johanna told Daily Mail Australia.

Before launching Johanna knew she wanted to avoid returning to her corporate job and provide for her daughter, Rosana.

'More than anything, I wanted to spend quality time with my daughter and keep a roof over our heads. I also loved to sew,' Johanna said and quickly started working on creating the product.

Being a single mum who wasn't working, she relied on Centrelink payments and said the beginning was a 'struggle'.

She purchased fabric from Spotlight and invested only a 'couple hundred dollars' to get the business up and running, as it was all she could afford.

Before launching the brand, Johanna knew she wanted to avoid returning to her corporate job and provide for her daughter, Rosana (pictured together)

The busy mum crafted the handy blankets while her daughter slept and sold the products at monthly markets.

'It was a struggle at first and I had to live extremely frugally,' she said, adding: 'It's been a long, hard road.'

In the first year she only made $5,000 as the markets were infrequent, but the second year she turned over $15,000 and by 2012 she was making $50,000 annually after moving to the Gold Coast.

'I was selling at markets three times a week compared to once a month,' she said.

In 2017 she launched a television commercial to show exactly what the product is and how it works which generated $150,000.

Since then she's sold the products exclusively online and the word has spread.

'I'm quite a positive person so I never thought about giving up,' she said.

In 2017 she launched a television commercial to show exactly what the product is and how it works and turned over $150,000 (pictured, her daughter on one of the beds)

'More than anything, I wanted to spend quality time with my daughter and keep a roof over our heads. I also loved to sew,' Johanna (pictured) said

Today Johanna continues to make the products by hand using her beloved sewing machine with assistance from two part-time women who help with preparing the fabric.

'I work 12-hour days, 80-hour weeks, but enjoy what I do and I'm able to structure my days around my daughter,' she said.

Johanna has extended the product range and now makes miniature roll-out Pilanky blankets, pet Pilanky blankets and more.

In 2019 the brand won silver at the AusMumpreneur regional awards and was a gold finalist in 2020.
Hundreds of shoppers were left baffled after a dad's five-year-old son spotted a mysterious code printed on a blueberry.

Callum, believed to be from the UK, was concerned after noticing the tiny multi-digit number and shared an image on the fruit to a popular Facebook group.

'Anyone ever seen lettering on blueberries? Our eagle-eyed five-year-old spotted this,' he asked.

Many conspiracy theorists flooded the thread, however it was soon explained that the coding 'isn't dangerous or mysterious at all'.

Dad Callum shared an image to a popular Facebook group of the 'coded' blueberry (pictured). At first he was concerned but a woman offered an explanation

'They laser print the fruit boxes, it's gone through a little hole onto the blueberry instead of the box! Not harmful though  it's done with air compression or something so it's so delicate,' a woman wrote.

After reading the comment, Callum inspected the box the blueberry was found in.

In response he wrote: 'It seems that you are correct! The side of the carton was laser engraved with the matching letters...I'm impressed that it etched so neatly on the blueberry without harming it at all.'

Other parents shared humorous conspiracy theories, including the code was a signal that the blueberry was 'micro-chipped' or held 'secret' government information.

'They laser print the fruit boxes, it's gone through a little hole onto the blueberry instead of the box! Not harmful though  it's done with air compression or something so it's so delicate,' the woman wrote in the comments (stock image)

After reading the entertaining responses, Callum found a definitive answer.

'On the side of the plastic punnet there are the same letters and numbers. It seems they do this with a CO2 etching device,' he wrote.

'This must have been done after the fruit was packed. This one blueberry was also etched through the plastic.

'CO2 etching seems to be gentle enough to not harm the surface of the blueberry. So I've learned something new! Hope you have too.'
Adventurous Aussies are flocking to a secluded beach with crystal clear rock pools perfect for swimming, snorkelling and catching a glimpse of the native marine life.

Bushrangers Bay is a rocky aquatic reserve just south of Shellharbour village and is said to be one of the best diving and snorkelling spots in New South Wales.

Less than a two hour's drive from Sydney, the sheltered site is the perfect day trip escape for nature lovers.

Ocean lovers have called Bushranger's Bay one of the best snorkelling and diving spots in New South Wales for its crystal clear rock pools

Bushrangers Bay is a rocky aquatic reserve just south of Shellharbour village less than a two hours from Sydney

The sheltered snorkelling and swimming site is the perfect day trip escape for nature lovers

Tourists to the area have been capturing incredible snaps of the rugged coastline's glass-clear turquoise waters that jut out from the rocky shore.

Visitors have called Bushranger Bay a 'true treasure' for its incredible rockpools swimming with native fauna.

'Beautiful doesn't do the place justice. Some of the most amazing snorkelling on the south coast. Plenty of aquatic life and crayfish to be seen,' one person wrote while another simply called the spectacular beach a 'hidden gem'.

Some lucky beachgoers may spot the resident Port Jackson or Grey Nurse sharks, rays, fish, invertebrates and coral in the shallows or the whales and seals further offshore.

Visitors have called Bushranger Bay a 'true treasure' for its incredible rockpools swimming with native fauna

'Beautiful doesn't do the place justice. Some of the most amazing snorkelling on the South Coast. Plenty of aquatic life and crayfish to be seen,' one person wrote

Some lucky beachgoers may spot the resident Port Jackson or Grey Nurse sharks, rays, fish, invertebrates and coral in the shallows or the whales and seals further offshore

The reserve has a 'no take' rule so there's no fishing or shell collecting allowed and touching the delicate coral is prohibited as they can break easily

Adventurers can also explore the Bushrangers Bay reserve's nearby walking trails through the lush forest and site seeing spots to take in the picturesque views of the stunning coastline.

The reserve has a 'no take' rule so there's no fishing or shell collecting allowed and touching the delicate coral is prohibited as they can break easily.

Visitors are also advised to wear proper shoes as the rocky shore can sharp and difficult to walk on in some places.
Ebola has claimed its second victim in the Democratic Republic of Congo amid a fresh resurgence of the deadly virus.

Local health chiefs are now scrambling to contain the outbreak, which began two weeks ago.

The first case  a 31-year-old man from Mbandaka in the Equater province  died from the killer virus on April 21. His 25-year-old sister-in-law is the second victim of the outbreak.

No-one else has tested positive so far but doctors are monitoring 145 people who came into contact with the two confirmed cases.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional director for Africa, said: 'Time is not on our side.'

Pictured: A woman is given an Ebola vaccine as part of a trial in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2019

Speaking after the first death, Dr Moeti said: 'The disease has had a two-week head start and we are now playing catch-up.'

Genetic testing showed the 31-year-old man's infection was a new 'spillover event'  transmission from an infected animal, such as bats, porcupines or primates.

It is not linked to any previous outbreaks, according to the DRC's National Institute of Biomedical Research.

He began showing symptoms on April 5, but did not seek treatment for more than a week. The man had also reportedly been vaccinated against Ebola before.

His sister-in-law began experiencing symptoms 12 days before she died.

Congo has seen 13 previous outbreaks of Ebola, including one in 2018-2020 in the east that killed nearly 2,300 people, the second highest toll recorded in the history of the haemorrhagic fever.

The most recent outbreak ended in December in the east after six deaths.

Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur province, has also contended with two previous outbreaks.

The country's equatorial forests are a natural reservoir for the Ebola virus, which was discovered near the Ebola River in northern Congo in 1976.

Ebola kills around half of people it infects, and the mortality rate has been as high as 90 percent during some surges.

The virus spreads very easily and can quickly tear through populations. Contact with bodily fluids of a person sick with the virus can quickly cause infection, and the virus can also contaminate surfaces to transmit the virus.

Ebola vaccines and treatments are beginning to become more widely available, and researchers are hopeful it can put an end to this extremely deadly disease.
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A global surge in mysterious hepatitis cases in children may have been caused by lockdown and social distancing, health chiefs have warned as cases in the US rose to 11.

Officials probing the outbreak in Britain said a lack of exposure to common infections during their 'formative' years may have left more children than usual vulnerable to the deadly liver disease.

Many experts warned during the pandemic that locking down children, despite their low risk of severe Covid, could weaken their immunity against other illnesses, as well as hamper their education and long-term health.

Officials have ruled out the Covid vaccine as a possible cause, with none of the 11 US cases being jabbed, and they say it's unlikely Covid itself is playing a role.

So far 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' have been detected in 12 countries since last October, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced.

The vast majority of cases have been among children age five and under, and so far one youngster has died and 17 have needed critical liver transplants.

Nine cases have been spotted in Alabama and two in North Carolina, however experts told DailyMail.com Monday they may be the 'tip of the iceberg', as many symptoms are missed.

Three-quarters of cases in the UK have been linked to adenoviruses, which usually cause the common cold. However, if someone's immune system is unable to fight off the virus, it can develop into hepatitis.

There are also fears that a strain of adenovirus may have mutated to become more severe.

The World Health Organization said it has received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries as of Saturday

Covid lockdowns may be behind the mysterious spate of hepatitis cases in children because they reduced social mixing and weakened their immunity, experts claim

WHAT COULD BE BEHIND THE HEPATITIS OUTBREAK? While experts believe adenovirus  a virus associated with many common colds  could be behind the spate of cases, the jury is out on what the exact cause of the outbreak is. Co-infection One theory suggests children being infected with Covid and adenovirus at the same time could be at greater risk of hepatitis. Weakened immunity British experts have suggested lockdowns and restrictions have put children at greater risk because they have lower natural immunity to adenovirus. Adenovirus mutation Other scientists said it may have been an adenovirus that has acquired 'unusual mutations'. New Covid variant UKHSA officials included 'a new variant of SARS-CoV-2' in their working hypotheses, when discussing the variant at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today. Advertisement

The first cases were spotted in Scotland less than a month ago, prompting a warning from UK health officials who say they have detected as many cases in three months as they would expect to see in a year.

The majority of cases have been spotted in under-5s who were initially hit with diarrhea and nausea before later getting jaundice  the yellowing of the skin/eyes.

Other symptoms can include dark urine, grey-colored feces, itchy skin, muscle pain, a fever, lethargy, loss of appetite and stomach pains.

Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at the UK Health Security Agency, told the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Lisbon Monday that younger children were getting infected by the virus as they had not been exposed to it 'during the formative stages that they've gone through during the pandemic'.

Hepatologists today told DailyMail.com they believe the official numbers may be just the 'tip of the iceberg' because many parents may brush off the warning signs.

Professor Simon Taylor-Robinson, a hepatologist from Imperial College London, said: 'I think there are more cases out there.

'I'd imagine there are more cases than have been reported  but they are likely to be less severe.'

But he added there is no reason to panic because in '99 per cent' of cases the liver is able to regenerate and the chances of needing a transplant or dying because of the condition are low.

Professor Alastair Sutcliffe, a paediatrician from University College London, told MailOnline mounting cases are 'a concerning and depressing situation for families' but parents should not fear. Up to 20 per cent of hepatitis cases have no known cause.

He said: 'What is for families to consider [is] if their child develops jaundice after the first few months of life they need medical attention fast.

'But that is true of any child who develops jaundice after the first few months of life so is not new advice. With one death and no known cause life should continue as before. Nothing is more fearful than fear itself.'

None of the cases have been caused by any of the five typical strains of the virus  hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.

Data gathered has 'increasingly' suggested that the rise in severe cases of hepatitis may be linked to a group of viruses called adenoviruses, the UKHSA said.

Adenovirus was found in 75 per cent of the sickened children who were tested for it in the UK. Sixteen per cent had Covid.

The UKHSA's Dr Chand said: 'Information gathered through our investigations increasingly suggests that this rise in sudden onset hepatitis in children is linked to adenovirus infection.

'However, we are thoroughly investigating other potential causes.

'Parents and guardians should be alert to the signs of hepatitis (including jaundice) and to contact a healthcare professional if they are concerned.

'Normal hygiene measures such as thorough handwashing (including supervising children) and good thorough respiratory hygiene, help to reduce the spread of many common infections, including adenovirus.

'Children experiencing symptoms of a gastrointestinal infection including vomiting and diarrhoea should stay at home and not return to school or nursery until 48 hours after the symptoms have stopped.'

The agency also said the number of admissions for the mysterious hepatitis so far in 2022 'is equivalent or greater than the number of admissions annually in previous years'.

Top experts have speculated that Covid lockdowns may partly explain the mysterious spate of hepatitis cases, by weakening children's immunity and leaving them at heightened risk of adenovirus.

Professor Taylor-Robinson told DailyMail.com: 'I think it is likely that children mixing in kindergartens and schools have lower immunity to seasonal adenoviruses than in previous years because of restrictions.

'This means they could be more at risk of developing hepatitis because their immune response is weaker to the virus.'

The WHO has received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries. Thirteen cases have been detected in Spain, 12 in Israel, and 11 in the US.

Elsewhere, cases have also been detected in Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Romania.

UKHSA data shows there were 111 confirmed and possible hepatitis cases in the UK as of April 20. Of these, 81 cases were in England (white bars), 14 were in Scotland (blue bars), 11 were in Wales (red bars) and five in Northern Ireland (green bars). Between January 21 and April 18, 10 children have required liver transplantation

Hepatitis cases have been tested for other pathogens when they were admitted to hospital. Adenovirus (far left bar) was the most common pathogen detected in 40 of 53 cases which have been tested, followed by SARS-CoV-2 (second bar)

Health chiefs linked Covid and adenovirus data. This shows there has been a rise in both preceding adenovirus infections (grey bars), co-infections (navy bars) and secondary infection (blue bars)

UKHSA data shows positive adenovirus tests from one to four-year-olds (green line) are higher compared to the previous five years. Between November 2021 to March 2022, approximately 200 to 300 cases of adenovirus were reported per week compared to 50 to 150 cases per week in the same period before the pandemic

The first hepatitis cases were recorded in Britain, where 114 children have now been sickened. Thirteen cases have been detected in Spain, 12 in Israel and 11 in the US  including nine in Alabama and two in North Carolina.

The unusual illness has also been spotted in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Norway, Romania and Belgium.

UK Health Security Agency experts were called to a briefing at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today to present data around the current situation in Britain.

Dr Muge Cevik, an infectious diseases expert based at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland, said Covid was a possible explanation.

But she said: 'Acute severe hepatitis hasn't been a common feature of Covid in children, so it's less likely to explain this presentation.

'Adenovirus [Common cold virus] was detected in 40 of 53 cases, but not all cases are tested. Adenovirus testing has been inconsistent in other samples, and it's too early to confirm characterization.

'It's important for all countries to share their data once available.'

Professor Graham Cooke, an expert in infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said it is unlikely Covid was responsible.

He said: 'Mild hepatitis is very common in children following a range of viral infections, but what is being seen at the moment is quite different.

'If the hepatitis was a result of Covid it would be surprising not to see it more widely distributed across the country given the high prevalence of (Covid) at the moment.'

A virology specialist at Imperial told The Telegraph it is 'very unusual and rare' for children to suffer severe hepatitis, especially to the extent that they require a liver transplant.

The expert, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'The number of cases is exceptional.

'It makes people think there is something unusual going on  such as a virus that has mutated or some other cause. It has sent alarm bells ringing.'

Hepatitis numbers in children may just be the 'tip of the iceberg', experts claim amid growing fears over the mysterious global outbreak which has officially killed one youngster and sickened 169

By Joe Davies, Health Reporter for MailOnline

Dozens of mysterious hepatitis cases spotted in children could be just 'the tip of the iceberg', experts warned today amid growing concerns about the mysterious global outbreak.

Nearly 170 youngsters have been sickened around the world since the first case was detected in Scotland at the end of March, according to the World Health Organization. One has died and 17 have needed liver transplants.

But leading virologists fear the real toll could actually be magnitudes higher because many parents may brush off the warning signs.

Jaundice  the yellowing of the skin or eyes, a tell-tale sign of liver disease  has been spotted in fewer than half of the ill children. Other symptoms, such as nausea, diarrhoea, lethargy and stomach pains are usually put down to other illnesses, such as food poisoning or norovirus.

Professor Simon Taylor-Robinson, a hepatologist from Imperial College London, told MailOnline: 'I think there are more cases out there. [17 transplants] is quite a high number for how many cases we have spotted.

'I'd imagine there are more cases than have been reported  but they are likely to be less severe.'

Asked if this could be the tip of iceberg, Professor Taylor-Robinson said: 'I think so yes'.

Twelve countries have spotted cases of the hepatitis of unknown origin, with 114 British children and 11 Americans known to have been sickened.

Health chiefs believe the illness may be triggered by an adenovirus  usually to blame for the sniffles. Experts say lockdowns may have weakened the immunity of children and left them more susceptible to the virus, or it may be a mutated version.

Investigations are ongoing but officials have yet to rule out a new Covid variant being to blame. Another theory is that children may have been battling the adenovirus at the same time as Covid.

UK health officials have ruled out the Covid vaccine as a possible cause, with none of the ill British children having been vaccinated because of their young age. None of the cases in the US were jabbed either.

The World Health Organization said it has received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries as of Saturday

Covid lockdowns may be behind the mysterious spate of hepatitis cases in children because they reduced social mixing and weakened their immunity, experts claim

Professor Taylor-Robinson told MailOnline: 'I think it is likely that children mixing in kindergartens and schools have lower immunity to seasonal adenoviruses than in previous years because of restrictions.

'This means they could be more at risk of developing hepatitis because their immune response is weaker to the virus.'

He said children are less likely to complain about symptoms than adults  and urged parents to be alert to early issues including stomach pains and yellowing eyes.

But he added there is no reason to panic because in '99 per cent' of cases the liver is able to regenerate and the chances of needing a transplant or dying because of the condition are low.

WHAT COULD BE BEHIND THE HEPATITIS OUTBREAK? While experts believe adenovirus  a virus associated with many common colds  could be behind the spate of cases, the jury is out on what the exact cause of the outbreak is. Co-infection One theory suggests children being infected with Covid and adenovirus at the same time could be at greater risk of hepatitis. Weakened immunity British experts have suggested lockdowns and restrictions have put children at greater risk because they have lower natural immunity to adenovirus. Adenovirus mutation Other scientists said it may have been an adenovirus that has acquired 'unusual mutations'. New Covid variant UKHSA officials included 'a new variant of SARS-CoV-2' in their working hypotheses, when discussing the variant at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today. Advertisement

Professor Alastair Sutcliffe, a paediatrician at University College London, told MailOnline mounting cases are a 'a concerning and depressing situation for families' but parents should not fear.

He said: 'What is for families to consider [is] if their child develops jaundice after the first few months of life they need medical attention fast.

'But that is true of any child who develops jaundice after the first few months of life so is not new advice.

'With one death and no known cause life should continue as before. Nothing is more fearful than fear itself.'

World Health Organization (WHO) bosses have received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries.

Cases were detected in children aged one month to 16, the majority of whom have been hospitalised. The WHO has not disclosed which country the only known death occurred in.

The first hepatitis cases were recorded in Britain, where 114 children have now been sickened. Thirteen cases have been detected in Spain, 12 in Israel and 11 in the US  including nine in Alabama and two in North Carolina.

The unusual illness has also been spotted in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Norway, Romania and Belgium.

The WHO said: 'It is not yet clear if there has been an increase in hepatitis cases, or an increase in awareness of hepatitis cases that occur at the expected rate but go undetected.'

However, other scientists have suggested the amount of severe cases in children is unusual.

Richard Pebody, who heads the high threats pathogen team at the WHO, told STAT News: 'Although the numbers aren't big, the consequences have been quite severe. It's important that countries look.'

None of the cases have been caused by any of the five typical strains of the virus  hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.

Experts say the cases may be linked to a virus commonly associated with colds, known as an adenovirus, but that further research is ongoing.

'While adenovirus is a possible hypothesis, investigations are ongoing for the causative agent,' WHO said.

It noted that the cold-like virus has been detected in at least 74 of the cases  however not all children were tested.

And 19 of the patients also had a Covid co-infection. One more child had Covid but not the adenovirus.

Experts are probing whether the cases are linked to the two viruses.

UK Health Security Agency experts were called to a briefing at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today to present data around the current situation in Britain.

Scientists claimed they could not rule out Covid as a possible cause of the outbreak  and also suggested a new coronavirus variant could be behind it.

Dr Muge Cevik, an infectious diseases expert at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland, warned the virus was a possible explanation  but noted hepatitis has 'not been a common feature' of infections in children.

'Acute severe hepatitis has not been a common feature of Covid in children, so it's less likely to explain this presentation,' he said.

'Adenovirus [Common cold virus] was detected in 40 of 53 cases, but not all cases are tested. Adenovirus testing has been inconsistent in other samples, and it's too early to confirm characterization.

'It's important for all countries to share their data once available.'

British scientists have also suggested that lockdowns may have played a contributing role, weakening children's immunity and leaving them at heightened risk of adenovirus.

Others said the cases may be the result of a virus that has acquired 'unusual mutations'.

Only 80 per cent of hepatitis have an identifiable cause, experts said.

Professor Graham Cooke, an expert in infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said it is unlikely Covid was responsible.

He said: 'Mild hepatitis is very common in children following a range of viral infections, but what is being seen at the moment is quite different.

'If the hepatitis was a result of Covid it would be surprising not to see it more widely distributed across the country given the high prevalence of (Covid) at the moment.'

A virology specialist at Imperial told The Telegraph it is 'very unusual and rare' for children to suffer severe hepatitis, especially to the extent that they require a liver transplant.

The expert, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'The number of cases is exceptional.

'It makes people think there is something unusual going on  such as a virus that has mutated or some other cause. It has sent alarm bells ringing.'

Hepatitis often has no noticeable symptoms  but they can include dark urine, pale grey-coloured faeces, 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 faeces of an infected person or blood-to-blood or sexual contact.
Russian attack has cut off water to desperate Ukrainians who are running out of food.

Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk, accused the Kremlin of targeting electrical plants and water pumps to punish Ukraine's people. Officials in Luhansk warned last week that Russian soldiers had purposefully targeted the eastern region's food supplies. They attacked the strategic city of Sievierodonetsk with missiles, destroying all food stores, marketplaces, and businesses.

Russia Targets Supply Sources in Ukraine

The city's 100,000-strong population has shrunk by 17,000 people, who are now depending on handouts. According to Luhansk officials, there were 7,500 power outages in the preceding 24 hours, and nearly the whole region was without water. Russia has denied attacking civilian facilities on several occasions, stating that all of the army's strikes are directed at military objectives.

Last week, the United Nations reported that six million Ukrainians were fighting for safe drinking water daily. According to the report, Russian strikes in besieged regions of the nation have resulted in at least 4.6 million people having 'limited access to water sources.

Water shortages pose serious health hazards, particularly to children and the elderly. Using contaminated water can lead to diarrhea and other dangerous infectious disorders, according to aid organizations.

Last night, a spokesman for Ukraine's armed forces, Alexander Stupun, said that Russian troops were taking food and drink in seized Luhansk. Targeting food and water sources would be against international law and the Geneva Convention, which governs armed combat across the world, according to Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, Russia encouraged the international community not to underestimate the serious risks of nuclear war, which it claimed it intended to reduce, and warned that conventional Western weapons might be used as legitimate targets in eastern Ukraine where hostilities were raging.

Lavrov was asked if the present situation was comparable to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, a low period in US-Soviet ties. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin offered greater military help to Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv on Sunday. The US State Department issued an emergency declaration on Monday to authorize a potential $165 million munitions shipment to Ukraine.

The cargo might include artillery ammunition for howitzers, tanks, and grenade launchers, according to the Pentagon. The Russian ambassador to the United States warned the US to stop supplies, saying that Western weaponry was inflaming the conflict. Russia's two-month invasion of Ukraine, the worst attack on a European country since 1945, has killed or injured thousands of people, Reuters via MSN reported.

Read Also: USA, China, India Spend the Most as Global Military Expenses Reach $2 Trillion Mark; Russia Increases Budget Before War

Russia Declares War With NATO

Moscow says it is at war with NATO and claims that Western armaments are escalating the situation in Ukraine. Because of continuing supplies and military supply to Ukraine, Lavrov said on the 61st day of the war that the NATO alliance has positioned itself as in essence engaged in war with Russia.

Lavrov has previously stated that there was a significant chance of the war progressing to nuclear weapons. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, but its soldiers have now completely retreated from Kyiv and parts of northern Ukraine, returning to Belarus and Russia.

The Russian-controlled port city of Mariupol is now mostly under Russian control, and a large-scale Russian attack in eastern Ukraine has commenced with the goal of "full liberation" of the Donbas, Donetsk and Luhansk's eastern territories, as per Sky News.

Related Article: Russia Fires Missiles On 5 Ukraine Railway Stations Hours After US Top Officials Blinken and Austin Ride Train to Kyiv

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A three-year-old girl struck down with the mysterious hepatitis sweeping the world has been spared death  after receiving part of her father's liver.

Lola-Rose Raine, from Gravesend, Kent, is one of nearly 200 children to fall ill with the same liver disease that has perplexed experts in recent months.

After initially writing her vomiting off as just a stomach bug, Lola-Rose's parents grew concerned when her eyes developed a yellow tinge  a hallmark sign of hepatitis.

Hospital scans revealed her liver was not working normally and she was taken to a specialist unit at Kings College Hospital in London in March.

But days after arriving her liver began to fail, with medics forced to put her in a coma. Doctors warned she could have died within hours unless they found a last-minute transplant.

Her father Alan Raine, 27, who works in security, told MailOnline that it was like 'literally watching our little girl die before our eyes' as he waited to hear if his liver would be a match. He donated part of his liver to save his dying daughter on March 30 in an operation that lasted seven hours.

Despite being told of the risks, Mr Raine said it was a choice between donating his liver or having his heart 'torn out' watching his child suffer.

Almost a month after the surgery, Lola-Rose has made a full recovery and will be discharged from hospital this week.

Alan Raine, from Gravesend, Kent, was told he could donate part of his organ to save his daughter Lola-Rose just hours before doctors feared she would die because of the inflammatory liver condition

Now, four weeks after her surgery, Lola-Rose is back to being herself, singing Frozen songs at three in the morning 'for all the ward to hear', Mr Raine said

The World Health Organization said it has received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries as of Saturday. Two further cases were identified in North Carolina, US, since then

TIMELINE: WHEN DID LOLA-ROSE FIRST BECOME ILL AND HOW WAS SHE TREATED? March 13 Lola-Rose begins throwing up and her mother Jane McNeill spots her eyes have gone yellow. She is taken to Darent Valley Hospital for treatment March 17 Lola is transferred to King's College Hospital in London, where doctors still don't know the cause of her liver damage. March 21 Doctors discover Lola's liver damage may have been caused by adenovirus. They give her medication through an IV drip. March 25 Lola is put in an induced coma after doctors discover an ammonia build-up causing her brain to swell. March 26 Lola is put on the urgent transplant list for a liver. March 30 Lola's father Alan goes under the knife to donate the left part of his liver to his daughter. April 26 Lola has fully recovered and is expected to leave hospital this week. Advertisement

So far 'around 190' unexplained cases of hepatitis have been identified across the world, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control announced today.

Data on cases varies, with the ECDC admitting that these figures are not yet precise.

The WHO announced on Saturday 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' have been detected in 12 countries since last October, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

A further two cases were diagnosed in North Carolina US after that.

The ECDC toll also slightly undercounts the figures in the UK.

The vast majority of cases have been among children aged five and under, and so far one youngster has died and 17 have needed critical liver transplants.

Some 114 have been spotted in the UK, however experts have told MailOnline they may be the 'tip of the iceberg' as many symptoms are missed.

Three-quarters of cases in the UK have been linked to adenoviruses, which usually cause the common cold or a stomach illness.

However, if someone's immune system is unable to fight off the virus, it can develop into hepatitis.

The UK Health Security Agency said a lack of exposure to common infections during lockdown and social distancing may have left more children vulnerable to viruses.

Lola-Rose's mother, Jane McNeill, a student nurse, grew concerned when her daughter's her eyes had gone yellow.

She was taken to hospital in Darent Valley Hospital in Kent where tests revealed her liver was not functioning properly.

Puzzled as to why the youngster's organ was not working, she was sent to liver specialists in London on March 17.

There, she was diagnosed with hepatitis and her parents immediately 'thought the worst', Mr Raine said.



He did not know the condition could be found in children  who rarely contract the condition.

Mr Raine and Ms McNeill were given a glimmer of hope on March 21 when doctors discovered her hepatitis may have been caused by adenovirus.

The virus is treatable and doctors gave her medication made up specifically for her given on an IV drip.

Mr Raine told MailOnline: 'At the time we thought "fantastic, they've got the problem".'

But two days later, doctors said she was still deteriorating and warned she would be moved to intensive care within 48 hours.

She was put in an induced coma that day because her liver was not sending toxic ammonia to her kidneys to be filtered out the body. This meant the toxins were reaching her brain, causing it to swell up.

Mr Raine said: 'We were literally watching our little girl die in front of our eyes. I have no idea how else to explain it. It was like someone's reached into your chest and torn your heart out. I was thinking "there's nothing you can do".'

Lola-Rose was diagnosed with hepatitis in March this year after she started vomiting and Mr Raine's wife Jane McNeill, a qualified nurse, noticed her eyes had gone yellow

WHAT COULD BE BEHIND THE HEPATITIS OUTBREAK? While experts believe adenovirus  a virus associated with many common colds  could be behind the spate of cases, the jury is out on what the exact cause of the outbreak is. Co-infection One theory suggests children being infected with Covid and adenovirus at the same time could be at greater risk of hepatitis. Weakened immunity British experts have suggested lockdowns and restrictions have put children at greater risk because they have lower natural immunity to adenovirus. Adenovirus mutation Other scientists said it may have been an adenovirus that has acquired 'unusual mutations'. New Covid variant UKHSA officials included 'a new variant of SARS-CoV-2' in their working hypotheses, when discussing the variant at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today. Advertisement

Her condition continued to worsen and she was put on the urgent liver transplant list the following day.

Mr Raine and his wife both volunteered to donate their livers immediately, but had to wait three days before they could start the living donor process.

By then, Lola-Rose was on the edge of her life, but tests found Mrs McNeill could not offer her liver to donate to her, despite being a blood match.

Mr Raine only found out his liver was a match later that day, when doctors had given his daughter hours to live.

He told MailOnline: 'They could have told me I wasn't going to survive the surgery and she was, and I would have gone straight ahead with it.

'All I was thinking is  she's going to get better and we can help.'

Mr Raine went under the knife the following morning to give Lola the left part of his liver.

After her surgery, the yellowness in her skin faded almost immediately and her blood tests returned to normal within 48 hours.

After a liver donation, the organ starts to regenerate back to its original size in both the recipient and donor, leaving both with healthy, functioning livers.

Now, four weeks after her surgery, Lola-Rose is back to being herself, singing Frozen songs at 3am 'for all the ward to hear', Mr Raine said.

She has recovered her strength after weeks of physiotherapy with her doctors and her bubbly personality has returned.

Lola will be on medication for the rest of her life to stop her body rejecting the new organ.

She does not yet understand what she went through, other than that she 'has a big scar across her belly like her daddy', he said.

Some 114 UK hepatitis cases have been spotted since the first cases were publicly recorded in Scotland at the end of March.

Hepatologists told MailOnline they believe the official numbers may be just the 'tip of the iceberg' because many parents may brush off the warning signs.

Professor Simon Taylor-Robinson, a hepatologist from Imperial College London, told MailOnline: 'I think there are more cases out there.

'I'd imagine there are more cases than have been reported  but they are likely to be less severe.'

But he added there is no reason to panic because in '99 per cent' of cases the liver is able to regenerate and the chances of needing a transplant or dying because of the condition are low.

UKHSA data shows there were 111 confirmed and possible hepatitis cases in the UK as of April 20. Of these, 81 cases were in England (white bars), 14 were in Scotland (blue bars), 11 were in Wales (red bars) and five in Northern Ireland (green bars). Between January 21 and April 18, 10 children have required liver transplantation

Hepatitis cases have been tested for other pathogens when they were admitted to hospital. Adenovirus (far left bar) was the most common pathogen detected in 40 of 53 cases which have been tested, followed by SARS-CoV-2 (second bar)

Health chiefs linked Covid and adenovirus data. This shows there has been a rise in both preceding adenovirus infections (grey bars), co-infections (navy bars) and secondary infection (blue bars)

UKHSA data shows positive adenovirus tests from one to four-year-olds (green line) are higher compared to the previous five years. Between November 2021 to March 2022, approximately 200 to 300 cases of adenovirus were reported per week compared to 50 to 150 cases per week in the same period before the pandemic

Professor Alastair Sutcliffe, a paediatrician from University College London, told MailOnline mounting cases are 'a concerning and depressing situation for families' but parents should not fear. Up to 20 per cent of hepatitis cases have no known cause.

He said: 'What is for families to consider [is] if their child develops jaundice after the first few months of life they need medical attention fast.

'But that is true of any child who develops jaundice after the first few months of life so is not new advice. With one death and no known cause life should continue as before. Nothing is more fearful than fear itself.'

None of the cases have been caused by any of the five typical strains of the virus  hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.

Data gathered has 'increasingly' suggested that the rise in severe cases of hepatitis may be linked to a group of viruses called adenoviruses, the UKHSA said.

Adenovirus was found in 75 per cent of the sickened children who were tested for it. Sixteen per cent had Covid.
Choosing to 'shield' vulnerable Britons during Covid would have been even deadlier than draconian lockdowns, a study suggests.

The idea was a key pillar of the Great Barrington Declaration, a hugely-controversial concept which called for young people to be allowed to return to normal life at the height of the pandemic.

The approach would have seen the elderly and society's most vulnerable residents given 'focused protection', the declaration stated.

Critics of virus-controlling curbs jumped on the idea, with signatories warning of the 'enormous' knock-on damage from blanket lockdowns.

Others ridiculed the declaration, signed by dozens of top scientists, as a 'libertarian agenda packaged as science' and 'a manifesto for selfishness'.

Now Bath University researchers claim to have calculated the GBD shielding strategy would have led to worse outcomes than the economically-crippling lockdown curbs.

'Shielding' vulnerable Britons from Covid instead of the draconian lockdown would have led to a higher death toll, experts have argued (stock image)

WHO CREATED THE GREAT BARRINGTON DECLARATION? The declaration was written by Dr Martin Kulldorff (Harvard University), Dr Sunetra Gupta (Oxford) and Dr Jay Bhattacharya (Stanford). It has since been signed by some 1,500 scientists, 47,000 medical workers and 867,000 members of the public. The co-signers, who added their names to the report before it was published, were: Professor Sucharit Bhakdi (University of Mainz)

Dr Rajiv Bhatia (Physician, USA)

Professor Stephen Bremner (University of Sussex)

Professor Anthony J Brookes (University of Leicester)

Dr Helen Colhoun (University of Edinburgh)

Professor Angus Dalgleish (St. Georges, University of London)

Dr Sylvia Fogel (Harvard)

Dr Eitan Friedman (Tel Aviv University)

Dr Uri Gavish (Biomedical consultant)

Professor Motti Gerlic (Tel Aviv University)

Dr Gabriela Gomes (University of Strathclyde)

Professor Mike Hulme (University of Cambridge)

Dr Michael Jackson (University of Canterbury, New Zealand)

Dr David Katz (Yale University)

Dr Andrius Kavaliunas (Karolinska Institute)

Dr Laura Lazzeroni (Stanford)

Dr Michael Levitt (Stanford)

Professor David Livermore (University of East Anglia)

Dr Jonas Ludvigsson (Orebro University Hospital, Sweden)

Dr Paul McKeigue (University of Edinburgh)

Dr Cody Meissner (Tufts University)

Professor Ariel Munitz (Tel Aviv University)

Professor Yaz Gulnur Muradoglu (Queen Mary University of London)

Professor Partha P. Majumder (Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata)

Professor Udi Qimron (Tel Aviv University)

Professor Matthew Ratcliffe (University of York)

Dr Mario Recker (University of Exeter)

Dr Eyal Shahar (University of Arizona)

Professor Karol Sikora (Rutherford Health)

Dr Rodney Sturdivant (Baylor University)

Dr Simon Thornley (University of Auckland)

Professor Ellen Townsend (University of Nottingham)

Professor Lisa White (Oxford University)

Professor Simon Wood (University of Edinburgh) Advertisement

The experts  which includes a member of Independent SAGE, a left-wing pressure group which has regularly called for tougher action  said the GBD was 'misguided'.

Modelling results suggested the shielding idea would have led to 'tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths' from the virus.

By contrast, the death toll during the UK's first and longest national lockdown, from mid-March 2020 to June 1 that same year, stood at roughly 38,000.

Co-researcher Dr Ben Ashby said: 'Although lockdowns are costly for many reasons, attempting to shield the vulnerable while letting the virus spread through the rest of the population is far worse.'

The experts claimed that letting the virus spread through the population prior to the distribution of Covid jabs would have overwhelmed the NHS.

In the study, published in the journal PLOS Global Public Health, various strategies were modelled on a hypothetical city of 1million people in England.

It compared no shielding at all, with shielding that was adhered to imperfectly by the population, and a perfect shielding strategy.

Even in the perfect shielding scenario, critical care capacity in hospitals would have been exceeded at least ten-fold at the peak of the outbreak, the authors said.

Waning immunity from prior infection and the emergence of new variants would also make a shielding-only strategy untenable in the long term, they added.

They concluded that while in theory shielding could protect the vulnerable, it would require such restrictive conditions on the population that it would be impossible to actually achieve.

To be effective, shielders would need to be both rapidly and accurately identified by authorities.

They would also be required to isolate from society for a indefinite and 'impractical' period of time, the authors said.

One of the authors of the study, Dr Kit Yates said this meant that realistically Covid would have reached the vulnerable anyway, making a shielding-only strategy only slightly better than an uncontrolled pandemic.

'Even if we could have managed perfect shielding, our healthcare system would still have been quickly overwhelmed,' he said.

'In reality, some inevitable leakiness in the shielding system would almost certainly have led to big outbreaks amongst the vulnerable and resulted in huge numbers of deaths as well.'

While Covid jabs have largely ended the threat of another draconian lockdown in the UK, the authors said it was critical to model the shielding scenario proposed by the GBD as an alternative for potential future pandemics.

The merit of the initial Covid lockdown has been disputed, with some arguing it did more harm than good for the nation's health due to the impact on people's mental health, as well as the missed cancer and heart disease diagnoses.

There are also now fresh concerns that a recent spate of mysterious hepatitis cases in children could be due to Covid lockdowns and social distancing weakening youngsters' immune systems.

Some 114 British children  mostly under the age of five  have been diagnosed with the deadly liver disease and cases have been spotted in 12 countries.

However, such anti-lockdown arguments have been criticised as having the benefit of hindsight given how little was known about Covid in the first half of 2020, or how long it might take to develop a vaccine at the time.

The concept of herd immunity for Covid, while shielding the vulnerable, emerged briefly as a potential plan for Government prior to the national lockdown. However, it was quickly shot down by critics.

No10 was spooked into the first lockdown after modelling from Professor Neil Ferguson and colleagues at Imperial College published on March 16, 2020, predicted 500,000 people could die if the UK took no action.

Even limited action, excluding a full lockdown, would still have resulted in 250,000 deaths according to the Imperial modeling, although their working has been criticised.

As of today, the latest official Covid death toll for the UK stands at 174,144 with the majority of virus fatalities occurring in January 2021 and spring 2020.
Dermal fillers and lip injections should be made prescription-only to keep the public safe from botched cosmetic procedures on their faces, MPs were told today.

Moving to a prescription model would lead to a crackdown on cowboy practitioners by making medical professionals responsible for dishing out the treatments, experts claimed.

It would require Brits to have a face-to-face consultation with a medical professional capable of prescribing, like a doctor, who would explain the risks and benefits of the procedure.

Professor David Sines, chair of the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners, called for the move to apply to dermal filler injectors, which deliver various substances under the skin.

Under current rules an aesthetic practitioner in the UK does not need any mandatory qualifications, meaning anyone can go on a basic training course and then be allowed to perform dermal filler treatments.

The comments were made to MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee during a session on the impact of body image on mental and physical health.

We believe they should firmly become prescription only devices, because if they were then there would be a requirement for oversight from prescribers, which would provide greater protection for the public, Professor Sines said.

Thousands of Britons, mostly women, get dermal fillers every year, a procedure where a substance, typically hyaluronic acid, is injected into the face to fill out wrinkles or make lips and cheekbones bigger or look more defined.

The procedure has boomed in recent years as women aspire to look like celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, prompting concern from experts worried that Britons are falling victim to a largely unregulated cosmetic aesthetic industry.

Cosmetic procedures like dermal fillers have boomed in Britain over the past few years as women seek to emulate the looks of celebrities like Kylie Jenner (left) and Kim Kardashian (right)

What are the risks with getting lip fillers? The beauty industry in the UK is an unregulated 'wild west', with clinics not required to register or meet basic hygiene or safety standards. Ministers are currently preparing to regulate it, however, with plans now making their way through parliament. The NHS says the risks of getting fillers depend on whether the procedure was done correctly or what filler was used. Serious complications include: An infection;

A lumpy appearance under the skin;

Filler moving away from the intended treatment area;

Scarring;

Blocked blood vessels in the face, which can cause tissue death or blindness. Source: NHS Advertisement

Professor Sines told MPs that by making dermal filler injectors need a prescription, it would crackdown on cowboy practitioners by making medically trained professionals responsible for signing-off treatment.

'It would be a matter of misconduct if a prescriber did not assure themselves that the person to whom they were delegating the prescription was actually fit and proficient,' he said.

He added he was in discussion with the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency about the possibility of making dermal filler injectors prescription only, like Botox.

Dermal filler treatments cost as little as 200 depending on the type of injections and number being offered.

Various body image and cosmetic surgery groups have been campaigning for years for Government to take action and bring an end to what is seen by many as an unregulated 'wild west' industry.

In February the Government announced it would introduce a licensing regime for non-surgical cosmetic procedures such as Botox and fillers.

It said it would undertake a public consultation on the extent and details of such regulation, although no date has been announced.

Today, MPs from the Health and Social Care Committee also discussed the prospect of requiring watermarks to be added to digitally altered images of people.

These images, created through various filters are frequently posted online and have been blamed for fostering body dysphoria among Britons unsatisfied by how they look.

This in turn drives people to seek out cosmetic procedures promising to help them achieve this digitally curated aesthetic.

Kim Booker who has suffered from body dysmorphic disorder told MPs she would like to see the use of digitally altered images that promote unrealistic beauty standards banned

Lucy Thorpe, head of policy for charity the Mental Health Foundation, said under-16s should be barred from using face and body altering apps

Tory MP for Bosworth and member of the committee Dr Luke Evans is currently pushing a private member's bill through Parliament.

The Digitally Altered Images Bill would require advertisers, broadcasters and publishers to feature a disclaimer when they digitally altered the image of a human body for commercial purposes.

Today, Kim Booker, from Ringwood, Hampshire, who suffered from body dysmorphic disorder told MPs she would support such a warning system on online images, but added she would prefer to see them banned entirely.

It should be made very transparent that people are using filters or theyve edited or photoshopped their images, she said.

Ideally Id like them banned.

Ms Booker, who underwent a swath of procedures from the age of 18-onwards, said more must be done to bring the industry to heel.

You walk into these places and its like a conveyer belt, you have 10-15 minutes for a procedure that, start to finish, should take at least an hour, she said.

She tearfully added that the impact on body dysmorphia sufferers of easy-access procedures could not be underestimated.

Its never-ending, you get to the point where If that doesnt work I just dont know how I can live like this, she said.

Lucy Thorpe, head of policy for charity the Mental Health Foundation, also told MPs that body and face editing apps should be banned for the under-16s.
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Covid booster vaccines might not be needed every year because protection against severe infection is holding up 'pretty well,' top scientists say  while the Biden administration promises to double the number of pharmacies offering antiviral pills 'in weeks' as cases surge 53 percent in a fortnight.

Fourth jabs are already being offered to over-50s after they were approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month, and plans are being prepared to roll out a fifth shot this fall.

But Dr. Paul Offit, from the agency's jabs advisory panel  which rubber-stamps shots  warned Tuesday that the U.S. is in danger of sleep-walking into an annual Covid vaccination drive, like with the flu, without considering whether the top-up shots were actually needed.

Other top scientists also raised concerns over extra boosters, saying the added doses would likely only give limited protection against infection with the virus.

It comes as the Biden administration said it would double the number of pharmacies offering a Covid antiviral pill that slashes the risk of hospitalization for vulnerable people, by rolling it out to an extra 20,000.

They also revealed plans to open more 'test-to-treat' centers, where someone would be given a course of Pfizer's Paxlovid drug after testing positive for the virus.

The move comes after U.S. Covid cases surged over the last two weeks to 49,000 a day on average, the most since early March in the dying days of the last wave. A total of 42 states are now seeing an uptick in infections, with the more transmissible Omicron variant now behind 28 per cent of cases.

Deaths from the virus have fallen 11 percent over the last week, however, and are now averaging about 388 a day. Hospitalizations are up four percent in a fortnight to about 15,000 a day, but the figure includes many patients who are not seriously unwell with Covid and were initially admitted for another illness before testing positive.

The above map shows the proportion of people double-jabbed against Covid across all 50 U.S. states. About 68 per cent of over-65s in the U.S. have also got a booster dose, although it is not clear how many have got a second booster

The above graph shows daily Covid infections in the U.S. reported by states. They have risen 53 per cent over the past two weeks to about 49,000 infections a day on average. A total of 42 states are also recording a rise

The above graph shows the daily Covid deaths being reported across the U.S. Deaths are down 11 per cent on average over the past week, but these are a lagging indicator because of the time taken for someone who has the virus to fall ill

Dr Paul Offit, (left) from the FDA's vaccine advisory panel, said that the agency is currently only asking what vaccine to use as a booster, rather than which booster is needed. Dr John Wherry (right), an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said protection from severe disease is holding up 'pretty well'

The above graph shows the gradually rising proportion of cases down to the more transmissible Omicron variant  scientifically named BA.2.12.1. It is now at an estimated 28 per cent of infections

The above map shows the proportion of cases in each state that are estimated to be triggered by different variants. The more transmissible Omicron variant (dark red section) is already dominant in New York and New Jersey. The other Omicron variant BA.2 (light pink) is still dominant across the rest of the U.S., which is still recording a few cases of the original Omicron (purple). No other variants are currently being detected through surveillance

The U.S. is one of only seven countries recommending fourth doses, although others have approved them for older and more vulnerable populations. In Israel they are being offered to over-60s, while in the UK to over-75s.

No data is available on how many Americans have got a second booster shot, but official figures show more than 68 per cent of over-65s  or 33million people  turned up for their first top up.

Few health agencies have urged people to get the top up doses, however, as the country approaches the summer when Covid is expected to be less rampant.

Biden to get Covid antiviral pill to twice as many pharmacies The Biden administration is set to double the number of pharmacies with a Covid antiviral pill within weeks. At the White House yesterday they said Paxlovid, which slashes the risk of a vulnerable person being hospitalized by up to 90 per cent, will be made available at an additional 20,000 pharmacies. There will also open more 'test to treat' centers, where patients can walk out with the pills after testing positive for Covid. Paxlovid is currently available on prescription in the U.S. to vulnerable patients and older adults, and must be taken within five days of developing symptoms. It is also free, with the Federal Government footing the $530 bill for each course. But more than 630,000 courses are currently sitting on shelves across the country as many patients say they are struggling to access the pills. Patients getting the treatment must take three tablets twice a day for five days. Advertisement

Warning against plans to dish out Covid vaccines every year, Dr Offit  who told his 20-year-old son not to get the first booster  said there was 'enormous pressure' to dish out the jabs annually like with flu vaccines.

He told Stat News at a recent FDA panel meeting 'the only question was what were we going to boost with, not whether we were going to boost'.

He added: 'We didn't define what the goal of this extra shot was.'

Dr John Wherry, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania, also called for officials to look at the data carefully before approving annual boosters.

He said: 'The efficacy data that I've seen from the CDC meeting and lots of other data really shows that our protection from severe disease is holding up pretty well.'

Dr Kathleen Neuzil, from the Center for Vaccine Development at Maryland University, said on boosters: 'Any protection we get against infection  mild infection, asymptomatic infection  is going to be time-limited. Likely very time-limited. The severe disease protection is more durable.'

Currently, the FDA decides whether to approve a booster vaccine based on surveillance of Covid antibody levels in the population.

But scientists are calling on it to also consider other parts of the immune system  such as T-cells  which are much harder to measure.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is preparing to boost its roll out of Pfizer's antiviral drug to patients across the country.

More than 630,000 course of the drug  that can slash the risk of hospitalization  are currently sitting on shelves in pharmacies, amid complaints from patients they are struggling to access it.

The drug is available on prescription only  meaning patients must be approved for it by their doctor  and must be taken within five days of developing symptoms.

The roll out of the drug has hit a brick wall for weeks, with supplies initially scare before recently becoming abundant.

Experts have previously warned that too few doctors are aware that the treatments are in stock, and say a lack of Covid testing leaving many infections un-confirmed has left patients being unable to access the pills.

There are also more than a 1.2million courses of Merck's antiviral pill available, along with 220,000 of AstraZeneca's Covid antibody drug Evusheld which are also designed for at risk patients.

Covid cases in the U.S. rose 53 per cent over the last two weeks, data shows, the biggest fortnightly rise since early January when the Omicron wave was taking off.

Officials warn a more transmissible version of Omicron  scientifically named B.2.12.1  is likely behind the uptick in cases. CDC monitoring shows it is already dominant in the New York area, where it is behind almost every case, and has spread to every corner of the country. There is no evidence it is more likely to trigger hospitalization or death than the original mild Omicron variant.

But a lack of Covid testing in many states, and with only five now reporting daily updates on infections, it is very difficult to monitor the spread of the virus.

Michigan had the biggest uptick in Covid cases over the last two weeks (up 184 per cent), followed by Wisconsin (up 130 per cent) and Oregon (up 122 per cent). Cases also doubled in Nebraska (up 114 per cent) and West Virginia (up 104 per cent).

On the other hand, Mississippi recorded the biggest two-week fall in cases (down 55 per cent), followed by Arizone (down 35 per cent) and Georgia (down 24 per cent). The other states reporting a fall were Wyoming, Colorado, South Carolina and Kentucky.

Hospitalizations across the U.S. remain flat with a four per cent rise over the last two weeks. There are also 388 deaths a day on average, barely a change from the previous two weeks.
Americans over 60 years old should not take a daily dose of aspirin to ward off a first heart attack or stroke, a panel of top doctors said today in a reversal from standard guidance.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)  comprised of 17 top experts from universities across America  released the update, citing a slightly higher risk of internal bleeding after taking the drug.

It also said 40 to 59-year-olds must only take the medication daily if they are at a genetic risk of heart disease and after consulting a doctor. Those over 75 should not take the drugs because there is little benefit in older age.

Aspirin is a common pain-killing drug that is often also used for prevention of heart attacks, blood clots, and other issues do to its blood-thinning properties. The drugs are also widely available over-the-counter for little cost when purchased generically.

A U.S. task force issued new guidance saying adults over aged 60 who are at increased risk of a heart attack or stroke but have not suffered either should not take aspirin. (Stock iamge)

WHAT IS ASPIRIN? Aspirin is an everyday painkiller for aches and pains such as headache, toothache and period pain. It can also be used to treat colds and 'flu-like' symptoms, and to bring down a high temperature. It is also known as acetylsalicylic acid. Aspirin is also available combined with other ingredients in some cold and flu remedies. You can buy most types of aspirin from pharmacies, shops and supermarkets. Some types are only available on prescription. It comes as tablets or anal suppositories. It also comes as a gel for mouth ulcers and cold sores. If you've had a stroke or heart attack or are at high risk of a heart attack, your doctor may recommend that you take a daily low-dose aspirin. This is different to taking aspirin for pain relief. Only take low-dose aspirin if your doctor recommends it. Source: NHS Advertisement

Almost two decades ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended the pills should not be taken to prevent a first heart attack or stroke. The USPTF then updated its guidance to match that from the FDA.

'Based on current evidence, the task force recommends against people 60 and older starting to take aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke,' Dr Michael Barry, USPTF's vice-chair and professor of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, told ABC News.

'Because the chance of internal bleeding increases with age, the potential harms of aspirin use cancel out the benefits in this age group.'

Doctors emphasized they are still recommending using aspirin to protect against a second stroke or heart attack.

The guidance is only for patients beginning a course of aspirin, and not for those already taking it.

They said no one should stop taking aspirin without consulting with their doctor first.

'It is important for the public to understand that for the vast majority of Americans without pre-existing heart disease, aspirin does not provide a net benefit,' Dr Steven Nissen, cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said.

'The harms are approximately equal to any benefits.

'The USPSTF is just catching up with this widely accepted scientific viewpoint. For nearly 20 years the FDA has advised against routine use of aspirin for prevention in patients without heart disease.'

People who take the drug are at about 0.47 percent higher risk of suffering internal bleeding, a British study published in 2019 found.

The USPSTF warned heart disease was the leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for more than one in four fatalities every year.

They said that every year an estimated 605,000 Americans have a heart attack for the first time, while 610,000 suffer their first ever stroke.

In October last year the committee tweaked its guidance to say older adults who do not already have heart disease should not take a daily dose of aspirin.

It backtracked on recommendations the panel made in 2016, but was in line with guidance for other medical groups.
More than three in four American children and teenagers have caught COVID-19 since the pandemic began  the most out of any age group, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed today.

In the major study, the agency looked at the prevalence of Covid-fighting antibodies in more than 200,000 people across the U.S. over the last two years  but despite the heavy disease burden among minors deaths remain low.

Official figures show 1,001 Americans under 18 years old have had the virus mentioned on their death certificate, accounting for just 0.01 per cent of the almost a million deaths reported since the pandemic began.

Dr Monica Ghandi, a top infectious disease expert from the University of California, San Francisco, said the data was yet more evidence booster shots are 'not needed' for youngsters. They are currently being offered to everyone aged 12 years and older.

Among people above 65 years old  who are most at risk from the virus  barely a third had been infected with the virus over the last two years.

The above graph shows how the proportion of children and teenagers with Covid-fighting antibodies (thick blue and blue dotted line) rose to 60 per cent in February 2022, the latest available. Across the U.S., three in five people are thought to have caught Covid

Covid booster shots might not be needed every year, experts say Covid booster vaccines might not be needed every year because protection against severe infection is holding up 'pretty well,' top scientists say. Dr. Paul Offit, from the FDA's jabs advisory panel, warned Tuesday that the U.S. is in danger of sleep-walking into an annual Covid vaccination drive, like with the flu, without considering whether the top-up shots were actually needed. Other top scientists also raised concerns over extra boosters, saying the added doses would likely only give limited protection against infection with the virus. He told Stat News at a recent FDA panel meeting 'the only question was what were we going to boost with, not whether we were going to boost'. He added: 'We didn't define what the goal of this extra shot was.' Dr John Wherry, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania, also called for officials to look at the data carefully before approving annual boosters. He said: 'The efficacy data that I've seen from the CDC meeting and lots of other data really shows that our protection from severe disease is holding up pretty well.' Advertisement

In the study, scientists randomly swabbed 70,000 people a month for Covid-fighting antibodies between September 2021 and February 2022.

They were tested for N-antibodies  which are triggered by a Covid infection. The study did not look at levels of antibodies sparked by vaccines, which generate different virus-fighting proteins because they are based on the original Wuhan virus.

Participants were drawn from across all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The seroprevalence report estimated three in five Americans had now caught Covid overall.

Every age group saw a marked uptick in antibody levels over the period studied amid the arrival of the Omicron variant, which sent cases to record highs.

Among 0 to 17 year olds, the levels rose from about 44 to 75 percent.

For those aged 18 to 49, levels surged from 36 to 63 percent.

And in people aged from 50 to 64-year-olds they went from 28 to 50 percent.

Adults aged 65 and older were least likely to have immunity from a Covid infection by February, the study showed.

Some 33 percent are estimated to now have Covid-fighting antibodies, compared to 19 percent five months.

The report did not speculate on why so many children had tested positive for infection-triggered Covid immunity.

Dr Kristie Clarke, co-lead of the CDC team that tracks infections, said although she had expected a rise she did 'not expect it to increase quite this much'.

But Dr Monica Ghandi, an infectious diseases expert at the University of California, San Francisco, said it was more proof children did not need top-up jabs.

'The fact that 75 percent of our children and adolescents in the U.S. have now been exposed to Covid and have evidence of [antibodies] is further evidence that booster shots are not needed for this population,' She told DailyMail.com.

'Two shots are sufficient to produce a strong (long-lasting) [immune] response and natural infection generates a long-lasting response.'

She said the CDC data along with that from previous studies suggesting strong immunity from natural infection 'argues against the need for a booster shot for our younger populations'.

Ghandi has previously said she did not plan to get her 12 and 14-year-old sons boosters because the potential risks 'outweigh' the benefits.

CDC data shows about 74 per =cent of people aged 12 years and over are now double-jabbed against Covid across the U.S.

But among those who are now eligible for a booster this falls to 50 percent who have got the top-up dose.
GPs should have personal assistants who do their paperwork so they can escape 'two hours' of admin each day, Jeremy Hunt claimed today.

The former Health Secretary said its going to be 'very difficult' to get more family doctors into the NHS in the short-term, which already has 1,500 fewer GPs than 2016.

So the health service needs to hire more staff to do doctors' paperwork after each appointment so they can focus on seeing patients, Mr Hunt told a GP conference.

It comes amid a huge row over the working hours and conditions of family doctors and the 'postcode lottery' of bagging an appointment.

Patients have for years complained over struggling to access their GP, and in-person appointments have failed to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels.

But family doctors warn that the imbalance between the workload and workforce in the sector is only driving GPs  who earn 100,000 a year, on average  away from the profession.

The former Health Secretary said its going to be 'very difficult' to get more family doctors into the NHS in the short-term, which already has 1,500 fewer GPs than 2016

Mr Hunt told the Pulse Live conference in London that 'it's going to be very difficult to get more GPs into the system in the short term' because it takes seven years to train a family doctor.

'We need to be looking at other people who can help GPs do their work, and GPs can leverage, who don't take quite so long to get into the system,' he said.

Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs (pictured), warned general practice in England risks becoming 'really difficult to access', like dentistry

He pointed to the US where physicians, who are equivalent to family doctors, have a personal assistant (PA) 'who works with them full-time who deals with all their admin after every appointment'.

The PAs don't have a medical degree but may want to work in medicine or healthcare management in the future, Mr Hunt said.

'That way, a GP doesn't find at the end of a day of seeing 40 patients and then have two-hours of admin and that makes their job more rewarding,' he said.

'So we need to be a lot more innovative about ways to allow GPs to focus on their core work without having to be burdened by the admin,' Mr Hunt added.

He noted that more family doctors were shifting to part-time work because doctors say it is 'not possible to work at that level of intensity for five days a week' and they are worried about getting tired, making mistakes and harming patients.

The GP Worklife survey found more than half of family doctors worked for six sessions a week or less every week in 2021, with each session being four hours and 10 minutes. Nearly a fifth of the workforce saw patients for four sessions or less, while 12.4 per cent worked for five sessions and 27.9 per cent worked for six

The graph shows the number of GP appointments per day in January. Since 2019, GPs have been asked to work evenings and weekends. But just 22,000 patients were seen on the average Saturday in January, compared to around 1.2million per week day

NHS Digital data released today shows just 60 per cent of appointments in January were in-person, compared to 61 per cent in December

Now GPs want to work even less! Doctors table 'urgent' motion in a bid to cut 'core' opening hours to 9-5 - shaving two-and-a-half hours off GPs are set to vote on whether their core working hours should be reduced by two-and-a-half hours per day. The proposal comes amid a huge row over the working hours of family doctors and the 'postcode lottery' of bagging an appointment. Avon Local Medical Committee (LMC) will table a motion at a conference in York next month calling for doctors' core hours to be slashed. Surgeries currently routinely operate between 8am and 6:30pm  but the vote may see doctors call for this to be slashed to 9am to 5pm. 'Urgent action' is needed to manage the imbalance between doctors' workload and their workforce,' the same motion states. The motion from Avon LMC, which represents GPs in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset, will be heard at the annual conference of UK local medical committees, which is taking place on May 10 and 11 in York. It states that 'urgent action' is needed to manage the mismatch between a lack of capacity, Pulse reports. Advertisement

He said the traditional model of general practice is 'broken' and if it is to be at the 'heart of the NHS' then we have to 'think about how we can reduce that pressure so that people don't do the job and say 'I can't actually do more than three days a week'.'

Mr Hunt, chair of the Health and Social Care committee, said there was a need to 'bring back the joy into the profession that a lot of older GPs remember' because the workforce problems are a 'retention issue rather than a recruitment issue'.

But he dismissed the idea that the new NHS England contract, which comes into effect in October and sets out that each group of GP practices must offer evening and weekend appointments, was infeasible.

Mr Hunt  rumoured to be making 'discrete preparations' in the event of a Tory leadership contest  today also admitted he hasn't 'ruled out' going back into frontline politics.

It comes after GPs warned paperwork was adding to their stress and driving them away from the profession, with a third of family doctors planning to leave their profession in the next five years.

The GP Worklife survey, which quizzed 2,200 family doctors, showed job satisfaction is falling among doctors, with only half saying they were happy being a GP in 2021.

They also cited insufficient time to do the job justice, paperwork, long working hours and dealing with problem patients as causing the most stress.

Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, told a conference in London yesterday that general practice faces the threat of becoming 'really difficult' to access 'like dentistry' and a 'significant' cash injection is needed to stop this.

He added: 'The risk is that we might end up like the very worst of the US healthcare system where if you can pay to get good care, great, and if you can't, you have a very sub-optimal system for picking up the pieces.

'Or maybe like dentistry in this country over the last 15 years, where a growing number of dentists have gone private. There is an NHS system but it is really difficult to access.

'I don't think we want to see that in general practice and that seems to be a very significant and very real threat that we need to address.'

It comes as a local medical committee (LMC) unveiled plans to vote on cutting GPs core hours from 8am to 6:30pm by two-and-a-half hours to 9am to 5pm.

Avon LMC will table the motion at a conference on May 10 and 11 in York, attended by hundreds of family doctors.

If the motion is passed, the practices want to lobby NHS England to make the changes.

Doctors say the move would boost GPs' wellbeing, meaning they are able to provide a better, safer service and will be less likely to quit.

But patient groups said patients are already struggling to see their doctor so further reducing their hours will only drive more patients to overstretched emergency departments.

Dennis Reed, the director of Silver Voices, a campaign group for the over-60s, called the proposal 'unacceptable'.
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Health officials are probing three probable cases of hepatitis among children in Illinois including one that required a liver transplant, it was revealed today  after an expert warned that nearly a dozen recorded cases may be just 'the tip of the iceberg'.

All the children were under ten years old the state's health department said, with two of the youngsters based in Chicago and the third in Western Illinois.

Some 11 children sick with unexplained hepatitis have been confirmed in the U.S. in recent weeks, with nine cases in Alabama  including two that needed liver transplants  and two in North Carolina. If confirmed, the Illinois cases will take the total to 14.

Experts are not sure what is causing the spike in cases, but it has been suggested that lockdowns weakening children's immunity and even a previous Covid infection may be to blame.

Nearly 170 children with the unexplained hepatitis have been reported globally since the first case was detected in Scotland at the end of March, according to the World Health Organization. One child has died and at least 17 have needed liver transplants.

Leading virologists fear the real toll of the infection could actually be magnitudes higher because many parents may brush off the warning signs.

Jaundice  the yellowing of the skin or eyes, a tell-tale sign of liver disease  has been spotted in fewer than half of the ill children. Other symptoms, such as nausea, diarrhea, lethargy and stomach pains are usually put down to other illnesses, such as food poisoning or norovirus.

'I think there are more cases out there. [17 transplants] is quite a high number for how many cases we have spotted,' Simon Taylor-Robinson, a hepatologist from Imperial College London, in the UK, told MailOnline.

'I'd imagine there are more cases than have been reported  but they are likely to be less severe,' he added, then saying he agreed that this is only the tip of the iceberg.

At least twelve countries have spotted cases of the hepatitis of unknown origin, with the 114 cases detected in the UK which was first to spot the spate of infections.

The World Health Organization said it has received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries as of Saturday

Health officials believe the illness may be triggered by an adenovirus  usually to blame for the common cold. Experts say lockdowns may have weakened the immunity of children and left them more susceptible to the virus, or it may be a mutated version.

Investigations are ongoing but officials have yet to rule out a new Covid variant being to blame. Another theory is that children may have been battling the adenovirus at the same time as Covid.

Covid lockdowns may be behind the mysterious spate of hepatitis cases in children because they reduced social mixing and weakened their immunity, experts claim

UK health officials have ruled out the Covid vaccine as a possible cause, with none of the ill British children having been vaccinated because of their young age. None of the cases in the US were among vaccinated children either.

'I think it is likely that children mixing in kindergartens and schools have lower immunity to seasonal adenoviruses than in previous years because of restrictions,' Taylor-Robinson told MailOnline.

'This means they could be more at risk of developing hepatitis because their immune response is weaker to the virus.'

He said children are less likely to complain about symptoms than adults  and urged parents to be alert to early issues including stomach pains and yellowing eyes.

But he added there is no reason to panic because in '99 percent' of cases the liver is able to regenerate and the chances of needing a transplant or dying because of the condition are low.

Professor Alastair Sutcliffe, a pediatrician at University College London, told MailOnline mounting cases are a 'a concerning and depressing situation for families' but parents should not fear.

'What is for families to consider [is] if their child develops jaundice after the first few months of life they need medical attention fast,' he said.

'But that is true of any child who develops jaundice after the first few months of life so is not new advice.

'With one death and no known cause life should continue as before. Nothing is more fearful than fear itself.'

WHAT COULD BE BEHIND THE HEPATITIS OUTBREAK? While experts believe adenovirus  a virus associated with many common colds  could be behind the spate of cases, the jury is out on what the exact cause of the outbreak is. Co-infection One theory suggests children being infected with Covid and adenovirus at the same time could be at greater risk of hepatitis. Weakened immunity British experts have suggested lockdowns and restrictions have put children at greater risk because they have lower natural immunity to adenovirus. Adenovirus mutation Other scientists said it may have been an adenovirus that has acquired 'unusual mutations'. New Covid variant UKHSA officials included 'a new variant of SARS-CoV-2' in their working hypotheses, when discussing the variant at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today. Advertisement

World Health Organization (WHO) bosses have received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries.

Cases were detected in children aged one month to 16, the majority of whom have been hospitalized. The WHO has not disclosed which country the only known death occurred in.

The first hepatitis cases were recorded in Britain, where 114 children have now been sickened. Thirteen cases have been detected in Spain, and 12 in Israel.

The unusual illness has also been spotted in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Norway, Romania and Belgium.

'It is not yet clear if there has been an increase in hepatitis cases, or an increase in awareness of hepatitis cases that occur at the expected rate but go undetected,' the WHO said.

However, other scientists have suggested the amount of severe cases in children is unusual.

Richard Pebody, who heads the high threats pathogen team at the WHO, told STAT News: 'Although the numbers aren't big, the consequences have been quite severe. It's important that countries look.'

None of the cases have been caused by any of the five typical strains of the virus  hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.

Experts say the cases may be linked to a virus commonly associated with colds, known as an adenovirus, but that further research is ongoing.

'While adenovirus is a possible hypothesis, investigations are ongoing for the causative agent,' WHO said.

It noted that the cold-like virus has been detected in at least 74 of the cases  however not all children were tested.

And 19 of the patients also had a Covid co-infection. One more child had Covid but not the adenovirus.

Experts are probing whether the cases are linked to the two viruses.

UK Health Security Agency experts were called to a briefing at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today to present data around the current situation in Britain.

Scientists claimed they could not rule out Covid as a possible cause of the outbreak  and also suggested a new coronavirus variant could be behind it.

Dr Muge Cevik, an infectious diseases expert at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland, warned the virus was a possible explanation  but noted hepatitis has 'not been a common feature' of infections in children.

'Acute severe hepatitis has not been a common feature of Covid in children, so it's less likely to explain this presentation,' he said.

'Adenovirus [Common cold virus] was detected in 40 of 53 cases, but not all cases are tested. Adenovirus testing has been inconsistent in other samples, and it's too early to confirm characterization.

'It's important for all countries to share their data once available.'

British scientists have also suggested that lockdowns may have played a contributing role, weakening children's immunity and leaving them at heightened risk of adenovirus.

Others said the cases may be the result of a virus that has acquired 'unusual mutations'.

Only 80 per cent of hepatitis have an identifiable cause, experts said.

Professor Graham Cooke, an expert in infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said it is unlikely Covid was responsible.

'Mild hepatitis is very common in children following a range of viral infections, but what is being seen at the moment is quite different,' he said.

'If the hepatitis was a result of Covid it would be surprising not to see it more widely distributed across the country given the high prevalence of (Covid) at the moment.'

A virology specialist at Imperial told The Telegraph it is 'very unusual and rare' for children to suffer severe hepatitis, especially to the extent that they require a liver transplant.

The expert, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'The number of cases is exceptional.

'It makes people think there is something unusual going on  such as a virus that has mutated or some other cause. It has sent alarm bells ringing.'

Hepatitis often has no noticeable symptoms  but they can include dark urine, pale grey-coloured faeces, 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 faeces of an infected person or blood-to-blood or sexual contact.
Pfizer, the leading manufacturer of COVID-19 vaccines in America, has submitted a bid to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin distributing booster shots for children aged five to 11.

The New York City-based company made the announcement Tuesday afternoon, also revealing results of its Phase 2/3 clinical trials which raised Covid antibody levels in the age group 36-fold without any serious complications.

If approved, it would be the first booster dose available to the age group, as the Pfizer-BioNTech shot is the only one available to Americans under the age of 18.

Many experts disagree that the shots are needed in children of this age, though, with some pointing to the lasting immunity the shots have against serious infection - combined with the limited risk children face from the virus anyways.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC), revealed that around 75 percent of U.S. children and teens had been infected with Covid, with a lowly 1,001 deaths recorded among the age group.

Pfizer, the nation's leading COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer, has applied for authorization for it booster shot in children aged five to 11 years old. Pictured: A young child in Bowling Green, Kentucky, receives a shot of a COVID-19 vaccine

Trials conducted by Pfizer, and the German company BioNTech which it has partnered with in the development of the shots, included 4,500 children aged six months to 12 years old.

Researchers found that participants in the age group had six times move Covid fighting antibodies one month after receiving the booster dose than they had one month after the second dose.

While the booster is likely to provide further protection against infection from U.S. children, some experts believe that children may be fine without this additional defense.

Deaths from Covid among children have been extremely rare during the pandemic so far.

The CDC reports that 0.01 percent of deaths from the virus over the past two years have been among the under-18 age group, despite 75 percent having been infected with the virus - by far the highest prevalence.

'The fact that 75 percent of our children and adolescents in the U.S. have now been exposed to Covid and have evidence of [antibodies] is further evidence that booster shots are not needed for this population,' Dr Monica Ghandi, a top infectious disease expert from the University of California, San Francisco told DailyMail.com on Tuesday.

'Two shots are sufficient to produce a strong (long-lasting) [immune] response and natural infection generates a long-lasting response.'

A study from the University of Utah last year found that 50 percent of pediatric Covid cases are asymptomatic.

The study was performed before the more-mild Omicron variant emerged, meaning the risk for children to even feel symptoms is likely lower now.

Children may also be less likely to spread the virus when infected, with a German study finding that they release as little as only 25 percent of virus particles as adults do.

Data revealed by New York state officials at the end of February also found that the shot was only 12 percent effective at preventing Covid infection for children aged five to 11.

Pfizer, which is forecasting around $30 billion in revenue this year from sales of the COVID-19 vaccine, also previously made a push to get a three dose vaccine for children six months to four years old earlier this year.

Those plans have since been halted.

Currently, the company's two-dose vaccine series is available to all Americans five and older. Those 12 and older are eligible for boosters, and a fourth overall dose has been authorized for all Americans 50 and older.
Once upon a time, not that long ago, investing for the younger generation - barring the select few with deep pockets - was tricky and expensive, with plenty of barriers of entry.

However, a battle has emerged as platform giants and banking big boys look to entice novice investors, largely thanks to the success of Freetrade.

They've wised up that 20-somethings grow-up, earning potential swells and if they can get them loyal with a slick app, low fees and good customer service, they could be with it for life.

Banks historically battled for just left school current customers. Why? Well, there is plenty of research suggesting they will stay loyal. That will mean credit cards, loans, mortgages in the future. Wealth management was only really open to those with big balances.

Investing is a Dodl: New AJ Bell app wants to take the fear out of investing

But now, that has all changed. Investment platform AJ Bell, which experienced a surge in customers since the start of the pandemic, is looking to further solidify its presence in the market with newer investors.

Its answer? A big cuddly monster.

Last week it launched its long-trailed new investment platform Dodl, which will be cheaper to use than its traditional platform and charge no commission for buying and selling investments.

Dodl will offer trading accounts, stocks and shares Isas, and self-invested personal pensions (Sipps), with the ability to invest in shares and funds.

It will offer a selection of 50 UK shares and 30 funds with some popular US shares joining soon after.

AJ Bell claims the app will make investing easy regardless of experience and it is streamlined 'so as not to overwhelm investors' with the promise of 'jargon-free investing'.

AJ Bell boss Andy Bell said: 'This combination of simplicity and value make Dodl a great option for anyone looking for a low-cost, easy-to-use investment app to help them meet their investment goals.'

It is clear AJ Bell sees opportunity in the growing space of low-price, commission-free investing which has been catapulted into the mainstream by apps like Trading212 and Freetrade.

It is pitting itself directly against them with an annual charge of just 0.15 per cent, lower than AJ Bell Youinvest's charge of 0.25 per cent.

But AJ Bell is not the only platform that is looking to take the fight to some of the older, legacy investment apps. As the competition hots up, what else is on offer for new investors? We look at some of the low-cost options for investors.

Freetrade is one of the big beasts among this new wave of investment apps. Since its launch in 2017, it has quickly become one of the most popular investment apps in the UK.

Its referral system, which promises a free share worth up to 200, has seen Freetrade's customer numbers surpass 1million and more than double its valuation to 650million in under a year.

Freetrade users can start investing in over 6,000 UK and US stocks and ETFs with no annual administration charges and free dealing, they can also open or transfer an Isa or Sipp, but these come with extra costs of 3 and 9.99 per month, respectively.

Easy to use: One of the selling points of Freetrade is the user-friendly app and interface

While there is no charge for buying shares under its standard plan, not all investments are included, in order to access a wider market, including smaller company shares, investors can sign up to Freetrade Plus, which costs 9.99 per month. If they do that they do not pay the 3 monthly Isa fee or can pay 7 per month for a Sipp.

Freetrade Plus also allows investors to earn 3 per cent on up to 4,000 of cash in accounts.

A foreign currency charge of 0.45 per cent applies for overseas stocks.

Wombat has been around slightly longer than other competitors. Launched in 2017 by Australian-born entrepreneur Kane Harrison, it promises commission-free trading with 'no hidden fees'.

DIY PLATFORM COSTS If you start with 1,000, and then invest 100 per month, this is how much it will cost at each of these platforms in year one. DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS AND STOCKS AND SHARES ISAS Platform Annual charge Cost Dodl 0.15% 3.30 Freetrade 3 per month (or free with Freetrade Plus) 36 Wombat 0.1% (plus 1 a month) 14.20 InvestEngine (DIY) Free + ETF costs 0 Vanguard 0.15% 3.30 HSBC Cautious Portfolio - 0.62%

13.64 Barclays Smart Investor Investments in funds 0.2%

All other investments 0.1% 6.60

Its users can also invest in a range of thematic funds including the British Bulldog, which includes some of the UK's best known businesses like Tesco, Barclays and Rolls-Royce, while The Money Maker theme includes some of the world's biggest banks.

Wombat also allows users to buy fractional shares in some of the world's biggest companies including PayPal, Netflix, and a host of other domestic stocks.

There is a minimum 10 deposit to start investing - as well as an option to contribute monthly - and charges start to kick in when the account value is over 250.

It then costs 1 a month plus 0.10 per cent of the account value - billed monthly - as well as a fund provider fee of between 0.07 and 0.75 per cent.

There also seems to be a push for financial education and responsible investing so its auto-invest function - which takes funds via direct debit - is a key differentiator.

Online wealth manager InvestEngine launched its DIY service last summer. It is going up against Freetrade with its free Isa and trading offering.

However the platform does not offer individual stocks, instead offering a range of more than 500 exchange traded funds (ETF).

The costs are low: the DIY option has no account charge and no dealing fees, while customers who opt for the managed ETF portfolio pay a fee of 0.25 per cent plus ETF charges.

Among the more established players, US giant Vanguard's UK investment platform is cheap with a 0.15 per cent year fee and has no costs for buying and selling.

However, you can only invest in Vanguard's passive funds, its active range, or its popular LifeStrategy funds that invest in shares and bonds around the world.

Banks have long tried to outbid each other with student perks to try and entice young savers with the hope they'll stay loyal for decades.

Now it seems banks are starting to realise they need to offer low-cost mass-market solutions for investing.

HSBC has started advertising its own investments, specifically targeting small-time investors. Investors can open an account with just 50 per month if they already have an HSBC current account, with a 0.25 per cent quarterly fee.

Barclays' DIY platform Barclays Smart Investor charges 0.2 per cent on funds and 0.1 per cent on other investments.

The platform fee is 4 per month minimum, or the sum of 0.2 per cent per year of funds plus 0.1 per cent of other investments in the account.

They may have larger customer bases but what banks don't have on their side is technology.

Often they have needed to replatform, as was the case with Barclays Smart Investor, formerly Barclays Stock Broker.

However, if they are able to get a cut of this growing market the banks may have some success with a generation of new investors.
Beijing authorities' plan to conduct mass testing on the region's roughly 20 million population has sparked panic buying among residents as the fear of another outbreak could result in stringent lockdown restrictions.

There were growing lines of people waiting to be screened for the coronavirus infection on Tuesday after the Chinese capital ramped up its plans for mass testing. The situation worried people in the area that another lockdown could be imposed to curb the spread of the health crisis.

Panic Buying in China

Comparing Beijing to Shanghai, where more than 1,000 coronavirus cases were reported in March before the restrictions were put in place on the 26 million residents, many residents in Beijing flocked to supermarkets to stock up on food and supplies. They feared that sudden localized lockdowns could prevent them from acquiring various necessities or goods.

On Tuesday, Chinese authorities started to close some gyms, theaters, and tourist sites only a day after Beijing began testing residents of the country's most populous district, Chaoyang. By the end of Monday, the capital announced that it was planning to test 10 other districts and one economic development zone by Saturday, as per the Times of India.

The situation comes as Shanghai authorities have reported 51 deaths in relation to the coronavirus infection, which is the highest tally yet. The region also recorded 2,472 symptomatic cases, which is a jump from the previous 1,401 reported on Saturday.

Read Also: COVID-19 Cases in China: Beijing Reveals 'Grim' Situation Amid Several Outbreaks

Many photographs and video footage of residents have gone viral on social media platforms showing people making pleas to the government. In an interview, one foreigner whose residential complex was fenced said that no one was able to get out. They shared that they felt helpless and were unsure of when the lockdown was going to end.

According to Yahoo News, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Zhong Hongjun, said that he regrets supporting the government's zero-COVID policy. Now, he has called the measures that authorities are imposing "inhumane."

Coronavirus Situation

The Beijing municipal government ordered that nearly every single resident in the city would have to have three P.C.R. tests for the coronavirus over five days. Authorities made the announcement after 70 coronavirus infections were recorded in the region since Friday.

Chaoyang ordered on Sunday that all of its residents, which number roughly 3.5 million, were required to get tested on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The country's national government has relied heavily on lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus despite their high social and economic costs.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has committed to his zero-COVID strategy to eliminate the spread of the virus. Many residents have seen that mass testing has become a prelude in nearly all Chinese cities.

The Communist Party had ordered that the crowded nation's capital should be free of the coronavirus. If the authorities decide to enforce stringent restrictions in Beijing, they would add to the political and economic pressures that are already weighing down on Xi's government, the New York Times reported.



Related Article: Shanghai Widens COVID-19 Testing Amid Rise of Asymptomatic Infections

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Most investors are focused on maximising returns rather than whether businesses they put money in pursue sustainable policies, new research reveals.

But a similar number believe ethical investments are a good option that will also bring decent returns, and four out of five regard reneweable energy as a promising sector.

Three quarters of people who hold at least one type of investment already - including stocks, funds and trusts - believe companies with strong environmental, social and governance credentials are becoming increasingly attractive investment options, according to the research by Charles Schwab.

Investing trends: Four out of five investors regard reneweable energy as a promising sector

However, the investment broker found that 19 per cent of the 1,000 nationally representative investors it surveyed hold any ethical investments at present.

That compares with 13 per cent of investors who hold 'sin stocks' such as companies involved in alcohol, tobacco, gambling or weapons, and 39 per cent of investors who hold cryptocurrencies.

Charles Schwab also found 44 per cent of investors regularly consider ethical factors when making a new investment, made up of 33 per cent who said usually and 11 per cent who said always.

A further 34 per cent sometimes investigate how responsible or sustainable their investment target is while 11 per cent say they do so rarely and 11 per cent say never.

The investors who take ESG issues into consideration usually or always were far more likely to be younger, with 56 per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds saying they did so and 55 per cent of 26 to 37-year-olds.

Some 41 per cent of 38 to 55-year-old also took this approach to researching investments, and 28 per cent of over-55s.

How to give your portfolio a green makeover Find a six-step guide to revamping your investments - and expert fund and trust tips here. Mystified by green investing jargon like ESG and greenwashing? Read an A-Z of what you need to know here.

The Charles Schwab survey also found:

- Some 78 per cent would be willing to switch into sustainable investments if all else remained equal, such as fees and returns

- However, 70 per cent of people believe sustainable investment options cost more than non-sustainable ones, and 58 per cent say they are prepared to stomach this if necessary

- More than half, or 55 per cent, say they don't mind if investments underperform as long as they are sustainable - though this finding in the survey appears to conflict with the 66 per cent who state they just want to maximise returns

- Some 69 per cent were unsure how to check the sustainability of an investment before making decisions - see the box above.

The broking firm's UK managing director, Richard Flynn, says: 'Despite being a major focus for asset management firms, our research shows ESG is not always a priority for retail investors.

'Looking at the trends, we found that considerations around environmental and social factors are often down to the social conscience of individual investors rather than their financial judgement.

'Most investors clearly have good intentions; however, many appear to be conflicted between moral and practical investment motivations.

'Investors often want to invest in companies that help to improve the environment, such as renewable energy producers.

'However, there is a reluctance to sacrifice investment performance or pay higher fees in return. This suggests that initially good intentions when investing are not always acted upon.'
Almost 100billion was wiped off the value of Tesla after its boss Elon Musk struck a deal to buy Twitter.

Amid mounting fears the audacious takeover of the social media platform would prove a distraction for the 50-year-old tycoon, the electric car maker's shares tumbled 12 per cent in New York.

That sliced $125billion, or 99billion, off the value of Tesla.

Tesla shares tumbled 12 per cent in New York amid mounting fears founder Elon Musk's audacious takeover of Twitter would prove a distraction

It also reduced the value of Musk's 16.7 per cent stake by 17billion  though it was still worth 120billion.

The slump came as the 35billion takeover of Twitter continued to send shockwaves through Wall Street and Silicon Valley and attracted the attention of global regulators.

Musk  who is said to have a fortune of around 200billion  already runs Tesla as well as rocket company Space X.

He also founded and is heavily involved in brain-chip start-up Neuralink and tunnelling venture the Boring Company.

Analysts warned the takeover could be damaging for Tesla shareholders as Musk implements his plan to unlock Twitter's 'tremendous potential'.

There are also concerns that Musk is part-funding the takeover with a loan secured against 10billion of his shares in the electric car maker.

Edward Moya, an analyst at investment platform Oanda, said: 'Tesla shareholders can't be happy that Musk will have to divert even more attention away from winning the electric vehicle race.'

A fund manager with a significant holding in Tesla, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters: 'I fear this is going to be a distraction. He's juggling supply chains and factory delays and the expansion of the energy storage business and this doesn't fit at all.'

Twitter Founder set to scoop $1bn after deal bonanza Twitter founder Jack Dorsey is in line to pocket nearly $1billion from the sale of the social media site to Elon Musk. The 45-year-old will receive a $978million (773million) pay out after Musk agreed to buy the site Dorsey created in a 35billion deal. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey will receive a $978m (773m) pay out after Musk agreed to buy the site Dorsey created in a 35bn deal Dorsey owns 18m shares  equivalent to 2.4 per cent of the company  which Musk will buy for $54.20 each. Dorsey, who sits on the board, has long declined a salary from Twitter  instead taking the minimum allowed of $1.40 a year. Others in line to make a fortune include chief executive Parag Agrawal, who has only been boss for five months. Agrawal has history with Musk and many believe he will not survive under the new owner.

Tesla has lost more than a fifth of its value since Musk first disclosed his over 9 per cent stake in Twitter in early April. His move to buy Twitter has raised concerns about the depth of executive talent at Tesla.

'Tesla feels very much like a start-up despite it being a trillion dollar company,' said Tesla investor Ross Gerber, chief executive of wealth management firm Gerber Kawasaki.

'It's as big or bigger than the biggest companies in the world, but it doesn't have the management infrastructure like other companies.'

Tesla is racing to boost production at new plants in Texas and Berlin amid supply-chain snarls and higher raw materials costs, as well as get work at its biggest factory in Shanghai back on track during a spike in Covid-19 cases there.

Despite those problems, Tesla last week posted record quarterly results as demand for its electric cars boomed.

The company reported revenues of 14.3billion for the first three months of 2022  up 81 per cent on a year earlier  while profits rose 147 per cent to 4.2billion.

Garrett Nelson, vice president at research firm CFRA Research, gave a vote of confidence to Musk and labelled concerns over him selling Tesla shares as 'overblown'.

He said: 'If anyone can juggle these companies, it's Elon. He's been able to successfully balance growth at both Tesla and SpaceX over the last several years and he's surrounded by a highly capable supporting cast at each company.

'We think concerns that Musk might have to sell Tesla shares in order to fund purchase of Twitter are overblown as we believe they are merely being pledged as collateral.'

Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Tesla investor Dakota Wealth, said Musk could install someone else to lead Twitter.

'It seems like that would be the most logical thing,' he said. 'It seems like he has his hands full with Tesla and Space X.'
Pressure is mounting on Sanjeev Guptas GFG Alliance after French police raided the firms Paris offices.

The probe comes as French authorities investigate allegations of money laundering and misuse of corporate assets at GFG, which faces an inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office.

Gupta has faced scrutiny ever since the collapse of its main lender Greensill Capital in March 2021.

Questions: Sanjeev Gupta (pictured) has faced scrutiny ever since the collapse of GFG Alliance's main lender Greensill Capital in March 2021

A GFG spokesman said: We strongly reject any suggestion of wrongdoing and we will continue to cooperate fully with the French authorities to help them bring this matter to a swift conclusion.

It is understood French prosecutors visited GFGs Paris office and an aluminium smelter in Dunkirk, during which they combed through company documents and files.

Investigations in Dunkirk are reportedly concerned with transactions made before GFG lost control of the plant to private equity group American Industrial Partners last year.

GFGs spokesman said: GFG has determined that there was no wrongdoing in its French businesses.
Heathrow has warned it will not return to profit this year after pandemic losses topped 4billion.

In its first quarter results, the west London airport said demand remains very volatile despite enjoying a surge in last-minute Easter getaway bookings.

Heathrows revenues climbed 213 per cent from 165million last year to 516million in the first three months of 2022.

Fragile recovery: In its first quarter results, Heathrow said 'demand remains very volatile' despite enjoying a surge in last-minute Easter getaway bookings

And passenger forecasts were met after 9.7million people travelled through its airport in January, February and March.

But the airport said it has lost 4bn since the start of the Covid pandemic.

Heathrow said it expects to see 52.8million passengers pass through its airport this year  up from a previous forecast of 45.5million.

More than 95 per cent of passengers passed through security within five minutes during the Easter getaway, the airport added.
Elderly homeowners are today warned to be on their guard against greedy salesmen flogging costly and complicated financial products that promise to help preserve their wealth for future generations.

Unregulated legal firms claim that by transferring property and cash into a trust it will protect their assets from care home fees and inheritance tax, as well as avoid the need for probate  the legal right to manage someones estate when they die.

But experts warn these complex financial arrangements can be entirely unsuitable for many families and leave them facing hefty legal bills if something goes wrong.

Unregulated legal firms claim that by transferring property and cash into a trust it will protect their assets from care home fees and inheritance tax, as well as avoid the need for probate

Some are also being sold by salesmen with no qualifications or expertise in this area. Many trusted High Street building societies referred customers to unregulated legal services until as recently as 2018.

Our findings come just one week after we warned about a rise in unregulated providers selling expensive probate plans.

In one case, a family is still in limbo a year after their mother died because the company, which sold her a 2,000 plan, wont help them.

Since then, we have been contacted by worried readers targeted by similar businesses selling other financial planning products such as trusts.

A trust is a legal arrangement for managing assets, for example property, cash and shares. There are many legitimate reasons for setting one up  like when a beneficiary of an estate is too young to inherit.

But, increasingly, trusts are being sold as a way for families to shield their wealth as it means you no longer technically own the assets.

One Money Mail reader says he and his wife were sold a 3,600 Family Probate Preservation Plus Trust in February after visiting a local legal firm, Harratts Legal Services, in Stockport, to update his will.

A legal consultant from the company visited him at home and said it would help protect their property should they later need care. They were told the Government didnt publicise the arrangements because it would lose too much income if more people knew.

The 82-year-old, who wishes to remain anonymous, says: My wife and I have lived in this house for 47 years and we wanted to protect it for our children and grandchildren.

But there is no guarantee their money and home will be safe from care costs. Local authorities will investigate your finances should the need for care arise.

And if it decides there has been a deliberate deprivation of assets to avoid paying for care, it can take any funds in the trust into account when calculating how much you owe.

In England, you must have less than 14,250 to be eligible for the maximum funding. In Scotland and Wales, its 18,500 and 50,000, respectively.

A Harratts Legal Services spokesman says it will investigate the matter.

Any assets placed in trusts are owned and managed by appointed trustees  usually responsible relatives or friends. But unregulated organisations may appoint themselves as a trustee giving them total control over any wealth you place inside.

Trusted: Many high Street building societies referred customers to unregulated legal services until as recently as 2018

Gary Rycroft, from Joseph A. Jones & Co. Solicitors, says: Trusts are not a silver bullet to avoid legal complexity on death. If you try to use it to avoid care home fees, you are always up against the deliberate deprivation of assets rules. Tread carefully with appointing unregulated firms as trustees.

You wont be able to sell your house without their involvement and they may charge fees for their time or disappear altogether.

One legal services provider, Philips Trust Corporation (PTC), which manages these financial products, went into administration last Friday. The firm had taken over customers of Estate Planning Group, which comprised of The Will Writing Company and Family Trust Corporation.

High Street building societies had referred hundreds or even thousands of customers to these firms between 2005 and 2018.

Many, including the Nottingham, Newcastle and Leeds building societies, are now fielding calls from worried families experiencing difficulties. Newcastle BS has even set up a dedicated helpline.

Chris Rumseys elderly parents were among those referred by Leeds Building Society in 2012. At the time, his father Philip was 90 and his mother, Valerie, who died in 2013, was 87.

They had visited their local branch to discuss what to do with their savings and were directed to a staff member working in the mutuals financial services department  who was also a representative of the insurer Aviva.

He had suggested they invest their money in a five-year Aviva savings bond.

But he also proposed they set up a discretionary trust to avoid an inheritance tax bill in the future. They were then visited by a salesman at home who charged a 4,000 fee to put 60,000 of bonds in a trust for each of them.

Chris, 65, who lives in Aylesford, Kent, says his parents believed they were dealing with the building society staff, who they trusted.

But they later discovered the trust had been set up by an unregulated firm called the Family Trust Corporation (FTC), which was later taken over by PTC.

Chris, a former operating theatre technician, understood that the trust wound up if both parents died. But in 2018, he was informed by Aviva that someone from PTC was trying to withdraw money from his mother s trust.

I was horrified. I told Aviva not to let them take the money, he says.

At this point, Chriss father needed the money for care but PTC refused to let him make any withdrawals.

Eventually, Aviva stepped in but it still took two years for the companies to step down as trustees. It also cost the family 6,000 in legal fees.

Chris says: By the time you pay annual management fees, tax on any dividends, commission charges, withdrawal fees and other costs and expenses, you may as well have paid inherit- ance tax.

And you dont realise that by appointing these firms as trustees you are gifting them your assets.

a.murray@dailymail.co.uk
Joe Biden agreed to pay son Hunter's legal fees for his deal with a Chinese government-controlled company, emails reveal.

The revelation ties the president even closer to Hunter's overseas business dealings  and makes his previous claims that he never discussed them with his son, even less plausible.

Joe was able to pay the bills after earning millions of dollars through his and his wife's companies after he left office as vice president.

Some of the wave of cash came from their book deals and speaking engagements.

But the president's financial filings reveal that he declared almost $7million more income on his tax returns than he did on his government transparency reports, an analysis by DailyMail.com of the president's financial records shows.

Some of that difference can be accounted for with salaries earned by First Lady Jill Biden and other sums not required on his reports  but still leaves $5.2million earned by Joe's company and not listed on his transparency reports.

The 'missing millions'  combined with emails on Hunter's abandoned laptop suggesting Joe would have a 10% share in Hunter's blockbuster deal with the Chinese  raise a troubling question: did Joe Biden receive money from the foreign venture?

Emails reveal Joe Biden agreed to pay Hunter's legal fees for a deal with a Chinese government-controlled company

In January 2019, Hunter's assistant Katie Dodge wrote an email to book-keeper Linda Shapero and Biden aide Richard Ruffner, saying Joe had agreed to pay his hundreds of thousands of dollars of bills

One of the last items on a spreadsheet of Hunter's bills was $28,000 in legal fees for the 'restructuring' of Hunter's joint venture with the Chinese government-controlled Bank of China. The spreadsheet listed the bill as 'Faegre Baker Daniels: BHR Restructuring' costing $28,382 and due 'ASAP'.

In January 2019, Hunter's assistant Katie Dodge wrote an email to book-keeper Linda Shapero and Biden aide Richard Ruffner, saying Joe had agreed to pay his hundreds of thousands of dollars of bills.

The math behind Joe's missing $5.2million The president's financial filings show that he declared almost $7million more income on his tax returns than he did on his government transparency reports, raising the question: where did the extra cash come from? Joe Biden's Office of Government Ethics (OGE) filings: 2017 - May 2019 filing: Jill and Joe Biden income of $8,699,787

Income attributable to Joe Bidens company CelticCapri Corp: $7,451,727 May 2019  2020 filing: Income of $907,160

CelticCapri Corp income: $613,737 Total: $9,606,947, including $8,065,464 from CelticCapri Joe Bidens federal tax returns: 2017 Income of $11,031,309 CelticCapri Corp income: $9,636,690 2018 Income of $4,580,437 CelticCapri Corp income: $3,030,667 2019 Income of $985,233 CelticCapri Corp income: $578,178 Total: $16,596,979, including $13,245,535 from CelticCapri Tax return versus OGE difference: $6,990,032 Unaccounted-for difference from CelticCapri: $5,180,071 Advertisement

'I spoke with Hunter today regarding his bills. It is my understanding that Hunt's dad will cover these bills in the short-term as Hunter transitions in his career,' Dodge said.

The assistant attached a spreadsheet of bills with the email, totaling $737,130.61.

One of the last items was $28,000 in legal fees for the 'restructuring' of Hunter's joint venture with the government-controlled Bank of China.

The spreadsheet listed the bill as 'Faegre Baker Daniels: BHR Restructuring' costing $28,382 and due 'ASAP'.

BHR ('Bohai Harvest RST') is a private equity firm and one of Hunter's two major Chinese business ventures. The joint venture was co-owned by the state-controlled Bank of China.

Hunter's personal attorney, George Mesires, is a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels, now called Faegre Drinker.

A separate October 2018 invoice from the law firm shows Hunter spent a total $68,933.41 on the 'restructuring' beginning in September 2016.

The same year Joe took on these bills from Hunter, he promised that 'No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they are a cabinet member, will, in fact, have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country.'

Yet not only did Hunter hold on to his 10% share of BHR through 2021, confirmed by White House press secretary Jen Psaki last February, the emails also indicate Joe knew about it, and even agreed to pay Hunter's legal fees for the firm.

The bills also include $412,309.23 in unpaid taxes dating back to 2015.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that Hunter had taken out a million-dollar loan to pay his delinquent tax bill in an apparent effort to stave off an alleged tax fraud prosecution.

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who along with Senator Chuck Grassley is investigating Hunter's foreign business deals, said Joe Biden's unaccounted-for millions are 'another disturbing piece of information that raises questions that deserve answers.'

'When will the corporate media start doing their job and ask President Biden these questions?' he said. 'And when will President Biden start being honest with the public? The American people deserve the truth.'

Iowa Republican Grassley told DailyMail.com: 'Evidence of the president's financial and business connections to Hunter continues to grow. It's imperative for the first family to show the American people the transparency that they deserve.'

Hunter's personal attorney, George Mesires, is a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels, now called Faegre Drinker. A separate October 2018 invoice from the law firm shows Hunter spent a total $68,933.41 on the 'restructuring' beginning in September 2016

Hunter's bill for over $68,000 on the 'restructuring' is seen in a statement of his account

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson (left), who along with Senator Chuck Grassley (right) is investigating Hunter's foreign business deals, said Joe Biden's unaccounted-for millions are 'another disturbing piece of information that raises questions that deserve answers'

DailyMail.com obtained a copy of the abandoned laptop's hard drive and commissioned the founder of the FBI's cyber forensics unit to analyze it. Their report found the contents were genuine and there was no evidence of tampering  by Russians or anyone else

The president's son is under federal investigation for tax offenses, money laundering and illegal lobbying for foreign clients.

Joe's financial transparency disclosures show that he had more than enough money to foot Hunter's burgeoning bills.

While in office Joe had a relatively modest income, but he enjoyed a flood of millions of dollars soon after he left office, much of which came from his memoir book deal and eye-watering speaking fees.

Between 2017 and 2019 he and First Lady Jill Biden reported $16.5million in gross income on their federal tax returns, released by the Biden campaign.

The vast majority came from their two companies, CelticCapri Corp and Giacoppa Corp, which they use for speaking and writing engagements.

But in Office of Government Ethics (OGE) fillings for the same period, Joe only reported $9.6million in income for himself and his wife.

Joe Biden's 2019 disclosure to the Office of Government Ethics shows he received millions through his company, CelticCapri Corp  but fails to account for all of the $16.5million shown in his tax filings

The White House released President Joe Biden's tax returns last Friday, revealing that the first couple made more than $600,000 last year

Joe's 2017 federal tax return shows $11million of adjusted gross income, almost $4.6million in 2018, and $985,233 in 2019. That's a total of about $16.5million

Between 2017 and 2019 he and First Lady Jill Biden reported $16.5million in gross income on their federal tax returns, released by the Biden campaign. In Joe Biden's 2018 Amended Federal tax return document it showed a total of $4,580,437

Some of the remaining roughly $7million came from wages earned by the First Lady from her Northern Virginia Community College teaching job and a salary she paid herself from Giacoppa, which the couple were not required to report to the OGE.

Hunters former business partner Tony Bobulinski claimed he met with Joe Biden to discuss a business deal with the Chinese

But a comparison of the income reported by Joe from his CelticCapri company on OGE reports versus what he told the IRS, shows a difference of almost $5.2million which remains unaccounted for.

No conclusive evidence has yet emerged that Joe profited from any of Hunters business deals.

But the potential discrepancy in the presidents financial filings, and his alleged links to Hunters Chinese ventures, raise troubling questions over where the unexplained $5,180,071 came from.

Joe's OGE filing submitted in July 2019 shows around $8,699,787 of income for him and Jill from 2017 through May 2019. This includes $7,451,727 which he said came from CelticCapri Corp.

His OGE form submitted in May 2020 added another $907,160 that wasn't paid until after their 2019 report, bringing the total for the period to $9,606,947, and the total for CelticCapri to $8,065,464.

Joe's 2017 federal tax return shows $11million of adjusted gross income, almost $4.6million in 2018, and $985,233 in 2019. That's a total of about $16.5million  some $6,990,032 more than what was listed on his OGE forms.

Joes tax returns detail income from CelticCapri of $9,636,690 in 2017, $3,030,667 in 2018 and $578,178 in 2019, making a total of $13,245,535.

This is $5,180,071 more than the CelticCapri earnings he reported on his OGE forms.

The OGE forms do not give precise figures for many of the couple's assets, only rough value ranges.

But according to Joe's form for 2015 while he was vice president, he and Jill reported assets worth between $317,028 and $1,080,000. By July 2019, the couple had assets worth between $2,237,033 and $7,955,000.

The figures show an increase in assets of at least $1,157,033  and could be as much as $7,637,972.

Amid all the shocking messages involving Joe Biden, possibly the most important email of the 154,000 on Hunter's abandoned laptop is the infamous 'big guy' email, suggesting that the president was secretly involved in, and set to profit from, an alleged Chinese influence operation

It is clear from the president's tax returns that his income largely came through his firm, CelticCapri Corp. Some of it is itemized on his OGE forms as being earned from speaking engagements and a book deal for his memoir, Promise Me, Dad. But where the remaining $5.2million money came from remains a mystery.

In a now-infamous email sent by Hunter's business partner James Gilliar in May 2017, it was suggested 10% of the equity in their joint venture with Chinese oil giant CEFC would be 'held by H for the big guy'.

Another partner in the deal, Tony Bobulinski, has claimed that the message meant Hunter would secretly hold the shares for his father, who was involved in the deal.

Several other emails on Hunter's laptop refer to Joe as 'the big guy'.

A report by Grassley and Johnson in September 2020 uncovered $5million in wire transfers from Hunter's Chinese partners to a company controlled by the president's son.

One of the CEFC executives, Patrick Ho, also paid Hunter a $1million retainer to represent him over a Department of Justice bribery prosecution.

In an audio-recorded conversation stored on Hunter's laptop, the president's son referred to Ho as the 'f***ing spy chief of China'.

Ho did indeed appear to have ties to Chinese intelligence agencies, as he was the subject of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant aimed at investigating potential foreign spies.

But Hunters claim that Ho was the spy chief of China - or a senior Chinese intelligence officer - has not been proven.
An email address linked to Charles Herbster, embattled Republican Nebraska governor candidate who is backed by Donald Trump, was used to set up an account on the cheating website Ashley Madison, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The address was among millions released by hackers in 2015.

The revelation will increase scrutiny of Herbster's troubled campaign after a GOP lawmaker accused him of groping her, and seven other women subsequently made similar allegations.

In a lawsuit lodged last Friday, Herbster said the accusations 'lack even a shred of credibility' and have damaged his reputation.

Trump is due in the state on Friday for a rally to boost his favored candidate.

Herbster, a wealthy cattle breeder and loyal Trump ally, launched his candidacy last year and used the email address charles@herbsterangus.com on his official filing with the Nebraska secretary of state.

The same address was in the huge trove of Ashley Madison data dumped online by hackers, according to an independent analysis conducted by a cybersecurity expert for DailyMail.com.

Donald Trump will be in Nebraska on Friday to hold a rally to boost the campaign of Charles Herbster in his run for the Republican nomination to be Nebraska's next governor

One of Herbster's email addresses was among millions dumped online by hackers who accessed accounts of users of Ashley Madison, a website that advertised itself as catering to married people looking to have discreet affairs

Earlier this month, Nebraska State Senator Julie Slama accused Herbster of putting his hand up her skirt at a public event. Herbster denies the accusation and has launched legal action

The site caters to married people looking to have affairs, with the tagline, 'Life is short. Have an affair.'

The 2015 data dump sent shockwaves through marriages around the nation, triggering separations and divorces.

Log-on information associated with the Herbster email address shows the account was accessed from an IP address linked to Verizon Wireless, at a location that corresponds to Kansas City International Airport.

Among Herbster's business interests is Conklin Company, which manufactures more than 130 products, including roofing and agriculture products, such as fertilizers and motor oil, and has its administrative offices in Kansas City, Missouri.

He also owns Herbster Angus Farms, a cattle breeding business. In 2019 he spent a record $1.5m on an Angus bull.

Proving who used particular email addresses, and whether the user signed up for an Ashley Madison account, is notoriously difficult.

But the charles@herbsterangus.com address is listed in connection with Herbster Angus Farms in directories, as well as documents used to file his run for governor.

Herbster has been married twice, and his second wife Judith died in 2017.

The details will raise fresh questions for Herbster, whose campaign makes much of his born-again Christian credentials, business experience and relationship with Trump.

His campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment until after this story was published.

'This is clearly another attempt by the fake news to smear Charles,' said spokesperson Emily Novotny.

'Charles 100% denies ever using Ashley Madison or creating an account.'

Login information released by the hackers show the account was accessed from a latitude and longitude of 39.30204,-94.718377. The location corresponds to Kansas City International Airport. One of Herbster's business has its administrative offices in the city

Herbster was married to Judith from 1982 to 2017, when she died of a heart attack

Herbster was appointed chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Advisory Committee for Trump's presidential campaign in 2015, and said at the time he had been friends with the first-time candidate for a decade. Trump endorsed his run for governor last year

He says he has been friends with the former president for more than a decade, and in 2015 took on the role of agricultural adviser to Trump's campaign.

Photographs of the two together feature prominently in Herbster's promotional material.

Trump's endorsement of Herbster, who has never held public office, is seen as another example of the former president taking a gamble on an ultra-loyalist, rather than better connected opponents.

But it could be enough to turn Herbster into a real contender in a state that heavily backed Trump in 2020.

'Charles W. Herbster has been a tremendous supporter of America First and Make America Great Again, right from the beginning,' said Trump in his endorsement.

'He is running for governor of the great state of Nebraska and will do a fantastic job.

'A proud native of Nebraska, Charles is an extraordinarily successful businessman who will fight for our farmers and ranchers, support our military and vets, and protect and defend your under siege Second Amendment rights.'

But Herbster's campaign was hit by scandal when GOP state Sen. Julie Slama told the Nebraska Examiner that the businessman had reached up her skirt during a 2019 Republican fundraising dinner.

'Today's Nebraska Examiner report about Charles Herbster sexually assaulting me in 2019, when I was 22 years old, is true,' she later said in a statement.

Six other women, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Examiner that Herbster groped them on their buttocks, outside of their clothes, at public events.

A seventh woman alleged that Herbster once cornered her and forcibly kissed her.

Herbster has denied all the allegations.

On Friday, he filed a suit in state district court accusing Slama of making false accusation in an effort to damage his reputation ahead of the hard fought Republican May 10 primary.

'As set forth in my lawsuit, the false accusations and attacks on my character are part of a greater scheme calculated to try and defeat my candidacy,' he said in a statement.

'I will not stop fighting until the truth is told and my name is cleared.'

Slama responded with her own lawsuit on Monday, according to her lawyer, who said it included a claim for damages for 'the sexual battery she suffered.'

'We will not permit Charles Herbster to file a frivolous, bad faith lawsuit that purports to cast doubt on Senator Slama's account of her sexual assault, use his national media megaphone to herald the existence of that lawsuit for his own gain, but then take no steps to actually serve it and subject himself to the legal accountability such service would trigger,' said attorney Dave Lopez.

'Charles Herbster chose to subject himself to Nebraskas judicial system, and Senator Slama will hold him to that choice.'

It requires that Herbster sit for a videotaped deposition on May 6, four days before the primary.
This is the terrifying a trapeze star lost his grip and plunged more than 10 feet to the ground in front of a shocked audience.

Eduardo Elenilson Gama, 20, fractured his pelvis in the accident during a performance by Circo Puerto Rico in Caucaia, north-eastern Brazil, on April 21.

Video filmed from the audience captures him hitting the floor with a sickening thud after missing the safety net.

Footage shows the performer apparently struggling to make a turn, before he loses his grip.

The audience gasp and scream as he crashes to the ground before three circus workers rush over to help him.

Paramedics rushed Eduardo to the local Dr Abelardo Gadelha da Rocha Municipal Hospital, then later transferred to the Dr Jose Frota Institute in nearby Fortaleza.

Local reports reported that he initially reassured fans he was ok via social media.

But an MRI revealed he had fractured his pelvis. He was due for further assessments at the hospital today.

This is the terrifying moment that circus-goers watched 20-year-old trapeze star Eduardo Elenilson Gama lose his grip and plunge at more than 10 feet to the ground during a show

Eduardo was performing with Circo Puerto Rico in Caucaia, north-eastern Brazil , on April 21. The audience audibly gasped and screamed at the accident, which left 20-year-old Eduardo hospitalised

Speaking on Sunday, a friend of the trapeze artist, who preferred to remain anonymous, said despite the severity of the fall, Eduardo might avoid surgery.

Trapezist Eduardo Elenilson Gama, pictured, fractured his pelvis when his high-flying move went wrong and landed on the hard floor with a sickening thud

An X-ray revealed the fracture on Gama's pelvis, although a friend said he was hopeful the performer would avoid surgery

The friend said: 'He now needs a lot of rest and must not exert himself.

'He will probably be seen on Monday by the spine and pelvis doctor and we'll wait for their opinion.'

The performance took place before the troupe had received official authorisation to be able to perform, said the local authorities.

The Urban and Environmental Planning Department (UEPD) confirmed that the troupe was fined for performing without the necessary permits.

The circus remains banned from performing for the time being.

One of the circus directors said the group did not receive authorisation to perform because a public holiday caused local officials to fall behind schedule.

UEPD said the Fire Department will carry out a technical inspection.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has confounded Democrats over budget talks  even while boasting about using her cleavage to reel in 'uptight' Republicans, according to a new book.

Sinema, a weight-lifter and fitness buff, regularly draws attention in the buttoned-down Senate hallways with her eclectic fashion choices.

But she has also developed ways to contend with Republicans in the minority, according to This Will Not Pass, a new book by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns.

Despite being more 'discomfiting' to the White House than any Democrat in the 50-50 Senate, Sinema had relationships across the political aisle. The former House member, who is the first bisexual member of the Senate, 'joked with Democrats about how easy it was for her to charm Republican men,' according to the book.

'Sinema, a fitness enthusiast who was 36 when she entered Congress, boasted knowingly to colleagues and aides that her cleavage had an extraordinary persuasive effect on the uptight men of the GOP. She told one House Republican that while she would never switch parties, her father would be delighted if she did,' the authors write.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) 'boasted knowingly to colleagues and aides that her cleavage had an extraordinary persuasive effect on the uptight men of the GOP,' according to a new book. Here Sinema taps Mitt Romney (R-UT) on the back as he speaks to the media at the U.S. Capitol on April 25, 2022 in Washington, DC

The book also delves into President Joe Biden's governing woes  including prolonged talks with Sinema, whom the authors dub an 'aloof Arizonan.' She became a progressive nemesis when she and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) wouldn't go along with Biden's multi-trillion proposals, although she did cheer his infrastructure plan.

After Biden signed the infrastructure bill, Sinema asked Biden's aides not to send the president to her home state for a 'victory lap,' even though he had won Arizona in 2020. White House aides were concluding she was 'simply a difficult person.'

The book describes one early 2021 dinner with Senate Republicans after the election where where the Republicans asked Sinema to join  and she requested to be able to enter through a back door to avoid being seen.

She has won praise from Republicans for her opposition to changing the Senate filibuster, and a line of Republicans congratulated her on the Senate floor after voting with the GOP on a move to advance the Democratic leadership backed voting rights legislation.

The book, which grabbed headlines with revelations about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, also contains details about former President Donald Trump and his election overturn effort.

Sinema is a former House member who was elected to the Senate in 2018. Here she talks with U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) at a Senate Finance Committee hearing

Sinema confounded Democrats during months-long negotiations

Sinema previously served in the House. Here, she and Trey Hollingsworth, R-Ind., talk before a House Financial Services Committee hearing in 2018

Sinema asked Biden's aides not to send the president to her home state for a 'victory lap' after Biden signed the infrastructure bill, according to the book

Trump's belief that he could prevail extended well after the time he left the White House and decamped to Mar-a-Lago.

And it wasn't just Donald Trump's most passionate adherents who believed in the 'reinstatement' myth  the former President himself was saying last spring he would be reinstalled within months, the book reveals.

Trump stated his belief in the theory in May of 2021, four months after leaving office, according to the book.

The idea of a Trump reinstatement was being promoted at the time by My Pillow exec Mike Lindell and QAnon adherents, although it would ultimately be believed by nearly a third of Republicans in a June Politico / Morning Consult survey.

Trump phoned National Review editor Rich Lowry to tell him that the magazine 'would take off like a rocket if it recognized that he had actually won the election,' according to the book.

'In fact, Trump told Lowry, he expected to be reinstated by August, and Republicans would be put back in charge of the Senate once the supposedly pervasive corruption of the 2020 election was exposed.'

Former President Donald Trump told columnist Rich Lowry in May 2021 he expected to be reinstated within months, according to a new book

The Senate had flipped to Democratic control in 2000 after two Democratic wins in Georgia.

There is no provision in the Constitution for 'reinstatement' once election results have been certified by the states and Congress has counted the electoral votes and the president and lawmakers have been sworn into office.

(Lowry may have been an odd target for Trump's lobbying. He had called the Capitol riot in a Jan. 6th column a 'disgrace,' where he wrote that 'one point of the riot was to further pressure Pence (Hang Mike Pence!), but much of the lobbying took place behind closed doors, among Trumps advisers.')

Trump also took a shot at now Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. 'It was beyond belief, Trump said, that Mitch McConnell did not seem to understand this,' according to the book.

'The president's comments were pure madness,' the authors write.

Congress ultimately counted the votes certified by the states following the Capitol riot. Joe Biden took the oath Jan. 20th after Trump left the White House

Trump has been spending time at Mar-a-Lago and holding rallies around the country while dangling the possibility of a return to the White House

There have been multiple reports on Trump's interest in getting 'reinstated.'

After Trump withdrew his endorsement of Alabama GOP Rep. Mo Brooks, Brooks released a statement saying Trump had approached him with the idea.

'President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency,' Brooks said in a statement.

'As a lawyer, Ive repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period,' he added.

'Ive told President Trump the truth knowing full well that it might cause President Trump to rescind his endorsement. But I took a sworn oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution. I honor my oath. That is the way I am. I break my sworn oath for no man.'

Trump took back his endorsement in the Alabama Senate primary, citing Brooks' call for people to put the 2020 election 'behind you.'

Lindell, who was advised Trump inside the White House in the last days of his presidency, has also repeatedly touted the idea.

Other passages in the book reveal how Vice President Kamala Harris quickly learned not to come between President Biden and his negotiations with Congress.

The authors recount one episode where the president snapped at her so harshly even Republican senators in the meeting were shocked.

In a meeting last May, Biden tried to persuade Republican lawmakers to support $1 trillion in infrastructure spending.

And while Biden was ready for a compromise, Harris thought the bill was skimpy.

'Harris thought that there was something missing from the conversation,' according to the book.

She began turning the conversation toward Democratic priorities, including family and social spending, which were originally included in the larger Build Back Better bill.

She 'began to make the case for a larger package than the one Republicans seemed to have in mind.'

'Biden dismissed her comment immediately,' the authors wrote, in so harsh a tone 'that even the Republican senators were taken aback.'

Biden was typically 'scrupulously respectful' of his second-in-command, but the moment revealed that infrastructure negotiations were his and his alone.
The Earl and Countess of Wessex were today urged to use their 'diplomatic influence' to achieve 'reparatory justice' for the island of Antigua and Barbuda.

The country's prime minister Gaston Browne's words followed protests during the couple's visit to St Vincent and the Grenadines on Saturday, where banners were held aloft saying 'compensation now' and 'Britain your debt is outstanding'.

The history of slavery in the nation stretches as far back as 1674, when the first sugar plantation was established by Barbadian-born British soldier Christopher Codrington, who was also a plantation and slave-owner.

Within four years, half of the island's population was made up of African slaves who had been shipped from Africa's west coast in horrendous conditions.

Whilst tobacco, indigo and ginger crops were also grown, it was sugar that became the dominant source of revenue for the plantation owners on the island nation.

Toiling for hours in the hot sun, the slaves were fuelling the thirst for sugar back in England.

Toiling for hours in the hot sun, the slaves were fuelling the thirst for sugar back in England - Pictured: A slave showing his scars from being lashed by owners

Within four years of Cordrington's arrival, half of Antigua and population was made up of African slaves who had been shipped from Africa's west coast in horrendous conditions - Pictured: A diagram of a ship being used to transport slaves across the Atlantic

Antigua's flagship plantation was Betty's Hope. Many of its sugar mill towers still stand as a legacy of enforced enterprise that once took place.

But even after emancipation, former slaves continued to work on Antiguan plantations continued in their old roles for a paltry wage due to the absence of alternative sources of income.

Some historians believe that slavery and the associated malnutrition and disease was responsible for the destruction of the native Caribbean population - with modern inhabitants of the island descended mainly from Europe and Africa.

One of Antigua's national heroes is the slave Prince Klaas, who in 1736 planned an uprising that led to him being executed by breaking wheel (pictured)

The number of slaves in the mid-1770s peaked at 37,500 - treble the 12,500 present on the island in 1713 with the slaves in ever-worsening and overcrowded conditions

Sugar became the main crop on Antiguan plantations as a result of Christopher Codrington's settling on the island.

The number of slaves in the mid-1770s peaked at 37,500 - treble the 12,500 present on the island in 1713.

By contrast, the white population had fallen by nearly half to 3000 from 5000 with the slaves in ever-worsening and overcrowded conditions.

The Slave Act of 1723 made arbitrary murder of slave illegal but this change in the law did little to ease the suffering of the forced workers.

One of Antigua's national heroes is the slave Prince Klaas, who in 1736 planned an uprising that led to him being executed.

The slave, whose real name was Court, was crowned 'King of the Coromantees' in a pasture outside St. John's, in a ceremony that served as a declaration of war on whites.

Colonists discovered the plot and suppressed the rebellion and Prince Klaas and four accomplices were executed by breaking wheel - a device which systematically broke the bones of its victims.

Another sixty-four slaves were also killed for their part in the plot.

Rebellions were not uncommon on the island with another slave named Hercules hanged, drawn and quartered with three others burnt alive for a conspiracy to kill slave owner Crump in 1729

Gaston Browne asked for help securing 'reparatory justice' for slavery at a meeting with the Earl and Countess of Wessex and his cabinet during their visit to the island today

Rebellions were not uncommon on the island with another slave named Hercules hanged, drawn and quartered with three others burnt alive for a conspiracy to kill slave owner Crump in 1729.

The nineteenth century was the twilight for slavery across the West.

The American War of Independence at the end of the eighteenth century disrupted the sugar trade in Antigua after Britain enforced the Navigation Acts to stop trading with the newly-independent United States.

The slave trade was abolished throughout the British Empire in 1807 and this created an economic groundshift in the colony.

Sugar cane had already collapsed in price after the cheaper sugar beet - native to Europe - replaced it.

Slaves also found themselves employed in the very jobs they were forced to do in the years before because of a lack of alternative employment in Antigua.

The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda today told the Earl and Countess of Wessex it is his country's wish to 'one day become a republic' - with Gaston Browne remarking that he wanted the royal couple to help Antigue and Barbuda achieve 'reparatory justice' for slavery on the island.

Gaston Browne's remarks came at a meeting between Edward and Sophie, Mr Browne and his cabinet during their visit to the island today - and are a direct echo of Jamaican PM Andrew Holness, who told the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their own tour that his country is 'moving on' to become a republic.
Will Smith is said to be on a "spiritual trip" to India to meditate, but he has yet to apologize or reach out to Chris Rock for his infamous Oscars slap.

Many Hollywood insiders are rolling their eyes as Smith, 53, insists his trip is part of his vow to do "the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason." Ardent sources told People on Monday that Smith was "on a journey inward," one month after he shockingly slapped Rock, 57, onstage at the 2022 Oscars.

Will Smith Hasn't Personally Apologized to Chris Rock

Will Smith went to India for spiritual reasons to practice yoga and meditation. On Saturday, the actor landed at a private airport in Mumbai, India, for the first time since the Academy Awards, where he posed for photos with admirers.

Smith was all smiles when he landed in India on Saturday, his first public appearance since the notorious Oscars slap. Smith appeared comfortable and pleased after landing in the South Asian country, dressed casually in a white t-shirt, dark grey shorts over white compression tights, and Nike sneakers.

Will Smith then took a few photographs with security before turning to the supporters who were chanting his name and waving and smiling before taking a few more selfies and entering a building where he hugged someone.

This is Smith's first public appearance in over a month, after hitting master of ceremony and comedian Chris Rock on live TV in front of his co-stars when he made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's buzzcut.

Will has resigned from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Oscars, after winning Best Actor for "King Richard" at the Academy Awards last month. The Academy has barred the actor from attending any of its events for ten years.

The Smith family has kept a low profile ever since the event occurred. Will Smith was sighted in Mumbai's Kalina airport almost a month later. In Mumbai, the 53-year-old actor was seen with a spiritual guru.

For his journey to the country, the actor wore a simple white shirt and a spiritual thread around his neck. According to reports, the actor traveled to India for spiritual reasons to move on from the painful incident.

The acclaimed actor was sighted in Mumbai with a pandit on April 23, 2022. To be clear, this is not the first time Will Smith has been spotted in India; on April 7, 2019, he revealed photos from his trip to the nation on Instagram. Jada Pinkett Smith has already stated that she will not bring up Will Smith's violent outburst at the Oscars 2022 Red Table Talk, as per Republic World.

Read Also: Johnny Depp Accuses Ex-Wife Amber Heard of Having Affair with James Franco; Ireland Baldwin Slams "Manipulative, Terrible" Actress Amid Trial

Chris Rock's Mom Speaks Out

Meanwhile, his mother has spoken out while comedian Chris Rock has been silent since being slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars. Rose Rock made an appearance on WIS-TV's Soda City Live in her home state of South Carolina.

Will Smith never apologized to her son, implying that he never personally reached out, according to Chris Rock's mom. Rose Rock claimed she was watching from her house and assumed that the scene was staged until Smith started throwing slurs at her son.

Smith's actions disrupted Chris Rock's speech; he was delighted to present the award for Best Documentary Feature to pal Questlove, according to Rose. On Sunday, Chris Rock, 57, appeared serious as he wandered across Manhattan in New York City, Daily Mail reported.

Related Article: Comedians and Jimmy Kimmel Discuss the Ramifications of Will Smith's Chris Rock Slap at the Oscars



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North Dakota's longest-serving state senator announced he would be resigning after it was revealed that he sent 72 text messages to a man who was arrested on child pornography charges.

On Monday, Republican Ray Holmberg, 79, said he would resign on June 1 following an April 15 report from the daily newspaper Forum of Fargo-Moorhead about 72 text messages the state senator exchanged in August with accused sex offender Nicholas James Morgan-Derosier.

The owner of a patio and yard care business called Team Lawn, Morgan-Derosier at the time was in custody at the Grand Forks County jail accused of sex crimes.

Prosecutors allege Morgan-Derosier, who remains in jail, possessed several thousand images and videos depicting sexually abused children. He is accused of taking two children under the age of 10 from Minnesota to his Grand Forks home, with the intent of sexually abusing them.

According to an affidavit, investigators found a thumb drive in Morgan-Derosier's Grand Forks home that contained thousands of videos and photographs of children being sexually abused, including two of his young nephews.

The landscaper previously was charged with theft, construction fraud and contracting without a license in connection to his lawn care business.

Republican North Dakota state senator Ray Holmberg, 79, (pictured) said he would resign on June 1

Nicholas James Morgan-Derosier (pictured) was in custody at the Grand Forks County jail on suspicion of child pornography and sex abuse crimes

'Recent news stories have become a distraction for the important work of the legislative assembly during its interim meetings,' Holmberg said in a statement announcing his resignation. 'I want to do what I can, within my power, to lessen such distractions.'

Holmberg, who rose to become one of the state's most powerful lawmakers in a career that spanned 46 years, had announced in March that this term would be his last. It would have ended November 30.

At the time, he said he was stepping down due to stress, saying a campaign would 'only exacerbate a weakened ability to concentrate on the matters at hand and effectively recall events.'

Holmberg initially told the Forum that he had read a newspaper story about the charges against Morgan-Derosier, but said in a later interview with the paper that he had not.

He told the Forum that his text messages with Morgan-Derosier were related to 'a variety of things,' including patio work Morgan-Derosier did for him.

Republican North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (pictured) said in a statement he 'supports Senator Holmberg's decision to resign' and did not elaborate

Holmberg told the paper that he no longer had the text messages. 'They're just gone,' he said.

While the context of the text messages has not been released, during a January detention hearing assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl released some details about messages Morgan-Derosier sent while behind bars, including texts sent in August 2021 to an unidentified 77-year-old man, the Daily Beast reported.

At the time Holmberg was 77, the Beast reported.

In the August messages, the 77-year-old asked Morgan-Derosier to bring his boyfriend, Nicholas Beeche, 20 at the time, over for a massage.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl said that Beeche did not know that Morgan-Derosier would be 'serving him up to a 77-year-old man.'

When pressed about the messages, Holmberg told the Forum: 'I don't know what you're talking about, Ok?'

Holmberg's attorney, Mark Friese, a prominent North Dakota criminal defense attorney, said that Holmberg hasn't been charged with any crime, and there is no indication that he will.

Republican North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum said in a statement that he 'supports Senator Holmberg's decision to resign' and did not elaborate.

Holmberg has been one of the Legislature's most powerful lawmakers for decades, serving as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

He chaired the legislative management committee, which decides committee assignments and chooses study topics that often inspire legislation, four times. He also sat on the state's emergency commission, which allocates funding and resources in times of an emergency.

Holmberg served on or chaired several GOP-led redistricting committees, leading to accolades from many North Dakota Republicans at the time.

Following his resignation announcement, Holmberg will remain on the Legislature's payroll through May and on its state-funded health insurance plan through July, a benefit worth about $1,425 monthly.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was reportedly 'exhilarated' about what he thought was the demise of Donald Trump's reputation following the January 6 Capitol riot last year, a new book excerpt claimed on Monday.

'He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger,' the Senate Minority Leader said after the ex-president's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building.

He added that it 'couldnt have happened at a better time.'

McConnell spoke to one of the New York Times journalists behind a new book, This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for Americas Future, in the early hours of January 7, 2021 -- after Congress had certified President Joe Biden's victory following the riot.

'I feel exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself,' the Kentucky lawmaker said, according to an excerpt obtained by the Washington Post.

He revealed at the time that he was considering a joint statement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top two Congressional Democrats, demanding that Trump stay away from Biden's inauguration.

McConnell reportedly even told his staff Trump was a 'despicable person' following the riot.

Speaking to New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin, the longtime legislator compared his aim to purge the GOP of Trump supporters to his previous attack on far-right Republicans in the 2014 elections.

McConnell said Trump 'totally discredited himself' and that it 'couldn't have happened at a better time' during an interview in the early hours of January 7, 2021

'We crushed the sons of b****es,' McConnell recalled bluntly.

'And thats what were going to do in the primary in 22.'

McConnell was among Trump's sharpest critics in the immediate aftermath of January 6, declaring on the Senate floor: 'The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.'

He was not, however, one of the seven Senate Republicans who voted to impeach him for it.

The video of those post-insurrection remarks was shared with Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows by Fox News host Sean Hannity, according to new text messages between the two revealed by CNN on Monday.

'Well this is as bad as this can get,' Hannity wrote of the January 19, 2021 video.

But McConnell has since dialed back his criticism of Trump. He's thrown support behind pro-Trump candidates like Herschel Walker, who's running to unseat Democratic Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock in November.

Excerpts from a forthcoming book on Trump and Biden reveals explosive new details on how close Republican leaders were to dropping the former president in the immediate aftermath of the riot -- though many have since returned to embracing him

He later said he'd support Trump in a possible 2024 re-election bid, standing by the comments when pressed by Axios earlier this month.

'Well as the Republican leader of the Senate, it should not be a front page headline that I will support the Republican nominee for president,' McConnell said on April 7.

'I think I have an obligation to support the nominee of my party. And I will.'

Speaking over journalist Jonathan Swan's interjections, McConnell continued, 'That will mean that whoever the nominee is has gone out and earned the nomination.'

He vehemently denied that his views were 'inconsistent,' insisting that 'I stand by everything I said.'

Trump, for his part, soured on McConnell after the riot as well. He frequently attacked the senator for much of last year over his vote in favor of Biden's $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure compromise.

The former president declared McConnell to be the most unpopular politician in history in an April 7 interview with the Post.

'Ill take anyone over McConnell,' he said, reiterating past claims that McConnell's reign over the GOP must end.

But despite that the longtime Republican leader enjoys near-total support among his colleagues.

The forthcoming account of the end of Trump's presidency and beginning of Biden's reveals new details about the extent of GOP leadership's fury following the insurrection.

It was the source of a New York Times report that revealed House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy had said he'd ask the ex-president to resign over last year's Capitol riot.

McCarthy denied the conversation, and the Times and other outlets published audio recordings that proved the Republican lawmaker did have those conversations with his fellow GOP leaders.
The Greens Party has pledged to introduce legislation to empower flood victims to sue major coal and gas companies for 'climate-fuelled damage'.

Party leader Adam Bandt said the effects of climate change was 'ravaging' the NSW Northern Rivers region recently devastated by unprecedented flooding.

Mr Bandt said coal and gas corporations had 'fuelled' the major weather event and called on those he deemed responsible to reimburse residents for the damage.

'The Greens want to stop new coal and gas mines and give the community, the council and governments the right to sue the coal and gas corporations that have knowingly made the climate crisis worse,' he told reporters.

Greens' leader Adam Bandt (pictured) said the effects of climate change was 'ravaging' the NSW Northern Rivers region recently devastated by unprecedented flooding

Legislation promised by the Greens will empower residents to sue coal and gas companies for flood damage (pictured, staff clean up their store in Byron Bay on March 31)

Mr Bandt, joined by one of his key candidates Mandy Nolan, is due to announce the plan on Tuesday along with other climate-focused investments.

Ms Nolan, a comedian and writer, is the candidate for the Greens priority seat of Richmond on the NSW North Coast.

The seat is currently held by Labor MP Justine Elliot on a margin of 4.1 per cent, ahead of the Nationals, however the Greens are steadily gaining support.

The party has pledged $190billion a year to the Richmond community to help rebuild and upgrade infrastructure to reduce the impacts of future flood events.

They will also seek to increase emergency services funding to $5billion a year to bolster support for volunteers and residents in flood-affected areas.

Mr Bandt said coal and gas corporations had 'fuelled' the major weather event that affected residents across NSW and southeast Queensland (pictured, residents in Brisbane in March)

Ms Nolan, a comedian and writer, is the candidate for the Greens priority seat of Richmond on the NSW North Coast (pictured outside Parliament House in Canberra)

The Greens also want $600m to be spent every year from the Emergency Response Fund which is currently restricted to $4.7billion.

They also want $300million spent in 2027-28 on climate resilience projects.

Mr Bandt said if Ms Nolan joined the Greens in the House of Representatives the party would 'kick the Liberals out' and invest in climate-focused projects.

The candidate said residents shouldn't have to be clearing mud out of their houses 'wondering if the government is ever going to show up'.

'The people of the Northern Rivers are the collateral damage of a Budget that gives Billions to gas and coal,' Ms Nolan tweeted in the wake of the March flooding.

The Greens also want $600m to be spent every year from the Emergency Response Fund which is currently restricted to $4.7billion.

'How do you recover from this? We are covered in s*** and mud and despair - it's the frontline of a climate war.'

In an election proposal, the party pledged free access to the National Broadband Network for low-income Australians to cost $800million per year.

Mr Bandt said the pandemic had showed how important internet access was, with school students, carers, low-income families and the unemployed to benefit.

The free high-speed net would be free to anyone with a government healthcare card with about 1.5 million Australians expected to benefit.

The Greens have also pledged to legalise marijuana, wipe student debt, make childcare free and ban petrol cars in an ambitious election agenda.
Nearly 20 years after a young NSW mother went missing, police are offering a $1million reward for useful information about her suspicious disappearance.

Amber Haigh and her six-month-old son had been living in Kingsvale, a town in the South West Slopes region, with a married couple when she vanished on June 5, 2002.

Her devastated family made an emotional plea urging the public to come forward with any information that will help lay the 'kind, warm, loving' woman to rest.

Amber Haigh disappeared on June 5, 2002 after she was dropped off at Campbelltown station on her way to see her sick father in hospital and was reported missing two weeks later

In a video message on Tuesday, Haigh's sister Melissa Millar-Hodder and mother Rosalind Wright described her as a kind-hearted woman, who loved music, drawing and cats.

'Amber, she had a kind, warm, loving soul. She would help anyone in any way,' Ms Millar-Hodder said.

'Not able to lay her to rest, not able to pick up the phone or give her hugs one last time; that has been taken away from us.'

Ms Wright said she did not believe her daughter would have willingly left behind her who was six months old at the time of her disappearance.

'I know in my heart that she would never have left her son,' Wright said.

'We just need to lay our Amber to rest.'

The couple Haigh's was living with at the time of her disappearance reported her missing on June 19 - two weeks after she vanished.

The couple said they dropped the 19-year-old at Campbelltown train station so she could visit her sick father in hospital in Mt Druitt, in Sydney's west.

At about 8:45pm that night, money was withdrawn from her bank account at a Commonwealth Bank ATM on Queens Street in Campbelltown.

In 2011, a Coroner found Ms Haigh had been murdered, or died of misadventure in early June 2002.

Homicide Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty renewed calls for help from the public on Tuesday as he announced the reward for information about her disappearance had increased from $100,000.

'Amber's disappearance and suspected death robbed a young boy of a mother's presence in his life, and nobody has ever been held accountable for that,' Det Supt Doherty said in a statement.
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Vladimir Putin has given up on peace talks with Ukraine as he wants to seize as much land as he can for Russia, according to Kremlin insiders.

The three insiders claimed that the Russian president wanted to grab territory because he felt negotiations had reached a 'dead end', The Financial Times reported.

One insider said: 'There was hope for a deal. Putin was going back and forth. He needs to find a way to come out of this a winner.'

'Putin sincerely believes in the nonsense he hears on [Russian] television and he wants to win big,' another insider added.

A third said he wouldn't sign anything after the humiliation caused by the sinking of the Moskva.

A senior member of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umirov, said: 'We continue the negotiation process. Primarily  to save more lives of our people.'

'We will use all the political and diplomatic efforts to stop this bloodshed. But there are red lines we will never cross. Ukraine will never give up its people and its territories,' he told The Times.

It comes as officials in the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol say a new '200-yard mass grave' has been identified north of the city that could contain hundreds of bodies.

Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities are trying to estimate the number of victims in the grave about six miles north of Mariupol.

This would be the third after satellite photos released over the last few days have shown what appear to be images of other mass graves.

On Saturday, chilling satellite photos revealed a second mass grave near Mariupol - as Russian forces continued to pummel the last 2,000 Ukrainian defenders trapped in a steelworks in the city.

The photos from Maxar Technologies showed the site at a cemetery in the town of Vynohradne. It has several newly dug parallel trenches measuring about 131 feet long, Maxar said in a statement.

Volodymyr Zelensky warned Vladimir Putin that if he tried to build a Nazi-style 'millennial Reich' he would 'lose'.

Vladimir Putin has given up on peace talks with Ukraine as he wants to seize as much land as he can for Russia, according to Kremlin insiders

A volunteer places the stretcher carrying Klavidia, 91, on the ground before boarding a train at a train station in Pokrovsk

Smoke rises above a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

People watch as a residential building burns following a Russian bombardment in Kharkiv

Dead bodies wait to be identified outside a morgue in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv

It comes as officials in the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol say a new '200-yard mass grave' (pictured) has been identified north of the city that could contain hundreds of bodies

Emergency management specialists and volunteers remove the debris of a theatre building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Now Russia cuts off WATER supplies Desperate Ukrainians hit by a lack of food have had their water cut off by Russian shelling too. Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai accused the Kremlin of systematically attacking electricity plants and water pumps to punish the local population. Last week officials in Luhansk said Russian forces had deliberately targeted the supply of food to the eastern region. They swamped the key city of Sievierodonetsk with missiles that wiped out all food depots, as well as markets and shops. The citys 100,000 population has fallen by 17,000 and they are now reliant on aid supplies. Advertisement

In his latest telegram broadcast, the Ukrainian president said: 'Russia can spend enormous resources to support the war and even to counter the entire free world. It can take away from its people everything that could develop Russia, and direct its potential to destroy the lives of neighbours.

'But the lessons of history are well-known. If you are going to build a millennial Reich, you will lose. If you are going to destroy neighbours, you will lose. If you want to restore an old empire, you will lose. And if you went against Ukrainians, you will lose.'

He continued: 'It's obvious that every day and especially today when the third month of our resistance has started, everyone in Ukraine is concerned about the peace, when it will be all over, when and what will be the victory for Ukraine. There is a simple answer to this question, but at the same time there isn't.

'When victory comes, everyone will feel it, when peace comes, everyone will see it. But in order it make it happen and happen sooner, we must think not about when and what it will be. We must think every day about how to make the presence of occupiers at our land even more unbearable.

'Ukraine is ready for peace. It was ready even when the war continued in the Donbas. It's still ready now when Russian invasion has become large-scale. But in order to make Russia seek peace, every Ukrainian men and women must fight, must defend the freedom. Because every day of the fight will add years and years to the peaceful life after this war, after our victory.

'In two months a global anti-war coalition has been formed. Sanctions that have taken away its future were imposed against Russia. Ukraine is receiving support from dozens of countries, including the support with weapons, finances, necessary goods and direct political support. We have accelerated our way to the European Union.'

Mariupol has been decimated by fierce fighting over the past two months. The capture of the city would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a closer view of new graves being dug at a cemetery near Vynohradne, approximately 12 kilometers east of Mariupol, Ukraine

The site at a cemetery in the town of Vynohradne has several newly dug parallel trenches measuring about 40 meters (131 feet) long, Maxar said in a statement

On Thursday, Maxar released photos of what appeared to be rows upon rows of more than 200 freshly dug mass graves next to a cemetery in the town of Manhush, outside Mariupol. That prompted Ukrainian accusations that the Russians are trying to conceal the slaughter of civilians in the city.

'This confirms again that the occupiers arrange the collection, burial and cremation of dead residents in every district of the city,' Andryushchenko said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainians estimated that the graves seen in the photos released Thursday could hold 9,000 bodies. The Kremlin did not respond to the satellite pictures.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have resumed air strikes on and are trying to storm the Azovstal steel works where Ukraine's remaining forces in Mariupol are holding out, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Saturday.

'The enemy is trying to strangle the final resistance of the defenders of Mariupol in the Azovstal area,' Arestovych said on national television.

Fresh attempts to evacuate civilians from the city on Saturday failed, an aide to Mariupol's mayor revealed.
Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has recalled the harrowing moment she received a sickening letter wishing that her children would die from painful cancers.

Ms Plibersek said on Tuesday that she was left shaken many years ago when she found a hand-delivered note in her letterbox with the worrying message about her three young children.

She shared the shocking story with horrified Sunrise host Natalie Barr while weighing into the latest saga surrounding Liberal candidate Katherine Deves, who claimed she and her family have fled their Sydney home following death threats over her controversial anti-transgender views.

Ms Plibersek said it's '100 per cent unacceptable' for any election candidate to feel unsafe over their views, regardless of their political allegiances.

Tanya Plibersek has recalled the contents of a hand-delivered note she received many years ago wishing ill wish on her three young children (pictured together in 2014)

'I've had something slip through my letterbox saying they hope my children die of painful cancers, there are some really awful people out there,' she said.

'This was years ago, I'm tough and can handle that stuff. But what really worries me about it is people hear stories like this think politics is not for me, I'm not going to get involved.'

'Our democracy is so much better when people do get involved and normal people who can have a civil debate actually get involved in our democracy.

'It's completely unacceptable any threats are being made during an election campaign.'

Ms Plibersek appeared on the program alongside Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who was recently confronted by angry voter in a hostile encounter.

The man has since been charged with threatening a member of the deputy PM's security team.

She fears recent incidents will turn off aspiring politicians from running for office.

Tanya Plibersek says it's unacceptable any election candidate is in fear of their safety and is concerned aspiring politicians will be put off by recent incidents

'We are so fortunate in Australia to have a democracy where we decide issues through the ballot box, through debate, and not through threat of violence,' Ms Plibersek added.

'I saw Barnaby copping it on the side of the road with someone getting angry with him, it's unacceptable.

'We are so fortunate to have a democracy where we decide issues through a ballot box and debate and not through threat of violence.'

'Barnaby and I will disagree but we can disagree in a civil way.'

Mr Joyce agreed with the Labor frontbencher as he jumped to Ms Deves' defence.

'If you want to argue with someone, argue about their policy, argue about their position, but don't argue about them,' he said.

'Katherine has strong views in regard to fairness in sport and other issues, and that is why we have a parliament, you can have a discussion about that.

'We love our nation because you can say what you like and stand behind it.

'If your argument is ridiculous then you will lose your argument, which is reflected in the vote, and that is a civilised, safe way to deal with these issues.'

Tanya Plibersek, (pictured with her husband and two of her children) once received a note in her letterbox wishing her children will die of painful cancers

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce (pictured) agreed with the Labor frontbencher on the issue of death threats faced by Katherine Deves

Ms Deves has broken her silence over her pre-selection in her first television interview, claiming her family had to temporarily leave Sydney for their safety.

The Warringah hopeful, hand-picked by Prime Minister Scott Morrison has attracted controversy for remarks made about transgender children playing school sport.

She has apologised for Twitter posts, which have since been deleted, in which she described transgender children as 'surgically mutilated and sterilised', and said surrogacy was a 'human rights violation'.

'I have had to have the police and the AFP (Australian Federal Police) involved,'Ms Deves told SBS on Sunday.

'My safety has been threatened, my family are away out of Sydney because I don't want them to witness what I'm going through and nor do I want their safety put at risk.'
A first-class plane passenger was arrested over claims he branded a flight attendant a 'f*g' for refusing to serve him more booze.

Christopher Alexander Morgan is also said to have called the unidentified Delta worker 'queer' and whacked him with a cabin phone on the flight from Atlanta to Phoenix on April 22.

The drama is said to have begun after Morgan reclined his chair before take-off, then refused to raise it again at the request of the cabin crew.

He is said to have grown even more irate on being refused a second alcoholic drink after take-off and then hurled homophobic slurs before allegedly grabbing a cabin phone to use as a weapon.

The incident left the plane's crew so fearful of Morgan's erratic behavior that they guarded the cockpit for the duration of the flight.

And after he was arrested by the FBI on landing at Sky Harbor Airport, Morgan is said to have readily confessed to being a homophobe, the Daily Beast reported.

Morgan now faces up to 20 years in prison on felony charges of interference with flight crew members or attendants.

Morgan, who was sitting in the first row of first class is alleged to have called one of them a 'f*g' after being denied an alcoholic drink. File photo, A Delta Airlines Boeing 757 passenger aircraft taxis toward the runway at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport

The affidavit as seen by The Daily Beast notes how the argument began before the plane even took off when Morgan who was sitting in the first row, in seat 1D, 'reclined his seat all the way back and refused to put on his seatbelt' for takeoff before becoming 'uncooperative [with the fight crew] and would not comply with their instructions.'

Once airborne, Morgan ordered an alcoholic drink but was told he could only have soft drinks which angered him further.

'Morgan called one flight attendant identified as H.D. the f-word and a 'queer' and threw a glass of ice at H.D.,' the affidavit details.

'When passenger R.O., who was sitting in seat 2G, said something to Morgan to deescalate Morgan's display of aggression, Morgan became angry with the passenger R.O. and held the glass he was holding up to R.O.'s face.'

Flight attendant H.D. then went into the galley to call the captain over the intercom to explain what was going on.

Christopher Alexander Morgan was traveling from Atlanta to Phoenix in first class when he allegedly became abusive towards flight attendants on board (file photo)

'According to H.D., Morgan then got out of his seat, grabbed the telephone from H.D., and hit H.D. in the chest with the telephone. Passenger R.O. reported that he heard Morgan call H.D. a 'f*g' and that he observed Morgan take the airplane phone from H.D. and throw it at him.'

The flight attendants were so disturbed by what they had witnessed, one stood guarding the door to the flight deck for the rest of the flight 'out of security concerns for the flight crew, after H.D. reported that he did not know what Morgan might do next.'

Morgan was swiftly arrested upon arriving in Phoenix whereupon he attempted to justify his actions saying the fact 'the flight attendant was homosexual... and it made him uncomfortable,' according to the affidavit.

'Morgan said that he is homophobic and that it is possible he could have been intimidating to the flight attendants. He said that his homophobia may have caused his temper towards the flight attendant to escalate and he admitted that he called H.D. a queer,' the affidavit concludes.

Morgan has denied all allegations of assault and said that he never touched the aircraft's intercom telephone.
Activist and writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied has once again referenced a divisive tweet she made on Anzac Day five years ago that saw her flee Australia.

Ms Abdel-Magied was heavily criticised in 2017 after tweeting 'Lest. We. Forget. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine)' on April 25.

She quickly deleted the post and apologised, but many Australians were left outraged she hijacked the national day of remembrance to make a political statement.

On Monday, she brought up the incident with a tweet that read: '5 years, ay,' a reference to the fact it had been five years since her controversial ANZAC Day message.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied has once again referenced a divisive tweet she made on Anzac Day five years ago that saw her flee Australia

Her latest tweet was a reference to the post she made five years ago which saw her essentially be run out of the country

In Anzac Day of 2020, she wrote 'Oh, it's that day I should stay off Twitter again', and in 2019 she said she 'used to really like Anzac day'.

In August, 2018 she said: 'I really wanted to buy an Anzac biscuit at the cafe today, but then...'

Her latest post was flooded with supportive comments, with many Twitter users saying the heavy abuse she copped 'wasn't fair'.

'Yassmin, the stand you took five years ago is still reverberating though our nation. You are an absolute hero to me and thousands of other Australians,' one replied.

'I think of you EVERY Anzac Day! The way you were treated was appalling. Hope that you are safe, well and happy,' tweeted another.

Although for many, the damage done by her 2017 tweet was irreparable.

Ms Abdel-Magied was heavily criticised in 2017 after tweeting 'Lest. We. Forget. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine)' on April 25

'It's been lovely not having you here. I bet you are happy too, considering this country is apparently the worst place on earth according to you. Your comments on Anzac Day will never be forgiven,' one said.

'I think of you whenever I see some nationalist t**t bang on about free speech,' another commented.

The 2015 Queensland Young Australian the Year quickly replaced her 2017 tweet with an apology after she came under an onslaught of criticism.

'It was brought to my attention that my last post was disrespectful, and for that, I apologise unreservedly,' she said.

The self-proclaimed 'Australia's most hated Muslim' apologised for her tweet and deleted it quickly but for many Australians the damage was done

In 2018 she tweeted saying she wanted to buy an Anzac biscuit

Ms Abdel-Magied, who hosted the ABC's Australia Wide program at the time, was accused of disrespecting Anzac Day in favour of her own religious agenda.

'I love Australia, I'm super patriotic. Yet I feel like I've been duped, like I've been sold this false sense of belonging,' she said at the time.

She also revealed in a speech at the Sydney Writers Festival that she had received harsh criticism over the post from a number of politicians.

'I posted an apology very quickly afterwards, but one of our senior cabinet members said 'Well Yassmin is un-Australian for saying this',' she said.

In 2017, a conservative commentator on Sydney's 2GB radio station joked about wanting to 'run over' Ms Abdel-Magied, after she revealed the death and rape threats she had received.

Ms Abdel-Magied had already left Australia for London by then.

Ms Abdel-Magied, who declared herself at 'Australia's most hated Muslim' later said she felt 'betrayed by my country' following the reaction

'She has fled the country and is blaming all of us,' Prue MacSween told 2GB's Chris Smith.

'She says she's been betrayed by Australia and didn't feel safe in her own country. Well actually she might have been right there, because if I had seen her I would have been tempted to run her over mate.'

Ms Abdel-Magied, who declared herself at 'Australia's most hated Muslim' later said she felt 'betrayed by my country' following the reaction.

Towards the end of 2017, she likened the criticism she faced in Australia to 'dating an abusive guy'.
Scott Morrison has come under fire from Labor after factory workers were caught covering up a sign about 'messing up' moments before the Prime Minister made a campaign stop.

Mr Morrison was visited a factory in Townsville on Tuesday morning as part of a tour of key battleground seats in Queensland.

Reporters witnessed an employee covering up a placard reading 'If you mess up, Fess Up' with a hi-vis vest moments, before Mr Morrison addressed media in the room.

Liberal staffers appeared to tell a worker to cover up a motivation sign at a Townsville factory on Tuesday prior to Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking in front of it

Party staffers conduct 'advance' work prior to public appearances to prevent any PR nightmares, like that of then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott's infamous picture in front of a Canberra Reject Shop in 2015.

Several members of Mr Morrison's Liberal team were pictured observing the sign prior to the PM's visit, with one man in a white collared shirt and backpack holding a high vis up to the sign.

It was a factory worker who eventually placed the covering over the sign, but not before being caught by several members of the media.

Labor were quick to pounce on the images, with the party's official Facebook page mocking the PM's blunder.

'REVEALED: Scott Morrison's political plan - If you mess up, cover up,' they posted.

Labor were quick to pounce on the images, with the party's official Facebook page mocking the PM's blunder

Andrew Leigh, Labor's Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury and Charities, also accused Mr Morrison of a 'cover up'.

'Scott Morrison's approach to leadership: if you see a sign exhorting you to fess up when you mess up, then cover up,' he posted to Twitter.

Other social media users suggested the optics of being caught covering the sign were worse than him speaking in front of the slogan in the first place.

'So worried about the optics they actually make the optics worse,' one person tweeted.

'So the factory's values need to be hidden because they might embarrass the visiting PM,' another wrote.

Others referenced the infamous picture of Mr Abbott, suggesting the Liberals had learned from past mistakes.

'Someone learned a lesson... sort of...' he posted.

Many compared the cover up to the infamous picture of then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott appearing in front of a Reject Shop in Canberra in 2015

Mr Morrison spoke about the Coalition's commitment to growing the economy at the press event, again following the party line urging Australians to remain with the government they know rather than the unknown prospect of Labor.

'If we weren't running a strong economy, if we weren't managing our finances, we couldn't have done any of those things. That is why we say a strong economy means a stronger future and that is why you can't risk Labor,' he told reporters on Tuesday.

'You can't risk Labor because they can't manage an economy which means it would be a weak economy. With a weak economy, the essential services that you rely on are put at risk.

'My message is very clear, don't risk Labor, choose the Liberal and National candidates and LNP candidates, particularly here in Queensland, that way you can get a strong economy which means a stronger future.'
Sharon Osborne says Whoopi Goldberg wasn't fired from The View for trivializing the Holocaust because 'nobody gives a f**k' about Jews.

Osbourne, 68, implied there was a clear double standard that saw her fired from rival show The Talk in March 2021 for defending Piers Morgan during his war with Meghan Markle, while letting Goldberg retain her coveted job despite remarking in February this year that 'The Holocaust wasn't about race.'

When The Times asked about the double standard, she said: 'I'll tell you why, because it's the Jews, and nobody gives a f**k.

Osbourne - whose music producer father Don Arden was Jewish - added that she likes Goldberg, and was making a point about showbiz hypocrisy, rather than attacking the Ghost star personally.

The drama with Osbourne began when Morgan stormed out of UK chat show Good Morning Britain on March 9 2021 after saying he didn't believe Meghan Markle was suicidal following her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Sharon Osborne says Whoopi Goldberg wasn't fired from The View for trivializing the Holocaust because 'nobody gives a f**k' about Jews

The suspension for Goldberg came a day after Whoopi, 66, made the controversial comments on The View. She referred to Jews and Nazis as 'two groups of white people' and said that because they were both white, it was about 'inhumanity' and not race'

Osbourne - whose music producer father Don Arden was Jewish (pictured together in 2002) - added that she likes Goldberg, and was making a point about showbiz hypocrisy

When asked to comment on his remarks on The Talk the following day, Osbourne said that although she disagreed with Morgan, she supported his right to express his controversial opinion on TV.

Underwood, who is black, pushed back hard and accused Osbourne of downplaying Morgan's comments and giving 'validation' to his 'racist' views.

Osbourne was later permanently suspended from her role on the show, and quit.

The incident sparked a wider conversation about race and an internal investigation at CBS after Welteroth reportedly complained of 'a racially insensitive and hostile environment' at the show.

Welteroth and Underwood would later address the controversy on air weeks later, saying the two had been forced to stay 'composed' in the face of someone 'who was not listening and who went off the rails into disrespect.'

The suspension for Goldberg came a day after Whoopi, 66, made the controversial comments on The View. She referred to Jews and Nazis as 'two groups of white people' and said that because they were both white, it was about 'inhumanity' and not race'.

She apologized hours later and again on Tuesday's morning episode, but the original remark sparked immediate international backlash with everyone from the Israeli Consular General in New York to the Auschwitz Memorial and Anti-Defamation League (ADL) taking offense.

Osbourne - seen with husband Ozzy - will now host an hour-long panel debate show - also called The Talk - which will air at 9pm on TalkTV in the UK

Osbourne had claimed that she was 'blindsided' on the show by questions about her tweet supporting Morgan after his departure was announced.

'I am with you. I stand by you. People forget that you're paid for your opinion and that you're just speaking your truth,' she wrote to Morgan on Twitter.

The next day Underwood asked Osbourne on air: 'What would you say to people who may feel that, while you're standing by your friend, it appears that you gave validation or safe haven to something that he has uttered that is racist, even if you don't agree?'

Osbourne became defensive and fired back saying she felt like she was being placed on 'the electric chair' for being his friend and asked her co-hosts to show her what Morgan had said that was racist.

'Right now I am talking to a woman I believe is my friend,' Underwood said. 'I don't want anybody here to watch this and think we are attacking you for being racist.'

Osbourne replied: 'I think it's too late. That seed is already sown.'

After the episode aired, Osbourne issued an apology for her 'panicked' and 'defensive' response, but repeatedly claimed that CBS showrunners framed up the question to provoke an on-air blow up.

The drama between Osbourne and her co-stars began after Sharon was grilled over her tweet stating her support for friend Piers Morgan after he was fired for criticizing Meghan Markle's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey

Osbourne will now host an hour-long panel debate show - also called The Talk - which will air at 9pm on TalkTV in the UK.

The show will bring together five famous faces with different backgrounds and views to debate current affairs issues.

TalkTV, the newest venture from News UK, will air on linear TV platforms as well as online services such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and YouTube.

In the interview, Osbourne also sounded off on various topics, including the questioning of people's interest in the Kardashians.

Her family's 2002 MTV reality show The Osbornes has been widely-credited as the prototype program that inspired later efforts from the Kardashians and others.

'I get why [the Kardashians] are as big as they are,' Osbourne says. 'But I'm old-school and think, 'Well, what's your talent?' This world of selfies in your underwear, selfies topless, selfies showing your food, selfies in bed  I just think, 'Oh, for f**k's sake.'

She also offered some advice to Prince Andrew as to how he should've handled his recent controversy with Virginia Giuffre, who alleges that he had sex with her when she was a teenage trafficking victim of Jeffrey Epstein.

'He should have said, 'I wasn't married. Everybody knew me as Randy Andy. My friend at the time [Epstein] was surrounded by young women, and [Giuffre] was up for it, I was up for it, and it's not illegal in England to have sex with somebody her age. Don't come up with bulls--t about a pizza place.'
United States officials have warned of potential military action if Chinese authorities opt to establish a base in Solomon Islands as Beijing dismissed speculations that it was trying to build a military stronghold in the region after signing a security agreement.

During a Monday news briefing, China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that the "so-called Chinese military base in Solomon Islands is completely fabricated." The official noted that the speculation was disinformation made by a few people with ulterior motives.

Chinese Base in Solomon Islands

A leaked draft of the agreement was spread last month that said Chinese warships could stop in Solomon Islands for logistical replenishment. It also claimed that China would be able to send police and armed forces to the area to "assist in maintaining social order."

In a statement, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has insisted that no Chinese military bases would be established in his country. Wang's remarks also came after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday said that China's recent security deal with the Pacific nation was a "shared concern" of regional nations, as per ABC.

Furthermore, Morrison said that Beijing establishing a military base in Solomon Islands was a "red line" for his country. Last week, Defense Minister Peter Dutton warned that China would not waste any time in trying to expand its presence in the South Pacific after the controversial security deal.

Read Also: USA, China, India Spend the Most as Global Military Expenses Reach $2 Trillion Mark; Russia Increases Budget Before War

In response, one of the most senior United States officials in the Pacific has refused to rule out military action against Solomon Islands if it allowed China to establish a base in its territory. They said that the recent security agreement between the two nations presented "potential regional security implications" for the U.S. and its allies.

According to The Guardian, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink, was part of a high-level U.S. delegation to the Pacific country last week. The official said that the U.S. team, which also included Kurt Campbell, the National Security Council coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, had a 90-minute "constructive and candid" meeting with Sogavare.

Red Line for Australia and Allies

Over the weekend, Morrison said that his government was closely working with partners in New Zealand and the U.S. regarding the potential Chinese base in Solomon Islands. "We won't be having Chinese military naval bases in our region on our doorstep," said the Australian prime minister.

Solomon Islands, which houses roughly 700,000 people spread across several hundreds of islands, is located in strategically important waters in the South Pacific Ocean near Australia and New Zealand. The security agreement between the nation and China is a result of deadly riots in Solomon Islands last year. The resulting unrest and looting also led to the deaths of three civilians.

The security deal also comes as the Australian prime minister faces a challenging battle for re-election this year. The Labor Party is arguing that the government should have been able to do more to prevent the deal between Solomon Islands and China. In a statement, Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said that the Labor Party would have been able to prevent the situation, Fox News reported.



Related Article: China Plans To Build Future Helicopters With More Advanced Technologies Than Super Choppers Built by the US

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Downing Street last night rejected claims on Russian state TV that Boris Johnson threatened to carry out a nuclear strike against Russia.

The accusation was made on a chat show on Rossiya 1, a state-run TV channel based in Moscow, and widely circulated on pro-Kremlin social media channels and news websites over the weekend.

Presenter Olga Skabeyeva said last week that the Prime Minister had signalled he would launch the deadly strike without consulting Nato.

However, last night Downing Street said these claims were another example of disinformation peddled by the Kremlin.

A statement added: The UK Government is entirely united with its Nato allies in supporting Ukraine against Russias illegal invasion.

However, the baseless claim has already been propagated by a number of official figures and has run on pro-Kremlin news websites such as Pravda, and prompted threats of a counter-attack on the UK.

Downing Street last night rejected claims on Russian state TV that Boris Johnson, pictured, threatened to carry out a nuclear strike against Russia

Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russias Roscosmos space agency, tweeted the baseless claim last week to his 800,000 followers.

He then threatened: Boris, if Sarmat [the worlds most powerful missile dubbed Satan II] is used, none of you will consult with each other.

And there will be no one to style your hair, Mr. Prime Minister. Yes, and there will be nothing to lay.

Vladimir Soloyvov, an anchor on Rossiya 1, had also shared the claim to more than one million followers on Telegram.

It has since run on a number of pro-Kremlin news websites, such as Pravda. A harrowing image on one pro-Russian Telegram channel of London in flames was accompanied by the message: He should know what his nuclear strike on Russia would look like in reality.

Presenter Olga Skabeyeva, pictured, said last week that the Prime Minister had signalled he would launch the deadly strike without consulting Nato. However, last night Downing Street said these claims were another example of disinformation peddled by the Kremlin.

The rhetoric has already spread to Russian lawmakers, with one MP telling state TV this weekend: Consider the statement about the possibility of a nuclear strike against Russia without consulting Nato.

Listen, we can carry out a nuclear strike against Great Britain without consultations with Nato.

Great Britain is a prime target for that. It is an island nation, which would minimise the damage to the continent.

Vladimir Putins regime has already announced it will be ready to deploy the nuclear-capable Satan II weapon, said to be the worlds longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile, by autumn.
Top William Tyrrell cop Gary Jubelin threatened to destroy an innocent tradesman during the high-profile investigation into the toddler's disappearance, a court has heard.

Mr Jubelin, who was then the head of Strike Force Rosann investigating the Tyrrell case, allegedly told the former person of interest Bill Spedding: 'Mr Nice Washing Machine Man, I'm going to ruin you'.

The 2015 exchange took place after Mr Jubelin placed his face in close to Mr Spedding, who found the encounter intimidating, the NSW Supreme Court heard.

Mr Spedding - who was later cleared of any involvement in the boy's disappearance - is suing the State of NSW for malicious prosecution.

In another alleged incident, one of Jubelin's co-detectives turned around in the car in which they were driving Mr Spedding and screamed at him: 'We know you did it. Were going to get you'.

Detective Justin Moynihan, who had 'increased his aggression' leaving Mr Spedding with his 'legs shaking, hot and sweaty and stressed', added 'Were going to come and arrest you, the court heard on Tuesday.

A court has heard ex-cop Gary Jubelin frightened an innocent tradie Bill Spedding during the William Tyrrell case by saying 'Mr Nice Washing Machine Man. I'm going to ruin you'

Bill Spedding is suing the State of NSW for malicious prosecution over historical sex assault charges laid against him during the William Tyrrell investigation

The verbal attack on Mr Spedding came after a gruelling six-hour police interview in which detectives told Spedding they believed he had 'grabbed William from the front yard' of a Kendall address.

Mr Spedding had visited the Kendall home of William's foster grandmother on the NSW Mid North Coast days before the toddler vanished from the house in September 2014.

The confrontation occurred in January 2015, after detectives descended on Mr Spedding's Bonny Hills home to search the home for remains of William.

On Tuesday, the court heard that Mr Jubelin, then Detective Chief Inspector, decided charging the repairman with historical sexual offences might crack the plaintiff open and might make (his wife) Margaret think different about him .

Mr Spedding is claiming his arrest over the historical sexual charges of which he was eventually cleared was a 'collateral attack' designed to expose him back then as a possible suspect in William Tyrrell's disappearance.

Mr Spedding was targeted by Mr Jubelin, who has since left the force and been convicted over illegally taping another Tyrrell suspect.

Adrian Canceri, for Mr Spedding, told the court that sexual abuse allegations against Mr Spedding had previously been cleared by police and the courts, and that female children had been 'coaxed' during a bitter family dispute.

They said Strike Force Rosann which probed the Tyrrell case, knew by January 2015 that a Supreme Court justice had cleared Mr Spedding and had 'excoriated' a witness.

That witness had 'coaxed and tutored (children) to make claims of sexual assault against' Mr Spedding, and the Tyrrell detectives were well aware of this, Mr Canceri said.

A forensic psychiatrist had testified that one of the children could have been coerced into claiming sexual assault because a threat of 'potential death by AIDS could have frightened' her.

The court heard that Mr Spedding was acquitted of the historical charges in 2018 despite the Director of Public Prosecutions pursuing a case against him that was 'utterly hopeless and doomed to fail'.

Former washing machine repairman Bill Spedding (above) is suing the State of NSW for malicious prosecution after being targeted as a suspect in sexual allegations of which he was cleared

Mr Spedding claims ex-cop Gary Jubelin 'had it in for him' and used the false allegations to nobble him as a suspect in the disappearance of William Tyrrell

Mr Spedding's home was searched and media were tipped off five months after he visited the Kendall home from which William Tyrrell, aged three, vanished in September 2014

Justice Ian Harrison told the court in a pre-trial hearing last week that Mr Jubelin was a 'major player' in the events which sparked the proceedings, although he was not personally being sued by Mr Spedding.

Lawyers for the State of NSW have been granted permission to rely on a statement by Mr Jubelin and possibly call the ex-cop to give evidence at the malicious prosecution trial.

The judge said Mr Spedding will argue Mr Jubelin 'had it in for him' during the Tyrrell investigation by Strike Force Rosann, which the since convicted and retired detective ran for four years before being removed in 2019.

'Mr Spedding's anticipated contention (will be) that during the course of a series of interactions or interviews with Mr Jubelin, he was referred to pejoratively as 'Mr Washing Machine Man',' Justice Harrison said, the Daily Telegraph reported.

His Honour said Mr Spedding would rely on that 'associated comments to a similar effect' to contend 'that Mr Jubelin effectively had it in for him'.

Justice Harrison also said Mr Spedding would contend that 'his arrest and ultimate prosecution on the historical sexual assault matters was inspired or energised by Mr Jubelin's role as the lead investigator in relation to the William Tyrrell disappearance'.

William Spedding (above) before he became an alleged suspect in the William Tyrrell case, which caused him to lose his livelihood and family before he was cleared of any wrongdoing

Detectives interview Bill Spedding, who was later cleared of both historical sexual charges and of any suspicion over William Tyrrell, and who is now suing the State of NSW

Bill Spedding leaves his Bonny Hills home after he contends police tipped off the media when they searched for remains of William Tyrrell five months after the toddler vanished

Mr Spedding denied any involvement in William Tyrrell's disappearance and was never charged.

The court also heard that Mr Spedding was arrested at his home by Mr Jubelin while media crews were present 'in abundance'.

Mr Spedding will argue the media had been notified by someone on behalf of the police and that the situation was orchestrated in order to embarrass him or to cause him serious harm, the court was told.

Justice Harrison said Mr Jubelin would presumably deny that he or police under his command had notified media outlets that the arrest was to occur after reading a draft statement provided to the court.

All charges against Mr Spedding in the unrelated matter were later dropped or dismissed.

Mr Jubelin was convicted and sentenced of four breaches of the Surveillance Devices Act and lost his appeal in 2020.
The Prevent anti-terror programme is at risk of dying the death of a thousand cuts because of failure to defend it from critics, claims a think-tank.

The Policy Exchange, backed by David Cameron, warns of numerous but overlapping campaigns and activist voices aimed at establishing that the strategy is Islamophobic.

It suggests the Government set up a new communications unit to rebut disinformation about counter-terrorism and counter-extremism strategies.

Former Prime Minister Mr Cameron said that Prevent risks being scrapped because of malicious campaigns set up by Islamist groups to denounce the anti-terror programme as Islamophobic

The end goal of these Islamist-led campaigns is the scrapping of Prevent and the counter-extremism programme, says the report.

They effectively seek to eliminate from official analysis and policy the role of Islamist ideology in terrorism and harmful, extremist social practices.

In a foreword, Mr Cameron warns: So just as we need to counter the Islamist extremist narrative, we need to counter the anti-Prevent narrative.

We need to show that delegitimising counter-terrorism is, in essence, enabling terrorism.

One of the report authors Sir John Jenkins, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, highlights the significant dangers of actively encouraging people not to co-operate with Prevent.

He also complains the Government had singularly failed to counter claims that Prevent was Islamophobic.

At worst it looks like the authorities are not even attempting to make the case for Prevent. That has to change, he said.

Sir William Shawcross has begun a review of Prevent after a series of high-profile failures.
A Liberal candidate has been slammed for a 'disrespectful' act on Anzac Day

A Liberal party candidate has been slammed by the public after a mobile billboard with her face drove past an ANZAC service.

Stephanie Asher, who is a candidate for the seat of Corangamite in Victoria's south west, had a campaign billboard mounted to a truck which drove past an Anzac Day service in the town of Drysdale several times on Monday.

A Liberal party candidate has been slammed by the public after a billboard with her face was 'disrespectfully' showcased during an Anzac Day service

Footage shows the moment the billboard is seen moving past a crowd as a speech is being read out about the ANZACs.

The crowd were silent and paying their respects to those in the Australian armed forces, as the mobile billboard drove past.

Local resident Brendan Tenson, who filmed the incident, told the Advertiser that he was at the 'Cenotaph at 10:30am' and saw the 'van' with the billboard drive past the crowd on at least three separate occasions.

'You could see the driver visibly looked over and saw all of us,' he recalled. 'Then did a U-ey and came back the other way and went even slower, then did another lap out.'

'The people close to me were shaking their heads. I thought it was distasteful for what we were doing.

'If he had have just driven up and driven off, it probably would have been nothing, but the fact he did it three times is a bit s**t. They would have known what was going on,' he added.

Tenson posted the video to a Facebook group, where many viewers criticised the move as 'disgusting,' a 'low act' and completely 'disrespectful' to our troops.

Stephanie Asher (pictured), who is a candidate for the seat of Corangamite in Victoria's south west, had a campaign billboard mounted to a truck which drove past an Anzac Day service in the town of Drysdale several times on Monday

Asher (right) issued a short statement through a spokesperson later that day following public outrage, claiming the incident was a 'mistake'. (Pictured with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson)

Stephanie Asher issued a short statement through a spokesperson later that day, claiming the incident was a 'mistake'.

'The driver of a rental truck hired as part of my campaign was unaware his regular route would pass by todays ANZAC service in Drysdale. He left the vicinity without stopping,' the statement read.

'Nonetheless, we acknowledge the inappropriateness of the trucks presence and apologise unreservedly.'

'The truck advertising was not done with my knowledge today. I am so sorry it occurred.'

Asher attended several Anzac Day services on the day at nearby Torquay, Barwon Heads, Portarlington and Ocean Grove.
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An outbreak of children's hepatitis may have been brought on by Covid lockdown weakening immunity, health chiefs have said as they revealed that two more British children need liver transplants and dozens are sick.

UK health officials said the global outbreak in cases may be as a result of pandemic measures which prevented children in their 'formative' years being exposed to common infections.

In total, 114 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' have been reported in the UK in the last four weeks, with ten youngsters undergoing critical liver transplant procedures.

The first cases were spotted in Scotland less than a month ago, prompting a warning from UK health officials who say they have detected as many cases in three months as they would expect to see in a year.

The majority of cases have been spotted in under-5s who were initially hit with diarrhoea and nausea before later getting jaundice  the yellowing of the skin/eyes. Other symptoms can include dark urine, grey-coloured faeces, itchy skin, muscle pain, a fever, lethargy, loss of appetite and stomach pains.

Investigations are ongoing but officials believe the illness may be triggered by an adenovirus, a viral infection which is usually to blame for the sniffles, and has been linked to three quarters of all cases.

Experts say lockdowns - which prompted concerns for children's physical and mental health - may have weakened the immunity of children and left them more susceptible to the virus, or the offending pathogen may have mutated to pose a greater threat.

Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at the UK Health Security Agency, told the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Lisbon that younger children were getting infected by the virus as they had not been exposed to it 'during the formative stages that they've gone through during the pandemic'.

The liver disease has been spotted in 12 different countries, including the US, Ireland and Spain, while one child has died so far.

UK officials have ruled out the Covid vaccine as a possible cause, with none of the ill British children vaccinated because of their young age. None of the 11 cases in the US were jabbed either.

The World Health Organization said it has received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries as of Saturday

Covid lockdowns may be behind the mysterious spate of hepatitis cases in children because they reduced social mixing and weakened their immunity, experts claim

WHAT COULD BE BEHIND THE HEPATITIS OUTBREAK? While experts believe adenovirus  a virus associated with many common colds  could be behind the spate of cases, the jury is out on what the exact cause of the outbreak is. Co-infection One theory suggests children being infected with Covid and adenovirus at the same time could be at greater risk of hepatitis. Weakened immunity British experts have suggested lockdowns and restrictions have put children at greater risk because they have lower natural immunity to adenovirus. Adenovirus mutation Other scientists said it may have been an adenovirus that has acquired 'unusual mutations'. New Covid variant UKHSA officials included 'a new variant of SARS-CoV-2' in their working hypotheses, when discussing the variant at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today. Advertisement

Almost 170 cases have been spotted since the first cases were publicly recorded in Scotland at the end of March.

Hepatologists today told MailOnline they believe the official numbers may be just the 'tip of the iceberg' because many parents may brush off the warning signs.

Professor Simon Taylor-Robinson, a hepatologist from Imperial College London, told MailOnline: 'I think there are more cases out there.

'I'd imagine there are more cases than have been reported  but they are likely to be less severe.'

But he added there is no reason to panic because in '99 per cent' of cases the liver is able to regenerate and the chances of needing a transplant or dying because of the condition are low.

Professor Alastair Sutcliffe, a paediatrician from University College London, told MailOnline mounting cases are 'a concerning and depressing situation for families' but parents should not fear. Up to 20 per cent of hepatitis cases have no known cause.

He said: 'What is for families to consider [is] if their child develops jaundice after the first few months of life they need medical attention fast.

'But that is true of any child who develops jaundice after the first few months of life so is not new advice. With one death and no known cause life should continue as before. Nothing is more fearful than fear itself.'

None of the cases have been caused by any of the five typical strains of the virus  hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.

Data gathered has 'increasingly' suggested that the rise in severe cases of hepatitis may be linked to a group of viruses called adenoviruses, the UKHSA said.

Adenovirus was found in 75 per cent of the sickened children who were tested for it. Sixteen per cent had Covid.

The UKHSA's Dr Chand said: 'Information gathered through our investigations increasingly suggests that this rise in sudden onset hepatitis in children is linked to adenovirus infection.

'However, we are thoroughly investigating other potential causes.

'Parents and guardians should be alert to the signs of hepatitis (including jaundice) and to contact a healthcare professional if they are concerned.

'Normal hygiene measures such as thorough handwashing (including supervising children) and good thorough respiratory hygiene, help to reduce the spread of many common infections, including adenovirus.

'Children experiencing symptoms of a gastrointestinal infection including vomiting and diarrhoea should stay at home and not return to school or nursery until 48 hours after the symptoms have stopped.'

The agency also said the number of admissions for the mysterious hepatitis so far in 2022 'is equivalent or greater than the number of admissions annually in previous years'.

Top experts have speculated that Covid lockdowns may partly explain the mysterious spate of hepatitis cases, by weakening children's immunity and leaving them at heightened risk of adenovirus.

Professor Taylor-Robinson told MailOnline: 'I think it is likely that children mixing in kindergartens and schools have lower immunity to seasonal adenoviruses than in previous years because of restrictions.

'This means they could be more at risk of developing hepatitis because their immune response is weaker to the virus.'

The WHO has received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries. Thirteen cases have been detected in Spain, 12 in Israel, and 11 in the US.

Elsewhere, cases have also been detected in Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Romania.

Cases were detected in children aged one month to 16, the majority of whom have been hospitalised. The WHO has not disclosed which country the only known death occurred in.

Professor Deirdre Kelly, an expert in paediatric hepatology at Birmingham Womens and Childrens Hospital, told the Telegraph: 'I do think that what we've seen so far may be the tip of the iceberg, because unless they're yellow, it probably doesn't come to medical attention. The other early symptoms are tummy ache, vomiting and diarrhoea - which aren't very specific in children.'

UKHSA data shows there were 111 confirmed and possible hepatitis cases in the UK as of April 20. Of these, 81 cases were in England (white bars), 14 were in Scotland (blue bars), 11 were in Wales (red bars) and five in Northern Ireland (green bars). Between January 21 and April 18, 10 children have required liver transplantation

Hepatitis cases have been tested for other pathogens when they were admitted to hospital. Adenovirus (far left bar) was the most common pathogen detected in 40 of 53 cases which have been tested, followed by SARS-CoV-2 (second bar)

Health chiefs linked Covid and adenovirus data. This shows there has been a rise in both preceding adenovirus infections (grey bars), co-infections (navy bars) and secondary infection (blue bars)

UKHSA data shows positive adenovirus tests from one to four-year-olds (green line) are higher compared to the previous five years. Between November 2021 to March 2022, approximately 200 to 300 cases of adenovirus were reported per week compared to 50 to 150 cases per week in the same period before the pandemic

The first hepatitis cases were recorded in Britain, where 114 children have now been sickened. Thirteen cases have been detected in Spain, 12 in Israel and 11 in the US  including nine in Alabama and two in North Carolina.

The unusual illness has also been spotted in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Norway, Romania and Belgium.

UK Health Security Agency experts were called to a briefing at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today to present data around the current situation in Britain.

Dr Muge Cevik, an infectious diseases expert based at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland, said Covid was a possible explanation.

But she said: 'Acute severe hepatitis hasn't been a common feature of Covid in children, so it's less likely to explain this presentation.

'Adenovirus [Common cold virus] was detected in 40 of 53 cases, but not all cases are tested. Adenovirus testing has been inconsistent in other samples, and it's too early to confirm characterization.

'It's important for all countries to share their data once available.'

Professor Graham Cooke, an expert in infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said it is unlikely Covid was responsible.

He said: 'Mild hepatitis is very common in children following a range of viral infections, but what is being seen at the moment is quite different.

'If the hepatitis was a result of Covid it would be surprising not to see it more widely distributed across the country given the high prevalence of (Covid) at the moment.'

A virology specialist at Imperial told The Telegraph it is 'very unusual and rare' for children to suffer severe hepatitis, especially to the extent that they require a liver transplant.

The expert, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'The number of cases is exceptional.

'It makes people think there is something unusual going on  such as a virus that has mutated or some other cause. It has sent alarm bells ringing.'

Hepatitis numbers in children may just be the 'tip of the iceberg', experts claim amid growing fears over the mysterious global outbreak which has officially killed one youngster and sickened 169

By Joe Davies, Health Reporter for MailOnline

Dozens of mysterious hepatitis cases spotted in children could be just 'the tip of the iceberg', experts warned today amid growing concerns about the mysterious global outbreak.

Nearly 170 youngsters have been sickened around the world since the first case was detected in Scotland at the end of March, according to the World Health Organization. One has died and 17 have needed liver transplants.

But leading virologists fear the real toll could actually be magnitudes higher because many parents may brush off the warning signs.

Jaundice  the yellowing of the skin or eyes, a tell-tale sign of liver disease  has been spotted in fewer than half of the ill children. Other symptoms, such as nausea, diarrhoea, lethargy and stomach pains are usually put down to other illnesses, such as food poisoning or norovirus.

Professor Simon Taylor-Robinson, a hepatologist from Imperial College London, told MailOnline: 'I think there are more cases out there. [17 transplants] is quite a high number for how many cases we have spotted.

'I'd imagine there are more cases than have been reported  but they are likely to be less severe.'

Asked if this could be the tip of iceberg, Professor Taylor-Robinson said: 'I think so yes'.

Twelve countries have spotted cases of the hepatitis of unknown origin, with 114 British children and 11 Americans known to have been sickened.

Health chiefs believe the illness may be triggered by an adenovirus  usually to blame for the sniffles. Experts say lockdowns may have weakened the immunity of children and left them more susceptible to the virus, or it may be a mutated version.

Investigations are ongoing but officials have yet to rule out a new Covid variant being to blame. Another theory is that children may have been battling the adenovirus at the same time as Covid.

UK health officials have ruled out the Covid vaccine as a possible cause, with none of the ill British children having been vaccinated because of their young age. None of the cases in the US were jabbed either.

The World Health Organization said it has received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries as of Saturday

Covid lockdowns may be behind the mysterious spate of hepatitis cases in children because they reduced social mixing and weakened their immunity, experts claim

Professor Taylor-Robinson told MailOnline: 'I think it is likely that children mixing in kindergartens and schools have lower immunity to seasonal adenoviruses than in previous years because of restrictions.

'This means they could be more at risk of developing hepatitis because their immune response is weaker to the virus.'

He said children are less likely to complain about symptoms than adults  and urged parents to be alert to early issues including stomach pains and yellowing eyes.

But he added there is no reason to panic because in '99 per cent' of cases the liver is able to regenerate and the chances of needing a transplant or dying because of the condition are low.

WHAT COULD BE BEHIND THE HEPATITIS OUTBREAK? While experts believe adenovirus  a virus associated with many common colds  could be behind the spate of cases, the jury is out on what the exact cause of the outbreak is. Co-infection One theory suggests children being infected with Covid and adenovirus at the same time could be at greater risk of hepatitis. Weakened immunity British experts have suggested lockdowns and restrictions have put children at greater risk because they have lower natural immunity to adenovirus. Adenovirus mutation Other scientists said it may have been an adenovirus that has acquired 'unusual mutations'. New Covid variant UKHSA officials included 'a new variant of SARS-CoV-2' in their working hypotheses, when discussing the variant at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today. Advertisement

Professor Alastair Sutcliffe, a paediatrician at University College London, told MailOnline mounting cases are a 'a concerning and depressing situation for families' but parents should not fear.

He said: 'What is for families to consider [is] if their child develops jaundice after the first few months of life they need medical attention fast.

'But that is true of any child who develops jaundice after the first few months of life so is not new advice.

'With one death and no known cause life should continue as before. Nothing is more fearful than fear itself.'

World Health Organization (WHO) bosses have received reports of at least 169 cases of 'acute hepatitis of unknown origin' from 12 countries.

Cases were detected in children aged one month to 16, the majority of whom have been hospitalised. The WHO has not disclosed which country the only known death occurred in.

The first hepatitis cases were recorded in Britain, where 114 children have now been sickened. Thirteen cases have been detected in Spain, 12 in Israel and 11 in the US  including nine in Alabama and two in North Carolina.

The unusual illness has also been spotted in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Norway, Romania and Belgium.

The WHO said: 'It is not yet clear if there has been an increase in hepatitis cases, or an increase in awareness of hepatitis cases that occur at the expected rate but go undetected.'

However, other scientists have suggested the amount of severe cases in children is unusual.

Richard Pebody, who heads the high threats pathogen team at the WHO, told STAT News: 'Although the numbers aren't big, the consequences have been quite severe. It's important that countries look.'

None of the cases have been caused by any of the five typical strains of the virus  hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.

Experts say the cases may be linked to a virus commonly associated with colds, known as an adenovirus, but that further research is ongoing.

'While adenovirus is a possible hypothesis, investigations are ongoing for the causative agent,' WHO said.

It noted that the cold-like virus has been detected in at least 74 of the cases  however not all children were tested.

And 19 of the patients also had a Covid co-infection. One more child had Covid but not the adenovirus.

Experts are probing whether the cases are linked to the two viruses.

UK Health Security Agency experts were called to a briefing at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon today to present data around the current situation in Britain.

Scientists claimed they could not rule out Covid as a possible cause of the outbreak  and also suggested a new coronavirus variant could be behind it.

Dr Muge Cevik, an infectious diseases expert at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland, warned the virus was a possible explanation  but noted hepatitis has 'not been a common feature' of infections in children.

'Acute severe hepatitis has not been a common feature of Covid in children, so it's less likely to explain this presentation,' he said.

'Adenovirus [Common cold virus] was detected in 40 of 53 cases, but not all cases are tested. Adenovirus testing has been inconsistent in other samples, and it's too early to confirm characterization.

'It's important for all countries to share their data once available.'

British scientists have also suggested that lockdowns may have played a contributing role, weakening children's immunity and leaving them at heightened risk of adenovirus.

Others said the cases may be the result of a virus that has acquired 'unusual mutations'.

Only 80 per cent of hepatitis have an identifiable cause, experts said.

Professor Graham Cooke, an expert in infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said it is unlikely Covid was responsible.

He said: 'Mild hepatitis is very common in children following a range of viral infections, but what is being seen at the moment is quite different.

'If the hepatitis was a result of Covid it would be surprising not to see it more widely distributed across the country given the high prevalence of (Covid) at the moment.'

A virology specialist at Imperial told The Telegraph it is 'very unusual and rare' for children to suffer severe hepatitis, especially to the extent that they require a liver transplant.

The expert, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'The number of cases is exceptional.

'It makes people think there is something unusual going on  such as a virus that has mutated or some other cause. It has sent alarm bells ringing.'

Hepatitis often has no noticeable symptoms  but they can include dark urine, pale grey-coloured faeces, 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 faeces of an infected person or blood-to-blood or sexual contact.
Handcuffed for her appearance in court, this Russian journalist was yesterday facing prison for revealing the horrors of the siege of Mariupol.

Maria Ponomarenko, who works for RushNews, was accused of spreading 'fake news' about civilian deaths in the Ukrainian port city.

Mrs Ponomarenko will remain in custody until she next appears in court tomorrow, according to messages shared on encrypted app Telegram.

Last month, Russias parliament passed a law meaning anyone deemed to have intentionally spread fake news about the military operation can be jailed for up to 15 years.

Police in St. Pete have arrested journalist Maria Ponomarenko, pictured in handcuffs, for spreading 'fake' news when reporting on civilian deaths during the siege of Mariupol. She risks being sent to prison for up to 15 years due to a new law which bans reporting in Russia

It came as Putin yesterday claimed the Kremlins spy agency had foiled what he described as a Western plot to kill prominent Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyov.

He said the Federal Security Service had halted the alleged plan - and used the unverified information to claim the West was now trying to target household names in the country.

However six Russian men were later arrested and described as being part of a neo-Nazi group acting on behalf of Ukraines security services.

This morning, the Federal Security Service stopped the activities of a terrorist group that planned to attack and kill one famous Russian TV journalist, Putin said.

They have moved to terror - to preparing the murder of our journalists.

And claiming the US may have been involved, which was denied, he added: We know by name the curators of Western secret services, primarily, of course, from the CIA, who work with the security agencies of Ukraine.

Solvyov, who has prime-time shows on Russian TV, has been sanctioned by the EU as a propagandist and had villas seized by Italian police.

And in a more surprising target for Russias wrath, chess website Chess.com has been banned by the Russian media regulator.

In a statement, Chess.com, which has more than 50 million members around the world, expressed its shock. It noted however, that, since the invasion, sites such as Facebook, Twitter and BBC News have all been banned.

Yesterday, Chess.com was banned by the Russian government agency Roskomnadzor, responsible for censorship within Russia - a busy occupation these days, a spokesman said.

According to Roskomnadzor, their goal is to block two webpages: On The Invasion of Ukraine which outlines our policy and actions regarding the war on Ukraine and addresses FAQ and Ukrainian Chess Players In Times Of War which is a piece interviewing Ukrainian chess players on their circumstances and views during the early days of the war.

Chess.com was banned by the Russian government agency Roskomnadzor, joining Facebook, Twitter and the BBC on a list of banned sites

The spokesman added that, as these single pages could not be banned, the regulator had instead banned the entire site from Russia. They called on Russians wishing to play chess to continue if they could bypass Russias internet laws.

We reaffirm our condemnation in the strongest possible terms of the Russian governments war of aggression against Ukraine and will continue to publish content to that effect.

The statement added: We will continue to welcome Chess.com members from Russia who defy the governments ban and play on Chess.com.

Chess.com had previously banned Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin, who has publicly supported the invasion, from playing games on the site.

Writing online about Russias decision to ban Chess.com, he said: Once again we are witness to a situation where Western platforms lose their Russian public because of their own phobia of Russia.

Mr Karjakin was last month banned from chess competition for six months by the International Chess Federation for his support of Russias invasion.
Barack Obama was 'jealous' that the media portrayed his successor and former vice president Joe Biden's administration as more 'transformative' than his was, a bombshell new book excerpt suggested on Monday.

The popular Democrat helped Biden clinch the White House in 2020 over former President Donald Trump, capitalizing on the tight-knit friendship they were known for during Obama's years in office.

But it was reportedly, at least at the time, a 'political fable.'

The ex-president in reality had 'complicated feelings' about his former veep's presidential campaign, according to forthcoming book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for Americas Future, by New York Times journalists Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns.

The two only 'occasionally' spoke at the beginning of Biden's White House tenure, though Obama did apparently confide in another Democrat in Washington -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

'Nancy Pelosi, who spoke regularly with the former president, came away from her conversations with Obama during this period with a matter-of-fact diagnosis,' an excerpt obtained by Fox News read.

'She told a friend: 'Obama is jealous of Biden'."

Former President Barack Obama had 'complicated feelings' about his former Vice President Joe Biden becoming president in 2020, a forthcoming account of the beginning of Biden's presidency states

DailyMail.com has reached out to Pelosi's office for comment.

Obama's rare conversations with Biden were 'hardly the stuff of the tight brotherhood both men had sold to the country as a cheery political fable,' the book claims.

Biden even gave his own assessment of the fallout, as quoted by an adviser.

'I am confident that Barack is not happy with the coverage of this administration as more transformative than his,' the book states Biden told them.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly spoke 'regularly' with Obama and said he was 'jealous' of Biden's White House

At the time, the incoming leader was being praised for assembling the most diverse presidential Cabinet in American history and placing an unprecedented emphasis on inclusion all the way up to the top ranks of his administration.

Comments in the book by Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile reveal some indication of national officials' frustration with Obama's in that respect -- despite his trailblazing status as the first black president.

Brazile had reportedly complained to Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain about the 'lack of black appointees' in the new government, according to an excerpt obtained by the Chicago Sun Times.

The Democrat had 'remembered well how the administration of the first Black president had been dominated by white men,' the book's authors write.

'On matters of diversity, Brazile shot back, Obama wasnt exactly the gold standard for Black folks.'

Biden also reportedly complained Obama hadn't 'lifted a finger' to help him win the South Carolina primary in 2020, the race that cinched the Democratic nomination for him.

The former president and his staffers also subtly worked to discourage Biden from running for president in 2016. They instead favored Hillary Clinton, who later lost to Trump, Politico had reported in 2020.

'I am confident that Barack is not happy with the coverage of this administration as more transformative than his,' the book claims Biden told an adviser

'The president was not encouraging' of Biden's potential White House bid at the time, the current commander-in-chief said.

Meanwhile Biden told Obama that he intends to run for president again in 2024, The Hill reported last week.

One person said Biden 'wants to run and hes clearly letting everyone know.'

If successful, he would be 81 years old at the time of his second inauguration.

Before becoming Obama's running mate, Biden had two previous presidential campaigns in 2008 and 1988, neither of which saw a long run.

Earlier this month Obama made his first return to the White House since leaving office to mark the twelfth anniversary of passing the Affordable Care Act.

When he took the stage at the event, Obama jokingly referred to the White House's current occupant as 'Vice President Biden.'
A US spy left British military secrets online after he uploaded them so that he could work from home, it has been reported.

Adam Sitzes included details of the RAFs 125million Typhoon jets, exposed arms deals and named top officials and counter-terror staff in the UK, Nato and Ukraine.

It is feared Mr Sitzes, who is a US Air Force worker in his 40s, forgot about the unencrypted dossier after he uploaded it to file-sharing website Trello in 2020 and gave it public access so he could view it on any device while working from home.

A source told The Sun newspaper: Hes likely to face an immediate investigation. Whitehall was informed of the breach and all files have since been removed.

Adam Sitzes included details of the RAFs 125million Typhoon jets on the unencrypted document

Ex-CIA terror expert Aki Peritz said: Making sensitive information available in one place, on a specific topic, with a shiny red bow tying it all together makes it easy for an adversary to exploit. Its so stupid.

It comes as the Daily Mail revealed the UKs civil service jobs website is still advertising 64 vacancies involving partial or total working from home which include sensitive positions with GCHQ, the Governments intelligence and security organisation, and with counter-terrorism at the Home Office.

A security expert warned of the absolutely enormous risks that could be posed by civil servants in these areas working from home, especially at a time of grave international danger given Russias invasion of Ukraine.
Newly-released bodycam footage shows paramedics frantically trying to save a cinematographer after she was accidentally shot dead by Alec Baldwin.

The distressing clip of Halyna Hutchins' final moments - including paramedics crying 'Halyna, stay with us!' was released as part of a trove of evidence shared by Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office Monday.

Hutchins, who died aged 42, could be seen unconscious of the floor of a church set as emergency responders worked to save her after she was shot on the New Mexico set of the western in October 2021.

She appeared to be unconscious throughout, having been shot through her right armpit, with the bullet that struck her later emerging again through the top of her shoulder.

Not much can be heard other than encouragement for Hutchins and the paramedics barking instructions at one another.

In another video, the crew from Rust, including Baldwin, can be heard asking how Hutchins is doing.

Baldwin can be heard asking 'what's her story?' in reference to Hutchins and being told things are 'a little bit rougher.'

Someone can be heard asking if the condition is life-threatening and the response is: 'enough to get air-lifted.'

Dramatic police bodycam video shows medics battling to save Halyna Hutchins life after the Rust movie set shooting

At one point, Hutchins' top layer of clothing was taken off to help paramedics who were working to save her

Hutchins was also filmed being wheeled out of the church on a trolley while being given oxygen, before being put into a med-e-vac helicopter and airlifted away

Hutchins is pictured before her death in October 2021. The Ukrainian-born cinematographer was a married mother-of-one

One video showed him being approached by cops for the first time moments after the shooting, and being warned not to discuss what had happened with any colleagues before he'd been spoken to by cops.

Another clip showed Baldwin sitting on the back of a truck and asking for an update on Hutchins, only to be told by the cop that EMTs were still working on her.

A third set of footage showed him being grilled back at a police station afterwards.

The investigation files also include rehearsal clips that show Baldwin in costume as he practices a quick-draw maneuver with a gun.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said in a statement that the investigation by his agency remains open and ongoing as it awaits the results of ballistics and forensic analysis from the FBI as well as studies of fingerprint and DNA.

'The sheriff's office is releasing all files associated with our ongoing investigation,' he said in the statement. Those files also include photos of ammunition from the set and examination reports.

Alec Baldwin is shown being interviewed by Santa Fe Sheriff's Deputies on October 21, 2021 after accidentally shooting Halyna Hutchins

Pictures taken by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office show the evidence left on the scene after paramedics departed

At a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe on Oct. 21, 2021, Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when it went off, killing Hutchins and wounding the director, Joel Souza. They had been inside a small church during setup for filming a scene.

In a video taken by police later that day, Baldwin makes a few frantic calls as he awaits a meeting with law enforcement officials.

'You have no idea how unbelievable this is and how strange this is,' he says over the phone.

New Mexico workplace safety regulators last week issued the maximum possible fine of nearly $137,000 against the 'Rust' film production company.

New Mexicos Occupational Health and Safety Bureau said Rust Movie Productions must pay $136,793, and distributed a scathing narrative of safety failures in violation of standard industry protocols, including testimony that production managers took limited or no action to address two misfires on set prior to the fatal shooting.

The bureau also documented gun safety complaints from crew members that went unheeded and said weapons specialists were not allowed to make decisions about additional safety training. Rust Movie Productions has indicated it will dispute the findings and sanction.

Baldwin said in a December interview with ABC News that he was on set pointing the gun at Hutchins at her instruction when it went off without his pulling the trigger.

Another video shows Alec Baldwin practicing his quick draw on the set of Rust

Data files released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's office included a video of investigators debriefing Baldwin within hours of the fatal shooting, talking with him inside a compact office

New Mexico workplace safety regulators last week issued the maximum possible fine of nearly $137,000 against the 'Rust' film production company

The Bonanza Creek Ranch, where the film "Rust" was being filmed, appears in Santa Fe, N.M. on Oct. 23, 2021

This aerial photo shows the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M., on Oct. 23, 2021

The Santa Fe County Sheriff has released files from its investigation into the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust, including a video of Alec Baldwin being interviewed after accidentally killing the cinematographer.

Baldwin was filming a scene in a church set when he drew the gun and accidentally shot Hutchins, a mother and experienced cinematographer.

He has since cooperated with police as part of the investigation into her death.

In the new images, he is shown with his hands outstretched, standing solemnly. It was minutes after the shooting but before he knew Halyna had died in the hospital as a result of the injuries he accidentally caused.

He is not thought to have known at the moment of the interview that Hutchins had died.

Baldwin was filming a scene in a church set when he drew the gun and accidentally shot Hutchins, a mother and experienced cinematographer. He has since cooperated with police as part of the investigation into her death

Baldwin was somewhat calm but confused throughout the interview, telling the two female sheriff deputies that he'd 'never heard of anything like this'. At one stage, he drew a diagram of where he had been standing in relation to where Halyna was

In these two photos, Alec Baldwin is shown on the set of the movie holding his hands out after the accident

Alec Baldwin's hands were photographed at the scene before he was questioned

A garment, thought to have been Halyna Hutchins hat, was left at the scene of the shooting

In a video of his interview, he said he thought the gun was 'cold' when he was handed it by Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the movie.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died in the hospital as a result of her injuries

Baldwin, at the start of the video, asks if he is being charged with anything. He then lets out a huge sigh and says: 'We've done this for two weeks and we've done it the right way every day.'

He goes on to insist that the gun they had been using before was 'cold'.

'Right before you shoot. I went to lunch.

'She disarmed me - Hannah - she always handled the gun. I come back, they hand me the revolver - Hannah - they arm me. You're assuming it's a cold gun. I put the gag in the shot.

'I take the gun out , as it clears - I turn and cock the gun and the gun goes off. It's supposed to be a cold gun.

'Bang, she hits the ground. [Joel Souza] goes down, screaming going "Jesus Christ!

'I have never seen this before... What came out of that bullet that went through her shoulder?.... She was right in front of me.'

The bullet went through Souza's arm first and then struck Hutchins. He recovered with an injury, but Hutchins died in the hospital.

He went on to describe Gutierrez-Reed as 'the daughter of a famous gun guy' who gave him the weapon.

Towards the end of the interview, Baldwin is shown a photograph of what was removed from Souza's shoulder.

Baldwin pictured today in East Hampton. No one has been charged criminally over the shooting

Baldwin is pictured on Monday in East Hampton after collecting lunch

Shocked, he says: 'That's a bullet. Somebody put a live bullet in the gun.'

He is then quizzed.

'Did you see the rounds in the gun?'

'No.'

'Have you seen what they look like?'

'I've watched her load and reload the gun many times.'

'Have you seen the bullets?'

'Sometimes the head is a casing, it's pinched and closed at the top and you put the cosmetic round in when you know you're going to see... those clay based rounds look exactly like a bullet.

'So cosmetically you see that in the cylinder. I am very upset right now... forgive me.'

Discarded medical materials inside the church after the fatal shooting

Bloody tissues and a script with a dirty foot print on it inside the church

Crime scene photos show bloody gauze at the scene that was used by paramedics before Hutchins was taken away

Scattered, discarded tissues and gauze pads at the scene of the shooting on October 21

Baldwin was asked if there was anyone who might have intentionally placed a live bullet in the gun.

He referenced the fact there were crew strikes at the time and that many of the crew walked off set the previous day.

'Those people were on strike against the major studios but not the independent film community. A bunch of people on the set walked off anyway even though they were told not to. That was yesterday.

'I don't even know - I have no idea,' he said.

The investigation into the shooting has never been able to prove whether or not the bullet was intentionally loaded into the gun, or if it was all an accident.

Gutierrez-Reed has insisted throughout that she did not place it in the barrel of the gun and that she might have been sabotaged.

Baldwin, at first, had the support of Hutchins' widower Matt. However he has since sued the actor and told how his parading in interviews since his wife's death made him angry.

'Watching him I just felt so angry to see him talk about her death publicly in such a detailed way and then not accepting any responsibility after he just described killing her

'Hearing him blame Halyna in the interview and shift responsibility to others and seeing him cry about it, I just feel like, are we really supposed to feel bad about you Mr. Baldwin?' he said in an interview in February.
Businesses have called for this years extended June bank holiday to be given a permanent place on the calendar.

Bosses representing British firms have today written to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak urging them keep the extra day off in the diary.

They claim the Government currently over-estimates the cost of public holidays and that a new one would help to boost health and productivity.

The end-of-May bank holiday is being pushed back to Thursday June 2 to extend the weekend of the Queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Supporters of the campaign  including Dragons Den star Deborah Meaden, Britains biggest business group the Confederation of British Industry and trade body UK Hospitality  say it would be a fitting tribute to Her Majestys 70 years of public service and would also help out firms which rely on tourists and shoppers.

The Government estimates that each bank holiday costs 1.4billion.

But research by accountancy giant PwC suggests the figure is overestimated and a Monday off would cost 877million and a Friday 786million.

Supporters of the campaign to extend the June bank holiday including Dragons Den star Deborah Meaden, pictured

Bosses representing British firms have today written to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak urging them keep the extra day off in the diary (stock of people enjoying a sunny day in Brighton)

Those backing Mrs Meaden include Britains biggest business group the Confederation of British Industry, bars and restaurants trade body UK Hospitality, and brands such as Siemens and Punch Pubs.

Mrs Meaden said: The Great British bank holiday is enjoyed by one and all across society. We all have fond memories of trips away, gatherings with friends, or just enjoying some relaxing time with loved ones.

But its also a major boon for many businesses - especially those sectors that have struggled during the pandemic. Im backing the campaign because I think it will be a fitting tribute to Her Majestys seventy years of public service, and that of all the people who make our communities kinder, nicer places to live.

They claim the Government currently over-estimates the cost of public holidays and that a new one would help to boost health and productivity. Pictured: Purley Cross and town centre in Surrey

The businesswoman, who founded a number of small companies in the leisure and retail sector and took over her familys holiday business before becoming an investor on BBC Twos Dragons Den, said a permanent extra day off would also provide the country with a social and economic stimulus we need after a difficult few years.

If the June bank holiday is turned into a permanent feature, the UK would have nine public holidays in a normal year - still behind Germany and France, who each have 11.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said: It is time for a Thank Holiday to mark the astonishing and enduring service of Her Majesty the Queen. Such a day would also provide the chance to recognise the fortitude of the entire nation, and local community heroes, in pulling through the challenges of the past two years.
Thomas Markle, Meghan Markle's estranged father, has made headlines by announcing that he will come to the UK this year to witness the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The Duchess of Sussex's father told GB News' Dan Wootton that if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decide to go over for the celebration, he wants to meet them.

Thomas Markle Makes a Shocking Announcement

When Prince Charles visits in June, he hopes to see him and thank him for escorting his daughter down the aisle at the royal wedding in 2018.

Thomas hasn't seen his 40-year-old daughter since her wedding, and his two grandkids have never met him. He called Prince Harry an 'idiot' for blaming security concerns for perhaps preventing him from attending the Queen's jubilee activities while speaking live from his home in Rosarito, Mexico.

He called the couple's failure to bring their two children, Archie and Lilibet, to see their great-grandmother the Queen "another smack in the face." In another shocking accusation, he said that his daughter encouraged Harry to distance himself from his own family.

Thomas Markle, 77, has also admitted that he worries about never seeing his grandchildren. He said that Prince Harry has "never grown up," referring to the Duke of Sussex's planned book, which is rumored to contain disparaging remarks about his relatives.

He wished to visit the United Kingdom to "express his love and respect" for the Queen and the Royal Family, Thomas Markle stated. It comes after some of Prince Harry's previous statements about his grandmother ahead of her 70th year on the throne festivities, according to The Sun.

Read Also: Amber Heard Hits Back at Johnny Depp During Libel Trial, Exposes Actor's Texts About Wanting to "Burn and Drown" the Actress

The Sussexes Remain Undecided About Attending Queen's Platinum Jubilee

Prince Harry and his family are expected to travel from California to mark the Queen's 70 years on the throne, Daily Mail reported. In June, Buckingham Palace reportedly offered the Sussexes full armed protection at all Royal Family engagements to reassure them after Prince Harry stated he felt unsafe in the United Kingdom.

Even if Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles have removed the biggest roadblock to Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Archie, and Lilibet attending the Platinum Jubilee, the Duke of Sussex is claimed to be genuinely undecided about flying in to celebrate his grandmother's 70 years on the throne.

On June 2, the Queen's official birthday, the Sussexes would be welcomed onto the Buckingham Palace balcony with the rest of the royals to watch an RAF flypast and the Trooping the Color.

However, because they left their duties as frontline royals when they went to Canada and then Los Angeles two years ago, they would be ineligible to attend working parts of the Jubilee. Prince Harry said in an interview that he wanted to make sure his grandmother was "protected" and had "the correct people around her," which sparked controversy.

Prince Harry also discussed his particular bond with his grandmother, including his public assertion that she confides in him about topics she can't talk about with anyone else.

According to NDTV, former US President Donald Trump claimed earlier this week that Queen Elizabeth should strip Prince Harry and Meghan Markle of their royal titles. Trump aimed at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in an interview with television personality Piers Morgan that will appear on Monday, accusing Prince Harry of being "very disrespectful to the country."

Trump said that Prince Harry would get tired of being "bossed around" and that Meghan Markle would start seeing "some other guy better," but afterward released a statement accusing Piers Morgan of "unlawfully and falsely" altering the clip.

Related Article: Donald Trump Suggests Queen Elizabeth To Strip All Prince Harry, Meghan Markle's Royal Titles, Predicts Couple Will Split



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Teenage road vigilante, Beau Jackson, 17, spends his spare time alerting drivers to hidden police speed traps

A grouchy middle-aged woman has confronted a teenage road vigilante who dedicates his spare time to warning drivers about 'unfair' hidden speed cameras.

Beau Jackson, 17, has made a name for himself parking near mobile cameras around the NSW Central Coast with a makeshift sign warning unsuspecting motorists about potential speed traps.

The teenager often parks in locations where he feels cameras are 'unfairly' trying to catch people to raise revenue - such as at the bottom of hills, or in places where the speed limit suddenly drops.

Last week, he pledged to fight a $250 fine from NSW's Environmental Protection Agency for 'littering from [his] Yamaha' - claiming he didn't litter and insisting the fine is payback from the government for costing them millions of dollars in revenue.

Mr Jackson told Daily Mail Australia that drivers often thank him for the heads up by buying him McDonald's or briefly honking their horns. But on Friday afternoon, one local resident demanded he stop.

Beau Jackson was alerting motorists to a hidden speeding camera when a middle-aged woman, dubbed 'Karen' (pictured) asked him to stop

The teenager shared a video of the woman with his 35,000 followers on his Tik Tok account, called 'speed cameras love me', with the caption: 'Have we met before? Oh that's right we have, your name was Karen right?'

Mr Jackson filmed 'Karen' walking away, and said from behind the camera: 'This lady tried getting me by complaining about the honks - tried getting a photo of my number plate.'

'It's the first Karen interaction,' he laughed, as another passer-by honked their horn.

'She tried to take a photo of my number plate - I'm legally parked, there's nothing she can do about it.'

When speaking with Daily Mail Australia, Mr Jackson explained he parked down he street from where she lived and stayed there for three hours until the mobile speed camera moved.

'She asked me to move because she was sick of the honking,' he said.

'I told her I was only parked there because the speed camera van was parked a few metres in front of me.'

Mr Jackson tried to explain he was trying to warn drivers about 'unfair' speed cameras, but the woman (pictured left) didn't care

The woman was unfazed about his mission to save Australians from spending hundreds of dollars in speeding tickets and continued demanding that he move.

When he continually refused, she started taking photos of Mr Jackson and his bike.

'So I started taking photos of her,' he recalled.

'She backed right off when I did that, and then she starting making phone calls.'

The teenager has no idea if anything came of her phone calls because the speed camera van left ten minutes after she got off the phone.

'When they left, I had no reason to be there anymore so I left,' he added.

Mr Jackson (pictured) hoped to sell merchandise full-time. His mother Deanne said she 'couldn't be prouder'

Beau Jackson (pictured) has a clean driving record, but was inspired to help others when his friend copped a $120 fine for moving just 3km over the speed limit

While police support Mr Jackson and say he's doing the community a service - because he's making people slow down - he was recently shocked to get a $250 fine from the NSW Environmental Protection Agency for littering.

'I rang them and they said my sign and some drink cans were on the side of the road,' he told A Current Affair.

However Mr Jackson says he always takes the sign and his rubbish home after each shift.

'I pack up my sign and rubbish and take it home. I still have my sign, so I certainly didnt leave it on the side of the road,' he said.

The teen asked the EPA for photo proof, but was told there was no evidence.

'I couldnt believe it. I dont litter, all my friends and family know that,' he said.

Beau Jackson says he's saved money for hundreds of motorists unaware of hidden speed cameras

Beau Jackson says he has the support of police who tell him he's doing the community a service

'Clearly someone is upset with what I am doing, because Im costing them revenue, he said.

Mr Jackson plans to take the matter to court.

Despite having a clean driving record, the teenager was inspired to rail against hidden speed cameras after his friend was slapped with a $120 fine for moving just 3km over the speed limit.

'I had the idea for about a year because I'd see them in unfair locations, but no one was doing anything about it,' he explained.

'They're just getting innocent people, so I started protecting the community.'

His mother Deanne said she 'couldn't be prouder' of her son.

Mr Jackson will launch his line of bumper stickers on Wednesday. One sticker reads: 'Too many Karens! not enough Beaus! (pictured)

Another sticker (pictured) says: 'Speed cameras don't slow people down!! Beau does!!'

Motorists often go out of their way to thank Mr Jackson by buying him McDonald's, coffee, energy drinks, and meat pies - which he said is a bit awkward because he's vegetarian.

'I gift the pies to other people,' he said.

The 17-year-old used to work mowing lawns and for Dominos, but he hopes to sell bumper stickers full-time - which will be on sale from Wednesday.

'I've got vinyl bumper stickers with different designs and slogans - they're high-quality and weather-proof,' Mr Jackson said.

One sticker says: 'Too many Karens! Not enough Beaus!'

Another reads: 'Speed cameras don't slow people down!! Beau does!!'
Heartbreaking footage has captured the moment a five-year-old girl was left stranded on a train station platform after the doors closed before her mother could get off.

The little girl is seen jumping out of her carriage at Melbourne's South Yarra station last month and waving her arms in the air.

But she quickly freezes upon turning around to see the train's doors had closed with her mother still inside.

A five-year-old girl was left stranded on the platform at Melbourne's South Yarra station last month when the doors closed before her mother could get off

Two commuters walking by tried to open the carriage doors but the train drove off and the little girl was left behind.

One man then walked with the child to nearby police officers, who took her hand and waited with her on a bench on the platform.

Moments later, the distraught mother is seen running down the platform while wheeling a pram and wrapping her arms around her young daughter.

Nearby police officers waited with the little girl for her mother to return

The distraught mother is seen running down the platform with a pram after her daughter was left behind

The pair then walk away together hand-in-hand.

Victoria Police said the Good Samaritan was praised for his efforts in helping the five-year-old, while her mother will thank the officers for reuniting them on Tuesday.

Protective services officers have this week returned to all railway stations in Melbourne.

'We know a PSO presence makes people feel safe and that is our top priority,' Acting Superintendent Craig Thompson said.

'Our members genuinely care about the community and we know they look forward to reconnecting with them.'
A Minneapolis state representative who's a BLM activist has been accused of bullying cops who pulled his daughter over for driving on expired tags.

John Thompson - a former Democrat who's now an independent - was accused of brandishing his official business card in what St Paul cops suggested was an attempt to cower them.

He is also said to have screamed at officers following the traffic stop in St Paul on April 24, when his 26 year-old daughter Larraja Austin was pulled over.

Thompson accused them of racism, and successfully managed to persuade the cops to let Austin drive off without being made to perform a sobriety test or arrested.

Officers taking part in a crackdown on bad driving pulled the beautician over after watching her swerve, and are said to have smelt weed in her car on doing so.

Condemning Thompson's alleged behavior in a blistering Facebook post, St Paul Chief of Police Todd Axtell wrote: 'It turned ugly fast.

'While the officer was attempting to get the driverwhose license was suspended and who was driving with tabs that had been expired for two yearsto cooperate and other officers backed her up, the drivers father pulled up in another vehicle, jumped out and immediately began interfering by yelling and questioning the traffic stop and identifying himself as State Representative John Thompson.

State Rep John Thompson, above, was elected to the state legislature in November 2020. He has been embroiled in multiple scandals since his election including over previous criminal offenses and where his primary residence is located

Cops pulled Larraja Austin, pictured, over for driving on expired tags, and are said to have smelt weed in the car. Her lawmaker dad then arrived on the scene, and is said to have bullied cops into not arresting the 26 year-old beautician

'Here we go again.

Its an absolute shamethat an elected official would attempt to intimidate and bully police officers, that he would misuse his official position, that officers doing their jobs should have to endure illegitimate claims of racism, that John Thompson is still serving in the Legislature.

'Its a slap in the face to those of usincluding our police officerswho are working in good faith to make our city safer for everyone. How many times? How many times do our officers have to be berated? How many times do lies have to come to light?

Axtell continued: 'Accountability matters.

'I want to be clear about this: My officers were put in an incredibly difficult position and made the best decision they could at the time to de-escalate and avoid being unfairly vilifiedagain.'

Chief Axtell concluded by imploring Thompson and is daughter to allow the release of the officer's bodycams in a bid to clear up what exactly happened during the traffic stop.

His department also wants Austin charged with failing to provide a sample.

St Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell ranted over Thompson's alleged behavior on his Facebook profile Monday - and included a shot of a card he says Thompson gave his officers in what appeared to be an attempt to scare them off arresting his daughter

Chief Todd Axtell said in a blistering Facebook post that he was upset that Thompson is allowed to continue serving in the legislature following the April 24 incident

Chief Axtell said as the officer and her back up attempted to get Austin to co-operate, her father, State Rep. John Thompson showed up.

According to the chief, Thompson began attempting to 'intimidate and bully police officers.'

Axtell said that the officers were accused of racism by Thompson while he handed out his business cards that showed he was an elected member of the state legislature.

The chief said that it was an 'absolute shame' that Thompson is continued to be allowed to serve in the legislature following his accusations.

Thompson was elected to his office in November 2020. He represents over 42,000 citizens in St. Paul's District 67A.

Thompson 'rose to prominence' following the shooting of his 'best friend' Philando Castile in St. Paul in 2016

According to Minnesota law, one of the reasons allowing for the release of bodycam footage is to 'dispel rumor or unrest.'

While police were dealing with the incident, Thompson's daughter is accused of ignoring officers and having a video call while her father 'continued to yell and scream in an irate fashion,' CBS Minneapolis reported citing a police report.

The report said that Austin refused to co-operate with officers and made a video call in front of them. Eventually, Thompson was allowed to take his daughter away from the scene. She was not charged.

In the summer of 2021, the St. Paul Police Department released footage of Thompson being pulled over and making similar allegations of racism against officers. Thompson said that he was guilty of 'driving while black.'

That incident led to it being revealed that Thompson held a Wisconsin driver's license.

That revelation saw the media discover that Thompson had previous domestic abuse allegations levelled against him.

Following those revelations, Thompson was removed from the Democratic Farm Labor party caucus in the Minnesota legislature.

Thompson said in a statement after his expulsion that he would continue to serve his constituents as an independent.

Thompson (C) marches with Black Lives Matter protesters outside the Brooklyn Center police headquarters on April 13, 2021 in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Thompson's wife has previously come forward to say that her husband never abused her

Thompson was accused of a series of domestic abuse incidents dating back to 2003. In one instance, the alleged abuse took place in front of his children.

The state rep's wife, Lea Austin Thompson, came forward in 2021 to say of her husband, 'I have never been abused. He never has abused me.'

Thompson attended Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's State of the State speech at 6 p.m. on the same day that his daughter was pulled over.

The Democratic activist did not attend a vote at the legislature on the morning of April 25 but did vote remotely, reports Fox9.

At the time of writing, Thompson has not addressed the traffic stop publicly. He did post a video on his official Facebook page regarding fundraising efforts for re-election.

Thompson rose to prominence following the killing of his 'good friend' Philando Castile, according to a 2021 St. Paul Pioneer-Press profile. While a feature in Vice Magazine referred to him as Castile's 'best friend.'

On his official website, Thompson writes, 'My family and I have always worked hard and kept to ourselves until the day my friend and co-worker Philando Castile was shot and killed during a traffic stop. At that moment, I knew that I could no longer remain silent.'

On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was shot dead by St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. Castile was 32 years old.

Yanez was later acquitted of second-degree manslaughter in the incident. A wrongful death suit brought by Castile's family was later settle by the city to the tune of $3.8 million.
One commenter dubbed the bird 'Philip Morris' after the cigarette company

The odd encounter occurred at the Reef View Hotel on Hamilton Island in QLD

The cockatoo sits on a balcony and begins pulling cigarettes out with its beak

A sneaky cockatoo has been been dubbed 'Philip Morris' after being caught stealing a pack of smokes from a tourist and then pulling a cigarette out and holding it in its beak like an everyday smoker.

The sulphur-crested cockatoo was spotted on the balcony of a Queensland holiday resort inspecting a packet of cigarettes inquisitively by a tourist who filmed the encounter.

Footage of the odd yet hilarious incident was posted to social media back in April, 2019, but it was only this week that the clip resurfaced online. The cockatoo was dubbed 'Philip Morris' by one commenter because of his antics, after the cigarette manufacturing company.

A sneaky cockatoo has been caught stealing a pack of smokes from a tourist before pulling a cigarette out and holding it in its beak like an everyday smoker

'This happened while staying at the Reef View Hotel on Hamilton Island - Queensland, Australia,' the tourist wrote in the description of the clip at the time.

The cockatoo is seen calmly sitting on the balcony and holding the open cigarette packet with its foot.

He then begins pulling the cigarettes out one by one with its beak.

The bird instantly drops the first smoke over the side of the resort and a second onto the balcony floor.

The cheeky animal manages to pull out a third cigarette and lets go of the entire packet, which falls over the side of the building.

It holds the third smoke in its beak temporarily like a smoker, rotating the tube around its mouth.

The cockatoo then grabs the smoke with its foot and begins breaking it apart with its beak before dropping the remains.

The cheeky animal manages to pull out a third cigarette and lets go of the entire packet, which falls over the side of the building

It holds the third smoke in its beak temporarily like a smoker, rotating the tube around its mouth

The iconic Australian bird has a knack of nabbing food and possessions left unattended by people.

Last June, one mischievous cockatoo pinched a cafe diner's caramel slice in front of his eyes and flew off into the distance.

The cheeky bird appeared to lull the man into a false sense of security by eating crumbs off his table at a cafe in Lorne on Victoria's Great Ocean Road.

It then suddenly snatched the paper bag with the slice inside, with the diner trying and failing to retrieve the treat from the animal's mouth.

The bird then flew across the road with the bag hanging from its mouth.

A mischievous cockatoo pinched a cafe diner's caramel slice in front of his eyes and flown off into the distance

Another clip posted last year saw a sulphur-crested cockatoo nibbling on a croissant while perched on a traffic sign in Bondi

Another clip posted last year saw a sulphur-crested cockatoo nibbling on a croissant while perched on a traffic sign in Bondi.

Footage posted to Instagram shows the laid-back bird dubbed 'Le Coqatou' enjoying a morning pastry in the beachside Sydney suburb.

It balanced on the 'no stopping' sign while it surveys the area between beakfuls.

The skillful bird even had sophisticated table manners as it gripped the meal with its claw, lifting the the buttery treat to its beak to take small bites.
A council is putting pressure on grocery behemoths Woolworths and Coles to introduce mandatory trolley locks.

A Gold Coast grocery store development, plus all others in future, are under threat if they don't comply as council tries to crack down on trolley dumping.

Robina councillor Hermann Vorster said roving shopping trolleys were littering the Gold Coast's waterways and roads - coming at a high price for ratepayers.

The Gold Coast development in the works (pictured is an artist's impression) is under heat to comply to a councilor's desire to rid the city of it's trolley abandonment problem

He said tough laws were needed to clamp down on the illegal dumping.

'It costs ratepayers big bucks to pull trolleys from lakes when we're carrying out essential maintenance,' he told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

'The worst impacts can be for those living with low vision or in wheelchairs when their only safe path to work, services and public transport is blocked.'

Most shopping centres employ others to collect trolleys, or use Trolley Tracker where the public help to report abandoned carts.

Some shoppers believed the only way to make some people return their trolleys was to make them pay for it.

'Sick to death of lazy self-entitled people just leaving them wherever they unload and they damage cars parked next to where they leave them,' one wrote.

'The only thing they understand is money.'

Cr Vorster said magnetic barriers and coin returns at grocery stores worked.

Council's planning committee agreed to update its conditions of approval for supermarket developments to reflect more stringent regulation on trolley management.

A Coles spokesperson said the grocery giant will 'comply with any new regulations brought about by the City of Gold Coast'.

A proposal for a Coles building in a Varsity Lakes hub is the first up to face the new measures.

The shopping centre, which will have a 3,236sqm supermarket, 153sqm Liquorland and two specialty shops, is before the council for approval.

Both grocery giants said they were actively working to kerb the abandoned trolley problem.

Coles said they will 'of course comply with any new regulations brought about by the City of Gold Coast'.

Woolworths said it would work alongside local councils and the Gold Coast community in managing its trolleys, and invested 'many millions in collection services'.
A manhunt has been launched for two men who allegedly knocked a woman unconscious before sexually assaulting her in her own home.

The incident has prompted local authorities to issue an urgent warning to residents to lock up their homes in the NSW Hunter region north of Sydney.

A Singleton woman was getting ready for bed shortly after midnight last Thursday night when she was confronted by two masked men allegedly armed with a knife.

She was allegedly attacked and sexually assaulted by the men while unconscious.

The men allegedly broke into the woman's home on this street in the town of Singleton, north-west of Sydney

The victim was later taken to John Hunter Hospital for treatment.

It's understood the woman is still traumatised and is yet to give a formal statement to police.

The alleged attack has rocked the close-knit community, including local leaders.

'We are very alarmed, disappointed that something like this would happen in Singleton,' mayor Sue Moore told the Daily Telegraph.

'We're cautioning people to make sure they've got their properties locked and made themselves as safe as possible until the offenders are captured.'

Police have established Strike Force Currikee to investigate the alleged incident and have spent recent days scouring the area for evidence and gathering CCTV.

'An extensive canvas has been conducted in the Singleton area, and strike force investigators continue to work with local police to obtain and review all forensic evidence gathered during the initial stages to identify those responsible,' Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Jayne Doherty said.
High profile ABC presenter Fauziah Ibrahim was viciously attacked on social media over a fiery interview with Anthony Albanese months before she was caught out describing her critics as 'lobotomised sh**heads and Labor trolls'.

The under-siege ABC Weekend Breakfast host has 'taken a break' from her on air duties in recent days, pending an investigation into the offensive comments made on her Twitter account.

Ms Ibrahim had grouped a handful of Twitter followers into two lists on her personal account 'lobotomised sh**heads' and 'Labor trolls/thugs', which were left open for the public to see.

Ms Ibrahim has since vanished from her usual role on the show at the weekend and deleted mentions of the ABC from her Twitter bio.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal the latest episode in a long, quiet ordeal Ms Ibrahim has endured where trolls have viciously criticised her.

When Ms Ibrahim came under fire over a live TV interview with the Opposition Leader back in January, ABC executives strongly backed her 'impartiality'.

At the time, Ms Ibrahim was accused of showing 'arrogance and extreme bias' against the Labor Party and speaking over Mr Albanese.

But the ABC offered her unwavering support.

SCROLL DOWN TO WATCH FAUZIAH IBRAHIM'S INTERVIEW WITH ALBO

The under-siege ABC Weekend Breakfast host vanished from the airwaves in recent days, pending an investigation into the offensive comments made on her Twitter account

Fauziah Ibrahim was told she would be 'more suited to Sky News' than the ABC after a disastrous interview with Anthony Albanese months before she was ousted for describing her critics as 'lobotomised sh**heads and Labor trolls'

Ms Ibrahim's interview with Mr Albanese centered on Covid rapid tests and vaccination figures and the presenter was accused on social media of rarely giving Mr Albanese an opportunity to complete a sentence.

At one stage, he tried six times to answer a statement she made about Labor 'getting on board' with the Coalition's plan to boost vaccination rates.

'If you'll just wait a minute,' Mr Albanese said as Ms Ibrahim spoke over the top of him.

The interview attracted criticism and upset several viewers enough they lodged complaints with the public broadcaster.

In the wake of the interview, Ms Ibrahim was the subject of intense and persistent trolling and online bullying.

'Ms Ibrahim's ''interview'' was an absolute disgrace and should cost her her job,' one viewer said after the segment aired.

The under-siege ABC News Breakfast host (right) was quietly stood down last week pending an investigation into offensive comments made on her Twitter account

Daily Mail Australia can reveal it's not the first time Ibrahim had tangled with left-leaning trolls

Another said he'd 'previously been an admirer of Ms Ibrahim', but she 'lost him' after the way she conducted herself during the interview.

Countless others switched off the interview and vowed to no longer watch Ms Ibrahim's news breakfast weekend show in protest.

'So rude and disrespectful... she'd be better suited to Sky News after dark... Didn't expect to see that on ABC.'

In response to complaints made about the interview, the ABC's Head of Audience and Consumer Affairs determined Ms Ibrahim 'conducted [herself] with due impartiality and complied with the ABC's editorial standards'.

'Ms Ibrahim employed the adversarial or 'devil's advocate' approach to interviewing. We are satisfied the interview with Mr Albanese was suitably rigorous and informative, the questions posed by Ms Ibrahim were relevant and based strictly on news value,' the statement read.

'Mr Albanese was afforded ample opportunity to respond to the questions in detail and at length. While rigorous, Ms Ibrahim demonstrated a consistently civil and objective approach.'

The interview centered on Covid rapid tests and vaccination figures and Ms Ibrahim rarely gave Mr Albanese an opportunity to complete a sentence

Ms Ibrahim has locked down her social media accounts in the wake of the controversy amid trolling from critics who have labelled her 'trash' and 'disgusting'

ABC's response to complaint about Fauziah Ibrahim's interview with Anthony Albanese in full 'We have reviewed the interview and assessed its compliance with the ABCs editorial standards for impartiality. 'During this interview, Fauziah Ibrahim employed the adversarial or devils advocate approach to interviewing, which involves putting other points of view to the interviewee. It is Ms Ibrahims duty to conduct a testing interview that does not allow the interviewee to use the occasion as a political platform, and to interject and make reasonable efforts to ensure that the questions that were asked are answered. Posing testing questions and then allowing the interviewee to respond to those questions is a recognised standard of objective journalism. 'On review, we are satisfied the interview with Mr Albanese was suitably rigorous and informative, the questions posed by Ms Ibrahim were relevant and based strictly on news value, and Mr Albanese was afforded ample opportunity to respond to the questions in detail and at length. While rigorous, Ms Ibrahim demonstrated a consistently civil and objective approach. The interview was conducted with due impartiality and complied with the ABCs editorial standards. 'Thank you for giving the ABC the opportunity to respond to your concerns. Should you remain dissatisfied, you may be able to pursue your complaint with the Australian Communications and Media Authority.' Advertisement

Social media users who found themselves grouped in the two lists - which were made public on Ms Ibrahim's account - accused her of displaying anti-Labor bias

Just three months later, two controversial lists on her personal Twitter account were unearthed labelling her critics 'Labor Trolls/Thugs' and 'Lobotomised sh**heads'.

Social media users who found themselves grouped in the two lists - which were made public on Ms Ibrahim's account - accused her of displaying anti-Labor bias.

In the wake of the controversy, Ms Ibrahim was pulled off air. An ABC spokesman insisted she has not been sacked - but is 'taking a break' from TV screens.

'The ABC is reviewing recent social media activity by presenter Fauziah Ibrahim,' the spokesman said.

Ms Ibrahim was absent from her program at the weekend without explanation. There was only a single passing reference to her.

BEFORE: Fauziah Ibrahim's Twitter bio (pictured) used to make a very big deal out of her working for ABC

AFTER: Fauziah Ibrahim's Twitter bio (pictured) now makes no mention of ABC whatsoever, leading to questions about her status with the broadcaster

Her replacement John Barron told co-host Johanna Nicholson he was excited to be on air, noting he'd 'usually be watching you and Fauziah' from home.

Eagle-eyed social commentators also noted Ms Ibrahim had removed any reference to her role at the ABC from her Twitter biography, including her cover photo.

Some believe this may indicate an extended stint on the sidelines.

Ms Ibrahim has locked down her social media accounts in the wake of the controversy amid trolling from critics who have slammed her conduct.

Apart from obvious bias she was a terrible presenter,' one opined.

Prior to working at the ABC, Ms Ibrahim worked at international television networks including Al Jazeera, the BBC and CNBC.

She describes herself on social media as an 'eternal expat', a certified pilates instructor and of Singaporean heritage. Ms Ibrahim last year celebrated being one of two journalists of Asian descent to host the ABC's flagship breakfast program.

Daily Mail Australia has sought comment from Ms Ibrahim about the developments.
Ex-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has used Labor's main attack line to criticise Scott Morrison's government but refused to answer a burning question about his former electorate.

During an appearance fro on the ABC's Radio National program on Tuesday, Mr Turnbull noted Foreign Minister Marise Payne hadn't visited the Solomon Islands since 2019.

Mr Turnbull said it was a mistake for her not to have visited as a priority as there is no substitute for being on the ground and engaging in person.

'This is a hose you have to hold,' the former PM, who was calling in from New York, told the national broadcaster.

Malcolm Turnbull (pictured with wife Lucy) has slammed the Coalition over the Solomon Islands saga, describing the outcome as 'an absolute failure on foreign policy'

'(The Australia-Pacific relationship) needs time and attention, you cannot step away from responsibility ... the buck stops with the Australian government on this because it's adverse and contrary to what our policy objectives were.

Mr Turnbull said the outcome was 'an absolute failure on foreign policy.'

While he was highly critical of the Morrison government, he was tight-lipped about his former seat of Wentworth in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

He refused to reveal who has his backing in the seat he held for 14 years until the 2018 by-election, adding either of the two lead candidates would do a good job.

'I'm staying out of the election contest,' Mr Turnbull said.

'My only contribution to the election in Wentworth will be to vote.'

Current Liberal MP Dave Sharma faces a tough challenge to hold onto his seat from high profile independent Allegra Spender, 12 months after the tragic death of her mother, late fashion designer Carla Zampatti.

The former prime minister was highly critical of his successor Scott Morrison (pictured with Darwin locals on Monday) and his Coalition government

Mr Turnbull refused to budge when Patricia Karvelas asked who will get his vote on May 21.

'It's a secret ballot. they're both very good candidates. Dave Sharma is a very talented guy,' he said.

'Allegra Spender is an outstanding candidate.

'Whoever one of them is elected will be a very fine representative in the federal parliament.'

Meanwhile, Senator Payne said the pandemic had stopped her from travelling but she had still been communicating with her Pacific counterparts.

A visit to the Solomon Islands 'may or may not happen' during the election campaign but Australia's relationship with the nation was on good terms, she said.

Malcolm Turnbull refused to say he'll be voting for in his seat of Wentworth but said current MP Dave Sharma and independent candidate Allegra Spender (pictured) would both do a fine job

'This is a strong partnership but it does not detract from the fact that governments will, of course, make their own sovereign decisions,' Senator Payne told ABC Radio National.

'I think it would be naive at best for Australians to operate on the basis that we can march into other people's countries and dictate and tell them what to do.'

She said the Solomon Islands had assured her Australia would remain the security partner of choice and there would be no military Chinese base built in the nation.

Mr Turnbull said he had ensured Australia provided solutions to Pacific nations when China was offering to build infrastructure such as internet cables.

Meanwhile, Mr Morrison said war was not on Australia's doorstep, despite Defence Minister Peter Dutton's statement on Anzac Day that Australia must 'prepare for war to preserve peace'.

Mr Turnbull said it was a mistake for foreign minister Marise Payne (pictured) to not to have visited the Solomon Island as a priority

'No one wants to see a war and no one is believing that is what is going to happen and I want to reassure Australians about that,' he told 2GB.

'We prepare for these things to ensure we can keep stability and peace within our region.'

Mr Morrison said his government had signed partnerships with the United States and United Kingdom, known as the AUKUS arrangement, to secure Australia's stability.

'AUKUS is not just about nuclear powered submarines, it's about cybersecurity and cyber defence,' he said.

'The first shot fired in any conflict is actually in bits and bytes, it's not in bullets.'
South Australia's new Premier will continue the mask mandate for year 7 to 12 students and staff for the first four weeks of Term 2.

Masks will also be 'strongly encouraged' for those students in years 3 to 6.

Peter Malinauskas confirmed the rule will remain during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

'Wearing masks for kids in schools isn't convenient and isn't natural and I certainly feel for our students that are going to continue to wear masks for the next four weeks, but we're making this decision in their best interests,' Mr Malinauskas said.

'This was a difficult decision.. that's a tough judgment.

'School was certainly disrupted during term 1, we know (it was) a difficult period for many of our students and many of our teachers.

Newly elected South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has confirmed that mask mandates will remain across the state

'Anything that we can do to prevent the consideration of (school closures) is something that we've got to keep on the table.

'Most adults now don't have to wear masks but our school students will. I don't particularly like that, but we're going to do everything we can to relieve students of the mask mandate in four weeks' time, but do it in a safe way.'

Last month, Australia's former deputy chief medical officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth warned mask mandates are detrimental to kids' learning.

'You're not actually protecting the kids themselves because it's a very, very mild disease in children with or without the vaccine,' he said.

'It doesn't stop them from getting very sick because they don't get very sick.

'Yes  there's lots of cases around. The people who are getting very sick with this are the very frail elderly  in nursing homes. Or the people with severe underlying conditions.

'There is an overemphasis on the risks posed by Covid in a fully-vaccinated population and an overemphasis on the benefits of masking kids.'

Prof Coatsworth explained how he spent a week working in a hospital recently and struggled with wearing a mask.

Students across Australia are preparing to head back to school after the Easter holidays with eased Covid restrictions this week (pictured, students at Tweed Heads Public School)

'I have trouble communicating with my patients (while wearing a mask),' he said.

'It's hard for them to hear me, it's hard for them to know who I am, and if that's hard for me then I can only conclude that it would be detrimental to kids.'

Both Victoria and NSW have already scrapped many Covid rules for kids returning to the classroom.

Students in year three to six Victoria will no longer be required to wear a mask as they return to classrooms on Tuesday.

The Victorian Department of Education and Training still recommends face coverings in school settings, with some students to continue to wear a mask.

School students and staff in NSW no longer need to isolate for seven days if they're a household or close contact of a positive case (pictured, students return to school in Sydney)

While school staff and volunteers are required to be triple-vaccinated in Victoria, the vaccine requirement for parents and visitors to school grounds has been scrapped.

Previously, visitors had to show proof of two doses, or a vaccination exemption.

Victorian students deemed close contacts of a Covid-19 case will no longer be required to quarantine, as long as additional safety precautions are taken, in line with the requirements of close contacts in NSW schools.

Parents or carers will be asked to notify the school the student is a close contact, with the child required to return a negative RAT five out of seven days.

Meanwhile in NSW, teachers and students will still be able to attend school if someone they live with contracts Covid-19.

They will have to take a rapid antigen test daily before attending and must wear a face mask indoors, with the exception of primary school students for whom face masks are only a strong recommendation.
Supreme Court justices have temporarily reinstated a woke admissions policy at one of America's top schools despite a federal judge previously ruling it was racist.

The high court did not explain its order Monday that allows the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology to continue using its admissions policy, while the Fairfax County School Board appeals the lower court's February ruling.

Fairfax County School Board changed its admissions policy in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in May 2020 to boost 'equity' at the school.

Black and Hispanic students made up a very small portion of the student body. That has now changed - but Asian-American parents say it has come at the expense of their children, and that it is racist.

U.S. Supreme Court declined to block an elite Virginia public high school's admissions policy - designed to increase its racial and socioeconomic diversity. Pictured above, the school in question, Thomas Jefferson High School

Parents had protested the 'unfair' admissions process at a school board meeting in March with some Asian American parents in Fairfax County saying the policy discriminated against their children.

On this occasion, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to step in to prevent Fairfax County Public Schools from using the admissions policy for next school year.

The county public school system made changes in order to try to bring more diversity to the school, leading to a lawsuit against the school board.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas said they would have granted the request from the parents' group, Coalition for TJ, to suspend the admissions policy.

The court has a 6-3 conservative majority, with the woke policy highly-likely to be struck out if it does appear before the justices as a full case.

Asra Q. Nomani is the mother of a 2021 TJ graduate and co-founder of Coalition for TJ and vice president at Parents Defending Education who sued the school

In February, the group persuaded U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton that a new policy that has boosted black and Hispanic representation amounted to impermissible 'racial balancing' at the selective school near the nation's capital.

It is often ranked as one of the best public high schools in the country.

Asian American students constituted more than 70% of the student body.

Under the new policy, used to admit the school's current freshman class, Asian American representation decreased to 54%. Black students increased from 1% to 7% and Hispanic representation increased from 3% to 11%.

Anti-Critical Race Theory campaigner Asra Nomani, whose child graduated from the school last year claimed the school was making race a factor in the admissions criteria and discriminating against Asian children.

She said TJ, which ranked the number one school nationwide in the US News Best High Schools report last April and as a public school has no tuition fees, has 'systematically set out to reduce' the number of Asian students joining.

Nomani said she and her fellow campaigners were disappointed with the Supreme Court ruling, but hopeful that their case would ultimately be upheld.

Hilton had ordered the new policy suspended, but the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, said it could be used while the case continues to play out in the courts.

The plaintiffs in the case said that increasing the number of black students 'had a substantial adverse impact on Asian American studentsin order to achieve its desired racial balance.'

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, all seen left, said they would have granted the request from the parents' group, Coalition for TJ, to suspend the admissions policy

The school board also stated that the policy was race-neutral because it did not set any racial targets and the race of applicants was not known to admissions officials.

In a statement Monday evening, Coalition for TJ said: 'We were hopeful that we would win this battle to vacate the stay in the highest court of the land, but our struggle for justice is not over. We are not at all dissuaded.'

A statement from Fairfax County Public Schools reads: 'Today's action by the U.S. Supreme Court will allow a race-blind and fair admissions process to proceed for this fall's entering freshman class at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) while the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond considers the underlying appeal. The Fourth Circuit has approved Fairfax County Public Schools' request for an expedited schedule to resolve the legal issues involved in the admissions process.'

'We continue to believe our new plan for TJ admissions is merit-based and race-blind,' said FCPS Division Counsel John Foster. 'We are confident that after considering the facts and the law, the appeals court will decide that our plan meets all the legal requirements and guarantees every qualified student will have the chance of being admitted to the finest public science and technology high school in the country.'
The Biden administration seeks to boost the number of COVID-19 patients treated with Pfizer's Paxlovid medicine as hundreds of people in the United States die from the COVID-19 each day.

The federal government will double the number of locations where Paxlovid is offered, according to White House officials, because the drug has been underutilized in fighting the pandemic.

Around 40,000 pharmacies, community health centers, hospitals, urgent care centers, and Veterans Affairs clinics will be among the venues, NBC News reported.

According to the White House, as many as 10,000 sites might begin carrying the medicine as early as this week. One senior administration official claimed that there are "some folks who could have benefited from these medications." Hence, the government "can save more lives by getting this medication to more people."

For weeks, authorities have been frustrated by the drug's minimal usage, claiming that many doctors and patients are likely unaware that it is widely available after months of shortage in supply.

Patients have received almost 500,000 courses of medication so far, with the number of weekly prescriptions granted doubling since last month to 55,000 every week, according to a top administration official. Still, more patients may benefit from the treatment, according to the official.

After tests revealed that a five-day course lowered patients' risk of hospitalization and death by 89%, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the drug in December for emergency use in high-risk people and kids over the age of 12 who screened positive. The medication would be available to about 60% of adults infected by the COVID-19 virus.

US Might Lose COVID-19 Treatments Due to Funding Problems

America has been first in line for COVID-19 vaccinations and medicines for the past two years. Now, as drug manufacturers work on the next generation of treatments, the White House is warning that unless Congress acts quickly, the United States will be forced to fall in line.

Officials in the Biden administration are increasingly concerned that the United States is missing out on crucial ways of obtaining booster doses and new antiviral pills that could help the country sustain its recovery amid the threats of new variants and case surges, per US News.

The White House said Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Hong Kong have all made orders for medicines and vaccine doses that the US cannot yet commit to. Officials said the US has yet to place an advance order, which would let the manufacturers expand capacity to mass-produce the drug due to funding delays.

Read Also: COVID-19 Cases in China: Beijing Reveals 'Grim' Situation Amid Several Outbreaks

'Superspreading' Is Still Possible

Meanwhile, medical experts say that, despite being regarded as drivers of COVID-19 infection, "superspreading" events are now a minor issue, according to CNN.

"Superspreading" is defined as an incident in which a large number of people become infected, most often as a result of more than one sick person on occasion.

According to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 95% of Americans 16 and older developed antibodies against COVID-19 as of December, the most recent data available.

Current vaccinations are more successful at preventing severe COVID-19 infection, which can result in hospitalization or death, and they also provide some immunity in the first place.

Furthermore, according to the CDC, keeping the COVID-19 vaccine up to date can reduce the chance of the virus spreading to others and boost immunity to new variants.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, however, said that despite the improved situation in the pandemic, superspreading can still happen.

"They're definitely going to be one of the patterns we're going to see for some time to come from the disease, as long as we still have a variant out there that's highly infectious and a variety of people in various stages of immune protection," he said.

Related Article: USA, China, India Spend the Most as Global Military Expenses Reach $2 Trillion Mark; Russia Increases Budget Before War

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Anthony Albanese has revealed he's been trying to get 'as much rest as possible' in Covid isolation after posting a picture with his dog showing a glimpse inside his home.

The image posted at the weekend showed Mr Albanese's living room with a large TV, and a six-seater sofa while he worked on his speech for Labor's campaign launch in Perth on Sunday.

'Working on my campaign launch speech with my iso companion, Toto,' he wrote.

The Labor leader - who will be released on Thursday - sounded bunged-up when he appeared on radio interviews on Tuesday morning from his Sydney home but said he has avoided any serious symptoms.

Anthony Albanese has revealed he's been trying to get 'as much rest as possible' in Covid isolation. He shared this picture of him at home with dog Toto

'I have had some symptoms but I'm going a lot better than other people who have had it,' he told 6PR.

'When you have Covid you're not 100 per cent, that's the truth of the matter.'

During his isolation, Mr Albanese has been conducting media interviews as well writing speeches and opinion pieces but has also managed to get lots of rest.

'I had just have to take the health advice which is seven days iso but also to get as much rest as possible during this period,' he said.

'It does make you tired. But I haven't had any of the headaches and other symptoms that others have spoken to me about so I consider myself to be quiet fortunate.'

Mr Albanese (left with girlfriend Jodie Haydon) is due out of isolation on Thursday

The Labor leader has also been writing opinion pieces, one of which was published in The Australian on Tuesday.

Mr Albanese blasted Scott Morrison for 'failing' to invest in training more nurses and touted his plan to offer almost half a million free TAFE places.

'The federal election campaign has shone a long overdue spotlight on Australias severe shortage of nurses and doctors,' he wrote.

'Across the nation, our hospitals, aged-care facilities, community health centres and local medical practices are crying out for medical staff.'

The 59-year-old also carried out three radio interviews on Tuesday morning as he prepares to return to the campaign trail.

During a heated 2GB interview, host Ray Hadley quizzed Mr Albanese over how he would stop the country being flooded with asylum seeker boats and asked him to rule out ever having a carbon tax - which he did.

The radio shock jock, who is a big fan of Scott Morrison, blasted the Labor leader over his 'fanciful' stance on temporary protection visas, arguing they are a crucial part of deterring people smugglers.

Labor sources said the interview consisted of 'one man yelling and the other staying calm'.

A Newspoll released on Monday night showed Labor was ahead of the Coalition on a two-party preferred basis by 53 to 47.

This puts Mr Albanese on track to become Prime Minister on May 21.

From floods to China: How Albo responded to Ray Hadley Immigration: 'We support boat turn-backs and we support offshore processing' Floods: 'Have a look at the map mate' China: 'Scott Morrison hasn't bothered to pick up the phone to (Solomon Islands) Prime Minister Sogavare' Carbon tax: 'There will be no carbon tax ever' Advertisement

What are Labor's policies at the 2022 election?

Cheaper childcare

One of Labor's most significant policies is to increase childcare subsidies for all families earning less than $530,000.

Mr Albanese would remove a cap that prevents families earning more than $189,390 from receiving more than $10,560 a year in subsidies.

A family on $189,390 that uses childcare five days a week would instead get $21,608 in subsidies, more than double the current allowance.

One of Labor's most significant policies is to increase childcare subsidies for all families earning less than $530,000

Lower income families would also benefit from increased subsidies. For example, a family taking home $80,000 a year would get an extra $2,389 a year for full-time care.

The move is designed to encourage more second income earners - mostly women - into the workforce.

Tackling climate change

Labor will spend $20billion to upgrade the electricity grid to improve transmission, roll out 85 solar banks and 400 community batteries and invest in 10,000 'new energy apprentices' alongside a $10million New Energy Skills Program.

Mr Albanese says the plan will allow cheaper renewable sources to supply 82 per cent of electricity by 2030.

The plan is projected to create 604,000 jobs and slash average household energy prices by $275 a year by 2025 and $378 by 2035.

The policies will reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, a slightly less ambitious target than Bill Shorten's 45 per cent aim which Mr Albanese called a 'mistake'.

Labor has announced a target to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. Pictured: Mr Albanese with a hydrogen car on Wednesday

The Coalition's target is to reduce emissions by 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels, although latest projections show the nation is on track for a 30-35 per cent reduction.

A future Labor government would also spend $3billion on renewables manufacturing and deploying low-emissions technologies - as well as remove taxes on electric cars to make them cheaper.

Aged care reform

Labor wants to improved the aged care sector after a Royal Commission reported shocking incidences of neglect.

It will require aged care homes to have a nurse on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week from July 2023, a year before the Commission recommended.

It will also mandate at least 215 minutes of care per day and develop mandatory nutrition standards to improve food.

The ALP will make a submission to the Fair Work Commission to support a pay rise for aged care workers.

Manufacturing boost

Labor will set up a $15billion National Reconstruction Fund to fund major manufacturing projects across the nation.

The fund will provide loans, guarantees and equity to support projects in resources, transport, agriculture, medicine, energy and defence.

Labor will set up a $15billion National Reconstruction Fund to fund major manufacturing projects across the nation. Pictured: Sydney tradies

Labor says the policy will 'secure well-paid jobs, drive regional development, and invest in our national sovereign capability, broadening and diversifying Australias economy.'

Trains, trams and ferries will be made in Australia instead of overseas and a fast rail line between Sydney and Newcastle will be built.

First-aid clinics

Mr Albanese has pledged 50 first-aid clinics across the country if he wins the election.

The clinics will treat non life threatening injuries such as broken bones, minor burns, cuts and animal stings and will be open every day between 8am to 10pm.

Labor's first-aid clinics will be based at GP surgeries and community health centres nationwide with locations yet to be announced.

Anthony Albanese has pledged 50 first-aid clinics across the country if he wins the election. Pictured: A Sydney nurse

Similar clinics operate in New Zealand where they help families avoid long wait times and ease pressure on hospitals.

The clinics will be bulk billed, meaning people won't have any out-of-pocket costs accessing medical care.

A trial of the clinics lasting four years will cost $135 million.

Free TAFE

Labor will provide 465,000 free TAFE places and 20,000 extra university places under a $1.2billion plan.

The free TAFE places will be for courses in industries with a skills shortages such as trades and construction, resources, digital and cyber security, new energy and advanced manufacturing.

Labor has no plans to reduce university fees after the Coalition hiked prices for humanities courses.

Labor will provide 465,000 free TAFE places and 20,000 extra university places under a $1.2billion plan. Pictured: Sydney tradies

Corruption watchdog

Labor will set up a federal integrity commission which the Morrison Government promised in 2019 then failed to deliver.

The ALP does not support the Government's proposed model because it cannot hold its own independent inquiries, public inquiries or investigate past scandals.

More permanent jobs

Labor wants to re-define casual work to give Australians more chance at securing permanent jobs.

In March 2021 the Government defined casual work for the first time as a situation where a worker has 'no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work'.

But Labor wants to change this so employment status is determined by workers' shift patterns.

There are around 2.6million casual workers in Australia. They are most commonly in the hospitality, retail (pictured), health, education and construction industries

If an employee has regular shifts for a defined time period then they would be permanent not casual, such as a coal miner who has a 12 month fixed roster.

Labor believes this would push up wages by increasing bargaining power because permanent workers have stronger rights and cannot be left off a roster for requesting a pay-rise like casuals can.

There are about 2.6million casual workers in Australia. They are most commonly in the hospitality, retail, health, education and construction industries.

These workers receive no annual or personal leave, no notice of termination or redundancy pay - but get an extra 25 per cent on top of their pay to make up for this.

Minimum wage for gig workers

Mr Albanese also wants to improve the rights of so-called gig workers such as Uber drivers and Deliveroo drivers.

Labor would extend the powers of the Fair Work Commission to include 'employee-like' forms of work.

This would allow the tribunal to cover app-based gig jobs even when workers are technically self-employed.

Labor wants to improve working conditions for casuals and gig workers such as Uber drivers, food delivery workers, hospitality, and retail staff

The Commission would then be able to set minimum pay and conditions for gig workers so they can no longer be paid below minimum wage.

Labor believes there is a big difference between an empowered independent contractor who runs their own business and a low paid worker on a bicycle.

They should not both be treated the same as self-employed workers, the Opposition believes.

Same job, same pay

Labor will also bring in new laws to make sure workers who do the same job are paid the same if they are employed directly or through labour hire firms.

Companies use labour hire firms when they need to get extra workers in. This is most common in the mining sector but also happens in customer service, healthcare, aged care, disability care and manufacturing.

But Labor believes companies are deliberately using the firms to keep wage bills down because the hired workers are casuals who earn less.

If Labor wins the election then it will introduce laws to make sure workers placed by labour hire firms are paid the same as permanent employees. Pictured: Air crew at Sydney Airport

For example a big mining company which has negotiated an agreement with its workers and the union could circumvent the agreement by bringing casuals through a labour hire company.

Labor would pass laws to make sure labour hire firms have to match the wages of the employees already doing the job.

This means workers placed by a labour hire firm will be paid the same as the permanent staff alongside them.

The idea is to increase the number of people in permanent work and push up permanent wages.

Banning pay secrecy clauses

Pay secrecy clauses in employment contracts are designed to stop workers talking about their pay-packets.

They are most common in industries with discretionary payments and bonuses such as finance and law.

Labor believes that banning the clauses would give workers greater bargaining power because they could more easily find out what their colleagues earn.

Banning pay secrecy clauses will reduce the gender pay gap because female workers would be allowed to ask their male counterparts what they earn, Labor says. Pictured: Sydney tradies

Of course, workers can still decline to reveal their salary to colleagues if they want to keep it secret.

In particular, the move is excepted to help reduce the gender pay gap because female workers would be allowed to ask their male counterparts what they earn.

According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Australian men earn 13.4 per cent more than women.

The move mirrors the UK which outlawed secrecy clauses in 2010 under its Equality Act.

Labor will also force companies with more than 250 employees to report their gender pay gap publicly so they are shamed into reducing it.
Kim warned that he could use his atomic arsenal if North Korea's 'fundamental interests' were threatened

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North Korea will rapidly accelerate development of its nuclear arsenal, leader Kim Jong Un said while overseeing a vast military parade showcasing his most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles, state media reported Tuesday.

Despite biting sanctions, North Korea has doubled down on Kim's military modernisation drive, test-firing a slew of banned weapons this year while ignoring US offers of talks - as analysts warn of a likely resumption of nuclear tests.

Dressed in white military uniform trimmed with gold brocade, Kim watched with his wife Ri Sol-ju as tanks, rocket launchers and his largest ICBMs were paraded through Pyongyang late Monday for the founding anniversary of North Korea's armed forces, state media reported.

Kim vowed to 'strengthen and develop our nation's nuclear capabilities at the fastest pace,' according to a transcript of his speech at the event published by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Repeated negotiations aimed at convincing Kim to give up his nuclear weapons programmes have come to nothing, and he warned Monday that he could use his atomic arsenal if North Korea's 'fundamental interests' were threatened.

Dressed in white military uniform trimmed with gold brocade, Kim walked with his wife Ri Sol-ju by the military parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army in Pyongyang, North Korea

Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missiles take part in a nighttime military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea

Multiple rocket launcher vehicles take part in a nighttime military parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife wave to the crowd of military personnel during the military parade

Kim waves as he attends a grand military parade held at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang to commemorate the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army

Military personnel take part in a nighttime military parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with his wife Ri Sol Ju attends a banquet to mark the 90th anniversary of North Korea's army in Pyongyang

He stressed North Korea will prepare to use nuclear 'deterrence' any time and warned that any state seeking military confrontation will cease to exist, reported Yonhap news agency.

'The basic mission of our nuclear force is to deter war, but our nuclear weapons cannot be bound to only one mission,' he said, according to the KCNA transcript.

'If any forces try to violate the fundamental interests of our state, our nuclear forces will have to decisively accomplish its unexpected second mission,' Kim said.

North Korea had paused long-range and nuclear tests while Kim met then-US president Donald Trump for a bout of doomed diplomacy, which collapsed in 2019.

Last month Pyongyang test-fired an ICBM at full range for the first time since 2017, and satellite imagery shows signs of activity at a nuclear testing site, which was purportedly demolished in 2018 ahead of the first Trump-Kim summit.

Hong Min, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said Kim's speech could signal a change in his nuclear doctrine to leave open the possibility of 'nuclear first use,' after previously confining their purpose to deterrence and defence.

'Though he did not specify what makes the 'second mission' or 'fundamental interests', he indicated more broadly that the nuclear force might be used preemptively, not only when they're under attack, but also under certain circumstances,' Hong said.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kim's remarks could have been aimed at the incoming government of South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who has warned of possible preemptive strikes if an attack from the North were imminent.

'It's noteworthy that Kim is now talking more specifically about the purpose of his nuclear weapons,' said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

'South Korea's president-elect Yoon has threatened a preemptive strike on Pyongyang if needed, and Kim seems to be indirectly saying that he may have to respond with nuclear tactics should Yoon indeed proceed.'

The transition team of Yoon, who takes office on May 10, criticised Pyongyang for building menacing weapons while appearing to pursue talks.

'The parade proved that North Korea has outwardly called for peace and dialogue over the last five years but in reality it focused on developing the means to threaten not only the Korean peninsula but Northeast Asia and world peace,' deputy spokesman Won Il-hee told a briefing.

'Securing the capability to deter North Korea's grave and real threat is the most urgent task,' Won added, vowing to bolster the U.S. alliance and expedite weapons development to beef up Seoul's deterrence.

Despite biting sanctions, North Korea has doubled down on Kim's military modernisation drive, test-firing a slew of banned weapons this year while ignoring US offers of talks - as analysts warn of a likely resumption of nuclear tests. Pictured: Kim stands on the balcony to oversee the military parade

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, with his wife Ri Sol Ju attends a banquet to mark the 90th anniversary of North Korea's army in Pyongyang on Monday

Troops in armoured vehicles participate in a military parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) is seen attending a celebration with his wife in Pyongyang of the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army

Kim vowed to 'strengthen and develop our nation's nuclear capabilities at the fastest pace,' according to a transcript of his speech at the event published by the official Korean Central News Agency. Pictured: Missile vehicles are seen at the military parade as North Koreans wave the national flag

Military aircraft light the night sky up in red as they perform a flyover during the military parade in Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves at his troops from a balcony during the military parade, as his wife stands behind him

North Korean troops watch fireworks explode over the nighttime military parade in Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, centre, with his wife Ri Sol Ju attends a banquet to mark the 90th anniversary of North Korea's army in Pyongyang

Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the private Sejong Institute, said Kim could have been sending a coded message by wearing his white uniform with the marshal's star - North Korea's highest military rank.

'It symbolises his ultra-strong stance to the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration, who has identified the North as its enemy and said it plans to develop the ability to launch pre-emptive strikes.'

Photographs showed huge black-and-white missiles on mobile launchers driving through Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, as North Koreans in traditional dress waved flags and flowers.

KCNA said the parade had showcased the North's most sophisticated weaponry, including the Hwasong-17 ICBM, which it claims to have successfully tested on March 24.

At the time, state media trumpeted the 'miraculous' launch of the country's most advanced ICBM, publishing dramatic photos and videos of leader Kim personally overseeing the test.

But analysts identified discrepancies in Pyongyang's account, and South Korean and US intelligence agencies have concluded that North Korea actually fired a Hwasong-15 - a less-advanced ICBM which it had already tested in 2017.

'For all the hype and months of practice, Monday's North Korean military parade didn't really show many novel capabilities,' said Chad O'Carroll of Seoul-based specialist website NK News.

'Stills suggest this was largely a re-rerun of the spectacular and ground-breaking Oct. 2020 parade, albeit with a handful of new items thrown into the show,' he added in a tweet.

North Korea stages military parades to mark important holidays and events, often featuring thousands of goose-stepping troops followed by a cavalcade of armoured vehicles and tanks and culminating with the key missiles Pyongyang wants to display.

Observers closely monitor these events for clues on North Korea's latest weapons development.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walks with a rose in his hand to place it at the Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery on Mount Daesong to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army in Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un places a wreath at the Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery on Mount Daesong to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army

Members of the cavalry salute Kim Jong Un during the military parade at the Kim II Sung Square in Pyongyang

KCNA said the parade had showcased the North's most sophisticated weaponry, including the Hwasong-17 ICBM (pictured), which it claims to have successfully tested on March 24

North Korean rocket launchers are paraded at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang to mark the 90th anniversary of North Korea's army
Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh  two Trump appointed conservatives  are suggesting that the administration has a better argument than the states when it comes to putting an end to the Migration Protection Protocol (MPP).

At least one of the justices needs to side with the administration if President Joe Biden's case is going to have a chance of winning the challenge to the rule.

Even if the court did side with the White House, a decision on Biden v. Texas, 21-954, isn't expected until late June, which is after Biden plans to end Title 42  another immigration policy aimed at reducing the number of migrants in the country during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned lower-court orders that have blocked the Biden administration from ending a controversial Trump-era immigration program for asylum-seekers.

MPP, more commonly called the 'Remain in Mexico' policy, allows for Border Patrol agencies to send migrants back to Mexico to await asylum claim and immigration court proceedings rather than releasing them into the U.S. pending hearings.

Questions from conservative and liberal justices during nearly two hours of arguments suggested that the court could free the administration to end the MPP.

Biden suspended the program on his first day in office.

Two Trump-nominated conservative Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh (left) and Amy Coney Barrett (right) suggested that President Joe Biden has a better argument than the states suing to stop him from ending the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)

MPP was a Trump program that allowed migrants to be sent back to Mexico to await their hearings in the U.S. Pictured: Border agents collect information from Venezuelan migrants before taking them into custody in Eagle Pass, Texas on Monday, April 25, 2022

A man from Nicaragua sits at a shelter for migrants on Thursday, April 21, 2022, in Tijuana, Mexico as he waits in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court, part of a Trump-era policy that was be argued Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court

After Texas and Missouri sued, lower courts required immigration officials to reinstate it, though the current administration has sent far fewer people back to Mexico than its predecessor.

The heart of the legal fight is whether, with far less detention capacity than needed, immigration authorities must send people to Mexico or have the discretion under federal law to release asylum-seekers into the United States while they await their hearings.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, Biden's top Supreme Court lawyer, told the justices the law does not contain a provision requiring migrants to be returned to Mexico and that there is a 'significant public benefit' to releasing migrants who pass criminal background and other checks into the U.S., keeping detention beds free for more dangerous people.

Conservative Justices Barrett and Kavanaugh suggested Tuesday that the administration had a better argument than the states.

'You lose, right, if the government is right about what significant public interest is,' Barrett said during an exchange with Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone II.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (centers) speaks alongside Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (second left) and Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone (right) on April 26, 2022 in front of the U.S. Supreme Court after arguments in their case about Biden ending Title 42

Once Title 42 is lifted next month, internal projections show that illegal immigration numbers could triple  after already reaching a decades-high record of crossings in March with CBP encountering 221,303 migrants

Several justices also picked up on Prelogar's point that no administration, including Trump's, fully complied with the requirement to make migrants wait in Mexico.

If the states are reading the law correctly, Justice Clarence Thomas asked, 'Wouldn't it be odd for Congress to leave in place a statute that's impossible to comply with?'

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan was among members of the court who wondered whether the lower courts were dipping impermissibly into international relations since reinstating the program depends on Mexico's willingness to accept the migrants and close coordination between the countries.

'What are we supposed to do, drive truckloads of people to Mexico and leave them in Mexico?' Kagan asked Stone.

Justice Samuel Alito appeared to be the strongest voice on the states' side, questioning the administration's assertion that it assesses migrants on a case-by-case basis before releasing them.

Border agents stopped migrants 221,000 times in March 2022 and nearly 66,000 migrants were released in the United States, according to a government court filing.

Alito said the situation seemed akin to people waiting to get into a Washington Nationals game. If they have a ticket and no alcohol or guns, they're admitted, Alito said.

'That's basically what you're doing. You've got a little checklist and you go, boom, boom, boom,' Alito said.

Alvaro Galo, of Nicaragua, sorts through a list of lawyers as he tries to find one to help him apply for asylum in the Untied States at a shelter for migrants on Thursday, April 21, 2022, in Tijuana, Mexico

About 70,000 people were enrolled in the program, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols, after President Donald Trump launched it in 2019 and made it a centerpiece of efforts to deter asylum-seekers.

After Biden's suspension of the program, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas ended it in June 2021.

In October, DHS produced additional justifications for the policy's demise, to no avail in the courts.

The program resumed in December, but barely 3,000 migrants had enrolled by the end of March, during a period when authorities stopped migrants about 700,000 times at the border.

The high court pondered what to make of the limited nature of the challenged program. Chief Justice John Roberts said he was sympathetic with the administration's position that it can't detain everyone or possibly comply with the law. 'But where does that leave us?' he asked.

Those being forced to wait in Mexico widely say they are terrified in dangerous Mexican border cities and find it very hard to find lawyers to handle their asylum hearings.

Democratic-led states and progressive groups are on the administration's side. Republican-led states and conservative groups have sided with Texas and Missouri. Those include the America First Legal Foundation, led by former Trump aides Stephen Miller and Mark Meadows.

As the court is weighing the asylum policy, the administration is expected to end another key Trump-era border policy that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. It allows authorities to expel migrants without a chance to seek asylum. The decision to end Title 42 authority, named for a 1944 public health law, on May 23 is being legally challenged by 22 states and faces growing division within Bidens Democratic Party.
Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter will see substantial changes implemented on the social media platform with everything from longer tweets and paid subscriptions using 'joke' cryptocurrency Dogecoin all within the realm of possibility.

Musk has vowed to let everyone say whatever they want on Twitter after his takeover of the social media giant.

He is said to favor temporary 'timeouts' for users who break the new rules, rather than permanent bans such as those given to Donald Trump.

Details of his immediate plans are slim, but the Tesla chief portrays himself as a free-speech absolutist.

Other mooted changes include blue verification checkmarks for anyone who subscribes to Twitter's premium Blue service, which costs $2.99 a month.

Musk is said to favor a subscription-based model over advertiser funding, as it would make Twitter less beholden to advertiser pressure. He has even suggested users could pay with cryptocurrency, including joke currency Dogecoin which Musk has long had an affection for.

He's also likely to fire many of the firm's woke staff. Workers have been told the transfer of ownership will last around six months, after which Musk is likely to wield the ax.

The firm's downtown San Francisco could also be turned into a homeless shelter at Musk's behest, with the California city engulfed by one of the worst homelessness crisis in the United States.

Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter will see substantial changes implemented on the social media platform with everything from longer tweets and paid subscriptions using 'joke' cryptocurrency Dogecoin all within the realm of possibility

On March 25, Musk tweeted a poll: 'Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?'

A top priority for Musk is to eliminate 'bots' which frequently generate spam and run scams

Musk said that his take over of Twitter would lead to the take down of spam bots and provide all human users with blue check marks to verify their identities

Musk has also teased at other new features including an 'edit' button to adjust previously posted tweets and also making the platforms algorithms 'open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots and authenticating all humans.'

That would enable people to see exactly why Twitter had chosen to make some tweets more visible to users than others.

A top priority for Musk is to eliminate 'bots' which frequently generate spam and run scams.

Earlier this month, he spoke during an interview at a TED conference where he outlined how he might change the company which has more than 200 million users around the globe.

On Monday, Musk reiterated his push to relax Twitter's policy on the moderating of content.

Twitter takes its content moderation seriously arguing that it is good for business but if Musk follows through it could put the onus on users to combat bullying and misinformation on the platform.

'Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,' Musk said in a news release announcing the deal.

Musk has made it clear that he is not keen on the permanent banning of users and prefers timeouts instead.

It is well known that an edit button would be widely welcomed by users.

Musk polled Twitter users to see if they wanted one. It resulted in four million people responding with 70% voting in favor.

Twitter said at the time that it had been working on such a feature since last year.

It doesn't necessarily mean that tweets would become shorter. On the contrary, Musk has told of his desire for Twitter to allow 'long-form' tweets.

In most cases, tweets can contain up to 280 characters which is double the previous limit of 140.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted earlier this month asking his followers whether they would like Twitter to have an edit button

The company clarified that it was already working on adding an edit button before Musk's poll, pointing to an April 1 tweet announcing their plans

Twitter also shared a mock-up of what an edit button would look like, giving users the ability to change their posts after sharing

Twitter Blue, launched in June 2021, is Twitter's first subscription service and offers 'exclusive access to premium features' on a monthly subscription basis

Musk has spoken of making the algorithm Twitter uses as open source.

It would allow people outside of the company to suggest changes and and even create fixes to Twitter's code.

Also in April, he suggested that users who paid for Twitter Blue would be able to receive a check mark which shows their account is 'authenticated'.

Twitter Blue, launched in June 2021, is Twitter's first subscription service and offers 'exclusive access to premium features' on a monthly subscription basis, Twitter says. It is available in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Musk has also suggested Twitter could move towards a subscription-based model and a shift away from advertising which currently generates 90% of its overall revenue.

Twitter Blue allows for extra features for a monthly fee of $2.99.

Throughout April, Musk has been suggesting further changes to Twitter's business model including tweaks to the platform's premium Blue service, including a cheaper subscription price, banning ads and offering the option to pay in cryptocurrency

'Price should probably be ~$2/month, but paid 12 months up front & account doesn't get checkmark for 60 days (watch for credit card chargebacks) & suspended with no refund if used for scam/spam,' Musk said in a tweet earlier this month.

Dogecoin is widely seen as a joke cryptocurrency, with one Dogecoin worth $0.158 as of April 26

'And no ads,' Musk suggested. 'The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive.'

Musk also proposed an option to pay with dogecoin and asked Twitter users for their views.

The company already lets people tip their favorite content creators using bitcoin. Twitter had said last year that it planned to support authentication for NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are digital assets such as images or videos that exist on a blockchain.

On Monday, Dogecoin jumped 26% to $0.1673 after Twitter announced it was accepting Musk's buyout offer.

Musk has been a longtime fan of the meme-based cryptocurrency with his tweets helping to push the price higher.

On a company level, Musk has floated the idea of closing down the San Francisco headquarters in order to save money and that board members may also not receive a salary, shaving off another $3 million in expenses.

Twitter's board members may also not receive a salary, shaving off another $3 million in expenses

Earlier in April, Musk took aim at the company's lax 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, with 55.8 percent saying 'yes' and 44.2 percent 'of course' of 445,158 votes to-date

Musk also started a poll on his Twitter account earlier in April - which has more than 81 million followers - asking whether the firm's San Francisco headquarters should be converted to a homeless shelter as 'no-one shows up (to work there)'.

The poll got more 300,000 votes in an hour, with 90% answering yes.

It comes weeks after Twitter brass - who offered staffers the option of working from home 'forever' during the pandemic - reopened its offices March 15, with remote work remaining an option for staffers.

'It's been almost two years since we closed our offices and travel and I'm excited to announce that we're ready to fully open up business travel and all our offices around the world!' Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal wrote in a note to employees posted to Twitter March 3.

'Business travel is back effective immediately, and office openings will start on March 15,' the exec wrote.

In the statement, Agrawal, who was promoted to CEO of the San Francisco-based company in November, said that he would be honoring a policy put in place by former head exec Jack Dorsey during the early days of the pandemic, that said staffers could work remotely 'forever' if they wanted to.

'Our top priority since the beginning of the pandemic has been to keep you all safe and this will continue,' Agrawal wrote.
The riot-ravaged city of Kenosha is considering whether to erect a public memorial to an ex-convict skateboarder who was shot dead by Kyle Rittenhouse.

Aldermen listened to the proposal to honor Anthony Huber with a tree and plaque in the city's Anderson Park at a hearing on Monday evening.

They delayed making a decision until a later date.

Huber's girlfriend Hannah Gittings put forward the motion forward for a public memorial to Huber almost two years after he was one of two men shot dead by Kyle Rittenhouse, who was then 17.

If the commission votes to move forward with the proposal, the responsibility for the upkeep would fall on Gittings.

The shooting occurred amid nights of violent protests in the city following the non-fatal shooting by police of black domestic abuser Jacob Blake.

The city of Kenosha in Wisconsin is considering whether to erect a memorial plaque to Anthony Huber, pictured, who was shot dead by Kyle Rittenhouse during BLM riots in 2020

Anthony Huber, right, and Lindsay Gettings, left, brought forward the proposal for a public memorial to her slain boyfriend to placed in a public park in Kenosha

Huber was fatally wounded after chased Kyle Rittenhouse on the night of August 25, 2020. Prior to killing Huber, Rittenhouse had already shot 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum dead

During arguments on the issue, Huber's past criminality, including a domestic abuse charge, was brought up.

It is unclear if that will ultimately sway a decision on whether to give him a memorial.

In 2018, Huber found guilty of domestic abuse and disorderly conduct. While in 2012, Huber spent time in prison following a choking incident involving his brother.

One of those who spoke at the hearing was Kevin Mathewson, a former Parks Commission alderman and Kenosha Guard militia leader.

Mathewson described the events of August 25 as 'justified.' He added, 'Don't play games. Deny this. This is a man who is a felon who held a knife to his sister's throat' and 'sliced his brother's neck.'

The militia leader said that Huber was a 'multiple felon' who 'played a stupid game on August 25 and unfortunately he lost his life.'

Rittenhouse, left, with backwards cap, walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wis., with another armed civilian

Another speaker, Kenosha resident Kathy Woods said, 'Of all the bone head things you guys could consider. Don't consider this.'

Woods added, 'This is an insult to the people who have memorials. Who have done good things.'

Matthewson said that Huber's family 'deserve our prayers but they do not deserve to be honored and memorialized in this city.'

Huber was fatally wounded after Rittenhouse shot him in the chest. Huber had hit Rittenhouse with a skateboard prior to being mortally wounded.

The skateboarder had given chase after Rittenhouse shot-and-killed another man, 36-year-old convicted pedophile Joseph Rosenbaum.

Rittenhouse was acquitted of murder charges in November 2021.

Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum (left), 36, with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle after Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse across a parking lot and threw a plastic bag at him shortly before midnight on August 25, 2020

In April 2022, Huber's girlfriend Hannah Gittings, filed paperwork asking for a public memorial to placed on a flowering dogwood tree in Anderson Park, Kenosha, according to documents filed with the City of Kenosha.

The park is located three miles from where Huber was killed.

The motion was voted on by the Kenosha Park Commission on the night of April 25. The committee voted to delay a final decision on the memorial. The commission is made up of five city aldermen.

In November 2021, Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges in relation to the killings of Huber and Rosenbaum. Hannah Gittings has expressed sympathy toward Rittenhouse

During arguments on the issue, Huber's past criminality, including a domestic abuse charge, was brought up.

In 2018, Huber found guilty of domestic abuse and disorderly conduct. While in 2012, Huber spent time in prison following a choking incident involving his brother.

In his obituary, Huber was referred as being a passionate skateboarder who was known for his 'quick wit and comedic personality.'

Despite the killing of Huber, Gittings told The New York Post in a November 2021 interview, 'I do have a lot of sympathy for [Rittenhouse] because he is just a kid to me so it was just like a really dumbass kid who unfortunately became the figurehead for this.'

Gittings went on to lay some of the blame for Huber's death at the feet of the city of Kenosha saying, 'Kenosha also needs to be held responsible for allowing this militia to show up and do exactly what they came here to do.'
Two notorious criminals landed in a prison hospital after a bloody brawl fueled by a gangland feud at Australia's toughest jail.

Convicted murderer Adnan 'Eddie' Darwiche and drug kingpin Riad Taha went at it behind bars at Goulburn in NSW supermax about 2pm on Saturday.

Taha came of second best when Darwiche, who is serving two life sentences and an additional 20 years without parole, stabbed him in the neck.

Mr Darwiche (left), is believed to have stabbed Mr Taha in the neck following a violent brawl at Goulburn maximum-security prison. The violent altercation was witnessed by triple murderer Abuzar Sultani (right) who is refusing to co-operate with police

Notorious underworld hit man Abuzar Sultani, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of three crime figures in 2016, witnessed the brawl, according to The Australian.

However, Sultani, who was convicted of triple murder in December last year, is refusing to cooperate with police.

Police said they found Taha, 37, inmate with multiple stab wounds and he was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Darwiche refused medical treatment despite suffering minor facial injuries during the clash between Sydney's gang affiliated criminals from the Darwiche and Hamzy families.

Police were called to Goulburn Jail just after 2pm on Saturday following reports of a violent clash between Sydney's notorious gang affiliated criminals from the Darwiche and Hamzy families

Darwiche was in 2006 sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Ziad Razzak and Melissa Nemra - the so-called Lawford Street killings - after spraying their home with bullets while they slept.

The killings were part of a long-running turf war between the Darwiche and Razzak families, which began when members of both families were involved in marijuana supply in south-west Sydney in 2001.

Sydney's gangland feuds peaked last October after a slew of gruesome drive-by shootings between the Hamzy and Almeddine crime families resulted in the death of five people and three men sentenced to live in prison.

The latest attack is the second prison stabbing committed by the 47-year-old in less than five years.

Darwiche stabbed Fadi Shamoun in September 2015 at Cessnock jail and was relocated to Goulburn supermax after he was knifed eight times by two inmates linked to the Assyrian Kings gang.

Police believed the attack on Shamoun was an act of revenge because of his connection to the Assyrian Kings.

Police have not identified the cause of Saturday's attack but it is understood that Taha is linked to Bassam Hamzy, a known enemy of the Darwiche family and leader of Brothers For Life gang.

Taha was arrested after a 2015 drug bust seized $600,000 worth of meth, heroin and cocaine, a semiautomatic pistol, and a sawn-off shotgun. He was also charged with shooting a man in the leg twice.

At the time of his arrest, police accused the drug kingpin of recruiting drug runners as young as 17-years-old.

Darwiches latest attack is his second prison stabbing committed in less than five years - the convicted murderer stabbed Mr Shamoun as an act of revenge for his connection to Bassam Hamzy (pictured), the jailed gang leader of Brothers For Life

Police on Monday said no charges had been made over the prison brawl but an ongoing investigation was underway.

Hamzy, Darwiche, and Taha are all serving their sentences in supermax and are considered some of the country's most dangerous prisoners.

The supermax prison had a major upgrade last year that almost tripled its capacity to accommodate 121 inmates.

It houses criminals who are not allowed to mix with the wider NSW jail system, who are institutionally violent inmates, or have a high capacity to influence others. They include terrorists, mass killers, and major organised crime figures.

Among Supermax's first inmates were several who were sentenced to die in jail: backpacker killer Ivan Milat, mass murderer Malcolm Baker, and five-time killer Lindsey Rose.
A solemn Anzac Day memorial service suddenly became a flashpoint when a proud mum tried to display a flag honouring Indigenous diggers at her local war memorial.

Cindy Roberts draped her Aboriginal flag alongside the Australian flag flying at half-mast before the service began in flood-ravaged Lismore, northern NSW, on Monday.

But a local RSL member allegedly refused to let her, stopping her twice and calling in police, sparking outrage among those there and online.

'It was a huge over-reaction,' said former Lismore mayor Jenny Dowell who saw the row unfold. 'It wasn't a huge protest in any way and was absolutely done respectfully.

Cindy Roberts (pictured) draped her Aboriginal flag alongside the Australian flag flying at half-mast before the service began in flood-ravaged Lismore, northern NSW, on Monday

'It was embarrassing and awkward and it should have just been allowed to pass without the fuss from the RSL member.'

Ms Roberts - whose family, including her daughter, grandparents and uncles, have served the nation for generations - had already taken part in the dawn service and attended the traditional march to Lismore Memorial Baths for the memorial ceremony.

But when she arrived, the only flag flying was the Australian flag, despite many other venues flying the Aboriginal, Australian and Torres Strait flags, side by side.

Ms Roberts' daughter Skye Roberts (pictured) was a ship technician in the Australian Navy for five years and was with her mother at the memorial when the row erupted

'I just wanted to remember my ancestors that had fought in every single war, including the frontier war,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'So I stood and I felt a spirit upon my heart tell me to just lay the flag out. I didnt put it on the flagpole, I just placed it on the ground underneath the Australian flag.

'Then I was approached by a member from the RSL and asked to remove the flag.

'I said, "But my grandfathers and my uncles and my ancestors fought in the wars of this country." He said, "This is not the time or the place."

'I thought. "Well when is the time to bring unity?"'

The only flag flying at the Lismore service was the Australian flag, despite many other venues flying the Aboriginal, Australian and Torres Strait flags, side by side

She added: 'I picked up the flag and walked around to where the wreaths were laid.

'Then he approached me again and told me to remove the flag again and with the police this time.

One of their great uncles was celebrated Aboriginal WWII soldier Clarrie Combo who fought for Australia in Egypt, Libya, Crete, Syria, Greece, Sri Lanka and New Guinea.

'When this happened, I cried. I broke down and everyone saw me but I still stood there in the crowd behind the children with the Aboriginal flag.'

Ms Roberts' daughter Skye was a ship technician in the Australian Navy for five years and was with her mother at the memorial when the row erupted.

One of their great uncles was celebrated Aboriginal WWII soldier Clarrie Combo who fought for Australia in Egypt, Libya, Crete, Syria, Greece, Sri Lanka and New Guinea.

'Our people have been through so much and Im tired of them not being acknowledged,' Ms Roberts said.

'First Nations people who fought in these wars deserve more respect because they put their lives on the line.'

Former Lismore mayor Jenny Dowell (pictured) branded the RSL member's response an over-reaction and said Ms Roberts' actions were done respectfully

Ms Dowell said she couldn't understand why Ms Roberts was treated the way she was as she tried in vain to reason with the RSL member.

'I saw the reaction from a member of the RSL who was saying repeatedly, it's not appropriate, it's not appropriate,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'I didn't quite know what was not appropriate. I thought it was very disappointing - and not one speaker in the whole ceremony even acknowledged country.

'I thought that was poor. The situation could easily have escalated if Cindy had chosen to do so but she didn't and many there may not have even noticed.

'I thought she was very respectful and hopefully we can all learn from this incident - and that it doesn't happen again.'

Local RSL President Wilson McClelland said he was 'extremely disappointed' about the incident

RSL President McClelland said he had been forbidden from discussing the incident.

But he told Daily Mail Australia: 'I'm extremely disappointed in the whole thing.

'The people that created this problem have no idea how much work actually went into getting that day on for the community of Lismore yesterday.

'That's all I'm saying.'

An RSL NSW media statement in 2020 appeared to encourage flying all the flags together.

'The use and placement of flags during commemorative services by RSL NSW follows Australian national flag protocols, which include the flying of the Australian Aboriginal flag and Torres Strait Islander flag,' it states.

RSL NSW Acting President, Ray James said at the time: 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service people have proudly served in conflict alongside their fellow Australians throughout our history.

'They are recognised as veterans on ANZAC Day and during all other commemorations throughout the year.'

Details of the flare-up appeared on the town's Facebook group, sparking fury from many in the local community who backed Ms Roberts

Details of the flare-up appeared on the town's Facebook group, sparking fury from many in the local community who backed Ms Roberts.

'To the beautiful Indigenous woman advocating to raise the Indigenous flag today at the service following the march, I am beyond apologetic for the utter disrespect you were shown,' posted one local.

'I'm so glad someone else has acknowledged and saw this women,' wrote another. 'My 11 year old saw the multiple "confrontations" and was so confused as to what the problem was and thought the man was extremely rude.

'To the woman - we're both sorry this happened to you today.'

Another said: 'I am so sorry this happened. It was so disrespectful to ask you to remove the flag.

'My kids and I were so upset about the blatant refusal to acknowledge our First Nation people today.'

A few however insisted the soldiers had all fought under the Australian flag in wartime and that flag should cover everyone

A few however insisted the soldiers had all fought under the Australian flag in wartime and that flag should cover everyone.

'The thing is, there is protocol. The Aboriginal flag hasn't been around that long,' added one. 'Soldiers etc didn't fly that flag in battle. It's not a matter that is solved on a public street.'

Another said: 'They fought under the Australian flag. We are all Australians.'

RSL NSW did not respond to repeated calls from Daily Mail Australia.
The boss of Guide Dogs Victoria has been stood down after backing Josh Frydenberg in social media videos and campaign leaflets.

Karen Hayes has been temporarily stood down with pay while the charity investigates.

Charities are not allowed to promote or oppose a political party or candidate under Government guidelines.

Karen Hayes (pictured with Josh Frydenberg) has been temporarily stood down with pay while the charity investigates

Ms Haynes appeared on the leaflets and in the deleted video holding a puppy, backing Mr Frydenberg as the member for Kooyong.

'Time and time again, Josh has shown his genuine care for Guide Dogs Victoria and the people with low vision and blindness we serve,' she said.

In a statement, Guide Dogs Victoria chair Iain Edwards said: 'The board had no prior knowledge of the distribution of this material and does not endorse it.

'The board has launched an internal investigation and requested that this material be immediately removed from circulation.'

The flyer was authorised by Mr Frydenberg's Hawthorn East office and complies with electoral laws.

But charity organisations are bound by regulations enforced by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission and can be stripped of their status if unable or unwilling to rectify serious breaches.

The commission warns charity directors or committee members should only support a specific election outcome if 'it is solely in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the charity'.

Ms Haynes appeared on the leaflets backing Mr Frydenberg for the seat of Kooyong

'It would not be prudent for officers and employees of a charity to use their position in a way that would imply that the charity itself endorses a particular candidate,' a response in the frequently asked question section reads.

Guide Dogs Victoria, which was allocated an extra $2.5 million in federal funding in 2020 to upgrade its facilities, said it is committed to its work as a charitable apolitical organisation.

Asked whether the body may have breached charity rules, Mr Frydenberg sought to blame 'fake independents' for drumming up 'confected outrage'.

'My political opponents are running around spreading lies about my community involvement and the reality is I've been delivering for my community in a way that they never have and never could,' he told reporters in Sydney.

In a statement, Mr Frydenberg's main challenger for the blue-ribbon seat Monique Ryan said the Treasurer's response to the upset was insulting to voters and her campaign had been contacted by angry donors about the use of the charity in the flyers.
The Liberal Party will tonight release an advertisement blasting Labor as a team of 'amateurs' after the ALP launched its attack ads last week.

The advert, which will hit TV screens and cinemas across the nation, is a spoof of an Avengers movie trailer and features Labor frontbenchers Penny Wong, Tanya Plibersek, Jim Chalmers and Bill Shorten alongside leader Anthony Albanese.

Daily Mail Australia has been shown a preview of the ad which starts with the Labor leader looking at a blank computer screen.

The ad shows Mr Albanese forgetting the unemployment rate and getting hit in the head with a microphone on a boom after a campaign rally (above)

The narrator says: 'There was an idea to bring together a group of inexperienced people to see if they could become something, anything.'

As the narrator talks, clips show Bill Shorten awkwardly dancing in the Pacific nation of Kiribati and Penny Wong refusing to shake Finance Minister Simon Birmingham's hand.

The advert then cuts to a press conference in Perth where Mr Albanese refused to take a question from member of the public.

The narrator then says: 'This May, get ready for no economic plan, un-costed policies, weak leadership' as clips show Mr Albanese forgetting the unemployment rate and getting hit in the head with a microphone on a boom after a campaign rally.

The advertisement finishes with a dig at the left-leaning media showing rave reviews by the ABC and the Guardian but a terrible review from the Australian people before introducing the film as 'The Amateurs'.

It is part of the Coalition's plan to portray the ALP as weak on the economy and national security and inexperienced.

The Government trails Labor in the latest Newspoll by 53-47, a gap that if replicated on election night would see Mr Albanese become Prime Minister with a majority.

As the narrator talks, clips show Bill Shorten awkwardly dancing in the Pacific nation of Kiribati

On Thursday Labor went on the attack with a brutal new ad slamming Scott Morrison over his Covid and bushfire missteps.

The 30-second advert carries the slogan 'no more mistakes, no more Morrison' and has been deliberately timed to hit screens after Mr Albanese's win at the first leaders' debate on Wednesday night.

The ad features images of Mr Morrison trying to force an exhausted firefighter to shake his hand during the Black Summer bushfires as well as pictures of him on holiday in Hawaii as the nation burned.

The narrator starts by saying: 'Going to Hawaii when half the nation was burning was a mistake.'

It then criticises the PM for 'not making sure we had enough vaccines and rapid tests' with a clip of him saying 'it's not a race' at the start of the jab rollout.

'No one gets it right all the time, but Scott Morrison makes too many mistakes and always makes excuses,' the narrator says.

The ad then shows a clip of Mr Morrison forcing a distressed firefighter to shake his hand in Cobargo in southern NSW after the area was ravaged by bushfires.

'Next time something goes wrong do you trust him to make it right,' the narrator asks.

The clip concludes with three examples of the Prime Minister saying the state governments are responsible for certain policy areas.

'That's not my job,' he says three times in the edit.

ALP bosses sent the adverts to supporters with a letter reading: 'Over the next four weeks, this campaign will be shining a relentless spotlight on Scott Morrison's failures as Prime Minister.

'No more mistakes. No more excuses. No more Morrison.

'Australians know that when things get hard, Scott Morrison goes missing in action. And when things go wrong, all he's got are excuses.

'From going on holidays to Hawaii during the bushfires, to the bungled vaccine rollout and not securing enough rapid tests  his failures have held Australia back.'
Prominent Indigenous elder and actor Jack Charles has told Victoria's truth-telling commission he was a guinea pig in a 'social experiment' to assimilate into white Australian society.

The Yoorrook Justice Commission opened public hearings on Tuesday, with Uncle Jack the first witness.

He described how he was taken from his Bunurong mother at four months old after being discovered at Daish's Paddock, an Aboriginal camp near Shepparton.

He was eventually moved to the Box Hill Boys' Home, where he was abused - at times sexually - by staff and other boys during his 12-year stay.

Prominent Indigenous elder and actor Jack Charles has told Victoria's truth-telling commission he was a guinea pig in a 'social experiment' to assimilate into white Australian society

Uncle Jack is seen speaking to the commission on Tuesday

As the only registered Aboriginal child at the home, Uncle Jack was taunted over the colour of his skin, bashed because 'Captain Cook was killed by black fellows', and 'whitewashed' of his family and race.

'I wasn't even told I was Aboriginal - I had to discover that for myself,' Uncle Jack told the inquiry.

'I don't recall any other Aboriginal-looking kids with me in that home, and in reflection I believe that it would have been seen sooner as a failed social experiment ... if other black fellow kids had been moved in with me.'

In his testimony, the respected elder gave a full rendition of a tune he used to sing at the Salvation Army-run home, referencing everybody living in 'gladness' because of the white man's arrival in Australia.

His troubles didn't end at age 14 when he was fostered to a woman who told him he was an orphan, a claim he came to learn was lie.

At age 17, he was informed by family relations at a local pub that his mother was alive and living in Swan Hill.

Uncle Jack was the first witness speaking at the Yoorrook Justice Commission

He told his foster mother and was surprised she didn't share his joy.

'She says ''Oh, those people will tell you anything, you can't believe them''. I raised my arm and I said ''Yeah, well I believe them'' and I could see the fright in her eyes,' he said.

He put on his pyjamas to go to bed but was instead called to the front door, where a divvy wagon was waiting to take him to a home for juvenile offenders.

'I do remember crying myself to sleep,' Uncle Jack said.

It was the first of 22 incarcerations for him.

At 18, he reconnected with his mother, but it took until last year for him to learn the identity of his father, Hilton Hamilton Walsh, in an episode of SBS program Who Do You Think You Are?

Uncle Jack said he was blessed to be in a unique position where people were 'tripping over themselves' to retrace his family history.

He never got a chance to meet his Wiradjuri father before his death but was proud to discover he's following in his footsteps as a mentor to many in the community.

Genealogists also linked Uncle Jack's family tree to Tasmania, with his five-times great grandfather, Mannalargenna, a leader of his people.

He said Mannalargenna was conned into convincing his people who hadn't been killed or married into white society to move to a camp on Flinders Island, run by George Augustus Robinson.

'It was a death camp. The soldiers were there to make sure nobody left. You put a church on this death camp, it becomes a mission,' Uncle Jack said

The commission has been tasked with establishing an official public record of Indigenous experiences since the start of British colonisation.

It will recommend reform and redress by June 2024 and the findings will guide Victoria's Treaty negotiations.
US tech billionaire Elon Musk has taken over tech platform Twitter after resistance from the board, which initially objected to the well-known free speech advocate.

The multi-billion takeover has ended years of canceling conservatives and those who have opposed the agenda of the left supported by the platform.

Social media expects a sign of relief as freedom of speech will not be stifled by a few; one of its most famous victims is ex-President Donald Trump.

Musk Agrees to Free Speech on Twitter

Musk paid a total of 44bn last Monday when he made the bid only two weeks back, reported Express UK.

The 50-year-old exposed his plans to make Twitter better while in his stewardship, many are asking what will change according to his vision. The platform was under censorship for several years, and heads of the social media giant silenced voices, but now it will change.

After the deal went through, the statement regarding plans to implement changes was outlined. Free speech is the foundation of a healthy democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where important issues affecting humanity's future are argued, cited the BBC.

Furthermore, he wishes to improve Twitter by adding new features, making the algorithms open source to enhance trust, eliminating spambots, and verifying all humans.

Several weeks back, changes were requested to the draconian control called restrictions to silence dissenting voices and to take out fake accounts, noted Reuters.

Elon Musk posted a tweet to all his followers on the tech platform asking whether free speech is important to a functional democracy. This is what is happening in America, where conservatives feel deprived of their freedoms.

Read also: Donald Trump Children: What You Need to Know About the 5 Trump Kids

Next; is a question asking if the platform does follow such a principle. He opened up an idea for an 'edit button' as an option for users.

Making waves and rocking the Twitter boat

Several other suggestions were revealing the platform's algorithms public; he added much to the chagrin of the board of directors that they will get zero cents when he buys out the company.

He posted on social media and took a dig that the board salary gets $0 should his bid is successful. Not paying them will save the billionaire about $3m yearly.

Meanwhile, observers are waiting to see if Mr. Musk can reinstate ex-US President Donald Trump to the platform after being indefinitely expelled in January 2021.

Though he hasn't addressed Trump's suspension directly, he has advocated for platform "timeouts" instead of permanent bans.

A few weeks ago, it was disclosed that he had become Twitter's majority shareholder, with a 9.2 percent stake. Then invited to join Twitter's board of directors but declined before making a sensational bid for the firm on April 14.

The board attempted a poison pill to keep the tech billionaire away, but it did not work. This move will make it hard to gain more share in the tech firm as a last-ditch move by the desperate board of Twitter.

Not easily deterred by the woke board, a total of $25.5 bn for the deal and a $21bn as a stake in the social media platform. Who will be the head of the tech firm that Parag Agrawal leads.

Elon Musk and the taking of the tech platform is again for the free speech proponent, but a huge setback for the woke left and Democrats, which are lamenting the loss of power to shut down freedom online, mentioned Yahoo Sports.

Related Article: GOP Claims To Win the House and Senate in the Midterm Elections Citing Proof of Overwhelming Victory

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Australia's population has surged during the past 10 years - with the upward trajectory only temporarily pausing as Covid saw the international border closed.

By the end of 2021, Australia was home to 25.738 million people - a massive 15.2 increase since 2011, when the population was 22.34million.

Australia surpassed the 25million milestone in 2018 - 24 years earlier than forecast by Treasury's inaugural Intergenerational Report in 2002.

This surge coincided with net annual immigration climbing above the 100,000 mark in 2002 and the 200,000 level just 11 years later.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Tuesday also showed Australia becoming a lot more racially diverse, with migrants making up almost one-third of the population.

Of Australia's top ten nations for country of birth, six of them are in Asia.

Australia's population has surged during the past decade with the Covid border closure only temporarily interrupting that trajectory. At the end of 2021, Australia was home to 25.738million people - a 15.2 increase on the 22.34million figure of 2011 (pictured are pedestrians in Sydney)

Australia's population growth 1881: 2.3 million 1918: 5 million 1959: 10 million 1981: 15 million 1991: 17.4 million 2004: 20 million 2013: 23 million 2016: 24 million 2018: 25 million 2020: 25.7million 2061*: 38.8million * Intergenerational Report, 2021 forecast Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics Advertisement

Those born in India, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Sri Lanka make up 8.6 per cent of Australia's total population, and 29.4 per cent of the population born overseas by the end of 2021.

A decade earlier, people from those six nations made up 6.1 per cent of the Australian population and 22.6 per cent of the migrant population.

Almost a third or 29.1 per cent of Australia's resident population was born overseas, with 7.5million migrants on our shores.

A year earlier in late 2020, 29.8 per cent of people were born overseas, with 7.7million born overseas.

The decrease last year marked the first annual decline since 2000.

Australia's population increased by 45,000 from June 2020 to June 2021.

But Jenny Dobak, the ABS's head of migration statistics, said the overseas-born population fell.

'The decrease reflected reduced overseas migration in and out of Australia, given the Covid-19 travel restrictions,' she said.

'The travel and migration intentions of many people changed due to the pandemic, including those migrating to work or study.

'In the first year of the pandemic there were fewer people born overseas migrating to Australia, as well as fewer people born in Australia departing to live overseas.'

New Australian Bureau of Statistics data, released on Tuesday, also showed Australia becoming a lot more racially diverse with migrants making up 29.1 per cent of the population (pictured is a woman at Cabramatta in Sydney's south-west)

Between June and September 2020, Australia's population fell by 4,200 people or 0.02 per cent, as more people left than arrived and births failed to make up the shortfall.

The closure of Australia's border to foreigners in March 2020 saw the population shrink for the first time since 1916, during World War I.

International students and skilled migrants were allowed into Australia again in December.

The past 40 years have seen Australia's population grow at an average, annual pace of 1.4 per cent.

Before the pandemic in 2019, Australia's population growth pace stood at 1.5 per cent - a level almost double the rich-world OCED average.

Turbo-charged immigration was also well above the global average of 1.064 per cent as calculated by the World Bank.

Now the era of high immigration is back, with Treasury forecasting a net intake of 235,000 by 2024.
hold a 53-47 lead in crucial two-party preference, according to NewsPoll

Labor remains favoured to topple the Coalition and win the Australian election next month, according to latest figures released by the TAB.

The development comes despite a recent surge towards the Liberal Party following Anthony Albanese's now infamous gaffe surrounding national unemployment figures and the cash rate.

With the Labor leader still in quarantine after contracting Covid-19, the figures made public on Tuesday will have Prime Minister Scott Morrison on edge as he looks to make up ground on his political rival.

As it stands, the TAB's market has the Coalition at $2.20, with Labor at $1.67.

With attention this week turning to the fallout from the ChinaSolomon Islands security pact, the next move of both major parties could be critical.

Crucially, Labor still hold a 53-47 lead in the two-party preference category.

Labor remains favoured to topple the Coalition and win the Australian election next month, according to the latest odds released by the TAB (pictured, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon)

With Labor leader Anthony Albanese still in quarantine after contracting Covid-19, the figures made public on Tuesday will have Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured, with his family) on edge as he looks to make up ground on his political rival

Earlier on Tuesday, it emerged Mr Morrison has increased his lead over Mr Albanese as Australia's preferred prime minister.

Mr Morrison's popularity as the nation's preferred leader has extended to 46 per cent - a two per cent rise since the last Newspoll.

The result is unchanged from the last two Newspolls conducted since the election was called a fortnight ago.

The Coalition has lifted its primary vote to 36 per cent, just one point behind Labor, which remains steady at 37 per cent.

Support for the Greens dropped to 11 per cent and Pauline Hanson's One Nation also fell by one point to three per cent.

Clive Palmer's United Australia Party remains steady at four per cent.

Meanwhile, the latest Ipsos poll for The Australian Financial Review also shows Labor still ahead of the Coalition - despite a two point drop in the party's primary vote.

Around 42 per cent of voters surveyed believe Labor will win the May 21 election, while 34 per cent believe the Coalition will claim a fourth consecutive term in power.

Labor has 34 per cent of the primary vote, two points clear of the Liberal Party which has recorded a one point rise since the last Ipsos poll three weeks ago.

Mr Albanese's disapproval rating increased to 35 per cent - a rise by three points - while dissatisfaction with the prime minister remains steady at 48 per cent.

But the Ipsos poll has Mr Albanese as Australia's preferred prime minister with 40 per cent  two points ahead of Mr Morrison.

In terms of overall competency, both leaders are tied at 42 per cent - the lowest level for either a prime minister or opposition leader in 27 years.

'This underscores the views of the undecided voters participating in the focus group who, irrespective of past voting behaviour, expressed a lack of enthusiasm for the options presented at this election,' Ipsos concluded.
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Russia's top diplomat has warned that NATO is now fighting a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine and there is a 'very serious' risk the conflict could turn nuclear.

Sergei Lavrov, speaking on Russian state TV last night, accused western leaders of risking a third world war by supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine with the goal of 'wearing down the Russian army' - an aim he described as an 'illusion'.

Accusing NATO and its allies of attempting to bully Russia on the international stage, Lavrov said that tensions between east and west are now worse than during the Cuban missile crisis at the height of the Cold War.

Asked directly about the possibility of a nuclear war, he replied: 'The risks are very significant. I do not want the danger to be artificially inflated [but] it is serious, real. It cannot be underestimated.'

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, has warned that NATO is now fighting a proxy-war against Moscow and there is a 'very significant' risk the conflict will turn nuclear

Lavrov accused the West of risking a third world war in Ukraine by supplying weapons with the hope of 'wearing out the Russian army' - a goal he called 'an illusion'. This aerial photograph shows a destroyed residential area in Irpin

People walk near a residential building destroyed during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

A Ukrainian soldier sits on a Armoured personnel carrier driving on a road near Slovyansk lined with anti-tank defences

Smoke emerges from a substation near the Krasne Railway Station following Russian shelling near Lviv

Russia has lost more than 300 officers, analysis shows Russia has lost more than 300 officers fighting in Ukraine, according to new data collected by an independent Russian newspaper. In total, 317 officers of junior lieutenant rank and above have been killed in a little over two months of fighting, analysis by outlet MediaZona revealed today. Almost a third came from the most senior grades - major or above - including at least two generals and the deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet. MediaZona, which is currently blocked in Russia but continues to operate online, compiled its data by looking at public reports of troop deaths from local government officials, newspapers, or families posting on social media. That means the figures will be far lower than the true total because of delays between the troops being killed and their deaths being reported, difficulties in identifying bodies, and deliberate cover-ups by Moscow. In total, MediaZona found 1,744 reports of military deaths in Ukraine - higher than the Kremlin's official figure of 1,351 which it has not updated since late March. It found 317 of those deaths were of officers, which accounts for almost a fifth of the total figure. MediaZona believes that is because officer deaths are more-likely to be reported than those of foot-soldiers. The highest-ranked deaths that Russia has acknowledged are of Andrei Sukhovetsky and Vladimir Frolov, who were both Major Generals. Russia has also acknowledged the death of Captain 1st Rank Andrei Paly, the deputy commander of its Black Sea fleet, MediaZona said. Advertisement

Lavrov said: 'During the Cuban Missile Crisis there were not many "written" rules. But the rules of conduct were clear enough.

'Moscow understood how Washington was behaving. Washington understood how Moscow was behaving. Now there are few rules left.

He added: 'In those years, there was a channel of communication that both leaders trusted. Now there is no such channel. Nobody is trying to create it.'

America did set up a 'deconfliction line' to Moscow in the early days of the Ukraine war, but said the Russia side stopped answering.

Lavrov also repeated warnings that shipments of western weapons into Ukraine will be considered legitimate targets by Russia - a day after missiles struck the country's train network in an apparent attempt to stop the deliveries.

he spoke as western nations shift focus in Ukraine from supplying small arms and defensive weapons such as anti-tank and anti-aricraft missiles, to providing heavier arms such as tanks, helicopters, aircraft and long-range artillery.

The move comes in response to calls from Kyiv to provide its armed forces with the means to recapture territory occupied by Russian forces, in the wake of atrocities carried out by Putin's men in places such as Bucha and Irpin.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin travelled to Kyiv on Sunday for a face-to-face meeting with President Zelensky to discuss supplies, before pledging another multi-million dollar shipment.

Austin will also chair a meeting of more than 40 defence ministers at Ramstein air base in Germany today, aimed at securing additional supplies and coordinating efforts between allies to ensure Ukraine has everything it needs.

Ahead of the meeting, Austin stated the goal is to ensure Ukraine 'can win' the war against Russia and 'weaken' the country to the point where it cannot repeat its invasion a second time.

Ahead of the meeting, German media reported that the country will end weeks of dithering and agree to supply heavy arms to Ukraine in the form of 50 Gepard anti-aircraft systems.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday night that he regards Russia's scaremongering as a sign of weakness.

Lavrov, speaking to Russian state TV, said tensions between east and west are now at a worse point than during the Cuban missile crisis at the height of the Cold War

Russia considers western arms shipments to Ukraine legitimate targets for attack, Lavrov added, after the US pledged to send heavier weapons to the country this week (file image)

Maria, 13, holds a photograph of her father Yurii Alekseev, 50, a territorial defence member who according to his family was killed by Russian soldiers, as she mourns him during his funeral today

Tetyana Boikiv, 52, right, meets and hugs her neighbour Svitlana Pryimachenko, 48, during a funeral service for her husband, Mykola Moroz

Germany will finally authorise tank deliveries to Ukraine Germany will finally authorise the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine today after weeks of dithering that has tarnished its reputation on the world stage and led to questions about its commitment to European security. Defense minister Christine Lambrecht is expected announce the delivery of around 50 Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles to Ukraine during a meeting of more than 40 nations that will take place at Ramstein air base today. Germany's defence industry has been offering to sell the Gepard vehicles to Ukraine since February, but had been blocked from doing so by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government which led to outcry both inside and outside the country. Scholz, whose SPD party traditionally maintains close ties with Russia, had argued that it would take too long to train Ukrainian soldiers to use the weapons, that Germany had no weapons to sell, and that selling weapons could provoke Putin. But under strong pressure from Germany's international allies as well as his own coalition partners, Scholz now appears to have decided to change course. Lambrecht will today deliver a speech at Ramstein air base in which she will say the government has agreed to sign off the delivery of used Gepard anti-aircraft tanks. At the same time, a plan will be submitted to parliament calling for the government to 'continue and, where possible, accelerate the delivery of equipment to Ukraine.' Equipment will be extended to include 'the delivery [of] heavy weapons and complex systems', according to a draft of the document shown to AFP. The same document will suggest that Ukrainian soldiers are brought to Germany and other NATO nations so they can be trained how to use the weapons. Advertisement

Russia had lost its 'last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine,' Kuleba wrote on Twitter after Lavrov's interview. 'This only means Moscow senses defeat.'

British armed forces minister James Heappey agreed with that assessment today, saying he does not see an imminent threat of escalation in Ukraine and dismissing Lavrov's comments as 'bravado'.

'Lavrov's trademark over the course of 15 years or so that he has been the Russian foreign secretary has been that sort of bravado. I don't think that right now there is an imminent threat of escalation,' Heappey told BBC Television.

'What the West is doing to support its allies in Ukraine is very well calibrated ... Everything we do is calibrated to avoid direct confrontation with Russia.'

Heappey told Sky News that while NATO had been reinforcing its eastern flank, it was not, as an organisation, providing military aid.

'The donor community is not NATO,' Heappey said. 'The donor effort is something that has been brought together by countries that are yes, many of them are from NATO, but others are from beyond ... it is not NATO that is doing the military aid.'

During a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised more military aid for Ukraine.

The U.S. State Department on Monday used an emergency declaration to approve the potential sale of $165 million worth of ammunition to Ukraine.

The Pentagon said the package could include artillery ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers.

Moscow's ambassador to Washington told the United States to halt shipments, warning Western weapons were inflaming the conflict.

Lavrov said: 'NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.'

Russia's two-month-old invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced over 5 million people to flee abroad.

Moscow calls its actions a 'special operation' to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West says this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.

The United States is due to host an expected gathering of more than 40 countries this week for Ukraine-related defence talks that will focus on arming Kyiv, U.S. officials said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (centre) and Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley (centre left) chair a meeting to agree more arms for Ukraine at Ramstein air base in Germany

Christine Lambrecht, German defence minister, meets her Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov as she prepares to announce supplies of heavy arms to Kyiv

Russia is trying to 'destabilise' breakaway Moldovan region Kyiv today accused Russia of trying to 'destabilise' Moldova's breakaway region that borders Ukraine after two explosions there prompted fears of Russia launching 'false flag' attacks to justify invading the territory. The explosions destroyed two powerful Soviet-era radio antennas that were re-broadcasting Russian stations in the region of Transnistria, an unrecognised Moscow-backed sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, on Tuesday. The blasts occurred in the small town of Maiac roughly 12 kilometers (7 miles) west of the border with Ukraine, just days after a Kremlin military chief warned that 'Russian-speakers' had been 'oppressed' there. A day earlier, several explosions believed to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades were reported to hit the Ministry of State Security in the city of Tiraspol, the region's capital. No one was hurt in the explosions, officials said. On Tuesday, a military unit in the village of Parcani was also targeted. Officials did not offer any details on the incident, but declared a 'red level of terrorist threat' and promised to impose additional security measures in the region. Advertisement

Britain said all tariffs on goods coming into the country from Ukraine under an existing free trade deal will be axed and it would send new ambulances, fire engines, medical supplies and funding for health experts to help the emergency services.

Russia's foreign ministry said on Monday that it had declared 40 German diplomatic staff 'personae non gratae' in a retaliatory move after Berlin expelled the same number of Russian diplomats.

Russia has yet to capture any of the biggest cities. Its forces were forced to pull back from the outskirts of Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance.

'It is obvious that every day - and especially today, when the third month of our resistance has begun - that everyone in Ukraine is concerned with peace, about when it will all be over,' President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Monday.

'There is no simple answer to that at this time.'

Having failed to take the capital Kyiv, Moscow last week launched a massive assault in an attempt to capture eastern provinces known as the Donbas, which if successful would link territory held by pro-Russian separatists in the east with the Crimea region that Moscow annexed in 2014.

Ukraine's general staff said on Tuesday that Russia's offensive continued in the eastern Kharkiv region with Russian forces trying to advance towards Zavody.

Russia's defence ministry earlier said its missiles destroyed six facilities powering the railways that were used to deliver foreign weapons to Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region. Reuters could not verify the report.

The head of Ukraine's state rail company said that one railway worker had been killed and four injured by Russian missile strikes on five Ukrainian railway stations on Monday.

Ukrainian forces have repelled five Russian attacks and killed just over 200 Russian servicemen, said the Ukrainian military command in the southern and eastern sectors.

An Ukrainian tank drives through obstacles on a road near Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine, today amid the Russian invasion

A huge pile of missiles is gathered up by members of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine after shellings in Kharkiv

Firefighters extinguish fire at a substation near the Krasne Railway Station following Russian shelling, amid Russia's attack

Five tanks were also destroyed, along with eight armoured vehicles, it said in a statement.

Russia is probably attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the country's east, the British military said in an update on Tuesday.

Reports say the city of Kreminna has fallen, with heavy fighting in the south of the city of Izium, as Russian forces try to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Britain's defence ministry said on Twitter.

The governor of Russia's Belgorod province, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Ukraine had fired on two villages, and at least two people were wounded. Reuters was unable to verify the Ukrainian or Russian reports.

Russian forces were continuing on Monday to bomb and shell the vast Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where fighters are hunkered down in a city ravaged by a siege and bombardment, Ukrainian presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych said.

Moscow said it was opening a humanitarian corridor to let civilians out of the plant but Kyiv said no agreement had been reached.

Ukraine war timeline: Putin's invasion enters its third month Russia heads into the third month of its invasion of Ukraine on Sunday with no end in sight to fighting that has killed thousands, uprooted millions and reduced cities to rubble. In the face of mounting sanctions and fierce Ukrainian resistance bolstered by Western arms, Russia has kept up its long-distance bombardment and opened up a new offensive in the east. Some key events so far: February 24: Russia invades Ukraine from three fronts in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. Tens of thousands flee. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is launching a 'special military operation' to demilitarise and 'denazify' Ukraine. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweets: 'Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself.' February 25: Ukrainian forces battle Russian invaders in the north, east and south. Artillery pounds Kyiv and its suburbs and authorities tell residents to prepare Molotov cocktails to defend the capital. February 26: A U.S. defence official says Ukraine's forces are putting up 'determined resistance'. February 28: The first talks between the two sides make no breakthrough. March 1: Russia hits a TV tower in Kyiv and intensifies bombardment of Kharkiv in the northeast and other cities, in what is seen as a shift in tactics as Moscow's hopes of a quick charge on the capital fade. A U.S. official says a miles-long Russian armoured column bearing down on Kyiv has not made any advances in the past 24 hours, bogged down by logistical problems. March 2: Russian forces bombard the southern port of Mariupol for 14 hours and stop civilians leaving, its mayor says - the start of Moscow's blockade of the city. Russia denies targeting civilians. Russian troops reach the centre of the Black Sea port of Kherson and claim their first capture of a large urban centre. March 3: Russia and Ukraine agree to set up humanitarian corridors for fleeing civilians. A cargo ship sinks near a Ukrainian port hours after another is hit by a blast at another port. A million people have fled Ukraine, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) says. March 4: Russian forces seize Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's biggest. NATO rejects Ukraine's appeal for no-fly zones, saying it would escalate the conflict. March 6: 'Rivers of blood and tears are flowing in Ukraine,' Pope Francis tells crowds in St. Peter's Square. 'This is not just a military operation, but a war, which sows death, destruction, and misery.' March 8: Civilians flee the besieged city of Sumy in the first successful humanitarian corridor. Two million have now fled Ukraine, the UNHCR says. March 9: Ukraine accuses Russia of bombing a maternity hospital in Mariupol, burying people in rubble. Russia later says the hospital was no longer functioning and had been occupied by Ukrainian fighters. March 13: Russia extends its war deep into western Ukraine, firing missiles at a base in Yavoriv close to the border with NATO member Poland. The attack kills 35 people and wounds 134, a local official says. March 14: Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova bursts into a state TV studio during a live news bulletin, with a banner reading: 'NO WAR. Stop the war. Don't believe propaganda. They are lying to you here.' March 16: Ukraine accuses Russia of bombing a theatre in Mariupol where hundreds of civilians are sheltering. Moscow denies it. March 25: Moscow signals it is scaling back its ambitions and will focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east, as Ukrainian forces go on the offensive to recapture towns outside Kyiv. March 29: Ukraine proposes adopting a neutral status during talks in Istanbul. March 30: More than 4 million people have fled Ukraine, the UNHCR says. April 1: Ukraine recaptures more territory around Kyiv from Russian soldiers who leave shattered villages and abandoned tanks as they move away from the capital. April 3/4: Ukraine accuses Russia of war crimes after a mass grave and bodies of people shot at close range are found in the recaptured town of Bucha. The Kremlin denies responsibility and says images of bodies were staged. April 8: Ukraine and its allies blame Russia for a missile attack on a train station in Kramatorsk that killed at least 52 people trying to flee the looming eastern offensive. Russia denies responsibility. April 14: Russia's lead warship in the Black Sea, the Moskva, sinks after an explosion and fire that Ukraine says was caused by a missile strike. Russia says the ship sank after an ammunition explosion. Washington believes the warship was hit by two Ukrainian missiles. April 18: Russia launches its assault on east Ukraine, unleashing thousands of troops in what Ukraine described as the Battle of the Donbas, a campaign to seize two provinces and salvage a battlefield victory. April 20: More than 5 million people have fled Ukraine, the UNHCR says. April 21: Putin declares the southeastern port of Mariupol 'liberated' after nearly two months of siege, despite leaving hundreds of defenders holding out inside a giant steel works. April 22: A Russian general says Moscow wants to take full control of southern and eastern Ukraine. April 24: Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin travel to Kyiv, becoming the highest-level US delegation to make the journey since war with Russia broke out April 25: Germany agrees to send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine, reversing earlier policy not to supply heavy weapons Advertisement

EXCLUSIVE: Boobytrapped milk carton primed with a BOMB is given to grandmother by Russian soldier distributing 'humanitarian aid' in Ukraine

By Ed Wight for MailOnline

A Ukrainian grandmother has narrowly escaped death after a Russian soldier gave her a boobytrapped carton of milk loaded with explosives.

In a disturbing new twist to Putin's war on Ukraine, Russian soldiers are now pretending to hand out 'humanitarian aid'.

But when the pensioner from the besieged city of Kherson went to open the screw top carton she noticed wires attached to the lid.

Further investigation revealed the wires led to a detonator.

The OAP's son told local media in.kherson.ua: 'My retired mother noticed that there was something wrong with this milk, as if someone had been drinking from it before, or if it was broken.

'She carefully unscrewed the cap and showed me what was there.'

The boobytrapped milk carton contained a homemade explosive attached to a fishing line which when opened would detonate the bomb.

A Ukrainian grandmother has narrowly escaped death after a Russian soldier gave her a boobytrapped carton of milk loaded with explosives. When the pensioner from the besieged city of Kherson went to open the screw top carton she noticed wires attached to the lid

Further investigation revealed the wires led to a detonator placed inside the carton in what appeared to be a cruel boobytrap

An elderly Ukrainian woman is pictured receiving aid from soldiers in Ukraine - it is not clear whether this is the woman who picked up the boobytrapped milk carton

The OAP's soon told local media in.kherson.ua: 'My retired mother noticed that there was something wrong with this milk, as if someone had been drinking from it before, or if it was broken. She carefully unscrewed the cap and showed me what was there.' The boobytrapped milk carton contained a homemade explosive attached to a fishing line which when opened would detonate the bomb

The woman's son added: 'The bag of aid was bought home by my mother, although I had asked her not to.

'But yesterday she took the groceries. She saw that the screw in the milk was not airtight, she thought that someone had already drank it, that it might be spoiled, she carefully unscrewed it and saw something like thread.'

To fool locals into thinking the products are safe, Russian soldiers are using products made in Ukraine.

On Sunday, the UK's MOD reported that Russia plans to hold a staged referendum in Kherson to justify its occupation.

In its daily intelligence update, the ministry wrote: 'This city is key to the Russian goal of creating an overland corridor to Crimea and dominating southern Ukraine.

'Russia previously held an illegal referendum on the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation in 2014 to retroactively justify the occupation of the peninsula.'

Now Russia cuts off WATER supplies Desperate Ukrainians hit by a lack of food have had their water cut off by Russian shelling too. Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai accused the Kremlin of systematically attacking electricity plants and water pumps to punish the local population. Last week officials in Luhansk said Russian forces had deliberately targeted the supply of food to the eastern region. They swamped the key city of Sievierodonetsk with missiles that wiped out all food depots, as well as markets and shops. The citys 100,000 population has fallen by 17,000 and they are now reliant on aid supplies. Advertisement

Evidence of Russian soldiers boobytrapping humanitarian aid packages for elderly Ukrainian residents comes as Kremlin insiders told The Financial Times that Putin has given up on peace talks with Ukraine and is intent on seizing as much land as possible.

The three insiders claimed that the Russian president wanted to grab territory because he felt negotiations had reached a 'dead end'.

One insider said: 'There was hope for a deal. Putin was going back and forth. He needs to find a way to come out of this a winner.'

'Putin sincerely believes in the nonsense he hears on [Russian] television and he wants to win big,' another insider added.

A third said he wouldn't sign anything after the humiliation caused by the sinking of the Moskva.

A senior member of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umirov, said: 'We continue the negotiation process. Primarily  to save more lives of our people.'

'We will use all the political and diplomatic efforts to stop this bloodshed. But there are red lines we will never cross. Ukraine will never give up its people and its territories,' he told The Times.

Meanwhile, officials in the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol say a new '200-yard mass grave' has been identified north of the city that could contain hundreds of bodies.

Vladimir Putin has given up on peace talks with Ukraine as he wants to seize as much land as he can for Russia, according to Kremlin insiders

Emergency management specialists and volunteers remove the debris of a theatre building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Smoke rises above a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities are trying to estimate the number of victims in the grave about six miles north of Mariupol.

This would be the third after satellite photos released over the last few days have shown what appear to be images of other mass graves.

On Saturday, chilling satellite photos revealed a second mass grave near Mariupol - as Russian forces continued to pummel the last 2,000 Ukrainian defenders trapped in a steelworks in the city.

The photos from Maxar Technologies showed the site at a cemetery in the town of Vynohradne. It has several newly dug parallel trenches measuring about 131 feet long, Maxar said in a statement.

Volodymyr Zelensky warned Vladimir Putin that if he tried to build a Nazi-style 'millennial Reich' he would 'lose'.
A man is due to appear in court later today over the death of a British friend following a fatal stabbing at an Algarve tourist apartment.

The unnamed suspect, believed to have been on holiday with his pal, was held after the discovery of the victim's body by a wall at a luxury apartment complex in the popular resort of Albufeira early yesterday morning.

He had already gone into cardiac arrest by the time emergency responders arrived and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

The dead man was initially described as English but one local report today said both the dead man and the suspect held by police were from Northern Ireland.

It was a Bank Holiday yesterday in Portugal and police have yet to make any official comment.

Police cordon off the site of a fatal stabbing in a gated holiday resort in Albufeira, Portugal

The unnamed suspect, believed to have been on holiday with his pal, was held after the discovery of the victim's body by a wall at a luxury apartment complex. This image shows the block of apartments where the pair were staying

The ongoing investigation is being handled by the Policia Judiciaria following an initial intervention by the GNR police force.

Firefighters were among the first to reach the scene of the crime, a gated estate called Correeira Luxury Residence.

Albufeira fire chief Rui Fernandes told respected Portuguese daily Jornal de Noticias: 'We were alerted at 6.37am to a person who was said to be unconscious in the street.

'We arrived to find a man who was in cardiac arrest, with rigor mortis and incise wounds to his chest.'

He also told the paper the victim was inside the tourist complex against a wall rather than outside in the street.

The man arrested by police, who is understood to be around 20, is believed to have been sharing the apartment with the man he is suspected of killing.

He was described by Portuguese tabloid Correio da Manha as being disorientated and apparently 'under the effects of alcohol or drugs' when he was taken away by police.

Officers also removed a knife thought to be the weapon used in the attack.

Wide sandy beach in Albufeira, Algarve, Portugal

The exact relationship between the two men is not yet known.

Police are said to be working on the theory the victim was stabbed inside the apartment and collapsed on the ground outside the property as he tried to reach the street to raise help.

The dead man is believed to have been aged around 25 to 30.

An autopsy has yet to take place.

The Correeira Luxury Residence apartment complex is situated around a mile from popular Oura Beach. It has two swimming pools for guests.
China has hit back at claims it wants to build a military base in the Solomon Islands calling it 'fake news' and slamming Defence Minister Peter Dutton for 'smearing China' and 'clinging to a Cold War mentality'.

The secretive deal allows Beijing to send armed police and military personnel to the country at the request of Honiara.

It also states the People's Liberation Army can 'make ship visits, to carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands'.

But China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin claimed on Monday at a Beijing press conference that speculation of a military base was 'pure disinformation'.

'The security cooperation between China and Solomon Islands is based on equality and mutual benefits... within the sovereignty of our two countries and consistent with the international law,' he said.

China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin (pictured) said the speculation of a Chinese military base in the Solomon Island was 'pure disinformation'

'The cooperation is open, transparent, legitimate, lawful and irreproachable.'

He said a 'handful of people with ulterior motives' were fabricating speculation about a military base.

'The US and Australia accuse the deal of not being transparent. When will the US and Australia invite South Pacific island countries to review AUKUS cooperation?'

'The nearly 800 military bases in 80 countries and regions across the world run by the US have long been of major concern. When will the US shut down those bases?'

'Island countries in the South Pacific are independent and sovereign states, not a backyard of the US or Australia.'

The Chinese official was then pressed by a reporter about claims recently made by Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton that China regularly pays bribes to win international deals.

Scott Morrison (pictured) has said a Chinese base on the Pacific nation would be a 'red line' for his government

The security deal would see armed personnel sent to the Solomon Islands (pictured: Chinese president Xi Jinping at a military parade in 2017)

'The Chinese don't play by our rules. If you look at what has happened in Africa, there are corrupt payments being made,' Mr Dutton told Sky News Australia on Sunday.

'We can never compete with that sort of playbook. We have values and we have the rule of law that we abide by.'

'China's incredibly aggressive acts of foreign interference, the preparedness to pay bribes to beat other countries to deals - that is the reality of modern China.'

Wang then singled out Mr Dutton and claimed he was using the security deal to win votes in the federal election.

'Certain Australian politicians are clinging to the Cold War mentality and smearing China with rumors to sow discord between China and countries it has friendly ties with,' he said.

'The politicians should earnestly face up to the concerns of people at home and abroad, instead of spreading disinformation to disparage China for their own political gains,' he said.

Shadow Foreign Affairs minister Penny Wong said the China-Solomon Islands security deal was a monumental foreign policy failure which had occurred on Scott Morrison's watch.
A Ukrainian girl cannot travel to the UK with her aunt and cousin after Government officials questioned whether they were related  despite being given legal papers proving it.

Alisa Miroshyna, nine, is being cared for by her aunt Viktoria Sochka, 38, and cousin Anastasiia, 14, while her mother Kateryna, 35, and father Oleksii, 41, serve in the Ukrainian armed forces.

The three of them were last month offered spare rooms to stay in at the home of Nick Anderson, 59, and his partner Karen Jones, 54, in Hartlepool, County Durham.

But they are still trapped in Poland while they wait for visas to be issued, despite Nick applying on their behalf more than five-weeks-ago.

In the latest twist to the saga, civil servants are said to have asked for further proof that Viktoria is really the aunt of Alisa and is entitled to travel with her to the UK.

Viktoria Sochka, 38, her daughter Anastasiia, 14, and niece Alisa, nine, have been waiting for visas since being offered spare rooms with a couple in Hartlepool, County Durham

Nick Anderson said officials have requested further proof that Viktoria is really the aunt of Alisa - leaving them unable to travel to the UK

But Nick insists that officials dealing with the application already have a Lasting Power of Attorney, giving Viktoria the right to care for her niece.

He said: It is just farcical and so frustrating. We have a home ready here for Viktoria and the two girls, but it seems to be one issue after another keeping them away.

When social services came to look at our house several weeks ago to make sure it was suitable, we were told that Viktoria should get a Lasting Power of Attorney to prove she was acting as a guardian for her niece.

I passed on the advice and they got the official document from the authorities in Ukraine about two or three days later, and I uploaded it as part of their application.

But now the officials seem to be querying this. It is just absolutely ridiculous and is putting unnecessary obstacles in the way.

Our civil servants appear to be deliberately obstructing refugees when civilians are being killed by bombing every day. It really is sickening.

Ms Sochka previously booked tickets for a flight - from Warsaw to Doncaster Sheffield airport - so they could join Mr Anderson and Ms Jones at their six-bedroom detached home

Ms Sochka (pictured with her daughter and niece) told Mr Anderson that her husband Andrii, 43, was fighting in the Ukrainian Army and had returned to the frontline

The issue is the latest delay to beset the application for Viktoria and the two girls to get visas which is being handled by the Home Office.

Earlier this month, MailOnline told how officials had questioned the spelling of Anastasiias name and had asked to see her passport to prove it, despite already having a copy of it.

An official claimed that it was not the usual way the name was spelt in Ukraine, despite being told that the teenager originally came from the Donbas region where spellings are different.

The misunderstanding led to Viktoria and the two girls being unable to board a Wizz Air flight from Warsaw to Sheffield Doncaster airport so they could join Nick and Karen at their six bedroom detached home.

Nick, a semi-retired financial adviser, and care worker Karen who have eight grown up children between them decided to offer to help a refugee family as they live alone in their house.

The couple made inquiries online, saying that they had three spare rooms available, and were put in touch with railway worker Viktoria who was looking for a place in the UK with her daughter and niece.

Ms Sochka is currently looking after her niece as Alisa's mother Kateryna (pictured), 35, and her father Oleksii, 41, are also serving in the Ukrainian armed forces

Nick was told that her husband Andrii, 43, was fighting in the Ukrainian Army and back on the frontline after being injured in February.

Viktoria also said she was having to look after her niece so her sister and brother-in-law could also serve in the countrys armed forces.

Nick said he spent several hours applying for the visas online on March 20, and enlisted the help of the office of Hartlepool MP Jill Mortimer after becoming frustrated with the delays.

The intervention of Ms Mortimers staff led to him being assured that a decision on whether to grant visas would be made by April 4.

As a result, Viktoria and the two girls left their home in war torn Dnipro and embarked on a 26 hour train journey to Warsaw, so they could board their flights to the UK booked for April 6.

But civil servants failed to meet their self-imposed deadline on whether to grant visas, meaning they were unable to get the flights and lost the money they had spent on their tickets.

Nick said: We are now nearly three weeks further on, and they still have not sorted it out, despite my MPs office getting on at them constantly.

The problem with the spelling of Anastasiias name has not been mentioned since, so I am guessing that has been sorted out.

Jill Mortimers secretary Alison Shepherd has spent literally hours on the phone trying to get things speeded up, but it is like banging your head against a brick wall. She is tearing her hair out over it.

The latest thing they raised with her was that we had to prove that Viktoria is really Alisas aunt.

The couple - who have eight grown up children between them - made enquiries online, saying that they had three spare rooms available

It is just a nonsense when they already have the Lasting Power of Attorney document which we were advised to get by social services.

Alison told me that she could not understand it. She does not know what additional proof she can give. She said that she has nieces herself, but does not actually have any paperwork proving it.

It seems like we are just stuck in a never ending loop. I cannot believe that they keep coming up with questions like this. It is just ridiculous.

Viktoria and the two girls are staying in a hostel in Poland, sharing a single room with another mother and her daughter, when they could be over here with us.

Every day she is asking me for news and I am having to let her down by telling her that the visas have still not been sorted out.

All the stress has made her ill, and she needs to see a doctor in Poland because has come out in a rash.

Alisa (left) pictured with her aunt Viktoria (centre left), mother Kataryna (centre right) and cousin Anastasiia (right)

Mr Anderson and partner Ms Jones first applied on March 20 for Viktoria and the two girls to be allowed to stay with them

Nick earlier told MailOnline: I feel embarrassed to be British because of all this, especially when other countries are just waving through refugees. How can we be treating people like this?

It shows how incompetent the Home Office is. The whole thing is a flipping farce.

He added: We decided we had the space to help out a family after being horrified by what is happening in Ukraine.

Karen and I quickly got all the necessary DBS checks and had our house checked by the local council to make sure everything was suitable.

Viktoria cannot speak any English, but Anastasiia can speak a bit, so we have been communicating through her on Messenger.

Nick said that Viktoria and the two girls had been living in fear in her flat on the ninth floor of an apartment block in Dnipro before fleeing to Warsaw.

He added: It was terrifying for them. They often had to shelter in the corridor when they could hear bombardments as there was no time to reach a bomb shelter.

Their lives were at risk constantly while they waited to hear whether they were going to get visas.

It is just so frustrating when they have a place of safety here. The awful thing is that they were bombed out of their original home by the Russians in 2015 so they are refugees twice over.
A British man who took his own life at home in southern France is believed to have murdered his wife prior to his suicide amid 'financial difficulties'.

A murder investigation has been opened in Boudrac, in the foothills of the Pyrenees south of Toulouse, after the pair's corpses were found at their isolated countryside home.

They had part-converted their home and outhouse into a bed and breakfast, but cut the project short due to financial problems.

Friends of the couple  who have not yet been named  called in at the house on Sunday afternoon to check in after not hearing from them for at least three days.

When they arrived at their home  which was due to be turned into a bed and breakfast guest house  they found the lifeless body of a 65-year-old woman.

'She has been dead for some days and had a rope around her neck,' said local prosecutor Christophe Amunzateguy.

'Wounds were also found on her body  there were signs of strangulation and blows.'

Police who were called to the scene then discovered the body of her husband, 64, in an outhouse.

Amunzateguy said he appeared to have hanged himself.

A British couple has been found dead at their isolated countryside home in Boudrac, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, south of Toulouse. Friends had not heard from them for the last three days, but upon checking on them found the pair hanged on Sunday afternoon

'He was found hanged, and had left a note' said Mr Amunzateguy, adding: 'The couple had a project to open a guesthouse but it was ended because of financial difficulties.'

The prosecutor said the evidence 'clearly makes us think of a wife killing. We have not, at this stage, evidence of the presence of a third party.'

He said the couple had no criminal record.

A note found at the scene also spoke of financial trouble, according to Connexion France.

The couple had bought their house in Boudrac  which has a population of around 130  in early 2021 and wanted to turn it into a bed and breakfast.

Amunzateguy added that postmortem examinations would be conducted on the bodies today to establish a cause of death for both individuals.

Feminist groups say at least 33 women have been killed by their husbands or partners so far in France this year.

The figure for 2021 was 113, according to The Times.
Germany will finally authorise the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine today after weeks of dithering that has tarnished its reputation on the world stage and led to questions about its commitment to European security.

Defense minister Christine Lambrecht is expected announce the delivery of around 50 Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles to Ukraine during a meeting of more than 40 nations that will take place at Ramstein air base today.

Germany's defence industry has been offering to sell the Gepard vehicles to Ukraine since February, but had been blocked from doing so by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government which led to outcry both inside and outside the country.

Germany will supply 50 Gepard anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine, the defence minister is set to announce today- after weeks of dithering on the issue

Christine Lambrecht, Germany's defence minister, hugs Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov during a summit to discuss supplying arms at Ramstein air base today

Scholz, whose SPD party traditionally maintains close ties with Russia, had argued that it would take too long to train Ukrainian soldiers to use the weapons, that Germany had no weapons to sell, and that selling weapons could provoke Putin.

But under strong pressure from Germany's international allies as well as his own coalition partners, Scholz now appears to have decided to change course.

Lambrecht will today deliver a speech at Ramstein air base in which she will say the government has agreed to sign off the delivery of used Gepard anti-aircraft tanks.

At the same time, a plan will be submitted to parliament calling for the government to 'continue and, where possible, accelerate the delivery of equipment to Ukraine.'

Equipment will be extended to include 'the delivery [of] heavy weapons and complex systems', according to a draft of the document shown to AFP.

The same document will suggest that Ukrainian soldiers are brought to Germany and other NATO nations so they can be trained how to use the weapons.

German arms company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann first said back in February that it had 50 Gepards that could 'quickly' be supplied to Ukraine if the federal government gave it permission to do so.

Scholz resisted, saying that it would take too long to train Ukrainian crews in how to use the system which would ultimately make it useless.

But pressure has been growing to change tack, especially since other nations - led by the US and UK - have begun supplying heavier weapons to Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has argued Ukraine needs the weapons in order to re-take territory Russia has captured and prevent atrocities of the kind suffered by civilians in occupied parts of the country such as Bucha and Irpin.

Scholz's stance - coupled with his reluctance to ban Russian oil and gas shipments on which the Germany economy relies - had seen him accused of aiding Russia and undermining European security.

Some had even begun to question Germany's commitment to NATO's mutual defence pledge because arguments used to avoid supplying Ukraine - that it could provoke confrontation with Russia - could also be used against invoking the pledge.

Olaf Scholz, whose SPD party has traditionally maintained close ties to Russia, had been increasingly isolated from the international community by refusing to supply Ukraine weapons

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (centre) and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley (centre left) chair a meeting in Germany to agree more arms supplies to Ukraine

Gepards were first developed in the 1960s and for decades formed the backbone of Germany's air defence forces, having undergone several upgrades to its radar and targeting systems.

Built on the chassis of a Leopard 1 tank, Gepards are equipped with two 35mm cannons which were designed to take out incoming aircraft and cruise missiles, but can also be used against drones and - if necessary - against ground targets.

Later models were equipped with Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, but it is unclear if these are fitting to the ones that will be supplied to Ukraine.

The Bundeswehr began phasing out the vehicle in 2010 in favour of the more modern Wiesel 2 Ozelot that is equipped with missiles as standard.

Any Gepard vehicles supplied to Ukraine are expected to come from stockpiles that have sat un-used since the Ozelot came into service.

America has led the way in delivering heavy arms to Ukraine in recent weeks - sending long-range artillery and thousands of round of ammunition, along with helicopters and suicide drones.

The US has also agreed to back-fill stocks of Soviet-era tanks and other weapons owned by allied European states if they supply those weapons to Ukraine.

Slovakia and the Czech Republic are thought to have taken advantage of the offer to send tanks to Kyiv, while the UK has reached an agreement with Poland to supply Challenger tanks while Warsaw sends its old T-72 models into the fight.

France and Canada have also agreed to provide long-range artillery and precision munitions to Ukraine.

A Ukrainian woman takes a picture with her smartphone while standing on the top of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kyiv (pictured)

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will lead the meeting at Ramstein air base today, which bring together defence ministers from 40 nations with the aim of coordinating arms supplies to Ukraine to ensure it has the weapons it needs.

Austin, speaking on Monday after a visit to Kyiv to see President Zelensky, stated outright that the goal is to ensure Ukraine can 'win' the war while 'weakening' Russia to the point where 'it can't do the things that it has done in invading Ukraine.'

The bold remarks mark a distinct shift from Washington's policy in the early days of the conflict which was to provide Ukraine solely with defensive arms, and will come as a comfort to Kyiv and eastern European nations fearful of an assertive Russia.

The meeting is also aimed at ensuring Ukraine's security in the longer term once the war is over.

'It's really largely about modernising and making sure their military is still potent and capable going forward. It's not about security guarantees, it's about their actual military posture,' said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on Friday.

The meeting on Tuesday will not be held under the auspices of NATO, even if the alliance's secretary general Jens Stoltenberg will be attending.

'As you know, NATO as an alliance is not providing security assistance to Ukraine, so this is not being done under the NATO umbrella at all,' stressed Kirby.

Among the 40 invited countries are not only Washington's European allies, but also countries further afield like Japan or Australia, which fear that a Russian victory in Ukraine could set a precedent and spur on the territorial ambitions of China.

Finland and Sweden, traditionally neutral countries now looking at joining NATO following Russia's aggression in Ukraine, are also among countries at the talks.
A Ukrainian grandmother has narrowly escaped death after a Russian soldier gave her a boobytrapped carton of milk loaded with explosives.

In a disturbing new twist to Putin's war on Ukraine, Russian soldiers are now pretending to hand out 'humanitarian aid'.

But when the pensioner from the besieged city of Kherson went to open the screw top carton she noticed wires attached to the lid.

Further investigation revealed the wires led to a detonator.

The OAP's son told local media in.kherson.ua: 'My retired mother noticed that there was something wrong with this milk, as if someone had been drinking from it before, or if it was broken.

'She carefully unscrewed the cap and showed me what was there.'

The boobytrapped milk carton contained a homemade explosive attached to a fishing line which when opened would detonate the bomb.

A Ukrainian grandmother has narrowly escaped death after a Russian soldier gave her a boobytrapped carton of milk loaded with explosives. When the pensioner from the besieged city of Kherson went to open the screw top carton she noticed wires attached to the lid

Further investigation revealed the wires led to a detonator placed inside the carton in what appeared to be a cruel boobytrap

The OAP's son told local media in.kherson.ua: 'My retired mother noticed that there was something wrong with this milk, as if someone had been drinking from it before, or if it was broken. She carefully unscrewed the cap and showed me what was there.' The boobytrapped milk carton contained a homemade explosive attached to a fishing line which when opened would detonate the bomb

An elderly Ukrainian woman is pictured receiving aid from soldiers in Ukraine - it is not clear whether this is the woman who picked up the boobytrapped milk carton

The woman's son added: 'The bag of aid was bought home by my mother, although I had asked her not to.

'But yesterday she took the groceries. She saw that the screw in the milk was not airtight, she thought that someone had already drank it, that it might be spoiled, she carefully unscrewed it and saw something like thread.'

To fool locals into thinking the products are safe, Russian soldiers are using products made in Ukraine.

On Sunday, the UK's MOD reported that Russia plans to hold a staged referendum in Kherson to justify its occupation.

In its daily intelligence update, the ministry wrote: 'This city is key to the Russian goal of creating an overland corridor to Crimea and dominating southern Ukraine.

'Russia previously held an illegal referendum on the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation in 2014 to retroactively justify the occupation of the peninsula.'

Now Russia cuts off WATER supplies Desperate Ukrainians hit by a lack of food have had their water cut off by Russian shelling too. Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai accused the Kremlin of systematically attacking electricity plants and water pumps to punish the local population. Last week officials in Luhansk said Russian forces had deliberately targeted the supply of food to the eastern region. They swamped the key city of Sievierodonetsk with missiles that wiped out all food depots, as well as markets and shops. The citys 100,000 population has fallen by 17,000 and they are now reliant on aid supplies. Advertisement

Evidence of Russian soldiers boobytrapping humanitarian aid packages for elderly Ukrainian residents comes as Kremlin insiders told The Financial Times that Putin has given up on peace talks with Ukraine and is intent on seizing as much land as possible.

The three insiders claimed that the Russian president wanted to grab territory because he felt negotiations had reached a 'dead end'.

One insider said: 'There was hope for a deal. Putin was going back and forth. He needs to find a way to come out of this a winner.'

'Putin sincerely believes in the nonsense he hears on [Russian] television and he wants to win big,' another insider added.

A third said he wouldn't sign anything after the humiliation caused by the sinking of the Moskva.

A senior member of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umirov, said: 'We continue the negotiation process. Primarily  to save more lives of our people.'

'We will use all the political and diplomatic efforts to stop this bloodshed. But there are red lines we will never cross. Ukraine will never give up its people and its territories,' he told The Times.

Meanwhile, officials in the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol say a new '200-yard mass grave' has been identified north of the city that could contain hundreds of bodies.

Vladimir Putin has given up on peace talks with Ukraine as he wants to seize as much land as he can for Russia, according to Kremlin insiders

Emergency management specialists and volunteers remove the debris of a theatre building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Smoke rises above a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities are trying to estimate the number of victims in the grave about six miles north of Mariupol.

This would be the third after satellite photos released over the last few days have shown what appear to be images of other mass graves.

On Saturday, chilling satellite photos revealed a second mass grave near Mariupol - as Russian forces continued to pummel the last 2,000 Ukrainian defenders trapped in a steelworks in the city.

The photos from Maxar Technologies showed the site at a cemetery in the town of Vynohradne. It has several newly dug parallel trenches measuring about 131 feet long, Maxar said in a statement.

Volodymyr Zelensky warned Vladimir Putin that if he tried to build a Nazi-style 'millennial Reich' he would 'lose'.

The site at a cemetery in the town of Vynohradne has several newly dug parallel trenches measuring about 40 meters (131 feet) long, Maxar said in a statement
The Queen may travel to Trooping the Colour by Range Rover instead of a royal carriage for the first time in her 70-year reign to boost her comfort after suffering from mobility issues.

The monarch, 96, may make the journey from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade by 4x4 as part of several contingency plans being drawn up by officials ahead of the Platinum Jubilee weekend.

During her reign, the Queens attendance at most engagements has been planned for months and often announced publicly weeks in advance.

But the presence of the monarch  who marks her 96th birthday on Thursday  will now be a bonus, rather than guaranteed and 'will be decided on the day' due to mobility issues.

Last night, Buckingham Palace distanced itself from the suggestion that the Queen would watch Trooping the Colour from the Major-General's office overlooking the parade ground rather than inspecting the troops on a dais, The Telegraph reports.

A royal insider said: 'I cannot imagine in 100 years that if attending, Her Majesty wouldnt be seated on a dais in Horse Guards Parade.

The Queen pictured inspecting troops on Horse Guards Parade in a traditional open topped carriage in June 2007

The Queen was pictured travelling on the Sandringham Estate in a Range Rover on Monday in the week after celebrating her 96th birthday

From left: Prince Andrew, the Queen, Meghan Markle, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Kate and Prince William attend the annual Trooping the Colour Ceremony in June 2018

The Queen looked a picture of happiness on Monday as she continued her 96th birthday celebrations with friends and family at Sandringham

'All the plans are fluid at the moment and nothing has been finalised.'

The Queen's most recent public appearance came on March 29 at the thanksgiving service for her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey.

But over the past six months she has withdrawn from several other events historically central to her diary, including the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph and the annual Commonwealth Service.

Aides are hopeful the Queen will be able to attend some of the events organised to mark her 70th jubilee in person, although it is expected these will be few in number.

The Household Cavalry is said to have been informed of alternative options in light of her mobility problems.

The 4x4 proposal would see four mounted divisions escort the Queen's vehicle up The Mall on June 2, with other Royals sticking to the tradition of travelling by carriage.

Prince Charles, Prince William and Princess Anne are expected to take part in the parade on horsebacks as part of their roles as 'Royal Colonels'.

Another royal source told the Telegraph that the reason for the plan was 'both speed and comfort' as it is no longer comfortable for the Queen to 'travel by carriage or to be standing on a dais for an extended period'.

Typically, the Queen is joined by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, as well as more distant relatives like her niece, nephew and cousins.

She has extended the invitation to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who she saw together for the first time in more than two years when they stopped off at Windsor Castle last week on their way to the Netherlands for the Invictus Games.

Harry, 37, and Meghan, 40, would attend in an informal role, following their decision to step down as working members of the Royal Family.

Buckingham Palace is said to have promised the Sussexes full armed security at all Royal Family events in June in a bid to reassure them after Harry said he felt 'unsafe' in Britain.

The Queen pictured sitting during a military ceremony in the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle to mark her Official Birthday on June 12, 2021, in Windsor

The Queen traditionally travels to Trooping the Colour in an open topped carriage, but may travel to the parade in a 4x4 for comfort on June 2. Pictured: The Queen travelling to Trooping the Colour in 1994

Harry and Meghan wave to the crowds from an open topped carriage during the Trooping the Colour in June 2018

But despite Her Majesty and Prince Charles removing the main obstacle for Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet attending, the Duke of Sussex is still said to be genuinely undecided about whether to jet in to celebrate his grandmother's 70 years on the throne.

It comes after the Queen looked a picture of happiness on Monday as she continued her 96th birthday celebrations with friends and family at Sandringham.

Wearing sunglasses and a trademark headscarf, Her Majesty grinned and chatted as she headed out into the Spring sunshine on her Norfolk estate.

The monarch was taking the time to see her horses as they prepare for the flat racing season, including the Epsom Derby in June, which she hopes to attend.
To embrace a global governance philosophy that emphasizes extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits

09:31, April 26, 2022 By He Yin ( People's Daily

As the world undergoes profound changes and a pandemic both unseen in a century, new traditional security risks and governance issues are arising, further fueling the tensions in international situation and increasing the difficulty of maintaining international order.

Photo taken on April 17 shows street lamp banners of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022 posted near the Boao airport in Qionghai, south China's Hainan province. (People's Daily Online/Meng Zhongde)

Against this backdrop, Chinese President Xi Jinping, aiming to safeguard common interests of the world and create a future shared by mankind, encouraged the world to work together to tackle global governance challenges and embrace a global governance philosophy that emphasizes extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, when addressing the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2022 on April 21.

He also stressed promoting the common values of humanity and upholding true multilateralism, saying it is particularly important for major countries to lead by example.

His proposals fully demonstrated China's sense of responsibility to lead the reform of global governance system and promote historical progress in the quest of peace and justice.

The world must uphold solidarity as it rises up to global governance challenges.

"In this day and age, the international community has evolved so much that it has become a sophisticated and integrated apparatus. Acts to remove any single part will cause serious problems to its operation. When that happens, both the victims and the initiators of such acts will stand to lose."

President Xi's simile vividly explained that countries around the world share a same future. Facing outstanding global challenges, the right choice remains to enhance international cooperation and give full play to the global governance system, rather than doing the opposite and arbitrarily hindering international cooperation under all kinds of excuses.

Since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, some countries have been trying to tie the whole world to it, turning world economy into a political issue, a tool and even a weapon, with a total disregard for whether it would impact the life of the people around the world.

Such practice will not help solve the crisis at all, and may destroy the international economic cooperation outcomes achieved in the past decades.

As it confronts global governance challenges, the world must uphold real multilateralism.

Photo taken on April 17 shows the International Conference Center of the Boao Forum for Asia. (People's Daily Online/Yuan Chen)

While the globe remains in the grip of the pandemic, it is facing new traditional security risks. Meanwhile, the widening development gap is further bothering the sluggish global recovery, and new issues such as digital governance are emerging while climate change and other governance issues still need to be addressed.

It is never a good idea to go it alone to solve these problems. Global actions, response and cooperation are required to overcome these concerns. Only by practicing a global governance philosophy that emphasizes extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, can countries expand common ground and build the most powerful strength.

Hegemonism and power politics are presently posing a grave danger to the world's peace and progress. It is urgent to uphold true multilateralism and firmly safeguard the international system with the UN at its core and the international order underpinned by international law, which is also a common aspiration of the international society.

Major country must fulfill their responsibilities as the world rises up to global governance challenges.

A sub-forum of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022 is held, April 20, 2022. (People's Daily Online/Yuan Chen)

A countrys international status is measured by its openness of mind, breadth of vision, and sense of responsibility rather than its size, strength or power. "It is particularly important for major countries to lead by example in honoring equality, cooperation, good faith and the rule of law, and act in a way befitting their status," President Xi said.

To maintain their hegemonic status, a few major countries have stuck to Cold War mentality and provoked confrontations, which further exacerbated tensions and separation, making more troubles for the troubled world.

In todays world, unilateralism and excessive pursuit of self-interest are doomed to fail; so are the practices of decoupling, supply disruption and maximum pressure; so are the attempts to forge small circles or to stoke conflict and confrontation along ideological lines. Major countries should follow the trend of the times and play a constructive role in global governance.

China is enhancing and improving global governance with concrete actions. Facing the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, it is actively promoting all relevant parties to improve global public health governance, so as to build concerted strength against the virus. When addressing the outstanding security risks, it has proposed a Global Security Initiative to contribute to the reform of the global security governance system. To jump-start the sluggish world economy, the country is also committed to improving global economic governance and building an open world economy. It has raised and is implementing the Global Development Initiative to help countries tide over difficulties.

Countries around the world are like passengers aboard the same ship who share the same destiny. For the ship to navigate the storm and sail toward a bright future, all passengers must pull together. The thought of throwing anyone overboard is simply not acceptable.

Difficulties and challenges are not to be afraid of. What's important is to up hold solidarity and be courageous. China will collaborate with the international community to follow the trend of the times featuring peace, development and win-win cooperation, cope with global challenges with cooperation and enhance global governance with concrete actions, so as to move in the direction of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cautioned the West not to underrate the heightened possibility of a nuclear war in Ukraine and World War III, accusing NATO of engaging in a proxy war against Russia by supplying weapons to Kyiv.

In an interview aired on government-run television, Lavrov stated that the military situation in Ukraine would be at the heart of any accord to resolve the conflict.

According to Daily Mail, Lavrov was asked if the current situation was comparable to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, which marked a low moment in the US-Soviet relationship. Lavrov said that Russia is working hard to defend the objective of avoiding nuclear war at all costs.

The Russian official added he does not intend "to elevate those risks artificially."

"Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it," Lavrov said.

Russia's attacks on Ukraine killed thousands of people, destroyed towns and cities, and caused nearly 5 million people to evacuate their homeland.

Moscow views the two-month onslaught as a "special operation" aimed at disarming Ukraine and protecting it from fascists. Ukraine and the West argue that this is a ploy to justify President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked invasion, as per Reuters.

In defending Moscow's measures, Lavrov also slammed the communication gap on the part of the United States. He accused Washington of halting dialogue.

"The United States has practically ceased all contacts simply because we were obliged to defend Russians in Ukraine," Lavrov noted.

He also claimed that Western weaponry shipments, such as Javelin anti-tank missiles, armored vehicles, and powerful drones, were provocative actions geared to extend rather than terminate the war.

According to Lavrov, Kyiv officials were not negotiating in good faith and said President Volodymyr Zelensky was only functioning to please the public rather than focusing on the negotiations.

Ukrainian Official Says Russia Is Showing Its 'Weakness'

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba claimed on Monday night, following Lavrov's interview, that Russia's scaremongering is a sign of weakness.

Kuleba said that Russia's last hope to "scare the world off supporting Ukraine" is now gone.

'This only means Moscow senses defeat,' he tweeted.

Russia loses last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine. Thus the talk of a real danger of WWIII. This only means Moscow senses defeat in Ukraine. Therefore, the world must double down on supporting Ukraine so that we prevail and safeguard European and global security.  Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 25, 2022

Read Also: Switzerland Blocks German Request for Swiss Made Ammunition Destined for Ukraine, Cites Neutral Status in Hostile Conflicts

British armed forces minister James Heappey echoed the Ukrainian official's analysis, stating he does not anticipate an imminent threat of aggravation in Ukraine. He also sees Lavrov's statements as a false show of bravery.

"Lavrov's trademark over the course of 15 years or so that he has been the Russian foreign secretary has been that sort of bravado," Heappey stated in a BBC report.

'What the West is doing to support its allies in Ukraine is very well calibrated ... Everything we do is calibrated to avoid direct confrontation with Russia," he added.

Military Assistance for Ukraine Continues

Heappey has confirmed that the UK will provide a modest number of anti-aircraft vehicles to Ukraine.

It came as Russia concentrated its troops in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, with the UK Defense ministry stating that the city of Kreminna, in the Luhansk region, had surrendered.

While NATO is strengthening its eastern front, Heappey told Sky News that the organization was not offering military assistance.

Since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February, however, Western countries have provided significant amounts of money in military aid to Ukraine. NATO and European Union leaders also meet in Germany to discuss future military assistance to Ukraine.

Related Article: Vladimir Putin Children: Does Russia's President Have Kids?

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Britain backed Ukraine to use weapons it supplied to attack targets inside Russia today - saying Kyiv has 'every chance of kicking Vladimir Putin's forces out of the country.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said logistics sites on Russian soil were legitimate targets, amid a series of explosions at oil depots in recent days.

And he said the UK was happy for weapons it has supplied to be used.

Mr Heappey also hit back at nuclear sabre-rattling by Kremlin henchman Sergei Lavrov, saying his comments were just 'noise'.

Russia's top diplomat has warned that Nato is now fighting a proxy war in Ukraine and there is a 'very serious' risk the conflict could turn nuclear.

Mr Heapey told Times Radio: 'It is completely legitimate for Ukraine to be targeting in Russia's depth in order to disrupt the logistics that if they weren't disrupted would directly contribute to death and carnage on Ukrainian soil.

'There are lots of countries around the world that operate kit that they have imported from other countries; when those bits of kit are used we tend not to blame the country that manufactured it, you blame the country that fired it.'

Armed forces minister James Heappey said logistics sites on Russian soil were legitimate targets, amid a series of explosions at oil depots in recent days,

The UK is supplying arms including the Starstreak missile system and Stormer vehicles to carry it, to Ukraine

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, has warned that Nato is now fighting a proxy-war against Moscow and there is a 'very significant' risk the conflict will turn nuclear

Lavrov accused the West of risking a third world war in Ukraine by supplying weapons with the hope of 'wearing out the Russian army' - a goal he called 'an illusion'

The comments mark a further strengthening of the UK's position, as allies shift from caution against antagonising President Vladimir Putin to supplying more and more lethal aid.

Lavrov accused Nato forces of 'pouring oil on the fire' by providing weapons, as he warned against provoking 'World War Three'.

Claiming Nato its allies were attempting to bully Russia on the international stage, Lavrov warned that tensions between east and west are now worse than during the Cuban missile crisis at the height of the Cold War.

Asked directly about the possibility of a nuclear war, he replied: 'The risks are very significant. I do not want the danger to be artificially inflated [but] it is serious, real. It cannot be underestimated.'

But Mr Heappey told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the chances of nuclear warfare are 'vanishingly small'.

He told Mr Lavrov to 'reflect' on the reason there is a war in Ukraine being that Russia invaded, telling Sky News: 'All of this noise from Moscow about somehow their attack on Ukraine being a response to Nato aggression is just utter, utter nonsense.'

Mr Heappey said there is 'every chance' that the Ukrainians will see off the Russians in the invasion, arguing that Moscow's victory in the east of Ukraine is not inevitable.

'We'll see a conflict between two forces that are much more evenly balanced, where the Ukrainians have the advantage of defensive positions that have been dug in and prepared over the last eight years, and that's going to make it an extraordinarily difficult nut for the Russians to crack,' he told Sky.

'And with all the support that the Ukrainians are getting from around the world, there's every chance the Ukrainians can see them off.'

Germany will supply 50 Gepard anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine, the defence minister is set to announce today- after weeks of dithering on the issue

Olaf Scholz (left) had been accused of undermining European security by refusing to supply Ukraine, with minister Christine Lambrecht (right) due to announce a change of policy today

Germany is expected to finally authorise the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine today after weeks of dithering that has tarnished its reputation on the world stage and led to questions about its commitment to European security.

Defense minister Christine Lambrecht is expected announce the delivery of around 50 Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles to Ukraine during a meeting of more than 40 nations that will take place at Ramstein air base later today.

Germany's defence industry has been offering to sell the Gepard vehicles to Ukraine since February, but had been blocked from doing so by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government which led to outcry both inside and outside the country.

The Gepard was first developed in the 1960s and for decades formed the backbone of Germany's air defence forces, having undergone several upgrades to its radar and targeting systems.

Built on the chassis of a Leopard 1 tank, Gepards are equipped with two 35mm cannons which were designed to take out incoming aircraft and cruise missiles, but can also be used against drones and - if necessary - against ground targets.

Later models were equipped with Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, but it is unclear if these are fitting to the ones that will be supplied to Ukraine.

The Bundeswehr began phasing out the vehicle in 2010 in favour of the more modern Wiesel 2 Ozelot that is equipped with missiles as standard.

Any Gepard vehicles supplied to Ukraine are expected to come from stockpiles that have sat un-used since the Ozelot came into service.

German arms company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann first said back in February that it had 50 Gepards that could 'quickly' be supplied to Ukraine if the federal government gave it permission to do so.
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Although many Brits will be able to enjoy the sunshine on the May bank holiday, others will be resigned to grey skies and rain, as a weather split falls across on the country.

The UK will be divided as forecasters predict sunny weather in the south but rain in the north and Scotland.

Many would have hoped for a sizzler like the last bank holiday at Easter that saw the hottest day of the year, with Brits flocking to beaches to enjoy the glorious sun.

Stephen Dixon, a forecaster at the Met Office, told MailOnline temperatures would be above average in the week leading up to the bank holiday. Yet he said there would be a split across the UK in terms of weather.

He said today would see high pressure largely dominant for much of the UK. 'The northeast and Scotland will have some showers and some patchy rain,' he said. For the south, some good spells of sunshine.'

A sunny day on the south coast of the UK lead people to take a lazy day by the sea in Southbourne, Dorset, today

Mist rises over the River Thames on a sunny morning in the pretty village of Sonning, near Reading, Berkshire, on April 26

A man enjoys the warm afternoon as he relaxes with his feet up on a deck chairs in the spring sunshine at St James's Park, London, today

Two-year-old Sprocker Spaniel Inka couldn't get enough of today's wonderful weather as she bounded through a field of bluebells in East Horsley, Surrey

The Royal Liver Building in Liverpool was illuminated by a dazzling sunrise this morning. Temperatures are set to remain above average this week

Two walkers surveyed a mass of bluebells at Dockey Wood near Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, today. Many Brits will be hoping May lives up to April, which was exceptionally warm, especially on the Easter bank holiday

On the bank holiday weekend and beyond temperatures are likely to stay the same and there will be sunny and dry spells with a smattering of rain across the north and in Scotland

He added: 'On Wednesday, good sunny and clear spells in the north and generally a sunny day. For Thursday, high pressure continues to sit over the UK.'

Mr Dixon said there would be 'some good spells of sunshine to be found' because of 'this high pressure we are seeing', before patchy clouded starts to spread across Britain on Friday.

However, Saturday will be a 'change in condition' and the forecaster admitted there is 'uncertainty' ahead.

As the week draws on there will be highs of 62.6F for much of the week, well above the average of 53.6F for this time of the year.

However, as the weekend approaches he warned the threat of frost will increase will colder nights and temperatures as low as 24.8F.

Western Scotland may even see as much as 20mm of rain over the May bank holiday weekend.

As a dry April ends, May is looking set to be more unsettled. However, with summer fast approaching the toasty temperatures could return.

Former Met Office meteorologist John Hammond said the UK's weather 'will go into reverse' this week.

'The mercury will go into reverse, with a cooler trend to end April,' he told the Mirror. 'Fresh waves of Arctic air mean a good chance, even across southern Britain, of temperatures falling close to or below freezing.'

Mr Hammond added: 'One or two wintry showers are not ruled out later in the week, most likely on higher ground in the North.'

Two Exmoor ponies with walnut-coloured fur grazed in green fields in the morning sunshine today near Dover Castle in Kent

The medieval castle was built in the 11th century and historians have called it the 'key to England' owing to its defensive position on the British coast

One of the emerald Liverbirds that sits on top of the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool, was illuminated just before sunrise today

The morning seemed rather mystical in Berkshire today as a light frost gave way to the warmer temperatures seen across much of the UK

Brits sizzled in the sunshine on the last bank holiday ahead of splendid Easter Sunday after experiencing the hottest day of the year so far. Pictured: Girls from the Talk of the Coast show at The Viking Hotel in Blackpool show off their beach bodies

After an early morning with some mist and fog, Easter Sunday was set to be a fine day with some 'spells of sunshine'. Pictured: Families enjoy the bright sunshine on the beach in Bournemouth, Dorset on Easter Sunday

Forecasters say Easter Sunday will be cooler, with showers confined mainly to the north and west ahead of a wetter Monday. Pictured: Two women sunbathing on Wimbledon Common, south west London on Good Friday

Colourful surfboards are out at Porthmeor beach in St Ives as people hit the waves to make the most of the warm, sunny spells on April 16

The mercury hit 23.4C in St James's Park in central London on Good Friday afternoon, the Met Office said, making it hottest day of the year so far - and warmer than California. Pictured: Sun-seekers flock to Brighton beach on first day of Easter holidays

People enjoy the good weather at Bournemouth Beach in Dorset as the UK is set for another day of warm weather ahead of Easter Sunday

The beach is busy as holidaymakers flock to Durdle Door in Dorset to enjoy the scorching hot sunshine on Easter Sunday

Bournemouth university students Samira Al-Nasser (left) and Alice Hussein, both 23, soak up the Good Friday sun on Bournemouth Beach

A hen do poses for photos as the ladies sit on their deck chairs on Brighton beach, Friday April 15, 2022

Jennifer Moore, 26, poses for a photo on the beach at St Annes-on-Sea, Friday April 15, 2022

On the bank holiday weekend and beyond temperatures are likely to stay the same and there will be sunny and dry spells with a smattering of rain across the north and in Scotland.

The sun will shine especially brightly in Bristol, which is set for a glorious week of sunny weather and temperatures of up to a whopping 59F, while Brighton will also see warmer patches.

Colder nights will see more frost and the evenings are more likely to see frost in rural areas of the countryside.

Stuart Henderson enjoys sunshine from his beach hut on Bournemouth beach, Friday April 15, 2022

Huge crowds of sun-seekers enjoy a day out in Brighton at the start of the weekend, Friday April 15, 2022

People are pictured queueing for ice cream in Hyde Park, London on the hottest day of the year, April 15, 2022

People enjoy the water at Warleigh Weir on the river Avon near Bath in Somerset on Good Friday Bank Holiday

A beautiful wild badger explores the bluebells in a wood in Battle, East Sussex, on April 15 amid glorious weather

Horticulturist Rose Philpot tends to the labyrinth of daffodils and tulips that have bloomed due to the recent warm weather at Arundel Tulip festival at Arundel Castle in West Sussex

The wind will only be lightly breezy, although the east coast may see stronger gusts as May goes on.

There will be clear and sunny spells for most of the middle of May, although again conditions could change and bring a longer rainfall.

Yet the end of May will see a return to warmer weather, which is likely to be a good sign for people looking ahead to a summer holiday.
Bosses at Heathrow Airport warn the current surge in demand will subside in a 'winter freeze' as the UK's busiest flight hub expects to remain loss-making throughout 2022.

The west London airport, which expects to see more than 52million passengers this year alone, is not expecting a return to profit-making despite a recent deluge of travellers.

Passenger numbers are expected to return to around 65% of pre-pandemic levels, after Heathrow announced since it had lost 4billion since March 2020.

But the airport's chief executive John Holland-Kaye warned demand remains 'very volatile' as fears of a fourth wave of Covid, skyrocketing global oil prices and the conflict in Ukraine all continue to affect consumer confidence.

The airport is predicting a 'winter freeze' that will follow the bursting of a booming summer travel 'bubble', with major airlines already canning autumn flights.

Heathrow hopes to further hike airlines' landing charges to accelerate it's recovery from the pandemic despite nine million travellers passing through the airportin the first three months of the year.

It comes as thousands of passengers hoping for a relaxing Easter getaway were hit with huge queues at airports across the UK as the aviation industry buckled under a surge in last-minute bookings as Covid restrictions were slashed.

Heathrow's chief executive John Holland-Kaye warned demand remains 'very volatile' as fears of a fourth wave of Covid, skyrocketing global oil prices and the conflict in Ukraine all continue to affect consumer confidence

Passenger numbers are expected to return to around 65% of pre-pandemic levels, after Heathrow announced since it had lost 4billion since March 2020. Pictured: Queues at Heathrow Airport on Saturday, April 23

Insurers refuse claims amid travel chaos Holidaymakers could be left thousands of pounds out of pocket because insurers will not cover claims for the current travel chaos. Since the disruption is now a known event from media reports, travel insurers may refuse to reimburse customers for money wasted on unused accommodation, car hire and excursions. Others are relying on Covid-related exclusions in the small print to deny claims. Martyn James, from complaints website Resolver, said: Just because we know Covid is prevalent does not mean we can treat flight disruption as a given. Insurers cannot absolve themselves of responsibility. Advertisement

Some 9.7 million passengers travelled through Heathrow Airport in the first three months of the year, which was in line with forecasts.

January and February were 'much weaker than expected' due to restrictions brought in to tackle the Omicron strain of Covid-19, according to Heathrow.

But passenger numbers increased in March after the 'unexpectedly quick removal' of all UK travel restrictions on March 18.

Mr Holland-Kaye told BBC R4's Today programme that the airport was seeing a 'wave of pent-up demand' since Covid travel restrictions were axed on March 18.

But he believes the outlook for air travel remains 'quite uncertain' after the summer with existing pressures on the wider economy expected to bite down hard on the pockets on millions of British families.

'We've got the risk of 4th wave, higher oil prices, lower GDP growth and of course war in Ukraine that puts a lot of passengers off coming to Europe and particularly into the UK', he explained.

'That's why we've got a bit of an uncertain outlook but we are doing everything we can to make sure passengers travelling through Heathrow over the summer have a fantastic experience they can expect.'

It comes as passengers are set to be hit with increasing ticket prices despite two years of travel chaos since the onset of the pandemic.

Heathrow increased landing fees by a third in January, and has plans to increase by up to 90 per cent over the next five years, reports the Telegraph.

Mr Holland-Kaye defended any future rise in costs as an 'affordable' plan that will help passengers with a 'smooth and predictable journey through the airport'.

Heathrow's passenger numbers increased in March after the 'unexpectedly quick removal' of all UK travel restrictions on March 18

Passengers are set to be hit with increasing ticket prices despite two years of travel chaos since the onset of the pandemic

Heathrow boss says passport application processing delays are 'really disappointing' Delays in processing passport applications are 'really disappointing', the boss of Heathrow Airport has said. Chief executive John Holland-Kaye said it is 'vital' that people can go on holiday this summer in case the UK reintroduces coronavirus travel restrictions. It emerged on Monday that the Passport Office is dealing with a backlog in applications. Mr Holland-Kaye said: 'Normally the Passport Office is very slick in processing passports. It's really disappointing to hear (about delays). 'If it's not resolved, it is going to mean that people can't get away. 'After two years of lockdown, we need to make sure people can have a good holiday because many of them have vouchers that they've been saving up, they've got trips of a lifetime that they've put on hold, and we don't know when things might get closed down again. 'Making the most of the summer is vital.' The House of Commons heard about one woman who has waited more than five months to receive her daughter's new passport, with services branded 'either really very good or an absolute shambles'. Home Office minister Kevin Foster said said the Passport Office dealt with a million applications last month, compared with seven million per year before the pandemic. Conservative MP Simon Hoare described the backlog as 'unprecedented, true, but foreseeable, absolutely'. Advertisement

Airlines including British Airways and EasyJet have already slashed thousands of flights in the previous month, with industry insiders fearing the worst is yet to come.

BA boss Sean Doyle originally told staff in an internal message that flights would be cancelled until the end of next month, partly due to staff shortages.

There are fears that other carriers could also be hit with issues after easyJet cancelled hundreds of flights over Easter - with BA axing at least 101 short haul flights to or from Heathrow on Tuesday.

The transport chaos over Easter saw flights to destinations into Europe and the US cancelled by BA and easyJet as they were hit by Covid absences, lack of staff and a surge in demand for travel as restrictions were lifted.

MPs have since called for an 'automatic refund' for holidaymakers whose travel plans are affected by cancellations or last-minute alterations.

A report by the Commons transport committee called for the industry regulator to be handed new powers to fine airlines which fail to pay compensation quickly for cancelled or delayed flights.

Heathrow said more than 95% of passengers got through security within five minutes during the Easter getaway.

It added that it is 'planning to continue delivering a good service over a busy summer' by reopening Terminal 4 by July and recruiting more than 1,000 new security officers.

A Heathrow spokesman told MailOnline: 'Demand remains very volatile and we expect these passenger numbers to drop off significantly after the summer.

'We are already seeing airlines cancelling services into the autumn and the realities of higher fuel costs, lower GDP growth, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing pandemic will drag on demand.

'We are still in a pandemic, with many markets still closed, nearly 80% with testing and vaccination requirements, and another variant of concern could see the return of UK travel restrictions.'

Heathrow has said it plans to recruit 1,000 new security staff and will reopen Terminal 4, which has sat dormant during the pandemic.

The airport will also 'assisting' airlines, ground handlers and retailers fill more than 12,000 vacancies across its own services.

Chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: 'I want to thank colleagues who worked very hard to ensure the start of 2022 has gone to plan, and I want to reassure passengers that we're redoubling our efforts to ensure this summer's journeys go safely and smoothly.'

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: 'With remaining UK travel restrictions now removed, Heathrow is set to be the busiest airport in Europe this year. Virgin Atlantic is expecting to reach 100% of 2019 Heathrow passenger flying levels during the summer peak with forward bookings well into the year recovering strongly.

'Despite the return of travel at scale, Heathrow is seeding doubt in the strength of demand so it can seek excess returns to shareholders and secure an unjustified increase in charges that would hurt UK competitiveness and consumers.

'We urge the CAA to ignore Heathrows cynical forecasts and conflicting statements, choosing instead the credible, independent evidence of returning demand, in order to make a decision on charges that puts consumers first.

'Already Europes most expensive airport, charges were hiked 56% at the start of 2022 and as passengers return in greater numbers, there is also a clear case for this interim increase to be rolled back.

'The Transport Select Committee carefully considered the issue this week and rightly concluded that the CAAs final proposals must be based on accurate recovery data to achieve a fair decision.'
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A new multi-million pound council headquarters has been left virtually empty while staff continue to work from home, it has been claimed, as civil servants in London continue to do the same with the latest figures showing some Government departments are less than half full.

New Shire Hall, the newly built headquarters of Cambridgeshire County Council, was opened last summer in Alconbury at a cost of 18million to the taxpayer but social distancing measures still in place at the council mean it is yet to reach full capacity.

Critics said the decision to continue limited use of the building 'beggars belief' and said it was 'costing residents money'.

It comes as the Civil Service is resisting attempts by ministers to force them to ditch working from home and return to Whitehall.

London ministries are said to be less than half-full despite the efforts of Jacob Rees-Mogg to pry them from their spare rooms and kitchen tables.

Mr Rees-Mogg's attempts to end WFH, including leaving notes on empty desks, have not been backed by other ministers, with Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries accusing him of a 'Dickensian' approach to the issue.

The Cabinet is also said to have backed away from the idea of stripping London weighting from the salaries of people who are still not yet commuting back into the capital.

Critics of home working claim it makes staff less productive and creative, damages career prospects and harms the economies of town centres.

In Cambridgeshire, reports suggest the county council's brand new head office remains largely unoccupied due to lingering Covid social distancing measures which mean many staff members are still working from home - despite the Government scrapping WFH advice earlier this year.

Cambridgeshire County Council reportedly still has the majority of staff members working from home or at alternative venues meaning the brand new building has yet to reach full occupancy. According to the Telegraph, the building is operating with a skeleton staff as a result of 'Covid guidelines'.

A notice on the council's website, updated on March 25, states that all county council buildings, including those with reception services, are closed to the public due to Covid-19 regulations.

The Government's work from home advice was scrapped in England back in January as the nation's focus moved to Living with Covid and returning to pre-pandemic lifestyles.

Even patients in hospitals and GP surgeries are no longer advised to socially distance, although masks are still a requirement in NHS healthcare settings.

The new multi-million pound Cambridgeshire County Council headquarters (pictured) has been left virtually empty while staff continue to work from home, it has been claimed, as council bosses continue to enforce social distancing measures

The new building in Alconbury replaced the former county council headquarters (pictured) based at Shire Hall in Cambridge

Despite this, members of the public in Cambridgeshire have reported being told that there are no staff working at the county council's new headquarters due to Covid guidelines.

The Telegraph reported that there were as few as three cars in the car park of the 18million building.

The council, run by a Liberal Democrat-Labour coalition, has yet to disclose how many staff members are currently working from home or exactly what Covid guidelines the council was still enforcing.

Council documents published last month show that even full council meetings are still being held at external venues due to 'the requirement for social distancing'.

The document, presented to the Strategy and Resources Committee, reads: 'While the severity of the pandemic has reduced over recent months, COVID-19 remains a threat.

'A local authority meeting that was held recently has reportedly resulted in a significant number of participants contracting COVID-19.

'As a result of this, the MFR (multi-function room) will not be suitable for use for Full Council until the requirement for social distancing is removed under Public Health guidance and safety risk assessments.

'CCC will continue to use alternative venues that provides sufficient space for social distancing until it is deemed safe to reduce or remove the requirement for social distancing.'

Despite acknowledging that the MFR 'formed part of the core design requirements' for the building, the document also outlines concerns over its suitability as a venue for full council meetings.

It states that members have raised concerns over the safety and security of councillors due to the proximity of the public gallery to the councillors' seating area.

The report highlighted that the council chamber previously used in the old Shire Hall headquarters had a first floor balcony that physically separated councillors and the public, for 'all but the most determined persons, [for example] those attempting to bring abseiling equipment into the building'.

The council has refuted claims that the building is unused but has not disclosed exactly how many members of staff are working there.

The note (pictured left) which was left on empty desks at Whitehall by Jacob Rees-Mogg (right) who has been campaigning for civil service's return to work and has recently started patrolling government departments to carry out headcounts

Figures show that some departments are less than half full (pictured: Foreign and Commonwealth Office earlier this year)

It has been suggested that the numbers will increase as 'virus levels continue to decline' but has not shared a timeline on how or when this would happen.

PM backs Jacob Rees-Mogg's drive to get civil servants back to their Whitehall desks Boris Johnson backed Jacob Rees-Mogg's drive to get civil servants back to their Whitehall desks - despite a Cabinet row erupting over the 'Dickensian' campaign. Mr Rees-Mogg, the Cabinet minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, is currently leading Government efforts to end home-working practices among officials after the Covid pandemic. In his determination to fill Whitehall offices again, Mr Rees-Mogg was revealed to have been conducting personal headcounts of officials in some Government departments. He has also left notices in offices for civil servants not at their desks, which read: 'Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.' Mr Rees-Mogg's notes have been branded 'supremely passive aggressive' and 'patronising' by critics. And his campaign to end work from home (WFH) for civil servants has also enraged some of his fellow Cabinet ministers. The Times reported that Mr Rees-Mogg gave a presentation to Cabinet last week, which included a league table highlighting the departments where the fewest staff had returned to work. According to the newspaper, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries voiced her objections to Mr Rees-Mogg's campaign and said that the focus should be on civil servants' productivity. She told him that his letter to government departments brought to mind 'images of burning tallow, rheumy eyes and Marley's ghost (from A Christmas Carol)'. Ms Dorries added: 'There's a whiff of something Dickensian about it. Why are we measuring bodies behind desks? Why aren't we measuring productivity?' Several other Cabinet ministers are also said to have reservations about the campaign to force civil servants back to their Whitehall desks. Mr Rees-Mogg wouldn't comment on the dispute, which was described as 'good natured' by one Government source. In reference to Cabinet confidentiality rules, Mr Rees-Mogg told PA: 'If it's leaks from Cabinet, I'll comment under the 30-year rule when we're all a little bit older.' Despite the concerns among other Cabinet ministers, the Prime Minister yesterday offered strong backing for Mr Rees-Mogg's efforts. Mr Johnson's official spokesman said Mr Rees-Mogg was seeking to 'do everything possible to get the civil service to return to the pre-pandemic level'. They added: 'That is what he is seeking to do. That is supported by the Cabinet Secretary (Simon Case) and obviously the Prime Minister.' Asked if the notes left on desks by Mr Rees-Mogg were helpful, the spokesman said the PM 'supports any initiative that encourages people to return to pre-pandemic working'. 'We are not talking about putting an end to flexible working, which continues to have a place in the modern workplace, we are talking about returning to pre-pandemic use of taxpayer-funded departmental buildings,' they continued. Advertisement

Jake Berry, the Conservative MP and former minister told the Telegraph: 'There is little or no reason whatsoever that people working for Cambridgeshire County Council should not go back to work.

'We have seen Covid restrictions rolled back across the country and it beggars belief that the only place they haven't heard about this is in Cambridgeshire.'

Steve Count, Cambridgeshire county councillor and leader of the conservatives, said the move was a 'politically motivated attack' on the building which was commissioned by the Tories under a former administration.

He said: 'The purpose built New Shire Hall is a fantastic new asset, commissioned by the Conservative administration when they were in charge, which should be delivering over 40m of savings for the Taxpayers of Cambridgeshire.

'It's a shame that the new Liberal Democrat and Labour alliance are continuing to not occupy this excellent building and adding further unnecessary expense on to our hard pressed residents.

'Covid excuses are their thin disguise to what is essentially a politically motivated attack, that is costing our residents money.'

However, council leader Lucy Nethsingha hit back at the claim which she branded 'disgraceful', insisting that council staff continued to work 'incredibly hard' despite working from home.

She said: 'Not only has New Shire Hall been open for public meetings since May last year, but the comment from Conservative MP Jake Berry that 'people working for Cambridgeshire County Council should go back to work' is deeply offensive.

'Staff at Cambridgeshire County Council have worked incredibly hard over the past 3 years to support thousands of vulnerable people under extremely difficult circumstances.

'To have this comment from a Conservative MP shows just how out of touch they are with the phenomenal efforts that all those working in public services have put in during the pandemic.

'Our staff have worked above and beyond the call of duty during the pandemic to keep people safe in their homes, they have struggled with home schooling while coping with ever changing government advice and guidance.'

Ms Nethsingha also said it was 'inaccurate' to suggest the building was largely unused but did not comment on the impact of the council's use of social distancing and Covid guidelines on the building's occupancy.

Newly appointed chief executive Stephen Moir answered critics in a tweet he put out yesterday.

'Reflecting upon issues of work, workplace and workforce.

'IMHO, work is what you do, let's not confuse or conflate this with where you do it from,' he wrote.

'Workplace can describe a range of settings & locations, some fixed, some variable, some virtual, so let's instead focus on outcomes'

Labour leader Elisa Meschini said 'plenty of staff' work in the building including the council's chief executive who is in every day.

She added: 'I firmly believe that work is something you do - not a place you go.

'Like the leader of the council I find it totally offensive for anyone to suggest that our staff who include social workers, reablement staff, school welfare teams, highways maintenance crews, librarians, registrars have not been working flat out over the course of the pandemic.

'I couldn't be prouder of them or our record during the pandemic and beyond and anyone who suggests this is not the case has no clue whatsoever about how local authorities serve local people day in and day out.

'Where people need to be in our buildings they are, and we will continue to support them working from where ever they can do this the most effectively.'

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire County Council said essential public services have been running throughout the pandemic from a 'range of workplaces and settings'.

Pictured: Inside the council's brand new headquarters in Alconbury which is not being used at full capacity due to Covid rules

Conservative MP Jake Berry (pictured) said there is 'little or no reason' people should not be back at work in Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire County Council says New Shire Hall is just one of several buildings from which the council operates from

It said New Shire Hall was just one of multiple buildings that the council operates from and that many public facing services are operated from other sites.

The spokesman added: 'The Government's Living with Covid plan does remove the restrictions at a national level.

'However Cambridgeshire has remained stubbornly high in respect of both positive case numbers and hospitalisation rates so our local Public Health professional advice has been, until late last week, to continue to apply social distancing and the use of face coverings in our Council owned premises.

'These measures do not and have not prevented reoccupation of our buildings, and as virus levels and hospitalisation rates have started to fall, we are planning for changes to this advice, but fully expect hybrid work to continue where this supports staff well-being, recruitment and retention and good outcomes for the people of Cambridgeshire.'

The situation in Cambridgeshire reflects that of the Civil Service in London where many staff members continue to work from home despite the removal of Covid restrictions.

Jacob Rees-Mogg recently started patrolling government departments to find out how many are still empty after lockdown restrictions lifted.

And it emerged at the weekend that when he makes his unannounced visits, he leaves behind messages that are politely worded but whose meaning is clear.

They state: 'Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.' They are signed 'with every good wish' and carry his name and title.

The country's most senior civil servant, Simon Case, had privately warned Johnson against forcing officials back to the office

It is understood Mr Rees-Mogg, in charge of civil service reform, left a number of the notes in his Cabinet Office department several days ago.

Mr Rees-Mogg has written to Cabinet ministers calling on them to issue a clear message to staff about a 'rapid return to the office'.

Downing Street said Boris Johnson supported Mr Rees-Mogg's efforts.

'What the minister is seeking to achieve is to do everything possible to get the civil service to return to the pre-pandemic level,' the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

'That is what he is seeking to do. That is supported by the Cabinet Secretary and obviously the Prime Minister.'

But the Guardian later reported that the country's most senior civil servant, Simon Case, had in fact privately warned Mr Johnson against forcing officials back to the office.

The newspaper said at least four permanent secretaries were also understood to have voiced concerns about the Government's rhetoric on the matter.

Asked if the notes left on desks by Mr Rees-Mogg were helpful, the PM's spokesman said Mr Johnson 'supports any initiative that encourages people to return to pre-pandemic working'.

Dave Penman, the secretary general of the Civil service union, criticised Government's 'obsession' with returning to the office

'We are not talking about putting an end to flexible working, which continues to have a place in the modern workplace, we are talking about returning to pre-pandemic use of taxpayer-funded departmental buildings.'

The Times reported that Ms Dorries' response was highly critical of Mr Rees-Mogg's approach.

Mr Rees-Mogg presented figures to Cabinet last week showing that some Government departments were using as little as 25 per cent of office capacity in early April - the figure for Ms Dorries' Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was 43 per cent.

While the number of staff at their desks in Whitehall has increased in recent weeks, it remains well below pre-pandemic levels despite the end of Covid curbs.

The Department for Education had just 25 per cent of staff in the office in the week beginning April 4  although officials said the school holidays meant it was not representative.

WFH officials will be ordered back to desks if they're looking after children during office hours Civil servants will be forced back into the office if they are found to be looking after their children when they are supposedly working from home, it has been revealed. Staff at major government agencies have been warned against taking advantage of the new 'hybrid working' arrangements that allow them to spend only two or three days a week at their desks. Internal HR policies obtained by the Daily Mail make clear that working remotely cannot be used as a way to avoid paying for childcare or putting in fewer hours, and that employees' privileges can be removed if their performance is found to be suffering. Advertisement

Despite multiple pressures on the Home Office, including migrant crossings and processing visas for Ukrainian refugees, on average only 42 per cent of staff were at their workplace.

The Foreign Office, a key department responding to Russia's aggression in Ukraine, saw just 31 per cent of staff in its King Charles Street building that week.

And despite the cost of living crisis, the Department for Work and Pensions had just 27 per cent of its civil servants at their desks.

Astonishingly, the figures could overestimate the numbers in the office as some departments recorded the figures by asking security staff to click people in  and then loosely adjusted the figures to account for lunch breaks.

Other departments used data from pass readers. The figures suggest that a plea issued by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay three months ago for departments to return to full occupancy fell on deaf ears.

Mr Rees-Mogg used a Mail on Sunday article to warn that officials may lose the London weighting on their pay or see their jobs moved elsewhere if they were not at their desks.

'Essentially, if people are not back in their office it will be fair to assume that the job does not need to be in London,' he said.

Responding to the reports in The Guardian, a Government spokesperson said: 'We want to see office attendance across the civil service consistently back at normal, pre-pandemic levels.

'There is total agreement across Government on there being clear benefits from face-to-face, collaborative working and we know that this is particularly important for the learning and development of new members of staff.

'The minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency has written to departments to underline the importance of workplace attendance and request that they review their existing guidance on the minimum number of days staff work in the office.'

Last week, union bosses accused ministers of being 'vindictive' and 'obsessed' with working from home.

Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA civil service union, accused Jacob Rees-Mogg of being 'vindictive' and obsessed with ending flexible working after the minister demanded mandarins return to Westminster.

Penman stressed that 'there is no rationale' for this approach, as 'ministers can't point to productivity losses' linked to increased hybrid working in the civil service. He also warned that, if the Cabinet insists 'on micro-managing the civil service' in this way, it will 'only deter good people from joining while simultaneously demotivating those already there'.
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A further group of Just Stop Oil protesters are set to be arrested today after breaching an injunction by standing in front of an oil terminal holding placards saying 'dangerous radicals' and 'if only they listened to petitions'.

The 16 activists outside Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire said police approached them to say they would be arrested for breaching an injunction which stops them demonstrating at Britain's largest inland oil storage depot.

The group of protesters held white signs saying 'investing in new fossil fuels is moral and economic madness'; 'oil is stealing my future'; 'don't stop us - stop oil'; 'we are breaking the injunction'; and 'dangerous criminals'.

Valero Energy, the Texas-based company which owns the Kingsbury oil terminal, secured a first injunction on April 11 which stops anyone from damaging the land at its sites or 'affixing themselves to any other person or object'.

Three days later on April 14, a second injunction was granted in the High Court for North Warwickshire Borough Council, Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire Police, which gives the authorities more powers of arrest.

Just Stop Oil, which is linked to the wider Extinction Rebellion group, said any arrested protesters are likely to face a charge of contempt of court - and could then face an unlimited fine or up two years in prison if found guilty.

Warwickshire Police confirmed the protesters arrived at 7.30am and said at 11am that 'a number of arrests have been made'. The force could not yet give a confirmed number because the activists were being processed.

These Just Stop Oil protesters demonstrating outside Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today are set to be arrested

The activists outside Kingsbury today said police approached them to say they would be arrested for breaching the injunction

The protesters are today breaching an injunction granted to Valero Energy, the Texas-based company which owns Kingsbury

Police at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today as the protests by Just Stop Oil activists continue

One former NHS doctor at today's protest said: 'I'm not a criminal, I've worked 32 years in the NHS as a doctor. But I'm risking arrest and imprisonment simply by standing here today breaking an injunction against protesting about new fossil fuels. It's not a big ask that our Government, one of their climate pledges, stop new UK oil.'

Another protester added: 'I'm here because we are receiving warnings like 'it's now or never', 'code red for humanity', 'direct existential threat', things like that - and we are extremely concerned that we are expanding production of fossil fuels. So we're here to demand that we stop doing that, it's very simple.'

The organisation has been blocking oil terminals and tankers across England including in Birmingham, Essex and Hampshire since April 1 and said nearly 1,000 arrests have now been made over the past month. It said disruption would continue 'until the Government makes a statement that it will end new oil and gas projects in the UK'.

Just Stop Oil protester Amy Pritchard, 37, a care worker from London, said prior to the demonstration at Kingsbury today: 'If my imprisonment helps wake people up to the seriousness of the situation, it's worth it.

'The UN Secretary-General clearly states 'fossil fuels are a dead end' and 'delay means death'. No new oil and gas is not a controversial demand. I want to have children and I want them to have a future.'

Police at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today as the protests by Just Stop Oil activists continue

One of the Just Stop Oil demonstrators stands outside Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire this morning

Just Stop Oil said any arrested protesters outside the Kingsbury oil terminal are likely to face a charge of contempt of court

These Just Stop Oil protesters demonstrating outside Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today are set to be arrested

She was quoting a statement by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in February in which he said 'fossil fuels are a dead end  for our planet, for humanity, and yes, for economies'.

Sarah Webb, 51, a special educational needs tutor from Oxfordshire, was also involved in the demonstration today.

Speaking prior to the action, she said: 'I'm injunction breaking at Kingsbury and risking two years in prison, to stand peacefully on a grass verge, not blocking anything.

'Our Government and judicial system have now effectively outlawed peaceful protest. Is this Russia, is this China? No, it's the UK.

'It's down to us ordinary people now. Can you trust the government to do what is right and end new fossil fuel licences? Can you trust the fossil fuel companies to stop drilling and start building wind turbines? No, me neither. So we all need to stand up and force the government to take action.'

Police at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today as the protests by Just Stop Oil activists continue

Just Stop Oil said any arrested protesters outside the Kingsbury oil terminal are likely to face a charge of contempt of court

The group of protesters held white signs today saying 'investing in new fossil fuels is moral and economic madness'

Police at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today as the protests by Just Stop Oil activists continue

The demonstration in Warwickshire today comes after nearly 1,000 arrests have already been made over the past month

Warwickshire Police's Assistant Chief Constable Dave Gardner said: 'The High Court injunction remains in place and I would strongly advise against people coming to Kingsbury to conduct any protest activity.

'Although the force respects the right to the peaceful protest, we will always take action against anyone found to be acting outside of the law.

'If you are believed to be in breach of the order, officers will arrest you and you will be taken into police custody until you have to appear before the courts.

'A number of arrests have been made this morning and our priority continues to be to minimise any disruption to the community and the local road networks, while ensuring the terminal can go about its day-to-day operational activity.

'A heightened police presence will remain in the area as we deal with the protesters and continue to protect the public from harm.

'I would like to thank the local community for their continued patience. It remains a challenging time but we are working in conjunction with our partners to minimise any disruption.'
A French policeman has been arrested and placed in custody after he shot dead two people and injured a third when their car refused to stop at a checkpoint at a popular Parisian tourist site.

The shooting occurred on the ancient Pont Neuf in the heart of the French capital on Sunday night, as partisans of French President Emmanuel Macron celebrated his re-election.

The unidentified officer has admitted opening fire with his police-issue Heckler and Kock G36 assault rifle after the car - a Volkswagen Polo - came speeding towards his patrol on the historic bridge.

An investigating source said the car was speeding away from officers who had jumped out of the way when the policeman in question began shooting.

'The claim by the officers is that they were being targeted by the car,' said the source.

'They got out of the way, and then one of them starting shooting with his Heckler & Koch assault rifle.'

The driver of the car was killed behind the wheel, while the front-seat passenger was shot dead as he leapt from the car and began running away.

A third man, who was in the back seat of the car, was wounded in the arm and is recovering in hospital.

The officer meanwhile was taken into custody and is under investigation for 'intentional violence resulting in unintentional death,' said a spokesman for the IGPN  the French police unit that investigates alleged crimes carried out by officers.

The vehicle was driving against traffic on the Pont Neuf in Paris on Sunday night, and was trying to hit the officers, who then opened fire, according to a police source

Police investigate the site of a shooting where two people were shot dead by police in Paris on Sunday night

A dozen shots were fired from the policemen's HK G36 according to the investigation's initial reports, of which 'five or six impacted the individuals'.

None of the unarmed victims involved have been identified, but police say the two individuals who were killed were known to be involved in the drugs trade.

The backseat passenger who is currently recovering in hospital was not known to the police.

Four other officers who were with the shooter are considered key witnesses and have been interviewed at length about the incident.

Meanwhile, a taxi driver who was interviewed at the scene has 'confirmed the police acted legitimately in self-defence', according to a police source cited by Le Monde.

A parallel enquiry has been opened by the Paris prosecutor into the 'attempted killing of public officials'.

The bloodbath happened at around midnight on Sunday, soon after the re-election of French president Emmanuel Macron.

Crowds were in the Pont Neuf area, some of them on the way back from Macron's victory speech by the Eiffel Tower.

The Pont Neuf dates back to 1578 and is one Paris' most famous tourist spots, typically bustling with people.

A security perimeter had been set up at the scene in the heart of the capital shortly after the shooting

According to Le Monde, the Volkswagen Polo arrived at Pont Neuf with its hazard lights illuminated and came to a stop close to the checkpoint.

When police officers approached the car, it launched 'at speed towards one of the officials who jumped aside to avoid the oncoming vehicle.'

There was no return of fire from those inside the car, none of whom are thought to have been armed.

'It seems that they were simply in a car that was being driven erratically,' said a police source.

There were no early clues pointing to a link with the presidential election, or any terrorist acts.

A security perimeter was set up at the scene in the heart of the capital and the public prosecutor Laure Beccuau arrived shortly after.
A woman was handcuffed, threatened with weapons, raped and beaten in a nightmare four-day ordeal after she was kidnapped by a man she met on a dating app.

Robert Wilson, 35, pleaded guilty to multiple charges in Victoria's County Court on Tuesday over the sickening attacks on the 39-year-old.

The woman - who is just 45kg compared to Wilson's 105kg frame - met him through dating app Badoo before she was locked inside a bedroom at his house at Darley in Melbourne's northwestern suburbs from March 25 to 29 in 2019.

The court heard the room was rigged so that the moment she stepped outside the bedroom door into a hallway an alarm would be triggered to notify the father-of-two, The Herald Sun reports.

Neighbours have claimed Wilson (pictured) continued about his daily activities while keeping the woman captive

The woman (pictured) was only released from Wilson's home after her friend Thein Truong, contacted the father-of-two on Facebook asking for information on her whereabouts

Throughout the woman's horror ordeal Wilson threatened to kill the her while pointing a spear-gun at her head.

He also held a knife to her throat when she tried to call a friend for help.

As he held the woman hostage, he demanded large amounts of cash be transferred to him and told the her he would 'pimp her out' to make money.

Wilson (pictured) pleaded guilty in Victoria's County Court to multiple charges

Wilson raped the defenceless woman on 18 occasions, beat her with an iron bar, threw her around the room, stomped on her stomach, and strangled her.

She told the court in a statement she felt humiliated and that her injuries were so bad she could not see because her eyes were swollen.

'The only thing I could think of is 'I must stay alive. I must get out of this situation',' the woman of Vietnamese heritage said.

The court was also told the woman's friends desperately searched for her as she was missing, publicly posting on Facebook and trying to locate Wilson's house.

She was released back to her home in the suburb of Richmond on the condition her friends deleted the posts and did not go to authorities.

However, her friends were so shocked at her injuries they convinced the terrified woman to go to a police station where an ambulance was immediately called.

Wilson pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, rape, theft and intentionally causing injury.

His pre-sentencing hearing continues on Wednesday.

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A cosmetic surgeon risks losing his 1.25m family home after a decade-long bitter spat with his ex-wife has cost the pair hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal bills.

Dr Adam Greenbaum married former nurse Barbara Lockwood in 2006 and they settled and had two children in his Forest Hill home 'gifted' to him by his father.

But two years after relocating to New Zealand in 2009, the couple split and began their 'destructive litigation that has lasted ever since'.

The surgeon was ordered to pay his ex-wife a lump sum of 216,000 by a New Zealand divorce judge in 2016, but Ms Lockwood claims she has already spent it all during their legal battles.

Dr Greenbaum then won a separate court ruling in 2018, ensuring he was now owed 225,000 to cover Ms Lockwood's share of the couple's joints debts.

In the latest twist in the former lovers' long-running saga, Ms Lockwood was granted permission to bring proceedings to London's High Court as she fights for her share of the couple's 1.25m former London home.

Presiding over their latest divorce row, Mr Justice Philip Moor described the case as being 'expensive and thoroughly damaging' to the pair who 'only have themselves to blame'.

And he went on to warn that the new 'no fault' divorces will not stop savage court fights if couples refuse to act 'reasonably' towards each other.

Top cosmetic surgeon Dr Adam Greenbaum married former nurse Barbara Lockwood in 2006 and they settled and had two children in his Forest Hill home 'gifted' to him by his father

But in the latest twist in the former lovers' long-running saga, Ms Lockwood was granted permission to bring proceedings to the High Court as she fights for her share of the couple's 1.25m former London home (pictured above)

While the court in New Zealand had ordered a 215,000 payout for Ms Greenwood, judges had also ruled that she had no claim there for a share of their detached 1.25m south London house.

She was however liable to pay back 225,000 to her ex to cover her half of the 'relationship debt' they accumulated by borrowing money from Dr Greenbaum's mum to do up the house and emigrate, the New Zealand judges ruled.

That order left the wife penniless, heavily in debt to her surgeon ex and at one stage facing a bid by him to make her bankrupt.

She has now been granted permission to fight her case against the 'unfairness' of the New Zealand rulings in London's High Court.

Granting her application, Mr Justice Moor bemoaned the 'sad and troubling' case, saying it would 'appear to me that Mr Greenbaum was arguing that Ms Lockwood should share in the liabilities but not the assets'.

'I do not find his approach attractive,' the judge added.

'I heard the case on the day on which the new 'no fault' divorce provisions came into force in this jurisdiction following the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020,' Mr Justice Moor added.

'Whilst extremely welcome, this new law will not end the sort of attritional litigation in relation to ancillary matters, such as financial remedies, seen so vividly in this case, unless the parties recognise that such an approach is entirely destructive, extremely expensive and thoroughly damaging to everyone involved.

'To date, these parties have not so recognised,' the judge said, adding that 'neither party (had) behaved reasonably' during their battle down under.

Campaigners have heralded new 'no fault separation' as the biggest shake up of divorce law in half a century, and a 'hallelujah moment' for couples wishing to split without apportioning blame and dredging up the past.

But some experts fear it will usher in a flurry of divorces from partnerships that could still be saved by counselling or other means, while others say it fails to protect people in abusive partnerships or properly deal with the issue of money.

The New Zealand judges had observed that 'Ms Lockwood's perception of unfairness is acknowledged,' and suggested she would have to fight her case in England, he said.

'Any claim by Ms Lockwood that she has an interest in the house can only be determined by an English court,' he continued.

'I consider Ms Lockwood had virtually no alternative other than to apply for permission in this jurisdiction to bring an application*for financial provision following an overseas divorce.

'The fact that the foreign court could not deal with the property was of crucial significance.'

The new 'no fault' divorce law will 'help couples move forward' and enable them to 'secure the best outcome for their family without unnecessary conflict', campaigners say

Lawyers for the husband argued that to let the wife fight her case again in the English court would be giving her an unfair 'second bite of the cherry.'

But granting her the right to fight in London, the judge said: 'The simple fact is that the New Zealand court was constrained by New Zealand law to take into account the liability for the cost of the works done to the house, but not able to take into account the value of the asset itself.

'Nothing I have said in this judgment should be taken as my having given any indication as to the likely outcome of the claim, other than that Ms Lockwood is entitled to permission to make it.

'In one sense, it is a great shame that this extremely long running and bitter litigation now has to be dealt with yet again.

'These parties have, to date, been completely incapable of agreeing anything.

'I urge these parties finally to see sense and come to a sensible agreement, whether by mediation or other similar dispute resolution,' he concluded.
The Civil Service is resisting attempts by ministers to force them to ditch working from home and return to Whitehall.

London ministries are said to be less than half-full despite the efforts of Jacob Rees-Mogg to pry them from their spare rooms and kitchen tables.

Mr Rees-Mogg's zealous attempts to end WFH, including leaving notes on empty desks, have not been backed by other ministers, with Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries accusing him of a 'Dickensian' approach to the issue.

The Cabinet is also said to have backed away from the idea of stripping London weighting from the salaries of people who are still not yet commuting back into the capital.

Dave Penman, the secretary general of the Civil service's FDA union, said: 'Hybrid working can save taxpayers millions by reducing the government estate and the pandemic showed that effective public services can be delivered regardless of where staff are placed.'

London ministries are said to be less than half-full despite the efforts of Jacob Rees-Mogg to pry them from their spare rooms and kitchen tables.

The Guardian reported that the country's most senior civil servant, Simon Case, had privately warned Mr Johnson against forcing officials back to the office

Dave Penman, the secretary general of the Civil service's FDA union, said: 'Hybrid working can save taxpayers millions by reducing the government estate and the pandemic showed that effective public services can be delivered regardless of where staff are placed.'

Mr Rees-Mogg has written to Cabinet ministers calling on them to issue a clear message to staff about a 'rapid return to the office' and has been leaving notes in empty Whitehall workspaces with the message: 'I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.'

Downing Street said Boris Johnson supported Mr Rees-Mogg's efforts.

'What the minister is seeking to achieve is to do everything possible to get the civil service to return to the pre-pandemic level,' the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

'That is what he is seeking to do. That is supported by the Cabinet Secretary and obviously the Prime Minister.'

But the Guardian later reported that the country's most senior civil servant, Simon Case, had in fact privately warned Mr Johnson against forcing officials back to the office.

The newspaper said at least four permanent secretaries were also understood to have voiced concerns about the Government's rhetoric on the matter

Asked if the notes left on desks by Mr Rees-Mogg were helpful, the PM's spokesman said Mr Johnson 'supports any initiative that encourages people to return to pre-pandemic working'.

'We are not talking about putting an end to flexible working, which continues to have a place in the modern workplace, we are talking about returning to pre-pandemic use of taxpayer-funded departmental buildings.'

The Times reported that Ms Dorries' response was highly critical of Mr Rees-Mogg's approach.

Mr Rees-Mogg presented figures to Cabinet last week showing that some Government departments were using as little as 25 per cent of office capacity in early April - the figure for Ms Dorries' Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was 43 per cent.

Ms Dorries told him his letter to Government departments brought to mind 'images of burning tallow, rheumy eyes and Marley's ghost' - a reference to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

The Times reported she said: 'There's a whiff of something Dickensian about it. Why are we measuring bodies behind desks? Why aren't we measuring productivity?'

Ms Dorries told him his letter to Government departments brought to mind 'images of burning tallow, rheumy eyes and Marley's ghost' - a reference to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1938 film version, below).

The two ministers have long disagreed about the need to return to places of work following the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.

But the dispute between the two was 'good natured', one Government source said. Mr Rees-Mogg would not comment on the row, citing Cabinet confidentiality rules.

Unions have objected to Mr Rees-Mogg's approach, with warnings his stance is damaging civil service morale.

Mr Penman warned that 'good people will leave and the civil service brand is trashed in a highly competitive employment market'.

Mr Rees-Mogg used a Mail on Sunday article to warn that officials may lose the London weighting on their pay or see their jobs moved elsewhere if they were not at their desks.

'Essentially, if people are not back in their office it will be fair to assume that the job does not need to be in London,' he said.

Responding to the reports in The Guardian, a Government spokesperson said: 'We want to see office attendance across the civil service consistently back at normal, pre-pandemic levels.

'There is total agreement across Government on there being clear benefits from face-to-face, collaborative working and we know that this is particularly important for the learning and development of new members of staff.

'The minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency has written to departments to underline the importance of workplace attendance and request that they review their existing guidance on the minimum number of days staff work in the office.'
A family are campaigning to restrict how involved killer parents can be in the upbringing of their children, after their daughter was murdered by her estranged husband.

The family of Jade Marsh - also known as Jade Ward - are campaigning to create a law in her name, after she was murdered by Russell Marsh in August last year.

The 29-year-old was handed a life sentence for the brutal attack that saw Ms Ward, 27, die at his hands.

He will serve at least 15 years in prison after he stabbed, slashed and strangled the Shotton mother yards away from their sleeping children.

Despite being locked up for killing their mother, Marsh still holds his parental responsibility over their four boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Ms Ward's family are petitioning for 'Jade's Law', to ensure that no other families going through similar circumstances have to face the killer when making decisions about the children's lives.

Jade Ward, 27, had ended her relationship with her 'controlling' husband the week before he murdered her

Russell Marsh, 29, still holds his parental responsibility over their four boys because imprisonment does not automatically restrict parental responsibility

In the UK, imprisonment does not automatically restrict parental responsibility. This can only happen following a voluntary agreement or if the other parent takes the incarcerated parent to court.

This means Marsh still has control over various aspects of their welfare such as their future medical needs or if they are ever taken out of the country.

If the family wanted to take any of the four boys on holiday somewhere outside the UK, Marsh would have to give his permission.

This would be done through a family court hearing.

Family friend Edwin Duggan - a law graduate - was approached by Ms Ward's mother Karen Robinson (pictured) for help with the campaign

Ms Ward's family are campaigning for 'Jade's Law' which would automatically suspend parental responsibility of any parent found guilty of murdering the other parent. Pictured, Paul Ward the father of Jade Ward beside her grave

The family want to make sure that nobody else needs to endure the added pain of being faced with the killer time after time

Ms Ward's family want to make sure that nobody else needs to endure the added pain of being faced with the killer time and time again.

Family friend Edwin Duggan - a law graduate - told North Wales Live that he was approached by Ms Ward's mother Karen Robinson for help with the campaign.

He has since launched a petition calling for the automatic suspension of parental responsibility of any parent found guilty of murdering the other parent.

He said: 'I've known Karen since she was a teenager - through being friends with her brother about 40 years ago - and I've therefore known Jade since she was young. What happened to the family was utterly tragic.

Floral tributes, balloons, photographs, written messages, candles and teddies were left on the pavement yards from the home where Jade Ward, 27, was found dead last August

'At the moment, as the law stands, Marsh still has parental responsibility.

'Although that is limited during his time in custody, the family are now faced with having to seek his permission for anything that relates to their welfare during the time they are in the care of anyone other than their parents.

'We all want this change in the law to create some sort of measure for future children that find themselves involved in tragic circumstances such as these and their surviving family from having to go back through further court processes.'

Mr Duggin said that a petition was set up once before in the wake of Ms Ward's death.

However, due to the ongoing legal proceedings at the time, it proved difficult to share and generate awareness without impacting on Marsh's then upcoming trial.

So far, the petition has been signed by more then 1,700 people from across the UK. There is a target of gathering at least 10,000 signatures by October for the UK Government to respond.

The scene outside the Chevrons Road home where Jade Ward was found dead with multiple stab wounds
Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. animated movie adaptation's release date should have been on December 21 or before 2022 comes to an end. But the film starring Chris Pratt is now delayed to 2023.

Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. Movie Intended Release

The untitled animated film adaptation of the revered Super Mario Bros. game was first teased during the Nintendo Direct event last Feb. 9. Nintendo also confirmed during the said event that the release date of the animated movie is on Dec. 21.

However, as per a news story by The Verge, the upcoming animated film will no longer hit the theaters this year.

Super Mario Bros. Release Delayed

The creator of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, himself took over the official Twitter account of Nintendo of America to announce the delay of its release date.

The Mario creator said that he consulted with the co-producer of the Super Mario Bros. movie, Chris Meledandri, before delaying the animated film.

Chris Meledandri, who Miyamoto refers to as Chris-san, is the CEO of the animated movie firm Illumination, which is notably famous for its massive Minions franchise.

The announcement straight from Miyamoto revealed that the global release of the Super Mario Bros. film has officially been pushed to Spring 2023 instead of December 2022.

To be precise, the release of the animated movie in North America has been moved to April 7. Following that, it will be hitting the theaters in Japan on April 28.

The Mario creator went on to issue an apology to its fans of the Super Mario Bros franchise. On top of that, Miyamoto promised that the wait would be worth it.

This is Miyamoto. After consulting with Chris-san, my partner at Illumination on the Super Mario Bros. film, we decided to move the global release to Spring 2023April 28 in Japan and April 7 in North America. My deepest apologies but I promise it will be well worth the wait.  Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 26, 2022

Read Also: Super Mario Bros. Movie 2022: Best Memes on Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach!

Super Mario Bros. Film Starring Chris Pratt

The Verge noted in the same report that Pratt will still be starring in the animated film as Mario depsite its delay.

According to a recent report by The Hollywood Reporter, it also includes massive voice actors and actresses, such as Anya Taylor-Joy, who will star as Princess Peach, and Charlie Day as Luigi.

On top of that, Keegan-Michael Key portrays Toad, whereas Jack Black stars Bowser.

Both Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen) and Cranky Kong (Fred Armisen) will also be part of the animated film.

The Super Mario Bros. film adaptation is the love child of the Japanese gaming firm Nintendo and the American animation studio Illumination.

As such, the CEO and founder of the latter, Chris Meledandri, and the iconic Mario creator, Miyamoto, are co-producing the upcoming animated film.

It also includes the giant firm Universal, which serves as its distributor in North America.

Related Article: Did You Know That Nintendo Started Off as a Company Selling Playing Cards?
Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs (pictured), warned general practice in England risks becoming 'really difficult to access', like dentistry

General practice faces the 'real threat' of ending up like dentistry, the nation's top GP has warned.

Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, argued the job of a family doctor is becoming 'more and more difficult'.

Growing pressures  heavily fuelled by a staffing crisis  could push them out of the health service and into private work.

He said this risks the remaining NHS general practice system being 'really difficult' to access 'like dentistry' and a 'significant' cash injection is needed to stop this.

Professor Marshall also warned general practice could end up like the 'very worst of the US healthcare system', with only those who pay able to access 'great care'.

It comes amid a huge row over the working hours and conditions of family doctors and the 'postcode lottery' of bagging an appointment.

Patients have for years complained of struggling to access their GP, and in-person appointments have failed to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels.

But family doctors warn that the imbalance between the workload and workforce in the sector is driving GPs  who earn 100,000 a year, on average  away from the profession.

In the latest development, a conference next month will see doctors vote on whether their core hours should be slashed by two-and-a-half hours.

The GP Worklife survey found more than half of family doctors worked for six sessions a week or less every week in 2021, with each session being four hours and 10 minutes. Nearly a fifth of the workforce saw patients for four sessions or less, while 12.4 per cent worked for five sessions and 27.9 per cent worked for six

The graph shows the number of GP appointments per day in January. Since 2019, GPs have been asked to work evenings and weekends. But just 22,000 patients were seen on the average Saturday in January, compared to around 1.2million per week day

NHS Digital data released today shows just 60 per cent of appointments in January were in-person, compared to 61 per cent in December

Speaking at a Pulse GP conference in London yesterday, the family doctors' trade magazine reported Professor Marshall said: 'Some practices really have struggled [and] fallen over.

'[But] I don't think the model of general practice is going to disappear completely, I don't think it's going to break.

'But what I do think is if we continue under the current pressure that we're under, general practice is going to become a more and more difficult job to do and a more and more difficult job to do well.'

He added: 'The risk is that we might end up like the very worst of the US healthcare system where if you can pay to get good care, great, and if you can't, you have a very sub-optimal system for picking up the pieces.

'Or maybe like dentistry in this country over the last 15 years, where a growing number of dentists have gone private. There is an NHS system but it is really difficult to access.

'I don't think we want to see that in general practice and that seems to be a very significant and very real threat that we need to address.'

Now GPs want to work even less! Doctors table 'urgent' motion in a bid to cut 'core' opening hours to 9-5 - shaving two-and-a-half hours off GPs are set to vote on whether their core working hours should be reduced by two-and-a-half hours per day. The proposal comes amid a huge row over the working hours of family doctors and the 'postcode lottery' of bagging an appointment. Avon Local Medical Committee (LMC) will table a motion at a conference in York next month calling for doctors' core hours to be slashed. Surgeries currently routinely operate between 8am and 6:30pm  but the vote may see doctors call for this to be slashed to 9am to 5pm. 'Urgent action' is needed to manage the imbalance between doctors' workload and their workforce,' the same motion states. The motion from Avon LMC, which represents GPs in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset, will be heard at the annual conference of UK local medical committees, which is taking place on May 10 and 11 in York. It states that 'urgent action' is needed to manage the mismatch between a lack of capacity, Pulse reports. Advertisement

It comes as GPs are set to vote next month on whether their core working hours should be reduced by two-and-a-half hours per day.

Surgeries currently routinely operate between 8am and 6:30pm.

But Avon Local Medical Committee (LMC) will table a motion at a conference on May 10 and 11 in York, attended by hundreds of GPs, calling for doctors' core hours to be slashed to 9am to 5pm.

Doctors say the move would boost GPs' wellbeing, meaning they are able to provide a better, safer service and will be less likely to quit.

If the motion is passed, the practices want to lobby NHS England to make the changes.

But patient groups have hit back at the move. Dennis Reed, the director of Silver Voices, a campaign group for the over-60s, called the proposal 'unacceptable'.

He said: 'We hear every day from patients who are struggling to see their GP or can only secure and appointment for a few weeks' time.

'Further reducing access in this way will drive more patients to A&E, which are already overstretched, or leave people without the care they need.

'Working families appreciate the earlier opening times and later closing times and reducing these will cause inconvenience or lead to them missing out.'

Dr Richard Vautrey, former chair of the British Medical Association's GP committee, said reducing hours may encourage more doctors to stay in the profession.

But he admitted it is 'not the solution to the current problems' because it will inevitably mean there are 'more patients going without the care they need'.

'What we really need is more GPs in order to improve patient access,' Dr Vautrey added.

Meanwhile, a separate motion set to be heard at the conference next month, from Cambridgeshire and Cleveland LMCs, calls for plans to introduce 'safe workload limits' for general practice to protect staff and patients.

Another motion states the public have emerged from the pandemic with 'additional and unrealistic expectations of general practice'.

The motion, tabled by Ayrshire and Arran LMC, calls for an education campaign for patients to 'appropriately utilise' self-care and turn to pharmacy, optometry and dental services.

Doctors in attendance will also vote on whether patients who abuse general practice staff should be removed from their list and whether all hospital doctors should have to work in GP surgeries as part of their training.

Dr Rachel Ward, of the Rebuild General Practice campaign, said: 'GP workload is at an unmanageable and unsafe level.

'As a doctor who came into general practice to look after patients, it terrifies me that GPs are currently delivering many more appointments per day above what is considered the safe limit.

'GPs and patients want the same thing  to give and receive the best healthcare  and to do that we need more GPs so we have more time to care.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'GP teams have worked incredibly hard throughout the pandemic, and we are working to improve access, tackle the Covid backlog, and grow the general practice workforce.

'Patients should be able to see their GP in a way that they choose, including face to face, online, or over the phone consultations, and we have made 520million available to improve access and expand general practice capacity.

'We are working with the NHS, Health Education England and the profession to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice.'
Police have located the three-month-old baby who was kidnapped by a stranger while his grandmother unloaded groceries from her car, and three suspects have been detained.

Brandon Cuellar was snatched from an apartment in San Jose, California, Monday during the day.

'Baby Brandon has been located,' the San Jose Police Department tweeted Tuesday, adding that he would be 'taken to a local hospital as a precaution but he has been located alive.' They did not elaborate on where the boy was found or his condition.

'A million thank yous to all who assisted.'

Three suspects were detained, the department said.

The announcement came shortly after police told reporters that a woman was detained as 'a person of interest' in the case, after inconsistencies in her statements about the kidnapping.

Authorities later said three suspects total were detained but did not disclose whether the woman was among them.

The woman who was detained, has not been identified. She was with the child's grandmother before little Brandon was abducted Monday by an unknown man, San Jose Police spokesman Sgt. Christian Camarillo told reporters Tuesday.

'This was a person who was with the grandmother yesterday when they went shopping, she was present at the apartment complex when this happened,' he said. 'There have been some inconsistencies with what she has told us. Obviously, drawing our attention to what she knows about this.'

A suspect walked into a home in the 1000 block of Elm Street at around 1 p.m. Monday and left with the young boy. Police released haunting video that shows the man walking down the sidewalk holding a baby carrier covered by a white blanket.

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Brandon Cuellar (left) was snatched from an apartment in San Jose, California, in broad daylight yesterday (right)

The three-month-old was found on Tuesday, police announced

He was taken to a local hospital out of precaution

'The family does not recognize this suspect,' police had said in a Twitter post.

Camarillo said the baby's mother was at work at the time and his father is in jail.

'Dad right now is out of the picture. He is incarcerated. I don't know, you know, whether that is going to play into this, but obviously we are going to talk to him soon,' Camarillo said. It's unclear why the father is in jail.

'[The grandmother] came to this apartment, she took the baby in the apartment, went downstairs to unload some groceries,' Camarillo said during a news conference Monday.

'In that short amount of time, someone entered the apartment and left with the baby.'

Authorities did not issue an Amber Alert because investigators did not have a vehicle description.

Police had said the suspect is believed to be a Hispanic male who was wearing black pants, a dark blue shirt and grey shoes. He did not appear to be unkempt or a vagrant.

Camarillo had said it was hard to make out the man who took the baby because he was wearing a mask.

'We need the public's help right now in San Jose to find this baby. Today someone is walking around with a three-month-old baby that they did not have yesterday,' he said.

Police said the suspect is believed to be a Hispanic male who was wearing black pants and a dark blue shirt and grey shoes

Police released a video clip that shows the man walking down the sidewalk holding a baby carrier covered by a white blanket

Brandon had been last seen wearing a white long-sleeved onesie with dinosaurs on it.

In the early hours, police said officers and FBI agents were going door-to-door in the neighborhood to appeal for witnesses or information.

They said: 'All available resources are assisting with this investigation.'
Figures show how the UK lags the rest of Europe when it comes to public holidays as calls for an extra day off for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee continue to grow.

The statistics reveal a contrasting picture across the continent - with some workers able to put their feet up for as many as 16 times a year, while in some countries workers only enjoy eight paid days off.

The number of public holidays enjoyed by each EU nation varies greatly, with England and Wales falling behind their European counterparts with just nine public holidays in 2022.

Spain, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland are next with 10, along with Denmark, Scotland and Northern Ireland who have 11 this year.

Meanwhile, Sweden will enjoy the most public holidays among the EU nations in 2022, with employees able to enjoy 16 paid days off.

It comes as calls for a new permanent bank holiday in the UK have gathered pace and Rishi Sunak is understood to have requested formal advice from the Treasury on the costs of another annual day off.

Business leaders and MPs are said to be discussing the possibility of a 'Thank Holiday' - both celebrating Her Majesty's 70 years on the throne and the dedication of millions of workers who battled on throughout the pandemic.

But Downing Street today appeared to pour cold water on the prospect of any long-term changes, after the Prime Minister's official spokesman said a bank holiday was estimated to cost the economy 2bn.

The number of public holidays enjoyed by each EU nation varies greatly, with England and Wales falling behind their European counterparts with just nine public holidays in 2022

The map, created by mapping and analytics company Esri UK, found that the number of public holidays in England and Wales dragged well behind their European counterparts.

Sam Bark, cartographer at Esri UK said: 'Interactive maps like this help make data more accessible in an engaging and educational way, revealing patterns and trends that would otherwise lay hidden.'

Seven countries (Austria, Romania, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Finland) trail Sweden's high of 16 public holidays this year and have 15 of their own.

On the other end of the scale, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and Spain enjoy the fewest within the bloc with 10 days off this year.

The EU average of public holidays sits at 12.8 days, while the USA normally has 13.

China will see 18 days of public holidays this year, while Japan will enjoy 19 paid days off.

Globally, the country with the most public holidays is Myanmar, whose workers will this year will see 30 days as paid holidays - or a whole calendar month.

Meanwhile, Switzerland's employees will only be able to count upon five official public holidays this year - with the rest being individually determined by the country's 25 cantons.

Supporters of the campaign to extend the June bank holiday including Dragons' Den star Deborah Meaden, pictured

Both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are said to be 'supportive' of a new campaign to enshrine 2022's Platinum Jubilee as a permanent bank holiday in honour of the Queen

The news comes as bosses representing British firms have today written to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak urging them keep the extra day off in the diary.

The Chancellor is said to be 'supportive' of a blossoming campaign to enshrine 2022's Platinum Jubilee as a permanent bank holiday in honour of the Queen, reports the Telegraph.

'The Treasury is not saying 'no' off the bat, despite previously being institutionally allergic to the idea of a new bank holiday.

'Rishi is supportive of the campaign and the thought behind it and has asked for all the projected costs', a Treasury source told the newspaper.

Experts claim the Government currently overstates the cost of public holidays and that a new one would help to boost health and productivity.

Whitehall insiders have estimated that each bank holiday costs the public purse 1.4billion.

But research by accountancy giant PwC suggests the figure is overestimated and a Monday off would cost 877million and a Friday 786million.

The end-of-May bank holiday is being pushed back to Thursday June 2 to extend the weekend of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Now businesses are calling for this year's extended June bank holiday to be given a permanent spot on the calendar from next year - dubbed a 'Thank Holiday'.

People took to social media to share their excitement at the potential addition of another bank holiday for future calendars

Supporters of the campaign  including Dragons' Den star Deborah Meaden, Britain's biggest business group the Confederation of British Industry and trade body UK Hospitality  say it would be 'a fitting tribute to Her Majesty's 70 years of public service' and would also help out firms which rely on tourists and shoppers.

Those backing Mrs Meaden include Britain's biggest business group the Confederation of British Industry, bars and restaurants trade body UK Hospitality, and brands such as Siemens and Punch Pubs.

Their calls are also supported by Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the Scouts, TUC, Royal Voluntary Service and more.

Mrs Meaden said: 'The Great British bank holiday is enjoyed by one and all across society. We all have fond memories of trips away, gatherings with friends, or just enjoying some relaxing time with loved ones.

'But it's also a major boon for many businesses - especially those sectors that have struggled during the pandemic. I'm backing the campaign because I think it will be a fitting tribute to Her Majesty's seventy years of public service, and that of all the people who make our communities kinder, nicer places to live.'

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, added: 'It is time for a Thank Holiday to mark the astonishing and enduring service of Her Majesty the Queen.

'Such a day would also provide the chance to recognise the fortitude of the entire nation, and local community heroes, in pulling through the challenges of the past two years.'

Britons are already set for an extra day off on June 3 to mark the monarch's Platinum Jubilee but the spokesman stressed that was a 'unique national celebration' that was important to mark.

'I'm not aware of any plans to make it permanent,' the spokesman said. 'But obviously we keep the cost of these things under review.'

The spokesman said each bank holiday 'presents a considerable and significant cost to our economy and therefore each proposal would have to be considered carefully on that basis'.

In 2012, there was a bank holiday for the Queen's diamond jubilee, which the government estimated would cost the UK 1.2billion.

The nation also enjoyed an extra day off a year earlier when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wed at Westminster Abbey.
Transnistria, a region on the border with Ukraine, is recognised internationally as part of Moldova but is effectively controlled by Russia

Kyiv today accused Russia of trying to 'destabilise' Moldova's breakaway region that borders Ukraine after two explosions there prompted fears of Russia launching 'false flag' attacks to justify invading the territory.

The explosions destroyed two powerful Soviet-era radio antennas that were re-broadcasting Russian stations in the region of Transnistria, an unrecognised Moscow-backed sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, on Tuesday.

The blasts occurred in the small town of Maiac roughly 12 kilometers (7 miles) west of the border with Ukraine, just days after a Kremlin military chief warned that 'Russian-speakers' had been 'oppressed' there.

A day earlier, several explosions believed to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades were reported to hit the Ministry of State Security in the city of Tiraspol, the region's capital. No one was hurt in the explosions, officials said.

On Tuesday, a military unit in the village of Parcani was also targeted. Officials did not offer any details on the incident, but declared a 'red level of terrorist threat' and promised to impose additional security measures in the region.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accused Russia of trying to destabilise Transnistria and warned that 'if Ukraine falls tomorrow, Russian troops will be at Chisinau', the Moldovan capital.

'Russia wants to destabilise the Transnistrian region and hints Moldova should wait for 'guests',' Podolyak said.

'Good news, Ukraine will definitely ensure strategic security of the region. But we need to work as a team.'

The United States has warned amid the war in Ukraine that Russia could launch 'false-flag' attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops.

Last week, Kremlin military chief Rustam Minnekayev said Russia sought control of southern Ukraine, which could provide access to Transnistria, 'where there have been cases of oppression of the Russian-speaking population'.

The explosions destroyed two powerful Soviet-era radio antennas that were re-broadcasting Russian stations in the region of Transnistria, an unrecognised Moscow-backed sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, on Tuesday

A day earlier, several explosions believed to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades were reported to hit the Ministry of State Security in the city of Tiraspol, the region's capital. No one was hurt in the explosions, officials said

The Transnistrian authorities said the offices of the state security ministry in Tiraspol were hit by what appeared to be a grenade-launcher attack on Monday evening

Transnistria, a strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine, is recognised internationally as part of Moldova but is effectively controlled by Russia, which has given citizenship to separatists

Minnekayev, the deputy commander of Russia's central military district, said Moscow planned to forge a corridor between Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014, and the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

Moldova's foreign ministry summoned Russia's ambassador over the comments, which it called 'unfounded and contradicting Russia's position in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country within internationally recognised borders'.

The suggestion by a senior Russian official that Moscow needs to defend supporters in a nearby country is a chilling echo of its previous justification for invading Ukraine.

And today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is closely following events in Transnistria, adding that news from the region was a cause for serious concern.

Moldova's president Maia Sandu said the attacks in Transnistria were an attempt by factions within the territory to increase tensions, as she urged the country's citizens to remain calm.

Speaking after Moldova's Security Council held an urgent meeting, Sandu said: 'From the information we have at this moment, these escalation attempts stem from factions from within the Transnistrian region who are pro-war forces and interested in destabilising the situation in the region.'

She said the security council had recommended improving the combat readiness of security forces, increasing the number of patrols and checks near Moldova's border with Transnistria, and monitoring critical infrastructure more closely.

Sandu said: 'We urge citizens to keep calm and feel safe,' while urging authorities to tighten public safety measures and protection of critical infrastructure.

Transnistria's president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, also called on Tuesday for anti-terrorist security measures to be imposed at a 'red level' for 15 days, including setting up blockposts at the entrances to cities.

The Moldovan authorities are sensitive to any sign of growing tensions in Transnistria, especially since Russia invaded their neighbour Ukraine.

Transnistria, a strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine, is recognised internationally as part of Moldova but is effectively controlled by Russia, which has given citizenship to separatists.

An estimated 1,500 Russian troops are permanently stationed in the Transnistria, but concerns are high that the region could be used as a launch pad for new attacks on Ukraine.

Russia's military base still guards a stockpile of some 20,000 tonnes of munitions which were brought there when Soviet troops withdrew from Europe.

In the early hours of Tuesday, two explosions hit a radio tower re-broadcasting Russian stations near the Ukrainian border.

'Early on April 26, two explosions were heard in the village of Mayak in Grigoriopolsky district,'it said in a statement.

It said the blasts at 6:40 am and 7:05 am (0340 GMT and 0405 GMT) targeted the 'Mayak' radio centre, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the regional capital Tiraspol.

Antennas of the 'Mayak' radio centre are seen lying on the ground on Tuesday following the blasts in the village of Mayak in Grigoriopolsky district in Moldova's Russian-backed breakaway Transnistria region

A law enforcement officer is seen standing in front of the 'Mayak' radio centre antennas following the blasts in the village of Mayak on Tuesday

Kremlin military chief Rustam Minnekayev on Friday said Russia sought control of southern Ukraine, which could provide access to Transnistria, 'where there have been cases of oppression of the Russian-speaking population'. Pictured: Pro-Russian troops move along a road in Mariupol, southern Ukraine

The ministry said two 'powerful' antennae that were re-broadcasting Russian radio were out of order, and shared images of them lying on the ground. There were no injuries, it added.

This came after the Transnistrian authorities said the offices of the state security ministry in Tiraspol were hit by what appeared to be a grenade-launcher attack on Monday evening.

No one was injured in the incident, which happened at around 6:00 pm on a public holiday for the Orthodox Easter.

But windows were blown out in the state security ministry building and smoke was 'billowing out of the buildings', the Transnistria region's interior ministry said in a statement.

There was no immediate reason to suggest a link between the two incidents.

The conflict in Ukraine has provoked fears in Moldova that the country could become Russia's next target.

Moldovan President Sandu on Tuesday called for a meeting of the country's Supreme Security Council in response to the incidents.

'The Supreme Security Council will meet from 1300 (1000 GMT) at the Presidency. After the meeting, at 1500, President Maia Sandu will hold a press briefing', the president's press office said in a statement.

On Monday, the Moldovan government said the Tiraspol blasts were aimed at creating tensions in a region it had no control of.

Moldova, one of Europe's poorest states, was part of the Soviet Union but a war broke out between Moldovan forces and Russian-backed separatists in the Transnistria area in 1992. A ceasefire was agreed but the conflict remains unresolved.

Unlike Ukraine and Georgia, Moldova is not seeking Nato membership. The landlocked country, with a population of just 2.6million, has only a few thousand active military personnel, so it would not be able to withstand a Russian invasion.
A report conducted by French aviation experts has concluded that the crash of EgyptAir flight MS804 in 2016, which killed all 66 people on board, was likely caused by a fire sparked from a pilot's cigarette.

Flight MS804 was bound from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport to Cairo, but plunged into the sea between Crete and the northern coast of Egypt after disappearing from radars on May 19, 2016.

France's Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) initially suspected that there was a mechanical failure or inadequacy that led to the crash, while Egypt refused to publish a report into the tragic incident and claimed the plane had been subject to a terrorist attack.

A 2018 BEA report concluded the crash had been caused by a fire on board the aircraft upon analysis of black box data, but stopped short of establishing a specific reason as to why the fire was ignited.

But a new report, which was sent to a Parisian court last month at the request of French judges - a copy of which has been seen by Italian daily Corriere della Sera - concluded the fire was likely caused by the cigarette of a smoking pilot, which ignited oxygen that had leaked from one of the pilot's oxygen masks.

Paris' Court of Appeal is investigating the incident on grounds of manslaughter, as 15 French citizens were on board the plane when it plunged into the sea.

A report conducted by French aviation experts has concluded that the crash of EgyptAir flight MS804 in 2016, which killed all 64 people on board, was likely caused by a fire sparked from a pilot's cigarette (An EgyptAir Airbus A320 is pictured)

Flight MS804 was bound from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport to Cairo, but plunged into the sea between Crete and the northern coast of Egypt after disappearing from radars on May 19, 2016

The new report concluded the fire was likely caused by the cigarette of a smoking pilot, which ignited oxygen that had leaked from one of the pilot's oxygen masks (The compartment for the oxygen mask is visible behind the seat in this stock image of an Airbus cockpit)

A lifejacket is pictured, having been recovered from the wreckage found in the sea north of Egypt after flight MS804 crashed in 2016

Some of the passengers' belongings and parts of the wreck of EgyptAir flight MS804 are seen as more wreckage found north of Alexandria, in Egypt on May 21, 2016

The team of experts met 23 times between August 2021 and February 2022 to draft the report, re-examining black box data that had been recovered following the 2016 crash.

A 134 page report contends that an oxygen mask in the cockpit of the plane had leaked shortly before the crash occurred - evidenced by the black box audio recording which captured the sound of the oxygen hissing from the mask as it sat in its compartment.

The mask in question had been replaced just three days prior to the fatal flight by an EgyptAir maintenance worker, and inexplicably had its release valve set to the 'emergency' position - a significant detail as this setting forces oxygen to be released at a higher pressure.

The Airbus safety manual states that 'oxygen leaks may occur' when left in the emergency position.

Meanwhile, the ashtrays in the airplane's cockpit had been replaced two months prior to the crash due to their excessive use, as pilots were not forbidden to smoke at the time.

All passengers and crew on board, including 40 Egyptians and 15 French citizens, lost their lives in the A320 Airbus crash.

But Egypt's civil aviation authority to this day has not released a report into the matter and has been accused of refusing to co-operate with French authorities.

In July 2018, Egypt's prosecutor general rejected findings published in France's BEA report of the same year which contended that a cockpit fire had caused the crash - though it did not establish the cause of the fire.

However, the report did say the crew could be heard discussing a fire on the cockpit voice recorder and that the plane's automatic ACARS messaging system had flagged smoke on board.

The BEA's official statement in 2018 read: 'A fire broke out in the cockpit while the plane was at cruising altitude and the fire spread rapidly, causing the loss of control of the aircraft.'

Its report also mentioned the suspicious replacement of the oxygen mask three days prior to the crash, stating that 'the replacement of this equipment requires careful checking, given the danger of oxygen leaks.'

People attend an event in Egypt's capital Cairo on May 19, 2017, marking the first anniversary of the crash of EgyptAir MS804

A follow up report in 2019 said there were several incidents concerning the operation of the aircraft which were not reported by the pilots and thus not followed up by maintenance teams.

These faults 'were not signalled when the aircraft was at its principal base in Cairo, apparently so that it would not be grounded for repairs'.

'The examination has shown that this aircraft should have been subject to checks during its four previous flights and should not have taken off from Cairo after a sequence of recurring faults which were not signalled by successive crews,' the 2018 conclusion read.

Antoine Lachenaud, a lawyer for the family of Clement Daeschner-Cormary, a 26-year-old passenger who died, said the report showed that the crash was due to error and not chance.

'When warnings are ignored in a systematic manner this results in a crash and it becomes impossible to maintain that this is due to chance,' he said.

'Based on this report and the investigations, there should be consequences over the responsibilities of those involved.'

However, Egypt's office of public prosecution released a statement saying the French findings were 'unfounded' and that its own investigation in to the crash was 'ongoing'.

An official Egyptian probe in 2016 suggested the plane had been bombed, saying traces of explosives had been found on the remains of those killed, but this was widely dismissed.

French authorities in particular were skeptical of Egypt's insistence the plane was subject to an attack, saying that no traces of explosives were detected and pointing out no organisation had claimed responsibility for any attack.

Investigators and the families of the French victims have deplored a lack of cooperation from the Egyptian authorities.
Content criticizing U.S. President Joe Biden on Twitter and Facebook was censored 646 times in two years, a new report has found.

According to the Media Research Center (MRC), through its CensorTrack database, the various censored content included comedic memes and generic posts taking aim at the Commander in Chief, who entered the White House in January 2021.

Users who posted such content saw their comments deleted, had their activities on the platforms restricted, or were out-right suspended.

The release of the report comes as the world's richest man Elon Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter $44billion, in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders.

The self-described 'free speech absolutist' wants Twitter's algorithm for prioritizing tweets to be public and objects to giving too much power on the service to corporations that advertise, and has said he wants to stop banning users.

The CensorTrack report looked at bans between March 10, 2020 to March 10, 2022. This time period covers when Biden was running his presidential campaign culminating in his 2020 victory, and his first year occupying the White House.

The largest category of banned posts related to Biden's reputation for inappropriate contact, CensorTrack said. Biden was forced to address this during his campaign.

In one example cited by the organization, a user told CensorTrack that Facebook deleted one of their posts that showed Biden kissing someone - reportedly his granddaughter - on the lips.

A caption with the image said: 'Find someone who kisses you the way Joe Biden kisses his granddaughter.' Screenshots sent by the user suggested that Facebook claimed the post breached its community rules on 'nudity or sexual activity.'

Meanwhile, more than a quarter of the 646 actions taken against users were related to the Hunter Biden laptop story, broken by the New York Post, which involved a cache of 103,000 text messages, 154,000 emails, more than 2,000 photos and dozens of videos that were authenticated by experts retained by DailyMail.com.

When the New York Post reported on the revelations, Twitter went as far as locking the newspaper's account for 17 days, and placed a 'warning label' on the GOP House Judiciary Committee's website after it linked to the story.

Criticism of U.S. President Joe Biden on social medial platforms Twitter and Facebook was censored 646 times in two years, a new report has found

Emails leaked from the computer sparked a scandal before the 2020 presidential election in October, but were dismissed as Russian disinformation by the Bidens and other senior Democrats, social media giants Twitter and Facebook, and several major media organizations.

Last month however - after initially dismissing the story - the Washington Post finally admitted Hunter Biden's laptop is real, nine months after first receiving a copy and a full year after DailyMail.com authenticated it.

A story based on the laptop's contents published by the newspaper focused on the millions of dollars Hunter and his uncle, Joe Biden's brother Jim, received from their partnership with a Chinese government-linked oil behemoth CEFC.

The Washington Post had cyber forensics experts validate material on the abandoned laptop hard drive, using similar methods that experts hired by DailyMail.com used back in March 2021.

Its admission also followed a similar concession from the New York Times, which quietly noted 1,200 words into a long story published earlier in March that it had also validated material from the laptop.

Stories on Hunter Biden by the New York Times and The Washington Post were both allowed to be shared on their Twitter feeds.

Some have suggested some of the media's suppression of the story could have contributed towards the 2020 election result falling in Biden's favor.

CensorTrack also reported an example which saw the Big Tech companies ban users who blamed the current inflation crisis on Biden.

In one case, it said Facebook censored Heritage Action - the advocacy arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation - after the group posted a video on March 15 that quoted Biden's statements on energy policy.

The video in question showed Biden and other officials within his administration explaining how the energy policies would cause gas prices to rise.

In response, the Silicon Valley giant suppressed the post's reach on its platform.

CensorTrack detailed 232 cases - more than a third of the anti-Biden content - that were categorized as 'comedic memes, videos, or generic posts about Biden's conduct.' The group also said some were banned for just quoting the now-President, for making him appear less than competent.

In one example cited by CensorTrack that was posted by news outlet Breaking 911 to Twitter, Biden was quote sarcastically saying 'Freedom! ... I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID. No, I mean, come on! Freedom?!' The post was deleted.

More than a quarter of the 646 actions taken against users were related to the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story, which documented alleged corrupt activity and found a collection of pictures of Hunter obtained after the FBI seized his laptop (pictured)

Former U.S. president Donald Trump, as well as lawmakers Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) were among senior politicians who were subject to bans or actions by the Big Tech companies, according to CensorTrack

The website shared a list of users who were censored by Facebook or Twitter, which included a number of influential figures in the United States.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump, as well as lawmakers Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) were among senior politicians who were subject to bans or actions by the Big Tech companies.

Other figures that saw their accounts reprimanded included Donald Trump Jr., actor James Woods, and media personalities like the Daily Wire's Candace Owens and radio hosts Sebastian Gorka and Dana Loesch, CensorTrack said.

Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany saw her Twitter account locked when she attempted to share the Post's Hunter Biden story.

Media outlets were also targeted, including the New York Post, The Washington Free Beacon, the Federalist and The Babylon Bee - a satire site.

The research by the Media Research Center Think Tank, used a database collected by Free Speech America's CensorTrack, which logs and describes why people were censored on social media.

CensorTrack said that it has so far received 3,600 overall reports of people who have seen their activities on Big Tech platforms censored for discussing a variety of issues, including climate change, race, Covid-19 and elections.

According to the group's website, Free Speech America - which is behind CensorTrack - is working to stop what it calls censorship of conservatives.

Its board of advisors includes Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and Jenny Beth Martin, the Co-Founder of Tea Party Patriots - the largest national umbrella group without the Tea Party movement.

The release of the report comes as the world's richest man Elon Musk (pictured in April) clinched a deal to buy Twitter $44billion, in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders

Elon Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion cash on Monday.

It is a seminal moment for the 16-year-old company, which emerged as one of the world's most influential public squares and now faces a string of challenges.

Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist, has criticized Twitter's moderation. He wants Twitter's algorithm for prioritizing tweets to be public and objects to giving too much power on the service to corporations that advertise.

Political activists expect that a Musk regime will mean less moderation and reinstatement of banned individuals including former President Donald Trump. Conservatives cheered the prospect of fewer controls while some human rights activists voiced fears of a rise in hate speech.

Musk has also advocated user-friendly tweaks to the service, such as an edit button and defeating 'spam bots' that send overwhelming amounts of unwanted tweets.

'Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,' Musk said in a statement.

In a tweet last Tuesday before the deal was announced, Musk wrote: 'A social media platforms policies are good if the most extreme 10% on left and right are equally unhappy,' suggesting he would aim to limit extreme political views on the platform.
THREE PARDONS:

Abraham W. Bolden, Sr.  Chicago, Illinois

Abraham Bolden is an 86-year-old former U.S. Secret Service agent and was the first African American to serve on a presidential detail. In 1964, Mr. Bolden was charged with offenses related to attempting to sell a copy of a Secret Service file. His first trial resulted in a hung jury, and following his conviction at a second trial, even though key witnesses against him admitted to lying at the prosecutors request, Mr. Bolden was denied a new trial and ultimately served several years in federal custody. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence, arguing that he was targeted for prosecution in retaliation for exposing unprofessional and racist behavior within the U.S. Secret Service. Mr. Bolden has received numerous honors and awards for his ongoing work to speak out against the racism he faced in the Secret Service in the 1960s, and his courage in challenging injustice. Mr. Bolden has also been recognized for his many contributions to his community following his release from prison.

Betty Jo Bogans  Houston, Texas

Betty Jo Bogans is a 51-year-old woman who was convicted in 1998 of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine in the Southern District of Texas after attempting to transport drugs for her boyfriend and his accomplice, neither of whom were detained or arrested. At the time of her conviction, Ms. Bogans was a single mother with no prior record, who accepted responsibility for her limited role in the offense. Because of the harsh penalties in place at the time she was convicted, Ms. Bogan received a seven-year sentence. In the nearly two decades since her release from custody, Ms. Bogans has held consistent employment, even while undergoing treatment for cancer, and has focused on raising her son.

Dexter Eugene Jackson  Athens, Georgia

Dexter Jackson is a 52-year-old man who was convicted in 2002 for using his business to facilitate the distribution of marijuana in the Northern District of Georgia. Mr. Jackson was not personally involved in trafficking marijuana, but allowed marijuana distributors to use his pool hall to facilitate drug transactions. He accepted full responsibility for his actions at the time he was charged, and pled guilty. Since his release from custody, Mr. Jackson has converted his business into a cell-phone repair service and hired local high school students through a program that seeks to provide young adults with work experience. Mr. Jackson has also worked to build and renovate homes in a community that lacks quality affordable housing.

75 COMMUNTATIONS:

Sergio Acosta  Montgomery, Alabama

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine (Eastern District of Kentucky).

Sentence: 97 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 23, 2018).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Kathy Marie Albrecht  Jamestown, North Dakota

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute a controlled substance (District of North Dakota).

Sentence: 150 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (November 6, 2014).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

Maria Isabel Arreola  San Bernardino, California

Offense: 1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine (Eastern District of Texas).

2. Conspiracy to distribute cocaine hydrochloride (Middle District of North Carolina).

Sentence: 1. 121 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (March 24, 2016).

2. 130 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (November 17, 2016). Prison sentences and terms of supervised release in each case to run concurrently.

Commutation Grant: Sentences commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year terms of supervised release.

Roberto Barrio  South Gate, California

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute cocaine base and cocaine powder; interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprise (four counts); use of a telephone to facilitate the distribution of cocaine base and cocaine powder (two counts) (Western District of Oklahoma).

Sentence: Life imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (October 23, 2000).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

Kelvin Beaufort  Charlotte, North Carolina

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute cocaine and cocaine base (Western District of North Carolina).

Sentence: 324 months of imprisonment, 20-year term of supervised release (December 10, 2007); amended to 262 months of imprisonment, 20-year term of supervised release (January 20, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 20-year term of supervised release.

Brandon Todd Berry  Sikeston, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a substance containing methamphetamine (Eastern District of Missouri).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (October 19, 2010).

Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Sharon Louise Boatright  Richardson, Texas

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 190 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (December 16, 2013); amended to 188 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (July 15, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the four-year term of supervised release.

Terry Booty  Morgan City, Louisiana

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine (Eastern District of Louisiana).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release, $10,000 fine (November 13, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $10,000 fine.

Ramola Kaye Brown  Huntsville, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and less than 50 kilograms of marijuana (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 145 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (September 15, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Julian Burford  Bedford, Ohio

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine (Northern District of Ohio).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (September 17, 2009).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Mark Richard Burton  Odessa, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine and/or 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 121 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $15,000 fine (March 16, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Nickolas Cano  Amarillo, Texas

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 140 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (September 5, 2014).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the four-year term of supervised release.

Ruben Lopez Cazares  Chula Vista, California

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute controlled substance (District of Nebraska).

Sentence: 300 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (June 7, 2007); amended to 262 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (January 12, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Jose Luis Colunga  Juniata, Nebraska

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana (Eastern District of Tennessee).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (July 13, 2010).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on October 26, 2023, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Paul Hernandez Contreras  Perris, California

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine and a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine (District of Colorado).

Sentence: 108 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (January 8, 2019).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

Karen Cox  Salt Lake City, Utah

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine (District of Wyoming).

Sentence: 121 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $900 community restitution (June 16, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 60-month term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $900 community restitution.

Lori Jean Cross  North Richland Hills, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (September 12, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

Mario Cruz  Grand Rapids, Michigan

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute an unspecified quantity of cocaine and heroin (Western District of Michigan).

Sentence: 121 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (January 23, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

Christopher Dancy  Prince George, Virginia

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine hydrochloride (Eastern District of Virginia).

Sentence: 336 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 27, 2009); amended to 288 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (December 19, 2018).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Catalina Davis  San Antonio, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine; aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 210 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 6, 2014); amended to 151 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (August 31, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Stacie Demers  Constable, New York

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana; aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute marijuana (Northern District of New York).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (October 26, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Deborah Ann Dodd  Forney, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectible amount of methamphetamine or 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine (Eastern District of Texas).

Sentence: 140 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 19, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Manuel Ruben Duran-Pimentel  Miami, Florida

Offense: Conspiracy to import controlled substances; laundering of monetary instruments (District of Puerto Rico).

Sentence: 151 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (April 20, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Nova Neal Finau  Fort Worth, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 140 months of imprisonment, four-year term of supervised release (March 31, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the four-year term of supervised release.

Tina Marie Finazzo  Las Vegas, Nevada

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (District of Hawaii).

Sentence: 172 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 16, 2012); amended to 168 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (May 19, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

David C. Frazier  St. Louis, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine; possession with intent to distribute a mixture containing cocaine; maintaining a drug involved premises (Eastern District of Missouri).

Sentence: 144 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (May 21, 2014).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Julio Garza  Edinberg, Texas

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 10 kilograms of cocaine (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (May 13, 2010).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Odell Givens  Certe, Illinois

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance; possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (three counts) (Northern District of Illinois).

Sentence: 186 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (December 14, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Dianna Gonzalez-Agosto  Altura de Rio G, Puerto Rico

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute at least 3.5 kilograms but less than 5 kilograms of cocaine within a protected location (District of Puerto Rico).

Sentence: 87 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release (July 14, 2020).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the eight-year term of supervised release.

Virgil Goodman, Jr.  Lexington, Tennessee

Offense: Possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute (Western District of Tennessee).

Sentence: 262 months of imprisonment, six-year term of supervised release (June 30, 2005).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the six-year term of supervised release.

Christopher Gunter  Columbia, South Carolina

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base, 5 kilograms or more of cocaine, and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana; possession with intent to distribute a quantity of marijuana and a quantity of MDMA (District of South Carolina).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (September 25, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Rachel Lynn Hanson  Richton Park, Illinois

Offense: Possession of an unspecified quantity of cocaine with intent to distribute (Western District of Michigan).

Sentence: 151 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (March 4, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

Stephanie Hernandez  Dallas, Texas

Offense: Distribution of a controlled substance (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (April 21, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

Brandon Jermaine Huguley  Chattanooga, Tennessee

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 280 grams or more of cocaine base (Eastern District of Tennessee).

Sentence: 235 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (August 20, 2012); amended to 188 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (May 22, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

David Charles Jenkins  Beaumont, Texas

Offense: 1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (Western District of Louisiana).

2. Violation of supervised release (Eastern District of Texas).

3. Production of counterfeit access devices (Eastern District of Texas).

Sentence 1. 151 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release, $5,000 fine (November 28, 2011); amended to 121 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release, $5,000 fine (February 9, 2018).

2. 24 months of imprisonment (January 5, 2012).

3. 24 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release, $2,516 restitution (April 29, 2015). Prison sentences and terms of supervised release in each case to run consecutively.

Commutation Grant: Sentences commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the eight and three-year terms of supervised release, and the unpaid remainders, if any, of the $5,000 fine and $2,516 restitution.

Douglas Dean Johnson  Dickens, Iowa

Offense: Conspiracy to manufacture and distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine and possess and distribute pseudoephedrine following a felony drug conviction; travel in interstate commerce and aid and abet travel in interstate commerce with the intent to promote and facilitate a business enterprise involving the manufacture and distribution of controlled substances (Northern District of Iowa).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (December 8, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Gregory Jones  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine; attempted possession with the intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine and aiding and abetting (East District of Pennsylvania).

Sentence: 216 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $2,500 fine (March 30, 2012).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $2,500 fine.

Stephan George Jones  Rosebud, South Dakota

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance (District of South Dakota).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $1,000 fine (April 11, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $1,000 fine.

Terri Kelly  Rialto, California

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams of methamphetamine (Eastern District of Kentucky).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (November 30, 2009).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Tellas Levallas Kennedy  Glennville, Georgia

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute a quantity of cocaine hydrochloride (Southern District of Georgia).

Sentence: 210 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $4,800 fine (September 30, 2013); amended to 168 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $4,800 fine (October 22, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and $4,800 fine.

Vincent Edward Kennedy  Surfside Beach, South Carolina

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; money laundering (District of South Carolina).

Sentence: 180 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (June 26, 2014); amended to 145 months of imprisonment 10-year term of supervised release (June 29, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Brittany Krambeck  Fort Worth, Texas

Offense: Maintaining drug involved premises; structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 220 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (October 29, 2010).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2024, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

Carry Le  Duluth, Georgia

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 4, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

David Lee  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin and to distribute or manufacture in or near a school zone; distribution and possession of heroin with intent to distribute (seven counts); use of communication facility (Eastern District of Pennsylvania).

Sentence: 300 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release, $1,500 fine (October 1, 2007); amended to 243 months of imprisonment,10-year term of supervised release, $1,500 fine (June 24, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release and $1,500 fine.

Rosamaria Lucero  New Braunfels, Texas

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, aiding and abetting (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (February 13, 2018).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Paul A. Lupercio  Blue Springs, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana and five kilograms or more of cocaine (Western District of Missouri).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (May 8, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Angelica Marquez  Apple Valley, California

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine (District of Kansas).

Sentence: 117 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (April 23, 2018).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Eddie Mateus  New York, New York

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine (Southern District of New York).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (January 17, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Stephanie McMurphy  Adel, Georgia

Offense: Distribution of methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a school (Middle District of Georgia).

Sentence: 102 months of imprisonment, six-year term of supervised release (October 22, 2018).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the six-year term of supervised release.

Byron James Miller  St. Louis, Missouri

Offense: 1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine; possession with intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine (Eastern District of Missouri).

2. Possession with intent to distribute heroin; possession of heroin in a federal prison (District of Central Illinois).

Sentence: 1. 292 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (June 6, 1997); amended to 188 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release (December 17, 2019).

2. 210 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (March 5, 1999).

Prison sentences and terms of supervised release in each case to run consecutively.

Commutation Grant: Sentences commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the consecutive eight and three-year terms of supervised release.

Bethel Cheyenne Mooneyham  Spencer, Tennessee

Offense: Conspiracy to manufacture and distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine and 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine (Eastern District of Tennessee).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (June 13, 2011).

Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Colleen Mossberger  Crest Hill, Illinois

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (June 5, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Quang Nguyen  Houston, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 30, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Rickey Wayne Norton  Augusta, Georgia

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (Southern District of Georgia).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release, $40,000 fine (October 17, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $40,000 fine.

Shannon Ann Norton  Augusta, Georgia

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (Southern District of Georgia).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release, $40,000 fine (October 17, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $40,000 fine.

Thomas Perkins  Louisville, Kentucky

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute in excess of 5 kilograms or more of cocaine hydrochloride (mixture) and 50 grams or more of cocaine base (mixture) (Southern District of Indiana).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (December 22, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Aaron Ponce  Odessa, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute a controlled substance, 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (July 11, 2013).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Rose Trujillo Rangel  Waco, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine, a schedule II-narcotic-drug-controlled substance (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release, $5,000 fine (April 14, 2008).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $5,000 fine.

Alejandro Reyna  Brownsville, Texas

Offense: Importation of more than 50 grams of methamphetamine (Western District of Texas).

Sentence: 210 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $2,000 fine (January 16, 2014); amended to 180 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $2,000 fine (February 26, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $2,000 fine.

Fermin Serna  Rio Grande City, Texas

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, a schedule I controlled substance (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (November 9, 2007).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Mackie Shivers  Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine; possession with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine (Southern District of Florida).

Sentence: Life imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (April 10, 2001).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release.

Kirstie Marie Smith Israel  Albertville, Alabama

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (Northern District of Alabama).

Sentence: 97 months of imprisonment, three-year term of supervised release (August 23, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the three-year term of supervised release.

To ny Lee Stanfield  Villa Rica, Georgia

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (Western District of North Carolina).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (November 2, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Cleola Sullivan  Tallahassee, Florida

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base and 5 kilograms or more of cocaine; possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine (Northern District of Florida).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (December 13, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Charles Arnold Thomas  Inglewood, California

Offense: 1. Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of phencyclidine, or one kilogram or more of a mixture containing a detectable amount of phencyclidine (Southern District of Texas).

2. Possession of a prohibited item by a prison inmate (Eastern District of Arkansas).

Sentence: 1. 210 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (August 4, 2011).

2. Seven months of imprisonment (April 25, 2018). Prison sentences in each case to run consecutively.

Commutation Grant: Sentences commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Edwin G. Tierney  Council Bluffs, Iowa

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine (District of Nebraska).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (November 8, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Jesse Alan Trimue  Burton, Michigan

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 5 grams of actual methamphetamine and 50 grams or more of methamphetamine mixture, a schedule II-controlled substance (Eastern District of Tennessee).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release (June 6, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the eight-year term of supervised release.

Daniel Valencia  Maylene, Alabama

Offense: Importation of a quantity of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine (Southern District of Texas).

Sentence: 135 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $2,000 fine (April 24, 2015).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $2,000 fine.

Martin R. Vandemerwe  Price, Utah

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (District of Utah).

Sentence: 20 years of imprisonment; five-year term of supervised release (September 23, 2009).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

James Darrell Walker  Lubbock, Texas

Offense: Distribution of and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (Northern District of Texas).

Sentence: 327 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (August 21, 2006); amended to 262 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (June 9, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Cindy Noella Williams  Casper, Wyoming

Offense: Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (District of Wyoming).

Sentence: 120 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release, $800 restitution (October 10, 2018); amended to 102 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release; $800 restitution (November 4, 2019).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $800 restitution.

Cynthia Lynn Yeley-Davis  Mills, Wyoming

Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute methamphetamine (District of Wyoming).

Sentence: 240 months of imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release, $1,000 fine (December 17, 2009).

Commutation Grant: Sentence to expire on August 24, 2022, leaving intact and in effect the 10-year term of supervised release and the unpaid remainder, if any, of the $1,000 fine.

Andrea Zavala  Waterloo, Iowa

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute at least 50 grams of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine and 5 grams of actual methamphetamine (Northern District of Iowa).

Sentence: 108 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (June 7, 2017).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.

Courtney Donnell Zeno  Warner Robins, Georgia

Offense: Distribution of cocaine base (five counts); possession with intent to distribute cocaine base; forfeiture (Western District of Louisiana).

Sentence: Life imprisonment, 10-year term of supervised release (August 31, 2010); amended to 240 months of imprisonment, eight-year term of supervised release (February 7, 2013).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the eight-year term of supervised release.

David L. Zouck  Buffalo, Missouri

Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine; distribution of five grams or more of actual methamphetamine (Western District of Missouri).

Sentence: 132 months of imprisonment, five-year term of supervised release (March 30, 2016).

Commutation Grant: Sentence commuted to expire on April 26, 2023, with the remainder to be served in home confinement, leaving intact and in effect the five-year term of supervised release.
Russia has lost more than 300 officers fighting in Ukraine, according to new data collected by an independent Russian newspaper.

In total, 317 officers of junior lieutenant rank and above have been killed in a little over two months of fighting, analysis by outlet MediaZona revealed today.

Almost a third came from the most senior grades - major or above - including at least two generals and the deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet.

Vladimir Putin's army has suffered heavy losses since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, with the UK this week saying 15,000 troops have died.

Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky is one of the highest-ranking commanders that Russia has acknowledged were killed fighting in Ukraine

Mikhail Nagamov, 41 (left), and Alexander Chirva (right), are two of the most-recent officers Russia has admitted died in its war on Ukraine

MediaZona, which is currently blocked in Russia but continues to operate online, compiled its data by looking at public reports of troop deaths from local government officials, newspapers, or families posting on social media.

That means the figures will be far lower than the true total because of delays between the troops being killed and their deaths being reported, difficulties in identifying bodies, and deliberate cover-ups by Moscow.

In total, MediaZona found 1,744 reports of military deaths in Ukraine - higher than the Kremlin's official figure of 1,351 which it has not updated since late March.

It found 317 of those deaths were of officers, which accounts for almost a fifth of the total figure.

MediaZona believes that is because officer deaths are more-likely to be reported than those of foot-soldiers.

The highest-ranked deaths that Russia has acknowledged are of Andrei Sukhovetsky and Vladimir Frolov, who were both Major Generals.

Russia has also acknowledged the death of Captain 1st Rank Andrei Paly, the deputy commander of its Black Sea fleet, MediaZona said.

Ukraine claims to have killed a total of 10 generals, including two who it says died at the weekend on a strike of a command post near the city of Kherson.

Kyiv claims to have killed more than 22,000 Russian troops fighting in Ukraine since Putin declared the start of a 'special military operation' on February 24 (file)

Ukraine also claims to have destroyed hundreds of Russian tanks and thousands of other vehicles, putting large parts of Putin's army out of action

One more general was critically wounded in the strike, Kyiv claimed, adding that it believes a total of 50 officers were inside the post at the time it was blown up.

Despite Russia's claims not to be sending conscripts to fight in Ukraine, MediaZona uncovered several cases where conscripts had been killed.

Pavel Pozanen, 20, died in fighting near Kharkiv, while Denis Yaroslavtsev, 18, and 19-year-old Alexander Bobrov were killed just over three months after being drafted in November last year.

Ukrainian commanders put the total number of Russian troops killed during the invasion at more than 22,000. British MPs were told Monday that 15,000 have died.

The true figure is likely to remain a mystery amid reports that Russian troops are burning some of their dead on the battlefield, burying them in mass graves, or simply leaving bodies where they lie.

MediaZona figures also suggest 500 of the dead come from elite Russian units such as paratroopers, marines, and special forces.

It suggests these troops - which were among some of the first into battle around key target such as Kyiv - have borne some of the heaviest combat losses.

That could prove a problem for Russia as it tries to regroup and launch a fresh assault on the Donbas region after failing in its mission to take the capital.

Russia has acknowledged that Captain 1st Rank Andrei Paly, the deputy commander of its Black Sea fleet, has died - likely in the sinking of the Moskva battleship (pictured)

British intelligence said on Monday that Russian forces in the east of Ukraine have 'yet to achieve any significant breakthrough' in the region - with many units 'exhausted' from fighting elsewhere.

Ukrainian defenders holed up in the Azovstal steel work in Mariupol - which has now been under siege for months - are continuing to pin down 'many' Russian units which is stopping them from deploying to Donbas, the UK added.

While Putin's men have made some small gains, they have come at a 'high cost' that analysts and observers have argued will be unsustainable in the long term.

Meanwhile the West has stepped up deliveries of arms and heavy equipment to Ukraine, as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the aim is to give Kyiv the weapons it needs to 'win' the war with Russia.

Austin added that the secondary goal is 'to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine'.

His comments mark a significant departure from Washington's aims early on in the conflict, which were to give Ukraine the means to defend itself.

But - in the wake of atrocities committed by Russian forces occupying the likes of Bucha and Irpin - the argument has shifted to giving Ukraine the means to recapture territory it has lost.

The US along with the UK, France and Canada are now starting to ship heavier weapons to Kyiv - including long-range artillery, helicopters and armoured vehicles.

Western nations are also striking agreements to back-fill stocks of old tanks held by ex-Soviet states if they supply them to Ukraine, with Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic taking up the offer.

Even Germany - which has for months opposed sending such weapons - today agreed to supply 50 anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine.
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Smiling broadly while holding her seven-year-old daughter's hand, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is back on the school run and doing something she had dreamt of while held captive for 2,173 days in her Iranian jail cell.

The mother-of-one, 43, skipped along with her child Gabriella, carrying her purple rucksack like any other parent, as she dropped her daughter at her North London primary this morning.

The scene is extraordinarily poignant, given the pain her imprisonment on trumped up spy charges caused her, her husband Richard and their only child, who she did not see for the final three years of her Tehran jail term.

MailOnline revealed shortly after she arrived back in Britain in mid-March that Nazanin was most excited about doing 'normal' things like take her daughter to school, having missed her first day.

And one witness said mother and daughter were in 'very high spirits' as they trotted along the street to get to the gates on time in London's spring sunshine today.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe is known to have been focussing on having time with her only child after 'six years of hell' being held captive by the Iranians.

Gabi had famously refused to believe her mother was coming home after several 'false dawns' and years of tortuous detention by Ayatollah Khamenei's hardline regime, only believing it when she saw it with her own eyes.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe smiles as she was spotted with her daughter heading to school this morning

Nazanin looked thrilled to be with her daughter Gabi, having told friends that the school run and going to the shops with her child were what she looked forward to most

Nazanin Zagari-Ratcliffe has shared her first family selfie with her husband Richard and daughter Gabrielle following her release from an Iranian jail after 'six years of hell'

MailOnline has tried to reach Ms Zagari-Ratcliffe to comment.

In an extraordinary and emotional video filmed by the daughter of Anoosheh Ashoori, 67, who was also released by Iran in March in return for a 400million debt repayment, the seven-year-old could be heard yelling 'mummy, mummy - is that mummy?' as Nazanin walks down the steps of the British jet at Brize Norton in the early hours of March 17.

The moment Richard and Gabriella were reunited was not filmed - though the tears of joy could be heard - but a picture of the ecstatic family was taken seconds later.

Nazanin then emerged from behind a blue screen and could not stop tenderly hugging and kissing her only child, who she had not seen or touched for three years. Nazanin held her daughter's hands and stroked her hair throughout the reunion, leaning in for regular kisses and cuddles.

During one tender embrace Gabriella told her: 'You smell nice', to which her mother laughed and hugged her again, saying: 'Do I smell nice? I haven't had a shower for 24 hours. Is that okay?'.

Nazanin then held her daughter's hand again and said: 'I will be back in just a minute' and then looks down at her and said: 'That is a very very cool jumper'. Gabriella had also picked out her favourite toys to show her mother on her return.

In the days after her release, Nazanin and her husband Richard shared a selfie of their family taking a walk with spring daffodils in the background in the British countryside.

And while staying in a MoD property their local MP, Labour's Tulip Sidiq, shared an image of Gabriella and her grinning mother spreading cheese on the lunchtime pizza. Ms Sidiq tweeted at the time: 'Nazanin told me that this is what she missed most while she was imprisoned - every day moments with her little girl. Today was Gabriella's choice of making homemade pizzas for lunch'.

MPs are to stage an inquiry examining the UK's efforts over the years to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori from their detention in Iran, it emerged earlier this month.

The Foreign Affairs Committee said it would review evidence of how their cases were handled by British officials as part of a wider investigation into 'state level hostage situations'.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 43, who was detained for six years, and Mr Ashoori, who was held for almost five, were released last month after the UK agreed to settle a historic 400 million debt dating back to the 1970s. Following their return both have been critical of the failure of the Foreign Office (FCDO) to secure their freedom sooner.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Gabriella were also pictured making pizzas as they bonded again at a Government safe house after her return from Iran

The family have been reunited after the mother-of-one's harrowing six-year stint in an Iranian jail on trumped-up spy charges (pictured before her arrest)

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (centre) criticised the delays in her case in a press conference with her husband Richard (left) and MP Tulip Siddiq (right) after her release

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori arriving at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, on March 17

In a press conference with her husband Richard after her release last month, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe took issue with the Government's handling of her case and said: 'How many Foreign Secretaries is it going to take for someone to get out? Five?

What will evidence will the inquiry examine? The inquiry is set to ask the following questions: What were the merits and mistakes made in the approach of the FCDO to the handling of the Iranian hostage situation and any other similar situations in recent years?

Does the Government's approach provide an effective deterrent to state-based hostage situations?

What efforts is the Government taking, or should take, to secure international agreement on deterring and handling state-based hostage taking? Advertisement

'It should have been one of them eventually. So now, here we are. What happened now should have happened six years ago. It shouldn't have taken six years. And I think we have gone through a lot, it has been a tough journey.'

Since arriving back in the UK, both Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori's families have stayed in government safe houses along with their families.

Announcing the inquiry, Foreign Affair Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat MP said: 'Nazanin and Anoosheh's homecoming is wonderful news, but long overdue. After years of imprisonment, in extremely difficult circumstances, Nazanin and Anoosheh are right to ask for answers.'

He said that it was also important to look at the wider issues raised by Iran's use of the detainees as leverage in the debt negotiations.

'Iran is not the only country engaging in state hostage taking,' he said.

'The tactic is fast becoming a tool of choice for authoritarian states and recent high-profile cases have highlighted the challenges governments face when securing the release of hostages held captive by states.

'This inquiry will examine the support provided by the FCDO to hostages in recent cases, as well as take a look at the broader picture and ask how the Government can clamp down on the practice internationally.'

The announcement of the inquiry was welcomed by Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's local MP, Tulip Siddiq, who was involved in the campaign for her release.

'While in Iran, Nazanin was blindfolded, handcuffed, interrogated and subjected to solitary confinement, sleep deprivation and torture,' she said.

'The Government has serious questions to answer about why this was allowed to happen to an innocent British citizen, who was caught as a pawn in a political dispute between two countries.

The inquiry will discuss the approach taken by the UK Government in securing the release of the detainees in Iran, and other similar situations.

It will also aim to assess the likely impact the FCDO's approach may have on deterring other states from using this tactic and will consider options for multilateral action to further deter such behaviour.
A British woman has died from respiratory complications brought about by Covid after she discovered she had been infected while on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean.

The 60-year-old, who has not yet been named, died at the San Giovanni di Dio e Ruggi d'Aragona hospital in Salerno in the early hours of Friday morning.

Her husband was also infected with Covid but has not experienced life-threatening symptoms.

The pair had been isolating and were tended to by medical teams on board when the Bolette cruise ship came into port at Salerno on Wednesday night, after they tested positive for Covid.

Bolette, of Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, was carrying 800 people on a cruise of the Mediterranean, having previously sailed through the fjords of Norway.

The 60-year-old, who has not yet been named, died at the San Giovanni di Dio e Ruggi d'Aragona hospital in Salerno (pictured) in the early hours of Friday morning

Upon arrival into Salerno port on Wednesday evening, the condition of the woman was already serious.

She was transported by wheelchair into an ambulance waiting in the port and was rushed directly to the Ruggi hospital.

Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno reported the victim was suffering with extreme breathing difficulties, and by the time she arrived in the hospital was experiencing cardiogenic shock.

Doctors wanted to transfer the woman to a nearby Covid intensive care ward in the nearby hospital in Scafati roughly 18 miles away, but could not risk moving her due to her extremely low heart rate and blood pressure.

Despite the best efforts of the Ruggi medical staff, the woman died in the early hours of Friday morning, just over 24 hours after leaving the Bolette.

Her husband is recovering from his infection.

The cruise ship meanwhile quickly left port, in accordance with safety protocols designed to limit the spread of Covid according to Corriere.

The cruise ship Bolette, on which the woman first discovered she had been infected with Covid, was carrying 800 people on a cruise of the Mediterranean (Bolette is pictured centre in Tenerife in 2021)

Peter Deer, Managing Director at Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, said: 'We were extremely sad to learn of the passing of one of our guests after she was transferred to hospital ashore in Italy.

'Our medical teams worked very quickly to support her and arranged for her to be transported to hospital as soon as the ship arrived in port.

'We are in close contact with her husband, and their family, and doing all we can to support them in light of this sad news.'

There have been just over 56,000 recorded cases of Covid in Italy in the past 24 hours, according to WHO data.

1,003 people died from complications attributed to Covid in Italy last week according to the same data.
Are you tired of filtered and overly edited photos? Here's a new app that will show the authentic you. BeReal is an app that aims to give you a more authentic and real way to show your stories in the social media world. According to the company, the app offers "a new and unique way to discover who your friends really are in their daily life." It was launched in early 2020 by French entrepreneur, Alexis Barreyat. Majority of its users, at least 65%, have signed up in the first quarter of 2022, CNN reported. The BeReal social media app is focused on authenticity. You will be prompted once a day to share a photo of what you're doing at that moment, which gives your friends and others an unvarnished glimpse into your life. It has no filters and no edit buttons so people would see the reality of where you are and what you are currently doing.

How Does BeReal Work?

BeReal is aiming to change the standards that Facebook and Instagram have set  that you need to have blemish-free skin and have a perfectly curated pose in photos.

With BeReal, there is only one requirement  you have to be yourself. So here's how the new app works.

Every day, you get a notification from BeReal that tells you that it's time to post your photos for the day. You have two minutes to do it. At the same time, your friends will also get notifications.

You take a photo of whatever you're doing at that time when the notification appears, no matter how mundane or exciting. You could be lying in bed, waiting at a bus station, playing with your cat, or eating your breakfast. You can be totally doing anything  and it's totally okay.

With your back-facing camera, you take one photo of what you're doing, and at the same time, with your front-facing camera, your phone takes a photo of you.

That's it.

Filters or third-party apps to change your appearance are not integrated into the app. You may retake the photos and you can still post if you miss the window, but in both cases, your friends will see that you retook the image or posted late, as explained by CNET.

BeReal also allowed users to see where their friends are on a map and discover other publicly posted. The catch is before you view anyone else's post for the day, you have to post your own photos, as per CNET.

Read Also: Truth Social App: Where and How to Download Donald Trump's Social Media App

What Make BeReal Popular?

At least 65% of lifetime downloads of BeReal happened in the first quarter of 2022. The app's 315% year-to-date increase in downloads is also notable.

BeReal is targeting college students with its ambassador program and it seems to be working, said NPR.

It has become popular among many Generation Z because according to them, other social media apps encourage them to look good whereas BeReal is more of a down-to-earth app that allows users to post their authentic selves.

As per an NPR report, the curation that individuals do on other social media platforms is part of what BeReal is trying to break with the lack of filters and the timestamps it has. It aims to offer a more intimate view of your life.

Related Article: Social Media Cybersecurity Threats
Katie Price will appear in court tomorrow charged with allegedly breaching a restraining order against harassing the fiancee of her former husband Kieran Hayler.

Katie, 43, who has rekindled her romance with fiance Carl Woods, will appear before magistrates in Crawley on Wednesday.

She is accused of allegedly breaching a restraining order against Michelle Penticost, Kieran's fiancee.

Breaking the terms of the restraining order carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.

Katie also risks jail time for being arrested while still on licence for her drink-drive BMW crash.

The troubled reality star was arrested on January 21 over claims she sent an abusive text to Michelle.

She spent the night in a cell after being quizzed by officers at Worthing Police station who had earlier picked Katie up from her home in Horsham after a report was made.

Katie allegedly branded flight attendant Michelle a 'c***ing w***e piece of s***' and a 'gutter s**g.

Price may have breached the order a second time when she sent an anonymous letter attacking Michelle to a relative just before flying out to Thailand.

Katie Price, 43, is accused of harassing ex-husband's fiancee Michelle Penticost in a message

Kieran and Michelle, who Katie is banned from contacting directly or indirectly under law

A source said: 'Katie is playing a dangerous game and her actions have led her into deep trouble.

'Kieran and Michelle were deeply concerned after a relative received a letter, believing Katie is ignoring the rules of the restraining order as this is the second time it's happened in three months.

'It was sent anonymously from Heathrow on the day she left for Thailand.

'They know it's her and are concerned by her unpredictable behaviour.'

A police source told MailOnline: 'Katie Price was arrested a few weeks ago for breaching a restraining order placed against her following an argument with the fiancee of her former partner, Kieran Hayler.

'Now she is believed to have written an anonymous note attacking Michelle Penticost via one of her family members.

'As such Katie has been charged with harassment and will appear before Crawley magistrates.'

Mother of five Katie was banned from contacting Michelle, 39, 'directly or indirectly' after swearing at her in a school playground in 2019.

Katie and Carl Woods, her boyfriend, cuddle up in a recent social media picture on Instagram

Katie is under a suspended prison sentence for drink-driving so could be punished further if she is convicted of this

Michelle has grown close to Katie's two children she shares with Kieran, son Jett, eight, and daughter Bunny, seven.

She also has her own child with the ex-stripper, seven-month-old son Apollo, and a ten-year old son Valentino from a previous relationship.

The couple met in 2018 and got engaged the following year.

Former Loose Women host Katie travelled to the Far East with Carl for her latest bout of cosmetic surgery - a boob job and full body liposuction procedure - and has remained there for over two weeks.

The couple, who got engaged last April, have experienced a tumultuous 12 months.

Katie avoided jail in December when she was handed a 16-week prison sentence, suspended for a year, as well as a two-year driving ban after admitting drink-driving while disqualified in December.

She also tested positive for cocaine after she rolled her BMW near her home in Horsham.

Last month, fiance Carl issued a public denial on Instagram over abuse claims, saying he 'didn't lay a finger' on Katie and said he had 'black and white proof' to clear his name after he was charged with using threatening and abusive behaviour towards her in an incident at their house in Essex.

Carl is Katie's first serious major relationship since her split from Kieran in 2019.

They were together for seven years, marrying in 2013 in the Bahamas, but their romance was marred by Kieran's two flings with two of Katie's close pals.

She was previously married to Peter Andre, father of her two children Junior, 16, and Princess, 14, for four years, before her ill-fated marriage to husband No2 Alex Reid, which lasted just 11 months.
A nursery school teacher, a pensioner and two children aged five and six have been shot dead by a gunman who opened fire at a nursery in Russia's central Ulyanovsk region on Tuesday.

The gunman, who has been identified as Ruslan Akhtyamov, 26, went on frenzied rampage killing his neighbour Alexander Dronin, 68, before attacking Ryabinka nursery in the Veshkayma settlement of Ulyanovsk.

Teacher Olga Mitrofanova was killed as she heroically tried to prevent Akhtyamov entering the premises, and the children were shot mercilessly as they cowered under their bedsheets.

The dead children were later named in full as Vladimir 'Vova' Krylov, five, and Ekaterina 'Katya' Sosnova, six.

Images which the MailOnline has chosen not to publish due to their gruesome nature showed the bodies of Akhtyamov's child victims in pools of blood, with their remains splattered across the walls.

The shooter finally put the killing spree to an end by shooting himself in the head.

Images published on Telegram showed his lifeless corpse slumped on a bed with a gaping hole in his face.

A nanny, Elena Karpova, 52, also suffered an arm injury and is in a stable condition at hospital according to local officials.

The armed man, who had a hunter's license, walked into the kindergarten during nap time and fired from a Soviet-era double-barrelled hunting shotgun, an IZH-27.

There was no guard on duty.

Ruslan Akhtyamov, 26 (pictured) killed his neighbour Alexander Dronin, 68, before attacking Ryabinka nursery in the Veshkayma settlement in the Ulyanovsk region with a shotgun. He killed teacher Olga Mitrofanova, Vova, 5, Katya, 6 and wounded nanny Elena Karpova, 52

Pictured: An unconfirmed image of the scene outside the nursery where the gunman opened fire

The suspects father identified his son (pictured) as the gunman behind the nursery massacre

'A man with a gun entered the nursery in the village of Veshkayma during the ''quiet hour'', shot two children and a teacher, and then committed suicide,' the source told Interfax.

'According to preliminary information there was a shooting in a nursery . As a result, two children, a teacher and the attacker died,' the head of the Ulyanovsk region information department, Dmitry Kamal, said.

He said investigators were working at the scene to establish further information.

A source in law enforcement told news agency TASS that the shooting may have been the result of a 'domestic conflict'.

The shooter had a hunter's licence and bought the gun he used in the attack legally, authorities said.

'The man had all the necessary documents and licenses for the IZH-27 gun. He was a hunter and bought the gun legally,' an informed source said.

The attacker's motives are not yet known, though the shooter is not believed to have been linked to the children.

The child victims also have different surnames and are not thought to have been linked outside of the nursey.

Akhtyamov lived on the same street as the Ryabinka nursery, and was known to go shooting frequently with his neighbour Dronin, who was also a hunter

A nanny, Elena Karpova, 52, also suffered an arm injury and is in a stable condition at hospital according to local officials

The suspects father identified his son as the gunman behind the kindergarten massacre.

Akhtyamov lived on the same street as the Ryabinka nursery, and was known to go shooting frequently with his neighbour Dronin, who was also a hunter.

Dronin's body was found next to his car with gunshot wounds.

'I express my deep condolences to the families and friends of the victims. This is an irreplaceable loss for all of us', the region's governor Alexei Russkikh said in a statement.

Investigators have opened a criminal case over the incident, Russia's Investigative Committee said.
A far-right politician who was sacked after bosses discovered his 'offensive' views when he ran for Parliament has had his discrimination claim thrown out.

Graham Moore was suing the London-based Southern Housing Group after he was fired for standing as a candidate for the English Democrats in the December 2019 general election.

His employers said he had failed to declare his intention to run, while his views on English nationalism had left other staff members 'distressed'.

Moore, who was dismissed in January 2020, claimed he was discriminated against for his 'race' as an 'indigenous Englishman', and for his philosophical belief in 'English self-determination' and independence.

The self-described 'Daddy Dragon', who hosted a YouTube show called 'The Full English' on his page with 25,000 subscribers - before being banned from the site - believes in the 'English constitution' which started with the Magna Carta in the 13th century, and believes people guilty of committing treason against the state deserve the death penalty.

Employment Judge Fiona Louise McLaren said Moore's claims had no merit, as the firm - which has offices in London and Horsham, West Sussex - was within its rights to dismiss him for failing to declare 'conflicting interests' and for contacting a journalist and claiming he was being 'harassed' over his beliefs.

However she ruled that a belief in England can pass as a 'cogent and cohesive' philosophical belief, protected by law.

Ruling at the south London tribunal in Croydon, Judge McLaren said: 'We conclude that Moore's belief in England as one nation under God, English self-determination and English independence, while based on his opinion of English history, amount to a philosophical belief that is more than a statement of opinion.

Graham Moore (pictured) was suing the Southern Housing Group after he was fired when bosses discovered his 'offensive' and 'disturbing' views on English nationalism, which they said left other staff members 'distressed'

'His views - about socialism being unlawful [and] on what constitutes treason - potentially infringe on others' rights within a democracy, but we conclude that his beliefs do not involve a very grave violation of the rights of others tantamount to the destruction of those rights.

'He is not espousing violence or hatred in its gravest of forms.

'We conclude his beliefs fall into the category of beliefs that are offensive, shocking or even disturbing to others but are within the less grave forms of hate speech which are not excluded from protection.'

Moore claims the English 'have been suppressed by the British since 1825' and insists 'English history is being erased'.

He also calls for the death penalty for those committed of treason, the tribunal heard.

He once branded Conservative defector Anna Soubry - who opposed Brexit - a 'traitor'.

The panel heard that when he landed a project supervisor job at the housing association, he failed to declare his views and that he was a member of the English Democrats.

Moore was annoyed that he had to tick 'British' for his nationality during the application process as there was no 'English' option, the hearing was told.

Soon after joining the association in October 2019, Moore (far left) announced he was standing as a parliamentary candidate in the Bexleyheath and Crayford Constituency, London, for the English Democrats in that December's General Election

He noted his ethnic origin as 'other ethnic group' to reflect his English origin, it was also heard.

Soon after joining the association in October 2019, he announced he was standing as a parliamentary candidate in the Bexleyheath and Crayford Constituency, London, for the English Democrats in that December's General Election.

He suffered a resounding loss with 520 votes, a mere 1.2 per cent of the total share.

His bosses had not known about his specific beliefs as he did not declare them when he joined, and around the time of the election colleagues were left 'distressed' when he spoke about his affiliation.

Now, after trying to sue Southern Housing Group for race discrimination and philosophical belief discrimination, both the claims have been struck out at an employment tribunal.

A tribunal report laid out Moore's beliefs in further detail.

It read: 'Moore has a belief in England, English identity, English culture, English independence and actively promotes the English constitution and legal system, and English system through various media outlets.

'His belief in English culture included his belief in the English constitution and therefore English common law. His belief in 'England' is the same as a belief in an English nation, one nation under God.

'He is both a nationalist and a constitutionalist. He believes in the law of the land; the freedom and liberty English laws gave us, which the British have taken away.

The tribunal heard Moore attended the November 2019 trial of fellow English Democrat Amy Dalla Mura on her behalf. Mura was found guilty of targeting MP Anna Soubry (pictured), who left the Tories to join Change UK

'He believes in the nation state in England which gave us the laws starting with the English Magna Carta... He believes English history is being erased.

'He explained that while he talks of England and one nation under God, he did not limit being English to what he describes as white, indigenous English, which he also described as being white Anglo Saxon.

'He explained that individuals who are black can be English, although not indigenous English.

'Again, he stated that he did not have any issue with non-Christians, despite his belief in one nation being under a Christian God.'

Moore's beliefs mean he 'demands the British state formally acknowledge the existence of the English as an ethnic group'.

The tribunal heard Moore attended the November 2019 trial of fellow English Democrat Amy Dalla Mura on her behalf. Mura was found guilty of targeting MP Soubry, who left the Tories to join Change UK.

Moore viewed Soubry as a 'traitor', adding that he would 'advocate for the death penalty' if an individual was found guilty of treason.

As an English Democrat, Moore claimed: 'We are true Conservatives unlike Nigel Farage who is the equivalent to Benedict Arnold, he is British not English'.

His YouTube account was banned for 'violating' its rules and his Twitter profile has also been removed.
The twin brother of policeman David Rathband, who was shot and blinded by killer Raoul Moat, said he will not watch a new drama about the gunman.

Darren Rathband, 54, has urged people to remember the victims of Moat's deadly attack in July, 2010, instead of focusing on the killer.

He said he will not be watching ITV's upcoming series, The Hunt for Raoul Moat, based on the substantial search for the 37-year-old.

The broadcaster confirmed last week that it has started filming the programme.

Mr Rathband, 54, said his family do not need any more reminders of what happened to his twin brother.

'David loss gives us a painful reminder everyday. If its based on facts and not fiction, the story remains the same,' he told ChroniceLive.

'I dont watch them, dont need to and never will. I sadly lived being involved in it.'

PC David Rathband (left) with his twin brother Darren, after being shot in the face twice by Raoul Moat. He was left blinded by the attack

Police officer David Rathband (left) was shot and blinded by Raoul Moat, 37, less than 24 hours after he shot his ex-girlfriend and her new partner. Darren Rathband, 54, his twin brother, said he will not watch the new ITV drama being filmed about the case

PC Rathband took his life on February 29, 2012, after his 20-year marriage ended the year before. Pictured, his funeral in Stafford

PC Rathband, 42, was sat in his police car on a roundabout above the A1 in Newcastle when he was shot in the face twice by Moat.

It happened less than 24 hours after Moat injured his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart with a shotgun and killed her new partner Christopher Brown with it.

Afterwards, Moat took refuge with a pair of accomplices in Rothbury, Northumberland.

Armed police were drafted in from around the country to find him, in one of the nation's most notorious manhunts.

He was eventually cornered by armed police before a six-hour stand-off began. As negotiators tried to get Moat to put down his weapon, the crazed killer shot himself in the head.

Left, Raoul Moat, who was 37 at the time of a shooting spree in 2010. Right, Matt Stokoe, who will play him in a new drama

Raoul Moat holds a shotgun to his head after being confronted by armed police in Rothbury

Sitting on the grass with a sawn-off shotgun, actor Matt Stokoe, 33, was pictured last week playing the killer Raoul Moat in his final moments before he took his own life

The ITV drama, which will tell the story of one of the most notorious manhunts in the UK, filmed the gripping scenes in Yorkshire with Stokoe in the lead role. Actors posing as police officers are pictured during filming this week

Police pictured in July 2010, during their confrontation with fugitive Raoul Moat

Raoul Moat's horrific final days before dramatic six-hour stand off Thursday, July 1, 2010: Released from Durham prison after serving a short time for assault Saturday, July 3, 2010: Moat shoots dead Chris Brown, who is the new partner of his ex girlfriend Samantha Stobbart, who he also tried to shoot twice through the window of a property Sunday, July 4, 2010: Moat shoots PC David Rathband and the public are urged not to approach him Monday, July 5, 2010: Cleveland, Humberside, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Cumbria Police join up with Northumberland Police to help them with the search for Moat Tuesday, July 6, 2010: Moat declares war on the police. Police also investigate an armed robbery from the day before as the description matches Moat's Wednesday, July 7, 2010: Police offer 10,000 reward for information leading to his capture Thursday, July 8, 2010: Police urge public to be vigilant as they release new images of Moat Friday, July 9, 2010: Moat located in Rothbury with witnesses saying he is on the floor with a gun to his head near the riverbank Saturday, July 10, 2010: Moat shoots himself after a six-hour stand off with police Advertisement

PC Rathband survived the attack by lying in his blood and pretending to be dead, before calling for help from the force on his radio.

He healed from some of his injuries but was left blind. He returned to work and set up a charity for injured emergency service staff.

He also wrote an autobiography and won a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain award for his bravery.

The officer took his life on February 29, 2012, after his 20-year marriage ended the year before, when his wife found out he was having an affair with a 7/7 bombing survivor.

Mr Rathband hopes that anyone viewing the ITV drama will think of Moat as a 'coward', and remember his victims.

'Victims of crime are often forgotten by the names of the cowards that carry out despicable acts of violence towards others,' he said.

'This event and actions by a coward are no different.

'The public should remember the names of those effected by violence, those who are no longer here to be heard, instead of the names of those who commit these heinous crimes.'

A spokesperson for ITV said that The Hunt for Raoul Moat also focuses on the three victims, Ms Stobbart, Mr Brown and PC Rathband.

Scriptwriter Kevin Sampson said he hopes the drama condemns a narrative of victim-blaming when it comes to violence against women.

He added that televised coverage of the manhunt in 2010 'gripped' him, and he was interested when Moat was portrayed as a 'legend' by some  despite his 'brutality'.

Simon Heath and Jake Lushington, commenting on on behalf of producers World Productions, said that Mr Sampson has written a 'compelling and unflinching' account of the events.

They said the programme highlights 'the human tragedy behind the lurid headlines', adding: 'The drama is a timely reminder of how social media and fake news can create a dangerous myth, in this case that Raoul Moat was any kind of hero.'

Lee Ingleby is pictured filming the scene of the notorious standoff from 2010 for the ITV drama

Stokoe is pictured behind the scenes of a new ITV drama about the horrific shooting spree in 2010

Sally Messham, pictured right, has signed on to play Moat's ex-lover Samantha Stobbart, who sustained severe injuries after being shot in the stomach by the crazed gunman

Stokoe, famous for roles in the Channel 4 series Misfits, the BBC series Bodyguard and Sky's Jamestown, has assumed the lead role of Moat, while Sally Messham (Doc Martin) and Josef Davies (Chernobyl) will play Moat's ex-lover Stobbart and murder victim Brown.

The drama will also star The A Word's Lee Ingleby as Northumbria Police Officer Neil Adamson, who was among the main police officers searching for Moat while he evaded capture.

Sonya Cassidy (The Last Kingdom) and Vineeta Rishi (Holby City) have also been announced as cast members.
Downing Street continued to play down talk of a rift with France today as officials confirmed Boris Johnson has still not spoken to Emmanuel Macron in the wake of his re-election.

Macron saw off far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the second round of the French presidential election at the weekend.

But despite leaders including Joe Biden, Germany's Olaf Scholz and even China's Xi Jinping calling the Elysee to congratulate him on his second term, No10 said there was no call scheduled today.

Mr Macron, 44, clashed with the Prime Minister in recent months as he sought to see off hard-right challenger Marine Le Pen.

There have been stand-offs over fishing rights and also the way French authorities have failed to stem the tide of small boat crossings, despite taking millions of pounds off the UK Government.

Macron saw off far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the second round of the French presidential election at the weekend.

Despite leaders including Joe Biden, Germany's Olaf Scholz and even China's Xi Jinping calling the Elysee to congratulate him on his second term, No10 said there was no call scheduled today.

World leaders who have managed to pick up the phone to the Elysee Joe Biden (United States) Xi Jinping (China) Olaf Scholz (Germany) Advertisement

The Prime minister's official spokesman told reporters today there were no plans for them to talk today, adding: 'You'll know they've spoken very regularly in recent weeks and months and I'm sure that will not change. Not least because of the situation in Ukraine.'

He went on: 'You will appreciate when it comes to world leaders' calls, timings can change quite often - both people being exceptionally busy.'

Ministers hope that victory for Macron will trigger an end to the relentless 'Brit-bashing' of his campaign and open the door to a new deal on stemming the flow of illegal migration across the Channel.

The Macron administration was seen as talking tough to limit the impact of Le Pen, who comes from an anti-EU, anti-migrant background.

But Downing Street yesterday voiced hopes that a new era of co-operation can now be launched.

'Hopefully now his electioneering is out the way we can come together around the table and look at sensible solutions to solve what is a shared problem,' a Government source said.

Centrist Macron beat Le Pen 58.5 per cent to 41.5 per cent to win re-election on Sunday but Le Pen produced her highest-ever level of support in her three attempts to become France's leader.

His win will be made official on Wednesday and Macron will hold a Cabinet meeting before setting a date for his inauguration ceremony, which must be held by May 13.

The president will also make a speech tomorrow.

Macron faces a new election battle to keep his Republique en Marche party in control of France's National Assembly.

The centrist leader will be under pressure in the June polls to convince a divided nation to push through his election manifesto.

His tighter winning margin than in 2017 shows the discontent in France with his domestic record.

Five years ago, Mr Macron's party won 308 out of 577 seats in the lower house of parliament.

Voters will have to choose between Mr Macron's pro-EU agenda, Marine Le Pen's populist National Rally and the radical-Left France Unbowed party led by Jean-Luc Melenchon.

If they can steal seats from Mr Macron's party or form a coalition to vote down many of his plans, he will effectively be left as a lame-duck president for five years.

Eric Zemmour of the hard-Right Reconquest party has suggested forming a Right-wing alliance to block the leader's reforms.

Mr Melenchon, who won 22 per cent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election, has said he should become the next French PM in the June polls.

He said: 'Macron's election is the worst result of the Fifth Republic. He swims in an ocean of abstentions and spoiled ballots.'

Turnout in French parliamentary elections is usually lower than the presidential vote and was just 42 per cent of eligible voters in 2017.

French economist Christopher Dembik said: 'He [Mr Macron] risks being a lame duck faced with major social discontent if he wants to implement sensitive reforms such as for pensions.'
Plans to line part of the bank of the River Cam, in Cambridge with a gold-coloured metal artwork at a cost of up to 150,000 has drawn fierce criticism from locals.

A campaign group, Friends of the Cam, says the river 'does not need gold bling' to enhance its natural beauty.

The group, which wants to restore the health of the river, has gained hundreds of signatures for a petition opposing the public art.

Called 'Selvedge', the glinting structure, designed by local artist Caroline Wright, would see a 50-metre stretch of the riverbank at Sheep's Green covered in gold-coloured metal.

Comments on the petition call the sculpture 'pointless and unsightly', with others such as Ros Sinclair saying it: 'Is an obscene waste of money and will spoil something beautiful.'

Tony Booth, meanwhile, felt that it is: 'an absurd waste of money and an insult to the people of Cambridge who deserve better in the name of public art.'

Odile Martin believes the design is 'totally inappropriate for the location.'

It has also been criticised for being ill be 'about as far away as it could be' from communities which could benefit from extra funding.

A golden public art sculpture which may be built along the banks of the River Cam (pictured), in Cambridge, has drawn large amounts of criticism from residents who are angry at the money being spent on it

The 50m stretch of the bank on Sheep's Green could be covered in 'an undulating golden wave'

The sculpture is planned to be installed along the riverbank in Sheep's Green, Cambridge (pictured)

The sculpture is part of a programme of events and activities for local people, called the 'To The River' project, which has already had 120,000 allocated to it.

Cambridge City Council says the funding has been 'secured specifically' for public art projects, through Section 106 developer contributions  money paid to the city council by developers.

Labour council leader Cllr Anna Smith said that the money had to be used for public art and if it was not used then it would have to be returned to the developers.

Though more than 330 people have now signed a Change.org petition to stop the sculpture being built - although it already has undergone public consultation.

Part of the petition reads: 'The Cam does not need to be "enhanced" with 50m of gold decoration along the river bank at Sheep's Green nature reserve as Friends of the Cam and many other groups and individuals wrote in response to the public consultation.

'Please join in our call to the city council to ensure that no money is wasted on this vanity project and that there is now a genuine consultation on what would really be of benefit to the people of Cambridge.'

Councillor Mairead Healy said many people criticising the To the River proposals were mainly middle class.

She said: 'A lot of the things I have seen in the media and a lot of the criticism is predominantly coming from white, middle class people.

'It upsets me a bit because I know that a lot of the people who have been involved with the consultations have been people from working class backgrounds.'

The River Cam is a popular location for tourists to visit and enjoy a punting tour (pictured)

Cambridge City Council say on their website that they hope to unveil the artwork as part of World Rivers Day in September, but add that it is subject to planning permission and the consent of Conservators of the River Cam and the Environment Agency.

Caroline Wright (pictured) has been the artist in residence for the River Cam since 2018

The council describe the work as being 'an undulating golden wave flowing in, out and over the riverbank' that will be etched with a Cambridge Lace pattern, 'paying homage to the female influences on the river'.

The artist Caroline Wright was appointed by the council to be an artist in residence for the River Cam in 2018 and has helped 'celebrate and promote' the story of the River Cam and how it has shaped the city of Cambridge.

A Green Party councillor spoke to the Cambridge Independent about the planned artwork, she said: 'The proposed location  Newnham  is about as far away as it could be from communities, like Abbey, who would benefit the most from this huge amount of funding.

'The numerous residents who raised concerns about this ahead of and during the meeting have had them ignored, when we should be welcoming everyone and their contributions, and making decisions collaboratively.'
Tim Westwood is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by women who claim he abused his position within the music industry to take advantage of them.

The 64-year-old has been accused of initiating unwanted sex by three women, while four others allege he groped their bottoms or breasts at events, reports the Guardian and BBC.

It is claimed the first alleged incident took place in 1992, while the most recent came in 2017. One woman who claims her breast was grabbed by the veteran DJ in 2000 said she was left feeling 'cold and dirty' after the alleged incident.

One of the women described how she 'froze' and felt 'very intimated' after Westwood allegedly said 'lemme grab some ass', before putting his hand down the back of her shorts after meeting the girl at a club in Ayia Napa, Cyprus in 2009.

Three others, aged 17, 19 and 20 at the time, describe a pattern of alleged 'opportunist and predatory sexual behaviour' after agreeing to meet with him.

Two of them, who had aspirations of working within the music industry, claim they agreed to meet Westwood in London to discuss music, before he 'initiated unwanted and unexpected sex' that left them feeling 'completely powerless' and 'scared'.

A further four women say Westwood groped them while posing for a picture with him after his nightclub performances.

Veteran DJ Tim Westwood is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by women who claim he abused his position to take advantage of them. The DJ has strenuously denied all allegations

One accuser claims Westwood (pictured) drove her to a flat in central London and initiated unwanted sex when she was 19 and he was 53. The DJ has denied all allegations

The DJ, who is not married, has strenuously denied all claims. A spokesperson for the DJ told MailOnline: 'Tim Westwood strongly denies all allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

'IT WAS MENACINGLY SILENT... I WAS SO ASHAMED OF MYSELF' Isabel was 19 when she says she handed Westwood her mixtape in a club, knowing he was 'the main gatekeeper' for a dream spot on Radio 1. Westwood, then 53, called her the next day and invited her to come to London from her home in the Midlands. He picked her up from the railway station, but she started to panic when he drove out of central London. The mood turned 'menacingly silent' before he tapped her arm. She turned and claims he had undone his trousers and exposed his genitals. She told the BBC: 'I've looked and I've seen and I'm like 'oh, no, oh no,' like, 'oh my God'.' Isabel* claims Westwood took her to his flat, where she felt 'completely powerless' and 'very, very scared'. Westwood allegedly left the room before re-entering 'completely naked'. He started undoing a condom from a packet with his face on it from a promotional Durex campaign. Isabel was left 'frozen with fear' and 'knew what was going to happen at this point' as the DJ forced himself on her, she claims. 'I just remember feeling so deflated,' she added. 'So sad. Feeling really ashamed of myself and bad.' * Names have been changed to protect identities Advertisement

'In a career that has spanned 40 years, there have never been any complaints made against him officially or unofficially. Tim Westwood strongly rejects all allegations of wrongdoing.'

The women, who do not know one another, were aged in their late teens or early 20s when they claim they were set upon by the former Radio 1 star.

Each have provided their own claims in the wake of anonymous sexual misconduct allegations levelled against Westwood on social media two years ago.

One accuser claims Westwood drove her to a flat in central London and initiated unwanted sex when she was 19 and he was 53.

She told the BBC she felt 'completely powerless' and 'very, very scared' when he allegedly exposed his genitals to her in a car'.

Another woman, who was 17 at the time, alleges Westwood, then aged in his mid-thirties, also subjected her to unwanted sex.

Using the alias Tamara, she claimed the encounter took place after giving Westwood a demo of her own work while she was a member of an R&B group.

'Within the recording industry and the black community, despite him being a white man, he had absolute power. He could make or break your career', she said.

But once they arrived at a London flat, she claims Westwood, without saying anything, pulled down her trousers and underwear before performing oral sex on her.

One woman, using the pseudonym Isabel, alleges she was 19 and the DJ was 53 when he exposed his genitals to her in a car.

Isabel told the BBC that upon entering a flat in London, a naked Westwood entered the room with a drink in hand. He was allegedly holding a condom and initiated sex with her while she remained 'frozen'.

Westwood, pictured above in 2005, is at the centre of a sexual misconduct storm after allegations were levelled against him in recent years

One accuser claims Westwood drove her to a flat in central London and initiated unwanted sex when she was 19 and he was 53. He has denied all of the women's claims

Another woman was in her 20s when she told the BBC she met Westwood after reassuring her mother that it was work experience to help the DJ connect with a younger audience.

She claims when Westwood picked her up in a large American-style vehicle he started touching her inappropriately before his 'erratic driving' was picked up on by a police officer.

Later, in a London flat, she claims the DJ sat next to her and tried kissing her before they had sex. She claims the work experience he offered never materialised.

Other women claim Westwood groped them during photo shoots with the celebrity after his shows. One said she was aged 22, and Westwood 59, when he 'moved his hand up the back of her skirt' at a New Year's Day event in London in 2017.

The women, whose identities have been anonymised, will share their accounts in a new BBC Three documentary, Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power which airs at 9pm tonight.

'He offered work experience, then started kissing my neck' Pamela was 20 when she says Westwood invited her for work experience at Radio 1 after meeting her through her job in the music industry. She claims he told her he wanted to learn how to 'get a younger audience', and reassured her 'stern Jamaican mother' that she would be safe to travel to London from the Midlands. However, when he picked her up from the railway station in his car he started 'stroking her leg and touching her face', Pamela* claims. Westwood allegedly took her to his flat where he began trying to kiss her neck and remove her clothing. She says she thought: 'I'm in London alone with this man. Now if I try and get out of this, who's to say how he's going to react... so I just submitted to it.' She said the ordeal in 2000 was 'traumatic' and 'disgusting'. The promised work experience never materialised. Pamela hit out at the BBC for allowing Westwood to abuse his 'celebrity status', adding: 'Who are they going to believe? This little girl from the Midlands, or this big, shiny star from London?' * Names have been changed to protect identities Advertisement

A statement released by the BBC in response to Westwood's allegations said: 'The BBC is against all forms of inappropriate behaviour and we are shocked to hear of these allegations. The BBC has strict codes of conduct for all those engaged by the BBC, including on-air presenters.'

The allegations are likely to further rock the music industry after hundreds of musicians spoke out about their struggles with bullying and harassment in 2021.

X Factor star Rebecca Ferguson previously demanded a parliamentary inquiry into the music industry and called for greater regulation to protect artists from 'bullying' agents and managers.

She said that she had been sexually harassed by a music executive and, in a series of tweets, claimed she knew two women who had been raped and others who had been driven close to suicide by the industry.

Westwood, son of the former Bishop of Peterborough, is a well known figure on the hip hop scene.

He began his career with local radio before joining Capital Radio in London and was later given his own show by BBC Radio 1.

Westwood is considered among the most influential rap and hip hop DJ in Europe and is a winner of numerous radio industry awards, including best radio DJ in the Music of Black Origin ceremony.

In 1999 he was the victim of a drive by shooting in south London after leaving a concert.

Two men on a motorbike pulled up alongside his Range Rover and fired several shots. Westwood suffered an arm injury and later said the attack was part of an extortion attempt by a gang.

In 2020, Westwood was forced to deny involvement in similar allegations when the hashtag #survivingTimWestwood appeared on Twitter.

Westwood's name and the allegations began trending on Twitter after an unnamed woman posted messages describing a four year relationship.

Tim Westwood, son of the former Bishop of Peterborough, is a well known and award-winning figure in the UK hip hop scene

Using the Twitter name @survivingtimwestwood she admitted she was in love with the DJ and had not gone to police with any of her allegations.

Others responding to the Twitter messages called on bosses at Global Radio, where Westwood works for Capital Xtra, to investigate his behaviour towards young black women.

The renowned DJ vehemently denied sensational allegations on social media that he has behaved inappropriately with student fans.

In October 2013, Westwood was condemned by students for a 'vulgar and sexist' stage show he put on during a Fresher's event at the University of Leicester.

While performing as guest DJ at the O2 Academy he was heard shouting over the microphone: 'Girl in the front row with the black dress on, I will be f****** you later.'
Pennsylvania Republican primary candidate tore into rival Mehmet Oz by claiming there is no 'miracle cure for flip-flopping' and the former television doctor mocked his opponent for not getting Donald Trump's endorsement.

David McCormick's one-liner comment during Monday's GOP primary debate for U.S. Senate took aim at Dr. Oz's promotion of remedies on his long-running show The Dr. Oz Show and also knocked him for previously opposing fracking.

The one-hour event Monday evening saw the five GOP candidates  Oz, McCormick, Kathy Barnette, Jeff Bartos, and Carla Sands  throwing jabs just three weeks before the primary election in the Keystone State.

Oz is the candidate who earned Trump's endorsement in the race to take retiring Republican Senator Pat Toomey's seat.

The former president will rally for Oz in Pittsburgh outskirt town of Greensburg on Friday, May 6.

During the debate Monday evening at ABC27 studios in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania turned to fracking at one point with McCormick pointing out Oz's past opposition over the natural gas extraction method opposed by many environmentalists.

'Dishonest Dave is at it again,' Oz said in response to McCormick's criticism using Trump's tactics to dub adversaries with alliterative, disapproving nicknames.

Pennsylvania Republican candidates for U.S. Senate Mehmet Oz (left) and David McCormick (right) got into a back-and-forth during Monday's debate over Trump's endorsement and fracking

'Dishonest Dave is at it again,' Dr. Oz said in response to McCormick's criticism that there is 'no miracle cure for flip-flopping'  specifically referencing fracking

'He went groveling to President Trump with these types of allegations,' the television personality added. 'President Trump saw right through him, did not endorse him, and then he endorsed me, because as he said in his announcement which he wrote himself, I know how exactly to manage our energy issues and deal with many of the factors that we as a nation have to be strong and bold on.'

Trump's endorsement of Oz has come at the chagrin of many Republicans in the state who claim that he is not a true Pennsylvanian.

Oz was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1960 to Turkish immigrants and spent his summers in Turkey as a child  including two years in the Turkish army after college in order to maintain dual citizenship. After earning his undergraduate degree in biology from Harvard, Oz went onto the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine to earn his MD and MBA degrees. He has a medical license in Pennsylvania.

Oz is a longtime New Jersey resident, but registered to vote at his in-laws' address in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania in 2020. On November 30, 2021, he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania's 2022 race.

McCormick responded at the debate Monday to Oz's criticism of not earning Trump's backing with: 'The reason Mehmet keeps talking about President Trump's endorsement is because he can't run on his own positions and his own records.'

Five GOP candidates took stage for the primary debate in Pennsylvania on Monday evening. From L-R: Jeff Bartos, Mehmet Oz, David McCormick, Kathy Barnette and Carla Sands

'And what's true is that he has flip-flopped on every major issue we're talking about in this campaign. He's never  in his entire media career  advanced a conservative agenda,' the former hedge fund CEO added.

'The problem, doctor, is there's no miracle cure for flip-flopping,' he accused in a one-liner jab at Oz.

'And Pennsylvanians are seeing right through your phoniness and that's what you're dealing with. And that's why you're not taking off in the polls.'

Oz has faced criticism for promoting questionable remedies for various ailments in his previous role as a medical personality on television.

The doctor also previously took liberal positions on several issues  like abortion, energy and guns. But the candidate is now trying to distance himself from that in his bid to win the nomination in the swing state that went blue for Joe Biden in 2020 by just 1.2 percent.

An April poll from Nexstar/Emerson College Polling/The Hill showed that among 1,000 likely Republican Pennsylvania voters, McCormick is the most popular  with 17.8 percent.

Oz comes in second with 16.6 percent, even with Trump's support.

Former President Donald Trump endorsed Oz last month and will rally for him in Pennsylvania on Friday, May 6, 2022 in the Pittsburgh outskirt of Greensburg

Even though McCormick will not be able to ride the former president's coattails to Washington, D.C., the former Bridgewater Associates head was endorsed by Trump-era Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

McCormick also was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs during George W. Bush's administration.

In the poll for the Senate race in Pennsylvania, Barnette finished third with 10.2 percent, Bartos came in fourth with 8.9 percent and Sands earned 7.7 percent.

A massive 32 percent of voters said they were still undecided just weeks before heading to the polls.

Candidates needed at least 5 percent in either the March or April polling to be invited to attend the debate on Monday evening.
Tesla shares have plunged a day after CEO Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44billion - wiping $114billion off the carmaker's market capitalization.

Stocks plummeted by up to 12 per cent on Tuesday to $876, marking a 28 per cent drop from its highest ever valuation in November.

It also erased $25billion from the billionaire's finances, which had already taken a hit by forking out for the social media giant.

It comes as the price of Dogecoin shot up nearly 40 percent amid expectation Musk will incorporate the 'joke' cryptocurrency into the site.

The so-called 'meme coin' rose to 16.7 cents after the purchase was announced on Monday, up from 12 cents that morning.

Musk had previously floated the idea that users could pay for Twitter's premium service with the coin.



'Joke' cryptocurrency Dogecoin went up by nearly 40 percent after Elon Musk finalized a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion in cash

Musk has repeatedly promoted the cryptocurrency on his social media and on TV appearances, coinciding with a rise in interest in the 'meme coin' last year

Last May, Musk played a financial expert trying to explain crypto on SNL's Weekend Update. He jokingly admitted that Dogecoin was a 'hustle,' sending the price down 22 percent

Dogecoin stock went up by more than 15 percent after Musk tweeted that his electric car company, Tesla, will accept Dogecoin for merchandise

Twitter stocks were down Tuesday morning, as experts worried that Musk's 'free speech absolutism' would clash with the company's advertiser-based model

Shares of electric car maker Tesla were also down on Tuesday, by nearly 7 percent

Oanda analyst Edward Moya warned Tesla shareholders must be concerned by the nosediving share price.

He told Forbes: 'Tesla shareholders can't be happy that Musk will have to divert even more attention away from winning the electric-vehicle race.'

Meanwhile Dogecoin investors would have been thrilled by it being worth 15 cents as of Tuesday morning after Musk bought out Twitter.

The cryptocurrency was created as a 'joke' in 2013. Its mascot is a Shiba Inu dog.

It was valued at less than one cent at the start of 2021, until the SpaceX founder and others started promoting it on social media, hyping it up and driving up the price.

The billionaire's mere mention of the coin caused it to fluctuate. It plunged when he joked about it on air on Saturday Night Live last May. In December, it went up when he said Tesla would accept the coin as payment for merchandise.

The 'joke' crypto that started as a meme... what is Dogecoin? Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created as a 'joke' in 2013. Its mascot is a Shiba Inu dog, made popular from the 'doge' meme featuring photos of the canine overlaid with text written in broken English. It can be bought or sold on crypto exchanges like Coinbase or on trading apps like Robinhood and Webull. One Dogecoin is worth 16 cents as of Tuesday morning. It's never been worth more than 64 cents. Creator Billy Markus said last year that he invented the coin as a joke. 'I'm half detached, but it's weird that something I made in a few hours is now part of internet culture,' he said. 'It's amusing to see Elon Musk talk about it. It feels silly, but there's this huge upwelling behind it.' Advertisement

Musk and Twitter reached a deal shortly before 3pm Monday afternoon.

The Tesla magnate agreed to pay shareholders $54.20 in cash for each share of common stock before the bombshell deal was struck.

The move shifts control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world's richest person.

Musk vowed to protect free speech on Twitter, 'defeat the spam bots' and 'authenticate all humans' as he welcomed the acquisition.

He previously proposed a series of changes to the company's fledgling premium service.

'Everyone who signs up for Twitter Blue (ie pays $3/month) should get an authentication checkmark,' he tweeted.

'Price should probably be ~$2/month, but paid 12 months up front & account doesn't get checkmark for 60 days (watch for CC chargebacks) & suspended with no refund if used for scam/spam,' he said.

'And no ads. The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive,' he added.

'Maybe even an option to pay in Doge?'

Some Twitter users are worried about the future of the company at the hands of Musk, who is known to use the platform to post inflammatory messages and tease his followers, sometimes with the idea of using Dogecoin legitimately.

In January, he tweeted: 'Tesla merch buyable with Dogecoin.'

The stock went up by more than 15 percent that same day, CNBC reports.

Last May, Musk played a financial expert trying to explain crypto on SNL's Weekend Update segment.

'They're a type of digital money but instead of being controlled by a central Government, they're decentralized using blockchain technology,' he explained, letting out a nervous giggle.

In a bit about how difficult it is to explain, the segment's host repeatedly asked him, 'What is dogecoin?'

'I keep telling you, it's a cryptocurrency you can trade for conventional money.'

Dogecoin creator Billy Markus admitted last year that he created the coin as a joke, and that it was 'amusing' to see Elon Musk promoting it

'Oh, so it's a hustle,' Michael Che finally said.

'Yeah, it's a hustle,' Musk replied.

The stock dived by 22 percent while the show was airing.

Dogecoin creator Billy Markus told Bloomberg last year that he invented the coin as a joke.

The coin was being traded a lot early last year, reaching a high of 64 cents in May, months after amateur investors managed to send shares of video game retailer GameStop soaring.

Markus cashed in his Dogecoin and abandoned his pet project in 2015.

'I'm half detached, but it's weird that something I made in a few hours is now part of internet culture,' he said. 'It's amusing to see Elon Musk talk about it. It feels silly, but there's this huge upwelling behind it.'

Tuesday's slump notwithstanding, Twitter stock is up by more than 9 percent since April 19, when Musk made his offer to buy the company entirely. Tesla shares, meanwhile, fell by about 0.7 percent in the same time.

Twitter stock is up by more than 9 percent since April 19, when Musk made his offer to buy the company entirely

A New York Times reporter says that an unidentified Twitter employee told him they feel like 'throwing up' at the thought of working for Musk

Inside Twitter, employees are reportedly dismayed at the realization that Musk is now their boss.

'I feel like im going to throw up..I rly don't wanna work for a company that is owned by Elon Musk,' one employee told a New York Times reporter.

Some raised concerns about whether Musk, a staunch opponent of labor unions who is worth a reported $266 billion, would push the price of shares down as he seeks to take the company private, hitting employees who are partly paid in stock especially hard.

The unidentified Twitter employee added: 'I don't rly know what I'm supposed to dooh my god, my phone's been blowing upWe have a meeting about it at 5pmthe CEO is going to address everyone about it

'I hate him, why does he even want this?

'I feel like he's this petulant little boy and that he's doing this to trollhe doesn't know anything about our policies and what we dohis statement about our algo was f****** insane

'Were just gonna let everyone run amok?nobody knows.'

Earlier, the 50-year-old tycoon called for his 'worst critics' to remain on the platform because 'that is what free speech means.'

Still, employees are worried about the SpaceX founder's plans for the company.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal (left) on Monday spoke to employees to try and reassure them. Co-founder Jack Dorsey (right) holds a board seat, but is expected to give it up in May

Musk is known for using Twitter to post inflammatory messages, much like former President Donald Trump.

Parag Agrawal, the CEO, said on Monday that it was up to Musk to decide whether to readmit Trump.

Trump on Monday said he would not be rejoining the site if Musk allowed him to - instead saying he would continue to use his own TRUTH Social.

Some experts are pointing to a tough road ahead for Twitter if Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist, gets his way.

'We expect advertisers will be less willing to spend on Twitter if Elon Musk removes content moderation in order to promote free speech,' MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson said.

The 16-year old company, which has emerged as one of the world's most influential online public squares with about over 200 million users, reported $4.51 billion in ad revenue for 2021, accounting for about 89% of its overall sales.

'The challenge (for Twitter) will be maintaining and building revenue given that the controversial opinions (Musk) hopes to give more of a free rein to are often unpalatable to advertisers,' Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter said.

Tesla tycoon versus Big Tech: How swashbuckling billionaire Elon Musk fought off 'poison pill', lawsuits and hostile board of directors before $44bn Twitter takeover

It has been one of the most dramatic takeover attempts in history, seeing a swashbuckling billionaire pitted against one of the largest tech giants in the world.

But Elon Musk's seizing of Twitter has been a months-long pursuit that has seen him send shockwaves through the world of business.

The Tesla magnate started hoarding shares in the social media firm at the start of the year in an apparent bid to preserve free speech online.

He quickly rocketed to the top of its shareholders' list, acquiring a huge 9% stake in the tech giant.

But then he hit choppy waters, accepting a place on the board then rejecting it, getting embroiled in lawsuits and seeing rival companies circle to buy Twitter.

Meanwhile bosses at the social media firm appeared to do all they could to ensure he could not not seize it - even launching a 'poison pill' strategy to sink his chances.

Yet Musk brazenly blasted through all the obstacles, punting a $43 billion offer earlier this month and showing how he would finance it.

The two sides were reportedly working into the early morning on Monday to finalize the 'fast-moving' negotiations.

It saw Twitter shares in the US soar by four percent as the markets opened to $50.84 a share.

On Monday, Musk called for his 'worst critics' to remain on the platform because 'that is what free speech means'.

Here, DailyMail.com looks at the rollercoaster journey he has been on over the last few months as he seizes his prize.



The Tesla magnate started hoarding shares in the social media firm at the start of the year in an apparent bid to preserve free speech online

January 31: Musk hoards Twitter shares and buys them 'almost daily'

Musk started buying Twitter stock on January 31 and continued to buy shares during every trading session through April 1, according to an SEC filing.

Just days earlier, he told his 80 million followers on the site he was ' giving serious thought ' to creating his own social media platform.

A user asked him: 'Would you consider building a new social media platform, @elonmusk?

'One that would consist an open source algorithm, one where free speech and adhering to free speech is given top priority, one where propaganda is very minimal. I think that kind of a platform is needed.'

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO replied through his official account: 'Am giving serious thought to this.'

The billionaire businessman, 50, appeared to be suggesting he was sick of Twitter over the right to freedom of speech.

April 4: Musk says he bought 9.2 percent stake in firm a month earlier

Musk revealed he had purchased a 9.2 percent stake in the social media giant on March 14.

He tweeted 'oh hi lol' after the news sent shockwaves through the business world and across social media. He added: 'Do you want an edit button?'

April 5: He joins Twitter's board of directors - sees share price rocket

Twitter said the tech tycoon was joining the company's board of directors, causing the social media platform's shares to rise over 7 per cent in premarket trading.

It led to speculation he would try to address what he called the platform's 'failure to adhere to free speech principles' and 'fundamentally undermine democracy'.

Under the terms of the agreement, Musk would have served on the board until the company's 2024 annual shareholders meeting.

As long as he remains a director, the agreement said, he could not won more than 14.9 percent of the company's stock.

It meant he would not have been able to take over the company until well after his term on the board was over.

The firm said: 'Twitter is committed to impartiality in the development and enforcement of its policies and rules.

'Our policy decisions are not determined by the Board or shareholders, and we have no plans to reverse any policy decisions.'

'As always our Board plays an important advisory and feedback role across the entirety of our service.

'Our day to day operations and decisions are made by Twitter management and employees.'

April 8: Asset managers take over Musk as largest shareholders

Asset manager Vanguard Group increased its stake to overtake Musk as the largest shareholder.

Vanguard owned 10.3 percent of Twitter, while the Tesla tycoon owned 9.1 per cent, making him the largest individual shareholder.

Vanguard, led by CEO Tim Buckley, increased its stake in the company at some point during the first quarter, according to SEC filings made on April 8.

It previously reported owning 67.2million shares of Twitter or about 8.4 per cent of the company as of the end of December, according to FactSet.

Other owners of large quantities of Twitter stock included Morgan Stanley, Fidelity and Black Rock.

Vanguard, led by CEO Tim Buckley, increased its stake in the company at some point during the first quarter, according to SEC filings made on April 8

April 9: Musk rejects the offer to join Twitter's board of directors

Musk rejected an offer to join Twitter's board after disclosing his stake in the company.

Analysts said the move signaled his intention to take over the company as a board seat would have limited his stake to just under 15 per cent.

Parag Agrawal said the board would still 'remain open' to Musk's input, but warned: 'There will be distractions ahead but our goals and priorities remain unchanged.'

He said: 'The board and I had many discussions about Elon joining the board, and with Elon directly. We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks.

'We also believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward. The board offered him a seat.'

Agrawal continued: 'We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance.

'Elon's appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board.'

Parag Agrawal said the board would still 'remain open' to Musk's input, but warned: 'There will be distractions ahead but our goals and priorities remain unchanged'

April 12: Twitter shareholder Marc Bain Rasella files suit against Musk

Marc Bain Rasella filed a lawsuit against Musk for alleged securities fraud at a Manhattan federal court, according to a Bloomberg report.

The suit claimed the billionaire was required to disclose his holdings to the SEC by March 24, but the delay kept Twitter's share price down allowing Musk to buy more.

Musk was accused of violating a regulatory deadline to reveal he had accumulated a stake of at least five per cent.

Instead, according to the complaint, Musk did not disclose his position in Twitter until he had almost doubled his stake to more than nine per cent.

That strategy, the lawsuit alleges, hurt less wealthy investors who sold shares in the company in the nearly two weeks before Musk acknowledged holding a major stake.

April 14: The Tesla tycoon offers to buy Twitter for $43 BILLION

Musk offered to buy Twitter for $43billion, a regulatory filing showed, as he moved to seize the social media giant.

Musk's offer price of $54.20 per share represented a 38 per cent premium to the closing price of Twitter's stock on April 1.

This was the last trading day before the Tesla CEO's over nine per cent investment in the company was publicly announced.

It even appeared to reference marijuana - also known as 420 - a common reference used by Musk on Twitter.

Twitter said in a regulatory filing Musk provided a letter containing a proposal to buy the remaining shares of Twitter he did not already own.

April 15: Twitter launches 'poison pill' strategy to stop Musk buyout

Twitter's board announced a dramatic poison pill plan to prevent Musk from increasing his stake in the company.

Also known as a shareholder rights provision, the plan would trigger a dilution of shares if any shareholder builds up a 15 per cent stake without the board's approval.

The plan did not prevent Twitter from accepting Musk's offer or entering negotiations with him or other potential buyers.

But it did stop the billionaire from putting pressure on the board by buying up ever more shares on the open market.

Musk hit back with a laughing emoji to a version of the classic 'Distracted Boyfriend' meme mocking Twitter's board.

The imaged depicted 'Twitter's board' looking wistfully at the option to 'keep that easy gig that gives me shares' as 'Twitter investors' look on with disgust.

Twitter's board is led by chairman Bret Taylor, who is also the co-CEO of business software giant Salesforce

April 16: Musk tweets Love Me Tender in tease of hostile takeover

Musk tweeted 'Love Me Tender' as he again teased at the possibility of a hostile takeover of Twitter.

The billionaire posted the Elvis Presley lyrics in a potential bid to lure shareholders with a tender offer that could see him seize control.

A tender offer would see him bypass the board and go to shareholders with his offer of $54.20 a share - but he would need to show how he would finance his bid.

He also appeared to suggest he would strip board members of their salaries, saying they would get '$0 if my bid succeeds'.

April 18: Jack Dorsey slams the Twitter board for 'plots and coups'

Jack Dorsey slammed the board of Twitter as he weighed into the toxic fight over Elon Musk's attempted hostile takeover for the first time.

The former CEO, who is still a member of the board himself, blasted the 'plots and coups' that were 'consistently the dysfunction of the company'.

In a series of bombshell tweets and replies, he endorsed one posting saying that 'a bad board will kill a company every time'.

Replying to one post, he said: 'When I was fired in 2008 and made chair, the board took most of my shares away from me.

'I also gave 1 per cent of the company back to the employee pool in 2015. So, ended up with very little of company.'

He also replied to one comment mentioning 'plots and coups' in the Twitter board saying: 'it's consistently been the dysfunction of the company'.

Earlier in the thread, he replied to a post quoting a 'Silicon Valley proverb' by venture capitalist Fred Destin.

It said: 'Good boards don't create good companies, but a bad board will kill a company every time.' Dorsey said: 'Big facts.'

Former CEO Dorsey slammed Twitter's board of directors on as he replied to a series of unfriendly tweets

April 21: SpaceX boss unveils his $46.5billion financing package

Elon Musk unveiled his $46.5billion financing package to fund his takeover of Twitter - using Tesla as collateral.

The world's richest man filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlining how he would seize the social media giant.

He committed $21billion in equity, $13billion from Morgan Stanley in debt facilities and another $12.5billion from the bank and others in margin loans.

But 'a portion' of his shares in Tesla have been put forward as collateral, which analysts feared could have a huge impact on the firm.

The 50-year-old billionaire also revealed he was weighing up launching a tender offer for Twitter after the company ignored his acquisition offer.

He said he was exploring getting stocks directly from shareholders but admitted he 'has not determined whether to do so at this time'.

Musk filed the document with the SEC showing how he planned to take over Twitter for about $46.5billion.

He secured a debt commitment letter from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding to the tune of $13billion in financing.

This was made up of a loan of $6.5billion, a senior secured revolving facility for $500million, a bridge loan of up to $3billion and an unsecured bridge loan for up to $3billion.

He also got a margin loan commitment letter from Morgan Stanley for $12.5 billion in margin loans. And Musk also got $21billion through equity financing.

But he has used 'a portion' of his shares in Tesla as collateral in the high-stakes move, which analysts warned could have huge ramifications for the company.

April 22: Musk posts 'boner' killer picture of Bill Gates on Twitter

Musk dissed Bill Gates' gut on Twitter, posting a photo of the Microsoft mogul next to Apple's controversial pregnant man emoji 'in case you need to lose a boner.'

He posted a follow-up image in response to the Friday post of six hooded figured captioned 'shadow ban council reviewing Tweet'.

The joke could further infuriate woke Twitter staffers angered by Musk's ongoing bid to buy the firm after saying he would support free speech.

That is because the pregnant man emoji is aimed at being inclusive to transgender people - with Musk frequently taking aim at what he sees as woke overreach.

April 25: Musk finalizes deal to buy Twitter

Musk was closing in on seizing Twitter as talks between the Tesla magnate and the tech giant entered their final stages, reports say.

The tycoon's representatives were said to be hammering out terms including a timeline and fees if an agreement was signed and then fell apart.

The two sides were reportedly working into the early morning to finalize the 'fluid and fast-moving' negotiations.

Twitter shares soared by four percent as the markets opened to $50.84 a share amid reports it would be seized by Musk.

On Monday afternoon, Twitter announced it had 'entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk, for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.'
A heartbroken mother wept on the stand as she tearfully described how she desperately tried to wave down Rebecca Grossman just seconds before the socialite ran over her two sons with her Mercedes during an alleged street race.

Nancy Iskander appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday to testify in the preliminary hearing for the case, nearly two years after the hit-and-run crash killed her sons Mark, 11, and Jacob, 8.

'I still see it every night. It haunts me every night,' Iskander said, once again having to relive the nightmare of losing her children.

The hearing in a Van Nuys courtroom was to determine whether the Grossman, 58, of Hidden Hills, California, should be brought to trial for the charges. Several witnesses will testify this morning with a decision expected later today.

The socialite is currently charged with two counts of murder and faces a maximum sentence of 34 years to life in prison if convicted, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

She accused of running over and killing two young brothers while they were in the crosswalk at a Westlake Village intersection in September 2020.

The boys' mother broke down in tears on the stand as she testified that on the day of the crash, she was walking with the two boys as well as their 5-year-old brother in the crosswalk when she heard loud engines and suddenly saw two SUVs hurtling toward them.

Karim and Nancy Iskander parents of Mark and Jacob Iskander leave Los Angeles Superior Court Monday after a hearing for Rebecca Grossman, who is accused of killing their two children as they were crossing the street in Westlake Village

'I heard the engines from two SUVs coming at us at insane speeds,' Iskander said.

Iskander said she waved frantically to try to get the drivers' attention before pushing her 5-year-old son out of the way. But said neither Grossman's white Mercedes Benz nor Scott Erickson's black SUV stopped.

'I heard a really loud noise, I looked back and I either felt or saw the other car speeding also,' Iskander said. 'I realized something happened to Mark and Jacob.'

Iskander was horrified to find Jacob lying in the roadway 'as if he was sleeping,' and her other son Mark had been on the hood of Grossman's vehicle, which kept going after the crash.

Rebecca Grossman and attorneys arrive for a court hearing at Los Angeles Superior Court for driving DUI and killing two children as they were crossing the street in Westlake Village in Los Angeles County and leaving the scene of the accident

Rebecca Grossman leaves Los Angeles Superior Court after a hearing for DUI and killing two children as they were crossing the street in Westlake Village in Los Angeles County

Grossman, 58, kept her head down and clutched her husband's hand as she arrived at the Van Nuys courtroom on Monday.

She has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

But despite the severity of the crimes she's accused of, she's been free on bail since being charged two days after the tragedy.

That $2 million bail, plus the slow pace of court proceedings  including several hearings where Grossman didn't show up  have sparked outrage from protesters who believe her wealth and 'connections' have kept her out of jail.

The Mercedes that struck and killed two brothers. Investigators said street racing may have been involved in the crash, which happened at the intersection of Triunfo Canyon Road and Saddle Mountain Drive

The Iskander brothers had been walking across a crosswalk with their parents and two siblings, Zackary and Violet, when they were struck

The brothers are pictured in this undated school photos. One was declared dead at the scene while the other died in hospital

Two petitions, claiming to have a combined total of more than 50,000 signatures, have been circulating, calling for Grossman to be locked up.

'Justice must be served, regardless of Grossman's financial means, status, privilege and connections,' declared one.

'We demand that Grossman is prosecuted and sentenced to the fullest extent of the law and that she face serious consequences for her actions that took away the lives of Mark and Jacob.'

The other petition proclaimed, 'Let's push to spread awareness about this case and put Rebecca Grossman behind bars. Justice for Mark and Jacob Iskander.'

One of the protesters, mother-of-two Julie Cohen, 58, - who made the Mark and Jacob T-shirts bearing the words 'JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED, plus similar stickers - told told DailyMail.com, 'There have been too many delays already.

Placards were left outside the courtroom in Van Nuys, California, during the hearing inside

'These continual delays are awful for the family,' said Iskander neighbor Julie Cohen. 'It's time she was put behind bars, where she belongs'

Protestors say Grossman is being given preferential treatment by the legal system due to her wealth and connections

'Since the boys were killed a year and a half ago, Grossman has been free on bail, free to do whatever she wants, while the boys' parents are living a nightmare.'

Cohen, a neighbor of the Iskander family in Westlake Village, added, 'If Grossman didn't have money and connections, she would have been in custody all this time instead of free on bail.

'These continual delays are awful for the family. It's time she was put behind bars, where she belongs.'

At a hearing in March, Judge Shellie Samuels apologized to the victims' patents, Nancy and Karim Iskander, for the many continuances and postponement in the case, the most recent of which was Grossman's need to look for and hire a new lawyer after her previous attorney fell ill.

If Grossman didn't have money and connections, she would have been in custody all this time instead of free on bail...It's time she was put behind bars, where she belongs Iskander family neighbor Julie Cohen

'This case has taken way too long,' said the judge. 'I do apologize for the delays.'

It wasn't the first time that Judge Samuels has expressed sorrow over the many holdups in the case against Grossman.

At a hearing last December, the judge also said that the victims' parents, have been enduring 'torture and heartbreak' while the case drags on.

On September 14, Samuels blasted Grossman for not showing up at her previous five scheduled court appearances, all of which were continued.

'We can't keep continuing this. This is a serious case. These victims lost two children. It's detrimental to them that this is taking so long. The family is suffering.

Brothers Mark and Jacob Iskander, 11 and 8, were walking with their parents and siblings in Westlake Village, California, in September 2020 when they were struck and killed

The Iskander brothers had been walking across a crosswalk with their parents and two siblings, Zackary and Violet, when they were struck.

The parents told cops that when they heard Grossman's white Mercedes approaching at speed, they reached out to protect their children, but could only grab the closest, Zackary and Violet.

Jacob and Mark were both hit by the Mercedes. Mark died at the scene and Jacob a few hours later in the hospital.

Mark was allegedly carried 100ft on the hood of Grossman's car before she braked, at which point he fell off the car and she ran him over again as she fled the scene, say prosecutors.

Police claim that when the boys were hit by her car, Grossman was driving over the 45mph speed limit and may have been racing with her friend and near-neighbor, World Series-winning pitcher Scott Erickson, 54, while the two were on their way to the same house party.

Erickson, who won his ring in 1991 with the Minnesota Twins, has been charged with reckless driving but he has not been accused of any other offenses connected with the brothers' deaths.

With her husband, prominent plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman, 59, Grossman is the founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and ex-publisher of Westlake Magazine.

Grossman lives in a sprawling $9.5million mansion in Hidden Hills that features nine bedrooms and 12 bathrooms on the same street where Full House actress Lori Loughlin lives

A view of the pool area of the home is shown in the estate's sprawling backyard

She was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and DUI after her front-end-damaged car broke down a quarter mile from the crash site. She has not been actually charged with DUI.

Grossman lives in a $9.5 million, nine-bed, 12-bath mansion, in nearby Hidden Hills, on the same street as Full House actress Lori Loughlin.

According to its website, the Grossman Burn Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Grossman Burn Centers Inc, which treats the victims of severe burns all over the world.

Grossman has also been involved in other humanitarian causes, including the prevention of violence against women, human rights and the American Heart Association, from whom she won a 'Woman of the Year' award in 2007.

After Monday's hearing, Grossman, left court hand in hand with her husband.
The optional Windows 10 KB5011831 cumulative update is finally made available by Microsoft for Windows 10 20H2, Windows 10 21H1, and Windows 10 21H2.

It fixes 26 bugs together with other improvements. It also fixes an issue where the operating system would crash with a black screen.

The update includes many bug fixes together with other improvements, including those for Microsoft OneDrive, Remote Desktop, News and Interest, Azure Active Directory, and delays in booting Windows 10, as per a Bleeping Computer report.

The KB5011831 cumulative update preview is part of Microsoft's April 2022 monthly "C" update. It will allow admins to test upcoming fixes to be released during the May 2022 Patch Tuesday updates.

Meanwhile, Windows Latest said that the patch is offered via Windows Update and users can download the offline installer of Windows 10 KB5011831 to update multiple PCs without downloading the same package.

The update is also useful if Windows Update fails for some reason.

How To Install Windows 10 KB5011831?

It is easy to install Windows 10 KB5011831 update. Windows users just have to go into Settings, then click on Windows Update, and manually perform an update check by clicking on "Check for Updates."

Since this is an optional update, users will be asked whether they wish to install it by clicking on the "Download and install" button.

Read Also: Microsoft Windows 10 Update: What Is Unified Update Platform?

What's New in Windows 10 KB5011831?

Windows 10 20H2 will be updated to build 19042.1682, Windows 10 21H1 will be updated to build 19043.1682, and Windows 10 21H2 will be updated to build 19044.1682 after installing Windows 10 KB5011831.

The Windows 10 KB5011831 cumulative update preview includes not just bug fixes but also some improvements, totalling 26 key updates. Here are some of them:

It has updates for the servicing for the Secure Boot component of Windows to include new improvements.

It updates an issue that causes Internet Explorer to stop working when copying and pasting text using an IME.

It also updates an issue that causes a black screen for some users when they log in and log out of Windows.

Additionally, it fixes a bug that causes Microsoft OneDrive to lose focus on a file after it is renamed and Enter is pressed.

Windows 10 KB5011831 also fixes a bug that causes the News and Interest panel to open on its own.

Also, it updates an issue that prevents users from changing an expired password when they log into Windows.

Windows 10 21H2 Deployed for Everyone

Microsoft also deploys Windows 10 21H2 for everyone, according to Windows Latest.

Microsoft is still actively working on Windows 10 to address potential issues despite the fact that Windows 11 is the focus.

Microsoft recently declared that Windows 10 version 21H2 is "ready for broad deployment," implying that it's now safe to install the feature update if you're not willing to upgrade to Windows 11, as per the Windows Latest report.

According to Microsoft, "As always, we recommend that you update your devices to the latest version of Windows 10 as soon as possible."

According to Windows Latest's report, Microsoft previously said the company will continue supporting Windows 10 until October 2025, which means another feature update with a limited set of improvements will be released in the fall.

Related Article: Microsoft Promised To Release Windows 10 Updates Every Year, Redstone 3 Arrives in September
Dramatic footage captured the moment police arrested an armed burglar accused of stealing a cash box from an Upper East Side Republican club.

On April 21, members of the Metropolitan Republican Club reported that a man dressed in a maintenance uniform walked in while they were hosting an event in support of U.S Senate candidate Mark McCloskey and took off with a metal cashbox.

Police said they charged 61-year-old Gerard Jackson from the Bronx with robbery, two counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

Police did not specify if they found they retrieved the cashbox that the club members reported contained $425.

Club President Ian Walsh Reilly told Fox News that after calling police, he followed the suspect outside along with two other club members, caught up with him and detained him.

Scroll Down For Video:

On April 21 members of the Metropolitan Republican Club claim that a man dressed in a maintenance uniform (pictured) walked into the club and took off with a metal cashbox

Two club members corner the suspect, holding a hand to his chest telling him: 'Give me the money back and we'll let you go!'

'He walked into the wrong club that night,' Reilly said.

That night the conservative club was raising funds for McCloskey, the gun-toting attorney rose to notoriety in 2020 after he and his wife were caught on camera emerging from their home in an upscale neighborhood in Missouri brandishing firearms at protesters marching past.

McCloskey quickly became a GOP poster boy and is now running for US Senate.

In a video of the incident, two of the club members corner the suspect and hold their hands to his chest, saying: 'Give me the money back and we'll let you go!' The man then argues that he doesn't have money or checks.

The suspect goes through his pockets while one of the men confronting him pulls out his cellphone and records him.

At one point, one of the club members actually searches his pockets, and the suspect says, 'C'mon man', and proceeds to walk away. He crosses the street as the club members contact police.

'Sir, were gonna get you to talk to the police, if you don't mind waiting', the person recording says as the suspect continues to walk away.

Then as police pull up, the members of the club, which is at 83rd Street and Lexington Avenue, point to the suspect and say: 'This guy robbed us!'

Police chase the suspect down, knocking him to the ground.

Then as police pull up the club members point to the suspect and say: 'This guy robbed us!' and police chase the suspect down, knocking him to the ground

The two NYPD officers and a security guard get into a struggle as the suspect fiercely resists arrest and at one point one of the officer tell him to 'drop the knife'

After a brief struggle in the streets officers are finally place the handcuffs on the suspect

After he is finally detained the knife he pulled out is visible laying in the street at the foot of one of the officers

Two NYPD officers and the suspect struggle as the suspect fiercely resists arrest. At one point, one of the officers tells him to 'drop the knife.'

The person recording tells the suspect 'Stop resisting! you deserve it'.

The suspect he is heard saying, 'I cant breathe' and video shows his head bleeding. A man wearing a shirt that reads 'security' crosses the street to help officers finally place the handcuffs on the suspect.

After he is finally detained, a knife he pulled out is visible in the street at the foot of one of the officers.

Reilly said the club will install 'more advanced security systems' following the incident but that the burglary will not change how the club operates.

'We will adapt, but we will not be changed,' Reilly told Fox News.

The club president added that the incident was reflective of how crime in NYC is out of control, but said he is thankful for the swift response.

'Even in the daylight, the everyday New Yorker has to constantly look over their shoulder just to remain safe,' Reilly said. 'We faced a situation that could have gone horribly wrong, but thankfully, when called upon, the NYPD reacted quickly, professionally and without hesitation to ensure our safety.'

From the beginning of 2022 to April 3, major crimes are up 44 percent from the same period in 2021, with felony assault up 19 percent and robberies rising 47 percent, the latest NYPD data show.

Although murders have ticked down 9 percent, other crimes are well up, with shooting incidents rising 14 percent, burglary up 31 percent, and grand larceny auto soaring 81 percent.

In 2021, 20,543 crimes were reported at this point, whereas this year, nearly 30,000 have been reported to the NYPD - an increase of 44 percent.

Crimes in nearly all categories, including felony assaults, shootings, rape and robbery, have risen in comparison to last year except the city's murder rate.

Felony assaults have increased by 19.1 percent. In the same period in 2021, 4,673 assaults were reported, while this year, 5,673 have been reported.

Shootings are getting worse despite the state's strict gun laws. Compared to the same period last year when 290 shootings were reported, this year's numbers have gone up a staggering 14.5 percent - 332 shootings have been reported so far in 2022.

Last year, 354 rapes were reported over the same period as this year, 410.

Robberies are by far the most common crime in the city. There have been 3,945 robberies committed so far this year. In 2021, over the same time period, 2,680 had been committed.

The latest crime surge comes after Mayor Eric Adams last month promised a designated subway police task force to tackle crime and homelessness in stations and on trains.

Adams, a Democrat and former NYPD captain, took office in January and was elected on a vow to crack down on crime and clean up the city.
Downing Street today dampened hopes of Britons getting an extra bank holiday on a permanent basis in tribute to the Queen's 70-year reign.

This year, to mark Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee, people across the UK will get an extra day off on 3rd June.

As well as the moving of the usual end-of-May bank holiday to 2nd June, this will allow a four-day weekend to celebrate the Queen's record-breaking time on the throne.

There is now a campaign for this year's extra bank holiday to be made permanent.

Charities, businesses and organisations are all calling for a new annual 'Thank Holiday' from 2023 to recognise both Her Majesty's service to the country, as well as the work of millions of others.

These include the Royal Voluntary Service, the Confederation of British Industry, Hospitality UK, the Trade Union Congress, the Scouts, and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, a number of those who have joined the campaign wrote: 'A Thank Holiday would provide a moment every year for individuals and communities to come together, to thank those who have contributed in ways big and small to making our country a better place to live, and to create new bonds that will strengthen our society.'

'The campaign has already received widespread support from an extraordinary number of individuals and organisations. We are pleased to show that businesses are also firmly behind the idea.

'We are convinced that the benefits of a new holiday would outweigh the costs, as well as serving as a demonstration of our national values and compassion.

'As a business community, we stand ready to work with you to achieve this.'

However, Number 10 poured cold water on the prospect of Britons getting an extra day off beyond this year.

The PM's official spokesman said each bank holiday was estimated to cause a 2billion hit to the UK economy.

'I'm not aware of any plans to make it permanent,' the spokesman said. 'But obviously we keep the cost of these things under review.'

He added that each bank holiday 'presents a considerable and significant cost to our economy and therefore each proposal would have to be considered carefully on that basis'.

Britons will get a four-day weekend at the beginning of June to mark the Queen's 70-year reign. It has led to a campaign for this year's extra bank holiday to be made permanent

Britons celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012 with a street party in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire

Boris Johnson's official spokesman said each bank holiday was estimated to cause a 2billion hit to the UK economy

However, research by accountancy giant PwC suggested Government figures on the cost of a bank holiday are overestimated and a Monday off would cost 877million and a Friday 786million.

If this June's extra bank holiday is turned into a permanent feature, the UK would have nine public holidays in a normal year - still behind Germany and France, who each have 11.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said: It is time for a Thank Holiday to mark the astonishing and enduring service of Her Majesty the Queen.

'Such a day would also provide the chance to recognise the fortitude of the entire nation, and local community heroes, in pulling through the challenges of the past two years.
Nicaraguan migrants seeking to cross illegally into the US by swimming across the Rio Grande from Mexico are getting help from a swim instructor in their native country on how to survive the perilous waters.

Mario Orozco has been offering free lessons to adults in the Central American country's city of Esteli after one of his friends had drowned when he got pulled under by the waterway's rip current as he tried to reach Texas.

The supposed goodwill gesture by Orozco has been met by consternation on both sides of the border after the recent death of a National Guardsman who died trying to rescue someone he thought was drowning in the Rio Grande.

'It is better that he dedicate himself to something else and not to encourage the crossing of illegals. Although people know how to swim, the Rio Grande is very treacherous,' one commenter posted on Facebook.

DailyMail.com has reached out to officials on both sides of the US-Mexico border for comment.

Swimming instructor Mario Orozco (left) teaches would-be migrant Martha Martinez (right) a first aid measure for drowning in anticipation of the dangerous crossing of the Rio Grande River

Free swimming lessons are being offered to would-be migrants in Esteli, Nicaragua, to help them make the perilous journey to the United States. In order to get to the border, they will most likely have to cross from Mexico via the dangerous waters of the Rio Grande

Swimming instructor Mario Orozco teaches would-be migrant Eddy Hurtado how to swim. Orozco told Telemundo Laredo he came up with the idea after he had a nightmare of migrants drowning in the Rio Grande. He had the dream after learning one of his friends had drowned while trying to reach the United States

Mario Orozco told Telemundo Laredo he was in the middle of conducting a swimming lesson when a friend broke the sad news that a pal of theirs had drowned after he had gotten swept by the waterway's rip current as he tried to reach Texas. He decided to provide swimming lessons to people in Nicaragua who are thinking about illegally migrating to the United States

Orozco has said that he doesn't encourage migrants to attempt to cross into the US but wants to give them a fighting chance should they try after dreaming about his dead friend and others who have drowned.

'I tried to help them, but I couldn't,' he recalled of his dream. 'So, there was a message that God was giving me, that He needed me to do that for those people.'

Orozco told the network that the humane gesture to teach would-be migrants started with a group of 13 people before the group expanded to 20 at the swimming school in the northern Nicaraguan city.

Martha Martinez, who is out of work and has plans of migrating to the United States, recently told Reuters that she is among those who have taken up Orozco's free-of-charge offer after learning of it via a Facebook post.

The dangers of crossing the same river, where a Texas National Guard soldier died last week while trying to rescue two migrants suspected of trafficking drugs, are already engrained in her thoughts.

'So many people, women and children, have died in the Rio Grande,' Martinez said. 'I decided to come because I don't know how to swim.'

Felicita Sosa, 49, from Nicaragua, drowned in March while she and three other women, including her 26-year-old daughter, were crossing the Rio Grande

Hassivett Rivera swims while her companions simulate a wave during a training session at a swimming pool in Esteli, Nicaragua, as would-be-migrants are learning how to swim to combat the dangerous currents of the Rio Grande, a river that serves as an international barrier between Mexico and the United States

Mario Venerio teaches would-be migrant Martha Martinez how to swim at a pool in Nicaragua

Accidents are not uncommon in the Rio Grande's fast-moving waters. This year, a Venezuelan girl died while trying to cross the river.

Luis Jimenez, a 52-year-old Nicaraguan, was found dead April 9 on the Coahuila, Mexico, Rio Grande riverbank between two rocks after drowning in a fail bid to reach the U.S. border.

Felicita Sosa, 49, also from Nicaragua, drowned in March while she and three other women, including her 26-year-old daughter, were crossing the Rio Grande.

'This river has many strong counter-currents, so I'm teaching the techniques so they can survive,' Orozco told Reuters.

Although he can't show them how to overcome the Rio Grande's strength on Nicaraguan waters, he is simulating the effects of the river inside the pool.

'So, we created a canal in the pool with a rail simulating that we are inside the Rio Grande with 10 people on both sides and creating turbulence with a swimming board,' Orozco explained. 'And that person was on the canal doing the floating technique.'

Bertha Calderon swims during a training session at a swimming pool in Esteli, Nicaragua, where future migrants train to cross the Rio Grande that looms large before their dream of a better life in the United States

Eddy Guzman, who also joined the swimming classes, said he hopes to reach the United States to earn money to send back to support his aging parents.

He knows the Rio Grande is only one of many dangerous points along the migration trail. Some migrants are victims of extortion or kidnapping by organized crime groups in Mexico, while others who seek to avoid the river crossing must brave the expansive Sonoran desert.

Still, for Guzman, the swimming classes offer him some comfort.

'Already I've lost my fear of the water,' he said. 'And once I learn the techniques, I think I could make it to the other side.'

While he is completely against illegal crossings of the Mexico-United States border, he considers the swimming classes as a life-saving tool for those who are willing to risk their lives to reach the United States.

'I do not agree with what they do, it is simply very sad to see people who are dying at the time of that journey that they are making,' Orozco said.

A Twitter user wrote: 'Stay in your own country and then you won't have to learn how to swim.'
Vice President Kamala Harris quickly learned not to come between President Biden and his negotiations with Congress, when the president once snapped at her so harshly even Republican senators in the meeting were shocked.

In a meeting last May, Biden tried to persuade Republican lawmakers to support $1 trillion in infrastructure spending.

And while Biden was ready for a compromise, Harris thought the bill was skimpy.

'Harris thought that there was something missing from the conversation,' New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns wrote in their book, This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for Americas Future.

She began turning the conversation toward Democratic priorities, including family and social spending, which were originally included in the larger Build Back Better bill.

She 'began to make the case for a larger package than the one Republicans seemed to have in mind.'

'Biden dismissed her comment immediately,' the authors wrote, in so harsh a tone 'that even the Republican senators were taken aback.'

Biden was typically 'scrupulously respectful' of his second-in-command, but the moment revealed that infrastructure negotiations were his and his alone.

The latest revelations in This Will Not Pass include claims Jill Biden was opposed to her husband selecting Harris as his running mate after she attacked him during the Democratic primary debate in June 2019.

It also follows reports last year of tension between Biden and Harris and allegations of bullying and a 'toxic culture' from staff in her office.

Biden also, according to the book, expressed reservations himself about selecting Harris for his ticket.

Vice President Kamala Harris quickly learned not to come between President Biden and his negotiations with Congress, when the president once snapped at her so harshly even Republican senators in the meeting were shocked. In a meeting last May, Biden tried to persuade Republican lawmakers to support $1 trillion in infrastructure spending

Noting her 'past romantic relationship with Willie Brown, the California politician who appointed Harris to a pair of minor political positions,' the book said Biden described romance 'as the kind of thing that should be off limits.'

Harris had a relationship with Brown, who later served as San Francisco's mayor, between 1994 and 1995, when Harris was beginning her career in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.

In other meetings Harris kept quiet, and there was less friction.

The reporters wrote of one meeting soon after Biden and Harris took office that the White House set up with governors to discuss coronavirus relief.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said that Biden took charge and was eager to work with the governors. But he said that Harris's role in the meeting was 'very strange.'

'Harris did not say a word,' Hogan reportedly said, leaving him to question whether she was 'just being deferential to the president  didn't want to step on him.'

Harris reportedly felt belittled by the president's staff, but Biden's team did not take her concerns seriously.

'Some of Harris's advisers believed the president's almost entirely white inner circle did not show the vice president the respect she deserved,' Martin and Burns wrote. 'Harris worried that Biden's staff looked down on her; she fixated on real and perceived snubs in ways the West Wing found tedious.'

Harris even sent out chief of staff Tina Fluornoy to scold Biden's staffers for not standing up when she entered the room, the way they do for the president. 'The vice president took it as a sign of disrespect,' according to the book.

Biden tasked Harris with addressing immigration  and the vice president took opportunities to share her dissatisfaction with the role.

According to the book, Harris' aides felt that the task of addressing the southern border crisis, in any way, was politically undesirable and wanted the vice president to have a softball foreign policy assignment  like overseeing relations with Nordic countries.

'Harris thought that there was something missing from the conversation,' New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns wrote in their book, This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for Americas Future

'Staff floated the possibility of the vice president overseeing relations with the Nordic countries  a low-risk diplomatic assignment that might have helped Harris get adjusted to the international stage in welcoming venues like Oslo and Copenhagen,' the authors wrote.

They added that the prospect of overseeing Nordic countries was 'rejected' by White House aides and even 'privately mocked.'

'More irritating to Biden aides was when they learned the vice president wanted to plan a major speech to outline her view of foreign policy,' they added in the book. 'Biden aides vetoed the idea.'

'Why should a vice president have their own independently articulated view of global affairs?' Biden's team questioned.

The border crisis was transferred from Biden's portfolio to Harris' shortly after inauguration.

After a trip to Guatemala and Mexico that drew criticism in the press, Biden's chief of staff Ron Klain 'reminded her she was hardly the first vice president to endure tough coverage.'

Biden and Harris had reportedly said little about the portfolio she would take on in the run-up to Inauguration Day.

And once in office, a senator close to Harris claimed the vice president's frustration level was 'up in the stratosphere' as she realized her political flight path looked like a 'slow rolling Greek tragedy.'

'Biden dismissed her comment immediately,' the authors wrote, in so harsh a tone 'that even the Republican senators were taken aback'

Trump pushed Lindsey Graham to tell reporters how good he was at golf and urged him to say how important his endorsements were, new book claims

Donald Trump demanded that Lindsey Graham tell a pair of reporters how good he is at golf when the Republican senator called the former president during a press interview, a new book excerpt revealed on Monday.

Trump had been speaking with New York Times journalists Jonathan Marin and Alex Burns when Graham called, according to their forthcoming book 'This Will Not Pass.' The ex-president put Graham on speaker.

'Tell them about the Trump endorsements,' Trump ordered Graham, according to an excerpt obtained by the Washington Post.

Graham, who the authors note had denounced Trump for the Capitol riot just three months prior, obeyed.

'I've never seen it quite like this,' the South Carolina lawmaker said.

'President Trump's endorsement is the most consequential endorsement of any politician I've seen in my 20-something years.'

The performance continued with Trump following up, 'Most importantly, would you tell them one thing.'

'Can Trump play golf?' the former president asked.

Graham fawned, 'If you don't believe it, go play with him.'

Later that day, he reportedly mocked Trump behind his back in an interview with the Times reporters.

Trump's love of golf is well known. The former president has bragged about making a hole-in-one on multiple occasions

The lawmaker said Trump was a good conversationalist 'as long as it's about him.'

Their conversation occurred just months after last year's Capitol riot -- when Graham, known as a vocal Trump ally in Congress, famously said 'count me out' of the ex-president's circle over his role on January 6.

But he's since reversed course, like many of his fellow Republicans in Congress. Since Trump has left office the senator has touted how often he still connects with the former leader, particularly on the golf course.
Pupils at a school in Sydney's west are loving life now they have a four-legged classmate to play with.

Yale, a guide dog Labrador, was brought in to help ease return-to-school anxiety for many young students in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

The golden pooch has been trained as a well-being canine and is a welcome addition at Trinity Catholic Primary in Kemps Creek.

Pupils at a school in Sydney's west are loving life now they have a four-legged classmate to play with (Yale, the well-being dog, is pictured)

It is hoped Yale, a guide dog Labrador, will help reduce return to school anxiety levels for many young students at Trinity Catholic Primary School in Kemps Creek

It's hoped the therapy hound will not only calm the nerves of students but also teachers as well.

'We decided to get a dog as part of one of the strategies in our return to school after Covid-19,' Principal Cathy Hey told Nine News.

'We thought it would be really good for the students well-being and staff well-being in terms of improving attendance and in terms of making people feel good about being at school.'

For the past two years classroom learning across Australia has been disrupted by the pandemic with at-home learning put in place at various times.

Yale will also be used as part of a 'reward system', where students can spend time with him if they are achieving their goals in the classroom

Yale will also be used as part of a 'reward system', where students can spend time with him if they are achieving their goals in the classroom.

Numerous students are said to be ecstatic about the new face in the playground.

'It's very exciting,' one said.

Yale will live with one of the teachers but will be brought into school every day to act as a 'calming influence.'
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Alec Baldwin may still face charges for accidentally killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October, sheriffs revealed on Tuesday morning after releasing a trove of documents and videos from their investigation into the on-set accident.

Baldwin, 64, was rehearsing a scene for the movie Rust on October 21, 2021, when he pulled his gun from his costume. It fired and shot Hutchins, 42, in the armpit, fatally wounding her.

The gun fired a live round which had been loaded into what Baldwin thought was an empty gun.

So far, no one has been criminally charged over the accident but Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza suggested on Tuesday morning that charges may still be brought.

Appearing on Good Morning America on Tuesday, Sheriff Mendoza said said that Baldwin is not in the clear because he was who was handling the weapon.

'He was the one that handled the weapon that fired the round that led to the fatality.

'We're going to work with the DA's office to determine if there is criminal neglect or criminal charges. We kind of know who didn't do their jobs here. That was one of the key questions,' he said.

Mendoza added that police are still waiting for forensics and ballistics reports into the shooting that happened more than six months ago.

'The key component is the analysis on the firearm and the FBI report. Once that's all corrected, [the DA] will make the determination of who's responsible, if anyone.'

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Alec and Hilaria Baldwin outside their New York City home on Tuesday as the Santa Fe County Sheriff said his investigation remained ongoing and that Baldwin, among others, could still face charges

Appearing on Good Morning America on Tuesday, Sheriff Mendoza said said that Baldwin is not in the clear because he was who was handling the weapon

TRANSCRIPT OF BALDWIN'S CALLS INSIDE POLICE STATION AFTER HALYNA HUTCHINS SHOOTING Alec Baldwin in the sheriff's office on October 21 Call #1 with Hilaria Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Hey I'm at the police station. The sheriffs are about to come and interview me. How is everyone at home? How are the kids? The kids are great. The kids are great. Hold on a second please. Did you tell Carmen what's going on? No I didn't. OK. Are you convinced you don't want to come tomorrow? I mean I don't think it's a good idea. Look, look call me after you talk with the sheriffs but like, I don't think it's a great idea. I think, I think this is... you know... Just to be clear, just to be clear they're going to make me stay here tomorrow anyway to talk to insurance investigators. This is really...I'll talk to you more but this is... I'm so sorry you must have such like, you must be so traumatized (Baldwin then takes her off speakerphone) No what I am is, someone who - I don't want to do this film anymore. I don't. I don't want to be a public person. You know, I'm the one holding the gun in my hand that everybody is supposed to have taken care of. They always hand me a cold gun. Where are you now? Michelle who? And where are you? I'll call you back when I'm done OK. Call #2 with an unknown woman, thought to be a nanny or assistant Hi Alec Hey. Where are the kids? They're sleeping. The boys are sleeping? Carmen is awake. Did she tell you what's going on? Yeah I'm trying to convince her to come. Right? We should come. And just spend the time here. They're going to do what they gotta do, deal with what they gotta deal with, and I'll go work and we'll go enjoy ourselves. It's all paid for. And they're not going to give us the money back. And we should be staying away from the vultures here. Are they outside? No but I imagine they will be. I think it's a great idea. You should come for that reason also. All right, I'll call Carmen on her iPad, OK? OK yeah she's on charge, she left her phone. I'm just very sorry Alec. You have no idea. You have no idea. How unbelievable this is and how strange this is. I'll explain later. I'm so sorry you're in this position I hope everyone's OK, I hope you're OK. (sighs) I'll call you back. Thank you. Advertisement

He added that 'no one' had yet confessed to bringing the live rounds on set.

Hutchins is pictured before her death in October 2021. The Ukrainian-born cinematographer was a married mother-of-one

Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for the weapons, has said repeatedly through lawyers that she is not at fault.

'There was at least one live round on the set that was fired from the weapon. These are two separate investigations.

'There was complacency, disorganization, they were not adhering to proper safety protocols and industry standards to be honest.

'There was a degree of neglect - whether that neglect reaches a criminal standard that will be up to the district attorney to determine,' Sheriff Mendoza added.

His remarks come as more footage of Baldwin on the day of the shooting has emerged.

In one video, he appears in the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office before being interviewed, seemingly on the phone to his wife Hilaria.

The actor can be heard asking her to fly from their home in New York out to New Mexico to be with him.

'Can you hear me? Can you hear me? I'm at the police station. How is everyone at home?

'How are the kids?

'The kids are great,' she replies.

He asked her if she had told their daughter Carmen 'what was going on.'

Baldwin in New York City on Tuesday. He has said in the past that the sheriff's department explicitly told him not to speak to the media about the tragedy

'Are you convinced you don't want to come tomorrow?'

She replied: 'I don't think it's a good idea. Call me after you talk with the sheriff but I don't think it's a great idea.

He fired back: 'Just to be clear. They're going to make me stay here anyway.'

Then, bringing the phone to his ear, he said: 'I don't want to do this film anymore, I don't. I don't want to be a public person. I'm the one holding the gun in my hand that everyone was supposed to have taken care of.

'They always hand me a cold gun.'

He then seems to quiz his wife on her whereabouts, asking: 'Where are you now? Michelle who? And where are you? I'll call you back when I'm done, OK?'

Baldwin was somewhat calm but confused throughout the interview, telling the two female sheriff deputies that he'd 'never heard of anything like this'. At one stage, he drew a diagram of where he had been standing in relation to where Halyna was

The clip, filmed by the production's cameras, shows Baldwin in full costume sitting in a church pew, drawing his prop pistol from his waistcoat jacket.

Baldwin goes to draw his gun in the rehearsal of the movie scene on October 21 last year

Data files released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's office included a video of investigators debriefing Baldwin within hours of the fatal shooting, talking with him inside a compact office

Alec Baldwin's hands were photographed at the scene before he was questioned

In these two photos, Alec Baldwin is shown on the set of the movie holding his hands out after the accident

Next, the actor FaceTimes someone who seems to work for his family.

His first question is 'where are the kids?' The woman on the other end of the call told him they were sleeping. He then relayed the conversation he had with Hilaria.

'I'm trying to convince her to come. I think we should come and spend the time here. I'll go to work and we'll enjoy ourselves. It's all paid for. They're not giving us the money back.'

The woman replies: 'And stay away from the vultures here.'

He then said he planned to phone the couple's daughter Carmen on her iPad.

'You have no idea how unbelievable this is and how strange this is,' he adds.

Two sheriff's investigators then entered the room and began a 30 minute interview with him, where he told how he had always been handed a 'cold' weapon by the crew.

The sheriff's office also released dozens of text messages and emails to and from Dave Halls, the assistant director of the movie, on Monday.

Assistant Director Dave Halls gives a DNA sample on October 21 after the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins

Assistant Director Dave Halls gives fingerprints on October 21 after the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins

Three days after the shooting, Dave Halls received these texts warning him that Baldwin and the producers were trying to scapegoat him for the accident

Those messages show how his friends and confidantes warned him that Baldwin's 'PR machine' was 'in overdrive' trying to blame him for the tragedy.

One message, written to Halls by a friend named Julie Burris, said: 'It looks as though everyone is going for their 15 minutes of fame and AB PR team is in overdrive trying to shift the blame away from himself on a worker bee who doesn't have the money or the power to refute any of it.

'I think you should thoroughly discuss this aspect with your attorney because the most important thing right now is to make sure there aren't any criminal charges brought against you - AND what the sheriff's office affadavit [sic] actually says.

'And then after the fact assess what person (s) and/or news outlets you can sue for libel/slander/defamation.'

The first part of her message referred to claims of film industry insiders and people who previously worked with Halls that he flouted safety violations on other movie sets.

In other interviews, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed told cops she is who 'loads the guns and hands them to the actors'

In another message that day, Burris told Halls: 'All of this says to me, in my opinion, is that the people with money and power are using you as a scapegoat knowing you can't afford to fight the press of legal bills and that they don't care about you at all.

'Notice I don't see much of AB in the press and haven't heard about any of the producing team. Not one thing.'

Halls is filmed giving investigators a swab of his DNA and his fingerprints in one of the interviews.

Of all of the people involved in the shooting, he has said the least in the six months since it happened.

Gutierrez-Reed, the 24-year-old armorer, has repeatedly issued statements protesting her innocence. She said she was overworked on set.

In bodycam footage that emerged yesterday, she is seen telling police that she is worried her career is over as a result of the accident.

In her own police interview, she told the investigators: 'I check the guns and I load the guns and I hand the guns to the actor.'

'We went to set, we had the guns on set. I dummied the guns up with the dummy rounds. Nothing happened and then we came back from lunch and...'

At one point, Hutchins' top layer of clothing was taken off to help paramedics who were working to save her

Hutchins was also filmed being wheeled out of the church on a trolley while being given oxygen, before being put into a med-e-vac helicopter and airlifted away

Discarded medical materials inside the church after the fatal shooting

Crime scene photos show bloody gauze at the scene that was used by paramedics before Hutchins was taken away
Chernobyl's radiation levels are have returned to normal after Russian occupation, the UN atomic watchdog said today on the anniversary of the nuclear disaster as he condemned Putin's 'very, very dangerous' seizure of the site.

Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Putin's capture of the plant was 'abnormal and dangerous' after troops dug up trenches and risked power failure at one of the world's most radioactive sites.

But he reported the heightened radiation around the plant appeared to have returned to expected levels, almost one month after Russian troops evacuated the area in northern Ukraine.

Grossi said during a visit to the site today: 'The radiation level, I would say, is normal.

'There have been some moments when the levels have gone up because of the movement of the heavy equipment that Russian forces were bringing here, and when they left.

'We are following that day by day.'

Ukrainian officials said earlier this month that Russian soldiers may have been exposed to radiation after digging fortifications in 'many places' at the site and stirring up clouds of dust with their armoured vehicles.

It came amid reports a contingent of Russian solders who were responsible for making trenches and moving heavy equipment in the infamous 'Red Forest' had been taken to Belarus to be treated for symptoms consistent with radiation poisoning.

Trenches and firing positions sit in the highly radioactive soil adjacent to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Chernobyl's damaged reactor is now encapsulated in concrete and a thick steel shell to prevent further radioactive leaks

Russian troops took over the site on February 24, the first day of the invasion of Ukraine (pictured: tanks at the plant)

Russian troops took over the site on February 24, the first day of the invasion of Ukraine, taking Ukrainian soldiers prisoner and detaining civilian staff.

The occupation lasted until the end of March and raised global fears of nuclear leaks.

Drone footage taken from the exclusion zone around the abandoned nuclear plant appeared to have confirmed reports that Russian troops dug trenches and fortifications in some of the most irradiated parts of the region.

The footage, which was geolocated and widely shared on social media, showed mounds of disturbed earth and fortifications dug on the outskirts of the Red Forest, just a few miles west of the Chernobyl plant.

After the drone camera zooms out from the abandoned Russian positions and pans out, the ominous steel confinement dome that encapsulates the destroyed reactor can be seen in the distance.

The Red Forest sits firmly inside the inner exclusion zone around Chernobyl, and was the area most heavily affected when the No. 4 reactor exploded in 1986, causing the world's worst nuclear accident.

Thousands of tanks and troops rumbled into the forested exclusion zone around the plant, churning up highly contaminated soil

Drone footage taken from the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant appears to have confirmed reports that Russian troops dug trenches and fortifications in some of the most irradiated parts of the region

Huge swathes of land in and around the Red Forest were heavily polluted by radioactive smoke and dust in the aftermath of the disaster, and many of the trees and wildlife in the forest died.

The site got its name when dozens of square miles of trees that did not die in the aftermath of the explosion turned red after absorbing incredible doses of radiation.

In the years following the accident, the land was razed and covered with fresh soil and sand before new trees were planted, but the radioactive particulates still remain trapped underneath the forest's top soil.

The region has become a natural wildlife reserve in recent years as all manner of flora and fauna have flourished unperturbed by humans, and the powerplant still maintains a number of employees tasked with maintenance and safety work - though they were rotated regularly prior to the Russian invasion.

But experts believe that Russian troops who returned to the exclusion zone to dig trenches and fortifications may have sustained major doses of radiation as they became exposed to the irradiated dust and soil which had remained sealed underground for decades.

This map of the exclusion zone around Chernobyl shows just how close the Russian trenches were dug to the site of the 1986 disaster, a stone's throw away from Pripyat - the abandoned town where the plant's workers lived with their families prior to the explosion

Drone footage which revealed Russian fortifications in the Red Forest panned out to the left and captured the ominous steel dome that contains the destroyed nuclear reactor at Chernobyl power plant

Thirty-six years ago today, on April 26, 1986, an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction destroyed one of Chernobyl's reactors in an accident that was initially covered up by the Soviet authorities.

A total of 28 staff members and emergency workers died from radiation poisoning in the days following the explosion, as well as two workers who were killed instantly in the blast.

But studies conducted in the years following the disaster discovered a considerable increase in incidences of thyroid cancer among the population who lived near the plant.

According to a United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) report, there had been almost 20,000 cases of thyroid cancer reported in children and adolescents who were exposed at the time of the accident between 1991-2015.

Increased awareness of the risk of cancer from radiation exposure and improved detection methods are two of the factors associated with the startling figure, but at least 5,000 incidences of cancer were directly attributable to children drinking fresh milk containing radioactive iodine from cows who had eaten contaminated grass in the first few weeks following the accident.

The Chernobyl power station's three other reactors were successively closed, with the latest shutting off in 2000.

Ukrainian forces patrol the area near the nuclear plant after Russian troops withdraw from the site

Approximately 169 Ukraine National Guard Soldiers who guarded the site were locked in an underground nuclear bunker for a month with no access to natural light, fresh air or information, but they were gone when Ukrainian forces regained control of the site.

It is not known where they are now, but Ukrainian authorities suspect they may have been taken to Russia via Belarus.

Workers kept the Russians from the most dangerous areas, but the plant was without electricity, relying on diesel generators to support the critical work of circulating water for cooling the spent fuel rods.

Russia's invasion marks the first time that occupying a nuclear plant was part of a nation's war strategy, said Rebecca Harms, former president of the Greens group in the European Parliament, who has visited Chernobyl several times.

She called it a 'nightmare' scenario in which 'every nuclear plant can be used like a pre-installed nuclear bomb.'
Nationals senator Matt Canavan has declared a net-zero target 'dead' as cracks begin to emerge in the coalition over the government's climate change policy.

Just weeks out from the May 21 election, Scott Morrison on Tuesday reaffirmed his party's pledge of net-zero emissions by 2050 as 'absolute' policy, following comments from a coalition candidate describing it as not binding.

But hours later, his assertation was once again undermined by other LNP members, including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce who backed the idea there was 'wriggle room' in the commitment.

Senator Canavan went further, suggesting the initiative should be paused.

'Net zero is dead anyway,' he told the ABC.

'Boris Johnson said he is pausing it, Germany is building coal and gas infrastructure, Italy is reopening coal-fired power plants - it's all over. It's all over bar the shouting here.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan (pictured) has undermined the Prime Minister by declaring the net-zero target 'dead'

'We're talking about something that is 28 years away. What will happen in 28 years' time, or the policies that will happen in 10 or 20 years, I think, should be up to the Australian people in 10 or 20 years, some of who might not even be voting.'

The division emerged after Colin Boyce, the LNP candidate for the Queensland seat of Flynn, labelled the commitment 'flexible' and noted 'wiggle room' within it.

Mr Joyce described Mr Boyce's view as 'completely understandable'.

'We've said we've set a target, we're going to try and meet  but I think where Colin's coming from, it's completely understandable,' he said.

'Coal remains one of our nation's strongest exports.'

The comments prompted Labor to demand the prime minister clarify the government's position.

'Scott Morrison has a job to do today. Is net zero a firm commitment of the government? Or is it simply a flexible guideline as the candidate for Flynn has said?' opposition energy spokesman Chris Bowen told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

Scott Morrison on Tuesday claimed net-zero emissions by 2050 were 'absolutely' part of his government's policy

Mr Bowen said the coalition was saying one thing on climate change in seats such as Hinkler in Queensland, and another in Higgins in metropolitan Melbourne and Queens Park in eastern Sydney.

'They want to be on both sides of the stream - well they can't be.'

Mr Morrison claimed Mr Boyce was talking about the pathway to net zero, rather than the strength of the pledge.

'He wasn't talking about the commitment itself, he has clarified that,' he told reporters in Townsville.

'Our commitment to net zero by 2050 is a commitment of the Australian government that I made in Glasgow. It is the government's absolute policy.'

Mr Boyce earlier said the net-zero pledge would not be legislated, although moderate Liberal MP Dave Sharma has previously described it as binding.

Pictured: LNP's candidate for Flynn, Colin Boyce

'It leaves us wiggle room as we proceed into the future. Morrison's statement that he has made is not binding,' Mr Boyce told the ABC on Tuesday.

The Liberals and Nationals agreed to an unlegislated target of net-zero emissions by 2050, following tense negotiations ahead of the COP26 UN climate change conference in late 2021.

Mr Joyce acknowledged the government was on a pathway to net zero, but insisted major export sectors such as coal could not be exited immediately.

'We have acknowledged that, along that pathway, it is not a lineal form,' he told reporters in Shepparton while campaigning in central Victoria.

'We understand that for this nation's economy to prevail, we cannot just step aside from our second biggest export or our third biggest export - that would be completely and utterly economically irresponsible.'

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce (pictured) backed the idea there was 'wriggle room' for the climate change policy

Asked whether Labor's own climate targets were designed to appeal to voters in a number of marginal seats, Mr Bowen said the party's targets would be sold nationwide.

Labor is aiming for a 43 per cent emissions cut by 2030, exceeding the government's forecast figure of 35 per cent, but falling well short of a 75 per cent pledge by the Greens.

But Labor's foreign affairs spokesperson Penny Wong said their targets would not be heightened as Pacific nations call for greater actions.

Labor had previously pointed to the government's lack of climate change action as one reason the Solomon Islands signed a security pact with China.

'We will be a genuine partner (on climate change) ... there are obviously areas where people would like us to go further, any minister who's represented the nation knows that internationally,' Ms Wong said.

'But what we will not do is treat them disrespectfully and in the way this government has, which has in part been a contribution to the situation within the Pacific.'
Putting trigger warnings on books like Harry Potter 'to protect university students' is doing them a 'disservice', a minister has said.

Universities minister Michelle Donelan has called for 'common sense' after the University of Chester placed warnings on the first book of the JK Rowling series over 'difficult conversations about, race, sexuality, class, and identity'.

Its English Department sounded the klaxon to freshers on its Approaches to Literature module, led by Dr Richard Leahy, and even told them they could raise concerns with him if they had 'any issues' with the topics discussed.

But Ms Donelan today said students 'have to be able to live in the real world' as she questioned whether universities 'are getting their priorities right'.

She added: 'Harry Potter is actually a children's book. Fundamentally it is probably a multimillion-pound industry that has been franchised into films.

'To say that we need to protect some of our brightest and our best from the likes of Harry Potter is to not only do our universities a disservice but to do our students a disservice.'

'And it's not the way to ensure that they can enter the world having those skills at their fingertips - the ability to challenge, to be critically astute - and that's certainly not the interpretation that I'd had talking to students, that they want or they need this from their universities.'

Universities minister Michelle Donelan (pictured) has said putting trigger warnings on books like Harry Potter 'to protect university students' is doing them a 'disservice'

The minister's comments come after JK Rowling's (pictured last month) views on transgender rights has seen her criticised from some quarters

The warning at the bottom of the University of Chester's course description is not found on other modules for the year

The cover of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, first published in 1997, which has had trigger warnings placed on it by the University of Chester

Harry Potter: a magical masterpiece or a triggering tome? For most JK Rowling's wizarding fantasy is pure escapism - and a classic battle between good and evil. But the University of Chester's concerns mere discussion of it could spark triggering themes is not the first time it has been flagged in this way. Most recently an anti-semitism row was sparked over the goblins that run Gringotts bank over the suggestion they were caricatures of Jewish people. It was claimed they were based on figures from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an infamous text that purports to show a Jewish plan for world domination. Ms Rowling has always been a staunch opponent of anti-semitism. Meanwhile the portrayal of Dudley Dursley, who is one of the larger characters and is initially a bully, has prompted some calls of 'fattism'. Ms Rowling has spoken about it herself and said Harry Potter characters who were 'on the plumper side' include 'several of my most important, admirable and loveable characters'. There are also some themes of racism within the books. The series' villain Voldemort believes pureblood wizards are supreme and any other people are inferior. There are also themes of loss and abuse in the books of some of the young characters. A literal reading might prompt some to question why there are no mental health interventions available to them at Hogwarts School. There has also been concerns raised at the lack of diversity in some of the books. One of the characters Cho Chang has attracted attention, with some describing her name as 'stereotypical and inaccurate'. And despite Hermione being one of the series' main characters, there have been accusations of sexism in the books. Some readers feel many of the female figures are portrayed as being annoying or tag-alongs to the males on their adventures. Advertisement

She continued: 'There are no trigger warnings every day as you operate. I've not met students who have called for these trigger warnings either.

'They are not the issues that students are bringing up to me - they're bringing up sexual harassment, they're bringing up antisemitism.'

Ms Donelan also questioned the priorities of universities that have not yet signed up to the international Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, adding that the institutions should focus on tackling harassment and antisemitism rather than looking at trigger warnings on content.

She said: 'I think their priorities, fundamentally, should be the welfare, the wellbeing and the education of students.'

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is one of the University of Chester course's three set literary texts alongside Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games and Philip Pullman's Northern Lights.

The trigger warning, seen by MailOnline, tells students: 'Although we are studying a selection of Young Adult texts on this Module, the nature of the theories we apply to them can lead to some difficult conversations about gender, race, sexuality, class, and identity.

'These topics will be treated objectively, critically, and most crucially, with respect. If anyone has any issues with the content, please get in touch with the Module Leader to make them aware.'

It comes after JK Rowling's views on transgender rights has seen her criticised from some quarters.

But Ms Donelan said there is 'an undeniable link between quality and free speech', pointing to 86 per cent of Nobel Prize winners coming from countries with the highest rating for academic freedom - with just one per cent from nations with the lowest.

The minister added: 'Vice-chancellors need to ensure that they're not on the wrong side of history on this. We want them to proactively be supporting their members of staff - they may face criticism but certainly shouldn't face harassment when they put forward their views and their academic research.'

Today, Ms Donelan told a meeting at the Policy Exchange think tank in London that supporting free speech is 'no longer enough' and, instead, it is something that has to be 'actively defended'.

She continued: 'Where would we be now if the views of 100 or even 200 years ago had never been challenged?

'As a woman, I doubt I would be a Member of Parliament, let alone the Minister for Higher and Further Education," she said.

'But, sadly, where once we found critical debate and arguments which were run on their merit, today we have seen an upsurge in physical threats and complete intolerance of opposing ideas.'

She said professors have been 'harangued and hounded just for doing their jobs', as well as 'prominent, well-respected guests no-platformed'.

'Who would you rather employ - an inquisitive, critical, open-minded graduate, or a self-contained cookie-cutter graduate who is afraid to be challenged or confront new ideas?', she asked.

Ms Donelan also referred to the case of Kathleen Stock, who was forced to quit the University of Sussex due to her views on gender identity.

The minister said she found it 'completely deplorable' how 'balaclava-clad protesters forced a female academic to stay off campus under threats of physical violence'.

She added that Ms Stock's case was not an 'isolated event' as an 'intolerant mob' threatened the Israeli ambassador outside an event held at the London School of Economics just a few weeks later.

'We're not talking about peaceful protest here, the right of which of course is sacrosanct. We are talking about threats, intimidation and harassment', she said.

Ms Donelan said Policy Exchange polling had shown that 32 per cent of academics identifying as right-wing had refrained from airing their views in teaching or research, while around 15 per cent identifying as politically centrist or left-wing also reported self-censoring.

University vice-chancellors, academics and students should not 'allow the history books to record your name as part of the small cabal of the intolerant', she added.

Instead, the minister called on vice-chancellors to 'go into bat' for their staff and "put their money where their mouth is" on the issue rather than bowing to the 'intolerant few'.

The Government's Free Speech Bill has been carried over to the next session of Parliament.

Ms Donelan said she expects the House of Lords will have 'a lot to say on this subject', but that the Bill is less about what happens in Parliament than 'a culture change that will reverberate through the sector'.
A centuries-old church bell is at in a court case controversy in Hartlepool

A centuries-old church bell has been at the centre of a court case as conservationists argued whether or not it should remain out of tune.

The 432-year-old bell in All Saints Church, Stranton, Hartlepool, was created in 1599 but has only been out of tune since 1907, when it was last retuned.

Yet some have rallied against retuning it again because it would mean the bell would sound different to generations of people living there.

The 432-year-old bell in All Saints Church, Stranton, Hartlepool, was created in 1599 but has only been out of tune since 1907, when it was last retuned

People living near the church were worried retuning would make an audible difference to their experience of the bells

Conservation group the Church Buildings Council said the bell's out of tune sound was a key 'aural link to the past'.

Yet Andrew Frost, one of the Hartlepool Guild of Bellringers, said the bells needed retuning.

He said: 'They were tuned as well as it was thought possible at the time, but there's much better tuning these days.'

Yet Andrew Frost (pictured), one of the Hartlepool Guild of Bellringers, said the bells needed retuning

The central part of All Saints Church (pictured inside) was made in the 12th century, while the tower was built in the 14th century

He said they would still sound like the bells people living in the area were used to.

A church court has now decided the retuning should go ahead.

Adrian Iles, the Chancellor of the Diocese of Durham, acted as a judge for the case and said although 'historic bells form a rare and important link with the past,' this one was 'caked in grime'.

He added: 'Any harm caused by retuning is slight and outweighed by the benefits to the church and community.'
Choo Kyung-ho, left, the nominee for deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, speaks to Land Minister nominee Won Hee-ryong during a meeting of the presidential transition committee at its office in Jongno District, Seoul, Monday. Joint Press Corps



By Yi Whan-woo



Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance nominee Choo Kyung-ho has called for an overhaul of the state pension fund, which experts agree is crucial considering the country's aging and shrinking population.



"Given the low birth rate and the increase in the elderly population, failure in reform will dent the fund's financial soundness and drastically increase the burden on younger generations," Choo said in a Q&A submitted to the National Assembly as part of the preparations for his Assembly hearing scheduled for May 2.



He views the current pension fund management system under the National Pension Service (NPS) as inefficient, saying, "It will only increase the national debt and will not last long."



He called for a "comprehensive check-up" on the premium rates and the minimum age that people are eligible to receive pension benefits, among other factors.



The pension fund is on course to be depleted under the existing system, possibly in the 2050s.



Worse still, the population is aging rapidly.



According to the Korea Economic Research Institute, which operates under the wing of the business lobby group, the Federation of Korean Industries, the ratio of those aged 65 and older is expected to rise from the current 17.3 percent of the population to 37.0 percent in 2045, surpassing the world's No. 1, Japan, with 36.8 percent.



The institute also speculated that the fund will go into a deficit in 2039 and be depleted in 2055 if the pension scheme is maintained as it is.



In 2055, those born in 1990 will reach 65, the age when they can begin to claim pension benefits, but the pension fund will have dried up.


Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy was one of several of his colleagues to vote in favor of convicting Trump after his second impeachment trial

A sitting Republican senator is planning to campaign against firebrand GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's re-election bid, it was reported on Tuesday.

Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is throwing his weight behind Jennifer Strahan, a healthcare advisory firm executive who is aiming to unseat Greene in Georgia's May 24 primary elections.

Cassidy will be a 'special guest' at a reception for Strahan held by the View PAC, according to a flyer obtained by Punchbowl News. The group is dedicated to electing Republican women to federal office.

It's an unusual move for an incumbent GOP lawmaker from another state to go up against another, but it's illustrative of a wider fracture happening in the GOP.

The event is expected to be held on May 3, the day after early voting begins in the Peach State.

Multiple public opinion polls have pointed to November's midterm elections ushering in a red wave to give the GOP control of Congress next year.

But before then, warring factions of Republicans will have to battle for who comes out on top and -- by extension -- defines the future of the party.

One of those battles is being fought in Georgia's 14th Congressional District. Strahan bills herself as a pro-Trump, 'no-nonsense conservative' while setting Greene up as an ineffective legislator who's more interested in being a celebrity than caring for her constituents.

Donald Trump won the district by 48 points over President Joe Biden in 2020.

Cassidy's appearance on Strahan's behalf comes after the candidate told DailyMail.com that she's seen some behind-the-scenes support from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Georgia's 14th Congressional District is gearing up for a heated primary race between two pro-Trump conservatives -- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (left) and Jennifer Strahan (right)

Asked during an April 14 interview if she gets the sense they would prefer someone like her as a colleague, Strahan said that was 'absolutely' the case.

'I have had a lot of conversation with current representatives and senators -- and a lot of support -- because at the end of the day, again, she throws as many bombs on the Republican as the Democrat side,' Strahan said of Greene.

'She's not there to work with colleagues. And that doesn't mean just by working with individuals -- even if you disagree with them -- doesn't mean you're sacrificing your values or your beliefs, but you have to be able to have those tough conversations around really important issues.'

Cassidy's is not a surprising name to find in Strahan's circle. He's previously criticized Greene for promoting wild conspiracy theories and said she should 'not be taken seriously.'

'I'm a senator, but I will point out any time somebody says with a straight face that a Jewish family set off laser beams to start fires in California and those spread, you've got to first say, "Wait, is this like a satire?" And then when you realize it was said seriously, that person should not be taken seriously,' the Louisiana Republican said on Fox in February of last year.

He was referencing one of multiple eyebrow-raising claims Greene endorsed on social media before being elected to office.

Cassidy is appearing on Strahan's behalf on May 3, the day after early voting begins in the Georgia primaries. It comes just over a week after Strahan told DailyMail.com in an interview that she has seen 'support' on Capitol Hill

Some of those claims, and promotions of violence against prominent Democrats, got the freshman congresswoman stripped of her committee assignments soon after coming to Capitol Hill.

DailyMail.com has reached out to both Strahan and Greene's spokespersons with questioned linked to the upcoming View PAC event but has not yet heard back.

Cassidy's office has also not returned a request for comment.

Before the upcoming fundraiser was announced, however, recent campaign filings show Strahan received a $5,000 donation from Cassidy's political operation Americas Strength and Security PAC.

The first-time candidate has caught the eye of multiple GOP groups and figures, raking in $322,625 so far. It's a significant haul for a new name entering politics, but still below Greene's $8.4 million fundraising total for this cycle.

The Republican Jewish Coalition and View PAC are two groups who have endorsed Strahan while also lining her campaign coffers in the most recent quarter ending on March 31.

View PAC's other endorsements include a slew of incumbent GOP lawmakers like Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York and Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.

Strahan has also secured a $2,900 donation to her primary campaign from a member of the board of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, Dallas billionaire Harlan Crow.

Former Vermont GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock also donated to Strahan's effort to unseat Greene.

Both candidates have billed themselves as pro-Trump conservatives, though only Greene managed to cinch Trump's critical endorsement.

In comments to DailyMail.com earlier this month, Greene dismissed Strahan as 'clueless' and 'naive' after the latter claimed Greene was not making any attempts to reach out to the people who voted her in -- including military veterans who need their representative's help.

'This no-name candidate is not insulting me, shes insulting my staff who are well known and loved by everyone all over our district,' Greene told DailyMail.com.

'No one knows or cares who this naive candidate is but everyone knows and loves my staff.'

Strahan's campaign shot back that the congresswoman was refusing 'to take responsibility for her own failures.'
Russian forces fired two missiles close to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant early this morning, sparking fears that a fresh nuclear disaster akin to Chernobyl could be triggered if fighting in the area continues.

A statement released by Ukrainian state nuclear agency Energoatom said the cruise missiles flew at low altitude at 6:41am and 6:44am, soaring over the power plant and impacting targets in Zaporizhzhia city centre a short distance away.

Zaporizhzhia is home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant (ZNPP), which contains six nuclear reactors besides other nuclear facilities.

But it was captured in the early days of the Russian invasion and has remained in occupied territory, serving as a military base for Putin's forces.

'The flight of missiles at low altitudes directly above the ZNPP site, where nuclear facilities with a huge amount of nuclear material are located, poses huge risks,' said Energoatom chief Petro Kotin.

'After all, missiles can hit one or more nuclear facilities, and this threatens a nuclear radiation catastrophe which will be felt around the world.'

Zaporizhzhia's Regional Military Administation reported at least one person was killed and one injured in the attack, which it said 'destroyed the infrastructure of an enterprise in the city'.

A third missile was shot down by Ukrainian air defences and landed in a field on the outskirts of the city.

Six power units generate 40-42 billion kWh of electricity, making the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant the largest nuclear power plant not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe

A view shows a damaged administrative building of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on March 4. Russian forces shelled the power plant as they attempted to wrest control of it from the defenders

Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko echoed a warning given by Energoatom chief Petro Konin about the dangers of continued missile strikes and fighting near the nuclear power plant

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at a press conference about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine in Vienna, Austria, Friday, March 4, 2022. Russian shelling caused a fire in an administrative building close to the reactors

Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko said of the incident: 'This morning two cruise missiles flew above #Zaporizhzhia atomic plant towards the city at a low height. Later explosions were heard in Zaporizhzhia.

'Rockets flying low directly above the plant which has [six] nuclear reactors and a lot of nuclear material is extremely risky,' he posted on Twitter.

Fears that a nuclear catastrophe could occur at the ZNPP were first sparked on March 3, when Russian forces attempting to wrest control of the plant from the Ukrainian defenders shelled the facility.

Video footage of the incident shows a training building located a stone's throw from the nuclear reactors catching fire while plant workers pleaded with the invaders over the loudspeaker to stop shelling the location.

Today's warning of the potential consequences of armed conflict in close proximity to the nuclear power plant comes on the 36th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident.

On April 26, 1986, a reactor at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the north of what was then Soviet Ukraine went into meltdown and exploded.

Huge clouds of radioactive smoke and dust were spread from the reactor, prompting mass evacuations from the nearby town of Pripyat where families of the plant's staff lived and the creation of an exclusion zone which remains in place to this day.

A total of 28 staff members and emergency workers died from radiation poisoning in the days following the explosion, as well as two workers who were killed instantly in the blast.

But studies conducted in the years following the disaster discovered a considerable increase in incidences of thyroid cancer among the population who lived near the plant.

According to a United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) report, there had been almost 20,000 cases of thyroid cancer reported in children and adolescents who were exposed at the time of the accident between 1991-2015.

On April 26, 1986, a reactor at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the north of what was then Soviet Ukraine went into meltdown and exploded. Huge clouds of radioactive smoke and dust were spread from the reactor, prompting mass evacuations from the nearby town of Pripyat where families of the plant's staff lived and the creation of an exclusion zone which remains in place to this day (a steel containment dome is seen above the remains of the reactor)

A total of 28 staff members and emergency workers died from radiation poisoning in the days following the explosion, as well as two workers who were killed instantly in the blast. But studies conducted in the years following the disaster discovered a considerable increase in incidences of thyroid cancer among the population who lived near the plant (exclusion zone in Chernobyl pictured)

Meanwhile, Energoatom said Russian troops, who have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant since March 4, were keeping heavy equipment and ammunition on the site.

'Thirty-six years after the Chernobyl tragedy, Russia exposes the whole world to the danger of a repeat of the nuclear catastrophe!' it said.

Russia did not immediately comment on Energoatom's statement.

It has previously offered safety assurances about Ukraine's nuclear power facilities since launching what it says is a 'special military operation' on February 24.

Russian troops also occupied the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power station soon after invading Ukraine but withdrew in late March as Putin's forces geared up for redeployment in a new, targeted offensive in the eastern Donbas region.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), visited Chernobyl on Tuesday.
A young father who was caught driving while unlicensed has claimed he was rushing his baby son to the hospital after a health scare.

Slade James Watson, 25, from Deception Bay north of Brisbane was pulled over by police about 1.45pm on November 10 last year.

He made the decision to drive despite having no license after his son was having breathing problems and he was told an ambulance could take 45 minutes to arrive, he told Caboolture Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

'I just had to save my son. I knew I would get in trouble but I just had to do it,' Watson told the court, reports The Caboolture Shire Herald.

Slade Watson (pictured) said he was rushing his baby to hospital when he was pulled over for unlicensed driving

He said he and his fiance were were worried about their son's breathing on November 10, 2021 before he drove.

Watson has a substantial criminal and traffic record, has done multiple stints in jail since he turned 18, and battled mental illness, the court heard.

Magistrate Andrew Hackett said he understood the situation would have been a 'moral emergency'.

Watson, who works in security, pleaded guilty to unlicensed driving and was fined $300 and disqualified for driving for one month.

No conviction was recorded.
The company producing the Stinger anti-aircraft missiles that have proved so effective in Ukraine said on Tuesday it will not be able to immediately resume production once existing stockpiles are depleted.

The news will be a blow to Ukraine's armed forces, which say they need hundreds every day to repel Russian invasion.

But Raytheon Technologies, which makes the shoulder-fired weapons, wound down production in recent years - as the Pentagon looked to more modern systems - and faces hurdles in ramping it back up.

On a conference call with analysts, chief executive Greg Hayes said: 'We have a very limited stock of material for Stinger production.'

The company may not be able to ramp up production until next year, following a surge in demand.

'We've been working with the Department of Defense for the last couple of weeks,' he said.

'Some of the components are no longer commercially available, and so we're going to have to go out and redesign some of the electronics in the missile of the seeker head. That's going to take us a little bit of time.'

The U.S. has shipped more than 1,400 Stingers to Ukraine.

The FIM-92 Stinger Man Portable Air Defense System entered service in 1981 and is used by the United States and 29 other countries.

A file photo showing troops using a Stinger missile using Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADs) off the coast of Crete, Greece in November 2017

President Joe Biden has sent thousands of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine but now Raytheon chief executive Greg Hayes says it will be difficult to resume production of the ageing weapons system when stockpiles run out

Lithuania has also been shipping Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. Crates are seen here being unloaded from a C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft outside Kyiv

It is a lightweight, self-contained weapon that can be deployed quickly to defend against helicopters, airplanes, drones and even cruise missiles.

It rose to fame in Afghanistan, where Mujahideen resistance fighters claimed they used Stingers to down more than 200 Soviet aircraft - although the numbers are disputed.

But the Pentagon has not ordered new Stingers for 18 years, as the U.S. looked to more modern systems.

The Stinger production line was closed in December 2020, said Pentagon spokesperson Jessica Maxwell.

Since then, Raytheon Technologies won a contract in July 2021 to manufacture more Stingers, but mainly for international governments, according to the U.S. Army.

The sole Stinger facility, in Arizona, only produces at a low rate.

But the Ukraine conflict has seen the weapon in high demand, where its ease of use and portability have made it a crucial resistance tool.

U.S. officials have balked at the idea of sending aircraft to bolster Ukraine's air force and instead have pointed to success of anti-aircraft systems to protect the country's sky from Russian warplanes.

The portable missile systems entered service in 1981, but the Pentagon has not ordered them in 18 years and production by Raytheon has wound down

The Pentagon, which has thrown together weekly meetings to discuss surging weapons demand from Eastern Europe, met with a group of eight defense-contractor chief executives in mid-April to discuss the supply of weapons to Ukraine, including the Stinger.

Two sources familiar with the meeting said Hayes noted that it can require six to 12 months to restart a munitions production line.

Industry executives also voiced reservations about increasing weapons production. One chief executive said that when the Ukraine war winds down, they do not want to be stuck with warehouses full of unsellable inventory without a guaranteed buyer, three people familiar with the discussion said.

Congress also wants more Stingers, or at least something that can do the same job.

The chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Representative Adam Smith, wrote Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin last week and pointed out an 'apparent absence of a Department of Defense plan to meet short-range air defense replenishment requirements for not only our U.S. stocks of Stinger systems, but those of other contributing allies and partners.'

Smoke rises above a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Germany is to supply 50 Gepard anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine after weeks of dithering on the issue as the U.S. and its partners step up deliveries of weapons

A Pentagon official who oversees weapons acquisitions for the Army, Doug Bush, told Congress on March 31 the Defense Department was putting together a plan to increase Stinger production and planned to inform Congress imminently.

But as of late last week, a second congressional source who spoke on condition of anonymity said there has been no information about the plan.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate's Committee on Armed Services, asked Austin earlier in April at a Senate budget hearing about using the Defense Production Act (DPA) to restore depleted supplies of Stingers and Javelin anti-tank missiles.

But using that law, which forces industry to put resources into an immediate effort to make a product needed for national security purposes, is premature, Pentagon spokesperson Maxwell said.

In the longer term, the Army is looking for a replacement for the Stinger that will go into production in 2027.
Museum bosses are seeking a 'social justice champion' who will be paid 35,000 to help 'decolonise' its collections.

The successful candidate will address legacies of imperialism and patriarchal power structures, a job advert states.

Paid between 29,000 and 35,0000, the senior curator for decolonial practice will operate at Ipswich Museum in Suffolk, which exhibits worldwide human and natural history.

Ipswich Museum is hiring for a senior curator to 'decolonise' its human and natural history collection in Suffolk

Last year councillors agreed that some displays at the 175-year-old museum were 'problematic, with certain artefacts of questionable provenance'.

The new role - advertised on the government's Find a job website - is offered as an 'exciting opportunity' for a 'social justice champion'.

The job description states: 'You will work with us and our local communities to address the legacies of imperialism, patriarchal power structures and inherent biases in our current displays.

'You will act as an advocate for tackling the colonial representation of objects, working to make the service more relevant and relatable to audiences.'

Last year councillors agreed that some displays at the 175-year-old museum were 'problematic, with certain artefacts of questionable provenance'

The curator will be trusted with a budget of up to 45,000 and will work 37 hours a week on a two-year contract.

One of the key responsibilities is to work with museum colleagues to 'shape narratives relating to Empire'.

Candidates are expected to have experience working in museums and equality, diversity and inclusion projects.

The role, which is partly funded by a 4.5million grant from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, is open to applicants until May 6.

The council-led Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service revealed plans last June to encourage transparency about the origin and context of its displays.

This includes new research into the history of the artefacts it holds, along with a re-examination of how came to possess them.

Left, the gold death mask which was made for Roman citizen Titus Flavius Demetrius, who died in Egypt between AD 80-120. The mask is on display at Ipswich Museum. The mask was excavated by archaeologist Flinders Petrie at Hawara in Egypt in 1888. Right, another of the museum's many artefacts in its collection

One of the key responsibilities is to work with museum colleagues to 'shape narratives relating to Empire'. Pictured, artefacts from Nigeria which are on display at Ipswich Museum

The group runs popular cultural sites including Colchester Castle, Colchester's Hollytrees Museum and Natural History Museum, Ipswich Art Gallery and Christchurch Mansion.

A document approved by Colchester and Ipswich Borough Councils stated: 'The documentation of much of the world cultures collection, collected predominantly in the 19th century, is superficial and needs urgent remedial investigation.

'Whilst the museum has an array of world objects, its current ethnic visitor profile does not reflect that of the local, diverse demographic.'

Frank Hargrave, Colchester and Ipswich Museums manager, said last year that he hoped for greater transparency and diversity in exhibits.

Mr Hargrave said: 'It's not about being unnecessarily provocative, it's about finding long-term solutions and working with people to find solutions without being tokenistic or overly antagonistic.'

Frank Hargrave, Colchester and Ipswich Museums manager, said last year that he hoped for greater transparency and diversity in exhibits. Pictured, inside the museum

He added it was 'not about taking stories away or hiding things, very much the opposite.

'We will be looking at the holdings of human remains and religious artefacts, as well as those acquired by those with imperial agendas of their time such as colonial officers, expedition captains and missionaries.'

On Colchester and Ipswich Museums' website, a message apologises for some of the 'historic terminology' used on its database.

It says: 'Historic terminology for cataloguing objects and belongings are recorded on this database and some of the language is discriminatory, offensive and upsetting.

'We keep the historic terminology to allow us to see how people in the past perceived the world around them.

'We are working towards ensuring voices other than the Museums are reflected in the database.'
A 15-year-old boy asked for a meeting with the dean of his $40,000-a-year private Chicago school to report that several students were bullying him via text messages and on Snapchat - one of which encouraged him to kill himself.

The dean listened to Nate Bronstein, a 10th-grader at the Latin School of Chicago, but took no disciplinary action, according to a lawsuit recently filed by his parents.

One month later, Nate was found dead, hanging from the shower in their home with a noose tied around his neck.

Rose and Robert Bronstein had repeatedly raised concerns about their son's struggle to adjust to his new school with administrators, which was detailed in a 68-page lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County on Monday, but claim no action was taken.

It wasn't until after Nate's death, that they learned the extent of the bullying their son endured by his classmates. In the suit, Nate's parents claim the school knew, but never reported it.

'Our son would still be alive today if Latin would have done their job and reported to us what had gone on within the school,' Rose Bronstein told CBS News.

Nate Bronstein, 15, took his own life on January 13, 2022 at his family's home

Rose and Robert Bronstein spoke exclusively to CBS News, saying they believe if the school would have 'done their job' and reported what went on at the school, he would still be alive'

Nate hadn't been at the Latin School of Chicago, one of the most prestigious private schools in Chicago, for long, but he had a promising future.

His parents described the 10th-grader as being a 'super-sharp, funny kid.'

'He definitely wanted to go to a college that had big time sports,' his father Robert Bronstein told CBS News. 'He loved to make people laugh, and laugh himself.'

But the school was 'a toxic culture,' Rose said. 'So toxic that we lost our son from it.'

According to the filing, Nate began experiencing and complaining about the the bullying in September 2021.

In one incident, Nate and a fellow student at Latin were talking about the upcoming Homecoming dance, but was told he was not allowed to join this student or the student's friends.

Days later, Nate learned that the student had been spreading rumors around Latin that he was unvaccinated. The last time he was in the student's home, the student's mother told Nate, 'it must suck to have to take a Covid test every week' to which Nate replied, 'I'm vaccinated.

'The student's mother sarcastically replied, 'yeah right.'

Nate was, in fact, vaccinated, the suit claimed.

The suit went on to expound on other incidents that stemmed from the rumors, like when Nate had been approached at school by students on two separate occasions with both students asking him if his parents were 'anti-vaxxers' following the incident with the student and student's mother.

Nate's parents reached out to the student's parents and to the school to resolve the matter which only made matters worse because it led to continued harassment of Nate.

The Bronsteins had concerns about their son adjusting to a new school, concerns they raised repeatedly with administrators, which is documented in a 68-page lawsuit filed

Rose Bronstein called the school a 'toxic culture  so toxic that we lost our son from it.' She said her son was bullied by his classmates to the point that he didn't want to live to see his future

LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO RESPONDS TO CBS NEWS 'Our school community deeply grieves the tragic and untimely passing of one its students. It is a loss that impacts our whole community. Our hearts go out to the family, and we wish them healing and peace. With respect to their lawsuit, however, the allegations of wrongdoing by the school officials are inaccurate and misplaced. The school's faculty and staff are compassionate people who put students' interests first, as they did in this instance. While we are not, at this time, going to comment on any specific allegation in this difficult matter, the school will vigorously defend itself, its faculty and its staff against these unfounded claims.' Advertisement

Another incident detailed in the lawsuit alleges that around October or November, a Latin geometry teacher relentlessly accosted Nate in front of the entire class in response to the teen's comment about mathematical proofs and ultimately announced to the class that Nate was 'going nowhere in life.'

The lawsuit also details text threats and snapchat messages exchanged between Nate and school classmates, one of which encourages Nate to kill himself, and another was understood to be an indirect death threat.

On December 13, 2021, Nate met with the dean of students to report the bullying, but the dean took no disciplinary action against any student. Nate's report was also kept from his parents, the suit claims.

The Bronsteins told CBS News they were never told that Nate had asked for a meeting with his dean of students to report the harassment.

'It had been kept from us, so that's why we were completely, completely taken off guard when this happened,' said Robert Bronstein.

According to the Illinois General Assembly Public Act, every school in the state, including private schools, must have an anti-bullying policy.

That policy must include information about how bullying should be reported and how it is to be investigated, and also that bullying incidents must be reported to the parents of those involved.

'Look, our son was 15, and his perception of what he can and can't handle isn't necessarily accurate  but that's why the policies exist, and that's why, now, the law exists  to involve parents,' Robert Bronstein told CBS News. 'The school has to err on the side of a lot of transparency,'

The family stresses that they are not suing Latin for the money. Instead, they've pledged to donate any money gained through legal proceedings to anti-bullying and anti-suicide charities - with their goal of helping others in similar situations.

'You can't allow this to go on, because it's going to happen to another child,' Robert Bronstein said.

Nate was described by as a super-sharp, funny kid; A pillar in their family of five

Nate was still adjusting as a being a new transfer last fall to the Latin School of Chicago, on the Gold Coast, when the bullying continued with no action from school officials

The DailyMail.com reached out to the school for comment but has not heard back.

The school released a statement to CBS News on Monday:

'Our school community deeply grieves the tragic and untimely passing of one its students. It is a loss that impacts our whole community. Our hearts go out to the family, and we wish them healing and peace. With respect to their lawsuit, however, the allegations of wrongdoing by the school officials are inaccurate and misplaced.

The school's faculty and staff are compassionate people who put students' interests first, as they did in this instance. While we are not, at this time, going to comment on any specific allegation in this difficult matter, the school will vigorously defend itself, its faculty and its staff against these unfounded claims.'
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A P&O ferry has been escorted back to safety after becoming adrift in the Irish Sea in yet another public relations disaster for the scandal-hit firm - just weeks after it sparked fury by firing 800 UK staff over zoom and replacing them with cheaper foreign crews.

The European Causeway, which can carry 410 passengers, was adrift five miles off the coast of Northern Ireland for more than an hour on Tuesday afternoon, according to tracking website Marine Traffic, before being escorted to its planned destination at Port of Larne.

It is the latest in a string of PR nightmares after Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced earlier this month that the Insolvency Service had started 'formal criminal and civil investigations' into the company, which he said he would be 'following closely' along with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

The probe came after P&O Ferries admitted to breaking the law in the manner in which it terminated staff on March 17 to hire cheaper agency workers, a move that has caused a major backlash from politicians and workers - compounded this week by claims it wanted to cut the wages of its new workers even further.

Meanwhile, the company's suspension of its Dover-Calais route has caused travel chaos on roads in Kent this month as other ferry companies have been placed under immense pressure to cope with the Easter demand.

Dealing a further blow to its reputation, it was claimed this week that ships were prevented from sailing because their new poorly paid foreign crews had been trained so badly some did not even know where the liferafts were.

The European Causeway had already been detained last month 'based on concerns over its safety' and to 'prevent them going to sea', the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said. The Pride of Kent was also detained in Dover on March 28 after it failed inspections to see if it was 'safe to go to sea without passengers or cargo'.

The Marine Traffic website today said the European Causeway's automatic identification system status had been set to 'not under command'.

A route tracking map appeared to show it off course and bobbing around in the Irish Sea

The Marine Traffic website today said the European Causeway's (vessel pictured) automatic identification system status had been set to 'not under command', causing it to drift

The European Causeway (pictured today) had been detained at Larne after an initial inspection by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on March 25 uncovered 31 safety failings

The European Causeway, which can carry up to 410 passengers, is currently bobbing around

It left Cairnryan at midday - with an unknown number of people onboard - due in to Larne Harbour at 2pm

A timeline of the P&O Ferries fiasco March 17: A P&O Ferries executive is tells 800 staff in a Zoom call that they are being made redundant and replaced with agency workers. The firm also announces it has suspended sailings 'for the next few days.' March 18: Staff protests break out at ports in Dover, Liverpool and Hull. March 21: Foreign agency workers from India, the Philippines and Pakistan are pictured being transported to P&O Ferries' ships. March 24: P&O Ferries' millionaire chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite admits to MPs that his company 'chose' to break the law when it sacked its staff and says he would do the same again. March 25: P&O ferry the European Causeway is detained in Northern Ireland for being 'unfit to sail'. March 28: A second vessel, the Pride of Kent, is detained in Dover by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. March 30: Transport Secretary Grant Shapps vows to introduce new law to ban P&O Ferries from British ports if crew are not paid the minimum wage. April 1: Criminal and civil investigations are launched into P&O Ferries' mass sackings. April 7: P&O Ferries cancellations continue to cause gridlock on motorways Kent as queues of drivers waiting to cross the Channel build up. April 14: P&O Ferries suspends all of its passenger services across the Channel over Easter. April 19: Several P&O agency staff are fired after testing positive for alcohol. April 22: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency seizes a third vessel, the 700ft long Spirit of Britain. April 24: P&O Ferries are accused of trying to pay new staff even lower wages. April 26: A P&O boat comes adrift in the Irish Sea and has to be escorted back to safety. Advertisement

This setting is reserved for use when a vessel is 'unable to manoeuvre as required by these rules and is therefore unable to keep out of the way of another vessel'.

A spokesperson for P&O Ferries said it had been a temporary issue and the European Causeway was now travelling to Larne 'under its own propulsion'.

The spokesperson said: 'Following a temporary mechanical issue, the European Causeway is now continuing on its scheduled journey to the Port of Larne under its own propulsion, with local tugs on standby, where it will discharge its passengers and cargo as planned.

'There are no reported injuries on board and all the relevant authorities have been informed. Once in dock a full independent investigation will be undertaken.'

A RNLI spokesperson said that three lifeboats had been sent to the scene.

The spokesperson said: 'Three RNLI lifeboats were requested to launch this afternoon to assist a passenger ferry in difficulty one mile south east of The Maidens.

'Larne RNLI's all-weather lifeboat launched at 2.17pm while Red Bay's RNLI's all-weather lifeboat launched at 2.35pm followed by the inshore lifeboat at 3pm. All lifeboats are currently on scene.'

P&O said that the vessel had been affected by a 'mechanical issue'.

The company tweeted: 'Due to a mechanical issue with the Causeway in the Irish Sea, tugs from Larne and Belfast were deployed to guide it back to port.

'Once the ship is back in Port a full inspection will take place.'

The Rail, Maritime and Transport workers' Union (RMT) said the reports were 'deeply concerning, not least for the agency crew and passengers on board'.

The European Causeway had been detained at Larne after an initial inspection by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on March 25 uncovered 31 safety failings.

This was due to safety concerns after the company sacked nearly 800 seafarers and replaced them with cheaper agency workers.

The ship was cleared to resume serving the Larne-Cairnryan route a fortnight later following another examination.

The ferry company drew national outage last month when it illegally fired nearly 800 staff members without notice over Zoom and replaced them all immediately with cheaper foreign workers.

The agency workers who were hired to replace 786 staff say they were asked to sign new contracts on even lower pay.

The firm has not carried out a cross-Channel crossing since its mass sacking last month.

This has caused a lack of capacity on the crucial Dover-Calais route, contributing to large queues of lorries on coastbound roads in Kent.

One of its ships, the Spirit of Britain, was impounded by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on April 12 over a string of safety issues, but has now been cleared for sailing. Another ship on the Dover-to-Calais route, the Pride Of Kent, remains in detention.

Yesterday, travel expert Paul Charles said it was his understanding the ships had been impounded not due to actual physical deficiencies but because the new crews had not been trained well enough, with 'some not even knowing where the liferafts were'.

An official inspection the European Causeway, which went adrift today, listed an inability to deploy lifeboats or life rafts as one of 31 failures that had been identified. The ferry normally operates between Cairnryan, Scotland, and Larne, Northern Ireland.

P&O Ferries expects to restart sailings for freight customers by Wednesday, but does not anticipate carrying tourists until early next week, it is understood d

P&O boss 'should be jailed' over sackings: Union chief The chief executive of P&O Ferries should be 'behind bars' after sacking 800 seafarers, a trade union president has said. Peter Hebblethwaite replaced the workers with cheaper staff in order to protect the company, he said. However, Pat Rafferty, Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) president, said sacking the seafarers via Zoom last month was 'gutter' and 'inhumane'. Speaking at the annual conference in Aberdeen, Mr Rafferty said that the CEO should be put in jail to send a clear message to employers. Mr Hebblethwaite rejected a request from Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, to reverse the decision. He also admitted his company broke the law by failing to consult unions about the redundancies. It is understood the business needed to cut costs to avoid collapse as it was losing money at a rate of 100 million per year. Mr Hebblethwaite said re-employing the sacked staff on their previous wages would 'deliberately cause the company's collapse, resulting in the irreversible loss of an additional 2,000 jobs'. Mr Rafferty said: 'There is something seriously wrong with our society when a company CEO like P&O can swan into a Westminster parliamentary committee and openly state that he broke the law - and worse still, he'd do it again. What that clearly demonstrates is how useless the law is. There is no deterrent to companies like P&O who are getting away with destroying people's lives. 'The law needs to change. Peter Hebblethwaite should be struck off the directors register and put behind bars. That would send a clear message to employers, act irresponsibly towards workers and face the possibility that you will be jailed.' Mr Hebblethwaite was also accused of 'corporate terrorism' last month as he faced MSPs in Holyrood's Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. He told MSPs he had not taken a cut to his 325,000 salary while replacing his staff with agency workers who receive less than minimum wage. Mr Rafferty, who is also Scottish Secretary of Unite the Union, urged trade union members to boycott P&O Ferries until the dispute had been resolved. Advertisement

P&O Ferries expects to restart sailings for freight customers between Dover and Calais by Wednesday but does not anticipate carrying tourists until early next week, it is understood.

On Monday morning the firm's website began selling passenger tickets for cross-Channel sailings on its ship Spirit Of Britain from Wednesday.

The website later said there were 'no sailings available for your selected dates'.

Spirit Of Britain was detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on April 12 after safety issues were found, but was cleared to sail on Friday.

Meanwhile, Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Lynch claimed P&O Ferries has been 'prevented from further cutting the pay of vulnerable agency crew' by 'pressure from RMT seafarers'.

The firm, owned by Dubai-based logistics giant DP World, insisted no agency workers were asked to take a pay cut.

It came after the RMT received reports of agency workers at Dover being asked to sign new contracts with reduced payments, according to the BBC.

Mr Lynch said: 'There are no depths to which P&O and their Dubai owners at DP World will not sink to extract the maximum profit from ferry crews operating our vital maritime supply chains.

'This is underlined by the fact that, despite this U-turn, P&O are still only paying barely half of the UK minimum wage of 9.50 per hour.

'Ultimately, staffing ships with super-exploited agency staff is not just morally wrong, it undercuts those remaining ferry operators who do abide by union rates of pay and conditions, and undermines passenger safety.

'The only way out of this latest crisis at the ferry operator is for the Government to take over the running of P&O vessels and reinstate directly employed staff on union rates of pay.'

A spokesman for P&O Ferries said: 'No agency seafarers were asked to accept reduced wages.'

He went on: 'There was an administrative misunderstanding around the contract presented to one individual who appears to have been unaware of an appendix which made clear that he would be entitled to an additional 195 a month, meaning that there was no change in his overall pay.

'There are no plans to change or reduce the wages of any of our agency seafarers and we have made clear that we will continue to comply fully with any national minimum wage obligations introduced by the UK Government.'

The company's chief executive, Peter Hebblethwaite, told MPs last month that the average pay of the agency crew is 5.50 per hour.

That is below the UK's minimum wage but Mr Hebblethwaite said it is permitted under international maritime laws.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps wants to create 'minimum wage corridors' on ferry routes between the UK and other countries.

In a letter to the Mr Hebblethwaite in March in the wake of the scandal, Mr Shapps wrote: 'The past week has left the reputation of P&O Ferries and, I'm afraid, you personally in tatters.

'Not only were your letters of 22 March to the Business Secretary and myself wholly unsatisfactory, your appearance at the Transport Select Committee, during which you brazenly admitted to breaking employment law, demonstrated beyond doubt your contempt for workers who have given years of service to your company.

'There is no excuse for this behaviour, and as I said publicly on Friday, I believe your position as chief executive, and indeed as a company director, has become untenable.'

Mr Shapps added: 'I will be bringing a comprehensive package of measures to Parliament to ensure that seafarers are protected against these types of actions in the way that Parliament and this Government already intended. Through that package, I intend to block the outcome that P&O Ferries has pursued, including paying workers less than the minimum wage.'

MailOnline contacted P&O Ferries for comment about the allegation some of its crew did not know where liferafts were kept. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency declined to comment.

It is claimed that if they refused to agree they faced being out of work and one agency worker emailed the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) , declaring: 'We are desperate.'

P&O's boss Peter Hebblethwaite, who earns 345,000 a year, admitted firing the workers over Zoom without notice was illegal in testimony to MPs

P&O Ferries reportedly offered some of the agency workers, who replaced the near 800 staff fired last month, new contracts with even lower wages

Some crew earn just 748 a month for a 40-hour week  barely 4.50 an hour.

In one example reported by The Mirror, workers say chefs paid 2,336 a month on temporary contracts were asked to sign new deals giving them 195 a month less.

Although it is not known who faced a cut in wages, or if staff on seven other ferries were targeted too.

Darren Procter, national secretary of the RMT says some of the new workers were brought in on just a month's contract, and when those contracts expired the staff were offered 'inferior terms'.

The RMT are campaigning for dismissed P&O staff to be reinstated, but 'irrespective of nationality' are concerned for the new staff members, Mr Procter added: 'they are just as much victims as our members.'
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Insulate Britain protesters today glued themselves to court furniture as they appeared before magistrates charged over chaos on the M25.

Activists had to be tackled by security staff at a court in Stratford before police arrived and cleared people out of the room as a hearing descended into farce.

Diana Warner, 63, appeared charged with causing a public nuisance at the Poyle Interchange at junction 14 of the M25 near Heathrow Airport on September 27.

However, before the hearing could begin she glued her hand to the window of the dock. 'I have glued my hand,' she told the court.

Liam Norton, 36, who had entered the court to support her, then walked up to the witness box while filming with his phone.

He was rushed and tackled by court staff as he approached the box. Warner then pulled her mobile phone out in the dock and began to film herself.

Ana Heyatawin, 58, also pulled her phone out and began to film the proceedings. She then glued her hand to a bench inside the court. Police officers then arrived, clearing the press from the court.

The mayhem came as a further group of Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested today after breaching an injunction by standing in front of an oil terminal holding placards saying 'dangerous radicals' and 'if only they listened to petitions'.

The 16 activists outside Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire said police approached them to say they would be arrested for breaching an injunction which stops them demonstrating at Britain's largest inland oil storage depot.

The group of protesters held white signs saying 'investing in new fossil fuels is moral and economic madness'; 'oil is stealing my future'; 'don't stop us - stop oil'; 'we are breaking the injunction'; and 'dangerous criminals'.

Valero Energy, the Texas-based company which owns the Kingsbury oil terminal, secured a first injunction on April 11 which stops anyone from damaging the land at its sites or 'affixing themselves to any other person or object'.

Three days later on April 14, a second injunction was granted in the High Court for North Warwickshire Borough Council, Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire Police, which gives the authorities more powers of arrest.

Just Stop Oil, which is linked to the wider Extinction Rebellion group, said any arrested protesters are likely to face a charge of contempt of court - and could then face an unlimited fine or up two years in prison if found guilty.

Warwickshire Police confirmed the protesters arrived at 7.30am and confirmed later in the day that all 16 had been arrested.

The group included a 35-year-old man from Barnsley, a 74-year-old man from Telford, a 50-year-old woman from Oxfordshire, a 40-year-old woman from London, a 54-year-old woman from Birmingham, a 49-year-old woman from Manchester, a 70-year-old woman from East Barnet, a 75-year-old woman from Leicester, a 55-year-old man from Manchester, a 72-year-old woman from Cumbria, a 23-year-old woman from Leeds, a 41-year-old woman from Cumbria, a 37-year-old woman from London, a 52-year-old woman from Scarborough and a 51-year-old woman from Basingstoke.

These Just Stop Oil protesters demonstrating outside Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today are set to be arrested

The activists outside Kingsbury today said police approached them to say they would be arrested for breaching the injunction

The protesters are today breaching an injunction granted to Valero Energy, the Texas-based company which owns Kingsbury

Police at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today as the protests by Just Stop Oil activists continue

Assistant Chief Constable Dave Gardner said: 'The High Court injunction remains in place and I would strongly advise against people coming to Kingsbury to conduct any protest activity.

'Although the force respects the right to the peaceful protest, we will always take action against anyone found to be acting outside of the law.

'If you are believed to be in breach of the order, officers will arrest you and you will be taken into police custody until you have to appear before the courts.

'A number of arrests have been made this morning and our priority continues to be to minimise any disruption to the community and the local road networks, while ensuring the terminal can go about its day-to-day operational activity.

'A heightened police presence will remain in the area as we deal with the protesters and continue to protect the public from harm.

'I would like to thank the local community for their continued patience. It remains a challenging time but we are working in conjunction with our partners to minimise any disruption.'

One former NHS doctor at today's protest said: 'I'm not a criminal, I've worked 32 years in the NHS as a doctor. But I'm risking arrest and imprisonment simply by standing here today breaking an injunction against protesting about new fossil fuels. It's not a big ask that our Government, one of their climate pledges, stop new UK oil.'

Another protester added: 'I'm here because we are receiving warnings like 'it's now or never', 'code red for humanity', 'direct existential threat', things like that - and we are extremely concerned that we are expanding production of fossil fuels. So we're here to demand that we stop doing that, it's very simple.'

The organisation has been blocking oil terminals and tankers across England including in Birmingham, Essex and Hampshire since April 1 and said nearly 1,000 arrests have now been made over the past month. It said disruption would continue 'until the Government makes a statement that it will end new oil and gas projects in the UK'.

Just Stop Oil protester Amy Pritchard, 37, a care worker from London, said prior to the demonstration at Kingsbury today: 'If my imprisonment helps wake people up to the seriousness of the situation, it's worth it.

'The UN Secretary-General clearly states 'fossil fuels are a dead end' and 'delay means death'. No new oil and gas is not a controversial demand. I want to have children and I want them to have a future.'

Police at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today as the protests by Just Stop Oil activists continue

One of the Just Stop Oil demonstrators stands outside Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire this morning

Just Stop Oil said any arrested protesters outside the Kingsbury oil terminal are likely to face a charge of contempt of court

These Just Stop Oil protesters demonstrating outside Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today are set to be arrested

She was quoting a statement by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in February in which he said 'fossil fuels are a dead end  for our planet, for humanity, and yes, for economies'.

Sarah Webb, 51, a special educational needs tutor from Oxfordshire, was also involved in the demonstration today.

Speaking prior to the action, she said: 'I'm injunction breaking at Kingsbury and risking two years in prison, to stand peacefully on a grass verge, not blocking anything.

'Our Government and judicial system have now effectively outlawed peaceful protest. Is this Russia, is this China? No, it's the UK.

'It's down to us ordinary people now. Can you trust the government to do what is right and end new fossil fuel licences? Can you trust the fossil fuel companies to stop drilling and start building wind turbines? No, me neither. So we all need to stand up and force the government to take action.'

Police at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today as the protests by Just Stop Oil activists continue

Just Stop Oil said any arrested protesters outside the Kingsbury oil terminal are likely to face a charge of contempt of court

The group of protesters held white signs today saying 'investing in new fossil fuels is moral and economic madness'

Police at Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire today as the protests by Just Stop Oil activists continue

The demonstration in Warwickshire today comes after nearly 1,000 arrests have already been made over the past month

Warwickshire Police's Assistant Chief Constable Dave Gardner said: 'The High Court injunction remains in place and I would strongly advise against people coming to Kingsbury to conduct any protest activity.

'Although the force respects the right to the peaceful protest, we will always take action against anyone found to be acting outside of the law.

'If you are believed to be in breach of the order, officers will arrest you and you will be taken into police custody until you have to appear before the courts.

'A number of arrests have been made this morning and our priority continues to be to minimise any disruption to the community and the local road networks, while ensuring the terminal can go about its day-to-day operational activity.

'A heightened police presence will remain in the area as we deal with the protesters and continue to protect the public from harm.

'I would like to thank the local community for their continued patience. It remains a challenging time but we are working in conjunction with our partners to minimise any disruption.'
Vladimir Putin is seen with a shaking hand and firmly gripping his chair in video captured two months ago - adding to mounting speculation over the state of the Russian president's health.

The clip, which was taken on February 18, just before the onset of his invasion of Ukraine, shows him welcoming fellow strongman Alexander Lukashenko at the Kremlin.

The Russian president has been dogged by claims of his failing health in recent months, fueled by footage of his bloated face, slouching posture, and constant gripping for support.

Resurfaced footage of a wobbling Vladimir Putin has sparked fresh health rumours for the tyrant who shakes his hand uncontrollably

He pulls it into his body in an attempt to quell the shakes, but then he almost stumbles as he unsteadily walks towards Lukashenko

In the video taken in February, Putin is seen standing up awaiting his Belarusian ally as his hand starts to violently tremble.

He pulls it into his body in an attempt to quell the shakes, but then he almost stumbles as he unsteadily walks towards Lukashenko.

Later, Putin sits on a chair but is unable to remain still, constantly fidgeting and tapping his feet while he grips onto the arm for support.

The resurfaced clip will do little to dampen the rumours about his potential illness, amid rumours he is battling Parkinson's, dementia or cancer.

A bloated Vladimir Putin has been seen gripping a table whilst slouching in his chair during a televised meeting with his defence minister amid rumours the Russian strongman is battling cancer.

Later, Putin sits on a chair but is unable to remain still, constantly fidgeting and tapping his feet while he grips onto the arm for support

He alternates his right and left hand holding on to the chair as he continuously lifts his feet up and down

Last week, he made a rare live appearance with defence minister Sergei Shoigu where they discussed the 'liberation' of Mariupol.

Putin's poor posture and his apparently bloated face and neck sparked speculation about the Russian leader's health, which has reportedly been in decline since his invasion.

Video showed Putin speaking to Shoigu whilst gripping the edge of the table with his right hand - so hard that it appears white - and tapping his foot consistently.

Shoigu does not appear to have fared any better in the eight weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, with the defence minister slurring his words and reading from his notes following an apparent heart attack.

A bloated Vladimir Putin has been seen gripping a table whilst slouching in his chair during a televised meeting with his defence minister Sergei Shoigu amid rumours the Russian strongman is battling cancer. Shoigu does not appear to have fared any better in the eight weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, with the defence minister slurring his words and reading from his notes following an apparent heart attack

But Putin's poor posture and his apparently bloated face and neck sparked speculation about the Russian leader's health, which has reportedly been in decline since his invasion of Ukraine

Vladimir Putin's five medically-related disappearances November 2012: Business trips and long-distance flights of the president are canceled, some of Putin's meetings shown by the Kremlin turn out to be 'canned food' March 5  15, 2015: Putin does not appear in public, all meetings are 'canned' - in other words pre-recorded events were shown with the pretence they were in real time August 9-16, 2017: The President, with journalists, visits Abkhazia and Sochi, and then for a week the Kremlin publishes only 'canned food' February 2018: In the midst of an election campaign, the president cancels public events. Peskov admits that the head of state 'had a cold' September 13-29, 2021: Putin goes into 'self-isolation', all events are held via video link Advertisement

Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist and former adviser to Ukraine and Russia, said the video showed both Putin and Shoigu 'depressed and seemingly in bad health'.

'Shoigu has to read his comments to Putin and slurs badly, suggesting that the rumours of his heart attack are likely. He sits badly. Poor performance.'

Professor Erik Bucy, a body language expert from Texas Tech University, told The Sun Online: 'It's an astonishingly weakened Putin compared to the man we observed even a few years ago.

'An able-bodied president would not need to keep himself propped up with a hand held out for leverage and would not be concerned about keeping both feet planted on the ground.'

'This is not a portrait of a healthy Putin but one appearing increasingly feeble and barely able to hold himself upright at a small conference table,' Bucy added.

Putin's bloated face and neck has sparked claims he is undergoing steroid treatment, whilst reports have suggested Putin is 'constantly' accompanied by a doctor specialising in thyroid cancer.

Surgeon Yevgeny Selivanov, of Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital, has flown to the Russian leader no less than 35 times in Black Sea resort Sochi, his favourite place of residence.

The respected doctor's thesis - showing his area of medical expertise - was entitled: 'Peculiarities of diagnostics and surgical treatment of elderly and senile patients with thyroid cancer'.

'Shoigu has to read his comments to Putin and slurs badly, suggesting that the rumours of his heart attack are likely. He sits badly. Poor performance,' Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist and former adviser to Ukraine and Russia, said

Some have claimed Shoigu and Putin's poor health is due to the faltering invasion of Ukraine.

During the televised meeting, Putin hailed the 'liberation' of Mariupol as a 'success' for Russian forces, and ordered a siege of the Azovstal plant.

'There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities. Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can escape,' Putin said.

Questions have also emerged over whether Putin really attended an Orthodox Easter service in Moscow this past weekend after pictures issued by the Kremlin bore a startling resemblance to images from last year.

The images, purportedly taken one year apart, appear to show Putin dressed in the same suit and look extremely similar - the only clearly discernible difference being the colour of his tie.

Putin is believed to have attended the midnight Easter service to mark Orthodox Easter on Sunday morning - April 24 - alongside Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin at Moscow's huge gold-encrusted Christ the Saviour Cathedral.

But images and video footage of the event have been seized upon by opposition media in Russia and Ukraine, suggesting the new clips were faked from last year's service on May 2, 2021.

There are only subtle differences in lighting and the colour of Putin's tie between both sets of images from the Easter service, prompting suggestions that the images have been manipulated (Putin at Easter service in 2021 pictured left. 2022 image is pictured right)

Putin (L) is believed to have attended the midnight Easter service to mark Orthodox Easter on Sunday morning - April 24 - alongside Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin (R) at Moscow's huge gold-encrusted Christ the Saviour Cathedral

He appeared to chew the insides of his mouth, shifting uncomfortably, adding to a swirl of commentary that the pressure of Russian setbacks over the war in Ukraine

There are only subtle differences in lighting and the colour of Putin's tie between both sets of images from the Easter service, prompting suggestions that the images have been manipulated.

'Putin is standing in the same suit and with the same candle as on May 2, 2021,' reported Russian outlet The Village.

'This is evidenced by a photo report from the temple on the Kremlin website.'

Opposition investigative media Agentstvo also claimed that this year's footage of Putin attending the ceremony - an appearance he makes annually - seemed to have been distorted.

'In the broadcast of the Easter service from the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Putin seemed to disappear for a moment,' said the outlet.

'This happened during the switching of shots, from a close-up with the president to a more general one

'The place where Putin should be seems to be empty.'

The claims were set upon by Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs adviser Anton Herashchenko, who said: 'Putin's directors were again caught using video editing and [manipulation].

'This time at the broadcast of the Easter service.'

Telegram channel Mozhem Obyasnit (We Can Explain) posted: 'Putin-2022 at the service in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is almost indistinguishable from Putin-2021.

'Social media users, having studied the photos, doubted that the President attended a public event.'

The channel urged followers to 'spot the difference' between Putin this year and last.

Some comments believe his face has changed since last year despite similar expressions.

Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill, who has supported his invasion of Ukraine, led the service. Eastern Orthodox churches observe the ancient Julian calendar, and this year celebrate the Orthodox Easter on April 24

'Putin has the same hairstyle, almost the same facial expression, the same candle,' said Mozhem Obyasnit.

'Both are on the same background in the same aisle of the cathedral.

'True, in 2021 Putin was sometimes shown against the backdrop of parishioners and priests, but this year, for some reason, they did not do this.

'Social media users conclude that reports of Putin's participation in this public event at the height of the war are illustrated with pictures from a peaceful 2021.'

During the service, when Patriarch Kirill - head of the Russian Orthodox Church - declared 'Christ has risen', Putin did not join in with the other members of the congregation to reply 'truly he is risen,' according to Reuters.

In the video, the typically stoic and steadfast Putin was shown grimacing, fidgeting and biting his lip. This was interpreted by some as a sign of his state of mind during the war, while others have posited he may be suffering from Parkinson's disease.

'I am persuaded by a lot of medical advice that he is an ill man and the most persuasive diagnosis is that he has early Parkinsonia,' said former government defence and Nato adviser Professor Gwythian Prins, appearing on Good Morning Britain over the weekend.

'I happen to live with a clinical neurological psychologist - my wife - who has spent 30 years dealing with people who have had degenerative brain diseases.'

He said people living with Parkinson's often show 'all or nothing thinking' where they become disinhibited, stopping them from taking in information rationally.
A group of Russian-linked hackers claimed to have hacked Coca-Cola and put rucks of data up for sale.

Stormous said it stole 161 gigabytes of financial data, passwords and accounts before putting the information on the market for $640,000 or 16 million Bitcoin.

The team revealed on Monday it had infiltrated the drinks company and got out 'without their knowledge'. Coca-Cola said it has launched an urgent investigation and already contacted the police.

The Stormous hacking group posted online that it has stolen 161 gigabytes of data from Coca-Cola, and is now selling the information

The hack reportedly comes after the group posted a poll asking which company it should target, and Coca-Cola received the most votes

'You will win and we will win,' read an apparent message from the group, which was later posted on Twitter.

'You will also contact us! We will explain more,' the message, in apparently broken English, continues. 'Good deal, we'll give you the right to pay the amount you want depending on the amount of data you want.'

It said the group downloaded 161 gigabytes from the company, which it would sell for more than $640,000 or more than 16 million in Bitcoin.

Among the stolen files, according to CISO Advisor, are financial data, passwords and commercial accounts.

The group had previously made waves for expressing its support of Russian forces in its invasion of Ukraine.

It also previously posted a poll on the Telegram messaging service asking which company it should go after. After 103 votes were cast, Security Affairs reports, Coca-Cola received 72 percent.

Coca-Cola has previously pulled its operations from Russia during the invasion of Ukraine

On Tuesday, its shares were down almost half a percentage point following a first quarter report that concluded the decision may reduce net revenue and operating profit for the year by 1 to 2 percent

Hackers supporting Russia over Ukraine... who are Stormous? Stormous is a relative newcomer in the hacking world but gained attention at the beginning of the year. They said they had stolen 200 gigabytes of data from Epic Games and later made headlines when it announced its support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It remains unclear where the group is based, with The Record reporting most of its messages are in Arabic. It wrote in English at the beginning of March: 'The Stromous team has officially announced its support for the Russian governments. 'And if any party in different parts of the world decides to organize a cyber attack or cyberattacks against Russia, we will be in the right direction, will make all our efforts to abandon the supplication of the West, especially the infrastructure. 'Perhaps the hacking operation that our team carried out for the government of Ukraine and a Ukrainian airline was just a simple operation, but what is coming will be bigger,' the group warned. It also issued a warning against 'western unions' and US-based companies, after it said it was 'attacked' by US companies that shut down their site. Advertisement

Stormous is a relative newcomer in the hacking world but gained attention at the beginning of the year.

It said it had stolen 200 gigabytes of data from Epic Games and later made headlines when it announced its support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It remains unclear where the group is based, with The Record reporting most of its messages are in Arabic.

It wrote in English at the beginning of March: 'The Stromous team has officially announced its support for the Russian governments.

'And if any party in different parts of the world decides to organize a cyber attack or cyberattacks against Russia, we will be in the right direction, will make all our efforts to abandon the supplication of the West, especially the infrastructure.

'Perhaps the hacking operation that our team carried out for the government of Ukraine and a Ukrainian airline was just a simple operation, but what is coming will be bigger,' the group warned.

It also issued a warning against 'western unions' and US-based companies, after it said it was 'attacked' by US companies that shut down their site.

Just a few days after the group's announcement, on March 8, Coca-Cola announced it was suspending its operations in Russia in opposition to its invasion.

The company said: 'Our hearts are with the people who are enduring unconscionable effects from these tragic events in Ukraine.'

It added: 'We will continue to monitor and assess the situation as circumstances evolve.'

Coca-Cola executives estimate the decision will tentatively reduce the corporations net revenue and operating profit for the year by 1 to 2 percent.

Its net profit has already decreased by 23.5 percent, compared to the same period last year, according to its first quarter report, issued on Monday.

But its quarterly revenue rose by 5 percent to $9.02 billion from $8.6 billion. The firm is trading at $65.69, down nearly half a percentage point from the day before.

But it is continuing to double down on its support for Ukraine, noting in its filing it will provide $15billion in aid to the country.

It wrote: 'This funding will support further relief efforts by the Red Cross and other organizations operating in Ukraine and neighboring countries, heling millions of displaced people.'

A spokesman for Coca-Cola said they are investigating the claims of stolen data, and have already contacted law enforcement.

'We are aware of this matter and are investigating to determine the validity of the claim,' communications vice president Scott Leith told The Record.
An aerial view of the planned floating airport on Gadeok Island, the biggest island off Busan / Yonhap





Korea plans to build the country's first floating airport in the southern port city of Busan by 2035, the land ministry said Tuesday.







Last year, the National Assembly approved a bill on a mega state project worth 13.7 trillion won ($10.97 billion) to build the new airport on Gadeok Island, the biggest island off the coast of Busan, to handle growing air traffic demand and facilitate prosperity in the country's southeast region.







According to the detailed plan announced by the ministry Tuesday, the new facility will be an offshore airport, which is to be built on a floating structure at sea.







The government is pushing to skip a preliminary feasibility study to expedite the construction procedures, and a review committee under the finance ministry will make a final decision on the exemption later this week.







The land ministry plans to begin drawing a detailed construction plan within this year following an environment survey. If the process goes without a hitch, the construction is expected to kick off in 2025, and the new airport will be put into operation in June 2035.







A study shows that the envisioned airport would handle some 23.36 million passengers and 286,000 tons of cargo in 2065, the ministry said.







But long-drawn controversies surrounding the project could continue, as lawmakers in the region have claimed that the central government's plan requires more budget and time.







Critics say the new facility is not economically feasible and would negatively affect the environment in the region.







The debate on the issue dates back nearly 10 years.







The liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration (2003-2008) first proposed the construction project to disperse the growing air traffic to and from Gimhae International Airport in Busan, the only international airport in the region, deemed almost saturated.







The conservative Park Geun-hye government pushed for a project that would expand the existing Gimhae airport in Busan, but a state committee under the current Moon Jae-in administration virtually aborted it after reviewing its feasibility.







Then ruling party lawmakers proposed constructing a new airport on Gadeok and have pushed to expedite the project. (Yonhap)


Other local residents were also seen calmly watching the fire in town of Kotlas

A woman has calmly enjoyed swinging on a play set with a child on her knee as a neighbouring building is destroyed by a raging fire in Russia.

Video shows the pair casually rocking back and forth on the swing in a playground as the property is engulfed in flames in front of them in Kotlas, a town in western Russia.

Other local residents were also seen calmly watching the raging inferno from the park benches as sirens of emergency vehicles blared around them.

In front of the woman and child on the swing, a small crowd gathered a short distance away from the burning building to watch as the flames lit up the sky.

The woman appears unfazed by the fire in front of her and even looks in a different direction as she continues to gain momentum on the swing.

A woman has calmly enjoyed swinging on a play set with a child on her knee as a neighbouring building is destroyed by a raging fire in Russia

Video shows the pair casually rocking back and forth on the swing in a playground as the property is engulfed in flames in the town of Kotlas, western Russia

Other local residents were also seen calmly watching the raging inferno from the park benches

The Department of the Ministry of Emergencies in Arkhangelsk region told Podyom news site a two-storey non-residential building had erupted into flames on Monday.

'The area of the fire was 480 square metres,' officials said. 'There are no casualties. The cause of the fire is being established.'

The bizarre video of the woman calmly enjoying swinging on the play set in front of the fire comes after footage emerged in 2019 of a boy in Russia doing the same thing.

Video showed the boy calmly enjoying playing on a swing as a house behind him burned to the ground in Noyabrsk, central Russia.

A boy has calmly enjoyed swinging on a play set as a neighbouring house burns to the ground in Noyabrsk, central Russia, in 2019

The boy was also unfazed by the raging inferno behind him, as a small crowd gathered to watch the blaze.

Toward the end of the video the boy slightly turns to see the blaze, but he does not get off the swing and does not look worried.

During the fire, the building's structure partially collapsed, there was also a threat of flame spreading to the neighboring properties.

But firemen at the scene managed to defend nearby homes, according to local media reports.
Harvard University is setting aside $100million for an endowment fund and other measures to close the educational, social and economic gaps that are legacies of slavery and racism, the universitys president has said.

The email from Lawrence Bacow included a link to a 100-page report by his universitys 14-member Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery.

The panel was chaired by Tomiko Brown-Nagin, a legal historian who is dean of Harvard's interdisciplinary Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

The move comes amid a wider conversation about redressing the impacts of centuries of slavery, discrimination and racism.

The report laid out a history of slaves toiling on the campus and of the university benefiting from the slave trade and industries linked to slavery after slavery was outlawed in Massachusetts in 1783 - 147 years after Harvards founding.

The report also documents Harvard excluding Black students and its scholars advocating racism.

Harvard University is setting aside $100million for an endowment fund and other measures to close the educational, social and economic gaps that are legacies of slavery and racism, the universitys president has said (file photo)

In his email, Harvard President Bacow (pictured) said a committee would explore transforming the recommendations into action and that a university governing board had authorized $100 million for implementation, with some of the funds held in an endowment

While Harvard had notable figures among abolitionists and in the civil rights movement, the report said, 'the nations oldest institution of higher education ... helped to perpetuate the eras racial oppression and exploitation.'

The report's authors recommended offering descendants of people enslaved at Harvard educational and other support so they 'can recover their histories, tell their stories, and pursue empowering knowledge.'

Other recommendations included that the Ivy League school fund summer programs to bring students and faculty from long underfunded historically Black colleges and universities to Harvard, and to send Harvard students and faculty to the institutions known as HBCUs, such as Howard University.

In his email, Harvard President Bacow said a committee would explore transforming the recommendations into action and that a university governing board had authorized $100 million for implementation, with some of the funds held in an endowment.

The report's authors recommended offering descendants of people enslaved at Harvard educational and other support so they 'can recover their histories, tell their stories, and pursue empowering knowledge' (file photo)

'Slavery and its legacy have been a part of American life for more than 400 years,' Bacow wrote.

'The work of further redressing its persistent effects will require our sustained and ambitious efforts for years to come.'

Other US institutions of higher learning have created funds in recent years to address legacies of slavery.

A law enacted in Virginia last year requires five public state universities to create scholarships for descendants of people enslaved by the institutions.
A shocking clip shows the moment a Houston Family Dollar employee killed a shoplifter, firing six shots into his back as he fled the store with motor oil.

Antonio Batres, 21, faces a murder charge after he emptied the clip of his Glock 9mm pistol into 49-year-old Troy Odom around 4.30 pm on April 17 as shoppers looked on.

In video taken by a shopper, two store employees are seen confronting Odom - one of the men can be heard shouting unintelligibly. Bottles of motor oil are strewn across the ground.

'He had that all in his pants,' says the woman filming the video. 'He had a lot of fuel.'

'He need to chill out,' the woman says as the shoplifter leaves the store, the two employees following him. It is unclear if he had motor oil or any other merchandise with him.

Batres can be seen aiming, taking a wide stance and firing. Odom collapses out of view, and can be heard shrieking as six shots ring out.

'Further investigation determined the victim had his back toward Batres, who then pulled out a pistol and shot the victim several times,' reads a press release from the Houston Police Department.

Scroll down for video

Family Dollar clerk Antonio Batres, 21 (left) faces a murder charge after he shot dead Troy Odom, 49 (right) on April 17 as Odom fled the store with stolen motor oil

Batres is pictured the moment before he begins firing his Glock 9mm pistol. He is currently being held on $75,000 bail, and was arrested after the shooting without incident

Police could not tell DailyMail.com whether the weapon was owned legally.

Odom was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The All People's Funeral Home in Houston confirmed that his funeral services were scheduled for Tuesday.

His brother, Darrell Odom, told DailyMail.com that his brother 'had his struggles in life, but was a good man.'

'I am so p***** right now,' he said on Tuesday. 'I can't stop crying. I couldn't go to the funeral.'

'I failed him because I promised my mom I would watch over him... I only hope she forgives me. I hope [Batres] gets the death penalty.'

'I am also looking to sue Family Dollar because my [little] brother didn't have to die that way.'

Batres was taken into custody at the scene, according to the Houston Police Department. His bail was set at $75,000 and he remained in jail as of Tuesday morning, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The outlet reported that Batres had worked at the 7545 Martin Luther King Boulevard store in South Houston part-time for two or three months.

Less than a month earlier, on March 30, another shooting took place at a different Family Dollar location on Collingsworth Street in Houston - this time, a store clerk was shot in an armed robbery.

That victim, who was not named by police, survived the shooting with non-life threatening injuries. Two other employees and customers were inside the store at the time.
The practice is currently automated, workers who wrote the memo revealed

The leak comes as the company has come under fire for collecting unwitting users' personal information for purposes including advertising targeting

Leaked documents have revealed that brass at flailing social media giant Facebook have failed to keep track of its nearly 3billion users' personal data, as the Mark Zuckerberg-led company continues to face scrutiny from privacy regulators.

In an internal document obtained by Motherboard, privacy engineers for the site pointed out flaws in the site's data management system, admitting they were at a loss as to where its users' data goes.

The leak was revealed after the company that changed its corporate name to Meta came under fire for collecting unwitting users' personal information for purposes including targeted advertising - a practice that is currently automated, workers who wrote the directive pointed out.

Staffers who penned the memo, which was sent within the company sometime last year, referred to the current system in place as one with 'open borders' - one that does not allow for the careful management regulators across the globe have been calling for.

'We've built systems with open borders,' the document, which asked brass at the company 'to advise leadership on preparedness, investments and technology plans with respect to inbound regulations,' reads.

The staffers, who are part of the Facebook's Ad and Business Product team, went on to offer an analogy to managers to explain their concerns regarding the overflowing mass of data.

'Imagine you hold a bottle of ink in your hand,' the ad ops team wrote. 'This bottle of ink is a mixture of all kinds of user data.'

Leaked documents have revealed that brass at flailing social media giant Facebook have failed to keep track of its nearly 3billion users' personal data, as the Mark Zuckerberg-led company continues to face scrutiny from regulators

'We've built systems with open borders,' the 2021 document, which implored brass at the company 'to advise leadership on preparedness, investments and technology plans with respect to inbound regulations,' reads. The staffers, who are part of the Facebook's Ad and Business Product team, went on to offer an analogy to managers to explain their concerns regarding the security of users' data, which they warned they were unable to keep track of

The unidentified staffers then pointed to several categories of the accumulated information, including third part data - information collected from the company's partners, such as those who develop apps for the site -and data garnered by the company itself.

The memo also mentioned information categorized as 'SCD' - which stands for sensitive categories data.

'You pour that ink into a lake of water (our open data systems; our open culture)  and it flows  everywhere,' the document continues.

'How do you put that ink back in the bottle?' staffers wrote, questioning corporate strategy concerning data management. 'How do you organize it again, such that it only flows to the allowed places in the lake?'

Pictured is Zuckerberg testifying before congress in 2018 after a data breach saw millions of users' data used to target American voters in 2016

The engineers went on to admit that they are struggling to make sense and keep track of where its 2.9billion users' data once it makes its way into Facebooks automated systems, and called on management to change how the company deals with users data to prevent it from running into trouble with regulators.

'We do not have an adequate level of control and explainability over how our systems use data, and thus we can't confidently make controlled policy changes or external commitments such as "we will not use X data for Y purpose,"' the document reads.

'And yet, this is exactly what regulators expect us to do, increasing our risk of mistakes and misrepresentation.'

The release of the document, which was transcribed by Motherboard to protect a source, comes as regulators across the globe have sought to limit how platforms like Facebook can use their own users' data, after a slew of breaches and scandals brought attention to the social media giant's questionable data practices.

The unidentified staffers went on to point to several sects of the accumulated information, including information collected from the company's partners - such as those who develop apps for the site -and data garnered by the company itself

One of the most significant regulations implemented against the company is the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires personal data only be 'collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes.'

The guidance went into effect in May 2018 - two months after the largest known data leak in Facebook history became public knowledge.

In March of that year, The New York Times, working with The Observer of London and The Guardian, obtained a trove of documents from the data firm Cambridge Analytica, owned by the right-wing hedge fund manager Robert Mercer.

The documents proved that the firm, where former Trump aide Stephen K. Bannon - who was arrested in 2021 for an alleged scheme to use funds raised for construction to pay for personal expenses - then served as a board member, used data improperly obtained from Facebook to build voter profiles during the 2016 US Election.

The breach saw a reported 87 million users' personal data, such as a user's location, political affiliation, and religious orientation, compromised.

The news put Cambridge under investigation and thrust Facebook into regulators' crosshairs, who began to more adamantly assert social media users right to privacy and control their personal data as a result of the scandal.

The 2018 leak saw the social media site - which has waned in popularity in recent years - fall into the crosshairs of regulators, who sought to put a stop to the company's previous practices of sharing users' information with partners for financial gain

The EU guidance now requires the Palo Alto-based company to produce proof that they are only collecting data for a specific purpose, and that users' information was not reused for another reason.

For instance, Facebook previously harvested phone numbers from users through its 'protect-your-accounts' feature, which along with a password comprises its 'two-factor authentication' practice, and used users' numbers, without their permission, to link them with other users via its 'people you may know' feature.

The company would also shill that information, along with data concerning a users' background, hobbies, and other telling data, to advertisers, who would then build a personalized profile on that user to help bombard them with targeted ads.

Tech news outlet Gizmodo, however, with the aid of several academic researchers, caught on to this practice in 2021, spurring Facebook to put a stop to the practice.

Facebook subsequently agreed to the massive settlement in response to its violation of privacy rules through its work with the firm, and agreed to create an independent privacy committee that removes 'unfettered control by Zuckerberg over decisions affecting user privacy.'

The Palo Alto-based company also agreed to have greater oversight over third-party apps, Reuters reported at the time.

That settlement absolved Facebook and its top officials of any other consumer-protection violations known to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at the time - though Democrats in the agency said the settlement did not go far enough or require a large enough fine.

GDPR, meanwhile, prohibits the company from repurposing users' information for financial gain - and the leaked document now suggests that the team responsible for the sites' ads, the driving force of its business model may not have the means to fulfill that promise and responsibly handle users' data.

The document subsequently raises the question of whether staffers at the social media site - which has seen its popularity plummet in recent years - can skirt privacy regulations by pleading ignorance, due to the sheer amount of data it collects and where it flows within the company - making it next to impossible to comply.

A Facebook spokesperson denied to Motherboard Tuesday that the document shows the company is not complying with mandated privacy regulations.

'Considering this document does not describe our extensive processes and controls to comply with privacy regulations, it's simply inaccurate to conclude that it demonstrates non-compliance.' the spokesperson wrote in a statement sent via email.

'New privacy regulations across the globe introduce different requirements and this document reflects the technical solutions we are building to scale the current measures we have in place to manage data and meet our obligations.'

Regarding to the lake metaphor, the spokesperson asserted that the 'analogy lacks the context that we do, in fact, have extensive processes and controls to manage data and comply with privacy regulations.'

The claim from the company seems to contradict the apparent call for guidance from the company's ad workers seen in the document, who used another aquatic metaphor to describe the wave of regulations thrust on the company as a 'tsunami' - one that will force the company to drastically change how it handles users data.

A recent job listing posted by Meta for a position with the site's Ad and Business product team - the group that penned the memo - said the team's mission 'is to make meaningful connections between people and businesses,'

According to the post, the team 'sits at the center of our monetization strategy and is the engine that powers Facebooks growth.'

Meanwhile, social media platform's mobile app's download numbers took an unprecedented nosedive this month, thrusting the app out of its usual spot in the digital store's top ten most downloaded applications, and even out of the top 40.

The social media giant's fall from grace comes amid bombshell claims from former employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen, who claimed in 2021 that the company ignored internal complaints from staff for years to put profits first, 'lied' to investors and shielded CEO Mark Zuckerberg from public scrutiny.

It comes following bombshell claims from former employee turned whistleblower Frances Haugen that the tech giant ignored internal complaints from staff for years to put profits first (pictured outside the Houses of Parliament in London in October 2021)

She claimed Facebook knowingly spread misinformation, fueled hate speech, failed to crack down on abuses spread on the platform and exacerbated body image issues, particularly among teenage girls.

In the email sent to employees, obtained by the New York Times, Facebook said: 'As you are probably aware, we're currently the focus of extensive media coverage based on a swath of internal documents.

'As is often the case following this kind of reporting, a number of inquiries from governments and legislative bodies have been launched into the company's operations.'

Facebook acknowledged to shareholders late last year that it was facing 'government investigations' in relation to the leaked documents, which reportedly contained information about the company's misuse of users' information.

Despite the deal Facebook made, Haugen's massive trove - which spurred the FTC to launch a still-active investigation into the company to see whether staffers violated previous agreements reached between top brass and regulators - may prove that not much has changed since the company's Cambridge Analytica scandal.

When asked for comment on the FTC probe, a Facebook spokesperson sent a statement to DailyMail.com that said, 'We are always ready to answer regulators' questions and will continue to cooperate with government inquiries.'

The allegations in the leaked documents have prompted lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic to call for regulation of the tech firm.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) said the leaked documents show Facebook bosses 'chronically ignored serious internal alarms, choosing to put profits over people' and said the company is 'obviously unable to police itself.'

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) called for a new federal agency to protect personal data and ensure privacy late last year

Meanwhile Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) called for a new federal agency to protect personal data and ensure privacy.

In an op-ed for NBC News, she wrote: 'The approach companies like Facebook take to data is motivated not by protecting our privacy but by growing their profit and power.'

Her proposed agency would review 'high-risk' data practices and write new rules for data privacy, she suggested.

Legislation in the UK and the EU is further along with draft bills expected this year introduce independent digital regulation.

It is not known whether the inquiries refer to the US Senate or the UK Parliament.
Newly released bodycam footage shows the arrest of a Colorado lawmaker after school officials called police when he appeared to be drunk while picking up his elementary school kids.

State Representative Matthew Gray, 41, tried to wrangle his way out of being handcuffed by telling cops he was a bigwig when they asked him for his name during the April 21 incident.

'I am the state f****ng representative for this state, so, like, you can Google me if you want to,' the three-term Democrat tells police as they try to ascertain his identity, the video shows.

From there, his belligerence deepens throughout the nearly 18-minute video before he is cuffed and placed in the squad car while informing cops 'You should know I'm friends with the DA.'

Police dispatched officers to the Coyote Ridge Elementary School in Broomfield, Colorado, at 4:49pm following reports from school authorities that Gray had arrived to pick up his kids - ages six and eight - from an after-school program, but appeared to be intoxicated.

Colorado State Rep. Matthew Gray, 41, was arrested on April 21 for suspicion of a DUI after he showed up at his kids school to pick them up stumbling, mumbling, and smelling of alcohol

Gray with his wife and kids - ages six and eight years-old. Gray told officers that they were preventing his daughter from getting to choir practice

The school supervisor told police that she and co-workers had seen him stumbling in the hallway, and when she confronted him the police report shows that Gray 'became emotional and said she did not understand the situation she was putting him in.'

The supervisor said Gray smelled like liquor and was mumbling, and that she and the school director told Gray they would not let him take his kids or leave without a new ride.

The director told police that Gray told him 'You just think I am drunk, when it's just my anxiety.'

The bodycam footage begins as police confront Gray in the school parking lot.

School authorities told police that gray was stumbling, slurring words, and smelled of alcohol. Gray told them that he was just having a panic attack and reacting to medication

As police questioned Gray he reminded them continuously that he was a state representative and that he had previously been a prosecutor of over 500 DUIs

Sitting on the ledge of the school's loading dock in a Denver Broncos T-shirt, Gray tells police that he has arranged a different ride but that he is not drunk, and that he has not had anything to drink.

Police ask Gray for his ID, but he tells them he will give them his ID if there is 'ever anything close to probable cause or reasonable suspicion.'

He then adds, 'I'm a former prosecutor, I know what's going on,' - the first of many references to his past working for the state.

He finally confirms his name and date of birth, but asks why the police need to know whether Gray is spelled with an 'E' or an 'A.'

An officer tells him that they only need that information for their records, and Gray responds defiantly, 'I know! I used to prosecute crimes.'

When officers told Gray that his ex-wife was coming to pick up the kids he began to hyperventilate and visibly panic

Gray told officers that owing to his past as a prosecutor he knew the drill, and walked them through the case they were building against him

Moments later he declares 'I am the state f****ng representative for this state, so, like, you can Google me if you want to.'

Gray goes on to tell cops that he drove his car to the school in Broomfield from the statehouse in Denver - a 35 minute drive - that he 'parked it pretty well, it turns out,' and that they're causing his daughter to miss choir practice.

As police interview Gray, he continually closes his eyes, repeats phrases, loses track of his train of thought, mumbles his words, and responds defiantly to the officers' calm lines of questioning.

Gray was finally arrested after declining to take a breathalyzer test. Police had to ask him turn so they could cuff him several times. They were forced to turn him around themselves

'I need to keep a shred of dignity in my life,' Gray said as his children's' classmates and their parents looked on as they came and went from the school

Gray, a former prosecutor, was elected in 2016 in District 33, which covers Broomfield and portions of Boulder. He is running for reelection in November.

'You have to understand that I know this process. I've prosecuted like, 500 DUIs, and a bunch of DD cases.'

He then tells the police that they are surrounding him intentionally, 'You guys are in triple formation here,' he says.

'Where would you like us to stand, Matt?' they respond in mounting exasperation.

Gray told school authorities and police that he had been suffering a panic attack while he was picking up his kids, and that the behavior they perceived as drunkenness may have been due to that and medication he was taking.

Re-explaining his own story to him, the police offer a breathalyzer test to Gray.

Gray refuses and says with his eyes closed, 'You know what I used to do for a living?'

'What did you do?' the officer responds.

'I was a prosecutor.'

Gray explains that he is not going to take the breathalyzer test because he has already agreed to let somebody drive him home, and that it is 'insulting and hurtful to me that I'm being treated this way.'

'I need to keep a shred of dignity in my life,' he tells officers.

When the officers tell Gray that his children's mother - his ex-wife - has been notified about the situation and is on her way, he begins to visibly panic, closing his eyes tight, breathing rapidly, clenching his teeth, and opening and closing his mouth while sticking his tongue out.

As officers led Gray to their squad car he felt compelled to let them know that he was friends with the DA

Gray repeated several times that he was 'very explicitly' telling officers not to treat him any differently than they would anybody else

As Gray continues to interrupt officers and use his past as a prosecutor to weasel his way out of the situation, police tell Gray, 'You smell like alcohol right now,' to which he responds, 'Alcohol doesn't have a smell and you know that.'

Finally, officers tell Gray 'We're trying to cooperate with you, we respect what you do for the state. But you can't show up to pick up your kids smelling like alcohol.'

An officer then asks Gray to turnaround so he can cuff him, to which Gray whispers with closed eyes, 'No.'

The officer asks Gray again, who then crosses his arms, opens his eyes and says, 'You think you have probable cause?'

The officers then turn Gray around, cuff him, and lead him to the squad car as school kids look on.

Gray, pictured here with his children, was issued a summons for a DUI and released. He is due in court on June 8

Gray, pictured here with his wife, tweeted the day after the arrest that a panic attack and his reaction to medication were mistaken for drunkenness. The tweet has since been deleted

As they duck Gray into the back of the squad car, he tells officers, 'You should know, I'm friends with the DA,' and tells them that he is 'very explicitly' asking officers not to treat him any differently than they would anybody else just because of who he is and knows.

'That's why you're under arrest, sir,' an officer responds.

Gray was then taken to the Broomfield Detention Center, where he was booked and released with a summons for driving under the influence. He is due in court on June 8.

In a since deleted tweet from the following morning, Gray wrote 'I was not intoxicated, but my symptoms of anxiety and depression are such that too many people are worried when they're around me. I'm going to increase my levels of therapy and appreciate all the support.'

When police called Gray's ex-wife to pick up the children, she told them that she 'has been dealing with his drinking on her own for years,' the report said.

She also said she was not surprised Gray showed up drunk to the school, according to the report.
A 15,000-a-year private school founded by Edward Colston has been renamed 'Collegiate' as the purge of the slave trader's name in Bristol continues after his statue was toppled.

Colston, a 17th-century merchant who founded Colston's School in Bristol, made a fortune trading slaves and went on to donate so much money to philanthropic works in Bristol that his name appeared throughout the city on streets, schools and a concert hall.

In a bid to be more 'welcoming' to an 'increasingly diverse' community the governors of 15,000-a-year Colston's School have said it will be renamed 'Collegiate' from September. Its governors denied the move was an attempt to change or deny history.

The move by the private school for three to 18-year-olds comes as organisations around the country have continued attempts to distance themselves from British history in the wake of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

Colston's name has been removed from dozens of schools, concert venues and pubs in Bristol following a Black Lives Matter protest that saw his statue toppled in 2020.

Woke bosses at Colston's School in Bristol, which charges 15,000 a year, have decided to change the school's name. It claims it is not to escape associations with the school's founder, notorious slave trader Edward Colston

The Board's chairman Nick Baker said: 'We believe it is important that students attending the school continue to be taught about the school's history. Specifically, Edward Colston's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.

One of the first to take action in 2018 was Colston Primary School, which renamed itself Cotham Gardens primary school after the majority of parents, pupils and former students agreed to the change.

These campaigns then came to a head during 2020's Black Lives Matter protests which saw his statue torn down and thrown into the docks.

The events led to growing pressure on any Bristol businesses or institutions still honouring Colston in their title.

The former Colston Hall was re-named 'Bristol Beacon' in September 2020 after more than 4,000 people participated in a public consultation.

The management of the charitable music venue said in a post on their website that its former name had 'acted as a memorial to the slave trader Edward Colston'.

The post said their long-awaited re-brand was 'an opportunity for a fresh start and a chance to play our part in creating a fairer and more equal society'.

In November 2020, Colston's Girls' School became known as Montpelier High School, after a vote by staff and students.

Principal Kerry McCullagh said the new name would 'allow the school to forge a new identity that represents its diverse and inclusive community'.

A pub formerly known as The Colston Arms was also re-named after temporarily adopting the name 'Ye olde Pubby Mcdrunkface'.

It is now known as the Open Arms, according to a post on the pub's Facebook page on December 20.

Several other bars have made similar moves in recent months - with others likely to follow.

A University of Bristol student housing block once known as Colston Street is now Accommodation at Thirty-Three.

But Colston Street in central Bristol, and Colston Road in Easton, remain as yet unchanged.

Colston became the Tory MP for Bristol in 1710, the same year he founded Colston's School

He used a lot of his wealth, accrued from his extensive slave trading, to build schools and almshouses in his home city

Street names across the UK are under review for potential links to slavery figures, while just days ago it was revealed Arts Council England has pumped millions of taxpayers' cash into Museum Development England's attempts to decolonise English museums, which allegedly depict a history written by 'white, wealthy, able-bodied men'

Woke social justice warriors have spent years clamouring for a new world order that sees history whitewashed of potentially offensive names, statues and ideas.

Some have denounced it as a bid to stop reminding people about unpleasant parts of history, such as the slave trade, which saw tens of millions of people taken from their homes and sold as a commodity around the world.

Just last year three of Britain's best-known museums backed a report criticising the 'altering of history' though tearing down of statues, renaming of streets and the changing of school curriculum without a 'rigorous and non-partisan approach'.

Victoria and Albert Museum chairman Nicholas Coleridge, Sir Ian Blatchford, the director of the Science Museum, and Dr Samir Shah, chairman of the Museum of the Home supported the paper written by broadcaster Trevor Phillips.

Meanwhile, figures have indicated the hard-left elements of BLM are at odds with much of wider black British society in how to tackle systemic injustice as just one in six black British people believe tearing down statues is a legitimate form of protest, a study revealed last year.

In 2020, BLM protesters toppled a statue of Colston into Bristol harbour following the killing of George Floyd in America by white police officer Derek Chauvin.

However, Colston's School Governing Board claimed the change to the school's name was not an attempt to change or deny the school's history, which he said works for the 'collective good'.

The Board's chairman Nick Baker said: 'We believe it is important that students attending the school continue to be taught about the school's history.

London's streets and areas are under review or have been changed already due to their names being linked to slavery

'Specifically, Edward Colston's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.

'In order to assist with this, some historical aspects of the school, for example the crest and motto, will be retained and explained, rather than removed.'

Mr Baker said the name Collegiate represents both the school's inclusivity and highlights the collaboration between different parts of the school and its community and was chosen from hundreds of suggestions given by parents, students, staff and former students.

Meanwhile, Headmaster Jeremy McCullough welcomed the change.

He said: 'Increasingly our student and parental body reflect the diverse nature of Bristol and we want to continue to work with our local communities in order to widen access to our school as much as possible.

'We believe moving forwards with this new name will help us to become an ever more inclusive and welcoming community.'

The toppling of the Colston statue (pictured) on June 7 came amid a wider context of Black Lives Matter protests which spread across the world following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota by white police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020

The statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston falls into the water after protesters pulled it down and pushed into the docks, during a protest against racial inequality

It's not the first time the school has been renamed. It was founded by slave trader Edward Colston in 1710 as the Colston Hospital, a boarding school for boys.

In 1991 it merged with the all-girls Collegiate School in Winterbourne and became Colston's Collegiate School.

In 2005, school bosses decided to change it to Colston's School but now the 312-year-old school will part ways with an obvious association to one of Britain's most-notorious slave traders.
A clinical psychologist hired to review Amber Heard and Johnny Depp's turbulent relationship told jurors the actress suffers from two personality disorders and 'grossly exaggerated' her PTSD after the couple's bitter split.

Depp's legal team called expert witness Dr. Shannon Curry to the stand on Tuesday as the Hollywood star's highly publicized defamation trial against his ex-wife entered its ninth day.

The clinical and forensic psychologist told the court she concluded Heard had traits consistent with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD) - two conditions found in people with patterns of emotional instability and attention-seeking behavior.

Dr. Curry testified that she was initially hired by Depp's lawyers early last year to review files in the legal battle between the two feuding exes and identify behavior in their relationship that may be consistent with 'intimate partner violence'.

The psychology expert, however, revealed her role would shift several months later in October, when she was asked to provide a psychological evaluation of Heard, 36.

'The results of Ms. Heard's evaluation supported two diagnoses: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD),' Curry told the court.

Clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry (left) described her medical evaluation Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's relationship as she took the stand in the defamation trial Tuesday

The psychology expert revealed she was asked to conduct an evaluation of Heard, who she concluded suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder and Histrionic Personality Disorder

What is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)? Borderline personality disorder (BPD) - also known as Emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) - is a disorder of mood and how a person interacts with others. It's the most commonly recognized personality disorder. In general, someone with a personality disorder will differ significantly from an average person in terms of how he or she thinks, perceives, feels or relates to others. People with BPD are often uncertain about their identity and therefore tend to change interests and values rapidly. They also tend to view things in extremes and are known to change their feelings towards people quickly. Risk factors for BPD include: Abandonment in childhood or adolescence

Disrupted family life

Poor communication in the family

Sexual, physical, or emotional abuse Source: Mentalhealth.gov Advertisement

What is Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD)? Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a 'dramatic' personality disorder. People with HPD have an overwhelming desire for attention and often exhibit dramatic behavior in order to be noticed. They also might have rapid-shifting emotions, be excessively sensitive to criticism, and have difficulty maintaining relationships. People with HPD tend to be charming and have good social skills but are said to use these traits to manipulate others and steal the spotlight. HPD is more common in women than men. Potential causes include: Genetics

Lack of criticism or punishment as a child

positive reinforcement for specific behavior

Unpredictable attention given to a child by a parent Source: WebMD Advertisement

BPD, also known as emotional dysregulation disorder, is a mental disorder that impacts a person's ability to regulate their emotions and behavior and therefore negatively affects his or her relationships with others.

Meanwhile, HPD, which also falls under the umbrella of 'dramatic' personality disorder like BPD, is characterized by a pattern of attention-seeking behavior and egocentrism.

Through her evaluation, Dr. Curry said she concluded that Heard had 'grossly exaggerated' the post-traumatic stress the actress claimed to have suffered from her relationship with Depp and said that in the actress's eyes, the actor went from being 'idealized to the dumpster.'

She noted that Heard's BPD was marked by an 'underlying terror of abandonment' and somebody with the condition tends to make 'desperate attempts' to stop it from happening.

These could be 'very extreme behaviors', she said.

As a result of these disorders, Curry explained, somebody like Heard could appear charming at the start of a friendship or relationship but could then turn dark easily.

'You'll see relationships start very intensely, extremely close,' she said.

'This might be their perfect soulmate and initially everything seems great but reality sets in, people are not perfect.

'Most of us accept people as a whole, [but] with a person with BPD, things are in these extremes, that person goes from being idealized to dumpster, they are totally devalued, they're the worst.then there will be a repair because the person with this disorder does feel remorse.'

Somebody with BPD is usually 'very, very interested in looks and utilizes their looks to get the respect they're looking for,' she added.

Heard, who wore a cream-colored blazer and styled her hair in a crown braid, sat quietly alongside her legal team during Dr. Curry's testimony, and at times was seen jotting down notes.

She did not look up as the doctor confirmed her diagnoses but appeared to shift uncomfortably and at one point rolled her eyes when the expert described the characteristics of such disorders.

According to Curry's diagnosis, Heard was a 'sophisticated' and 'calculated' case of BPD, somebody who would 'tend to hit you where it hurts a bit more' and be 'very, very destructive.'

Dr. Curry also explained that people with BPD have identity issues and tend to change their interests and values constantly.

Depp is suing his ex-wife (both pictured in court Tuesday) for $50million over a piece she wrote in the Washington Post that implied he abused her during their marriage

The court heard the psychologist diagnosed Heard with two personality disorders found in people with patterns of emotional instability and attention-seeking behavior

The expert's testimony will help bolster Depp's claims that his ex-wife falsely accused him of physically and sexually abusing her in a Washington Post op-ed in 2018, and that Heard was allegedly the real abuser

'They take on the personality of the people they want to be around. The way they dress. Interest. The way they talk,' she told the court.

Heard was speculated to have displayed such behavior last week, when social media users pointed out that the actress seemed to be copying Depp's courtroom outfits and hairstyles.

Users claimed Heard had been purposely wearing ensembles that look similar to ones that Depp previously wore during the trial, in an attempt to 'play mind games' on him.

Dr. Curry went on to explain the hallmarks of HPD in a person, which include an 'overly dramatic presentation' and 'quick shifts between emotions' such as going from very animated to sad.

Those with HPD had a 'hypersensitivity to being slighted' and could melt down in the middle of a restaurant if somebody showed up two minutes late, she said.

'They will make a lot of accusations, reactivity, a lot of escalation, they can react aggressively, physically prevent partners from trying to leave.

'Often they will be abusive to their partners, sometimes physically restrain them.'

Somebody such as Heard lived a life marked by 'drama and shallowness,' she added.

The underlying drive was to 'always be the center of attention' and without it a person with HPD would feel 'pretty empty.'

While making her assessment, Curry explained she reviewed various materials in the case, including Heard's medical records, mental health treatment records, court exhibits, witness statements, as well as audio and video recordings.

She also met with the Aquaman actress for several hours over the course of two separate dates in December 2021 before finally coming to a diagnosis.

Amber Heard has been accused of copying Johnny Depp's courtroom outfits, as viewers spot multiple similarities between their ensembles. Depp is pictured at court on April 13 (left), while Heard is pictured at court on April 14 (right)

On the first day of the trial - on April 11 - Depp was seen wearing a Gucci tie, which had a bumblebee on it (left). And two days later - on April 13 - Heard sported a very similar tie, which also had a bee pin on it (right)

People have also pointed out that Depp donned a gray suit for the first day of the trial on April 11 (left), and Heard was then seen wearing a pants and shirt combo of the same color to the courthouse on April 12 (right)

Then, on April 18, Depp showed up to court with his long hair pulled back into a ponytail (left). The next day, on April 19, Heard had her long locks styled in a similar way (right) - and many people thought it was not a coincidence

She also revealed she was not asked to provide the same evaluation for Depp.

The court heard two instances from Heard's medical notes which illustrated her condition.

Firstly she admitted she had cut her arm in the past which was a 'typical thing' that somebody with BPD does.

Heard's former friend Rocky Pennington told how they were once out shopping for Thanksgiving items and Heard struck her face 'out of the blue.'

Dr. Curry said that could happen if Heard decided Pennington wasn't meeting her 'needs' and lashed out.

When asked whether or not Heard had PTSD as a result of her relationship with Depp, Dr. Curry said no.

In fact Heard was 'grossly exaggerating symptoms of PTSD' and claimed to have 19 out of a list of 20 conditions.

She testified that according to one test Heard was in the 98th percentile for exaggerating her PTSD which indicated she had 'engaged in extreme levels of exaggeration.'

Dr. Curry said that was 'not typical even of somebody with the most disabling form of PTSD' and that they dialed the number of issues down to three.

They were sleep disturbance, an extended feeling of being startled and recurring nightmares that Heard was being 'held down'.

But even then there was evidence these issues were in place before Heard and Depp got together, Dr. Curry said.

Heard said that when she first moved to Los Angeles she suffered from 'blanket anxiety and depression', the jury heard.

Twitter users on Monday noticed how Heard's facial expressions seemed to change quickly as she tries to defend herself against ex-husband Johnny Depp's defamation claim

At one point in the ongoing trial in Fairfax, Virginia, she could be seen almost smirking

Summing up her interactions with Heard, Dr. Curry said she was 'very likable' but her testing showed she 'approached it in a manner that very clearly minimized any psychological dysfunction but presented herself as free of problems and did so in a way that was not obvious'.

The expert's testimony is set to help bolster Depp's claims that his ex-wife falsely accused him of physically and sexually abusing her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed, and that Heard was allegedly the true abuser.

Heard on the other hand has claimed Depp is smearing her by accusing her of lying in the article - and is countersuing for $100million.

Under cross examination, Dr. Curry admitted that she thought Depp was a good actor and that she had enjoyed a four-hour dinner with him and his lawyers before being hired.

Heard's lawyer Elaine Bredehoft questioned Curry's decision to sit down for a 'three-to four-hour dinner' with Depp and his legal team at his home before taking the case.

'Don't you think that's a little odd you're getting interviewed by Mr. Depp to decide if you'll testify adversely against Amber Heard?' Bredehoft asked.

Dr. Curry insisted that she was interviewed by Depp's legal team.

Bredehort said: 'You'd seen a number of his TV and movie roles and you thought he (Depp) was a good actor?'

Dr. Curry said: 'Yes'.

The court heard that Dr. Curry has never since had dinner with a client before being hired as an expert witness.

Bredehoft said: 'You justified it was OK because it was a high profile case?'

Dr. Curry said: 'I sought consultation about it.

'This is a very visible case, it's been going on for a very long time and I knew there was a need to interview me and make an informed decision about my qualifications.'

The trial has sparked much intrigue online, as revelations about the abuse Depp allegedly suffered at the hands of Heard come to light, with some Twitter users noticing the actress's quick-changing and 'unnatural' facial expressions during her ex-husband's testimony

While taking the stand in the trial in Fairfax, Virginia, Depp, 58, has claimed over the past week that Heard abused him, and recounted how she once allegedly became angry at him for taking off his own boots instead of allowing her to do it, and how she allegedly severed one of his fingers.

He told jurors how he and Heard had a routine in which she would take off his boots and give him a glass of wine when he returned from work - and one time when he broke that routine by taking off his own boots, she became irate.

One Twitter user remarked that Heard's facial expressions 'frighten me,' accusing the actress of being a psychopath

Throughout the trial, Heard could be seen talking to her lawyers, as her face expression seems to change - at one point seemingly smirking after apparently looking afraid.

On Monday Twitter user Trish Lee wrote that those 'facial expressions frighten me,' calling the Aquaman actress a 'psychopath,' while Hasan Ibn Munawara Bint Sufiya said her 'facial expressions, attitude, her whole demeanor during this trial is like the mean girls in high school.

'She's such an abusive, vile, narcissistic person,' he said. 'Everything she accused Johnny of doing was actually what she did to him.'

Lisa, meanwhile, wrote that she 'can't wait for all the clips of Amber Heard's reactions to sustained objections and blatant disconnect between her facial expressions,' and Kate said: 'The way Amber Heard changed her facial expressions so quickly during the trial is actually terrifying.'

Others also took aim at her acting skills for the odd expressions.

Lewis Johnston, for example, wrote: 'They say that Amber Heard has NO personality and with these facial expressions you can see why,' while another user claimed she was acting like a non-player character in a video game.

'She's full on making facial expressions like she's a Sims character,' he wrote, as another accused her of 'trying to come off as the victim in her facial expressions.'

The trial is expected to last another five to six weeks, with celebrities like Paul Bettany and James Franco set to testify.
A transport boss is blaming the axing of a 108-year-old bus route to and from Birmingham on the trend to work from home.

The 144 service to Birmingham, which has been going since 1914, will be cut back from the end of the April with First Worcester's Nigel Eggleton citing 'flexible working patterns'.

It will now go only the route between Worcester and Bromsgrove but not to Birmingham, according to the Guardian.

Nigel Eggleton, the managing director, said the reasoning behind the cut was 'people working from home, flexible working patterns, confidence in being around public places and the use of other modes of travel to get around avoiding congested places'.

It comes as the Civil Service is resisting attempts by ministers to force them to ditch working from home and return to Whitehall and council workers have reportedly urged bosses to let them come back to work at their new multi-million pound headquarters in Cambridgeshire.

The 144 service to Birmingham (pictured), which has been going since 1914, will be cut back from the end of the April with First Worcester's Nigel Eggleton citing 'flexible working patterns'

Bus routes cut across England, figures show The research by the Campaign for Better Transport looked at figures released by the Department for Transport. It emerged with the following findings: More than a quarter (27 per cent) of bus services in England (as measured by vehicle miles) have vanished in the last decade

The number of bus services (as measured by 'live' bus registrations) dropped from 16,913 in March 2012, to 12,067 in March 2021  a decline of 29 per cent across England

The biggest drop has been as a result of the pandemic: in the eight years between 2011/12-2018/19, bus vehicle miles in England dropped by ten per cent, whereas in the two years between March 2019 and March 2021, they fell by almost double that (18 per cent)

The regions with the biggest declines are the North West and the East of England, both losing 38 per cent of services, followed by the East Midlands with a 35 per cent loss. Advertisement

Residents want the service to stay and have signed a petition 2,000-strong to keep it going.

Bromsgrove councillor Peter McDonald said: 'It will obviously take a certain while before people get back to normal and into their place of work instead of home.

'But people are now slowly returning to the workplace and they're relying on the bus to get there.'

He also called it 'selfish' to cut the route after the bus service has made profit for 100 years and said it had created 'anxiety' and will have a 'devastating impact' on those who need to get to work.

Mr Eggleton added that he was working with the local council to see 'if there is any funding available' to keep the 144 going.

More than a quarter of bus services in England vanished in the past decade with the biggest drop brought during the pandemic, figures from the Department for Transport show.

The research - compiled by lobby group the Campaign for Better Transport - revealed that 27 per cent of English bus services were cut between March 2011 and March 2021.

The rate of the decline worsened during the outbreak of Covid. Whereas in the eight years from 2011 to 2019, bus vehicle miles in England fell by 10 per cent, in the two years between 2019 to 2021 bus vehicle miles dropped by a massive 18 per cent.

The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) called for a national campaign to encourage people back on board and turn around the fortune of buses in April.

CBT Chief Executive Paul Tuohy said: 'Buses are relied upon by millions of people and should play a central role in a green transport future, but they have been struggling for some time, and the pandemic has made things much worse.

'The Government must recognise the need for a national campaign to attract passengers back to public transport.'

Research compiled by lobby group the Campaign for Better Transport revealed that 27 per cent of English bus services were cut between March 2011 and March 2021

Government Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg is continuing his efforts to lure London ministries back to work, which are less than half full.

But his efforts to end WFH have been blasted as 'Dickensian' by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and the Cabinet is also said to have backed away from the idea of stripping London weighting from the salaries of people who are still not yet commuting back into the capital.

Critics of home working claim it makes staff less productive and creative, damages career prospects and harms the economies of town centres.

In Cambridgeshire, reports suggest the county council's brand new head office only has a handful of staff due to lingering Covid social distancing measures - despite the Government scrapping WFH advice earlier this year.

Few staff - many wearing face masks - were seen working inside the building on Tuesday with most socially distanced across desks and offices, with one worker saying the building was only at 30 per cent capacity.
A blind man who fell off a platform edge and died after he was struck by a train was left untreated for a 'critical' ten minute window because paramedics were not informed that power to the tracks had been turned off, an inquest has heard.

Cleveland Gervais, 53, struck by a train at Eden Park station in south east London shortly after 7pm on February 26, 2020.

London Ambulance Service (LAS) paramedics arrived at the scene 17 minutes later, but they were unable to provide him 'crucial' clinical care until 7.28pm as they were left awaiting confirmation that the power had been turned off.

A woman who rang emergency services two minutes after the fall said Mr Gervais had been speaking to her until paramedics arrived.

But he was not verbally responsive when paramedics spoke to him, only showing signs of laboured breathing.

And by the time ambulance crews received confirmation they could access the tracks and treat him, Mr Gervais was no longer breathing and had gone into cardiac arrest.

Peter Gallon, clinical team leader for LAS, gave evidence during the second day of an inquest into his death at Croydon Coroner's Court on Tuesday.

Jude Bunting, representing Mr Gervais' family, asked: 'During that crucial ten minute period no clinical care was given?

Mr Gallon replied: 'Yes, thats correct sir.'

Cleveland Gervais fell off the platform edge at Eden Park train station (pictured) in south east London in February 2020

When he first arrived with his team of paramedics, he said he was advised by railway staff that they believed the power was off, but that this had not been confirmed.

He said: Once we knew that the patient was still breathing and could be rescued our next objective was to obtain power off train stopped.

If the power is not off and I send one of my team down there and they touch the live rail that will kill them so its potentially fatal to my team if I cant confirm that the power is off.

'If we make a mistake here then a member of my team is going to die. There's no plan B. There's no backup plan. This isnt a situation where you get a second chance. I need to be sure.

To confirm the power is off, thats either by a Railway Incident Officer at the scene or by our control room making a call to Network Rail.'

When the paramedics arrived, there was no Railway incident Officer (RIO) at the scene.

Mr Gallon also approached a London Fire Brigade commander and British Transport Police commander, but neither could confirm that the power was off and said they needed to do further checks with their control rooms.

He then contacted his own control room just at 7.22pm, who told him that an authorised member of staff on the scene needs to confirm that the power is off before they jump onto the tracks to treat Mr Gervais.

But the court heard how power had actually been turned off at 7.12pm, but this vital information was not relayed to Mr Gallon.

Mr Bunting said various people were aware that the power was off before the LAS was authorised to go onto the tracks.

The 999 caller told the handler three times that the power was off.

At 7.12pm, Network Rail staff informed the London Fire Brigade that the power was off and at 7.15pm, there is a note in British Transport Police records that the power was off, the court heard.

At around 7.18pm, there is also recording of the train driver saying: Ive confirmed that the power is definitely off.

Mr Gallon said that none of this information reached him.

Theres ten minutes when lots of people knew the power was off when no care was being provided to Mr Gervais, said Mr Bunting.

Mr Gallon waited from 7.18pm when he arrived until 7.28pm when the Rail Incident Officer arrived and made the requisite safety checks before sending his team onto the tracks.

He said: I couldnt confirm the power was off through an appropriate method.

'The Rail Incident Officer couldnt confirm that the power was off, no other emergency commanders could confirm the power was off, and my control room couldnt confirm the power was off so I didnt let my team go down there.

Paramedics arrived at the scene, where Mr Gervais was still breathing, but crews could not access him because they were awaiting confirmation that power to the tracks had been turned off

'In my mind, I've got to hear it from someone I can absolutely trust, someone who is authorised.'

When the Rail Incident Officer arrived, he then spent a few minutes using his equipment to confirm that the power was off.

Coroner Catherine Wood asked Mr Gallon whether he had any reason to believe that the information relayed to him by his control room was incorrect.

He said he 'accepted the response'.

The LAS policy on accessing rail tracks, read out in court, states that at Network Rail stations, confirmation that the power is off can either be given by a Railway Incident Officer at the scene, or by the control centre by making a call to Network Rail.

Asked if he would challenge the control room if a similar incident occurred again, Mr Gallon: I still wouldve accepted the control's advice because I have to have trust in the control staff as these are the same controllers who wouldve said the power is off.

I have to have faith in the control staff and the information theyre giving me.

Once confirmation was finally received, paramedic Sean Warner jumped down to the tracks, where he was 'able to see the extent of his injuries'.

Mr Warner told the court: 'There was a partially amputated right leg and that was the main injury that I could see.'

He crawled under the train to reach Mr Gervais and pull him out over the rail and ont an awaiting stretcher - which the firefighters had prepared.

Mr Warner said it was 'quite a difficult extraction' and Mr Gervais' heart had stopped by the time he was rescued'.

Sergeant Stephen Hewitt, of British Transport Police (BTP), arrived at the scene at 7.18pm.

He told the court: 'There was some suggestion Mr Gervais may have been visually impaired. Someone was pointing down on the track where there was a white stick.

I believe I sent one of my officers to find driver of the train to get an overview of how Mr Gervais ended up where he was. Just making sure there were no crime elements to how he ended up there.

He added: This is probably one of the most difficult in terms of access that Ive ever attended.

Given there were two trains in the platform, access was very, very difficult.'

Sgt Hewitt ordered a colleague to contact the BTP control room, who informed them that a Rail Incident Officer would be arriving shortly, so a decision was made to await the arrival of specialist live rail testing equipment.

He said: As soon as he arrived I stuck with him and walked to the front of the train with him so the second he put his device on the rail to confirm there was no current I could call across and make sure everyone else knew that it was safe to access.

He said that, in some circumstances, BTP officers would go onto the tracks without the RIO present to test the live rail.

Unfortunately, in order to gain access to Mr Gervais, whoever it was who was going under the train had to crawl over the live rail', he told the inquest.

A verbal confirmation that the live rail is off would not have given me confidence to touch that live rail.

Its absolutely correct that we can go trackside if we feel the risk is enough that we can help someone without becoming a casualty ourselves.

As traumatic of an incident that this was for everyone else, in my mind there is nothing I couldve done any differently to have sped up access to Mr Gervais, Sgt Hewitt added.

But Mr Bunting claimed that Sgt Hewitt could have done some things differently.

One thing you couldve done very easily is what you were trained to do, he said, request power off from Network Rail.

Sgt Hewitt responded that he did ask his colleague to make that request.

Mr Gervais regularly used public transport but was blind with light sensitivity only in his right eye and reduced acuity and tunnel vision in his left eye.

The inquest is also expected to probe whether his life may have been saved if 'safer paving' had been in place to warn of the platform edge.

The inquest continues.
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Council workers have urged bosses to let them come back to work at their new multi million pound headquarters but have been told they are not allowed because of lingering Covid guidelines, it has been claimed.

New Shire Hall, the newly built headquarters of Cambridgeshire County Council, was opened last summer in Alconbury at a cost of 18million to the taxpayer but social distancing measures which are still in place mean it is yet to reach its full capacity.

Employees, who claim the building is at about 30 per cent, have said working remotely has made their jobs more difficult and that they are becoming 'de-skilled' because of the lack of collaborative working.

Critics said the decision to continue limited use of the building despite the Government scrapping social distancing guidelines 'beggars belief' and said it was 'costing residents money'.

But Cambridgeshire County Council has defended its Covid policies, citing higher-than-average case numbers and the positive impact WFH arrangements have on staff well being as well as retention and recruitment.

It comes as the Civil Service is resisting attempts by ministers to force them to ditch working from home and return to Whitehall.

London ministries are said to be less than half-full despite the efforts of Jacob Rees-Mogg to pry them from their spare rooms and kitchen tables.

Mr Rees-Mogg's attempts to end WFH, including leaving notes on empty desks, have not been backed by other ministers, with Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries accusing him of a 'Dickensian' approach to the issue.

The Cabinet is also said to have backed away from the idea of stripping London weighting from the salaries of people who are still not yet commuting back into the capital.

Critics of home working claim it makes staff less productive and creative, damages career prospects and harms the economies of town centres.

In Cambridgeshire, reports suggest the county council's brand new head office remains largely unoccupied due to lingering Covid social distancing measures which mean many staff members are still working from home - despite the Government scrapping WFH advice earlier this year.

Only a handful of staff - many wearing face masks - were seen working inside the building on Tuesday with most socially distanced across desks and offices, while one angry worker claimed the building was only at 30 per cent capacity.

The woman, a social services employee, was based at home from March 2020 and was only allowed back to the office in January.

She told MailOnline that just five people of her 30-person team had been allowed to work from the office - though some were only in one day a week.

She said: 'A couple of my colleagues are struggling with relationships at home. They've asked to work from the office and been told to wait.

'We're becoming deskilled - we're not mixing with other professionals. If you need advice I can't just ask, I have to call colleagues and sometimes they don't pick up.'

The new multi-million pound Cambridgeshire County Council headquarters (pictured) has been left virtually empty while staff continue to work from home, it has been claimed, as council bosses continue to enforce social distancing measures

The new building in Alconbury replaced the former county council headquarters (pictured) based at Shire Hall in Cambridge

'The council arent being transparent and clear. They should tell us exactly why we can't come in. They should give a time scale. There's no clarity.

'People like to have a choice and not be told they can't do something. It's not what we signed up for - to work from home.

'Inside it's good. The building itself is cosy - it's well designed and work-friendly but it needs more people.'

Signs encouraging social distancing and the wearing of masks are installed throughout public areas of the building.

Outside, the car park appeared to be below half capacity and one council employee said he didnt know how busy the building was as he only worked from there one day a week.

The man in his 50s said: 'I just work here one day a week. Thats when my team needs to be here.'

Cambridgeshire County Council reportedly still has the majority of staff members working from home or at alternative venues meaning the brand new building has yet to reach full occupancy.

A notice on the council's website, updated on March 25, states that all county council buildings, including those with reception services, are closed to the public due to Covid-19 regulations.

The Government's work from home advice was scrapped in England back in January as the nation's focus moved to Living with Covid and returning to pre-pandemic lifestyles.

Even patients in hospitals and GP surgeries are no longer advised to socially distance, although masks are still a requirement in NHS healthcare settings.

The council, run by a Liberal Democrat-Labour coalition, has refused to disclose how many staff members are currently working from home or exactly what Covid guidelines they are still enforcing.

Council documents published last month show that even full council meetings are still being held at external venues due to 'the requirement for social distancing'.

The document, presented to the Strategy and Resources Committee, reads: 'While the severity of the pandemic has reduced over recent months, COVID-19 remains a threat.

'A local authority meeting that was held recently has reportedly resulted in a significant number of participants contracting COVID-19.

'As a result of this, the MFR (multi-function room) will not be suitable for use for Full Council until the requirement for social distancing is removed under Public Health guidance and safety risk assessments.

'CCC will continue to use alternative venues that provides sufficient space for social distancing until it is deemed safe to reduce or remove the requirement for social distancing.'

Despite acknowledging that the MFR 'formed part of the core design requirements' for the building, the document also outlines concerns over its suitability as a venue for full council meetings.

It states that members have raised concerns over the safety and security of councillors due to the proximity of the public gallery to the councillors' seating area.

The report highlighted that the council chamber previously used in the old Shire Hall headquarters had a first floor balcony that physically separated councillors and the public, for 'all but the most determined persons, [for example] those attempting to bring abseiling equipment into the building'.

The council has refuted claims that the building is unused but has not disclosed exactly how many members of staff are working there.

The note (pictured left) which was left on empty desks at Whitehall by Jacob Rees-Mogg (right) who has been campaigning for civil service's return to work and has recently started patrolling government departments to carry out headcounts

Figures show that some departments are less than half full (pictured: Foreign and Commonwealth Office earlier this year)

PM backs Jacob Rees-Mogg's drive to get civil servants back to their Whitehall desks Boris Johnson backed Jacob Rees-Mogg's drive to get civil servants back to their Whitehall desks - despite a Cabinet row erupting over the 'Dickensian' campaign. Mr Rees-Mogg, the Cabinet minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, is currently leading Government efforts to end home-working practices among officials after the Covid pandemic. In his determination to fill Whitehall offices again, Mr Rees-Mogg was revealed to have been conducting personal headcounts of officials in some Government departments. He has also left notices in offices for civil servants not at their desks, which read: 'Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.' Mr Rees-Mogg's notes have been branded 'supremely passive aggressive' and 'patronising' by critics. And his campaign to end work from home (WFH) for civil servants has also enraged some of his fellow Cabinet ministers. The Times reported that Mr Rees-Mogg gave a presentation to Cabinet last week, which included a league table highlighting the departments where the fewest staff had returned to work. According to the newspaper, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries voiced her objections to Mr Rees-Mogg's campaign and said that the focus should be on civil servants' productivity. She told him that his letter to government departments brought to mind 'images of burning tallow, rheumy eyes and Marley's ghost (from A Christmas Carol)'. Ms Dorries added: 'There's a whiff of something Dickensian about it. Why are we measuring bodies behind desks? Why aren't we measuring productivity?' Several other Cabinet ministers are also said to have reservations about the campaign to force civil servants back to their Whitehall desks. Mr Rees-Mogg wouldn't comment on the dispute, which was described as 'good natured' by one Government source. In reference to Cabinet confidentiality rules, Mr Rees-Mogg told PA: 'If it's leaks from Cabinet, I'll comment under the 30-year rule when we're all a little bit older.' Despite the concerns among other Cabinet ministers, the Prime Minister yesterday offered strong backing for Mr Rees-Mogg's efforts. Mr Johnson's official spokesman said Mr Rees-Mogg was seeking to 'do everything possible to get the civil service to return to the pre-pandemic level'. They added: 'That is what he is seeking to do. That is supported by the Cabinet Secretary (Simon Case) and obviously the Prime Minister.' Asked if the notes left on desks by Mr Rees-Mogg were helpful, the spokesman said the PM 'supports any initiative that encourages people to return to pre-pandemic working'. 'We are not talking about putting an end to flexible working, which continues to have a place in the modern workplace, we are talking about returning to pre-pandemic use of taxpayer-funded departmental buildings,' they continued. Advertisement

It has been suggested that the numbers will increase as 'virus levels continue to decline' but has not shared a timeline on how or when this would happen.

Jake Berry, the Conservative MP and former minister told the Telegraph: 'There is little or no reason whatsoever that people working for Cambridgeshire County Council should not go back to work.

'We have seen Covid restrictions rolled back across the country and it beggars belief that the only place they haven't heard about this is in Cambridgeshire.'

Steve Count, Cambridgeshire county councillor and leader of the conservatives, said the move was a 'politically motivated attack' on the building which was commissioned by the Tories under a former administration.

He said: 'The purpose built New Shire Hall is a fantastic new asset, commissioned by the Conservative administration when they were in charge, which should be delivering over 40m of savings for the Taxpayers of Cambridgeshire.

'It's a shame that the new Liberal Democrat and Labour alliance are continuing to not occupy this excellent building and adding further unnecessary expense on to our hard pressed residents.

'Covid excuses are their thin disguise to what is essentially a politically motivated attack, that is costing our residents money.'

However, council leader Lucy Nethsingha hit back at the claim which she branded 'disgraceful', insisting that council staff continued to work 'incredibly hard' despite working from home.

She said: 'Not only has New Shire Hall been open for public meetings since May last year, but the comment from Conservative MP Jake Berry that 'people working for Cambridgeshire County Council should go back to work' is deeply offensive.

'Staff at Cambridgeshire County Council have worked incredibly hard over the past 3 years to support thousands of vulnerable people under extremely difficult circumstances.

'To have this comment from a Conservative MP shows just how out of touch they are with the phenomenal efforts that all those working in public services have put in during the pandemic.

'Our staff have worked above and beyond the call of duty during the pandemic to keep people safe in their homes, they have struggled with home schooling while coping with ever changing government advice and guidance.'

Ms Nethsingha also said it was 'inaccurate' to suggest the building was largely unused but did not comment on the impact of the council's use of social distancing and Covid guidelines on the building's occupancy.

Newly appointed chief executive Stephen Moir answered critics in a tweet he put out yesterday.

'Reflecting upon issues of work, workplace and workforce.

'IMHO, work is what you do, let's not confuse or conflate this with where you do it from,' he wrote.

'Workplace can describe a range of settings & locations, some fixed, some variable, some virtual, so let's instead focus on outcomes'

Labour leader Elisa Meschini said 'plenty of staff' work in the building including the council's chief executive who is in every day.

She added: 'I firmly believe that work is something you do - not a place you go.

'Like the leader of the council I find it totally offensive for anyone to suggest that our staff who include social workers, reablement staff, school welfare teams, highways maintenance crews, librarians, registrars have not been working flat out over the course of the pandemic.

Pictured: Inside the council's brand new headquarters in Alconbury which is not being used at full capacity due to Covid rules

Conservative MP Jake Berry (pictured) said there is 'little or no reason' people should not be back at work in Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire County Council says New Shire Hall is just one of several buildings from which the council operates from

'I couldn't be prouder of them or our record during the pandemic and beyond and anyone who suggests this is not the case has no clue whatsoever about how local authorities serve local people day in and day out.

'Where people need to be in our buildings they are, and we will continue to support them working from where ever they can do this the most effectively.'

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire County Council said essential public services have been running throughout the pandemic from a 'range of workplaces and settings'.

It said New Shire Hall was just one of multiple buildings that the council operates from and that many public facing services are operated from other sites.

The spokesman added: 'The Government's Living with Covid plan does remove the restrictions at a national level.

'However Cambridgeshire has remained stubbornly high in respect of both positive case numbers and hospitalisation rates so our local Public Health professional advice has been, until late last week, to continue to apply social distancing and the use of face coverings in our Council owned premises.

'These measures do not and have not prevented reoccupation of our buildings, and as virus levels and hospitalisation rates have started to fall, we are planning for changes to this advice, but fully expect hybrid work to continue where this supports staff well-being, recruitment and retention and good outcomes for the people of Cambridgeshire.'

The situation in Cambridgeshire reflects that of the Civil Service in London where many staff members continue to work from home despite the removal of Covid restrictions.

Jacob Rees-Mogg recently started patrolling government departments to find out how many are still empty after lockdown restrictions lifted.

And it emerged at the weekend that when he makes his unannounced visits, he leaves behind messages that are politely worded but whose meaning is clear.

The country's most senior civil servant, Simon Case, had privately warned Johnson against forcing officials back to the office

They state: 'Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.' They are signed 'with every good wish' and carry his name and title.

It is understood Mr Rees-Mogg, in charge of civil service reform, left a number of the notes in his Cabinet Office department several days ago.

Mr Rees-Mogg has written to Cabinet ministers calling on them to issue a clear message to staff about a 'rapid return to the office'.

Downing Street said Boris Johnson supported Mr Rees-Mogg's efforts.

'What the minister is seeking to achieve is to do everything possible to get the civil service to return to the pre-pandemic level,' the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

'That is what he is seeking to do. That is supported by the Cabinet Secretary and obviously the Prime Minister.'

But the Guardian later reported that the country's most senior civil servant, Simon Case, had in fact privately warned Mr Johnson against forcing officials back to the office.

The newspaper said at least four permanent secretaries were also understood to have voiced concerns about the Government's rhetoric on the matter.

Dave Penman, the secretary general of the Civil service union, criticised Government's 'obsession' with returning to the office

Asked if the notes left on desks by Mr Rees-Mogg were helpful, the PM's spokesman said Mr Johnson 'supports any initiative that encourages people to return to pre-pandemic working'.

'We are not talking about putting an end to flexible working, which continues to have a place in the modern workplace, we are talking about returning to pre-pandemic use of taxpayer-funded departmental buildings.'

The Times reported that Ms Dorries' response was highly critical of Mr Rees-Mogg's approach.

Mr Rees-Mogg presented figures to Cabinet last week showing that some Government departments were using as little as 25 per cent of office capacity in early April - the figure for Ms Dorries' Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was 43 per cent.

WFH officials will be ordered back to desks if they're looking after children during office hours Civil servants will be forced back into the office if they are found to be looking after their children when they are supposedly working from home, it has been revealed. Staff at major government agencies have been warned against taking advantage of the new 'hybrid working' arrangements that allow them to spend only two or three days a week at their desks. Internal HR policies obtained by the Daily Mail make clear that working remotely cannot be used as a way to avoid paying for childcare or putting in fewer hours, and that employees' privileges can be removed if their performance is found to be suffering. Advertisement

While the number of staff at their desks in Whitehall has increased in recent weeks, it remains well below pre-pandemic levels despite the end of Covid curbs.

The Department for Education had just 25 per cent of staff in the office in the week beginning April 4  although officials said the school holidays meant it was not representative.

Despite multiple pressures on the Home Office, including migrant crossings and processing visas for Ukrainian refugees, on average only 42 per cent of staff were at their workplace.

The Foreign Office, a key department responding to Russia's aggression in Ukraine, saw just 31 per cent of staff in its King Charles Street building that week.

And despite the cost of living crisis, the Department for Work and Pensions had just 27 per cent of its civil servants at their desks.

Astonishingly, the figures could overestimate the numbers in the office as some departments recorded the figures by asking security staff to click people in  and then loosely adjusted the figures to account for lunch breaks.

Other departments used data from pass readers. The figures suggest that a plea issued by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay three months ago for departments to return to full occupancy fell on deaf ears.

Mr Rees-Mogg used a Mail on Sunday article to warn that officials may lose the London weighting on their pay or see their jobs moved elsewhere if they were not at their desks.

'Essentially, if people are not back in their office it will be fair to assume that the job does not need to be in London,' he said.

Responding to the reports in The Guardian, a Government spokesperson said: 'We want to see office attendance across the civil service consistently back at normal, pre-pandemic levels.

'There is total agreement across Government on there being clear benefits from face-to-face, collaborative working and we know that this is particularly important for the learning and development of new members of staff.

'The minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency has written to departments to underline the importance of workplace attendance and request that they review their existing guidance on the minimum number of days staff work in the office.'

Last week, union bosses accused ministers of being 'vindictive' and 'obsessed' with working from home.

Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA civil service union, accused Jacob Rees-Mogg of being 'vindictive' and obsessed with ending flexible working after the minister demanded mandarins return to Westminster.

Penman stressed that 'there is no rationale' for this approach, as 'ministers can't point to productivity losses' linked to increased hybrid working in the civil service. He also warned that, if the Cabinet insists 'on micro-managing the civil service' in this way, it will 'only deter good people from joining while simultaneously demotivating those already there'.
A photo exhibition held by North Korea in Pyongyang, April 24, to celebrate the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, which falls April 25, is seen in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap



North Korea held a military parade in Pyongyang, Monday evening, to mark a key national anniversary, an informed source said, in what was seen as a highly choreographed event to cement internal unity and highlight its military heft.



The North kicked off the parade at Kim Il Sung Square at 10 p.m. on the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (KPRA), according to the source.



It was not immediately known whether the current leader, Kim Jong-un, attended the parade.



In the run-up to the event, satellite imagery had shown the North mobilizing thousands of troops and key pieces of military equipment in apparent rehearsals  a sign the parade could be a large-scale display of its military clout.



Observers said Pyongyang could bring up to 20,000 troops for the parade and flaunt its newest strategic weapons, such as the Hwasong-17 ICBM, the Hwasong-8 hypersonic missile and a guided weapon carrying a tactical nuclear warhead.





North Korean students hold a ball at an outdoor plaza in Pyongyang, April 25, to celebrate the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, in this screen capture from footage supplied by the Korean Central Broadcasting Station. Yonhap
Joe Biden's trade envoy warned that Washington was watching Britain's ongoing row with the EU over Northern Ireland today, after holding talks in London.

Katherine Tai met International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan as Boris Johnson prepares to potentially tear up the post-Brexit deal that introduced border checks that have turned into a running sore.

Ministers are drawing up laws allowing them to unilaterally suspend parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, which has been blamed for driving a wedge between the province and the rest of the UK.

The move will allow ministers to 'switch off' controversial border checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea, which have been blamed for disrupting trade and causing shortages.

But the move would likely create a furore in Washington. Mr Biden - who is of Irish ancestry - warned even before entering office last year against any moves that upset the stability of the Good Friday Agreement.

Asked today if talks on a UK-US free trade deal could take place while the issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol remains unresolved, Ms Tai said her country is 'watching the issue closely'.

'We in the United States respect and value and commit to the Good Friday Agreement and its legacy,' she told reporters.

Katherine Tai met International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan as Boris Johnson prepares to potentially tear up the post-Brexit deal that introduced border checks that have turned into a running sore.

Mr Biden - who is of Irish ancestry - warned even before entering office last year against any moves that upset the stability of the Good Friday Agreement.

Asked today if talks on a UK-US free trade deal could take place while the issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol remains unresolved, Ms Tai said her country is 'watching the issue closely'.

'I've heard the same values there from the Secretary of State.'

She said the pair had had 'very candid' discussions on the topic and that Ms Trevelyan had been 'very forthright with me in our conversations'.

'It is an area where we continue to urge the UK and the EU to channel their best selves in terms of co-operation and courage, and we support them in that,' Ms Tai said.

Ministers fear the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will refuse to continue with power-sharing after next month's Stormont elections if the protocol remains in place.

Ministers have engaged in talks on the issue with Brussels for months. But a source said negotiations were 'going round in circles'.

The protocol was included as part of the PM's Brexit deal. Because the province effectively remains part of the EU's single market, Brussels demanded the right to impose checks on goods entering from the rest of the UK. But ministers say the heavy-handed checks are disrupting trade.
A two-star general was ordered Tuesday to forfeit $10,910 of his monthly salary for five months after he was found guilty by a military court of forcibly kissing and touching a civilian in the first-ever court martial for an Air Force soldier of his rank.

Major General William Cooley of Ohio, 56, was accused of forcing his tongue into a woman's mouth, pushing her hands to his genitals and grabbing her breast with one hand and her crotch with the other in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 12, 2018, according to an Air Force charge sheet.

That woman was also his sister-in-law, according to the Daytona Daily News.

On Saturday, Cooley was found guilty of forcibly kissing the woman after a weeklong court-martial at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He was acquitted of two other charges alleging forcible touching.

On Saturday, Major General William Cooley (pictured) was found guilty by an Air Force judge of forcibly touching and kissing his sister-in-law in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 12, 2018

He was ordered to forgo $10,910 of his monthly salary - in total, he makes $15,966 each month

Cooley had the option of a trial by court member jurors or by military judge, and chose to have the case heard by the judge. He had faced a maximum punishment of dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and confinement for seven years.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Cooleys civilian attorney, Dan Conway, told The Dayton Daily News that his client is 'very thankful for the judges compassion here.'

Conway said the punishment was 'a very significant sentence,' and he said a letter of reprimand may have implications in terms of the rank at which Cooley will be allowed to retire, if he chooses to do so.

A former commander of Air Force Research Laboratory, Cooley was fired from that post in January 2020 after an Air Force investigation and has worked in an administrative job since then. Conway said its still Cooleys hope that he may continue serving in the Air Force.

Officials said the verdict marked the first court martial and conviction of a general officer in the Air Forces 75-year history. Cooleys monthly pay is $15,966, so the total financial penalty against him reaches nearly $55,000.

'If this result influenced just one survivor to know that his or her attackers rank or status would not prevent them from being held accountable, that is a win for the United States and the military justice system,' Lt. Col. Matthew Neil, who served as lead prosecutor, said Tuesday.

Cooley was fired from his position as an assistant to General Arnold Bunch at the Air Force Research Laboratory at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio (pictured) in January of 2020

Cooley was off-duty when he forced himself on the woman, who is his brother's wife, as he drove her home in her Jeep from a family backyard barbecue, she claimed. She is a civilian, and Cooley's brother is a civilian employee of the Air Force in New Mexico.

Cooley's sister-in-law issued a statement through her attorney, Ryan Guilds, following the landmark decision.

'Today marks the first time an Air Force general officer has been held responsible for his heinous actions,' he said on her behalf.

Cooley's sister-in-law issued a statement through her attorney, Ryan Guilds (pictured), following the landmark decision: 'Hopefully, this will not be as difficult for the next survivor'

'Sometimes family members are the abusers, abusers who count on silence in order to wield their extensive power.'

The victim said through her attorney that Vanessa Guillen, an Army soldier who was murdered by another soldier in 2020 while she was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas, inspired her to pursue charges against Cooley.

Guilds said that 'at the end of the day, [Cooley] was found guilty. If that can be achieved for her, it can be achieved for others - that doesn't mean it's easy.'

Cooley's brother and sister-in-law reported the assault to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations in December 2019. The general was fired from his position as an assistant to General Arnold Bunch at the Air Force Research Laboratory at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio in January of 2020.

The sexual assault charge was brought against Cooley in November 2020, and an Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a civilian grand jury, was held on Feb. 8, 2021.

Cooley was off-duty when he allegedly forced himself on his brother's wife, as he drove her home in her Jeep from a family barbecue

After the Saturday ruling, Bunch said that he 'implicitly trust[s] our military judicial system and respect[s] the decision of the judge.'

'This entire process has demonstrated the Air Forces commitment to prevent sexual assault, protect victims and take appropriate action against offenders when it occurs,' he continued.

'The trial was impartial, fair and transparent. I appreciate everyone who supported this process for their due diligence in the pursuit of justice, and for doing everything possible to protect both the victims rights and the rights of the accused to a fair trial.'

Earlier in his career, Cooley was awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit, a Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal and Air Force Achievement Medal.

He joined the Air Force out of the ROTC in 1988 as a second lieutenant and entered active duty in January 1990 after completing a master's degree from the University of New Mexico.

Cooley climbed the ranks until the Air Force promoted him to major general in July 2018.
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday defended President Joe Biden from accusations that he's interfered in a federal tax fraud investigation into his son, Hunter Biden.

Republican Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee grilled Garland on the first son's foreign business ties during an appropriations hearing for the Justice Department's 2023 budget request.

Garland refused to say whether he or senior officials at the DOJ had been briefed on the ongoing probe, instead explaining that it was being run 'unsupervised' out of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware.

That official, Garland pointed out, was appointed by former President Donald Trump.

'There will not be interference of any political or improper kind,' Garland said during his sworn testimony.

Hagerty asked, 'Would it be appropriate for the president to call you into the Oval Office and tell you that his son didn't break the law regarding this matter?'

'Absolutely not,' Garland answered vehemently.

'The president has not done that. The president has committed not to interfere, not only in that investigation but any kind of--'

The senator cut Garland off to highlight recent instances during which the president's advisers defended Hunter Biden publicly.

Garland said during a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on Tuesday that Biden would 'absolutely not' interfere in the Hunter Biden investigation

Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Hagerty accused Biden of a conflict of interest over the matter

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain appeared on ABC's This Week two days after it was reported that a federal grand jury has been hearing testimony in recent months about Hunter Biden's cash flow while serving on the board of Ukraine energy company Burisma.

Klain said: 'Of course the president's confident that his son didn't break the law.'

And Press Secretary Jen Psaki was forced to dodge a question at her regular press briefing on Monday about a report that the president met with one of Hunter Biden's business partners at the White House in 2010.

Biden was Barack Obama's vice president at the time.

Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings, specifically in Ukraine and China, are the subject of a federal tax fraud probe

Hagerty asked Garland on Tuesday how Americans 'can be confident that this administration is conducting a serious investigation.'

'Because we put the investigation in the hands of a Trump appointee, from the previous administration, who is the United States Attorney for the District of Delaware,' the law enforcement chief replied.

'Because you have me as the attorney general, who is committed to the independence of the Justice Department from any influence from the White House in criminal matters.'

The federal tax investigation into Hunter Biden's business dealings began as early as 2018. It deals with his foreign ties dating back to when his father was Obama's vice president.

The New York Post recently reported that one of Biden's son's top business partners, Eric Schwerin, met with Biden at the White House in 2010.

Schwerin is the former president of Hunter Biden's investment firm Rosemont Seneca.

His visit with Biden was one of 19 total he paid to the White House, visitor logs uncovered by The Post reveal.

The president has on multiple occasions denied having anything to do with his son's business dealings.

When asked about the report on Monday, Psaki said she had 'no information' on the matter.

The ongoing tax fraud investigation into Hunter Biden reportedly involves a laptop that was linked to him and contains numerous correspondences about his business.

It also may contain information that Biden did indeed profit off of his son's dealings. One email that appears to be divvying up profits for a new Chinese energy venture describes a 10 percent stake

The contents of the laptop were first reported on by the New York Post in October 2020, and was authenticated by DailyMail.com early the next year.

It contains a vast tranche of emails shedding light on Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine and China -- many while his father was vice president -- as well as lewd images of sex acts, prostitution and drug use.

However, what Republicans hoped would be a massive roadblock in Biden's 2020 presidential campaign was quickly dismissed and ignored by most mainstream media outlets until the New York Times claimed to have authenticated it last month.

The Washington Post's subsequent report using evidence recovered from the laptop has forced a reckoning within the news media and prompted an onslaught of scrutiny for the White House over what exactly Biden knew and when.

To date, however, the president has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.
A tube commuter was said to have let out an 'unholy scream' as a man hacked his head with a machete exposing his skull, a court heard today.

Ricky Morgan, 34, allegedly slashed James Porritt, in his 30s, on the Jubilee Line between Green Park and Bond Street on 9 July last year.

Jurors heard Morgan swung a machete and cut Mr Porritt on the head, the right hand and the shin, exposing his skull, shin bone and severing his hand into 'pieces'.

Panicked passengers then clambered on top of each in desperate bid to escape, the Old Bailey also heard.

Mr Morgan, of no fixed address, denies attempted murder and possessing a machete and lock knife at Green Park on July 9 last year.

Ricky Morgan, 34, allegedly slashed James Porritt, in his 30s, on the Jubilee Line between Green Park and Bond Street on 9 July last year. Pictured: Police at the time

Mr Morgan, of no fixed address, denies attempted murder and possessing a machete and lock knife at Green Park on July 9 last year. Pictured: Police at the time

Mr Porritt, who was taken to a local hospital after the incident, told the Old Bailey: 'I must have left the gym just after 6pm and I was on my way to meet my girlfriend because my girlfriend invited me to her dad's birthday.'

He was travelling from Tower Hill to Liverpool Street and had to change his route last minute due to underground delays.

'That, members of the jury, was unfortunately a big mistake for James Porritt,' said Grace Ong, prosecuting.

He got onto the Jubilee Line at Westminster station and was joined in the same carriage by Mr Morgan at Green Park.

Ms Ong said: 'On that Jubilee Line at about 6:30/6:45 in the evening when James Porritt was looking at his mobile telephone and a bit nervous about meeting his girlfriend's dad for the first time, Ricky Morgan got up from his seat on that carriage and attacked James Porritt with that machete.

'The attack nearly severed one of the fingers on one of his hands and it means that James Porritt will never be able to use his right hand properly again.

'He also suffered very serious injuries, a laceration, a cut to his head that went all the way down to his skull but didn't fracture the skull.

'And he suffered another knife wound from that machete a cut to his shin that went all the way down to his shin bone and fractured his shin bone.'

The two were 'complete strangers', the court heard.

She added: 'This was, the prosecution say, a completely unprovoked attack upon a commuter on the Jubilee Line going about his daily business.'

The court was told the defendant denied responsibility for the attack by reason of insanity. Pictured: Armed police in Bond Street

Mr Porritt said he was looking at his phone when he suddenly heard screaming and felt someone hitting him over the head with an object.

'He put up a hand to his head to protect himself and his hand was hit as well,' Ms Ong said. 'He showed the police his right hand which was in pieces.

'He could see through to the white bone of his fingers. Blood was coming from his head, his hand and his elbow. At one point Mr Porritt lifted his leg to protect himself further and this was struck as well.

'Almost impossibly, he managed to finally get away from his attacker holding the separated parts of his hand together.

'He managed to get through a carriage door and it was closed by one of the other passengers.

'His attacker appeared to be fixated on Mr Porritt because Mr Porritt heard him shout, "I don't want anyone else I just want you".'

Jurors listened to Mr Porritt giving evidence in a recorded police interview, sporting a white bandage on his head and a right hand branded with dark lines of stitches.

Just before he suffered the first blow, Mr Porritt was 'confused' as to why people in the carriage were screaming, the court heard.

He said 'I pleaded with him to stop, but he didn't, he just continued to strike me.

'At this point I was in shock because I realised that my right hand was in separate pieces.'

Mr Porritt continued: 'He just went smash smash smash on my shin. He was relentless. I was in shock because it was like a horror movie.

'I genuinely thought this person was going to kill me. When he hit me...I didn't feel anything. It doesn't make sense.'

The self-employed businessman went on to say that the attack was 'surreal'.

A map showing the distance between Bond Street and Green Park Tube Stations in London

He added: 'He was just like a machine. Just like, what is that movie? Basically like Terminator, that is exactly what it was like.

'He was emotionless, he didn't seem to have any kind of, no compassion. But he seemed very focused and relentless and he was just hell bent on doing what he was doing.'

Recalling the chaos of the tube, Mr Porritt described the scene as one of 'pure terror'. It was like a horror movie. It was like a stampede. People were terrified.'

He went on to describe how he 'ran for his life' and managed to get to the next carriage.

He added: 'Someone tried to lock the door to shut him out but he opened his one and the window was open and he was brandishing the knife through the open window.'

Asked what the knife looked like, he said it was 'like a sword out of Arabian nights'.

He claimed he could not think of anything, inadvertent or accidental even, that could have motivated the attack.

Jurors also heard how the carriage descended into chaos in the wake of the attack.

Ella Blake, travelling with her sister Erin and friend Grace Rogers, were on their way to a concert in Shepherd's Bush, the court was told.

'As the doors were closing, she said he reached into a rucksack and took out a large knife,' Ms Ong said. 'He yelled something and swung the knife.

'A lot of people got up at this point and started screaming. Ella Blake thought he was about to slash people.

'Ella, as did many of the other passengers, tried to run but you can visualise the panic in that carriage. She ended up on top of people on the floor.

'She saw a man who must be James Porritt slumped on the floor and heard the impact of the knife hitting him and she described Mr Porritt as letting out an unholy scream.

'She noticed that her legs were wet with blood. She managed to get to the next carriage with her sister Erin. She could not see her other friend Grace and she feared that Grace had died.'

Erin had to pull herself out from underneath someone else to get to her sister and to the safety of the next carriage, the court heard.

Panicked passengers then clambered on top of each in desperate bid to escape, the Old Bailey, pictured, also heard

It is said their friend, Ms Rogers, heard Morgan shout: 'This is not a terrorist attack.'

Another passenger, Andrew Court, who pulled the train's emergency alarm, allegedly overheard something similar: 'This isn't a terrorist attack I only want him.'

It is said another man, Vladislav Schirco, locked the carriage door. 'At that stage Mr Porritt was in that carriage being helped by another passenger,' Ms Ong said.

'He [Mr Shrico] saw the defendant walk towards him, open the door on his side.

'He started banging on the second door and shouting, 'I don't want to kill you I want to kill him. He was trying to kill me.'

'He carried on shouting, 'Let me come through, let me come through. I kill him, I kill him.'

Mr Morgan was to tell a psychiatrist he had been carrying the machete and lock knife around for some time, Ms Ong said.

Ms Ong told jurors the defendant denied responsibility for the attack by reason of insanity.

He also had an almost empty bottle of vodka in his rucksack, the court heard.

The Old Bailey trial continues.
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Tuesday said that 'saber rattling' rhetoric from Moscow and threats of nuclear war were 'very dangerous and unhelpful.'

During a visit to Germany he hit back at Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov who said that Western leaders risked a third world war by supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine.

'That kind of rhetoric is very dangerous and unhelpful,' Austin said.

'Nobody wants to see a nuclear war happen. It's a war where all sides lose.

'And so rattling of sabers and, you know, dangerous rhetoric is clearly unhelpful and something that we won't engage in.'

Austin spoke after hosting defense talks at Ramstein Air Base involving more than 40 countries seeking to speed and synchronize supply of weapons to Kyiv.

Several nations have stepped up the supply of long range weapons - such as howitzer artillery systems - as the war enters a crucial new phase and Russia focuses on the eastern Donbas region.

Austin was also asked about his recent controversial comments that the U.S. wanted to 'weaken' Russia, and he did not back down.

'We do want to make it harder for Russia to threaten its neighbours and leave them less able to do that,' he said.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin slammed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for spreading dangerous rhetoric on Tuesday. 'That kind of rhetoric is very dangerous and unhelpful,' he said during a visit to Germany, a day after Lavrov accused N.A.T.O. of waging a proxy war in Ukraine, bringing the 'very serious' risk of a nuclear confrontation

Western nations have upped the supply of heavy weapons in the past couple of weeks to counter the threat from Russia. Here pro-Russian troops are seen atop an armoured vehicle in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 21

Pro-Russian troops, including fighters of the Chechen special forces unit, stand in front of the destroyed administration building of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Moscow's war machine had been badly degraded by 62 days of war, he continued.

'They've lost a lot of a lot of equipment. They've used a lot of precision guided munitions,' he said.

'They've lost a major surface combatant [vessel], and so they are in fact, in terms of military capability, weaker than when it started.

'It'll be harder for them for them to replace some of this capability as they go forward because of the sanctions and the trade restrictions that have been placed on them.

'And so we would like to make sure again, that they don't have the same type of capability to bully their neighbours that we that we saw at the outset of this of this conflict.

Earlier Lavrov, claimed N.A.T.O. was now fighting a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, bring a 'very serious' risk the conflict could go nuclear.

Speaking on Russian state TV on Monday night, accused Western leaders of risking a third world war by supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine with the goal of 'wearing down the Russian army' - an aim he described as an 'illusion'.

Accusing NATO and its allies of attempting to bully Russia on the international stage, Lavrov said that tensions between east and west are now worse than during the Cuban missile crisis at the height of the Cold War.

Asked directly about the possibility of a nuclear war, he replied: 'The risks are very significant. I do not want the danger to be artificially inflated [but] it is serious, real. It cannot be underestimated.'

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, has warned that NATO is now fighting a proxy-war against Moscow and there is a 'very significant' risk the conflict will turn nuclear

Lavrov accused the West of risking a third world war in Ukraine by supplying weapons with the hope of 'wearing out the Russian army' - a goal he called 'an illusion'. This aerial photograph shows a destroyed residential area in Irpin

People walk near a residential building destroyed during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

A Ukrainian soldier sits on a Armoured personnel carrier driving on a road near Slovyansk lined with anti-tank defences

Smoke emerges from a substation near the Krasne Railway Station following Russian shelling near Lviv

Russia has lost more than 300 officers, analysis shows Russia has lost more than 300 officers fighting in Ukraine, according to new data collected by an independent Russian newspaper. In total, 317 officers of junior lieutenant rank and above have been killed in a little over two months of fighting, analysis by outlet MediaZona revealed today. Almost a third came from the most senior grades - major or above - including at least two generals and the deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet. MediaZona, which is currently blocked in Russia but continues to operate online, compiled its data by looking at public reports of troop deaths from local government officials, newspapers, or families posting on social media. That means the figures will be far lower than the true total because of delays between the troops being killed and their deaths being reported, difficulties in identifying bodies, and deliberate cover-ups by Moscow. In total, MediaZona found 1,744 reports of military deaths in Ukraine - higher than the Kremlin's official figure of 1,351 which it has not updated since late March. It found 317 of those deaths were of officers, which accounts for almost a fifth of the total figure. MediaZona believes that is because officer deaths are more-likely to be reported than those of foot-soldiers. The highest-ranked deaths that Russia has acknowledged are of Andrei Sukhovetsky and Vladimir Frolov, who were both Major Generals. Russia has also acknowledged the death of Captain 1st Rank Andrei Paly, the deputy commander of its Black Sea fleet, MediaZona said. Advertisement

Lavrov said: 'During the Cuban Missile Crisis there were not many "written" rules. But the rules of conduct were clear enough.

'Moscow understood how Washington was behaving. Washington understood how Moscow was behaving. Now there are few rules left.

He added: 'In those years, there was a channel of communication that both leaders trusted. Now there is no such channel. Nobody is trying to create it.'

America did set up a 'deconfliction line' to Moscow in the early days of the Ukraine war, but said the Russia side stopped answering.

Lavrov also repeated warnings that shipments of western weapons into Ukraine will be considered legitimate targets by Russia - a day after missiles struck the country's train network in an apparent attempt to stop the deliveries.

he spoke as western nations shift focus in Ukraine from supplying small arms and defensive weapons such as anti-tank and anti-aricraft missiles, to providing heavier arms such as tanks, helicopters, aircraft and long-range artillery.

The move comes in response to calls from Kyiv to provide its armed forces with the means to recapture territory occupied by Russian forces, in the wake of atrocities carried out by Putin's men in places such as Bucha and Irpin.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin travelled to Kyiv on Sunday for a face-to-face meeting with President Zelensky to discuss supplies, before pledging another multi-million dollar shipment.

Austin will also chair a meeting of more than 40 defence ministers at Ramstein air base in Germany today, aimed at securing additional supplies and coordinating efforts between allies to ensure Ukraine has everything it needs.

Ahead of the meeting, Austin stated the goal is to ensure Ukraine 'can win' the war against Russia and 'weaken' the country to the point where it cannot repeat its invasion a second time.

Ahead of the meeting, German media reported that the country will end weeks of dithering and agree to supply heavy arms to Ukraine in the form of 50 Gepard anti-aircraft systems.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday night that he regards Russia's scaremongering as a sign of weakness.

Lavrov, speaking to Russian state TV, said tensions between east and west are now at a worse point than during the Cuban missile crisis at the height of the Cold War

Russia considers western arms shipments to Ukraine legitimate targets for attack, Lavrov added, after the US pledged to send heavier weapons to the country this week (file image)

Maria, 13, holds a photograph of her father Yurii Alekseev, 50, a territorial defence member who according to his family was killed by Russian soldiers, as she mourns him during his funeral today

Tetyana Boikiv, 52, right, meets and hugs her neighbour Svitlana Pryimachenko, 48, during a funeral service for her husband, Mykola Moroz

Germany will finally authorise tank deliveries to Ukraine Germany will finally authorise the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine today after weeks of dithering that has tarnished its reputation on the world stage and led to questions about its commitment to European security. Defense minister Christine Lambrecht is expected announce the delivery of around 50 Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles to Ukraine during a meeting of more than 40 nations that will take place at Ramstein air base today. Germany's defence industry has been offering to sell the Gepard vehicles to Ukraine since February, but had been blocked from doing so by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government which led to outcry both inside and outside the country. Scholz, whose SPD party traditionally maintains close ties with Russia, had argued that it would take too long to train Ukrainian soldiers to use the weapons, that Germany had no weapons to sell, and that selling weapons could provoke Putin. But under strong pressure from Germany's international allies as well as his own coalition partners, Scholz now appears to have decided to change course. Lambrecht will today deliver a speech at Ramstein air base in which she will say the government has agreed to sign off the delivery of used Gepard anti-aircraft tanks. At the same time, a plan will be submitted to parliament calling for the government to 'continue and, where possible, accelerate the delivery of equipment to Ukraine.' Equipment will be extended to include 'the delivery [of] heavy weapons and complex systems', according to a draft of the document shown to AFP. The same document will suggest that Ukrainian soldiers are brought to Germany and other NATO nations so they can be trained how to use the weapons. Advertisement

Russia had lost its 'last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine,' Kuleba wrote on Twitter after Lavrov's interview. 'This only means Moscow senses defeat.'

British armed forces minister James Heappey agreed with that assessment today, saying he does not see an imminent threat of escalation in Ukraine and dismissing Lavrov's comments as 'bravado'.

'Lavrov's trademark over the course of 15 years or so that he has been the Russian foreign secretary has been that sort of bravado. I don't think that right now there is an imminent threat of escalation,' Heappey told BBC Television.

'What the West is doing to support its allies in Ukraine is very well calibrated ... Everything we do is calibrated to avoid direct confrontation with Russia.'

Heappey told Sky News that while NATO had been reinforcing its eastern flank, it was not, as an organisation, providing military aid.

'The donor community is not NATO,' Heappey said. 'The donor effort is something that has been brought together by countries that are yes, many of them are from NATO, but others are from beyond ... it is not NATO that is doing the military aid.'

During a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised more military aid for Ukraine.

The U.S. State Department on Monday used an emergency declaration to approve the potential sale of $165 million worth of ammunition to Ukraine.

The Pentagon said the package could include artillery ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers.

Moscow's ambassador to Washington told the United States to halt shipments, warning Western weapons were inflaming the conflict.

Lavrov said: 'NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.'

Russia's two-month-old invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced over 5 million people to flee abroad.

Moscow calls its actions a 'special operation' to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West says this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.

The United States is due to host an expected gathering of more than 40 countries this week for Ukraine-related defence talks that will focus on arming Kyiv, U.S. officials said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (centre) and Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley (centre left) chair a meeting to agree more arms for Ukraine at Ramstein air base in Germany

Christine Lambrecht, German defence minister, meets her Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov as she prepares to announce supplies of heavy arms to Kyiv

Russia is trying to 'destabilise' breakaway Moldovan region Kyiv today accused Russia of trying to 'destabilise' Moldova's breakaway region that borders Ukraine after two explosions there prompted fears of Russia launching 'false flag' attacks to justify invading the territory. The explosions destroyed two powerful Soviet-era radio antennas that were re-broadcasting Russian stations in the region of Transnistria, an unrecognised Moscow-backed sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, on Tuesday. The blasts occurred in the small town of Maiac roughly 12 kilometers (7 miles) west of the border with Ukraine, just days after a Kremlin military chief warned that 'Russian-speakers' had been 'oppressed' there. A day earlier, several explosions believed to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades were reported to hit the Ministry of State Security in the city of Tiraspol, the region's capital. No one was hurt in the explosions, officials said. On Tuesday, a military unit in the village of Parcani was also targeted. Officials did not offer any details on the incident, but declared a 'red level of terrorist threat' and promised to impose additional security measures in the region. Advertisement

Britain said all tariffs on goods coming into the country from Ukraine under an existing free trade deal will be axed and it would send new ambulances, fire engines, medical supplies and funding for health experts to help the emergency services.

Russia's foreign ministry said on Monday that it had declared 40 German diplomatic staff 'personae non gratae' in a retaliatory move after Berlin expelled the same number of Russian diplomats.

Russia has yet to capture any of the biggest cities. Its forces were forced to pull back from the outskirts of Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance.

'It is obvious that every day - and especially today, when the third month of our resistance has begun - that everyone in Ukraine is concerned with peace, about when it will all be over,' President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Monday.

'There is no simple answer to that at this time.'

Having failed to take the capital Kyiv, Moscow last week launched a massive assault in an attempt to capture eastern provinces known as the Donbas, which if successful would link territory held by pro-Russian separatists in the east with the Crimea region that Moscow annexed in 2014.

Ukraine's general staff said on Tuesday that Russia's offensive continued in the eastern Kharkiv region with Russian forces trying to advance towards Zavody.

Russia's defence ministry earlier said its missiles destroyed six facilities powering the railways that were used to deliver foreign weapons to Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region. Reuters could not verify the report.

The head of Ukraine's state rail company said that one railway worker had been killed and four injured by Russian missile strikes on five Ukrainian railway stations on Monday.

Ukrainian forces have repelled five Russian attacks and killed just over 200 Russian servicemen, said the Ukrainian military command in the southern and eastern sectors.

An Ukrainian tank drives through obstacles on a road near Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine, today amid the Russian invasion

A huge pile of missiles is gathered up by members of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine after shellings in Kharkiv

Firefighters extinguish fire at a substation near the Krasne Railway Station following Russian shelling, amid Russia's attack

Five tanks were also destroyed, along with eight armoured vehicles, it said in a statement.

Russia is probably attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the country's east, the British military said in an update on Tuesday.

Reports say the city of Kreminna has fallen, with heavy fighting in the south of the city of Izium, as Russian forces try to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Britain's defence ministry said on Twitter.

The governor of Russia's Belgorod province, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Ukraine had fired on two villages, and at least two people were wounded. Reuters was unable to verify the Ukrainian or Russian reports.

Russian forces were continuing on Monday to bomb and shell the vast Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where fighters are hunkered down in a city ravaged by a siege and bombardment, Ukrainian presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych said.

Moscow said it was opening a humanitarian corridor to let civilians out of the plant but Kyiv said no agreement had been reached.

Ukraine war timeline: Putin's invasion enters its third month Russia heads into the third month of its invasion of Ukraine on Sunday with no end in sight to fighting that has killed thousands, uprooted millions and reduced cities to rubble. In the face of mounting sanctions and fierce Ukrainian resistance bolstered by Western arms, Russia has kept up its long-distance bombardment and opened up a new offensive in the east. Some key events so far: February 24: Russia invades Ukraine from three fronts in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. Tens of thousands flee. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is launching a 'special military operation' to demilitarise and 'denazify' Ukraine. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweets: 'Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself.' February 25: Ukrainian forces battle Russian invaders in the north, east and south. Artillery pounds Kyiv and its suburbs and authorities tell residents to prepare Molotov cocktails to defend the capital. February 26: A U.S. defence official says Ukraine's forces are putting up 'determined resistance'. February 28: The first talks between the two sides make no breakthrough. March 1: Russia hits a TV tower in Kyiv and intensifies bombardment of Kharkiv in the northeast and other cities, in what is seen as a shift in tactics as Moscow's hopes of a quick charge on the capital fade. A U.S. official says a miles-long Russian armoured column bearing down on Kyiv has not made any advances in the past 24 hours, bogged down by logistical problems. March 2: Russian forces bombard the southern port of Mariupol for 14 hours and stop civilians leaving, its mayor says - the start of Moscow's blockade of the city. Russia denies targeting civilians. Russian troops reach the centre of the Black Sea port of Kherson and claim their first capture of a large urban centre. March 3: Russia and Ukraine agree to set up humanitarian corridors for fleeing civilians. A cargo ship sinks near a Ukrainian port hours after another is hit by a blast at another port. A million people have fled Ukraine, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) says. March 4: Russian forces seize Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's biggest. NATO rejects Ukraine's appeal for no-fly zones, saying it would escalate the conflict. March 6: 'Rivers of blood and tears are flowing in Ukraine,' Pope Francis tells crowds in St. Peter's Square. 'This is not just a military operation, but a war, which sows death, destruction, and misery.' March 8: Civilians flee the besieged city of Sumy in the first successful humanitarian corridor. Two million have now fled Ukraine, the UNHCR says. March 9: Ukraine accuses Russia of bombing a maternity hospital in Mariupol, burying people in rubble. Russia later says the hospital was no longer functioning and had been occupied by Ukrainian fighters. March 13: Russia extends its war deep into western Ukraine, firing missiles at a base in Yavoriv close to the border with NATO member Poland. The attack kills 35 people and wounds 134, a local official says. March 14: Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova bursts into a state TV studio during a live news bulletin, with a banner reading: 'NO WAR. Stop the war. Don't believe propaganda. They are lying to you here.' March 16: Ukraine accuses Russia of bombing a theatre in Mariupol where hundreds of civilians are sheltering. Moscow denies it. March 25: Moscow signals it is scaling back its ambitions and will focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east, as Ukrainian forces go on the offensive to recapture towns outside Kyiv. March 29: Ukraine proposes adopting a neutral status during talks in Istanbul. March 30: More than 4 million people have fled Ukraine, the UNHCR says. April 1: Ukraine recaptures more territory around Kyiv from Russian soldiers who leave shattered villages and abandoned tanks as they move away from the capital. April 3/4: Ukraine accuses Russia of war crimes after a mass grave and bodies of people shot at close range are found in the recaptured town of Bucha. The Kremlin denies responsibility and says images of bodies were staged. April 8: Ukraine and its allies blame Russia for a missile attack on a train station in Kramatorsk that killed at least 52 people trying to flee the looming eastern offensive. Russia denies responsibility. April 14: Russia's lead warship in the Black Sea, the Moskva, sinks after an explosion and fire that Ukraine says was caused by a missile strike. Russia says the ship sank after an ammunition explosion. Washington believes the warship was hit by two Ukrainian missiles. April 18: Russia launches its assault on east Ukraine, unleashing thousands of troops in what Ukraine described as the Battle of the Donbas, a campaign to seize two provinces and salvage a battlefield victory. April 20: More than 5 million people have fled Ukraine, the UNHCR says. April 21: Putin declares the southeastern port of Mariupol 'liberated' after nearly two months of siege, despite leaving hundreds of defenders holding out inside a giant steel works. April 22: A Russian general says Moscow wants to take full control of southern and eastern Ukraine. April 24: Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin travel to Kyiv, becoming the highest-level US delegation to make the journey since war with Russia broke out April 25: Germany agrees to send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine, reversing earlier policy not to supply heavy weapons Advertisement

EXCLUSIVE: Boobytrapped milk carton primed with a BOMB is given to grandmother by Russian soldier distributing 'humanitarian aid' in Ukraine

By Ed Wight for MailOnline

A Ukrainian grandmother has narrowly escaped death after a Russian soldier gave her a boobytrapped carton of milk loaded with explosives.

In a disturbing new twist to Putin's war on Ukraine, Russian soldiers are now pretending to hand out 'humanitarian aid'.

But when the pensioner from the besieged city of Kherson went to open the screw top carton she noticed wires attached to the lid.

Further investigation revealed the wires led to a detonator.

The OAP's son told local media in.kherson.ua: 'My retired mother noticed that there was something wrong with this milk, as if someone had been drinking from it before, or if it was broken.

'She carefully unscrewed the cap and showed me what was there.'

The boobytrapped milk carton contained a homemade explosive attached to a fishing line which when opened would detonate the bomb.

A Ukrainian grandmother has narrowly escaped death after a Russian soldier gave her a boobytrapped carton of milk loaded with explosives. When the pensioner from the besieged city of Kherson went to open the screw top carton she noticed wires attached to the lid

Further investigation revealed the wires led to a detonator placed inside the carton in what appeared to be a cruel boobytrap

An elderly Ukrainian woman is pictured receiving aid from soldiers in Ukraine - it is not clear whether this is the woman who picked up the boobytrapped milk carton

The OAP's soon told local media in.kherson.ua: 'My retired mother noticed that there was something wrong with this milk, as if someone had been drinking from it before, or if it was broken. She carefully unscrewed the cap and showed me what was there.' The boobytrapped milk carton contained a homemade explosive attached to a fishing line which when opened would detonate the bomb

The woman's son added: 'The bag of aid was bought home by my mother, although I had asked her not to.

'But yesterday she took the groceries. She saw that the screw in the milk was not airtight, she thought that someone had already drank it, that it might be spoiled, she carefully unscrewed it and saw something like thread.'

To fool locals into thinking the products are safe, Russian soldiers are using products made in Ukraine.

On Sunday, the UK's MOD reported that Russia plans to hold a staged referendum in Kherson to justify its occupation.

In its daily intelligence update, the ministry wrote: 'This city is key to the Russian goal of creating an overland corridor to Crimea and dominating southern Ukraine.

'Russia previously held an illegal referendum on the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation in 2014 to retroactively justify the occupation of the peninsula.'

Now Russia cuts off WATER supplies Desperate Ukrainians hit by a lack of food have had their water cut off by Russian shelling too. Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai accused the Kremlin of systematically attacking electricity plants and water pumps to punish the local population. Last week officials in Luhansk said Russian forces had deliberately targeted the supply of food to the eastern region. They swamped the key city of Sievierodonetsk with missiles that wiped out all food depots, as well as markets and shops. The citys 100,000 population has fallen by 17,000 and they are now reliant on aid supplies. Advertisement

Evidence of Russian soldiers boobytrapping humanitarian aid packages for elderly Ukrainian residents comes as Kremlin insiders told The Financial Times that Putin has given up on peace talks with Ukraine and is intent on seizing as much land as possible.

The three insiders claimed that the Russian president wanted to grab territory because he felt negotiations had reached a 'dead end'.

One insider said: 'There was hope for a deal. Putin was going back and forth. He needs to find a way to come out of this a winner.'

'Putin sincerely believes in the nonsense he hears on [Russian] television and he wants to win big,' another insider added.

A third said he wouldn't sign anything after the humiliation caused by the sinking of the Moskva.

A senior member of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umirov, said: 'We continue the negotiation process. Primarily  to save more lives of our people.'

'We will use all the political and diplomatic efforts to stop this bloodshed. But there are red lines we will never cross. Ukraine will never give up its people and its territories,' he told The Times.

Meanwhile, officials in the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol say a new '200-yard mass grave' has been identified north of the city that could contain hundreds of bodies.

Vladimir Putin has given up on peace talks with Ukraine as he wants to seize as much land as he can for Russia, according to Kremlin insiders

Emergency management specialists and volunteers remove the debris of a theatre building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Smoke rises above a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities are trying to estimate the number of victims in the grave about six miles north of Mariupol.

This would be the third after satellite photos released over the last few days have shown what appear to be images of other mass graves.

On Saturday, chilling satellite photos revealed a second mass grave near Mariupol - as Russian forces continued to pummel the last 2,000 Ukrainian defenders trapped in a steelworks in the city.

The photos from Maxar Technologies showed the site at a cemetery in the town of Vynohradne. It has several newly dug parallel trenches measuring about 131 feet long, Maxar said in a statement.

Volodymyr Zelensky warned Vladimir Putin that if he tried to build a Nazi-style 'millennial Reich' he would 'lose'.
A defendant told the court that he did not kill Bonnie Harwood, 47, (pictured) at her home in Alton. She used a mobility scooter to get around and had known the defendant since he was a child

A 32-year-old man has denied murdering a vulnerable woman who used to babysit him as a child.

Matthew Reynolds is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of killing 47-year-old Bonnie Harwood at her home in Alton, Hampshire, in the early hours of October 10 2021.

James Newton-Price QC, prosecuting, has told the jury that Reynolds, a drug addict, had financial difficulties and was in a 'state of turmoil' on the day of the fatal attack.

He said Reynolds had drug debts which had led to him attempting to set up credit cards and bank accounts in his mothers name.

The amateur beekeeper had also sold his hives and honey to raise money, having recently lost his job as an assistant at a builders yard, Mr Newton-Price said.

The prosecution claim that Reynolds stabbed Ms Harwood - who was also a drug user and who sold heroin - multiple times in a robbery to steal her money and drugs.

The defendant then left her to bleed to death, the prosecution claim.

Giving evidence, Reynolds told the court that he did not kill Ms Harwood, who used a mobility scooter to get around, and said he had known her since he was a child.

He said: 'We used to go camping together and she would babysit and we would go to London together.'

Forensic experts examine the scene of murder at Aldersey Fields, Alton. Reynolds, from Alton, said he started using heroin at the age of 14, going on to use crack cocaine not long after

Police are pictured investigating the scene of the murder. The amateur beekeeper had also sold his hives and honey to raise money, having recently lost his job as an assistant at a builders yard, the prosecutors told the jury

Reynolds, from Alton, said he started using heroin at the age of 14 and had gone on to take crack cocaine as well.

He said he would visit Ms Harwoods home 'practically every day', where he would swap crack cocaine for heroin from her.

The defendant said he had previously witnessed Ms Harwood having a nose bleed, which caused him to get her blood on his shoes and clothes.

The court has heard that Reynolds denies killing Ms Harwood and claims he had only been in her flat between about 10pm and 11pm on October 9, the night before she died.

He said: 'I saw her at some point in the late evening to get two deals of heroin for smoking for two of my friends.'

He added that he later received a call from Ms Harwood during which she asked him to get 20 of crack cocaine for her.

The trial continues.
President Joe Biden has a higher net favorability in only 10 U.S. states and a new poll reveals that he has a disapproval rate higher than his approval in the double digits in 33 states.

A new Morning Consult Political Intelligence quarterly tracking shows that the president's job performance has worsened in the first quarter of 2022 in the majority of states  including in deep red areas as well as battleground states that were pivotal to his 2020 victory.

The only states where Biden isn't underwater are California, Washington, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois, Rhode Island, Delaware, Hawaii and the District of Columbia. But even in those states, the net approval has dramatically shrunk since this time last year.

In Biden's home state of Delaware, which he won by nearly 20 points in 2020, his net approval  the share of voters who approve subtracted by the share who disapprove  is only at 4 percent.

The state with the lowest approval of Biden is West Virginia, where his net disapproval is at 50 percent, and the state with the highest job numbers for the president is California, where his net approval is 19 percent.

Morning Consult's Political Intelligence quarterly tracking shows President Joe Biden's approval rating is underwater in 40 states  and by double digits in 33

Biden's approval is lower than disapproval in 40 states, compared to last year when the numbers for the first few months of his presidency showed only 17 states where disapproval outranked approval  and two states where it was tied at zero either way.

Several states that voted for Biden in 2020 are now showing a net negative approval ratings, including swing states that flipped from red to blue from 2016 to 2020, like Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Michigan.

The latest is just a series of dire polls for the president and for Democrats in general as they head into the 2022 midterm elections.

Average approval ratings have shown President Biden hovering around 40 percent in recent months.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain seemed to dismiss the poor polling, pointing in a tweet on Sunday to French President Emanuel Macron winning reelection despite an approval rating of 36 percent.

In every state where there are hotly contested Senate or House races this fall, Biden saw a new approval drop by more than 20 percentage points, according to the Morning Consult tracking.

Colorado, which Biden won by nearly 14 points in 2020, shows a 49 percent disapproval to 47 percent approval. At the end of the first quarter of 2021, Biden had an approval in the states of 57 percent, showing a 10 percent fall, and a disapproval of 38 percent, showing an 11 percent increase now.

In the swing state of Pennsylvania, Biden's approval rating fell from 52 percent in March 2021 to 46 percent in March 2022.

Biden has consistently slipped in polls, most recently showing a 40 percent national approval rating in several different surveys ahead of the 2022 midterm elections

Former President Donald Trump will head to the Keystone State on Friday, May 6 to stump for Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is running in Pennsylvania to replace retiring Republican U.S. Senator Pat Toomey.

Democrats cannot afford to lose any seats in the Senate or else they face giving up their majority in the upper chamber, where the membership currently sits at 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Vice President Kamala Harris holds the tie-breaking vote.

There are also razor-thin margins in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi can only afford to lose a handful of seats to keep Democrats in power there.
NASCAR has ordered Denny Hamlin to go through sensitivity training after he apologized for posting an anti-Asian meme to ridicule Japanese-American driver Kyle Larson for a crash at Sunday's Geico 500 in Talladega, Alabama.

Larson, who has a Japanese-American mother, was involved in a late crash in Sunday's race, but still managed to finish fourth.

Following the race, Hamlin posted a clip from the cartoon, Family Guy, showing an Asian woman driving a car across several lanes of traffic without using her blinker. To drive home the point, the since-deleted post was captioned: 'Kyle Larson.'

NASCAR has ordered Denny Hamlin (right) to go through sensitivity training after he apologized for posting an anti-Asian meme to ridicule Japanese-American driver Kyle Larson (left) for a crash following Sunday's Geico 500 in Talladega, Alabama

Hamlin admitted the tweet was offensive and apologized after deleting the post

Denny Hamlin (right in 2017) and Kyle Larson (left) are reportedly friends

'I took down a post I made earlier today after reading some of the comments,' tweeted Hamlin. 'It was a poor choice of memes and I saw how it was offensive. It came across totally wrong. I apologize.'

In response, NASCAR ordered Hamlin to begin sensitivity training this week.

Hamlin and Larson are reportedly friends.

The incident took place about two years after Larson was fired by Chip Ganassi Racing and suspended by NASCAR for using the N-word during a virtual race.

Since using the slur on April 12, 2020, Larson was also ordered to go through sensitivity training before signing with Hendrick Motorsports and winning the 2021 Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas.

'Last night I made a mistake and said the word that should never ever be said and there's no excuse for that,' he said while apologizing for using the racial slur in 2020.

'I wasn't raised that way and it's just an awful thing to say. I feel very sorry for my family, my friends, my partners, the NASCAR community and especially the African-American community.'

'I understand the damage is probably unrepairable and I own up to that. I just want to let you all know how sorry I am and I hope everybody is staying safe during these crazy times.'

Larson was speaking with other drivers on an open line that was being broadcast on Twitch, which live streams video game competitions among other things. The Twitch display shows viewers which driver is speaking at any given time (center of the screen, above the steering wheel but below the windshield). And although Larson appeared to think he was having communication issues, the audience could hear him clearly and see his name on the screen when he uttered the racial slur

Larson was speaking with other drivers on an open line that was being broadcast on Twitch, which live streams video game competitions among other things.

'Hey Kyle, you're talking to everyone, bud,' fellow NASCAR driver Anthony Alfredo said.

Another voice could be heard saying 'no way did that just happen,' while others chimed in with 'yikes' and 'oh my gosh.'

'Oh damn,' said another voice. 'He did not just say that.'

The Twitch display shows viewers which driver is speaking at any given time. And although Larson appeared to think he was having communication issues, the audience could hear him clearly and see his name on the screen when he uttered the racial slur.

Larson's slur was heard on IndyCar driver Conor Daly's live stream and subsequently went viral afterwards.

Larson is half Japanese - his grandparents spent time in an interment camp in California - and he climbed from short track racing into NASCAR through its 'Drive for Diversity' program. He is the only driver of Japanese descent to win a major NASCAR race.
The jilted lover and ex-handyman accused in the horrific slaying of the Queens married mother of two Orsolya Gaal will not testify before the grand jury due to the charges against him, his lawyer told the judge.

David Bonola, 44, was marched into Queens Supreme Court in orange prison garb Tuesday with his long curly brown hair tied back and a mask partially covering his face.

The handcuffed Bonola did not utter a word as the female translator spoke to him in Spanish and his lawyer addressed the judge.

'Mr. Bonola will not be testifying before a grand jury. We withdraw from their request for him to appear before a grand jury,' Attorney David Strom from Queens Defenders said.

Police escort a handcuffed Bonola into the courtroom on Tuesday

'Mr. Bonala will not be testifying before a grand jury. We withdraw from their request for him to appear before a grand jury,' Attorney David Strom of Queens Defenders told the judge regarding his client, David Bonola, 44

The killer stands in court motionless next to his court-appointed attorney, David Strom

Bonola, who is from Mexico, had been living in the US for the last 21 years. Police said he had been living in New York in violation of immigration law before the gruesome murder

The former handyman was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree evidence tampering and fourth-degree weapon possession in relation to the brutal murder, a report said.

Bonola allegedly admitted to stabbing Gaal more than 58 times before stuffing her body in a duffel bag and dragging it down her residential Forest Hills street in the early morning hours of April 16.

He made his purported confession when questioned by police, making incriminating statements after voluntarily going to the police station amid the investigation.

Bonola was taken away by police escorts after his appearance in court on Tuesday

Bonola was obsessed with New York City crime and how to seduce women, according to his YouTube channel.

One week before the murder, the suspect updated his playlist by saving videos including one titled: '7 Mindsets that Attract Women Like Crazy.'

Some of the tips were how to attract beautiful woman and make 'you become unstoppable with women... without you really having to do anything.'

Bonola did not upload videos himself, but instead saved a series of clips that he liked onto a playlist on his YouTube account, which is publicly visible.

Other videos Bonola saved included titles like 'Pickup and first date confidence' and 'how to go down on a woman'

Additional videos on his playlist were sexually graphic in nature, while others dealt with topics such as: 'How to deal with a relationship when a woman is just not that into you;' 'How you know you are with a Hungarian woman;' 'Male magnetic mindset that drives women wild.

His YouTube channel shows he saved thousands of shooting, rapes and murders, on curated playlists, including 754 videos of local news reports of violent crimes, The New York Post reported.

Some of the stabbing videos were eerily similar to the brutal slaying on the Queens mother. One of his videos shared the news report of Amie Harwick, a former sex therapist, who reportedly sought two restraining orders against ex-boyfriend before her February 2020 murder in Hollywood, the news outlet said

The married mother of two, had stayed behind with her 13-year-old son, while her husband, Howard Klein, was traveling out-of-state with their older son

Orsolya Gaal, who was the mother of two teenage sons, was of Hungarian-descent

Gaal had hired Bonola to do handyman work in her Forest Hills home. The pair had been having an on-off affair for two years before he allegedly murdered her with a kitchen knife in her basement during the early hours of April 16, while her 13-year-old son was upstairs.

Surveillance footage captured just hours after her murder showed Bonola walking along 114th Street near his apartment in Richmond Hill, just after 6am.

He is seen with bandage wrapped around his left hand as he makes his way down the street before heading into his apartment.

A photo of the tudor-style home that Orsolya Gaal, 51, had lived in with her husband and two sons before the tragic murder on April 16, 2022.

The day of the killing, Bonola allegedly headed to a CityMD in order to receive help for cuts on his hands. He was referred Bellevue Hospital after urgent care doctors said the wounds were too deep for them to treat.

Police said they received a call around 8.10am on Saturday for a report of 'a suspicious bag with blood on it at the corner of Metropolitan Avenue and Jackie Robinson Parkway in Forest Hills.' The bag held Gaal's body.

Cops then followed a trail of blood left by the dragged bag, leading back to Gaal's home. They found son, Leo, inside unscathed and took him in for questioning, putting him in handcuffs, before letting him go later that day.

Gaal's husband Howard Klein and her older son Jamie, who had been on the West Coast, rushed back. They have not been seen or heard from since.

He had reportedly gone over to the home in an attempt to resurrect the affair as the relationship had come to 'the end'.

Bonola later confessed to the heinous crime after being spotted by police days after the murder.

Police sources told the New York Post that he was very 'matter of fact,' and that he proceeded to eat a bagel with cream cheese as if nothing had happened

'It was very matter of fact, very thorough, he answered every question they had,' a police source told the newspaper. At no point did he request a lawyer.

The day of Bonola's arrest he screamed: 'F**k you motherf****r!' when a group of reporters asked him why he he killed Gaal.

Bonola has been living in the U.S. illegally after moving from Mexico 20 years ago. His estranged wife and children are believed to live in Queens with him.

NYPD detectives declined to comment on Bonola's immigrant status but ICE has now filed a detainer with Queens Central Booking, where he is being held.

It is unclear if he will face additional charges related to his immigration status.

Bonola will next court appearance will be May 10, according to the Queens District Attorney's office.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) was reportedly cited for possession of a handgun at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Tuesday morning.

Three sources told WSOC that the Republican congressman's 9-millimeter handgun was spotted at a security checkpoint, but the Transportation Security Administration declined to identify the person who had the gun.

A photo obtained by Channel 9 shows a loaded Staccato C2 handgun.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said it was standard procedure to issue a citation rather than press charges unless there are other felony charges.

It said officers were alerted by the Transport Security Administration that a firearm had been found in a bag at a screening checkpoint.

'Responding CMPD officers identified the owner of the bag containing the firearm as David Madison Cawthorn DOB: 08/01/1995,' the department said in a Twitter thread.

'Mr. Cawthorn stated that the firearm was his and he was cooperative with the CMPD officers.'

Officers issued a citation for Possession of a Dangerous Weapon on City Property.

'Mr. Cawthorn was released, and the CMPD took possession of the firearm, which is normal procedure,' it said.

It follows an episode last year when Cawthorn tried to board a plane at Asheville Regional Airport with an unloaded Glock 9 mm handgun in his carry-on bag, along with a magazine of ammunition.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn was reportedly cited for possession of a handgun at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Tuesday morning. His spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment

Cawthorn appeared in a 2019 ad for Shooter's World, riddled with basic gun safety violations

This photo provided by the Transportation Security Administration shows the 9mm Staccato C2 handgun that officials say was found in Cawthorn's carry-on bag

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Cawthorn was cooperative after the firearm was discovered and that officers took possession of the weapon

'Five months ago, while boarding a flight, Rep. Cawthorn erroneously stowed a firearm in his carry-on (that often doubles as a range bag) instead of his checked bag,' a spokesman said when the incident came to light last July.

'The firearm was secured, and unchambered.

'Rep. Cawthorn endeavors to always follow TSA guidelines, and quickly rectified this situation before boarding his flight.'

His staff did not immediately respond to the latest reports.

Cawthorn is a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, and his reelection campaign is backed by the National Rifle Association.

On Jan. 6 last year, as protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Cawthorn told conservative broadcaster Charlie Kirk that he was safe and had used his wheelchair to carry weapons and make sure everyone around him was armed.

'As you know I believe in the Second Amendment as well as a lot of other members,' he said.

'So we are armed. We're in a safe locations - can't disclose where.'

Cawthorn has had a habit of generating headlines ever since winning election to the House in 2020 - either through his taste for bombast or run-ins with law enforcement.

Dashcam footage emerged last week of a March traffic stop when a police officer informed the 26-year-old congressman that he was driving with a revoked license in his home state.

He was asked to turn over his license and switch seats with a woman who had been in the passenger seat of his pickup truck, a two-minute thirty-two-second video shared by the Charlotte Observer shows.

And Queen City News recently released footage from a traffic stop in October during which Cawthorn was pulled over for speeding.

'I do not have my wallet on me,' the lawmaker says when asked if he had his license.

And Cawthorn again appeared surprised at being informed he was breaking the rules, with the officer in that incident telling him the car was registered to his father -- despite Cawthorn claiming it was in his name.

He later reportedly pleaded guilty to improper equipment and paid a $25 fine.

Cawthorn has also sought out the spotlight for himself, making wild claims about cocaine-fuelled orgies in Washington, which earned him the anger of colleagues.

During an interview with John Lovell for the 'Warrior Poet Society' he was asked how closely Washington resembles the fictional version in the Netflix show House of Cards, specifically its elements of 'corruption, power, money and perversion.'

The North Carolina Republican replied that the 'sexual perversion' and drug use is just like what people saw on television.

The photos, obtained by Politico and look to make even the most devoted partiers blush, show the 26-year-old Republican with a vacant look in his eyes, wearing women's hoop earrings and a woman's necklace along with a bra and lingerie seT

Cawthorn brushed off the photos on Twitter Friday evening, and claimed it was all part of a cruise ship game and was another attack from the left.

'The sexual perversion that goes on in Washington ... being kind of a young guy in Washington where the average age is probably 60 or 70, I look at all these people - a lot of them who I've looked up to throughout my life ... then all of a sudden you get invited to like, "well hey we're going to have kind of a sexual get together at one of our homes. You should come," like, what did you just ask me to come to?

'And then you realize they're asking you to come to an orgy.'

But his colleagues were horrified that voters would assume Republican lawmakers were up to no good in the nation's capital.

Fellow Republicans complained in a closed meeting he was soiling their reputation with the wild, non-specific claims and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said Cawthorn had 'lost my trust' and gave him a stern talking-to in his office.

Before that, he came under fire for accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of being an alcoholic, although she is a tee-totaler, and called Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky a 'thug.'

Then last week photographs emerged of Cawthorn cavorting in women's underwear.

Politico said it obtained screenshots of the images from someone who used to be close to Cawthorn and his campaign.

The congressman shrugged them off.

'I guess the left thinks goofy vacation photos during a game on a cruise (taken waaay before I ran for Congress) is going to somehow hurt me? They're running out of things to throw at me...' he wrote on Twitter.
Citizens walk past celebrative posters displayed on the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army in Pyongyang, April 25. The poster reads "Historic root of our revolution." AP-Yonhap



Religious freedom conditions in North Korea remain among the worst in the world, a U.S. government commission said Monday, recommending Washington designate the North as a country of particular concern.



The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also called on the State Department to bring up human rights issues when negotiating security issues with North Korea.



"In 2021, religious freedom conditions in North Korea remained among the worst in the world," the commission said in its annual report, noting religious adherents in the country are severely persecuted.



"The (North Korean) government attempts to provide an illusion of religious freedom to the outside world through state-backed religious organizations and sites such as the Jangchung Cathedral. In reality, religious freedom remains nonexistent in North Korea as the authorities actively and systematically target and persecute religious groups and adherents," the report added.



The report provides country-specific recommendations to the Department of State, which, in turn, produces its own annual report on religious freedom.



In 2021 the department designated North Korea as a "country of particular concern" for the 20th consecutive year.



The USCIRF recommended the department re-designate North Korea as a country of particular concern and "impose targeted and broad sanctions" that are appropriate for religious freedom violation in the reclusive country.



The commission said the U.S. may consider lifting certain sanctions in "return for concrete progress in religious freedom and related human rights."



Nadine Maenza, head of the USCIRF, noted sanctions alone may not be enough to get North Korea to change when asked how they may promote religious freedom in the reclusive country.



"It's not a magic weapon. It's just a piece of the puzzle in a way that the U.S. government can help to incentivize religious freedom," she said in a webinar marking the release of the 2022 report.



Maenza added, "So there's different ways to use sanctions," noting the commission also recommends lifting certain sanctions when and if the North makes concrete progress toward religious freedom,



The commission also recommended the U.S. government "integrate security and human rights as complementary objectives in broader U.S. policy toward and in bilateral negotiations with North Korea."



"These are very difficult situations, and so there's a lot of different ways the U.S. government can still bring religious freedom to the table as they are dialoguing (holding dialogue) on security issues and other issues, and that's what we encourage them to do," said Maenza.



To this end, the commission called on the government to "fill and maintain the position of special envoy for North Korean human rights issues at the U.S. Department of State," which has been vacant since January 2017.



It said the special envoy can "promote and integrate religious freedom and human rights in U.S. policy toward North Korea, including by coordinating multilateral efforts in international fora, such as in the United Nations, and with the European Union and other like-minded countries." (Yonhap)




A teenager was 'unsettled' on the day she was last seen alive because of the imminent release from prison of the man she had accused of raping her, an inquest heard.

Gaia Pope-Sutherland, 19, who had been diagnosed with PTSD, had also reported to Dorset police before her death that she received indecent images via social media, jurors heard.

The coroner said Miss Pope-Sutherland was also upset at the decision of Dorset Police not to charge the unnamed man she had accused of raping her in 2014 when aged 16.

He was subsequently jailed for sexual offences committed against other people and was due to be released by prison in the autumn of 2017, the court was told.

A large search operation was launched in the Swanage area for the teenager, after she went missing on November 17 2017 including police, HM Coastguard, National Police Air Service, Dorset Search and Rescue and members of the public.

Her body was later found by police search teams in undergrowth between Dancing Ledge and Anvil Point, close to the Swanage coastal path.

Gaia Pope-Sutherland, pictured, 19, had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after revealing she had been raped by a man when she was 16

Rachael Griffin, senior coroner for Dorset, said: 'In December 2015 Gaia disclosed to her family that she had been raped the previous year when she was 16 years old.

'She made a report to the police and that report was investigated. The alleged perpetrator denied the allegation. He was not charged or convicted of any offence relating to Gaia.

'Approximately a year later, however, the alleged perpetrator was convicted of other sexual offences relating to other victims and sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

'He was due to be released from prison in the autumn of 2017.

'At the time of her disappearance on November 7 2017 Gaia was anxious about his imminent release.

'It is not relevant for you in your role in this inquest to hear any detail about the precise circumstances of the alleged rape, or any detail about the police investigation into the allegation of rape, or the decision not to charge the alleged perpetrator

'It is not for you to make any determination about the rape allegation.

'However, it is relevant for you to hear evidence about the impact of the alleged rape on Gaia, how upset Gaia was about the decision not to charge the alleged perpetrator and the impact of that on her mental health and the impact of the alleged perpetrator's imminent release on Gaia's mental health.'

In her opening statement, Ms Griffin said Miss Pope-Sutherland was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2013 and continued to receive treatment from doctors in both Dorset and London for the condition.

Dorset Coroner's Court heard the student, who suffered from severe epilepsy, was reported missing from her home in Swanage, Dorset, on November 7 2017. Pictured: The last picture of Gaia on the day she went missing

The teenager was first referred to mental health services for assessment in December 2015 and 12 months later with post-traumatic stress disorder.

'She was last seen and assessed by a mental health team on the October 22 2017 when she was discharged back to the care of a general practitioner,' Ms Griffin said.

The court heard that on November 2, Miss Pope-Sutherland reported to Dorset Police that she had received indecent images via social media and was to make a formal statement on the day she disappeared.

'Gaia was with her aunt on that day at her aunt's address on Argyle Road in Swanage as her aunt was assisting her to make arrangements to make a formal complaint,' the coroner said.

'Gaia appeared very unsettled that day and left her aunt's address, running away from the address at around 3.40pm.

'After Gaia left her aunt's address, her aunt contacted Dorset Police at 3.42pm to record that she was having some sort of episode and that her aunt was concerned for her welfare.'

A large search operation, pictured in 2017, was launched in the Swanage area for the teenager, including police, HM Coastguard, National Police Air Service, Dorset Search and Rescue and members of the public

The teenager, who suffered from severe epilepsy, was captured on CCTV at 3.40pm running along Morrison Road.

'Gaia then attended the address of a friend's grandmother and is behaving irrationally,' the coroner said.

'She leaves that address and the last know sighting of Gaia was on CCTV in Priest's Road at 3.59pm on November 7.'

The coroner said the inquest would last until July and would consider 'how and in what circumstances' Miss Pope-Sutherland died.

The jury will hear evidence of the care provided to her and what Dorset Police did from November 7, the day Miss Pope-Sutherland disappeared, until her body was found.

The inquest will examine family evidence, pathological evidence, Gaia's epilepsy care and care provided by the mental health team.

The inquest was adjourned until Wednesday.
Young women say DJ Tim Westwood pressured them into unwanted sex, and groped bottoms and breasts as he took advantage of his powerful position in the rap world.

Three women accused the 64-year-old of initiating unwanted sex, while four others allege he groped them at events, reports the Guardian and BBC.

It is claimed the first alleged incident took place in 1992, while the most recent came in 2017.

Three women, aged 17, 19 and 20 at the time they met Westwood, describe a pattern of alleged 'opportunist and predatory sexual behaviour' after agreeing to meet with him.

Two of them, who had aspirations of working within the music industry, claim they agreed to meet Westwood in London to discuss music, before he 'initiated unwanted and unexpected sex' that left them feeling 'completely powerless' and 'scared'.

A further four women say Westwood groped them while posing for a picture with him after his nightclub performances.

The DJ, who is not married, has strenuously denied all claims. A spokesperson for the DJ told MailOnline: 'Tim Westwood strongly denies all allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

'In a career that has spanned 40 years, there have never been any complaints made against him officially or unofficially. Tim Westwood strongly rejects all allegations of wrongdoing.'

Young women say DJ Tim Westwood pressured them into unwanted sex, and groped bottoms and breasts as he took advantage of his powerful position in the rap world

Veteran DJ Tim Westwood is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by women who claim he abused his position to take advantage of them. The DJ has strenuously denied all allegations

One accuser claims Westwood (pictured) drove her to a flat in central London and initiated unwanted sex when she was 19 and he was 53. The DJ has denied all allegations

The women, who do not know one another, were aged in their late teens or early 20s when they claim they were set upon by the former Radio 1 star.

Each have provided their own claims in the wake of anonymous sexual misconduct allegations levelled against Westwood on social media two years ago.

One woman was in her 20s when, she told the BBC, she met Westwood after reassuring her mother that it was work experience to help the DJ connect with a younger audience.

She claims when Westwood picked her up in a large American-style vehicle he started touching her inappropriately before his 'erratic driving' was picked up on by a police officer.

Later, in a London flat, she claims the DJ sat next to her and tried kissing her before they had sex. She claims the work experience he offered never materialised.

Using the alias Pamela, she said: 'Im in London alone with this guy who is a lot older than me. Now if I try to get out of it whos to say how he is going to react. So I just submit to it.

'It was really weird and from the back hes pulling my hair and Im thinking f***, motherf*****s going to rip my hair out. And I remember him going out to the bathroom and I was just sat there on the bed and I remember looking for my clothes so I could get dressed quickly.

'I dont want this man to see me naked even though hes just seen me naked. Its different. Traumatic. Thats how Id describe it. It was disgusting and I felt like s*** afterwards. Felt really disgusting. How have I let myself be subjected to that? Thats how I felt.'

A woman using the alias Pamela claims Westwood drove her to a flat in central London and initiated unwanted sex when she was 19 and he was 53

A woman, using the alias Tamara, alleges Westwood, then aged in his mid-thirties, also subjected her to unwanted sex when she was 17

Another woman, who was 17 at the time, alleges Westwood, then aged in his mid-thirties, also subjected her to unwanted sex.

Using the alias Tamara, she claimed the encounter took place after giving Westwood a demo of her own work while she was a member of an R&B group.

'Within the recording industry and the black community, despite him being a white man, he had absolute power. He could make or break your career', she said.

But once they arrived at a London flat, she claims Westwood, without saying anything, pulled down her trousers and underwear before performing oral sex on her.

'There was no talking,' she said. 'There was no kind of communication about that. It was just, before I knew it, thats what was happening. Im slim, Im about 5ft 3in, really small, definitely in comparison to him, hes 6ft something.

'I think I remember trying to push either his shoulder or his head but he just continued. And then I just realised that Im in a position where it has already gone too far.

'Im in a place, Im already far from home, I wouldnt know how to get home from here. I was manipulated into that position. I was led to believe one thing when he had something else in mind. Then he finishes and then its as if that hadnt happened. He just began a conversation.'

One woman, using the pseudonym Isabel, alleges she was 19 and the DJ was 53 when he exposed his genitals to her in a car

Tamara said she had sex with Westwood on a few occasions over the next couple of years until she eventually told him to stop.

She added: 'His general demeaner, in effect, completely changed. His face changed.

'It was kind of like he couldnt believe I was actually saying no.

'I think I assumed he was 20-something but then much later I calculated it and I figured he would have been either 34 or 35 when I was 17. And thats really no age for a grown man to be removing around with teenagers.'

A third woman, using the pseudonym Isabel, alleges she was 19 and the DJ was 53 when he exposed his genitals to her in a car after she gave him a mixtape showing what she could do.

She told the BBC she felt 'completely powerless' and 'very, very scared' when he allegedly exposed his genitals to her in a car' before taking her to his flat.

Isabel told the BBC that upon entering a flat in London, a naked Westwood entered the room with a drink in hand. He was allegedly holding a condom which was in a packet with his face on and initiated sex with her while she remained 'frozen'.

She added: 'And then that was it. He was done. He got off. I think he left the room. I just remember feeling so deflated and so sad and feeling really ashamed of myself and bad.'

One woman who claims her breast was grabbed by the veteran DJ in 2000 said she was left feeling 'cold and dirty' after the alleged incident.

Another woman described how she 'froze' and felt 'very intimated' after Westwood allegedly said 'lemme grab some ass', before putting his hand down the back of her shorts after meeting the girl at a club in Ayia Napa, Cyprus in 2009.

Westwood, pictured above in 2005, is at the centre of a sexual misconduct storm after allegations were levelled against him in recent years

One accuser claims Westwood drove her to a flat in central London and initiated unwanted sex when she was 19 and he was 53. He has denied all of the women's claims

Other women claim Westwood groped them during photo shoots with the celebrity after his shows. One said she was aged 22, and Westwood 59, when he 'moved his hand up the back of her skirt' at a New Year's Day event in London in 2017.

The women, whose identities have been anonymised, will share their accounts in a new BBC Three documentary, Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power which airs at 9pm tonight.

A statement released by the BBC in response to Westwood's allegations said: 'The BBC is against all forms of inappropriate behaviour and we are shocked to hear of these allegations. The BBC has strict codes of conduct for all those engaged by the BBC, including on-air presenters.'

The allegations are likely to further rock the music industry after hundreds of musicians spoke out about their struggles with bullying and harassment in 2021.

X Factor star Rebecca Ferguson previously demanded a parliamentary inquiry into the music industry and called for greater regulation to protect artists from 'bullying' agents and managers.

She said that she had been sexually harassed by a music executive and, in a series of tweets, claimed she knew two women who had been raped and others who had been driven close to suicide by the industry.

Westwood, son of the former Bishop of Peterborough, is a well known figure on the hip hop scene.

He began his career with local radio before joining Capital Radio in London and was later given his own show by BBC Radio 1.

Westwood is considered among the most influential rap and hip hop DJ in Europe and is a winner of numerous radio industry awards, including best radio DJ in the Music of Black Origin ceremony.

In 1999 he was the victim of a drive by shooting in south London after leaving a concert.

Two men on a motorbike pulled up alongside his Range Rover and fired several shots. Westwood suffered an arm injury and later said the attack was part of an extortion attempt by a gang.

Tim Westwood, son of the former Bishop of Peterborough, is a well known and award-winning figure in the UK hip hop scene

In 2020, Westwood was forced to deny involvement in similar allegations when the hashtag #survivingTimWestwood appeared on Twitter.

Westwood's name and the allegations began trending on Twitter after an unnamed woman posted messages describing a four year relationship.

Using the Twitter name @survivingtimwestwood she admitted she was in love with the DJ and had not gone to police with any of her allegations.

Others responding to the Twitter messages called on bosses at Global Radio, where Westwood works for Capital Xtra, to investigate his behaviour towards young black women.

The renowned DJ vehemently denied sensational allegations on social media that he has behaved inappropriately with student fans.

In October 2013, Westwood was condemned by students for a vulgar and sexist stage show he put on during a Fresher's event at the University of Leicester.

While performing as guest DJ at the O2 Academy he was heard shouting over the microphone: 'Girl in the front row with the black dress on, I will be f****** you later.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has called on locals to snitch on cops using their phones on subway platforms while on duty by sending him photos.

Adams made the plea at a press conference Tuesday when asked by a journalist about reports of multiple uniformed cops being spotted scrolling through phones while on duty guarding the city's crime-ridden transport network.

The former NYPD captain warned: 'We are going to start taking very aggressive actions to make sure police are patrolling our subway system and not patrolling their iPhone.'

'If you see it, send me a picture. I'll go to that district the next day and see exactly what is happening.

'Send me a shot. New Yorkers, you see that send me a photo and I will be at that station.' Adams spokesman told anyone with photos to send them to his press office, whose email address is pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov.

The mayor said that if New Yorkers send him photos of officers on their phones, he will be at that district the next day to 'see exactly what's happening'

Images of NYPD cops using their phones while on duty have infuriated New Yorkers as the city battles an exponential rise in violent crime

Adams said that New Yorkers can look forward to a 'visible difference in policing in the next couple of weeks.'

He spoke a fortnight after a gunman shot five people on a Brooklyn subway train, with numerous other horrifying crimes raising fears for commuters' safety.

They include Deloitte manager Michelle Go, who was killed by a vagrant after being shoved off a subway platform at Times Square station and into the path of a moving train January.

Taking photos or videos of officers comes could come with limitations. In March 2022, Adams slammed members of the public who got too close when recording officers who were making arrests.

Adams said at the time, 'Stop being on top of my police officers while they carry on their jobs; not acceptable and wont be tolerated. If your iPhone cant catch that picture at a safe distance then you need to upgrade your iPhone.'

Adams struck a different note in March 2022 when he slammed members of the public who got too close to officers when they were making arrests

Earlier in his April 26 speech, Adams took aim at the rising crime rates in the city.

'New Yorkers have a right to be angry, a right to expect more  to feel safe, to be safe, to know that your city is looking out for you, your family, and those in need,' Adams said in his speech after his first 100 days in office have been plagued by skyrocketing crime.

The 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.

His speech came after Adams finalized his nearly $100 billion budget, which earmarked millions toward mental health and building affordable housing but did not designate money to hire more cops.

Felony assaults are up 21 percent than at the same time in 2021, robbery is up nearly 47 percent, rape is up nearly 15 percent, and the percentage of shooting victims is up eight percent, according to the latest statistics from the city's police department. Murders are down just 13 percent.

The mayor pointed out that hate crimes continue to be directed at Asian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, and LGBTQ+ New Yorkers.

'Our sister Michelle Go was pushed to her death in front of a train in an act of horrifying hatred,' he said, adding that dozens more of 'our New York City neighbors' have been killed by gun violence.

Adams named several of the victims, including an aspiring rapper who was executed in cold blood, a 19-year-old girl was killed as she worked the night shift in East Harlem and two police officers who were shot dead responding to a call.

'Their names will echo in our hearts forever: Kristal, Jayquan, Kade, Sally, Angellyah. Detectives Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera,' he said, pointing out that many of the victims' families were at the speech on Tuesday.

'I can only imagine the loss you feel and the pain you live with,' he told them. 'But I will not rest until we have addressed the conditions that led to that loss. We will do what is necessary to make all of our communities safe. You have my word, as a former police officer, a fellow New Yorker, and your mayor.'

Adams took office this year with a central focus on making the city feel safe, but violent crime rates have climbed since the pandemic, according to crime stats (pictured)

The mayor's speech was full of hope and promises on Tuesday, but the first 3 1/2 months of his administration have been beset by a string of high-profile violent incidents, with last week's shooting on a subway train the most terrifying and public of all.

The morning rush-hour attack, in which 10 people were shot on a system that serves as the arteries of New York, 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.

The mayor has been among Democrats who've pushed back on calls from liberals to cut police budgets and instead route resources to social services, and he has sought to bring back some controversial policing tactics, saying they can be employed as useful tools without a return to past abuses.

In his speech at Brooklyn's Kings Theatre, Adams unveiled a $99.7 billion revised budget plan, with much of the money geared toward homeless services, mental health programs, affordable housing and education.

'There are four main areas that we will focus on as we go forward: protecting our people, growing our economy, uplifting our youth, and building our infrastructure,' he said, adding that the new budget reflects those values and provides for them.

The budget also includes funding for a Blueprint to End Gun Violence, a 'plan to confront increased crime with strategic focus and realistic solutions.'

'The plan ensures the NYPD is laser-focused on apprehending the small number of individuals responsible for the majority of gun trafficking and shootings in our city,' he said.

In partnership with President Biden, Governor Hochul, and law enforcement agencies at the local, state, and federal levels, Adams said they are working to 'cut off the flow of illegal guns into our city and crack down on repeat offenders.'

The budget includes $55 million to expand the B-HEARD program, which stands for Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division. The program is comprised of EMTs and mental health professionals that respond to 911 calls involving mental health issues.

Adams also detailed that things that have been accomplished in his first 100 days - highlighting that they have taken nearly 2,300 guns off the street.

'We have added more than 50,000 jobs in the first three months of this year, significantly outpacing the national average,' he said, adding that the unemployment rate dropped to 6.5 percent in March, down from 7.4 percent in December 2021.

Adams also said that hotel room demand is now at 86 percent of pre-pandemic levels, up from 63 percent in January of this year.

'We have ensured more than 97 percent of adults in New York City have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine,' he said. 'Ninety-seven percent  thats a number to be proud of.'

Adams said school attendance had increased by nearly 70 percent and there continues to be low levels of COVID reported in schools.

'We have added nearly 1,000 new beds for homeless New Yorkers, moved 2,500 families into shelter, and placed another 2,700 New Yorkers into subsidized housing,' he concluded.

'But this is only the start of our efforts to revitalize and rebuild this city,' he said.

Since Adams took office Jan. 1, he's been speaking about policing and crime frequently, as the list of frightening incidents piled up quickly.

The city saw a rash of random shootings, the killing of two police officers and attacks that included a woman - Michelle Go - shoved to her death in front of a train by a stranger.

Michelle Go, 40, was died after being pushed by Martial Simon, 61, who is homeless

NYC Mayor Eric Adams, 61, spoke at her vigil (pictured) and said the city couldn't go back to being filled with violent crime. Crime has only continued to rise since Go's death

'This has been particularly brutal. And I feel for him. I think hes done a fine job, especially as hes just getting used to it,' said Adams predecessor and fellow Democrat, Bill de Blasio.

Most of the violence the city has experienced has not been in the subways but in neighborhoods, particularly in communities of color. But attacks on the subway, a vital sprawling network millions of New Yorkers rely upon, loom large in public perceptions of safety.

Adams rode the subway to City Hall on his first day as mayor, calling 911 to report a fight near the train platform before he even boarded the train. He admitted later that he didnt feel safe on the train after encountering a yelling passenger and several homeless people, and said the city needs to tackle 'actual crime' and 'the perception of crime.'

Adams had already announced plans earlier this year to boost the number of police officers on subway platforms and trains and to address crime generally. He has brought back a controversial police anti-gun unit, called for help from the federal government cracking down on ghost guns and pushed for changes to New Yorks bail laws.

Critics contend that focusing just on beefing up police isnt a solution to making the city safe, but more investment is needed in mental health programs and other social services.

Jayquan McKenley, 18, who went by the name Chii Wvttz, was shot dead outside a recording studio in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood earlier this year

Growing up, drill rapper Jayquan McKenley, 18, went to five different high schools and programs as a teenager missed hundreds of days of school

Frank James, the 62-year-old suspect in the Brooklyn subway shooting, spoke of his own mental health struggles in a series of YouTube videos in which he described going in and out of mental health facilities, including some in New York City.

Before Tuesdays attack, Adams had started sending out social work teams to try to connect people on the streets with mental health help and other services. The mayor also announced plans to significantly expand a summer youth job program designed to put young people in paid jobs when school is on break, with the aim of diverting them from activities that could lead to arrest or violence.

After last weeks subway shooting, Adams, in a series of interviews, discussed plans to increase the number of police officers patrolling the subways and suggested metal detectors could be installed in stations - a decision that ultimately would rest with the transit authority, which falls under state control.

Frank James, the 62-year-old suspect in the Brooklyn subway shooting, spoke of his own mental health struggles in a series of YouTube videos

Frantic commuters were seen trying to run for the exits after a gunman opened fire at a Brooklyn subway station on Tuesday morning

Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for the nonprofit Riders Alliance representing New York City bus and subway passengers, said that despite a high-profile incident like the shooting, the subway is still the safest way to get around the city, with traffic accidents and pedestrians being struck by cars a far more likely hazard.

Rather than explore metal detectors and other ways to scrutinize passengers, he said New York needs a better transit system overall that gets more people on board and provides safety with strength in numbers.

'By having transit that is faster and more reliable and gets to more places that people want to go is a way to boost ridership,' he said.

De Blasio praised Adams attempts to address both crime and perceptions of crime, and said public safety experts recommend the best way to make the city feel safe is 'more normalcy, more recovery from COVID.'

Getting people back on trains and back in the city is not just a reminder of New York's resiliency, but also an added layer of eyes and ears to compliment the police, the former mayor said.

Among this year's dead are NYPD cops Jason Rivera, left, and Wilbert Mora, right, who were both shot and killed by a suspect in January

'The overall reality is NYPD has actually done a very good job over the years of making the subway safer and safer,' he said. 'Police can do so much, but they cant do it alone. They need eyes and ears - and cooperation of the public.'

Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said it's difficult to have a discussion about how to prevent Tuesday's shooting without knowing more about the alleged perpetrator and his motivation and mental health, and that makes it difficult to link it to a broader examination of other violent crime in New York.

'One of the challenges with crime is you can get three people shot in one night and theyre all shot for different reasons that have different solutions and different responses,' Quinn said.

She said Adams, with his law enforcement background, understands that crime and criminals are not one-size-fits-all. And while guns may be involved in a lot of crimes and more illegal guns need to be taken off the street, other incidents can stem from gang issues, mental health issues or other factors.

Confronting crime generally requires a multi-faceted response, she said, and help from many layers of government.

'There are very few things that one elected official can fix alone,' she said. 'Even in a big city like New York, a lot of what exists here is also controlled by the state and the feds.'

'But there is no bigger bully pulpit and convening power-short of the president of the United States-than that of the mayor of the city of New York. And we know Eric Adams is not afraid to use that,' she said.
Former US President Donald Trump claimed the Queen and Camilla were competing with each other for his attention at a royal banquet, and also told Piers Morgan the monarch is 'truly a legend'.

Mr Trump said he was in the company of Camilla and the 96-year-old Queen during an event at Buckingham Palace in June 2019, which he attended with his wife, Melania, and his older children.

The ex-US president, who was speaking to Piers Morgan for his show on new channel Talk TV, with the second half of the interview airing at 8pm tonight, said: 'She [Camilla] was on my right, the Queen was on my left, and I said "Queen, I really have to talk to Camilla for a little while too". We couldn't break apart.

'[Camilla] was funny, she was smart, she was quick, she was great. I like her too. I like Charles.'

When asked if he thinks Charles and Camilla will make a good King and Queen when the time comes, Mr Trump said: 'I hope so. I think it's going to be tricky because they are truly replacing a legend when you talk about this woman [the Queen].'

Former US President Donald Trump claimed the Queen and Camilla were competing with each for his attention at a royal banquet

Mr Trump said he was in the company of Camilla, Charles and the 96-year-old Queen during an event at Buckingham Palace in June 2019, which he attended with his wife, Melania, and his older children

Mr Trump also claimed the Queen had never had such a good time' than when he was sitting next to him at the state banquet.

He said: 'And I sat next to her and we talked the whole night. And somebody said, we've never seen her smile so much. We had a great time. She was laughing and smiling.

'They said they've never seen her have such a good time at a state dinner. You know, normally they're a little boring. Okay, this wasn't boring.'

Elsewhere in the Talk TV interview, Mr Trump blasted Prince Harry's 'terrible' choice to miss his grandfather Prince Philip's memorial service and said the Duke of Sussex is 'whipped like no person I think I've ever seen'.

The ex-US president said it was the 'worst' decision Harry had made, blasted him for being 'so disrespectful' and an 'embarrassment' - and urged the Queen to strip the Duke and his wife Meghan Markle of all their royal titles.

President Trump boasted that the Queen 'never had such a good time' as when she was sitting next to him at a State Banquet in June 2019 (pictured)

During his interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV, Mr Trump called the Queen a 'legend'

Mr Trump added that the Queen should ban Harry from even visiting her in Britain and tell him: 'Frankly, don't come around.'

When asked about Harry, he said: 'Harry is whipped. Harry is whipped like no person I think I have ever seen.

'I'm not a fan of Meghan. I'm not a fan and I wasn't right from the beginning. I think poor Harry is being led around by his nose.'

When asked by Mr Morgan if he thinks Harry and Meghan's marriage is going to end, Mr Trump added: 'I do. I've been a very good predicter as you know. I've predicted almost everything. It'll end and it'll end bad.

'And I wonder if Harry's going to go back on his hands and knees and say "please". I think Harry has been led down a path.'

'The only thing I disagree with the Queen on - probably one of the only things ever - is that I think she should have said "if that's your choice, fine, but you no longer have titles and frankly don't come around".

'He has been so disrespectful to the country and I think he is an embarrassment.'

The ex-US president was speaking to Piers Morgan for his show on new channel Talk TV, which aired at 8pm tonight

The Sussexes were noticeably absent from Philip's memorial service at Westminster Abbey last month amid rows between Harry and the Home Office over personal protection during visits from their home in the US.

After his grandfather died in April 2021, Harry returned for the funeral at St George's Castle in Windsor Castle - and was said to have wanted to travel to the UK for the thanksgiving service on March 29, along with his family.

But sources suggested his legal position could have been 'undermined' if he had travelled from the US.

Harry brought a High Court claim against the Home Office after being told he would no longer get the same degree of personal security when visiting the UK, despite offering to cover the costs himself.

Mr Morgan spoke to Mr Trump about Harry missing the memorial, saying: 'I couldn't believe that he would not go to that, he was at the Super Bowl. He was at a Texas rodeo. But he couldn't find time to get on a plane.'
A pair of children orphaned during the siege of Mariupol and snatched away into Russian-held territory received a visit from President Zelensky in their Kyiv hospital.

Ilya Matvienko, ten, and Kira Obedinska, 12, both suffered injuries and lost their parents in Russian bombings of their homes.

Russian forces then rounded them up and took them out of the city to enemy territory, according to the President's official website.

Ukrainian authorities managed to return the children from Russian clutches to the Okhmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital and the arms of their grandparents.

A video posted to Volodymy Zelensky's Facebook page showed Ilya Matvienko clearly delighted to receive an iPad from his beaming president on his birthday as his grandmother and doctors watched on.

Ilya Matvienko receives an iPad from President Zelensky while he recuperates in hospital. He lost both his parents in the siege of Mariupol and was taken away to Russian-held territory

Ukrainian authorities managed to return the children from Russian clutches to the Okhmatdyt National Children's Specialized Hospital and the arms of their grandparents

President Zelensky hands over an iPad to Kira Obedinska, 12, who is recovering in a Kyiv hospital after losing her parents and being kidnapped by Russian forces

Ilya lost his mother during Russian bombing of Mariupol which has seen over 10,000 people killed - a number that could easily double, according to the city's mayor, Vadym Boychenko.

If the death toll reaches 20,000, it would amount to almost 5 per cent of the coastal city's pre-war population of over 400,000.

In a touching scene, President Zelensky wished Ilya a happy birthday and doctors assured him that the boy would make a full recovery.

'We are most worried about the children. Children are our future. We will fight for every Ukrainian child to return home,' the President said.

Kira Obedinska's father, a multiple Ukrainian water polo champion and former captain of the national team, was killed under Russian bombing. Her mother died before the war.

Her grandfather Oleksandr Obedinsky, water polo coach of the Ukrainian national team, was at her bedside to greet President Zelensky. She also received an iPad.

Zelensky greets the grandmother of Ilya Matvienko, ten, who was at his bedside and will take over responsibility for his care now that he is an orphan

The Ukrainian wartime leader shakes the hand of Kira's grandfather, water polo coach of the Ukrainian national team Oleksandr Obedinsky

The Ukrainian president was also effusive in his warm words towards the hospital's doctors, presenting them with state awards in their honour.

'Thank you for your important daily work, for saving the lives of Ukrainians. You are also on your frontline, like our military,' he said.

The hospital visit would have been welcome respite for the president, whose country faces a tough battle to stop Mariupol from falling entirely into Russian hands.

Russia's defence ministry yesterday announced a ceasefire around the Azovstal steel plant and claimed it would allow civilians there to evacuate from the industrial area that has been sheltering the remaining Ukrainian resistance in the port city.

But Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Kyiv had not agreed to the 'humanitarian corridor' set out by Russia - and for that reason does not consider the route safe for civilians. He added that Russia had breached agreements on similar evacuation routes before.

Smoke rises above a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol

Meanwhile, hopes of peace talks appear to have been shattered as Vladimir Putin wants to seize as much land as he can for Russia, according to Kremlin insiders.

The three insiders claimed that the Russian president wanted to grab territory because he felt negotiations had reached a 'dead end', The Financial Times reported.

One insider said: 'There was hope for a deal. Putin was going back and forth. He needs to find a way to come out of this a winner.'

'Putin sincerely believes in the nonsense he hears on [Russian] television and he wants to win big,' another insider added.

A third said he wouldn't sign anything after the humiliation caused by the sinking of the Moskva.

A senior member of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umirov, said: 'We continue the negotiation process. Primarily  to save more lives of our people.'

Vladimir Putin has given up on peace talks with Ukraine as he wants to seize as much land as he can for Russia, according to Kremlin insiders

'We will use all the political and diplomatic efforts to stop this bloodshed. But there are red lines we will never cross. Ukraine will never give up its people and its territories,' he told The Times.

It comes as officials in the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol say a new '200-yard mass grave' has been identified north of the city that could contain hundreds of bodies.

Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities are trying to estimate the number of victims in the grave about six miles north of Mariupol.

This would be the third after satellite photos released over the last few days have shown what appear to be images of other mass graves.

On Saturday, chilling satellite photos revealed a second mass grave near Mariupol - as Russian forces continued to pummel the last 2,000 Ukrainian defenders trapped in a steelworks in the city.

The photos from Maxar Technologies showed the site at a cemetery in the town of Vynohradne. It has several newly dug parallel trenches measuring about 131 feet long, Maxar said in a statement.

Volodymyr Zelensky warned Vladimir Putin that if he tried to build a Nazi-style 'millennial Reich' he would 'lose'.
Dubbed the 'People's Convoy,' a small group of truckers that rolled through Oakland to protest a lawmaker's sponsorship of a pro-abortion bill and a Covid vaccine mandate bill, were pelted with eggs by upset residents.

California assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, 44, represents the state's 15th District, which encompasses some well-known suburbs including Berkeley and Oakland. On Friday, her home was surrounded by police after it was targeted by a convoy of 20 drivers in 18-wheelers pressuring her to resign.

Earlier in April, Wicks, who's held office since December 2018, sponsored a bill that would require all workers in California to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. The bill was 'postponed' after it faced stiff opposition from labor unions as the omicron variant crested in the heavily vaccinated state.

The Democrat stirred the pot even more after introducing another bill that would end the requirement for coroner investigations into stillbirths. It was characterized by anti-abortion commentators as 'the most extreme anti-life bill California has ever seen, essentially legalizing infanticide.'

The convoy, which started in Adelanto, California in February, drove across the country to D.C. and is now back in California. On Tuesday it was staying near Sacramento - 81 miles away from Oakland - and planned to be there for at least a week while deciding its next move.

A 'People's Convoy' of about 20 drivers protested through the streets of Oakland, California, on Friday due to two state bills providing access to abortion procedures for women and also requiring all employees working within the private sector to be vaccinated against COVID

Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, introduced a bill that would protect people from prosecutions and criminalization of abortion or pregnancy loss in April. Her other bill on vaccination mandates for privately-owned COVID businesses was postponed by the state's legislature

On Friday, many residents in the suburb of Oakland (pictured) threw eggshells against the convoy drivers as they attempted to make their way to Wicks' home

Some onlookers stood in front of the trucks. Honking noises were heard throughout the day

A woman gestures the middle finger to a protestor in Wicks' neighborhood, which was protected by police

Last week's demonstration was similar to one carried out by the People's Convoy movement in Canada for a month between January and February. Motives for the protest were similar too, as Canadian truckers were opposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Footage from Friday shared online by Rise Images shows residents and truck drivers clashing in the San Francisco suburb while the sounds of horns never ceases to erupt from every street.

'People have come from all over the United States to fight for your freedom,' a man told one of Wicks' neighbors while filming the protest on the streaming platform Twitch. He then pointed out a truck on the street with a Minnesota license plate, which had attended the demonstration, emphasizing his claim that drivers nationwide reassembled for the occasion.

The convoy stayed around Wicks' neighborhood for a little more than an hour before going to other parts of the area. None of the participants was arrested or cited, according to California Highway Patrol and the Oakland Police Department.

Earlier last week, the convoy drove through Sacramento to protest the same vaccination mandates.

A spokesperson for Wicks told news outlets that the assemblywoman would be 'off the grid as far as communication goes' for the foreseeable future.

'Bullhorns and loud trucks lend no legitimacy to baseless conspiracy theories from out of state protestors, and Asm. Wicks will not indulge any attempts to influence her legislative work through harassment and intimidation tactics  especially when it's directed at her home and her family,' Erin Ivie, a spokeswoman for Wicks' office, wrote in an email sent out over the weekend.

DailyMail.com has contacted Wicks' office for further comment.

Truck drivers participating in the Oakland convoy incessantly blasted their horns while making their way past the city's Safeway on College Avenue near Wicks' home.

They were denied access from certain streets, though, where they were greeted by irritated onlookers. Some of them threw eggs at the trucks from local supermarkets and repeatedly yelled: 'Get out of our town!,' at the drivers, who got out of their trucks to confront them.

One angry resident took as many egg shells as he could from a grocery store nearby in an altercation with protestors

The same man gestured his middle finger to many of the truck drivers before yelling profanities in a bid to make them leave

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: A driver was caught on tape exiting his truck after he said that his 18-wheeler was 'vandalized' by counter protestors

The driver then went up to a protestor who threw the eggshells at his truck and told him that he wasn't 'fighting for freedom'

Another resident who was riding her bike confronted a driver in Wicks' neighborhood on Friday afternoon

People gathered around a local market on a street in Oakland to throw eggshells at truck drivers, some of whom came from different parts of the country on Friday to be part of the demonstration

Later, some residents stood in front of several trucks while gesturing at them, as loud honking noise continued to prevail around the sunny neighborhood.

'This is not freedom  you are a disturber,' one woman said while clashing with a Twitch streamer, whose YouTube channel, WYSIWYGTV, shares 'unedited conversations with real people for you to make up your own mind,' according to its description.

In other videos circulating online, some protesters refer to Wicks' bill as assisting with 'infanticide.'

In fact, the bill, which has not yet been approved by the state Legislature, protects women from being criminally charged when carrying out abortions, or when they experience a miscarriage or stillbirth. Rather, the bill seeks to protect parents from legal prosecution if that perinatal death is the result of accidental causes, she said.

Farah Diaz-Tello, J.D., Senior Counsel & Legal Director at If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, told Reuters, 'The bill as written reinforces existing California law that protects people from being criminalized based on an accusation that something they did or did not do during pregnancy caused a certain pregnancy outcome.'

She said that as written the bill 'acknowledges, as do many other statutes across the country prohibiting criminalization of pregnancy outcomes, that sometimes an incident that occurs during pregnancy leads to the loss of the baby after it is born.'

Wicks' representative reiterated the 'overall intention of the bill is to ensure that no one in the State of California is investigated, persecuted or incarcerated for ending a pregnancy or experiencing pregnancy loss'.

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Kirsch, foreground right, founder of the anti-vaccine group Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, speaks against vaccine mandates to the crowd gathered Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at the state Capitol for The People's Convoy

Meanwhile, Wicks' other bill on establishing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for all businesses in the private sector in the surrounding area was postponed.

However, drivers on Friday put several phrases and slogans on their trucks with the phrase, 'We the People' and shouted 'Freedom!' as they surrounded Hicks' home, building up traffic.

'We are U.S. citizens, we believe in the Constitution and your legislations are a direct assault on the freedoms of this country!' one protester yelled out of a megaphone to local residents, who reacted with a chorus of boos.

The protest comes as average daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are continuing to fall in the U.S., an indicator that the omicron variants hold is weakening across the country, and mandates are being loosened or lifted.

Public health experts said they feel hopeful that more declines are ahead, but many worry U.S. vaccinations remain below expectations, concerns that are exacerbated by the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
The Oklahoma Republican Party chairman who posted a photo of his family holding automatic weapons and compared vaccine mandates to wearing the Star of David has called for the execution of Anthony Fauci by firing squad.

John Bennett, 47, who is running for US Congress in Oklahoma's June GOP primary under the slogan 'conservative to the core,' made the comments to a cheering crowd during a campaign stop.

Raging about opponents like 'communist Democrats' and 'establishment RINOS,' Bennett made the usual claims that the 2020 election was stolen, and declared a war with 'bureaucrats who have forced vaccine mandates on us, mask mandates on us.'

John Bennett, Chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, said that Anthony Fauci should be executed for vaccine and mask mandates at a recent campaign event

Bennett (left, with gun) alongside his family (right of Bennett, with guns) is running to be Oklahoma's second district representative to the U.S. Congress in the state's June primary

'And you know what? They're pushing this wokeness confusion down our throats now.'

Then he added, 'And by the way, we should try Anthony Fauci and put him in front of a firing squad.'

The crowd cheered and applauded in response.

'And for the Secret Service, if they're listening,' Bennett continued in a hushed voice, 'I'm not advocating we kill Anthony Fauci until he's convicted of his crimes through a court.'

The comments are only Bennett's latest foray into far-right controversy.

Bennett noted that Fauci (above) should only be executed after he has been given his day in court. The crowd at the event cheered and laughed in response to his comments

In 2016, the Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan gave a talk in which he presented Islam as an organization founded on violence.

'The Quran... 90% of it is violence,' Bennett said during the talk, which came complete with an accompanying PowerPoint presentation.

During a 2017 run for the Oklahoma State House, Barrett distributed a flyer with a picture of his family clad in American-flag shirts and carrying assault rifles that exclaimed 'only one candidate for State House is endorsed by the NRA!'

Last July, in a post on the Oklahoma Republican Party Facebook page, Bennett compared COVID vaccine mandates to the Star of David patches European Jews were forced to wear to identify themselves in the early days of the Holocaust.

'Those who don't KNOW history, are DOOMED to repeat it,' the caption read along with a photo of a Jewish-star patch with 'Unvaccinated' printed across it.

On Tuesday, video of Bennett's comments about Fauci were posted on the Twitter account Right Wing Watch, which posts videos of the claims of far right organizations.

Bennett is running to represent the Oklahoma's second district in the U.S. Congress.

He was elected Chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party a year ago in April 2021.
Kim Kardashian admitted in court on Tuesday that she resented having to film episodes of Keeping up with the Kardashians with Blac Chyna after she allegedly beat her brother with a metal rod.

The E! Network, which aired both Keeping up with the Kardashians, and its spinoff Rob and Chyna, paid Chyna $370,000 to film four episodes of KUWTK after season one of the latter show ended.

But that deal was inked without consulting the Kardashians, said Kim, who protested in an email that at E!, 'Nobody listens to usNo one respects us', the court heard.

She then reportedly urged her sisters in a text to 'get on the phone today' with E! executives following the December 2016 fight.

'I was upset that Rob was so emotional and upset,' the 41-year-old reality star explained to jurors at Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.

'I remember trying to be supportive of my brother - he was being so emotional,' said Kim, who wore a gray pin-striped suit with her hair pulled back into a bun, looking very fresh despite a trip to Washington D.C. and Orlando, Florida that made her miss court the day before.

'It's all such a blur,' she said, remembering that her brother, Rob, 'looked red and puffy and exhausted and drained.'

Kim added: 'It was our show and she's not a family member.'

But now Chyna, 33, is suing the entire Kardashian clan for defamation, claiming they intentionally interfered with her contract on the Keeping up with the Kardashians spin-off Rob and Chyna.

Kim, 41, Khloe Kardashian, 37, Kylie, and their mother, family matriarch Kris Jenner, 66, are all named defendants in the $108 million suit.

Kim Kardashian, sketched in court last week, testified on Tuesday that she was uncomfortable filming scenes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians with Blac Chyna after she allegedly hit her brother, Rob, with a metal rod

E! Network executives paid Chyna $370,000 to film four episodes of KUWTK after season one of Rob and Chyna ended. She is seen at right in one of those episodes with Kim Kardashian

In court on Tuesday, Chyna's attorney, Lynne Ciani, grilled Kim about the intent of the text message she sent to her sisters - and whether they ever had a family meeting about canceling the second season of Rob and Chyna.

The lawyer pointed to an email from Kim to the producers of KUWTK in which she talked of taking a break from the show and warning them that 'you'll lose the rest of the Kardashians and Jenners' if they continued filming with Chyna.

'You already got Chyna off her show (Rob and Chyna) and now you didn't want her on your show (KUWTK) either?,' Ciani asked the reality star.

'I'm just saying this is our show,' Kim responded. 'We have the discretion of what we're going to film content wise.

'Why would you want to put my brother in this situation if he's going to end up crying and she's (Chyna) just going to show up to film and not be with him?

'Why would we film with her on our show? It was our show and she's not a family member.'

Kim also told the lawyer at least four times that she did not remember why she sent the urgent text to her sisters.

Also on Tuesday, Kim's sister, Khloe, testified that she, too, was worried about 'something crazy happening down the line' if there were a second season of the KUWTK spin-off.

She confirmed Kim's comments about the metal rod, saying: 'I know it was a metal rod. I saw red indentations on my brother's neck.'

But, she said, the family had 'no control' of whether E! would cancel Chyna's contract - a claim later confirmed by Adam Stotsky, the former president of the network.

'With all due respect to [the Kardashians], they do not have the authority to kill Rob and Chyna, only E! has the power to do that,' Stotsky said in court.

And when the Kardashians' attorney, Michael Rhodes asked him: 'Did the Kardashians do anything whatsoever to cause you to say, 'No season 2,' Stotsky replied, 'No.'

Instead, he said, the original premise for Rob and Chyna was the couple's 'newly blossoming relationship' with a light-hearted, romantic comedy feel to it.

But when that relationship started 'falling apart' - with Rob and Chyna first fighting, then not even speaking to one another, he said, 'it was kind of gross.'

Asked about the TV ratings for Rob and Chyna, Stotsky said: 'It was a top performer - it did very well.'

When Rhodes questioned Stotsky about the defamation part of Chyna's lawsuit in which she alleged that the Kardashians 'made false claims about her' to E!, he told the court the family told him nothing that 'influenced our decisions about Rob and Chyna.

And when Rhodes asked him about the part of Chyna's lawsuit in which she accuses the Kardashians of 'interfering' with her contract, Stotsky told him: 'There was nothing your clients did that affected our view of Chyna's contract.'

American Idol's Ryan Seacrest - an executive producer on both Keeping Up with the Kardashians and and Rob and Chyna - was the next witness to be called upon.

Former E! Network president Adam Stotsky also testified on Tuesday that the spin-off show Rob and Chyna was supposed to be about their 'newly blossoming relationship' but when that relationship started 'falling apart ... it was kind of gross.'

Seacrest was not in court today so a video deposition he gave in May 2019 was played to the jury.

But as it turned out, the deposition shed no new light on the case since he answered 'I can't remember' or 'I don't recall' to most of the questions he was asked.

When the Rob and Chyna TV spinoff was pitched to him, he said he thought Chyna was 'bold and memorable' though he also admitted: 'I do not think I ever met Chyna.'

He said he couldn't recall ever speaking to any of the Kardashians about a second season of Rob and Chyna. Nor could he remember hearing from any of the Kardashians about Chyna being physically abusive to Rob or 'beating the sh__ out of his face.'

'Did Rob ever talk to you about being physically abused by Chyna?' he was asked in the depo. 'I don't remember him saying that,' said Seacrest.

When he was asked if he ever had any discussions with the E! network about Chyna's contract, he answered, 'I'm not aware of one.'

Kris Jenner's boyfriend, Corey Gamble also took the stand Tuesday, telling the jury how he watched Chyna punch and hit her fiance Rob Kardashian in a drunken rage, screaming death threats and abuse at him.

In the witness box on the seventh day of the Chyna v Kardashians trial, Corey Gamble, 41, said he and Kris were awoken just before daybreak the morning of December 15, 2016, by a phone call from Rob on the speaker phone.

As Rob was speaking, 'Chyna was screaming in the background, 'F**k you, you fat motherf**ker', said Gamble.

'I could tell it was a hostile situation and needed to go there and help them.'

Gamble dressed and drove the few blocks to Kylie Kardashian's home where Rob and Chyna were living at the time,

Before he even went into their front door, he said, 'I could hear her screaming at Rob. She was telling him she hated him, she would kill him, she didn't like him.'

When he got in the house, he recounted, Chyna was standing in the bedroom doorway with Rob about seven or eight feet away from her.

'When she saw me, she threw down whatever she had in her hand (he later said it was a rod a few feet long)..Then she ran toward Rob and she picked up a charger cord and started whipping it at him.

'When she got to him she started hitting him till I got in the middle of them. She also hit Rob when she was trying to hit Rob.

'I could smell the heavy alcohol on her..she was intoxicated. She was obviously very angry. She wanted to fight him, she wanted to hit him.'

Gamble - who said that he didn't know where the couple's young daughter Dream was in the house while the fight was happening.

But he added, 'The house was a mess. There was stuff everywhere. Obviously stuff had been thrown and smashed.'

After 'physically separating' the couple, he told the court that he told Rob to get his keys and wallet from the bedroom and to get in his car and leave.

As Rob was getting to his car, Chyna 'jumped on him again and was punching him and hitting him in the side of the head,' said Gamble, who added that she picked up a chair and threw it at Rob's car as he left.'

He stayed back at the house with Chyna, 'to make sure she didn't get in one of her cars and chase Rob,' he said. 'I put her keys somewhere so she could not get them.'

A female friend of Chyna was also in the house at the time and, said Gamble, 'She told me Chyna's been drinking all night and she's been fighting with Rob.she's been yelling the same stuff, 'I hate him I don't like him.I would not like this fat f______ if he was not part of this family'.

Asked by Chyna's lawyer, Lynne Ciani, if he had ever witnessed Chyna abusing Rob prior to December 15 2016, Gamble told the court: 'That was the first time I witnessed it.

'But it was not the first time I heard about it. I heard that when she drinks or allegedly does drugs, she gets volatile.

'I heard that she had been drinking and hit him before - I heard that from Rob and the nanny who worked for them.'

When he was asked how Rob looked when he got to the house that morning, Gamble said, 'He was scared. He was red around the neck. His face was red.'
A 20-year-old Army Motor Transport Operator in training was killed in a car wreck at the Yakima Training Center in Washington state Monday.

Private First Class Joseph A. Marquez, a native of Dover, Delaware, died during a training exercise, according to a 7th Infantry Division press release. He was a member of the 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Two other soldiers, who were not named, were injured and evacuated to Yakima Memorial Hospital - they have since been released.

A media spokesman for the 7th Division told DailyMail.com that Marquez had enlisted about a year ago, but declined to give more details since the investigation is ongoing.

It is unclear what type of vehicle killed Marquez and whether he was driving.

Pfc. Joseph A. Marquez, 20 (pictured), a native of Dover, Delaware, died during a training exercise at Yakima Training Center in Washington state on Monday

Army vehicles are pictured at Yakima Training Center earlier this week - it is unclear what type of vehicle killed Pfc. Joseph Marquez

'We are deeply saddened by the loss of Pfc. Marquez,' said Lt. Col. Michael Filanowski, commander of 8th Squadron, 1st Calvary Regiment, in a press release.

'Blackhawk Squadron sends its deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. Our prayers and thoughts are with them during this difficult time. '

Members of the 8th Squadron paid tribute to their fallen comrade on Facebook.

'It is with a very heavy heart and incredible sadness that the Blackhawk Squadron announces the passing of one of our own.'

'[Marquez] was pronounced dead on scene after a vehicle accident during a unit exercise at the Yakima Training Center on April 25.'

'PFC Marquez was known for his laughter and the light he spread everywhere he went. We knew him as a loving son and brother to his family, a faithful friend to his comrades and a loyal soldier to his nation.'

In 2021, 20 soldiers died in on-duty training accidents, according to the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center. Eleven of those were in aviation crashes and the remaining nine were on the ground.

Army vehicles are pictured at Yakima Training Center - it is unclear what type of vehicle killed Pfc. Joseph Marquez
The Biden administration released a plan Tuesday to deal with an expected increase in already high numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border due to the planned lifting of a public health order that has kept people from seeking asylum - and that Republican and some Democratic lawmakers insist should be kept in place.

A memo from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas outlines a more robust effort to enforce U.S. immigration law without the use of Title 42, which was invoked at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

The plan is to add 600 members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. There would be additional transportation and medical support as well.

'When the Title 42 public health Order is lifted, we anticipate migration levels will increase, as smugglers will seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable migrants,' Mayorkas warns in a memo that comes a day before he is to testify to Congress on an issue that has become a potent element in Republican political messaging.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas released a plan to send 600 Customs and Border Agents to the border for an anticipated crush of immigration when the administration plans to lift Title 42 authority May 23

The plan includes increasing the number of personnel in the border region from Customs and Border Protection and other federal agencies, expanding detention capacity with the use of temporary facilities and aggressively deploying a process known as expedited removal to deport migrants who do not qualify for asylum or some other relief under U.S. law.

The agency is planning for increased capacity by May 23, with 18,000 non-citizens in CBP custody.

That is an increase from 13,000 in early 2021.

The administration says it will comply with a court ruling if a judge issues a temporary restraining order, Axios reported.

It also relies on new Department of Homeland Security initiatives intended to streamline the evaluation of migrant claims, such as the deployment of asylum officers to the border to help determine whether someone should be granted temporary legal residency until an immigration court rules on their case.

Unmentioned is the fact that a court could soon order the government to reverse course and halt plans to lift Title 42 on May 23 because of lawsuits filed by Republican-led states.

Senate Republicans are acting to try to force the administration to keep the policy in place, likely by attaching it to a COVID relief package that the administration desperately wants.

Senate Minority Mitch McConnell told reporters, 'I think I'm safe to say Senate Republicans are going to insist on having an amendment to Title 42. This is extremely important. The border is already entirely too open. Pulling back the Title 42 authorities will only make it dramatically worse. And so I want to make it clear to you and to the majority leader that we'll need to have Title 42 vote at some point here, in all likelihood on the COVID package.'

The administration has said without the new funds, it won't be able to secure purchases of upcoming coronavirus drugs being developed.

A Mexican smuggler guides a Haitian family across the Morelos Dam over the Colorado River from Los Algodones, Mexico, on Feb. 4, 2022, to Yuma, Ariz., on the other side

Members of the Texas National Guard are stationed along the Rio Grande River where U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy leads a congressional delegation visit to the southern border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S. April 25, 2022. The Biden administration is planning to send an additional 600 Border Patrol agents for a planned lifting of a public health order

U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pauses as he addresses the media during a congressional delegation visit to the southern border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S. April 25, 2022. Republicans have pounded the Biden administration for the planned lifting of Title 42 in May

On Monday, a federal judge in Louisiana said he would issue an order limiting the administrations ability to prepare but left specifics of the settlement to the federal government and the states.

U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays, a Trump appointee, has scheduled a hearing on May 13 in the lawsuit by Louisiana and 20 other states seeking to keep Title 42 authority in place. Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have also urged the Biden administration to continue the order for now.

Migrants have been expelled more than 1.8 million times under the rule, which was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Donald Trump.

Advocates for asylum-seekers support the end to the rule, which they say endangers people fleeing persecution back home and violates rights to seek protection under U.S. law and international treaty. The states challenging the administration say the U.S. is not ready for a likely influx of migrants resulting from the rules end, straining public services.

It comes amid what the administration concedes are historic numbers of migrants attempting to cross the border due to factors that include economic and political turmoil in Latin America, as well as a backlog of people hoping to seek asylum.

The increase in migrant encounters is also due in part to Title 42 itself.

Immigration authorities stopped migrants 221,303 times along the Southwest border in March, a 33% increase from a month earlier, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

But many of those encounters were people coming back after being removed under the public health authority. CBP said the number of unique individuals encountered nationwide in March came to 159,900, still high but significantly below the total.

Biden administration officials argue that the use of expedited removal is more of a deterrent because people subjected to it are inadmissible for five years and can be charged with a felony if they attempt to return to the country. Under Title 42, there are no legal consequences and many people simply turn around and come back.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gestures during a military parade held to celebrate the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, Monday. EPA-Yonhap



Presidential transition team calls for stronger deterrence



By Nam Hyun-woo



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to strengthen the regime's nuclear arms capability, threatening to use those weapons if provoked, according to the North's state media, Tuesday.



In response, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's transition committee said the incoming government will respond with a "three-axis system," which includes air missile defense, preemptive strike system and massive retaliation plan, signaling that tensions between the two Koreas will likely escalate further under the incoming administration which is scheduled to be launched on May 10.



During a military parade to mark the 90th anniversary of North Korea's army, which was held on Monday night, Kim said the regime will strengthen its nuclear forces at maximum speed, as well as expressing his intention to use nuclear weapons.



"The basic mission of our nuclear forces is to deter war, but if an undesirable situation emerges on our land, we should not limit our capability to a single purpose of preventing war," Kim was quoted as saying by the North's Korean Central News Agency.



"If any forces attempt to infringe on our fundamental interests, our nuclear forces will have no choice but to fulfill its second mission," Kim continued. "The republic's (North Korea's) nuclear forces should be readied so that they can carry on their responsibility and exercise deterrence whenever required."



Kim's comments are interpreted as an official proclamation that the bellicose regime may use nuclear weapons to meet its interests and that the leader has returned to his nuclear brinkmanship tactics.









Recently, reports have alleged that North Korea's seventh nuclear test is imminent, while South Korea's military believes that the North may conduct one next month.





A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency shows a new Hwasong-17 missile displayed in a military parade held to celebrate the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, Monday. EPA-Yonhap
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A Los Angeles police officer who was called to Amber Heard and Johnny Depp's penthouse after a fight testified that she did not identify the actress as a victim of domestic violence at the time.

Officer Melissa Saenz appeared via a pre-taped video deposition on Tuesday. She was asked about the visit to the penthouse apartment that Depp and Heard shared on May 21, 2016.

Under questioning from Heards lawyer Elaine Bredehoft, Saenz said, 'I did not identify her as a victim of domestic violence,' adding that she did not see any evidence of a crime, including broken glass or mess in the penthouse.

It was the last argument between Depp and Heard before she filed for a divorce and a restraining order, which she did a week later.

In request for the restraining order, Heard claimed that Depp hit her with a cell phone during that encounter, leaving her with a bruise on the right side of her face.

In the court file, Heard included an image of the bruise.

Officer Melissa Saenz appeared via a pre-taped video deposition on Tuesday. She was asked about the visit to the penthouse apartment that Depp and Heard shared on May 21, 2016

These photos were shown in court from May 2016 of Amber Heard with an apparently bruised cheek. Saenz said, 'I did not identify her as a victim of domestic violence,' adding that she did not see any evidence of a crime, including broken glass or mess in the penthouse

In request for the restraining order, Heard claimed that Depp hit her with a cell phone during that encounter, leaving her with a bruise on the right side of her face

Bredehoft showed the photo photo of Amber's face to Saenz and asked ,'Do you perceive there to be an injury or evidence of injury on amber's face in this photo?'

Saenz responded, 'No I do not.'

Bredehoft asked, 'What is your perception of the redness on the cheek and the eyelid and above the eyebrow?'

Saenz responded, 'Its consistent with her crying - she's fair skin, her face is flushed.'

Bredehoft asked, 'You don't think it's consistent with a cell phone being thrown at her?'

Saenz responded, 'Correct, it does not look like an injury caused from a cell phone. It's consistent with someone crying.'

Bredehoft asked, 'If you saw any signs of injury on Amber Heard or even just damage to the property, would you have been duty bound to make a report?'

'Correct.'

Bredehoft asked, 'Now, your recollection is that there was damage to the flat, you searched the entire flat and there was no damage, no broken glass, or anything out of the ordinary, would you agree?'

'Correct'

Bredehoft asked, 'When you got back to the elevator is there anything you remember thinking?'

Saenz responded, 'I remember being impressed by the penthouse, how big and beautiful it was yes.'

Bredehoft asked, 'When you got back to the elevator is there anything you remember thinking?' Saenz responded, 'I remember being impressed by the penthouse, how big and beautiful it was, yes.' Depp's penthouse building in LA is pictured

Depp is suing Heard for $50 million over a piece she wrote in the Washington Post in which she described how she had been a victim of domestic abuse

Her testimony followed expert witness Dr. Shannon Curry to the stand. The clinical and forensic psychologist told the court she concluded Heard had traits consistent with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD) - two conditions found in people with patterns of emotional instability and attention-seeking behavior.

Dr. Curry testified that she was initially hired by Depp's lawyers early last year to review files in the legal battle between the two feuding exes and identify behavior in their relationship that may be consistent with 'intimate partner violence'.

The psychology expert, however, revealed her role would shift several months later in October, when she was asked to provide a psychological evaluation of Heard, 36.

'The results of Ms. Heard's evaluation supported two diagnoses: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD),' Curry told the court.

She concluded that Heard 'grossly exaggerated' her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after her relationship with Depp and said that in the actress's eyes, the actor went from being 'idealized to the dumpster.'

Dr. Curry noted that Heard's BPD was marked by an 'underlying terror of abandonment' and somebody with the condition tends to make 'desperate attempts' to stop it from happening.

These could be 'very extreme behaviors', she said.

Curry added that as a result of these disorders, somebody like Heard could appear charming at the start of a friendship or relationship but could then turn dark easily.

Clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry (left) described her medical evaluation Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's relationship as she took the stand in the defamation trial Tuesday

The psychology expert revealed she was asked to conduct an evaluation of Heard, who she concluded suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder and Histrionic Personality Disorder

'You'll see relationships start very intensely, extremely close,' she said.

'This might be their perfect soulmate and initially everything seems great but reality sets in, people are not perfect.

'Most of us accept people as a whole, [but] with a person with BPD, things are in these extremes, that person goes from being idealized to dumpster, they are totally devalued, they're the worst.then there will be a repair because the person with this disorder does feel remorse.'

Somebody with BPD is usually 'very, very interested in looks and utilizes their looks to get the respect they're looking for,' she added.

Heard, who wore a cream-colored blazer and styled her hair in a crown braid, sat quietly alongside her legal team and at times was seen jotting down notes as the psychologist testified.

She did not look up as the doctor confirmed her diagnoses but at one point appeared visibly uncomfortable as the expert described the characteristics of such disorders.

According to her diagnosis, Heard was a 'sophisticated' and 'calculated' case of BPD, somebody who would 'tend to hit you where it hurts a bit more' and be 'very, very destructive.'

Dr. Curry also explained that people with BPD have identity issues and tend to change their interests and values constantly.
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The Kremlin has warned it could target military sites in the UK because of British support for Ukraine, while adding that it could also hit British diplomats returning to Kyiv after a defence minister's 'provocative' talk of bombing Russia.

Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, suggested that strikes could be authorised against NATO states who provide arms to Ukraine.

She warned: 'Do we understand correctly that for the sake of disrupting the logistics of military supplies, Russia can strike military targets on the territory of those Nato countries that supply arms to the Kyiv regime?

'After all, this directly leads to deaths and bloodshed on Ukrainian territory. As far as I understand, Britain is one of those countries.'

Her words came after Britain's Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said that the UK backed Ukrainian air strikes on Russian infrastructure.

He added that it would be 'completely legitimate' for British weapons to be used in such attacks, even though none are currently thought to be.

Heappey also said that Britain would re-start the training of Ukrainian troops inside Ukraine if the conflict became 'frozen' in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

But his remarks were seized upon by the Kremlin, with the defence ministry accusing him of 'provocation'.

In a significant escalation of tensions, Moscow also warned that it would be prepared to strike back at 'decision-making centres' in Kyiv in retaliation  even if British and other Western diplomats were present.

Meanwhile, Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the defence select committee, said Heappey's remarks had the 'potential to invite retaliatory attacks into Poland'.

He also warned that Russia could hit western targets outside Ukraine and told The Times that the West was becoming 'increasingly involved in a proxy war'.

In a significant escalation of tensions, Moscow warned that it would be prepared to strike back at 'decision-making centres' in Kyiv in retaliation - and even strike NATO bases in other countries

Russia's defence ministry issued a threat to strike UK diplomats in Kyiv when they return to the Ukrainian capital city

UK diplomats are set to be among the first to return to Ukraine after the failed Russian siege of the city came to a halt a fortnight ago

Mr Heappey told Times Radio yesterday the UK has a duty to support any Ukrainian strikes on Russian infrastructure

A British military instructor trains Ukrainian service members to use the next generation light anti-tank weapon, NLAW. A British defence minister has suggested UK soldiers could re-start training Ukrainians

It comes after Boris Johnson last week announced that Britain will reopen its embassy in Kyiv two months after staff were evacuated as war broke out. The embassy is due to open this week 'dependent on the security situation'. Melinda Simmons, UK ambassador to Ukraine, is poised to become one of the first diplomats to return.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced during a visit to Kyiv that American diplomats would also be returning to the capital 'within weeks'.

Responding to Mr Heappey's support for Ukrainian attacks on Russian supply lines, a Kremlin spokesman said: 'We would like to underline that London's direct provocation of the Kyiv regime into such actions  if such actions are carried out  will immediately lead to our proportional response.

'As we have warned, the Russian armed forces are in round-the-clock readiness to launch retaliatory strikes with high-precision long-range weapons at decision-making centres in Kyiv. The presence of advisers from Western countries in the Ukrainian decision-making centres won't necessarily pose a problem for Russia in making a decision to launch retaliatory action.'

Mr Heappey told Times Radio yesterday the UK has a duty to support any Ukrainian strikes on Russian infrastructure because these could prevent deaths of civilians. This week a key restocking depot in Bryansk 95 miles inside Russia was hit, causing explosions at fuel tanks and a refinery. Ukraine has not admitted carrying out the attack.

Mr Heappey said: 'I think it is certainly the case that things [weapons] that the international community are now providing to Ukraine have the range to be used over the borders. But that's not necessarily a problem. It is completely legitimate for Ukraine to be targeting in Russia's depth in order to disrupt the logistics that if they weren't disrupted would directly contribute to death and carnage on Ukrainian soil.'

He also insisted that Ukraine can still win the war if the West continues to provide the necessary equipment.

Meanwhile, 40 Nato and EU defence ministers yesterday met in Germany to agree to send heavier weapon systems to Ukraine.

After weeks of dithering, Germany announced it would provide 50 Gepard anti-aircraft systems. It followed harsh criticism from the US and Europe that it had been far too hesitant to deliver heavy weaponry as it feared widening the conflict.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin revealed senior officials from the alliance would meet once a month to ensure they optimised opportunities to send military equipment. He stressed: 'We have no time to lose. We have to move at the speed of war.'

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss gave her support for the UK providing Ukraine with more powerful weapons. She said it was no longer enough to supply 'defensive weaponry' as the nature of the battle had changed. She told MPs: 'For too long there was a false distinction between defensive and offensive weapons. It became an excuse for some to drag their feet. That time has now passed.'

This week a key restocking depot in Bryansk 95 miles inside Russia was hit, causing explosions at fuel tanks and a refinery. Ukraine has not admitted carrying out the attack. Armed forces minister James Heappey says Ukraine is within its rights to take the war across the border

'Considerable' risk of nuclear war, Putin's attack dog warns

By Mark Nichol Defence Editor for the Daily Mail

Vladimir Putin's attack-dog diplomat has accused the UK and other Western powers of risking nuclear war by supplying weapons to Ukraine.

Sergei Lavrov claimed Nato's support for Ukraine intended to weaken Russia and had pitched Moscow into a 'proxy war' with the security alliance.

In a chilling threat, he suggested the West's continued provision of military aid meant there was a 'considerable risk' of a nuclear conflict.

Speaking at the Kremlin, the foreign minister, known for his disdain of the West, said: 'Everyone is reciting incantations that in no case can we allow World War Three. The danger is serious. It is real. It should not be underestimated.

Speaking at the Kremlin, foreign minister Lavrov (right), known for his disdain of the West, said: 'Everyone is reciting incantations that in no case can we allow World War Three. The danger is serious. It is real. It should not be underestimated'

'Nato has entered into a war with Russia through proxies and is arming those proxies and pouring oil on the fire.

'Preventing nuclear war at all costs is our key position on which we base everything. But the risks are now considerable.

'[Russia] has a feeling the West wants Ukraine to continue to fight and, as it seems to them, wear out, exhaust the Russian army and the Russian military industrial complex. This is an illusion.'

Last night, however, Vladimir Putin raised some hopes of an end to the fighting. As he welcomed United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to the Kremlin, the Russian president said he hoped talks with Ukraine would yield 'a positive result'.

He told Mr Guterres: 'Despite the fact that the military operation is ongoing, we still hope that we will be able to reach agreements on the diplomatic track. We are negotiating, we do not reject (talks).' Representatives of the warring parties are continuing to meet in virtual peace talks. But any summit between President Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky would require officials to first make significant progress in their online negotiations, the Kremlin leader said.

He claimed previous talks in Istanbul between the two sides had achieved 'a serious breakthrough' but negotiations stalled following the discovery of the slaughter of civilians in Bucha, which Russia claims was staged by the West.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said yesterday: 'I think that what needs to happen to cause the conflict to come to an end is Mr Putin needs to make a decision to end this conflict. He's the person that started it. It will be his decision to de-escalate and then go back to the negotiating table.' The two-month long campaign has unquestionably weakened Russia, with more than 20,000 of its soldiers feared dead, the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet sunk and thousands of its aircraft, tanks and other vehicles destroyed.

Ukraine seized upon Mr Lavrov's comments, as his opposite number in Kyiv, Dmytro Kuleba, said: 'This only means Moscow senses defeat in Ukraine.

'Therefore the world must double-down on supporting Ukraine so that we prevail and safeguard European and global security.' The UK's Armed Forces Minister James Heappey described the Kremlin claims as 'bravado' while Mr Austin condemned them as 'dangerous sabre-rattling'.

He said: 'Nobody can win a nuclear war and any bluster about using nuclear weapons is unhelpful. The US will do everything in its power, and Ukraine will do everything in its power, to ensure the conflict does not spin out of control. We are always mindful of having the right balance.'

But the West's military support for Ukraine, which was reiterated at a Nato defence ministers' meeting in Germany yesterday, could lead to the break-up of the country, Russia warned yesterday.

Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's Security Council and a key ally of President Putin, said: 'The result of the policy of the West and the regime in Kyiv can only be the disintegration of Ukraine into several states.

'The Americans have cynically chosen Ukraine in an attempt to suppress Russia and have tried to divide essentially a single people.'

President Zelensky condemned Mr Guterres' decision to visit Moscow first as Russia's bombardment of Ukrainian cities continued

His remarks may have revealed Russia's position in any future peace talks, with Ukraine's eastern regions either becoming an independent country or part of the Russian Federation, in return for a ceasefire. But any settlement appeared a distant prospect last night following the visit to Moscow by Mr Guterres.

After meetings with Mr Lavrov, the UN chief said it was clear there remained 'two different positions on what is happening in Ukraine', the position held by Russia and the position held by Ukraine and its allies. Mr Guterres is also due to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

President Zelensky condemned Mr Guterres' decision to visit Moscow first as Russia's bombardment of Ukrainian cities continued.

Russia is trying to 'destabilise' breakaway Moldovan region that borders Ukraine, Kyiv warns, after two explosions prompt 'false flag' fears

Two explosions destroyed two radio antennas in the disputed Moldovan region of Transnistria yesterday

A Day earlier, explosions reportedly hit the Ministry of State Security in the breakaway region

Transnistria, a region on the border with Ukraine, is recognised internationally as part of Moldova

By Rachael Bunyan for the MailOnline

Kyiv today accused Russia of trying to 'destabilise' Moldova's breakaway region that borders Ukraine after two explosions there prompted fears of Russia launching 'false flag' attacks to justify invading the territory.

The explosions destroyed two powerful Soviet-era radio antennas that were re-broadcasting Russian stations in the region of Transnistria, an unrecognised Moscow-backed sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, on Tuesday.

The blasts occurred in the small town of Maiac roughly 12 kilometers (7 miles) west of the border with Ukraine, just days after a Kremlin military chief warned that 'Russian-speakers' had been 'oppressed' there.

A day earlier, several explosions believed to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades were reported to hit the Ministry of State Security in the city of Tiraspol, the region's capital. No one was hurt in the explosions, officials said.

On Tuesday, a military unit in the village of Parcani was also targeted. Officials did not offer any details on the incident, but declared a 'red level of terrorist threat' and promised to impose additional security measures in the region.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accused Russia of trying to destabilise Transnistria and warned that 'if Ukraine falls tomorrow, Russian troops will be at Chisinau', the Moldovan capital.

'Russia wants to destabilise the Transnistrian region and hints Moldova should wait for 'guests',' Podolyak said.

'Good news, Ukraine will definitely ensure strategic security of the region. But we need to work as a team.'

The United States has warned amid the war in Ukraine that Russia could launch 'false-flag' attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops.

Last week, Kremlin military chief Rustam Minnekayev said Russia sought control of southern Ukraine, which could provide access to Transnistria, 'where there have been cases of oppression of the Russian-speaking population'.

The explosions destroyed two powerful Soviet-era radio antennas that were re-broadcasting Russian stations in the region of Transnistria, an unrecognised Moscow-backed sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, on Tuesday

A day earlier, several explosions believed to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades were reported to hit the Ministry of State Security in the city of Tiraspol, the region's capital. No one was hurt in the explosions, officials said

The Transnistrian authorities said the offices of the state security ministry in Tiraspol were hit by what appeared to be a grenade-launcher attack on Monday evening

Transnistria, a strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine, is recognised internationally as part of Moldova but is effectively controlled by Russia, which has given citizenship to separatists

Minnekayev, the deputy commander of Russia's central military district, said Moscow planned to forge a corridor between Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014, and the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

Moldova's foreign ministry summoned Russia's ambassador over the comments, which it called 'unfounded and contradicting Russia's position in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country within internationally recognised borders'.

The suggestion by a senior Russian official that Moscow needs to defend supporters in a nearby country is a chilling echo of its previous justification for invading Ukraine.

And today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is closely following events in Transnistria, adding that news from the region was a cause for serious concern.

Moldova's president Maia Sandu said the attacks in Transnistria were an attempt by factions within the territory to increase tensions, as she urged the country's citizens to remain calm.

Speaking after Moldova's Security Council held an urgent meeting, Sandu said: 'From the information we have at this moment, these escalation attempts stem from factions from within the Transnistrian region who are pro-war forces and interested in destabilising the situation in the region.'

She said the security council had recommended improving the combat readiness of security forces, increasing the number of patrols and checks near Moldova's border with Transnistria, and monitoring critical infrastructure more closely.

Sandu said: 'We urge citizens to keep calm and feel safe,' while urging authorities to tighten public safety measures and protection of critical infrastructure.

Transnistria's president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, also called on Tuesday for anti-terrorist security measures to be imposed at a 'red level' for 15 days, including setting up blockposts at the entrances to cities.

The Moldovan authorities are sensitive to any sign of growing tensions in Transnistria, especially since Russia invaded their neighbour Ukraine.

Transnistria, a strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine, is recognised internationally as part of Moldova but is effectively controlled by Russia, which has given citizenship to separatists.

An estimated 1,500 Russian troops are permanently stationed in the Transnistria, but concerns are high that the region could be used as a launch pad for new attacks on Ukraine.

Russia's military base still guards a stockpile of some 20,000 tonnes of munitions which were brought there when Soviet troops withdrew from Europe.

In the early hours of Tuesday, two explosions hit a radio tower re-broadcasting Russian stations near the Ukrainian border.

'Early on April 26, two explosions were heard in the village of Mayak in Grigoriopolsky district,'it said in a statement.

It said the blasts at 6:40 am and 7:05 am (0340 GMT and 0405 GMT) targeted the 'Mayak' radio centre, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the regional capital Tiraspol.

Antennas of the 'Mayak' radio centre are seen lying on the ground on Tuesday following the blasts in the village of Mayak in Grigoriopolsky district in Moldova's Russian-backed breakaway Transnistria region

A law enforcement officer is seen standing in front of the 'Mayak' radio centre antennas following the blasts in the village of Mayak on Tuesday

Kremlin military chief Rustam Minnekayev on Friday said Russia sought control of southern Ukraine, which could provide access to Transnistria, 'where there have been cases of oppression of the Russian-speaking population'. Pictured: Pro-Russian troops move along a road in Mariupol, southern Ukraine

The ministry said two 'powerful' antennae that were re-broadcasting Russian radio were out of order, and shared images of them lying on the ground. There were no injuries, it added.

This came after the Transnistrian authorities said the offices of the state security ministry in Tiraspol were hit by what appeared to be a grenade-launcher attack on Monday evening.

No one was injured in the incident, which happened at around 6:00 pm on a public holiday for the Orthodox Easter.

But windows were blown out in the state security ministry building and smoke was 'billowing out of the buildings', the Transnistria region's interior ministry said in a statement.

There was no immediate reason to suggest a link between the two incidents.

The conflict in Ukraine has provoked fears in Moldova that the country could become Russia's next target.

Moldovan President Sandu on Tuesday called for a meeting of the country's Supreme Security Council in response to the incidents.

'The Supreme Security Council will meet from 1300 (1000 GMT) at the Presidency. After the meeting, at 1500, President Maia Sandu will hold a press briefing', the president's press office said in a statement.

On Monday, the Moldovan government said the Tiraspol blasts were aimed at creating tensions in a region it had no control of.

Moldova, one of Europe's poorest states, was part of the Soviet Union but a war broke out between Moldovan forces and Russian-backed separatists in the Transnistria area in 1992. A ceasefire was agreed but the conflict remains unresolved.

Unlike Ukraine and Georgia, Moldova is not seeking Nato membership. The landlocked country, with a population of just 2.6million, has only a few thousand active military personnel, so it would not be able to withstand a Russian invasion.
Passengers at Manchester Airport (pictured right and inset right) say they are facing a two-hour wait at security check-in this morning, with queues leading outside the terminal and into a nearby car-park. Meanwhile, at Birmingham Airport (pictured left and inset left), passengers have complained of 'ridiculous' queues at departures today, with long queues outside the main terminal building. There are also delays to flights, with at least ten late flights at Manchester and four at Birmingham as of 8am this morning. Meanwhile at Stansted, there were also claims of two-hour delays at passport control last night. It comes as airports up and down the UK continue to face staffing issues in the wake of Covid restrictions. Travel chiefs say the issues have been exacerbated by a huge increase in demand for travel following two years of Covid-enforced disruption. With holidaymakers flocking to airports this morning at the start of a new week, passengers again faced delays at Manchester and Birmingham. Bosses of both airports today said the queues were due to the ongoing staffing problems. It is also understood that Manchester has suffered additional problem, including passengers arriving up to six hours before their flight in the hope of beating the queues - creating bottlenecks at already busy times. However there did not appear to be queues at Heathrow and Gatwick today. Passengers at the travel hubs, the UK's two biggest airports, faced delays over Easter - when millions jetted off for a four-day weekend. One holidaymaker flying out from Manchester Airport today branded the situation a 'sh*t show', while others at Birmingham Airport said they feared missing their flight.
The son of an Anglican bishop, British DJ Tim 'Big Dawg' Westwood couldn't have been a more unlikely pioneering champion of hip-hop music.

Middle-class and privately educated, he was  critics noted dryly  Straight Outta Lowestoft in Suffolk, where the only 'hood' he would have been familiar with growing up was the one on his anorak.

But just as his late father, the former Bishop of Peterborough, was a regular on BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day slot, so too did his son become a BBC radio fixture for almost 20 years as the 'voice of hip-hop'.

That, though, was where the similarities ended.

British DJ Tim 'Big Dawg' (pictured back, centre), reported to be worth around 10million, he can command 10,000 for a gig and has sold more than two million copies of his compilation albums with a YouTube channel boasting more than 1.3million subscribers, is being accused of secual misconduct. His father was an Anglican bishop

While the Rt Rev Bill Westwood, who died in 1999 aged 73, sought to inspire listeners with spiritual sermons, Westwood junior would bring them instead the violent lyrics of gangsta culture.

Today, the gulf between father and son seems even wider with accusations of sexual misconduct by multiple women.

Three have accused the DJ of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour, while four others allege they were groped by him at events.

Westwood has strenuously denied all the allegations, with a spokesman saying they were completely false and denied in their entirety.

Over the years Westwood's passion for hip-hop would see him transform from a gangly, nerdy, moustachioed pirate radio jock into an edgy, award-winning  if somewhat controversial  figure, dressed in urban streetwear as he promoted a new wave of stars.

Adopting the patois of his idols, his radio shows were peppered with phrases such as 'the bomb's about to go off, baby' and 'kick it to the curb, man'.

Though he has always insisted this persona was entirely genuine, Westwood's enthusiastic use of pseudo-Jamaican slang inspired Sacha Baron Cohen's spoof character, tracksuit-wearing Ali G.

'Once I found out he was actually the son of a bishop, it became even more absurd. He was so keen to be presented as a gangsta,' Baron Cohen said of his muse.

The Right Reverend William John Westwood, Bishop of Edmonton, and regular Radio Four Broadcaster who died in 1999 aged 73, is pictured outside Church House. Today, the gulf between father and son seems even wider with accusations of sexual misconduct

As for Westwood, now aged 64, he has always declared himself mystified by accusations that he was trying to be something he wasn't.

'I came from a good home,' he once said in an interview. 'I never reacted against it. I loved my dad. He taught me dignity and respect. I'm a white guy, I'm not aspiring to be anything other than who I am.

As for his fans in the clubs, and the black rap stars he promoted, he insisted they didn't care about his background.

'Honestly, baby, I get love out there, pure and simple,' was his response.

Certainly, despite the mockery, he was the one laughing all the way to the bank. Reported to be worth around 10million, he can command 10,000 for a gig and has sold more than two million copies of his compilation albums. His YouTube channel has more than 1.3million subscribers.

His passion for the emerging US hip-hop scene of the early 80s began when Westwood worked as a bottle collector and roadie in clubs in London's West End, graduating to become an apprentice DJ. He specialised in jazz funk until he heard one of the first rap records, and was hooked.

In 1982, he started DJing for a pirate radio station based in Peckham. From there, he moved to Kiss FM and then Capital before the BBC came calling in 1994, cementing his status as the country's most influential hip-hop player.

He reportedly revelled in creating an anarchic atmosphere, hiring a personal chef and dotting the studio with champagne bottles.

'Newsreaders would have to come in and, like, read the news with people spluttering on blunts [cannabis cigars] all around them,' said Westwood.

The clean-living son of a clergyman, he did not drink or take drugs himself. By the time Westwood was axed from the Radio 1 Rap Show in 2013, aged 55, more serious questions were being asked about his devotion to a music culture which increasingly glorified guns, gang violence and misogyny.

He still bears the scar from a bullet wound to his arm after he was the victim of a 1999 drive-by shooting. He would later say the attempted assassination was carried out by south London gang members who were trying to extort money from him.

The front door of his one-bedroom Fulham flat, where Westwood  unmarried and childless  has lived for more than 30 years, is said to be reinforced by a metal bar as a security measure, a legacy of that gangland attempt on his life.

Veteran hip hop DJ and radio presenter Tim Westwood started DJing for a pirate radio station based in Peckham. From there, he moved to Kiss FM and then Capital before the BBC came calling in 1994, cementing his status as the country's most influential hip-hop player. He said he rejects all allegations of wrongdoing after he was accused of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour by several women

Westwood has said of the attack: 'Before the shooting, the only people who knew me were the hip-hop crowd. But the truth is that was real gangster s***. It made me big.'

In 2018 Westwood was heavily criticised for making money from YouTube adverts after a leaked Metropolitan Police file cited 32 of his videos as potentially inciting violence. The DJ then deleted clips and posts on social media linked to 'drill'  the notorious genre blamed for glamorising violence.

A spokesman for Westwood said at the time: 'We aim and hope to provide opportunities and a positive path... we do not support or condone gangs. Any violence is obviously a concern.'

However a year later Westwood made headlines again when  surrounded by members of a street gang  he posted a new drill rap session featuring lyrics boasting about gangland murders.

Then, he posed with a toy gun champagne holder hours after a gang member stabbed Siddique Kamara  who'd previously appeared with the DJ in a clip on his channel  to death in London in what was described as a feud between drill rivals.

As for Westwood's private life, he insisted in 2017 that there was nothing to excite any interest beyond his love of hip-hop. Love, marriage or children would be, he maintained, a distraction from his real passion: music.

That didn't mean, apparently, a monk-like existence, however. Fans, may recall a 2018 Instagram post in which, holding up a credit card, Westwood gave a glimpse of his past relationships. 'My sugar daddy days are over,' he declared. I'm tired of buying... nails, shoes, bags, rent. I need an independent woman.'
Russia has said it will turn off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria this morning over its refusal to pay in roubles.

Polands state gas company PGNiG said it was notified by Russian gas giant Gazprom that deliveries through the Yamal-Europe pipeline would stop today.

It is the first such suspension since Vladimir Putin warned that unfriendly countries must pay for gas in roubles, which would help prop up Russias heavily sanctioned economy.

It is also a sign that the Kremlin will weaponise energy supplies, despite its claims to the contrary.

Polands climate minister Anna Moskwa said the country was prepared for the situation as it had worked for years to reduce reliance on Russian energy.

Bulgaria said it was working with state gas companies to find alternative sources and no restrictions on domestic consumption would be imposed for now, even though the Balkan country of 6.5 million people meets more than 90% of its gas needs with Russian imports.

The Gaz-System gas distribution station in Gustorzyn, central Poland. Russia has said it will turn off Polands gas supplies this morning over its refusal to pay in roubles

A Belarusian worker on duty at a gas compressor station of the Yamal-Europe pipeline. Polands climate minister Anna Moskwa said the country was prepared for the situation as it had worked for years to reduce reliance on Russian energy

Poland was expected to end its orders of Russian gas this year anyway.

There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes, Miss Moskwa tweeted.

Poland has been receiving nine billion cubic metres of Russian gas a year, meeting more than half of its demand.

But it has alternative supply sources, including a gas pipeline connection with Lithuania that is due to open on May 1.

Another new pipeline, delivering gas from Norway, is due to come online in October, reaching full capacity by the end of the year.

Futhermore, Warsaws underground gas storage tanks are said to be 80 per cent full and, with summer approaching, demand will be lower.

However, a long-term suspension could lead to restrictions on manufacturers, some of Polands biggest gas consumers.
The Commons Speaker was facing a backlash last night after The Mail on Sunday rejected his bid to summon its editor.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle had announced he would call in the papers editor and political editor over claims that Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner had used her legs to distract Boris Johnson at Prime Ministers Questions.

But his move sparked a freedom of speech row and warnings that a Speaker should never be involved in deciding what the Press was allowed to print. David Dillon, who edits The Mail on Sunday, rejected the demand for a meeting, saying journalists should not take instruction from officials of the House of Commons, however august they may be.

A row erupted on Sunday after Conservative sources told The Mail on Sunday that Mrs Rayner (pictured) tried to put Mr Johnson off his stride at PMQs by crossing and uncrossing her legs

Responding to Sir Lindsay, he wrote: The Mail on Sunday deplores sexism and misogyny in all its forms. However journalists must be free to report what they are told by MPs about conversations which take place in the House of Commons, however unpalatable some may find them.

Former Labour minister Kate Hoey was among those to criticise the Speaker yesterday, saying his intervention risked creating a worrying precedent. She added: Who is going to decide what should be reported on or not?

I am very critical of a lot of the media but I genuinely believe in a free Press.

Former Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick is also understood to have told the Speaker that it was quite wrong to interfere in journalistic freedom and summon a newspaper to his office ... which is not the role of Parliament.

Three more MPs came forward to privately back up The Mail on Sundays report that Mrs Rayner had been the original source of claims that she had uncrossed her legs in the Commons to distract the PM.

In addition to the original Conservative MP who spoke to the newspaper, three other MPs alleged that it was Mrs Rayner herself who joked about her tactic during a night on the Commons terrace. The Mail on Sunday has spoken to four MPs, who all gave the same account of what she said, including the use of a startling slang colloquialism.

In other developments yesterday:

Audio from a political podcast back in January revealed that Mrs Rayner herself had joked about being compared to Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, while saying it was mortifying;

In the recording of a light-hearted question and answer session with comedian Matt Forde, she volunteered the fact that her appearance at PMQs that month had drawn comparisons with the infamous Sharon Stone character in the 1992 thriller;

In a statement last night, Sir Lindsay appeared to back away from suggestions he could ban The Mail on Sundays political editor from the Commons;

Speaking to ITVs Lorraine show yesterday, Mrs Rayner addressed the row directly, saying she had been left crestfallen by the claims but she had been heartened by the public reaction;

The 42-year-old donned a trouser suit for the interview, saying she did not want to be judged for what I wear.

The row erupted on Sunday after Conservative sources told The Mail on Sunday that Mrs Rayner tried to put Mr Johnson off his stride at PMQs by crossing and uncrossing her legs.

We must decline: MoS letter to Speaker I and The Mail on Sunday have the greatest possible respect both for your Office and for Parliament. Along with a free Press they are the foundation stones of British democracy. For that reason  and on the understanding that the intention was to draw a line under matters  yesterday I and The Mail on Sundays Political Editor Glen Owen accepted your invitation to meet to discuss last Sundays story about Angela Rayner. However, since then two things have happened. Firstly, and regrettably, in your statement in the House yesterday you said: I share the views expressed by a wide range of members, including I believe the Prime Minister, that yesterdays article was reporting unsubstantiated claims  and misogynistic and offensive. This indicated that you had passed judgment on our article without being in possession of the facts surrounding how it came to be reported. Secondly, following investigations by the Conservative Party, three other MPs who were part of the group on the House of Commons terrace, one of them a woman, have come forward to corroborate the account of Angela Rayners remarks given to us by the MP who was the source of last Sundays story. The Mail on Sunday deplores sexism and misogyny in all its forms. However, journalists must be free to report what they are told by MPs about conversations which take place in the House of Commons, however unpalatable some may find them. Britain rightly prides itself on its free Press. That freedom will not last if journalists have to take instruction from officials of the House of Commons, however august they may be, on what they can report and not report. I am afraid I and Glen Owen must now decline your invitation. David Dillon, Editor, The Mail on Sunday Advertisement

Mrs Rayner condemned the claims as desperate, perverted smears, while the PM tried to distance his party from the allegations, describing them as misogynistic tripe. He later threatened to unleash the terrors of the Earth if the anonymous Tory MP behind the original story was identified.

On Monday Sir Lindsay intervened, saying the comments were demeaning and offensive to women in Parliament and could only deter women who might be considering standing for election to the detriment of us all.

Earlier he had summoned Mr Dillon, and political editor Glen Owen, to a meeting to discuss this issue affecting our parliamentary community. But responding to the Speakers summons last night, Mr Dillon said that while The Mail on Sunday had the greatest possible respect both for your Office and for Parliament [which] along with a free Press they are the foundation stones of British democracy, the invitation would be declined.

Miss Hoey branded the Speakers intervention ridiculous, while The Daily Telegraph described the reaction of MPs and the Speaker as extraordinary.

In a leading article the newspaper asked: Are newspapers now expected to tailor their reportage to the whims of what MPs consider appropriate?

Downing Street said on Monday that the decision to call in the senior journalists was a matter for the Speaker but said Sir Lindsay had talked about respecting media freedom, which is something the Prime Minister is very passionate about.

A government source described Sir Lindsays decision as madness, adding: No good can come from MPs trying to get involved in deciding what does and doesnt get written in newspapers.

In a statement last night Sir Lindsay appeared to back away from suggestions he could ban The Mail on Sundays political editor from the Commons in response to a request from Caroline Nokes, chairman of the women and equalities committee.

Sir Lindsay insisted he was a staunch believer and protector of Press freedom, saying he had refused a request from a Labour MP last week to ban The Timess sketch writer for making allegedly sexist observations.

He added: I firmly believe in the duty of reporters to cover Parliament, but I would also make a plea  nothing more  for the feelings of all MPs and their families to be considered, and the impact on their safety, when articles are written. I would just ask that we are all a little kinder. That is what I wanted to talk about at tomorrows meeting.

Angela Rayners Sharon Stone laughter: Labour deputy leader joked on podcast in January about mortifying Basic Instinct comparisons

By Jason Groves Political Editor for the Daily Mail

Angela Rayner joked about being compared to Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct during a light-hearted podcast this year.

Labours deputy leader is at the centre of a sexism storm after Tory sources told The Mail on Sunday that she tried to put the Prime Minister off his stride by crossing and uncrossing her legs when sitting opposite him in the Commons.

Mrs Rayner has condemned the claims as desperate, perverted smears. The Prime Minister has led Tory criticism, describing the suggestion as misogynistic tripe.

Angela Rayner (right) joked about being compared to Sharon Stone on a podcast with Matt Forde (left) this year

The Mail has edited the extract to remove an offensive word

Night she joshed on stage with comic over THAT movie moment Angela Rayner (AR): ... there is a tint of misogyny in it. Ive gotta say it, you know I get quizzed on... Every time I do a PMQs [Prime Ministers Questions] somebody has an opinion on what I wear. Did you see the meme about Sharon Stone like I was doing it at PMQs? I was mortified [laughs] Matt Forde (MF): You what? AR: Like they did this whole like meme about me apparently doing the whole, you know whole, the old... [she and audience laugh] I was like when did I do that? [laughs] MF: Ive not seen that at all. AR: Did you not see like the Fatal Attraction thing? When she did the whole g*****r thing? MF: Ive seen the film but I wasnt aware... AR: I wasnt aware I did it but apparently like there was this whole meme about how my dress was like a bit revealing but I didnt think it was think it was. It was a perfectly suitable Karen Millen  in the sale by the way [laughs] MF: But what was the theory? That you were doing that to distract Boris? AR: I dont... [she and audience laugh]. It dont take much does it? I dont need to do that. [laughs] MF: Its quite interesting watching you go up against him because there seems to be, and I know youre ideologically opposed, Im sure you have some very strong opinions on what hes been getting up to. Oddly though, in Parliament these rivalries get thrown together where theres clearly a bit of mutual respect. Like I think he has a level of respect for you like he seems to enjoy it when you are at the dispatch box. AR: Yeah, I think he has got a bit of a romance going on there somehow hasnt he, cus he... Do you know what I think it is, its like cus Michael Gove kinda did this as well. I think they try and, err, if you cant beat them, smooch them. Do you know what I mean? I think theres a little bit of that going on. Its a bit like ohh, you know its like, you cant beat a puppy. Do you know what I mean? You cant beat a seal. So like working class girl from council estate - if I start attacking her Ill look really crap as a posh guy from a posh school so Ill just try and compliment them in a sort of backhand way. I think thats how they try and sort of deal with me. Because they dont really know how to deal with me. Thats the thing. Advertisement

Speaking at a comedy event in January, Mrs Rayner said she was mortified by the comparison with Miss Stones infamous character in the 1992 thriller  but appeared to see the funny side.

In a light-hearted question and answer session with comedian Matt Forde she volunteered the fact that her appearance at Prime Ministers Questions that month had drawn comparisons with Miss Stone, joking that it had sparked an internet meme of her crossing and uncrossing her legs.

Speaking about her treatment as a senior woman in politics, she told the audience at Londons Duchess Theatre: There is a tint of misogyny in it. Every time I do a PMQs somebody has an opinion on what I wear. Did you see the meme on Sharon Stone like I was doing it at PMQs? I was mortified.

In the audio from the recording of Mr Fordes Political Party podcast she can be heard erupting with laughter as she added: They did this whole meme about me doing the whole, you know the old ...

Mrs Rayner said when she saw the meme I was like when did I do that? She then made a reference to the erotic thriller Fatal Attraction, mistaking it for Basic Instinct.

She added: I wasnt aware I did it but apparently there was this whole meme about how my dress was a bit revealing, but I didnt think it was.

Mr Forde asked if the suggestion was she was trying to distract the Prime Minister. Mrs Rayner laughed and replied: It dont take much does it? I dont need to do that.

She also laughed at suggestions that the PM flirted with her when they clashed at the dispatch box, saying that Mr Johnson and other male ministers dont know how to deal with a working class woman. She told Mr Forde: Yeah, I think he has got a bit of a romance going on there somehow.

Michael Gove did the same and think they have this thing  If you cant beat them, smooch them. Do you know what I mean?

You cant beat a puppy. You cant beat a seal. Working class girl from council estate, If I start attacking her Ill look really c**p as someone from a posh school so Ill just sort of compliment them in a backhanded way. I think thats how they try and deal with me. Because they dont know how to deal with me.

In an interview with ITVs Lorraine show yesterday, Mrs Rayner donned a trouser suit, saying that she did not want to be judged for what I wear.

The 42-year-old politician said she had been crestfallen at the claim she tried to distract the PM with her legs, saying she had had to prepare her children for what would be written about her.

But she said she had been heartened by the public reaction.

All I worry about when Im at the despatch box is doing a good job and being able to do justice to my constituents and the work Im doing, so I was just really crestfallen that somebody had said that to a paper and a paper was reporting that, she said.

It wasnt just about me as a woman, saying I was using the fact Im a woman against the Prime Minister.

A Labour source last night denied Mrs Rayner had not been offended by the comparison with Stones Basic Instinct scene when she spoke out about it in January.

The source said: Angela clearly said how deeply hurt she felt at the misogynistic comments aimed towards her, and has spoken passionately about the sexism she has faced and her fear that it could discourage women who want to enter politics.
Within seconds of two Russian cruise missiles slamming into his Odesa apartment block on Saturday, Andriy Bespalovs third-floor flat was engulfed in a fireball.

With the flames burning the clothes off his back, he fled to the balcony to escape the inferno and leapt on to a neighbours balcony on the floor below.

Despite his brush with death, the father of two, who now lies in an Odesa hospital ward with third-degree burns, considers himself lucky.

For in the apartment above him on the fourth floor, Valeria Glodan, her three-month-old baby Kira and mother Lyudmila Yavkina were killed instantly.

The Mail told the heart-breaking story of their tragic end on Monday. Now we can reveal what happened to the family on the floor below.

To Andriy, a 43-year-old sailor, and his wife of two decades, Lyudmila, the apartment was their pride and joy, the home in which they had brought up their two boys, Pavel and Igor, to become fine teenagers. It is now nothing more than a scorched concrete void.

Destruction: What is left of Lyudmila Yavkinas fourth-floor apartment. The apartment belonged to the mother-in-law of Yuri Glodan, and is where his wife, Valeria, three-month-old daughter Kira and mother in law, Lyudmila, were killed when a Russian missile hit their residential apartment building in Odesa, Ukraine. Pictured: The bedroom

Dressed in a light blue and grey tracksuit, Lyudmila, a professional fitness instructor, rummages through a cupboard to see if anything has been left unscathed.

Gone are the sofas from where they would watch TV together, and the kitchen where they planned to prepare their Easter Sunday meal is covered in a thick layer of ash.

I have no plans for now, apart from going to stay with my mother, says 40-year-old Lyudmila.

The most important thing is that my husband will be OK. I will suffer this pain later, not now.

All that survived in her flat were some clothes, shoes and her cat Silver, who was found in a cupboard two days after the attack. He has just eight lives now, she observes poignantly.

Much like the newly-widowed Yuri Glodan, who survived the blast that killed wife Valeria and his baby daughter because he had stepped out to go to the supermarket at the crucial moment, Lyudmila only managed to cheat death on that fateful day after deciding to run Igor, 13, to a swimming training camp on the other side of Odesa.

Valeria was a new mother, her baby daughter Kira was just three month old. Russia took away their lives when its rocket hit a residential building in Odesa

As she speaks, a team of rescue workers sweep away the debris of once-prized household possessions through the large hole in the side of the 16-floor block created by the impact of the missiles.

Every few minutes, they shout warnings to the residents gathered below before throwing out blown-off doors, washing machines, or pieces of shattered glass.

A group of ten shattered workers taking a break for lunch can only sit and watch in stunned disbelief from the front courtyard.

The force of the blast left the block a crumbling mess with twisted steel rods sticking out from beneath the rubble.

The ceiling between the flats on the third and fourth floors was destroyed in the explosion and from Lyudmila Bespalovas charred front room, you can peer into the flat above where three generations of Yuris family died.

Come with us. This is where we found them, says one Ukrainian rescue worker, dressed in orange overalls, in perfect English.

A Russian missile strike hit the apartment building in a residential area of the Black Sea city of Odesa

Neighbour Oksana Boskaovsky describes Yuris mother-in-law Lyudmila Yavkina as the typical doting grandmother, a keen cook and baker who idolised Yuris three-month-old daughter.

For her, Valeria and Kira were her reasons for living, she says. She loved them more than life itself.

All three were innocent civilians looking to put aside the horrors of war for a few days as they celebrated Easter.

When the air raid sirens blared across Odesa just before 2pm on Saturday, they ran to the bathroom in the mistaken belief that they would be safe there.

But the walls of the bathroom were instantly turned to rubble by the explosion, crushing Lyudmila, Valeria, and tiny Kira to death.

Wreckage: Lyudmila Bespalova in her charred apartment

When a devastated Yuri returned to the flat after his trip to the shops, he found the smashed bodies of his beloved wife and daughter strewn across the floor.

Yesterday mementoes of their final moments together still lay scattered amid the debris that covered the flats tiled floors.

A box of Kyiv Easter chocolates, a pair of Valerias leather shoes, and a womans blue and pink nightgown lay covered in dust.

In the kitchen, a fridge door had been blown ajar to reveal the collection of red and white wines that the Glodans had planned to share over dinner on Sunday.

As two more rescue workers sift through the scene of destruction, the curtains from Lyudmilas front room flutter in the wind. Her bedroom, where Yuri and Valeria had spent the previous night with baby Kira sleeping safely beside them in a small carry cot, has been completely upended.

Her books and parts of the ceiling are now strewn across the floor. The three of them are set to be buried later today and they were not the only victims, of course.

Mila and Bogdan Chernetskaya who were expecting their first baby, were also killed in the attack

Two of Lyudmila Yavkinas fourth floor neighbours, athlete Mila Chernetskaya and her husband Bogdan, could only be identified as the latest victims of Putins barbaric attack on Odesas civilian population as late as yesterday.

They had only just moved to the apartment block and, adding to the heartbreak, Mila was pregnant their first child.

A week before his death, Bogdan had told his sister that he and his wife were expecting a baby. My dear and sweet girl. What a wonderful, bright, and kind family you were.

You were expecting a baby and life was just beginning, Milas friend Veronika Kas wrote on social media.

Only the previous day, the bodies of another young couple with everything to live for had been recovered two days after the missiles hit.

Mila, 28, and her 21-year-old husband had only been married since August last year. Bogdans sister Yana wrote on Instagram: But I have so many questions. Why did this happen on this particular day?

I really hope I have kids, two of them. I will name them Mila and Bogdan.'
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Dozens of civilians including the elderly and children were last night feared trapped in rubble following more intense bombing in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Images of the stricken steelworks that has held out against the Russian advance emerged as Ukraine was pummelled on the 61st day of war.

Moscow claimed it had struck 90 military targets across the country yesterday, killing at least 500 soldiers.

Attacks were also reported in Zaporizhzhia, a south-eastern city to which Mariupol residents had been told to flee, as well as in the eastern region of Donetsk.

Smoke rises above a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works. Dozens of civilians including the elderly and children were last night feared trapped in rubble following more intense bombing in the besieged city of Mariupol

Civilians gather on Orthodox Easter Sunday at the Azovstal steel plant where Ukrainian soldiers are holding out and civilians sheltering

An elderly woman trembling with fear is crudely bandaged as she is tended to by soldiers in the sorawling Azovstal steel works

Last week, Vladimir Putin declared victory over Mariupol and appeared to call off the assault of the steelworks, all but condemning resistance fighters to starvation by instructing troops to block the site so 'even a fly cannot get through'

At least three cities were also targeted in the Luhansk area.

Plumes of black smoke filled the air in Mariupol after 35 airstrikes in just 24 hours.

Many are now feared trapped in the labyrinthine underground tunnels which have acted as makeshift bunkers.

Distressing footage released yesterday by the Azov Battalion, an elite unit which has vowed to fight 'until the last bullet', showed a crudely bandaged elderly woman trembling with fear as she was tended to by soldiers.

In a statement released online, the soldiers said: 'The Azovstal plant, which houses the defenders of Mariupol, continues to be struck by enemy fire.

'In the past 24 hours, 35 airstrikes were carried out, during which one of the stores caught fire.

'Most importantly, they affected civilians who are now trapped. Soldiers of the Azov Battalion make every effort to free civilians from the rubble.'

Last week, Vladimir Putin declared victory over Mariupol and appeared to call off the assault of the steelworks, all but condemning resistance fighters to starvation by instructing troops to block the site so 'even a fly cannot get through'.

However Western observers believe he was solely attempting to present some sort of victory to the Russian people in a war where his troops have toiled and been pushed back.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, yesterday disregarded Russia's claims of victory, saying that the sprawling Azovstal site makes up one fifth of Mariupol, so the city cannot be said to have been seized without it.

'Fake country, fake victories,' he added.

A view of the massive Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant which purports to take up 20% of the space of Mariupol

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol on Sunday, April 24, 2022. The stricken steelworks have held out against the Russian advance for 61 days

An aerial view showing damaged buildings, amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, in Mariupol. Last week, Vladimir Putin declared victory over Mariupol and appeared to call off the assault of the steelworks

A pillar of smoke rises from behind a residential building after Russian missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine

One person died after two missiles hit a factory in Zaporizhzhia, the first such attack in the area.

In Luhansk, governor Serhiy Haidai said Russians had shelled civilians 17 times over the last 24 hours.

Fierce resistance in the Donbas region saw the Ukrainian army destroy four Russian tanks, 13 armoured vehicles and two tankers, authorities said.

In Kreminna, which the British MoD confirmed had fallen to the Russians yesterday, a number of Russians were reportedly killed in a 'gas explosion' at a council building.

It is believed the blast was in fact the result of a resistance attack after occupying forces intended to announce the new regime in the city.

There were reports that two villages in Russia's Belgorod region were attacked by Ukrainian troops, with two hurt, but this was not confirmed by Kyiv.
The chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann 'has not provided German police with an alibi', a German prosecutor has said.

Christian Brueckner, 44, was officially designated as a suspect, or 'arguido' by Portuguese authorities on Friday, in connection with the three-year-old British girl's disappearance on May 3, 2007, at a resort on the Algarve.

Brueckner, who is already behind bars in his native Germany for an array of grisly crimes, reportedly exercised his right to remain silent when formally questioned by German police about the events of that night.

However, Brueckner has allegedly told British investigator Mark Williams-Thomas in a new documentary about Madeleine's disappearance that he can prove he was elsewhere the night the toddler was kidnapped.

But German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told The Sun: 'We're not aware of any alibi at all.

'He has not given any information so far  not even via his defence attorney.'

The Madeleine McCann: Prime Suspect documentary, created by US network AMC Crime, is due to air on Tuesday, May 3 - the fifteenth anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.

Christian Brueckner, 44, the chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann 'has not provided German police with an alibi', a German prosecutor has said

Madeleine McCann vanished from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007 where she was on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry and siblings

Madeleine vanished from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007 where she was on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry and siblings.

Brueckner, who has been linked to four other child murders across Europe since 1996, was sensationally named by German prosecutors as the man 'responsible' for Madeleine's kidnap and murder in June 2020.

On Thursday, the child sex offender was handed a document in prison informing him he was being made an 'arguido' by Portuguese prosecutors.

Two days ago, one of Brueckner's former lovers, 34-year-old Anastasia Meckesy, declared the sex offender had confessed to her in 2013 that he knew what happened to Maddie almost 15 years ago.

'He said that he ''knows what happened to little Maddie from England'',' Meckesy told The Sun on Sunday.

She added: 'Christian is a human pig. That's how you should see him today. Today I know what he's accused of.'

Maddie's parents Gerry and Kate McCann said they welcomed the news that a German man has been declared 'an arguido in relation to the disappearance of our beloved daughter, Madeleine.

'This reflects progress in the investigation, being conducted by the Portuguese, German and British authorities. We are kept informed of developments by the Metropolitan Police,' they added.

'Even though the possibility may be slim, we have not given up hope that Madeleine is still alive and we will be reunited with her.'

On May 3, 2007, Maddie was staying with her family at the Ocean Club resort in the Portuguese Algarve's Praia da Luz, a few miles from a ramshackle property the German sex offender was renting at the time.

The three-year-old vanished from her ground-floor bedroom, while her younger twin siblings Sean and Amelie slept close by.

Over the ensuing days and weeks, Portuguese detectives presided over a chaotic investigation marred by a series of blunders that placed them under intense pressure to crack the case.

Madeleine's doctor parents, Kate and Gerry, were accused of neglect for having left their children unattended, checking on them every 20-30 minutes while they dined in the nearby tapas restaurant.

Brueckner first arrived on the Algarve in 1995, as an 18-year-old backpacker fresh out of prison, and worked in catering jobs in the seaside resorts of Lagos and Praia da Luz.

But he soon became involved in a criminal syndicate that trafficked drugs, and appears to have begun carrying out burglaries and other thefts in the tourist region.

Maddie's parents Gerry and Kate McCann said they welcomed the news that a German man has been declared 'an arguido in relation to the disappearance of our beloved daughter, Madeleine

Brueckner spent two months in Evora prison in 1999 for a minor offence, and nine months in 2006 after being caught stealing diesel from lorries on a garage forecourt.

In 2005 he carried out a depraved burglary during which he had bound, gagged, raped and tortured a 72-year-old American tourist in her villa in Praia da Luz.

The victim was 'grabbed by a very strong and tall man by the neck in the dark' before being blindfolded and whipped with a metal cane. She said afterwards that he had clearly enjoyed 'torturing' her.

That crime went unsolved until 2019, when, following a tip-off from a former friend, Brueckner was arrested, charged and jailed for seven years, a prison term he is currently serving.

Only once Brueckner was charged with that rape did police start investigating his potential links to 18 other burglaries of holiday apartments that had taken place on the Algarve in the early 2000s.

Several of these had involved the sexual assault of women and children, including nine cases of British girls aged six to 12. In most of the attacks, the 'tall, wiry' attacker seems to have carried out the sex crimes after stumbling upon his victims when he entered properties in search of valuables.

However, the new documentary is expected to say that despite his horrendous record, Brueckner has several alibis for his whereabouts on the night Maddie was snatched.

Brueckner's alleged link to the disappearance of Madeleine first became public in June 2020, when German prosecutors announced that they believed him 'responsible' for murdering her and said they had 'concrete evidence' the British child was dead.

In the aftermath, it emerged that police are investigating potential links to a string of other sex crimes, many involving children.

On May 3, 2007 Kate and Gerry McCann went to a small tapas bar metres away from their apartment to dine with friends. But when Kate returned to do a routine check on their children, she found that Madeleine had disappeared

Late last year it was reported that Brueckner would be charged this year with three offences including the rape of an Irish woman in 2004 on the Algarve.

But suspicions that Brueckner was involved in Maddie's disappearance mounted in 2016, when police were investigating the disappearance of a five-year-old girl  Inga Gehricke, known as the 'German Maddie'  who had vanished during a family outing while walking in woods near Braunschweig.

Officers were carrying out a search of land near the scene which had been bought by Brueckner six years earlier.

They found numerous items of children's clothing, most of them 'small swimsuits', in a motorhome parked on the property.

They also discovered six memory sticks holding more than 8,000 files, mostly containing pictures and videos of child abuse.

Shortly after Madeleine vanished in 2007, with the case increasingly the subject of frenzied media attention, Brueckner suddenly left Portugal.

Local police failed to lock down the resort of Praia da Luz and set up road blocks, apparently assuming the little girl had merely wandered off, allowed him to leave without anyone noticing.

It was just one of the many blunders made by Portuguese detectives, who took 12 hours to alert Spanish border police about the missing child, and 48 hours to carry out a basic check of other guests staying at the resort.

Four days passed before they even issued a description of Madeleine.

Meanwhile, the McCanns' apartment was not taped off until 10am the day after her disappearance, by which time dozens of people had traipsed through the crime scene and contaminated potentially vital evidence, with ash from policemen's cigarettes later found to be one of the contaminants.
In 1957, the Sunday Express editor was summoned to Parliament and reprimanded for publishing an article about MPs dodging petrol rationing in the wake of Suez.

The bombshell scoop was true, and Sir John Junor became the last non-politician so rebuked. Today, there has been a chilling echo of that threat to Press freedom.

The trigger? A story in our sister newspaper, The Mail on Sunday.

It reported a Tory MP's claims that Angela Rayner had admitted using her legs to distract Boris Johnson during Prime Minister's Questions.

A Tory MP claimed that Angela Rayner had admitted using her legs to distract Boris Johnson during PMQs

Cue fury. Mrs Rayner was apoplectic with rage. There was a storm of criticism on social media. And the Commons Speaker, branding the story 'misogynistic and offensive', furiously vowed to haul in the paper's editor for an explanation.

Some politicians even called for the journalist who wrote the story to be stripped of his Commons pass.

Isn't this simply shooting the messenger?

We have nothing but respect for the Speaker's esteemed office but does not his intemperate language reveal he has already passed judgment on the article without possessing all the facts?

As we reveal today, three other MPs  including one woman  have corroborated the account of Mrs Rayner's remarks.

Moreover, in a podcast in January, she herself raised claims that she had copied Sharon Stone to fluster the PM  and, while saying she was left mortified, she also joked about it in the most vulgar vernacular.

The Mail abhors sexism and misogyny in all its forms. And many will despair that so much energy and attention is focused on what they consider a trivial matter against the backdrop of war in Europe.

Yet for democracy to function effectively, journalists must be free to report what they are told by MPs about conversations and events in Westminster  however unsavoury.

Through his crude attempt at censorship, the Speaker has plumbed troubling new depths. When newspapers fear having their wings clipped by Parliament, just because some might find stories unpalatable, it is a very slippery slope indeed.




A Korean delegation sent by President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to Japan had a meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Tuesday, during which it appears to have delivered a personal letter from the incoming president.







The meeting was held at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, two days after the seven-member team, led by Rep. Chung Jin-suk of Yoon's conservative People Power Party, arrived for "policy consultations" with Japanese officials ahead of the launch of the new administration May 10.







Chung earlier told reporters that he was carrying Yoon's letter for Kishida on relations between the neighboring countries.







Attention is being paid to the possibility of the prime minister attending Yoon's inauguration ceremony in Seoul. (Yonhap)


It's a question that has baffled scientists for centuries  where did the building blocks of life on Earth come from?

Now, scientists have produced new evidence to back up the long-standing theory that they came from meteorites.

The team, from Hokkaido University in Japan, discovered the compounds needed to form DNA and RNA on three separate meteorites that crashed to Earth in 1950, 1969 and 2000.

'[The compounds'] delivery to Earth by meteorites may have subsequently played a role in the emergence of genetic functions for early life,' the researchers said.

The team, from Hokkaido University in Japan, discovered the compounds needed to form DNA on three separate meteorites that crashed to Earth in 1950, 1969 and 2000. The Tagish Lake meteorite fell to British Columbia in 2000

For DNA and RNA to form, two types of chemical building blocks  or nucleobases  are needed

Types of space rock An asteroid is a large chunk of rock left over from collisions or the early solar system. Most are located between Mars and Jupiter in the Main Belt. A comet is a rock covered in ice, methane and other compounds. Their orbits take them much further out of the solar system. A meteor is what astronomers call a flash of light in the atmosphere when debris burns up. This debris itself is known as a meteoroid. Most are so small they are vapourised in the atmosphere. If any of this meteoroid makes it to Earth, it is called a meteorite. Advertisement

For DNA and RNA to form, two types of chemical building blocks  or nucleobases  are needed.

These are the pyrimidines, which include cytosine, uracil and thymine, and the purines, including guanine and adenine.

While previous studies have detected purines and uracil in meteorites, until now, cytosine and thymine were yet to be found.

In their new study, the team analysed three space rocks  the Murchison, Murray and Tagish Lake meteorites.

The Murchison meteorite is a space rock that fell in Australia in 1969, while the Murray meteorite was found in Kentucky in 1950.

The Tagish Lake meteorite fell to Earth most recently, arriving in British Columbia in 2000.

The team's analysis revealed that the meteorites contained compounds that have previously been detected in space rocks, including guanine, adenine and uracil.

However, they were also found to contain cytosine and thymine, at concentration levels of parts per billion.

'These compounds are present at concentrations similar to those predicted by experiments replicating conditions which existed prior to the formation of the solar system,' the researchers said.

In their new study, the team analysed three space rocks  the Murchison, Murray and Tagish Lake meteorites. Pictured: the Murchison meteorite, which fell in Australia in 1969

The team's analysis revealed that the meteorites contained compounds that have previously been detected in space rocks, including guanine, adenine and uracil. Pictured: the Murray meteorite, found in Kentucky in 1950

The findings suggest that the chemical building blocks of DNA may have been partly generated by photochemical reactions in the interstellar media, according to the researchers.

They may have then been incorporated into asteroids as the solar system formed, they added.

While many prominent scientists believe that the building blocks of life on Earth came from meteorites, several other theories are also in circulation.

A 2008 study led by the University of California, San Diego, suggested that volcanoes may have provided the sparks of first life.

In that same year, researchers from the University of Dusseldorf claimed that life may have begun at submarine hydrothermal vents.

Other popular theories include life being sparked by lightning, or the first molecules of life meeting on clay.

However, NASA's research suggests that life was likely brought to our planet from somewhere else in space.

'If life formed so quickly on Earth and there was little in the way of water and carbon-based molecules on the Earth's surface, then how were these building blocks of life delivered to the Earth's surface so quickly?' NASA said.

'The answer may involve the collision of comets and asteroids with the Earth, since these objects contain abundant supplies of both water and carbon-based molecules.'
SpaceX will take an international crew of astronauts to the ISS tomorrow, in a Crew Dragon capsule named 'freedom' after the first American in space, Alan Shepard.

Known as the Crew-4 mission, it will carry NASA's Kjell N. Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins, and ESA's Samantha Cristoforetti to the ISS from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, launching atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 3:52 a.m. EDT.

The Expedition 67 astronauts named the spacecraft in honor of Alan Shepard, the first American in space - named for his spacecraft Freedom 7, flying on May 5, 1961.

Crew-4 was originally due to launch last weekend, but had been delayed due to the Ax-1 commercial crew mission, which couldn't depart the ISS due to bad weather in the ocean where it was due to splashdown. Both missions were operated by SpaceX.

The crew are scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station at 8:15pm EDT on Wednesday, with the hatch set to open at 9:45pm, allowing them on board.

The next SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to take NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts to the ISS has been named Freedom by the crew. From left to right: Jessica Watkins, Robert Hines, Kjell Lindgren and Samantha Cristoforeti

Known as the Crew-4 mission, it will carry NASA's Kjell N. Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins, and ESA's Samantha Cristoforetti to the ISS from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, launching atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 3:52 a.m. EDT

SpaceX Crew Dragon 'Freedom' is the company's fourth to be named by its crew, with the others given the titles Endeavour, Resilience, and Endurance, in order of launch.

'FREEDOM!! Crew-4 will fly to the International Space Station in a new Dragon capsule named 'Freedom,' said mission commander Lindgren when it was announced.

'The name celebrates a fundamental human right, and the industry and innovation that emanate from the unencumbered human spirit.'

This will be the fifth crewed spaceflight SpaceX has operated for NASA - after test flight Demo-2 and the three operational missions to the ISS in a Crew Dragon.

Overall, this will be the seventh Crew Dragon flight, with one taking the fully private Inspiration4 crew into orbit for just short of three days last year, and the other taking the Axiom Space Ax-1 commercial crew to the ISS earlier this month.

Ax-1 had to return to Earth before Crew-4 could launch, as its spacecraft was occupying the same docking port on the ISS that was needed for Freedom.

From left to right: Jessica Watkins, Robert Hines, Kjell Lindgren and Samantha Cristoforetti

It finally splashed down on Monday, after weather cleared up enough for the ocean recovery to be carried out safely. NASA announced the Crew-4 launch for Wednesday.

This allowed for a few days of data analysis and preparation work, with the crew on board expected to spend at least six months on the orbital laboratory.

'Through the Commercial Crew Program, NASA and SpaceX have restored a national capability and we honor the ingenuity and hard work of those involved,' said Lindgren.

'Alan Shepard flew on Freedom 7 at the dawn of human spaceflight. We are honored to bring Freedom to a new generation!'

Alan Shepard was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, and was the first American in space - launching on May 5, 1961.

'Alan Shepard flew on Freedom 7 at the dawn of human spaceflight. We are honored to bring Freedom to a new generation!' said Lindgren

He selected Freedom as his spacecraft name in light of the Cold War space race between the US and Soviet Union.

Crew Dragon Freedom is the second to draw inspiration from NASA's past for a title, with the first given to the Demo-2 capsule - called Endeavour after the Shuttle.

'We both had our first flights on shuttle Endeavour, and it just meant so much to us to carry on that name. So that is what we decided to go with,' said Doug Hurley, who travelled to space with Demo-2 in May 2020.

Crew Dragon 'Freedom' was assembled at the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, California, arriving at the Kennedy Space Center in March.
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Get ready to be lifted to the top of the world.

Author and long-distance adventurer Cam Honan, an Australian who has been described as the 'most travelled hiker on earth', has penned a book about the world's loftiest mountain region - and perusing its pages is a spellbinding experience.

Wanderlust Himalaya, recently published by Gestalten, is lavishly illustrated with incredible pictures of dizzying peaks - and is packed with expert guidance on the best hikes that weave around them, crossing lush meadows, epic glaciers and breathtaking rivers.

Honan, who has spent over a year hiking in the Himalayas, told MailOnline Travel: 'Common mistakes hikers make are poor campsite selection, overestimating their fitness and skill levels, and processing potentially dangerous scenarios subjectively rather than objectively.

'I always bring an appropriately rated sleeping bag, a shelter that holds up well in a storm, backpacking staples such as dried fruit and nuts, pasta, cereal, and chocolate - and the ability to maintain my sense of humour in crappy situations.'

Scroll down to see some of the book's breathtaking photos, which show the incredible diversity of the Himalayan landscape.

The sprinkling of tents in the breathtaking image above is the basecamp in Pakistan for the world's second-highest mountain - K2 (the pyramid-shaped peak in the background). Honan notes that the mountain, which is in the Karakoram Range and reaches a height of 8,611m (28,251ft), 'has long been regarded as one of the toughest and most dangerous to climb'. Reaching the basecamp, which sits at an elevation of 5,150m (16,896ft), is far less challenging and, Honan explains, 'is the turnaround point for one of the world's classic treks - an unforgettable journey through a primordial landscape of serrated peaks, towering cliffs and formidable glaciers'. The 147km (91-mile) route cannot be tackled independently though, he warns, as the terrain is 'demanding'. He adds: 'It's a trip best suited to fit and experienced hikers'

This mesmerising image was taken on Nepal's Manaslu Circuit, which Honan reveals is a multi-week hike around Manaslu, which at 8,163m (26,782ft), is the world's eighth-highest mountain. He says: 'Physically challenging and culturally fascinating, it has equally impressive scenery as its better-known peers in the Annapurna and Everest regions, but with only a fraction of the crowds and tourist infrastructure'

Two hikers tackle the 23.6-mile (38km) Advanced Everest Base Camp trek in Tibet, which is the world's highest-altitude trek without the need for specialist equipment. It tops out, Honan explains, at 6,415m (21,047ft) and begins and ends at Everest's northern base camp (5,150m/16,896ft). The author goes on to explain that while the popular route to Nepal's Everest Base Camp 'offers occasional glimpses of the world's highest mountain, the best views of Everest available to hikers are to be found on its Tibetan side'

This stunning image shows horses being led along the route of the Phugtal Monastery Trek in India, which takes hikers to the 'picturesque' Phugtal Monastery, 3,902m (12,803ft) up in Zanskar, which Honan describes as 'the hidden kingdom of the Indian Himalaya'. He explains: 'Surrounded by impassable mountains and snowed in for more than six months a year, for centuries it was bypassed by all of the major trade routes across Asia. This geographic isolation, combined with its Tibetan roots, led Zanskar to become a haven of Buddhist culture. Phugtal was founded in the 15th century and is only accessible on foot. All supplies are brought in by horses, donkeys, or locals residents with strong backs and sturdy legs'

Pictured above is the wide expanse of the Zanskar Valley in India, which is only accessible between June and October

This jaw-dropping image shows Nanga Parbat in Pakistan looming over the tranquil Fairy Meadows National Park, which hikers heading to the base camp for the mountain pass through. 'It makes for a perfect place to stay at the end of day one' of the two-to-three-day hike, says Honan, describing it as an area of 'lush green pastures and meandering streams'. Nanga Parbat, Honan reveals, is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth at 8,126m (26,660ft) in height and 'from a hiking perspective, [its] base camp is the easiest to access of all the Himalaya's highest summits', although reaching it does involve a drive, preceding Fairy Meadows, in a four-by-four up 'what is universally rated as one of the world's most dangerous roads'. Summiting the mountain itself is also dangerous. In fact, Honan notes, it 'has earned the nickname "killer mountain" for the high number of fatalities that have occurred on its slopes'

A spellbinding image of the Sherpa village of Phortse in Nepal, with the 6,812m- (22,349ft) tall Ama Dablam mountain looming in the background. This area is traversed by hikers on the Three Passes Trek, which encompasses a complete circuit of the Everest region, the book reveals

Pictured here is a melt pond on the 49km- (30-mile) long Hispar Glacier, as seen on the Snow Lake trek in Gilgit-Baltistan, northern Pakistan. The trek, reveals Honan, measures 117km (72.7 miles) and traverses Hispar Glacier and the adjoining Biafo Glacier (67km/41.6 miles), which together form the world's longest glacial system outside the polar regions. Honan explains that 'after five days traversing Biafo Glacier... hikers will arrive at the edge of the legendary Snow Lake (4,877m/16,001ft)' which is 'surrounded by a jaw-dropping amphitheatre of soaring rock towers'. The author adds that 'it is a place so isolated that renowned mountaineer Eric Shipton described it in 1937 as "the last blank on the map"'. He also points out that Snow Lake is a misnomer - it's actually a glacial basin 16km (10 miles) in width

A group of hikers gaze over Mustang, with the 8,000m (26,000ft) Annapurna mountains seen looming in the background. Mustang, Honan explains, was an enclave of Tibetan culture in the Annapurna region of Nepal that was closed to foreigners until 1992 - and is the most arid district in the country. The author says that there are 'myriad hiking possibilities' in Mustang, with the premier trek 'arguably a circuit around its Upper Region, beginning and ending in the village of Kagbeni'

A female trekker on a spectacular cliff-hugging section of trail on the 7km-long (4.3-mile) Ultar Meadow Trek in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, which Honan says is suitable for all experience levels. Travellers to the Himalayas are bound to meet fascinating characters along the way, Honan reveals - 'curious Buddhist monks, hospitable villagers, and harder-than-nails porters all come to mind'

Established in the 14th century, Baltit Fort, in the Pakistani city of Karimabad at the foot of the Ultar Glacier, offers 'outstanding views' and is declared a 'must-visit'. Honan describes it as 'one of the most photogenic buildings in Central Asia'
They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Equally, you shouldn't judge a dessert by the fact that it looks like pieces of wall plaster, a point underscored by Opuses restaurant in Tokyo, Japan.

Despite its dull and industrial appearance, the restaurants 9 (1,500 Japanese yen) Gray pudding has become its most popular dessert, simultaneously creating a stir on social media. The restaurant is revelling in this newfound publicity and told MailOnline Travel that it totally agrees and loves [the] comments about the sweet treat resembling DIY detritus.

Above is 'Gray' - the signature dessert at Opuses restaurant in Tokyo, Japan, which looks like wall plaster

'It looks like concrete [but] is actually very delicious,' remarked Instagram user 'tatine0319' after their visit. Diner 're_ka_a' compared the dessert to a 'piece of cement', while another patron, '_k.a.n.a.s.u.g.a.r', likened it to 'wallpaper ice cream'.

And when mimimimimitsu32 shared a picture of her Gray dessert on Twitter, several users jokingly replied with pictures of peeling wall plaster.

Whats inside it? First, theres a layer of pistachio mousse, dolloped with scoops of berry ice cream. The piece de la resistance is the shards of black sesame meringue that are placed atop the dish.

Opuses told MailOnline Travel that it totally agrees and loves [the] comments about the sweet treat resembling broken wall plaster

The dish is made up of pistachio mousse and berry ice cream topped with shards of black sesame meringue

The restaurant, which is part of The Royal Park Canvas - Ginza 8 hotel, recommends savouring the unusual dessert with a glass of Champagne.

According to Opuses, the unlikely dish melts in the mouth.

You cant whip up the dessert at home  it's actually quite technical and time-consuming to create, Opuses reveals.

Despite its dull and industrial appearance, the 9 (1,500 Japanese yen) dish has become Opuses' most popular dessert

Luckily for those hoping to try it, 'Gray' is a set menu item  and has even been named as the French-fusion restaurant's signature dessert.

Its name was inspired by the restaurants concept colour  grey.

The dessert appears on the restaurants afternoon tea menu, alongside more traditional bakes such as carrot and cheese tart and caramel mousse salt meringue.

The restaurant is housed inside The Royal Park Canvas - Ginza 8 hotel in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district, pictured

While the 'Gray' dessert has attracted a fresh new crowd to Opuses' tables, the restaurant was already a destination for foodies, as chef Yusuke Ikui - head chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant 'Ode' in Tokyo - oversees its menus.

The restaurant is also popular for its rooftop terrace, which offers views across the bright lights of the Ginza shopping district.

For more information visit www.canvas-ginza8.jp/en/restaurant.
The delightful Melbourne home owned by Logie-nominated comedian and TV personality Shane Bourne sold for between $2.3million and $2.4million last week.

The three-bedroom cottage in Albert Park sold to a 'couple who are downsizing from the eastern suburbs,' Greg Hocking of Jellis Craig Port Phillip told realestate.com.au.

Located close to the beach, Port Melbourne and Albert Park Village, the Victorian single-frontage house underwent a complete renovation a decade ago.

Going, going, gone! The delightful Melbourne home owned by comedian and TV personality Shane Bourne sold for between $2.3million and $2.4million last week

The property, which started off as a two-bedroom weatherboard, was transformed by architects into an airy, light-filled and cosy two-level modern home.

Keeping the modest frontage and ornamental archway to maintain the original character, the new design now boasts an impressive master bedroom.

There is also a large bathroom with double vanity and oversized tub on the ground floor, plus a 'European' laundry and linen closet.

Claim to fame: The Logie-nominated actor (pictured) is best known for appearing on Thank God You're Here and Hey Hey It's Saturday

Estimates: The three-bedroom cottage in Albert Park sold to a 'couple who are downsizing from the eastern suburbs,' estate agent Greg Hocking said. (Pictured: the spacious living area)

Modern: The stairs leading to the second level are seen on the left, next to the modern kitchen

There is a second bathroom upstairs, next to a rear main bedroom that comes with a private balcony.

A skylight was installed on the upper level, and glass doors replaced the old walls downstairs.

Features include a large living area and courtyard, as well as a kitchen fitted with timber benchtops and upscale appliances.

Well designed: The home's rooftop terrace (pictured) is perfect for entertaining

Dining splendour: The downstairs outdoor patio and living area at the rear is seen here

An upstairs terrace, perfect for entertaining, offers grand views of Melbourne and the leafy surrounds.

Bourne, 72, a veteran of Australian media for more than 40 years, is best known for appearing on Thank God You're Here and Hey Hey It's Saturday.

He replaced Daniel MacPherson as co-host of Dancing with the Stars in 2015.
Lisa Wilkinson has faced plenty of scrutiny since the release of her memoir, It Wasn't Meant to Be Like This, in November last year.

And The Sunday Project host now reportedly wants 'payback' on the press for fact-checking her tell-all book, reports The Australian.

Wilkinson, 62, will address criticism of her memoir - including allegations she omitted key details about her pay dispute with former employer Channel Nine - during her national book tour, which is set to kick off in the coming weeks.

Revenge: The Sunday Project host Lisa Wilkinson (pictured) reportedly wants 'payback' on the press for fact-checking her tell-all memoir, It Wasn't Meant to Be Like This

Wilkinson will also set the record straight on 'some of the stories behind the headlines you might have read about in recent months' when she addresses a series of high-profile breakfasts for the women's networking group Business Chicks.

In her book, she made a series of claims about her former Today show co-host Karl Stefanovic and how she left Nine over a reported gender pay gap dispute.

She claimed the pay disparity between her and Stefanovic when they hosted the breakfast show was once 'so off the charts that no-one would have believed it'.

Response: Wilkinson, 62, will address criticism of her memoir - including allegations she omitted key details about her pay dispute with former employer Channel Nine - during her national book tour, which is set to kick off in the coming weeks

However, it was later reported that Wilkinson had actually earned more than Stefanovic for years at the start of their on-air partnership, and it wasn't until Seven tried to poach Stefanovic that he was able to negotiate the bigger salary.

Wilkinson failed to mention this important detail in her memoir, instead focusing on the pay disparity during her later years at the helm of Today.

In her book, she alleged Stefanovic had proposed in August 2015 they join forces to renegotiate their Nine contracts - not unlike how the cast of American sitcom Friends famously worked together to broker better deals with NBC.

Lifting the lid: In her book, Wilkinson made a series of claims about her former Today show co-host Karl Stefanovic and how she left Nine over a reported gender pay gap dispute

But she claims he ended up ditching this idea and instead played rival networks Nine and Seven off against each other in order to secure a better deal for himself.

'Weeks later... the media became awash with stories that Stefanovic was restless at Today and looking for greener pastures  and more civilised working hours  at Channel Seven,' she wrote.

Stefanovic was soon at the centre of a bidding war between Nine and Seven that resulted in him re-signing a five-year deal with Nine worth at least $2million per year.

Wilkinson's deal was worth significantly less, about $780,000 a year, and was only for two years.

'There was no doubt about it: Karl certainly knew the art of the deal,' she wrote.
The who's who of Hollywood descended on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to celebrate Australian magazine editor Laura Brown's nuptials to comedian Brandon Borror-Chappell on Sunday.

Laura, 47, who is the former editor of InStyle magazine, and her longtime boyfriend, 31, exchanged vows during an outdoor ceremony at The Club at Kukuiul, surrounded by A-list actors, models and fashion industry favourites.

Among the star-studded guest list was Australian acting royalty Naomi Watts and partner of five years, actor Billy Crudup.

Inside Australian magazine editor Laura Brown and Brandon Borror-Chappell's star-studded Hawaii wedding: From celebrity guests to a VERY unique pink wedding dress

'This is was what you call a WEDDING that we all needed!!' Naomi captioned an Instagram photo of herself at the nuptials on Sunday.

'The pandemic created a major delay but that just meant it was well worth waiting for,' she continued, adding: 'We adored the romance, found the light, bum-rushed the dance floor, over ate and drank, and we don't regret any of it.'

'Congratulations to the beautiful couple. May your love grow stronger with each year. Thank you for creating such a memorable experience. #loverules'.

And the bride wore... pink! Sporting a light pink bridal frock, Laura, 47, who is the former editor of InStyle magazine, and her longtime boyfriend, 31, exchanged vows during an outdoor ceremony at The Club at Kukuiul

Famous faces: Among the star-studded guest list was Australian acting royalty Naomi Watts (left) and partner of five years, actor Billy Crudup (right)

Having a ball! Naomi and Laura posed for pouty selfies during the glamorous nuptials

Fellow Australian actress Rose Byrne also attended the festivities alongside her partner Bobby Cannavale, while supermodel Miranda Kerr was spotted in the crowd wearing Monique Lhuillier and with her husband Evan Spiegel.

Other celebrities in attendance included Australian actress Bella Heathcote and Hollywood glamazons Brooke Shields, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kate Bosworth and Jessica Alba.

American actor Justin Long and American TV reporter Katie Couric were also spotted in the crowd.

Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr (left) was spotted in the crowd wearing Monique Lhuillier with her husband Evan Spiegel (right)

Acting A-listers attended the festivities en masse, including the likes of Rose Byrne (second, left) and her partner Bobby Cannavale (far left), Kate Bosworth (centre), Bella Heathcote (far right) and Justin Long (second, right)

Around 230 friends and family travelled to Hawaii from across the globe to attend Laura and Brandon's highly-anticipated wedding, which had previously been postponed for three years due to the Covid pandemic.

Eschewing bridal gown tradition, Laura sported a breathtaking, soft pink ballgown down the aisle complete with a matching pink veil.

Laura's off-the-shoulder frock was custom made by Valentino, and featured a full skirt, tie waist detailing and even a set of pockets.

Their big day: Around 230 friends and family travelled to Hawaii from across the globe to attend Laura and Brandon's highly-anticipated wedding, which had previously been postponed for three years due to the Covid pandemic

Famous faces: Other celebrities in attendance included actresses Brooke Shields, Michelle Pfeiffer (left, centre) and Jessica Alba, and American TV reporter Katie Couric

Think pink! Eschewing bridal gown tradition, Laura sported a breathtaking, soft pink ballgown down the aisle complete with a matching pink veil

A bouquet of hot pink tropical flowers completed her playful wedding day look.

Sharing details about her gown on Instagram, Laura cooed: 'My beautiful, singularly gifted friend [Valentino designer Pierpaolo Piccioli] first sketched my @maisonvalentino wedding dress in January 2020. He made sure it had pockets. Pierpaolo, I love you with all my heart. Thank you.'

Brandon, who has been dating Laura since 2016, sported a sleek black suit and matching bow-tie.

Chic: Brandon, who has been dating Laura since 2016, sported a sleek black suit and matching bow-tie.

Time to dine: Following the ceremony, Laura and Brandon's guests sat down to a formal luncheon beneath a large outdoor pavilion nearby

Who's who of Hollywood: Jessica Alba posed alongside Laura and Hollywood aesthetician Shani Darden at the reception

Following the ceremony, Laura and Brandon's guests sat down to a formal luncheon beneath a large outdoor pavilion nearby.

The event rollicked into the night, with a performer keeping guests entertained with a fire twirling routine.

Brandon previously wrote an editorial for Refinery29 in January 2017 regarding the 16-year age gap between himself and Laura.

Here comes the bride! A bouquet of hot pink tropical flowers completed Laura's playful wedding day look

'Every time we go out to a nice dinner or stay in a beautiful hotel, I try to remember: I haven't earned this life yet,' he wrote at the time.

'I am reminded of this when I call down to concierge and am greeted with a 'Bonjour, Mr. Brown,'' he added, explaining he does 'what I can to contribute' in their relationship.

Laura was born and raised in Australia, before relocating to New York City in September 2001, where she carved out a stellar career for herself in magazines.

Laura's previous roles include executive director at Harper's Bazaar magazine, senior editor at W magazine and articles editor at men's magazine Details.

She was also editor-in-chief of American InStyle until February, when the magazine announced they were ceasing to publish a print format, opting to go all-digital.
Social media star Mary Magdalene has earned thousands of fans online thanks to her extreme plastic surgery.

But now there are fears the OnlyFans model may be going too far, after she announced plans to get another round of dangerous butt injections.

'I'm getting my a** bigger in two weeks. I can't wait!' she wrote on Instagram, adding a series of needle emojis.

Extreme: Surgery-addicted social media star Mary Magdalene (pictured) has announced plans to get more fillers in her buttocks

Silicone or hydrogel injections in the buttocks are considered 'unsafe' because the fillers can travel to other parts of the body and cause health issues.

Mary already has butt implants, along with multiple rounds of fillers on top.

She almost died on the operating table during an operation to 'inflate' her vagina back in 2018.

'I almost died during [the] procedure,' she previously told The Sun.

'I had to get two blood transfusions. The doctor said I was losing so much blood, and turning very pale. He thought I was going to die.'

Dangers: Silicone or hydrogel injections in the buttocks are considered 'unsafe' because the fillers can travel to other parts of the body and cause health issues

Explaining the bizarre procedure on No Jumper, Mary said she wanted her nether regions to look 'inflated' so she could have 'the world's fattest vagina'.

'So basically there's this contraption that you use and it sucks your p***y and then it makes it very inflated, so I told the doctor that I just want it permanently to look like that,' she said.

'I would say it's a female ball sack. I'm gonna keep just growing it and getting it bigger. I'm gonna get injections.'

'He thought I was going to die': Mary almost died on the operating table during an operation to 'inflate' her vagina back in 2018

The heavily tattooed model had her first procedure done at the age of 21, when she was working as a stripper and escort.

Over the years, her surgeries have included a brow lift, fat transfers, multiple nose and boob jobs, veneers, liposuction, butt injections and three Brazilian butt lifts.

Earlier this year, she had a fourth nose job to create a 'Barbie nose', along with cat-eye surgery and eyebrow implants.

She also had her teeth filed down to get porcelain veneers.

Shocked: The OnlyFans star is unable to close her mouth following a lip lift and extreme fillers

'I might die': Mary is aware she could possibly lose a limb, or even her own life, every time she goes under the knife

In April, she claimed she was unable to fully close her mouth anymore after a lip lift and another round of lip filler.

On top of that, she had just had her saline breast implants topped up to 5000cc, which has left her unable to fit into most normal clothes.

'I got a lip lift so my mouth is always open,' she explained to her 105,000 followers on Instagram.

'Why? Because I think it looks a lot sl***ier and hotter,' she added, before admitting she wants to look like a 'bimbo'.

Flashback: A fresh-faced Mary is pictured in her early twenties, before her extreme surgery
Benedict Cumberbatch put on a stylish display on Monday as he stepped out from his hotel in London.

The actor, 45, looked effortlessly cool in a pair of brown trousers, a white t-shirt and black jacket as he was escorted out by security in the midst of promoting the much-anticipated Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness.

The star kept a low profile in a pair of black trainers while carrying a cap and being hounded by fans for selfies at the hotel entrance.

Looking good: Benedict Cumberbatch put on a stylish display on Monday as he stepped out from his hotel in London

Benedict - best known for playing Doctor Strange - was joined by his co-star Benedict Wong.

The 50-year-old actor - who plays Wong in the Marvel films - dressed to impress in a blue blazer, trousers and a green top.

The stars both appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which is set to be released on Friday, May 6.

Stylish: The actor, 45, looked effortlessly cool in a pair of brown trousers, a white t-shirt and black jacket as he was escorted out by security

Fame: The star kept a low profile in a pair of black trainers while carrying a cap and being hounded by fans for selfies at the hotel entrance

Star: Benedict and his security guard didn't look impressed as one fan snapped a selfie with them as they tried to leave

Benedict and his co-star Elizabeth Olsen, 33, recently attended a photocall for Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness in Berlin.

The co-stars play the leading roles of Dr Stephen Strange and Wanda Maximoff in the Marvel film, which serves as a sequel to 2016's Doctor Strange.

Benedict looked suave as he posed on the red carpet in a blue blazer and a matching pair of trousers.

Pals: Benedict - best known for playing Doctor Strange - was joined by his co-star Benedict Wong

Dapper: The 50-year-old actor - who plays Wong in the Marvel films - dressed to impress in a blue blazer, trousers and a green top

The film star also sported a white T-shirt along with a gold scarf and a pair of navy trousers.

Meanwhile, the actress turned heads in a light blue metallic top which she wore with a plunging vest top with a sequinned detail.

The new movie is about the further adventures of Dr Stephen Strange and his research on the Time Stone.

He also is amazed by the chaos that is caused by the Multiverse as he faces off with Dark Strange.

Stars: The co-stars looked glamorous as they attended a photocall for Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness in Berlin

This fall, the film underwent six weeks of reshoots, with cast and crew working for six days a week in Los Angeles.

One source, played down the reshoots, telling The Hollywood Reporter: 'Even while in the middle of production, Marvel is scheduling you for more shooting.'

Another added: 'We've had bigger reshoots on other MCU movies.'

Smart: Benedict looked suave as he posed on the red carpet in a blue blazer and a matching pair of trousers

However, some insiders believe the scale of the reshoots is significant, explaining: 'They're here until the end of the year. That's like a whole other movie.'

Recently speaking about the reshoots on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live', Cumberbatch said: 'Like everything with Marvel, it comes in fresh, pretty much, most mornings. It's really exciting and the film is shaping up to be something special.'

Meanwhile, Benedict previously revealed he wants his acting projects to be able to justify spending time away from his wife Sophie Hunter and their sons Christopher Carlton, six, Hal Auden, four, and Finn, two.

Speaking to Esquire magazine, he added: 'I mean... I like a challenge. I really enjoy my work.

'When I do work, I want to work hard. It has to be worth leaving my family and home for. To make them... Oh, this sounds weird but I guess to validate me not being there.

'And if I can get away with a new skill and call it work, lucky me, you know? That saves me a few night classes or, you know, time I don't have.'
Selling Sunset fans took to social media questioning a sequence involving Jason Oppenheim on the seventh episode of the show's new fifth season.

In a scene from the Netflix reality series titled It's Getting Personal, the 45-year-old real estate broker is seen speaking on a phone call while the front of his iPhone is set to the camera app, leading some to question if the call was fake.

While it is technically possible to have the camera app open while making a call, many on social media questioned the authenticity of the call, in which The Oppenheim Group founder was speaking about a potential business deal on a property.

The latest: Selling Sunset fans took to social media questioning a sequence involving Jason Oppenheim, 45, on the seventh episode of the show's new fifth season. He was snapped in LA last August

A user shared a clip of the scene, writing, 'Not Jason Oppenheim getting up to make a call with his camera.'

One user tweeted, 'My vibe today is Jason talking to his camera pretending to call a client #SellingSunset.'

Another user said: 'Jason Oppenheim "on a phone call" during a scene in the new season of Selling Sunset. From what I see though  his camera app is open.'

A few social media users defended the Palo Alto, California native, with one person saying, 'You guys are aware you can still be on a call but on a different page, app' while another said, 'Sometimes the ear or face touches the screen and turns on other apps.'

In a scene from the Netflix reality series titled It's Getting Personal, the 45-year-old real estate broker is seen speaking on a phone call while the front of his iPhone is set to the camera app, leading some to question if the call was fake

A number of social media users shared screenshots of the sequence, questioning the authenticity of the phone call

The fifth season of the show, which debuted on Netflix Friday, will chronicle Oppenheim's romantic relationship with Chrishell Stause, 40, which ended late last year after five months.

Oppenheim last week spoke with People about seeing his relationship with Stause unfold on the fifth season of his series, saying he was 'pretty anxious about it,' and 'not looking forward to that at all.'

He added: 'It's almost like if you got a divorce and had to watch your wedding video. Why would you want to do that? This has not been an easy breakup for me at all - my most difficult for sure - and I'm still processing. So to have to go through this when I'm already having a difficult time is not something I'm looking forward to.'

A few social media users defended the Palo Alto, California native in regards to the technical details of the exchange

The fifth season documents the relationship between Oppenheim and ex Chrishell Stause, 40. The former couple was seen at an event in NYC last autumn

Stause, an actress and real estate agent, opened up about their breakup in December, as she said they were not on the same page in terms of starting a family.

'I have tried to embrace the world I have found myself in and that includes being open and honest about my relationships,' Stause said in a December 21 post on Instagram. 'It felt scary and terrifying knowing that it may not end in what society deems a success and what I am ultimately looking for.

'But after many long heartfelt talks, I am choosing to see it as a success no matter what label is attached to it publicly. Jason was and is my best friend, and other than our ideas for family ultimately not being aligned, the amount of respect and love we have for each other will not change going forward.'
UN condemns violence against civilians, aid workers in South Sudan

Xinhua) 09:33, April 26, 2022

JUBA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Monday condemned the rampant sexual violence, killings, burning alive of civilians, and attacks on aid workers in South Sudan's Leer County.

In separate statements issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, the UN humanitarian agency and UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) called upon all armed actors to respect international humanitarian law and immediately cease targeting civilians, women, humanitarian personnel and their assets.

"I condemn in strongest terms the ongoing violence in Leer County, Unity State, and the conflict tensions across South Sudan. The surge in fighting in April has resulted in widespread devastation, with numerous people reported killed, wounded, women abducted and raped; homes burned, and properties looted," Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan Sara Beysolow Nyanti said.

Nyanti said these atrocities happened at the time when humanitarians are responding to mitigate suffering as a result of rains and standing water from the 2021 floods as well as preparedness activities to mitigate the impact of the oncoming rains and projected flooding.

She said the violence claimed the lives of innocent civilians and mourned the loss of a staff member of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) who was killed in Leer earlier this month while trying to flee a violent attack on his community.

Nyanti said the continuation of violence hampers the delivery of humanitarian services to the most vulnerable, especially women, children, elderly and disabled people, and deteriorates further their already dire situation.

"It increases the number of those in dire need of humanitarian assistance, and we do not have the funds to reach those already in need," she said.

Some 6.8 million of the most vulnerable people in South Sudan will need urgent life-saving assistance and protection in 2022, according to the UN.

Between Feb. 17 and April 7, some 72 civilians were killed, at least 11 injured, and 64 cases of sexual violence recorded, according to UNMISS human rights teams who have conducted 10 verification missions.

Nicholas Haysom, the special representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan, said two survivors said that they were repeatedly raped and gang-raped after they came out of hiding to find food for their children.

Haysom said another woman who had recently given birth recounted that she was raped and severely beaten for three days.

"I am strongly appalled by these horrific attacks on civilians in Leer. We must all do everything we can to ensure that victims and survivors get the justice they deserve and receive the care and support they need," he said.

According to initial reports, some 40,000 people have fled the violence in Leer, with thousands reportedly crossing the Nile to Fangak in Jonglei State.

The UNMISS said thousands of cattle were raided, and markets, homes, and humanitarian facilities and warehouses looted and burnt down. The wet season has already begun, along with the risk of floods, creating a dangerous situation for thousands of internally displaced families.

"The Mission urges national and local authorities to take immediate measures to reduce tensions and prevent further escalations and retaliatory attacks. Impunity on violations of human rights must end and perpetrators held accountable for these horrible crimes," said Haysom.

UNMISS is also engaging with leadership at the capital and state levels to mitigate violence while civil affairs teams are meeting with communities to conduct focus group discussions in conflict-affected areas.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Deputy National Assembly Speaker Chung Jin-suk, fourth from left, who heads President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's delegation for policy consultations with Japan, delivers a personal letter from Yoon to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, fourth from right, during their meeting at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Tuesday. Yonhap



By Kang Seung-woo



President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's delegation and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed, Tuesday, that Korea and Japan should make diplomatic efforts to repair their soured bilateral ties, according to the head of the delegation.



However, the delegation didn't invite Kishida in person to attend Yoon's May 10 inauguration ceremony, saying that the ball is in the prime minister's court to decide whether he will be present.



The seven-member delegation, led by National Assembly Vice Speaker Rep. Chung Jin-suk, flew to Tokyo on a five-day trip, Sunday, and paid a courtesy call to the Japanese leader at his office.



"We concurred that the two countries should work hard for the development of future-oriented relations and mutual interest, while they are standing on the start line," Chung told reporters following the 25-minute meeting.



"We had a good conversation."



Chung also said the delegation had delivered Yoon's personal letter to Kishida, who accepted it with gratitude.



According to Chung, Yoon's stance on Korea-Japan ties is that the two sides should face up to history and pursue future-oriented relations, based on the Kim Dae-jungKeizo Obuchi joint declaration, and such a message may have been included.



The declaration signed between the two former heads of state in 1998 was an initiative to soothe worsening ties by attempting to institutionalize a framework for cooperation on historical reconciliation and other pending bilateral matters.



So as to restore the deadlocked relations, Chung said that mutual trust should be built first.



"To that end, we relayed our view on the need to expand and revitalize people-to-people exchanges which had been suspended due to COVID-19 and other reasons ... and Prime Minister Kishida shared that view," he said.



According to Japan's Kyodo News, Kishida also stressed the urgent need to mend fences with Korea.



"We have no time to spare in improving Japan-South Korea relations," he said, adding that the two sides need to resolve the issues lying between them.



Upon Yoon's decision to dispatch the delegates, speculation has been rising that they may ask Kishida to attend Yoon's inauguration ceremony.



However, Chung said Kishida was not invited to the ceremony, adding that whether a state leader will attend is up to the Japanese government.



During the meeting, they also touched on thorny issues such as sex slavery and forced labor, which have been major sticking points in the bilateral ties.



During his election campaign, Yoon called for a future-oriented approach to thorny issues between the two sides.



Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister nominee Park Jin also said that the delegation would inform Kishida of Yoon's strong determination to improve the strained bilateral ties if their meeting is arranged.



"I hope that the meeting will create momentum for Korea and Japan to restore their relationship based on coexistence and trust," he told reporters.



Park, a four-term lawmaker, stressed that improvements in Korea-Japan ties will greatly advance trilateral cooperation that also includes the United States.



"The Joe Biden administration is vastly interested in three-way cooperation," he added.



Bilateral relations between the neighboring countries have remained at a historic low due to wartime history issues that have extended to the economic arena.



Following Korea's Supreme Court ruling ordering Japanese companies to compensate surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor, the Japanese government has been imposing tighter export curbs on three materials to Korea used to make smartphone chips and displays since July 2019. On Monday, the delegation met with Japan's Trade Minister Koichi Hagiuda and discussed the issue.



The minister nominee also agreed that these will be the most urgent issues in the Yoon administration's diplomacy with Japan, hoping that they will be resolved through open-minded talks between the two countries.


He played a gender-fluid Time Lord whose character changes every few years, but Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi has questioned whether he should have accepted the role of poet Siegfried Sassoon, because they have different sexual preferences.

'Understandably, people will ask whether I, a heterosexual man, should be playing a homosexual  perhaps not,' muses Capaldi, who performs the role of Sassoon in the film Benediction, to be released next month.

'A gay person would have insights into that world that I don't have. And it's absolutely right that we should be asking these questions.

'For far too long, there have been certain groups that have been excluded from the acting industry because of their sexuality, the colour of their skin or where they went to school. If our goal is to be in a better place, there needs to be some sort of rebalance.'

Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi has questioned whether he should have accepted the role of poet Siegfried Sassoon, because they have different sexual preferences

Capaldi, 64, explains to Saga magazine: 'I play the war poet Siegfried Sassoon as an older man trying to make sense of the horrors he saw in World War I.

'At the same time, he's also coming to terms with his homosexuality.'

Sassoon was not openly gay as homosexual acts were illegal until 1967  the year of his death.

Capaldi starred in Doctor Who for three years from 2014, after making his name as foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in political comedy The Thick Of It.

He accepted the role of Sassoon because he was so desperate to work with celebrated screenwriter Terence Davies, 76, whose films include Distant Voices, Still Lives.

Peter Capaldi in Benediction - the story of English poet, writer and soldier Siegfried Sassoon

'I suppose the truth is that I wasn't brave enough or gracious enough to step aside, because I wanted to work with my idol,' he says. 'And that was rather selfish of me.' Capaldi is not the first actor to voice such 'woke' doubts about accepting a role.

Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne said it was a 'mistake' to have taken the part of Lili Elbe, one of the first people in the world to have gender reassignment surgery, in 2015's The Danish Girl.

And Benedict Cumberbatch expressed regret at playing a non-binary model in 2016 comedy Zoolander 2, saying the part would 'never be performed by anybody other than a trans actor' today.

Clarkson's girl takes the bus for her hen do

Petrol head Jeremy Clarkson's daughter Emily hired an unusual set of wheels for her hen do  a party bus.

The blogger and author, 27, clutched two bottles of fizz on board the pink BJazzled Party Bus, wearing a hired bridal gown. She stayed with pals at Thornemead Castle in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where they ended up somewhat worse for wear. Emily was pictured sleeping on the kitchen floor.

Petrol head Jeremy Clarkson's daughter Emily hired an unusual set of wheels for her hen do  a party bus. The blogger and author, 27, clutched two bottles of fizz on board the pink BJazzled Party Bus, wearing a hired bridal gown

She stayed with pals at Thornemead Castle in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where they ended up somewhat worse for wear

'It was the most fun I've ever had,' says Emily, whose mother is Jeremy's estranged second wife and former manager, Frances Cain.

Emily's fiance is Alex Andrew, 29, a Dublin-born publicist she met at Glastonbury festival.

Eugenie signs up Theresa May for anti-slavery charity

As Prince Andrew seeks a route to redemption, he might want to consult his daughter, Princess Eugenie.

I hear the Queen's granddaughter has just managed to persuade former prime minister Theresa May to join the new advisory board of the Anti-Slavery Collective, a charity she co-founded which campaigns to eradicate modern slavery. Andrew pledged to support victims of sex trafficking when he agreed to make a 'substantial donation' to Victoria Giuffre's charity in support of victims' rights after the pair reached a settlement in February, said to be 7.5 million.

He strenuously denied her claims of sexual assault.

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason is bemused to be performing at the age of 78, long after his pals in 'regular' professions put their feet up. 'Fifty years ago, it was the rebellion, it was something that was solely for young people,' he says of rock music. 'Most of us assumed we'd be lucky to get two years of it and then have to go back and carry on doing something else. It was absolutely assumed that this was ephemeral.

'And now all my friends who went into banking or whatever have retired.'

Kate Moss helps pal Emin draw a crowd

One is a supermodel known for her hard-partying, the other a former enfant terrible of the art world.

And Kate Moss, 48, was happy to lend her support to Tracey Emin, as the 58-year-old artist opened her latest exhibition in her hometown of Margate, Kent.

Kate Moss, 48, was happy to lend her support to Tracey Emin, as the 58-year-old artist opened her latest exhibition in her hometown of Margate, Kent

The 'raw, emotionally powerful' show, A Journey To Death, documents Emin's road to recovery after being diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2020.

Moss, who was painted by Lucian Freud, once posed naked for a sketch by Emin which was donated to a charity raffle in 2009, with tickets costing just 1 each.

Hirst's pampered pets in a pickle at the gym

It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'walking the dog' . . . Damien Hirst's girlfriend has revealed she exercises their pampered pooches at the gym.

'Get off my treadmill,' jokes ex-ballerina Sophie Cannell, 28, who is 28 years younger than Hirst, the world's richest artist.

'Get off my treadmill,' jokes ex-ballerina Sophie Cannell, 28, who is 28 years younger than Hirst, the world's richest artist

Damien Hirst and his girlfriend Sophie Cannell have three French bulldogs, Pablo, Chapo and Blanco, who enjoy a luxurious lifestyle at their 14-bedroom home in Regent's Park, London

The couple have three French bulldogs, Pablo, Chapo and Blanco, who enjoy a luxurious lifestyle at their 14-bedroom home in Regent's Park, London.

The mutts have travelled with their own seats on a private jet and been served platters of food.
Raquel Cassidy cut an elegant figure as she attended the premiere of Downton Abbey: A New Era at Leicester Square's Cineworld on Monday evening.

The actress, 54, who reprised her role of Phyllis Baxter for the film, stunned in a black gown with white panelling down the sides.

The gown featured a plunging v-neckline with bow tying shoulder details, with a figure hugging waist before falling into a wide hem.

Chic: Raquel Cassidy, 54, cut an elegant figure as she attended the premiere of Downton Abbey: A New Era at Leicester Square's Cineworld on Monday evening

The star added a pair of open-toe stiletto heels in gold, carrying a soft blush mini handbag with a croc skin texture.

Her ashy blonde tresses were partly pulled back, with some face framing pieces falling down beside her jaw.

While Raquel added large gold leaf drop earrings and a silver bracelet to accessorise.

Monochrome: She stunned in a black gown with white panelling down the sides

Details: The gown featured a plunging v-neckline with bow tying shoulder details, with a figure hugging waist before falling into a wide hem

Heels: The star elevated her height with a pair of open-toed stiletto heels in gold by Terry de Havilland

She opted for a subtle makeup look to highlight her complexion, with dark eye makeup and a soft pink lip.

The beauty put on a gorgeous display during the red carpet appearance, striking a myriad of poses.

She showed off her toned legs upon exiting the bash, lifting up her dress to tackle the stairs with ease.

Blonde beauty:Her ashy blonde tresses were partly pulled back, with some face framing pieces falling down beside her jaw

Jewellery: Raquel added large gold leaf drop earrings and a silver bracelet to accessorise

Age-defying: She opted for a subtle makeup look to highlight her complexion, with dark eye makeup and a soft pink lip

Raquel was joined on the red carpet by her fellow co-stars, including Kevin Doyle, who plays Joseph Molesley in the period drama.

The sequel to Downton Abbey's 2019 movie is long-awaited, after the initial premiere was set to take place in 2021.

The film will see the Crawley family head to the South of France to uncover a mystery at a villa bestowed to Dowager Countess of Grantham, Violet Crawley, while an ambitious director plans to make a film at Downton.

On-screen: Raquel reprised her role of Phyllis Baxter for the much anticipated film

Co-stars: Raquel was joined on the red carpet by her fellow co-stars, including Kevin Doyle, who plays Joseph Molesley in the period drama
Anton Du Beke has revealed he 'hasn't been told' whether he is returning to the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel, despite claims he's set to permanently replace Bruno Tonioli.

The 55-year-old, stood in for Bruno Tonioli, 66, on last year's series when the Italian star was unable to travel to the UK from the US last year due to pandemic travel restrictions.

When Anton wasn't on the list of professionals when the line-up was announced last week, it was assumed he would be back on the judging panel, but the dancer has insisted this is yet to be confirmed.

Fingers crossed: Anton Du Beke has said he has yet to be asked to join the Strictly Come Dancing panel but would like to return as a judge for a second series

Anton told Sussex Life Magazine: 'I'm hoping to get a call to say, "Look, here you go, come back judging please".

'But we'll wait and see. I'd like to think I'd be on the show in one way or another.'

He continued: 'I wouldn't like to think they'd just get rid of me altogether. That would be a bit dramatic to go from dancer to judge to off the show. The truth is I haven't been told.'

The father-of-two confirmed that any reports about him returning are 'just a rumour' at the moment.

Replacement: The 55-year-old, stood in for Bruno Tonioli , 66, on last year's series when the Italian star was unable to travel to the UK from the US last year due to pandemic

Hopes: When Anton wasn't on the list of professionals when the line-up was announced last week, it was assumed he would be back on the judging panel

Happier times: Anton sat in on the famous panel last year alongside regular judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas

The star sat in on the famous panel last year alongside regular judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas.

Anton joined the BBC show in 2004 as a dancer in its first series but has never lifted the Glitterball Trophy in his 18 years partnered with celebrities.

The pro revealed that he would 'love' to return as a dancer still.

He added: 'Yes. I love the show. I've been doing it since the beginning and I'm very proud of that. I do it because I love it.'

Speaking out: Craig Revel Horwood reportedly received a telling off by Strictly Come Dancing bosses after telling an audience that Anton is returning as a judge this year (pictured in 2019)

Recently, Craig Revel Horwood reportedly received a telling off by Strictly bosses after telling an audience that Anton is returning as a judge this year while on his All Balls and Glitter Tour.

A TV insider told The Sun: 'When Anton wasnt included on the announced line-up of Strictly pros, it was assumed hed be back as a judge again.

'But the BBC said nothing was nailed on yet.

Secrets: Anton has since revealed he has not yet received any news about him returning to the hit show which he has been apart of since it first broadcasted in 2004

'Now Craig has blabbed the news and the Beeb arent happy  they hadnt even told Bruno he was being replaced.'

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Craig and for Strictly for comment.

Speaking during a show on his All Balls and Glitter UK tour, Craig revealed bosses had told the judges that ballroom dancer Anton would be waltzing back to the judging panel this autumn.

Waiting: Anton explain: 'I wouldn't like to think they'd just get rid of me altogether. That would be a bit dramatic to go from dancer to judge to off the show. The truth is I haven't been told'

According to The Sun, Craig said: 'I really love Anton. I think he is fantastic. I think last year he did a great job on Strictly as a judge.

'And we have just found out he is going to do it again this year.'

Craig went on to tell the audience that he did miss his co-star Bruno, who had been on the Strictly panel since the show launched in 2004.

The choreographer said they remain to be 'great mates' after working side by side for 16 years together.

He went on to reveal that while he did miss the Italian's energy - Bruno actually struggled to deal with his dramatic performance.

He said: 'He always used to come off and say, ''Darling, I am exhausted.''

'And I used to say, ''Well, you created this character darling.'' I will just sit there. My job is easy.'

Craig previously branded Anton a 'great addition' to the Strictly judging panel as the pair admitted that they love playing 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' on the show.
Howard Stern blasted actor Johnny Depp for 'overacting' during his televised defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.

Stern, 68, was speaking about the trial on Monday's episode of his syndicated Sirius XM radio show, where he branded the 58-year-old Depp as a 'narcissist.'

The talk show host added that he thought he would want the trial televised because he thinks he can talk his way out of anything.

Overacting: Howard Stern blasted actor Johnny Depp for 'overacting' during his televised defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard

Speaking out: Stern, 68, was speaking about the trial on Monday's episode of his syndicated Sirius XM radio show, where he branded the 58-year-old Depp as a 'narcissist'

'The reason I think he wanted it televised is that's what narcissists do. They think they can talk their way out of anything,' Stern began which his co-host Robin Quivers agreed with.

He added that Donald Trump is, 'the biggest narcissist I've ever met in my entire life,' while adding why he thinks Depp is, 'a huge narcissist.'

'He figured, "Ill put this on TV and because Im so persuasive and because Im so smart, Im such a wonderful guy,"' as Robin added he thought, 'I could act my way through anything.'

Narcissist: 'The reason I think he wanted it televised is that's what narcissists do. They think they can talk their way out of anything,' Stern began which his co-host Robin Quivers agreed with

Narcissist: He added that Donald Trump is, 'the biggest narcissist I've ever met in my entire life,' while adding why he thinks Depp is, 'a huge narcissist'

'Ill play you some clips from the Johnny Depp trial. If he isnt acting  I mean, hes so overacting because hes writing his own material as he goes along,' Stern said.

'You know, I gotta tell you, hes wrong. He shouldnt be putting this on TV in any shape,' as Robin added, 'He's trying to save his career. I don't think this is going to help.'

'Thats what narcissists do, "I will charm the pants off of America at the trial." No you wont! This will not go well. Its not going well for you, its not going well for her. Its not going well for anybody. You sound like two battling children,' Stern explained.

Acting and writing: 'Ill play you some clips from the Johnny Depp trial. If he isnt acting  I mean, hes so overacting because hes writing his own material as he goes along,' Stern said

Charm: 'Thats what narcissists do, "I will charm the pants off of America at the trial." No you wont! This will not go well. Its not going well for you, its not going well for her. Its not going well for anybody. You sound like two battling children,' Stern explained

He then mocked them sounding like two petulant children as they flung accusations back and forth, adding, 'Its just coming off really badly.'

'Johnny Depp testified in court for two days last week. Two days. Think about that, lots of room to embarrass yourself. Two full, f***ing days!' Stern said.

'First of all, his difficulty in speaking the English language is fantasticAnd the accent. First of all, isnt he from like the South of the Midwest? Johnny Depp was born in Kentucky. Does that sound like a guy from Kentucky?' Stern added.

Embarrass: 'Johnny Depp testified in court for two days last week. Two days. Think about that, lots of room to embarrass yourself. Two full, f***ing days!' Stern said

The former couple, who were married from 2015 to 2017, began their legal saga in 2019 when Depp sued Heard over a 2019 op-ed in the Washington Post.

The $50 million lawsuit was met with a $100 million counterclaim by Heard.

The trial began earlier this month in Fairfax, Virginia, which follows Depp losing a libel lawsuit to The Sun.

Counterclaim: The $50 million lawsuit was met with a $100 million counterclaim by Heard
Imagine Miriam Margolyes: Up For Grabs

Rating:

Long Lost Family Special: Shipped To Australia

Rating:

Miriam Margolyes is an actress of extraordinary talents  a brilliant mimic, a magical voiceover artist, a fine reader and a rambunctious scene-stealer.

She is also very difficult to like.

Its not merely that she is coarse and vulgar. She sets out to shock, with complete disregard for other peoples feelings, and then takes umbrage when they are offended.

Worse than that, she flaunts the very worst of herself and expects to be forgiven, simply because she has made a full confession.

BBC 1's Miriam Margolyes: Up For Grabs features the 80-year-old actress in a confession-oriented profile episode

Distinguished thesps popped up on Miriam Margolyes: Up For Grabs (BBC1) to regale us with anecdotes of Miriams scabrous behaviour on set.

Charles Dance and Tony Robinson both seemed bemused, as though they knew the filthy stories were supposed to be funny but they struggled to see the joke.

At the end of this hour-long profile for the Imagine series, interviewer Alan Yentob asked if there were any dark secrets she had failed to include in her autobiography.

Miriam had an answer ready. She had, she declared, hit her mother Ruth following a stroke that left the older woman paralysed.

I am deeply ashamed of it, the 80-year-old actress said through tears. The thing that really gets to me is that my mother forgave me.

This happened half a century ago: Ruth died in 1974. But the admission was particularly appalling, because so much of the documentary focused on the close relationship that Miriam, an only child, insisted she had with the parents she still calls Mummy and Daddy.

She recalled how mortified they were when she came out to them as a lesbian in the 1960s, and how they made her swear to stop sleeping with women (she broke her promise).

And she asserted proudly that she cared for her father Joseph at her London home, as he declined with dementia during his last ten years.

Her announcement, made without any explanation or mitigation, that she hit her disabled mother left me wondering if I could trust the emotional truth of anything she had said at all.

Her tears appeared to be self-pity, not regret. What grieved her was the forgiveness, as if it robbed her of some moral high ground.

Well never know, though, because Alan didnt ask. He has been presenting these arty biographies for years, but his interview style has not advanced beyond a list of prepared questions. He doesnt probe, he just offers prompts.

Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell traced two families torn apart by the post-war Child Migrant schemes, which took children from care homes and sent them to the far side of the world, in ITV's Long Lost Family Special: Shipped To Australia

When Miriam declared shed hit her crippled mother, Alan looked embarrassed and then offered to cook some chicken livers  a dish that reminded Miriam of her childhood.

It was as though he felt the best way to get over domestic violence was to have a nice hot dinner and forget all about the nastiness.

Memories of childhood and violent abuse permeated Long Lost Family Special: Shipped To Australia (ITV).

Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell traced two families torn apart by the post-war Child Migrant schemes, which took children from care homes and sent them to the far side of the world. They grew up brutalised in residential schools.

This one-off episode was weaker than most in the series, because the reunions  though moving  were low-key.

Two brothers had already found each other, decades ago. And a man who never knew his parents or his half-siblings met a niece for the first time  but the rest of his family were no longer alive.

Davina and Nicky worked separately, as usual. Perhaps the next Long Lost special could bring them together for the first time.
Anna Vakili has revealed she was rushed to hospital after her skin flared up with a mystery red rash that left her feeling like she was 'on fire'.

The former Love Island star, 31, took to her Instagram stories on Monday to share pictures of the burning rash as she admitted she did not know what caused it.

She said she went to hospital to get the undiagnosed rash checked by a doctor after it spread all over her legs, arms, chest and back.

Painful: Anna Vakili has revealed she was rushed to hospital after her skin flared up with a mystery burning red rash

In one photograph, Anna showed the red blotches across her arms and legs as she wrote in a caption that the rash had spread 'all over' her body.

She admitted she felt like she was 'on fire' as she shared other snaps showing the rash covering her neck and chest.

The pharmacist said she had been taking antihistamines and hoped the rash would go, but to no avail, and she had to go hospital after the rash 'spread'.

Alongside a snap of her neck, she wrote: 'So many DMs, thank u for all the messages. Came to hospital to get it checked because it's spreading - keep u updated.' (sic)

Hospital: The former Love Island star, 31, took to her Instagram stories on Monday to share pictures of the blotchy rash

Rash: She revealed she went to hospital to get the undiagnosed rash checked after it spread all over her legs, arms, chest and back

After returning home from hospital, Anna updated her 1.2million followers in a lengthy Instagram video, where she said the rash had first appeared on Saturday.

She said the doctor was not able to diagnose it and said she didn't have a temperature or a sore throat, and hadn't eaten any new foods or used any new products that may have caused an allergic reaction.

Anna said: 'Thank you everyone that sent me a message telling me they've had it or what they think it is. I was actually trying to read most of them while I was waiting in hospital.

'But I went in to see the doctor and honestly this is why I hate going to the doctors because I feel like most of them are so s**t. As soon as I walked in, he didn't even look at the rash, straight away he said 'we're not good at rashes here'.

'He had a look, did tests - I don't have a temperature, my throat looked OK, my breathing was OK and he was like 'I don't know what it is, I honestly don't know'.'

Ouch: The pharmacist said she had been taking antihistamines and hoped the rash would go, but decided to go to hospital to get it checked after it 'spread'

'On fire': After returning home from hospital, Anna updated her 1.2million followers in a length Instagram video, where she explained the rash first appeared on Saturday

Anna said the doctor prescribed her stronger antihistamine tablets and a short course of steroids to treat the rash.

'I didn't take any antibiotics, nothing new, I didn't eat anything new, the whole of Saturday I was at home and it started on Saturday night,' she added.

'But anyway I basically told the doctor to prescribe me some stronger antihistamines and some steroids, so I'm going to take a short course of steroids and antihistamines and hopefully, it will go because it's horrible.'

It comes after Anna spoke out about the secret abortion she had at the age of 21.

The 31-year-old claimed her parents banned her from sex education at school and said she fell pregnant after having unprotected sex.

Medication: Anna said the doctor prescribed her stronger antihistamine tablets and a short course of steroids to treat the rash

She explained on her Sisters in the City podcast: 'I feel really scared to open up about this, but I think it's important to do it because I learnt from my own mistake, and if other people can learn from my mistake then it's the best thing to come from this.

'When I was younger  about 21, I was having unprotected sex - I don't know what I was thinking. I wasn't thinking, and I ended up pregnant.

'Obviously I was really young and I wasn't ready, and I had an abortion.

'At that age you don't think what can happen and I have deep regrets that I did end up pregnant.

Speaking out: It comes after Anna spoke out about the secret abortion she had at the age of 21, claiming her parents banned her from sex education at school

'I didn't wish to be pregnant and have to get an abortion  I don't like that. So if you can avoid that  do.'

Anna said she was 'traumatised' when she was pulled out of her sex education class at school because her parents did not sign a consent form.

She added that she missed out on learning about the importance of safe sex.

'Ever since then I've practiced safe sex and I'm now on the coil,' she continued.

'In school the teachers sent a letter home for our parents to sign to say if it was ok for us to sit in sex education, and my parents didn't sign it and it was the most embarrassing thing ever because the teacher took me out of the class when they did sex education.

'I was the only person, apart from one other Asian or Middle Eastern person. I'll never forget that - it was so traumatising.'

Elsewhere on the podcast, Anna admitted that she thought that she and her sister Mandi 'were going to die' after a terrifying experience with Brazilian bum lift surgery.

'We thought we were going to die': Elsewhere, Anna Vakili recently detailed her 'horror' bum lift surgery in Turkey as she warned fans that 'it's cheap for a reason'

The influencer and her sibling jetted to Turkey for the procedure, but Anna explained that she instantly regretted the secret surgery that left her looking 'like Frankenstein'.

Speaking on their podcast, Anna said that her first bum lift surgery in London made her feel 'more confident' but she 'went too far' after choosing to go under the knife abroad.

The siblings said they wanted 'a cheaper option' but were left 'covered in blood like a horror movie' from the risky surgery.

Anna confessed: 'The second time we did it, we went abroad to Turkey and me and Mandi thought we were going to die abroad. It was very scary.'

'After our surgery, within a day or two, we were in a hotel room about to faint with blood all over the hotel room.'

Scary: Anna said that her first bum lift surgery in London made her feel 'more confident' but she 'went too far' after choosing to go under the knife abroad (Pictured August 2021)

She continued: 'It was like a murder scene, we both collapsed in hotel room. Bandaged up, bleeding... it was like a horror movie.'

Her sister Mandi agreed as she detailed: 'We ended up like Frankenstein. The second time we went, we wanted a cheaper option so we went abroad. Do your research thoroughly - if it's cheap, it's cheap for a reason.'

Hoping to teach her fans from her horrifying experience, she warned them of the risks.

Anna added: 'So many people die. It's one of the most invasive surgical procedures a BBL and it's one of the most complicated and dangerous ones, so don't take the decision lightly.

'Without surgery you have a body that's not full of scars.'
Love Island star Phoebe Thompson has revealed why she thinks American men make better boyfriends than their Australian counterparts.

The single model, 31, who is currently on holiday in Los Angeles, was asked about the calibre of local men during an Instagram Q&A on Monday.

'The men are so polite and chivalrous,' she responded, before praising their 'old-school values' and 'respect' for women.

'The men are so polite and chivalrous: Love Island star Phoebe Thompson has praised American men for upholding 'old-school values' while on holiday in Los Angeles in this week

Phoebe, who is of Jamaican and Anglo-German descent, added: 'I feel like I fit in more in America than I do Australia. I feel more embraced and more celebrated.'

'This trip has made me realise a lot about what I've been missing in my life growing up as a woman of colour in a very white, culturally stunted country,' she added.

Phoebe also had praise for American women, saying: 'Girls compliment each other on the street! Everyone is so friendly and confident.'

Feeling at home: Phoebe, who is of Jamaican and Anglo-German descent, added: 'I feel like I fit in more in America than I do Australia. I feel more embraced and more celebrated'

She concluded her Instagram post by reflecting on Australia's cultural shortcomings.

'I've also realised how conservative Australia is. No one cares what you wear here [in America]. You can wear the most extra, skimpiest clothes and no one judges... if you're an OF [OnlyFans] girl, no one cares. People thrive on being different and standing out. It's a beautiful thing,' she said.

Phoebe is perhaps best known for coupling up with another woman on season two of Love Island Australia in 2019.

'I've also realised how conservative Australia is': The 31-year-old concluded her Instagram post by reflecting on Australia's cultural shortcomings

It was the first same-sex couple in the franchise's history.

Phoebe has since embarked on a career as an adult model, recently launching her own subscription-based adult website.

Her site contains nude photos and videos, which are available to paying subscribers.

Making history: Phoebe is perhaps best known for coupling up with another woman on season two of Love Island Australia in 2019. (She is pictured on the show with partner Cassie Lansdell)

In March, Phoebe came under fire for asking people to subscribe to her website so she could donate money to Queenslanders affected by the floods.

At the time, Phoebe told her Instagram followers she was 'going to make a donation from my website to flood disaster in Qld... so get SUBSCRIBED'.

But not everyone was impressed by her generosity, with some suggesting her pledge was self-serving, a claim she strenuously denied.
One of Australia's most high-profile reality TV couples is moving overseas.

Married At First Sight stars Michael Brunelli and Martha Kalifatidis are seeking a new start after calling it quits on their Bondi home.

Personal trainer Michael, 31, revealed on Tuesday he was about to hop on a plane to join Martha, 33, who has already been living abroad for several weeks.

Pastures new: Married At First Sight stars Michael Brunelli (right) and Martha Kalifatidis (left) are moving overseas after calling it quits on their Bondi home

He shared a series of Instagram posts explaining how he was packing up their beachside home ahead of the big move.

'Martha and I spent some time making a big decision to move overseas for a while,' Michael said during a Q&A with fans.

'We've had a few problems with our house and the fact that the world is essentially open again, we decided now is as good a time as any.'

Farewell, Australia: Michael revealed on Tuesday he was about to hop on a plane to join Martha (pictured), who has already been living abroad for several weeks

'Martha and I spent some time making a big decision': He shared a series of Instagram posts explaining how he was packing up their beachside home ahead of the big move

While he insisted it wasn't a permanent move, Michael said the relocation was a 'change we both wanted to experience'.

He didn't reveal where exactly they were moving to, but hinted it was either the USA, Europe, the UK or somewhere in South America.

The couple are fairly well-known in Britain as their season of Married At First Sight aired there on the E4 network.

'Not a long-term move': While he insisted it wasn't a permanent move, Michael said the relocation was a 'change we both wanted to experience'

Cryptic: Michael didn't reveal where exactly they were moving to, but hinted it was either the USA, Europe, the UK or somewhere in South America

Earlier this month, the newly engaged couple were shocked to discover mould spreading across the walls and roof of their Bondi pad.

'Gorgeous we've come home to this. Wet walls growing mould,' Martha said.

She shared photos to Instagram of her roof covered in the fungus, writing: 'We've been gone for five days.'

Home struggles: Earlier this month, the newly engaged couple were shocked to discover mould spreading across the walls and roof of their Bondi pad
Married At First Sight groom Cody Bromley has revealed that Selina Chhaur is no longer talking to him after he broke up with her in February.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia, the 31-year-old fitness trainer revealed Selina, 33, has 'cut him out completely' and isn't returning any of his phone calls.

'Selina's way of moving on is just to cut me out completely, and that's the way she deals with breakups, which is a shame,' he said.

'She cut me out completely' Married At First Sight's Cody Bromley, 31, (left) has revealed that Selina Chhaur, 33, (right) is no longer talking to him following their disastrous split

'After the reunion, we spent a couple of days together, which was incredible, and for me, it reminded us that there definitely was something there.

'I think I just wanted to validate the decision or respect the decision that I decided to break up.

'Time I thought was the best remedy, so you we could actually process it, but we had a good three hour conversation over the phone and it didn't sort of go as well as I would have hoped.'

Heartbreak: Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia, Cody said Selina has 'cut him out completely' and isn't returning any of his phone calls

Fair enough: 'Selina's way of moving on is just to cut me out completely, and that's the way she deals with breakups, which is a shame,' he said

Cody decided to end their relationship because things kept 'going back to that toxic environment' where they would 'revisit old issues'.

'I guess why I made the call. I wasn't intending to. The feelings were that the whole time, it was just a very pragmatic decision,' he said.

'It was one of those things. So final vows and leading up to the reunion, Selina kept, asking me ''Why are you still here? ''And she'd sort of say, just let me go. And that became very repetitive.

Sudden: Cody decided to end their relationship because things kept 'going back to that toxic environment' where they would 'revisit old issues'

'I understand that was her pleading, she wanted me to put more of an effort in which I had tried, but it was also frustrating.'

'I feel like I failed her time and time again,' he added.

Cody said he felt like Selina was 'taunting him to break up with her', which caused him to snap and finally pull the pin on their relationship.

'I was in a sort of feral mood, and just being back in the environment of the whole experiment ... The night of that dinner party, I just pulled the pin. It wasn't planned.'

'I am sure it was the right decision. But it was. Yeah, very abrupt.'

Reunion break-up: Cody said that he felt like Selina was 'taunting him to break up with her' which caused him to snap and finally pull the pin on their relationship

He explained they planned to keep their breakup a secret until they were picked up by their driver and Selina changed her mind.

'I gave her the option. I was like was happy to do whatever was best for her. And then about 30 minutes before our driver picked us out to go to the reunion, she said ''I can't do it, we need to tell them'' and there it was... so I brought it up on the couch,' he said.

Elsewhere Cody said he still 'deeply cares' about Selina and hopes that they can be good friends having shared such a unique experience.

Nasty: 'I was in a sort of feral mood, and just being back in the environment of the whole experiment. The night of that dinner party I just pulled the pin, it wasn't planned,' he explained

'That's the thing that didn't get illustrated at all. I literally did fall for Selina, like she was an awesome bird. But yes, it took me a bit longer than it took her,' he said.

'And that was I sort of set that precedent early on, where I really did let her down quite a bit, so from that point, I started to felt like I had to make it up to her.

'Hands down I actually really did get genuine feelings for the girl. I was so lucky to be matched with her.'


A Married at First Sight star's relaxing holiday in Thailand came to a grinding halt on Monday after a frustrating incident at the airport.

Cathy Evans, who spent the past two weeks in Phuket and Bangkok with her boyfriend, arrived at an unnamed Thai airport ahead of her flight home to Sydney on Monday.

But she failed to lodge her Digital Passenger Declaration (known as a DPD) before checking in for her flight - a mistake which left her scrambling at the last minute.

Nightmare: Former Married At First Sight star Cathy Evans' relaxing holiday in Thailand came to a grinding halt on Monday after a frustrating incident at the airport

She also claims to have been 'cheated' out of $1,000 in VAT (value-added tax) due to a 'sneaky' tactic used by Thai airport officials.

'Had a nightmare experience at the airport,' Cathy, 28, wrote on Instagram on Monday, alongside a close-up photo of herself sitting in the terminal.

'Make sure, Australians, to submit your DPD prior to check-in. I had no idea about this and nothing has been mentioned about creating an account with the Australian Department of Home Affairs.'

'Had a nightmare experience': Posting to Instagram on Monday, Cathy explained she had unknowingly failed to lodge her Digital Passenger Declaration before checking in for her flight

While Cathy claims she was not aware of the rules surrounding DPD submissions, the Department of Home Affairs website clearly states that overseas passengers arriving in Australia must lodge this document before departing.

'Passengers who do not complete a DPD before departing may face unnecessary delays on arrival in Australia,' the website warns.

Cathy went on to complain about missing out on recouping her VAT after being given incorrect instructions by airport staff.

Hmm: While Cathy claims she was not aware of the rules surrounding DPD submissions, the Department of Home Affairs website clearly states that overseas passengers arriving in Australia must lodge this document before departing

Not happy: Cathy went on to complain about missing out on recouping her VAT after being given incorrect instructions by airport staff

'And for VAT tax back - I just got cheated [out] of $1,000 back, as you must get items searched with a stamp of declaration (there was nowhere for us to do this though - we were told to check in, then go through customs and go to the VAT office near the gate),' she said.

'So just be very mindful when you want to claim back your VAT! I swear it was done sneakily in a way so they didn't have to give our money back and because we had so much to claim back.'

This isn't the first time Cathy has aired her frustrations about international travel.

Debate: This isn't the first time Cathy has aired her frustrations about international travel

She had sparked a lively debate as she flew from Phuket to Bangkok on Sunday.

The socialite took to Instagram to detail her nightmare journey, complaining about a young child misbehaving in the seat behind her.

She asked her 189,000 followers if they thought the situation was 'socially acceptable'.

Not happy: She had sparked a lively debate as she flew from Phuket to Bangkok on Sunday

Question: Cathy took to Instagram to complain about a young child misbehaving in the seat behind her, asking fans if they thought the situation was 'socially acceptable'

'Point of view: For the entire duration of the flight, the child is rapid kicking the back of your seat; however, the back is thin so you feel every kick to the spine,' she said.

'The child then starts slapping the tops of everyone's heads seated in front of him. Noise is insatiable. Begins tagging the walls of the plane, their table then your arms.'

She added that she 'glanced over at the parent to hint at them to stop their child', but found herself at the receiving end of 'abuse'.

The results are in! After three hours, 96 per cent of those who voted on her Instagram poll said it was 'absolutely not' acceptable, while just four per cent voted that 'this is fine'

She concluded her post with: 'Is this socially acceptable?'

After three hours, 96 per cent of those who voted on her Instagram poll said it was 'absolutely not' acceptable, while just four per cent voted that 'this is fine'.

Cathy hails from New Zealand, and is of Welsh and Thai heritage. She rose to fame in 2020 on Married At First Sight with ex-'husband' Josh Pihlak.
Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Korea Colin Crooks, right, points toward a photo at an exhibition on April 23 commemorating Queen Elizabeth II's visit in 1999 to Andong, North Gyeongsang Province. Twenty-three years ago Crooks organized the visit with residents of Andong during his post at the Embassy of the U.K. in Korea. Yonhap
Sienna Miller said her former relationship with Jude Law saved her from potential sexual harassment at the hands of convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein.

The American-English actress, 40, told The Guardian on Saturday, 'I was Judes girlfriend, and there was probably protection in that.'

The G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra actress noted how Law 'was a big actor for Harvey,' appearing in films the disgraced producer backed such as The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain.

The latest: Sienna Miller, 40, said her former relationship with Jude Law saved her from potential harassment at the hands of convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, 70. She was snapped in London earlier this month

Miller, who was linked to Law on an on-and-off basis from 2003 thru 2011, starred in the Weinstein-backed drama Factory Girl in 2006, portraying socialite Edie Sedgwick.

'I called Harvey "Pops" from day one, which Im sure helped,' Miller said, noting the non-sexual connotations of the nickname.

Miller, who plays Sophie Whitehouse in the new Netflix miniseries Anatomy of a Scandal, told the outlet that Weinstein had once been verbally abusive to her over her active social life when not on set.

'I was rehearsing one day with Steve Buscemi and Harvey called and asked me to come to his office,' Miller told the outlet. 'I said, "Im in rehearsal." And he shouted, "Now!" and sent a car.

Weinstein (pictured in 2020) is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence in connection with his February 2020 convictions of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape

Miller said Weinstein had once been verbally abusive to her over her social life

'He sat me down in his office and said, "Youre not f***ing going out any more, youre not partying, rah rah rah." I was having a lot of fun, but I managed to go to work on time. And he was standing over me while I was sitting in a chair, lip quivering, and then he slammed the door, and I burst into tears.'

The Golden Globe-nominated actress said that Weinstein then returned to the room and told her, 'Its because Im f***ing proud of you,' slamming the door a second time upon his exit.

Miller said she looked at the incident as a rite of passage, adding, 'You werent really inaugurated until Weinstein made you cry.'

She continued: 'I imagined this is what Hollywood producers were like. I genuinely felt hed given me the biggest validation. I was so grateful. I wasnt scared of him, actually.

Miller was linked to Jude Law on an on-and-off basis from 2003 thru 2011. The couple was snapped in May of 2010

'And I was not aware that he was raping people. He asked for one meeting with me in a hotel, and I brought the other producers and it was innocuous. Ive never been propositioned by anyone, for a job.'

Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence in connection with his February 2020 convictions of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape.

The Oscar-winning producer's downfall began in the fall of 2017 after allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and rape against him were detailed in articles from The New York Times and The New Yorker.

Weinstein was subsequently accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by more than 90 women, including actresses such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Rose McGowan, Mira Sorvino, Ashley Judd, Annabella Sciorra and Uma Thurman.
Olivia Frazer received backlash from Married At First Sight viewers after she was painted as the villain in her feud with rival bride Domenica Calarco.

But she has one staunch defender in MAFS alum Melissa Rawson, who found herself at the centre of a major controversy on last year's season.

The mother of two, 33, said during an Instagram Q&A on Monday that Olivia, 28, was 'polite and very sweet' when they met recently.

'Polite and very sweet': Married At First Sight alum Melissa Rawson (pictured in Melbourne on March 10) has emerged as a staunch defender of this year's main villain Olivia Frazer

'I won't comment on the show and how both girls acted / [were] perceived by the public. I can only comment on a person when I meet them,' Melissa said.

'I've not met Dom so I don't know what she's like... [but] I've met Olivia and she was nothing but polite and very sweet and I appreciated that she didn't speak about Dom or say anything nasty.'

It comes after Melissa and her fiance Bryce Ruthven went on a double date with Olivia and her boyfriend Jackson Lonie in Sydney.

The quartet appeared to be in good spirits as they were seen leaving Churrasco, a Brazilian barbecue restaurant in Coogee, after having dinner inside.

Kindness: The mother of two said during an Instagram Q&A on Monday that Olivia was 'polite and very sweet' when they met recently. (Pictured: Olivia and her boyfriend Jackson Lonie)

New mother Melissa led the way as she pushed twins Levi and Tate, six months, in a stroller while her husband Bryce, 33, followed.

Bryce recently said he and Melissa had formed a friendship with Olivia and Jackson after watching their experience on the Channel Nine show.

'Our heart goes out to them,' he told The Herald Sun last week.

Date night: It comes after Melissa and her fiance Bryce Ruthven (second from right) went on a double date with Olivia and her boyfriend Jackson Lonie (second from left) in Sydney

'Olivia and Jackson, watching them felt like we were watching us, just with roles reversed with Olivia being more like myself.

'We have been in touch with them and spoken to them and honestly they seem like two great humans and are nice people.'

Bryce said the harassment Olivia had copped outside the show was 'next level' and 'unacceptable'.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick attended A Conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick at the Library of Congress on Monday.

The spouses, 57 and 60, who attended as a tribute to American playwright Neil Simon, who wrote Plaza Suite which they are currently starring in on Broadway.

Legendary playwright and four-time Tony winner Neil, who died aged 91 in 2018, wrote the play about three different couples in one famous hotel room.

Special event: Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick attended A Conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick at the Library of Congress on Monday

Each couple are played by SJP and Matthew, and the play follows Karen and Sam are a long-married pair whose relationship may be headed for an early checkout.

Muriel and Jesse are former high school sweethearts who seem destined for an extended stay. And Norma and Roy are the mother and father of the bride, ready to celebrate their daughters nuptials  if only they can get her out of the bathroom.

Sarah and Matthew were joined on stage by director John Benjamin Hickey as they discussed the play and Neil's legacy at the Washington D.C. location.

It comes after they made a full recovery after both testing positive for Covid-19 earlier this month.

Glam: The ...And Just Like That star wore her glossy blonde locks loose as they fell over her shoulders in a wavy texture

On stage! The spouses, 57 and 60, who attended as a tribute to American playwright Neil Simon, who wrote Plaza Suite which they are currently starring in on Broadway

The ...And Just Like That star wore her glossy blonde locks loose as they fell over her shoulders in a wavy texture.

They were styled in a middle part as they framed her face. She adorned her neck with a black necklace that she looped several times.

The mother-of-three showed off her impeccable fashion sense in a little black dress that was banded at the waist.

The long frock was slightly pleated as it fell down to her ankles, where it was punctuated with closed-toe black shoes.

His look: Matthew complemented his bride in a dark grey suit that he teamed with a striped white shirt and a green tie

The leading woman of the Sex And the City franchise layered the look with a grey ribbed sweater that had purple trimming.

She carried a studded black bag and wore stud earrings in her ears. Sarah's eyes were lined in black makeup.

The entertainer wore a nude coloured lipstick as she stopped for interviews along the event's step-and-repeat.

Matthew complemented his bride in a dark grey suit that he teamed with a striped white shirt and a green tie.

The actor wore round, dark-rimmed eyeglasses and was clean shaven for the gathering.

Sleek: The ...And Just Like That star wore her glossy blonde locks loose as they fell over her shoulders in a wavy texture

All better: Sarah tested positive for the virus earlier this month just days after her husband Matthew Broderick announced his own positive test

Sarah tested positive for the virus earlier this month just days after her husband Matthew announced his own positive test.

Their illnesses halted performances of Plaza Suite, the couple's three-act show.

'With both Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker positive for COVID, tonights performance of Plaza Suite is cancelled,' 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.'

Before receiving her own positive test, Sarah performed several times with Matthew'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 theatres were shut down the day before due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Fashion staple: The mother-of-three showed off her impeccable fashion sense in a little black dress that was banded at the waist

Glowing: Sarah looked radiant as she say up on stage

Chatting: The trio talked fondly about their experience in Plaza Suite

Thoughtful: Sarah enjoyed the special evening with her husband and their director

Back on track! The couple were back to their best after recently suffering from Covid

On pause: Their illnesses halted performances of Plaza Suite, the couple's three-act show

The couple's outing occurred after Broderick appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and discussed how he was instantly attracted to his now-wife.

The actor noted that he fell in love with Sarah during 'the first time I met her. I saw her walking down the street and thought "That's it."'

The performer made a point of expressing that he was attracted to his now-wife's 'humor and wisdom,' among other qualities.

He also recalled that Parker blindsided him with a 'trip one time  a surprise, blindfolded, suddenly I was in the Caribbean.'

Broderick went on to state that neither he nor his wife were particularly uncomfortable with seeing each other become intimate with on-screen partners.
Channel Nine's Married At First Sight has dominated the ratings for the past six seasons.

But it appears the upcoming season is set to be rocked by a major shake up, after Tara McWilliams, who is credited with transforming the show into a ratings juggernaut, stepped down as the show's executive producer.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, a MAFS production insider revealed that things may look very different on the show next year.

Report: Tara McWilliams, who is credited with transforming Married At First Sight into the ratings juggernaut it is today has stepped down as the show's executive producer

According to the source, while Tara will still be involved in the production she won't be getting involved in the everyday decisions.

Her new job at Endemol Shine will see McWilliams oversee a portfolio of unscripted shows as Director of Content, while retaining oversight of MAFS.

Speaking about her new role, ESA CEO Peter Newman said: 'Tara is without question one of Australias most outstanding unscripted creatives.'

Promotion: Her new job at Endemol Shine will see McWilliams oversee a portfolio of unscripted shows as Director of Content, while retaining oversight of MAFS

Her phenomenal experience and passion will now plug into even more of our exciting unscripted slate.'

MAFS producers have announced they are already casting for next year.

Channel Nine and producers Endemol Shine posted a casting call to MAFS' official Instagram account in February urging people to sign up.

Coming soon: According to the casting call, the show will be filming between early July and November 2022. Pictured: Domenica Calarco and Jack Millar

Applicants must be over the age of 25, and they must be Australian citizens or have held permanent residency for at least two years.

They must also be 'single and genuinely looking for love'. This question is crucial, as producers urge applicants to 'be honest' when answering.

Interested parties can apply via the show's casting website, marriedatfirstsightcasting.com.au.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Tara for comment.
90 Day Fiance's Mursel Mistanoglu and Anna-Marie Campisi announced that they had welcomed a baby into their lives with a post that was shared to the latter's Instagram on Monday.

The reality television personality shared a set of images to her account, and the happy couple was seen spending time with their son while heading home in one of the shots.

The media figure also wrote a short message in her post's caption to let her followers know how she and her husband were doing.

New family member: 90 Day Fiance's Mursel Mistanoglu and Anna-Marie Campisi announced that they had welcomed a baby into their lives with a post that was shared to the latter's Instagram on Monday

Campisi, 39, began her message by revealing her son's name and letting her fans know that he had been a part of their family for two weeks.

'Mursel and I are excited to announce the birth of our son! Gokhan John He was born 4/11/22, 5 weeks early,' she wrote.

The reality television personality also wrote that her child was 'doing amazing! Just a small guy at 5.3 pounds 18 inches.'

Campisi noted that she was grateful for the help of her son's surrogate mother, whom she complimented on her post.

Healthy baby: The reality television personality also wrote that her child was 'doing amazing! Just a small guy at 5.3 pounds 18 inches'

She wrote: 'Our surrogate is also doing well! I was able to meet her and she's such an amazing woman!'

The reality television personality also spoke about how she had to enter Ukraine in order to meet her son, who was born in the war-torn country.

'So from there the plan was for Mursel to stay in Poland. If he came with to Ukraine, he wouldn't be allowed to leave. So I had to go into Ukraine alone,' she recalled.

She recalled that, after crossing the Poland-Ukraine border by foot, she was able to take care of all of the paperwork related to securing her son.

Going the distance: The reality television personality also spoke about how she had to enter Ukraine in order to meet her son, who was born in the war-torn country

'The next day I was transported to pick up our baby and get all of the documents completed while inside Lviv, Ukraine,' she noted.

Campisi also pointed out that her husband, also 39, who had been experiencing medical complications during the process, remained in Poland a member of a non-profit organization that had assisted them the whole time.

'A member of Project Dynamo stayed with him until I was able to meet him so he wouldn't be lost in the shuffle,' she recalled.

The media personality expressed her gratitude for the efforts of the organization, as she wrote: 'We will forever be grateful to them!'

Lending a hand: Campisi also pointed out that her husband, also 39, who had been experiencing medical complications during the process, remained in Poland a member of a non-profit organization that had assisted them the whole time

Campisi and Mistanoglu initially met online in a beekeeping enthusiast group before beginning a relationship.

The reality television personality welcomed three sons named Joey, Gino and Leo into her life before meeting her now-husband.

The now-couple went on to appear on 90 Day Fiance's seventh season, and they tied the knot at the end of the run of episodes.

Campisi and Mistanoglu later announced that they would be welcoming a child into their lives this past January.
One of Australia's most popular influencers has been caught telling little white lies about her recent holiday to Paris.

Shani Grimmond spent two weeks in Paris, but delayed posting holiday snaps on Instagram until she was back home in Queensland - which led to some confusion when fans spotted her out and about in Brisbane.

Despite having returned to Australia, Grimmond shared photos with her 1.4 million followers of herself swanning around the French capital and tagged Paris as her location.

Wish you were here? Australian influencer Shani Grimmond (pictured) was recently spotted in her home city of Brisbane, despite posting on Instagram that she was on holiday in Paris

'Only a couple more days in Paris! I don't want to leave yet, this place is truly so magical,' Grimmond captioned a clip of herself eating breakfast at her hotel on Sunday.

Several days earlier, she shared a photo of herself dining at an upmarket Parisian restaurant, along with the caption: 'Dinner last night was [chef's kiss emoji]. I still cant believe how beautiful this city is.'

At the time she was posting these photos, a user on the private Facebook group Tea Time spotted Grimmond shopping in Brisbane, reports Outspoken the Podcast.

Bonjour! Grimmond spent two weeks in Paris, but delayed posting holiday snaps on Instagram until she was back home in Queensland - which led to some confusion when fans spotted her out and about in Brisbane

Location game: Despite having returned to Australia, Grimmond shared photos with her 1.4 million followers of herself swanning around the French city and tagged Paris as her location

Because she delayed posting photos from the trip, it's unclear when exactly Grimmond was in Paris, but it's likely she was overseas at the start of the month.

She began documenting her Parisian getaway on Instagram on April 18, so it can be assumed she was back in Australia by then.

Discussing her decision to delay posting about her travels until after she'd returned home, Outspoken host Kate Tauber speculated she may have had security concerns.

Ms Tauber noted that Grimmond had been robbed on holiday before after posting about her location in real time.

'I think it's really a smart move, because Shani has spoken candidly about how she was robbed during a holiday after she shared her whereabouts online, and it was found there was a direct correlation between Shani sharing her holiday details and her house being broken into,' she explained.

Are you sure about that? 'Only a couple more days in Paris! I don't want to leave yet, this place is so magical,' Grimmond captioned a clip of herself eating breakfast at her hotel on Sunday

Bon appetit! Several days earlier, she shared a photo of herself dining at an upmarket Parisian restaurant, along with the caption: 'I still cant believe how beautiful this city is'

Delayed: Because she delayed posting photos from the trip, it's unclear when exactly Grimmond was in Paris. She began documenting her Parisian getaway on Instagram on April 18

In November 2015, a tearful Grimmond revealed on YouTube that a thief had broken into her home and stolen valuable items while she was on vacation in New Zealand.

She claimed the intruder had stolen her camera, makeup and a set of keys.

Ms Tauber likened Grimmond to Kim Kardashian, who was infamously robbed at gunpoint in Paris in 2016 after sharing her location on social media.

'I think people should be commending [Grimmond] for protecting her safety,' she said.

'And I think more influencers should be doing the same thing, because it is really dangerous when you think about how much people share of their lives online, and who is actually out there watching it.'

Taking precautions: Grimmond has been robbed on holiday before after posting about her location in real time, so it makes sense she'd hold back sharing pictures online
He relocated from Los Angeles to Sydney in March last year with his wife Sarah and their children.

And on Monday, billionaire U.S. media baron Lachlan Murdoch, 50, and his family appeared happy to be back home as they landed in the Harbour City after a trip to French Polynesia.

After touching down in his $90million private jet, Lachlan was seen pushing the clan's very modest luggage through Sydney Airport while his wife Sarah and their three children walked nearby.

Not too posh to push! Billionaire media baron Lachlan Murdoch, 50, and his family appeared happy to be back home as they landed in Sydney after a trip to French Polynesia on Monday

Hands full! Lachlan was seen pushing the family's very modest luggage through Sydney airport while his wife Sarah and their three children walked nearby

The Fox CEO revealed his arm tattoo and a golden tan in a grey T-shirt and beige trousers as he strolled through the terminal.

He completed his look with a pair of black New Balance sneakers and wore a face mask.

Meanwhile, Sarah looked stylish in a long black sleeveless dress, brown sandals and her favourite $1,100 Loewe raffia bag.

She threw a cashmere sweater around her shoulders and tied her blonde locks into a low bun.

Stylish: Sarah looked stylish in a long black sleeveless dress, brown sandals and her favourite $1,100 Loewe raffia bag

Luxurious: Lachlan, Sarah and their children disembarked their AU$90million private jet

She accessorised with an eye-catching personalised gold necklace by the American brand Foundrae, where pieces can cost up to $56,000 (AUD) and a Cartier watch.

The Murdochs relocated from Los Angeles to Sydney in March 2021.

It seems the couple, along with their three children, sons Kalan Alexander, 16, and Aidan Patrick, 14, and daughter Aerin Elisabeth, 10, may be here to stay.

In April last year, the Sydney Morning Herald reported the Murdochs will be in Australia 'for years, not months, as initially believed'.

The family, who are based in their Bellevue Hill compound, known as Le Manoir, have settled into life in Sydney after Sarah was seen at the Royal Easter Show in Olympic Park with her children.

Moving: The Murdochs relocated from Los Angeles to Sydney in March 2021

Making a move: In April last year, the Sydney Morning Herald reported the Murdochs will be in Australia 'for years, not months, as initially believed'

The publication also confirmed the Murdoch kids were enrolled in Sydney schools.

While no reason was given for the family's return to Australia, a report claimed it was the political climate in the U.S. that inspired them to leave LA in favour of Sydney.

Despite having spent years in LA, where Lachlan is Executive Chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation, the couple have always maintained their Bellevue Hill home.
Viola Davis started off her week in a glamorous hot pink pantsuit while accepting the Trailblazer of the Year award at CinemaCon.

The 56-year-old actress took to the stage at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during Sony Pictures' CinemaCon presentation on Monday evening.

She was helped present the trailer for her new film The Woman King, which she called her 'magnum opus,' slated for release on September 16.

Viola's look: Viola Davis started off her week in a glamorous hot pink gown while accepting the Trailblazer of the Year award at CinemaCon

Davis stepped out with an elegant hot pink off-shoulder pantsuit as she took the stage on Monday night.

Her bangs dangled over her forehead as she spoke to the nation's exhibitors during the annual convention, with bright blue earrings as she held her award.

She spoke to the convention about her new film The Woman King, based on true events that happened in The Kingdom of Dahomey in Africa in the late 18th Century.

Viola's look: Davis stepped out with an elegant hot pink off-shoulder pantsuit as she took the stage on Monday night

Award: Her bangs dangled over her forehead as she spoke to the nation's exhibitors during the annual convention, with bright blue earrings as she held her award

She told the crowd, 'You know the five words I dont want to take to my grave would be, "I was not brave enough." That I didnt risk discomfort, failure exposure.'

The actress also revealed that icon Cecily Tyson was her inspiration to become an actress, when she was just nine years old.

'I just knew that when I was 9 years old and I saw [her] for the first time and saw that vision jump out of the screen, the radical power that gave me to believe in something bigger than my world, it touched down and landed in me and it landed in a generation of artists,' Davis said.

Brave: She told the crowd, 'You know the five words I dont want to take to my grave would be, "I was not brave enough." That I didnt risk discomfort, failure exposure'

'And I wanted to do that in my work as an actor I wanted to play characters that have never been seen before in a body that looked like mine and be a producer who championed those stories with people, with a history that looked like me,' she added.

'There is a whole generation of people who want to be in the story,' she said, while TriStar Pictures president Nicole Brown talked about the 'bada** women' in the film and compared it to a real-life Black Panther story.

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood was also on hand, praising Davis for championing the movie, 'like a general since day one' as both a star and producer.

Women: 'There is a whole generation of people who want to be in the story,' she said, while TriStar Pictures president Nicole Brown (left) talked about the 'bada** women' in the film and compared it to a real-life Black Panther story

'She is everything we believe her to be, and she kicks ass in this film, Prince-Bythewood said on stage during the Sony presentation.

Davis plays Nanisca in The Woman King, the general of an all-female military unit in The Kingdom of Dahomey.

The Kingdom of Dahomey was considered one of the most powerful African states in the 18th and 19th centuries, with Davis starring alongside Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and John Boyega.

Everything: 'She is everything we believe her to be, and she kicks ass in this film, Prince-Bythewood said on stage during the Sony presentation

New role: Davis plays Nanisca in The Woman King, the general of an all-female military unit in The Kingdom of Dahomey
Chelsea Lazkani was spotted while stepping out with her husband Jeff in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon.

The reality television personality, 29, was seen taking a call from a friend while taking a short stroll in Mo-Mo-Paradise's parking lot, and her husband also took a brief walk during the outing.

The real estate agent's time with her husband comes just after the premiere of Selling Sunset's fifth season, in which she appears as a main cast member.

Heading out: Chelsea Lazkani was spotted while stepping out with her husband Jeff in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon

Lazkani wore an all-athleisure outfit that included a black velour track suit with matching pants during the outing.

The reality television figure also rocked a set of sandals and accessorized with a trucker cap and a pair of sunglasses.

Her gorgeous brunette locks were tied into a lengthy ponytail and fell onto her shoulders.

Jeff kept it casual in a gray crewneck sweater and black sweat pants while he spent time with his wife.

Staying comfortable: Lazkani wore an all-athleisure outfit that included a black zip-up hoodie and a matching pair of sweat pants during her outing

Casual clothing: Jeff kept it casual in a gray crewneck sweater and black sweat pants while he spent time with his wife

Lazkani appeared as a series regular during Selling Sunset's fifth season, which was released last Friday.

The reality television personality previously worked in the oil and gas industry before becoming a realtor.

She earned a master's degree in International Oil and Gas Management from the University of Dundee before entering the world of real estate in 2017.

The media figure joined the Oppenheim Group in July of 2021 and quickly established friendships with many of the cast members.

On screen: Lazkani appeared as a series regular during Selling Sunset's fifth season, which was released last Friday

Lazkani opened up about her career during an interview with Today, where she noted that she wanted to maintain her personal style while working towards achieving her professional goals.

'Typically, real estate agents are not considered glamorous. But I always considered myself glamorous,' she said.

The realtor also spoke about her friendship with cast member Christine Quinn, and she stressed that their rapport was real.

'Everything you saw transpire is exactly how it happened. Our relationship has always been electric, vibrant, fun boss vibes,' she said.

Making it clear: Lazkani opened up about her career during an interview with Today, where she noted that she wanted to maintain her personal style while working towards achieving her professional goals

Staying close: The realtor also spoke about her friendship with cast member Christine Quinn, and she stressed that their rapport was real

Lazkani did point out that she also wanted to establish friendships with the rest of the show's cast members.

'I went in there going to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and hoping they'd give me the same too. It worked in my favor,' she stated.

The reality television personality, who is also a mother to two children, spoke about what she wanted to teach them through her professional efforts.

'What I want to instill in my kids is they have this great life that they should be so grateful for and fortunate for but you see me and your father work in every day to maintain it,' she said.
Today Show host Karl Stefanovic has denied rumours he's departing Channel Nine's breakfast show.

On Monday, Woman's Day claimed Karl could be preparing to step up into a new role two years after returning to the show.

But the 47-year-old shut down claims he's quitting TV after being questioned about the rumours by 3AW radio host Neil Mitchell.

Denied: Today Show host Karl Stefanovic has DENIED rumours he's departing the breakfast show and preparing to step up into a new role

'No way, absolutely bulls**t,' Karl responded.

It comes after the magazine claimed Karl could be swapping breakfast TV for the boardroom.

'He's committed to getting people back into regional Australia  last week he was in country Victoria and NSW with the charity Gotcha4Life's Mateship Miles Roadshow  he's passionate about this sort of stuff,' an insider told the publication.

Claims: On Monday, Woman's Day claimed Karl could be preparing to step up into a new role two years after returning to the breakfast show. Pictured Karl and co-host Allison Langdon

They alleged that Karl will continue to report on the big stories for the Today show, while also working at 60 Minutes.

Karl was infamously sacked from the Today show in December 2018, before being rehired a year later after viewers didn't warm to his replacements.

Earlier this month, it was reported Channel Nine had sent Karl to Switzerland to help the network land broadcast rights to three upcoming Olympic Games.

'No way!' But the 47-year-old shut down claims he's quitting TV after being questioned about the rumours by 3AW radio host Neil Mitchell

He was dispatched to the Central European country with a handful of top executives to help 'seal the deal,' reported Mumbrella.

Nine is hoping to score a major coup over Channel Seven by taking its mantle as Australia's exclusive Olympics broadcaster.

The proposed deal would include coverage of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA, and the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane.

Seven had the broadcast rights to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, which took place earlier this year, and the Tokyo 2020 Games.
People enjoying craft beer at Magpie's 10-year anniversary party on April 9. / Courtesy of Joo Shangheun



By Jon Dunbar



It's been a good 10 years for beer drinkers in Korea. Before that, Magpie Brewing Co. didn't exist. The craft brewery has grown with Korea's craft brewing scene. It is also the likely origin of the term "pi-maek," a combination of the first syllables of pizza and the Korean word for beer, according to its owners.



Magpie is celebrating its 10-year anniversary throughout the year, having already gotten the party started on April 9 with the release of a limited-edition sour IPA flavored with mango, passion fruit and guava, branded "Sipnyeongamsu" ("to lose 10 years") with imagery inspired by Korean traditional folk art. The same day, Magpie's original brewshop location hosted an anniversary event that ended up as more of a block party.



"If I had to guess I'd say it was easily three times bigger than we had planned for," Erik Moynihan, co-founder of Magpie, told The Korea Times. "I think it was a confluence of weather, COVID fatigue and everyone having a reason to party. The most common comment I heard was regarding the feeling of nostalgia people had hanging out in the alley. It's been a long time since those streets have seen that many people. I'm really happy to see so many people come out and support."



Magpie got its start a little more than a decade ago as a homebrewing studio and "idea incubator," selling beer-brewing equipment out of a quiet little back alley in Itaewon's Gyeongnidan area. In 2012 its owners applied for a restaurant license. In those days under strict regulations, craft beer producers like Magpie were prohibited from selling their product off-site at restaurants they didn't operate directly.



Looking around the area, and especially that particular alley now, it's clear how much Gyeongnidan has changed in the last 10 years.



"Generally I didn't think it was Magpie that drove it  more that we were one of the examples of foreign-led businesses that bridged cultural barriers, but we weren't alone in that movement," Moynihan said.





Magpie Brewing Co. co-owner Erik Moynihan, center in white mask, attends the brewery's 10th anniversary party on April 9. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar



"I think the first wave in the area was led by us in that it brought a bunch of other beer related businesses to the area that later became defined as 'craft beer alley.' It was the attention on the rest of the area that caused its boom/bust a few years later."



Originally Magpie was a small ground-floor spot to share beers with friends, but after a year it expanded to the much larger basement space of a nearby building.



Shortly after that, Magpie's owners struck a lucrative partnership with Arario Gallery, which led to the opening of another bar location in Jeju City's aptly named Tap-dong area in 2014. Then in 2016, Magpie opened a full-fledged brewery on Jeju Island and ceased all OEM brewery relationships. As Magpie has kept its corporate headquarters in Seoul's Yongsan area, Moynihan describes Magpie as "bi-coastal."



Although operating the brewery on Jeju has increased costs due to shipping and logistics, he says the benefits have been greater. Magpie has grown from a tiny alley shop to achieve more national recognition. And while Itaewon took a beating during the pandemic, Jeju Island captured a great deal of domestic tourism.



"Generally," he said, "Jeju has been great for us."



During Magpie's time, craft beer in Korea has gone from a foreign concept to a way of sharing culture. Magpie has ridden the wave of deregulation, as obstacles standing in the way of Korean craft beer have been removed and pushed back little by little.





Magpie's 10th anniversary party on April 9 / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar



Although convenience store coolers have been filling up with locally made craft beers in recent years, Moynihan sees this as a "straw man success story," and said while Magpie is exploring options, he doesn't see much opportunity for Magpie on convenience store shelves.



What he would really like to see is permission for online sales and delivery.



"They always say the further the beer travels from the brewery the worse it gets," he said. "I'd further that by saying it suffers with each set of hands it passes through. The more direct our relationship with the customers, the better the beer they will get."



As for how he sees Magpie expanding in the future, he was a little vague.



"We are always planting seeds and talking about the industry with whoever will listen  but everything takes time, so nothing to report yet!" he said. "I think like most people we are just really looking to have a good year and get things back as close to 'normal' as we can. Hopefully [the April 9] event is indicative of the year we have ahead of us!"



He made mention of a "Brewery Party" to be held this summer after a few years' hiatus. "It will be more of a celebration of our core values: culture, craftsmanship, and community," he said. "It will be a kind of mini festival down on the island  but we are looking at venues to hold a mirrored event up in Seoul as well."





Someone walks through the alley wearing a Magpie 10th anniversary shirt on April 9. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar
Dame Joan Collin's looked radiant as she stepped out alongside her husband, Percy Gibson in West Hollywood on Monday.

The legendary actress, 88, looked typically classy as she donned an iridescent skirt and white peep-toe shoes for dinner at Craig's.

She added a blue and white blouse that she topped with a white shawl-type layer draped over her shoulders.

Glowing: Dame Joan Collin's looked radiant as she stepped out alongside her husband, Percy Gibson in West Hollywood on Monday

Glamorous: The legendary actress, 88, looked typically classy as she donned an iridescent skirt and white peep-toe shoes for dinner at Craig's

The star wore her brunette hair down in voluminous curls with her bangs framing her made up face.

She lined her eyes in dark makeup and made them pop with lengthy and fluttery lashes.

Joan finished her face with a glossy red lipstick that perfectly outlined her shapely pout.

Collins accessorized with dangling silver earrings and a silver-toned necklace with a heart pendant that had an arrow going through it.

For his part, Percy accompanied his wife in deep blue denim jeans that he fastened with a lighter blue Hermes belt.

He tucked a blue and white checkered button-up shirt into the trousers and added a tan blazer with brown buttons.

He wore black-rimmed rectangular glasses and his face was clean shaven as he held his bride's hand.

For shoes he went with a pair of gold and black loafers, completing his dapper outfit.

Layered look: She added a blue and white blouse that she topped with a white shawl-type layer draped over her shoulders

The couple attended the Vanity Fair Oscar party last month, bringing out their best glamorous looks for the soiree.

Joan showed off her timeless fashion sense in a silver jeweled gown with bell sleeves and she pulled her dark locks into an updo.

The veteran entertainer swiped a hot pink shade of lipstick on her lips, proving she still has her spunky style.

Stunning pair: The couple attended the Vanity Fair Oscar party last month, bringing out their best glamorous looks for the soiree

Getting candid, the Hollywood siren recently spoke with the New York Times about the Me Too movement.

'Sadly, I think that now young men are suffering from being labeled toxically masculine, because of this rise of anti-maleness,' she shared.

Meanwhile she recalled that sexual misconduct 'happened to girls all the time' in showbiz when she was young. 'A lot of the time, I would just laugh in their faces.'

As for whether the wrongdoing has continued to this day, she remarked: 'Im not having men making passes at me, so I dont know. But I think probably.'
Michelle Penticost made a barbed dig at her fiance Kieran Hayler's ex-wife Katie Price, alongside a shot of herself holding hands with the model's youngest daughter, on Friday.

And on Monday evening, Katie, 43, broke her silence by sharing sweet snaps of the two kids she co-parents with ex Kieran, 35: Jett, eight, and Bunny, seven.

Alongside the photographs, the mother-of-five penned of the two adorable children: 'Jett and Bunny are so cute here!'

On Monday, Katie Price, 43, broke her silence after Michelle Penticost, 39, made barbed dig at her as she shared sweet snaps of the two kids she co-parents with ex Kieran Hayler, 35

Katie's adorable shots showed Bunny flashing a peace sign while enjoying a fairground ride with her brother Jett.

The family snaps were posted after Michelle, 39, shared a snap of herself holding hands with the glamour model's daughter on Friday.

Flight attendant Michelle uploaded a throwback snap from a holiday to Mallorca's Puerto Pollensa which saw her twinning with Bunny as they wore matching white dresses with red-and-black stripes.

In her caption, she wrote about blended families being 'hard work especially with added extras' which is thought to reference glamour model Katie being banned from contacting her after breaking a restraining order earlier this year.

So cute! Katie's adorable shots showed Bunny flashing a peace sign while enjoying a fairground ride with her brother Jett

So cute! Alongside the photographs, the mother-of-five penned of her two youngest children: 'Jett and Bunny are so cute here!'

Fans praised Michelle for keeping her 'dignified' silence (until now), while claiming the 'added extra is a very toxic individual to put it mildly'.

Kieran's partner had penned: '3 years ago!!! Our family holiday [heart emoji] We love to be twinning [heart emoji] times flies!!! Blended families are hard work especially with added extras!!! But we make it work [red heart] #family #blended #love #fun.'

One wrote: 'Those added extras don't matter when your blended family has each other and reminds itself outside noise doesn't matter. [heart] Seeing your posts.'

Another agreed: ;Jett + Bunny are so very lucky to have a mother figure like yourself to look up to. I dread to think what those little loves lives would become if you were not in it. You are exactly what they need [heart].'

'Blended families are hard... especially with added extras!' It comes after Kieran Hayler's fiance Michelle made a dig at Katie while twinning with her daughter Bunny on Friday

Thinly-veiled: In her caption, she wrote about blended families being 'hard work especially with added extras' which is thought to reference the glamour model

A third chimed in: 'I don't know how you refrain from biting back to the 'added extra' She is a very toxic individual to put it mildly. You and Kieran are both bringing your 4 kids up brilliantly.

'Providing Jett and Bunny esp with the stability and routine young kids need. No matter what anyone says, that can't be denied [clapping emoji].

And a fourth said: 'Blended families would work so much better if people didn't interfere and use the children as weapons You keep a dignified silence which must be so hard Just shows how much all the children mean to you [purple heart].'

Michele recently shared an adorable Mother's Day card she received from Katie's son Jett on Instagram.

Troubled: MailOnline has learned Katie will appear before magistrates in Crawley next month for allegedly breaching a restraining order against Michelle

Support: Fans praised Michelle for keeping her 'dignified' silence (until now), while claiming the 'added extra is a very toxic individual to put it mildly'

She posted the heart-warming gesture on her story while her fiancee Kieran Hayler reposted the snap to his social media.

The mum-of-two seemed thrilled with the card which had the words 'you're like a mum to me' written on the front of it.

Katie and Kieran are parents to Jett, eight, and Bunny, seven, while he and Michelle are parents to seven-month-old son Apollo.

Michelle marked Mother's day with the post and wrote: 'Jett's card to me' with a pink heart emoji as she tagged her partner.

Cute: Michele recently shared an adorable Mother's Day card she received from Katie 's son Jett on Instagram

Kieran, 34, went on to share a video of his daughter Bunny cooking her step-mum Micheke a secial roast dinner.

The ex-husband of Katie marked the occasion by sharing a sweet carousel of snaps to his Instagram to celebrate Michelle.

He penned: 'Happy Mother's Day to Michelle. Me and all the kids are so lucky to have you. You are the most incredible mummy and step mummy to all of the children

'Couldn't ask for a better woman to have as a mother to Apollo and a step mum to jett and bunny. You really are perfect and I feel very lucky'

Michelle and Kieran announced their engagement in March 2020 but had to delay their wedding due to coronavirus restrictions.

Family: Michelle and fiancee Kieran have been inseparable since going public with their relationship in July 2018 and are parents to seven-month-old son Apollo

They have been inseparable since going public with their relationship in July 2018.

MailOnline has learned Katie will appear before magistrates in Crawley next month for allegedly breaching a restraining order against Michelle.

The troubled model was arrested on January 21 over claims she sent an abusive text to Michelle.

She spent the night in a cell after being quizzed by officers at Worthing Police station who had earlier picked Katie up from her home in Horsham after a report was made.

Katie allegedly branded flight attendant Michelle a 'c***ing w***e piece of s***' and a 'gutter s**g.

Happier times: Katie and Kieran (pictured together in 2017) were married from 2013 to 2018

MailOnline understands that Katie may have breached the order a second time when she sent an anonymous letter attacking Michelle to a relative just before flying out to Thailand.

A source said: 'Katie is playing a dangerous game and her actions have led her into deep trouble.

'Kieran and Michelle were deeply concerned after a relative received a letter, believing Katie is ignoring the rules of the restraining order as this is the second time it's happened in three months.

'It was sent anonymously from Heathrow on the day she left for Thailand.

Loved-up: Michelle and Kieran first got together in July 2018, with their sons attending the same primary school together

'They know it's her and are concerned by her unpredictable behaviour.'

A police source told MailOnline: 'Katie Price was arrested a few weeks ago for breaching a restraining order placed against her following an argument with the fiancee of her former partner, Kieran Hayler.

'Now she is believed to have written an anonymous note attacking Michelle Penticost via one of her family members.

'As such Katie has been charged with harassment and will appear before Crawley magistrates next month.'

Mother of five Katie was banned from contacting Michelle, 39, 'directly or indirectly' after swearing at her in a school playground in 2019.

Breaking the terms of the restraining order carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.

Katie also risks jail time for being arrested while still on licence for her drink-drive shame.

Michelle has grown close to Katie's two children she shares with Kieran, son Jett, eight, and daughter Bunny, seven.

She also has her own child with the ex-stripper, seven-month-old son Apollo, and a ten-year old son Valentino from a previous relationship.
Olivia Colman wrapped up warm as she filmed an outdoor scene for Empire Of Light alongside her co-star Micheal Ward on Monday.

The actors were also joined by the film's director Sam Mendes for the shoot, with the movie described as a love story set in the 1980s.

Olivia donned a dark grey padded coat which she wore over a purple cardigan and a matching vest.

Filming: Olivia Colman wrapped up warm in a dark grey coat as she filmed an outdoor scene for Empire Of Light alongside her co-star Micheal Ward on Monday

It appears Olivia and Michael will both be playing a cinema worker in the project as they were both dressed in matching outfits.

The Crown star also sported a purple skirt while she added height to her frame with a pair of heels.

Olivia and Micheal were seen stroling through the streets before they appears to stop and chat on a bridge.

Sam was seen chatting to members of the crew nearby, with the director wrapping up in a navy jacket and grey scarf.

On location: The actors were also joined by the film's director Sam Mendes for the shoot, with the movie described as a love story set in the 1980s

In character: Olivia donned a dark grey padded coat which she wore over a purple cardigan and a matching vest

Scene: It appears Olivia and Michael will both be playing a cinema worker in the project as they were both dressed in matching outfits

Along with Olivia and Michael, Empire Of Light will also star Colin Firth, Toby Jones and Crystal Clarke.

Filming on the project began in early February in Margate, with the seaside town was transported back to the 1980s as builders could be seen transforming the area surrounding the Dreamland amusement park.

For the first time Skyfall frontman Sam is set to direct a film that he didn't pen with the assistance of a co-writer.

Shoot: The Crown star also sported a purple skirt and pair of black boots between takes

Drama: Olivia and Michael were seen stroling through the streets before they appears to stop and chat on a bridge

Cast: Along with Olivia and Michael, Empire Of Light will also star Colin Firth, Toby Jones and Crystal Clarke

Project: Filming on the project began in early February in Margate, with the seaside town was transported back to the 1980s as builders could be seen transforming the area surrounding the Dreamland amusement park

While plot details remains tightly under wraps, it is known the production is a love story 'set around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s.'

Sam is producing Empire of Light alongside Pippa Harris through his Neal Street Productions, and he will also reunite with his longtime cinematographer Roger Deakins on the production.

Aiming to release the film in late 2022, Sam said in a statement: 'I have long been an admirer of Searchlight and the dynamic way they have produced and released some of my favourite theatrical releases of recent years.

'This project is very close to my heart, and I couldn't be more delighted that it has found its ideal home.'

Director: For the first time Skyfall frontman Sam is set to direct a film that he didn't pen with the assistance of a co-writer

Story: While plot details remains tightly under wraps, it is known the production is a love story 'set around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s'
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark visited a Rohingya refugee camp during her three-day trip to Bangladesh on Tuesday.

The 50-year-old was seen greeting the community at the Kutupalong camp - the largest refugee camp in the world - in Cox's Bazar.

The princess met with the Rohingya people and host communities on camps number five, six, and eight at the district's Ukhiya Upazila.

Visit: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark visited a Rohingya refugee camp during her three-day trip to Bangladesh on Tuesday

She also walked through the camps and visited the communities' homes to talk to the Rohingya people about their lives.

For the occasion, the royal wore a casual blue blouse, beige trousers and walking boots.

She teamed her look with a wide-rimmed hat to protect her face from the sun.

Trip: The 50-year-old was seen greeting the community at the Kutupalong camp - the largest refugee camp in the world - in Cox's Bazar

Talks: She also walked through the camps and visited the communities' homes to talk to the Rohingya people about their lives

Princess Mary appeared in high spirits as she spoke to the community, and was also pictured gazing off a view point with a pair of binoculars.

The royal began her working trip in Dhaka a day prior, where the mother-of-four was greeted by Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed.

Afterwards, accompanied by the Minister for Development Cooperation Flemming Mller Mortensen, Mary met with representatives from Danish companies based in Bangladesh in hopes the two countries can collaborate on green, Earth-friendly products.

Happy: Princess Mary appeared in high spirits as she spoke to the community, and was also pictured gazing off a view point with a pair of binoculars

Style: For the occasion, the royal wore a casual blue blouse, beige trousers and walking boots

Next: On Wednesday, the princess will fly out to Satkhira to visit Kultoli village

The Princess took to the Danish royal family's social media accounts to explain the purpose of her visit there.

'On this journey, the focus is on the consequences of climate change for the population, nature and biodiversity, for Bangladesh is one of the world's most climate vulnerable countries, and it is expected that by 2050, up to 20 million people will be displaced,' Princess Mary said.

'We need to focus more than ever on the diversity of nature and to promote projects aimed at conserving and protecting nature.

Solemn: Princess Mary is pictured staring at the crowd during Tuesday's visit

Arrival: The 50-year-old royal began her working trip in Dhaka, where the mother-of-four was received by Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed

'In Bangladesh, there is a worrying pressure on natural resources. At the same time, the country is one of the most vulnerable countries in relation to the negative consequences of climate change - also for the population.

'This means, among other things, that people often have to move because they can no longer grow their crops or because areas are flooded.'

For the meeting Mary wore a blue and white silk dress by Beulah London and Dulong pearl and diamond earrings, a favourite of the royal's.

Reason: The Princess took to the Danish royal family's social media accounts to explain the purpose of her visit there

'Love this dress on Princess Mary. The colours and fabric look light and fresh for Bangladesh's warm climate, and Mary looks cool and collected and ready for business. I like the pleating - it give a breezy look as well as some shape to the dress. Overall very nice look indeed,' one royal commenter remarked.

'It's so good to see countries working together to combat world issues. Thank you for all that you do,' said another.

A third added: 'We love our Princess! Sending luck from Australia'.
The promotional campaign for their new film continued in earnest on Tuesday as Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen attended a photocall in London.

The co-stars were side by side as they posed in front of a suitably futuristic backdrop on Trafalgar Square, the latest pitstop as they promote forthcoming Marvel release Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Opting for a lemon yellow mock-neck beneath a chalk-stripe suit, leading man Benedict, 45, looked appropriately dapper as he greeted cameramen, fans and cosplayers at the central London landmark.

Here we go: The promotional campaign for their new film continued in earnest on Tuesday as Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen attended a photocall in London

He added to his look with a pair of casual trainers, while Oliver Peoples sunglasses shielded his eyes as temperatures continued to climb across the capital.

Joining the British star, Elizabeth, 33, caught the eye in a sequin-embellished waistcoat and high-slung trousers, teamed with a pair of strappy black heels.

The actress reprises her role as Wanda Maximoff in the new film, a character she previously played in Marvel's Captain America and Avengers franchises.

Back at work: The co-stars posed in front of a futuristic backdrop on Trafalgar Square, the latest pitstop as they promote Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Close: The film's principal stars greeted one another with a kiss as they arrived at the event

Smart: Benedict looked dapper in a lemon yellow mock-neck beneath a chalk-stripe suit by Canali, while Elizabeth caught the eye in a sequin-embellished waistcoat and high-slung trousers

Relaxed: Benedict added to his look with a pair of casual trainers, while Oliver Peoples sunglasses shielded his eyes as temperatures continued to climb across the capital

Their forthcoming film advances the Doctor Strange story arc by focusing on his research on the Time Stone, his fascination with the chaos caused by the Multiverse and his battle with nemesis Dark Strange.

It's understood that the film underwent six weeks of laborious reshoots, with cast and crew working six days a week on location in Los Angeles.

One source, played down the reshoots, telling The Hollywood Reporter: 'Even while in the middle of production, Marvel is scheduling you for more shooting.'

Another added: 'We've had bigger reshoots on other MCU movies.'

Getting involved: The co-stars chatted to members of the press while promoting the film on Tuesday morning

All together: (L-R) Benedict Wong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen and Sam Raimi

Welcome return: Elizabeth reprises her role as Wanda Maximoff in the new film, a character she previously played in Marvel's Captain America and Avengers franchises

However, some insiders believe the scale of the reshoots is significant, explaining: 'They're here until the end of the year. That's like a whole other movie.'

Recently speaking about the reshoots on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Cumberbatch said: 'Like everything with Marvel, it comes in fresh, pretty much, most mornings. It's really exciting and the film is shaping up to be something special.'

Meanwhile, Benedict previously revealed he wants his acting projects to be able to justify spending time away from his wife Sophie Hunter and their sons Christopher Carlton, six, Hal Auden, four, and Finn, two.

Co-star: Benedict Wong, also in attendance on Tuesday, plays Wong in the forthcoming film

Greetings! Benedict greeted fans and cosplayers after they showed up dressed as his titular character

Opening up: The actor previously revealed he wants his acting projects to be able to justify spending time away from his wife Sophie Hunter and their sons

Upbeat: Benedict was in high spirits as he chatted to a young cosplayer at Tuesday's event

Speaking to Esquire magazine, he added: 'I mean... I like a challenge. I really enjoy my work.

'When I do work, I want to work hard. It has to be worth leaving my family and home for. To make them... Oh, this sounds weird but I guess to validate me not being there.

'And if I can get away with a new skill and call it work, lucky me, you know? That saves me a few night classes or, you know, time I don't have.'

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is released on Thursday, May 5.

Time consuming: It's understood that the film underwent six weeks of laborious reshoots, with cast and crew working six days a week on location in Los Angeles
Downton Abbey: A New Era (PG)

Rating:

Verdict: The gift that keeps on giving

Back To The Future, Eyes Wide Shut and True Lies are fine examples of cinematic oxymorons - film titles which contradict themselves. And joining them last night was Downton Abbey: A New Era, which predictably plunges us straight back into Downton Abbey, the old era.

Downtons creator Julian Fellowes did not get where he is today (the House of Lords, for starters) by denying his fans what they expect. So the new film, the second big-screen spin-off after 2019s Downton Abbey, positively bursts with all our favourite ingredients, not least the Dowager Countess of Grantham (Dame Maggie Smith) firing acid barbs through pursed lips, which is easier said than done.

Downton Abbey: A New Era, the second big-screen spin-off after 2019s Downton Abbey, positively bursts with all our favourite ingredients

The new era bit concerns the arrival of the movies. It is 1928, and a dishy director, Jack Barber (Hugh Dancy), wants to hire the stately pile to make a silent film. Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) more or less declares that such commercial vulgarity will only happen over his dead body. Among the more ruthless of us at last nights glitzy world premiere in London, this kindled the fleeting hope that his lordship might be about to expire in spectacular fashion, perhaps of an overdose of kedgeree. Downton has always done death rather well.

But no. A hefty cheque helps to change Lord Granthams mind, along with bossy Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), who is still in the process of dragging the estate into the 20th century and realises the film money might bring the house up to snuff. Coincidentally, just in front of me at the cinema in Leicester Square were Lord and Lady Carnarvon, owners of the real-life Downton, Highclere Castle. That storyline must have struck a chord.

Below stairs, admirable Anna (Joanne Frogatt) and dopey Daisy (Sophie McShera) are both quivering with excitement at the prospect of seeing matinee idol Guy Dexter (Dominic West) and screen siren Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock, having more fun than anyone) up close and personal.

The Dowager Countess of Grantham (Dame Maggie Smith) fires acid barbs through pursed lips, which is easier said than done

Below stairs, dopey Daisy (Sophie McShera) is quivering with excitement at the prospect of seeing matinee idol Guy Dexter (Dominic West) and screen siren Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock

It has never taken much to make Daisy quiver. A new valet in tight breeches, Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nicol) allowing her to go to the shops on her own ... these are the things that have always made Daisys day. But she is less of a dope now she is married to Andy the jug-eared footman (Michael Fox). Could Daisy even have a future in moving pictures? Probably not. But, against all the odds, nice Mr Molesley (Kevin Doyle) might.

As always with Downton, the suspicion mounts that Fellowes has found out from Wikipedia what was happening at the time and shaped his narrative accordingly. So, with the South of France in the late 1920s becoming increasingly popular with the British aristocracy, off we duly pop to the Riviera, where old Lady G has controversially been left a handsome villa by a Frenchman, with whom she enjoyed an idyllic week back in 1864.

The French sojourn allows Mr Carson (Jim Carter), dragged out of retirement, to beetle his brows more than ever in an outbreak of Francophobia, but really it is back at Downton where the more entertaining stuff is going on. The silent film is in trouble, you see, because the talkies have just arrived. Will the dishy director save the project himself? Of course not. He needs the help of Lady Mary and the servants. Meanwhile, Mr Barrow the butler (Robert James-Collier), who had a personality transplant some time ago and is no longer a rotter, is still grappling with his sexuality. But there is salvation in unexpected form.

With the South of France in the late 1920s becoming increasingly popular with the British aristocracy, off we duly pop to the Riviera

All this unfolds in amiable Downton style, ably directed by Simon Curtis, although regrettably he cant stop Lady Cora simpering (despite being married to Elizabeth McGovern, who plays her). Theres a birth, a death, a proposal, and a spot of disputed paternity, with all loose ends tied as neatly as if Mr Carson himself had attended to them. There are also some genuine chuckles, and a few shamelessly derivative storylines, with especially firm nods to My Fair Lady and Singin in the Rain.

So what now for the Downton saga? My own hope is that Fellowes will be brave enough next time - and there will surely be a next time - to embrace a genuinely new era and let the Crawleys flog their ancestral home to the nation. After all, Downton is the gift that keeps on giving; how apt it would be to give it a National Trust gift shop.

Downton Abbey: A New Era goes on general release on Friday

Meanwhile, Mr Barrow the butler (Robert James-Collier), who had a personality transplant some time ago and is no longer a rotter, is still grappling with his sexuality
Nasser Sultan made an incredible claim last week.

The former Married At First groom posted a video to Instagram in which he claimed he was once a personal trainer for late conwoman Melissa Caddick.

'You know I used to train Melissa Caddick, the lady that took everyone's money that disappeared,' he said in footage filmed by a beach.

What? Nasser Sultan (pictured) made an incredible claim last week. The former Married At First groom posted a video to Instagram in which he claimed he was once a personal trainer for late conwoman Melissa Caddick

'If I knew this was going to happen, I should of bloody charged her double and got her to buy me a car'.

Some of his followers were dubious, with one suggesting that perhaps Nasser wasn't being honest.

Caddick was last seen shortly after the Dover Heights mansion she shared with her DJ husband Anthony Koletti was raided by the Australian Federal Police and ASIC investigators.

'You know I used to train Melissa Caddick, the lady that took everyone's money that disappeared,' he said in a video that was filmed by a beach

'If I knew this was going to happen, I should of bloody charged her double and got her to buy me a car,' he added

A financial advisor, Caddick scammed an estimated $30million from 60 clients, most of them friends and family, in order to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

Three months after Caddick vanished in November 2021, a severed foot was found on the south coast of NSW near Tathra, about five and a half hours from Sydney.

After DNA tests confirmed that the limb belonged to Caddick, 49, it was presumed the high-flying schemer was dead.

Missing: Caddick was last seen shortly after the Dover Heights mansion she shared with her DJ husband Anthony Koletti was raided by the Australian Federal Police and ASIC investigators. Pictured: Caddick

Many theories have surfaced since to explain the circumstances surrounding Caddick's disappearance including murder and suicide.

Some experts who have examined the case argue that it is possible that Caddick faked her own disappearance, and is in hiding.

Caddick's story was told earlier this month in Underbelly: Vanishing Act.
He won the first-ever season of So You Think You Can Dance Australia in 2008.

And while Jack Chambers has dropped out of the television spotlight, his career has continued in bounds.

The 33-year-old dancer is starring in the upcoming production of Mary Poppins at the Sydney Lyric Theatre, in which he will play chimney sweep Bert.

Star power: He won the first-ever season of So You Think You Can Dance Australia in 2008. And while Jack Chambers (pictured) has dropped out of the television spotlight, his career has continued in bounds

He has also travelled around the world starring in musicals, including touring Europe and the USA as part of Hugh Jackman's The Man. The Music. The Show.

'I couldn't have pictured being able to do everything I have and so I feel very lucky,' he told The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.

Jack thanks So You Think You Can Dance for giving him a start in his chosen career.

Past: Jack thanks So You Think You Can Dance for giving him a start in his chosen career. 'That show opened a lot of doors for me but in saying that, once those doors were open, you still had to jump through it and work really hard to get what you wanted,' he said. Pictured in 2008

'That show opened a lot of doors for me but in saying that, once those doors were open, you still had to jump through it and work really hard to get what you wanted,' he said.

Jack recently thanked Hugh Jackman in an Instagram post, explaining that the pair have actually been friends since his So You Think You Can Dance days, before touring together in Hugh's Broadway show.

'I've been having a blast touring this ripper of a show! @thehughjackman - you are an inspiring human, professionally and personally, and I am super grateful to be up on that stage with you!' Jack wrote alongside a photo of the pair.

On stage: The 33-year-old has also travelled around the world starring in musicals, including touring Europe and the USA as part of Hugh Jackman's The Man. The Music. The Show. (pictured) and will next star in Marry Poppins at the Sydney Lyric Theatre

Pals: Jack recently thanked Hugh Jackman in an Instagram post. 'I've been having a blast touring this ripper of a show! @thehughjackman - you are an inspiring human, professionally and personally, and I am super grateful to be up on that stage with you!' Jack wrote

Jack now lives in Brisbane with fiance Grant Almirall but the pair have had to postpone their nuptials dude to the pandemic.

'We were so, so close, almost there, and then COVID-19 came along,' he told Mamamia.

'We just thought we need to put it a little further in the distance because we just don't know when things will start to come back to normal.'

Wedding belles: Jack now lives in Brisbane with fiance Grant Almirall but the pair have had to postpone their nuptials dude to the pandemic. Both pictured

The pair have had a largely long-distance relationship due to Jack's international touring.

'We talk every single night on Skype. I feel like Skype should sponsor our wedding!' he added.

Jack won So You Think You Can Dance Australia's first season in 2008, where his Broadway dancing style wowed judges Jason Coleman, Matt Lee and Bonnie Lythgoe.
He joined the social media app back in 2009 and has amassed a staggering 4.4 million followers.

And during Tuesday's instalment of This Morning, Phillip Schofield revealed that he has deleted the Twitter app from his phone, because he wants 'no part of it' in his life - although his account remains active.

The presenter, 60, branded the platform 'a cesspit' and asserted that there are 'vile and disgusting' trolls on it.

During Tuesday's instalment of This Morning, Phillip Schofield, 60, revealed that he has deleted the Twitter app from his phone

Discussing Elon Musk buying Twitter and the suggestion that all users may have to be verified, Phillip asserted: 'There's the side of the argument where, if you're gonna say something, make sure you can back it up with your own name.

'If that isn't the case, then it could become even more of a cesspit than it already is. I've deleted it off my phone. And I'll quite openly say that...

'Because, there is a section that is wonderful and magnificent and funny and informative.... And there is a section that is vile and disgusting and I want no part of it in my life.'

Vanessa Feltz added: 'Well I've never been anywhere near it. I've never even looked at it, and the reason why is that I just don't think I have a strong enough constitution.

The situation: He joined Twitter back in 2009 and has amassed a 4.4 million followers. Philip has not deactivated his page, but last sent a tweet in December 2021

'I would detest it, quite frankly. I'd be scared and I'd be horrified... I don't wanna get embroiled in it at all.'

Philip has not deactivated his Twitter page, but hasn't engaged with in months, with his last sent a tweet in December 2021.

The presenter is still active on Instagram - where he boasts 3 million followers - but has comments on his photos turned off.

Cesspit! 'It could become even more of a cesspit than it already is. I've deleted it off my phone' said Phillip as he discussed Elon Musk buying Twitter

It comes after Vanessa hinted she was planning to join OnlyFans during an appearance on This Morning in January.

The broadcaster said she was keeping her 'options' open in a bid to 'provide for my old age' and family in the future.

Phillip said: 'Well, Vanessa Feltz, talk about go down the social media route. She's just got her blue tick on her Instagram, now she's talking about joining Only Fans.'

Vanessa explained: 'Why not?! Is that an bad idea? Just to provide for my old age and look after my starving orphan children. Would there be a market for it though, that's the thing, would there?'

Not Twitter but maybe OnlyFans? It comes after Vanessa Feltz hinted she was planning to join OnlyFans during an appearance on This Morning in January

An enthusiastic Holly Willoughby replied: 'Do it! I am your biggest supporter! Absolutely,' while Phil insisted: 'There's a market for everything.'

Vanessa explained: 'You see my parents are dead, they can't really object to it. My father would say, "For this you went to Cambridge," but he can't anymore so what the hell, right?

She clarified: 'Anyway, no one's asked me to, you should know that.'

But Phillip continued: 'All options open, you should have a plan,' to which Vanessa cheekily hit back: 'And not just my options open!'
Holly Kingston was enjoying a solo night out on Tuesday.

The Bachelor star left boyfriend Jimmy Nicholson at home as she attended the Sydney launch of Downton Abbey: A New Era.

The 27-year-old turned heads in a 1960s inspired ensemble that included a white mini dress.

Out and about: Holly Kingston (pictured) was enjoying a solo night out on Tuesday. The Bachelor star left boyfriend Jimmy Nicholson at home as she attended the Sydney launch of Downton Abbey: A New Era

The frock featured a high neckline with dainty buttons down the centre and lace detailing throughout.

The whimsical design included long sleeves and layered skirting with crochet lace edging.

Her trim pins were on display thanks to the short length of the dress, and Holly paired it with thigh-high tan boots.

Looking good: The 27-year-old turned heads in a 1960s inspired ensemble that included a white mini dress

Wow! The frock featured a high neckline with dainty buttons down the centre as well as lace detailing throughout

For makeup, Holly chose a clean, glowing look with a rosy nude lipstick in a matte finish.

She wore her blonde locks slicked back and pulled off her face, and added a pair of drop earrings.

Holly completed the ensemble with a white belt with silver hardware and carried a cream designer handbag.

Feeling romantic: The whimsical design included long sleeves and layered skirting with crochet lace edging

Legs eleven: Her trim pins were on display thanks to the short length of the dress, and Holly paired it with thigh-high tan boots

Details: For makeup, Holly chose a clean, glowing look with a rosy nude lipstick in a matte finish. She wore her blonde locks slicked back and pulled off her face

The blonde has just returned from romantic holiday in Bali with her boyfriend Jimmy earlier this month.

Jimmy and Holly fell in love in front of Australia on The Bachelor last year and recently celebrated their one-year anniversary together.

The pair currently live together in North Bondi after moving in together in September last year following the finale of The Bachelor.




Ten current and former employees of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) are under investigation on charges of accepting bribes in exchange for jobs at an unidentified U.S. Army base, with two of them in custody, police said Tuesday.







The suspects, who were recruitment officers, were accused of receiving 175 million won ($140,000) from five Koreans in return for hiring them between April 2018 and December 2020, according to the Daegu Metropolitan Police.







They allegedly had the applicants' career certificates fabricated and gave them the highest marks.







Police said they launched the probe after receiving a report on the matter from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division and confiscated 160 million won of bribes in forfeiture. (Yonhap)






Netflix has offered a first glimpse at forthcoming summer blockbuster The Gray Man ahead of its July release.

The star-studded spy thriller finds Ryan Gosling, Billy Bob Thornton, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas involved in a global manhunt after a CIA mercenary inadvertently exposes agency secrets.

Former Bridgerton heartthrob Rege-Jean Page also features in his first role since departing the steamy period drama - another Netflix release - to pursue other roles in 2020.

Here we go: Netflix has offered a first glimpse at forthcoming summer blockbuster The Gray Man ahead of its July release

Adapted from the 2009 novel of the same name by author Mark Greaney, The Grey Man has been brought to life with a budget of $200 million, making it the most expensive film ever made by the streaming giant.

First images from the imminent release feature Gosling as CIA operative Court Gentry, aka Sierra Six - the elusive 'grey man' responsible for setting off a chain reaction of global terror.

Gentry was once a highly-skilled, Agency-sanctioned merchant of death. But now the tables have turned and Six is the target.

Ambitious: Adapted from the 2009 novel by Mark Greaney, The Grey Man has been brought to life with a budget of $200 million, making it the most expensive film ever made by Netflix

Main man: First images from the imminent release feature Gosling as CIA operative Court Gentry, aka Sierra Six - the elusive 'grey man' responsible for sparking a global manhunt

Viewers will see him hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen, played by Evans, a psychopathic former cohort at the CIA, who will stop at nothing to take him out.

Fortunately for Six, Agent Dani Miranda, played by rising star de Armas, has his back - and hell need it.

Russo Brothers Anthony and Joseph have directed the new film while sharing producer credits with Joe Roth, Jeffery Kirschenbaum, Mike Larocca and Chris Castaldi.

Supportive: Fortunately for Six, Agent Dani Miranda, played by rising star Ana de Armas, has his back - and hell need it

The filmmaking brothers are perhaps best known for their work with Marvel studios, having previously directed Captain America films Winter Soldier and Civil War, as well as Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Executive producers are Patrick Newall, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Jake Aust, Angela Russo-Otstot, Geoff Haley, Zack Roth, and Palak Patel.

Joseph Russo is also responsible for drafting the screenplay from Greaney's source material with co-writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

The Gray Man will be released in select UK cinemas on July 15 and on Netflix globally on July 22.
The Kardashians star Kim Kardashian finally created a solo TikTok account, which went live on Monday night.

The 41-year-old SKIMS CEO's first video featured her hairstylist Chris Appleton and make-up artist Mario Dedivanovic responding to the challenge: 'So, you're an artist? Are you good at it?'

The camera then cut to Kim, fully glam with a faux-nytail, posing while clad in a black crocodile-print long-sleeved dress and sunglasses to rapper Key Glock's 2021 song Ambition for Cash.

'Hey guys': The Kardashians star Kim Kardashian finally created a solo TikTok account, which went live on Monday night

'I'm just not a good dancer so it's hard for me,' Kardashian said of joining TikTok on a past episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

'I want to, but I just don't have time.'

So far, the half-Armenian beauty is only following 11 accounts, but her extra 3M fans raises her total social media draw to an eye-popping 422.6M followers.

Kim's prior account, Kim and North, with her eight-year-old daughter has 6.6M followers, but they haven't posted since January 31 after public outrage from her estranged third husband Kanye 'Ye' West.

The 41-year-old SKIMS CEO's first video featured her hairstylist Chris Appleton (L) and make-up artist Mario Dedivanovic (R) responding to the challenge: 'So, you're an artist? Are you good at it?'

Takes a village: The camera then cut to Kim, fully glam with a faux-nytail, posing while clad in a black crocodile-print long-sleeved dress and sunglasses to rapper Key Glock's 2021 song Ambition for Cash

Kardashian said of joining TikTok on a past episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians: 'I'm just not a good dancer so it's hard for me. I want to, but I just don't have time'

Bigger platform: So far, the half-Armenian beauty is only following 11 accounts, but her extra 3M fans raises her total social media draw to an eye-popping 422.6M followers

'Managed by an adult': Kim's prior account, Kim and North, with her eight-year-old daughter has 6.6M followers, but they haven't posted since January 31 after public outrage from her estranged third husband Kanye 'Ye' West

Bright and early: On Tuesday, Kardashian donned a sauna suit for a 5:30am work-out session on the treadmill and stair master in a gym

All of Kardashian's family members are on TikTok aside from her big sister Kourtney and her younger brother Rob.

On Tuesday, the Calabasas socialite donned a sauna suit for a 5:30am work-out session on the treadmill and stair master in a gym.

Kim and her boyfriend of six months - SNL star Pete Davidson - will reportedly return to Washington, DC this Saturday to attend the White House Correspondents' dinner at the Disney/ABC table.

'Host Trevor Noah could definitely turn his attention to Kim and Pete,' a source told Page Six on Monday.

Next event? The Calabasas socialite and her boyfriend of six months - SNL star Pete Davidson - will reportedly return to Washington, DC this Saturday to attend the White House Correspondents' dinner at the Disney/ABC table

A source told Page Six on Monday: 'Host Trevor Noah (pictured April 3) could definitely turn his attention to Kim and Pete. I don't think they should feel that they're safe'

'Thank you @potus!' Kim - a criminal reform advocate - might have the opportunity to thank President Joe Biden in person for granting clemency to 78 individuals, which she tweeted about on Tuesday

'I don't think they should feel that they're safe.'

Kardashian - a criminal reform advocate - might have the opportunity to thank President Joe Biden in person for granting clemency to 78 individuals, which she tweeted about on Tuesday.

And Hollywood Life is predicting the coy couple will finally make their relationship 'red carpet official' at the gilded glamour-themed Costume Institute benefit in Manhattan next Monday.

'Kim has been invited to the Met Gala and wants nothing more than for Pete to go with her as her date,' an insider told the mag.

'Kim and Pete are ready!' And Hollywood Life is predicting the coy couple (pictured September 13) will finally make their relationship 'red carpet official' at the gilded glamour-themed Costume Institute benefit in Manhattan next Monday

Inseparable: This, after Kardashian and the 28-year-old girl-crazy comedian were seen spending time together in Orlando, FL last Saturday and Washington, DC last Sunday (pictured)

Easter family portrait: With all the events and travel coming up, it's a wonder how the aspiring attorney - who allegedly spends 18 hours a week studying law - has any time for her four children with the 44-year-old rapper-designer

'They were both invited by [chairwoman Anna Wintour] separately, as they have been in the past. Kim and Pete are ready to make their grand debut as a couple and they feel that the Met Gala is the perfect place to do it.'

This, after the aspiring attorney and the 28-year-old girl-crazy comedian were seen spending time together in Orlando, FL last Saturday and Washington, DC last Sunday.

With all the events and travel coming up, it's a wonder how Kim - who allegedly spends 18 hours a week studying law - has any time for her four children with the 44-year-old rapper-designer.

Catch more of Kardashian and her famous family in their 40-episode KUWTK spin-off The Kardashians - which airs Thursdays on Hulu, Disney+ internationally, and Star+ in Latin America.
A first look at The Essex Serpent teases steamy scenes between lead characters Cora Seaborne [Claire Danes] and married pastor Will Ransome [Tom Hiddleston].

A new trailer which has been released for the Apple TV+ drama series and reveals that the two will embark on a illicit affair when Cora moves to the area and attracts the attention of Will, while investigating reports of a mythical serpent.

Cora is called to look into the reports when a local girl goes missing and is presumed dead in the opening scenes of the trailer, where the sounds of a mysterious creature can be heard echoing across the marshes.

Oh my word! A first look at The Essex Serpent teases steamy scenes between lead characters Cora Seaborne [Claire Danes] and married pastor Will Ransome [Tom Hiddleston]

The girl's father says she was 'taken for her sins', while Will responds by telling him that it was 'an accident' and that 'God will look after her now.

Cora arrives in Essex as she tells a local boy that she is there to discover whether the creature is real. As she insists that the serpent is 'real not mythical'.

During a dinner at his family home, Will tells Cora: 'The serpent is an invention, a symptom of the times we live in.'

First LOOK! A new trailer which has been released for the Apple TV+ drama series and reveals that the two will embark on a illicit affair when Cora moves to the area and attracts the attention of Will, while investigating reports of a mythical serpent

While Cora counters: 'I'd rather believe in a create people have actually seen than an invisible God. Is that blasphemy?'

Will's wife Stella Ransome [Clemence Poesy] chimes in: 'You won't get my husband to judge you. No matter how hard you try.'

The pace then picks up as mysterious happenings begin, with Cora questioning whether she brought the illusive serpent to the area.

On the hunt: Cora is called to look into the reports when a local girl goes missing and is presumed dead in the opening scenes of the trailer, where the sounds of a mysterious creature can be heard echoing across the marshes

Traumatic: The girl's father says she was 'taken for her sins', while Will responds by telling him that it was 'an accident' and that 'God will look after her now'

Martha [Hayley Squires], a friend of Cora's from London, asks her to come back home and tells her 'you need to forget about Essex.'

In another scene a man says to her: 'It sounds like you're in love with her', while she replies: 'Everyone else is.'

Character Luke Garrett [Frank Dillane] can be heard saying: 'We can't control our inner thoughts. But they can influence us', playing over a scene of Cora and Will dancing together in a ballroom.

Opinion: Cora arrives in Essex as she tells a local boy that she is there to discover whether the creature is real. As she insists that the serpent is 'real not mythical'

While Cora counters: 'I'd rather believe in a create people have actually seen than an invisible God. Is that blasphemy?'

Will's wife Stella Ransome [Clemence Poesy] chimes in: 'You won't get my husband to judge you. No matter how hard you try'

In a fit of a rage, Cora says to Will: 'You let them accuse me. You said nothing!'

Will replies: 'I am their pastor'.

While she relies: 'So you can't be my friend and a man of God?'

He tells her: 'I can't think clearly when I'm around you.'

She responds: 'I won't be blamed for your weakness.'

Worries: The pace then picks up as mysterious happenings begin, with Cora questioning whether she brought the illusive serpent to the area

He tells her: 'Love is not a weakness', before skipping to a steamy scene of him kissing her neck in a passionate clinch.

While the lovers are stood outside on the moors, Will's wife Stella can be seen peeking her head around the curtain to watch them outside.

The series, based on Sarah Perry's novel of the same name, will debut globally on on May 13, followed by one new episode weekly, every Friday through June 10.

Romance: Character Luke Garrett [Frank Dillane] can be heard saying: 'We can't control our inner thoughts. But they can influence us', playing over a scene of Cora and Will dancing together in a ballroom

Intense: The pair can't look away from each other as they dance

Set in Victorian England featuring a star studded cast led by Claire and Tom, as well as Frank, Clemence and Hayley, The Essex Serpent follows London widow Cora, who moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent.

She forms a surprising bond of science and scepticism with the local pastor, but when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature.

The Essex Serpent is directed by BAFTA Award-nominee Clio Barnard, written by BAFTA Award-nominee Anna Symon.

Barnard and Symon also serve as executive producers alongside Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Patrick Walters.

The series is produced for Apple TV+ by See-Saw Films.

While she relies: 'So you can't be my friend and a man of God?'

He tells her: 'Love is not a weakness', before skipping to a steamy scene of him kissing her neck in a passionate clinch

Watchful eye: While the lovers are stood outside on the moors, Will's wife Stella can be seen peeking her head around the curtain to watch them outside
She gained overnight fame (and 1.5 million Instagram followers) when she appeared on Love Island season 6.

And on Tuesday, Shaughna Phillips, 28, revealed that she has had a mortgage approved, and admitted that she 'couldn't even afford to rent' on her own before reality TV fame.

The former democratic services officer from London shared with her followers two weeks ago, that an offer she'd put on a house had been accepted.

Yay! On Tuesday, Shaughna Phillips, 28, revealed that she has had a mortgage approved, after being unable to 'even afford to rent' on her own before Love Island (Pictured in February 2020)

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, she tweeted: My mortgage has been approved. I could cry, before Love Island I couldn't even afford to rent on my own, now I'm here, with a mortgage, on my own, before I'm 30.

'I am so f**king grateful I can't even put it into words. Okay I'm crying bye x.'

She then added: 'Honestly though, I would not be where I am today without every single person who has supported me, this is basically all of our house

'I don't ever forget how fortunate I am, and how lucky I've been. I will never ever take it for granted. Just thank you really.'

Congratulation! The former democratic services officer from London shared with her followers two weeks ago, that an offer she'd put on a house had been accepted

E,otional! Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, she tweeted: 'My mortgage has been approved. I could cry, before Love Island I couldn't even afford to rent on my own'

Last August, Shaughna revealed to MailOnline that her family was almost made homelessness while her late father Eddie was dying from cancer.

The Love Island star reflected on the struggles she faced when her father, Eddie passed away almost six years ago, and praised Macmillan Cancer Support, after the charity came to her family's rescue.

Shaugna explained: 'My dad was diagnosed with cancer in September 2015. He was a black cab driver in London. They're self-employed and work for themselves - most people don't realise that.

Grateful! She then added: 'Honestly though, I would not be where I am today without every single person who has supported me, this is basically all of our house'

'So when he couldn't work anymore, he didn't get paid. There's no sick leave when you're self-employed.

'When people get cancer, all you think about is 'god I hope they get through'. You don't think about the impact on the whole family. We couldn't pay the rent. Macmillan came to the rescue.

'My mum as a lawyer contributed as much as she could, but it was quite a bit of shame for my dad, not being able to support the family financially. It had an impact on his mental state.'

Shocking: Speaking exclusively to MailOnline last August, Shaughna revealed that her family was almost made homelessness, while her late father Eddie was dying from cancer

The Love Island star praised the charity for their financial support, and explained how three months after her father's diagnosis, they helped to secure them new accommodation.

She said: 'MacMillan gave us these 2 grants, and that relief completely changed his whole mood. I'm still in such debt to them. They're the only reason we weren't homeless.

'We tried to get help from the government, but that didn't work. Macmillan also got in touch with out local MP on our behalf and managed to get us a house.

'We found out on Christmas Eve that we were able to move into a house that accepted pets, so we could take our dog. I can't explain how much we owe Macmillan.'
Reality TV siren Kourtney Kardashian smoldered when she modeled cute dresses for the clothing brand PrettyLittleThing in 2017.

And now her future stepdaughter Alabama Barker - whose parents are Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler - has followed in the POOSH founder's footsteps.

On Tuesday it was revealed that the 16-year-old up-and-coming model is the new face of the spring collection.

New: Alabama Barker - whose parents are Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler - has followed in Kourtney Kardashian's footsteps

Nice look: She is modeling for the clothing brand PrettyLittleThing this month

Alabama was seen sucking on a lollipop with her long blonde hair worn down as she had on the latest looks from the popular brand.

When Kourtney, 42, modeled for the brand she had on sparkly cocktail party dresses as she was seen heading out for the night.

Kourtney became engaged to Travis last year after being friends for almost a decade.

Spring has sprung: On Tuesday it was revealed that the 16-year-old up-and-coming model is the new face of the spring collection

Her turn: When Kourtney, 42, modeled for the brand she had on sparkly cocktail party dresses as she was seen heading out for the night

They plan to tie the knot this year and are also trying for a baby with the help of IVF.

Last week Moakler said it was 'fantastic' that Kardashian and her ex Barker are trying for a baby.

The 47-year-old star - who shares son Landon, 18, and daughter Alabama with her former husband Travis - revealed she is happy for the Blink-182 drummer and his fiancee Kourtney.

Hi there: Alabama was seen with her long blonde hair worn down as she had on the latest looks from the popular brand

So much pink: She had on a pink jacket with large white framed sunglasses

She told Us Weekly: 'All I know is kind of, like, what everyone knows. I think they were trying with IVF and there were some complications.

'I think if that's a desire between the two of them then that's fantastic. I don't have any issues with that. Their personal relationship is really nothing I get involved in.'

Shanna was married to Travis, 46, for four years before their 2008 split, and he is also stepfather to her 23-year-old daughter Atiana.

So much kitsch it's cute: And here the star was seen in a vest and mini skirt on a bed

Time for some primping: A man brushed her flaxen locks as she wore tinted glasses

Green drink time: Here she flashed her white tipped nails as she held a matcha drink

Shanna insisted she has not been watching The Kardashians, which Travis appears in but does not mind if her kids take part.

She said: 'I'm kind of focused over here on just, you know, my work and getting myself in a really good positive place mentally and physically.

'I'm fine with my children doing whatever it is that creatively makes them happy. And if being on that show does that for them then, I mean, it doesn't bother me. All I care about is my children's happiness.

'And it's the one thing that Travis and I agree on and that's putting our children first and so as long as they're happy and they're being treated well by that family, then I'm happy.'

So many kids: Kourtney and Travis seen with Alabama, left, as well as Atiana and Landon, and also in the image is Kourtney's son Reign
Megan Fox has revealed that she bought books written by transgender children for her son Noah - after he developed a desire to wear dresses.

Appearing on the cover of Glamour UK's April issue, the actress, 35, claimed that she encourages her brood to express themselves through clothing 'however they want' while assuring it has nothing to do with their sexuality.

Megan shares Noah, nine, Bodhi, eight, and Journey, five, with her ex-husband Brian Austin Green, who she was married to between 2010 and 2021. She got engaged to musician Machine Gun Kelly in January of this year.

Speaking about her struggles as a mother, the Teen Choice Award winner went on to cryptically admit she 'worries' about one child who 'suffers', adding that she 'wishes humanity was not like this'.

However, ultimately Megan said that she wants to teach all three of her children that they can 'express themselves through clothing however they want' and hopes to ensure that none of them feel 'weird or strange or different'.

'I do have a child that suffers': Megan Fox revealed to Glamour UK that she has bought books written by transgender children after her son Noah, nine, developed a desire to wear dresses

Doting mother: The actress, 35, said that she encourages her entire brood, including Noah (pictured in 2020 while on an outing with his father), to express themselves through clothing 'however they want' while assuring them it has nothing to do with their sexuality

She told the magazine: 'I bought a bunch of books that sort of addressed these things and addressed a full spectrum of what this is.

'Some of the books are written by transgender children. Some of the books are just about how you can be a boy and wear a dress; you can express yourself through your clothing however you want. And that doesn't even have to have anything to do with your sexuality.

'So from the time they were very young, I've incorporated those things into their daily lives so that nobody feels like they are weird or strange or different.'

Speaking about her fears over her son Noah, Megan - who graces April's Glamour UK cover in a futuristic silver look - admitted that she 'worries' about the nine year old's 'suffering', but added that the youngster is 'so brave'.

'I do have a child that suffers,' she said. 'So I have a lot of worries about that, because I just wish that humanity was not like this.

'Although my kid is so brave and my child is so brave and I know that they've chosen this journey for a reason. It's just hard as a mom.'

Megan previously revealed Noah is sometimes taunted by other boys at school for wearing dresses, though she added that he 'doesn't mind' their teasing.

While chatting on The View in 2019, Megan opened up about young Noah's impeccable style.

'He designs, he draws outfits. He's very talented, but he's still six,' she said.

Candid: The Teen Choice Award winner went on to cryptically admit she 'worries' about one child who 'suffers' and 'wishes humanity was not like this'

Megan opened up about young Noah's impeccable style in 2019, revealing: 'He's really into fashion... he'll dress himself and he likes to wear dresses, sometimes.' Noah is pictured left with his mother and siblings last month

Discussing: She said: 'Even... here in California, he still has little boys going like, 'Boys don't wear dresses,' or 'Boys don't wear pink'' (Megan pictured with her three sons: (L-R) Journey, Noah and Bodhi)

'He's really into fashion. He's the one, like sometimes, he'll dress himself and he likes to wear dresses, sometimes.

'And I send him to a really liberal, like hippy school,' she continued. 'But even there, here in California, he still has little boys going like, 'Boys don't wear dresses,' or 'Boys don't wear pink.''

Despite the taunts from other boys, Megan has been teaching her son to follow his own course in life.

'We're going through that now, where I'm trying to teach him to be confident no matter what anyone else says.'

The Transformers star explained that Noah had stopped wearing dresses for a while, though he wore one again this week.

'He came home and I was like, 'How was it? Did any of the friends at school have anything to say?' And he was like, 'Well, all the boys laughed when I came in,' but he's like, 'I don't care, I love dresses too much.''

Megan's exhusband, Beverly Hills 90210 star Brian Austin Green, stood up for his son in 2017 when his then-wife shared a photo of Noah wearing a dress from the Disney film Frozen.

Megan's ex-husband Brian Austin Green previously defended Noah's outfit choices. 'My son, he's four. I've heard from some people that they don't agree with him wearing dresses. To them I say, I don't care'; pictured together in 2014

'My son, he's four,' he said at the time. 'I've heard from some people that they don't agree with him wearing dresses. To them I say, I don't care. He's four and if he wants to wear it then he wears it.

'And it's dresses or goggles or slippers or whatever. It's his life, they're not my clothes,' he continued. 'I feel like at 4 at 5, that's a time when he should be having fun. He's not harming anyone wearing a dress. So if he wants to wear a dress, good on him.'

Megan has shared multiple photos of Noah to her Instagram, where he's usually pictured rocking a shaggy hairdo and sometimes wearing stereotypically feminine clothing.

A Halloween photo from last year showed Megan with Noah, who was dressed up as a zombie cheerleader.

Parenthood was not the only topic broached in the tell-all interview, as Megan also lifted the lid on her highly-publicised romance with Colson Baker, who professionally goes by Machine Gun Kelly.

A palatial trip to Costa Rica last year, in Megan's words, 'bound them together' after they consumed the psychoactive plant brew ayahuasca, administered by a shaman, which is said to open the mind and heal past trauma.

Love of her life: Parenthood was not the only topic broached in the tell-all interview, as Megan also lifted the lid on her highly-publicised romance with Colson Baker, who professionally goes by Machine Gun Kelly (pictured this month)

Eyes on the prize: The now engaged couple may have only started dating in May 2020, but Megan believes she has been manifesting her hubby-to-be since she was four years old (pictured this month)

Newlyweds: Megan counts Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker (pictured this month) among her close friends and called the couple 'magnetic'

Of that bonding experience, she recalled: 'It confirmed a lot of things for us that I needed to know or I needed to feel. It opened a door for a lot of healing for me, from a personal experience I had with him, that allowed us to get to a place where we were now seeking the right outlets to heal moving forward.'

The now engaged couple may have only started dating in May 2020, but Megan believes she has been manifesting her hubby-to-be since she was four years old.

She explained: 'Because he's literally my exact physical type that I've been manifesting since I was four. I'm also four years older than him.

'So, I think I made him. My thoughts and intentions grew him into the person that he is, who knows what he would've looked like or been like if it wasn't for me.'

Megan counts Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker among her close friends and called the couple 'magnetic.'

She added: 'Nobody's really interacting with them too much, because they're just stuck We've been to Vegas with them a couple of times and events and things like that.

'But we're not going on picnics or road trips, we don't have a lot of double dates. I mean, between all of us, there's 900 kids!'

Read the full interview in the GLAMOUR UK April Digital Issue online now.
Penny Lancaster has revealed she is thankful for her husband Sir Rod Stewart's support as she deals with the menopause.

The 51-year-old Loose Women panellist opened up about how she is determined to break down the taboo surrounding the menopause after recently struggling with severe symptoms.

She went on to praise her music legend spouse, 77, for making men more aware of the issue by backing the Menopause Mandate campaign  which has been championed by Penny and TV presenters Davina McCall and Mariella Frostrup.

Brave: Penny Lancaster has revealed she is thankful for her husband Sir Rod Stewart's support as she deals with the menopause (pictured in February 2020)

Penny told The Daily Telegraph: 'First of all he had empathy towards me and how I was suffering from it. We've always been good at communicating with one another and explaining how we feel, so he got to understand.

'Then he wanted to encourage men to sit up and take note. He's going: 'This isn't just a women's problem. We need to recognise it.' It affects husbands, partners, children.'

The star, who married Rod in 2007, recalled how she suffered 'major meltdowns' as the symptoms began to impact on her.

Strong: The 51-year-old Loose Women panellist opened up about how she is determined to break down the taboo surrounding the menopause after recently struggling with severe symptoms (pictured March 2022)

Penny  who shares sons Alastair, 16, and Aiden, 11, with Rod - said: 'I had a couple of major meltdowns. I couldn't justify my feelings and emotions, couldn't pull myself out of it and would collapse into a ball of tears of frustration and scream, which is not like me at all.'

The model started to experience hot flushes during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and feared the worst initially.

Penny explained: 'We were all terrified that anyone who gets (COVID) could die, and the fear of that exacerbated my feelings of anxiety.'

Support: She went on to praise her music legend spouse, 77, for making men more aware of the issue by backing the Menopause Mandate campaign  which has been championed by Penny and TV presenters Davina McCall and Mariella Frostrup (pictured March 2022)

She started receiving treatment in the form of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) but fears the current shortage in the UK will have a bad impact on her.

Penny said: 'I needed a new prescription and they told me, 'I'm sorry but we're out of stock.

The shortage is expected to be solved by June but that is of little comfort to Penny who fears she'll take it out on her family.

She said: 'I'm warning my husband and children I might take a reverse turn. June is a long time for a lot of women to have to wait to feel better.'

Rod previously discussed Penny's menopause journey on Loose Women and admitted he found the experience 'frightening' as he witnessed Penny change 'from the person I married'.

He said: 'I googled menopause so much when she was going through it, she was in a fragile situation, I just had to listen and learn and get ready for saucepans being thrown through the kitchen.

'It was frightening, it wasn't the person I married, she explained it through the tears and we talked it through.'

It comes after Rod and Penny appeared to be as loved-up as ever as they posed for snaps on their sun-soaked getaway to France.

The musician and his model wife put on a smitten display as they cuddled up to each other and enjoyed an evening out at Annex Beach in Cannes on Monday.

Soulmates: He said: 'I googled menopause so much when she was going through it, she was in a fragile situation, I just had to listen and learn and get ready for saucepans being thrown through the kitchen' (pictured November 2021)

Rod was seen lovingly putting an arm around Penny as they went for a stroll, with the rocker sporting his beloved Celtic FC colours.

In one sweet snap, shared on their respective Instagram pages, the Maggie May hitmaker cut a smart figure in white trousers and a cream roll-neck knit sweater.

He completed his dapper attire with a pair of white suit shoes while he styled his silver locks in his signature spiked style.

Meanwhile, Penny was the picture of elegance in a leopard-print satin gown with lace edging and a white cardigan.

She sported a pair of beige studded sandals and accessorised her glamorous look with a long silver necklace.

The photographer styled her golden tresses in loose waves across her shoulders while she let her natural good looks shine through with a light dusting of make-up.

Alongside the snap, Rod gushed: 'Gorgeous then and still gorgeous now @annexbeachcannes.'

And Loose Woman star Penny shared the picture to her own Instagram and penned: 'Love is in the air.'
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Siren Jessica Alba has been in great shape her entire career and does not seem to be letting her looks slip one bit.

On Monday the 40-year-old movie and TV star flaunted her fit figure in a string bikini top as she enjoyed a beach vacation in Hawaii.

The siren, who turns 41-years-old on Thursday, was also seen hugging and kissing her husband of 14 years, businessman Cash Warren, with whom she has three children: Honor, 13, Haven, 10, and Hayes, four.

Bikini babe at rest: Siren Jessica Alba has been in great shape her entire career and does not seem to be letting her looks slip one bit. On Monday the 40-year-old movie and TV star flaunted her fit figure in a print string bikini top as she enjoyed a beach vacation in Hawaii.

A glow to her: The LA's Finest actress bent over to show off her lean legs and backside after getting a Hawaiian tan

The looker seemed to be having a well-deserved break from running her hugely successful billion dollar Honest Company.

The American company sells everything from skincare to diapers to household cleaning products. Alba launched the company in 2012 with just 17 products after taking three years to develop Honest.

Her beach trip in Hawaii looked like just the right place to unwind in style.

She was seen on the sandy beach with several pieces of wood strewn about as she went through her belongings.

A booty-ful look: When she was on the shore she gave a cheeky show in her cute little string bikini bottoms

And then the looker was spotted walking in the shallow end of the water as she modeled sunglasses and a white-and-blue triangle bikini top as she stood next to her spouse Warren.

The social media favorite added black high-waisted bicycle shorts that ended mid thigh. Her highlighted hair was wet and worn over her tanned shoulders.

And the Dark Angel actress had on many layers of jewelry, including several necklaces and bracelets for a bohemian vibe.

Bathing beach bombshell: After stepping in the water, the cover girl took her sunglasses off for a moment

In the surf: Alba was walking in the shallow end of the water as she modeled sunglasses and a white-and-blue triangle bikini top as she stood next to her spouse Warren

Bling babe: And the Dark Angel actress had on many layers of jewelry, including several necklaces and bracelets for a bohemian vibe.

She was also seen going into the water to cool off alone as she looked around with her hands on her hips.

And then she and Cash got close as there seemed to be no kids around - they have three kids they raise together in Los Angeles.

The little ones may have been back at their hotel or perhaps the parents were making some special time for themselves before Jessica's 41st birthday on Thursday.

Us time: And then she and Cash got close as there seemed to be no kids around - they have children Honor, Haven and Hayes

Just the two of us: The little ones may have been back at their hotel or perhaps the parents were making some special time for themselves

Alba got her start in Hollywood at a very young age.

She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack.

But then she took it a step up by starring in the prime time television series Dark Angel, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, when she was still a teen.

After that movies opened up to her as she starred in Honey, 2003, Sin City, 2005, Fantastic Four, 2005 and Into The Blue, also 2005.

A Hollywood vet: Alba got her start in Hollywood at a very young age. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack

A star: But then she took it a step up by starring in the prime time television series Dark Angel, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. After that movies opened up to her as she starred in Honey, 2003, Sin City, 2005, Fantastic Four, 2005 and Into The Blue, also 2005.

I can't keep my hands off of you: They cuddled even though the waves were crashing and there was a woman next to them

Several hits followed such as 2010's ensemble Valentine's Day before she popped up in lesser known films like 2015's Baby, Baby, Baby.

In 2019 she starred with Gabrielle Union in LA's Finest as Nancy McKenna, but the show has been canceled.

Up next for her is the film Trigger Warning where she plays Parker.

And last week it was revealed that Alba and her friend Lizzy Mathis are set to host and executive produce Honest Renovations, a show on Roku about families putting together their dream homes and tackling tough parenting issues.

Lean on me: Cash looked fit as he wore floral print swim trunks while he put his arm around his lady love

Her highs and lows: Several hits followed such as 2010's ensemble Valentine's Day before she popped up in lesser known films like 2015's Baby, Baby, Baby

Alba and Mathis, 39, will assist 'deserving families complete the home renovations of their dreams and confront issues about parenting through candid conversations,' Roku said in a news release, Deadline reported Wednesday.

The series will begin with eight hour-long episodes and begin production later this year.

Alba said in a statement that 'becoming a parent was exciting, scary and confusing all at once.'

TV gal: In 2019 she starred with Gabrielle Union in LA's Finest as Nancy McKenna, but the show has been canceled. Up next for her is the film Trigger Warning where she plays Parker

The Honest Company founder continued: 'Parenthood is the most transformative life experience, and no matter how much you think you're prepared; you never really are. I can't wait to share the stories of the special families and their incredible home renovations with viewers on The Roku Channel.'

Mathis, who runs a lifestyle parenting blog called The Cool Mom Co., is mother to two daughters and a son.

'Parenthood turned my world upside down - it filled my cup with so much love and at the same time, tested my patience in ways I couldn't have imagined,' Mathis said in a statement. 'It's a uniting experience every parent can relate to.

She never has a bad day: Even though she was wet and without glam hair and makeup, Jessica still looked like a 10

This Hawaii sighting comes after Jensen Ackles said he and Alba 'bickered' like brother and sister on the set of Dark Angel.

The 43-year-old actor has claimed he was 'picked on' by his co-star - who rose to prominence after landing the role of Max Guevara in 2000s sci-fi series - because he was the 'pretty boy'.

Speaking on the 'Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum' podcast, Jensen recalled: 'I was the new kid on the block, and I was picked on by the lead.'

He continued: 'It wasn't that she didn't like me. She just was like, "Oh, here's the pretty boy that network brought in for some more window dressing because that's what we all need."'

Jensen and Jessica weren't always at loggerheads, as while filming the show, the actress was there for the Supernatural star when he found out his grandfather had died.

He remembered: 'My grandfather died while I was shooting it and she literally just walked into my trailer and held me for a half an hour.

Side by side: The longtime couple walked together as they left the surf after getting cooled down in the hot setting

'So it was that kind of a relationship. If she walked in, we'd be all hugs, but she didn't make it easy on me.'

However, in the end, the pair formed a 'mutual respect' for each other, and Jensen - who played Alec - has a lot of love for the Honest Company founder.

He added: 'I love Jess, which I know kind of contradicts what I just said.

'She was under an immense amount of pressure on that show. She was young, she was in a relationship and that was  causing some undue stress, I believe.'

Jessica was famously in a relationship with their co-star Michael Weatherly (Logan Cale) in 2000 when she was 19 and he was 32, and the pair were engaged briefly but went their separate ways in 2003.

And the Fantastic Four star later admitted she regretted the romance.

She said: 'I don't know [why I got engaged]. I was a virgin. He was 12 years older than me. I thought he knew better. My parents weren't happy.'

Time to go: After getting enough sun, the lovebirds were seen dressed and heading away from the shore
Jourdan Dunn stunned in a silver ruched gown while Pixie Geldof cut a casual figure in jeans as the pair attend the International Woolmark final in London on Tuesday.

Jourdan, 31, looked sensational as she wore a unique halter neck dress with navy silk draping across the front.

The runway star showed off her incredible figure in the ensemble which flowed down to the floor with ruching detailing.

Stunning: Jourdan Dunn, 31, (left)stunned in a silver ruched floor length gown as she joined Pixie Geldof, also 31, (right) for the International Woolmark final in London

She showcased a radiant palette of makeup as she slicked her dark tresses up perfectly into a high ponytail.

Jourdan opted for some silver and black heels to add a few inches to her stature and kept her accessorises simple by wearing one ring.

The beauty was joined by the editor-in-chief of British Vogue, Edward Enninful, who rocked a navy suit and black T-shirt.

Incredible: The model looked sensational as she wore a unique halter neck dress with navy silk draping across the front

Glam: The runway star showed off her incredible figure in the ensemble which flowed down to the floor with ruching detailing

Fashionista: The beauty was joined by the editor-in-chief of British Vogue, Edward Enninful, 50, who rocked a navy suit and black T-shirt

The 50-year-old added a pair of black sunglasses to his look which he completed with matching trainers.

The International Woolmark Prize celebrates outstanding fashion talents from across the globe who showcase the beauty and versatility of Australian Merino wool.

The event was also attended by model Pixie, 31, who looked chic in a dark pair of jeans which she turned up the edges revealing a pair of towering black heels.

The daughter of Boomtown Rats hitmaker Sir Bob Geldof and the late Paula Yates, seemed in high spirits as she posed for cameras in a stylish black coat.

Pose: Pixie, the daughter of Boomtown Rats hitmaker Sir Bob Geldof and the late Paula Yates, seemed in high spirits as she posed for cameras in a stylish black coat

The blonde beauty swept her locks back in a centre parting revealing her glam palette of makeup which included a bright pink lipstick.

Pixie accessorised with a pair of drop earrings and carried her personal belongings in a small black shoulder bag.

The model posed alongside BBC Radio 1 presenter Nick Grimshaw who sported a black suit and maroon shoes.

Radiant: Pixie accessorised with a pair of drop earrings and carried her personal belongings in a small black shoulder bag

Chic: Pixie posed alongside BBC Radio 1 presenter Nick Grimshaw who sported a black suit and maroon shoes

Also in attendance was model Erin O'Connor who cut a stylish figure in a black shirt and cropped matching trousers.

The 44-year-old added a long tan drape jacket over the top of the simple black ensemble.

She accessorised with a black leather handbag and kept her look casual in a pair of dark sliders.

Keeping it casual: Also in attendance was model Erin O'Connor who cut a stylish figure in a black shirt and cropped matching trousers

High spirits: She accessorised with a black leather handbag and kept her look casual in a pair of dark sliders

The brunette beauty sleeked her short locks back revealing her stunning features enhanced with a soft makeup palette.

Former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris Carine Roitfeld beamed as she rocked a black midi dress under a leather jacket.

The former model added height to her frame in a pair of pointed toe black heels as she opted for a smoky eyeshadow palette to complete the rocker chick look.

The prize giving saw the likes of supermodel Naomi Campbell, Burberry's chief creative officer Riccardo Tisci and Edward take to the judging panel.

Biker chic: Former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris Carine Roitfeld beamed as she rocked a black midi dress under a leather jacket
Georgia Harrison has revealed she is 'never dating again' as she continues to struggle with 'trust issues' from her previous relationships.

The former Love Island star shared that she has sought counselling to help her overcome her problems surrounding dating.

The 27-year-old admitted she's been on the celebrity dating app Raya for over a year now but remains single while working on herself.

Struggles: Georgia Harrison has revealed she is 'never dating again' as she struggles with 'trust issues' from her previous relationships

In an exclusive interview, Georgia told MailOnline: 'I'm never dating again. I don't date. I genuinely think I've got a lot of issues. Trust issues potentially, and I've started counselling for it.'

'I don't date people enough, and it's not normal at my age. I'm 27, and at my age I should be dating and connecting with people.

'I find it very hard to date people  but I'm trying to work through it. It's been around a year since I was on a date'

'I'd like to go to counselling more often, but it's really expensive. I go about once a month and it's really broken the bank. It's 70 [a session]  it's not that expensive, but it feels like it is.

Speaking out: The former Love Island star has opened up about receiving counselling to help her overcome her problems surrounding dating

Georgia admits counselling has been a useful resource while getting over her dating fears, and reflects on her previous negative relationships.

She said: 'I find it really good. I always thought it would be really negative having to bring up past things, but it made me think things about myself, like small patterns that I didn't notice.

'I've learnt why I go for men that won't perhaps treat me the way that I deserve. It's basically an underlying thing, and there's ways of dealing with it. So I feel like I've learnt a bit.

When speaking about her experience on the celebrity dating app Raya, she said: 'Yes, I'm on there. Sophie Kasaei told me she was declined, so I can't believe I made it through the net. Somehow I made it on there.

'I've been on it for about a year, but I hardly ever use it, and my friend met her fiance on there. I've seen Lewis Hamilton on it. I can't say who else or they'll block me.'

Self-love: The 27-year-old admitted she's been on the celebrity dating app Raya for over a year now but remains single while working on herself

Georgia didn't name the person who has caused her trust issues, but had a traumatic break-up with her ex boyfriend Stephen Bear.

Stephen was arrested in February after he breached bail conditions over charges related to revenge porn, which he has allegedly discussed online.

The reality star, 32, faces trial for allegedly recording himself having sex with his former girlfriend Georgia Harrison without her consent and sharing the footage online.

Georgia has given written permission to MailOnline to be named in connection to this case, waiving the normal anonymity afforded to complainants.

Trouble: Stephen Bear, 32, faces trial for allegedly recording himself having sex with ex-girlfriend Georgia Harrison without her consent and sharing the footage online (Bear pictured outside court last July after pleading not guilty)

The Celebrity Big Brother winner pleaded not guilty to two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs or films, and one count of voyeurism, in July 2021 last year.

He was bailed following his initial arrest, but has allegedly been speaking about the case on social media since.

Essex Police confirmed that the reality TV star has been re-bailed ahead of his trial in December after admitting a breach of bail conditions.

Bear was first arrested in January 2021 upon arrival at Heathrow Airport following a holiday in Dubai.

He was accused of secretly recording himself having sex with Georgia on August 2, 2020, before subsequently sharing the video without consent on adult websites OnlyFans and Pornhub on August 2 and November 8 respectively.

Bear was formally charged in May with one count of voyeurism and two counts of disclosing private, sexual photographs or films with intent to cause distress.




Two reporters of an online news outlet were slapped with fines of 3 million won ($2,400) each Tuesday after being found guilty of entering a parking lot for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's apartment without permission in 2020 to interview him.







Lee Myeong-soo and Jeong Byeong-gon, reporters for the Voice of Seoul, broke into the parking lot of the apartment building in southern Seoul on five occasions in August 2020 when Yoon, as a prosecutor-general at the time, was in a feud with then Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae over prosecution reform.







The reporters lied to the security guard that they were visiting the apartment to meet a resident for a real estate purchase and approached Yoon but failed to interview him, according to court records. (Yonhap)


Katie Price took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a snap from her sunny beach walk in West Sussex.

The TV personality smiled for a picture with her black German Shepherd Blade, who sat by her as she held onto his lead.

The 43-year-old kept it casual for the outing, donning a charcoal, velour matching tracksuit with a blush pink gilet.

Beach day: Katie Price, 43, enjoyed a sunny walk on the beach with her German Shepherd Blade on Tuesday in West Sussex

She sported white trainers whilst on the pebbly beach, with her lengthy blonde tresses falling behind her ears in a straight style.

Katie appeared to have a subtle makeup look on, with her complexion looking dewy alongside her tattooed eyebrows.

She seemed in high spirits for the snap, as Blade enjoyed himself while sitting with a red ball in his mouth.

Part of the family: The reality star has had her dog Blade, who is trained as a protection dog, for three years

Protection: She also has a black german shepherd Okra, who she welcomed to the family in 2021 to 'guard the home' - admitting she feels safer with the pooches there

The former glamour model captioned: 'Love walking my dog blade on the beach'

Katie has had Blade for three years, and also welcomed another black German Shepherd, named Okra, to the family in 2021 to 'guard the home'.

A source told The Sun that Katie feels safer having the trained dogs around, explaining: 'Having both Blade and her new dog Okra around will help make Katie's home feel safer after it was burgled and she was assaulted'

The post comes after her fiance Carl Woods confirmed that the pair are still engaged, despite a wave of split rumours.

Going strong: The post comes after her fiance Carl Woods confirmed that the pair are still engaged, despite a wave of split rumours

Carl confirmed: 'There was speculation but I can tell you that neither Katie nor me ever said that we weren't together'

Rumours of the separation were rife after Katie allegedly cheated by sending 'flirty' messages to her ex-fiance Kris Boyson, 34, from her daughter's Instagram profile last month.

But in an exclusive chat with MailOnline, Carl set the record straight, saying: 'There was speculation but I can tell you that neither Katie nor me ever said that we weren't together.'

'I love Katie, I think the world of her, I have always been in a happy relationship with Katie. I am currently on my way to Katie's house so I am happy, I think the world of Katie, I really, really do. She has a heart of gold and I am in a happy relationship with her.

Katie deleted a series of pictures of Carl on her Instagram page, which added fuel to the fire that the couple had split.

But standing his ground, Carl continued: 'I have always been in a happy relationship with Katie, and I am not interested in anything else.'

Carl proposed to Katie last April  just 10 months after they first started dating, with the pair seeming on track to tie the knot.
Salma Hayek looked the epitome of chic on Tuesday as she was pictured on set for Magic Mike 3 in London, after taking over the role from Thandiwe Newton.

The 55-year-old actress opted for a black figure-hugging maxi dress, as she wrapped a blazer over her shoulders and teamed the look with gold heels.

The star looked youthful with her hair in a half-up half-down style, while sporting a bronzed makeup palette and nude lip.

Stunning: Salma Hayek looked the epitome of chic on Tuesday as she was pictured on set for Magic Mike 3 in London , after taking over the role from Thandiwe Newton

Salma dazzled with her gold accessories as she stepped in her new role for day two of filming.

It comes as the House Of Gucci star also took to Instagram on Tuesday to wish her new co-star Channing Tatum happy birthday.

The duo looked in high spirits as they danced around together in a trailer which was decorated for the special occasion.

Salma penned: 'Happy Birthday Channing!!!! Youre such a Joy to be around. Feliz cumpleanos @channingtatum'

Wow! The 55-year-old actress showed off her incredible physqiue in a black figure-hugging maxi dress, as she wrapped a blazer over her shoulders and teamed the look with gold heels

Salma has been pictured on set for Magic Mike 3 in London, shooting her first scenes opposite Channing Tatum after taking over the role from Thandiwe Newton.

Thandiwe exited the film earlier this month after just 11 days of shooting, following an alleged bust-up with the movie's producer and star Channing over Will Smith 's Oscars slap - she has denied the incident.

While Salma, 55, shot her scenes in London's Clapham, Thandiwe, 49, was pictured 5,000 miles away in Malibu over the weekend, seemingly confirming the end of their 23-year marriage with a very public display of affection with musician Lonr, 25.

Salma was pictured in the same costume which Thandiwe was previously pictured wearing on set last month, as she shared a conversation with Channing in between takes for the film, which is reportedly focusing on the female lead and not Channing's character Mike.

Fun: The House Of Gucci star took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a birthday tribute for her new co-star Channing Tatum

Playful: The duo looked in high spirits as they danced around together in a trailer which was decorated for the special occasion

While Salma got to work, Thandiwe, who it has been said is heading to rehab, ditched her wedding ring and diverted her attention from recent adversity by kissing rapper Lonr, whose real name is Elijah Dias.

At 25, Lonr is only a mere four years older than Thandiwe and Ol's eldest child, their 21-year-old daughter Ripley.

The award-winning actress has joined her estranged husband in removing her wedding ring, as the director was spotted without his earlier this week as he left his London home.

Lonr told The Post that all parties involved were focused on the welfare of Thandiwe's children when approached for comment on the new relationship, explaining:

'From the relatively short time I've been fortunate to spend with her, I know Thandiwe and Oliver care deeply about the welfare of their children. That's all I care about right now.'

Taking over: Salma was pictured on the Magic Mike 3 set in London, shooting her first scenes opposite Channing Tatum on Sunday after taking over the role from Thandiwe who exited the movie after 11 days of filming (Thandiwe pictured right on set on March 31)

While Thandiwe spent time with her new beau, Salma was pictured hours later looking relaxed on set, chatting happily with Channing.

Filming took place on Sunday in Clapham, South London, with the Clapham Grand Victorian music hall dressed as a new venue called The Rattigan.

Thandiwe has reportedly been urged to seek mental health support following the break-up of her marriage - and an alleged bust-up with Channing.

The star has previously told how she has suffered 'a number of breakdowns' in her troubled past, as well as discussing her heartbreaking experiences of sexual abuse, racism and bulimia during her time in the industry.

She has denied claims though that she was sacked from her Magic Mike leading role over a heated argument with Channing.

Estranged: Thandiwe's on-set behaviour was said to be due to her split from film producer husband Ol Parker after 24 years of marriage, they share three children Ripley, 21, Nico, 17, and Booker, eight (pictured in 2018)

The original Magic Mike movie premiered in 2012 and was loosely based on Channing's experience working as a stripper in Tampa, Florida. A sequel followed in 2015.

Channing confirmed that he would reprise his role for Magic Mike's Last Dance in November on 2021.

In a recent interview with PEOPLE he spoke about the importance on the movie having a lead female character.

'I want to have an equal, if not even more centralized female character for Mike to really play off of and almost to... I don't want to say, [to have her] take the baton, but really let the movie be about a female's experience and not Mike's experience, because it has been so much about Mike and the guys' experiences.

'These movies are very, very female-forward. At least that is our intention.'

Warner Bros. has yet to release official plot details, but Channing and his producing partner Reid Carolin revealed in an interview with Variety in February, that the film will center on the female lead, and is in part inspired by Magic Mike Live - the hugely popular live strip show based on the movies.

'It's really about a woman stuck at a horrible strip show like a Chippendales and then realizing, 'What the hell am I doing here?'' Carolin told Variety. 'And then Magic Mike comes down from the ceiling. She gets to go down the rabbit hole and asks: What do I really want?'

'It's going to have a really strong, almost stronger than Mike, character that's female. We've never done a traditional love story, and this isn't a traditional love story,' Channing added, calling the film, 'the Super Bowl of stripper movies.'

The actor also previously told the New York Times that the plot was a 'reverse-role 'Pretty Woman' story, suggesting Salma could be playing a version of the high-powered, wealthy Richard Gere character.
Kim Kardashian was slammed by her first husband Damon Thomas for dismissing their marriage as a 'bad' drug-fuelled mistake.

Kim, who was just 19 when she and Damon eloped in Las Vegas in 2000, said on a 2018 episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that she was 'on ecstasy' at the time of their nuptials.

But in an interview with VladTV, Thomas, 51, said her claims made no 'sense' given they stayed married for years.

'That doesn't make any sense at all': Kim Kardashian was slammed by her first husband Damon Thomas for dismissing their marriage as a 'bad' drug-fueled mistake

'I don't remember that at all,' Damon said of the ecstasy claims. 'That's her thing.'

Damon also said he found it 'irresponsible' how she had described their marriage.

'I think it's unfair to make those kind of blanket statements because we have kids now. I have children, my kid goes to the same school her kid goes to,' Damon said.

'So imagine him when he has to deal with at school. I think that she should be more responsible with those statements 'cause there's a lot more to that subject and those things.

'Everything bad would happen [when I was on drugs]': Kim previously claimed she was 'on ecstasy' at the time she and Damon eloped in Vegas in 2000

'And I could go on to that and blow up the spot but I wouldn't. And I've been very responsible in not talking about what that marriage was and what it meant to me...'

'Because it happened in the past, you can try to sweep it under the rug but you don't stay married to somebody or be with somebody for four to five years and it's just based off of you getting high off of ecstasy, you know?

'That doesn't make any sense at all. So I think that's a very irresponsible thing to say given our children go to the same school and things like that.'

'That's a very irresponsible thing to say': Thomas took issue with Kim's characterization of their wedding now that they both have children going to the same school

Though he took issue with the way she characterized their relationship, he did speak highly of his ex.

'I'm proud of her, I'm proud of her family, I've seen Kris, I've seen Kris at Kenny's wedding. We all speaking, when I saw Kris last we were cool. I've seen her a couple of times,' he said.

Kim claimed she was on the psychoactive drug at the time of their nuptials on a 2018 episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

'I got married on ecstasy.  The first time,' Kim said.

'I'm proud of her': Though he took issue with the way she characterized their relationship, he did speak highly of his ex

'I did ecstasy once and I got married. I did it again, I made a sex tape. Like, everything bad would happen [when I was on drugs],' she also said.

Damon said they decided to elope as Kim was not on speaking terms with her mother Kris Jenner.

'She wasn't talking to her parents at the time,' Thomas said . 'Or her mom at the time, I think.

'I mean, it was just young love,' he added.

Not on speaking terms: Damon said they decided to elope as Kim wasn't speaking with her mother Kris Jenner at the time

Damon, who is 10 years Kim's senior, married the future reality star in 2000.

Their short-lived marriage lasted only three years before he filed for divorce. Kim later claimed the marriage was quite turbulent as he allegedly subjected her to physical abuse.

The KKW Beauty mogul claimed in divorce papers he 'punched' her, to which he has denied.

She also accused him of slamming her against a wall and throwing 'her across the room, leaving her bruised and battered.' Additionally, he reportedly made her quit her job, according to their divorce papers filed at Los Angeles Superior Court back in 2003.

Matters of the heart: Damon, who is 10 years Kim's senior, married the future reality star in 2000; pictured 2009

'It's just absolutely not true,' Damon said of the allegations to InTouch in 2010, according to New York Daily News.

According to Page Six, their marriage lasted from January 2000 to February 2004.

Kim has gone on to remarry since her relationship with Damon ended.

She tied the knot with Kris Humphries in 2011, only to infamously file for divorce 72 days later.

The reality star married Kanye West in 2014, but after more than six years of marriage and four children together, filed for divorce from him in 2021. She was declared legally single earlier this year.
Benedict Cumberbatch is set to house Ukrainian refugees, who he revealed have already fled the war-torn country.

The acclaimed actor is 'monitoring their progress every day' and vowed to 'give them some stability after the turmoil they've experienced.'

Speaking to Sky News while promoting his latest film Dr Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness in London on Tuesday, the 45-year-old gave a promising update.

Kind: Benedict Cumberbatch is set to house Ukrainian refugees, who he revealed have already fled the war-torn country

'They've made it out of Ukraine, I'm monitoring their progress every day.

'Sadly, they are undergoing some medical treatment - to say anything more about that would be invasion of their privacy and too much about when they're coming and how that's being managed would invade mine - but I want to give them some stability after the turmoil that they've experienced, and that's within my home,' he explained.

As well as lodging individuals in need, Benedict has been providing financial support to Ukrainian families - nationals who are UK citizens - preparing to take in their extended families.

Generous: The acclaimed actor, 45, is 'monitoring their progress every day' and vowed to 'give them some stability after the turmoil they've experienced'

Particular praise from Benedict was placed on charity Refugees At Home, which offer wider support for psychological trauma.

The award-winning actor added: 'However gentle and generous and welcoming we are as hosts, we don't have the skills of the mental health professions to necessarily deal with those things.'

Benedict, despite being 'very, very proud' of his native England, has urged people to seek out further help to 'bolster their efforts'.

Dapper: Speaking to Sky News while promoting his latest film Dr Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness in London on Tuesday, the 45-year-old gave a promising update (pictured with co-star Elizabeth Olsen)

Making a change: As well as lodging individuals in need, Benedict has been providing financial support to Ukrainian families - nationals who are UK citizens - preparing to take in their extended families

Last month, Benedict revealed he hoped to take in Ukrainian refugees as he shared his support for the war-torn country at the BAFTA 2022 Film Awards.

The actor took the opportunity to highlight the plight of his 'brothers and sisters who are suffering' in the wake of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking to Sky News on the red carpet of the event at London's Royal Albert Hall, Benedict told how the suffering of millions of people can't be ignored as the war is 'something that hangs over us.'

Pledge: Last month, Benedict revealed he hoped to take in Ukrainian refugees as he shared his support for the war-torn country at the BAFTA 2022 Film Awards.

He explained: 'It is a really shocking time to be a European two and a half hours flight away from Ukraine, and it's something that hangs over us' before going on to note the 'civilians who are being shelled and shot at, and killed and made homeless without power, without water, without food'.

And Benedict, who wore a Ukraine pin on his smart black tuxedo to show his support, continued: 'And while tonight is a celebration and this might look like tokenism, were celebrating the moving image, were celebrating pictures this is what Im trying to do.

'To show Im standing side-by-side with my brothers and sisters who are going through this.

'But we all need, as we know, to do more than wear a badge. We need to donate, we need to pressure our politicians to continue to create some kind of a refugee safety and haven here for people who are suffering.

'I know thats ongoing, I know thats happening but everyone needs to do as much as they can.'
Judi Dench and Ian McKellen paid tribute to veteran actor John Gielgud as a memorial stone was unveiled at Westminster Abbey honouring the star on Tuesday.

The Oscar-award winning British actor and director, who was a master of Shakespearean roles, died aged 96 in May 2000.

A memorial stone honouring his life and work was unveiled by Judi, 87, as she pulled the cover off the incredible tribute.

Incredible: Judi Dench, 87, paid tribute to veteran actor John Gielgud as a memorial stone was unveiled at Westminster Abbey honouring the star on Tuesday

Judi read Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 as a tribute to John at the Abbey's Poets' Corner.

The famous actress looked glamorous wearing a black suit and a silk patterned scarf.

Ian, 82, also paid tribute to to the actor who starred in more than 60 feature films and TV productions.

In memory: The Oscar-winning British actor and director Sir John Gielgud, who was a master of Shakespearean roles, died aged 96 in May 2000 (pictured 1992)

Important: Ian McKellen, 82, also paid tribute to to the actor who starred in more than 60 feature films and TV productions

The actor looked dapper in a black suit, a bright blue shirt and a patterned tie as he read an extract at the unveiling.

Before reading an extract, Ian said: 'All I know of him is a witty tongue and a keen eye, but also a generosity.'

Recalling his first meeting with John, the Lord of the Rings actor added: 'When I die the only reason I'll be remembered is because I'm the first queer actor to be knighted.

Smart: The Lord of the Rings actor looked dapper in a black suit, a bright blue shirt and a patterned tie as he read an extract at the unveiling

Unveiling: The Oscar-award winning British actor and director, who was a master of Shakespearean roles, died aged 96 in May 2000

'Isn't that sad. He was a victim of cruel laws.'

English film and theatre director Richard Eyre described John's acting as 'casting a spell that's lasted a lifetime'.

Reflecting on the stars career, which spanned seven decades, Richard, 79, said: 'It seems odd to say it now, but he convinced West End audiences of the joys of Shakespeare.

The service: Judi read Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 as a tribute to Sir John at the Abbey's Poets' Corner

Unveiling: A memorial stone honouring his life and work was unveiled by Judi who looked glamorous wearing a black suit and a silk patterned scarf.

'He consistently took risks and accepted challenges.'

English playwright and director David Hare also paid tribute to Sir John, saying: 'John Gielgud was loved by audiences as much for his character, for who he was, as for his brilliant acting.'

Sir John won the best supporting actor Academy Award in 1982 for playing Dudley Moore's valet in Arthur.

Sir John was knighted in 1953 and was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1996.

Memories: English film and theatre director Sir Richard Eyre described Sir John's acting as 'casting a spell that's lasted a lifetime'
Amanda Seyfried and her husband Thomas Sadoski were seen chatting with director Kornel Mundruczo on the Manhattan set of Apple TV+ anthology series The Crowded Room on Tuesday.

It's unclear what role the 45-year-old Tony nominee was cast in, but he was wearing a seventies-era leather jacket and blue jeans as his costume.

Thomas leaned in close to the 36-year-old Oscar nominee to whisper something in her ear before shooting a street scene.

Collaboration: Amanda Seyfried (M) and her husband Thomas Sadoski (R) were seen chatting with director Kornel Mundruczo (L) on the Manhattan set of Apple TV+ anthology series The Crowded Room on Tuesday

Amanda portrays Rya - a clinical psychologist 'facing the most challenging case of her career' - in Akiva Goldsman's 10-episode drama about 'The Campus Rapist' Billy Milligan.

Seyfried resembled a seventies-era professional woman in a brown tweed blazer over a white scoop-neck top, dark brown pleated polyester pants, and matching high-heeled boots.

The Dropout producer-star wore her long natural blonde locks in a partial updo fastened with a barrette, and she kept her make-up minimal.

Production began March 31 on The Crowded Room, which is based on Daniel Keyes' 1981 novel The Minds of Billy Milligan.

Unannounced part: It's unclear what role the 45-year-old Tony nominee was cast in, but he was wearing a seventies-era leather jacket and blue jeans as his costume

Intimate: Thomas leaned in close to the 36-year-old Oscar nominee to whisper something in her ear before shooting a street scene

Strut: Amanda portrays Rya  a clinical psychologist 'facing the most challenging case of her career'  in Akiva Goldsman's 10-episode drama about 'The Campus Rapist' Billy Milligan

Action! Seyfried resembled a seventies-era professional woman in a brown tweed blazer over a white scoop-neck top, dark brown pleated polyester pants, and matching high-heeled boots

Big blue eyes! The Dropout producer-star wore her long natural blonde locks in a partial updo fastened with a barrette, and she kept her make-up minimal

The true-crime show also stars Tom Holland, Emmy Rossum, Sasha Lane, Christopher Abbott, and Emma Laird.

And while New York City normally has large piles of garbage littered on the sidewalks, the crew added even more trash to make the setting look more authentically 1970s.

This is not the first time the married couple of five years  who brought their dog Finny to the set  have worked together.

Real-life story: Production began March 31 on The Crowded Room, which is based on Daniel Keyes' 1981 novel The Minds of Billy Milligan

Ensemble: The true-crime show also stars Tom Holland, Emmy Rossum, Sasha Lane, Christopher Abbott, and Emma Laird

Trashy: And while New York City normally has large piles of garbage littered on the sidewalks, the crew added even more trash to make the setting look more authentically 1970s

Woof! This is not the first time the married couple of five years  who brought their dog Finny to the set  have worked together

Amanda executive produced and co-starred with Thomas in Eli Powers' horror short Skin & Bone, which will screen June 11 and 14 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

In it, Seyfried plays a reclusive farmer who hires a drifter (Sadoski) 'suffering from visions of men trapped inside the bodies of animals.'

The Tommy actor was married to Kimberly Hope and the Mean Girls alum was dating Justin Long when they met in 2015 while performing in Neil LaBute's The Way We Get By at the Second Stage Theater.

Coming soon! Amanda executive produced and co-starred with Thomas in Eli Powers' horror short Skin & Bone, which will screen June 11 and 14 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York

Creepy: In it, Seyfried plays a reclusive farmer who hires a drifter (Sadoski) 'suffering from visions of men trapped inside the bodies of animals'

'Five f***ing years!' Sadoski was married to Kimberly Hope and Seyfried was dating Justin Long when they met in 2015 while performing in Neil LaBute's The Way We Get By at the Second Stage Theater

Easter portraits: The Tommy actor and the Mean Girls alum  who own homes in the Catskills and the Upper West Side  are proud parents of five-year-old daughter Nina (L) and a 19-month-old son (R, rumored to be named Thomas Jr.)

Thomas and Amanda  who own homes in the Catskills and the Upper West Side  are proud parents of five-year-old daughter Nina and a 19-month-old son (rumored to be named Thomas Jr.).

Seyfried will next be honored at Variety's 2022 Power of Women event happening May 5 at The Glasshouse in Manhattan's Hells Kitchen neighborhood.

The A Mouthful of Air actress will also appear on the May 4 cover of the Power of Women issue along with Venus Williams, Drew Barrymore, Queen Latifah, Camila Cabello, and Kim Cattrall.

Cover girls! Amanda will next be honored at Variety's 2022 Power of Women event happening May 5 at The Glasshouse in Manhattan's Hells Kitchen neighborhood

Stacked group: The A Mouthful of Air actress will also appear on the May 4 cover of the Power of Women issue along with Venus Williams, Drew Barrymore, Queen Latifah, Camila Cabello, and Kim Cattrall

Cute: Amanda was spotted on set in her costume a she went for a walk with her dog and her husband

On point: Thomas paired his cool leather jacket with a white patterned shirt and a matching brown tie

Accessorized: She kept her pale pink mask hand and carried around a white patterned tote bag that didn't appear to be part of her costume
90 Day Fiance star Anny Francisco shared what appeared to be the final photos of her late son Adriel Hassan on Tuesday.

The 32-year-old reality star posted images to Instagram of her seven-month-old child as he lay down in a hospital bed while he had a feeding tube inserted in his nose.

Francisco, who shared her son with her husband Robert Springs, hasn't yet disclosed her late son's cause of death, though she noted in her caption that the last photos were taken shortly before he went into 'surgery.'

Saying goodbye: Anny Francisco of 90 Day Fiance fame shared what appeared to be the final photos taken of her late son Adriel on Tuesday, just days after announcing he had died at seven months old

The somber photos showed little Adriel alternately under the covers in a hospital bed while holding on to a yellow stuffed duck and a green pacifier and sitting in a baby carrier.

In addition to the feeding tube, he appeared to have other wires attached to a white patch wrapped around one of his legs.

The little boy gazed up intently at whoever was taking the photos, and he wore a cute blue shirt decorated with dogs wearing nurse uniforms and scrubs.

Another touching image featured Adriel in extreme closeup as his mother rested her cheek on his head and held a pacifier to his mouth.

Last glimpse: The somber photos showed little Adriel alternately under the covers in a hospital bed while holding on to a yellow stuffed duck and a green pacifier and sitting in a baby carrier

In hospital: In addition to the feeding tube, he appeared to have other wires attached to a white patch wrapped around one of his legs

Sweet: The little boy gazed up intently at whoever was taking the photos, and he wore a cute blue shirt decorated with dogs wearing nurse uniforms and scrubs

'This was the late pic an hour before my son's surgery,' Francisco captioned her post in Spanish. 'Life is unfair I just wanted my kids [broken heart emojis].'

She didn't delve further into the surgical outcome.

Previously, the reality fixture wrote that her son's 'heart couldn't take it' in an Instagram post from last week that announced his death.

In the comments, Francisco received an outpouring of condolences and support from other 90 Day Fiance stars.

Together: Another touching image featured Adriel in extreme closeup as his mother rested her cheek on his head and held a pacifier to his mouth

Tragic: 'This was the late pic an hour before my son's surgery,' wrote Francisco, who shared Adriel with husband Robert Springs (pictured). 'Life is unfair I just wanted my kids [broken heart emojis]'

'Sometimes we dont understand Gods decisions, but I know he will comfort your heart,' wrote Larissa Santos Lima in Spanish.

'No mother deserves to go through this, may God comfort her heart,' added Juliana Custodio in Spanish.

'Beautiful Little Angel. Hugs and a lot of strength for you ,' commented Armando Niedermeier-Rubio, also in Spanish.

Francisco took to Instagram on Thursday to share an image of a black ribbon with a caption which read: 'Today is one of the worst days of my life, my son Adriel spring died, I am devastated and my family... life is so hard and difficult.

'I never thought I would lose my son.'

Devastating: Francisco and Springs announced the somber news on April 21; they are seen in August 2021 just a month before their son's birth

Heartbroken: 'I never thought I would lose my son,' Francisco wrote as Adriel is pictured days after his birth in September

The child's cause of death was not revealed in the post but the reality star wrote: 'He was a fighter... his heart couldn't take it... my heart is broken it's a big pain...so difficult.'

Adriel was born on September 7, 2021 at 9 pounds 3 ounces and 21 inches.

Days after welcoming the baby boy, Francisco had posted a gallery of photos featuring the youngster as she wrote: 'I present to you my prince Adriel Hassan born on 9/7/2021 of 9 pounds 3 ounces and 21 inches, I thank God that he took care of me and everything went well.'

Terrible news: Francisco took to Instagram on Thursday to share an image of a black ribbon with a caption which read: 'Today is one of the worst days of my life, my son Adriel spring died, I am devastated and my family... life is so hard and difficult'

Details: The child's cause of death was not revealed in the post but the reality star wrote: 'He was a fighter... his heart couldn't take it... my heart is broken it's a big pain...so difficult'

Arrived: Adriel was born on September 7, 2021 at 9 pounds 3 ounces and 21 inches

Previous: Days after welcoming the baby , Francisco posted a gallery of photos featuring the youngster as she wrote: 'I present to you my prince Adriel Hassan born on 9/7/2021 of 9 pounds 3 ounces and 21 inches, I thank God that he took care of me and everything went well'

Sweet: Francisco shared a photo of herself kissing the newborn

Back in November 2021, Francisco and Springs posted a video of their newborn son in the hospital and days later Springs had revealed Adriel was 'on his way home.'

Several fellow stars from the 90 Day Fiance franchise of reality series took to the comment section to express their condolences on Francisco's post from Thursday.

Fellow Pillow Talk costar Loren Brovarnik wrote: 'Our hearts are broken for you! We cannot imagine what you are going through, but as always, we are here for you!'

Joyous moment: Back in November 2021, Francisco and Springs posted a video of their newborn son in the hospital and days later Springs had revealed Adriel was 'on his way home'

Family: Francisco and Springs have a 20-month-old daughter named Brenda Aaliyah together as Springs also has five children from previous relationships including seven-year-old son Bryson who has appeared on the show, the four are seen together in September 2021

Debbie Johnson  who is the mother of Colt Johnson  also sent her thoughts and prayers as she said: 'Words can not express the sadness that I feel for you guys and your family. Im absolutely devastated.

'If I can do anything please let me know. Just remember that you guys need to be there for each other. This is just so very sad. My love and prayers are with you. [tear and prayer hands emojis]'

Fellow Pillow Talk star David Toborowsky  who is married to Annie Suwan Toborowsky  wrote: 'Annie and are so so sorry for you and Robert. Sending our prayers and love and know we are a [phone emoji] away .. We love you guys [two prayer hands, two sighing while tearing up, and sparkle heart emojis]'

'Our hearts are broken for you': Several fellow stars from the 90 Day Fiance franchise of reality series took to the comment section to express their condolences

Francisco and Springs also have a 20-month-old daughter named Brenda Aaliyah together.

Springs also has five children from previous relationships including seven-year-old son Bryson who has appeared on the show.

Francisco and Springs were featured on season 7 of 90 Day Fiance as they wed in September 2019.

The two are also heavily featured in the franchise's spin-off shows including the aforementioned Pillow Talk and What Now?

Bond: Francisco and Springs were featured on season 7 of 90 Day Fiance

Sweet: They wed in September 2019 and the ceremony was featured on the show
Kim Kardashian treated fans to a slideshow of snapshots taken during the red carpet premiere of her family's new Hulu series The Kardashians earlier this month.

The 41-year-old reality star included two images featuring her boyfriend Pete Davidson, who was her plus one at the star-studded soiree in Los Angeles.

Kim was captured exiting what appeared to be her custom Maybach while Pete held the door open for her.

Memory lane: Kim Kardashian treated fans to a slideshow of snapshots taken during the red carpet premiere of her family's new Hulu series The Kardashians earlier this month

Another Instagram shot showed the couple, who began dating in November of last year, braving a sea of photographers and attendees with their hands tightly interlocked.

She was simultaneously having her makeup touched up by her longtime makeup artist Mario, while Pete shared a brief exchange with Kim's brother-in-law Scott Disick, 38.

For the premiere, Kim slipped her impossible curves in a skintight silver latex gown by late fashion designer Manfred Mugler.

She revealed in Tuesday's caption that the dress was designed just for her before Mugler's passing at the age of 73 in January 2022.

'I felt so honored to wear a special dress to the special night! Manfred Mugler made this dress for me last year before he passed away and I just felt the magic in him when I wore it!' the mother-of-four wrote.

She included a mirror selfie that showcased the gown in all its glory, as well as her matching wrist cuffs and choker necklace.

Plus one: The 41-year-old included two images featuring her boyfriend Pete Davidson, who was her plus one at the star-studded soiree in Los Angeles

Gentleman: Kim was captured exiting what appeared to be her custom Maybach while Pete held the door open for her

Kim slipped her feet into a pair of transparent platform heels and swept her hair up into a bun for the evening.

As for Pete, the SNL funnyman - who notably skipped the red carpet - rocked a black blazer over a plain white tee and a pair of black slacks.

He had a pair of shades over his eyes and looked more than happy to let his girlfriend dominate the spotlight.

Kim also included an image of herself that was captured just seconds before she stepped onto the red carpet. Photographers were lined up along the carpet, while hoards of flowers made up the photo op's backdrop.

Custom creation: For the premiere, Kim slipped her impossible curves in a skintight silver latex gown by late fashion designer Manfred Mugler. She revealed her Tuesday's caption that the dress was designed just for her before Mugler's passing at the age of 73 in January 2022

POV: Kim also included an image of herself that was captured just seconds before she stepped onto the red carpet. Photographers were lined up along the carpet, while hoards of flowers made up the photo op's backdrop

Heading home: Last but not least, the SKIMS founder was captured flashing a peace sign as she slid into the passenger's seat of her luxury vehicle as the premiere came to a close

Kim posed up a storm with her hands resting on her curvaceous hips and a huge smile on her face.

Last but not least, the SKIMS founder was captured flashing a peace sign as she slid into the passenger's seat of her luxury vehicle as the premiere came to a close.

While reflecting on the 'special night,' Kim also made sure to express gratitude for the positive reception her family's new reality series has received.

'THE KARDASHIANS PREMIERE!' she began. 'We premiered two weeks ago and I'm blown away that we had the highest premiere in HULU History!

'Beyond grateful when we heard that news!!' the influencer concluded.

Smitten: Kim previously shared private snaps of herself and Pete from the The Kardashians premiere in a loved-up slideshow uploaded on April 11

So sweet! She captioned the post 'late night snack' since the photos showed the pair looking cozy as they dined in a booth at one of LA's celeb-loved eateries. Kim and Pete couldn't keep their hands off of one another in the shots, one of which showed the comedian nuzzling up to the reality star's cheek

Kim previously shared private snaps of herself and Pete from the The Kardashians premiere in a loved-up slideshow uploaded on April 11.

She captioned the post 'late night snack' since the photos showed the pair looking cozy as they dined in a booth at one of LA's celeb-loved eateries.

Kim and Pete couldn't keep their hands off of one another in the shots, one of which showed the comedian nuzzling up to the reality star's cheek.

The Kardashians, which also features Kim's sisters Kourtney Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner, and their mother Kris Jenner, made its Hulu debut on Thursday, April 14.

They're back: The Kardashians, which also features Kim's sisters Kourtney Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner, and their mother Kris Jenner, made its Hulu debut on Thursday, April 14

The new series comes less than a year after the Kardashian-Jenner clan ended their long-running reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

KUWTK, which catapulted the family into superstardom back in 2007, aired on E! for 14-years and 20 seasons. The series came to close in June 2021 following a two-part reunion special hosted by Andy Cohen.

Though Kim's relationship with Pete has dominated headlines for months, the comedian will not be appearing on the new show's first season, according to TMZ.

The lovebirds recently enjoyed a trip to Orlando, Florida over the weekend, where they reportedly spent three hours at the Ripley's Believe It or Not! office.

Not this go around: Though Kim's relationship with Pete has dominated headlines for months, the comedian will not be appearing on the new show's first season, according to TMZ; the couple pictured in March

Kim, who looked fabulous in a knotted white tank top which accentuated her tiny waist, was seen leading her boyfriend outside and into their car once their meeting wrapped.

The duo's Saturday sighting came several days before it was reported they would be attending the upcoming 2022 White House Correspondents Dinner.

Comedian Noah, 38, is hosting the event, and may be writing some new joke material for the expected roast with news that Kim and SNL star Pete will be sitting in the audience, PageSix reports.

It will be the first time in five years that a sitting president has attended the bash, after Donald Trump was a no-show throughout his time in office.

RSVP'd! It was recently reported they would be attending the upcoming 2022 White House Correspondents Dinner. Comedian Noah, 38, is hosting the event, and may be writing some new joke material for the expected roast with news that Kim and SNL star Pete will be sitting in the audience, PageSix reports; the couple pictured in October on Saturday Night Live

In attendance: Kim and Pete made a rare public appearance as they attended the 23rd annual Mark Twain Prize For American Humor on Sunday night (pictured)

The dinner was also canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to coronavirus.

'I don't think they should feel that they're safe,' a source told the outlet. 'Trevor could definitely turn his attention to Kim and Pete.'

Kim and Pete made a rare public appearance as they attended the 23rd annual Mark Twain Prize For American Humor on Sunday night.

The pair applauded for comedian Jon Stewart as he received the Mark Twain Prize for lifetime achievement in humor.

Pete and Kim began dating in late October after getting to know one another during the KUWTK star's first-ever Saturday Night Live hosting gig that same month.

Opening up: In recent months, Kim has begun opening up about her relationship with Pete, including confessing to Ellen DeGeneres that he's gotten her name branded on his chest; Kim pictured with Ellen on April 13

Meeting the kids: She's since introduced Pete to the four children she shares with ex-husband Kanye West; Kim pictured with (L-R) Chicago, Saint, North and Psalm West on April 17

Kim's since confirmed her romance with the SNL funnyman and even made things 'Instagram official' with a loved-up post shared with her 298million followers last month.

In recent months, Kim has begun opening up about her relationship with Pete, including confessing to Ellen DeGeneres that he's gotten her name branded on his chest.

Pete also has 'my girl is a lawyer' inked on, which is direct nod to Kim's years-long pursuit to become a lawyer like her late father Robert Kardashian.

She's since introduced Pete to the four children she shares with ex-husband Kanye West. Kim filed for divorce from Kanye in February 2021 after nearly seven-years of marriage.

She was declared legally single last month.
Seems like the China cut isn't the only 'cut' to bother movies. Saudi Arabia has asked Disney to cut out 12 seconds of showtime from its upcoming movie, Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness.

Why?

Because the movie shows a lesbian character, America Chavez, potrayed by Xochitl Gomez, refer to her "two moms". Disney has declined to go forward with Saudi Arabia's request.

While The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the rumours of a ban on the movie, Saudi Arabias general supervisor of cinema classification, Nawaf Alsabhan told Agence France-Presse that the movie will never be banned.

Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness. Photo: Instagram/Marvel

Alsabhan clarified, "It's never banned. It will never be banned. There's no reason to ban the film. It's a simple edit... so far they have refused. But we haven't closed the door. We're still trying."

Alsabhan also explained to AFP why Saudi Arabia wanted those 12 seconds cut. "It's just her talking about her moms, because she has two moms. And being in the Middle East, it's very tough to pass something like this," said the supervisor.

The reason for Saudi Arabia's request to cut showtime is because homosexuality is illegal in Gulf countries and is classified under capital punishment.

It is not confirmed whether the 12-second-cut includes any mention of America Chavez's sexuality, as she is known to be gay in the Doctor Strange comic books.

The movie has been banned in Egypt for the same reasons as Saudi Arabia's demand. IMAX Egypt tweeted, "Doctor Strange and Wanda will not be here during their journey between universes! #DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness won't be released in Egypt."

Doctor Strange and Wanda will not be here during their journey between universes!#DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness won't be released in Egypt pic.twitter.com/Nqox2vGf5g  IMAX Egypt (@IMAXegypt) April 23, 2022

Qatar has also banned the release of Multiverse of Madness in the country, over the same 12 seconds of LGBTQIA+ representation.

Scheduled to release on May 6 in India, Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness is the second installment of Marvel Cinematic Universe's Dr Strange series. The movie features Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer.

Check out the official trailer here:

The movie was introduced in one of the end credit scenes in Spider Man: No Way Home, and continues to follow events from the same timeline.

Directed by Sam Raimi, Multiverse of Madness is expected to focus on the after-effects of Doctor Strange casting a forbidden spell, which opened up the multiverse in Spider Man: No Way Home.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Marvel Entertainment (@marvel)

But Multiverse of Madness isn't the only MCU movie that could be banned in the Gulf region. Chinese director and Oscar winner Chloe Zhao's Eternals also faced the Gulf ban for its potrayal of a gay couple; Phastos and his partner.

At the time of the release of Eternals, Saudi Arabia had requested Disney to cut out scenes of Phastos and his partner from the running time but Disney did not comply, resulting in the movie's ban.
From left, Ulsan Mayor Song Chul-ho, the presidential transition committee's regional balanced development committee head Kim Byeong-joon, Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon and the South Gyeongsang Province governor's representative Ha Byeong-pil pose during a discussion about the three local governments' special self-governing body at the presidential transition committee's office in Seoul's Jongno District, April 19. Joint Press Corps.



Busan, Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province team up for megacity project



By Ko Dong-hwan



Some of the biggest provincial universities in Korea have been seeing ominous signs recently. After this year's enrollment registration closed, the schools saw that the total number of new students fell short of their maximum enrollement caps. Not only does that mean less tuition fees but less investment being made in the schools. When the top universities in larger regions are facing such crises, there's no doubt other smaller and less popular local universities face an even worse situation.



The shrinking number of students points to a chronic imbalance in development and infrastructure between the capital region (including Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province) and the other regions in the country. It is an ongoing issue despite multiple national efforts in past administrations to resolve it.



President Moon Jae-in mentioned the problem in an April 25 press conference.



"Because the capital region is all interconnected by well-laid public transportation, it has attracted money and people and achieved a robust economy and competitiveness which local regions cannot possibly compete with."



And so there is much hope that the new megacity project, announced last week, can address growing concerns among the residents of the included southern regions and avert difficulties that could lie ahead if such imbalances continue to grow.



Under the project, two major southern cities  Busan and Ulsan  have teamed up with South Gyeongsang Province to launch a new "special coalition self-governing body," better known in the media by its acronym, "Bu-Ul-Gyeong."



"Bu-Ul-Gyeong special coalition is the country's first self-governing body starting from Oct. 14 last year when the central government announced its strategic plan to support combined authorities in greater metropolitan areas across the country," the interior ministry said.







The interior ministry expects the Bu-Ul-Gyeong special self-governing body will introduce new networks of public transportation and roadways between cities and share each local government's region-specific industries to boost the unified region's industrial competitiveness as a whole. The three local governments are also expected to stabilize the nurturing of local human resources and build a stable job market in the region.



"It's a unitary autonomy that will run parallel with the capital region in terms of satisfying local residents' economic interests and other daily-life needs," the interior ministry said. "It's the country's first model that will be led by a local entity and supported by the central government."



On April 19, the heads of the three local governments, two ministers (interior and safety, land, infrastructure and transportation) and Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU stated the three local governments are to share authority under the new coalition body and cooperate to develop the now-unionized region across regional borders.



In March 2020, the three local governments started working on establishing an exclusive megacity for the country's southeastern region. A special taskforce comprising the region's governors and council chairmen was launched in July 2021 to push forward with administrative and financial factors for the initiative.



Prior to launching the Bu-Ul-Gyeong self-governing body, the interior ministry agreed to transfer control over part of the land ministry's state affairs to the new coalition body for the sake of improved efficiency in state affairs including planning public transportation networks connecting metropolitan regions nationwide as well as logistics-and-warehouse depots serving at least two cities or provinces.





The new self-governing body will also carry out 30 short-term projects and 40 long-term projects, each of which is aimed at strategically decentralizing the capital region in terms of industry, human resources and population density.



The interior ministry said the Bu-Ul-Gyeong coalition body will grow into a megacity with global competitiveness in future cars, aircraft and eco-friendly ships, and is expected to introduce a self-reliant system to nurture and employ local workers as well as develop networks of express transit routes covering greater metropolitan regions across the country.



The Bu-Ul-Gyeong self-governing body, after regulations supporting its operation as well as governing organizations and their offices are completed, is scheduled to officially commence its first administrative day on Jan. 1, 2023.





President Moon Jae-in, right, presides over a Cabinet meeting on April 19 when the launch of the southern megacity project was approved. Yonhap



Upgrading local education, relocating gov't organizations essential



To sustain the nascent unified entity and its ambitious goals, experts have put forward various proposals. One of them was upgrading local universities in Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang so that they can secure a highly educated workforce and utilize those employed to compete against the expansive talent pools and industrial assets concentrated in the capital region.



According to Han Sae-eok, a professor of public administration at Dong-A University in Busan, major universities in the Bu-Ul-Gyeong region are in desperate need of self-innovation lest they face mass shutdowns.



"Pusan National University, Kyungpook National University and Chonnam National University (which are some of the country's largest provincial universities) have seen their recent enrollment pools not reaching full student capacities," Han told The Korea Times



Han said the schools should start cooperating so that they do not offer the same programs as each other to boost competitiveness. "The schools should become more like research institutes so that they can adapt to the global trends that are now hinging on decentralization and globalization."



Kang Jae-ho, a professor of administrative studies at Pusan National University in Busan, agreed that if the central government strengthens policies and invests more state budget in order to improve major local universities, it will "deconcentrate" the capital region's high-level educational functions across the country.



"But boosting local universities is merely a measure for 'deconcentration' of the capital region," Kang said. "What the Bu-Ul-Gyeong is trying to enact is 'decentralization,' bringing over part of the central government's state agenda to a local governing body. So this is like the hunter who chases two rabbits at once and catches neither."



Kang also argued that relocating some of the country's public offices to the Bu-Ul-Gyeong region will improve the region's self-reliance and help create more jobs for the local workforce.



Han added that the relocation should be accompanied by the public organizations' efforts to faithfully employ local workers according to the rule of law. "The central government had promised a certain portion of local workers will be guaranteed jobs by public organizations but the authority ignored laws and neglected fully honoring those promises," Han said. "Local governments, companies and universities must cooperate to nurture a workforce for the particular demands of companies, as well as to encourage innovation in the region and develop its industries."



Han also emphasized that the Bu-Ul-Gyeong region should come up with region-specific industries with which they can outperform the capital region. Each of the three local governments, according to the professor, should stop going its own way and start forming a greater metropolitan platform to jointly dismantle the power concentrated in the capital region. He said it resonates with a continuing global trend that brings together metropolitan regions in each country to a greater extent.



"The Bu-Ul-Gyeong region's main industries, from vehicles to shipbuilding, petrochemical and mechanical engineering, used to lead the country's economy but not anymore," Han said. "They must come up with new industries that are free from the central government's policies and can exclusively feed the local economy  something that the capital region hasn't laid its hands on."



Han mentioned the local industry's energy transition to hydrogen as an example. Ulsan has already demonstrated feasibility in using hydrogen to generate power for vehicles and households through various projects, according to the professor. "The three local governments should share these technologies and mutually transition to hydrogen, developing new industries and raising competitiveness for existing industries," Han said.





Seen above is a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle in a parking lot in Ulsan. The southeastern coastal city is Korea's leading hydrogen economy city, with the city government having invested in distributing hydrogen vehicles to local residents and developing fuel cell batteries. Korea Times file
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Gyeonggi governor, Kim Dong-yeon, speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday. Joint Press Corps



By Nam Hyun-woo



The Gyeonggi governor election has become a proxy battle between President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition (PPP) and his former rival Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), as the parties field candidates seen as representing the two politicians.



During the DPK's primary on Monday to select its candidate for the Gyeonggi Province governor election on June 1, former Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dong-yeon clinched 50.47 percent of the support, outpacing Rep. An Min-suk and other contenders.



"Candidate Kim will realize the DPK's tradition of one-team spirit and join efforts with other contenders to win the Gyeonggi Province gubernatorial election," Kim's camp said in a statement.



Kim served as deputy prime minister and economy minister from 2017 to 2018 and ran in the presidential election earlier this year.



He initially ran in the election as an independent candidate, but withdrew his campaign to support Lee. During this process, Kim and Lee agreed on Kim's ideas for political reforms that entail constitutional amendments.



As Kim, a political rookie, is leading in the primary despite having almost no support base in the DPK, pundits said Lee's influence appears to have been affected.



Lee is now serving as a standing supervisor of the party, taking a step back from the political frontline after the election loss. However, the former Gyeonggi governor is still exercising indirect influence over various matters in the party, with rumors growing that he is endorsing Kim as the Gyeonggi governor candidate.





The People Power Party's candidate for Gyeonggi governor, Kim Eun-hye, listens to other participants during a meeting in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Yonhap
Education minister Sabitha Indrareddy along with TS Council for Higher Education Chairman R. Limbadri, and Vice Chancellor Venkata Ramana, OU VC Prof D. Ravinder and Koti Women's College principal Vidyutha. (DC)

Hyderabad: A Telangana Womens University (Mahlia Vishwavidyalayam)  the first for women in the state  is being set up by the state education minister Sabitha Indrareddy said this is to ensure that women are at the forefront of higher education.

She thanked Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao for facilitating this. The CM held a meeting with higher education department officials at his office here on Monday.

Vice Chancellor of Osmania University, Professor D. Ravinder, was asked to transform the Koti Womens College into the Women's University. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been allotted for related works this financial year.

She also directed the higher education authorities to introduce new courses, the quality of which should match with international standards.

Professor R. Limbadri, chairman of the R. Limbadri, would formulate policies vis-a-vis requirements and appointments in the new university.

The aim is to provide teaching and other facilities for students and infrastructure as soon as possible.
An auto driver and resident of Amberpet, he was earlier involved in 11 vehicle theft cases and had been arrested, DCP, North Zone, Chandana Deepti said. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: The Gopalapuram police on Monday arrested a habitual vehicle thief and recovered two stolen bikes from him. Pinnoji Jagadish was moving in a suspicious manner near Reliance Digital shop on SD Road.

He was taken into custody. During interrogation, he confessed to the theft of two bikes.

An auto driver and resident of Amberpet, he was earlier involved in 11 vehicle theft cases and had been arrested, DCP, North Zone, Chandana Deepti said. This apart, a thief moving suspiciously near Secunderabad railway station was detained by Gopalpuram police.

A gold chain and two bangles, together weighing 100 grams and worth Rs 2,00,000 were recovered from him. The accused, Maskani Vinith, too was an auto driver and a native of Mahabubnagar.

On April 14, he had stolen a bag of Dr Neelama who travelled by the auto. The gold seized was worth Rs 2 lakh,'' police said.
Last month, proposals were invited from reputed and experienced firms for carrying out pre-feasibility study for the proposed semi-high speed rail connectivity in the two corridors. (Representational Image/ PTI)

Hyderabad: Despite the hype, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authoritys (HMDA) is finding no takers for the ambitious semi-high speed rail connectivity to Warangal and to Vijayawada.

According to officials so far no one has participated in the bidding process. That apart, officials also informed that the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (HUMTA), a wing of HMDA, did not make any effort to call tenders for improving public transportation.

The UMTA had prepared a comprehensive transport report (CTR) that has been prepared by Delhi-based LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd. at a cost of Rs 15.24 crore a decade ago.

According to the CTR, metro rail should run for a 417-km stretch in the Hyderabad metropolitan area, which includes the existing project, a bus rapid transport system for 438 km and extending the multimodal transport system (MMTS) to 438 km, which includes 47 km of the existing service.

The UMTA has to conduct a feasibility study for the Rs 84,520 crore for the pending metro rail project, Rs 6,415 crore for the BRTS project, Rs 39,620 crore connecting highways passing through the city, Rs 4,750 crore for bus transport, Rs 3,390 crore for bus terminals and Rs 11,390 crore for traffic management.

Last month, proposals were invited from reputed and experienced firms for carrying out pre-feasibility study for the proposed semi-high speed rail connectivity in the two corridors.

The project would provide fast, safe and comfortable commuter systems at a reasonable fare for intra-regional movement of passengers. The two corridors have been proposed as the movement of passengers is high on these two corridors.

The semi-high speed rail is different from conventional railway as it will provide reliable, high frequency, point-to-point regional travel along a dedicated pathway. The objective of this system is to reduce dependence of commuters on road transportation. However, officials said that none have participated in the bidding process so far for the pre-feasibility test.
Several colonies in Old Alwal, where ground water levels have plunged, are in dire need of regular water supply. (DC)

Hyderabad: Water shortage troubles are spreading to more and more colonies in the city. Residents complain that despite several pleas, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) officials are citing technical and operational reasons for the delays.

Water supply problems are happening every alternate week in many areas while the supply timings are not maintained in under-served areas.

Several colonies in Old Alwal, where ground water levels have plunged, are in dire need of regular water supply.

Srinivas Munagapati, general secretary of Om Sri Sai Nagar Colony, said that the locals have been facing hardships for over a month now. It worsened last week. We are getting water once every three days and at low pressure for just 45 minutes.

Same is the case in Surya Nagar in the area, where the supply is inadequate while the groundwater is next to nothing.

We will inspect the area and try to resolve the issue immediately. Of late, there have been operational difficulties due to leakage of water in the area, explained G. Ramesh, manager, operations and maintenance, HMWS&SB, Old Alwal.

Similar problems prevail in Ganga Nagar in Jiyaguda, Zeba Bagh in Asif Nagar, and Deluxe Colony at Tolichowki.

There has been no water supply for four days and even the timings are not regular. We are forced to wait the entire night for water, complained K. Raghuvardhan of Jiyaguda. Even water tankers are taking two to five days to arrive despite the emergency.


By Lee Hyo-jin



The Working Group on Bribery (WGB) under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has expressed concerns over a controversial prosecutorial reform bill here which seeks to reduce the prosecution's investigative powers.



National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug proposed a compromised version of the prosecutorial reform bill, which if bill passed, WGB chair Drago Kos was quoted as saying on April 22 that it is likely that laws stipulating the prosecution's investigative power on all crimes, including corruption, will be removed.





The OECD logo is seen in this October file photo. AFP-Yonhap



The prosecutorial reform bill aims to stop prosecutors from investigating crimes in six major categories: corruption, economic affairs, public officials, elections, the defense industry and large-scale incidents with mass casualties.






Prof Murugeshi remarked that this could perhaps be the first rock engraving of the megalithic period found from Dakshina Kannada. (Photo by arrangement)

Mangaluru: A team led by MSRS College History and Archaeology department Head Prof T Murugeshi has discovered a unique Megalithic burial site, dating back to 800 BC at a cashew plantation in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.

Based on the information provided by the villagers, the team visited Pandavara Guhe, (Cave of Pandavas) at Aturu-Kundaje government cashew plantation near Ramakunja of Kadaba taluk . To their surprise they found a unique type of rock cut cave- a Megalithic burial- at the place.

Normally the rock cut caves of the Megalithic era are 2.5 or 3 feet long with openings in the centre and about a meter deep it is hemispherical in shape. But here, there is no central opening but a huge circle engraving. The circle is about 7 feet in diameter on the laterite surface. What is more interesting is that exactly below, there is a cave with the same measurement. On the side, there is an opening of about 2 feet in height, Prof Murugeshi told Deccan Chronicle.

Usually, Megalithic burial sites are marked by stone circles, menhirs and stone carnes. But for the first time a sepulchral is marked by a circle, he said.

Prof Murugeshi remarked that this could perhaps be the first rock engraving of the megalithic period found from Dakshina Kannada.

According to Prof Murugeshi, the burial site dates back to 800 BC- 500 BC.

Members of the excavation team entered the cave to get a clear picture of the structure inside.

"About 4-5 people can easily sit inside. Interestingly at the centre we noticed an altar- like pit. We did not find any grave goods inside the cave as they might have been taken away long ago," he added.
Hyderabad: Leaders in both the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), and the opposition Congress, heaved a sigh of relief after news was confirmed on Tuesday late afternoon that ace political strategist and consultant Prashant Kishor had declined the Congress offer to join the party and help in its revamp and electoral affairs.

Speaking from between hectic work on the plenary preparations, a senior TRS leader, without wishing to be named said, The last few days have been tense with the news that PK might join the Congress. But once he met KCR at Pragathi Bhavan and spent two days here, and the formal announcement came that I-PAC would work for us, we were relieved. But the BJP had already started a response campaign that we will have an alliance with the Congress. That would have been disastrous for us. We are glad it is all behind us.

Equally if not more exuberant was Telangana state Pradesh Congress Committee president A. Revanth Reddy, who was busy overseeing arrangements for party leader Rahul Gandhis rally in Warangal on May 6, saying, The Congress has won enough elections in its history without a consultant. Our leadership has enough strategic depth to lead us, and our cadre has enough spirit to fight against the autocratic reign of KCR in Telangana and against Narendra Modi in Delhi.

Refuting that it was a setback for the Congress, Revanth Reddy said, Maybe it is a setback for Prashant Kishor. Many people want to join the Congress and we are happy to welcome them but only if they agree to stand for our ideology and accept the leadership.

He is an overrated consultant, who keeps speaking of his wins but what about the defeats? How did he fare for the Congress, which had hired him before, in the Uttar Pradesh polls in 2017? How did he fare in Goa for the TMC recently, asked Revanth Reddy.

Senior Congress leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy said, it is a positive outcome for the Congress that a man who is a consultant and without idealogy and has hobnobbed with many parties, including Narendra Modi and K. Chandrashekar Rao, wont be joining us. It would have been hard for our workers to have trusted him.

While most reports informally point to the eventual breakdown of the talks with the Congress and Kishor being over larger issues like national presidentship of the party to be entrusted to a person outside the Gandhi family and total control over the election campaign, the TRS leader gave a local twist, saying, As long as the Congress told PK that he had to work to defeat Modi in national elections, he was willing to join. The moment the party asked him to help the Congress to defeat KCR garu, he gave up, knowing that the TRS is all set to win over 100 seats.

The BJP, meanwhile, stuck to its narrative. A leader said, Even if PK does not formally join the Congress, he will be managing the election campaign of the TRS-Congress alliance. The two parties have been exposed in front of Telangana people as secret partners, who instead of a political marriage overseen by Kishor, will now be a live-in relationship instead.
Sri Lankan university students march during a protest over the country's worst economic crisis in decades in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 24, 2022. Banner in Sinhalese reads, "lower taxes and prices" (AP/Eranga Jayawardena)

Colombo: More Sri Lankans will slip into poverty this year, the World Bank has warned, as it urged the debt-ridden island nation to undertake urgent policy measures to address the high levels of debt, trim the fiscal deficit, and mitigate the adverse impacts on the poor and vulnerable.

Sri Lanka is currently in the throes of an unprecedented economic turmoil since its independence from Britain in 1948.

The crisis is caused in part by a lack of foreign currency, which has meant that the country cannot afford to pay for imports of staple foods and fuel, leading to acute shortages and very high prices.

Around 11.7 per cent of people in Sri Lanka earn less than USD 3.20 per day, the international poverty line for lower-middle income countries, up from 9.2 per cent in 2019, the Bank said in its Spring Update on the South Asian region.

The other reason for the increase in poverty rates in the country was because the government's Samurdhi programme, which covers around 1.2 million poor families in the country, remained inadequate.

Less than half of the poor were beneficiaries of the Samurdhi, Sri Lanka's social safety net programme, and benefit amounts remain largely inadequate, it said.

Due to the pandemic, the Sri Lankan economy has contracted by 3.6 per cent in 2020, it stated.

The World Bank's April 2022 update of Macro Poverty Outlook for Sri Lanka asserted that the heightened fiscal and external risks as well as the challenging political situation pose significant uncertainty to the economic outlook and the country faces an external financing gap in 2022 and beyond.

Sri Lanka's economic outlook is highly uncertain due to the fiscal and external imbalances. Urgent policy measures are needed to address the high levels of debt and debt service, reduce the fiscal deficit, restore external stability, and mitigate the adverse impacts on the poor and vulnerable, the international development lender said in its twice-a-year regional update.

The necessary adjustments may adversely affect growth and impact poverty initially, but it will correct the significant imbalances, subsequently providing the foundation for stronger and sustainable growth and access to international financial markets, it added.

Last week, the World Bank readied a USD 10 million package to Sri Lanka for the purchase of medicines and other essentials.

Sri Lanka needs at least USD 4 billion to tide over its mounting economic woes, and talks with international institutions such as the World Bank as well as countries like China and Japan for financial assistance have been going on.

Sri Lankan officials led by Finance Minister Ali Sabry were in Washington last week to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

India has agreed to extend an additional USD 500 million credit line to help Sri Lanka import fuel.

India has already agreed to defer USD 1.5 billion in import payments that Sri Lanka needs to make to the Asian Clearing Union.

Last week, the Sri Lankan government said it would temporarily default on USD 35.5 billion in foreign debt as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine made it impossible to make payments to overseas creditors.

Thousands of demonstrators have hit the streets since April 9, clamoring for the removal of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, blaming him for the gross mismanagement of the economy.
Senior Punjab Congress leader Sunil Jakhar and former Union Minister KV Thomas may lose their organisational posts as part of disciplinary action against them for taking positions against the party.

Jakhar was issued notice for his statements against the party line and Thomas for attending a seminar of CPI(M) despite Sonia Gandhi's instructions not to do so.

The five-member disciplinary committee headed by senior leader AK Antony met here on Tuesday and recommended action against the leaders. They have sent their recommendations to party chief Sonia Gandhi for a decision.

Sources said the panel recommended removal of Jakhar and Thomas from all party positions. Thomas is presently a member of the Political Affairs Committee and the member of executive committee of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee. Earlier reports suggested that the panel has recommended suspension of Jakhar for two years.

Congress General Secretary Tariq Anwar, who is also a member of the disciplinary committee said the panel has discussed complaints received from Meghalaya, Punjab and Kerala. "The Committee has taken a unanimous decision which has been sent to the party president for her final approval," he said.

Responding to media reports about his possible suspension, Jakhar said, "I wish the Congress party good luck."

Thomas said he has come to know through the media that the committee has met. "Congress president will take the decision, I will continue to be a Congressman. Let's see what will be the decision," he said.

Jakhar has been making statements against party leaders, especially against former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

The action against Thomas came after he attended a seminar on Centre-State relations organised by the CPI(M) as part of its Party Congress. On the advice of the Kerala unit, Sonia had instructed Thomas, Tharoor and Manishankar Aiyar not to attend it.

While Tharoor and Aiyar did not attend, Thomas went to the seminar, which was also attended by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, and praised Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Congress' Kerala president K Sudhakaran wrote to the central leadership seeking action.

The panel has also recommended suspension of five Congress MLAs in Meghalaya, who were supporting the BJP government there.

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A US commission said Monday that religious freedom has deteriorated "significantly" in India under the Modi government as it again recommended targeted sanctions over abuses.

It was the third straight year that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom asked that India be placed on a list of "countries of particular concern" -- a recommendation that has angered New Delhi and is virtually certain to be dismissed by the State Department.

In an annual report, the panel -- which is appointed to offer recommendations but does not set US policy -- voiced wide concern about South Asia and also backed the State Department's inclusion of Pakistan on the blacklist.

Also Read: Uttar Pradesh govt orders removal of illegal loudspeakers from religious places

In India, the commission pointed to "numerous" attacks on religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, in 2021 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government promoted "its ideological vision of a Hindu state" through policies "hostile to minorities".

"Religious freedom conditions in India significantly worsened," the report said.

It pointed to a "culture of impunity for nationwide campaigns of threats and violence by mobs and vigilante groups" and arrests of journalists and human rights advocates.

The Indian government in previous years has angrily rejected the commission's findings, accusing it of bias.

President Joe Biden, like Donald Trump before him, has sought to increase ties with India, seeing common cause in the face of a rising China.

Biden is expected to meet Modi next month in Tokyo as part of a four-way summit of the "Quad" with Japan and Australia.

The commission also recommended adding Afghanistan to the blacklist following the triumph of the Taliban and relisting Nigeria, which was removed by the Biden administration.

The countries on the State Department's religious freedom blacklist, which can trigger sanctions, are China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

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After drawing flak for not condemning Russias aggression against Ukraine, India on Tuesday turned the table on Europe and the United States, slamming them for ignoring Chinas belligerence in Asia for years and for clinching a deal with the Taliban "by throwing the common people of Afghanistan under the bus".

You spoke about Ukraine. I remember, less than a year ago, what happened in Afghanistan, where an entire civil society was thrown under the bus by the world," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, in response to a question from Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt.

He was apparently referring to the deal the US inked with the Taliban in February 2020 after fighting it for two decades and the consequent withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from Afghanistan, leaving the people of the war-torn country under the regressive rule of the Sunni Islamist militia that returned to power in August 2021.

When the rules-based order was under challenge in Asia (due to aggression by China), the advice we got from Europe is (to) do more trade (with China), added Jaishankar.

Also read: Russia and India in talks to restart coking coal supplies

New Delhi has been alleging that the US, the United Kingdom and the other western nations had for years overlooked growing belligerence of China, not only against India, but also against other nations in the Indo-Pacific region.

His comment came a day after the European Commissions President Ursula Von der Leyen, while delivering the keynote address at the Raisina Dialogue, subtly nudged India to drop its policy of avoiding criticism of Russias aggression against Ukraine and warned it about the growing ties between the former Soviet Union nation and China.

India called for dialogue and diplomacy to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It, however, did not join the US and other western nations to directly condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the launch of military operations in the East European nation.

New Delhi took a cautious approach in view of India's decades-old strategic partnership with Russia and its dependence on the former Soviet Union nation for military hardware.

India, however, drew flak in the US and Europe for its refusal to take a tough stand against Russia.

The former Prime Minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt, too asked Jaishankar on Tuesday what conclusion China could draw from Russias war against Ukraine and whether the communist country could take advantage of the situation and be encouraged to step up its belligerence in Asia.

Also read: India's Russian oil purchases since Ukraine invasion more than double 2021 total

This has not been an easy part of the world for the last decade and this is a part of the world where boundaries have not been settled, where terrorism is still practised, often sponsored by states, Jaishankar said, adding: This is a part of the world where the rules-based order has been under continuous stress for more than a decade and I think it is important for the rest of the world, outside Asia, to recognise that today.

New Delhi apparently sought to drive home the point that what Europe was late in taking note of was that China had already been posing challenge to the rules-based order in Asia, not only by its aggression along the disputed boundary with India, but also in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait as well as elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region.

"Things have been happening in Asia for the last 10 years. Europe may not have looked at it. So this could be a wake-up call for Europe, not just in Europe, it could be a wake-up call for Europe to also look at Asia," he said.

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Last year August's Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was viewed mainly as a strategic victory for Pakistan as it managed to establish a friendly government in Kabul after nearly two decades. Imran Khan, the then prime minister of Pakistan, observed, rather euphorically, that Afghans have "broken the shackles of slavery". Islamabad had been one of the principal backers of the Taliban's 'interim' government and lobbied for its recognition and urgent financial assistance from the international community.

However, tension and friction in the otherwise cordial relationship have started appearing over the months. Issues such as the demarcation of the Durand line (the 2,670 km Afghanistan-Pakistan international land border that Afghanistan has never accepted) and the Afghan Taliban's support for the Pashtun Islamist Militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (also known as Pakistan Taliban and TTP), Pakistan's biggest terrorist threat, have caused strains in the relations.

Pakistan suspects the TTP leadership is operating from across the Durand Line. Islamabad's growing frustration about the inaction of Kabul's new rulers against the TTP was manifested in the Pakistani airstrikes in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Khost, recently killing about forty-seven civilians, mostly women and children.

Artillery shelling and cross border operations between the two sides have intensified in the recent past, but airstrikes within Afghanistan indicated a significant escalation. Coinciding with six weeks of acute political turmoil in Pakistan, the timing of the Pakistan army's air raid was crucial and carried a message about who has the 'real' authority in the country. Although Islamabad has maintained silence about the attacks, media reports suggested that the Pakistani bombings targeted the TTP groups in the province.

The blatant violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty sparked anti-Pakistan protests in the country. The Taliban responded by summoning the Pakistani envoy in Kabul and issuing a strongly-worded statement by the Taliban spokesperson warning Islamabad of "bad consequences" if Afghan "territory and freedom" was "disrespected" again. The Taliban has maintained that it wants to address the issue of the TTP through political means, but the rise in border attacks from Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover escalated tensions between the two sides.

The Afghan Taliban and the TTP are part of the same phenomenon that Pakistan has fermented as an ideological project - the TTP fought along with the Afghan Taliban against the US and its allies for decades. Linked by the shared Pashtun ethnicity and kinship - it is believed to be the closest to the Afghan Taliban (among all the radical Islamist groups operating in the country). Immediately after taking control of Kabul on August 15, the Taliban set free hundreds of TTP prisoners, including prominent leaders, from Afghan jails.

But, the Pakistani deep state views the two groups very differently. While the Afghan Taliban are seen as freedom fighters, who fought to break away from the shackles of Western dominance and defeated the mighty United States, the Pakistani Taliban, on the other hand, is a heinous terrorist outfit with an agenda to destabilise Pakistan. Over the years, Islamabad had consistently argued that the presence of the US and its allies in Afghanistan fostered the TTP insurgency. Since its inception in 2007, TTP has been responsible for deadly attacks targeting Pakistan. In 2014, the Pakistani military launched a major offensive against the TTP and led many of its members to flee to Afghanistan.

In 2021, with the advancement of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the TTP fighters increased their attacks in Pakistan. Hell broke loose in Pakistan when at least two of their assaults targeted Chinese workers and the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, making Pakistan's principal ally China extremely anxious. With the mediation of the Afghan Taliban, a ceasefire between the TTP and the Pakistani military was reached in November 2021, but that did not yield much result. Pakistan Taliban resumed attacks against Pakistani security forces and civilians even while covert negotiations with Islamabad continued.

The Afghan Taliban and the TTP share a vision of using violence to establish an emirate with their narrow interpretations of sharia. Although the Taliban have repeatedly assured that no one will use the Afghan soil to destroy the peace of another country, it is aware that pushing the TTP too hard could make it inch toward its enemy, the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP). The TTP, on the other hand, is apprehensive about losing its support base if it abandons its hardline approach to the Pakistan government. Then, with an escalation of attacks, there will be greater resentment and public pressure within Pakistan to take decisive action against the TTP and its main backer - the Afghan Taliban  making any hope for stability a distant possibility.

It is also important to remember that the Taliban did not give away their "guest" Osama bin Laden amidst acute international pressure twenty years ago as that would have entailed violating a sacred principle of the 'Pashtunwali' - the Pashtun code of life. It is unlikely that the Taliban will hand over the TTP to Pakistan since maintaining the Pashtun unity rhetoric would be far more important for the new rulers of Afghanistan. Despite Pakistan's attempt to erase the Pashtun identity (that links the people of Pashtun ethnicity on both sides of the Durand Line) and divert the Pashtun question towards other causes, the linkages between the Pashtuns on the two sides of the Durand Line remain strong, and that won't change anytime soon.

As a result, it is quite likely that these issues will continue to fester and pave the way for tensions between the neighbours. It was known that radical elements in the region would be emboldened by the Taliban victory in Afghanistan, and the escalation of border tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan only reiterated that. About a decade ago, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had warned Pakistan stating, "You can't keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbour. Eventually, those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard." It would have helped if Pakistan had taken the warning seriously then.

(Anwesha Ghosh is a strategic analyst and author based in New Delhi)

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Experts have predicted that the Covid-19 fourth wave may peak after June and have its effects till October, Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said on Tuesday as he stressed learning to live with the virus by taking precautionary measures like vaccination and wearing masks.

He said the prevalent variants of the virus are said to be Omicron's sublineages and an official report in this regard is likely in a couple of days. "IIT Kanpur has been sharing data and reports. According to a report shared by them it (the fourth wave) is likely to start from June end, but things have started a month ahead. According to them it is likely to peak after June and may go one till September and October," Sudhakar said.

Also Read: 70 lakh children in Karnataka aged 5-12 will be eligible for Covid jabs

Speaking to reporters here, he said the report submitted by them about the last three waves was by and largely accurate, and the current report too is based on scientific data and may turn out to be accurate. "It is two years since Covid began and we have complete information regarding it. We will also have to lead our lives. We are not in a position to say that Covid will completely vanish from the world, so we have to learn to live with it by following measures like vaccination, wearing masks and maintaining social distance. We have done it in the past too," he added.

Asked whether the state is amidst the fourth wave of Covid, the Minister said, the cases are very less compared to other states, so it will be inappropriate to say that as of now.

Should one trust this model? No, says the researcher

Also Read | Here's why there are no fines for mask violations in Karnataka

However, the IIT Kanpur model has been questioned by researchers for various reasons. Gautam Menon, Professor of Physics and Biology at Ashoka University, Haryana, whose research centres on modelling infectious diseases, on March 2 tweeted, "A recent paper by applied mathematicians from IIT Kanpur has led to some interest among news organisations and the public for its prediction of the fourth wave of Covid-19 starting June 22, 2022, reaching a peak on August 23 and ending on October 24. The precision of these claims should raise some questions immediately. No epidemiologist with any experience would dare to make a claim that a wave is expected to start 'on X day', four months into the future."

"The methods used are purely statistical. The available data is fit using a sum of simple Gaussian functions, using machine learning methods. The data learnt from, a requirement here for the methods to work is from Zimbabwe, which had four Covid-19 waves. Why Zimbabwe? Because Zimbabwe and India have 'maximum visible similarities in the shape of the Covid waves' This is not a particularly scientific way to proceed. Why should Zimbabwe and India be different? Zimbabwe, as of a few days ago, had managed to vaccinate 40% of its eligible population, mainly with the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm. The analogous number for India is 75% or more," Menon argued.

Also Read | Karnataka makes masks mandatory, but no fines yet

"The Omicron wave was relatively mild. Most Indians had been exposed to the virus in the preceding two waves, in particular the Delta wave. Along with that, vaccinations added a further level of protection, contributing to what is called hybrid immunity. None of this is accounted for in the model. Thats just one part of it. The median age in Zimbabwe is close to 19. For India, it is close to 30. The impact of Covid-19 in every respect - cases, ICU requirements, deaths - are primarily driven by age," the professor said.

"Should one trust this model at all? The answer, simply, is no. Epidemiology is not an exact science in the sense that Physics is or Chemistry. The waves of Covid-19 in India have been driven by variants: the original strain and its major descendants, Delta and Omicron. None of these could have been anticipated in advance. No one is able to do that. Modelling can provide helpful estimates but must rely on accurate inputs for their predictions to be trustable. They are more useful for broad policy than highly specific predictions of numbers," he added.

"One can hope for the following: Even if antibodies wave, the fact of a number of exposures to different variants as well as vaccinations should protect against any new variant through hybrid immunity. That is as much as we can hope. We cannot predict the appearance of new variants, nor can we say with any certainty that a peak is or is not due. And no one can. So the worry over this prediction is overblown. No mathematical model is - or can be - as prescient as this would require. Nothing to see here, folks. Move on," Menon tweeted.

Union Health Ministry acknowledges criticism

The following day, in a union health ministry press conference, on March 3, Vinod Paul, the head of the Covid Task Force and NITI Aayog member, acknowledged this criticism and said, "Experts Manindra Agarwal and Gautam Menon have said they do not believe the IIT Kanpur prediction of the fourth wave", in response to a question from a reporter on what the government makes of this prediction.

Free precaution dose for all?

Queried whether precautionary doses will be administered freely to all, like the first and second dose vaccination, Sudhakar said, "let's see what discussion takes place during the Prime Minister's meeting tomorrow....we will have to analyse whether one dose vaccination has to be administered per year. The Centre and the state will take a decision keeping in mind all aspects."

First dose vaccination coverage in Karnataka is about 105 per cent, while it is more than 98 per cent for the second dose, which means 10-12 lakh people are yet to take the second dose. About 55 per cent of people have taken the precautionary dose that is being administered freely to those above 60 years of age. Sudhakar urged parents to get their children above 12-years of age inoculated on priority, which is being administered by the government free of cost.

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Foyle MP, Colum Eastwood, insists the SDLP has launched an ambitious programme for change to tackle the cost of living crisis.

The SDLP leader was speaking at his party's manifesto launch for the 2022 Assembly Election in Dungannon this morning.

Forty pages long, the document outlines the partys focus on addressing the cost of living crisis by providing direct support to every household, ensuring that working families receive more good quality childcare and that no child grows up in a household without savings.

Launching the manifesto in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency today, Mr Eastwood said: The manifesto we have launched today is an ambitious programme for change that has at its heart a plan to tackle the biggest challenge facing every family, household and community in Northern Ireland today  the cost of living crisis.

The emergency that hard working families are waking up to today, and every day, needs to be addressed with the same urgency and at the same scale that the Covid-19 crisis demanded.

We will not stand by as people are forced to turn off the radiators, to sit at home in their winter coats, to cut back on food for their families while Stormonts bank accounts bursts at the seams with hundreds of millions in unspent money. It is obscene.

Well fight this crisis and put people first by getting an emergency support payment to every household worth at least 200.

We will provide people who have been hit hardest by this crisis with up to 500 in direct payments. And we will make sure that no child goes hungry by getting more than 1200 to an average family with two children on free school meals between now and December.

But the cost of living crisis needs more than just cash intervention. Thats why we are putting working parents first with a pledge to increase free pre-school childcare from 12.5 hours per week to 30 hours.

Well end the injustice of children growing up in a household with no savings by creating a first-of-its-kind Childrens Future Fund that gives every child a 1000 investment in clean, green technologies that they can withdraw when they turn 18.

We will also take tough political decisions to transform our society.

Nowhere is that more important than for our health service which is at the point of collapse.

That will mean change to how services are organised but, fundamentally, it will be about making sure that everyone can access a service that they need, when they need it.

We will do that by investing 1 billion over the life of the next Assembly and making sure that our nurses get the pay rise they deserve.

That's what this manifesto is about. It is a plan to tackle the cost of living emergency, to provide more free childcare, to invest in families and households that have no savings and to ensure that our government finally puts people first.
The ruling Democratic Party floor leader Park Hong-keun speaks during a party meeting, April 26. Yonhap





The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is pushing to pass controversial legislation on reducing and ultimately removing the prosecution's investigative powers, vowing to act alone if the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) refuses to endorse a compromise deal they reached last week.







The DPK aims to complete deliberations on the legislation during a subcommittee meeting of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Tuesday, and possibly pass the bills through a plenary committee session the same day.







If it succeeds, the party hopes National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug will convene a plenary session as early as Wednesday to pass the bills.







The ruling party has justified its move by claiming the PPP broke its promise when it demanded a review of the compromise deal that called for curtailing the prosecution's investigative right to two types of crime  corruption and economic  before removing it completely.







The agreement represented a breakthrough compromise between the rival parties that had sparred fiercely for weeks over the DPK's headlong push for legislation that would immediately deprive the prosecution of all investigative powers.







The deal, however, drew unexpectedly strong criticism from the public that lawmakers were colluding to shield themselves from prosecution investigations as the agreement calls for excluding crimes related to elections and public officials from prosecution probes.







"In order to follow the compromise agreement that the National Assembly declared before the people, the Democratic Party of Korea held a legislation subcommittee meeting until late yesterday and wrote the provisions of the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act," DPK floor leader Park Hong-keun said at a party meeting Tuesday, referring to amendments that would reduce the prosecution's powers.







"Deliberations at the subcommittee level will be completed today," he said.







Monday's subcommittee meeting reportedly made little progress as PPP lawmakers pored over the details of each provision and the prosecution stressed the "unconstitutionality" of separating their investigative powers from their right to indict.







The DPK has cast the PPP's concern over the exclusion of election and public officials' crimes as a stalling tactic aimed at portraying it as a tyrant ahead of the June 1 local elections.







President Moon Jae-in told reporters Monday he thought the compromise deal brokered by Speaker Park was done well.







Hours earlier, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol had called for the entire political community to reflect deeply on what was right in order to defend the Constitution and protect the people.







Yoon's stance had been closely watched as the president-elect is a former prosecutor general who quit his post last year to protest the current administration's push to strip the prosecution of its investigative powers in the name of reform.







Since Yoon's election last month, the DPK has pushed to use its majority in the National Assembly to pass the necessary amendments to the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act, and to get them signed into law before Yoon could get a chance to veto them after taking office on May 10.







The DPK has argued the reform measures are necessary to address longstanding concerns about the prosecution's abuse of power for political and other purposes.







Opponents claim it would run counter to the Constitution and hurt ordinary people while protecting members of the outgoing Moon Jae-in administration from potential criminal investigations.







Yoon's chief of staff told reporters Tuesday, "I believe President Moon Jae-in will exercise his veto."







"I cannot help but ask if shaking up the criminal justice system and rushing it toward the end of President Moon's term is in line with the people's wishes," he said. (Yonhap)






SDLP Foyle candidate Mark H Durkan has criticised the persistent failure of the Department for Communities (DfC) and its successive Ministers, to tackle regional imbalance within the Arts Sector.

Mr Durkan stated that the latest example of the departments gaslighting on regional inequality comes as officials neglected to attend a meeting with Derry City and Strabane District Council.

Councillors were denied the opportunity by the Department's 'no-show' to discuss with them the Arts Council's allocation of 19 million to Belfast organisations compared to just 1.7 million to Derry and Strabane.

Regional inequality within the Arts Sector not only exists but persists despite the departments continued gaslighting on this issue, said Mr Durkan.

In October, I tabled an amendment to the Arts and Creative Industries Private Members Bill, relating specifically to the disparity of Arts Council funding allocations. Evidently, lessons have not been learnt rather theyve been ignored completely.

Its not only disappointing that DfC officials didnt even bother to meet with council to discuss the scandal of the Arts Council allocations, it is a slap in the face to the arts sector and creative within Derry and Strabane.

It has been widely acknowledged that Arts Council investment is concentrated in Belfast, generally within organisations deemed 'too big to fail' discriminating against smaller arts groups outside of this geographical 'sweet-spot'.

Failure to deliver in the North West is an issue the department would wish to sweep under the carpet and the cynic in me cant help but deduce that their non-attendance so close to an election was politically motivated.

Its clear that the arts and creative industries have been among the hardest hit in terms of the pandemic, its restrictions and the impact on livelihoods.

The industry is a significant employer in the north but more than that arts and creative industries make a substantial contribution to our economy, communities and health and well-being.

The sector will be key in the regeneration of the economy and society post pandemic. An efficient and indeed sufficient long term strategy so important.

The second city and previous City of Culture demands and deserves its fair share. Tackling regional inequality must be at the core of all arts strategies going forward as must the model of co-design, which will provide the best guarantee of fairness.

Minister Hargey gave a commitment to tackle inequality as a key consideration of the renewed Culture and Arts Strategy. Its time organisations here feel the benefit of those promises.

In response, a Department for Communities spokesperson said: The responsibility for the allocation of funds for the arts rests with the Arts Council, within a policy framework set by the Department.

Assessment of individual applications and decision making on artistic merits is properly, a matter for the Arts Council.

Since 2020, the Department for Communities has invested more than 50m to safeguard our creative talent and the sector for the future. Work on implementing the recommendations of the Culture, Arts and Heritage Taskforce is well underway.

The local arts sector makes a critical contribution socially, creatively and economically. The Department recognises this and is working on a new Cultural Strategy in partnership with the sector.

Equality, diversity and inclusion underpin the work ensuring all will have equal access to culture, arts and heritage.
The government of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil has announced plans to invest $18.3 million in a new disaster recovery data centre.

Procergs, a state-owned data processing company, is to receive the funds in order to bring its offering up to date and improve its preparedness.

Procergs was launched on 28 December 1972 as the agency charged with carrying out the states information technology policy. It operates in all of the state executive bodies and processes millions of transactions daily said to be vital for the good functioning of the state.

Part of the funds will be used to modernise the company's infrastructure, telecommunications and information security. The funds will also go towards the development of another data centre for disaster recovery purposes. The state is aiming to achieve 100 percent availability of its digital services.

A disaster recovery site is a facility an organisation can use to recover and restore its technology infrastructure and operations when its primary data centre becomes unavailable. However, no timescale or capabilities for the new facility have yet been published, nor is it clear who will build it.

According to the Data Centre Dynamics website, in February Rio Grande do Sul suffered a cyberattack that took most of its websites down, including that of Procergs. A group called Parana Cyber Mafia took responsibility for the attack.
The Ethiopian government has switched up a national payment law to pave the way for Safaricom to launch its popular M-Pesa mobile money platform in the country.

The East African reported, Ethiopias central bank has drafted a bill that enables foreign companies to launch mobile money services, a move that benefits Safaricom which recently became the first foreign investor to be granted a mobile licence (for US$850m), however, this does not cover mobile money.

Safaricom connects over 51 million customers to financial services through its M-Pesa platform across seven countries in Africa. There is certainly demand for mobile money in Ethiopia as state-owned Ethio Telecom launched its Telebirr platform in May last year, and has reached over 17.6 million subscribers with a cumulative transaction value of ETB12.58 billion (US$245.2 million).

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) will reportedly announce its bill next week.

NBE head of payment settlement Marta Hailemariam said: So far, there is no law that enables foreign operators like M-Pesa to acquire a licence in Ethiopia. If the new amendment is approved, it will allow M-Pesa to get a licence in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is currently under a programme to open up its telecoms sector to spur growth by rapidly digitising its economy.

Mobile money has become an integral tool for citizens of developing nations, relying on platforms to carry out daily duties such as bill payments and making purchases. The GSMA said in its latest mobile money report, that the mobile money sector has hit a milestone of US$1 trillion in global transaction values, and it is increasingly becoming integral to growth for B2B and B2C operations.
At Mobile World Congress 2022, we attended Huaweis Operation Transformation Forum Roundtable on the theme of Accelerating Digital Operations Transformation towards Business Success.

The speakers were Jacky Zhou, the Vice President of Huawei Marketing & Solution, Simon Liang, Director of Huawei Consulting & System Integration Marketing & Solution, and Bin Feng, Director of Huawei Software Marketing & Solution.

Jacky Zhou explained that in the last 5 years, Huawei has accumulated a lot of digital practices regarding O&M, delivery, marketing and sales. These have given the vendor a better idea about the directions of the future digital transformation, how to implement digital transformation, and how to create greater business value. Moving into the future, Huawei will continue to update the models it uses for assessing the maturity of digital and intelligent transformations.

We asked about the possibilities that digital transformation will enable in emerging markets, and were told that in these regions, Huawei has observed the low penetration rate of both MBB and FBB users, with the 4G penetration rate remaining lower than 30% in some markets and home broadband penetration often below 10%. Huawei believes that to address this issue, it must help its customers to identify areas of high potential where users would be eager to adopt new technologies and then accelerate the process of user migration; however, the vendor acknowledged that relying solely on traditional methods for this would not be possible.

Huawei believes that the answer lies in digital transformation and digital platforms, which will help its customers achieve swift business success. Across many global markets Huawei has deployed data-driven platforms to accelerate user migration for its customers. These digital methods have sped up the user migration journey faster than a traditional method could deliver, demonstrating the tangible benefits that digital transformation has delivered to Huaweis customers.

With digital services developing quickly, the complexity of networks is also growing to the extent that Huawei does not consider digital transformation to be optional. In the last decade, the vendor has collaborated with operator customers, industry organizations, and other partners in the industry to encourage the distribution of digital transformation practices. Finding the right high-value scenario involves reviewing and analysing the entire customer journey, increasing agility during the purchase stage and user experience in the early stages, before introducing a higher level of network intelligence during the operations and management stage.HuaweH

Through digital transformation, Huawei aims to migrate its partners from managed services so that they are able to manage their own services and offer digital transformation to their customers, thereby improving their revenue. Operator revenue faces a lot of challenges, for example from OTT vendors, but traditional operators enjoy their own advantages in the market such as a larger user base and stronger background of ICT technologies, as well as a better channel to reach their audience.

In the B2C market, operators can tap into their larger user base to roll out a greater number of digital services, with FinTech a hugely successful example. In Africa, Huawei has helped a service provider to increase its FinTech subscribers penetration rate to 80% and boosted average revenue per user by additional US$32 annually. In the B2B segment, operators can leverage their ICT technologies and experience in the vertical markets. For example, traditionally operator customer service centres used voice agencies, but new types of Customer Engagement Centres introduce video and intelligence capabilities to the solution. This delivers two main benefits to the customer. The first of these is all-channel video capability, so many of the services that could only be accessed in the offline channel face to face can now be moved online. The second is Intelligent capability, which can reduce average cost per call by 30% by improving fault mitigation and reducing average call time.

Working in tandem with the Customer Engagement Centre is Huaweis new cloud-converged billing platform CBS R22, which is a convergent and agile offering that helps to boost reliability from the previous fives nines (99.999%) to six nines (99.9999%). In addition to this, the platform can reduce TCO for carriers by as much as 30% - in part due to its agile service provisioning, which enables operators to introduce new software releases upgraded in just seven days, compared to the current typical three-month.

Huawei identifies the frustrations or pain points faced by its customers, and notes best practices, digital assets and experiences in order to engage with customers to improve its digital transformation path. The company believes that digital transformation shouldnt start with a comprehensive or overtly ambitious plan  its impossible to do everything at the very beginning, as its a continually evolving journey towards realising the potential of digital transformation. Through examining its own digital transformation practices along with those of its customers, Huawei has developed and released the Smart series of SmartCare and the i series of AUTIN, which are specifically designed to satisfy the goals of value scenarios, business process as well as the needs of users.

The SmartCare series consolidates the previously siloed Smart series offerings into a whole package, bringing together solutions such as Smart Planning, Smart Optimisation, Smart Experience and Smart Decision to help optimise the network roll-out journey. Huawei has also introduced Smart DataCube, a converged data engine that can help operators unleash the value of data. The AUTIN i series includes four different offerings - iFM, iPM, iEM and iStudio  which respectively address fault management, performance, event management and talent transformation. Operators can review their current digital transformation scenarios and select the required offerings, which can then be deployed on a unified data foundation. This makes it easier for operators to kick off their digital transformation.
At the recent MPLS, SD & AI Net World Congress 2022 Congress (also called the MPLS Forum) held in Paris, France, Ping Wu, CTO of Huawei Datacom Product Line European Branch delivered a keynote speech titled "IPv6 Enhanced, Unleashing Connectivity Potential.

In his talk Wu discussed the pivotal role played by IP networks in digital development, highlighting that the evolution from IPv4 to IPv6 for addressing space expansion is only the first step. It is also vital to introduce IPv6 Enhanced for improved deterministic quality, programmability, and maintainability of connections, thereby meeting the requirements of various industry scenarios, unlocking the full value of connectivity, and promoting the steady development of the digital economy.

Digitisation is sweeping across the world. In most countries and regions, the growth rate of the digital economy is more than twice that of overall GDP. In recent years, many countries and regions have released their national strategies for digital economy development - for instance, the Digital China strategy put in place by China aims to accelerate the construction of a digital society, improve the level of digital public services, and build a robust digital ecosystem. Such strategies require an IP network that connects to all things at one end and a myriad of applications at the other.

The rapid development of the digital economy places new requirements on traditional IP networks. For example, there will likely be tens of billions of IoT devices by 2030, making mass connectivity a fundamental capability required of IP networks. And with the advent of the cloud era, more and more enterprises will adopt multi-cloud connectivity for critical service backup and various applications, placing higher demands on network flexibility and real-time performance. In the future, not only will office services be moved to the cloud, but so too will production services. This will require much higher deterministic network quality. For example, in scenarios such as industrial control and telemedicine, the E2E network latency and jitter must be kept within microseconds.

To address these challenges, Wu said the first step is to use IPv6 technologies to meet the requirements for huge volumes of IP addresses. However, further optimizing connectivity will involve innovative IPv6 Enhanced technologies for better deterministic quality, programmability, and maintainability. Only in doing so can we fundamentally meet the requirements of the digital economy and unlock the value of connectivity in the digital transformation of various industries.

For example, the IPv6 Enhanced-based intelligent cloud-network solution helps operators build differentiated cloud access private lines based on their own network advantages, providing users with fast and smooth cloud access. On the access side, the one-box multi-connection solution helps users quickly access clouds, while for aggregation, the pan-private line scheduling solution enables unified access and smooth evolution. On the backbone side, the SRv6-based intelligent cloud-map algorithm enables optimal scheduling of cloud-network resources.

In the smart manufacturing industry, IPv6 provides ample addresses for the access of many sensors, while network slicing provides dedicated network-level assurance for different services. After IP-based reconstruction of production networks, massive production data can be transferred to the cloud in a timely manner, and the computing power and intelligence of the cloud can be efficiently transferred to the production sites to guide production lines more accurately and efficiently.

From human-to-human connectivity to connectivity of everything, IPv6 Enhanced has been put into commercial use at more than 100 sites around the world, effectively supporting the digital development of various industries such as finance, manufacturing, energy, education, and healthcare. Now is the time to embrace IPv6 and IPv6 Enhanced technologies to unleash connectivity potential and accelerate the advent of the digital world.

The theme of the congress this year was "SRv6 Momentum", and many senior experts and analysts from the SRv6 industry  covering device suppliers, operators, third-party independent test organizations, and standards organizations  delivered keynote speeches on SRv6 technical standards, industry cooperation, and commercial use progress, among others. In addition, they shared insights into the status quo, commercial deployment progress, and future development trends of SRv6.

SRv6, short for Segment Routing (SR) + IPv6, is a next-generation IP transport protocol. Utilizing existing IPv6 forwarding technology, SRv6 implements network programming through flexible IPv6 extension headers. SRv6 simplifies network protocol types, features good extensibility and programmability, meets diversified requirements of more new services, provides high reliability, and is especially suited to scenarios such as cross-domain interconnection, large-scale networking, service cloudification, and cloud-network synergy.

On the first day of the Congress, Zhenbin Li, Huawei Chief IP Standard Representative and IETF IAB member, delivered a keynote speech titled "APN6 Enables Application and Network Collaboration". He said that the innovation of IPv6 Enhanced technologies oriented towards emerging services such as 5G and cloud is increasingly becoming a consensus in the industry. Innovative IPv6 Enhanced technologies, such as SRv6 and IP network slicing, have been deployed and applied on more than 100 sites worldwide, significantly enhancing the differentiated service capabilities of networks. He also introduced emerging technologies such as application-aware networking (APN) and computing-aware networking (CAN)  developed along with the trend of in-depth convergence between clouds and networks and between computing power and networks  as well as the development of the standards industry.

Li underlined that the development of standards is critical to the development of IPv6 and IPv6 innovations. In a presentation titled "Progress of IPv6 Enhanced Standard and Industry", Li briefly introduced the IPv6 Enhanced technology system and its development status, emphasizing that IPv6 innovations are a growing trend in the global network field. The development of IPv6 Enhanced standards can be divided into three phases: 1.0 focusing on basic SRv6 capabilities, 2.0 focusing on 5G/cloud-oriented new network services, and 3.0 focusing on the APN architecture.

At the SRv6 session, Xipeng Xiao, head of CTO Office for Huawei West Europe, delivered a keynote speech titled "Migration to SRv6: Momentum, Challenges & Progress". He mentioned how IPv6 has made great progress in recent years and laid a solid foundation for SRv6. In addition, SRv6 standards have become mature, while SRv6 has been widely deployed across the globe. Now is the best time for leading operators and enterprises to adopt IPv6-only networks. SRv6 is a natural choice in the IPv6-only world, helping to promote IPv6-only deployment.

Carsten Rossenhovel, managing director and co-founder, EANTC AG, noted that vendor support for SRv6 is growing even if more advanced technologies are not yet being implemented. He did however add that this could easily adapt if the demand from service providers became clear, and that from a functional perspective, SRv6 is ready for prime time.

Sameer Ashfaq Malik, senior principal analyst at Omdia, described IPv6 as a concept that provides ultra-connectivity for next generation networks, enhancing artificial intelligence and enabling protocols such as segment routing. For 5G and NBIoT, a robust transport network is required for success  which means most operators around the world are now eager to deploy such networks. The number of IP-capable devices is set to increase sharply, but with IPv4 supporting only 4.3 billion IP addresses, new solutions are required  especially with the trillion-dollar B2B vertical industry market now requiring full connectivity. IPv6 Enhanced provides differentiated service capabilities to implement high-speed, efficient, flexible, and intelligent next-generation Internet, meeting industry interconnection requirements in the digital era.

In an address titled "IPv6 Enhanced Powers Digitization and Innovation", Latif Ladid, Chairman of the ETSI IPE Alliance, noted that IPv6 is developing rapidlywith countries prioritizing policies to promote the development of IPv6 globally. The ETSI IPE Alliance is actively promoting IPv6 development and innovation, with more than 80 members at present. This alliance defined IPv6 Enhanced in 2020. In 2021, it fully explored the value of IPv6 Enhanced in various scenarios, such as 5G, cloud, and data center, and systematically proposed IPv6 Enhanced innovations from six dimensions: ultra-high bandwidth, ubiquitous connectivity, automation, low latency, deterministic quality, and security. SRv6, as the core of IPv6 Enhanced, propels IPv6 innovations to new heights and can fully unleash the potential of connectivity.

Weiqiang Chen, Principal Architect of IP Network from China Mobile, shared insights into the requirements, fundamentals, and progress of SRv6 header compression technology. In his speech, he introduced SRv6 compression requirements, SRv6 compression standardization progress at the IETF, and G-SRv6 industry progress, including interoperability tests, live network trials, and large-scale deployment. He explained that G-SRv6 solves the problem of high overhead of SRv6 headers while retaining the extensibility and programmability of SRv6, making it a key feature to accelerate large-scale SRv6 deployment.

With joint efforts of upstream and downstream industry chains, it is widely agreed that SRv6, a successor of MPLS, will be the next-generation core protocol of IP networks and will be deployed on a large scare. In the future, SRv6-based service innovation will fully unlock the value of connections and promote the digital development of industries.
Elon Musk now owns Twitter! Although there were rumours of Twitter plotting a poison pill to block Musk from owning the company, in the end, Musk won. After all, money talks. Even for the richest person in the world, a $44 billion bid proved challenging as Elon loaned a big portion of the amount from third-party investors. We will see the Musk-Twitter transaction details down below. And while we are at it, lets look at some of the biggest acquisitions in the tech space.

Top Tech Acquisitions of all time

Starting from the top of the ladder 

1. Activision was acquired by Microsoft for ~$68 billion

To date, the biggest deal in the tech industry is the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. It is the biggest ever in the gaming sector too. The deal involved Microsoft paying $95.00 per share while making it the worlds third-largest gaming company by revenue.

2. EMC Corporation bought by Dell for $67 billion

Close to the Microsoft deal price is Dells payment of $67 billion to acquire the EMC corporation back in 2015. For the time, it was a surprising amount of money involved. Well, it still is. With this new property, Dell strengthened its corporate computing and especially IT services.

3. Twitter acquisition by Elon Musk for ~$44 billion

In 2022, Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share price. Announcing the deal, Twitter revealed that Musk has secured $25.5 billion of the total $44 billion amount through debt and margin loan financing while he is also committing $21 billion in equity. He aims to make the platform more welcoming of free speech.

4. SoftBank bought Arm in 2016 for $31 billion.

Softbank completed the Arm acquisition for a whopping $31 billion in 2016. This was the biggest deal for a European tech company. Since then, in fact, very recently, it has announced its plans to take the British firm public after the whole Arm Nvidia deal collapsed.

Also Read: Elon Musk finally takes ownership of Twitter for a staggering $44 billion

5. Slack acquired by Salesforce for ~$28 billion

In 2020, Salesforce closed the deal of acquiring Slack for $27.7 billion. The new owner aimed at defining the future of enterprise software with a competent messaging platform under its repertoire. Although Slacks user experience didnt see much change, it is believed to have improved Salesforces competitive advantage against the likes of Microsoft and Google in the business communication space.

6. LinkedIn bought by Microsoft for ~$26 billion

While the above deals are relatively recent, this and the latter one still lurks in our memory. Microsoft completed the deal for $26.2 billion in 2016. The Windows maker had promised a bunch of enhancements to LinkedIn such as integration with the Office suite of apps and an Intelligent Newsfeed. While some of the changes are live on the career networking platform, not all have been implemented.

7. WhatsApp acquisition by Facebook for $19 billion

This one had sent waves across the whole tech world, especially in markets like India wherein WhatsApp is the go-to instant messaging app. Although, the deal value was $16 billion in early 2014, by the time it went through, the price surged to $22 billion in October 2014. Today, the Meta (formerly Facebook) branded apps are ever more integrated and dominant in the markets like ours.

8. Google bought Motorola Mobility in 2011 for $12.5 billion.

What started off as a collaborative endeavor eventually became a case of acquisition for Google. This was back in 2011 when the good old Moto G and X series of Motorola phones were the talk of the town. The silicon valley giant had paid around $12.5 billion (or $40 per share) in cash. Although this made sense to the whole stock Android software market, it didnt pan out as planned and Google sold the brand to Lenovo.

9. Skype purchased by Microsoft for $8.5 billion

Skype is so popular that it became a verb over the years. So when Microsoft took the ownership of Skype in 2011, it was headlining news. The Redmond, Washington-based company has since introduced other video calling and messaging service like Teams, but Skype still holds a special place in tech culture.

10. GitHub acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion

The coders amongst you would definitely recall this deal wherein Microsoft took reins of Github for $7.5 billion. We strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation, said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the deal announcement.

There are other famous mergers and acquisitions that may not have made this list but are still important. For instance, Microsoft bought Nokia for $7.2 billion, YouTube was grabbed by Google for $1.65 billion, and Instagram was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion. We are sure more such big-scale deals will happen in the future and we will be keeping tabs on the same.

As for other news, reviews, feature stories, buying guides and everything else tech-related, keep reading Digit.in.
Musk called free speech the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.

Twitter is now a private company and Elon Musk is its owner. As expected, the company announced that it has accepted Musks $54.20 per share buyout offer. The worlds richest person is paying $44 billion in cash to acquire the social media platform. He is making a $21 billion equity commitment and the remainder is sourced in the form of debt and margin loan financing.

Musk, a strong advocate of free-speech wants to free the blue-bird app from the supposed cage of censorship. Even the Twitter founder and ex-CEO Jack Dorsey says, Elon is the singular solution I trust.

In principle, I dont believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.  jack (@jack) April 26, 2022

So, lets see how Musk envisions this free-speech future for Twitter.

Elon Musk on making Twitter a free-speech digital town square

Commenting on the Twitter deal announcement, Musk said, "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential  I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."

As some critics are suggesting, a way Musk, a Twitter power user, can act for the betterment of the platform is by introducing changes to make his new purchase a powerful and secure messaging solution as well as a community platform that can work on scale.

Speaking of scale, how he intends to fix the content moderation challenges and whether he is planning to kill all bots, even the useful ones, is something to be seen.

Previously, while making his best and final offer, Musk had said, 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. 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. Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.

Thats Elon for you. The guy now has a social media platform under his belt that already included SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company, and Neuralink.

Lets see how things pan out for Twitter in the coming times.

Meanwhile, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has said while announcing the deal, "Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important."

Later at a town-hall meeting, he was quoted as saying, "Once the deal closes, we don't know which direction the platform will go. We dont have all the answers. This is a period of uncertainty.

As for other news, reviews, feature stories, buying guides and everything else tech-related, keep reading Digit.in.

Cover image courtesy: @remonwangxt
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By HALELUYA HADERO

AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP)  In the aftermath of their hard-won labor victory, Amazon workers in the New York City borough of Staten Island popped Champagne, cheered their victory and danced in celebration. But their jovial attitude will be tested by a company that seems likely to be a tough negotiator.

Among other things, the nascent Amazon Labor Union, or ALU, has said it wants longer breaks for warehouse employees, more time off and a dramatically higher minimum hourly wage of $30, up from just over $18 an hour now at the Staten Island facility.





. . .
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SHORELINE The Village Vista and Village East apartments, at 20060 Whitman Ave. N. in Shoreline, sold for $8.9 million, according to King County records.

The seller was Project S25 LLC, associated with Bode, which acquired the property in 2019 for a little under $5.7 million.





. . .
Lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea stage a rally at the National Assembly in Seoul on Tuesday, denouncing the main opposition People Power Party for reneging on a bipartisan deal on prosecution reform. Joint Press Corps



The ruling Democratic Party (DP) vowed to pass two controversial bills on prosecution reform through a plenary session of the National Assembly on Wednesday despite strong objection from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).



Rep. Park Hong-keun, floor leader of the DP, said the party will convene the plenary session later in the day and pass the bill "without fail," after railroading the legislation through the judiciary committee in the wee hours Wednesday.



The bills are aimed at reducing and ultimately removing the prosecution's investigative powers.



Park told a party meeting that the DP "will not be swayed any more by the PPP and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol" over their objection to the bills that were originally agreed on by the two main parties.



The DP has justified its move by claiming the PPP broke its promise when it demanded a review of the compromise deal that called for curtailing the prosecution's investigative right to two crime types  corruption and economic crimes  before removing it completely.



The compromise deal represented a breakthrough between the rival parties that had sparred fiercely for weeks over the DP's headlong push for legislation that would immediately deprive the prosecution of all investigative powers.





Lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party stage a rally at the National Assembly in Seoul on Tuesday, to protest the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's push for controversial legislation on reducing and ultimately removing the prosecution's investigative powers. Joint Press Corps
The PEACE IV Programme office in Louth County Council is seeking feedback from the general public which will form part of the selection process for a new artwork in Drogheda.

Louth County Council recently tendered for an artist to create an artwork to be placed in the new Meeting Space at Peters Hill in Droghedas Heritage Quarter.

This EU PEACE IV-funded commission is in conjunction with the planned redesign of the space at Peters Hill, which aims to establish a new shared meeting space and to create a new identity for this area within Droghedas Heritage Quarter.

The tender commission sought an artwork that resonates with the spatial and physical aspects of the new space, of contemporary expression, in response to the character of this new public space.

The new artwork will be placed centrally within the new Meeting Space and will be designed and fabricated to withstand an outdoor urban environment.

Artists were invited to consider ideas relating to light, incorporating light, regenerative fire, regeneration, renewal, coinciding events, church bells, sound waves, growth and regrowth, or other concepts relating to Drogheda communities, collaboration and inclusion, giving tangible form to aspects of meeting spaces.

The successful artist will be responsible for the design, creation, site delivery and liaising with the Consulting Engineers in the installation - which is expected to take place in September 2022.

Three artworks were submitted and as part of the community engagement and participation, members of the public are now being invited to give their views on which of the three design proposals would be their preferred choice.

The results of this process is just one of the many elements that the assessment panel will take into consideration in their deliberations, but an important aspect which will also generate huge interest and comment.



The three artworks are entitled:

1. Artwork  Concept Picture 1

2. Infinity Spiral  Concept Picture 2

3. Inspired to Meet  Concept Picture 3

A link to the public survey below gives an opportunity to view and select your preferred design.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TLTF996 which will be circulated via Louth County Council social media platforms. Closing date to submit your view is Thursday 5th May at 5pm.

Further information: PEACE IV Office, Louth County Council, Town Hall, Crowe Street, Dundalk. Email: PeaceIV@louthcoco.ie

This project is a commission by Louth County Council, and supported by the European Unions PEACE IV Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

Match-funding has been provided by the Executive Office in Northern Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development in Ireland.

1. Artwork  Concept Picture 1

2. Infinity Spiral  Concept Picture 2

3. Inspired to Meet  Concept Picture 3
Pet care chain Maxi Zoo has opened a new store in the Dundalk Retail Park.

The Dundalk team consists of 8 employees and Store Manager, Sean Carolan.

The new store is part of Maxi Zoo Irelands nationwide expansion which included the acquisition of the Equipet brand late last year.

Maxi Zoo celebrated the opening of its new store in Dundalk Retail Park over the weekend of April 22nd- 24th with a spend and save incentive, where customers were offered 20% off all purchases and grooming services.

Customers and their pets were also treated to an Outside Broadcast with LMFM as part of the in-store celebrations.

According to Enrico De Luca, Country Manager of Maxi Zoo Ireland:

We are delighted to announce the opening of our newest store in Dundalk Retail Park. This is an exciting time for Maxi Zoo as we continue to grow and steadily expand our retail presence throughout Ireland.

"This expansion also provides us with a great opportunity to improve our customer experience even further across our entire retail network.

"The combined expertise of experienced pet-care professionals in the new store will allow us to offer pet owners an unrivaled range of expertise and services.

Maxi Zoos Dundalk Store Manager, Sean Carolan also commented:

It's great to be part of a thriving company that offers so much pet care expertise and customer service, as well as a strong emphasis on community. Maxi Zoo is the largest pet care retailer in Ireland today. We pride ourselves on being experts in providing the best solutions, advice and products for pets and their owners.

"Our stores are packed full of friendly staff who ensure that customer service is paramount, and this has helped create an ever-growing customer base that returns to Maxi Zoo again and again. I look forward to welcoming customers to our new store and for them to experience this care first hand.

Maxi Zoo Ireland now has a combined retail network of 29 stores nationwide, 285 employees and an online store.
Kazakh president, Chinese defense minister agree to strengthen military cooperation

Xinhua) 09:33, April 26, 2022

NUR-SULTAN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and visiting Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe voiced common readiness on Monday to step up bilateral cooperation.

At a meeting with Wei in Nur-Sultan, Tokayev said Kazakhstan and China will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year, and over the past three decades, the two countries have become permanent comprehensive strategic partners, maintained high-level coordination in the international political arena, and achieved remarkable results in cooperation in various areas.

Tokayev recalled that he has frequently interacted with Chinese President Xi Jinping in recent years, injecting strong impetus to the development of bilateral relations.

The Kazakh president said he believes that relations between the two countries will see greater breakthroughs and achievements.

Tokayev said Kazakhstan attaches great importance to the military cooperation with China and hopes that the two militaries will continue to strengthen practical cooperation in peacekeeping operations, joint exercises, personnel training, military technology and other fields.

Wei said that Tokayev, an old friend of the Chinese people, has made outstanding contributions to the establishment and development of China-Kazakhstan permanent comprehensive strategic partnership.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Kazakhstan, Wei said, adding that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, bilateral relations have maintained a momentum of vigorous development and enjoy a very bright future, setting a good example of good-neighborly friendship and mutual benefit.

China firmly opposes external forces deliberately instigating a "color revolution" in Kazakhstan and backs the Kazakh side in taking strong measures to safeguard national security and social stability, Wei noted.

The senior Chinese official called for vigilance about certain major powers interfering in Central Asia to disrupt and undermine regional security.

Wei said his visit demonstrated that China attaches great significance to and firmly supports Kazakhstan, noting that no matter what risks and challenges the two countries may encounter, they will jointly maintain regional stability and push ahead with the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

In recent years, the exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese and Kazakh militaries in various fields have been fruitful, he said, adding that the Chinese military is willing to continue to expand cooperation areas with the Kazakh side and deepen military-to-military relations between the two countries.

On the same day, Kazakh Defense Minister Ruslan Zhaksylykov held a welcome ceremony for Wei and had formal talks with him.

The two officials exchanged in-depth views on the international and regional security situations, the situation in Ukraine and the Afghan issue, and agreed that the two militaries will continue to strengthen strategic communication, conduct joint drills and training, and carry out practical cooperation.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
By Yoo Yeon-chul





The Atomic Scientists in the Science and Security Board brought up an insightful perspective in their 2022 Doomsday Clock statement last January: Nuclear weapons and climate change are equally the two most serious existential threats to humankind. Nuclear weapons are regarded as a visible and immediate threat, while climate change is considered as invisible and slow onset threat.



For this reason, taking swift action in tackling climate change is difficult. However, here comes a visible hand in addressing the climate threat: the scientific findings and suggestions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), chaired by Dr. Lee Hoe-sung since 2015.



The IPCC is the U.N. body for objectively assessing the science related to climate change. IPCC provides each government with periodic scientific assessment reports that are published every six to seven years. The latest Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) was published in 2014 and provided the main scientific input to the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015.



IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) will be completed in September 2022. The report of Working Group III (WG III), the third installment of AR6, was released on April 4, 2022.



To summarize the WG III report, it firstly explains the recent development in climate change. From 2010 to 2019, the average annual global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions were at their highest levels in human history, but the rate of growth has slowed. The costs of solar and wind energies and batteries have decreased up to 85 percent since 2010 as a result of sustained climate action.



Secondly, the report projects that without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius degrees is beyond reach.



If we continue with the current policies that have been implemented by 2020, GHG emissions are projected to rise beyond 2025. This will lead to a global warming of 3.2 degrees by 2100.



Thirdly, this report suggests that the scenario of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees requires GHG emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest and to be reduced by 43 percent by 2030. At the same time, methane emissions would need to be reduced by around one third.



In this report, the following points capture our attention.



WG III introduces a new chapter on the social aspects of mitigation, which explores the "demand side." Changes in our lifestyles and behaviors through the right policies can result in a 40 to 70 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2050.



The decreased costs of electrified vehicles accelerate their adoption. There are growing concerns about obtaining the critical minerals needed for their batteries. Supply diversification strategies and circular material flows can reduce the risks for battery production.



Nuclear energy is classified as one of the various mitigation options to offer substantial potential to reduce net emissions. Also, agriculture, forest, and other land use can provide emissions reductions and remove and store carbon dioxide at scale. However, land cannot compensate for delayed emissions reductions in other sectors. This means that using land for reducing emissions should not overshadow the primary use of land for food security.



In order to limit global warming to below 2 degrees, there needs to be three to six times more funding for combating climate change. There is sufficient global capital that is yet to be funneled into investments related to climate change. Clear signals from the government, including stronger alignment of public sector finance, can reduce the risk of private investment.



Climate governance is most effective when it integrates across the public sectors and connects national and sub-national policy-making levels. Coordinated cross-sectoral policies can maximize synergies in response to climate change.



There is a strong link between sustainable development and climate risks. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted under the U.N. 2030 Agenda can be used as a basis for evaluating climate action in the context of sustainable development.



As mentioned earlier, the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) is due in September 2022. This synthesis report compiles the WG I, WG II, and WGIII report, released in August 2021, February 2022, and April 2022, respectively.



IPCC has already published 4 Special Reports on 1.5 degrees (2018), Land, Ocean and Guideline on GHG Inventories (2019).



During the leadership of Chairman Lee, IPCC is expected to produce eight reports in total, the greatest number in its history. There has been progress in the number of participating Korean experts  from none in the First Assessment Report released in 1990, AR 6 now has 18 Korean authors, including a coordinated leading author as a result of numerous research findings. Special thanks should go to Chairman Lee, his team and many experts involved for their strenuous and timeless efforts.



The Republic of Korea is proud of the 8th U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon whose legacies are the Paris Agreement on climate change and Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015, and the current IPCC Chairman Lee whose legacies are eight significant reports on tackling climate change.



In this regard, Korea should make exemplary efforts and play a central role in addressing climate change and achieving the sustainable development goals. This will improve our national competitiveness for continuous prosperity in the coming age. The new administration should bear this in mind when placing the highest value on climate and energy issues as one of top national agenda.





Yoo Yeon-chul (ycyoo87@gmail.com) was ambassador for climate change at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is now serving as vice chair of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He also served as Korea's ambassador to Kuwait.




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One Monday night, Knockbridge woman Lorna Clarke put her three kids to bed, had a shower and then found a lump in her breast. She was entirely certain that it was a cyst.

After all, she was a fit, healthy 36 year old with no family history of cancer.

Lorna was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2021 and had surgery in March and then again in April.

Fast forward a year and Lorna has just recently had her one year checkup and was told that she is cancer free.

Eager to give back and return the support she received throughout a difficult year, Lorna is Louths ambassador for this years 100k in 30 day fundraising appeal for breast cancer.

An initiative founded by Blackrock couple Niall Carroll and Cara McAdam and launched in 2020 after Cara was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Over the last two years, 38,000 people in 36 countries have taken part raising 3million for Breast Cancer Ireland.

Lorna explained how what initially seemed like just another good cause soon gained extra significance for her and her family.

In 2019, I would have seen Niall and Cara doing a great job and seen the pink T-shirts and a few flags going up and stuff like that.

But, when I look back now, you know, it was just another charity, another event.

And to be honest, it didnt mean anything to me personally because weve no family history [of cancer], and I didnt really give it much thought if Im honest.

And then when I got my own diagnosis, and understood the work being done, oh my God it meant so much.

I jumped on the bandwagon. And then when I was asked to do this, its part of giving back. What Niall and Cara have done is fantastic and the work that goes into it. So if I can help at all, I will.

Lorna finished her first 100K in 30 Days in two weeks. She had no choice, as she then started 20 weeks of chemotherapy.

She has seen firsthand the difference the money raised has made.

I was up at an appointment in the Beaumont recently, and they have the new breast cancer unit open and Breast Cancer Ireland has a facility there as well.

It was sponsored by the 100k. It was just lovely to see the efforts of the charity coming together. The new unit is fantastic up there.

Shes also quick to praise the vital research carried out by Breast Cancer Ireland along with the support they offer to women going through treatment.

Her doctors often reassured her by telling her about how much they had learned about breast cancer over the years and the research that guides their decision making and subsequently her treatment plan.

She witnessed first hand the breast cancer research team in the hospital gathering data to continuously improve the services and treatments available to women

When I was up and down to different appointments and for my surgeries, I would have gotten information and surveys and questionnaires and things like that.

And, you know, I suppose in the blur, going through what I went through, I didnt realise the different supports I was getting and it wasnt really until after things had settled and I remember going to an appointment and this nice nurse came over to me and he said, you know, you signed up for the research and I was like, Yeah did I, she laughs.

First, he introduced himself as being from breast cancer research Ireland and he asked if he could just get a blood sample.

And it was at that moment, I realised that you know, they were there in the background behind the clinics and doing their work and how important their work will be in the future.

Lorna is philosophical about her own personal experience and, while aware her life has changed, is determined that cancer doesnt take it over.

You know, cancer doesnt end after chemo. So thats something that takes a bit of getting used to.

You have to kind of get your head around that this is part of your life now. And its just about how much space you give it really.

And thats where Im at the minute. Try not to give it very much space. Once all this is over, Im hoping not to be thinking about it as much.

Its something Ive given a lot of thought to. You cant let cancer define you.

I was lucky to be able to stay positive. And thats not always very easy.

 But I have a lot to fight for, you know, and kind of the message really is to say, to stay positive, even when you find it hard.

Look around you and youll always find something to stay positive for.

For me, it was my family and the children, and they kept me going through this.

Look around you for something, you know, even on your lowest day, and youll find something to keep you going.

You have to be mindful of how much you let cancer define you and how much space you give it, even in the aftermath.

Ive decided that Im not gonna let it frame everything going forward.

It was something that I did and Ive gone through, but I wont live in fear.

Ive decided not to be watching over my shoulder and looking around every corner. Im getting on with things.

And if it comes back, it comes back and Ill be ready for it.

Launching this years event Niall Carroll, co-founder of 100K in 30 Days, encouraged people to come together to fight cancer:

The success of the event over last two years, throughout a pandemic, has spurred us on to make 2022 the biggest year yet.

We all know someone who has or has had breast cancer and the purpose of 100K in 30 Days is for everyone, young and old, grandparents to grandkids, to have fun and get the daily steps in while raising much needed funds for Breast Cancer Ireland.

Im very proud of the success the pink army has achieved to date and wed be delighted to see new faces this year.

 I hope communities all across Ireland get behind it. Cancer isnt defeated alone. It takes a village.

 Its a challenge that can be done in your own time anywhere in the world and you can even get the dog involved!

100K in 30 Days, in aid of Breast Cancer Ireland sponsored by Sherry FitzGerald, takes place over the month of June. For more information and to register, see www.100kin30days.ie.
The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) Branch Committee at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) says it has little enough confidence that the current leadership at DkIT could deliver on achieving Technological University status for the institute and says that this institute needs new leadership to take us forward.

The DkIT TUI branch was responding to comments made to the Dundalk Democrat by a spokesperson at DkIT, where it said they are confident we are progressing in the right direction in their progress on seeking TU status. The Dundalk Democrat raised the matter with DkIT last week after concerns were raised by the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) at its annual conference about the lack of progress being made in seeking TU status.

When asked about its plans for seeking TU status and how they were progressing, DkIT said it was pleased with the recent declarations of support from Simon Harris, Minister for Higher Education at his address of the TUI Congress 2022. In his address to the TUI congress Minister Harris said: There has been some concern expressed that Dundalk IT and IADT Dun Laoghaire will be left behind but, speaking for myself, for the Department and the HEA, I can assure you that that is not the case.

The HEA continues to provide financial and expert guidance for these Institutes, indeed with a special adviser providing support. However, Institutes are autonomous and ultimately it is a matter for their governing bodies to decide. Of course, there is still room for diversity in the sector.

We stand ready to assist both of these Institutes within the parameters of what is possible under the existing policy and legislation. DkIT says that the Minister's comments at the congress further solidified the commitment from the government to support the Institute on its journey to become a significant campus within a regional multi-campus Technological University.

It went on to say that the Institute has received exchequer financing via the Technological University Transformation Funding to support its path towards Technological University designation. DkIT is also availing of the technical advice and support services of the respected Higher Education Authority (HEA) special advisor on higher education policy, Dr. Ruaidhri Neavyn, who will continue to assist the Institute as an external expert advisor. The Governing Body, Leadership Team and all staff are fully engaged with Dr. Ruaidhri Neavyn on the Institutes progression towards Technological University Status.

The Dundalk Democrat put to DkIT that its statement covered information that had already been covered in the media in the past, including commitment of government support and exchequer financing, and the fact that the assistance of Dr Ruaidhri Neavyn in the project was first announced in 2020. The Democrat asked if this means that the Institute has not made any further progress in the project and questioned that if it has, to provide an update on what that progress was and asked if a timeline was available.

In response DkIT said that the government is firm in its support which is important, and they continue to fund us on a yearly basis on our TU journey so their continued backing is a reflection of their confidence in us achieving TU status. They have repeatedly stated over the last 12 months that they recognise that the whole of the Institute is completely aligned and committed to become a campus of a Regional Technological University. It added that it continues to work on the metrics which are reviewed on a yearly basis, adding that is has three out of four with the last metric regarding research to be achieved by September 2022.

With regards to the assistance of Dr Ruaidhri Neavyn in the project first being announced in 2020, DkIT acknowledged that this was the case, adding but since then he has been actively working with the Schools and Departments of the Institute on a granular level in preparation for us achieving TU Status. We are confident we are progressing in the right direction.

The spokesperson added that Technologically University Status will be subject to a section 38, which will mean we will merge with an already formed Technologically University. The DkIT TUI branch said however that the Section 38 application requires a joint submission, from both DkIT and an existing TU. The trouble is, four years ago, without any consultation with the Leadership Team and or the Governing Body, the President's Office withdrew DkIT from discussions with the very institutes that went on to become the TUs, one of which we would now need as a willing partner if we are to implement a Section 38.

The local TUI branch said that willfully ignoring the union's loud and consistent ringing of the alarm bell, the previous Governing Body and key senior managers refused to act while the President's Office took us out, and kept us out, of the TU conversation. Union action in response to this strategic misleading has resulted in the HEA stepping in to help guide our development. This is to be welcomed. Over the last twelve months, there have been three information sessions for all staff.

The local branch added however that, at these meetings, the full impact of what the union had long warned was made clear. And yet, the President's Office refuses point blank to acknowledge any responsibility for the decisions to withdraw DkIT from the TU discussions and the negative consequences which have flowed from that strategic failure. This institute needs new leadership to take us forward.
Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures released today show that Louth, along with Dublin was the least afforested county in Ireland last year, with a significant drop over the past five years and no afforestation taking place in the county at all in 2021.

The figures released by the CSO today show that Louth went from 22 hectares being afforested in 2017, comprising 20 hectares broadleaf and 2 hectares conifer. This went down to just one hectare of broadleaf in 2019, two hectares of broadleaf afforestation in 2020 and no afforestation at all taking place last year.

Dublin was the only other county which saw no afforestation taking place last year. The county with the lowest figure above that was Carlow, with five hectares afforested. At the other end of the spectrum, Cork afforested 343 hectares last year, followed by Roscommon with 190 hectares.

Nationally, there has been substantial declines in annual afforestation areas with a decline from 6,947 hectares in 2007 to 2,016 hectares in 2021. Commenting on the release, Niamh Shanahan, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division of the CSO, said: "This is the first time the CSO has published figures on afforestation. The report shows the area afforested in 2021 was 2,016 hectares which was 29% of the area planted in 2007.

"The proportion of broadleaf species planted in 2021 was 41% which is the highest share in the 2007-2021 series. The share of afforested area planted by farmers in 2021 was 18% which was a sharp decline from their 2014 share of 97%. Alder and Ash were the main broadleaf species planted during 2007 to 2013 while Alder and Birch were the main species from 2015 to 2021. Sitka Spruce is the dominant conifer species and comprised 86% of coniferous species in 2021.
By Deauwand Myers





"White folks be a miracle of affliction ..."  From Alice Walker's "The Color Purple"



COVID-19, as deadly and crippling as it can be, provided, and indeed is providing, an important trove of information by which we can measure the scourge of white supremacist imperialism and the lethal consequences thereof.



But let's go back to the early 1970s. In presidential recordings, then-governor Ronald Reagan joked to President Nixon about the "monkeys," actually high-ranking African diplomats of an envoy sent to America.



Ronald Reagan was old before I was ever born, so Reagan joking to his fellow racist Republican (and anti-Semite) President Nixon that Black people were inhuman primates is an obvious, tired, old racial trope, rather boring and unimaginative. But mediocre, yet powerful white men are the norm, aren't they?



When the release of this damning audio went public earlier this year, many white Americans clutched their pearls, scandalized by such an explicit display of racism. People of conscience and color weren't surprised at all. When Reagan ascended to the presidency, his policies exposed his moral disposition. Recipients of public assistance were "welfare queens," code for lazy, Black women living lives of dissipation and luxury off the grace of the State, or so Reagan pronounced during his campaign.



Reagan made it fashionable to see poverty as a sin of the individual, whilst President Johnson saw poverty as what it is, a sin of the state. (Let's put that lie to rest. People who work the most hours and days for the least pay are statistically the poor, or working poor and are most often women of color).



Worse, as the AIDS epidemic ravaged colored communities and sexual minorities in the 1980s, the Reagan administration didn't advocate for research funding to combat this deadly disease until countless thousands, indeed millions, died or were near death. It was the nasty, gay disease, after all. Let them die. That was the cruelty in his logic.



The Republican Party has been a white supremacist death cult for generations, and so when many in this party are against masks, vaccinations and other health measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, I wasn't surprised at all. Whiteness says "I'm above rules and common decency. That's freedom." And just like the vilification of social welfare programs helping people in need, there's an inverse reaction to the deaths caused by this pandemic.



Consider: by percentage, Black people, Latinos and the Indigenous are dying at much higher rates than their white counterparts, as well as the sick and immunocompromised. Indeed, one out of every five African Americans dies of COVID-19, in aggregate, over the course of this terrible pandemic. The death rates for Latinos, the Indigenous and Asians haven't fared much better. For native populations, the statistics can actually be even worse.



Why? Black folks and their colored counterparts are often living in smaller domiciles with more people, particularly the elderly with poor health to begin with. They work in fields facing the public masses: post offices, grocery stores, restaurants, hospice care and hospitals, delivery services, schools, public welfare departments and public transportation.



Some white folks find nothing wrong with that. To paraphrase the disgraced, conservative, republican former Fox News talk show host, Bill O'Reilly, these immunocompromised people were near death anyway, notwithstanding that the immunocompromised are still human beings, and some are young adults and children; "pro-life" indeed.



You'll find, (but please don't search it, I did the work for you), some conservatives making similar arguments. They assert those who died from COVID-19 were meant to die. We all die. We have to live our lives with some risks. It's my right not to get the vaccine. In other words, death is OK for some of the population. Let's drink Courvoisier.



Conservatives arguing this trash betray their true feelings: they are social Darwinists; Ayn Rand fans who believe that the wealthy and successful deserve it; the poor and displaced do not, regardless of the historical, socioeconomic and sociopolitical circumstances therein. I cannot reconcile this with many conservatives' self-proclaimed Christian faith, where we are to "take care of the least of these:" the poor, the widow, the orphan, the migrant, the refugee, the downtrodden and the abused.



But then white, Christian evangelicals are most often white supremacists themselves, so they had very little angst in voting for Trump, a failed businessman who cheated on his first wife with his second, his second wife with his third, and his third pregnant wife with a sex worker, indeed, unprotected.



White supremacy is that good crack cocaine. It's free and a renewable resource. America's answer to COVID-19 matriculated through this lens. Poor access to healthcare and insufficient social benefits to mitigate the disease exacerbated the social inequality inextricably connected to class and race.



If a global pandemic doesn't break the back of whiteness and its fetishizing, I fail to see what will.





Deauwand Myers (deauwand@hotmail.com) holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside of Seoul.






Lam Research's R&D center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Lam Research Korea



By Baek Byung-yeul



Lam Research, a U.S.-based semiconductor equipment company, opened its R&D center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday.



The U.S. company is expected to further strengthen its partnership with Korean chip companies, given the research center is close to Samsung Electronics' factory in Yongin's Giheung District and is at the center of the K-Semiconductor Belt industrial complex, a government-led initiative.



"Located in the Jigok Industrial Complex in the heart of Korea's K-Semiconductor Belt, the R&D center's proximity to customers will enable closer collaboration and accelerated development of solutions across the full range of the chip-making processes offered by Lam," Lam Research's Korean unit said.



Lam Research plans to operate the Lam Research Korea Technology Center (KTC) as a core base for its global R&D network.



"As the semiconductor equipment sector becomes increasingly important, we expect the opening of Lam Research KTC to contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of the Korean semiconductor industry," Park Jin-kyu, the first vice minister of trade, industry and energy, said during an opening ceremony held at the center.



"The government will actively support Korea to become a stable and attractive investment destination for global semiconductor materials, parts and equipment companies."



"The Lam Research Korea Technology Center is a powerful extension to our global lab network," said Tim Archer, president and CEO of Lam Research. "By enabling deeper technology partnerships with our customers, this new facility further strengthens our ability to develop next-generation solutions faster."



Lee Sang-won, president of the company's Korean unit, also said, "This new R&D center will provide an outstanding venue where those efforts can continue and will contribute to the strengthening of the K-semiconductor industry ecosystem for many years to come."



Since launching its Korean unit in 1989, Lam Research has been working closely with Korean chip companies. In February, the company said it would produce etching equipment, a next-generation core piece of equipment for chip production in Korea. The new equipment is forecast to be used in developing next-generation Samsung memory chips and system chips.


New 500 million facility responds to Turkeys ambitious new climate commitments

For the first time, a GEFF incorporates technical assistance to improve corporate climate governance

Facility combines EBRD finance with donor funding from CTF and Turkey-EBRD Cooperation Fund

The EBRD has agreed a first transaction under a new financing facility that will benefit thousands of businesses and homeowners while strengthening the competitiveness of key Turkish companies and financial institutions.

Signed earlier in April, the transaction is part of a 500 million EBRD Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF), which combines EBRD finance with around 21.5 million of concessional financing from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and about 7 million in grants for technical assistance from the CTF and the TurkeyEBRD Cooperation Fund, among others.

The GEFF builds on the Turkey Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (TurSEFF) that has been running in Turkey since 2010. Participating banks and leasing companies will use the finance received through the facility to support individuals, businesses, vendors and producers of green materials and products with investments in high-performing green technologies.

These financial institutions can also benefit from a technical assistance programme on corporate climate governance. This is the first time such a programme has been incorporated into a GEFF.

Improvement in corporate climate governance to help maintain access to markets and capital

Corporate climate governance refers to the rules, policies and processes organisations use to identify, assess, manage and disclose risks and opportunities resulting from climate change. Various frameworks have been developed to support good climate governance, but there has been a recent push for global standards in response to the introduction of mandatory climate-related disclosures by regulators and demand from investors.

Although Turkey has advanced regulatory and institutional frameworks for corporate governance in listed companies, there is still work to do to apply best practices with regard to corporate climate governance.

As of the end of 2021, only 16 per cent of the 2,913 supporters of one of the most widely recognised frameworks, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), were from emerging markets, with Turkish companies accounting for just over 3 per cent of those emerging-market firms.

This matters because the lack of climate governance is already affecting companies access to capital. Rating agencies regularly upgrade and downgrade firms credit ratings based on data from providers and their own assessments.

By helping Turkish institutions to integrate climate-related information into their decision-making and to disclose their responses to changes in climate and related policies, the new facility will enable them to reassure the investment community about their management of climate-related risks and opportunities.

It will also help businesses maintain competitiveness in key export markets such as the European Union (EU). For instance, support to make green investments and establish robust monitoring, reporting and verification systems can reduce trade risks and annual costs stemming from the EUs Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), due to be phased in next year, which could run into hundreds of millions or euros.

The new facility responds to Turkeys ambitious new climate commitments

The size and design of the new facility is a response to Turkeys ambitious new climate commitments. In autumn 2021, Turkey ratified the Paris Agreement and announced its aim to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2053. Meeting this target will require a sharp increase in green investment, which could have huge economic benefits.

The potential for the facility to help is there. Since 2010, the EBRD and its financing partners have made 2.5 billion available alongside CTF concessional funding and EU grants to 14 financial institutions in Turkey through a series of financing facilities.

The total energy produced and saved by renewable-energy and energy-efficiency projects financed through the facilities is equivalent to that provided by about 12 per cent of the countrys 2020 coal imports for power plants. Purchasing this amount of coal at average 2021 prices would have cost the Turkish economy US$ 265 million.

Financial institutions can play a leading role in the transition to a green economy

The new facility will continue to support specific investments, but also aims to increase its impact by strengthening the competitiveness of key Turkish companies and financial institutions and accelerating changes in Turkeys financial system that will enable it to better support the countrys ambitions for green growth. It will pave the way for replication of the approach in other programmes in further EBRD economies and become a central element of the EBRDs engagement with its financial-sector clients in future.

As the place where the financial system and the real economy meet, Turkeys banks and leasing companies are the source of the finance that most people invest in their businesses and homes. By combining finance for high-performing green technologies with support to assess, manage and disclose climate-related risks and opportunities, the new GEFF will increase these financial institutions ability to advise their customers and channel investment into decarbonisation and innovation across the economy.
THE joy of seeing couples and families spending time together, breathing in the peace and beauty of this wonderful place, in which we are so blessed to be able to live, and to share with others.

That is what brings smiles to the owners of Top of the Rock, Podpairc and Walking Centre, in Drimoleague, David and Elizabeth Ross.

We catch up with the owners as we continue our series on some of Corks glamping sites.

What was the initial inspiration behind opening the campsite?

In the past, people driving through Drimoleague had no idea of the beautiful scenery that exists to the north of the village.

This all changed in 2008 when nine miles of walkways were put in place with the help of the West Cork Development Partnership.

As people from elsewhere began discovering these new paths, it became obvious that extra accommodation was needed.

Our small farm is situated just north of the village at an ancient place known as the Top of the Rock, which has a panoramic view of Castledonovan and the Ilen Valley.

The beautiful view, together with the need for a walking centre with accommodation, and the fact that our small farm needed a viable future, all came together to a point where we applied for planning and funding, and we were able to build what you see here today.

One of the pods at Top of the Rock, Podpairc and Walking Centre.

The design of your pods seems particularly unique to your site. What inspired their design?

These pods were inspired by the shape of the Gallarus Oratory and were built in County Kerry. They really resonate with our landscape, and convey the sense of shelter, simplicity and earthiness. Ironically, the Irish name for Drimoleague, Drom Daimh Liag, points to the existence of a beehive cell church structure in this townland in the 7th century, so its like history repeating itself!

How is it operating a farm and a campsite and how do they intertwine?

Its a small farm thats full of life and variety with 30 suckler cows, each bearing a calf every year. There are six ewes with lambs, and about as many goats with kids.

This, together with ducks, bantams, doves, a donkey, and our wonderful dog Daisy, makes for an environment thats full of surprises, new life and the wonder of Gods creation.

The campsite is simply our way of sharing our farm with everyone who comes to stay here.

The stunning views at Top of the Rock, Podpairc and Walking Centre.

How is it having an endless array of new faces and families filing through your home all the time?

Well, its certainly interesting. About 60% are people from Cork city and county, so its nice getting to know our neighbours! The rest are from all parts of Ireland and beyond. We have had families from Russia, Sweden, Chile, New Zealand, and of course many from the USA and the continent.

At least two-thirds of our guests on any given day are return visitors, so we build up a relationship with these families over the years and they become long-term friends.

Describe a day in your life during peak season at your Pod Pairc.

David starts off at 7am cleaning bathrooms and communal areas. At 7.30am, Elizabeth bakes two ovens full of scones and presents her breakfast bags with fresh coffee at reception.

At 10am, David starts off the Farmhands Tour, with Daisy taking the lead. Children, accompanied by parents, get to bottle-feed the lambs, gather the eggs, milk the cows, explore the bale maze, enjoy a hayride and hear the story of the farm its all about fun and learning, with a Farmhands Certificate at the end.

At noon, the turnover begins for the next arrival of guests.

From 3.30pm, Elizabeth, and Joanna, our daughter, welcome our new guests, and then theres time for a bit of a rest!

At 6.30pm, David does the feeding of the farm animals, followed by the lighting of the communal campfire where children toast marshmallows and families enjoy a chat around the fire.

By 10.30pm, we are trying to encourage everyone to go to their pods and get some sleep! Its a busy day!

If you could describe the spirit of your campsite/land in one sentence, what would it be?

Whatever St Finbarr brought here in the 5th century is still felt today peace and calm!
A FORMER Cork model agent who rubbed shoulders with everyone from Naomi Campbell to Christy Turlington is parting with his most prized artwork in a bid to secure accommodation for Ukrainian refugees crossing the border near his home in Warsaw.

Ed Jordan previously owned Profile Model Agency which, at the time, was known for being the most successful Irish business of its kind outside of Dublin. His success reached new heights when he had the opportunity to work with stars like Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell at a fashion show at the Point Depot in the 90s. Nonetheless, the artist said he wanted to pursue a life with more meaning.

This eventually led to his decision to work with children in Belarus who had profound special needs in 1996. Now living in Warsaw, Ed is doing everything in his power to help displaced Ukrainian refugees. This comes years after he set up art therapy centres in institutions in Belarus as part of his humanitarian work.

The former psychiatric nurse previously sold 120 paintings during his three-year art residency at the InterContinental Hotel in Warsaw. Last year saw him join forces with fellow artists to form the Has#tag Artists Collective. They have now decided to contribute 100% of sales to fund accommodation for displaced refugees.

The appeal has a special focus on refugee mothers arriving in Warsaw from Ukraine with children who are vulnerable or living with disabilities. It sees refugees meet with volunteers at railway stations in Warsaw before they are accompanied to a hotel with a pre-booked family room. Each room has been pre-paid for with funds from the Has#tag Art Collective paintings.

Ed described the trauma facing refugees where he lives.

If your apartment was blown to smithereens and you cant afford to rebuild it, there is nothing to go back to, he said.

People are in limbo and cant spend the next 10 years having their child lying next to them on a camp bed.

Mr Jordan spoke of the palpable fear among the Polish community.

One man in his 30s asked me if I could take his wife and one-year-old daughter to Ireland if anything happened to him, he said.

He appealed to Corkonians for donations to the art collective.

As I am selling the art directly, purchasers are bypassing the gallerys 40% commission, making the paintings more reasonably priced, he said.

Painting prices begin at 40 and each painting is framed and dispatched by courier ready to hang on arrival at their destination five to seven days later and not in a tube needing to be framed at extra cost to the purchaser.

"Some of my colleagues here in Warsaw have also donated some paintings to the appeal, with funds raised going directly to the emergency accommodation appeal.

Anyone wishing to donate can email edjordan.ceann@gmail.com or hashtagartcollective.eu@gmail.com.
The first mandate in the U.S. to require all-electric heating has passed in Washington state, where newly constructed buildings will need to install electric heating and hot-water systems. The mandate will go into effect in July 2023.

The mandate passed 11 to 3 in a vote by the State Building Code Council to restrict the use of natural gas in multifamily housing complexes and commercial buildings by requiring installation of electric heat pumps. A similar mandate for smaller residential buildings will be considered within the next few months.

The revised energy code will see that new buildings have heat pumps rather than HVAC systems powered by natural gas. At least 50% of water will also need to be warmed via electric heat pumps, although the remaining amount can be heated through other methods.

Heat pumps are energy-efficient alternatives to furnaces. They work by taking in heat from one area and pumping it into another. For example, in the winter, heat pumps can pull heat from outside, even if the temperature is low, and move it indoors. In warmer months, the opposite happens  the heat pump moves the warm indoor air outside to cool the buildings interior.

We need to consider what our definition of risk is when were talking about climate change, said Katy Sheehan, Board member and executive director of Spokanes Community Building Foundation, as reported by The Spokesman-Review. Burning more fossil fuels is risky behavior. Taking a small step forward in reducing our natural gas usage is one way to reach our goal that were mandated to get to.

Washingtons mandate has exceptions for hospitals, research facilities, and select other buildings, including buildings in cooler parts of the state where winter temperatures can drop well below 0F.

Many cities across the U.S. have banned natural gas in new buildings, with some exceptions. California has also updated its building code to encourage alternatives to natural gas hookups, but it isnt mandated. Washingtons mandate is the first at the state-level, although a similar proposal was recently considered and ultimately dropped in New York state due to budget negotiations, Grist reported.

Heat pumps are considered a sustainable alternative because they can generate three or four times the amount of energy they consume, according to The Conversation. Heat from fossil fuels actually wastes energy, because it needs to convert the energy from one form into another form rather than moving the heat from one place to another. To meet emissions goals by 2030, heat pump use will need to reach one-third of global heating systems.
Social media platform Twitter is taking a stand against climate denial.

The company announced on Earth Day that it would ban all advertisements that contradict the scientific consensus on climate change.

We believe that climate denialism shouldnt be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldnt detract from important conversations about the climate crisis, Twitter director of sustainability Sean Boyle and global sustainability manager Casey Junod wrote in the announcement.

Twitter said that it would base its actions on reliable sources like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports. At the beginning of their announcement, Boyle and Junod cited the latest IPCC report and its warning that greenhouse gas emissions must be speedily and dramatically cut to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

Now more than ever, meaningful climate action, from all of us, is critical, they wrote.

Twitters action follows growing concern about the spread of misinformation on social media platforms. A 2021 study, for example, found that 25 percent of tweets about the climate crisis sent around the time that President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris agreement were sent by bots, and that the bot-authored tweets tended to be skeptical of climate science, as Scientific American reported at the time.

At the time of the COP26 UN climate change conference in Glasgow in November 2021, more than 200 scientists and activists sent a letter to the CEOs of major social media companies asking them to implement climate misinformation policies like the ones they instituted in response to the coronavirus pandemic, as CNN reported.

Twitter has taken previous steps to promote accurate climate information. To support COP26, the company created pre-bunks of credible facts about climate-related themes, the company said.

Other social media companies have also taken steps to address the online spread of climate denial. Pinterest announced this month that it would ban any climate denying posts on its platform and remove any that it found, as CNN reported. Google last year said that it would ban climate denying ads. Meta, meanwhile, introduced a Climate Science Center that features accurate climate information, The Guardian reported.

It isnt clear whether the Twitter policy would apply to posts from individual users as opposed to advertisements, but the company said that more information was forthcoming.

We recognize that misleading information about climate change can undermine efforts to protect the planet, Boyle and Junod wrote. In the coming months, well have more to share on our work to add reliable, authoritative context to the climate conversations happening on Twitter.

Twitters announcement came hours before the EU reached a deal mandating that technology companies do more to control hateful or misleading content on their sites, as AP News reported.
By Dana Drugmand

You dont have to look far to find misinformation about climate science continuing to spread online through prominent social media channels like YouTube. Thats despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that humans are driving the climate crisis.

A new report by the global activist NGO Avaaz reveals that, despite YouTubes pledge to combat misinformation, the popular video site owned by Google has failed to crack down on this problem when it comes to climate change. Videos containing false or misleading information on climate change continue to reach millions of users through YouTubes recommendation algorithm. Furthermore, ads  including those from major brands and environmental groups  displayed on these videos provide a monetary incentive, not only to YouTube, but to the videos creators to keep promoting fringe theories contrary to scientific reality.

Avaaz asked @YouTube to extract such videos from its recommendation algorithms and include climate misinformation in the companys borderline content policy. In addition, it should allow advertisers to exclude their ads from videos with climate misinformation. #DetoxTheAlgorithm pic.twitter.com/OUKcLtbY51  Avaaz (@Avaaz) January 16, 2020 We found that YouTube is driving millions of people to watch climate misinformation videos every day, Avaaz writes in its report, titled Why is YouTube Broadcasting Climate Misinformation to Millions? YouTubes recommendation algorithm is giving these videos free promotion and showing misinformation to millions who wouldnt have been exposed to it otherwise.

Monetizing Misinformation Examples of videos identified as containing climate misinformation include titles such as ACTUAL SCIENTIST: Climate Change is a Hoax and CIA Whistleblower Speaks Out About Climate Engineering Vaccination Dangers and 911. Other videos feature interviews with climate science deniers, such as Patrick Moore, and promote false claims that there is no evidence that CO2 emissions are the dominant cause of climate change (there is and they are). Not all of the channels promoting misinformation are owned by pseudonymous individuals with fringe ideas. Some come from established media organizations such as Fox News and the conservative media nonprofit PragerU. Avaaz uncovered these examples by reviewing over 5,000 videos using the search terms global warming, climate change, and climate manipulation. The NGO found a number of videos containing misleading or false information for each search term. For the search term global warming, 16 percent of the top 100 related videos included under the up-next feature had misinformation about climate change, the report states. The percentage of top 100 related videos with climate misinformation, promoted through YouTubes recommendation algorithm, dropped to 8 percent when the search term climate change was used. When the researchers typed in climate manipulation, however, that percentage rose to 21 percent. According to Avaaz, the climate misinformation videos it reviewed had 21.1 million views collectively.

If you search for terms such as global warming on @YouTube, you might end up watching #misinformation about #climate change. Read more about it here: https://t.co/9SSqt3eijb (1/5) pic.twitter.com/Tl6YVBgJ5w  Avaaz (@Avaaz) January 16, 2020 Avaaz researchers also found that some of these climate misinformation videos had accompanying advertisements, indicating that YouTube is incentivizing climate misinformation through its monetization program. As the report points out, 55 percent of the fee that advertisers pay goes to the video creator, while 45 percent goes to YouTube. Avaaz identified ads from over 100 brands appearing alongside the climate misinformation videos that it reviewed. These included major consumer brands such as Samsung and LOreal, ethical or green brands such as Ecosia and Nikin, and environmental groups such as WWF and Greenpeace. We from NIKIN want to join Avaaz in calling on YouTube to change their algorithm that disinformation doesnt get spread around the world and it should especially not be monetized, a company spokesperson for the Swiss sustainable fashion company said in response to the Avaaz report. We from NIKIN are a sustainable brand that used YouTube as an advertising platform, but our videos got shown before videos that call climate change a hoax. This is completely against what we want and the responsibility lies in YouTubes hand to change that.

Avaaz Recommends Further Action, Youtube Defends Its Policies Avaaz acknowledged steps that YouTube and Google have taken to update the video platforms Community Guidelines policy and fight disinformation. In 2015 YouTube initiated a campaign to help change the way people discuss climate change, and climate-related videos now include a Wikipedia link to basic, definitive information on the term global warming. In February 2019 Google issued a white paper on fighting disinformation, stating: We set out to prevent our systems from serving up content that could misinform users in a harmful way, particularly in domains that rely on veracity, such as science, medicine, news, or historical events. Google said it introduced a higher bar for the promotion of YouTube videos. YouTube has also updated its policies on the kind of content it prohibits and has taken steps to protect its users from exposure to misinformation on vaccine safety and conspiracy theories.

The relative number and views of the top 100 videos found searching for global warming on YouTube and identifying those featuring climate misinformation. DeSmogBlog / Avaaz But Avaaz says these actions are not enough. Climate misinformation threatens the health and safety of our societies and our planet. YouTube has taken notable strides to act against disinformation, but our research proves that more is needed, said Julie Deruy, senior campaigner at Avaaz. YouTube can and should immediately move to include climate misinformation in the companys borderline content policy and allow advertisers to exclude their ads from videos with climate misinformation. (Borderline content refers to videos that walk the line of violating YouTubes terms of service and has been the subject of much scrutiny). The Avaaz report outlines several recommendations, based on consultation with industry experts, advertisers, and legislators around the world. These recommendations, quoted here from the report, suggest the video platform: Detox the YouTube Recommendation Algorithms: The company must end its free promotion of misinformation and disinformation videos by extracting such videos from its algorithms, starting immediately by including climate misinformation in its borderline content policy. Demonetize Disinformation: Add disinformation and misinformation to YouTubes relevant monetization policies, ensuring such content does not include advertising and is not financially incentivized. YouTube should start immediately with the option for advertisers to exclude their ads from videos with climate misinformation. Correct the Record: Work with independent fact-checkers to inform users who have seen or interacted with verifiably false or misleading information, and issue corrections alongside these videos. Transparency: Although YouTube promises to work openly with researchers, the company maintains an opaque process around its recommendation algorithms and on how effective its policies are in dealing with misinformation. YouTube should immediately release data showing the amount of views on misinformation content that were driven by its recommendation algorithms. YouTube must also work with researchers to ensure access to its recommendation algorithms to study misinformation.

DeSmog reached out to one researcher who has studied YouTubes promotion of videos containing conspiracy theories or false information on climate change. Dr. Joachim Allgaier, senior researcher at RWTH Aachen University in Germany, authored a study published last summer finding that YouTubes video recommendation algorithm boosted videos that misrepresented the scientific consensus on climate. Of the 200 videos he reviewed, more than half presented views contrary to mainstream climate science. Allgaiers findings are consistent with those of Avaaz, and he said he supports the recommendations in its new report. I hope [YouTube] will be more transparent on how science-related videos get recommended or not and what exactly they are doing against the promotion of misinformation/disinformation, Allgaier said via email. And they obviously need to stop the monetization of disinformation videos! To be more transparent and respond to requests and questions from researchers and NGOs would be a prerequisite for being a reliable source of information. From this point of view there still is a lot of room for improvement.

Avaaz mock up of what effective misinformation corrections could look like on YouTube videos. DeSmogBlog / Avaaz DeSmog also reached out to Google, parent company of YouTube, and a company spokesperson defended YouTubes policies, saying that false information does not necessarily violate the sites community guidelines. YouTube indicated that it is not inclined to adopt the recommendations in the Avaaz report, due to concerns on limiting free speech. We cant speak to Avaazs methodology or results, and our recommendations systems are not designed to filter or demote videos or channels based on specific perspectives. YouTube has strict ad policies that govern where ads are allowed to appear and we give advertisers tools to opt out of content that doesnt align with their brand, a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement responding to the report. Weve also significantly invested in reducing recommendations of borderline content and harmful misinformation, and raising up authoritative voices on YouTube, the spokesperson continued. In 2019 alone, the consumption on authoritative news publishers channels grew by 60 percent. As our systems appear to have done in the majority of cases in this report, we prioritize authoritative voices for millions of news and information queries, and surface information panels on topics prone to misinformation  including climate change  to provide users with context alongside their content. We continue to expand these efforts to more topics and countries. Avaaz said it stands by its findings, and criticized YouTube for knowingly promoting false information on climate change. YouTube is the largest broadcasting channel in the world, and it is driving millions of people to climate misinformation videos, said Avaazs Deruy. This is not about free speech, this is about the free advertising YouTube is giving to factually inaccurate videos that risk confusing people about one of the biggest crises of our time. The bottom line is that YouTube should not feature, suggest, promote, advertise, or lead users to misinformation.

Reposted with permission from DeSmogBlog.
A powerful bomb blast was reported on the premises of the University of Karachi on the afternoon of April 26. The blast occurred in a van near China-built Confucius Institute, which is a non-profit institution that teaches the Chinese language to local students. Four people have been reportedly killed in the blast, including three Chinese nationals, two of whom were women, and the fourth person was a van driver who was a local.



The incident is being termed as a case of suicide bombing. Though no one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, in the past, outlawed militant separatist groups from the Balochistan province have claimed attacks on Chinese nationals who work in large numbers in different parts of Pakistan, especially Balochistan and Karachi.



Senior police official Muqqadas Haider said that the initial investigation was being carried out and it was too early to make any suggestions or comments. He said that the CCTV footage, which showed a woman in a burqa outside the entrance of the institute, was being analysed. The woman is suspected of being the suicide bomber. He also informed that the nature of the blast can only be confirmed after the report is submitted by the bomb squad. However, it is suspected that a remote-controlled explosive device was planted either inside or near the van.



A spokesperson of the university said that the victims had been identified as Confucius Institute Director Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng, Chen Sai and Khalid, the driver. This blast is said to be the largest terror attack on Chinese nationals in Pakistan.
First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon, right, visits a Hyundai Motor research center in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, April 26. Yonhap





The government plans to invest 397.5 billion won ($318 million) to build charging stations for electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles this year in an effort to foster the next-generation car industry, a senior official said Tuesday.







The government also plans to focus on building infrastructure and developing technology for self-driving vehicles this year, according to First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon.







"The government will continue to craft policy support for the next-generation car sector in a bid to help sharpen the industry's competitive edge and take the lead in the global market," Lee said during his visit to a research center of leading automaker Hyundai Motor in Hwaseong, south of Seoul.







The administration designated the non-memory chip, bio-health and next-generation vehicle sectors as key three industries that it aims to nurture for job creation and innovation-driven growth.







The government earlier said it plans to provide more support for zero-emission cars in an effort to help the country better achieve its greenhouse gas emission goals.







Korea aims to raise the total number of eco-friendly vehicles to 4.5 million by 2030, including 3.62 million EVs. (Yonhap)


The face-off between the DMK government and the Governor reached a new peak on Monday, April 25, with the Tamil Nadu Assembly adopting two Bills to limit the Governor's power to appoint vice-chancellors (VCs) to 13 States universities. The legislations seek to give effect to a promise made by Chief Minister MK Stalin in Assembly in January.

The Bills were adopted even as Governor RN Ravi chairs a two-day conference of VCs of State, Central and private universities in Tamil Nadu at Ooty. The AIADMK opposed the Bills right from their introduction, and the BJP staged a walk-out in protest. The two Bills  The Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2022, and the Chennai University Act, 1923  were adopted by a voice vote. While the legislations still require the Governor's assent to become law, analysts viewed the DMK government's move as a means of registering its protest against the actions of Ravi, who has been sitting on many Bills, including the NEET Exemption Bill.

The Bills said according to the Acts in Gujarat, Telangana and Karnataka, the VC shall be appointed by the Chancellor with the concurrence of the State government. In line with the aforesaid other State University laws, the Tamil Nadu government is amending the laws to empower the State government in appointing VCs, the statement of objectives and reasons for the Bills said.

What did the Chief Minister say?

Speaking on the Bills, Stalin said that previously, VCs were appointed in consultation with the State government, but over the past four years the Governor has been acting as though he has the exclusive rights of appointment.

Stalin pointed out that in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home State of Gujarat, the State government appoints VCs, while in Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh they are appointed with the State government's consent.

"The elected government cannot appoint VCs now. This goes against democratic principles. Further, it causes shortcomings in administration of universities," the chief minister said.

"The Punchhi Commission (2007) on inter-State relations observed that there would be a clash of functions and powers if the power to appoint VCs is vested with Governors, and recommended that it not be given to Governors. Nineteen States agreed with this view," Stalin recalled.

He also noted that the AIADMK government had accepted this recommendation in 2017. After the DMK government assumed office last year, it reiterated this view to the Union government. "Above all, this Bill is about the rights of the elected State government. So I appeal to all members to adopt this Bill unanimously," he added.

If the Governor gives his assent to these Bills, the State government can appoint VCs to Madurai-Kamaraj University, Anna University, Bharathiar University, Bharathidasan University, Mother Teresa Women's University, Alagappa University, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Periyar Univesity, Tamil Nadu Open University, Thiruvalluvar University, Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University, Annamalai University, and the University of Madras.

What do the analysts say?

"This effort was taken during the time of (former CM) J Jayalalithaa. But these two Bills would go against the norms of the University Grants Commission Act," political analyst Tharasu Shyam pointed out.

"The DMK government has registered its protest against the Governor's activities. Beyond that, there may not be any use to the Bills. However, Ravi's moves are unbecoming of a Governor. The Bills can be forwarded to the President only after getting the Governor's assent. Had the government adopted a resolution, it could have been sent to all authorities immediately," Shyam opined.

T Velmurugan, of TVK, said apart from these 13 universities, the State government should be able to appoint VCs to Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS), MGR Medical University, and the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University. The CM should be Chancellor of all State universities, and a separate Bill should be adopted for this, he added.

MMK leader MH Jawahirullah said, "The Tamil Nadu government has clearly said it will not accept the New Education Policy. The Governor convening a conference of VCs on that very subject has caused a clash and proved the Punchhi Commission report true."

According to Congress leader K Selvaperunthagai, Jayalalithaa would have supported these Bills had she been alive as she had mooted the idea long ago. PMK leader GK Mani, Chinnappa (MDMK), Thalli T Ramachandran (CPI), Nagai Mali (CPM), and Chinathanai Selvan (VCK) supported the Bill.
Police personnel have been deployed around Clarence High School, Bengaluru, by Pulakeshinagar police to prevent any untoward incident and in anticipation of protest in front of the school. This comes a day after Hindu Janajagruti Samiti made accusations against the school for making Bible compulsory for students.

Over ten police personnel, which includes three sub-inspectors, are constantly monitoring the situation after rumours that pro-Hindu activists might initiate a protest.

Since Sunday, April 24 and Monday, April 25, Hoysala patrolling staff have been keeping an eye on the movements of protestors and staff has been deployed to contain any situation that might break out, informed a senior police officer. As a precautionary measure, no permit has been given for protests or any gathering.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh said that he will be looking into the issue.

It all started when parents and activists grew angry with Clarence High School, a more-than-century-old school, about a declaration that parents were asked to sign. The declaration states, "You affirm that your child will attend all classes, including morning assembly, scripture class and clubs for his/her own moral and spiritual welfare, and will not object to carrying the Bible and Hymn book during his/her stay at Clarence High School."

Activists visited the school on Monday, April 25, regarding the same and reported the matter to the Block Education Officer as well. They plan to meet Minister BC Nagesh soon.
Lotte World Tower in Seoul / Korea Times file



By Kim Hyun-bin



Lotte Group is paying keen attention to whether Chairman Shin Dong-bin will be included in the government's planned special pardons for Buddha's Birthday on May 8, as the conglomerate needs leadership stability to push ahead with its entry into bioscience, healthcare, mobility and other new businesses, according to company officials Tuesday.



Shin was sentenced to two years and six months in prison suspended for four years in connection with the national corruption scandal that put former President Park Geun-hye behind bars. Shin was accused of bribing the former president by offering 7 billion won in exchange for business favors for Lotte's duty free business.



Five business lobby groups including the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), and the Korea International Trade Association on Monday called for the Moon Jae-in administration to grant special pardons for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin.



"Lotte Chairman Shin and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong both have similar restrictions if they are on parole or subject to a probation period," a KCCI senior official said. "Also, Lotte has suffered from the COVID-19 situation and announced its intent to invest in new businesses, so the big picture looks different when Shin is leading the M&A efforts or establishing new businesses compared to watching from the sidelines."





Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin
Manx Gas owe 'millions' to Manx Utilities

The chairman of Manx Utilities says Manx Gas owes them millions of pounds after failing to pay bills on time.

Rob Callister confirmed the overdue debt from Manx Gas had at one point peaked at nine million pounds. He said it currently stands at two point four with a further three point two million pounds invoice.

It follows a Freedom of Information request seeking confirmation that Manx Gas had paid all of its between September 2021 and February this year.

Mr Callister said: "Manx Utilities has been aware of both the potential public interest in the non-payment of significant sums of money to a public body and the potentially commercial sensitivities arising from the disclosure of such information.

Manx Utilities requested several extensions from the requestor in order to consult with all parties, receive advice, collate feedback, consider the application of exemptions and appropriate redactions and prepare the response.

Prior to Christmas 2021 Manx Utilities was concerned with the possible impact of high wholesale energy prices on Manx Gass ability to pay for the natural gas it was purchasing from Manx Utilities. As previously reported, a request from Manx Gas to forward purchase natural gas for winter 2021 was fulfilled but a further request was deferred pending the receipt of further information from Manx Gas, which Manx Gas declined to provide.

On Christmas Eve Manx Utilities was notified by its banking provider that inward payments due from Manx Gas totalling 2.3 million had been cancelled by Manx Gas.

Manx Gas subsequently confirmed this was the case.

In January 2022 Manx Gas requested that its payment terms be extended from 30 days from invoice date to 90 days from invoice date.

This request was refused by Manx Utilities but payments from Manx Gas continued to be outside the 30 days terms agreed and up to 104 days after an invoice was issued. During 2022 Manx Gas has made two payments to Manx Utilities  the 2.3 million paid at the end of February 2022 and 6.5 million paid on 19 April 2022.

The overdue debt from Manx Gas to Manx Utilities peaked at 9.0 million in April 2022 and currently stands at 2.4 million, with a further 3.2 million invoiced but not yet due for payment. Manx Utilities continues dialogue with Manx Gas to ensure natural gas is provided to Manx Gass customers and to ensure it is paid in full and on time for gas and gas services supplied to Manx Gas."
DARPAs RACER program has been developing off-road autonomous combat vehicles that can travel as fast as crewed systems. The agency has now selected Intel to develop a simulation platform for these off-road AVs. The aim of the project, known as RACER-Sim, is to create computer models that mimic the type of rugged, unstructured terrain that these vehicles commonly encounter. Intel Labs will work with the Computer Vision Center in Barcelona and the University of Texas at Austin to craft these simulation tools.

We brought together a team of renowned experts from the Computer Vision Center and UT Austin with the goal of creating a versatile and open platform to accelerate progress in off-road ground robots for all types of environments and conditions, said Intels Autonomous Agents Lab director German Ros in a statement.

Developing AVs that can operate on backroads, hilly areas and other types of rough terrain have been a major challenge for the industry. Traditional lidar and camera sensors are designed for predictable settings like roads and highways. Off-the-road AVs must operate in a much more challenging environment, driving on extreme terrain with rocks, debris and vegetation.

Over the next two years, Intel will work on speeding up the process of designing off-the-road combat AVs. During the first phase, it will create new simulation platforms and map generation tools that can mimic off-the-road environments. Intel during the second phase will implement the new algorithms without relying on robots, a measure designed to cut costs and time.

The Pentagon for many years has been working on autonomous technologies for the U.S. military, including unmanned underwater vessels, pilotless fighter jets and more. But the cybersecurity and safety risks of such systems pose a real challenge to their everyday use.

You can watch a preview of what RACER-Sim will look like in the video below:
In response to fraudulent legal requests, companies like Apple, Google, Meta and Twitter have been tricked into sharing sensitive personal information about some of their customers. We knew that was happening as recently as last month when Bloomberg published a report on hackers using fake emergency data requests to carry out financial fraud. But according to a newly published report from the outlet, some malicious individuals are also using the same tactics to target women and minors with the intent of extorting them into sharing sexually explicit images and videos of themselves.

Its unclear how many fake data requests the tech giants have fielded since they appear to come from legitimate law enforcement agencies. But what makes the requests particularly effective as an extortion tactic is that the victims have no way of protecting themselves other than by not using the services offered by those companies. Law enforcement officials and investigators Bloomberg spoke to told the publication they believe the use of the tactic has become more prevalent in recent months.

All the companies that commented on Bloombergs reporting, including Google and Snap, said they have policies and teams in place to verify the legitimacy of user data requests.

"We review every data request for legal sufficiency and use advanced systems and processes to validate law enforcement requests and detect abuse, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told Engadget. We block known compromised accounts from making requests and work with law enforcement to respond to incidents involving suspected fraudulent requests, as we have done in this case."

A Discord spokesperson said the company validates all data requests to ensure they come from a genuine source. We are continuously investing in our Safety capabilities to address emerging issues like this one, the spokesperson added.

Part of what has allowed the fake requests to slip through is that they abuse how the industry typically handles emergency appeals. Among most tech companies, its standard practice to share a limited amount of information with law enforcement in response to good faith requests related to situations involving imminent danger.

Typically, the information shared in those instances includes the name of the individual, their IP, email and physical address. That might not seem like much, but its usually enough for bad actors to harass, dox or SWAT their target. According to Bloomberg, there have been multiple instances of police showing up at the homes and schools of underage women.

The issue of fake data requests is reportedly prompting companies to think of new ways to verify legitimate ones. It has also pushed US lawmakers to weigh in on the issue. No one wants tech companies to refuse legitimate emergency requests when someones safety is at stake," said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon last month. "But the current system has clear weaknesses that need to be addressed."
This mornings tech headlines are heavy on Musk. While the SpaceX and Tesla boss is still chasing hyperloop glory, yesterday Twitter accepted Elon Musk's buyout offer of $44 billion  more than anyone else would have likely paid for the social network.

Musk has already said hell take the company private and added he wants to upgrade Twitter by protecting free speech, open-sourcing algorithms, fighting spambots and "authenticating all humans."

Now, there's no-one the internet and tech media loves to predict or bet against more than Elon Musk. What's odd is that Musk laid out his interest in Twitter so explicitly. He tweets so much. He makes headlines, not only in specialist press but across TV networks and major newspapers, with his casual missives running the gamut from typo-riven banter  how I deal with Twitter, to be honest  to angering America's Securities Exchange Commission and facing repercussions for it.

Im interested to see how it compares to Jeff Bezos purchase of The Washington Post, which now seems like a sensible, innocuous media purchase in comparison. The Amazon founder has been pretty hands-off, as he said he would be.

Bezos paid $250 million for a journalistic institution. Musk is offering up 176 times more for Twitter. How messy could it possibly get?

 Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Maybe some people don't have phones.

Way back in 2018, Blizzard revealed Diablo: Immortal , a game to fill the gaps of the story between Diablo II and Diablo III. However, the fact it was announced as a mobile-only game didnt exactly go over well with the publisher's hardcore fans  to put it mildly . Nearly three and a half years later, theres a June release date, and Blizzard announced itll also be available on PC after all.

Continue reading.

The Boring Company will start one 'in the coming years,' he said.

POOL New / reuters

Elon Musk first started the idea of a high-speed hyperloop transport system between cities back in 2013, but he then left it to other companies. Next, in 2017, he announced he would build a hyperloop system after all, starting with a New York to Washington D.C. route. Now, Musk has tweeted The Boring Company will attempt to build a working hyperloop "in the coming years." The company hasnt completed any significant projects, apart from the Las Vegas LVCC Loop with 1.7 miles of tunnels. (It has announced but shelved or canceled several other projects).

Continue reading.

Theres a Lightning Rifle from 'The Matrix' and Channing Tatum's 'Jupiter Ascending' ears.

Filmmakers Lana and Lilly Wachowski have announced they're holding an auction of props from films like The Matrix and Cloud Atlas to raise money for vulnerable trans youth. It comes after a record 238 anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed in the US this year alone, with roughly half targeting transgender people.

All the money raised will go to the Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund, which will distribute the funds to organizations in Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee and elsewhere in the US.

Continue reading.

A vlogging workhorse, with some caveats

Engadget

Panasonic launched the GH5 over five years ago, powering a vlogging boom and confirming the potential of mirrorless cameras for video. Its replacement has finally come in the form of the $2,200 GH6. Perhaps unsurprisingly, its very good. But one area it struggles is crucial: autofocus. The GH6 only has contrast detect autofocus, which, while improved, means it lags behind rival Sony and Canon cameras.

Continue reading.

A hybrid could be available as soon as 2023.

GM

One of Chevy's most iconic cars will get the EV treatment. GM has confirmed it's developing a "fully electric" Corvette, and an "electrified" (read: hybrid) version will be available as soon as 2023. The automaker didn't provide more details, and even the video attached to the teaser doesn't offer any clues. A Corvette EV isn't entirely surprising, mind you. GM plans to exclusively sell EVs by 2035, and the car was only going to survive that transition by being electrified.

Continue reading.
The Twitter icon is displayed outside the company's corporate office in New York, New York, April 21. EPA-Yonhap



Elon Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion in cash Monday in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world's richest person.



It is a seminal moment for the 16-year-old company that emerged as one of the world's most influential public squares and now faces a string of challenges.



Discussions over the deal, which last week appeared uncertain, accelerated over the weekend after Musk wooed Twitter shareholders with financing details of his offer.



Under pressure, Twitter started negotiating with Musk to buy the company at the proposed $54.20 per share price.



"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said in a statement.



Shares were up about 6 percent following the news. The deal represents a near 40 percent premium to the closing price the day before Musk disclosed he had bought a more than 9 percent stake. Even so, the offer is below the $70 range where Twitter was trading last year.





Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at an event in Hawthorne, California, April 30, 2015. Reuters-Yonhap
Even Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal doesnt know what Elon Musks acquisition of the company means for the service or its employees. Thats the biggest takeaway from accounts of the companys first all-hands meeting following news of the $44 billion deal.

Will Musk unban Donald Trump? Will there be layoffs? What about employees stock grants? For now, all those questions seem to be up in the air. Agrawal reportedly told employees there were no layoffs planned at this time, but acknowledged that he was also uncertain about the future. Once the deal closes, we dont know what direction this company will go in, he said according to The New York Times.

Meanwhile, Twitter chairman Bret Taylor confirmed that the board will dissolve once the acquisition is finalized. The whole process could take another six months, Bloomberg reported . The deal has left many Twitter employees unsettled, and the company has reportedly locked down changes to its platform through Friday, in an effort to guard against rogue employees.

In announcing the deal, Musk outlined a number of changes he wanted to make, including ridding Twitter of spam bots and authenticating all humans. One person who hasnt publicly weighed in yet is Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who has previously endorsed Musks involvement with the company. In its statement, Twitters board of directors confirmed that its decision to accept Musks offer was unanimous, meaning Dorsey had also approved the deal.

Update 4/25 11:45pm ET: Jack Dorsey has weighed in on the deal, saying that "Elon is the singular solution I trust."
Elon Musk has purchased Twitter for $44 billion dollars after pressure to accept his offer to buy the site for over $54 a share. Right away, the fatalistic tweets in the trending 'RIP Twitter' tag from this morning, are, in my humble opinion, more than a little premature.

Me rolling up on my Twitter to see why RIP Twitter is trending: pic.twitter.com/EgQZgFSPYn  In My Mind (@MeAloneInMyMind) April 25, 2022

The big blue bird app blew up this morning after news that celebrity billionaire Elon Musk was moving forward with his attempt at purchase of the social media site, now in serious talks with Twitter to buy the company and take it private.

He had already bought several shares, and although Twitter refused his initial bid to take over the company, it seems his increased offer changed their minds - because, as of this morning, it was announced they will accept the offer. Negotiations have been ongoing thoughout the day.

When the news hit Twitter, its users began to either mourn or panic - the tone is inconsistent - over these predicted upcoming changes.

RIP Twitter. You will become the new My Space for MAGA.  Jeff Thompson (@jeff_thompson) April 25, 2022

Those protesting are complaining because Musk has made it clear that one of his main gripes with the social networking site is with their censors - the things people can be banned or suspended for saying.

This assumption comes from Musk's promise to transform Twitter into a "platform for free speech around the globe" - something that, due to the misuse of the term "free speech" by politcial radicals as "the ability to say whatever I want without fact-checking or attempting to be polite," people are justifiably nervous about.

Many users seem to believe that the removal of those censors will only benefit politically alt-right fringe types - Trumpers, blatant homophobes or racists, conservative trolls, et cetera.

Ironic that those gloating that Elon Musk will bring "free speech" to Twitter are doing so on...Twitter.



RIP Twitter  NJ11 Voter *Antifa AF*  (@andartissa) April 25, 2022

#RIPTwitter isnt trending because liberals and progressives are afraid of hearing different opinions, its trending because many of the opinions will be lies and disinformation, and they could come from popular accounts with enormous reach. More election/COVID lies likely.  Yocuteass of Borg (@__a1va) April 25, 2022

There is a serious risk that the removal of those censors will create a less safe or comfortable environment for some users, it's true. That said, however, speaking as someone who has been on Tumblr since 2012...it'll take more than a change of hands to fundamentally change this site.

Yahoo bought Tumblr in early 2013, not even a full year after I joined. The site was wildly popular at the time, close to what Twitter is to teens now - when Yahoo purchased it, it was worth $1.1 Billion. Users panicked when they began to make changes, and for a while, the site became markedly more annoying to use, but over time the changes slowed, and as they got more used to Tumblr's userbase and learned to respond to what they wanted, things got a little better. The site was still in decline, but it had its core userbase already.

Then, in 2017, Verizon bought Yahoo, and the Great Porn Ban of December 17 happened a year later. Before this aquisition, Tumblr had become a safe haven for sex workers and mature content, one that many liked because it wasn't part of the main-stream pornography industry that had a history of harming and objectifying its workers, especially the women. The site was more popular for home-grown content of varieties not often found on mainstream porn outlets, including accounts for queer and kink communities.

So when Verizon banned all pornography and nudity on the platform, its userbase dropped significantly - but even then, predictions of a barren and useless site did not pan out. And better yet, when Verizon realized their plans for the site didn't align with what the userbase wanted, they decided to sell it to the owners of Wordpress - they had to, because collectively, we all basically said, "No, we don't like this" together. A lot.

In fact, now, against all odds, many of us mid-twenties Tumblr Elders have been shocked to learn recently that the app is once again picking up favor with teens, and is experiencing a jump in activity.

Listen. I'm a veteran of Tumblr. I know this seems scary but all we have to do is devalue this platform into the fucking ground. It is SHOCKINGLY easy.  Zane Schacht - Voice Goblin (@VoicesByZane) April 25, 2022

Social media is a kind of unique and weird sort of business. The decisions that whoever is in charge of a website makes don't always present a Direct Stop to behaviors they don't want to see from users - sometimes those users will just find clever ways to get around them, or they'll build their own.

In most businesses, the clientele can't rebel against you like this - which is why running a social media website is a little bit like being a politician. The people have a lot of the power.

Social media websites really work more like places than they do businesses. People choose to spend their time there, and while you could argue that they're getting entertainment value out of the app, what they're really doing is - duh - socializing. Not just socializing though - they're forming communities.

And that's what makes running a social media company different. You're running a business that is also a community, so your job is half CEO...and half Head of State.

The people of Twitter can't vote on what they do or don't want to happen - all they can do is emmigrate. Leave the site and go find a different community. But the thing is, because it's a community, people aren't going to be as quick to leave as this trend suggests. They have connections here, rooms where they go to talk about familiar things, a familiar environment on their homepage.

They don't WANT to leave - but, at the same time, they don't LITERALLY live there, so they will do so the moment it gets too uncomfortable to stay.

I see people tweeting RIP Twitter . Are the same people who said that are leaving the country if Trump become President but they never did.   Itachi-Macho (@AvocarlosCarlos) April 25, 2022

So, ironically, much as I am sure I would not agree with this man on literally any other topic (except maybe smooth or crunchy peanut butter, idk, something normal), I do agree with him here: You may WANT to leave Twitter if Elon Musk becomes the Guy In Charge, but you if live there - EG, have a community there - you probably won't.

The dance of being head of a social media company is making changes slowly and carefully enough that you don't anger your userbase SO MUCH that they leave. If Musk buys Twitter, he's not going to be dumb enough to change it all at once - he may be kooky, but he's still a businessman. He's going to do one or two big things to test everyone's reactions, then he'll make small, incremental changes in places where he sees room as he better gets a feel for the userbase.

If he makes changes too quickly, the users will get angry, the site will become less profitable, and he'll be forced to either put things back, sell the company, or find someone else to run things.

(And hey, if he does actually completely ruin the site in one fell swoop, come back to Tumblr or something. It's pretty similar, but the Staff actually sometimes listen to our suggetions over there, and they don't make your feed for you with an algorithm. Eventually, Twitter will become something usable again. We'll recolonize.)
HEIDELBERG, Germany, and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Novaliq, a biopharmaceutical company focusing on first- and best-in-class ocular therapeutics based on the unique EyeSol water-free technology, today announced that data from the second pivotal Phase 3 trial (ESSENCE-2) evaluating the investigational drug CyclASol for the treatment of dry eye disease (DED), was presented as part of a podium symposium at the American Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) annual meeting in Washington D.C. on April 24, 2022.

CyclASol is the first topical preservative-free, water-free, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating ophthalmic solution, containing 0.1% cyclosporine in a novel vehicle, developed for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of DED.

"The ESSENCE-2 data confirms that CyclASol has consistent and superior therapeutic effects on the ocular surface in patients with dry eye disease. These became significant after 15 days, and 71.6% of patients showed a clinically meaningful improvement in total corneal fluorescein staining at 4 weeks. Patients with high central staining scores showed superior relief of blurred vision in the CyclASol group compared to vehicle", highlighted John D. Sheppard, MD, MMSc, FACS, Professor of Ophthalmology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Mid-Atlantic Medical Director for Eye Care Partners, and leading CyclASol trial investigator. "The fact that 78.6% of patients rated their satisfaction with CyclASol as positive or neutral underlines the excellent safety and tolerability profile of this novel water-free drug therapy to treat inflammatory corneal surface damage secondary to dry eye disease."

DED, one of the most common ocular surface disorders, negatively affects the quality of life for millions of people. Progressive corneal surface damage secondary to DED can lead to visual impairment and has a measurable impact on activities requiring sustained visual attention, including reading, driving, and work productivity.1 Corneal surface damage can have deleterious effects on visual outcomes of ophthalmologic surgeries including cataract and LASIK surgery and multiple guidelines recommend treatment of corneal surface damage secondary to DED prior to elective ocular procedures or treatments.2-5

"There is a high unmet need for a rapid, consistent, safe, sustained, and comfortable treatment for dry eye disease. These data support that CyclASol potentially has the power eye care professionals require with the comfort their dry eye disease patents desire," said Dr Christian Roesky, Chief Executive Officer Novaliq. "We intend to submit for approval in the USA in July 2022."

ESSENCE-2 is an 834 subject multicenter, randomized, double-masked, vehicle-controlled clinical trial to assess efficacy, safety, and tolerability of CyclASol for the treatment of signs and symptoms of DED in patients not responding to artificial tears. Key results include:

On day 15 and 29, change from baseline in total Corneal Fluorescein Staining (tCFS) was statistically significant in the CyclASol group compared to the vehicle group (p values = 0.0022 and 0.0278 respectively)

On day 29, the proportion of patients showing a clinically meaningful improvement in tear production ( 10 mm increase) was statistically significantly higher compared to the vehicle(p = 0.0487)

Additionally, 71.6% of CyclASol treated patients had a 3 grade improvement in tCFS at week 4. The proportion of responders was significantly higher compared to vehicle-treated patients(p = 0.0002).

These responders also showed statistically significant improvements in a variety of symptoms including but not limited to Dryness (p = 0.0074) compared to non-responders at day 29.

CyclASol was well tolerated showing an excellent ocular safety profile. The number of all adverse events (AEs) and ocular AEs, including instillation site reactions, were low. 99.8% of patients experienced no or mild instillation site pain. AEs were generally of mild intensity and similarly distributed between the two treatment groups. Up to 86.5% of the patients reported an immediate feeling of comfort when describing CyclASol water-free eye drops.

About Dry Eye Disease

Dry eye disease, one of the most common ocular surface disorders, impacts quality of life for millions of people. Although a multifactorial chronic disease, inflammation and immunologic processes play a key role in the pathology of dry eye. Infiltration of immune cells in the lacrimal glands, meibomian glands, conjunctiva, and cornea are dominant characteristics in dry eye disease. The inflammatory vicious cycle includes tear film instability, hyperosmolarity, inflammation and damage to the corneal and conjunctival epithelium. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors cause stress to the ocular surface, which accelerate the cycle and, in turn, exacerbate dry eye.6

About CyclASol Ophthalmic Solution

CyclASol is a topical anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating ophthalmic solution, containing 0.1% cyclosporine in EyeSol, developed for the treatment of dry eye disease. The multi-dose, preservative-free, smaller and more physiologic droplet size profile provides unique clinical benefits and outstanding tolerability. Notably, an improvement in visual function associated with a clinically significant reduction of central corneal staining, as shown in clinical trials, differentiates CyclASol from existing therapies and are published in Cornea: The Journal of Cornea and External Disease.7 Results from a dose-finding, vehicle-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial with an open-label comparator arm (Restasis, Abbvie) evaluating CyclASol were published in Ophthalmology.8 The clinical development program for CyclASol is expected to conclude with an ongoing multi-center, open-label, single-arm, 12-month safety extension trial (ESSENCE-2 OLE).

About Novaliq

Novaliq is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development and commercialization of first- and best-in-class ocular therapeutics based on the worldwide first water-free technology EyeSol. Novaliq's proprietary water-free EyeSol technology uses ultrapure semifluorinated alkanes (SFAs) that are physically, chemically, and physiologically inert with excellent biocompatibility and a very good safety profile. Novaliq offers an industry-leading portfolio addressing today's unmet medical needs of millions of patients with eye diseases. CyclASol is the first drug product evaluated in a phase 3 clinical program utilizing EyeSol as a vehicle to enhance topical bioavailability of the drug on the ocular surface and at the same time provide outstanding comfort and tolerability. Novaliq GmbH is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany and Novaliq Inc. has an office in Cambridge, MA, USA. The long-term shareholder is dievini Hopp BioTech holding GmbH & Co. KG, an active investor in Life and Health Sciences companies. More on www.novaliq.com.

References

Any product/brand names and/or logos are trademarks of the respective owners. 2022 Novaliq GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany.

Novaliq Media Contact:Simone Angstmann-Mehr info@novaliq.com +49 6221 50259-0

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1804666/Novaliq_GmbH_Logo.jpg
Foreign exchange analysts at MUFG are increasingly concerned over the UK outlook and expects relative yield spreads will be a crucial element in undermining the Pound as the Federal Reserve tightens more aggressively than the Bank of England;

It notes; We expect policy divergence between the BoE and Fed to be become even more apparent in the coming months.

It also expects concerns over the implications of tighter financial conditions will undermine Sterling support.

In this context, it recommends selling the Pound to Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate with a target of 1.2550.

GBP/USD remained under pressure on Monday with 17-month lows at 1.2720 as equity markets also retreated further.

Fed to Tighten More Aggressively

MUFG sees clear evidence that confidence in in the UK outlook has deteriorated; The GBPs recent underperformance reflects concerns amongst market participants that the UK economy will be one of the hardest hit major economies by the Ukraine conflict as the disruption will reinforce the cost of living crisis.

The bank also notes that the expectations of UK rates on a six-month view have increased around 30 basis points while the increase in US rates has been 105 basis points.

The bank, however, notes that UK money markets are still pricing in rate hikes of at least 0.25% at all policy meetings over the remainder this year.

In this context, it adds; It creates room for UK short-term yields to adjust lower in the coming quarters if the UK economy slows abruptly.

Other Pound Risk Factors in Evidence

MUFG also notes that there are other threats to the UK currency. Domestically, it notes the risk of Brexit tensions with the UK government threatening to give the government powers to switch off some parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol unilaterally.

Developments after the May 5th local elections will be watched closely

According to MUFG; We are assuming that neither the UK nor the EU really wants to create an additional negative shock for their economies at the current juncture, but it is a downside risk that needs to be monitored going forward.

Global market conditions will also be very important for the Pound performance given its sensitivity to risk appetite.

In this context, MUFG also notes the threat from a slide in global risk appetite; A deeper correction lower for global equity markets and a pick-up in financial market volatility would likely encourage a weaker cable rate as well going forward.
ForensisGroup, The Expert of Experts, and a leader in providing experts, expert witnesses and consultants for legal, consulting, insurance, and other litigious matters, has raised the bar for uncovering the facts in complex litigious disputes and cases. ForensisGroup works with credentialed, vetted expert witnesses focused on uncovering the facts and providing unbiased expert opinions on complex legal disputes and cases.

"Current events demonstrate how falsehoods can easily spread and be twisted as facts. While people may have interpretations of situations, the facts provide the proper insight into the truth of a situation and the consequences that can occur. We have seen in case after case that by bringing in experts who understand backgrounds and industries, the complexities of circumstances and who have the skills to explain and articulate the facts properly, the truth will prevail," commented Mercy T. Steenwyk, President of ForensisGroup.

Over 100 million lawsuits are filed in U.S. state trial courts and roughly 40 million cases in federal trial courts each year. The stakes can be high both financially and emotionally, regardless of the type of case. It is critical that experts provide thoughtful insight based on their research, analysis, and understanding of the facts and the matter. "We have stepped up the process we use to evaluate our experts. We have drilled down into specialties to further identify areas of expertise within a specialty. And every client is assigned a case manager who works with our team to ensure that we provide the absolute best expert. No chance is taken to uncover the truth," Ms. Steenwyk continued.

"Testimony from ForensisGroup experts has helped keep lead out of drinking water. Oil out of oceans. Dangerous chemicals out of food. It has led to safer skyscrapers. More reliable power grids. And prevented intellectual property theft. And, these were not won by accident. These cases were won with experts providing the information, insight and facts that made a difference in the case. As our world becomes more complex and the stakes higher, having the right experts who can make a difference is critical. ForensisGroup is proud to help uncover the truth one case at a time," she concluded.

ForensisGroup recently released a new website that streamlines the search process, making it more efficient for clients to request an expert witness. And, in support of Intellectual Property attorneys and their work, ForensisGroup is a proud platinum sponsor at the upcoming LAIPLA (Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association) Spring Seminar from May 21  22, 2022, in Santa Barbara.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally to boost Ohio Republican candidates ahead of their May 3 primary election, at the county fairgrounds in Delaware, Ohio, U.S., April 23. A U.S. judge held the former president in contempt of court Monday for failing to turn over documents related to an investigation of possible fraud in the Trump family's business dealings. Reuters-Yonhap



A U.S. judge held former president Donald Trump in contempt of court Monday for failing to turn over documents related to an investigation of possible fraud in his family's business dealings.



Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $10,000 every day to the office of New York state Attorney General Letitia James until he complies with her subpoena.



James is pursuing a civil probe into the ex-president and the Trump Organization.



She said in January that her probe had found that the Trump Organization fraudulently overvalued multiple assets to secure loans and then undervalued them to minimize taxes.



James successfully argued that Trump was in violation of a court order to produce the accounting and tax documents to her investigators by March 31.



She declared the ruling a "major victory."



"For years, Donald Trump has tried to evade the law and stop our lawful investigation into him and his company's financial dealings. Today's ruling makes clear: No one is above the law," she said in a statement.



Among the assets listed was Trump's penthouse in Manhattan's Trump Tower, which was claimed to be three times bigger in size than it actually was, overestimating its value by $200 million.



James can sue the Trump Organization for damages over any alleged financial misconduct but cannot file criminal charges.



The Trumps have claimed that James, who was elected to her position and is a member of the Democratic Party, is running a politically motivated investigation.



Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, said she would appeal Monday's ruling.



"All documents responsive to the subpoena were produced to the attorney general months ago.



"This does not even come close to meeting the standard on a motion for contempt," she said in a statement emailed to AFP.



Trump and his family have repeatedly tried to shut down James's investigation.



In February, he and his children Don Jr and Ivanka were ordered by a judge to submit to questioning under oath. That order is under appeal.



James's probe is one of several legal battles in which the 75-year-old is embroiled, threatening to complicate any bid for another run for the White House in 2024.



The Trump Organization is also under investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney for possible financial crimes and insurance fraud.



Last July, the Trump Organization and its long-serving finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded not guilty in a New York court to 15 felony fraud and tax evasion charges.



His trial is due to begin in the middle of this year.



Trump has so far kept Americans guessing about whether he intends to seek the Republican nomination again. (AFP)




Palo Alto, CAJotham Stein, author of Negotiate Like a CEO: How to Get Ahead with Lesson Learned from Top Entrepreneurs and Executives, Interviewed by Dr. Jonathan Westover on Human Capital Innovations Podcast.

What does it mean to negotiate like a CEO? How important are employment agreements? How can you learn to protect yourself and your family if the worst does happen? These are all questions that Jotham S. Stein addresses in his book Negotiate Like a CEO, with the goal of equipping individuals with the tools they need to safeguard themselves in business and employment.

Negotiate Like a CEO isn't afraid to get into the weeds about what you need to do to help your career. Stein peppers each chapter with captivating stories of employees who have found themselves in tight situations with their employerstories that many readers will find familiar. He follows each example with insider insights on how to navigate the situation and save yourself from heartache.

Listen to the entire interview of Jotham Stein on HCI Podcast at https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/podcast/episode/4de07ecf/s35e10-negotiate-like-a-ceo-how-to-get-ahead-with-lessons-learned-from-top-entrepreneurs-and-executives-with-jotham-s-stein

Expert Click Radio  Jotham Stein, Author of 'Negotiate Like a CEO,' Interviewed by Jonathan H. Westover on HCI Podcast

A graduate of Stanford Law School and Princeton University, Stein has more than two decades of experience in executive law, representing individuals from all walks of life, including entrepreneurs, C-suite executives, and less senior employees of all size companies. In his career he has negotiated robust employment agreements, separation agreements, M & A agreements, change in control agreements, stock option agreements, restricted stock agreements, management carve out agreements, non-compete agreements, and much more.

"It's the concept to protect yourself, to read everything or get a good adviser to read everything, to negotiate with leverage, just like a CEO would negotiate with leverage. I wrote this book to help the people out there who have no idea how to help themselves in their employment relationships," says Stein. "Too many just don't know how or are too afraid to ask."  Jotham Stein

"Jotham has helped me throughout my career, from setting up strong employment agreements to securing stock compensation to protecting the management team during the sale of my company. Jotham is a guy you want in your corner. His book should be required reading for anyone who thinks 'this could never happen to me'." Andy Cohen, founder and former CEO, Caring.com

"As a hi-tech Silicon Valley attorney Stein is brutally honest in assessing a situation and advising his clients. In Negotiate Like a CEO you'll learn to be aware, to recognize potential employment pitfalls, and how to protect yourself. You'll also learn that you may have more leverage than you might think, either now or as you advance in your career." Grady Harp, Amazon Top 100 Hall of Fame Reviewer

"As a CEO and multi-time Silicon Valley executive, I was very fortunate to learn from Jotham early in my career the great importance of the protective employment offer letter. Employment law is very complex and with this book you can learn from the best." Bonnie Crater, co-founder and CEO, Full Circle Insights; former SVP salesforce.com; former SVP Genesys; former VP Oracle; former VP Netscape

Watch the book trailer here: https://bit.ly/NegotiateLikeaCEOtrailer





About: Jotham S. Stein is the principal of the Law Offices of Jotham S. Stein P.C. He has more than two decades of experience representing entrepreneurs and C-Suite executives, board members, venture capitalists, private equity principals, and investment bankers as well as less senior employees of all size companies.

Stein is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Princeton University. He is admitted to practice in California, Illinois, New York, Colorado, and the District of Columbia as well as the United States Supreme Court, and several United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts. He is also a member of multiple bar associations, including the American Bar Association.

Stein is the author of Executive Employment Law: Protecting Executives, Entrepreneurs and Employees, a how-to guide for practitioners.

Stein's new book, Negotiate Like a CEO, is an enthralling look at how top entrepreneurs and executives protect themselves and how you can too. You can find out more about Jotham Stein at NegotiateLikeaCEO.net

Negotiate Like a CEO, ASIN: B09TG125BQ, Published by Political Animal Press, Feb. 24, 2022, 294 pages, available on Kindle and paperback on Amazon.

Media Contact: For a review copy of Negotiate Like a CEO or to arrange an interview with Jotham S. Stein, contact Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 248-705-2214. Reach Lorenz on twitter @abookpublicist
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

The Russian/Ukrainian War is a humanitarian disaster. 10% of Ukraines population are refugees, and the numbers are climbing quickly. 25% of their population has been displaced. UNCESCO reported last month that already more than half of their children had been displaced. As tragic as the situation is, it could easily become vastly worse. The more the war continues, the more human casualtiesincluding civilian massacres like Bucha and Irpenwill continue taking place.

Its also a political and diplomatic disaster that has been building for a very long time. Politicians, legacy media, social media, and pundits in the West are fixated on punishing Putin for his unprovoked invasion. They accuse him of having expansionist plans that would threaten the EU and democratic neighbors. They ache for escalation, assuming Russia will capitulate because of strong Ukrainian resistance and economic sanctions. But theyre naive, and theyre wrong!

Every conflict has two sides to the story. This conflict has been 30 years in the making, and it is complex. Theres more to it than what you are hearing in the news. It needs to be mediated now, before this small war turns into a much bigger one. Russia will destroy Ukraine rather than see it in the hands of NATO . . .whatever the cost. Heres why:

In 1990, at the end of the Cold War, the final Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was signed. At the time, there was an understanding with the USSR that NATO would move not one inch eastward. By 2006, NATO had expanded into central Europe and had recruited most of the former Warsaw pact countries. NATO now had its sights on Georgia and Ukraine with a declared intent to make them NATO members. By 2007, Russia declared that Ukraine becoming a NATO member was an Existential Threat.

In 2014, Russian ally Ukrainian President Yanukovych was overthrown. Anti-Russia rhetoric increased. Without firing a shot, Russia annexed, Crimea, unarguably a national security asset that Russia simply could not lose. Rather than use the situation to develop a durable resolution to what was becoming a crisis, NATO and Ukraine doubled down. Ukraine cut off the water supply to Crimea, threatening Sebastopol and Russias Black Sea Fleet Base, and knocking their water reservoirs down to 7%, putting them in a critical state. Fighting has been going on in Eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian and pro-Western combatants ever since.

In 2019, Ukraines Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) voted to amend the constitution to state that Ukraines strategic objectives were joining the European Union and NATO. Currently, Ukraine is the only buffer between Russia and the NATO encroachment. If Ukraine joins NATO, Moscow would only be 800 miles from the NATO border. Russia feels threatened. Yet the West insists on accusing them of being aggressors. Based on what? Were talking about a country with the GDP of New Jersey in a civil war with a country with the GDP of Nebraska. Make no mistake about it, this is a proxy war being promoted by the West, which has duped Zelensky into believing that they have his back, which they dont. Yes, theyre providing the weapons that are keeping Ukraine in the fight. How long will that go on? How many people will die to punish Russia?

Then theres the oil. Ukraine earns $1.2 billion annually from Russia for pipeline transit to Europe. Russia is building Nord Stream and South Stream pipelines with plans to shut down the Ukraine pipeline. And Ukraines oil and gas discoveries in the Black Sea Exclusive Development Zone threatens Russias hegemony. But thats another story.

The bottom line is that this conflict is about security, economics of natural resources, water supply, national and international aspirations, historical grudges, ambitions, and corruptions.

The quickest way to end this war is for a non-NATO (neutral) mediator to step in. Lets set aside anger, fear and biases and view the issues around this conflict critically and objectively. Lets have a useful dialogue, stop all the name calling, and all the bravado. We need to end this war sooner than later before this small war turns into a much bigger one.
Former San Marcos Police Sgt. Ryan Hartman, who caused an off-duty crash in 2020 in which one woman was killed and another injured, was treated like a pariah after the accident and was fired on false pretenses, a union attorney says.

The attorney made the claim Monday during the first day of a two-day arbitration hearing in which Hartman is seeking reinstatement to the force with back pay and benefits.

In January, San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge suspended Hartman indefinitely, the equivalent of termination. City officials said the reason was Hartmans failure to complete administrative paperwork, employee evaluations and other supervisory tasks since as far back as 2019.

On ExpressNews.com: Fired San Marcos cop who caused fatal wreck wants his job back

In opening statements Monday morning, Alyssa Urban, a staff attorney for Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, argued that Hartmans supervisory failings amounted to little more than poor time management.

The departments real reason for firing him was the negative publicity generated by the fatal June 2020 accident in which he was involved, Urban said.

Ever since that time, the city has been pounded regarding this incident, Urban said, adding that city officials were pressured for months, over a year to terminate Sgt. Hartmans employment.

On ExpressNews.com: Fatal wreck survivor says shell keep pushing for justice for her late partner

Protests were set up, banners were flown, the survivor speaks at council frequently on her desires to have Hartman fired, she said. A slideshow of news headlines about the wreck and the aftermath were flashed on a large TV screen as Urban spoke.

This gentleman sitting net to me is the pariah of the San Marcos Police Department, she said of her client.

Hartman was off-duty and driving his personal Ford pickup on June 10, 2020, when he ran a pair of stop signs at the intersection of Maple Street and State Highway 130 in Lockhart. According to police reports, he slammed into the passenger side of a Honda Accord driven by 64-year-old Pam Watts.

Watts partner of eight months, 56-year-old Jennifer Miller, was in the passenger seat. She was gravely injured and died before a medevac helicopter could arrive. Watts survived but sustained long-term injuries.

A half-full beer can was found in Hartmans truck, but a blood test several hours after the accident found no evidence of alcohol in his system. Hartman was uninjured in the wreck.

He was placed on paid administrative leave but was reinstated after a grand jury declined in November 2020 to charge him with any crime in connection with the accident.

Watts, however, teamed up with the social justice group Mano Amiga to bring attention to the case and spearheaded a petition drive in an effort to have a grand jury reexamine the case.

Shortly after returning to the force, Hartman was found to have violated the departments use-of-force policy during a traffic stop when he used his stun gun on a suspect who had his hands in the air and was complying with commands.

After Standridge imposed the indefinite suspension in January, Hartman appealed, leading to the arbitration hearing.

The hearing is a trial-like process before hearing examiner Bill Detwiler, who acts as a judge.

Julia Gannaway, an attorney for the city, said Hartmans failure to complete administrative and supervisory tasks was the last straw after a string of problems that led police department leaders to lose faith in the 14-year veteran.

Despite collecting more overtime than any other officer, Hartman demonstrated an inability, an unwillingness, what have you to complete basic paperwork and other duties, she said.

Billy Calzada, Staff / Staff photographer

In one incident cited by city officials, Hartman waited one year, six months and 14 days to finish a narrative report on a single-vehicle fatal crash on Dec. 7, 2019.

Hartman also allegedly waited nearly seven months to file a supplemental report on a homicide investigation and never filed performance reviews and evaluations for subordinate officers.

He didnt act like a supervisor, Gannaway said.

Advocates seek justice

Urban said during the hearing that the accident was the biggest mistake and greatest regret of (Hartmans) life.

She asserted that mental anguish stemming from the crash contributed to his inability to complete or file paperwork on time.

Because of the guilt hes feeling ... no sleep, barely eating, cant focus - it is believable that he would not perform at his best, she said.

Still, Urban contended that his actions that day, although tragic, have amounted to nothing more than a minor traffic violation and thus do not warrant termination.

A handful of friends of Watts and Millers who attended the hearing shook their heads as Urban spoke about the wreck. Hartman, dressed in a black suit, sat next to his lawyer and did not speak.

During a mid-day break in the hearing, Amy Caperton, a close friend of Millers, said she believes Hartmans claims of mental anguish are 100% an act.

He has not said hes sorry one time to any of us that lost Jen, Caperton said.

Watts and other friends of Millers are protesting Hartmans ability to appeal his firing in the first place. Chapter 143 of the Texas Local Government Code grants all Texas firefighters and police officers the right to appeal terminations.

Chapter 143 allows police officers to avoid accountability, said Jordan Buckley, former head of Mano Amiga.

Hartman is expected to testify when the hearing resumes Tuesday.

It isnt clear exactly how much back pay he will receive if hes successful in his appeal. Public records show that as of 2019, he was being paid $41.46 per hour as a police sergeant.

Detwiler, the hearing examiner, said he would issue a decision several months after the hearing concludes.

Annie Blanks writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. annie.blanks@express-news.net.
Melissa Lucio has spent the last 15 years on death row after she was convicted of capital murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah. But she and her family have long maintained that Lucio is actually innocent and that no murder ever occurred.

Lucio was scheduled to be killed by lethal injection on April 27 before the Texas Court of Appeals issued a stay. Here's what to know about the case that's been catapulted into the national spotlight.

TEXAS RALLY: Melissa Lucio supporters plan to rally outside DA office Wednesday to demand her immediate release

What did the Texas Court of Appeals decide?

On April 25, two days before her scheduled execution, the Texas Court of Appeals granted a stay in Lucio's case. The judges remanded the case to the trial court, indicating that they are open to the argument that she is actually innocent.

Lucios legal team raised nine different claims in her petition for clemency, a form of legal relief that would spare her from death row. The court found merit in four of those nine arguments:

If the prosecution had not used false testimony, no juror would have convicted Lucio;

Previously unavailable scientific evidence would preclude her conviction;

Lucio is actually innocent; and

Prosecutors suppressed favorable material evidence in violation of federal law.

Lucio will not be executed as scheduled. The court's decision takes away the need for the governor, the Board of Pardons or the local district attorney to take action. Gov. Greg Abbott will no longer have a choice to make in Lucio's case.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles said in a statement that it will not be making a recommendation in Lucio's request for clemency either. Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz had said if no one took action, he would consider staying the execution himself.

EXPLAINER: What is a stay of execution? Key legal terms in death row cases like Melissa Lucio's, explained

There are two pending motions in the trial court asking to recuse the presiding judge. The judge assigned after that decision will decide whether Saenz should be disqualified from prosecuting the case, if his office does not recuse itself beforehand, according to Tivon Schardl, one of Lucios attorneys. A decision on those motions could come in the next three days or so, he said.

Who is Melissa Lucio?

Lucio is a 53-year-old Harlingen mother of 14 who has struggled with a history of poverty, addiction and violence. She endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of family members and, later, sexual and domestic abuse from her partners. She experienced homelessness and extensive drug abuse and the household had been visited by Child Protective Services.

While family admits Lucio was not a perfect mom, her lawyers contend that she never physically abused any of her 14 children. They point to decades of CPS records as proof that she never physically harmed them amid the struggles that brought social workers to her door.

Courtesy/The Innocence Project Courtesy/The Innocence Project Courtesy/The Innocence Project Family photos of Melissa Lucio and her children. (Courtesy) Family photos of Melissa Lucio and her children. (Courtesy)

The Cameron County jury at Lucio's capital murder trial never heard testimony about her background as a victim of extensive sexual and domestic abuse who faced homelessness and poverty.

Would Melissa Lucio have been the first Latina put to death in Texas?

Technically, yes. If Lucio had not been granted a reprieve or a stay of execution, she would have been the first Latina to be put to death in Texas in the modern era, and the first Texas woman executed in nearly a decade. The last woman to be put to death in Texas was Lisa Coleman in 2014, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The first was Josefa "Chipita" Rodriguez, who was hanged in San Patricio County in 1863. The Texas Legislature passed a resolution more than a century later that Rodriguez did not receive a fair trial.

What happened to Melissa Lucio's daughter?

Lucio's family says that Mariah fell down a rickety flight of stairs outside their Harlingen apartment in 2007 while the family was in the process of moving. Two days later, she died in her sleep.

Innocence Project Innocence Project Innocence Project Mariah Alvarez was just two years old when her family says she fell down this hazardous set of stairs outside their Harlingen apartment in 2007. (Innocence Project) Mariah Alvarez was just two years old when her family says she fell down this hazardous set of stairs outside their Harlingen apartment in 2007. (Innocence Project)

The Cameron County medical examiner ruled Mariah's death a homicide, stating that the bruising on Mariah's body was the worst case of child abuse she had ever seen. On the night of Mariah's death, Lucio, who was pregnant with twins, was questioned by investigators for a prolonged period. Her lawyers say police coerced her to give a false confession and her conduct during the interrogation, which they described as cold and detached, was unjustly used to build a case against her. Her lawyers say her history as a victim of sexual and domestic abuse could have made her more susceptible to being coerced by investigators.

What has Melissa Lucio said about her case?

Lucio has long maintained her innocence. On the night of Mariah's death, she told investigators both verbally and nonverbally she was innocent more than 100 times, according to her lawyers. In a 2020 Hulu documentary that argues for her innocence, Lucio contends she would never hurt her children and says she made the false confession under duress, in part to shield one of her older daughters from being blamed for Mariah's death. The older daughter told a private investigator she was the one to blame for Mariah's fall, according to deleted scenes from the documentary that have been viewed by the Houston Chronicle.

What does Melissa Lucio's family say?

Lucio's family members have traveled across the state, holding rallies, where they encouraged residents to see the documentary and sign an online petition calling for her release. They also held daily prayer vigils outside the Cameron County courthouse, calling on Saenz to review Lucio's case and withdraw her death warrant. Saenz's intervention was the safest and swiftest method for a reprieve, according to Death Penalty Action, an advocacy group that has traveled with the family and helped to spread awareness about her case.

But Lucio's relatives were torn apart in the wake of her incarceration. Most of her adult children are living their own lives with children of their own. After the documentary suggested an older daughter was a possible culprit in Mariah's death, that daughter and a few other siblings took to social media to make claims against Lucio.

They argued that the older daughter had nothing to do with Mariah's death as the documentary implies, but these daughters did not wish to see their mother executed. They signed a document alongside their other siblings pleading with Abbott and the Board to spare their mother's life.

Most of Lucio's family, including her elderly mother, her son, John Lucio, and her sister, Sonya Valencia Alvarez, have been relentless in their mission to shed light on Lucio's case and get her off of death row.

Yi-Chin Lee, Photographer / Staff photographer Denise Cathey, MBI / Associated Press Melissa Lucio's son, John Lucio (left) and sister, Sonya Valencia Alvarez (right). (Denise Cathey, MBI / Associated Press) (Yi-Chin Lee, Photographer / Staff photographer) Melissa Lucio's son, John Lucio (left) and sister, Sonya Valencia Alvarez (right). (Denise Cathey, MBI / Associated Press) (Yi-Chin Lee, Photographer / Staff photographer)

My sister is innocent, Sonya Valencia Alvarez said at a Houston rally on a chilly February day. This is an innocent woman. This is a loving mother of 14 children who was sent to death.

What new evidence is there in the Melissa Lucio case?

Lucio's legal team raised nine different claims in her clemency petition. Specifically, the court found merit in her lawyers arguments in four of those nine arguments.

Lucio's lawyers from the Innocence Project filed a clemency petition with evidence they said proves her innocence. Included in that petition were statements by five jurors at her capital murder trial who said they would have decided differently had they known about Lucio's personal history or seen other evidence that was not presented at trial.

[T]he fact that you cant pinpoint what caused Mariahs death means that [Melissa] shouldnt be executed, juror Johnny Galvan said in his statement.

Galvan wrote in an Op-Ed in the Houston Chronicle that he felt pressured to sentence Lucio to death and that he "wished I had never done so."

A forensic expert stated in Lucio's clemency petition that Mariah's bruising was likely caused by head trauma the child sustained when she fell down the stairs. The expert said the medical examiner's ruling that the girl died as a result of child abuse was a rush to judgment. Anti-domestic violence organizations, faith leaders in Texas, death row exonerees and wrongfully convicted people have shared statements of support as part of her request for relief.

LUCIO CASE: Catholic leaders urge Abbott to stop execution of Hispanic mother in childs death

Beyond the unexplored evidence, Lucio's lawyers also argue her trial was unfairly influenced by bigotry and corruption from both sides of the courtroom, including the case brought by a DA who was later sentenced to prison. They say her trial lawyer failed to present evidence on hand that could have helped the jury acquit Lucio, and questioned his motives when he swiftly joined the DA's office after the trial.

What were Melissa Lucio's options?

Lucio's lawyers requested her death sentence be commuted to life in prison, or that she be granted an evidentiary hearing and a chance to prove her innocence. Her lawyers said that it's typical for the board of pardons not to decide about a clemency petition until just days before a person is set to be executed.

The governor also has the authority to stop an execution, grant clemency or reduce a person's sentence. Lucio's third route was for Saenz to withdraw her death warrant and reinvestigate the case. Saenz remained silent for years, but Lucio's oldest son spoke with him briefly after stopping him in the courthouse parking lot during a protest in late March. Saenz was captured on video telling John Lucio he "would be glad to take a look" at his mother's case. He later testified before a legislative committee in Austin that if the board of pardons and Abbott didn't take action in Lucio's case, he would step in.

Lucio also had an array of legal motions pending, one of those resulted in a stay on April 25. Her case has been remanded to a lower court to consider multiple arguments for possible dismissal.

Who has spoken out about the Melissa Lucio case?

Texas lawmakers and big-name celebrities asked the state to take action in Lucio's case. By late March, more than 80 Texas lawmakers requested clemency for her, pleading with Abbott and the board to intervene. Another group of Texas lawmakers later met privately with Lucio to hear her case and discuss efforts to stop her execution, the Associated Press reported.

Kim Kardashian shared information about Lucio's case with her more than 70 million followers, calling her situation "heartbreaking."

Death Penalty Action hosted weekly live streams with celebrity guests that include Carmela Zumbado from the Netflix show "You"; Sherry Cola from Freeform's "Good Trouble"; and Julissa Calderon from Netflix's "Gentefied," according to a representative from the organization.

Where can I watch the Melissa Lucio documentary?

The 2020 documentary, The State of Texas vs. Melissa, is available on Hulu and Amazon Prime.

How did Melissa's Lucio react to the news of her stay?

Lucio erupted in sobs the moment she heard the news her life would be spared. Texas Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who has become one of her most outspoken advocates, delivered the news. Listen in here.

rebecca.hennes@chron.com
The news of Melissa Lucio's stay of execution was a startling and very welcome surprise to the 53-year-old Harlingen mother, her family members and supporters around the country.

LISTEN: Hear when Melissa Lucio, the Harlingen mom of 14 on death row, learned her life had been spared



The inner circle of her lawyers and supporters had been bracing Monday afternoon for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to rule on her request for clemency or a temporary stay. But shortly before the board was expected to convene, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a comprehensive ruling that spared Lucio from the death chamber just two days before she was scheduled to be killed by lethal injection.

CASE BACKGROUND: What to know about Melissa Lucio, Texas mom on death row whose execution was halted by a Texas court

So what does it mean for a person to be granted a stay? And what other outcomes might Lucio have faced following the array of requests she filed seeking a reprieve? Here are some concepts to help explain where Lucios case now stands and what happens in general when Texas defendants file appeals and requests for relief following a death penalty conviction.

BROWNSVILLE RALLY: Melissa Lucio supporters plan to rally outside DA office Wednesday to demand her immediate release

What's a stay of execution?

A stay is a legal halt that stops a court from enforcing a form of punishment. It essentially puts a hold on execution until a decision is made in a persons request for clemency.

What is clemency?

Clemency essentially means that a death row prisoner is granted mercy. It can take many forms and is granted by the governor, usually with a recommendation from the board of pardons. Clemency includes a full or conditional pardon or a commutation to a lighter sentence, according to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. A pardon exempts a person from remaining punishment.



Its rare for a person to be granted clemency in Texas. The state has only granted it three times since 1976. During that time period, the state executed 574 people, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Biden pardons Houston woman, grants clemency to 19 other Texans



A clemency petition is the legal filing an inmate submits to ask the courts, the board or the governor for relief from the original sentence. Petitions include new evidence in a persons case, including victims impact statements, declarations from witnesses and often an array of newly discovered evidence.



The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed Lucios case should go back to the trial court based on four of the nine claims her legal team raised in her clemency petition. The court found that Lucios case should be reconsidered because:

If the prosecution had not used false testimony, no juror would have convicted Lucio;

Previously unavailable scientific evidence would preclude her conviction;

Lucio is actually innocent; and

Prosecutors suppressed favorable material evidence in violation of federal law.

What does it mean to get a pardon?

This legal term boils down to exactly what it sounds like. The governor or a state board of pardons can forgive defendants for crimes theyve been convicted of and the prison will release them from custody. Presidents can also forgive people for crimes, something that began happening regularly for nonviolent offenders under U.S. Attorney General William Barr under the First Step Act, and for some federal inmates during COVID.

Hundreds of death row inmates around the country have been granted clemency for humanitarian reasons, prompted by doubts about the defendants guilt and conclusions by the governor regarding the death penalty process, according to the ACLU. Since 1976, there have been five broad grants of clemency to all death row inmates: former governors Pat Quinn of Illinois in 2011, Jon Corzine of New Jersey in 2007, George Ryan of Illinois in 2003, and Toney Anaya of New Mexico in 1986 released all inmates.

What's a commutation?

Commuting a sentence means reducing the time a person serves, or in the case of the death penalty, it usually means lowering a person from a death sentence to a sentence of life in prison. Commutations can be granted by recommendation of the lawyers and judge in the county where a person was convicted, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Commutations must state that the current penalty is excessive and recommend a definite term based on new information the judge or jury did not see at trial.

Who can halt an execution?

There are several means for a defendant to request the state halt an execution. A court can grant a stay at the request of an inmate, as the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did with Lucio. The stay may also include a finding by the court that the trial court hold an evidentiary hearing so the judge and review new evidence.



The Texas governor has broad, independent powers in death penalty cases. The governor can issue a pardon or grant clemency or issue a 30-day stay of execution with no oversight from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.



If the board issues a recommendation of clemency, the governor has multiple options, these include commuting a death row prisoners sentence to time served, life in prison, or granting a reprieve for a period of up to 120 days.



The district attorney also has the power to stop an execution, and can unilaterally withdraw a death warrant and execution date. Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, who requested Lucios death warrant, said in an early April hearing of the Texas House Criminal Justice Reform committee that he was unsure if he had that power. But lawmakers insisted he did, and they referenced a DA in nearby Nueces County who did that very thing. District Attorney Mark Gonzalez withdrew the death warrant for John Henry Ramirez, the Texas Tribune reported.

Who issues the death warrant?

Following a capital conviction, most defendants begin a series of appeals in state and federal court raising issues that were not considered at trial. Appeals courts can reverse a guilty verdict or the jurys death sentence or call for a case to be retried before a new jury. Some appeals request hearings happen at the trial court so the defense can present new evidenceincluding new witness testimony, recanted confessions and DNA findings.

Once a persons appeals are exhausted, the district attorney in the county that prosecuted the case will ask a state district judge to set an execution date. These are usually set for one to six months from the DAs request, according to the Texas Execution Information Center.

The state trial judge directs the court clerk to enter an order and issue a warrant directing the prison the set time, date and place for execution. Texas routinely schedules its executions for 6 p.m. on a weekday. Executions are usually carried out in Huntsville.

What is the job of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles?

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, based in Austin, makes parole and clemency rulings in response to requests from inmates. The board also makes recommendations to the governor about clemency, including pardons.

The board has six members who are appointed by the governor with advice and consent of the state Senate to serve six-year terms. It has the power to reject or grant requests from inmates who are scheduled for execution. It can issue a 120-reprieve, it can commute a defendants sentence  for example, from death to life in prison  and it can also issue an unconditional pardon.

What's the role of a district attorney in an execution?

The district attorney is usually the person who sets an execution in motion, after a death row inmates appeals are exhausted, by requesting a death date be scheduled.
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A man suspected of carjacking was shot by the vehicles owner at a gas station on the North Side, San Antonio police said.

The man was shot multiple times after trying to steal a blue Honda Accord at the QuikTrip at 9907 San Pedro Ave., police said.

At about 10 a.m., the Honda owner was pumping gas at the QuikTrip when the suspect reportedly drove up to the pumps in a silver pickup truck. As the owner was occupied filling his cars tank, the suspect jumped into the Hondas drivers seat, said Nick Soliz, a spokesman for the San Antonio Police Department.

On ExpressNews.com: Man accused of shooting woman during Alamo Quarry carjacking confesses to other crimes, police say

The car owner saw the suspect trying to take his vehicle and jumped in it, Soliz said. A fight between the two ensued, and in the struggle, the Honda was put in reverse. The car moved backwards and crashed in a rocky median next to the street.

As the fight continued, the Honda owner pulled out a firearm and shot the other man multiple times, Soliz said.

The suspect was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

The car owner was taken to police headquarters for questioning.

On ExpressNews.com: Teenager identified as suspect in King William shooting, carjacking

Soliz did not have identifications for either man, he told reporters. And it is unclear what charges, if any, either man will face.

Soliz said there was no one else in the pickup truck that the suspect was driving and that detectives are still sorting out what happened.

taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway
A decade ago this month, an El Paso man was arrested for urinating on the Alamo.

Daniel Athens, now 31, was charged with criminal mischief of a public monument or place of human burial and later sentenced to 18 months in a state prison.

Just before 9:30 p.m. on April 15, 2012, Athens relieved himself on the mission near its front door, according to court records. He was tackled by an Alamo Ranger who saw the man defacing the mission-era landmark.

On ExpressNews.com: Welcome to your nightmare: 38 years ago, feds raided a Kerr ranch where hitchhikers were tortured

Athens was initially charged with public intoxication and public urination, but after nearly a year, then-District Attorney Susan Reed announced that the prosecution was enhancing the charges.

In a press release titled Dont Whizz on the Alamo, Reed upped the severity from misdemeanors to a felony.

The charge usually carries a maximum punishment of two years in prison.

Athens was also ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution to cover the cost of repairing damage to the Alamo.

On ExpressNews.com: Fatal stabbing of young Corpus Christi mother unsolved after 29 years

Officials never said why Athens defaced the Alamo.

Athens action wasnt the first time that someone used the Alamo as an urinal. In 1982, famous rocker Ozzy Osbourne was banned from performing at San Antonio-owned facilities after he urinated on the Alamo Cenotaph and bragged about it during a concert at HemisFair.

taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway
Courtesy

Former KSAT anchor Isis Romero is returning to TV news after almost a year off. In a Twitter announcement Tuesday, Romero said she will be joining KENS 5 as an evening anchor in June.

Romero said in her Twitter thread that "this moment comes with so much joy" because she will be staying in San Antonio to tell its stories.
About 40 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border along U.S. 277 in West Texas, you'll spot a memorial for the Arellano Family.

Unlike other roadside memorials, the Arellano family didnt die in a car crash on this rugged, isolated stretch of roadway.

You might also like: A woman was killed in her Terrell Hills home 46 years ago this month. Police are still looking for her killer

Five family members were killed in two places near the memorial on April 16, 1968. Fifty-eight years later, authorities still have no idea who did it.

The family was traveling from Mexico to visit a relative who had just given birth when their car broke down. Sometime afterward, the victims had been shot, beaten, stabbed, raped and robbed. The case is Texas "oldest unsolved mass slaying," according to the Associated Press.

Traveling with the family were Manuel Sr., 25, his wife Monica, 25, their children, Manuel Jr., 5, Leticia, 2, and Eduardo, 15 months; and Arellanos sister Rosa Elia, 19.

After the car broke down, the family, who were familiar with the United States and spoke fluent English, relied on a Good Samaritan to take them to get the car repaired.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio murderess Emma 'Straight Eight' Oliver was among first women to be sentenced to die in Texas

A ranch hand discovered their bodies the next day. According to the Associated Press, The elder Manuel's body was discovered not far from the highway.

His wifes body was in a ditch, about a mile south. Rosa Elia was discovered a few feet away from her.

The children were discovered near their father. Leticia was shot in the head and was still alive, but died days later. Manuel Jr. was also shot in the head and stabbed and survived. After multiple surgeries, the boy was taken to Mexico to live with his grandparents.

A witness told police a tall, sandy-haired man in his 30s wearing a straw cowboy hat accompanied the family in a pickup.

While authorities questioned several people, the witness could not identify any of them as the sandy-haired man. Authorities never recovered the .22-caliber gun used in the brutal slayings, and no charges were ever filed.

You might also like: Welcome to your nightmare: 38 years ago, feds raided a Kerr ranch where hitchhikers were tortured

The case had turned cold by 1982 and stayed that way until 1999, when, according to the Associated Press, a caller told the Texas Department of Public Safety that he knew who the killer was. This tip was later dismissed but revived interest among law enforcement in the case.

The brutal slaying of the Arellano family is one of 12 of the Texas Rangers top cold case investigations.

In 2018, Pete Gomez Sr., who in 1968 was working on a project to widen Highway 277, installed an engraved monument to remember the family, according to the San Angelo Standard-Times.

timothy.fanning@express-news.net
Given better options, few people would likely choose to live in an apartment at 817 W. Poplar. They end up in such a place because they lack choices.

In an article earlier this month, Express-News reporter Elena Bruess described it as a dilapidated four-unit apartment building just northwest of downtown.

For the tenants who occupied those units, it was home, a place of refuge, stability, some measure of comfort, a place to keep their few possessions, a roof over their heads. Until, that is, the landlord sent them eviction notices.

Bruess story was a riveting snapshot of this citys, and our nations, affordable housing problem and the struggles of low-income people to maintain the stability of a home. It also showcased the limited options and resources available to those who are evicted.

During the worst of the COVID pandemic, a federal moratorium prevented many landlords from evicting tenants because of overdue rent. But last Septembers termination of the moratorium gave immediate rise to the number of eviction filings.

Among those were the tenants of 817 W. Poplar, who for more than a year had endured sewage problems and a lack of hot water. The property is owned by Bradford Shepherd, whose company bought it in 2017.

Tenants began complaining about water and sewage leaks in November 2020. In October, city code enforcement issued a citation for plumbing violations. The citation included a $300 penalty and a hearing. Shepherd didnt attend the hearing or pay the fine, eventually paying $25 before the case was closed.

As Bruess reported, sewage from one tenants toilet flowed into the bathtub of another tenant, Cecilia Perez. She then showered by standing on the side of the tub, sticking her head under the cold-water nozzle. When Perez moved into the apartment, it had mildew on the walls, and the unit lacked a door. She cleaned the walls and bought a door.

Tenants have the right to demand their landlords make repairs to address concerns that endanger health or safety, but the right is conditioned on tenants being current on rent and following the correct procedures for asking for these repairs.

Shepherd refused to comment for Bruess story. But on Twitter, he said of his tenants, I dont want to know them, dont want them to know me.

Referring to the return of his investment, he tweeted, Definitely bought the city is pouring in a ton of money bit. The area is still horrible.

Shepherd and his tenants, all of whom receive government assistance, were beneficiaries of the pandemic-created Texas Rent Relief program, which helped tenants pay rents and utility bills. Perez received $6,715 from the Texas Rent Relief program in late April 2021, which covered past-due and future rent.

But by fall 2020 and spring 2021, Shepherd was saying his tenants werent paying rent, and he didnt renew any of their leases.

Whatever the reasons a tenant might not pay rent, its hard to think they are as inexcusable and vile as a property owner unconcerned that sewage is flowing, especially when hot water isnt.

Because there are few attorneys who offer free services to tenants whove been evicted, nearly all must fend for themselves in eviction court, and few do well. In his masterful, Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond wrote, Establishing publicly funded legal services for low-income families in housing court would be a cost-effective measure that would prevent homelessness, decrease evictions, and give poor families a fair shake.

We support a county-funded defense system for tenants facing eviction to ensure parity in the legal system. The story also demonstrates a clear need for the city to assist tenants in finding new housing once code complaints such as these arise. And, of course, if there were more quality affordable housing in our community, then heartbreaking situations like this would be less common. Thats another reason to support the citys proposed housing bond.

We should all have access to affordable, decent shelter. And our dignity.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks in a building near a frontline position in Kharkiv, Ukraine, April 25. AP-Yonhap





Russia's top diplomat warned Ukraine against provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict "should not be underestimated" as his country unleashed attacks against rail and fuel installations far from the front lines of Moscow's new eastern offensive.







The U.S., meanwhile, moved Monday to rush more weaponry to Ukraine and said the assistance from Western allies is making a difference in the two-month-old war.







"Russia is failing. Ukraine is succeeding," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared, a day after he and the U.S. secretary of defense made a bold visit to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.







Blinken said Washington approved a $165 million sale of ammunition  non-U.S. ammo, mainly if not entirely for Ukraine's Soviet-era weapons  and will also provide more than $300 million in financing to buy more supplies.







U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took his comments further, saying that while the U.S. wants to see Ukraine remain a sovereign, democratic country, it also wants "to see Russia weakened to the point where it can't do things like invade Ukraine."







Austin's remarks appeared to represent a shift in broader U.S. strategic goals. Previously, the U.S. position had been that the goal of American military aid was to help Ukraine win and to defend Ukraine's NATO neighbors against Russian threats.







In an apparent response to Austin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia has "a feeling that the West wants Ukraine to continue to fight and, as it seems to them, wear out, exhaust the Russian army and the Russian military industrial war complex. This is an illusion."







He said weapons supplied by Western countries "will be a legitimate target," adding that Russian forces had already targeted weapons warehouses in western Ukraine.







Lavrov accused Ukrainian leaders of provoking Russia by asking NATO to become involved in the conflict, and he said NATO has effectively "entered into a war with Russia through proxies and is arming those proxies."







"Everyone is reciting incantations that in no case can we allow World War III," he said in a wide-ranging interview on Russian television.







Klavidia, 91, is carried on an improvised stretcher as she boards a train, fleeing the war in Severodonetsk at a train station in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, April 25. AP-Yonhap





By providing weapons, NATO forces are "pouring oil on the fire," Lavrov said, according to a transcript on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.







Regarding the possibility of a nuclear confrontation, Lavrov said: "I would not want to see these risks artificially inflated now, when the risks are rather significant."







"The danger is serious," he said. "It is real. It should not be underestimated."







Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter that Lavrov's comments underscore Ukraine's need for Western help: "Russia loses last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine. Thus the talk of a 'real' danger of WWIII. This only means Moscow senses defeat in Ukraine."







When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, its apparent goal was the lightning capture of Kyiv, the capital. But the Ukrainians, with the help of Western weapons, thwarted the push and forced President Vladimir Putin's troops to retreat.







Moscow now says its goal is to take Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region in eastern Ukraine. While both sides say the campaign in the east is underway, Russia has yet to mount an all-out ground offensive and has not achieved any major breakthroughs.







On Monday, Russia focused its firepower elsewhere, with missiles and warplanes striking far behind the front lines in a bid to thwart Ukrainian efforts to marshal supplies for the fight.







Five railroad stations in central and western Ukraine were hit, and one worker was killed, said Oleksandr Kamyshin, head of Ukraine's state railway. The bombardment included a missile attack near Lviv, the western city close to the Polish border that has been swelled by Ukrainians fleeing the fighting elsewhere around the country.







Ukrainian authorities said at least five people were killed by Russian strikes in the central Vynnytsia region.







Russia also destroyed an oil refinery in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, along with fuel depots there, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said. In all, Russian warplanes destroyed 56 Ukrainian targets, he said.







A Ukrainian serviceman walks amid the rubble of a building heavily damaged by multiple Russian bombardments near the frontline in Kharkiv, Ukraine, April 25. AP-Yonhap





Philip Breedlove, a retired U.S. general who was NATO's top commander from 2013 to 2016, said the latest strikes against fuel depots are part of a strategy to deplete key Ukrainian war resources. The strikes against rail targets, on the other hand, are a newer tactic, he said.







"I think they're doing it for the legitimate reason of trying to interdict the flow of supplies to the front," he said. "The illegitimate reason is they know people are trying to leave the country, and this is just another intimidation, terrorist tactic to make them not have faith and confidence in traveling on the rails."







Phillips P. O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said the war is, for now, settling into a campaign of incremental battlefield losses and gains.







"The two sides are sort of every day weakening each other," he said. "So it's a question of what can you bring in that's new" and "what can you destroy on the other side."







In Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova that sits along the Ukrainian border, several explosions believed caused by rocket-propelled grenades hit the territory's Ministry of State Security. There was no immediate claim of responsibility or reports of injuries. Transnistria is a strip of land with about 470,000 people and about 1,500 Russian troops based there.







Moldova's Foreign Ministry said "the aim of today's incident is to create pretexts for straining the security situation in the Transnistrian region." The U.S. warned previously that Russia may launch "false-flag" attacks against its own side to create a pretext for invading other nations.







Last week, Rustam Minnekayev, a Russian military commander, said the Kremlin wants full control of southern Ukraine, which he said would open the way to Transnistria.







An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian troops holed up in a steel plant in the strategic southern port city of Mariupol are tying down Russian forces and apparently keeping them from being added to the offensive elsewhere in Donbas. Over the weekend, Russian forces launched new airstrikes on the Azovstal plant to try to dislodge the holdouts.







Some 1,000 civilians were also said to be taking shelter at the steelworks.







The city council and mayor of Mariupol said a new mass grave has been identified about 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the city. Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities were trying to estimate the number of victims. It was at least the third new mass grave discovered in Russian-controlled areas near Mariupol in the last week.







Mariupol has been gutted by bombardment and fierce street fighting over the past two months. In addition to freeing up Russian troops, the capture of the city would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.







In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said his country's goal is to maintain resistance and "make the occupiers' stay in our land even more intolerable," while Russia drains its resources.







Britain said it believes 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Moscow began its invasion. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said 25 percent of the Russian combat units sent to Ukraine "have been rendered not combat effective."







Ukrainian officials have said about 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed as of mid-April. (AP)


Few people want their taxes to increase, especially now with skyrocketing appraisals. But recent legislation deceives voters about a tax increase and has likely blocked school districts from successful bond elections.

Statewide and locally, the type of school bonds that traditionally have passed instead failed last year. In November, school bond packages for $172 million at East Central ISD, $302.5 million at Judson ISD and $52 million at Southside ISD failed.

On ExpressNews.com: Voters reject bond proposals in East Central, Judson, Southside ISDs

This is no mistake. Senate conservatives slipped misleading language into House Bill 3, a landmark public school finance overhaul enacted in 2019. Now, school districts are the only entities required to include THIS IS A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE on bond ballots  even when there wont be an increase. Its asinine.

Julia Grizzard, executive director and founder of the Bexar County Education Coalition, told us local superintendents are increasingly concerned by the change. They often make decisions to avoid tax increases. This penalizes districts for a potentially nonexistent tax increase and harms students.

This election, Northside ISD is asking voters to approve a $992 million bond package that will not increase taxes, yet voters will read otherwise on the ballot. We support this bond. We also support Harlandale ISDs bond, which would raise taxes. But in the case of Harlandale ISD, its worth it because the needs are so great and urgent.

The fallout is that districts are not getting funding they need, state Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, said of the misleading ballot language. Its another attack on public schools.

Last year, Judson ISD sought to pass a $302.5 million bond to air-condition 16 gyms, build new schools and much more. The bond failed.

The language on the ballot played a part in our bond not passing, Jeanette Ball, Judson ISD superintendent, said. We need a legislative change. The language shouldnt be required if it is not going to increase taxes.

On Wednesday, the Texas Bond Review Board testified in a Senate Committee on Local Government hearing about a dramatic and alarming shift in school bonds. In the November election, only 47 percent of 110 propositions for school districts carried. In May, 82 percent of 113 propositions were approved.

James Quintero, policy director for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative organization that advocates for the new tax language, testified at the hearing that local governments have developed an over-reliance on public debt.

We agree with state Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, who replied to Quintero by pointing to the dishonesty: Two wrongs dont make right. And if were going to make a statement that, and in my opinion, it tells electioneering at the ballot by saying this increases your property taxes, whether we know that it does or doesnt, across the board.

School boards asking voters to approve bonds have been attempting to educate voters that the language isnt accurate, but convincing voters is a huge obstacle. Who can blame voters for believing what they read on their ballots?

Lawmakers at the hearing Wednesday say they are studying the impact, but what is there to study? How is it in the public interest to require language stating something will increase taxes when it does not? The Texas Legislature must make it a priority next session to fix the language on school bond ballots.

Reducing taxes and public debt are important, but so are honesty and supporting schools. Ballots shouldnt lie. This language is an affront to voters and undermines public education.
John Austin sounds very confident these days.

The Bexar County Republican Party chairman is predicting a big election cycle for his party, particularly in Bexar County, where he anticipates that the GOP will dominate the November slate of judicial races.

Austin, who faces a runoff primary battle for his own seat next month against challenger Jeffrey McManus, visited the Express-News Puro Politics podcast on Monday. He talked about his expectations for this years midterm elections.

I think a lot of people are mad our economys in shambles, Austin said. You know the president (Joe Biden) was supposed to be this big unifier, and hes nothing but the opposite.

While some political observers have wondered whether the GOPs intensifying fixation on social issues  targeting LGBTQ rights, critical race theory and abortion access  will end up turning off moderates and independents, Austin said the partys tent is expanding.

Were seeing a huge uptick of new Republicans in San Antonio, those traditional Democrat conservative Catholic business owners, he said.

JENNIFER WHITNEY /JENNIFER WHITNEY

Theyre still a little afraid because you know how society is right now attacking Republicans. But theyre ready to come out and vote, so I see a big surge for the Republicans, and fortunately we have a bunch of great candidates.

Hear more from Austin on the latest edition of Puro Politics.

ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470
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Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, long cautious in addressing corruption allegations against Attorney General Ken Paxton by his former aides, made a strong statement this week in support of the embattled top lawyer.

The two Republicans filed briefs Monday urging the Texas Supreme Court to take up Paxtons challenge to an appellate court ruling that found that the fired former employees who have accused him of retaliation can sue under the states whistleblower law.

If the high court takes the appeal, it would mean more procedural delays in a case thats been ongoing for a year and a half and has yet to get at the substance of the accusations. Paxton argues that he is protected by sovereign immunity, a legal principle that shields some governmental officials from lawsuits.

BACKGROUND: Employees fired by AG Ken Paxton deserve whistleblower protections, appellate court rules

Abbott and Patrick were brief in their arguments and stopped short of saying whether they agreed with Paxtons argument that he is immune from such a suit. Abbott, through his attorney, said a case like this concerning a state officials powers is most appropriately decided by a court with statewide jurisdiction. Patrick made a similar claim.

The people of Texas deserve that a case of this importance be considered and reviewed by the highest court in the state, Patricks lawyer wrote.

The whistleblower suit was brought by four of the eight former employees who accused Paxton of bribery and abuse of power for helping his friend and campaign donor Nate Paul, an Austin-based real estate investor. The FBI is reportedly investigating those claims.

Paxton, a second-term Republican who has also been under indictment on charges of felony securities fraud for five years without going to trial, has denied all wrongdoing. After failing to secure enough votes to win his primary election this March, hes headed to a runoff with runner-up Land Commissioner George P. Bush next month.

In a statement Wednesday, Paxton said he was grateful for the letters of support from Abbott, Patrick and others.

This case is important to the jurisprudence of our State, to the separation of powers enshrined in our Texas Constitution, and to the fundamental principle that elected officials answer to the will of the people, not their aides, Paxton said.

Abbott and Patrick initially called the accusations against Paxton concerning but said theyd withhold comment until the investigation was complete. But the two have shown solidarity with him on other matters, such as criticizing a State Bar of Texas investigation into allegations of professional misconduct against Paxton for his Supreme Court suit challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING: Austin investor Nate Paul at center of allegations against Texas AG Ken Paxton

Patrick endorsed Paxton last month in the runoff, proclaiming that Texans cant find a more ardent defender of the peoples rights.

Abbott has stayed out of the race. Last May, it appeared their relationship might be fraught after Paxton was quoted in the New York Times saying, I dont think he supports me; I dont support him. But Paxton quickly decried the story as fake news and later called Abbott a great governor and a great Texan.

An attorney whose firm represented Paul, the friend and campaign donor to Paxton, also urged the Supreme Court on Monday to weigh in on the case, saying it presents far-reaching consequences for our state government.

Statewide officials like Paxton need to be able to fire or retain employees based on whether they help advance their goals, wrote Kent Hance, founding partner of the Austin-based law firm Hance Scarborough.

Inferior officers are carefully chosen by an elected official to provide competent policymaking advice in line with the policymaking goals as defined by the elected official, Hance wrote. This works well when the goals are in line with the advice, but what happens when they are at odds?

A political action committee for Hances firm  the HS Law PAC  donated $25,000 to Paxton in June 2020, after he intervened in litigation involving Paul, as Hearst Newspapers reported.

Lawyers for one of the whistleblowers pointed to the donation this week.

Only somebody as shameless as Ken Paxton would get a lobbyist whose firm donated $25,000 to Paxton while it was representing Nate Paul companies to ask the Texas Supreme Court to rewrite the Texas Whistleblower Act, lawyers TJ Turner and Tom Nesbitt said in a statement. They declined to comment on the briefs by Abbott and Patrick.

MORE ON THAT: Lawyers for Nate Paul gave AG Ken Paxton $25k after he waded into civil suit

Hance did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but managing partner Jay Stewart, who is trustee of the PAC, has told Hearst Newspapers that it operates independent of the firms litigation section and that the donation had nothing to do with any cases.

Paxton intervened in a civil lawsuit against Paul to push for a settlement, a move that the whistleblowers said went against their legal advice that the state had no interest in the case. Its one of several examples they offer in their suit of how he allegedly abused the power of his office to help Paul.

taylor.goldenstein@chron.com
Chasity Maynard, MBR / Associated Press

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday sent whats left of the major challenge to Texas six-week abortion ban back to a district court, with instructions to dismiss all charges.

The order, a procedural step after the state high court ruled against providers in March, solidifies an end to the challenge over the once improbable law that has cut off most access to abortion in the state.
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The top state officials who staged a mutiny against Attorney General Ken Paxton warned that he was using his office to benefit campaign donor Nate Paul, an embattled Austin real estate investor.

Paul, a once high-flying businessman whose offices were reportedly raided by the FBI last year, gave Paxton $25,000 ahead of the attorney generals hard-fought re-election battle in 2018.

The No. 2 official in the attorney generals office, First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer, put Paul at the center of allegedly illegal activities by Paxton in a text message sent Thursday. Mateer, who resigned Friday, joined six other high-ranking employees in accusing Paxton, the states top law enforcement officer, of abuse of office, bribery and improper influence.

Each of the individuals on this text chain made a good faith report of violations by you to an appropriate law enforcement authority concerning your relationship and activities with Nate Paul, Mateer wrote in the text message, which was obtained by Hearst Newspapers.

RELATED: Midnight Rodeos operators locked out by landlord

The group requested an immediate meeting with Paxton, but the attorney general said he was out of the office and asked them to email him with their concerns. The Austin American-Statesman, which first reported on the allegations against Paxton, published a letter the officials sent to the attorney generals human resources office on Oct. 1.

TEXT MESSAGE SHARED WITH HEARST NEWSPAPERS

Neither Paul nor his attorney returned calls or messages left on their voicemail.

More for you Report: Ken Paxton allegedly took bribes, abused office

Paxton said in a statement Sunday: The Texas attorney generals office was referred a case from Travis County regarding allegations of crimes relating to the FBI, other government agencies and individuals. My obligation as attorney general is to conduct an investigation upon such referral. Because employees from my office impeded the investigation and because I knew Nate Paul, I ultimately decided to hire an outside independent prosecutor to make his own independent determination. Despite the effort by rogue employees and their false allegations, the AGs office will continue to seek justice in Texas.

The uprising against Paxton crystallized when a special prosecutor he appointed, Houston lawyer Brandon Cammack, issued grand jury subpoenas last week targeting adversaries of Paul, a senior AG official told Hearst Newspapers.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

The official who spoke with Hearst Newspapers said those subpoenas spurred the seven top deptuties in the attorney generals office into action. One of the signatories on the letter accusing Paxton, deputy attorney general for criminal justice J. Mark Penley, filed a motion in state district court in Austin to halt the subpoenas. The motion to quash them was granted on Friday, records show.

In filing the subpoenas, Cammack represented that he was acting on behalf of the office of the Attorney General as a Special Prosecutor, Penleys motion said. He is not properly authorized to act as a Special Prosecutor, and  has no authority to appear before the grand jury or issue grand jury subpoenas.

Cammack declined to comment.

An official with the Travis County District Attorneys office said the agency does not have an investigation into Paxton. The FBI and U.S. Attorneys offices declined to comment.

Top Republicans statewide on Sunday acknowledged the gravity of the allegations but stopped short of calling for Paxton to step down.

These allegations raise serious concerns, said Gov. Greg Abbott, who served as Attorney General for 12 years prior to Paxton. I will withhold further comment until the results of any investigation are complete.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called the matter obviously concerning.

I will wait until the investigation is complete before making any additional comments, Patrick said.

Neither responded to questions about what they believe should happen to Paxtons office in the meantime.

A real estate empire under a cloud

The genesis of Paxtons relationship with the real estate investor Paul was not clear on Sunday.

Paul cut a wide swath through Texas real estate circles in a short time, amassing a large portfolio of valuable holdings  particularly in Austin, his home since 2002  in less than a decade and by the age of 30.

According to published reports, his World Class Holdings owned the 156-acre former 3M campus, in northwest Austin, as well as prime downtown parcels. Together with a portfolio of storage facilities located in several states, the companys worth at one time reportedly approached $1 billion.

Personally, Paul owns a 9,000 square-foot mansion west of downtown Austin appraised at $2.4 million, according to Travis Central Appraisal District records.

Recently, the business empire has shown signs of severe stress. Over the past year, 18 of Pauls companies have declared bankruptcy, according to the Austin Business Journal, which has covered Pauls comings and goings extensively since his name suddenly became the most-searched phrase on the newspapers website, in 2014.

World Class also is embroiled in several lawsuits involving investors and partners. And in August 2019, his business and home were reportedly raided by federal and state agents, although no criminal charges have been filed.

According to published reports, Paul, the son of Indian immigrants, moved to Austin from Victoria as a teenager in 2002. He attended the University of Texas for three years before dropping out.

In 2006, he formed World Class, acquiring his first property in 2007. I started with zero. There was no legacy. Im self-made, he said in a 2015 Austin Business Journal article.

His sister, Sheena, joined the company as chief operating officer, according to a profile of her in Austin Woman.

Nate came into the world as a business person, she told the magazine. When he was 4 or 5 years old, he wouldnt carry around trucks or G.I. Joes; he carried around a yellow note pad. And he still does, writing down ideas. Its almost like a security blanket.

Paul said he was quickly able to acquire properties because of real estate prices suppressed by the 2009 recession. In 2015, he made a splash by bidding $800 million for a portfolio of properties including New York Citys legendary Plaza Hotel.

He also began raising his personal profile. In 2015, he was photographed with then-candidate Donald Trump, a meeting set up by a business associate who once worked for Trump.

He has reportedly hobnobbed with celebrities, including Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley, whom he met at UT; and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

In 2018, he donated just under $50,000 to a variety of Republican politicians, Texas Ethics Commission records show.

Paxton criminal case could be affected

The recent allegations against Paxton are compounded by an ongoing criminal case against him that has been churning for more than five years with no trial in sight. It now sits before a Harris County judge who will decide whether to move the case to Collin County, as Paxtons lawyers have requested, or keep it under his jurisdiction.

In that case, Paxton is charged with two felonies, accused of soliciting investments in a technology company without notifying investors that he would be compensated for it. Hes also charged with a third-degree felony of failing to register with the state as an investment adviser. Paxton has denied the claims and characterized the case as politically motivated.

Kent Schaffer, a special prosecutor in that case, said Saturday that the latest accusations, if they lead to charges, could imperil Paxton's odds of securing any kind of deal to resolve the criminal case.

We were trying to get this case resolved, but if this guys out committing crimes while hes on bond, then its going to become an extremely serious matter, Schaffer said. Im not saying that he has  I dont know the specifics, (but if he has) then its game on.

Maybe the people that reported him are not shooting straight, but I want to hear from both sides, if possible. Were going to do what we can to investigate.

Schaffer said he contacted the Texas Rangers on Saturday immediately upon hearing the news. He declined to comment on whether the agency mentioned any existing investigation on the matter.

Paxton has also been accused by his staff of accepting bribes in the past.

In 2016, Paxton faced allegations of bribery and corruption lodged by an anonymous employee. He had accepted money for his criminal defense fund from a CEO whose company was being investigated by his office.

While state law prohibits accepting gifts from parties subject to the offices authority, Paxton claimed the donors were friends, family friends and others with whom he had relationships that were independent of his position as Attorney General. A special prosecutor for the Kaufman County District Attorney agreed with Paxtons interpretation and declined to file charges.

The revelations over the weekend appeared to have shaken the agency, where Ryan Bangert, deputy first assistant attorney general and one of the seven officials who reported Paxton to the authorities, sent out a letter of reassurance to staff.

I write to assure you that the executive team remains committed to serving you, this office and the people of Texas, Bangert wrote. Your work, your sacrifice, and your dedication to this office inspire us all.

Jordan Berry, Paxtons political adviser, said he resigned after news of the allegations broke.

As news trickled into the political sphere, members of the Texas Legislature began speaking out  among them Houston Republican State Rep. Sarah Davis.

Although innocent until proven guilty, AG Paxton has been under indictment for the past five years, Davis said in a tweet Sunday. With these new allegations of bribery and abuse of office, Paxton needs to quickly address these allegations or resign so he can devote his time to his own personal legal matters.

Democrats, who are waging an all-out battle to flip the Texas House this November, said the allegations prove Paxton is not fit for office.

Ken Paxton is the top law enforcement official in the state, Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement Saturday. Yet, he has proven for years that he cannot follow the law himself.

Justin Nelson, who ran against Paxton in 2018 and lost by four percentage points, on Twitter on Sunday called for Paxton to resign.

Chris Turner, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, echoed that sentiment, saying the ethical storm clouds over Paxtons head had grown darker and more ominous than ever.

jay.root@chron.com

taylor.goldenstein@chron.com

eric.dexheimer@chron.com
Amid a sea of hotels, office buildings, tourist traps and parking lots, Weston Urban is making a big bet on demand for downtown living.

The San Antonio firm has begun construction of a 32-story high-rise at North Main Avenue and East Travis Street. The new tower will include about 354 apartments to be rented at market rates.

The project, dubbed 300 Main, will have about 6,275 square feet of space for retail and a parking garage. Its expected to cost upward of $107 million and be completed in spring 2024.

In two years time, a hot, soulless asphalt parking lot  and I bet theres not a person here that can remember when it was anything else  will transform by the work of a lot of great San Antonians into 32 stories of beauty and progress and, really, homes, Weston Urban co-founder and CEO Randy Smith said at a groundbreaking ceremony.

Itll be a major injection of apartments in downtown, where no project of that size has been built and residential options are few.

The areas housing stock includes about 247 apartments at the 17-story Inspire Downtown building at 100 N. Santa Rosa Ave., which was previously known as the Vistana, and about 59 condominiums at the 20-story Arts Residences at the Thompson Hotel at Lexington Avenue and North St. Marys Street.

Theres also a sprinkling of apartments in buildings such as the Maverick at East Houston and North Presa streets and the Exchange on East Pecan Street.

Courtesy of Weston Urban

Rising rents, occupancy

The 68 at Hemisfair, an eight-story building with about 151 units, was built through a partnership with the Hemisfair Park Public Facilities Corp., which provides a property tax exemption in exchange for including some apartments for tenants at lower income levels.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio firm getting another shot at Hemisfair development with new deal from City Council

There are about 8,231 apartments within a 1.5-mile radius of Weston Urbans planned high-rise, according to an analysis by ApartmentTrends.com, which focuses on the Austin and San Antonio multifamily markets. The average rent among those complexes is $1,435 per month, and average occupancy is 91.1 percent, up about 15 percent and 4.6 percent annually, respectively.

Rents are higher but occupancy lower compared to the metro areas overall multifamily market. Across 215,469 units, the average rent is $1,190 and average occupancy 94.3 percent. Metro-wide, thats an annual increase of 15.4 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

Why hasnt more housing been built downtown?

For one, its more difficult to secure financing and investors for downtown housing than for a hotel or a suburban apartment complex. Downtown also has less available land, and what is available is often smaller and pricier.

A developer may also need to demolish existing structures, have the land rezoned and receive approval of plans from the Historic and Design Review Commission, said Robin Davis, founder and owner of ApartmentTrends.com.

It has just been within the last year that (return on investment figures) have gone up enough for an appropriate rent on a downtown investment to make a new project feasible, Davis said.

Another big project

Courtesy of Weston Urban

More apartments are in the planning phase across 16 projects, according to ApartmentTrends.com. Those include about 385 more units planned at Hemisfair and construction underway on the Floodgate residences along East Commerce Street.

On ExpressNews.com: New hotel, restaurants and apartments to remake downtown San Antonio block

The groups providing financing for Weston Urbans high-rise are Bridge Investment Group of Salt Lake City and Bank OZK of Little Rock, Ark. The firm is also receiving about $7.5 million worth of incentives through San Antonios now-defunct Center City Housing and Incentive Policy, which was created about a decade ago to spur downtown housing.

This 32-story tower will become an important symbol and a part of San Antonios skyline ... and, in addition, sends a clear signal that San Antonio continues to move in the right direction, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Weston Urbans package includes a 75 percent rebate on property taxes for 15 years and reimbursements for San Antonio Water System fees. The rebate is worth $8.7 million, but about $2.2 million, or 25 percent, will go into the citys affordable housing fund.

The firm will also get a six-year, 40 percent abatement of Bexar County taxes, worth about $712,917.

Developer is confident

Smith said Weston Urban is confident theres interest in high-rise living downtown, particularly as the metro areas population is swelling, and noted that 300 Main isnt the firms only residential project downtown.

I dont think youll catch us delivering 2,000 of these units over the next five years, but  we do believe theres demand, he said. It has not been met, and well know in two years.

On ExpressNews.com: City panel OKs plans to restore historic buildings and construct 15-story tower

Several blocks southwest, it plans to turn a block bounded by San Pedro Creek and Commerce, Dolorosa and Laredo streets into a mix of apartments, offices and commercial space.

The firm plans to rehabilitate the Arana and Continental Hotel buildings and construct a 15-story building with about 255 units between the two buildings. The housing is aimed at students, faculty and staff at the University of Texas at San Antonio, which is building its School of Data Science and National Security Collaboration Center nearby.

If we can have backpacks and residents and folks after work, that is a cocktail for downtown that we just have not been able to piece together, Smith said.

madison.iszler@express-news.net
A resident gets tested outside an office building in the Haidian district in Beijing on Tuesday. China's capital Beijing is enforcing mass testing and closing down access to neighborhoods as it seeks to contain a new COVID-19 outbreak. AP-Yonhap



Beijing launched mass coronavirus testing on Tuesday for nearly all its 21 million residents, as fears grew that the Chinese capital may be placed under a strict lockdown like Shanghai.



Under its zero-Covid policy, China has used lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions to stamp out infections.



Its biggest city, Shanghai, has been almost entirely locked down for weeks, and the mass testing order in Beijing has sparked worries the capital will be placed under similar restrictions.



"Shanghai's situation has gone beyond everyone's imagination, and many people think it's absurd that a modern metropolis... has handled the situation like that," said Beijing resident Ms. Zhao as she did her regular shopping at a supermarket.



"I believe our situation will not be as bad... but to be honest, we also bought some rice, noodles, grains and oil. We've made preparations for at least one to two weeks," the 35-year-old human resources professional told AFP.



Beijing has ordered residents of the 12 central districts home to most of its population to undergo three rounds of testing after dozens of infections were found in recent days.



The capital's most populous district, Chaoyang, was the first to order mass testing from Monday, with people waiting in long lines to be swabbed by health workers in protective gear.



Eleven more districts began testing on Tuesday.



The testing order for Chaoyang sparked panic buying on Sunday night, with residents lining up at supermarkets with full carts as state media tried to reassure the public there were plentiful supplies.



Beijing residents told AFP they feared a repeat of the sudden lockdown in Shanghai, where people have struggled to obtain food and medical care for non-Covid conditions.



Several residential compounds have already been sealed off in Chaoyang.



One resident, who declined to be identified for fear of reprisal, told AFP he felt "a little anxious" after fences were suddenly put up in his neighborhood.



Residents in his building were ordered Monday night to stay home for at least 14 days after one neighbor tested positive.



"I'm worried that if we need medicine or other items in the future, we won't be able to get them delivered," he said.



Meanwhile, Beijing suspended large gatherings such as wedding banquets, closed theatres, and ordered a halt in some construction projects.



Many of the new infections were linked to one wedding party, officials told reporters, saying efforts to control the spread of the virus were at a "critical stage".



They urged residents to wear stronger N95 masks.



Multiple residents took to social media to lament the last-minute postponement of their weddings.



"I'll develop psychological problems if this goes on," wrote a woman who said she would have to delay her wedding, planned for the upcoming May national holiday  a popular time for couples tying the knot.





Customers shop in front of a half-empty freezer for dairy products, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at a supermarket in Beijing, China, Monday. Reuters-Yonhap
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Reducing endemic diseases in livestock can support the slowing of climate change by significantly reducing methane emissions, a new report has said.

The report provides farmers and vets with available interventions to boost animal health and welfare on farm that will in turn reduce methane emissions.

According to Defra, ruminants are responsible for 45% of UK methane emissions, the majority of which is through rumen digestion, manure and slurry.

However, the area the sector can really make an immediate difference in is the contribution of certain livestock diseases to emissions, the report says.

Acting on methane: Opportunities for the UK cattle and sheep sectors was produced by Moredun Research Institute and Ruminant Health & Welfare (RHW).

RHW chair, Nigel Miller said: Ruminant health is one of a small, but important, group of mitigation measures which can reduce emissions while also delivering a cost-benefit.

"Progress on health is identified immediately through herd or flock performance data, which feeds into on-farm carbon calculators and the national inventory.

He added: Effective farm health strategies are a gateway into low emissions production, and should be a pillar of future low carbon production systems supported by flock or herd health security."

The National Sheep Association (NSA) welcomed the evidence that improved health management will lead to numerous benefits alongside reducing methane emissions.

It said this was one of the low hanging mitigation options as there were direct benefits on farm as well as on a national scale through disease reduction and eradication, with little additional cost to the farmer.

However, the industry body warned of the 'potential dangers' of discussing methane emissions in isolation rather than on a whole farm basis.

NSA chief executive, Phil Stocker said: Its important to look at methane and emissions  but we have to see this within a bigger picture of Global Warming Potential and full/whole carbon life cycle measurements.

"And also within wider sustainability assessments to include nature recovery/biodiversity, natural capital protection, animal welfare, production, social etc.

He added: You cant deny that reducing days to slaughter will reduce methane emissions, but this needs to be within the context of driving efficiency generally through good health and good nutrition etc rather than any industry/policy direction.

"This will affect markets and trade as well as having wider consequences overfeeding and pasture management, that could, in turn, have wider carbon or nature implications.

There can be no one blueprint for the sheep industry on these sort of issues  its a matter of getting farmers aware of, and owning the environmental challenges, and giving them the options as to potential solutions.
The proportion of farmers and farm workers saving for later life has increased, according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics.

Employees with workplace pensions in agriculture has rocketed from 16.6% in 2012 to 64.3% in 2021, the ONS has revealed.

Across the UK the proportion of employees with workplace pensions has risen from 47% to 79% in the same time.

This increase follows the introduction of automatic enrolment in 2012, which made it a legal requirement for all employers, including farmers, to offer a pension to eligible employees.

Separate NFU Mutual figures show the number of all farmers saving into pensions has also increased in recent years, rising from 66% in 2019 to 74% in 2021.

This suggests a growing proportion of farmers and farm workers are saving for later life, whether through a workplace pension or a private pension.

Sean McCann, chartered financial planner at NFU Mutual said: Farming is a way of life, and many farmers choose to never fully retire in the traditional sense.

But having an independent source of income in later life gives you the option to take less from the business, making it easier to hand over the reins to the next generation."

Defras new lump sum exit scheme may spark some farmers to think about their retirement plans, particularly the options available for taking money from their pension.

Mr McCann added: Its good news that more farmers and farm workers are investing into pensions because there are some significant tax benefits.

For employees, pensions can provide choice in later years. Many phase their retirement over time, reducing the hours they spend at work using their pension to supplement their income."

Currently pensions can be accessed from age 55, increasing to 57 from 2028.

For every 80 put into a pension, the government adds an extra 20, and higher rate taxpayers can claim up to another 20 from HMRC.

Any growth within the fund is largely tax free. Up to 25% of the value of the fund can be taken as a tax free lump sum from age 55.
Dozens of volunteers have hand-pulled, topped and tailed around 3,000kg of surplus leeks at a Lincolnshire farm  helping to reduce waste and support the agricultural sector.

Organised by Lions Club International, a global voluntary service, the initiative encourages people across the UK to pick surplus crops to shrink farm-level food waste.

After being picked in Coningsby, the leeks were placed in crates and distributed to frontline charities and local groups via FareShares regional centres.

Dr Chris Hibbert, a member of Lions Club International and holding the role of national hunger officer, formed the Lions Gleaning Hub two years ago.

Since then, more than 38 tonnes of food from eight counties  including Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire  have been rescued.

He said: Last year, we were inundated with pumpkins as they are getting more popular and we had opportunities with around a dozen farms.

"While we managed to help most of them, the waste was still staggering. All those who volunteer for us have been shocked by the quality and quantity of food available on the farms we have managed to engage with and the variety of reasons for this surplus."

He said that while food bank, community fridges and soup kitchens were well-supported, awareness of food waste generally was still not widely appreciated.

Lions Club International is hoping to develop more opportunities with farms across the UK, as well as encourage more volunteers to get involved.

"Another area we are keen to develop is around education of growing, preparing and cooking food as there is an over-reliance on takeaways and pre-prepared food," Dr Hibbert said.

It is important for people to realise that the food we are picking is fresh, nutritious and delicious.

"It isnt waste  it is surplus and our aim is to stop it from becoming waste.
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The art and production design of every Sanjay Leela Bhansali film is a mood in and of itself. Whatever the setting or story, audiences have come to expect that signature look, which is dripping with rich detail and heavily incorporates Indian textile, artwork, colour, and texture.

Gangubai Kathiawadi is no different. The film, set between the 1950s and 1960s in Mumbai's Kamathipura and the neighbouring Falkland Road and Grant Road neighbourhoods, is based on a section of the book Mafia Queens Of Mumbai by author S Hussain Zaidi.

To commemorate the film's OTT release, Bhansali released this special Behind the Scenes video, which provides an inside look at the production. Gangubai Kathiawadi's producers released a behind-the-scenes video from the film's set with the caption, "A labour of love and emotions with a vision to bring a story to life. We bring to you the world of Kamathipura, this time through the lens of the filmmaker himself, #SanjayLeelaBhansali." When asked about Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his vision, Alia Bhatt explained, "He's a magician. I call him a magician. It's not only a scene and lines and walk from point A to B and say your dialogue. Everything has a purpose. He only eats, breathes, drinks, thinks about his movie and that's automatically what happens on his set when you're around. Everything about that vision."

The montage shows the construction of the Kamathipura sets from the ground up. Production Designers Amit Ray and Subrata Chakraborty, studied for 11 years under one of their field's masters. Samir Chanda, who died in 2011, was regarded as one of the most talented production designers of his generation. Chanda taught them the fine line between glamorous realism and realistic glamour, which has served them well throughout their careers. Ray and Chakraborty landed Sanjay Leela Bhansali's historical Padmaavat after working on productions by Vishal Bhardwaj and a slew of other directors. The duo collaborated with Bhansali once more for Gangubai Kathiawadi, bringing realism as well as glamour to Gangubai's world.

Watch the video below:
Updated iOS app for the Japanese market allows drivers to find parking at more than 100,000 locations nationwide and more than 2,000 on-street locations in Tokyo

Highly accurate and complete data helps drivers to comply with strict parking restrictions in the country by providing information such as location, prices and opening hours

LONDON, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parkopedia, the global leader in digital parking services, has updated its free iPhone parking app in Japan, helping drivers to find parking at more than 100,000 off-street locations, across 1,300 cities and towns nationwide, and also at more than 2,000 on-street locations in Tokyo.

As one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with nearly 60 million drivers1, space for parking is severely limited. The 1962 Garage Act (Shako Shomei Sho) requires that motorists provide evidence of access to a local parking space within 2 kilometres of their homes.

The Parkopedia app, which is available to download from the Apple App Store, provides drivers with the precise location of more than 100,000 off-street parking facilities across the country, as well as details such as the number of spaces, prices, hours of operation, height restrictions and if electric vehicle (EV) charge points are present.

The app also helps drivers to comply with the country's strict parking regulations and avoid expensive fines. In Japan, on-street parking is typically prohibited in major cities, however, a limited number of exceptions are made for daytime and evening parking at metered locations, featured within the app. The Tokyo metropolitan area, with a population of more than 37 million sees drivers compete for a very limited number of on-street parking spaces. Parkopedia's parking app allows drivers to find more than 2,000 on-street locations in Tokyo and provides them with the accurate information required to park with ease.

In the near future, Parkopedia will be adding its dynamic parking service to the premium version of the app, which will be available for a one-off fee of 610 JPY. Dynamic predictive data provides drivers with information regarding space occupancy and accurately forecasts if a space will be available at their time of arrival, based on cutting-edge parking modelling research, which leverages parking payment transaction data, digital imagery and vehicle sensor data, to provide the highest quality predictions.

Eugene Tsyrklevich, Founder and CEO of Parkopedia, said: "By updating our parking app in Japan and now covering over 100,000 locations, we are able to better support drivers across the country to find parking more easily. As part of our continued commitment to the Japanese market, we launched our dedicated Japanese subsidiary last year, whilst also continuing to expand the coverage of our market-leading parking data. Shortly, we will also be providing our reservation and payment solutions in Japan which are currently used by various global automakers for their drivers in Europe, North America and China. Our ambition is to provide seamless parking experiences for all drivers, and support automakers in Japan to cater to growing customer demand for next-generation driver convenience features."

Parkopedia uses its industry-leading data collection services to deliver accurate and complete parking data in Japan. Recent Ground Truth Testing studies in both the US and China have named Parkopedia as the market leader for parking data, with a global database of over 70 million spaces across 89 countries.

Notes to Editors

As the global industry leader, Parkopedia works with major Japanese OEM brands worldwide, such as Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Acura, Mazda and Nissan. In Japan, Apple Maps, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen Group drivers all currently use the parking services provided by Parkopedia.

Parkopedia Japan business website - https://business.parkopedia.com/ja

Parkopedia's App is available to download from the Apple App Store now - https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/parkopedia-parking/id409340361

1 As of December 31, 2020, the driver's licence in Japan held most commonly was for class 1 middle-category motor vehicles, with 59.55 million licence holders - https://www.statista.com/statistics/1258739/japan-licensed-drivers-by-type/

About Parkopedia

Parkopedia is the leading connected car services provider used by millions of drivers and organisations such as Audi, Apple, BMW, Ford, Garmin, GM, Hyundai Kia, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Sygic, TomTom, Toyota, Volkswagen, and many others. Parkopedia helps drivers find and pay for parking, EV charging, fuelling and tolls in 15,000 cities across 89 countries. Parkopedia is also developing highly detailed parking maps and corresponding algorithms to help drivers and self-driving vehicles navigate to an open parking space indoors. Visit business.parkopedia.com for more information.

Japan Business Representative

Tomohiko Ishibashi

Commercial Director

Parkopedia Japan Limited

T: +81-90-9837-3698

E: tomohiko.ishibashi@parkopedia.com
Singapore, Singapore--(Newsfile Corp. - April 25, 2022) - Raffles Financial Group Limited (CSE: RICH) (FSE: 4VO) (OTCQX: RAFFF) ("RFG" or the "Company") This is to give shareholders an update on the audit status and business development of the Company.

China is still facing tightened COVID-19 restriction measures in light of the surging Omicron variant cases. China's authorities are still accelerating efforts in mass locking down several major cities to curb the recent outbreak. The zero Covid-19 policy ramping up by the China authorities is not only hindering the audit work of us but also of other public companies listed on overseas exchanges like US, Singapore and Hong Kong with business in China.

As previously announced, we are unable to reach to an agreement with our Auditor MNP LLP on some outstanding audit matters in relation to the deployment of funds for our strategic supplier in China including, amongst others, the scope of the additional appropriate audit action, the procedure and logistic of the action, the workaround for certain limitations, as well as the additional audit fee. Considering the deadlock, MNP LLP has decided to resign as our auditor and served a notice to the Company on 23 April 2022. Considering the importance of filing the audit financial statement at the earliest possible time, we are now actively approaching different qualified auditors who could provide a more effective solution to resolve the aforesaid audit issues in China.

Apart from this, in compliance with health protocols, the Raffles Financial Group is observing the avoidance of in-person visits and continues to work from home with the deployment of online communication tools. We envisage the effectiveness of our service level to our clients will be affected albeit the cases in our deal pipeline that need immediate attention and the fulfilment of their public listing expectation.

We are completely committed to doing everything we can to get over the audit issue. We will keep shareholders duly informed on the progress of our business and the audit matter.

About Raffles Financial Group Limited (CSE: RICH) (FSE: 4VO) (OTCQX: RAFFF) Raffles Financial Group is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange Purchasable under the stock symbol (CSE: RICH), the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Purchasable under the stock symbol (FSE: 4VO) and the OTC Markets under the stock symbol (OTCQX: RAFFF).

On behalf of the RFG Board of Directors

Monita Faris

Corporate Secretary

Phone: 604-283-6110

Email: monita@rafflesfinancial.co

Website: www.RafflesFinancial.co

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release.

Neither the Canadian Securities Purchase nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Purchase) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively "forward-looking information") as those terms are used in Canadian securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "anticipates" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121657
Taiwanese still choose to use free VPNs, while Hong Kong knows their real price

LONDON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest research by NordVPN showed that residents of Hong Kong and Taiwan have very high knowledge of VPN products. In fact, only 22% of Hong Kong residents could not name a VPN brand. Similar numbers can be observed in Taiwan, with 36% of respondents unable to identify a brand.

However, there are certain differences in usage. In Taiwan, free VPNs are almost twice as popular as paid ones, while people in Hong Kong mostly choose paid VPN options.

"It's always best to go premium if you want the best quality available. While the option of a free VPN is enticing, you must remember that a service needs to make money somehow. If the service is free, your data is normally the price you pay for it," Daniel Markuson, a cybersecurity expert at NordVPN , says.

41% of Taiwanese choose free VPNs to access restricted content

Hong Kong residents will use a VPN mainly for security (39%) and privacy (38%) purposes.. Privacy became especially important to people of Hong Kong in 2020, when the new national security law came into power. It stated that all content publishing platforms in Hong Kong must provide data or restrict access to users upon police request. The new law put millions' of people's online privacy under question and since then VPNs became the only way to maintain security while expressing yourself online. People can't afford to be caught, so paying for a premium online privacy tool is paramount

VPN usage in Taiwan, however, has been more frequently linked with getting access to region-locked content (41%) rather than cybersecurity, that is why they choose free VPNs more often. Taiwanese are especially interested in Japanese content and the increase in demand for VPN coincides with each new online game release or anime premier.

That also correlates with the fact that 40% of residents from Hong Kong stated that they are concerned about being watched online. Only 32% of Taiwanese stated the same, however, this number has increased by 25% since the last time the survey was conducted in August.

ABOUT NORDVPN

NordVPN is the world's most advanced VPN service provider, used by millions of internet users worldwide.
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Sydney, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 25, 2022) - Austral Gold Limited (ASX: AGD) (TSXV: AGLD) ("Austral" or the "Company") is pleased to advise that the following documents were dispatched to shareholders today for its Annual General Meeting to be held on Friday, 27 May 2022 at 8:00am AEST in Sydney Australia:

Notice of Annual General Meeting

Shareholder proxy for shares traded on the ASX (where applicable)

Shareholder proxy for shares traded on the TSX.V (where applicable)

Annual Report (to those shareholders who have requested it)

*The Notice of Annual General Meeting and the two sample Proxy Forms will be available at http://www.asx.com.au, on the Company's website at www.australgold.com and will be filed on Sedar under the company's profile.

About Austral Gold

Austral Gold Limited is a growing gold and silver mining, development and exploration company whose strategy is to expand the life of its cash generating assets in Chile, restart its Casposo mine in Argentina and build a portfolio of quality assets in Chile, the USA and Argentina organically through a Tier 1 or 2 exploration strategy and via acquisitions and strategic partnerships. Austral owns a 100% interest in the Guanaco/Amancaya mine in Chile and the Casposo Mine (currently on care and maintenance) in Argentina, a non-controlling interest in the Rawhide Mine in Nevada, USA and a non-controlling interest in Ensign Gold which holds the Mercur project in Utah, USA.

In addition, Austral owns an attractive portfolio of exploration projects in the Paleocene Belt in Chile (including those acquired in the 2021 acquisition of Revelo Resources Corp), a non-controlling interest in Pampa Metals and a 100% interest in the Pinguino project in Santa Cruz, Argentina. Austral Gold Limited is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV: AGLD) and the Australian Securities Exchange. (ASX: AGD). For more information, please consult Austral's website at www.australgold.com .

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Release approved by the Chief Executive Officer of Austral Gold, Stabro Kasaneva.

For additional information please contact:

David Hwang

Company Secretary

Austral Gold Limited

info@australgold.com

+61 (2) 9698 5414

Ben Jarvis

Director

Austral Gold Limited

info@australgold.com

+61 413 150 448

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical, and consist primarily of projections - statements regarding future plans, expectations and developments. Words such as "expects", "intends", "plans", "may", "could", "potential", "should", "anticipates", "likely", "believes" and words of similar import tend to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include that Company's annual general meeting will be held on Friday, 27 May 2022.

All of these forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied, including, without limitation, business integration risks; uncertainty of production, development plans and cost estimates, commodity price fluctuations; political or economic instability and regulatory changes; currency fluctuations, the state of the capital markets especially in light of the effects of the novel coronavirus" uncertainty in the measurement of mineral reserves and resource estimates, Austral's ability to attract and retain qualified personnel and management, potential labour unrest, reclamation and closure requirements for mineral properties; unpredictable risks and hazards related to the development and operation of a mine or mineral property that are beyond the Company's control, the availability of capital to fund all of the Company's projects and other risks and uncertainties identified under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's continuous disclosure documents filed on the ASX and on SEDAR. You are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which may have been used. Austral cannot assure you that actual events, performance or results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements, and management's assumptions may prove to be incorrect. Austral's forward-looking statements reflect current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof and Austral does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable law. For the reasons set forth above, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121679
Feature: Chinese-built bridge brings hope for transnational couple in Croatia

Xinhua) 09:58, April 26, 2022

KOMARNA, Croatia, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Peljesac Bridge, connecting Croatia's mainland with its southernmost region, is also a symbol of happiness for Croatian-born Ana Vulic, 32, and 34-year-old Talman Damtare, a native of Togo in Africa.

The two first met -- and eventually got married -- in China. But it was the bridge, built by a Chinese consortium led by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), that brought and kept them together.

Since "Talman" means "hope" in one of the local languages spoken in Togo, he was affectionately referred to as "Hope" by his Chinese colleagues during the bridge-building project.

"We would like to express our love and gratitude to China," Hope and Ana said in an interview with Xinhua.

The two met in Nanjing in 2009, where they both studied Chinese at the Nanjing Normal University (NNU).

Back then, Hope often took Ana to the traditional local folk event known as temple fair and bought her various gadget gifts.

It was in Nanjing where they fell in love, and it was also there that they both mastered the Chinese language, which would benefit them a lot in their future careers.

Hope and Ana got married in 2016 in Hong Kong. Soon after, the pregnant Ana returned to Croatia to her family's care, while Hope, who was employed by a foreign trade company based in Shanghai, traveled back and forth between China and Croatia.

"It is really a hassle to have to go back and forth between the two countries. I wanted to find a job in Croatia to enable me to take better care of Ana and the baby," Hope said.

Construction work on the Peljesac Bridge started in June 2018. The 2.4-km bridge connects Croatia's northern Dalmatian coast with the southern region of Dubrovnik-Neretva County and thus it greatly promotes the development of the whole country's economy. No wonder the locals' heightened interest in participating in its construction.

Ana was hired by the construction company in August 2018 for her skills as a Chinese-Croatian translator.

As luck would have it, the foreign trade company in Shanghai that Hope worked for also had business ties to the Peljesac Bridge project. In November 2018, he also got hired by the Chinese consortium and was put in charge of customs clearance and transportation of materials.

"Being able to work on the Peljesac Bridge project is something I never dared to think about before, and it is also the wish of many people," Hope said.

Alongside Hope and Ana, over 60 locals have been employed successively at the construction.

According to project manager Xie Jingli, the bridge project manager, the additional arrival of hundreds of Chinese builders has injected vitality into the local economy as hotels, restaurants and supermarkets are being opened one after another in the seaside village of Komarna near the bridge.

Cooperation, a quest for mutual benefits and a win-win approach have characterized the work at the site since day one, Xie said. The consortium has signed more than 1,200 purchase contracts and orders with Croatian companies with a cumulative value of over 166 million Croatian kunas (23.5 million U.S. dollars) along with 91 business subcontracts whose value has exceeded 220 million kunas.

The building of the bridge has brought together 18 design consulting firms, 45 construction companies, along with 112 equipment and material suppliers and environmental protection companies from the European Union.

This fully complies with the principle of extensive consultation and cooperation advocated by Chinese President Xi Jinping in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xie said.

Making the project even sweeter for Hope and Ana, the consortium has decided to employ both of them on a long-term basis. This means that even after the bridge opens to traffic later this year, the couple can continue to work at the bridge's maintenance service, and thus can count on a stable job and income.

"When we heard the news, we immediately informed all our relatives and friends," Ana said.

If it were not for China, Hope and Ana might not have met each other and got married, nor could they live a happy life as they do now.

"We love China, we are so grateful to China," they said. (1 Croatian kuna = 0.14 U.S. dollar) 

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jazeera Paints' branch in Al-Jawf Province, north of Saudi Arabia, celebrated the coming of the holy month of Ramadan by launching one of its community-based initiatives. This initiative was in a form of a campaign to distribute Iftar meals to the fasting latecomers of Al-Jawf residents during the holy month. This comes in tune with the goodwill and benevolent spirit of Ramadan, as well as finding roots in the pioneering role Jazeera Paints plays, as a leading manufacturer in paints and construction solutions in the Middle East and North Africa.

The campaign started on Thursday 11th of Ramadan, the 12th of April 2022, and lasted until Saturday 15th of Ramadan, the 16th of April 2022. During the five days of the campaign, the volunteers were able to successfully distribute around 1,100 Iftar meals to the residents of the region, who were unable to reach their homes in time to break their fast with their families and loved ones. The camping located itself around the crucial areas in the region, in: Sinaiyah Al-Jawf, Dumah Al-Jandal, Al-Jawf Airport, Al-Suq, Bike Park, Al-Nakheel Park, and Al-Jawf main traffic lights (Shalhoub, Al-Hassoun, and Sinaiyah)

This campaign speaks to the great concerns Jazeera Paints attributes to its role in serving the community. It reflects the company's continuous efforts to strengthen the bonds of support, companionship, and solidarity among the communities the company is committed to serving. The company embraced the volunteering spirit that dwells within the hearts and souls of the twenty young people of Al-Jawf, who, because of their commitment to serve their people, spent a total of 80 hours, at a rate of 4 hours per volunteer, during the five days of the campaign.

Follow us on https://twitter.com/JPaintsGlobal.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1803810/Jazeera_Paints_Iftar_Meals.jpg
Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

Allschwil, Switzerland - April 26, 2022



Idorsia Ltd (SIX: IDIA) today announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2022.

Business highlights

PIVLAZ (clazosentan) for the prevention of cerebral vasospasm, vasospasm-related cerebral infarction and cerebral ischemic symptoms after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage launched in Japan on April 20, 2022

US launch of QUVIVIQ (daridorexant) for the treatment of adult patients with insomnia on May 2, 2022

EC decision for QUVIVIQ expected in early May 2022 - CHMP adopted a positive opinion in February 2022

PRECISION, a Phase 3 study to demonstrate the antihypertensive effect of aprocitentan when added to standard of care in patients with resistant hypertension, on track to deliver results before mid-2022

Financial highlights

US GAAP operating expenses in Q1 2022 at CHF 198 million

Non-GAAP operating expenses in Q1 2022 at CHF 188 million

Guidance for 2022 (unchanged): Net revenue around CHF 145 million - US GAAP operating expenses around CHF 975 million and non-GAAP operating expenses around CHF 920 million - leading to US GAAP operating loss of around CHF 840 million and non-GAAP operating loss of around CHF 785 million - unforeseen events excluded





Jean-Paul Clozel, MD and Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"The months of April and May 2022 will be recorded in the Idorsia history books. These are the months in which we launch our first two products in two of the world's largest pharmaceutical markets. This transforms Idorsia into a fully-fledged biopharmaceutical company, delivering our innovations from bench to bedside, just 5 years after launching the company. PIVLAZ is already available in Japan for patients with aSAH, and now that the scheduling is complete, QUVIVIQ will become available in the US for patients with insomnia from May 2nd. I am incredibly proud of the entire Idorsia team who have put in an immense effort to make this possible."

Financial results

US GAAP results First Quarter in CHF millions, except EPS (CHF) and number of shares (millions) 2022 2021 Revenues 5 7 Operating expenses (198) (129) Operating income (loss) (193) (122) Net income (loss) (198) (105) Basic EPS (1.12) (0.63) Basic weighted average number of shares 177.1 166.6 Diluted EPS (1.12) (0.63) Diluted weighted average number of shares 177.1 166.6

US GAAP revenue of CHF 5 million in the first quarter of 2022 consisted of contract revenue recognized in connection with the collaboration agreements with Janssen Biotech, Inc. (CHF 3 million), Mochida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (CHF 1 million) and Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (CHF 1 million) and revenue share from J&J (CHF 0.2 million), compared to a revenue of CHF 7 million in the first quarter of 2021.

US GAAP operating expenses in the first quarter of 2022 amounted to CHF 198 million (CHF 129 million in the first quarter of 2021), of which CHF 95 million relates to R&D (CHF 97 million in the first quarter of 2021) and CHF 103 million to SG&A expenses (CHF 31 million in the first quarter of 2021).

US GAAP net loss in the first quarter of 2022 amounted to CHF 198 million compared to CHF 105 million in the first quarter of 2021. The increase of the net loss was mainly driven by higher operating expenses, mainly in the commercial functions and a negative financial result.

The US GAAP net loss resulted in a net loss per share of CHF 1.12 (basic and diluted) in the first quarter of 2022 compared to a net loss per share of CHF 0.63 (basic and diluted) in the first quarter of 2021.

Non-GAAP* measures First Quarter in CHF millions, except EPS (CHF) and number of shares (millions) 2022 2021 Revenues 5 7 Operating expenses (188) (121) Operating income (loss) (183) (114) Net income (loss) (189) (95) Basic EPS (1.07) (0.57) Basic weighted average number of shares 177.1 166.6 Diluted EPS (1.07) (0.57) Diluted weighted average number of shares 177.1 166.6

* Idorsia measures, reports and issues guidance on non-GAAP operating performance. Idorsia believes that these non-GAAP financial measurements more accurately reflect the underlying business performance and therefore provide useful supplementary information to investors. These non-GAAP measures are reported in addition to, not as a substitute for, US GAAP financial performance.

Non-GAAP net loss in the first quarter of 2022 amounted to CHF 189 million: the CHF 9 million difference versus US GAAP net loss was mainly due to depreciation and amortization (CHF 5 million), share-based compensation (CHF 5 million) and a positive non-cash financial result (CHF 1 million).

The non-GAAP net loss resulted in a net loss per share of CHF 1.07 (basic and diluted) in the first quarter of 2022 compared to a net loss per share of CHF 0.57 (basic and diluted) in the first quarter of 2021.

Financial outlook

On April 20, 2022, the company launched PIVLAZ (clazosentan) in Japan. Furthermore, the company will soon launch QUVIVIQ (daridorexant) in the US and, pending marketing authorization from the European Medicines Agency, in the first European markets before the end of the year. The clinical pipeline will advance with highlights including the conclusion of the Phase 3 registration study for aprocitentan and the Phase 2 proof-of-concept study with the selective orexin 1 receptor antagonist, the ramp-up of recruitment into the pivotal SOS-AMI study with selatogrel, as more sites are initiated around the globe, and the planned initiation of Phase 3 development of cenerimod. Accounting for all these activities, the company continues to anticipate net revenue around CHF 145 million, US GAAP operating expenses around CHF 975 million and non-GAAP operating expenses around CHF 920 million, all leading to a US GAAP operating loss of around CHF 840 million and a non-GAAP operating loss of around CHF 785 million for 2022, unforeseen events excluded.

The company is committed to become profitable and with the current forecasts, continues to expect to reach this goal in 2025 with annual net sales above CHF 1 billion.

Andre C. Muller, Chief Financial Officer, commented:

"The launch of our first products is transforming the company into a commercial entity. I am happy that the first quarter of 2022 is the last quarter without sales figures, and I am really looking forward to seeing the initial uptake of our products and the corresponding results at the half-year reporting. No matter how well we guide the market, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I am confident that we can deliver on our ambitious targets and that will put sustainable profitability within reach in the not-too-distant future."

Liquidity and indebtedness

At the end of the first quarter of 2022, Idorsia's liquidity (including cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits) amounted to CHF 940 million.

(in CHF millions) Mar 31, 2022 Dec 31, 2021 Liquidity Cash and cash equivalents 146 101 Short-term deposits 794 927 Long-term deposits - 160 Total liquidity* 940 1,188 Indebtedness Convertible loan 335 298 Convertible bond 794 794 Other financial debt - - Total indebtedness 1,129 1,093

*rounding differences may occur

Commercial operations

After establishing Idorsia's commercial footprint - the people, infrastructure and processes required for commercial operations - the company is now launching two differentiated products in two of the largest pharmaceutical markets at the same time, PIVLAZ in Japan and QUVIVIQ in the US.

United States

On January 7, 2022, QUVIVIQ (daridorexant) 25 mg and 50 mg was approved by the FDA for the treatment of adult patients with insomnia, characterized by difficulties with sleep onset and/or sleep maintenance. More details can be found in the dedicated press release (https://www.idorsia.com/media/news-details?newsId=2665386).

Under the leadership of Patty Torr, several innovative initiatives to educate the US market about the seriousness of insomnia as a very real, but often overlooked medical condition are fully up and running. These include a partnership with Jennifer Aniston to launch a unique educational campaign, Seize the Night & Day (https://www.idorsia.com/investors/news-and-events/media-release-details?newsId=2667731), aimed at revealing the dual impact of insomnia on both nights and days. Additionally, eye-opening results from Wake Up America (https://www.idorsia.us/documents/us/media-releases/220405_wake-up-america-survey_final.pdf), the largest US survey of people with trouble sleeping, as well as healthcare professionals, were published recently to bring to life the true burden of insomnia. The survey, which was supported by Idorsia, was created under the direction of The Alliance for Sleep (https://www.idorsia.us/documents/us/media-releases/211202_the-alliance-for-sleep-announcement_final.pdf), an organization comprised of some of the nation's foremost experts in sleep medicine. The Idorsia US team has also produced a feature-length documentary, The Quest for Sleep (https://www.thequestforsleep.com/s/), which premiered in March and explores people's struggles with insomnia and the science of sleep.

On April 7, 2022, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) placed QUVIVIQ in schedule IV of the Controlled Substance Act (CSA), as expected based on the scheduling of other sleep medications. QUVIVIQ will be available to patients in the US from May 2, 2022. For more information about QUVIVIQ in the US, see the Full Prescribing Information (https://www.idorsia.us/documents/us/label/Quviviq_PI.pdf) (PI and Medication Guide).

Japan

Product Mechanism of Action Indication Commercially available since



PIVLAZ(clazosentan)



Endothelin receptor antagonist Prevention of cerebral vasospasm, vasospasm-related cerebral infarction and cerebral ischemic symptoms after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) 20 April 2022

On January 20, 2022, PIVLAZ (clazosentan) 150 mg was approved for the prevention of cerebral vasospasm, vasospasm-related cerebral infarction and cerebral ischemic symptoms after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) in Japan. More details can be found in the dedicated press release (https://www.idorsia.com/media/news-details?newsId=2672197). The approval was based on a robust Phase 3 program in Japanese patients, as published in "Effects of clazosentan on cerebral vasospasm-related morbidity and all-cause mortality after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: two randomized phase 3 trials in Japanese patients (https://thejns.org/view/journals/j-neurosurg/aop/article-10.3171-2022.2.JNS212914/article-10.3171-2022.2.JNS212914.xml)" in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

On April 20, 2022, PIVLAZ was launched and made available to patients in Japan. More details can be found in the dedicated press release (https://www.idorsia.com/media/news-details?newsId=2733314). The Idorsia Japan team, under the leadership of Satoshi Tanaka, has built a focused customer-facing organization to bring this innovative medicine to physicians and patients facing this life-threatening condition. The team is introducing PIVLAZ clinical data to physicians and engaging with local medical experts to improve and standardize the treatment of aSAH across Japan.

Simon Jose, Chief Commercial Officer of Idorsia, commented:

"We have all the ingredients needed to make both launches a success: two well differentiated products, hand-picked and focused teams with state-of-the-art commercial infrastructure, and innovative and ambitious go-to-market plans. We've been able to conclude all steps needed to launch PIVLAZ in Japan and QUVIVIQ in the US and finalize the pricing for both products. I'm very pleased that the innovative nature and impactful results of both products have been recognized by payors in Japan and in the US respectively. I am very confident that this will translate into commercial success, but more importantly, I am delighted that patients can now benefit from these innovative medicines."

Europe and Canada region

Idorsia is expecting the European Commission decision for QUVIVIQ (daridorexant) in early May 2022. This follows the positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) which recommended QUVIVIQ for the treatment of adult patients with insomnia characterized by symptoms present for at least three months and considerable impact on daytime functioning. More information can be found in the dedicated press release (https://www.idorsia.com/media/news-details?newsId=2696669).

The core Idorsia country teams are in place in the top five European markets and Syneos Health has been engaged as the company's partner to build a salesforce to reach the large primary care market for insomnia. The Idorsia team is engaging with local medical experts, policy makers and payors to introduce the company and raise awareness of the significant unmet patient need in insomnia in Europe. The first European launches of QUVIVIQ are expected before the end of the year following regulatory approval.

Clinical Development

Idorsia's diversified and balanced clinical development pipeline, which covers multiple therapeutic areas, including CNS, cardiovascular and immunological disorders, as well as orphan diseases, is on track and progressing as described in February.

Idorsia's clinical development pipeline



Compound Mechanism of Action Target Indication Status Daridorexant Dual orexin receptor antagonist Insomnia Approved as QUVIVIQ in the US



Under review in other countries Aprocitentan* Dual endothelin receptor antagonist Resistant hypertension management Phase 3 recruitment complete Clazosentan Endothelin receptor antagonist Cerebral vasospasm assoc.

with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage Phase 3 outside of Japan Lucerastat Glucosylceramide synthase inhibitor Fabry disease Phase 3 primary endpoint not met,



OLE ongoing** Selatogrel P2Y 12 receptor antagonist Suspected acute myocardial infarction Phase 3 Cenerimod S1P 1 receptor modulator Systemic lupus erythematosus Phase 3 in preparation ACT-539313 Selective orexin 1 receptor antagonist Binge eating disorder Phase 2 recruitment complete Sinbaglustat GBA2/GCS inhibitor Rare lysosomal storage disorders Phase 1 complete ACT-1004-1239 CXCR7 antagonist Immunology Phase 1 complete ACT-1014-6470 - Immunology Phase 1 ACT-777991 - Immunology Phase 1

* In collaboration with Janssen Biotech to jointly develop aprocitentan, Janssen Biotech has sole commercialization rights worldwide

** Open-label extension study

Neurocrine Biosciences has a global license to develop and commercialize ACT-709478 (NBI-827104), Idorsia's novel T-type calcium channel blocker. ACT-709478is currently investigated in two Phase 2 studies for the treatment of a rare form of pediatric epilepsy and essential tremor.

Further details including the current status of each project in the pipeline can be found in our clinical development fact sheet (https://www.idorsia.com/documents/com/fact-sheets-presentations/fs-clinical-development.pdf).

Results Day Center

Investor community: To make your job easier, we provide all relevant documentation via the Results Day Center on our corporate website: www.idorsia.com/results-day-center (http://www.idorsia.com/results-day-center).

Upcoming Financial Updates

Half-Year 2022 Financial Results reporting on July 26, 2022

Nine-months 2022 Financial Results reporting on October 25, 2022

Full-Year 2022 Financial Results reporting on February 7, 2023





Notes to the editor

About Idorsia

Idorsia Ltd is reaching out for more - We have more ideas, we see more opportunities and we want to help more patients. In order to achieve this, we will develop Idorsia into a leading biopharmaceutical company, with a strong scientific core.

Headquartered near Basel, Switzerland - a European biotech-hub - Idorsia is specialized in the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecules to transform the horizon of therapeutic options. Idorsia has a broad portfolio of innovative drugs in the pipeline, an experienced team of professionals covering all disciplines from bench to bedside, state-of-the-art facilities, and a strong balance sheet - the ideal constellation to translate R&D efforts into business success.

Idorsia was listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: IDIA) in June 2017 and has over 1,200 highly qualified specialists dedicated to realizing our ambitious targets.

For further information, please contact

Andrew C. Weiss

Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Hegenheimermattweg 91, CH-4123 Allschwil

+41 58 844 10 10

investor.relations@idorsia.com - media.relations@idorsia.com - www.idorsia.com

The above information contains certain "forward-looking statements", relating to the company's business, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates", "believes", "expects", "may", "are expected to", "will", "will continue", "should", "would be", "seeks", "pending" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such statements include descriptions of the company's investment and research and development programs and anticipated expenditures in connection therewith, descriptions of new products expected to be introduced by the company and anticipated customer demand for such products and products in the company's existing portfolio. Such statements reflect the current views of the company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

Attachment
Company also provides Q1 2022 Business Update and 2022 Outlook

ONWARD Medical N.V. (Euronext: ONWD), the medical technology company creating innovative therapies to restore movement, independence, and health in people with spinal cord injury, today announces its annual financial and operating results for the year ended December 31, 2021. The Company also provides a business update for Q1 2022.

The company further announces the publication of its statutory annual accounts for the financial year ended December 31, 2021, prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS-EU), as drawn up and approved by the Board and included in the Company's annual report (the Annual Report).

The full Annual Report is available on the Company's website in the Investors section (https://ir.onwd.com) and the website of the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (www.afm.nl).

The Company's Financial and Operating highlights for 2021 include the following:

Awarded Breakthrough Device Designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Company's ARCIM Therapy focused on restoration of normal blood pressure and trunk control for people with spinal cord injury (SCI). This is the Company's third such designation.

Completed enrollment in its Up-LIFT pivotal study in December, ahead of expectations and in less than 12 months despite COVID-related challenges. Up-LIFT is the first large-scale pivotal trial of non-invasive spinal cord stimulation technology.

Completed development of the initial generation of its ARCIM technology platform in preparation for first-in-human use of its IPG and Lead family, expected to occur in 2022 as part of the HeMon Study.

Raised EUR 30 million through a pre-initial public offering (IPO) convertible note financing.

Raised EUR 80 million in an IPO on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Amsterdam in October, believed to be the largest early-stage medtech IPO in European history.

The Company reported an Operating Loss of EUR 34.3 million for 2021 vs. EUR 20.0 million in 2020. The Company's year-end balance for cash and cash equivalents increased to EUR 89.4 million on December 31, 2021 vs. EUR 6.4 million on December 31, 2020.

"Despite challenging conditions that impacted businesses worldwide, we executed strongly against our primary objectives in 2021", said Dave Marver, CEO of ONWARD. "We demonstrated excellent progress in R&D by completing our implantable device platform, and in Clinical/Regulatory by completing enrollment in the Up-LIFT Study ahead of expectations and receiving our third Breakthrough Device Designation award from the FDA. Lastly, we successfully completed two important financings, including a large IPO that attracted a high-quality group of investors from the US, Europe, and across the world. We expect our strong cash position from these financings to provide runway through the end of 2024, but we will continue to explore options to raise even more capital and increase liquidity through financing activities."

2021 Financial Summary

EUR millions 2021 2020 Total Grant Income 1.4 0.8 Total Operating Expenses (30.0) (16.3) Science expenses (2.7) (1.1) Research Development expenses (7.9) (5.8) Clinical Regulatory expenses (4.8) (2.8) Marketing Market Access expenses (1.5) (0.4) Patent Fees Related expenses (1.4) (1.2) Quality Assurance expenses (1.0) (0.4) General Administrative expenses (10.7) (4.7) Operating Loss for the Period (28.6) (15.5) Net Finance expense (5.7) (4.5) Net Loss for the Period (34.3) (20.0) Basic (and diluted) Earnings per Share (in EUR) (3.62) (5.56) Cash position at the end of the year 89.4 6.4 Interest Bearing Loans (11.5) (41.8) Equity 82.7 (32.1)

Grant Income

Grant income increased by EUR 0.6 million vs. 2020, totaling EUR 1.4 million in 2021 and driven primarily by proceeds from a DARPA grant that commenced in October 2020. ONWARD is part of a research consortium eligible to receive up to USD 36 million as part of the DARPA Bridging the Gap+ program.

Operating Expenses

Operating expenses increased by EUR 13.7 million vs. 2020, totaling EUR 30 million in 2021. The increase was driven primarily by a EUR 8.2 million increase in employee costs, with full-time equivalent (FTE) employees increasing from 55 in 2020 to 76.9 in 2021. EUR 2.4 million of the employee cost increase can be attributed to additional FTEs while EUR 5.8 million can be attributed to share-based payment expense due to accelerated vesting of the Company's Employee Investment Plan on the date of the Company's IPO.

Consulting services and other costs associated with research and development of the Company's therapies increased by EUR 0.4 million vs. 2020. Activities to drive enrollment in the Company's Up-LIFT pivotal trial and other clinical study related costs contributed to an increase of EUR 1.4 million vs. 2020. The Company also incurred an incremental EUR 0.4 million for marketing and market access activities in the US and Europe. The Company's 2021 IPO and the incremental costs of operating as a public company added EUR 2.4 million not incurred in 2020. These costs include uncapitalized consulting and legal expenses relating to the IPO and assuring compliance with financial regulatory requirements.

Operating Loss for the Period

The Company's Operating Loss for the period increased by EUR 13 million, driven by the increase in Operating Expenses.

Net Loss for the Period

The Company realized a Net Loss for the period of EUR 34.3 million vs. EUR 20 million in 2020. EUR 13.0 million of this increase can be attributed to the Operating Loss for the period. An additional EUR 1.2 million is due to an increase in the Company's Net Finance Expense, driven primarily by an increase in Interest Expense.

Cash Position

Cash and cash equivalents increased by EUR 83 million vs. 2020. The year-end balance was EUR 89.4 million on December 31, 2021 vs. EUR 6.4 million on December 31, 2020.

Net cash used in operating activities was EUR 19.9 million vs. EUR 12.9 million in 2020. The increase was driven by the increase in the Operating Loss for the period.

The company invested EUR 2.3 million in assets in 2021, a EUR 2.2 million increase vs. 2020. The increase was driven primarily by IPO-related license fees paid and capitalized as intangible assets.

The Company successfully raised EUR 110 million through investing activities in 2021. EUR 80 million was raised via the IPO on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Amsterdam, preceded by a pre-IPO convertible note financing of EUR 30 million. The cash generated was offset by capitalized IPO fees paid in the amount of EUR 4.6 million. Net cash generated from financing activities was EUR 105.3 million in 2021 vs. EUR 4.4 in 2020.

Interest Bearing Loans

The decrease in Interest Bearing Loans from EUR 41.8 million in 2020 to EUR 11.5 million in 2021 was mainly attributable to the conversion of the Company's preference A shares into ordinary shares immediately preceding the IPO.

Equity

The positive Equity position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 was EUR 82.7 million, an increase of EUR 114.8 million vs. December 31, 2020. This increase resulted from the proceeds from the IPO (EUR 80 million), the conversion of the convertible note into ordinary shares (EUR 31 million), the conversion of preference A shares into ordinary shares (EUR 34 million) and the accelerated vesting of the Employee Investment Plan (EUR 8.5 million). The increase was offset by the Net Loss for the period (EUR 34.3 million) and the total paid and unpaid capitalized IPO fees (EUR 4.9 million).

Q1 2022 Business Update and 2022 Outlook

The Company's cash balance was EUR 83 million as of March 31, 2022, reflecting a cash burn of EUR 6.4 million during Q1 2022. This is in alignment with expectations that current cash on hand will fuel operations through the end of 2024.

In January, the Company was awarded 9 new patents in collaboration with leading research universities. The Company now has over 320 issued or pending patents worldwide.

In February, the Company's technology was leveraged to enable people with the most severe form of spinal cord injuries to walk and stand again. This breakthrough was published in Nature Medicine and featured by media outlets around the globe.

In March, the Company enrolled the first participants in the LIFT Home Study, a trial designed to study the safety and performance of its ARCEX Therapy in the home setting.

In March, the Company was added to Euronext Brussels' Bel-Small Index.

In March, the Company confirmed its cash runway through the end of 2024. The Company believes its strong cash position will mitigate the impact of global supply chain challenges that may affect certain development programs. At this time and barring unanticipated events, the Company believes it has mitigated the risk of further impacts to critical components.

In March, the Company added options to obtain rights to novel Brain-Spine Interface and Parkinson's disease IP developed by its research partners at EPFL and Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV).

Building on progress shown in Q1, 2022, the Company expects to achieve several important milestones during the remainder of 2022:

Completion of the Up-LIFT Pivotal Study for the Company's ARC EX Therapy

Therapy Release of top line data from the Up-LIFT Pivotal Study for the Company's ARC EX Therapy

Therapy Completion of the LIFT Home Study for the Company's ARC EX Therapy

Therapy Release of top line data from the LIFT Home Study for the Company's ARC EX Therapy

Therapy First-in-human use of the Company's ARC IM IPG

IPG Commencement of the HeMon Feasibility Study for the Company's ARCIM Therapy

"We demonstrated steady and consistent execution (and associated news flow) in Q1 2022", said Dave Marver, CEO of ONWARD. "Our drive to execute will continue during the remainder of 2022, with several value-driving milestones expected, including top line data from the Company's first pivotal trial and first-in-human use of our novel, proprietary, purpose-built neuromodulation platform."

Conference Call Webcast

ONWARD will host a conference call with live webcast today at 4 pm CET 10 am ET. The webcast may be accessed on the Events page of the company's website or by clicking here. A replay of the webcast will be available on the ONWARD website.

To learn more about ONWARD's ARC Therapy and the company's vision to restore movement, independence and health in people with spinal cord injury, please visit ONWD.com.

THIS PRESS RELEASE CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 7(1) OF THE EUROPEAN MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (596/2014).

About ONWARD

ONWARD is a medical technology company creating innovative therapies to restore movement, independence, and health in people with spinal cord injury. ONWARD's work builds on more than a decade of basic science and preclinical research conducted at the world's leading neuroscience laboratories. ONWARD's ARC Therapy, which can be delivered by implantable (ARCIM) or external (ARCEX) systems, is designed to deliver targeted, programmed stimulation of the spinal cord to restore movement and other functions in people with spinal cord injury, ultimately improving their quality of life. ONWARD has received three Breakthrough Device Designations from the FDA encompassing both ARCIM and ARCEX. The company's first FDA pivotal trial, called Up-LIFT, completed enrollment in December 2021 with 65 subjects worldwide.

ONWARD is headquartered at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. It maintains a significant team in Lausanne, Switzerland and has a growing U.S. presence in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. For additional information about the company, please visit ONWD.com. To access our 2022 Financial Calendar, please visit IR.ONWD.com.

The Company is listed on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Amsterdam as of 21 October 2021 under the ONWD ticker with international securities identification number NL0015000HT4.

Disclaimer

Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company or, as appropriate, the Company directors' current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such person's officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220425005913/en/

Contacts:

For Media Enquiries:

Simon Gentry- media@onwd.com +44 (0) 7884 496 251

For Investor Enquiries:

investors@onwd.com

For Company Enquiries:

ONWARD -info@onwd.com


Managing Director of Seng Fong, Mr. Er Hock Lai

KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 26, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Seng Fong Holdings Berhad, a rubber processor producing and trading Standard Malaysia Rubber (SMR) and premium grade block rubber, via its subsidiaries, is pleased to announce that the Company has, in the month of April 2022, obtained the approval of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to list on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad.With history tracing back to 1986, Seng Fong is principally involved in the processing of Standard Malaysia Rubber (SMR) and premium grade block rubber as well as trading in block rubber, where its customers are mainly tyre manufacturers or international rubber traders. The Company also operates a Malaysian Rubber Board-approved laboratory for the testing, grading and certification of the processed block rubbers.According to Seng Fong's draft initial public offering (IPO) prospectus posted on the Securities Commission Malaysia website, the listing exercise involves the initial public offering of up to 160.87 million ordinary shares comprising a public issue of 90.81 million shares and an offer for sale of up to 70.06 million shares.The IPO shares is divided into an institutional offering of up to 118.68 million shares representing 22.9% of the enlarged issued shares and, a retail offering of up to 42.20 million shares representing 8.1% of the enlarged issued shares.The institutional offering comprises:1. 64.87 million IPO shares representing 12.5% of the enlarged issued shares to bumiputera investors approved by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry2. 53.81 million IPO shares representing 10.4% of the enlarged shares to other institutional and selected investorsThe retail offering comprises:1. Malaysian public- 12.97 million IPO shares representing 2.5% of the enlarged issued shares to bumiputera investors- 12.97 million IPO shares representing 2.5% of the enlarged issued shares to non-bumiputera investors2. 16.25 million IPO shares representing 3.1% of the enlarged issued shares to eligible directors and employees of the Company as well as persons who have contributed to the success of the Company and its subsidiariesManaging Director of Seng Fong, Mr. Er Hock Lai said, "We would like to express our appreciation to the SC for approving our IPO on the Main Market of Bursa Securities. The listing will enhance our reputation and assist us in expanding our customer base globally while allowing us to gain access to the capital markets to raise funds for future growth opportunities.""The listing also enables us to raise the funds we need for the installation of a biomass system that will provide a source of fuel for our processing operations while at the same time achieve cost savings by reducing overall fuel costs. We are also installing two solar system units to help us lower electricity cost as well as help us achieve our sustainability goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions".A portion of the proceeds from the listing will also go to working capital needs, which will include increasing production capacity and repaying bank borrowings, which includes a term-loan for the Solar Systems installation.Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Hong Leong Investment Bank Berhad (HLIB), Ms. Lee Jim Leng said, "We congratulate Seng Fong for having received the approval of the SC for its listing and look forward to working with its management in preparing for the listing on the Main Market. Seng Fong is a solid business with a history going back to 1986 in an industry where demand continues to grow steadily. We have no doubt that the Company will find favourable reception with investors".Almost all of Seng Fong's revenue is derived from sales to international customers for the financial years ended 31 December 2019 to 2021.Hong Leong Investment Bank Berhad is the Principal Adviser, Underwriter and Placement Agent.Seng Fong Holdings Berhad: http://sengfongholdings.com/Source: Seng Fong Holdings BerhadCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
26 April 2022

Clean Invest Africa Plc

("CIA" or the "Company")

CIA advances its commercial opportunity in Colombia

The Company is pleased to advise shareholders of the completion of the trial and testing phase of its thermal coal commercial project in Colombia.

Trial production pellets made from coal fine samples received from a coal mine in Colombia, have now been sent by the Company and received by the client in Colombia. This step follows the Colombian mine having shipped coal fine waste to the Company production plant at Bulpan in South Africa, where the full batch was pelletised by the Company and the pellets then shipped back to the mine in Columbia, a process that has taken a number of months in terms of labour and resources.

The arrival in Colombia of the completed sample produced to the client specification is to be followed up now by further commercial negotiations. These negotiations are based on a financial model for a 5,000 tonnes per month on site thermal coal plant, which model has previously been submitted to our Colombian partner for review. An off-take agreement for the 5,000 tonnes per month output is under discussion as part of the negotiations and these commercial discussions are expected to be finalised in about 8 weeks.

It is worth noting that coal is much in demand. Recent research by Rystad Energy states "coal prices are soaring, hitting US$462/t on 10 March 2022, up from US$186/t on 23 February 2022 and likely to pass US$500/t this year."

Further announcements will be made in due course

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the content of this announcement.

ENQUIRIES :

Clean Invest Africa plc

Filippo Fantechi - Chief Executive Officer: +973 3 9696273

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Guy Miller: +44 20 7469 0930
Bluejay Mining plc / (EPIC:JAY) / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining

Bluejay Mining plc ('Bluejay' or the 'Company')

First Exploration Programme of 2022 at Enonkoski JV with Rio Tinto Confirmed

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Bluejay Mining plc, the AIM, FSE listed and OTCQB traded exploration and development company with projects in Greenland and Finland, is pleased to announce the approval of further exploration expenditure by the Company's joint venture ('JV') partner Rio Tinto Exploration Finland Oy ('Rio Tinto') at the Enonkoski nickel-copper-cobalt ('Ni-Cu-Co') Project in eastern Finland as part of the JV & earn-in agreement announced 10 November 2020.

Highlights of the 2022 planned field activities

 Follow-up diamond drilling at targets drilled by the JV in 2021; followed by downhole electromagnetic surveys of selected drill holes.

 A top of bedrock drilling programme focusing on new targets, but also including infill sampling at targets tested by top of bedrock sampling in 2021.

 Geological mapping and sampling.

 The work programmes will commence in Q2 2022.

In 2021, the Enonkoski JV diamond drilling focused on multiple near-mine areas northwest, west and southeast of the closed Laukunkangas Ni-Cu-Co mine. A top of bedrock ('ToB') drilling programme was ongoing simultaneously with the second phase of diamond drilling, as well as UAV 3-component magnetic surveys which were conducted at several sub-areas on the belt. The field activities were supported by extensive reference logging and sampling of historic drill core and a period of analysis carried out by the JV partners.

Based on drilling and assay results and the continuous evaluation of historic and new data from the entire belt, the exploration activities are being continued. The assay results from the drilling in 2021 and from the reference sampling of historic core highlight a zone of pyroxenite in close vicinity of a sulphide droplet zone identified by the Company in previous drilling southeast of the closed mine. Planning for the upcoming exploration programme is ongoing and preliminary plans include up-to 1,500 metres of diamond drilling, up-to 60 ToB drill holes, downhole electromagnetic surveys, geological mapping and sampling to be conducted in Q2 at several target areas on the belt. Final decisions on possible ground gravity surveys will be made based on drilling results.

Thomas Levin, COO of Bluejay subsidiary FinnAust Mining Finland Oy, commented: "I am delighted to report that our exploration activities at the Enonkoski JV project in eastern Finland will continue shortly. The exploration programme is currently being finalised, but we are aiming to commence diamond drilling in May targeting mineralisation at near-mine target areas with the focus on follow-up drilling of the drill campaigns in 2021.

"We are highly encouraged by the quality of the bedrock drill core samples we received from the ToB sampling programme conducted last year, and we have decided to extend this programme to cover some new target areas, but also infill drilling will be conducted to cover additional parts of a large mafic intrusion in the central parts of the Enonkoski Belt. With the very high confidence in obtaining actual bedrock samples we consider the ToB drilling to be a highly effective and a very low environmental impact method to map the bedrock under till cover. The aim with the ToB method is to confirm the existence of mafic-ultramafic intrusions defined by geophysics but covered by till. In addition, we will also achieve a better understanding of the more ore potential parts of the intrusions and generate new diamond drilling targets for future exploration programmes.

"Detailed interpretation work completed on the assay results from 2021 and early 2022, including a geochemical intrusion ranking study of known mafic intrusions on the Enonkoski Belt, shows that our activities are focusing on high potential targets on this underexplored nickel-copper-cobalt belt. This continuous evaluation work greatly assists in prioritising our targets, and we look forward to updating the market again in due course on this exciting project."

Finland Overview

Bluejay holds, through its 100% owned Finnish subsidiary FinnAust Mining Finland Oy ('FinnAust'), three large scale project areas in East Finland - the Enonkoski nickel-copper-cobalt ('Ni-Cu-Co') project, the Hammaslahti copper-zinc-gold-silver ('Cu-Zn-Au-Ag') project, and the Outokumpu copper-cobalt-zinc-nickel-gold-silver ('Cu-Co-Zn-Ni-Au-Ag') project. Bluejay subsidiary FinnAust signed a staged US$20 million JV and earn-in agreement with Rio Tinto for the Enonkoski Ni-Cu-Co project, announced 10 November 2020. In July 2021, the Company announced it has identified drill-ready targets at Outokumpu and signed a binding agreement for a partial divestment in a fourth Finnish project for 4 million.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR') which has been incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

For further information please visit http://www.bluejaymining.com or contact:

Kevin Sheil Bluejay Mining plc enquiry@bluejaymining.com Ewan Leggat/ Adam Cowl SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP(Nominated Adviser) +44 (0) 20 3470 0470 Andrew Chubb Hannam & Partners (Advisory) LLP +44 (0) 20 7907 8500 Tim Blythe/ Megan Ray BlytheRay +44 (0) 20 7138 3205

Notes

Bluejay is listed on the London AIM market and Frankfurt Stock Exchange and its shares also trade on the OTCQB Market in the US. With multiple projects in Greenland and Finland, Bluejay has now secured three globally respected entities as partner, customer, and co-investor on three of its projects, giving the Company and its shareholders both portfolio and commodity diversification in high quality jurisdictions.

Bluejay has signed a definitive joint venture agreement with KoBold Metals to guide exploration for new deposits rich in the critical materials for electric vehicles (The Disko-Nuussauq Project). Principal investors in KoBold include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate & technology fund, overseen by Bill Gates, and whose investors include Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos, and Ray Dalio. Other investors in KoBold include Andreessen Horowitz, the premier Silicon Valley venture capital fund and Equinor, the Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company.

Bluejay's most advanced project is the Dundas Ilmenite Project in Greenland, which is fully permitted and being developed towards production in the near term, with preparatory activities scheduled to commence in 2022. Dundas has a Mineral Resource reported in accordance with the JORC Code of 117Mt at 6.1% ilmenite and a maiden offshore Exploration Target of between 300Mt and 530Mt of ilmenite at an average expected grade range of 0.4 - 4.8% ilmenite in-situ. The Company has agreed a Master Distribution Agreement with a major Asian conglomerate for up-to 340ktpa of its anticipated 440ktpa annual output. The Company has signed on a major European bank to head the financing syndicate for Dundas. The Company's strategy is focused on securing financing ahead of commencing commercial production at Dundas in order to create a company capable of self-funding exploration on its current and future projects.

Bluejay holds two additional projects in Greenland - the 692 sq km Kangerluarsuk zinc-lead-silver project ('Kangerluarsuk'), where historical work has recovered grades of 41% zinc, 9.3% lead and 596 g/t silver and identified four large-scale drill ready targets; and the 2,025 sq km Thunderstone project which has the potential to host large-scale base metal and gold deposits. Bluejay has agreed a joint-venture agreement with Rio Tinto Exploration Finland Oy at its Enonkoski Project in Finland and has recently signed a binding agreement for a partial divestment in another Finnish project. Bluejay also holds two additional key project areas in eastern Finland hosting several historic mines, the Outokumpu copper-cobalt-zinc-nickel-gold-silver project and the Hammaslahti copper-zinc-gold-silver project.

**ENDS**

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: Bluejay Mining PLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698867/Bluejay-Mining-PLC-Announces-First-Exploration-Programme-of-2022-at-Enonkoski
POOLE, England, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Codestone Group, one of the top SAP and Microsoft cloud technology consulting firms, today announced the appointment of Michelle Htun-Kay to the company's first Group Marketing Director (GMD). This is part of Codestone Board appointments of Non-Exec Chairman Don Grantham and CFO Sam Bursey, following private equity-backing from FPE Capital. Michelle will be responsible for fuelling the company's marketing of its full portfolio of SAP ERP and Microsoft solutions combined with the company's best-in-class consulting and managed services, to further position Codestone as the leading one-stop-shop for cloud transformation services for SMEs and mid-market businesses.

She has 25 years of international marketing and communications experience across industries, most recently as the Global Director of Marketing AKT Solutions (Israel/UK), where she led the company's marketing and communication strategies supporting its rapid expansion across Europe and SAP products.

Previously, she was Director of Marketing and Communications at Beakerhead, Canada's largest S.T.E.A.M. organisation, engaging 115,000+ visitors to 50+ events annually. She held senior roles at National Australia Bank (UK) as Head of Marketing Europe and at ABN Amro (UK/Romania) as Head of Communications, Global Traded Markets. She also launched In-Country Value, a national business development and employment program in the Sultanate of Oman, for Petroleum Development Oman, a Shell Group joint-venture.

Jeremy Bucknell, Codestone CEO said, "Michelle has had such an exciting and diverse international career covering every aspect of marketing strategy and communications. Her global work experience and managing truly unique projects will be invaluable to Codestone to help us achieve our company objectives."

"It's an honour to become the Group Marketing Director of such an innovative and fast-growing company at such an exciting time," said Michelle. "I am fortunate to be working with a dynamic team that loves scaling opportunities and tackling challenges as much as I do. I resonate with Codestone's ethos of putting the customer at the centre of everything we do, and I look forward to what the future holds for the company."

About Codestone

For over 25 years, Codestone pioneered modern enterprise resource planning and today is the leading SAP Business ByDesign and Business One Gold Partner in the UK. Codestone offers end-to-end transformation ERP software and Microsoft Modern Workplace design and implementations, and 24/7/365 managed support services. https://www.codestone.net/

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1803980/Codestone_Group.jpg
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Hochschild Mining plc (HOC.L), on Tuesday, reported first-quarter attributable production of 80,889 gold equivalent ounces or 5.8 million silver equivalent ounces with a better than expected result from Inmaculada offset by further disruption from Covid-19 impacting San Jose in Argentina and lower than expected grades at Pallancata. Further, the company noted that it is on track to meet its overall attributable production target for 2022 of 360,000-375,000 gold equivalent ounces or 26.0-27.0 million silver equivalent ounces. Also, the company reiterated that its all-in sustaining cost for 2022 is on track to be in line with the guidance of between $1,330 and $1,370 per gold equivalent ounce or $18.5 and $19.0 per silver equivalent ounce. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
New meeting solution combines high-quality conference microphones and smart meeting technology to turn every meeting into an instant transcript

Speech Processing Solutions, the global leader in professional speech-to-text solutions sold under the Philips brand, has teamed up with an exciting American start-up named Sembly AI. Together they'll unite to provide high-quality microphones and smart meeting technology. Sembly goes beyond simple speech recognition and offers users instant searchable meeting transcripts, highlights key discussion moments, and creates summaries.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005006/en/

Philips SmartMeeting (Photo: Business Wire)

Every meeting, perfectly captured

The new SmartMeeting Conference devices come with high-quality microphones that offer 360 recording, whilst capturing each speaker in the room and guarantees crisp, clear audio. USB and Bluetooth connectivity options ensure flexibility and allow for a wide-range of use-cases; whether in the office, or on the go. One product even features an intelligent camera, which can be configured to automatically recognize which participant is speaking and focus on them.

"We are pleased to say, that the cooperation with Sembly AI gives us new market opportunities by offering best of both worlds. We provide best-in-class conference microphones and pair them up with a smart meeting assistant solution, which creates an automatic transcript, summary, and an action list of every meeting. Our unique solutions help busy professionals save time and conduct meetings more efficiently than ever before" explains Dr. Thomas Brauner, CEO of Speech Processing Solutions.

"We are especially excited about the complementary nature and synergy between our two teams which is expected to boost both of our companies top and bottom lines. The Philips products seamlessly integrate with the included Sembly SaaS to provide more value to our end customers" continues Gil Makleff, CEO and Co-founder of Sembly AI.

A cross platform breakthrough

"No matter if you are working with Zoom, gMeet, Teams or Webex, our smart meeting assistant joins your meetings as an attendant and does the note-taking for you" adds Artem Koren, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Sembly AI. Users can easily forward the meeting summaries, for example to colleagues who happened to have missed the meeting.

The new products will be available the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand from June 1st 2022.

For more information and where to buy, please visit:www.philips.dictation.com/smartmeeting

About Speech Processing Solutions

Speech Processing Solutions (SPS) is an international technology company and a global leader in dictation solutions. More than four million users worldwide work with speech-to-text solutions developed by SPS and sold under the Philips brand. These solutions include web-based and desktop workflow software as well as dictation devices. These smart solutions save users' time and allow them to focus on their core tasks, making their business more efficient, customer-centric, and profitable.

Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, SPS has regional offices in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium, and Austria, as well as a network of more than 1000 distribution and implementation partners worldwide.

About Sembly AI

Sembly AI is a voice and conversation analytics technology company, focused on bringing the power of natural language processing to professional meeting environments. Sembly's products can simplify the work life of distributed teams while providing powerful analytics to help teams attend less while getting more done. Sembly AI was founded by CEO Gil Makleff and CPO Artem Koren in 2019. Gil Makleff was CEO of UMT Consulting Group which was acquired by Ernst Young. Artem Koren was a Senior Manager at Ernst Young and CTO at Visual Trading Systems.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005006/en/

Contacts:

Lea Pachta

Senior Marketing Manager

lea.pachta@speech.com

Tel: +43 1605 291 744
The total private wealth currently held on the African continent is USD 2.1 trillion and is expected to rise by 38% over the next 10 years, according to the latest 2022 Africa Wealth Report, published today by Henley Partners in partnership with New World Wealth.

The report reveals that Africa's 'Big 5' private wealth markets South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, and Kenya together account for over 50% of the continent's total wealth. There are currently 136,000 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) with private wealth of USD 1 million or more living in Africa, along with 305 centi-millionaires with USD 100 million or more, and 21 US dollar billionaires. South Africa is home to over twice as many HNWIs as any other African country, while Egypt now has the most billionaires. Mauritius has the highest wealth per capita in Africa, at USD 34,500, followed by South Africa at USD 10,970 and Namibia at USD 9,320.

The Africa Wealth Report is the continent's annual benchmark for private wealth research and is now in its 7th year, providing a comprehensive review of the wealth sector in Africa, including trends among HNWIs, the luxury market, and wealth management. Andrew Amoils, Head of Research at New World Wealth, says "Africa is home to some of the world's fastest growing markets, including Rwanda, Uganda, and Mauritius. We forecast private wealth growth of over 60% in all three countries in the next decade, driven by especially strong performance in the technology and professional services sectors."

Dominic Volek, Head of Private Clients at Henley Partners, adds that there are already well-established wealth hubs on the continent, including South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco. "Strong growth in private wealth of over 50% is also predicted in Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, and Zambia over the next 10 years. HNWIs in Africa are extremely mobile and their movements provide valuable insights into future economic trends in each country."

Mauritius is the fastest growing wealth market in Africa, with projected growth of 80% over the next decade. This will also make it one of the fastest growing high-income markets in the world, together with Australia, Malta, New Zealand, and Switzerland. Africa's two wealthiest cities are in South Africa Johannesburg is the wealthiest, with total private wealth of USD 239 billion, while Cape Town in second place has USD 131 billion. Cairo follows closely behind with USD 128 billion, and Lagos is in 4th position with USD 97 billion in privately held wealth.

Commenting in the report, international entrepreneur, author, and CEO of MyGrowthFund Venture Partners Vusi Thembekwayo, says the ascent of new wealth economies, along with megacities and the diversification of wealth-creating sources are just some of the exciting trends driving the creation and flow of capital across the continent. "Africa's story is one of polar domination, with the largest wealth management centers traditionally situated in the most extreme south South Africa and the most extreme north Egypt and Morocco. The rise of frontier economies that are attracting new wealth by positioning themselves as preferred investment destinations is challenging this narrative. Mauritius and the Seychelles have recently been the most deliberate with this strategy."

Despite a tough decade, South Africa still ranks 28th in the world when it comes to total private wealth, ahead of major economies such as Argentina, Malaysia, Thailand, and Turkey. It's also the largest luxury market in Africa by revenue, making USD 2 billion annually.

Read Full Release and Download Full Report

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005019/en/

Contacts:

Media

Sarah Nicklin

Group Head of PR

sarah.nicklin@henleyglobal.com

Mobile: +27 72 464 8965
LONDON, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today at the 2022 Retail Technology Show, Retail Pro International is leading the conversation on strategies to streamline omnichannel store experiences globally with the Retail Pro Prism POS and retail management platform, and is showcasing a complete omnichannel solution with technology partners, Pinnaca Retail & IT Solutions, DataScan Retail Systems, RIOT, XRETAIL, Loqate, and PAR.



"Retailers in 130 countries use Retail Pro and we are enthused at the momentum in retail today to transform digital strategies and unify retail on the Retail Pro Prism platform," said Retail Pro International's VP EMEAA, Bevin Manian. "As Retail Pro is a global platform, retailers are able to build streamlined operations with one robust technology - adapted to specific regional needs with localisations and fiscalisations - to manage their entire business across channels, countries and continents."

New advances in the Retail Pro Prism technology are helping retailers improve efficiency in operations needed to support the omnichannel retail environment for more efficient omnichannel operations. With the Retail Pro Prism platform, retailers can:

Connect all points of purchase for efficient order management and fulfillment

Execute on BOPIS and curbside pickup with mobile POS

Keep accurate inventory counts with integrated, affordable RFID for Retail Pro

See inventory in the warehouse, in transit, in the back room, or on the sales floor

"As an Authorized Retail Pro Business Partner, our team at Pinnaca participates firsthand in retailers' digital transformation, connecting amazing retailers with the advanced, mission-critical Retail Pro Prism platform," commented Pinnaca Retail & IT SolutionsCEO, Minesh Thakkar. "We dig in with retailers to consult on their goals and what they will need to build out their technology landscape most effectively for profitable omnichannel. Omnichannel, like retail, is always evolving, so having an adaptable platform like Retail Pro Prism is key to being able to act on learnings as retailers implement their strategies."

Miniso UK is one such omnichannel retailer.

"The easiest way to describe a true omnichannel experience, both from the business' and consumers' point of view, would be to establish how seamless it is," comments Miniso UK's Chief Operating Officer, Saad Usman. "One of the things that drew us in with Retail Pro Prism for our omnichannel POS platform is that it's scalable, and we can tailor it as we need for our business. Retail Pro Prism is a comprehensive software package - we're still learning new capabilities all the time with assistance from our Retail Pro Business Partner, Pinnaca Retail & IT Solutions. The fact that Retail Pro Prism can be cloud-based and that support is available remotely were also factors we took into account when we chose Retail Pro."

Miniso UK merchandise will be on display at the Retail Pro stand as part of the RFID and omnichannel solution demonstration.

Showcasing: Omnichannel Solution

Joined by their Partners, Retail Pro International is showcasing a complete omnichannel solution and will be speaking with retailers about what it will take to unify retail technologies and operations for their unique business needs.

Visitors to the Retail Pro stand will have the opportunity to learn about the following products and services:

Retail Pro - Take control of omnichannel store operations and inventory management with flexible Retail Pro Prism POSand retail management platform.

Pinnaca Retail & IT Solutions - Build your omnichannel strategy with full-service consulting, implementation, and support for Retail Pro Prism and all your retail technology needs from Pinnaca Retail & IT Solutions.

DataScan Retail Systems - Leverage DataScan Retail Systems'expertise in analysis and design of effective Retail Pro Prism implementations.

RIOT - Count physical inventory in seconds with greater accuracy for store fulfillment options with RIOT RFID.

XRETAIL - Unify commerce, merchandising, marketing, and services across all channels with integration to supply chain, ERP, order orchestration and fulfillment from XRETAIL.

Loqate - Capture and verify emails, mobile numbers, and addresses in real-time for your online forms and checkouts with data services from Loqate.

PAR - Embrace mobility with sleek, versatile, and tough POS hardware from PARthat goes wherever you go.

Retail Pro International and their Partners are exhibiting 26-27 April 2022 at Retail Technology Show stand 6E28. Attendees are invited to visit the booth to see how they can connect physical and digital store experiences for a streamlined approach to omnichannel.

About Miniso UK

MINISO UK is a franchise of the Japanese-inspired lifestyle product retailer, offering high quality household goods, cosmetics and food at affordable prices. MINISO values excellent product design, value for money and comfortable shopping experience for its shoppers. The company was founded by CEO Ye Guofu, and the MINISO brand has opened almost 5,000 stores in over 90 countries and regions since 2013, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Spain, France, Italy, UAE, India, and Mexico. We own the sole rights to operate as Miniso in the UK and Northern Ireland.

About Retail Pro International

Retail Pro International is a global leader in retail management software that is recognized world-wide for rich functionality, multi-national capabilities, and unparalleled flexibility, and has been named top POS for mid-market retail by IHL Group. For 35 years, RPI has innovated retail software solutions to help retailers optimize business operations and have more time to focus on what really matters - cultivating customer engagement and capitalizing on retail's trends. Today, Retail Pro software powers unified commerce strategy for retailers in 130 countries with full POS, replenishment, inventory, promotions, and customer management functionalities available on any mobile or desktop Android, IOS, and Windows devices.

About Pinnaca Retail & IT Solutions

Founded in 2015, Pinnaca provides fully outsourced, Retail technology solutions and consulting to UK-based businesses. Through analysis, formulation, and implementation, Pinnaca defines, develops, and optimizes tailored solutions for retailers' strategies focused on needs and requirements. With comprehensive consulting services, Pinnaca aids in long-term planning, helping retailers determine the best direction for their future and what it takes to get there.

Press Inquiries

To schedule a briefing or to inquire about a posted news release please contact:

Ms. Ulyana Avetisov

uavetisov@retailpro.com

+1 916 605 7206

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/56135e7c-adbf-4e80-9e6e-1ad1e4ec00f3
LONDON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Global provider of talent outsourcing and advisory services, AMS (formerly Alexander Mann Solutions), has appointed two new Directors, Jacqueline Welch and Franck Cohen, to its Board as it continues its strong growth trajectory.

Jacqueline Welch, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at The New York Times, brings with her a wealth of relevant experience in senior talent roles in the professional services, financial services and media industries. Franck Cohen, formerly Chief Customer Officer at SAP and now on the board of several leading technology organisations, as well as serving as an advisor to Workday and UiPath, brings with him knowledge and expertise in the application of technology to the delivery of B2B services.

This latest news follows a period of strong growth throughout the world, especially in the United States, where the team has grown four-fold in the last 18 months and is now close to 2,000 strong. Expansion in Europe and Asia with multiple new office openings in those regions further evidences the extent to which AMS is helping many of the world's leading organisations gain competitive advantage through talent.

Rosaleen Blair, Founder and Chair of AMS, welcomed the new appointments:

"It's an incredibly exciting time for AMS. The talent acquisition market is evolving at pace and in order to stay ahead of the curve and deliver the innovative solutions that businesses have come to expect of our firm, we need to continue to grow and expand our organisation. I have no doubt that the experience which Jacqueline and Franck will bring to the Board will be enormously valuable for our clients and our people, and we are all looking forward to working closely with them."

Jacqueline commented:

"I'm delighted to be joining the AMS team. The firm's commitment to driving innovative talent solutions and promoting diversity, equity and inclusion is inspirational. I'm looking forward to being part of the company's future growth."

Franck added:

"AMS provides its clients with market-leading talent technology expertise and I am excited to help the team on its journey to leading the market even further in this area. The future for the business is about further automation and ML/ AI capabilities to develop advanced services for its clients."

About AMS

We are AMS. AMS is a global total workforce solutions firm founded in 1996. We enable organisations to thrive in an age of constant change by building, reshaping, and optimising workforces. We do this through talent acquisition and contingent workforce management, internal mobility and skills development, and talent and technology advisory services. Our solutions are delivered by our 8,000+ experts who live our passionate, bold, and authentic values. The ultimate aim is to help clients around the world, including 100+ blue-chip companies, create workforces that are fluid, resilient, diverse, and differentiated. We call this true workforce dexterity-and we're here to help you achieve it.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1803660/AMS_Franck_Cohen.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1803661/AMS_Jacqueline_Welch.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1450773/AMS_Logo.jpg

Press contact:

Vickie Collinge

vickie@bluesky-pr.com

+44 (0)1582 790705
In 2022, the world's leading beauty brand welcomes an iconic cast of spokespeople and honours one promising female short film director in the second annual edition of the Lights On Women Award

CANNES, France, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, L'Oreal Paris returns to the Festival de Cannes to celebrate 25 years as Official Partner. A landmark anniversary for the world's leading beauty brand, L'Oreal Paris will once again honour one promising female short film director in the second annual edition of the brand's signature Lights on Women Award program. The winning film will be chosen from the Short Films Competition and La Cinef's selection at Cannes. This year, the Award will be presented in person by Academy Award-winner, L'Oreal Paris spokesperson and Juror, Kate Winslet, at the Jeune Cinema dinner on May 27, 2022. For this milestone year, L'Oreal Paris will also welcome its iconic family of spokespeople to Cannes, who will walk the red carpet on the brand's behalf and come together to celebrate an inclusive and empowered vision of beauty. To mark the occasion, an exclusive anniversary dinner with the L'Oreal Paris family and friends of the brand will be hosted to pay tribute to the 25 years of partnership on May 18, 2022.





To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/9042251-loreal-paris-celebrates-25-years-festival-cannes-supporting-women/

CELEBRATING WOMEN IN CINEMA FOR 25 YEARS

The L'Oreal Paris Family Returns to Cannes

From across continents and cultures, the L'Oreal Paris spokespeople in attendance at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival will include iconic actors and actresses who embody beauty in all its diverse forms. Among them are:

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Leila Bekhti

Gemma Chan

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Viola Davis *

* Elle Fanning

Aja Naomi King

Katherine Langford *

* Eva Longoria

Andie MacDowell

Camille Razat

Nidhi Sunil

Kate Winslet *

*First time attending Cannes on behalf of the brand.

These exceptional individuals of different backgrounds reflect the diversity of L'Oreal Paris customers--whatever their age, whatever their origin--and uphold the feminist values at the heart of the brand.

25 Years of Beauty Expertise, Glamour, and Innovation

As Official Makeup Artist to the Cannes International Film Festival since 1997, L'Oreal Paris is proud to continue to support the world of cinema, bringing what's new in beauty to the film industry's most significant global gathering. This year the brand will host 30 makeup artists from around the world, led by L'Oreal Paris creative genius Val Garland, to create unforgettable makeup looks throughout the duration of the Festival.

Delphine Viguier-Hovasse, Global Brand President, L'Oreal Paris, says, "Twenty-five years at Cannes is an incredible milestone. Throughout this historic partnership, we have always aimed to bring our brand's beauty expertise to the forefront of the Festival, while also honouring the best cinematic talent from around the world. This year's Lights on Women Award will continue to break down barriers and encourage talented female filmmakers to achieve their dreams. As we look ahead to the next 25 years, my hope for the future is that this kind of award won't even be necessary, as women who make cinema continue to take their rightful place in the industry."

FOR PROMISING FEMALE FILM DIRECTORS

Lights On Women Award: Reshaping the Film Industry Through Recognition and Visibility

The global film industry has historically underrepresented women, both in front of and behind the camera, with only 17% of women in directorial positions on top-grossing films, and only 25% working in key behind the scenes roles[1]. Further amplifying L'Oreal Paris' message of self-esteem and empowerment, the Lights on Women Award is a unique recognition that offers the winner financial support of up to 20 000. The final awards selection will be determined and announced by Academy award-winner and L'Oreal Paris spokesperson and Juror, Kate Winslet, who will attend the prize ceremony at the Jeune Cinema dinner in person at Cannes on May 27, 2022.

Actor Kate Winslet adds, "The Lights On Women Award plays a vital role in bestowing much needed praise on today's female creators--women who are much too often passed over for their male counterparts in this industry. The sheer beauty and force of last years' inaugural film moved me to tears, and I am honoured to play a part in continuing this important program, which offers a pathway for women in film to propel their careers forward."

2021 Reminder: Lights On Women Award's Inaugural Winner

Aleksandra Odic from Germany took the top honour for her 22-minute film, Frida, from the 11 selected short films, depicting an encounter between a young nurse and her patient. In recognition of her accomplishment, Odic received financial support from L'Oreal Paris.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1803641/LOreal_and_Kate_Winslet.jpg
Significant revenue growth with strong momentum thanks to a robust pipeline of projects, a resilient business platform, and an ever-expanding partner ecosystem

LONDON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EQTEC plc (AIM: EQT, "the Company" or "the Group"), a world-leading technology innovation company enabling the Net Zero Future through advanced solutions for hydrogen, biofuels, SNG, and other energy production, is pleased to announce its audited results for the financial year ended 31 December 2021 ("FY2021").

In FY2021, the Company reported revenue of 9.2 million (410% FY2020 revenue of 2.2 million) and a loss of 4.7 million (FY 2020: 5.8 million loss). The Company's net assets increased to 43.4 million as at 31 December 2021 (31 December 2020: 25.3 million), and cash remained stable, with a balance of 6.4 million as at 31 December 2021 (31 December 2020: 6.4 million).

The Company delivered growth across seven geographies, with 12 projects under development, 3 additional plants under construction, 2 Market Development Centres under commissioning, and 2 new projects that led to financial close (with financing for a 3rd in progress). Furthermore, the Company has developed its growth platform, having incorporated formal legal entities in Croatia and Greece, with two more expected in 2022; initiated key strategic partnerships with Wood, Toyota, Logik, and H2; enhanced recruitment for engineering and project development talent; and raised 16m for market, project, and capability growth.

Robust Project Pipeline

The EQTEC projects that progressed to construction include: the North Fork Community Power (NFCP) project in the USA, which will help sequester carbon, reduce wildfire risk, produce green energy, create jobs, and support the local community while generating tradeable carbon credits; a biomass waste-to-energy plant in Italy to be repurposed as a Market Development Centre (MDC); two Croatian gasification plants - 1.2 MWe biomass-to-energy gasification plants in both Belisce and Karlovac; and the first advanced gasification, waste-to-energy project in Greece.

There were also a range of projects under development across the USA, the UK, France, Greece, and Ireland. These include, the Blue Mountain Electric Company LLC opportunity in Wilseyville, California, USA;, the Southport and Deeside projects in the UK; the signing of a letter of intent with SEPS SAS of France to pursue the safe and clean transformation of contaminated plastics in France; a signing of an MoU with Nobilis and the formation of EQTEC Synergy Project Limited, and the acquisition of project rights in Nevrokopi, Drama for a biomass-to-energy plant in Greece; and three biomass-to-bioenergy projects in Ireland.

Corporate Alignment Initiatives

The Company also implemented alignment initiatives to put its future growth on a more sustainable path:

Research and Development: The Company completed a successful R&D programme in December, including tests with Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and others with contaminated plastics, all at its R&D facility in France, operated in partnership with Universite de Lorraine.

Collaboration with Major Partners: The Company signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Wood for joint development of integrated technology solutions for waste-to-SNG and waste-to-hydrogen and with H2 Energy Solutions to pursue opportunities for the deployment of waste-to-hydrogen and other solutions (particularly in Germany and Turkey).

Outlook

By the end of 2022, the Company expects to make fully operational two MDCs and two additional plants under construction for other owner-operators. It also expects to reach financial close on additional projects that extend existing propositions but also add new capabilities with different feedstock and new offtake applications. The Company is targeting continued, strong revenue growth and reduction in EBITDA losses, with planned investment in new and innovative projects that raise EQTEC's visibility and range of propositions.

To further position EQTEC's technology as a replacement for fossil fuel technologies and support growth and scale, the Company will focus on four key areas of development. First, it will invest in its go-to-market model, formalising subsidiaries in the USA, the UK, France and Italy, with JVs in Croatia, Greece and Ireland. The company is looking again to Asia, where it has long had demand and see increasing opportunity. Second, it will invest in innovation, with a full R&D programme in 2022 and a three-year strategy for technology development with university partners as well as Wood and other, top-tier technology businesses to be announced. Third, it will enrich its global network to include multinational, Tier 1 development, delivery and technology partners as well as local, market-specific partners, including project funding partners. Fourth, it will invest in talent in its technical and corporate centres as well as in its go-to-market partners, to deepen and broaden capabilities with technology innovation, project development and corporate venturing. Finally, the Company has ramped up its engagement with policymakers and influencers in the EU, UK and USA, toward greater awareness and understanding of EQTEC's capabilities, propositions and place in the Net Zero future.

David Palumbo, CEO of EQTEC, commented: "We set ambitious targets for 2021 and delivered more than 4x revenue over 2020, building the momentum we intended. We converted more opportunities than ever into focused, planned projects and amongst these was closure of both of our targeted MDCs in Italy and Croatia. We formalised majority-owned JVs in Croatia and the Aegean and invested in our go-to-market presence across USA, UK, France, Italy, and Ireland, with a view to increasing pace and impact in those markets. Critically, we also started extending our partnership network to major players that will credibly support our growth into new geographies and solutions."

"I am especially proud of these achievements in the face of strong market headwinds, including significant price increases and delays in receiving critical raw materials or manufactured parts. Our business platform grows increasingly resilient as we add partners and new talent to our global network. From post-Covid challenges to COP26 to more recent geopolitical events, we experience more demand than ever and are taking our place as a leading technology innovator for fossil fuel replacements and clean, baseload energy and biofuels, as well as an innovator of new business models for energy independence and security."

About EQTEC plc

As one of the world's most experienced gasification technology and engineering companies, and with a growing track record of operational and commercial success in the waste-to-energy space through its best-in-class technology innovation, engineering, and project development, EQTEC brings together design innovation, project delivery discipline, and solid commercial experience to the global energy transition. EQTEC's proven, proprietary, and patented technology is at the centre of clean energy projects; local waste sourcing, business promotion, and job creation; and the transition to localized, decentralized, and resilient energy systems.

Further information on the Company can be found at www.eqtec.com.
NEW IoT MVNO TRACKER FROM KALEIDO FORECASTS CONNECTIVITY MANAGEMENT VAS REVENUES TO EXCEED $9 BILLION IN 2026

Kaleido Intelligence, a leading connectivity market intelligence and consulting firm, has found that cellular IoT connections managed by MVNOs will reach 670 million in 2026, growing at a CAGR of 24% between 2022 and 2026. Notably, with many IoT MVNOs now specialising in eSIM solutions, Kaleido predicts that eSIM connection growth for these players will outstrip overall connection growth to 2026, growing at 42% CAGR to reach 447 million connections in the latter forecast year.

Kaleido's new IoT MVNO Tracker: Connectivity VAS 2022 research found that Europe and Asia-Pacific will account for just under 50% of total connections in 2026, with the latter region growing at an average annual growth rate of 30%.

View the full press release and access a free infographic with key study findings via Kaleido's website

Aeris, KORE and Truphone Lead Connection Market Share

While there are a significant number of IoT MVNOs providing services on the market, Kaleido's research has found that the top 10 players analysed in the tracker made up 68% of the total connection volume in 2021, as well as 71% of the global revenue share.

Meanwhile. the top 3 IoT MVNOs on the market: Aeris, KORE and Truphone, accounted for 28% of global IoT MVNO connections in 2021.

Steffen Sorrell, Chief Analyst at Kaleido, commented: "It is notable that the top IoT MVNOs on the market have developed highly flexibly connectivity solutions to support a variety of business requirements. These include dedicated IoT core network infrastructure, eSIM connectivity bolstered by multi-IMSI technology to optimise coverage and lower costs, in addition to specialisation in a vertical or service area, such as healthcare, or eSIM Remote Subscription Management."

Intense Competition to Drive IoT MVNO Innovation

Kaleido found that the IoT MVNO market remains intensely competitive and predicts that players that remain focused on a pure connectivity play will likely lose out to more innovative service providers. This is, in part, due to shifts in the wholesale market which mean that IoT MVNOs are less able to be competitive in pricing than in former years.

Innovative IoT MVNOs are now integrating differentiated services into their offering, such as device management capabilities, advanced security solutions, Private LTE or 5G as-a-service portfolios. In addition to this, they offer orchestration layer capabilities underlying their connectivity management platforms to streamline operations on behalf of customers. These elements are likely to drive ARPU levels higher, to offset ever-falling connectivity costs. Overall, Kaleido predicted that IoT MVNO connectivity management and VAS revenues will close in on $9.1 billion in 2026, representing a 22% CAGR between 2021 and 2026.

The research has analysed 29 leading IoT MVNOs offering Connectivity VAS. It includes an in-depth evaluation of vendor performance across 12 verticals, including connections, average revenue per connection, eSIM connections, data consumption and revenues derived from connectivity services and VAS.

About Kaleido Intelligence

Kaleido Intelligence is a specialist consulting and market research firm with a proven track record, delivering telecom research at the highest level. Kaleido Intelligence is the only research company addressing mobile roaming in its entirety, covering:

Data Forecasts by Market

Historical Forecast Viewpoints

Competitive Intelligence

Strategic Insight

Trend Analysis

Research is led by expert analysts, each with significant experience delivering roaming insights that matter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005115/en/

Contacts:

Jon King

Chief Commercial Officer

jon.king@kaleidointelligence.com
Modern brand identity reinforces new corporate vision and extended solutions set

NEW YORK and LONDON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Today, Rimes, the industry leader in transformative data management and investment intelligence solutions, unveiled a new brand identity in support of the firm's ongoing growth strategy.

The launch of the new brand comes on heels of a series of exciting developments at Rimes. Following the appointment of Brad Hunt as CEO in May 2021, Rimes acquired Matrix IDM, which added a cloud-native investment intelligence platform to the company's portfolio, allowing the firm to offer a full suite of connected, front-to-back office solutions to the buy-side community.

Brad Hunt, CEO at Rimes, commented:. "Data is our passion, and our objective is to continually reinforce our position as the leading data management solutions provider to the global buy-side industry. With our extended solution set more fully supporting the data management needs of the front, middle and back offices, we have revamped our brand to better reflect our full capabilities."

Laura Davis, CMO at Rimes, continued: "Brad's vision was clear; create a fresh, modern brand identity that reflected the level of innovation and forward momentum at Rimes. Our new messaging and visual identity speak to how we as a company make investment data work - we put clients first, solve the toughest investment data problems, and bring clarity to the investment process. Leading the new brand identity project team has been an incredible experience that I am proud to share with everyone."

Brad concluded: "I am very confident about the future, which is being made possible by the enthusiastic support of a committed team. We have a fabulous new brand and our award-winning solutions are being adopted globally by an ever-increasing client base and a strong pipeline of new business opportunities."

About Rimes

Rimes provides transformative data management and investment intelligence solutions to the world's leading investors and asset managers. Driven by our passion for solving the most complex data problems, we partner with our clients to help them make better investment decisions using accurate information and industry-leading technology. Headquartered in New York and London, Rimes serves its global clients through offices in Europe, the Americas and the Asia Pacific.
The "France UK Visitors" newsletter has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This definitive quarterly report highlights trends in the market for UK visitors to France. The France UK Visitors report is based on analysis of the UK Governments International Passenger Survey (IPS). It provides essential information for marketing and strategic planners.

The report is produced quarterly with trends of previous quarters in clearly laid-out tables and illustrative charts. It contains data on market shares by mode of transport as well as profiles by age, gender, residence and reason for visit of UK resident visits to France.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Visit and Spending Trends

2. Comparison With Other Countries

3. Number of UK Visitors to France and Europe by Mode

4. Gender and Age of UK Resident Visitors to France

5. Reason for UK Resident Visits to France and Europe

6. Share of Independent Holiday Visits by Mode to France and Europe

7. UK Resident visits to France and Europe by Reason by Nights

8. UK Resident Visits and Spending in France by UK Region

9. UK Resident Visits to France and Europe by Mode and Reason

10. Samples Sizes

For more information about this newsletter visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/e8g4u1

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005632/en/

Contacts:

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



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SINGAPORE, Apr 26, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Singapore's homegrown electricity retailer Union Power Pte Ltd (Union Power) has been appointed as distribution partner for a proposed US$5 billion project promoted by Anantara Energy Holdings Pte Ltd (Anantara) to generate renewable energy in Indonesia and export up to 4 TWh of it to the city state.Anantara's project involves generating up to 3.5 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy from a 4,000-hectare site in the Riau Islands and a battery capable of storing up to 12 GWh - one of the largest in the world - before being connected to Singapore via an undersea cable.The electricity import is subject to licensing approval from the Energy Market Authority of Singapore which has announced major plans to diversify its energy mix into renewables and reduce its reliance on liquified natural gas, and transition towards carbon neutrality by 2050.Singapore's green plans include the importation of clean renewable energy from neighbouring countries.Union Power, a member of homegrown Union Energy Corporation Pte Ltd (UEC) which has more than 40 years of business history, will be involved in retailing a significant portion of the imported clean energy to its base of 22,000 residential and business customers, leveraging upon the Company's deep domain knowledge and extensive network in Singapore.The partnership is part of Union Power's strategies to diversify towards solar and renewable energy, as the Company seeks to transform its business to support Singapore's green plans. Through its solar arm Union Solar, Union Power installs, operates and finances solar PV systems on the rooftops of commercial buildings, allowing customers in Singapore to enjoy competitive solar energy tariffs compared to conventional retailer tariffs. To date, Union Solar has been building a pipeline of 11 commercial & industrial projects, and expects demand to grow in the months ahead.Other efforts include building infrastructure for Electric Vehicle charging, as well as a partnership with a Dutch company to distribute a flexible light-weight solar foil which can be wrapped around structures, eliminating the need for supporting frames and structures and providing greater versatility of locations to harness solar power.The agreement between Anantara and UEC, along with the formal joint-development agreement for the Anantara partnership and Anantara's Memorandum of Understanding with Riau Islands Province, were signed on 19 April in the Indonesian embassy in Singapore in the presence of Ambassador His Excellency Mr Suryo Pratomo and the Governor of Riau Islands Province Mr Ansar Ahmad.Singapore-registered Anantara is a joint venture between German solar energy turnkey solutions provider, ib vogt, and Quantum Power Asia, the developer of Indonesia's first utility-scale solar PV plant.Union Power's Executive Director Ms. Ellen Teo said, "It is a great honour for Union Power to be part of this prestigious project. We remain committed to the Singapore Government's vision for a greener energy market, and believe our intimate knowledge of the issues faced by Singapore consumers will add significant value to the project. This partnership will be one of the most significant that we have undertaken, and will no doubt lead to even more opportunities in the near future. We accept this with deep honour and heartfelt commitment."Simon G. Bell, Managing Director and CEO, Quantum Power Asia said, "Partnering with Union Power is a foundational strategy for ensuring strong execution capability in Singapore that will lead to Anatantara delivering excellence in making available clean electricity in the Singapore market. Along with ib vogt, we look forward to a long-term relationship with the Union Power team."David Ludwig, Director Asia Pacific, ib vogt, said, "We are very enthusiastic about the partnership, which combines the strengths of Union and Quantum, for the Singapore import tender. Each consortium member is a leader in their respective fields and together we are able to provide a very competitive and compelling offer to substantially contribute to Singapore's decarbonisation efforts as well as the economic development of the Riau Islands."About Union PowerUnion Power Pte Ltd is a leading digital energy retailer, licensed by Singapore's Energy Market Authority. The Company is a subsidiary of Union Energy Corporation - the largest bottled-gas supplier in Singapore, which has over 40 years of operating track record in the business of retailing LPG, Natural Gas, Diesel and Electricity in the Commercial, Industrial and Residential markets.Founded in 2017, Union Power launched Union Solar in September 2020, in line with its push towards sustainable solutions through solar energy power generation. For more information, please visit: https://unionpower.com.sg/Media & Investor Contact InformationWeR1 Consultants Pte LtdIsaac Tang, unionpower@wer1.net, M: +65 9748 0688Source: Union Power Pte LtdCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Partnership with OMERS Capital Markets and BMO Enables Continued Acceleration of AGP's Global Expansion Plans

AGP Positioned to Meet Growing Demand for Specialty Glass Amid Global Transition to Electric Vehicles

AGP Group ("AGP" or "the company"), a global leader in the design and production of specialty automotive glazing components, today announced it has entered into a debt financing agreement with OMERS Capital Markets ("OMERS") and BMO Financial Group ("BMO") to provide up to US$250 million in a senior secured term loan facility. AGP intends to use the proceeds to finance the continued acceleration of the company's global expansion plans, including the completion of a new, state-of-the-art North American production facility. The financing follows a strategic partnership and investment, announced in April 2021, by funds affiliated with BDT Capital Partners, LLC ("BDT"), a merchant bank that provides family- and founder-led businesses with long-term, differentiated capital.

"Electrification and automation are driving meaningful changes in the way glass is incorporated into vehicle design, with cost and space optimization, energy efficiency and passenger experience resulting in rapidly growing demand for larger, more complex and tech-enabled glass surfaces," said Arturo Mannheim, CEO and Chairman of the Board of AGP Group. "AGP's R&D-driven competitive advantages across multiple technologies are aligned with the shifting industry needs, making us a go-to design and supply partner to traditional OEMs, leading EV start-ups and tech leaders entering the industry. We value the support from OMERS and BMO, as well as our continued partnership with BDT, which positions us well as we expand our platform to supply global OEMs in every major market."

"We are proud to announce our participation in AGP's secured debt financing. Reflecting its more than 50 years of world-wide leadership within the specialty glass sector, AGP's established reputation and customer relationships, coupled with its state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and comprehensive technological capabilities, position the company at the forefront of this high-growth market segment. We are particularly excited by AGP's pipeline of opportunities related to the global transition to electric vehicles," said Michael Block, Senior Managing Director, Capital Solutions, for OMERS Capital Markets. "The terms of this financing reflect our confidence in AGP's experienced management team and strong track record of performance, and align closely with Capital Solutions' flexible funding approach."

"A clear industry leader in complex glazing solutions with a track record of partnering with the world's preeminent vehicle manufacturers, AGP is well positioned to continue its global expansion," said Alan Tannenbaum, Global Investment Corporate Banking, BMO Capital Markets. "As part of our Purpose to Boldly Grow the Good, in business and life, BMO is proud to partner with a company whose product is an integral part of the growing transition to electrification."

About AGP Group

AGP Group is one of the world's leading glazing manufacturers. AGP Group has developed a large portfolio of products for the automotive, marine, and security markets. With around 3,000 employees from over 50 different nationalities, the company provides high-tech glazing solutions to more than 20 automotive brands that are shaping the future of mobility through electrification and autonomous driving. AGP has seven manufacturing plants and four Tech Innovation Centers in Europe, North and South America as well as commercial offices in 20 countries. For more information, visit agpglass.com.

About OMERS Capital Markets and OMERS

OMERS Capital Markets is the capital markets investment division of OMERS, one of Canada's largest defined benefit pension plans. Capital Markets' diverse programs, flexible investment strategies and specialized teams, including across public equities, private credit, and structured investments, enable it to pursue opportunities that don't fit into traditional categories. Through its global Capital Solutions team, it identifies and executes on complex opportunities across a number of themes, including decarbonization, clean-tech and life sciences. Founded in 1962, OMERS manages $121 billion in net assets as of December 31, 2021. OMERS has employees in Toronto and other major cities across North America, the U.K., Continental Europe, Asia and Australia.

About BMO Financial Group

Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $1.02 trillion as of January 31, 2022, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220425006031/en/

Contacts:

AGP

Cesar Micheviz, Ghent, +32 475 80 29 14

OMERS

Neil Hrab, Toronto, nhrab@omers.com +1 416 369 2418

BMO

Kelly Hechler, Toronto, Kelly.hechler@bmo.com +1 416 867 3996
SonarSource will use the investment to expand globally and propel the company to $1 billion in total revenue

SonarSource, the leading platform for clean code, today announced it has raised $412 million from new and existing investors, at a valuation of $4.7 billion. The round is led by new investors Advent International and General Catalyst, with existing investor Insight Partners participating. Permira's Growth Opportunities Fund also participated in the round.

SonarSource will use the investment to grow its go-to-market team globally as the company drives toward $1 billion in revenue.

"SonarSource is an outstanding business that has positioned itself as a category-defining leader in clean code, with a trusted reputation among developers and a truly differentiated solution," said Bryan Taylor, Head of Advent's Technology Investment Team and a Managing Partner in Palo Alto. "We are thrilled to partner with Olivier and the SonarSource team as they build a major platform within the software development ecosystem, accelerating the rapid growth in their revenue and user community."

Used by more than five million developers, SonarSource's solutions enable enterprises to maximize the value of their software by helping developers and development teams write high-standard code, which is free of bugs and security vulnerabilities, and consistent across the board. As software gets updated continuously, SonarSource ensures that only clean code is embedded directly into the development process, systematically improving the overall health of the code base and meaningfully reducing tech debt. This unlocks significant resource and time savings so developers can focus on innovating, delivering better products and improving customer experience, thereby boosting key business metrics.

"Source code is the key component of software. At SonarSource, we enable companies to make this source code an asset rather than a liability. This delivers huge value, especially when you know this is done as part of the development process and requires no extra effort," said Olivier Gaudin, CEO and co-founder of SonarSource. "With the market recognizing the importance of code, we have a clear path to $1 billion in revenue. Having the right people and partners around the table will help us to move swiftly toward that goal and prepare for public markets."

"SonarSource has a bold vision for transforming the way organizations build software. This vision has been clearly validated by the company's skyrocketing customer adoption and outstanding reputation within the developer community," said Deep Nishar, Managing Director, General Catalyst. "General Catalyst is excited to support SonarSource in broadening its impact on a global stage."

The company will use this investment to double its sales force in 2022 and grow its marketing team across existing offices in Geneva, Switzerland; Annecy, France; Bochum, Germany and Austin, Texas. The investment in sales and marketing will help the company expand its reach among the world's 70 million software developers. In addition, SonarSource will open a new regional headquarters in Singapore, allowing the company to build its business within the burgeoning APAC market.

The investment comes as SonarSource continues to build rapid momentum. Key company milestones include:

Over five million developers at more than 300,000 organizations use SonarSource's commercial and community products to improve their code quality.

In the last four years, SonarSource grew its commercial customer base by more than 2,000%.

80 Fortune 100 companies use the platform. IBM, Microsoft, Barclays, Alphabet and NASA are among the major organizations using SonarSource today.

"As an early investor in SonarSource, we've been extremely impressed with the company's continuing maturity and accelerating market penetration. It comes as no surprise: enterprises everywhere need to develop code with high standards quickly, and SonarSource is the only solution enabling that," said Richard Wells, Managing Director at Insight Partners. "We're excited to continue our collaboration with SonarSource as the company enters a new stage in its growth journey."

About SonarSource

SonarSource's industry leading solution enables developers and development teams to write clean code and remediate existing code organically, so they can focus on the work they love and maximize the value they generate for businesses. Its open source and commercial solutions SonarLint, SonarCloud, and SonarQube support 29 programming languages. Trusted by more than 300,000 organizations globally, SonarSource is considered integral to deliver better software.

About Advent International

Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors. The firm has invested in over 390 private equity investments across 41 countries, and as of December 31, 2021, had $88 billion in assets under management. With 15 offices in 12 countries, Advent has established a globally integrated team of over 265 private equity investment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on investments in five core sectors, including business and financial services; health care; industrial; retail, consumer and leisure; and technology. For over 35 years, Advent has been dedicated to international investing and remains committed to partnering with management teams to deliver sustained revenue and earnings growth for its portfolio companies.

For more information, visit

Website: www.adventinternational.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/advent-international

About General Catalyst

General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that invests in powerful, positive change that endures for our entrepreneurs, our investors, our people, and society. We support founders with a long-term view who challenge the status quo, partnering with them from seed to growth stage and beyond to build companies that withstand the test of time. With offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City, London, and Boston, the firm has helped support the growth of businesses such as: Airbnb, Deliveroo, Guild, Gusto, Hubspot, Illumio, Lemonade, Livongo, Oscar, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, and Warby Parker. For more: www.generalcatalyst.com.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of February 24, 2022, the closing of the firm's recent fundraise, Fund XII, brings Insight Partners' regulatory assets under management to over $90B. Insight Partners has invested in more than 600 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Palo Alto. Insight's mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Insight Partners meets great software leaders where they are in their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005213/en/

Contacts:

Emily Ashley

10Fold for SonarSource

916-710-0950

sonarsource@10fold.com
DGAP-News: Altaley Mining Corp

Altaley Mining Files Tahuehueto PFS Technical Report with Significantly Improved Project Economics



26.04.2022 / 12:00

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Altaley Mining Corporation (TSXV: ATLY) (OTCQX: ATLYF) (FSE: TSGA) ("Altaley" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has filed an updated technical report, including a Preliminary Feasibility Study ('PFS'), for its Tahuehueto Project in Durango, Mexico. (the 'Project') on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ('SEDAR') at www.sedar.com in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ('NI 43-101") and in accordance with Canadian Institute Mining's ('CIM') Best Practice Guidelines for the Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. The Company made a preliminary disclosure of the PFS economics in a new release dated March 7, 2022, which results contained errors related to net smelter return calculations that under-estimated the PFS economics. With the filing of the PFS report, Altaley now updates the March 7, 2022 disclosure with a significant increase of approximately 30% to the overall economics of the project. 2022 Prefeasibility Study improves 2017 PFS increasing throughput to 1,000 tonnes per day returning a post-tax NPV of NPV of $161.3 million, at a discount rate of 5%, ($141.8 Million and $131. 8 million at discount rate of 8% and 10% respectively).

IRR of 65% with a 2-year payback period (5% discount rate).

Total Life of Mine Capital Cost estimate of US $56.9 million with project construction over 95% complete and initial pre-production targeted during April 2022.

Life of Mine All in Sustaining costs (AISC) estimated at US $844 per gold equivalent ounce at $1,647.52/ounce Au, $21.64/ounce Ag, $0.92/pound Pb, $1.14/pound Zn and $3.60/pound Cu)

Proven & Probable Reserves of 3.58 million tonnes grading 2.55g/t gold, 50.06 g/t silver, 1.92% zinc, 1.11% lead, 0.26% copper.

10.9-year Life of Mine (LOM) utilizing mostly low-cost bulk underground Sub-level Open Stoping mining method with average annual production of 25,987 oz of gold, 453,952 oz of silver, 827 tonnes of copper, 3,155 tonnes of lead and 6,123 k-lbs of zinc.

Significant opportunities exist to expand the Projects Mineral Resources and Reserves base with near mine and regional exploration. Altaley plans to aggressively pursue exploration as soon as free cash flows allow or alternative funding is secured. The technical report, entitled 'NI43-101 Technical Report Preliminary Feasibility Study, Altaley Mining Corporation, Tahuehueto Project, Durango, Mexico' and dated with an Effective date of February 23, 2022 and report date of April 21, 2022, was authored by Mr. Scott E. Wilson, CPG, President of Resource Development Associates Inc., an independent consulting geologist specializing in Mineral Reserve and Resource calculation reporting, mining project analysis and due diligence evaluations. He is acting as the Qualified Person, as defined in NI 43-101, for the overall technical report, and the Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Statement. Mr. Wilson has over 32 years' experience in the mining industry and is a Registered Member (#4025107RM) of Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc. Mr. Wilson and Resource Development Associates Inc. are independent of the Company under NI 43-101. 'As our Tahuehueto Gold Mine Project construction nears completion we are happy to disclose final results of the project's updated pre-feasibility study which continues to show robust economics.' said Ralph Shearing, CEO & President. 'The disclosure and filing on SEDAR of the updated PFS and reserve and resource estimation, along with our anticipated May startup of pre-production operations at Tahuehueto, are the culmination of many years of hard work by the Altaley team and as our Tahuehueto mine ramps up to full production during Q2-Q3 2022, increased cash flow will allow Altaley to recommence exploration drilling and unlock the ultimate potential of our Tahuehueto district scale project.' Pre-Feasibility Study Overview The Project configuration evaluated in the PFS is a conventional, owner-operated underground mine, that will utilize contractor mining in a combination sub-level long hole open stope and cut and fill mining methods. Mill feed will be processed in a 1,000 tonnes per day comminution circuit consisting of primary and secondary crushing, wet grinding to an initial two-circuit flotation/concentration plant producing precious metal rich lead and zinc concentrates; and subsequently, in second year of operation a third circuit added to produce copper concentrates. The PFS was prepared by independent third-party consultants, Resource Development Associates Inc. ('RDA') and integrated updated geological interpretations based on expanded knowledge of the mineral deposit, geological modeling, an optimized mine plan and production schedule, additional metallurgical work, a mill currently under construction and updated cost estimates, all of which de-risk the Project. The PFS provides information on the optimized Project with higher throughput rates, updated resource estimate, and capital and operating cost estimates as compared to the project evaluated in the National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ('NI43-101') January 2017 Technical Report (the '2017 Report'). The final version of the NI 43-101 technical report containing the PFS has been filed on SEDAR. As a result of the changes to the Project as evaluated in the PFS, including differences in mineral resource estimation methodology and changes to the economic parameters applied to the geologic block model (metal selling prices, recovery, CAPEX, and OPEX), all of which resulted in a change in mineral resources, the Project as evaluated in the 2017 Report is no longer considered current and the 2017 Report should therefore not be relied upon by investors. The engineering design to estimate capital costs used in the PFS are within a 20% accuracy however, the Company in 2021 elected to proceed with construction of the project which, as of the date of this press release, 95% of required construction capital has been invested in the project, advancing construction past 95% completion with most capital expenditures completed and therefore capital equipment and construction costs are known with substantially increased accuracy. The Company cautions that the PFS is preliminary in nature and is based on technical and economic assumptions which could be further refined and evaluated in a full feasibility study. The PFS is based on an updated Project reserve and resource estimate effective as of February 23, 2022. As the Company has elected to bring the Tahuehueto Mining Project into production without the project's mineral reserves supported by a full feasibility study, the Company cautions that this could result in a higher risk of economic or technical failure of the operation that if a full feasibility study had been prepared demonstrating economic and technical viability. There are no assurances that the Tahuehueto Mining Project will be found to be economic. The following is a summary of the material aspects and assumptions of the PFS. Investors are urged to review the complete NI 43-101 report filed on SEDAR for complete details of the PFS. Project Location The Tahuehueto Project is located in the northwest portion of the state of Durango, Mexico, approximately 250 km northwest of the capital city of Durango. The Project is located about 25 km north of the Topia polymetallic-silver mine, 48 km northwest of the La Cienega gold, silver, base metal mine, 85 km southwest of the Guanacevi silver district, 280 km southeast of the Palmarejo silver and gold mine, and 150 km northwest of the San Dimas mining district, most notable for the Tayoltita silver and gold mine. Summary of Results of the 1,000 Tonnes Per Day PFS Table 1 OPERATING METRICS 2022 PFS Mill Throughput (tonnes/day) 1,000 Mine Life (years) 10.9 Total Ore Processed (tonnes) 3.55M Annual Mining Rate (tonnes) 336,000 Development-to-ore ratio (waste:ore) 0.6 Head Grade (average for the LOM) Pb (%) 1.1 Zn (%) 1.9 Au (g/tonne) 2.58 Ag (g/tonne) 50.5 Cu (%) 0.3 AuEq (g/tonne) 6 Recovery (average for the LOM) Pb (%) 85 Zn (%) 68 Au (%) 87 Ag (%) 85 Cu (%) 85 Average Monthly Production - LOM Pb (tonnes) 263 Zn (tonnes) 510 Au (troy ounces) 2,166 Ag (troy ounces) 37,829 Cu (tonnes) 69 Table 2 FINANCIAL METRICS March 7,2022 Disclosure (Corrected in column to right) Final 2022 PFS US$ Total Net Smelter Return (Pb, Zn, Au, Ag, Cu) 533.1 645.4 $Million Gold Net Revenue 341.5 392.8 $Million Silver Net Revenue 74.0 87.5 $Million Lead Net Revenue 55.8 60.5 $Million Zinc Net Revenue 48.3 78.4 $Million Copper Net Revenue 13.4 26.2 $Million Pre-tax Net Cash flow 240.9 352.5 $Million Post tax Net Cash Flow 186.3 258.9 $Million Annual Average pre-tax net cash flow 21.4 98 $Million Pre-tax net cash flow per tonne of ore 67 72 $/tonne ore LOM Total Capital cost - Plant, mine development, infrastructure, working capital (no contingency) 56.9 56.9 $Million OPEX - Development Mining 1,278.1 1,278.1 $/meter OPEX - Ore Mining 35.0 35.0 $/tonne ore OPEX - Processing 22 22 $/tonne ore OPEX - General &Administrative (G&A) 3.0 3.0 $/tonne ore OPEX - Operating Cost - LOM 69.5 69.5 $/tonne ore All-In Sustaining Cost of Production - LOM 844 855 $/AuEq oz Pre-tax Net Present Value (NPV) at 5% discount 152.8 234.4 $Million Post-tax NPV at 5% discount* 110.0 161.3 $Million Post-tax NPV at 10% discount 90.6 130.8 $Million EBIDTA LOM 246.1 357.7 $Million Internal Rate of Return (IRR)** 45 65.5 % Payback Period 2.58 2.0 Years *5% discount considered reasonable due to advanced state of Tahuehueto construction where 95% of required capital has been invested in the project, advancing construction past 95% completion with most capital expenditures completed and therefore capital costs are known with substantially increased accuracy. **IRR is calculated with approximately $34 million of pre-Jan 2022 expenses on the project. $19 million of pre-2015 costs of exploration, acquisition and carrying costs have been treated as sunk costs. Sensitivity Analysis Table 3 below shows the after-tax sensitivity of NPV, IRR to varying gold prices (US Currency) Table 3 Gold Price ($/oz) After Tax NPV 0% ($M) After Tax NPV 5% ($M) After Tax NPV 8% ($M) After Tax NPV 10% ($M) IRR (%) Payback (Years) 1,450 171.6 134.2 117.3 107.8 50.5 2.6 1,550 187.7 146.9 128.5 118.2 55.9 2.3 1,650 204.4 161.3 141.8 130.8 65.5 2.0 1,750 219.7 172.3 151.0 139.0 66.7 2.0 1,850 237.7 185.1 162.2 149.4 72.2 1.9 PFS Baseline shown in Bold Table 4 below shows the after-tax sensitivity of NPV, IRR to various gold mill recoveries. (US Currency) Table 4 Mill Recovery Gold (%) After Tax NPV 0% ($M) After Tax NPV 5% ($M) After Tax NPV 8% ($M) After Tax NPV 10% ($M) IRR (%) Payback (Years) 85% 170.2 134.1 117.7 108.5 53.3 2.4 90% 190.1 149.9 131.7 121.4 60.5 2.2 95% 204.4 161.3 141.8 130.8 65.5 2.0 97% 210.4 166.0 146.0 134.7 67.6 2.0 PFS Baseline shown in Bold Capital Costs Key capital expenditures for initial and sustaining capital requirements are identified in the following Table 5. (All figures in US$ Millions) Table 5 Initial investment up to Feb. 28, 2022 Investment remaining as at Feb. 28, 2022 to generate positive cash flow* Investment to reach continuous & sustainable production ** Sustaining capital expenditures *** Total capital costs**** Processing facilities 10.29 1.86 0.93 0.13 13.21 Infrastructure facilities 2.22 2.17 0.85 0.15 5.39 Mine equipment 4.05 0.09 0.78 0.53 5.45 Tailings 0.06 0.83 0.38 1.50 2.77 Mine development 0.48 0.25 0.98 27.18 28.89 Mining rights - - 0.11 1.10 1.21 Subtotal 17.10 5.20 4.03 30.59 56.92 Contingency - - 1.19 3.06 4.25 Total 17.10 5.20 5.22 33.65 61.17 * From Feb 28, 2022 to positive cash flow date ** From reaching positive cash-flow date to January 2023 *** From Jan 2023 to end of mine life **** Life of mine capital costs and Pre-Jan 2022 capitalized costs All-in Sustaining Costs Table 6 highlights the all-in sustaining costs and the all-in cost over the life of the Project. Table 6 Life of Mine US$/AuEq Oz US$ Million Operating Costs(1) 734 320.5 Sustaining Capital Expenditures (2) 77 33.65 Corporate G&A 18 8.0 Reclamation 17 7.5 All-In Sustaining Costs (3) (4) 846 369.6 Capital Expenditures 32 13.8 All-In Costs (4) 876 383.4 Rounding of some figures may lead to minor discrepancies in totals. Includes streaming, penalties, and shipping costs. Includes all mine development capital expenditures after the first 12 months of production. Includes initial capital expenditures for the first 12 months of production. All-In Sustaining Costs and All-In-Costs are non-GAAP measures. See reference to 'Non-GAAP' below. Annual Metal Production Project Mineral Reserves Table 7 below presents the Mineral Reserve estimate for the Project as of February 23, 2022. These Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves formed the basis of the economic evaluation of the Project and are based on a metal selling prices of $1647.5 USD/Au oz, $21.64 USD/Ag oz, $0.92 USD/Pb lb, $1.14 USD/Zn lb, and $3.6 USD/lb Cu. The economic assumptions and parameters used for the calculation of reserves are the same as those used for the PFS financial model. Tahuehueto Project Mineral Reserve Estimate Table 7 Classification Tonnes (x1000) Ag Grade (g/t) Ag Oz (x1000) Au Grade (g/t) Au Oz (x1000) Cu Grade (%) Cu Lbs (x1000) Pb Grade (%) Pb Lbs (x1000) Zn Grade (%) Zn Lbs (x1000) Proven 2,358 51.93 3,937 2.89 219 0.27 14,246 1.18 61,429 2.07 107,515 Probable 1,227 46.48 1,834 1.90 75 0.23 6,304 0.96 25,929 1.63 44,125 Proven & Probable 3,585 50.06 5,770 2.55 294 0.26 20,550 1.11 87,357 1.92 151,640 Mineral Reserves are estimated using metal price forecasts of $0.92/lb for lead, $1.14/lb for zinc, $3.60/lb for copper, $1,647.50/oz for gold and $21.64/oz for silver. Totals may not add due to rounding. The foregoing mineral reserves are based upon and are included within the current mineral resource estimate for the Project. Project Mineral Resources The mineral resource estimates set forth in the PFS ('2022 MRE') have been prepared by Resource Development Associates Inc. ('RDA'). Tahuehueto Project Mineral resource Estimate Table 8 Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral resource estimates include inferred mineral resources which are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied that would enable them to be classified as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that inferred mineral resources will be converted to measured or indicated mineral resources. Gold equivalency was estimated using metal selling prices of US$1,650/Oz Au, US$21.02/Oz Ag, US$0.91/Lb Pb, US$1.15/Lb Zn and US$3.70/Lb Cu. Resources were estimated using assay results from 37 reverse circulation drill holes, 215 diamond core drill holes and 2,714 channel samples. Mineralization was identified in 9,599 assays. Assays were composited to nominal 1.5-meter lengths totalling 2,213 composites which were used to estimate mineralization into the vein system at Tahuehueto. A block model was constructed around the Tahuehueto vein system. Mineralization was estimated using Inverse Distance Cubed (ID3) interpolation parameters. The selective mining unit for the project is 1.5-meters. Therefore, mineralization was estimated into blocks no smaller than 1.5-meters to determine mineralization that has the reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction Grade and Tonnage Sensitivity to Cut-off Grades Mineral resources at Tahuehueto are sensitive to the selection of reporting cut-off grade. To illustrate this sensitivity, the block model quantities and grade estimates within the mineral deposit are presented in table 9 at linear increases in cut-off grades for measured, indicated, and inferred mineralization. The same results are presented graphically in Figure 1. Mineralization is constrained to material that meets the reasonable prospects test. The numbers presented in Table 9 should not be misconstrued with a mineral resource statement. The figures are only presented to show the sensitivity of block model estimates to the selection of a cut-off grade. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Table 9 Measured Indicated Measured & Indicated Inferred Cut-off AuEq g/t Tonnes (000) Grade Au g/t Au Oz. (000) Tonnes (000) Grade Au g/t Au Oz. (000) Tonnes (000) Grade Au g/t Au Oz. (000) Tonnes (000) Grade Au g/t Au Oz. (000) 1.00 4,149 2.28 305 2,566 1.52 126 6,715 1.99 430 1,040 0.98 33 1.25 3,964 2.37 302 2,453 1.58 125 6,417 2.07 427 946 1.04 32 1.50 3,744 2.49 299 2,294 1.67 123 6,038 2.18 422 875 1.08 30 1.75 3,509 2.62 296 2,165 1.74 121 5,674 2.28 417 810 1.13 29 2.00 3,233 2.79 290 1,994 1.85 118 5,227 2.43 408 724 1.20 28 2.25 3,077 2.89 285 1,847 1.95 116 4,924 2.53 401 652 1.27 27 2.50 2,894 3.01 280 1,693 2.04 111 4,587 2.65 391 571 1.36 25 2.75 2,693 3.14 272 1,520 2.16 106 4,213 2.79 378 501 1.44 23 3.00 2,503 3.28 264 1,345 2.28 99 3,848 2.93 362 431 1.48 21 3.25 2,346 3.41 257 1,196 2.45 94 3,542 3.08 351 353 1.59 18 3.50 2,207 3.54 251 1,082 2.58 90 3,289 3.23 341 267 1.58 14 3.75 2,055 3.71 245 963 2.76 86 3,018 3.40 330 205 1.57 10 4.00 1,907 3.89 239 830 3.05 81 2,737 3.64 320 161 1.69 9 Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral resource estimates do not account for mineability, selectivity, mining loss and dilution. These mineral resource estimates include inferred mineral resources that are normally considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is also no certainty that these inferred mineral resources will be converted to measured and indicated categories through further drilling, or into mineral reserves once economic considerations are applied. Detailed Report A NI 43-101 compliant technical report that summarizes the results of the PFS has been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and is available on the Company's website www.altaleymining.com. Mr. Scott E. Wilson, CPG, President of Resource Development Associates Inc., is an independent consulting geologist specializing in Mineral Reserve and Resource calculation reporting, mining project analysis and due diligence evaluations. He is acting as the Qualified Person, as defined in NI 43-101, for the overall technical report, and the Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Statement. Mr. Wilson has over 32 years' experience in the mining industry and is a Registered Member (#4025107RM) of Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc. Mr. Wilson and Resource Development Associates Inc. are independent of the Company under NI 43-101. Mr. Wilson has reviewed and approved the technical information summarized in this news release. About Altaley Mining Corporation Altaley Mining Corporation is a Canadian based mining company with two 100% owned Mexican gold, silver, and base metal mining projects. Altaley's Tahuehueto mining project is in north-western Durango State, Mexico where construction has been advanced to near completion on its 1,000 tonne per day processing facility and related mine infrastructure to initiate production of gold, silver, lead, and zinc in concentrates at Tahuehueto. The Company is targeting initial pre-production in May 2022 and ramping up to full production capacity during Q2-Q3 2022. Campo Morado is an operating polymetallic base metal mine with mining and milling equipment currently producing at an average of 2,200 tonnes per day and is currently estimated to be Mexico's 6th largest zinc producer. Visit: www.altaleymining.com On Behalf of the Board of Directors (signed) 'Ralph Shearing'Ralph Shearing, P. Geol, CEO, President and Director Cautionary Note Regarding Production Decisions and Forward-Looking Statements Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. It should be noted that Altaley declared commercial production at Campo Morado and elected to initiate construction to go into production at Tahuehueto prior to completing full feasibility studies demonstrating economic and technical viability. Accordingly, readers should be cautioned that Altaley's production decisions have been made without comprehensive feasibility studies of established reserves at Campo Morado and prefeasibility level reserves at Tahuehueto, such that there is greater risk and uncertainty as to future economic results from the Campo Morado mine and at Tahuehueto mine where reserves are established to the prefeasibility level of confidence and therefore a higher technical risk of failure than would be the case if full feasibility studies were completed and relied upon to make production decisions. Altaley has completed a preliminary economic assessment ('PEA') mining study on the Campo Morado mine and a prefeasibility study ('PFS') at Tahuehueto mine that provides a conceptual life of mine plan and a preliminary economic analysis based on the previously identified mineral resources (see News Release dated November 8, 2017, April 4, 2018, and April 25, 2022). Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking Information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-Looking Information includes but is not limited to conditions or financial performance that are based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action; the timing and costs of future activities on the Company's properties, such as production rates and increases; success of exploration, development and bulk sample processing activities, and timing for processing at its own mineral processing facility on the Tahuehueto project site. In certain cases, Forward-Looking Information can be identified using words and phrases such as "plans," "expects," "scheduled," "estimates," "forecasts," "intends," "anticipates" or variations of such words and phrases. In preparing the Forward-Looking Information in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, that the current exploration, development, environmental and other objectives concerning the Campo Morado Mine and the Tahuehueto Project can be achieved: the continuity of the price of gold and other metals, economic and political conditions, and operations. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. 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, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Contact Details Altaley Mining Corporation Glen Sandwell +1 604-684-8071 ir@altaleymining.com Company Website https://www.altaleymining.com/

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Press Release - April 26, 2022

Former Special Financial Advisor to OECD G20 Sherpa and OECD Coordinator for Infrastructure joins EDHECinfra to support fair value, transparency and ESG in infrastructure investment

Andre Laboul's first mission will be to engage with prudential and regulatory authorities around the world on the importance of adopting robust and transparent approaches to the reporting of the financial and non-financial performance of infrastructure investments.

Andre Laboul, former Special Financial Advisor to the OECD G20 Sherpa is joining EDHECinfra as a Senior Advisor to the CEO. Among other roles, Mr Laboul has been Head of the OECD Financial Affairs Division; Deputy to the G20 and G7 Finance Deputy; OECD Coordinator for Infrastructure; Secretary General of the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors; Senior Counsellor to the Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs; and Chairman of the International Network on Financial Education.

Mr Laboul wrote the first major international studies on bank/insurance and on regulation of private pensions and was instrumental in the development of various major international policy projects and international instruments by the OECD, including on infrastructure, private pensions, financing of long-term investment by institutional investors, financial education, financial consumer protection, terrorism insurance and financial management of catastrophic risks. He is currently lecturer in various universities and holds senior advisory positions in various fora. On his new role with EDHECinfra, Andre Laboul said, "The role of infrastructure in institutional portfolios can only reach its full potential once the fair market values of such investments are really taken into account. It is essential to align prudential rules with robust and transparent approaches to measuring risk in illiquid and unlisted investments like infrastructure, including ESG-related infrastructure, in order to reach the full potential of the infrastructure asset class from both public policy and private investment standpoints."

EDHECinfra CEO, Frederic Blanc-Brude, said, "Andre brings an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to the gradual integration of the infrastructure asset class into the policy and regulatory process. He has genuinely seen the asset be born at the G20 and has overseen a large part of this process. We are proud to have him join us as Senior Advisor to continue to carry an important message on the role of data and transparency for infrastructure investment."

About EDHEC Infrastructure Institute :

EDHECinfra is a venture of EDHEC Business School and a provider of indices and analytics for the infrastructure investment universe. Because the majority of infrastructure assets are not publicly traded, there has traditionally been a vast knowledge gap when it comes to gauging the prices of these assets and their evolution. We are closing that gap with analytics and calculated indexes that already cover 25 countries representing an investable universe of 7,000 companies. We are based in Singapore and London. Visit edhec.infrastructure.institute.

EDHECinfra maintains the infraMetrics platform: an online information system that gives access to key market indices including the infra300 and infra100 series. InfraMetrics also includes a wealth of valuation data and analytics, risk metrics, a fund strategy analysis tool providing robust performance quartiles for any segment, strategy or vintage, and peer group analyses allowing investors to compare themselves against comparable segments of the market.


With the automation market expected to grow by $32 billion by 2025, Qualibrate is reinventing SAP system testing to significantly increase businesses' revenue and productivity.

AMSTERDAM, April 26, 2022, the leading SaaS solution for enterprise software delivery, revolutionizes SAP DevOps, helping businesses achieve greater productivity and revenue. As organizations embrace business and test automation, enterprises need rapid implementation to bring projects to life with efficient testing.

Gartner predicts the integration marketis projected to grow by $32 billion by the end of 2025, scaling nearly 50% in five years alone. According to a new Forrester report, automation testing toolsare expected to power significant market growth, driving revenues to $22 billion in 2025, up from $13.9 billion in 2021.

Emerging as the market leader in test automation, Qualibrate provides a friction-less process for businesses to integrate software for automation, disrupting the conventional approaches to documenting, training, and testing. Traditionally, software delivery was time-consuming, expensive, and lacked reusability. With Qualibrate reinventing quality assurance, individuals, teams, and organizations are empowered with the right automation technologies and tools to keep up with the high speed of digital transformation.

For clients like PVH Europe, a large Dutch retailer with a diversified portfolio of brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, business continuity was key as they migrated and uploaded thousands of assets. With Qualibrate, PVH Europe increased coverage and speed of their regression testing while also increasing data validation to 100% correctness and completeness, compared to the previous process of manually spot-checking 10% of loaded data.

"The business world is changing and continues to change at a rapid pace. Automating business and test processes is not just a necessity, but it is a requirement for large enterprises. Qualibrate's automated processes increase productivity by utilizing technology to connect teams, documents, and project management," said Alan Jimenez, Managing Director for Qualibrate.

With a simple user interface, powerful reporting, cost-effective cloud environments, and extensive integrations, Qualibrate enables agile teams to streamline software delivery to production. With a modern approach that transforms the way teams test, document, and train users, teams can leverage Qualibrate for an 80% increase in efficiency on testing and training while documenting business processes seven times faster than before.

For more information, please visit https://www.qualibrate.com.

About:

Qualibrate is the 3-in-1 SaaS solution for enterprise software delivery that transforms the way teams test, document, and train end users. It offers native support for automating tests on SAP applications and 40+ non-SAP technologies such as Salesforce, Microsoft, ServiceNow, Oracle Cloud Apps, Mendix, etc.

Qualibrate's Cloud test automation platform integrates natively with SAP Solution Manager Test Suite to extend the customer's capability to automate SAP and non-SAP applications as part of their end-to-end testing strategy. Qualibrate is the tool of choice for customers such as AirFrance/KLM, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Bell Helicopter, Nouryon and more.

With a certified integration for SAP, your team can leverage Qualibrate to save up to 80% effort on testing and training while documenting business processes 7x faster than before.

Media Contact:

Mike Albanese

mike.albanese@newswire.com

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Attachment
Amatheon's subsidiary in Zambia together with other international and local stakeholders signs MoU for US$21m USAID flagship project

Over a 5-year period, the Alliance will address threats to the Greater Kafue Ecosystem, in which Amatheon Agri Zambia is key partner for sustainable agricultural development

Growing demand for chillies and paprika offers unlimited opportunities to integrate small-scale farmer into the value chain of the company and to boost its trading volume

First major deals of ca. EUR 2 million worth of contracts with European and African clients for chili and paprika off-take signed

BERLIN, GERMANY / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Amatheon Agri Holding N.V. (the "Company"), the Euronext listed agribusiness and farming group (ISIN NL0010273694, Symbol MLAAH), announces the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for a 5-year Global Development Alliance project with a total volume of US$21m.

A double reason to celebrate: On International Earth Day 2022, Amatheon Agri Zambia Ltd. joined U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Kashikoto Conservancy Ltd., Alliance partners, government officials and local leaders to officially launch the Eastern Kafue Nature Alliance. The Alliance, which operates under USAID's Global Development Alliance (GDA) brings together public, private and civil society actors, along with local communities, to address threats to the rich biodiversity in and around the Greater Kafue Ecosystem (GKE) of Zambia.

5-year flagship project with USAID and TNC

A Cooperative Agreement signed by USAID and TNC initiates implementation of a five-year programme of US$21.3m out of which $10m will be funded by USAID and $11.3m in leverage from the private sector. Amatheon Agri Zambia Ltd. (AAZ) plays the key role in this programme for further increasing the sustainable agricultural production of high-value crops within the communities in Mumbwa District, in which the company has its operations.

The Minister of Tourism, Honourable Rhodine Sikumba, officially launched the Alliance and highlighted the importance of bringing together like-minded people to conserve the rich landscape of the GKE and improve the well-being and prosperity of its communities. "Sustainable development requires cross-sectoral commitments from local and global stakeholders," said Honourable Mr. Sikumba.

Also the Minister of Green Economy and Environment, Honourable Collins Nzovu, touched on the great opportunities that inclusive agriculture can bring for communities and nature simultaneously, and appreciated Amatheon's approach to introduce cash crop cultivation as a sustainable, alternative source of income for the communities in the GKE.

Uplifting communities in Mumbwa District with increasing demand for Capsicum products

With the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Amatheon Agri Zambia's Managing Director, Troy Minne, said the company commits to ramp up its herbs and spices production with small-scale farmers, starting with different varieties of capsicum products (hot chillies and paprika). Over a period of 5 years, Amatheon Agri Zambia will support crop diversification into high-value herbs and spices, produced under climate-smart techniques through the provision of market services, including input finance, extension and demonstration of sustainable farming practices to address economic constraints communities face in Mumbwa District.

With its newly established state-of-the-art processing, cleaning and storage facilities, AAZ is able to process the dried chillies and paprika into flakes in various sizes, with or without seeds, in accordance with international food and processing standards. The global demand for chilli products continues to grow, which offers great opportunity for Amatheon to connect smallholder farmers to high-level value chains and increase its trading volumes as new supply contracts come into fruition.

Successful conclusion of major orders in the first quarter of 2022

"The first major deals from European and African clients for high-margin chilli and paprika products have been closed, resulting in ca. EUR 2 million worth of contracts being signed in Q1 2022 for delivery later in the year," says Amatheon's Director of International Sales and Marketing, Victoria Cavanagh.

"The high quality of the products, combined with year-round availability and on-site processing, makes Amatheon Agri a strategic supplier for many new clients," says Cavanagh. "Traditional origins for chilli and paprika are experiencing quality and supply challenges, and the market is eager to develop new origins especially with large-scale farming companies where traceability is stronger," she says.

Second AAZ-USAID partnership for community development

For AAZ, the launch marked a special moment in the company's history with USAID, which played a crucial role in the development of Amatheon Agri's Outgrower Programme in 2016. During the first USAID partnership, AAZ established a trading network with more than 10,000 farmers in Mumbwa District and embedded the Outgrower Programme as a core part of the company's operations in Zambia.

"We are excited to partner again in such an ambitious and fundamentally important project, which will uplift our Outgrower Programme and the communities surrounding Amatheon's farm," said Sustainability Manager Laura Schenck.

The Alliance project activities will be implemented over a course of five years until September 2026.



The Management Board

Berlin, Germany, 26 April 2022

*

* *

For further information please see the Group's website: https://amatheon-agri.com

Contact:

Laura Schenck

Amatheon Agri Holding N.V.

Friedrichstrasse 95, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Tel: +49 30 53 000 90 121

Fax: +49 30 53 000 90 20

email: l.schenck@amatheon-agri.com

About Amatheon Agri Holding N.V.:

Amatheon Agri is a European agri-food company with headquarters in Berlin and production sites in Sub-Saharan Africa and cooperation with small-scale local farmers (outgrowers). Since its foundation by Mr. Carl Heinrich Bruhn in 2011, Amatheon Agri has established sustainable agricultural value chains from cultivation to product-specific processing and trading processes in Zambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. With a combination of international distribution network, incorporated local know-how as well as a sustainable vision for the future, Amatheon Agri has been able to establish itself as a strategically aligned global player in the African agricultural sector.

In 2020, Amatheon Agri also launched its new brand for 100% natural, fair and sustainably grown food from Zambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe: ZUVA Foods (https://www.zuva.de)

https://www.instagram.com/zuvafoods/

https://www.facebook.com/zuvafoods

https://www.zuva.de

The Shares of Amatheon Agri are listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (ISIN NL0010273694, Symbol MLAAH) and on the Lang & Schwarz Exchange in Germany (Symbol/WKN A1J4XD).

The Convertible Bonds of Amatheon Agri are listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with ISIN DE000A286BY3 and Symbol/WKN A286BY.

SOURCE: Amatheon Agri Holding N.V.

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CRANBROOK, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Eagle Plains Resources (TSXV:EPL)("EPL") is pleased to announce that option partner Rex Resources Corp. (TSX-V:OWN),("Rex") has approved a summer 2022 exploration program at Eagle Plains'100% owned Kalum Property located approximately 35 km northwest of Terrace, British Columbia in the Skeena Mining Division. The planned program is budgeted for $150,000 and will include detailed mapping, prospecting, and surficial geochemical surveys including systematic soil & rock sampling at the Bling Rico, Babit-God, Tojo and Hat Zones. The program aims to further define and extend mineralized trends highlighted in historical work. The results from the 2022 program will be used to further interpret the property mineralization model and generate drill-ready targets for future programs. Rex holds the exclusive right to earn an undivided 60% interest in the property by completing exploration expenditures of $3,000,000, making cash payments of $500,000 and issuing 1,000,000 common shares to Eagle Plains over a four year period (see EPL news release Aug 13, 2020).

Property Geology

The 2,870 ha property is flanked by a large intrusive stock that has intruded sedimentary rocks of the Bowser Lake Group. There are at least fifteen gold-silver mineral showings on the property coincident with the contact zones of these intrusive plutons and large-scale structural zones. Mineralization is dominantly high-grade, epithermal/mesothermal, polymetallic and gold-bearing veins that are hosted within both intrusive rocks and country rock.

Property History

Eagle Plains acquired the property in 2003 and completed significant exploration programs on the property in 2003 and 2004. The programs included a VTEM airborne survey, extensive geochemical programs, geologic mapping, and a 19-hole diamond drill program. The best drill results from this work included drill-hole KRC04001, drilled at the Rico showing (discovered by Eagle Plains), which returned 35g/t Au over 2.5m from 101.8m to 104.3m; including a 0.5m interval that assayed 107g/t Au. Historical sampling at the Chris occurrence reported a grab sample of 158 g/t Au and 5,536 g/t Ag. At the Martin showing area, sampling by Eagle Plains in 2004 returned 34.0 g/t Au and 83.0 g/t Ag from a grab sample of sulphide bearing quartz vein material. The Martin area has never been drill tested. Management cautions that rock grab samples are selective samples by nature and as such are not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted across the property.

The property area has seen exploration activity by various operators over the years, with the most recent diamond drilling carried out in 2012 by Clemson Resources, who drilled a single hole to test for high-grade mineralization in an area outside of present claim boundaries. 2020 work by Eagle Plains included high resolution orthophoto & LIDAR surveys and an airborne magnetic & radiometric geophysical survey covering the western portion of the property.

All work to date continues to support the interpreted potential for the Kalum Property to host both high-grade gold-silver deposits and lower-grade bulk-tonnage type gold mineralization.

Charles C. Downie, P.Geo., a "qualified person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and a director of Eagle Plains, has prepared, reviewed, and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in the news release.

Update on Eagle Plains Resources Activities

Eagle Plains benefitted recently from the successful completion of a plan of arrangement between SSR Mining Inc. and Taiga Gold Corp., which was spun out of Eagle Plains in April, 2018. Eagle Plains held 12,162,716 shares of Taiga, which netted the company $3,223,120 in cash. This transaction leaves EPL with an extremely robust treasury totalling over $9M.

Eagle Plains has a number of exploration projects planned for 2022, both with existing partners and on its 100% owned projects. A preliminary summary of planned activity may be found here.

Research and acquisition activity is ongoing, with negotiations underway with various third parties with respect to additional option arrangements on our 100% owned projects.

About Eagle Plains Resources

Based in Cranbrook, B.C., Eagle Plains is a well-funded, prolific project generator that continues to conduct research, acquire and explore mineral projects throughout western Canada. The Company was formed in 1992 and is the ninth-oldest listed issuer on the TSX-V (and one of only three that has not seen a roll-back or restructuring of its shares). Eagle Plains has continued to deliver shareholder value over the years and through numerous spin-outs has transferred over $100,000,000 in value directly to its shareholders, with Copper Canyon Resources and recently Taiga Gold being notable examples.

The Company is committed to steadily enhancing shareholder value by advancing our diverse portfolio of projects toward discovery through collaborative partnerships and development of a highly experienced technical team. Eagle Plains also holds significant royalty interests in western Canadian projects, covering a broad spectrum of commodities. Management's focus is to advance its most promising exploration projects. Throughout the exploration process, our mission is to help maintain prosperous communities by exploring for and discovering resource opportunities while building lasting relationships through honest and respectful business practices.

Expenditures from 2011-2021 on Eagle Plains-related projects exceed $27M, the majority of which was funded by third-party partners. This exploration work resulted in approximately 42,000m of diamond-drilling and extensive ground-based exploration work facilitating the advancement of numerous projects at various stages of development.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Tim J. Termuende"

President and CEO

For further information on EPL, please contact Mike Labach at

1 866 HUNT ORE (486 8673)

Email: mgl@eagleplains.com or visit our website at http://www.eagleplains.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

SOURCE: Eagle Plains Resources Ltd

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698762/Eagle-PlainsRex-Resources-Announce-Planned-2022-Exploration-at-Kalum-Gold-Property-Golden-Triangle-Region-BC
WHITE ROCK, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / TDG Gold Corp. - (TSXV:TDG) (the "Company" or "TDG") is pleased to report a 13.5 metre ("m") drill intercept of 2.55 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold ("Au") and 115 g/t silver ("Ag") [3.99 g/t AuEq*] from 42.0 m depth in hole SH21-043 (Figure 1) located in the JM Zone contained within a broader interval of 57.2 m of 0.93 g/t Au and 39 g/t Ag [1.41 g/t AuEq*] from 12.0 m depth. Preliminary results from SH21-043 are presented in this news release along with preliminary results from five other drillholes drilled within the JM and Shasta Zones at TDG's former producing Shasta project in the Toodoggone District, B.C. (Figure 1).

DDH SH21-043 intersected: 57.2 m of 0.93 g/t Au and 39 g/t Ag [1.41 g/t AuEq*] from 12.0 m depth;

Including, 13.5 m of 2.55 g/t Au and 115 g/t Ag [3.99 g/t AuEq*] from 42.0 m depth.

Steven Kramar, TDG's Senior Geologist and B.C. Program Lead, commented: "The six drillholes included within this news release complete the publication of the preliminary results from all 51 diamond holes drilled by TDG at Shasta in 2021. Once again, these results demonstrate the presence of halo-style mineralization at medium to lower-grades surrounding the higher-grade pods which are associated with the structural conduits at Shasta. We continuing to review and analyze the oriented core to help shape our 2022 program and we look forward to announcing those plans in due course."

Figure 1. Plan View of Drillholes SH21-043, SH21-045, SH21-048, SH21-045B, SH21-050 & SH21-051 in the JM and Shasta Zones, Shasta Project, Toodoggone District, B.C.

Key intercepts for diamond drillholes SH21-043, SH21-045, SH21-048, SH21-045B, SH21-050 and SH21-051 are presented in Table 1 and shown for all holes in cross-sections except SH21-051 (Figures 2-3).

Table 1. Results from the 2021 Drilling within the JM and Shasta Zones.

Drillhole From To Length Au Ag AuEq* (m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) SH21-043 12.0 69.2 57.2 0.93 39 1.41 incl 34.5 55.5 21.0 1.86 81 2.87 incl 42.0 55.5 13.5 2.55 115 3.99 SH21-045 7.7 53.0 45.3 0.65 24 0.94 incl 19.8 27.0 7.2 1.27 70 2.15 incl 37.5 53.0 15.5 1.08 30 1.46 SH21-045B 41.7 66.0 24.3 0.80 21 1.07 SH21-048 63.9 66.5 2.6 1.13 4 1.19 138.0 145.5 7.5 1.66 1 1.67 SH21-050 36.0 113.0 77.0 0.39 17 0.61 SH21-051 Nothing Significant to Report *Gold equivalent (AuEq) is used for illustrative purposes, to express the combined value of Au and Ag as a percentage of Au. Calculations are uncut and no allowances have been made to accommodate potential recovery losses that would occur in a mining scenario. AuEq is calculated using 80:1 silver to gold ratio. Composite results were built using a 0.1 g/t AuEq cut-off, although there are intervals within the composites below 0.1 g/t AuEq. ** Intervals are core-length weighted. True width is estimated between 75 to 95 % of core length, and core recovery is estimated to be > 90 %. ***Calculated composites are truncated to significant 2 digits for Au/AuEq and the nearest whole number for Ag.

Photo 1 presents an example of intense quartz-carbonate veining and hydrothermal breccia comprised of a quartz, carbonate and chlorite matrix, with angular to sub-angular potassic altered clasts, intersected in drillhole SH21-043. Intensity of brecciation is correlated to increasing Au and Ag grades (from 42.0 m to 43.5 m; 9.84 g/t Au and 443 g/t Ag; 15.38 g/t AuEq*). This provides an example of material left in-situ adjacent to historical small-scale workings (Figure 2).

Photo 1. Mineralization Encountered in Drillhole SH21-043 from 40.6 - 43.5 m; Sample from 42.0 - 43.5 m (1.5 m) Grading 9.84 g/t Au and 443 g/t Ag [15.38 g/t AuEq*] .

The set of drillholes SH21-043, SH21-045 and SH21-048 were designed to confirm historical drilling adjacent to and underneath the JM open pit and associated underground workings. Drillhole SH21-043 confirmed that historical high-grade mineralization (Photo 1) was left in-situ, just past the pit bottom, that was not extracted during underground mining. SH21-045 and SH21-045B both terminated short, hitting an underground void interpreted to be old mine workings. However, both holes ended in increasing (> 1 g/t) Au mineralization (Figure 2). In combination, these results suggest that similar grade mineralization may persist below the mine workings, per previous results and findings (see TDG News Releases: April 19, 2022; April 12, 2022; March 29, 2022; and January 4, 2022).

Drillhole SH21-050 was drilled south of all historical mining efforts in the JM Zone to test the southern extent of the JM structure. It returned a broad intercept of mineralized material beyond the historical mine workings and at a depth deeper than historical drilling efforts. This illustrates the potential of the JM structure to the south and continuity of the mineralization across the interpreted strike of the structure.

SH21-051 was the final drillhole in the 2021 drill campaign. This drillhole was the most southerly drillhole drilled by TDG in the Shasta Zone targeting the Shasta Fault. The hole intersected weakly to moderately altered volcaniclastic rocks that persisted throughout the length of the drillhole; however, at the end of the drillhole, alteration and quartz-carbonate vein density began to increase with an increasing precious metal concentration. Along with structural modeling underway, hole SH21-051 is interpreted to have missed the Shasta Fault (terminated short, on the hanging-wall side) suggesting the structure may begin to turn more easterly than previously understood with the mineralized target therefore being deeper and more westerly.

All 2021 drillholes are HQ sized drill core, and historical core are NQ/BQ core size. Particulars for 2021 drillholes (location, depth, etc.) are presented in Table 2. Assay results were received from SGS Labs Canada ("SGS"). Internal QA/QC review by TDG, working with Moose Mountain Technical Services ("MMTS"), is ongoing and therefore results are still considered preliminary.

Table 2. 2021 Drillhole Particulars.

HOLE UTME (NAD83) UTMN (NAD83) Azimuth() Dip() Final Depth (m) SH21-043 621,131 6,347,376 240 -46 117 SH21-045 621,147 6,347,351 240 -56 53 SH21-045B 621,147 6,347,351 240 -65 66 SH21-048 621,176 6,347,382 240 -57 172 SH21-050 621,201 6,347,307 240 -49 166 SH21-051 620,905 6,347,255 122 -50 179

QA/QC

Samples for the Shasta 2021 drill program followed chain of custody between collection, processing and delivery to an SGS laboratory in Burnaby, B.C. The drill core was delivered to the core shack at TDG's Baker Mine site, and processed by geologists who inserted certified reference materials, blanks and duplicates (pulp and coarse) into the sampling sequence. The 2021 drill core was cut in half (1/2 HQ core) and placed in zip-tied polyurethane bags, then in security-sealed rice bags before being delivered directly from the Baker Mine site, to Bandstra Transportation Systems in Prince George, B.C., and ultimately to the SGS laboratory in Burnaby, B.C. Samples were prepared and analyzed following procedures summarized in Table 3, where information about methodology can be found on the SGS Canada Website, in the analytical guide (here).

Figure 2. Cross-Section of Drillholes SH21-043, SH21-045, SH21-045B & SH21-048.

Figure 3. Cross-Section of Drillhole SH21-050.

Table 3. Au and Ag Analytical Methods.

Drillhole Prep Method Au Method Ag Method Au-Overlimit Method Ag-Overlimit SH21-043 PRP89 GO_FAI50V10 GE_IMS40Q12 N/A GO_FAG37V SH21-045 PRP89 GO_FAI50V10 GE_IMS40Q12 N/A GO_FAG37V SH21-045B PRP89 GO_FAI50V10 GE_IMS40Q12 N/A GO_FAG37V SH21-048 PRP89 GO_FAI50V10 GE_IMS40Q12 N/A N/A SH21-050 PRP89 GO_FAI50V10 GE_IMS40Q12 N/A GO_FAG37V SH21-051 PRP89 GO_FAI50V10 GE_IMS40Q12 N/A N/A

Quality assurance and control ("QAQC") is maintained internally at the lab through rigorous use of internal certified reference materials, blanks, and duplicates. An additional QAQC program was administered by TDG Gold through the use of certified reference materials ("CRMs"), duplicate samples and blank samples that were blindly inserted into the sample batch. If a QAQC sample returns an unacceptable value an investigation into the results is triggered and when deemed necessary, the samples that were tested in the batch with the failed QAQC sample are re-tested. For the purposes of this press release, results are 'preliminary' and thus have not undergone TDG's comprehensive QAQC investigations.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Steven Kramar, MSc., P.Geo., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

This news release includes historical drilling information that has been reviewed by the Company's geological team. The Company's review of the historical records and information reasonably substantiate the validity of the information presented in this news release; however, the Company cannot directly verify the accuracy of the historical data, including the procedures used for sample collection and analysis. Therefore, the Company encourages investors to exercise appropriate caution when evaluating these results. Further data review is underway, in order to verify the validity of the data for the anticipated NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate.

About TDG Gold Corp.

TDG is a major mineral claim holder in the historical Toodoggone Production Corridor of north-central British Columbia, Canada, with over 23,000 hectares of brownfield and greenfield exploration opportunities under direct ownership or earn-in agreement. TDG's flagship projects are the former producing, high grade gold-silver Shasta, Baker and Mets mines, which are all road accessible, produced intermittently between 1981-2012, and have over 65,000 m of historical drilling. In 2021, TDG advanced the projects through compilation of historical data, new geological mapping, geochemical and geophysical surveys, and, for Shasta, drill testing of the known mineralization occurrences and their extensions. TDG currently has 96,343,142 common shares issued and outstanding.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Fletcher Morgan

Chief Executive Officer

For further information contact:

TDG Gold Corp.,

Telephone: +1.604.536.2711

Email: info@tdggold.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans to continue to be refined; possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; and fluctuations in metal prices. There may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

SOURCE: TDG Gold Corp.

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Property Acquisitions Announced

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Grid Metals Corp. (the "Company") (TSXV:GRDM)(OTCQB:MSMGF) is pleased to report additional diamond drill results from the 2022 lithium exploration program at its Donner Lake lithium property in southeastern Manitoba. The project is located in the Winnipeg River pegmatite field, which hosts the world-class Tanco pegmatite and the associated Tanco lithium-cesium-tantalum mine and concentrator. The Donner Lake Lithium project is a 75%/25% joint venture between Grid Metals Corp and Lithium Royalty Corp., a leading player in global lithium finance.

Highlights of todays announcement are as follows:

Drill intersections over 500m strike length include the following intervals: 4.1 metres averaging 1.62% Li2O in GDL22-03 from 160.9 meters downhole 5.9 metres averaging 1.48% Li2O in GDL22-12 from 219.5 metres downhole 2.7 metres averaging 1.52% Li2O in GDL22-13 from 139.4 metres downhole

And previously released 13.75 meters averaging 1.53% Li2O in GDL22-01 from 87.5 meters downhole 8.0 meters averaging 1.46% Li2O in GDL22-02 from 57.0 meters downhole



To date assays have been received from five drill holes (GDL22-01,02 - see Grid Press release dated April 5,2022) and GLD22-03, 12 and 13. Assays from these holes demonstrate lateral continuity of high-grade lithium values in the Northwest Dyke - one of several known spodumene-bearing LCT-type pegmatites on the Property.

values in the Northwest Dyke - one of several known spodumene-bearing LCT-type pegmatites on the Property. The Northwest Dyke has now been traced by Grids' 2022 drilling for ~500 meters along strike and to a vertical depth of ~200 meters by the first five holes for which assays have been received.

and to a by the for which assays have been received. Consistent grade profile of lithium mineralization to date is associated with visible spodumene crystals

of lithium mineralization to date is associated with visible spodumene crystals Similar grade and continuity to the Main Dyke, located ~1.5 km to the east

to the Main Dyke, located ~1.5 km to the east The true thickness of the lithium intersections in holes GDL22-01, 02, 03, 12 and 13 are estimated to range from 50% to 70% of the interval lengths.

Assays are pending from all other holes and drilling is continuing to extend the depth of the mineralization

Project is located within 35 km of Canada's only currently producing lithium spodumene operation (Tanco Mine)

Above: 2022 drill hole locations for the Northwest Dyke at the Donner Lake Lithium Property showing the current surface projection of the main pegmatite body (thick pink line) and the Li2O grades obtained for holes GDL22-01 to 03 and GDL22-12 and 13.

Above: Close up of elongate, white spodumene crystals in GLD22-14, drilled from the same setup as hole GDL22-13 reported on here. NQ core size.

Program Details

GLD22-03 is a 75m step out along strike to the northeast from previously reported drill holes GDL22-01 and 02, which intersected 13.75 metres averaging 1.53% Li2O and 8.0 metres averaging 1.47% Li2O, respectively. Hole GDL22-03 intersected a 5.4 metre interval of the Northwest Dyke including a core zone of spodumene-bearing pegmatite that averaged 1.62% Li2O over 4.1 metres from 160.9 metres.

from 160.9 metres. GLD22-012 was drilled near the southwest end of the current drill-defined strike of the Northwest Dyke and intersected 10.7 metres of pegmatite including a 5.9 metre section that averages 1.48% Li2O starting at 219.6 metres.

starting at 219.6 metres. GDL22-13 was drilled at the current drill-defined northeastern end of the Northwest Dyke and intersected a 5.4 metre section of pegmatite including a 2.7 metre interval averaging 1.52% Li2O from 139.5 metres.

from 139.5 metres. All three of these new drill intersections have elevated tantalum (Ta), cesium (Cs) and rubidium (Rb) contents.

The new results feature similar Li2O grades to those observed in holes GDL22-01 and 02.

The Company expects to wrap up the initial phase of drilling on the Northwest Dyke at the end of April at which point it expects to have completed approximately 16 holes and 3,000 metres covering a strike length of 600 metres and with vertical intersection depths ranging from ~50m to >300m.

The Northwest Dyke remains open along strike in both directions and at depth.

Complete results for the drill holes reported today from the 2022 Northwest Dyke exploration drill program together with drill hole specifications are provided in the Appendices accompanying this release.

Mr. Carey Galeschuk, Grid's Vice President, Lithium Exploration, stated: "The new drill results demonstrate good continuity - both vertically and along strike, in the Northwest Dyke. The Company now has two vertically-oriented, lithium-rich pegmatite dykes (Main and Northwest dykes) to build an initial resource from and we are optimistic about the prospect of discovering additional, LCT-type pegmatite dykes at Donner Lake as we prepare for the start of a property-wide field exploration program later this spring. The excellent location of the Donner Lake property - located nearby Canada's only currently operating spodumene concentrator at Tanco and in the world-class Winnipeg River pegmatite field, is a tremendous foundation on which to build a significant new lithium resource in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction."

About the Donner Lake Lithium Property

The property is owned 75% by Grid Metals Corp. and 25% by Lithium Royalty Corp. (LRC), which is funding 25% of the current exploration program. LRC holds an overriding 2% royalty on the property.

The property was acquired in 2016 by Grid from Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada Limited (Tanco) which has the first right to acquire products produced from the property at commercial terms and holds a 2% royalty on certain claims.

Sinomine Canada is currently operating a lithium spodumene circuit at its Tanco Mine facility, located approximately 35 km to the southwest of the Donner Lake Property.

Donner Lake is only 180 km from the provincial capital of Winnipeg and accessible by all season roads and logging trails - with access to east west major railroads

Grid Metals has an exploration agreement in place with the Sagkeeng First Nation, whose Traditional Lands include the Donner Lake and Mayville properties.

The project has the opportunity to access low-cost renewable power from Manitoba's extensive hydro-electric grid.

There are multiple LCT-type pegmatite dykes on the property including the Main Dyke that, in 2018, was drill tested by Grid over a ~1 km strike length. The dykes are located along a ~9 km long prospective geological contact between the Bird River greenstone belt and the Makwa Lake batholith and occupy obvious structural trends.

The Main Dyke and Northwest Dyke together supported a non-compliant historical resource estimate of 3.8 million tons at a grade of 1.28% Li2O (Manitoba Mines Branch Assessment file 91769A). This resource estimate cannot be independently verified by the Company. The Company is looking to complete additional drilling over the coming months to establish a maiden NI 43-101 lithium resource on the Property.

The property is significantly underexplored with a large portion of the prospective geology having seen no prior lithium exploration.

Acquisition of New Properties

The Company is pleased to announce that it has entered into two property options in the Bernie Lake pegmatite field in the south part of the Bird River Greenstone Belt near the Tanco Mine. The properties are prospective for lithium bearing pegmatites. There are two option agreements that have been entered into with the vendor who is arms length to the Company. The transactions are subject to the final approval of TSX Venture Exchange.

The Bird Property consists of two mining claims and the Bridge Property also consists of two mining claims. The properties are not contiguous The Bridge Property has documented lithium bearing pegmatites on the property while in the case of the Bird Claims the property is in close proximity to a to a documented geochemical lithium anomaly.

Terms

A 100% interest can be earned in the Bird Property by Grid making a $5,000 payment on closing along with the issuance of 100,000 common shares of the Company. Subsequent payments required to earn a 100% interest in the property are $10,000 and 200,000 shares before January 10, 2023 and $35,000 and 200,000 shares before January 10, 2024.

A 100% interest can be earned in the Bridge Property by Grid making a $5,000 payment on closing along with issuing 100,000 common shares of the Company. Subsequent payments required to earn a 100% interest in the property at $10,000 and 200,000 shares before January 10, 2023 and $35,000 and 200,000 shares before January 10, 2024.

In the case of both option agreements the vendor will retain a 2% royalty from future production. Grid shall have the right to purchase 1% of the royalty on each property for $1 million.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Grid Metals applies best practice quality assurance and quality control ("QAQC") protocols on all of its exploration programs. For the Donner Lake drilling program, core was logged and sampled at the Company's core facility located on the Makwa Property. Generally, 1.0 metre sample lengths were used. Samples were bagged and tagged and then transported by secure carrier to the Actlabs (Thunder Bay) laboratory for sample preparation and analysis for lithium, cesium, tantalum and selected major and trace element abundances using a sodium peroxide fusion total digestion method followed by ICP-OES and ICP-MS analysis. The Company is using two lithium + rare metal certified reference materials ("CRMs") and two analytical blanks for the Donner Lake program to monitor analytical accuracy and check for cross contamination between samples.

Above: Location of Donner Lake Lithium Project - 180 km northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Above: Area of the Northwest (NW) and Main Dykes at the Donner Lake Lithium Property.

Above: Currently known LCT-type pegmatite dykes at the Donner Lake Lithium Property.

Dave Peck, P.Geo., has reviewed the contents of this press release and is the qualified person for purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

About Grid Metals Corp.

Grid Metals Corp. has a portfolio of exploration and development stage properties focused on battery metals (nickel, copper, platinum group metals, cobalt, palladium) which are located in the Provinces of Manitoba and Ontario, Canada. The Company recently completed winter exploration drilling Company's Makwa nickel property which is part of the PEA stage Makwa Mayville Ni-Cu-PGM property which is also located in the Bird River Greenstone Belt.

To find out more about Grid Metals Corp., please visit www.gridmetalscorp.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Grid Metals Corp.

Robin Dunbar - President, CEO & Director

Telephone: 647 201 6844 Email: rd@gridmetalscorp.com

David Black - Investor Relations Email: info@gridmetalscorp.com 416 955-4773

Appendix 1: Analytical Results, Drill Hole GDL22-03, Northwest Pegmatite Dyke, Donner Lake Lithium Property, Southeastern Manitoba.

Sample# From (m) To (m) Length (m) Li2O (%) Ta (ppm) Cs (ppm) Rb2O (%) 752506 160.92 162.00 1.08 1.19 97 188 0.36 752508 162.00 163.00 1.00 1.75 90 195 0.35 752509 163.00 164.00 1.00 1.96 56 131 0.26 752511 164.00 165.05 1.05 1.62 52 154 0.28 752513 165.05 165.95 0.90 0.20 77 130 0.27 Li-rich 160.92 165.05 4.13 1.62 74 167 0.31 Section

Appendix 2: Analytical Results, Drill Hole GDL22-12, Northwest Pegmatite Dyke, Donner Lake Lithium Property, Southeastern Manitoba.

Sample# From (m) To (m) Length (m) Li2O (%) Ta (ppm) Cs (ppm) Rb2O (%) 752734 218.30 218.80 0.50 0.24 1 81 0.03 752736 218.80 219.56 0.76 0.53 236 355 0.33 752737 219.56 220.65 1.09 1.48 176 225 0.34 752738 220.65 221.65 1.00 1.83 71 228 0.42 752739 221.65 222.65 1.00 1.39 129 214 0.30 752741 222.65 223.39 0.74 1.87 56 210 0.29 752742 223.39 223.78 0.39 0.32 70 191 0.29 752743 223.78 224.80 1.02 1.40 77 310 0.32 752745 224.80 225.45 0.65 1.51 71 374 0.34 752746 225.45 226.45 1.00 0.86 74 326 0.34 752747 226.45 227.35 0.90 0.43 83 324 0.36 752748 227.35 228.00 0.65 0.23 88 215 0.34 752749 228.00 228.97 0.97 0.15 66 113 0.31 Li-rich 219.56 225.45 5.89 1.48 99 251 0.33 Section

Appendix 3: Analytical Results, Drill Hole GDL22-13, Northwest Pegmatite Dyke, Donner Lake Lithium Property, Southeastern Manitoba.

Sample# From (m) To (m) Length (m) Li2O (%) Ta (ppm) Cs (ppm) Rb2O (%) 752757 135.20 135.82 0.62 0.08 73.3 106 0.26 752763 138.42 139.48 1.06 0.14 78.4 128 0.28 752764 139.48 140.22 0.74 1.09 46.1 182 0.34 752766 140.22 141.20 0.98 1.62 55.4 164 0.30 752767 141.20 142.20 1.00 1.74 54.4 121 0.22 752768 142.20 142.90 0.70 0.33 53.7 148 0.40 752769 142.90 143.45 0.55 0.13 75.3 116 0.30 752771 143.45 143.82 0.37 0.22 44.8 53.7 0.15 Li-rich 139.48 142.20 2.72 1.52 53 153 0.28 Section

"The true thickness of the lithium intersections in holes GDL22-01, 02, 03, 12 and 13 are estimated to range from 50% to 70% of the interval lengths."

Appendix 4: Specifications for the drill holes GLD22-03, GLD22-012 and GLD22- 013 reported in this news release along with previously released GLD22-01 and 02, Northwest Pegmatite Dyke, Donner Lake Lithium Property, Southeastern Manitoba. Easting and northing coordinates are based on a NAD83 UTM Zone 15 projection.

Hole ID Easting (m) Northing (m) Elevation (m) Azimuth Dip Depth (m) Length (m) GDL-22-01 315954 5610632 290 135 -60 131 15.80 GDL-22-02 315954 5610632 290 135 -45 215 9.40 GDL22-03 315960 5610735 299 135 -45 179 5.50 GDL-22-12 315754 5610459 297 100 -60 250 10.13 GDL-22-13 316175 5610670 295 315 -45 179 5.41

SOURCE: Grid Metals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698839/New-Drill-Results-Extend-Strike-Length-of-the-High-Grade-Northwest-Dyke-to-500-Metres-at-Grid-Metals-Donner-Lake-Lithium-Property
Rockley Photonics (NYSE: RKLY), a global leader in photonics-based health monitoring and communications solutions, today announced that its first quarter 2022 financial results conference call has been rescheduled to after the market close on Thursday, May 12, 2022, to allow additional time to prepare its earnings report. The Company plans to host a conference call that day at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to review its financial results and business outlook.

"By revising our earnings date, we expect to be able to share additional information on our earnings call that we are still reviewing; for example, the preliminary results from our human study on hydration and a new product shipment milestone," said Dr. Andrew Rickman, chairman and chief executive officer of Rockley.

On the upcoming call, the Company plans to discuss the following topics

Biotpx healthcare biomarker sensing platform, launched two years early, which includes its wearable band, cloud analytics and AI, and product samples were shipped to multiple customers in the first quarter;

VitalSpex consumer device samples continue to ship to customers in 2022;

Timeline for the shipment of its Baseline, including core body temperature, hydration and blood pressure biomarkers, continues to be expected in the second half of 2022;

Timeline for shipment of its Pro, including alcohol, glucose and lactate, continues to be expected to ship approximately six months after its Baseline; and

Rockley's expanded customer base, which includes companies like Medtronic, has made the Company less reliant on any one customer.

The conference call can be accessed by dialing 866-682-6100 from the United States or +1 862-298-0702 internationally, referencing Rockley Photonics. A live webcast and replay of the conference call can be accessed from the investor relations page on Rockley's website at investors.rockleyphotonics.com. Following the completion of the call through 11:59 p.m. ET on May 19, 2022, a telephone replay will be available by dialing 877-660-6853 from the United States or +1 201-612-7415 internationally with recording access code 13729647.

About Rockley Photonics

A global leader in photonics-based health monitoring and communications solutions, Rockley Photonics is developing a comprehensive range of photonic integrated circuits and associated modules, sensors, and full-stack solutions. From next-generation sensing platforms specifically designed for mobile health monitoring and machine vision to high-speed, high-volume solutions for data communications, Rockley is laying the foundation for a new generation of applications across multiple industries. Rockley believes that photonics will eventually become as pervasive as micro-electronics, and it has developed a platform with the power and flexibility needed to address both mass markets and a wide variety of vertical applications.

Formed in 2013, Rockley is uniquely positioned to support hyper-scale manufacturing and address a multitude of high-volume markets. Rockley has partnered with numerous Tier-1 customers across a diverse range of industries to deliver the complex optical systems required to bring transformational products to market.

To learn more about Rockley, visit rockleyphotonics.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220425005945/en/

Contacts:

For Rockley

Media

Debra Raine

Rainemakers

Telephone: +1 415-349-7432

Email: rockley-pr@rainemakers.com

Investors

Gwyn Lauber

Rockley Photonics

Telephone: +1 626-995-0001

Email: investors@rockleyphotonics.com
Presentation Scheduled for May 4, 2022 at 11:00 A.M., EDT

New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Optimus Healthcare Services, Inc. (OTC Pink: OHCS) ("Optimus"), an innovative network of healthcare related businesses committed to the progression and innovation of health care worldwide, announced today that Dan Cohen, President of Optimus, will present at the Q2 Investor Summit hosted by the Investor Summit Group, taking place May 3-4, 2022 at The Westin New York Grand Central Hotel. Mr. Cohen will be joined by and Cliff Saffron, Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel.

During Mr. Cohen's presentation, he will provide an overview of Optimus' business strategy and growth objectives for 2022. Optimus is focused on creating a network of innovative healthcare companies that advance clinical research, disease management and improve physician/patient interactions. Its portfolio includes TACT companies, PainScript and HealthScript, the Clinical Research Alliance (CRA), and VaccinationsRx. In addition to presenting, Optimus' management team will be available for one-on-one meetings with registered investors.

Details of the presentation are as follows:

Event: Investor Summit Group's Q2 Conference Date: May 4, 2022 Time: 11:00 a.m., EDT Location: The Westin New York Grand Central Hotel Webinar: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2-3QQFrAQQq_8EZaBNobJA

About Optimus Healthcare Services

Optimus Healthcare Services is focused on creating a network of innovative healthcare companies that advance clinical research, disease management and improve physician/patient interactions. Optimus Healthcare accomplishes this by acquiring controlling interest in a variety of healthcare-related businesses and then enhances the attributes of its portfolio companies by improving the operational, technological and managerial capabilities of each company. Optimus Healthcare's portfolio of companies includes, Telehealth and Compliance Technology (TACT) companies, PainScript and HealthScript, the Clinical Research Alliance (CRA), a research services provider focused on bringing state-of-the-art clinical trial capabilities to community-based physicians and their patients, and VaccinationsRx, a boutique concierge vaccination pharmacy dedicated to simplifying access to vaccines. For more information on Optimus Healthcare, please visit our website at https://www.optimushealthcare.com/.

Contacts:

Dan Cohen, President

Optimus Healthcare Services

202.329.1825

dlc@painscript.com

Investors/Media:

Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.

Jason Rando/Daniel Kontoh-Boateng

jrando@tiberend.com

dboateng@tiberend.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121572
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - NINE MILE METALS LTD. (CSE: NINE) (OTCQB: STVGF) (FSE: KQ9) (the "Company" or "Nine Mile") is pleased to announce it has signed a new Mineral Property Option to acquire all the Vendor's right, title and interest in and to 12 mineral claims: California Lake (6 claims), Canoe Landing Lake East (4 claims); and Nine Mile Brook area (2 claims) of the Bathurst Mining Camp ("BMC"), New Brunswick (the "Property"), subject to a 2% Net Smelter Royalty. The Mineral Property Option Agreement is dated April 25, 2022 (the "Agreement"). Nine Mile Metals geological exploration footprint has now increased from 31.24 km2 to a massive 70.18 km2, over the most fruitful host rocks in the entire BMC. Nine Mile now has three distinct advanced VMS Projects: Nine Mile Brook; California Lake; and Canoe Landing Lake (East and West). These acquisitions transform Nine Mile Metals into one of the largest exploration companies in the BMC.





Figure 1: Updated Claim Map



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7335/121622_be413c2e2491fbe2_001full.jpg

These strategic acquisitions solidify the Company's land position in the highly target rich Spruce Lake, Canoe Landing Lake, and Boucher Brook Formations, in the world-famous Bathurst Mining Camp. These prolific formations host 16 of the 46 known VMS deposits, including Trevali's producing Caribou mine. (see Figure 1)

California Lake VMS Project:

The California Lake VMS Project covers 24.42 square kilometers immediately north of the Canoe Landing Lake Project and includes a large section of the highly prospective Spruce Lake Formation. Included in the land package are 4 known base metal (Cu, Pb, Zn) mineral occurrences: South Branch Forty Mile Brook; California Lake 32 South; California Lake 68 South; and California Lake - Murray Brook. Historical work in the area identified a variety of VMS depositional styles including disseminated and stringer sulphides in addition to massive, tabular massive sulphides as at the California Lake 32 South Zone where previous drilling intersected values ranging from 7.86% Zn, 2.51% Pb, 73.9 g/t Ag and 1.41 g/t Au over 6 metres. At California Lake - Murray Brook, historical surface trenching identified an extensive hydrothermal alteration zone some 500 metres in length and between 10 and 100 metres wide with significant concentrations of base metal sulphides including grab samples up to 5% Cu. At California Lake 68 South, 4-meter drill intersections assayed 2% Pb/Zn with minor copper and silver.

Canoe Landing Lake VMS Project:

To the southeast of California Lake, the acquired Canoe Landing Lake East VMS property covers 5.5 square kilometers along the east flank of the Canoe Landing Lake VMS Deposit. Hosted within the Boucher Brook Formation near the contact with the Canoe Landing Lake Formation, the deposit consists of 22.8 million tons grading 0.64% Pb, 1.82% Zn, 0.56% Cu, 0.94 oz/ton Ag and 0.034 oz/t Au. This additional property increases our Canoe Landing Lake VMS Project to 10.78 km2, which includes both Canoe Landing Lake West and Canoe Landing Lake East properties.

Nine Mile Brook VMS Project:

The newly acquired Upper Pabineau River and Nine Mile Brook properties on the eastern flank of our existing Flagship Nine Mile Brook VMS Project, adds 9.02 square kms of prospective stratigraphy along the Boucher Brook Formation, host of the Nine Mile Brook VMS occurrence and the Canoe Landing Lake Deposit to the west. These additional properties increase our Nine Mile Brook VMS Project to 34.98 km2.

Utilizing recent proprietary advances in both technology and data processing, this large project portfolio will be aggressively explored for its VMS potential. Initial geophysical targeting will be followed up by ground-based surveys, 3D modeling and diamond drilling. Bore hole surveys will be conducted to define subsurface mineralization.

"We are very pleased to announce these strategic acquisitions which add significant shareholder value to our project portfolio. These acquisitions dramatically increase our exploration footprint in the BMC, and de-risks our portfolio tremendously. To have three (3) significant VMS exploration projects, deeply roots Nine Mile in the Bathurst Mining Camp", stated Patrick J Cruickshank, MBA - Director & Technical Advisory Committee Member.

To exercise its option to acquire the mineral property interests, Nine Mile must pay an aggregate of 1,500,000 common shares and $100,000 to the vendors, who are arm's length and not related parties to the Company during a period of up to three years as follows:

pay 500,000 common shares and $20,000 on the date of the Agreement; pay 333,334 common shares and $20,000 on the first anniversary of the date of the Agreement; pay 333,334 common shares and $30,000 on the second anniversary of the date of the Agreement; and, pay 333,332 common shares and $30,000 on the third anniversary of the date of the Agreement;

The Company has agreed to keep the claims in good standing during the term of the agreement but has not agreed to any minimum exploration expenditures on the Property.

The Company may purchase half of the Net Smelter Royalty at any time for the price of $1,000,000.

The agreement was negotiated at arm's length. All Company shares issued to the Vendors will be subject to four-month resale restrictions in accordance with Canadian securities legislation.

The transaction does not represent a change of business. There will no change of directors or officers of the company required by the transaction. The transaction is at arm's length. No finder's fees, broker's fees or other commissions are payable in connection with this transaction. A copy of the Agreement is filed along with the Company's public disclosure on SEDAR.

The disclosure of technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and reviewed and approved by Gary Lohman, B.Sc., P. Geo. who acts as the Company's Qualified Person, a member of the Nine Mile's Technical Advisory Committee, and is not independent of the Company.

About Nine Mile Metals Ltd.:

Nine Mile Metals Ltd. is a Canadian public mineral exploration company focused on VMS (Cu, Pb, Zn, Ag and Au) exploration in the world-famous Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Canada. The Company's primary business objective is to explore its three VMS Projects: Nine Mile Brook VMS Project; California Lake VMS Project; and Canoe Landing Lake VMS Project. The Company is focused on exploration of Minerals for Technology (MFT), positioning for the boom in EV and green technologies requiring Copper, Silver, Lead and Zinc with a hedge with Gold.

ON BEHALF OF NINE MILE METALS LTD.

"Charles MaLette"

CEO, President, Director & Secretary

T: 604-428-5171

E: info@ninemilemetals.com

Forward-Looking Information:

This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business of Nine Mile. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of Nine Mile. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "will," "may," "would," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "could" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this press release include that (a) these acquisitions transform Nine Mile Metals into one of the largest exploration companies in the BMC, (b) these massive strategic acquisitions solidify the Company's land position in the highly target rich Spruce Lake, Canoe Landing Lake, and Boucher Brook Formations, (c) these prolific formations host 16 of the 46 known VMS deposits, including Trevali's producing Caribou mine, (d) the California Lake VMS Project includes a large section of the highly prospective Spruce Lake Formation, (e) included in the land package are four known base metal (Cu, Pb, Zn) mineral occurrences, (f) historical work in the area identified a variety of VMS depositional styles including disseminated and stringer sulphides in addition to massive, tabular massive sulphides as at the California Lake 32 South Zone where previous drilling intersected values ranging from 7.86% Zn, 2.51% Pb, 73.9 g/t Ag and 1.41 g/t Au over 6 metres, (g) historical surface trenching identified an extensive hydrothermal alteration zone some 500 metres in length and between 10 and 100 metres wide with significant concentrations of base metal sulphides including grab samples up to 5% Cu, (h) this large project portfolio will be aggressively explored for its VMS potential, (i) initial geophysical targeting will be followed up by ground-based surveys, 3D modeling and diamond drilling, (j) bore hole surveys will be conducted to define subsurface mineralization, and (k) these acquisitions dramatically increase our exploration footprint in the BMC, and de-risks our portfolio tremendously. Although Nine Mile believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because Nine Mile can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121622
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Cypherpunk Holdings Inc. (CSE: HODL) (OTC Pink: CYFRF) ("Cypherpunk" or, the "Company"), a sector leader for blockchain, metaverse, privacy and cryptography focused investments, is pleased to announce an investment of USD 500k in the AB Digital Strategies Fund managed by UK FCA-regulated Isla Capital. The investment was made in two tranches, USD $250k on February 24, 2022 and USD $250k on April 20, 2022.

About AB Digital Strategies

AB Digital Strategies is a Cayman Islands regulated hedge fund. The Fund implements a market neutral strategy targeting meaningful absolute return, with low volatility and minimal correlation to crypto markets and mainstream asset classes. Using a disciplined investment process, the Fund combines multiple independent trading strategies across a range of liquid crypto markets (spot and derivative) and decentralised finance ecosystems. Investment decisions are research-based and driven by fundamental, quantitative and market intelligence inputs. The investment team has multiple decades' experience in quantitative portfolio management, legal and financial structuring and trading, across both traditional finance as well as crypto markets since their early inception.

About Isla Capital

Isla Capital is a London-based investment manager deploying in-house, liquid alternative strategies in digital assets.

Isla Capital Ltd. is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom (FRN: 959846) as an Appointed Representative of Odin Capital Management Ltd. (FRN: 478321) which is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Cypherpunk Holdings CEO, Jeff Gao, leads the move to diversify the company's treasury management away from passive storage and made the following comments in relation to the partnership with Isla Capital.

"The time when publicly traded companies can get by as a vehicle for passively holding crypto is behind us. What will set Cypherpunk apart from the rest of the industry is our focus on surgically targeting pockets of excess returns and alpha opportunities in crypto markets and our focus on risk-adjusted returns as a metric for treasury management excellence.

"Going forward, Cypherpunk's strategy will include operating a diversified portfolio of niche and highly technical strategies within the nascent cryptocurrency markets, some of which will be operated by third parties. Our engagement with Isla Capital serves to work towards our plan to engage partners with extensive trading experience who can perform crypto research for the purpose of profiting off directionally neutral strategies across exchanges, instruments and other protocols.

"I've had great pleasure working with Ron Akram and William Beverley, co-founders of Isla Capital, both of whom bring considerable asset management and market experience to the table. I am looking forward to future collaborations between Cypherpunk and Isla as our company undergoes a pivotal transformation."

About Cypherpunk Holdings Inc.

Cypherpunk was established to invest in currencies, companies, technologies and protocols, which enhance or protect privacy. Its strategy is to make targeted investments in businesses and assets with strong privacy attributes, often within the blockchain ecosystem, including select cryptocurrencies. Current equity investments include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Samourai Wallet, Wasabi Wallet, Chia, NGRAVE, and Animoca Brands.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Generally, any statements that are not historical facts may contain forward-looking information, and forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or indicates that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be" taken, "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to the Company's expectation or belief regarding its investment in shares of Animoca Brand and Animoca Brand's future performance or business. There is no assurance that the Company's plans or objectives will be implemented as set out herein, or at all. Forward-looking information is based on certain factors and assumptions the Company believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by law. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.



Officer/Director Contact:

Jeffrey Gao

Chief Executive Officer

jeff@cypherpunkholdings.com

Office: 1-647-946-1300

Investor Relations Contact:

Veronika Oswald

Investor Relations

veronika@cypherpunkholdings.com

Office: 1-647-946-1300

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121635
In addition to its innovation strategy, Huawei also shared its far-reaching vision for the future and some of the exploration it's doing to get there. In his keynote speech, Dr. Zhou Hong, President of Huawei's Institute of Strategic Research, said that "everything we imagine today is very likely to be too conservative - too little - for tomorrow. We have to meet the future with bold hypotheses and a bold vision, and throw caution to the wind as we push to break through bottlenecks in theory and technology. This is the only way forward."

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
EffRx Pharmaceuticals SA, a commercial-stage company that commercializes niche and orphan medicines in Switzerland and Europe, today announced it has recently entered into an exclusive license agreement with Diurnal Group plc, for the registration and commercialization of Efmody as treatment for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in Switzerland. Under the terms of the agreement EffRx has received the exclusive rights to register and commercialize Efmody in Switzerland.

Efmody is a modified-release preparation of hydrocortisone that has been specifically designed for the treatment of patients with CAH, a rare condition caused by a genetic deficiency of adrenal enzymes. According to our estimates, there are approximately 450 patients in Switzerland suffering from CAH.

EffRx intends to submit a Market Authorisation Application (MAA) to Swissmedic as treatment for adolescent and adult patients (12 years and older) with the rare condition congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in Switzerland during the second half of 2022. The MAA submission to Swissmedic for Efmody will be based on the European regulatory dossier and published clinical trial data, with EffRx expecting potential market launch in Switzerland in 2024.

"We are excited to sign this additional agreement with Diurnal, enabling us to build on the momentum we have achieved with Alkindi in Switzerland following approval from Swissmedic in November 2021. We believe the unique release profile of Efmody, that mimics the body's natural cortisol circadian rhythm, could have a genuine impact on CAH patients' symptoms. We are aligned with Diurnal's strategy to address the unmet medical need in patients suffering from diseases of cortisol deficiency and look forward to working with the Diurnal team to bring Efmody to patients suffering from CAH in Switzerland", Lorenzo Bosisio, Chief Executive Officer of EffRx, commented.

In May 2021, Efmody was granted marketing authorisation in the European Union and was subsequently launched in Germany, Austria and the UK in September 2021. "We are pleased to deepen our relationship with EffRx to include the distribution and marketing of Efmody in Switzerland. We have been impressed by the progress EffRx has made with the regulatory approval and reimbursement of Alkindi and look forward to continuing to work with them as they prepare to submit an MAA to Swissmedic for EfmodyRichard Bungay, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Diurnal, commented.

About congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is an orphan condition caused by deficiency of adrenal enzymes, most commonly 21-hydroxylase. This enzyme is required to produce the adrenal steroid hormone, cortisol. The block in the cortisol production pathway causes the over-production of male steroid hormones (androgens), which are precursors to cortisol. The condition is congenital (inherited at birth) and affects both sexes. The cortisol deficiency and over-production of male sex hormones can lead to increased mortality, infertility and issues during sexual development including ambiguous genitalia, premature (precocious) sexual development and short stature. Sufferers, even if treated, remain at risk of death through an adrenal crisis.

Current therapy for CAH uses a variety of generic glucocorticoid (steroid) preparations including hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, prednisolone and prednisone in the US, with no standard treatment regimen. Approximately two-thirds of CAH patients are estimated to have poor disease control, leading to elevated androgen levels. The condition is estimated to affect a total of approximately 16,000 patients in the US, with over 400,000 in the rest of the world.

About Efmody (hydrocortisone modified-release hard capsules)

Efmody is a preparation of hydrocortisone that has been specifically designed to mimic the circadian rhythm of cortisol when given in a twice-a-day "toothbrush" regimen (administered last thing at night before sleep and first thing in the morning on waking) to control androgen excess and chronic fatigue in patients with diseases of cortisol deficiency. The first indication for Efmody is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in adults and adolescents (children older than 12 years of age). Efmody has been extensively studied in 239 human subjects including 138 CAH patients who have taken part in clinical trials in Europe and the US.

The MHRA and European Commission marketing authorisation approval of Efmody was based on a Phase 3 study conducted in a total of 122 patients enrolled across 11 clinical sites, including sites in Great Britain, the largest ever interventional clinical trial completed in CAH. The Phase 3 data was supported by detailed analysis of data from an open-label safety extension study for patients completing treatment in the Phase 3 study, which is assessing the impact of treatment with Efmody over an extended period, with a number of patients on this trial having been treated for over five years. Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) for UK (Northern Ireland) can be found here.

About EffRx Pharmaceuticals

EffRx Pharmaceuticals is a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the late stage development and commercialization of prescription medications for niche and orphan indications. The business model is centered around providing superior clinical and commercial value propositions for physicians, payers and patients.

EffRx pro-actively seeks in-licensing opportunities for Europe in niche therapeutic areas, with a primary interest for rare diseases, where EffRx has received an orphan drug designation (ODD) from the FDA. EffRx's go-to-market competence is proven by the development, launch and lucrative expansion of Binosto in a highly competitive European market. Our lead commercialized product, Binosto for the treatment of osteoporosis, is marketed in the US as well as selected European and Asian countries.

About Diurnal Group plc

Diurnal Group plc is a European, UK-headquartered, specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing hormone therapeutics to aid lifelong treatment for rare and chronic endocrine conditions, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia, adrenal insufficiency, hypogonadism and hypothyroidism. Its expertise and innovative research activities focus on circadian-based endocrinology to yield novel product candidates in the rare and chronic endocrine disease arena.

For further information about Diurnal, please visit www.diurnal.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005645/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Ms. Pamela Saredi

psaredi@effrx.com
CHICAGO, IL and VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / The Planting Hope Company Inc. (TSXV:MYLK) (FRA:J94) ("Planting Hope" or the "Company"), a plant-based food and beverage company focused on producing the world's most nutritious and planet-friendly products, has partnered with Freshly, the leading subscription service providing prepared nutritionist-approved meals that are delivered fresh to your door and ready-to-eat in three minutes. RightRice Veggie Rice will be featured in Freshly's newest chef-cooked meal, "Spanish-Style RightRice with Green Olives, Fennel & Roasted Almonds."

"We are thrilled to be Freshly's first branded ingredient partner and to have RightRice highlighted in this plant-powered twist on Spanish paella," said Julia Stamberger, CEO and Co-founder of Planting Hope. "Since the acquisition of the RightRice brand, we are continuing to capitalize on its growth potential to breakthrough channels outside of traditional brick and mortar retailers. Working with Freshly's direct-to-consumer model that delivers over one million meals every week will help RightRice gain greater exposure and entry into households and businesses across North America."

"At Freshly, we know our customers value foods that not only taste great, but also make eating well effortless," said Freshly's Vice President, Strategic Partnerships Jeannette Cornell. "RightRice is one of our favorite products that aligns with this nutritious-meets-convenient philosophy. It also fits perfectly within Freshly's Purely Plant menu which helps customers incorporate minimally processed plant-based meals into their routines."

Caption: Freshly's Spanish-Style RightRice with Green Olives, Fennel & Roasted Almonds.

Photo credit: Freshly

Spanish-Style RightRice with Green Olives, Fennel & Roasted Almonds is now part of Freshly's rotating weekly menu of 50+ items that are centered on less sugar, less processed ingredients, and more nutrients. This colorful, plant-powered twist on Spanish paella includes the following flavor and nutritional elements:

Seasoned with 15 fragrant herbs and spices, including paprika, turmeric, annatto, and fennel

Features RightRice, a blend of 90% vegetables (lentils, chickpeas, peas) and rice, providing complete plant-based protein with all nine essential amino acids

Packed with extra veggies, including tomatoes, bell peppers, asparagus, cauliflower, fennel, green olives, and more

Topped with sea salt & paprika-roasted almonds

For more information on Freshly's meal plans and the new Spanish-Style RightRice with Green Olives, Fennel & Roasted Almonds, please visit: https://www.freshly.com/plans-and-menu.

About Freshly Inc.

Freshly is a weekly subscription service delivering fresh, chef-cooked meals directly to customers' doors that can be heated and served in three minutes. All that is needed is a microwave and fork to get a satisfying lunch or dinner on the table. With a corporate mission to break down the barriers to healthy eating, Freshly believes that taste and health don't need to be compromised for convenience. Freshly's food philosophy is centered on less sugar, less processed ingredients, and more nutrients. Developed by chefs and nutritionists, the menu features better-for-you versions of classic comfort foods with smart ingredient swaps. Freshly makes eating better easier than ever, one box at a time. Headquartered in New York, Freshly has operations in Phoenix, Arizona; Savage, Maryland; Linden, New Jersey; Commerce, California; and Austell, Georgia. To learn more about Freshly, visit: www.freshly.com.

About RightRice

RightRice redefines a household staple with a delicious vegetable-based rice grain that's packed with the power of vegetables and complete plant-based protein. RightRice is the first-of-its-kind: a shelf-stable vegetable grain that's a blend of over 90 percent vegetables, including lentils, chickpeas, green peas, and rice, and delivers on both taste and nutrition. With 10g of complete protein and 5g of fiber per serving, RightRice delivers more than double the protein, five times the fiber and around 40 percent fewer net carbohydrates than traditional white rice, plus it can be prepared in 10 minutes. RightRice is now available in a range of pre-seasoned flavors, plus multiple flavors of RightRice Medley and RightRice Risotto. RightRice products are currently sold in more than 7,000 doors in leading retailers across North America, including Whole Foods Market, Wegman's, Kroger, Sprouts, Albertsons/Safeway, HEB, Ahold, Meijer, as well as online through Amazon, Thrive Market, Hive, and RightRice.com. All RightRice products are made using real herbs and spices, and are plant-based, non-GMO verified, gluten-free certified, and kosher certified. RightRice Risotto was awarded Best Sauce/Store Cupboard Product in FoodBev's 2021 World Plant-Based Taste Awards and received the 2021 Eco Excellence Award for Best Gluten Free Product, in addition to being chosen as a 2021 Editors' Pick for Best New Product by Progressive Grocer. For more information visit: www.rightrice.com.

About The Planting Hope Company Inc.

Planting Hope develops, launches, and scales uniquely innovative plant-based and planet-friendly food and beverage brands. Planting Hope's award-winning and cutting-edge products fill key unmet needs in the skyrocketing plant-based food and beverage space. The Planting Hope brand family includes Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk and Sesamilk creamers, RightRice Veggie Rice, Mozaics Real Veggie Chips, and Veggicopia Veggie Snacks. Founded by experienced food industry entrepreneurs, Planting Hope is a women-managed and woman-led company focused on nutrition, sustainability, and diversity. For more information visit: www.plantinghopecompany.com.

CONTACTS:

Company Contact:

Julia Stamberger

CEO and Co-founder

(773) 492-2243

julia@plantinghopecompany.com

Media Contact:

Rachel Kay Public Relations

Becca Stonebraker

(818) 383-3929

becca@rkpr.net

Investor Relations Contact:

Caroline Sawamoto

Investor Relations

(773) 492-2243

ir@plantinghopecompany.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively referred to hereafter as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements that address activities, events, or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will, or may, occur in the future, including statements about the Company's business prospects, future trends, plans and strategies. In some cases, forward-looking statements are preceded by, followed by, or include words such as "may", "will," "would", "could", "should", "believes", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "continues", or the negative of those words or other similar or comparable words. In preparing the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, the assumption that demand for the Company's products will be sustained or increase in accordance with management's projections, that overall growth in consumer demand for plant-based foods will lead to increased demand for the Company's products, that the Company's current business objectives can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected, and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner. Although the management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking statement herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company, as well as trends identified by the Company affecting its industry can be found in the Company's annual information form dated January 6, 2022, and the Company's continuous disclosure record available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Such cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements made in this news release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE: The Planting Hope Company Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698841/Planting-Hope-Announces-Partnership-with-Leading-Prepared-Meal-Subscription-Service-Freshly-Featuring-Spanish-Style-RightRiceR-Meal
KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Avant Brands Inc. (TSX:AVNT) (OTCQX:AVNTB) (FRA:1BU0) ("Avant" or the "Company"), a leading producer of handcrafted, premium quality cannabis products, announced today that it is introducing a series of new cannabis cultivars to the Canadian market.

Avant currently holds approximately 80 cultivars in its genetics library and has been selectively introducing these cultivars to Canadian consumers. These unique cultivars originate from some of the most renowned breeders in North America, that, to the Company's knowledge, are not otherwise legally available in Canada.

Most recently, the Company has successfully cultivated and secured listings for various product offerings in provinces where Avant currently distributes its products for the following cultivars:

Animal Sorbet Kush Mints

Bacio Gelato

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Jealousy

Park Fire OG

Pineapple P

Upside Down Cake

Bacio Gelato Cultivar

Jealousy Cultivar

"As the Canadian market matures, we expect competition to be fierce. Our top shelf and exclusive cultivars, produced and packaged internally will not only give us a competitive advantage but continue to provide the cutting-edge, market leading innovations for which Avant is becoming increasingly known for," said Norton Singhavon, Avant's Founder and CEO. "Having already received tremendous positive feedback from our Canadian and international clients, we look forward to the launch of these new products and more to come in the near future."

The launch comes shortly after the launch of another market-leading innovation, Treehugger, the first pre-roll made from 100% sustainable packaging. The new cultivars will be presented under Avant's BLK MKTTM and TenzoTM brands, in various formats, including 3.5 gram flower jars, single gram pre-rolls and blunts. In addition to being first to introduce these cultivars into the Canadian recreational cannabis market, the Company will simultaneously launch them in both export and medical channels.

The Company expects that these new cultivars will be available in the Canadian market commencing in late April. However, the availability of specific strains and products will vary by province and retail location.

About Avant Brands Inc.

Avant is an innovative, market-leading premium cannabis company. Avant has multiple licensed and operational production facilities across Canada, which produce high-quality, handcrafted cannabis products for our highly desired, and award-winning consumer brands, sold across both recreational and medical channels.

Avant's recreational consumer brands include: BLK MKT, Tenzo, Cognoscente and Treehugger, all produced from rare and exceptional cultivars, and sold in British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and the Yukon. The Company's medical cannabis brand, GreenTec, is distributed nationwide, directly to qualified patients through its GreenTec Medical portal, and through various medical cannabis partners.

Avant is a publicly traded corporation listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:AVNT), and cross-trades on the OTCQX Best Market (OTCQX:AVTBF) and Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FRA: 1BU0). The Company is headquartered in Kelowna, British Columbia and has operations in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.

To learn more about Avant, to access the investor presentation, or learn more about its consumer brands, please visit www.avantbrands.ca.

For additional information, please contact:

Investor Relations at Avant Brands Inc.

1-800-351-6358

ir@avantbrands.ca

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or similar expressions and includes information regarding: expectations for future competition and the Company's competitive advantage relative to its peers; the launch of new products; the expectation that the new cultivars will be sold by the Company internationally and in its medical sales channels; the timing and availability of new recreational products across certain provinces; and expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Examples include statements that the Company will operate in a fiscally disciplined manner; that the Company will build long-term shareholder value and reduce operational expenses; or that the Company will increase its revenue and gross margins.

Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical fact but instead reflects management's expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of the Company. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: regulatory and licensing risks; changes in consumer demand and preferences; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; the global regulatory landscape and enforcement related to cannabis, including political risks and risks relating to regulatory change; compliance with extensive government regulation; public opinion and perception of the cannabis industry; the impact of COVID-19; and the risk factors set out in the Company's annual information form dated March 16, 2021, filed with Canadian securities regulators and available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE: Avant Brands, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698749/Avant-Brands-Announces-the-Launch-of-Exclusive-New-Cultivars
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Galleon Gold Corp. (TSXV: GGO) (the "Company" or "Galleon Gold") is pleased to provide an exploration update for its 100% owned West Cache Gold Project ("West Cache" or the "Project") in Timmins, Ontario. Following the release of the Project's updated Mineral Resource Estimate and maiden Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") in early 2022 (see press releases dated January 12 and February 23, 2022), the Company is planning its exploration and permitting programs for the upcoming field season.

Drill-Rig Contracted

Galleon Gold intends to follow-up on high-priority drill targets at West Cache identified during the Company's 46,380-meter drill program in 2020-2021, beginning with higher-grade targets in the metasediment units near Zone #9 and the South Area. An initial 5,000-meter program will commence in May 2022 with additional drilling to be planned based on the results from this first phase of drilling. The Company has contracted NPLH Drilling of Timmins, Ontario. NPLH has extensive experience at West Cache, having completed over 75% of the 210,000 meters of core drilling on the Property since 2009.

Permitting and Baseline Activity for Zone #9 Test Mining

Ongoing permitting and baseline studies in support of a bulk sample will continue through 2022. The Company intends to submit permit applications for approximately 100,000 tonnes of Zone #9 material to be extracted from four levels within 200 meters of the surface. A portion of the overall 2022 budget will be reserved for geotechnical and condemnation drilling in support of the Zone #9 bulk sample ramp design work. A Metal Leaching and Acid Rock Drainage ("MLARD") geochemical study has been initiated on representative rock samples from the planned bulk sample ramp area and ore characterization test work on high grade samples from Zone #9 has begun.

Comments from the CEO

R. David Russell, President and CEO of Galleon Gold commented, "We are pleased to be embarking on the next stage of exploration for West Cache. Our success last year in discovering Zone 9 and the South Area highlights the potential of the project as we have explored less than 10% of the ground within the main West Cache lease area. This blue-sky scenario coupled with our recently announced initial PEA, which demonstrated strong economics, is setting the stage for Galleon Gold to contribute significantly to the Timmins Community going forward. We anticipate 2022 will be a very rewarding year."

2022 Geochemical Sampling

In addition to drilling, a soil sampling survey will be initiated during the 2022 field season. The Company completed an orientation soil sampling survey over three areas of known gold mineralization in 2021 and received favourable results suggesting that soil geochemistry may be successful at detecting buried gold mineralization at West Cache. Additional baseline orientation work will be completed over known gold zones and an extensive sampling grid is planned to cover unexplored areas outside of the West Cache Resource Area which is identified in Figure 1.





Figure 1 - Galleon Gold's Land Position in the Timmins Gold Camp

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1014/121605_galleonfigure1.jpg

Regional Exploration & Targeting

Compilation of regional exploration targets is ongoing with the recent acquisition of 4,230 hectares of contiguous property in Ogden and Price Townships (see press releases dated February 8, 2022, and March 3, 2022).

About the West Cache Gold Property

The Property is situated in the Western Porcupine Gold Camp along the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone ("DPFZ") within the Abitibi greenstone belt. The Property is predominantly underlain by Archean rocks of the Tisdale and Deloro Assemblages (metavolcanics), Porcupine Assemblage (metasediments) and quartz feldspar porphyry of the Porcupine Intrusive Suite. Paleoproterozoic diabase dikes trend north-south to northwest-southeast across the Property. The main break of the DPFZ trends east-west through the eastern part of the Property and is offset to the south in the western portion of the Property by the Mattagami River Fault. Gold mineralization is characterized by roughly east-west trending "shear" zones, dipping 60 to 80 to the north, and is associated with pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite. To-date, the quartz feldspar porphyry unit and associated contacts with the metasedimentary units have been the focus of exploration activities. In addition, large areas of Tisdale and Deloro metavolcanics have yet to be explored, including the Rusk contact zone, which is associated with gold mineralization at the Timmins West Complex, approximately 7 km southwest of the Property.

Preliminary Economic Assessment - filed on SEDAR February 2022

The Company's maiden Preliminary Economic Assessment provided the first economic valuation for West Cache. The results demonstrate that the project could support a profitable underground mining operation; including Pre-Tax Net Present Value at a 5% discount rate ("NPV5%") of $378 million with Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 33.7%; 3.0 year payback at US$1,700/oz gold price. Importantly, the project is highly leveraged to the gold price as outlined in the Table 1 below.

Table 1: Economic Sensitivity to Gold Prices (0.76 US$/C$).



Pre-Tax After-Tax Price

(US$/oz) NPV5%

(C$ million) IRR

(%) NPV5%

(C$ million) IRR

(%) 1,500 224.5 23.3 128.6 17.2 1,600 301.4 28.6 184.3 22.0 1,700 378.3 33.7 240.1 26.7 1,800 455.5 38.7 291.8 30.8 1,900 532.6 43.6 343.6 34.8 2,000 609.8 48.4 395.3 38.7

Technical Content and Qualified Persons

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by West Cache Gold Project Manager Leah Page, P. Geo. (APGNS #217) and West Cache Gold Resource Geologist, Rochelle Collins, P. Geo (PGO #1412), both "Qualified Persons" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Galleon Gold Webinar Initiation

The Company will be providing a webinar update on the West Cache Gold Project on Thursday, May, 5th at 2:00 pm ET. Registration for the event hosted by Red Cloud Financial Services is available at this link: Click here to register.

About Galleon Gold

Galleon Gold is an exploration and development company focused on advancing the West Cache Gold Project in Timmins, Ontario. The project is situated approximately 7 km northeast of Pan American Silver's Timmins West Mine and 14 km southwest of Newmont's Hollinger Mine. Since acquiring the project the Company has demonstrated significant resource growth while providing a strong valuation in its maiden Preliminary Economic Assessment. Permitting and baseline studies in support of a bulk sample are currently underway. Eric Sprott holds approximately 21% of the Company's outstanding common shares.

For further information:

Galleon Gold

R. David Russell

Chairman and CEO

T. (416) 644-0066

info@galleongold.com

www.galleongold.com

Investor Relations

Harbor Access

Graham Farrell

T. (416) 842-9003

Graham.Farrell@harbor-access.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of Galleon Gold with respect to its long-term strategy, proposed work, plans and other reports including the PEA for its projects. Forward-looking statements are based on the then-current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the business and the markets in which Galleon Gold operates. Some of the statements contained herein may be forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and resources, exploration results, expectations, plans, and objectives of Galleon Gold are forward-looking statements that involve various risks. The following are important factors that could cause Galleon Gold's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements: changes in the world-wide price of mineral commodities, general market conditions, risks inherent in mineral exploration, risks associated with development, construction and mining operations, risks related to infectious diseases, including Covid-19 and the uncertainty of future exploration activities and cash flows, and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events may differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Galleon Gold undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121605
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - MediaValet Inc. (TSX: MVP) (the Company), a leading provider of enterprise digital asset management and creative operations software, is pleased to announce that it was selected by a well-known global developer, manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceutical and skincare products ("the Customer"). Commenced on March 31, 2022, with first-year billings of $133,000, the auto-renewing subscription includes MediaValet's enterprise digital asset management ("DAM") platform; Audio/Video Intelligence ("AVI") engine; Salesforce and monday.com integrations; Active Directory single sign-on module; and professional services covering implementation, library management and ongoing training and support.





Figure 1



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3817/121632_b0110c3e246a7842_001full.jpg

The Customer has built an exciting global brand and has been a consistent high-performer on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list every year for nearly the last decade. Their award-winning and science-based consumer products are backed by over 35 years of research and nearly 100 global patents. As with most organizations today, they are increasingly relying on fresh and consistently branded digital content to reach their customers and to continue attaining their growth objectives. At the same time, given the scientific nature of their products, they need to ensure that their high-value content - from designs to patents, scientific papers to clinical studies, product information to educational videos - is secure yet accessible at all times. With the increasing requirement to be a digital-first organization and the proliferation of content to support this initiative, the Customer needed to replace their legacy digital asset management system with a solution that is capable of meeting their rapidly expanding and increasingly mission-critical needs. After an extensive formal review process, the Customer selected MediaValet as their DAM of the future.

"We're proud that our innovative and cutting-edge enterprise DAM offering is resonating with global organizations who have realized that content is now a mission-critical element of their current and future success," commented David MacLaren, Founder and CEO of MediaValet. "We see agreements like the one announced today as ongoing validation that our investment and go-to-market strategies continue to put us at the forefront of the rapidly growing global digital asset management industry. The majority of the growth in the DAM market that we're seeing is from greenfield customers, however, we also believe that pressure is building on legacy vendors, as many are not designed to deal with the mission-critical digital content needs of today's digital-first organizations. We believe this pressure will lead to further disruption in the legacy DAM industry."

Added Dave Miller, CFO, "We couldn't be happier to see 2022 off to the fastest start of any fiscal year to date. This is the fourth large new customer win in Q1'22 and is unprecedented for a first quarter, which is normally our seasonally slowest for net new ARR ("NNARR"). Some of this is likely due to pent-up demand starting to release from the last two pandemic-affected years; however, the work environment - and the demands it puts on organizations - has also changed significantly since March 2020. This Customer in particular began looking into replacing their incumbent DAM and initially contacted us just before the pandemic hit. After going on hold for nearly two years, they reignited their DAM upgrade project early this year and were ready to assess vendors and move quickly - resulting in just a 35-day sales cycle. With this win in place, we are now ahead of plan and are expecting Q1'22 NNARR to exceed all previous Q1's and, for the first time, to exceed the $838,000 reported in Q4'21."

About MediaValet Inc.

MediaValet stands at the forefront of the cloud-native, software-as-a-service, enterprise digital asset management and creative operations industries. Built exclusively on Microsoft Azure and available across 61 Microsoft data center regions in 140 countries around the world, MediaValet delivers unparalleled enterprise-class security, reliability, redundancy, compliance, and scalability; while offering the largest global footprint of any DAM solution. In addition to providing enterprise, cloud-native DAM capabilities at a global scale, desktop-to-server-to-cloud support for creative teams, and overall cloud redundancy and management for all source, WIP and final assets, MediaValet offers industry-leading integrations into Slack, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office 365, Workfront, Wrike, Drupal, WordPress and many other best-in-class 3rd party applications.

Follow MediaValet: Blog, Twitter and LinkedIn

Surf: www.mediavalet.com

For further information, please contact:

David MacLaren

Tel: (604) 688-2321

david.maclaren@mediavalet.com

Babak Pedram

Tel: (416) 644-5081

babak.pedram@mediavalet.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121632
LITTLETON, CO / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSE American:URG)(TSX:URE) (the "Company" or "Ur-Energy") is pleased to announce that its CEO, John Cash, will attend and present at the Q2 Investor Summit being held in New York City on May 3 - 4, 2022.

Mr. Cash will present an update on the advance preparations at Lost Creek which will accelerate our ability to quickly ramp-up production when conditions warrant. Additionally, Mr. Cash looks forward to providing a progress report on our innovative R&D projects. One of the new technologies would result in an additional 90% reduction of disposed water - beyond gains we have already achieved with our first-in-industry Class V system. A second project, on which we have filed a provisional patent, has the potential to reduce wellfield rig time and costs as well as further reducing the already light environmental impact of our recovery methods.

The Investor Summit is being held at the Westin New York Grand Central, 212 E. 42nd St., New York, NY 10017.

Mr. Cash is presenting May 4, 2022, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

One-on-one meetings are available for qualified investors to meet with Mr. Cash during the Conference. Please register for complimentary conference access at Complimentary Investor Registration.

If you are unable to attend the Investor Summit, Mr. Cash's presentation will be webcast and can be accessed here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XkUOyYkxQpK5P3VMy-KYDw

The Investor Summit Group is an exclusive, independent conference dedicated to connecting smallcap and microcap companies with qualified investors. The Q2 Investor Summit Group will take place in-person, featuring 65+ companies and over 300 investors comprising institutional investors, family offices, and high net worth investors. Contact: info@investorsummitgroup.com.

About Ur-Energy

Ur-Energy is a uranium mining company operating the Lost Creek in-situ recovery uranium facility in south-central Wyoming. We have produced, packaged, and shipped approximately 2.6 million pounds U3O8 from Lost Creek since the commencement of operations. Ur-Energy now has all major permits and authorizations to begin construction at Shirley Basin, the Company's second in situ recovery uranium facility in Wyoming and is in the process of obtaining remaining authorizations for the expansion of Lost Creek. Ur-Energy is engaged in uranium recovery and processing activities, including the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of uranium mineral properties in the United States. The primary trading market for Ur-Energy's common shares is on the NYSE American under the symbol "URG." Ur-Energy's common shares also trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "URE." Ur-Energy's corporate office is located in Littleton, Colorado and its registered office is located in Ottawa, Ontario.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT

John W. Cash, Chief Executive Officer

866-981-4588 (ext. 303)

John.Cash@Ur-Energy.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws regarding events or conditions that may occur in the future (e.g., the ability to readily ramp-up production operations when future development and construction priorities are determined; the viability of any of the Company's ongoing R&D efforts, including the timing and cost to permit, implement and operate one or more of such advances, and the relative success achieved) and are based on current expectations that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, inherently involve a number of significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements express or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements include factors described in the public filings made by the Company at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management as of the date hereof and Ur-Energy disclaims any intent or obligation to update them or revise them to reflect any change in circumstances or in management's beliefs, expectations or opinions that occur in the future.

SOURCE: Ur-Energy Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698812/Ur-Energy-to-Attend-and-Present-at-The-Investor-Summit-Groups-Q2-Conference-in-NYC-May-3--4
The updated release reads:

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Marijuana Company of America, Inc. (OTC PINK:MCOA) ("the Company"), operates, invests, and acquires companies exclusively in the cannabis sector, today announced that it will be presenting at the Planet MicroCap Showcase 2022 at the Bally's Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 at 10 AM PT. Jesus Quintero, Chief Executive Officer will be hosting the presentation and answering questions from investors.

To access the live presentation, please use the following information:

Planet MicroCap Showcase 2022 in Las Vegas

Date: Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Time: 10:00 AM PT

Webcast: https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2862/45052

If you would like to book 1on1 investor meetings with Marijuana Company of America, Inc. and to attend the Planet MicroCap Showcase 2022, please make sure you are registered here: https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/signup

1on1 meetings will be scheduled and conducted in person at the conference venue.

The Planet MicroCap Showcase 2022 website is available here: https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/

If you can't make the live presentation, all company presentations "webcasts" will be available directly on the conference event platform on this link under the tab "Agenda": https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/agenda

News Compliments of ACCESSWIRE

About Marijuana Company of America, Inc.

Marijuana Company of America (MCOA) operates, invests, and acquires exclusively companies in the cannabis sector. The Company is a multi-state (licensed) operator and the parent company within the cultivation, distribution, and international consumer product sectors.

For more information, visit: www.marijuanacompanyofamerica.com.

About SNN.Network

SNN.Network is your multimedia financial news platform for discovery, transparency and due diligence. This is your one-stop hub to find new investment ideas, check in on watchlist, gather the most up-to-date information on the Small-, Micro-, Nano-Cap market with the goal to help you towards achieving your wealth generation goals. Follow the companies YOU want to know more about; read and watch content from YOUR favorite finance and investing influencers; create YOUR own watchlist and screen for ideas YOU'RE interested in; find out about investor conferences YOU want to attend - all here on SNN.Network.

About Marijuana Company of America Inc.

Marijuana Company of America (OTC PINK:MCOA) operates, invests, and acquires companies exclusively in the cannabis sector. The Company is a multi-state (licensed) operator and the parent company within the cultivation, distribution, and international consumer product sectors.

For more information, visit: www.marijuanacompanyofamerica.com

If you would like to attend the Planet MicroCap Showcase, please register here: https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/signup

Contact:

Name: Brenda Andrews

Phone: 619-807-1775

Email: brenda@mcoainvestments.com

SOURCE: Company Name via SNN Network

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698737/CORRECTING-and-REPLACING-Marijuana-Company-of-America-Inc-to-Present-at-the-Planet-MicroCap-Showcase-2022-in-Las-Vegas-on-Wednesday-May-4-2022
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Metallic Minerals (TSXV:MMG)(OTCQB:MMNGF) ("Metallic Minerals", , or the "Company") is pleased to announce the first National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") mineral resource estimate (the "2022 Resource Estimate") on the Company's La Plata project, which focuses on the central Allard copper-silver porphyry deposit. The Company acquired the project in 2019 and with confirmatory drilling and sampling has quickly generated a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate consisting of 115.7 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.39% copper equivalent ("Cu Eq") (0.35% Cu and 4.02 g/t Ag) using a 0.25% Cu Eq cut-off grade.

The Allard deposit remains open to significant expansion within the resource area. In addition, the greater La Plata silver-gold-copper project remains underexplored and open to new discoveries of both additional copper porphyry centers as well as high-grade epithermal silver and gold systems. A robust campaign of follow-up drilling and geophysical surveys is planned for the project in 2022 with the objective of expanding the 2022 Resource and advancing new targets.

Metallic Minerals will host a live webinar on Wednesday April 27th at 10am PT (1pm ET) to discuss the 2022 Resource, current activities, and upcoming plans for the La Plata and Keno Silver projects. To register, click here or the thumbnail.

Highlights

Inferred mineral resources at the Allard deposit total 889 million pounds of copper and 14.975 million ounces of silver in a constrained model with 115.7 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.39% Cu Eq (0.35% Cu and 4.02 g/t Ag) using a 0.25% Cu Eq cut-off grade (see Table 1).

The 2022 Resource Estimate area incorporates a single porphyry intrusive-hosted sulphide system that is drill defined over a kilometer ("km") in length, 400 meters (m) in width and to a kilometer of vertical extent and remains open to expansion in all directions. The resource area shows strong spatial correlation with large-scale anomalies in geophysics and metal in soil values, providing a compelling basis for expansion of the 2022 Resource Estimate and for potential new discoveries in future drill campaigns.

The 2022 Resource Estimate was completed by SGS Geological Services ("SGS") and is based on 56 diamond core drill holes, totalling 15,200 meters completed by Rio Tinto, Freeport and others along with new drilling and underground sampling by Metallic Minerals.

Exploration activities by Metallic Minerals in 2020 and 2021 included 1,980 meters of core drilling, resampling of historical drill core, underground sampling from the Allard deposit, airborne and ground-based geophysics and surface sampling across the broader property.

Drilling highlights at the Allard porphyry system include 395 m grading 0.57% copper equivalent (0.51% Cu, 6.3 g/t Ag and 0.017 g/t Au) in LP-03, and 854 m at 0.26% Cu, including 254 m grading 0.41% Cu, in drill hole LP-01. Both drill holes started and ended in mineralization (see Figure 1).

In addition to the 2022 Resource Estimate, which remains fully open to expansion at depth and along strike, 16 untested potential porphyry centers have been identified on the greater La Plata project area, as well as target areas with potential for significant high-grade epithermal silver and gold.

Scott Petsel, Metallic Minerals' President, states, "This inaugural resource is a major milestone for Metallic Minerals and the La Plata project and puts us on the map in the U.S. with a new resource containing important base and precious metals, that fall under the US government's critical minerals strategy, in a past-producing yet underexplored district in the southwestern U.S. With 15 million ounces of silver and nearly a billion pounds of copper, at recent metal prices of over $25/oz silver and $4.50/lb copper, the Company has demonstrated the exceptional value opportunity of the La Plata project for Metallic Minerals shareholders."

Mr. Petsel continued, "We feel this is just the start for us at La Plata and it validates our strategy of identifying and acquiring high-quality district-scale assets during lows in the metal price cycle and applying modern, systematic exploration techniques as a means of value creation. This is also the process we are seeing to fruition at our high-grade Keno Silver property in the Yukon, Canada. Work at La Plata in 2022 will focus on expanding this new resource and testing new priority target areas for porphyry and high-grade silver and gold mineralization."

The 2022 Resource Estimate will be incorporated into an NI 43-101-compliant technical report for the La Plata project which will be available within 45 days.

Table 1 - La Plata Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate at a Base Case Cut-off Grade of 0.25% CuEq with Grade and Contained Metal Sensitivity Analysis at Various CuEq Cut-off Grades.

Class CuEq (%) Tonnes Cu Ag CuEq (%) Cut-off Grade (%) Mlbs Grade (g/t) Ounces Grade (%) Mlbs Inferred 0.15 151,327,000 0.31 1,040 3.68 17,888,000 0.35 1,154 Inferred 0.2 142,378,000 0.32 1,008 3.77 17,273,000 0.36 1,118 Inferred 0.25 115,731,000 0.35 889 4.02 14,975,000 0.39 985 Inferred 0.3 86,986,000 0.38 733 4.31 12,056,000 0.42 810 Inferred 0.35 60,752,000 0.42 565 4.61 9,000,000 0.46 622

The 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate has been estimated in conformity with CIM Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Best Practices Guidelines (2019) and current CIM Definition Standards - For Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (2014). The constrained Mineral Resources are reported at a base case cut-off grade of 0.25% CuEq, based on metal prices of $3.60/lb Cu and $22.50/oz Ag, assumed metal recoveries of 90% for Cu and 65% for Ag, a mining cost of US$5.30/t rock and processing and G&A cost of US$11.50/t mineralized material. Cu Eq calculations are based on 100% recovery of all metals using the same metal prices used for the resource calculation. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate.

The current Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Resources in this Mineral Resource Estimate are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Resources as Indicated or Measured. However, based on the current knowledge of the deposits, it is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.

Figure 1 - La Plata Cross Section with Significant Drill Intervals and Mineralized Grade Shells

Sensitivity Analysis

In addition to the base case scenario at an economic cut-off grade of 0.25% Cu Eq, a sensitivity analysis is provided in Table 1 above, which demonstrates the variation in grade, tonnage and contained metal for the 2022 Resource Estimate at various cut-off grades. Different cut-off grades may be employed depending on variations in prevailing metal prices and mining costs.

Project Review and Exploration Update

The road accessible La Plata project covers 33 km2 approximately 26 km northwest of Durango, Colorado within the historic high-grade La Plata mining district located at the southwest end of the prolific Colorado Mineral Belt. Mineralization is related to a large-scale precious-metals-rich porphyry copper system with associated high-grade silver and gold epithermal vein and replacement deposits.

The La Plata district has a long and rich history of mining with the first silver deposits discovered in the 1700s by Spanish explorers. High-grade silver and gold production has been documented from the 1870s through the early 1940s from vein structures, replacement bodies and breccia zones at over 90 individual mines and prospects1. Historical production from some of these high-grade structures exceeded 1,000 grams per tonne ("g/t") silver and over 15 g/t gold with some of the richest deposits delivering true bonanza grades for silver and gold.

From the 1950s to 1970s, major miners including Rio Tinto (Bear Creek) and Freeport-McMoRan (Phelps Dodge) explored in the La Plata district focusing on the significant potential for bulk-tonnage disseminated and stockwork hosted mineralization2. Freeport-McMoRan retained ownership of claims in the district until 2002 when they sold their holdings to the current underlying vendors during the lows of the last metal price cycle.

A total of 56 drill holes, totaling 15,200 m, have been drilled on the property since the 1950s which confirms the presence of a large-scale, multi-phase porphyry system with significant silver, gold and copper. This large-scale mineralized system is associated with a 10 km2, strong magnetic signature with intense hydrothermal alteration mapped in satellite based multispectral imaging.

The new 2022 Resource Estimate, at the Allard deposit, covers a relatively small part of the overall 33 km2 property. The deposit is steeply dipping and roughly tabular in shape, occurring over 1 km in length, 400 m in width with over 1 km in vertical extent based on drilling to date. The Allard deposit remains open to expansion in all directions.

The Allard deposit is a significant potential source of copper and silver, both important metals for the modernization and electrification of the economy. In addition, the broader La Plata property is known for Critical Minerals also important for the green energy revolution2. The resampling of hole 95-1 during the 2021 field season returned significant platinum and palladium assays (0.14 g/t platinum and 0.10 g/t palladium) associated with the Copper Hill target area east of the Allard resource area and corroborated historic accounts of its presence. Tellurium, another element on the critical mineral list, was a by-product of historic high-grade gold and silver production in the district. These and other important metals noted in the district will be evaluated as part of ongoing exploration of the project.

Work during the 2021 field season focused on the Allard target area with the completion 1,980 m of confirmation drilling, resampling of historical core and the resampling of the underground adit. Metallic Minerals is the first Company to complete significant exploration on the La Plata project in 50 years. Since acquisition, the Company has systematically explored the project by employing an array of modern exploration techniques. Through this work the Company has identified new high-grade epithermal-style targets and over 16 potential porphyry style mineralized zones across the broader property including at the adjacent Copper Hill target area, 1 km from the Allard deposit.

Planning for exploration work in 2022 is currently underway with a focus on resource expansion drilling, geophysics, and follow-up exploration on newly identified porphyry and high-grade silver and gold targets.

Estimation Methodology and Parameters

Completion of the 2022 Resource Estimate involved the assessment of a drill hole database, which included all data for surface and underground sampling completed through the fall of 2021, as well as a three-dimensional ("3D") mineral resource model, a topographic surface model, models of the underground workings and underground channel samples, and available written reports. SGS used 56 drillholes and 15,200 m of drill data from 1959 to 2021 to delineate the Allard deposit in the 2022 Resource Estimate. All drill data and underground sampling completed by Metallic Minerals in 2021 were included in the 2022 Resource Estimate.

Inverse Distance squared restricted to a relevant underground mining mineralized domain was used to Interpolate grades for the main elements of interest including Cu (ppm) and Ag (g/t) into a block model. Composites of 3.05 m were used for the resource estimation with a 5 x 5 x 5-meter block size. A fixed specific gravity value of 2.65 g/cm3 is used to estimate the Mineral Resource tonnage from the block model volume and for waste density. While gold is seen associated with copper and silver in the deposit, historic assays for gold were limited and as such were not included in the estimate.

The mineral resources are presented undiluted and in situ (no minimum thickness), constrained by a continuous 3D wireframe model, and are considered to have reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. Based on a review of the project location and size, geometry and continuity of mineralization of the La Plata deposit, and its spatial distribution, it is envisioned that the La Plata deposit may be mined using a large-scale underground bulk mining method.

The base case cut-off grade of 0.25 % Cu Eq has been used to define Inferred underground resources on the La Plata deposits using bulk underground mining costs of US$5.30/tonne, US$11.50/tonne processing and G&A costs and assumed processing recoveries of 90% for Cu, 65% for Ag at long term metal prices of $3.60/lb Cu and $22.50/oz Ag. The constrained 2022 Resource Estimate grade blocks were quantified above the base case cut-off grade. At this base case economic cut-off grade the deposit shows good geologic and grade continuity.

The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Inferred Mineral Resource will be upgraded to an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource as a result of continued exploration.

About SGS Geological Services

SGS Geological Services has an experienced and respected mining team focused on the domestic and international mining industry. The team has considerable experience in estimation and modeling of deposits of all types and practical and theoretical experience having realized hundreds of assessments for clients. The SGS team consists of a multi-disciplinary group of qualified persons with a strong understanding of the disclosure requirements for Mineral Resources set out in the NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (2016), CIM Definition Standards - For Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (2014) and a strong understanding of the CIM Estimation of Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines 2019.

About Metallic Minerals

Metallic Minerals Corp. is a growth-stage exploration Company, focused on high-grade silver and gold projects in underexplored, brownfields mining districts of North America. Our objective is to create shareholder value through a systematic, entrepreneurial approach to exploration in the Keno Hill silver district, La Plata silver-gold-copper district, and Klondike gold district through new discoveries and advancing resources to development. Metallic Minerals has consolidated the second-largest land position in the historic Keno Hill silver district of Canada's Yukon Territory, directly adjacent to Alexco Resource Corp's operations, with more than 300 million ounces of high-grade silver in past production and current M&I resources. In addition, exploration at the recently acquired La Plata silver-gold-copper project in southwestern Colorado is targeting a silver and gold-enriched copper porphyry and adjacent high-grade silver and gold epithermal systems. The Company also continues to add new production royalty leases on its holdings in the Klondike gold district in the Yukon. All three districts have seen significant mineral production and have existing infrastructure, including power and road access. Metallic Minerals is led by a team with a track record of discovery and exploration success on several major precious and base metal deposits, as well as having large-scale development, permitting and project financing expertise.

About the Metallic Group of Companies

The Metallic Group is a collaboration of leading precious and base metals exploration companies, with a portfolio of large, brownfields assets in established mining districts adjacent to some of the industry's highest-grade producers of silver and gold, platinum and palladium, and copper. Member companies include Metallic Minerals in the Yukon's high-grade Keno Hill silver district and La Plata silver-gold-copper district of Colorado, Group Ten Metals in the Stillwater PGM-nickel-copper district of Montana, and Granite Creek Copper in the Yukon's Minto copper district. The founders and team members of the Metallic Group include highly successful explorationists formerly with some of the industry's leading explorer/developers and major producers. With this expertise, the companies are undertaking a systematic approach to exploration using new models and technologies to facilitate discoveries in these proven, but under-explored, mining districts. The Metallic Group is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and its member companies are listed on the Toronto Venture, US OTCQB, and Frankfurt stock exchanges.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Website: mmgsilver.com Phone: 604-629-7800

Email: cackerman@mmgsilver.com Toll Free: 1-888-570-4420

Foot notes

1) Eckel, USGS Prof Paper 219, Geology and Ore Deposits of the La Plata Mining District, 1949; 2) Bear Creek Mining (now Rio Tinto), Humble Oil (now Exxon) and Phelps Dodge (now Freeport-McMoRan) company reports; 3) Christoffersen, Geological report on the Allard Copper-Silver-Gold-PGM deposit, La Plata Mining District, Durango, Colorado, 2005.

2) The US Geological Survey has released a list of 50 critical minerals that the USA economy requires for economic and national security.

Qualified Persons

The La Plata copper-silver project 2022 mineral resource estimate was prepared by Allan Armitage, P. Geo., of SGS Geological Services, an independent Qualified Person, in accordance with the guidelines of the Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") with an effective date of October 7, 2021. Armitage conducted a site visit to the property on August 13, 2021. Jeff Cary, CPG, a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure not pertaining to the resource estimate contained in this news release. Mr. Cary is a Senior Geologist and La Plata Project Manager for Metallic Minerals.

Quality Control and Quality Assurance

Quality assurance and quality control procedures for drilling completed by the Company and consultants to the Company in 2021 include the systematic insertion of duplicate, blank and standard samples, making up 12% of the sample stream. Drill core samples were sawn in half, labelled, placed in sealed bags and shipped directly to the Bureau Veritas preparation laboratory in their Sparks, Nevada facility and analyzed at the Burnaby, B.C. facility. All samples were analyzed using a 30 g multi-acid digestion with an ICP-ES/MS analysis. Samples with over limit gold, platinum or palladium were re-analyzed using a 30-gram fire assay fusion with an ICP-ES analysis. Over-limit copper and silver samples were analyzed by multi-acid digestion and atomic absorption spectrometry analysis. All results have passed the QAQC screening by the lab and the Company utilized a quality control and quality assurance protocol for the project, including blank, duplicate and standard reference samples.

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Metallic Minerals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Metallic Minerals and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Metallic Minerals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698870/Metallic-Minerals-Defines-985-Million-Pounds-of-Copper-Equivalent-in-Inaugural-NI-43-101-Mineral-Resource-Estimate-for-the-La-Plata-Project-in-Colorado-USA
Castle Shield, a leading provider of applications and services based on a Zero Trust Architecture framework, today announces a research collaboration with Northern Arizona University (NAU), which seeks to develop new approaches to identifying, authenticating, and protecting devices for enterprises and consumers. As part of the partnership, Castle Shield and NAU executed a License Agreement that covers commercialization of licensed products and grants exclusive patent rights to products created under a Sponsored Research Agreement utilizing 12 existing patents and 8 pending patents. Patent rights are granted for all new patents created under a Sponsored Research Agreement until such patents are exhausted.

The research collaboration will be led by Dr. Bertrand Cambou, who joined NAU's School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems in 2015, and the cybersecurity research team, which has been recognized for its track record in innovation. The School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems engages in a broad range of collaborative research projects with industry partners both Commercial and Federal. NAU cybersecurity team's research in nanoelectronics and cybersecurity is well-supported in the multidisciplinary approach of the University.

The collaboration between Castle Shield and Northern Arizona University will focus on the following high-level areas:

Securing Encryption Keys and Devices Using a Tamper-Resistant Token

Adding Biometrics to the Tamper-Resistant Token in Subsequent Project Phases

Applying the Secure Encryption Key and Device Protection to Other Devices using Nanotechnology such as Memristors and ReRAM

Adding Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Support to existing Castle Shield's Encryption Portfolio

The first collaborative project will be the co-development of a Tamper-Resistant Token that includes the following:

An addressable PUF (Physically Unclonable Function) generator with ternary states, A ternary addressable public key infrastructure scheme, A Response-Based Cryptography (RBC) engine for error correction, and A tamper resistant key recovery protocol with a token. Motherboard/Daughterboard tamper-resistant Key recover Scheme

The first deliverables are an end-to-end solution that provides a temper resistance key recovery protocol integrated into a SRAM-based USB token, and the other provides the identical solution integrated into the Castle Shield's end-customer motherboards or added to customers' hardware as a daughterboard.

"Castle Shield's proactive approach to cybersecurity coupled with their strategic drive to integrate innovative advances in encryption into commercial products such as Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) provides my team and I a commercialization pathway for our innovations. Castle Shield is at the forefront of finding and implementing solutions to protect the customer's information for today and minimize attacks tomorrow. Our research, conducted by a team of PhDs and Northern Arizona University have a similar objective, and together with Castle Shield, we will form a powerful partnership to help companies and individuals proactively increase their cybersecurity posture," said Cambou, professor of nanotechnology and cybersecurity at Northern Arizona. "At NAU, the cybersecurity team has generated 65 invention disclosures and filed 60 patent application, 35 of which have been granted."

Castle Shield provides advanced solutions to partners and customers that protect their most valuable asset their data. "We have implemented Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms into our existing Fides product family which are commercially available today; our symmetric and asymmetric encryption solutions are encryption agnostic thus enabling Castle Shield to delivery best-in-class crypto-agility for today and tomorrow," said Dr. Milton Mattox, Castle Shield's Chief Technology Officer. "Our collaboration with Northern Arizona University continues our aggressive goal in advancing research innovation with one of the nation's most prolific inventors in the field of nanoelectronics and cybersecurity. Castle Shield's mission is to provide leading edge cybersecurity solutions to protect the nation's most precious asset-its data."

About Castle Shield Holdings, LLC

Founded in 2019, Castle Shield offers a complete range of enterprise-grade cybersecurity solutions that protects enterprises and consumers against all internal and external cyber threats. Our Legion SIEM solution is the centerpiece of our technology solutions. It provides a window into all the security events occurring across the enterprise and provides an inside-out view of the customer's threat landscape including compliance. Senate, provides a third-party outside-in view from a network vulnerability, financial and compliance perspective. This includes a threat landscape assessment for the customers' vendors as well. Fides, Castle Shield's quantum-resistant encryption solution, provides businesses and end-users the ability to encrypt data-in-motion, data-in-transit, and data-at-rest with quantum-resistant symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms with little to no added latency. Our Fides solution is integrated into other Castle Shield solutions to provide the highest level of security in those solution domains. For further information, please go to www.castle-shield.com.

About Northern Arizona University

Northern Arizona University is a high-research institution providing exceptional educational opportunities in Arizona and beyond. NAU delivers a student-centered experience to its nearly 30,000 students in Flagstaff, statewide and online through rigorous academic programs in a supportive, inclusive and diverse environment. Dedicated, world-renowned faculty help ensure students achieve academic excellence, experience personal growth, have meaningful research opportunities and are positioned for personal and professional success.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005288/en/

Contacts:

Technical:

Dr. Milton Mattox

Castle Shield Holdings, LLC

800-491-5814 x 101

+44 203 769 6363 x 101

NAU:

Heidi Toth

(928) 523-8737

Heidi.toth@nau.edu
DUBLIN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As the Russia-Ukraine war rages on, Ukraine has been hit by cyber attacks that have already spilled over to the rest of the world. Cyclonis Limited and its research partners are tracking Russia/Ukraine-related cyber attacks, and have compiled effective ways to help you protect yourself from attacks.

According to the Ukrainian government, these new cyber attacks are on a completely different level. Check Point Research found that during the first three days of the war, cyber attacks against the military and government sector in Ukraine increased by 196%.

Highly Destructive Malware Unleashed on Ukraine Has Spread Globally

The following destructive malware attacks have recently struck Ukraine and are already increasing security risks in other countries:

WhisperGate: Reportedly first appeared as early as January 13, 2022. This malware corrupts the system's master boot record and, like a ransomware infection, encrypts specific files.

HermeticWiper: Reportedly first appeared on December 23, 2021. It erases Windows systems by corrupting their master boot records, preventing the OS from loading. This ransomware-like data wiper reportedly spread following distributed denial-of-service attacks against Ukrainian organizations.

CaddyWiper: Reportedly first detected on March 14, 2022. This malware destroys user data and partition information from connected drives.

To learn more about the ongoing cyber attacks against Ukraine, visit https://www.cyclonis.com/cyber-war-ukraine-russia-flares-up-invasion-continues/.

How to Protect Yourself Against Russian Malware Attacks



Users can follow these guidelines to help to prevent these Russian malware attacks:

Stay alert. Don't click unknown email attachments or random links because they may lead to malicious sites or install unwanted software.

Keep your software up-to-date.

Protect your computer from potential cyber attacks with a powerful anti-malware program like SpyHunter.

Use strong passwords that are unique. To help keep track of your passwords in one central place, use a reputable password manager like Cyclonis Password Manager.

Backup your data. Consider using a reliable cloud storage backup program like Cyclonis Backup to protect your important files.

About Cyclonis Limited

An Irish company headquartered in Dublin, Cyclonis Limited designs and develops desktop, mobile, and cloud-enabled software products focused on simplifying data organization and management. Our applications aim to streamline the process of organizing the increasing volumes of information regular computer users deal with every day.

Connect with Cyclonis Ltd. on Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube

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DGAP-News: Ameramex International

AmeraMex International Receives Orders Totaling $515,000



26.04.2022 / 14:10

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



AmeraMex International Receives Orders Totaling $515,000 CHICO, CA April 27, 2022 - AmeraMex International, Inc. (OTCQB: AMMX), a provider of heavy equipment for logistics companies, infrastructure construction and forestry conservation, announced that it has received equipment orders totaling $515,000 which brings year-to-date sales up to $8.5 million. The order consisted of three Taylor THDC 955 Container Handlers shipping to a port on the West Coast. THDC 955 AmeraMex CEO Lee Hamre commented, 'While demand for logistics/port-side equipment continues to expand, the Company is beginning to see an increased demand for heavy construction equipment as building projects are funded and finishing the approval cycle making them 'shovel-ready'. 'We have secured floorplan financing totaling $4 million from Magni and Northpoint. Additionally, we expect to acquire a $10 million line-of-credit to help finance the expansion of our heavy equipment inventory before the end of April.' For more information and pricing of equipment for the logistics, construction, and forestry industries, or to book a demonstration of the Kovaco Electric's 100 percent electric skid steer loaders, ASV Posti-Tract and Skid Steer Loaders, Menzi Muck Excavators or a Magni Telescopic Handler, contact the AmeraMex/Hamre Equipment sales team at 530.895.8955. About AmeraMex International AmeraMex International sells, leases and rents heavy equipment to companies within multiple industries including construction, logistics, mining, and lumber. AmeraMex, with a US and international customer base, has over 30 years of experience in heavy equipment sales and service. Follow AmeraMex on Twitter @ammx_intl and visit the AmeraMex website, www.AMMX.net or www.hamreequipment.com for additional information and equipment videos. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "potential," "continue" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and there are key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are encouraged to review the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if added information becomes available in the future. Contact Details McCloud Communications LLC Marty Tullio +1 949-632-1900 marty@mccloudcommunications.com Company Website https://www.ammx.net

News Source: News Direct



26.04.2022 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

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Investment to Acquire 50% Interest in Li3 Resources Represents a Major Milestone and Pivot of the Company's Exploration Strategy to Lithium

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Western Troy Capital Resources Inc. (TSXV WRY) (the "Company") is pleased to announce it has entered into an equity subscription agreement (the "Investment Agreement") with Li3 Resources Inc. ("Li3") dated April 25, 2022 whereby the Company will acquire 500 common shares (the "Li3 Shares") in the capital of Li3 at a price of US$600 per Li3 Share for a subscription price of US$300,000. Upon issuance of the Li3 Shares, the Company will hold fifty percent (50%) of the outstanding Li3 Shares.

About Li3

Li3 is a private, lithium focused exploration company founded and backed by senior mining executives who have had prior success in the lithium sector. Li3 recently entered into an agreement to acquire up to a 50% interest in the Zimbabwe Mutare Lithium Project (the "Mutare Lithium Project") from London AIM-listed Premier African Minerals Limited ("Premier"). The Mutare Lithium Project is the first of a number of targeted lithium acquisitions by Li3. Li3's corporate plan is to acquire an attractive portfolio of highly prospective lithium exploration projects worldwide. Li3's senior management have successfully executed similar transactions during their past 30+ year history in the mining sector.

Zimbabwe - Mutare Lithium Project

Li3 Resources has agreed to invest US$250,000 into the Mutare Lithium Project for ongoing exploration works, environmental and technical studies and any administrative expenses (the "Spend"). Li3 will have until the December 31, 2022 to invest the Spend to exercise the option to acquire the 50% interest in the Mutare Lithium Project. Premier originally acquired the Mutare Lithium Project from Lithium Consolidated Ltd on July 28, 2020. The 1,500 hectares of licences are retained within the Mutare Greenstone Belt, located close to the eastern border with Mozambique. The area was deemed prospective for LCT-type pegmatites based on prior target generation work.

Stephen Dunn, CEO commented, "The investment in Li3 represents a first lithium investment for the Company and a key milestone in the Company's strategy to diversify into lithium and other battery metals. Li3's Mutare Lithium Project is located in a region in Zimbabwe that is receiving significant interest in both Lithium and potential gold deposits. The claim blocks are well located, and in several instances, have already attracted interest from international lithium producers. We are also currently evaluating other lithium investments worldwide."

About Western Troy

Western Troy has been engaged in mineral exploration and mine development, as well as reviewing potential alternatives to enhance shareholder value. This is the Company's first lithium exploration focused investment. It hopes to invest in additional lithium projects in the future.

Contact Information:

Western Troy Capital Resources

Stephen Dunn, CEO

Tel: 416-361-2827

Email: dunnsteve@protonmail.com

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT:

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121724
ANAHEIM, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / BioCorRx Inc. (OTCQB:BICX) (the "Company"), a developer and provider of innovative treatment programs fr substance abuse and related disorders, today announced that it will present at the Planet MicroCap Showcase 2022 on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 at 3:00 PM Pacific Time/ 6:00 PM Eastern Time at the Bally's Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

Lourdes Felix, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Director of BioCorRx Inc., and Brady Granier, President, Director of BioCorRx Inc. and CEO of BioCorRx Pharmaceuticals will be hosting the presentation and answering questions from investors.

Planet MicroCap Showcase 2022 in Las Vegas

Date: Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Time: 3:00 PM Pacific Time/ 6:00 PM Eastern Time

Webcast: https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2862/45086

If you would like to book 1x1 investor meetings with BioCorRX, and to attend the Planet MicroCap Showcase 2022, please make sure you are registered here: https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/signup. 1x1 meetings will be scheduled and conducted in person at the conference venue.

If you can't make the live presentation, all company presentations "webcasts" will be available directly on the conference event platform on this link under the tab "Agenda": https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/agenda

News Compliments of Accesswire

About SNN.Network

SNN.Network is your multimedia financial news platform for discovery, transparency and due diligence. This is your one-stop hub to find new investment ideas, check in on watchlist, gather the most up-to-date information on the Small-, Micro-, Nano-Cap market with the goal to help you towards achieving your wealth generation goals. Follow the companies YOU want to know more about; read and watch content from YOUR favorite finance and investing influencers; create YOUR own watchlist and screen for ideas YOU'RE interested in; find out about investor conferences YOU want to attend - all here on SNN.Network.

If you would like to attend the Planet MicroCap Showcase, please register here: https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/signup

About BioCorRx

BioCorRx Inc. (OTCQB:BICX) is an addiction treatment solutions company offering a unique approach to the treatment of substance use and other related disorders. Beat Addiction Recovery is a substance use disorder recovery program that typically includes BioCorRx's proprietary Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) modules along with peer support via mobile app along with medication prescribed by an independent treating physician under their discretion. The UnCraveRx Weight Loss Program is also a medication assisted weight loss program that includes access to concierge on-demand wellness specialists: nutritionists, fitness experts and personal support from behavioral experts; please visit www.uncraverx.com for more information on UnCraveRx. The Company also controls BioCorRx Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage drug development subsidiary currently seeking FDA approval for BICX104, an implantable naltrexone pellet for treatment of alcohol and opioid use disorders. For more information on BICX and its subsidiary pipeline, please visit www.BioCorRx.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

The information in this release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "project," "estimate," "become," "plan," "will," and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown. risks as well as uncertainties. Although the Company believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, the actual results that the Company may achieve may differ materially from any forward-looking statements, which reflect the opinions of the management of the Company only as of the date hereof.

BioCorRx Inc.

investors@BioCorRx.com

714-462-4880

Investor Relations:

Crescendo Communications, LLC

(212) 671-1020 x304

bicx@crescendo-ir.com

Media Contact:

PhillComm Global

BioCorRx@PhillComm.Global

704.942.1557

SOURCE: BioCorRx Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698545/BioCorRx-to-Present-at-the-Planet-MicroCap-Showcase-2022-in-Las-Vegas-on-May-4th
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Telescope Innovations Corp. ("Telescope" or the "Company") (CSE:TELI), a chemical technology company, announces that in connection with the Company's annual general meeting of shareholders scheduled to occur on April 28, 2022, management of the Company understands that a nomination from the floor will be made for the election of Henry Dubina as an additional independent director of the Company. The nomination of Mr. Dubina is supported by management and the Company recommends that shareholders vote in favour of the election of Mr. Dubina as a director of the Company.

Mr. Dubina was the president and Strategic Business Unit Head of Mettler-Toledo AutoChem ("MT AutoChem") between 1999 and his retirement in 2022. As the President and Head of MT AutoChem for over 20 years, he directed the global business from Research & Development, Manufacturing, and Marketing, to Sales and Service. MT AutoChem instruments have been ubiquitously deployed in academia and industry for biopharmaceutical, chemical, and advanced materials applications to accelerate the development of new, high-quality chemical and biological entities and processes. Technology platforms included automation, spectroscopy, sampling systems, particle size and shape measurement and calorimetry, software & machine learning algorithms. Prior to this time, Mr. Dubina developed and directed Applied Systems Inc., into a $15 million provider of in-situ spectroscopy systems (Fourier-transform infrared instruments) and related sampling and software (ReactIR) before its acquisition in 1999 by Mettler-Toledo International, Inc.

Jason Hein, CEO states, "We are looking forward to working with Henry and harvesting some of the valuable knowledge and guidance he brings to the table as we implement our corporate strategies and build on our strong governance."

About Telescope

Telescope is a chemical technology company developing scalable manufacturing processes and tools for the pharmaceutical and chemical industry. The Company builds and deploys new enabling technologies including flexible robotic platforms and artificial intelligence software that improves experimental throughput, efficiency, and data quality. A key area of application for these tools is the development of scalable manufacturing processes for mental health medicines in the under-utilized tryptamine class of compounds, including psychedelic therapeutics. Telescope also applies these toolsets to resolve inefficiencies in industrial process chemistry and manufacturing. Our aim is to bring modern chemical solutions to meet the most serious challenges in health and sustainability.

On behalf of the Board,

Telescope Innovations Corp.

Jason Hein, Chief Executive Officer

E: jason@telescopeinn.com

Forward-Looking Information

Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of the prospectus filed by the Company and available at www.sedar.com.

Forward-looking statements in this document include expectations that the shareholders of the Company will elect Mr. Dubina as an additional independent director of the Company, and all other statements that are not statements of historical fact.

Examples of such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, assumptions, risks and uncertainties associated with the global COVID-19 pandemic, including the risk that the Company be deemed a non-essential business and asked to temporarily cease operations; general economic conditions; adverse industry events; the Company's ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; the ability of the Company to implement its business strategies; competition; and other assumptions, risks and uncertainties.

These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect the Company; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Telescope Innovations Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698431/Telescope-Expects-Proposal-for-a-New-Board-Member-at-Upcoming-AGM
Use of Virtuozzo's Cloud Platform Strengthens Provider's Competitive Advantage While Fortifying Its Product Portfolio with a Business-Critical Offering

Virtuozzo, the alternative cloud platform leader, today announced that Joe's Datacenter uses Virtuozzo's Cloud Platform to deliver Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) in its own cloud environment. Hosting DRaaS on its proprietary infrastructure enables the service provider to maintain control of the disaster recovery journey while leveraging its infrastructure management expertise. In turn, Joe's Datacenter becomes a one-stop-shop offering easy-to-use cloud services capable of supporting large numbers of workloads. This equates to increased profitability for managed service providers (MSPs) and simpler, fully protected cloud capabilities for business customers.

The two companies will host a webinar next month introducing the solution to other service providers and end users.

In operation for more than a decade, Joe's Datacenter relies on Virtuozzo to host public and private cloud offerings in three geographically diverse data centers. Disaster Recovery customers can select a preferred backup and restore location from within that data center network. The DRaaS solution leverages the power and ease of Virtuozzo's hyperconverged cloud platform, and is managed via Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud to capitalize on those three locations should a failover be required.

Joe's Datacenter is Virtuozzo's first partner to deploy Acronis DRaaS using Virtuozzo's on-premise cloud infrastructure. Additionally, Joe's Datacenter is also one of the only alternative cloud service providers offering self-managed DRaaS. Notably, Virtuozzo's software stack is inherently compatible with Acronis software products, which simplifies integration and optimizes the performance of both companies' technologies.

"We could have built something from scratch or deployed alternative products and delivery models. But those options presented unnecessary integration challenges, management limitations, and overhead," said Joe Morgan, Founder and CEO, Joe's Datacenter. "Coupling Acronis with Virtuozzo gave us all the benefits of Acronis' software with our preferred operational advantage of managing our own equipment and network connections. It's a smarter approach for us, which translates to a stronger solution for our customers."

When running in disaster recovery mode, the Acronis software manages the failover process, while Virtuozzo quickly turns the Acronis-built backup into a running virtual machine-minimizing any potential downtime. Further, by hosting the infrastructure for the off-site backup and the virtual machines, Joe's Datacenter can better manage data/backup/workload security during transit, as well as recovery speeds.

"We understand how important it is for our service provider partners to differentiate themselves to build thriving businesses. That's why Virtuozzo offers an exceptionally robust cloud platform. Its diverse feature set and broad functionality lend incredible value to innovators like Joe's Datacenter," said Alex Fine, CEO, Virtuozzo. "Joe Morgan saw an opportunity to create a joint solution with Virtuozzo and Acronis that allows his strongest skillsets to shine-the infrastructure management and hands-on customer and partner support. We're proud to be part of his company's evolution that helps him increase his competitive edge and, as a result, overall profitability. We wish him nothing but the best of success."

DRaaS is now available as part of the Joe's Datacenter MSP Accelerator Program or as a standalone service for business customers.

Webinar

Virtuozzo will host Joe's Datacenter during a webinar titled: DRaaS Without the Drama: How to Protect Cloud Workloads the Easy Way. The event will be held on May 11th and is free to attend. To register, please visit: www.virtuozzo.com/cloud-draas-webinar.

About Joe's Data Center

Joe's Datacenter (joesdatacenter.com) serves our clients as fully and professionally as possible, offering bare metal, colocation, virtual private servers, and public and private cloud services. The data center and products are state-of-the-art, building availability and reliability. Corporate headquarters is in downtown Kansas City, with service locations in Los Angeles and New York. Growth is a direct result of success providing industry and reseller solutions to MSPs and small businesses.

About Virtuozzo

Virtuozzo (www.virtuozzo.com) provides the leading alternative cloud platform for service providers, enabling them to sell cloud services that are more accessible, more affordable and easier to use than hyperscaler solutions. The company's legacy includes developing the first commercially available container technology and being a major contributor to numerous virtualization and open-source projects for more than 20 years. Today, Virtuozzo cloud solutions are used by more than 700 Cloud Service Providers, Managed Service Providers and Hosting Providers in 80 countries. Virtuozzo is based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and has more than 320 employees across the U.S., UK, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005322/en/

Contacts:

Heather Ailara

211 Communications

+1.973.567.6040

heather@211comms.com
US-based food platform is capitalising on growing demand for better for you snacks and treats

Funds managed by CapVest Partners LLP ("CapVest"), a leading international private equity investor, have closed the acquisition of Second Nature Brands ("the Company"), a Michigan-based creator of premium, nutritional and better for you snacks and treats, including Kar's Nuts, Second Nature Snacks, and Sanders Chocolates, from a private equity fund affiliated with Palladium Equity Partners, LLC.

With a heritage stretching over 140 years, the Company is a leader in the fast-growing snacks and treats market, focussing on the nutritional and lifestyle needs of health-conscious consumers. The Company's brands comprise Kar's Nuts, the #1 branded trail mix delivering better-for-you, on-the-go fuelling snacks, Second Nature Snacks, a pioneer in natural, non-GMO-verified premium snacks and trail mixes created for a healthy, on-the-go lifestyle, and Sanders Chocolates, the leader in premium, small-batch, kettle-cooked sea salt caramels.

Commenting on the transaction, Othmane Khelladi, Partner, CapVest, said: "Second Nature Brands is a very exciting platform with ambitious plans to grow its presence in the highly attractive snacking and treats market. Through our ownership, we look forward to supporting Vic Mehren and his world-class team in accelerating growth through further investment in product innovation, category leadership and by scaling the existing platform through transformational acquisitions."

Commenting on behalf of Second Nature Brands, CEO Vic Mehren said: "Our partnership with Palladium has been extraordinarily successful and we thank them for their contributions to Second Nature Brands. With their support, and through the efforts of our great Second Nature Brands team members, Second Nature Brands has transformed into a leader within Snacks and Treats. We're now thrilled to be partnering with CapVest for our next phase of growth. The CapVest team's deep consumer food experience will be invaluable as we work to build on our Snacks and Treats platform organically, and inorganically with strategic acquisitions."CapVest has been investing in food businesses around the world for more over 20 years and has a deep understanding of the consumer food sector. Recent successes include the transformation of Valeo Foods from an Irish-only business with less than 200 million in sales, to a leading global ambient food group with over 1.1 billion in net sales operating in over 106 markets around the world.

CapVest was advised by William Blair (M&A) and Willkie Farr Gallagher (Legal).

About CapVest

CapVest is a leading international private equity investor that partners with ambitious companies supplying essential goods and services to transform their businesses. As an active and patient investor, CapVest has established a strong record of success in delivering attractive returns by working closely with management in transforming the size and scale of its portfolio companies through a combination of organic and acquisition led growth. For more information, visit www.capvest.co.uk

About Second Nature Brands

Second Nature Brands is a leading creator of snacks and treats that make lives better, naturally. By investing in new product development, thoughtful ingredient sourcing, and innovative business processes, Second Nature Brands is reimagining premium and better-for-you snacks and treats. Under its growing family of brands, Kar's Nuts, Second Nature Snacks, and Sanders Chocolates, Second Nature Brands has an extensive distribution network across the United States and a growing direct-to-consumer eCommerce presence. Currently, Kar's Nuts and Second Nature Snacks are two of the best-selling trail mix brands in the nation, including the #1 selling Kar's Sweet 'n Salty

Mix. Sanders Chocolates is one of the largest kettle-cooked, small-batch crafters of sea salt caramel treats in the U.S. Find out more at Second Nature Brands (www.secondnaturebrandsus.com), Kar's Nuts (www.karsnuts.com), Second Nature Snacks (www.secondnaturesnacks.com), and Sanders Chocolates (www.sanderscandy.com)

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005746/en/

Contacts:

For further information please contact:

Ben Valdimarsson, Reputation Inc

bvaldimarsson@reputation-inc.com

+44 7889805930
In a shock announcement, Russias foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has told Russian state media: NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. In an uncharacteristically angry tone, he accused NATO of fighting a proxy war by supplying military aid to Ukraine, just at a time when western defence ministers have gathered in Germany for US-hosted talks on supporting Ukraine through what one US general called a very critical few weeks.

The chief aim of the US sponsored talks was to coordinate mounting security assistance to Kyiv that included heavy weaponry, such as howitzers, as well as armed drones and ammunition.

The next several weeks will be very, very critical, Milley said. They need continued support in order to be successful on the battlefield. And thats really the purpose of this conference.

This would mark a significant intensification of the war in Ukraine, which explains the fury with which it has been met in Moscow.

When asked about the importance of avoiding a third world war, Lavrov said: I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it.

But the Zelensky clique in Kyiv was jubilant. Ukraines foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said that this showed Moscow had lost its last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine.

War means war, Lavrov warned.

The new weapons of war

In reality, the measures already taken by the Americans against Russia would at any time in the past have been seen as acts of war. The imposition of sanctions was intended to cripple the Russian economy.

Clausewitz said that war is only the continuation of politics by other means. Washington has a new variant on this idea. Nowadays, economics is only a continuation of war.

US imperialism has turned trade into a weapon of war. In the good old days, when the British Empire had a problem, they sent a gunship. Nowadays, the Americans send a letter from the Department of Trade.

But their much-vaunted sanctions have failed to bring the Russian economy to its knees and have had no effect whatsoever on Putins war plans.

Insofar as it has had any effect, it has been to push most Russians behind Putin and the war. When one young woman in Moscow was asked who was responsible for rising prices, she answered without hesitation: Those who imposed the sanctions.

Moreover, sanctions are a double-edged weapon. They have already done very serious damage to the fragile fabric of world trade, disrupting supply chains, causing shortages of many key products and driving up prices.

Naturally, the Americans are supremely indifferent to the shortage of oil and gas in Europe. They have their own not inconsiderable supplies. But others are not in the same comfortable situation.

The USA is putting heavy pressure on countries like Germany to end its dependence on Russian oil and gas. But despite all the claims to the contrary, Germany cannot find suitable alternative sources at sustainable prices.

And, as we know, principles are principles, but business is business. As for renouncing all use of Russian oil and gas, Germanys reply brings to mind the celebrated words of Saint Augustine: Lord, make me chaste  but not yet

Meanwhile, the war is not going well for Ukraine. The Russians are concentrating their forces for an all-out offensive in the Donbass and Mariupol has effectively fallen.

Zelenskys desperation

Not long ago the imperialist propaganda machine was insisting that Ukraine was winning the war on all fronts. But the facts point in a different direction. If Russia wins the battle of the Donbass, it would be a decisive blow for Ukraine.That is why Zelensky continually puts demands on his friends in NATO for more weapons, including tanks, heavy artillery, and even modern fighter jets. What he would really like (he has repeated this many times) is for NATO to intervene directly, either by sending troops to fight alongside his army, or at least to establish what is known as a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

The beleaguered Ukrainian president is increasingly indignant at the fact that his friends in Washington are prepared to fight to the last drop of Ukrainian blood, without engaging in any fighting themselves / Image:   

The beleaguered Ukrainian president is increasingly indignant at the fact that his friends in Washington are prepared to fight to the last drop of Ukrainian blood, without engaging in any fighting themselves.

And his frustration is increasingly finding a public expression in his speeches, in which he constantly repeats his desire to speak directly to Vladimir Putin (the only man who can stop the war).

Finally, Joe Biden has decided to act. He is determined to show strong leadership, irrespective of the consequences.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was dispatched to Kyiv where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top officials. On Monday, speaking in Poland, he assured everyone that the US wants to see Ukraine remain a sovereign country, a democratic country able to protect its sovereign territory, which is very nice.

But he also said rather more than he intended concerning the real war aims of US imperialism, that is: we want to see Russia weakened to the point where it cant do things like invade Ukraine.

The first step in winning is believing that you can win, and both the US and the Ukrainians believe that we  they  can win, if they have the right equipment, the right support, he said And we're going to do everything we can and continue to do everything we can.

One notes with interest the Freudian slip, immediately corrected by the US Defence Secretary. He said it was important that both the US and the Ukrainians believe that we  they  can win.

The word we clearly refers to the US, while the Ukrainians are added as an afterthought. And there can be no doubt whatsoever as to which thought was uppermost in Mr. Lloyd Austins mind.

The cynical policy of US imperialism

It is all very clear. At bottom, this is not a war of Russia and Ukraine. It is a proxy war between Russia and the USA. Issues like democracy, human rights and national sovereignty are not of the slightest interest to the imperialists, except as cheap propaganda points. But they are very interested in prolonging the war, irrespective of all the human suffering, since they hope that it will serve to weaken Russia.

Unlike the imperialist hypocrites, the working class in the West feels genuine sympathy for the terrible sufferings of millions of poor people in Ukraine. They donate money, clothes and food, which they cannot afford, to help the victims of war. They open their houses and share whatever they have with homeless refugees. And this is to their credit.

But it is one thing to express solidarity with the victims of war. And it is another thing altogether different to support, directly or indirectly, the cynical policy of imperialism, which is exploiting the misery of millions of men, women and children, deliberately prolonging the conflict for its own selfish interests.

Self-determination?

The key element in the argument of the pacifist warmongers is that we must defend the sovereignty of Ukraine, that is to say its right to self-determination. Since that is the usual excuse for backing Ukraine in the present war, we will deal with that first.

Lenin dealt with the important issue of the national question in great detail in his writings. The question of self-determination, he explained, is for Marxists subordinate to the general interests of the working class / Image: fair use

The matter is presented in the following way: the Ukrainian people have the right to self-determination. Ukraine is a sovereign state. Its sovereignty has been violated by a brutal invasion launched by a powerful and aggressive neighbour. We must therefore take the side of the victim against the aggressor.

The question is posed as a simple black and white issue. It is furthermore backed up by repeated references to alleged war crimes and atrocities.

But for Marx, Engels and Lenin, the national question was never a panacea  a sort of blank cheque that could be cashed in by anybody under any circumstances.

What is the Marxist attitude to self-determination? The writings of Lenin deal with this important issue in great detail, and still provide us with a sound foundation to deal with this most complicated question.

Lenins arguments are generally known. But as Hegel once remarked, what is known is not necessarily on that account understood. In fact, the most well-known propositions are frequently misunderstood on account of the very fact that they are so familiar that their real content has been completely overlooked.

As Hegel pointed out, and as Lenin often quoted, the truth is always concrete. The first mistake is to imagine that we must defend self-determination in all circumstances, as a fixed and immutable principle. But such an idea has nothing in common with Marxism and it makes two fundamental mistakes. The right of nations to self-determination is a democratic demand and Marxists support it, as we support any other democratic demand. But the support for democratic demands in general has never been considered by Marxists as some kind of Categorical Imperative.

Democratic demands are always subordinate to the general interests of the working class and the struggle for socialism.

It is always necessary to evaluate the concrete conditions and to learn to distinguish between what is progressive and what is reactionary in any given movement.

Progressive or reactionary?

The national question can have either a progressive or a reactionary content, depending on the concrete circumstances, the international context, and the implications it has for the class-conscious workers and the relations between the classes.

All these concrete factors must be carefully considered before we can take a position regarding a particular national struggle. Such struggles can, of course, play a progressive role, as was the case of the struggle of the Polish and Irish people for independence in the 19th century, or the fight for the independence of the enslaved colonies in more recent times.

But not every national struggle has a progressive character, and very frequently, the national question can be used as a cover for the most reactionary purposes.

In contrast to people like Proudhon, Marx and Engels gave due consideration to the national question, however, they always considered it as subordinate to the labour question. That is, they always considered it exclusively from the point of view of the working class and the socialist revolution.

Thus, while they gave support to the struggle of the Polish people for independence, since that struck a blow against Russian tsarism, the main bulwark of European reaction, Marx and Engels refused to support the national struggle of the South Slavs and Czechs, precisely because they saw behind them the hand of Saint Petersburg.

Like Marx, Lenin had a very flexible position on the national question, which he always approached from the standpoint of the general interests of the proletariat and the international revolution.

Lenin on war and the national question

Lenins writings on war and the national question set forth the basic Marxist position on this subject, which he developed in a very rich, all-sided and dialectical manner. Yet even the slightest glance at the literature of groups that today lay claim to the heritage of Lenin is enough to convince oneself that nobody reads Lenin any more, and if they do read his articles, they do not understand a single word.

Dialectics, as Lenin explained many times, deals with phenomena in an all-sided way. To abstract a single element in a complex equation, and to counterpose it to all the other elements in that equation, is a childish misuse of dialectics, known to the history of philosophy as sophism.

Such abuses lead to errors of the crassest type in logic. And in politics, and particularly the politics of the national question, they lead directly to the defence of reactionary positions and the complete abandonment of socialism.

This is shown very clearly by the war in Ukraine. Here we see how the complete failure of so-called Marxists to understand the Marxist attitude towards war has led them to abandon the class position altogether.

But the attitude of Marxists to war cannot be determined by sentimental considerations, much less by the hysterical propaganda by which the imperialists seek to conceal their real aims.

There is one specific case where Lenin makes it clear that you do not support the right of nations to self-determination: He regarded the demand to support self-determination (even if it was justified in and of itself), if it meant dragging the big powers into a war as a monstrous suggestion.

In 1916, he recommended to the Poles that they subordinate their struggle for self-determination to the perspective of revolution in Russia and Germany:

To raise the question of Poland's independence today, he wrote, under the existing relations of the neighbouring imperialist powers, it is really to chase after a utopia, to descend to narrow-minded nationalism and forget that a necessary premise is an all-European or at least the Russian and German revolutions. (LCW, The Discussion on Self-determination Summed Up, vol. 22, p. 350, my emphasis AW.)

Did that advice sound abstract and utopian to many people at the time? No doubt it did. But history showed that Lenin was one hundred percent correct. It was only the Russian Revolution that created the conditions for the establishment of an independent Polish state, whereas every other attempt had ended in disaster.

Likewise, in relation to the struggle of the Serbs against Austria during World War One, Lenin wrote the following:

In the present war the national element is represented only by Serbias war against Austria (which, by the way, was noted in the resolution of our Partys Berne Conference). It is only in Serbia and among the Serbs that we can find a national-liberation movement of long standing, embracing millions, the masses of the people, a movement of which the present war of Serbia against Austria is a continuation. If this war were an isolated one, i.e., if it were not connected with the general European war, with the selfish and predatory aims of Britain, Russia, etc., it would have been the duty of all socialists to desire the success of the Serbian bourgeoisie as this is the only correct and absolutely inevitable conclusion to be drawn from the national element in the present war. However, it is this conclusion that the sophist Kautsky, who is now in the service of the Austrian bourgeoisie, clericals and militarists, has failed to draw. Further, Marxist dialectics, as the last word in the scientific-evolutionary method, excludes any isolated examination of an object, i.e., one that is one-sided and monstrously distorted. The national element in the Serbo-Austrian war is not, and cannot be, of any serious significance in the general European war. If Germany wins, she will throttle Belgium, one more part of Poland, perhaps part of France, etc. If Russia wins, she will throttle Galicia, one more part of Poland, Armenia, etc. If the war ends in a draw, the old national oppression will remain. To Serbia, i.e., to perhaps one per cent or so of the participants in the present war, the war is a continuation of the politics of the bourgeois-liberation movement. To the other ninety-nine per cent, the war is a continuation of the politics of imperialism, i.e., of the decrepit bourgeoisie, which is capable only of raping nations, not freeing them. The Triple Entente, which is liberating Serbia, is selling the interests of Serbian liberty to Italian imperialism in return for the latters aid in robbing Austria.

This is quite clear. If we take the struggle of the Serbian people for self-determination against Austrian imperialism in isolation from the general international context, we would have to support the Serbs. But in the context of a European war, which reduces itself to a fight between different groups of imperialist robbers, and in which small nations become merely the small change of this or that imperialism, we cannot give support.

In particular, we should remember what Lenin said about the impermissibility of supporting the struggle for self-determination if that meant dragging the workers of Europe into a general war.

And at the present moment in history, in what way could the extension of the Ukrainian conflict into a general European conflagration, or even a world war possibly serve the interests of the workers of Europe and the world socialist revolution? We leave that to our readers to decide. The truth is always concrete.

Do we support Ukrainian self-determination?

Do we support Ukrainian self-determination? Of course, we do. Do the Ukrainian people have the right to decide their own future as an independent state? We answer unequivocally: yes, they do have such a right. They have proved their right to exist as a separate state for a long time.

But that does not exhaust the question. Let us now ask another question. Do the Ukrainians have the right to oppress people of other nationalities who live on their national territory? For example, do they have the right to impose discriminatory laws against the many people in Ukraine who speak Russian as their first language? To that question we answer equally emphatically in the negative.

We ought to remind ourselves that one of the first measures adopted by the nationalist Ukrainian regime that came to power after the Maidan coup was the imposition of all manner of discriminatory laws aimed at Russian speakers. Pictured: members of the neo-Nazi Azov battalion integrated into the national guard after the 2014 coup / Image: spolit.exile, Flickr

Let us remind ourselves that one of the first measures adopted by the nationalist Ukrainian regime that came to power after the Maidan coup was to impose all manner of discriminatory laws directed against Russian speakers. It was this, more than anything else, that led to the uprising in Donbass, which ended in the breakaway of the two rebel areas in the east.

The rapid rise of fascist and other extreme Ukrainian nationalist movements also caused alarm in Crimea, where the majority consists of Russian speaking people, who do not feel any particular affinity to Ukraine. That ended in the breakaway of Crimea, which, despite all the propaganda about Russian annexation, was supported by the great majority of the inhabitants of that region and approved subsequently in a referendum.

Thus, the victory of nationalism in Ukraine immediately had the effect of the loss of a significant part of its territory. They later attempted to regain the lost lands in the east by a vicious campaign of shelling that killed thousands of people. This fact has long been ignored or downplayed by the western media, but it has played a significant role in detonating the present invasion.

A struggle of living forces

It is difficult to say how the war is progressing. The information of the military situation in the media is so sparse as to be almost non-existent. And the constant predictions of Russian defeats must be regarded with caution.

The latest shipment of arms, including modern weaponry from the US may provide some relief to the Ukrainian side, but it will scarcely make up for the crushing superiority of the Russian forces that are now concentrated in Donbass. The outlook for the Ukrainian forces there is not very bright.

But war is a struggle of living forces, and in a broader sense, the Russian side may be facing more serious difficulties. In the final analysis, the weight of Russia, its great industrial strength and bigger population must eventually prevail. But war is never a simple question, and there can be yet many complicating elements.

The question of morale can play a crucial role. According to all the available evidence, the war has the support of the big majority of people in Russia. For the present, at least, Putins position seems secure.

However, according to my sources in Russia, the highest levels of support are to be found among the older layers of the population, whereas support among young people is only about 30 to 40 percent. But it is among that layer that the future conscripts will have to be found to fight in Ukraine.

For all these reasons, Putin may have to settle for the conquest of a large slice of territory in the Donbass and along the coastal region. That may be considered a success of sorts, but it will fall short of a complete victory and it will have negative consequences for the working class of both countries.

Terrible damage will have been done to the centuries-old sense of brotherhood and solidarity between the Russian people and the people of Ukraine. The moods of mutual mistrust, bitterness and suspicion will not be easy to eradicate. And on such poisonous soil, the extreme chauvinists on both sides can draw new strength and become even more aggressive and arrogant.

Those are the reasons why we oppose this war. Whatever the final result, the balance sheet from the standpoint of the working class and the socialist revolution will be negative. Nevertheless, all history shows that the fog of war will eventually lift. The class question will again come to the fore, creating favourable conditions for the re-emergence of the class struggle in both Russia and Ukraine.

Can we support Zelensky?

The reactionary nature of Putins regime is quite clear. But that of the Ukrainian side has been systematically concealed by the propaganda machine. The fascist bandits of the Azov brigade, who Washington not long ago wanted to put on the list of terrorist organisations, are now being presented as heroic freedom fighters and even defenders of democracy (!)

Ukrainian sovereignty is a myth. The war has clearly shown that the Zelensky regime is entirely dependent on foreign masters. The Americans pay the bills and supply the weapons. And who pays the piper will always call the tune / Image: In Defence of Marxism

As for the so-called Ukrainian democracy: that is more apparent than real. Let us remind ourselves that one of the reasons why NATO delayed accepting Ukrainian membership was because of a democratic deficit.

And the sovereignty of Ukraine? That too is a myth. The war has shown clearly that the Zelensky regime is entirely dependent on foreign masters. The Americans pay the bills and supply the weapons by which they hope that the Ukrainians will fight to the last drop of their blood to defend the interests of US imperialism against its enemy, Russia. And who pays the piper will always call the tune.

The present regime in Kyiv is entirely at the mercy of US imperialism. For all his bravado and bold speeches, Zelensky can do nothing and decide nothing except what is dictated to him from Washington. And Washington has decided that it is better for Ukraine to continue to bleed to death in order to weaken its principal adversary, Russia. The lives and suffering of the Ukrainian people simply do not feature in its calculations.

This is a power struggle between US imperialism and Russia. Only a fool or a rogue could ever deny that. Sadly, there are not a few of both kinds  especially in what used to be called the Left.

The clear deterioration of Ukraines position on the eastern front means that Zelensky continues to press his demands, seemingly oblivious to the consequences for the rest of the world. As Lenin once said, a man standing on the edge of a precipice does not reason.

Playing with fire

The risk of an all-out war in Europe is something which the Americans and their European allies have, up until now, found too terrifying to contemplate. At this point, the interests of western imperialism and the Zelensky regime were beginning to drift apart.

For all the hypocritical propaganda and crocodile tears about the sufferings of the poor Ukrainian people (very genuine sufferings, of course), they had (and still have) no intention of putting themselves at risk.

Let us remind ourselves of the fundamentals. The capitalists do not wage war for patriotism, democracy, or any other high-sounding principles. They wage war for profit, to capture foreign markets, sources of raw material (such as oil), and to expand spheres of influence.

A nuclear war would signify none of these things, but only the mutual destruction of both sides. They have even coined a phrase to describe this: MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). This is a matter that ought to sober up even the most deluded minds.

But some minds seem to be more deluded than others. Joe Biden  never the sharpest brain in Washington  appears to be suffering from some of the symptoms of advanced senile decay. He is evidently haunted by the vision of ex-President Trump, whose megalomania habitually expressed itself in bouts of macho-man assertiveness  to the evident horror of his advisers.

Bidens attempt to step into his predecessors outsized shoes do not look particularly convincing from the PR point of view. But the words spoken by the President of the worlds most powerful nation will inevitably have far-reaching effects  and not all of them foreseen by the man who uttered them.

To accuse the President of the Russian Federation of being a war criminal was not quite in the acceptable tradition of diplomacy or presidential good manners. After all, sooner or later, Uncle Joe will have to sit down at a negotiating table with the very man he has accused of being a criminal.

Even Zelensky understands that much. No wonder the White House officials immediately fell over themselves to say that he did not really mean what he said. The next day he said it again. That theres real fighting talk, partner!

Now loudmouth Joe has gone several steps further, provoking Moscow to the very limit of its tolerance. The results will not be long in forthcoming.

But what will they be? The Americans have pushed things to a point where Russia will be compelled to respond. On several occasions Putin has reminded the West that Russia possesses both nuclear weapons and the power to send them over great distances.

It has become customary in the western media to portray the Russian leader, not only as a war criminal, but also as a man who is completely deranged. But whatever else one might say about the man in the Kremlin, he is not insane, and is capable of making rational judgements. The same cannot be said about the present occupant of the White House.

The likelihood of Russia resorting to nuclear weapons any time soon is very small. But they have already warned that the promised deliveries of sophisticated weapons by NATO will mean that they will be targeted.

That was predictable and spelled out by Lavrov, who said: These weapons will be a legitimate target for Russias military acting within the context of the special operation.

And Russia can step up its war effort in many ways rather than entering a course that might lead to World War III.

What that means in practice, only time will tell. But as the Bible says: Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?

The question naturally answers itself.

Vladimir Putin  Stalins heir

Some foolish people have the illusion that somehow Putin represents a progressive force in the world. That is the height of stupidity. Is the present Russian state a bourgeois state? Of course it is!

Russia is now a capitalist regime, dominated by a rapacious oligarchy that has grown fabulously wealthy by appropriating all the wealth created by the Soviet working class. It is ruled by a gang of thieves whose only interest is to feather their own nest at the expense of the Russian people.

After three decades, nothing is left of what was progressive in the old Soviet Union. The wealth of the people has been stolen by a pack of thieves and at its head stands a man who imitates the worst aspects of the rotten tsarist regime and its Stalinist heir.

Lenin likened Stalin to "that really Russian man, the Great-Russian chauvinist, in substance a rascal and a tyrant, such as the typical Russian bureaucrat is." These words are a very accurate description of the man who now sits at Stalin's desk in the Kremlin / Image: Ephraim Stillberg

But at least Stalin, in the final analysis, rested on the historic conquests of the October Revolution: a nationalised planned economy. But now that last vestige of the socialist past has been liquidated.

Does Vladimir Putin represent the interests of the Russian or Ukrainian working class? Not in the slightest degree! He stands for the interests of the corrupt and voracious oligarchy who he provides with a central point of support and who, in turn, keep him in power.

From such a poisonous regime, nothing progressive is to be expected. And foreign policy is merely the reflection of domestic policy. This must be kept firmly in mind when we come to analyse the present situation.

Let us remind ourselves of the very words that Lenin used in his conflict with Stalin, who he likened to that really Russian man, the Great-Russian chauvinist, in substance a rascal and a tyrant, such as the typical Russian bureaucrat is. These words are a very accurate description of the man who now sits at Stalins desk in the Kremlin.

How does Vladimir Putin propose to resolve the Ukrainian question? By the same means he uses to solve every problem: by brute force. This former KGB agent is, in that sense, a faithful disciple of Stalin.

If the Russian workers were in power, the entire situation would be different. By sweeping away the rule of a corrupt and degenerate oligarchy and establishing a genuine workers democracy, Russia would once more act as a beacon, encouraging the workers of Ukraine to throw off the yoke of their own thieving oligarchs and their political puppets.

But Putins regime can have no power of attraction for the people of Ukraine. On the contrary, Putin is driving them into the arms of reactionary nationalism.

Robespierre once famously remarked nobody likes missionaries who come with bayonets. He said that at a time when the Great French Revolution was still in a healthy and progressive phase. But all that changed under Napoleon, whose oppressive rule provoked a general upsurge of nationalist revolt in Europe, which played a key role in his final downfall.

There is no need to accept the obviously malicious accusations of the hired western media about alleged Russian war crimes. Nor should we accept at face value everything the same lying media says about the alleged failures of the Russian military campaign.

But a Bonapartist regime can only wage war in a Bonapartist manner. It is not hard to imagine that quite a number of problems in Russias Ukrainian campaign are connected to the endemic corruption, cronyism and inefficiency of that regime.

A genuine Red Army would combine the armed struggle with a class appeal to the Ukrainian working class. But there is very little sign of that. This means that the Ukrainians will continue to offer resistance. The war will be unnecessarily prolonged and bloody.

For a class position!

For us the most important question is: which class and, in whose interest, is the war being waged? This is the essential question that must be answered as a prior condition for taking a principled class position.

To depart a single millimetre from the class position is to enter into a slippery slope that leads inevitably to the swamp of betrayal and reaction. We forget this elementary fact at our peril.

In the days immediately following the outbreak of the war, I wrote the following:

It goes without saying that Putin and the oligarchy that he serves are the enemies of the Russian workers. And his support base has been steadily declining, which was obviously one of the reasons why he decided to play the card of invading Ukraine. It is also true that that may well backfire on him at a certain stage. However, any suggestion that the reactionary imperialists can in any sense, shape or form, defend the interests of the people of Russia, Ukraine or any other country is a despicable lie and a deception of the people. The Ukrainian people have learned from painful experience just how much the promised help and solidarity of NATO and the West was worth when the decisive moment arrived. They see the Ukrainian people as mere pawns in a cynical game, cannon fodder that can be usefully sacrificed in order to bring discredit upon Russia, without costing them the life of a single soldier. No trust whatsoever should be placed on these gangsters. And that is particularly true for workers and socialists in the West. The task of fighting against the reactionary gang in the Kremlin is the task of the Russian workers alone. Our task is to fight against our bourgeoisie, against NATO, and against American imperialism  the most counterrevolutionary force on the planet.

Our opposition has nothing in common with the disgusting hypocrisy of the imperialists. And however reactionary Putin may be, his crimes are as nothing compared to the infamous brutality of US imperialism, whose hands are forever stained with the blood of countless innocent victims in every part of the globe.

On 11 March, I wrote the following:

It is NATO  especially the Americans and British  that pushed the Ukraine into the present conflict with Russia for their own ends, and then cynically stood back and watched as the Ukrainian people drowned in a sea of blood. They were responsible for this unnecessary war  and they are now responsible for deliberately prolonging it in their own cynical interests. Our sympathies are entirely on the side of the suffering Ukrainian people, who are the innocent victims of this cynical game of great power politics. But the sufferings will only end when the war itself is brought to an end. Those who continually press them to continue fighting, when they know perfectly well how this will end and have not the slightest intention of lifting a finger to help militarily, are no friends of the Ukrainian people. They are your worst enemies.

I see no reason to change one word of this today.

London, 26 April 2022


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Joe Biden has nominated veteran diplomat Bridget A. Brink to serve as the new U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.



Bridget A. Brink, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, currently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the Slovak Republic.



After joining the State Department in 1996, Bridget has spent most of her career working on European affairs and the Caucasus.



Bridget has served as Senior Advisor and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, with responsibility for issues related to Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. She also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassies in Uzbekistan and Georgia.



Bridget spent her twenty-five-year career in the Foreign Service focused on advancing U.S. policy in Europe and Eurasia. She was the Director for the Aegean and the South Caucasus at the National Security Council and served in the State Department as the Deputy Director for Southern European Affairs, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, and Cyprus Desk Officer.



The recipient of many performance awards, Bridget holds Master's degrees in International Relations and Political Theory. She speaks Russian.



The White House did not specify when will she assume the new office in the war-ravaged country.



During his visit to Kyiv along with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday, U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken had told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that U.S. diplomats will return to their Embassy in Kyiv to strengthen the humanitarian relief efforts and the delivery of assistance to the Government of Ukraine while providing enhanced support to U.S. citizens.



Speaking to the media later, Blinken said American diplomats will be back in Ukraine starting next week. He said he expects the U.S. embassy in Kyiv to reopen over a couple of weeks.



'We're doing it deliberately, we're doing it carefully, we're doing it with the security of our personnel foremost in mind, but we're doing it,' he told reporters.







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CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Spaulding Ridge, leading global cloud advisory and implementation firm, today announced several appointments to its EMEA leadership team that further solidify the company's commitment to providing local market leadership by region.

Tassos Siatras, Managing Partner, appointed overall leader of EMEA

Jani Van Hecke , Associate Partner, supporting France and the UK

, Associate Partner, supporting and the UK Johan Rehnstrom, Associate Partner, supporting the Nordics

Alex De La Concha, Associate Partner, supporting Spain

"Our EMEA presence continues to grow and the need to establish a strong, cohesive leadership model is now. Our EMEA leadership team has the business management experience, deep market and industry knowledge, and true understanding of our company values and vision that will enable us to scale," says Jay Laabs, CEO, Spaulding Ridge. "As Managing Partner, EMEA, Tassos Siatras will manage and grow our EMEA presence with tight accountability and support from Jani, Johan, and Alex."

With 500 employees across the globe, Spaulding Ridge has been increasing its global investments to provide local services in key international markets, including launching offices in London, Madrid, Barcelona, Stockholm, Paris, Calgary, Toronto, Jaipur, Bangalore, and Manila. Spaulding Ridge recently completed two acquisitions in EMEA: Silvr Lining Group, a Salesforce consultancy based in the UK, and CIS Consulting, a CPM and Data Solutions company located in Spain.

Tassos Siatras, Managing Partner, EMEA

Tassos Siatras has taken the position of Managing Partner, EMEA, where he will be responsible for overseeing and growing Spaulding Ridge's EMEA business, including the expansion of key Spaulding Ridge alliance relationships across all European markets. With the support of Jani, Johan, and Alex, he will take ownership of all operations in EMEA offices in the UK, Spain, Sweden, and France, focusing on integrating Spaulding Ridge's recent acquisitions. With more than 15 years of business transformation consulting and cloud technology experience, Tassos has been with Spaulding Ridge since its start in 2018 and leads Spaulding Ridge's APAC business.

Jani Van Hecke, Associate Partner, Supporting France and the UK

Jani Van Hecke is an accomplished, people-focused leader and consultant with a track record leading rapid growth within the technology industry. He joins Spaulding Ridge as an Associate Partner, supporting the growth and management of the EMEA market, specifically France and the UK. He is experienced in leading complex CRM and CLM digital transformations, particularly in the oil and gas, financial services, and logistics industries. Jani has deep experience collaborating with global organizations to enhance and streamline complex cloud technology strategy and implementation.

Johan Rehnstrom, Associate Partner, Supporting the Nordics

Johan Rehnstrom is an Associate Partner at Spaulding Ridge and will help lead the Nordics growth strategy. With more than 20 years of experience in various finance leadership functions and building global finance functions, he is a trusted advisor to the CFO. Johan is also Spaulding Ridge's expert on complex business transformations in the mining industry.

Alex De La Concha, Associate Partner, Supporting Spain

Alex De La Concha is a solutions architect with 25+ years of experience in solving complex digital transformations for multinational companies. Alex has worked with a wide range of CPM and data analytics technologies, and his expertise covers project management, systems architecture design, and finance transformation. As an Associate Partner at CIS Consulting, a company of Spaulding Ridge, Alex will help lead the firm's growth in Spain.

About Spaulding Ridge

Spaulding Ridge is an award-winning cloud advisory and implementation firm, deploying Best-in-Cloud solutions on a global scale. They enable organizations to accelerate operational efficiency, drive digital transformation, and increase competitive advantage.

Spaulding Ridge partners with digitally savvy companies to help:

Finance gain control: Increase top-line revenue, gross margins, and profits through better insight. Connect financial planning to strategy and automate financial close processes.

Increase top-line revenue, gross margins, and profits through better insight. Connect financial planning to strategy and automate financial close processes. Sales increase productivity: Manage quota and territories more consistently and effectively, automate customer contracts and onboarding.

Manage quota and territories more consistently and effectively, automate customer contracts and onboarding. Operations drive efficiency: Improve supply chain agility, automate strategic sourcing and purchasing, deliver superior customer service experiences.

To learn more, visit spauldingridge.com.

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Fast-growing Italian menswear brand Luca Faloni is set to open three new stores following the success of its omnichannel direct to consumer offer.

MILAN, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In what is a good news story for the retail industry, the brand has recently signed new leases in Milan, Munich and Miami. The first two stores will open by early summer and Miami will follow in September.

Since the test launch of independent stores in both London and New York, Faloni's interactive store environment has positively impacted the brand's online offer, highlighting their continued belief in retail as a support channel for online even though the pandemic.

"You will never find us in a multi-brand store and we will always only sell directly on our website or through our stores," says founder Faloni. "Having our own stores means that we can better leverage the relationship with our customers within our own tailored environment. Online will always be the main channel for us, taking up 70% of sales, but now is the time to scale our offline part of the business. You need to have a strong physical presence to be a true global brand."

Mirroring the craftsmanship the brand is becoming so well known for, the stores will take on a consistent design aesthetic, but also include subtleties that pay homage to the city they reside in. "It's important that there is a narrative between online and in-store experiences, but we also wanted to make sure that we captured elements of our surroundings in each of the new spaces," says Faloni.

In Milan for instance, close to the brand's artisans and heritage, the Faloni team has worked with Italian architect Davide Barreri to incorporate elements of its surroundings, which were designed by well-known architect Piero Portaluppi. Germany is the third largest online market for the Luca Faloni brand, after US and UK, and the store in Munich represents a strategic move to increase its presence in the region. This store will use elements of copper to acknowledge the metal often used in other city buildings. Miami will be a window to a wide tourist audience and to showcase the linen collection all year round; this store will take on a bolder, more colourful and more symmetrical design and feel, aligning to the aesthetic of the city.

For this year the Luca Faloni offer will continue to grow organically, with a focus on an increased push to new territories as well as adding to the product range.

For further information contact us at press@lucafaloni.comor +39 035 092 0012.

www.lucafaloni.com

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Image 1: Luca Faloni Store









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Apiture honored for excellence in technology

WILMINGTON, NC / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Apiture , a leading provider of digital banking solutions, today announces it has been recognized as a winner in the Technology category by the Coastal Entrepreneur Awards . The awards are organized by University of North Carolina Wilmington's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Greater Wilmington Business Journal.

"We are thrilled to be recognized as a Coastal Entrepreneur Awards winner, a testament to our commitment to banking technology innovation," said Chris Babcock, CEO of Apiture. "The fintech industry continues to mature in the Wilmington region, ushering in workforce opportunities and economic growth. Apiture is proud to be one such company that is fostering an opportunistic environment and further carving out the fintech scene."

The Coastal Entrepreneur Awards recognize up-and-coming ventures in the North Carolina region and established companies that continue innovating. The 2022 program honors a total of 11 companies in categories ranging from healthcare and biotechnology to professional services.

This recognition comes on the heels of another recent accolade for Apiture. The company was named on the 2022 Fintech Futures Banking Tech Awards shortlist in two categories, Best Business Digital Banking Solutions Provider and Best Consumer Digital Banking Solutions Provider.

As Apiture continues to grow across the U.S., the company will uphold its commitment to helping community financial institutions elevate their digital banking experiences.

About Apiture

Apiture delivers award-winning digital banking solutions to banks and credit unions throughout the United States. Our flexible, highly configurable solutions meet a wide range of financial institutions' needs, from leveling the playing field with larger banks to enabling unique, digital-only brands. Through our API-first strategy, our clients can maximize the capabilities of their platform while preserving a seamless user experience. Our exclusive focus on digital banking means we're dedicated to delivering innovative solutions that meet the unique needs of our clients while providing a level of support that's unmatched in the industry. Apiture is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, with offices in Austin, Texas. To learn more, visit www.apiture.com .

Media Contact

Aarzoo Jena

Caliber Corporate Advisers

aarzoo@calibercorporateadvisers.com

SOURCE: Apiture

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698547/Apiture-Is-Named-a-WilmingtonBiz-Coastal-Entrepreneur-Awards-Recipient
Event unites Mountain State-based entrepreneurs with access to venture capital and angel investors

MORGANTOWN, WV / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Vantage Ventures , the leader of a series of initiatives to support founders building innovative technology companies to West Virginia, today unveiled the lineup of startups participating in its second Investor Pitch Day, being held this afternoon at the Vantage offices on the campus of West Virginia University.

Vantage's pitch day program represents a significant step forward in West Virginia's progress as a startup state. There is a concerted effort underway - largely being led by Mountaineers (former or current) such as John Chambers, the former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco and founder of JC2Ventures, Brad Smith, the former CEO of Intuit and recently named president of Marshall University, and Ray Lane, formerly of Oracle and Kleiner Perkins and Founder of GreatPoint Ventures - to transform West Virginia into a haven for sustainable, inclusive innovation across all industries. Today's pitch day marks one of the first times West Virginia-based entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to present their startups to a network of accredited investors and venture capitalists representing in excess of $400 million of capital, without having to leave the state.

Five startups will present at the event, including:

Nickel Finance, Inc. , a socialized, philanthropic mobile payments and loyalty app,



, a socialized, philanthropic mobile payments and loyalty app, OrionBlockSystems, Inc. , a blockchain cybersecurity hardware and software developer,



, a blockchain cybersecurity hardware and software developer, Parthian Battery Solutions , which repurposes electric vehicle batteries into energy storage systems,



, which repurposes electric vehicle batteries into energy storage systems, UMuseUs , a social media platform providing venues and resources for musicians and music lovers, and



, a social media platform providing venues and resources for musicians and music lovers, and SwifTAG Systems , which develops functional and efficient laboratory management systems

"The Vantage Ventures pitch day is a clear symbol of the momentum we're building in our mission to transform West Virginia into a startup state," said Sarah Biller, executive director of Vantage Ventures. "It's no small feat to garner genuine investor interest in our region, and we're confident that their time will be rewarded when they have a chance to view the competitive, capital-efficient solutions that our entrepreneurs have developed. West Virginia received the least amount of venture capital funding of any state over the last five years. We believe this pitch day is a welcome step in changing that course."

Vantage Ventures, an initiative to scale innovative technology companies in West Virginia, has been building momentum in attracting entrepreneurs and startups to the state. In June, the leading artificial intelligence (AI) platform for enterprise partners, DataRobot, which has a $6.3 billion valuation , announced that it was opening an office at the Vantage Ventures offices in Morgantown and hiring West Virginians. Earlier this month, cobalt-free electric battery startup SPARKZ announced its intention to open a research and development facility in West Virginia, with Vantage's assistance.

About Vantage Ventures

Housed at the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University, Vantage Ventures provides a bold new generation of entrepreneurs with a systematic and repeatable process to transform their world-changing ideas into scalable businesses. Vantage Ventures leverages its network of mentors, talent, capital allocators, academics, and committed industry partners, including entrepreneurs and the innovation engines of large companies, to forge a new path of economic growth. It is backed by globally influential technology leaders, Fortune Class companies, venture investors, and an unexpectedly cool R1 Institution. For more information, visit: https://vantageventures.io or follow Vantage Ventures on Twitter: @VantageWV , Instagram: @VantageVentures , and LinkedIn .

Media Contact:

Kyle W. Kempf

Caliber Corporate Advisers

kyle@calibercorporate.com

888.550.6385 ext.19

SOURCE: Vantage Ventures

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698811/Vantage-Ventures-to-Hold-Investor-Pitch-Day-Highlighting-West-Virginia-Based-Startups
TAIPEI, TAIWAN / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Over the years, Taiwan has been picking up the pace in positioning itself among the international community as a fast developing country that has plenty of future innovation. Cultivating and developing talent is essential to continue this growth. Potential future talents and those already in a company, look for a sense of being valued and an environment that promotes self-improvement. While a competitive salary is typically the bottom line, according to a survey conducted by Linkedin, 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their future development.

The new headquarters of China Development Industrial Bank (CDIB) is built with the concept of environmental friendliness and sustainable development.

Among a number of fiercely competitive industries, China Development Financial (CDF) (2883.TW) is one such brand that has stepped up to the plate. Angelo Koo, Chairman of China Development Financial has organized the company with the value of talents in mind. Koo encourages continued development of professional skills through tailored training programs, followed by hands on project experiences. Opinions and feedback are also critical to making adjustments when faced with new challenges, which CDF gathers through surveys and one-on-one meetings. During the onset of the pandemic, employee concerns were heard and a flexible work from home option was available on a needs basis with stipends provided to cover the cost of vaccinations. Cultivating and developing talents involves comprehensive consideration of their wellness, as can be seen from CDF's structure. Koo has been dedicated to this challenge and announced the Foundation will take part in the "2022 TALENT, in Taiwan, Talent Sustainability Action Alliance" to promote the sustainable development of talents in Taiwan.

Media Contacts

Company: Jet-Go Consulting.

Contact person: Alvin Yang

Telephone: +886-2-23708000 #2110

SOURCE: China Development Foundation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698897/China-Development-Financial-Officially-Announces-Joining-2022-TALENT-in-Taiwan
Team reflects on successful 5-year strategic growth plan with concentration in digital health IT, biotech and life sciences

BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / PAN Communications , a leading integrated marketing and PR firm for B2B tech and healthcare brands, today announced significant milestones across its healthcare portfolio by meeting key performance goals, marking record-breaking practice area growth, deeper talent and expanded service offerings.

In 2021, PAN added 13 healthcare clients covering a diverse cross-section of the industry - brands representing digital therapeutics solutions and clinical trial intelligence platforms, health benefit management software, virtual care/telehealth and digital diagnostics. Combined, this signaled a year with approximately 44% increase in revenue growth across the Agency's healthcare practice. Some of the new clients include Clarify Health, OnShift, Axuall, PatientsLikeMe and Weave. The agency continues to see rapid growth across these vertical sectors, designing integrated marketing and PR programs to help differentiate these brands by reaching and engaging high-value audiences and establishing leadership in their respective fields.

The news comes on the heels of the agency's recent announcement of Dan Martin to Executive Vice President, Healthcare, among other strategic promotions . In his expanded role, Martin will guide the strategic plan for the expansion of PAN's? healthcare practice in 2022 and beyond, including new client acquisition and organic growth across the current client base. With nearly 65 dedicated employees working in the healthcare portfolio, the agency will look to Martin to collaborate with a group of practice leaders to elevate the portfolio to the next level through client expansion and the firm's healthcare recruitment efforts.??

"As VC investment has fueled tremendous growth in the HIT and digital health markets in recent years, we have been strategically yet aggressively mapping our industry experience, resources, talent and passion to successfully grow our healthcare portfolio, provide exceptional client service and take on business that excites our team and provides a sense of purpose," said Martin. "As we look ahead to 2022 and beyond, we believe this approach and philosophy will continue to take our healthcare portfolio to the next level, leveraging our expanded team, in-depth industry expertise, and IM and PR capabilities."

As healthcare brands continue to evaluate and assess their PR and marketing functions, PAN continues to lean on the firm's NXT Stage approach. This program is designed to scale and adapt PR and communications efforts alongside companies through strategic storytelling, creative campaigns, diligent media relations and innovative influencer engagement timed to their market position and right-sized for their audiences.

One such example is PAN client LeanTaaS , Inc., a Silicon Valley software innovator that increases patient access and transforms operational performance for healthcare providers. LeanTaaS, which joined forces with PAN nearly two years ago, was looking for a strategic partner to help elevate its brand with key stakeholders and closely associate the company, its executives and its iQueue platform with AI, ML and the benefits of using technology to optimize capacity utilization in infusion centers, operating rooms and inpatient beds. The company was also eyeing a Series D funding round. PAN created a strategic and aggressive program consisting of social media, earned and paid media, content and thought leadership, mapping to the company's growth trajectory. Together as true partners, the PAN and LeanTaaS teams quickly moved the needle on awareness, helping the company promote its 40+% growth during the partnership to date, close its Series D round, launch its iQueue for inpatient beds solution, convene industry experts and leaders at multiple Transform events, and become known as the de facto leader in its space.

"We continue to transform our approach toward digital health brands as they expand to support areas of fintech, healthcare interoperability, digital therapeutics and patient experience," added Matthew Briggs, Vice President, Healthcare. "We've created a formula for drawing out brands' market differentiators, anchoring their leadership position into relevant and timely macro trends impacting healthcare, from data interoperability to telehealth and more."

PAN reported continued momentum through Q1 2022 with the addition of multiple new, innovative HIT and digital health brands making massive impact in the market, six new healthcare IM and PR hires, and program growth in the form of content and creative brand building, executive thought leadership, organic and paid social media, and IM. Led by top industry events such as the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference and HIMSS , the practice designed integrated communications strategies in support of product launches, executive visibility, category leadership through analyst relations, and early- to late- stage funding rounds.

For more information about PAN's insights-driven approach in healthcare, visit our website here . Interested in joining our growing team of passionate, curious healthcare IM and PR practitioners doing meaningful work every day? Check out our career openings .

About PAN Communications

PAN Communications ?is a mid-size integrated marketing & PR agency with over 170 employees internationally. PAN helps companies transform ideas into captivating stories that align to mid- and late-stage growth strategies through the firm's NXT Stage approach . Headquartered in downtown Boston, PAN has additional? office locations ?in San Francisco, New York, Orlando and London, as well as a growing virtual community. The agency's teams are positioned to help brands emerge in new markets and scale globally, with experience driving integrated strategy across a? variety of brands ?like Rapid 7, Braze, Citrix, SailPoint, Quickbase, OneStream, Radial, athenahealth and Smartly.io. For more information visit our website at pancommunications.com and follow us on Twitter (@PANcomm ).?

Contact PAN Communications

Nicole Andino

nandino@pancomm.com

SOURCE: PAN Communications

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698028/PAN-Communications-Marks-Record-Breaking-Year-for-Healthcare-Practice-and-Announces-Accelerated-Growth-Strategy-For-the-Practice
Nature article details how the NIH SAVE program helps inform COVID-19 pandemic policy worldwide

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden, praised Prof. Tomer Hertz of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel and his team for their research efforts on SARS-CoV-2 variants in a recent letter.

Prof. Hertz and his students Liel Cohen-Lavi, Sinai Sacharen, Eilay Koren and Anat Burkovitz are a part of the SARS-CoV-2 Assessment of Viral Evolution (SAVE) program at the NIAID, a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Prof. Hertz is also the co-correspondent of a recently published Nature article describing the coordinated efforts of that program and its importance for assessing the implications of SARS-CoV-2 variants to inform public health decisions in the United States.

"My students are part of the early detection group that analyzes the viral sequence data. We have been generating monthly rankings of SARS-CoV-2 variants based on predictions of their escape from antibodies for the group for the last eight months. We are also part of the T-cell working group and have done lots of analysis on T-cell mediated immune pressure on the virus for this project," explains Prof. Hertz.

Doug Seserman, CEO of Americans for Ben-Gurion University (A4BGU), said: "Prof. Hertz's commendation by Dr. Fauci illustrates the leading contributions from Israel - and specifically by BGU's researchers - to our understanding of crucial issues relating to the wellbeing and future of humanity. A4BGU is proud of Prof. Hertz's team for representing the best of what BGU and Israel have to offer."

In the letter, Dr. Fauci expressed his appreciation for "the critical contributions you and your team have made during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Your research has been incredibly important to the fast-paced pandemic response and has supported public health efforts around the world. I recognize that developing the tools and data needed to enable a rapid response to COVID-19 has required a strong work ethic and resilience, and that you have made incredible progress despite many unprecedented obstacles."

Dr. Fauci went on to thank each member of the team and concluded by saying, "You are a leading example for both the infectious disease and broader biomedical research communities, and I am grateful for your unwavering commitment to global public health."

The SAVE program is composed of an international team of scientists with expertise in virology, immunology, vaccinology, structural biology, bioinformatics, viral genetics and evolution.

In the Nature article, Prof. Hertz and his co-authors from around the world detailed the SAVE program's collaborative approach to identify and curate data about emerging variants, their impact on immunity, and effects on vaccine protection using rapid experimental testing and bioinformatic analysis. The comprehensive, real-time data generation facilitated rapid data-sharing with the scientific community, and allowed rapid risk assessment and generation of informed recommendations to policymakers worldwide. The SAVE methodology serves as a template for the response against rapidly evolving pathogens and may also be useful in combating future pandemics.

ABOUT AMERICANS FOR BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY

Americans for Ben-Gurion University plays a vital role in maintaining David Ben-Gurion's vision of an "Oxford in the Negev." By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU's remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Brian Sherry

Stern Strategy Group

908-325-3860

bsherry@sternstrategy.com

SOURCE: Americans for Ben-Gurion University

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698747/Dr-Fauci-Praises-Israels-BGU-Research-Group-on-Early-Detection-of-COVID-Variants
Annual campaign recognizes outstanding Canadians making important contributions to mental health awareness in Canada

Ottawa, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) has opened its online portal for nominations for the 2022 Champions of Mental Health Awards. This annual awareness and education campaign is devoted to recognizing outstanding individuals and organizations for their contributions to mental health awareness and action in Canada.

This year, nominations will be accepted in the following categories:

The Sharon Johnston Champion of Mental Health Award for Youth - Any Canadian 21 and younger who has shown leadership in their community in promoting mental health and/or mental illness awareness, or any organization dedicated to providing services for youth Media - Any media personality or outlet who has contributed to public awareness of mental health or mental illness Workplace Mental Health - Any employer or employee who has contributed to creating a mentally healthy workplace for staff Community Organization - Any organization that has provided great public service to community members experiencing mental illness Community Individual - Any person, who through personal commitment, has increased awareness about mental illness or reduced stigma in their community Parliamentarian - Any provincial, territorial or federal Parliamentarian who has advanced the mental health agenda in Canada Innovation- Researcher or Clinician - An innovative person or organization that through their work has advanced the mental health agenda in Canada

"Every year, we are so honoured to celebrate seven outstanding Canadians who have made a difference in their community. Our Champions are instrumental in helping end stigma around mental illness and making Canada a more accepting and understanding place," said Ellen Cohen, CAMIMH co-chair.

"After more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to celebrate those who have made a difference in making mental illness less stigmatized and it is so important to recognize and honour the Canadians who are making a difference every day," said Florence Budden, CAMIMH Champions Chair.

CAMIMH encourages Canadians to nominate their peers by completing the online nomination form. To nominate a Champion, please visit camimh.ca. Submissions will be accepted until June 30, 2022. To celebrate this year's Champions, and Champions from the last two years, CAMIMH is planning on hosting the awards gala in-person during Mental Illness Awareness Week (Oct 2-9, 2022).

CAMIMH would like to recognize its partners who make the Champions Awards a success each year: Bell Let's Talk (Gold Partner), the Canadian Credit Union Association (Bronze Partner) and Impact Public Affairs (Silver Partner). We thank all that apply and will contact the winners by the end of July.

As a national alliance, CAMIMH continues to advocate a strong role for the federal government to continue to invest in mental health, including achieving mental health parity. For more information, please visit our website at camimh.ca.

Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health Launches 2022 Champions of Mental Health Campaign

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8129/121661_d7422506e41969ca_001full.jpg

-30-

Established in 1998, the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) is an alliance of national mental health organizations comprised of health care providers and organizations representing persons with mental illness and their families and caregivers. CAMIMH's mandate is to ensure that mental health is placed on the national agenda so that persons with a lived experience of mental illness and their families receive appropriate access to care and support.

For more information, please contact:

Sophie Normand

sophie@impactcanada.com | 613-407-4294

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121661
Certification reaffirms Drawbridge's continued commitment to data security and privacy for clients

Drawbridge, a premier provider of cybersecurity software and solutions to the alternative investment industry, today announced their achievement of System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type 1 compliance. This certification reflects Drawbridge's commitment to safeguarding critical client data while helping customers bolster their cyber defenses in today's evolving threat landscape.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) designed SOC 2 compliance assessments to ensure businesses display adequate data practices that safeguard data with proper security processes. The Type 1 certification reports on the controls placed into operation at a specific point in time and creates a solid path for working towards a Type 2 certification.

"Data security and privacy are of the utmost importance for our clients in the alternative investment industry and have been the top priority for Drawbridge since our inception," said Jason Elmer, Founder and CEO, Drawbridge. "Drawbridge's SOC 2 Type 1 certification provides another example to our clients that they can trust we will continue investing to ensure our clients benefit from the most robust cybersecurity posture and protection for their critical data. As we help clients navigate the evolving cybersecurity landscape, safeguard their critical data and ensure privacy, we look forward to demonstrating SOC 2 Type 2 compliance in the coming months."

Drawbridge has consistently been recognized for its commitment to data protection, client service and technology innovation. The company was recently named 'Best Cyber-Security Solution' at the 2022 With Intelligence HFM US Quant Services Awards, 'Best Firmwide Security Solution' at the 2022 Private Asset Management Awards and 'Best Cyber-Security Solution' at the 2022 With Intelligence HFM US Technology Awards.

About Drawbridge:

Drawbridge is a premier provider of cybersecurity software and solutions to the alternative investment industry. Its proprietary platform helps firms manage their governance, risk and compliance (GRC) requirements while combatting sophisticated cyber threats and third-party risks. Drawbridge's platform connects business, compliance and IT to empower firms to centralize and manage their most robust security programs, improve their risk profile and raise institutional capital. With a tested team focused on value delivery and a 800+ strong customer base, Drawbridge offers unmatched customer service and flexibility to help businesses proactively manage vulnerabilities, plan for growth, and reduce complexity.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005184/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact

Articulate Communications for Drawbridge

Cassandra Pravata

drawbridge@articulatecomms.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Big Ridge Gold Corp. (TSXV: BRAU) (OTCQB: ALVLF) ("Big Ridge") is pleased to announce additional diamond drill results from its 25,000-meter ("m"), Phase I exploration drill program at the past-producing Hope Brook Gold Project, located in southwestern Newfoundland and Labrador. The drill holes reported in this press release are from the final drill holes completed in 2021 as well as results from drill holes completed after the resumption of drilling in January 2022 that targeted the shallow southwestern extension of the Hope Brook Deposit.

Mike Bandrowski, President & CEO of Big Ridge, commented, "Drilling continues to intercept gold and copper mineralization outside the current resource envelope to the southwest and 100% of the drill results received to date have intersected gold mineralization, suggesting Hope Brook remains open for potential resource expansion."

Highlights:

Drill hole HB-21-148 intersected 1.09 g/t Au over 33.0 m including 4.52 g/t Au over 4.1 m, Drill hole HB-22-158 intersected 1.64 g/t Au over 20.8 m including 5.77 g/t Au over 4.7 m and Drill hole HB-22-159a intersected 1.41 g/t Au over 15.1 m including 3.25 g/t Au over 4.2 m.

Drilling continues to intersect gold and extend mineralization outside and along the projected trend of the current resource envelope that is based on a gold price of US$1,200 per ounce and 3.0 g/t Au cut-off grade.

The Phase 1 drill program continues with a focus on expanding the Main and 240 Zones near surface and testing the down dip extensions of both areas in the current program.

100% of the drill results received to date have intersected gold mineralization. The Phase 1 drill program is expected to run until August 2022 and will focus on connecting the Main Zone and 240 Zone near surface and at depth respectively and testing the down dip extensions to both the Main and 240 Zones before moving to test the NE Extension.

Phase I Results

Results from the Phase I drill program continue to extend gold and copper mineralization to the southwest of the former producing Hope Brook open pit. The holes reported in the press release confirm near-surface mineralization in an untested gap in the current resource envelope and show the deposit remains open to the southwest.

Copper mineralization which was recovered by past mine operators as a by-product credit and is known to be associated with gold mineralization at Hope Brook, has not been included in the historic resource estimates. Big Ridge's initial drill results have generated copper assays ranging from 0.05% Cu to 0.90% Cu in 15 of the 23 holes reported to date.

Table 1 - Significant Intercepts from Reported Holes

Hole From

(m) To

(m) length

(m) (1) Au g/t (2) Cu % (2) Interval Lithology HB-21-148 93.5 96.1 2.6 1.79 - Vuggy silicified zone, mafic dyke 110.7 143.7 33.0 1.09 0.07 Vuggy silicified, Argillic (Qtz Pyrophyllite) and mafic dyke units incl. 110.7 114.8 4.1 4.52 0.53 Vuggy silicified zone, py incl. 140.0 143.7 3.7 1.59 - Argillic (Qtz Pyrophyllite) Zone, Vuggy silicified zone HB-21-151 118.1 120.3 2.2 0.95 - Silicified Argillic (Qtz Pyrophyllite) Zone, 144.3 155.3 11.0 1.50 - Vuggy silicified, Argillic (Qtz Pyrophyllite) and mafic dyke units incl. 145.3 149.8 4.5 2.08 - HB-21-153 141.0 171.5 30.5 1.27 0.18 Vuggy silicified zone, Argillic (Qtz Pyrophyllite), intermediate and mafic dyke units incl. 144.4 150.2 5.8 2.82 0.90 Vuggy silicified zone, py HB-22-154 170.1 179.8 9.8 0.94 - Vuggy silicified, Argillic (Qtz Pyrophyllite) and mafic dyke units 196.0 201.9 5.7 1.23 - Argillic (Qtz Pyrophyllite) zone HB-22-155 107.8 119.5 11.7 1.61 - Vuggy silicified zone, 5% py incl. 107.8 113.0 5.2 3.10 - HB-22-156 156.0 161.0 5.0 0.97 - Vuggy silicified zone, mylonite 166.0 167.7 1.7 1.24 - Vuggy silicified zone, py HB-22-157 172.4 182.9 10.5 0.60 - Argillic (Qtz Pyrophyllite) zone HB-22-158 46.0 50.0 4.1 0.89 - Vuggy silicified zone, py 70.6 91.3 20.8 1.64 - Mylonite zone with Grey vuggy silicified units incl. 72.0 76.7 4.7 5.77 0.07 Vuggy silicified zone, py HB-22-159a 121.7 136.8 15.1 1.41 0.23 Vuggy silicified zone and mafic dyke incl. 122.2 126.4 4.2 3.25 0.75 Vuggy silicified zone, py, cpy HB-22-160 87.3 101.8 14.5 1.32 0.05 Vuggy silicified zone and mylonite

Intervals are presented in core length; holes are generally planned to intersect mineralization as close to perpendicular to strike as possible; true widths are estimated to be 75% of downhole length when hole and mineralized horizons orientations are considered. Assays results presented are not capped. Intercepts occur within geological confines of major zones but have not been correlated to individual structures/horizons within these zones at this time.

To view drill hole locations in plan and sections please click on the following link:

https://bigridgegold.com/site/assets/files/5568/pr2_2021-2022_drilling_-_plan_longitudinal_x-sections_r.pdf

About Hope Brook

The Hope Brook Gold Project is an advanced stage, high-grade gold project that produced 752,162 ounces of gold from 1987 - 1997. Hope Brook hosts an indicated gold resource totalling 5,500,000 tonnes grading 4.77 grams per tonne gold for 844,000 ounces and inferred resources totalling 836,000 tonnes grading 4.11 grams per tonne gold for 110,000 ounces based on a 3.0 gram per tonne cut-off grade and a long-term gold price of US$1,200, according to a technical report for Big Ridge Gold Corp., prepared by authors Michael Cullen, P. Geo., and Matthew Harrington, P. Geo., of Mercator Geological Services Limited and Jeffrey Burke, P. Geo., and titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Hope Brook Gold Project, Newfoundland And Labrador, Canada", April 6, 2021.

The Hope Brook gold deposit is a high-sulfidation epithermal gold deposit hosted in the Proterozoic aged Whittle Hill Sandstone and is intruded by a Late Proterozoic quartz-feldspar porphyry sill-dike complex of the Roti Intrusive Suite. The deposit in located adjacent to and within an extensive advanced argillic alteration envelope which includes pyrophyllite, kaolinite, andalusite, and alunite. The principal gold mineralization occurs in a buff-colored massive, vuggy silicic alteration with an associated, less developed grey silicic alteration with pyrite, chalcopyrite and lesser bornite. Gold mineralization is also found with pyrite in units of advanced argillic alteration adjacent to or near silicic alteration horizons. The altered and mineralized zone is cut by mafic dykes whose contacts are often mineralized. All of the altered and mineralized sequences and the intruded dykes have been folded.

Hope Brook is located 85 kilometers east of Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. The project has well maintained infrastructure on site, including an operational 28-person camp, an 1,100-meter airstrip, ice-free docking facility and importantly, connection to the provincial electrical power grid via an on-site substation.

Significant exploration potential remains on the 26,000-hectare concession providing a great opportunity to expand the mine area as well as surface showings throughout the concessions.

This press release was complied and reviewed by William McGuinty, P.Geo., VP Exploration of Big Ridge and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC)

Big Ridge's 2021-2022 drilling program, Quality Assurance/Quality Control and compilation of results employ a strict QA/QC program consistent with NI 43-101 and industry best practices. The Hope Brook project is supervised by Big Ridge's Vice President Exploration, William McGuinty P. Geo.

Drill core is logged and split with half-core samples packaged and delivered to ALS Global's geochemistry laboratory in Moncton, New Brunswick. Samples are dried and subsequently crushed to 70% passing a 2 mm mesh screen. A 250-gram split subsample is pulverized to a nominal 85% passing a 75-micron mesh screen. The remaining crushed sample (coarse reject) and pulverized sample (pulp reject) are retained for further analysis and quality control. All samples are analysed by Fire Assay with an Atomic Absorption (AA) finish using a 50 g aliquot of pulverized material. Samples are also analysed for copper using ICP AES with four-acid digestion. Big Ridge inserts third party reference control and blank samples in the sample stream to monitor assay performance and performs duplicate sampling of both pulp and reject material. 10% of samples submitted are part of the Company's laboratory sample control protocols.

About Big Ridge Gold Corp.

Big Ridge Gold Corp. is an exploration and development company managed by a disciplined and experienced team of officers and directors. The Company is committed to the development of advanced stage mining projects using industry best practices combined with strong social license from our local communities. Big Ridge owns a 100% interest in the highly prospective Oxford Gold Project located in Manitoba and the Destiny Gold Project in Quebec. Big Ridge is the operator of the Hope Brook Gold Project located in Newfoundland and Labrador.

For more details regarding the Company's projects, please visit our website at www.bigridgegold.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,

Mike Bandrowski,

President & CEO

For further information, including a copy of the corresponding report filed with Canadian securities regulators, please visit www.sedar.com or contact:

Mike Bandrowski,

President & CEO

BIG RIDGE GOLD CORP.

18 King St. East, Suite 1400

Toronto, ON, M5C 1C4

Tel: 416-540-5480

Email: Mike@bigridgegold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Table 2 - Drill Hole Locations*

Hole Number Depth (m) Azimuth Dip Northing Easting Elevation (m) HB-21-148 216 325 -64 5287574 417822 5118 HB-21-151 209 325 -48 5287508 417812 5122 HB-21-153 230 325 -56 5287508 417812 5122 HB-22-154 265 325 -64 5287508 417812 5122 HB-22-155 215 325 -52 5287545 417814 5118 HB-22-156 254 325 -53 5287525 417828 5119 HB-22-157 278 325 -60 5287525 417828 5119 HB-22-158 191 325 -78 5287497 417654 5122 HB-22-159A 218 325 -60 5287567 417847 5119 HB-22-160 161 325 -57 5287389 417593 5110

* Hole collars are in NAD83 / UTM Zone 21N coordinates drilled NQ diameter. Elevations are adjusted for modelling purposes

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "intends", "estimates", "envisages", "potential", "possible", "strategy", "goals", "objectives", or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions.

Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to future events or future performance and reflect current estimates, predictions, expectations or beliefs regarding future events, and include, without limitation, statements with respect to Big Ridge's intentions with respect to Caprock's shares. All forward-looking statements are based on Big Ridge's and its employees' current beliefs as well as various assumptions made by them and information currently available to them. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the respective parties, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. When relying on our forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to Big Ridge, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Big Ridge does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by the Company or on our behalf, except as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121727
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT AN OFFER, WHETHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, SOUTH AFRICA OR SWITZERLAND OR IN ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE SUCH OFFER PURSUANT TO LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS IN SUCH RELEVANT JURISDICTION WOULD BE PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW. SHAREHOLDERS NOT RESIDENT IN SWEDEN WHO WISH TO ACCEPT THE OFFER (AS DEFINED BELOW) MUST MAKE INQUIRIES CONCERNING APPLICABLE LEGISLATION AND POSSIBLE TAX CONSEQUENCES. SHAREHOLDERS SHOULD REFER TO THE OFFER RESTRICTIONS INCLUDED IN THE SECTION TITLED "IMPORTANT INFORMATION" AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND IN THE PROSPECTUS AND THE OFFER DOCUMENT PUBLISHED ON NEOGAMES' WEBSITE (IR.NEOGAMES.COM/OFFER-PAGE). SHAREHOLDERS IN THE UNITED STATES SHOULD ALSO REFER TO THE SECTION TITLED "SPECIAL NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS IN THE UNITED STATES" AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

LUXEMBOURG, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On 17 January 2022, NeoGames S.A.1 ("NeoGames") announced a recommended public offer to the shareholders of Aspire Global plc2 ("Aspire Global") to tender all their shares in Aspire Global to NeoGames for a consideration consisting of a combination of cash and newly issued shares in NeoGames in the form of Swedish depository receipts (the "Offer").

The prospectus relating to the newly issued shares in NeoGames in the form of Swedish depositary receipts offered as consideration in the Offer has today been approved and registered by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority) and on the settlement agent Mangold Fondkommission AB's website). The prospectus will also be available on the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority's website).

A copy of the Swedish language version of the offer document and acceptance form as well as the Swedish language translation of the prospectus summary will be sent to shareholders in Aspire Global whose shares were directly registered with Euroclear Sweden AB on 10 March 2022, except for those domiciled in the excluded jurisdictions (please see above).

As earlier communicated, the acceptance period for the Offer will commence on 27 April 2022 and is expected to end on 25 May 2022, and settlement is expected to commence on or about 14 June 2022. NeoGames has reserved the right to amend the acceptance period, as well as the settlement date. A notice of any such amendment will be announced by NeoGames by means of a press release in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.

Contacts and information about the Offer

Mr. Raviv Adler, CFO

ir@neogames.com

+972 73 372 3107

Information about the Offer is made available at NeoGames' website: ir.neogames.com/offer-page

For administrative questions regarding the Offer, please contact your bank or the nominee registered as holder of your shares.

Important information

NeoGames discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Swedish Corporate Governance Board's Takeover rules for certain trading platforms. The information was submitted for announcement at 3.00 p.m. (CEST) on 26 April 2022.

This press release has been published in Swedish and English. In the event of any discrepancy in content between the two language versions, the Swedish version shall prevail.

The Offer is not being made, directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland or in any other jurisdiction where such offer pursuant to legislation and regulations in such relevant jurisdiction would be prohibited by applicable law, by use of mail or any other communication means or instrumentality (including, without limitation, facsimile transmission, electronic mail, telex, telephone and the Internet) of interstate or foreign commerce, or of any facility of national securities exchange or other trading venue, of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland, and the Offer cannot be accepted by any such use or by such means, instrumentality or facility of, in or from, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland. Accordingly, this press release or any documentation relating to the Offer are not being and should not be sent, mailed or otherwise distributed or forwarded in or into Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland.

This press release is not being, and must not be, sent to shareholders with registered addresses in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland. Banks, brokers, dealers and other nominees holding shares for persons in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland must not forward this press release or any other document received in connection with the Offer to such persons.

The Offer and the information and documents contained in this press release are not being made and have not been approved by an authorized person for the purposes of section 21 of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA"). Accordingly, the information and documents contained in this press release are not being distributed to, and must not be passed on to, the general public in the United Kingdom. The communication of the information and documents contained in this press release is exempt from the restriction on financial promotions under section 21 of the FSMA on the basis that it is a communication by or on behalf of a body corporate which relates to a transaction to acquire day to day control of the affairs of a body corporate; or to acquire 50 percent or more of the voting shares in a body corporate, within article 62 of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the expected end date of the acceptance period, the expected settlement date and assumptions underlying such statements, as well as statements that include the words "expect," "intend," "potential," "plan," "believe," "project," "forecast," "estimate," "may," "should," "anticipate" and similar statements of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including the factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in NeoGames' Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2021, as such factors may be updated from time to time in NeoGames' other filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. In addition, NeoGames operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment, and new risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for NeoGames' management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements that NeoGames may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release are inherently uncertain and may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Furthermore, the expected end date of the acceptance period and the expected settlement date, as well as the completion of the Offer and closing of the combination between NeoGames and Aspire Global, is subject to various conditions and there can be no assurances that the transaction will be consummated or that any of the expected dates will be met. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. In addition, the forward-looking statements made in this release relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this release. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Special notice to shareholders in the United States

The Offer described in this press release is made for the issued and outstanding shares of Aspire Global, a company incorporated under Maltese law, and is subject to Maltese and Swedish disclosure and procedural requirements, which are different from those of the United States. Shareholders in the United States are advised that the shares of Aspire Global are not listed on a U.S. securities exchange and that Aspire Global is not subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "U.S. Exchange Act"), and is not required to, and does not, file any reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") thereunder.

The Offer is made in the United States pursuant to Section 14(e) and Regulation 14E of the U.S. Exchange Act, subject to exemptions provided by Rule 14d - 1(c) under the U.S. Exchange Act for a Tier I tender offer (the "Tier I Exemption") and Rule 802 under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 (the "802 Exemption"), and otherwise in accordance with the disclosure and procedural requirements of Swedish law, including with respect to withdrawal rights, the Offer timetable, settlement procedures, waiver of conditions and timing of payments, which are different from those applicable under U.S. domestic tender offer procedures and law. Holders of the shares of Aspire Global domiciled in the United States (the "U.S. Holders") are encouraged to consult with their own advisors regarding the Offer.

Aspire Global's financial statements and all financial information included herein, or any other documents relating to the Offer, have been or will be prepared in accordance with IFRS and may not be comparable to the financial statements or financial information of companies in the United States or other companies whose financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The Offer is made to the U.S. Holders on the same terms and conditions as those made to all other shareholders of Aspire Global to whom an offer is made. Any information documents, including the prospectus and offer document, are being disseminated to U.S. Holders on a basis comparable to the method pursuant to which such documents are provided to Aspire Global's other shareholders.

As permitted under the Tier I Exemption, the settlement of the Offer is based on the applicable Swedish law provisions, which differ from the settlement procedures customary in the United States, particularly as regards to the time when payment of the consideration is rendered. The Offer, which is subject to Swedish law, is being made to the U.S. Holders in accordance with the applicable U.S. securities laws, and applicable exemptions thereunder, in particular the Tier I Exemption and the 802 Exemption. To the extent the Offer is subject to U.S. securities laws, those laws only apply to U.S. Holders and thus will not give rise to claims on the part of any other person. The U.S. Holders should consider that the price for the Offer is being paid in SEK and that no adjustment will be made based on any changes in the exchange rate.

It may be difficult for Aspire Global's shareholders to enforce their rights and any claims they may have arising under the U.S. federal or state securities laws in connection with the Offer, since Aspire Global and NeoGames are located in countries other than the United States, and some or all of their officers and directors may be residents of countries other than the United States. Aspire Global's shareholders may not be able to sue Aspire Global or NeoGames or their respective officers or directors in a non-U.S. court for violations of U.S. securities laws. Further, it may be difficult to compel Aspire Global or NeoGames and/or their respective affiliates to subject themselves to the jurisdiction or judgment of a U.S. court.

To the extent permissible under applicable law or regulations, NeoGames and its affiliates or its brokers and its brokers' affiliates (acting as agents for NeoGames or its affiliates, as applicable) may from time to time and during the pendency of the Offer, and other than pursuant to the Offer, directly or indirectly purchase or arrange to purchase shares of Aspire Global outside the United States, or any securities that are convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable for such shares. These purchases may occur either in the open market at prevailing prices or in private transactions at negotiated prices, and information about such purchases will be disclosed by means of a press release or other means reasonably calculated to inform U.S. Holders of such information. In addition, to the extent permissible under applicable law or regulation, the financial advisors to NeoGames may also engage in ordinary course trading activities in securities of Aspire Global, which may include purchases or arrangements to purchase such securities as long as such purchases or arrangements are in compliance with the applicable law. Any information about such purchases will be announced in Swedish and in a non-binding English translation available to the U.S. Holders through relevant electronic media if, and to the extent, such announcement is required under applicable Swedish or U.S. law, rules or regulations.

The receipt of cash pursuant to the Offer by a U.S. Holder may be a taxable transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes and under applicable U.S. state and local, as well as foreign and other, tax laws. Each shareholder is urged to consult an independent professional adviser regarding the tax consequences of accepting the Offer. Neither NeoGames nor any of its affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees or agents or any other person acting on their behalf in connection with the Offer shall be responsible for any tax effects or liabilities resulting from acceptance of this Offer.

NEITHER THE U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION NOR ANY U.S. STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE OFFER, PASSED ANY COMMENTS UPON THE MERITS OR FAIRNESS OF THE OFFER, PASSED ANY COMMENT UPON THE ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS PRESS RELEASE OR PASSED ANY COMMENT ON WHETHER THE CONTENT IN THIS PRESS RELEASE IS CORRECT OR COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE IN THE UNITED STATES.

___________________________________

1 A Luxembourg societe anonyme (reg. no. B186309), domiciled in Luxembourg.

2 A Maltese public limited company (reg. no. C 80711), domiciled in Malta.
StorPool Storage, a leading global storage software provider, today announced it has been named a finalist for the Cloud Project of the Year in the 2022 DCS Awards, which honor product designers, manufacturers, suppliers and providers in the data center technology market.

StorPool is nominated for its collaboration with Krystal, one of the UK's largest independent web hosting companies. Krystal provides hosting, cloud VPS, and enterprise services to 30,000 clients and more than 200,000 websites. StorPool supports Krystal's ultra-fast NVMe-powered cloud platform Katapult with massive storage performance, a robust API, unique capacity management features to save hardware costs, and an extremely high level of data protection via triple replication to safeguard Krystal clients' data.

"StorPool's storage solution is a vital component of Katapult and gives us the ability to have maximum performance and reliability with no trade-off," said Alex Easter, CTO of Krystal.

"Krystal indeed created an award-winning infrastructure that serves as a model for other xSPs and cloud builders to achieve the performance, data security, space savings, density improvements, and elastic scalability of Katapult," said Alex Ivanov, product lead at StorPool Storage. "We appreciate being recognized for this award and for StorPool software's fast, highly available, easily integrated storage platform for cloud projects both large and small."

To vote for StorPool or for more information visit https://dcsawards.com/vote.

StorPool allows cloud infrastructures in order to run mission-critical workloads without the pain and challenges typically associated with legacy storage technologies. StorPool storage systems are ideal for storing and managing the data of demanding primary workloads databases, web servers, virtual desktops, real-time analytics solutions, and other mission-critical software. Under the hood, the primary storage platform provides thin-provisioned volumes to the workloads and applications running in on-premises clouds. The native multi-site, multi-cluster, and BC/DR capabilities supercharge hybrid- and multi-cloud efforts at scale. For more information about how StorPool helps create simpler, smarter and more-efficient clouds, visit https://storpool.com/storage-for-msp/

About StorPool Storage

StorPool Storage is a primary storage platform designed for large-scale cloud infrastructure. It is the easiest way to convert sets of standard servers into primary or secondary storage systems. The StorPool team has experience working with various clients Managed Service Providers, Hosting Service Providers, Cloud Service Providers, enterprises, and SaaS vendors. StorPool Storage comes as a software, plus a fully managed data storage service that transforms standard hardware into fast, highly available and scalable storage systems.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005182/en/

Contacts:

Dan Miller, JPR Communications

818-651-1013
BENGALURU, India and NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced its collaboration with Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: NUS), a global leader in beauty and wellness. Nu Skin will take advantage of the Infosys Equinox human-centric digital commerce platform to deliver engaging and innovative experiences for consumers and affiliates. The platform aims to help Nu Skin scale its business model exponentially with social commerce-based capabilities.

Infosys Equinox will help Nu Skin to sharpen its focus on creating unique, personalized, and innovative consumer engagement. Powered by Infosys Equinox's microservices-based, API-first and cloud-native design, Nu Skin plans to deliver engaging shopping experiences across multiple touch points, including websites, mobile apps and smart connected devices.

Ryan Napierski, Chief Executive Officer, Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. said, "We look forward to our collaboration with Infosys to help transform our business and stay ahead of changing consumer behavior curves. We believe that Infosys can help us harness the right digital capabilities to reimagine how we connect with our customers and create a new industry paradigm for personalized beauty and wellness shopping experiences."

Infosys Equinox will bring Nu Skin a choice of digital advances including conversational commerce, augmented reality, and voice commerce, which if implemented will enable the company to engage with consumers through rich digital experiences.

Joe Sueper, Chief Technology Officer, Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. said, "Infosys Equinox will give us the end-to-end social commerce capabilities we need to transform our business model and provide innovative customer engagement. We're creating best-in-class architecture foundations that will power digital experiences well into the future."

Karmesh Vaswani, Executive Vice President & Global Head Consumer, Retail & Logistics, Infosys, said, "Beauty and wellness brands are committing to bold changes in the way they connect with consumers, matched by systematic digital investments that can help them realize their aspirations to transform. We are excited to bring Infosys Equinox to help accelerate the development of Nu Skin's social commerce-based business model. We look forward to Nu Skin's creation of a new playbook for success in the beauty and wellness industry."

Amit Kalley, Chief Executive Officer, Infosys Equinox, said, "We are excited to partner with Nu Skin in their vision of transforming the beauty and wellness industry by creating personalized and socially-connected commerce experiences. Infosys Equinox's headless and cloud-native microservices will allow Nu Skin to compose unique and delightful digital journeys across ever evolving channels for their consumers across the globe."

About Nu Skin

Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: NUS) is a leading beauty and wellness company, powered by a dynamic affiliate opportunity platform. The company helps people, look, feel and live their best with products that combine the best of science, technology and nature. Backed by more than 35 years of scientific research, Nu Skin develops innovative products including Nu Skin personal care, Pharmanex nutrition and the ageLOC anti-aging brand which includes an award-winning line of beauty device systems. Nu Skin operates in approximately 50 markets worldwide in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Pacific. Rhyz Inc. is the company's strategic investment arm that includes a collection of technology and manufacturing companies to support growth in the core Nu Skin business. Nu Skin is committed to sustainability, including global initiatives such as transitioning to reduced and sustainable packaging for all products by 2030. The Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation also strives to improve children's health, education and economic circumstances throughout the world. For more information, visit nuskin.com.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements concerning our future business opportunities and growth prospects as well as the benefits our products and services provide for our clients. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our products and services functioning as anticipated and interfacing with our clients' systems as anticipated, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this press release. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law.

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LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Unfilled jobs in the food-service and hospitality industries are making it difficult for cannabis companies to retain entry-level employees, prompting some cultivators to change how they operate to gain a competitive advantage in the labor market.

Safari Flower Co. - a licensed cannabis producer in Ontario's Niagara region - is combating the so-called "Great Resignation" with automated processing equipment from Mobius , a cannabis automation and technology firm.

Implementing their new automation equipment enabled Safari to reduce the amount of time spent on trimming by approximately 75% and improve working conditions for the processing team. The net result has been a smaller and happier workforce with the ability to apply compensation programs based on meeting production efficiencies.

"The impact of technology and automation on our labor force has been very well-recognized as a retention strategy," said Brigitte Simons, Safari's Chief Executive Officer.

Before bringing automation to their processing operations, Safari would require two 8-hour shifts to buck and trim each harvest. The procedure involved separating the flowers from the stalks by hand and trimming each cannabis flower with scissors - a task that led to boredom, repetitive strain injuries, and high staff turnover.

The non-progressive, manual trimming procedures strained Safari's labor force as it could not incrementally increase the company's working capital towards employee compensation planning due to the lengthy inventory processing cycles. Further influenced by increasing wages in other regional job sectors, staff desired to participate in procedures under constant improvements.

Now, with the new Mobius processing system, tasks are more ergonomic and engaging. Even better, the harvest has gone from 5 days down to just one day.

Thanks to mechanical buckers (machines that separate the flowers and leaves from the stalks) and a high-speed trimming system that includes infeed and quality control conveyors, Safari has reduced repetitive strain injuries and increased employee satisfaction.

"If you can give your employees technology that brings value back to the operators, you will have a sustainable, committed workforce that will come every day with dedication to your efficiency measures," said Simons.

About:

Mobius eliminates the complexity of harvesting by offering the world's best bucking, trimming, sorting, and processing equipment for the next generation of cannabis production facilities. Founded by industry veterans, 100% vertically integrated, and built around world-class engineering, Mobius has taken the market by storm, quickly becoming the number one choice of global cultivators in just three years.

Contact:

To learn more about the Mobius automation system:

www.mobiustrimmer.com/cannabis-automation

info@mobiustrimmer.com

(866) 874-6244

To learn more about Safari Flower:

www.safariflower.co

info@safariflower.co

(289) 203-3030

SOURCE: Mobius

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/698557/Great-Resignation-Creates-Cannabis-Labor-Shortages-Canadian-Cultivator-Takes-New-Approach-to-Employee-Retention
Tongwei also announced it wants to expand its solar cell capacity to 70 GW by the end of 2022 and 102 GW by the end of 2023.Polysilicon and solar cell manufacturer Tongwei said today its reached a polysilicon capacity of 180,000 MT and a solar cell capacity of 45 GW at the end of December 2021. The company also announced its expansion targets for the coming years. Polysilicon capacity is expected to reach 230,000 MT by the end of 2022 and 350,000 MT at the end of 2023. Furthermore, Tongwei said it expect to reach between 800,000 and 1 million MT of annual capacity by end of 2026. As for the solar ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
AI, ML, cloud computing and big data are the major enabling technologies supporting a strong Predictive Maintenance Market growth.

CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report the report "Predictive Maintenance Market by Component (Solutions, Services), Deployment Mode (On-premises, Cloud), Organization Size (Large Enterprises, SME), Vertical and Region - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Predictive Maintenance Market size to grow from USD 4.2 billion in 2021 to USD 15.9 billion by 2026, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 30.6%. Various factors such as increasing spending on marketing and advertising activities by enterprises, changing landscape of customer intelligence to drive the market, and proliferation of customer channels are expected to drive the adoption of predictive maintenance technologies and services.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Predictive Maintenance Market"

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By deployment mode, the Predictive Maintenance Market has been segmented into on-premises and cloud. The CAGR of the cloud deployment mode is estimated to be the largest during the forecast period. Cloud-based services are provided directly through the cloud-deployed network connection. Cloud-based platforms are beneficial for organizations that have strict budgets for security investments. The cloud deployment mode is growing, as cloud-based predictive maintenance solutions are easy to maintain and upgrade.

The Predictive Maintenance Market has been segmented by organization size into large enterprises and SMEs. The market for SMEs is expected to register a higher CAGR during the forecast period. These enterprises are early adopters of predictive maintenance solutions. They are faced with the troublesome task of effectively managing security because of the diverse nature of IT infrastructure, which is complex in nature.

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The Predictive Maintenance Market by vertical has been categorized into government and defense, manufacturing, energy and utilities, transportation and logistics, and healthcare and life sciences. The energy and utilities vertical is expected to witness the highest growth rate, while the government and defense vertical is expected to have the largest market size during the forecast period. The larger market size of the government and defense vertical can be attributed to the many initiatives taken by the government to improve the lifestyle of citizens and increasing adoption rate of AI-based applications with the use of ML algorithms to predict the parts and maintenance of defense equipment.

The Predictive Maintenance Market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, APAC, Latin America, and MEA. APAC is expected to grow at a good pace during the forecast period. The region will be booming, as it is experiencing a lot of new entrepreneur setups, which would be looking forward to acquiring new customers and gaining customer trust by involving new paradigms of maintenance technologies to have a competitive advantage over the established players. Predictive maintenance vendors in this region focus on innovations related to their product line. China, Japan, India, and Bangladesh have displayed ample growth opportunities in the Predictive Maintenance Market.

Browse Adjacent Markets: Analytics Market Research Reports & Consulting

Related Reports:

Customer Journey Analytics Market by Component, Organization Size, Deployment Mode, Data Source, Application (Campaign Management & Product Management), Vertical (BFSI, Retail & eCommerce, & Telecommunications and IT), and Region - Global Forecast to 2026

Big Data Market by Component, Deployment Mode, Organization Size, Business Function (Finance, Marketing & Sales), Industry Vertical (BFSI, Manufacturing, Healthcare & Life Sciences) and Region - Global Forecast to 2026

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Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

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The latest Clusit Report from 2022 estimates $6 trillion in damages due to cyberattacks. In the last two years alone, not only small and medium-sized enterprises have been affected, but also companies such as Luxottica and Toshiba, as well as Electronic Arts Inc and AxA, to name a few.

The choice of Milkman Technologies to rely on a crowd-based consulting service such as that offered by WhiteJar (the ethical hacking service of UNGUESS) aims to send a message to small, medium or large companies looking to increase their level of security. In this vein, crowd-based Penetration Testing and Continuous Cycle Vulnerability Assessment strategies are the most effective and sustainable methods, working closely with businesses to make them invulnerable to attacks

MILAN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 2021 was the year that saw a surge in digitisation processes, but it was also a period in which cyber attacks grew exponentially, with about 10% more than in 2020. According to the 2022 Clusit Report, in 2020, 1871 serious cyber attacks took place, growing by +12% globally. Among the most vulnerable sectors are Automotive (+200%), Research-Education (+128%), Hospitality - Hotels, Restaurants and Residences (+69%), Health (+62%), Institutions (+62%), Cloud Services (+52%) and Consulting Services (+50%)[1].

These figures call for reflection not only on the vulnerability of the individual's privacy, but also on that of companies, their intellectual property and information assets. More worrisome, in fact, are the estimates of the companies affected in 2021: from SolarWinds to Luxottica, as well as Electronic Arts Inc, Toshiba (Tokyo), JBS (Sao Paulo), as well as the car manufacturer Kia (Seoul) and the insurance group AXA (Paris). Many of the world's leading multinationals in various sectors have been breached despite the high levels of cybersecurity adopted.

Objective: to become invulnerable to attacks. Milkman Technologies and the WhiteJar community

Beginning with the pandemic that has accelerated digitalisation with remote working and the current crisis scenario due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, the danger of cyber attacks has increased exponentially, becoming a central theme for corporate managers, from the CEOs to IT Managers, who are today even more committed to finding new forms of defence and protection for company information, as well as customer, supplier and employee data.

Indeed, in order to defend an organisation against cyberattacks, it is necessary to increase cybersecurity measures: the approach to cybersecurity includes all the security policies in place, the employee training programmes and the security solutions that the company has implemented, from malware to antivirus software.

How is it possible to increase cybersecurity posture beyond standard Penetration Test services?

Often protection systems are very expensive and many companies choose to rely on more common approaches such as antivirus, firewalls, the use of proxies and the continuous updating of operating systems. However, such systems have a perimeter defence function, that is, they are used to block attacks coming from the outside and along the perimeter. These tools are not always enough and once cybercriminals find a breach in the perimeter, they can freely enter. In addition, many companies underestimate the fact that, in addition to the possibility of breaching perimeter security, it is the employees themselves who have direct access to company information systems.

Setting an example by investing in effective and powerful cybersecurity services and opting to be totally invulnerable is the approach chosen by Milkman Technologies . The technology provider company for the optimisation of home-delivery has chosen the WhiteJar community , the UNGUESS service dedicated to cybersecurity, to guarantee its customers and staff constant security over time, combining the single and certified expertise of each Ethical Hacker with that of a community that works at the service of companies and public bodies in a continuous cycle, guaranteeing the activation of security campaigns on an ongoing basis. One of the advantages of relying on the community was the speed of activation of the campaign that allowed us, in just 24 hours, from the kick-off call between Milkman Technologies and WhiteJar, to get started with the work and immediately increase the level of protection of the company thanks to the distributed and organised work of Ethical Hackers.

"At Milkman Technologies, safety is of the utmost importance as we need to ensure secure environments for customers and partners who use our technology. We chose WhiteJar because we believe in the power of collective knowledge and consider its crowdsourcing model a virtuous example of dynamic asset mining. A perfect solution to combat the ever-evolving threat of cybercrime. An entire community of brilliant minds is now in charge of protecting our technology, certifying its position among the safest in the sector where we operate," explains Antonio Perini, CEO of Milkman Technologies.

The service designed by Luca Manara, CEO of the innovative SME UNGUESS and Aldo Del Bo', Head of Cybersecurity at UNGUESS, allowed the company to launch a Remediation strategy through a method based on the sharing of collective intelligence.

Whitejar's Ethical Hackers thus work to support the protection systems already activated by the company, with the aim of carrying out an in-depth assessment the health status of the systems, increasing the security level and eliminating areas of vulnerability.

"WhiteJar is the Bug Security Bounty service of UNGUESS for running PenTests (PT) and Vulnerability Assessments (VA), in parallel to the company's standard integrated protection systems. The community does not want to act as an alternative: if a company needs to test a specific asset at a certain time and has a certain software, it can do so either in a traditional way or by integrating a system such as WhiteJar. Indeed, another of the problems of many companies, in addition to the costs and the lack of internal staff experienced in cybersecurity, is the fact that activating traditional PenTests and VAs is a slow process or in any case not immediate and above all not scalable, therefore not in step with business needs. In addition, PT companies often follow a checklist of items to be tested, while the Bug Security Bounty approach offered by WhiteJar is certainly more proactive and creative," concludes Aldo Del Bo', Head of Cybersecurity at UNGUESS.

WhiteJar powered by UNGUESS

WhiteJar ( https://whitejar.io/ ) is the first "made in the Crowd" Bug Security Bounty service in Italy. It is the only community of CEH, GXPN, OSCP, GWAPT, GMOB certified Ethical Hackers whose identity and history are known and who put their knowledge at the service of companies and public bodies to prevent malicious attacks, identify weak spots and suggest remediation strategies. All this takes place through WhiteJar's Crowdsourced Security Platform (CSSP), in which clients and Ethical Hackers can interact in real-time. Ethical Hackers are supervised by a senior figure who applies an internal validation system to weak spots identified. WhiteJar powered by UNGUESS is a partner of Clusit and Assintel. It is also a partner of the Cybersecurity & Data Protection Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano and sponsor of the sixth edition of Cyberchallenge.it, the training programme organised by CINI for young people who want to work in cybersecurity. WhiteJar is a service of the innovative SME UNGUESS ( http://www.unguess.io/ ) which, thanks to its global community, operates in the areas of Software Quality, User Experience, Customer Experience, Market Research and Cybersecurity to support companies to bring collective knowledge into decision-making processes more quickly and easily.

Milkman Technologies

Milkman Technologies ( www.milkmantechnologies.com ) offers a technology suite for the organisation of last mile delivery operations. The platform was designed for companies and logistics departments to optimise the planning and execution of deliveries, offering smart appointments and an interactive customer experience, as well as dynamic pricing to modulate consumer habits and operations optimised through hyper-automation and machine learning.

Milkman Technologies was founded in Italy in 2015 by two veterans of route optimisation for commercial fleets. Founded in 2015, the company now has 35 million in funding, international customers and offices across Europe.

[1]Clusit 2022 Report: https://clusit.it/rapporto-clusit/

Contact: Angela Meduri, angela.meduri@unguess.io, +39 3757344970

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1805005/WhiteJar_powered_by_UNGUESS_Logo.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1730688/UNGUESS_Logo.jpg
Regulatory News:

Mr Michel Savart, a non-independent director, today informed Mercialys (Paris:MERY) that he was resigning from his position as a director.

The Company praised his contribution to the Board of Directors' work during the last few years.

This press release is available on www.mercialys.com.

About Mercialys

Mercialys is one of France's leading real estate companies. It is specialized in the holding, management and transformation of retail spaces, anticipating consumer trends, on its own behalf and for third parties. At December 31, 2021, Mercialys had a real estate portfolio valued at Euro 3.1 billion (including transfer taxes). Its portfolio of 2,134 leases represents an annualized rental base of Euro 168.8 million. Mercialys has been listed on the stock market since October 12, 2005 (ticker: MERY) and has "SIIC" real estate investment trust (REIT) tax status. Part of the SBF 120 and Euronext Paris Compartment B, it had 93,886,501 shares outstanding at December 31, 2021.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements regarding future events, trends, projects or targets. These forward-looking statements are subject to identified and unidentified risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Please refer to Mercialys' Universal Registration Document available at www.mercialys.com for the year ended December 31, 2021 for more details regarding certain factors, risks and uncertainties that could affect Mercialys' business. Mercialys makes no undertaking in any form to publish updates or adjustments to these forward-looking statements, nor to report new information, new future events or any other circumstances that might cause these statements to be revised.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005793/en/

Contacts:

Analyst and investor contact

Luce-Marie de Fontaines

Tel: +33 (0)1 82 82 75 63

Email: ldefontaines@mercialys.com
2021 Revenues of 32.2 million, up 11.3% compared to 2020

Gross margin of 51%, up 9.4%, and stable operating profit

Cash position at the end of 2021 of 7.0 million, financial visibility ensured

Confirmation of 2022 targets: revenues above 20m, reaching operating profitability and positive EBITDA

Regulatory News:

ALCHIMIE (FR0014000JX7 ALCHI Eligible PEA-PME) (Paris:ALCHI), an OTT (over the top) subscription video on demand (SVoD) platform featuring original and exclusive thematic channels published jointly with media groups and talents,todayannounces its consolidated annual results for the year ending December 31, 2021, as approved by the Board of Directors on April 20, 2022.

IFRS consolidated income statement

In thousands of euros 31.12.2021 31.12.2020 Change Revenue 32,223 28,952 +11,3% Cost of sales -15,639 -13,794 +13,4% Gross profit 16,584 15,158 +9,4% Technological and development costs -4,669 -3,724 +25,4% Sales and marketing costs -15,083 -14,161 +6,5% General and administrative expenses -5,405 -5,900 -8,4% Operating income -8,574 -8,626 Net financial expense -168 -564 Tax income (expense) -297 504 Net income from continuing operations -9,038 -8,687 Net income from discontinued operations 0 105 Consolidated net income -9,038 -8,582 Cash position at end of period 7,061 14,955

Business activity and 2021 financial results

As announced on the occasion of the release of the 2021 revenues, the Group's consolidated annual revenues (IFRS) amounted to 32.2 million at December 31, 2021, an increase of +11% compared to December 31, 2020. The Video activity (29.5 million) shows an annual growth rate of +17%.

This increase is due to the launch of more than 60 new channels in 2021, bringing Alchimie's offer to 130 channels co-published with celebrities and talents.

Despite the growth in revenues, the distribution partnerships established proved to be less buoyant than anticipated. As a result, the number of subscribers during the past fiscal year showed less growth than expected (+13%).

In 2021, cost of sales increased to 15.6 million; despite this increase, the Group's gross margin was 51%, up 9.4%.

Operating expenses increased slightly (+5.8%), including both Technology and Development costs (+25.4%) and Marketing and Sales costs (+6.5%). The increase in Technology and Development costs is the result of the temporary reinforcement of the teams to develop the new functionalities of the Alchimie Studio platform, while the increase in Marketing and Sales costs is the result of the sizing up of the teams to strengthen the distribution network in France and abroad. General and administrative expenses were down 8.4%, mainly due to the non-recurring legal costs incurred in 2020 in connection with the IPO.

The operating loss is stable, at around -8.58 million compared to -8.63 million in 2020.

The financial result reaches -0.17 million at December 31, 2021 compared to -0.56 million in 2020.

All in all, the consolidated net loss for the year 2021 is 9.0 million, compared with 8.6 million in 2020.

Financial position of the Group

Consolidated shareholders' equity is in deficit and amounts to -0.8 million as of December 31, 2021. This decrease of approximately 9.1 million is the result of the consolidated net loss of 9 million in 2021.

The cash position at the end of December 2021 was 7.1 million in 2021, compared with 15.0 million at December 31, 2020.

Borrowings amounted to 8.5 million in 2021, a decrease of approximately 1.4 million following the early repayment of senior debt for 1.8 million.

Post-closing highlights

The Company has an historical contract with the mobile operator Orange to provide a turnkey service. The renewal of this contract for fiscal year 2022 has been confirmed, with the service scheduled to be closed by January 2023 due to the redefinition of the portal's offerings.

The service had 140,000 video subscribers at December 31, 2021, contributing 4.2 million to 2021 revenues.

Strategy and outlook

Fiscal year 2021 was marked by a number of operational achievements in terms of technology, marketing and publishing. However, the limited growth in the number of subscribers during the past year requires Alchimie to adapt its strategy to optimize its cost structure and cash. From now on, the Company's management will be focused on achieving profitability rather than on a subscriber base growth target. This adjustment of the model will thus enable the Company to focus its resources on its profitable assets.

2022 marks a strategic refocusing of the Alchimie model around three major focuses:

The development of thematic channels for brands and key accounts,

Optimizing resources, in particular through the reorganization of the structure and,

Pursuing profitable growth by achieving operational profitability.

In terms of business development, Alchimie is pursuing the distribution of high-potential channels to its subscribers and is also diversifying its business. The Company has signed its first contract to publish the content of a third party, acting as a service provider.

In addition, in order to develop the channel publishing offer for companies, Alchimie has strengthened its team and recruited an experienced profile dedicated to this activity.

At the operational level, the Company is now focusing on markets where it believes it has the greatest potential for profitable growth, such as France and Spain. As a result, it no longer has local teams in the U.S. or the United Kingdom.

In France, the reorganization plan presented on February 10 is now being implemented and fully financed by the Company's own resources, opening a new phase of business development.

At the financial level, as announced in February, the Company's management is firmly focused on achieving operating profitability as of the first quarter of 2022 and for the entire year. The strategic adjustments made will enable Alchimie to lower its breakeven point to a revenue of over 20 million for the year 2022 and implement the new strategy that will enable a return to growth.

In terms of financial resources, Alchimie maintains a rigorous management of its costs to preserve its cash flow and does not plan a capital increase given its cash position of 7 million at the end of December 2021.

Pauline Grimaldi d'Esdra, CEO of Alchimie comments:  2021 has been an intense year for Alchimie following a health accident of its founder, Nicolas d'Hueppe, who stepped away from the Company's business. My arrival at the end of last year was aimed at reorganizing the Company with an adaptation of its model in order to achieve healthy and profitable growth. Four months after my appointment, the strategic orientations validated by the Board of Directors have been implemented and Alchimie is now on track to reach its 2022 targets

Alchimie will publish its 2021 Annual Financial Report on April 29, available on its website: https://www.alchimie-finance.com/

General meeting: June 8, 2022, terms of participation will be communicated at a later date.

Next financial release: H1 2022 sales, July 19, 2022 after closing.

About Alchimie

Alchimie is a channel factory: a unique video platform in partnership with talents and media to co-publish their own thematic channel. Alchimie has a content catalog established among 300 renowned partners (Arte, France TV distribution, ZDF Entreprises or Zed). Alchimie partners with 110+ talents (celebrities, influencers), brands and media groups to create new channels (The Big Issue, Army Stories, Poisson Fecond, Vaughan, Scene de Crime, Point de Vue) which are then distributed on more than 60 distribution platforms (TVPlayer, Amazon, Orange, Movistar, Samsung, Huawei, etc.) constantly expanding its audience and consequently its revenues. In 2019, Alchimie acquired TVPlayer, the largest independent OTT platform in the UK.

For more information: www.alchimie-finance.com www.alchimie.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005911/en/

Contacts:

Alchimie

Stephane Taillefer

Directeur Financier

investors@alchimie.com

NewCap

Thomas Grojean/Louis-Victor Delouvrier

Relations investisseurs

alchimie@newcap.eu

01 44 71 94 94

NewCap

Nicolas Merigeau

Relations Medias

alchimie@newcap.eu

01 44 71 94 98
Gevers will oversee all of Seed Health's research and development (R&D), translating leading microbiome science across the Company's portfolio of innovations in therapeutics and consumer health

LOS ANGELES, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Seed Health , the microbiome sciences company pioneering innovations in probiotics and live biotherapeutics, today announced that Dirk Gevers, Ph.D., has joined the company as its Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Gevers joins from Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, where he helped launch the Janssen Human Microbiome Institute (JHMI) and served as Global Head. With 15 years of experience in translational microbiome research and global team-building, Gevers will guide Seed Health's R&D and scale the company's platform to enable rapid, efficient advancement of microbial research from discovery to market.

"I was impressed by Seed's commitment to scientific excellence and their platform-based approach to harnessing the power of the microbiome," said Gevers. "Seed is uniquely converging deep functional insights in the human microbiome with efforts to clinically validate the next-generation of microbiome interventions. This, in combination with the scope of Seed's portfolio and effective commercialization model, gives me the opportunity to drive true impact in health."

Prior to his work at J&J, Gevers was at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he collaborated with clinical and analytical partners applying the Broad Institute's data generation platform to a range of microbiome-related projects. During his career, he held a leading role in the National Institute of Health's Human Microbiome Project Consortium and has published over 140 peer-reviewed papers, many of which laid the foundation for human microbiome research.

"I've known Dirk for over a decade - first following his research at the Broad Institute, then interacting with him at J&J - and couldn't imagine a more exciting alignment than Dirk and Seed," remarked Sarkis Mazmanian, PhD., Luis & Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology in the Division of Biology & Biological Engineering at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and member of Seed Health's Board of Directors. "Dirk's pivotal contributions to this field, combined with the company's work translating breakthrough microbiome research from discovery to commercialization, create a powerful force to deliver on the growing promise of the microbiome to impact health."

As CSO, Gevers will expand the global R&D team with a focus on discovery, translation, and clinical development for applications across gastrointestinal and digestive health, women's health, skin and oral care, pediatrics, mental health, metabolic function and nutrition. Gevers will also oversee Seed Health's external scientific and academic collaborations with institutions such as Caltech, Harvard University, MIT, University of Zurich, Stanford University, Mass General Hospital, and Cleveland Clinic.

"Dirk's research helped lay the foundation for modulating the microbiome for human health. Now, as one of the most sought-after translational experts in microbiome, Dirk's appointment will accelerate our mission to steward the next generation of microbial innovation," said Raja Dhir, co-founder and co-CEO of Seed Health. "Together, we can create a new framework for intervention and drive the future of the field."

About Seed Health | Seed

Seed Health is a microbiome science company pioneering innovations in probiotics and living medicines to impact human and planetary health. Founded to realize the potential of microbes, our platform enables the translation of breakthrough science across a portfolio encompassing both indication-specific and preventive applications for gastrointestinal and digestive health, women's health, skin and oral care, pediatrics, mental health, metabolic function and nutrition. Our consumer innovations are commercialized under Seed with a mission to bring much-needed precision, efficacy, education, and perspective-shifting science communication to the global category of probiotics. Environmental research is conducted under SeedLabs , which was founded to develop novel bacterial interventions to enhance biodiversity and restore ecosystems impacted by human activity.

LUCA Biologics , co-founded with Dr. Jacques Ravel, develops living medicines targeting the vaginal microbiome for urogenital and reproductive health.

seedhealth.com  seed.com  luca.bio

Dr. Sarkis Mazmanian

Dr. Sarkis K. Mazmanian is leading research into how the gut microbiome impacts and communicates with the immune and nervous systems. His work is specifically focused on how the two-way internal communication highway known as the "gut-brain axis," influences complex diseases of the brain, such as Parkinson's, autism and Alzheimer's diseases. Sarkis has received numerous awards including the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" award and Discover Magazine's "Best Brains in Science." Currently the Luis & Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Sarkis is also a member of Seed Health's Scientific Board, founder of three biotech companies, and the proud mentor of countless students and postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to successful independent careers in medicine, industry, and academia.

Contact

seed@consortpartners.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1804504/Seed_Dirk_Portrait.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1492777/SeedHealth_Green_Logo.jpg
Regulatory News:

eCential Robotics, a French growth company that designs, manufactures, and markets the first unified 2D/3D robotic imaging and surgical navigation system for bone surgery indications, and Amplitude Surgical (ISIN: FR0012789667, Ticker: AMPLI, eligible for PEA-PME plans) (Paris:AMPLI), leading French player on the surgical technology market for lower limb orthopedics, today announced their long-term partnership to develop a joint robotic solution for knee surgery.

Combine the strengths of two partners, both experts in their respective field

eCential Robotics and Amplitude Surgical have concluded an agreement to bring together their technologies for knee robotic surgeries. Based on product technical excellence and a shared long-term view, this partnership brings the best of both partners:

Surgical robotics with eCential Robotics' platform. As the only available solution that is fully unified in one device, the eCential Robotics platform unifies in its core design intraoperative 2D/3D imaging, navigation, and robotics. The eCential Robotics platform is an open solution, catering to different surgeons' preferences and has a proven collaboration track record with multiple industry partners in spine surgery,

Navigation and knee surgery with Amplitude Surgical. With more than 15 years' experience in knee navigated surgery, thanks to its proprietary system Amplivision, and more than 20 years clinical follow up on Total Knee Arthroplasty, Amplitude Surgical will bring its expertise for an optimized surgical flow based on the latest alignment techniques.

Get the best value from Amplitude Surgical's solutions using eCential Robotics' expertise

Robotics technologies provided by eCential Robotics will enable the specific features of Amplitude Surgical's solutions in surgical navigation and orthopedic implants to be fully leveraged, thereby optimizing the surgery offered to the patient.

"We are excited to announce this special partnership with Amplitude Surgical. This collaboration marks an important step in the implementation of our ambition to become a standard in the operating room for bone surgery by opening our platform to a new orthopedic specialty, with the knee", said Stephane Lavallee, eCential Robotics CEO. "This strong synergy is enabled by the contribution of two very complementary expertise, and asserts eCential Robotics' positioning in surgical robotics", he added.

"We are proud to announce this new partnership with eCential Robotics. Since the start of our company, bringing technologies to help surgeons achieve the best outcome for their patients has been our vision", stated Olivier Jallabert, Amplitude Surgical CEO. This collaboration marks a step forward in our strategy, offering surgeons the possibility to optimize their surgical technique, not only with navigation, but with robotic assistance. We are proud to work with such an amazing partner like eCential, and a renowned team of surgeons and to continue the legacy of French orthopedic expertise. The fruit of this collaboration will allow Amplitude to compete with major players in this segment, with an innovative robotic solution", he concluded.

About eCential Robotics

eCential Robotics is a Grenoble-based company specialized in surgical robotics. It develops and markets a unique system unifying 2D/3D robotic imaging and real-time navigation. With 80 patents and 7 trademarks, it is pursuing a disruptive innovation strategy and offers orthopedic and neurosurgeons easy-to-use, cutting-edge technology to visualize their operations, particularly for minimally invasive surgery. The eCential Robotics platform is a universal system that is open to multiple implants

Winner of the Bpifrance Worldwide Innovation Challenge in 2018, the company designs and produces all its equipment in Grenoble, France.

For more information, please visit www.ecential-robotics.com and follow us on LinkedIn (eCential Robotics) and Twitter (@ecentialrobot).

About Amplitude

Founded in 1997 in Valence, France, Amplitude Surgical is a leading French player on the global surgical technology market for lower-limb orthopedics. Amplitude Surgical develops and markets high-end products for orthopedic surgery covering the main disorders affecting the hip, knee and extremities, and notably foot and ankle surgery. Amplitude Surgical develops, in close collaboration with surgeons, numerous high value-added innovations in order to best meet the needs of patients, surgeons and healthcare facilities. A leading player in France, Amplitude Surgical is developing abroad through its subsidiaries and a network of exclusive distributors and agents distributing its products in more than 30 countries. Amplitude Surgical operates on the lower-limb market through the intermediary of its Novastep subsidiaries in France and the United States. At June 30, 2021, Amplitude Surgical had a workforce of 443 employees and recorded sales of nearly 95.5 million euros.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005920/en/

Contacts:

Media contact

Marie CABRIERES

marie.cabrieres@ecential-robotics.com

+33 6 07 27 19 86

Investor relations

Benjamin COLAS

benjamin.colas@ecential-robotics.com

+33 7 85 58 35 14

Amplitude Surgical

Dimitri Borchtch

CFO

finances@amplitude-surgical.com

+33 (0)4 75 41 87 41

NewCap

Investor Relations

Mathilde Bohin/Thomas Grojean

amplitude@newcap.eu

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

NewCap

Media Relations

Nicolas Merigeau

amplitude@newcap.eu

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 98
After over 30 years leading Fox-rent-A-Car and making it a success story in the US car rental industry, Allen Rezapour and Mike Jaberi have decided to leave the company they founded on an

all-time high, after a record 2021 year.

Gerardo Bermejo will formally succeed them on July 1st and will foster Europcar Mobility Group's plans and further expansion in the US.

Regulatory News:

Europcar Mobility Group(Paris:EUCAR):

As Managing Director of Europcar Mobility Group USA, Gerardo Bermejo will build on Allen Rezapour's and Mike Jaberi's legacy, as well on the current momentum Europcar Mobility Group's US perimeter is enjoying. He will be supported by the strong and engaged Fox management team, which has remained mostly unchanged since the company was taken over by Europcar Mobility Group in 2019.

Gerardo Bermejo joined Europcar Mobility Group N1 in vehicle rental in Europe in 2017. Since then, he has worked as CFO for the Group in Spain and at the same time, held other positions within the Group, notably taking charge of the Group's Low-Cost Business Unit. Gerardo Bermejo has over 20 years of experience in senior automotive and a sound understanding of the car rental industry, acquired in several leadership positions, notably at Citroen and at MIASA Group. He also has an international experience, including France, China and the United States.

With Gerardo Bermejo's appointment, a new chapter opens for Europcar Mobility Group's operations in the US, in line with the intention to strengthen the Group's ability to serve its customers on a global scale, capitalizing on both inbound and outbound flows, which are equally important for the development of its corporate and leisure businesses, as well on capitalizing on the strengths of the Group brands' portfolio, notably with the launch of the Europcar Brand in US corporate locations.

At the occasion of ICRS 2022 (International Car Rental Show), Gerardo Bermejo along with Gary Smith, Europcar Mobility Group Chief Countries Officer, delivered a keynote on Europcar Mobility Group's renewed ambitions and expansion plan for its US perimeter, which involve both the Fox-rent-A-Car and Europcar brands.

Gary Smith, Chief Countries Officer of Europcar Mobility Group, declared:

"In light of all the challenges that have affected the travel industry since early 2020, we remain excited by our US perimeter, especially with their record 2021 results. Our US roadmap includes tactics to build on the success with a deeper alignment on our global "CONNECT" strategy to become a major player in flexible, sustainable, digital and connected mobility."

Gerardo Bermejo, Europcar Mobility Group USA Managing Director, added:

" I am thrilled to be joining such a successful perimeter for Europcar Mobility Group, and look forward to shepherding in an exciting era for the company with a special focus in the expansion of our corporate locations, implementation of our core Service Lines organization, and a customer-focused co-brand investment. "

About Europcar Mobility Group

Europcar Mobility Group is a major player in mobility markets and listed on Euronext Paris. Europcar Mobility Group's purpose is to offer attractive alternatives to vehicle ownership, in a responsible and sustainable manner. With this in mind, the Group offers a wide range of car and van rental services be it for a few hours, a few days, a week, a month or more with a fleet that is equipped with the latest engines, and which will be increasingly "green" in the years to come.

Customers' satisfaction is at the heart of the Group's ambition and that of its employees. It also fuels the ongoing development of new offerings in the Group's three service lines Professional, Leisure and Proximity which respond to the specific needs and use cases of both businesses and individuals. The Group's 4 major brands are: Europcar the European leader of car rental and light commercial vehicle rental, Goldcar the low-cost car-rental Leader in Europe, InterRent 'mid-tier' car rental and Ubeeqo one of the European leaders of round-trip car-sharing (BtoB, BtoC). Europcar Mobility Group delivers its mobility solutions worldwide through an extensive network in over 140 countries (including wholly owned subsidiaries 18 in Europe, 1 in the USA, 2 in Australia and New Zealand completed by franchises and partners).

Further details on our website: www.europcar-mobility-group.com

About Fox Rent-A-Car

Within the Europcar Mobility Group brand portfolio, Fox Rent-A-Car is a benchmark value brand with an attractive "value for money" positioning, focused on serving the budget-conscious leisure travelers. Fox is currently operated via a network of 21 corporate stations across the United States, with a strong presence at 15 of the top 25 key U.S. airports, including Orlando, Las Vegas, Miami and Los Angeles.

Fox Rent-A-Car is also operated through a network of affiliates in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, Central America, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.

By combining technology-enabled efficiencies and proactive price management, Fox has in recent years continuously increased its market share at airports and has positioned itself as a leading brand in the value car rental space. With a diversified fleet of 20,000 vehicles, Fox Rent-A-Car also offers its customers a large selection of foreign and domestic vehicles. Fox has a highly skilled workforce of over 1,000 professionals dedicated to customer satisfaction by providing a high-quality service.

Learn more: www.foxrentacar.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426006029/en/

Contacts:

Group Press Relations

Valerie Sauteret valerie.sauteret@europcar.com

Vincent Vevaud vincent.vevaud@europcar.com

Press contact in the US

Steve Mosinski smosinski@foxrentacar.com
The "Automotive Glass Fiber Composites Market Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 2027)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The automotive glass fiber composites market is expected to register a CAGR of over 5.5%, during the forecast period, 2020 2025.

Key Market Trends

Increasing Adoption of Glass Fiber Composites in Automobiles

Although automobiles have been around for more than a century, the materials they are made of have mostly remained the same. Only since the past few decades that advanced materials, ranging from magnesium alloys to glass fiber composites, have made their way into new-generation cars. Advanced materials, such as glass fiber composites, are essential for boosting the fuel economy of modern cars, maintaining performance and safety. Since it takes lesser energy to accelerate a lighter object than a heavier one, lightweight materials offer great potential for increasing vehicle efficiency. A 10% reduction in the vehicle's weight can transpire to a 6-8% increase in fuel economy.

Glass fiber composites are materials that have become popular in the past few years. One of the reasons for fiberglass composite's relative success is that it has several advantages when compared to steel. It is corrosion-resistant, has significant chemical resistance, and is lightweight (three times less dense than steel). Fiberglass composite is mainly used in bumpers, hoods, and casings. Another area where this material is used is V-belts and timing belts, where glass strings are impregnated with rubber acting as reinforcement. Abrasion resistance is one other advantage of the fiberglass composite, which is why it is used for producing clutches and brake-pads. Clutch disks are reinforced with woven fiberglass composites to maintain their integrity.

Europe Anticipated to be the Largest and Fastest Growing Market

Europe is touted to be the fastest growing market due to the presence of many car manufacturers, such as BMW, Volkswagen, Groupe PSA, etc., who are adopting glass fiber composites in their cars. Government regulations, such as the greenhouse gas emission target in the European countries are also paving way for OEMs to incorporate light-weight materials to decrease the overall vehicle weight.

Germany is one of the leading automobile manufacturing countries, globally. The country has recovered to a reasonable extent from the economic recession that affected the economic condition of the country adversely. Germany is home to some of the leading global automobile manufacturers, like Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG, BMW, Ford GmbH, and Opel. More than 5.1 million automobiles are annually manufactured in Germany. With an increase in the production of passenger vehicles and SUVs, the demand for fiberglass in the reinforcements of automotive components is expected to significantly increase during the forecast period.

Key Topics Covered:

1 INTRODUCTION

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

4 MARKET DYNAMICS

4.1 Market Drivers

4.2 Market Restraints

4.3 Industry Attractiveness Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5 MARKET SEGMENTATION

5.1 Intermediate Type

5.1.1 Short Fiber Thermoplastic (SFT)

5.1.2 Long Fiber Thermoplastic (LFT)

5.1.3 Continuous Fiber Thermoplastic (CFT)

5.1.4 Other Intermediate Types

5.2 Application Type

5.2.1 Interiors

5.2.2 Exteriors

5.2.3 Structural Assembly

5.2.4 Power-train Components

5.2.5 Other Application Types

5.3 Geography

6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

6.1 Vendor Market Share

6.2 Company Profiles

6.2.1 Solvay Group

6.2.2 3B (Braj Binani Group)

6.2.3 Owens Corning

6.2.4 Jiangsu Changhai Composite Materials

6.2.5 Veplas Group

6.2.6 SAERTEX GmbH Co.KG

6.2.7 ASAHI FIBER GLASS Co., Ltd.

6.2.8 Nippon Sheet Glass Company, Limited

7 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE TRENDS

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/sgbmhf

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426006118/en/

Contacts:

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
President & COO Mark Pearlman will discuss the Company's potential to transform the agricultural industry and effect change from the ground up with its revolutionary NEREA(R).

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - International Zeolite Corp. (TSXV: IZ) (OTC Pink: IZCFF) (FSE: ZEON) ("IZ" or the "Company"), a company creating innovative, environmentally friendly products and solutions utilizing zeolite minerals for the agricultural, industrial and consumer markets, is pleased to invite investors and other interested parties to attend an upcoming interview with Radius Research.

Mark Pearlman, President and Chief Operating Officer of IZ, and Martin Gagel of Radius will discuss the Company's line of earth-conscious, natural zeolite solutions, including the disruptive potential of, and the Company's commercialization plans for, its breakthrough agricultural technology, NEREA. The proprietary zeolite product has proven to increase crop yields, produce higher quality agricultural products, and reduce both fertilizer and water requirements, thereby providing farmers and commercial growers significant financial and environmental benefits.

The webinar will be a live, interactive online event where attendees are invited to ask the Company questions in real-time following the interview. An archived webcast will be made available for those who cannot join the event live on the day of the webinar.

Event: Radius Research Pitch, Deep Dive, Q&A with International Zeolite

Presentation Date & Time: Thursday, April 28 at 1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT

Webcast Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/IZ Webinar

Market Radius Research provides individual investors access to in-depth CEO and management interviews with deep-dive, institutional level discussion and Q&A. Market Radius' host Martin Gagel is a former top-ranked sell-side technology and special situations analyst.

About International Zeolite

International Zeolite's mission is to produce a line of high-value top-tier performance natural zeolite products and solutions. We believe that real change comes from the ground up. Our focused aim is to utilize the naturally occurring zeolite mineral to innovate commercial agriculture, industry and consumer practices that outperform their competition, and are better for the environment and world populations. Our purpose-driven zeolite solutions represent a new era of earth conscious environmental science that will relentlessly seek to transform agriculture, industry, and households to safer, sustainable, superior means of operation.

For Investor Inquiries:

Bill Mitoulas

Investor Relations

info@internationalzeolite.com

+ 1 416.479.9547

For further information, please visit www.internationalzeolite.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121674
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Slave Lake Zinc Corp. (CSE: SLZ) - As spring arrives in the Northwest Territories, recent developments with the federal and territorial governments have created excitement within the Company.

Slave Lake Zinc is very much looking forward to the next several months, and the coming years, with the recognition that the Company's primary exploration programs centered around zinc, with lead and copper, not to mention the precious metals, are being designated as "Strategically "important minerals by our Federal Government.

The "Fraser Institute" in their "Annual Survey of Mining Jurisdictions" has designated Canada as the number 2 best jurisdiction in the world for investment in the mining industry. The Northwest Territories was not specifically mentioned but as Mr. Wigham stated: "Our company's interaction (Slave Lake Zinc Corp) with the decision makers and Indigenous communities in the N.W.T. has shown that it appears a new and exciting attitude has been brought forward with our mutually significant 'Collaboration Agreement" with the Northwest Territory Metis Nation and our interactions with both the Territorial Government and the other local communities within the South Slave Region of the N.W.T."

With these developments and more substantial federal tax incentives the future appears to be very bright for Slave Lake Zinc and the companies O'Connor Lake Project.

Slave Lake Zinc ("the Company") has awarded incentive stock options to Directors, Officers and a company consultant to purchase a total of 2,650,000 shares of the Company's treasury capital. These options allow the holder to purchase the shares at $0.15 per share for a period of two (2) years from the date of issue, subject to provisions of the Company stock option plan.

About Slave Lake Zinc

Slave Lake Zinc Corp. intends to develop the potential of its O'Connor Lake property, an historic zinc lead copper property located in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The property is located south of Great Slave Lake and to the east of Osisko Metals' Pine Point project. The property was initially developed after the Second World War and subsequently abandoned in 1952 when the prices of zinc and lead collapsed post war. Slave Lake Zinc Corp. believes that it is well positioned to advance this project and to expand significantly the historic potential of the property. For more information, please visit www.zinccorp.ca.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

Slave Lake Zinc Corp.

Per:

Ritch Wigham CEO & Director

Phone: 604-396-5762

Email: rwigham@zinccorp.ca

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release

Forward-Looking Statement

Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in both Slave Lake Zinc's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "potential", "should," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. Information provided in this document is necessarily summarized and may not contain all available material information. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the progress of a definitive offtake agreement, potential development and production at the Company's O'Connor Lake project, future oriented events and other statements that are not facts. Forward-looking statements are based on a few assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management based on the business and markets in which Slave Lake Zinc operates, are inherently subject to significant operational, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Such forward-looking statements should therefore be construed in light of such factors. Although Slave Lake Zinc has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and Slave Lake Zinc disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and Slave Lake Zinc does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company herein.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121766
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd (TSXV: GMG) (FSE: 0GF) ("GMG" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into the following agreements as the Company progresses to the next phase of its investor relations activities:

a consulting services agreement with Triomphe Holdings Ltd. (DBA Capital Analytica), a private company headquartered in Nanaimo, British Columbia ("Capital Analytica"), having an effective date of April 25, 2022 (the "Capital Analytica Agreement");

an advertising and investor awareness campaign agreement with Dig Media Inc., (DBA Investing News Network) ("INN"), a private company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia ("INN"), executed on April 26, 2022 and having an effective date of April 19, 2022 (the "INN Agreement");

a terms of service agreement with C. Fleck and Associates. (website - KEReport.com), an organization headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia ("K.E. Report"), executed on April 26, 2022 and having an effective date of February 1, 2022 (the " K.E. Report Agreement"); and

a services agreement with consulting agreement with Proactive Investors North America Inc., a private company with offices across North America, Australia and in Europe ("Proactive Investors"), having an effective date of April 25, 2022 (the "Proactive Investors Agreement");

(collectively, the "IR Agreements").

Capital Analytics is an integrated media platform that produces in-depth business intelligence through its annual print and digital economic reviews, high-impact conferences, and events and top-level interviews via its video platform. Pursuant to the Capital Analytica Agreement, Capital Analytica will provide consulting services, including social media consultation, social engagement reporting and social media news and corporate video dissemination to GMG for a six-month term. In accordance with the Capital Analytica Agreement, the Company will pay Capital Analytica a fee of C$100,000, plus applicable taxes, at commencement of the Capital Analytica Agreement.

INN is a private company dedicated to providing independent news and education to investors since 2007. Pursuant to the INN Agreement, INN will provide advertising campaign services, including advertising profile, lead generation, press release syndication, banner advertising, email services and campaign metrics to GMG for a twelve-month term, unless terminated in accordance with its terms. In accordance with the INN Agreement, the Company will pay INN a fee of C$36,000, plus applicable taxes, in four equal instalments of C$9,000 each quarter in advance at commencement of the INN Agreement.

K.E. Report are in the business of development and distribution of an investment focused radio show and podcast. Pursuant to the K.E. Report Agreement, K.E. Report will provide professional services, including audio, radio and video interviews on a regular basis in unlimited number reporting GMG news and address investor questions, webinars, introductions to newsletter writers, industry analysts and fund managers, and banner advertising for an initial six-month term, which may be extended for a further six-month term, unless terminated in accordance with its terms. In accordance with the K.E. Report Agreement, the Company will pay K.E. Report a fee of C$9,000, plus applicable taxes, for each six-month period, in arrears. Corey Fleck, a principal of K.E. Report, holds 4,500 common shares in the Company.

Proactive Investors is a multi-media business and financial media portal that provides breaking news, commentary and analysis on hundreds of listed companies and pre-IPO businesses across the globe. Pursuant to the Proactive Investors Agreement, Proactive Investors will provide media services, including research reports and analyst videos, to GMG for a twelve-month term, unless terminated in accordance with its terms. In accordance with the Proactive Investors Agreement, the Company will pay Proactive Investors a fee of US$30,500, plus applicable taxes, for each six-month period, in advance.

The payments described herein will come from the Company's general working capital account. Other than as disclosed herein, none of the investor relations service providers described above have any interest, directly or indirectly, in the Company or any right or intent to acquire such an interest. Each of the IR Agreements are with arm's length parties to the Company. The IR Agreements remain subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV").

The previously announced agreement with Focus Communications Investor Relations Inc. continues, while the previously announced agreements with Generation IACP Inc., Brian Gusko Advisory Services Inc., Supercharged Stocks Ltd. and Hybrid Financial Ltd. have been concluded.

About GMG

GMG is a clean-technology company which seeks to offer energy saving and energy storage solutions, enabled by graphene, including that manufactured in-house via a proprietary production process.

GMG has developed a proprietary production process to decompose natural gas (i.e. methane) into its elements, carbon (as graphene), hydrogen and some residual hydrocarbon gases. This process produces high quality, low cost, scalable, 'tuneable' and low/no contaminant graphene suitable for use in clean-technology and other applications. The Company's present focus is to de-risk and develop commercial scale-up capabilities, and secure market applications.

In the energy savings segment, GMG has focused on graphene enhanced heating, ventilation and air conditioning ("HVAC-R") coating (or energy-saving paint), lubricants and fluids. In the energy storage segment, GMG and the University of Queensland are working collaboratively with financial support from the Australian Government to progress R&D and commercialization of graphene aluminium-ion batteries ("G+AI Batteries").

For further information, please contact:

- Craig Nicol, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Company at craig.nicol@graphenemg.com, +61 415 445 223

- Leo Karabelas at Focus Communications, info@fcir.ca , +1 647 689 6041

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. The forward-looking statements herein are made as of the date of this press release only, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "projects", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, TSXV approval of each of the IR Agreements, the services expected to be received by the Company in connection with the IR Agreements, the Company's business development plans, and the Company's plans to work with third parties to progress R&D and commercialization of graphene aluminum-ion batteries. Forward-looking statements and information are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the ability of the Company to control or predict, that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, including without limitation, risks related to: the TSXV's failure to provide approval for the IR Agreements or any one of them on the current terms and conditions, or at all, the Company's failure or the failure of any service provider to perform its respective obligations under the applicable IR Agreements, public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic may adversely impact the Company's business and the ability of the Company to develop its products, risks relating to the extent and duration of the conflict in Eastern Europe and its impact on global markets, the volatility of global capital markets, political instability, the failure of the Company to attract and retain skilled personnel, unexpected development and production challenges, unanticipated costs and the risk factors set out under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's final long form non-offering prospectus dated March 31, 2021 available for review on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Additionally, the forward-looking statements and information contained herein are developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein, including, but not limited to, assumptions regarding the expectation that the TSXV will provide approval for the IR Agreements in their current form, the expectation that the service providers will perform their respective obligations under the applicable IR Agreements, the accuracy of the Company's cost and timing expectations, that the Company will be successful in the deployment of its resources and personnel, that the Company's operations and ability to develop its products will not be adversely impacted by COVID-19, the Company's ability to research, develop and test its products within anticipated timelines, and that results of testing and development data will be consistent with anticipated results and estimates. Such forward-looking information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121751
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - King Global Ventures Inc. (TSXV: KING) (OTC: KGLDF) (FSE: 5LM1) (the "Company") provides an update on a planned "Maiden" drill program slated for the spring of 2022. King has filed its permit application and has engaged a diamond drill contractor for a Phase 1 drill program to test on 11 prospective targets on its Golden Nugget and Miss Pickle Properties in the New World Island and Coaker Gold Trends of Newfoundland.

The program will test gold targets identified by King from previous prospecting work completed by Rubicon Minerals and King's recent exploration activities. The New World Island trend includes gold showings along a structural corridor that trends northeasterly along the southern shore of New World Island and includes the surface gold showings: Gina, Big Island, Red Fox, Hard Rock, and Big Oz and others.

The Coaker trend includes three showings that are associated with the Coaker Porphyry in the shallows between Coaker and Dunnage Islands. Coaker Trend targets include Hy-Grade, Miss Pickle and Quinlan Island where anomalous gold values have been confirmed associated with quartz veins and associated alteration (McNeil, 2004)

The GoldSpot Discoveries Corp. ("GoldSpot") (TSXV: SPOT) (OTCQX: SPOFF) Multi-Parameter Airborne Geophysics Survey (M-PASS) on King's Golden Nugget and Miss Pickle properties has been underway for several weeks, but adverse weather conditions have delayed the completion of the program. Results of the survey will be used in conjunction with GoldSpot Discoveries Corp. Artificial Intelligence data analysis to further target refinement in preparation for King's upcoming drill program. The final compilation of data from the program is intended to highlight new target areas for further ground exploration. King plans to follow up on new generated targets with a summer field program of mapping, grab, channel, and soil sampling.

Robert Dzisiak, Chief Executive of King stated, "Our technical team has filed permit application in Newfoundland for a spring drill program. We have identified multiple high value drill targets on our Golden Nugget and Miss Pickle Properties. We are very excited about commencing our maiden drilling program and moving King forward after a significant ground exploration program. The final results of our nearly completed of the M-PASS Airborne Survey will provide significant additional data for refining our drill targets as well as identifying new target areas for ground exploration."

Newfoundland Properties:

King Global's projects include 100% interest in the following gold exploration projects:

The Golden Nugget Property consists of a 10 km long contiguous land package (1,850 ha.) of siliciclastic sediments within beds of conglomerates and mafic materials. High grade gold occurs in all rock groups with channel samples having returned values of 50.2 g/t gold over 1.1 m, 87 g/t over 0.8 m and 29.2 g/t over 2.5 m. These high grade channels are contained within extensive areas of lower to medium grade gold values along the entire length of this 10 km structural corridor.

The Miss Pickle Property (950 ha), is also north of the Davidsville Group and lies in another parallel structure to the Gold Nugget Property known as the Coaker Trend. Historical grab samples include 7.3 g/t gold over 2.05 m, 8.3 g/t gold over 1.9 m and 7.1 g/t gold over 1.2 m. The length weighed average of 26 channel samples across the zone is 3.2 g/t gold. A new gold zone with overall channel sampling of 0.30 g/t Au over 54 m, including 0.96 g/t Au over 7.5 m was discovered during the summer of 2021 (the zone is open in all directions).

The Gold Boulder Prospect consists of four contiguous claim blocks (100 ha) and is located near the small town of Glenwood in Central Newfoundland. Geologically the property is underlain by siliciclastic sediments of the Davidsville Group which is the same geological belt which hosts New Found Gold's (NFG-TSX) high grade Queensway project. The entire prospect is bound on all side by New Found Gold Corp.

The Chapel Island Property (1,300 ha) consists of 54 mining blocks located in north-east central Newfoundland, on Chapel Island within the Dunnage Tectonostratigraphic zone of the Appalachian Orogen. The Road zone consists of 4 historical showings containing numerous Au occurrences. These occurrences have returned individual assay results up to 85 g/t Au and 32 g/t Au. Chapel Island also has historical nickel showings grab samples up to 3.05% Ni.

The Lost Swamp showing is comprised of a silicified and carbonate altered Coaker porphyry that contains very, fine grained arsenopyrite, with assay results returning values up to 149.8 g/t Au and 23.3 g/t Au. At the Swamp zone, a total of 35 channel samples were cut for a combined length of 35.9 m at 8 different locations in the old trench. The best results from the sampling were 5.2 m of 484 ppb Au and 0.9 m of 3.9 g/t Au.

Qualified Person

Andrew Lee Smith, P.Geo., is a Qualified Person under the definitions of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.

About King Global Ventures

King Global Ventures Inc. (TSXV: KING) holds 100% interest in four highly prospective and previously explored gold exploration projects in the Gander Gold Belt Region of Newfoundland, Canada. King is supported by strategic investor Eric Sprott who owns a significant number of King's common shares.

Additional information about King Ventures can be viewed at the Company's website at www.kingtsxv.com or at www.sedar.com.

About GoldSpot Discoveries Corp.

GoldSpot Discoveries Corp. (TSXV: SPOT) (OTCQX: SPOFF) is a technology company using artificial intelligence to revolutionize the future of global mineral exploration with a full suite of data and knowledge-driven SaaS tools and services. GoldSpot works with industry leaders across all commodity and deposit types to identify new exploration targets, develop cutting-edge technologies and, to strategically invest in mineral exploration companies. Our leading team of expert scientists merges geoscience and data science to deliver bespoke solutions that save time, reduce costs, and produce far more accurate results than ever before possible.

On behalf of King Global Ventures

Robert Dzisiak

Chief Executive Officer

204-955-4803

ir@kingtsxv.com

www.kingtsxv.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain information in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including but not limited to, the uncertainty of the financing, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in preparing such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove imprecise and undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligations to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities law.

Figure 1



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8052/121744_89711323d422ea63_001full.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121744
Gross discovered recoverable resource estimate for Stabroek Block increased to approximately 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent

Discoveries at Barreleye, Lukanani and Patwa further underpin the development potential of the block

Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) today announced an increase in the gross discovered recoverable resource estimate for the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana to approximately 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent, up from the previous estimate of more than 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The updated resource estimate includes three new discoveries on the block at Barreleye, Lukanani and Patwa in addition to the Fangtooth and Lau Lau discoveries announced earlier this year.

The Barreleye-1 well encountered approximately 230 feet (70 meters) of hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs of which approximately 52 feet (16 meters) is high quality oil bearing. The well was drilled in 3,840 feet (1,170 meters) of water and is located approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of the Liza Field.

The Lukanani-1 well encountered 115 feet (35 meters) of hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs of which approximately 76 feet (23 meters) is high quality oil bearing. The well was drilled in water depth of 4,068 feet (1,240 meters) and is located in the southeastern part of the block, approximately 2 miles (3 kilometers) west of the Pluma discovery.

The Patwa-1 well encountered 108 feet (33 meters) of hydrocarbon bearing sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled in 6,315 feet (1,925 meters) of water and is located approximately 3 miles (5 kilometers) northwest of the Cataback-1 discovery.

CEO John Hess said: "These new discoveries further demonstrate the extraordinary resource density of the Stabroek Block and will underpin our queue of future development opportunities. We look forward to continuing to work with the Government of Guyana and our partners to realize the remarkable potential of this world class resource for the benefit of all stakeholders."

Hess and its co-venture partners currently have four sanctioned developments on the Stabroek Block. The Liza Phase 1 development, which began production in December 2019 utilizing the Liza Destiny floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) with a production capacity of approximately 120,000 gross barrels of oil per day, recently completed production optimization work that expanded its production capacity to more than 140,000 gross barrels of oil per day. It is currently producing approximately 130,000 gross barrels of oil per day and is expected to reach its full capacity in the second quarter. The Liza Phase 2 development, utilizing the Liza Unity FPSO, began production in February 2022 and is expected to reach its production capacity of approximately 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day by the third quarter. The third development at Payara is ahead of schedule and now expected to come online in late 2023 utilizing the Prosperity FPSO with a production capacity of approximately 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day. The fourth development, Yellowtail, is expected to come online in 2025, utilizing the ONE GUYANA FPSO with a production capacity of approximately 250,000 gross barrels of oil per day.

At least six FPSOs with a production capacity of more than 1 million gross barrels of oil per day are expected to be online on the Stabroek Block in 2027, with the potential for up to 10 FPSOs to develop gross discovered recoverable resources.

The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres. ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45% interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30% interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25% interest.

Hess Corporation is a leading global independent energy company engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. More information on Hess Corporation is available at www.hess.com.

Cautionary Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "guidance," "could," "may," "should," "would," "believe," "intend," "project," "plan," "predict," "will," "target" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which are not historical in nature. Our forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, the expected number, timing and completion of our development projects and estimates of capital and operating costs for these projects; estimates of our crude oil and natural gas resources and levels of production; and our future financial and operational results. Forward-looking statements are based on our current understanding, assessments, estimates and projections of relevant factors and reasonable assumptions about the future. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our current projections or expectations of future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The following important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements: fluctuations in market prices or demand for crude oil, NGLs and natural gas, including due to COVID-19, competing or alternative energy products and political conditions and events; potential failures or delays in increasing oil and gas reserves, including as a result of unsuccessful exploration activity, drilling risks and unforeseen reservoir conditions, and in achieving expected production levels; changes in laws, regulations and governmental actions applicable to our business, including legislative and regulatory initiatives regarding environmental concerns, such as measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions and flaring, fracking bans as well as restrictions on oil and gas leases; the ability of our contractual counterparties to satisfy their obligations to us, including the operation of joint ventures which we may not control and exposure to decommissioning liabilities for divested assets in the event the current or future owners are unable to perform; unexpected changes in technical requirements for constructing, modifying or operating exploration and production facilities and/or the inability to timely obtain or maintain necessary permits; potential disruption or interruption of our operations due to catastrophic events, including COVID-19 or climate change; and other factors described in Item 1A-Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and any additional risks described in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As and when made, we believe that our forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, given these risks and uncertainties, caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements since such statements speak only as of the date when made and there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will occur and actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement we make. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise.

We use certain terms in this release relating to resources other than proved reserves, such as unproved reserves or resources. Investors are urged to consider closely the oil and gas disclosures in Hess Corporation's Form 10-K, File No. 1-1204, available from Hess Corporation, 1185 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10036 c/o Corporate Secretary and on our website at www.hess.com. You can also obtain this form from the SEC on the EDGAR system.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220425006048/en/

Contacts:

Investor Contact:

Jay Wilson

(212) 536-8940

jrwilson@hess.com

Media Contact:

Lorrie Hecker

(212) 536-8250

lhecker@hess.com
TORONTO and GATINEAU, Quebec, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Converge Technology Solutions Corp. ("Converge" or "the Company") (TSX:CTS) (FSE:0ZB) (OTCQX:CTSDF) is pleased to announce that it will release the results for its first quarter for the three month period ended March 31st, 2022 on Tuesday, May 10th, 2022 after market close. Subsequently, the Company will hold a conference call on Wednesday, May 11th, 2022, at 8:00 am EST hosted by Shaun Maine, Chief Executive Officer and Matt Smith, Interim Chief Financial Officer. A question and answer session will follow the corporate update.



Conference Call Details:

Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Time: 8:00 AM Eastern Time

Participant Dial-in Details:

Webcast Link - https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/58mbfnht

Toll Free - North America (+1) 888 708 0720

Toll Free - International (929) 517 9011

Germany - 0800 181 5287

United Kingdom - 0800 028 8438

Conference ID: 5877301

Recording Playback Numbers:

Toll Free - (855) 859 2056

Alternative Number - (404) 537 3406

Conference ID: 5877301

Expiry Date: May 18th, 2022

A live audio webcast accompanied by presentation slides and archive of the conference call will be available by visiting the Company's website at https://convergetp.com/investor-relations/ . Please connect at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure time for any software download that may be needed to hear the webcast.

About Converge

Converge Technology Solutions Corp. is a software-enabled IT & Cloud Solutions provider focused on delivering industry-leading solutions and services. Converge's global solution approach delivers advanced analytics, application modernization, cloud, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, and digital workplace offerings to clients across various industries. The Company supports these solutions with advisory, implementation, and managed services expertise across all major IT vendors in the marketplace. This multi-faceted approach enables Converge to address the unique business and technology requirements for all clients in the public and private sectors. For more information, visit convergetp.com.
High River, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - The Western Investment Company of Canada Limited (TSXV: WI) ("WICC" or "Western") announces that it has filed its Q4 / Year-End Financial Statements and MD&A on SEDAR, including a new section in the MD&A that provides market value assessments of Western's investment portfolio also known as Net Asset Value.

In a message to shareholders, WICC CEO Scott Tannas provided the following commentary:

"I invite all shareholders to review our disclosure around estimates of the fair market value of our assets. The valuation work to provide this information to shareholders was inspired by the recent sale of a 39.2% interest in GlassMasters, where the purchaser paid a significantly higher per share price than the carrying value on our books. We followed the same practice as other private equity firms to value private assets and estimate the unrecorded gain of our investments at year-end 2021 to be $11.3 million. Together with our "book" value, this produces an estimated net asset value ("NAV") of 82 cents per share for Western, a number that is of considerable interest to shareholders. Having now produced the information, we will update the disclosure (up or down) annually, or sooner if circumstances warrant.

2021 was a roller coaster year, with three of our five companies recording revenue gains. Consumer demand rose steadily, and the trend continues into 2022. Supply chain issues became a major concern during the year. While we set out to achieve a record setting year for net income, a combination of one-time negative events at Foothills pulled our 2021 annual income back to just above break even. Nonetheless, we continued to build value at all our companies and are confident that 2022 will yield a record year of profitability. While we anticipate continued instability within supply chains, our management teams (including Foothills) have made the required adjustments and are better prepared to profitably respond to growing consumer demand in the coming year. After just four months, there is plenty of evidence to say we are on track for a much stronger financial result in 2022.

Portfolio Report

- Fortress Insurance Company during 2021 saw gross written premiums triple over the prior year, finishing at $5.4 million. Equally impressive was the claims ratio for 2021 at 36%, well below the industry average. Our early 2022 numbers continue to grow, including our first $1 million sales month in March. With the continued growth in sales and key distribution alliances, Fortress is approaching the break even point in its operations, well ahead of what CEO Shafeen Mawani and his team had planned. Our little insurance company continues to add to its book of policies and premiums through a growing network of western Canadian broker partners. Fortress has applied for registration in Ontario, effectively doubling the market opportunities. The thesis we had adopted in 2019 has been proven correct - there is a place in the market for a small, nimble insurance provider - and Fortress has established itself. 2022 will be a key year for the Fortress team, as they execute on their plan to exceed $10 million in gross written premiums.

- The story of a successful turnaround at GlassMasters continued in 2021. Despite Covid restrictions and significant inventory challenges, Roger Tulk and the team posted the best sales and EBITDA results since acquisition. The new Regina store performed better than expected and same store sales growth was achieved throughout GlassMasters' ten-store retail network and its four ARG wholesale locations. Achieving this result during industry-wide shortages of auto glass is a testament to the skill and savvy of the leadership team at GlassMasters. Further evidence of this will show in 2022, thanks to a wise inventory order that was not without initial risk, and has now set the stage for another record-breaking year.

- Ocean Sales continues to increase their sales volumes toward pre-pandemic levels thanks in large part to their creativity and determination to find new sales channels for their line up of household consumer products. Online sales have been a game changer for the company. Their partnership with a big box retailer continued to be steady, while the consumer show and public event business is finally back in full swing in 2022 after two years of significant reduction in revenue as they awaited removal of restrictions on large public events. After a very large loss in 2020, Ocean Sales delivered a respectable profit in 2021 - a remarkable multi million-dollar turnaround. It must be noted that this company would not have been able to survive the pandemic without the assistance of governments, forbearance of bankers, patience of business partners, and loyalty and dedication of the team members. There are some supply chain challenges ahead with much of Ocean Sales product inventory shipping from China. The Ocean Sales team has emerged from the past two years stronger than ever.

- Sales at Foothills Creamery were down by 5% over 2020, the result of a planned unwinding of an unprofitable private label butter contract. We started the year with high hopes and a bright new CEO at the helm. However, the year was marked by a number of surprises - sadly more negative than positive ones. The bright spots were around the success of ice cream sales both retail and wholesale. New CEO Bill McKenzie was quick to bring additional talent to the leadership ranks at the company, bolstering sales and accounting / finance teams. Properly resourced, the sales team filled the summer order book to record levels. However, production issues and ingredient shortages created unfulfilled orders and unexpected costs. The expanded finance team found some cut-off errors that created some one-time adjustments in 2021 and prior years. As the year went on, it became clear that the priority for 2021 was to review and improve processes, prioritize products, and repair or replace equipment to ensure Foothills could reliably respond to the increasing demand for its quality products in 2022 and beyond. The shareholder group at Foothills is very impressed with the work that was done by the leadership team. We are satisfied that the progress of Foothills in 2022 will follow a more stable and predictable path, with a corresponding return to profitability.

- Despite added costs for PPE and other required items, Golden Health Care continued to provide a steady return to shareholders. The outstanding care given to residents continued throughout 2021, with the Golden team maintaining its successful record of protecting their residents from COVID-19 through the pandemic, including a 100% recovery rate for residents in their care. We continue to be in awe of the dedication of the management and staff at this organization. We also gratefully acknowledge that the past two years of healthcare success has been achieved by efforts above and beyond what would normally be expected of employees.

Outlook

As we enter the fifth month of 2022, we are monitoring all our investees closely, and confirm that business across the portfolio is off to a strong start to the year. While we know risks remain, we believe our teams are adequately resourced and working toward a solid combined financial result for Western in 2022. I look forward to reporting on our progress in the coming weeks and months."

About The Western Investment Company of Canada Limited

Western is a unique publicly traded, private equity company founded by a group of successful Western Canadian businesspeople, and dedicated to building and maintaining ownership in successful Western Canadian companies, and helping them to grow. Western's shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol WI.

For more information on Western, please visit its website at www.winv.ca

CONTACT INFORMATION - The Western Investment Company of Canada Limited

Scott Tannas President and Chief Executive Officer (403) 652-2663 stannas@winv.ca

Advisory

This news release may contain certain forward-looking information and statements, including without limitation, statements pertaining to future plans, acquisitions, financings and returns. Statements containing the words: 'believes', 'intends', 'expects', 'plans', 'seeks' and 'anticipates' and any other words of similar meaning are forward-looking. All statements included herein involve various risks and uncertainties because they relate to future events and circumstances beyond Western's control. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in Western's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Any forward looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and Western does not undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121785
Uniting the forces of goodness for global peace and sustainability

LOS ANGELES, April 26, 2022) has declared the entire month of April as International Month of Conscience and has been organizing a series of forums and online activities with various organizations around the world in the hope of awakening the conscience in global citizens and uniting them to apply their conscience and do more good deeds to save the world in crisis and move it towards sustainable development. FOWPAL invites people around the globe to endorse the " Declarations for Human Rights of World Citizens and Peace " and two declarations of conscience -the "Declaration of International Day of Conscience" and "Declaration for the Movement of An Era of Conscience"-in order to inject powerful positive energy into the Earth to help stabilize the world.



Peace is everyone's holy wish. When the light of goodness is illuminated in everyone's heart, the positive energy of conscience spreads and connects global citizens, forging a tremendous force for action to change the world for the better and make global sustainability possible. For over two decades, Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze, president of FOWPAL , has led delegates from FOWPAL, the ECOSOC-accredited NGO Association of World Citizens(Tai Ji Men) to visit 101 countries on six continents, advocating the idea of love and peace around the world and promoting the culture of peace with love and conscience. They have been recognized as "International Ambassadors of Peace and Goodwill." Kiribati's Ambassador to the UN Teburoro Tito, who is also a former president of Kiribati, praised Dr. Hong as "modern-day Confucius." Dr. Hong led the delegates to travel the world, and they have volunteered their time and self-funded these trips to foster peace and positivity, building friendships with people in numerous countries, touching the hearts of countless individuals, and adding chapter after chapter of heartwarming true stories to their own lives and the lives of others.

In 2018, in front of the Clock Tower of the medieval citadel in Sighi?oara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Romania, delegates from the three organizations sang the "Love and Peace Song" to give hope and encouragement to global citizens while conveying their selfless love for the world. Those who heard them singing were touched, and many were moved to tears and embraced the delegates warmly.

"When you started singing, it gave me goosebumps," said Sandra Barbulescu , an English language teacher in Romania, "I've always wanted to give the idea of love and peace and unity and love, mostly. So when I saw you doing this, and so many people from far away . . . I understand that you are volunteers, so it really really impressed me. And you have so beautiful voices." With tears in her eyes, she added, "They were tears of joy. You really touched my heart. Thank you for coming here."

On a beautiful evening in the summer of 2005, delegates from the three organizations gave a cultural performance at the square in front of the Basilica dei Santi Bonifacio ed Alessio in Rome, Italy, transcending language and cultural barriers and allowing the sisters there, who had not danced in many years, to relax and dance to the beautiful music presented by the delegation. Daniela Sabatini , an Italian composer, spoke of the sisters' feedback about the event: "I am deeply touched of this. They told me that for many many years, they don't dance. This evening, they are very happy like children." Sabatini described the song as "music from heaven" making everyone in the audience feel as if they were "in the sky near God."

In August 2016, delegates from the three organizations presented cultural performances in the 52nd International Folklore Festival of Gulpilhares in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, with over 2,000 people in attendance. Delfim Manuel de Sousa , director of cultural affairs of Vila Nova de Gaia, said that his heart was filled with love and caring after the delegation's journey of peace to his city. He stated that he wished to give each member of the group a bear hug because they are more than just friends to him.

In 2005, during the "World Summit of Love and Peace" hosted by FOWPAL in New York, Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze declared September 15 as the International Love and Peace Day. The then President of the Dominican Republic Leonel Fernandez attended the summit and was the first head of state to sign the declaration. He and Dr. Hong jointly turned the "Key to the World," symbolizing the activation of more energy of love and peace in the world. On that occasion, President Fernandez rang the " Bell of World Peace and Love ," made a wish for peace, and said, "For me, it's been a great experience." "What you are projecting, what you are disseminating around the world is really what the world needs. So instead of violence, instead of hatred, instead of exclusion, I think we should embrace each other as brothers and sisters," he added.

In 2008, when Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela were on the brink of war, President Fernandez took the initiative to mediate a peace agreement among the three countries, successfully defusing a potential war, saving millions of people from the scourge of war, fulfilling his wish for peace when ringing the Bell.

In 2002, FOWPAL was invited to visit various countries in West Africa. The then President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade rang the " Bell of World Peace and Love ," stating that "Senegal, its people, its government and president launch a call to all women and men of the world to build and consolidate peace in the world." In 2008, President Wade also turned the wish he made when ringing the Bell into actions by calling for unity and peace in the African region. In March 2008, President Wade coordinated and successfully promoted the signing of a peace agreement between the heads of state of Sudan and Chad, ending a five-year war between the two neighboring countries and saving countless lives. The efforts of these presidents to prevent wars have been widely lauded.

Over the years, Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze has led FOWPAL, AWC, and Tai Ji Men to promote a culture of peace with love and conscience around the world. The three organizations initiated the movement of An Era of Conscience in 2014. They also launched a global endorsement campaign for the Declaration for the Movement of An Era of Conscience ; to date, people in 195 nations have endorsed it.

Beginning in 2018, FOWPAL collaborated with various Permanent Missions to the United Nations on a draft resolution titled "Promoting the Culture of Peace with Love and Conscience." In 2019, Dr. Hong launched a global endorsement campaign for the Declaration of International Day of Conscience , which has been endorsed by people from 195 countries. On July 25, 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted the draft resolution "Promoting the Culture of Peace with Love and Conscience, designating April 5 as the International Day of Conscience .

In addition to the aforementioned two declarations of conscience, Dr. Hong also proclaimed several significant declarations, including "Love of the World, A Declaration of Peace," "Peace Declaration," "Declaration of Human Rights for World Citizens," and "Declaration of International Love and Peace Day." Dr. Hong launched global endorsement campaigns for these four declarations, known collectively as the " Declarations for Human Rights of World Citizens and Peace ,' which have been endorsed by more than 3.73 million people from 173 nations.

As Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze stated in his message for the third International Day of Conscience, "Currently, the world situation is precarious, with the pandemic, war, and many unforeseeable natural and man-made disasters claiming countless lives and destroying homes, plunging the whole world into fear and anxiety." "The key to crisis resolution lies in conscience," Dr. Hong remarked, adding that only by awakening everyone's conscience and encouraging them to act in accordance with their conscience will we be able to stop war, end the pandemic, heal the wounds of the Earth and all living things, and lead the world toward peace.

The world was originally very beautiful; however, due to the increasingly advanced technology, there has been an imbalance in people's hearts and disorder in the world, causing innocent and good hearts to gradually change. While previous problems have yet to be resolved, new ones are emerging, and now we must work together and take action for peace together immediately. FOWPAL invites everyone to endorse the aforementioned declarations to build a new culture of peace around the world, hoping that the butterfly effect of goodness will continue to expand globally, and that everyone will return to a peaceful world where there is no pain, no fear, no war, and no suffering.

About the Federation of World Peace and Love: Established in 2000 in the United States by Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze, FOWPAL is an international love and peace organization, with members from around the world. Guided by the principle of "Changing the world for the better starting with one good thought," it aims to promote world peace and love through various activities such as world summits of love and peace, ceremonies of ringing the "Bell of World Peace and Love ," and cultural exchange performances . To date, 399 prominent figures from 122 countries have rung the Bell, made their wishes for love and peace, and pledged to work for the world's sustainable future. Among them are 43 heads of state and government, seven Nobel Peace Prize laureates, UN ambassadors, and other visionary leaders.

Media Contact:

Lily Chen

Representative

info@fowpal.org

626-202-5268

www.fowpal.org

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d498e29f-17df-4f8c-b368-7e1a38f14107



The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.
Conjura, a Dublin, Ireland-based e-commerce data analytics platform, raised 15m in Series A funding.

The round was co-led by Act Venture Capital and MiddleGame Ventures, with participation from Tribal VC.

The company intends to use the capital to enhance its e-commerce solutions, to broaden its UK and Ireland operations and to expand into several international markets.

Led by Fran Quilty, CEO and co-founder, Conjura provides an e-commerce data analytics platform by equipping businesses of all sizes with enhanced visibility over their entire operations on a single cloud-based platform, as opposed to multiple and disconnected tools. Its real-time analysis combines data from fulfillment, warehousing, and supply chain sources, with online/offline sales and marketplace transactions and customer metrics to provide automated insights and recommendations across every aspect of e-commerce to accelerate overall business performance.

Companies are able to compare their business performance against industry standards, receive deep-dive reporting to highlight their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth, as well as make smart decisions across all departments based on a 360-degree view of their operations. Conjura integrates with all leading e-commerce tools and systems, providing a scalable and fully integrated data infrastructure for businesses.

The company is working with fast-growing brands such Naturecan, Wild, Saint+Sofia, Percival, CleanCo, across multiple e-commerce sectors.

FinSMEs

26/04/2022
Mirai Flight, a London, UK-based provider of a service for instant booking of charter flights, raised $3M in funding.

The round was led by Xploration Capital, whose Managing Partner Igor Kim will join the Board of Directors.



The company intends to use the funds to use the funds to scale the service in the UK, Europe, United Arab Emirates, and the CIS states, marketing, and platform development.



Led by CEO Irakli Litanishvili, Mirai Flights is a service for booking private jets in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Central Asia. The service helps clients to choose a suitable time and place of departure with an option to select the class of the aircraft, price, number of passengers, comfort level and instant payment method.

Mirai Flights cooperates with 8 private airlines from the CIS, Germany, Malta, and Romania, adding 3-5 airlines every month to the service.

Today, the app is available in 63 countries and has over 200 active users.



FinSMEs

26/04/2022
QuotaPath, a Philadelphia, PA and Austin, Texas-based commissions tracking and automation solution for sales and revenue teams, raised $41m in Series B funding.

The round led by Tribe Capital, with participation from existing investors Insight Partners, ATX Venture Partners, Stage 2 Capital and Integr8d Capital.

The company intends to use the funds to expand its global team, deepen its investment in technical strategy, expand its product portfolio, providing its paid users with more tools to track, automate and optimize compensation strategies, and integrate with CRMs, ERPs and payroll software.

Co-founded by CEO AJ Bruno, Eric Heydenberk and Cole Evetts, QuotaPath provides a commissions tracking and automation solution for sales and revenue teams across all industries.

The company plans to build an ecosystem of partners that includes integrations with additional CRMs, ERP and payroll programs. This will allow the platform to house the entire commission process, beginning with plan modeling and ending in payment of commissions. In addition to technical upgrades and integration plans later this year, QuotaPath will focus on partnering with customers on compensation plan strategy and design.

FinSMEs

26/04/2022
Xinvento, an Amsterdam, Netherlands-based biotech company, raised a Seed funding of undisclosed amount.

Backers included Ed Kaye, John Maraganore, David Meeker, Hans Schikan, James Shannon, Onno van de Stolpe, Daniel de Boer and Dinko Valerio.

The company intends to use the funds to design and test its proprietary molecules in the relevant pre-clinical models to identify potential drug candidates.



Led by CEO Claudine van der Sande, Xinvento aims to alleviate the difficulties associated with Congenital Hyperinsulinism (CHI) by developing an effective treatment to overcome the current difficulties of limited effective treatment options available to patients.

Congenital Hyperinsulinism (CHI) is a rare disease characterized by hypoglycemia (hypos) resulting from an over-secretion of insulin and is the most frequent cause of severe, random, and persistent hypos in newborns and children. Without proper and immediate treatment to prevent hypos, the patient may suffer seizures, coma, permanent brain damage, or even death.

Piet Wigerinck, a translational chemistry expert, former CSO of Galapagos, is the scientific co-founder leading the R&D efforts of the company.



FinSMEs

26/04/2022
Namibia has made significant progress through project announcements, the signing of deals and adjusted policies to kickstart a green hydrogen boom both domestically and across the southern African region.

Rich with renewable energy resources and focused on accelerating energy access and economic growth, the country has partnered with international and regional stakeholders to develop large-scale green hydrogen facilities that will be used both domestically and regionally. But why has this resource emerged as a point of focus in Namibia and what will its development bring? This very concept was the topic of discussion during a green hydrogen panel at the Namibia International Energy Conference in Windhoek on Thursday April 21.

Moderated by Sophie Masipa, Co-Founder, Mwungano ESG, speakers on the panel included James Mynupe, Presidential Economic Advisor, Namibian Presidency; Ipeleng Selele, Group CEO, RRS Trade and Investment; Helena-Tashiya Walenga, Business and Project Developer, HDF Energy Namibia; and Dr Jane Olwoch  Executive Director, Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management.

During the session, the panel brought attention to why green hydrogen is so important for Namibia. Speakers discussed how the country has positioned itself as an attractive green hydrogen destination and what steps need to be taken to ensure the country is now competitive for green hydrogen development.

It is not just for ensuring Namibia gets on a green or just transition, but we wanted to use this as an opportunity. There is a need for Namibia to change its economic structure. We are very much an export driven economy, exporting raw materials. We really want to start focusing on the manufacturing aspects of our economy, stated Mynupe, adding that, We are looking at crafting a whole new synthetic fuels act that will be one of the most competitive around the world. Countries like the US are considering a post-tax credit mechanism that could lower their cost of hydrogen from $3.09 to below a dollar. Even though Namibia will have a superior resource, just that mechanism or tax act reduces our competitiveness. For Africans looking at developing this industry, you have to have an enabling environment.

Extending on Mynupes notion that green hydrogen represents an opportunity in Namibia, both Walenga and Selele emphasized how the resource can be used to tackle energy poverty as well as intermittency challenges associated with renewable technologies including wind and solar.

According to Walenga, We develop strategic technologies such as gas-to-power and power-to-power which can be utilized in solving some of the challenges we have with regards to electricity. Most of the time we look to intermittent energy resources because they are cheap. But it is just a matter of time when wind and solar becomes a challenge because of their intermittency. The future is now. For so long hydrogen was considered for 2030 or beyond, but things are moving fast, and the youth are onboard. We must Namibianize and localize as much as possible.

Selele added that, What is critical is the skills development. What we did and will continue to do is be in tune with our realities. While we understand the enablers, it is important that we are in tune with the challenges we are facing. We have inequality and declining economic growth; these issues are being compiled. Lets be in tune with our realities so when we negotiate terms they will be in line with our realities.

Meanwhile, with a global focus having been placed on climate change mitigation and the role new technologies such as green hydrogen will play, the panel discussed what needs to be done to ensure that adequate and comprehensive information is available regarding Africas climate crisis, energy transition and socioeconomic needs. In this respect, Olwoch emphasized the need for data, particularly regarding the development of green hydrogen in countries such as Namibia.

We need data, data that is regular, timely and produced in the best possible way and that is enough to get what we have to do. Africa can be described as a data poor continent. This is what we must focus on regarding the advancement of green hydrogen, stated Olwoch, adding that, Data has to be collected locally and archived and processed and reprocessed. My focus is on research and capacity development when it comes to green hydrogen. Our universities have inadequate funding. Fund researchers and institutions so that we can fund our own future using our own data. We must strengthen innovation as we go into this industrial revolution. There is a gap we must fill and that is strengthening research.

The panel on green hydrogen serves as a form of prelude to discussions expected to be held at the continents premier energy event, African Energy Week (AEW) 2022  set to take place from October 18-21 in Cape Town. AEW 2022 will hold a dedicated Hydrogen Summit, expanding on the very discussions held during the Namibia International Energy Conference this week. The Hydrogen Summit will focus on emerging green hydrogen destinations including Namibia, and represents the ideal platform for new deals to be signed that will fast track Africas green hydrogen boom.

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Hong Kong: Patrick Nip views home vaccination

The citywide home vaccination service began today. Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip visited Siu Sai Wan Estate to inspect the door-to-door vaccination process for elderly people.

Three elderly people, aged 75 to 94, were the first to benefit after the expansion of the service across Hong Kong. The vaccination process was carried out smoothly. There were also volunteers on-site to assist.

Mr Nip said as of last night, about 7,900 people had registered for the service since bookings started a week ago. There were 20 teams from various medical organisations and groups today providing door-to-door vaccinations in Eastern District.

He said the bureau will launch the door-to-door vaccination service in Sai Kung District on Thursday and will progressively increase the daily number of outreach teams to speed up the progress of vaccination.

Mr Nip appealed to people with special needs, adopting a wait-and-see attitude, to register as early as possible.

Unvaccinated elderly persons aged 70 or above and persons with impaired mobility due to illness or physical disability can register for the free door-to-door Sinovac vaccination service online or by calling 5688 5234.

The service is being rolled out by district, with four or five districts being served each week.

The outreach teams will contact the applicants before they arrive and staff will wear a green uniform shirt while on duty for easy identification.

This story has been published on: 2022-04-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China to work with international community for implementation of Global Security Initiative: FM

Xinhua) 10:09, April 26, 2022

BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China stands ready to work with the international community to make sure the Global Security Initiative takes root and bears fruit to make the world more peaceful, secure and prosperous, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

"The initiative, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, contributes Chinese wisdom to make up for the human peace deficit and provides Chinese solution to cope with international security challenges," Wang said in a bylined article carried by People's Daily published Sunday.

Wang said, the initiative responds to the urgent need of the international community to maintain world peace and prevent conflicts and wars, conforms to the common pursuit of all countries in the world to uphold multilateralism and maintain international solidarity, and responds to the common aspiration of people from all countries to overcome difficulties and create a better post-pandemic world.

With a complete system and rich connotation, this initiative is an important application achievement of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy in the field of international security, and it is also a sublation and transcendence of Western geopolitical security theory, Wang said.

The Global Security Initiative champions commitments in six areas, that is, to stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security; stay committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries; stay committed to abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; stay committed to peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation; stay committed to maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains.

Wang added that the initiative is also rooted in the diplomatic tradition and wisdom with unique Chinese characteristics. As a responsible major country, China has always upheld the banner of peace, development, and win-win cooperation, made positive contributions to safeguarding global peace and security, and set an example of a major country.

Wang introduced the major propositions and policy objectives proposed by China to fully implement the Global Security Initiative:

-- Firmly upholding the authority and status of the United Nations and jointly practicing the true multilateralism;

-- Staying committed to the general direction of promoting peace talks and jointly working for political solutions to hotspot issues;

-- Coordinating efforts to address security threats in both traditional and non-traditional areas and working together to improve the global security governance system;

-- Taking into account both development and security, and jointly promoting strong recovery of the world economy;

-- Striving for building a new regional security framework and jointly safeguarding peace and stability in Asia.

Wang noted that China is ready to join hands with all peace-loving and development-oriented countries and people to implement the Global Security Initiative, blaze a path toward lasting peace and universal security, and forge a strong synergy to build a community with a shared future for humanity.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Following the installation of a whole body scanning facility at the SSR International Airport, the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) has detected its first case of suspected corporeal concealment of drugs.

The Customs Anti-Narcotics Section (CANS) of the MRA intercepted two passengers at the SSR International Airport, on Friday 22 April 2022. They arrived in Mauritius on board Kenya Airways flight KQ 270 from Nairobi, Kenya.

The two passengers aged 38 and 46 respectively, were leaving through the Green Channel when they were intercepted by MRA CANS officers. The two passengers were subject to a body search and an examination of their luggage was carried out, but nothing incriminating was found.

A body scan was eventually, carried out on both passengers and their body scanning images revealed the presence of foreign bodies in their stomachs, suspected to be dangerous drugs. Upon questioning, both passengers confessed having swallowed a number of pellets each.

The passengers were handed over to ADSU for medical examination and follow up.

After the necessary medical examination, the two passengers purged 119 pellets of drug suspected to be heroin.

Members of the public are reminded that they may report suspected drug cases/ illicit activities to the MRA through the MRA Stop Drug Platform (www.mra.mu) or by calling on the Hotline 8958.

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A former Oregon State University faculty member accused of committing multiple sex crimes in Virginia was taken into custody Wednesday, April 20 in preparation for extradition.

The Benton County Sheriffs Office arrested Brett Merrick Tyler, 66, on suspicion of being a fugitive from justice. According to Oregons online court database, Tyler is to be held in custody until he is extradited to Virginia.

Tyler was the director of the Center for Quantitative Life Sciences at OSU. He started working at the university in January 2012 and resigned from the university, effective Nov. 30, 2021.

According to court documents, Tyler is accused of two counts of forcible sodomy, two counts of taking indecent liberties with children and one count of aggravated sexual battery. Court documents allege the victim was younger than 13. The alleged crimes are said to have taken place in Virginia.

Tyler was booked into Benton County Jail on Oct. 7, 2021 for reportedly being a fugitive of justice, according to court paperwork, due to the out-of-state sex crime accusations.

In October, Montgomery County Commonwealths Attorney Mary Pettitt told Mid-Valley Media the crimes are alleged to have been committed between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2009, in Montgomery County.

Paperwork filed with Benton County Circuit Court this week shed more light on the accusations.

The alleged abuse

According to an affidavit from an officer with the Blacksburg Police Department, on Aug. 12, 2021, the victim of Tylers alleged crimes came forward to follow up on a previous report he had made regarding sexual abuse accusations against Tyler. The victim said he was a child living in Blacksburg, Virginia at the time of the incidents.

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The affidavit explains that Tyler had frequent access to the victim and the alleged abuse took place over multiple years.

After deciding to confront Tyler, the victim told police Tyler confessed to him about the alleged abuse. This conversation took place during two separate occasions, according to the affidavit, and the victim recorded the second instance, reportedly provided police with the recording.

The arrest and extradition

Montgomery County Magistrate Robert Keller issued a warrant for Tylers arrest Oct. 7.

After local authorities arrested Tyler, he posted bail and was released. He returned into custody following an April 20 court hearing in which Benton County Circuit Court Judge Joan Demarest ordered Tyler to be held in jail until he is extradited to Virginia.

The extradition has required the requests and approval of multiple agencies.

On Dec. 9, Pettitt submitted an application to Ralph Northam, who was governor of Virginia at the time, for the return of Tyler.

On Jan. 10, in a letter to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Northam respectfully demanded that Tyler be apprehended and delivered to the state of Virginia.

Three days later on Jan. 13, Brown signed a warrant authorizing and commanding that Tyler be taken into custody and delivered to Virginia.

According to BCSO Undersheriff Don Rogers, Tyler wasnt taken back into custody in preparation for extradition until April simply because he didnt have his extradition court hearing until April 20.

The department does not share details or dates regarding extradition due to safety concerns, Roger said in an email.

Maddie Pfeifer covers public safety for Mid-Valley Media. She can be contacted at 541-812-6091 or Madison.Pfeifer@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter via @maddiepfeifer_

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The Lebanon Fire District performed a low-angle rope rescue early Tuesday morning, April 26 following a vehicle crash, according to a news release.

At around 6:30 a.m., crews responded to reports of a vehicle crash down the embankment of the Santiam River, just off of Berlin Road. The first responders on site made contact with the driver, who was uninjured, according to LFD.

The driver was unable to exit his car because of a large oak branch that pinned the driver door shut.

Rescue 31 was called to the scene, and the low-angle rescue crews were able to safely remove the driver through the passenger side door. They transported the driver up the embankment using a Stokes litter, the basket often seen in hillside rescues, according to the news release.

The rescue team consisted of two rope technicians and one operations personnel.

Medics evaluated the driver, who decided he did not need transportation to a hospital. Crews left the driver in the care of some family members, fire officials said.

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English French

Voltalia (Euronext Paris, ISIN code: FR0011995588), an international player in renewable energies, announces that it has won two solar sites located in the Oriental region for a total of 117 megawatts

In 2021 the Moroccan Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development and MASEN, the agency in charge of implementing the national renewable energy strategy, jointly launched a call for tenders for an allocation programme for seven sites, all of which qualify for the development of photovoltaic projects thanks to land rights and connection to the national grid. This programme aims to accelerate the development of private solar projects within the framework of Law 58-15 on renewable energy in Morocco.

In this context, Voltalia was awarded the largest volume with 117 megawatts out of a total of 400 megawatts offered, spread over two sites: Ain Beni Mathar (69 megawatts) and Guercif (48 megawatts). These two sites will cover the energy needs equivalent to the annual consumption of 290,000 inhabitants. Construction is scheduled to start at the end of 2023. Revenues will be guaranteed by long-term electricity sales contracts, to be concluded with private customers connected to the public electricity grid.

Gaining these sites consolidates Voltalia's presence in Morocco. In operation since 2015, Voltalia's Moroccan team is dedicated to supporting the national energy transition, particularly through the supply of renewable energy to companies located in the country. To date, Voltalia has nearly 100 megawatts of authorised projects, mainly in wind and hydro-electricity, and more than 400 megawatts under development, mainly solar.

"We are very pleased to have won these sites in Morocco. These future photovoltaic power plants will contribute to the decarbonisation of energy by avoiding the emission of approximately 200,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere," said Sebastien Clerc, CEO of Voltalia.

Next on the agenda: Annual General Meeting 2022, on May 17, 2022 at 3 pm CET

About Voltalia (www.voltalia.com) Voltalia is an international player in the renewable energy sector. The Group produces and sells electricity generated from wind, solar, hydraulic, biomass and storage facilities that it owns and operates. Voltalia has generating capacity in operation and under construction of more than 2 GW and a portfolio of projects under development representing total capacity of 11.1 GW.



Voltalia is also a service provider and supports its investor clients in renewable energy projects during all phases, from design to operation and maintenance.



As a pioneer in the corporate market, Voltalia provides a global offer to private companies, ranging from the supply of green electricity and energy efficiency services to the local production of their own electricity.



The Group has more than 1,300 employees and is present in 20 countries on 3 continents and is able to act worldwide on behalf of its clients.



Voltalia is listed on the regulated market of Euronext Paris, compartment B (FR0011995588  VLTSA) and is part of the Enternext Tech 40 and CAC Mid & Small indices. The Group is also included in the Gaia-Index, an index for socially responsible midcaps. Loan Duong, Head of Communications & Investor relations

Email: invest@voltalia.com

T. +33 (0)1 81 70 37 00 Actifin

Press Contact: Jennifer Jullia

jjullia@actifin.fr . T. +33 (0)1 56 88 11 11

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ST. LOUIS, April 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Generation USA has partnered with the University of Missouri-St. Louis to bring tuition-free access to career training tech bootcamps in the St. Louis community.

The Junior Full Stack Developer Program, which opens its first cohort on May 18, is made possible by the Verizon Skill Forward Initiative, a workforce development program designed in partnership with Generation USA. The program provides free online training and assists workers who are unemployed, underemployed, facing job displacement due to automation or further challenged by the pandemic.

"We are excited to announce that the University of Missouri-St. Louis is entering a new partnership with Verizon and Generation USA to serve the St. Louis community and beyond by providing accessible opportunities for training while opening a nontraditional pathway into the IT field," said Natissia Small, vice provost for access, academic support, and workforce integration in Academic Affairs at the University of Missouri-St Louis. "Our collaborative workforce integration efforts will continue to demonstrate a commitment to inclusive prosperity while providing unique opportunities in partnership with corporations like Verizon/Generation USA, who are committed to our mission of transforming lives and supporting economic growth in this region."

As part of the Verizon Skill Forward initiative, Generation USA and USML will offer students the opportunity to learn all they need to be successful as a Junior Full Stack Java Developer - from the technical knowledge to the soft skills that will help them achieve their potential. Verizon Skill Forward is a key initiative of Citizen Verizon, the company's responsible business plan.

"With the rapid growth in technology, and more on the horizon, employers and governments are looking for innovative ways to increase the technology workforce," said UMSL Professor Cezary Janikow, who chairs the Department of Computer Science. "Partnerships between education and business are the trending solutions, already in existence in some other countries. At UMSL, Computer Science is standing up to the challenge to participate in the new workforce development. We are also revising our curricula to provide more and better opportunities to integrate such training with work and further education opportunities."

"We're thrilled to partner with UMSL to empower its students to create a unique new pathway to career success," said Richard Clemmon, Generation USA COO. "These programs will not only provide students with the knowledge and skills needed for jobs in the digital world but, through mentorship and social support services, they'll have the opportunity to learn from others who have been in their shoes before."

In addition to the Junior Full Stack Developer program, Generation offers a myriad of online reskilling programs that provide free resources and access to multiple career pathways and full-time employment opportunities in high-demand technology sectors.

For more information on the program or to apply, prospective participants and interested employers can visit the information site here.

About Generation

Generation is a nonprofit that transforms education to employment systems to prepare, place and support people into life-changing careers that would otherwise be inaccessible. The global pandemic has led to an unprecedented surge in unemployment. Even before the pandemic, more than 75 million young adults were out of work globally and three times as many were underemployed  and 375 million workers of all ages needed to learn new skills by 2030. At the same time, certain jobs remain in high demand and 40 percent of employers say a skills shortage leaves them with entry-level vacancies. To date, more than 38,000 people have graduated from Generation programs, which prepare them for meaningful careers in 14 countries. Generation works with more than 3,900 employer partners and many implementation partners and funders. For more, visit usa.generation.org.

About UMSL

The University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) is the largest public research university in eastern Missouri, and the third-largest in the state, priding itself on creating greater access to higher education and opportunity for its nearly 16,000 diverse students. UMSL confers more than 3,000 degrees annually and offers a wide range of baccalaureate and master's degrees, two education specialist degrees and 17 doctoral degrees, including the only professional doctor of optometry program in Missouri. Established in 1963 as the fourth campus of the University of Missouri System, UMSL boasts more than 108,000 alumni, 73 percent of whom live and work in the St. Louis region.

About Citizen Verizon

Citizen Verizon is the company's responsible business plan for economic, environmental and social advancement. Citizen Verizon empowers Verizon to deliver on its mission to move the world forward through action by expanding digital access and resources, protecting the climate, and ensuring people have the skills needed for jobs of the future. Through Citizen Verizon, and the key pillars of Digital Inclusion, Climate Protection and Human Prosperity, the company's responsible business goals include providing 10 million youths with digital skills training by 2030, supporting 1 million small businesses with resources to help them thrive in the digital economy by 2030, achieving net zero emissions in its operations by 2035, and preparing 500,000 individuals for jobs of the future by 2030. Learn more at CitizenVerizon.com.

UMSL Media Contact

Steve Walentik, Director of Public Relations/Content, University of Missouri-St. Louis

314-516-6690

walentiks@umsl.edu

Generation Media Contact

Dan Johnson

dan.johnson@newswire.com

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Image 1: Generation USA Students









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SANFORD, Fla., April 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hoverfly Technologies, Inc. is excited to announce the grand opening of its new state-of-the-art headquarters in Sanford, FL. The transition to the new stand-alone facility has optimized R&D, flight testing, and engineering to continue to improve LiveSky tethered UAS for federal, security, and commercial customers. The grand opening of the new office in Sanford, FL, comes on the heels of the grand opening of the Product Verification Test Facility (PVTF) in Wright City, MO, and the Maritime Facility in Virginia Beach, VA.

"Hoverfly Technologies continues to grow as customer orders increase year over year. The new facility in Sanford presents great opportunity for our workforce and our customer for the years to come. This facility and the Sanford community was a natural fit for our culture that is based on fostering an environment that encourages innovative ideas across the organization," Steve Walters, President and Chief Operating Officer.

The rapid expansion of the Hoverfly footprint is largely in part due to the rapidly growing customer base in the defense and security industries. Hoverfly LiveSky remains the premier tethered drone option for both stationary and on-the-move operations, allowing integration for both manned/unmanned vehicles and maritime vessels. Now with over 60 employees, the new facility gives the company adequate space to continue to grow to support its increasing order backlog.

"For this locally-rooted company, remaining in the Central Florida technology corridor was a big priority and proof that technologies born out of the University of Central Florida incubator program can achieve successful transition into early-stage start-up and beyond," Kevin S. Cochie, Chief Strategy Officer, UCF College of Engineering '94 & '05.

Press Contact:

Tyler Marple

tyler.marple@hoverflytech.com

hoverflytech.com

407-985-4500

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Image 1: Hoverfly Technologies, Inc.





New Hoverfly Office in Sanford, FL









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TALLINN, Estonia, April 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DAO based DEX is the way forward for cryptocurrency platforms with several projects embracing decentralisation, the migration from centralisation to decentralisation is seemingly bringing a wave of change to the cryptosphere.



While the crypto economy still contemplates the potential of DAO, GokuMarket, a centralised exchange from Europe, migrated with full force to being a DAO-focused decentralised exchange. The platform was launched as a traditional marketplace for the blockchain economy with simple wallet services back in 2019 and grew to a community of 1 million users in no time.

Why Migrating to DAO based DEX?

GokuMarket is focused on creating a transparent and community-driven platform; however, complete autonomy was rather challenging to achieve for a centralised European licensed platform. GokuMarket remodelled its CEX to a DAO-based DEX primarily to create a 100% governance-based platform that is not managed by anyone but the community.

GokuMarket aims to safeguard the community's interest by migrating to DAO-based

Decentralised Exchange by leaving no space for centralised management or intermediaries. The governance model will allow holders of GMC to make proposals and suggest upgrades within the platform. The governance layer also covers the revenue share of the platform. This means revenue generated from the GokuMarket modules of Swap, Voting, Price Prediction & Lottery will be distributed among the members of the DAO. With the transition, GokuMarket would become a non-custodial platform, meaning that they would not hold their user's funds, making the platform truly sovereign.

Anyone can become a member of the GokuMarketDAO by pledging the platform's governance and utility token, GMC. Any member of the DAO will be able to propose a change by using GMC. DAO Foundation is a consortium of up to 21 members, who will review and ensure any initiated proposal follows the DAO proposal guidelines. Nine DAO Directors will be chosen on the 1st of every month based on the highest pledged GMCs. These Directors will also hold voting power on proposals together with the entire DAO Community.

How will this benefit the users and projects?

The migration has been done, keeping in mind the best interest of projects and the community. Both the community and the projects will operate with increased transparency and less regulatory formalities in general. Apart from this, the addition of features like DeFi, NFT, and Metaverse Guilds will broadly open opportunities for project owners, users, creators, and gamers.

GokuMarket's transition to a DAO-based DEX platform will give projects and users a free hand they crave in the space. With GokuMarket DeFi, users can explore products like Farming, Pool, Swaps, Lottery, Market Price Prediction, NFT and Voting. Users can also trade Crypto & NFTs or Swap their assets; participate in Pools and Farms to earn more; try their luck with Lottery, or flex their market understanding with Market Price Prediction.

GokuMarket's shift from centralisation to decentralisation says a lot about the growing crypto space and how users are truly set at the heart of the platform. Decentralisation enables full ownership to a user and is reciprocated by loyalty and accountability towards the platform.

Platforms like GokuMarket are bringing along the expertise of centralised finance and setting the foundations of a truly decentralised space.

Learn more at Whitepaper: https://docs.gokumarket.com

Social links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GokuMarket

Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/AAAAAEqTU53--hYUflsdiA

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gokumarket/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuPj-EJfPshor3dSfRm4QrA/

Media Contact

Brand: GokuMarket OU

Email: info@gokumarket.com

Website: https://gokumarket.com/

SOURCE: GokuMarket OU




English Norwegian

Aker Horizons, through its portfolio company Aker Clean Hydrogen, and Statkraft have signed collaboration agreements to jointly explore opportunities for green hydrogen and ammonia production in India and Brazil, targeting local steel and fertilizer industries.



The collaboration brings together Aker Clean Hydrogen, a global integrated hydrogen, ammonia and methanol producer building on Akers 180 years of industrial heritage, and Statkraft, a leading developer and generator of renewable energy with a substantial experience and presence in India and Brazil.



With considerable renewable energy production and market activities in India and Brazil, Statkraft is well positioned to capture green hydrogen opportunities in these two huge and important energy markets. Developing such opportunities helps us grow our business and reduces greenhouse gas emissions in India and Brazil, said Jurgen Tzschoppe, Executive Vice President International Power of Statkraft.

Emissions from the steel and ammonia industries contribute to close to 9 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions and are classified as hard-to-abate sectors. Green hydrogen provides an emission-free alternative to decarbonizing these industrial sectors and an opportunity to increase security of supply of the two commodities.

Cooperation in India

Aker Clean Hydrogen and Statkraft have agreed to explore joint development opportunities of fully-integrated renewable power generation and green hydrogen production in India, targeting domestic hard-to-abate industries such as the steel industry, as well as ammonia for domestic use and export. The steel industry in India produces about 100 million tonnes of steel annually. In India, green hydrogen can be used to replace grey, fossil fuel-based hydrogen, coal and natural gas as fuel and feedstock. This will significantly reduce CO2 emissions, while bolstering the countrys energy security, making it less vulnerable to energy market volatility.



India currently consumes approximately 7 million tonnes of grey hydrogen per year, making it the worlds second largest hydrogen consumer. The countrys current hydrogen demand is expected to reach approximately 12 million tonnes by 2030 and about 28 million tonnes by 2050. Indias commitment to reach net zero by 2070, announced during the 26th UN Climate Change Conference, will further increase green hydrogen demand in one of the fastest growing economies in the world.



Cooperation in Brazil

In Brazil, Aker Clean Hydrogen, Statkraft and Sowitec, a company specializing in developing renewable wind and solar assets, aim to jointly develop power-to-X projects in the state of Bahia. The first project opportunity being pursued is a large-scale hybrid project, which combines renewable power generation, and hydrogen and ammonia production for the local fertilizer industry.



Brazil is the worlds fourth largest consumer of fertilizers, accounting for about 8 percent of global demand. Currently, the country imports more than 80 percent of its consumption. Recently the Brazilian government enacted their 2022-2050 National Fertilizer Plan, seeking to reduce the Brazilian dependency on imported fertilizers by, amongst other means, attracting and supporting foreign investments.



The state of Bahia has favorable renewable resources from wind and solar and a strong agricultural industry that imports large amounts of grey, fossil fuel-based fertilizers. Replacing imported grey ammonia with locally-produced green ammonia will support the decarbonization of the local agricultural industry and reduces import dependency, while creating new green industrial opportunities. The project is scheduled to be in commercial operation by 2027.



We are excited to join forces with Statkraft to accelerate the transition from grey to green solutions in India and Brazil, said Knut Nyborg, Chief Executive Officer of Aker Clean Hydrogen. The potential environmental benefits from decarbonizing hard-to-abate industries like the steel and ammonia industry in India and the fertilizer industry in Brazil are substantial. Both India and Brazil are large consumers of hydrogen, have supportive governmental policies and benefit from world-class renewable energy resources, which offers significant opportunities for green hydrogen and ammonia production.

About Statkraft

Statkraft is a leading company in hydropower internationally and Europes largest generator of renewable energy. The Group produces hydropower, wind power, solar power, gas-fired power and supplies district heating. Statkraft is a global company in energy market operations. Statkraft has 4,800 employees in 19 countries. www.statkraft.com

About Aker Clean Hydrogen

Aker Clean Hydrogen aims to develop, build, own and operate clean hydrogen production on an industrial scale. Aker Horizons is the majority shareholder of the company, and Aker Clean Hydrogen uses domain expertise across the Aker group, including systems integration, engineering, technology development, project implementation, digitalization and financial optimization to increase efficiency and reduce project costs. The company aims to reach a net installed capacity of 5 GW by 2030, and will make a major contribution to realizing the hydrogen industry and reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally. www.akercleanhydrogen.com

On 30 March 2022, Aker Clean Hydrogen and Aker Horizons announced a merger plan that will reposition Aker Clean Hydrogen as a privately held subsidiary of Aker Horizons. The merged entity will continue serving the fast-growing global markets for hydrogen, ammonia and methanol, building on ACHs portfolio of projects to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors.

Completion of the merger is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by the shareholders of ACH and the Board of Directors of Aker Horizons resolving to issue the consideration shares pursuant to a board authorization. Aker Horizons has undertaken to vote in favor of the merger at ACH's annual general meeting scheduled on 4 May 2022.



About Aker Horizons

Aker Horizons ASA is a planet-positive investment company dedicated to developing companies within renewable energy and other technologies that reduce emissions or promote sustainable living. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and majority-owned by Aker ASA. Aker Horizons investment portfolio includes Aker Carbon Capture, Aker Clean Hydrogen, Aker Offshore Wind and Mainstream Renewable Power. www.akerhorizons.com



About SOWITEC

As one of the leading global project developers for renewable energies, SOWITEC is active in 14 countries with a focus on the rapidly growing emerging and developing countries. With almost 160 employees, SOWITEC covers all areas of solar and wind power project development: from planning and conception, energy and profitability calculations, through construction management, sales and financing to the technical and commercial management of wind and solar parks. More than 60 wind and solar projects with over 3,100 MW developed by SOWITEC are currently in operation or under construction in eight countries, while additional 2,000 MW have been sold to final investors and are currently under final structuring.www.sowitec.com

For further information, please contact:

Lars Magnus Gunther, press spokesperson, Statkraft AS

Phone: +47 91 24 16 36

E-mail: lars.gunther@statkraft.com




Press Release

Nokia next-gen PON solution powers fiber optic network in Lucerne

Nokia fiber solution enables Energie Wasser Luzern to bring new ultra-broadband and smart metering services to business and residential customers

Next-generation broadband access solution offers futureproof support capabilities and technology selection flexibility

26 April 2022

Espoo, Finland - Nokia announced today that the Swiss energy services company, Energie Wasser Luzern (ewl), has deployed its next-generation PON fiber solution. Nokia is replacing the legacy network with the latest fiber access technology, providing a single network for business and residential customers, as well as for smart metering services. ewl selected this solution in collaboration with its subsidiary arcade solutions ag to meet the growing demand for more capacity, faster speeds, and world-class broadband services for its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Lucerne, Switzerland.

As Lucernes energy services company, ewl has delivered a modernized infrastructure for the fiber networks approximately 12,000 buildings, which are all connected to fiber for high-quality broadband services and smart metering, including water and electrical power measurement. In addition to providing these services to businesses and residential customers, not just within Lucerne but also to its suburbs, ewl will empower new economic opportunities and market competition.

Nokia has deployed its 7360 ISAM FX series high-capacity fiber access nodes which support GPON and XGS-PON technologies to deliver uncompromised performance and capacity to meet the needs of residential and business customers. The solution is ready for a smooth evolution to 25G PON and software-defined access networks (SDAN), which will futureproof the network. In addition, Nokia is providing professional services support for installation and maintenance.

Samuel Schnyder, CMO for arcade solutions, said: We needed a new access infrastructure based on modern PON technologies to meet ewls current and future requirements as a city network provider for Lucerne. We were challenged to provide services not only for residential and business customers, but also for smart metering over the same infrastructure. Nokia was able to provide us with a single solution that addressed different customer requirements in terms of QoS and bandwidth, and the required security regulations for smart metering.

Dominique Verhulst, global head of Utilities business for Nokia, said: As a modern energy services company that is broadening its offering with advanced metering and Internet services, ewls need for fast and reliable broadband is very high. ewl is a leader in this space, so we are excited to work with them to bring our expertise in building, operating, and renewing similar city networks from across Europe and North America."

Nokia is currently ranked #1 by DellOro Group in global XGS-PON shipments with more than 45% market share by end 2021. Nokia has more than 75 XGS-PON and more than 300 GPON customer deployments worldwide.

Nokia has deployed mission-critical networks to over 2200 leading enterprise customers in the transport, energy, large enterprise, manufacturing, webscale, and public sector segments around the globe. Leading enterprises across industries are leveraging decades of Nokia experience building some of the biggest and most advanced IP, optical and wireless networks on the planet.

Resources

About Nokia

We create technology that helps the world act together.

As a trusted partner for critical networks, we are committed to innovation and technology leadership across mobile, fixed, and cloud networks. We create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs.

Adhering to the highest standards of integrity and security, we help build the capabilities needed for a more productive, sustainable, and inclusive world.

For our latest updates, please visit us online at www.nokia.com and follow us on Twitter @nokia.

Media Inquiries:

Nokia Communications

Email: press.services@nokia.com
Pune, India, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global smartphone market size was pegged at USD 457.18 billion in 2021. The market is expected to rise from USD 484.81 billion in 2022 to USD 792.51 billion by 2029 at a 7.3% CAGR during the forecast period. The penetration of 5G network and AI will encourage leading companies to invest in the telecom sector. With a shift towards cloud storage, high-speed network and content subscription, major players could boost their portfolios across developed and developing economies.

Key Industry Development

August 2021: OPPO rolled out next-generation technology, under-screen camera (USC), for mobile handsets.





Request a Sample Copy of the Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/smartphone-market-100308





Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2022-2029 Forecast Period 2022 to 2029 CAGR 7.3% 2029 Value Projection USD 792.51 billion Base Year 2021 Market Size in 2021 USD 457.18 billion Historical Data for 2018-2020 No. of Pages 150 Segments covered Operating System, Distribution Channel, Geography Smartphone Market Drivers Increasing Adoption of Human-System Interaction to Bolster the Market Growth Ever-growing Demand for 5G-Compatible Smartphone to Add Impetus





Market Growth Drivers:

Trend for Digitization to Drive Innovation

Stakeholders anticipate the expansion of connectivity solutions to foster smartphone market growth during the forecast period. The trend for mobile phone connectivity has become pronounced across healthcare devices, fleet management operations, automobiles, infrastructure security systems and smart metering. Besides, governments and other stakeholders are likely to inject funds into digitization, prompting smartphone manufacturers to bolster their portfolios. Notably, in April 2021, Apple, Inc. announced an investment of around USD 430.00 billion to bolster 5G technology and silicon engineering in the U.S to underpin American innovation strategies for the next 5-years.





Click here to get the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this Market: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/smartphone-market-100308













Smartphone Market Segments Analysis

Based on the operating system, the market is segmented into iOS, android, windows and others.

In terms of the distribution channel, the industry is segregated into e-commerce, retailer and OEMs stores.

On the basis of region, the market is segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, South America and the Middle East and Africa.

Global Smartphone Market Segmentation:

By Operating System

Android

iOS

Windows

Others (Linux)

By Distribution Channel

OEMs stores

Retailer

E-commerce

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East and Africa

South America

Smartphone Market Regional Insights:

Expanding Telecom Sector to Foster Asia Pacific Market

Leading companies anticipate China, India and Australia to provide promising growth opportunities in the telecom sector. Bullish investments in the smartphone will remain a catalyst in driving the penetration of IoT and 5G. Leading companies are likely to launch innovative products in the ensuing period. In January 2022, Vivo Mobile Communication Co., Ltd rolled out V23 and V23 Pro in India and termed Indias 1st color-changing smartphone.

North America smartphone market share will garner a substantial uptick in the wake of presence of leading companies across the U.S. and Canada. To illustrate, in November 2021, Huawei Device Co., Ltd. asserted that it was contemplating releasing mobile handsets across Canada to offer better customer services. It is worth noting that the rising footfall of the e-commerce sector will remain instrumental in fostering product adoption.

Industry participants envisage Europe as a happy hunting ground owing to the investments in the automotive and telecom sectors. Specifically, in July 2020, SAMSUNG joined hands with the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Bundesdruckerei (bdr) and Deutsche Telekom Security GmbH to develop a hardware-based security architecture. Bullish strategies are likely to be pronounced with major companies likely to prioritize technological advancements.





Quick Buy: Smartphone Market Research Report:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/100308





Key companies profiled in the market are:

Apple Inc. (U.S.)

SAMSUNG (South Korea)

Oppo (China)

Huawei Device Co., Ltd. (China)

OnePlus (China)

Sony Group Corporation (Japan)

Xiaomi (China)

HTC Corporation (Taiwan)

Google LLC (U.S.)

ZTE Corporation (China)

Table of Content:

Introduction Definition, By Segment Research Methodology/Approach Data Sources

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Macro and Micro Economic Indicators Smartphone Market Trends, Drivers, Restraints and Opportunities Impact of COVID-19 Short-term Impact Long-term Impact

Competition Landscape Business Strategies Adopted by Key Players Consolidated SWOT Analysis of Key Players Global Smartphone Key Players Market Share Insights and Analysis, 2021

Global Smartphone Market Share Estimates and Forecasts (Quantitative Data), By Segments, 2018-2029 Key Findings By Operation System (USD) Android iOS Windows Others (Linux and Others) By Distribution Channel (USD) OEM Retailer E-commerce By Region (USD) North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa South America

North America Smartphone Market Size Estimates and Forecasts, By Segments, 2018-2029 Key Findings By Operation System (USD) Android iOS Windows Others (Linux and Others) By Distribution Channel (USD) OEM Retailer E-commerce By Country (USD) U.S. Canada Mexico

Europe Smartphone Market Size Estimates and Forecasts, By Segments, 2018-2029 Key Findings By Operation System (USD) Android iOS Windows Others (Linux and Others) By Distribution Channel (USD) OEM Retailer E-commerce By Country (USD) U.K. Germany France Italy Spain Russia Benelux Nordics Rest of Europe



TOC Continued!





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LOS ANGELES, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NFT release, DoggTalk: Gangsters & Lovers (DTGL), is a sci-fi and fantasy adventure at the edge of the metaverse. The collection features 13,333 rare NFTS on the Ethereum and OpenSea.io blockchain that explores the morals of love and violence in a world ruled by the Doggs living in Doggtopia on Planet XXXX in 2777.

The DoggTalk NFT includes over 120 assets all with rarities of eight different breeds of canines  1670 Doggs. Each Dogg breeds have a unique personality and choice to be a gangster or a lover.

Early collectors can Whitelist on DTGL's website for first dibs on the collection. DoggTalk: Gangsters & Lovers will launch May 15. To stand out, the leadership of DoggTalk NFT, introduces a new class of NFTs called "True Value NFTs" that integrates a collection of in real life, IRL, utilities that provides collectors with the highest return on investment and exclusive membership benefits.

It will also include quarterly utility drops of limited edition products  music releases, exclusive VIP member events, food, collector's editions of spirits, one-of-a-kind apparel and THC/CBD products, all with up to 50% retail.

"It's time to connect the digital and physical universe with collectibles and products," said Emery Morrison, Co-Founder of DoggTalk NFT and CampNova. "The value of owning a digital NFT tied to a physical product, multiple utilities in our case, is the next evolution of NFTs."

DTGL's NFT release follows CampNova's January partnership launch of the Crypto Cannabis Club's brand which introduced the NFToker community to IRL premium cannabis products delivered throughout the state of California.

"CampNova has always dedicated itself to being cutting edge and staying ahead of the trend," said Marvin Wilcher, Co-Founder of DoggTalk NFT and CampNova. "We have seen tremendous success in our NFT IRL utility collaborations. We thought it was perfect timing to release our own."

About DoggTalk Gangsters & Lovers: DoggTalk Gangsters & Lovers, DTGL, is the latest NFT to enter the metaverse from the developers of tech lifestyle platform CampNova. By breaking the fourth wall, the DoggTalk NFT innovates the blockchain by providing the NFT community with net value in real life, IRL utilities that include unique experiences and investment opportunities.

DoggTalk NFT is a sci-fi/fantasy adventure of 13,280 extremely rare NFTs that explores the morals of love and violence in a world ruled by Doggs. In the Doggs' dog-eat-dog world, they are divided into eight different breeds of Doggs who either love, kill, or sometimes, both. Because their land is ruled by love or violence, there is always a grandiose demonstration of morality over the other. In the society of Doggtopia, every dogg must answer and live by the choice of being a lover or a gangster.



Join TWITTER and DISCORD.

CampNova Contact: B. Ramirez - bianca@campnova.biz  424-215-1915

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Image 1: Dogg Talk NFT





The DoggTalk NFT includes over 120 assets all with rarities of eight different breeds of canines  1670 Doggs. Each Dogg breeds have a unique personality and choice to be a gangster or a lover.









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AMSTERDAM, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Qualibrate, the leading SaaS solution for enterprise software delivery, revolutionizes SAP DevOps, helping businesses achieve greater productivity and revenue. As organizations embrace business and test automation, enterprises need rapid implementation to bring projects to life with efficient testing.

Gartner predicts the integration market is projected to grow by $32 billion by the end of 2025, scaling nearly 50% in five years alone. According to a new Forrester report, automation testing tools are expected to power significant market growth, driving revenues to $22 billion in 2025, up from $13.9 billion in 2021.

Emerging as the market leader in test automation, Qualibrate provides a friction-less process for businesses to integrate software for automation, disrupting the conventional approaches to documenting, training, and testing. Traditionally, software delivery was time-consuming, expensive, and lacked reusability. With Qualibrate reinventing quality assurance, individuals, teams, and organizations are empowered with the right automation technologies and tools to keep up with the high speed of digital transformation.

For clients like PVH Europe, a large Dutch retailer with a diversified portfolio of brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, business continuity was key as they migrated and uploaded thousands of assets. With Qualibrate, PVH Europe increased coverage and speed of their regression testing while also increasing data validation to 100% correctness and completeness, compared to the previous process of manually spot-checking 10% of loaded data.

"The business world is changing and continues to change at a rapid pace. Automating business and test processes is not just a necessity, but it is a requirement for large enterprises. Qualibrate's automated processes increase productivity by utilizing technology to connect teams, documents, and project management," said Alan Jimenez, Managing Director for Qualibrate.

With a simple user interface, powerful reporting, cost-effective cloud environments, and extensive integrations, Qualibrate enables agile teams to streamline software delivery to production. With a modern approach that transforms the way teams test, document, and train users, teams can leverage Qualibrate for an 80% increase in efficiency on testing and training while documenting business processes seven times faster than before.

For more information, please visit https://www.qualibrate.com.

About:

Qualibrate is the 3-in-1 SaaS solution for enterprise software delivery that transforms the way teams test, document, and train end users. It offers native support for automating tests on SAP applications and 40+ non-SAP technologies such as Salesforce, Microsoft, ServiceNow, Oracle Cloud Apps, Mendix, etc.

Qualibrate's Cloud test automation platform integrates natively with SAP Solution Manager Test Suite to extend the customer's capability to automate SAP and non-SAP applications as part of their end-to-end testing strategy. Qualibrate is the tool of choice for customers such as AirFrance/KLM, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Bell Helicopter, Nouryon and more.

With a certified integration for SAP, your team can leverage Qualibrate to save up to 80% effort on testing and training while documenting business processes 7x faster than before.

Media Contact:

Mike Albanese

mike.albanese@newswire.com

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Image 1: Qualibrate Logo









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New York, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Insight Partners published latest research study on  Digital Wayfinding Solutions Market Forecast to 2028  COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis- by Component (Software and Services), Deployment (On-Premise and Cloud-Based), Application (Airport, Retail, Healthcare, Museum, and Others), and Geography, the global digital wayfinding solutions market growth is driven by the rising investments in the AR integration software that uses digital wayfinding, increasing demand for AR devices and solutions in the healthcare industry, and growing demand for wayfinding in the e-commerce and retail industries.





Get Exclusive Access to Sample Pages of Digital Wayfinding Solutions Market Size - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis with Strategic Insights at: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPRE00012451/







Report Coverage Details Market Size Value in US$ 234.62 million in 2021 Market Size Value by US$ 664.95 million by 2028 Growth rate CAGR of 16.0% from 2021 to 2028. Forecast Period 2021- 2028 Base Year 2021 No. of Pages 183 No. Tables 115 No. of Charts & Figures 84 Historical data available Yes Segments covered Component, Deployment, Application, and Geography Regional scope North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; Latin America; MEA Country scope US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Argentina Report coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends





Digital Wayfinding Solutions Market: Competitive Landscape and Key Developments

22 Miles, Inc.; Acquire Digital; Click Grafix; ConnectedSign; Gozio Inc.; Jarma Technologies LLC; LamasaTech Ltd; Ping HD; TrouDigital; Visix, Inc.; Xtreme Media Pvt. Ltd.; Everbridge Inc.; and Digital Wayfinding Solution (Advertise Me Pty Ltd) are among the key players profiled during the study of the digital wayfinding solutions market. In addition, several other essential market players were studied and analyzed to get a holistic view of the market and its ecosystem.





Place Your Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/inquiry/TIPRE00012451/







In 2022, Xtreme Media announced its strategic alliance with Rahi, India's largest global enterprise solutions supplier, which will reshape the display solutions industry in India and across the world.

In 2021, 22MILES announced a partnership with CISCO to allow seamless integration of the version 6 of their PublisherPro.

The implementation of digital signage boards in several companies stalled dramatically during the recession triggered by COVID-19 in 2020. However, the lowered adoption was primarily a temporary side effect of the pandemic. Investments in digital wayfinding solutions grew with the need for change in operations at various hospitals and retail facilities, mainly due to the social distancing measures taken by governments and administrations of respective facilities. Enterprises are focusing on modifying their operations to be able to comply with the social restrictions imposed by governments and to mitigate the adverse effects of the pandemic on their revenue performance. For example, the Android-powered tablets offered by PPDS, a display solutions company, were deployed in the Krankenhaus der Augustinerinnen hospital in Cologne, Germany, in April 2021. The company deployed WizAI AI digital signage software to provide interactive wayfinding, along with displaying details regarding cleaning schedules, hygiene standards, and room availability. The hospital deployed 14 10-inch Philips touch screens as well as a remote management console to update and enhance the displays.





Connect with Our Research Analyst On: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/speak-to-analyst/TIPRE00012451







In the Middle East & Africa, governments initiatives and policies are supporting the digital signage market growth. For instance, the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) selected VRCraftworks, a UK-based firm, for its customized augmented reality wayfinding solutions. A hi-tech network of 1,600 digital and static wayfinding signage boards, all completely integrated with the venue's state-of-the-art infrastructure, guides guests across DEC's massive halls and conference rooms that are spread across 45,000 m2. Blue Rhine Industries, a Dubai-based digital display and signage producer, is funding this one-of-a-kind Dubai exhibition center.

The ability of digital signage products to provide a better consumer experience across online retail sites is a major factor contributing to the digital wayfinding solutions market growth in South America. Digital signage accounts for a major portion of ad income for businesses in several industries; this is mainly ascribed to its inherent benefits, such as quick information circulation, easy control, and customization. In addition, the operations of several US-based digital signage vendors are growing in South America, and the region now has several self-service kiosks in malls and healthcare centers with advanced features.

Based on component, the digital wayfinding solutions market is segmented into software and services. In 2021, the software segment led the market with a larger share. Based on deployment, the digital wayfinding solutions market is segmented into on-premise and cloud-based. In 2021, the on-premise segment accounted for a larger market share. Based on application, the digital wayfinding solutions market is segmented into airport, retail, healthcare, museum, and others. In 2021, the retail segment accounted for the largest share of the market. Based on geography, the digital wayfinding solutions market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), the Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America (SAM). In 2021, North America accounted for a significant share of the digital wayfinding solutions market.





Buy Premium Copy of Digital Wayfinding Solutions Market Size, Share, Revenue, Strategic Insights and Forecasts 2021-2028 Research Report at: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPRE00012451/







Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Digital Wayfinding Solutions Market:

From social distancing to daily health inspections, and from traffic management to limiting physical touchpoints, operating a facility in current conditions, involving lowered COVID-19 infection rate, involves a lot more moving of public, transportation vehicles than it did before the pandemic. Fortunately, the technology sector, particularly the digital signage and wayfinding, communications, and hardware industries, have been striving to develop solutions to support moving of public, transportation vehicles safeguards and ensure their safer return to their respective locations. Hence, the COVID-19 pandemic has benefitted the digital wayfinding solutions market growth in the MEA.

















Browse Adjoining Reports:

Digital Wayfinding Software Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Component (Software, Services); End-Users (Educational Institutes, Hospitals, Museums, Shopping Malls, Others) and Geography

Geographic Information System (GIS) Software Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Component (Software, Services); Gis Software (Desktop GIS, Server GIS, Developer GIS, Mobile GIS, Others); Function (Mapping, Surveying, Location-based Services, Navigation and telematics, Others); End User (Defense, Agriculture, Oil and Gas, Construction, Utilities, Transportation and Logistics, Others) and Geography

Digital Signage Hardware Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Type (Displays, Media Players, Projectors, Others); Product (Video Wall, Standalone Display); Resolution (HD, 4K, 8K, Others); Vertical (Commercial, Infrastructural, Industrial, Institutional) and Geography

Digital Signage Software Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Offering (Software, Services); End-User (Retail, Corporate Offices, Healthcare Facilities, Hospitality, Restaurants, Banking, Education, Government, Others) and Geography

IP Geolocation Solutions Market Forecast to 2028 - Covid-19 Impact and Global Analysis - by Component (Solution, Services); Deployment (Cloud-Based, On Premises); Enterprise Size (SMEs, Large Enterprises); Application (Content Personalization, Fraud Detection, Ad Targeting, Traffic Analysis, Geo-targeting, Geo-fencing, Others) and Geography

Military GNSS Device Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Type (GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Others); Application (Navigation, Target Tracking, Missile and Projectile Guidance, Search and Rescue, Reconnaissance, Nuclear Detonation Detectors, Asset Tracking (GNSS+GPRS)); End Users (Air Force, Ground Force, Naval Force) and Geography

GPS Anti-Jamming Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Receiver Type (Military & Government Grade and Commercial Grade), Anti-Jamming Technique (Nulling Technique, Beam Steering Technique, and Civilian Techniques), Application (Flight Control, Surveillance & Reconnaissance, Position Navigation & Timing, Targeting, and Casualty Evacuation), and End User (Military and Civilian)

















About Us:

The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We specialize in industries such as Semiconductor and Electronics, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive and Transportation, Biotechnology, Healthcare IT, Manufacturing and Construction, Medical Device, Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Chemicals and Materials.

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If you have any queries about this report or if you would like further information, please contact us:
Dublin, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Enterprise Application Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Component, By Solution Type, By Deployment Type, By Organization Size, By Vertical, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2021-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Global Enterprise Application Market size is expected to reach $468.2 billion by 2027, rising at a market growth of 9.0% CAGR during the forecast period.



Business process management (BPM) and software configuration management (SCM) are examples of enterprise application solutions that enable businesses track production from procurement to delivery to the end customer and manage inventory. The use of these technologies allows for accurate and real-time business information flow between departments in any organization.



Enterprise application implementation allows for a smooth flow of business data both inside and outside the firm. Using appropriate technologies, data can be gathered and saved from a variety of sources, including social media. Enterprise applications are becoming more popular among businesses as they help them cut expenses and expand their market share. They aid in increasing the overall efficiency and productivity of the company. A growing number of businesses across a variety of industries are working to improve customer service.



Data breaches and leaks have become increasingly regular and harmful as organisations and services have gone digital on an unprecedented scale. Malicious software, ransomware, DDoS attacks, and cybercrime, such as phishing and other scams, pose a threat to both small and large businesses. Hashing protocols, particular machine learning algorithms, encryption, firewalls, access control, and data loss prevention are among the security solutions to be used in 2021.



Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) are mobile apps that are integrated into a web page or installed on a user's system, redefining how people access online content. They impress a rising number of users with a wide range of benefits, including being intuitive, linkable, lightweight,and traceable by search engines, as well as the capacity to work across multiple platforms.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis

An increase in the number of patients around the world has led to a worldwide lockdown, forcing the population to stay at home for an extended period of time. This has resulted in a rise in the use of web-based platforms for a variety of services, likeinternet banking and onlineshopping. The rising number of online consumers makes it extremely challenging to adequately handle company data. This data is managed with the help of enterprise application software. Due to the closure of retail stores and malls, this has resulted in a major increase in enterprise application software adoption and preplanned investments. Furthermore, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, online banking services are growing at the fastest rate in the world, resulting in increasing use of enterprise application software for a variety of purposes, including client retention and customer need optimization.



Moreover, corporate application software usage is likely to rise in a number of sector verticals, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, as well as retail, where it was low prior to the COVID-19 crisis. Additionally, following COVID-19, it is expected that numerous healthcare organizations is expected to then prefer big data and cloud technology to implement customer requirement analysis and track customer orders in the pharma industryto combat future pandemic situations and to predict possible situations before they occur.



Market Growth Factors:

Growing demand for fulfilling regulatory compliance standards and audit management

Audits are a dreadful reality for any company. Businesses are making significant changes to their IT systems and internal processes to comply with government regulations and mandates such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, HIPPA's severe security requirements, OSHA, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. With built-in audit trails that offer access histories and transactions for each document, enterprise content management makes this easier. Government regulations necessitate the preservation of various types of data and records, and the requirements are frequently complex.



Improved visibility and transparency in supply chain data and procedures

Previously, the largest barrier to accomplishing supply chain objectives has been a lack of visibility and transparency. Most businesses lack the supply chain transparency and insight required to better predict and prevent disruptions and inventory imbalances. This is partly due to an inability to manage an enormous volume of data spread across various processes, sources, and systems. Organizations in the supply chain are struggling to keep up with both technology advancements and the changes that the digital era is bringing to sectors and marketplaces.



Marketing Restraining Factor:

Data security and privacy concerns

Organizations throughout the world are concerned about security and compliance, and they are hesitant to implement new solutions that include data handling or data migration from one platform to another. Data collection and transmission from one channel to another are part of enterprise content management. Many firms believe that enterprise content management solutions is expected to result to data theft in their highly abstracted data sets caused by a lack of sufficient information about security standards and their implementation.

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Market Scope & Methodology



Chapter 2. Market Overview

2.1 Introduction

2.1.1 Overview

2.1.1.1 Market Composition and Scenario

2.2 Key Factors Impacting the Market

2.2.1 Market Drivers

2.2.2 Market Restraints



Chapter 3. Competition Analysis - Global

3.1 KBV Cardinal Matrix

3.2 Recent Industry Wide Strategic Developments

3.2.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements

3.2.2 Product Launches and Product Expansions

3.2.3 Acquisitions and Mergers

3.3 Top Winning Strategies

3.3.1 Key Leading Strategies: Percentage Distribution (2017-2021)

3.3.2 Key Strategic Move: (Product Launches and Product Expansions: 2017, May - 2021, Dec) Leading Players



Chapter 4. Global Enterprise Application Market by Component

4.1 Global Solution Market by Region

4.2 Global Solution Market by Type

4.2.1 Global Supply Chain Management Market by Region

4.2.2 Global Enterprise Resource Planning Market by Region

4.2.3 Global Customer Relation Management Market by Region

4.2.4 Global Business Process Management Market by Region

4.2.5 Global Enterprise Asset Management Market by Region

4.2.6 Global Business Intelligence Market by Region

4.2.7 Global Content Management System Market by Region

4.2.8 Global Others Market by Region

4.3 Global Services Market by Region



Chapter 5. Global Enterprise Application Market by Deployment Type

5.1 Global On-premise Market by Region

5.2 Global Cloud Market by Region

5.3 Global Hybrid Market by Region



Chapter 6. Global Enterprise Application Market by Organization Size

6.1 Global Large Enterprises Market by Region

6.2 Global Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises Market by Region



Chapter 7. Global Enterprise Application Market by Vertical

7.1 Global Telecom & IT Market by Region

7.2 Global BFSI Market by Region

7.3 Global Government Market by Region

7.4 Global Retail Market by Region

7.5 Global Manufacturing Market by Region

7.6 Global Healthcare Market by Region

7.7 Global Others Market by Region



Chapter 8. Global Enterprise Application Market by Region



Chapter 9. Company Profiles

9.1 IBM Corporation

9.1.1 Company Overview

9.1.2 Financial Analysis

9.1.3 Regional & Segmental Analysis

9.1.4 Research & Development Expenses

9.1.5 Recent Strategies and developments:

9.1.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:

9.1.5.2 Acquisitions and Mergers:

9.1.5.3 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

9.1.6 SWOT Analysis

9.2 Oracle Corporation

9.2.1 Company Overview

9.2.2 Financial Analysis

9.2.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

9.2.4 Research & Development Expense

9.2.5 Recent Strategies and developments:

9.2.5.1 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

9.2.6 SWOT Analysis

9.3 Microsoft Corporation

9.3.1 Company Overview

9.3.2 Financial Analysis

9.3.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

9.3.4 Research & Development Expenses

9.3.5 Recent Strategies and developments:

9.3.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:

9.3.6 SWOT Analysis

9.4 SAP SE

9.4.1 Company Overview

9.4.2 Financial Analysis

9.4.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

9.4.4 Research & Development Expense

9.4.5 Recent Strategies and developments:

9.4.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:

9.4.5.2 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

9.4.6 SWOT Analysis

9.5 Salesforce.com, Inc.

9.5.1 Company Overview

9.5.2 Financial Analysis

9.5.3 Regional Analysis

9.5.4 Research & Development Expense

9.5.5 Recent Strategies and developments:

9.5.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:

9.5.5.2 Acquisitions and Mergers:

9.5.5.3 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

9.5.6 SWOT Analysis

9.6 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company

9.6.1 Company Overview

9.6.2 Financial Analysis

9.6.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

9.6.4 Research & Development Expense

9.6.5 Recent Strategies and developments:

9.6.5.1 Acquisitions and Mergers:

9.6.5.2 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

9.6.6 SWOT Analysis

9.7 IFS AB

9.7.1 Company Overview

9.7.2 Recent Strategies and developments:

9.7.2.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:

9.7.2.2 Acquisitions and Mergers:

9.7.2.3 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

9.8 QAD, Inc. (Thoma Bravo)

9.8.1 Company Overview

9.8.2 Recent Strategies and developments:

9.8.2.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:

9.8.2.2 Acquisitions and Mergers:

9.8.2.3 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

9.9 Epicor Software Corporation

9.9.1 Company Overview

9.9.2 Recent Strategies and developments:

9.9.2.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:

9.9.2.2 Acquisitions and Mergers:

9.9.2.3 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

9.10. Infor, Inc. (Koch Industries)

9.10.1 Company Overview

9.10.2 Recent Strategies and developments:

9.10.2.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:

9.10.2.2 Acquisitions and Mergers:

9.10.2.3 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/wugj46
Dublin, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Philippines Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Philippines Data Center Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.4% during 2022-2027.



The report considers the present scenario of the Philippines' data center market and its market dynamics for the forecast period 2022-2027. It covers a detailed overview of several growth enablers, restraints, and trends in the market. The study includes the demand and supply aspects of the market.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Philippines has gained traction in data center development over the last few years, owing to factors such as internet adoption driven by COVID-19, increasing popularity of CDNs and gaming, a thriving BPO industry, and a strategic and connected location.

Manila is the most preferred location by data center operators, with 12 unique third-party data center facilities contributing to over 75% of the existing power capacity in the country. Other upcoming cities include Cebu, Clark, Mindanao, and Laguna, among others.

In April 2021, the Philippines launched the CREATE Act, with one element being a reduction in corporate income tax from 30% to 25% for companies with a net income of over $95,000, and 20% for MSMEs with a net income of under $95,000 and assets below $1.9 billion.

Data center operators are partnering with local operators to operate in the Philippines market. In March 2022, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres constituted a joint venture with Globe Telecom and Ayala Corporation for data center development in the country.

The National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) in the Philippines targets to achieve over 37% of renewable energy by 2030 and over 55% by 2040 in terms of the overall share of power generation.

WHY SHOULD YOU BUY THIS RESEARCH?

Market size available in the investment, area, power capacity, and colocation revenue.

An assessment of the investment in the Philippines by colocation, hyperscale, and enterprise operators.

Data center investments in terms of area (square feet) and power capacity (MW) across cities in the country.

A detailed study of the existing market landscape, an in-depth industry analysis, and insightful predictions about the size of the data center market in the Philippines during the forecast period.

Snapshot of existing and upcoming third-party facilities in the Philippines

Facilities Covered (Existing): 20

Facilities Identified (Upcoming): 5

Coverage: 2+ Cities

Existing vs. Upcoming (Data Center Area)

Existing vs. Upcoming (IT Load Capacity)

Data center colocation market in the Philippines

Market Revenue & Forecast (2022-2027)

Retail Colocation Pricing

Classification of the Philippines data center market investments into multiple segments and sub-segments (IT, power, cooling, and general construction services) with sizing and forecast.

A comprehensive analysis of the latest trends, growth rate, potential opportunities, growth restraints, and prospects for the industry.

Business overview and product offerings of prominent IT infrastructure providers, construction contractors, support infrastructure providers, and investors operating in the industry.

A transparent research methodology and the analysis of the demand and supply aspects of the industry.

VENDOR LANDSCAPE

Factors driving the Philippines data center market include the increasing gaming population, a booming Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, and the increasing popularity of Content Delivery Network (CDN) and online streaming.



IT Infrastructure Providers

Atos

Broadcom

Cisco Systems

Dell Technologies

Fujitsu

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)

Huawei Technologies

IBM

Lenovo

NetApp

Oracle

Data Center Construction Contractors & Sub-Contractors

Arup

Aurecon Group

Comfac

Data Center Design Corporation (DCDC)

First Balfour

PRONET

Support Infrastructure Providers

ABB

Caterpillar

Cummins

Cyber Power Systems

Eaton

Fuji Electric

KOHLER

Legrand

Mitsubishi Electric

Rolls-Royce Power Systems

Schneider Electric

Vertiv Group

Data Center Investors

Beeinfotech

Bitstop Network Services

Converge ICT Solutions

DITO Telecommunity

ePLDT

Space DC

YCO Cloud Centers

Globe Telecom

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1 Existing & Upcoming Third-Party Data Centers in the Philippines

20 Unique Data Center Properties

Data Center It Load Capacity

Data Center White Floor Area Space

Existing Vs Upcoming Data Center Capacity by Cities

Cities Covered

Manila

Other Cities

Chapter 2 Investment Opportunities in the Philippines

Data Center Investments

Investment by Area

Investment by Power Capacity

Chapter 3 Data Center Colocation Market in the Philippines

Colocation Services Market in Philippines

Retail Colocation

Colocation Pricing (Quarter Rack, Half Rack, Full Rack) & Add-Ons

Chapter 4 Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Market Trends

Market Restraints

Chapter 5 Market Segmentation

IT Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

Electrical Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

Mechanical Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

General Construction Services: Market Size & Forecast

Chapter 6 Tier Standard Investment

Tier I & II

Tier III

Tier IV

Chapter 7 Key Market Participants

It Infrastructure Providers

Construction Contractors

Support Infrastructure Providers

Data Center Investors

Chapter 8 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/2ypugi
TORONTO, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new report from the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) is proposing to fight climate change by reducing GHG emissions in housing while helping keep more money in the pockets of Ontarios homeowners.



Released today and written in partnership with StrategyCorp, the Accelerating Ontarios Green Future: New Approaches to Housing and Climate Change report tackles GHG emissions in the resale housing market by providing more supports to homeowners in reducing their energy use and saving costs on their monthly bills. The report also proposes a plan to help address a major climate threat looming over Ontario homeowners from  flooding.

Climate change is a major threat to our way of life and the residential housing sector has to do its part to lower emissions and mitigate risks, said Tim Hudak, OREA CEO. Through these recommendations, Ontario can help homeowners reduce their carbon footprint, safeguard their homes against climate change, and keep more money in their pockets.

Three of the major planks in OREAs policy paper will support homeowners in making building envelope improvements to their properties. Envelope improvements (upgrades to outer barriers supporting energy efficiency, from windows to walls) have been shown to be one of the best ways to reduce the consumption of natural gas  a major driver of GHG emissions from housing.

On-bill financing is a great way to provide homeowners with upfront help to do a green renovation, which they can then pay off using the savings on their energy bills, said Hudak. The planet gets lower GHG emissions from homes, jobs get created in the renovation sector and homeowners get long term savings  its a win-win.

Recent environmental and climate change events across Canada  from heat waves in British Columbia to coastal erosion in Nova Scotia  have highlighted the significant challenges and issues that arise when housing is not prepared for rapidly changing environmental conditions.

Annual catastrophic insurance pay outs in Canada averaged $400 million until 2008 but are now approaching $2 billion each year. With higher insurance pay outs inevitably comes rising premiums  in Ontario, they have grown by 64% over the last decade  making it more costly to own a home in an already expensive market.

Together, the recommendations within create the conditions for Ontario to reduce emissions, mitigate the impacts of climate change on homeowners, and support societal uptake of measures that will encourage the overall greening of the housing sector. They include:

Creating a New Green Home Renovation Tax Credit: The Government of Ontario should create a targeted green home renovation tax credit explicitly for green renovationsincluding those that enable a work-from-home setup. This credit should only apply to homes built before 2010 and include an income cap, to help focus on improving existing middle-class homes.



Introducing On-Bill Financing (OBF) for Building Envelope Improvements: The Ontario government should work with their energy sector stakeholders to offer OBF residential energy efficiency programs for their customers, allowing upfront costs to be paid down over time. This would help reduce emissions, create high-skill construction jobs, improve energy-efficiency, lower household energy bills, and does not require a new spending line in government budgets.



Developing Flood Mapping for Home Flood Protection: Flooding is cited as the costliest climate event in Canada in terms of damage and impact with respect to insurable losses. To allow Ontarians to make better-informed decisions when buying or selling a home, the Government of Ontario should develop a user-friendly system that establishes the flood risk of residential properties across the province to fill in gaps in existing flood mapping.



Without action to address emissions in Ontarios residential building space, it will be difficult for Ontario to meet its existing targets and even harder to meet its future targets, said Stacey Evoy, OREA President. In order to do so, the Ontario Government must also consider improving the climate resiliency of Ontario homes. Akin to GHG reduction improvements, increasing a homes climate change adaptation protection will only increase the value of the home.

The eight policy options outlined in this paper, together, will help bring the province closer to meeting its GHG emissions reductions targets and commitments and contribute to Canada becoming net zero by 2050. Further, they are beneficial for the environment, while also aligning with Ontarians desire to take climate action and protect the value of their most important asset: their home.

For more information, please contact:

Ontario Real Estate Association

Jean-Adrien Delicano

Specialist, Media Relations

JeanAdrienD@orea.com

416-459-6059




Melbourne, FL, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kona Gold Beverage, Inc. (OTC Pink: KGKG), a holding company focused on product development in the better-for-you and hemp and CBD functional beverage sector, is pleased to announce it has partnered with Wine & Beverage Merchants of West Virginia to distribute the Companys Still and Sparkling Ooh La Lemin Lemonades across the great state of West Virginia. Wine & Beverage will be distributing Ooh La Lemin to Walmart and other popular chains in West Virginia, which is a new territory for Ooh La Lemin.



Wine & Beverage Merchants of West Virginia has been the leading beverage distributor in West Virginia for more than 35 years. Their vast portfolio includes domestic and imported beers, wines from around the world, and a wide assortment of non-alcoholic beverages including waters, soft drinks, energy drinks, teas, mixers and more. With a staff of more than 30 employees and management with more than 100 years of combined industry experience, they have positioned themselves as a premier WV beverage distributor. Their goal is to provide their valued customers with quality sales and service to suit all of their beverage needs.



Im excited to announce that our Ooh La Lemin Lemonades will soon be available to our customers in the great state of West Virginia, stated Robert Clark, CEO of Kona Gold Beverage, Inc. Our team has been seeking strategic distribution partners that will stand behind our brands and focus on growth in their respective markets. Wine & Beverage Merchants of West Virginia is exactly that type of distribution partner and we look forward to building a successful relationship with them.



Clark continued, Wine & Beverage Merchants of West Virginia will be receiving their first truckload of Ooh La Lemin this week and our team will be scheduling a kickoff with their team in the very near future.



Kona Gold recently announced the Company had gross revenues of over one million dollars in the first quarter of 2022. This marked the Companys first quarter of one million dollars or more in gross revenue, which is a huge milestone and testament to the continued growth its experiencing. Kona Gold Beverages two subsidiaries, Kona Gold LLC and Gold Leaf Distribution LLCs combined revenue broke the one-million-dollar mark in Q1.



For more information regarding Wine & Beverage Merchants of West Virginia, please visit:

http://www.wineandbeverage.com/



For more information regarding Kona Gold Beverage, please visit:

https://konagoldbeverage.com/



About Kona Gold Beverage, Inc.



Kona Gold Beverage, Inc., a Delaware corporation, has created wholly-owned subsidiaries, Kona Gold LLC, HighDrate, LLC, and Gold Leaf Distribution, LLC. Kona Gold, LLC has developed a premium Hemp-Infused Energy Drink line; please visit its website at www.konagoldhemp.com. HighDrate, LLC has developed the beverage industrys first CBD-Infused Energy Water, available in 6 delicious flavors; please visit its website at www.highdrateme.com. Gold Leaf Distribution, LLC was created to fill the Companys distribution needs in markets that it wants to enter quickly; please visit its website at www.goldleafdist.com. Kona Gold Beverage, Inc. recently rebranded its Lemin Lemonade to Ooh La Lemin Lemonade; please visit its website at www.oohlalemin.com. Kona Gold and its family of companies are located on the east coast of Florida in Melbourne and in Greer and Conway South Carolina.



Safe Harbor Statement:



The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words may, will, should, plans, expects, anticipates, continue, estimate, project, intend, and similar expressions. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in press releases and other written materials, and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. The Company cautions that these forward-looking statements are further qualified by other factors including, but not limited to, those set forth in the Companys Registration Statement on Form S-1. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing various engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, and various other factors beyond the Companys control. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any statements in this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.



Investor Relations Contact:

Robert Clark

844-714-2224

investorrelations@konagoldbeverage.com
PHOENIX, April 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Rare Earths Limited (ASX: ARR, OTCQB: ARRNF, FSE: 1BHA) (ARR or 'the Company') is exploring a potentially massive, rare earths minerals deposit in Albany County, Wyoming. The Company staked 181 additional mining claims covering an area of approximately 2,944 acres. The Company has announced results from surface sampling that revealed an expanded area of elevated Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO). The results could indicate a larger mineral deposit than initially anticipated. See the technical report, full announcement and legal disclaimers here.

Highlights:

Potentially massive Rare Earths mineral discovery in Wyoming has been expanded

Results from 118 surface samples led the Company to increase the project area

181 mining claims covering 2,944 acres were added to the project

Drilling results due June 2022 from the Halleck Creek Rare Earths Project

The growth brings the Project to over 6,000 acres in Albany and Platte Counties combined. The company has additional projects in Arizona and Nevada. Totaling over 13 thousand acres under exploration, the Company's holdings are believed to have the potential to be one of the largest suites of Rare Earths projects in the United States.

Table 1: Autumn/Fall 2021 TREO Sample Summary for Halleck Creek

Average REO values (ppm) Study Area Rock Unit No. Samples Total REO Light REO Heavy REO Magnetic REO NdPr Overton Mountain Red Mountain Pluton (RMP) 94 3,187 2,850 257 744 700 Red Mountain RMP/QAL 24 664 539 79 156 140 Grand Total 118 3851 3389 336 900 840

Managing Director and CEO of American Rare Earths Limited Chris Gibbs commented: "We are delighted with the results of this fieldwork. The Rare Earth Elements (REE) mineralization occurs consistently over wide areas at the Halleck Creek Rare Earth Project. By staking the additional claims, American Rare Earths Limited can fully evaluate the region. Our core drilling is progressing very well, and we are enthusiastically awaiting the results of that work, expected June 2022."

In late 2021, the Company conducted geologic mapping and geochemical sampling at the Halleck Creek Rare Earths project. Before staking the additional claims, the Company controlled 68 federal mining claims covering 1,265 acres and four Wyoming State mining leases covering 1,844 acres at the Halleck Creek Rare Earths Project area.

Table 2: Summary of Halleck Creek Mineral Control

Type Acres Hectares Number Existing Federal Claims 1,265 512 68 New Federal Claims (Staked Mar/22) 2,944 1,191 181 Total Federal Claims 4,209 1,703 249 State Licenses 1,844 746 4 Grand Total 6,053 2,449 253

Currently, the Company is drilling nine exploration core holes. Six holes have been completed with a total core length of 2,254 feet, with exceptional core recovery exceeding 95%. The final drill holes are scheduled for completion later this month, then the areas of ground disturbance will be rehabilitated. The Company plans additional detailed geological mapping and geochemical sampling over the Halleck Creek project area. This work is scheduled for May 2022.

As the U.S. forges a clean energy future and secure defense industry supply chain, a robust domestic supply of rare earth elements could become more urgent. Global demand is projected to accelerate 400 to 600% over the coming decades, according to a 2021 International Energy Agency report.

About American Rare Earths Limited

American Rare Earths Limited (ASX: ARR, OTCQB: ARRNF, FSE: 1BHA) is an Australian company with assets in the growing rare earth metals sector of the United States of America, The Company's mission is to supply Critical Materials for Renewable Energy, Green Tech, Electric Vehicles, National Security, and a Carbon-Reduced Future. Mineral exploration projects include the La Paz Rare Earth Project in Arizona, the Searchlight Rare Earths Project in Nevada and the Halleck Creek Rare Earths Project in Wyoming.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that are not historical facts and are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of the words such as "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "will," "target," or similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's plans for exploration, development, production and/or processing of materials, including the timing and associated costs and expenses. Such statements are all subject to risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that could significantly affect the Company's future financial results and business.

Accordingly, the Company cautions that the forward-looking statements contained herein are qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by such statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the ability of the Company to successfully permit, plan, develop and/or construct a facility to mine, process and/or refine critical minerals, which may be delayed, and related costs and expenses, which may be increased beyond our current estimates; changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political and legal conditions, which may or may not occur; the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, on any of the foregoing risks; and those factors discussed in the Company's JORC 2012 compliant technical reports as submitted to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The Company does not intend to update publicly any forward-looking statements except as required by law. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release may not occur.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Susan Assadi e: susan@gapr.biz p: 347 977 7125

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Image 1: Morning moon over Red Mountain Ranch (Photo by Sara Stotter)









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Calgary, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BASF Canada Agricultural Solutions (BASF) is excited to relaunch its popular BASF Safety Scouts program in 2022, bringing the successful initiative back for a second season in support of farm safety for kids and their families. Last years initiative saw great success and received interest among farm families from coast to coast, including:

Over 2,000 BASF Safety Scout kits requested and distributed in 2021.

564 Canadian communities were reached, with families from nine provinces registering for the kits.

BASFs Safety Scouts program engages young children in a fun and interactive way by inviting them to act as safety ambassadors on their familys farm. Two thousand BASF Safety Scout kits will be available this season free of charge to farm families across Canada while supplies last.

At BASF, we believe in supporting the long-term health and safety of farming communities across Canadaa value that is shared by our network of growers, retailers and industry partners, said Nicole McAuley, Head of Communications and Public Affairs at BASF Canada Agricultural Solutions. Beyond our product line-up and agronomic expertise, BASF is dedicated to helping make farms a safer place to live and work. In 2021, our Safety Scouts program was a valuable tool for families, and we are thrilled to welcome more participants to our growing network of over 2,000 kids, who are committed to helping shape a bright future for Canadian agriculture.

As part of the toolkit, program participants will receive materials designed to bring farm safety together with the benefits of childhood play, including:

Adjustable and CSA Z96-15 compliant child-sized safety vest

Customizable name badge

Safety-themed activity and colouring sheets

BASF Safety Scouts reward badge

Official BASF Safety Scouts membership certificate

How to play safely on the farm is one of the most important lessons a child can learn. BASFs Safety Scouts program emerged out of a desire to keep farm safety top of mind for parents and guardians and instill values of safety in children at a young age. The kits equip children with the tools needed to develop lifelong habits and foundational skills through hands-on play. Participants are encouraged to interact with one another and share pictures, videos, drawings and safety tips by tagging @BASFAgSolutions on Twitter using the hashtag #BASFSafetyScouts.

I am grateful for programs that promote on-farm safety such as the Safety Scouts Program from BASF, said Codie Nagy, a farmer from Ogema, Saskatchewan. Both of my kids, especially my son love being on the farm and Safety Scouts is a great way for them to be thinking safely while they are there. The activities are fun, and they really enjoyed the safety vests. This is a great way for them to be more involved while having safety at the top of mind.

BASF Safety Scouts signals an extension of BASFs ongoing dedication towards building safe and healthy communities across Canada, specifically safety on the farm. A long-standing sponsor of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), and a proud supporter of Progressive Agriculture Safety Day, BASF has developed additional resources as part of the BASF and CASA Kids Safety Hub. To learn more about when Progressive Agriculture Safety Days will be in your area, or to access more farm safety resources, please visit: casa-acsa.ca/en/resources/for-kids/.

Dedication to improving safety culture on the farm, keeping kids and their parents safe, and ensuring that generations of family farms thrive and succeed is what programs like the Kids Safety Hub and the Safety Scout program are all about, said Andrea Lear, CASAs Chief Executive Officer. It is with thanks to organizations like BASF that CASA can work towards these real, sustainable changes in farm safety.

To learn more about the BASF Safety Scouts program and register to receive a free kit, please visit BASF | Our Stories - Safety Scouts.

Additional images and broll is available upon request.

About BASFs Agricultural Solutions division

BASF Canada Agricultural Solutions, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, has over 625 employees who work at one of three production facilities across Canada including: Lethbridge, Saskatoon, and Regina, or one of several research farms across the Canadian prairies. Agricultural Solutions is the largest division of BASF Canada Inc., working closely with the regional Agricultural Solutions team, collaborating on research and product development that benefits North American growers. To find out more about BASF Canada Agricultural Solutions, visit www.agsolutions.ca or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/BASFAgSolutions.



Farming is fundamental to provide enough healthy and affordable food for a rapidly growing population while reducing environmental impacts. Working with partners and agricultural experts and by integrating sustainability criteria into all business decisions, we help farmers to create a positive impact on sustainable agriculture. Thats why we invest in a strong R&D pipeline, connecting innovative thinking with practical action in the field. Our portfolio comprises seeds and specifically selected plant traits, chemical and biological crop protection, solutions for soil management, plant health, pest control and digital farming. With expert teams in the lab, field, office and in production, we strive to find the right balance for success  for farmers, agriculture and future generations. In 2021, our division generated sales of 8.2 billion. For more information, please visit www.agriculture.basf.com or any of our social media channels.

About BASF

BASF Canada Inc., headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, has over 1,200 employees at production facilities and offices located across Canada. BASF Canada is a subsidiary of BASF SE, and an affiliate of BASF Corporation. To find out more about BASFs activities in Canada, visit www.basf.com/ca or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/basfcanada.

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 16,700 employees in North America and had sales of $25.9 billion in 2021. For more information about BASFs North American operations, visit www.basf.com/us.

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Around 111,000 employees in the BASF Group contribute to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio comprises six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of 78.6 billion in 2021. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.

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English French

MONTREAL, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This morning, at the first meeting of CNs (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) Board of Directors following Jean Charests resignation, CNs board thanked Mr. Charest for his contributions to CN. Mr. Charest was nominated to the Board in January following a rigorous selection process and resigned on April 1, 2022 to pursue public office. CNs Board has launched a search for a francophone and Quebec based director to be appointed in the coming months. This is in addition to CNs CEO, Tracy Robinson, who has relocated to Montreal.



This morning, the CN Board launched a rigorous process to identify a francophone and Quebec based director to replace Mr. Charest on the board. We intend to appoint a new director in the coming months. CN, headquartered in Montreal for over 100 years, and its Board of Directors, is very proud of and respects, the Companys rich history in Quebec, where the official language is French.

-- Robert Pace, Chair of the Board of CN

About CN

CN is a world-class transportation leader and trade-enabler. Essential to the economy, to the customers, and to the communities it serves, CN safely transports more than 300 million tons of natural resources, manufactured products, and finished goods throughout North America every year. As the only railroad connecting Canadas Eastern and Western coasts with the U.S. South through a 18,600-mile rail network, CN and its affiliates have been contributing to community prosperity and sustainable trade since 1919. CN is committed to programs supporting social responsibility and environmental stewardship.

Contacts:
ALPHARETTA, Ga., April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClearStar, Inc. ("ClearStar"), a leading HR-technology company specializing in background and medical screening services announces three new executive leadership appointments. George Stanley has been named President and General Manager of the Background Screening and Verifications Business Unit, Jennifer OKeefe as Chief People Officer, and Ted Grulikowski as Chief Revenue Officer. These strategic hires will help guide ClearStar as it continues to scale and grow at an unprecedented rate.

"ClearStar has more than doubled our revenues over the past 12 months and emerged as one of the largest global providers of employment-related background and medical screening services. I couldn't be more excited to welcome George, Jennifer, and Ted to the organization, said Chad Parodi, CEO of ClearStar. Adding these incredibly seasoned executives strengthens and further prepares the Company to deliver accelerated growth, future acquisitions, a differentiated customer experience, and strong financial performance as well as building a world-class company culture and talent development program. Ultimately, ClearStar strives to create a safer environment across the world by helping 200,000 employers make better hiring decisions by 2030."

George Stanley is joining ClearStar in the newly created role of President, Background Screening and Verification Services. In this role, George will be focused on driving operational excellence and improving the overall customer experience. George is a performance-oriented, success-driven, and strategically focused senior executive with an exemplary record of launching new businesses and leading and optimizing business operations. He has an impressive track record of successfully scaling a business unit at ADP from $20.0M to $625.0M. After his 26-year career at ADP, George held consulting and executive leadership positions at Abbott Laboratories/eScreen and isolved Technology, an HCM software platform. In addition, he has been part of four different acquisitions and has held direct responsibility for P&Ls exceeding $130M. George holds a bachelors degree in Accounting from Susquehanna University and an MBA in Human Resource Administration from Temple University.

Ted Grulikowski is joining ClearStar as Chief Revenue Officer. Ted will be responsible for accelerating top-line organic revenue growth as well as driving expansion and retention in our strategic customer base. Ted is an elite revenue growth and GTM expert with deep experience in sales execution, channel optimization, and customer success strategy. He has a 20-year record leading high-performance teams delivering transformational growth with world-class employee engagement and customer satisfaction. Most recently, Ted served as Chief Revenue Officer of Omnigo Software, a private-equity-backed safety and security management platform. Earlier in his career, Ted was a VP and Executive Advisor at RocketPower, a Forbes top 100 human capital solutions startup, a VP at LivePerson, an AI-powered digital messaging leader, and a Principal at SBI, an award-winning growth consulting firm. Ted also served as the Commercial Business Unit Leader and VP at MarketSource, an Allegis Group operating company, as the firm tripled revenue to over $300M, while being voted an Atlanta Best Company to work for three times. Ted began his career in sales and marketing roles at General Electric and Ford Motor Company. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt and a graduate of the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University with a bachelors degree in Management and a minor in Marketing.

Jennifer OKeefe is joining the Company in the newly created role of Chief People Officer. In addition to leading the HR function at ClearStar, Jennifer will be the architect for talent strategy and corporate-culture initiatives. Most recently, Jennifer held a VP position with Ciox Health, a private clinical data technology with 8,000 employees, where she was responsible for leadership of compensation, benefits, HRIS, recognition, culture/engagement, and talent programs. Prior to Ciox Health, Jennifer spent 13 years at Mueller Water Products, a publicly-traded manufacturer and services marketer with 2,900 employees. During her tenure, she held several positions of increasing responsibility culminating with her appointment to the executive leadership team as VP and Chief People Officer. In addition, Jennifer has led human capital mergers and acquisitions due diligence and integration activities, both domestically and internationally. Jennifer is a graduate of Furman University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

In conjunction with these executive appointments, the Company also announces three additional executive moves and promotions. Effective immediately Brad Carlson has moved into the newly created role of Chief Customer Officer, Dawn Standerwick has been promoted to Vice President of Global Sales and Katie Mahoney has been promoted to VP of Operations.

About ClearStar

ClearStar, Inc. is a leading HR-technology company specializing in background and medical screening services. It provides employment intelligence directly to employers and via channel partners/consumer reporting agencies ("CRAs") to support better recruitment and other employee-related decisions by increasing information quality, reliability, and visibility.

A seven-time Inc. 5000 honoree and founding member of the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA), ClearStar has provided innovative technology solutions to businesses in the human capital management industry from its corporate offices in Alpharetta, Georgia, since 1995. ClearStar secured its presence as a leading national CRA when it acquired Employment Screening Resources (ESR) in December 2021 and is a portfolio company of Hanover Investors. For more information about ClearStar, please visit http://www.clearstar.net.

Visit ClearStar on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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TORONTO, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nevada Zinc Corporation (Nevada Zinc or the Company) (TSX-V: NZN) is very pleased to announce the appointment of Igor Danyliuk as President and CEO of the Company effective June 1, 2022. Mr. Danyliuk is currently a director of Nevada Zinc and will retain his seat on the Board of Directors. He is replacing Max Vichniakov who has also stepped down as a member of the Companys Board of Directors.



Mr. Danyliuk brings over 30 years of capital markets experience having worked in Canada and the US as an investment banker, a top ranked equity research analyst, and most recently as Head of Research for one of Canada's major banks. He also has engineering experience having worked in the US as a technical service engineer for a major US resin manufacturer. Mr. Danyliuk holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BASc (Engineering Science) and MASc (Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry) from The University of Toronto.

In connection with his appointment, Mr. Danyliuk commented: I am excited to assume this role and work together with our team and Board of Directors. My primary focus at this time is the completion of the final stage of our multiphase pilot program being conducted by Hazen Research Inc. This work is designed to produce commercial grade zinc sulfate and to provide us with operating and capital costs for the production process. I want to thank Max for his contributions to Nevada Zinc and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

The Company is also pleased to announce that Michael Wilson has agreed to join Nevada Zinc as a technical advisor. Mr. Wilson was President and CEO of Behre Dolbear Canada Ltd. and has over 40 years of experience in the fields of geology, mineralogy and mining engineering of surface and underground mines. Mr. Wilson has been responsible for the design, planning and cost determination of mining operations in multiple jurisdictions involving a variety of mineral commodities and will be instrumental in assisting in the advancement of the Companys zinc sulfate initiative. Mr. Wilson holds degrees in geology from the University of Western Ontario and mining engineering from McGill University.

The Board is extremely pleased to have Igor and Mike accept their new roles with the Company at this time. Upon successful completion of our pilot plant program, Nevada Zinc will require an experienced management team, which we are building now with the addition of Igor and Mike, to move us forward to the production of zinc sulfate to be used in the US agricultural sector, commented Don Christie, Nevada Zinc's CFO and Director.

About Nevada Zinc

Nevada Zinc is an exploration and development company focused on its wholly-owned Lone Mountain zinc project in central Nevada, with the strategic objective of producing zinc-based products including fertilizers, animal feed and chemicals. In July 2020, the Company entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Cameron Chemicals Inc. (Cameron), a leading US producer and distributor of granular micronutrients to the agricultural, turf and horticultural industries with manufacturing facilities in Washington, Virginia and Michigan. Under the terms of the Collaboration Agreement, Nevada Zinc and Cameron would work together to establish a range of zinc-based micronutrient fertilizers to be produced by the Company and marketed by Cameron through its distribution networks.

In March 2021, Nevada Zinc commenced a multiphase pilot plant program with Hazen Research Inc. (Hazen) of Golden, Colorado, to produce zinc sulfate monohydrate and further de-risk and advance the Companys Lone Mountain high-grade zinc carbonate-oxide deposit. In September 2021, the Company announced that Hazen had been successful in the production of a bench scale high-grade zinc sulfate monohydrate. In March 2022, after completion of the Companys latest financing, Hazen began a bulk operation to produce approximately 150 lbs. of a commercial grade zinc sulfate monohydrate product to be followed by a cost analysis of the process flowsheets operating and capital costs. This final stage of the Companys multiphase pilot plant program is projected to be completed in the second half of 2022.

Nevada Zinc Corporation

82 Richmond St. East, First Floor

Toronto, Ontario M5C 1P1

Tel: 416-409-8441

Don Christie, CFO & Director

don@nevadazinc.com

Cautionary Statement

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This News Release includes certain forward-looking statements which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Companys future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward looking statements may be identified by such terms as believes, anticipates, expects, estimates, may, could, would, will, or plan. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet managements expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Companys objectives, goals or future plans, statements, exploration results, potential mineralization, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to failure to identify mineral resources, failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves, the inability to complete a feasibility study which recommends a production decision, the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political risks, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited to the effects of COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains, and those risks set out in the Companys public documents filed on SEDAR. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.




Mr Mahtabur Rahman, Chairman of Al Haramain Group welcomed dignitaries, guests at the UAEs largest Iftar attended by 4,000 guests at Al Haramain Group Headquarters in Ajman Industrial Area

Press Release

Date: Dubai, UAE, April 26, 2022

News Highlights

1. Al Haramain Group has a workforce of 3,000 professionals working in 100 showrooms in 12 countries including 1,200 deployed in three factories in the UAE;

2. Al Haramain Perfumes produces 1,300 types of perfumes and cosmetics products that are marketed and sold in 65 countries;

3. Al Haramain Perfumes has exported perfumes, body spray, cosmetics and personal care products in 3,600 containers in 2021  despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Al Haramain Group of Companies, which produces Oriental and Western perfumes such as Agarwood and Dehnal Oudh, fragrances, cosmetics and personal care products, hosted the largest Iftar in the UAE, attended by more than 4,000 guests, including dignitaries, diplomats and members of the Ajman Ruling Family.

In terms of sheer size, this is by far the biggest corporate Iftar gathering in the UAE this year.

The company hosted Iftar gatherings simultaneously in its premises in Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bangladesh  making it the largest of its kind gathering by a UAE-based business house. The Iftar gathering takes place after nearly three years, as the company could not host Iftar during 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Today we have gathered here after nearly three years since the Ramadan of 2019. Today we are gathering here due to the gradual recovery from COVID-19 pandemic. I pray to the Almighty for speedy recovery from the pandemic and health and safety for everyone, Mohammed Mahtabur Rahman, Chairman of Al Haramain Group of Companies and Chairman of NRB Bank, says.

Although the pandemic has affected all of us, but it could not damage our spirit. Today, we could gather here to extend our prayers to the Almighty due to strong leadership in the UAE who defeated the COVID-19 fair and square and we have seen the return of business.

Praising the UAE leadership for their prompt initiatives including a two-months curfew, lockdown and sanitization drive, the UAE was the first country to have recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic that helped the country to recover from it fast.

Al Haramain Group, which traces its roots to the holy city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia in the 1960s, has grown from strength to strength since its establishment of Al Haramain Perfumes in 1970. The company entered the UAE market in 1981 with a showroom and then a perfume manufacturing factory. Later, as business grew, the company continued to invest in its expansion.

With a workforce of 3,000 professionals working in 100 showrooms in 12 countries including 1,200 deployed in three factories in the UAE, the company produces 1,300 types of perfumes and cosmetics products that are marketed and sold in 65 countries.

The UAE is a great enabler of business and we have grown phenomenally ever since we started our operations in the UAE in 1981, he says. It is due to our decision to relocate to the UAE, that we managed to grow so fast.

Last year, we exported goods in 3,600 containers out of the UAE to 65 export destinations in 2021  a year when new variations of the Coronavirus disrupted global business, Mohammed Mahtabur Rahman, Chairman of Al Haramain Group of Companies and Chairman of NRB Bank, says. Our strong performance during COVID-19 pandemic reflects our inherent strength and resilience as well as our prudent management that helped us not only navigate out of the crisis, but also helped us to grow during these challenging times.

We are a UAE-based company and have invested more than Dh1 billion in the UAE economy over the last 40 years. As our business grows, we are now looking forward towards a strong year of growth ahead. We have acquired more land in Ajman Industrial Area for expanding our manufacturing plant, adjacent to our corporate headquarters.

Mahtabur Rahman is a seasoned businessman and involved in a broad range of business and trade ventures around the world. A far-sighted person, he diversified his business interests in banking, healthcare, hospitality, aviation etc.

Mahtabur Rahman, who hails from Bangladesh, is also the President of Bangladesh Business Council in Dubai, President of the Non-Resident Bangladeshi (NRB) Commercially Important Persons (CIP) Association (NRBCIP Association)  a global platform of Bangladeshi High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) who have been investing in Bangladesh.

Mahtabur Rahman is one of thousands of Non-Resident Bangladeshi nationals who collectively own more than 75,000 businesses in the UAE and employ more than 225,000 people  making them one of the largest business communities in the UAE. He is the first Non-Resident Bangladeshi to have been awarded a UAE Gold Visa in July 2019.

I thank His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Presdent, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for their visionary leadership that makes the UAE a land of opportunity not only for the UAE nationals but for nationals of more than 200 countries who call the UAE their home, he said.

We have always maintained our firm belief in the UAE economy and the country's leadership. Today, we have been rewarded for our belief, conviction and resolve. I am extremely lucky to be blessed with the kind support of His Highness Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Ajman. It is due to his kind support, we could relocate our head office to Ajman, build one of the largest agarwood processing industries in the Gulf in Ajman and grow our business manifold in the Middle East.

Al Haramain Group, which has diversified business interests in perfumes, tea, banking, education, healthcare and hospitality sectors, currently owns more than 20 business establishments across the GCC, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, United States and other countries with more than 100 branches directly employing more than 1,000 professionals and employees.

Al Haramain Group was established as a small business in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia in 1970. The company entered UAE market in 1981. Later it shifted its operations and head office to the UAE.

The family hails from the north eastern Sylhet district of Bangladesh and currently owns Al Haramain Hospital Pvt Ltd  the largest healthcare facility in Sylhet  spreading across an area of 120,000 square feet to provide better healthcare services to the needy.

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Posted on : Tuesday, April 26, 2022

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HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (AP) _ UDR Inc. (UDR) on Tuesday reported a key measure of profitability in its first quarter. The results matched Wall Street expectations.

The real estate investment trust, based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, said it had funds from operations of $188.6 million, or 55 cents per share, in the period.
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  President Joe Biden plans to speak at a memorial service in Minnesota on Sunday for former Vice President Walter Mondale, who died last April at age 93.

Biden will travel to Minneapolis for the event at the University of Minnesota. The president has described Mondale as a dear friend and mentor and one of our nations most dedicated patriots and public servants.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that Biden wanted to attend the service because Mondale is someone he had an important personal relationship with.

Other confirmed speakers include Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, and presidential historian Jon Meacham.

Admission to the service, which was delayed for a year by the pandemic, is by invitation only, but it will be livestreamed for the general public. It's scheduled to run from 1:30 to 3 p.m. CDT.

Mondale followed the trail blazed by his political mentor, Hubert H. Humphrey, from Minnesota politics to the U.S. Senate and the vice presidency, serving under Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. He lost one of the most lopsided presidential elections after bluntly telling voters in 1984 to expect a tax increase if he won.

But well after his bruising loss, Mondale remained a revered liberal elder and went on to serve as ambassador to Japan under President Bill Clinton.

Biden paid tribute to Mondale at the time of his death last year, saying: There have been few senators, before or since, who commanded such universal respect. ... It was Walter Mondale who defined the vice presidency as a full partnership, and helped provide a model for my service.
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AP)  An Air Force major general in Ohio who was convicted on one of three specifications of an abusive sexual contact charge was told Tuesday he would receive a reprimand and must forfeit $10,910 of monthly pay for five months.

Maj. Gen. William Cooley, 56, was found guilty Saturday in what was the first-ever military trial of an Air Force general.

The weeklong court-martial at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio had three specifications, one accusing Cooley of a forcible kiss and two alleging forcible touching in 2018. Cooley was convicted of the forcible kissing specification but acquitted of the other two.

Cooley had the option of a trial by court member jurors or by military judge, and chose to have the case heard by the judge. He had faced a maximum punishment of dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and confinement for seven years.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Cooleys civilian attorney, Dan Conway, told The Dayton Daily News that his client is very thankful for the judges compassion here. Conway said the punishment was a very significant sentence, and he said a letter of reprimand may have implications in terms of the rank at which Cooley will be allowed to retire, if he chooses to do so.

A former commander of Air Force Research Laboratory, Cooley was fired from that post in January 2020 after an Air Force investigation and has worked in an administrative job since then. Conway said its still Cooleys hope that he may continue serving in the Air Force.

Officials said the verdict marked the first court-martial trial and conviction of a general officer in the Air Forces 75-year history. Cooleys monthly pay is $15,966, so the total financial penalty against him reaches nearly $55,000.

If this result influenced just one survivor to know that his or her attackers rank or status would not prevent them from being held accountable, that is a win for the United States and the military justice system, Lt. Col. Matthew Neil, who served as lead prosecutor, said Tuesday.

Cooley was charged with abusive sexual contact in an encounter with a woman who gave him a ride after a backyard barbecue in New Mexico nearly four years ago. Officials said the woman is a civilian who is not a Department of Defense employee.

In a statement issued after the verdict was handed down Saturday, the womans attorney Ryan Guilds, said the ruling marks the first time an Air Force general officer has been held responsible for his heinous actions ... Hopefully, this will not be as difficult for the next survivor.
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KARACHI, Pakistan (AP)  An explosion ripped through a van inside a university campus in southern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing three Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver, officials said. A separatist militant group claimed responsibility and said the attack was carried out by a woman suicide bomber.

The bombing at the University of Karachi also wounded a fourth Chinese national and a Pakistani guard accompanying the van, according to university spokesman Mohammad Farooq.

Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said an initial investigation showed a suicide bomber was behind the attack. He said that closed circuit television footage from the site showed a person dressed in the female burqa head-to-toe covering walking up to the van, followed by an instantaneous explosion.

The Chinese fatalities included the director of the Chinese-built Confucius Institute, which offers Chinese language graduate classes, and two teachers.

The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan confirmed the deaths of three Chinese teachers in what it called a terrorist attack Tuesday evening, saying an additional teacher was injured.

The Chinese embassy and consulate in Pakistan strongly condemn this terrorist act, express deep condolences to the victims of the two countries and sincere condolences to the injured and their relatives, and will make every effort to deal with the incident along with the Pakistani side, a statement on the embassy website said.

The embassy asked Pakistan to make every effort to treat the wounded, conduct a thorough investigation of the attack, and severely punish the perpetrator. It called on Pakistan to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in the country.

Hours after the bombing, the U.S. Consulate in the port city of Karachi on Twitter condemned the attack, saying: This cowardly act stands in direct contrast to the peaceful spirit of Ramadan, and we offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their families and those who lost their loved ones."

In Islamabad, Pakistans Foreign Ministry in a statement condemned the attack and the killing of Chinese in Karachi. The cowardly incident is a direct attack on the Pakistan-China friendship and ongoing cooperation," it said and added authorities were investigating the incident to apprehend the culprits and bring them to justice.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the attack calling it heinous saying the perpetrators will surely be brought to justice. He also visited the Chinese Embassy along with Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah in Islamabad to convey his condolences to Beijing over the killing of the Chinese in Karachi.

The Baluchistan Liberation Army, a militant group in nearby Baluchistan province, has targeted Chinese nationals in attacks in the past.

The group's statement that followed Tuesday's attack identified the bomber as Shari Baluch or Bramsh, saying she was the group's first female bomber. The attack marks a new chapter in the history of Baluch resistance, the statement said.

Baluchistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by armed Baluch groups demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the regions natural resources if not outright independence from Islamabad.

However, the Pakistani Taliban have also targeted Chinese interest in the past. Last July, the group  also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan  claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus that killed nine Chinese nationals in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province. Four Pakistanis also died in that attack.

The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group from the Afghan Taliban, their allies who have seized power in neighboring Afghanistan.

Thousands of Chinese workers are living and working in Pakistan, with most of them involved in Beijing's multibillion-dollar One Belt One Road Project" that is to connect south and central Asia with the Chinese capital.

A key road linking Pakistan's southern port of Gwadar, in southwestern Baluchistan province, with China's northwest Xinjiang province, is part of what is known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The project includes a number of infrastructure projects and several power projects.

___

Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan contributed to this report.
BERLIN (AP)  German federal prosecutors on Tuesday took over an investigation of anti-government extremists who allegedly planned to cause a long nationwide blackout and kidnap the country's health minister, saying there's evidence that the group constituted a terror organization.

Four German men were arrested on April 13 over their alleged roles in the plot, which authorities suspect was aimed at producing conditions similar to civil war and ultimately bringing down the government and parliamentary democracy.
CAIRO (AP)  The death toll from weekend tribal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudans western Darfur region has surpassed 200 people, a senior official said Tuesday.

Khamis Abdalla Abkar, the provincial governor of West Darfur province, said Sundays fighting in the town of Kreinik also wounded at least 103 others.

He said attackers overwhelmed a joint security force in the town, leading to its withdrawal.

This is a crime, a crime against humanity, Abkar said in video comments, adding that the town was destroyed, including its government institutions.

The fighting, some of the deadliest in the region in recent years, grew out of the killing of two Arab herdsmen on Thursday just outside Kreinik, 80 kilometers (around 50 miles) east of Genena, the provincial capital of West Darfur.

Large numbers of Arab militias, known as janjaweed, then stormed the town early Sunday with heavy weapons in retaliation, he said.

The violence eventually reached West Darfurs provincial capital of Genena on Sunday and the main hospital was attacked.

Shooting took place inside the facility including its emergency department. One staffer was killed, and health care workers were evacuated, according to the Doctors Without Borders charity.

Abkar, the provincial governor, also said that clashes on Thursday and Friday left eight dead and over two dozen wounded.

Abkar said authorities have taken unprecedented security measures to protect civilians in West Darfur. The military, he said, deployed a brigade to the province joining a civilian protection force already stationed in Kreinik.

Tensions between Arab and African Masalit communities in Kreinik date back to December when a property dispute at a local market triggered clashes that killed at least 88 people.

The fighting has come at a critical time for Sudan, which has plunged into chaos since a military coup last year. The takeover upended the countrys transition to democracy after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

The clashes raise questions over whether military leaders are capable of bringing security to Darfur, which has been wracked by years of civil war. In 2020, the U.N. Security Council ended its peacekeeping mission there.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when ethnic Africans rebelled, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination. Al-Bashirs government was accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes and unleashing the janjaweed on civilians  a charge it denied.
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UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N. General Assembly took a first step Tuesday to put the five permanent members of the Security Council under the spotlight whenever they use their veto power, a move highlighted by Russia's veto threat paralyzing any action by the U.N.s most powerful body on the Ukraine war.

A resolution adopted by consensus in the 193-member assembly amid a burst of applause does not eliminate or limit the veto power of the Security Council's permanent members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

But for the first time, the General Assembly will be required to hold a debate on the situation that sparks a veto in the Security Council within 10 working days. Precedence will be given on the list of speakers to the permanent member who casts a veto.

The assembly isnt required to take or consider any action under the resolution, but the discussion could put veto-wielders on the spot and let a raft of other countries be heard.

Liechtensteins U.N. ambassador, Christian Wenaweser, who spearheaded the resolution, which had been in the works for two years, has said it aims to promote the voice of all of us who are not veto-holders, and who are not on the Security Council, on matters of international peace and security because they affect all of us.

In presenting the resolution to the assembly Tuesday morning, Wenaweser alluded to Russias invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 and the Security Councils failure to take action: There has never been a stronger need for effective multilateralism than today, and there has never been a stronger need for innovation in order to secure the central role and voice of the United Nations.

Amnesty Internationals secretary general, Agnes Callamard, called the resolution a first step towards increasing the cost of using the veto -- and it could not have come soon enough.

The resolution had about 80 co-sponsors, including the United States and the United Kingdom. But it also had detractors even though they didnt break consensus, including Russia and close ally Belarus as well as current elected council members Gabon and India and other U.N. member nations.

The reform of the Security Council, which is charged under the U.N. Charter with ensuring international peace and security, has been debated for more than 40 years, and was front and center in comments by countries before and after the resolutions adoption.

There is widespread support for revamping the council to reflect current global realities rather than the international power structure after World War II in 1945 when the United Nations was created. But rivalries between countries and regions have blocked all attempts to reach agreement on the size, composition and powers of an expanded council.

The veto power of the five permanent members is one component on the reform agenda.

More than 200 different Security Council proposals have been vetoed, some by multiple countries, according to U.N. records. The subjects have ranged from the Korean War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to climate change, reporting on weapons stockpiles, and governance of a part of the Indian Ocean nation Comoros.

The former Soviet Union and its successor Russia have cast the most vetoes by far, followed by the United States. Far fewer have been cast by Britain, China and France.

U.S. deputy ambassador Richard Mills said after the vote that the United States is extraordinarily troubled by Russias pattern of abusing its veto right over the past decade, citing resolutions it vetoed ranging from referring Syria to the International Criminal Court, protesting Russia's annexation of Ukraines Crimea peninsula and demanding Russia immediately halt its invasion of Ukraine.

British Ambassador Barbara Woodward, whose country has not used its veto since 1989, called the resolution a step in pursuit of upholding international peace and security, adding: We prefer to win votes rather than use our veto to block council action.

France didnt co-sponsor the resolution and its deputy ambassador, Nathalie Broadhurst, said it does not believe the General Assembly can become the judge of the Security Council.

She said that is why France and Mexico have been promoting an initiative on the veto for several years. It would require the five permanent council members to voluntarily and collectively suspend the use of the veto in the event of mass atrocities. Saying the proposal is supported by 105 countries, she urged all states, in particular the other four permanent members, to join it.

Russias deputy ambassador, Gennady Kuzmin, called the veto a cornerstone of the U.N. architecture and warned that without it the Security Council would become a rubber-stamping body, rubber-stamping questionable decisions imposed by the nominal majority whose implementation would be hardly possible.

Chinese counselor Jiang Hua said the resolutions automatic triggering of a General Assembly meeting on the vetoed resolution in practice is likely to cause procedural confusion and inconsistency.

India and Brazil, which have sought permanent seats on the Security Council for many years and are currently serving two-year terms on the body, both complained that the resolution doesnt address the real issue of reforming the council.

A representative council which reflects the current international system is central to the maintenance of international peace and security and to the future of this organization. Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho told members.

Indias deputy ambassador, Ravindra Raguttahalli, said that a vocal minority of nay-sayers who support the status quo in the Security Council have held reform efforts hostage. He said the veto resolution ignores the root cause of the problem  restruturing the council to reflect contemporary geo-political realities.

Ambassador Michel Biang of Gabon, which is also an elected council member, said Africa has the largest number of U.N. peacekeeping missions but has no permanent seat on the Security Council.

Approving the resolution will not change the scope of the veto, nor its substance, Biang said.
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP)  In her 9th-grade essay, Yeardley Love wrote about what she wanted to do with her life: to attend the University of Virginia, to play lacrosse there, to become a lawyer and to maintain her close relationship with her family.

Many of her dreams came true, but ended abruptly and violently when she was brutally beaten by her boyfriend, a lawyer for Love's family told a jury Tuesday in the civil trial of the man convicted in her killing.

George Huguely V was convicted of second-degree murder and is serving a 23-year prison sentence in Love's slaying. Yeardley and Hugely both played lacrosse at UVA and were weeks away from graduation when Yeardley was found dead in her off-campus apartment in 2010.

A wrongful death lawsuit brought by Love's mother, Sharon Love, seeks to hold him civilly liable for her daughter's death. The lawsuit is seeking $29.5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

As the civil trial got underway, Paul Bekman, a lawyer for Love's family, showed the jury happy photos of Love with her mother and sister. He described a kind, thoughtful and caring young woman who played lacrosse, joined a sorority and kept up with a rigorous academic schedule at UVA while making sure to speak with her family almost every day.

Bekman told the jury that Love and Huguely had dated for two years, but had a rocky relationship that was marred by Huguely's excessive drinking. He said fellow students will testify about earlier violent episodes when Huguely was drunk, including one that happened about a month or two before Yeardley was killed, when visiting lacrosse players from North Carolina heard Love yell, Help, I can't breathe, and walked in to Huguely's bedroom to find Huguely with his hands around her neck.

Bekman showed the jury graphic crime scene photos of Love as she lay dead on her bedroom floor, with her right eye bashed in, her face bloody, and marks on her shoulder and neck. Love's mother and sister left the courtroom just before the photos were shown and cried softly during several other portions of the opening statements.

A medical examiner determined that Love died from blunt-force injuries to her head.

She died as a result of a vicious and brutal beating, Bekman said.

Huguely's attorney, Matthew Green, told jurors that Huguely admits he assaulted Love and that her family is entitled to compensatory damages in an amount to be determined by the jury. But he said the defense will argue that Huguely's actions did not amount to the willful and wanton conduct that is required to award punitive damages. In fact, Green said, Huguely did not intend to cause Love's death.

Green urged the jury to focus on the approximately eight to 10 minutes Huguely spent in Love's apartment the night she was killed. He said Huguely was a party animal who began drinking right after the UVA men's lacrosse team played its final game on May 1, 2010. Huguely's family was in town for senior day, and he spent the next 30 hours consuming 45 to 50 drinks, using a conservative estimate, Green said.

The following day, Love and Huguely exchanged angry, immature emails, but had patched things up by that night and were seen on video holding hands as they spent time with Huguely's family at a bar, Green said. Then, about 11:45 p.m., a drunken Huguely went to Love's apartment, where he kicked in her bedroom door.

During questioning by police early the next morning, Huguely said he only went to Love's apartment to talk to her, but their argument quickly turned physical. Huguely said Love's head hit the wall and they wrestled on the floor, but that when he left, she only had a bloody nose. Her roommates found her dead about two hours later.

Green said Love's visible injuries were limited to the right side of her face, which he said is consistent with a single impact, some kind of a fall where her face impacts the floor.

Green said that when police told Huguely that Love was dead, his videotaped interview shows that he just doesn't believe it.

It's clear he had no understanding a fatal event had happened, Green said.

Green said the jury in Huguely's criminal trial rejected a first-degree murder charge and instead found him guilty of second-degree murder. He is about halfway through his 23-year prison sentence.

Justice has been done, Green said.

The lawsuit was initially filed in 2012, but was later voluntarily dismissed and then refiled in 2018.
Following two Developer Previews, released in February and March, respectively, today Google has made the first Android 13 beta build available for public testing. And as always with Android betas, it's much easier to install and play with than the Developer Preview builds were.

That's by design, as by now hopefully there should be no huge, horrible, show-stopping bugs. That said, you are still likely to experience loads of issues, as this is the first of four planned betas before the final release hits later this year.

If you're interested in trying out the Android 13 Beta 1, and have a supported Google Pixel smartphone, then you can just head on over to the Android Beta Program website here and enroll your device.

Then you should receive Android 13 Beta 1 as an over-the-air software update within a few minutes (up to a few hours). Subsequent beta builds will also be sent to you over-the-air just like normal software updates, and the same goes for the final version of Android 13 once that's fully baked and ready to get out of the oven. If you are already running a Developer Preview build of Android 13, then you'll get the first beta (and the next ones) over-the-air as well.

Android 13 Beta 1 comes with new permissions for more granular access to media files and improved audio routing APIs. Apps that want to access media on your phone now have three different permissions specific to what file type they want to access - one for images and photos, one for videos, and one for audio files. Previously, all of these were baked into a single "media access" permission, which, if granted, allowed the app to access all types of media. Not anymore, though.

When you grant one of the new permissions, the app in question will only have read access to the respective media file type(s) and nothing else. When developers' apps will target Android 13, they will have to migrate to this new permissions model.

There are also some minute improvements to audio routing, as well as better error reporting for apps that generate keys - but these will probably be of interest primarily to app developers.

Next month at the Google I/O developer conference, the company will share more details about Android 13 along with more new features, and it's very likely that the second beta will drop right about that time, in order to showcase the newly unveiled stuff.

Source
Sen. Telena Cruz Nelson made her bid for Guams delegate seat in Washington D.C. official on Tuesday, surrounded by family supporters at the Guam Election Commission office in Tamuning.

Today is the day that I decided to run for Congress. I believe that the people of Guam needed a serious leader, Nelson said. I am a combat veteran. I am a teacher. I am a three-term senator.

The Democrat majority leader in the Guam Legislature, Nelson is the first candidate for delegate to file with the commission and the third so far this year, with upwards of 900 signatures on her nomination petition, awaiting a final tally by the Election Commission.

She said that if elected, she plans to continue pursuing many of the policies and goals that she has championed while in the Legislature.

We have worked for sustainability. We have worked for education, we have worked for leveraging our federal resources, fighting for our veterans rights for the benefits that theyve earned in combat. And weve also worked to build our economy and protect the workforce through unemployment initiatives. And we will continue to do that work moving forward.

Parity in Supplemental Security Income, which provides monthly financial benefits to low-income, elderly and disabled residents, is another goal.

It was very disheartening to see the SSI ruling taking place in the courts that really distance us from our national partners. And so, we are going to fight for equity and parity in SSI and continue the  funding reimbursements of Medicaid, she said.

Nelson, who served in Afghanistan, would continue to pursue her career in the armed forces if elected, which she said would benefit her ability to operate in Congress.

I understand the global actions that are currently taking place within our region and outside and those that affect Guam directly and indirectly. And with that military experience I can bring to the table in the Armed Services Committee, I will fight for our island, she said.

Nelson has previously been called to active duty with the National Guard while serving as the vice speaker but said that numerous members of Congress were also in the military.

Longtime senator and former speaker Judi Won Pat, also a Democrat, has confirmed her intention to run for the delegate seat and would square off with Nelson in a primary. Incumbent Democrat Del. Michael San Nicolas will be vacating the seat to run for governor, in the midst of an ongoing congressional ethics investigation. His running mate is journalist Sabrina Salas Matanane.

On the opposite side of the aisle, Republican Sen. Jim Moylan has also announced his candidacy for delegate, and his campaign team has filed with the election commission and started fundraising.

Sen. Jose Pedo Terlaje has filed his reelection papers and was the first candidate to do so this year, followed by senatorial hopeful Dwayne San Nicolas, running as a Democrat. Harvey Egna was the fourth so far, filing their packet for senator as a Republican after Nelson.
A SUSPECTED serial robber and murderer, who committed a spate of robberies in Harare, appeared in court yesterday following his dramatic arrest on Friday.

Aaron Machona, was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate, Yeukai Dzuda, who remanded him in custody.

In the first charge of murder and armed robbery, the court heard that on March 9, at around 1am, Jubilee Utsiwegota was asleep in her bedroom.

Her mother, Mavis Utsiwegota, and four other children were also sleeping in the house when Machona broke into the premises.

He was allegedly armed with a CZ pistol and started assaulting the elderly Mavis Utsiwegota demanding money.

The late Jubilee confronted Machona and tried to stop him from assaulting her mother.

Machona allegedly fired four shots into her head leading to her death.

He stole two cellphones and US$60.

In another count, Machona broke into Kelvin Mutandwas house using an unknown object.

When Mutandwa heard the noise, he saw Machona wearing a balaclava, pointing a pistol at him.

Machona ordered Mutandwa to lie down and he tied his hands and legs and he stole US$2 that was in the drawer and a cellphone.

He ordered Mutandwas wife to lead him to the other tenants bedroom.

Hilary Marufu (22) opened the door and Machona confronted him with a pistol and ordered him to lie down.

Machona allegedly stole watches and cellphones and drove away in Marufus car, which he later dumped in Chitungwiza.

He is also facing attempted robbery charges after he allegedly broke into Mario Pepas house and demanded money.

He threatened to shoot both Pepa and his wife.

Pepa allegedly wrestled with Machona and he fired a shot before escaping from the scene.

Machona is then alleged to have broken into Shamiso Nheras house.

She was awoken by barking dogs and saw him in the corridor armed with a pistol.

He allegedly forced her back into her bedroom where he blindfolded her and took her phones and ransacked the house.

He ordered her to carry a safe, which had US$36 000, and accompany him outside.

Machona was also charged for unlawful possession of a firearm.

Allegations are that on April 22, detectives received information that he was involved in a spate of robberies, and he had been seen at Chigovanyika Shopping Centre in Chitungwiza.

Machona became suspicious and drove off at high speed and a chase ensued in which the police fired warning shots.

He was eventually cornered at a fuel station leading to his arrest.

When police searched his house, they found a pistol and a magazine with one round of ammunition.

Anesu Chirenje appeared for the State. H Metro
Members of the Democratic Party of Guam Central Executive Committee voted on Tuesday night to close their primaries for election year 2022 to non-members of the party.

The move passed as an amendment to party's bylaws, with 30 members of the committee voting yes, five voting no, one abstention, and 15 either not voting or absent.

The amendment cites a court order by Superior Court of Guam Judge Alberto C. Lamorena, Civil Case Number CV1456-03, which finds that "each recognized political party has the prerogative to dictate its primary election format, for all primary elections subsequent to 2004."

According to the order, the Guam Election Commission must follow the decision of any party that decides to close its primary and require each voter participating in the primary election to state their name, residence and political affiliation in order to receive that party's ballot.

A signed letter provided by Election Commission Director Maria Pangelinan, dated March 10, affirms that the commission will follow the provisions of the court order.

Party Executive Director Chirag Bhojwani told members of the committee that closing the primary would help to preserve its freedom of association by "better ensuring that only members of the party influence that party's nominee."

The move would allow all Democrats to choose who they want as their representative, he said. The closure applies to primaries for all elected offices, but the party reserves the right to open up the vote if it chooses to do so.

"In terms of strengthening our party  this allows for the party to have a greater role in the process of who serves as our candidate."

He stressed that Guam law still prohibits "crossover voting," meaning you can only vote for members from one party in any partisan election.

"So in a sense, if you are set on voting for one particular Democrat in the primary, it's essentially a closed primary," Bhojwani said.

According to research provided by Bhojwani, nine states in the U.S. have closed primaries, including Delaware and Florida. Another six have partially closed primaries, where the party can choose whether to allow non-party members to vote in the primary.
The Piti Mayors Office has teamed up with the Guam Preservation Trust to revive a village tradition tied to the culturally significant Atantano area.

The historic preservation site, known to contain cultural artifacts dating back to the Latte Period, spans 73 hectares.

On the mayors office side, were focusing more on the Santa Cruz fiesta, which of course happens to be at Atantano and working with GPT to bring more awareness and education about the Atantano area, said Piti Mayor Jesse Alig.

Education

Guam Preservation Trust and other organizations have worked together to coordinate hiking trips and educational excursions to areas with rare, medicinal plants, as well as visits to the preserves ancient latte stone sites.

Alig said visitors can experience the Atantano Heritage Preserve, located between the boundaries of Piti and Santa Rita-Sumai on Marine Corps Drive, to see the Atantano Shrine.

The goal of the Guam Preservation Trust is to showcase what Guam looked like, said Joe Quinata, GPT Chief Program Officer in a news release. With research, development, education, and outreach, we can make this heritage preserve a learning center for our community.

The Piti Mayors office is hosting the villages traditional Santa Cruz novena to Santa Cruz at 6:30 p.m. through May 2 with a fiesta celebration on May 3. Alig said the event, which will include a pictorial and educational exhibit, is open to the public.

Were making use of the property and developing a master plan to utilize this heritage preserve to the benefit of our people and possibly our visitors, said Alig. Theres definitely interest from our council to learn more about Atantano. We could use this fiesta to invite more people to come out.
Members of the Democratic Party of Guam Central Executive Committee voted on Tuesday night to close their primaries for election year 2022 to 
China, UN vow to jointly boost global development

Xinhua) 10:27, April 26, 2022

BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China and the United Nations development system Monday agreed to make joint efforts for the cause of global development.

The consensus came when Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Siddharth Chatterjee, UN development system resident coordinator in China.

Noting that the UN is the main platform for international development cooperation, Wang said China attaches great importance to cooperation with the UN development system and is willing to work with the UN to advance the cause of global development.

Wang said the Global Development Initiative, put forward by China, aims to call on the international community to pay more attention to development issues, strengthen international development cooperation, and accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

More than 100 countries have supported the initiative, and more than 50 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative established by China on the UN platform, Wang added.

China has accumulated rich experience in poverty alleviation, human resource development, protection of women's and children's rights, health, and green and open development, etc. China is willing to cooperate with UN members and the UN development system to share these experience with other countries, Wang said.

Chatterjee spoke highly of the significance of the Global Development Initiative to realize the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

He said that the UN development system in China is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China on advancing the Global Development Initiative, actively offer advice and suggestions, and carry out practical cooperation.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)




Haiti - FLASH : Gang War, the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac transformed into a battlefield





Since Sunday, the "400 mawozo" Gang, which controls Croix-des-Bouquets, has once again been facing the rival "Chen Mechan" Gang, which controls the areas of Croix-des-Missions and Butte Boyer...



Armed clashes, which have already caused several deaths and injuries among belligerents, but also among innocent civilians according to testimonies.



The residents of Santo, Shada, Croix-des-Missions, Butte Boyer, "Anba Mapou", "Deye simitye" find themselves in spite of themselves at the heart of these fights and live in terror, the men of "400 Mawozo" try to regain control of these neighborhoods, which they had lost control in 2018 to the benefit of "Chen Mechan"



Automatic gunfire was heard throughout the day. Commercial activities are completely paralyzed as well as traffic due to barricades erected on several roads. Weapons and ammunition do not seem to be lacking on either side...



According to local residents, on Monday the area called Butte-Boyer would again be under the control of "400 mawozo", however, their attempt to cross the Croix-des-Missions bridge failed and was repelled by the men of "Chen Mechan".



Several inhabitants have started to flee the combat zone, the others remain locked up in their homes, several houses have been burned...



It seems that the trigger for this conflict between gangs, in addition to the reconquest of territories conquered by the rival gang, would be the decision of "400 Mawozo", to install a Chief in Butte Boyer on the territory of "Chen Mechan", a decision considered by the rival gang as a provocation and reopened hostilities.



The authorities, not communicated any assessment of the situation...



Sl/ TB/ PI/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Insecurity : A student in 5th year of Medicine shot dead





Saturday April 23, Osny Zidor, (27), a 5th year student at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy (FMP), was killed in Bois-Verna, by a bullet in the head, shot for no reason by a unidentified individuals traveling on a motorcycle, while she was a passenger in a minibus which provided the downtown/Petion-ville route. The student died instantly.



The Rectorate of the State University of Haiti (UEH) said to be, in a note, "in the most total dismay" after learning the news of the heinous assassination of student Osny Zidor.



"The Rectorate denounces and condemns with all its might this umpteenth oduious crime perpetrated against a member of the UEH community. It is deeply regrettable that mourning continues to knock on our doors in such disastrous conditions.



The Rectorate presents its sympathy and solidarity to the family and loved ones of Osny Zidor. At the same time, he shares the pain of the large FMP family.



The Haitian people and particularly the university community are tired of counting corpses in their ranks. The authorities concerned must definitely get to work to put an end once and for all to this descent into hell of our dear nation."



HL/ S/ HaitiLibre


















RESIDENTS of Goring could be going to the polls for the second time within weeks.

This follows the resignations of three parish councillors just before a by-election last week.

Former council chairman Kevin Bulmer, his wife Mary and Councillor Tony Virgo-Harris all decided to step down for personal reasons, according to parish clerk Laura White.

Their departure was announced in a notice from the council on Tuesday, two days before the by-election in which retired astrophysicist Jim Emerson was elected.

Mr Emerson, 72, of Millers Close, polled 466 votes, ahead of Richard Osborne, who is landlord of the John Barleycorn pub in Manor Road, with 268 and Chloe Morrison with 153. The turnout was 32.2 per cent.

The by-election was called following the death of Councillor Matthew Brown in February.

Villagers now have until May 10 to decide if they want to go to the polls again.

A minimum of 10 electors must call for a by-election for one to be held, as happened following Cllr Browns death.

Ms White said: If there is no call for an election we will advertise for co-opted members and ask people to apply.

My hope is that the two candidates who were unsuccessful in last weeks election will do so, along with any others.

The cost of last weeks by-election was about 8,000 and a second one would cost a similar amount.

Ms White said the Bulmers decided to step down due to Mrs Bulmers health.

Mr Virgo-Harris had called within days to inform her of his wish to resign.

She encouraged the trio to go on the same day so she could issue the notice asking villagers if they wanted another by-election.

Ms White said: It was all for medical or personal reasons and nothing to do with last weeks election.

She explained that councillors must attend at least one meeting in six months and as Mrs Bulmer was still in hospital her qualification for being a councillor was already due to expire in early May.

Mr Bulmer, who had served on the parish council for 12 years, said: My wife has had an illness that required hospital treatment since November and she is still in hospital.

It has reached the point where I just cannot give the parish council the attention it requires.

Mr Bulmer, who works as a company secretary, will continue to represent Goring for the Conservatives on Oxfordshire County Council.

He said: It has all got a bit too much and I have had to reassess what I can and cant do, so its time to give other people a chance and get some new blood on to the parish council.

Ms White said: Its a shame but could not be helped. This is the situation we find ourselves in.

Mr Virgo-Harris could not be contacted by the Henley Standard.

Councillor Emerson had stood on a ticket of Good governance for Goring.

He said: I want to help the council uphold high standards in public office, make the right decisions and communicate them to the

community.

We all want the council to make wise decisions and I hope to contribute to that and to make sure they are presented clearly enough for the electorate to understand the reasons for making those decisions.

I want to ensure that Goring is governed well and it should be clear that it is.

He added: I would like to record my thanks to my two rivals for their positive campaigns.

Cllr Emerson, who retired in 2017, has lived in the village with his wife for many years and has children and grandchildren.

He is the production manager of Goring Gap News, which he joined as a volunteer in 2015.

He said reading every word of the monthly newsletter helped him to keep his finger on the pulse of village issues.

As an unpaid director of the publication, he also helps award its grants to local good causes.

He is also an independent advisor to a London borough standards committee, which resolves governance complaints against councillors.

When he worked as an astrophysicist he was involved in detailed funding applications for astronomical research, including overseeing the construction of the 32 million Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy in Chile, the largest telescope of its kind in the world.

Cllr Emerson said: As an astrophysicist people might think I have my head in the clouds but I have lots of experience in the real world too.
Upscale brand brings hallmark design and stylish amenities to guests in second Nashville location.

Following the brand's initial debut in Nashville several years ago, Cambria Hotels, an upscale brand franchised by Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), made an encore appearance with the grand opening of its second location: the Cambria Hotel Nashville Airport. The brand's newest addition underscores Cambria's continued quest to bring design-forward, approachable upscale accommodations to guests' favorite locations nationwide and provides modern travelers with the amenities they need to discover all the opportunities Nashville offers.

To commemorate the property's official opening, Choice Hotels welcomed community members and distinguished guests to a ribbon cutting ceremony. Upon arrival, guests were treated to an airport-themed reception and property tours featuring the hotel's one-of-a-kind guitar-shaped saltwater pool, locally inspired bar and restaurant, and thoughtfully designed guestrooms. Speakers at the event included Jayesh Patel, chief executive officer, Athena Hospitality Group John Cooper, Mayor of Nashville, Pat Pacious, president and chief executive officer, Choice Hotels and Senior Vice President of Upscale Brands for Choice Hotels Janis Cannon, who each expressed their excitement about the brand's growth in Nashville and another new Choice hotel with Athena Hospitality Group.

Ideally suited for both business and leisure travelers, the four-story, 130-room Cambria Hotel Nashville Airport is located at 44 Rachel Drive, just minutes from the Nashville International Airport and a short drive to downtown Nashville's most popular boroughs, including The Gulch; Music Row; and South Broadway. The hotel also provides convenient access to the offices of several major corporations and area employers, such as Nissan North America, HCA Healthcare, Dollar General and Bridgestone Americas, as well as popular attractions including, the One Century Place Conference Center, Grand Ole Opry, Opry Mills mall, Bridgestone Arena and Lower Broadway, where guests can hear live music at the renowned "honky tonks" and visit the Johnny Cash Museum.

The Cambria Hotel Nashville Airport features upscale amenities and approachable indulgences that appeal to modern travelers, including:

Multi-purpose indoor and outdoor spaces for productive work or relaxation, including a spacious patio with a firepit and cabanas for gathering.

Locally inspired design and decor, reflecting the unique personality of the surrounding community, including an outdoor saltwater pool in the shape of a guitar.

Full bar, featuring local Mid-South craft beers on tap, wine, specialty cocktails, and whiskey flights spotlighting popular Tennessee pours.

Contemporary and sophisticated guest rooms, complete with design forward fixtures, abundant lighting and plush bedding.

Immersive, spa-style bathrooms with Bluetooth mirrors.

Onsite dining at the Hangar Bar + Kitchen, featuring area-inspired dishes and a contemporary take on Nashville favorites from local chef Steve Townsend, as well as to-go options.

Nearly 7,000 square feet of multi-function meeting and event spaces, featuring nesting pods and flexible seating to suit any business gathering.

State-of-the-art fitness center.

Electric vehicle charging station and free shuttle transportation to the Nashville International Airport.

The Cambria Hotel Nashville Airport was developed by Athena Hospitality Group, a full-service development and management company based in Florence, Kentucky.

All Choice-branded hotels are participating in Commitment to Clean, an initiative that builds upon the strong foundation of Choice franchisees' long-standing dedication to cleanliness with enhanced training and best practices for deep cleaning, disinfecting and social distancing. Additionally, Cambria guests can limit their interactions with hotel staff by using the Cambria Contactless Concierge Service, a text messaging service for housekeeping requests, to-go food orders, meeting room requests and more.

Hotel website
A rooftop pool and taqueria, bodega, pizza slice shop, basement event space and all-new four-bed rooms.

The Hoxton has opened its doors in Barcelona, in the creative neighbourhood of Poblenou, marking something new for the city as a multi-functional destination for locals and guests. Located in walking distance of the beach and set to be a pillar of the community, The Hoxton offers 240 rooms; a striking rooftop with a pool, cabanas and views over Sagrada Familia; Tope, a rooftop bar and taqueria; and Four Corners, a ground-floor pizza restaurant that stretches across a light and airy restaurant, sun terrace, slice shop and bodega  a one-stop shop for the best Spanish snacks, wines and craft beers. The hotel's large and bright lobby is full of cosy corners and houses Best Of, The Hoxton's retail collection which features exclusively local and sustainable brands. To the right of the lobby, three meeting and events spaces make up The Apartment, along with La Cave, a basement space that will host local cultural programming and community events.

Lobby

At the heart of the hotel, the bright and airy lobby is a welcoming space, centred around a curved all-day bar serving coffee and drinks. On entering the hotel, guests are wowed by the colourful hand-painted mural on the bar front, by local artist, Maria Marvila. Floor-to-ceiling windows feature on both sides of the lobby, embracing the Mediterranean sunshine. The space is framed by lofty arches, peachy plastered walls, and bold abstract artworks curated by John Brown Projects. A contemporary mix of tactile fabrics and patterns on upholstered seating is used alongside abundant planting, rattans and stones, to create a space that feels intimate, relaxed and welcoming.

Rooms

The hotel's 240 bedrooms have been designed to reflect their location. Embracing the sun and sea of Barcelona, rooms feel Mediterranean with terracotta floors, faded florals, natural jute rugs and serene colour palettes. Handcrafted tapestries hang above statement headboards and floor-to-ceiling windows flood the rooms with light. Rooms are generously sized, ranging from Roomy to an all-new 'Homey' category which will appeal to families and longer staying guests with kitchenettes, dining areas, and the option of two double beds in separate closable rooms for privacy. Bathrooms feel fresh and bright, with Zellige tiles, terracotta floors, walk-in rainfall showers, and Blank amenities. A handful of Biggy and Homey rooms feature bathtubs  perfect for relaxing after a day exploring the city.

The Hoxton commissioned local Catalan artist, Jose Antonio Roda to illustrate room keys and collateral; artwork in the rooms is curated by Barcelona-based John Brown Projects; bookshelves are curated by Hox Friends; and all rooms feature neighbourhood guides with tried-and-tested local recommendations from the team.

Tope

Up on the roof with knock-out views of Sagrada Familia, Tope is a fun and informal Mexican taqueria with a rotating menu of tacos, fresh Mexican-inspired dishes, frozen margaritas, giant slushies, and DJs amping up the vibes at the weekends. A sister to Tope Portland which opened atop The Hoxton Portland in 2018, Tope Poblenou offers 360- degree views of the city, which can be enjoyed with relaxed seating, or soaked up poolside on a sun lounger or in a comfy cabana. With room for up to 100 standing, Tope vows to be a lively weekend spot with DJs hitting the decks on Fridays and Saturdays, making it a must-go destination to catch the sunset. The rooftop space will also be used to host leisurely yoga sessions for guests and locals, and community events as part of The Hoxton's cultural programming.

Tope offers a neat list of classic tacos features slow-cooked meats, charred vegetables and flavourful sauces. Menu highlights include: sea bass aguachile, a typical dish from the western coast of Mexico; homemade guacamole; quesadilla with cheese, cactus, corn and jalapeno; and pulled pork carnitas with pico de gallo and habanero. Tope's regularly changing menu embraces seasonality and local produce. As for drinks, tequila and mezcal are whipped up into frozen margaritas, Miami Vice slushies, and colourful pitchers, national and Mexican beers, as well as a selection of wines from local Spanish vineyards.

Whilst the striking backdrop of the city is the star of the show up here, Tope's decor plays off the Mexican cuisine with colourful geometric-tiled tabletops, lush greenery, cacti, handmade terracotta pendants hanging over the bar, striped sun loungers, and a wow-factor chequerboard terrazzo pool.

Four Corners

On the ground floor of the hotel, Four Corners is a pizza restaurant, sun terrace, slice shop and bodega. Fresh out of London where it ran as a four-month pop-up and was met with rave reviews, Four Corners specialises in deep-dish Detroit-style pizza served in square pies or giant slices. Overseen by New York-based pizzaiolo, Anthony Falco, Four Corners' thick and chunky bases are light and baked fresh. Toppings including: Mortadella and pistachio pesto; Soppressata with spicy honey, cheesy carbonara; and the classic red top. The all-day menu also includes small plates designed to share including mozzarella sticks, Italian charcuterie, aubergine parmigiana and to finish, a too-good-to-miss tiramisu. The menu is accompanied by a selection of natural wines from small-scale European wineries and craft beers from local brewery, Garage Beer.

For early risers, Four Corners serves breakfast until 11:30 am, with a selection of freshly baked homemade pastries from Barcelona's much-loved spot, Funky Bakers; sweet tiramisu-filled bombolini; sourdough toast with ricotta, pear and honey; and the 'BEC': a stand-out bacon, egg and cheese brioche. With Poblenou celebrated for its craft coffee scene, Four Corners hits the mark with specialty coffee from the nearby Three Marks Coffee.

The pared-back space is full of natural light with cascading greenery, large paper shade lanterns and bold blue tiles. A colourful hand-painted mural by artist, Caroline Denervaud, frames the open-kitchen and wrap-around bar, with its corrugated concrete front and red leather bar stools.

Between the lobby and the restaurant, Four Corners' Slice Shop is a quick, grab-and-go option, where guests can swing by to pick up a slice for the road or sit in at its relaxed high-top seating. Guests are encouraged to visit the bodega, where they'll find a curated selection of Barcelona's snacks, beers and low-intervention wines, including Torres crisps, Garage Brewery beers, Ortiz tinned seafood, and bespoke vermouth from Morro Fi, bottled exclusively for Four

Corners. The bodega has been designed as a contemporary take on the traditional Spanish bodega. Branding, products and an experiential approach lay at the heart of the design, with shelves stretching up to the double-height ceiling, with deliberately kitsch and industrial finishes.

The Apartment and La Cave

The Apartment, The Hoxton's meeting and events space, is comprised of three rooms, centred around a communal pantry kitchen. Located on the ground floor, the differently-sized rooms make the most of the natural light and feature white-washed timber floors, bespoke joinery and a continuation of the hotel's dynamic artwork collection. Moving walls and concealed TVs mean the rooms transition seamlessly to accommodate all kinds of occasions, from small meetings to large standing receptions. The pantry kitchen is the heart of The Apartment, with a terrazzo-topped bar, checkerboard concrete floor and statement handmade tapestry. New and unique for The Hoxton's Barcelona property, La Cave is a multifunctional basement space and extension of The Apartment. The space fits up to 300 standing, accommodating large-scale events and parties. Unlike any event space of its kind, La Cave feels welcoming and warm, just as you'd expect from a Hoxton. Here, guests will find a sprawling statement art piece from local artist, Sandra Modrego.

Best Of

Supporting The Hoxton's commitment to its neighbourhood, Best Of is a retail collection featuring a range of limited edition products created in collaboration with some of the city's best artisans, makers and brands, available to purchase here in the hotel. The collection, which champions brands with sustainable practices, includes printed shirts, t-shirts and swimmers by Brava Fabrics, sunglasses from local Poblenou-based Etnia, organic cosmetics from Rowse, chocolate from ethical bean-to bear makers, LOT Roasters, and prints and figurines from Jose Antonio Roda. Cult and colourful Four Corners merch including caps and printed t-shirts are also available to buy from the bodega. The Hoxton also collaborated with Brava Fabrics for its team uniforms.

Good Neighbours

The Hoxton is proud to support Fundacio Arrels as its local charity partner in Barcelona, through donations and fundraising initiatives. Fundacio Arrels work tirelessly to support the homeless, helping with job opportunities, housing and long-term solutions. Good Neighbours is The Hoxton's global community outreach initiative, which supports those in need through fundraising and volunteering.

The neighbourhood: El Poblenou

For its first hotel in Spain, The Hoxton chose El Poblenou for its creative scene and local spirit, and the draw of being in walking distance of the sights and the sea. El Poblenou, which translates in Catalan to 'little village', was established as a thriving district during the industrial revolution, when textile mills and factories were built here and the neighbourhood was forever woven into the history of the city. In recent years, [email protected] District urban regeneration project has seen the old factories and mills converted into artist studios, design showrooms, craft breweries, restaurants and art schools, breathing fresh life into the neighbourhood and establishing it as one of the most cultural districts of the city. Stroll down Rambla del Poblenou and join the neighbours for a coffee  or better yet, a vermouth. El Poblenou hums with energy, with young start-ups ready to take on the world, and design studios drawing inspiration from these very streets. There's also the Can Framis modern art museum, Glories shopping centre, and the world-famous Razzmatazz for some late-night grooves.

The Hoxton's evolution

Always more than just a bed for the night, The Hoxton is one of the forerunners in the lifestyle hospitality space, making a significant mark on the neighbourhoods in which it lands, and always challenging the status quo. Poblenou comes as the 11th hotel for the brand, which has gone from strength to strength in recent years, having rooted itself into some of the most exciting and interesting neighbourhoods across Europe and North America. Locations currently include London (Shoreditch, Holborn and Southwark), Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, New York, Portland, Chicago and Downtown LA. Each hotel is designed and curated with its neighbourhood front of mind, enhancing experience through brand and retail partnerships unique to that destination, hand-picked vintage furniture from local sellers, galleries showcasing independent artists, community-focused social events, and charity-supporting Good Neighbours initiatives.

Hotel website
Alda Mendes has been appointed as the new Resort Manager at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles, located in the south of Mahe island and nestled into the hillside overlooking Petite Anse bay. With 18 years of hospitality experience, Mendes, a native of Portugal, joins her first Four Seasons property in the remote location of Seychelles, where guests come to escape from the everyday.

With a guest experience focused vision, Mendes is excited for the opportunity to lead the transformation of guests' journeys.

Mendes has travelled extensively throughout her career, working her way up in various positions before becoming a resort manager at Six Senses Ibiza. Her time in Ibiza saw her capitalize on empowering women by mentoring and creating opportunities for them.

Mendes is fluent in Portuguese and English and holds a postgraduate degree in event management from the London Hotel, Tourism and Event School. As a nature and wellness enthusiast, she is thrilled to experience the natural beauty of the Seychelles as she hikes up some of the many mountains and enjoys a book or session of sunset yoga.
Manila, Philippines - At the closing session of its Global Summit in Manila today, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) announced that its 22nd event will take place in Riyadh, capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from 29th November to 2nd December this year.

In Manila, more than a thousand delegates, including the worlds foremost business leaders, government ministers and key decision-makers from across the global Travel & Tourism sector gathered together, to discuss how to build upon the continuing recovery.

In her farewell address Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: It has been a privilege to bring together so many leaders from across the global Travel & Tourism sector to the beautiful city of Manila."

This Summit is living proof that nothing beats getting together, sharing ideas, debating the challenges, and finding consensus."

We still have a lot of work to do to bring down post-pandemic barriers, open economies and harmonise health data for seamless travel. But the future looks bright, and the next decade is there for the taking."

We look forward to our 22nd Global Summit later this year in Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to mark the next chapter in the sectors ongoing recovery.

Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and Board Member of the Saudi Tourism Authority, said "We are excited to welcome the world to experience the excitement and the energy of Saudi. We promise you that the next summit will be fresh, inspiring, and rewarding."

Under the theme of Rediscovering Travel, tourism ministers and Travel & Tourism leaders from around the world reinforced their determination towards greater cooperation and alignment between the public and private sectors.

At WTTCs Global Leaders Dialogue session they explored how the sector will continue to adapt to COVID-19 and emerge resiliently from the pandemic.

WTTCs latest Economic Impact Report also revealed the Travel & Tourism sector was expected to create nearly 126 million new jobs within the next decade and Travel & Tourisms contribution to GDP could reach pre-pandemic levels by 2023.

WTTCs major Hotel Sustainability Basics sustainability initiative was launched at its Global Summit, providing a starting point to drive sustainability throughout the hospitality sector to power the momentum toward responsible Travel & Tourism.

The global body also launched its new cyber resilience report, Codes to resilience, with Microsoft, for the global Travel & Tourism sector, which outlined pillars to strengthen cyber security for businesses around the world.

British adventurer Bear Grylls was the conference keynote, alongside other major speakers, including American film producer Lawrence Bender, Singapore-born American novelist and writer of satirical novels Kevin Kwan and Indonesian/Dutch environmental activist Melati Wijsen.

About WTTC

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) represents the global travel & tourism private sector. Members include 200 CEOs, Chairs and Presidents of the world's leading travel & tourism companies from all geographies covering all industries. For more than 30 years, WTTC has been committed to raising the awareness of governments and the public of the economic and social significance of the travel & tourism sector.

According to WTTC's 2021 Economic Impact Report, during 2020, a year in which it was devasted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Travel & Tourism made a 5.5% contribution to global GDP and was responsible for 272 million jobs.

WTTC Press Office

WTTC

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Provenance Hotels (Provenance) and affiliates of Gencom, a leading domestic and international investment and development firm, today announced the formation of a special purpose hospitality venture, GenPro. As part of the venture, Provenance will contribute various hotels it owns throughout the United States, along with cash, and the Gencom affiliate will contribute cash. Jointly led by Provenances Founder and Chairman, Gordon Sondland, and Gencom Founder, Karim Alibhai, the venture will seek to expand through future acquisitions and/or redevelopment opportunities.

GenPros hotel assets will be managed by Benchmark Pyramid. Alibhai currently sits on the Board of Benchmark Pyramid, and Sondland will also join the Board upon the close of Benchmark Pyramids acquisition of Provenance, which is expected in the second quarter of 2022.

Sondland said, We are excited to team up with Gencom and its affiliates, one of the nation's leading hospitality investment and development firms, to launch a large and growing hotel real estate venture, GenPro. The Gencom team brings an entrepreneurial approach and attention to detail and has long been known for its work in the hospitality sector both in management platforms and ownership of hotels across all brands. With my nearly four decades of experience in the hotel industry and the friendships I developed during my tenure as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, I look forward to sourcing opportunities for GenPro to grow both domestically and internationally.

We are thrilled to launch GenPro with Gordon and his team, and we look forward to growing its attractive portfolio of properties through compelling organic and inorganic opportunities, said Alibhai. We remain bullish on market trends in hospitality and are confident that GenPro will deliver long-term value to its stakeholders.

GenPros initial portfolio of properties includes the downtown Seattle, WashingtonHotel Max; the boutique Old No. 77 Hotel & Chandlery, situated just blocks from New Orleans, Louisianas French Quarter; downtown Nashville, Tennessees newly renovated Hotel Preston; the museum-worthy collection of glass art at Hotel Murano in the South Sound;and four downtown Portland, Oregon hotels: the Hollywood golden age-style Hotel Deluxe in the Goose Hollow neighborhood, Sentinel in the West End, Hotel Lucia, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the art-filled rooms of Dossier.

About Gencom

Founded in 1987 by Karim Alibhai, Gencom is one of the nations leading domestic and international investment and development firms specializing in hospitality with further emphasis on the luxury, mixed-use sector as well as related operating platform investments. Headquartered in Miami, Gencom is fully-integrated and highly diversified, with expertise in virtually every aspect of development, acquisition, financing, asset management and sales of hospitality properties. Gencom has had success not only in developing, purchasing and exiting single assets and hotel portfolios, it also has been successful in creating, purchasing and growing hospitality platform investments, throughout the United States, Caribbean and Europe, including Gencom American Hospitality, Summerfield Suites, Carnival Resorts and Interstate Hotels. Gencom companies successful track record has led to significant ventures with prominent institutional investors, prominent family groups and other strategic partners both domestically and internationally. For more information about Gencom, please visit www.gencomgrp.com.

About Provenance Hotels

Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Provenance Hotels owns, develops and manages market-leading independent hotels. Imbued with intentional, deeply integrated art stories, these Conde Nast Reader"s Choice Award-winning hotels showcase trend-setting amenities, creative collaborations with local co-conspirators and innovative food & beverage operations while focusing on operational efficiency and profitability. The portfolio includes 12 properties totaling nearly 2,000 keys. The Company can be found online at www.provenancehotels.com.
Frogmore and C1 Capital acquire three UK hotels including the Hilton London Olympia

UK real estate fund manager Frogmore along with London-based hotel co-investor C1 Capital have announced the acquisition of three UK hotels, headed by the 405-room Hilton London Olympia for 130m (321,000 per room). The other assets being acquired are the 146-room Park Inn by Radisson Northampton for 15m (103,000 per room) and the 97-room Stifford Hall near Thurrock for 7.2m (74,000 per room). All three hotels were acquired for Frogmores fourth value-add fund, FREP IV, and formed the second tranche of acquisitions for the new fund following residential investments in Galliard Homes. Frogmore and their partners have committed some 70 million in equity to reposition and rebrand or extend the hotel assets.

BNP Paribas REIM acquires Club Med de lAlpe dHuez in France from Lagune

BNP Paribas REIM, through one of its property funds, SCPI Accimmo Pierre, has acquired the Club Med de lAlpe dHuez, situated in the Grands Rousses massif in Isere, France, from Lagune, an investment vehicle managed by Luxembourg-based Batipart. The price was not disclosed. The four-star, 442-room hotel reopened at the end of 2019 following an extensive renovation to reposition it from three to four tridents (four-stars). Capital investments totalled 87 million and the works were completed over a period of 18 months. The all-inclusive family resort, located at an altitude of 1,860 metres, includes two restaurants, a wellness area with indoor swimming pool and childcare and kids facilities, over a total area of some 38,400 sqm.

LaSalle provides funding for Premier Inn Hammersmith in London

LaSalle Investment Management has provided funding for the development of a 50 million, 189-room Premier Inn hotel in Hammersmith, in west London, to London-based investment manager Legal & General. The project will include two street level retail tenancies, a Bar & Block restaurant and a Costa Pronto. Legal & General will remain in place to complete the development project of turning the five-storey Brook House office building into a hotel and F&B tenancies, located just 100 metres from the Hammersmith underground station.

Midstar acquires Scandic Taby in Sweden from Maxus

Swedish hotel investor and asset manager Midstar Hotels AB has acquired the Scandic Taby, located 10km north of Stockholm, Sweden, from Stockholm-based Maxus AB for an undisclosed sum. The hotel, built in 1982, features 170 hotel rooms, four meeting rooms, restaurant & bar, gym and parking, and has recently completed a two-storey extension. The town of Taby is undergoing an extensive urban development with 10,000 new homes being added in the coming years. Midstars portfolio now includes 15 hotels in Sweden, eight in Norway and four in Denmark, totalling 4,263 rooms.

LXi sells Premier Inn Saffron Walden in England to UK pension fund

London-based LXi REIT has sold a 70-room Premier Inn hotel that forms part of a mixed-use scheme in Saffron Walden, a market town located 15 miles south of Cambridge in England, to an unnamed UK pension fund for 19.3 million. As well as Premier Inn, the tenants include variety store chain B&M, Costa Coffee, Pets at Home and Pure Gym. The price reportedly reflects a yield of 4.45%. LXi acquired the site for 15.8 million in 2019 through a forward funding deal and the sale generated a 19% per annum IRR for the REIT. Premier Inn Hotels agreed a 25-year lease (with a tenant break right at year 20) from completion of the building works. Following several delays due to the pandemic, the hotel opened in the second half of 2021.

Fidera Vecta and Weight Partners acquire Wyck Hill House Hotel & Spa in the UK

Private equity investors Fidera Vecta and Weight Partners Capital have acquired the 60-bedroom Wyck Hill House Hotel & Spa just south of the Cotswold town of Stow-on-the-Wold in England, off a guide price of 7.5 million. The Grade II listed historic country house hotel is nestled within 50 acres of grounds and features a 2-AA rosette fine dining restaurant, a bar, conferencing facilities and a spa. Following the acquisition, the new owners intend to undertake a substantial renovation.

About HVS

HVS is the world's leading consulting and valuation services organization focused on the hotel, restaurant, shared ownership, gaming, and leisure industries. Established in 1980, the company performs more than 4,500 assignments per year for virtually every major industry participant. HVS principals are regarded as the leading professionals in their respective regions of the globe. Through a worldwide network of over 50 offices staffed by 300 experienced industry professionals, HVS provides an unparalleled range of complementary services for the hospitality industry. For further information regarding our expertise and specifics about our services, please visit www.hvs.com.
The Spanish market is incredibly diverse and independent hotels dominate the region with roughly two-thirds of the market. However, all hotels and serviced apartments are in constant need of better tools to improve the guest journey while increasing efficiency. Until now, large hotel chains led the change to adopt the most efficient and innovative solutions. With smaller budgets, Independents and small hotel chains depend on legacy PMS technology, which is a challenge when trying to upgrade their hotel stack. Now is the right time for Apaleo to resolve these challenges in Spain with its hospitality platform.

Joining as Managing Director for Spain, Carlo Alvarez Spagnolo is a seasoned hospitality executive that brings relevant experience to the mission of introducing disruptive technology to the market. He was the first hire of TripAdvisor in Spain with the goal to develop the market. Back in 2008, this mission required hoteliers to shift their mindset and turn online guest feedback from threat to opportunity. A similar challenge comes from Apaleos vision, which aims to transform hoteliers mindset from depending on legacy PMSs to enjoying the freedom of having all their technology stack perfectly connected in a cloud platform.

Carlo also brings a rich understanding of the hospitality technology landscape from his most recent experience at TravelClick/Amadeus and Medallia. With more than 20 years in hospitality, his past experiences also include well-established Spanish brands like eDreams Odigeo, Atrapalo, and KeytelHotels. Carlos knowledge of the complexities of the Spanish market is a perfect fit for Apaleos plans for quick expansion.

Having been around long enough, I understand how important is for hoteliers to choose their software wisely to be competitive. Its incredibly frustrating not to be able to add a new piece of software or having to wait months for the PMS to integrate, only to end up paying for costly interface and recurrent fees. Carlo continues, I have witnessed many great deals that went live months or years after their first signature, due to waiting for API integrations, certifications, etc. Or even worse, deals that never happened because the cost of integrating was higher than the actual value of the deal. This is why I instantly fell in love with Apaleos vision. Rarely do such perfect product-market fits come along that will truly drive meaningful transformations, and I am thrilled to be part of this journey with Apaleo.

Its no small task to shift an industrys mindset to a cloud platform approach. Most hoteliers, especially independents and small groups, still depend on legacy PMSs and tend to see more risk than opportunity when changing such a core piece of their software stack. However, we cant do it alone. We have already identified many industry players that are already asking for this shift in Spain: hoteliers are putting innovation at the center of their roadmap, software vendors are embracing API-first philosophy (many of them have already joined the Apaleo Store, with many more to come), and hotel experts and consultants are advocating for efficiency and modernization in hospitality forums. It takes a village, and we count on all of you to succeed in this task.

Apaleo is currently gaining traction in many countries in parallel with its platform approach. The reason is certainly that markets, hotels groups, and apps constantly realize that all-in-one PMS  regardless of whether on-premise or cloud  are not resolving the huge technology challenges of our industry, states Uli Pillau, cofounder at Apaleo. Apaleo is rapidly changing this and giving hotel groups the freedom to put their tech stacks together. Hoteliers can simply choose any existing app to connect quickly without fees or they can automate processes themselves, either with the help of developers or no-code tools like Make.com. Spain is one of our key markets in Europe, in particular for hotel groups, and we are very happy we can bring with Carlo a top specialist on board.

About apaleo

apaleo is the open cloud platform to help build agile accommodation businesses. All types of properties - from serviced apartments to hotel chains - rely on apaleo's APIs and community to create digital experiences for their guests and staff. Instantly connect the leading hospitality apps to the apaleo interface or use open APIs for unlimited customization possibilities.

Nicholas Johnson

View source
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) has signed a three-year agreement with the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) association to expand the delivery of resources for members of both organizations.

The Memorandum of Understanding allows members to access finance and technology-related education on topics such as upscaling workforce automation and staffing, cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and cybersecurity. These master classes are being developed by CHTA, while experts are to be supplied by HFTP. CHTA members also will benefit from complimentary exhibits registration for HITEC North America, the world's largest hospitality technology conference, to be held in Orlando, Florida from June 27 to 30, 2022.

CHTA President Nicola Madden-Greig said that being technologically astute in todays rapidly changing and challenging business environment is central to a robust tourism rebound in the Caribbean. We must be au courant in leveraging technological tools in driving operational efficiency, executing strong marketing campaigns as well as delivering new customer experiences, the CHTA president reiterated.

We need to be much smarter when it comes to the application of technology across the region  from artificial intelligence to big data, the Jamaican tourism leader opined, while expressing optimism concerning the potential impact this partnership could have on the regions travel and tourism sector.

Vanessa Ledesma, acting CEO and Director General of CHTA, described HFTP as a hospitality industry authority in the areas of finance and technology. This is such a great fit for CHTA, she said, adding that more of the Caribbean can now be on the cutting-edge when it comes to implementing solutions to pressing challenges.

Like CHTA, HFTP leverages its experts, networks, research, certification programs, information resources and conferences and events to benefit its members. HFTP also owns the worlds only hospitality-specific search engine, PineappleSearch.com, which centralizes highly fragmented industry information into a single, free-to-use platform.

The strength of HFTP relies greatly on the reach of its global network, collectively building a broad knowledge base by sharing expertise and resources, said HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe. Partnering with CHTA and the Caribbean, a region well-known for its hospitality industry, is a significant step to connecting our shared efforts to support education and innovation.

Ledesma envisions members of the two associations learning from one another and identifying new avenues for collaboration as the travel and tourism sector emerges from the ongoing pandemic.

Sanovnik Destang, CHTAs 2nd Vice President and Chair of the Technology Task Force, said the Memorandum of Understanding between two organizations will bring many exciting benefits to members, including access to HITECs Entrepreneur 20x pitching competition.

For the first time ever, Caribbean-based hospitality tech entrepreneurs will get to participate in this competition with the application fee waived. This is a great opportunity for our members and we look forward to more opportunities like this through our partnership with HFTP, he said.

About the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA)

The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) is the Caribbean's leading association representing the interests of national hotel and tourism associations and the region's private sector. For 60 years, CHTA has been the backbone of the Caribbean hospitality industry. Working with some 1,000 hotel and allied members, and 33 National Hotel Associations, CHTA is shaping the Caribbean's future and helping members to grow their businesses. Whether helping to navigate critical issues in sales and marketing, sustainability, legislative issues, emerging technologies, climate change, data and intelligence or, looking for avenues and ideas to better market and manage businesses, CHTA is helping members on issues which matter most. For further information, visit www.caribbeanhotelandtourism.com.

About HFTP

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), established in 1952, is a hospitality nonprofit association headquartered in Austin, Texas USA with offices in United Kingdom, Netherlands and Dubai. HFTP is recognized as the spokes group for the finance and technology segments of the hospitality industry with an international network of members and stakeholders. HFTP uniquely understands the industry's pressing issues and assists its stakeholders in finding solutions to their challenges more efficiently than any organization. HFTP offers expert networks, educational resources, career development programs, research, leadership opportunities and conferences and events. HFTP Is the publisher of the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI). For more information about HFTP, visit www.hftp.org. For the latest news, visit the HFTP News page at news.hftp.org and the HFTP Connect blog at blog.hftp.org.
What are the forces that will shape the Hotel landscape in the 2030s?

Are you best positioned to win (Back) the New Guest?

How to win the fight and adjust to a New Normal?

How to outperform tomorrows competitive hospitality markets?

So, lets get active and shape your brand-new play book, with a new sense of purpose, aiming to make a difference not only to shareholders but to all stakeholders, including customers, employees, local communities, governments, and the natural environment,

5P's approach - People-Planet-Peace-Prosperity-Profit.

Here are the brushes to paint on your own blank canvas:

Hospitality's Post Pandemic era, new normal?

Time to re-energize your rapid response teams if you haven't already done it.

Re-imagine innovation and be in the front line among the first who will give birth to new inventions, creating the new reality / future with sense of care for guests and employees, offering unforgettable experiences.

Let's capitalize on the situation, and greatly outperform tomorrow's market.

As Plato wrote in the Republic: The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention". 

Create brands people cherish

In a world of too many Luxury & Lifestyle Hospitality Brands, and too little difference, there is more than ever a need of holistic concepts focusing on the core pillars of intuitive signature services, connectivity, sophistication, character, and a sense of community.

Brands to create a unique guest experience need to carve out a distinct identity, avoid the omission that becomes concrete when you step inside the properties.

In most cases entering a hotel you are surrounded by a largely derivative set of "spray-on" concepts. Properties that may appear different superficially but that are essentially the same when you scratch the surface, having replicated and offering same services.

Certainly, a brand needs to be useful & profitable, purposeful, but first and foremost a hospitality brand must be creative, visible, likable, and then simply amazing!!

What will be the new luxury and lifestyle hospitality brand paradigm?

The years ahead will call on brands to evolve and adapt in accordance with the changing societal landscape. Will also need to revisit the traditional playbook's strategies, change the vocabulary, innovate, and transform.

Organizations that will spot opportunities where other see challenges will not only survive but will thrive in the "New Now".

Beyond a high-quality product, though, luxury brands will have to not only display strong values but deliver purposeful actions and build a sense of privacy and safety.

Wording macro trends being sustainability, purpose, well-being, health is the new wealth", relevance, digital nomads, hyper local, less is more...

- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". - Leonardo da Vinci

Re-imagine the Experience

Forget the ultra-luxury brands. experience is the new luxury.

Unique destinations and bespoke experiences rather than deluxe accommodation are becoming the ultimate extravagance.

As high-end travellers seek out one-of-a-kind experiences, secret locations are quickly becoming the newest indulgence in luxury travel.

Luxury travellers are vying for unique experiences and setting their sights on untouched regions which promise nature, novelty, and adventure.

Hotels & Resorts should get ready for this next wave of travellers by leading with a cool sustainability message and architectural innovation.

Nature and community-based seafront Resorts will be the trend ahead, aiming to host small number of guests to fewer mainstream locations and activities, endeavouring to alleviate the weight on the ecosystems.

Using sustainable practices, such as nature-based management, that adapts to the pre-existing environment to sustain it, interact with it, and protect it.

Reimagine - Repurpose  Rejuvenate.

Inspired Biophilic Design

Inspired biophilic design can be very powerful in the hospitality industry.

The concept of Biophilia is defined as human tendency of being connected to the nature and it derives from Greek meaning the love of life and nature.

A cost-effective way to enhance the guest experience, it can bolster feelings of community while improving well-being and health, a significant opportunity for hotels and resorts to leverage wellness initiatives to gain a competitive advantage.

Experiences are more intense and more memorable when multiple senses are engaged simultaneously.

Hospitality is one of the few places where designers tend to pay attention to the other senses.

The hand of the fabrics, the scents of flowers, candles, and food, crackling of logs in a fireplace, the splash of water in a fountain, the texture of wood grain and stone in furnishings, and bird song in a lobby or on a patio are ways of creating more memorable spaces.

Health is the New Wealth

Hospitality Brands should seize the opportunity to reimagine wellness and regain guests trust....

Rethinking wellness and well-being in hospitality, we need to redesign our strategies on how to incorporate wellness into our offerings, helping guests to learn the benefits of a healthier lifestyle in general rather than simply capitalizing on a trend.

People often think about wellness in terms of physical health, nutrition, exercise, weight management, etc., but it is so much more.

Wellness is a holistic integration of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, fuelling the body, engaging the mind, and nurturing the spirit.

Although it always includes striving for health, its more about living life fully, and is "a lifestyle and a personalized approach to living life in a way that allows you to become the best kind of person that your potentials, circumstances, and fate will allow.

People often ask me what the next best thing in our industry is, I answer, create a brand people cherish, be unique, reliable, consistent, re-inventing one-of-a-kind bespoke experiences.

Continuously re-imaging expectations, stories, offering genuine relationships, sense of care, generating impact at every touch point. 

Time to re-thinking, re-imaging hospitality!

Nicolas Frangos

Luxxie Lime - Luxury & Lifestyle Hospitality
Houston homes are selling at their highest prices ever as the competition for a limited supply of houses on the market intensifies.

Whether theyve got a budget of $200,000 or $1 million, buyers are finding they are having to pay plenty more for a home than just a few years ago. The regions widespread price gains dont seem to be limited to any particular price point or geographic region, according to an analysis of sales by the Houston Association of Realtors.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Houston Association of Realtors reported record home sales in the Houston region in 2021. The realty association, which provides an analysis of area sales for the Houston Chronicles annual home price survey each spring, analyzed 106,229 single-family home sales handled through its Multiple Listing Service in 2021. The annual median price, which passed $200,000 for the first time in 2015, shot up 15 percent to a record $300,000 in 2021. The number of sales was up 9.4 percent from 97,097 in 2020.

Heres are highlights in seven ZIP codes and some of the neighborhoods within them, based on HARs data.

77494: This ZIP code covering the Cinco Ranch and Fulshear areas, logged the most sales in 2021: 2,755 sales, up 5.2 percent for the year. The median sales price rose by 17.5 percent to $403,500. The median price per square foot was up 19.2 percent to $143.25. Representative subdivisions include Cinco Ranch Southwest, where the median price per square foot of $148.14 was up 21.2 percent for the year. In Tamarron, a development of D.R. Horton among the nations top-sellers, the median price per square foot went up by 13 percent to $142.80.

On HoustonChronicle.com: 2022 Home Price Survey: Map shows where prices skyrocketed

77433: This northwest Houston ZIP code includes communities such as Bridgeland, Cypress Creek Lakes and Fairfield in the Cypress area. The ZIP code logged 2,311 sales in 2021 with a median of $140.66 per square foot, up 17.0 percent for the year. The median sales price was $375,500, up 15.9 percent. Homes in Bridgeland Parkland Village sold for a median of $166.86 per square foot, up 17.3 percent for the year.

77493: Another active area for home sales was 77493 west of Houston, registering 2,015 sales in 2021 with a median of $141.42 per square foot, up 18.1 percent. The median sales price reached $322,000, up 23.7 percent. Prices in the Elyson master-planned community jumped 22.6 percent to $159.72 per square foot, while prices in Ventana Lakes reached $133.36, up 17.4 percent.

77357: Home sales zoomed in 77357, a ZIP that includes New Caney in the far northeast Houston region. The sales volume rose by 52 percent as more than 800 single-family houses changed hands. Prices rose to a median of $249,900, up 7.7 percent over the year. On a per square foot basis, prices rose 18.5 percent to $134.60. Prices in Tavola, one of the regions largest communities, were up by 10 percent to a median of $123.44 per square foot.

77005: The 77005 ZIP code registered the highest price per square foot at $397.40, up 5.9 percent for the year. The region covers the West University/Southside area, where homes sold for a median price of $1.35 million.

77024: The 77024 ZIP code, which includes Memorial Villages such as Piney Point and Bunker Hill Village, had the highest median sales price in 2021: $1.55 million up 15.8 percent from $1.34 million in 2020. Homes in the Memorial Villages market area sold for $1.6 million.

77027: Sales volumes rose by 56 percent in 77027, one of Houstons priciest ZIP codes covering Afton Oaks, Royden Oaks and part of the River Oaks neighborhood where HAR tracked 164 sales in 2021. Homes sold for a median price of $1.3 million, up 15.8 percent over 2020. On a per square foot basis, the increase was more moderate, rising 3.8 percent to $373.30 per square foot. In the River Oaks area, homes sold for a median price of $2.37 million, second only to Rivercrest, a tiny enclave near Beltway 8 where the median home sold for $3.99 million.

Rising mortgage rates, which are projected to average 5 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for April through December according to real estate data firm CoreLogic, will further erode buying power. The increase is nearly 2 percentage points higher than last years average of 2.96 percent and is up from 3.8 percent in the first quarter.

Frank Nothaft, chief economist with CoreLogic, does not expect a drop in prices in Houston, which has experienced an influx of residents from other parts of the country along with other Texas metros. But he expects price growth will start to level off in the second half the year.

Were just going to continue to see whopping increases for the next couple of months, Nothaft said. Prospective buyers will start to pull back with higher mortgage rates and higher home prices.

katherine.feser@chron.com

twitter.com/kfeser
I wasnt looking for my ideal happy hour when I stumbled across it at Urbe, Hugo Ortegas chic, casual Mexican street-food outpost at Uptown Park.

The Malinche, my favorite cocktail on their menu, was two bucks off, and I marveled anew at beverage director Sean Becks skills. Smoky Mezcal twined through an off-kilter Margarita variant made with peach brandy, lime and a hint of pineapple syrup, its tart-and-sweet balance finely tuned.

Then came the queso flameado studded with hunks of smoked brisket that blew my mind. The pieces of beef had a good char and a rosy, juicy core that any pitmaster in town would be happy to claim. In the surrounding mesh of pale, molten cheese snaked strips of green chile andwhats this?a woodsy mushroom or three.

The queso was the centerpiece of the Urbe Trio, and its happy hour price of 13 bucks seemed a breathtaking bargain. Arrayed on the paper-lined metal trays that are a serving signature here were a scoop of fresh, chunky guacamole and a ramekin of dusky red salsa Mexicana. A couple of house-made flour tortillas and a flock of sturdy totopos stood ready for rolling and mixing and matching.

It was the kind of spread made for sharing. Or an indulgent early supper.

More Information Urbe Street Foods of Mexico 1101 Uptown Park Blvd., Suite 12, 713-726-8273 See More Collapse

I had been on an afternoon errand, hoping to get a glimpse of the brand-new Rocambolesc Gelateria before it opened, and Urbe was right across the broad patio that runs from Etoile, past Songkran and the two-story colonnaded outdoor seating it shares with Urbe.

Two-fer! I thought, remembering that Ruben Ortega, Hugos pastry-chef brother and right hand, had told me months ago they were working on a happy hour menu.

Im not a devotee of the cut-rate form designed to lure in customers at a slow hour, in hopes they will linger and spend or imprint on certain dishes theyll crave later. Too often for my tastes, happy hour deals center on the least interesting wines and cocktails on a drinks menu, so by the time I end up paying for something I actually want to sip, the reduced-price food items on offer dont end up as much of a bargain.

And  may I be honest here?  the dishes restaurants choose for mini happy-hour versions arent often the ones I really want to taste.

Thats exactly why Urbes happy hour delighted me. The menu is full of interest, with good prices on dishes that at normal hours might seem like an extravagance. That queso flameado, plus guac and totopo sides, would run you $25 total during dinner hours. And the surprisingly delightful Ostiones Diablitos that run $18 per half dozen at dinner only set me back 10 bucks at happy hour.

These raw oysters worked startling well with a cold boiled shrimp on top. I thought the two kinds of shellfish might fight each other, but instead they held a dialogue: the cold brine and slipperiness of the oyster set against the chipotle-spiked, pearly crunch of the shrimp, with a sharp Mexican mignonette holding it all together. Super refreshing  and a fine lead-in to a snacking session.

Alison Cook / Staff

I also encountered a new beer preparation Hugo had come up with that very day: a Tecate can swathed in bright red chile salt, with one of those deviled oysters balanced on top. Its an amusing addition to the showy cerveza preparada genre.

I did not stop there. Happy hour means you can sample Urbes various tacos singly, instead of in groups of three. So I got to taste the roasted sweet potato version that had caught my eye on an early visit  and they were even better than I had imagined. From the roasty singe on the sweet potato cubes to the salty tang of goat cheese, from the deep-dark thrum of salsa macha to the fragrance of hand-rolled corn tortilla, they hummed with life.

For my money, which in this case happens to be four bucks, this may be the finest vegetarian taco in town.

Even Urbes Old Fashioned was a happy surprise. Its not among my favorite cocktails, because its usually too sweet for me, and too heavy. But Becks version combining Gran Centenario Anejo tequila with rye, bitters and and a hit of ancho agave syrup had an unexpected lift and briskness to it. It changed my attitude toward the form. And it did so for $11, two dollars off the regular price and dancing close to the $10 mark  which in this day and age I count a victory.

Alison Cook / Staff

I relished my outdoor seat at the bar counter opening into the restaurant proper, and the well-behaved lab mix who milled about at my feet, and the sounds of an international crowd speaking several languages.

My only sorrow about my happy hour foray was that I was too full to order one of Ruben Ortegas famous desserts. I have my eye on several for next time, though: the coconut flan with orange blossom cream, perhaps; or the Mexican house-ground chocolate cake; or the sweet-corn-and-blackberry ice cream with a puerquito on the side.

Thats a piloncillo and anise cookie shaped like a pig, if you please, and I think Ill need several.

alison.cook@chron.com
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Early voting began Monday in school districts, suburban cities and utility districts across Harris County, where voters are considering billions of dollars in bond measures and deciding contests for school board, mayor and city council.

Also on ballots across the state are a pair of proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution that would provide property tax relief to seniors and disabled homeowners and raise the states homestead exemption for school property taxes. And in parts of Harris County, voters will decide who will succeed Garnet Coleman, a former Democratic state representative from Houston, for the last several months of his term.

Harris County is operating 52 early voting locations from Monday until May 3, when the nine-day early voting period wraps up. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day of early voting except for Sunday, when voting begins at noon.

Election Day is May 7, when the county will operate 465 voting locations from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

A full list of early voting and Election Day polling sites can be found on the Harris County Elections Administrators website, along with a sample ballot. Voters can cast their ballots at any location in the county, including those outside their home precincts.

Collectively, Harris County voters will decide about $4.3 billion worth of bond measures proposed by school districts, municipal utility districts, improvement districts and a water authority. Among the proposals is a $1.1 billion Klein ISD package that would fund a new intermediate school, security improvements, renovations across eight campuses and the construction of a new events center.

Huffman, Humble, Pasadena and Sheldon ISDs also have called bond elections on May 7.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Pasadena ISD voters to consider $305M bond package

Also up for consideration are more than $1 billion in bond measures across 10 municipal utility, improvement and water districts across Harris County, largely for sewer, drainage, road and parks improvements. Additionally, 29 municipal utility and improvement districts have contested elections for their boards of directors.

Meanwhile, voters in Friendswood, Humble, Jersey Village, La Porte, Nassau Bay, Pearland and Webster will elect multiple city council members in the May 7 election. Ballots in Friendswood, Humble and La Porte also include proposed charter amendments, while Nassau Bay voters will decide a mayoral race.

There also are contested elections for the Houston Community College System and Waller ISD boards of trustees.

Two candidates are running to succeed Coleman in the Texas House: Jolanda Jones, a former member of Houston City Council and the Houston ISD board of trustees, and realtor Danielle Keys Bess. The winner will represent the deeply blue House District 147 until the current two-year term ends in January.

Jones and Bess, both Democrats, also are running for the seat next term. They finished first and second, respectively, in the March 1 primary, and are competing in a May 24 runoff that will decide the Democratic nominee for November.

The district, one of the most diverse in the state, covers Midtown, Third Ward, a majority of Montrose and other parts of Houstons urban core. It also takes in the University of Houston and a large chunk of southeast Houston along Interstate 45.

Coleman, citing health reasons, retired from the Legislature after more than 30 years in the state House.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Jolanda Jones, Danielle Bess headed for runoff in race to replace Houston state Rep. Coleman

The constitutional amendments, meanwhile, are expected to pass with overwhelming support, likely cementing two key property tax measures passed by state lawmakers last year.

One proposal would allow property owners to shave $40,000 off the taxable value of their home, an increase of $15,000 from the current amount. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, the Houston Republican who authored the amendment, has estimated homeowners would save about $176 a year by raising the homestead exemption.

The other amendment would extend the Legislatures 2019 cuts on school property tax rates to elderly and disabled homeowners, providing a rare decrease in their annual bills.

Under the Texas Constitution, school property taxes for most property owners are frozen at the amount they paid upon turning 65, while homeowners with disabilities receive the same benefit when they buy a new property. Though that provision leaves many elderly and disabled homeowners with lower tax bills than some of their neighbors, it also means they did not directly benefit from the tax relief provided by the 2019 measure.

If the constitutional amendment passes, those over 65 and those with a disability whose taxable property values are locked in place by existing laws would pay a lower rate on their property values, leading to a decrease in their bill.

jasper.scherer@chron.com
Q. In a recent column, you discussed having to go to court to change one's name, but you did not mention a woman changing her name when she gets married. Does she need to go through the same legal process? When I got married in 2003, I drove to the Social Security office and filled out documents. Once I received my new Social Security card, I then changed my driver's license, passport, and other documents.

A. In Texas, it is easier to change your name when you get married because the marriage certificate which shows a person's newly adopted name is used to change the person's driver's license, passport, and other documents. There is no need to go to court and seek a judge's approval.

You would still need to take the time to change your name on your Social Security card, driver's license, and the other forms.

Q. Before my mother went into assisted living last year, she signed a power of attorney giving my sister control of her finances. My mother now wants to change the power of attorney to name me as her agent. How would she do that?

A. Your mother can revoke her existing power of attorney two ways. One way is by signing a document called a revocation of power of attorney. The other easier way is by mentioning in her new power of attorney that she is revoking the old power or attorney.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Answers to your legal questions

If your mother signs a new power of attorney without revoking the old one, then she will have two powers of attorney, both of which will be valid.

Sometimes a person's lawyer will record a power of attorney with the county clerk. If your mother's old power of attorney was recorded, then she should sign both the revocation and the new power of attorney and then record the revocation with the same county clerk. The new power of attorney needs to be recorded only if, and when, it will be used in a real estate transaction.

For your mother, it might be best to sign a revocation separate from her new power of attorney so that she or you can present the revocation to all of her banks, brokerage firms, and other businesses to let them know she has revoked her power of attorney.

If your mother is worried that your sister may try to use the revoked power of attorney illegally, she may even want to mail certified letters to the institutions alerting them to the existence of the revocation.

Your father should be sure to destroy her old power of attorney as well as all copies. If she decides to keep any copies, she should write REVOKED across each page.

The information in this column is intended to provide a general understanding of the law, not legal advice. Ronald Lipman of the Houston law firm Lipman & Associates is board-certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Email questions to stateyourcase@lipmanpc.com.
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP)  UC Berkeley sophomore Terrell Thompson slept in his car for nearly two weeks at the start of the school year last fall, living out of a suitcase stashed in the trunk and texting dozens of landlords a day in a desperate search for a place to live.

The high-achieving student from a low-income household in Sacramento, California, was majoring in business administration at one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Yet, Thompson folded his 6-foot frame into the back seat of his Honda Accord at night, wondering how he would ever find a home in the exorbitantly expensive San Francisco Bay Area city.

Academically it was hard, because Im worried about finding housing and Im worried about my clothes and Im worried about getting my car broken into all the time, said the 19-year-old Thompson, who now lives in a studio apartment he found last September. I was anxious 24/7."

College students across the U.S. are looking for housing for the 2022-23 school year and if 2021 was any indication, it won't be easy. Students at colleges from California to Florida were denied on-campus housing last fall and found themselves sitting out the year at home or living in motel rooms or vehicles as surging rents and decades of failing to build sufficient student housing came to a head.

For some colleges, the housing crunch was related to increased demand by students who had been stuck at home during the pandemic. For others, including many in California, the shortage reflects a deeper conflict between the colleges and homeowners who don't want new housing built for students who they say increase congestion and noise.

In March, the University of California, Berkeley, said it would have to cap student enrollment because of a lawsuit brought by irate neighbors over the school's growth. State lawmakers fast-tracked a fix to allow the campus to enroll as many students as planned for the 2022 fall semester, but the legislation does nothing to produce more housing.

Nationally, 43% of students at four-year universities experienced housing insecurity in 2020, up from 35% in 2019, according to an annual survey conducted by The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University. Students reported being unable to pay utilities, rent or mortgage, living in overcrowded units, or moving in with others due to financial difficulties.

And for the first time since it began tracking basic needs in 2015, the survey found an equal percentage  14%  of students at both four-year and two-year colleges who had experienced homelessness in the last year, said Mark Huelsman, the centers director of policy and advocacy.

This is a function of rents rising, the inability of communities and institutions to build enough housing for students and other costs of college going up that create a perfect storm for students, he said.

For some students, the lack of affordable housing could mean the difference between going to college or not. Others take on massive debt or live so precariously they miss out on all the extracurricular benefits of higher education.

Jonathan Dena, a first-generation college student from the Sacramento area, almost rejected UC Berkeley over the lack of housing, even though it was his dream program. He found a studio at the heavily subsidized Rochdale Apartments for under $1,300 a month, but he might have to move because the bare-bones units may close for a seismic renovation.

Dena, 29, wants to continue living within walking distance of campus for a robust college experience.

But the urban studies major and student government housing commission officer said it's kind of scary how high rents are near campus. Online listings showed a newer one-bedroom for one person at $3,700, as well as a 240-square foot (22 square-meter) bedroom for two people sharing a bathroom for nearly $1,700 per person a month.

If I go to school in Berkeley, I would love to live in Berkeley, he said.

Nationally, rents have increased 17% since March 2020, said Chris Salviati, senior economist with Apartment List, but the increase has been higher in some popular college towns. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, saw a 24% jump in rents and Tempe, Arizona, saw a 31% hike.

In some cases, the rental increases have been exacerbated by a lack of on-campus housing.

Last fall, demand for on-campus housing was so high that the University of Tampa offered incoming freshmen a break on tuition if they deferred until fall 2022. Rent in the Florida city has skyrocketed nearly 30% from a year ago, according to Apartment List.

Rent in Knoxville has soared 36% since March 2020, and it could get worse after the University of Tennessee announced a new lottery system for its dorms this fall, saying it needs to prioritize housing for a larger freshman class.

Even two-year community colleges, which have not traditionally provided dorms, are rethinking student needs as the cost of housing rises.

Last October, Long Beach City College launched a pilot program to provide up to 15 homeless students space in an enclosed parking garage. They sleep in their cars and have access to bathrooms and showers, electrical outlets and internet while they work with counselors to find permanent housing.

Uduak-Joe Ntuk, president of the colleges Board of Trustees, hesitated when asked if the program will be renewed.

I want to say no, but I think we will, he said. Were going to have new students come fall semester this year that are going to be in a similar situation, and for us to do nothing is untenable.

California prides itself on its robust higher education system, but has struggled with housing at its four-year colleges. Berkeley is notoriously difficult, with cut-throat competition for the few affordable apartments within walking distance to campus.

"I definitely was not prepared to be this stressed about housing every year, said Jennifer Lopez, 21, a UC Berkeley senior from Cudahy, in southeastern Los Angeles County, and the first in her family to attend college.

She imagined she would spend all four years on campus in dorms, but found herself in a scramble for a safe, affordable place to sleep. The urban studies major currently splits an attic space in what is technically a one-bedroom apartment shared by four undergraduates, one of whom sleeps in the dining room.

The total monthly rent is nearly $3,700  laughably high in most U.S. cities  but she's grateful for it.

If I hadnt heard about this place, I was either going to end up living in a basement, or in this other apartment I know (where) the girls are struggling with leaks and mold, Lopez said.

The Basic Needs Center at UC Berkeley, which operates a food pantry for students and faculty, found in a snapshot survey that a quarter of undergraduates reported they lacked a safe, regular and adequate nighttime place to stay and sleep at some point since October.

Thats huge, said Ruben Canedo, co-chair of UCs systemwide Basic Needs Committee. This generation of students is navigating the most expensive cost-of-living market while at the same time having the least amount of financial support accessible to them."

Thompson, the business administration major, started looking for an apartment last May, after spending his first year at home taking classes remotely to save money. He quickly realized that his rental budget of $750 was wildly inadequate and as a second-year student, he no longer qualified for priority in the dorms.

By the time classes began in late August, he was in a panic. He tried commuting from his home in Sacramento, leaving before 6 a.m. for the 80-mile (130-kilometer) drive to Berkeley and returning home around midnight to avoid traffic.

But that was grueling so he took to sleeping in his car. Initially he parked far away in a spot without parking limits. Then he parked at a lot between two student dorm complexes closer to campus, where exuberant partying kept him up at night.

He attended classes, studied and ate sparingly to save on ballooning food costs. He looked at apartments where five people were squeezed into two bedrooms with pared-down belongings stored under beds.

He slept in his car for almost two weeks until a sympathetic landlord who had also grown up in a low-income home reached out, offering a studio within walking distance of campus. The rent is $1,000 a month, and he hopes to stay until he graduates.

"I think I have a little bit of a PTSD factor, he said.

Most students have no idea of the housing situation when they choose to attend UC Berkeley, said 19-year-old freshman Sanaa Sodhi, and the university needs to do more to prepare students and support them in their search.

The political science major is excited to move out of the dorms and into a two-bedroom apartment where she and three friends are taking over the lease. The unit is older but a bargain at $3,000 a month, she said. The housemates were prepared to pay up to $5,200 for a safe place close to campus.

You dont honestly know the severity of the situation before youre in it, she said, adding that landlords hold all the cards. They know that whatever price they charge, well inevitably have to pay it because we dont really have a choice except maybe to live out of our cars.

-

AP journalist Terence Chea contributed from Berkeley, California.
China renews blue alert for rainstorms

Xinhua) 11:11, April 26, 2022

BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China's National Meteorological Center on Monday renewed a blue alert for rainstorms in various parts of the country.

From Monday night to Tuesday night, heavy rains are expected to lash parts of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Guangxi and Guangdong, with some areas experiencing up to 120 millimeters of rainfall.

Some regions are likely to encounter over 70 millimeters of hourly precipitation, accompanied by thunderstorms, gales and hail.

The center has advised local governments to make preparations for the rainstorms. Schools and kindergartens have been asked to take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of children, and drivers have been alerted to watch out for flooding and traffic jams.

China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
A man reportedly armed and driving a stolen SUV is dead after Cleveland Police officers shot him following a pursuit Monday morning.

The unidentified male was fleeing police into the woods after getting out of the vehicle when two officers shot him, according to Cleveland PD Capt. Scott Felts, who spoke on camera with the Montgomery County Police Reporter.

Cleveland PD Chief Darrel Broussard told the Chronicle the investigation into the shooting is looking at whether the man fired his gun. Broussard did say the man raised his gun at the pursuing officers. Authorities do not yet have an identity on the man, he added.

Pretty tragic situation, Broussard said. Our condolences do go out to the family of the victim in this case. We just wish it hadnt gotten that far.

The man did wave his gun at Martin Chevrolet Buick GMC dealership employees, demanding keys to a vehicle, according to Broussard.

Liberty County Precinct 6 Justice of the Peace Ralph Fuller confirmed to the Chronicle that the individual, described as a male roughly 30, had died on the scene.

Around 10:30 a.m., the man allegedly stole a Chevrolet Traverse from the Cleveland dealership and fled southbound on 59, speeding at an excess of 100 mph as he was pursued by Cleveland PD, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and other law enforcement, Felts told the Police Reporter. Cleveland is about 45 miles northeast of downtown Houston.

The Traverse turned around in the Goodrich area before returning northbound to the Cleveland area, speeding at more than 100 mph, Felts explained.

Just driving super erratic, super fast, Felts told the Police Reporter.

The vehicles tires were spiked, causing it to lose its rims before the man drove into a construction area, jumping over several culverts and ultimately wrecking within Cleveland city limits, Felts continued.

The man then got out of the Traverse with a handgun in his right hand and began running to the woods when a shooting ensued and two officers fatally shot him, Felts concluded.

The officers who shot at the man are a sergeant with around 15 years at the department and a patrol officer with about seven to eight years there, according to the police chief.

One of the officers was in shock, according to what Felts told the Police Reporter.

Its just as traumatic to the officers as it is anybody, Felts said on camera.

Broussard said this is the first fatal Cleveland police shooting he has seen in the 36 years he has been on the force. Growing up in Cleveland, Broussard said he does not know of any other fatal police department shooting in the last 50 to 70 years.

This is at least the third fatal police shooting within the past week in the Houston area. On the night of April 18, a Conroe PD officer fired at a man reportedly shooting at a house in Conroe. The following morning in Pasadena, a man was killed by Pasadena PD gunfire as he approached with a gun directed at officers.

jose.gonzalez@chron.com

twitter.com/jrgzztx
Montgomery County Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Darren Hess is facing criminal charges for allegedly failing to complete required training and having someone else take his required exam to earn the course certification.

Hess was arrested Monday at his office and charged with tampering with a government record, a state jail felony. Hess could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

County Judge Mark Keoughs Chief of Staff Jason Millsaps said Hess has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation. Hesss total compensation through the county is $147,918.

According to the arrest affidavit from the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement began its investigation into Hess in December after receiving a complaint about Hess and his certification.

Hess, the affidavit states, has been a peace officer for 24 years and during that time was required to abide by state licensing standards, including obtaining required training hours.

In February 2016, Hess was names deputy emergency management coordinator for Montgomery County and transferred to that civilian position that same month.

The Montgomery County Fire Marshals office continued to report Hess was a full-time peace officer until March 2020 when the office reported to TCOLE that Hesss pay status had been changed to other. This change, the affidavit states, allowed Hess to continue this status as an active peace officer. That status requires Hess to complete 40 hours of state approved training between Sept. 1, 2019 and Aug. 31, 2021.

According to TCOLE, Hess allegedly attended a four-day, 28 hours credit training course with three other county employees in July 2021. However, the complaint alleged Hess only attended three days of the four-day course and did not take the post-training exam.

The affidavit states Hesss certificate provided from the course was visibly different from those of the other two MCFMO employees who completed the course.

Hess allegedly admitted to investigators that he did not complete the training and thought it was a joke when he learned someone else completed the post test for him. Hess also claims when he received the email with the documents, he did not open the attached document and instead forwarded the document to TCOLE assuming it was to receive his partial credit for the training he did complete. However, TCOLE does not recognize hours of credit for incomplete classes.

An employee with Counterterrorism Operation Support, the grant funded organization based in Nevada, confirmed for investigators the certificated Hess provided was not generated through their system, according to court documents.

No other charges have been filed but the case is still under investigation.

cdominguez@hcnonline.com
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WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden has granted the first three pardons of his term, providing clemency to a Kennedy-era Secret Service agent convicted of federal bribery charges that he tried to sell a copy of an agency file and to two people who were convicted on drug-related charges but went on to become pillars in their communities.

The Democratic president also commuted the sentences of 75 others for nonviolent, drug-related convictions. The White House announced the clemencies Tuesday as it launched a series of job training and reentry programs for those in prison or recently released.

Many of those who received commutations have been serving their sentences on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several were serving lengthy sentences and would have received lesser terms had they been convicted today for the same offenses as a result of the 2018 bipartisan sentencing reform ushered into law by the Trump administration.

America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation, Biden said in a statement announcing the clemencies. Elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and law enforcement leaders agree that our criminal justice system can and should reflect these core values that enable safer and stronger communities.

Those granted pardons are:

 Abraham Bolden Sr., 86, the first Black Secret Service agent to serve on a presidential detail. In 1964, Bolden, who served on President John F. Kennedy's detail, faced federal bribery charges that he attempted to sell a copy of a Secret Service file. His first trial ended in a hung jury.

Following his conviction in a second trial, key witnesses admitted lying at the prosecutor's request, according to the White House. Bolden, of Chicago, was denied a retrial and served three years, nine months in federal prison. Bolden has maintained his innocence and wrote a book in which he argued he was targeted for speaking out against racist and unprofessional behavior in the Secret Service.

Bolden in an interview said he believed Biden sympathized with him and "saw a need to honor due process in my case. The pardon came nearly 61 years after he joined the Kennedy detail. He said he asked off of the detail after enduring racial slurs from fellow agents and small nooses were left around his workplace.

I met President Kennedy on April 28, 1961 and on April 25 I got word of the presidential pardon," said Bolden, who first petitioned the White House for a pardon during the Nixon administration. "Thats pretty close.

 Betty Jo Bogans, 51, was convicted in 1998 of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine in Texas after attempting to transport drugs for her boyfriend and his accomplice. Bogans, a single mother with no prior record, received a seven-year sentence. In the years since her release from prison, Bogans has held consistent employment, even while undergoing cancer treatment, and has raised a son.

 Dexter Jackson , 52, of Athens, Georgia, was convicted in 2002 for using his pool hall to facilitate the trafficking of marijuana. Jackson pleaded guilty and acknowledged he allowed his business to be used by marijuana dealers.

After Jackson was released from prison, he converted his business into a cellphone repair service that employs local high school students through a program that provides young adults with work experience. Jackson has built and renovated homes in his community, which has a shortage of affordable housing.

Civil rights and criminal justice reform groups have pushed the White House to commute sentences and work harder to reduce disparities in the criminal justice system. Bidens grants of clemency also come as the administration has faced congressional scrutiny over misconduct and the treatment of inmates in the beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons, which is responsible for inmates serving sentences of home confinement.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden in his first commutations of his presidency focused on petitions from individuals who had less than four years to serve.

Biden, as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, helped shepherd through the 1994 crime bill that many criminal justice experts say contributed to harsh sentences and mass incarceration of Black people.

During his 2020 White House run, Biden vowed to reduce the number of people incarcerated in the U.S. and called for nonviolent drug offenders to be diverted to drug courts and treatment.

He also has pushed for better training for law enforcement and called for criminal justice system changes to address disparities that have led to minorities and the poor making up a disproportionate share of the nation's incarcerated population.

Inimai Chettiar, federal director of the criminal justice reform advocacy group Justice Action Network, called Biden's first pardons and commutations just modest steps and urged Biden to meet the urgency of the moment.

President Biden ran on a promise to help end mass incarceration, and he has broad public support for that promise, Chettiar added.

Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, granted 144 pardons and clemency to 238 during his four years in office.

Some criminal justice advocates are pressing for Biden to act with more haste, calling on the president to establish a permanent clemency review board. More than 18,000 clemency petitions are pending, according to the Justice Department.

White House counsel Dana Remus, at a virtual roundtable discussion on Tuesday with formerly incarcerated people hosted by the Biden administration, said that the pardons and commutations are just the beginning.

The President will continue to review clemency petitions over the coming months, Remus said. And we will continue all of this critically important work in supporting formerly incarcerated persons in creating second chances and ensuring that our criminal justice system is more just and more equal.

Trump sought the advice of prison reform advocate Alice Johnson, a Black woman whose life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense he commuted in 2018. He was also lobbied by celebrity Kim Kardashian as well as advisers inside the White House, including daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as he weighed applications for clemency.

The Republican used his pardon authority to help several political friends and allies, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Republican operative Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, the father-in-law of Ivanka Trump.

Among Trump's final acts as president was pardoning his former chief strategist Steve Bannon and Al Pirro, the ex-husband of Fox News host and Trump ally Jeanine Pirro.

Prosecutors alleged that Bannon, who had yet to stand trial when he was pardoned, had duped thousands of donors who believed their money would be used to fulfill Trumps chief campaign promise to build a wall along the southern border. Instead, Bannon allegedly diverted more than $1 million, paying a salary to one campaign official and personal expenses for himself. Pirro was convicted in 2000 on tax charges.

With the slate of pardons and commutations announced Tuesday, Biden has issued more grants of clemency than any of the previous five presidents at this point in their terms, according to the White House.

In addition to the grants of clemency, Biden announced several new initiatives that are meant to help formerly incarcerated people gain employment  an issue that his administration is driving home as key to lowering crime rates and preventing recidivism.

The Labor Department is directing $140 million toward programs that offer job training, pre-apprenticeship programs, digital literacy training and pre-release and post-release career counseling and more for youth and incarcerated adults.

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress last year includes a trio of grant programs that the administration says promote hiring of formerly incarcerated individuals. And the Labor and Justice Departments announced on Tuesday a collaborative plan to provide $145 million over the next year on job skills training as well as individualized employment and reentry plans for people serving time in the Bureau of Prisons.

Biden said the new initiatives are vital to helping the more than 600,000 people released from prison each year get on stable ground.

"Helping those who served their time return to their families and become contributing members of their communities is one of the most effective ways to reduce recidivism and decrease crime," Biden said.

___

Babwin reported from Chicago. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
YORK, Maine (AP)  A border dispute between a pair of Maine towns could end up being resolved in court.

Officials in York and Kittery disagree about whether the border between the southern Maine communities is a straight line or more of a meandering one. Maps, drawn by the towns in the late 18th century, differ on the subject.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP)  Authorities say a South Dakota prison inmate who walked away from a minimum-security facility is back in custody.

The state Department of Corrections said Phillip Richards left his work release job in Rapid City on Saturday without permission and didnt return to his housing unit. He was apprehended Monday in Pennington County.
BOISE, Idaho (AP)  The trial for a former Idaho lawmaker accused of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern began Tuesday with a prosecutor telling jurors the case was about power imbalances and the defense saying the sex was consensual.

Aaron von Ehlinger was charged with rape and penetration with a foreign object, both felonies, last year after the young Statehouse staffer reported a sexual assault in March 2021.

This case is about power  power wielded in the wrong hands," Ada County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katelyn Farley told the jury.

The defendant, Mr. von Ehlinger, wielded that power against a 19-year-old intern, Farley said, telling jurors that they would hear several ways in which the intern tried to resist the lawmakers advances.

Von Ehlingers attorney, John Cox, told jurors that the intern and his client had passionate consensual sexual contact. He said the intern stayed at von Ehlingers apartment for a time after the sexual contact.

They talked for a while, and then he drove her back to her car two-and-a-half blocks away, Cox said.

The allegations first came to light during the 2021 legislative session after the intern told a Statehouse supervisor that von Ehlinger raped her at his apartment after the two had dinner at a Boise restaurant. At the time, von Ehlinger was a state representative from Lewiston, but he later resigned after an ethics committee unanimously agreed that he engaged in behavior unbecoming and recommended that he be suspended without pay for the rest of the legislative session.

Von Ehlinger, 38, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry maximum penalties of life in prison.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, and has referred to the woman in this case as Jane Doe at her request.

Earlier Tuesday, the attorneys questioned potential jurors about whether they had seen news coverage about the case, their political leanings and their feelings about romantic relationships between people who are far apart in age.

A few potential jurors were excused after they said they had seen news coverage about the rape allegations and the ethics investigations the case spawned. Jane Doe faced significant harassment from some of von Ehlinger's supporters after news of the allegations surfaced, with some blog sites releasing her real name and personal details about her life.

Another lawmaker, Rep. Priscilla Giddings of Whitebird, then widely disseminated the former intern's name in newsletters and on social media, sharing one of the blogs that originally identified her.

Another juror was excused after he said he didn't know how anyone could remain a member of the Republican Party.

The jury of 12 people and one alternate was seated around noon.

___

This story has been corrected to show the trial began Tuesday, not Monday.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  A federal judge in Las Vegas said Monday hell decide in three weeks whether to dismiss a condemned Nevada killers lawsuit challenging the states plan for his lethal injection, because the state doesnt have one of the drugs it would use.

U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware II acknowledged during a brief hearing with attorneys for the state and the inmate, Zane Michael Floyd, that key questions about the execution method remain unanswered following weeks of testimony late last year.

But the Nevada Department of Corrections supply of the sedative ketamine expired on Feb. 28, and Randall Gilmer, chief deputy state attorney general, said prison officials have been unable to get more.

The prison execution method, or protocol, calls for using large doses of three or four drugs also including the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl or a substitute, alfentanil, possibly a muscle paralytic called cisatracurium and either potassium chloride or potassium acetate to stop Floyds heart.

Boulware said the question before him might have become moot.

There is no foreseeable likelihood that NDOC would be able to obtain one of the main drugs in the protocol, Boulware said, adding that there also is no current warrant for Floyds death.

State law calls for two weeks notice to schedule an execution, and for executions to be by lethal injection.

At this point, the court is not inclined to find that there is a live issue, Boulware said. He asked for written arguments from the state and Floyds attorneys by May 16.

Floyd, 46, was convicted in 2000 of killing four people and wounding a fifth in a shotgun attack at a Las Vegas grocery store. He does not want to die.

Daryl Mack was the last inmate put to death in Nevada, in April 2006, for a 1988 rape and murder in Reno. Mack asked for his lethal injection to be carried out.

Deputy federal public defenders David Anthony and Brad Levenson have tried to show Boulware that the never-before-used combination of drugs the state wants to use would cause Floyd so much pain that it would be unconstitutionally cruel and inhumane.
This column was originally published on April 26, 1994.

***

JAMES RIVER  It's a sweet calm morning here in Mason County, where I'm sitting on the river bank, watching Rusty Mitchum make beer biscuits in a cast iron dutch oven.

My assignment is to stop putting fresh wood on the campfire because Rusty's got the coals just about right and doesn't need any flames.

You want the recipe?

OK, pour about half a cup of cooking oil in the dutch oven and add a certain amount of self-rising flour. Rusty isn't sure how much flour. It's quite a bit but not too much. Add a can of warm beer and work it into biscuit dough with your hands. Flatten dough on a board, cut the end of the beer can away and use it to stamp out biscuits. You'll have maybe a dozen for a 12-inch dutch oven. Drop 'em in the pot. Turn 'em once so they'll be oiled both top and bottom.

Set the pot in the fire and heap coals on the oven lid. Let cook 25 or 30 minutes.

Makes good country-style biscuits with a vague hoppy flavor, and crusty brown bottoms. I like a biscuit with a foundation under it that way, a crust that keeps the thing from falling apart when you pick it up.

The James river, yes.

An annual report from the reunion

Most years about this time I send in a report from the James River and somebody always accuses me of making it up because they don't believe there's a river in Texas by that name. But five rivers named James flow in North America. In Alberta, Canada. In Virginia. In Missouri. In North Dakota. And this one, where I'm sitting now eating a beer biscuit.

I wish I could make up a river like the James. I'd make up dozens and distribute them across the world to places that need nice little rocky-bottomed streams with gentle rapids and low waterfalls and quiet deep pools. Our James River is a tributary of the Llano. It's only 37 miles long. Empties into the Llano south of Mason.

Little bunch of us throw a reunion on this stream every April and that's why I'm here. We fish and tell stories and sing songs and eat too much, but beyond that we're harmless.

Everybody in this gang has a special job, to keep the camp going. We've even got designated fishermen. People like Joe Osborn out of Austin. And Josh Kramer and Travis and Bill Shearer of Fredericksburg. They go forth and stay until they catch fish. They'll walk miles over this tough stony terrain. Stay out for hours and hours.

We have several camp cooks, in addition to Rusty who comes from Tyler. I'm one of the cooks, allowed to fix pinto beans. And my beans are always bragged on because nobody else wants to fool with them.

Fish cooker this year is Glen Bass, another Tyler man. He believes in deep-fat frying. I asked for the principal secret of his cooking and he said, "Always keep your fingers out of the hot grease."

We have John Graves from Glen Rose who is our main storyteller. He has been in many places and seen wonders and knows secrets heretofore undisclosed. For example, he was able to show Bass when to start cooking the fish. Secret is, throw a kitchen match in the pot and if the grease is hot enough, the match will flame.

Also we have Phil Montgomery who comes all the way from Dallas with his guitar and the words to a hundred songs, sung at the fire after supper.

Curious concoctions taste great

We have Glenn Whitehead from Smithville who has contributed what he calls roll-your-own tacos. Thin beef cooked over charcoal. Also chunks of pork, chicken breast, and shrimp, marinated in a secret sauce, and charcoaled, and thin-sliced. Put these meat slices on a hot tortilla and add a startling salsa made of fine-minced jalapenos and serrano peppers and cilantro and lime juice and roll that baby up and bite in and it'll make you sing sweet songs.

But next time you're in the wilderness, try this for a dessert:

Dump four medium-size cans of sliced peaches into a 12-inch dutch oven. Pour off the juice. Sprinkle over the peaches a small package of yellow cake mix. Pour in a flavored soda pop, and dab around in there and make a paste over the peaches. (This is Rusty Mitchum's recipe and he used a Shasta lemon-lime drink. People bring strange things to fish camps.) Sprinkle cinnamon over the top. Cover oven. Cook in campfire like beer biscuits above.

I don't mind saying I was doubtful about this cobbler but it was all right, here on the James where so many curious preparations taste great. I believe this will be the first time I ever spent three nights on a river bank and gained weight.
WASHINGTON  A 51-year-old Houston woman who served seven years in prison for trying to transport crack cocaine for her boyfriend on Tuesday received one of the first three presidential pardons from Joe Biden as the White House announced he was granting clemency to nearly two dozen Texans serving on nonviolent, drug-related convictions.

They were among 78 clemency announcements issued by the White House as the Biden administration rolled out new executive actions aimed at helping felons reenter society, part of a broader effort to reform the criminal justice system.

"America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation," Biden said in a statement. "Our criminal justice system can and should reflect these core values that enable safer and stronger communities.



In Texas: Melissa Lucio gets stay of execution 2 days before scheduled killing by lethal injection

Biden pardoned Betty Jo Bogans, who was a single mother when convicted in 1998 of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine after she attempted to move drugs for her boyfriend and his accomplice, neither of whom were detained or arrested, according to the White House.

In 2002, former President George W. Bush declined to commute Bogans prison sentence, according to a list of denials published by the Department of Justice.

More Information President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 19 Texans serving prison time on non-violent drug charges.



Sharon Louise Boatright of Richardson, serving a 188-month prison sentence for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.



Ramola Kaye Brown of Huntsville, serving a 145-month prison sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and less than 50 kilograms of marijuana.



Mark Richard Burton of Odessa, serving a 121-month prison sentence for charges related to distributing 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine and/or 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine.



Nickolas Cano of Amarillo, serving a 140-month prison sentence for possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting.



Lori Jean Cross of North Richland Hills, serving a 120-month prison sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.



Catalina Davis of San Antonio, serving a 151-month prison sentence for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine; aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.



Deborah Ann Dodd of Forney, serving a 140-month prison sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine or 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine.



Nova Neal Finau of Fort Worth, serving a 140-month prison sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.



Julio Garza of Edinburg, serving a 240-month prison sentence for possession with intent to distribute 10 kilograms of cocaine.



Stephanie Hernandez of Dallas, serving a 120-month prison sentence for distribution of a controlled substance.



David Charles Jenkins of Beaumont, serving a 151-month prison sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base; a 24-month term for violating supervised release; and a 24-month term for production of counterfeit access devices.



Brittany Krambeck of Fort Worth, serving a 220-month prison sentence for maintaining drug involved premises; structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements.



Rosamaria Lucero of New Braunfels, serving a 120-month prison sentence for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, aiding and abetting.



Quang Nguyen of Houston, serving a 120-month prison sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants.



Aaron Ponce of Odessa, serving a 240-month prison sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute a controlled substance, 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine.



Rose Trujillo Rangel of Waco, serving a 240-month prison sentence for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, a schedule II-narcotic-drug-controlled substance.



Alejandro Reyna of Brownsville, serving a 210-month prison sentence for importation of more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.



Fermin Serna of Rio Grande City, serving a 240-month prison sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.



James Darrell Walker of Lubbock, serving a 262-month prison sentence for distribution of and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. See More Collapse

The White House said Bogans accepted responsibility for her limited role in the offense, and in the nearly two decades since her release, Bogans has held consistent employment, even while undergoing treatment for cancer and raising her son.

Biden also commuted the sentences of 19 other Texans, including Catalina Davis of San Antonio, who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for charges related to distributing methamphetamine, and Quang Nguyen of Houston, who was serving a 10-year sentence after being charged with intent to distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants.

The sentences commuted will now expire on April 26, 2023, and the remainder of the time will be served in home confinement, according to the White House.



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Bogans was among the first three pardons issued by Biden, who also pardoned Abraham Bolden, an 86-year-old former U.S. Secret Service agent who was the first African American to serve on a presidential detail.

In 1964, the Chicago resident was charged for trying to sell a copy of a Secret Service file. Boldens first trial resulted in a hung jury. He was convicted in a second trial where key witnesses against him admitted to lying at the prosecutors request, according to the White House.

The president also pardoned Dexter Jackson, a 52-year-old man who was convicted in 2002 for allowing marijuana distributors to use his pool hall to facilitate drug transactions.

Joel Umanzor contributed.



ben.wermund@chron.com
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The sun had not yet risen when Sgt. Trevor Windsor approached the vehicle.

The Harris County Sheriffs Office deputy saw two distraught teens standing outside their familys bullet-riddled vehicle. Inside, their little sister, Jazmine Barnes, lay lifeless with a gunshot wound to the head.

She was cool to the touch and there was nothing he could do to save her, he testified.

The sergeants recollection of that predawn shooting in December 2018  along with a photo of the childs body slumped over in the backseat  was shared Tuesday for a jury, picked hours earlier, in the trial of 27-year-old Larry Woodruffe. He was charged with capital murder in January 2019 in connection with the girls death.

Prosecutors in the opening statements said Jazmine joined her two siblings and mother that morning on a coffee run. The family stopped at an intersection and was met by gunfire. Their mother, LaPorsha Washington, was shot in the shoulder, and she barked orders for her daughters to call 911 and find the nearest hospital.

The plan to drive to the hospital was thwarted by a flat tire, prosecutors said.

After Windsor arrived, he gleaned a description of the shooter from the teen girls: He was a white man in a hoodie. Another witness told the sergeant that the man had a goatee  and the lawman suggested that he resembled the man the siblings thought they saw.

It was like looking in the mirror, Windsor added.

The description the siblings supplied set off a frantic manhunt  with police distributing a sketch artists rendering of the suspect  and worries that the crime was racially motivated. Additional tips suggested that the shooter had been behind the wheel of a red truck.

That description was wrong, prosecutor Sean Kozar-King told the jurors.

A tipster led authorities to Woodruffe and co-defendant Eric Black, 23  also charged with capital murder  who also is expected to testify, Kozar-King said. Based on a purported confession to police, Black has said he drove the vehicle and that Woodruffe fired the shots.

He also told investigators that the shooting was a mistake, that the family was not the intended target.

In exchange for truthful testimony, Blacks charge will be reduced to murder, according to court records. A judge is expected to determine Blacks punishment in May.

The childs father, Christopher Cevilla, sat in the courtroom and listened to portions of the opening statements and the first two witnesses. Windsor shook his hand as he left the courtroom.

Washington is expected to testify this week.

The defense dwelled on law enforcements rush to find Jazmines killer amid growing publicity nationwide as an aspect in their case. Uproar over the childs death prompted a flood of tips, and Woodruffes prior lawyers sought a change of venue because of the publicity. Judges in Houston rarely grant a change of venue because of how populous Harris County is, and media coverage tends to wane ahead of a trial.

There was an incredible amount of pressure, one of Woodruffes lawyers, Paul Morgan, said.

The case garnered the attention of lawyer Lee Merritt  failed candidate for Texas attorney general  and social activist Shaun King, who publicized a $100,000 tip for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the case. One of the tipsters whose insight led to Woodruffes arrest was his ex-girlfriend, Morgan said.

That tip was passed to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, who spoke at Jazmines funeral.

Neither of the apprehended suspects resembled the thin man with blue eyes and hints of stubble in the sketch composite. Both defendants are Black. The man misidentified from the police sketch, Robert Cantrell, took his own life in July 2019 in a Montgomery County Jail cell.

The remaining testimony on Tuesday centered on firearm ballistics collected at the crime scene.

The start of the trial comes amid a push toward normalcy in the court system. Jury trials came to a halt for the first seven months of the pandemic, causing some cases to languish and contributing to a growing backlog in the courts.

More than 48,000 felony cases in March were pending, according to county court records. Of that number, only four capital murder and murder cases  two of each  as of Tuesday are undergoing trial.

In another courtroom, a jury continued to hear evidence about how investigators linked Andre Jackson to the 2016 killing of an 11-year-old boy who was found stabbed to death while walking home from school.

A retired Houston Police Department homicide detective recalled how investigators apprehended the wrong man at first, with surveillance footage in Pearland solidifying his alibi at the time of Josue Flores death. He went on to collect about two dozen videos from security cameras in the neighborhood and found video of a man, believed to be Jackson, running away.

The clothing matched the assailants description, he said.

The trial started Monday and is expected to continue through next week. The cases against Jackson and Woodruffe were transferred to an emergency relief docket as an attempt to alleviate the backlog by bringing older, more complex cases to completion.

A verdict in Woodruffes case is expected on Thursday.

nicole.hensley@chron.com
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Houston Community College on Tuesday announced a disaster mitigation program  including a roughly $30 million flood simulation center  to train first responders, businesses and community members for catastrophic events that are expected to become more frequent due to climate change.

HCCs Resiliency Initiative follows several disaster-filled years for Houston. In less than a decade, the city has seen three 500-year floods, the COVID-19 pandemic and a freeze-induced statewide power grid failure.

The first class will begin studies in the fall, and HCC leaders said they hope the program will create consistency in disaster preparedness and response across law enforcement, businesses and residential communities.

HCC is partnering to redefine what a resilient Houston and surrounding counties can look like, college system Chancellor Cesar Maldonado said.

The centerpiece is the planned facility with space to mimic flood situations on a realistic streetscape  which school officials foresee having nationwide appeal.

Our vision for HCCs (flood center) is bold. It will redefine what it means to be prepared in Houston, our region, the state and arguably the nation, Maldonado said. This venture is about protecting and improving the lives of people in the communities in which we live and work.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Intense swift-water rescue training prepares Harris County deputies for next Harvey

Texas has weathered 119 major storm events since 1980, with each costing at least $1 billion, said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who chairs a consortium of mayors working to mitigate climate change. Seven federally declared disasters occurred in Houston during Turners six years as the citys top official, including 2017s Hurricane Harvey, which brought some 50 inches of rain to some parts and spawned severe flooding.

A training program  one that is not solely limited to first responders  will complement the citys goal of creating a Resilient Houston through investments in infrastructure and the workforce ahead of disasters, Turner said.

These shocks and stresses come repeatedly, Turner said at HCCs State of the College address Tuesday. Major events are coming with greater frequency, greater intensity and costing more.

Underserved communities tend to suffer the most during catastrophic weather events, and HCCs program will help put trained volunteers in those neighborhoods, said Michelle Dobbins, co-chair of a response group called the Texas Gulf Coast Regional Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.

The more resilient people are within their own communities, the quicker theyre able to recover, said Dobbins, who is also program director of recovery and resiliency at the nonprofit Baker Ripley. And the quicker theyre able to recover, the chances are that they can move forward with less of a negative impact to the household.

The five-acre simulation space  called the Resiliency Operations Center  wont be ready for several years at a new training location. Engineering plans are scheduled for completion in September, and construction could last up to 22 months at the site on HCCs northeast campus. When its ready, 3,000 to 4,000 people could train there each year.

Officials said the flood center will be the largest of its kind, equipped with drones, robots and other technology to simulate flooded residential streets with downed power lines, submerged vehicles and floating debris. The streetscape also will include mock training buildings, a swift water rescue channel and a lake with shallow and deep water areas.

Beyond flood preparation, HCCs disaster initiative provides training for fires, chemicals spills and leaks, pandemics and freezes, Maldonado said. An additional two simulation facilities and programs will focus on the highline and petrochemical fields responses to disasters.

The simulation training expands on the colleges current offerings related to law enforcement as well as disasters.

Courses will begin sooner: The first cohort will enroll in the fall, with participants taking non-credit courses tailored toward their role in the community, the chancellor said. Most people in the first round of classes are expected to belong to neighborhood groups or work for the city of Houston  helping to accomplish the mayors goal of training 500,000 Houstonians in topics of resiliency by 2025.

Some of the courses will be entry-level and others will be for continuing education and a higher level of certification. The course curriculum will draw from faculty and subject matter experts across the region and country, Maldonado said.

.

Business-related topics include supply-chain challenges; coordinating preparedness and response; and addressing challenges in construction, facilities, local infrastructure and communications. Courses for community members include assessing risks, investing in preparedness and the role of insurance.

The Texas Legislature has invested close to $5 million in the project since 2019, Maldonado said. Private individuals who have asked to remain anonymous have committed an estimated $10 million.

A total cost was not immediately known, although some funding is covered by the systems current operating budget, according to the chancellor. The city and Harris County are expected to take advantage of the training opportunities offered by the HCC-led initiative, he said.

samantha.ketterer@chron.com
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Four people were injured when a Harris County Flood Control District boat capsized while performing routine maintenance on Tuesday afternoon on a bayou in west Houston, officials said.

The Houston Fire Department conducted a water rescue operation following the crash under Langham Creek Bridge near Interstate 10 and North Eldridge Parkway, according to the fire department.
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Michael Olivas, a law scholar and University of Houston professor emeritus who died last week at age 71, is being remembered as a giant and a legend whose work had an impact on academic corridors around the country and the lives of many people, particularly in the Latino community.

Olivas died April 22 at his home in Santa Fe, N.M., his hometown, after blood clot complications from a recent knee surgery, according to a post on his Twitter account and a UH news release.

Olivas was a professor at the University of Houston for nearly four decades, retiring in 2019 as William B. Bates Distinguished Chair of Law Emeritus. He had also led the Institute for Higher Education Law & Governance at the UH Law Center, served as acting president of the UH-Downtown campus in 2016 and held posts at the University of Iowa College of Law and at the University of Wisconsin.

Professor Olivas was an excellent teacher and role model, a renowned scholar, academic entrepreneur and institution builder, and multiple award winner, said Leonard M. Baynes, dean of the University of Houston Law Center. Olivas advanced the rule of law, legal education, and service to the community.

Colleagues described Olivas as a prolific scholar who received the highest distinctions in academia. He was honored with the Triennial Award for Lifetime Service to Legal Education and the Law, the top award given by the Association of American Law Schools.

Olivas also received the Esther Farfel Award, the highest honor given to a UH faculty member, for overall career excellence, among other accolades.

Professor Olivas was legendary nationwide, said Sandra Guerra Thompson, one of his colleagues and a professor of law at UH. His death is unfathomable for so many people!

Scholars from across the country praised Olivas personal qualities and lifetime of achievement.

He was a legendary law professor of the highest order, said Kevin R. Johnson, dean of the University of California, Davis School of Law. He worked tirelessly to nurture and develop law professors of color and was a personal mentor, and cheerleader, for scores of them.

Olivas displayed his intellectual acumen in some 16 books that he authored or coauthored, as well as in speeches and in articles. One of his books, Suing Alma Mater, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, won the Steven S. Goldberg Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Education Law, given by the Education Law Association. That award honors scholarly excellence that has had an impact on education law.

Olivas wrote numerous articles and was an advocate in immigration law. He helped articulate the legal framework to allow migrant students such as Dreamers to pay in-state tuition at Texas higher education institutions.

The publication Insides Higher ED called Olivas a fierce advocate for Latinx students, nothing that he helped a Texas state representative draft the successful 10 percent law.

The 10% plan allowed the University of Texas to admit the top ten percent of students from each public high school in Texas affording students of a wide variety of backgrounds the opportunity to attend the flagship Texas university, UH said in a news release.

This move significantly increased the acceptance of Latino and Black students at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University.

For someone who operated at a high level of intellect and academic productivity, Olivas managed to dedicate an extraordinary amount of time helping other people in their careers, recalled Sandra Guerra Thompson.

Ediberto Roman, a law professor at Florida International University, wrote in a post of Olivas tireless work to increase diversity.

Roman said there were relatively few Hispanic professors in higher education when Olivas started. To change that, he said, Olivas created, together with the National Hispanic Bar Association, the Dirty Dozen List outing schools that failed to have Hispanics on their tenure track faculty. A decade later, he said, the number of Latino professors grew to more than 200 and continued increasing.

Roman was the editor of Law Professor and Accidental Historian: The Scholarship of Michael A. Olivas, an anthology published by Carolina Academic Press. In it, some 20 scholars analyze pathbreaking works by Olivas debating contemporary policy issues.

Juan F. Vasquez, Jr., a board member of the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston and an adjunct professor at the UH Law Center, said Olivas was a man of stature who will be sorely missed, with a legacy that will live on at the University of Houston Law Center and the local, regional, national, and international community.

He was a giant in the legal industry He left a legacy through the students he guided and the individuals and clients whose lives were positively impacted by his amazing legal work, scholarship, and mentorship, said Vasquez.

Olivas was remembered on social media platforms as a generous friend, a mentor, a gentleman and a man for all seasons with a sharp sense of humor. They said he did not hesitate to provide incisive criticism to mentees, demanding the highest levels of research and professional quality.

Wherefore art thou padrino (godfather), Who cared well for his flock. From few we grew manifold, Behold our great stock, reads a ballad written by Juan F. Perea, a law professor at Loyola University Chicago.

Michael stands out as a giant, a true hero, Perea said. I am grateful to have shared his friendship, his wisdom, his mentoring, his generosity, his learning, and his wit.

A Mass will be held Saturday for Olivas at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is expected to offer a eulogy, the Chronicle has learned.

A space at UHs new OQuinn Law Building will be named the Olivas-Reyes Reading Room in honor of Olivas and his wife, retired Professor Emerita Augustina H. Reyes, a project that was announced before his death.

Scholars around the country are planning other projects, including the first Annual Michael Olivas Writing Institute, to take place virtually, and renaming an annual event from the Association of American Law School as the Michael Olivas Annual AALS Dinner.

He was like a rock; when everything all around seem to be going crazy, he held everyone together, said Raul Ramos, a history professor at UH. I have never met anybody so dedicated to the selfless act of helping the community as Michael His work will inspire the future in academia.

olivia.tallet@chron.com

Twitter.com/oliviaptallet
Melissa Lucio erupted in sobs the moment she learned she would live to see past Wednesday, the day designated on her death warrant for Texas prison officials to end her life.

The Harlingen mother of 14 was scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday for the 2007 murder of her toddler, Mariah Alvarez. In a startling ruling, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday issued a stay, halting her execution. The ruling will allow her lawyers to present new exculpatory evidence they believe will prompt a new trial, and eventually lead to her freedom after more than 15 years on death row.
Supporters of Melissa Lucio, the Harlingen mother of 14 on death row for the murder of her toddler, are demanding her immediate release after she was granted a stay of execution Monday in a rare appellate ruling.

Lucio's family members and organizers with Death Penalty Action, a national organization that advocates for the end of executions, will hold a rally 4 p.m. Wednesday outside of Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz's office. Saenz has the power to drop the murder case against Lucio, and her supporters are demanding he do so immediately.
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For some, going to an ordinary bar isn't enough.

Some crave a more unique bar experience. Whether that be unusual architecture, original cocktail recipes or never-before-seen technology, Houston has it all.

Don't believe us? Look no further than Notsuoh.

Located in one of Houston's oldest buildings, Notsuoh serves as an artistic testament to the city's history, catering to a diverse audience in a building that's been largely unchanged for nearly 80 years.

"It's not, in my mind, just a bar," owner John Pirtle said. "It's a piece of social sculpture, a piece of art, and most bar owners don't have that perspective of what they're doing. They're just trying to sell drinks."

While Notsuoh is a testament to time, Shoot The Moon hopes to push Houston bars into the future.

Co-owner Kevin Floyd says his bar and restaurant is the state's first to fully embrace self-pour technology.

Patrons at Shoot The Moon can pour their own beer, wine, spirits and cocktails, which became legal in 2019. Another Texas taproom offered self-serve beer first, but Floyd says his made history in offering a full self-pour bar.

"Whenever I got to a place I either want it to be really high quality and good, or I want it to be an interesting experience," Floyd said. "I (expletive) hate places like Rainforest Cafe that (are) manufactured. There's nothing authentic about it."

Visiting an unfamiliar bar can be a risky proposition, but Floyd says it's worth the risk. "It might have good reviews, it might be horrible, but at least it's different and it's authentic."

So how do you go about finding a unique bar?

Lauren Blake, a frequent bar patron and part of Houston On the Cheap, helped us put together a list of some of the most unique bars in the Houston area.

"We're all looking for the best place to connect with people we love or make new connections," Blake said. "The most unique bars have to be somewhere that gives us a new flavor to rave about or an environment that gives us a story by the end of the night."

See below for our list of Houston's most unique bars, where they're located and what makes them unique.

Notsuoh

Bill Olive/For the Chronicle

Address: 314 Main St

What makes it unique: Sometimes relaxing, sometimes frightening, Notsuoh offers patrons an almost guaranteed memorable night in a Houston building that was constructed in 1893. Notsuoh has frequent poetry nights, chess boards, and art that is sometimes alive.

Shoot the Moon

Amy Scott

Address: 8155 Long Point Rd

What makes it unique: Owner Kevin Floyd wanted Shoot The Moon to be different from the start. The bar utilizes self-pour tap technology for cider, beer, wine, cocktails and spirits. It also uses access cards that unlock the tap system, allowing patrons to either test a small pour or go in for a full serving.

Johnny's Gold Brick

Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle

Address: 2518 Yale St

What makes it unique: When owner Benjamin Mason opened Johnny's Gold Brick in the Heights, he wanted to make a friendly neighborhood bar that also has great cocktails. The bar separates itself from other neighborhood bars by having a new menu every month, where bartenders are required to come up with a new cocktail. According to Mason, Johnny's will have up to eight new, original cocktails each month for patrons to try.

Lei Low

Ryan Nickerson, Houston Chronicle

Address: 6412 N Main St Ste.C

What makes it unique: Owner Russell Thoede says that his Heights tiki bar has the largest selection of rum in Texas and the decor allows patrons to escape into a world of relaxation. Although Lei Low is tucked away in the Heights in an unassuming building, Thoede says it's in a premier location for tiki culture enthusiasts from all over the world.

Moon Tower Inn

Ryan Nickerson, Houston Chronicle

Address: 3004 Canal St

What makes it unique: Ever had a rabbit hot dog? Not only does Moon Tower Inn have an overwhelming number of beers and ciders on tap, patrons can also browse through an expansive food menu that includes duck, rabbit, pheasant, lamb, wild boar and other types of hot dogs on pretzel buns.

Brass Tacks

Alison Cook / Staff

Address: 612 Live Oak

What makes it unique: Brass Tacks combines work and play with an all-day cafe that has high-speed internet, lounges, a boardroom, event space and a cocktail bar. Housed in a building that was built in 1938 in EaDo, Brass Tacks serves young professionals who are fueled by coffee by day and booze by night.

Powder Keg

Courtesy

Address: 1300 Brittmoore Rd

What makes it unique: Powder Keg has 4 sand volleyball courts, a dog park, an event space, live music, food trucks, and affordable and unique cocktails, beer and wine. Kids are also welcome until 9 p.m.
Libraries are open, democratic spaces where all manner of people can come and participate in community in a way that fast seems to be going extinct. In Llano County, Texas about an hour and a half northwest of Austin, those democratic values have been put to the test.

Over the past several months, the county has undertaken a coordinated censorship campaign, removing physical books and cutting off access to thousands of digital ones. The targeted titles are linked to the list of hundreds of objectionable books that Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, listed in a letter sent to the Texas Education Agency and Texas superintendents in October.

Llano Countys crackdown on objectionable titles appears to be among the first times the tendency toward censorship that has spread throughout Texas public schools has arrived at the steps of a public library. Fortunately, a group of seven Llano County-area residents are fighting back. Their lawsuit, filed Monday, alleges that the coordinated efforts from county officials to limit what books residents can check out from the library violates the First Amendment.

Public libraries are not places of government indoctrination, reads the lawsuit. They are not places where the people in power can dictate what their citizens are permitted to read about and learn. Such overreach jeopardizes everyones freedom, not to mention the informed electorate upon which a democracy depends.

Nobody is forcing children  or adults  to read any of the books in a library, Ellen Leonida, one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit, told us in an email. The speech the defendants are trying to censor focuses on books about U.S. history, books about race and racism, and books by or about LGBTQ people. These books are not pornography. They are history, politics, science, fiction and memoir. Llano County public officials dont have to read any books they disagree with  but they have no right to ban them.

The story began with kids books. In August 2021, the lawsuit alleges, County Judge Ron Cunningham and two other defendants removed some books from the childrens section. The titles, including Maurice Sendaks In the Night Kitchen, contained nudity in illustrations or referenced bodily functions. When some of the plaintiffs tried to check out the books, they were told they had been moved to Cunninghams office, according to the complaint.

Its no surprise that parents might object to individual books, and when they do they shouldnt allow their children to check them out. But wholesale winnowing of a public librarys shelves, especially against such an overly broad, indiscriminate list as Krauses, is tantamount to censorship.

And in Llano Countys case, removing titles aimed at children was just the start.

In November, Llano County resident Bonnie Wallace sent an email to Cunningham with a list of the titles in the countys libraries that also appeared on Krauses list. The subject line read: Pornographic Filth at the Llano Public Libraries. That same day, according to the lawsuit, Cunningham told the library director to remove all books that depict any type of sexual activity or questionable nudity. In December, the county commissioners ordered the local libraries to close for three days to review books and materials for children and youth. Then in January, the Commissioners Court put the finishing touches on a new library board, with Wallace named vice chair.

Along with Cunningham, defendants in the lawsuit include county commissioners, members of the new library board and library director Amber Milum. Together, the complaint alleges, they have been systematically removing award-winning books from library shelves because they disagree with the ideas within them. They have also, the complaint continues, permanently terminated access to over 17,000 digital books because they could not censor and ban two specific ebooks that they disliked from the Countys digital book collection.

Books including Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson, are among the titles targeted by the review process, according to the lawsuit. But even books that are not nationally acclaimed should not be banned because of their content or viewpoint, the complaint argues.

Parents and community members, of course, have the right to weigh in on community resources but in Llano County, officials seemed to be driven by politics as they took steps that disregarded the established protocol allowing for the review of library materials.

In addition, the county banned librarians from even attending library board meetings and kept the them closed to the public, according to the complaint.

We asked to speak to Cunningham about the lawsuit, but he declined through an assistant.

It is a shame that this unnecessary culture war has led to this, Shirley Robinson, executive director of the Texas Library Association said in an email, but we applaud the efforts of these individuals to utilize the justice system to speak up and say with a clear voice enough is enough.

The county did not respond to requests for comment on the pending litigation. Meanwhile, Leonida told us she intends to seek an injunction to restore access to the digital library service and return the books to the shelves.

The failure of physical infrastructure gets more notice than the unraveling of social infrastructure, as sociologist Eric Klinenberg calls it in his book, Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life.

But when the social infrastructure gets degraded, the consequences are unmistakable, he argues. What often follows are falling trust, weaker social networks and rising crime.

Llano County took the first steps to weaken its library months ago. With this lawsuit, some residents are fighting back.

We didnt ask for this fight, but were certainly not going to lay down and let subjective opinion and politics restrict the freedom to read, added Robinson.

Good for them, and for the residents leading the charge. The lawsuit represents a stand for the First Amendment that could benefit all of Texas.
We cant begin to imagine the feelings of Melissa Lucio and her family at this moment. Joy and relief likely dont begin to describe it.

News Monday afternoon that Texas highest criminal court issued a stay of execution for the mother of 14 in the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah is a development worth celebrating for anyone who has followed her case, seen the documentary, or joined the widespread bipartisan campaign to save her life.

And yet, even as we cheer the decision by the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals, which instructed the lower court to reconsider the case for several reasons, including mounting evidence that suggests she may be actually innocent, we are struck by the cruelty of this slow, lumbering process on a woman who, just hours earlier, was set to die in two days. Spared imminent execution, she remains in solitary confinement and on Death Row.

These late-hour decisions make for exciting headlines but they seem yet another blow to people who have been wrongfully accused or sentenced. And they remind us, as if we needed another reminder, that a system so faulty, so prone to grievous human error, has no business administering an irreversible penalty such as death.

While Lucios clemency efforts sought a reprieve or a commutation to a life sentence from the governor, via the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, we support this court-ordered stay precisely because it provides an opportunity for the trial court to re-examine the very question of her guilt or innocence.

The CCA found four of the nine points raised by Lucios defense team cast sufficient doubt on her conviction or sentence, and ordered the trial court to consider on their merits claims that if the prosecution had not used false testimony, no juror would have convicted her; previously unavailable scientific evidence would preclude her conviction; she is actually innocent; and that the state had suppressed favorable, material evidence in violation of federal law.

The states initial case against her relied largely on a confession delivered after some five hours of late-night interrogation and on medical evidence that insisted that only abuse could have led to little Mariahs injuries and death. In new documents filed as part of her clemency petition, Lucios defense team presents alternative explanations for those injuries, including that a head injury could have caused her extensive bruising, and argue that her confession was unreliable and the result of a lifetime of abuse suffered by Lucio herself that often led her to take responsibility for things she didnt do.

As we wrote earlier this month, the flimsy evidence used to send her to her death, seemed to wither under the light of international scrutiny, late-hour appellate filings and public pleas for Gov. Greg Abbott to grant clemency.

The groundswell of support behind Lucios case elicited bipartisan support across the state and country. Five of the original jurors also joined calls to review the new information gathered in the clemency petition.

The death of a child is always a tragedy. In the case of Mariah, who was found unresponsive days after having fallen down a flight of stairs, that tragedy seems to have been compounded by injustice in the prosecution of her mother.

There were problems from the very beginning of the case, starting with the emergency responders dismissing Lucios explanation that Mariah had fallen down the stairs. From there, her defense team argues, there was a rush to judgment by those who saw Lucio as a poor, Latina mother with a history of involvement with Child Protective Services, mostly involving her drug use and neglect. But that history, her team notes and shows in supporting documents, does not include a record of physical abuse.

The case jurors heard, however, presented a very different story, relying on a Texas Ranger who insisted Lucios body language during his interrogation confirmed her guilt and on a medical examiner who insisted there was no other explanation for Mariahs death. Efforts to present a defense that challenged the confession failed at the time and have only grown more robust as her new defense team built her case. Likewise, the new analysis from medical experts shows that the proper steps were not taken to rule out other causes of death, including a history of falls and a potential underlying condition that would have also explained the widespread bruising on Mariahs body.

In 27 years and close to 100 cases, this is the first time I've ever had a case where there wasnt actually a murder, Tivon Schardl, chief of the capital habeas unit of the federal defenders office in the Western District of Texas and one Lucios lawyers, told the editorial board earlier.

The stay will send her case back to Cameron County. The trial court will consider the claims and then make its own findings about the questions raised by Lucios attorneys, before the case is returned to the Court of Criminal Appeals for a decision on whether there should be a new trial.

The stay gives us the opportunity to go back to the trial court and to present the evidence of Melissas innocence that no court has ever considered, Vanessa Potkin, a lawyer with the Innocence Project and member of Lucios defense team said in the press conference. The stay, she said, really opens the door to the potential of a new trial in her case and ultimately complete vindication.

At last, Lucio will get her chance to mount a full and proper defense guaranteed to her by the U.S. Constitution. Even as we celebrate this moment, we have to wonder how many others on Death Row deserve the same chance.
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The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on the state of Texas' legal challenge to keep in place the Trump-era remain in Mexico policy, which forces asylum seekers to wait outside the country for their immigration hearings.

Some of the justices appeared reluctant to weigh in on foreign policy issues raised by the case, as the program relies on Mexicos cooperation.

Judges, this is above your pay grade, Justice Stephen Breyer said. Stay out of it as much as you can.

Immediately after taking office, President Joe Biden suspended new enrollments in the program, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols, and within months, the administration formally shut it down. That prompted lawsuits from Texas and Missouri. So far, a Texas district judge and federal appellate court have sided with the states.

BACKGROUND: White House requests Supreme Court review decision to continue Trump-era border policy

Much is at stake for the Biden Administration, which was dealt a blow Monday when a federal judge temporarily blocked it from ending another Trump policy that allows border patrol officers to expel migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border because of public health concerns tied to the pandemic.

Federal law allows migrants to be released in the U.S. on parole while they await asylum hearings on a case-by-case basis and only for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

The justices on Tuesday spent much of oral arguments debating what a public benefit means in these cases.

There's no real explanation of how the public is benefitted by more people coming into the United States who are not lawfully admitted into the United States rather than trying, if feasible, for some of those people to remain in Mexico, said Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The Biden Administration contends the public benefits by the U.S. releasing some migrants on parole because it saves bed space for higher priority detainees, such as those who have a criminal history or pose a flight risk.

The other options under the law  detention of migrants and offering parole until hearings  are no less complicated. There is nowhere near enough space in U.S. detention facilities to hold the full volume of immigrants crossing the Mexico border, data shows.

In March 2022, for example, the Department of Homeland Security arrested about 220,000 people at the border, yet Congress had only appropriated funds for a little under 32,000 detention beds, said Elizabeth B. Prelogar, the U.S. solicitor general. She said no administration has ever attempted to detain every person who crosses the border.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked why the Biden Administration is so focused on the public benefit of releasing into the U.S. as opposed to the benefit of releasing in Mexico. Prelogar said it was a policy decision that took into account the costs of remain in Mexico and other factors. She said the rule was used sparingly even under the Trump Administration; only 6.5 percent of those encountered at the border were sent to Mexico.

Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Judd E. Stone II, the solicitor general of Texas, argued when the detention capacity does not exist in the U.S., the administration has to do the best it can, and then resort to other lawful options, such as temporarily releasing to Mexico while migrants await trial. Stone also argued the program indirectly helps lower border crossings by acting as a deterrent.

Texas lawyers have said that eliminating the program will create a burden on states along the border, where many migrants would likely be released after being apprehended.

But Justice Elena Kagan said Texas was seeking to basically tell the executive how to implement its foreign and immigration policy.

It puts the United States essentially at the mercy of Mexico, Kagan said, raising concerns also about the possibility that Mexico, knowing the Biden Administration is under a court order to release to their country, might start implementing conditions.

This is not how our constitutional structure is supposed to operate, Prelogar said. So we'd ask the Court to reverse the flawed judgment.

taylor.goldenstein@chron.com
A group of local residents are suing Llano County in federal court, alleging that the removal of certain library books for pornographic content is really a censorship effort in violation of the first and fourteenth amendments.

The county northwest of Austin has been a focal point in the national political fight over library books as conservatives seek to increasingly crack down on childhood content covering racism and LGBTQ issues. The battle is part of a larger offensive with school boards and teachers over the past year.

The lawsuit alleges that officials have been systematically removing award-winning books from library shelves because they disagree with the ideas within them, and despite policies that prohibits the banning of books because of the race or nationality or the political or religious views of the writer.

The censorship that Defendants have imposed on Llano County public libraries is offensive to the First Amendment and strikes at the core of democracy, the complaint says. The right to publish and receive ideaseven politically unpopular ideas or ones that some find offensive or distasteful is enshrined in our Constitution.

County officials declined to comment.

The censored books are based in part on a list maintained by state Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort-Worth, who called out about 800 titles last year that contained what he called inappropriate content. More than 60 percent of the books relate to LGBTQ issues, according to a Hearst Newspapers analysis, and just under 10 percent touched on issues of race or racism.

Books removed from the Llano libraries include Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group and Spinning. The authors have each won major, mainstream literary awards for their work.

The lawsuit says the library also shut down an online book-access system that allowed members to access 17,000 books because the library couldnt ban access of two books in the catalogue.

The plaintiffs attorney Ellen Leonida said those in charge of the library had expressed desires via email to withhold books from the public that related to critical race theory, the LGBTQ community and other sensitive social issues. Although the Legislature last year banned the teaching of critical race theory, a decades-old academic tenet, it does not apply to public libraries.

When they announced the censorship decisions to the public, she said, they claimed the books were inappropriate or contained pornography.

"Preventing citizens from accessing public library books that engage with political topics and ideas is a direct attack on our most basic liberties, Leonida said.

Leonida said a ruling in the case could apply to other public libraries around the country where books are being censored.

edward.mckinley@chron.com
WASHINGTON  U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar is bringing in reinforcements as he works to fend off a challenge from immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros, who forced the longtime Laredo congressman into a primary runoff.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who is among the party's most influential figures, is heading to San Antonio next month to campaign for Cuellar just weeks before the May 24 election. Cuellar serves as a chief deputy to Clyburn.

The support is a major assist for Cuellar since the FBI searched his home and campaign office in January  and could be a sign that Democratic leadership is ready to throw more weight behind the 17-year incumbent, who finished with 48.5 percent of the vote to Cisneross 47 percent in March. Cuellars attorney has said Justice Department prosecutors told him the congressman is not a target in the investigation.

Background: Progressive Jessica Cisneros forces runoff election with U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar

The trip also further establishes the divide between the South Texas Democrats, who are facing off in one of the most closely watched congressional races in the country. Cuellar is backed by House leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while Cisneros has drawn endorsements from some of the biggest stars of the political left, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigned for Ciseneros in San Antonio ahead of the March 2 primary.

San Antonio has become critical in the race for the South Texas district, which was redrawn to stretch further into the city and now includes tens of thousands more voting age residents from Bexar County. Cuellar has struggled in that portion of the district. Cisneros drew more than 70 percent of the vote in Bexar County in March.

Clyburn has a history of helping moderates in Democratic primaries. His endorsement of President Joe Biden in 2020 is credited with boosting Biden over the rest of the Democratic presidential field by helping him win a key primary in Clyburns home state after a string of early losses.

In a statement, Cisneros pointed to votes Cuellar took as the lone Democrat to oppose his priority legislation for his party, including bills upholding abortion rights and bolstering unions.

Its frustrating to see House leadership support Cuellar when I know that if elected I would be a better partner in delivering on democratic priorities for the people of TX-28, she said.

ben.wermund@chron.com
Texas land commissioner candidate Tim Westley recently compared health screenings for immigrants to medical appointment wait times for veterans.

Westley, a former teacher who faces state Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, in the May 24 Republican runoff, tweeted a TikTok clip from a March 30 interview where he made the comparison.

He said, "When we talk about illegal immigration, and we have illegal immigrants that have to be seen within 24 hours, while veterans are seen within months. And here's the catch ... not only are they seen within 24 hours  it's mandatory that they're seen within 24 hours  the funding that they're being seen with falls under the Department of Veterans Affairs."

When asked for his sources, Westley wrote he knows about veterans' wait times from personal experience. Westley said in the interview he served in the U.S. Army and the Texas National Guard.

His campaign sent links and excerpts from a Department of Veterans Affairs FAQ and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Health Service Corps website page. He also credited a source he declined to name for his claim about immigrants detained by ICE.

The care systems for immigrants in ICE custody and for veterans are run by different federal departments and Westley was relying on two different metrics in making his comparison: he was referring to standards of care for immigrants, which aren't always followed, and access to care for veterans.

Westley's sources

The border and veterans are two issues that have dominated the campaign for land commissioner. The Texas General Land Office owns land near the border and current commissioner George P. Bush authorized the construction of a border wall on state-owned land. The office also houses the Texas Veterans Land Board, which oversees loans for veterans, land sales, veterans nursing homes, and cemeteries.

However, veterans' health care is a federal service provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Westley's campaign pointed to an ICE Health Service Corps standard requiring initial health screenings to be administered within 12 hours and health assessments within 14 days.

The agency website indicates this initial health screening means basic health tests, such as a COVID-19 test, taking vital signs, and tuberculosis infection screening. The health assessment includes a physical examination with vision screening and mental health screening questions.

The campaign specifically pointed to a paragraph on the website: "Detainees identified as high-risk during the intake process are triaged to a higher level of care immediately. If at any time a patient verbalizes an issue such as, 'I feel very bad' or 'I dont have the medicine I need' a nurse or mid-level practitioner contacts a higher level medical provider, usually a physician, so that the patient is seen within 24 hours."

There are some additional standards for migrants to be seen by a health professional within a certain period of time, according to the 2019 National Detention Standards for ICE. These pertain to mental illness and disabilities, health assessments for minors, triaging a request for medical services, and mental health referrals for victims of sexual abuse or abusers.

But these are all internal directives set by the agency, not a statute or regulation, said attorney Briana Perez with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, which provides legal services for migrants in detention centers. Perez said these standards are often not followed, and there is little legal recourse for when medical services are not provided.

"What I can say, high level, is that everyday we interact with clients who are suffering in detention and not getting appropriate care," Perez said.

Perez said the group often sees clients with serious, treatable health conditions that can be detected, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, but they are not receiving medical attention and wait for long periods after requesting to see a doctor.

Perez said her clients often have told her that health professionals are just giving them pain pills for their conditions. Some migrants have been told by health professionals to wait until they are released to get care elsewhere, which can be as much as several months, Perez said.

"The problems are exacerbated for individuals who speak a language other than English or Spanish because of language barriers and lack of access to interpreters to express health concerns," Perez said.

New York-based organization Human Rights Watch in 2017 and 2018 reviewed and reported on cases in which people in ICE custody did not receive adequate medical care and died. In 2020, a whistleblower alleged inadequate medical care and unnecessary gynecological surgeries at Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia. In 2021, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would no longer use that detention center.

Federal government reports in 2020 and 2021 found instances of inadequate medical care, and in one Arizona detention center an understaffed medical unit took an average of over three days to respond to detainee sick call requests.

Westley compared initial health screenings with veterans' medical appointments

Comparing the health systems for veterans and migrants in ICE detention centers is not an apples-to-apples comparison.

Nationally, veterans referred to care at Veterans Affairs health care locations are seen by a medical professional in approximately 40 days on average in 2021, said Kevin Griffith, professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. They are generally seen faster within the VA system versus referral from a private provider and wait times vary depending on the service and location.

Veterans in Texas wait an average of 38 days for referrals, Griffith said. This is slightly longer than the private sector's average wait time in Texas of 36 days.

"There's certainly variation both geographically and within specialty," Griffith said. "There's certain specialties that are seen faster, or a VA medical center might have a greater capacity. One thing that has come up frequently in our research is that the wait times between the VA and the private sector are well correlated. So, areas that tend to have a longer VA wait time tend to just be medically underserved areas in general."

Wait times for new patients at veterans affairs primary care facilities vary. As of April 6, the wait time for the Corpus Christi VA Clinic was an average of 30 days and the Austin VA Clinic an average of 20 days, according to Veterans Affairs' website. But the average wait time for an optometry appointment for new patients at the Austin VA clinic is 106 days.

Law requires the department to have internal policies for wait times of 20 days for primary care and 28 days for specialty care.

"Unfortunately, these standards are arbitrarily set. Many veterans, actually most, do not get seen within that time period. But it's perhaps because the standard is a bit of a reach, because the private sector isn't even close to meeting those wait times either," Griffith said.

Funding ICE health services

Westley pointed to a paragraph on an ICE document that defined the role of a Veterans Affairs center in ICE detention health services.

The document indicates the VA Financial Services Center provides financial services to federal customers, and the center has an agreement with ICE to provide medical claims processing services that are in turn reimbursed by the Department of Homeland Security.

A Veterans Affairs public affairs representative from the Dallas office wrote that the Financial Services Center provides services for a fee and does not receive annual appropriations from Congress. DHS "pays for" its medical care by providing funding to the Financial Services Center.

Our ruling

Texas land commissioner candidate Tim Westley said, "When we talk about illegal immigration, and we have illegal immigrants that have to be seen within 24 hours, while veterans are seen within months."

In follow-up emails, Westley specified he was referring to health screenings administered by ICE and the triaging system.

Immigrants in ICE custody do not have quick access to medical care, though the agency's goal is to identify potential health issues by administering health screenings within 12 hours and health assessments within two weeks.

Veterans wait an average of just over a month for referrals to medical professionals, though some may wait longer depending on the service they need and geography.

Detention facility health services and veterans' medical services are dissimilar and unrelated, and comparing the two is not an apples-to-apples comparison.

We rated this claim False.

Sources
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BandLab raises US$65M for diverse portfolio of music creation services

BandLab has closed a Series B round totaling $65 million at a $315 milliuon valuation.

Singapore based BandLab is building a diverse portfolio of music-related business that includes ReverbNation, manufacturers Harmony and Heritage Guitars, media brands Guitar.com, NME, Uncut and MusicTech.com, the Swee Lee musical instrument retailer and distributor and music creation suite BandLab

The new investment round was led by Vulcan Capital, the investment arm founded by Microsoft t Paul G. Allen, with participation from Caldecott Music Group, K3 Ventures and new investor and the largest shareholfer of Tencent, Prosus.

BandLab has built a next-generation platform that is democratizing music creation for creators globally, said Sachin Bhanot, Head of Southeast Asia Investments for Prosus Ventures. The company has experienced impressive growth while generating solid user engagement. We are thrilled to support the companys dedication to using innovative technologies, like AI, to put the power in the hands of creators.

Prosus Ventures has a record of highly successful investments in some of the worlds most groundbreaking companies, and were thrilled they see the merits of our vision, says Meng Ru Kuok, co-founder and CEO of BandLab. Were proud to be a leading company in the music creation category and couldnt be happier to have them join us in empowering the future of music.

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.

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Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity Receive Commonwealth Corps Support

BOSTON  The Massachusetts Service Alliance (MSA) has selected 16 nonprofit agencies from across the state to host Commonwealth Corps members for the 2022-2023 program year.

Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity is one of the 16 nonprofits that will receive at least two full-time or half-time Commonwealth Corps members.

Established in 2007, the Commonwealth Corps is a state-funded service internship program that engages Massachusetts residents of all ages, backgrounds, and identities in direct service to strengthen communities, address critical needs, and increase volunteerism.

Commonwealth Corps members serve at their host site organization for 10 months in a full- or half-time capacity. In return, members receive a living stipend, health insurance, extensive professional development and training, and a monetary completion award upon finishing the program, among other benefits.

Over 1,100 Commonwealth Corps members have served in total, focusing on areas such as community development, health services, workforce development, afterschool or summer programs, and volunteer recruitment and management. In 2022-2023, members will serve with agencies throughout the Commonwealth, from Boston to the Berkshires.

"We are very proud to be able to provide Commonwealth Corps members to these exceptional organizations because we know their ability to meet their mission will be greatly enhanced by their members," said Emily Haber, MSA CEO. "Since the start of the Commonwealth Corps 15 years ago, Massachusetts residents have stepped up to dedicate a year of their lives to address some of the most critical needs in our communities and we know that next year's Commonwealth Corps members will be there as we continue to recover from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic."
Christian Takes Gun Parrish in dancing regalia that expresses his native culture. The award-winning musician appears Saturday at Mass MoCA.

Supaman Brings Blend of Native, Hip Hop Stylings to Mass MoCA

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Award-winning performer Supaman will be showcasing his unique style of music that incorporates Native culture, comedy, and urban hip hop at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art this Saturday.

Supaman said he shares his music in an effort to empower everyone and share stories to make a better world.

"I'm always trying to empower young people, whether they're native or not, whoever it is, trying to bring human beings together in unity, and celebrate diversity at the same time," the artist said in a recent phone interview.

With an open heart and open mind, he believes that humanity can take the first step in trying to listen. Through listening, he believes we can open ourselves up to our "empathetic heart and understanding" bringing us all together to celebrate diversity.

"When we come together, and we share our culture, our stories with one another, we understand each other better. And we're able to support each other and move forward for better humanity," Supaman said.

Christian Takes Gun Parrish is a member of the Apsaalooke Nation and was raised on the Crow Reservation in Montana. He founded a Native American hip hop group in the early aughts and has so far released four solo albums.

He always been a spiritual person as part of the culture he was raised in and has alway been open to the universe. After a spiritual encounter during his youth, Supaman was drawn to make an impact on his audience members.

"When I was traveling around being a knucklehead I would pray and pray. And I was like, 'OK, I need guidance' and I believe that it was the creator of the universe, guiding me. And it's kind of like asking me what I wanted to do with this music stuff," he said.

"And so I kind of made that decision in traveling that I wanted to be good, you know, I wanted to do things good and spread good messages rather than just being a knucklehead."

Dancing is a major aspect in the Apsaalooke Nation's culture and when someone wants to dance it is a big thing that brings the community together. There are many different types of dances such as the fancy shawl, traditional, chicken, jingle dress, and many more.

"So there's like, a few categories of powwow culture. Powwow culture is almost a kind of universal, native culture. It's becoming a universal type of culture. So different tribes adopt the different styles of dance that come from other tribes," Supaman said. "And it's accepted in the powwow arena. And then there's also your own dance that comes from your tribe that people still practice and those might be more ceremonial, more spiritual."

When someone wants to dance, the family comes together to make the regalia in preparation for the dance. There are many different styles of regalia and each piece represents the wearer in some way.

The regalia that he wears on stage is a contemporary style that comes from Oklahoma and was assembled by his wife and daughter to bring him good vibes while performing.

During the time of the Relocation Act and the Indian Removal Act, policies were put into place to "Kill Indian, Save the Man" which silenced the customs of the Native people, he said. Dancing was outlawed at one time because they were not allowed to be native.

This trauma is still felt which is why Supaman believes it is so important to share the culture in an effort to inspire.

"We're constantly still feeling those waves of trauma. And so sharing the culture, the dance, and sharing your stories, inspires people to be resilient no matter where they're at, in their life, whether they're native or not, to keep fighting for what you value, what, what you believe is good," he said.




iciHaiti - FLASH USA : Travelers alert, rage in Haiti





The US Federal Agency for Public Health Protection (CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has issued a Rabies Alert in Haiti for US travelers.



According to the Agency, there is "an increased risk of transmission of rabies by dogs and cats in Haiti", stressing in its alert "There is a shortage of rabies vaccines in Haiti. Travelers may not have access to a vaccine" and advises travelers to Haiti to "do not touch dogs or cats" during their stay.



The CDC recommends that if you are bitten, scratched, or even licked by a dog or cat, seek immediate medical attention, even if the person has been vaccinated against rabies in the past.



The agency emphasizes that it should be anticipated that the required care could be administered outside of Haiti, as rabies vaccines may not be available at the time of the incident.



IH/ iciHaiti


















Jeff Bezos, the founder and former CEO of Amazon, and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and soon-to-be owner of Twitter, don't strike me as best buds. The two men have competed over the past few years for the title of the world's richest man, a title Musk holds. They also sort of compete in space, with Bezos's Blue Origin competing against Musk's SpaceX.

I say sort of, because, like Musk's lead in net worth (some $90 billion as I write this), SpaceX is transforming the space industry with its reusable rockets while Blue Origin is mostly seen as a vanity project. That hasn't stopped the two from trading shots.

For example, last year the two companies fought over a $3 billion NASA contract, with Musk telling New York Times columnist Kara Swisher that "you cannot sue your way to the moon."

Taking shots is pretty common among competitors. The thing is, it doesn't always work out the way you expect. Sometimes it doesn't go well at all, which can lead to a pretty painful lesson.

On Monday, after it was announced that Twitter had accepted Musk's offer to take the company private, Bezos retweeted a reporter for The New York Times, asking whether Musk's acquisition of Twitter meant that China would be gaining more influence over what he called "the town square."

The insinuation was that Musk was, at least in part, beholden to China because of Tesla's business there. Which, to be fair, isn't an entirely unreasonable point. China is extremely important to Tesla, with the company building one of its Gigafactories in Shanghai. It's also the source of many of the important components Tesla needs to build its vehicles.

The problem is that it's not really a point people care to hear from Bezos. Almost immediately, the tweet was met with replies pointing out the influence China has over Amazon.

I scrolled through a lot of the more than 9,000 replies to Bezos's tweet. The overwhelming majority were similar to that one--pointing out that Amazon's own record on China doesn't exactly give Bezos the high ground.

Take the products you can buy on Amazon, for example. I have no idea what percentage of products made on Amazon.com are made in China, but a quick search for "iPhone charger" revealed page after page of results, almost all of which were manufactured by companies in China. Even the AmazonBasics brand products show a "country of origin" of China.

Then there's the company's compliance with a requirement that it disable customer reviews in China after a book published by President Xi Jinping received a poor review. According to Reuters, the move was "part of a deeper, decadelong effort by the company to win favor in Beijing to protect and grow its business in one of the world's largest marketplaces."

Amazon certainly isn't alone in trying to win favor in a country that represents one of the largest markets for almost every tech company. Apple, for example, has reportedly given in to China's requirement that user iCloud data be stored on servers managed by companies effectively controlled by the government.

Perhaps sensing that he had lost the thread, Bezos replied to his own tweet an hour and a half later. "My own answer to this question is probably not," Bezos added. "The more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter."

Bezos makes a point. There is certainly a non-zero possibility that if Twitter does something to upset the Chinese government, or--in a more likely scenario--refuses to do something to appease China, the country could retaliate against Tesla. It's just that Bezos, who stepped down from CEO of Amazon last year, might not be the best person to make that point.

It turns out that there's a valuable lesson here for every entrepreneur. Sending a tweet is easy--maybe too easy--especially when the prevailing current of public opinion is running in a direction to your benefit. It's tempting to see your rival generating negative attention and view it as an opportunity to jump in.

Except, the people who might view Musk's purchase of Twitter as a bad thing aren't Jeff Bezos fans. They aren't just scrolling through Twitter waiting to come across his insightful take on the matter.

Instead, Bezos opened himself up to criticism. Not only that, but he invited scrutiny and criticism not just related to Amazon, but to his other companies as well--one of which is The Washington Post.

Had someone sent the same tweet as Bezos when he purchased the Post, it might have read: "Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the paper of record in the seat of the most powerful government in the world?"
You don't want to bring someone into your company that tests positive for amphetamines! That conjures up images of Walter White. You don't need that in your workplace. So it may seem perfectly logical that International Paper withdrew a job offer from a man who tested positive for amphetamines on a pre-employment drug test.

What may not seem logical is why the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) is suing on the candidate's behalf. You need to pay attention if you drug test your employees, because not every positive drug test should result in a job loss. Here's why.

The candidate disclosed he had ADHD and that he took Adderall

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder can be covered under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA kicks in once the employer becomes aware that the candidate has ADHD. It protects employees and job candidates.

Adderall is a legitimate medication prescribed by physicians to treat ADHD. Over 2.5 million Americans take stimulants such as Adderall or Ritalin (or their generic counterparts) for their ADHD. Both will cause a positive drug test.

The EEOC argues that the company should have considered his disability. He had a legitimate prescription for a legitimate medical condition. By automatically rejecting him for his positive test, the EEOC argues, they discriminated illegally against a job candidate for his disability.

What if the job is safety-related? Then could you refuse to hire?

If someone is on a medication that makes them sleepy, you can legitimately refuse to hire them in a job that requires alertness at all times. Sometimes, medications can prevent someone from doing a particular job.

I reached out to International Paper last week and asked for details about the job this man applied for. They did not answer me. This is not abnormal in a lawsuit--frequently, the company will remain silent per the advice of its attorneys.

However, Brooke Lopez, the EEOC trial attorney, responded to my requests and said, "The claimant, in this case, was offered a general entry-level position at International Paper's container plant in Grand Prairie, Texas. There is no indication that the claimant's job was dangerous or required high levels of safety clearance."

In other words, it wasn't a safety issue. She claims this was a direct response to the candidate's disability, which would be a direct violation of the ADA.

However, if there was a safety concern, you still could not immediately yank back the job offer. First, you would need to go through the "interactive process" with the job candidate.

The interactive process

This is a back-and-forth between an employee (or candidate) and the company. In this case, the employer could ask for verification that the prescription was legitimate. (Although, the drug testing facility should have done that, to begin with.) Then they could talk about a reasonable accommodation for the employee.

International Paper could have given the candidate paperwork to take to his physician, who could then explain if the candidate should be excluded from any safety-related jobs because of his medication.

Disability accommodations have to be reasonable. For example, if you hire a bartender for your nightclub, it wouldn't be a reasonable accommodation to provide a quiet workspace to combat the bartender's migraines. However, it probably would be a reasonable accommodation to provide a quiet workspace for your accountant with migraines.

The company, in this case, would need to show that working while on a legally prescribed amphetamine would be unreasonable. Otherwise, they would need to make the accommodation of allowing him to work with the positive test.

How this might affect your business

Pre-employment drug testing is widespread, but stop and ask yourself why you do it. If positions are safety-related or regulated by the Department of Transportation or another government office, you'll need to do drug testing.

But if not? Ask yourself if this makes a difference. Many companies have dropped drug testing altogether because of the tight labor market.

It's certainly your right to test all your candidates for drugs, but you should be looking for two things only.

Illegal drug usage Safety-related concerns

You do not have to employ people who use illegal drugs (although people currently receiving treatment for unlawful drug usage can be covered under the ADA). You don't have to put employee safety at risk.

Make sure your drug testing lab only reports back to you illegal drug usage--for instance, if someone tests positive for amphetamines but cannot provide a legitimate prescription for medication. If you have safety-sensitive positions where legal medicine could cause problems, then when someone tests positive and has a valid prescription, immediately bring in your employment counsel and begin the interactive process.
Prevent Unauthorized Transactions in your demat / trading account Update your Mobile Number/ email Id with your stock broker / Depository Participant. Receive information of your transactions directly from Exchanges on your mobile / email at the end of day and alerts on your registered mobile for all debits and other important transactions in your demat account directly from NSDL/ CDSL on the same day." - Issued in the interest of investors.

KYC is one time exercise while dealing in securities markets - once KYC is done through a SEBI registered intermediary (broker, DP, Mutual Fund etc.), you need not undergo the same process again when you approach another intermediary.

No need to issue cheques by investors while subscribing to IPO. Just write the bank account number and sign in the application form to authorise your bank to make payment in case of allotment. No worries for refund as the money remains in investor's account."

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Sakshi Tanwar's latest release, 'Mai,' is earning praises for reasons more than one. The show is being touted as Sakshi's best performance to date. In the show, the Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki actor essays the role of a middle-class mother who witnesses her daughter's death by a speeding truck.

Sakshi Tanwar in Mai/Netflix

From a vulnerable, domesticated, and grieving mother, Sakshi turns into a vengeful and ferocious mother. However, one scene is being dissected on several social media platforms.



Sakshi Tanwar In Mai/Netflix

In the first episode, Sheel (Tanwar's character) is seen preparing and serving tea for the guests who arrive at her daughter's funeral.

Sakshi Tanwar In Mai/Netflix

While zoom shots portray a grieving mother's state of mind, fans point out how this is a grim reminder of how women are treated even when grieving.

Sakshi Tanwar In Mai/Netflix

People are pointing out that women are 'expected' to do household work and domestic chores, not realizing how heavy the burden of the grief is.



Life of a lot of women. pic.twitter.com/QfBqp408BQ  Asma Azam (@AsmaAzam71) April 23, 2022

Theres a moment in Mai, on @netflix , when Sheel (Sakshi Tanwar) has to make tea for guests at her daughter's funeral. It was a reminder of the kind of labour we expect from women. She has to prioritise serving the guests over taking a moment to grieve the loss of her own child. pic.twitter.com/vbSYaIjfiO  fourth_alphabet  (@dipankumar) April 25, 2022

It's not only about things being faced by a woman but also the fact why she has to do that .

it's the people in this "society "who were expecting tea at a funeral that disturb my sanity the most

Not just from this still but also from personal experience https://t.co/zD1hes9zYu  KS (@katy_4697) April 25, 2022

This is so true. Some people who don't even know the deceased just show up to eat. And then leave.  Sherlock M. (@elitemumboni) April 24, 2022

Funeral culture in Zim/SA. One has to worry about feeding guests, some of whom you havent seen in years, and most often the guests are always complaining sodla nini?



Mxm https://t.co/vItQ5WHn8R  Kimma (@kimistry8) April 24, 2022

Yes this is the sorry state of a women but not of men https://t.co/dkRwkkyvg1  srikanth gutty (@CixefUwH6Rjmimb) April 25, 2022

There is a moment in Mai, on Netflix, when Sheel (Sakshi Tanwar) has to make tea for the guests at her own daughter's funeral. It was a reminder of the kind of prejudice we expect from tea-drinkers. She has to prioritise serving the guests tea when they clearly prefer coffee.  Invisible Kansara (@kansaratva) April 24, 2022





Serve the guests. Complete the customs. Make arrangements for people who show up to 'share condolences'.



The strangest part about death is that you never even get to grieve without feeling guilty. https://t.co/ZAl7Uod3An  dazedaurconfused (@_WeBore) April 24, 2022

Unfortunately, that's how women live a life. Every single person taught them to "Be emotionless and work like robots" especially when they got married because for them that's how women should behave and live in society for sake of family. https://t.co/9h6mlfrZvD  RAMMA NISAR (@NisarRamma) April 25, 2022

Some people also made it about religion, pointing out how the' Mai' team failed to do proper research before pulling together the scene.

@AsmaAzam71

Whoever made this Ad was as clueless about Indian customs as you are.

You will never find a grieving mother or any other grieving person entering kitchen. Neighbours or relatives do it.

Aptly explains the tattering affairs of @netflix

Not surprised.@SandipGhose https://t.co/bHpeOw8bPa  Digital.Abhishek (@abhishek_das_01) April 25, 2022

This could be the life of a lot of women but certainly not Hindu women whr the entire family is not allowed to even enter the kitchen for 13 days, leave alone making tea for "guests" at the funeral



Amazing tht SIX Hindu scriptwriters & TWO Hindu Directors couldn't get this right https://t.co/bmMvS0KsU5   Rajalakshmi Joshi  (@rajalakshmij) April 25, 2022

In Islam, the family of deceased doesn't cooks anything for at least 3 days (mourning period).



When news of the death of Jafar ibn Abi Talib () came, the Prophet () said, "Make food for the family of Jafar, because there has come to them that which will preoccupy them." ++ https://t.co/YHhWShIiHk  Mohammed (@IKON1436) April 25, 2022

In Islam, the family of deceased doesn't cooks anything for at least 3 days (mourning period).



When news of the death of Jafar ibn Abi Talib () came, the Prophet () said, "Make food for the family of Jafar, because there has come to them that which will preoccupy them." ++ https://t.co/YHhWShIiHk  Mohammed (@IKON1436) April 25, 2022





Mai has managed to initiate a conversation on how we as a society forget women's suffering and burden them with duties that they 'need' to fulfill to keep their homes in order.

(To get the latest updates from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.)


On the fourth day on the witness stand in a Virginia court, Johnny Depp's honest response left the courtroom attendees in splits. The high-voltage drama inside the court took a humorous turn when Depp was asked to name his films, which he failed.



Reuters

Johnny's legal team was doing their follow-up questioning after the conclusion of his cross-examination. As part of the process, he was asked to name his Hollywood movies. The actor could only recall Alice in Wonderland and failed to recognize any other.

According to People magazine, Johnny said with a smile,

Reuters

"I'm so pathetic when it comes to knowing what movies I've done. I'm sorry. I just, I don't watch them. I feel better not watching them. What was the question again?"



After attendees started laughing, Judge Azcarate had to intervene. He said,

Instagram

"Order in the court, or I will have you removed. Understood? Thank you."

Johnny Depp chats and laughs with his lawyers. I love seeing him happy. I love you with all my heart, Johnny. #JohnnyDepp#JusticeForJohnnyDepp pic.twitter.com/o6J2c3T7CI  Rain #JDForever (@irem_yagmur_) April 26, 2022

Johnny's day in court ended with his attorneys playing audio from a conversation between him and ex-wife Amber Heard, which had secured a restraining order against him in 2016.

Depp said he agreed to her request to meet in a San Francisco hotel room because he thought she might retract her accusation that he had abused her.

Agencies

In the recording, he could be heard proposing that the couple issued a joint letter saying they loved each other and the media had created a storm around them.



After ex-wife Amber resisted the idea, she was heard challenging him to go public with his claim that he was the one who had suffered abuse.

Agencies

"Tell the world, Johnny," she said. "Tell them I, Johnny Depp - a man - I'm a victim too of domestic violence." Johnny responded, "Yes, I am."



Johnny Depp, 58, is suing Amber Heard, 36, for $50 million. She has counter-sued for $100 million, saying he smeared name her by calling her a liar.

Agencies

Johnny concluded his testimony on Monday in the defamation case, saying he was the victim of domestic violence in their relationship and was "broken" by the time their marriage fell apart.

(To get the latest updates from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.)
Civic authorities have started a demolition drive against illegal structures in Gujarat's Himmatnagar city, where a communal clash had broken out during the Ram Navami celebration earlier this month, officials told news agency PTI.

Bulldozers were being used to remove encroachments in Chhapariya locality of Himmatnagar city in Sabarkantha district, they said.

"The municipality has started carrying out demolition in Chhapariya locality, which is close to where the communal clash had erupted on Ram Navami. Adequate security has been deployed in the area," Superintendent of Police Vishal Vaghela said.

Communal clash during Ram Navmi procession

A communal clash had broken out near Chhapariya area during a Ram Navami procession on April 10, when members from two communities resorted to throwing stones, leaving some people injured. Some vehicles were also set on fire during the clash.

#Gujarat. Weeks after communal violence during Ram Navami civic authority in Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha district has started demolition drive to clear encroachment. Few of the properties-shops & houses-belong to some of the persons booked for violence @DeccanHerald pic.twitter.com/dAUUml9ykI  satish jha. (@satishjha) April 26, 2022

The Anand district administration had also earlier carried out a demolition drive using bulldozers to remove structures owned by people allegedly involved in communal clashes in Khambhat town there during the Ram Navami celebration.

On April 10, a Ram Navami procession was also allegedly pelted with stones in Khambhat town. One person was killed and several others were injured in the ensuing violence.

Jahangirpuri Ram Navmi violence

A demolition drive was launched in Jahangirpuri after violence on Ran Navmi. However, the Supreme Court ordered the authorities to maintain the status-quo in Jahangirpuri, where the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) was carrying out an 'anti-encroachment drive'.

Senior lawyer Dushyant Dave mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana.

Dave said the NDMC's actions were unconstitutional.

Siasat Daily

"Completely unauthorised and unconstitutional demolition has been ordered in the Jahangirpuri area...with no notice to anybody," Dave said.

Following the SC order, the NDMC which had started demolishing illegally constructed slums and shops in the area said it will follow the top court's direction.

Zone Chairman of Civil Lines, Northwest Delhi, Naveen Tyagi said, "These people do encroachment and also do 'goondagardi'. Some of them are also named in the riots."

However, several videos posted on social media showed the demolition continuing even one hour after the SC order.

While the Civic Body had termed the drive as against illegal encroachments, many had alleged that the BJP-ruled NDMC was following the pattern of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat where recently bulldozers were used to demolish alleged illegal encroachments owned by those involved in rioting during Ram Navami processions.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Sikh volunteers are among those who have since the beginning joined worldwide humanitarian efforts to support more than 3.5 million refugees who have escaped to border countries from across Ukraine.

United Sikhs and Khalsa Aid International, both non-profit and non-government organizations (NGO), have support stations set up in cities near Poland where volunteers, in the spirit of sewa, have been offering hot meals, distributing essential supplies, and giving medical assistance.

UNITED SIKHS volunteers distributing food, water and other necessities to refugees stuck in long queue at the #Ukraine border.



This sewa has been possible because of generous donations by the Sangat.

Support us at: https://t.co/9N6NiktIYS#UNITEDSIKHS #RussianUkrainianWar pic.twitter.com/QxB1z8EMcL  UNITED SIKHS (@unitedsikhs) April 26, 2022

United Sikhs

Volunteers have set up food and langar tents at Medyka in Poland offering free meals to refugees and have also been carrying hot meals across the border and inside of Ukraine to border guards.

Additionally, the volunteers have been offering aid at a childrens hospital, and helping move patients to safe locations where medical tents are in place at Lviv, Ukraine.



Thousands of refugees at the border, stranded in bunkers, are anxious for help.



Our volunteers are assisting the refugees with food, water & other necessities supplies in #Ukraine.



Support us at https://t.co/9N6NiktIYS#RussiaUkraineConflict #UkraineRussiaWar pic.twitter.com/6zbVnrQK92  UNITED SIKHS (@unitedsikhs) April 26, 2022

Khalsa Aid

Meanwhile, Khalsa Aid's teams in five border countries offer 24-hour langar to refugees. They have also been delivering essential items within Ukraine including medical supplies and food.

Ukraine

Khalsa Aid International has been assisting Indian students fleeing Ukraine and has taken calls from thousands of concerned parents. They have been helping to arrange transportation and food to fleeing refugees within Ukraine.

We continue to serve warm meals at the Expo Centre in Warsaw, Poland. Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who have been on the ground helping us provide aid since the conflict began.



#khalsaaid #humanitarianaid #poland #ukraine #ukrainewar pic.twitter.com/UN8IABIQzu  Khalsa Aid (@Khalsa_Aid) April 19, 2022





Poland (Medyka / Budomeirz)

Khalsa Aid International has been helping arrange transportation for refugees crossing the border and has set up 24-hour langar (free meals) at the border for people waiting to cross. Efforts are being made to secure a warehouse to be used as a receiving station for donated supplies being sent for distribution.

Hungary (Zahony / Lushanka / Vylok / Budapest) Slovakia (Vysne / Nemecke) Romania (Siret)

Khalsa Aid International has sent teams of volunteers to assess the need to these countries and joined cooperative efforts with other NGOs to assist with delivery and distribution of food, and to make provision for shelter and medical assistance at borders. Operations are moved as situations change and need arises.

This is unacceptable @IndiainUkraine !! You must have a very visible presence on all borders on the #Ukraine side ! @Khalsa_Aid has teams in Poland, Romania, Hungary , Slovakia & Moldova ready to assist these students! @eoiromania @IndiainPoland @IndiaInHungary pic.twitter.com/lESkRwlKRJ  ravinder singh (@RaviSinghKA) February 28, 2022

Moldova (Tiraspol/Palanka/Chisinau)

Khalsa Aid International established their first base at Tiraspol, providing refugees with food transportation and medical assistance. When this border closed the base moved to Palanca where humanitarian efforts continue in cooperation with local NGOs, and provisions are being doubled. Operations are being expanded to include Chisinau as an increasing number of refugees continue to flee Ukraine.
Russia has warned of the "real" threat of World War III breaking out, ahead of a meeting between the United States and allies over sending further arms to war-torn Ukraine.

Moscow's invasion of its neighbour has triggered an outburst of support from Western nations that have seen weapons pour into the country to help it wage war against Russian troops.

But Western powers have been reluctant to deepen their involvement, for fear of sparking a conflict against nuclear-armed Russia.

File Photo

Speaking to Russian news agencies, Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the risk of a World War III "is serious" and criticised Kyiv's approach to floundering peace talks

"It is real, you can't underestimate it," Lavrov said.

Zelensky requests West for weapon supplies

For months, President Volodymyr Zelensky has been asking Ukraine's Western allies for heavy weapons -- including artillery and fighter jets -- vowing his forces could turn the tide of the war with more firepower.

The calls appear to be resonating now, with a host of NATO countries pledging to provide a range of heavy weapons and equipment, despite protests from Moscow.

US promises aid to Ukraine

In a landmark trip to Kyiv over the weekend, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Zelensky and promised $700 million in new aid to Ukraine.

"The first step in winning is believing that you can win," Austin said after meeting the Ukrainian leader.

"We believe that we can win -- they can win -- if they have the right equipment, the right support."

AP

And on the invitation of the United States, 40 countries will also hold a security summit in Germany on Tuesday to discuss further arms to Ukraine -- as well as to ensure the country's longer-term security once the war is over.

Among the invited countries are European allies of the United States, but also Australia and Japan -- who fear that a Russian victory in Ukraine will set a precedent and encourage the territorial ambitions of China.

Finland and Sweden -- traditionally neutral countries that have been considering NATO membership since Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- are also on the guestlist.

Meanwhile, the IMF warned that Asian nations, like the rest of the world, are being battered by the war, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions on Moscow driving up food and fuel prices worldwide.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, on Monday, conducted a meeting with representatives of the semiconductor industry of the US to invite them to invest further in the nation.

Reuters

Also Read: Five Companies Want To Start Chip And Display Manufacturing Plants In India

Reported first by PTI, she spoke about opportunities for Silicon-Valley based companies and how India poised to be a reliable player in the whole semiconductor value chain with a dedicated incentive for the sector, in a mission mode through the Indian Semiconductor Mission.



To the unaware, last year, the Indian government approved a PLI scheme worth Rs 76,000 crore to boost semiconductor and display manufacturing in India to make India the next hub for hi-tech productions, to attract chipmakers and eventually facilitate employment opportunities in the nation.

The government is offering incentives to companies involved in silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors, silicon photonics, sensor fabs, semiconductor packaging and design etc.

During the discussions with industry leaders, the participants informed the FM that they've considerably scaled their capabilities in India in the last few years and are collaborating with Academia for research and development too.

Reuters

Also Read: Foxconn And Vedanta To Make Semiconductor Chips In India With 900 Crore Investment

The Finance Ministrys Twitter handle said in a statement, "The participants also mentioned that in view of global supply chain disruptions, they need to review overreliance of the supply chain in certain jurisdictions and with the right policies and talent in place, next decade will belong to India.

Chiefs of several tech companies have reacted positively, including AMDs CFO Devinder Kumar, WDs SVP, Dan Steere, Micron Techs Executive VP, Manish Bhatia as well as Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, among others.

Keep visiting Indiatimes.com for the latest science and technology news.


Scientists have discovered the largest "Marsquakes" in the Red Planet's "Shadow Zone." Scientists have been intrigued by the presence of quakes on Mars that are a lot like the ones on Earth. Through a seismometer built into the InSight lander, scientists have been logging "Marsquakes" since 2019.

And now, they've found proof of the largest Marsquakes ever. The two Marsquakes are called S0976a, a 4.2 magnitude quake that took place on August 25, 2021 and S1000a, a 4.1 magnitude event that struck 24 days later. These two Marsquakes are five times stronger than the ones previously logged by scientists.

Uncredited

Mapping the far side of Mars

Both the quakes originated in the shadow zone of Mars, the opposite direction from the InSight lander. This is the first time its sensors have recorded data from so far off.

"Not only are they the largest and most distant events by a considerable margin, S1000a has a spectrum and duration unlike any other event previously observed," planetary seismologist Anna Horleston, from the University of Bristol in the UK told Science Alert.

NASA

The S1000a Marsquake has been described as a "clear outlier" owing to the broad frequency spectrum of energy it produced. It is also the longest-lasting seismic event recorded by InSight so far - with 94 minutes of action.

Also read: IISc, ISRO Develop Scalable Method To Make Space Bricks Using Mars Soil

Seismic waves were used to detect both the Marsquakes. These waves don't follow a direct path but are reflected at least once at the surface, and that's how InSight was able to measure the quakes from so far away.

NASA

Both the quakes took place in Mars' shadow zone, where InSight has trouble detecting seismic activity directly. Scientists had some idea about quakes taking place at this region, but this marks the first time data has been recorded.

Also read: This Is How Sunrise Looks Like On Mars



By recording such events from Mars' shadow zone, scientists could develop a better understanding of our neighbouring planet Mars.

What do you think about Marsquakes that are not so different from earthquakes? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.

References

Nield, D. (2022). The Largest Marsquakes to Date Have Been Detected in The Shadow Zone. ScienceAlert.
The EUs Climate Strategy could Rock the Foundations of the Middle Easts Largest Companies





Cover Image Attribute: Image by Alexander Droeger from Pixabay



Large corporations are set to pump huge sums of money into the fight against climate change as the European Unions green taxonomy of sustainable investments comes into effect, reports the Al-Attiyah Foundation in its latest Sustainable Development Report.





The EUs Taxonomy is a technical rulebook that identifies sustainable activities that contribute to the blocs green transition and comply with the Paris Agreement under the EU Green Deal.





Climate change adaptation and mitigation are two of six environmental objectives underpinning the EU Taxonomy, which includes, apart from climate change mitigation and adaption, protection of water and marine resources; transition to a circular economy; pollution prevention and control; and protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.





According to the Taxonomy, if a company works in any of the six fields, it can be considered sustainable as long as it meets the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) principle. The DNSH principle entails that for an activity (investment-based or reform-based) to be sustainable, it should not lead to significant harm to any of the other environmental objectives and should follow human rights and labor standards.





Under the EUs Taxonomy and following the publication of the EU Green Taxonomys Climate Delegated Act, corporations subject to the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) are obliged to disclose the portion of their activities that qualify as environmentally sustainable.





This offers companies an opportunity to measure their performance and progress towards delivering the environmental objectives in a transparent and comparable manner. Furthermore, good alignment with the Taxonomy could improve companies reputation and therefore access to finance, making them more attractive to banks and investors.





Although not binding on non-EU financial market participants, European companies and oil and gas investors may use the Taxonomy to gauge whether or not an investment contributes to an environmental objective, such as climate change mitigation or adaptation.





This could be particularly pertinent for large gas producing countries such as the US, Russia, Australia, Qatar, and the UAE, and would force producers to align their strategies with the technical screening criteria outlined for fossil gas under the EU Taxonomy to attract foreign investment, as well as ensure carbon-neutral export to EU countries.





Despite its criticism from members of parliament, a number of environmental organizations, and some sections of civil society, the EU Taxonomy is a game-changer in the race to net-zero carbon emissions by mid-century. Financial institutions now have to focus on where they invest, fund, and finance in order to comply with regulations that can force change in companies based far from European shores.

For an in-depth look at the EUs Taxonomy, the Al-Attiyah Foundations Sustainable Development Report, titled Policy and Politics: The EUs Green Taxonomy, is available as a free download.
A group of Credit Suisse investors pushing for faster climate action at the Swiss bank has more than doubled in size, raising pressure on its board ahead of its annual shareholder meeting on Friday.

Credit Suisse, along with other major banks, is under pressure from investors to stop financing fossil fuel development to limit climate change and to help businesses to shift away from a high-carbon economy.

Eleven Credit Suisse shareholders originally filed a resolution in March urging the bank to cut exposure to fossil fuel assets. This group, with a collective $2.4 trillion in assets, included Europes biggest asset manager, Amundi.

Credit Suisse moved to set new targets to reduce emissions connected to its loan book, but the investors said this did not go far enough.

Now, other shareholders have joined the group planning to back the climate resolution, including Legal & General Investment Management and Aviva Investors. There are now 31 investors, with combined assets under management of more than $5 trillion, which have pre-declared their support.

Other backers include Switzerlands largest pension fund BVK, Danish investor Sparinvest, Swedish insurer Folksam, sustainable investor Grunfin and UK public pension investors Northern LGPS and Border to Coast Pensions Partnership.

The need for quicker action to rein in emissions has been rammed home by U.N. climate scientists who said the window for action to forestall the worst effects of global warming was rapidly closing.

Given the systemic risk posed by climate change, its essential that businesses such as Credit Suisse take swift action to ensure they are part of the solution, said Jane Firth, head of responsible investment at Border to Coast.

By supporting this shareholder resolution, we hope to see Credit Suisse take tangible steps to ensure its disclosures and targets cover all capital market activity, ensuring it is on a timeline consistent with the Paris agreement.

The resolution, coordinated by responsible investment NGO ShareAction and the Ethos Foundation, with the support of the Swiss Association for Responsible Investments, will be the first such shareholder resolution to be put to a Swiss company.

We applaud the investors that have today pre-declared their support for the shareholder-led resolution on climate risk at Credit Suisse, said Jeanne Martin, senior campaign manager, ShareAction.

Voting for this resolution sends a strong signal to the bank that investors expect it to publish a science-based climate strategy that covers all its main financing activities. We call on other investors to follow suit.

Switzerlands second-biggest bank will face scrutiny on multiple fronts at Fridays meeting, with proxy advisers recommending shareholders reject the boards request to discharge managers from liability for the 2020 financial year over a series of costly scandals. Another shareholder is group seeking a special audit of the banks actions.

The bank has since also warned it will report a first-quarter loss on Wednesday.

Norges Bank Investment Management, Norways sovereign wealth fund, said it would also back the special audit and reject a 2020 discharge from liability for Credit Suisse managers, but would vote against the climate resolution.

Credit Suisse on Monday said it took note of the recommendations by Norges Bank, while pointing to its boards position, which recommended shareholders vote against the special audit as well as the shareholder climate resolution.

($1 = 0.7862 pounds)($1 = 0.9322 euros)

(Reporting by Simon Jessop and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; editing by Jane Merriman)
This edition of International People Moves details appointments at brokers Lockton and McGill and Partners as well as the Bermuda MGA Arcadian Risk Capital.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Lockton Announces New International Leadership Structure

Lockton, the Kansas City, Mo.-based insurance broker, announced a new international leadership structure designed to support the companys continued growth.

Effective May 1, 2022, EJ Hentenaar, Locktons current head of Global Financial Risks, will assume the role of CEO, Europe.

As part of the brokers planned succession, Neil Nimmo, currently CEO of Lockton International, will become the chairman of Lockton International, reporting to Peter Clune. In addition to his overall responsibilities for Lockton International, Nimmo will focus on the growth and success of Locktons international regions  Asia, Australia, Europe, LatAm and MENA  supporting them in taking care of their clients and their people.

Chris Brown, current CEO Europe, is moving to a newly created role of president of Lockton International, reporting to Ron Lockton, chairman. In this new role, he will build on the work he has done to develop the Lockton Global Partners, develop Locktons international growth strategy and focus on the globalization of Locktons key industry practices.

We are excited for EJ to serve as the CEO of Europe, said Ron Lockton. He is a proven leader, and he is respected by our clients, the markets and our people. EJ will continue to build on Locktons success in Europe.

These changes are a testament to the incredible work of the entire Lockton International team and the growth they have created for Lockton, said Peter Clune, Lockton CEO. We are evolving our leadership team to ensure our long-term focus and commitment to our Associates and clients.

***

MGA Arcadian Promotes Barna to Head of Transactional Liability Underwriting

Bermuda-based MGA Arcadian Risk Capital announced the promotion of Nicole Barna to executive vice president, head of Transactional Liability Underwriting. In addition, she continues in her role as Arcadians underwriting counsel.

Barna joined Arcadian shortly after its inception in January 2021 as a senior vice president with responsibility for the development of Arcadians Transactional Liability book, now one of its largest product sectors.

I am delighted to confirm Nicoles promotion, subject to Bermuda Immigration approval. She has been a consistently outstanding performer at Arcadian since its inception, developing a well-structured and diversified account in addition to offering underwriting counsel to our various teams. This promotion is well deserved and reflective of her outstanding contribution at Arcadian, commented John Boylan, Arcadian CEO.

Capacity for Arcadian is provided by SiriusPoint. The company underwrites general liability, professional liability and property insurance.

***

McGill and Partners Hires DARAGs Hill for Structured Solutions Team

McGill and Partners, the London-based boutique re/insurance broker, has further expanded its Structured Solutions team with a new partner, Andy Hill.

Hill joins from DARAG Group, where he held the role of group chief operating officer during a period of international expansion. Previously, he was head of Restructuring in North America at Zurich Insurance Co., where he worked for nearly seven years.

With a background in insurance M&A and corporate restructuring, Hill has spent over a decade executing alternative risk transactions for multiple lines of business in North America, UK, Continental Europe and Bermuda.

Hills key focus in his role at McGill and Partners will be on retrospective solutions, helping clients to achieve capital and operational relief, as well as economic and legal finality in their re/insurance carriers and captives through the reinsurance of P/C legacy (run-off) portfolios.

Hill will help McGills Structured Solutions team expand into the market of alternative and retrospective risk transfer, the company said.

Launched in May 2019, McGill and Partners has significant backing from funds affiliated with Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm. McGill and Partners has offices in London, New York, Miami, Bermuda and Dublin.

Topics Insurance Wholesale Leadership Lockton
Quigley Named Ascots Head of Surety

Ascot appointed Tara Quigley executive vice president and head of Surety. She will be responsible for developing, and managing Ascots Surety portfolio across the U.S. Her appointment marks the final stage of Ascots entry into the U.S. Surety market where shell act as the product lead, writing on behalf of Ascots Treasury Listed carrier  Ascot Surety & Casualty Company. Based in New Jersey, shell report to Matt Kramer, CEO, U.S. Insurance.

Quigley joins from Argo, having been at the company since 2008 when she joined to help launch their Surety practice.

Commenting on the appointment, Matt Kramer said:

Kramer said: Im delighted to welcome Tara to Ascot as we enter the Surety market. Our acquisition of a TreasuryListed carrier in 2021 allowed us to make a strategic entry into a highly specialized field that fits perfectly with our underwriting principles and deepens our product portfolio. Taras experience, expertise, broker relationships and proven leadership skills make her the ideal choice to ensure success for Ascot Surety.

Zurich N.A. Hires Olson Head of Programs

Denise Olson has been named head of programs for Zurich North America, effective immediately. She will report to Alex Wells, head of U.S. middle market, and will continue as a member of the Zurich North America Leadership Team. She succeeds Greg Massey, who is retiring.

Olson is responsible for the executive management of Zurichs programs business and fostering and maintaining strategic relationships with program administrators.

Olson joined Zurich in 2003 and has held several leadership roles in underwriting, product development and actuarial. She most recently served as the technical director for programs, working with the line of business and pricing & actuarial teams to lead technical underwriting for programs. She also continued her responsibilities for new program selection and the due diligence process.
The judge presiding over the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy has approved the organizations request to sell its warehouse and distribution center in North Carolina for roughly $13.5 million and lease back the property from the buyer.

The BSA wants to use some of the proceeds from the sale approved by the court Friday as part of its contribution to a proposed $2.6 billion fund to compensate tens of thousands of men who claim they were sexually abused as children while involved in Scouting.

After a monthlong trial, Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein continues to weigh whether to approve the Boy Scouts reorganization plan.

The Boy Scouts of America sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020 to stave off a flood of lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by Scout leaders and volunteers over several decades. At the time, the BSA was facing about 275 filed lawsuits and was aware of roughly another 1,400 pending claims. But more than 82,200 abuse claims have been submitted in the bankruptcy.

Attorneys for BSA insurers, including those that have since reached settlements and now support the plan, have said the sheer volume of claims is an indication of fraud and the result of aggressive client solicitation by attorneys and for-profit claims aggregators.

The reorganization plan calls for the BSA and its 250 local councils, along with settling insurance companies and troop sponsoring organizations, to contribute some $2.6 billion in cash and property to a fund for abuse victims. In return, those entities would be released from further liability, meaning they could not be sued for Scout-related abuse claims.

At Fridays hearing, Silverstein noted that the findings that the BSA and plan proponents are asking her to make in confirming the plan present her with issues that she has never previously faced as a bankruptcy judge.

Quite frankly, probably none of my previous rulings in eight years really dealt with this particular type of issue, where there are such extensive findings that people are asking me to make, and where the findings are particularly controversial, she said.

When an attorney representing a group of insurers opposed to the plan noted that the BSA had filed hundreds of pages of documents in the wee hours Friday morning with plan modifications and revisions, the judge assured him that he would have time to review and respond to them before she rules.

Youre not in danger of a forthcoming decision in the next few days, said Silverstein. She must decide a host of controversial and complex issues involving not just the Boy Scouts, but the BSAs insurers, its 250 local councils, and tens of thousands of troop sponsoring organizations.

Opposing insurers have argued that the plan violates their rights under policies they issued, and that the findings that plan supporters want Silverstein make would bind them to the proposed trust distribution procedures and make it difficult to challenge claim decisions. In an email, one attorney for abuse claimants described such binding trust distribution procedures as a Holy Grail that mass tort lawyers have been chasing for years. Insurers say approval by the judge would set a dangerous precedent tort lawyers would use to their advantage in future lawsuits.

Perhaps the most contentious issue, and the one most fraught with legal difficulty, is whether third parties, including settling insurers, local councils and troop sponsors, should be allowed to escape future liability by contributing to the victims fund, or at least not objecting to the plan.

Some survivors argue that releasing their claims against non-debtor third parties without their consent violates their due process rights. The U.S. bankruptcy trustee, the governments watchdog in Chapter 11 bankruptcies, argues that such releases are not allowed under the bankruptcy code.

Such nonconsensual third-party releases, spawned by asbestos and product-liability cases, have been criticized as an unconstitutional form of bankruptcy grifting, where non-debtor entities obtain benefits by joining with a debtor to resolve mass-tort litigation in bankruptcy.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation
The Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) announced it will host the inaugural Captive & Insurance Business Transfer (IBT) Conference in Oklahoma City on August 24-25.

The conference is designed for risk managers, business owners, regulators, financial executives and insurance professionals, the OID said. The conference will provide in-depth educational sessions on captive insurance and IBTs.

The event will be held at the Omni Oklahoma City Hotel.

10 hours of Continuing Education credit will also be available at the conference.

With Oklahomas expansive IBT law and the OIDs supportive, efficient captive regulatory platform, companies of various industries across the country recognize Oklahoma as a highly competitive jurisdiction, Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready said. It is a great opportunity to educate stakeholders on the benefits of Captive Insurance and IBTs. I believe a conference like this will help Oklahoma continue to be the hub for these two innovative tools.

Registration will open May 1.

Source: OID

Topics Oklahoma Training Development
Authorities say a man is dead after his truck crashed into a utility pole on a Louisiana highway.

Louisiana State Police say the single-vehicle wreck Friday night shut down a stretch of state Highway 73 in Ascension Parish and knocked out power to nearly 2,000 homes and businesses.

Authorities identified 35-year-old Jon Davies as the person who died when his pickup truck ran off the road and slammed into the utility pole, WBRZ-TV reported. State police said he wasnt wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle.

Police are conducting toxicology tests to determine if the driver was impaired by alcohol or drugs.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Louisiana
Owens Promotes Johnson

Owens Insurance Agency, based in Greer, South Carolina, has promoted Sandra Johnson to be director of operations.

Johnson, who joined the agency a decade ago, has served as the agencys point of contact for carriers. She will now oversee most aspects of the business, from quotes to claims to billings, the company said in a news release.

The Owens agency, founded 70 years ago, specializes in insurance for construction companies all over Upstate South Carolina. Chris Crist and Shane Lynn are co-owners.

NC DOI Elevates Three

North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey announced three promotions at the Department of Insurance.

Jerry Daniels, who recently served as employee relations manager, was named director of human resources for the department. Daniels, a 26-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, began his career with the state in 2016, Causey said in a news release. He served in the Department of Health and Human Services in 2016 and 2017 and was with the Department of Commerce from 2018 to 2022.

Jason Tyson was named director of communications for the insurance department, and Barry Smith was made deputy director of communications and safety officer.

Topics North Carolina
Premiums paid to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund are expected to increase by more than 12% later this year, giving new urgency to calls to cut the funds retention level in half, a move that some estimates show could save Florida insurers and policyholders as much as $1 billion a year.

And the methodology used to calculate the need for the higher cat fund premiums has come under the disapproving eye of some Florida insurance company executives. They suggest that too much emphasis has been placed on one hurricane-loss computer model that predicts larger storm losses than most other models do.

The FHCF could have chosen to ignore that model, or could have averaged the results of all seven approved models, said Melissa Burt DeVriese, president of Ormond Beach-based Security First Insurance. Since that wasnt done, the reinsurance costs paid to the FHCF by Floridas consumers increased by $150 million.

A recent ratemaking formula report from Paragon Strategic Solutions, an Aon company, shows that for contract year 2022, total premiums from Florida property and casualty insurers would rise from $1.21 billion to $1.37 billion. Thats particularly onerous for some insurers, given the fact that private-market reinsurance premiums also are expected to soar, starting June 1, along with the continued cost of claims litigation, hurricane losses, roof claims and higher assessments to pay insolvent insurers claims.

The results of the individual computer models arent publicly available. But the Paragon report said that one loss model was based on a strict interpretation of the Florida Building Codes requirement that, if just 25% of a roof section is damaged in a storm event, then the entire roof should be replaced.

This change affects overall premiums and rates, the report noted.

That building code is now under review. The Florida Roofing and Sheetmetal Contractors Association has proposed relaxing the replacement requirement, which could help discourage free roof campaigns by some unscrupulous contractors, officials have said.

The Paragon report also ignored two more recent hurricane loss-cost models that have been approved by the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology, insurers pointed out. Paragons managing director and actuary, Andrew Rapoport, could not be reached for comment Monday.

The cat funds proposed 2022 rates will be presented to the funds governing body, the State Board of Administration, at its June 28 meeting. The funds chief operating officer, Gina Wilson, has declined to comment to the Insurance Journal about the fund.

The increase in premiums is sure to add fuel to the growing fervor for the Florida Legislature to lower the cat funds retention level. Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he plans to call lawmakers into special session some time in May to tackle a range of proposed solutions to Floridas property insurance crisis.

One of those proposals has been discussed in the industry for years.

Its known as the retention, or the threshold of industry losses from a catastrophic event that must be reached before insurers can tap into the cat fund. Its a type of reinsurance that comes at a much lower cost than reinsurance in the private spot market, insurers have said.

By lowering that retention amount, from $8.5 billion to $4 billion, would still give the $11 billion cat fund enough reserves, but it would shave about 10% off the amount of reinsurance that must be purchased by insurance companies, supporters of the change have insisted. That could save Florida insurers an estimated $1 billion annually, according to insurer estimates and Sen. Jeff Brandes, who has advocated for the change.

Cat fund officials have argued against sudden changes to the funds retention level. Information from the fund, provided to Brandes, argues that the FHCF is 45% more likely to exhaust its $11.3B projected 2021 year-end fund balance and begin subsequent season with a projected fund balance equal to just one year of premium.

But industry advocates have said the 45% figure is overly dramatic. The funds report shows that the odds that cat funds balance would be exhausted would increase from a 3% chance to a 4.3% chance. Thats about a 45% increase, but the likelihood is still quite small, some industry analysts have said.

State law in 2004 required an elastic retention level of at least $4.5 billion. Due to an 89% increase in exposure since then, the retention requirement has grown to $8.5 billion for 2022, the Paragon report said. Critics have argued that the automatic increases are out of line with reality.

Due to a misguided concern that the FHCFs funding continue to increase indefinitely, its retention (threshold at which it begins protecting consumers) has been allowed to inflate to irrelevance, even as the premium it charges Florida consumers (via their property insurers) retains a 25% surcharge originally intended as an emergency measure to build cash after 2004- 05s eight hurricanes, the Federal Association For Insurance Reform argued in a 2021 white paper to regulators.

FAIR noted that the retention had been as low as $2.9 billion before the calamitous 2004-2005 hurricane season. The rapid cash buildup surcharge was set in 2006, repealed the next year, then reinstated in 2009. Temporarily halting it now would save consumers and insurers significantly, FAIR has said.

But cat fund officials have warned that major hurricanes, such as those that are predicted in coming years with warming seas and rising tides, could bring the fund to its knees.

In February, Brandes sent questions to the funds Wilson, asking her and her staff to contemplate effects of various types of storms on the fund. Answers from the fund suggested that an event like the famous 1926 hurricane that struck Miami would result in a $16 billion loss under the current retention. For a storm similar to 1992s powerful Hurricane Andrew, the funds layer loss would top $9 billion.

She said estimates on the effects of those storms, using a lowered retention level, were not available.

Its uncertain if Brandes will sponsor a separate bill on the cat fund during the upcoming session, or if it will be made part of an omnibus rescue bill. In January, during the regular 2022 legislative session, the senator offered a retention amendment to a separate bill, but withdrew it after concerns from other lawmakers and fund officials that it was too much to chew with no advance notice.

Topics Trends Florida Pricing Trends
In a decision thats being called a win for insurers, Floridas 4th District Court of Appeals held last week that the statutory notice of intent to sue applies to all assignment-of-benefits agreements signed after the 2019 law was enacted, even if the insurance policy pre-dates the statute.

The plaintiffs attorney in the case said the decision could have widespread implications for other types of assignees.

Today its AOB, but tomorrow it could be mortgages, health insurance and others who are named assignees, said attorney Michael Redondo, of Miami, who represented Total Care Restoration in the suit against Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Redondo and insurance attorneys said the decision could also affect policyholders notice of intent that must be given before lawsuits are filed in non-AOB claims disputes, a key part of Senate Bill 76, which took effect in July 2021.

Based on the Total Care decision, carriers can argue the notice requirement applies to any lawsuit filed after July 1, 2021 and, therefore, the issue of retroactive application is moot, reads a blog by attorneys Allan Rotlewicz and Michael Tessitore of the Rumberger Kirk law firm.

Redondo said the appeals courts April 20 opinion was in error, but his clients have not decided if they will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

In the suit, Total Care Restoration, a large repair and renovation contractor based in Doral, Florida, argued that the 2019 AOB law did not apply because the Citizens insurance policy was written long before the statute was adopted.

Homeowner Annie Griffith found water damage in her home in 2018. More than a year later, in July 2019, just after the AOB law took effect, she assigned benefits to Total Care, which performed dryout services. In September of 2019, Citizens denied the claim. Total Care then filed suit, asking a court to declare that the work was covered by the policy.

Citizens attorneys argued to the court that Total Care had not given the 10-day notice before it filed suit. The 2019 law, Florida Statute 627.7152, stipulates that the notice must specify the damages in dispute, the amount claimed and a pre-suit settlement demand. Total Care contended that to apply the notice requirement to an older insurance policy would be making the law retroactive, something not spelled out in the statute and generally frowned on by the courts.

The trial court in Broward County disagreed and sided with Citizens. On appeal, the 4th DCA upheld the lower courts ruling.

Contrary to Total Cares argument, the statute was not applied retroactivelythe trial court applied it to an assignment executed after the effective date of the statute, appeals court Judge Robert Gross wrote in the opinion for the 4th DCA three-judge panel. The assignment itself tracks verbatim much of the statutory language contained in section 627.7152, evidencing the parties acknowledgement of the statutes application to the July 16, 2019 assignment of benefits.

The judges found that Total Care had no interest in the claim or the policy until it signed the AOB agreement. Only then did the restoration company stand in the shoes of the policyholder. The contractor had relied on a 2010 decision by the Florida Supreme Court, Menendez vs. Progressive Express Insurance, in which the court found that a pre-suit notice requirement in a personal injury protection auto insurance case could not be applied retroactively.

But the appeals court said that the Menendez case was not relevant because it did not involve an assignment of benefits.

Redondo said Tuesday that the 4th DCA missed the mark, and that case law since the 1800s has upheld the concept that assignees and assignors are legally indistinguishable. He also pointed out that the appeals court decision did not address the substance of the statute itself, only that it was not retroactively applied, which leaves lingering questions.

He acknowledged that the AOB notice-of-intent question will probably resolve itself. Most AOB claims now in the courts were filed after the 2019 law was enacted, many policies have been written or renewed since then, and many assignees are giving pre-suit notices, attorneys have said.

But on insureds pre-suit notices on direct claims against insurers, as required by SB 76, issues remain to be settled. Thats the next fight to come, Redondo said.

Attorney Maureen Pearcy, who represented Citizens in the Total Care appeal, did not comment on the 4th DCA decision Tuesday morning. But insurance attorneys Rotlewicz and Tessitore said the opinion could play in insurers favor in direct claims litigation.

This decision may be beneficial to carriers seeking compliance with Section 627.70152, Florida Statutes, regarding the pre-suit notice required in an insured lawsuit, they wrote. The SB 76 notice requirement went into effect on July 1, 2021 and applies exclusively to all suits not brought by an assignee arising under a residential or commercial property insurance policy'

The Total Care decision came a day before the Florida Supreme Court added clarity to another pre-suit notice requirement. The court found that notices in medical malpractice claims need only be mailed before the deadline, not received by the defendant.

Topics Lawsuits Florida
An investigation into the COVID-19 death of a worker at a Sumner, Washington, fish processing plant found company leaders knowingly putting workers at risk of exposure to the virus.

The Washington state Department of Labor & Industries cited and fined Shining Ocean Inc. $56,000 for not enforcing mask use and other rules during a Nov. 4, 2021 staff meeting, reportedly resulting in 16 workers becoming infected, one of whom died.

Only three or four of the 23 people who attended the meeting were reportedly wearing a mask. The company also reportedly had no system in place to verify worker vaccination status.

Employees reportedly told investigators that the company president told them its their personal choice whether or not to wear a mask.

The violation is classified as willful serious, and Shining Ocean will be subject to increased scrutiny from L&I as part of the severe violator program.

The company did not appeal the citation and paid the fine in full. That money goes into the workers compensation supplemental pension fund, helping workers and families of those who have died on the job.

Topics COVID-19 Washington
This years edition of Californias beloved Gilroy Garlic Festival has been canceled and the annual events future is uncertain, organizers announced.

The celebration of the pungent vegetable has been held for more than 40 years, drawing huge crowds over three days to farm country 80 miles south of San Francisco.

Due to lingering uncertainties from the pandemic, along with the prohibitive insurance requirements by the City of Gilroy, the Gilroy Garlic Festival Board has decided not to move ahead with a traditional festival for 2022  and perhaps the foreseeable future, the festival association said in a social media post Friday.

The association said the city was requiring that the festival have much more insurance than the minimum general liability coverage of $1 million.

The festival was under pressure before the pandemic.

In 2019, a 19-year-old gunman attacked the event, killing three people and wounding 13 others before killing himself as police officers closed in. Related lawsuits are pending.

Tom Cline, past president of the group, told The Mercury News that the event has faced financial challenges in eight of the last 10 years.

The association statement pledged to find a way to hold a more intimate, local festival.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California COVID-19
The father of three children who were allegedly killed by their mother last year has filed a lawsuit against the city and county of Los Angeles, accusing police and social workers of failing to intervene to protect his young daughters and son before their deaths.

Erik Denton filed the lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, more than a year after the children were found dead in a Los Angeles apartment. Dentons ex-girlfriend and the mother of his children, Liliana Carrillo, fled to Tulare County, nearly 200 miles north of the scene.

Carrillo, later told KGET-TV that she wanted to protect her kids from alleged abuse amid a bitter custody battle. She admitted to drowning her daughters, 3-year-old Joanna and 6-month-old Sierra, and her 2-year-old son, Terry, in the jailhouse interview.

Carrillo is charged with three counts of homicide and her case remains ongoing, according to online court records. She is scheduled to return to court next month and is being held in jail on more than $6 million bail. The public defenders office, which is representing Carrillo, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Denton sought custody of his three children last year, citing what he said was their mothers erratic and unstable behavior and mental health issues. Fearful for their safety, Denton petitioned the court for custody, alleging Carrillo was delusional and had taken the kids and refused to tell him where they were.

Carrillo then filed a restraining order against Denton and claimed he was an alcoholic who may have sexually abused their eldest child.

As the case wound through family courts in Tulare and Los Angeles counties, the parents traded accusations in dozens of pages of documents. Police were called, social workers were consulted, alarming text messages and Facebook posts were saved as legal exhibits.

Within weeks, the children were dead. Dentons lawsuit alleges that Los Angeles Police Department officers and social workers from the countys Department of Children and Family Services repeatedly ignored warnings about Carrillos behavior and failed to investigate and cross-report their findings to other agencies as required under state law.

The murders of Eriks three children would have been prevented if law enforcement officers and child welfare workers did what they were required to do by law, which is to step in and protect children who are at risk of abuse or neglect, said David S. Casey, Jr., who is representing Denton, in a statement.

The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services declined to comment on the allegations, citing the pending litigation and confidential records, but offered the agencys condolences to the Denton family.

Our mission to protect children is one we share with our partners in law enforcement and the community, the department said in a statement. We remain fiercely committed to strengthening our community partnerships to enhance the safety net for children and families.

The Los Angeles city attorneys office said it will review the lawsuit and declined further comment.

Representatives for the Los Angeles County counsel and LAPD did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits California
Answers

Global CoCrW Powder market trend 2025-2028 High Purity 3D Printing Alloy CoCrW Powder by Newsintegra927

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 CoCrW Powder ?



About 3D Printing Alloy CoCrW Powder:

3D Printing Alloy CoCrW Powder is one of the Stellite alloys, which are hard alloys resistant to various types of wear and corrosion as well as high-temperature oxidation. Namely commonly referred to as cobalt-based alloy. Initially, the Stellite alloy is a cobalt-chromium binary alloy and later developed into a cobalt-chromium tungsten ternary composition. Cobalt-Cr-W alloy is an alloy with cobalt as the main component, containing a considerable amount of chromium and tungsten and a small amount of nickel, molybdenum, silicon, carbon, niobium, tantalum and occasionally iron. Depending on the composition of the alloy, they can be made into welding wire, powder for hard surfacing, thermal spraying, spray welding and other processes, as well as cast and forged parts and powder metallurgy parts.





The basic composition of cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloy is: Co:50%~58%,Cr:28%~30%,W:4%~6%,Ni:2%~4% and other alloy composition, melting point is 1470.As can be seen from the composition of the alloy, the cobalt and tungsten content of the alloy are very high, which makes the material has excellent high-temperature performance and has poor thermal conductivity. It is these characteristics that make the cobalt-chromium tungsten alloy in the grinding process spark is dark red, the number of sparks is very small, the metal from the workpiece surface is easy to block the grinding wheel, so that the grinding conditions quickly deteriorate, at the same time produce a lot of grinding heat can not quickly spread, resulting in low efficiency, workpiece surface burns. Feel free to send an inquiry to get the latest price if you would like to buy 3D Printing Alloy CoCrW Powder in bulk.



3D printing CoCrW bonding alloy powder



Composition(percentage by mass)

Co Cr W Si C B Mn Fe Bal 27.62 8.79 1.5 0.99 0.56 0.5 0.5



Additional elements less than 1%: N, Nb

Contains no nickel, beryllium or iron

category Alloy grades and characteristics Alloy number: CoCrW Particle size: 0-20m, 15-45m, 15-53m, 53-105m, 53-150m, 105-250m Morphology: Spherical or nearly spherical Appearance: Grey Package: Aluminum bag, Vacuum packing Application: 3D printing metal powder Other applications: powder metallurgy(PM), injection molding(MIM), spray painting(SP) etc.



How is 3D Printing Alloy CoCrW Powder produced?

The waste iron is smelted to the melting point, and then the eight raw materials of cobalt, chromium, tungsten, sulfur, silicon, carbon, aluminum and copper are added in turn, and then the temperature is reduced to 1150-1200C for high-temperature solution treatment for 40-60min, and then the temperature is again reduced to 880-970C for aging treatment for 2-3h, and the cobalt, chromium and tungsten alloy is obtained through annealing treatment again.



Applications of 3D Printing Alloy CoCrW Powder:

CoCrW powder is one of the rough alloys that can resist various types of wear, corrosion and oxidation at high temperatures. Depending on the composition of the alloy, they can be made into welding wires, powders for hard surface substrates, thermal spray, and spray. They can also be made into castings, forgings and powder metallurgy parts.





COCRW powder can be used in laser/electron beam additive manufacturing (SLM/EBM), powder metallurgy (PM), spraying, welding and other processes. The powder is mainly used for 3D printing of biomedical materials, such as teeth, body supports, artificial joints, etc.





Cobalt-Cr-W alloy is widely used in locomotive engines, nuclear power plant valves, Marine engines and various aircraft.

Early cobalt-chromium - tungsten alloys were produced by non - vacuum smelting and casting processes. Later developed alloys, such as MAR-M509 alloy, which contains more active elements such as zirconium and boron, are produced by vacuum smelting and vacuum casting.





Generally, cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloy lacks a uniform strengthening phase. Although its strength is low at medium temperature (only 50-75% of that of nickel-based alloy), it has high strength, good thermal fatigue resistance, thermal corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance at temperatures higher than 980, and good weldability. It is suitable for the production of guide vane and nozzle guide vane of aviation jet engine, industrial gas turbine, naval gas turbine and nozzle, etc.



Storage Condition of CoCrW Powder:

The damp reunion will affect CoCrW powder dispersion performance and using effects, therefore, CoCrW powder should be sealed in vacuum packing and stored in cool and dry room, the CoCrW powder can not be exposure to air. In addition, the CoCrW powder should be avoided under stress.



Packing & Shipping of CoCrW Powder:

We have many different kinds of packing which depend on the CoCrW powder quantity.

CoCrW powder packing:vacuum packing, 100g, 500g or 1kg/bag, 25kg/barrel, or as your request.

CoCrW powder shipping: could be shipped out by sea, by air, by express, as soon as possible once payment receipt.



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 boron powder, nitride powder, graphite powder, zinc sulfide, 3D printing powder, etc.





If you are looking for 3D printing metal powder, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry, email address: sales2@nanotrun.com





3D Printing Alloy CoCrW Powder Properties Other Names Cobalt Chromium Tungsten, Cobalt 6B, Stellite 6B ,Co-Cr-W CAS No. N/A Compound Formula CoCrW 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 <4.2 g/cm3 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 294.824632 g/mol Monoisotopic Mass 294.824632 g/mol 3D Printing Alloy CoCrW 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

With Tesla's new factory in Germany starting CoCrW Powder . In the future, the demand for CoCrW Powder will become more and more extensive. Please feel free to contact us for the latest news on CoCrW Powder .

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Answers

Global Silicon Boride market trend 2023-2026 High Purity Silicon Boride SiB6 Powder CAS 12008-29-6, 99% by Newsintegra927

Now China has become a powerful country in science and technology, but do you know how powerful China's technology is? The manned space station alone is not enough, and now it has successfully broken through the key technology of nuclear fusion, even leading the world by 15 years. Does this mean that China is not far from the artificial sun? It turned out that the fully superconducting tokamak nuclear fusion experimental device developed by China at the Hefei Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully achieved a record of 101 seconds of continuous operation at 120 million degrees Celsius, and broke the world record. Compared with the previous record in South Korea, China has time has been directly extended by 5 times, and it seems that we are one step closer to the practical stage of artificial sun.

The success of nuclear fusion technology will lead to the development of Silicon Boride.



CAS No. : 12008-29-6

EINECS No.: 234-535-8

Appearance: dark grey

Molecular Formula: SiB6

Molecular Weight: 92.952



About Silicon Boride SiB6 Powder:

Silicon boride (Silicon Hexaboride) is a shiny black-gray powder with a relative density of 3.0g/cm3 and a melting point of 2200C. Silicon boride is a lightweight ceramic compound formed between silicon and boron. It is insoluble in water, resistant to oxidation, thermal shock, and chemical attack, especially with high strength and stability under thermal shock. The grinding efficiency is higher than that of boron carbide.

The SiB6 crystal structure includes interconnected icosahedrons (polyhedrons with 20 faces), icosahedral hexahedrons (polyhedrons with 26 faces), and isolated silicon and boron atoms. Compared to hexaboride, it is metastable. However, since crystal nucleation and growth are relatively easy, they can be prepared.

When heated in air or oxygen, the surface of SiB6 is oxidized, and it is attacked by boiling sulfuric acid and fluorine, chlorine and bromine at high temperatures. Silicon boride is conductive. The hexaboride has a low thermal expansion coefficient and a large nuclear cross-section for thermal neutrons. Feel free to send an inquiry to get the latest price if you would like to buy Silicon Boride SiB6 Powder in bulk.



Feature of Silicon Boride SiB6 Powder:

1. Nano-silicon boride has high purity, small particle size distribution, high specific surface area.

2. The melting point up to 2230 C. It can not be soluble in water and antioxidation and high resistance to chemical attack. especially in the high thermal impact and stability;

3. Grinding efficiency of silicon boride is higher than that of boron carbide, it can be used as abrasives, grinding and engineering ceramics such as nozzles, gas turbine blades and other different sintering conditions and sealing line



How is Silicon Boride SiB6 Powder produced?

A kind of step of preparing silicon boride powder is as follows:

Silicon powder with an average particle size of less than 1 micron and boron powder with an average particle size of fewer than 20 microns are mixed uniformly by a ceramic ball milling tank; the weight ratio of silicon powder and boron powder is 2.85-2.95:7.

After loading the crucible, put it into the gas protection furnace, pass in argon gas, and heat up to 1400-160 (TC, hold for 50-70 minutes;

At the beginning of heat preservation, put ASiCl4 into the furnace, 3-5ml per minute, dripping time 9-11 minutes;

After cooling, the final SiB6 powder product is obtained by crushing with a ceramic pot ball mill.



Application of Silicon Boride SiB6 Powder:

Main uses of silicon boride SiB6 Powder:

1. Used as various standard abrasives and grinding cemented carbides;

2. Used as engineering ceramic materials, as various standard abrasives, and grinding cemented carbide.

3. It is also used as engineering ceramic materials, sandblasting nozzles, and manufacturing blades of gas engines and other special-shaped sintered parts and seals.

4. Used as an anti-oxidant for refractory materials.



Storage Condition of Silicon Boride SiB6 Powder:

The damp reunion will affect SiB6 powder dispersion performance and using effects, therefore, silicon boride SiB6 powder should be sealed in vacuum packing and stored in cool and dry room, the silicon boride SiB6 powder can not be exposure to air. In addition, the SiB6 powder should be avoided under stress.



Packing & Shipping of Silicon Boride SiB6 Powder:

We have many different kinds of packing which depend on the silicon boride SiB6 powder quantity.

Silicon boride SiB6 powder packing:vacuum packing, 100g, 500g or 1kg/bag, 25kg/barrel, or as your request.

Silicon boride SiB6 powder shipping: could be shipped out by sea, by air, by express, as soon as possible once payment receipt.







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 boride powder, nitride powder, graphite powder, sulfide powder, 3D printing powder, etc.



If you are looking for silicon boride, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry, email address: sales3@nanotrun.com





Silicon Boride Properties Other Names silicon hexaboride, SiB6 powder CAS No. 12008-29-6 Compound Formula SiB6 Molecular Weight 92.9515 Appearance Dark Grey to Black Powder Melting Point 1950  Boiling Point N/A Density 2.43 g/cm3 Solubility in H2O Insoluble Exact Mass 93.036391 Silicon Boride Health & Safety Information Signal Word Warning Hazard Statements H315-H319-H335 Hazard Codes Xi Risk Codes 36/37/38 Safety Statements 26-36 Transport Information N/A

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic not only had a significant impact on public health, it also severely affected one of the linchpins of the global economy  the tourism industry. As many countries introduced curfews and travel restrictions to contain the spread of the virus, travel across the world significantly declined from early 2020 onwards. The financial repercussions of the coronavirus have already begun to manifest themselves within the tourism industry. In 2020, global revenue from the travel and tourism industry was estimated to drop from a forecasted 711.94 billion U.S. dollars to 568.6 billion U.S. dollars, representing a decrease of over 20 percent. The region predicted to see the highest decline in revenue was Europe, decreasing from 211.97 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 to roughly 124 billion U.S. dollars in 2020.The downturn in tourism has caused the recession, and the weakening of the economy has also affected the market demand for Silicon Boride. Recently, however, the demand for Silicon Boride has increased, so contact us for the latest news on Silicon Boride.

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Global Spherical Molybdenum Powder market trend 2023-2027 What is the Use of Spherical Molybdenum Powder by Newsintegra927

Australian alumina ban disrupts Rusal Spherical Molybdenum Powder prices for chemicals. Patel said. "One possible outcome could be Chinese buyers buying alumina and reselling it through eastern Russian ports." Rusal has a 20% stake in the Queensland Alumina Refinery, which has a capacity of 3.95 million tonnes a year, thus providing Rusal with 790,000 tonnes a year, Patel said. In addition, Rusal's Nikolaev refinery in Ukraine, which has an annual capacity of 1.75 million tonnes, has been suspended due to the conflict, he added. WoodMac said Rusal was also experiencing supply chain problems at its 2 million tonne a year Aughinish refinery in Ireland.

What is spherical molybdenum powder?

Spherical molybdenum powder is a transition metal molybdenum in powder state, and the impurity elements include Pb, Bi, Sn, Sb, Cd, Fe, Al, Si, Mq, etc. Appearance is gray-black metal powder, non-toxic, environmentally friendly, non-radioactive, high purity, strong chemical inertness, low hardness, small oil absorption, good thermochemical stability, dispersibility, wear resistance properties and acid and alkali resistance.





Preparation and use of spherical molybdenum powder

Molybdenum powder is usually prepared from ammonium paramolybdate or calcined MoO3 by hydrogen reduction. It is the raw material for preparing molybdenum deep-processed products by powder metallurgy.





Storage and transportation The product should be protected from moisture during transportation, and should not be violently collided. Store in a dry, ventilated and acid-free atmosphere to prevent oxidation. Shelf life does not exceed 6 months





The process of producing molybdenum powder from molybdenum oxides and molybdenum halides or metallic molybdenum as raw materials is an integral part of the molybdenum metallurgical process. There are mainly molybdenum dioxide hydrogen reduction, molybdenum halide hydrogen reduction, atomization method, plasma method. The molybdenum powder produced is mainly used as alloy additives, molybdenum products and raw materials for sputtering.





Due to the above-mentioned special properties, the application of molybdenum powder has developed rapidly, and it has been widely used in industrial and agricultural fields, such as rubber, plastics, paper, coatings, paints, inks, cables, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, feed, food, sugar, textiles , glass, ceramics, sanitary products, sealants, adhesives, pesticides and pesticide carriers, as well as flue desulfurization, water treatment and other environmental protection aspects. The application of lightweight molybdenum powder overlaps and is different from that of molybdenum powder. It is mainly used in papermaking, plastics, artificial rubber, food, food coloring, medicine, adhesives and hygiene products. In recent years, the use of lightweight molybdenum powder has increased due to the information that light molybdenum powder can enhance the properties of certain materials.





About KMPASS

KMPASS is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12 years experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and Nanomaterials. The company export to many countries, such as USA, Canada, Europe, UAE, South Africa, Tanzania,Kenya,Egypt,Nigeria,Cameroon,Uganda,Turkey,Mexico,Azerbaijan,Belgium,Cyprus,Czech Republic,Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dubai, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia,Germany, France, Italy, Portugal etc. As a leading nanotechnology development manufacturer, KMPASS dominates the market. Our professional work team provides perfect solutions to help improve the efficiency of various industries, create value, and easily cope with various challenges. If you are looking for Spherical Molybdenum Powder, please send an email to: sales2@nanotrun.com





Gas supplies have been in short supply because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Combined with the situation that other renewable sources cannot produce enough electricity, electricity prices have soared in many parts all over the world. For this reason, I assume the supply and prices of the Spherical Molybdenum Powder would keep being influenced by the high energy prices.



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Macron re-elected as French president amid domestic, international uncertainty

Xinhua) 11:20, April 26, 2022

* French incumbent President Emmanuel Macron won the 2022 presidential runoff with 58.54 percent of the votes.

* The 44-year-old centrist and pro-European Union (EU) Macron will have to face challenges both inside and outside France during his second presidential term.

* It remains questionable whether Macron, under U.S. influence, can continue to push for European strategic autonomy during the remainder of France's EU presidency.

PARIS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- French incumbent President Emmanuel Macron won the 2022 presidential runoff with 58.54 percent of the votes while his rival, far-right wing candidate Marine Le Pen, gained 41.46 percent of the votes, according to the preliminary results released Sunday night by the French Interior Ministry.

According to some experts, the 44-year-old centrist and pro-European Union (EU) Macron will have to face challenges both inside and outside France during his second presidential term.

At the domestic level, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has pushed France's Consumer Price Index to skyrocket, creating further social divisions. On the international arena, it remains questionable whether Macron, under U.S. influence, can continue to push for European strategic autonomy during the remainder of France's EU presidency.

Photo taken on April 24, 2022 shows the scene of French incumbent President Emmanuel Macron's rally after the presidential runoff in Paris, France. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

A MORE DIVIDED FRANCE

For a third time, France's far-right wing lost the presidential runoff, but it has never been so close to grabbing the presidential power of the world's seventh-largest economy.

The Le Pen family is the founder of France's far-right wing. Jean-Marie Le Pen contributed to founding the National Front party in 1972.

In the 2002 presidential runoff, Jean-Marie Le Pen lost largely to Jacques Chirac with 17.8 percent to 82.2 percent of votes. Fifteen years later, his daughter, Marine Le Pen lost to Macron with 33.9 percent to 66.1 percent of votes.

This year, Marine Le Pen lost again, but according to her, "the result itself is a resounding victory."

"Millions of our compatriots have chosen the national camp and change. I extend my deepest gratitude to those who trusted me in the first round and to those who, by the millions, joined us in the second," she said in her speech after learning of the results of the exit polls.

Asked about why people would vote for Le Pen, a voting station staffer in Clichy-La-Garenne told Xinhua that people, from "the parts of France," who feel excluded would vote for Le Pen.

"They don't feel French anymore," he, without giving his name, said, referring to people from small towns and cities. "They no longer have doctors. They no longer have public services and therefore they feel excluded. So they go for Le Pen."

Marine Le Pen, candidate of the far-right National Rally party, attends a rally after the presidential runoff in Paris, France, on April 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

"So it's not at all the classic racist vote of the extreme right, but a vote of protesting against exclusion," he said.

Macron acknowledged this in his victory speech, saying it is "the anger and disagreements" that pushed people to vote for the extreme right.

Division exists not only in Metropolitan France, but also in French overseas territories.

Le Pen is leading in all French overseas territories except French Polynesia and New Caledonia.

LEGISLATIVE ELECTION IN JUNE VITAL

During his presidential campaign, Macron said that he wants to govern differently for the next five years with an ambitious political project.

France needs "a different method, a way of doing things at the more local level" in favor of the most modest, he said, announcing a series of social measures to be carried out "urgently" from the beginning of his second five-year term.

The measures include improving the purchasing power of the French people "from this summer," and continuing to reduce taxes by 15 billion euros (about 16 billion U.S. dollars) per year until 2027.

He also plans to continue his failed retirement reform by increasing the legal retirement age to 65 "gradually by 2030."

Macron, who improved the ecological component of his political program in the second round of the presidential election to attract left-wing votes, indicated that his future prime minister would be in charge of ecological planning.

However, if he wants to realize all the promises, the upcoming legislative election will be extremely important, as it will decide whether he can get the majority of the French National Assembly.

Macron's re-election may have comforted some French for keeping the country "socialist," but two surveys showed that a majority of French people do not want Macron to win the legislative elections.

French incumbent President Emmanuel Macron attends a rally after the presidential runoff in Paris, France, on April 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

According to two polls published Sunday evening by French daily Le Figaro, 63 percent and 56 percent of those questioned do not want Macron to have a majority, against 35 percent and 20 percent who want him "to have a majority in the National Assembly and can carry out" his policy.

Although left- and right-wing parties supported Macron after the first round voting, they now want to form their own alliance to prevent the newly elected president to control the National Assembly.

Ranking third in the first round of voting, Jean-Luc Melanchon, leader of the far-left wing party Unsubmissive France, has already launched negotiations with other left-wing parties, hoping to form a majority in the lower house of the French Parliament.

The Socialist party and the Communist party both called on the left wing to unite and reform for successful legislative elections.

On the right-wing side, after losing her second presidential runoff to Macron, Le Pen has already called on the French people to vote for her in the upcoming legislative elections.

Another extreme right candidate Eric Zemmour also called for "national unity for the legislative elections to build the first coalition of rights and patriots."

A STRONG EUROPE

Macron's re-election has indeed cheered Europe up, as some countries on the old continent have drifted further towards extreme right.

On social media, Charles Michel, president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, both congratulated Macron on his re-election.

"In this turbulent period, we need a strong Europe and a France fully committed to a more sovereign and more strategic European Union," Michel wrote.

Macron's new mandate will be part of the continuity in terms of foreign policy, since France still holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU till the end of June, said Mu Gengyuan, assistant research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

According to her, Macron's re-election will help him continue to promote the objectives of France's presidency under the motto "Recovery, Power, Belonging" and "a Europe that is powerful in the world, fully sovereign, free in its choices and in charge of its own destiny."

French incumbent President Emmanuel Macron addresses a rally after the presidential runoff in Paris, France, on April 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

France has also been pushing for a reform in the Schengen area, which will be politically monitored by EU public institutions to control the circulation of EU population and migrants.

In a campaign meeting in Strasbourg in northeastern France, Macron promised "to better protect" EU's external borders with more common forces and cooperation among the member states.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also congratulated Macron on his win, saying that the United States looks forwards to closer cooperation with the ally.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also congratulated Macron.

Although France has joined the West to impose sanctions against Russia, Macron has been favoring a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Ireland needs a junior minister for womens health to tackle shortages of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products, Independent TD Verona Murphy has said.

Her call comes in the wake of the creation of a HRT tsar role in Britain following reports that shortages of the products have become so severe that women are sharing prescriptions and, in some cases, reporting feelings of mental health distress.

Women in Ireland have faced shortages of HRT products for months, with common products off the shelf until at least July.

Ms Murphy said she has been inundated with women contacting her since raising the crisis in the Dail earlier this month.

We needed a womens health minister yesterday, said Ms Murphy.

The recent discussions that Joe Duffy had in relation to menopause [showed] we shouldnt be embarrassed about our health.

I do believe we certainly should have, at the very least, a junior ministry.

She described some of the messages she had received as very distressing.

Many of the emails that I got said the HRT was life-saving, and the thoughts of not being able to access the correct HRT was absolutely putting them into a complete mental health state of disarray, she said.

It is 'impossible to predict which products may become unavailable in the future,' according to Dr Ciara McCarthy, clinical lead on women's health with the ICGP.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said the Womens Health Taskforce is considering all proposals for the improvement of womens health outcomes and experiences.

She pointed to the increasing demand for HRT, with demand for one set of products, which she did not name, expected to be between 4.5 and 7.5 times higher this year than in 2019.

Ciara McCarthy, clinical lead on womens health with the Irish College of General Practitioners, said shortages have gone on for two years. Dr McCarthy said:

GPs are working to the best of their abilities to commence HRT prescriptions based on the currently available products.

However, it is impossible to predict which products may become unavailable in the future.

She warned that women who abruptly stop using HRT see a rapid return of symptoms, and advised women who cannot find their prescribed product to return to their GP for solutions.

British health secretary Sajid Javid said on Sunday he will appoint a HRT supply chairperson to meet suppliers following the vaccine taskforce model developed during the pandemic.
A one-year-old Angus male cross-breed was found staggering on three legs in a field near Killorglin, Co Kerry, shaking with pain", when inspectors and a Department of Agriculture vet called to carry out a farm inspection.

The animal was missing the bottom of one of its hind legs and the bone was protruding.

It was a warm May day and while, the animal had plenty of grass, he was unable to get to the drinking trough 250m away, Killarney District Court was told on Monday.

An overwhelming stench emanated from a trailer that contained the carcass of a cow that had probably been dead for some weeks, the court was also told.

John C Casey, otherwise known as Christy Casey, of Crosstown, Killarney, aged 62, was summonsed over animal cruelty, failure to bury a cow carcass, and breaches of various regulations.

Mr Casey had been informed of the hearing, but was not present in court, was not replying to texts and phonecalls, and his legal team had received no instructions, the court was told.

Tom Rice, prosecuting, said some 14 witnesses were assembled from all over the country for the special sitting.

Katie OConnell, barrister for Mr Casey, sought an adjournment.

Farm inspection

Department of Agriculture vet Louis Reardon said he was accompanied by a large number of colleagues when they entered the lands on May 17 to carry out an inspection and Christy Casey/John C Casey was present.

The lands at Corbally, Killorglin, were not owned by the accused but were leased by him in an informal arrangement, the vet said.

Mr Casey refused to give his address.

There was a strong sense of putrefaction emanating from a trailer where there was a dead cow, partially covered with straw.

There was an overwhelming stench. The carcass was quite desiccated and dried out and I formed the view it had been there some weeks, Mr Reardon said.

Under European legislation a dead animal must be removed promptly to the knackery and brain tissue from all cows over four years  tissue which degenerates rapidly  must be sampled for BSE, Mr Reardon said.

The accused cooperated to a point but would then get abusive.

It was not feasible to bring in one of the animals so they could inspect him, so they had to go to the field where they found an animal on three legs.

Portion of leg missing

He was missing the bottom portion of one of his hind legs, Mr Reardon said, detailing how the one-year-old Angus cross was shaking with pain. Video evidence was handed into Judge David Waters.

The stump was quite swollen and bone was protruding. It was mid-May and the fly season was about to take off and the open wound would become infected with maggots, Mr Reardon said.

All the weight was being transferred to the right hind leg and the sinews were under strain.

I was of the view it was there for a number of months, the vet said. There was nil prospect of recovery.

A local vet was called and it was decided to euthanise the animal. Mr Casey had been vehemently opposed to this, Mr Reardon said.

Three separate summonses pertained to that matter under the Animal Health and Welfare Act including causing unnecessary suffering.

A total of 18 animals had been moved and there were no bovine passports made available as required in movement of cattle, Mr Reardon said.

Subsequent inspection

In a subsequent inspection on July 9, most of the animals on the farm in Killorglin were not on the farm register which was found to be wildly inaccurate, and a lot of the animals on the register were not present.

The department inspectors were told these were on a holding just outside Macroom, and they had been stolen or had gone missing.

Ms OConnell, instructed by Eimear Griffin solicitor, told Judge Waters she could not cross-examine as she had no instructions from her client.

Mr Casey was convicted on 10 summonses brought by the Minister for Agriculture under EU and Irish regulations.

The judge adjourned penalty to allow Mr Casey to give further instruction and produce mitigating evidence.

Although the prosecution had indicated they would not seek a custodial sentence, the judge said there was a possibility he would consider a custodial sentence in the summonses relating to animal cruelty, he adjourned sentencing to June 7 in Killarney.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster his nuclear forces at maximum speed and threatened to use them if provoked.

He made the remarks in a speech he delivered during a military parade that featured a long-range missile and other weapons, state media reported on Tuesday.

The parade on Monday night was to mark the 90th anniversary of North Koreas army  the backbone of the Kim familys authoritarian rule  and comes as the country faces pandemic-related difficulties while seeking relief from US-led sanctions imposed over its nuclear ambitions.

We will continue to implement measures aimed at strengthening and developing our countrys nuclear forces at the maximum speed, he told his troops and the crowd gathered for the parade at a Pyongyang plaza, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The parade on Monday night was to mark the 90th anniversary of North Koreas army (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

The fundamental mission of our nuclear forces is to deter war, but if an undesirable situation emerges on our land, our nuclear forces cannot be limited to a single mission of preventing war, Kim Jong Un said.

If any forces, regardless of who they are, try to infringe upon our fundamental interests, our nuclear forces will have no choice but to absolutely carry out its unexpected second mission.

The parade featured marching troops and an array of modern weapons including a missile potentially capable of reaching the US homeland as well as tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery pieces and multiple rocket launchers, according to KCNA.

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have been stalled since 2019 because of disagreements over the potential easing of US-led sanctions in exchange for North Korean disarmament steps.

The parade featured marching troops and an array of modern weapons including a missile potentially capable of reaching the US homeland (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

The North Korean leader has stuck to his goals of simultaneously developing nuclear weapons and the countrys dismal economy in the face of international pressure and has shown no willingness to fully surrender a nuclear arsenal he sees as his biggest guarantee of survival.

North Korea has conducted 13 rounds of weapons tests this year, including its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017. There are also signs North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that was last active in 2017, possibly in preparation for exploding a nuclear device.

On Monday, official newspapers in North Korea ran editorials calling for stronger public support for the leader.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un is the symbol of the mightiness of our party, state and revolutionary armed forces and the representative of their great dignity, the main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said. All happiness and rosy future lie in following the respected General Secretary Kim Jong Un.
Burma Myanmar Junta Chiefs Real Estate up for Sale

Kan Thar Yar Hospital located near Inya Lake, Pyay Road, Hlaing Township, Yangon.

Myanmars parallel National Unity Government (NUG) will reclaim houses and other properties acquired by regime leaders, including junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and sell them to raise money for the ongoing revolution against the military regime.

The NUGs Minister of Planning, Finance and Investment U Tin Tun Naing revealed the plan to the countrys shadow parliament on Saturday as he submitted his ministrys annual report.

Under the scheme, which is expected to be launched in a few weeks, the sale of almost 40 properties under the control of military leaders which were confiscated for their own benefit, as well as land confiscated by the military, will be available for pre-purchase by both Myanmar citizens and foreigners. The prices will be set at 70 percent lower than market rates, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).

Buyers will be given shares for their purchases and receive profits when the NUG auctions off the properties.

We will soon start selling real estate illegally acquired by terrorist military leaders and military-confiscated land which wont be needed for the [future] federal army, U Tin Tun Naing told the NUG Parliament on Saturday.

The revenue from the sales will be used effectively for the revolution, he added.

The plan to confiscate properties under the control of the military and sell them to the public is widely supported by many people as a creative way to intimidate the generals, while at the same time raising funds for the revolution.

Several netizens expressed their interest in buying shares in the properties and so contributing to the goal of bringing down the junta.

Myanmar military leaders have gained huge profits from property they own in the commercial capital Yangon. Min Aung Hlaing owns two properties in the Inya Lake neighbourhood, Yangons most exclusive and affluent residential area, that are each worth millions of US dollars.

The junta boss did not own any homes by Inya Lake until he was handpicked by former dictator Senior General Than Shwe to become the head of the military in 2011.

But in the next five years he managed to acquire a residence located at 14 Inya Road, known as 14 Inya, and another close to the five-star Lotte Hotel and the private Kan Thar Yar Hospital, which Min Aung Hlaing has a financial interest in.

The 14 Inya residence is a former military guesthouse, commonly known as the military intelligence guesthouse, where generals received foreign diplomats and ethnic armed organization leaders.

U Tin Tun Naing told RFA recently that the coup leaders home at 14 Inya will be included in the initial sale, along with real estate under the control of deputy junta chief Vice Senior General Soe Win and other top generals.

In February, the NUG established a policy to review the land and property owned or under the control of military leaders and the defense and home affairs ministries, and to get them back for the benefit of the Myanmar people.

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Burma Myanmar Junta Closes Another Thai Border Gate After Resistance Attack

Htee Khee border trade gate. / CJ

Myanmars military closed the border with Thailand at Htee Khee in Tanintharyi Region on Monday after a peoples defense force (PDF) attacked a Dawei-Htee Khee road police station.

The Dawei Township Peoples Authority of the parallel National Unity Government on Sunday urged people to avoid the Dawei-Htee Khee road as the regime is using it for reinforcements and supplies and clashes could break out at any time with resistance groups.

Junta authorities did not say when the gate will reopen.

The closure of the Htee Khee gate, a major trading point and the closest crossing to the Thai capital Bangkok, comes as another blow to trade with Thailand. The clashes between junta troops and the Karen National Liberation Army and PDFs already halted trade via Myawaddy in Karen State.

Traders reliant on the Htee Khee gate are trying to trade with Thailand via Maw Taung to the south. But it is unknown if Maw Taung is open for trade, said a trader.

The regime said it closed Htee Khee out of its concern for traders safety but residents said the regime is planning to attack resistance forces and the Karen National Defense Organization, an armed wing of the Karen National Union.

Junta troops have been attacked along the Dawei-Htee Khee road since mid-January and have suffered losses, said residents.

Myanmar mainly exports fish, coal, lead and food to Thailand via Htee Khee and imports diesel, cooking gas, food and machinery.

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China, Russia Arming Myanmar Junta: UN Rights Expert

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Burma Regime Soldiers Torch Nine Villages and Kill Monk in Upper Myanmar

Wuntho Township. / CJ

Myanmar junta troops torched nine villages in Sagaing Regions Wuntho Township on the weekend, killing three civilians including a Buddhist monk who urged them not to burn houses, according to local residents.

Four of the nine villages were razed to the ground, locals said.

Junta troops are torching villages in Kawlin and Wuntho as they have suffered heavy casualties. We could do nothing. We dared not go back to our village until the junta troops left, by which time our houses had been reduced to ashes, said a resident of Sein Lel Village.

Some 30,000 people from more than 40 villages in Kawlin and Wuntho townships have been displaced by fighting this month.

On Saturday, around 80 military regime soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 111 based in Wuntho arrived near Sein Lel Village where they clashed with local resistance groups. Five junta soldiers were killed in the fighting, according to one of the groups, Wuntho Revolution.

Junta troops then raided several villages nearby, firing heavy guns and torching houses.

We clashed with junta troops near Sein Lel Village early Saturday morning. They then shelled and raided villages and torched houses. Villagers have fled the raids. A female villager died in one of the fires, said one fighter from Wuntho Revolution.

Another woman was shot dead in Thabyay Thar Village, and the abbot of the village monastery who told the junta soldiers not to torch houses was also gunned down, he added.

Regime forces also reportedly abducted four villagers from three different villages as potential human shields. They were still in junta detention on Tuesday.

More than 10,000 locals have been displaced by the weekend raids, and it is still unknown how many houses were destroyed by the junta arson attacks.

They torched Sein Lel and then nearby villages one after another. The regime has cut off access to internet services for months in those places. And we have not been able to contact some villages by phone after the raids. We still dont know the exact number of houses damaged or destroyed. Some people have to stay at the houses of their relatives and some have to stay on farms, said a local humanitarian worker.

On Monday, junta troops and resistance groups also clashed near a mountain in Wuntho. Casualties are unknown. Regime forces have also launched attacks in the east of Kawlin Township, forcing residents of at least four villages to flee.

Clashes have been reported near villages on the border of Sagaing and Kachin State. Locals said junta troops are torching villages in retaliation after suffering heavy casualties in fighting near Joe Taung Village on April 21.

Data for Myanmar, which documents junta arson attacks, said 9,187 houses have been burned down since last years coup in 254 locations nationwide up to April 13.

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Printed solar panels will be used to power a Tesla on a 15,000-km trip around Australia in September to make the public more aware of steps to effect climate change.

The Charge Around Australia project is a partnership between British firm Charge Around Britain and the University of Newcastle in NSW.

CAB director Stuart McBain, one of the people involved in the Australia project, undertook a trip around the UK coastline in an EV five years ago to prove that there were sufficient charging points for these vehicles.

McBain also drove around the Iceland coastline in a Nissan Leaf to demonstrate that such a vehicle was up to the challenging trip.

The portable printed solar cell panels will be used to charge the vehicle off-grid; the technology is known as organic photovoltaics.

The solar cells have been developed by Professor Paul Dastoor and his team at the university. They are made from a lightweight, laminated PET [Polyethylene terephthalate] plastic that costs less than US$10 a square metre.

The route to be followed by the Tesla in September.

He will co-ordinate the research and manage the development and installation for the project.

A statement from Charge Around Australia said the technology was in the beginning stages of development and printing processes could be improved.

"Printed solar panels offer us possibilities that conventional solar panels do not. They are ultra-flexible, ultra-lightweight and ultra-thin, so they can be used to cover expansive areas. In addition, because they are printed, they can be produced at extremely low cost," it said.

"When efficiency levels are doubled to around 4%, it is possible that the technology will have the capability to generate the cheapest form of electricity on the planet. The potential of this technology is that every building and structure could have a coating on it that generates power."

Others involved in the Australia drive are Aleksei Esguerra, support vehicle driver and health and safety officer; Dr Xiaojing Zhou, provider of key expertise in device design and development and performance analysis; Dr Ben Vaughan, provider of key expertise in supporting the fabrication and manufacture of the printed solar cell panels; and Dr Michael Dickinson, Provider of key expertise in the generation system design and development.
GUEST OPINION: When using modern software applications, most users dont spend time considering all the components that make them work.

The networks, servers, operating systems, and client devices that mesh together to allow applications to function go largely unnoticed. End users tend to view information as a utility in much the same way as power or water supplies.

However, having a deeper understanding of IT infrastructure mechanics is vital to creating effective security. One element that needs closer attention is Active Directory (AD).

Developed by Microsoft, AD manages directory-based identity-related services. An AD server authenticates and authorises all users and devices on a network, forming a core part of the overall infrastructure.

Because AD plays such a critical role, cybercriminals looking to gain access and cause disruption or damage have increasingly targeted it. For this reason, organisations need the ability to spot when their AD has become compromised.

The growing risk of credential-based attacks

According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 61% of cybersecurity breaches now involve credential data.

Gaining possession of credentials makes an attackers job much easier as it can provide them with the privileges they need to move about within an IT infrastructure. These stolen credentials allow them to scope out potential data for theft, undertake a ransomware attack, or install backdoors they can use later.

Because AD needs to have access to all parts of the infrastructure, it is challenging to secure but often the first thing an attacker will target. For this reason, preventing a cybercriminal from gaining access to AD with compromised credentials must be a top priority for IT security teams.

Spotting an AD attack

A key challenge is that most attacks against AD can be difficult to spot. The subtle nature of the techniques used means that if teams are not proactively watching for them, they may go unnoticed.

Successfully protecting against AD attacks requires security teams to adopt a holistic approach to their monitoring and defences. Some people liken this to how a doctor diagnoses a medical condition. While they may have numerous symptoms to consider, it can often be challenging to bring them together to form an accurate diagnosis.

For this reason, an IT security team must have a clear understanding of the tell-tale signs of an AD attack. These can vary widely in nature, but there are some that cybercriminals use regularly.

Some potential attack indicators affect numerous accounts within the network, such as a mass password change that alters large numbers of user credentials, account lockouts, or unexpected changes to security settings.

There are also even more subtle things that security teams need to watch for. These include such events as an account suddenly appearing in a group without a good reason or a new service account popping up with no apparent authorisation.

Overcoming the challenge of spotting an attack

Despite the considerable challenges around spotting AD compromises, there are several steps that security teams can take.

The first is to continually monitor privileged groups for new users to see when a user identity gets created or added to a group. In addition to new account creations and membership changes, security teams should monitor for password changes on privileged accounts, changes to critical objects, the use of SIDs from disabled accounts, and Access Control List (ACL) changes.

These events are subtle and could easily go unnoticed unless the team actively watches for them. For this reason, many organisations choose to set up SIEM rules to look for specific line items in an audit log and then raise an alert when spotting suspicious activity.

Alternatively, the security team can take advantage of an array of modern assessment and attack detection tools that are currently on the market to enhance their security posture. These tools can automatically increase visibility into potential exposures and monitor for known warning signs to mitigate attacks before they occur.

This approach reduces the workload for security team members. As modern networks become increasingly complex and the number of human and machine identities skyrocket, automation is fast becoming the only practical and reliable way to protect AD.

An organisation can identify an AD attack early in the process by implementing identity exposure visibility and monitoring tools and taking an automated approach to detection. There is always the risk of an attack, but these tools reduce the attack surface, close exposure gaps, and significantly enhance a security teams ability to respond effectively.
Today

A few passing clouds. Low 58F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 58F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.

Tomorrow

A few clouds from time to time. High 86F. WNW winds at 5 to 10 mph, increasing to 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
Officers on horseback guard the entrance to designated demonstrator areas near Riverbend Maximum Security Institution as people wait to enter before the scheduled execution of inmate Oscar Smith, Thursday, April 21, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued a statement Thursday saying he was granting a temporary reprieve to Smith, a 72-year-old inmate.
President Joe Biden speaks Friday, April 22, 2022, at Green River College in Auburn, Wash., south of Seattle. President Joe Biden is announcing that he has granted the first three pardons of his term. In one case he is providing clemency to a Kennedy-era Secret Service agent convicted of trying to sell a copy of an agency file.
Staff Writer

Jonathan Roberts is a reporter and photographer for the Johnson City Press covering Jonesborough, healthcare and higher education. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and has been with the Press since 2019.


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I had a lot of pain last night, Eshetu Alemu coughed, but I will try to be present during the entire day. The 68-year-old Ethiopian-Dutchman has terminal lung cancer and he attended his trial via video link from prison. A convicted war criminal, he wants his entire 2017 life sentence  for 75 murders, 6 cases of torture and 320 arbitrary detentions in cruel and degrading circumstances between February and December 1978 in the cities of Debre Markos and Metekel  quashed. He regrets that all these things happened. But he maintains he was never at any crime scene.

On 19 April, Alemu heard his Dutch lawyer plead his case. We have to separate facts from fiction, began Sander Arts. He claimed all testimonial evidence was riddled with hearsay, collusion and inconsistencies. The witnesses mistook the identity of his client, Arts argued: There were are least three Eshetu Alemus at the time! Moreover, he added, the many documents in the gigantic casefile are contaminated. He questioned how Alemus signature  if even his  had landed on death reports. And he concluded by contending that Alemu himself was a victim of a deadly Communist regime which had dragged Ethiopia into the abyss.

From poetry to Avenger

Picture of Eshetu Alemu as a Derg member at the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum in Addis-Ababa.  Thijs Bouwknegt

Alemu was the 49th member of the Derg, a military cabal that took power after the 1974 revolution and dethronement of Africas last emperor, Haile Selassie. In March 1977, the juntas leader, Mengistu Haile Mariam, proclaimed the Qey Shibir (the Red Terror). The campaign was designed to crush any suspected supporter of the juntas main socialist rival, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Party (EPRP). Kebele militia and police conducted raids in the cities. At so-called exposure meetings, students, teachers and workers were forced to confess they were counterrevolutionaries. Makeshift prisons swelled. Corpses were displayed on Addis Ababas streets.

A former private like his father, who had fought against the Italian fascist invaders in the mid-1930s, Alemu joined the student movement and became a passionate disciple of Mengistu. He liked poetry, drama and theatre, but found most solace in Karl Marxs writings. A talented orator, Alemu described himself as a propagandist and educator. At the Red Terrors peak however, he was assistant to Melaku Teferra, a ruthless administrator  known as the butcher  in Gondar province. And from 1978, Alemu was sent to Gojam province as chairman of the Coordinating Council of the Revolutionary Campaign  a fact he admits.

Witnesses remembered Alemu as a young viceroy, who ran and ordered anti-revolutionary operations and measures from an old palace in Gojams administrative capital and university town, Debre Markos. Although armed conflict raged elsewhere in the country  Tigray, Eritrea, Ogaden, Oromia , Gojam was mainly the theatre of political persecution of EPRP associates. Some 321 people, mostly students  some just 12-years-old  were arbitrarily detained in late February 1978. Many ended up in a camp called Demmelash (Avenger).

Conditions in Demmelashs unsanitary dark rooms were miserable. Unpalatable food, filthy water and no medicine caused diseases. Prisoners were shackled together during sleepless nights; many were whipped with spoons; others were suspended in the air, with their hands and feet tied together. And on at least one night, on 14 August 1978, 70 prisoners were taken to the prisons church, where they were forced to kneel, their necks tied together with ropes and strangled. Some still alive, they were buried in a mass grave dug by non-political prisoners.

Judge and executioner

Alemu never expected justice to catch up with him. He held a diplomatic post in Bulgaria before settling in the Netherlands in 1990, right before Mengistus regime was overthrown. He learned Dutch, obtained citizenship and interned at a university medical centre. For years he worked as a security guard  including at Schiphol Airport and the prestigious Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The feathers of his secluded new life were only briefly ruffled in 1998, when Dutch journalist Judith Neurink exposed him as a torturer living next door who had been both a judge and executioner. The article featured pictures of death lists with his notes on it, but sparked no judicial inquiry.

Alemus in absentia prosecution by Ethiopias Special Prosecutors Office (SPO)  a transitional justice mechanism set up in 1992 to record the Dergs atrocities and put its leadership on trial  also went unnoticed in the Netherlands. During his first trial in Ethiopia in 1998, relating to 10 massacres throughout Gojam, witnesses testified about Alemu overseeing people being buried alive and kicked to death. While in 2000 he was sentenced to death for the murders, Alemu  alongside Mengistu and dozens of other Derg officials  was additionally convicted for his part in a genocidal plan to destroy opposition groups (in Ethiopia, the genocide law also protects political groups).

Only in 2009 would Alemu appear on the radar of the Dutch International Crimes Unit. Until his arrest in 2015, investigators tailed Alemu, tracking his movements, wire-tapping his phone and even communicating with him through a police informant. In Ethiopia, they obtained photographs of Alemus SPO files and copies of death lists. With Ethiopia barring access to the investigators (they wanted him extradited, not tried elsewhere), the Dutch followed leads into the diaspora community: first in the Netherlands, and later in the US and Canada, where 20 Ethiopian refugees were questioned. Most witnesses were victims and some put Alemu at the helm of atrocities in Gojam. Like Alemu, they too had never expected to come before a Dutch court.

No repentance

The Hagues Palace of Justice is a busy courthouse. The atmosphere is casual. On the floor where the Appeals Court sat, a radio at an ushers booth played Dire Straits Sultans of Swing. Outside the court chamber, in the communal waiting area, there was a strange rendez-vous of prosecutors, Alemus lawyer, victims counsels and a police investigator. Nestled together in a corner, sitting on uncomfortable wooden seats, gathered four of Alemus victims.

On 13 April they had their day in court. They had already testified in 2017 (and as injured parties they were awarded  226,89 compensation for immaterial damages), and this time they had their lawyer Barbara van Straaten read their statements  in the first person. On the far right, wearing sunglasses, sat Sebene Ademe. During the first trial she had shown the judges and Alemu a picture of her brother who had been disappeared and murdered in the late 1970s. She still carries the picture with her. Listening to her lawyer, she wiped tears from her cheeks with her scarf. I have been crying for 40 years, the lawyer read from Ademes testimony. Another victim, Worku Y., testified that he was 16-years-old when he was arrested and tortured at Demmelash. He then told the court about having seen Alemu on 15 August 1978, with a smiling face, overseeing the massacre of 82 prisoners.

When the Courts president asked Alemu for his response, it was a deja-vu from the first trial  during which Alemu talked a lot, and also addressed the very same victims. These are profound, frightful events. I find it terrible what happened in Ethiopia  to me it is like a disease, like cancer, he said. For a moment Alemu seemed to begin his repentance, saying their grief is also my grief. But it was a feint: I was not there, never, when they were tortured, neither when people were put to death. What the victims say is hearsay. I am not a monster  not at all!

Once again, Alemu sparked resentment. To Sirak Asfaw, who had attended both trials since day one, it felt like Alemu was playing with the victims pains. Himself a survivor and therefore expert by experience of the Red Terror, Asfaw found Alemus response incomprehensible and very painful: It is not only an insult to the victims, to Ethiopia and to the Court, it is malicious and shows he has no remorse.

Reading under a tree

In his public profile on a Dutch employment agency, Alemu stated that colleagues and managers see me as loyal, reliable, stable, flexible, eager to learn, helpful, people-friendly, honest and a go-getter. At trial Alemu equally stressed that he is just human. Because of his health, the chamber moved its hearings on 5, 6 and 11 April (screened in the courtroom in The Hague) to prison. In the small penitentiary room stood a dull plant. Alemu, wearing jogging trousers, sat in the middle. Despite the pain in his legs, he appeared to be energetic and sharp, still  answering, in Dutch, a barrage of questions by the three judges and prosecutor Martin Witteveen, and dodging any responsibility for each charge put to him.

On the last day of his interrogation, the presiding judge was curious to know how Alemu experienced the last 6,5 years in prison. I know how it is to be in prison. As a student I served one month as well, guarded by military and I was tortured, the accused replied. In the Netherlands jailhouse he spent all his time reading his case file  which infuriated him  and underwent chemotherapy and radiation. His entire body hurts, and at times the maximum dose of morphine patches he wore felt like psychedelics: I almost went insane, and started hallucinating.

You may not survive, how do you cope with all that, mentally? the judge asked. I accept what has happened. That at a certain point I will die. He said he had no mental problems, but it saddened him to miss his children, and to have never seen his grandchildren. Suppose that you were released, what do you envisage? continued the judge. Freedom, replied Alemu, is the most important to humanity. Often, he dreams about going to the park, lying under a tree and reading a book until Id fall asleep, he said. Now, serving a life sentence, he continued, I have no dignity. The chamber then asked: Do you see a psychologist, or need one? Alemu did not hesitate: No! Only people who have problems can deal with a psychiatrist. [] I do not see a flaw in my psychiatric state.

The ticking clock

14 April was a busy day for The Hagues war crime prosecutors. In a courtroom just around the corner, they won a case before the lower court, which sentenced Abdul Razaq Rafief to 12 years imprisonment for war crimes in Afghanistan between 1983 and 1987  also committed in a prison, with similar conditions as Demmelash. For a full day, prosecutors Nicole Vogelenzang and Witteveen presented their requisitoire (closing brief). They sought a reversal of several findings and a full conviction  including for various acquittals regarding specific victims in the first instance judgement  and demanded, again, a life sentence.

The appeals case has dragged for nearly 5 years, partially because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the volatile situation in Ethiopia. But prosecutors have managed to collect additional documentary evidence (the case file holds copies of 22 letters, orders, lists and reports, each bearing Alemus name and/or autograph), hear three more witnesses and order three expert reports.

Because of Alemus condition, the prosecutors may not have expected that the appeals trial would actually take place. Now that it had come to trial, said Witteveen, they also hoped that Alemu, knowing he will not live long after the case ended, would decide to recognise what he had done and ask for forgiveness. How naive was that thought, Witteveen told the court. He and Vogelenzang were shocked that after his long detention Alemu would not come around. Pointing to a 54-page letter Alemu had sent the Court  explaining what he and the Derg had done for Ethiopia  Witteveen said this ideology was an engine of the worst and cruellest that man can bring out.

One of the largest murder trials in the Netherlands ever (only the MH-17 trial has more victims), the Alemu case is a lot to digest for the chamber. Judges are scheduled to issue their verdict on 8 June  if Alemu is still alive.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called during a visit to Russia Tuesday for Moscow and Kyiv to work together to set up aid and evacuation corridors in war-torn Ukraine.

We urgently need humanitarian corridors that are truly safe and effective, he told a press conference after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

To that end I have proposed the establishment of a humanitarian contact group bringing together the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the United Nations to look for opportunities for the opening of safe corridors, he said.

Guterres also called for an independent investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine.

I am concerned about the repeated reports of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and possible war crimes. And they require independent investigation for effective accountability, Guterres said.

Lavrov said Moscow was ready to cooperate with the United Nations to help civilians in Ukraine.

Our goals are primarily to protect the civilian population and here we are ready to cooperate with our colleagues from the UN to alleviate the plight of the civilian population, Lavrov said.

He said Russia was in favour of resolving the conflict in Ukraine with peace talks, but said it was depressing the way the Kyiv delegation and Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky behaved.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Tuesday he would back efforts by lawmakers to allow proceeds from assets seized from Russian oligarchs to go directly to war-torn Ukraine.

The first thing we have to do is freeze the assets But we would support legislation that would allow some of that money to go directly to Ukraine, he told a Senate panel during a hearing discussing his departments budget.

Garland, the countrys most senior law enforcement official, set out his position as he was being quizzed by senators about how his officials handle proceeds from recovered Russian assets.

Lawmakers decided against moving forward in early April with a bill that would have enabled the White House to liquidate Russian billionaires seized assets and turn the proceeds over to Kyiv.

The idea was scuttled when the American Civil Liberties Union said it would likely violate constitutional due-process protections as there was no mechanism for oligarchs to challenge the administrations actions in court, The Washington Post reported.

Under the legislation, the federal government would have been able to confiscate property worth more than $5 million from sanctioned Russians to be sold for cash to be transfered to Ukraine.

The White House never officially endorsed the plan but congressional aides are reportedly working on tweaks in consultation with the Treasury Department.

The US and European authorities have impounded several yachts with links to Russian tycoons since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in a bid to pressure Russian leader Vladimir Putin to pull his forces back.

The United States announced the launch last month of a multi-agency Task Force KleptoCapture to pursue corrupt Russian oligarchs and sanctions violators.

The move came after President Joe Biden, in his State of the Union speech, warned Russias billionaires that the task force would find and seize their yachts, their luxury apartments, their private jets.

We are coming for your ill-begotten gains, he said.

US and Spanish officials announced earlier this month a mega yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to Putin had been seized at the demand of the United States.

Garland condemned alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine during his testimony, denouncing images of civilians lying dead with hands bound in Bucha and the intentional bombing of civilian housing and a theater in Mariupol.

All of those pictures are just horrific and are the kinds of things anybody growing up in the 20th century never expected to see in the 21st, Garland said.
Lee Joon Gi updates fans about his health status as he officially returns to filming the new drama "Again My Life."

The 40-year-old South Korean actor has returned to the small screen after headlining the 2020 smash hit series "Flower of Evil" with Moon Chae Won, Jang Hee Jin, and Seo Hyun Woo.

From being the loving husband turned serial killer Do Hyun Soo, the versatile actor transformed into an enthusiastic prosecutor in the newest SBS series.

However, as "Again My Life" made its premiere on April 8, Lee Joon Gi tested positive for COVID-19 on April 18, which prompted the actor to cancel his scheduled activities. This includes his filming with his current drama.

Interestingly, the "Lawless Lawyer" star took to social media to update his 6.1 million followers about his health condition.

Lee Joon Gi Returns to the Set of 'Again My Life'

On Lee Joon Gi's Instagram, he shared a photo of his "Again My Life" co-stars alongside a heartfelt message for fans.

The actor expressed his gratitude to all his supporters, who wished for his speedy recovery.

"Thanks to your support, I'm coming back in good health! Thank you. I will work harder until the end to repay you. The second round of health begins," he wrote alongside emojis suggesting that he is ready for his upcoming activities, which include filming the rest of his scenes in the mystery drama.

As of this writing, Lee Joon Gi's Instagram post gained over 100,000 likes and thousands of messages from his followers.

Some expressed how they were thrilled to hear about his comeback to the filming session, while others wished the actor continued good health.

Lee Joon Gi Suffers from Mild COVID-19 Symptoms

To recall, Lee Joon Gi joins a slew of stars who tested positive for the virus amid their production.

At the time, the actor's agency, Namoo Actors, shared that he had "symptoms of poor condition" like a mild sore throat.

Due to this, he canceled all his activities to "take measures in accordance with guidelines of health authorities."

Now that Lee Joon Gi is back to "Again My Life" production, it means that the webtoon-based series is set to deliver another round of unexpected twists and turns that would keep the viewers at the edge of their seats.

Over SBS' official Instagram, the network teased fans with a sneak peek of what to expect on episode 7 airing this April 27.

Joining Lee Joon Gi in the drama are lead stars Kim Ji Eun, veteran actor Lee Kyung Young, and Jung Sang Hoon.

Viewers would catch "Again My Life" every Saturday and Sunday at 10 p.m. KST via SBS and ViuTV.

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
"The Sound of Magic" actors Ji Chang Wook and Choi Sung Eun show off their natural chemistry and undeniable visuals in an exclusive photo shoot with W Korea! In addition to that, the two stars also talked about their upcoming drama, its surprises and more!

Ji Chang Wook, Choi Sung Eun Dish Out Reasons in Choosing 'The Sound of Magic'

"The Sound of Magic" is Netflix's newest fantasy series that depicts the magical story of magician Lee Eul (Ji Chang Wook) who appears in Yoon Ah Yi's (Choi Sung Eun) life and encourages her to dream.

Ahead of its magical release, the two actors posed and smiled for the camera in a photo shoot with W Korea Magazine. Ji Chang Wook and Choi Sung Eun also introduced their drama, their thoughts and more!

Ji Chang Wook reveals that "The Sound of Magic" reminds him of a tough part in his life that was difficult to handle. He said, "Yoon Ah Yi's struggles remind me of what I went through, so I chose this drama to show that it'll be okay one day."

Meanwhile, Choi Sung Eun admits that she chose the drama because of her fascination with Yoon Ah Yi.

"I want the world to know Yoon Ah Yi's story and how she rose despite being in a slump for a long time," the actress said. "I want the people of this generation to see the touching elements of Yoon Ah Yi and Lee Eul's beautiful story."

What To Expect From Ji Chang Wook, Choi Sung Eun, 'The Sound of Magic'

The actors talked about their beloved characters in the drama, and shared how they resonate with each other.

Ji Chang Wook focused on his tone, manners and body languages in order to perfectly display Lee Eul's magical personality.

Although he finds it quite comical, he calms himself down, saying, "I act or speak like this because it's Lee Eul."

On the other hand, Choi Sung Eun shared that she learned how to talk about her feelings and emotions, thanks to her new starring role.

"I find it difficult to communicate, but gradually, I learned how to improve myself," she said. "After slowly changing myself for the better, I became happier. This helped a lot in preparing for my role, since Yoon Ah Yi's emotions are quite intense like me."

In addition to that, the two actors spoke about how Choi Sung Eun cried on the last day of filming. Ji Chang Wook revealed that he cries easily, but he didn't shed a tear on set.

Ji Chang Wook, Choi Sung Eun Dish Out Thoughts on New Major Acting Roles

Ji Chang Wook describes Lee Eul, his character, as someone who views the world innocently.

"If you look at the world with an innocent perspective, it's easy to get hurt for no reason," he elaborated. "I hope Lee Eul lives without getting hurt all of a sudden like that."

Choi Sung Eun added that Lee Eul is someone whom Yoon Ah Yi, her character, is grateful for.

Lee Eul made Yoon Ah Yi realize many things that she tried to push away in her life. In particular, Lee Eul helped her start dreaming for things once again.

"I hope this child [Yoon Ah Yi] lives without giving up on her dreams, even when life throws hurdles and hardships her way," Choi Sung Eun concluded.

Furthermore, Ji Chang Wook and Choi Sung Eun's "The Sound of Magic" is scheduled to air on May 6 on Netflix!

ICYMI, watch the magical teaser of the drama here:

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
FILE - Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, with Princess of Asturias Leonor, back left, and Sofia, at the end of Princess of Asturias Awards, in Oviedo, northern Spain, Friday Oct. 18, 2019. The Spanish government is set to pass a decree Tuesday aimed at boosting transparency in a monarchy still reeling from scandals involving King Felipe VI's father, Juan Carlos. The move comes a day after Felipe made public his personal assets of 2.6 million euros ($2.8 million) for the first time ever. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos, File)
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Recent world events including Brexit, Covid-19 and the conflict in Ukraine have all influenced the various sectors within the agricultural industry, and will likely continue to do so, as the world tries to cope with the rising cost of raw materials and key inputs such as fertiliser and feed.

As we approach silage season, CEO of the Farm Tractor Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) Michael Farrelly and Agriland journalist Richard Halleron, come together in the latest episode of Farmland, to discuss how all of this has affected the machinery world.

They present a positive outlook in the short-term, but also warn of potential price hikes in the longer term as energy and fuel costs continue to soar.

Later in the episode, Agriland editor Stella Meehan is joined by Alice Doyle, chair of the Irish Farmers Association Farm Family and Social Affairs Committee. Doyle speaks frankly about how farm families are being affected in numerous ways by the ongoing inputs crisis from the farmyard to the kitchen table.

Doyle warns of difficulties around school fees, grocery and household bills and emphasises how this stress can impact farmers wellbeing.

Farmland will broadcast at 7pm tonight (April 26), and may be watched fortnightly on Tuesday evenings at the same time.

All episodes can be streamed via the award-winning digital platform, agriland.ie and links will also be available across Agriland social media platforms. Farmland Extra  the podcast is also available on all major podcast platforms.
Taiwan records 5,108 new local COVID-19 cases, home quarantine shortened

Xinhua) 11:26, April 26, 2022

TAIPEI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan recorded 5,221 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, including 5,108 locally transmitted cases and 113 imported ones, the island's disease monitoring agency said on Monday.

The agency announced that from Tuesday on, the duration of home quarantine for close contacts will be shortened from 10 days to 3 days.

Currently there are about 87,000 residents in Taiwan practicing home isolation.

The agency also said that the travel records of the confirmed cases would no longer be published.

To date, Taiwan has reported 61,686 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 51,170 were local infections, according to the agency.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
John Sumwalt is a retired pastor and the son of dairy farmers. He's the author of Vision Stories and How to Preach the Miracles. Email johnsumwalt@gmail.com or call 414-339-0676 to reach him.
Vice President Kamala Harris, seen here in Selma, Alabama on March 6, has tested positive for Covid-19.




By Lee Min-hyung







Hana Bank became the first Korean commercial bank to establish a branch in Taiwan, opening an office in Taipei on Monday aiming to tap into the country's investment banking market, the lender said.







Hana Bank is now the only lender here with a financial network in Korea's 10 major trading partners including China, the United States and Vietnam.







In June last year, Hana Bank received a license from Taiwan's financial authority to operate a sales office there. The license allows the lender to operate local currency-based corporate financing and retail banking businesses there.







The lender's Taipei office will serve as a key financial base for Hana to widen its corporate financing business in Asia. The office will also help Korean companies operating businesses there to receive the bank's diverse corporate-level financial services with more ease, according to the lender.







Hana aims to increase its foothold in Taiwan's public infrastructure market such as aviation, railroad and energy by offering a diverse set of corporate financing services for potential clients there.







This is also in line with Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo's global vision of turning the lender into Asia's largest financial group.







"The opening of the Taipei office is meaningful, as the prolonged COVID-19 shock has caused difficulties in doing business here and abroad," Lee Jong-seung, vice president of global business at Hana Bank, said. "We are going to provide an advanced level of financial services to local citizens as well as Korean companies there."







Hana Bank is one of the most globally-active commercial banks here with sales offices in 25 countries. The lender is also preparing to apply for a license to operate an offshore banking business there to increase its presence in international finance.


By Lionel Laurent



In 2017, France bucked the populist trend by voting for Emmanuel Macron against europhobic Marine Le Pen. In 2022, it has done so again  just as Slovenia looks set to eject its nationalist leader.



An overwhelming display of pro-EU values? Not quite. Macron's lead is narrower than last time  around 58 percent, rather than 66 percent  and turnout was at its lowest in decades. Voter fatigue runs high.



Yet visions of an anti-elite "domino" effect after Brexit and Trump are increasingly fading in a post-Ukraine, post-COVID world. The French have voted for a France at the heart, not the fringes, of Europe  albeit one that has to better protect its people.



There is opportunity here for Macron. France has strategic weight as the EU's only nuclear power, with an economy that's outperforming Germany's and that is less dependent on Russian gas in a time of war and surging energy prices. But it needs better direction.



The banker-turned-president knows he has to change his governing style at home. His liberal reform agenda is no longer in tune with French support for an enlarged post-COVID state, and will require cooperation with rival parties and trade unions, and burnished green and left-wing credentials.



Even if voters ultimately rejected Le Pen's call for a shredding of European cooperation and a rapprochement with Russia, her economically left-wing campaign earned her a better score than in 2017. An estimated 17 percent of far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon's first-round voters backed her in the runoff, according to Ipsos.



Macron's recent talking points and victory speech reflect a willingness to build a bigger political tent. Provided he navigates the next few months with the right government in tow, he should be able to cobble together a (likely reduced) majority after parliamentary elections in June. Saxo Bank's Christopher Dembik reckons there's a less-than 25 percent chance he'll fail to do so.



While no guarantee against protests or strikes, securing a majority or coalition would lessen the chance of legislative gridlock at a time when France is juggling a debt-to-GDP load of 113 percent and is under pressure to improve pay and performance in sectors like health and education.



On the European stage, Macron will also have to strike a new balance of humility and outreach. Unity on sanctions against Russia is fraying, more EU members are set to join NATO (which he once called "brain-dead") and the political center of gravity is shifting eastward, where Paris has in the past failed to build diplomatic capital. The climate transition, regulating tech platforms and closing corporate-tax loopholes are other items on the agenda.



Here too, there's an opportunity. France's geopolitical weight is vital to bolstering a pro-Ukraine stance when it comes to supporting Kyiv financially and militarily, as well as cutting European reliance on Russian oil and gas. Paris's ability to prod Berlin on these issues will be vital, given that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz  the first foreign leader to call Macron after re-election  is under pressure from his coalition to take a clearer line on Vladimir Putin.



Unpicking the region's energy ties while simultaneously ramping up its defense capabilities will bring costs. A reelected Macron should use his political momentum to recapture the spirit of the EU's $1 trillion pandemic recovery plan and push for more spending and solidarity via joint borrowing, as previously proposed in partnership with Italy's Mario Draghi.



French far-right and far-left parties aren't going anywhere, meanwhile. They will likely command a bigger political presence as two of three big voting blocs (alongside Macron's centrists) emerging from the rubble of 20th-century Left-Right divides. With Macron unable to serve a third term, the risk of another polarizing standoff in 2027 remains.



Still, Le Pen faces serious pressures of her own, according to Catherine Fieschi, director of Counterpoint. Le Pen bet the farm on a normalization strategy that excised the toxic policy of Frexit and airbrushed her party's fascist past in favor of cat videos and budget giveaways. Her score just above 40 percent suggests that, failing a surprise outperformance in June, she has peaked as a presidential contender.



Macron has made history as the first French president to win reelection since 2002. Despite evidence of deep cracks in society, and a reluctance to embrace the president's pitch for a liberal "revolution," that still means something. If he fails to deliver on his promise of more protection at home and more projection abroad, it will be a huge missed opportunity.





Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the European Union and France. He worked previously at Reuters and Forbes. This article was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.






Outgoing President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday the government of incoming President Yoon Suk-yeol should work with the United States to restart talks with North Korea, voicing concern over Pyongyang's continued testing of weapons, including an intercontinental ballistic missile.



Moon, who is set to leave office on May 9, made the remarks during a JTBC TV interview broadcast after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatened to bolster the country's nuclear arsenal while showcasing a "giant" intercontinental ballistic missile during a military parade held Monday.





President Moon Jae-in
By Carl Bildt





STOCKHOLM  While the likely outcome of Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine remains unclear, Russia's aggression has already changed the European security order in important ways. The only modern European historical comparison is Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939. Both cases involved large-scale unprovoked attacks on a neighboring country with the aim of eliminating it. Hitler refused to accept the existence of an independent Poland; Putin refuses to accept the reality of an independent Ukraine.



Putin's invasion came as a profound shock to European governments. Most European leaders had played down U.S. warnings about an imminent attack, reasoning that although Putin can be unpredictable, he was unlikely to do anything so irrational. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell had received fairly rough treatment on his first visit to Moscow in early 2021; but most European governments still believed that diplomacy could produce a more stable relationship.



That illusion was shattered on Feb. 24, which has become Europe's 9/11: a global and geopolitical wake-up call with two main consequences. First, military spending will increase across Europe. After years of foot-dragging, almost all European NATO members have suddenly aligned with the goal of spending at least 2 percent of GDP on defense. Europe's largest economy, Germany, will add the equivalent of 0.5 percent of GDP to its defense spending in just one year.



Second, NATO will be strengthened in several ways. In addition to increasing its military presence in member states adjacent to Russia, the alliance is poised to add Finland and Sweden to its ranks. Both have developed their relations with NATO since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and incursions into eastern Ukraine, but now they will take the critical step of applying for formal membership.



Feb. 24 created an entirely new security situation for Finland and Sweden, because it demonstrated overnight that Russia is in the hands of a regime that will use military force to impose its imperial designs on Europe. Since Finland fought a war with the Soviet Union in 1939-40 and had been a part of the Russian Empire for a century before 1917, the invasion of Ukraine immediately convinced its leaders to seek NATO membership.



Finland's own fragile arrangement with the Soviet Union, and later with Russia, was one of the main reasons why Sweden, too, stayed out of NATO. Following the accession of Norway and Denmark to the alliance in the late 1940s, Sweden pursued a Cold War policy of neutrality supported by strong defense forces.



After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland and Sweden joined the European Union in 1995 and gradually deepened their defense cooperation with NATO, and thus with the United States. Full NATO membership was regarded as a potential option for some later date. But although Finnish and Swedish public opinion had become slightly more receptive to the idea, majorities were still skeptical or opposed.



But Feb. 24 tipped the balance. While there are still domestic political processes to work through, it is now virtually certain that both countries will submit applications for membership well before the NATO summit in Madrid in late June. Public opinion has changed dramatically in recent weeks. In Sweden, all major political parties, except for the former Communist party and the dwindling Green Party, now favor membership; in Finland, all political parties from the right to the left have signaled their support. We are witnessing a political sea change, all owing to Putin's imperial delirium.



Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO will alter the European security architecture in two important ways. First, northern Europe will acquire the capacity to coordinate substantial defense forces regionwide. Sweden and Finland will furnish NATO with important new capabilities, as already demonstrated by the regular air force training exercises that they hold with Norway. Moreover, NATO will have a greater capacity to control the Baltic Sea, and thus to support the defense of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.



Second, Swedish and Finnish membership will reinforce the European pillar within NATO. Both countries are proponents of developing the EU's defense and security dimension, and of strengthening transatlantic ties, including the important security relationship with the United Kingdom. While NATO will remain the primary guarantor of territorial defense, the EU  with its broader policy arsenal  will become an increasingly important security alliance, and coordination between the two will deepen.



An important development to watch will be Denmark's June 1 referendum to lift restrictions on the country's participation in EU security and defense policies. These constraints are remnants of controversies from the early 1990s, and Denmark  along with Sweden  has already committed to increasing its defense expenditure to 2 percent of GDP.



Taken together, these steps will substantially strengthen the entire Nordic-Baltic region's defense potential. A stronger defense will remain crucial as long as the Kremlin remains on its current course. But northern Europeans also must take care not to provoke Russia, which has important resources and economic hubs close to Sweden and Finland. St. Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and a major industrial zone; and the Kola Peninsula is the site of Russian submarine bases and other facilities, as well as the world's single-largest concentration of nuclear weapons.



Russian leaders describe their imperial project as a "life or death struggle." Taking that characterization seriously, Finland and Sweden no longer view NATO membership as a strategic choice. Since Feb. 24, it has become an existential imperative.





Carl Bildt is a former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden. This article was distributed by Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).


Korea should shift to non-memory semiconductors



Since the U.S.-China trade conflict began to escalate, Korea has been suffering from the largest setback in the shipment of semiconductors among major exporters, according to a report released by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI). More specifically, since the United States regulated the supply of semiconductors to China in 2018, the U.S. market shares of Taiwan and Japan have increased by 4.4 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points as of 2021. However, that of Korea decreased by 5.5 percentage points during the period.



China's semiconductor imports grew 37.2 percent last year compared to 2018, a year before Washington began to regulate the supply to Beijing. China's imports of computer chips from Taiwan and Japan jumped 57.4 percent and 34.8 percent. In contrast, imports from Korea rose only 6.5 percent. China's imports of Korean memory chips plunged 13.7 percent last year from 2018, resulting from Huawei's suspension of purchasing Korean memory chips due to the U.S. regulation and their consequent price drops.



Against this backdrop, industry experts point out that the government should actively support semiconductor companies as international competition intensifies to maintain a "super-gap" with foreign competitors. According to another FKI survey on the proportion of government subsidies among the revenues of 21 global semiconductor makers from 2014 to 2018, Chinese companies took the top three posts  SMIC (6.6 percent), Hua Hong (5 percent), and Tsinghua Unigroup (4 percent). On the other hand, the corresponding shares were negligible in Korean companies, as shown by Samsung Electronics (0.8 percent) and SK hynix (0.5 percent).



The incoming government plans to promote the non-memory semiconductor industry as a way of supporting the domestic industry to widen gaps with latecomers. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration is expected to make Korea emerge as the world's powerhouse by creating a non-memory semiconductor ecosystem through extensive investments into chip foundries and fabless chip companies. However, experts point out that Korea will have a tough time becoming a global power in the non-memory semiconductor sector using the existing method, calling for a breakthrough. We hope the next government will accomplish this "mission impossible" by helping to create the world's No. 1 non-memory semiconductor ecosystem.








Finland and Sweden will together express their wish to join NATO in May, tabloid newspapers Iltalehti in Finland and Expressen in Sweden reported on Monday, citing sources close to the matter.







Despite tightening cooperation with the military alliance since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the Nordic countries had both opted to stay out. But Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a "special operation", has forced Sweden and Finland to examine whether their longstanding military neutrality is still the best means of ensuring national security.







According to Iltalehti, the leaders of Finland and Sweden plan to meet in the week of May 16 and after that publicly announce their plans to apply to join the alliance.







Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto declined to comment, but repeated his longstanding view that he would prefer Finland and Sweden made similar choices.







Swedish daily Aftonbladet reported separately, citing sources close to Swedish government offices, that the United States and Britain had promised Sweden increased military presence, more in-depth military exercises and 'strong political' support from NATO countries" during a possible NATO application process.







The Swedish foreign ministry declined to comment on Expressen's and Aftonbladet's reports.







Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin said two weeks ago, while visiting her Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson, that she expected Finland to make its decision whether to apply for NATO membership within weeks.







Stockholm is conducting a review of security policy, which includes a view on possible NATO membership, with the results due by mid-May.







Separately, Sweden's ruling Social Democrats are also reviewing their long-held objection to NATO membership. That is expected at the latest by May 24. (Reuters)


Big Hit Music responds to reports of BTS member Jimin's apartment being seized.

Keep on reading to know more.

BTS Jimin's Apartment Seized Over Failure to Pay Health Insurance Premiums

Recently on April 24, an exclusive report by Korean media outlet BizKorea revealed that the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) had seized BTS member Jimin's apartment located at the Nine One Hannam in Seoul back on January 25.

According to the report, the seizure was caused by the idol not paying his health insurance premiums. Jimin had first purchased the luxurious apartment for 5.9 billion won (around $4.7 million USD) back in May of last year.

In addition, the report stated that Jimin had received four notices in separate ocassions regarding the seizure by registered mail during the time that his apartment was temporarily seized by the National Health Insurance Service.

The seizure over the BTS member's apartment was eventually lifted recently on April 22, nearly three months after the seizure was registered on January 25. He paid all of his overdue health insurance premiums.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Jimin Trends After Making Changes on BTS' Twitter, His Personal Instagram

Big Hit Music Responds to Reports of BTS Jimin's Apartment Seizure

Following the reports, Jimin's label Big Hit Music released a statement explaining the situation, which they reveal was caused due to an error made by the company.

According to Big Hit Music, the label is the first to receive all the mail that arrives at their artists' dorms, and a portion of the mail was left out by mistake in the process of giving it to Jimin.

Hence, due to Jimin's schedules abroad and his extended period of rest, Jimin was unaware of the situation, but immediately paid the insurance in full after finding out.

Read Big Hit Music's full statement here:

"In regards to the matter, the company is the first receive all of the mail that arrives at the artists' dorms, and in the process of relaying the mails to the artist, a portion of it was omitted by mistake. Due to Jimin's activites overseas beginning at the end of last year, his extended period of rest, and subsequently his scheduled activities overseas after that, he was unaware of matters such as [his premiums] being overdue. As soon as Jimin found out, he paid the arrears in full, and the situation has been resolved at present. Due to the company's negligence, we apologize for the fact that we have given the artist and fans a cause for concern."

Meanwhile, BTS recently concluded their successful four-night "Permission to Dance On Stage" concert in Las Vegas. More recently, Jimin released his first-ever official soundtrack, "With You," alongside long-time close friend Ha Sung Woon for the tvN drama "Our Blues" on April 24.

For more K-Pop news and updates, always keep your tabs open here on KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Robyn Joan
Social media auditor SPEAKRJ has revealed the approximate cost for the BTS members on Instagram.

Keep on reading to know who earns the most.

How Much Do BTS Members Earn on Instagram? SPEAKRJ Reveals Estimate

On April 23, SPEAKRJ revealed the number of likes, engagement, and the estimation of BTS members' earning value per sponsored post on their respective Instagram profiles.

SPEAKRJ is a social media auditor that analyzes, optimizes, and monitors the growth of people's social media accounts, including Instagram.

ALSO READ: BTS V Earns New Title Over This Instagram Post That Garnered 19M Likes

Only the results for Jungkook, Suga, Jin, V, Jimin, and J-Hope were revealed. The income, likes, and engagement of RM (@rkive) were difficult to determine as he hid the number of likes on his Instagram account.

Among the six BTS members, V (@thv) has the highest estimated cost on Instagram.

SPEAKRJ unveiled that he could earn from $64,000 to $773,000 because he has 32% engagement and gains 12.9 million likes on average per post.

V's highest pay, which is $773,000, is not only the biggest amount among BTS members, but also among Korean celebrities and among popular stars around the world.

This figure was enough for BTS V, also known as Kim Taehyung, to surpass international celebrities, such as Zendaya ($528,000), Kylie Jenner ($514,000), Cristiano Ronaldo ($451,000), Kendal Jenner ($362,000), Leo Messi ($308,000), and Selena Gomez ($226,000), and more.

The BTS member with the second-highest estimated cost is Jimin (@j.m), who has 38% engagement and 12.8 million average likes. He gains $63,000 to $761,000.

Next is Jungkook (@jungkook.97), who has 32% engagement on Instagram and 12 million average likes. His income starts at $60,000 and can go high up to $725,000.

After Jungkook is Suga (@agustd), who earns from $54,000 to $644,000 on Instagram thanks to his 33% engagement and 10.7 million likes on average.

The fifth-highest earner on Instagram among BTS members is Jin (@jin). With 32% engagement and 10.6 million average likes, his earnings could go from $53,000 to $638,000.

Finally, J-Hope (@uarmyhope) has 23% engagement on Instagram and 7.8 million likes on average. He earns from $38,000 to $462,000 per sponsored post.

Considering how popular the BTS members are all over the world, it's no surprise that they earn this much just through their respective Instagram accounts.

BTS Earns Two New RIAJ Certifications in Streaming Category

In other news, BTS has received two more streaming certifications from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).

On April 25, the RIA revealed the batch of certifications (dated March 2022), and BTS was one of the K-pop artists with new certification for streaming, along with BLACKPINK and Kep1er.

According to the list, two BTS songs have both been certified gold in Japan, particularly "MIC DROP" and "DOPE." A gold certification is given to a song that has surpassed 50 million streams in the country.

BLACKPINK also earned two gold streaming certifications for "As If It's Your Last" (Korean version) and "Ice Cream."

Meanwhile, Kep1er attained their first-ever RIAJ gold certification with their debut song "WA DA DA."

Congratulations to BTS, BLACKPINK and Kep1er!

For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article

Written by Maria Scott
Artist, author and art instructor David Becker will give a live painting demonstration at the Geneva Lake Arts Foundations Gallery 223 on Thursday, April 28 at 7 p.m.

The gallery is located at 223 Broad St., in Downtown Lake Geneva. Beckers demo is free and open to the public.

The award-winning Becker works in many mediums, including watercolors, oils, and acrylics, but he is mostly recognized for his watercolor scenes of Chicago. His work can be found hanging in homes and businesses throughout Chicago. He is the author of Watercolor Composition Made Easy and How to Sketch with Watercolor.

The Geneva Lake Arts Foundations mission is to encourage individual artistic growth and excellence, as well as increase community exposure to the visual arts.

Basic artist membership is $50 yearly and includes opportunities to show work in the gallery, have a presence on the website and network with other artists.

Gallery 223 is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

For more information about the foundation and gallery, or to apply for membership, visit www.genevalakeartsfoundation.org.
This spring has felt more like winter, which may be appropriate considering that the Lake Geneva Business Improvement District is already discussing possible changes to this years Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

Traditionally, Business Improvement District representatives select a tree from an area residents property to be cut down, transported to Flat Iron Park to be lit up to serve as the communitys Christmas tree for the holiday season.

Officials from the Business Improvement District are planning on changing course this year and lighting up trees near the Andy Gump statue in Flat Iron Park to serve as Lake Genevas Christmas trees.

Members of the Business Improvement District Board discussed the tree lighting change and other proposed holiday decorations during their April 14 meeting.

The trees by the Andy Gump statue, thats going to be our Christmas tree rather than cutting trees down, Dimitri Anagnos, Business Improvement District board member, said.

The communitys holiday tree is typically installed in the Brunk Pavilion at Flat Iron Park, but members of the Business Improvement District board are considering having a sleigh or a selfie station installed in the pavilion instead.

Kristina Tarantino, event director for the Business Improvement District, said they could have reindeer stationed at the sleigh during the tree-lighting ceremony or holiday-related events.

So we will have that, Tarantino said. We book them for two days. They wont be there the whole time.

Kevin Hermann, co-owner of Treasure Hut Flowers in Delavan, said his company could build a sleigh for the holiday events.

You can have metal rungs and make a really nice-looking sleigh thats outdoors, Hermann said. It can be oversized, so you can put lights on it.

The Business Improvement District Board members also are considering lighting up the other trees and installing a lighted sign in Flat Iron Park for the holiday season.

District officials had a lighted joy sign installed in the park during last years holiday season, but it had to be moved from its initial location, because they did not obtain the proper city permits before the sign was installed.

The proposed light for this years holiday season could be a sign welcoming people to Lake Geneva.

Hermann said the welcome sign could be between 25 feet to 30 feet long.

It would say, Lake Geneva, but it would be huge, Hermann said. It would be cars-length huge. Theres a lot of different options.

The Business Improvement District also plans to install lights on the street posts during the holiday season. Members of the Business Improvement District Board approved spend about $34,720 to have the lights installed on the posts.

The poles will be wrapped with lights with no garland, Anagnos said.

The board members will vote on the cost for lighting the trees in Flat Iron Park and other possible decorations during an upcoming meeting.

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BURLINGTON  A now-former staff member at Dyer Elementary School has been arrested and may soon face criminal charges for alleged inappropriate contact with students.

The Burlington Area School District did not initially identify the staff member, but Tuesday afternoon Sheriff Christopher Schmaling identified him as Daniel D. Powers, a teacher's aide who had worked for BASD "for approximately 15 years."

According to an alert from the Racine County Sheriff's Office, Powers was placed on administrative leave on April 13 and "terminated" from his post on April 19.

Officials at the Burlington Area School District wrote in a letter sent to parents last week vaguely describing the allegations, stating that the then-unidentified Dyer staff member had been "invading the personal space of a student," including hugging, rubbing a students back, touching hair and pushing on a swing.

The age and sex of the student or students involved was not disclosed.

The letter signed by School Superintendent Steve Plank and Dyer Principal Scott Schimmel said the situation was reported by a student one week earlier. An investigation found that the staff employee's behavior was "not appropriate for an elementary school setting," officials said.

"We take great pride in offering an environment that supports learning and is safe for everyone," the letter stated. "Our school is a small, compassionate community with committed staff and students who care about each other."

Dyer Elementary, located at 201 S. Kendrick Ave., serves students in pre-kindergarten through 5th grade.

Officials urged all families to talk with their children about protecting their personal space and preventing unwanted touching by adults they may not know well.

Powers was arrested Monday, according to the RCSO, and is being held at Racine County Jail. The Sheriff's Office has recommended charges including three counts of repeated sexual assault of a child and three counts of misconduct in office, all felonies.

The Sheriff's Office reported that its investigation began Monday, April 18, when contacted by a parent. "The parent reported multiple instances of inappropriate conduct by a Teachers Aide  included (sic) physical contact with students  during the 2021-2022 school year," Tuesday's alert said.

To contact RCSO Investigator Andrew Willis, who is leading the investigation, call 262-636-3323 or email andrew.willis@racinecounty.com.

In a statement, Schmaling said There is nothing more precious than the innocence of a child, and I pledge that I will bring the full force of the Sheriffs Office to investigate every and all allegations of inappropriate conduct with children so that the perpetrator, if guilty, can be brought to justice and duly held accountable.

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A proposal for year-round paid parking in the City of Lake Geneva has officially been given a red light.

City officials had proposed to implement year-round paid parking to help provide additional revenue for Lake Geneva. The citys paid parking period runs from Feb. 1 through mid-November, then free parking is offered from mid-November to the end of January of the following year.

The cost to park in Downtown Lake Geneva is $2 an hour.

Members of the Lake Geneva City Council unanimously approved, April 25, to maintain the citys current paid parking period and to not implement year-round paid parking.

The city councils finance, licensing & regulation committee approved to not implement year-round paid parking, April 6.

Alderwoman Shari Straube, who previously owned a Downtown business, said she is pleased that the city will maintain its free parking period, because it helps attract people to the Downtown area during the winter months.

Having spent over 20 years working in Downtown retail businesses, it really does help the Downtown businesses, Straube said. People come to town because they know theres free parking. The customers appreciate it, and I know a lot of the Downtown businesses are very, very happy about this.

Straube said she had talked with Parking Operations Manager Seth Elder who said enforcing year-round paid parking would cost the city about $100,000, but he is not certain how much money the city would gain in revenue.

Thats a definite because those numbers are easy to calculate, whereas how many people would actually come to town during the winter is not as easy to calculate, Straube said. So whether or not it would be a profit, we cant say.

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Emergency crews responded to two fires that occurred in the Lake Geneva area this past weekend.

Representatives from the Town of Lyons Fire Department responded to a house fire that occurred about 5:56 p.m., April 24 in the 1400 block of Park Street in the Town of Lyons.

When firefighters arrived to the scene, they noticed smoke and flames coming from the rear of a mobile home, according to a press release that was posted on the departments Facebook page.

The Lyons Fire Command requested mutual aid for other local fire departments to respond. The fire was eventually extinguished, according to the press release.

The fire began in the homes mechanical room, but a cause was not determined as of April 26. The fire does not appear to be suspicious in nature, according to the press release.

Another fire occurred about 8:02 p.m., April 23 in the 1000 block of North Street in the City of Lake Geneva.

When firefighters from the Lake Geneva Fire Department arrived to the scene, they noticed smoke coming from the second floor and the eaves of the building. The fire was located in the second-floor walls and attic space, according to a press release.

The fire department called for mutual aid to receive assistance from other area fire departments, with about 40 firefighters responding to the scene.

Five residents were displaced because of the fire, because there were no reported injuries, the press release said. The building had significant damage from fire, smoke and water.

Crews completed their work at midnight. The cause of the fire was still under investigation as of April 26.

On duty shift personnel were in quarters at the time of the call, and the fire was only a couple of blocks away from the station, Captain Ryan Derrick, incident commander for the Lake Geneva Fire Department, said in the press release. This enabled us to make a quick response. The work of all fire personnel limited the damage to the building. This fire as a reminder to having working smoke detectors at all times, as well as an evacuation plan for every home.
The ongoing review into Wisconsins 2020 election appears poised to continue beyond the end of its latest contract extension, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said following growing pressure among some Republicans, including Donald Trump, to keep the GOP-ordered probe alive.

Vos, who had previously indicated plans to begin wrapping up Michael Gablemans review by the time his contract expires on Saturday, issued a statement Tuesday that Gablemans office will remain open as we guarantee the legal power of our legislative subpoenas and get through the other lawsuits that have gridlocked this investigation.

We are grateful for Justice Gablemans offer to reduce his salary as we are all concerned about the judicious use of taxpayers dollars, said Vos, R-Rochester. Our intention is to remain within the original budget allocated for the investigation.

Vos did not say what Gablemans reduced pay will entail or provide further details on the new agreement. The former justice has been receiving $11,000 a month for his work as part of the $676,000 taxpayer-funded review. Vos spokesperson Angela Joyce said the details of Gablemans new agreement are being finalized. Gableman has missed multiple deadlines to conclude the review since it launched last year, prompting a bipartisan call from some state lawmakers for him to wrap up the probe.

Vos comments come one day after Assembly elections committee chair Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, issued a statement urging him to keep Gablemans review open. Gableman told former Trump adviser Steve Bannon earlier this month that Vos staff had notified him of plans to dismantle his Brookfield office by the end of April.

If Speaker Vos shuts down the Office of Special Counsels investigation now, not only will he be condoning cheating, hell be legalizing it, Brandtjen said.

A recount, court decisions and multiple reviews have affirmed that President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. Only 24 people out of nearly 3.3 million who cast ballots have been charged with election fraud in Wisconsin.

Trump, who has continued to make unfounded claims of election fraud, also issued a statement Monday directed at RINOs, an acronym for Republican in Name Only. The statement does not directly name Vos.

Anyone calling themselves a Republican in Wisconsin should support the continued investigation in Wisconsin without interference, Trump said. After all of the evidence the report brought to light, how could anyone want to stop it? I understand some RINOs have primary challengers in Wisconsin. Im sure their primary opponents would get a huge bump in the polls if these RINOs interfere.

Media reports and the statement put out by Representative Brandtjen were incorrect, Vos said Tuesday.

The offices for Gableman and Brandtjen did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Focus pivots

Vos hired Gableman last year to lead the review at a cost of $676,000 in taxpayer funds, but said earlier this month he would like to see the effort come to a conclusion in the near future.

As weve said before, the investigation will now turn its focus to resolving the lawsuits that have been brought against our efforts by liberal activists, Vos said on April 8. We hope to have Justice Gableman help us do that so we can once again focus on reforming the election process.

After extending Gablemans contract through the end of April, Vos later said he was considering rescinding subpoenas issued by the former justice so that a Republican attorney general if elected in November could file criminal charges against the subpoenaed individuals, though he did not provide specifics on what charges could be pursued. The latest contract maintains Gablemans existing budget, but does allow for the possibility of added funds to cover the costs of legal battles related to the probe.

Gableman has pushed back against withdrawing his subpoenas, which he wants to see pursued in court. He has issued subpoenas to local and state election officials, the mayors of the states five largest cities and two companies that make vote-counting systems, Election Systems & Software and Dominion Voting Systems. Many of the subpoenaed parties have rejected Gablemans requests for in-person meetings or documents, while the former state Supreme Court justice has also withdrawn some requests, including one filed with immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera Action.

Legal challenges

Gablemans subpoenas have been met with a slew of legal challenges, with Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filing a lawsuit in October challenging Gablemans authority to demand in-person interviews. Kaul has argued demanding private interviews outside a public setting is illegal.

A Waukesha County Circuit Judge has scheduled a July 11 hearing to decide if Gableman has the authority to demand that the mayors of the states five largest cities and other officials be jailed for not cooperating with his subpoenas.

In addition to his subpoenas, Gableman and Vos have become the target of three open records lawsuits filed by liberal watchdog group American Oversight seeking records related to the election review.

In one case, Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington ordered Gableman last week to not delete or destroy any records that may be responsive to American Oversights original request pending further action from the court on the matter. The order was issued after an attorney representing Gableman indicated in court filings that the office routinely deletes documents, including emails and text messages, that are deemed irrelevant or useless to the investigation.

An analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Council back in October found that deleting such records, even by a state contractor like Gableman, violates state law.

Remington on Tuesday scheduled a hearing for June 10 to determine if Gablemans team should be held in contempt of court for the deletion of any requested records.

In a separate case, Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn in March held Vos in contempt of court for failing to provide requested public documents related to the probe. A hearing in that case has been scheduled for next month.
The Town of Delavan Police Department issued a press release on their Facebook page that Anthony R. Teifke, 30, who was convicted of first degree sexual assault of a child and possession of child pornography, has been released from custody.

The victim was a minor known to him.

Law enforcement agencies are authorized to inform the public of a sex offenders release to enhance public safety, awareness and protection.

Teifke resides at 6436 Mound Road in Delavan.

He is a lifetime registrant of the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry and is not allowed to leave his residence unsupervised. It is also a requirement of him to participate in global positioning satellite tracking and will be subject to many unannounced home visits by the Department of Corrections.
New Delhi, April 26: The price band for the much-awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) of India's largest insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), has been set at Rs 902-Rs 949 per share. A discount of Rs 45 has been set for retail and employees, while the bid lot size has been fixed for 15 shares per lot, sources told ANI.

According to the sources, LIC has decided to give a discount to policyholders of the company. "A discount of Rs 60 per share has been set for the policyholders of LIC." On April 23, 2022, the LIC board gave its nod to cut down the issue size to 3.5 per cent from 5 per cent due to the market condition.

A proposal to reduce the size of LIC's IPO to 3.5 per cent from 5 per cent proposed in its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) was tabled and approved at a board meeting held on Saturday. A total of 22.13 crore shares will be offered in this IPO. Out of the total shares, 10 per cent or 2.21 crore shares are reserved for the policyholders.

LIC's IPO is to open on May 4 and close on May 9, sources told ANI.

Last month, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the initial public offering proposal of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Sensex Jumps 618 Points; Energy, Banking, Auto Stocks Surge.

The company has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

It has time until May 12 to launch the IPO. If it is not done by May 12, the company would be required to file fresh papers with the market regulator.

The government had initially wanted to list LIC in the last financial year that ended March 31 but had to delay the sale after the Russia-Ukraine war triggered a market rout. (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], April 26 (ANI): In response to the suspension of the President of AIIMS Nurses Union, Harish Kajila, the nursing staff of the hospital will go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday.

The nurses union has demanded the immediate revocation of Kajla's suspension.

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In a letter addressed to the AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria, the Union wrote, "In response to your unilateral decision to suspend Harish Kajila, president of AllMS Nurses Union, without even citing proper reasons, the union has called an emergency executive meeting took the decision to go on indefinite strike from 8 AM on April 26 demanding immediate revocation of suspension of Harish Kumar Kajla and stopping of all kinds of retaliative measures against union executives and Union members of main operation theatre (OT)."

"The union has always been receptive and open to expressing our genuine concerns and version throughout this issue. But unfortunately, we were neither called, nor contacted via any communication which forced us to go on an indefinite strike to safeguard the basic rights of our members. We would like to remind you that the undemocratic AllMS administration will be solely responsible for the consequences if any," the letter read.

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On April 23, AIIMS witnessed a dispute between the nursing officer Harish Kajila and the Resident Doctors Association. The nursing staff were protesting over the lack of manpower and late duty hours in the main operation theatre.

However reacting over the incident, taking to social media today morning, the Association of Resident Doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi wrote, "Doctors and nurses have worked together in harmony, with mutual respect, to bring AIIMS to new heights. Without good nursing care, the holistic treatment of patients can't be imagined. Voice of RDA AIIMS is not against any person or union, but against this unjust behaviour." (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], April 26 (ANI): India recorded 2,483 new COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, recording a slight decline from the previous day's 2541 cases.

The active caseload has also dipped from 16,522 to 15,636, while the positivity rate declined to 0.55 per cent, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare bulletin on Tuesday.

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A total of 1,970 COVID patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,25,23,311. The recovery rate is 98.75 per cent.

As a total of 4,49,197 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tally has risen to 83.54 crore tests.

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The country has reported 1,399 COVID- related deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative death tally to 52,3622.

According to the bulletin, 1347 deaths have been counted from Assam which includes COVID-19 patients who died due to other reasons.

"Assam: The total cases, discharges and deaths provided by the State in its media bulletin have been considered along with the number of COVID-19 positive patients died due to other reasons to reflect the current active case figures," reads the bulletin.

However, it added, that the state has reported zero deaths in the last 24 hours.

As far as vaccination is concerned, 22,83,224 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered during this period. With this, the total number of vaccine jabs administered under the nationwide vaccination drive so far went up to 1,87,95,76,423. (ANI)

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New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said India has the potential to become the content subcontinent, backed by talent in the fields of technology and culture as it emerges as a "hard power" in the world.

Participating in the Raisina Dialogue-2022 here, Thakur said India, with its rich culture and history, has a lot to showcase and emerge as the next AVGC production hub with a mix of hard power and soft power.

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"Any nation requires hard power to exist and stay relevant and to exist beyond boundaries a nation needs to have soft power," he said.

Thakur said centuries ago, India displayed its hard power on the strength of its economy and military, which also helped it expand the soft power through dissemination of its culture, cuisine and architecture in countries such as China, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia.

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"In the last few decades India is emerging as a hard power and expanding soft power through cinema," he said.

Thakur said the world took notice of India after the nuclear test in 1998 under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He said the Pokhran-II nuclear tests saw global powers impose sanctions, but within three years the way the world looked at India changed, and they acknowledge the country's hard power.

"Our information technology enabled services (ITES) reached beyond borders There is an interplay of hard power and soft power. Nobody will look at your soft power if you do not have the hard power, Thakur said.

He said Indian films started using technology in a big way and movies such as Bahubali enthralled audiences the world over, making people wonder whether heroes and location portrayed in such films were for real.

Bela Bajaria, Head of Global TV, Netflix said her company was partnering with writers and filmmakers across India to make sure that stories come from all over the country.

Thakur said the government was also encouraging film-making in India through the film facilitation office, while several state governments too were offering incentives to filmmakers.

Director Shekhar Kapur said Indian content has the potential to emerge as a trillion dollar business.

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New Delhi [India], April 26 (ANI): Following Prashant Kishor declining the Congress' offer to join the party, former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu met him on Tuesday and shared a picture with the caption "Old wine, Old gold and Old friends still the best".

The picture was shared from Navjot Singh Sidhu's Twitter handle. Sidhu wrote, "Had a wonderful meeting with my old friend PK ... Old wine, Old gold and Old friends still the best !!!"

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After several rounds of meetings with Congress's top brass in the last few days, poll strategist Prashant Kishor has declined to join the Congress party.

Prashant Kishor has held several meetings in the last 15 days with Congress's top leadership and gave a proposal to revamp the party ahead of the 2024 general election.

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Kishor had given a detailed presentation with a road map for the 2024 General elections.

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, Kishor said, "I declined the generous offer of Congress to join the party as part of the Empowered Action Group (EAG) and take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms."

Following the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in October last year, Kishor had said that the people are looking forward to an opposition led by the Grand Old Party (the Congress), but the party first needs to fix its deep-rooted problems and remove its structural weaknesses. (ANI)

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New Delhi, April 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called for setting new goals and global vision for the next 25 years while stating India will have global footprints in all spheres of life when India celebrates 100 years of Independence. "It is time to set new goals and take a new oath... After 25 years, India will celebrate 100 years of Independence... In this journey of 100 years, India's achievements should be global, and for that our vision should also be global," said PM Modi while addressing the inaugural ceremony of year-long joint celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Sivagiri Pilgrimage and Golden Jubilee of Brahma Vidhyalaya.

PM Modi also said that while many countries deviated from the path of spirituality to materialism, India should not make the same mistake.

"When many countries and civilizations of the world deviated from their religions, they took the path of materialism in place of spirituality. But saints and spiritual leaders here always promoted good thoughts and practices in India," he said. Over 20,000 Crore Digital Transactions Taking Place Daily, Says PM Narendra Modi.

PM Modi's comments for India to bag global achievements and stay in touch with India's spiritual and cultural powers came days after he laid the foundation of the World Health Organizations (WHO) Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) in Jamnagar of Gujarat. PM Modi had then said that countries across the globe are putting emphasis on traditional herbal systems to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that Yoga has helped people to find a mental balance by eliminating stress all over the world. International Yoga Day is also scheduled to be celebrated on June 21.

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New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau on Tuesday said the "burning" issue of Russia's aggression against Ukraine was one of the key topics of his conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Rau said Russia's "irresponsible actions" in Ukraine have trampled all the principles that underpin the world order and described as "very close" the assessment of the current situation by India and Poland.

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The Polish foreign minister began his visit to India on Monday.

"The burning issue of Russia's aggression against Ukraine was one of the key topics touched upon during my conversation with Prime Minister Modi as well as during discussions with Minister S Jaishankar," he said at a media briefing.

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"While Poland and India may differ in how we have reacted to the war in Ukraine, we believe we still have built on common values, principles and interests, including the promotion of a credible rules-based global order and effective multilateralism that we share," Rau said.

"In this context, I need to stress that Russia's irresponsible actions in Ukraine blatantly trample all the principles that underpin the world order from which Poland and India have benefited so much in the past few decades," the minister added.

He said the crisis will trigger serious implications for global security, including energy and food security, "the consequences of which both our regions are yet to deal with".

Rau said though Poland and India may differ on reacting to the war in Ukraine, both countries share the common values of promotion of a rules-based global order and effective multilateralism.

"There is no doubt in my mind that our assessment of the situation is very close. Both India and Poland have strategic experience with foreign imperialism and it is very difficult not to see the present aggression against Ukraine as an attempt to restore the Rusian empire," he said.

In his address at the Raisina Dialogue, the Polish foreign minister shared his critical assessment of Russia's "brutal invasion" of Ukraine.

Rau described his meeting with Jaishankar as very fruitful.

"I must tell you that I had a very fruitful conversation concerning the Russian aggression against Ukraine with your foreign minister and I am really impressed by the way we conducted the conversation," he said.

The Polish minister said the meeting offered an excellent opportunity to discuss key issues of mutual interest.

"We agreed with Jaishankar that our countries are ready to take mutual political and economic relations to an even higher level," he said.

Rau said he believed that his meetings and discussions with key Indian officials will translate into a renewed momentum in the bilateral ties.

"We will spare no efforts to constructively cooperate to solve regional and global problems," he added.

Rau reaffirmed Poland's commitment to maintaining the robust dynamics of political relations with India as one of key Asian countries.

The Polish foreign ministry said another equally important issue discussed with the Indian side was the broadly understood economic cooperation in the mining sector as well as the pharmaceutical and defence industries, and in promoting Polish exports.

It said the culminating point of the ministerial talks was the signing of a bilateral agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

"My presence in New Delhi is evidence of Poland's active engagement in maintaining good Polish-Indian bilateral relations built on the willingness to promote freedom, democracy and international order based on the rule of law," said Rau during the first day of his visit to India.

"This is particularly important in the light of current challenges to regional and global security across our eastern border," he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Brussels [Belgium], April 26 (ANI/Sputnik): The European Union commends countries supporting sanctions imposed on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine and expects those seeking to become member states to also fully implement them, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said on Tuesday.

"We commend those countries who have implemented EU sanctions against Russia. We further emphasize however that sanctions must continue to be implemented in full. This is what is expected from every country aspiring to become a member of the EU," Metsola said at the EU Meets the Balkans Forum in Sofia.

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On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after recognizing the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics". Western countries and their allies responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Russia.

The European Union has vowed to reduce its dependency on Russian energy. On April 8, the bloc announced the fifth package of anti-Russian sanctions, which included a ban on imports of coal and other solid fossil fuels from the country starting from August 2022, a ban on the entry of Russian ships into EU ports and restrictions on Russian and Belarusian road transport companies. (ANI/Sputnik)

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(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington [US], April 26 (ANI): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attended a roundtable with business leaders and investors co-hosted by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the Silicon Valley, and invited the leading investors to become a part of India's growth story.

Senior executives, business leaders of private sectors, venture capitalists, the institutional investors, who represented combined assets under management of over USD 1 trillion, attended the meeting with Sitharaman.

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In the meeting with the investors in the clean energy sector, the minister discussed topics pertaining to India's potential for producing sustainable energy, waste-to-energy, and energy alternatives.

The minister told the investors that over the next few years, India is prepared to be the world's fastest-growing major economy.

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President of USIBC, Atul Keshap moderated the meeting while the Chief Economic Advisor, V Ananth Nageswaran, India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, along with other senior officials attended the roundtable.

"Where technology and capital converge! Excellent exchange of ideas at @USIBC @FollowCII #fintech roundtable w FM @nsitharaman in #SiliconValley. Friends frm industry deliberated on opportunities that #India's fast digital journey & reforms offer to VCs, funds & asset managers." Sandhu tweeted.

After a roundtable with the members of the semiconductor industry, the Finance Minister visited Applied Materials', Maydan Technology Centre, located in the Silicon Valley, to observe research in the field of semiconductors.

Earlier, the Finance Minister also met with World Bank President, David Malpass, in Washington on Friday, discussing important economic issues, India's continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. (ANI)

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New York [US], April 26 (ANI): India on Monday (local time) expressed concern regarding clashes at the holy places of Jerusalem and appealed to all parties to stop the provocation and incitement which could worsen the situation.

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the Middle East, India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN R Ravindra said, "We're deeply concerned by the series of incidents at the holy places of Jerusalem during the ongoing holy month of Ramzan. The historic status quo of the holy places of Jerusalem must be respected and upheld."

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He further said that any act which violates the sanctity of holy places must be condemned. "All acts of obstruction, vandalism, decretion, which violate the sanctity of holy places, be it in Jerusalem, Nablus or elsewhere, must be unequivocally condemned. We recognize efforts made by Israel, Jordan, Palestinean authority and other countries to avert escalation," he stated.

"It is unfortunate that despite these efforts the on-ground situation has once again deteriorated. We appeal to all parties to stop the provocations and incitement which could further worsen the situation. We extend our support to all steps aimed at restoring calm," he added.

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The statement comes amid rising tensions over clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem.

The clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli police at the Temple Mount on April 15, as spiking tensions, threats of terror and the observance of major holidays all converged around the flashpoint holy site.

Notably, April 15 was the second Friday during the Muslim holy month of Ramzan, the first night of Judaism's week-long Passover holiday, and Good Friday, when Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The clashes left over 100 people injured. (ANI)

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Islamabad [Pakistan], April 26 (ANI): Dismissing the news alleging that the former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's both sons were part of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's official delegation to Saudi Arabia, Hassan Nawaz Sharif, son of Nawaz Sharif said that the news about his trip is fake and run with malicious intentions.

"The news run about my Saudi visit is completely fake and run with malicious intentions. I never had any plan to go to Saudi Arabia. I didn't apply for a visa and I am very much in London. I am in London with my father and I have no plans of visiting Saudi Arabia anytime soon," Hassan was quoted as saying by Geo TV.

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When the publication contacted Nawaz's other son, Hussain Nawaz then he also denied the news and said that he arrived in Saudi Arabia on March 25 at his own expense and alone.

"I came to Jeddah at my own expense and am staying at my own house which is an hour away from Haram. Madinah Pak is only 3.5 hours away from my house. We have our own cars, I have no idea who added me to the list and for whatever purpose. I have never used state expense for anything. We have been living and working in Saudi Arabia for over two decades and it's a well-known fact," Hussain Nawaz was quoted as saying by Geo TV.

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Pakistan PM Sharif's son-in-law Imran Ali, who lives in London, also reacted to the list of travellers going along with the PM to Saudi Arabia and said, "I am surprised that my name was added to the list. I am not part of any official delegation and I have no immediate travel plans for any place. Someone has published fake news about me."

The delegation, according to sources, will include the following individuals, among others: PM Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Balochistan National Party (Mengal) (BNP-M) chief Akhtar Mengal, BAP (Balochistan Awami Party) leader Khalid Magsi and many others, reported Geo TV.

The same list claimed that from London to Jeddah, Hussain Nawaz and his wife will be part of the delegation. A private TV channel claimed that Hassan Nawaz will also be travelling. Both of them have denied the news.

Shehbaz Sharif is scheduled to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the next few days. Dozens of officials and political leaders will accompany the Pakistan Prime Minister on his maiden visit to the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the newly-elected Pakistan PM presided over a meeting here to review preparations for his official visit to Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting, he said that Pakistan valued its long-standing brotherly ties with Saudi Arabia and it was looking forward to enhancing the same in future.

According to The News International, he directed the relevant authorities to make effective recommendations for strengthening the Pak-Saudi Arabia bilateral ties. (ANI)

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Ringgold (US), Apr 26 (AP) As he met with voters recently in a part of northwest Georgia where Donald Trump is still very popular, David Perdue invoked his belief in the lie that elections in 2020 and 2021 were stolen from the former president and himself.

First of all, it was stolen, Perdue said. The facts are coming out.

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When the rally was over, Perdue visited the storefront office of a group that similarly espouses election falsehoods. Perdue posted a photo on his Facebook page of himself beaming as the group's cofounder talks under a banner proclaiming a legal vote requires the rule of law.

The emphasis on false election claims is a reminder of how far Perdue has veered to the right ahead of next month's primary against incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. He's evolved from a business-minded conservative who won a U.S. Senate seat in 2014 by focusing on federal spending to a hard-liner who associates with conspiracy theorists.

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That tracks with the broader shifts in the Republican Party under Trump. But some in the GOP warn that the fixation on past elections will do little to win a general election in Georgia, where moderate voters are crucial.

I think David Perdue had a broad appeal in 2014, said Eric Tanenblatt, former chief of staff to ex-Georgia Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue and a former fundraiser for David Perdue who is backing Kemp in the primary. I think he was a lot more relatable because he was talking about issues that were a lot more appealing to the broader electorate.

Perdue, who was personally courted by Trump to enter the race as retribution for Kemp not going along with election lies, has trailed in the governor's race. But as the May 24 primary nears, the former chief executive of Reebok and Dollar General insists he hasn't changed.

Even in the Senate, I was an outsider, Perdue said in Ringgold. I was never part of the good ol' boys club up there, trust me.

Still, Perdue's sharpest focus is on claims that Georgia's 2020 presidential election and 2021 Senate runoffs, in which Perdue lost to Democrat Jon Ossoff, were fraudulently won by Democrats. No credible evidence has emerged to support Perdue and Trump's claims of mass voter fraud. Federal and state election officials and Trump's own attorney general have said the election was fair, and the former president's allegations were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.

During the speech, he touted his lawsuit that seeks to unseal physical ballots for examination in Atlanta's Fulton County, making allegations without evidence that poll workers took bribes and people were paid to gather and deliver ballots illegally.

Who paid you to deliver those harvested ballots? Perdue asked, suggesting that was a question his lawsuit would settle. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], April 26 (ANI): Owing to the difference in economic and geographic size between the two neighbours, it is easy to perceive the India-Bhutan relationship as being tilted in favour of one but the truth is that the relationship is a mutually beneficial relationship based on shared cultural values and genuine all-weather friendship.

The India-Bhutan relationship is unique in more ways than one. Compared to other bilateral ties in India's neighbourhood, the relationship with Bhutan is relatively trouble-free and cordial.

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Diplomatic relations between the two countries were formally established in 1968 with the appointment of a resident representative of India in the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu. The India House (Embassy of India in Bhutan) was inaugurated on May 14, 1968, and Resident Representatives were exchanged in 1971.

Ambassadorial level relations began with the upgrading of residents to embassies in 1978. The basis for bilateral relations between India and Bhutan is formed by the Indo-Bhutan Treaty of 1949, which provides for, among others, "perpetual peace and friendship, free trade and commerce and equal justice to each other's citizens."

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This relationship becomes even more important because four Indian states, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, and West Bengal - share a 699-kilometre-long boundary with Bhutan. India is important to Bhutan in multiple ways. India is Bhutan's largest trading partner - both as a source and a market for its goods.

As a landlocked country, most of Bhutan's third-country exports also transit through Indian ports. Similarly, Bhutan is also important to India. Bhutan was one of the first nations to recognize the independence of India in 1947. India considers Nepal and Bhutan as important frontiers in its Himalayan foreign policy of mutual trust and cooperation.

Democratic development started in Bhutan only in the 21st century. The kingdom held its first elections in 2007 and the following year it became a constitutional monarchy guided by Buddhism. The Constitution is based on values derived from Buddhist philosophy, and the International Convention of Human Rights and inspired by a comparative analysis of 20 other modern constitutions. Buddhism provides a strong foundational basis for the friendship between India and Bhutan. Both countries' belief in peace and democratic values solidifies this foundation.

History was made once again in 2018 when LotayTshering became the Prime Minister of Bhutan. His party, which only began in 2013, swept 30 out of the 47 seats in Bhutan's Parliament. He was congratulated on his election victory by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also invited him to visit India.

The state visit took place on December 27-29, 2018. PM Tshering was joined by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs Tandi Dorji and Loknath Sharma, Bhutan's Royal Government's Economic Affairs and Senior Officials. It was Lotay Tshering's first international trip since taking office in November.

Moreover, it took place in the year of the golden anniversary of Indo-Bhutan diplomatic ties. It was in keeping with the diplomatic relations between India and Bhutan, where regular high-level interactions between the two countries have become a tradition.

Thimphu was also the destination of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first foreign trip after winning his first election. This demonstrates that both countries see each other as excellent neighbours who want to keep their friendly relationship alive. Deepening collaboration with border states could help to improve bilateral relations even further.

Assam, West Bengal, and other Northeastern states can gain much by investing in economic and social relations with Bhutan. Bhutan is also an important part of India's Neighbourhood First foreign policy. As part of the Act East policy, India also discussed the potential of using waterways for the progress of Bhutan and also India's Northeast region. The NW 2 (or the Brahmaputra river region) can be leveraged for this purpose.

India is responsible for Bhutanese security. Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) is based in Bhutan to provide training to Bhutanese security forces. Regular India-Bhutan security and border management meetings have taken place, during which the two countries discuss a number of key issues, including threat perceptions, security and border management issues, sharing of real-time information, coordination of Indo-Bhutan border entry-exit points, and SSB escorts of Bhutanese people and vehicles. The talks act as a spark for furthering collaboration amid the two countries' long-standing amicable relations.

Indian funding and investments have been critical in the growth of the hydropower sector in Bhutan, which generates electricity for India as well. The Indo-Bhutan relationship has never been a zero-sum game. The economic relationship is not one-way, since India is also reliant on Bhutan in certain areas. For example, most of West Bengal's businesses now rely on electricity imported from Bhutan. Bhutan also plays a key role in safeguarding India's Siliguri Corridor, a tiny swath of terrain that connects the Indian Northeast with the rest of the country.

The advantages of Indo-Bhutan interactions are also evident in other sectors, such as education and culture. The Indian government awards roughly fifty scholarships to Bhutanese students each year to pursue higher education in India.

A large number of Indian instructors contribute to Bhutanese education, with many of them being sent to educate in rural areas. In addition, Sherubtse College in eastern Bhutan has grown into a leading tertiary education institution in Bhutan, thanks to its connection with Delhi University. Under the bilateral cultural exchange programme, the interchange of cultural troupes and artists between Bhutan and India has also become a regular practice.

A strong tradition of official visits at various levels has further facilitated ideas/views to be exchanged and areas of cooperation to be identified and enlarged between the two nations. Besides everyday people-to-people contact at the informal level, ministers, parliamentarians, civil servants as well as representatives of the business community all make regular official visits.

The Indo-Bhutan connection is possibly the only bilateral relationship in South Asia that pays off handsomely for both parties. Bhutan has expressed gratitude to India for its economic aid, while India has shown sensitivity to Bhutan's developmental requirements. Bhutan has been able to build a distinctive growth trajectory based on gross national happiness thanks to the connection.

Bilateral ties have matured into comprehensive cooperation over the last few years, spanning a wide variety of issues, like hydro-power, information technology, intelligence sharing, disaster risk management, education and culture. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Moscow [Russia], April 26 (ANI): Russia has expressed interest in cooperating with the United Nations, in providing assistance to civilians in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov informed on Tuesday.

"Russia interested in cooperating with UN in assisting Ukrainian civilians," the Russian foreign minister said in the bilateral talks between Moscow and the United Nations.

Also Read | Russia an Acute Threat; China a Competitor and Challenge, Says British Armed Forces Chief Admiral Tony Radakin.

According to TASS, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had managed to send five humanitarian aid convoys to Ukraine along with the aid that was delivered there every day by the Russian Defense Ministry and Emergencies Ministry, as well as by various Russian public organizations, emphasised Lavrov, in his statement.

"We are interested in cooperating with our colleagues at the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross in terms of additional efforts to alleviate the sufferings and plight of civilians in Ukraine," he added.

Also Read | Pakistan Blast: 3 Chinese, 1 Other Killed After Explosion Inside Campus of University of Karachi.

According to him, after the UN chief had contacted the Russian Defense Ministry, a working group was formed under the ministry in Moscow to discuss specific issues with UN officials and help organize the safe delivery of humanitarian aid.

"Today, we discussed ways to boost our cooperation on this track. I think that following the Moscow talks, we will be able to outline such steps, which may be important in the current situation," the Russian top diplomat said.

Notably, Russia launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, which the West has termed an unwarranted war. As a result of this, the western countries have also imposed several crippling sanctions on Moscow. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Shanghai [China], April 26 (ANI): China's economic hub Shanghai on Monday reported 1,661 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 15,319 local asymptomatic carriers, Xinhua reported citing the municipal health commission as saying on Tuesday.

Shanghai has been facing the worst COVID-19 outbreak and has been desperately seeking medical care and basic supplies like food.

Also Read | Russia Hits Rail, Fuel Facilities in Attacks Deep in Ukraine.

Shanghai authorities have imposed draconian lockdown measures since March that have locked 25 million residents in their homes.

On April 3, the Chinese government announced the deployment of thousands of military personnel to Shanghai to assist in the mandatory testing of all 25 million residents for the virus that causes Covid-19.

Also Read | Mumbai-Based Activist Jatin Desai Urges Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif To Release Indians Stuck in Pak Jails.

On April 4, Shanghai authorities said the city would indefinitely remain under lockdown - meaning that residents are not allowed to leave their homes, as it reviews the results of the mass Covid testing.

Meanwhile, horrifying videos have emerged showing Shanghai residents screaming from their windows over strict COVID lockdown measures that prevent them from leaving home even for food.

In a clip posted online by a Twitter user that he said was taken by the father of his close friend who reported that "people (are) screaming outside of their windows after a week of total lockdown" because they "can't even step outside their apartments".

Many screams can be heard from the windows of nearby apartment buildings in the footage, as per news.com.au.

China's much-publicised 'zero-covid' strategy that the government credited for bringing the country out of the pandemic till recently is falling apart as the rapidly mounting cases are again forcing mass lockdowns like those seen in 2020. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Interview: Boao Forum builds up high expectations for revival of world economy, says Turkish scholar

Xinhua) 13:17, April 26, 2022

ISTANBUL, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2022 creates high expectations for contributing to the revival of the world economy and multilateral trade mechanism, especially in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, a Turkish scholar has said.

Founded in 2001, the BFA is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals.

Held annually in Boao, a coastal town in China's southernmost province of Hainan, the forum brings together world leaders, business leaders, scholars and think tanks representatives.

This year's event opened on Wednesday and lasted three days.

Selcuk Colakoglu, director of the Ankara-based Turkish Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, said there were "vibrant discussions" at the forum on integration and globalization in Asia and other parts of the world, which have been impacted by the pandemic.

The forum is specifically important as it came at a time when the world was hit by the pandemic and rising commodity prices, which put increased pressure on all countries, in addition to the problems in the supply chain, said Colakoglu, also an academic at the BNU-HKBU United International College in Zhuhai in China's southern province of Guangdong.

"In that regard, Boao Forum may be one of the leading forums, bringing different sectors and organizations and world leaders to discuss current issues and build up joint future projections," the scholar told Xinhua in an online interview.

Along with the BFA, Colakoglu also emphasized the growing role of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement in contributing to the world economy and trade.

The RCEP, the world's largest free trade deal to date, covers 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its five free trade agreement partners, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

"The RCEP and the Boao Forum focus on further integration for trade, networks, and economic networks in Asia and in the world. In this regard, the RCEP is not only important for Asia and Asian integration, but it will also have some solid outcomes for the global economy," he said.

The RCEP countries account for roughly 30 percent of the world's gross domestic product and population. Over 90 percent of trade in goods among approved member states will gradually be tariff-free.

A successful implementation of the RCEP will promote further integration in the global economy starting from East Asia, Colakoglu said.

The vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind offers "a win-win solution for everyone because one-sided development is not good enough to create enough prosperity for humanity," he added.

In this regard, China offers to create more areas for international cooperation with globalized economy through the RCEP and BFA, he said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Kabul [Afghanistan], April 26 (ANI): Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Mette Knudsen, met members of Hazara and Shia communities and stressed the importance to ensure protection and human rights for all people in Afghanistan.

Knudsen and members of the Hazara and Shia communities also discussed recent attacks in Afghnaistan.

Also Read | Russia Hits Rail, Fuel Facilities in Attacks Deep in Ukraine.

"UNAMA deputy head @Metknu met today with members of Hazara & Shia communities to discuss recent attacks & express condolences. She stressed importance to ensure protection & human rights for all Afghans & representative decision-making to reflect diverse voices in Afghanistan," UNAMA News tweeted.

Recently, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had expressed concerns over the series of attacks that led to the deaths of over 50 boys and girls, calling it a "grave rights violation" in Afghanistan.

Also Read | Mumbai-Based Activist Jatin Desai Urges Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif To Release Indians Stuck in Pak Jails.

"In one week alone, more than 50 girls and boys have lost their lives in a series of heinous grave rights violations in Afghanistan," Paloma Escudero, UNICEF Director for Global Communication and Advocacy, was quoted by Tolo News as saying.

The UN agency also highlighted the delay in reopening of schools for girl students in Afghanistan saying, "It's been one month since Afghanistan's de facto authorities barred teenage girls from returning to school.

"The Taliban regime in Afghanistan had barred girls from attending school over grade six after issuing a decree last month.

Meanwhile, the Taliban's Ministry of Education said that the schools for girls in grades 7-12 will be reopened in the near future. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, April 26: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday formed a committee headed by a District Judge and supervised by former Puducherry Governor Kiran Bedi to monitor the situation in Adhyatmik Vidyalaya, a spiritual place in north Delhi's Rohini, where a number of girls are allegedly held captive in "animal-like" conditions.

The Adhyatmik Vidyalaya is led by absconding self-styled godman Virendra Dev Dixit. Noting the vulnerability of women and children, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla said some vigilance is needed to keep a tab on such organisations.

Constituting the five-member committee, the bench said it will have the District Judge concerned, District Magistrate, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Women Cell) having jurisdiction in the area, Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, One nominee of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and District officer of Women and Child Department, who shall be the convenor and shall also act as the Nodal officer. The panel will be supervised by Kiran Bedi, it added. Delhi HC Issues Notice To Centre on PIL Against Criminal Procedure Identification Act 2022.

Further hearing in the matter will be on May 27. Earlier on April 19, the bench had issued a show-cause notice to the institution while dealing with the matter.

The incident came to light first in 2017 followed by a raid by a high-court appointed committee accompanied by Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal who was asked to be a part of the team during the inspection.

The committee had told the court that the girls and women were kept in the ashram in "unhygienic and animal-like conditions with no privacy even for bathing" and rescued around 40 women from there.

In 2018, the Delhi High Court had barred the ashram Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya from representing itself as "Vishwa Vidyalaya" and directed the CBI to follow all possible steps to trace the self-styled godman.

On December 20, 2017, the Delhi High Court directed the CBI to investigate the alleged illegal confinement of girls and women in the ashram who had been kept in inhuman conditions behind metal doors in a "fortress" surrounded by barbed wire.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had registered three cases against Dixit for allegedly keeping several women and minor girls hostage at his ashram. During the course of the hearing on Tuesday, the bench was in the view that the place should be taken care of by the Health Department of the Delhi government. Ahmedabad Shocker: Four Men Gang-Rape Differently-Abled Migrant Woman Several Times; Booked.

"In broad daylight in a city like Delhi, you're going on with these scandals. This won't go on for another day. We are aghast to read this," the bench remarked.

After a detailed hearing, the matter was posted for April 21 clubbed with the plea filed by NGO Foundation for Social Empowerment.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2022 03:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, April 26: The National Green Tribunal has cancelled the permissions of two petrol pumps in Uttarakhand following a complaint alleging non-compliance of the rule of 50 meters minimum distance from residential areas as per the fresh guidelines for setting up of new petrol pumps.

A principal bench headed by NGT chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel was dealing with the plea against petrol pumps violating the new guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board on January 7, 2020.

Acting on the complaint, earlier on February 22, the tribunal had constituted a joint Committee of Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board and District Magistrate, Dehradun to undertake a site visit at the purported fuel stations in Pargana Parvadun and Ranjhawala of the district.

The committee found that both the petrol pumps -- one functional and the other proposed pump are non-compliant with the Central Pollution Control Board Guidelines. Uttar Pradesh: NGT Imposes Fine of Rs 50 Crore Environmental Penalty To Amroha Based Metal Company.

Location-wise observations found that residential houses located which is 25- 30 meters from the boundary of the petrol pumps.

"Based on the observations of the Joint Committee, Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board has suggested the District Magistrate Dehradun vide letter dated April 18, to cancel the said permissions issued by the District Magistrate, Dehradun, as per rules," the NGT order dated April 22 said cancelling the permissions to the pumps.

It said further action may be taken by the concerned statutory authorities in accordance with the law. As per the new guidelines, new retail outlets shall not be located within a radial distance of 50 meters from schools, hospitals, and residential areas designated as per local laws. NGT Directs Joint Panel To Prepare Remedial Action Plan Against Environmental Violations Near Taj Mahal.

In case of constraint in providing 50 meters distance, the retail outlet shall implement additional safety measures as prescribed by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO). In no case, the distance between the new retail outlet from schools, hospitals, and the residential areas designated as per laws shall be less than 30 meters. No high tension line shall pass over the retail outlet, the green court highlighted in the order.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2022 10:38 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
The holy month of Ramadan is one of the most awaited times of the year. Muslims from all over the world celebrate this religious time by greeting each other Ramadan Mubarak and Ramadan Kareem, which literally means a happy and generous month to you.

This year, Ramzan began on April 3 after the crescent moon of Ramadan was sighted on the evening of April 2. During this month of Ramadan, all adult Muslims keep fast as it is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith.

This obligatory fasting is known as Roza. Muslims who keep Roza have to abstain from eating and drinking during the day. When Is Shab-e-Qadr 2022 in India? Know Date, Beliefs and Significance of Celebrating Night of Power and Blessings.

Those who keep Roza can eat the first meal of the day, which is known as Sehri, before the sunrise and they can end their fast by eating the evening meal (also known as iftar) after the sunset. Sehri is generally observed in the morning before sunrise, around 10 minutes before the call for the Fajr prayer, while Iftar is observed two minutes after the sunset with a call for the Maghrib prayer.

As the time of sunrise and sunset is different every day, the time of Sehri and iftar is also different. Due to this, it is important to keep a check on the Ramadan timings of each day.

Sehri and Iftar Timings for Mumbai on April 27:

Roza Date Sehri Iftar 25 27 April 2022 04:57 18:59

Sehri and Iftar Timings for Delhi on April 27:

Roza Date Sehri Iftar 25 27 April 2022 04:19 18:55

Sehri and Iftar Timings for Lucknow on April 27:

Roza Date Sehri Iftar 25 27 April 2022 04:08 18:38

The holy month of Ramzan will end with Eid-ul-Fitr. Have a happy and blessed Ramzan.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2022 07:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
The Japan Internation Cooperation Agency (@jica_direct_en) will fund an International centre for the protection and conservation of the Olive Ridley turtles coming up in #Chennai, the #TamilNadu Forest Department said in a statement on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/3sdNnPxeO5 IANS (@ians_india) April 26, 2022

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
Melissa Lucio's death penalty, supposedly scheduled to be held on Wednesday, was canceled on Monday, prompting her case to be sent back to the trial court for a review of new evidence.

According to The Guardian, the Texas Court of Criminal vested the order on Monday as Lucio, a Mexican-American woman, was slated to be transferred into the death chamber within 48 hours. She would have been the first Hispanic woman that would be executed by Texas.

DEVELOPING: Melissa Lucio, a South Texas mother of 14 who was days away from her execution date, has been granted a stay from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

@beccaghennes

 @innocence

https://t.co/fafimrATxS pic.twitter.com/OTbpX15bCF  Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) April 25, 2022

CNN reported that the move from the court came after lawyers for Lucio, as well as supporters and her family, argued that the Mexican-American woman was wrongfully convicted of capital murder in the death of her toddler, Mariah, in 2007.

"I thank God for my life. I have always trusted in Him... I am grateful the Court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence. Mariah is in my heart today and always," Lucio said in a statement shared by her legal team.

The new evidence presented by Lucio's legal team suggested that the murder of Mariah did not take place in 2007. Citing medical and eyewitness evidence, the new evidence claimed that Mariah died after she accidentally fell down a steep flight of stairs at Lucio's rental home, per The Guardian.

Melissa Lucio's legal team noted that the Mexican-American woman would still be on death row despite the stay granted by the court.

"There's still a long way to go in Melissa's case, and there's much more that stands in the way of Melissa and an exoneration," Innocence Project Special Litigation Director Vanessa Potkin said.

The Innocence Project is working with Lucio's team on the case.

Lucio's attorney also mentioned that the trial court in Brownsville, Texas will hold proceedings to hear the new evidence of her innocence.

READ NEXT: Mexico: Protests Against Killings and Disappearances of Women in the Country Held After Debanhi Escobar's Death

Melissa Lucio Death Penalty: Son Says His Mom Was Innocent

Melissa Lucio's family and her advocates have argued that the Mexican-American woman was wrongfully convicted for the death of Mariah.

Lucio's oldest son, John, was among those who fight for the innocence of her mother.

On Monday, John told CNN that they do not want their mother to be executed, contending that it is horrible to lose their mom to an accident considering that they already lost their sister.

At trial, prosecutors argued that Lucio was an abusive parent who caused the injury to Mariah resulting in her death. However, Lucio's oldest son defended his mom against the allegations.

"She's a great mother... [She] never laid a hand on any of us," John underscored.

Calls for Lucio's mercy have grown in recent days, including from Texas legislators from both sides of the chamber. CNN claimed that even some of the jurors in Lucio's state said that the execution should be stopped or get a new trial based on the pieces of evidence that were not heard in the court.

"My vision is just tunnel vision, and all the walls just say, 'Free Melissa Lucio' all around it... That's my mother. I know she's innocent," Lucio's oldest son said.

Melissa Lucio Execution Day: How Did Her Toddler Die?

The death of Mariah happened when Lucio and her family moved to another home in 2007. On February 15 of that year, Lucio reportedly woke up early to get some of her children ready for school while watching her 2-year-old Mariah.

While Lucio was busy, CNN noted that Mariah, who has difficulty walking due to a disability, opened the screen door, wandered outside, and fell down a steep flight of more than a dozen of stairs.

Mariah's lips bled and appeared not to be seriously injured following the fall. However, things had a quick turn when Mariah's condition deteriorated. The petition noted that Lucio considered taking the toddler to the hospital by February 17 but decided to wait for a day.

Mariah soon stopped breathing and the family called the paramedics and told them what happened.

Paramedics at the scene and the hospital tried to revive Mariah. Reports noted that during this time, Melissa Lucio's two-year-old had bruises in various stages of healing, arms that broke several weeks before the incident, and bite marks on her back.

READ NEXT: U.S. Airlines Hire Bus Companies to Transport Passengers in Airports Over Pilot Shortage

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: John, Michelle Lucio React After Hearing Melissa Lucio Got a Stay of Execution - From KHOU 11
Elon Musk buys Twitter after the social media company's board has accepted an offer from the Tesla CEO, with Musk eyeing to take it private, according to the platform's announcement.

Musk said in a statement that he wants to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, while also making the algorithms open source to increase trust, as well as defeating spam bots, according to a CNBC News report.

In addition, Musk also said that he would be authenticating all humans on the social media platform, noting that Twitter has "tremendous potential."

The press release noted that the cash deal at $54.20 per share is valued at around $44 billion. Twitter would become a private company on completion of the deal, requiring shareholder and regulatory approval.

Musk tweeted upon the news of Twitter's approval of the deal, saying that he hopes that even his worst critic stays on Twitter "because that is what free speech means."

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

READ NEXT: Elon Musk Facing 1 Major Hurdle in Bid to Buy Twitter

Elon Musk Buys Twitter

If Elon Musk takes ownership of Twitter, the social media platform will be controlled by the world's richest person and someone who's been a heavy critic of the platform while using it in legally contentious ways.

Musk critics are concerned that the Tesla CEO's control over the platform will lead to silencing their voices and others with whom he may disagree.

Meanwhile, former U.S. President Donald Trump will not return to Twitter even as Musk purchases the company. Instead, the former president said he will be using his own TRUTH Social as the sole platform for his voice, according to a Fox News report.

Trump announced that he will formally join his own TRUTH Social over the next seven days as planned. However, he noted that he hopes Musk buys Twitter as he sees the Tesla tycoon to make improvements to it.

Trump said that Twitter has bots and fake accounts, adding that they are doing everything they can, but that the bottom line is, that he is not going back to Twitter.

The former president was suspended from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

Elon Musk's Offer to Twitter

People with knowledge of the offered deal said that the situation involving Twitter and Elon Musk "remains fluid and fast-moving," according to The New York Times report.

Musk detailed in a securities filing made public how he had put together financing from the investment bank Morgan Stanley and a group of other lenders, which they were offering $13 billion in debt financing.

In addition, another $12.5 billion in loans against Musk's stock in Tesla. Musk said he would use another $21 billion in cash to buy the rest of Twitter's equity.

Several analysts have said they expected Twitter's board to only accept a bid that valued it at a minimum of $60 a share.

Twitter's stock rose above a $70 a share last year when the company announced goals to double its revenue. However, it has fallen around $48 as investors have questioned its ability to meet those targets.

READ MORE: Twitter Net Worth 2022: How Much Is Twitter Valued After Elon Musk Made $43 Billion Offer?

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by Mary Webber

WATCH: BREAKING: Elon Musk Reaches Deal To Buy Twitter - from MSNBC






Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green texted former Donald Trump aide Mark Meadows about implementing martial law after the Capitol riot that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021.

Greene had texted Meadows last January 17 saying that the only way to save "our Republic is for Trump to "call for Marshall law," according to a CNBC News report.

"Marshall Law" was a misspelling of martial law, which refers to the emergency power that puts the military in charge of the government.

Greene's text message reportedly said, "I don't know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him," further claiming that the election was stolen.

The lawmaker also told Meadows to tell Trump to "declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else."

Meanwhile, the former Trump aide did not appear to respond to Greene. Greene's office did not comment on the report.

The representative sent the text three days before the former president was set to leave office after his defeat to U.S. President Joe Biden.

READ NEXT: January 6 Panel Considers Rewriting the 1807 Insurrection Act Amid Fears of a Donald Trump Repeat

Capitol Riot Text Messages

Meadows provided the text messages to a House committee investigating the Capitol riot.

He has fielded urgent questions from members of Congress, cabinet officials, Trump lawyers and advisors, Fox News figures, Trump family members, and other members of the former president's inner circle, according to a Slate report.

The messages were obtained by CNN, with a total of 2,319 text messages to fill out the picture that has been drawn over the past few months as other texts were released.

The texts have discovered that Trump refused to quickly condemn the violence that took place on Capitol Hill steps; as well as Ginni Thomas accused Biden of "attempting the greatest Heist of our History."

Ginni Thomas is a conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The trove of messages also showed that Donald Trump Jr. had developed a strategy for overturning the election even before the election was called for Biden.

Capitol Riot Panel Investigation

The House committee has voted to recommend that two onetime aides to Trump, Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino, be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas, according to The New York Times report.

A federal judge had also earlier written that it was "more likely than not" that the former president had broken the law by trying to disrupt a joint session of Congress, as well as conspiring to defraud the United States.

There was a nearly eight-hour gap in Trump's call logs from January 6, according to investigators. They are now discussing whether to demand the former president's phone records.

In addition, investigators are looking into Trump's tweet from December 2020, wherein he invited his supporters to gather in Washington on January 6.

Federal law enforcement officials have arrested more than 775 people suspected of being involved in the Capitol riot.

However, they have yet to charge any member of Trump's inner circle with a crime.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Admits He Didn't Win Presidential Election 2020 During Interview With Presidential Historians

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: MAGA Bust: Bombshell Text Evidence Ties Trump Allies to Coup Plot - from MSNBC






President Joe Biden and his administration were blocked by Louisiana federal court on Monday to rescind the Title 42 expulsion on the U.S.-Mexico borders before May 23.

According to New York Post, the Louisiana Federal court made the move by issuing a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Biden and his administration.

BREAKING NEWS: In a lawsuit originally filed by Missouri, Louisiana, and Arizona, our Office just obtained a temporary restraining order to keep Title 42 in place. This is a huge victory for border security, but the fight continues on.  Attorney General Eric Schmitt (@AGEricSchmitt) April 25, 2022

The move from the court was announced by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt through a statement, claiming that the move was a big victory for border security. However, the attorney general noted that the "fight continues on."

Fox News reported that the TRO will prevent the Biden administration take any action regarding the Trump-era border policy before a hearing on May 13, which will determine whether the public health order can be lifted on May 23.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich lauded the court's move on Monday, contending that Biden and his administration cannot continue to disregard the existing laws and procedures.

However, neither the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nor the Biden administration has proposed lifting the Title 42 expulsion earlier than May 23.

READ NEXT: Joe Biden Under Fire Over Title 42 Expulsion, After Ex-ICE Claims End of the Mandate Gives Smugglers, Migrants a 'Head Start'

Republican States of Louisiana, Missouri, Arizona, on Title 42 Expulsion Ending

The TRO issued by the federal court in Louisiana came after officials from Arizona, Missouri, and Louisiana filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, claiming that ending the program would overwhelm the agency's capacity to enforce immigration laws at the border.

Fox News noted that several other states have joined the three Republican states in the lawsuit, but the outlet did not mention which states are on board in the suit.

The lawsuit filed named several agencies under the Biden administration as defendants, including the immigration court system.

Pushbacks on Pres. Joe Biden's Ending of Title 42 Expulsion

Several officials have expressed their opposition to President Joe Biden and his administration's plans to end the Title 42 expulsion.

One of them was Republican Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin, claiming that the Biden administration is creating a disaster by "throwing open" the country's borders, ripping the administration on the upcoming rescindment of the Trump-era program, per the Post.

Johnson said that the move from the Biden administration will allow human traffickers to "pocket billions of dollars," adding that a nation is not considered sovereign if the border is not secure.

New York Representative John Katko also highlighted the effects of the removal of Title 42 expulsion, claiming that the daily migrant encounters would increase to 18,000 if the move is pursued.

CDC announced earlier this month that it would remove the Title 42 expulsion that will be effective on May 23.

The agency added that the decision was made after considering the current public health conditions in the U.S. as well as the increase in the availability of the tools in combatting COVID-19.

READ NEXT: Melissa Lucio Execution Day Canceled After New Texas Court Ruling: What Happened?

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Texas Sues Biden Administration to Keep Title 42 in Place - From KENS 5: Your San Antonio News Source
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has called on Latinos in the United States not to vote on U.S. politicians who have "mistreated them" as the November midterm elections near.

Lopez Obrador's statement came as a response to a comment by former U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a Reuters report.

Trump noted at a rally in Ohio at the weekend while in office, that he had forced Lopez Obrador to deploy 28,000 soldiers along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out migrants after posing a threat to put tariffs on Mexican goods.

Lopez Obrador said that no U.S. political party should "use Mexico as a pinata," adding that those with the right to vote should exercise it with caution.

The Mexican president said that Americans of Mexican and Latino descent should not vote for parties of candidates if Mexico or some country in Latin America and the Caribbean is "mistreated."

Lopez Obrador said in a news conference not to forget their origins, adding that when someone goes too far and causes offense, the Latinos will call them out.

In 2017, it was recorded that Mexicans made up the largest population of Hispanic origin in the United States, which is at 36.6 million.

READ NEXT: Mexico: Lopez Obrador Denies 'Falsifying' Investigation on 2014 Disappearance of 43 Students

Donald Trump and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

The former president has called Mexican migrants rapists, threatened Mexico with a trade war, and sent out thousands of asylum seekers out of the country.

Trump has also installed a wall and promised to make Mexico pay for its expenses, according to a The New York Times report.

In 2017, Lopez Obrador likened Trump's attitude toward migrants to Nazi Germany's treatment of Jews. He noted that he "liked Trump even though he is a capitalist," adding that Trump's presidency was good for both countries, according to The National News report.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard rebuffed Trump's comments. He is seen to succeed Lopez Obrador in 2024.

Ebrard took to Twitter to respond to Trump's remarks, saying that he was "campaigning for the anti-Mexicanism that characterizes him."

Mexico and Immigrants

Mexico is seen as crucial to holding off new waves of migrants, mobilizing extra security forces at its southern border to prepare for its latest caravan.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration will also need Lopez Obrador's cooperation in creating more COVID testing and tracing for people who cross the southern border.

Lopez Obrador wanted to maintain "a good neighbor policy," while also criticizing his predecessor for being "servile and irresponsible" when it comes to enforcing their sovereignty.

In the 2021 fiscal year, the U.S. Border Patrol reported more than 1.6 million encounters with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a Pew Research report.

Migrant encounters refer to two kinds of events such as expulsions, wherein migrants are immediately expelled to their home country or last country of transit. The second one is apprehension, wherein migrants are detained in the United States at least temporarily.

Expulsions have been the most recorded migrant encounters in the United States ever since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

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: Trump, Lopez Obrador visit about trade, politics - from Associated Press






Johnny Depp concluded his testimony in his defamation trial against Amber Heard in a Fairfax, Virginia court Monday, with a declaration that he is the victim of domestic abuse and not his ex-wife.

According to CNN, Depp was cross-examined by Heard's attorney, Ben Rottenborn, during his fourth day on the stand. Rottenborn asked Depp if his client was the only person who had a problem regarding his alcohol abuse.

The actor then replied that if anyone had a problem with his drinking at any time in his life, it was him.

"The only person I've abused in my life is myself," Depp said.

The actor then remained on the stand for a redirect examination from his attorney, Jessica Meyers. They tried to reclaim the narrative after several days of cross-examination, in which Heard's camp barraged the jury with audio and texts of the actor using profane language and in angry outbursts, Deadline reported.

During redirect, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor explained that some of the evidence by Heard's attorney, like the texts, were meant to be "irreverent" or based on Monty Python movies.

Depp noted that he usually handles a "difficult or unpleasant situation" with humor, or he would leave the room or their house.

When the actor's lawyer asked him how he felt in the final days of their marriage, Depp said he was "being nailed in one stop and not being able to do anything" but react to Heard screaming "like a Banshee and then telling me to calm down."

"I was broken, really at the end, couldn't take it anymore... No one deserves to live like that," Depp noted.

Meyers also played a 2016 recording of a conversation between Depp and Heard about regaining her reputation after reports of abuse in their relationship had been made public.

"The abuse thing we gotta deal with that," Depp said at one point in the recording. Heard then replied: "You forced me to by going on the offense."

Meyers asked Depp about his response when Heard said, "Tell the world, Johnny. Tell them, Johnny Depp, I, Johnny Depp, a man, I'm a victim, too, of domestic violence?"

Depp responded: "I said, 'Yes. I am'."

READ NEXT: Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Trial: Doctor Testifies About How Actor's Severed Fingertip Was Found on Kitchen Floor

Ireland Baldwin Says Amber Heard a 'Terrible Person' Amid Johnny Depp's Defamation Case

Amid Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's defamation trial, American model Ireland Baldwin took to Instagram to criticize the actress, calling her a "terrible person."

"The thing is, I know women who are exactly like this... They are manipulative and cold and they use their very womanhood to play the victim and turn the world against the man," Baldwin said in a since-expired Instagram story, as reported by Page Six.

Baldwin went on to say that we live in "a society where it's cool to say men are all the worst." The model then said that men can also experience abuse before she called Heard an "absolute disaster of a human being."

"I hope Johnny gets his reputation and his life back. And I hope he's in like 5 more Pirates movies," Baldwin noted.

Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard Defamation Case

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are battling over a 2018 op-ed the actress wrote for the Washington Post, calling herself a domestic violence survivor.

The piece did not mention Depp by name, but the actor claimed he was booted from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise due to the "clear implication" that he was the abuser in his ex-wife's op-ed.

Depp further alleged that Heard was the actual "perpetrator" of the violent encounters that damaged their relationship. He is asking for $50 million in damages.

On the other hand, Heard has filed a $100 million counterclaim against the actor, who she divorced in 2017, for nuisance.

Amber Heard will also be taking the stand in the trial. She is expected to give testimony in the next week or so. The defamation trial is expected to last six weeks.

READ MORE: Buccaneers: Tom Brady Reveals Real Reason Why He Won't Be Playing Until He's 50

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Johnny Depp Forgets His Own Acting Credits During Amber Heard Trial - From Entertainment Tonight
The four sons of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, known as Los Chapitos, have been blamed for destroying two homes of rival cartel leaders in Mexico's Sonora state.

According to Mexico News Daily, the Los Chapitos were accused of sending members of the Los Cazadores, or "The Hunters" cartel, with a backhoe to knock down the homes belonging to leaders of the rival Caborca Cartel in Pitiquito, Sonora on Thursday.

Despite the homes near a National Guard base, authorities have reportedly not responded to the incident. Parts of the houses were demolished in broad daylight, but the state Attorney General's Office said it received no reports about the events, which cartel members filmed.

The members of Los Cazadores, an armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel working for El Chapo's four sons, can be heard celebrating as the backhoe smashed through the houses, which lasted for several minutes.

"There's your house, Yuyo... You're not going to have a house anymore!" a person can be heard in the video saying, possibly addressing one of the Caborca Cartel's leaders.

The two homes had previously been shot at, but the security forces also did not intervene. According to Infobae, two of the leaders of Los Cazadores had already been arrested in April and June last year.

The Caborca Cartel is being headed by drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero and his nephews.

READ NEXT: El Chapo Sons' Hitman Shot Dead by Rival Gang of Sinaloa Cartel While Eating His Last Taco in Mexico

El Chapo Sons' Hitmen Held Mexico Town Hostage

Last February, the Caborca town in Mexico's Sonora state was reportedly held hostage for 24 hours by hitmen loyal to El Chapo's sons.

According to Daily Star, the Caborca was invaded by more than 20 pickup trucks of armed men linked to Los Chapitos to intimidate the rival cartels in the area and lay siege to the town.

El Pais reported that the pickup trucks covered in homemade armor and mounted with assault rifles were seen moving from Altar town before arriving in Caborca.

The vehicles were reportedly marked with an "X," while the armed men were dressed in military and tactical gear. Reports said the hitmen took time to fill their vehicles with gas and filmed themselves boasting about their artillery.

The armed men then roamed through the town and searched houses for enemies before killing two men and leaving them in the street. The hitmen also kidnapped several people.

The National Guard, police, and the armed forces reportedly knew about the attack. However, residents said no authorities were present to defend them from the drug cartel's hitmen.

At least 100 men with heavy weapons who posted photos on social media as they took the streets of Caborca left the town after 24 hours.

According to local reports, El Chapo's sons wanted the drug routes, weapons, and even the migrants, so they would threaten and besiege a rival territory when they felt like it. Caborca is a town located a few kilometers from the U.S.

Rewards Offered for Los Chapitos

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 brothers manage around 11 laboratories in their home state of Sinaloa that produce up to 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine monthly.

The State Department said the Los Chapitos are high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel and are subject to a federal indictment for their involvement in the illegal drug trade.

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






After their family dogs attacked her baby daughter, a California mom was forced to fatally stab one of the pit bulls.

Jamie Morales of Pico Rivera at Los Angeles county stabbed the pit bulls when they mauled her one-year-old daughter, Ruby Cervantes, on Sunday night.

People reported that a three-year-old dog tackled the child during the incident, and the second pit bull came in and also attacked the baby.

The whole family rushed to pull the dogs off the little girl. Ruby's grandmother, Margaret Morales, told ABC 7 that she saw her two daughters and son on the floor trying to get the dogs off her granddaughter.

She noted that she saw one of the dogs latched on her left leg, and that was when she had to get her hand into the dog's jaws and open them up, and that's when the dog released the baby.

Margaret said the dog bit her granddaughter on the leg and the dog also bit her hand, and it was severely cut open. Jamie then grabbed a knife and stabbed the dogs, and one of them died. The California mom suffered facial injuries during the attack.

Jamie told KTLA that after she chose her daughter over the dog, she had to stab the pit bull because, if not, her daughter would die.

READ NEXT: Alligator Attack: Florida Man Bitten by Alligator While Searching for Prehistoric Shark Teeth in River

California Mom Stabbed Family Dogs

The baby, Jamie Morales, Margaret Morales, and another family member were taken to hospitals for treatment of their injuries, according to CBS8.

Margaret later told reporters outside their home that her granddaughter was in surgery. Ruby reportedly has suffered dog bites to her face and her body. She received treatment at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center.

Ruby's aunt was also reported to have been injured in the attack. She is expected to survive her injuries. In a statement, Pico Rivera Mayor Monica Sanchez said she was horrified by the news of the attack.

She then asked the city manager to offer aid to the family, which included crisis counselors. Sanchez extended her deepest condolences to the family and best wishes for a swift recovery for the child and injured family members.

The family dogs were usually kept outdoors. However, Sacramento Bee reported that they were allowed inside on Sunday after receiving their baths.

Officials said the second dog would be taken to animal control and be euthanized. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department arrived at the scene and said the pit bulls mauled the baby after she started crying.

Margaret had owned the dogs since they were puppies. The dogs came from the same litter. The family noted that the pit bulls had never been aggressive before Sunday's incident.

Family Dogs Aggression

According to VCA Animal Hospitals, there are several reasons why a dog might show aggression toward family members. It said the most common causes are conflict aggression, fear-based, defensive aggression, possessive aggression, food guarding aggression, status-related aggression, and redirected aggression.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that 800,000 people seek medical attention for dog bites yearly, half of the number are children.

READ MORE: Michael Gargiulo, Known as the 'Hollywood Ripper' and 'Boy Next Door Killer,' Gets Death for Killing 2 Women, Including Ashton Kutcher's Date

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: How to Stop Dog Aggressive Behavior Towards People? Quickly and Easily - From the Dogs Book






Laois County Library is hosting a series of online history talks in the coming weeks as part of its Decade of Centenaries Programme.

Laois and Ireland in Revolution is a three part series exploring areas often overlooked in the past, such as the role of revolutionary women, the labour movement and the Civil War in Laois.

Revolutionary Women, the first talk in the series, will take place next Wednesday, May 4 at 8 pm. Sinead Holland (Laois Local Studies) and Terry Dunne (Laois Historian-in-Residence) will talk about women involved in Cumann na mBan and in the labour movement locally, while historian Liz Gillis, author of Women of the Irish Revolution will put this research into its national context with an overview of the involvement of women in revolutionary activism across the country.

This talk is part of a long-term and on-going engagement by Laois Local Studies in projects bringing back into the light womens experience of the revolutionary period.

Revolutionary Workers, the second talk in the series, will take place on Thursday, June 16 at 8 pm. Terry Dunne will talk on his chapter in Bread not profits: provincial working-class politics during the Irish Revolution, a new collection of essays on the labour movement.

The chapter looks at the Portarlington Sawmills Lockout of 1918 and the Clonaslee Farm Strike of 1922. Francis Devine, author of Organising history: a centenary of SIPTU, 1909-2009, and editor of Bread not profits, will discuss how the Laois experience fits into the national pattern. This event will take place on the anniversary of the first election in the Irish Free State, in which William Davin, of the Railway Clerks Association, won 46.54% of the votes in the Laois-Offaly constituency.

Revolutionary War, the final talk in this online series, will take place on Thursday, June 30 at 8 pm. Join Michael Rafter and Terry Dunne in conversation about the course of the Civil War in Laois. Michael Rafter is the author of the ground-breaking local study The quiet county: towards a history of the Laois Brigade IRA and revolutionary activity in the county, 1913 1923. The talk takes place on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the first shots being fired in the Civil War in Laois.

The event took place on the Durrow Road outside Abbeyleix (1st July 1922) and was part of the preliminaries of the Battle of Abbeyleix (July 5, 1922). Cadet James Kealy of the National Army and a native of Ballickmoyler died in this clash.

For more information and to register for online talks visit https://laoislocalstudies.ie/history-events-online/
The lack of a tourist office serving Laois is "an embarrassment" according to a Portlaoise councillor.

Millions of euros have been invested to boost Laois tourism but the county has no tourist information office since 2019.

Cllr Willie Aird branded the lack of an office coming into summer season as "an embarrassment", speaking at the April meeting of Laois County Council.

In written reply to his motion, Laois Tourism Officer Dom Reddin said they are working with Laois Chamber of Commerce to open a permanent office, but gave no timeline.

Cllr Aird said he was disappointed.

"I welome that we are going to get one. It is an embarrassment for me. You see tourists walking up and down and we don't have a tourism office. I certainly didn't stand over a budget that didn't have a tourist office. We need to be able to sell our county. This is a backward step. I'm disappointed.

"This is one area you are falling down. We don't have an office as I sit here today and we are in the middle of the tourist season. With the Rock of Dunamase, we have a fantastic county. We need to get more proud of who we are," Cllr Aird said.

The Director of Services over Tourism Gerry Murphy defended their efforts up to now.

"Covid caused difficulties," he said, saying that a tourist information service is provided in county hall, but this would not be advertised to the public.

"I want an office open," said Cllr Aird.

"We are aware of the issue and we are trying to deal with it," Mr Murphy replied.

"Ten year ago we had a Failte Ireland office, we had one back in the 70's, now we have none," Cllr Aird said.

CEO John Mulholland rejected the assertion that it is a failure by the council.

"I don't agree that we are falling down. It is the same as other counties. If you want you can go in and get a leaflet. The Bord Failte person was taken out and sent to Kilkenny so we had to provide the service ourselves.

"We had a desk in the Dunamase Theatre and we have a digital platform. In JFL Avenue people complained, they had wanted other information like directions to busses and toilets and there were other anti-social issue. We brought it to the Dunamase where there were other people and a canteen.

"It's unfortunate that Failte Ireland left the scene, but Laois County Council filled the void because we do things like that. Not all other counties have that. You can go in and orientate yourself maybe to get to the Rock of Dunamase, Donaghmore museum or the Slieve Blooms. It's a lot more of a hospitable service. We had part-time staff but they all left the scene. We don't have the budget for a full time staff but we have a tourism officer. We will work to get an office with Laois Chamber," he said.

Cllr Aird was not content.

"Don't mince my words, I supported the office at the Dunamase. Get someone to man the desk, I don't think that's too much to ask. Of course people will go in and ask for directions, there's nothing wrong with that. Promote the county. Give people an opportunity to go out and visit places," he said.

Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald suggested that the new Portlaoise library, set to open this winter, could host a tourist information desk.

Cllr Aird's motion asked that Laois County Council outline the plans to put in place a Tourism Office in Portlaoise for the coming season and what are the delays in same

Mr Reddin had given the following reply.

"Laois County Council is currently liaising with the Laois Chamber of Commerce & Laois Tourism in relation to a merger of both Boards in order to develop a common vision, strategy and plan to form a new organisation for Laois and to unlock its unique potential for all stakeholders.

"This process is at an advanced stage and will result in a permanent presence of a Tourism Office at the Laois Chamber offices at Lyster Square, Portlaoise."
A Laois TD has sought clarification amid claims that Just Transition funding is being used to import peat.

Deputy Carol Nolan has written to Environment Minister Eamon Ryan and Minister Darragh OBrien seeking immediate clarification on the matter.

She said the issue had been brought to her attention by a number of people who were alarmed by the possible use of Just Transition funding to import peat while communities in Offaly, Laois and across the Midlands struggle to access matching funding for their own transition related projects.

If it is confirmed that Just Transition funding is being used to import peat then the entire process will be shown to have descended to the level of farce and insult, Deputy Nolan said.

We need urgent clarification on this issue, and whats more, we need an immediate revision of the inability of traders within the Irish market to access indigenous peat products.

I will be pursuing this matter until we have clarity on what exactly is going on and until we can finally bring a dose of common sense to a process that is lurching from one incomprehensible absurdity to the next, concluded Deputy Nolan.

The Independent TD said she has written to the Minister for the Environment Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh OBrien, seeking immediate clarification around concerns that funding allocated to the Just Transition process is being used to subsidise the importation of peat and peat moss.
A desperate situation is developing in relation to the availability of childcare in Stradbally, a recent council meeting was told.

Cllr Paschal McEvoy said there is an absolutely massive waiting list for childcare in Stradbally at the moment. The problem is theres no buildings available. Theres plenty of people prepared to take on the work.

"We really are in a desperate situation in Stradbally in relation to places for these children and it is only going to get worse, 60, 70 up to 100 houses going to be there in the next three or four years, he remarked.

He noted there are 31 turnkey houses and plans for 72 houses in one estate in Stradbally.

Cllr McEvoy put down a motion asking: That this Council consider building a creche as part of the social housing development at Carraig Glas, Stradbally.

In response, Assistant Senior Engineer of Councils Housing Section, Trevor Hennessy stated: Part VIII planning approval was granted in September 2021 for the construction of 26 units in Carraig Glas, Stradbally. Inclusion of a creche was not part of this Part VIII approval. A needs assessment in relation to Childcare provision in Stradbally would have to be carried out in advance of any decision in this regard.

However, Cllr McEvoy insisted it was going to get worse if no action was taken. We will have to consider putting a creche there, he said.

Cllr Aidan Mullins said he fully supported the motion and he predicted major problems for young families if no action is taken.

Senior Executive Engineer Philip McVeigh told the meeting that a needs assessment would need to be carried out by the planning section.

Cllr Aisling Moran said the council needs to start planning for the growing demand. She noted demand on services will grow with the arrival of refugees from Ukraine.

Cllr Ben Brennan supported the motion and said it is very important to have creches in housing estates.

The issue was discussed at the recent Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District meeting.
The Department of Agriculture has issued an Orange level Forest Fire Warning arising from increased temperatures and recent low rainfall levels.

The warning is in place until this Friday.

The nationwide warning for woodland areas also covers areas of gorse such as in the Curragh Plains where the evergreen shrubs cover some of the 5,000 acres.

The Department of Agriculture said a high fire risk is deemed to exist in all areas where hazardous fuels such as dead grasses and shrub fuels such as heather and gorse exist.

Members of the public intending to visit forests and other public recreational sites are reminded not to light camp fires or organise outdoor barbecues.

All countryside users are asked to be vigilant, to report any suspicious activity to An Garda Siochana and to report any uncontrolled or unattended fires immediately to the Fire and Emergency Services via 112/999 service.

Hundreds of acres of forest are damaged by fire ever year.

It is illegal for landowners to burn vegetation on uncultivated land between March and the end of August.

People should not discard cigarette ends should make sure they are extinguished.

Anybody acting irresponsibly or carelessly with fire should be reported to the authorities.
An overwhelming feeling of unity, pride and relief was felt among local traders at the opening day of Punchestown Festival 2022.

One Maynooth-based artist, who has also had a studio located in the Curragh Racecourse since 2013, said that while his business did better during the pandemic compared to others, he was nevertheless glad to be back at the Festival.

While the world shut down for the pandemic, John Fitzgerald continued his work in his studio because racing continued.

Its brilliant to be back because I have such strong racing connections and affection for it. The pandemic when everyone wasnt going out, racing was still going on. It was huge for me because there were still big events going on. I was extremely lucky in that sense because people began to invest in art for their homes, John said.

John has had artworks commissioned by some of horse racings biggest names and has become a leading name in equine and sporting art. As well as personal pieces, in 2018 John was commissioned to paint one of the world's most famous racehorses, Shergar, for a BBC documentary Searching for Shergar.

I was an estate agent for a few years but now Im glad to say that I am full time at this. We have scenes from historic venues such as Fairyhouse, Punchestown and the Curragh. Commissions are the main part of the business, owners and trainers want paintings of their winners made, John explained.

I ALWAYS TOLD MYSELF: SOMEDAY

Another trader who expressed her delight at being at the festival was Naas woman Lynda Murphy, who runs Sonny Bear, a website selling sustainably-manufactured childrens clothes.

Previously, Lynda was employed as a social worker until 2012, when she began to care for her ill dad.

She said that today was her first time ever being at the Festival with her business, although her Punchestown debut was originally meant to happen in 2020.

Linda Murphy at her stand at Punchestown festival

I just wanted to get out and about and get (the shop) seen.

Theres just no substitute for holding and feeling the products, she added. Lynda, who has been running Sonny Bear since 2019, came up with the idea years earlier, but focused on raising her daughters before she eventually made the decision to set up the online shop.

Explaining her inspiration behind the store, she said: I always loved dressing my children from the time they were toddlers, I always told myself: someday.

Lynda added that she was initially anxious about setting up the website and social media profiles for the shop, especially as she had no previous experience with IT: There was lots of tears at the start! she joked: But its necessary, especially social media, its so, so important.

Commenting further on her products, Lynda said: Everything is sustainable, and mostly comes from female run or family run businesses in Europe, such as Spain and Portugal theres also a supplier from Turkey.

All the conditions in the factories that make the products are up to standard, and the cotton is organic.

However, she added that implications arising from both Brexit and the rising cost of living have made getting in supplies tricky at times.

Regardless, Lynda still holds her head up high; as a longtime goer to Punchestown, she said she was excited to be back, especially with her own business.

Lynda also revealed that she had previously owned two horses, and that she doesnt play favourites with the horses at Punchestown  theyre all lovely! she remarked.

PROUD SPONSORS

Also present on day one of the prestigious Festival was Catherine Bunn, sales and marketing manager at the Osprey Hotel, who have been sponsors of the event since 2019.

Catherine said that the hotel is focused on making itself known as where its at before and after the track: We have bottomless brunch or live music every night in the bar.

In addition, Robbie Puppy Power and Katie Walsh will be at the Osprey Hotel to offer their expert opinion on all the days action from 1pm.

Im sure that they will help make lots of winners! she added.

Catherine also said that The High Kings will be playing in the hotel on Thursday at 7pm, while Friday will also see marquis, French tents, a DJ and a number of different bands.

She added that capacity for The High Kings concert is at 75 per cent, so she urged those who are interested in seeing them perform live to order their tickets as soon as possible.
The heat is on: the quest to find the smartest climate secondary school students in Newbridge has begun.

The second annual Cracking-Carbons multimedia Climate Quiz will pit teams of four students against each other, as they battle it out over six rounds consisting of 60 questions on everything climate related, with the winners crowned climate brains of Kildare.

The lucky winners of the Newbridge event could also secure a position of Cracking-Carbons national league table, which, over the coming 18 months, is looking to identify Irelands smartest climate students.

Transition Year students will answer questions from three different categories: Climate Change Science & Geography, Climate change Facts & Figures, and Climate Change People & Personalities, a round that includes questions on some of the more bizarre climate utterances, good and bad, from celebrities and personalities.

This segment will also include lots of hilarious video clips as clues, keeping students laughing and engaged while they answer the serious climate questions.

'REIGNITE THE DEBATE'

Explaining the motivation behind the event, Cracking-Carbon founder Simon Ruddy said: "We want to reignite the climate debate, which has unfortunately but understandably fallen down the priority list globally due to the COVID pandemic".

"But rather than simply regurgitate the same predictions of doom and talking about shrinking polar ice caps and rising sea level... all of which is true, but is nonetheless a style of climate message that is creating a growing level of fatigue around the issue, as people despair with the sense of hopelessness due to the magnitude of the problem.

Mr Ruddy added: "Cracking-Carbon instead wants to create more engaging, immersive and even fun climate events that will stick-in-the-minds of participants long after the event, thereby lending itself more to garnering the personal sense of responsibility people will need to start adopting if we are to reverse or even slow down the devastating impacts of climate change."

The event will take place on Thursday, May 5 next.

FURTHER INFORMATION

According to Cracking-Carbon's website, it helps businesses and organisations grow 'by amplifying their green credentials.'

In addition to climate action workshops and quizzes, other services that they provide range from Sustainability Audits,

Sustainability Plans & Goal Setting (in line with Irelands Climate Action Plan goals), and Sustainability Webinars and Training.

For further information about the group and what they do, click here.
Maura ONeill taught English and French, although English was her first love, in Naas CBS and when she retired the first thing she decided to do was to write a book. In fact, her project turned out to be a memoir.

For years she has been an Agony Aunt for the Sunday World and in answering peoples problems she has drawn on her own life.

An image of the book cover

So, when she decided to open up her laptop to write her own story she found it a healing process.

In 1984 Mauras parents and two of her brothers, Sean, aged 23 and Noel aged 16 were killed when a tree fell on their car during a storm.

Read more Kildare news

She includes in her memoir an honest account and description of her attempt to get through her grief and loss.

However, her personal challenges didnt stop her career in her much loved radio.

Her interest in this medium, starting with pirate radio back in the eighties.



This in turn would lead her to a very varied career which eventually took her to RTE and presenting on 2FM when the late Gerry Ryan was on holidays.

Maura also worked on Radio 1, replacing the late Marian Finucane when she took her holiday leave.

Not content with just being in a studio, Maura was also asked to be a reporter for the Ryan show.

And this took her and the team to Cape Town, South Africa.

Before that she, Gerry and his producer went on safari, and she recalls the wonderful landscape and animals she saw there.

Her experience of Cape Town included emotional interviews with people who lived through Apartheid and a man who was imprisoned with Nelson Mandela.

During her radio career she met and interviewed people she will always remember for their life story and for their willingness to share those moments with her.

At one point she decided to give radio up and focus on her family, especially her daughter Kate.

She and her husband, Kieran, built a house in Straffan and settled down in the corner of a cornfield. Maura then went back to her first career, secondary school teaching at the 1,000 student CBS in Naas.

She spent sixteen wonderful years there. Maura originally made her way to Kildare from northside Dublin, settling in Maynooth in the early nineties and taught in Salesian College, Celbridge.

She settled into community life in Straffan and at one time, was PRO for the local GAA team.

Her husband, Kieran McManamon, played and managed Straffan and Clane GAA clubs.

She also did a series of interviews for KFM with well-known Kildare people, for example Charlie ONeill, Jack Hennigan, Stan Cosgrove of Moyglare Stud to name but a few.

Her family now live in Clane where they moved in 2017.

When she decided to launch her memoir, Leaving To Go Home, she chose her old school as the venue for the occasion.

And she spent a lovely evening there with family, friends, past and current staff of the school.

They included the principal Ben Travers and former principal Noel Merrick.



She hopes her book will inspire others to always move forward with life no matter what the challenges, find support as she did and always have hope that tomorrow will be a better day.

Copies of her book are available in the Barker and Jones bookshop at Poplar Square, Naas.
Day one of the Punchestown Festival takes centre-stage on Tuesday afternoon with an excellent eight-race card. The start of five days of brilliant action at the track, the action gets underway at 3.40pm and concludes at 7.45pm.

The ground at the track is currently Good to Yielding and there is watering taking place at the track. The forecast is for a cloudy day. We have previewed the action with our race by race guide and you can find the more tips at Irishracing.com

3.40pm Listed Mares Novice Hurdle (2m)

Dinoblue and Grangee were fourth and sixth respectively in a Grade One at Fairyhouse earlier this month. However, preference is for Party Central for Gordon Elliott. The six-year-old is a three-time winner this term and travelled with plenty of zest on her latest start at the Cheltenham Festival before eventually tiring to finish seventh in the Mares Novices Hurdle. However, she is forgiven that effort and is taken to return to winning ways here.

Selection: Party Central

4.15pm Grade One Champion Novice Hurdle (2m)

Mighty Potter failed to fire in the Supreme Novices Hurdle, but is a Grade One winner this term. Dysart Dynamo pulled hard and looked to be losing the battle when falling in the same contest and with that in mind, Sir Gerhard is difficult to oppose. Unbeaten over hurdles, he was brilliant in the Ballymore Novices Hurdle and will be tough to beat dropping back in trip here.

Selection: Sir Gerhard

4.50pm Handicap Hurdle (2m)

Farout disappointed at Fairyhouse last time out, but is interesting given Paul Townend retains the ride. Eskylane has to carry top-weight, but is also respected, but Glan looks the one to be with. He was very impressive when powering to victory at Fairyhouse last time out and despite 7lb rise, he looks tough to beat here.

Selection: Glan

5.25pm Grade One Champion Chase (2m)

A thrilling tussle between heavyweight stable companions Energumene and Chacun Pour Soi. The former was a facile winner of the Champion Chase and is the pick of Paul Townend. However, Chacun Pour Soi was a facile winner of this event last term and despite falling in the Champion Chase, all of his best form has come in Ireland. He gets the vote with quicker ground potentially more in his favour.

Selection: Chacun Pour Soi

6.00pm Bumper (2m)

Tricky to get a handle on this race with Gordon Elliott having four runners. Jamie Codd has picked 200,000 Caldwell Potter who is a brother to Grade One scorer Mighty Potter and he clearly makes appeal on pedigree. Willie Mullins has two runners and son Patrick has chosen Rocco Ray who was purchased for 46,000 and is another to note.

Selection: Caldwell Potter

6.35pm Grade One Champion Novice Chase (3m)

The likes of Millers Bank, Lifetime Ambition, Fury Road and Beacon Edge all command respect, but this could rest between Bob Olinger and Capodanno. The latter is trained by Willie Mullins and finished fourth in the Marsh Novices Chase last time out. He should improve for that outing, but preference is for Bob Olinger. The seven-year-old was a fortuitous winner of the Turners Novices Chase, but he does give the impression that a step up to three miles would suit and he gets the verdict here.

Selection: Bob Olinger

7.10pm Cross Country Chase (3m 1f)

De Nordener has won a brace of point-to-points this year and is respected for that man Enda Bolger on Rules debut. However, Good Bye Sam represents Willie and Patrick Mullins and gets the vote. Second to subsequent Cheltenham Festival hero Billaway on his Irish debut, he finally got off the mark at the third time of asking for Mullins at Tramore in April. He looks capable of more progression here.

Selection: Good Bye Sam

7.45pm Bumper (2m)

Lisnagar Fortune is a half-brother to Stayers Hurdle hero Lisnagar Oscar and clearly warrants attention on debut for Willie Mullins, but Gordon Elliott has another fascinating newcomer in 220,000 purchase Firm Footings. The four-year-old is a half-brother to Monalee and is taken to make a winning start in the finale.

Selection: Firm Footings
A survey by the Irish Independent has revealed that hundreds of dog attacks on humans have been reported to local authorities in the past five years.

In Ireland, laws introduced in 1998 imposed restrictions on 11 different breeds of dog including Rottweilers, German shepherds (Alsations), English bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, bull mastiffs, Dobermann pinschers, Rhodesian ridgebacks, Japanese akitas, Japanese Tosas and any dogs which are a cross of those on the list.

Included in the restrictions are that the animals be muzzled while in public and held on a strong lead by a person above the age of 16.

Campaigners have sought to get dogs removed from the list. However, farmers who have lost livestock and those who have been victims of dog attacks are calling for greater controls on canines  and not just those on the restricted list.

Leitrim County Council has a record of 84 dog attacks in total - 20 attacks on people, 31 on other dogs and 33 on livestock in the past five years.

There are a variety of breed types involved in dog attacks in Leitrim including, but not exclusively collie, Labrador, golden retriever, German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Dobermann, Jack Russell, terrier, Japanese akita, foxhound, lurcher and mixed breed, a spokesperson said.
A 13-year-old Bornacoola girl who is to undergo major surgery to correct severe curvature of her spine next month is appealing to the public to assist her in raising an additional 30,000 to cover surgery and post operational costs.

Little Rachel Mallon, daughter of Brian and Edel, is a member of the Mallon family who are well known in the local community and are steeped in the GAA in Co Leitrim.

The severe curvature on Rachel's spine

Rachel, a first year student in Mohill Community College, has severe scoliosis of her spine with 70% curvature at the top of her spine and close to 60% at the bottom.

Surgery is planned for next month in London. The surgery had originally been planned for later but following the most recent set of x-rays and scans the surgeon was so alarmed at the increase in the curve of her spine at both ends that he has sourced a hospital and a surgery team to bring it forward.

The surgery involves entering from both of her sides  cutting her ribs and puncturing one lung at a time in order to get at her spine  they then fuse a number of vertebrae at both ends  and connect a wire from there up through her spinal column  pulling her spine back into a relatively normal place.

Rachel's Dad Brian said she is quite mature about it and is happy to go through with the surgery but admitted that nerves were starting to build for what is a huge surgery for any child to undergo.

The cost of the surgery is 120,000 and the family has raised 90,000 to date and are looking for help to try and raise the additional 30,000 to help see her through surgery and a week in St Georges Hospital, London post op.

Not surprisingly, a team of volunteers from across the community has rowed in behind the Mallon family to make sure that the funding is raised so Rachel can have this vital surgery and enjoy being an active, sports loving teenager once again.

However, time is the problem as there is a very short window.

A gofundme page has now been opened and they are appealing to the public for their assistance to get them to their target.

https://gofund.me/4f9ab9a6

There is also a link for Rachels fundraiser on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/ RachelScoliosisSurgery/

Alternatively, for those not on or familiar with Facebook  donations can be made direct to the following bank account:

BIC: BOFIIE2DXXX

IBAN: IE77BOFI90541665216814

Thank you.
Marine Le Pen is about to deliver her speech acknowledging her defeat in the presidential election, in Paris, April 24, 2022. AGNES DHERBEYS / MYOP FOR "LE MONDE

Her face somber and her fists white from clenching, as if to prevent herself from faltering, at 8:10 p.m. on Sunday, April 24, from the former Armenonville hunting lodge in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, Marine Le Pen said she "respected the results of the ballot box," which showed her defeated in the presidential election.

The candidate for the Rassemblement National (RN) lost for the third time, getting 41.46% of the vote against 58.54% for Emmanuel Macron, a 17-point gap. A few hundred supporters squeezed between the colonnades of the festival hall applauded her, shouting "Thank you!", while about 500 accredited journalists looked on.

Contrary to France's republican tradition, the far-right candidate did not congratulate the winner. She immediately regretted that a "great wind of freedom" had not blown and accused her opponent of having conducted "two weeks of unfair, brutal and violent methods" against her. It was a far cry from former conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy who, in 2012, had appeased his supporters and "wished good luck in the midst of trials" to socialist president-elect Francois Hollande, "because there is something much bigger than us, it is our country, it is our homeland, it is France." In 2007, socialist candidate Segolene Royal wished President-elect Sarkozy "to accomplish his mission in the service of all French people." Sunday, Mr. Macron, at the Champ-de-Mars acknowledged Ms. Le Pen's voters' "disappointment", and asked his audience not to jeer her.

With Ms. Le Pen, the far right reached an unprecedented level of support in France, 2022. While she had obtained 33.9 % of the vote in 2017, in five years she improved by more than seven points and collected more than 13.2 million votes (against 18.7 million for Emmanuel Macron and 15.4 million votes not cast). It was enough to make her defeat look like a success. Although the loser, Marine Le Pen congratulated herself on a "resounding victory," in the manner of Segolene Royal who promised "other victories" fifteen years ago. "The ideas that we represent are reaching peaks," she said, "and millions of our compatriots have chosen the national movement and the change it signifies."

'The system is tough'

The RN leader has achieved undeniable success. By playing on the distrust of vaccines she managed to conquer the French West Indies and Guyana in a perfect reversal of the balance of power with Emmanuel Macron in 2017: She collected 69.60% in Guadeloupe (against 24.87% five years ago), 60.87% in Martinique (against 22.45%), 60.70% in Guyana (against 35.11% in 2017). She who proclaims herself the voice of the "France of the forgotten" also came out on top in several departments in mainland France, including Oise, Somme, Vosges, Meuse, Pyrenees-Orientales, Gard, Var or Vaucluse, in contrast with wins only in Pas-de-Calais and Aisne in 2017.

Speech of the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, in Paris, April 24, 2022. AGNES DHERBEYS / MYOP FOR "LE MONDE

To explain her failure, Marine Le Pen pointed fingers at the opposing camp. She and those close to her were baffled by the ferocity of a resuscitated "front republicain" (When republicans of all stripes vote for a candidate in order to build a 'dam' against the far right). For two weeks, they decried the "violence" of being "re-demonized" by the movement, ending with Ms. Le Pen delivering a radically populist harangue against the president in Arras, three days before the second round of voting.

On Sunday, this refrain reverberated. "The system is tough," lamented the dejected MEP Andre Rouge. "The system is powerful," said Renaud Labaye, the candidates chief of staff. "It is because of the rhetorical bludgeoning, saying that if we won the earth would stop turning," said the MEP Thierry Mariani, criticizing "the victory of fear." In her dressing room, just after 8 p.m., Marine Le Pen comforted her entourage: "We have nothing to reproach ourselves for, we have nothing to be ashamed of."

The results fall in the Debeyre room, in Henin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), on April 24, 2022. CYRIL BITTON / DIVERGENCE FOR "LE MONDE

During the announcement of the results of the presidential election, with supporters of Marine Le Pen, in Paris, April 24, 2022. AGNES DHERBEYS / MYOP FOR "LE MONDE

The fact remains that the populist leader has missed riding the tide of power, despite her being accepted as a valid candidate by the French public. She had benefited from a divine surprise, the candidacy of far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour, who presented her as less radical than him. "Doing nothing, she is very popular," said Jean-Marie Le Pen of his granddaughter, Marion Marechal. The compliment could be extended to Ms. Le Pen, whose caution, however, turned into paralysis after the first round of voting.

Unexpected flip-flops

From the day after April 10, her campaign was derailed. Unlike in 2017, when she had continued to progress until losing the presidential debate, the 53-year-old candidate, enjoying the momentum, quickly petered out for lack of asserting herself. While her adviser Philippe Olivier imagined, before the campaign, that "it would take some show" to win, the representative of Pas-de-Calais did not take the initiative of a "Whirlpool moment," like her unexpected visit in front of the factory threatened with closure, in Amiens, in April 2017  a stunt which took Mr. Macron by surprise.

Without any new proposals, she unexpectedly flip-flopped, on the Islamic veil or on windmills, which blurred her position. While she wanted to win over Jean-Luc Melenchons voters, she awkwardly accused the leader of the "insoumis" of "betrayal," saying he was "closer to Emmanuel Macron than five years ago." After a grass-roots campaign, she put her chips down on her credibility and stumbled, sometimes by trying to marginalize journalists, sometimes by exposing her pro-Russian position, and once by having a demonstrator violently expelled from a meeting.

More on this topic From pensions to headscarves, Macron and Le Pen shift positions as the second round approaches

In this complicated position between two opposed flanks, on the left and on the right, Marine Le Pen tried to challenge Emmanuel Macron on his own ground, even during the televised debate, which centered on technical issues and competence. She forgot to deploy her best assets. Confronted with the huge gap between wooing the votes of Mr. Zemmour and those of the leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon, Ms. Le Pen went neither all the way to the end of her rehabilitation with a far-right agenda that she felt uncomfortable accepting, nor all the way to assuming a populist identity, as she still wanted to use anger to build an 'anti-Macron front'.

On Sunday, she nevertheless saw in her score "a form of hope," since it would be "the testimony of a great mistrust among the French people." Her defiance allowed her to reaffirm herself as the main opponent of the head of state. "The French showed tonight the desire for a strong counter-power to that of Emmanuel Macron," she insisted, presenting herself as the leader of "an active opposition" on such subjects as purchasing power, the retirement age, insecurity and immigration.

A new direction

Although she had hinted that this third attempt to reach power would be her last, Ms. Le Pen announced that she was not leaving the stage. "More than ever, I will continue my commitment to France and the French," said the candidate, to long drawn-out cheers. A new focus lies ahead: "The great electoral battle of the Parliament," which she will lead with her most loyal soldier, Jordan Bardella.

Marine Le Pen, after her speech acknowledging her defeat, in Paris, April 24, 2022. AGNES DHERBEYS / MYOP FOR "LE MONDE

Looking ahead, criticisms already sharpened in the nationalist camp will have to be accommodated. "We have been buried a thousand times, and a thousand times those who foresaw or hoped for our demise have been proven wrong by history," warned the RN leader. Mr. Zemmour took the floor shortly afterwards to hammer home the point that "This is the eighth time that defeat has struck the Le Pen name."

The mayor of Beziers (Herault), Robert Menard, an official supporter of the RN candidate, made scathing remarks on TF1, a major French television channel: "We are paying for holding a point of view that does not make sense on Europe. She is not able to go further and say yes, we shall defend Europe, even if we want to reform it. On the economy, we have been racing after Melenchon, and we end up saying anything at all. On Ukraine, yes, there has been a pro-Russian message."

At the end of the electoral marathon that she called "my campaign," Ms. Le Pen appears more alone than ever in facing the aftermath of defeat.

Ivanne Trippenbach Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.
THE Covid-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the value of public investment in research, the director general of Science Foundation Ireland has said.

Professor Philip Nolan, who was a key member of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) for more than two years, made his comments while speaking at the beginning of University of Limerick's Research Week.

The SFI Director General delivered the keynote address at the Learning from the Pandemic - the Power of Data in Public Health, event.

He was joined by panelists Dr Catherine Motherway, Head of the Intensive Care Unit at University Hospital Limerick; Professor Cathal Walsh, Chair in Statistics at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UL; Professor Aedin Culhane, Professor of Biomedical Sciences (Cancer Genomics) at the UL School of Medicine and Dr Mai Mannix, Director of Public Health Mid-West.

UL President Professor Kerstin Mey, who officially launched UL Research Week 2022 prior to the talk, moderated the event, which was organised by the Health Research Institute (HRI) at UL.

The pandemic clearly demonstrates the value of public investment in fundamental research across a wide range of disciplines, Professor Nolan stated.

At the onset of the pandemic, when asked to build a team to monitor and model the development of the outbreak in Ireland, we were able to draw on the expertise of applied mathematicians, computer scientists, geospatial scientists, statisticians, epidemiologists and public health specialists to create the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group (IEMAG). A much wider body of expertise in virology, immunology, infectious disease, psychology and behavioural science was available to NPHET and Government. We should remember that this breadth and depth of expertise was available only because of decades of public investment in our higher education and research system.

Professor Nolan, who also visited the CONFIRM research centre during while in Limerick, emphasised the importance of increasing the level of investment in research across the full range of disciplines, and of sponsoring interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research.

He placed special emphasis on engaged research, research conducted in partnership with those it is intended to serve.

It is only by coming together in partnership, across disciplines, and working in partnership with communities, practitioners, enterprises and civil society, can we hope to address really challenging problems like public health or climate change, Professor Nolan said.

In welcoming Professor Nolan to UL, Professor Mey warmly paid tribute to the calm and well-founded advice he had given to the University in helping to develop models to get students and staff back to learning during the pandemic.

UL professors James Gleeson and Cathal Walsh, in particular, were hailed by Professor Nolan for their work on the IEMAG during the fight against Covid-19, with the SFI Director General saying the pair were absolute pillars of the modelling group.

UL Research Week 2022, which continues until Friday, showcases work taking place at the University and looks closely at ongoing efforts to address global challenges ranging from global health to geopolitics, biodiversity and sustainability, to the future of work.

Professor Norelee Kennedy, Vice President Research at UL, said: The focus for 2022 is to highlight the many ways in which UL continues to discover new knowledge for a better world thus supporting the sustainable development goals with excellence and impact.
TWO men who are charged in connection with a fatal assault in Limerick city centre earlier this month are due to appear in court for a second time later today.

Alan Bourke, aged 48, who was originally from St Marys Park in the city, passed away at University Hospital Limerick a short time after he was assaulted at Parnell Street, near Colbert Station on Good Friday.

A major garda investigation was subsequently launched and a number of arrests were made last week.

Two men, who were among those arrested, appeared before separate sittings of Ennis District Court at the weekend and both are due to appear before Limerick District Court later today.

Mark Ryan, aged 35, of Lenihan Avenue, Prospect, Limerick is charged with robbing a number of cans of alcohol and a bicycle from Alan Bourke at Parnell Street on April 15, 2022.

The second accused - Michael Casey, aged 38, of Cathedral Place, Limerick - is accused of assaulting Alan Bourke, causing him harm, at Parnell Street on the same date. Mr Casey (pictured) has also been charged with robbery.

During the special court sittings in Ennis, Solicitors John Herbert and Darach McCarthy indicated their clients are currently unemployed and would not be applying for bail.

Legal aid was granted in each case and both men were remanded in custody ahead of today's procedural hearing at Limerick District Court.

The garda investigation into Alan Bourke's death is continuing and a file is to be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
TWO men in their 80s who are accused of criminal damage and trespass at Shannon Airport were the nicest and most courteous protesters an airport officer had ever met, their trial has heard.

Richard Moloney, a former police fire officer at Shannon Airport, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Ken Mayers (85) and Tarak Kauff (80) told him they were going to check an American aircraft when he apprehended them on a taxiway at the airport on March 17, 2019.

They were very courteous. I had no hassle dealing with them, Mr Moloney told Tony McGillicuddy BL, prosecuting this Tuesday. They said they were peace protesters. I said, 'Unfortunately I have to hold you here for your own safety'.

Under questioning from defence counsel, Mr Moloney agreed it was immediately obvious to him that the men were protesters and he soon saw that they were elderly octogenarians.

As the man says, this was not my first rodeo dealing with protesters, Mr Moloney said. These were the nicest and most courteous protesters I ever met in my 19 years in Shannon Airport.

Mr Mayers and Mr Kauff, both with addresses in the US, are accused of damaging a perimeter fence to the value of 590 before allegedly trespassing the lands of Shannon Airport.

Mr Mayers and Mr Kauff have each pleaded not guilty to three counts in relation to the alleged incident.

The jury has been told that both men admit they were involved in making an opening in the fence at Shannon Airport and they admit entering the airport lands on the day in question.

Mr Moloney told the trial that he was on duty in the airport when he was alerted to the fact that two people were on taxiway 12.

He said the men were wearing high-vis vests with Veterans for Peace emblazoned on them and were walking towards taxiway 11. One of them was holding a document with a picture of an Omni Air aircraft on it, he said.

The court heard Omni Air is a civilian airline which also transports American military personnel.

Mr Moloney said on the day in question, an Omni aircraft which had transported US military was awaiting maintenance on the airfield. He said the men were also holding a folded document in their hand, which the court heard was a banner.

The jury was shown a photograph of Mr Mayers and Mr Kauff outside the airport holding a banner saying: 'US veterans say respect Irish neutrality. American war machine out of Shannon Airport'.

Mr Moloney said he asked the men if they had permission to be on the airfield before they told him they were peace protesters and were there to check American aircraft. They were then taken to the airport where they were met by gardai.

The court heard the airport had to be shut down while the airfield was secured. Mr Moloney said he then did a patrol of the perimeter fence before finding a hole had been cut in it.

Airport duty manager Ray Pyne told the court that he took the decision to shut the airport down. During this period, which he said lasted about 30 or 40 minutes, two airplanes that were due to depart were held on the ground.

At the same time, a Turkish Airlines cargo plane which was due to land had to stay in the air until given clearance to land, the court heard.

Garda Noel Carroll, who was stationed at Shannon airport at the time, gave evidence of arresting of Mr Mayers and Mr Kauff.

He told Michael Hourigan BL, defending Mr Mayers, that Mr Mayers was refused bail by the District Court and spent 13 days in Limerick prison.

He agreed that gardai opposed bail on the basis that Mr Mayers was not an Irish national and might not turn up at his trial.

Mr Mayers appealed the decision to the High Court and was granted bail, the court heard.

Mr Hourigan said his client was unable to return to the US for nine months before he eventually returned home.

Despite what the gardai feared, he has returned on each and every occasion and he is here today, Mr Hourigan said. Garda Carroll agreed.

Garda Pat Keating, the member in charge at Shannon garda station on the day of the men's arrest told the court Mr Mayers and Mr Kauff were the best custodians I've had in 25 years.

The trial continues before Judge Patricia Ryan and a jury.
A WOMAN called a male garda a dirty, rotten, useless, f*****g b*****d over a parking issue in Newcastle West, the local court heard. Mary Falvey, aged 27, of Sharwood Estate, Newcastle West pleaded guilty to threatening / abusive / insulting behaviour.

Inspector Liam Wallace said on May 11, 2020 gardai were on mobile patrol in Newcastle West.

They observed a car blocking Scanlons Lane. The defendant was a front seat passenger, said Inspector Wallace.

The court heard that the car moved but then returned to Scanlons Lane.

The gardai saw the car again and went to speak to the driver. She exited the vehicle and called a garda a dirty, rotten, useless, f*****g b*****d and several other expletives, said Insp Wallace.

Michael ODonnell, solicitor for Ms Falvey, said she apologises for her behaviour.

She wasnt herself on the day. Whatever was in her head came out. She apologises, said Mr ODonnell.

Judge Carol Anne Coolican asked if she had apologised to the garda in question.

Im very sorry. I didnt meet him since, said Ms Falvey.

Judge Coolican let the matter stand to allow Ms Falvey apologise in person to the garda. Later in the court sitting Judge Coolican fined the defendant 300.
GARDAI in the Newcastle West District have arrested and charged a teenager in connection with the theft of a travel wallet from a newly-arrived Ukrainian woman in Rathkeale.

The offence is alleged to have occurred at a property in Thomas Street, Rathkeale, on Tuesday evening, March 29.

Confirming that there have been progress in the investigation, a garda spokesperson said: "One male juvenile, aged in his teens, was arrested and charged in relation to this incident."

Due to his age the accused cannot be named for legal reasons.

"He appeared before a sitting of Ennis District Court on Saturday, April 23 at 4pm. As this incident is now before the courts An Garda Siochana cannot provide further comment," said the spokesperson.

The Leader revealed last week that the travel wallet belonging to the Ukrainian woman has been returned to her. On Easter Saturday, Cllr Teskey was informed the travel wallet had been found by people who wished to remain anonymous.

It is understood it was thrown into the back yard of a property that has been empty for a number of weeks. It is believed a member of the Travelling community who had returned to Rathkeale found it and immediately tried to get it back to its rightful owner.

"They brought it to a local shop who brought it to me. Her main source of identification is included. I met her to give her the good news. She was delighted because the travel wallet was given to her by a member of her family and is of extreme sentimental value.

"She was extremely grateful because it holds special and important memories to her. Her husband is still in the Ukraine. He is in the military and is waiting to be deployed in battle against the Russian aggression in his region," said Cllr Teskey.

Since the theft, which Cllr Teskey called a "despicable act", he said locals have done everything they could to help her.

"I want to praise the local community for the support that was afforded to the lady. In typical Rathkeale style when the community sees someone in need they always rally together in support of the individual  that is typical of our community.

"The people of Rathkeale offered financial support, clothing and the hand of friendship. She has got a job and is employed in the town. She is a lovely lady and is settling in extremely well," said Cllr Teskey.
A CALL has been made on the council to extend the consultation period it has in place for a new community centre in Raheen/Dooradoyle.

After many years campaigning, the local authority has announced a feasibility study for the project for a community facility serving the citys southern suburbs.

But a group of long-standing residents have said they are very concerned about the way in which the survey is being carried out  and they want the period of gathering responses extended until the end of May.

At present, the consultation closes at the end of this week.

A spokesperson for the group, Joe Burke of Aisling Heights said: There has been no general public meting of the residents to get the views of the residents of this area. There has been no distribution of leaflets by the consultants or their agents.

There has been the option to fill in a form online, however, but John McInerney of Nessan Court said that a paper form must also be made available so people who are not internet or social media users can take part.

As there is quite an ageing population, this is essential. Many of these residents have lived, worked, paid their taxes, rates, social charges and water charges all their lives here, but now feel left out of loop when it comes to voicing their views, he said.

It is patently obvious that this deadline needs to be extended a further six to eight weeks in order to facilitate a properly conducted survey. Many people have waited a lifetime to realise their dream of a community centre for their area and are baffled by the rush to cobble together an incomplete and inaccurate result which is having the effect of excluding them.

They are being supported by councillor Fergus Kilcoyne, who said: Their input should be highly considered. Not enough has been done on this. Its a very built up area, and its been lacking in facilities for years.

In response to a query, a spokesperson for Limerick City and County Council insisted the local authority has been "very open and transparent" throughout the process.

"Details of the survey were released on Limerick.ie on March 14, 2022 with an original deadline of March 31, 2022. This deadline has been extended to April 19, 2022. The press release subsequently led to it been carried on local papers (Limerick Leader, Limerick Post) and local radio (Live95)," he said adding that 440 responses to the public survey and 22 responses to the group survey have been received.

"Schools in the catchment area have been contacted and a special youth survey opened up with a separate closing date. A number of organisations have been contacted including sporting clubs, religious organisations active retirement, Mens Sheds and community councils have been contacted and fliers distributed," he added.

We encourage all those who wish to make submissions by getting in contact with the Council ahead of the closing date.
A FESTIVAL series will be held in Limerick this year in a bid to attract diaspora home.

The Global Irish Festival Series has been officially launched internationally by the Minister of State for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora, Colm Brophy TD, at the Consulate General of Ireland in New York.

A joint initiative between Failte Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Global Irish Festival Series aims to encourage diaspora to return home to visit Ireland and provides funding and support, through Local Authorities, for events that tap into international diaspora networks with support from Tourism Ireland.

The annual Global Irish Festival Series is returning after a two-year hiatus and is once again supporting Limerick City and County Council on Global Limerick with an investment of 30,000.

The festival will take place between September 16 and October 31. Global Limerick will feature the world-famous Richard Harris International Film Festival and Pigtown Food and Culture Series.

Minister of State for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora, Colm Brophy, said: "I warmly welcome the members of our Diaspora who will be returning for the Global Irish Festival Series.

"Those with a connection to Mayo, Donegal, Limerick, and Kerry will have a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with home and to rediscover the vibrancy of the Wild Atlantic Way.

"Through the Global Irish Festival Series, we will re-affirm our sense of solidarity and common identity and celebrate our shared culture and history."

Eileen Coleman, Senior Executive Officer, Tourism Department, Limerick City and County Council, said: "It is fantastic to be part of the Global Irish Festival Series once again this year.

"We look forward to welcoming the Limerick diaspora back to enjoy the amazing programme of events planned for Global Limerick.

"We have should a rich history and a wonderful and engaging diaspora around the world that we want to harness their enthusiasm and showcase Limerick for them to return and enjoy on holidays."
Green Party politicians have hit back at critics of plans to curtail the commercial sale of turf, calling it a life-saving measure.

The leader of the Green Party said on Tuesday that the proposal, which has attracted the ire of some backbench TDs and rural communities, was workable.

Speaking on his way into Cabinet, Eamon Ryan said: It is a workable, proper good legal approach.

Ignoring air pollution, ignoring the fact it is killing our people, I dont think thats an option or solution.

Some Fine Gael and Fianna Fail TDs have united to attack the proposal, which they say represents an attack on rural communities for whom turf remains a crucial and affordable fuel source.

The row has posed a challenge to the stability of the three-party coalition Government, with the Green Party leader seeking to reassure his Cabinet and coalition colleagues that the plan is proportionate and will not amount to a full-scale ban.

Sinn Fein is set to introduce a motion in the Dail condemning the plan and calling for it to scrapped.

Pippa Hackett, the Green Party junior minister in the Department of Agriculture, defended the proposals.

This is ultimately about air quality, its about saving peoples lives, improving peoples quality of life.

The Co Offaly senator said: I know full well what this plan means for a lot of people on the ground and I think thats why the proposals are quite fair as they stand.

Ms Hackett hit out at the backbenchers opposing the plan, telling RTE radio that such grumblings were the reason we are years waiting for this.

She said that there was ongoing consultation over the plan.

We are proposing the people in most small villages in Ireland will not be affected by this.

They will still have access to turf, they still will be able to buy it and they still would be able to burn it.

Its the larger urban centres that have the high air quality problem.
Approval has been given for the abolition of the statutory public in-patient charge for children by the Cabinet today.

The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has received approval to draft the General Scheme of a Bill to provide for the abolition of both overnight and day case public in-patient charges for children under 16.

These charges have been in place for many years, therefore primary legislation will be needed to amend the Health Act 1970 to abolish the public in-patient charge for children under 16 years of age. The legislation needed to fulfil this objective will now be developed by the Department of Health and the draft Bill will be published as soon as it is finalised.

The proposed Bill will remove the existing acute statutory in-patient charge of 80 per night for all children less than 16 years of age in all public hospitals.

Minister Donnelly said: I welcome the approval by Government today for the drafting of this important legislation. This proposal is yet another important step towards delivering universal healthcare in Ireland.

"This legislation, when drafted and enacted, will ease the financial burden of parents/guardians when bringing their child to hospital for in-patient care and will help to ensure that cost is not a significant consideration when children require access to in-patient treatment.

"Our goal is Universal Healthcare and this is another important step towards affordability as it will make our public hospitals free for children when they access treatment as a public patient.

"I hope that, with the support of all parties in the Oireachtas, these charges will be abolished by the summer," he said.
Working as an FRS operator is a unique role which suits those seeking flexible outdoor work, such as young people looking for experience, parents working while their children are at school or those looking for a career change like FRS operator, Damian.

Born in Argentina, Damian has travelled extensively. At 18, he set off to New Zealand to work on a dairy farm for a year, milking 200+ cows and helping throughout the busy calving season.

He then went on to pursue a career in Marketing. When the 2020 pandemic hit, he was living in Spain but unhappy with his lifestyle.

While searching for jobs, Damian came across an opportunity to work with FRS Farm Relief. After speaking with Liam from FRS, Damian came to work on a dairy farm in January 2021.

I feel like a freelance farmer. I value my freedom but also feel like part of the family. I do all types of farm work, but I personally like milking. There is a flow with what you are doing.

FRS Farm Relief are recruiting in Limerick, North Cork and Clare. For more information visit www.farmrelief.ie/careers or contact Liam ORourke or Eoin at the Bruree office on 063 90666.

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Biocon Biologics said its subsidiary has bagged a three-year contract, valued at $90 million (around 688 crore) from the Malaysian government for the supply of recombinant human insulin.

Malaysia's Ministry of Health has awarded a three-year contract to Biocon Sdn Bhd. As part of the deal, the Biocon subsidiary will manufacture and supply its range of insulins to its partner Duopharma Marketing Sdn Bhd (DMktg).

DMktg is a subsidiary of Duopharma Biotech, a leading pharmaceutical & biotech company in Malaysia.

The rh-Insulin formulations, Insugen-R, Insugen-N, and Insugen-30/70, are manufactured at Biocon Sdn Bhd's Johor facility and have been approved by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority (NPRA), the Malaysian health ministry said.

Biocon Biologics, a part of Biocon Ltd, has created a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for insulins in Malaysia with end-to-end capabilities to manufacture a broad portfolio of regular, basal, and rapid insulins.

The insulins facility in Johor, is the first and only biopharmaceutical sterile injectables facility in Malaysia to receive US FDA and EMA approval.

More recently, Biocon's biosimilar insulin Glargine made in Malaysia has received USFDA approval as the 'first interchangeable biosimilar'.

Through its scientifically validated human insulin and analog products manufactured in Malaysia, Biocon Biologics is providing affordable access to these life-saving therapies to patients in many developed markets like the US, EU, Australia, as well as many emerging markets in the Middle East and Latin America.

To date, Biocon Biologics has provided over 2.75 billion doses of rh-Insulin to patients across the world.

(With PTI inputs)
Union minister Nitin Gadkari has expressed concern regarding the sugarcane production in Maharashtra's Solapur district. The minister said if the cultivation goes on like this, a day will come when there will be no option but to commit suicide.

Gadkari said the Solapur district was once known as a drought-prone district. "But Babandada (Shinde), a local leader, told me that 22 lakh tonne sugarcane was crushed. If such crushing is happening in the district...mark my words...if the cultivation of sugarcane goes on like this, a time will come one day when there will be no option but to commit suicide," Gadkari said on a lighter note.

However, he praised the water conservation work done by the farmers in Solapur, which was once a drought-prone area. "Due to this work, wells are (water) charged, water availability has increased for farming and drinking. But there is more to do in this area," the Road Transport & Highways Minister said. Further, he urged all the people's representatives to construct lakes along the Surat- Chennai Highway to transform the water-deficient region into a water-rich one. "If we make water available for farmers, their income will increase by two-and-a-half times, and if the water is given by drip, it will be even better," he said.

He said that as there is drought in Brazil, there is a smile on your (sugar mill owners') faces. "But if the sugar production increases in Brazil, the rate here will come to 22 per kg and sugarcane remuneration to farmers cannot be brought down. To avoid this situation, produce ethanol from sugar syrup," Gadkari added.

Gadkari was speaking in Solapur city during the foundation stone-laying ceremony of national highway projects.
NEW DELHI : The External Affairs Minister (EAM) on Tuesday defended India's position on the Ukraine Russia war, by mentioning that the European Nations and Western Powers have been completely oblivious to the developments and challenges Asian nations face.

Jaishankar brought up the events in Afghanistan when US troops withdrew from the Asian nation and Taliban took charge. He also pointed out about the continuous pressure on the rules-based order in the region.

Jaishankar made the statements at an interactive session in the Raisina Dialogue 2022 being held in Delhi. The minister was responding to a series of questions from his counterparts from Norway and Luxembourg as well as by former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt on the Ukraine crisis.

During the interactive session Jaishankar said that the war between Ukraine-Russia could be a "wake-up call" for Europe to also look at what has been happening in Asia. He further said that it has not been an "easy part" of the world for the last 10 years.

Jaishankar defended India's position on the Ukraine-Russia war, wherein he said, I think where the conflict in Ukraine is concerned, we have a very clear position that has been articulated. A position which emphasises the urgent cessation of fighting, which urges a return to diplomacy and dialogue which stresses the need for respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states."

Jaishankar addressed Foreign Minister of Norway Anniken Huitfeldt's question on the same and said that India has been pressing for an urgent cessation of fighting and a return to the path of diplomacy and dialogue.

"You spoke about Ukraine. I remember, less than a year ago, what happened in Afghanistan where an entire civil society was thrown under the bus by the world," he said.

"I would say quite honestly, all of us would like to find the right balance of our beliefs and interests, of our experience, and that is what all really try to do. It looks different from different parts of the world. The priorities are different and that's quite natural," he added.

"Quite candidly, we have been hearing for the last two months a lot of arguments from Europe saying things are happening in Europe and Asia should worry about it because this could happen in Asia," Jaishankar said.

"Things have been happening in Asia for the last 10 years. Europe may not have looked at it. So this could be a wake-up call for Europe, not just in Europe, it could be a wake-up call for Europe to also look at Asia," he said.

The external affairs minister said it is not that problems are going to happen and that the problems have been happening in Asia.

"This is not been an easy part of the world for the last decade and this is a part of the world where boundaries have not been settled, where terrorism is still practiced often sponsored by states," he said.

"This is a part of the world where the rules-based order has been under continuous stress for more than a decade and I think it is important for the rest of the world, outside Asia to recognise that today," Jaishankar said.

In his question, Bildt asked the external affairs minister what conclusion China could draw from what's happening in Ukraine and whether there was a possibility of Beijing seeing the possibility to do things that otherwise would not be allowed.

Also to the Swedish leader's comment that the conclusion that China could draw from the crisis in Ukraine could have major repercussions perhaps for India's security, Jaishankar said the questions should have been asked to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

"I cannot honestly answer that question. But I do not think international relations necessarily function by precedence. People do not need to see something out there and say aha that's what I am going to do," Jaishankar responded.

"That's how mostly bureaucracy functions. But I think world affairs has sort of a much more self-driven, self calculating way of working," he added. Jaishankar identified events in Afghanistan, the Covid-19 pandemic, the crisis in Ukraine and big power rivalry as "major shocks" the world is witnessing and said they have global consequences.
Russias top diplomat said the West was engaged in a proxy war with his country that could escalate into a world war with nuclear weapons, as Western nations elevated their commitment to defending Ukraine.

The risk is serious, real. It should not be underestimated," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a Russian state-television interview broadcast Monday night. NATO is, in essence, going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Mr. Lavrovs comments were aimed at scaring countries off supporting Ukraine. This only means Moscow senses defeat in Ukraine," he wrote on Twitter. Therefore, the world must double down on supporting Ukraine so that we prevail and safeguard European and global security."

Russias attempt to oust Ukraines elected government through a rapid military invasion at the end of February failed, and Moscow is now focusing on trying to seize territory in Ukraines east with the help of mass artillery and aerial bombardments.

The West is bolstering Ukraine with fresh supplies of weapons and ammunition in a bid to thwart Russia.

On Tuesday, Germany said it would refurbish and send to Ukraine decommissioned antiaircraft cannon tanks known as Flakpanzer Gepard, or Cheetah, ending its longstanding reluctance to give tanks to the country. Germany will provide about 50 of the German-made self-propelled guns, marking one of the first major deliveries of non-Soviet weapons systems by a Western country to Ukraine, two government officials said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week said his government was treading carefully to avoid a nuclear war.

The U.K. signaled a more aggressive stance toward Russia on Tuesday when a junior U.K. defense minister, James Heappey, said it was completely legitimate" for Ukraine to use Western weapons to hit logistics and supply lines in Russia.

For months, the U.K. has provided weapons on the proviso that they are used to defend Ukraine from Russian attack rather than offensively.

Things that the international community are now providing to Ukraine have the range to be used over the borders," Mr. Heappey, who is U.K. minister for the Armed Forces, told Times Radio on Tuesday. That is not necessarily a problem."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, meeting with defense ministers on Tuesday, said Ukraine has received more than $5 billion of equipment to defend against Russian forces, including two U.S. packages of military aid worth $800 million each.

A day earlier, Mr. Austin said that the U.S. aims to see Russias military capabilities degraded and Ukraines strengthened to prevent Moscow from attempting to conquer territory by force in the future.

We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it cant do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine," Mr. Austin said after he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken became the highest-level U.S. officials to visit the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Mr. Austin on Tuesday began meeting with other defense ministers, including Ukraines Oleksii Reznikov, and Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. The topics on the agenda include updating the representatives of more than 40 countries about the latest intelligence from the battlefield in Ukraine, security assistance to Kyiv and strengthening NATOs defense-industrial base in the long term to support Ukraines defense, a defense official said.

The defense ministers were expected to address Ukraines need for what NATO considers to be nonstandard ammunition and weapons systems, as well as discussions about whether the former Soviet republic could shift toward standard NATO equipment, the official said. For example, howitzers designed to fire 152-mm rounds cant accommodate the 155-mm caliber.

The focus on heavy artillery and armored vehicles comes as Russia removes some of its forces from around cities in northern Ukraine and focuses instead on the eastern Donbas region, in a high-stakes conflict on wide-open terrain.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was expected to meet with Mr. Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, and with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr. Kuleba on Thursday to discuss ways to end the conflict.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, he has repeatedly raised the specter of nuclear war, invoking his countrys atomic arsenal in an effort to deter the U.S. and the NATO from getting involved in the conflict.

But as Mr. Putins army has faced fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces strengthened by large infusions of Western weaponry, concerns have grown in Washington and allied capitals that Russia could consider using a so-called tactical nuclear weapon to gain the upper hand on the battlefield.

Earlier this month, Russia further warned that it could station nuclear forces in and around Kaliningrada Russian exclave wedged between Lithuania and Polandand bolster its military presence there if Finland and Sweden join the NATO alliance.

Finland and Sweden are considering joining NATO and will make a decision in the coming weeks. Both countries have a long tradition of military neutrality, but the Russian invasion has tilted public opinion and the political consensus in both countries toward seeking membership in the U.S.-led alliance.

Mr. Lavrov said there has been no progress in peace negotiations with Kyiv, but that the conflict would end in a treaty that would depend on the situation on the ground. A senior U.S. official said Monday the U.S. aimed to ensure that Ukraine has the strongest possible hand" in any such peace negotiations.

Bojan Pancevski and Max Colchester contributed to this article.
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The Circle Women Doc Accelerator, a training program for female-identifying documentary filmmakers, has selected the four projects that will take part in its showcase as part of the Cannes Docs program of the Cannes Film Market.

Becoming Ema by Patricia Drati and produced by Sidsel Lnvig Siersted for Danish outlet Good Company Pictures and Frame Film in Slovakia (Circle 2020) follows a couple who decide to abandon modern city life and start a life deep in the countryside of Mallorca. One year into their dream, the pandemic hits, the man loses his job, and the family is forced to reevaluate their life.

A Successful Man (Nem haltam meg) by Asia Der, produced by Noemi Veronika Szakonyi and Mate Artur Vincze for Match Frame Productions (Hungary), was developed through Circle 2019. When a life loving, successful gallery owner is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of 50, he takes it as a chance to confront his long suppressed existential questions. A son of poor factory workers, he learned how to march forward and be strong, but now has to embrace his weak side too.

A Sad and Vulgar Loner (Un Vulgar y Triste) by Efthymia Zymvragaki, developed through Circle 2020, explores what happens when an abusive man speaks out, positioning himself as a critic of violence. It is produced by Angelo Orlando, Patricia Sanchez Mora and Anna Bofarull for Gris Medio (Spain) and Valentin Thurn for ThurnFilm GmbH (Germany).

Greenlandic-Danish project Twice Colonized by Lin Alluna follows renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter, who has led a lifelong fight for the rights of her people. When her youngest son unexpectedly passes away, Aaju embarks on a highly personal journey to bring her colonizers in both Canada and Denmark to justice. It was developed through Circle 2020 and is produced by Emile Hertling Peronard for Anorak Film (Greenland/Denmark) in co-production with Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Stacey Aglok MacDonald for Red Marrow Media (Nunavut, Canada) and Bob Moore for EyeSteelFilm (Canada).

Our goal is to curate and empower new voices from all over the world and to develop their projects in a protected and inspiring environment. They can experiment with cinematic language while their characters explore their radical life choices, said Circle program director Biljana Tutorov.

Im happy and proud to see that projects developed in Circle are actually made, becoming award winning films in major festivals, like recently Eclipse by Natasa Urban, which won the DOX:Award in CPH:DOX, and that our community work is growing up to embrace participants and films from even broader horizons, Tutorov added.

Since 2020, when Circle started their partnership with Cannes Docs, four Circle alumnae are given the opportunity every year to present their documentary projects in development during the market in Cannes. In previous years, two Circle projects received awards at the industry event: Beauty of the Beast by Anna Nemes, produced by Circle 2018 alumna Agnes Horvath-Szabo and Centanni by Circle 2020 alumna Maja Prelog, produced by Rok Bicek, won the IEFTA Docs-in-Progress Award in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

The program is organized by Serbia-based Wake Up Films in partnership with Creative Europe  MEDIA, Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, RE-ACT, City of Novi Sad, Film Centre of Montenegro, HAVC Croatian Audiovisual Centre, WEMW Co-Pro Forum, Documentary Association of Europe (DAE) Foundation, CED  MEDIA Office Serbia, CED  MEDIA Office Montenegro, CED  MEDIA Office Slovenia, Motovila, CED  MEDIA Office Croatia, European Womens Audiovisual Network (EWA), Cineuropa, International Documentary Film Festival Beldocs, Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival and Agora Docs.

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Saudi Arabias cinema classification board is disputing reports that the upcoming Marvel tentpole Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has been banned in the country due to a gay character played by Xochitl Gomez. The movie finds The Baby-Sitters Club actor making her debut as America Chavez in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nawaf Alsabhan, Saudi Arabias general supervisor of cinema classification, told AFP (via The Guardian) that Disney is unwilling to remove barely 12 seconds from the film in which Gomezs character refers to her two moms.

Its just her talking about her moms, because she has two moms, Alsabhan said. And being in the Middle East, its very tough to pass something like this. We sent it to the distributor, and the distributor sent it to Disney, and Disney has told us they are not willing.

Variety has reached out to Disney for further comment.

Alsabhan told AFP that Doctor Strange 2 will never be banned, adding, Theres no reason to ban the film. Its a simple editSo far they have refused. But we havent closed the door. Were still trying.

As sources told Variety in the original report on the matter, Saudi Arabian censors did not issue a permit to release the film in the country since the changes they requested were not approved by Disney. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was initially slated for release in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries on May 5. In the region, movies concerning or containing sex, homosexuality and religious issues are routinely cut to comply with censorship rules. Last years Marvel tentpole Eternals was banned in the region due to a scene featuring a gay kiss.

With more Hollywood tentpoles including LGBTQ content, studios are being forced to either make edits to their movies or risk being banned in certain global territories. Warner Bros. made headlines earlier this month after it agreed to remove gay references from Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore in order to secure a release in China.

We want audiences everywhere in the world to see and enjoy this film, and its important to us that Chinese audiences have the opportunity to experience it as well, even with these minor edits, Warner Bros. told Variety of the decision.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness begins its rollout in the U.S. on May 6.

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Alec Baldwin and the Rust crew tried to parse what happened in the immediate aftermath of the on-set shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, with the actor expressing serious concern for the films cinematographer, as evidenced in newly released bodycam footage from the Santa Fe Sheriffs office.

In the several hours-long footage obtained by Rolling Stone  which includes interviews with crew members as well as with distraught armorer Hannah Gutierrez  Baldwin asks, How is she? referring to Hutchins. An officer tells him that her status is questionable. As the actor sits somberly, someone on the crew tells the officer that they cleared the gun after the incident. The one that fired, we dont know. But all the other ones were proper, the crew member said, meaning the firearms were loaded with blanks.

Another person approaches and asks Baldwin if he is all right. No, Im not all right. Im worried about her, the actor says, again referring to Hutchins. Whats her situation? Hes told that she has been shot in one shoulder and the bullet went through her other shoulder, which is why its not good, the man says. The men also discuss they believed a blank was loaded into the gun when the shooting occurred.

While on the Rust set last October, Baldwin shot and killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was also shot but survived. Last week, New Mexicos Occupational Health and Safety Bureau issued the maximum possible fine  $137,000  to the production company behind the film, determining it willfully failed to provide adequate safety precautions in connection to the shooting of Hutchins and injury of Souza.

Last month, Baldwin claimed in court that hes contractually protected from financial liability in Hutchins death. Late last year, Baldwin spoke to ABC News and said he was instructed by the late cinematographer to point the weapon in her direction and that the gun went off without him pulling the trigger. The occupational safety report confirmed that the revolver was handed to Baldwin by an assistant director without checking with weapons specialists if it was loaded.
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The Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival, whose 56th edition runs July 1-July 9, has expanded its activities aimed at supporting filmmakers, it announced Tuesday.

The festival is launching KVIFF Talents, a year-round program that aims to identify talented filmmakers and support the creation of projects with international potential and a high level of originality. As part of the program, selected filmmakers will receive financing for development, mentoring from experts, and the chance to present their projects to potential producers, partners and investors at the festival. The projects pilot phase is open to submissions from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Later, the project will be expanded to include all of Central and Eastern Europe.

Promoting new talent has always been a central part of the festivals activities. With KVIFF Talents, we are taking these activities to a new level. The program will be another important piece of the puzzle promoting greater originality, creative boldness, and international ambitions by filmmakers from our region, KVIFFs executive director Krystof Mucha said.

The festival also announced that it will host the works-in-progress program of Ukraines Odesa Film Festival, which is unable to host the program because of the Russian invasion.

Broad solidarity with war-afflicted Ukraine must also include support for the countrys cultural life, which at this moment has come almost to a halt. As a film festival, we have tried to find ways of supporting Ukrainian cinema, and we are glad that we have managed to work with the Odesa film festival to find a meaningful form of cooperation, Hugo Rosak, head of KVIFFs industry department, said.

The war has a direct impact on the film industry, so we will hold the Odesa Intl. Film Festivals industry screenings as part of the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival. We are honored to have this opportunity to show Ukrainian cinema, talent and culture to the world, Anna Machuh, general director of OIFF, said.

The festival also revealed that KVIFF Presidents Award for outstanding figures in Czech cinema will go to actor, playwright, screenwriter and director Boleslav Polivka.

Polivka first came to audiences attention as a theater actor and co-founder of Brnos Goose on a String theater. In 1993, he founded the Bolek Polivka Theatre, and he continues to perform in theaters to this day.

Polivka also left a mark on Czech cinema. His roles include the portrayal of a priest in Forgotten Light in 1996, which earned him a Czech Lion for best actor, and the same award at Karlovy Vary. He also took home a Czech Lion for best actor for Divided We Fall in 2000, which was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film.

Polivka has been an important collaborator of director Vera Chytilova, which began with Calamity in 1981, and expanded to include five films.

As an homage to Polivka, the festival will screen Forgotten Light.

The festival is continuing its tradition of premiering digitally restored versions of classic Czech films. This year, it will be showing another important example of the Czechoslovak New Wave, director Jaromil Jiress 1968 adaptation of Milan Kunderas novel The Joke.

It is the darkly grotesque story of how, in an atmosphere of absolute intolerance, spying, and denunciations, an innocent student prank can ruin a life.

Kundera published his novel in 1967 and worked closely with Jires on writing its screen adaptation. The film, which premiered in early 1969, was awarded the Silver Siren at a screening of Czech and Slovak films in Sorrento, Italy, and also took home an award from the 17th San Sebastian Film Festival.

The digital restoration was organized by Karlovy Vary in collaboration with the National Film Archive and the State Fund for Cinema. The digital restoration process was performed in 2022 at UPP and Soundsquare using original sound and film negatives stored at the National Film Archive. It is the 23rd film whose restoration was made possible thanks to a donation from Milada and Eduard Kucera.

The visuals for the 56th festival have been unveiled. They are designed by Jonatan Kuna and Zuzana Lednicka of Studio Najbrt, whose collaboration with KVIFF started in 1995.

This years festival poster is not only a black-and-white but also a color illustration and celebration of the things we experience together every year at the beginning of July along Karlovy Varys colonnade between the Thermal and Pupp hotels. You can find your own Wally  and many other figures associated with the festivals history, the designers said in a statement.

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The Locarno Film Festival will celebrate U.S. musician, performance artist and filmmaker Laurie Anderson with its lifetime achievement award dedicated to creative pioneers.

The prominent Swiss fest dedicated to international indie cinema will be feting Anderson with its Vision Award Ticinomoda, and screening her two feature-length films, Heart of a Dog (2015) which is dedicated to Lou Reed, and the restored 4K version of Home of the Brave (1986).

Anderson will be given the award on Aug. 10 during a ceremony on Locarnos Piazza Grande that will be followed by an onstage conversation on Aug. 11.

Locarno in a statement praised Anderson as an artist who has made inventiveness and experimentation the hallmarks of her career, underlining that shes been a leading figure in the U.S. avant-garde since the 1970s.

Anderson has spent five decades exploring the potential of multimedia and innovative technology in the arts, through collaborations with William S. Burroughs, John Cage, Philip Glass, Brian Eno, Wim Wenders, Peter Gabriel, Jean-Michel Jarre and Lou Reed, her late great husband, among many others, the festival noted.

Born in Glenn Ellyn, Illinois, in 1947, Anderson trained in both music and sculpture and broke out on the American avant-garde scene in the 1970s. Her recording career started getting traction in 1981 with the release of O Superman, segued by several other albums such as Big Science (1982), Life on a String (2001) and Homeland (2010).

Her 1986 album Home of the Brave is the soundtrack to her feature concert pic by the same title.

In 2002, Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA, an experience that culminated in her touring solo performance The End of the Moon.

Heart of a Dog premiered in 2015 from the Venice Film Festival where it was praised by Variety as both a demonstration and a critique of the art of storytelling, which is to say the art of making meaning from the random effluvia of daily life, in ways that can both deceive and enlighten.

In 2018, Anderson and the Kronos Quartet published the album Landfall, inspired by Hurricane Sandy, which won a Grammy Award. Her visual art has been exhibited at leading museums around the world.

Laurie Anderson in Locarno is a dream come true, said the fests artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, who called her a many-layered personality whose deep, irrepressible creativity has followed countless groundbreaking trails in music, performance, film, theater, electronics, poetry and all the distinct multitudes of her practice.

The 75th edition of the Locarno fest will run Aug. 4-14.

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At the core of Russias recent invasion of Ukraine is the notion of sovereignty  and in particular, whether Ukraine deserves it. Ukrainians, and the vast majority of people and governments in the rest of the world, say it does. Russia, which invaded the country in late February in an attempt to overthrow its government and make it into a subservient vassal state, says it doesnt. Apparently, U.S. Senator Rand Paul also believes Ukraine isnt a state, based on this head-scratching exchange with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Pauls position is shocking but not entirely uncommon. Ukraines current security situation is the result of years of policy decisions made by Western countries, the Ukrainian government, and Russia, and Paul belongs to a camp that thinks the actions of NATO member states are more responsible for the current war than, say, Russia, the nation that started it. The core of this argument is that NATOs courtship of Ukraine was the primary accelerant in the current crisis. There are points in this arguments favor  NATOs expansionist policies since the early 90s have not been exactly stabilizing to the region  but they often overlook the only question that should matter: What do Ukrainians want to do? Since 2014, theyve overwhelmingly wanted to join NATO.

The argument, unfortunately, is an easy gateway to what we see in the video, which is a tacit denial that Ukraine has the right to exist as a state. This is also one of the key justifications Russian President Vladimir Putin made when he first announced a Special Military Operation against Ukraine.

The exchange between Paul and Blinken perfectly sums up the opposing rhetorical sides of the conflict, which in practice has resulted in the destruction of cities and thousands of deaths. Blinkens point is that Ukraine is an independent nation, and that if it were in NATO, Russia wouldnt have attacked it. Pauls point is that Ukraine  and other post-Soviet republics like Georgia and Moldova  share ties to Russia that make them part of the same state, essentially, and that bringing them into NATO would risk a confrontation between nuclear-armed powers. Paul says he opposes the invasion itself, of course, but his stance on self-determination makes this point basically moot.

Both points are in some ways correct  a conflict between NATO and Russia would be unbelievably disastrous  but in making this point, Paul denies the self-determination of a country of people who did not ask for war. Its well worth criticizing NATOs policies in the formation of the current crisis, but only one party in the conflict thus far has violated another nations sovereignty and killed its people en masse. The only way to rectify this is to support  preferably by peaceful and diplomatic means  the ability of the Ukrainian people to make decisions on a world stage with their own interests at heart, rather than the interests of a state staring at them down the barrel of a gun.
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Theres a moment late in the run of Apple TV+s new limited series Shining Girls in which one character puts forward an urgent question, and gets a mind-bending answer. Is he going to kill me? one woman asks. He already has, the other responds. Just not yet.

By this point in a show thats full of such temporal games, audience members may find that their interest has already faded, even as the ending has not yet arrived. Elisabeth Moss acts in, executive produces, and directs episodes of this adaptation of Lauren Beukes novel that hops among timelines  and she does her jobs elegantly. (Other episodes are directed by Michelle MacLaren and Daina Reid, and the show was created by Silka Luisa.) The problem seems to be in the source material, and the way it overlays a format  the short-run limited series that ends up stretching to fill needless hours  to which the TV industry seems to have become addicted.

Here, Moss plays Kirby Mazrachi, an archivist for the Chicago Sun-Times who has lived through the trauma of assault; that incident in her past has left her uncertain what her present even is, as she shifts through timelines. Its an unhappy existence in a punishing multiverse, as Kirby finds herself suddenly, say, married to a man she doesnt recall ever having met, or unable to call to mind fundamental elements of her own story. These are very basic questions, a journalist (Wagner Moura) tells Kirby after running through some simple points about her trauma, ones that she cant answer. Moss, with by-now familiar Mossian fury, rages, For you!

For her, then, things are tricky. And Moss, as the common element in the timelines, provides a uniting sense of personality in all Kirbys different lives, playing her as an individual who has grown weary of being misled and confused. Its a turn with less wild emotional swings than her Handmaids Tale performance, and that serves it well. On Hulus dystopian drama, Moss character is endlessly jerked around, through triumphs and tragedies that perennially reverse themselves. Here, though, Kirbys leaps through time come to seem a bit like window dressing on a story thats surprisingly linear, moving towards solving the mystery of her selves.

But that linear journey can come to feel, well, a bit plodding. Theres good stuff here: Alongside Moss, Moura as the journalist aiding her, and Jamie Bell as the personification of human venality pursuing her, do fine work. But theres simply not enough story here to make for a credible eight-episode series, which means that things lumber when they should soar, and every story point is overexamined. To wit: A deep-in-the-series flashback episode that laboriously does the work of explaining things ends up saying more about the imperatives to keep producing more television than it does about the story of Kirby Mazrachi. Theres a gleam of good story, well-told, within Shining Girls. But surrounded by too much material, it less shines than flickers.

Shining Girls premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, April 29.

Apple TV Plus. Eight episodes (all screened for review).

Production

Executive producers: Silka Luisa, Elisabeth Moss, Lindsey McManus, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson, Michael Hampton, Michelle MacLaren, Rebecca Hobbs, Daina Reid, Lauren Beukes, Alan Page Arriaga.

With

Elisabeth Moss, Wagner Moura

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A suspected drunk driver was arrested after she allegedly assaulted a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper and spat on him, according to an arrest affidavit.

Evelyn Briones, 19, was charged with assault on a public servant, resisting arrest, reckless driving, possession of marijuana and driving while intoxicated.
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BOSTON (AP)  Harvard University is vowing to spend $100 million to study and atone for its extensive ties with slavery, the schools president announced Tuesday, with plans to identify and support the descendants of enslaved people who labored at the Ivy League campus.

President Lawrence Bacow announced the funding as Harvard released a new report detailing the many ways the college benefited from slavery and perpetuated racial inequality. But the report stops short of recommending direct financial reparations, and officials have no immediate plans for that kind of support.

Harvard, the nations oldest and wealthiest college, is the latest among a growing number of U.S. schools attempting to confront their involvement with slavery and also make amends for it.

The report, commissioned by Bacow, found that Harvards faculty, staff and leaders enslaved more than 70 Black and Native American people from the schools founding in 1636 to 1783. It cautions that the figure is almost certainly an undercount. Using historical records, researchers were able to identify dozens of enslaved people by name, along with their connection to the university.

Most were identified only by a single name, such as Cesar, Dinah and Venus.

Enslaved men and women served Harvard presidents and professors and fed and cared for Harvard students, researchers found. Moreover, throughout this period and well into the 19th century, the University and its donors benefited from extensive financial ties to slavery.

The report says the university should make a significant monetary commitment, and it should invest in remedies of equal or greater breadth than other universities. Bacow said Harvard will attempt to redress its wrongs through teaching, research and service." He is creating a committee to implement the report's suggestions.

Building on earlier research at Harvard, the report details how the university depended on the slave trade in its early years and profited from it for decades.

Harvard invested directly in the sugar and rum trades in the Caribbean, along with the U.S. cotton and railroad industries. The college's early growth is credited to support from wealthy donors who accumulated their fortunes through the slave trade and industries that relied on it.

Along with the 70 people who were enslaved, the report also lists their enslavers  including several Harvard presidents and high-ranking officials  and the campus buildings, rooms and professorships that are still named after them.

Even after slavery was abolished, the report says, prominent scholars continued to promote concepts that fueled racist ideas.

It cites work by 19th century professor Louis Agassiz, who pushed discredited theories on race science and eugenics. Another scholar led a physical education program that collected students physical measurements to support research advancing eugenic theories.

In his message, Bacow called the findings disturbing and shocking, and he acknowledged that the school perpetuated practices that were profoundly immoral.

Consequently, I believe we bear a moral responsibility to do what we can to address the persistent corrosive effects of those historical practices on individuals, on Harvard, and on our society, he wrote.

The 130-page report included a series of recommendations that Bacow endorsed. The $100 million will be used to carry out the work, with some funding to be made available now and more to be held in an endowment. The university itself has an endowment of more than $50 billion, the largest in the nation.

The report says Harvard should identify the descendants of enslaved people and engage with them through dialogue, programming, information sharing, relationship building and educational support.

Through such efforts, these descendants can recover their histories, tell their stories and pursue empowering knowledge, the report said.

More broadly, it urges Harvard to fight racial inequality by expanding education options for descendants of enslaved people, especially in the South and the Caribbean. It calls on the university to work closely with historically Black colleges across the country, with new funding to bring students and scholars to Harvard for up to a year at a time.

And acknowledging the enslavement of Native Americans, it calls on Harvard to build closer ties with New England tribes. Harvard should recruit more students from tribal communities, the report says, and organize a national conference promoting research on the enslavement of Indigenous people.

In accepting the recommendations, Harvard joins an increasing number of colleges attempting to move from research to action as they reconcile with their histories.

Georgetown University in 2019 promised to raise $400,000 a year for the descendants of enslaved people sold by the school. The Princeton Theological Seminary created a $27.6 million reparative endowment. The University of Virginia established scholarships for the descendants of enslaved people.

Harvard formally began exploring its ties to slavery in 2016, when former President Drew Gilpin Faust acknowledged that the school was directly complicit in Americas system of racial bondage." Faust organized a committee to study the topic and had a plaque installed on campus honoring enslaved people who labored there.

Student activists had been shining a light on Harvard's darker histories for years. In 2015, students demanded that Harvard Law School abandon its official crest, which was tied to an 18th century donor whose family enslaved dozens of people. Months later, the school retired the symbol.

Soon after becoming president, Bacow established a new Presidential Initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery to dig deeper into the university's role. That effort led to the new report.

The Harvard that I have known, while far from perfect, has always tried to be better  to bring our lived experience ever closer to our high ideals, Bacow wrote. In releasing this report and committing ourselves to following through on its recommendations, we continue a long tradition of embracing the challenges before us.
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BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  Two explosions in a radio facility close to the Ukrainian border knocked a pair of powerful broadcast antennas out of service in Moldova's separatist region of Trans-Dniester, local police said Tuesday.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land with about 470,000 people, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, nominally as peacekeepers.

Ukrainian officials have expressed concern about Moscow using those forces to invade Ukraine, while the threat of renewed fighting over Trans-Dniester worries Moldovan authorities. The fear is that Russia will claim it needs to intervene to protect its troops or restore order.

The explosions happened in the small town of Maiac, roughly 12 kilometers (7 miles) west of the Ukraine border, according to the regions Interior Ministry. No one was hurt, officials said.

The two antennas were used for broadcasting Russian radio shows. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts.

The United States has warned amid the war in Ukraine that Russia could launch false-flag attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops.

On Monday, several explosions, believed to have been caused by rocket-propelled grenades, were reported to have hit the Ministry of State Security in Tiraspol, Trans-Dniesters capital.

The Security Council of Trans-Dniester reported Tuesday that there had been a total of three incidents in the region  explosions in Tiraspol on Monday, the ones in Maiac on Tuesday and damage to a military unit in the village of Parcani.

Officials did not offer any details on the military unit incident. But Trans-Dniesters president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, called Tuesday for imposing anti-terrorist security measures at a red level for 15 days, including setting up checkpoints at the entrances to cities.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday that the situation in Trans-Dniester elicits concern in Moscow.

A Ukrainian presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak warned in a tweet that Moldova might be attacked next,

Bad news: if Ukraine falls tomorrow Russian troops will be at Chisinaus gates," he tweeted, referring to Moldova's capital. "Good news: Ukraine will definitely ensure strategic security of the region. But we need to work as a team.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu convened the country's Supreme Security Council on Tuesday to discuss the incidents. After the meeting, she said a security analysis indicated that different forces within the region, interested in destabilizing the situation, carried out the blasts.

The Security Council recommended ramping up border and traffic patrols, and increasing the alert level of institutions responsible for ensuring public order and security.

We condemn any challenges and attempts to lure the Republic of Moldova into actions that could jeopardize peace in the country, Sandu said. Chisinau continues to insist on a peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian conflict.

We will take all necessary measures to prevent escalation, to strengthen the security of the state and to protect our citizens, Sandu added. We remain open to continue the dialogue for the settlement of the conflict in the region in a peaceful, diplomatically negotiated manner.

The U.N. said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was concerned about the reported incidents in Trans-Dniester and urges all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions that could escalate tensions.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the United Nations continues to fully support efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to reach a political settlement over the separatist region's status. The aim is to create a special status for Trans-Dniester while strengthening Moldovas independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Polish and Bulgarian officials said Tuesday that Moscow is cutting off natural gas deliveries to their countries due to their refusal to pay in Russian rubles, a demand made by President Vladimir Putin after sanctions were levied against his nation over the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom informed the two EU and NATO member nations that gas supplies will be suspended starting Wednesday, their governments said.

The suspensions would be the first since Putin's announcement last month that unfriendly foreign buyers would have to transact with Gazprom in rubles instead of dollars and euros. Only Hungary has agreed to do so, with other countries rejecting the demand as an unacceptable, one-sided breach of contracts and a violation of sanctions.

If deliveries are halted to other countries as well, it could cause economic pain in Europe, driving natural gas prices up and possibly leading to rationing  but it would also deal a blow to Russia's own economy.

Wednesday's cutoffs will affect deliveries of Russian gas to Poland through the Yamal-Europe pipeline, according to Polish state gas company PGNiG, and to Bulgaria via the TurkStream pipeline, that country's Energy Ministry aaid.

The Yamal-Europe line carries gas from Russia to Poland and Germany, via Belarus. Poland has been receiving some 9 billion cubic meters annually, fulfilling some 45% of the countrys need.

PGNiG said it was considering legal action over Moscows payment demand.

But Climate Minister Anna Moskwa said Poland is prepared to make do after having worked to reduce its reliance on Russian energy sources. Several years ago the country opened its first terminal for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, in Swinoujscie, on the Baltic Sea coast, and later this year a pipeline from Norway is to become operational.

There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes, Moskwa tweeted.

Analyst Emily McClain of Rystad Energy concurred, saying that Poland has ample natural gas in storage and has the capacity to ramp up imports.

Bulgaria said it was working with state gas companies to find alternative sources and that no restrictions on domestic consumption would be imposed for now, even though the Balkan country of 6.5 million people meets over 90% of its gas needs with Russian imports.

One feasible and relatively immediate option available to the Bulgarian government would be to increase their imports of Azeri gas.

Poland has been a strong supporter of neighboring Ukraine during the Russian invasion and has acted as a transit point for weapons the United States and other Western nations have provided to Kyiv.

Warsaw said this week that it, too, was sending weaponry to Ukraines army, in the form of tanks. On Tuesday it announced sanctions targeting 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, including Gazprom.

Bulgaria, once one of Moscows closest allies, has cut many of its ties with Russia after a new, liberal government took the reins last fall and also in the wake of the invasion. It has supported sanctions against Russia and sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Bulgaria has been hesitant to provide military aid, but Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and members of his coalition government were expected in Kyiv on Wednesday for talks about further assistance.

Europe buys large amounts of Russian natural gas for residential heating, electrical generation and the fuel industry, with Germany particularly dependent on it. The imports have continued despite the war.

Around 60% of imports are paid in euros, and the rest in dollars. Putin's demand was apparently intended to help bolster the Russian currency against Western sanctions.

In Washington, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. had been preparing for such a cutoff by Russia.

Some of that has been asking some countries in Asia who have excess supply to provide that to Europe, Psaki said. Weve done that in some cases, and its been an ongoing effort.

___

Associated Press writers Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Zeke Miller and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Shots fired in south Laredo left one man wounded and yielded one arrest, according to Laredo police.

Edwin Eliud Reyes, 18, was served with arrest warrants on April 19 charging him with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and deadly conduct by discharging a firearm.

At about 5:57 a.m. April 17, police officers responded to shots fired by the intersection of Mallorca Drive and Morelia Drive. About seven to eight shots were heard, police said.

Responding officers encountered a disabled black 2019 GMC Denali with several bullet holes and damaged back glass. Officers said they located 15 spent casings caliber .223 by the 2100 block of Mallorca.

Two men stated they were at a party and then gave a woman a ride to the 2100 block of Mallorca. Two other people were also riding in the GMC.

The woman stated that her ex-boyfriend, Reyes, kept calling throughout the night. When they dropped the woman at her residence, shots were fired at the passengers of the GMC from a parked vehicle. Two homes on Mallorca also received gunfire.

Investigators then learned that a man had arrived at Doctors Hospital with a bullet wound to his right leg. He was determined to be one of the passengers of the GMC. Further investigation revealed that Reyes was the shooter, according to police.

crodriguez@lmtonline.com
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TORETSK, Ukraine (AP)  The U.S. pressed its allies Tuesday to move heaven and earth to keep Kyiv well-supplied with weapons as Russian forces rained fire on eastern and southern Ukraine amid growing new fears the war could spill over the country's borders.

For the second day in a row, explosions rocked the separatist region of Trans-Dniester in neighboring Moldova, knocking out two powerful radio antennas close to the Ukrainian border. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukraine all but blamed Russia.

In other developments, Poland and Bulgaria said the Kremlin is cutting off natural gas supplies to the two NATO countries starting Wednesday, the first such actions of the war. Both nations had refused Russia's demands that they pay in rubles.

Poland has been a major gateway for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and confirmed this week that it is sending the country tanks.

The potential effect of the gas cutoff was not immediately clear. Poland said it was well-prepared for such a move after working for years to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

Poland also has ample natural gas in storage, and it will soon benefit from two pipelines coming online, analyst Emily McClain of Rystad Energy said.

Bulgaria gets over 90% of its gas from Russia, and officials said they were working to find other sources. McClain cited a Bulgarian deal to purchase gas from Azerbaijan.

Two months into the fighting, Western arms have helped Ukraine stall Russias invasion, but the country's leaders have said they need more support fast.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin convened a meeting Tuesday of officials from about 40 countries at the U.S. air base at Ramstein, Germany, and said more help is on the way.

This gathering reflects the galvanized world, Austin said, adding that he wanted officials to leave the meeting with a common and transparent understanding of Ukraines near-term security requirements because were going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.

After unexpectedly fierce resistance by Ukrainian forces thwarted Russia's attempt to take Ukraine's capital, Moscow now says its focus is the capture of the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region in eastern Ukraine.

In the small city of Toretsk in the Donbas, residents are struggling to survive, collecting rainwater for washing up and fervently hoping for an end to the fighting.

Its bad. Very bad. Hopeless, said Andriy Cheromushkin. You feel so helpless that you dont know what you should do or shouldnt do. Because if you want to do something, you need some money, and there is no money now.

Russian advances and heavy fighting were reported in the Donbas, with one town, Kreminna, apparently falling after days of street-by-street fighting, according to the British military.

In the gutted southern port city of Mariupol, authorities said Russian forces hit the Azovstal steel plant with 35 airstrikes over the past 24 hours. The plant is the last known stronghold of Ukrainian fighters in the city. About 1,000 civilians were said to be taking shelter there with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders.

"Russia has drastically intensified strikes over the past 24 hours and is using heavy bunker bombs, said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol's mayor. The number of those wounded will be clear once the rubble is cleared.

He also accused Russian forces of shelling a route it had offered as an escape corridor from the steel mill.

Beyond Mariupol, local officials said at least nine people were killed and several more wounded in Russian attacks on towns and cities in the east and south. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region of the Donbas, said on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces continue to deliberately fire at civilians and to destroy critical infrastructure.

Russian missile fire also knocked out a strategic railroad bridge along a route that links southern Ukraines Odesa port region to neighboring Romania, a NATO member, Ukrainian authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Ukraine also said Russian forces shelled Kharkiv, the countrys second-largest city, which lies in the northeast, outside the Donbas, but is seen as key to Russia's apparent bid to encircle Ukrainian troops in the Donbas from the north, east and south.

Ukrainian forces struck back in the Kherson region in the south.

The attack on the bridge near Odesa  along with a series of strikes on key railroad stations a day earlier  appears to mark a major shift in Russias approach. Until now, Moscow has spared strategic bridges, perhaps in hopes of keeping them for its own use in seizing Ukraine. But now it seems to be trying to thwart Ukraines efforts to move troops and supplies.

The southern Ukraine coastline and Moldova have been on edge since a senior Russian military officer said last week that the Kremlins goal is to secure not just eastern Ukraine but the entire south, so as to open the way to Trans-Dniester, a long, narrow strip of land with about 470,000 people along the Ukrainian border where about 1,500 Russian troops are based.

It was not clear who was behind the blasts in Trans-Dniester, but the attacks gave rise to fears that Russia is stirring up trouble so as to create a pretext to either invade Trans-Dniester or use the region as another launching point to attack Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the explosions were carried out by Russia and were designed to destabilize, with the intention of showing Moldova what could happen if it supports Ukraine.

Austin, the U.S. defense secretary, said the U.S. was still looking into blasts and trying to determine what was going on, but added: "Certainly we dont want to see any spillover of the conflict.

With the potentially pivotal battle for the east underway, the U.S. and its NATO allies are scrambling to deliver artillery and other heavy weaponry in time to make a difference.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said her government will supply Gepard self-propelled armored anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has faced mounting pressure to send heavy weapons such as tanks and other armored vehicles.

Austin noted that more than 30 allies and partners have joined the U.S. in sending military aid to Ukraine and that more than $5 billion worth of equipment has been committed.

The U.S. defense secretary said the war has weakened Russia's military, adding, We would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.

A senior Kremlin official, Nikolai Patrushev, warned that the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned that if the Western flow of weapons continues, the talks aimed at ending the fighting will not produce any results.

Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting also continued. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the U.N. said they agreed in principle that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians trapped in the steel plant in Mariupol. Putin said Ukrainian troops were using civilians in the plant as shields and not allowing them to leave.

___

Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalist Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, David Keyton in Kyiv, Oleksandr Stashevskyi at Chernobyl, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A man found to be over the drink driving limit after being involved in a road crash has been put off the road for two years.

Dailis Kamols, 4 Miller Square, Lusk, Dublin pleaded guilty at last weeks sitting of Longford District Court to drink driving following an incident at MacEoin Park, Longford on January 2, 2022.

The court was told by Sgt Mark Mahon, for the State, of how gardai had been called to the scene of a road crash shortly after midday.

When they arrived, the defendant was found intoxicated inside a car and produced a reading of 46mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

Judge Bernadette Owens was informed the result was one which was just above the one year threshold for a driving disqualification.

Frank Gearty, for the defence, said his client was a man of otherwise good character who had taken a chance on the day in question.

He is a forklift driver and cooperated fully with gardai and he will be substantially discommoded by this, said Mr Gearty.

Judge Owens banned Mr Kamols from driving for two years, fining him 300 in the process.

In being given four months to pay, a second charge of no insurance was struck out after documentation illustrating Mr Kamols innocence was handed into the court.
The CASA Longford charity shop has expressed frustration over the relentless dumping outside the shop every week very late at night.

The situation has been reported to the gardai and CASA Longford are requesting that if anyone knows anything about the dumping, can they please contact CASA at 043 334 2844 or by private message via their Facebook page.

Longford man restrained with pepper spray after threatening garda's family, court hears A man had to be restrained with pepper spray after threatening a garda's family during a violent incident in Ballymahon last year, a court has heard.

Longford garda at centre of false shot dog controversy wins High Court action over promotion delay A Longford Garda who was the subject of false accusations over the shooting of dog has won his High Court challenge against the Commissioner's refusal to backdate his promotion to rank of inspector.

Items that have been dumped outside the store include dirty, unwanted toys and electrical items which they dont accept.

A spokesperson for CASA Longford said, This is extremely frustrating for the shop as the items that are dumped have to be paid to get rid of and we simply dont have the funds. It is costing us a fortune and taking away from the money so desperately needed for our charity.

Highlighting the dumping for a third occasion on their Facebook page, CASA posted, This is so upsetting to see after our hard work to try and stop it like contacting the gardai and posting security camera footage here to ask for information.

Cavan man fined 400 for being at wheel of defective vehicle in Longford A garage business owner who was caught driving a truck without both its handbrake and ABS brakes working has been fined 400 by District Court Judge Bernadette Owens.

It makes our jobs 10 times harder and costs us money that we cant afford to spend. Please if anyone knows anything let us know. This has become very frequent and we cant accept it anymore.
(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers on AIM in London on Tuesday.

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AIM - WINNERS

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Northcoders Group PLC, up 26% at 322.50 pence, 12-month range 175.00p-390.00p. Manchester-based Northcoders says its revenue more than doubled in 2021, a year in which the provider of training programmes for software coding expanded its footprint. Revenue surges to GBP3.0 million from GBP1.3 million. Its pretax loss narrowed to GBP523,588 from GBP1.2 million. In 2021, it signed a lease for a "core hub" in Leeds, to go along with its Manchester campus.

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Chariot Ltd, up 8.7% at 21.42 pence, 12-month range 0.050p-22.40p. The Africa-focused transitional energy company names Societe Generale SA as financial advisor to help shore up debt funding options for the Anchois gas development in offshore Morocco.

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AIM - LOSERS

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Origo Partners PLC, down 52% at 0.050p, 12-month range 0.00080p-0.081p. The investment company says its shares will be suspended from trading on Thursday, before being cancelled in late-May. Origo says that since Arden Partners PLC is being acquired by Ince Group PLC, it is no longer able to serve as its nominated advisor. It means that should Origo wish to continue trading on AIM, it must find a new nomad. Origo says it has fulfilled announced objectives, including returning proceeds to shareholders, so appointing a new nomad is not in is best interests.

----------

Novacyt SA, down 14% at 167.61p, 12-month range 1.31p-173.95p. The Surrey-based biotechnology company's dispute with the UK Department of Health & Social Care continues. On Monday, the DHSC issued a GBP134.6 million claim against Novacyt in relation to a contract for the provision of Covid-19 testing kits, initially announced back in September 2020. "The company continues to believe it has strong grounds to defend the claim and assert its contractual rights, including in relation to recovering outstanding sums due from the DHSC," Novacyt says on Tuesday.

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By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The UK said it has dropped tariffs on all goods from Ukraine while slapping a ban on some technology exports to Moscow to help Kyiv in its fight against the Russian invasion.

Responding to a direct request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the UK's international trade department said Monday it had reduced "all tariffs on goods imported from Ukraine", including key exports such as barley, honey and poultry.

"The UK will continue to do everything in its power to support Ukraine's fight against Putin's brutal and unprovoked invasion," international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said in a statement.

At the same time, Britain announced it would prevent the export of "products and technology that Russia could use to repress the heroic people of Ukraine", including possibly surveillance and interception equipment.

Last week, Britain boosted its sanctions regime against Russia, targeting army chiefs and adding import bans on silver, wood products and caviar.

The invasion has triggered an outburst of support from both sides of the Atlantic, with Western nations implementing a raft of financial penalties and funnelling weapons into Ukraine to help Kyiv beat back Russian troops.

The latest UK measures come as Russia warns the conflict  now in its third month  risks escalating into World War III.

For months, Zelensky has been asking allies to do more  including sending artillery and fighter jets  vowing his forces could turn the tide of the war with more firepower.

source: AFP

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc / Index: AIM / Epic: EOG / Sector: Oil & Gas

26th April 2022

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc

("Europa" or "the Company")

Wressle Update

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc, the AIM traded UK, Ireland and Morocco focused oil and gas exploration, development, and production company, notes the update by Operator Egdon Resources U.K. Limited ("Egdon") on activities issued today in their Half Yearly Statement.

Europa is pleased to highlight this update.

Wressle production has significantly exceeded the original 500 barrels of oil per day ("bopd") expectation and is currently producing at permit constrained rates of 760-800 bopd following upgrades to the production facilities.

Wressle, in which Europa holds a 30% interest, quickly exceeded pre-production expectations of 500 bopd on resumption of production following the successful proppant-squeeze and coiled-tubing operation on the 19 August 2021. Instantaneous rates of over 1,000 bopd have been achieved. Early restrictions to production have been successfully addressed through upgrades and modifications to the site facilities, including installation of a secondary separator and progressive upgrades to the gas incineration system, which have culminated in the installation of a larger capacity enclosed incineration unit. Production is currently limited by the 10 tonnes per day gas incineration limit imposed by the Environmental Permit to between 760-800 bopd (228-240 bopd net). Once the gas monetisation development is complete, this production limitation will be removed and the production rate is expected to be increased significantly. Pressure test analysis has indicated potential flow rates for Wressle-1 of between approximately 1,200 and 1,500 bopd.

Since production commenced at Wressle-1 in January 2021, the cumulative production has exceeded 150,000 barrels of oil with no formation water produced to date.

A revised Field Development Plan was submitted to the North Sea Transition Authority ("NSTA") during April 2022.

The likely preferred gas monetisation approach will be to export the gas via a short pipeline (approximately 600m) into the local gas distribution network. This will require regulatory consents (Planning and EA) and it is hoped to be completed in time for gas sales during the coming winter. This export route will also be available in the longer term for the development of the Penistone Flags reservoir where detailed work is underway.

Environmental monitoring throughout the operations has shown no measurable impact on surface or groundwater quality, no related seismicity and that noise levels have been within the permitted levels.

In the coming period the Operator will:

 Complete the installation of the remaining permanent production facilities;

 Progress planning and permitting and implement the gas monetisation plan, reduce gas flaring and remove the limitations on oil production; and,

 Advance the development plan and consenting process to enable production from the Penistone Flags reservoir.

Outlook:

 Continuing to optimise oil and gas production from the Ashover Grit reservoir at Wressle, building on the strong performance to date;

 Progressing gas monetisation at Wressle; and,

 Finalising plans for development of the material Contingent Resources in the Penistone Flags at Wressle.

Simon Oddie, CEO said:

"The well performance at Wressle continues to exceed our initial expectations and once the planned connection to the local gas distribution network is completed by winter 2022 the well will be able to produce at unrestricted rates which will materially impact the cash flows associated with the field. This will also allow the field to be further developed by targeting the contingent resources located in the Penistone Flags reservoir and I look forward to updating the market in due course with details of this work programme."

Qualified Person Review

This release has been reviewed by Alastair Stuart, engineering advisor to Europa, who is a petroleum engineer with over 35 years' experience and a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and has consented to the inclusion of the technical information in this release in the form and context in which it appears.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

* * ENDS * *

For further information please visit www.europaoil.com or contact:

Simon Oddie Europa mail@europaoil.com Murray Johnson Europa mail@europaoil.com Christopher Raggett finnCap Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Simon Hicks finnCap Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Peter Krens Tennyson Securities +44 (0) 20 7186 9033 Oonagh Reidy St Brides Partners Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Ana Ribeiro St Brides Partners Ltd + 44 (0) 20 7236 1177

Notes to Editors

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc has a diversified portfolio of multi-stage hydrocarbon assets which includes production, development and exploration interests, in countries that are politically stable, have transparent licensing processes, and offer attractive terms. Production in the half-year to 31st January 2022 was 208 boepd. The Company holds two exploration licences offshore Ireland, which have the potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective resources of 1.5 trillion cubic feet ('tcf') gas. Inishkea is a near field gas prospect in the Slyne Basin which the Company classifies as lower risk due to its close proximity to the producing Corrib gas field and associated gas processing infrastructure. In September 2019, Europa was awarded a 75% interest in the Inezgane permit offshore Morocco. Initial results of technical work have identified 30 prospects and leads that have the potential to hold in excess of one billion barrels of unrisked oil resources. In December 2021, Europa announced a collaboration between Baker Hughes and CausewayGT to conduct a geothermal clean heat project at the Company's West Firsby field. If this project is successful, it will prove the operational ability to extract and use geothermal heat from the site.
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - A humanitarian charity on Monday deplored the recent armed attacks on displaced civilians that left at least 168 people dead and thousands displaced in the restive West Darfur state
LANSING  There is one week remaining until the May 3 elections in many Michigan jurisdictions and voters are encouraged to hand-deliver their absentee ballots to their local clerks office or ballot drop box.

Absentee ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

As Election Day approaches, voters should drop off their absentee ballot to their local clerks office or secure ballot drop box, said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a press release. This ensures their ballot will be received on time and their vote and voice will be heard in their community.

Eligible citizens who have not yet registered to vote can do so in person at their local clerks office with proof of residency now through 8 p.m. on Election Day, and they can apply for and submit an absentee ballot in the same trip, the release said.

Voters who are already registered and would like to vote absentee can request an absentee ballot at their local clerks office until 4 p.m. on May 2. Registered voters can also vote in person at their polling place on Election Day between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The clerk's offices are required to be open for eight hours the weekend before every election. Voters should contact their local clerk for their hours of operation this weekend.

Voters can find the location of their local clerks office and ballot drop boxes, operating hours this weekend, and a sample ballot and list of races and questions, at Michigan.gov/Vote.

The majority of elections taking place are for millages or local-level elected positions, and there are millages for three local schools.

Voters in the Kaleva Norman Dickson Schools, Bear Lake and Onekama Consolidated Schools districts will consider supporting 18-mill, non-homestead operating millage renewals during the May election.

Public school districts throughout the State of Michigan are required by law to periodically to ask the voters to approve this millage renewal as a result of Proposal A, a system for funding Michigan schools which was passed in 1994.

Primaries and general elections for the next term, beginning Jan. 1, and based on the new district maps approved by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, will be held in August and November.
University students greet President Xi

(People's Daily App) 14:08, April 26, 2022

Ahead of China's May 4 Youth Day, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Renmin University of China in Beijing on Monday. Crowds of students greeted Xi with waves, applause and cheers.

(Produced by Chen Xiangru, Huang Jingjing and Di Jingyuan; Video source: CCTV)

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Washington, DC, US (PANA) - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team and Kenyan authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on the third review of Kenyas economic program under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Extended Credit facility (ECF) arrangements
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
Catalent today announced that it has acquired from Erytech Pharma its state-of-the-art, commercial-scale cell therapy manufacturing facility in Princeton, New Jersey , for $44.5 million . The deal includes an exclusive long-term supply agreement for Catalent to support Erytech's lead product candidate eryaspase (GRASPA), a red blood cell-derived product, which is currently in late-stage development for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

SOMERSET, N.J.

April 25, 2022

Princeton, New Jersey

$44.5 million

Baltimore, Maryland

Houston, Texas

Manja Boerman

Gil Beyen

the United States

Maryland

Texas

Belgium

Germany

Europe

Somerset, New Jersey

$4 billion

/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Catalent, the global leader in enabling biopharma, cell, gene, and consumer health partners to optimize development, launch, and supply of better patient treatments across multiple modalities, today announced that it has acquired from Erytech Pharma its state-of-the-art, commercial-scale cell therapy manufacturing facility in, for. The deal includes an exclusive long-term supply agreement for Catalent to support Erytech's lead product candidate eryaspase (GRASPA), a red blood cell-derived product, which is currently in late-stage development for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.The 30,900-square-foot facility is located within the University Square Campus Park and houses 16 suites positioned for production of products in a cGMP-compliant manner, as well as laboratories for analytical, quality control and microbiology testing. The site will become a strategic campus for development as well as clinical- and commercial-scale manufacturing of cell therapies, and is located within easy reach of Catalent's facilities around, where the company develops and manufactures viral vectors and plasmid DNA. It will also work in collaboration with Catalent's existing U.S. clinical-scale cell therapy facility inConcurrent with the acquisition, Catalent has agreed to terms to lease an adjacent 23,000-square-foot building that could be used for additional laboratory or cGMP capabilities, and another building on the campus for potential future expansions. All staff at the site will transfer to Catalent's employment, and Catalent is developing its plans for its future recruitment needs.Under the supply agreement, Catalent will continue to manufacture eryaspase (GRASPA) at the site. It will also support the development of Erytech's pipeline of encapsulated red blood cell-based therapeutics for severe forms of cancer and orphan diseases."This acquisition is strategically important to Catalent's commitment to support the development and clinical and commercial supply of cell therapies to meet rapidly growing demand," said, Ph.D., President, Catalent Cell & Gene Therapy. "The talented and experienced staff already employed at the facility, the capabilities it has in place, and the opportunity to quickly add further capacity on the same site, allow Catalent to expand rapidly to create a U.S. campus and center of excellence for cell therapy development and manufacturing that will serve customers around the world.""In Catalent we have found a great partner for the manufacturing of our innovative red blood cell-derived products," said, Chief Executive Officer at Erytech. "Catalent Cell & Gene Therapy is an industry-leading technology, development, and manufacturing partner for advanced therapeutics, and we believe this win-win strategic partnership will meet our long-term manufacturing needs in. Erytech will now further focus its resources on seeking regulatory approval of GRASPA and on the development of potentially transformative therapeutics for serious diseases."Catalent's cell and gene therapy network includes six U.S. facilities acrossand, a European center of excellence in, and its cell innovation facility in. These sites offer a range of small- and large-scale clinical and commercial manufacturing, as well as fill/finish capabilities.About Catalent Cell & Gene TherapyCatalent Cell & Gene Therapy is an industry-leading technology, development, and manufacturing partner for advanced therapeutics. Its comprehensive cell therapy portfolio includes a wide range of expertise across a variety of cell types including CAR-T, TCR, TILs, NKs, iPSCs, and MSCs. With deep expertise in viral vector development, scale-up and manufacturing for gene therapies, Catalent is a full-service partner for plasmid DNA, adeno-associated viral (AAV), lentiviral and other viral vectors, oncolytic viruses, and live virus vaccines. An experienced and innovative partner, Catalent Cell & Gene Therapy has a global network of dedicated, small- and large-scale clinical and commercial manufacturing facilities, including an FDA-licensed viral vector facility, and fill/finish capabilities located in both the U.S. andAbout CatalentCatalent is the global leader in enabling pharma, biotech, and consumer health partners to optimize product development, launch, and full life-cycle supply for patients around the world. With broad and deep scale and expertise in development sciences, delivery technologies, and multi-modality manufacturing, Catalent is a preferred industry partner for personalized medicines, consumer health brand extensions, and blockbuster drugs.Catalent helps accelerate over 1,000 partner programs and launch over 150 new products every year. Its flexible manufacturing platforms at over 50 global sites supply over 70 billion doses of nearly 7,000 products annually. Catalent's expert workforce exceeds 19,000, including more than 2,500 scientists and technicians.Headquartered in, the company generatedin revenue in its 2021 fiscal year. For more information, visit http://www.catalent.com.More products. Better treatments. Reliably supplied. SOURCE Catalent
Advertisement

Healthy Relationships Improve Mental Health

The researchers surveyed 174 African American couples (348 individuals) four times over 25 months. The couples were part of a larger study on a family-centered relationship intervention program, selected from the control group that did not receive the intervention for the duration of the study.All couples were either married or cohabitating, and they were co-parenting at least one pre-adolescent child. All couples lived in rural Georgia and were mostly low-income families.In the current study, the authors examined- relationship satisfaction, ineffective arguing, and partner support - and their respective associations with depressive symptoms over time.Effects were considered in comparison to levels of other individuals ("between-person") as well as fluctuations relative to individuals' average levels ("within-person").The authors found between individuals, higher relationship satisfaction and lower levels of ineffective arguing were associated with fewer depressive symptoms, consistent with prior research. However, when looking at patterns of change over time within individuals, only partner support emerged as a significant factor."When an individual experienced higher than typical levels of partner support, relative to their average, they reported decreases in depressive symptoms over the next eight months. And conversely, when an individual reported higher than average levels of depressive symptoms, they reported decreased partner support over time," Barton explains.While the association between relationship factors and mental health goes both ways, the researchers found one direction more influential than the other."Our results also indicated partner support had a stronger effect on changes in depressive symptoms over time than depressive symptoms had on changes in partner support. The causal direction is stronger from relationships to mental health than the other way around," Barton says.These findings have implications for research and practice."As researchers, we need to be methodologically rigorous in thinking about change over time. When working with complex bidirectional associations, we have to make sure we have the right modeling to make causal inferences," Barton notes."For practitioners, these findings suggest partner support is a very relevant construct to target that influences mental health for individuals in a committed relationship. When looking to help couples, strengthening the sense of their partner being there for them, and they can turn to their partner in times of need, seems to have positive effects immediately and over time," he explains."Relationships and mental health are complex issues. When someone has mental health concerns, fixing their relationship will not necessarily be exhaustive. But our study provides strong evidence that relationship factors influence mental health."Barton notes there may be unique factors about minority couples, who often encounter external stress factors that could influence relationship quality and mental health."Although not the focus of this research, it is possible that partner support is particularly influential for African American couples because of specific challenges they face, such as racial discrimination and other stressors. It's a question for future research to show whether these findings hold across other populations," he says.Source: Eurekalert
NEWSALERT-SKOREA-NKOREA South Korea's new president says he'll offer an audacious plan to improve North Korea's economy if Kim denuclearises. (AP)South Korea's new president says he'll offer an audacious plan to improve North Korea's economy if Kim denuclearises. (AP)
Michigan's largest utility company Consumers Energy announced an update to its plans to become one of the first in the nation to go coal-free.

The update comes as the company reached a settlement agreement with a stakeholder coalition last week. The settlement was negotiated as part of Consumers Energy's 20-year blueprint to meet the state's energy needs while protecting the environment.

"A diverse set of stakeholders came together to endorse a Clean Energy Plan that will provide reliable and affordable energy to customers for decades to come while protecting the environment," President and CEO of Consumers Energy Garrick Rochow said in an April 20 press release.

The settlement supporting Consumers Energy's plan comes after a year of listening to key stakeholders' ideas and input, the Jackson-based utility company stated in the release. Supporting stakeholders include a broad coalition of customer groups, environmental organizations like the Sierra Club, the Michigan Public Service Commission staff, energy industry representatives and the Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

In a statement, Nessel called the proposed deal "a win for our environment" and "also a win for Michigan ratepayers who have struggled to stay current on their bills."

Under the settlement that still must be approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission, Consumers Energy wouldn't acquire the three natural gas plants owned by CMS Enterprises Co., an unregulated subsidiary of Consumers Energy's parent, CMS Energy Corp., as it had announced last June. The natural gas plants that were set to be acquired include the Dearborn Industrial Generation plant in Wayne County, the Kalamazoo River Generating Station in Kalamazoo County and the Livingston Generating Station in Otsego County.

"We are still planning to close our coal plants but have decided to only purchase one natural gas facility  Covert  while keeping Karn 3 and 4 (peaker plants  plants that only run when demand is really high) open," a spokesperson for Consumers Energy Josh Paciorek said.

Two peaking units at the D.E. Karn Generating Complex near Bay City, which use gas and fuel oil, but which are used infrequently, would also stay online through 2030 under the settlement terms, per Paciorek.

In addition to ensuring that Consumers closes all coal units by 2025 and adds 8,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2040, the proposed settlement also includes the creation of a low-income customer assistance fund and continues some efforts around energy waste reduction programs.

The next step in the process is for the Michigan Public Service Commission staff to review the settlement agreement. The public service commission met on Monday, April 25, and extended the deadline for the review of the settlement agreement to give the commission more time to consider.

"Reaching consensus on this Clean Energy Plan moves Michigan toward a cleaner, more reliable energy future while caring for our co-workers and communities impacted," Rochow said in the release. "We're grateful for the thoughtful, positive contributions of all stakeholders throughout this process and look forward to the MPSC's decision on our plan."

Visit ConsumersEnergy.com/change to learn more about the Clean Energy Plan. Consumers Energy provides natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of Michigans 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties, according to the company.
Coming up with $44 billion to buy Twitter was the easy part for Elon Musk.

Next comes the real challenge for the worlds richest person: fulfilling his promise to make Twitter better than ever as a lightly regulated haven for free speech.

His vision for improving the 16-year-old company leans heavily on a pledge to make speech as free as reasonably possible on the platform -- a commitment thats been celebrated on the political right and among followers of former President Donald Trump, whose account last year was permanently banned. For others who worry that Musk will give free rein to agitators who spew hate, lies and other harmful content, making the platform too toxic for advertisers and average users, Musk has offered few assurances.

The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all, he tweeted Tuesday

Many of Musks proposed changes reflect his own experience as a high-profile and outspoken Twitter user with more than 85 million followers and a swarm of pesky impersonator accounts that use his name and photo to promote cryptocurrency schemes. The statement announcing his acquisition of Twitter on Monday highlighted the need to defeat spam bots that mimic real users.

But what about Twitters more than 200 million other users who arent getting banned or flooded with spam? Theres still a lot of uncertainty about whether his ideas are technologically feasible and whether these changes would benefit most regular users, or serve some other purpose.

Hes made it pretty clear hes not interested in making Twitter a profitable enterprise," said Joan Donovan, who studies misinformation at Harvard University. Its about the power and the influence of Twitter itself and its importance in our culture."

Experts who have studied content moderation and researched Twitter for years have expressed doubt that Musk knows exactly what he is getting into. And some of the problems he has identified aren't felt by most users.

The spam bots, for him, are highly visible and somewhat personal, said Donovan. Most people dont see a lot of these spammy accounts.

And for those unhappy with the company's crackdown on hate, harassment and misinformation, there are plenty of fledgling examples of free speech-focused social media platforms that have been launched in the past few years as Twitter antidotes, largely by conservatives. Many have struggled to deal with toxic content, and at least one has been cut off by its own technology providers in protest.

This move just shows how effective (moderation features) have been to annoy those in power, said Kirsten Martin, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame. I would be worried as to how this would change Twitters values.

The fact that no other bidders emerged in public before Musks deal was a sign that other would-be acquirers might find Twitter too difficult to improve, said Third Bridge analyst Scott Kessler.

This platform is pretty much the same one weve had over the last decade or so," Kessler said. "Youve had a lot of smart people trying to figure out what they should do, and theyve had trouble. Its probably going to be tough to make a lot of headway.

Musk received an effusive, if highly abstract, endorsement from Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who praised Musk's decision to take Twitter  back from Wall Street  and tweeted that he trusts Musk's mission to  extend the light of consciousness   a reference to Dorsey's notion that Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness.

But others familiar with Twitter say they're dismayed at Musk's successful bid for the company.

Twitter is going to let a man-child essentially take over their platform, said Leslie Miley, a former Twitter employee who has also worked for Google and Apple. Miley, who was the only Black engineer at Twitter in a leadership position when he left the company in 2015, echoed doubts about Musk's grasp of the platform's complexities.

I am not sure if Elon knows what he is getting, Miley said. He may just find that having Twitter is a lot different than wanting Twitter.

The more hands-off approach to content moderation that Musk envisions has many users concerned that the platform will reanimate accounts that propagated dangerous conspiracies and harassment.

Wall Street analysts said if he goes too far, it could also alienate advertisers  Twitter's chief revenue source. And it could make it harder to retain the San Francisco-based company's more than 7,500 employees, some of whom are already voicing concerns about the possibility of a backslide on content standards.

In Europe, officials reminded Musk about a new law, the Digital Services Act, that will force tech companies to step up policing of their online platforms.

Be it cars or social media, any company operating in Europe needs to comply with our rules  regardless of their shareholding, tweeted Thierry Breton, the European Union commissioner in charge of the blocs internal market. Mr. Musk knows this well. He is familiar with European rules on automotive, and will quickly adapt to the Digital Services Act.

Musks takeover is not yet a done deal and still awaits the approval of a majority of Twitter's stockholders. Twitter previously scheduled its annual shareholders meeting for May 25, but a regulatory filing Tuesday said the company will be convening a special meeting as promptly as reasonably practicable."

While there are likely to be some bumps along the way, there don't appear to be serious enough obstacles to stop the deal, according to Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.

Twitter or Musk can walk away from the deal if its not completed by Oct. 24, but if either Musk or Twitter is deemed responsible for the deal not going forward, they would have to pay a $1 billion termination fee, according to details of the transaction contained in a regulatory filing published Tuesday. The filing also showed that Twitter will drop a poison pill measure it had earlier adopted to defend against Musk's takeover by making it prohibitively expensive.

Normally when companies go private, dissenting shareholders are forcibly cashed out. Some could challenge the stock price in court, contending that Musk should pay more, but that probably wont hold up the sale, Elson said.

Its likely that Musk would dissolve the current board and replace it with a new one that would agree with his management direction. And once Twitter is private, Musk will face fewer gripes from shareholders that often bring lawsuits, Elson said. Private companies also dont face as much scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been a finger in Musks eye for years, often because of statements he's made on Twitter.

On Tuesday, shares of Twitter traded just under $50, below the $54.20 purchase price. Twitter will offer a glimpse into the health of its business when it reports its quarterly financial results Thursday.

Twitter's constituents aren't the only ones anxious about Musk's $44 billion investment.

Shares of Musk's electric car company, Tesla, have lost about 19% of their value since Musk announced his stake in Twitter, including about a 12% decline on Tuesday. Analysts say investors are fearful that Musk will be distracted by the social media company and less engaged in running Tesla.

Hes going to be spending more time with another venture, Edward Jones Senior Equity Analyst Jeff Windau said of Musk, who also runs SpaceX, The Boring Co., which digs tunnels, and Neuralink, a computer-brain interface company. Theres a potential limit on the amount of bandwidth that you can apply to each of these companies."

__

Krisher reported from Detroit. O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island. AP writers Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, Kelvin Chan in London and Sam Petrequin in Brussels contributed to this report.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  A Minnesota lawmaker who's been a longtime critic of police on Tuesday defended his conduct during a traffic stop for his adult daughter that turned into a verbal confrontation between him and officers.

Police said that Rep. John Thompson, of St. Paul, arrived in another vehicle Sunday after they pulled over his daughter for expired license tabs and for swerving out of her lane.

St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell said in a Facebook post on Monday that Thompson jumped out and immediately began interfering by yelling and questioning the traffic stop and identifying himself as a state legislator.

The chief accused the lawmaker of attempting to intimidate and bully police officers who were just doing their jobs. He said it was an absolute shame that his offices had to endure illegitimate claims of racism, that John Thompson is still serving in the Legislature."

In a statement Tuesday, Thompson, who is Black and has accused police before of racially profiling drivers, including himself, denied misusing his position and had some praise for police.

As an elected official I certainly would not attempt to misuse, intimidate or bully police officers with my official position, Thompson said. I responded as any concerned father would, arriving at a chaotic scene to help deal with my frightened daughter, who was having a verifiable mental health episode.

Thompson said the episode was triggered by the large presence of St. Paul police. But he also said the officers on the scene treated him with the utmost respect and did an exemplary job of deescalating the situation.

House Democrats expelled Thompson from their caucus last fall amid old domestic abuse accusations and questions about whether he really lived in his east side district. Those allegations, which he denied, surfaced after Thompson accused a St. Paul officer of racially profiling him during a traffic stop in which he was ticketed for driving on a suspended Wisconsin license.

Thompson rejected calls at the time from top Democrats, including Gov. Tim Walz, that he resign, and remained in office as an independent. He lost a bid in March for the Democratic endorsement in his district to former Liz Lee, a former staffer for U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and then-U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, but has said he is running for reelection anyway.

Thompson became an activist after his friend, Philando Castile, was killed by a suburban police officer during a traffic stop in 2016. As a legislator, he has campaigned for a ban on pretextual stops for minor offenses and other police accountability measures, including a bill to speed up the release of police body camera videos.

The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association urged Thompson to allow police to release body camera video of the Sunday's incident, which requires his consent under current state law.

Brian Peters, the association's executive director, said in a letter to Thompson on Tuesday that authorizing the release would corroborate his explanation for what happened.

Another benefit would be to highlight the effectiveness of St. Pauls police officers in de-escalation in a mental health situation, as you also noted in your statement, Peters wrote.

Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, declined to comment Tuesday on whether the incident warrants an ethics investigation. She told reporters that would be up to the House Ethics Committee, but that she hadn't heard of anyone planning to file a complaint.

___

Associated Press reporter Mohamed Ibrahim contributed to this story. Ibrahim is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
With plenty of Port Austin establishments undergoing management changes or changing to something new, the Garfield Inn is the latest to get a change.

A new restaurant called Catbird is in the works for the bottom floor of the historic Port Austin building with its owner having plenty of restaurant experience.

A Philadelphia native, Mindy Lopus attended the Culinary Institute of America and owned two restaurants in Birmingham, Michigan  Lulu and Bella Piatti  and one in Grosse Pointe Park, before selling them 10 years ago. She has also done consulting work for the Detroit restaurant Shewolf and the Frankenmuth restaurant Prost.

Lopus husband came to Port Austin for years, having owned a cottage in the area and bringing his kids to the area as they grew up. After they got married, Lopus sold her restaurants, and the couple was ready to buy a lakefront property. They decided to look around the entire state first before deciding on Port Austin, where they built a house five years ago. The couple plans on retiring in the area, with Lopus deciding that she wanted to work on another restaurant.

I grew up on the east coast, so I was used to, if you want to go to the beach, its a two-hour drive, Lopus said. If you want to go to the Poconos in the mountains, its a two-hour drive. So we really wanted to stay somewhere close so that we could be here as much as possible.

The Garfield Inn, also known as the Charles G. Learned House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has operated as a bed and breakfast up to last season. A proper restaurant has not been in the building for at least 10 years.

It is now owned by Todd Murawski, the owner of Bird Creek Farms and current Port Austin village president, who reached out to Lopus about taking over the space. She will lease the space from Murawski. Apart from one bride who had her booking delayed from last year, the guest rooms will not be used this year due to renovation work, but hopes are they will reopen for next year.

The name Catbird comes from the first time Lopus visited some friends in Port Austin and checked the Garfield Inn out. She pointed out how this building sat on a hill, in the catbird seat of Port Austin, where it looks over the community.

It just kind of felt like a fun name for something not so traditional, Lopus said.

The food planned for Catbird would take advantage of the local produce and organic meat of the area, with Lopus saying it would be American with a little bit of a Mediterranean twist. There will be fish, chicken, pork, and steak recipes, with homemade pastas along with some brunch options.

Interior work has been ongoing for the past three weeks, with the goal of having everything ready by the beginning of June. This includes redoing the bar area, cleaning up the kitchen and adding equipment to it, updating the bathrooms, and stripping off the wallpaper to help refresh the place.

The decor will be kind of modern Victorian versus traditional Victorian, so itll have some softer edges and not be so ornate, Lopus said.

While Lopus plans to be open in time for when tourists come to Port Austin, she is aware the Garfield Inn has a lot of memories for Port Austin residents and wants to honor them.

The Port Austin community is already embracing the new restaurant before it opens, with Lopus saying that when she first posted about it on Facebook, she thinks she received more likes or comments than on any other post she had done.

Im just really excited to be part of the community and to contribute to any type of growth I can, and become a good neighbor, Lopus said.
Next week voters in a number of school districts will head to the polls to vote on a number of school issues during the school election May 3. Three schools have put forth proposals for funding to keep their schools running at the highest quality, in both their curriculum and structural integrity.

The Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port School District is proposing a renewal of its sinking fund millage, which is set to expire in 2022. The district is asking voters to approve a millage rate of 1 mill, or $1 per $1,000 of taxable value, for five years.

The operating millage is used by schools for day-to-day education purposes, while the sinking fund is used for remodeling, repairs, and other expenses for school grounds and buildings. The sinking fund is important, because it lets the district afford projects and repairs without dipping into funds used for children's education.

Laker has several projects in mind for the new sinking fund, if voted on by parents in the district. These include remodeling the high school's kitchen, expanding the secondary art room, building outdoor storage facilities for buildings and ground equipment like mowers and trailers, security enhancements particularly in the elementary building, general landscape improvements in front of both buildings, and updates to the secondary library space.

"Rather than it being a traditional library, we would make it more of a flexible learning space, where kids can come in with their personal devices and sit for research," said Laker Superintendent Brian Keim. "We still have books available, but it would just be a space that's more current, not necessarily your traditional stacks and stacks of books, because they get little to no use."

Teachers are currently being surveyed to study students' trends of use in the libraries and media centers, which will guide what kind of updates to make.

USA

The Unionville-Sebewaing Area School District is asking voters to approve a renewal of its 18-mill operating millage for a period of 10 years, to provide funds for operating purposes. The current millage is set to expire this year.

The USA School District's operating millage renewal would keep the school's education funded, providing $1.2 million that the state of Michigan won't contribute to the school's foundation allowance. The millage will come with no tax increases. It's only for non-homestead properties, meaning business properties or non-primary housing, such as second homes or rental properties.

"We need the support of the community to do this, but it's not an increase or something new," said USA Superintendent Josh Hahn. "It's something the district has been doing for quite some time."

Bad Axe

The Bad Axe School District has two proposals on the May 3 ballot, an operating millage renewal and a sinking fund proposal.

The district is asking voters to approve a renewal of its 18-mill operating millage for a period of 10 years, to provide funds for operating purposes. The current operating millage is set to expire in 2022. This is a non-homestead millage, which means only second homes and businesses would be taxed, while primary residences would not.

In addition to the operating millage, the district is also asking voters to approve a 0.8-mill sinking fund millage for 10 years for school improvements.

The major need for Bad Axe Schools this year is technology. When the district's voters passed a tech bond during the 2015-16 election, it led to improvements with school technology, such as security cameras and access doors. However, natural entropy means that the effectiveness of these additions wanes with time.

"With anything technology, they have to be replaced as time goes on," said Bad Axe Superintendent Greg Newland.

Technology is an important part of the Bad Axe Schools learning system, as every student has a Chromebook for homework and studying. In order for students to learn in the classroom, the computers need to be maintained as well as possible.

With the district's last sinking fund, it was able to replace the high school building. With the new one, the administration hopes to keep up with general maintenance on the grounds, replacing windows, doors, and boilers, along with adding new asphalt to the middle school parking lot.

"Just like anyone's home, you've got to keep your facilities top notch," Newland said. "We've always been prideful of the quality facilities, and we've always gotten compliments, so we want to maintain those."
Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media

The United States is on track by June to reach 1 million COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic.

According to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 988,707 deaths as of Monday attributed to COVID since the start of the pandemic, an average of 314 per day. At that rate, the U.S. will likely see another 11,293 deaths in the next 36 days to reach the 1 million mark, data shows.
Legislation that would require police to notify the families of deceased relatives within 24 hours was narrowly approved Monday in the legislative Public Safety and Security Committee over complaints from active and former police officers on the panel that it could make one of their hardest jobs even tougher.

Citing that the impetus for the bill was two cases in Bridgeport last year, state Sen. Dan Champagne, the mayor of Vernon and a retired police officer with 22 years of service, said the General Assembly is being asked to respond to the failure of that citys police administration to do their job.

This should have been the chiefs issue, Champagne said. The chief should have disciplined those officers. The chief should have taken care of it.

The bill passed 13-10, mostly along party lines, following an earlier 37-2 vote in the Judiciary Committee before the bill was referred to the Public Safety Committee. The legislation now goes back to the House calendar, where it will join more than 240 pending pieces of legislation vying for the focus of lawmakers as the May 4 adjournment date looms.

Champagne, who voted against the bill, said the legislation should have originated in the Public Safety Committee, and warned the unintended consequences could be less human contact with grieving families at critical times.

Instead of a uniformed officer arriving at the homes of next-of-kin to give them news of a death in the family, officers could have to make phone calls to make the notification within 24 hours of the discovery of the deceased. Without a best effort to make the notification, the inspector general within the state Office of Criminal Justice could order investigations and possible disciplinary action.

There was a large-scale public backlash after the unrelated deaths of two Bridgeport women last December when there were delays in notifying the families of Lauren Smith-Fields, 23, who died from an accidental overdose, and 53-year old Brenda Lee Rawls, whose death was from natural causes.

If I have to make sure this notification is made, or I can to face some sort of discipline, up to termination, or the loss of my certification, Im going to make sure Im doing this myself, said Champagne, noting that often a fatality in one part of the state will result in local police elsewhere knocking on the doors of families in their towns as a courtesy to law enforcement where the death occurred. In the case of no one answering a door, a note is made for the next shift to make the notification, further delaying direct contact.

I only have 24 hours, so personally, its easier for me to make a phone call, Champagne said. If I make the call and tell the next-of-kin over the phone, then I have met my obligations.

But without face-to-face contact at the moment of notification, unforeseen medical issues could occur, he warned.

What this is saying is that you have to make that notification so you are covered under law, he said. This should happen in person.

State Rep. Rick Hayes, R-Putnam, a retired police chief, agreed that death notification is one of the worst things police officers do, but knocking on the door, and asking if families need assistance, is an important public-service moment.

This bill is going to take away in-person death notifications, said Hayes, who also voted against the bill, as did state Rep. Greg Howard, R-Stonington, a police detective.

State Rep. Antonio Felipe, D-Bridgeport, who voted for the bill, said there have been other instances throughout the state of prolonged periods when families have not been informed of deaths.

The right to grieve, the right to know that your family member is gone, is a human right, Felipe said. To say we cant do it just because there are a few instances, I think is short-sighted. I dont think this is going to have this over-arching effect on our police departments. He doubts there would be many police officers decertified or fired over it.

We need to have as much faith in our police officers and our departments that this will get done, and unfortunately, there are multiple municipalities around the state, not just mine, that have these policies that are very robust and talk about everything that you need to do, but unfortunately one thing that isnt mentioned is the timeliness in which that needs to happen, Felipe said.
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SHONTO, Ariz. (AP)  Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, whose tenure has been dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, is seeking a second term in office.

Nez made the announcement over the weekend from his hometown of Shonto. Nez, 46, highlighted his administration's handling of COVID-19 and said he wants to ensure that plans to rebuild the economy, and extend power and water lines continues.

We must continue on the path of recovery and healing together, he said in a statement.

A handful of others also have said they'll seek the position, including Buu Van Nygren, Ethel Branch, Frank Dayish Jr. and Earl Sombrero.

Nygren, a vice presidential candidate in the tribe's 2018 election, recently resigned as chief commercial officer at the Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority.

Branch, who served as Navajo Nation attorney general while Nez was vice president, launched a COVID-19 relief fund for Navajo and Hopi families that has raised over $18 million, according to its website.

Dayish lost a bid for the tribal presidency in 2006 after serving as vice president under Joe Shirley Jr. Dayish has since worked in administrative positions in the health care and housing industries.

Sombrero is the manager of a Navajo chapter, or precinct, near the Arizona-Utah border.

The deadline to file for the tribe's top elected post is May 4. More than a dozen people typically run for president of the Navajo Nation, which has the largest land mass of any Native American tribe in the U.S. and is second in population with about 400,000 tribal members.

The primary election is Aug. 2. The top two vote-getters move on to the November general election.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Polands government has announced plans to drastically reduce flights at Warsaws two airports starting Sunday if talks with air traffic controllers demanding better working conditions fail.

Regulations published late Monday state the Frederic Chopin and Modlin airports would operate from 07:30 GMT until 15:00 GMT each day and only handle flights to and from key destinations.

The majority of air traffic controllers in Warsaw are threatening to quit their jobs May 1 after a drawn-out conflict with Polands air navigation authority over working hours, pay and the authoritys financial transparency.

The conflict is coming to a head at a time when world leaders have been coming to Warsaw for talks on supporting neighboring Ukraine in its fight against Russias invasion.

Due to the war across the border, Polands eastern skies have been dedicated to the needs of Polish and U.S. military forces stationed in the area with the goal of strengthening Polands security.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki suggested Tuesday that the controllers union should cede on some points. He said that controllers typically work 30 hours a week and earn up to 45,000 zlotys ($10,000) pre-tax a month, which are highly favorable terms by Polands standards.

The Trade Union of Air Traffic Controllers disputed the figures. It said earning are much lower, and that individuals with 30 years experience can earn about 33,000 zlotys ($7,600) a month before taxes.

The union claimed that in the past two years, controllers have been expected to work shifts single-handedly or sometimes put in 12-hours shifts, conditions it described as a flight safety threat.

The union also accused state air navigation authority PANSA of neglecting some international flight regulations.

The labor dispute started about two years ago with the appointment of a loyalist of Polands right-wing government as PANSAs chief. Janusz Janiszewski increased the working hours and reduced the pay of air traffic controllers, arguing that traffic was much smaller during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As some controllers quit and some flights were delayed at Warsaws airports, Janiszewski was fired March 31. A state auditing body found issues with his management, Polish media reported.
BROWNSVILLE, Wis. (AP)  Republican Tim Michels, a multimillionaire construction company co-owner who last ran for office nearly two decades ago, cast himself as an outsider candidate in launching his campaign for Wisconsin governor Monday to take out Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Michels, 59, joins a crowded field of GOP candidates, including former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, business owner Kevin Nicholson and state Rep. Timothy Ramthun.

Today begins a new era in Wisconsin, Michels told a crowd of about 200 supporters, family members, Michels Corp. employees and others gathered inside a company maintenance building in Brownsville on Monday.

Enough of the political bickering," Michels said. "Enough of the left and right not getting along. We need to bring people together.

Michels, who along with his brothers runs his family business Michels Corp., is expected to inject millions of his own wealth and shake up the primary race, which early polls have shown Kleefisch leading. Michels launched a $1 million statewide ad campaign Monday.

The winner of the Aug. 9 primary will take on Evers in what is expected to be one of the most hotly contested governor's races in the country. Evers won in 2018 by a little more than 1 percentage point, in the second-tightest governor's race that cycle behind Florida.

Michels focused on Evers, not any of his Republican challengers, in his first statement as a candidate.

Wisconsin is on the wrong track. From COVID to Kenosha, Tony Evers has been a terrible governor, Michels said, referring to sometimes violent protests that occurred after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in August 2020. His instincts are awful and his policies are even worse.

Evers' campaign spokesman Sam Roecker said Michels would be in lockstep with the divisive agenda Republicans are pushing. The Wisconsin Democratic Party branded Michels a two-time failed candidate, referring to his losses in a 1998 run for state Senate and a 2004 U.S. Senate bid where he was defeated by Democrat Russ Feingold.

Kleefisch has been racking up endorsements from many Republican power brokers, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who had sought a clear field for Kleefisch to win the nomination.

But Nicholson and Ramthun have tried to run as outsiders, tapping into distrust of party leaders among some Republicans. Michels, despite his ties with Kleefisch and other politicians, his former runs for office and his companys history of being awarded state contracts, also tried to cast himself as an outsider.

Im a business owner and a veteran  not a politician. Michels said, promising to focus his campaign on the economy, education, public safety and election integrity.

Democrats noted that Michels previously served on the board of a conservative group Kleefisch ran before she got into the governor's race. He also served on the board of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state's largest business lobbying organization, which is running ads in support of her.

Michels' company has won more than $1 billion in state contracts since 2013. Democrats were quick to point out that Michels Corp. was one of three contractors that double-billed the state, and was paid twice, for work done on Milwaukee's Zoo Interchange in 2015.

Michels Corp. was also part of a coalition of business groups that joined with unions in fighting a right-to-work proposal in Wisconsin that was championed by then-Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans in 2015. The business coalition also opposed ending the prevailing wage, which sets minimum salaries on state-funded construction projects.

Walker signed laws eliminating the prevailing wage and effectively banning mandatory union membership and the collection of dues. Kleefisch, who was Walker's lieutenant governor, joined him for the right-to-work bill signing.

Democrats on Monday branded Michels as an extremist, noting his past opposition to any exceptions for abortions and his stand against same-sex marriage. Because he has been away from politics for so long, however, Michels has not spoken on many of the current issues that the other candidates have, including Donald Trump's 2020 presidential election loss.

Ramthun is one of the loudest advocates for decertifying President Joe Biden's win in Wisconsin. Kleefisch and Nicholson have also danced around whether they believe Biden was fairly elected.

Michels told WISN-AM on Monday that he's met with Trump  as have Kleefisch and Ramthun. Michels also said he had questions about the 2020 election, but didn't elaborate. He didn't mention the 2020 election during his brief comments at his launch event.

Michels, a U.S. Army veteran, vowed to run an aggressive campaign and indicated he would largely self-fund, saying he would not accept donations from political action committees, lobbyists or more than $500 from any individual.
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DALLAS (AP)  The retrial of a man charged with killing 18 older women in the Dallas area over a two-year span began Monday, after the first jury to hear a case against him deadlocked last fall.

The start of the trial for Billy Chemirmir, 49, was delayed by several hours after a juror did not show up on time. Chemirmir faces life in prison without parole if he's convicted of capital murder in the March 2018 smothering of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris.

Chemirmir's attorney entered a not guilty plea for him Monday on the charge. Chemirmir has maintained that he's innocent.

Though Chemirmir is only being tried in Harris death, prosecutor Glen Fitzmartin told jurors during his opening statements that they will also hear evidence that Chemirmir attacked 91-year-old Mary Annis Bartel the day before Harris was killed and that he killed 87-year-old Mary Brooks about six weeks earlier.

These are some of the most vulnerable people that we have in our community  three elderly women, Fitzmartin said.

Chemirmir faces capital murder charges in all 18 of the womens deaths  13 in Dallas County and five in nearby Collin County. However, hes currently only scheduled to stand trial in the death of Harris. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, who isnt seeking the death penalty for Harris killing, has said he plans to try Chemirmir for at least one more death, though he hasnt said whose.

The defense declined to make an opening statement on Monday.

Chemirmir was arrested after Bartel said a man forced his way into her apartment at an independent living community for older people and held a pillow over her face.

Fitzmartin said that after the attack on Bartel, police found that a few days before there had been a report of a suspicious person at the independent living center where she lived. A license plate number then led officers to Chemirmir.

Police detectives testified about going to his nearby apartment complex, watching as he drove into the parking lot. Detectives said he threw items into a dumpster and then, as they got him out of his vehicle, he was holding jewelry and cash in his hand.

Police have said that a large red jewelry box found in the dumpster contained documents that led them to Harris' home, where the widow was found dead in her bedroom, lipstick smeared on her pillow.

Fitzmartin said evidence will show that about two hours before Chemirmir was found with Harris' items, including her house keys, they had both been at the same Walmart.

Fitzmartin said evidence will show that Chemirmir listed jewelry that belonged to Bartel and Brooks on an online selling site. He said that Brooks and Chemirmir were also at the same Walmart prior to her death.

All of this evidence is going to be overwhelming for you all, Fitzmartin said.

As in the first trial, jurors on Monday were shown a taped deposition with Bartel, who died in 2020. She said that on the day she was attacked, she'd opened her door after hearing an insistent" knocking and immediately fixated on green rubber gloves the person was wearing.

Bartel said she tried to push the door shut but was overpowered. He said: Dont fight me, lie on the bed, she said. She said her attacker slammed the pillow to her face and used "all his weight to keep me from breathing.

Bartel, who lost consciousness during the attack and later discovered she was missing her wedding band, diamond engagement ring and other jewelry, said she couldnt remember details about the appearance of the man who attacked her.

The number of people Chemirmir was accused of killing grew after his arrest, with most of the families of his alleged victims only learning months or years after their loved ones death that authorities believed they had been killed.

Most of the people Chemirmir is accused of killing were found dead in their apartments at independent living communities for older people, where he allegedly forced his way in or posed as a handyman. Hes also accused of killing women in private homes, including the widow of a man he had cared for in his job as an at-home caregiver.
NEW YORK (AP)  Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he has no intention of rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated following Elon Musks agreement to buy the social media giant for roughly $44 billion.

Trump told Fox News that he will instead focus on his own platform, Truth Social, which has been mired in problems since its launch earlier this year.

I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on Truth, Trump was quoted telling the network. I hope Elon buys Twitter because hell make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth.

Trump was barred from major social media platforms after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, with Twitter citing the risk of further incitement of violence." The decision denied him the megaphone he had used to generate media attention and speak directly to his followers, which had been integral to his political rise.

At the time, the former president had roughly 89 million followers on Twitter alone.

Musk, the worlds wealthiest person and a self-described free-speech absolutist, had said he wanted to buy and privatize Twitter because he believed it wasnt living up to its potential as a free speech platform. It raised questions about whether he might reinstate Trumps account as the former president lays the groundwork for another White House run in 2024.

Trump has continued to spread lies about his 2020 election defeat in speeches and statements since leaving office, and it is unclear how Musk would approach those statements if Trump were ever to return to the site.

In recent weeks, Musk has voiced a number of proposed changes for the company, including relaxing its content restrictions, and said he would be very reluctant to delete content and cautious of permanent bans.

After being kicked off social media platforms, Trump launched his own social media app and sued Twitter, Facebook and Google's YouTube, claiming he and other conservatives had been wrongfully censored, even though posts by conservative commentators are routinely the most widely shared.

On Monday, he said he welcomed Musk's purchase and told Fox News he didnt see Twitter as his own product's competition.

Truth Social will be a voice for me, he said. And thats something nobody else can get.

At a rally in Ohio on Saturday, Trump also urged his supporters to join him on Truth Social.

Go out and sign up now," he told them. "Have a lot of fun.
Connecticut lawmakers are looking to impose a shutdown on the annual harvest of horseshoe crabs in the states waters, citing fears over the species rapid decline in Long Island Sound.

The crabs, which are actually ancient ancestors of spiders, have long been the subject of concern from conservationists and scientists who study the Sound, who point to their critical role in supporting migratory bird populations that feed on their eggs.

Proposals to end the harvest of horseshoe crabs, however, have prompted pushback from fisherman, who collect the crabs each summer to be used as bait in traps set for eels and whelk.

Even the states Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which is proposing its own regulations to sharply curtail the annual harvest, came out in opposition to a full moratorium earlier this year, with Commissioner Katie Dykes telling lawmakers that the agency had engaged with stakeholders for months to develop an appropriate path toward sustaining the population of horseshoe crabs.

But at a public hearing earlier this month, researchers and concerned citizens spoke overwhelmingly in favor of an outright ban, prompting lawmakers to move in that direction as well, said state Rep. Joe Gresko, D- Stratford, who co-chairs the legislatures Environment Committee.

They are telling me that the population is effectively extinct in Long Island Sound, Gresko said. I just think we need to do a complete ban and repopulate the Sound now.

The legislation to impose a moratorium on commercial fishing appeared to suffer a setback last week, when it was passed over on the House floor following more than an hour of questioning by state Rep. Stephen Harding, R- Brookfield, regarding the need for a ban with DEEP already proposing to reduce the annual harvest by as much as 60 percent.

On Monday, however, Gresko said that the bill had merely fallen victim to an unrelated argument over legislative horsetrading between Democrats and Republicans. He expected it be called for another vote as early as Tuesday.

Harding also said that he and his fellow Republicans would relent on their opposition despite his previously-stated concerns about the need for a moratorium, adding that he expected the measure to pass the House with bi-partisan support.

At the end of the day, it is a declining population in our state and any measure that protects them from extinction in our state is one I intend to support, Harding said.

Fishermen too seem to have lost their willingness to fight the proposed ban. No one representing the fishing industry or any of the 16 individuals licensed to harvest horseshoe crabs testified against the bill during the public hearing last month.

Those fishermen land typically between 15,000 to 20,000 crabs in a given season, which lasts from May to July, according to DEEP. Across the Sound, meanwhile, New York State caps the annual catch at 150,000 crabs.

Bob Guzzo, a fisherman in Stonington who used to purchase hundreds of horseshoe crabs each year to help lure whelk into his traps, said that existing regulations have driven up the price for horseshoe crabs and led fishermen to find cheaper sources of bait.

The proposed DEEP regulations would further lower daily catch limits on horseshoe crabs from 500 to 150, along with other limitations. With such limits in place, Guzzo said harvesters will likely avoid going out at all.

Its so little its not worth our time, Guzzo said. Were probably going to move to alternative baits.

The legislation would allow DEEP to permit a limited number of harvesters each year for educational and bio-medical purposes. Pharmaceutical researchers use blood drawn from the crabs in vaccine research.

Scott Smith, a spokesman for the Darien-based Friends of Animals, said Monday that that few horseshoe crabs are taken for research purposes in Long Island Sound.

The time for harvesting horseshoe crabs for our use is long over, Smith said. Were a long-way off from having a functional ecosystem in Long Island Sound.
Editor's Note: This story includes details of an alleged sexual assault.

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Maj. Gen. William Cooley, the first Air Force general ever convicted in a court-martial, will not serve jail time.

Instead, military judge Col. Christina Jimenez sentenced Cooley, who was convicted Saturday of abusive sexual contact, to forfeit $10,910 of pay for five months and a letter of reprimand from the court-martial convening authority, Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Arnold Bunch.

Cooley faced a maximum sentence of seven years of confinement, separation and loss of pay and benefits.

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Prosecutors requested he be dismissed from the service, or if not dismissed, sentenced to "months" of confinement. A dismissal for a commissioned officer is the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge for enlisted personnel.

Cooley's defense team, meanwhile, argued a letter of reprimand -- which is often a career ender but still allows for retirement benefits -- would be sufficient punishment.

"Maj. Gen. Cooley is very thankful for the judge's compassion here," his civilian lawyer, Daniel Conway, told reporters after the sentence was delivered. "The imposition of a letter of reprimand and significant financial penalties is actually a very significant sentence. And so I think the military judge here did send a message that she was in fact taking this seriously."

Cooley's attorneys had also sought to limit the maximum sentence he could receive to six months, arguing the offense Cooley was convicted of is now considered the equivalent of a misdemeanor assault under a law that took effect months after the August 2018 incident. But Jimenez said she had to consider the maximum sentence under the law as it existed when the crime was committed.

Conway said Cooley plans to appeal.

"Maj. Gen. Cooley all along has been remorseful for the events that happened, but at the same time, he's maintained his innocence in terms of the narrative that was put forward," Conway said.

On Saturday, Jimenez found Cooley guilty of forcibly kissing his sister-in-law after a family barbecue. He was found not guilty of two additional counts that covered allegations he also groped his sister-in-law. The case was decided by a judge, rather than a jury, at Cooley's request.

The sister-in-law testified that, during a brief car ride after the party, Cooley tried to pull her hand toward his crotch and that, when they were back in her garage, he pinned her against the car window, kissed her, put his hand on her breast and then moved his hand to between her legs.

Military.com does not name victims of sexual assault without their consent, and the sister-in-law's lawyer has requested she be identified only by her relationship to Cooley.

Cooley's defense team maintains the only thing that happened in the car was a consensual kiss.

Cooley did not testify in his own defense during his trial. But on Monday during his sentencing hearing, he read a statement where he started by "apologizing sincerely and genuinely" to his sister-in-law and other family members "who have been hurt" by his actions.

"I can honestly say I have come out a better human being than I was in 2018," Cooley added. "I will work for the rest of my life to be a better person than the one who was portrayed in this trial."

He pleaded with the judge not to punish his wife for his mistakes by stripping him of his retirement benefits, saying he "pray[s] to god she will not be left with nothing."

The defense also submitted to Jimenez several written statements from character witnesses that Conway characterized during the hearing as demonstrating Cooley's "absolutely extraordinary" 32 years of service in the Air Force. Conway told Jimenez on Saturday the defense could call "a four-star and two three-stars" as witnesses for the sentencing hearing, but it was not clear Monday who had submitted the written statements. Military.com was not able to immediately review the statements.

The sister-in-law also read her own statement Monday in which she detailed how the incident has affected her life in the four years since, saying Cooley "robbed me of my safety" and that his "disgusting actions unmoored me."

"The cost to remain a member of our extended family was silence, secrecy and lies, all to protect him and his military position above all costs," she said. "I trusted Bill, and he took that trust and exploited it, twisted it beyond recognition, marginalized me to others that I care about, lied to family members to cover the truth, and while I hoped and prayed for true contrition and lasting remorse, I don't feel I ever received that. I became despondent with this reality."

Ryan Guilds, the sister-in-law's lawyer, told reporters that prosecutors conferred with her on their recommended sentence as required by law, though he would not disclose her preferred sentence.

"She will continue to have the pains of this for the rest of her life, and no sentence is going to eliminate that," Guilds said. "No sentence is going to replace what happened. No sentence is going to overcome the pain that she and her family have endured and, candidly, the many other people connected with this case have endured."

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Related: Air Force General Found Guilty of Forcible Kissing in Historic Ohio Court-Martial
The Army has become more aggressive with major recruitment bonuses, especially for recruits who elect to ship out to basic training right away, as the force wrestles with numerous recruiting challenges.

The force announced on April 20 that new recruits can earn up to $10,000 bonuses for attending basic training within 30 days of their enlistment, which is called a "quick ship" bonus. That offer is open to at least 60 different jobs, double the total from earlier in the year.

Another 60 jobs in the Army have quick ship bonuses ranging from $2,000 to $6,000. On top of that, at least 14 jobs have additional enlistment bonuses for new recruits, ranging from $1,000 to $40,000.

Read Next: Air Force General Convicted in Historic Court-Martial Avoids Jail Time

Bonuses are capped at $50,000. However, those bonuses are taxed, as much as 25%, according to The Military Wallet, a benefits blog.

The jobs eligible for the bonuses are varied and include infantry, musician and medical technicians. But career fields in signal intelligence, missile defense and special forces have the largest potential for bonuses.

All services are currently offering hefty bonuses for new recruits generally not seen since the peak of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as most of the military is facing recruiting shortages. The Army, in its proposed 2023 budget, is looking to decrease the size of the force by about 12,000 soldiers, or about 2.5%, due to the difficulties getting new soldiers to join.

"Recruiting in the military is challenging work," Gen. James McConville, the Army chief of staff, told reporters last month. "We are in a war for talent."

That issue is multifaceted with roughly 70% of young Americans not being qualified for service out of the gate due to being overweight or having minor criminal infractions that show up on a background check, according to the Department of Defense. Difficulty passing the Army's academic exam also plays a role, as well as some Americans not having a high school diploma or a GED.

The civilian workforce has also become more favorable to employees, with companies having to battle for talent as workers have become more empowered to demand higher salaries, more robust benefits and a greater work-life balance since the pandemic amid low unemployment.

Recruiters have also been unable to recruit in-person out of high schools and colleges since the pandemic, though with restrictions lifted in most of the country in recent months, that should become less of a hurdle.

With the post-9/11 wars winding down, Army recruiting commercials have focused more on jobs in tech and selling itself as a diverse force that's welcoming to LGBTQ troops, something that could be a key concern for Gen Z recruits. However, there is still plenty of advertising directed to potential recruits looking to get into ground combat roles and things that go boom. The 75th Ranger Regiment regularly publishes high-production-value recruiting ads that emphasize combat with rock-heavy scores.

To reach out to the younger generation, some recruiting efforts have been taken to Twitch, a streaming service largely focused on video games. Even BuzzFeed, a digital media company, had a recent paid promotion from the Army with its own quiz in the site's signature style.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: Space Force Offering Bonuses Up to $20,000 for New Guardians with Tech Backgrounds
A group of 40 nations gathered together by the U.S. in Germany this week will work to send more weapons and aid to Ukraine as its war with Russia enters a crucial phase, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at Ramstein Air Base on Tuesday.

The first-of-its-kind summit conducted outside of NATO and the U.N. yielded a commitment of 50 Gepard, or Cheetah, anti-aircraft systems from Germany, more anti-aircraft weapons from the U.K., and armored vehicles from Canada, Austin said during a press conference following the event. Nations were encouraged to work with the U.S. European Command on the logistics of moving weapons into the country.

The summit will become a monthly event aimed at rushing new arms to Ukrainian forces as they face off with Russian artillery, armor and missiles in the flat eastern Donbas region, and Moscow continues to bomb cities and civilian targets such as rail stations. Attendees at the summit included many European nations but also Australia, South Korea and Japan, according to Reuters.

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"We don't have any time to waste. The briefings today laid out clearly why the coming weeks will be so crucial for Ukraine. So we've got to move at the speed of war," Austin said. "I know that all the leaders leave today more resolved than ever to support Ukraine in this fight against Russian aggression and atrocities."

The group of nations "will be a vehicle for nations of goodwill to intensify our efforts and coordinate our assistance and focus on winning today's fight and the struggles to come," he said.

Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Kyiv on Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Following the meeting, the defense secretary said he wants to see Russia's military weakened so it can't threaten Ukraine and its neighbors.

Moscow struck rail stations across Ukraine on Monday -- part of a bombing campaign that has also targeted civilians throughout the conflict -- and its top diplomat warned the West on Tuesday not to underestimate the potential for nuclear war over the conflict, according to The Associated Press.

Origin APNews

"The danger is serious," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reportedly said in a TV interview.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also made a veiled threat of using the world's most powerful weapons, putting his nuclear forces on heightened alert at the outset of the two-month-old war. The U.S. delayed a long-scheduled Minuteman III nuclear test launch in March in an effort to reduce tensions. The two countries own the world's largest stockpiles of nuclear arms.

Austin condemned the threatening talk from Russia.

"Nobody wants to see a nuclear war happen. It's a war where all sides lose, and so, rattling of saber and dangerous rhetoric is clearly unhelpful and something that we won't engage in," he said.

Aid from the U.S. and other nations has ramped up as the belief grows that Ukraine -- the underdog to Russia's much larger military -- could actually win the war. On top of the commitments Tuesday, the U.S. has provided 90 155mm howitzer cannons, as well as training, Mi-17 helicopters, armored personnel carriers, radar systems, Switchblade drones, and the newly developed Phoenix Ghost drone.

The U.S. has pumped a total of $3.4 billion in national security assistance into Ukraine, including thousands of shoulder-fired Javelin and Stinger missiles that helped to repel Russian tanks, armored vehicles and aircraft during the earlier phase of the war.

Russia floundered in its initial effort to seize control of Ukraine and its capital Kyiv and seemingly underestimated the Ukrainian military when it launched the unprovoked invasion on Feb. 24. The flawed invasion exposed weaknesses in its own military logistics, leaving troops without enough food and fuel, and its inability to use combined air and ground forces on the battlefield.

Moscow pulled its badly depleted forces from around Kyiv and has begun to refocus its military assault on Mariupol and the Donbas, the country's industrial heartland of Donetsk and Luhansk, where it has been fueling a separatist war since 2014. Seizing the Donbas is now Russia's stated goal in the war.

If successful, Russia would cleave off a chunk of eastern Ukraine that connects to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it annexed eight years ago despite international condemnation.

Austin said during his press conference on Tuesday that Russia is now in a weakened state, urging speedy support to Ukraine. Russia has suffered "substantial" casualties and the loss of the key battleship Moskva, which was reportedly hit by anti-ship cruise missiles launched by Ukraine.

"They've lost a lot of equipment. They've used a lot of precision-guided munitions. They've lost a major surface combatant," he said. "And so they are in fact, in terms of military capability, weaker than when it started."

-- Travis Tritten can be reached at travis.tritten@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Tritten.

Related: Going Underground: Ukraines Subterranean Fighters Highlight the Benefit  and Long History  of Tunnels in Warfare
A private company that pleaded guilty in 2021 of falsifying maintenance records for some of the 43,000 houses it manages for the Defense Department continues to ignore residents' concerns over mold, asbestos and other problems, endangering their health and safety, a congressional investigation has found.

Base residents at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and elsewhere reported moving into homes that weren't cleaned between tenants and were ridden with filth and pet hair, contained extensive mold or had exposed asbestos in crumbling ceilings and broken floor tiles.

When they requested repairs or other maintenance from the management company, Dallas-based Balfour Beatty Communities, they encountered a "lack of concern," according to a report released Tuesday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Read Next: Texas Guardsman Drowns After Rescue Attempt During Border Mission

"The Subcommittee uncovered numerous specific instances where Balfour's housing practices since 2019 put military families' health and safety at risk," said the report titled Mistreatment of Military Families in Privatized Housing.

Balfour Beatty provides housing in 26 states to 150,000 military residents. On Monday, a spokesman said that the company had not received a copy of the report, but that it takes issue with the charge that Balfour Beatty continues to engage in the practices for which it was found guilty. They added that they respond to requests for maintenance promptly.

The company has put in place rigorous new compliance and assurance procedures to prevent such behavior. In addition, it has implemented strict mold control procedures, and has devoted a great deal of time, effort, and money to ensuring that work orders are properly entered into [our system,] a Balfour Beatty spokesman said in an email to Military.com

Balfour Beatty was ordered in December to pay $65.4 million in fines and restitution after being found guilty of fraud, having manipulated maintenance records from 2013 to 2019 to obtain performance bonuses as a housing management contractor.

The Senate committee said the mistreatment of service members and families by the company continues, and according to the report, the behaviors uncovered after 2019 "bear striking similarities to the types of conduct which Balfour admitted to in its December 2021 guilty plea."

"The subcommittee uncovered numerous examples of inaccuracies and omissions in ... Balfour's internal work order data tracking system after 2019, when the company initially vowed to correct these problems," the report said.

The investigation is the latest chapter in an ongoing scandal that began in 2018 over the condition of military housing, when systemic issues came to light in a series of reports by Reuters over the presence of mold, lead-based paint and other dangerous living conditions in base housing managed by private companies.

Military families have filed lawsuits and testified before Congress since 2019 on their poor housing conditions, noting that the companies often ignored maintenance requests or took shortcuts in repairing their homes.

Following a series of congressional hearings, military leadership pledged to improve its oversight of these companies, which hold 50-year contracts. The Defense Department developed a tenant bill of rights, unveiled in June, 2021 that gave residents more leverage with their landlords and the ability to negotiate disputes.

But according to the report, some residents are still powerless to have their homes repaired and continue to live in conditions that affect their health.

In a hearing on the report scheduled for Tuesday, an Army officer will testify that his eight-year-old daughter developed eczema as the result of living in a moldy home. Repeated complaints went undocumented in the company's work order tracking system. And when the family moved out, they received a collection notice from the company.

Multiple families at Fort Gordon reported 'resistance' from Balfour when they asked about potential mold in their homes, according to the report. One family noticed a strong musty smell and discoloration in a bathroom floor but Balfour employees that visited the home "discounted the concerns."

After months of requests, the company agreed to remove the floor, only to find what appeared to be "excessive black mold."

In addition to finding that Balfour employees ignored families and put their health at risk, the committee, chaired by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., also determined that Balfour Beatty's work order data continues to be "incomplete, inaccurate and misleading."

According to the report, the committee identified issues with the company's repairs database "from 2020 until as recently as early 2022."

"In several cases, [the committee] found work orders relating to mold, for instance, were inaccurately entered as 'interior repairs,' 'painting,' 'plumbing' and 'carpentry' issues," staff members noted.

According to the report, Fort Gordon was not the only installation affected. A family at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas also reported that after their water heater broke, resulting in flooding, subsequent mold growth was ignored, with the company hiring an industrial hygienist to conduct an assessment without ever visiting the home.

As a result of the initial revelations of poor housing conditions, the services have contracted with third party inspectors to examine their housing stock. The Navy and Marine Corps expect to have more than 62,000 base homes inspected by October, while the Army anticipated completing its inspections by last September.

The Air Force conducted its inspections in 2019.

Lawmakers have complained that the Defense Department and the military services ceded oversight of base housing to the management companies when DoD entered into the public-private ventures in the late 1990s.

Ahead of the hearing, Ossoff released a video trailer on the investigation. "Servicemembers and their families put it all on the line for our country. But are they being mistreated by the private companies responsible for their housing?" the video asks.

The Senate hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m Tuesday and will be streamed online.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: Top Enlisted Military Leaders Pressed on Unsafe Housing, Sex Assault
One soldier was killed and another two were injured in a vehicle incident at Yakima Training Center in Washington State on Monday.

Pfc. Joseph Marquez was killed in the accident. Marquez, 20, was a native of Dover, Delaware, and served as a motor transport operator in 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, which falls under the 2nd Infantry Division's 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The unit makes up part of the 7th Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Pfc. Marquez," Lt. Col. Michael Filanowski, commander of 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, said in a press release. "Blackhawk Squadron sends its deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. Our prayers and thoughts are with them during this difficult time."

U.S. Army PFC Joseph Alejandro Marquez, from Dover, Delaware. (U.S. Army photo via 8th Squadron, 1st U.S. Cavalry Facebook page)

Read Next: The Army Keeps Boosting Recruiting Bonuses as It Struggles to Find New Soldiers

The two injured soldiers have already been treated and released from Yakima Memorial Hospital.

It is unclear what led up to the fatal incident. Lt. Col. Travis Dettmer, a 7th Infantry Division spokesperson, declined to disclose even the vehicle Marquez died in -- a detail which is commonly released after military incidents.

Fatal ground incidents have proven one of the leading causes of death for soldiers, far outpacing combat deaths in recent years. At least 20 soldiers died during on-duty vehicle incidents last year. Brig. Gen. Andrew Hilmes, commander of the Army's Combat Readiness Center and director of Army safety, told Military.com in November that ground vehicle mishaps were a "number one killer of soldiers."

An Army safety report from last year found that most incidents are due to soldiers having inadequate driving training and sleep deprivation.

"Marquez was known for his laughter and the light he spread everywhere he went," a statement from the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry's Facebook page said. "We knew him as a loving son and brother to his family, a faithful friend to his comrades, and a loyal Soldier to his nation. He was and is so loved, and already so missed."

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: The Top Killer of Soldiers, Army Vehicle Deaths Are Tied to Poor Training, Though Numbers Down
Department of Veterans Affairs officials announced Monday that it has added nine rare respiratory cancers to the list of illnesses considered to be related to exposure to burn pits and other particles in the air encountered overseas, a designation that will expedite affected veterans' access to health care and benefits.

The move follows a White House announcement last November that it planned to establish presumption for the illnesses that have become more common among veterans in the past 32 years, with advocates and health experts zeroing in on burn pits used to dispose of trash and industrial waste in Iraq and Afghanistan as a likely culprit.

The new additions are rare, affecting roughly six per every 100,000 Americans, and the expedited benefits are being offered to affected veterans who served in the Persian Gulf since Aug. 2, 1990, as well as Afghanistan, Syria, Djibouti or Uzbekistan on or after Sept. 19, 2001.

Read Next: The Army Keeps Boosting Recruiting Bonuses as It Struggles to Find New Soldiers

VA Secretary Denis McDonough told reporters Monday that the move, published Tuesday in the Federal Register, will "keep President Biden's promise ... in ensuring that veterans who suffer from those conditions and their survivors will get the benefits and care they've earned."

"If you suffer from any of those conditions ... you may be eligible for disability benefits without having to prove causality between your service and your condition," McDonough said.

The rare respiratory cancers that now are eligible for health care and expedited disability claims include:

Squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx

Squamous cell carcinoma of the trachea

Adenocarcinoma of the trachea

Salivary gland-type tumors of the trachea

Adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung

Large cell carcinoma of the lung

Salivary gland-type tumors of the lung

Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung

Typical and atypical carcinoid of the lung

The illnesses join three already considered to be linked to burn pits and overseas duty if they develop within 10 years of deployment -- asthma, rhinitis and sinusitis.

The presumptive designation allows veterans to apply for disability benefits without having to provide proof that their disease was caused by an exposure or injury when they served in the military.

VA officials said Monday that the change will affect roughly 100 veterans who previously filed claims for these illnesses and were denied as well as an unknown number of veterans who may file claims for these conditions in the future.

As of last month, the department had processed 16,500 claims related to the first three new presumptive conditions for a total of $36 million in benefits.

The Biden administration also has pledged to commit more research to understanding the connection between the burn pits used in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere and is considering whether to designate another lung disease, known as constrictive bronchiolitis, as a presumptive condition.

The initiatives come as Congress weighs legislation that would expand the list of burn-pit related conditions to include additional cancers and respiratory illnesses and provide benefits to more than a million new veterans who served overseas in certain locations since Aug. 2, 1990.

The House passed the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act in March in a 256-174 vote. The legislation would expand VA health care access to more post-9/11 veterans and calls for improving the federal response to veterans sickened as the result of drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as well as helping veterans who developed illnesses in cleanup operations across the globe.

The Senate has approved a $1 billion bill that would extend VA health care to more veterans, creating a one-year enrollment period for VA medical care for post-9/11 combat veterans who served since 1998 and never enrolled, and expanding the enrollment period from five years to 10.

While the White House has not identified by name which piece of legislation it supports, President Joe Biden released a statement Monday urging Congress "to pass bipartisan legislation to comprehensively address toxic exposures and further deliver the vital benefits our veterans have earned."

"We can and must do more to address the harms that come from hazardous exposures, which have gone unaddressed for far too long," Biden said in the statement.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: 'We Have a Sacred Obligation:' Biden Pledges to Help Vets Struggling with the Wounds of War
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Global Graphite market trend 2023-2027 What is the lithium Intercalation Mechanism of Graphite? by Newsmis-asia

Europe's largest economy, Germany, recently activated an emergency plan to manage gas supplies that the natural gas could be rationed if supplies are disrupted or disrupted by a stand-off over Russian demands to pay for fuel in rubles.

German Vice-Chancellor, minister of economy and climate protection, said Germany's gas supplies were secure for now, but he urged consumers and businesses to reduce consumption, saying "every kilowatt of electricity counts."

Germany's gas network regulator can ration gas if supplies run short. Plants would be the first to be affected. Special treatment will be provided to private families, hospitals, and other important institutions.

Half of Germany's 41.5 million households use natural gas for heating, and industry consumption accounts for a third of the country's 100 billion cubic meters of gas demand in 2021.

The price of many energy and commodities like the Graphite could be affected.





Graphite has good conductivity, high crystallinity, and a well-layered structure. It is very suitable for repeated intercalation and deintercalation of lithium ions. It is currently the most widely used and most mature negative electrode material. After lithium ions are intercalated between the graphite layers, a lithium intercalation compound LixC6 (0x1) is formed, and the theoretical capacity can reach 372mAh/g (x=1). The reaction formula is: xLi++6C+xe-LixC6

Lithium-ion intercalation changes the stacking mode between graphite layers from ABAB to AAAA.

Graphite modification treatment

Since the graphite interlayer spacing (d0.34nm) is smaller than the crystal plane interlayer spacing (0.37nm) of the graphite lithium intercalation compound LixC6, the graphite layer spacing changes during the charging and discharging process, which is easy to cause the graphite layer to peel off, pulverize, and also occur. Lithium ions and organic solvent molecules co-intercalate into the graphite layer, and the organic solvent decomposes, affecting the battery cycle performance.

Through graphite modification, such as oxidation on the surface of graphite and coating of polymer pyrolytic carbon, composite graphite with a core-shell structure can be formed, improving the charge and discharge performance of graphite and increasing the specific capacity.

Other anode materials

At present, graphite is the mainstream commercial lithium battery negative electrode material. Its theoretical gram capacity is 372mAh/g. The graphite negative electrode material with better performance on the market can reach 360mAh/g, and the gram capacity gradually tends to the limit value. Although graphite as a negative electrode material has disadvantages such as low gram capacity and cycle deviation, because of the high-cost performance of graphite-based negative electrode materials, it will not be replaced by new materials immediately. The specific reasons are as follows:

1. The new anode material technology is immature, and it will take a long time for performance improvement;

2. The price of new anode materials is higher, and the price advantage of graphite anodes is obvious;

3. The negative electrode material needs to be used in combination with the positive electrode material, electrolyte, etc., and the specific capacity of the current positive electrode material is generally low.

High-quality graphite supplier

Luoyang Moon & Star New Energy Technology Co., LTD, founded on October 17, 2008, is a high-tech enterprise committed to developing, producing, processing, selling, and technical services of lithium-ion battery anode materials. After more than 10 years of development, the company has gradually developed into a diversified product structure with natural graphite, artificial graphite, composite graphite, intermediate phase, and other negative materials (silicon-carbon materials, etc.). The products are widely used in high-end lithium-ion digital power and energy storage batteries. If you are looking for Lithium battery anode material, click on the needed products and send us an inquirysales@graphite-corp.com





Recently, the Turkish government announced that the Turkish President has signed a presidential decree to provide incentives for its Black Sea gas field development projects, including tax exemptions and other preferential measures.

With a fixed investment of 145.1 billion Turkish lira ($10 billion), the project will employ 1,018 people and produce 14 billion standard cubic meters of gas per year, the decree reads. The incentives involved include tariff and VAT exemptions, as well as a range of tax cuts.

In June 2021, Turkish drill ships discovered 135 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Sakaria field in the Black Sea, bringing Turkey's total gas discoveries in the region to 540 billion cubic meters.

Turkey imports almost all of its annual gas consumption of about 50 billion cubic meters.

Except for natural gas, the supply and prices of many other Graphite will continue to be influenced by international situations.

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Frontrunner Vaccine Will Affact the Price of Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline - 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 Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline 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 Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline 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 Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline 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 Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline will increase to a certain extent.

Due to changes in consumer demand, import and export conditions, and various investigations on the development of Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline, the cost of Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline is constantly changing. Taking into account the current market macroeconomic parameters, value chain analysis, channel partners, demand and supply, the cost of Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline will also be affected to a certain extent. It is estimated that the cost of Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline will increase slightly from today to next week.

The market trend of Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline?

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TRUNNANO (aka. Luoyang Tongrun Nano Technology Co. Ltd.) is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12 years experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and Nanomaterials. As a leading nanotechnology development and Europium(III) nitrate hexahydrate (Eu(NO3)3 6H2O)-Crystalline manufacturer, Luoyang Tongrun dominates the market. Our professional work team provides perfect solutions to help improve the efficiency of various industries, create value, and easily cope with various challenges. Please send an inquiry as needed.

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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Global graphite market trend 2025-2030 Lithium batteries like to use graphite anode materials by Newsmis-asia

As the European Union tries to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, the Russian president recently said Russia would try to shift its energy exports to the east, adding that there was no way for European countries to give up Russian gas immediately.

Russia supplies about 40 percent of the EU's gas, and western sanctions imposed over the conflict with Ukraine have complicated financing and logistical arrangements for existing agreements, hitting Russian energy exports, the report noted.

Russia has been building closer ties with China and other Asian countries as the European Union debates whether to impose sanctions on Russian gas and oil and member states seek supplies from elsewhere, Reuters said.

"So-called partners from unfriendly countries admit that they cannot survive without Russian energy, including gas," the Russian president said in a televised government meeting. There is no reasonable alternative to Russian gas in Europe right now."

He also said Europe was driving up energy prices and destabilizing markets by talking about cutting off Russia's energy supplies. Russia, which produces about a tenth of the world's oil and a fifth of its natural gas, will need new infrastructure to increase energy supplies to Asia, he said.

He ordered Moscow to submit a plan by June 1, including "the expansion of transport infrastructure to countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region".

He also sought to clarify the possibility of integrating two pipelines -- the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipeline in the Far East and the "Power of Siberia" gas pipeline to China -- into Russia's unified gas supply system. In theory, connecting these routes to larger gas networks could allow Russia to divert gas from Europe to Asia.

Because of the ever-changing international situation, the supply and prices of international bulk graphite are still very uncertain.

Lithium-ion battery refers to a secondary battery system in which two different lithium intercalation compounds that can reversibly intercalate and deintercalation lithium ions are used as the battery's positive electrode and negative electrode, respectively. During charging, lithium ions are deintercalated from the positive electrode through the electrolyte and separator and embedded in the negative electrode; on the contrary, lithium ions are deintercalated from the negative electrode through discharge of the electrolyte the separator and embedded in the positive electrode. The negative electrode of the lithium-ion battery is made of harmful electrode active material, binder, and additives mixed to make a paste glue, which is evenly spread on both sides of the copper foil, dried, and rolled.

Advantages of graphite as anode material

Graphite is an allotrope of carbon, and the two are closely related. Graphite is the most stable form of carbon. (Diamond is a metastable allotrope of carbon. Although its hardness is much higher than graphite, it is the hardest substance in nature, but its stability is lower than that of graphite.)

The word "graphite" comes from the Greek word "graphein," which is resistant to high temperature and corrosion, has good electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and stable chemical properties, and is lighter than aluminum. In addition to being used as anode material for lithium-ion batteries, high-quality graphite can also be used in different fields such as fuel cells, solar cells, semiconductors, light-emitting diodes, and nuclear reactors.

In general, graphite has the advantages of high electronic conductivity, the small volume change of layered structure before and after lithium intercalation, high lithium intercalation capacity, and low lithium intercalation potential, and has become the mainstream commercial lithium-ion battery negative electrode material.

How to get graphite?

There are two ways to obtain graphite: one is natural ore, and the other is the synthesis of coal tar. The graphite materials used in lithium-ion batteries are generally prepared by blending 55% synthetic graphite and 45% low-purity natural graphite.

Manufacturers once favored synthetic graphite because the uniformity and purity of synthetic graphite were better than natural graphite. Now it is not the same. The application of modern chemical purification methods makes it possible to obtain 99.9% pure natural graphite after heat treatment. In contrast, synthetic graphite is 99% pure, making the former more popular.

Compared with synthetic graphite, purified natural flake graphite has higher crystallinity and exhibits better electrical and thermal conductivity. In addition, natural graphite is expected to reduce the production cost of lithium-ion batteries while achieving equal or better battery performance.

High-quality graphite supplier

Luoyang Moon & Star New Energy Technology Co., LTD, founded on October 17, 2008, is a high-tech enterprise committed to developing, producing, processing, selling, and technical services of lithium-ion battery anode materials. After more than 10 years of development, the company has gradually developed into a diversified product structure with natural graphite, artificial graphite, composite graphite, intermediate phase, and other negative materials (silicon-carbon materials, etc.). The products are widely used in high-end lithium-ion digital power and energy storage batteries. If you are looking for Lithium battery anode material, click on the needed products and send us an inquirysales@graphite-corp.com





The World Food Program (WFP) of the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) said in a statement that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine poses risks to global food supplies, and called on the international community to increase support for vulnerable countries and jointly address food security challenges.

A few days ago, the Executive director of the World Food Program, the European Commission's commissioner in charge of crisis management, the French Foreign Minister of the ROTATING EU presidency, and other officials held a meeting in Rome, Italy, to discuss how to deal with the negative impact of the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine on global food security.

One of the officials told a news conference after the meeting that the world was facing a food supply challenge that would "last for many years" as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine pushed up global food prices and disrupted the graphite will continue.

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Global Ti6Al4V Powder market trend 2023-2027 What is TC4 (Ti6Al4V) Titanium Alloy Material by Newsmis-asia

The U.S. and its allies plan to impose sanctions on more Russian industries and supply chains.

The US government representatives recently visited Europe to consult with allies on strengthening and enforcing sanctions to punish Russia. They also plan to take action to disrupt their critical supply chains.

The US government claims that the sanctions imposed on Russia since the invasion began on February 24 have proved extremely effective, plunging Russia into a financial crisis. The sanctions include a freeze on the Russian central bank's foreign exchange assets, a ban on hard currency transactions by major Russian banks and wealthy individuals, and export restrictions on advanced semiconductors and other technologies. The sanctions have weakened the Russian economy and left the Kremlin with fewer resources.

The volatile international political situations will continue to affect the markets and prices of many commodities like the Ti6Al4V Powder.





What is TC4(Ti6Al4V)?

TC4(Ti6Al4V) alloy is a medium strength - type two-phase titanium alloy containing 6% -stabilizing element AI and 4% -stabilizing element V. This alloy has excellent comprehensive properties and has obtained the most extensive applications in the aviation and aerospace industries. The long-term working temperature of the alloy can reach 400 . In the aviation industry, it is mainly used to manufacture the fan and compressor disks and blades of the engine, as well as the important load-bearing components such as beams, joints and bulkheads in the aircraft structure.





The main semi-finished products of TC4 titanium alloy are bars, forgings, thick plates, thin plates, profiles and wires, etc. The alloy is mainly used in the annealed state, and can also be strengthened by solution aging treatment, but the hardened cross section is generally not more than 25mm.





The alloy has good process plasticity and superplasticity, and is suitable for various pressure forming. The alloy can also be welded and machined in various ways.





TC4(Ti6Al4V) heat treatment system

1. Annealing

Plate: 700-850, 0.5-2h, air cooling; bar and forging: 700-800, 1-2h, air cooling.

2. Vacuum annealing

700-800C, 0.5-2h, the furnace is cooled to below 200C to allow air cooling. The absolute pressure in the furnace should be no more than 0.09Pa.

3. Solution treatment

910-940, 0.5-2h, water quenching.

4. Aging

520-550C, 2-4h, air cooling.

5. Stress relief annealing

Complete stress relief annealing: 600-650, 1-4h, air cooling; incomplete stress relief annealing: 500-600, 0.5-3h, air cooling. Stress relief annealing can be carried out in an air furnace or a vacuum furnace.





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KMPASS is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12 years experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and Nanomaterials. The company export to many countries, such as USA, Canada, Europe, UAE, South Africa, Tanzania,Kenya,Egypt,Nigeria,Cameroon,Uganda,Turkey,Mexico,Azerbaijan,Belgium,Cyprus,Czech Republic,Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dubai, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia,Germany, France, Italy, Portugal etc. As a leading nanotechnology development manufacturer, KMPASS dominates the market. Our professional work team provides perfect solutions to help improve the efficiency of various industries, create value, and easily cope with various challenges. If you are looking for Ti6Al4V powder, please send an email to: sales2@nanotrun.com





Overall, the demand for Ti6Al4V Powder is on the rise, and future Ti6Al4V Powder will continue to evolve. Although the prosperity of the brand name has rebounded, there are still many outstanding problems in Ti6Al4V Powder, and the Ti6Al4V Powder will develop steadilyif you need Ti6Al4V Powder please contact us.





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Global Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Powder market trend 2025-2028 3D Printing Alloy Spherical Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Cemented Alloy Powder 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 Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Powder will also increase.



About 3D Printing Alloy WC-Co Powder:



Product name: Spherical Tungsten Carbide Powder



Product Specifications: 5-25m, 15-45m, 15-53m, 45-75m, 45-105m, 75-150m. (Can be customized according to customer requirements)

Powder properties: high purity (99.9%), low oxygen (300ppm), high sphericity (95%), smooth surface, no satellite ball, uniform particle size distribution, excellent flow performance (10.0s/50g), high loose density (7.0g/cm3) and vibration density (7.5g/cm3).

Applicable technology: Laser/electron beam additive manufacturing (SLM/EBM), laser direct deposition (DLD), hot isostatic powder molding (HIP), metal injection molding (MIM), powder metallurgy (PM), laser deposition (LC) and other processes.

Powder application: Tungsten-cobalt carbide is a kind of tungsten carbide composed of WC and Co metal, according to the different cobalt content can be divided into high cobalt (20%), medium cobalt (10%), low cobalt (3%) three types, cobalt for bonding phase, tungsten carbide for hard phase. Rf plasma spheroidized TUNGSTEN carbide and cobalt hard alloy powder has the characteristics of uniform distribution of cobalt elements, high sphericity, good fluidity, large loose density, dense particles inside, less hollow powder and so on. It can be used in cemented carbide, diamond tools, die casting mold, welding materials, vacuum coating, thermal spraying and so on.



Composition(percentage by mass) of WC-Co Powder



Specifications and properties of Spherical Tungsten Carbide:

Quantity 1kg Appearance Silver gray powder of flakes Assay Percent Range 99.8% (Metals basis) Mesh Size As request Odor Odorless Physical Form Spherical Powder Color Silver to Gray Chemical Name or Material Tungsten Carbide



Storage Condition of Spherical Tungsten Carbide Powder:

Damp reunion will affect Spherical Tungsten Carbide powder dispersion performance and using effects, therefore,Spherical Tungsten Carbide Powder should be sealed in vacuum packing and stored in cool and dry room, the Spherical Tungsten Carbide Powder can not be exposure to air. In addition, the Spherical Tungsten Carbide powder should be avoided under stress.

Packing & Shipping of Spherical Tungsten Carbide Powder:

We have many different kinds of packing which depends on the Spherical Tungsten Carbide Powder quantity.

Spherical Tungsten Carbide Powder packing:vacuum packing, 100g, 500g or 1kg/bag, 25kg/barrel, or as your request.

Spherical Tungsten Carbide Powder shipping:could be shipped out by sea , by air, by express as soon as possible once payment receipt.





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 boron powder, nitride powder, graphite powder, zinc sulfide, 3D printing powder, etc.





If you are looking for 3D printing metal powder, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry, email address: sales2@nanotrun.com





3D Printing Alloy Spherical Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Powder Properties Other Names Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Powder CAS No. N/A Compound Formula WC-Co 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 Carbide-Cobalt 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

If you are looking for 3D printing metal powder, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry, email address: sales2@nanotrun.com

With Tesla's new factory in Germany starting Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Powder. In the future, the demand for Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Powder will become more and more extensive. Please feel free to contact us for the latest news on Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Powder.

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Products

Global Spherical Molybdenum Powder market trend 2022-2027 3D Printing Alloy Spherical Molybdenum Powder Mo CAS 7439-98-7 by Newsmis-asia

After Russia pledged to scale back its military operations around Kyiv and in northern Ukraine, the prices of most industrial metals fell, led by aluminum, showing people's concerns for supply shortage eased.

At an earlier time, the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, which aroused concerns about the supply problem because Russia is a major producer of nickel, aluminum, and copper.

Russia is also a major gas supplier to Europe, where potential supply disruptions are seen as hitting power-intensive aluminum and zinc Spherical Molybdenum Powder are still very uncertain.

About 3D Printing Alloy Spherical Molybdenum Powder:



Product name: Spherical Molybdenum Powder

Product specifications: 5-25m, 15-45m, 15-53m, 45-75m, 45-105m, 75-150m. (Various granularities can be customized according to customer requirements)

Powder characteristics: high purity (99.9%), ultra-low oxygen (200ppm), high sphericity (98%), uniform particle size distribution, excellent flow properties (12.0s/50g) and high bulk density (6.0g/cm3) and tap density (6.5g/cm3).

Applicable processes: laser/electron beam additive manufacturing (SLM/EBM), laser direct deposition (DLD), powder hot isostatic pressing (HIP), metal injection molding (MIM), powder metallurgy (PM), laser cladding ( LC) and other processes.

Powder application: Rf plasma molybdenum spheroidized powder has the characteristics of high sphericity, good fluidity, high purity, large loose density, full density inside the particle, no hollow powder and so on. It is widely used in thermal spraying, powder metallurgy, electronic industry, contact materials, aircraft high temperature resistant parts, target materials and so on.



Composition (percentage by mass) of Spherical Molybdenum Powder:





Storage Condition of Spherical Molybdenum Powder:

Damp reunion will affect Spherical Molybdenum powder dispersion performance and using effects, therefore,Spherical Molybdenum Powder should be sealed in vacuum packing and stored in cool and dry room, the Spherical Molybdenum Powder can not be exposure to air. In addition, the Spherical Molybdenum powder should be avoided under stress.

Packing & Shipping of Spherical Molybdenum Powder:

We have many different kinds of packing which depends on the Spherical Molybdenum Powder quantity.

Spherical Molybdenum Powder packing:vacuum packing, 100g, 500g or 1kg/bag, 25kg/barrel, or as your request.

Spherical Molybdenum Powder shipping:could be shipped out by sea , by air, by express as soon as possible once payment receipt.





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 boron powder, nitride powder, graphite powder, zinc sulfide, 3D printing powder, etc.





If you are looking for 3D printing metal powder, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry, email address: sales2@nanotrun.com

3D Printing Alloy Spherical Molybdenum Powder Properties Other Names Molybdenum Powder CAS No. N/A Compound Formula Mo 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 Molybdenum 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

If you are looking for 3D printing metal powder, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry, email address: sales2@nanotrun.com

Cancer cells can "stretch out a big hand" and take away the mitochondria of immune cells. The Harvard Medical School research team cultured mouse and human breast cancer cells and immune cells, such as killer T cells, and used field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to observe the relationship between cancer cells and immune cells. interactive. Interestingly, they found that cancer cells stick out long nanotubes, typically within 100-1000 nanometers in diameter, each of which connects to multiple immune cells along the way. The researchers used the drug L-778123, which inhibits the formation of nanotubes, for treatment. The higher the concentration of L-778123, the better the treatment effect.



Product name are used in various high-tech fields, so the market demand for Spherical Molybdenum Powder will continue to rise. We are a quality supplier of Spherical Molybdenum Powder, please feel free to contact us.



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The Astros have designated right-hander Pedro Baez for assignment and recalled righty Seth Martinez from Triple-A Sugar Land, the team announced Tuesday.

Baez, 34, is just weeks into the second season of a two-year, $12.5MM contract that also contained a club option for the 2023 season. He missed the majority of the 2021 season due to shoulder troubles, however, pitching just 4 1/3 innings. Hes been limited to 2 1/3 frames thus far in 2022, during which time hes been clobbered for six runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks with two punchouts. Baezs fastball, which averaged nearly 98 mph at its peak and sat at 96 mph as recently as 2019, has averaged just 90.2 mph so far in 2022.

Houston will technically have a week to trade Baez or place him on outright waivers, but thats a generally moot point. Another team isnt going to take on the remainder of this seasons $5.5MM salary or the $2MM buyout hes still owed on next years club option  not with his recent shoulder troubles and alarming velocity dip. Even if Baez were to be passed through outright waivers, he could reject an outright assignment to a minor league affiliate, elect free agency and retain his salary based on the level of big league service time hes accrued.

The most likely outcome here is that the Astros will eat the remaining $4.91MM on Baezs salary, as well as the $2MM buyout on next years option and simply release him. Baez would be free to sign with a new club, at which point that team would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time he spent in the Majors. That sum would be subtracted from the $6.91MM the Stros otherwise owe him.

Disheartening as Baezs brief time with the Astros was, he was a well-regarded late-inning arm for the Dodgers in the years leading up to his free agency. From 2014-20, Baez tallied 356 innings of 3.o3 ERA ball with 100 holds, three saves, a 25.3% strikeout rate and an 8.2% ground-ball rate. He tacked on another 29 1/3 innings of 3.99 ERA ball in the playoffs, and if you set aside a rough showing in the early stages of his career (2014-15), Baez notched a 2.70 mark in 26 1/3 postseason innings from 2016-20.
APRIL 26: Atlanta placed Rosario on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to yesterday, with what the team called blurred vision and swelling in the right retina. To take his place on the active roster, the Braves recalled right-hander William Woods to make his major league debut.

Selected onto the 40-man roster last offseason, the 23-year-old Woods has allowed six runs in 7 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in the early going. However, hes punched out 14 of the 32 batters hes faced while walking just a pair of opponents, and the Braves reasonably feel that kind of swing-and-miss ability will help him find better results from a run prevention perspective. (Eric Cole of Battery Power first reported Woods forthcoming promotion).

APRIL 25: The Braves announced today that outfielder Eddie Rosario will soon undergo a laser procedure on his right eye, due to some swelling and blurred vision. While the club didnt provide a timeline, Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that this could sideline Rosario for 8-12 weeks.

Acquired from the Indians in a deadline deal last year, Rosario got red hot as a member of the Braves and went onto cement himself in the teams lore. After the trade, Rosario hit .271/.330/.573 for an excellent 133 wRC+. That tremendous hot streak helped propel the club into the postseason. Rosario was able to shine in the playoffs as well, as he went 14-for-25 in the NLCS, including three home runs, a double, a triple and nine runs driven in, earning series MVP honors. Rosario couldnt carry that hot streak into the World Series, but the club triumphed nonetheless.

Rosario reached free agency but eventually re-signed with the Braves on a two-year, $18MM deal with a club option for 2024. Hes gotten off to a miserable start to the year, hitting just .068/.163/.091, though those struggles are surely attributable to the fact that Rosario has been struggling with his vision. Now that the issue has been diagnosed and will soon be treated, Rosario can hopefully get back on track. However, it will take some time, with Rosario seemingly unable to return until a few months from now.

For the Braves, its unfortunate that they will be losing a beloved member of the team for an extended stretch. Marcell Ozuna and Adam Duvall should be making up two-thirds of the outfield on most nights. With Rosario stepping aside, the options to join them include Alex Dickerson, Guillermo Heredia and Travis Demeritte. Whatever solution the team comes up with will just be temporary, as Ronald Acuna Jr. should be in the mix soon. The superstar has been out of action for almost a year at this point after tearing his ACL in July of 2021. However, he is currently on a rehab assignment and isnt far from rejoining the big league club.
The Reds announced Tuesday that theyve reinstated second baseman Jonathan India from the injured list and designated utilityman JT Riddle for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Cincinnati also optioned infielder Alejo Lopez to Triple-A and added infielder Matt Reynolds to the active roster. The Reds claimed Reynolds off waivers a couple days ago.

India, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, wound up requiring only a minimal stay on the injured list while nursing a hamstring strain. Hes back in the lineup hitting leadoff for todays game. The 25-year-old has gotten out to a slow start in his sophomore season, hitting just .241/.267/.276  albeit in a tiny sample of 30 plate appearances. The 2021 season saw India, a former No. 5 overall draft pick, break out with an outstanding .269/.376/.459 batting line, 21 home runs, 34 doubles, two triples and a dozen steals.

As for Riddle, the 30-year-old journeyman appeared in two games and went 1-for-4 with a single in that brief look. He signed a minor league deal with Cincinnati in the offseason and got out to a fast start in Triple-A Louisville, where he hit .258/.333/.516 in 36 trips to the plate. That said, Riddle is a career .244/.296/.396 hitter in parts of seven Triple-A seasons, including a tepid .202/.269/.333 last season with the Twins top affiliate in St. Paul. The former Marlins prospect has spent the bulk of his pro career playing shortstop, but hes moved into more of a utility role in recent seasons, seeing ample time at second base, third base and all three outfield spots (center, in particular).

The Reds will have a week to trade Riddle, place him on outright waivers or release him.
Chairman of the Ghana Association of Songwriters, Mr. Logic is urging pundits to be firm when criticizing the works of artists.

He indicated that pundits should refrain from rendering favourable commentary about works of undeserving artists.

Mr. Logic noted that artists do not pay these pundits therefore the need for them to be professionals in their comments.

Its about time pundits get critical about artistes when they come on their platforms. Get critical with them. You are already professional with your work, but they havent paid you to be nice.

"I will be real with you because you havent paid me. Although you are nice to them when they see you out there and you are expecting nice things from them, it doesnt come, he stated on Hitz FM.

Mr. Logic had been absent from Hitz FMs Daybreak Hitz show when young rapper Kwesi Arthur had gone there to promote his new album, Son of God.

He told host Andy Dosty that he had deliberately missed out on the show to swerve being called a hater based on his judgment of the album.

No artiste can make fun of pundits. Not my type of pundit. You can make fun of us. You cant come on the radio and expect some of the decorative words to be showered on you and when you get out of the studio, you make yourself scarce. I dont have that much time for them.

"There are so many things that I had on my mind to say. It was better I reserved. If I had pointed out my views people including, Kwesi Arthur, would have said I am a hater," he added.
Fresh from winning a second term as French president, Emmanuel Macron soon faces another fight that will determine whether he can pursue his agenda - parliamentary elections, described as the "third round" of presidential voting, in which his rivals far-right Marine Le Pen and hard-left Jean-Luc Melenchon are looking to deny him a majority.

All 577 deputy seats in the lower-house National Assembly are up for grabs in the votes on 12 and 19 June, and Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) party, with 267 MPs currently, is likely to encounter stiff resistance, analysts say.

Yet two polls released just after Macron's victory over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen on Sunday found that two-thirds of French people do not want to hand the president a parliament majority for the next five years.

Le Pen, who scored her Rassemblement National's (National Rally, or RN) highest election result ever at nearly 42 percent, immediately called on her millions of supporters to turn to the "great battle" ahead.

'The great battle'

"Tonight we launch the great battle of the legislative elections," Le Pen said. "I will lead this battle alongside Jordan Bardella, with all those who had the courage to oppose Emmanuel Macron in the second round, with all those who have France at heart."

Le Pen, herself a member of France's National Assembly since 2017, representing the northern Pas-de-Calais region, sought to present her party as the leading force of opposition to Macron.

"The National Rally will seek to rally those who want to come together and join forces against Emmanuel Macron, wherever they may come from, in order to field and support candidates everywhere," she said.

"We already have 450 candidates lined up," David Rachline, the RN mayor of Frejus in southern France, said at Le Pen's post-election party - currently the party has just eight MPs.

Jean-Luc Melenchon  the head of La France Insoumise (France unbowed, or LFI) party and l'Union Populaire (Popular Union) - issued a similar plea Sunday by urging an alliance with Communists, Greens and the Socialist party to form a parliament majority that would force Macron to name him prime minister.

His campaign director Manuel Bompard still believes he has a chance. Melenchon can still be prime minister, "not (just) to be prime minister but to pass his platform, freeze prices, raise the minimum wage, and put in place a sixth Republic", Bompard said.

"Don't give up [...] the third round begins tonight. On 12 and 19 June, another world is still possible if you elect a majority of MPs from the new Popular Union, which must continue to grow.!" Melenchon, who is an opposition MP since 2017, representing parts of Marseille, said Sunday.

Hostility to Macron has been a key factor in propelling the rise of the extreme right and left, and accounted for historically low turnout in the presidential run-off, when over a third of the electorate either stayed home or cast blank and ineligible ballots.

His pledge to push back the retirement age to 65 -- a reform derailed by widespread strikes two years ago -- has only confirmed his reputation as "president of the rich" among critics.

"The parliamentary vote is going to be difficult, we're not going to see any lift" from Macron's victory, a top official in his party said, asking for anonymity.

(with wires)
Burkina Faso's military-dominated government on Thursday pushed back against regional demands to reduce a three-year timetable for restoring civilian rule following a coup in January.

"Discussions are ongoing, Burkina Faso is very highly disposed to hearing comments from the Economic Community of West African States," or ECOWAS, government spokesman Lionel Bilgo told AFP.

"However, we are not going to sacrifice our efforts to restore peace to Burkina Faso by trying to meet an intangible timetable whose deadline takes no account at all of the realities on the ground."

The impoverished volatile state underwent a coup on January 24 by colonels angered at government failure to roll back a bloody jihadist insurgency.

It became the third state in the region, after Mali and Guinea, to experience a coup since August 2020.

ECOWAS has suspended all three countries from the bloc's activities but so far applied tough economic and diplomatic sanctions only against Mali and Guinea.

ECOWAS has slapped sanctions on members of the Mali junta, shut its borders with the country, frozen its assets at the Central Bank of West African States and imposed a trade embargo.

For Guinea, leading junta members have been sanctioned and are subject to a travel ban within the bloc.

ECOWAS refrained from taking immediate sanctions against Burkina after envoys returned from Ouagadougou with a positive report about the junta's response following the coup.

But in a summit in the Ghanaian capital of Accra on March 26, the bloc called on the junta to draw up an "acceptable transition timetable" by Monday, April 25.

"After this deadline, economic and financial sanctions will be immediately applied," the bloc warned.

In early April, Burkinabe strongman Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba set a 36-month transition.

Spelling out the government argument about the threat from jihadists, Bilgo asked, "Given that we can't travel 150 kilometres (90 miles) in our country, are we able today to organise peaceful and tranquil elections?"

Burkina Faso. By AFP

"Why put human lives at risk when our main priority is to secure Burkinabe soil?

"Burkina Faso has always explained this timetable to ECOWAS," he said, describing the timeline as "taking into account the major challenge which we have, which is restoring security."

"If we are able to do it in under three years, we will organise elections," he said.

One of the world's poorest countries, the landlocked Sahel state has been battered by a jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.

More than 2,000 people have died and 1.8 million been displaced.
Some angry supporters of the governing New Patriotic Party NPP in the Gushegu Constituency have expressed their disappointment in the manner in which about 10 persons were disqualified from contesting various positions in the upcoming constituency elections.

They accused the MP of the area, Hassan Tampuli of engineering it.

Speaking exclusively to this reporter, the not-too-happy NPP supporters described the disqualification as "vindictive" and "witch-hunting" on the part of the Gushegu legislator.

According to theM, the action of the party does not bring unity in the constituency.

"We told some of them were campaigning against then parliamentary candidate, who is our MP today. If this is anything to go by, why couldn't they establish a disciplinary committee to handle this issue before today.

"We want the whole world to know that our MP is the behind this. If it is not true,he should come out to tell everybody that he knows nothing about it. Can't he see he is hurting the NPP unity in Gushegu Constituency? He should stop this vindictiveness and witch-hunting before we lost the seat to NDC next elections", they warned.

One of the affected candidates who was vying for treasurer position, Abdulai Bashiru wrote in a letter that it was never true he campaigned against the MP in the 2020 election.

He indicated that he even used his personal resources to ensure the former NPA boss won the 2020 elections.

"Let me inform the committee that I personally constituted my monitoring team to monitor the 2020 registration of voters at various polling stations and the team members are available to testify to this. I also distributed drinks to the party agents I visited at the various polling stations.

"It can therefore not be true that I campaigned against the Parliamentary Candidate and now Member of Parliament Hon. Alhaji Alhassan Tampuli in the lead up to the 2020 elections. I count on your usual cooperation and support," Abdulai Bashiru said.

Some of the affected candidates are Zakaria Hafizu Youth organizer, Abukari Adamu Women organizer, Mohammed Zibilila 1" Vice chairman, Mohammed Mariam Deputy secretary, Fuseini Musah Nasara coordinator.

The rest are, Fusheini Yakubu Chairman, Amadu Abu Secretary, Bawa Yakubu Yamusah Organizer and Abdulai Bashiru Treasure.
Amnesty International, April 19, 2022

Responding to the deaths of at least six people and the injury of 11 others, including children, following bomb blasts in schools in predominantly Hazara Shiite communities in Kabul today, Samira Hamidi, Amnesty Internationals South Asia Campaigner, said:

These reprehensible attacks on schools highlight the violence that Afghan people continue to face in their daily lives. It also shows that the Taliban, as the de-facto authorities, are failing to protect civilians, especially those from ethnic and religious minority groups, from harm.

This tragic loss of life is completely inexcusable and must be condemned.

Samira Hamidi, Amnesty Internationals South Asia Campaigner

It is essential that the de-facto authorities carry out a thorough investigation into the attacks, which should be conducted in line with international law and standards. Those suspected of criminal responsibility for these callous bombings must face justice in fair trials before ordinary civilian courts and without recourse to death penalty.

Amnesty International also strongly condemns the use of violence after the bombings by the Taliban who sought to prevent the media from reporting on the incident. Afghan journalists must be allowed to carry out their work without fear of reprisals.
The Ghanaian students who fled the war torn Ukraine say they are frustrated by government's lackadaisical attitude in placing them in new schools despite numerous assurances and promises.

Leadership of the students say despite the many assurances, nothing concrete has been done so far.

The government of Ghana evacuated over one thousand students who were in various universities in Ukraine at the peak of the war, although others refused to return to Ghana.

In a Citi News' interview, the President of NUGS Ukraine, Philip Bobbie Ansah, says the students are frustrated.

We had a couple of meetings initially and they [government] made us understand that they are very much positioned to help us and secure schools for us. They requested data which we made available to them. Everything seems so slow. We do not know what is happening now.

Students and administrators have given them everything they asked for but we do not know what is causing the delay. Some of us refused to come to Ghana which seems like the best decision because they have opportunities, so it now looks like it was a mistake for some of us to come to Ghana.

The government had given indications of engaging Ghanaian students who were evacuated from Ukraine on options available to ensure the continuity of their education.

This was reiterated at a meeting with parents of the students and other stakeholders in Ghana.

The meeting deliberated on ways government would support the students continue their academic calendar.

citinewsroom
The Centre for Democratic Development Ghana, (CDD) has criticized the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) for embarking on strike over the non-payment of political neutrality allowance.

The Centre is suggesting that the Association rather channels its energies into demanding a level playing field regarding service conditions among public sector workers.

I really feel CLOGSAG should be pulling back from this course of action, says Dr. Kojo Asante, Director of Advocacy and Policy engagement at the Centre

CLOGSAG laid down their tools on Thursday April 21, 2022, following the inability of government to pay the allowance as agreed upon in January this year.

The association has already given indication that they will call off the strike on condition that government makes a commitment to pay them the allowances due them.

But CDDs Dr. Kojo Asante believes the striking Association is on a wild goose chase.

What they should all join hands in is this inequity excesses with conditions of service in the different public service that creates a certain unfairness. That may be affecting morale in the public sector. This is what is sustainable, the path they are going is not sustainable.

Speaking to Citi News Hanson Agyemang, Mr. Asante questioned the legality and constitutionality of the agreement on neutrality allowance.

He maintains that it was wrong for government to have considered paying an allowance of a responsibility imposed on them by the constitution.

I am shocked that government will agree to this in the first place. I describe it as a tautology. How are you rewarding someone for something they are supposed to do as part of their responsibilities? The allowance must be declared unconstitutional. It is illegal in the first place for rewarding someone for something they are obligated to do and are paid for. It is like an unjust reward.

The neutrality allowance is to ensure that civil and local government workers do not engage in partisanship while conducting their affairs when they are in their various offices. It is paid to them to ensure that they discharge their duties professionally without getting involved in partisan activities.

The strike and demand for the allowance has generated public debate with divided opinion on the relevance of such an allowance.

While some contend that government giving in to this demand will open the floodgate for other allowance claims from the state, some believe that such an allowance is important to keep civil and local government workers away from serving based on their political interests.

Some 36 organizations under the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU), are also making a strong case for the payment of Political Neutrality Allowance for qualified members.

The groups are demanding urgent action for the allowance to be paid.

citinewsroom
Government is urging the citizenry to pay taxes to help build Ghana as the implementation of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) inches closer.

In a post on social media by the Information Ministry, it notes that paying E-Levy will contribute to national development.

By paying E-Levy you contribute towards national development. Your taxes work for you. Pay your taxes, lets build Ghana together, the post reads.

Parliament on March 29, 2022, approved the controversial E-Levy in the absence of the Minority after they staged a walkout.

Subsequently, on March 31, 2022, the President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo assented to the E-Levy bill into law.

Since that time, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has been working with the Ministry of Finance to put the necessary measures in place for the implementation of the E-Levy on May 1, 2022.

Meanwhile, the implementation is under threat following an injunction application filed by three leading members of the Minority in Parliament at the Supreme Court.

The injunction application tabled before the apex court is signed by Haruna Iddrisu, Okudzeto Ablakwa, and Mahama Ayariga.
The fate of about 10,000 teacher trainees in Colleges of Education across the country in writing their end of semester examination would be in jeopardy if the government does not release their allowances as early as possible.

This is because, some of the trainees rely on the allowances to pay their examination fees and three weeks to the examination, the allowances have not been released.

President of the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana , Jonathan Dzunu, who revealed this to 3FM's Sunrise on Tuesday called for urgent release of the allowances.

The government recently released over GHS67 million to Public Colleges of Education across the country to cater to the feeding of trainees.

This comes after the Principals of the various Colleges of Education announced that students would be fed twice instead of the three square meals a day due to the delay in the payment of six-month feeding arrears by the government.

The Principals had also indicated that the trainees were going to start feeding themselves from May 8, 2022, if the government did not release funds for feeding.

The government through the Finance Ministry acted swiftly by releasing GHC67,942,662 to principals of the various Public Colleges of Education to salvage the situation.

But five days after the release, portions meant for the trainees have still not hit their accounts but that of the Principals of the various Colleges of Education have been given.

Mr. Dzunu told Sunrise host, Alfred Ocansey that the GHS200 which is meant for the trainees has not been given.

Some of us depend on this to pay our examination fees and some of the level 300 are writing the exams in the next three weeks. Currently, we are writing our mid-semester exams and we need to pay our examination fees.

3news.com
The NDC that are not good for anything but mendacious propaganda, have for some time now been vociferously blaming President Nana Akufo-Addo and his ruling NPP government for mismanaging the economy of Ghana hence the unbearable cost of living confronting Ghanaians.

No amount of truth told to the Ghanaian public to understand that the current price hikes in goods and services, for example, petroleum products, is not limited to Ghana alone, but a worldwide phenomenon, is never enough to convince them.

The NDC are still capable and able to deceive them through their well-greased propaganda machines and machinations to believe otherwise.

For want of power to come to deplete the state coffers for their selfish and parochial interests, the leaders of NDC are continually devising abhorrent nation-wrecking strategies to lead Ghanaians astray.

They have capitalised on the economic hardships presently facing the country to tarnish the visionary image of President Nana Akufo-Addo, just in the hope of getting Ghanaians to vote massively for NDC come December 2024 general elections.

All that the NDC dream of all the time is how to win general elections to come and steal from the nation and the people but not how to better the conditions of living of the ordinary Ghanaian.

I believe in solid credible evidence to refute allegations levelled against people. Therefore, I shall suggest a simple straightforward strategy able to prove NDC wrong in their insistence that it is only in Ghana, and for that matter, by the poor administration of President Nana Akufo-Addo that Ghanaians have come to suffer the ongoing untold economic hardships.

Will any Ghanaian living outside Ghana that is interested in the truth, whose country of residence is also faced with similar economic problems, do me this simple favour?

Please start to gather as many different newspapers in which are published the causes of your country of residence current economic hardships as due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia/Ukraine war.

With such official newspaper proofs taken to Ghana, we can show them to the public to disprove the NDC diabolic misinformation of blame being heaped on the president for the difficult economic situation the nation finds herself in at the moment.

Although news on the worldwide economic difficulties besetting nations following the Covid-19 and the Russian/Ukraine war can be found published online (internet), getting hardcopies as suggested above to take round to show to the public will perform the magic to expose the lies by NDC.

Unless we get such simple proofs to show to Ghanaians, as seeing is believing, no matter how best Ghanaians residing overseas try to explain it to their counterparts in Ghana, they will never believe them, since they are almost inextricably hooked onto the NDCs spinning propaganda wheels in operation.

I will start to get a few from the United Kingdom so if you are in say, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy, the USA or Canada, please get some from your country. Such newspapers gathered will be sent to Ghana to show to the public and read to those who have taken sides with NDC on their version of causes of the economic problems in Ghana.

The NDC are constantly desperately trying their hardest to get the Ghanaian public to believe that it is solely due to the poor management of the economy by President Nana Akufo-Addo that conditions of living have worsened for Ghanaians at the moment.

No, that is never the case. It is simply the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent Russian/Ukraine war that everyone throughout the world is suffering some sort of harsh cost of living at the moment.

The NDC are known supporters, masterminds and orchestrators of lies in the country for the sole motive of winning power and staying in office for long. That is the only thing they are good at but nothing else.

Ghanaians should beware of the NDC as long as they have John Dramani Mahama, an inimically liar and corrupt individual devoid of any farsighted vision for Ghana as their selfish and insatiably greedy leader.

We can give them the benefit of the doubt should they bring on board Dr Kwabena Duffour as their leader. Dr Duffour will not stoop too low to the lies and ruinous propaganda that have become the traits of NDC and particularly, John Dramani Mahama, who upon all his correctly or wrongly amassed wealth, is never satisfied but still wants more.

What a case of Atee (a smelly insect) that the ocean is not even enough to cleanse it of its foul body smell or stench!

A group will have to be formed in Ghana to receive such newspapers and then plans put into place about how best to show and read them to the public.

This is just a baby strategy to expose the stupidity of the NDC as regards the causes of the untold economic hardships in Ghana, to the public.

More strategies, call them mother or adult if you want, will come from the proud son of Kumawu/Asiampa in the course of time to wean many a Ghanaian off political deception in perpetration and perpetuation by some political parties, especially, the NDC and their assigns and agents.

Rockson Adofo

Monday, 25 April 2022
26.04.2022 LISTEN

All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities. Basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all.

No, those two emphatic sentences are not mine. They are the stipulations of the constitution of the Republic of Ghana. Notwithstanding their unambiguousness, the reality however is, some children, as young as 10 years, allegedly only have access to thick cocoa plantations and long machetes, sadly.

According to The Guardians 3 April 2022s publication: Cadbury faces fresh accusation of child labour on cocoa farms in Ghana, child labour on Ghanas cocoa farms is unfortunately, increasing. In place of opening books and learning how to write with pens, the daughter of one farmer said she had sliced her foot open while using a long machete, the report revealed. This is the case of several other children who are denied access to basic education.

Cocoa is one of Ghanas most valued export products together with gold. Being the second largest producer in the world, cocoa has been a major contributor to the countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the years. In spite of its contribution to the countrys economy, several reports and research show a prevalence rate of child labour in our cocoa value chain. For instance, a 2020 research report by the University of Chicagos social research group, NORC, found that a whopping 1.56 (an early version stated 2.1 million) children were involved in the cocoa industry in Ghana and Cote dIvoire alone. Meanwhile, the laws of Ghana made it illegal for children under 13 to work on cocoa farms. It is also unlawful for anyone under 18 years to be involved in any form of hazardous labour.

Child labour on cocoa farms across Africa and other cocoa producing continents is, admittedly, a menace that has existed for several decades now. Efforts have been made over the years to combat and eliminate this hazard. In 2001, some large chocolate manufacturers pledged, through the Harkin-Engel Protocol, to end the worst forms of child labour in their cocoa suppliers chain in four years. They did not only miss the 2005 deadline, they went on to miss the 2008 and the 2010 deadlines as well. Having missed these deadlines, the industry scaled down its goal to reducing child labour by 70% in 2020. Sadly, by the end of 2020, it is believed child trafficking and labour had rather increased.

While the key industry players (who seem to be benefiting enormously from it) appear to be playing only lip service and taking little actions to address child trafficking and labour, international organisations such as Freedom United and Slave Free Chocolate are intensifying campaigns and their efforts against child labour in the cocoa supply chain. Aside other measures and campaigns, these organisations are fighting for certification of cocoa farms and cocoa products (such as chocolate) by independent bodies. Whilst a certified farm implies that no form of child labour is used in their farming activities, certified labels on cocoa products implies consumers expect that farmers earned decent living and were paid fairly for their produce, and practices such as child labour and deforestation were not present in their operations. Any violation of these protocols will mean consumers will desist from patronising such uncertified cocoa products.

The implication of this is that, the revenue of these companies will be reduced and they will, as a result, be forced to source their cocoa from only certified farms. Their response will lead to a cut in the revenue of farmers who lack the certification since these companies will not be motivated to source from them. The farmers therefore, will also be forced to eliminate any form of child trafficking and labour in their operations, leading to the total elimination or reduction in the worst forms of child labour of cocoa farms.

These organisations continue to intensify their efforts in discouraging consumers from patronising any cocoa products that lack certified labels. Food Empowerment Projects chocolate list is one of such attempts to encourage consumers to be sure when they buy chocolate, they are not supporting companies that source their cocoa from areas where the worst forms of child labour is widespread, and they are encouraging consumers not to purchase chocolate that is sourced from Western Africa and Brazil due to evidence of the use of child labour. According to another report, Fair Trade certification process has also suspended several Western African suppliers due to same evidence of child labour.

What is the collective consequence of these campaigns and measures in Ghana and other cocoa producing nations in Africa? The contribution of the cocoa industry to Ghanas economy is very significant. The industry is believed to have employed some 800,000 farm families and generating $2 billion annually through foreign exchange of export crops. www.statista.com reveals that, the agricultural product (cocoa) was expected to account for 2.82 billion GHS of the countrys GDP. The value in 2021 was 2.25 billion GHS, according to the same website. As a major contributor to Ghanas GDP, any action that will make Ghanas cocoa unappealing to the international markets and reduce the overall production of our cocoa will inversely affect the countrys already tripping economy.

Unless the government proactively rise to the occasion and combat these allegations of child trafficking and worst forms of child labour on our cocoa plantations, Ghana will gradually lose its share of the market if the efforts of these international organisations become fully incorporated. Government cannot afford to sit and do nothing while these organisations continue to intensify their campaigns against child labour.

Even if Ghanas outlook on the international cocoa market is still intact, we cannot deny the fact that child labour on our cocoa plantations is real. It is governments responsibility to ensure basic education remains compulsory and available to every child. We cannot afford to sit and watch the future of these children waste away. Aside missing out on education, these children are exposed to dangerous agricultural chemicals and get themselves injured as a result of their works on these cocoa farms.

At the core of child labour is farmer poverty. Most cocoa farmers earn meager amounts and to remain competitive, they resort to child labour. If the farmers are paid well, they can recruit the services of the right labour. Since the cocoa sector is highly regulated by government through the Ghana Cocoa Board, government must therefore regulate the sector well to escalate production levels as well as increase returns to local farmers. The minimum prices that are paid to farmers for their cocoa should be reviewed and increased to reflect current economic realities.

Relevant state institutions and civic societies must collaborate to educate farmers on the menace of child labour and dialogue with them on how best to curtail it. Cocoa cooperative must be formed and owned by the farmers themselves and not just a group of people put together by buying agents or the chocolate companies themselves. This will ensure the grievances of the farmers themselves are communicated and fought for.

Government must put remediation measures in place as well as situate stringent systems to monitor child trafficking and labour on cocoa plantations and punish perpetrators accordingly. The Cocobod scholarship must be awarded to only children of cocoa farmers and not children, friends or relatives of politicians. Government must collaborate with independent bodies such as the Freedom United and Slave Free Chocolate to expose industry giants engaging in or promoting child labour.

If we continue to give machetes to these children instead of pens, if we continue to educate them on the farmland instead of classrooms, we risk slashing the revenue we generate from the cocoa industry gravely. Not just that. Unless child trafficking and labour on our cocoa plantations are eliminated, anytime we brag about being the second largest producer of cocoa in the world, we must remember that we are boasting in our failure as a nation and benefiting from the sweats, tears and unliveable conditions of guiltless children  anytime you use any of the cocoa products or eat a bar of chocolate, you must be evoked that you are equally eating away the future of these innocent children together with our nations GDP.

Every child deserves a better life. Its our collective responsibility  yours and mine  to ensure this.

There is a Hero in you; unleash it!

Elorm Hermann

Co-founder, Centre for Agribusiness Development and Mechanisation in Africa, CADMA

+233249177007; [email protected]
26.04.2022 LISTEN

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is a union of university academic staff in Nigeria, the largest African population in Africa.

Since its founding in the 1970s, protecting the interests of the academic staff in all public universities in the country has been its goal, and fighting to continuously obtain fair earnings and standards and gaining university autonomy remains its mission.

ASUU has actively struggled with various military and non-military administrations while bettering the standards of human and academic entities, and the most common way it fights with the government is through a periodic line of warning strikes that usually proceeds on an indefinite strike, sometimes for very long months or years.

Its disagreements with the federal government, which are generally over money, have not been fully settled by both parties for decades.

As such, there is now an abnormal, suspended, or erratic type of learning because of institutional instability. Which could further lead to creating "educated" Nigerians for public and private employment with many of these men and women probably having unstable academic brains and bodies because of toxic, chronically disconnected learning patterns.

And how such inadequate people help grow the democratic and economic environment of a country becomes hard to understand.

How these minds and bodies establish themselves as quality contributors to workplaces such as health, education, technology, agriculture, aviation, law enforcement, security, and other areas of the economy, and contribute morally and healthily to governance and democracy, remains an open question.

There is this reality in life that humans understand; lost time and opportunities are never fully replaced. No nation, particularly Nigeria, which is generally and currently unhappy, suffering, apprehensive, insecure, and weary, will find solace in these apparent disconnected minds and bodies with their bored and frustrated backgrounds. However, there are alternatives with the existence of private higher education institutions that will ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of university education and personal steadiness.

I have my bias, which is simply due to the reality that a minority state like Edo, where gradual and sustained economic growth, service delivery, entrepreneurship development, and poverty reduction are on course, needs to move on from this ASUU and government wahala or disorderliness.

To this end, students of Edo State origin who are currently idle because their school is on strike should, along with their parents, families, or sponsors, become part of private universities, among which are: Benson Idahosa University, Benin City; Igbinedion University, Okada, Benin City; Mudiame University, Irrua, Edo State; Samuel Adegboyega University, Ogwa; Edo State; Wellspring University, Evbuobanosa, Edo State; and Philomath University, Kuje, Abuja.

In their private and independent capacities, these schools could provide the opportunity for students to continue and further their education. These private institutions can attract students from public universities with scholarships that are half the tuition and fees, supplemented by the universities. Leaders of private universities should develop financial programs such as merit- and need-based financial aid to attract more students to their institutions.

Students and their families can seek out private universities that have established foundations that get support through the generosity of donors who provide scholarship funding.

Nigeria, like many other countries in Africa, is marked by a lack of access to higher education, which is further compounded by ASUU and government fights. These private schools, in addition to the walls of their brick-and-mortar classrooms, should develop online education systems. The economic future of Nigeria's youths will continue to be hampered by ASUUs lingering issues and crisis with the government, which further results in the continued paralysis of Nigerian public universities, leading to a delay in students graduation and employability.

As such, private universities, especially those mentioned here, should tell students and their families that their future will not be delayed by entry into their schools and other local private institutions.

John Egbeazien Oshodi, who was born in Uromi, Edo State in Nigeria, is an American based Police/Prison Scientist and Forensic/Clinical/Legal Psychologist. A government consultant on matters of forensic-clinical adult/child psychological services in the USA; Chief Educator and Clinician at the Transatlantic Enrichment and Refresher Institute, an Online Lifelong Center for Personal, Professional, and Career Development. He is a former Interim Associate Dean/Assistant Professor at Broward College, Florida. The Founder of the Dr. John Egbeazien Oshodi Foundation, Center for Psychological Health and Behavioral Change in African Settings In 2011, he introduced State-of-the-Art Forensic Psychology into Nigeria through N.U.C and Nasarawa State University, where he served in the Department of Psychology as an Associate Professor. Currently, a Virtual Behavioral Leadership Professor at ISCOM University, Republic of Benin. Founder of the proposed Transatlantic Egbeazien Open University (TEU) of Values and Ethics, a digital project of Truth, Ethics, and Openness. Over forty academic publications and creations, at least 200 public opinion pieces on African issues, and various books have been written by him. He specializes in psycho-prescriptive writings regarding African institutional and governance issues.

Prof. Oshodi wrote in via [email protected]
26.04.2022 LISTEN

Undoubtedly, you are reading and hearing the rumblings concerning a New World Order (aka Great Reset). The phrase refers to a theory/idea that the wealthy elites are in the process of activating a totalitarian world government  with plans that have been years in the making. But the plans are not for global democracy but global communism  according to some conservatives, some Christians, some zealous patriots, several authors of books on the subject, some radio and internet hosts, and others waking up to smell the coffee.

Ponder upon the following archived articles and commentaries about a New World Order.

The following is a 1932 archived essay titled The New World-Order.

Events of the post-War period are forcibly and unmistakably driving home the lesson that the future welfare of the human race is vitally dependent upon world co-operation. The days of self-sufficient nationalism, of splendid isolation, of Monroe doctrines, are clearly numbered, and it is widely felt that the more quickly such venerable creeds are abandoned the brighter will become the prospect for civilisation at large. How soon events will force the political unity that, in some form or other, appears inevitable, it would be rash to prophesy; but if the process of unification is to succeed, it can only be upon a previous basis of intellectual sympathy and understanding.

Visit https://www.nature.com/articles/130076b0.

The following 1997 archived article discussed a one world government during the Bush era with the United Nations as the central power.

Many thought that the new world order proclaimed by George Bush was the promise of 1945 fulfilled, a world in which international institutions, led by the United Nations, guaranteed international peace and security with the active support of the world's major powers Even as a liberal internationalist ideal, it is infeasible at best and dangerous at worst. It requires a centralized rule-making authority, a hierarchy of institutions, and universal membership, according to a 1997 article in Foreign Affairs. Visit https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1997-09-01/real-new-world-order.

Journalist and writer Gary Allen wrote three books about global domination: None Dare Call It Conspiracy (1971), Rockefeller: Campaigning for the New World Order (1974), and Say "No!" to the New World Order (1987).

American televangelist Pat Robertson, wrote his book, The New World Order in 1991. He discussed the Federal Reserve System, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission as working covertly behind the scenes.

The United States and a New World Order is a 1998 archived article. The 1991 Gulf War was accompanied by talk about New World, not least in the US. Global disarmament was discussed with the United Nations at the forefront. Visit https://www.jstor.org/stable/41960487.

In 2009, American film directors Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel released a documentary, New World Order, which explored the world of conspiracy theorists and highlighted Alex Jones among others.

Bringing in the New World Order: Liberalism, Legitimacy, and the United Nations, is the title of a 2011 article. The end of the cold war and the attendant security vacuum unleashed a flurry of intellectual activity and international commissions that reflected on the world that was being left behind and the world that should be created in its place.Visit https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/abs/bringing-in-the-new-world-order-liberalism-legitimacy-and-the-united-nations/097AD06176EF9633B79A913CACA6980D.

In June, elites at important international institutions such as the World Economic Forum and the United Nations launched a far-reaching campaign to reset the global economy, according to opinion contributor Justin Haskins for The Hill 2020. John Kerry reveals Bidens devotion to radical Great Reset movement is the title. Visit https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/528482-john-kerry-reveals-bidens-devotion-to-radical-great-reset-movement/.

Are you ready for the Great Reset? Its the Great Leap Forward of 21st-century technocracy. Its time, we are told by the likes of Davos guru Klaus Schwab, to reboot our passe, 18th-century ideas about rights, democracy and constitutions  and surrender to the smooth rule of the experts and the climate cultists, not forgetting, of course, their financial advisers, says Dominic Green in a 2020 opinion column for the New York Post. Visit https://nypost.com/2020/12/02/biden-admin-looks-like-another-try-at-liberal-tech-government/.

The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of Twenty-First-Century Fascism is a 2022 book by Glenn Beck. If they are successful, and the Great Reset is finalized, it would put substantially more economic and social power in the hands of large corporations, international institutions, banks, and government officials, including Joe Biden, the United Nations, and many of the members of the World Economic Forum.

Permanent Distortion: How the Financial Markets Abandoned the Real Economy Forever is a 2022 book by Nomi Prins. Her other books include: Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World (2018), All the Presidents' Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power (2014), It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deal (2009),

Other People's Money: The Corporate Mugging of America (2006).

COVID-19: The Great Reset is a 2020 book by Klaus Schwab, founder and executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. You will on nothing and you will be happy. Schwab is a big fan of big surveillance by big government.

Hmmm. If the New World Order (aka Great Reset) is nothing more than a conspiracy theory  how come the topic is currently in the news a lot?

According to freedom-loving citizens, the members of the Great Reset are using the coronavirus pandemic to censor and squash freedom of speech and freedom of the press  so as to broadcast their propaganda to control the masses. Case in point is whats happening in Australia with lockdowns, censorship, and violations of human rights.

Citizens, its up to you to do your own research, discuss and debate with others, and decide if its fact or fiction.

What can you do to save freedom? Speak out against a one world banking system and a global digital currency. Contact government representatives and express your opinion. Stand up for democracy, liberty, and freedom. Refuse a second global lockdown deception of the economy. Unite with other freedom-loving and peaceful citizens in your area and on social media. Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper.

Resources:

Gab is a social network that champions free speech, individual liberty and the free flow of information online. Visit https://gab.com.

InfoWars is a talk show in America that was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC. Alex Jones was banned from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. What were they afraid Jones will tell the public? Visit banned.video.

Glenn Beck is on live radio and podcasts. Beck, one of Americas leading multi-media personalities, is the founder and owner of TheBlaze, a 24/7 news, information and opinion network that is available on television and online. TheBlaze.com attracts over 35 million unique visitors per month. Visit www.glennbeck.com.

Joni Lamb, President of DayStar Christian Television Network discussed COVID-19, vaccines, and the Great Reset. Visit www.daystar.com.

When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind. C. S. Lewis

Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is a syndicated opinion-editorial columnist. She lives in USA.
The judge in Ankomah-Nimfah v Quayson (Suit No. CRP/E/3/21) case faced a remarkably straightforward question  Is the duly elected member of parliament (MP) of Assin-North disqualified from being an MP because he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana? Remarkably, the judge provided a most non-responsive answer  Yes, because at the time of filing his parliamentary nomination forms, he held Canadian citizenship. On the strength of that answer, the judge proceeded to cancel the elections and further ordered the Electoral Commission to conduct fresh Parliamentary Elections in the Assin North constituency.

There are, at least, 4 errors in the judgment: (1) the judge engaged in streetlight jurisprudence; (2) the judge granted summary judgment, even though there were disputed material facts; (3) the judge failed to refer article 94(2)(a) to the Supreme Court for interpretation as required by article 130(2); and (4) the judge cancelled the election results contrary to PNDCL 284 (20)(d). Each of these errors, which are discussed below, are separate grounds for reversing that judgment.

The Judge erred when he engaged in Streetlight Jurisprudence

I define streetlight jurisprudence as the propensity for a judge to search for evidence where it is easiest to find rather than search for evidence that is germane to the issue confronting the court. It is akin to the well-known drunkard search principle, where a drunkard searches for his lost money in a lighted place rather than where he lost it. Here, the judge, rather than search for evidence of the MPs disavowal of his allegiance to Canada, sought evidence of the date on which his application for renunciation of citizenship was granted because the latter is easier to inspect, even though it does not come anywhere close to answering the question of owing allegiance to Canada.

Article 94(2)(a) provides that a person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he owes allegiance to a country other Ghana. Article 94(2)(a), properly interpreted, has nothing to do with citizenship-related allegiance because at the time of the promulgation of the Constitution, one could not retain his Ghanaian citizenship if he was a citizen of another country (i.e., dual citizenship was not permitted). Article 94(2)(a) could not be saying that while dual citizenship is not a permissible status, a person who is a dual citizen is not qualified to be an MP. Moreover, amending the Constitution in 1996 to allow for dual citizenship did not and could not have amended article 94(2)(a) or somehow changed its meaning and scope. Constitutional interpretation does not work that way. I have provided a full explanation of why article 94(2)(a) is unrelated to citizenship in a companion article (see https://www.graphic.com.gh/features/features/it-is-time-to-end-the-politico-judicial-persecution-of-dual-citizens.html ).

But let us ignore that important point for now and proceed as if article 94(2)(a) is referring to allegiance-related citizenship. It is obvious, even under this clearly contrived regime, that the article does not say a person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he is a citizen of a country other Ghana. It still says a person is not qualified to be an MP if he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana, except now we depart from the Constitution and allow allegiance to be related to citizenship.

Therefore, citizenship of another country is not dispositive of allegiance as used in article 94(2)(a) or citizenship-related allegiance. The proper inquiry under this contrived meaning of article 94(2)(a) is whether allegiance is owed and, if so, if it had been effectively disavowed. The test, even in this contrived regime, should be disavowal of allegiance, not renunciation of citizenship.

In the Canadian case of McAteer v Canada, 2014 ONCA 578, the oath of allegiance is characterized as a symbolic commitment to be governed as a democratic constitutional monarchy unless and until democratically changed, that a naturalized citizen can publicly disavow at any time without affecting his citizenship status. In fact, some Canadian citizens have set up websites where they proudly proclaim such disavowals (e.g., http:// disavowal.ca ).

In so holding, the McAteer court was merely stating the obvious that allegiance is severable from citizenship as was stated in Bilson v Rawlings and Another [1993-94] 2 GLR 413-428, where the defendant affirmed, under oath, that he was born a British subject in 1949 and became a Ghanaian in May 1957, an affirmation that was of no consequence to his qualification to run for office because Justice Esslifie-Bondzie properly focused on his allegiance, which he had repeatedly sworn to Ghana, not citizenships.

Thus, assuming the reference to allegiance in article 94(2)(a) had anything to do with citizenship, which it did not, holding Canadian citizenship is not dispositive of the question of owing allegiance. Furthermore, while article 94(2)(a) conditions the disqualification on being an MP, the judge rewrote it to condition it on being a parliamentary candidate. Article 94(2)(a) says absolutely nothing about the time of filing for nomination and the judge again engaged in streetlight jurisprudence by searching for evidence on that date.

A Canadian Judge reading Ankomah-Nimfah would be bemused by the equation of citizenship with allegiance and will undoubtedly conclude that the Ghanaian judge does not understand Canadian law on allegiance and citizenship. He will be utterly baffled that a Ghanaian judge will interpret the Canadian oath of allegiance to impose a burden on a natural born Ghanaian that can be lifted only by a Canadian officials approval of his application for renunciation of Canadian citizenship. He will wonder why our conception of citizenship and allegiance remains rooted in feudal concepts while most of the rest of the world have embraced the modern conception of citizenship as a legal status that bestows equal political rights and duties on its members.

The Judge erred when he granted Summary Judgment

The judge mischaracterized owing allegiance to a country other than Ghana as a question of law, which allowed him to preempt a trial on the facts and to decide the issue as a matter of law. Whether one owes allegiance to any country is a question of fact to be determined by a trier of fact. Among others, facts could show that he had disavowed any allegiance to Canada, pursuant to McAteer. Further, facts could have shown that he reasonably and honestly believed that he did not owe allegiance to Canada, after turning in his passport, certificate of naturalization, and all rights and privileges appertaining to his citizenship. The parties could have brought in expert witnesses to clarify what it means to owe allegiance to Canada, if there is such a thing, etc. There were many disputed unresolved factual issues and summary judgment was inapposite.

This error was compounded by the judges failure to do any research on, or refer to, Canada law on allegiance. Rather, the summary judgment relied primarily on the date on the MPs certificate of citizenship renunciation, the processes filed, and Wikipedia to infer that the MP owes allegiance to Canada. By granting summary judgment, the judge denied the MP a fair trial in two distinct ways: (1) the court impermissibly discharged the plaintiff of his burden to prove his factual claims that the MP owed allegiance to Canada; and (2) the court impermissibly denied the MP the opportunity to show that he did not owe allegiance to Canada, assuming that the plaintiff was able to meet his burden of persuasion.

Remarkably, the Supreme Court, in granting the injunction to the plaintiff in the subsequently filed writ for interpretation, recited that the high court judge gave judgment after a trial (see page 3 of the Supreme Court interim injunctive relief in Ankomah-Nimfah v Quayson et al. Writ No. J1/11/2022, 13/4/2022). Trials resolve disputed factual issues, but the high court judge gave judgment as a matter of law. This is not an insignificant error. It suggests that the injunction was based on a misunderstanding of what happened at the high court. In most appellate courts, the standards of review for a trial or summary judgment, hence the deference to attach to a lower court judgment, differ. Trials, typically, are reviewed for abuse of discretion while summary judgments are reviewed de novo both as to the determination that there is no remaining genuine issue of material fact and that the prevailing party was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In my opinion, that error by the apex court is enough to arrest its injunction.

The Judge erred in failing to refer article 94(2)(a) to the Supreme Court for interpretation

Article 130(2) mandates that lower courts stay proceedings and refer matters of interpretation of the Constitution to the Supreme Court. In determining whether an issue of interpretation has arisen, lower courts apply the Ex Parte Akosah test and evaluate whether any of the following events are present:

the words of the provision of the Constitution are imprecise or unclear or ambiguous.

rival meanings have been placed by the litigants on the words of any provisions of the Constitution.

there is a conflict in the meaning and effect of two or more articles of the Constitution, and the question is raised as to which provision should prevail.

on the face of the provisions, there is a conflict between the operation of institutions set up under the Constitution and thereby raising problems of enforcement and of interpretation.

It is obvious that an interpretation issue had arisen under the first and second wings of Ex Parte Akosah. Owing allegiance to a country other than Ghana is inherently imprecise, unclear, and ambiguous. The parties had invited the court to declare that it meant something different from what it plainly says, including the insertion of terms (citizenship) and dates (filing of nomination forms). Further, the parties had put rival meanings on the term allegiance, with plaintiff suggesting it was the same as citizenship and the defendant suggesting otherwise.

Under those circumstances, the judge was obliged under article 130(2) to stay proceedings and to refer the matter to the Court, thereby foreclosing the current tenuous situation where the prevailing party, who objected to the referral of the matter to the Court, has now invited the Court for the interpretation.

The Judge explained that he did not have to refer the matter to the Court for interpretation because the meaning and effect of the article are clear, precise, and unambiguous and the court is simply applying the article (page 55). Furthermore, the judge noted that article 94(2) has received judicial consideration and clarity by the SC in Ex Parte Zanetor, and that case is the recent and authoritative decision by the SC on what point in time the eligibility or qualification criteria as set out in article 94(2)(a) of the constitution come into play (page 56).

The judge is fatally wrong on Ex Parte Zanetor. That case has no voice on article 94(2)(a) and it is plain error for the judge to say otherwise. That case is related to article 94(1)(a), an eligibility article , not 94(2)(a), a disqualification article . Moreover, allegiance, unlike registered voter is an imprecise term that cannot be inferred from Ex Parte Zanetor. Neither does Ex Parte Zanetor control the timing of the determination of allegiance to a country other than Ghana.

The wording of articles 94(1) and 94(2) differs for the important reason that the former defines the eligibility for parliament whereas the latter disqualifies an eligible person from being an MP. Article 94(1)(a) provides that a person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament unless he is a citizen of Ghana, has attained the age of twenty-one years and is a registered voter and article 94(2)(a) provides that a person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.

Even a duly elected and serving MP can be disqualified if he is found culpable of performing the prohibited act specified in article 94(2)(a). Unsurprisingly, the election laws treat article 94(1) and 94(2) differently. PNDCL 284 (9)(1)(a) provides that a person shall not be qualified to be a candidate for the office of member of Parliament unless he is a citizen of Ghana, has attained the age of twenty-one years and is a registered voter. However, PNDCL 284 (9)(2)(a) provides that a person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.

The differences in PNDCL 284 9(1)(a) and PNDCL 284 9(2)(a) are not an accident. There is a very clear legislative intent for articles 94(1)(a) and 94(2)(a) to be treated differently. The eligibility criteria in 94(1)(a) must be established to be a candidate for an election. The disqualification criterion in 94(2)(a) disqualifies a person from being an MP, whether he has just been elected or is an incumbent. An MP can be disqualified at any time from serving in parliament if it is established by proper proof that he has engaged in the offending act.

Curiously, after resisting the MPs repeated calls for article 94(2)(a) to be transmitted from the high court to the Supreme Court for interpretation, the plaintiff issued a writ at that Court seeking an interpretation of that very same article and an application for an interim injunction anchored on that writ. Rather than question the procedural posture of the writ and arrest the high court judgment as premature, in the absence of a definitive interpretation, the Court granted the injunction. I do believe that the Court allowed the plaintiff to do the 4-step rashikoko dance.

First, successfully resist all attempts to get the Supreme Court to interpret article 94(2)(a).

Next, get the high court to say that the article has been violated.

Then, majestically go to the Supreme Court to seek an interpretation of the violated article.

Lastly, get the Supreme Court to kotokiokously injunct on your behalf

The Judge Erred when he cancelled the results

PNDCL 284 (20)(1)(d) governs the cancellation of election results. It provides that the election of a candidate shall be declared void on an election petition if the High Court is satisfied that the candidate was at the time of his election a person not qualified or a person disqualified for election. The law embodies the idea that any harm associated with a disqualifying event (e.g., owing allegiance to a country than Ghana) is not going to occur through filing of papers or during campaigning. Further, voters wishes must be respected, and their decisions must be honoured if a person is qualified at the time of his election.

Applying PNDCL 284 (20)(1)(d) to the facts, the only question the high court judge should have asked is whether on December 7, 2020, at the time of his election, had he disavowed his allegiance to Canada (the correct test in the contrived regime where the allegiance in article 94(2)(a) is related to citizenship) or renounced his citizenship using either a subjective test (correct test, in the contrived world where citizenship is equated to allegiance) or objective test (wrong test, in the contrived test where citizenship is equated to allegiance)? Any of those contrived tests would have resolved the matter that he was qualified at the time of his election. He applied for renunciation of his citizenship in December 2019, a whole year ahead of the election date. At that time, he did all in his power and control to sever all relationships with Canada and relocated to Assin-North. He turned in his naturalization certificate, passport and was no longer eligible to even reside in Canada. His application for renunciation was granted on November 26, 2020. Both of those dates are before the election.

The Judge Abused his Discretion when he granted the interim injunction on January 6, 2021

While a judge has discretion to grant injunction, the presumptions and precedents show that he abused his discretion when he granted the interlocutory injunction on 6th January 2021, one week after the election petition was filed. Prior to the elections, the Electoral Commission had examined a petition seeking to disqualify the MP on the same citizenship grounds. The Commission, after examining the evidence, cleared the MP as qualified to contest in the elections. The judge should have treated this determination by the election manager with deference. It is difficult to imagine the harm that would have occurred by denying the injunction, while allowing the parties time to build their cases. In contrast, the hasty and unwise grant of this interim injunction, was it properly served, would have denied Assin-North a say in the election of the Speaker and was the proximate cause of the fisticuffs that occurred in parliament on 6th January. The precedents in various election petitions all pointed to the same outcome of not granting the injunction because of the presumption that elections are regular, and winners have been validly declared.

Similarly, it is hard to understand the interlocutory injunction granted by the Supreme Court, which is anchored on a writ seeking an interpretation of an article of the Constitution that has been applied by a lower court to issue a judgment, which the Court relies on for its injunctive order. This is especially so when the Plaintiff and the courts below had consistently resisted a referral of the matter to the Court for interpretation. Further, it is hard to reconcile the plaintiffs invocation of the Courts interpretive jurisdiction, the lower courts unequivocal ruling that article 94(2)(a) was clear, unambiguous, and precise, and the Courts reliance on the lower court judgment. The plaintiff appears to be questioning the high courts claims about the clarity of article 94(2)(a) by invoking the Courts interpretive jurisdiction. On the other hand, the Court is relying on a judgment that declares that article 94(2)(a) is clear and precise, even as it is about to interpret the same article.

It seems the only and proper thing to do under these circumstances is for the Court to have arrested the judgment from the lower court and to stay all proceedings rather than to issue an injunction. A cursory review of the cases procedural posture shows that the plaintiff effectively turned the Court into an enforcement wing of the lower court.

In granting the injunction, the Supreme Court stated that greater hardship, irreparable damage, and inconvenience will be occasioned to the Constitution, the rule of law, the tenets of democracy, the constituents of Assin North, and the Ghanaian people as a whole if the MP is allowed to continue to hold himself out as a MP pending the determination of this suit. It is hard to envision how a few days of service of the MP in parliament, while the Court deals with the substantive matter, can occasion these hardships and harm. Rather, the irreparable harm seems to be occasioned by an injunctive order that is based on a subsisting summary judgment, that the Court misconstrued as a judgment after a trial, and a writ for the interpretation of article 94(2)(a), when that same article is at the heart of the controversial summary judgment. Further, the injunction order comes after repeated rejection of invitations from the MP to the high court, court of appeal and the Supreme Court to interpret the same article, which the plaintiff has, in one attempt, succeeded in getting the Supreme Court to interpret. When evaluated in its totality, the flowery justification of the injunctive order reads more like dressing up a flawed order as legal reasoning without doing any legal reasoning at all.

The judicial abuse of injunctions in election petitions can have disastrous consequences and our judges and Justices must pay more attention to the precedents and presumptions.

The Judge will allow Foreign Law to Irremediably Curtail Citizens Political Rights

The judge recited that some countries may not allow or do not recognize renunciation of citizenship or establish administrative procedures that are essentially impossible to complete, such as Argentina (page 44). Notwithstanding this recital, the judge surprisingly holds that it is only a foreign country that can decide whether a natural born Ghanaians reasonable and honest effort to renounce his foreign citizenship is effective. In effect, the judge is saying that Ghanaian law will allow countries like Argentina, which do not recognize renunciation or make it difficult to do so, to control the political status of a natural-born Ghanaians in Ghana, even if he has severed all relations with that country and relocated to Ghana. This, in effect, reduces Ghanaian judges to mechanical inspectors of foreign certificates of renunciation, with no interest in or desire to understand the steps taken by the natural born Ghanaian to sever connections with the foreign country. It is almost as if the courts jurisprudence does not value natural-born citizens and is determined to allow foreign law to control who participates in Ghanas representative government. The irony, of course, being that a person who is a dual citizen might allow foreign interests to dominate or otherwise their judgments while serving in the legislature and related public institutions.

The Constitution is animated by the values of equal citizenship, especially the right of full participation in the political space. The preamble of the Constitution highlights the principles that all powers of Government spring from the sovereign will of the people and universal audit suffrage. Further, the common law, related to the Constitution, have highlighted the importance of voting and the right to be voted for. The right to self-governance through public participation is so vital that citizens have both a right and a duty to vote and to participate in the political space.

These values suggest that a natural born Ghanaian should not be prevented from participating in the democratic governance ordained by the Constitution where he has demonstrated that he has taken all steps reasonably required by foreign law to disavow his allegiance to that foreign country.

One would have hoped that amidst the plethora of errors, the judge, could have, at least, reasoned those countries like Argentina, who made renunciation impossible or difficult to achieve, should not be put in a position to prevent a natural born Ghanaian, who has taken all the steps that are reasonably required to renounce his foreign citizenship, from participating fully in the politics of Ghana. Such reasoning would have evidenced an interest in balancing the citizens political rights against whatever rights the foreign country has in putting administrative impediments in the way of a natural born Ghanaian who seeks to renounce his foreign citizenship.

Justice must be done in Assin North though the heavens fall.

SALL is the cardinal sin of the 8th Parliament.

Da Yie!
Savannah Regional women's organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Hajia Safia Mohammed has called for patriotism among aspirants ahead of the party's upcoming internal elections.

The party which has already elected its new polling station executives and electoral area coordinators is set to elect constituency executives to pave way for the election of regional and national officers to man the affairs of the party for the next four years.

In a statement copied to Modern Ghana News, the lead servant of the women's front of the party in the Savannah Region, cautioned all aspirants to eschew actions and all tendencies that will disturb the unity in the party.

"I want to use this medium to make a passionate appeal to all aspirants to eschew all forms of unwholesome activities that will mar the beauty of our party's long cherished democracy and the successes we have chalked at holding peaceful elections especially in the region".

Hajia Safia who is seeking re-election as women's organizer of the governing party for Savannah Region, pressed on the new executives that would emerge victorious, to endeavor to bring their competitors on board to tap their experience to consolidate the gains the party made in the region.

She also extended her well wishes to all aspirants and ceased the opportunity to press on the electoral committees and officers to be emboldened in oneness of purpose to ensure a fair playing field for all aspirants.

"To our affable and hardworking committees and officers, i urge you to exhibit a high sense of professionalism in the dispensation of your duties and uphold a clean and fair election devoid of biases and favouritism".

*Read the full statement below:

PRESS RELEASE

26th April, 2022

*Electing the most committed, dedicated and loyal patriots to steer and spur activities of the party should be paramount to all delegates*

As the New Patriotic Party (NPP) commences the conduct of its Constituency executives from 28th April, 2022 to 1st May, 2022, I would like to use this opportunity to wish the party very peaceful, calm, successful and an incident free elections across the Savannah region.

As we are all aware, the constituency executives form one of the key base of the executive wing of the party. Executive at this level have constant and direct contact with the base of the party and electorates. In this regard, getting the most committed, dedicated and loyal patriots to steer and spur activities of the party, should be paramount and dear to delegates and members of our great party at this point of our democratic dispensation.

As the lead servant of the womens front of the party in the savannah region, I want to use this medium to make a passionate appeal to all aspirants to eschew all forms of unwholesome activities that will mar the beauty of our partys long cherished democracy and the successes we have chalked at holding peaceful elections especially in the region.

I wish to encourage all aspirants to remove every form of actions that will create chaos and infringe upon the human rights of others and that are inimical to our own party constitution.

To our affable and hardworking electoral committees and officers, I urge you to exhibit a high sense of professionalism in the dispensation of your duties and uphold a clean and fair elections devoid of biases and favouritism.

To those who will emerge victorious in this contest, please do accept my warm congratulations in advance and my best wishes for your success as you prepare to take up the responsibilities and challenges of your high office at the constituency level.

The best way to progress is constantly troublesome, however despite that you figure out about how to get yourself to finish everything and be respected.

In an internal elections of this nature, we all know others may be bruised through verbal or nonverbal confrontations during your campaigns, see this bruises as family feuds and quickly put yourself together to form a formidable team to work towards breaking the eight (8) for the task ahead is crucial.

I also use this opportunity to cheer up those who would not be fortunate to win their various positions. See this as a contest that there must be one winner. However, I beckon on them, and everyone, to nurse their bruises quickly and support the Party with every resource they have and with their might to help propagate the good works of the NPP government. There is no looser here, we only have winners in a family contest.

The new leaders/executives that would emerge in this elections, I wish to also encourage you to bring on board your competitors and the fallen executives to tap their experience for a better NPP in Savannah region.

It is my prayer and hope that God shall order the processes of this election and May the best aspirant win.

I believe that together, we can break the eight.

Thank you.

*.signed*

*Hajia Safia Mohammed*

NPP Savannah Region Womens Organizer
The New York Times, April 21, 2022

The blast in Mazar-i-Sharif, one of Afghanistans economic hubs, was the latest in a series of attacks on one of its religious minorities and was claimed by an ISIS affiliate.

KABUL, Afghanistan  An explosion at a Shiite mosque in northern Afghanistan on Thursday killed at least 10 people and wounded more than two dozen others, local officials said, adding to the toll of a bloody week for one of the countrys religious minorities.

The attack, during afternoon prayers at the Seh Dokan mosque in the center of Mazar-i-Sharif, one of the countrys economic hubs with a bustling downtown of alleyway shops, came just two days after several explosions ripped through a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Kabul, the capital.

While the details of the attack at the mosque were murky, and there were fears that the death toll would climb higher, unverified videos shot inside the building showed an amount of carnage that has become all too familiar in Afghanistan over four decades of conflict.

Up to now we have 12 dead and 35 injured. Eight of them are in bad condition, said Dr. Gaousuddin Anwari, the director of Abu Ali Sina-e-Balkhi Hospital in Mazar-i-Sharif. Abdul Nafi Takor, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, offered a different assessment, saying that 10 people had been killed.

A Taliban official in the province said it was unclear what caused the explosion, but the Islamic States affiliate in Afghanistan, known as Islamic State Khorasan, claimed responsibility for the blast, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist organizations.

I was in my pharmacy when I heard the sound of an explosion, said Nazir Samim, a resident of Mazar-i-Sharif. I went to the mosque to help the wounded, but the Taliban did not allow me to enter.

Around the time of the mosque blast, an explosion targeting a minibus in Kunduz city, the capital of the province of the same name and about 100 miles to the east, killed at least four people and wounded 18, said Obaidlah Abedi, a spokesman for the Kunduz police. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack too, according to SITE.

On Tuesday, several explosions outside an education center and a public high school in the western Kabul neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi killed at least six people and wounded at least a dozen more.

The area, home to a large Hazara community, an ethnic minority that is predominantly Shiite, was frequently targeted by both the Taliban and the Islamic State over the last 20 years, when the countrys Western-backed government was in power.

Since the Taliban took control of the country in August, the hard-line Sunni religious group has tried to stay to true to its bedrock pledge of providing security to Afghans of all religious groups and ethnicities  even though it targeted some of them during the past two decades and killed thousands of Hazaras during its first tenure in the 1990s.

Despite that pledge, Shiites, especially Hazaras, have come under frequent attack, primarily from the Islamic States affiliate in the country, over the past eight months.

Last year, Islamic State bombings of Shiite mosques in Kandahar and Kunduz killed and wounded dozens. In the Dasht-e-Barchi area of Kabul, a series of unclaimed car bombings have regularly killed Hazaras, though in relatively small numbers.

On Monday, the Islamic State claimed it had carried out a rocket attack from Haritan, a border town roughly 50 miles north of Mazar-i-Sharif, on a military base in Uzbekistan, but the Uzbek government denied any such attack took place.

The extremist group has slowly gathered strength in recent months, despite the Talibans attempts to stamp out its fighters in the countrys east.
Jihadists in Mali say they have captured a fighter working for Wagner, the Russian private security firm hired by the country's military junta to train the military - though France and other countries say the fighters are acting as mercenaries.

The Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) told th Frenche AFP news agency that it had captured a soldier of the Russian Wagner forces in the first week of April in the Segou region in central Mali, without providing evidence to support the assertion.

The GSIM said Russian fighters had taken part in a massacre in Moura, in central Mali, at the end of March  an incident that Human Rights Watch had reported on, accusing Malian soldiers of executing 300 civilians with the help of foreign fighters.

In another operation the GSIM said the mercenaries carried out two parachute drops at Bandiagara in central Mali, and jihadists fighters seized weapons.

Mali's military junta, which seized power in a coup in 2020, says it has hired Wagner to provide training to the military, and it denies claims by France and the United States that the group is taking part in fighting.

Last week an army document and officials said a Russian advisor operating alongside Malian soldiers had been killed by a roadside bomb in the centre of the country, marking the first confirmed Russian fatality in Mali.

On Friday the French military released videos that appeared to show Russian mercenaries burying bodies near an army base in the north of the country, which it handed back to Malian forces earlier in the week.

The military says the graves are part of a smear campaign against France, which in February pulled out troops that had been deployed in Mali to fight jihadists since 2013, citing the junta's rapprochement with the Kremlin.

(with AFP)
Former Minister of Health under the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Alex Segbefia has described President Akufo-Addos government as one that is clueless, insisting that it has failed to deliver.

Speaking to TV3 on the New Day Programme, Mr. Segbefia says he has no doubt in his mind that the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) no longer has ideas on how to make things better for the people of Ghana.

They have run out of ideas they dont know what to do, the former Health Minister shared.

Speaking on the ambition of the government to execute the Agenda 111 hospitals project, Mr. Alex Segbefia said he has not been impressed with the explanation given by the President about the deadline for the completion of the project.

He argued that it would have been in order if at least 20 of the health facilities are already completed and running.

This, in his view, shows government has already failed to deliver on the Agenda 111 project.

It has already failed in terms of the deadline. The President said 18 months, now he explains 18 months, from the day it starts.

What is the meaning of, when I start? At least, let us have some 20 or 30 hospitals now running. They are a failure, Mr. Alex Segbefia emphasised.

As confirmed by President Akufo-Addo himself, government plans to complete all health facilities under the Agenda 111 project before he leaves office in January 2025.
The Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) says it is not to blame for the confusion that characterized its recent graduation ceremony at the North Dzorwulu campus in Accra last Thursday.

The school in a statement said the smooth flow of the event was rather marred by a group of 15 graduands who entered the auditorium amidst chants and noise.

Last Thursday, the schools graduation ceremony was temporarily halted amidst protest by some graduands that the schools management and dignitaries left them outside without any information to continue with the graduation ceremony in an auditorium when it started raining.

But the school insists in its statement that it informed the graduands that the event was being moved indoors due to the rains.

About forty-five minutes into the event, it started raining. The Registrar announced that the programme had to be moved to the auditorium due to the weather. She, additionally, announced the agreed location for parents and acquaintances of graduands. The programme had barely resumed after the movements when a group of graduands entered from the rear of the auditorium amidst chanting and noise-making disrupting the smooth flow of the event, the statement said.

The school said the situation was brought under control in 15 minutes.

Any twisted reportage seeking to portray the Institute in a negative light is not only mischievous but shameful. The public is assured that management of the Institute will continue to work with our student body and the Institutes public to deliver on its mandate as it has done over the years, the statement added.
26.04.2022 LISTEN

Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams has revealed that a president of Ghana got upset with him just because he prayed for the opposition party.

Without giving any specifics, the founder of Action Chapel International told the congregation on Sunday, 24 April 2022 during his sermon: There was a time there was a president in this country; myself and some men of God from outside came and we went to visit him and he was very hostile toward me but sweet and nice to everybody else.

Very hostile toward me, he stressed, adding that the president didnt even acknowledge me.

This is a guy that I prayed for [for] many years even when he was in opposition, he noted.

I prayed for him; [he] comes [to] visit me many times; we were that close; he visits me and all that, Archbishop Duncan-Williams said.

He was so hostile and after, when we were leaving his office, I allowed everybody to go and I concerned him and I said: Mr President, whats going on here?

I didnt even allow security; I said: Mr President, something is wrong; whats happening? I dont like your countenance toward me. And I said: Something is not right.

He said: You are right about it; Im very upset with you, and I said: Talk to me Mr President; if you are upset, talk.

And he told me, and I found out that somebody that was so very close to me in my church went to slander me, went to lie and said I was praying for the then-opposition, Archbishop Duncan-Williams recalled.

And I said: Mr President, it is true: I pray for the opposition and I pray for [the] government; what is wrong? I said: I prayed for you when you were in opposition, so, why are you angry with me?

Yea, its the truth: I pray for [the] government, I pray for [the] opposition. Thats what the Bible says we should do. 1 Timothy 2 from verse 1 going to verse 4. And I said: Yes, its true: I prayed for the opposition just as I prayed for you when you were in opposition, so, whats your problem?

He said: You know something; youre right, youre right.

I said: Mr President, youre better than this. And I walked off. I just walked off.

Quoting the Bible to buttress his point, Archbishop Duncan-Williams said: I exalt, therefore, that first of all supplication, prayers, intercession and giving of thanks be made for all men irrespective of their religious background; for kings, for all that are in authority and if we do that, well live a quiet and a peaceable life in all Godliness and honesty, adding: That is the only way Godliness and honesty and peace of any country is maintained  when prayers go up for those in authority; not when we criticise them. For it is written: Speak no evil of the ruler of my people.

Archbishop Duncan-Williams, who has been preaching for almost 45 years, said the Bible injuncts men of God to pray for the leaders of the nation rather than criticise them.

The Bible didnt call us to speak evil of rulers. It didnt call us to criticise the people in authority but it says: Pray for them, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Saviour.

We are not anointed to attack and criticise people in authority; thats not my assignment. The pulpit is not to attack leaders or to criticise leaders, its to pray and if you believe in God, then pray.

Source: Classfmonline.com
A leader can expect his home base to come under fire! You must expect an attack on the family, friendships and alliances that are a source of your strength. Every attack on your home base, your aides, your alliances and your friendships will have a significant impact on the war.

Whilst King David was out fighting the enemy, the Amalekites cleverly attacked his home base and burnt it down. All their wives, sons, and daughters were taken captive. David was devastated! No matter how hardened a warrior is, he looks forward to going home, to a place of rest.

And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. SO DAVID AND HIS MEN CAME TO THE CITY, AND, BEHOLD, IT WAS BURNED WITH FIRE; AND THEIR WIVES, AND THEIR SONS, AND THEIR DAUGHTERS, WERE TAKEN CAPTIVES. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite, 1 Samuel 30:1-5.

If you are a travelling minister, you can expect an attack on your home. The devil would like to leave you homeless. He would like to leave you without a place to come back to. Satan would like to attack your physical home and leave you without any solace or comfort. He would like to bomb your shelter so that you have nowhere to go to when you finish fighting. This is why many ministers have marital problems. It is an attack to bomb their shelters so that they have nowhere to go to. It is called a de-housing attack! Instead of pastors coming home to softness, comforts and delights, they go home to hardness, more hard work and arguments. Loving words are replaced with accusations, opposition and resistance. Soon, a minister of the gospel does not consider his house as a place of solace, comfort, softness and delights. He has been de-housed!

The Royal Airforce of England, under the command of Bomber Harris de-housed the citizens of Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin, Cologne and many other German cities. They did this by bombing and smashing the cities of Germany.

Similarly, Satan has de-housed many pastors and preachers of the gospel. This is also the reason why there are few evangelists. If you dare step out of your church to evangelise the world, your church can be taken over and you will have nowhere to go back to. You will also have no one to support you further. Many evangelists are de-housed ministers, having no support, no more aid and no more aides.

Your family and your aides are very important for your mission. Their importance is spelt out by the fact that the enemy will target them and try to eliminate them. Do not be surprised if your home base of close aides and alliances come under attack. Often, your ministry cannot be completed without the input of these close aides and alliances. Do not be surprised if Satan tries to turn your aides into rebels. It is an attack on your home base! Stand up and defend your home base. Fight to maintain your house. Build bomb shelters so that you will not suffer a de-housing attack of the enemy.

Hannibal's Home Base Attacked

Hannibal was the famous African general who invaded the Roman Empire with his elephants. He crossed the Italian Alps with his armies and elephants and entered deep into Italy. Hannibal defeated the Roman armies several times. Believe it or not, the Romans were never able to defeat Hannibal for eight years whilst he was in Italy. One day, they devised a strategy to get rid of him. The strategy was to invade Carthage (Tunisia), the home base of Hannibal.

When Carthage came under serious attack, Hannibal was called back home to defend his own country. It was only when Hannibal was forced to return to Carthage to help defend his home country that the Romans were able to get him out of Roman territory.

When the Romans eventually fought with Hannibal in Carthage, they defeated him. Indeed, the mighty Carthaginian general, who had brought the Roman Empire to its feet and lived for eight years within striking distance of Rome, was defeated by an attack on his home base.

Remember, a leader must expect an attack on his home base  that is the family, friendships, and alliances that are a source of his strength!

[email protected]

BY Dag Heward-Mills
The United Nations has called for an investigation into the killings last Sunday of residents of Kerneik, West Darfur in Sudan. An aid group working in the area said 168 people were killed, and 98 were wounded.

Calling for an immediate end to the violence that forced thousands more to flee, UN Special Representative Volker Perthes said in a statement that he wanted an in-depth and transparent investigation, the results of which should be made public and help to identify the perpetrators of violence and bring them to justice."

Health facilities were also attacked, the UN claims.

The fighting kicked off on Sunday after two people were killed by unknown assailants, according to Adam Regal, spokesman for the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced (GCRD) in Darfur.

A large group with heavy weapons attacked Kreinik in the early hours of Sunday, torching and looting properties, according to Regal.

The GCRD aids those displaced in the region with food and other assistance.

The UN reminds the authorities and armed groups of their international legal obligation to protect all civilians, and civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, schools and water systems, according to the UN statement.

It also took note that the Sudanese Armed Forces said it would evacuate the injured.

Free, safe and unhindered humanitarian access is urgently needed. The UN in Sudan stands ready to provide aid to those in need, it added.

The fighting stems from ethnic clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs, one of the deadliest in recent memory.

Coup and UN base closure

A military coup carried out in Sudan last October has created chaos for the Darfur region. Sudan's military leader, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, was the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which carried out rapes and murders in the region in 2014 and 2015, as documented by Human Rights Watch.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur ended in 2020, and inter-communal clashes have gradually increased since then.

Fighting broke out in 2003 after rebels rose up and launched an insurgency after feeling sidelined by far away Khartoum, the capital. Then-president Omar al-Bashir responded by sending Janjaweed militias, who have been accused of committing mass rapes and murder, including crimes against humanity.

An estimated 300,000 people were killed and 277 million forced to flee the fighting.
26.04.2022 LISTEN

The Director-General, Operations, of the Ghana Police Service, DCOP Mohammed Fuseini Suraj, has cautioned Muslims across the country against using Public Address Systems (PAS) to inconvenience others during their times of prayer.

In the last ten days of the Ramadan fast, especially when the Muslim faithful are enjoined to engage in lots of supplications and intercessions, especially during the wee times of the night, DCOP Suraj said the PA should not be used to disturb others. It should be toned down.

Members of the faith, he said, should make Islam attractive so that others would join.

Speaking as a guest speaker during the special Ramadan Quranic recitation and prayers organised by the Greater Accra Regional Commander, Singlana DCOP Seidu Iddi, to pray for the Ghana Police Service, other security agencies and the nation, he also cautioned Muslims against unruly conduct during the forthcoming Eid Ul Fitr.

The theme of the occasion was Towards A Shared Collective Responsibility For Security In Ghana.

Now that the COVID-19 protocols have been relaxed, and open air congregational prayers permitted as said by the Vice President, he appealed to Muslims to be circumspect in their conduct.

The tendency for such youth to sit in open vehicles rather dangerously should be avoided.

The police have at their disposal intelligent technology which can fish out acts of criminality.

To mothers, he said take care of your kids when you go for the congregational prayers on Eid day because the case of missing children is rampant on such occasions.

Muslim youth, he observed, top the list of motorbike riders and some of them do not abide by road traffic regulations. Those who disregard such regulations should not count on the intervention of the regional commander and myself in such circumstances because the law must work, he added.

The Singlana, the Regional Police Commander who was chairman of the occasion endorsed the appeal and caution of the Operations Commander when he demanded of Muslims to be disciplined.

He charged Muslims to be development-oriented and to be disciplined in whatever they do.

The last ten days of the Ramadan fasting, he said, should not be used to disturb others who might be resting in various homes.

The prayer session at the Accra Police Central Mosque was graced by representatives of sister security agencies who offered speeches of solidarity and admonitions to Muslims.

Also present were heads of Dagomba community in the various suburbs of Accra.

Prizes were awarded to persons who supported the cause of Islam in the Police Service.

---DGN online
Kinross Gold Corporation has announced that it had entered a deal with Asante Gold Corporation to sell its 90 per cent interest in the Chirano mine in Ghana.

The 90 per cent interest sale is said to be going for a total consideration of $225 million in cash and shares.

Kinross Gold Corporation announced this in a news release issued in Toronto, Canada and sighted by the Ghana News Agency.

The news release said The Ghanaian government has a 10 per cent carried interest in Chirano. Upon closing of the transaction, Kinross will receive $115 million in cash. Kinross will also receive a few Asante common shares having a value of $50 million based on the 30-day volume-weighted average price of Asante common shares prior to closing, provided that the issuance of Asante common shares will not result in Kinross exceeding a 9.9% ownership in Asante.

It said Kinross will also receive a total deferred payment of $60 million in cash, with 50 per cent payable on the first anniversary of closing and the other 50 per cent payable on the second anniversary of closing. If the 9.9 per cent share ownership limit is reached, the remainder of the $50 million will be paid by increasing the deferred cash payments in equal portions. The Company has agreed that it will hold its Asante common shares for at least 12 months following the closing of the transaction.

It said The transaction is expected to be completed on or around May 31, 2022. The Government of Ghana has issued a letter of no objection regarding the change of control.

The news release said Chirano represented approximately 3 per cent of Kinross' total mineral reserve estimates as of year-end 2021. With the expected close of the transaction, Kinross will have no assets or interests in Ghana.

It said, Kinross expects to update its 2022 and three-year guidance reflecting the recently announced pending sales of its assets in Russia and Ghana, as well as provide additional commentary regarding the sale transactions, as part of its upcoming Q1 2022 results disclosures.

It said Treadstone Resource Partners and Scotiabank are acting as financial advisors to Kinross, with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP acting as legal advisor, for the transaction.

Kinross is a Canadian-based senior gold mining company with mines and projects in the United States, Brazil, Russia, Mauritania, Chile, Ghana and Canada.

GNA
26.04.2022 LISTEN

The Supreme Court review panel presided over by Justice Jones Victor Mawulorm Dotse has dismissed an application filed by Justice Abdulai seeking a review of the ruling on the Deputy Speakers rights to vote case.

It can be recalled that a seven-member Supreme Court panel, on March 9, 2022, unanimously declared that the two Deputy Speakers of Parliament remain Members of Parliament, when they are presiding in the absence of the main Speaker and that they can vote and be counted as present for purposes of decision-making in the House.

This was after Justice Abdulai had filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking an interpretation of the law on the Deputy Speakers' rights to vote.

After the ruling from the seven-member Supreme Court panel, Justice Abdulai returned to the apex court with a review application earlier this month.

Sitting on the case today, a nine-member Supreme Court review panel presided over by Justice Jones Dotse has dismissed the application.

The SC review panel after hearing the submissions of the State and the applicant who represented himself ruled that the threshold required for a review application was not met. It then described the application as unmeritorious.

Considering the threshold that this review application is supposed to meet, we are of the considered view that this application falls short. The application is thus dismissed for being unmeritorious the presiding judge, Justice Jones Dotse said in his ruling on the matter.
Private legal practitioner Justice Abdulai has indicated that it is time to move on after his review application to the Supreme Court for the ruling on the Deputy Speakers rights to vote was dismissed.

Engaging the media after the ruling by the nine-member review panel of the Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, he said he will leave it to posterity to judge.

I think we have to move on as a nation. What I didnt want was the situation where posterity will question us as to why we didnt take this small window of opportunity that was available to us for a possible review of the decision of the Supreme Court on the 9th of March.

I think posterity will judge our call in the positive light that we did everything we ought to have done to get the sort of judgment that we needed but this is what the Supreme Court says and we all have to live by that, Justice Abdulai told journalists.

Today, the SC review panel presided over by Justice Jones Dotse after hearing the submissions of the State and the applicant who represented himself, ruled that the threshold required for a review application was not met and hence the application is unmeritorious.

Considering the threshold that this review application is supposed to meet, we are of the considered view that this application falls short. The application is thus dismissed for being unmeritorious the presiding judge, Justice Jones Dotse said in his ruling on the matter.

For the office of the Attorney General, the latest ruling by the Supreme Court is satisfactory.

The Supreme Court ruled that the application by Justice Abdulai is unmeritorious. I am satisfied with the ruling of the court, Deputy Attorney General, Diana Asonaba Dapaah told journalists.
Yunnans nature reserve releases HD pictures of critically endangered green peafowl

People's Daily Online) 14:36, April 26, 2022

A green peafowl fans its feathers at the Konglonghe Nature Reserve in Shuangbai county, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest Chinas Yunnan Province. (Photo/Wang Jiancai)

The Konglonghe Nature Reserve in Shuangbai county, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture of southwest Chinas Yunnan Province recently released a set of high-definition images of green peafowl, one of the rarest and most endangered wild animals in the world.

Green peafowl, the only peafowl species native to China, is under first-class national protection in the country. There are 555 to 600 of these birds in China.

Chuxiong prefecture is one of the main protection zones for green peafowl. In April 2003, the prefecture approved the establishment of the Konglonghe Nature Reserve. Since 2014, the prefecture has implemented projects to protect the species by enhancing monitoring, providing water and food, and protecting the habitats of wild green peafowl.

Infrared cameras installed at the nature reserve showed that the nature reserve has seen a continuous rise in the population of green peafowl, which increased from 56 in 2015 to about 160 in 2021.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)
Etilaat-e-Rooz(Translated by RAWA), April 24, 2022

A family in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province claims that Taliban forces killed a teenage boy and wounded two others.

Salahuddin, a member of the family, said that the incident took place last night (Saturday, April 24) in the seventh district of Jalalabad.

According to him, a 15-year-old boy, his name was Adel, was killed in a Taliban shooting.

The source said he was killed and two others were riding in a rickshaw.

Confirming the teenager's death, Zahir Mubarez, security chief of the Taliban police headquarters in Nangarhar, said Taliban forces said he had been killed by gunmen.

Mubarez added that four Taliban soldiers had been arrested in connection with the incident and that an investigation had been launched into the incident.

There have been cases of civilians being killed by Taliban forces before.
Top US officials hosted emergency talks with allies in Germany on Tuesday on supplying Kyiv with more weapons to fend off Russia's assault, as the UN's chief headed to Moscow in a bid to avert further escalation of the conflict. France promised to supply howitzers for Ukraine's army.

The meeting of 40 countries at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany comes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of only "pretending" to negotiate a cease-fire and warned of a "real" risk of a new world war.

Moscow's invasion of its neighbour, now in its eighth week, has triggered widespread outrage among Western nations who have provided weapons and other assistance to Ukraine's embattled President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But the Western powers have been reluctant to deepen their direct involvement, wary of drawing Moscow's ire and sparking military confrontations beyond Ukraine's borders.

"We believe that they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said following his visit to Kyiv on Sunday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The two officials promised $700 million in new aid to Ukraine, after months of pleas by Zelensky for heavier firepower.

Ceasar cannons

Meanwhile, France is delivering Caesar cannons with a range of 40 kilometres.

The Caesar (short for "Camion equipe d'un systeme d'artillerie" or Truck equipped with an artillery system is a self-propelled 155 mm/52-calibre gun-howitzer that is mounted on a 6 wheel truck chassis.

Ceasars are made by Nexter Systems, that belongs to KNDS, "the European leader in land defence" according to its website, a French-German-Dutch arms company that has its headquarters in Amsterdam, jointly owned by the French state, and German truck manufacturer Wegmann.

Britain has provided Starstreak anti-air missiles and tanks, and Germany will authorise the delivery of tanks to Ukraine according to Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht, marking a clear switch in Berlin's cautious policy on military backing for Kyiv.

Berlin has agreed to sign off the delivery of used Gepard anti-aircraft tanks.

The meeting is also aimed at ensuring Ukraine's security in the longer term once the war is over.

"It's really largely about modernising and making sure their military is still potent and capable going forward. It's not about security guarantees, it's about their actual military posture," said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on Friday.

The meeting on Tuesday will not be held under the auspices of NATO, even if the alliance's secretary general Jens Stoltenberg will be attending.

"As you know, NATO as an alliance is not providing security assistance to Ukraine, so this is not being done under the NATO umbrella at all," stressed Kirby.

Among the 40 invited countries are not only Washington's European allies, but also countries further afield like Japan or Australia, which fear that a Russian victory in Ukraine could set a precedent and spur on the territorial ambitions of China.

Finland and Sweden, traditionally neutral countries now looking at joining NATO following Russia's aggression in Ukraine, are also among countries at the talks.

(with wires)
Tigrayan rebels announced Tuesday that they have withdrawn from a region neighbouring war-wracked Tigray, fulfilling a key condition set by the government when it declared a humanitarian truce last month.

The claims could not be independently verified and government officials did not respond immediately to AFP requests for comment.

The 17-month conflict between government forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has sparked famine fears in Tigray and created a humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia as the fighting has expanded to neighbouring Amhara and Afar.

The withdrawal of the TPLF from Afar and Amhara was a major condition of the truce announced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government with a view to easing aid deliveries to Tigray, which has been under a de facto blockade according to the UN.

Although the pause in fighting allowed humanitarian convoys by road to resume this month after being cut off since mid-December, the region of six million people is still only receiving a fraction of what it needs.

On Tuesday, two TPLF spokesmen, Getachew Reda and Kindeya Gebrehiwot, told AFP that their forces had pulled out of Afar.

"We have already withdrawn from all parts of Afar," Kindeya said in a message to AFP, adding: "Humanitarian and political issues should be de-linked."

The announcement followed an open letter by the TPLF to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last Wednesday in which the rebels said they were "committed to further withdrawal of Tigray forces from Afar territory."

"The issue is whether or not there is a system in place to facilitate regular, sufficient and unfettered aid flow into Tigray," the letter said.

Blocking aid

The government and the rebels have long accused each other of blocking aid to Tigray, where people are living without basic services such as electricity, internet, telecommunications or banking.

The United States aid chief Samantha Power met Ethiopia's Finance Minister Ahmed Shide on Friday in Washington and urged the government to do "much more... to facilitate significant and sustained humanitarian access to all Ethiopians in need," a USAID statement said.

The war has killed untold numbers of people, displaced more than two million and left more than nine million in need of food aid, according to the UN.

The conflict erupted in November 2020 when Nobel Peace laureate Abiy sent troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF, the region's former ruling party, saying the move came in response to rebel attacks on army camps.

It followed months of seething tensions between the government and the TPLF, which had dominated politics in Ethiopia for three decades before Abiy came to power in 2018. ayv-amu/bp
26.04.2022 LISTEN

The electronic transfer levy as assented to on the 31st March, 2022 is said to be imposed on electronic transfers to enhance revenue mobilization by broadening the tax base and provide for related matters. The Act regulating this levy; The Electronic Transfer Levy Act, 2022, Act 1075, spells out its management, collecting authority, payments, recovery, and submission of reports, just as other existing national levies. The Levy is initially estimated to raise approximately a 6.9billion Ghana Cedis annually for the nation which has been argued by the former finance minister Seth Terkper to be immaterial to overcoming the anticipated deficit gap of Gh37billion by the end of the year 2022 (Business and Financial Times Online, 2021).

According to Brian Bass 2017, a government levy is a distinct tax imposed on citizens to cover budgets related to routing the business of running towns, states, or countries through referendums or laws (Brian, 2017). It represents an obligatory imbursement by a certain group of persons, to fund an associated public amenity and typically collected by a government or an agency formed by the government (Fingleton, 2005; Oyedele, 2014). Commonly, the policy in managing taxes is to require all proceeds collected by the government to be paid into a collective or consolidated fund first, after which payouts are made according to law and budgetary apportionments which is the case of the Electronic Transfer Levy of Ghana popularly referred to as e-levy. However, there also exist occurrences where special funds are established for special taxes or levies to be paid into for specific government agendas and this is often associated with setting up boards or other establishments, to direct the raising of the levy and its application to the distinct purpose concerned. In this way, government actions are lifted to such establishments, with probable consequences of lessening political interferences (Fingleton, 2005). The latter is the approach of special purpose levies (SPLs) which I wish to suggest Ghanas e- levy to be. I believe the design of Act 1075 has not been narrowed enough to meet some specifics in terms of government agendas to channel these funds into, guaranteeing accountability now and, in the future and continuity in national developmental policies regardless of which government is in power.

For instance, the Act states the electronic transfer levy (e-levy) is imposed to enhance revenue mobilization; which could only mean to improve, augment, increase, boost, supplement or complement all existing efforts bringing in income to the nation coffers. Taxation has always been a traditional way by which governments around the globe raise funds to finance its needs from its citizens or entities (Fritz et al, 2022) and only by improving or increasing it wont be enough of a purpose to impose a levy that before its passage, had caused chaos in the Ghanaian parliament (Graphic Online, 2021; Africanews, 2021). Narrowing the purpose to meet a special demand or project or challenge being faced by the country would be prominent to the administration now and in the future of this levy. We could take a clue from the also popular Energy Sector Levies (ESLA) which was imposed to specifically combine all prevailing energy sector levies for their resourceful use, pay legacy debts and other obligations within the energy sector, enable maintainable longstanding investments in the energy sector, and provide for related matters (Energy Sector Levies Act, 2015; ESLA Report, 2016) in so doing imposing the Energy Debt Recovery Levy to precisely take care of debt recoveries, Price stabilization and Recovery Levy to be used as a buffer for under-recoveries and to ensure steady petroleum prices and merging already existing levies such as Road Fund Levy to maintain roads, Energy Fund Levy to support the Energy Commission of Ghana, Public Lighting Levy to finance the running of community lights and to maintain public and traffic lights and National Electrification Scheme Levy to fund national electrification plans (Energy Sector Levies Act, 2015).

We can likewise talk of the Financial Sector Recovery Levy, also paid into the consolidated fund and collected by the Ghana Revenue Authority just as the e -levy but specifically imposed on banks in Ghana to raise revenue to provide funding for the financial sector restructurings and to provide for related matters (Financial Sector Recovery Levy Act, 2021); the Covid -19 Health Recovery Levy which imposed a special levy on the supply of goods and services and imports to raise revenue to support the COVID19 spendings and other associated matters (Covid  19 Health Recovery Levy Act, 2021); Sanitation and Pollution Levy under the ESLA to improve the quality of air in the city areas; to design, construct, and re-engineer waste treatment and dumping amenities; to build public health amenities; to fund disinfestation; and to provide a devoted fund for the upkeep and running of key landfill spots and other waste treatment plants and amenities across the country, appraised to generate GH311.7 million (N. Dowuona & Company, 2021); and an unending list of notable special levies such as National Health Insurance Levy, Exim Levy imposed to take care of some sort of specific government agendas.

Special purpose levies have a lasting history of meeting special needs for long term investments, armor a sector against the instabilities of national budgets, help kindle a more effective administration by government agencies and permit better oversight on spending and inasmuch as there are also disadvantages such as breeding corruption, trap funds which could have been used for a more beneficial investment and occasionally averting superlative apportionment of government budgets (Fingleton, 2005) which either of these could be the reason for formulating the electronic transfers levy in its current form, I still would suggest it should be a special purpose levy considering the current trend of government spendings (Bloomberg, 2022; Trading Economics, 2022) and the lot of government policies or agendas that need some kind of financial backbones to aid their execution (Agenda 111, Free SHS, 1D1F, etc). These funds could be channeled into any of these projects to ensure that they are achieved and this way, Ghanaians who subscribe to electronic transfers can concretely ascertain what they are paying for. Narrowing the purpose of the electronic transfers levy coupled with public education could in a longer-term affect the number of subscribers positively and increase financial inclusion contrary to the current situation where a lot of Ghanaians are withdrawing their funds upon hearing of the passage of the levy (Ghanaweb, 2022; Modern Ghana, 2022).

References

Brian Bass, (2017). The Definition of a Government Levy; https://bizfluent.com/info-8271373-definition-government-levy.html

Taiwo Oyedele, (2014). Is it a tax or a levy? What you should know about the new changes introduced by IFRIC Interpretation 21 on Levies: https://www.pwc.com/ng/en/assets/pdf/tax-watch-august-2014.pdf

Jim Fingleton, (2005). Funding options for agricultural development: The case for special-purpose levies: https://www.fao.org/3/bb077e/bb077e.pdf

Business and Financial Times, (2021). E-levy too insignificant to close deficit gap, find better ways  Terkper; https://thebftonline.com/2021/12/08/e-levy-too-insignificant-to-close-deficit-gap-find-better-ways-terkper/

Neumark, Fritz, Cox, Maria S. and McLure, Charles E.. "taxation". Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Feb. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/taxation. Accessed 9 April 2022.

Graphic Online, (2021). Blows in parliament over E-Levy voting; https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/blows-in-parliament-over-e-levy-voting.html

Africanews, (2021). Brawl in Ghana's parliament over proposed e-levy; https://www.africanews.com/2021/12/21/brawl-in-ghana-s-parliament-over-proposed-e-levy/

ESLA (2015). Energy Sector Levies Act, 2015, Act 899; https://www.eslaplc.com/pages/download/Energy_Sector_levies.pdf

Financial Sector Recovery Levy Act, (2021). https://gra.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FINANCIAL-SECTOR-RECOVERY-LEVY-ACT2021.pdf

Covid  19 Health Recovery Levy Act, (2021). https://gra.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Covid-19-Health-Recovery-Levy-Act.pdf

N. Dowuona & Company, (2021). Ghana Imposes New Levies on the Energy Sector; https://www.ndowuona.com/insights/114-ghana-imposes-new-levies-on-the-energy-sector

Ghanaweb, (2022). E-Levy passage triggers instant mad rush for MoMo withdrawals; https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/E-Levy-passage-triggers-instant-mad-rush-for-MoMo-withdrawals-1504748

Modern Ghana, (2022). Massive panic withdrawals hit MoMo after passage of E-Levy  Ken Ashigbey laments; https://www.modernghana.com/news/1149161/momo-industry-experiencing-panic-withdrawals-after.html

Bloomberg (2022). Ghana Prepares Spending Cut to meet Budget Deficit Target; https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-23/ghana-prepares-spending-cuts-to-meet-budget-deficit-target

Trading Economics, (2022). Ghana Government Spending; Ghana Government Spending - 2021 Data - 2022 Forecast - 2013-2020 Historical - Chart (tradingeconomics.com)
Agenda 111 is a nationally known and acceptable flagship policy of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government led by His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. It is understandably all about the presidents vision to construct one hundred and eleven government hospitals, one each in the one hundred and eleven districts in Ghana that are currently without any, or standard, government-built district hospitals.

It is a noble idea for the president to be that visionary to consider the health of Ghanaians as vital to the nations economic emancipation and nation building hence desiring to construct more hospitals to cater for Ghanaians.

However, to the proud and fearless son of Kumawu/Asiampa, Rockson Adofo, I see the presidents unrelenting determination to ensure that every district in Ghana is provided with a befitting government-built hospital as simply a political gimmick, if it does not include Kumawu district.

How can Kumawu district be left out of the provision of district hospitals, if I dare to query the president and his NPP government? Kumawu district, for the attention of the worldwide public, is without any district hospital of the nature His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo intends to build for every district as envisioned in his probably commenced Agenda 111

However, Kumawu Sekyere district or constituency has always been voting NPP in every general election except two. The first exception was when democratic elections were first introduced in Ghana to elect the nations first president and parliament in which Mr Krobo Adusei of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) was elected the member of parliament for Sekyere East Constituency, and Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the president. The second time was during the 1992 general elections where the NPP boycotted the parliamentary elections on the advice of its flagbearer-cum-presidential candidate Professor Adu Boahene, my Juaben-Ashanti compatriot.

The boycotting of the parliamentary election of 1992 was based on the clearly ascertained fact, or suspicion that then Head of State Jerry John Rawlings of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), turned into a civilian, formed the NDC political party, and contesting as a presidential-candidate, had rigged the presidential election preceding the parliamentary one to win the presidency. Therefore, what was the guarantee that he was not going to rig the parliamentary one for his party?

. Only the NDC and other marginal parties filed candidates for the 1992 parliamentary election hence NDC winning the Kumawu Sekyere constituency for the first and last time as at writing.

For this reason, the NPP did not file any candidates throughout the country to contest in that election as said.

Why should Kumawu constituency or district that has always been voting NPP be left out when it comes to the sharing of the national cake, e.g. district hospitals?

The public must note that the NDC government under former President John Dramani Mahama started a US$20 million district hospital in Kumawu. It was almost one third (1/3) complete when NDC lost election 2016 on 7 December 2016 to usher in the NPP government led by Nana Akufo-Addo. Since then, the NPP-led government has abandoned the hospital, left it at the vagaries of the weather to ruin.

From the credible information available to me, the NPP believe the cost of the hospital was not only inflated but suspect some NDC government officials embezzled part of the money earmarked for the construction of the hospital hence the need for an official investigation to be conducted into it.

Be that as it may, how long is it going to take the NPP government to complete their investigations? Will it take them until thy Kingdom come to do it?

They are now into their second year of their second term in office, thus, over five years into power now, yet, they have not completed their supposed investigations. Is that not deliberate on their part to deny Kumawu district a government-built district hospital, or it is sheer incompetence on their part to be unable to conduct credible investigations within five years?

If say, the NDC-led government by former President John Dramani Mahama did actually inflate the cost to embezzle some of the money, should Kumawuman citizens who vote massively NPP all the time, be the culprits hence denied their share of the nationwide district-based hospitals as under discussion?

Are the citizens of Kumawu district not rather to be seen as victims to be sympathised with? The NPP are joking!

Most Kumawu people that I had the opportunity to interact with while on holiday in Ghana in February/March 2022, have decided to vote differently come election 2024. They are not ready to continue to remain with, or vote, NPP, to be taken for fools all the time. If they are married to NPP, they are willing and ready to seek divorce, come 2024.

I perfectly understand them. I agree with them.

To conclude, the Agenda 111 will not be complete unless it is linked up with the completion of the now abandoned 1/3  way built Kumawu district hospital.

The citizens of Kumawuman love for NPP should not be taken for their stupidity!

This publication certainly provides food for thought!

Rockson Adofo

Tuesday, 26 April 2022
The Northern Regional Youth Wing for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) led by the Youth Organizer, Abdul Karim Mumin has expressed concerns over the recent allegations by one Evelyn Adu popularly known as Serwaa Broni that she has had an intimate relationship with President Akufo-Addo, which the president latter used state security to harass.

Mr. Karim and the NDC youth are demanding that President Akuffo Addo should come out to break his long silence on what they described as "damning scandal" for the whole world to know the truth.

"The Northern Regional youth wing of National Democratic Congress led by Comrade Karim Mumin is particularly happy with the minority in parliament for showing much interest in the issue and promising to have the matter investigated. The youth of this country will be guided by their facts findings, and we will give them whatever support they will need in this matter if it turns out to be true", he wrote in a statement.

"President Akuffo Addo should come out to break his long silence on this damning scandal. The president must also tell the people of Ghana how much of the taxpayers money has been used by his clean up team to negotiate and pay compensation to the numerous side-chicks all in efforts to conceal

his sexual escapades", the release added.

According to the NDC Youth Organizer, it is however strange that persons that were supposed to be seen talking against this are rather quiet, calling on all other voices in this country to rise up from "their long sleep" and let their voices be heard on the matter.

"The church and the mosque must begin to speak, the clergy and all the councils, the chiefs and women groups and all the opinion leaders must stand up and speak truth to power", he appealed.

"The media which is supposed to be the 4 arm of government, discharging their duties without any fear and intimidation unfortunately have lost their voices on this matter. It is worrying that the media that is supposed to give voice to the voiceless will remain deadly silence about this serious allegation of president Akuffo Addo's sexual escapade with Ms. Evelyn Serwaa Broni", Mr. Karim concluded.

Below is the full statement:
Ebenezer Acheampong, the former Head of Procurement at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) has said that Agribusiness is the way forward for the economic development of Ghana and has urged all farmers to take advantage of the emerging opportunities and go into crop farming.

He said this during an Agribusiness Summit organized by the Men Ministry of the Church of Pentecost, Obuasi Area.

The Church of Pentecost Men Ministry (PEMEM) in Obuasi Area under the chairmanship of Apostle Williams Boakye Agyarko held the summit on Saturday 23rd of April 2022 at the Bedieso Chapel Auditorium in Obuasi under the theme Equipping Men with Opportunities and Skill Set to Possess the Nations.

Mr. Acheampong mentioned that the fundamental elements and their percentages are key to one's bid to be prosperous in business. He stated that for one to be prosperous, Knowledge and Wisdom takes ten percent (10%), Character takes forty percent (40%), and the Environment takes the remaining fifty percent (50%). He then advised the farmers to study their environment by way of needs before going into a particular crop farming, acquire knowledge before taking any adventure and to also possess the right character for it.

After setting the context, the guest speaker also spoke about agribusiness value chain and the emerging opportunities in agriculture. He categorized the agribusiness value chain into four segments (1. Input Manufacturing and Production, 2. Input Sales and Supply, 3. Farming and Harvesting, 4. Processing, Packaging and Retailing). He went on to explain the business opportunities in all the segments and encouraged the participants to find a suitable segment for themselves.

He again informed the farmers the six emerging Tree Crops such as Coconut Trees, Rubber Trees, Oil Palm Trees, Mango Trees, Cashew Trees and Shea Trees required for the socio-economic development of Ghana and asked the farmers to pursue those tree crops, take advantage of government initiative and support for growing these Trees for their personal benefit and that of the nation.

The summit saw One Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixty-Eight (1,268) members and Pastors from all the Twenty-Eight (28) Districts in the Area.

Apostle William Boakye Agyarko  The Area Head of the Church of Pentecost in Obuasi admonished all Christians to be diligent in their work for the blessings of God to be manifested in their lives.

He advised the members not to be lazy but work hard in their chosen profession. He mentioned that contemporary Christians prefer to pray for the blessings of God without doing any work but said "our God blesses us through our hard work and diligence as stated in the bible".

The Area Men Ministry Leader  Pastor Benjamin Sarpong Mensah thanked the facilitators, the guest speaker and asked all the members to use the knowledge acquired for the betterment of their lives, the society and to possess the nations for Christ.
26.04.2022 LISTEN

The pandemic drove home the high value of personal data to the global economy, while also highlighting its vulnerability to abuse and attack. In response, governments around the world, including those in Africa, have been reviewing their data privacy and protection laws and regulations to ensure they are adequately protected. Lawyers in Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe recently commented on this issue in Baker McKenzies new Africa Data Security and Privacy Guide.

According to Enid Baaba Dadzie, Senior Associate at Kimathi & Partners in Ghana, the African Union has adopted the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection (also known as the Malabo Convention). This Convention encourages AU member states to recognise the need to protect critical cyber/ICT infrastructure, personal data and the free flow of information, with the aim of developing a credible digital space in Africa. However, it has not taken effect as only a few countries in Africa have ratified it. Some African countries have implemented domestic laws and regulations to protect personal data, while others offer little to no protection.

In light of the current technological trends and innovations, and digital trade, it is imperative for African countries to implement data privacy and protection policies. African countries must have laws that take care of the local nuances and fit the local context, without simply replicating the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and other frameworks, she said.

Sonal Sejpal, Partner at ALN Kenya | Anjarwalla & Khanna agreed, noting that Africa was more connected now than ever to the rest of the world in terms of trade, and the increasing number of foreign entities doing business in Africa.

The natural consequence of this is that personal data will continue to move across borders. Therefore, it is imperative that data privacy and data protection laws are implemented across the continent, she explained.

The benefits of such laws are numerous. Sonal noted, With implementation of data protection laws, the resultant effect is that there will be more protections to data subject rights. Additionally, Africa will have more control over those who process the personal data of data subjects present in Africa, limiting what they can do with personal data once collected, and throughout the life cycle of processing personal data. Furthermore, African countries will be able to exert more influence over the transfer of personal data from African countries, both intra-Africa and inter-Africa. This will ensure that measures are in place to secure personal data during personal data transfers, she said.

Raphael Jakoba, Managing Partner at MCI Law Firm in Madagascar, concurred that it was essential for African countries, such as Madagascar, to adapt to the evolution of technologies and the new realities of digital development.

These new issues raise new risks and problems that African countries must imperatively address, and to which they must respond through the adoption of modern and updated regulations, he said.

Pierre Deprez, an Associate at Nasrollah & Associes Baker McKenzie in Morocco, said, "Baker McKenzie in Morocco, noted, Having strong regulations on data protection is nowadays crucial in Africa in general, and especially in Morocco, regarding the exponential rise of data processing due to the use of smartphones and e-commerce this past decade. On the one hand, it ensures the protection of citizens and their fundamental rights. On the other, a solid data protection law helps to reassure the foreign investor/interlocutor who wishes to exchange personal data for business purposes."

Saad Khaldi, an Associate at Nasrollah & Associes Baker McKenzie in Morocco, agreed, "Strong data privacy regulation should be seen by African countries and businesses as a competitive advantage in a globalized word, where local and international data processing is key to gaining profitability."

Ijeoma Uju, Partner at Templars Law Firm in Nigeria, noted that it was imperative that African countries develop a strong and more coherent framework for data protection by enacting comprehensive laws and regulations for the protection of personal data and privacy of its citizens.

Ijeoma said that the growth of e-commerce and business in general in African countries makes the need for data protection more pressing. Multinational organizations looking for investment opportunities in these countries may limit their business explorative activities in Africa due to the absence of, or lack of clarity around, data protection law. This is particularly because multinational companies collect and process a large amount of personal data in the ordinary course of their business. Thus, in order to conduct business effectively and safely in Africa, organizations need to understand the scope of data protection laws in such countries.

Emmanuel Muragijimana, Principal Associate at K-Solutions & Partners in Rwanda, commented that data was increasingly becoming an important asset, and collecting and sharing data could serve as big business in the present days digital economy. In addition, citizens are also increasingly becoming aware of the importance of protecting ones personal data.

African countries, therefore, cannot afford to be left behind. They have to ensure that they put in place legislation to secure the protection of data and privacy in order to prevent issues stemming from unprotected data, such as unauthorized use of ones personal data without their knowledge, as well as the negative impact on a company or organizations reputation should it face sanctions, among other factors, he explained.

Janet MacKenzie, Partner and Head of the IPTech Practice at Baker McKenzie in South Africa, said that rapid digitization, boosted by the pandemic, meant that it is now critical to implement policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks that are intended to guide and enforce the protection and security of personal data, not just in Africa but around the world.

Failure to do so will lead to business failure, massive financial loss, loss of investment and a devastating rise in criminality, she noted.

Kafui Achille Amekoudi, Avocat at AMKA Law Firm in Togo (Cabinet Me AMEKOUDI), explained that the penetration rate of the internet in Africa was constantly increasing, because Africa has realized the importance of the internet as a vector of development.

With a population of more than a billion inhabitants, Africa is potentially a huge mine of personal data, which explains the proliferation of GAFAM projects to better connect the continent. It is therefore important, already at the primary stage, to regulate data privacy and protection, he said.

Arnold Lule Sekiwano, Partner at Engoru, Mutebi Advocates in Uganda, explained that recently, there has been an upsurge in the data processing industry in respect of the data mining and data analytics areas.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also led to an increase in remote access to information and data globally. It is therefore imperative that African countries raise awareness, invest in training and set up relevant infrastructure to enable the implementation of data privacy and protection.

There is a vast need for autonomous data protection and privacy regulatory bodies which can independently impose and collect fines so that funds are not lost in corruption and embezzlement, and so that personal data is lawfully collected and processed, and breaches are managed throughout the continent, to promote economic and social development, he said.

Amalia Manuel, Partner at Atherstone & Cook in Zimbabwe agreed, stating that it was crucial for African countries to put in place laws regulating the protection of data in light of global technological advancements.
The Accra East Regional Office of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has disconnected illegal water pipelines built by two water suppliers (sellers) in the Adjiringanor-Madina Nsamanpom area, in the Accra North-East District.

The sellers, who operate opposite the Intelligent Minds International School, had illegally connected 12-pipelines and 10-pipelines respectively in addition to their one legally connected pipelines.

Mr Paul Akpanya, the Regional Distribution Manager of the Office, said the suppliers, had by their misconduct denied the residents in the operating community and surrounding communities access to good water flow in their homes.

That, widened the market of the suppliers as they distributed water to the same residents via poly tanks in their homes for sale, he said.

Mr Akpanya explained that the Non-Revenue team of the GWCL two weeks ago, discovered around the A & C Shopping Mall area, East Legon, that a water supplier had illegally connected five pipes.

We disconnected the pipes, invited him to our office, gave him a bill to settle and when he is not able to, we will take him to court. That's how we do it, we treat it like we treat all illegal connections and bypasses, he added.

So we've disconnected all illegal ones and left the legal connection for them, which will have a metre to make them pay for the actual volume of water they consume. From today, we can tell you, everybody in this neighborhood will start getting water, Mr Akpanya added.

He explained that the GWCL would need to calculate the total diameter of pipelines illegally fixed in order to calculate the volumes and the loss run by the Company.

The Regional Distribution Manager said the exercise was triggered by constant complaints from residents in Ogbojo and Adjiringanor over their poor and/or no water supply to their homes.

So we made it a point to find out the reason because we are working very well and supply water according to our management plan, so we didn't understand why water gets to certain places and not certain places.

So our investigation made us find out they have connected illegal pipelines to tanks underground. And once their tank is down, it means the water drains down into the tanks and the residents whose poly tanks are on their roofs will never get the water, he explained.

Those involved in the illegal connection chastised the Water Company for not informing them of the disconnection.

One of them said: The Water Company should have alerted us they were coming here. We work with them and we are not enemies to them. This demolition exercise will deprive many of our customers of water.

Some residents expressed joy and satisfaction at the disconnection of the illegal pipes in anticipation that water will flow into their homes afterwards.

GNA
The President, His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has assured the France government of Ghanas continuous cooperation and friendship in his congratulatory message to President Emmanuel Macron.

The president took to his Facebook page on Monday, April 25, 2022 to congratulate Emmanuel Macron on his historic re-election as President.

I assure him of my and Ghanas co-operation and continuing friendship. Warm congratulations to His Excellency Emmanuel Macron on his historic re-election, for a 2nd term, as President of the French Republic, he stated.

He further wished him luck in the exercise of his duties, especially in uniting the French nation and helping to withstand the economic problems confronting Europe and the world at large.

President Akufo-Addo affirms his hope that the French citizens are in safe hands under Emmanuel Macron.

I wish him well in the discharge of his mandate, and in the crucial tasks of uniting the French nation and helping to weather the buffering storms confronting Europe and the world. I am confident that the future of the French people is secure in his hands," he stressed.

His Excellency Emmanuel Macron defeated his far-right rival Marine Le Pen with a total vote of 18,779,641 representing 58.5% against Le Pens 13,297,760 representing 41.5% in the second run-off elections held on Sunday, April 24, after the first round ended at par on April 10, 2022.
We, the Concerned Members of NPP Germany, have become aware of a whimsical decision by the party's Chairman, Mr Freddie Blay to compel the Branch to open the electoral roll contrary to the Branch's rules and regulations, and National Council resolutions one month to the Branch's elections.

We don't only find this decision to be arbitrary, but also illegal. Where is Mr. Blay deriving his motivation from? What is the basis of his decision? It's bizarre that he'd allow himself to be scammed this way. As an experienced lawyer, he failed to adhere to the basic tenet of fair trial which requires you hear the other side - "audi alteram partem" rule.

We, the Concerned Members of NPP Germany are stridently opposed to any attempts to manipulate the electoral process in favour of Mr Blay's 'darling girl'. For the record, the agitator who broke away from the party in the last elections and her team brought a petition before the Branch National Council which we opposed on the basis of law.

The Branch National Council upon hearing the two sides of the story, upheld our opposition which essentially was in line with its own resolutions and the party's rules and regulations. We laid enough factual basis that led to an irresistible conclusion that, Mr Blay's 'darling girl' and her surrogates, were not truthful, mischievous, and diabolic in their agenda.

Subsequently, we made copies of our opposition to the party's headquarters. Since then, we have not been called to narrate our side of the story, and so, it is shocking that such an arbitrary and illegal fiat would be issued without recourse to our side of the story. Indeed, it ought to be placed on record that, similar to the events of the impending elections, Mr Blay supported his 'darling girl' to breakaway from the Branch after she lost abysmally at the last elections.

Whatever is driving Mr Blay to follow his 'darling girl' so blindly, remains a jigsaw puzzle to be figured out. Not only did we the Concerned Members garner over 40 signatories to assent to our petition expressing resentments against manipulation of the electoral rules, more than half of the candidates issued a memorandum opposing any such move; since such a move will not only be a recipe for chaos, but also an avenue for manipulators like Mr Blay's 'darling girl' to populate the register with non-party members.

By this release, we're serving notice that, if Mr Blay wants to wreck the Branch, so be it. Because, we are vowing never to comply with his illegal, arbitrary, and capricious order which clearly is animated by something fishy and 'erotic'.

Notice is hereby served!

Alhajj Suleman, Stuttgart Chapter

Convener
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
The Electricity Company Ghana (ECG) has a rolled-out mechanism to reward 6 percent of the surcharge amount to any informant whose tip-off leads to the arrest of illegal power consumers upon confirmation of the crime.

The public is encouraged to report any act of illegal connection to the nearest ECG office or call the task force at +233551444011. The identity of the informants will remain strictly confidential.

Ms. Sakyiwaa Mensah ECG Tema Region Public Relations Officer stated this during a media encounter monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema on Tuesday.

She also disclosed that ECG has upscale efforts to deal with illegal power consumers across the country, retrieve what they owe the company and also institute possible legal actions if necessary.

The ECG has therefore formed a National Revenue Protection Taskforce led by a Coordinator from the Ministry of Energy to unearth illegal connection activities in all ECG operational areas. The task force has also been mandated to collect all debt owed to the company.

She said, all defaulting ECG customers and governmental institutions including State-Owned Enterprises will be disconnected by the taskforce so long as their bills are in arrears as stipulated by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission regulations.

Ms. Mensah said the ECG reserves the right to publish the names of customers whose bills are in arrears and advised customers to pay their bills to avoid embarrassment.

She also urged customers to inspect the Identification Cards of anyone or group of persons who will appear as ECG task force officers and cooperate fully with the officials in the interest of the nation.

In a related development Mr. Emmanuel Appoe, Tema Regional ECG Engineer has reiterated that ECG, Tema Region has invested a total of GHC989,800.00 in five major projects to improve reliable power supply to customers within its operational areas.

He said out of the total amount, GHC142,141.92 was invested in the upgrading of undersized conductors serving Tema Community eight and its environs.

The Tema Regional Office covers Tema, Nungua, Prampram, Afienya, Ashaiman, Ada, and Krobo districts.

.Mr Appoe said the project was undertaken within the first half of the year 2021 and included the construction of links between two of their main overhead sub-transmission to benefit Tema Communities five, and eleven and parts of Community six.

Mr. Appoe who is the Acting General Manager of ECG Tema said the construction of the link makes it possible for the transfer of load from one feeder to the other in case of repair works to ensure continuous power supply.

He added that another project was the restoration of faulty underground sub-transmission link cables between two substations to ensure that Communities five, six, and ten get a better supply of power.

In some areas, the Company realized that the load on the available transformers were getting too high, hence, resulting in low voltage to customers in the catchment area. Several transformers were added to the existing ones serving Power City and surrounding areas in Prampram, Community 19, and behind the Emef Estate, he said.

The Company, he said was committed to its mission of providing safe, quality, and reliable electricity services to clients, therefore, the reason for investing heavily in the projects.

He urged developers, and the general public to desist from encroaching on the right of way which might have electricity network installations saying doing so often led to unnecessary delays in case of faults repairing, which eventually leads to delayed outage periods.

He also admonished the public against illegal connections which end up overloading ECGs transformers and therefore people the public to report suspected cases of illegal connections.

Illegal connections are one of the main reasons for transformer overloads, which leads to low voltages for consumers and sometimes, a total breakdown of the transformers, hence, plunging customers into outages till the transformers are replaced, Mr. Appoe stated.
The 2021 US Report on Human Rights Practices in Ghana has accused government and its various security institutions of disregarding the law that requires protection against arbitrary arrests and detention.

According to the report released on 12 April 2022, although the law requires detainees to be brought before a court within 48 hours of arrest in the absence of a judicial warrant, authorities frequently detain individuals without charge or a valid arrest warrant for periods longer than 48 hours.

In the report, government officials working in the security services are accused of detaining some prisoners for indefinite periods by renewing warrants or simply allowing warrants to lapse while an investigation took place.

The report adds that while the constitution grants the right to legal aid, the government often did not provide it.

The government has a Legal Aid Commission that provides defense attorneys to those in need, but the commission was often unable to do so. Defendants in criminal cases who could not afford a lawyer typically represented themselves.

The law requires that any detainee not tried within a reasonable time, as determined by the court, must be released either unconditionally or subject to conditions necessary to compel the persons appearance at a later court date. The definition of reasonable time, however, has never been legally determined or challenged in the courts. As a result, officials rarely observed this provision, parts of the US reports reveal.

Find more from excerpts of the report below:

Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

The constitution and law provide for protection against arbitrary arrest and detention, but the government frequently disregarded these protections.

Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees

The law requires detainees be brought before a court within 48 hours of arrest in the absence of a judicial warrant, but authorities frequently detained individuals without charge or a valid arrest warrant for periods longer than 48 hours. Officials detained some prisoners for indefinite periods by renewing warrants or simply allowing warrants to lapse while an investigation took place. The constitution grants a detained individual the right to be informed immediately, in a language the person understands, of the reasons for detention and of his or her right to a lawyer. Most detainees, however, could not afford a lawyer. While the constitution grants the right to legal aid, the government often did not provide it. The government has a Legal Aid Commission that provides defense attorneys to those in need, but the commission was often unable to do so. Defendants in criminal cases who could not afford a lawyer typically represented themselves. The law requires that any detainee not tried within a reasonable time, as determined by the court, must be released either unconditionally or subject to conditions necessary to compel the persons appearance at a later court date. The definition of reasonable time, however, has never been legally determined or challenged in the courts. As a result, officials rarely observed this provision. The government sought to reduce the population of prisoners in pretrial detention by placing paralegals in some prisons to monitor and advise on the cases of pretrial detainees, and assist with the drafting of appeals, and by directing judges to visit prisons to review and take action on pretrial detainee cases.

The law provides for bail, including those accused of serious crimes, but courts often struggled to come to timely decisions concerning bail or used their unlimited discretion to set bail at prohibitively high levels.

Arbitrary Arrest: The general practice of holding detainees without proper warrant or charge continued (see Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees).

On May 20, police arrested 21 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex (LGBTQI+) activists in the city of Ho on spurious unlawful assembly charges. Authorities released the activists on June 11, and dropped the case on

August 5 (see section 6, Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity).

Pretrial Detention: Lengthy pretrial detention remained a serious problem. In September the Ghana Prisons Service indicated 1,595 prisoners, approximately 12 percent of all prisoners, were in pretrial status. The government kept prisoners in extended pretrial detention due to police failure to investigate or follow up on cases, case files lost when police prosecutors rotated to other duties every three years, slow trial proceedings marked by frequent adjournments, detainees inability to meet bail conditions that were often set extremely high even for minor offenses, and inadequate legal representation for criminal defendants. The length of pretrial detention exceeded the maximum sentence for the alleged crime in numerous instances.

Inadequate recordkeeping contributed to prisoners being held in egregiously excessive pretrial detention, a few for up to 10 years. Judicial authorities continued implementing a case tracking system on a trial basis in seven different regions. The system tracked cases from initial arrest to remand custody in the prisons, prosecution in the courts, and incarceration or dismissal. The system was envisioned to be used by all judicial and law enforcement participants, including police, public defenders, prosecutors, courts, prisons, the Legal Aid Commission, the Economic and Organized Crimes Office, and NGOs, with the intention of increasing transparency and accountability. Some commentators believed the tracking system could be used to press for release of remand prisoners held for lengthy periods.

Detainees Ability to Challenge Lawfulness of Detention before a Court: The law provides for the right of any person to challenge the lawfulness of his or her arrest or detention in court, but lack of legal representation for detainees inhibited this right.
The Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) opens Ghanaians to a market of 1.2 billion people across the continent and provides endless possibilities for sociology-economic growth of the population.

It is estimated that the agreement will increase Africas export by $560 billion, mostly in manufacturing, the Reverend Dr. Samuel Worlanyo Mensah, the Executive Director, Center for Greater Impact African (CGIA) has stated at the Ghana News Agency Industrial News Hub Boardroom Dialogue platform in Tema.

The GNA Tema Industrial News Hub Boardroom Dialogue is a media think-tank platform for state and non-state and commercial and business operators to communicate to the world and address global issues, which was monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema.

Rev. Dr. Mensah urged the private sector to take advantage of the agreement by expanding production both in the industrial, and agriculture sectors while taking the lead in the socio-economic transformation of the country at the same time.

He said AfCFTA presents an incredible opportunity for Ghanaians to scale up activities and expand into the African market.

He said, The AfCFTA provides a structure for Ghanas foreign traders, producers, and stakeholders in the value chain to grip its existence in the country to successfully trade with their fellow partners in Africa or even the world at large.

Dr. Mensah who is also an economist emphasized that the agreement aims to reduce all trade costs and enable Africa to integrate further into the global chains adding that AfCFTA will eliminate 90 percent of tariffs, focus on outstanding non-tariff barriers, and create a single market with free movement of goods and services.

He noted that AfCFTA will expose the Ghanaian economy to be an industrial and aviation hub pointing out that every major bank will set up a branch in the country to create more opportunities.

The Governance Think-Tank Executive Director explained the intracontinental export would also increase by 81 percent whiles the increase to non-African countries would be 19 percent.

Meanwhile, Dr. Chris Kpodar, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Solomon Investments Ghana Limited has indicated that the advent of Artificial Intelligence has become necessary in all spheres of life and gradually becoming the future, Ghana and other third world countries must join the technological drive through strategic policies.

He admonished that Ghana and Africa as a whole, take artificial intelligence more seriously and implement some of these services in the agricultural, energy, educational and all other relevant sectors that tip a balance in favour of achieving a sustainable world.

He stated that the artificial intelligence resonance is a multi-sectorial discipline that is hinged around social, political, environmental, and most especially, economic grounds because that is the blood engine of every countrys development.

Dr. Kpodar who served as Consultant for Africa and the Middle East advising governments and companies on investment stated while addressing the topic: Artificial Intelligence and sustainable development.

Dr. Kpodar formerly of the United Nations encouraged young people to learn and draw level with the new trends of artificial intelligence and its benefits and implications on industrialization.

Everyone who wants to be relevant in this age does not require just reading and writing but knowing and applying artificial intelligence, therefore, I have always advocated that no education should take place without practical training, he said.

Dr. Kpodar, who is also a Chief Technical Advisor for the Centre for Greater Impact Africa (CGIA) explained that artificial intelligence alone can make the world food-sufficient and poverty-free if adopted and applied well.

This, he explained that artificial intelligence could be used for a wide range of things including setting rain patterns favourable for planting and harvesting seasons which will be a more sustainable way of producing and storing food all year long.
There were an estimated 241 million malaria cases and 627 000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2020. This represents about 14 million more cases in 2020 compared to 2019, and 69,000 more deaths.

Approximately two-thirds of these additional deaths (47 000) were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis, and treatment during the pandemic.

The latest data show that the worst-case scenario projected by the World Health Organization (WHO)  a doubling of malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa  did not come to pass available to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema.

However, moderate disruptions to malaria services led to a marked increase in cases and deaths in 2020 over the previous year.

Addressing the issues Ms. Ruth Abekah, Health Education and Promotions, Ghana Christian University College said malaria remains a major public health burden in Ghana, therefore, Ghanaians must adhere to preventive measures in a bid to reduce the rising cases in the country.

Ms. Abekah explained that malaria is a potentially life-threatening parasitic disease that could be very fatal when not earlier or properly treated, adding that the focus must not only be on other diseases because malaria is very much around.

"People get malaria when an infected mosquito bites them and a mosquito becomes infected when it bites a person with malaria, Ms. Abekah stated during a seminar organized at the Palace Temple of the Church of Pentecost to mark the World Malaria Day in Ashaiman.

She identified some malaria symptoms as flu, adding that a person with malaria could experience signs such as fever and sweating, chills that shakes the whole body, headache, muscle aches, fatigue, chest pain, breathing problems, and cough.

"Diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and as malaria progresses, it can cause anemia and jaundice. A person with malaria can also have a bitter taste as well," she said.

Ms. Abeka urged residents to endeavor to avoid mosquito bites, put screens on windows and doors, sleep under a treated mosquito net, wear long clothing to cover the skin, avoid mosquito breeding areas, apply mosquito repellents, living in well-ventilated rooms among others.

She stated that risk factors for malaria included low utilization of insecticide-treated bed nets, low utilization of Indoor Residual Spray (IRS), availability of multiple mosquito breeding sites or stagnant water sites near homes, and staying outdoors overnight, and others.

Ms. Abekah noted that everyone stands a risk of getting infected by malaria including children, adults, pregnant women, and the aged; "We need to be aware of malaria disease and protect and prevent it as well as children or babies must be critically taken care off when signs and symptoms start exhibiting itself".

She also cautioned pregnant women to take their medications and report to health facilities when they suspect such signs and symptoms of malaria.
GRA Assistant Commissioner Mrs Marfo

26.04.2022 LISTEN

This month has been dedicated to the sensitization of taxpayers on their tax obligations and benefits, with emphasis on the voluntary contribution the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) disclosed on Tuesday as it launched the 2022 Tax and Good Governance Month in Tema, and Ashaiman tax regimes under the Accra East Area.

Assistant Commissioner, Mrs. Eugenia Marfo, Accra East Area Director, during the launch that effective April 01, 2022, tax return filings were to be done online, and reminded Ghanaians that paying taxes was mandatory by the Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896), and the Revenue Administration Act, 2016 (Act 915) which mandates individuals and organizations to file their tax returns not later than April 30.

The Area Director appealed to the public to help the GRA to meet its GHs80.3 billion domestic revenue target which she said was huge but could be achieved when everyone honour their tax obligations.

The launch, which was on the theme: Filling Tax Returns Online: The Convenient Way was to officially make the public aware of the intensification of sensitization programmes to encourage the public to file their tax returns, especially using the GRAs online services, which was monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) at Tema.

Mrs Marfo said the programme was halted for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding it found it important to go back to it to ensure that taxpayers voluntarily comply with and honour their taxes to increase government revenue.

She said the theme was in tandem with the GRAs determination to digitize its operations and make filing taxes convenient for the public to do at any given time without having to visit its offices.

She encouraged taxpayers and the public to contact its offices, and the sensitization clinics opened at the Tema Port long room, Tema mall, Community nine office, Afienya, Ashaiman Mandela Park, and Mitchel Camp for guidance to file their returns and for the addressing all their tax-related issues.

Mr Yves Nii Noi Hanson-Nortey, Member of Parliament for Tema Central, who graced the launching commended the management of the GRA for the efforts made in digitizing their operational processes.

Mr Hanson-Nortey urged the public to take advantage of the taxpayers portal, which is a tax management tool, introduced by the GRA to file their returns online, initiate tax payments, apply for refunds and undertake other transactions with ease and convenience.

On his part the Assistant Commissioner Mr Benjamin Hutchful, Ashaiman Taxpayer Service Centre (TSC) Manager, said for the country to achieve the Presidents vision of Ghana beyond aid there was the need to increase the countrys collection of revenue which was currently 13 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the lowest in the sub-region.

Mr Hutchful said the many development cravings Ghanaians have could only be fulfilled through the maximization of revenue collected.

He added that the loans and grants the country contract from foreign countries were the taxes their citizens had paid and therefore there was the need for Ghanaians to also take up their responsibilities.

Other TSC managers within Ashaiman and Tema also reiterated the need to pay tax, and file returns of the same, adding that tax payment also has some benefits which taxpayers could take advantage of.
The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has projected that electricity and water tariffs are likely to go up in July this year.

Nana Amoasi VIII, Energy Analyst and Executive Director of the Institute said from all indications, there will be an upward review of the current tariff.

He said: We must brace ourselves for electricity tariff increment so we can save both the distribution and transmission grid from collapsing and have some reliable power supply.

He added that: It's quite unfortunate that it has become a pressing issue to bite at this time when Ghanaians are going through tough times, but it's still necessary to pay a little more for the utilities to invest to save the grid from collapsing.

The Energy Analyst noted that Ghana had not seen any major tariff increases in the last seven years, yet the operational cost of electricity continued to rise, hampering the work of utilities.

He was of the view that if electricity consumers were not made to pay a little more to enable the service provider to invest, ... the power system may collapse...

He said: Between 2015 and now, electricity tariff has not seen any significant rise. Meanwhile the operational cost of the utilities have been rising year on year partly due to foreign exchange losses through obsolete equipment and power lines, and increasing cost of borrowing to finance their operations.

The IES Executive Director called on the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) to be prepared to work more to stop the increasing commercial loses they incurred.

He said: They should make sure that the sacrifices that Ghanaians are being asked to make by paying more for electricity in such a challenging time reflect an increase reliability in power supply within the shortest possible time.

Dr Ishmeal Ackah, Executive Secretary of the Public Utilities Regulation Commission (PURC), told the Ghana News Agency that the Commission, together with key stakeholders were reviewing the country's electricity and water tariffs.

He said as to the current tariff being increased, reduced or maintained: We're all asking the same question.

The tariff review will consider issues, including cost of production, exchange rate, cost of fuel, investment requirements, and the ability for the utilities to meet benchmark targets set by PURC - mainly, customer satisfaction.

Utility service providers are said to have submitted proposals based on guidelines developed by PURC, with an expected public hearing this week, where the service providers will present a case for their request for tariff adjustment.

PURC said it had commenced analysis of the proposals from the service providers and that consultations will be conducted with industry experts before the announcement of tariff in July.

GNA
26.04.2022 LISTEN

The Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) has jabbed critics who are claiming members should not be paid a neutrality allowance for serving the country.

CLOGSAG has come under criticism in the past week after it embarked on strike last week over the non-payment of neutrality allowance.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Isaac Bampoe Addo fired Ghanaians criticising his outfit for what is rightful theirs.

According to him, the leadership of CLOGSAC negotiated and convinced the government to pay the neutrality allowance. He said they will receive it as agreed.

He noted that any person or persons who do not understand why CLOGSAG members deserve their neutrality allowance can go to 'hell'.

We have gone for negotiation with the government. The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission was present so no one can say we have outwitted and played a fast one on them. This Neutrality Allowance is just a minute part of our broader conditions of service. There are more goodies that we have already finished about 80 percent.

We dont do double work, and we have gone to justify at the negotiation table where we have justified every allowance we receive. Its signed and sealed. So if you dont understand it, go and sleep, Isaac Bampoe Addo stressed.

In the latest development, Modernghana News has learned that the National Labour Commission has instructed the Finance Ministry to pay the said allowance to CLOGSAG.

While it will not be immediate, it is understood that a payment plan will soon be rolled out.
26.04.2022 LISTEN

An Accra High Court has granted a request for a subpoena to be issued for five witnesses Dr Stephen Opuni, a former Chief Executive of COCOBOD, seeks to rely on in his defence.

Justice Honyenuga, a Justice of the Supreme Court, sitting with an additional responsibility as a High Court judge, granted the applications.

He said the Registrar of the Court should carry out the order with assistance from Mr Samuel Codjoe, the Counsel for Dr Opuni by providing the necessary addresses for service on the personalities.

"The Registrar is to carry out this order in cooperation with Counsel of first accused, the court directed.

Dr Opuni and Mr Agongo are facing 27 charges, including defrauding by false pretences, willfully causing financial loss to the State, money laundering, corruption by a public officer and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.

They have both pleaded not guilty to the charges and are on a GH300,000.00 self-recognizance bail each.

Earlier, the Counsel in moving the application said they wanted to rely on Article 19(2)(g)(h) of the Constitution.

He said under Article 19(g), they wanted the court to issue a subpoena for Reginald Aduakwa, a Banker, who was assigned to Dr Opuni at Ecobank together with Samuel Amponsah, who was the Acting Head of Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED).

The Counsel said the next person they wanted the Court to subpoena was Peter Okyere Boateng, a Deputy Executive Director, CHED, in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation.

He said Mr Boateng was directly in charge and he officially wrote the CHED report on the evaluation of fertilizers, including Lithovit, which report was given to the court by prosecution.

"He will talk about the effect on Lithovit on matured Cocoa," he added.

Mr Codjoe also informed the Court that they intended to subpoena Dr Gilbert Anin Kwarpong, who was the former Executive Director of Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) in 2015/16 and 2016/17 Cocoa seasons during, which COCOBOD through CRIG renewed the certificate for Lithovit fertilizer

"We also want a subpoena issue at Atta Kwasi, a farmer, who used Lithovit and whose farm is in the Ahafo Region," he said.

Mr Codjoe said they also wanted to call Mr Daniel Ohene Agyekum, who was the former Board Chair, who resided in Kumasi.

The Counsel told the court that Mr Agyekum had a health challenge by way of spinal issue, hence they wanted his evidence taken through a video conferencing.

He said although he had no problem with his voice, it would be problematic for him to be physically present in court.

The case has since been adjourned to May 9, 2022.

GNA
"Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy a laughing stock" - Reinhold Niebuhr

Since the release of the electoral timetables for 2023 political activities by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the nation has witnessed all manner of declaration of interest for various elective positions next year by political contenders and pretenders.

Though there is no law that forbids any eligible person from declaring his interest to lead the people in any capacity but there are moral questions surrounding some of these declarations.

Sadly enough, Nigerians are carried away by the frenzies of these declarations without pondering to digg deep in to the lifestyles, source of wealth and the pedigrees of some of these fellows.

Leadership and governance are too serious to be left in the hands of shenanigans and money bags who believe that the electorates are goods that can be purchased with money.

To these folks, they believe that what money cannot do, more money can do.

However, the reason behind the sudden display of questionable wealth by Obinna Iyiegbu popularly known as Obi Cubana came to limelight recently when his immediate elder brother, Ikenna Iyiegbu declared his intention to run for the House of Representatives seat of Idemili North and South Federal Constituency of Anambra State under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Immediately the announcement was made, Obi Cubana, the money bag quickly reacted by saying he was thrilled.

His words: "Yesterday, my immediate elder brother @ike_cubana Mr Ikenna Iyiegbu (Onyechimeleze) came and briefed me on his intention to represent our local government constituencies, Idemmili North and Idemmili South local government areas, at the Green Chamber of the National assembly in the 2023 General Elections, under the great APGA Party... We are solidly behind you on this!"

According to inside sources, Obi Cubana is the architect of the whole plot and his main goal is to dominate the politics of Anambra State and the South East in general using Idemili North and South as a launch pad.

Personally, I don't have qualms against such ambition but for a man whose source of wealth is opaque and questionable, I think it's high time the various anti-graft agencies began intensive interrogation of this man's source of wealth before it becomes too late.

This call has become urgent because Obi Cubana is fast becoming a bad influence on our youths and allowing such character to dominate the politics of Nigeria at a time the nation is in search of role models for some of our misguided youths, I think the menace of Boko Haram would be a child's play in the years ahead.

Already, the rate of ritual killings for money in the Southeast region and across the federation have skyrocketed because most youths are alleging that Obi Cubana made his money through rituals.

Though, there is no official statistics yet but the rate at which young men and women are missing these days because of ritual killings are alarming.

There is no single day that passes by without reports of boyfriend killing girlfriend or similar killings for money rituals gracing headlines in our print media and the social media; because every young man now believes that if Obi Cubana could go free for his alleged involvement in money rituals, then nothing stops them from engaging in it.

In Nigeria today, no body wants to serve again because every young man wants to hammer like Obi Cubana.

If you establish a small business and entrust it to a young man to run, the next thing he would be thinking is how to liquidate the business and run away with your money.

So, the Obi Cubana effects must be curtailed with proper investigations before it becomes a pain in a black man's ass.

Remember, this was how Mohammed Yusuf started with his Boko Haram organisation until the group became robot out of control.

All attempts by various governments to contain the organization since the death of it's founder and leader, Mohammed Yusuf has been very difficult because you can't decapitate a movement and incapacitate it's activities.

Unfortunately, the activities of Boko Haram has taken large chunks of the nation's annual budget since 2009 but this is something that could have been stopped at it's initial stage.

Obi Cubana may not be as violent as Mohammed Yusuf but if early warning advises are not headed to, "Saul may be on his way to Damascus." After all, history may not repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes.

Apart from the security agencies doing their best to curtail the rate of crimes, psychological victory must be attained first.

In this case, comprehensive investigation of Obi Cuban's sudden display of wealth must be conducted and brought to the public to aid the ongoing fight against crimes.

Otherwise, there would be no end to the alarming rate of ritual killings across the country.

Again, Donald Trump effects should not be repeated in Nigeria. Recall that America's democracy was brought to it's knee simply because they allowed a political outsider and billionaire business man, Donald Trump to run for president.

Even when Donald Trump lost his re-election bid, he instigated Americans to go berserk against the American democracy and it's institutions to the extent that the Almighty White House was desecrated by pro-Trump protesters on January 6, 2021.

Therefore, to prevent the repeat of history in a negative way, Obi Cubana and his surrogates should be stopped from acquiring political power and relevance because that would be a recipe for disaster and bitter taste in the mouth of everyone in the years ahead.

The Nigerian Anti-graft agencies should act now and thank me later because wisdom is profitable to any nation that sees things before there happen.

Brown Justice is a social crusader. He writes from Awka, Anambra State.
Communication Team Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kwaku Boateng, has challenged the ruling government to prove claims they used funds for COVID-19 relief on the 2020 general elections as false.

The politician argues the government can only prove this claim false by making public a complete breakdown of the funds and allocations thereof.

We need the figures to assure accountability. It is prudent the govt in power let us know the breakdown of the money used instead of just telling us they spent 9million dollars on food distribution when churches which supplied more food used a lesser amount. We are not saying the govt did nothing during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic but we are asking them to tell us those who got the food and how much was spent on each person. We need the breakdown.

Former President John Mahama has accused President Akufo-Addo of misappropriating monies meant for Covid-19 relief.

According to him, the President channeled some 33 billion earmarked to offset the pandemics grave implications into his 2020 re-election bid.

For this reason, for President Mahama believes, the said amount supposed to have been sunk into the economic restoration measures is yet to be accounted for.

Kwaku Boateng supporting this claim in a panel discussion with Don Kwabena Prah on Happy98.9FMs Epa Hoa Daben political talk show added, During the NPP primaries ahead of the 2020 elections, we saw members of the party sharing tons of cash to their members. We heard news of NPP delegates and others receiving as much as GH2,000 from Parliamentary Candidates. All these leave doubts in our minds over the real use of COVID-19 relief funds, hence our call for accountability.

Regarding the NDC as a responsible opposition, the communicator described the call for an audited report on the COVID-19 relief funds as one being made by the entire Ghana.

The NPP should bring us the details of the funds and we will commend them if they used these monies for the right thing. But every Ghanaian knows this is not possible because the NPP used the money for the 2020 general elections, he stated.

To him, this call is beyond partisan politics and reiterated the need for a probe into the disbursement of funds meant for COVID-19 relief.

---happyghana.com
April 26, 2022 A Recap Of The War In Ukraine - by Gonzalo Lira Gonzalo Lira just delivered a decent recap of the war in Ukraine. Gonzalo Lira @GonzaloLira1968 - 10:28 UTC  Apr 26, 2022 Quick recap for those who haven't followed what's been going on in Ukraine but want to understand: 02/24: The Russians invaded from the south, south-east, east and north, in a lightning campaign. The Russians invaded with 190K troopsagainst 250K combat troops from Ukraine. The RF put 30K troops near Kievnowhere near enough to capture the citybut enough to pin down some 100K AFU defenders. The RF also launched several axes of attack, with reinforcements on standby (including a famed 40km long tank column), to see where they might be needed. Cruciallythe Russian's blitz on several axes pre-empted an imminent UKRAINIAN blitzkrieg. The AFU had been about to invade the Donbas. This was the immediate motivation for Russia's invasion: To beat them to the punch and scuttle Ukraine's imminent invasionwhich they did. Also, by attacking from the north and south, the Russians disrupted weapons supply chain from NATO. Had the RF only attacked in the east to prevent the AFU invasion of Donbas, there would have been an open corridor for resupply from the West. Threatening Kiev stopped that. So the main AFU army was left stranded in east Ukraine, with the rest of the Ukr. forces isolated and pinned downwith no easy resupply from the West. The RF then went about hitting AFU command/control and resupply links, further isolating and immobilizing Ukrainian forces. The Russians soon nominally controlled land the size of the UK in Ukrainebut it was a tenuous control. The south of Ukraine was more fully in Russia's grip. The AFU around Kherson simply scattered. Mariupol became a clear battleground, as did the Donbas proper. What the Russians initially wanted was to: Short-circuit the imminent Donbas invasion - which they did.

Scare the Zelensky regime into negotiating a political settlement - which they failed to do. Kiev had no intention of negotiating a ceasefire because of orders given to them from Washington: Fight Russia to the last Ukrainian! Also, the Neo-Nazi goons around Zelensky threatened him if he negotiated and surrendered because they are terrified of the Russians. So Zelensky launched a massive PR and propaganda campaign, primarily to motivate AFU forces to fight to the death. Myths were created (Ghost of Kiev), false flags were carried out (Bucha, Kramatorsk) and relentless media stories were flogged relentlessly. The Russians kept negotiating and trying to NOT destroy Ukraine infrastructure. In fact at first they were even trying to minimize AFU casualties. The evidence for this is overwhelming: The RF did not hit civilian infrastructure - water, electric, phone, transportation. They did not hit AFU barracks, command centers, government buildings, etc. The Russians' initial priority was for a *negotiated settlement*. But by late March, they realized this was impossible. This is why the RF withdrew from Kiev. There was no sense putting men near the city when they were not doing what they were supposed to do - putting political pressure on the Zelensky regime to negotiate. This withdrawal was claimed as a victory in the Battle of Kiev! lmao Starting in late March, the Russians pulled back and solidified their control over the area they had captured, ceding to the AFU areas that were either pointless to or potentially too costly to control. The Ukraine propaganda machine called all these pull- backs victories. There was still a glimmer that the war might end in a negotiated settlement but that ended in early April. After the Istanbul talks of 3/30, the Ukraine side gingerly agreed to some compromises but within a week publicly disavowed those concessions. That's when the Russians realized the Zelensky regime was agreement-incapable: Their Washington masters, Victoria Nuland and Anthony Blinken in particular, wouldn't allow a peace. They want this war to sap Russia dry. It is a classic proxy war and Ukraine will pay the price. Something else the Russians realized: Sanctions. They hurt but Russia bounced back with remarkable speed. They didn't really hurt that bad. But the theft of Russia's $300 billion in foreign reserves by the West DID hurt - badly. The Russians realized they were in a total war with the West and since their foreign reserves were lost forever (likely to be pilfered by corrupt Western politicos), the Russians now have nothing left to lose. By stealing their reserves, the West lost all power over Russia. This has sealed Ukraine's fate: The Russians now have no incentive to give up what they have conquered. It has cost them too much in terms of men and treasure. And they know that they can't negotiate a ceasefire. The Zelensky regime will simply break it later. Which means: The Russians intend to conquer and permanently annex all the south and east of Ukraine. This is why their strategy on the battlefield has dramatically shifted: Now they are carrying out a slow, methodical grinding down and destruction of the AFU. The war in the first 30 days was speed, feints, nominally capturing vast swathes of Ukraine territory, with the aim of pressuring the Zelensky regime into a negotiated settlement. But the West's total financial and political break with Russia means they have nothing to lose. And they have a lot to gain: The Donbas is mineral rich, the really productive farmlands of Ukraine are in the east and south, Kharkov is a major industrial city, the Sea of Azov has untold natural gas reserves. And besides - the people love them. Why would the Russians now give up this hard-won prize? And they *have* won - make no mistake. Ask any military man who is not a system pig, he'll tell you: There is no way for the AFU to retake their country. They have no armor, no air defense, no fuel, no comms - it's over. The great tragedy is that so many THOUSANDS of young men will die, and die NEEDLESSLY!!, in order to postpone the inevitable. These brave boys will have fought so valiantly - and died so young, so cruelly -because of the evil of the Zelensky regime. That's the hard truth. And in the end, this will be the map that will remaina bitter image of Ukraine's future. Russia will pour billions into their newly acquired territory. It will prosper and flourish. But the rump-state of Ukraine will be left poor, destroyed, forgotten. A tragedy.

bigger I concur with the above except for two minor detail. The move on Kiev was not intended to hinder resupply to Ukrainian troops in Donbas but to 'fix' potential reinforcement around the capital. That enabled Russian troops to open the corridor from Crimea to the Russian boarder as well as to cross the Dnieper in the south and to take Kherson. Those were the most important moves for the further development of the war. I also do not believe that Russia will 'annex' the areas it is liberating from fascist control. Once librated the people in those areas will vote on becoming independent from Ukraine and the various regions, Donbas, Luhansk, Kherson, Odessa, will form states that will become part of the Federal Republic of Novorossia. That country will be recognized and supported by Russia and its allies. Posted by b on April 26, 2022 at 11:23 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
Midland and Odessa barbecue restaurants are featured in this month's BBQ Joint Reviews by Texas Monthly. The Half Acre got a full review about John Scharbauer's problem-solving skills and Aaron Lesley's legendary barbecuing. The review encapsulates the Scharbauer Ranch's history of raising cattle and the symbiotic relationship to The Half Acre and Midland Meat Co.

Check out the review at https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/half-acre-serves-bbq-from-ranch-next-door/.
In search of the best Texas tacos, Favor is looking for a Chief Taco Officer for the summer. The job pays $10,000 with plenty of perks to boot. Here's a quick look at the position, a day in the life of a taco executive, the benefits package and how to apply.

CTO compensation

So, what's in it for the new Favor CTO? The CTO will receive $10,000 for the "duration" of the role, listed as June to July on the application page. Other listed perks include free food, accommodations and transportation as well as free Favor delivery for one year, "customized" company swag and the "summer experience of a lifetime."

A portion of the job application page describes the candidate they are looking for, stating that the ideal candidate is "passionate about food and not shy about eating on camera or sharing their dining experiences with the world," while noting that previous food critic experience is not required for the position. The compensation package will also include "wellness activities galore."

A day in the life of a Chief Taco Officer

For clarity on the two-month taco touring residency of sorts, the FAQ page details a day in the life of the company's Chief Taco Officer, noting that the CTO will spend 48 hours in each city where they can "can visit the sights, shop, meet up with friends" and "whatever" the person likes, noting that the company only asks that the person has Favor-provided taco delivery from a "variety of restaurants" during "at least two meal times" throughout the stay in each location.

The CTO will also need to review these taco tourism experiences with photos, journal entries and videos to share with the company and disseminate across social media channels.

During what the company described as the CTO's "search for the very best tacos," the taco executive will drive from city to city across the Lone Star State. The page states that potential candidates should "think of this as a travel journal documenting [their] trip."

How to apply

The company's CTO job application place provides a few steps potential candidates will need to complete to apply for the position. This starts with creating a short video detailing "why [a candidate] should be Favors Chief Taco Officer and why [they are] excited about the opportunity," the page states.

Next, applicants will need to post this video on TikTok or Instagram reels using a public account while tagging @Favor and using the #FavorDreamJob hashtag. The third step involves completing the application form and providing a link to the short video recorded in step one. The full CTO application page can be found here. The deadline to apply is May 12.
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BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  Among the sites of the former Soviet Union's frozen conflicts, a long and narrow strip of land in Moldova has been the most stable for three decades. Trans-Dniester hasn't seen fighting since the end of a separatist war in 1992.

But explosions in the past two days have raised concerns that Russia's war in Ukraine could extend there. About 1,500 Russian troops already are stationed in Trans-Dniester. Another outbreak of hostilities would pose a severe challenge to Moldova, one of Europes poorest countries.

WHAT IS TRANS-DNIESTER?

Trans-Dniester extends some 400 kilometers (249 miles) between the eastern bank of the Dniester River in Moldova and the country's border with Ukraine. Most of the breakaway region's population of 470,000 speaks Russian, although residents identify themselves as ethnically Moldovan, Ukrainian or Russian.

Moves to make Moldovan Moldova's official language in 1989, when it still was part of the Soviet Union, alarmed people in Trans-Dniester. The region declared independence in 1990 and clashes broke out. Fighting intensified in March 1992 and lasted until a July cease-fire; more than 700 people are estimated to have died in the conflict.

As part of the cease-fire agreement, a contingent of Russian troops stayed in Trans-Dniester as nominal peacekeepers. Since then, the region has insisted it is not part of Moldova, which declared independence in 1991.

Trans-Dniester has retained many Soviet ways and iconography, including using the hammer-and-sickle image on its flag. But it has remained generally peaceful, and some tourists come to relish the anachronisms.

WHAT HAPPENED THERE THIS WEEK?

Explosions rocked the headquarters of the region's state security ministry on Monday. The building reportedly was empty due to the Orthodox Easter holiday, and no casualties were reported. Officials said the attack was committed with rocket-propelled grenades. Local media showed what appeared to be firing tubes lying on a street.

On Tuesday morning, a pair of explosions at a broadcasting facility knocked two powerful antennas out of service. No claims of responsibility for the attacks have been made.

Trans-Dniesters president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, called Tuesday for imposing anti-terrorist security measures at a red level for 15 days, including setting up blockposts at the entrances to cities.

The United States has warned amid the war in Ukraine that Russia could launch false-flag attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops.

DOES RUSSIA HAVE AMBITIONS IN THE REGION?

Russia does not recognize Trans-Dniester as independent, as it does with other breakaway areas, such as South Ossetia, Abkhazia and the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

It recognition of those areas came either after Russia and Georgia fought a 2008 war or as justification for Moscow's February invasion of Ukraine. An outburst of fighting in Trans-Dniester could change the Kremlin's political calculus; Russia's security policy states it has the right to protect ethnic Russian populations throughout the world.

A senior Russian military official, Rustam Minnekayev, said last week that Russian forces were aiming to take full control of southern Ukraine, saying such a move would also open a land corridor between Russia and Trans-Dniester.

Achieving that military objective would require significant battles to capture Ukraine's Black Sea coast, including the major port city of Odesa. Russian soldiers would surely encounter enormous resistance.

Russia has problems in logistics. If they begin a military operation in Trans-Dniester, to create a corridor to Trans-Dniester, they have to solve the problem of Odesa, Moldovan analyst Anatol Taranu, a former ambassador to Russia, told The Associated Press.

The Russian contingent in Trans-Dniester is focused on guarding ammunition and warehouses, and its fitness for combat is uncertain. Trans-Dniester also has about 10,000 of its own soldiers.

Moldova is constitutionally neutral, so Russia could not cite the country seeking to join NATO to justify an invasion, as Russian President Vladimir Putin did with Ukraine. But expanding to Moldova would give Russia a presence next to NATO member Romania.

Taranu said that from a strategic point of view, taking Trans-Dniester does not seem sensible.

But there is a political logic, he said, considering Russia's failure to take control of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and the intense resistance put up by Ukrainian forces.

Putin "has to tell the public some success story," Taranu said, noting that the Russian leader may want to claim some achievement on Victory Day, the May 9 observance that is Russia's major secular holiday.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Candidates for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvanias open U.S. Senate seat charged into Monday night's live-televised prime-time debate with extra incentive to attack Mehmet Oz after the celebrity heart surgeon received former President Donald Trump's endorsement.

And attack they did, almost solidly throughout the one-hour debate at the studio of WHTM-TV with barely three weeks to go to the May 17 primary election.

Ex-hedge fund CEO David McCormick called Oz a flip-flopper to suggest that he is pretending to be a conservative.

Former Trump ambassador Carla Sands called him Turkey First  as a play on Trump's America First" governing philosophy  to highlight Oz's Turkish citizenship.

And conservative activist Kathy Barnette said Trump only endorsed Oz because Oz is well-known.

Trump earlier this month endorsed Oz  best known as daytime TVs host of The Dr. Oz Show"  and the Trump endorsement hovered over the debate. Oz raised it repeatedly, just hours after Trump announced that he will come to western Pennsylvania next week for a rally to promote Oz.

Oz gamely defended himself. People care about what he stands for, not where hes from, he said. Trump endorsed him because he is a true conservative, he said. And he keeps his Turkish citizenship to visit his ailing mother in Turkey, he said.

He also counterpunched, primarily against McCormick. He accused McCormick of lying about his record and repeating Trump's suggestion that McCormick is pro-China because of McCormick's former hedge funds portfolio that catered to Chinese investors investing in China.

Dishonest Dave is at it again," Oz said. He went groveling to President Trump with  again  these types of allegations. President Trump saw right through him, did not endorse him, and then he endorsed me.

McCormick repeatedly attacked Oz, turning practically every question to Ozs long public past as a TV show host and accusing him of having long-advocated liberal positions.

The reason Mehmet keeps talking about President Trumps endorsement is because he cant run on his own positions and his own records, and what's true is that he has flip-flopped on every major issue we're talking about in this campaign, McCormick said.

Then McCormick slipped in a reference to criticism that Oz promoted quack treatments and cures on his show.

And the problem doctor, is theres no miracle cure for flip-flopping, McCormick said.

The race is primarily an expensive duel between McCormick and Oz, who combined  with super PACs that support them  have reported spending more than $37 million out of the more than $50 million reported being spent on the GOP primary.

The five candidates on stage met the polling threshold set by the stations parent company as they vie for the nomination in a seven-person field to succeed retiring two-term Republican Sen. Pat Toomey in the presidential battleground state.

The campaign is one of this years premier Senate contests, with carpetbaggery a prominent and persistent issue following the recent arrival of three wealthy and well-connected candidates from other states  McCormick, Oz and Sands.

Real estate investor Jeff Bartos summed up the debate in his closing remarks as out-of-state candidates fighting with each other as he pressed his case as the only lifelong Pennsylvanian in the race.

Otherwise, the candidates all seemed to agree with party talking points, including on the question of banning abortion, banning transgender women from competing in women's sports, criticizing President Joe Biden's handling of the economy and the border and promoting Trump's baseless conspiracy that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election.

They also took pains to demonstrate their devotion to Trump principles.

Sands maintained that her service on a Trump's economic council and as his ambassador to Denmark makes her the only proven America First candidate.

I actually did it, Sands said. "Everyone talks about it."

On a question about how to deal with supply chain issues, McCormick took umbrage over Bartos' suggestion that out-of-state candidates "cannot help save Main Street Pennsylvania if you cannot find Main Street Pennsylvania.

I'm not going to be out-Pennsylvania'd or out-America First by anybody on this stage," McCormick said.

Barnette  who has allied herself with pro-Trump conservatives  took a different tack: Trump's Make America Great slogan, or MAGA, doesn't belong to Trump, she said.

MAGA does not belong to President Trump, Barnette said. "MAGA, although he coined the word, MAGA actually belongs to the people. Our values never, never shifted to President Trumps values. It was President Trump who shifted and aligned with our values.

___

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/timelywriter
Growth Funds for eCommerce Data Platform Conjura

Dublin-based eCommerce analytics platform Conjura has raised EUR 15m in a Series A round of funding, which it will use to expand its solutions, broaden its UK and Ireland operations, and move into 'several' new international markets.



Conjura's platform combines benchmarking, company reporting and data science to enable users to compare their business performance against industry standards; receive deep-dive reporting to highlight their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth; and make decisions across all departments based on a 360-degree view of their operations. The platform combines data from fulfilment, warehousing, and supply chain sources, with online / off-line sales and marketplace transactions and customer metrics, to provide automated insights and recommendations across every aspect of eCommerce.



New funding has been co-led by Act Venture Capital and MiddleGame Ventures, with participation from Tribal VC. Fran Quilty (pictured), CEO and co-founder of Conjura, comments: 'Our unique approach to data analysis and our ability to provide full visibility into a company's performance in one easy-to-use platform represents the next generation of eCommerce solutions. We are providing the tools businesses need to enhance their operational efficiency, as well as ensure they are providing the seamless digital experience today's consumers expect'.



Web site: www.conjura.com .




By SA Commercial Prop News - SAPA

Passenger Railway Agency of SA (Prasa) signs the first phase of a projected R123 billion contract towards the upgrading of the South Africa's railways and trains.



The Passenger Railway Agency of SA (Prasa) has signed the first phase of a projected R123 billion contract towards the upgrading of the country's railways and trains, it said on Monday.

"Through the rolling stock programme, [Prasa] is in the process to procure approximately 7224 new rolling stock with a projected investment of R123 billion over 20 years," spokesman Moffet Mofokeng said in a statement.

The first phase, worth R51bn, was signed with Gibela (led by French multinational Alstom) for the supply of 600 passenger trains to be delivered between years 2015 and 2025, Mofokeng said.

"The contract... includes the construction of a local manufacturing facility. In addition to this contract, Gibela will provide technical support and supply of spare parts over an 18-year period."

The manufacturing site would be built in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, to produce the trains. Construction was to start early next year.

Ageing trains currently in service in the country's major cities would be replaced with 1200 electric trains over a period of 20 years.

The contract was signed in Sandton, Johannesburg at an event attended by President Jacob Zuma and French President Francois Hollande.

Alstom was said to be proud to be selected for the project and expressed unwavering commitment.

"We believe our trains will set a high standard in serving the interests of commuters, company head Henri Poupart-Lafarge was quoted as saying.

One of the trains to be built was the 'X'Trapolis Mega' developed to fit the country's tracks.

"The train can travel at speeds of up to 120km/h with the ability to be upgraded to 160 km/h. Each single-deck train is composed of six cars and is able to carry more than 1300 passengers," Mofokeng said.

"The project will create over 1500 direct jobs in the local factory and 33,000 indirect jobs over the first 10 years."
Workers in protective suits keep watch on a street during a lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease pandemic, in Shanghai, China, April 16, 2022.
The Congress on Tuesday officially announced that election strategist Prashant Kishor will not be working for the party as he declined to be part of the empowered action group for the 2024 general elections.

The declaration came a day after Sonia Gandhi had announced the constitution of the group.

Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet, "Following a presentation and discussion with Prashant Kishor, the Congress President has constituted a Empowered Action Group 2024 & invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts & suggestion given to party."

The group was formed after a report was submitted by an eight-member committee on April 21.

"Congress President Sonia Gandhi received a report from the eight-member group on April 21. Today she discussed the report with the group. Based on the discussions, the Congress President has decided to constitute an Empowered Action Group for 2024 in order to address the political challenges ahead," the party had said in an official statement on Monday .

Surjewala, who did not want to comment on the members of the group, said: "But as I have said, the Empowered Action Group will strategise for the 2024 general elections."
NEW YORK (AP)  Poetry magazine, one of the country's oldest and most prominent literary publications, will for the first time have a Black editor. Adrian Matejka, an educator, former state laureate of Indiana and prize-winning poet, begins his new job May 16.

I couldnt be more humbled or excited to be the new editor of Poetry," Matejka, 50, said in a statement. The 19-year-old version of me, thumbing through the magazines pages with wonder, would have never imagined that he would one day be part of such a vital literary institution.

Matejka, whose 2013 collection The Big Smoke was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, added that he was "committed to re-imagining Poetry not only as a venue for poetics, but more importantly, as one that is in service of poets and treats writers as the gifts that they are.

Matejka's hiring was announced Tuesday by the Poetry Foundation, a Chicago-based organization that oversees Poetry. The foundation was established in 2003 after Ruth Lilly, an heir to the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical fortune, donated $100 million to the magazine. Poetry, founded in 1912, has published T.S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, John Ashbery and many other leading writers. Several Matejka poems have run in the magazine.

As an accomplished poet, educator, and past poet laureate, Adrian brings invaluable talent and experience. We look forward to his leadership and collaboration with the team to share new poets and poetry with the world," Michelle T. Boone, who in 2021 became the foundation's first Black president, said in a statement.

Matejka, who grew up in Indianapolis, is also the author of the poetry collections The Devil's Garden, Map to the Stars and Somebody Else Sold the World and an upcoming graphic novel, Last On His Feet. In what he calls strange serendipity, he is the Ruth Lilly Professor of Poetry at Indiana University Bloomington.

The president of Cave Canem, a leading supporter of Black poets, praised Tuesday's announcement. Tyehimba Jess said in a statement that Adrians vision of building literary community through excellence and diversity in publication is a critical step forward for Poetry. Through his work on the page and his activism as poet laureate of Indiana, Adrian has a track record of service to history and the fullness of each reader and poets humanity."

Like numerous literary institutions, the Poetry Foundation has been addressing criticisms over diversity and social awareness. Two years ago, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, the president and board chairman resigned amid criticism over a foundation statement expressing solidarity with the Black community and declaring faith in the strength and power of poetry to uplift in times of despair.

More than 1,500 poets, subscribers and teachers among others published an open letter denouncing the statement as vague and dispassionate. The letter's endorsers called on the foundation and Poetry magazine, which support and organize a wide range of workshops, grants and awards, to provide "a significantly greater allocation of financial resources toward work which is explicitly anti-racist in nature and, specifically, fighting to protect and enrich Black lives, in and outside of Chicago.

The foundation responded with An Open Letter of Commitment to Our Community, in which it acknowledged its predominantly white leadership and vowed to "better serve the poets who entrust us with their work, creative or otherwise, and serve audiences who find solace, joy, insight, catalysts for change, and more in poetry."

Poetry has not had a permanent editor since the summer of 2020, when Don Share resigned after the magazine was criticized for publishing a poem which Share himself described as insidious and particularly oppressive to Black, Pacific Islander, and Asian people. The foundation called his departure part of the ongoing changes and conversations outlined in its open letter.
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Family history blends with Jacksonville history, MacMurray College history and Liberia history to form the basis for Jacksonville native Sarah McClintock Angletons third historical fiction novel, White Mans Graveyard.

This book is a little different from the ones Ive written before, Angleton said from her home near St. Louis. Its a little more biographical. These are people in my own family history, and thats something Ive never done before.

White Mans Graveyard follows siblings Annie and Sylvanus Goheen, who were born in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s and who both grew up to seek an end to slavery, albeit using different approaches.

At the time, some supported simply freeing slaves and allowing them their freedom in the United States. Others felt the former slaves would only prosper if they were returned to Africa, because they werent allowed to fully participate in American society.

Sylvanus fell into the latter group and, in 1837, when he was leaving for Liberia to serve as a missionary physician, he gave Annie a journal. Some 160 years later, that journal ended up in Angletons hands.

My grandmother passed away, gosh, about 20 years ago now, Angleton said. In her possession was a lawyers cabinet.

Angletons aunt found the journal in that cabinet and turned it over to Angleton, the writer in the family.

It was presented to (Annie) by her brother as he was going to Liberia with the Methodist Episcopal Church as a missionary  to develop a colony for African American slaves, Angleton said.

The journal was a momentous find, one Angleton wasnt quite prepared for at the time.

Theres this huge American history piece that I didnt know, probably a lot of people didnt know, she said. I tried to figure out who these people really were.

Annie ended up marrying the Rev. Dr. Peter Akers and the couple  along with Peters large family  landed in Jacksonville, where Peter Akers founded Ebenezer Church and became a founding board member of the former MacMurray College.

Angleton held on to Annies journal for years before she felt ready to tackle the tale. When she finally did, she turned to MacMurray Colleges archives to research what she could of Peter and Annie.

Those archives now are housed at the Jacksonville Area Museum, where Angleton will speak Saturday and sign copies of her book.

We all have family that wasnt on the side of those racially charged issues that we would be with our modern perspective, she said, noting she felt a pressure to honor my family with how we are now. Colonization was a controversial thing and doesnt look particularly good under the (light) of modern day.

While Angleton felt she got a grasp of Annies character, she struggled a bit to figure out Sylvanus, she said.

With Sylvanus, I was missing a crucial source (of research) for him for a long time, Angleton said. I had written an entire draft and then I managed to get hold of (Sylvanuss journal from his time in Africa). When I met him on the pages of his own writing, it changed him a little bit. I was surprised by how close I had gotten, but it did change him a little bit.

The book, though based in history, is a work of fiction.

One thing I realized very early on in looking at writing about real people is that real life doesnt tend to go in a nice story arc, she said, noting she created some conflict between the siblings.  It may not be entirely accurate, but there was conflict between the (colonization movement) and the abolitionist movement.  Their ideals didnt necessarily conflict, but the ways they wanted to go about it did.

Angleton admits the appeal of writing the story was rooted not just in her family ties but in it being a lesser-known bit of history. She also sees parallels today.

The larger thing I wanted to speak to in our modern day  was how do you pursue a loving family relationship amid intense conflict, because you love them, but (disagree). Part of my point in writing this book was there can still be love and respect. Were not really wanting different results, just different ways of getting there.
Olivia Lopez came home from school one day, walked into her mom's office and announced: "I can't smell."

It was November 2020, so then-13-year-old Olivia and her mom knew what this likely meant. A test confirmed she had COVID-19.

In addition to a loss of smell and taste, Olivia dealt with shortness of breath and fatigue.

Weeks later, the virus was gone but the symptoms remained.

"I was sleeping 16 hours a day," she said. "I was always out of breath it seemed like."

In January, she tried to return to her Catholic school. On the way home from volleyball practice, Olivia told her mother, "My chest hurts so bad."

"It's not normal for that to happen to a healthy kid that's been an athlete their entire life and eats healthy and does all the things she is supposed to do," said her mom, Laura Lopez.

Laura took Olivia to a cardiologist. The teen underwent a stress test.

"They couldn't find anything physically wrong with the heart or the heart muscle, but they couldn't really explain what was happening," Laura said.

Olivia went to an orthopedist and pulmonologist. They had no answers. Meanwhile, she kept getting worse.

At school she would fall asleep. Once when Olivia was feeling nauseous and had a headache, the school called Laura to pick her up. Later that evening, Olivia went into her mom's office, told her she felt like she was going to pass out and promptly did.

The fainting got so bad Olivia spent the entire Super Bowl weekend in the hospital as doctors tried to figure out what was wrong. They said she might have postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS. It's a disorder affecting the autonomic nervous system characterized by dramatic heart rate increases upon standing. It also can cause blood pressure changes, chronic fatigue and other symptoms. It is one of the conditions now linked to long COVID, and researchers are trying to figure out how COVID-19 may trigger it.

With the doctor's permission, Olivia returned to school. She passed out again, hit her head and went unconscious for about four minutes. An ambulance rushed her to the emergency room while she had a series of tremors and seizure-like activity. Doctors told the family the overarching diagnosis was POTS.

Olivia's condition continued to spiral. She was passing out so often  sometimes 30 to 40 times a day  that she had to stop going to school and went back to remote learning.

"She could be sitting here having a normal conversation with you and all of a sudden, she would just pass out," Laura said.

Olivia also lost her ability to walk because of a condition known as functional neurological disorder.

"It was the brain's way of saying, if she stood up, then she was going to pass out and get injured, so it affected her ability to walk. The scariest part was the uncertainty about when and if she would regain the abilities she had before," Laura said.

As a result, Olivia used a wheelchair for three months and spent several months taking classes online. "I think I feared it was going to stay that way for a really long time," she said.

Laura said the POTS protocol that doctors prescribed along with her strong faith helped Olivia get better and back on her feet.

Now, Olivia has picked up where she left off. The 14-year-old attends high school and is back to playing volleyball with her club team.

"I was recently weaned off my medication and have been doing well," Olivia said.

As a little girl, Olivia took an interest in her mom's job as executive director of the American Heart Association's regional office in Kansas City, Kansas. She was only 5 when she set a goal of becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon. Her experience in hospitals and doctor's offices has only made her desire grow.

Last year, she was selected to attend the Congress of Future Medical Leaders, where she will get to visit with and receive advice from physicians and Nobel Prize winners. She also was asked to speak at one of the sessions, which will be held virtually this year.

"I'm excited to see all the things I learn and how I can use it later if I continue on the path that I'm going on," Olivia said.

Laura said Olivia's experience as a patient gives her additional insight into this potential career.

"I think because of this, she will have more empathy and understanding of people that are relying on her, which we all can use more of these days."

Stories From the Heart chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.

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HEALTH CARE DISCLAIMER: This site and its services do not constitute the practice of medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always talk to your health care provider for diagnosis and treatment, including your specific medical needs. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem or condition, please contact a qualified health care professional immediately. If you are in the United States and experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 or call for emergency medical help immediately.
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HOUSTON (AP)  The execution of Melissa Lucio is off. At least for now.

Lucio, 52, had been set to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday for the death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah in Harlingen, a city of about 75,000 in Texas southern tip.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals intervened Monday, granting Lucios lawyers request for a stay of execution so a lower court can review claims that new evidence would show Mariah's injuries, including a blow to the head, were caused by a fall down a steep staircase.

Nearly half of the jurors who sentenced her to die for the 2007 death of one of her 14 children had called for her execution to be halted and for her to get a new trial. Many lawmakers and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, an advocate for criminal justice reform, and Amanda Knox  an American whose murder conviction in the death of a British student in Italy was overturned  have rallied to Lucios cause. Prosecutors, though, maintain that the girl was the victim of child abuse.

Lucios lawyers had filed various legal appeals seeking to stop her execution. She also had a clemency application before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which had been set to consider her case Monday. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott could have also played a role this week in deciding Lucios fate. If ultimately put to death, Lucio would be the first Latina executed by Texas since 1863, and the first woman the state has put to death since 2014.

Heres what to know about the case:

WHAT ISSUES ARE BEING DEBATED?

Lucios attorneys say her capital murder conviction was based on an unreliable and coerced confession that was the result of relentless questioning and her long history of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. They say Lucio wasnt allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession.

Her lawyers also contend that unscientific and false evidence misled jurors into believing Mariahs injuries only could have been caused by physical abuse and not by medical complications from a severe fall.

I knew that what I was accused of doing was not true. My children have always been my world and although my choices in life were not good I would have never hurt any of my children in such a way, Lucio wrote in a letter to Texas lawmakers.

Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, whose office prosecuted the case, has said he disagrees with Lucio's lawyers' claims that new evidence would exonerate her. Prosecutors say Lucio had a history of drug abuse and at times had lost custody of some of her 14 children.

During a sometimes contentious Texas House committee hearing on Lucios case this month, Saenz initially pushed back on requests to use his power to stop the execution, before later saying he would intervene if the courts didnt act.

I dont disagree with all the scrutiny this case is getting. I welcome that, Saenz said.

Armando Villalobos was the county's district attorney when Lucio was convicted in 2008, and Lucios lawyers allege that he pushed for a conviction to help his reelection bid. In 2014, Villalobos was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for a bribery scheme related to offering favorable prosecutorial decisions.

WHO IS CALLING FOR LUCIOS EXECUTION TO BE STOPPED?

More than half the members of the Texas Legislature have asked that her execution be halted. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers traveled this month to Gatesville, where the state houses female death row inmates, and prayed with Lucio.

Five of the 12 jurors who sentenced Lucio and one alternate juror have questioned their decision and asked she get a new trial.

Lucio's cause also has the backing of faith leaders and was featured on HBOs Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Lucios family and supporters have been traveling throughout Texas and holding rallies and screenings of a 2020 documentary about her case, The State of Texas vs. Melissa.

Before the court decision Monday, Lucio's supporters held a prayer vigil inside the state Capitol in Austin as they waited for word from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on her clemency application. On Saturday, supporters held rallies in 16 U.S. cities, including Houston, Boston, and Columbus, Ohio.

WHERE DO EFFORTS TO HALT HER EXECUTION STAND?

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had been set Monday to consider a request to either commute her death sentence to life imprisonment or grant her a 120-day execution reprieve, but that hearing was put off by the appeals courts order. Lucio also had an appeal pending in federal court to stop her execution. The federal appeal and the clemency petition are now put aside as the case returns to the trial judge in Brownsville.

It was not immediately known when the lower court would begin reviewing her case. Tivon Schardl, one of Lucios lawyers, said they hope to convince the trial judge to recommend that the appeals court grant her a new trial.

If the board had taken up her case and decided to recommend commutation of her sentence or a reprieve, that would have needed Abbott's approval. The governor has granted clemency to only one death row inmate since taking office in 2015. Abbott commuted a death sentence to life without parole for Thomas Bart Whitaker, who was convicted of fatally shooting his mother and brother. Whitaker's father was also shot but survived and led the effort to spare his son's life.

HOW FREQUENTLY ARE WOMEN EXECUTED?

Its rare in the U.S., according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that takes no position on capital punishment but has criticized the way states carry out executions. Women have accounted for only 3.6% of the more than 16,000 confirmed executions in the U.S. dating back to the colonial period in the 1600s, according to the group's data.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, 17 women have been executed throughout the nation, according to the data. Texas has put more women to death  six  than any other state. Oklahoma is next, with three, and Florida has executed two.

The federal government has executed one woman since 1976. Lisa Montgomery, of Kansas, received a lethal injection in January 2021 after the Trump administration resumed executions in the federal system following a 17-year hiatus. The Justice Department has halted executions again under the Biden administration.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  Judges on New Yorks highest court peppered attorneys with sharp questions Tuesday as they considered whether to throw out new congressional district maps that Republicans say were unconstitutionally gerrymandered.

The Court of Appeals heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by a group of Republican voters challenging the legality of the new district maps, which were widely seen as likely to help Democrats gain seats in Congress and knock some incumbent Republicans out of office.

The court's decision  which could come at any time  could play a crucial role in the battle for control of the U.S. House, where Democrats now enjoy a thin majority.

Judges repeatedly asked the Democrats' attorneys about what should happen next if the high court decides to strike down the maps. But they also seemed wary about overstepping their authority.

Im again having difficulty with your argument that youre driving the substantive work of drawing district lines into a judicial forum, Judge Jenny Rivera told a lawyer for the petitioners.

The voters contend in their lawsuit the Democrat-controlled Legislature violated provisions in the state constitution that barred the redrawing of districts for partisan gain. New York's governor and legislative leaders deny they bent the rules, but two lower courts have already ruled the district maps were drafted specifically to give Democrats an advantage.

A midlevel appeals court last week gave the Legislature a deadline of April 30 to come up with revised maps, or else leave the redrafting in the hands of a court-appointed expert.

A third ruling against the maps could potentially upend the states planned congressional primary, now scheduled for late June.

Attorneys for Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and legislative leaders from her party say the maps address population shifts and unite similar minority and geographical communities. The attorneys urged the judges to allow lawmakers to fix any errors with particular districts.

The Democrats have also criticized computer simulations run by an elections analyst who testified for the Republican plaintiffs that the maps were gerrymandered.

Political district maps across the nation have been redrawn in recent months as a result of population shifts documented in the 2020 Census.

Democrats had been counting on New York lawmakers producing a map heavily favorable to their party to help offset expected Republican gains in other states.

New York's new maps would give Democrats a strong majority of registered voters in 22 of the states 26 congressional districts. Republicans, who represent about 22% of registered New York voters, currently hold eight of the states 27 seats in Congress. New York will lose one seat in 2021.

Partisan gerrymandering of political district maps is an age-old tradition in the U.S., but New York voters attempted to limit the practice through a constitutional amendment in 2014.

A politically appointed commission was supposed to draw the new maps. But that body, comprised of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, couldn't reach consensus. The Democrat-led Legislature then stepped in and passed new maps of its own design.

Among other issues, the Court of Appeals was weighing whether the Legislature had the authority to do so. Some judges on Tuesday questioned whether Democrats followed the spirit of the reforms.

It seems the people said they believed this would be real reform, Judge Michael Garcia said. We would be telling them it wasnt.

So far this election cycle, courts have intervened to block maps they found to be Republican gerrymanders in North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and a Democrat gerrymander in Maryland. Such decisions have led to delayed primaries in North Carolina, Ohio and Maryland.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Hill contributed.
Shares of Twitter, arguably the world's most influential social media platform, jumped after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company is nearing a deal with Elon Musk, the world's richest man.

Later, Tesla CEO Musk finally caught the elusive Twitter bird for $44 billion, as the company's board decided to give in to his takeover bid with his "best and final" offer.

Twitter announced late on Monday evening that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly-owned by Musk for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at nearly $44 billion.

Answering naysayers and his detractors, Musk, known for brusqueness, tweeted an olive branch: "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means."

A few minutes before that, the billionaire quoted American poet Robert Frost's romantic poem "A Line Storm Song: And be my love in the rain."

Musk sits at a net worth of $269.7 billion in the Forbes real-time billionaires' index. That's a savage lead of more than $99 billion over the second richest man, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Earlier this April, Musk offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, or about $43 billion.

Twitter's board of directors had met on Sunday to discuss Musk's financing plan. The board negotiated with Musk into the early hours of Monday, The New York Times said.

Twitter shares fired up nearly 6 per cent on Monday afternoon chiefly because of media speculation that the deal was expected after market close, if not sooner.

So far, the social media giant was expected to decline a deal, which includes Musk's plan to take it off the stock market.

Twitter had adopted a so-called 'poison pill' to fend off a potential hostile takeover.

However, the company betrayed greater receptivity after Musk revealed he secured $46.5 billion in financing.

The company's board met on Sunday to discuss Musk's financing plan for his proposed bid, a source told CNBC.

Twitter is set to report first-quarter earnings on Thursday.

Musk, who owns Tesla and SpaceX, built up more than 9 per cent in Twitter stock and turned down an offer to join the board before putting in a bid.

An avid Twitter user, Musk had claimed that it needs to be "transformed" into a private company so it can become a forum for free speech.

He also said Twitter's board members' interests "are simply not aligned with shareholders" and that the board "owns almost no shares" of the company.

The consequent disarray was palpable. While welcoming Musk till the foray was limited to a single-digit control of Twitter stock, CEO Parag Agrawal has gone off his own platform since the last 18 days.

On his part, Co-Founder (and former CEO) Jack Dorsey, whose Twitter bio states that he is a "romantic moron and 1/8 hippie", is no longer the CEO of Block (his not-so-famous venture once called Square) either.

"Titles like 'CEO' get in the way of doing the right thing. Respect to the people who ignore titles, and fight like hell for what is right," Dorsey had once tweeted.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, Block said Dorsey has changed his title to "Block Head".

Block updated its bylaws to reflect Dorsey's new role, removing the requirement to have an officer holding the titles of CEO and President.

Dorsey and Musk have sparred in multiple theatres. Titles is one of them.

In its filing some months back, Tesla said Musk would henceforth be known as "Technoking" and Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn would be referred to as "Master of Coin".
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Friday which dissolves the private government Walt Disney World controls on its property in Orlando, a measure which aims to punish the Disney corporation for opposing the law critics call "Don't Say Gay."

The move could have huge tax implications for Disney, a major political player in Florida and one of the state's largest employers.

Here are five things to know about the situation.

1. What is happening with Disney's self-governance?

The Reedy Creek Improvement District, established in 1967, helped Disney build one of the largest theme park destinations in the world and allowed the company to self-govern the land, with Reedy Creek being an "independent special district," created by the Florida Legislature to support and administer certain aspects of the economic development and tourism within its boundaries.

The district stretches across parts of Orange and Osceola counties in Florida, with the landowners of the district, in this case Disney, responsible for paying the cost of services that local governments would normally provide, with the district functioning by taxing landowners and issuing bonds to pay for major projects and public services.

All of Walt Disney World Resort is located within this special district, encompassing about 25,000 acres or nearly 40 square miles. Disney is the largest single landowner with two cities, Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, within Reedy Creek, and there is a combined population of 53 between the two cities, with residents chosen by Disney.

According to its official website, the district includes 134 miles of roadways and 67 miles of waterways that it maintains. Approximately 250,000 guests visit every day.

The law removes the independent special district label from Disney, as well as a handful of others across the state, starting June 1, 2023.

2. What does Reedy Creek mean to Disney?

Through Reedy Creek, Disney is able to govern itself as it appoints the board of supervisors that acts as the district's government while also paying some taxes to the counties where the property is located, according to the Washington Post.

Through the collected taxes, Reedy Creek provides necessary services including fire protection and emergency medical treatment, flood control, trash collection, power distribution, water treatment and road building and maintenance. Major projects like roadways are also able to be funded through bonds issued by Reedy Creek.

Reedy Creek also oversees its own building code and issues permits, allowing Disney more control over what it builds and eliminating delays caused by red tape during construction.

The district had $169 million in revenues and $178 million in expenditures in the current budget year.

3. Why are Republicans repealing this status?

After funding the lawmakers who wrote the Parental Rights in Education bill, which passed earlier this year, what critics call the "Don't Say Gay" bill, Disney decided to speak out against the passage of the bill and halted political funding. Some say the bill could harm LGBTQ+ kids or families.

After the bill became law, Disney said its goal as a company was for the law to be repealed or struck down, following protests against the company for a late reaction to the bill.

"As Governor, I was elected to put the people of Florida first, and I will not allow a woke corporation based in California to run our state," DeSantis wrote in a fundraising email, according to the Associated Press. DeSantis is up for reelection this year and is reportedly considering a run for President in 2024.

4. Will Disney be able to re-establish Reedy Creek?

The legislation not taking effect until June 1, 2023 allows for lawmakers and Disney to re-negotiate the deal. The legislation also allows for the re-implementation of the status after that date, meaning Disney could eventually return to self-governance in the state.

5. What could the impacts of this be?

Democratic lawmakers in Florida who oppose the bill have said it could result in homeowners in the state being hit with big tax bills if they have to absorb costs the company used to pay. The Post reported last week that Disney has an estimated $1 billion in debt obligations and spends more than $160 million a year on public services, with other government bodies potentially being forced to assume those responsibilities.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said it could be catastrophic for the budget if the county had to assume the costs for public safety at the theme park resort, the Associated Press reported. Reedy Creek currently reimburses the Orange County Sheriff's Office for public safety costs.

"If that district goes away, and they no longer pay for those public safety costs, and it then has to fall to the countys other budgets, that is a net sum loss to the rest of the taxpayers of Orange County," Demings told the AP.

Osceola County said its government would start an analysis to understand any costs that might shift to the county.

The Post reported that Disney could also face a slower process when building attractions and face obstacles when transitioning service providers. High costs related to the law would likely be expensive for Disney, the Post reported, which could lead to more expensive trips to Disney World in the future.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli police said Tuesday they have launched an investigation into a death threat made against the country's prime minister.

The police issued a statement saying that a letter containing a death threat and a live bullet was sent to Naftali Bennett's family. The police said the special crimes department and the Shin Bet internal security agency opened an investigation.

Additional details about the case were under a gag order. The Prime Minister's Office said in a statement that the Bennett's family has been given an increased security detail because of the letter.

Writing on Twitter, Bennett said that political conflict, no matter how deep, doesnt need to come to violence, thuggery and death threats.

I am prime minister and a politician, but I am also a husband and father, and my obligation is to protect my wife and children, he said. We must lower the flames of the political discourse.

Bennett formed a government last year following four successive deadlocked elections. He heads a coalition of eight parties ranging from ultranationalists to a small Islamist party that were all united in their opposition to longtime prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bennett and other leaders of the coalition received death threats and were provided with additional security in the run-up to the formation of the new government last June.

One of Bennett's predecessors as prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated in 1995 by a religious nationalist extremist following a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
Jurors have convicted an Illinois Department of Corrections officer for violating the civil rights of a prisoner brutally beaten at a western Illinois prison in 2018, but could not reach a verdict against a superior.

Alex Banta, 30, of Quincy was convicted after a four-week trial in U.S. District Court of conspiracy to deprive civil rights, deprivation of civil rights, obstruction of an investigation, falsification of documents and misleading conduct.

Banta faces up to life in prison because jurors also indicated Monday that in finding him guilty of the civil rights and conspiracy charges, those crimes led to the death of 65-year-old inmate Larry Earvin.

Members of the eight-man, four-woman jury, while unanimous on Bantas culpability, were split 9-3 on the involvement of co-defendant Lt. Todd Sheffler.

The May 17, 2018, beating of prisoner Earvin at Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling resulted in 15 broken ribs and abdominal injuries so severe a portion of his bowel was surgically removed. He died June 26.

Earvin allegedly refused to return to his cell in the housing unit known as R-1 and a disturbance there summoned dozens of officers for an escort to the segregation unit.

Testimony indicated he was kicked and handled roughly in R-1, the government contends the debilitating and eventually fatal injuries were the result of kicking, punching, stomping and jumping on a prone Earvin in the segregation units vestibule, where there are no cameras.

Banta was with Earvin for the bulk of the incident. Sheffler, 53, of Mendon was not in R-1, but joined the escort along the way to segregation. According to jurors Kevin Sullivan, 59, of Springfield and Roberta Clifton, 65, of Havana three members of the eight-man, four-woman jury believed parts of the defense position that Earvin was injured in R-1.

They came to the position that Mr. Banta was alongside Mr. Earvin in the escort from beginning to end, while Mr. Sheffler joined midway. But he had to know something had happened. He had to be part of the coverup.

Those who were on the fence were on the fence because they didnt think the assault happened in (segregation), Sullivan said.

The holdouts did not believe evidence proved additional beating in the segregation units blind spot because the bulk of the testimony about it came from corrections employees who admitted initially lying to the Illinois State Police or FBI. They included Sgt. Willie Hedden, 43, of Mount Sterling, who was charged along with Sheffler and Banta but pleaded guilty and testified for the government in hopes of sentencing leniency.

Clifton and Sullivan said they didnt resent the holdouts because, in Cliftons words, Theyre trying to make sure they can sleep at night, too.

But Sullivan said, Im frustrated. I dont feel like we finished the job.
PITTSFIELD  Pike County health officials said they are starting to see an increase in COVID-19 cases, with 22 infections and one related death reported so far this month.

Transmission rates remain low in the county, but residents are being urged to be alert for potential symptoms of coronavirus.

Seven cases were recorded last week, Pike County Health Department said Monday. That brings the total confirmed and probable cases in the county since March 2020 to 5,034. A probable case is one in which a direct household contact of a lab-confirmed COVID-19 case is showing the same symptoms.

There have been 87 COVID-19-related deaths in Pike County since the pandemic began.

Health department representatives recommend people stay current on their coronavirus vaccines and boosters, maintain ventilation through indoor spaces when possible, and be tested if exposed to the virus or if showing symptoms.

It is recommended that those who test positive stay home for at least five days and isolate from others in the house until at least five days after being fever-free without the use of medication and wear a mask around others for an additional five days.

The health department is offering a vaccination clinic from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday at its offices at 606 W. Adams St. and free COVID-19 testing from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday.

Numbers statewide have been rising slightly, and last week there were 19,551 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus and 58 deaths recorded in Illinois, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Transmission risk remains low in most of the state; four counties now are rated as "medium" risk by the Centers for Disease Control: DuPage, Champaign, McLean and Piatt. At the medium-risk level, the CDC recommends that the elderly and those who have other health risks wear masks indoors.

Through last week, there have been 3,114,036 cases and 33,568 related deaths since March 2020 in Illinois.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP)  An Alabama fast-food worker who allegedly threw hot grease on a customer during a dispute over service in the drive-thru line, causing severe burns, was charged with assault, police said.

The 50-year-old woman was charged Monday following a confrontation that occurred Saturday afternoon at an Arby's restaurant in suburban Birmingham, according to a statement from the Hueytown Police Department.
Produce and Bakery Giveaway: 9 a.m.-noon, Jacksonville Food Center, 316 E. State St. Free | For Morgan County residents.

Story Time: 10 a.m., Carlinville Public Library, 510 N. Broad St. Free | Story time with Hannah Crawford, children's librarian.

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.

Flower Sale: Noon-6:30 p.m., Knights of Columbus, 320 E. State St. Prices vary. | Presented by Morgan County Right to Life. Variety of plants and planters. For pre-orders, call Evelyn Gonzalez at 217-243-4940 or 217-473-2234.

Walking for Wellness: 12:30-3 p.m., First Christian Church, 2106 S. Main St. Free | Indoor walking program offered year-round Monday-Thursday. For more information, call 217-243-6445.

Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen: 3:30-4 p.m., Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen, 105 E. Dunlap St. Free | Serving meals to go for anyone in need.

Author Event and Book Signing: 4-6 p.m., Pike County All Wars Museum, 320 N. Illinois St., Pittsfield. | Author Barry Swanson will discuss his book, "Still Points," the life story of Philip Zumwalt, who served in World War II. For more information, call 217-242-4253.

Ulysses S. Grant and Race: 6 p.m., Illinois State Museum virtual event. Free | Featured speaker is park ranger Nick Sacco. Registration required at bit.ly/GrantTalk. For more information, contact events@illinoisstatemuseum.org or 217-782-5993.

Morgan County Republican Club Meeting: 6 p.m., Jacksonville Municipal Building, 200 W. Douglas Ave. | Meeting will include Morgan County and local Republican candidates running in the primary election. Meeting on second floor.

Wednesday

Produce and Bakery Giveaway: 9 a.m., noon, Jacksonville Food Center, 316 E. State St. Free | For Morgan County residents.

Story Time: 10 a.m., Jacksonville Public Library, 201 W. College Ave. Free | Stories and a craft. For more information, call 217-243-5435 or email clangdon@jaxpl.org.

Flower Sale: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Knights of Columbus, 320 E. State St. Prices vary. | Presented by Morgan County Right to Life. Variety of plants and planters. For pre-orders, call Evelyn Gonzalez at 217-243-4940 or 217-473-2234.

Boyd Healthcare Services Lunch and Learn: 11:30 a.m., Knights of Columbus Hall, U.S. 67, Carrollton. | Featured speaker R. Mapue, M.D., will present "COVID-19 the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." RSVP for lunch by April 22 at 217-942-6946, ext. 1202.

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.

Walking for Wellness: 12:30-3 p.m., First Christian Church, 2106 S. Main St. Free | Indoor walking program offered year-round Monday-Thursday. For more information, call 217-243-6445.

Commodity Food Distribution: 1:15 p.m., The Salvation Army, 331 W. Douglas Ave. Free | For income-eligible residents of Morgan County. Bring proof of residence and a box for food.

Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen: 3:30-4 p.m., Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen, 105 E. Dunlap St. Free | Serving meals to go for anyone in need.

County Line Dance Club Class: 6:30 p.m., The Hangout Bar & Grill, 901 W. Superior Ave. $5.
The hour is late to save America from the White House-sanctioned, sovereignty-busting illegal immigrant invasion. To draw a baseball parallel, patriotic citizens are in the bottom of the eighth inning, getting a 6-0 shellacking from the America-last Biden administration.

Still, citizens have two at bats  six outs  remaining, time enough to battle back and overcome, assuming their rally starts immediately.

Some observers wonder how things at the border went so wrong, so fast. The explanation is simple: Cheating and lying from Biden, Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Vice President Kamala Harris and the administrations inner circle of unelected cronies  U.S. Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice, Obama Foundation interim president Valerie Jarrett and Michelle and Barack Obama, who have managed to amass $70 million in wealth since their days in the White House. They threw spit balls and stole signs, and no one holds them accountable.

Bidens cheating at a criminal, unconstitutional level is indisputable. For his presidencys entirety, Biden has knowingly, willingly and flagrantly broken numerous immigration laws. The president has defied the entire Immigration and Nationality Act, legislation that defines who can immigrate to the U.S., spells out the procedure for applying for a visa and from where the applications must be submitted, and specifies the rules that new immigrants are legally obligated to follow. These have been dismissed without conferring with Congress.

King Biden rules by decree. Shamelessly, even when the courts rule against him, Bidens brazen rejection of immigration law enforcement proceeds unabated.

In early March, the U.S. District Court of North Texas enjoined the Biden administrations policy of excepting unaccompanied alien minors from Title 42, and it largely denied the administrations efforts to dismiss the lawsuit that Texas and Attorney General Ken Paxton filed. The courts final order found that the Biden administrations actions are: arbitrary, capricious ... or otherwise not in accordance with law. Biden ignored the courts injunction. Instead, the administration continued to resettle significant numbers of minors into the U.S.  122,000 unaccompanied migrant children were put in shelters in 2021  which has led to the largest wave of criminal child smuggling in human history. The flood of resettled illegal alien teens and minors will drain public school resources, overcrowd hospitals and provide a pipeline for Northern Triangle gangs like MS-13.

In another announcement that will add to taxpayers burdens, Bidens DHS Secretary Mayorkas proposed a new rule that would allow migrants to use public welfare benefits like SNAP, CHIP and Medicaid while their Green Card applications are under review. Mayorkas proposal violates the public charge principal which states that newly arrived immigrants must be self-sufficient and not dependent on taxpayer subsidies.

Biden isnt the least bit hesitant to publicly lie about his immigration agenda. In his State of the Union address, with 38 million television viewers tuned in, Biden said: We need to secure our border, and fix the immigration system  the chaotic system he and Mayorkas created. Since Bidens speech, the border crisis has intensified, and will get worse in late May once Title 42 ends.

A healthy part of the blame for the border mess lies with voters who always get the government they vote for. Bidens campaign commitments included halting illegal immigrant deportations for 100 days, ending the border wall construction and granting amnesty to unlawfully present aliens. Biden chose as his running mate Calif. Sen. Kamala Harris, whose Senate voting record was among the most liberal.

Before being elected to the Senate, and speaking as Californias Attorney General, Harris said an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal. Since her appointment as faux border czar, Harris has shown that she, like her boss, can lie, too. Said Harris: While we are clear that people should not come to the border now, we also understand that we will enforce the law and that we also  because we can chew gum and walk at the same time  must address root causes

Identifying migrations root causes, Harris concluded, will end illegal immigration. But migrations root causes turned out to be the unprecedented, uninterrupted immigration lawbreaking of Biden and Harris.

What happens between now and the November mid-term election, a date that might mark a turning point for enforcement, depends once again on voters. Democrats have at least four vulnerable open borders incumbents on the ballot in Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire and New Mexico, more than enough seats to flip the 50-50 deadlocked Upper Chamber, an important step in stabilizing the border invasion.

At this historic low point in border enforcement, stabilization would represent a triumph.
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History isnt short of people to blame. You could say of the present world crisis that it was former president Barack Obamas fault for not getting tougher with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Syria. You could blame former president Donald Trump for giving Putin a sense of entitlement and for undermining NATO, seeing it as a financial play. You could blame former German chancellor Angela Merkel for encouraging Russian gas imports, shutting out the nuclear energy option.

You could, of course, blame President Biden for explicitly telling Putin, and the world, what the United States wouldnt do if he invaded Ukraine. And you could blame Biden and NATO for dribbling vital military aid to Ukraine over the first devastating months of the Russian invasion.

If you want to continue, you could blame the worlds military strategists for believing that Russia, after the fall of communism, had changed. You could, perhaps, blame NATO itself, for expanding its reach to the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

Putin is unequivocally the one to blame. He is the one who wants to remake Russia in the image of the imperial tsars. It is a flawed scheme but a real one.

As the world grapples with the reality of Putin, the past informs but it doesnt instruct. If NATO were to engage Russia with conventional forces, it would triumph. That is one lesson of Ukraine. Russian military forces are woefully inefficient, even incompetent.

Would it were that simple.

The beast in the room, the feared monster, the threat that hangs over the whole world is nuclear war. It is the clear-and-present danger. It shapes our handling of Russia and will shape our response to China, if and when it invades Taiwan.

Nuclear war avoidance is again dominating the world in ways we had nearly forgotten. Will Russia  a caged, fierce bear  resort to nuclear, and how much nuclear to what effect against which targets?

The United States and the Soviet Union reached a modus vivendi: mutual assured destruction (MAD), which kept the peace even as nuclear armaments proliferated and stockpiles grew exponentially. Is that still the option? Is MAD  so long after the collapse of the Soviet Union  still the underlying realpolitik, the restraining factor between nuclear powers?

Does that mean that anyone with nuclear weapons can wage conventional warfare in the belief that they wont face NATO or any other serious restraining military action because they can unleash terrifying global destruction?

Or is there, as some believe, the prospect of limited nuclear engagement, using area tactical nuclear weapons? This has never been tested. There hasnt been a limited nuclear ground war. Could it be contained? Should it be contemplated outside the deeper reaches of the defense establishment?

But it is what keeps the leaders of Europe, the United States and Canada awake nights. If you favor limited nuclear war, just look to the effects of a nuclear disaster, Chernobyl, and start multiplying.

It is the unthinkable scenario that must be thought about. It is the reality that holds back NATO and makes the West a spectator to the carnage in Ukraine.

Russia isnt a rich country. It has a large, poorly trained and equipped military. But it bristles with nuclear weapons aimed at North American and European cities. Its ability to threaten us with nuclear horror changes the balance between nations: an indelible change to future foreign policy.

In the short term, when contemplating the return of MAD in international relations, the question is: How mad  as in insane  is Putin, and how ready is Biden?

The pieces on the world chess board have moved and they wont be moved back. The intelligentsia has yet to grasp the extent to which Ukraine has changed the world  and made it a more dangerous place. They need to catch up fast.
In 2016, Amor Towles set the world of literature afire with his best-selling novel "A Gentleman in Moscow."

The book covers a rich character, an intriguing setting, and pokes fun at the absurdities of Bolshevism. Though the historical fiction begins 100 years ago, its not too far away from our current debate over critical race theory and math textbooks in Florida today.

In the tale set in the new Soviet Union, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to be a former person by the Emergency Committee of the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs on June 21, 1922. His punishment is to be placed under house arrest ... or rather hotel arrest, at the Hotel Metropol in Moscow, to live in a tiny attic apartment, with the threat of being shot should he exit the building. Of course, he has many adventures in his cosmopolitan lodgings, meeting fascinating people, and is always ready with a story, a simile, a clever style, or even some sarcasm at the situation. I shared it with my Victims of Communism colleagues.

Towles could have dragged us through the well-worn pages of the bloody Russian Revolution, Stalins brutal purges, or other cruelties of the USSR. Instead, we are treated to seeing the Communists in all of the zealous pettiness impose a combination of control and revenge for perceived slights, or anything that would deviate from the ideology or besmirch Mother Russia. A writer friend of Rostovs is jailed for objecting to censorship of a line from an Anton Chekov letter because the playwright claimed he likes German bread better than its Russian variant.

A banal waiter, insulted by Rostovs suggestion of a more appropriate wine to serve with Latvian stew, orders the workers spend 10 days removing labels from wine bottles in the cellar so no one will ever again be able to appreciate the difference from one particular white or red wine. An actress career is ruined because some bureaucrat thinks her close-up camera images reflect too much individualism and not enough respect for the common struggle of the proletariat.

It's ironic that one of the closer analogies to such absurdities can be found in the state of Florida today, among politicians who purport to be anti-communist, and reserve the label Marxist for their critiques. The news is reporting that just under half of the math textbooks to be used in public schools have been rejected because they contain elements of critical race theory or social and emotional learning or even the boogeyman core curriculum, once designed by a bipartisan group, backed by businesses.

As a college student who lived through both the wave of political correctness and the counterrevolution that sought to stamp it out (teaching me the perils of the concept making the opposite mistake) I was eager to see examples of how math had been co-opted by wokeness. Imagine my dismay when the leaders insisted it was all there, but refused to make the overwhelming evidence public, despite claiming the process was open and transparent, another irony for a location dubbed the Sunshine State.

The states governor then defended the decision not to provide examples, claiming that the content is proprietary information. A representative from that office released an example  from Missouri. Hopefully its more accurate than the viral but debunked claim that Missouri children would have to repeat the entire 2019-20 academic year due to COVID-19.

Towles tale, and the Sunshine State story reveal what happens when any political ideology becomes orthodoxy to the point of irrationality. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail before were punished for either not being woke enough, or disciplined for being too woke.
Page Content

Twelve enthusiastic new customs officers of the Class of 2022 took their oath in the presence of Honorable Minister of Justice Anna E. Richardson at a symbolic ceremony held on Friday, April 22, at the Government Administration Building. This is the first group of cadets to complete their training course carried out by the customs department on the directives of Minister Richardson.





Deputy Prime Minister Egbert Doran, Customs St. Maarten Management Team, Department Heads within the Ministry of Justice, Chief Prosecutor Hieke Buist, fellow colleagues, relatives, and friends of the cadets were present to witness the momentous occasion. The ceremony began with the cadets marching from Postal Services St. Maarten towards the entrance of the Government Administration Building where they were then inspected by Deputy Prime Minister Doran and Minister Richardson.





Deputy Prime Minister Egbert Doran stated, I am very proud of the 12 cadets who have all dedicated their time to undergo training in pursuit of a law enforcement career. Our country needs and appreciates the contributions these newly sworn-in customs officers will make in protecting our borders. I encourage them to continue striving for excellence as they now serve as role models within our community.





During the ceremony, Minister Richardson addressed the cadets expressing her profound gratitude for their decision to join the Justice Chain in the interest of safeguarding the country from harmful goods, drugs or weapons intended to enter the border. You have a challenging journey ahead which you have been duly prepared for. Challenges where your integrity and call for duty will be greatly tested. Nonetheless, I encourage you to never stop learning and to lean on each other and your management team during challenging times, as it is only a matter of working together that we become stronger in moving this country forward, stated Minister Richardson.





Customs St. Maarten Management Team Member, Mr. Franklin Bernadina expressed that this was the first time the Customs Department had done its own recruitment, and organized and executed its own training from start to finish. He stated, We have had much help along the way. Minister Richardson stepped in and gave us the go-ahead to do the customs training in-house with a deadline set for March 2022 which was met. We were committed to succeed as we gave our word to the Minister and failure was not an option.





After recounting the days of training experienced by the cadets, he encouraged the cadets to reflect on the words of the oath they would be taking and told them that if they abide by them, their integrity would never be questioned. During your journey as a customs officer, you will feel overwhelmed at times, things may not go as you would expect, but you must keep moving. Commit to achieving excellence in all that you do and never settle, Mr. Bernadina stated as he addressed the cadets.





After the oath was read by Mr. Bernadina, the 12 cadets were presented with their certificates and thereafter sworn in as Customs Officers and civil servants within the Government of St. Maarten by Minister Richardson.





I am more than elated that this is the first group of customs officers to have been part of a graduation ceremony that will be repeated for the next batch of cadets to undergo the customs training lasting six months. As such, I take this time to thank key persons who were instrumental in seeing this training through including Mr. Otto de Vries of Customs The Netherlands, Customs St. Maarten Management Team, Head of the St. Maarten Caribbean Coast Guard substation Mr. Roberto Levenstone, Chief of Police Carl John, Police Inspector Sharlon Cathalina, and the families of the newly sworn-in customs officers.





Over the past two years, Customs St. Maarten has been strengthened with the addition of new vehicles, x-ray scanning equipment, and the procurement of software to collect much-needed data on the import and transport of goods. The department, now consisting of a total staff of 44 officers, including office personnel, will be embarking on delivering refresher courses throughout the year as needed to ensure that all customs officers remain up to date on their training.
Official: Death toll in latest Darfur violence now over 200

CAIRO (AP)  The death toll from weekend tribal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudans western Darfur region has surpassed 200 people, a senior official said Tuesday.

Khamis Abdalla Abkar, the provincial governor of West Darfur province, said Sundays fighting in the town of Kreinik also wounded at least 103 others.

He said attackers overwhelmed a joint security force in the town, leading to its withdrawal.

This is a crime, a crime against humanity, Abkar said in video comments, adding that the town was destroyed, including its government institutions.

The fighting, some of the deadliest in the region in recent years, grew out of the killing of two Arab herdsmen on Thursday just outside Kreinik, 80 kilometers (around 50 miles) east of Genena, the provincial capital of West Darfur.

Large numbers of Arab militias, known as janjaweed, then stormed the town early Sunday with heavy weapons in retaliation, he said.

The violence eventually reached West Darfurs provincial capital of Genena on Sunday and the main hospital was attacked.

Shooting took place inside the facility including its emergency department. One staffer was killed, and health care workers were evacuated, according to the Doctors Without Borders charity.

Abkar, the provincial governor, also said that clashes on Thursday and Friday left eight dead and over two dozen wounded.

Abkar said authorities have taken unprecedented security measures to protect civilians in West Darfur. The military, he said, deployed a brigade to the province joining a civilian protection force already stationed in Kreinik.

Tensions between Arab and African Masalit communities in Kreinik date back to December when a property dispute at a local market triggered clashes that killed at least 88 people.

The fighting has come at a critical time for Sudan, which has plunged into chaos since a military coup last year. The takeover upended the countrys transition to democracy after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

The clashes raise questions over whether military leaders are capable of bringing security to Darfur, which has been wracked by years of civil war. In 2020, the U.N. Security Council ended its peacekeeping mission there.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when ethnic Africans rebelled, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination. Al-Bashirs government was accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes and unleashing the janjaweed on civilians  a charge it denied.

By SAMY MAGDY

Associated Press
Sri Lanka, China discusses loan from Beijing to cover debts View Photo

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Sri Lankas government said Tuesday it is discussing obtaining another loan from Beijing to repay some of its debt to Chinese banks after China told the nearly bankrupt island nation it was not in favor of restructuring existing loans.

Sri Lanka has nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due for repayment this year and will need to repay $ 25 billion over the next five years. A severe shortage of foreign exchange means the country l acks money to buy imported goods, leading to shortages of food, fuel and other essentials.

The economic crisis has brought weeks of protests across the country calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksas resignation.

Government spokesman Nalaka Godahewa said Beijing was balking at restructuring Sri Lankas debt because it does not want to set that precedent. He told reporters the finance ministry will announce details of discussions with China later.

Earlier this month, the government said it was suspending repayment of foreign loans pending negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan restructuring plan.

Sri Lankas debt problems are partly because it built infrastructure like a port, airport and road networks using Chinese loans, but the projects are not making money.

Rajapaksa had asked Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who visited Sri Lanka in January, to restructure those loans.

The government issued its statement a day after Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong said China was doing its utmost to help Sri Lanka. Qi scoffed at suggestions Beijing has Sri Lanka in a debt trap.

Western developed countries, especially those who colonized Sri Lanka in history, should also come and help, a Tweet from the Chinese embassy quoted Qi as saying.

The debt trap is only a myth, created and hyped by some foreign media and politicians intentionally, Qi said. He said China is neither the biggest nor the only lender to Sri Lanka and Beijings projects are provided on concessional terms.

Japan, the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank are other large lenders, having begun the process of aiding Sri Lankas economy much earlier than China.

Qi said it was unrealistic to expect all projects or loans to be flawless.

Central Bank figures show existing Chinese loans to Sri Lanka total around $3.38 billion, not including loans to state-owned businesses, which are counted separately and thought to be substantial.

Godahewa also said that the Cabinet has approved a project to offer residence visas for up to 10 years to foreigners who buy apartments in the country costing at least $75,000 and those who deposit more than $ 100,000 in local bank accounts.

He said the offer was made to help the construction industry weather the economic crisis and to attract more foreign currency.

By KRISHAN FRANCIS

Associated Press
Kishida says Japan, South Korea should quickly improve ties View Photo

TOKYO (AP)  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida indicated his willingness Tuesday to mend badly strained ties with South Korea, saying relations between the two U.S. allies are crucial when the rules-based international order is threatened by Russias invasion of Ukraine.

There is no time to waste in improving Japan-South Korea relations, Kishida said he told a delegation sent by South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol. Strategic cooperation between Japan and South Korea, and among Japan, the U.S. and South Korea, is more necessary than ever.

The seven-member delegation sent by Yoon, who takes office on May 10, arrived in Tokyo on Sunday for policy talks with Japanese officials. Yoon has expressed his intention to improve the two countries ties, which have plunged to their lowest levels in years over disputes stemming from Japans actions during its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

Their latest disputes were triggered by South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation for their abusive treatment of Korean forced laborers during World War II.

Delegation head Chung Jin-suk told reporters after their meeting with Kishida that the two sides agreed to develop future-oriented relations for mutual benefit.

Kishida told reporters he will carefully assess the discussions with the delegation and the position of South Koreas new administration.

Japan continues to insist that all wartime compensation issues between the countries were settled under a 1965 treaty and has accused South Korea of breaching international law. The row also led to trade disputes and threatened their security cooperation with the United States amid concerns about Chinas growing military strength and influence and North Koreas nuclear and missile development.

In order to restore Japan-South Korea relations to a healthy relationship based on Japans consistent position, I would like to communicate closely with the new administration under President-elect Yoon, Kishida said. Keeping a promise should be the foundation of the relationship between the countries.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Associated Press
Page Content

The Prime Minister of Sint Maarten Hon. Silveria Jacobs





delivered the keynote address at the Global Youth Summit on April 20, among others at the EarthX 2022 Conference held in Dallas, Texas.





The prime ministers keynote address focused on the importance of the next generation leadership and island leaders aligning efforts to achieve transformative global change. The address was in line with the the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. It was signed by 154 states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 1992.





The address was made to a number of conference stakeholders including YOUNGO, the official children and youth constituency of the UNFCCC. YOUNGO is a global network of children and youth activists (up to 35 years) as well as youth Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), who contribute to shaping the intergovernmental climate change policies and strive to empower youth to formally bring their voices to the UNFCCC processes.





In her keynote address, Prime Minister Jacobs thanked EarthX organizers and stakeholders for the invitation to address the meeting and pledged her continued support for youth agencies, underscoring the need to empower them and to facilitate their participation at the national level. As SIDS (Small Island Development States), given our limited capacity, opportunities to engage with stakeholders, ensures that the best solution, and not custom, is the basis of the decisions taken to achieve our shared global mission as leaders: improving quality of life for our people, Jacobs said in her address.





In 2009, the UNFCCC secretariat extended constituency status to admitted youth NGOs YOUNGOs vision is to empower children and youth to take action and works to enhance their skills and capacity to drive the necessary and ambitious climate actions and policies at all levels towards a livable climate just future.





YOUNGO representatives make official statements, provide technical and policy inputs to negotiations, and engage with decision-makers at the UN climate change conferences, and promote youth participation in climate change projects at local and national levels.





In the beginning of Jacobs address, the prime minister reflected: I remember fondly growing up in the 1970s eating coal pot food. By this time, an eroding manner of daily food preparation, this custom was still practiced by older persons, who looked on with contempt at the new and modern electric stoves that began to fill many homes during this era.





This custom involved a coal-filled cast-iron pot or skillet used to prepare traditional foods such as johnny cakes, the fluffy golden-coloured circular shaped breads, that we ate with steamed fish, and conchies a corn-based banana-wrapped pie...just some of the many delicacies that peppered our pallets on the sun drenched and slow-paced life on the Caribbean Island of Sint Maarten.





Coal has been the historic and most prevalent energy source for many countries, powering our factories, moving our ships, or, as my recollection demonstrated, the means to nourish families. As my story also demonstrated, change is often hard as it accompanies a reflective, often existential review of ones habits and the impact they may negatively have not only on ourselves but on our environment as well.





The scientific community had begun to realize that despite its reliability and relative abundance, coals negative impact on the environment was concerning and its continued use, particularly in large industrial amounts, contributed to an increase in greenhouse gases. Despite the elders relative contempt for the new, it must be stated that their individual subsistence-based use of coal had a very negligible impact on global greenhouse gas. But, if we scale-up these individual points of views to a community, city, national, or even global level, we quickly see how custom or tradition, often combined with economic or financial limitations, makes bringing about change a challenge.





As an educator by profession, I have long been captivated by the youths willingness to peel back the layers to examine, critique and question norms. This is their strength! Often unhindered by tradition and full of optimism, this willingness to dissect combined with fresh ideas means youth are often well-equipped to address the everchanging and multidimensional issues that form our common agenda.





Jacobs added that, If I as an island leader only embraced the ideas and strategies of the older generation, I would be guided by ideas and strategies anachronistic and unable to address future needs, very much like the elder in my opening story who was unable to adopt to shifting energy infrastructures. If we as island leaders dont facilitate the participation of the next generation, we will only undermine our development and limit our scope to bring about sustainable development and real change at the global level.





In this regard, very much like how the (Sint Maarten) Youth Parliament, among others, remains a stakeholder with which Government consults, the work of YOUNGO, as a constituency of UNFCCC, is vital in bringing about policies that transform the structures





necessary to meet the challenges of tomorrow. I am encouraged by the great work that this organization does and commend UNFCCC for recognizing the important role that youth have in climate-related discussions.





The prime minister was happy to engage with the youth at the summit and sees the opportunity for youth representatives of Sint Maarten to be at EarthX 2023 as well as other international youth forums where the country will then have a voice.





GROUP PHOTO: Prime Minister Hon. Silveria Jacobs in this group photo with a number of young people and mentors with whom she participated in the reciprocity circle after making her address at the Global Youth Summit.
Live updates | Russia-Ukraine War View Photo

POKROVSK, Ukraine  As Russian forces intensify their shelling of eastern Ukraine, more people are leaving their homes in search of safety.

In Pokrovsk, a town in the Donetsk region, people lined up Tuesday to board a train headed to the far west of the country along the border with Hungary and Slovakia. One person was lifted onto the train in a wheelchair, another on a stretcher.

The passengers took with them cats, dogs, a few bags and boxes, and the memory of those who did not flee in time.

We were in the basement, but my daughter didnt make it and was hit with shrapnel on the doorstep during shelling on Monday, said Mykola Kharchenko, 74. We had to bury her in the garden near the pear tree.

He said his village, Vremivka, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) from Pokrovsk, was under heavy fire for four days and everything was destroyed. With tears in his eyes, Kharchenko said he somehow held himself together at home, but once he reached the train station he fell apart.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Nuclear chief: Russias Chernobyl seizure risked accident

 Poland, Bulgaria say Russia suspending natural gas supplies

 Putin gets what he didnt want: Ukraine army closer to West

 Top Russian diplomat warns Ukraine against provoking WWIII

 Frances victorious Macron boosts weapons, stakes in Ukraine

 Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra organized by Met, Polish operas

Follow all AP stories on Russias war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed in principle that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians from a besieged steel plant in Ukraines southeastern city of Mariupol.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that during their one-on-one meeting Tuesday, Guterres and Putin discussed the proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians from conflict zones, namely in relation to the situation in Mariupol.

The sprawling Azovstal steel plant has been almost completely destroyed by Russian attacks but it is the last pocket of organized Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.

An estimated 2,000 troops and 1,000 civilians are said to be holed up in bunkers underneath the wrecked structure.

Dujarric said that following the Guterres-Putin agreement in principle, discussions will be held with the U.N. humanitarian office and the Russian Defense Ministry on the evacuation.

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WASHINGTON  The State Department says U.S. diplomats have begun returning to Ukraine by making day trips to temporary offices in the western city of Lviv from neighboring Poland.

The department said the first group of diplomats crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border and traveled to Lviv on Tuesday morning before returning to Poland later in the day.

The step came just two days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Ukrainian leaders during a secrecy-shrouded visit to Kyiv that the U.S. would start restaffing its diplomatic facilities in Ukraine this week.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the agency has accelerated its review of re-opening the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, which was closed shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. He said operations at the embassy would resume as soon as possible depending on the security situation in the capital.

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UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned about reports of new security incidents in a Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova and urges all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions that could escalate tensions.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Tuesday that Guterres has called for efforts to lower tensions throughout Trans-Dniester. Explosions rocked the region for the second day in a row, knocking out two powerful radio antennas close to the Ukrainian border. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukraine all but blamed Russia.

Russian speakers of the strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine nominally seceded from Moldova in 1990, one year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, fearing the country might shortly merge with Romania, whose language and culture it broadly shares.

The separatist region fought a brief war with Moldova in 1992 and declared itself an independent state, though it remains unrecognized by any country, including Russia which bases about 1,500 troops there, calling them peacekeepers. Concerns are high that those forces could be used to invade Ukraine from the west.

Haq said the U.N. continues to fully support efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to reach a political settlement of the Trans-Dniester conflict in the so-called 5+2 process which comprises Trans-Dniester, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE with the United States and the European Union as observers. The aim is to strengthen Moldovas independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, with a special status for Trans-Dniester.

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BERLIN  Germanys vice chancellor says his country has come very, very close to independence from Russian oil and an embargo on deliveries would now be manageable.

Germany, which has Europes biggest economy, has said so far that it aims to end Russian oil imports by the end of this year.

Speaking Tuesday during a visit to Poland, Economy Minister Robert Habeck  who is also the vice chancellor and responsible for energy  said that his country has cut Russias share of its oil supply from 35% before the war in Ukraine to about 12%.

Habeck said the situation is such that an embargo has become manageable for Germany. He added that the problem that just a few weeks ago seemed very big for Germany has become significantly smaller  so that independence from Russian oil imports has come very, very close.

Russian gas imports, however, are a bigger issue for Germany. Berlin has said that it will need longer to do without gas supplies from Russia.

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LONDON  Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain does not want war to escalate beyond Ukraines borders, and rejected an allegation by Moscow that the West is fighting a proxy conflict with Russia.

But Johnson said Ukrainians are being attacked from within Russian territory and have a right to protect and defend themselves by striking inside Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused NATO of pouring oil on the fire with its support for Ukraine, and said the risk of World War III should not be underestimated. Russia has singled Britain out for criticism after a U.K. government minister said it was legitimate for Ukraine to hit fuel depots in Russia with U.K.-supplied weapons.

In an interview with British station Talk TV, Johnson said its very, very important that we dont accept the way that the Russians are trying to frame what is happening in Ukraine.

He said: They are trying to frame this as a conflict between Russia and the West, or Russia and NATO. Thats not what is going on.

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia  Slovakias President Zuzana Caputova released a video addressing the invading Russian soldiers, their commanders and all whom it may concern, urging them to stop the war in Ukraine.

In the three-minute video in Russian with the subtitles in Slovak, Caputova condemned war crimes against women, children and civilians.

You justify your invasion by talking about liberation, Caputova told them. How were you intending to liberate Tatiana from Irpin, killed by a Russian grenade together with her two children? Or Olena from Hostomel, raped by one of you in a car? she asked.

Referring to testimonies of women who have survived, Caputova says they find that words are not enough when they try to describe the pain you have made a part of their lives simply because Well, why even? None of us knows Do you?

She says with each passing day, you are only increasing the army of wounded souls and bodies of women, children and innocent people.

If you still feel any leftover of humanity in you, bring it to life and end this horrible war.

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MOSCOW  Russias President Vladimir Putin says Moscow still hopes to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Ukraine, even as the fighting has continued.

Speaking at a Kremlin meeting Tuesday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Putin noted that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators made what he described as a serious breakthrough in their talks in Istanbul, Turkey, last month. He claimed, however, that the Ukrainian side later walked back on some of the tentative agreements reached in Istanbul.

In particular, Putin said Ukrainian negotiators have changed their position on the issue of the status of Crimea and separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, offering to leave it for the countries presidents to discuss. Putin charged that the shift in the Ukrainian stand makes it hard to negotiate a future deal. Ukrainian officials have been evasive about the details of talks and the Russian claims of Ukraine walking back from its earlier proposals.

Putin has demanded that Ukraine recognize Russias sovereignty over Crimea and recognize independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as part of a future agreement on ending the hostilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that those issues could only be decided by a future nationwide vote.

During Tuesdays Kremlin meeting, Guterres criticized Russias military action in Ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbors territorial integrity. He also urged Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped at a giant steel mill in Mariupol surrounded by the Russian forces.

Putin responded by claiming that the Russian forces have offered humanitarian corridors to civilians holed up at the Azovstal steel plant, charging that the Ukrainian defenders of the plant were using civilians as shields and not allowing them to leave.

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KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about the tensions in a Moscow-backed separatist region of Moldova.

The ministry noted that an attack on an administrative building in Tiraspol, the center of the separatist Trans-Dniester province of Moldova, along with explosions that hit broadcast antennas and other facilities in the region follow a Russian officers statement about Moscows intention to fully take control of Ukraines south and build a land corridor to Trans-Dniester.

It said in a Tuesday statement that Ukraine resolutely supports Moldovas territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and condemn attempts to draw the Trans-Dniester region of Moldova into the full-fledged war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine and call for deescalating tensions.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land with about 470,000 people, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, nominally as peacekeepers.

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WARSAW, Poland  The Polish climate minister gave assurances on Tuesday that the country has plenty of natural gas on reserve, following reports that Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland.

Anna Moskwa, minister for climate and environment, tweeted: Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security  we have been effectively independent from Russia for years. Our warehouses are 76% full. There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes.

Her tweet followed reports by the Onet news portal that Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract. Onet reported that a crisis team had gathered at the Ministry of Climate to deal with the matter. Onet said, citing unnamed sources, that Russia had insisted on a Friday deadline for payment in rubles and that Poland has said it would not pay in rubles.

Poland has been working to wean itself off of Russian energy sources and was due to end its reliance on Russian gas this year.

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RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany  U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the war in Ukraine has already weakened Russias military capability.

Austin said after meeting allies and partners at the United States Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday that, since Russia began the invasion, its land forces have sustained pretty substantial casualties, as well as lost a lot of equipment and used a lot of precision-guided munitions.

He said that they are, in fact, in terms of military capability, weaker than when they started, and  itll be harder for them to replace some of this capability as they go forward because of the sanctions and the trade restrictions that have been placed on them.

Austin reiterated that we would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.

He criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs warning that the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated.

Austin said that its unhelpful and dangerous to rattle sabers and speculate about the use of nuclear weapons.

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MOSCOW  A senior Kremlin official says that Ukraine may split into several parts.

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said in remarks published Tuesday that the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states.

The statement comes as Russia says it has focused on expanding control over Ukraines eastern industrial heartland called Donbas. Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian troops there since 2014 when conflict erupted following Russias annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula.

Moscow launched military action in Ukraine on Feb. 24, days after recognizing the separatist regions independence.

Last week, a senior Russian military officer said that along with taking control over Donbas, Russia also wants to overtake southern Ukraine, saying such a move would also open a land corridor between Russia and the separatist Trans-Dniester region of Moldova.

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MADRID  Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Tuesday he was very worried by the explosions this week in the separatist region of Trans-Dniester, adding that they reminded him too much of occurrences in the Donbas region immediately prior to Russias invasion of Ukraine late February.

I remember before Feb. 21, there have been some series of false-flag operations in Donbas region, so called people republics, that were used as the pretext by Russia to recognize and then to sign the so-called friendship and assistance treaties and then to start the military operation, Rinkevics told reporters in Madrid.

Im very worried about the current trend in Trans-Dniester because that resembles a little bit that pattern that we have seen, he added.

Police in Trans-Dniester say two explosions Tuesday in a radio facility close to the Ukrainian border knocked two antennas out of service. On Monday, several explosions were reported to have hit the Ministry of State Security in Tiraspol, the regions capital.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land in Moldova, has been under the control of separatists since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops there. The United States has warned that Russia could launch false-flag attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops to those nations.

Rinkevics was in Madrid to meet his Spanish counterpart and discuss the Ukraine war and the upcoming NATO summit in the Spanish capital.

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The Russian military has warned it could strike Ukrainian decision-making centers in the Ukrainian capital and said wouldnt be stopped by the possible presence of Western advisers there.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused the U.K. of making statements encouraging Ukraine to use Western weapons to carry out strikes on the Russian territory, warning that if it happens the Russian military could retaliate by hitting government structures in Kyiv.

It directly pointed at U.K. Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, who told Times Radio that it was not necessarily a problem if Ukraine British-donated weapons were used to hit sites on Russian soil.

The ministry said in a statement that the Russian armed forces are ready to deal retaliatory strikes with long-range precision guided weapons on Kyiv centers that would make such decisions. It noted that the presence of citizens of one of Western countries in the Ukrainian decision-making centers wont necessarily pose a problem for Russia in making a decision to launch retaliatory action.

The Russian military so far has avoided striking presidential, government and military headquarters in Kyiv during its campaign in Ukraine that has entered a third month.

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WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging Congress to fully fund the Biden administrations proposed budget for the State Department, telling lawmakers the spending is critical to ensuring that the war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for Russia and a message to other countries that might invade their neighbors.

Blinken said his weekend visit to Kyiv with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had left him with the indelible impression that Ukraine is winning, particularly in the capital. It was right in front of us: the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv, he said.

Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the U.S.-led global response to Russias invasion had underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy. He said the $60.4 billion budget proposal for the next fiscal year was needed to continue to rally partners and allies in the cause.

We will, we have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are the strategic opportunities and address risks presented by Russias overreach, as countries reconsider their policies, priorities, their relationships, Blinken said. The budget request before you predated this crisis, but fully funding it is critical in my judgment to ensuring Russias war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for the Kremlin and serves as a powerful lesson to those who might consider following its path.

Blinken did not name other nations that might be considering following Russias lead but his comment was seen as a veiled reference to China, which has sided with Russia in the Ukraine conflict and has made no secret of its desire to re-unify the island of Taiwan with the mainland.

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CHERNOBYL, Ukraine  The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency says it was possible that an accident could have occurred when Russian troops seized control of the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster during the war in Ukraine.

Speaking on a visit to the former nuclear power plant Tuesday on the 36th anniversary of the meltdown, Rafael Mariano Grossi said the situation in 1986 was completely different. In this case, what we had was a nuclear safety situation which was not normal, and could have developed into an accident.

Russian troops moved into the radiation-contaminated Chernobyl exclusion zone in February on their way toward the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and withdrew late last month as Russia switched its focus to fighting in eastern Ukraine. The site is now back in Ukrainian hands and communications which were disrupted have been restored.

Russian forces continue to hold a working nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia plant, where there was fighting nearby in early March which damaged the plants training facility.

Clearly, the physical integrity of one nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, was compromised, we also had situations where the external power was interrupted including here (Chernobyl) so there were a number of events that were compromising the normal operations of any nuclear power facility, Grossi said.

Those were avoided but of course, as I was saying, the situation was not stable and we have to stay on alert.

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By The Associated Press
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP)  Police in North Macedonia say a patrol discovered 18 migrants in the south of the country and arrested the driver after a brief chase.

A police statement released Monday said the 18 migrants, 14 Syrians and 4 Pakistanis were discovered late Sunday as they disembarked from a car with Bulgarian license plates not far from the border with Greece. The driver, a 27-year-old North Macedonian identified only by his initials, D.A., attempted to flee but was arrested after a short chase.

The migrants were transferred to a shelter in the border town of Gevgelija, pending deportation to Greece.

Police say the Balkan route for migrants, from Greece through North Macedonia and Serbia to European Union countries, has become active again in the past few weeks after many Balkan countries lifted COVID-19 travel restrictions.

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Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.
Sonora, CA Golden State Natural Resources(GSNR) announced a project in 2020 that would take in biomass, produce wood pellets, and ship the product overseas, it was covered in a story that is detailed here.

GSNR is launching a broad outreach plan to help educate the public about its proposed projects, which include the development of two excess forest vegetation processing facilities in Lassen and Tuolumne Counties. A community meeting is scheduled for May to meet with local residents about the proposed projects. This open house style meeting goals are to engage and educate about economic and ecological benefits as well as discussing the short term impacts of the project.The meeting will include a formal presentation, a Q&A, followed by light snacks and refreshments.

The meeting will be taking place at Rocca Park(18226 Main Street, Jamestown) on Monday, May 9th at 6:30pm.
Sonora, CA Adventist Health Sonora announced that Stephanie Stuart, MD will be assuming the role of Chief Medical Officer, effective May 1st.

Dr.Stuart is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and has served in the Adventist Health Sonora Emergency Department since 2011. She has a background of leadership including the position of Chief of Staff for the Adventist Health Sonora Medical Executive Committee from 2020 through 2021. Dr.Stuart has also served as President/CEO of Sierra Emergency Medical Group, a physician group that employs 21 physicians and providers. Adventist Health Sonora President Michelle Fuentes explains.

Dr. Stuart is a talented physician and has been an incredible member of our team over the last eleven years, I am looking forward to her leadership in this role.

Dr.Stuarts duties will entail providing leadership and direction for all medical activities at Adventist Health Sonora. Additionally she will be responsible for clinical development, regulatory accreditation and medical support. She explained her feelings on the upcoming position

I am honored continue serving our community in this new role, and I look forward to seeing how I can strengthen the quality of care for our patients as an administrator.

Dr.Stuart completed residency training at Baylor Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas, and earned her medical degrees from John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She was born in Sonora and is currently raising two children with her husband while enjoying paddle boarding, hiking, and distance running.
Calaveras County Sheriff Department building logo View Photo

Mountain Ranch, CA  A citizen spotted suspicious activity in Mountain Ranch and called in a report to the Calaveras County Sheriffs Office.

A burglary was in progress just after midnight yesterday at the Senders Market. The business is both a grocery market and a hardware store.

Deputies responded and heard a noise coming from the back, and then spotted a hole cut in the fence leading to the lumber storage area.

David Corsaro, 34, of Lathrop, was located and arrested. He initially tried to give deputies a false name. He was already on probation out of San Joaquin County and had a warrant for his arrest out of Mariposa County. Stolen wire spools from the business were located in his nearby vehicle. He was arrested on charges of burglary, possession of the stolen property and giving false identification to a police officer. His bail was set at $25,000.

Sheriffs Office spokesperson, Lt. Greg Stark, reports, The Calaveras County Sheriffs Office would like to thank the citizen who called 911 to report their observations that eventually led to an arrest for burglary. Their quick thinking and actions presented the deputies with the best opportunity to apprehend the suspect and return the stolen property to the rightful owners. Citizens are the eyes and ears of the community. If you see something that you believe is related to a crime, please, immediately call the Sheriffs Office.
Israeli parliament sanctions critic of PM Bennett, his party View Photo

JERUSALEM (AP)  An Israeli parliamentary committee has sanctioned a breakaway member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennetts party, handing a small political victory to the Israeli leader as he seeks to stabilize his fragile government and deter any other rebel lawmakers.

The Knesset committee voted 7-0 on Monday to declare Amichai Chikli a defector, a status that bars him from joining a rival party in the current parliament in the countrys next election. Bennett had requested the vote.

Chikli broke away from Bennetts Yamina party when the coalition was formed last year, accusing Bennett of betraying the partys hard-line ideology. He has been seen as a potential candidate for the opposition Likud party in the future.

Mondays vote by the House Committee bars Chikli from joining Likud or any other party in parliament when the country next heads to elections. He also is barred from serving as a Cabinet minister or deputy minister in the current parliament. Chikli vowed to challenge the decision in court.

Bennetts move was seen as a warning to Idit Silman, who resigned from Bennetts small Yamina party earlier this month and is also seen as a potential member of Likud in the future.

Other members of Yamina also have expressed misgivings over the coalition, a patchwork of eight parties spanning the political spectrum. The agreement has forced all parties, including Yamina, a hard-line nationalist party, to compromise on some of their core ideological positions.

Silmans exit deprived the coalition of its ruling majority, less than a year after it was sworn in.

The eight-party alliance, made up of ultranationalists, dovish parties and a small Islamist faction, is now deadlocked with the opposition with 60 seats each in the 120-member Knesset. That has greatly complicated the governments ability to pass legislation and raised the risk of plunging the country into snap elections.

Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli, Israels transportation minister, said Monday that all party chiefs are working together to keep the government intact.

Local media reported that Chikli may form new party, though it is unclear whether he has enough popular support to get into parliament.

Bennetts unwieldy coalition also faces other challenges. Ongoing unrest surrounding a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, has prompted the small Islamist party Raam  the first Arab party to serve in an Israeli coalition  to temporarily suspend its participation in protest.

By LAURIE KELLMAN

Associated Press
Biden endorses moderate incumbent in Oregon House race View Photo

SALEM, Ore. (AP)  President Joe Biden is endorsing incumbent Democrat Rep. Kurt Schrader for Oregons 5th Congressional District.

The endorsement was the presidents first this year.

Schrader is a moderate who has voted against some of Bidens priorities in the past, including a money-saving plan to let Medicare negotiate the price it pays for prescription drugs.

We dont always agree, but when it has mattered most, Kurt has been there for me, Biden said in a statement Saturday.

Schrader is running against Jamie McLeod-Skinner in the recently redrawn 5th District in the May 17 primary. Hes seeking an eighth term. McLeod-Skinner has the backing of many progressives.

Schrader has faced mounting criticism from progressive Democrats, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

A year ago, he was one of only two members of his party to vote against a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill because, among several reasons, he did not support including an increase to the minimum wage.

Oregons 5th District is in the northwest part of the state and includes coastal communities and the state capital, Salem.

A Biden adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, said to expect to see more endorsements from the president moving forward.

The adviser said Biden evaluates each race and request as it comes in. Biden wont be endorsing in open primaries, as has been his longstanding position.

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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report from Washington.
VIDALIA, La. (AP)  An Australian companys Louisiana subsidiary can get up to $107 million in U.S. Department of Energy loans to expand a plant that produces materials for electric car batteries the department said Monday.

The loan to Syrah Technologies LLC would be the Biden administrations second clean energy loan.

The money is expected to enable the plant to produce enough graphite-based active anode material for about 2.5 million electric vehicles by 2040, saving an estimated 970 million gallons of gasoline, according to a department blog post.

It would reactivate a program last used more than a decade ago during the Obama administration to lend money to auto makers and would be the programs first use for a supply chain project, the department said. It said previous Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loans went to Ford, Nissan and Tesla.

Importantly, this project also provides a socially and environmentally responsible U.S. supply chain for graphite, the Energy Department said.

Syrahs plant is in Vidalia, a city of 4,000 on the Mississippi River about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Baton Rouge. It uses graphite from Syrahs huge mine in Mozambique.

Tesla signed a contract in December 2021 with Syrah Resources of Melbourne, Australia, and Syrah Technologies announced plans for a $177,000 expansion in Vidalia two months later. Gov. John Bel Edwards office said Syrah would add 36 jobs to the 19 employees it had at the time.

The federal loan will create 98 permanent and 150 construction jobs, the Energy Department said.

Several steps remain, and certain conditions must be satisfied before the Department issues a final loan, the blog post said. It did not say what those are.
Jury convicts 1 prison guard in inmate deaths, hung on 2nd View Photo

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP)  Jurors on Monday convicted an Illinois Department of Corrections officer for violating the civil rights of an inmate brutally beaten at a western Illinois prison in 2018, but could not reach a verdict against a superior.

Alex Banta, 30, of Quincy, was convicted after a four-week trial in U.S. District Court of conspiracy to deprive civil rights, deprivation of civil rights, obstruction of an investigation, falsification of documents and misleading conduct.

Banta faces up to life in prison because jurors also indicated Monday that in finding him guilty of the civil rights and conspiracy charges, those crimes led to the death of 65-year-old inmate Larry Earvin.

Members of the eight-man, four-woman jury, while unanimous on Bantas culpability, were split 9-3 on the involvement of co-defendant Lt. Todd Sheffler.

The May 17, 2018 beating of inmate Earvin at Western Illinois Correctional Center in Quincy, 250 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, resulted in 15 broken ribs and abdominal injuries so severe a portion of his bowel was surgically removed. He died June 26.

Earvin allegedly refused to return to his cell in the housing unit known as R-1 and a disturbance there summoned dozens of officers for an escort to the segregation unit.

Testimony indicated he was kicked and handled roughly in R-1, the government contends the debilitating and eventually fatal injuries were the result of kicking, punching, stomping and jumping on a prone Earvin in the segregation units vestibule, where there are no cameras.

Banta was with Earvin for the bulk of the incident. Sheffler, 53, of Mendon, was not in R-1, but joined the escort along the way to segregation. According to jurors Kevin Sullivan, 59, of Springfield, and Roberta Clifton, 65, of Havana, three members of the eight-man, four-woman jury believed parts of the defense position that Earvin was injured in R-1.

They came to the position that Mr. Banta was alongside Mr. Earvin in the escort from beginning to end, while Mr. Sheffler joined midway. But he had to know something had happened. He had to be part of the coverup.

Those who were on the fence were on the fence because they didnt think the assault happened in (segregation), Sullivan said.

The holdouts did not believe evidence proved additional beating in the segregation units blind spot because the bulk of the testimony about it came from Corrections employees who admitted initially lying to the Illinois State Police or FBI. They included Sgt. Willie Hedden, 43, of Mount Sterling, charged along with Sheffler and Banta but who pleaded guilty and testified for the government in hopes of sentencing leniency.

Clifton and Sullivan said they didnt resent the holdouts because, in Cliftons words, Theyre trying to make sure they can sleep at night, too.

But Sullivan said, Im frustrated. I dont feel like we finished the job.

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Follow Political Writer John OConnor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor

By JOHN OCONNOR

AP Political Writer
Forest areas expand and ecological resources improve in China: authority

(Global Times) 14:44, April 26, 2022

Magnificent sea of cloud scenery appears in Bayanbulak Grassland - China's largest subalpine meadow steppe - in Hejing County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Aug. 2, 2021.(Photo/ China News Service)

Forest areas in China are growing steadily and the quality of ecological spaces in the country is also improving, it was reported on Tuesday by the National Forest and Grassland Administration.

Carbon sinks in China have also steadily improved, according to the administration.

The administration held a meeting on Monday to review their work in 2021 in monitoring and evaluating the national ecological space.

Officials attending the meeting said that, in 2021, they dispatched about 17,000 personnel to 31 provinces and autonomous regions so as to finish monitoring 457,000 sample areas and about 470 million remote detection spots.

In that year, the administration for the first time had realized full coverage of forest, grassland and wetland monitoring in the country.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Page Content

Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Minister Hon. Roger Lawrence says St. Maarten has reason to be optimistic, as airport passenger arrival numbers for the first quarter of 2022 outperform numbers in 2021 by 209 per cent.





He says the numbers are almost equal to those recorded in 2019 before the pandemic resulted in the global collapse of economies.





"Based on present numbers, we are cautiously optimistic about this year's visitor arrivals, especially considering that we have been able to add Carnival to our list of activities for 2022. It is also evident that hosting this year's prior festivals contributed to our arrival numbers," said Minister Lawrence.





In the first quarter of 2021, airport passenger arrival numbers were a mere 62,865, while in that same period for the previous year (2019), the arrival numbers were 195,064.





"The airport passenger arrival numbers for the first quarter are much closer to the numbers of visitors we saw pre-COVID-19," said Lawrence. According to the Economic Indicators report from the Ministry of TEATT "PJIA reached 194,516 passenger arrival for the first quarter and is on pace to achieve 90 per cent of its 2019 pre-COVID total arrivals of 716,569."





Statistics also show that the Cruise tourism numbers are on an upward trajectory, with this year's first-quarter numbers standing strong at 291,497. The upcoming Seatrade Cruise Global conference in Miami April 25th will be St. Maartens opportunity to meet cruise lines anew and discuss the destinations performance for this first season since the restart of the industry in June 2021.





According to Minister Lawrence, the yachting industry also has positive news. The arrival numbers for Mega Yachts have continued to increase steadily since the island re-opened post-hurricane Irma in 2017.





The Minister said thanks to the combined efforts of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Tourism to control the spread of COVID-19 and ultimately bring our island's number of cases to a manageable level; we were able to relax some of the COVID restrictions and thus fully reopen as of March 16th, 2022.





The launch of the We are Open promotional campaign along with the new COVID regulations have given visitors more confidence to travel to St. Maarten because they feel confident that we can adequately manage their safety should they choose us as their destination for vacation and leisure.





"The tourism industry is not without competition, regionally and internationally. With more countries following St. Maarten's lead and relaxing regulations for COVID-19, travellers will have even more options for vacation. We have to continue to take all necessary precautions so that the economic activities we presently enjoy can continue to increase for the benefit of the island," said Lawrence.





Lawrence also commended the island's tourism industry workers and called them "dedicated ambassadors for St. Maarten." He said their continued dedication and the support from other Public and Private Sector partners in the Tourism Industry is responsible for "much of this year's success. We should all be proud as the new numbers could not have been achieved without the collective continued dedication to destination St. Maarten over the past few years, " said Lawrence.





It is also clear that the support from our Local and International Partners in both the Maritime and Air travel Industry has not waivered. These partners continue to remain committed to St. Maarten as they believe in our tourism product as we do, said Lawrence.




South Dakota Senate approves 2-day impeachment trial for AG View Photo

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  The South Dakota Senate on Tuesday approved the rules for an impeachment trial of the states attorney general for his conduct surrounding a 2020 fatal car crash, laying out a two-day proceeding in June that gives just hours to either side to argue their case.

Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, a Republican, was impeached by the House this month over the crash in which he killed a pedestrian but initially said he may have struck a deer or other large animal. The Senate trial, which will decide whether he is guilty of the House impeachment charges, is historic since Ravnsborg is the first official to be impeached in South Dakota.

The trials rules received unanimous approval in the Republican-controlled Senate. They give both the impeachment prosecutors and Ravnsborgs defense attorney one hour for an opening statement, four hours to present evidence and one hour to close their arguments. Senators may take additional time to ask additional questions, debate the articles of impeachment and hear directly from Ravnsborg if he chooses to testify. The trial starts June 21.

These rules were designed to be a very simple and fair process, said Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, who presides over the Senate. He added that the files used in the impeachment investigation will be posted online and he expects senators to review those before the trial.

The Senate has appointed Pennington County States Attorney Mark Vargo as the lead impeachment prosecutor. He assisted in the criminal prosecution but left the prosecutorial team before the local states attorney charged Ravnsborg with three traffic misdemeanors. Ravnsborg has hired Sioux Falls attorney Mike Butler to present his defense, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported.

Ravnsborg last year pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors in exchange for the third being dropped by prosecutors. The 45-year-old Republican, who took office in 2019, was returning home from a Republican dinner in September 2020 when he struck and killed Joseph Boever, who was walking along a rural highway. A sheriff who responded after Ravnsborg called 911 initially reported it as a collision with an animal. Ravnsborg has said he did not realize he hit a man until he returned the next day and found the body.

Ravnsborg is facing two articles of impeachment: one for committing crimes that caused someones death and the other for making numerous misrepresentations to law enforcement officers after the crash, as well as using his office to navigate the criminal investigation.

The Senate will vote on each impeachment article, as well as a separate vote on barring him from holding future office in the state. It will take a two-thirds majority to convict Ravnsborg and bar him from holding future office.

The attorney general has stayed mostly silent during the political and legal aftermath of the crash. He did not answer an invitation to appear before a House impeachment investigation committee and did not appear at any of the criminal court hearings.

After his impeachment, Ravnsborg said he is looking forward to the Senate trial as a chance to be vindicated. His attorney and spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday on the Senate rules and whether he will testify at the trial.

Ravnsborg has faced numerous calls to resign from within his own party, most prominently from Gov. Kristi Noem. But so far, he has refused, although the state constitution requires him to take a leave of absence from his official duties until the Senate trial concludes.

Schoenbeck said that even if Ravnsborg were to resign before the trial, he believes the Senate will still act on the House impeachment charges and vote on barring Ravnsborg from holding future office.

The South Dakota Republican Partys state convention, where the partys nominee will be selected, starts the day after the impeachment trial is set to conclude.

By STEPHEN GROVES

Associated Press
Rich trio back on Earth after charter trip to space station View Photo

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)  Three rich businessmen returned from the International Space Station with their astronaut escort Monday, wrapping up a pricey trip that marked NASAs debut as a B&B host.

Flying back in a SpaceX capsule, they splashed down in the Atlantic off the Florida coast to close out a 17-day tour that cost them $55 million apiece.

The trip was supposed to last a little over a week, but dicey weather kept the visitors in orbit almost twice as long as intended.

Welcome back to planet Earth, radioed SpaceX Mission Control from Southern California. We hope you enjoyed the extra few days in space.

Amazing mission, said real estate tycoon Larry Connor.

Before departing the space station Sunday night, the group thanked their seven hosts, including three NASA astronauts whose own mission is nearing an end.

It was the first time NASA opened its space hatches to tourists after shunning the practice perfected over the decades by Russia. Last fall, a Russian film crew flew up, followed by a Japanese fashion mogul and his assistant. In each case, an active-duty cosmonaut traveled with them.

The latest guests were accompanied by a former NASA astronaut now working for Axiom Space, the Houston company in charge of the flight, making it the first fully private trip to the space station.

After hosting longer than expected, NASA was itching to make room for the next crew. SpaceX will attempt to launch three NASA astronauts and one Italian to the space station as soon as Wednesday. Theyll replace the three Americans and a German up there since November who will head back to Earth in their own SpaceX capsule.

The pace is blazingly fast by NASA standards. SpaceXs Benji Reed said the company launched its first passengers  a pair of NASA test pilots  two years ago and just completed its first private flight to the space station using the same capsule.

Axiom handled the logistics for the trip for its three paying customers: Connor from Dayton, Ohio; Canadian private equity CEO Mark Pathy; and Israeli investor Eytan Stibbe of Tel Aviv. Their chaperone was Michael Lopez-Alegria, an Axiom vice president who flew to space four times while a NASA astronaut.

It was an amazing adventure that weve had, even longer and more exciting than we thought, Lopez-Alegria said after departing the space station.

Axiom teamed up with SpaceX for the journey that began with an April 8 liftoff from NASAs Kennedy Space Center. It was SpaceXs second private flight, coming just months after a billionaires orbital jaunt with contest winners.

While in space, the visitors did experiments and peered back at Earth.

Its been eye-opening in so many ways, Pathy said, that I think will have such a lasting impact on my life.

The experience was especially personal for Stibbe. He served as a fighter pilot under Ilan Ramon, Israels first astronaut who died aboard space shuttle Columbia in 2003.

Stibbe flew copies of the surviving pages of Ramons space diary, as well as artwork and music created by Ramons children. He celebrated Passover with matzah bread he took up and gefilte fish offered by the stations Russians.

Axioms second flight is set for next spring as the company looks ahead to having its own space station by 2030.

There were a lot of eyes on this mission just to see if it was practical, Derek Hassmann, Axioms operations director, said after the splashdown. Everybody understood it was possible, but wondered if amateurs could pull this off with abbreviated training, without disturbing the space station crew.

I think we proved we could do that, Hassmann said.

___

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.

By MARCIA DUNN

AP Aerospace Writer
BOSTON (AP)  A California mans online threats of violence against dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster Inc. over updated gender definitions have landed him in a Massachusetts federal court.

Merriam-Webster closed its main office in Springfield, Massachusetts, and another in New York City for five business days last year in response to comments from Jeremy David Hanson, prosecutors said. An email seeking comment was left Monday with a Merriam-Webster spokesperson.

Hanson, 34, of Rossmoor, California also allegedly made anti-LGBTQ threats to other organizations.

Hanson was charged last week with interstate communication of threats to commit violence, according to statement from the U.S. attorneys office in Boston. He is scheduled to appear in federal court on Friday in Springfield.

Prosecutors say Hanson threatened a shooting and bombing at the publisher, however the affidavit did not specify whether any weapons or explosives were found during the investigation.

If convicted, Hanson faces up to five years in prison.

In an interview with the FBI on Oct. 27, Hanson said he has obsessive-compulsive disorder, Aspergers syndrome, anxiety and depression, and struggles with impulse control. He said he understands the threatening remarks he makes online are illegal, but is unable to control himself. His mother said in an interview with the FBI in May 2021 that he had no access to weapons.

No defense attorney is listed in court records. A home phone number for Hanson had been disconnected.

Prosecutors say Hanson sent Merriam-Webster threatening messages and comments between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8 using the websites contact us function and in the comments section on its webpages that corresponded to word entries such as girl, woman, and female, prosecutors said.

One definition of female is having a gender identity that is the opposite of male.

It is absolutely sickening that Merriam-Webster now tells blatant lies and promotes anti-science propaganda, Hanson wrote in one comment, according to prosecutors. There is no such thing as gender identity. 

The statements were traced back to an IP address linked to Hanson, the FBI said.

Some statements expressed hostility toward different gender identities and some threatened bodily harm to people, according to an FBI affidavit in the case.

The investigation identified several related threats over the past few years, according to prosecutors, including to the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Land O Lakes, Hasbro, and the president of the University of North Texas.

Hate-filled threats and intimidations have no place in our society, U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement. We believe Hanson sent a multitude of anonymous threatening and despicable messages related to the LGBTQ community that were intended to evoke fear and division.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  The mayors of Californias 11 largest cities asked Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature on Monday to approve $3 billion over three years in the state budget for flexible homeless funding to go directly to cities.

The mayors said flexible homeless funding is approved annually and they are asking for a three-year commitment from lawmakers and the governor.

They said Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program funds have allowed them to come up with innovative ways to combat homelessness in their cities, including building tiny cabins and setting up lots for people living in RVs and other vehicles. The funds allowed mayors to add 9,000 new shelter beds and help 25,000 homeless people, they said at a joint news conference.

California approved $7.4 billion last year for about 30 housing and homelessness programs, according to the nonpartisan legislative analysts office. That money will be spent over three years. This year, Newsom has proposed $2 billion in new spending to address homelessness over the next two years, in addition to the money that has already been approved.

In San Jose and Oakland, the mayors used the funds to build tiny cabins to shelter homeless people who were not open to going to a congregate setting. In Fresno and Stockton, the mayors used some of the flexible funds to hire outreach and intervention workers. Oakland also built an RV safe parking site  the first city in the state to do so.

We are all using these dollars to actually improve how the entire homeless system is working and that will continue, and it must continue without discontinuing funding for roughly two-thirds of our existing shelter systems, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff said.

If the funding stops, these innovations will fall off a fiscal cliff, she added.

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said that about 16 months ago, there were 650 homeless people living near Fresno freeways but thanks to state funds he was able to hire a team of 18 outreach workers who have helped them move to shelters or permanent housing.

Today theres not a single homeless person living on our freeways. Theres not a single tent that is erected on our freeways, and its because of the funding that we received from the state of California through HHAP and Project Homekey he said.

Project Homekey funds helped cities buy and/or restore buildings that were used to house homeless people, but those funds cant be used for any other purposes, such as operating housing in new buildings, said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg.

Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento said not getting the funds from the state would mean having to dip into the cities general funds, which would lead to cutting or delaying funding for other programs, including parks, public safety and infrastructure.

Even with state funding, the city of Santa Ana had to use more than $25 million from its general fund to address homelessness, he said.

Cities are not the agency vested with this responsibility, he said. But we also cant ignore the problem. We also cant evade the problem.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  Authorities are searching for a man who allegedly kidnapped a 3-month-old baby in the San Francisco Bay Area on Monday.

The man walked into a home in San Jose around 1 p.m. and left with the child, Brandon Cuellar. Police released a video clip that shows the man walking down the sidewalk holding a baby carrier covered by a white blanket.

The family does not recognize this suspect, police said in a Twitter post.

The baby was taken while his grandmother was unloading groceries, San Jose Police Sgt. Christian Camarillo told NBC Bay Area. The childs mother was at work at the time and the father is incarcerated.

In that short amount of time, someone entered the apartment  and left with the baby, Camarillo said.

Authorities have not issued an Amber Alert because investigators do not have a vehicle description.

San Jose is a city in the South Bay Area, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from San Francisco.

Brandon was last seen wearing a white long-sleeved onesie with dinosaurs.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  An armed suspect who held someone hostage in a Sacramento home surrendered early Tuesday after a long standoff with police and the victim was safe, authorities said.

The suspect was taken into custody in the early morning hours, the Sacramento Police Department said in a brief social media post.

The victim is safe, it said. Reduced police presence will remain as detectives have responded to process the scene.

There was no immediate information on the identities of those involved or the motive.

Officers first responded to the scene to find someone who may have fired a gun around 11:15 a.m. Monday. Crisis negotiators and a SWAT team were brought in.

Police later tweeted that it is believed that the armed suspect is holding at least one individual against their will inside the residence and that negotiators had established some contact in an effort to peacefully resolve the situation.
TORETSK, Ukraine (AP)  The U.S. pressed its allies Tuesday to move heaven and earth to keep Kyiv well-supplied with weapons as Russian forces rained fire on eastern and southern Ukraine amid growing new fears the war could spill over the country's borders.

For the second day in a row, explosions rocked the separatist region of Trans-Dniester in neighboring Moldova, knocking out two powerful radio antennas close to the Ukrainian border. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukraine all but blamed Russia.

In other developments, Poland and Bulgaria said the Kremlin is cutting off natural gas supplies to the two NATO countries starting Wednesday, the first such actions of the war. Both nations had refused Russia's demands that they pay in rubles.

Poland has been a major gateway for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and confirmed this week that it is sending the country tanks.

The potential effect of the gas cutoff was not immediately clear. Poland said it was well-prepared for such a move after working for years to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

Poland also has ample natural gas in storage, and it will soon benefit from two pipelines coming online, analyst Emily McClain of Rystad Energy said.

Bulgaria gets over 90% of its gas from Russia, and officials said they were working to find other sources. McClain cited a Bulgarian deal to purchase gas from Azerbaijan.

Two months into the fighting, Western arms have helped Ukraine stall Russias invasion, but the country's leaders have said they need more support fast.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin convened a meeting Tuesday of officials from about 40 countries at the U.S. air base at Ramstein, Germany, and said more help is on the way.

This gathering reflects the galvanized world, Austin said, adding that he wanted officials to leave the meeting with a common and transparent understanding of Ukraines near-term security requirements because were going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.

After unexpectedly fierce resistance by Ukrainian forces thwarted Russia's attempt to take Ukraine's capital, Moscow now says its focus is the capture of the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region in eastern Ukraine.

In the small city of Toretsk in the Donbas, residents are struggling to survive, collecting rainwater for washing up and fervently hoping for an end to the fighting.

Its bad. Very bad. Hopeless, said Andriy Cheromushkin. You feel so helpless that you dont know what you should do or shouldnt do. Because if you want to do something, you need some money, and there is no money now.

Russian advances and heavy fighting were reported in the Donbas, with one town, Kreminna, apparently falling after days of street-by-street fighting, according to the British military.

In the gutted southern port city of Mariupol, authorities said Russian forces hit the Azovstal steel plant with 35 airstrikes over the past 24 hours. The plant is the last known stronghold of Ukrainian fighters in the city. About 1,000 civilians were said to be taking shelter there with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders.

"Russia has drastically intensified strikes over the past 24 hours and is using heavy bunker bombs, said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol's mayor. The number of those wounded will be clear once the rubble is cleared.

He also accused Russian forces of shelling a route it had offered as an escape corridor from the steel mill.

Beyond Mariupol, local officials said at least nine people were killed and several more wounded in Russian attacks on towns and cities in the east and south. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region of the Donbas, said on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces continue to deliberately fire at civilians and to destroy critical infrastructure.

Russian missile fire also knocked out a strategic railroad bridge along a route that links southern Ukraines Odesa port region to neighboring Romania, a NATO member, Ukrainian authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Ukraine also said Russian forces shelled Kharkiv, the countrys second-largest city, which lies in the northeast, outside the Donbas, but is seen as key to Russia's apparent bid to encircle Ukrainian troops in the Donbas from the north, east and south.

Ukrainian forces struck back in the Kherson region in the south.

The attack on the bridge near Odesa  along with a series of strikes on key railroad stations a day earlier  appears to mark a major shift in Russias approach. Until now, Moscow has spared strategic bridges, perhaps in hopes of keeping them for its own use in seizing Ukraine. But now it seems to be trying to thwart Ukraines efforts to move troops and supplies.

The southern Ukraine coastline and Moldova have been on edge since a senior Russian military officer said last week that the Kremlins goal is to secure not just eastern Ukraine but the entire south, so as to open the way to Trans-Dniester, a long, narrow strip of land with about 470,000 people along the Ukrainian border where about 1,500 Russian troops are based.

It was not clear who was behind the blasts in Trans-Dniester, but the attacks gave rise to fears that Russia is stirring up trouble so as to create a pretext to either invade Trans-Dniester or use the region as another launching point to attack Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the explosions were carried out by Russia and were designed to destabilize, with the intention of showing Moldova what could happen if it supports Ukraine.

Austin, the U.S. defense secretary, said the U.S. was still looking into blasts and trying to determine what was going on, but added: "Certainly we dont want to see any spillover of the conflict.

With the potentially pivotal battle for the east underway, the U.S. and its NATO allies are scrambling to deliver artillery and other heavy weaponry in time to make a difference.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said her government will supply Gepard self-propelled armored anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has faced mounting pressure to send heavy weapons such as tanks and other armored vehicles.

Austin noted that more than 30 allies and partners have joined the U.S. in sending military aid to Ukraine and that more than $5 billion worth of equipment has been committed.

The U.S. defense secretary said the war has weakened Russia's military, adding, We would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.

A senior Kremlin official, Nikolai Patrushev, warned that the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned that if the Western flow of weapons continues, the talks aimed at ending the fighting will not produce any results.

Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting also continued. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the U.N. said they agreed in principle that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians trapped in the steel plant in Mariupol. Putin said Ukrainian troops were using civilians in the plant as shields and not allowing them to leave.

___

Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalist Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, David Keyton in Kyiv, Oleksandr Stashevskyi at Chernobyl, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

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Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Cliff Hawkins / Staff via Getty

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(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter Inc. for $44 billion, using one of the biggest leveraged buyout deals in history to take private a 16-year-old social networking platform that has become a hub of public discourse and a flashpoint in the debate over online free speech.

Investors will receive $54.20 for each Twitter share they own, the company said in a statement Monday. The price is 38% more than the stocks close on April 1, the last business day before Musk disclosed a significant stake in the company, sparking a share rally.

Musk, one of Twitters most-watched users with more than 83 million followers, began amassing a stake of about 9% in January. By March, he had ramped up his criticism of Twitter, alleging that the companys algorithms are biased and feeds cluttered with automated junk posts. He also suggested Twitters user growth was inflated by bots. After rejecting an invitation to join the companys board, on April 14 he offered to take Twitter private, saying hed make the platform a bastion of free speech and dropping other hints about the changes hed make as owner.

The ideas verged from the practical -- say, letting users edit tweets and combating the spread of bots -- to the peculiar, such as a proposal to turn the companys San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter.

Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated, Musk said in the statement on Monday. Twitter has tremendous potential  I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.

The deal was unanimously approved by the companys board, and is expected to be completed later this year. Musk, the worlds richest person, secured $25.5 billion of debt and margin loan financing and will provide about $21 billion in equity to fund the deal, according to the statement.

Musks deal to buy Twitter includes a provision that the billionaire is required to pay the company a fee if he were to walk away or the deal falls apart, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal does not include a go-shop provision, meaning Twitter isnt allowed to solicit offers from other potential bidders. When they resumed trading after a halt for the news, Twitter shares jumped 5.7% to $51.70 at the close in New York.

Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal sent an email to Twitter employees as the news was announced, informing them of a companywide meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. to talk about the deal. I know this is a significant change and youre likely processing what this means for you and Twitters future, he wrote.

Though Musk hasnt outlined a specific plan to change Twitters policies around speech and content moderation, his acquisition of the company means one of the internets thorniest problems is now his own. Musk has spoken openly about his plans to make the platform a haven for unfettered speech online and has complained that the service is too heavy-handed when it comes to moderating user tweets.

The debate around free speech on social media has been raging for years -- some political conservatives say Twitter, Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. and other internet companies have too many rules, while liberals dont think social networks go far enough to prevent hate speech and attacks on their services. Its a conflict that has led to numerous congressional hearings over the years and a movement to overhaul U.S. regulations around online content.

Read more: Acquiring Twitter vaults Elon Musk into the realm of media moguls

Going private marks a dramatic turnabout for a company that got its start as a messaging service for sharing your status updates with friends, but quickly blossomed into a way for people to broadcast short posts of 140 characters or less to a public following. Twitter caught fire among politicians, celebrities and journalists and took its place alongside social media stalwarts Facebook and YouTube as a standard bearer of a new, more interactive way of using the web that came to be known as Web 2.0.

Following its birth in 2006, the company weathered a series of crises, including management upheaval that saw the removal of co-founder Jack Dorsey in Twitters early days and his eventual return in 2015. After an initial public offering in 2013, the company considered selling itself in 2016, drawing the interest of companies from Walt Disney Co. to Salesforce Inc. Dorsey in 2020 tangled with an activist investor that forced Twitter to set specific growth targets and add greater board accountability. That served as a catalyst for Dorseys eventual second departure so he could focus on his other company, the digital-payments company Block Inc. Agrawal, formerly the companys chief technology officer, took the helm in November.

Read more: Jack Dorseys post-Twitter quest to become Bitcoins spiritual leader

As recently as last week there was little clarity on whether Musks bid would succeed. The 50-year-old billionaire himself mused at a TED event the day it was announced that even he had doubts about its prospects. Though the stock initially jumped on news of Musks stake in the company, shares have traded well below the original offer price of $54.20 since its announcement -- a sign investors were skeptical a deal would come to fruition.

Twitter on April 15 adopted a shareholder rights plan -- a measure known as a poison pill -- to fend off unwanted bidders. The plan is exercisable if a party acquires 15% of the stock without prior approval, and sought to ensure that anyone taking control of the social media company through open market accumulation pays all shareholders an appropriate control premium, the company said when it disclosed the plan.

But a turning point came last week when the Tesla Inc. CEO pulled together a financing plan that included 12 banks, led by Morgan Stanley. Just days after revealing the plan, Musk met with Twitter executives as the company turned more receptive toward a deal, a person with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News on Sunday.

After accepting Musks bid, Twitter locked down changes to its platform through Friday, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. Twitter imposed the temporary ban to keep employees who may be miffed about the deal from going rogue, according to one of the people. Many of the companys employees have expressed uneasiness about the idea of Musk taking charge.

As part of the deal announcement, Twitter said it will report first-quarter earnings as planned on April 28 before the market opens in New York, but wont host a call to discuss the results.

While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will have to review the plan once Twitter files a preliminary proxy statement, the regulator doesnt have the power to block the merger outright.

Still, the SEC can slow the process down by asking Twitter for clarification on aspects of the deal, according to Kenneth Henderson, a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in New York. The companys shareholders will vote to approve the transaction only once all of the agencys questions are answered.

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Mutual benefit and win-win cooperation to tide over difficulties is the enduring vision of China-Sri Lanka exchanges.

by Dai Yonghong

Sri Lanka recently suffered its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948 and continued social unrest. Energy, food and medicine shortages, among other things, have led people to take to the streets in mass protests. The Sri Lankan New Year, celebrated on April 14 this year, has not provided a respite from the tense situation there. In the face of escalating conflicts, China will do its utmost to help Sri Lanka tide over the difficulties.

Internal troubles and external aggression

The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to tourism, the most important industry for Sri Lanka to earn foreign exchange. Related services such as aviation, hospitality and catering have all declined, and tourism revenue has gradually dried up. Overseas labor exports are also affected. In the face of the unstable world situation, its main export products such as rubber, black tea and jewelry have become marginal products in the overseas market. A combination of these factors has led to a severe shortage of foreign exchange reserves, leading to shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

Meanwhile, the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict made Sri Lanka's economic crisis reach its peak. The surge in global oil prices has disrupted Sri Lanka's crude supply system. In addition, 45 percent of Sri Lanka's wheat imports come from Russia and Ukraine, and more than 50 percent of its sunflower oil, sunflower seeds and soybean imports come from Ukraine. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has pushed agricultural prices beyond the economic reach of the country's people.

Asking for help

Under the continuous impact of the pandemic and the war, Sri Lanka is scrambling to seek help from the world. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on April 21 that discussions with Sri Lanka on a potential loan package were at an early stage and any agreement would need "adequate assurances" that the island country's debts can be put on a sustainable path. In addition, India pledged its full support to Sri Lanka's deliberations with the IMF, including accelerating the expansion of the fund's lending. Meanwhile, India has extended a $1 billion credit line for food, medicine and other necessities to Sri Lanka. Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla recently reiterated that Sri Lanka is a priority as a neighbor for the Modi government.

In addition, at the fourth Sri Lanka-U.S. Partnership Dialogue held in Colombo in March, the U.S. promised to provide $19 million in five-year project assistance to Sri Lanka's green energy program, but did not mention how to help Sri Lanka overcome the current economic crisis.

Overcoming difficulties together

Although separated by mountains and oceans, China and Sri Lanka communicate with each other all the time. The ancient Maritime Silk Road and its location in the Indian Ocean made Sri Lanka a crucial junction between major Asian civilizations. At present, the steady implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative has brought about closer exchanges between China and Sri Lanka.

On April 19, Xu Wei, a spokesperson for the China International Development Cooperation Agency, said that China has noted Sri Lanka's economic difficulties. As a traditional friendly neighbor, China is going to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka to help it cope with the current difficulties. Humanitarian aid should not be misinterpreted by some Western countries, and the hype of a "debt trap" will not damage the friendship between Sri Lanka and China.

Despite the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka, according to the World Bank, revenue generated by telecommunications and financial services increased by 32 percent and 28 percent during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the throughput of the Hambantota International Ports Group, a joint venture between China and Sri Lanka, released a briefing document on July 13, 2021. Despite the impact of COVID-19, cargo volume at Hambantota Port maintained a substantial growth of over 180 percent year on year in the first half of 2021, indicating that the development of the port is on the fast track.

Mutual benefit and win-win cooperation to tide over difficulties is the enduring vision of China-Sri Lanka exchanges.

Dai Yonghong is the dean of School of Foreign Languages and director of Institute of Area and International Communication Studies at Shenzhen University. The article reflects the author's opinions
B. Kay Richter

Canadian crooner Michael Buble, who can't seem to eat corn on the cob correctly, will elevate the AT&T Center when his "Higher" tour makes a stop in San Antonio this fall. Alamo City fans will be able to catch Buble live on September 17, according to a news release.

Presale tickets will be available on May 5, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. General tickets will go on sale on May 6 at 10 a.m., just in time for a Mother's Day gift. Both tickets can be purchased at the AT&T Center website when available.
San Antonio's new option for all-you-can-eat sushi is rolling out. Umiya, a Corpus Christi-based restaurant, is taking over the space that was formerly Drew Brees' Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux.

The sports bar and restaurant at 11075 West Interstate 10 closed in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Another location remains near Stone Oak at 1400 Pantheon Way. Now, the highway-facing restaurant is in the process of becoming Umiya.

Signage, a new paint job, and outdoor decor have all been completed and installed at the the location. A Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission permit has been filed to sell and serve alcohol at the location, according to a February 8 noticed posted on the door.

The restaurant was not immediately available to return requests for comment.

According to the Corpus Christi location's social media pages, the restaurant is not a buffet, but all-you-can eat options are available for soups, salads, appetizers, hibachi, and sushi. The business also has a full bar serving mixed drinks.

Madalyn Mendoza, MySA.com

The Corpus Christi restaurant opened in August 2021. In an October 2021 Facebook Live post, an employee confirmed the brand would expand to San Antonio. At that point, the timeline for opening was December. Though it's unclear what's caused the delay in Umiya's San Antonio restaurant opening, shortages have impacted the construction and food and beverage industry with many projects being forced to push back original plans.

For the coastal location, best-sellers are the chef specials like the Harbor Bridge Roll, which is a deep-fried shrimp tempura option stuffed with avocado and cream cheese and topped with snow crab, spicy eel sauce and crunch. The Texas Roll is also popular. It's deep-fried but uses snow crab.

The social media promotions also show mixed drinks like micheladas, purple geckos, and pineapple-flavored cocktails are available.

The Umiya plans come on the heels of other sushi restaurant happening in San Antonio. In January 2021, Izumi created a buzz when it opened in Thousand Oaks with an all-you-can-eat sushi menu. Kura, which allows customers to grab as many sushi plates as they desire off a revolving bar, opened at the Alamo Quarry Market with long lines and tons of excitement. Trapper's, a Washington State-based chain, is planning a San Antonio location on Loop 1604 by SeaWorld.
The cost of flying is ready for takeoff, and there are few indications that the trend will curtail any time soon as high fuel prices, pilot shortages and booming demand push ticket prices to new highs.

According to travel website Hopper, the average cost of airfare for U.S. travelers in April rose to $330 for a single domestic round-trip ticketa 40-percent increase from prices in early January and the highest figure the company has recorded since it began collecting cost data. Meanwhile, international travel has returned to pre-pandemic prices of about $810 per round-trip.

Hopper's projections expect prices to increase a further 10 percent by the end of May, with average domestic round-trip fares topping out at about $360 before taking a dip as travel demand decreases with the arrival of fall. In the meantime, air carriers are excitedly eyeing the current "strong revenue environment" brought about by high fuel prices, the lifting COVID-19 mandates and increased labor costs spurred on by a shortage of pilots in the United States.

"The short way to say it is we are seeing a lot of strength in the fare environment with customers who frankly value the quality of product that we have and are willing to pay us to fly," said American Aline CEO Vasu Raja during an April earnings call. "So we're encouraged by that and we see those trends going forward into the summer."

One trend likely here to stay for in the near-term is a paucity of available pilots for hire in the U.S. market.

As reported by ABC News' Sam Sweeney, U.S. airliners are looking to add 13,000 pilots to their ranks in 2022 in the hopes of meeting flight schedule demands. Between 5,000 and 7,000 pilots are typically given credentials on a yearly basis, according to United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, making such employment targets all but unattainable in the near term.

"The pilot shortage for the industry is real and most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plan because there simply aren't enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years," Kirby told ABC News. "The other really large airlines will also probably be able to attract enough pilots, but for anyone else, I just don't think it's mathematically possible to meet the pilot demand for the capacity plans that are out there."
Waterloo Greenway

The Waterloo Greenway, a 1.5-mile park system that runs through east Downtown Austin to Lady Bird Lake, and the City of Austin just received what they are calling "historic" federal funding.

On Monday, April 25, as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is awarding $9 million toward the restoration of Waller Creek as part of what Waterloo Greenway conservancy calls "The Confluence." Phase II of the project runs from Lady Bird Lake to Fourth Street. The Confluence is set to break ground sometime during the third quarter of this year.
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Firefighters across the country are battling multiple wildfires as tinder-dry conditions and high winds whip up flames from Arizona to Florida  including a prairie fire in rural southwestern Nebraska that has killed one person, injured at least 15 firefighters and destroyed at least six homes.

A break in the weather in parts of the Midwest and West allowed crews to make progress Monday on some of the nearly dozen new large fires that were reported in recent days across the nation  four in New Mexico, three in Colorado and one each in Florida, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas.

With more than 1,350 square miles (3,496 square kilometers) burned so far this year, officials at the National Interagency Fire Center said the amount of land singed to date is outpacing the 10-year average by about 30%.

Hotter, drier weather has combined with a persistent drought to worsen fire danger across many parts of the West, where decades of fire suppression have resulted in overgrown and unhealthy forests and increasing development have put more communities at risk.

In northern New Mexico, evacuations remained in place for several communities Monday and conditions were still too volatile for authorities to assess the damage caused Friday and Saturday. The blaze has has grown into the largest wildfire burning in the U.S., charring more than 88 square miles (228 square kilometers).

Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation joined Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on a call Monday with officials from the White House and federal agencies to appeal for more federal ground resources ahead of another blast of strong fire-fueling winds expected later in the week.

Thanks to lighter winds in the Midwest on Monday, firefighters made significant progress on the fire that's burned about 70 square miles (181 square km) of mostly grasslands and farmland near the Nebraska-Kansas state line. It's now estimated to be about 47% contained.

They made the most of the opportunity Monday to dump water in dry creeks and draws filled with cottonwoods where dense fuels and brush has built up ahead of the return of more dangerous conditions expected on Tuesday, said Jonathan Ashford, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team.

It's supposed to be about 20 degrees warmer tomorrow, lower humidity and increased wind, he said Monday night.

In Arizona, firefighters also took advantage of lighter winds to boost containment of a more than 33-square-mile (85 square-kilometer) blaze that has been burning outside of Flagstaff for more than a week. Strong winds that had fueled the fire are expected to return later this week. Meanwhile, hundreds of evacuated residents were given the go-ahead on Sunday to return home.

About 160 firefighters, emergency management personnel and others  twice as many as the day before  were helping fight the fire in Nebraska by Monday evening.

Known as the Road 702 Fire, it has destroyed at least six homes and threatened 660 others, along with 50 commercial or farm buildings, Ashford said.

A retired Cambridge, Nebraska, fire chief who was helping as a fire spotter in Red Willow County died Friday night after his truck went off the road in a blinding haze of smoke and dust. The body of John Trumble, 66, of Arapahoe, was recovered around early Saturday.

Trumble was the second person in a month to die while fighting a wildfire in southwest Nebraska. Elwood Volunteer Fire Chief Darren Krull, 54, was killed in a collision with a water tanker on April 7 in Furnas County as smoke cut visibility to zero.

Nebraska remains critically dry, said Ashford, who urged residents to use caution when doing anything that could spark a fire.

The last thing we need is to have another fire started that we have to then fight, he said.

____

Susan Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Associated Press writer Scott Sonner contributed to this report from Reno, Nevada.
Jurors have heard  and rejected  an array of excuses and arguments from the first rioters to be tried for storming the U.S. Capitol. The next jury to get a Capitol riot case could hear another novel defense this week at the trial of a retired New York City police officer.

Thomas Webster, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD, has claimed he was acting in self-defense when he tackled a police officer who was trying to protect the Capitol from a mob on Jan. 6, 2021. Webster's lawyer also has argued that he was exercising his First Amendment free speech rights when he shouted profanities at police that day. Jurors were selected Monday and are expected to hear attorneys opening statements Tuesday.

Webster, 56, is the fourth Capitol riot defendant to get a jury trial. Each has presented a distinct line of defense.

An Ohio man who stole a coat rack from a Capitol office testified he was following presidential orders from Donald Trump. An off-duty police officer from Virginia claimed he only entered the Capitol to retrieve a fellow officer. A lawyer for a Texas man who confronted Capitol police accused prosecutors of rushing to judgment against somebody prone to exaggerating.

Those defenses didn't sway the juries at their respective trials. Collectively, a total of 36 jurors unanimously convicted the three rioters of all 17 counts in their indictments.

Webster faces the same fate if a federal judge's blistering words are any guide. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who will preside over Webster's trial, has described his videotaped conduct as among the most indefensible and reprehensible that the judge has seen among Jan. 6 cases, with no real defense for it.

You were a police officer and you should have known better, Mehta told Webster during a bond hearing last June, according to a transcript.

But a dozen jurors, not the judge, will decide the case against Webster, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who retired from the NYPD in 2011.

A wealth of video evidence and self-incriminating behavior by riot defendants has given prosecutors the upper hand in many cases. Mary McCord, a Georgetown University Law Center professor and former Justice Department official, said jurors often won't have to rely on witness testimony or circumstantial evidence because videos captured much of the violence and destruction on Jan. 6.

When I was a prosecutor trying cases, I would have loved to have had cases where the entire crime was on video. That just doesnt happen that often. But for jurors, it can be very powerful, she said.

Webster's trial is the sixth overall. In a pair of bench trials, a different federal judge heard testimony without a jury before acquitting one defendant and partially acquitting another.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee who acquitted Matthew Martin of all charges, said it was reasonable for the New Mexico man to believe that police allowed him to enter the Capitol. In the first bench trial, McFadden convicted New Mexico elected official Couy Griffin of illegally entering restricted Capitol grounds but acquitted him of engaging in disorderly conduct.

Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington Law School professor and former Justice Department official, said it may be difficult for prosecutors to secure convictions against defendants who merely entered the Capitol and didnt exhibit any violent or destructive behavior.

I think the people with the best chances are those who say, I was just there and I got swept up with everybody else. The government is going to have to have some way to show theres more than that or the government will lose," Saltzburg said.

Webster brought a gun and a Marine Corps flag attached to a metal pole when he traveled alone to Washington from his home in Florida, New York, a village approximately 70 miles northwest of New York City. He wore his NYPD-issued bulletproof vest but says he left the pistol in his hotel room when he headed to the Jan. 6 rally where Trump spoke.

Police body camera video captured Websters confrontation outside the Capitol with a line of officers, including one identified only as Officer N.R. in court papers.

The unnamed Metropolitan Police Department officer described the encounter in a written statement. The officer said Webster swung the flagpole at him in a downward chopping motion, hitting a metal barricade, then charged at him with clenched fists.

He pushed me to the ground and attempted to violently tear away my gas mask and ballistic helmet. This caused me to choke and gasp for air before another participant at the riot helped me to my feet, the officer wrote.

The officer said he retreated behind a police line after Webster pinned him to the ground.

His actions, attack and targeted assault caused me to fear for my life and could have easily left my wife and two small children without a husband and father, the officer wrote.

Defense attorney James Monroe has claimed the unnamed officer gestured toward Webster, inviting him to engage in a fight, before reaching over a police barrier and punching Webster in his face. Webster "used that amount of force he reasonably believed necessary to protect himself" by tackling the officer to the ground, Monroe said in a court filing.

Mehta, however, said the video doesn't show Webster getting punched in the face. The judge described Webster as an instigator.

It was his conduct that sort of broke the dam, at least in that area, Mehta added.

Webster, now a self-employed landscaper, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1985, was honorably discharged in 1989 and joined the NYPD in 1991. His department service included a stint on then-Mayor Michael Bloombergs private security detail.

Monroe claimed Officer N.R. had reached over a metal barrier and pushed a peaceful man who was blinded by pepper spray.

As a former U.S. Marine and a member of law enforcement, Mr. Websters moral instinct was to protect the innocent, Monroe wrote.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hava Mirell has argued that Webster should be held to a higher standard given his professional experience.

If he were there to protect the innocent, then he should have been fending other rioters off from the barricade, not the other way around, Mirell said at the bond hearing.

Webster faces six counts, including assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer using a dangerous weapon. He's the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge. He isn't accused of entering the Capitol.

More than 780 people have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Department says over 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. More than 250 riot defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to nonviolent misdemeanors.

Jurors convicted two rioters of interfering with officers. One of them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The other, Texas resident Guy Wesley Reffitt, also was convicted of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun.

The third Capitol rioter to be convicted by a jury was Dustin Byron Thompson, an Ohio man who said he was following Trump's orders.

Even if jurors accepted that (Thompson) felt like he was doing what the former president wanted, that still wouldnt be a legal excuse, said McCord, the Georgetown professor. When juries are able to witness what happened, they can make that assessment relatively easily.
Courtesy, Captured by Linds Photography

Emmy Award-winning San Antonio TV news favorite Isis Romero will return to the screen this summer. After an abrupt exit from KSAT 12, the anchor desk veteran is joining KENS 5, San Antonio's CBS affiliate. According to the station, Romero will start as KENS 5's main anchor for the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.

Im thrilled to be joining a news organization with such a profound commitment to family and community, Romero says in a press statement. It is an honor to represent KENS 5 on the evening anchor desk and continue their legacy of excellence.
Hard Eight, a barbecue chain out of Roanoke, north of Fort Worth, failed to pay over $800,000 in tips and overtime wage to hundreds of employees. Here's what you need to know.

The U.S. Department of Labor found that Hard Eight failed to pay $867,572 in owed tips and overtime to 910 workers, according to a news release.

Roanoke Hard Eight violated the law by including managers in their tip pool. By doing so, the employer denied tipped workers some of their tips and managers proper overtime wages, said wage and hour District Director Jesus A. Valdez in the news release.

The DOL was able to recover those wages for those employees. Hard Eight currently has five locations including the one in Roanoke.

Here's some other news you might have missed.

Texans react to Elon Musk buying Twitter

Many Texans, including politicians, are reacting and tweeting about how Twitter agreed on Monday, April 25 to sell itself to Elon Musk for $44 billion.

Read more here.

Property tax relief measures on the Texas ballot

There are two propositions on the ballot for the May 7 general election, proposed by Texas State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, that could help lessen the impact on those high property values that residents all over Bexar County are protesting.

Read more here.

San Antonio's favorite taco place makes drastic change

Eddie's Taco House, a San Antonio favorite for breakfast, is making a big change after almost 50 years in business.

Read more here.

Texas judge invites Disney World to relocate from Florida

A Texas judge wrote a letter to Disney's CEO to invite the company to move its Walt Disney World resort in Florida to the Lone Star State. The invite comes as Disney remains in a feud with Florida and its governor, Ron DeSantis.

Read more here.
AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

A Texas judge wrote a letter to Disney's CEO to invite the company to move its Walt Disney World resort in Florida to the Lone Star State. The invite comes as Disney remains in a feud with Florida and its governor, Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis signed a bill recently that dissolves the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney's private government that has been in place for 55 years. The new bill comes as what appears to be punishment as the entertainment company opposed a new law that critics call "Don't Say Gay."
Twitter may have just agreed to sell itself to billionaire Elon Musk for $44 billion, but Gov. Greg Abbott already sees Texas in the company's future.

Shortly after the news broke Monday of the Tesla CEO reaching an agreement to acquire the social media giant following weeks of negotiations, Abbott took to Twitter to encourage Musk to relocate the company's headquarters from the heart of San Francisco to the Lone Star State. "@elonmusk. Bring Twitter to Texas to join Tesla, SpaceX & the Boring company," the Republican leader tweeted.

And the proposal isn't a stretch, as Musk, the world's richest person, already lives in Texas and the state has steadily become the base of operations for many of his companies. Austin recently became home to Tesla's newest Gigafactory, which officially opened earlier this month. The city also now serves as the electric vehicle makers global headquarters following Musk's decision to move the companys headquarters from California to Texas in December.

The tech billionaire also operates his aerospace company SpaceX in Brownsville, Texas, and recently moved the headquarters of his tunneling and infrastructure company, the Boring Company, to Central Texas.

This isn't the first time Abbott put his state forward for Musk's consideration. More than a year before Musk finally relocated Tesla's headquarters, Abbott had said he had discussions with the billionaire about the move, calling Texas a "perfect fit" for the company.

Musk has also gained popularity among Texas Republicans, who have agreed with his notions of restoring "free speech" to Twitter.

Following Twitter's deal with Musk, Sen. Ted Cruz asked his followers if Elon Musks purchase of Twitter a good thing? The two options were yes and no, I hate free speech. Cruz also said he agreed with a statement from Musk Monday ahead of the buy, that said "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means."

Musk, who celebrated his Twitter acquisition with a tweet, has yet to publicly respond to Abbott's proposal.
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In 1999, the pop band LFO released the song Summer Girls, whose thirsty first verse featured the immortal couplet: I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch, Id take her if I had one wish.

At the time, the clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch was ubiquitous across malls, high schools and college campuses, combining all-American preppiness with a not-so-subtle undercurrent of sex. But brewing underneath that tantalizing image was a company culture that weeded out both potential employees and customers based on their race and physical appearance.

The new Netflix documentary White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch dissects both the aspirational nature of the brand and pulls back the curtain on the lawsuits and public relations disasters that tarnished its otherwise pristine image. According to the employees, journalists and activists who appear in the film, the overwhelming theme is that discrimination was actually a feature rather than a bug.

Its why people liked that brand, says Benjamin OKeefe, an activist who mobilized a campaign against Abercrombies discrimination in 2013 and is featured heavily in the film. Exclusion is part of our society.

It might surprise many to learn that A&Fs roots extend back far further than the glory days of the suburban mall. The company began as an outdoors Americana brand worn by the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and Ernest Hemingway. It fell out of popularity but in 1988, it was acquired by the clothing chain operator The Limited, whose CEO Les Wexner was dubbed The Merlin of the Mall for his marketing tactics on brands like Victorias Secret. Wexner brought on Mike Jeffries as A&Fs CEO, who cracked a formula for success that is outlined in the documentary.

He found a way to connect the heritage of Abercrombie as established in 1892, catering to elite privileged people. And combined it with this very sexy, sexual imagery, New York Times business reporter Sapna Maheshwari said.

The promotional ploy for A&F was relatively simple: hire conventionally good-looking people. Recruiters would track down the most attractive frat guys at each college and enlist them as store employees. Overwhelmingly, these employees were white. Several Black employees recounted in the documentary how they were relegated to late night shifts stocking shelves.

A second important piece was the advertising. Jefferies hired Bruce Weber, a famous fashion photographer with a signature style of capturing the eroticism of the male physique. The overwhelming motifs of the ads were groups of scantily clad men interacting playfully, which the documentary notes has homoerotic undertones.

It was clear to anyone who was paying attention that there were a lot of gay men involved in all of it. The brilliance of the brand is that that went right over the head of their target customer, the straight college frat bro, said journalist Benoit Denizet-Lewis.

Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

Throughout the 90s, the brands cultural cache grew, with stars like Heidi Klum and Ashton Kutcher appearing in its ads. The company built a huge campus, where employees happily pulled all-nighters and referred to the environment as the 13th grade.

Jeffries took the company public in 1996, and A&F left the shadow of The Limiteds retail empire three years later. Sales exploded, with revenue increasing from $165 million in 1994 to $1.04 billion in 1999.

The first backlash against the brand started with the content of its irreverent graphic T-shirts, a cornerstone of its offerings that were sold at an 85% markup. The teenage-style humor often crossed the line with explicitly racist themes. The shirt that broke the retail giants back was for a fictional laundry service called Wong Brothers with the tagline two Wongs can make it white. Asian American student groups began to protest in 2002, leading to A&F literally burning all remaining shirts.

Soon after, employees began speaking out against the companys racially discriminatory hiring practices. A former manager told a Wall Street Journal reporter about having to grade employees looks on a scale from cool to rocks, and if they didnt fit into that range, theyd be taken off the schedule despite their sales numbers.

A group of nine former employees of color then filed a class action lawsuit against the brand, which made national news.

In 2004, A&F settled the lawsuit without admitting guilt, but it signed a consent decree agreeing to change its hiring practices and report to a court-appointed chief diversity officer for six years. However, a semantic shift to calling its employees models gave cover for A&Fs hiring practices, and sources in the documentary state that not much actually changed.

Additionally, A&F fashion models began speaking out against photographer Bruce Weber and filed lawsuits. Although he has never been convicted of a crime (one case was dismissed, two were settled with no admission of guilt), several fashion models in the documentary describe how they were coerced into sexual activities, in detail.

Jeffries himself was at the center of several more scandals. He would use words like butch to describe female clothing that wasnt feminine enough, was obsessed with the narrow definition of an all-American aesthetic and openly admitted to the exclusionary intentions of the brand. Plus sizes werent even offered.

Hes not the only person in fashion who believed these things. But he was the only person seemingly that would say that out loud, Denizet-Lewis says in the film. That attitude, highlighted in a profile Denizet-Lewis wrote for Salon, wasnt out of place in the mid-aughts. However, seven years later, Jeffries unapologetic quotes about being purposefully exclusionary came back to haunt him, with a campaign demanding Jeffries resignation.

Yet another controversy involved an instance in 2008, when fashion blogger Samantha Elauf showed up to an interview wearing a black head scarf. When the interviewer brought up the topic with a hiring manager, the manager said that head scarves were not allowed. Elauf contacted the Council for American-Islamic Relations, and the story made national news.

A&F didnt back down, and eventually the case landed in the Supreme Court, which ruled in Elaufs favor 8-1.

On top of all the scandals (which includes a close relationship between Wexner and accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein), the clothes themselves just seemed to stop being cool.

At some point those kids that learned that it wasnt cool to be bullied grew up and decided that they didnt want to spend money at a place that made them feel bad. Exclusion was the root of their success. And exclusion itself stopped being quite so cool, said former A&F merchandiser Kjerstin Gruys.



Today, neither Wexner or Jeffries are involved with the company, and Abercrombies current leadership has made efforts to shed the labels discriminatory past, hiring more diverse employees and emphasizing body positivity. However, despite a fresh PR blitz, some sources in White Hot question whether the strides the company have made are enough.

The documentary closes with the filmmakers asking Black fashion editor Robin Givhan of the Washington Post whether Abercrombie  and American culture at large  had successfully turned away from exclusionary tactics.

She laughs, and then delivers a simple no.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Christian Smalls of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) is much in the news lately, and deservedly so. In fact, Amazon (and Starbucks) union organizing is one of th very few spots I would consider bright in the current discouse of Covid denialism and war pron. In this brief post, Ill review last Sundays ALU rally, and the press coverage of Smalls. Ill conclude with some remarks on the press.

Before I begin, though, Id like to issue a caveat on ALU coverage generally. The real story is out there in rooms we do not visit, at bus stops where we do not wait, and in halls, churches, and homes we do not visit, and the story takes years. ALU is a mass movement, and most of that movement is not visible except to those engaged in it (rather like war, come to think of it). Labor reporting in the United States is pitifully thin, and in most cases filed under the Business Section. So, there is an iceberg out there, and through our media we only see the tip of it, with a few, now public figures, some of them holding megaphones and signs. We take  through the process of synecdoche (part for whole) those tiny figures for the whole of the iceberg. Thats not only untrue, its very dangerous: When you confuse leaders with a movement (voices, as Adolph Reed called them) you end up with, say, the leaders of Black Lives Matter detaching themselves from the movement purchasing an expensive mansion for what seems to be their personal use. So, if Gods there are, and if they are indeed good, Im begging and praying that Smalls and ALU organizers generally understand this dynamic and are level-headed enough to resist it. That said, lets look at the rally.

The Gothamist describes the rally in Heavy hitters join rally for Amazon workers ahead of second Staten Island warehouses union election, (Im not real happy with that headline; the heavy hitters are the workers themselves, who are, after all, doing all the work and taking all the risk. Not that Id substitute hop on the bandwagon for join rally, because things arent that simple, but when the thought came into my mind, it was hard to resist.) To the Gothamist:

Labor advocates added big names to their cause on Sunday as Amazon Labor Union organizers rallied ahead of another big election this week. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallied alongside Amazon Labor Union leaders on Staten Island on Sunday, just one day ahead of a vote to unionize a second Amazon warehouse known at LDJ5  just across the street from the JFK8 warehouse that voted to unionize earlier this month.

(The voting at LDJ5 has begun, and is open til Friday). More:

Speaking to Gothamist after the rally on Sunday, LDJ5 worker Madeline Wesley said it was important to see national figures like the senator and congresswoman throwing support behind the cause. Its important for the workers at LDJ5 to see that the community supports us in our fight, said Wesley, who also works as treasurer of the Amazon Labor Union. That we are not alone in this.

Note the framing: The labor advocates are not the workers themselves, or their union, but electeds; and even the ALU treasurer identifies the electeds with the community. Its not bad that the electeds are there  especially if AOC really could ding Amazon for a few hundred million in taxes (ALU letter) but lets grant some agency to the workers, mkay?

That said, heres AOC:

The progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Amazons first unionized workers in New York on Sunday that their victory was the first domino to fall in what she expected to be a wave of similar votes for representation across the country. The leftwing Democrat joined Vermont senator Bernie Sanders on stage in Staten Island to celebrate the historic achievement and to call for workers in more Amazon facilities in the US to follow their example. What happened out here  what you guys did in Staten Island was just the beginning. It was the first domino to fall, she said, noting that workers at a second Amazon sorting facility in the New York borough were voting on Monday. We have another election tomorrow, and were going to support them in that. And the day after that, and the day after that, all the way. But what we need Amazon to do first and foremost is to recognize the union that won their election.

Not so sure about you guys. But if AOC can beat some sense into Amazon  Amazons union-busting operation were run by Democrats after all  then good. So she should go do that.

Now Sanders:

What this struggle is about, its not just Amazon Staten Island. This is the struggle that is taking place all across this country. Working people are sick and tired of falling further and further behind while billionaires like [Amazon founder Jeff] Bezos becomes much richer, Sanders told the crowd of more than 300 people gathered near the bus stop thats become the nucleus for ALUs drive.

Todays message  Smalls message  is a little different from Working people are sick and tired of falling further and further behind. Check out this picture, where Sanders makes a similar point:

Jeff when youre out on your yacht think about the employees in Staten Island. They want housing thats affordable and to put away a few bucks. pic.twitter.com/6O1B66ixa6  Lauren Kaori Gurley (@LaurenKGurley) April 24, 2022

I love this photo; Smalls Eat the Rich jacket is so stylish. But the message of Smalls jacket is not put away a few bucks. Its also clear in the photo whos running the show, and its not Sanders.

Finally  unmentioned in most coverage  union leadership. From Jacobin:

I have spent twenty-five years fighting and trying to get workers to wake up to the power that we have together, and this is it, said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA)-CWA, as we stood in the crowd before the afternoon rally at which she was a headliner. The Teamsterss new president Sean OBrien met with Smalls and ALU vice president of organizing Derrick Palmer in Washington, DC, earlier this month and had been scheduled to speak at the rally too, but workers say travel complications led to his appearance being canceled. Other speakers included American Postal Workers Union (APWU) president Mark Dimondstein and AFT president Randi Weingarten, both of whom pledged to throw their full support behind the ALU. (Another speaker, socialist Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, did likewise, announcing in her speech that she was donating $20,000 to the union). This is where its happening: its happening here and its happening at Starbucks, says Nelson.  The working people are taking over, and Im loving it .

(Good for Kshama Sawant; couldnt AOC and Sanders also have written checks, or induced them to be written?) The working people are taking over is the kind of messaging I want to hear (and its not the message the electeds are sending.)

So what about Smalls messaging? So far, its consistent and Im hopeful. This was the first tweet I saw from Smalls on the rally:

First tweet out of the box, and the focus is the literature table and food! More:

Just ordinary people. More:

Chill twitter fingers its Workers running shit over here from here on youre looking at the New School of the Labor Movement @amazonlabor   Christian Smalls (@Shut_downAmazon) April 25, 2022

New school. More:

.@Shut_downAmazon discusses what the Amazon Labor Union hopes to achieve for all employees. pic.twitter.com/o1QuAUiyTZ  The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) April 23, 2022

Everything a union can provide, we want to provide. (Not exactly control of the means of production, but our baseline is so low.) More:

Youre focused on me Im focused on We  Christian Smalls (@Shut_downAmazon) April 15, 2022

We, If Smalls can stick with this, he wont be buying a mansion, and a good thing, too. One more shot of the jacket:

Close up of @amazonlabors Chris Smalls very cool jacket at the rally today. pic.twitter.com/dzg6KLwnLB  Steve Fox (@smfox) April 24, 2022

New school, indeed.

Now, lets turn to the media critique, starting with the New York Times, How Christian Smalls and Derrick Palmer Beat Amazon and Created a Union. Remember what I said about the tiny figures standing atop the massive iceberg? There it is, in the headline: Two friends. This transcript is fascinating and well worth a read, as the Times reporters fit what Smalls and Palmer have to say into their own expert frames. For example, on Covid. The Times interviewers are Michael Barbaro and Jodi Kantor:

[BARBARO:] So youre both, Chris and Derrick, initially enthusiastic about Amazon. You see yourself as succeeding in your work. But you start to question that, it sounds, based on your inability to rise. How does that work start to change at this warehouse as the pandemic hits? SMALLS: Well, it was just the fact that we were in the dark. We didnt know what the hell we was doing or what was going on with the virus. Because were watching it on the news and the company is doing something else. BARBARO: OK SMALLS: So it was something off in there, something off in the building with managers, with communication. And Im like, what the hell is going on here. Were in the break room sitting shoulder to shoulder. And Derrick can tell you, we were sitting there joking were all going to die because were sitting shoulder to shoulder. And were watching CNN and theyre telling us we need to be six feet apart with masks.

And the Times interprets:

[KANTOR:] [L]ike Chris and Derrick are saying, theres a lot of confusion in the warehouse. Our reporting showed that the information Amazon was providing to workers at this point was pretty spotty. And workers in the warehouse really did not have a clear sense of what was going on with Covid cases in their own building.

Were all going to die because were sitting shoulder to shoulder. Does that sound confused to you? Many a true word spoken in jest!

Now from CBS, The resurgence of unions and the fight against Amazon. Some good detail here, but wait for the sting:

Smalls, a former Amazon worker, led the union drive, but that wasnt his original plan: I had no intentions on unionizing. Just trying to do the right things, and protect people from dying from COVID-19. In March 2020, hed organized a walkout to protest the lack of face masks and other COVID gear at JFK8. Amazon fired him, and in a leaked memo, an executive called him Not smart or articulate. Smalls soon learned that he wasnt the only unhappy Amazonian. Another Amazon warehouse on Staten Island begins a unionizing vote tomorrow. Workers Brett, Mat, and Martha have been talking to fellow employees out front. They take care of the robots better than humans, Brett told Pogue. They dont give you ample amount of time to go to the bathroom. Martha said, You got people thats barely making enough. Mat said, We want to be able to say, These things have to change, and negotiate that in a contract. Smalls strategy to unionize JFK8 involved a social-media campaign and small, grassroots gestures, all paid for by donations: We would feed them, you know, pizza, catered food, soul food, different cultural food. Thats what the union represents, you know? Taking care of one another. Amazon fought back, hard, using the standard union-busting playbook. It spent over $4 million on consultants, and required every employee to attend anti-union meetings. .Pogue said to Smalls,  So, I think what youre saying is, you succeeded because you were smart and articulate?  Pretty much! he laughed.

N-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!!!!!! Smalls fed people out of solidarity (ffs).

Now from Time, He Came Out of Nowhere and Humbled Amazon. Is Chris Smalls the Future of Labor? The same thing; good detail, but wait for the sting:

Smalls says the triumph was the result of a different way of thinking about labor organizing. This is the new school, he says as Mitchell-Israel orders 800 chicken wings to feed Amazon workers on their break. Old school is Big Labor, the existing 20th-century union infrastructure. The ALU represents the new face, the new-school style of 21st century organizing,  he adds. Where younger adults are taking charge and putting workers in the drivers seat . Smalls means workers in the specific senseas in, people employed by Amazonand not workers in the general sense, which is often used as a catchall term in labor circles to mean anyone who isnt in management. This is just one of the ways that Smalls deviates from the well-worn progressive rhetoric that may energize college-educated liberals but means little to Amazon employees. We dont go home and turn on CNN, we dont go home and turn on Fox, he says, noting that Amazon workers are often too tired to follow politics. If I brought AOC and Bernie out here, I would have to inform the workers who they are and what they represent.

Which, ironically enough, is what Smalls did. More:

Smalls may be organizing out of a black Chevy Suburban packed with iced tea bottles and rolling papers, but its clear that Amazon underestimated his savvy. In a memo that leaked shortly after his firing, Amazon lawyers said that Smalls was not smart, or articulate. But Smalls understanding of what its like to work at Amazon is one reason why he and Palmer succeeded where larger, more powerful unions have failed. Only last year, Amazon beat back a unionization effort driven by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union at a Bessemer, Alabama facility in what was then the biggest labor drive in the companys history. (The union challenged the decision with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming Amazon illegally interfered in the election. A final result is still pending.) Smalls has an idea of why that effort fell short. The timing, the approach, the campaignit was just all wrong from the beginning, he says of the Bessemer union drive. Alabamas right-to-work laws presented challenges; the plant was new enough that workers werent as disillusioned as at JFK8. Most importantly? The drive was organized by an established union, a third party that doesnt know Amazon, Smalls says. In order to get it done, you gotta build from within, he adds. Not from the outside, but from the inside out.

More:

Many of the labor unions are very disconnected from the workers that they serve, says [Justine Medina, a salt who joined Amazon to help with the organizing effort], adding that many of the officers in the big labor unions are out of grad school. They mean well, she adds. But theres just a slightly different class composition.

And speaking of class composition, heres the sting:

Experts say that the activism of the past few yearsfrom #MeToo to Black Lives Matter to walkouts at major tech companies has seeped into organized labor. The new model is young people organizing young people, its non-white people organizing majority non-white workforces, says Wilma Liebman, who served as chair of the National Labor Relations Board under President Obama. Unions clearly have to adapt to the changing demographic of the workforces.

Theyve got to bring in identity politics! (And note the extremely sloppy causal thinking in seeped. (Theres also a plug for Randi Weingarten, whose going to donate money so ALU can get better office space [vomits quietly].

* * *

Reading this coverage is interesting, because its a bit of a throwback to where reporters actually went out and interviewed people and tried to understand facts on the ground; you can sense the reporters, for all their class biases, enjoyed writing these stories. But theres also a time when the press turns on the voices it builds up, and starts pulling the wings off flies[]1]. I havent quoted Bourdieu for awhile, but he has actually addressed this phenomenon. From Forms of Capital, page 64. Bourdieu is writing about the hit parade of books to be reviewed, but the same dynamic applies to the rise (and fall) of any public figure. The press are told You must cover this public figure:

The combination of this very strong constraint with a rampant anti-intellectualism [the press does not originate; it reports] has the consequence sooner or later that they start to tear someone to pieces . Again, this is not a deliberate decision, but it is very embarassing when you [like Smalls] are at the top of the hit parade, for you are structurally exposed. The actual or potential victim may feel it as a plot (They resent me, They are out to get me, Its the right/left who are out to get me, Its the government, and so on). We absolutely, have to discuss So-and-s0, but hes a pain in the arse, he could become the new Sartre [Eugene Debs], better shoot him down first [laughter]

(Heaven help Smalls, for example, if he has anything #MeToo-ish in his background. From everything  from, really, the little  I have been able to read about Smalls (and the other figures on top of the iceberg) hes extremely level-headed and focused, and should be able to endure this dynamic, but theres no reason not to prepare for it. In any case, as I said at the beginning, Im hopeful.

NOTES

[1] AOC, although her faults are real, was also subject to this phenomenon.
As the World Bank drives the implementation of digital ID programs across the Global South, including in Nigeria, its fellow Bretton Woods institution, the IMF, is doing much the same for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

I would never want to get a digital ID.

Those are the words of Ann Cavoukian, who knows a thing or two about digital identity platforms having served three terms as privacy commissioner for the Canadian province of Ontario (1997-2014), which is now developing its own digital ID system. She is renowned for pioneering the concept of privacy by design, which takes privacy into account throughout system engineering processes.

Now serving as executive director of the Global Privacy and Security by Design Centre, Cavoukian has expressed fears that digital ID systems will fall victim to identity theft and online accessing of data by unauthorized third parties. These are just two of the many concerns the digital ID programs rapidly being rolled out around the world throw up. Another is their potential to exclude people  particularly those already on the margins  from being able to participate in the economy or society.

Cutting Off 73 Million People

Nigerias government, determined to speed up public adoption of its mandatory digital ID, just gave one example of how this could happen. To encourage (to put it kindly) citizens to get with its ID program, it has barred anyone who isnt registered in the national digital identity database from being able to make outgoing calls from their mobile phones. The move has affected some 73 million people, according to a Thomson Reuters article.

That is roughly a third of the West African nations just over 200 million inhabitants. Considering just under half of Nigerias population is under the age of 15, many of whom presumably do not own a smartphone, it means the vast majority of Nigerians are currently unable to use their mobile phones to make outgoing calls. Given how important mobile networks are in Sub-Saharan Africa, serving as the only form of internet access for many, the impact will have been huge. Heres more from the Reuters piece:

Nigeria is among dozens of African countries including Ghana, Egypt and Kenya with SIM registration laws that authorities say are necessary for security purposes, but digital rights experts say increase surveillance and hurts privacy. Nigeria has been rolling out 11-digit electronic national identity cards for almost a decade, which record an individuals personal and biometric data, including fingerprints and photo. The National Identity Number (NIN) is required to open a bank account, apply for a drivers license, vote, get health insurance, and file tax returns.

Multiple Functions

The government says digital identity is needed to bolster security and identify criminals as it battles insurgents and armed bandits who have kidnapped hundreds of people for ransom. A similar argument was used by the government of Mexico to justify the proposed creation of a National Register of Mobile Telephone Users, a centralized database containing the line number, date and time of activation for each user, their full name and biometric data, among other information.

Besides serving as a national ID card, Nigerias digital ID number (NIN) has multiple other functions, says French military contractor Thales Group, one of the companies contracted to help implement Nigerias digital ID system. It will also serve as a travel document, an electronic ID, a biometric e-ID (containing the holders 10 fingerprints and photograph captured during the registration process) and a payment card. In the second phase of its implementation, complementary applications such as an e-drivers license and other e-services, including eVoting, eHealth, and eTransport, will be included.

The National Identification Number (NIN) is mandatory for all Nigerian citizens and legal residents in the territory of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But most people are still not registered. According to the local Guardian newspaper, as of March 31, 2022, 126.7 million Nigerians did not have a national identity number. In 2020, Nigerias telecommunications regulator declared that every active mobile phone number must be linked to the users NIN. It then repeatedly extended the deadline until April 4 this year, as Reuters reports:

The government said outgoing calls were being barred from April 4 from any mobile phone numbers that had not complied. Millions of Nigerians have not registered their SIM cards, for reasons ranging from concerns over privacy to problems reaching registration centres or not having a NIN. There have been no reasonable explanations as to why we have to link NIN to our SIM, said Nneka Orji, a journalist in southeast Nigeria who has not registered her SIM. For that reason, I am not ready to do that, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. She now relies on WhatsApp to make calls, even though not all of her contacts use the messaging service.

Data Privacy and Security Fears

In Nigeria, some citizens in rural areas may lack the means to travel to registration centers, of which there are nearly 800, according to official data. Others fear their personal data, including their most personal data of all  their biometric information  will be compromised or shared with third parties:

I dont think the NIMC and telcos have the right infrastructure to protect my data, said Favour Akachukwu, a call centre agent in Ibadan in southwest Nigeria, who has not registered his phone. Akachukwu said he has received numerous calls from fraudsters who had his 11-digit bank verification number  which is required to hold a bank account in Nigeria  and were trying to get further details from him to access his account.

Privacy activists have cautioned that African governments are increasingly using new technologies and laws to expand surveillance of citizens and dissidents. Nigerias order to bar unregistered phones is an infringement on the rights to freedom of expression and privacy guaranteed by its constitution, human rights lawyer Festus Ogun, managing partner at Festus Ogun Legal in Lagos, told Reuters.

In theory, Nigeria has a data protection act in place  the so-called Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), which came into being in 2020 after a long process of public consultation. But as the online newspaper Premium Times reported in November, 2021, the government is now seeking to rewrite the rules with the help of an external (as in overseas) consultancy firm. It will pay for the consultancys services with a loan applied for from the World Bank, the French Development Agency (AFD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Experts in Nigeria have expressed umbrage that the federal government is planning to engage consultants for a process that had already been concluded by relevant stakeholders in 2020. One expert, who did not want his name mentioned due to the sensitivity of the position he holds in the digital ecosystem, said:

What will a World Bank consultant do differently that competent government agencies and industry professionals have not done in the 2020 Bill they worked on tirelessly last year? Also, what is the rationale behind seeking a World bank grant? Is it to feather the nest of some government officials? Are we saying it is right for World Bank to set the stage and determine the bill that will affect our data sovereignty as a nation?

World Bank Driving Adoption of Digital ID Programs, Including Among Dictatorships

Nigerias digital ID program is already largely funded by the World Bank, which is driving digital ID adoption around the world, particularly in the Global South, through its Identity for Development (ID4D) program. The ostensible goal behind the program is to provide legal identity to the 1.1 billion people, mainly in Asia and Africa, who do not currently have one. This is in line with the UNs Sustainable Development Goal 16.9, which aims to provide legal identity for all, including free birth registrations by 2030.

To date, the World Bank has assisted 41 countries in this endeavor, by conducting country assessments, providing technical advice, and funneling the funding necessary for their development and implementation. The list includes a fair number of unsavory regimes that would like nothing more than to expand their surveillance and enforcement capabilities and powers  something digital ID programs, deployed alongside other forms of AI-enabled surveillance technologies, can certainly offer.

The ID4D program was launched in 2014 with catalytic contributions from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (quelle surprise!) as well as the UK Government, the French Government, the Australian Government and the Omidyar Network. According to the World Bank Groups website, it is a cross-sectoral platform that creates and leverages partnerships with United Nations agencies, other donors, non-government organizations, academia, and the private sector with the goal of help[ing] countries realise the transformational potential of digital identification systems.

The Nigerian government received additional financing for its digital ID program from the French Development Agency and the European Commission, which appears to be externalizing its migration/deportation policy by pushing countries that provide large inflows of migration into the EU (mainly Africa, the Middle East and non-EU member states in the Balkans) to set up biometric databases and digital identity programs.

World Bank + IMF = Digital Identity + CBDC

The digital ID programs are wrapped up in cozy buzz words such as digital development, social protection, gender issues and financial inclusion. But digital ID systems can also be weaponized by authorities to exclude millions of people from access to the most basic services and amenities, as the NGO Access Now warned in October 2021:

As it stands, governments are making digital identity systems central to our lives, including making them requirements for access to vital government services and assistance, without the necessary input from civil society. At a pre-summit panel discussion, Digital ID for Inclusive Development? Emerging evidence on social exclusion and its broader implications, the panelists presented cases demonstrating patterns of exclusion in India, Uganda, and Kenya. They showed how digital identity programs are creating barriers to access to legal identity and public services for many people, while exacerbating inequalities and perpetuating systemic discrimination.

Interestingly, as the World Bank pushes the development and implementation of digital ID programs in the Global South, its fellow Bretton Woods institution, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is doing exactly the same for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), both in the Global South and North. As the FT recently reported, central bank digital currencies will almost certainly have to go hand in hand with digital IDs:

What CBDC research and experimentation appears to be showing is that it will be nigh on impossible to issue such currencies outside of a comprehensive national digital ID management system. Meaning: CBDCs will likely be tied to personal accounts that include personal data, credit history and other forms of relevant information.

It just so happens that Nigeria is one of the first jurisdictions on planet Earth to have launched a central bank digital currency (CBDC): the so-called e-Naira, which as the IMFs African department said in November 2021, is drawing substantial interest from the outside world, including from central banks. While central banks insist that CBDCs are intended as complementary to rather than a replacement of physical cash, Thales Groups own communications suggest otherwise: one of the ambitious aims of Nigerias national identity program, says the military contractor, is the creation of a cashless society.
(Natural News) At least four major airlines in the United States have announced plans to delist passengers who were placed on their no-fly lists for violating the federal Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) mask mandate for air travel.

The decision to restore flight privileges to thousands of previously banned customers comes just days after a federal judge from Florida struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) regulation mandating masks on public transportation. (Related: Federal judge strikes down national mask mandate covering airports, airplanes and other public travel.)

The judges decision states that the CDCs rule exceeded its statutory authority because the implementation of its mask mandate violates federal administrative law.

The ruling led to most major airlines in America quickly announcing that they were rolling back their mask requirements for their passengers.

Airlines scrub thousands of passengers off their no-fly lists

The four major airlines that have announced their intentions to scrub their no-fly lists are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

In a statement, Alaska Airlines announced that customers previously barred from flying over mask violations will be given another opportunity to fly with the company.

Guests who were banned solely for mask non-compliance will be allowed to purchase tickets on our flights, said the companys media relations manager. Alaska Airlines banned over 1,700 customers over mask violations since the beginning of the pandemic.

American Airlines said passengers barred over mask non-compliance will be allowed to come back at some point in time. One of the companys top executives said this allowance may not be extended to passengers who escalated requests to leave American flights by assaulting the companys employees.

Those passengers are going to remain on our permanent internal refuse list and will never be allowed to travel again, said Chief Corporate and Government Affairs Officer Nate Gatten.

Delta Air Lines said it will review each mask non-compliance incident that led to flight privileges being revoked and will restore those privileges only on a case-by-case basis. A company spokesperson added that each customer must demonstrate an understanding of their expected behavior when flying with us.

Any further disregard for the policies that keep us all safe will result in placement on Deltas permanent no-fly list, said the spokesperson.

Like American, Delta will not reinstate flight privileges for around 1,000 customers who demonstrated egregious behavior, when they were asked to comply with the mask mandate.

United Airlines said it will allow customers previously banned for failing to comply with the mandate on a case-by-case basis. These passengers must establish that they will commit to following all crewmember instructions onboard.

United barred around 1,000 customers from flying during the span of the mask mandate for air travel.

Meanwhile, Southwest refused to cite how many people it banned for mask non-compliance, claiming security protocols prohibited it. But the airline indicated that the travelers on its list were barred for disruptive behavior and they would remain on that list.

Watch this episode of The Healthy American as host Peggy Hall talks about the airlines allowing passengers previously on no-fly lists due to COVID-19 violations back on their flights.

This video can be found in the channel The Healthy American on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Bidens DOJ set to APPEAL federal court decision to strike down mask mandates for public transportation.

California-based advocacy group says covid vaccine mandate for pilots violates federal law, puts passengers at risk.

White House RESCINDS mask mandate for public transportation following federal court ruling.

American Airlines pilots heart stops just minutes after landing plane, vaccine side effects to blame.

US pilot deaths increase by 1,750% after covid vaccine rollout.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

FoxBusiness.com

NPR.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The US government funded Peter Daszaks ECO Health Alliance to the tune of $61,491,183 to make new coronaviruses that are infectious to humans. It also directly or indirectly funding the Wuhan Institute of Virology to the tune of $7.4 million dollars to make new coronaviruses that are infectious to humans. Meanwhile the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded Ralph Baric to the tune of $46,958,414 to make new coronaviruses that are infectious to humans.

(Article republished from DailyExpose.uk)

This totals more than $114 million in the period from 2000 to 2020 to make new coronaviruses which are infectious to humans.

There is no question that SARS CoV 2 (causing Covid-19) is man made. Heres the evidence

By a concerned reader

A Brief History of man made pathogens designed by Baric, Daszak, Zhengli and Moderna and funded by Fauci, the NIH, the NIAID and the US Government to carry out the research necessary for the creation of SARS, MERS and Covid-19 

1984: Dr Anthony Fauci appointed director of the NIAID (National institute of Allergies and Infectious diseases)  There is an Orwellian Appointment for you.

1986 July1: https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-AI023946-01 1986  1999 funding amounts not specified and then funded by $1,987,840 over 7 years from 2000 to 2007 excluding 2002.

NIAID (National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases) funding Ralph Baric at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Subject: Mechanism of MHV Replication (Mouse Hepatitis Virus). This was the start of the partnership between Fauci and Baric.

1999: U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS) funds research amplifying the infectious character of Coronaviruses.

1999: The Bill and Mellisa Gates Foundation set up GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) with a promise of $750 million in funding. So it was never going to be a bit part actor in the vaccine movie.  https://www.gavi.org/operating-model/gavis-partnership-model/bill-melinda-gates-foundation

2000: In May Ralph Baric successfully constructs a 28k base pair Coronavirus from smaller fragments by reverse transcription (making DNA from RNA) He makes an infectious TGE (Transmissable Gastroenteritis Virus  which is a type of Coronavirus) clone from isolated components of the genome. He files for US Patent 6,593,111 B2: The invention is exemplified by, although not limited to, the assembly of full-length, functional coronavirus genomes.

The present inventors have successfully assembled a full length infectious clone of transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGE). Using a novel approach, six adjoining cDNA subclones that span the entire TGE genome were isolated. Each clone was engineered with unique flanking interconnecting junctions which dictate a precise, systematic assembly with only the correct adjacent cDNA subclones, resulting in an intact TGE cDNA construct of about approximately 28.5 Kb in length  https://patents.justia.com/patent/6593111 .

Among other advantages, full-length infectious clones of TGE permit the precise genetic modification of the coronavirus genome  https://patents.justia.com/patent/6593111

2001: April 20: NIH Grant GM63228 funds Ralph Baric et al at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to do Chimera research to transform the original SARS Coronavirus which was pathogenic only to animals, existing in nature as a pathogen for dogs and rabbits, to make it pathogenic to mankind targeting lung epithelial cells. The justification for this research was that it was supposedly designed as a vector virus to distribute HIV vaccines. This resulted in US patent application US28531801P

2001 May21: Ralph Baric and Boyd Yount (Assigned to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) file US Patent 6,593,111 B2 Directional Assembly of Large Viral Genomes and Chromosomes The Patent Office search report found: Lai, Michael M.C The making of infectious vial RNA: No size limit in sight PNAS vol 97 No 10, May 9, 2000 pp 5025-5027 And it found: Thiel et al Infectious RNA transcribed in vitro from a cDNA copy of human coronavirus genome cloud in vaccinia virus 92: 1273-1261 (2001)

2002: April 19: The University of North Carolina files US patent 7279327 for an infectious replication defective coronavirus (to be used as a virus vector for an HIV vaccine), claiming priority from US28531801P. Inventors were: Kristopher M. Curtis, Boyd Yount, Ralph S. Baric

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20030411/sars-timeline-of-outbreak

2002 November 16: The first case of an atypical pneumonia is reported in the Guangdong province in southern China.

2003 February 25: First cases of unusual pneumonia reported in Hanoi, Vietnam.

2003 February 28: WHO officer Carlo Urbani, MD, examines an American businessman with an unknown form of pneumonia in a French hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam.

2003 March10: Urbani reports an unusual outbreak of the illness, which he calls sudden acute respiratory syndrome or SARS, to the main office of the WHO. He notes that the disease has infected an usually high number of healthcare workers (22) at the hospital (in Hanoi, Vietnam).

2003 March11: A similar outbreak of a mysterious respiratory disease is reported among healthcare workers in Hong Kong.

2003 March15: WHO issues a heightened global health alert about the mysterious pneumonia with a case definition of SARS as after cases in Singapore and Canada are also identified. The alert includes a rare emergency travel advisory to international travellers, healthcare professionals and health authorities.

2003 March17: An international network of 11 leading laboratories is established to determine the cause of SARS and develop potential treatments.

2003 March24: CDC officials present the first evidence that a new strain of a virus most frequently associated with upper respiratory infections and the common cold in humans called the coronavirus might be likely cause of SARS.

2003 March29: Carlo Urbani, who identified the first cases of SARS, dies as a result of the disease. Researchers later suggest naming the agent that causes the disease after the infectious disease expert.

2003 April4: President George W. Bush adds SARS to the list of quarantinable diseases, which gives the CDC the authority to isolate persons who might have been exposed to the disease.

2003 April12: Canadian researchers announce they have completed the first successful sequencing of the genome of the coronavirus believed to cause SARS.

2003 April14: CDC officials announce their laboratories have sequenced a nearly identical strain of the SARS-related coronavirus. The CDC version includes an additional 15 nucleotides, which provides the important beginning of the sequence.

2003 April16: A new form of a coronavirus never before seen in humans is confirmed as the cause of SARS according to Kochs postulates, which are four specific conditions that must be met for a pathogen to be confirmed as a causal agent of disease.

2003 April 25: CDC Patent filed and ultimately becomes US 7,220,852 (the patent on the RNA sequence) and 7,776,521 (the patent on the testing methodology). These patents give the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services the ability to control the commercial exploitation of SARS coronavirus.

2003 July2: WHO removes Toronto, Canada from its list of areas with recent local SARS transmission after 20 days passed since the last SARS case was reported and isolated.

2003 January26: Dr. Anthony Fauci appointed to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations Global Grand Challenges Scientific Advisory Board (served through 2010  when he joined their Global Vaccine Action Plan).

2006 Chinese researchers combine HCV, HIV-1, SARS-CoV-1 & SARS-CoV-2: Huang Q, Cheng Y, Guo Q, Li Q. Preparation of a Chimeric Armored RNA as a Versatile Calibrator for Multiple Virus Assays. Clinchem 2006; 52(7):1446-1448 and Supplement A.Inform1999200020022003.

2007: NSF Grant IIS-0513650 (Italy, France and Indiana University) study addresses FIRST CRITICAL STEP to control a pandemic  shutdown International Travel. Given this knowledge why did Fauci tell Trump a Travel Ban was unnecessary?

2009 April15: ModernaTX INC is incorporated in Delaware USA

2010 August 6: Moderna (prior to its establishment) files U.S. Patent 9,447,164 which attracted the investment of (and inventorship for) venture capitalists at Flagship Ventures. This patent grew out of the work of Dr. Jason P. Schrum of Harvard Medical School supported by National Science Foundation Grant #0434507. While the application claims priority to August 2010, the application didnt get finalized until October, 2015.

2010 September21: Wildlife Trust is rebranded to become ECO Health Alliance under the directorship of Peter Daszak.

2010: The World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced a collaboration to increase coordination across the international vaccine community and create a Global Vaccine Action Plan. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases/2010/12/global-health-leaders-launch-decade-of-vaccines-collaboration.

The Leadership Council is comprised of:

Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO;

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Director of NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health;

Mr. Anthony Lake, Executive Director for UNICEF;

Ms. Joy Phumaphi, Chair of the International Advisory Committee and Executive Secretary, African Leaders Malaria Alliance

Dr. Tachi Yamada, President of Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

2011 March9: ModernaTX (MODEfied RNA) was registered in Massachussetts

2012 September22: UK Identifies first case of MERS

2012-April2: Moderna claims priority to US201261618957P in its 5 patents cited below all of which refer to a double CGG codon Furin Cleavage site.

2013 December 16: Moderna files 4 patents referring to a double CGG codon Furin Cleavage site.

US9149506B2: Modified polynucleotides encoding septin-4  https://patents.google.com/patent/US9149506B2/en

US9216205B2: Modified polynucleotides encoding granulysin  https://patents.google.com/patent/US9216205B2/en

US9255129B2: Modified polynucleotides encoding SIAH E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1  https://patents.google.com/patent/US9255129B2/en

US9301993B2: Modified polynucleotides encoding apoptosis inducing factor 1  https://patents.google.com/patent/US9301993B2/en

2013: Baric and Chinese scientists isolate 3 coronaviruses from bats with HKU4 spike protein  unable to infect human cells. Yang YBaric RS, et al. Receptor usage and cell entry of bat coronavirus HKU4 provide insight into bat-to-human transmission of MERS coronavirus. PNAS 2014;111(34):12516-12521. Funded with NIH grants RO1AI089728 & R21AI109094.

2014 October 17: Obama Administration halts Gain-of-Function Research

2015 Dr. Zhengli et al reengineered HKU4 spike aiming to build its capacity to infect human cells. To this end, we introduced two single mutationsmutations in these motifs in coronavirus spikes have demonstrated dramatic effects on viral entry into human cells.

2015: Baric and Zhengli announce they can make a more dangerous, virulent and infectious virus. Two Mutations Were Critical for Bat-to-Human Transmission of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS). J Virol.2015;89(17):9199-9123. Funded by NIH grants RO1AI089728, RO1AI110700.

2015 July: South Korea had its last case of MERS. There were 2,494 confirmed laboratory cases and a total of 858 deaths in 27 countries; 80% of these cases came from Saudi Arabia. So the mortality rate for MERS was 34.4%. But it was not very transmissible. Infections were limited to family members, other hospital patients and health care workers who encountered MERS patients.

2016 June2: Moderna files US9587003B2 referring to a double CGG codon Furin Cleavage site: Modified polynucleotides for the production of oncology-related proteins and peptides  https://patents.google.com/patent/US9587003B2/en

2017: Gain-of-Function Research Ban Lifted

2018: US Patent 7279327 for the chimeric adaption of the naturally occurring animal SARS Coronavirus to become infectious to humans targeting lung epithelial cells is transferred from University of North Carolina to he US National Institute for Health (NIH)  who funded it in the first place.

2018 March 27: Peter Daszac and the Eco Health Alliance in 2018 submitted a proposal to DARPA to do gain of function research on SARS coronaviruses to insert is furin cleavage site (such as is found in HIV1) in an optimal position into the coronavirus gene. COVID-19 has a furin cleavage site optimally positioned to infect humans. https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-grant-darpa/

Lets look at the big picture: A novel SARS coronavirus emerges in Wuhan with a novel cleavage site in it. We now have evidence that, in early 2018, they had pitched inserting novel cleavage sites into novel SARS-related viruses in their lab, said Chan. This definitely tips the scales for me. And I think it should do that for many other scientists too.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21066966-defuse-proposal  this is the Eco health alliance DARPA funding proposal.

Oh dear. That really nails it. DARPA confirms that Peter Daszac of the Eco Health Alliance submitted a proposal on 2018March27 to add an HIV1 type furin cleavage site to SARS1. SARS CoV 2 has that furin cleavage site. In fact the double CGG codon Furin cleavage site is the main difference between Covid-19 and the Bat Coronavirus RaGT13. Fauci funded Wuhan through the Eco Health Alliance.

Here is Peter Daszak admitting that he and Ralph Baric made new forms of SARS in the lab 

The Daily Mail said of this proposal  The most alarming aspect of the research plan revealed in the documents is a plan to search viral genetic databases for new types of furin cleavage sites which help a virus attack a host. According to the proposal, high-risk versions of these sites, once identified, would then be grafted onto SARS-like bat coronaviruses via genetic engineering. This revelation is alarming because SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, has just such a furin cleavage site, which increases its power and deadliness, but a similar feature has never been observed in other SARS-like coronaviruses in nature.

Actually the double CGG codon Furin Cleavage site does not exist in ANY virus in nature. And this proposal nails Peter Daszak/ECO Health Allinace at the creator of SARS CoV 2 and Covid-19. which differs from the Bat Coronavirus RaTG13 only by the insertion of double CGG Codon Furin cleavage site and by other smaller deviations all of which are 3 or less base pairs (1 codon) long  https://dailyexpose.uk/2022/03/17/exhaustive-proof-moderna-made-covid-19/

2018: Zhengli presents research at Shanghai Jiao Tong University on 14 Nov. 2018 entitled Studies on Bat Coronavirus and its cross-species infection. This presentation has since been deleted from the University website.

2019 March 28: Moderna files their final patent application for their gene therapy mRNA-1273 (amino acid chain) Covid-19 vaccine, 6 months before the outbreak of the disease.- https://www.modernatx.com/patents

US 10,703,789 filed January 12 2019

US 10,702,600 filed February 28 2020

US 10,577,403 filed June 12 2019

US 10,442,756 filed December 18 2017

US 10,266,485 filed June 11 2018

US 10,064,959 filed April 21 2017

US 9,868,692 filed July 27, 2017

The 2nd patent, filed on February 28 2020 was a continuation of an earlier patent application number 16/368,270 which was filed on March 28, 2019

2019August 7: Fort Detrick in Maryland is the centre of all US bio weapons production. On August 7th, 2019, its deadly germ research operations were abruptly shutdown following serious safety violations, in particular relating to the disposal of dangerous materials  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Detrick The CDC issued a Cease and Desist to Fort Detrick on 2019July15. The lab put all research on hold on August2 and was shut down on 2019August7 according to Fredericknewspost.com reported by Heather Mongilio  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/07/fort-detrick-lab-shut-down-after-failed-safety-inspection-all-research-halted-indefinitely/ https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/11/24/cdc-inspection-findings-reveal-more-about-fort-detrick-research-suspension.html The lab reopened partially in late November 2019 and fully reopened in April 2020. The Link has now been changed, the article has been suppressed.

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/health/fort-detrick-lab-shut-down-after-failed-safety-inspection-all-research-halted-indefinitely/article_767f3459-59c2-510f-9067-bb215db4396d.html Link does not work for EU people any more. It worked when it was first posted!

2019: Summer deletion of Wuhan Institute of Virology Corona Virus data bank.

2019 October: Glen Beck discovers evidence that 10 hospitals in Wuhan had Covid-19 cases  https://100percentfedup.com/bombshell-glenn-beck-reveals-nih-and-moderna-worked-on-mrna-vaxx-together-before-pandemic/

2019: November: University of North Carolina, Moderna and NIH began the sequencing of the 1273 amino acid spike protein vaccine a month before the outbreak officially occurred.

2019 November 12: Black and Vetch sends $369,511 to Labyrinth Global Health in Ukraine for  Covid-19 Research before Covid-19 was know or named publicly..

2019: December 31 Wuhan Municipal Health Commission report discussing COVID-19 pneumonia  deleted.

2019: December31: WHO is informed of a pneumonia type outbreak in Wuhan.

https://odysee.com/@Corona-Ausschuss:3/Sitzung-60-Die-Zeit-ist-kein-flacher-Kreis-5-Martin

https://www.davidmartin.world/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The_Fauci_COVID-19_Dossier.pdf

https://www.algora.com/Algora_blog/2021/06/27/dr-peter-mccullough-whistleblowers-inside-cdc-claim-injections-have-already-killed-50000-americans

This timeline proves that before every new type of Coronavirus appeared and became a threat to the health of mankind, the nightmare team of Baric, Daszak and Zhengli funded by Faucis NIAID and the NIH of Collins and the US government with more than 114 million dollars (see below for the breakdown), had developed the capability to make that new type of Coronavirus themselves. This is true of SARS Cov 1, of MERS and of SARS CoV 2 (Covid-19).

So it seems to the writer that Faucis NIAID and the US Government, funded Baric and Daszak to make these bioweapons  possibly for legitimate national security reasons. But when the capability had been developed, then greed set in and a very profitable business model became visible. Furthermore a global reset political population control model also appeared. These two models were too appealing to too many powerful people. So the decisions were made to release these weapons not long after they were made. There is no question that SARS CoV 2 (causing Covid-19) is man made, because the virus has a double CGG codon Furin Cleavage site which does not appear in any natural virus.  https://dailyexpose.uk/2022/03/17/exhaustive-proof-moderna-made-covid-19/

There is no candidate for its creation that is not funded by the NIAID or the NIH or the US government. So this is a US government program. Hence Bidens instruction to his intelligence services to investigate the origins of Covid-19 resulted in the obvious lie that: WE DONT KNOW. That one conclusion, is in itself a proof that the US intelligence services are behind the pandemic. Because they do know that it was man made. Indeed every reader of the Expose knows that.

The chances of the US intelligence services being unaware of the existence of the Expose in circumstances where every Covid-19 stats department in the 5 eyes countries has responded to their articles by either stopping producing figures, or castigating department heads or changing the way figures are calculated or straight up rigging their figures, are Zero. So they are covering up. So they are guilty. Also the closure of Fort Detrick (the premier US bioweapons facility) due to a leak, in August, 2 months before the October 2019 infections in 10 hospitals in Wuhan, is far too close for comfort.

When you add to this the fact the Eugenicist Bill Gates and his foundation have been vaccine mad since 1999. You begin to see that this may not have been a legitimate national security endeavour from the start.

When you consider that Faucis NIAID has been funding Baric since 1986, you see that these players are part of a long standing team.

When you consider how much money they have received from the US government, you see who really is managing this team.

When you consider the number of biolabs discovered in Ukraine, you see how seriously the US government takes bioweapons research.

When you consider that Moderna had all 7 of its vaccine patents filed 6 months before the outbreak of the disease, and has the double CGG codon cited in 5 of its patent applications dating from 2013, you realise that they are on the inside of this game and a part of the team (through Fauci presumably).

So we know it was man made. We know who funded its creation. We know who created it. We know who profited from it. We know who used it for political control. All that remains is to determine whether those who profited from it and funded it and sought control from it deliberately arranged for its release in order to realise those profits and that control. That is for the reader to decide.

What I will say is that the US funded Biolabs were not located in Ukraine in order to target Genetic Russians in my opinion. Because first of all I do not think mankind has that capability yet (thank God). And secondly the Russians developed their own vaccines denying their market to the nightmare team above. And thirdly even if a virus could be designed which preferentially targeted some aspects of a typical Russian genome, that would constitute a war crime against every nation. Because genetic Russians do not only live in Russia and are not only Russian citizens.

They live all over the globe in large numbers in every country. Such a weapon would be a universal world war, the minute it was released. I think those labs were in Ukraine in order to further the globalist agenda. Perhaps when they released the next pathogen, they were going to blame it upon Russia, rather than upon China? Or maybe just admit the US did it. Whatever the globalists think will case the most damage to the system they are trying to destroy or should I say reset, in order to build back better.

Funding for the creation of Covid-19

US Government Funding for Peter Daszak and ECO Health Alliance

US government Funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology

The Wuhan lab got a $3.7 million grant from the US government approved by Obama running over 4 years from 2015 to 2019.  https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-admin-wuhan-lab-grant/

Fauci also gave them $3.7 million from the NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)  In 2019, with the backing of NIAID, the National Institutes of Health committed $3.7 million over six years for research that included some gain-of-function work. The program followed another $3.7 million, 5-year project for collecting and studying bat coronaviruses, which ended in 2019, bringing the total to $7.4 million.  https://www.newsweek.com/dr-fauci-backed-controversial-wuhan-lab-millions-us-dollars-risky-coronavirus-research-1500741

The controversy was such that it led to a Congressional moratorium on chimeric research in the USA. At which point, Dr. Antonio Fauci diverted 3.7 Million U.S. Dollars of U.S. Taxpayer monies to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to continue the research. Rudy Giuliani, legal counsel to U. S. President Donald Trump, and former Mayor of New York city, recently demanded an explanation from Dr. Fauci for this transfer, which violated U.S. Laws against funding the research.

In addition to the research done at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the specific kind of research into Coronaviruses as possible biological warfare agents, was being done at Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA, by the U. S. Army, which has a Level 3 and 4 Biowarfare Lab at the military base. This lab was cited by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in July, 2019 for failure to maintain proper containment standards  https://www.fromrome.info/tag/fort-detrick/

NIAID and NIGMS Funding of Ralph S. Baric at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

2001 May1: https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-GM063228-03 $1,007,735 over 4 years from 2001 to 2004

NIGMS (National Institute of General Medical Sicences)

Reverse Genetics with A Coronavirus Infectious Construct

Baric, Ralph S.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

2004 February15: https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-AI059136-01 $1.402,316 million over 5 years from 2004 to 2008.

Reverse Genetics

Baric, Ralph S.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Aim 1, we will develop a full length SARS cDNA clone and compare the phenotype of rescued molecular cloned viruses with wildtype using biochemical assays and macaque challenge experiments.

Aim 2, we will develop high titer SARS single hit replicons for use as expression vectors and vaccines.

Aim 3, we will select for SARS host range mutants that replicate in murine (mouse and rat) cells, identify the mechanism of SARS cross species transmission using reverse genetic approaches and evaluate the pathogenicity of these viruses in rodents and non human primates. The goal of this application is to establish genetic control over the SARS genome and provide uniform reagents that will be used by other groups throughout the country.

2004 May15: https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-AI061819-01 $367,042 for 2004

Remodeling SARS Coronavirus Genome Regulatory Networks

Baric, Ralph S.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

2005 May1: https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/P01-AI059443-01A1 $1,676,513 for 2005

Developing Vaccine Candidates for the SARS Coronavirus

Baric, Ralph S.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Total NIAID funding for Ralph Baric at University of North Carolina was $46,958,414. (https://grantome.com all grants to Baric, Ralph)

Year Grant 2000 201,232 2001 455,041 2002 253,321 2003 902,719 2004 1,628,345 2005 3,277,688 2006 3,262,315 2007 3,315,802 2008 3,539,843 2009 4,273,858 2010 1,877,793 2011 1,703,273 2012 6,871,244 2013 8,985,633 2014 1,404,641 2015 222,637 2016 1,368,161 2017 3,414,868 Total 46,958,414

Dr David Martin  https://www.davidmartin.world/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The_Fauci_COVID-19_Dossier.pdf (not entirely accurate)

https://21a86421-c3e0-461b-83c2-cfe4628dfadc.filesusr.com/ugd/659775_6f632cc8d75d4d8c8b90cc749262f4b4.pdf Richard Flemming (comprehensive).

www.lordswitnesses.net/downloads/Flemming.pdf Richard Flemming (comprehensive).

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20030411/sars-timeline-of-outbreak (detailed)

So the US government funded Peter Daszaks ECO Health Alliance to the tune of 61,491, 183 dollars. It directly or indirectly funded the Wuhan Institute of Virology to the tune of 7.4 million dollars and the NIAID (with a million or so from the NIGMS) funded Ralph Baric to the tune of 46, 958,414 dollars. This totals more than 114 million dollars in the period from 2000 to 2020 to make new Coronaviruses which are infectious to humans.

Q: What kind of a species succeeds in making the common cold more dangerous, but fails to find a cure for it?

Q: What kind of a species makes and enforces a vaccine for a disease which is more lethal than the disease itself?

A: A species whose leadership is genocidal and needs to be removed if we are to survive much longer.

Conclusion

Peter Daszaks DARPA proposal to

Search viral genetic databases for new types of furin cleavage sites which help a virus attack a host. According to the proposal, high-risk versions of these sites, once identified, would then be grafted onto SARS-like bat coronaviruses via genetic engineering.

Is precisely how SARS-CoV-2 was made (essentially the double CGG codon PRRAR Furin Cleavage site was inserted into the RaTG13 Bat Coronavirus). It was man made, because nature does not have a double CGG codon furin cleavage site in any virus

The way man made it was to add that cleavage site as Daszak proposed. DARPA rejected his proposal quite rightly (under Trump), because it is a really dangerous thing to do as we have now all discovered. But Daszak had other sources of funding and the proposal became a reality

This is a lot more evidence and detail for Daszaks role in the creation of Covid-19 in the website https://eco-healthalliance.org/ I do recommend looking at it. It is written by a victim of Covid-19 who has done a massive amount of research. He discloses the Daszak introduced Ralph Baric to Shi Zheng Li and postulates that Daszak orchestrated the whole show.

He reveals that Daszak was a fact checker at Facebook for a while! He represents that his father was a Nazi death camp executioner in Ukraine during WW2. The author of the site is embittered against Daszak and the site is a Daszak take down. But the passion he feels has driven him to do a lot of interesting research  which should be seen.

Ironically, the way I proved that Covid-19 was man made was to do precisely what Peter Daszak wanted DARPA to pay him to do, not for any human targeting Furin Cleavage site but for the particular embodiment of it found in SARS2 (the one that Daszak and the nightmare team eventually settled on i suspect).

When I found that no natural virus had that embodiment at all, I knew that Covid-19 was man made. Having read the DARPA proposal I believe that man was Peter Daszak, the guy who organised the letter to the Lancet from 27 scientists organised by Peter Daszak who said:

We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.

Well, in my book they are none of them scientists. Because science is about making hypotheses from evidence and formulating theories to be tested by experimentation. It is not about strongly condemning those who follow the scientific method and slandering their efforts using derogatory language.

These 27 are now shown up for what they truly are. I challenge all 27 of them to show me a virus which occurred in nature before 2019 which has a double CGG codon Furin Cleavage site (PRRAR). If they cannot find one then retract their name from that self condemning letter, and return to being what they were trained to be..

Allow me to explain something to the 27 of Daszak. When two scientists get together and formulate a new scientific theory by discussion, that is a conspiracy theory, a theory arising our of their breathing- together. If you ban conspiracy theories from science, then any theory which results from any meeting between scientists must be thrown out.

That would abolish most of science. Because even when a scientist by himself formulates a theory as a result of a moment of inspiration, that theory will have had seeds planted through many preceding moments of conspiration. In short, if you condemn conspiracy theories, then you are a 21st century politician, not a scientist. You may very well be offered a nice lucrative job as a fact checker at facebook, youtube or twitter, however.

Read more at: DailyExpose.uk
(Natural News) Before Joe Bidens dementia became a national security problem, the man still was incapable of telling the truth about his son, Hunter Biden.

Before the 2020 election, reports surfaced indicating that Hunter Biden used his dads political notoriety and contacts to land major business deals around the world, mostly with questionable companies in competitor nations or countries that are outright hostile to the United States, including Russia and China.

But Joe Biden, the few times he was asked about those deals, denied he knew much of anything about his sons business ventures. Of course, that turned out to be a massive lie.

According to texts and emails seen by Just the News, the former vice president was a lot more involved in his sons business and financial dealings than he acknowledged previously, such as allowing (requiring?) Hunter to pay some of his bills and divert one of his tax refunds to Hunter while meeting and greeting his sons foreign business clients and even directly referring a friend to Hunter who wanted to do some work with him.

Jeff Cooper asked for you, Joe Biden texted his son while sending the phone number of a well-to-do trial lawyer and donor to the former senator and vice president. Wants to do some work with you. Love Dad.

Just the News reported further: The summer 2018 message is one of the clearest pieces of evidence gathered by FBI and congressional investigators that Joe Biden was not simply a passive bystander in his sons globe-trotting business pursuits, but rather at times assisting and benefiting financially, the messages show. For instance, a string of spring and summer 2010 emails show Hunter Biden and a partner at his Rosemont Seneca firm assisted the White House with documents for Joe Bidens tax returns after his first year in office. Afterwards, they chose to divert the then-vice presidents Delaware state tax refund to Hunter Biden to pay off money the father owed his son, the emails state.

I am depositing it in his account and writing a check in that amount back to you since he owes it to you, Rosemont Seneca official Eric Schwerin noted in June 2010 in reference to Joe Bidens tax refund. Dont think I need to run it by him, but if you want to go ahead.

A month later, another email from Schwerin titled JRB bills, which utilized the future presidents initials, contained a list of expenses from Joe Bidens lakefront home in Wilmington, Del., that had been paid by Hunter Biden. Those tabs included $1,239 worth of air conditioning repairs at mom-moms cottage as well as an additional $1,475 to paint the back wall and columns at the lake house. There was another $475 expense for shutters and then, $2,600 for either building or fixing a stone retaining wall at the lake.

Additional emails also indicate that Joe Biden, who is referred to as Pop, the big guy and my chairman in sensitive communications, was relying on his son and Schwerin to help find him wealth after he left the vice presidency.

After the publication of Peter Schweizers blockbuster 2018 book, Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends, there have been suggestions that Hunter Biden was also paying his father a cut of his business income while he was serving under President Barack Obama and beyond.

An infamous 2017 email, for example, suggested 10 percent of a major Chinese deal was being reserved by Hunter for the big guy, and a wandering text message Hunter Biden sent his daughter Naomi complained that unlike pop, I wont make you give me half your salary,' Just the News reported.

There is no question that Joe Biden is dirty. The only question is whether enough Americans care about it to see to it he doesnt win a second term.

Sources include:

NaturalNews.com

JustTheNews.com
(Natural News) Fifteen new cases of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) in Beijing have prompted Chinese officials to freak out and drop hints about imposing another round of lockdowns in the capital city.

Potentially following in the footsteps of Shanghai, Beijing officials are reportedly poised to force everyone to stay at home throughout the city after 15 people tested positive for Chinese Germs via fraudulent PCR tests.

The Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) government-run media outlet South China Morning Post reported that the situation is somehow urgent and grim because of these 15 new infections. And the only way to cure it, the CCP maintains, is to keep everyone locked inside their homes without food.

Twelve of the 15 cases occurred in Beijings Chaoyang district, located on the citys east side. Two others were in Fangshan to the southwest and the last remaining case is in Shunyi to the northeast.

Nine of the cases are students from a local school, while one is a courier working, according to the local municipal government, which is now planning to mass test senior citizens and construction workers who were in the vicinity where the largest cluster was identified.

China is the land of tyranny

While Beijing has not yet fully locked down, some are expecting the city to follow the lead of Shanghai, which is starving its citizens to death and tyrannizing them in the streets.

For the past month, Shanghai has been suffering under a total government lockdown, which is so harsh that some residents are hanging themselves or jumping out of buildings to end their misery.

Beijing CCP boss Cai Qi, along with mayor Chen Jining and other city leaders, recently convened to discuss similar plans for Beijing, according to Beijing Daily.

The meeting pointed out that our city [Beijing] had suddenly recorded some cases and many transmission chains were involved, Beijing Daily reported. The risk of further hidden transmission is high. The situation is urgent and grim.

Back in mid-March, the southern Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen imposed a week-long lockdown after reporting about 60 new cases of the Chinese Disease.

The latest reports already suggest that Beijing is expanding its mass testing protocol to include everyone in Beijing, and not just the elderly and construction workers.

With a population of 21 million people, fraudulent PCR test kit companies are about to see another windfall as residents are swabbed and probed in search of the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron (Moronic) variant of the Fauci Flu, which is said to be circulating.

Because China still has a zero covid policy, there can never be even a single fraudulent case of the Wuhan Flu at any given time. If even one is detected, the CCP will punish entire cities or even the entire country if necessary to contain the threat.

News about the impending lockdown sent Beijing residents into a tailspin as they snapped up rice, noodles, vegetables, and other food items in a panic. This left many store shelves empty, creating even more panic for other residents.

Testing tents appeared overnight all across the city to accommodate the new measures, and residents and workers alike lined right up, just as they did in 2020 and 2021, to get swabbed and probed.

Starving rebellious regions is a common tactic of communist regimes, wrote someone at Natural News about the situation in Shanghai, which is where Beijing could also be headed.

I doubt the lockdown has anything to do with covid. The numbers dont justify it at all.

This is the sort of thing that ends governments, wrote another. Even the CCP is not invulnerable.

The latest news about the plandemic round two can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

SCMP.com

NaturalNews.com

APNews.com
(Natural News) The Midnight Sentinel host JD Rucker has warned that people should start prepping as food shortages are about to get worse.

In a recent episode of his program, Rucker shared information that old and new preppers can use to prepare before SHTF. Rucker also warned against two potential outcomes:

First is a creeping anarchy, where the degradation of society will occur over an extended period of time. In this scenario, more and more people will be unable to take care of themselves and their families until they become desperate.

Second is a quick, sudden domino effect. Within a couple of weeks or even several days, society will start to break down.

After a complete societal collapse, there will be martial law and anarchy and chaos in the streets. If you havent stocked up on supplies, your whole family might starve.

There might be food shortages and supply trucks could get hijacked as stores run empty. Eventually, President Joe Biden will impose martial law and there will be a lot of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trucks and camps trying to handle the situation, which will then spread across the globe.

This worsening problem isnt unique to America.

Before things get worse in your city, start preparing and stock up on food, water and other supplies. If society does collapse, survivors will be crucial to ensuring that things eventually go back to normal.

Rucker said its unwise to underestimate just how badly things can go. The country will need patriots, particularly people who can take care of themselves.

Dont count on the government, the Biden regime or the powers that be who are controlling the Biden regime. Dont let all your hard work go to waste because of needless sanctions for a plandemic.

If things are only starting to get bad in your area, they could still get worse. Whatever happens, its better to prepare now than starve later.

Aside from the war between Ukraine and Russia, food prices were affected by the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Government COVID-19 responses have damaged the global supply chains, causing disruptions that continue to this day.

In 2022, Ukraine ceased exports of buckwheat, cattle, millet, oats and wheat, while Russia has banned exports of fertilizer. Both Russia and Belarus provide nearly 40 percent of the global exports of potash, a key fertilizer ingredient.

Russia also exports 48 percent of the global exports of ammonium nitrate. Combined with Ukraine, they export 28 percent of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers.

Experts have warned that fertilizer prices may double as a result of Russias ban on fertilizer exports.

Stock up on food and water to prepare for food shortages

If youre not a prepper yet, now is a good time to become one.

Before SHTF, prepare for multiple major disasters, supply chain issues, food shortages, cyber-attacks and rumors of war. Dont wait for the government to take care of you and your family. (Related: World Alternative Media: Global food shortage is part of Great Reset agenda.)

For your water supply, consider stocking up on clean drinking water. If you have space in your garage or homestead, set up a huge water tank, like one 300-gallon tank or several tanks.

Alternatively, you can stock up on five-gallon buckets or five-gallon water containers.

Heres a list of food items that you should also stockpile before SHTF:

Baking powder

Baking Soda

Brown and white rice

Canned food (fruits, vegetables and assorted meats)

Cooking oils

Dried pasta

Hard red winter wheat

Honey or sugar

Oats

Peanut butter

Pinto beans

Powdered milk

Salt and other spices

White flour

Experiment with these foods so you can come up with a list of easy-to-prepare meals that you can make for your family when dealing with a long-term survival scenario. Dont waste money on food your family doesnt like to eat, but make sure you also stock up on nutritious items so you get the nutrients you need to stay healthy.

If you have pets or livestock at home, dont forget to stock up on pet food, treats and toys for them too.

To ensure that the food in your stockpile doesnt go to waste, rotate your supplies. If SHTF, start by eating the short-term food in your pantry, freezer and refrigerator. Always go through the food based on when it expires.

Visit FoodCollapse.com to read more articles about food shortages.

Watch the full video below of The Midnight Sentinel with host JD Rucker to learn how to prepare for food shortages.

This video is from the JD Rucker channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

12 Signs that food shortages are already here.

Farmers are reducing how much food they produce due to surging fertilizer prices.

Food supply tips: 7 Vegetables to grow for your food stockpile.

Food supply 101: Minimum calories needed for survival.

Food supply 101: What to cook when SHTF.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

MDCreekmore.com
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(Natural News) The Louisiana House of Representatives has just passed a bill that will ban the state and local governments from imposing Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine mandates.

With a vote of 65 in favor to 31 against, mostly along party lines, the states lower house approved House Bill 990 (HB 990). One Democrat and one independent state representative joined the 63 Republicans who voted in favor of the bill.

The bill, sponsored by Republican State Rep. Thomas Pressly, prohibits state and local government from requiring proof of vaccination as a condition for entering private enterprises and public spaces. It also bans state and local governments from mandating vaccinations to receive services and goods from businesses. (Related: CDC data reveal 84% increase in death of millennials after vaccine mandate.)

To preempt potential lawsuits, HB 990 makes it clear that the ban against mandates does not apply to any COVID-19 vaccination mandate that is required in accordance with federal law or regulation.

Bill still allows businesses to discriminate against unvaccinated

However, Pressly noted that the bill allows businesses to make the decision on whether or not to implement their own policies for their business.

This portion of the bill, known as Section C, is the one that divided Republicans in the House the most. It reads: Nothing in this part shall be interpreted or construed to prohibit or otherwise impede the rights of a private business or other private entity wishing to implement any policy, procedure or requirement regarding COVID-19 vaccinations.

Republican State Rep. Beryl Amedeeo offered an amendment to the State House that would have removed Section C, arguing that it distracts from the main purpose of HB 990.

Removing Section C does not impact the overall intent of the bill. The intent of the bill is to prohibit governmental discrimination based on COVID vaccination status. Section C isnt needed in order to accomplish this goal, she said. Keeping Section C is problematic. Section C green lights, endorses and promotes religious and medical discrimination in the private sector.

Republican State Rep. Raymond Crews also spoke out in favor of eliminating Section C. First of all, I dont think this paragraph is germane to the bill at all, he said. Secondly, I agree with the precept, but not the implementation nor the result. It restricts individual liberty, and I dont think thats necessary.

Pressly, in his objection to the amendment, said he wanted to make sure the state government does not interfere with the free market.

I think its important to make it very clear that businesses make the decision on what they want to do for their business, he said. Businesses are owned by individuals, and I think its important that we keep that language.

The amendment failed by a vote of 21 in favor and 71 against.

HB 990 now heads to the State Senate for consideration. The Republican Party has a supermajority in Louisianas upper house, and the bill is expected to sail through the chamber with little opposition.

The only concern remaining is if Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, vetoes the bill.

For more news about COVID-19 vaccine mandates, visit Pandemic.news.

Watch this clip of passengers cheering as their pilot announces that the mask mandate for air travel is over.

This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

German parliament REJECTS proposed COVID vaccine mandate after months of debate.

Austria SUSPENDS COVID vaccine mandate for adults because the COERCION wasnt working.

NYC ends vaccine mandate for retail customers  but not for employees.

Out of the blue, Washington, D.C., suddenly drops covid vaccine mandate.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

TheCenterSquare.com

TheAdvocate.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Microplastics have been found to pick up pollution in their travels. Meaning, they pose an even greater threat to human health than previously thought.

In the ocean, for instance, toxic compounds can hitch a ride on plastic and make it 10 times more toxic than it would normally be, according to new research from Tel Aviv University. The study is unique in the way that the researchers tested polluted plastic particles on human cells, while most previous research focused on their impacts on marine life.

Microplastics are formed when large pieces of plastics degrade over time, and they can be found everywhere from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench. They also act as magnets for environmental pollution, transforming them into potentially toxic particles.

Previous research showed that microplastics can accumulate an array of harmful chemicals, including heavy metals, polychlorobiphenyls or PCBs and perfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS.

The microplastics then funnel these compounds into the bodies of marine organisms, which can lead to neurotoxicity that can alter immune response, reduce growth rate and even cause death. The microplastics can also continue making their way up the food chain, eventually to humans who consume animals for food.

The researchers tested what could happen when human cells found along the intestinal tract were exposed to a pollution-plastic mixture that contains one type of microplastics known as microbeads and triclosan, an antimicrobial ingredient banned in the U.S. in 2016 due to health concerns.

Triclosan, which was formerly found in mouthwash and hand sanitizer, is an endocrine disruptor that has been linked to an increase in allergies in children. Despite being banned, it still exists in some products, including toothpaste sold in Israel. (Related: Microplastics pick up pollution, making them even more toxic to humans.)

Microbeads and triclosan were not toxic to human cells on their own, but combined they become very toxic to the cells.

Outside the lab, the cells that the researchers used in their investigation are the same ones that acted as a barrier between the inside and the outside of the body, but the plastic mixture can get into the bloodstream where the accumulated dangerous compounds are likely to be released.

The researchers also said they hope to investigate how the mixtures toxicity changes depending on the plastics or pollutants used.

Tan Amelia, a Ph.D. student at the University of Malaysia, Terengganu who was not involved in the study, said controlled environments in a laboratory make it difficult to say how applicable the findings are in the real world. This is because conditions in the lab dont perfectly represent the environment, and findings from microplastics research are often hard to replicate due to the lack of standardized methods.

However, Amelia did say the study should spur more awareness of a global problem regarding the severity of microplastics, which could indirectly encourage the reduction of their manufacturing and consumption.

Scientists find microplastics in blood for the first time

Scientists have also recently found microplastics in human blood, warning that the particles could also be making their way into the organs.

A Dutch study examined blood samples from 22 anonymous, healthy volunteers and found microplastics in nearly 80 percent of them. Half of the blood samples also showed trees of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, which is used to make drink bottles, while more than a third had polystyrene, which is used in disposable food containers and other products.

Dick Vethaak, an ecotoxicologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam said this is proof that we now have plastics in our bodies. Where is it going in your body? Can it be eliminated? Excreted? Or is it retained in certain organs, accumulating maybe, or is it even able to pass the blood-brain barrier? he asked.

The study also showed that microplastics could have entered the body via different routes such as air, water or food, but could have also been from other products such as toothpaste lip gloss, or even tattoo ink. It also posited that it is scientifically possible for plastic particles to be transported to organs via the bloodstream. (Related: REPORT: Bottled water TEEMING with microplastics.)

More research is necessary for the matter. Fay Couceiro, a reader in biogeochemistry and environmental pollution at the University of Portsmouth, said the small sample size and lack of data on the exposure level of the participants can still make up a robust study that can stand up to scrutiny.

After all, blood links all the organs of our body and if plastic is there, it could be anywhere in us, she said.

Follow Pollution.news for more news about the dangers of microplastics and other chemicals to the human body.

Watch the video below to learn more about microplastics.

This video is from the Objective: Health channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

SHOCK: 50% of freshwater insects are contaminated with microplastics.

Polluted bodies: Researchers find shocking levels of microplastics in CHILDREN.

Sea salts found to be contaminated by dangerous microplastics, reveals shocking study.

Researchers find evidence of microplastics in Colorado RAIN SAMPLES: Where is it coming from?

Due to extreme pollution of the worlds oceans, sea anemones are now eating microplastics.

Sources include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

TheHindu.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Airline pilots fear that being coerced into taking the experimental and deadly Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine could endanger the safety of their passengers.

This is according to airline pilot Josh Yoder, co-founder of U.S. Freedom Flyers, a health freedom organization demanding an end to the vaccine mandate for Americas pilots and other airline employees. Ann Vandersteel, host of Steel Truth on Brighteon.TV, interviewed Yoder during the April 21 episode of her program.

To emphasize his point, Yoder referred to the story of Robert Snow, a pilot for American Airlines who was forced to take the COVID-19 vaccine to keep his job. During a flight from Denver to Dallas-Fort Worth, his heart stopped six minutes after he landed his plane. He has blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for his deteriorating cardiovascular health. (Related: American Airlines pilots heart stops just minutes after landing plane, vaccine side effects to blame.)

This could have been any one of us, any single person who was coerced into getting a shot that they didnt want, said Yoder. After he witnessed Snows testimony, Yoder said he was angry and really upset.

Im upset not just with the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration], not just with the airlines, but [with] all the people who arent standing up for truth and freedom, he said.

Many pilots being pushed out of jobs over refusal to get vaccinated

The incident with Snow is one of the most extreme cases of what could happen to pilots who are forced to take unwanted vaccinations in order to not lose their careers. Many other pilots are being forced out of their jobs over their refusal to get vaccinated.

This is what happened to Shery Walker, a pilot for United Airlines who was forced to go on unpaid leave and prohibited from accessing her 401(k) benefits over her refusal to take the vaccine.

Walker led more than 2,000 United Airlines employees in a lawsuit against the company for discriminating and retaliating against the unvaccinated, and forcing them on unpaid leave.

The courts ruled in favor of the employees, but Walker said her case is far from over as she is still helping airline employees get back to work.

What you hear in the news about our case being over and everyone living happily ever after is a lie, she said during a Defeat the Mandates rally in Downtown Los Angeles earlier this month. The truth is, our case moves forward.

Walker is certain that what happened to her and more than 2,000 other United Airlines employees is happening with every other major airline in the United States.

Dont think for a minute that its just United, she said during the rally. Its happening at all the major carriers. She called on the FAA to remember that it has a duty to protect the nations airspace.

The vaccine injured may be last years forgotten, but they are becoming this years heroes. And this war is far from over.

Learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine mandates in America at Vaccines.news.

Watch the full April 21 episode of Steel Truth with host Ann Vandersteel below. Steel Truth with Ann Vandersteel airs from Monday to Friday at 9:30-10:30 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

California-based advocacy group says COVID vaccine mandate for pilots violates federal law, puts passengers at risk.

COVID-jabbed pilots are suffering cardiac arrest, but the media remains silent to avoid creating vaccine hesitancy.

Air Force to WASTE millions in taxpayer money by discharging trained, experienced pilots over COVID-19 vaccines.

US pilot deaths increase by 1,750% after COVID vaccine rollout.

Scott Kesterson says reports of pilots dying midflight due to COVID-19 vaccines are REAL  Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

FoxBusiness.com
(Natural News) Joe Bidens failed presidency has ushered in the perfect storm of circumstances that have put America more at risk today than the country has been since the Cold War, and thats not an exaggeration.

When Bidens handlers decided to pick a side and supply American weapons to one of the most corrupt governments on the planet in its war against Russia, they did so without stopping to think about how that decision would negatively impact our offensive and defensive military capabilities, and at a time when China is just waiting for the right moment to invade Taiwan.

Bloomberg Quint reported: America is following an arsenal of democracy strategy in Ukraine: It has avoided direct intervention against the Russian invaders, while working with allies and partners to provide the Kyiv government with money and guns. That strategy, reminiscent of U.S. support for Britain in 1940-41, has worked wonders. Yet as the war reaches a critical stage, with the Russians preparing to consolidate their grip on eastern Ukraine, the arsenal of democracy is being depleted.

While, of course, the depleted arsenal will also have a negative impact on Ukraine, whose forces are burning through nearly everything they are being given on a daily basis, American national security is also being put at risk, and needlessly so. Whats more, the situation is exposing a U.S. weakness should there be another great-power war we have to fight at some near-future point.

At the instruction of one of the most woketard, incompetent Joint Chiefs chairmen in recent memory, Army Gen. Mark Milley, the U.S. and our allies have provided Ukraine with a lot of support.

Milley recently told Congress that the West has delivered 60,000 antitank weapons and 25,000 anti-aircraft weapons to Kyiv, Bloomberg Quint reported. The Pentagon is now laying plans to rush additional artillery, coastal defense drones and other materiel to Ukraine. The White House on Wednesday announced a new $800 million package including helicopters and armored personnel carriers.

But what about wartime Americas needs?

According to a separate report by Defense News in 2018, this problem has been building for a while.

The report said that the Pentagon is likely to struggle to replace bombs, missiles and other munitions in the near future especially if they are expended in a major conflict with a great power like Russia or China because, over the decades, the America-last globalist class Donald Trump fought against offshored much of our industrial capacity.

The Pentagon plans to invest more than $20 billion in munitions in its next budget. But whether the industrial base will be there to support such massive buys in the future is up in the air  at a time when America is expending munitions at increasingly intense rates, the report stated.

The annual Industrial Capabilities report, put out by the Pentagons Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy, has concluded that the industrial base of the munitions sector is particularly strained, something the report blames on the start-and-stop nature of munitions procurement over the last 20 years, as well as the lack of new designs being internally developed, it adds. Some suppliers have dropped out entirely, leaving no option for replacing vital materials. Other key suppliers are foreign-owned, with no indigenous capability to produce vital parts and materials ? setting up the risk that a conflict with China could rely on Chinese-made parts.

One big reason for that stop-and-start procurement process in the past decade is congressional disfunction: As the parties have grown increasingly rancorous and tribal (the Democrats are most to blame for that, by the way), they can no longer even agree on timely and annual defense budgets, forcing the passage of short-term spending bills known as reconciliation measures. Without long-term, multi-year funding, it is difficult if not impossible to develop future weapons systems since each branch can no longer count on having those development projects funded (in a timely manner).

Our government is broken not because it is an inferior system like the far-left wants us to believe, it is because Congress and the bureaucracy are replete with self-serving, arrogant elitists who place their own narrow political interests above the good of the country. And soon  very soon  American servicemen and women are going to pay for that selfish hubris with their lives.

Sources include:

DefenseNews.com

BloombergQuint.com
(Natural News) The top 10 most endangered rivers in the U.S. are putting water supplies and the well-being of millions of Americans at risk. Colorado River topped this years list of Americas Most Endangered Rivers released on April 19 by American Rivers.

All life on this planet depends on clean, flowing rivers, so when rivers are at risk we must sound the alarm. Americas Most Endangered Rivers highlights the threats of climate change and injustice, and is a call for bold, urgent action, said Tom Kiernan, president of American Rivers.

The organization has called for expanding the leadership of Tribal Nations and frontline advocates. The Americas Most Endangered Rivers campaign, now in its 37th year, puts a national spotlight on rivers in danger, raises local advocacy efforts and calls up the public to create a positive difference.

Through the years, the report has assisted prompt successes, including the removal of outdated dams, the protection of rivers with wild and scenic designations and the prevention of harmful development and pollution.

American Rivers studies nominations for Americas Most Endangered Rivers from local groups and individuals across the country and selects rivers based on three criteria such as the rivers significance to people and wildlife; the magnitude of the threat to the river and communities, especially in light of climate change and justice; and a decision in the next 12 months that the public can influence.

The Colorado River is ground zero for the climate crisis as water levels fall, and it is now threatening the life of 30 federally acknowledged Tribal Nations, seven states and Mexico.

On the Pacific Northwests Snake River (ranked No. 2), dams are generating fatally hot water temperatures that have driven salmon to the verge of extinction. This is a breach of treaties with Tribal Nations.

Pollution along Alabamas Mobile (ranked No. 3) and Coosa (ranked No. 5) rivers are aggravated by progressively serious flooding, extremely affecting black and low-income communities.

Black, indigenous, Latino and other communities of color feel these impacts most severely because of historical and current policies, practices and norms that support injustices.

Also making it to the top 10 list of Americas Most Endangered Rivers are Maines Atlantic Salmon Rivers (No. 4), Mississippi River (No. 6), Lower Kern River (No. 7), San Pedro River (No. 8), Los Angeles River (No. 9) and Tar Creek (No. 10). (Related: Mekong River delta in Southeast Asia is facing major environmental upheaval by multiple proposed dams that will disrupt life for humans and animals)

Colorado River is Americas most endangered river

Nowhere are the effects clearer than on the Colorado River, Americas most endangered river this year, which is so overused that it dries up before reaching the sea.

Soaring temperatures and drought-driven climate change, together with outdated river management and the overloading of limited water supplies, endanger the region.

The Colorado River system is already working at a shortage and climate change is anticipated to further decrease the rivers flow by 10 to 30 percent by 2050.

For the first time ever, mandatory reductions generated by water shortage will lead to Arizona losing more than 500,000 acre-feet in Pinal County alone, which is about the drinking water supply for almost 1.5 million households.

The river sustains some of Americas biggest cities including Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix.

It supplies drinking water for 40 million people, irrigates five million acres of farm and ranch land, and supports a $1.4 trillion economy. Still, many Tribal Nations across the basin suffer from a lack of modern water infrastructure because of systemic injustices and historic divestment.

American Rivers called on the seven basin states and the Biden administration to interact with the Tribal Nations to tackle this emergency. According to the group, the Biden administration must allot funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to carry out tested, impartial solutions that emphasize river health and water security.

On the Colorado River and nationwide, the climate crisis is a water crisis. Just, equitable solutions for rivers and clean water are achievable and essential to our health, safety and future. We must come together to speak up for these 10 endangered rivers, and for all of the rivers that are vital to our lives, Kiernan said.

Follow Environ.news to learn more about Americas most endangered rivers.

Watch the video below to know why the Walmart heirs want to privatize the Colorado River and start a water market.

This video is from the Zoon Politikon channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

About half of US lakes, rivers are too polluted for swimming, fishing, drinking.

Experts warn that the amount of drugs flushed into our rivers and lakes will increase 65% by 2050.

Study: Almost every river in the world is now highly polluted with pharmaceuticals.

Fracking is now leaving American rivers tainted with a toxic cocktail of Radium and Lead

After releasing toxic pollution into rivers with zero accountability, the EPA convicts 185 other Americans for environmental crimes

Sources include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

AmericanRivers.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Residents of the Chinese capital Beijing began to stockpile food and other essential goods as new Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak looms.

Beijingers rushed to grocery stores and other businesses in anticipation of possible lockdowns, the Guardian reported. Supermarket chains Carrefour and Wumart said they increased inventories to more than double and extended their business hours on April 24. The Meituan online grocer platform likewise increased inventory and added the number of its staffers for sorting and delivery.

The rush to purchase food and other essential items came after mass COVID-19 testing was announced for the central Chaoyang district, located in the center of Beijing.

Many took to social media to share the situation in the capital. NBC News Asia correspondent Janis Mackey Frayer tweeted: Anxious vibe in [Beijings] Chaoyang area, where four million people  [including] me and my family  worry a lockdown is coming. Mass testing for everyone, [alongside] long lines [and] empty shelves at stores. Officials assure a stable food supply, but weve been stockpiling for days.

One user on the Chinese social media platform Weibo said: There have been so many epidemics in Beijing and I have never seen such a situation. It [seems] that the failure of Shanghais early epidemic prevention and supply [disruption] has been a big blow to the confidence of the people. (Related: Chinese city implements harshest lockdown yet as Beijing aims for zero-COVID.)

Liu Xin, host of The Point on China Global Television Network, tweeted about how she was stocking up for the first time in two years. She added that while it was the capitals turn to be subjected to draconian lockdowns, she and other Beijingers are ready for the tough times.

Shanghais tyrannical lockdowns coming to Beijing

Plans to test the entire population of Chaoyang for COVID-19 appeared to prelude a stringent lockdown in line with the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) zero-COVID policy. On April 24, Beijing recorded 22 new local COVID-19 cases  the highest daily number for this year.

The CCP had earlier imposed lockdowns on the eastern port city of Shanghai and the northeastern Jilin province, which borders North Korea and Russia. Peoples movements were limited, with residents being barred from leaving their homes to buy food.

The 22 cases were enough reason for authorities to put part of Beijing  including the Chaoyang district  under high alert. Many fitness studios and gyms canceled classes in compliance with authorities, if not closing their establishments entirely. A middle school where COVID-19 cases were detected was also ordered closed, with the shutdown expected to last for at least a week.

Despite this, Beijing officials insist that the capital had sufficient daily supplies and was trading as normal. Chinese state-owned tabloid Global Times reported that the mass testing across Chaoyang would determine if lockdowns and further health measures are needed.

On April 22, Beijing officials pledged to make every effort to ensure adequate food supplies. The city, however, imposed stringent COVID-19 measures  contradicting the earlier pledge.

Under the health protocols, travelers entering Beijing must have a negative COVID-19 test result from within 48 hours. Because of this, truck drivers have faced significant delays due to multiple checkpoints and COVID-19 tests.

The current outbreak in Beijing is spreading stealthily from sources that remained unknown yet, and is developing rapidly, said a municipality official.

Chaoyang district is now the topmost focus for pandemic prevention, said Cai Qi, head of the CCPs Beijing division. Important pandemic measures cannot be left waiting [until] the next day. All at-risk sites and individuals involved in these cases must be checked.

CommunistChina.news has more stories about Chinas pursuit of zero COVID.

Watch political activist and businessman Miles Guo warning that 60,000 troops are being stationed in Beijing for a potential lockdown.

This video is from the Chinese taking down EVIL CCP channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Shanghai residents scream in protest due to lack of food, necessities amid COVID-19 lockdown.

Shanghai descends into hellscape as COVID lockdown triggers martial law, arrests and suicides.

Shanghai residents rush to stock up as Chinese officials place half the city under strict COVID-19 lockdown.

Shanghai residents are being ASSAULTED by authorities for not complying with COVID-19 lockdown orders.

China implements strict lockdown, claiming they have to stop the spread of COVID the supply chain will be impacted.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

TheGuardian.com

Twitter.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Peter Collignon, an Australian microbiologist and infectious diseases expert, recently warned that the lockdowns enforced during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may have reduced childrens exposure to adenoviruses, which in turn could increase their risk of developing hepatitis  a severe liver condition.

Adenoviruses are common viruses that can cause cold-like symptoms, such as fevers and sore throats.

According to Collignon, a top doctor in Australia, children who get infections when they are very young may have better immune protection. This means being exposed to adenoviruses at a slightly later stage could cause childrens immune systems to overreact and trigger hepatitis or liver inflammation.

Over a hundred cases of hepatitis in children recorded in the UK amid the pandemic

Health officials in the U.K. are investigating 108 cases of sudden-onset hepatitis in children since the beginning of 2022. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported that eight of the cases required liver transplants.

The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) also reported that an undisclosed number of childhood hepatitis cases have been detected in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain. As of writing, there were also nine new cases reported in the United States.

People usually develop hepatitis A and E because of poor hygiene, like when they consume food or drink contaminated with small particles of infected feces.

Hepatitis A is passed through fecal-oral contact and it can spread to children in the following ways:

Eating food made by an infected person who didnt wash their hands thoroughly after using the bathroom.

Touching an infected persons feces or dirty diaper and then putting your hands near your mouth. This can result in outbreaks in child care centers.

Drinking water contaminated by infected feces, which is common in developing countries.

International travel to areas where hepatitis A is common.

Blood transfusions, but this is very rare.

Professor Susan Hopkins, UKHSAs chief medical advisor, explained that health experts are still examining possible factors that could be behind the increase, but the most likely trigger was an adenovirus.

She added that they are concerned since transplants among the age group are extremely rare and it is crucial to understand the cause to prevent more cases from happening.

Hopkins also said 77 percent of childhood hepatitis cases currently under investigation have tested positive for some form of adenovirus. Experts are currently investigating whether there was a change in the genetic make-up or genome of the virus that might trigger liver inflammation more easily in children.

Collignon advised that while there was no spike in hepatitis infections among children in Australia, its entirely possible it could happen. Hepatitis is a serious condition and it is important to figure out the cause of this spike in cases and why liver inflammation is more easily triggered among children. (Related: Pfizers COVID vaccine responsible for hepatitis outbreak in children.)

Some say that none of the children with hepatitis were vaccinated against COVID-19, but its possible that there is a link between vaccines and hepatitis.

While there has been an increase in hepatitis cases internationally, Collignon said the number of people who were infected with hepatitis is still very small. Still, he urged parents to watch out for symptoms.

Hepatitis symptoms may include:

Clay-colored stools

Diarrhea

Feeling unwell

Fever

Flu-like symptoms

Itchy red hives on the skin

Joint pain

Nausea or vomiting

Sore muscles

Stomach pain or discomfort

Very dark urine

Yellowing skin and the whites of the eyes or jaundice

If you are worried about your child, Collignon suggests getting them checked for hepatitis by a physician at the nearest hospital.

Go to Pandemic.news for more information about hepatitis and other illnesses linked to COVID-19 and vaccines.

Watch the video below to know more about hepatitis among children in the United Kingdom.

This video is from The Clampdown Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Floridas DeSantis says children should not get vaccinated for covid.

Pfizer wants to give children aged 5 to 11 COVID-19 vaccine booster.

Athletes dropping dead, children contracting hepatitis: Are COVID jabs to blame?

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

BBC.com

MyHealth.UCSD.edu

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The Galveston National Laboratory, which was created by Tony Fauci under the banner of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), forged a partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) allowing the Chinese laboratory the right to force its American counterpart to destroy and / or return the secret files, materials and equipment without any backups.

A memorandum was signed between the two entities establishing this agreement, which appears to have been created for the purpose of covering up damning information that could expose the Galveston National Laboratory and / or the NIAID to public scrutiny.

The Texas-based labs multi-year collaborative partnership with the WIV included various hosting exchange programs and training researchers at the labs Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) facility. Directors from both the Wuhan lab and the Galveston National Laboratory admitted in 2018 that they work with the worlds most dangerous pathogens.

These revelations come as Faucis direct role in funding bat coronavirus research at the WIV gets exposed, a relationship that newly uncovered documents show was only just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Faucis crimes against humanity. The WIV, by the way, is believed by some to be the source of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19).

Is Galveston just as complicit in the creation of covid as Wuhan is?

A different set of internal documents obtained by the government watchdog group U.S. Right to Know (USRTK) further confirms the existence of this program and provides even further insight into the agreement that was made between the Galveston National Laboratory and the WIV.

USRTK was able to procure an official contract showing that a partnership had been cemented between Wuhan and Galveston back in 2017. That agreement was called:

Memorandum Of Understanding Of Cooperation Between Wuhan Institute Of Virology, Chinese Academy Of Sciences, And The University Of Texas Medical Branch At Galveston.

The 16th section of this contract / memo, entitled Confidentiality, reveals how the WIV has the power to ask the Galveston lab to destroy and / or return the secret files, materials and equipment without any backups.

All cooperation and exchanges, documents, data, details and materials shall be treated as confidential information by the parties, the contract further adds. (Related: Learn more about how Fauci funneled American taxpayer dollars to Wuhan to create deadly bioweapons.)

The objectives of the cooperation outlined in the contract further explain that one of its goals is to strengthen the academic and talent exchanges between the parties and to promote the research cooperation between China and the United States for controlling infectious diseases.

Another revelation found in the memo is an understanding between Galveston and Wuhan that both labs are free to exchange the virus resources strictly for the scientific purposes, meaning that bioengineered viruses are allowed to move back and forth between the United States and China.

The memo appears to have been signed by the Galveston labs Senior Vice President and General Counsel Carolee King, as well as Director James LeDuc.

As you may recall, Fauci bent over backwards to try to distance himself from the WIV when it started to become clear that U.S. government agencies and entities overseen by Fauci were directly involved with Wuhan and its bioweapons creation programs.

Fauci tried to claim that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had no relationship with the WIV, even though the NIH was listed as a partner of WIV on the WIV website up until early 2021 when this information conveniently got scrubbed from the internet.

You can run, Fauci, but you cannot hide. The truth is quickly catching up to you.

The latest plandemic-related news can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheNationalPulse.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) As the world knows by now, Elon Musk is purchasing Twitter for roughly $43 billion, taking the company private. Importantly, he will also be taking control away from the woketard lunatic tyrants who have been running Twitter for the last decade, banning all conservative or Christian speech while pretending to be inclusive and tolerant.

Its time to show the woketards the door. Its time to restore free speech to Twitter. In todays Situation Update podcast, I offer ten amazing ideas for Making Twitter GREAT Again. Those ideas are:

Gather up all the internal twitter emails and memos from the last five years and dump them on the internet  a TwitterLeaks project Offer knowledge badges for people who pass online knowledge tests of basic things such as government, geopolitics, finance, math, etc., so that people can easily demonstrate they have fundamental knowledge in different areas Fire the current moderators and let pro-freedom volunteers protect free speech from the radical Left Bring back Alex Jones, James OKeefe, the Health Ranger and anyone else who wants back, and restore all their followers Restore link capabilities to BANNED sites like NaturalNews.com, InfoWars.com or Brighteon.com Authenticate all humans (Elons idea) so people know they are hearing from other REAL people and not just AI bots Add trust warnings to all tweets from corporate media who were complicit in lying about RussiaGate, covering up Hunter Bidens laptop or pushing covid vaccine lies about safe and effective Stop all shadowbanning (and open source the algorithms, as Elon has suggested) Allow de-platformed conservative or Christian businesses to advertise on twitter, then use the profits to buy another platform. Rinse, repeat. Enable a crypto wallet for ever Twitter user, and allow users to tip, donate or gift crypto to each other. (Make Twitter a crypto exchange)

These ten ideas would revolutionize Twitter and make it almost instantly profitable. Elons investment in Twitter could pay off many times over in just a few years.

Has it also occurred to anyone that Elons purchase of Twitter also gives Elon total ownership over all of Twitters internal emails, videos and memos, all of which could be turned over to a Republican-controlled House for criminal investigations into election meddling and civil rights violations committed by Twitters current board members? They have all carried out criminal acts, in my view, and they should be investigated and prosecuted.

Can we trust Elon to do the right thing?

If Elon Musk restores free speech to Twitter, he will become a hero of humanity. If he deceives us and backs away from that promise, he will become the worlds largest human turd.

Is Elon acting in good faith on his promise to restore free speech? We sure hope so, but it is interesting that Elons purchase of Twitter is having the effect of dimming the prospects for Trumps Truth Social, which has struggled from a technical point of view and seems to be running way behind schedule.

Trumps team should have come to us. We already customized Mastodon and built Brighteon.Social a couple of years ago, then published the open source code on Github. Truth Social could have used our code and just customized the look and feel. It is beyond bizarre that Truth Social has billions of dollars in valuation but still doesnt have a platform that can work on Android devices or desktop browsers. (You would almost have to try hard to turn off those features or something.)

It just goes to show you that money alone doesnt equal solid progress on software development projects. Sometimes too much money gets in the way. Truth Social should have been live and fully functional long ago. The delays are inexplicable, given the immense funding they have

War is a racket

With credit to Ron Paul for resurrecting this quote, we also cover the fact that the war on Ukraine is a money-making racket for weapons manufacturers in the USA. They are more than happy to keep allowing Ukrainian soldiers to die on the battlefield as long as more weapons contracts are funded by the governments of the world.

Raytheon and Lockheed Martin seem to be more than willing to keep pocketing profits, down to the last remaining Ukrainian soldier, even if the weapons being shipped to Ukraine and largely destroyed by Russias interdiction efforts.

Russia is currently focusing its missile strikes on Ukraines railroad infrastructure in order to interdict shipments of weapons from western nations. Interestingly, Ukraines railroads use a wide gauge rail width which is incompatible with most other European nations (Ukraines rail system was built by the former Soviet Union and uses the 5 ft width, which is common across the former Soviet republics). Importantly, this means that NATO cannot replace Ukraines locomotives since the wheel widths are incompatible.

This is why even Politico is reporting that Ukraine troops are running out of ammo and other supplies, desperate for air cover (which isnt coming). Russias decisive victory in Ukraine is all but assured at this point, and shipments of more artillery, tanks and drones from western nations wont make a dent in the real situation on the ground. Besides, Ukraine is running out of soldiers, too. No doubt Zelensky is close to surrendering, but the Biden regime is trying to prevent that from happening in order to try to make sure Ukraines bioweapons laboratories (and all their records) dont fall into the hands of Putin.

Of course, the delusional woketards in the USA still think Russia is losing or even retreating. Imagine their surprise when the entire map of Ukraine gets redrawn soon, lacking most of Ukraines existing Southern coastline to the Black Sea. Thats going to be a wake-up call.

Get all this coverage and more in todays Situation Update podcast, which also features a big hairy man pretending to be a gender-queer two-spirit woman in order to obtain a SCIENCE job at a Canadian university, where the science positions are now limited solely to those people who are delusional. (Kinda makes sense, when you consider how pathetic the institution of science has now become)

Brighteon.com/fffd68b8-abde-47d3-bc1f-0966da81e7e8

Discover more information-packaged podcasts each day, along with special reports, interviews and emergency updates, at:

https://www.brighteon.com/channels/HRreport

Also follow me on:

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(Natural News) In recent weeks, Tesla and SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has made headlines for several reasons, not the least of which for providing his Starlink satellite-based internet service to the embattled government of Ukraine, which has been invaded by Russia.

But he has also made the news for moves he is making on Twitter, arguably the worlds biggest electronic town hall platform.

First, Musk bought nearly 10 percent of the platforms stock, making him, for a brief time, Twitters largest shareholder. Then news broke that he had been offered a seat on the Twitter board of directors  which he initially appeared to accept but then eventually declined.

Why? Because if he had taken the board seat his stake in the company would have been limited and, as we found out this week, he had plans to buy the company.

Initially, Twitter said it wasnt selling. But Musk unveiled Plan B and now the purchase of Twitter has been finalized.

However, it has been the lefts panicked responses to Musks moves to purchase Twitter and his vow to transform it back into the worlds most pervasive free speech platform that are really noteworthy.

Case in point: A column that was written for the far-left Guardian newspaper by one of the movements biggest toadies, Robert Reich, under the headline: Elon Musks vision for the internet is dangerous nonsense.

What does Reich mean when he makes this claim, given Musks past free-speech advocacy via Twitter?

Musk has long advocated a libertarian vision of an uncontrolled internet. Thats also the dream of every dictator, strongman and demagogue, Reich claims.

But wait  that makes no sense, right?

 Musk has a libertarian vision of an uncontrolled internet.

 Such visions are allegedly held by dictators, strongmen, and demagogues.

Those two things dont go together; that is about as Orwellian a statement as it gets. Lets break it down:

 Dictators and strongmen hate free speech. Theyre dictators; there is no freedom of speech or freedom of the press in dictatorial countries.

 An uncontrolled internet which, presumably, would include a lightly regulated Twitter (you cant have people posting death threats or child porn, for example, but most everything else should be fair game) is a good thing because that does promote free speech.

So whats Reich really saying? Simple: He is attempting to equate Musks call for an unfettered Twitter with tyranny  therefore, we must heavily regulate and censor Twitter so dictators and strongmen and demogogues (the latter of which describes Reich, by the way) arent empowered and emboldened.

Its a nonsensical argument but its been made purposefully, if somewhat hamhandedly because the real goal for left-wing toadies like Reich is tyrannical censorship of ideas and arguments that run counter to, or afoul of, the Marxist claptrap the left constantly pushes.

There is no other reason to oppose a mostly free, largely open Twitter because by arguing against it, you necessarily are in favor of censorship  which is not what Musk supports.

Also, the objective is to attack Musk at any opportunity because he holds a libertarian vision of how people ought to be able to live. So Reich, the good little leftist, is merely employing one of counterculturalist revolutionary Saul Alinskys Rules for Radicals, in particular No. 13, which states: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

That explains why the left has zeroed in on Musk  he has made it his mission, apparently, to separate Twitter from the Stalinist left-wing radicals who have taken it over and have turned it into a massive propaganda vehicle for their side, purposely downgrading conservative ideas and content and banning vocal conservatives whose crime is pointing out the failures of the left too often.

Elon Musk upsets the left-wing establishment because he is fighting to make people freer. Its toadies like Robert Reich who are trying to stop him because they cant stand free-thinking people.

Sources include:

WesternJournal.com

TheGuardian.com
Caister Marconi radio station contacts more than 160 amateurs in 25 countries

Radio hams at Caister Lifeboat in Norfolk managed to contact 162 other radio amateurs in 25 different countries on Saturday 23rd April 2022 when they took part in the annual International Marconi Day (IMD) event to mark the inventor's birthday.

Using the call GB0CMS and a mixture of Morse code, telephony (speech) and data (FT8), contacts were made with other radio amateurs across the UK, Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia.



Roger Cooke G3LDi (callsign G3LDI) using Morse code at Caister Lifeboat during International Marconi Day 2022

Notable contacts were made with other IMD stations in Newhaven, East Sussex and Chelmsford  the home of Marconis original factory.

Other long-distance contacts were made with Ian VK3MO near Melbourne in Victoria, Australia and John VK6WC in Chidlow, Western Australia.

The Norfolk Amateur Radio Club (NARC) ran the all-day special event station at Caister Lifeboat to commemorate the village's original Marconi Wireless Station, which was established at Caister in 1900. The station was in a house in the High Street known as Pretoria Villa and its original purpose was to communicate with ships in the North Sea and the Cross Sands lightship.

On Saturday, the closest to Guglielmo Marconi's birthday, stations around the world are set up at sites with historical links to the inventor's work. These include Poldhu in England; Cape Cod Massachusetts; Glace Bay, Nova Scotia; Villa Griffone, Bologna, Italy and many others.

NARC public relation officer Steve Nichols, who organised the event, said: The high winds on the dunes at Caister made it difficult to erect our antennas  and they bent alarmingly! But they stayed up all day.

Conditions were better in the morning as there was an ionospheric disturbance in the afternoon which made communication difficult. In all, it was nice to get back to Caister after two years of not being able to operate there due to Covid restrictions.

 We made contacts with other radio enthusiasts all over Europe and as far as Asiatic Russia using speech, Morse code and a the highly-efficient FT8 digital mode that Marconi could have only dreamed of.

We never used more than 200 Watts power, and often just 100 Watts about the same as an incandescent light bulb.

 Our thanks go to Caister Lifeboat again for letting us set up the station.

Technical information for radio magazines

The equipment used was 200W maximum from a Kenwood TS-480 (20m) and 100W maximum from an Icom IC-7300 (40m). Antennas were a W5GI dipole on 40m and G0KYA-designed monoband end-fed half-wave vertical for HF.

About Norfolk Amateur Radio Club:

The club has more than 100 members, a strong history dating back to the 1950s and has a very active calendar of talks, events, special event stations and courses.

It meets virtually online at 7.30pm on Wednesdays with occasional in-person meetings at the Sixth Form Common Room, City of Norwich School, Eaton Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 6PP, with formal proceedings starting at 7.35pm.

The programme alternates weekly between talks or club challenges, and informal meetings with Morse tuition, electronic construction and Bright Sparks events for youngsters.

For more a details see www.norfolkamateur radio.org

Further history of the original Marconi Wireless Station

The Main Street and Wireless Telegraph Station in Caister-on-Sea in the early 1900s

The Caister station was connected by land line to Gt Yarmouth Post Office and the Caister Coast Guard Station. The main aerial mast behind the house was 150 feet high, the aerial wire being suspended between this and a slightly shorter mast situated on land where Lacon Road was later built.

The large front room of the house contained the main apparatus and was also used as the operating room. The engine for charging the accumulators was situated in a shed adjoining the house and the accumulators themselves were housed in a specially constructed annex.

The remainder of the premises were used as a dwelling house for the officer-in-charge.

The range of communication was 150 to 200 miles on the long wave (600m) and 100 miles on the short wave (300m).

In 1909 all the Marconi coastal stations were taken over by the Post Office. In 1911 the Caister station was used to train lightship men in the use of telegraphy equipment.

In January 1915 the telegraph equipment on the Cross Sand lightship was transferred to the Parlour lightship and the Caister station was changed to general working and not used for ship-to-shore work. Public use of the telegram facility provided at Caister was suspended for the duration of the WW1.

In 1921 plans were made for the reinstallation of wireless on Trinity House lightships, but this time the new wireless telephony was to replace telegraphy (Morse). New technology made the Caister station out of date and it finally closed in 1929. The masts were taken down and a few years later the house became the village Police Station.

(Historical details with thanks to local historian Colin Tooke.)
(Natural News) The large national legacy media in America have long ceased to be tools used to inform the public and keep pressure on our elected officials, as it was founded to do.

Instead, USA Today, The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, and others are little more than propaganda outlets for the left-wing deep state.

Whats more, they have actually become weapons of societal destruction, as evidenced by the response to the recent subway shooting in New York City, which police have correctly described as an act of domestic terrorism (and one not committed by an angry white Trump supporter).

The Washington Free Beacon Editorial Board noted this week:

A Washington Free Beacon report last week from our colleague Charles Lehman put data behind what we all know to be true: that the media harp on violence carried out by whites and downplay it when the perpetrator is blackor should we say Black.

That report went up on Thursday, the day after police arrested the black nationalist who gunned down 13 people in a Brooklyn subway station. His raceand his professed bigotry against whites and Jewswere either excluded from media reports entirely or described in an anodyne way. The New York Times described his harshly bigoted viewsagainst whom, they could not say.

Then came the release of video from a police shooting in Grand Rapids, Mich., an incident with a white perpetrator and a black victim. Video shows 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya fleeing from the unidentified officer before grabbing for the officers taser. The two struggle on the ground before the officer fatally shoots Lyoya.

As usual, the lapdog mainstream media weaponized the latter incident using wall-to-wall coverage, with the Times, the Post and CNN all referring to Lyoya as an unarmed Black man despite the fact that he grabbed the officers taser which, taken to the extreme, he could have used to incapacitate the officer, grab his weapon, and then kill him.

At the same time, the garbage media uncritically promoted the grieving familys claim that Lyoya was killed like an animal and ambulance-chasing race-baiting lawyer Benjamin Crump, representing the family, outrageously claiming the incident was an execution.

Crump pushed that lie with another race-baiting hater Al Sharpton of MSNBC, who, of course, is to deliver Lyoyas eulogy this week though he has no prior knowledge of who the deceased was.

Mind you, not once have these disgusting media outlets condemned the fact that Lyoya was resisting the police officer and put the officers life in danger. Not once have these media gaslighters mentioned that had it not been for Lyoya trying to grab the officers taser he would very likely be alive today.

But, as the Editorial Board noted, Its no wonder Michiganders spent the weekend protesting. (The press apparently doesnt use pompous fact-checking clauses like claimed without evidence unless its former President Donald Trump or one of his allies whos doing the talking.).

The medias pathetic coverage of the Grand Rapids shooting was so outrageous that even somber, rational commentary offered by a former police officer, Anthony Barksdale of Baltimore, Md., nearly seemed like it was out of place.

When you have an individual  trying to take controlor has controlof the officers equipment, especially a taser, then lethal force is the next level above a taser, Barksdale told CNN. The test is, what would a reasonable officer do? The issues with the taser, I could see lethal force being used by this officer.

Of course. Because otherwise, what we said above is the most likely scenario: A tazed cop, then a dead cop. A perp willing to grab an officers taser wont be satisfied just stunning him.

The hysterical media coverage of the incident is surely being consumed by the next subway shooter out there, whose motivations will then be dutifully buried in paragraph 21 of the New York Times report on the tragedy, if they get a mention at all, the Editorial Board noted.

The media is simply trying to gin up the next domestic terrorism incident because they are disgusting human beings.

Sources include:

FreeBeacon.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The top spokesperson for Russias Foreign Ministry claimed shockingly over the weekend that the U.S. government was preparing to stage a false flag attack using a weapon of mass destruction  likely a chemical munition  in order to justify sending American forces directly into the Ukraine meat grinder.

The claim was made by FM spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said that the Biden regime would use the false flag to blame Moscow for deployed banned weapons of war as a sort of Plan B after the U.S. and the Wests sanctions have failed to deter Moscow from continuing its invasion of Ukraine.

The reason is clear: the shocking details of the illegal cooperation between the United States and the current Ukrainian authorities in the field of creating bacteriological weapons have been revealed to the world. And the understanding of the inevitability of the detection of their criminal activities was so obvious that Washington began to prepare in advance, Zakharova wrote in a post on her Telegram page on Saturday.

The spokeswoman pointed to confirmation by Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland during Senate testimony in March of the existence of biological research facilities in Ukraine as well as fears that those facilities could fall into the hands of invading Russian troops, adding that the Biden regime has spun its agenda, adding that Americans should be prepared for a terrible provocation by Russia that could include its troops as well as Ukrainian civilians.

She also cited a March 25 article in Foreign Affairs magazine titled, Preparing for the Unthinkable in Ukraine as an effort to shape U.S. public opinion ahead of the planned false flag, claiming it was likely there could be Russian biological or chemical attacks in Ukraine.

And of course, contractors and (Western-controlled) organizations were found which can be tasked with investigating the circumstances of the use of [such] weapons, Zakharova wrote.

I will name two: the Chemical Forensics International Technical Working Group, which proved itself during [chemical weapons] provocations in Syria, and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, which specializes in poisons of the Novichok type. In the past, both structures have shown their reliability and diligence in dealing with their American masters, the spokeswoman wrote, according to Sputnik News.

She also said that the U.S. is working alongside international organizations including the Red Cross and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the expectation that Moscow will pull off a Syrian-style scenario' in Ukraine, which would then serve as the impetus to boot Russia from the organization (and that wouldnt really be a good thing, would it?).

The Americans and their partners in Europe completely ignore the fact that Russia has not had any chemical weapons for about five years now  since 27 September 2017, with this fact verified by the OPCW, the spokeswoman added, according to Sputnik, which said that reality will be handled by planting chemical weapons where Russian troops are currently stationed.

Sputnik News added:

Such an attempt may have already been made, Zakharova wrote, pointing to Saturdays MoD report that Ukraine attempted to stage a chemical drone attack by dropping a container with ampoules on Russian positions which, when destroyed, was supposed to cause a chemical reaction and an explosion, culminating in the release of toxic substances into the surrounding environment.

All of this is very serious. Clearly, the original US plan was to pressure Russia economically to force the country to reconsider its legitimate security interests. This did not work out, Zakharova noted as she wrapped up her Telegram post.

Now, the US is moving toward the use of WMDs  factually, to games beyond red lines. If this occurs, the number of victims will be incalculable. And all of them will be on the conscience of strategists in the offices of the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon, and on the conscience of their Kiev puppets, if anything is left of them, Zakharova concluded.

Whether a chemical attack is actually staged by the U.S. as a false flag or whether Russia really is planning to use chemical weapons on its own, one thing seems clear: They are going to be used at some point. Otherwise, there would not be so much chatter about it.

Sources include:

SputnikNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Arizona Senator Sonny Borelli told The Right Side host Doug Billings that the election chain of custody has been violated during the 2020 presidential election.

So technically that will alone make this an uncertifiable election. Because how do you account for over 700,000 ballots that theres no documentation for? You cant say, Well, we found them over here in the corner they came in, we have them. Well, how can you prove that? Borelli asked during the April 19 episode of The Right Side on Brighteon.TV.

Obviously, you cant because the chain of custody has been violated. They violated numerous state election laws. And even the Federal law says that you have to have a chain of custody protocols which they did not follow.

Billings talked with Borelli about Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovichs 12-page letter outlining some of the results of their election fraud investigation that is still ongoing. The host noted that among the key findings in the investigation are the chain of custody and the security of the mail-in ballots.

Borelli said a voter getting his or her ballot is already an obstacle in the mail-in ballot system. The Arizona senator mentioned the security issues in the drop box system in some of the counties and the system to ensure that there was a chain of custody for it. He said the chain of custody was highlighted in the interim report of the attorney general.

So Im glad theyre acknowledging that what was being turned over is valid. And I believe thats going to be in their next final report because they highlighted the chain and were just talking about the drop boxes alone, said the retired United States Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, who served in the Marines from 1977 to 1999.

Borelli also brought up the issue of the 100,000 to 200,000 ballot documents that didnt have the required signatures of people transporting them, as well as the ballot count through the drop box system. He added that the documentation is completely a mess for being blank and the lack of a signature or a date to translate.

The Arizona senator also lamented that Maricopa County has been obstructing their election probe process, saying that they had to go to court to fight for a subpoena authorization. (Related: Criminal prosecutions for Maricopa County election fraud are coming, according to Arizona AGs interim report.)

He said the Senate already initiated the election audit and had turned it over to the attorney general to verify and examine their findings. Borelli added that the Attorney Generals Office can criminally prosecute anyone involved in the election fraud.

According to Borelli, the legislature wants to find out and verify if the election system is broken so that they could pass laws to fix it.

For example, these drop boxes. We need to have heavy security for them. We have several pieces of legislation that went through the legislature. This verifies the reason why we need to have tighter security on these drop boxes. I brought up to Senate Committees hearing that these drop boxes were problematic, said Borelli.

Election integrity legislation getting killed in Congress

The three-term senator stated that they have already filed Senate Bill 1629, which would require the auditor general to do audits of election stuff, countermeasures for drop boxes training and signature verification. Unfortunately, the bill did not pass in the Senate, with two of six Republican senators saying no.

Borelli said true Republicans have a lot of election integrity legislation that they are trying to get through, but they have a couple who want to sign with the Democrats.

The vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Government said they have been trying to clean voter rules and similar election stuff but all these things keep getting blocked in Congress.

He also indicated that fellow Arizona Senator Kelly Townsend, the chair of the Senate government elections committee, had several pieces of election legislation that went down in the voting.

Follow VoteFraud.news to know more about the 2020 election fraud.

Watch the full April 19 episode of The Right Side below. The The Right Side with Doug Billings airs every Tuesday at 7-8 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Here it is! Widespread election fraud revealed in report.

Election fraud BOMBSHELL: Significant discrepancies discovered during audit of Arizona ballots, including DELETED election data.

Rigged film shows Mark Zuckerberg single-handedly enabled rampant fraud in the 2020 election.

Michael Flynn tells The Right Side: Americans need to fix election systems and processes  Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

AzSenateRepublicans.com
(Natural News) It is no longer possible for Brits to purchase more than three bottles of cooking oil at Tesco, the United Kingdoms largest supermarket chain.

According to reports, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has choked off the worlds supply of sunflower oil, forcing Tesco, which has more than 4,000 retail stores, to limit sales to three bottles per customer.

Waitrose and Morrisons, two other major UK supermarket chains, have even tighter restrictions that only allow two bottles of cooking oil per customer.

Since much of the UKs cooking oil comes from Ukraine, which is no longer exporting at the same rate (or at all), Tesco and other retailers throughout the country are taking drastic action to avoid a total supply collapse.

Cooking oil prices have already spiked about 20 percent on average over the past year. That figure is only expected to increase.

We have good availability of cooking oils in stores and online, Tesco said in a statement. If a customer is unable to find their preferred oil, we have plenty of alternatives to choose from.

To make sure all of our customers can continue to get what they need, weve introduced a temporary buying limit of three items per customer on products from our cooking oil range.

Buying restrictions on olive and rapeseed (canola) oils are also in place as customers shift to these and other oils amid the sunflower oil crisis.

Indonesia halts all exports of palm oil under new protectionist measures

In a statement to BBC News, the British Retail Consortiums Tom Holder said the new rationing measures are temporary to ensure availability for everyone.

Supermarkets, he added, are working with suppliers to ramp up production of alternative cooking oils to minimize impact on customers.

Another oil that is about to be in short supply is palm oil, which is primarily sourced from Indonesia. The country has decided to hold onto its supplies amid escalating shortages around the world.

The situation with the food supply and global supply chain seems to get exponentially worse almost daily. And now the Rockefeller Foundation is warning that a total collapse could come in the next six months, to quote Foundation President Rajiv Shah.

This gives everyone around the end of October at the latest before the entire world changes dramatically.

If you think things are bad now, in other words, just wait until the next phase of the global plandemic reaches its culmination  because that is what this all is, after all.

None of what is currently happening with the collapse of the global food system and associated supply chains is random or by chance. All of it is being engineered to fulfill World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Klaus Schwabs vision and dream of a great reset.

The Rockefeller Foundation is closely aligned with the WEF, by the way. And both groups are not only calling for a great reset, but also engineering it and warning everyone about it in advance.

The reset they want is for the global food supply chain, says Zero Hedge. And its only out of the crisis, they can implement change, such as no more red meat for the masses but rather insects.

Most cooking oils are poisonous anyway, and people probably should not be consuming them. The problem is that they provide sustenance, as bad as it might be, to billions of people who will have nothing left to eat if supplies run dry as planned.

My gut feeling is we aint seen nothing yet, wrote a commenter.

More related news about the crumbling supply chain and dwindling global food supply can be found at Collapse.news.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink founder and CEO Elon Musk, the worlds richest man, has become the principal shareholder in one of the worlds biggest social media platforms after Twitter agreed to his offer.

Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated, Musk said after the deal was announced. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential  I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.

A PRN Newswire press release added: Musk has secured $25.5 billion of fully committed debt and margin loan financing and is providing an approximately $21.0 billion equity commitment. There are no financing conditions to the closing of the transaction.

Early Monday, reports noted that Twitter appeared set to accept Musks buyout offer of around $43 billion.

Twitter may announce the $54.20-per-share deal later on Monday once its board has met to recommend the transaction to Twitter shareholders, the sources said, adding it was still possible the deal could collapse at the last minute, Reuters reported.

Twitter has not been able to secure so far a go-shop provision under its agreement with Musk that would allow it to solicit other bids once the deal is signed, the sources said. Still, Twitter would be allowed to accept an offer from another party by paying Musk a break-up fee, the sources added, said the report.

The offer to buy out the platform comes following Musks purchase of nearly 10 percent of the companys stock earlier this month. At the time, the purchase made him the platforms largest shareholder.

Twitter shares surged about 26% in premarket trading after the regulator filing released Monday detailing Musk buying the holding, Bloomberg reported at the time. The stake is worth about $2.89 billion.

After suggesting that Twitter fundamentally undermines democracy by not defending free speech, Musk conducted an informal poll on the platform, ironically, to ask, Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle? More than 2 million people responded to the poll with 70.4 percent saying that Twitter did not adhere to the principle.

The consequences of this poll will be important, Musk continued. Please vote carefully.

Musk followed up on the poll by noting: Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?

He then asked: Is a new platform needed?

Would you consider building a new social media platform, [Elon Musk]? one Twitter user asked. One that would consist of an open-source algorithm, one where free speech and adhering to free speech is given top priority, one where propaganda is very minimal. I think that kind of a platform is needed.

Am giving serious thought to this, Musk responded.

After making his initial offer, Musk appeared at a TED talk and was asked what would happen if the deal fell through.

If in this case you are not successful in that the board does not accept your offer, youve said you wont go higher, is there a plan B? an audience member asked.

There is, Musk responded while smiling.

Musk was asked about his backup plan, but he declined to elaborate, saying he would discuss it later.

According to an updated filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, Musk was continuing to explore a tender offer to acquire the companys outstanding stock shares at $54.20 per share in cash. In addition, he also claimed to have secured $46.5 billion in financing for the massive deal.

Musks original $43 billion offer to the board was a 38% premium over the closing price on the day before news broke that Musk had bought up 9.6% of the company and an 18% increase from the closing price before the purchase was announced, the Washington Examiner reported at the time.

After he made his initial offer, Musk took to the platform again to list two major changes he would make if the purchase went through.

If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying! he wrote. And authenticate all real humans.

Sources include:

USAFeatures.news

Reuters.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A Dutch journalist who has been covering Russias invasion of Ukraine says the Western media is routinely lying about what is actually taking place in the war-torn country in an effort to maintain a blame Moscow narrative.

As reported by News Punch, Sonja van den Ende, an independent journalist from Rotterdam, Netherlands, said the Western media lie continuously about everything just to implement their own agenda.

Van den Ende is not reporting from the comfort of a safe studio somewhere in a Western capital, but rather, she is on the ground in Ukraine and has witnessed the invasion and its atrocities on both sides for weeks, noting that at present, there are only a handful of Western journalists in the hotspot of Donbas. As such, Western press outlets are simply rubber-stamping fake news just as they did during the Iraq, Syria, and Afghan wars.

News Punch adds:

Disillusioned with mainstream media lies, Van den Ende traveled to the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk Peoples Republics and became an embedded reporter with the Russian army to see what is really happening in Ukraine.

The sound of shelling and explosion no longer frightens her. Seven years ago, van den Ende worked in Syria, months before the Russians stepped in at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and destroyed ISIS, changing the tide of the civil war. She says the parallels between the Western mainstream media coverage of the Syrian and the Ukrainian conflicts are striking.

They lie continuously about everything just to implement their own agenda, she said. Like in Syria, President Assad was the murderer and now President Putin is the butcher. They had used this script for many years in Iraq, Venezuela and [other] countries which dont comply with their agenda; they need a bad guy. But they (media) are not even there on the ground, they cant judge. Only a handful of journalists from the West are here: Graham Philips, Patrick Lancaster, Anne-Laure Bonnel and me.

There are other parallels in Ukraine to previous conflicts. She points to false flag operations and fake reports coming out of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, including the now-famous Snake Island hoax, Russias alleged attack on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), and the now-exposed false story about Russias strike on a Mariupol hospital. Other claims have been refuted as well.

Van den Ende went on to say that false Ukrainian claims, which are repeated verbatim by Western media spreading disinformation, are like previous false flags by jihadists in Syria and the White Helmets staged attacks using chemical weapons  attacks that were blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Dutch journalist also recounted the alleged chemical provocation in Khan Sheikhum, in Idlib, on April 4, 2017, later proven to be false by investigative reporters including Seymour Hersh, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

The same happened in Bucha, says van den Ende. Many witnesses are saying that the Russian army left on 30 March. Even the Ukrainian military who came in on 1 April didnt report about corpses on the streets. This happened on 3 April, according to the Western media. Also, evidence is saying the bodies had white armbands, the sign of the Russian army, the soldiers wear them. So the soldiers are killing the Russian Ukrainians? No way.

The journalist also said she has spoken with many Ukrainian civilians during her travels across the Donbas region, noting that nearly everyone she has encountered has condemned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys government for prohibiting the Russian language, which deprived them of basic cultural and domestic rights.

The majority of the people whom I spoke with were very happy that the [Russian special] operation has started, van den Ende said. Of course, nobody wants violence and war, but they have been suffering already eight years from the war, carnage and destruction by the Ukrainian forces. The worst were the Nazi battalions, who were fighting along with the regular army.

That our media and outlets throughout the West have sided with Ukraine against Russia should be no surprise given their level of dishonesty during Trumps administration.

Sources include:

NewsPunch.com

NationalSecurity.news
(Natural News) World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwabs lifelong goal has been to remake the world in an image that is agreeable to him: A top-down globalist society that is led by a hand-picked elite to rule over the rest of us without any regard to our personal liberties or freedoms.

That goal is advanced each year with the induction of a new class of minions he trains to carry out his agenda using a specially devised curriculum that puts all graduates on the same Marxist political page.

In a new report, the RAIR Foundation has identified this years class, and as usual, it is filled with left-wing extremists who claim they hold democratic principles but in reality have accepted that the function of the planet cannot be left to rubes and commoners who dare to presume they should be in control of their own destinies.

Countries from all over the world are represented in the World Economic Forums latest crop of 112 potential globalist leaders. This class join[s] radical left luminaries such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Peter Buttigieg, Emmanuel Macron, Gavin Newsom, Angela Merkel, Jacinda Ardern, and many others, the report said, adding:

According to their website, the Young Global Leaders consist of more than 1,400 members and alumni of 120 nationalities. The individuals are trained to be [A]ligned with the World Economic Forums mission, to drive public-private co-operation in the global public interest. The WEF is known for their annual meeting of elitists at Davos, an alpine resort town in Switzerland.

The WEF consistently promotes what is seen by the foundation as a dangerousmerger of governments and corporations, which is innocently described as a public-private partnership. Whereas once upon a time corporate and business leaders were suspicious and distrustful of government and government regulations, the relationship has changed over the years thanks to subsequent WEF classes that teach students to embrace the partnership as a means of empowering  and enriching  both government and business leaders.

Its why the big tech platforms get away with violating the spirit of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in the U.S.: Those corporations know if they cooperate with a government that can regulate them out of business through censorship of wrongthink, in exchange for campaign donations to elected officials, they can continue to operate at a high-profit margin.

Here are some of those who were inducted into the Class of 2021:

Daniel Ahn, Global Fellow, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, USA

Garlin Gilchrist II, Lieutenant Governor, State of Michigan, USA

Ibram X Kendi, Director of the Center for Antiracist Research, Boston University, USA

Amit Paley, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, The Trevor Project, USA

Brian Kaufmann, Head, Private Investments; Portfolio Manager; Member of the Management Committee, Viking Global Investors, USA

There are dozens more, but the one thing that should be remembered is this: The World Economic Forum does not just want to remake the economy, they want to remake humanity, the report notes.

One way Schwab seeks to accomplish his vision is an unhinged version of what is known as synthetic biology, which is described as designing and constructing biological modules, biological systems, and biological machines or, re?design of existing biological systems for useful purposes.

It is an umbrella term that includes a bizarre fringe obsession with transhumanism, or the fusion of human beings with technology,' the report adds.

In November 2020, Lifesite News published a story featuring Dr. Miklos Lukacs de Pereny, a Professor of Science, Technology and Innovation at the Universidad de San Martin de Porres in Peru, who explained that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is nothing other than the implementation of transhumanism on a global level.

In a 2016 video, Schwab states that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will lead to a fusion of our physical, digital and biological identities. He added in another video that this physical, digital and biological fusion will come as chips are ultimately embedded into our brains.

Scary stuff  but this is what lovers of freedom are up against.

See more stories like this at Tyranny.news.

Sources include:

RAIRFoundation.com

LifeSiteNews.com
Mount Edgecumbe is a 3,202-foot volcano on Kruzof Island, 15 miles west of Sitka. Sitka is a frequent cruise stop for ships sailing along America's 49th state's coast; the 2022 cruise season in Alaska begins this weekend. Despite concerns about the Edgecumbe Volcano, Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Lines have all booked trips around Sitka.

Edgecumbe's Activity

Mount Edgecumbe is part of a larger volcanic complex that includes lava domes and craters on southern Kruzof Island and the adjacent underwater area. According to the USGS, there are no documented records of eruptions from the volcanic field; indigenous Tlingit oral history mentions modest eruptions from around 800 years ago. According to geologic research, explanations 13,000 to 14,500 years ago generated at least one extensive regional tephra deposit over 3 feet deep in Sitka and over 100 feet thick on sections of Kruzof Island. According to scientists, smaller eruptions are thought to have happened between 6,000 and 4,000 years ago. Over the last 600,000 years, the volcanic area has produced various basalt to rhyolite compositions from various vents.

Until today, the volcano was thought to be inactive. According to the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), hundreds of tiny earthquakes were reported around Mount Edgecumbe beginning on Monday, April 11, 2022, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). The swarm had hundreds of tiny quakes, which were too small to be detected. However, this current swarm prompted an in-depth examination of ground deformation detected by radar satellite data during the previous seven and a half years.

Recent Discoveries

According to AVO, a large region of roughly 10.5 miles in diameter with surface uplift centered about 1.5 miles east of Mount Edgecumbe has been discovered by analyzing recent years. According to the data, the uplift started in August 2018 and has been continuing at a pace of up to 3.4/year in the deforming area till now. Since 2018, there has been a total deformation of around 10.6 inches.

The latest earthquake activity, which began on April 11, was remarkable in that it produced a large number of occurrences. Since 2020, only earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or below have been observed beneath the volcano.

Also Read: USGS Still Monitoring 4 Active U.S. Volcanoes in Orange and Yellow Status

Earthquake Synchronicity

The synchronicity of earthquakes and ground deformation in time and position shows that these indications are likely related to magma flow beneath Mount Edgecumbe rather than tectonic activity, according to AVO/USGS' complete examination of the stratovolcano. According to preliminary modeling, the deformation signal appears to be compatible with the intrusion of fresh magma material at roughly 3.1 miles below sea level. The earthquakes are most likely generated by strains in the crust induced by the intrusion and the significant uplift it causes.

Magma

Where that magma goes now is the big question. "New magma intrusions beneath volcanoes do not necessarily result in volcanic eruptions," AVO stated in a recent statement. "Without an eruption, Edgecumbe's deformation and seismic activity may halt." The deformation pattern will alter if the magma gets closer to the surface, and earthquake activity will increase. As a result, if an eruption were to occur, more signs would precede it, providing early warning."

A tsunami might be triggered by a powerful earthquake or volcanic eruption in this area.

Lacks Monitoring

Edgecumbe currently lacks a local volcanic monitoring network. According to the USGS, the National Tsunami Warning Center operates the nearest seismic station in Sitka. Weekly, new satellite radar observations become accessible. AVO has begun planning to expand present monitoring capabilities, potentially by placing sensors closer to the volcano, to enhance the frequency of data collected. Edgecumbe will be monitored by AVO utilizing current area seismic stations and satellite data.

Trends will be closely monitored by tour firms, the fishing sector, and local inhabitants in the Sitka area.

Unassigned

Edgecumbe has not yet received an Aviation Code or a Volcanic Activity Alert Level from the USGS. Yellow indicates that a volcano shows symptoms of high unrest above known background levels, while green suggests usual activity associated with a non-eruptive condition. An eruption is likely, with considerable volcanic ash emissions into the sky.

Cruise companies will continue to watch the volcano's progress and the potential impact on Sitka port visits. A Royal Caribbean excursion from the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship visited White Island off the coast of New Zealand in December 2019. The visit turned tragic when the volcano erupted, killing 22 people and wounding 25 more. While the volcano killed vacationers on the trip, the ship was far enough away from it to avoid any damage to it or the other passengers.

Monitoring Active Volcanoes

The USGS monitors 161 potentially active volcanoes in the United States, most of which are in Alaska. However, according to geological records, Alaska has numerous volcanoes; more than 130 volcanoes and volcanic areas have been active in the last 2 million years. Since the mid-1700s, 50 have been active, and AVO investigates them.

Related Article: Experts Say Tonga Underwater Volcanic Eruption Broke Two Historical Records

For similar news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
As per a Penn State-led group of experts analyzing potential insect damage in a 60-million-year-old fossil, tiny beetles that feed on palm species fruits may have acquired a taste for coconuts long ago.

The coconut rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros, is a pest found in many tropical areas throughout the world.

Adults may wreak havoc on commercially valuable wild and planted palms.

The fossil has a species that feeds on palm species

They discovered the amazing fossil coconut with apparent traces of insect burrowing, stated L. Alejandro Giraldo, a Penn State geosciences graduate student.

Researchers were able to identify the bug perpetrator after thoroughly examining the damage: a group of beetles known as palm brushes, which still consume a large amount of palm fruit, coconuts included, today.

The discoveries are the earliest fossil evidence of seed beetles feeding on palm fruit, and they reveal important information on the Neotropical rainforests that emerged in modern-day South America having followed the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction 66 million years ago, which wiped out the dinosaurs and reshaped life on Earth, according to the scientists.

Recent research has concentrated on pest infestation to fossil leaves, which are the most frequent plant components found in the fossil record, according to the experts.

Bug damage to fruit and seeds is uncommon, but scientists discovered six probable insect holes in a coconut fossil unearthed in modern-day Colombia.

The fossil featured destruction to the fruit's exterior and inner layers, indicating a three-dimensional trail that shows the holes had a biological origin, such as larvae eating their way through the coconut, according to the experts.

The researchers looked at the number, location, and size of the holes, as well as the scar tissue left behind, to damage produced by current insects, particularly those which eat plants in the palm family.

The destruction was compatible with a subgroup of current beetles known as palm brushes, according to the researchers, who published their findings in the journal Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.

Giraldo explained that there are a variety of potential species of insects that can feed on seeds, but not all of them eat palm seeds, so that was the place to start.

Following that, it was a lot of detective work, delving into the literature and analyzing various physical features in terms of how this damage happens.

Also Read: New Beetle Species Discovered in Bustling Metropolis

Most invasive species on coconuts

The coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) is a big scarab beetle found in Southeast Asia.

It was accidentally brought to Samoa from Sri Lanka in 1909 and is now found across the South Pacific.

The coconut rhinoceros beetle may be attacked by a range of enemies at all stages in life in its natural region, and it is also sensitive to a fungus and a virus that keeps numbers under control.

CRB is one of the most devastating pests of coconut palms and may imperil other species, including Hawaii's only endemic and endangered palm, the Loulu.

Oriental flower beetles have already been present in Hawaii since 2002 and are widely distributed.

The Oriental Flower Insect is the biggest beetle on O'ahu and is sometimes confused with the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle, although there are some subtle differences that can assist to distinguish between of two bugs.

Related article: Bog Beetles Fact: These Beeatles Are Apparently 3,785 Years Old
Severe weather is anticipated to return to Oklahoma this week after tornadoes struck central areas of the state on Saturday, according to meteorologists.

The National Weather Service's survey teams in Norman assessed the damage caused by strong thunderstorms between Tuttle and Harrah Saturday night, classifying them as "weak" tornadoes on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

May starts this coming weekend, and the arrival of the new month heralds some significant shifts in the weather around the country as compared to earlier in the spring.

One of the first climate worries that come to mind is the month's tornadic reputation, but the tropics must also be monitored, especially since we've seen many recent examples of hurricane season beginning early.

Confirmation of tornadoes this Saturday

"We have indications of EF1 damage at a position 8 miles west of Harrah, based on what we've observed so far," said Forrest Mitchell, observational communications director at the National Weather Service in Norman. "It's EF0 near Tuttle, and thankfully mostly in open country," as per The Oklahoman.

Meteorologists were also surveying the weather in Lawton and Pauls Valley on Monday.

Although severe straight-line winds were ruled out as the source of the destruction in Lawton, "complex" early data revealed a weak tornado may have briefly touched down in Pauls Valley.

Wind speeds of 86 to 110 mph define EF1 tornadoes, which may destroy roofs, smash doors and windows, and force mobile homes to flip.

EF0 tornadoes, on the other hand, can be difficult to identify, but Mitchell says the key difference between them and straight-line gusts is the material patterns they leave behind.

When viewed from above, the damage on the ground generally has an intense, convective swirl to how the debris is positioned, according to Mitchell.

The direction of the debris is generally consistent in straight-line winds.

Mitchell explained that survey teams mostly depend on social media comments from people and TV coverage of extreme storms to determine if specific places should be studied further.

Severe storms and the threat of major flooding went out of Oklahoma and into Texas Sunday night, although meteorologists predicted that the risk will return later in the week.

Another storm system was expected to move through the central United States by mid-week, with scattered showers possible as early as Thursday in Oklahoma.

Also Read: Severe Weather Outbreak: Massive Blizzard to Possibly Hit Continental US, Threatening Millions

May is the peak month for severe rainfall

In most years, the peak of tornado activity in the United States comes in May. This is the period of the year when the components for severe thunderstorms are most likely to come together.

Disturbances in the jet stream moving out of the Rockies and into the Plains, meeting with warm air and plenty of precipitation, are characteristic of the setting for violent thunderstorms.

From Texas to Iowa, these elements have the best chance of coming together in May.

Tornadoes are more common this time of year, and there have been several tornadoes and severe weather outbreaks in May, as per the Weather Channel.

According to data from 2001 through 2020, the average amount of May tornadoes in the United States is 276.

That's much more than in April and June, which are the second (200) and third (194) highest months for twisters, correspondingly.

Of course, they are statistics, and the exact tornadic result in any particular year might vary. May during the last three years exemplifies this, with 510 tornadoes in 2019 and only 126 in 2020.

The total count for May 2021 has not yet been established, even though there were 289 tornado sightings, which is near to the month's average.

Related article: Developing Storm System to Bring Severe Weather in the Eastern Half of the United States
Macron was unable to win a large vote in this election, as he did in 2017. This time, Macron received 58.2 percent of the vote, while his opponent Marine Le Pen received 41.8 percent.

by Swadesh Roy

Sveral groups, including Marine Le Pen's party, have been trying to incite Christian extremism in France over the past few years. The results of the first round of the French presidential election, which took place on the pretext of the religion of some extremists, not only made just the liberal-minded people of Europe or the West but also the whole world think. Because, unlike in the 2017 election, when Macron received twice as many votes as Le Pen in the final round, Emanuel Macro of the radical Le Pen received just over 4% of the vote in the first round this time.

Le Pen is not only just right-wing but also anti-EU. Like Britain, he wants to leave European Union. Furthermore, during Russia's current imperialist aggression, he is a pro-Putin leader.

In France, there is a general trend in the second round of voting where many people do not vote. Furthermore, no French president usually wins for the second time. As a result, liberals and politicians all over the world were thinking about the outcome of the second round of voting in France, not just in the Western world, but also in Africa, Asia, and everywhere else. At around one o'clock in the morning on 25th April, Bangladesh time, liberal people all over the world breathed a sigh of relief when the results of the second round of French elections were announced. Because, the incumbent President of France, Macron, became a member of a new club, joined a new club, with only two other French presidents having won for the second time. He was also elected President of France for the second time.

Macron was unable to win a large vote in this election, as he did in 2017. This time, Macron received 58.2 percent of the vote, while his opponent Marine Le Pen received 41.8 percent. In 2017, the turnout was 66.1% and 33.9% respectively. Even then, Macron's victory was a relief for France's 5,430 million Muslims. Because Le Pen didn't just campaign for the White Race or throw his politics in that direction. He is more likely to shoot his arrows at the Muslim minority (although no one is a minority under the French constitution).

In fact, it is not easy to bring religious politics into French politics. Because Christians account for 37,940 millions of their total population (but not all of them are fanatics). On the other hand, the biggest asset of their country's modernity is 20,630 million people who do not associate themselves with any religion. Therefore, the rise of the politics of religious and caste communalism in such a modern and generous country naturally made the whole liberal world think a lot.

In such a situation, Macron's victory has brought relief in many ways, especially for European Union, America, Africa and some countries in the Middle East. At first, Le Pen's victory appeared to be a victory for Putin. He is a Putin follower, a so-called nationalist populist who mixes religion and caste like Trump. Moreover, Le Pen is opposed to NATO and the European Union. Therefore, if Macron had lost, the European Union would have lost a leader to lead them. Which would be the biggest loss for Europe at the moment. Macron is now the most qualified person to lead the European Union, following the retirement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. As a result, his victory will undoubtedly strengthen the European Union.

He has, on the other hand, received fewer votes since 2017. As a result, he realizes that Le Pen is following in the footsteps of Trump, who stoked so-called nationalism in America by using religion and caste. So, Macron will have to correct the French people and change the mind set of those who have followed Le Pen's path.

Contrariwise, the former colonies of France i.e. Mali, Chad, Bukrina where military rule is going on, Macron has already withdrawn his troops from there. He will do more to bring peace to those African countries. He will also continue the military cooperation that France has maintained in the Gulf countries of the Middle East. In particular, he will continue to assist in resolving the current crisis in Lebanon, a former French colony. The EU's trade with China, on the other hand, is now a reality, and they must keep a close eye on China's human rights. For example, Australia and the United Kingdom have already begun trading with India, another large Asian country, reducing Chinese trade in these two countries. Macron, as the true leader of the European Union, must also set the European Union on this path.

Le Pen, in contrast, is staunchly anti-immigrant and anti-refugee. But refugee is a reality in todays world. Sometimes refugees need to be sheltered for peace. At the moment, for the sake of democracy and peace, it is necessary to give shelter to the refugees in Ukraine. France has sheltered 5 million refugees. Ukraine's war will last a long time. As a result, it's possible that more refugees will need to be accommodated. Macron will take this path. Furthermore, from 2008 to 2017, France granted the highest number of immigrants - 1,55,000 people - which is not a large number. It's also been used to stoke Christian communalist feelings.

So, just as Macron will now lead the whole of Europe, he will take the highest and most correct course of action to get the people out of the emotional turmoil that is raging in his country. And he has to do these things as soon as possible in order to win a large majority in the parliamentary elections in June so that his future days can more easily move in the right direction.

Author: Senior journalist and writer in Bangladesh. Received highest state award EkusheyPadak for special contribution in journalism.
The Pacific Northwest is facing a cold front and the Midwest is subject to severe thunderstorms, as per the latest US weather forecast.

There is a risk of torrential rain, snowfall, damaging winds, and tornadoes in the next 48 hours.

The latest weather advisory comes as the country is about to reach the end of the spring season and several days after thunderstorms wreak havoc in the Central US recently.

Over recent weeks, the country has experienced a rollercoaster of severe weather, coupled with fire weather conditions and fluctuating temperatures.

NOAA - NWS Weather Forecast

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - National Weather Service (NWS) on Monday, April 25, issued its latest weather forecast from Tuesday to Thursday, April 26 to April 28, highlighting the winter-like weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest and the severe weather in the Midwest.

However, the forecast also revealed that adjacent areas to the mentioned regions will also be impacted.

Heavy snow, strong winds, and isolated tornadoes are expected in the affected areas.

Due to these potential weather hazards, disruption to air and land travel is possible. Damage to power lines may result in power outages. Flash floods may also pose security risks to both residential and commercial areas.

The Weather Prediction Center (WPC) of the US weather agency issued the latest short-range forecast discussion several days after severe weather battered the Central US, which was forecasted by meteorologists from AccuWeather last week.

The recent thunderstorms resulted in the formation of tornadoes, hail, and damaging winds in some central states during the weekend from Friday, April 22, resulting in reported power outages but with no casualties.

Also Read: UK Weather Forecast Indicates Nationwide Scorching Temperatures from Mid-Week

Cold Front

The NOAA - NWS weather advisory tackles the cold air over the Pacific Northwest, predicting that it will move inland into the Northern Rockies or the Great Basin by Wednesday afternoon, April 27.

The weather system will generate rain and snow in high-altitude areas of the Northwest and its surrounding region, affecting the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Meanwhile, a separate front from the Lower Great Lakes moving to the Gulf Coast will eventually traverse toward the East Coast by Wednesday.

This may affect Florida and other states such as New York, Delaware, Rhode Island, Virginia, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Maine.

Thunderstorms

The NOAA - NWS states the storm system will bring showers and thunderstorms, which include heavy rain associated with the massive cold front from Monday evening, stating there is a risk for localized flash flooding, especially in low-lying and vulnerable areas that experience a rapid runoff during rainfall.

In addition, the NOAA's Strom Prediction Center (SPC) has issued a separate "Marginal Risk" for severe thunderstorms over the southern Mid-Atlantic region, which has been forecasted to later on move toward the Central Gulf Coast.

Furthermore, the SPC has also issued a Marginal Risk of severe weather for some parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley and southeastern Texas until Tuesday morning.

Related Article: US Weather Forecast Shows Risk of Severe Thunderstorms, Critical Fire Weather, and Heavy Snow This Weekend: NOAA - NWS
It is questionable whether Sri Lanka's key policymakers have been able to understand China, which has been like a blood relative for the past few years and has supported us in every difficult situation.

Editorial

China has issued an alarming notice on the fragile policies of the Government of Sri Lanka. Addressing a group of local journalists in Sri Lanka, Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong yesterday outlined the bilateral relationships while expressing deep concern about the prevailing social upheaval. There is a serious allegation that many government policies are designed to satisfy the aspirations of local politicians and their henchmen instead of doing justice to foreign investors. The tender for a renewable energy project to be built on three northern islands was awarded to a Chinese company but suddenly cancelled a few days later without any prior notice allegedly due to Indian influence. Also, the third phase of the Central Expressway has been given to a fraudulent company to satisfy the desire of the former Minister of Highways by ignoring the Chinese company which had bid for less than the awardee. Similar to many diplomatic blunders, these activities also are showing the immaturity of Sri Lankan officials in handling diplomacy as an independent state.

Port City

In this context, we must understand the basic lesson that China is trying to teach Sri Lanka at the moment. It is questionable whether Sri Lanka's key policymakers have been able to understand China, which has been like a blood relative for the past few years and has supported us in every difficult situation. It is now clear that China no longer wants to feed the fraudsters and hoaxers under the guise of bilateral relations but to maintain authentic and people-centred diplomacy. This is why the Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka reiterated that China has always given priority to people to people relations over politicians.

The main challenge facing Sri Lanka is the lack of a truly intelligent administration and a wealthy business community made up of real wealth, which is an essential ingredient to the stability of the state. Unfortunately, there is no unity among the smallest group capable of fulfilling national responsibility. The so-called richest man in the country is also a fraud who has long evaded taxes owed to the government for years. If the country needs to change, is this not enough to understand where change should begin? The direct taxes required to maintain the state should be levied on the assets of the rich, not on the innocent who struggles to make a living and feed their kids. It is not rocket science to understand that no state can survive by giving huge tax concessions to various forms of fraudsters who supported the government.

Policymakers in Sri Lanka continue to prioritize the family and the clan in decision making. Not only in the case of Mahinda Rajapaksa, but almost everyone who has played with political power and any sort of administrative power is more or less following this policy as an inherited habit. Consequently, state or national policies are always secondary to their personal desires. We have historically been socialized not for true freedom but to waste life as followers or subjects of the oppressor. This is what has happened throughout history. The so-called liberation struggle against the European colonialists was not a real liberation struggle but a dispute full of betrayals over the lack of positions expected by the opportunists disguised as patriots from their colonial masters. This pattern of opportunistic living has been a major factor in determining the depth of social consciousness of this country to this day. The only way we can shorten the difficult time we are having as a nation is to choose the country and conscience over the profit and fraud. It is a collective action for which everyone is responsible. Then not only China, India or IMF but many other countries in the world will truly support us. The first thing is, to be honest with ourselves to avoid repetition and to correct our mistakes to get out of the quagmire.
Google Cloud has launched a new media and content delivery network (CDN) platform called Media CDN that allows large media and streaming customers to tap into Googles global YouTube network.

The new platform blends the same infrastructure as the Google-owned video streaming service, with Google Clouds existing Cloud CDN portfolio. Customers will have access to a range of APIs and automation tools, while pre-aggregated metrics and playback tracing will allow users to monitor performance across the entire infrastructure stack. The platform also offers integrations with Google Clouds operations suite and other observability tools such as Grafana and ElasticSearch.

Media CDN also supports the creation of more interactive experiences, such as custom ad insertions, ecosystem integrations, and platform extensibility. For example, streaming providers can use the Video Stitcher API to improve monetization through integrated ad serving.

According to The Global Internet Phenomena Report from January 2022, video streaming accounted for 53.7% of all bandwidth traffic in the first half of 2021. To combat this strain on existing infrastructure, performance and capacity stress can be alleviated through multiple tiers of caching in order to minimize calls back to origin. These features are built into the Google product and support customer content hosted either on Google Cloud, on-premises, or via a third-party cloud, such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services.

Media CDN also adapts delivery protocols to individual users and network conditions, with the platform offering out-of-the-box support for the modern QUIC (HTTP/3), TLS 1.3, and BBR transport standards. According to Google, Media CDN has the ability to reach viewers in more than 1,300 cities across 200 countries.

While alternative CDN vendors like Microsoft, Amazon Web Service, Fastly and Cloudflare all offer their own CDN services, none can claim the power of the YouTube network backing their services.

Ghassan Abdo, IDC research vice president for telecom, virtualization, and CDN, said that on first glance, Google Clouds Media CDN looks like a powerful combination of geographic reach, an API-first architecture, and integration with the existing Google Cloud operations suite. This is a transformative move that is aligned with the future of the CDN industry, he said.
This political deadlock clearly illustrates the weakness of the Sri Lankan constitution. Gotabaya was elected by 6.9m voters with the expectation that he would do his job to the best of his skills and yet, he has utterly failed.

by a patriotic Lankan in the UK

What is the next phase of the political struggle in Sri Lanka? Pandits, politicians and political scientists have been debating about it for a long time now, yet the political deadlock is going on and people are suffering immensely. This economic crisis is a man-made crisis primarily attributed to the political impotency, ineptitude, and inexperience of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Mahinda must take a lions share of responsibility for this political and economic mess. He introduced the family nepotism in Sri Lankan politics giving some ministerial posts in government. It is claimed that his family members and his cohort exploited his weakness to accumulate a huge amount of wealth from the government coffers. The political incompetence of Gotabaya Rajapaksa is exposed through his actions and decisions in recent times. Yet, he does not go home for many reasons.

In the shade of the constitution.

He contends that he is elected by 6.9m votersin the next five years. So, he and his cohort claim that he could stay in power for the next five years.He does not care about the country and its economic crisis. Even some government solicitors have come out in support of this claim. Yet, this claim is a weak argument. Gotabaya has been using the Sri Lankan constitution as a political shield to stay in power. He argues that he has got a mandate to rule another 3 years. He tries to hide in the shade of the constitution, and he uses his excessive executive power to suppress the protests and protect his power. The public and opposition parties are in a moral dilemma and are wondering what to do next to dislodge him from power.

This political deadlock clearly illustrates the weakness of the Sri Lankan constitution. Gotabaya was elected by 6.9m voters with the expectation that he would do his job to the best of his skills and yet, he has utterly failed. So, people have every right to send him home on the ground of his political ineptitude and incompetence. 6.9m voters politically married him with the hope that he would fulfil his responsibilities in this marriage of convenience. Yet, he has utterly failed in the two years of his political marriage. He has displayed repeatedly his impotency in this political marriage. It is true that 6.9m Sri Lankan consented to this political marriage with him and yet, this marriage did not work out now people are demanding a divorce from him and yet, he is adamant that he does not want to give a divorce. Yet, in any marriage, both spouses should have equal right to go for divorce if they feel that the marriage does not work out. This political situation in Sri Lanka is very much like a matrimonial case in the real life. All marriage law stipulates that the spouse must have the right to divorce at any time in marriage life. It could be any time and yet, Gotabaya wants to go against the consent of the people. Now they ask him to politically divorce them from him and yet, he does not want to do it.

Gotabaya is politically impotent, and he does not have any skills, experience, or knowledge to fulfil his responsibilities in this political marriage. He is going against the consent of this political marriage, and it is against the wishes of 6.9m Sri Lankans. All this political drama has exposed some weaknesses in our constitution and there must be some clues in our constitution to dismiss this type of political impotent person either through the Supreme court or parliament or otherwise through a public referendum.

Pandemonium and political chaos continue.

22 million Sri Lankan know what is wrong with the Sri Lankan politics today. From a five years old Sri Lankan child to a 99-year-old Sri Lankan knows what is wrong with politics in Sri Lanka. Educated and uneducated all know what is wrong with politics today. Both opposition and ruling party members know what is wrong with politics today in Sri Lanka. Prelates of all Sangas know what is wrong in politics today. Highly ranking office police officers who are encountering the protestors every day know what is wrong with politics in Sri Lanka today. The Sri Lankan army knows well what is wrong with politics in Sri Lanka today. Yet, all these people cannot break this political deadlock. As a result of this, the people of this country are suffering immensely. At no time in Sri Lankan history, people have encountered such a pathetic situation as today.

The trajectory of the protest in Galle Face.

For the last three weeks, thousands of people gathered in Galle Face demanding Gota go home. This protest campaign is growing nationwide. Each Sri Lankan city and town has got protests and yet, Gota and his cohort are not ready to end this political deadlock. It looks like this beautiful Island is gradually descending into a chaotic situation due to this vacillating political conundrum. Politicians have utterly failed to make the right decisions at the right time. The lackadaisical behaviours and attitudes of top politicians in the government have led this country into this pathetic situation. The President and PM have done some grave political blunders and yet they are not ready to accept and resign from their posts. People know well why they do not do this. They all fear that if they resign, they will have to encounter some legal battles and pursuits for their political mistakes and blunders. Yet, this psychological fear should not bar them from saving this country from further troubles. The sooner they take some solid decisions the quicker the country could come out of this crisis. If they try to dig their heads in the sand more times, they will encounter more and more trouble in the coming days.

So far, the protestors have been peacefully protesting. Yet, an unfortunate event took place in Ramukkana. A young man sacrificed his life in this protest. Now, it appears that this protesting campaign is gearing into the next phase, Trade unions, oppositions parties, health workers, students unions, and all other professional groups are joining the protest campaign. All these people do these campaigns in utter desperation and frustration. People can nolonger take all this suffering and hardship. Literarily, people are starving. I fear that if the situation does not improve in the coming days, we may witness fearsome social unrest and violence. People have tolerated enough, and they cannot tolerate all this hardship any longer. Despite all this, Gota and his team do not show any remorse for human suffering. No sympathy or empathy for people in their suffering.

The dilemma of Police officers and the Army in this crisis.

Unfortunately, police officers and the Sri Lankan army officers are caught up in this crazy Gota politics and public agitations. They are in a delicate and fragile position. They are in an ironic and paradoxical situation. They must obey political orders to protect their job. They are compelled to do their official duty professionally and yet listen to the concerns of people without bending too much to the political influence. It would be very much a difficult and daunting task for all these officers to work at these difficult conditions. They are in a precarious situation. In Ramukkana they went far away from their professional standard. It is reported that this murder was politically motivated. It would be difficult for them to be in a neutral position on this. Yet, so far, Police officers in Galle Face, have been maintaining neutrality and impartiality. We hope that they do so in the coming days as well. These protestors are in fact, doing all these to protect this country from corruption, fraud, and political dictatorship. People are not against the Police, but they are protesting the wrong policies of this government. Their demands are genuine and for that reason, police should not act against the protestors. Protestors are doing this out of their love and affection for this country and the welfare of future generations. So, Police should not stand in the way of these young protestors. Sri Lanka has seen many blood baths in the recent past and no longer wants any confrontations.

Rajapaksa family started to bow down to the public pressure.

It is reported that President Gotabaya has already informed Mahanayakes of the three Chapters that he is happy to take some steps to form an interim government and resolve the crisis in the country. He is compelled to do this as soon as possible. Because his indecisiveness has done greater damage to this country. As Ranil has been telling the Parliament that the country needs some radical economic plans and strategies to come out of this crisis. To make any radical economic change, you need to have a good and stable government. For that reason, GR and MR must step down. Yet, they do not want to do it for fear of some serious repercussions. There is no doubt that Mahinda Rajapaksa did something good for this country and he got rid of the LTTE and yet, in his second term, a lot of his relatives, friends and cohort did greater damage to this country. Moreover, Gotabaya with all his wrong policies has done greater damage to this country.

Some corruption and fraud allegations go viral on social media and people know about all these wrongdoings now and they can not hide them at all. People have lost their faith and confidence in them, and they need to find some way out now. People demand that they must be put on trial and taken to court. Now, they fear that if they step down, they will have to face some legal pursuits. That is why they do not want to step down as people demand. Now, politicians, and the judiciary must make some compromises to find a way out for the Rajapaksa family from this crisis. The country no longer could suffer due to the wrong policies of the Rajapaksa family. I do not know any interim government will have the courage and power to take this family to the court. Unfortunately, the presidential system in Sri Lanka destroyed the integrity of the judiciary. Politicians in western countries fear the court order and judiciary. There is a separation between the judiciary and executive powers in western countries. Politicians cannot interfere and influence the judiciary and yet, in Sri Lanka, the president has an excessive power to appoint and remove the Attorney Generals. The judiciary was suppressed by politicians in Sri Lanka. High court judges could not work freely and independently. They will be fired if they do not obey what the president says and what the president wants. Miscarriage of justice is the first casualty of this presidential system in Sri Lanka. With this, all corruption, fraud, and looting of public money started in Sri Lanka. From the top to bottom, many politicians started to milk the government coffer without any fear. That is why this country is suffering like this today.

The young generations of Sri Lankans know all this. That is why they demand a system change. Politicians must take some lessons from all these protests, and they must know that new generations of Sri Lankans think differently, plan differently, act differently, behave differently and live differently. Politicians must know how to change the political culture of this country. People are not ready to elect any cook politician any longer. So, they must know how to interact with the public now. Those old fashion politics does not work in Sri Lanka today. People know their political rights today and they are smart enough to make a political revolution. Therefore, it would be advisable for the Rajapaksa family to find a peaceful way out of this crisis. If they try to dig in, they will encounter more trouble in the coming days. Because this crisis is all about life and death for people.
LeConte Nix: We have to normalize that going to therapy is great and is needed  just like going to a movie or your regular doctors appointment. We all have stuff that we hide mentally or avoid. Now, think about a young adult who only knows how to deal with anger by violence of some sort, because he or she has never been taught how to handle certain situations."
A new study from Iowa State University found men convicted of domestic violence were charged with significantly fewer violent and nonviolent charges one year after completing a treatment program developed in Iowa compared to a model used in most other states. Survey data from victims still in contact with the men provided preliminary evidence that the local intervention may also reduce behaviors like physical aggression, controlling behaviors and stalking.

The findings come from the first randomized controlled trial comparing an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) based program used by the Iowa Department of Corrections with the Duluth Model Men's Nonviolence Classes.

Amie Zarling, a clinical psychologist and associate professor of human development and family studies at Iowa State, led the study, which was published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology and funded by the Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women.

I've waited more than a decade to do this study. Randomized controlled trials are the gold standard method for evaluating program efficacy but are very difficult to implement properly, especially in real-world settings. The results suggest that the ACT-based program is an effective treatment for reducing criminal behavior, and most importantly, that the women who are survivors of the domestic violence report that the man who caused harm has significantly decreased his abusive behavior because of the ACT program." Amie Zarling, clinical psychologist and associate professor of human development and family studies at Iowa State

A 2015 survey from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found one in three women in the U.S. had experienced intimate partner violence. This includes physical and sexual violence, stalking and psychological aggression (e.g., coercive tactics). However, experts say domestic violence is chronically underreported, so even this striking number does not represent the full extent of domestic abuse.

Rather than sending men with a first or second domestic abuse charge to prison, Iowa and most other states mandate the completion of a batterer intervention program. The most widely used program, the Duluth Model, stems back to the early 1980s and is grounded in feminist theory.

Advocates of the Duluth Model say the root cause of domestic violence is a sexist society and that for men to change, they need to be re-educated and must unlearn their beliefs.

A new model for Iowa

But when the Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) conducted an internal evaluation of the Duluth Model in 2009, it found the program did very little to improve domestic assault recidivism compared to no treatment at all. The results reflected similar findings from researchers investigating the effectiveness of Duluth and other batterer intervention programs that adopted a similar approach.

The Iowa DOC decided to look for an alternative and turned to researchers at the University of Iowa where Zarling was a graduate student at the time.

Combining her clinical psychology background with input from criminal justice practitioners, Zarling developed the Achieving Change Through Values-Based Behavior program, or ACTV (pronounced active), which the Iowa DOC piloted in 2010 and has since scaled up to use across Iowa. Over 500 staff have been trained in the ACTV model, and approximately 15,000 men charged with domestic abuse have participated in the intervention.

ACTV is based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). It's a cognitive-behavioral approach based on a unified model of human development, behavior change and psychological growth.

"ACT-based programs hold the perspective that there are many contributors to intimate partner violence, including a lack of skills to manage emotions and communicate in a healthy and respectful way, as well as troubling or harmful beliefs and attitudes toward women and toward oneself. A history of trauma, experiencing racial discrimination, attachment difficulties, substance use and even mental health can also be factors," said Zarling.

Zarling emphasized ACT-based programs are a trauma-informed approach to help people identify their values, the relationships and meaningful parts of their lives, and then build skills to stretch their "psychological flexibility"  the ability to behave in a way that aligns with those values, regardless of the thoughts or feelings that may arise.

"From the ACT perspective, our brains work by adding rather than subtracting, meaning it's really hard to remove a thought, emotion or feeling that pops up. But with psychological flexibility, someone can notice that thought or feeling and how it's trying to pull them to behave a certain way, gain some distance from it, and then have the ability to choose more mindfully when responding to that thought or feeling," said Zarling.

Data collection, findings and limitations

Zarling designed the study to randomly assign 338 men in central Iowa who had been court-mandated to complete 24 sessions of a domestic violence program to ACTV or the Duluth Model.

She found ACTV participants had about half the rate of the violent and non-violent charges, like robbery and drug-related offenses, a year after completing the intervention program compared to the men who had been assigned to the Duluth Model.

Fewer than 13% of the participants in both ACTV and the Duluth model were charged again with domestic assault in the year following the intervention. While recidivism was several percentage points lower for graduates of ACTV (9%), Zarling said the difference was not statistically significant, potentially due to the smaller than expected sample size of the participants. The original plan was to have a sample size of over 400 men, but the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 prematurely ended the study.

"But using criminal charges as an outcome is just one piece of the puzzle," said Zarling. "In some ways, the most important finding from this study is from the victims' reports, as most domestic abuse is not reported to law enforcement."

The survey data from victims showed physical aggression, controlling behaviors and stalking behaviors decreased from the men who were in ACTV.

Bridging the gap

Over the last decade, Zarling has helped the Iowa Department of Corrections train ACTV facilitators and provide supervision during their first 24 sessions with participants. She has also provided recommendations based on her research and the research of others.

"Unfortunately, in the domestic violence field, the practitioners are very separate from the researchers, in general, and here in Iowa, I'm trying to change that," she said. "Being involved with the IDOC ensures a solid researcher-practitioner collaboration and effective community-university partnership."

But Zarling emphasized she is not beholden to the ACTV model.

"I want to do research that betters the field of domestic violence. If that includes ACTV, that's great, but if not, that's OK. I'm following the data," said Zarling.

With the newly published findings, Zarling sees a path to helping reduce family violence.

This summer, she'll be conducting a randomized controlled trial of the ACTV program in the prison setting with a second grant from the Department of Justice.

ISU Professors of Human Development and Family Studies Dan Russell and Carl Weems contributed to the study.
Efforts by hospitals to protect people from COVID-19 by restricting them from visiting family members in ICUs may have contributed to a significant increase in stress-related disorders, according to a study led by University of Colorado School of Medicine researchers.

The study, published today in JAMA Internal Medicine, reports that nearly two-thirds of those restricted from visiting were suffering from stress-related disorders three months after their family member was hospitalized.

Our findings suggest that visitation restrictions may have inadvertently contributed to a secondary public health crisis, an epidemic of stress-related disorders among family members of ICU patients." Timothy Amass, MD, ScM, assistant professor of medicine, CU School of Medicine and first author of the article

Visitation restrictions at hospitals were implemented to prevent the spread of an emerging highly infectious virus and deadly disease at a time when personal protective equipment was in short supply. Hospital and public health officials were also concerned about having enough capacity to provide care.

Amass and his co-authors found that the consequences of those restrictions had an enduring effect on many of the people who weren't allowed to visit their hospitalized family members. According to the study, having a family member admitted to the ICU with COVID-19 was associated with high levels of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as depression and anxiety.

The study authors surveyed people three months after their family member was hospitalized, finding that 64% of the study participants recorded high scores on tests that measure symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. That's more than double from pre-pandemic levels, when about 30% of family members of ICU patients reported stress-related disorders.

To conduct their study, Amass and his colleagues surveyed 330 family members three months after their family members were admitted to the ICU with COVID-19. Those patients were admitted between Feb. 1 and July 31, 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, at eight academic-affiliated and four community-based hospitals in Colorado, Washington, Louisiana, New York, and Massachusetts.

The study authors said restrictions may have fostered distrust between patients' family members and health care providers. They write, "As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge the ability of family members to build bedside relationships with clinicians, this loss of trust may translate into an increase in stress-related disorders."

One study participant who was surveyed described their painful experience: "They called us and said, 'Do you want us to pull the plug?'. . . I said how did it go from coming home to pulling the plug? . . . they say that her mouth was moving and her eyes was moving but they said she was dead. . . .so, they went on and pulled the plug anyway."

Study authors added that additional studies would be needed to determine any links between visitation restriction policies and factors that caused distrust among family members.
A new study finds that the national economic burden of PTSD goes beyond direct health care expenses and exceeds the costs of other common mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression.

The researchers estimated the cost of PTSD at $232.2 billion for 2018, the latest year for which data were available at the time of the study. They called for increased awareness of PTSD, more effective therapies, and the expansion of evidence-based strategies to "reduce the large clinical and economic burden" of that mental health condition.

The results appeared online in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry on April 25, 2022.

"The $232 billion annual economic burden of PTSD in the U.S. demonstrated in this study is staggering and fuels the urgency for public and private stakeholders to work together to discover new and better treatments, reduce stigma, improve access to existing treatments, and expand evidence-based recovery and rehabilitation programs," the researchers write.

Dr. Lori Davis, the associate chief of staff for research at the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Alabama, led the study. She and her team used insurance claims data, academic literature, and government publications to estimate the costs of PTSD in both the U.S. civilian and military populations. The latter cohort included active-duty military and veterans.

Understanding the complex nature of posttraumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD, is one of VA's most pressing challenges. The agency says many veterans who fought in Vietnam, the Gulf War, and the post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have had that mental health condition sometime in their lives.

PTSD symptoms are well documented: re-experiencing of trauma through flashbacks and nightmares; avoidance of reminders of a traumatic event; changes in thoughts and feelings, such as guilt and emotional numbing; insomnia; and hyperarousal.

In the study, the investigators brought to light the extent to which PTSD not only impacts veterans, but civilians, as well. The research team found that civilians accounted for 82% of the total PTSD costs, compared with 18% for the military population. That disparity is predicated on the fact that the number of civilians far exceeds that of active-duty military and veterans. Although PTSD is more prevalent in the military, the number of civilians with PTSD still tops the number of Veterans with that condition.

Davis and her colleagues noted that more studies on PTSD and its treatments are needed to address the rise in civilians with PTSD, calling that phenomenon a "rapidly accumulating societal burden." Improved access to effective treatments is also needed, especially for people in economically vulnerable situations," she noted.

"Much of the research and legislative response on PTSD has focused on combat-exposed populations due to the high prevalence of the condition among the military population," the researchers write. "However, the military population composed a small proportion of the overall U.S. population with PTSD.

"With the increasing occurrence of national and societal traumatic events around the world, including COVID-19, civil unrest, and climate change, there is mounting concern of an increase in PTSD and burden in the civilian population. As such, the current cost estimate is likely an underestimation given these recent global traumas, the effects of which would not have been captured and are likely to result in increasing negative repercussions."

Although civilians accounted for more than three times the total PTSD costs, the annual costs per civilian with PTSD ($18,640) were lower than that in the military population ($25,684). In the civilian population, direct health care and unemployment costs accounted for the economic burden, while disability and direct health care costs drove the burden in the military population. Non-direct health costs such as disability payments are higher in military populations, according to Davis. The expansion of supported employment services for PTSD patients is overdue and could address the growing disability and unemployment crisis in veterans, she says.

The researchers also found that women represented 66% and 74% of the overall and civilian population with PTSD, respectively, thereby contributing disproportionally to the national costs. Research has shown that trauma-exposed women show higher levels of PTSD symptoms than trauma-exposed men. Plus, traumas such as sexual assault and domestic violence tend to affect more women than men and represent important areas for prevention and treatment.

The study notes that the substantial economic burden of PTSD highlights the "urgent and unmet" need for treating and rehabilitating people with the disorder.

"Experts agree that there is a long-standing crisis in pharmacologic drug development for the treatment of PTSD, as no medication has been FDA-approved for PTSD since the only two marketed agents were approved 20 years ago," the researchers write. "Additionally, there is a scarcity of evidence on the impact of available pharmacologic and psychological treatments and the interplay between the two on patient-centered outcomes, such as quality of life, well-being, interpersonal relationships, and occupational functioning. A burden that is often ignored in economic calculations is the cost for psychotherapy not covered under health plans, which represents a significant out-of-pocket [expense] for someone with PTSD, as demonstrated in the current study."

What does all of this mean for getting PTSD costs under control in the future?

It is important to remember that we have effective treatments for PTSD. One potential implication of this study's findings is that increasing treatment could reduce not only the symptom burden on people but also the economic costs to society as a whole." Dr. Paula Schnurr, executive director of VA's National Center for PTSD
Dotphoton, an industry-leading raw image compression company and Hamamatsu Photonics, a world leader in optical systems and photonics manufacturing, are pleased to announce their new partnership.

Research sample by Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering. Acquired on Hamamatsu ORCA-Flash 4.0 and compressed with Jetraw. Image Credit: Hamamatsu Photonics Europe

Modern microscopy, drug discovery and cell research are among the many applications that rely on the highest quality image data. Hamamatsu, a renowned scientific camera manufacturer, provides the ultimate image quality needed for scientific research and pharmaceutical industry in fields such as light-sheet microscopy, high-throughput screening, and histopathology.

In these applications, the generation of large volumes of data leads to low scalability and high costs and complexity of required IT infrastructure. This new partnership enables researchers to capture and preserve higher volumes of quality data, and to make the most of modern processing methods, including AI-based image processing.

In industry and academia, storage budgets grow exponentially every year, the increase of datacenter costs and its CO 2 impact reduce the amount of resources available for research. We have built Jetraw to address all these problems at once, and are very happy to partner with Hamamatsu Photonics to make large image data more reliable and sustainable, and help many wonderful discoveries to happen Eugenia Balysheva, CEO, Dotphoton

Hamamatsu offers advanced imaging technology on the forefront of the development of new and existing scientific applications. Today, Hamamatsus ORCA cameras are compatible with Dotphotons Jetraw software. Thanks to this new partnership, Hamamatsu will be able to support customers in their data management, an additional benefit to the high-sensitivity, fast readout speeds, and low noise delivery of its scientific CMOS cameras.

The Jetraw software provides the highest raw image compression ratio in the market combined with the highest processing speed. That means that Hamamatsu camera users can benefit from the fully preserved raw image data without constraints linked to storage and data transfer speed. Jetraw enables reduction of storage costs by 80%, CO 2 emissions by 73%, and data transfer speed by 5-7x.

At Hamamatsu, our aim is to support customers achieve their ambitions. In the case of our scientific research customers, we understood the need for them to easily share and manage their ever-increasing data creation. Our scientific cameras produce incredibly fast, quantitative imagery that our customers develop at a high volume. Thanks to our new partnership with Dotphoton, we can support our customers one step further by offering them the possibility to reduce their file sizes without ever compromising the quality of their work. We look forward to this collaboration and the exciting possibilities now presented to our customers. Marco Mayer, The Strategic Business Development Manager, Hamamatsu Europe

Jetraw software is available for the range of Hamamatsu ORCA cameras, and can be purchased at the Jetraw.com website. Jetraw is compatible with most popular image processing workflows and enables long-term scalability and reliability of image processing.

Working in developmental biology we need to acquire large time-lapse movies to capture the dynamics of the growing zebrafish embryo. We struggle to interact with our tera-byte size data due to slow data transfer and expensive storage. With Jetraws compression (from 913GB to 115GB per movie, as an example) we solved these issues with the perk of not losing any information on the data even when performing our routine analysis. Arianne Bercowsky, Oates Group, EPFL, Switzerland  a user of a Hamamatsu ORCA-Fusion BT camera within Viventis LS1 Live Light Sheet Microscope System.
In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server, researchers conducted an in vitro analysis to assess the host cell furin-mediated cleavability of spike (S) protein of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron (B.1.529) variant.

They evaluated two S gene mutations, namely, P681H and N679K for their contribution to the furin cleavage site (FCS) activity in Omicron S in comparison to the other SARS-CoV-2 variants and other coronaviruses (CoVs).

Studies have reported that SARS-CoV-2 can be primed for invading the host by the host cell protease furin. Therefore, FCS has been established as a key factor for the pathogenicity of the SARS-CoV-2 variants. The FCS is situated between the S receptor-binding domain (S1) and the fusion domain (S2).

FCS is present among all the circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants. However, the evolution of FCS by replacement of the proline (P681) residue with arginine (R) and histidine (H) in variants such as Delta and Alpha, respectively confers increased transmissibility to the variants.

The Omicron variant has been reported to have less fusogenic potential with reduced S cleavage compared to other variants. However, the furin pattern in Omicron S ectodomain has increased efficiency than that of the prototypic S ectodomain. Detailed information on the process of Omicron S cleavage is lacking.

About the study

In the present study, researchers assessed the furin-mediated cleavage of Omicron S in vitro to determine the role of two S gene mutations, P681H, and N679K in the FCS of Omicron. They also compared the furin cleavability of Omicron S to that of SARS-CoV-2 variants such as Wuhan-Hu-1, Alpha, and Delta and that of other CoVs. The CoVs assessed were Middle East Respiratory Syndrome CoV (MERS-CoV), human CoV (HCoV)-OC43, and HCoV-HKU1.

CoV S sequences were assessed using the probability score-based PiTou V3 and the machine learning algorithm-based ProP 1.0 bioinformatic prediction tools. Fluorogenic peptide cleavage assays were carried out to determine the furin cleavage activity of SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2.

Furin-catalyzed reactions were performed by diluting 1 U/well recombinant furin in a buffer consisting of 0.2 mM -mercaptoethanol, 20 mM HEPES and 0.2 mM calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) at a pH of 7.5. Trypsin-catalyzed reactions were carried out as a positive control, wherein 0.8 nM/well L-1-tosylamido-2-phenylethyl chloromethyl ketone (TPCK) trypsin was diluted using a phosphate buffer saline (PBS). Peptide without protease was suspended in the PBS buffer for use as a negative control. The emitted fluorescence was assessed every minute for an hour by a SpectraMax fluorometer at 30C with emission and excitation wavelengths of 390 nm and 330 nm, respectively.

Results

In this study, the ProP tool predicted substantially greater cleavability of Omicron S by furin compared to the Wuhan-Hu-1, Alpha, and Delta strains. This higher furin-mediated cleavage was due to the presence of the N679K mutation in Omicron S, situated outside the furin binding pocket. The ProP and PiTou tools predicted relatively lower furin activity for MERS-CoV compared to that of HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-HKU1.

For further exploration of the furin cleavability, the peptides were examined using a P7 lysine residue (K) for FCS sequences of B.1 and Delta, containing P681 and P681R and mutations, respectively. The P7 residue demonstrated a noteworthy effect on S cleavability with remarkably greater cleavage activity of B.1 with P7 K compared to Omicron. However, the manner in which this enhanced peptide cleavage translates to cleavage of the entire S protein is yet to be determined.

Conclusion

Overall, the study findings demonstrated that Omicron S has an increased ability to be cleaved by the host cell furin at the S1/S2 position, in contrast to that of previous studies. Further, the N679K mutation significantly impacts the function of SARS-CoV-2 S, especially when combined with changes at other positions such as 681 (H/R).

The authors believe that Omicron has increased furin-mediated S1/S2 cleavability, which is balanced by the epistatic effects of other mutations such as H655Y, S375F, and D614G that drive SARS-CoV-2 infections and viral tropism.

*Important notice

bioRxiv 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.
Dr. T. Diefenbach in his zoom webinar discusses the work he and his colleagues conducted at the Ragon Insitute in Boston where the dynamics of B and T cell populations from post-mortem COVID -19 patients' lymph nodes were analyzed using microscopy and image analysis techniques. This interview for News-Medical is the transcript of the online webinar.

Could you start by providing our readers a brief overview of your research?

The collaborative work of Dr. Shiv Pillai's laboratory at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard focused on examining the dynamics of B and T cell populations in lymph nodes from post-mortem patients infected with COVID-19. My collaborative role in this research was in developing and implementing microscopy and image analysis techniques using methods and instrumentation in part supplied by TissueGnostics.

This research was published in August of 2020 by Dr. Naoki Kaneko et al.. It was a landmark paper insofar as it was the first to examine at the single cell level the structure of germinal centers in lymph nodes and the spleen of COVID-19 patients.

The group here investigated biopsies obtained from post-mortem patients from Brigham Womens Hospital in Boston. These patients fell into two categories: some of them had passed away early (within about ten days of contracting COVID-19), and the remainder had shown progression to between 15/36 days before they passed on.

These samples provided an interesting opportunity to examine the distribution of different T cells and B cell populations within lymph nodes in the context of COVID-19 infection. It was also of interest to investigate the structure of lymph nodes microscopically in a way that revealed something about how the infection alters the tissue distribution of cells and, therefore, potentially impact the strength and duration of the immune response.

What criteria did you develop to qualify or categorize the strength of the immune response?

During an infection, coordinated activation of B and T cells leads to stimulation of germinal center formation through activity of T follicular helper cells, accompanied by Bcl-6-positive B cells populating the germinal center interior.

There were 17 patients in total who were positive for COVID-19, and our investigation focused on distinct Bcl-6+ T and B cell populations compared to control patients that had passed away from other causes.

Early on in the course of the COVID-19 infection, we were surprised to find that the germinal centers were visibly disrupted in both lymph nodes, both in terms of an absence of Bcl-6+ T follicular helper cell (T FH ) differentiation, and in terms of an accompanying reduction in Bcl-6+ B germinal center B cells. These reductions were associated with an increase in T H17 CD4+ T cells, implicating an indirect relationship between increased TH17 cells and reduced T FH and Bcl-6 B cell numbers. In contrast to the significant reduction in CD19-positive B cells, CD3+ T-cells showed less of a reduction. These changes were also correlated in patients showing more severe inflammation (as indicated by blood CRP levels).

The effect of COVID-19 infection on Bcl-6 positive B cells in lymph nodes was also observed in the spleen, with spleen B cells showing similar trends in terms of cell number reductions. These results together suggested a possible contributing mechanism by which long-term humoral immunity might be impaired.

Please could you summarize the equipment and analysis methodology you used to make these discoveries?

Several years ago, we obtained a TissueFAXS slide scanner. This automated slide scanner is equipped with a motorized stage that can scan up to eight slides at a time. We coupled this scanner with a Lumencor Spectra X light engine, which is a light source with six excitation LEDs (light-emitting diodes).

To this light engine I also added a custom LED to provide a 750 nm excitation (near IR) channel. The system was coupled with a Hamamatsu Orca Flash 4 camera as I found it has sufficient spectral sensitivity in the far red of the emission spectrum, meaning we could add far red fluorophores like Alexa Fluor 750 (AF750) quite easily for an additional color channel.

In total the custom filter sets combined with the additional LEDs provided us with 8-10 color channels (fluorescent markers) compared to the typical four (DAPI/FITC/Rhod/Cy5) found on most fluorescence microscopes.

Using this customized color imaging system coupled with the slide scanner, we were able to obtain individual fields of view and stitch them together into one large single image to observe entire regions of tissue, much like a spatial map analogous to a Google Earth view showing how the different cell populations are distributed over large areas throughout the tissue sections.

Image Credit: Dr. T. Diefenbach

How has this setup evolved since its initial implementation?

Since our group employs flow cytometry extensively in the investigation of human blood and tissue biopsy samples, we are often working with 15-28 color marker interrogations of cells, including B cells, T cells, macrophages, NK cells, dendritic cells and so on. Thus, I wanted to further improve the ability of our microscopy approaches to match the color channel flexibility of flow cytometry, and in particular, for our slide scanner to be able to interrogate similar numbers of markers (color channels).

I therefore adopted a more powerful and flexible Spectra 3 light engine from Lumencor so that instead of only six LEDs, we employed eight LEDs, with each excitation channel utlizing 500 mW of power (significantly more than, for example, the lasers on a confocal microscope). This permitted me to further expand the palette of colors that could be utlizied to address cellular markers in tissue.

The improved system incorporates three different imaging modalities and cameras. One camera (a black and white camera) is used for regular epifluorescence imaging with fixed filter sets, a second color camera is employed for white light histological imaging, and the third camera is specialized for multispectral imaging using a tunable LCD. Multispectral imaging involves sampling the fluorescence emissions from the tissue sample in 10 nm increments over a range of 420 to 720 nm to spectrally "profile" the emission curves, and with analysis software, to mathematically "unmix" those overlapping emission curves, so that the individual channels are separated from each other clearly from the original "mix" of color channels (spectral curves).

I was thus able to spectrally profile individual fluorophores in what is called a "Lambda stack" approach with the help of the StrataQuest software to isolate the individual and often over-lapping channels from multiplex-stained tissue, resulting in the ability to observe more cellular markers in tissue and therefore the interactions of those cells in terms of their distributions and contacts.

With this system in place, and with the TissueFAXS image capture software, we were able to observe and separate eight color channels. Our current workflow also permits the separation of many more, even unlimited, color channels through an iterative approach to staining and imaging, and our future goal is to routinely image 28 markers in tissue.

Image Credit: Dr. T. Diefenbach

What other advantages did the ability to image more colors offer to the analysis of lymph node samples?

When we observe a raw, unmixed multispectral image sample - an image that we captured across eight colors  and try to work with this, it has limited use since the color channels are too obscured by spectral overlap.

Thus, profiling the emission of a sample region across the full spectrum and analyzing this with the StrataQuest software interface permitted us to isolate each channel and divide it into its constituent 10-nanometer intervals or bins.

Having that 10 nm resolution also permits us to define the wavelength range over which we are sampling a tissue region. This is helpful in terms of examining regions of interest (ie: background fluorescence, autofluorescence intrinsic to the tissue, in addition to regions with specific immunofluorescence), and we can then use these small "test" regions to refine different analysis parameters, apply those parameters across large tissue regions, or unmix the different channels at the single cell and tissue levels.

For example, if we are examining an eight-color immunostained tissue, we would need eight single-stained controls for each of the fluorophores. Using the StrataQuest software, we can create and store those single staining profiles in a database, including the autofluorescence and background fluorescence, as separate channels. The software will use these stored profiles to build a spectral map of the emission signatures and then mathematically unmix them, yielding pure and isolated fluorescence signals.

One of the benefits of this process and this approach is that we can conceivably look at more than eight fluorescent markers  to even 10, 20, 30 or even more markers. There is essentially an unlimited number of markers we could look at with a technique whereby one can immunostain, image the sample, and then wash off or bleach the markers, then re-stain, image, and repeat, all in a slide-scanning format.

One approach is to utilize washable dyes, or using Tyramide signal amplification (TSA) which permits multiplexing (repeated staining and dye removal protocols).

How does the use of removable markers help to improve imaging and analysis of cells in COVID-19 patients? How does the StrataQuest software help in this process?

By using these removable markers (removed using washing, bleaching or microwaving) in these repetitive rounds of staining and imaging, we can build up a spatial map of cell populations in specific and spatially relevant tissue regions. Each single round of scanning could employ anywhere from 8 markers (no spectral unmixing) to 10 or more (with spectral unmixing).

Although, in using such an interative multiplexed approach, one does not necessarily need a multispectral imaging system. Instead, one can simply use a regular epifluorescence microscope and multiplexed markers to repeat the stain/image/wash process and sequentially build a spatial marker map. Whatever the goal might be, we have found the StrataQuest software to possess the flexibility in terms of being able to incorporate markers and emission profiles utilizing either multiplexing or spectral unmixing.

As part of building the spectral map, we employ within the StrataQuest software an addition tool referred to as "cross correlation" or a technique of tissue registration which precisely aligns separate scans of the same tissue section in xy space. For example, we may have a scan with a specific marker set A, and then we can do another stain of the same tissue section with a marker set B, and perform a second scan of that same tissue, and then we are able to combine the two marker A and B scan sets in the StrataQuest software and align them at the single cell level during the registration process to combine the marker sets in an iterative process.

The software therefore permits one to overlap these images at the single-cell level, building up a map of markers without having to do multispectral imaging, and examining co-localization of numerous cellular markers (such as proteins of interest) in a very efficient manner. Indeed, this approach is amenable even if one has only a single marker such as Alexa Fluor 488 (equivalent to FITC) and wishes to build an iterative marker map.

Multispectral imaging becomes important when dealing with markers such as the Opal dyes, or fluorescent proteins like GFP or mCherry, which have much broader emission profiles and therefore more spectral overlap, or when dealing with the need to profile natural autofluorescence or marker background fluorescence in liver tissue, intestine or colon tissue, or brain tissue. Often such tissues have more autofluorescence in the blue and green parts of the spectrum, so that multispectral imaging permits one to profile that autofluorescence and effectively remove it, leaving only the specific marker fluorescence profiles.

Image Credit: Dr. T. Diefenbach

Where does the use of confocal imaging lie within this instrument setup, and what advantages does this offer?

Another imaging modality that we employ in our study is the spinning disc confocal version of the TissueFAXS slide scanner. A typical confocal microscope can only look at one slide at a time, making it very time-consuming. The TissueFAXS Confocal permits us to look at up to 120 slides at a time and automate the scanning in a high-throughput manner. In addition, each slide can also have its own experimental profile, for example, fluorescence, confocal, brightfield or even 3D stacks in confocal. Confocal imaging utilizes pinholes to isolate the emission of light from a narrow optical section width at the focal plane of the tissue sample, thereby excluding the out-of-focus "blur" from above and below the focal plane that can reduce image contrast and effective resolution.

In addition, I was able to modify the TissueFAXS SQL confocal system to perform automated, high-throughput oil immersion confocal imaging with high numerical aperture objectives such as 63x or 100x, which is often necessary for high-resolution imaging of single cells in culture situations . This is thus a very versatile, efficient and high-throughput imaging platform.

We have used this confocal system to investigate and scan marmoset lymph nodes, generating a 3D z-stack (a sequential set of images captured in the vertical plane) from that tissue session. When looking at the follicles within the lymph nodes, it was apparent that some of these have a polarized or distinct distribution of B cells and T cells, with some cells on one end of the follicle and some on the other. In contrast, follicles that are more centrally located in the lymph nodes have more uniform distributions of B cells and T-cells. This observation, however, was not examined in detail or published by our group, but is known in the literature, and our imaging platform could also be used to characterize such follicles even in an automated way using the StrataQuest software (it can identify cells based on density within the tissue in addition to biomarker localization). The polarized segregation of these cell populations within lymph node follicles suggests cellular dynamics at the population level perhaps subserving a functional relevance that could be examined over the course of an infection.

Typically for imaging on this system, we can automate the scanning of six lymph nodes per slide, for at least 20 slides, and image these overnight. On a typical confocal microscope, this same slide set would take a technician two weeks of work since most confocal systems only permit one slide (tissue section) to be imaged at a time (and then the operator has to physically change the slide and set up another scan).

Such automated high-throughput slide scanning has a wide range of practical applications. There was one instance where we had an investigator looking for a rare type of T cells  essentially one in every ten thousand T cells and thus a very rare phenotype in cell culture. This required the scanning of over 32 million cells overnight in order to obtain a few hundred positive phenotypes, but we were successful in obtaining enough of the rare cells sufficient for analysis.

Another investigator was seeking stem cells in pancreatic islets. Out of 100 eyelets, potentially just one of them might have a single stem cell. Thus, being able to rapidly scan very large tissue regions means we were able to isolate these very rare stem cells and other events that practically in any other way would not be amenable to study.

We have also applied this high resolution automated scanning procedure to cell cultures such as human macrophages that were infected with HIV. Indeed, the primary goal of our institute to develop a vaccine and therapeutic cure for AIDS.

How does one efficiently isolate cells in densely populated tissue for analysis?

To isolate cell populations within tissues, we have to first create separate color channels for the fluorophores (which each have their own unique emission profiles). The software will examine those channels in isolation and create "masks", namely 2D representations of each cell based on its fluorescence intensity. For example, the DAPI (cell nucleus) channel is imaged in black and white initially because we assign color to these channels using the TissueFAXS and StrataQuest software, so that we can look at co-localization (spatial overlap) of cellular markers based on the overlap of fluorescence signal intensities within these masks.

The next stage of the analysis process involves segmentation, for example, to look at first at the nuclei based on DAPI staining to determine the location of individual cells. Then, the software looks radially outwards in the other marker color channels to create additional masks of the cellular cytoplasm around the cell nuclei, and in this way we can profile specific types of cells based on the cytoplasmic masks and their respective intensities in the different color channels.

Once these cells have been segmented, they are defined with respect to each other spatially to further isolate them in densely populated tissue, and then they can be further examined in terms of, for example, the contact of cells with one another in tissue, which provides in fixed tissue a sort of snapshot in time of the dynamics of those cells.

The StrataQuest analysis software we use supports this process by generating scatter plots of the cell "events" or populations based on marker profiles, similar to what one performs during flow cytometry, in which one can isolate double-positive cells (based on marker overlap, or in this case, colocalization) to generate thresholds, or levels above which the average intensity of a fluorescent marker is said to be "positive" or specific to that cell. We can then pick a data point or event, and then the software will backwards gate visually to that cell. We are also able to visually inspect all the cells that are above a particular threshold, and therefore represent part of a "positive" population.

Using such analysis techniques, we can then delineate the boundaries of the cells (the perimeters of the cellular masks), for example, and then quantify how many other cells any given cell might be in contact with at a given time.

Thus, even though we are looking at fixed (preserved) tissue with immobile cells, we are able to create a snapshot or picture of cell-to-cell interactions, and piece together the dynamics of cells over time during an infection (depending on the time after infection the tissue was harvested). As a result, we can also compare regions of tissue that we can either manually or with automated algorithms provided by the software outline in 2D space, and develop applications in StrataQuest to identify tissue structures such as germinal centers based on their cell density or marker profiles. In this way we were able to examine cell-to-cell interactions and compare them both inside germinal centers and in regions adjacent to or outside those centers. This then helps one to build a spatiotemporal map of cell interactions within tissues.

Image Credit: TissueGnostics

Are there future applications you envision for addressing cell identity and cellular interactions in diseased tissues?

When looking at cell markers, we are typically addressing plasma membrane surface or intracellular proteins in the cytoplasm, which can include transcription factors and their impact on cell function. However, there is a significant push towards addressing at the single cell level the genetic profile of cells in tissue, and this presents additional challenges that we have been working on.

For example, we are already routinely using the TissueFAXS system as an RNAScope, enabling us to work with RNA profiling at the single cell level in tissue. This requires precise imaging of the RNA fluorescent "points" in tissue at the subcellular level.

We have even employed the TissueFAXS SQL confocal system to image fluorescently-marked individual DNA nucleotides (A, G, T and C) within cell cytoplasm. In this way, we are moving towards constructing a spatial genomic map at the single cell level using a type of iterative imaging which will permit us to profile cells genetically in situ in the context of where they are in tissue, and also in terms of the other cells they come into proximity with.

By way of acknowledgement, the software development team at TissueGnostics has been consistently and extremely helpful in providing assistance with software and applications development, so as to permit us to tailor our analysis needs to the research goals at hand, and we are constantly moving forward with such goals to resolve cellular dynamics in tissue.

About Dr. Thomas Diefenbach

Dr. Diefenbach received his PhD in neuroscience from the University of Alberta, in Alberta, Canada, and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Utah Medical School, as well as at Tufts University Medical School. He has served as manager of an imaging facility at Boston Childrens Hospital as well as a Harvard Instructor of Neurology and Cardiology, and also worked at MIT in the Research Laboratory of Electronics. Dr. Diefenbach is currently a Platform Scientist and Senior Research Laboratory Manager at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard.

About TissueGnostics

TissueGnostics (TG) is an Austrian company focusing on integrated solutions for high content and/or high throughput scanning and analysis of biomedical, veterinary, natural sciences and technical microscopy samples.

TG was founded by scientists from the Vienna University Hospital (AKH) in 2003. It is now a globally active company with subsidiaries in the EU, the USA and China and customers in 28 countries.

TG systems offer integrated workflows, i.e. scan and analysis, for digital slides or images of tissue sections, Tissue Microarrays (TMA), cell culture monolayers, smears and of other samples on slides and oversized slides, in Microtiter plates, Petri dishes and specialized sample containers.

Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments.
Women who were pregnant during the recent Omicron surge were diagnosed with COVID-19 at a much higher rate than during previous phases of the pandemic, but were less likely to develop severe illness, a study by UT Southwestern and Parkland Health scientists found. The research, reported in JAMA, is the first published evidence documenting how the boom in COVID-19 cases late last year and early this year impacted the health of pregnant women.

Obstetrics never stopped during the pandemic. Women are still having babies and coming in for their prenatal care. It's important to understand how this virus behaves in the population we serve." Emily Adhikari, M.D., Study Leader, Assistant Professor and Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist at UTSW and Medical Director of Perinatal Infectious Diseases at Parkland Health

Dr. Adhikari explained that respiratory infections, including COVID-19, are as infectious to pregnant women as they are in the general population. However, their effects can be far more severe due to the physiologic changes that occur in pregnancy: While a woman's lung capacity decreases about 20-30% during later pregnancy, oxygen consumption increases significantly as the fetus grows.

Although previous research, including a study at UTSW, had shown that hospitalizations of pregnant women increased during the Delta wave of COVID-19, no research had yet quantified severity of the Omicron variant in this population.

Toward this end, Dr. Adhikari, along with colleagues in Women and Infants Specialty Health at Parkland and in the Departments of Pathology and Pediatrics at UT Southwestern, gathered data from patients who received prenatal care at Parkland Health, the Dallas County system encompassing a centralized acute care hospital and 10 community-based prenatal clinics. The researchers collected information on positive cases and whether their illness was severe  meaning the patient required supplemental oxygen or higher-level support such as high-flow nasal cannula, mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (a type of life support that temporarily replaces heart and lung function)  spanning May 17, 2020 to Jan. 29, 2022.

Dr. Adhikari and her colleagues found that 2,641 positive cases were diagnosed during this time period, which covered a pre-Delta phase, the Delta surge, and the Omicron surge. Their analysis showed that during the Delta surge, the case rate was three times higher than during the pre-Delta period. The case rate during the Omicron surge was 10 times higher than the pre-Delta period. However, while Delta cases were about three times more severe than pre-Delta cases, Omicron cases were about 80% less severe, Dr. Adhikari said.

She noted that although vaccination might have played a role in decreasing the severity of illness, this variable was accounted for, suggesting that differences may be due to other factors, such as the behavior of the particular SARS-CoV-2 variant or immunity from prior infection. Because the future of the pandemic remains uncertain, Dr. Adhikari added, vaccination will be key to helping pregnant women stay healthy if the next variant causes more severe illness.

"We're very lucky that although Omicron caused more cases than Delta, it was a less severe variant. If the same portion of positive patients had ended up on oxygen or ventilators, we would have been overwhelmed," Dr. Adhikari said. "We have no control over the nature of the next variant, but pregnant women do have control over whether to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, which has been proven to help prevent severe illness and spread."

Other researchers who contributed to this study include Jeffrey A. SoRelle, Jessica Morse, Jessica Pruszynski, and Catherine Y. Spong, all of UT Southwestern; and Lorre MacDonald of Parkland Health.

Dr. SoRelle is the inventor of the genotyping PCR tests for variants and is entitled to income from their use.
Anxiety disorders and chronic insomnia are the two most common psychiatric conditions. Unfortunately, there is not enough knowledge about the underlying causes to be able to better treat these conditions. This is now going to change. A team of sleep researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Amsterdam University Medical Centre will study the disorders not separately from each other, as has been done so far, but together.

When one sees how often anxiety and insomnia occur together, it is actually strange how separately these disorders have been studied and treated so far. There is also a strong overlap in experienced complaints. People feel tense, stressed, 'hyper'. This is also measurable in the activity of the brain and other organs. Overcoming these unbearable symptoms can be done better if we do not artificially separate day and night." 'Sleep Professor' Eus van Someren

Prestigious grant

To achieve better treatment, the European Research Council (ERC) of the European Commission made the exceptional decision to award its most prestigious grant, the 'ERC Advanced Grant' to Van Someren for the second time. His research team has been trying for years to improve treatment of insomnia and to prevent its adverse consequences for mental health. Their discoveries have made the Netherlands the international leader in the field of fundamental research into insomnia.

Together with patients

Via slaapregister.nl, - a Dutch website for recruiting volunteers for sleep research - his team is looking for research participants who, in addition to their poor sleep, also have complaints of anxiety, stress or emotion regulation. Thousands of people can contribute to the research by filling in questionnaires. Hundreds of them can also take measurements of their brain activity before, during and after sleep in the comfort of their own bed. Treatments will also be tried out, including innovative medication. Van Someren expects that people will find it easier to control their anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms if they sleep better.

Van Someren: "From my many conversations with patients, psychologists, psychiatrists, somnologists and researchers, I have noticed time and again how difficult it apparently is to get past pigeonholing. Being 'upset' always includes a whole range of things that are not going well, physically and emotionally. For better understanding and treatment, we really need to leave pigeonholing behind. I am very happy that, thanks to this grant, my fantastic team can make great strides in achieving this.

European Research Council

The European Research Council (ERC) is part of the European Commission. The ERC awards grants for pioneering research to a select number of excellent scientists. It is exceptional that Van Someren has now been awarded this most prestigious grant for the second time. His previously awarded project (2015) has yielded many innovative and applicable insights. Thanks to that project, we now have a better understanding of why insomnia can lead to depression and how we can prevent it.
For individuals in a committed relationship, there is a well-established two-way association between relationship quality and each partner's mental health. But what exactly about relationships shapes mental health? And which direction is stronger - from mental health to relationship quality or relationship quality to mental health?

A new study from the University of Illinois and the University of Georgia sought to answer those questions by investigating associations between relationship factors and depressive symptoms among African American couples.

"This study aims to really understand what is it about relationship quality that seems to influence individuals' depressive symptoms, concurrently and over time. Relationship quality is a very broad term, and we wanted to look at more specific processes," says Allen Barton, assistant professor and Extension specialist in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at U of I and lead author on the paper, published in the Journal of Family Psychology.

The researchers surveyed 174 African American couples (348 individuals) four times over a 25-month period. The couples were part of a larger study on a family-centered relationship intervention program, selected from the control group that did not receive the intervention for the duration of the study. All couples were either married or cohabitating, and they were co-parenting at least one pre-adolescent child. All couples lived in rural Georgia and were mostly low-income families.

In the current study, the authors examined the effects of three aspects of relationship quality - relationship satisfaction, ineffective arguing, and partner support - and their respective associations with depressive symptoms over time. Effects were considered in comparison to levels of other individuals ("between-person") as well as fluctuations relative to individuals' average levels ("within-person").

The authors found between individuals, higher relationship satisfaction and lower levels of ineffective arguing were associated fewer depressive symptoms, consistent with prior research. However, when looking at patterns of change over time within individuals, only partner support emerged as a significant factor.

When an individual experienced higher than typical levels of partner support, relative to their personal average, they reported decreases in depressive symptoms over the next eight months. And conversely when an individual reported higher than average levels of depressive symptoms, they reported decreased partner support over time." Allen Barton, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, U of I

While the association between relationship factors and mental health goes both ways, the researchers found one direction to be more influential than the other.

"Our results also indicated partner support had a stronger effect on changes in depressive symptoms over time than depressive symptoms had on changes in partner support. The causal direction is stronger from relationships to mental health than the other way around," Barton says.

These findings have implications for research and practice.

"As researchers, we need to be methodologically rigorous in thinking about change over time. When working with complex bidirectional associations, we have to make sure we have the right modeling to be able to make causal inferences," Barton notes.

"For practitioners, these findings suggest partner support is a very relevant construct to target that influences mental health for individuals in a committed relationship. When looking to help couples, strengthening the sense of their partner being there for them, and they can turn to their partner in times of need, seems to have positive effects immediately and over time," he explains.

"Relationships and mental health are complex issues. When someone has mental health concerns, fixing their relationship will not necessarily be exhaustive. But our study provides strong evidence that relationship factors do influence mental health."

Barton notes there may be unique factors pertaining to minority couples, who often encounter external stress factors that could influence both relationship quality and mental health.

"Although not the focus of this research, it is possible partner support is particularly influential for African American couples because of specific challenges they face, such as racial discrimination and other stressors. It's a question for future research to show whether these findings hold across other populations," he says.

Barton is director of the Illinois Strong Couples project, an online research-based program offered in partnership with University of Illinois Extension. Couples seeking relationship assistance can sign up online to participate in the program, which is free of charge for qualifying couples in Illinois and other states.

The Department of Human Development and Family Studies is in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois.
Palestine question should not be sidelined: Chinese envoy

Xinhua) 14:56, April 26, 2022

UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- As the question of Palestine always lies at the heart of the Middle East issue, it should not be sidelined, let alone forgotten, regardless of the evolution of the international situation, said a Chinese envoy on Monday.

On this matter, what is lacking is not a grand and fair plan, but rather the courage for action. The fundamental reason for repeated escalation is that the legitimate national rights of the Palestinians have not been realized and the two-state solution has not been put into practice, said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

Recently, Palestinian-Israeli tensions have witnessed a new round of escalation. China condemns all attacks against civilians and opposes all violations of the historic status quo of religious holy sites, he told a Security Council meeting.

"The security of Israel and Palestine is interdependent and indivisible. If one side's security is established at the expense of the other side's security, it is impossible to break the cycle of violence or resolve the security conundrum," he said. "Only by upholding the common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security concept, can peaceful co-existence be realized."

China calls on all parties, in particular Israel, to exercise restraint, and prevent the situation from escalating further or even going out of control, he said.

China supports continued communication between UN Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland and Israel, Palestine, and other parties to push for de-escalation. China supports the Arab League and Arab countries in playing their active roles. The Security Council should take very seriously the current situation and the call of Arab states, and take urgent actions and speak with one voice, thus playing its due role, said Zhang.

Settlements break the contiguity of occupied territories, squeeze the living space of the Palestinian people, and jeopardize the prospects of realizing a two-state solution. China urges Israel to stop the demolitions of Palestinian homes, stop the evictions of Palestinians, stop the expansion of settlements, and to create conditions for the development of Palestinian communities in the West Bank, he said.

China hopes that Palestine and Israel can continue their high-level engagement for an earlier relaunch of dialogue on an equal footing. China calls on the international community to make great efforts based on relevant UN resolutions and international consensus, such as the land-for-peace principle, so as to advance the Middle East peace process, he said.

China supports the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent state of Palestine based on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital, supports the peaceful co-existence of Palestine and Israel and the common development of the Arab people and the Jewish people. Along with the international community, China will continue its tireless efforts toward a comprehensive and just solution, he said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
(Newser)  Johnny Depp wrapped up four days of testimony Thursday by continuing to deny that he had ever hit ex-wife Amber Heardand by saying he was the real victim of domestic abuse. The actor responded "Yes" when one of his lawyers asked him if had been "a victim of domestic violence," Deadline reports. He said he had filed the $50 million libel lawsuit against Heard to "fight back" against the damage her allegations had caused to his reputation. Heard, who is countersuing for $100 million, is expected to testify this week. More:

Audio clips. Much of Monday's cross-examination involved Heard's lawyer playing audio clips, including some in which Depp called Heard degrading names, and reading text messages, the AP reports. In one recording, Depp said that if he didn't walk away from the argument, it would be a "bloodbath." In another, Heard says Depp should "Tell them, I, Johnny Depp, I'm a victim of domestic abuse ... and see how many people believe or side with you."

"The only person I've ever abused is myself." Heard's lawyers focused on Depp's history of substance abuse, arguing that he could be violent when drunk or on drugs. "If anyone had a problem with my drinking, at any time in my life, it was me," Depp said, per the BBC. "The only person I've ever abused in my life is myself."

Heard's lawyers focused on Depp's history of substance abuse, arguing that he could be violent when drunk or on drugs. "If anyone had a problem with my drinking, at any time in my life, it was me," Depp said, per the BBC. "The only person I've ever abused in my life is myself." Depp denies threatening self-harm. In another clip, Depp asks Heard to cut him with a knife and says he will do it if she doesn't. He testified Monday that he was "broken" at the time, Global News reports. He said he wasn't threatening self-harm, but had asked Heard to "spill my blood because that was the only thing she didnt have at that point."

He blames texts on Monty Python . Depp said suggestions he made in a 2013 exchange of texts with actor Paul Bettany, including burning and drowning Heard, were taken "directly" from a Monty Python sketch about burning witches, the BBC reports. "This is a film we'd all watch when we were 10it's just irreverent and abstract humor," he said.

. Depp said suggestions he made in a 2013 exchange of texts with actor Paul Bettany, including burning and drowning Heard, were taken "directly" from a Monty Python sketch about burning witches, the BBC reports. "This is a film we'd all watch when we were 10it's just irreverent and abstract humor," he said. Judge tells fans to maintain order or be thrown out. People reports that Judge Penney Azcarate, who is overseeing the Virginia trial, told some of the Depp fans in the courtroom that they would be kicked out if they couldn't behave properly. The warning came after several fans laughed at Depp's answer to a question on what movies he had starred in. "I'm so pathetic when it comes to knowing what movies I've done," Depp said. "I'm sorry. I just, I don't watch them. I feel better not watching them. What was the question again?"

(Read more Johnny Depp stories.)
(Newser)  The parents of Tyre Sampson, who was killed in a fall from a ride in Orlando, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against ICON Park, the ride's owner and manufacturer, and others. The 14-year-old from St. Louis died last month after falling from the 430-foot Free Fall ride. The suit brought by Nekia Dodd and Yarnell Sampson accuses the defendants, including the construction contractor that built the ride, of negligence, WESH reports. The suit says it seeks damages of more than $30,000, in compliance with state's wrongful death law.

"The defendants in Tyre's case showed negligence in a multitude of ways," said Ben Crump, a lawyer for the teenager's father. Most similar rides elsewhere have a harness and a seat belt, the suit says, while the Free Fall attraction has no seat belt. Adding one would cost $22 per seat, the filing says. An outside investigation found the harness on Tyre Sampson's seat had been improperly adjusted, making it unsafe. "Tyre had a long and prosperous life in front of him that was cut short by this tragic event," the suit says, per NBC News. Representatives for the defendants made no immediate comment. (Read more amusement parks stories.)
(Newser)  Bridget Brink, a veteran foreign service officer who has spent most of her career in the shadow of the former Soviet Union, has been nominated by President Biden to serve as the US ambassador to Ukraine as the country fends off a Russian invasion that's entered its third month. The nomination comes as US officials say American diplomats will soon return to Kyiv, which they evacuated when the war began, the AP reports. Ukrainian forces have since successfully defended the city, and most of the fighting has shifted toward the eastern part of the country.

Daniel Fried, a former US ambassador to Poland who has known Brink for years, described her as "not reckless, but fearless," and expects she'll be eager to get to Kyiv. "And if you tell her it's dangerous, shell be like, 'Yeah, so?'" he said. Brink is currently the ambassador to Slovakia. She's married to a foreign service officer, Nicholas Higgins, who has worked around the world. Biden's selection comes after a lengthy delay. Although the president has moved to fill other diplomatic posts around the world, he waited more than a year after taking office before settling on Brink, then nearly three more months for Monday's announcement.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Brink's nomination is "terrific news at a critical moment." He added that the Senate will prioritize confirmation. Although Brink earned praise from some Republicans, others questioned why it took so long to name her. A spokeswoman for Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said he's been calling on the president to nominate someone for months. The last Senate-approved ambassador to Ukraine was Marie Yovanovitch, who was pushed out by then-President Trump in 2019.

(Read more US ambassador stories.)
(Newser)  A woman stranded in a remote, snowy forest for six days survived with just a six-pack of yogurt to eat, and was rescued last week in northern California. Sheena Gullett, 52, was driving with Justin Lonich, 48, to the unincorporated community of Little Valley on April 14 when their vehicle got stuck in snow on the dirt roads off Highway 44, the Guardian reports. They spent the night in the car and woke up to find the battery was dead, so they left to try to reach the highway by foot. After the soles of Gullett's boots fell off and she dropped behind, Lonich couldn't see her in the heavy snowfall, and they got separated, ABC 10 reports.

He built a shelter and a campfire that night, found a gravel road the following day, then sheltered overnight again before finally reaching the highway on April 17 and getting a ride to Susanville, where he told authorities Gullett was stranded. A ground and air search followed, and Gullett even saw a helicopter fly overhead at one point, but it couldn't see her location through the thick forest. Finally, on April 20, a sheriff's sergeant found the stranded vehiclewith Gullett inside and alive. She'd rationed the food, eating one container of yogurt per day, and drank melted snow; she was emotional but physically unharmed. She is now back home. (Read more uplifting news stories.)
(Newser)  The Michigan police officer who killed Patrick Lyoya with a shot to the head has been with the Grand Rapids department for seven years, after starring as a pole vaulter at a small college and marrying his longtime girlfriend during a church mission trip to Africa. Christopher Schurrs name had been circulating since his face was seen in videos of the April 4 confrontation with Lyoya, a Black man. But his identity wasnt publicly acknowledged until Monday when the police chief changed course and released it, three days after passionate demands at the funeral of the 26-year-old native of Congo, the AP reports. Chief Eric Winstrom said he was acting in the interest of transparency, to reduce ongoing speculation, and to avoid any further confusion," though no other information about Schurr's service with the department was released.

Lyoya, who was unarmed, was face down on the ground when he was shot in the back of the head, moments after a traffic stop in Michigan's second-largest city. Schurr was on top of him and can be heard on video demanding that he take his hand off the white officers Taser. A forensic pathologist who conducted an autopsy at the familys request said the gun was pressed to Lyoyas head when he was shot. Lyoya's family wants Schurr, who is currently off the job while state police investigate the shooting, fired and charged. Prosecutor Chris Becker said he's waiting for the state police report. I want to do the right thing. But I realize even if I do the right thing, there is a segment of the population that is not going to be happy, Becker told MLive.com.

The police department's decision to reveal Schurr's name was a reversal. After the release of video of the shooting, Winstrom insisted he would withhold the officers name unless he was charged with a crime. It was described as a long-standing practice that applied to the public as well as city employees. But Lyoya's family and Black leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, repeatedly pressed for it, including at Lyoya's funeral, which drew 1,000 people Friday. We want his name! Sharpton shouted, saying authorities cannot set a precedent of withholding the names of officers who kill people unless the officer is charged. Schurr has not responded to the AP's attempts to get in touch; a Twitter account with his name has no associated tweets, and a Facebook page with his name appears to have been taken down.

(Read more Patrick Lyoya stories.)
(Newser)  After visiting Ukraine over the weekend, US defense chief Lloyd Austin declared that he wants to see "Russia weakened to the degree that it cant do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine, per the Wall Street Journal. It was no off-the-cuff comment, writes David Sanger in a New York Times analysis. Instead, it was a "carefully orchestrated" statement that signals a shift in America's role in the conflict, he writes. No, President Biden will not send ground troops or impose a no-fly zone that could lead to direct confrontation. But the US is getting more aggressive about trying to undermine Russia's military indirectlythrough sanctions, notablyand the change could have long-term implications.

"By casting the American goal as a weakened Russian military, Mr. Austin and others in the Biden administration are becoming more explicit about the future they see: years of continuous contest for power and influence with Moscow that in some ways resembles what President John F. Kennedy termed the 'long twilight struggle' of the Cold War," writes Sanger. One big risk, as spelled out by think-tank analyst James Arroyo, "is that degrade Russian military power could easily shift into a degradation of Russia as a power generallyand that (Vladimir) Putin will use that to stoke nationalism.

Meanwhile, as the US and the West ramp up aid to Ukraine, Russian diplomat Sergei Lavrov is warning not of a new Cold War but of World War III, complete with nuclear weapons. The risk is serious, real. It should not be underestimated, Lavrov said in a state-TV interview in Russia Monday night, per the Journal. Under no circumstances should a third world war be allowed to happen, he said. "There can be no winners in a nuclear war. He accused NATO of "going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy. (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.)
(Newser)  A Dollar Tree manager whose "help wanted" sign went viral for the wrong reasons is now out of a job. The story is out of Bremen, Indiana, where WNDU reports that an apparently peeved manager posted the following message on his store's front door: "I apologize for us closing AGAIN. My 2 new cashiers quit because I said their boyfriends couldnt stand here for their entire shift," it begins. Followed by the part that caused the most trouble: "Don't hire Gen Z's. They dont know what work actually means. NOW HIRING! *Baby Boomers ONLY, thanks!" As BestLife notes, an image of the sign went viral on Reddit and generated a robust discussion.

The problem for the manager is that Dollar Tree's corporate honchos got wind of it and very quickly distanced the company from the hiring stance. "We are aware that an unauthorized sign was posted at our store for a brief period of time," says Randy Guiler, one of chain's VPs. "The handwritten message was absolutely not approved by or condoned by our company." He also confirmed that the unnamed manager is no longer a Dollar Tree employee. For the record, the Pew Research Center defines Gen Z as those born from 1997 to 2012, per WDBJ7. (An earlier version of this story suggested the sign could run afoul of federal hiring rules; federal law prohibits age discrimination of those 40 and older.)
(Newser)  The quirky dance-pop outfit The B-52s are hitting the road one last time for a final tour this summer that will roam from coast to coast. The band out of Athens, Ga., burst onto the new-wave scene in 1979 with songs like "Rock Lobster" and cracked the pop charts in the late 80s with the party classics "Love Shack" and Roam." The group also is the subject of a documentary to be released in 2023 directed by Craig Johnson and produced by Fred Armisen.

Their North American farewell tour will visit nearly a dozen cities across the US, kicking off Aug. 22 in Seattle and ending Nov. 12 in Atlanta. Stops include Boston, Chicago, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. Details here. Supporting the band will be The Tubes or KC & the Sunshine Band. "Who knew what started as a way to have some fun and play music for our friends at house parties in Athens in 1977 would evolve into over 45 years of making music and touring the world. It's been cosmic," said co-founder Kate Pierson in a statement.

(Read more B-52s stories.)
(Newser)  While conservatives and site co-founder Jack Dorsey, among others, are celebrating Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter, a lot of users are talking about moving on to less Musky pastures. The hashtag #leavingtwitter was trending on the site Tuesday as users debated what changes Musk might make to Twitter and several celebrities announced their departures. More:



The new "moving to Canada." Adario Strange at Quartz likens threats to leave Twitter to the rarely fulfilled promises to move to Canada often heard after elections. "Given the lack of large-scale alternatives to Twitter, vows to depart the platform are likely just as superficial, for now," Strange predicts.

Celebrity departures . Newsweek has a list of celebrities who have quit Twitter or announced their intention to, including civil rights activist Shaun King and British actress Jameela Jamil. George Takei and Rob Reiner are among those have declared they will be staying despite the looming Musk takeover.

. Newsweek has a list of celebrities who have quit Twitter or announced their intention to, including civil rights activist Shaun King and British actress Jameela Jamil. George Takei and Rob Reiner are among those have declared they will be staying despite the looming Musk takeover. LGBTQ users are disheartened. Musk's controversial activity on Twitter has included mocking transgender people. Some LGBTQ users, worried that the looser moderation policies Musk advocate will lead to a rise in harassment and hate speech, say they're now considering leaving the platform, the Hill reports. "Weve seen in other cases absolute free speech platforms often fail because of the fact that it chases everybody else away, says activist Erin Reed. "If Twitter goes down that route, I can see it doing the exact same thing."

Some are seeking alternatives. Alternatives to Twitter trended on Twitter Monday, but users seeking new platforms had mixed success, with the CounterSocial social network quickly crashing under the weight of new traffic, Bloomberg reports. Vice looks at other alternatives including Mastodon, Pillowfort, Tumblr, Spacehey, and Neocities, which is modeled on Web 1.0 favorite Geocities.

Alternatives to Twitter trended on Twitter Monday, but users seeking new platforms had mixed success, with the CounterSocial social network quickly crashing under the weight of new traffic, Bloomberg reports. Vice looks at other alternatives including Mastodon, Pillowfort, Tumblr, Spacehey, and Neocities, which is modeled on Web 1.0 favorite Geocities. Big swings in follower counts. After the Musk buyout was announced, some users saw big swings in follower counts, with conservatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ted Cruz gaining followers and progressives like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez losing followers, Forbes reports. But the trend wasn't universal: Joe Biden gained more than 26,000 followers.

(Read more Twitter stories.)
(Newser)  Baby Brandon is safe in San Jose. Details were scant Tuesday afternoon, but police say a 3-month-old infant who was kidnapped on Monday has been found, reports the San Jose Mercury News. The baby, Brandon Cuellar, appears to be fine but was being taken to a hospital as a precaution. Police also say three suspects are in custody. Brandon was being watched by his grandmother at her apartment when he was taken in the afternoon. We do believe this was planned," Sgt. Christian Camarillo said at a press conference before the news of the baby's recovery had been announced. "He showed up with the baby carrier, took the baby, and placed it in the carrier."

Police also said that a woman who was with the grandmother at the time of the abduction gave conflicting stories during questioning. None of the suspects were immediately identified. NBC Bay Area reports that a woman called police when she spotted a suspicious van with a baby carrier inside. The grandmother told police the abduction happened after she brought Brandon inside after returning from grocery shopping. She went back out to her vehicle to unload groceries, and the baby was gone when she returned. Police earlier released surveillance video of a suspect described as a Latino male carrying Brandon in a baby carrier. A million thank yous to all who assisted, police tweeted. (Read more kidnapping stories.)
(Newser)  A missing cat turned up in the most impossible-seeming of places: on an offshore oil rig in the North Sea. How the catwhose microchip revealed him to be named Dexter and who had been missing for five yearsended up off the coast of Scotland is only partly a mystery. The Guardian reports he was found in a shipping container that had come from Peterhead. The cat is believed to be a stray that roamed the area around Peterhead prison in Aberdeenshire; the prison staffers who fed him called him One-eyed Joe.

How he ended up in the container is unclear, but Dexter was reunited with his owner after the oil rig workers contacted the Scottish SPCA on Thursday, fed him chicken from the canteen, and had him flown to Aberdeen on Friday. The BBC describes Bridie Dorta as "delighted" to have him back, though unsurprisingly "quite shocked." Dorta described the cat as a longtime "wanderer" who "went away a few years ago and we never heard anything about him since. We never expected him to end up back here." (This cat was thought to be killed with its owner but turned up three years later.)
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, has directed the Civil Service Bureau to transfer the annual leave surplus to frontline health professionals and other support staff.

The bureau was also directed to transfer the excess annual leave for employees whose annual leave balance exceeded 75 days on 31 December 2021.

This came following the weekly Cabinet meeting chaired by HRH Prince Salman yesterday at Gudaibiya Palace.

The Cabinet extended its congratulations to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and the citizens of Bahrain on the occasion of the upcoming Eid Al-Fitr holiday.

To mark the coming Bahraini Press Day and World Press Freedom Day, the Cabinet wished media professionals and journalists success and highlighted the active role of media in supporting Bahrains national development.

For Labour Day, the Cabinet emphasised the dedication and contribution of the Kingdoms workforce to Bahrains successful achievements, which has increased their attractiveness to employers.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Crown Princes International Scholarship Program (CPISP) has started the assessment process for 1,254 scholarship applicants from governmental and private schools, and Bahrainis studying abroad. The program cooperated with Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) to assess candidates English language and critical reasoning skills.

CPISP Director of Finance and Administration Affairs Shatha Ahmed Ali noted that the assessment included a computer-based test of English Proficiency, in addition to three critical reasoning tests to assess verbal, numerical, and diagrammatical reasoning.

For applicants currently studying outside of Bahrain, the program arranged for applicants to take the tests under supervised conditions at an appropriate location. Ali highlighted that the next step will be to select a minimum of 60 candidates based on the results of the qualifying tests and their Grade Point Average (GPA). The candidates will then undergo various training and preparation courses for standardised testing throughout the summer and the next academic year until the final 10 recipients, five males and five females, are selected in April 2023.

Nurturing minds

The Crown Princes International Scholarship Program aims to nurture the minds of future generations through education. The Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, established the CPISP in 1999 to guide Bahrains young people into the 21st century. Under the programme, the most able high school students from Bahrain are awarded scholarships to continue their higher education overseas, and return to productively contribute to the development of Bahrain.

The program provides Bahrains most gifted and talented youth the opportunity to learn at the finest international educational institutions. Further, it provides its scholars with career development support and training; equipping them with the necessary tools to become effective decision makers who contribute to Bahrains development, both nationally and globally.

The program is privately funded by HRH Prince Salman and various local and international sponsoring organisations and individuals who share HRHs vision of equipping outstanding young Bahrainis with the necessary tools to excel and achieve their aspirations and contribute to the building of a modern Bahraini state.

Selection criteria

Ten fully funded university scholarships are awarded on an annual basis to young men and women from both governmental and private secondary schools, based on their academic merit. The selection criteria include SAT and IELTS scores, Grade Point Average (GPA), and results of training programs organised by the CPISP. Since its inception, over 160 of Bahrains brightest high school graduates have been selected to pursue higher education degrees at top international universities around the world.

The program provides its scholars with training and a solid international educational foundation, in addition to continuous opportunities to gain work experience and international cultural exposure. HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister meets with all scholars sponsored by the CPISP during their holiday breaks in Bahrain to personally follow up on their progress.

Scholars choose their own desired field of study and accredited university they gain acceptance to, provided that it is outside of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the region, to ensure international cultural exposure.

The CPISP provides its scholars with internships and career development guidance, and facilitates them with job placement after graduation. The program organises courses and training for all qualifying candidates applying for scholarships, as part of the overall selection process.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

Visibility was severely affected as a dust storm swept across Bahrain yesterday.

The Meteorological Department within the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunication has alerted of fast gusts, reaching up to 30 knots.

The maximum temperature recorded yesterday was 34 degree Celsius while the minimum temperature stood at 23 degree Celsius.

The atmosphere yesterday was thickened by dust-laden winds, leading to a low level of horizontal visibility, even partially masking many buildings in Manama.

A recent international study found that sand storms remained one of the reasons behind poor air quality in the Kingdom.

The Kingdom is among the 10 nations having the worst air quality. Conducted by Swiss firm IQAir, the 2021 World Air Quality Report is based on measurements of particulate matter obtained by ground-level monitoring stations worldwide.

PM2.5, the size studied, consists of fine aerosol particles measuring 2.5 microns or smaller in diameter and is thought to be the most harmful to health of the air pollutants monitored by international bodies.

PM2.5 concentration in Manama yesterday was 20.2 times above the WHO annual air quality guideline value. The Kingdom came in at eighth, with 49.8 10 g/m.

Bangladesh was rated the worst at 76.9 g/m, followed by Chad, Pakistan, Tajikistan and India. The readings for Bahrain were higher than in 2020. A score over 50 means the level of PM.25 exceeds the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines by at least 10 times.

In September, the WHO updated the guidelines for the first time in 15 years to push countries to do more to combat the problem. The researchers behind the report used the new guidelines to return its results.

A much severe dust storm was reported in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia and many areas across Jordan. Jordanian Public Security Department (PSD) urged citizens, especially those living in the eastern, southern and central regions, to remain vigilant in light of the dust storm and the accompanying low-visibility conditions.

A large plume of Saharan Desert dust was reported to be blowing over Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean, shrouding many parts of the region with a heavy sheet of grey and orange dust.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The High Criminal Court of Appeal acquitted an exchange company employee of embezzlement of funds, in a case where eight employees were convicted of stealing BD346.

Lawyer Zuhair Abdul Latif, who represents the only defendant found not guilty, stated that the incident occurred between 2018 and 2019, and that the first defendant used his position to steal the money.

He supplied the remaining defendants with customer information for transferring sums to India without the customers attending the exchange. They would add a letter, number or symbol to the name of the beneficiary to avoid name repetition which alerts the money laundering control system, the lawyer explained.

Then the first defendant approved the transfers from the account of the aggrieved company, embezzling these funds instead of depositing them to the company.

Lawyer Zuhair stated that the third defendant was tasked with falsifying financial reports in order to conceal a budget shortfall while the remaining defendants put the data into the company system. However, regarding the Public Prosecution referring to his client among the accused, he argued that the elements of criminal contribution were missing by way of agreement and assistance, indicating the lack of connection between his client and the main defendant in the case.

He noted the accounting report that suggests the unlikelihood of his client having any role in the embezzlement. The court declared the case papers to be absent of certain evidence to confirm the guilt of the second defendant of the accusation attributed to him, excluding for hearsay.

There is no material evidence which proves the second defendants involvement, thus his innocence was ruled.
A new film is highlighting the story of a controversial Japanese soldier who refused to surrender after the Second World War ended and spent 29 years hiding in the jungle.

Hiroo Onoda, who died in 2014 at the age of 91, was stationed on the island in the Philippines in 1944 but remained until 1974 because he did not believe the war was over.

He survived by eating dried banana skins, coconuts and stolen rice, believing he was in a guerilla war for 30 years.

Onoda became the last Japanese soldier to surrender  but only after his former commander, who in 1945 had told him to stay behind and spy on American troops, was flown from Japan to order him to give up.

A new three-hour film, Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle, has now been released, in order to shine a new light on his story for audiences across the UK.

In 1942, Onoda was conscripted into the Japanese army, where he was selected for guerilla combat training.

He later recalled in his 1974 memoir how he was forbade from taking his own life while training at the Futamata branch of the Nakano Military School, no matter the circumstance during the war.
Wishma Sandamali, a 33-year-old Sri Lankan woman, died in a Japanese detention centre in March of last year. Her death sparked debate on the treatment of the 1,500 asylum seekers currently in detention in Japan.

Many of them claim they are being treated inhumanely. Despite its economic might, Japan takes in few refugees. In 2020, it accepted less than 100 asylum seekers, while France, whose population is half the size of Japan's, took in 24,000.

Musk tweet on Japan provokes anger

canberratimes.com.au - May 09

An Elon Musk tweet saying Japan will "eventually cease to exist" without a higher birth rate has sparked sarcasm and anger - though much of the angst is aimed at a Japanese government many say does little to address the issue. An Elon Musk tweet saying Japan will "eventually cease to exist" without a higher birth rate has sparked sarcasm and anger - though much of the angst is aimed at a Japanese government many say does little to address the issue.

Panda in Japan gets Mother's Day gifts

NHK - May 09

A giant panda has received Mother's Day gifts at a theme park in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan. A giant panda has received Mother's Day gifts at a theme park in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan.

New York's top-shelf sushi surges past $1,000 a meal

Nikkein - May 09

Eating at a high-end sushi restaurant in New York City can set you back by four figures these days, with the bill pushed up by costs for shipping, ingredients and labor. Eating at a high-end sushi restaurant in New York City can set you back by four figures these days, with the bill pushed up by costs for shipping, ingredients and labor.

'Like family': Japan's virtual YouTubers make millions from fans

Japan Times - May 07

Mayu Iizuka sheds her soft-spoken personality and starts cackling, screaming and waving wildly in a makeshift studio in Tokyo as her avatar appears on a livestream before hundreds of fans. Mayu Iizuka sheds her soft-spoken personality and starts cackling, screaming and waving wildly in a makeshift studio in Tokyo as her avatar appears on a livestream before hundreds of fans.

Kanye West emerges in Japan with his new muse

msn.com - May 06

Kanye West was spotted in Japan alongside his new muse Chaney Jones, after laying low for a while following his public bitter divorce from ex-wife Kim Kardashian. Kanye West was spotted in Japan alongside his new muse Chaney Jones, after laying low for a while following his public bitter divorce from ex-wife Kim Kardashian.

Child victims of 2011 disaster remembered with carp streamers

NHK - May 06

Child victims of the major earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan in 2011 have been remembered with hundreds of streamers painted with a blue carp pattern fluttering in a clear sky. Child victims of the major earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan in 2011 have been remembered with hundreds of streamers painted with a blue carp pattern fluttering in a clear sky.

The history and meaning of Childrens Day in Japan

theconversation.com - May 05

In Japan, Childrens Day  Kodomo no Hi  is held on May 5 and marks the final national holiday of the period known as Golden Week. In Japan, Childrens Day  Kodomo no Hi  is held on May 5 and marks the final national holiday of the period known as Golden Week.

The 5 Reason Why Foreigners Should Not Marry Japanese Men

Japanese Comedian Meshida - May 04

The Japanese marriage system is a total opposite to Disney. Instead of becoming a princess, you'll turn into a housemaid. Actually Japanese husbands are more like evil fairy godmothers. The Japanese marriage system is a total opposite to Disney. Instead of becoming a princess, you'll turn into a housemaid. Actually Japanese husbands are more like evil fairy godmothers.

Head of Hokkaido tour boat operator: Fatal accident could have been avoided

NHK - May 04

The president of a tour boat operator in Hokkaido Prefecture, northern Japan, has stated in a document that a fatal accident last month could have been avoided if safety protocols were followed. The president of a tour boat operator in Hokkaido Prefecture, northern Japan, has stated in a document that a fatal accident last month could have been avoided if safety protocols were followed.

Police appeal for help from public over 2008 murder of 15-year-old girl

Japan Today - May 04

Police in Toyota City on Monday appealed to the public for any information that might help apprehend the person or persons who killed a 15-year-old girl in 2008. Police in Toyota City on Monday appealed to the public for any information that might help apprehend the person or persons who killed a 15-year-old girl in 2008.

Police officer driving patrol car arrested over fatal accident in Sapporo

Japan Today - May 03

Hokkaido Prefectural Police have arrested a 61-year-old assistant police inspector on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in death after the patrol car he was driving hit and killed a pedestrian on Sunday. Hokkaido Prefectural Police have arrested a 61-year-old assistant police inspector on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in death after the patrol car he was driving hit and killed a pedestrian on Sunday.

Welcome to Japans zero-waste town

plainsmenpost.com - May 03

Tucked away in the mountains of Japans Shikoku island, a town of about 1,500 residents is on an ambitious path toward a zero-waste life. Tucked away in the mountains of Japans Shikoku island, a town of about 1,500 residents is on an ambitious path toward a zero-waste life.

Vietnamese woman dies on street in Tokyo

NHK - May 02

Japanese police say a young woman has died after being found on a street in Tokyo. Investigation sources say she is believed to be a Vietnamese national. Japanese police say a young woman has died after being found on a street in Tokyo. Investigation sources say she is believed to be a Vietnamese national.

Can Japanese subway system work as a bomb shelter in time of war?

Nikkei - May 01

Subways in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv stopped operations following the launch of attacks by Russian troops. Stations, as deep as 105 meters underground, became temporary bomb shelters as citizens brought in blankets and tents to protect themselves from Russia's threat of nuclear attack. Subways in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv stopped operations following the launch of attacks by Russian troops. Stations, as deep as 105 meters underground, became temporary bomb shelters as citizens brought in blankets and tents to protect themselves from Russia's threat of nuclear attack.

Bone, shoes found near campsite where girl went missing

NHK - May 01

Part of a human skull and a child's sneakers have been found in a mountain forest in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, where an elementary school girl went missing from a nearby campsite three years ago. Part of a human skull and a child's sneakers have been found in a mountain forest in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, where an elementary school girl went missing from a nearby campsite three years ago.
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DANBURY - A Georgia-based developer of indoor self-storage buildings that is expanding in the northeast wants to transform a vacant 3-acre site on Mill Plain Road into its first Connecticut location.

Its going to be interior climate-controlled; there wont be an ugly security fence around the property, said Benjamin Doto, a Danbury engineer representing Diamond Point Development, during a land use commission meeting earlier this month. It is not like your typical endless-garage-door-outside self-storage.

Doto was referring to plans by the Roswell-based company to build a three-story self-storage building on Mill Plain Road at Aunt Hack Road, across the street from a Caraluzzis Market set to open soon. Blueprints for the 100,000-square-foot self-storage building, which are due to be discussed Wednesday by Danburys Environmental Impact Commission, are set for a public hearing by the citys Planning Commission on June 1.

The plans are to transform a partially sloped property that in the past has used for construction staging and overflow parking from the neighboring Panda House next door into a extensively landscaped parcel with a drainage system that takes pollutants out of storm water.

When this is all said and done, its going to be a vast improvement to the site both from an aesthetic standpoint and from a groundwater management standpoint. Doto said during an environmental commission hearing on April 13.

The project represents an attempt by Diamond Point to tap into greater Danburys self-storage market - a market that another self-storage developer said has unmet demand. Diamond, which has six similarly sized self-storage buildings in Georgia and a seventh in Maine, has four other self-storage projects in progress in New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland, according to the companys website.

Meanwhile on Danburys east end, a Bethel business school graduate wants to build a 48,000-square-foot enclosed self-storage building between two existing self-storage facilities, because within the submarket of our location ... there is 300,000-square-feet of unmet self-storage demand.

The vacant Mill Plain Road site is one of the few open parcels left on the west sides busiest commercial stretch. In addition to Caraluzzis transforming a vacant 4.5-acre site across the street, a local developer has plans to transform 31 vacant acres near Western Connecticut State University westside campus into an 11-building commercial and residential complex.

The self-storage site is considered environmentally sensitive because of a ditch on the neighboring property to the east.

The reason were here is because on the adjacent property - the Chinese Restaurant Panda House - there is a ditch that runs across the property that would be classified as an intermittent water course, and we are within 100 feet of that, Doto told Danburys environmental commission earlier this month. Were here because our neighbor has wetlands on their property.

To make the project work requires cutting into the hillside in the back of the property, Doto added.

From the middle of the building back is a hillside, Doto said. We are going to be doing some cut into that hillside - that activity is all outside of the regulated area. In the front of the site the flat area will be maintained.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
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DANBURY  Theyve emailed. Theyve spoken at public hearings. Theyve signed petitions.

And now, theyre marching.

Frustrated that funding for a charter school in Danbury continues to be left out of the state budget, supporters plan to march down Main Street on Sunday afternoon to show the faces of the people calling for the school to be opened.

We wanted to show that these are not just shadow people, said Jose Lucas Pimentel, CEO of Latinos of Educational Advocacy, or LEAD, an organization that argues the school is needed to provide an alternative to the growing Danbury Public Schools, especially for Black and brown students. This is an actual community.

The march begins at 1 p.m. Sunday at 358 Main St., where LEAD is located. The group will march to City Hall for speeches at 1:30 p.m.

LEAD decided to hold the march after Democratic members of the Danbury state legislative delegation pushed to get funding for the charter school removed from a draft of the state budget earlier this month, Pimentel said.

State Rep. Ken Gucker, D-Danbury, said he and others from the Danbury delegation had been surprised to learn that funding for the charter school was put in a draft budget by legislators who dont represent Danbury after the governor opted not to include it in his initial proposal.

This was done behind the scenes with no transparency, he said. Then, the Danbury delegation found out about this. We were upset because we were never even consulted. Nobody from (the) Appropriations (Committee) talked us. This was a backroom deal.

Gucker and other members of the delegation argue attention and funding should be put toward the public schools, including the proposed $164 million career academy. State Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, reiterated her support for the career academy in a statement, while several other members of the delegation couldnt be reached for comment on Monday.

State Rep. Patrick Callahan, R-New Fairfield, said he backs the charter school.

That's part of providing different opportunities to our kids, and Im definitely a supporter, he said.

Estimates from the Office of Fiscal Analysis show that Danbury would lose $10.3 million in education cost sharing funds from the state between fiscal year 2024 and fiscal year 2030 if the school were to open.

This is based on removing 110 Danbury students from the education cost sharing formula each year until the school is fully open. Losses would be minimal in the first few years, and then reach almost $3.6 million annually in fiscal year 2030, when all 770 students were enrolled, according to the analysis.

The analysis used October 2021 student enrollment data and estimated grant amounts under current law. It did not factor in other enrollment growth or changes.

However, the charter school supporters have noted that Danburys enrollment is growing, so the public school district would receive more state funding as more students are added. The state has historically not fully funded its education cost sharing formula.

Seeking state approval

The state Board of Education needs to review and approve the charter school proposal again. Until then, Gucker said state funding shouldnt be considered.

Im not going to fund something that doesnt exist, Gucker said.

In October 2018, the state Board of Education approved the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Prospect Charter Schools to open a charter school in Danbury, pending state funding. But funding was never approved, and the planning team behind the charter school has proposed going with a new operator.

The state school board must approve this latest plan, but the committee is still working on the application and hopes to submit by the end of the academic year.

Were in the process of reviewing our original application, which went on for hundred of pages and making sure we address any change or issues that may be a concern, said Stephen Tracy, chairman of the planning team.

The new operator, called Elevate, is waiting for approval from the IRS of its nonprofit status, although its already been incorporated as a nonprofit, he said. The group is unsure if the state will take issue with this, but doesnt expect it to be a problem, he said.

The charter school supporters have also advocated for the process to change, so that charter schools are funded when theyre approved.

Pushing for the school

LEAD formed out of the fight for the charter school and, since earning financial support and opening a center in downtown Danbury last year, is striving to become a statewide organization, in part to gain support across Connecticut for the charter school.

The organization has 4,880 members, with about 4,000 coming from Danbury and about 1,500 people considered active members, Pimentel said.

LEAD expects between 300 to 500 people to march on Sunday. This includes supporters from other communities, such as Bridgeport, Torrington, Waterbury and Norwich. LEAD plans to register people to vote at the event and in the future.

We know this is going to be huge, said Maria Matos, special programs manager for LEAD. Theyre very excited.

If it earned funding, the charter school would open in fall 2023 to 110 sixth-graders. A grade would be added each year to reach 770 students in sixth through 12th grade. The school would offer an International Baccalaureate program.

The reason why we are seeking funding support now is, as you can imagine, staffing and organizing and opening a school is no simple matter, Tracy said. We have an obligation to the families who are supporting us to be well organized and prepared.

The goal is for the school to open at 358 Main St., the property where LEAD has its headquarters. For at least the first year, the 110 students would be housed in a temporary space, also downtown, as the school is constructed, Tracy said. A $25 million philanthropic donation is available to construct the school.

The idea is that families would be able to walk to the school from downtown. The march, starting at the LEAD building and heading to City Hall, will show families what that would be like, Matos said.

LEAD understands the obstacles it faces, but Pimentel said hes hoping for a hail Mary in the final days of the legislative session, which ends May 4.

Im always a believer in miracles, he said.
Fitch Ratings has revised eight Saudi banks' outlooks to Positive from Stable and affirmed their Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at 'BBB+'.

The banks are Riyad Bank, The Saudi British Bank (SABB), Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF), Arab National Bank (ANB), Alinma Bank, Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB), Bank Aljazira (BAJ) and Gulf International Bank - Saudi Arabia (GIB SA). The banks' Viability Ratings (VR) are unaffected by the rating action.

The rating actions follow a similar action on Saudi Arabia's sovereign rating on April 14, 2022.

Intrinsic creditworthiness

The IDRs of the eight banks are driven by their Government Support Ratings (GSRs). The IDRs of Riyad and SABB are also underpinned by the respective banks' intrinsic creditworthiness.

Fitch has also withdrawn BSF's, ANB's, Alinma's, SAIB's, BAJ's and GIB SA's Support Ratings of '2' and Support Rating Floors of 'BBB+' as they are no longer relevant to the agency's coverage following the publication of Fitchs updated Bank Rating Criteria on November 12, 2021. In line with Fitchs updated criteria, it has assigned these banks a GSR of 'bbb+'.

Key rating drivers

Riyad's, SABB's, ANB's, BSF's, Alinma's, SAIB's, BAJ's and GIB SA's IDRs are driven by sovereign support, as reflected in the banks' GSRs of 'bbb+', which are in line with Fitch's Domestic-Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB) GSR of 'bbb+'. This is applied to all Saudi banks, reflecting Fitchs view of a high probability of support for all the country's lenders from the Saudi authorities, if needed.

Fitch's assessment of support from the Saudi Arabian authorities considers the authorities' strong ability and willingness to provide support to domestic banks irrespective of size, franchise, funding structure and level of government ownership. High contagion risk among domestic banks is an added incentive for the state to provide support to any Saudi bank if needed, to maintain market confidence and stability.

The Positive Outlook on these banks' Long-Term IDRs reflects that on the Saudi sovereign rating.

The 'F2' Short-Term IDR for the banks is the lower of two options mapping to a Long-Term IDR of 'BBB+' as per Fitchs bank rating criteria. This is because a significant proportion of Saudi banks' funding is related to the government and they would likely need support at a time when the sovereign itself is experiencing some form of stress.

Debts and sukuk

Riyad's and SABB's senior debts and sukuk programmes housed under, respectively, Riyad Sukuk Limited and SABB Sukuk Limited, are rated in line with the bank's IDR of 'BBB+' because Fitch views a default of these senior unsecured obligations the same as a default of the banks.

Riyad's and ANB's Tier 2 sukuk certificates, issued through their respective vehicles, Riyad Sukuk Limited and ANB Sukuk Ltd., are rated two notches below the banks' IDR of 'BBB+' to reflect the certificates' subordinated status and Fitch's view of a heightened likelihood of poor recoveries in the event of default. Fitch does not notch down the certificates for non-performance as the risk of incremental non-performance is low relative to the anchor rating.

Fitch uses the banks' Long-Term IDRs as the anchor rating for the Tier 2 sukuk certificates as it believes that potential extraordinary sovereign support for Riyad ANB is likely to flow through to the bank's subordinated certificate holders. Fitch is not aware of any precedent set by the Saudi authorities in their approach to restructuring that would result in loss mitigation for Tier 2 debt.

National ratings

National Ratings for Saudi banks reflect their creditworthiness relative to that of other issuers in Saudi Arabia. The Positive Outlook on BSF's, ANB's, Alinma's, SAIB's, BAJ's and GIB SA's National Ratings reflects Fitchs view they could be upgraded to the same levels as Riyad's and SABB's following an upward revision of the eight banks' GSRs as sovereign support would then become the sole driver of all eight banks' Long-Term Local-Currency IDRs.

Rating sensitivities

Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative rating action/downgrade:

A downgrade of Riyad's and SABB's IDRs would require a downgrade of the respective banks' VRs and downward revision of their GSRs. A downgrade of BSF's, ANB's, Alinma's, SAIB's, BAJ's and GIB SA's Long- and Short-Term IDRs would be driven by a downward revision of these banks' GSRs.

A GSR downgrade for Saudi Arabian banks would be triggered by a sovereign downgrade, which is unlikely given the Positive Outlook on Saudi Arabia.

The banks' National Ratings are sensitive to a negative change in their Long-Term Local-Currency IDRs and the bank's creditworthiness relative to other Saudi Arabian issuers'.

Saudi banks' senior unsecured and subordinated unsecured sukuk ratings are sensitive to negative rating actions on the banks' Long- and Short-Term IDRs.

Positive rating action/upgrade

An upgrade of the banks' IDRs could come from an upward revision of the GSRs, following an upgrade of Saudi Arabia. An upgrade of the Long-Term IDRs for SABB and Riyad could also come from an upgrade of their VRs, although this is unlikely without a significant and sustained improvement in the operating environment.

The banks' National Ratings are sensitive to a positive change in their Long-Term Local-Currency IDRs and the bank's creditworthiness relative to other Saudi Arabian issuers', although an upgrade of Riyad's and SABB's Long-Term Local-Currency IDRs would not automatically lead to an upgrade of their National Ratings under Fitchs methodology. BSF's, ANB's, Alinma's, SAIB's, BAJ's and GIB SA's National Ratings may be upgraded if their Long-Term Local-Currency IDRs are upgraded.

Saudi banks' senior unsecured and subordinated unsecured sukuk ratings are sensitive to positive rating actions on the banks' Long- and Short-Term IDRs.

Best/worst case rating scenario

International scale credit ratings of Financial Institutions and Covered Bond issuers have a best-case rating upgrade scenario (defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a positive direction) of three notches over a three-year rating horizon; and a worst-case rating downgrade scenario (defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a negative direction) of four notches over three years.

The complete span of best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings for all rating categories ranges from 'AAA' to 'D'. Best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings are based on historical performance.

Riyad's, SABB's, ANB's, BSF's, Alinma's, SAIB's, BAJ's and GIB SA's Long-Term IDRs are linked to the Saudi sovereign's.

ESG considerations

As Islamic banks, Alinma and BAJ need to ensure compliance of their entire operations and activities with sharia principles and rules. This entails additional costs, processes, disclosures, regulations, reporting and sharia audit. This results in an ESG relevance score of '4' for governance structure (in contrast to a typical relevance score of '3' for comparable conventional banks), has a negative impact on their credit profiles and is relevant to their ratings in conjunction with other factors.

In addition, Islamic banks have an ESG score of '3' for Exposure to Social Impacts (in contrast to a typical ESG relevance score of '2' for comparable conventional banks), which reflects that Islamic banks have certain sharia limitations embedded in their operations and obligations, although this only has a minimal credit impact on the entities.

Unless otherwise disclosed in this section, the highest level of ESG credit relevance is a score of '3'. This means ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity, either due to their nature or the way in which they are being managed by the entity.-- TradeArabia News Service
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Robert Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

(THE CONVERSATION) The mRNA vaccines developed against COVID-19 owe a lot to the work of Robert Langer, a pioneer in the delivery of mRNA. Langer, who is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology David H. Koch Institute Professor and director of the Langer Lab, helped lay the foundation for the underlying delivery mechanism that has led to the development of the first commercial mRNA vaccines, which can be used for a variety of infectious diseases and conditions. Langer is a co-founder of Moderna, the biotech company that developed an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19. He also has authored more than 1,500 scientific papers and is the most-cited engineer in history.

Langer published the first paper to show that it was possible to deliver nucleic acids like RNA and DNA to the body via tiny particles. He spoke in March 2022 at the 2022 Imagine Solutions Conference in Naples, FL. about his journey from a chemical engineering doctorate to helping develop technology for various lifesaving treatments.

Below are some highlights from the discussion. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

How did you end up where you are in your field?

Robert Langer: My story is not straightforward by any means. I got my doctorate in chemical engineering from MIT in 1974. One of the things I thought about doing was education, because when I was a graduate student at MIT I helped start a school in Cambridge, The Group School. And I got very involved in developing new chemistry and math curricula.

And I wrote to all these colleges and none of them wrote me back, so I started to think, well, what other way could I use my science and engineering education to help people? And I thought about medicine. I wrote to a lot of hospitals and medical schools. They didnt write back to me either.

And then one day one of the people at my MIT lab said, Bob, you know, theres a surgeon named Judah Folkman in Boston and sometimes he hires unusual people.

From 1974 to 1977 you worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Childrens Hospital Boston and at Harvard Medical School under Folkman. How did your work with Folkman influence your career?

Dr. Folkmans idea of how tumors grew was actually quite controversial. His theory was that tumors secreted a chemical signal, which he called TAF, tumor angiogenesis factor. And that would cause blood vessels to grow to the tumor. The tumor then could spread through those blood vessels. Thats a process called metastasis, which often kills people.

His theory was that if you could stop blood vessels maybe that would be a new way to stop cancer. To solve this problem we had to deliver large molecules to the body through tiny particles. Nobody before us had done that, and we were told it was impossible.

I spent about two years working in the laboratory, and I found over 200 different ways to get this to not work. Eventually I was able to make little microspheres, or nanospheres. We published our findings in the journal Nature. This was the first time nucleic acids had ever been delivered through tiny particles for any period of time.

What was the process for obtaining the patent?

Folkman and I filed for a patent, but the patent examiner rejected it five years in a row. And all the people at the hospital told me I was wasting a lot of money for the hospital. They said I should give up, but I dont like to give up.

When we first started doing this, everybody told me it was impossible and that it could never work. So I did whats called a science citation search, looking back at our 1976 Nature paper. One of the papers I found was really helpful. I had no idea it was even written but I found that five of the top material scientists in the world said that Folkman and I had shown some surprising results that clearly demonstrate that this idea could work.

We showed that to the examiner and he said, well, thats interesting. He said, Ill allow the patent if you can get written affidavits from these five people that they really wrote it. So I wrote them and they wrote back and sent the affidavits. We got this really broad patent, and with that patent I got involved in starting companies.

What did this process teach you?

I learned that if youre not your own champion, nobody else will be. So I got involved in patenting things, and my students were very interested in seeing their work make a difference. Thats what led to a number of different companies, some of which we started and others which we guided, developing many products used today. My story is sort of one persons example of how you can try to use science to help relieve suffering and prolong life.

[Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversations newsletters to understand the world. Sign up today.]

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/how-robert-langer-a-pioneer-in-delivering-mrna-into-the-body-failed-repeatedly-but-kept-going-they-said-i-should-give-up-but-i-dont-like-to-give-up-181417.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  LGBTQ rights advocates called Tuesday for a Kansas state lawmaker to be formally censured after she publicly said she didn't want to share the women's restrooms at the Statehouse with a transgender colleague.

The Kansas House's top Republican called GOP state Rep. Cheryl Helmers comments unfortunate and Democrats condemned them. The state's leading LGBTQ rights lobbyist saw a new level of toxic bigotry in Helmer's emailed remarks to a University of Kansas student and subsequent interviews about Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Byers.

The furor over Helmer's remarks shadowed GOP lawmakers' attempt to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a bill that would ban transgender athletes from girls' and women's K-12 and college sports.

We know this has been going on in offices, and back rooms and conversations since the day I was elected, Byers said Tuesday. The shocking part is that it came out, that someone actually said it.

Helmer stood firmly by her comments while defending a bill she co-sponsored that would make it a felony for doctors to provide hormones or do gender transition surgery for children under 18. She also said she worried about the safety of young children who visit the Statehouse and decried what she called an in your face approach to promoting transgender rights from Byers, the state's first elected transgender lawmaker.

The 70-year-old Republican lawmaker also said she tried to make a point when she mistakenly entered a mens restroom in the House in early 2021. The men, she said, were surprised and upset, so she asked them how they would like it if a woman regularly used their restroom. Pressed on the issue Monday evening, she said parents shouldnt be allowed to change their childs gender.

You cant lop a penis off and then expect, you know, a little boy to now live his life, she said. Hell be in regret for the rest of his life.

Supporters of the bill on transgender athletes have said they want to preserve fair competition and are not attacking transgender girls and women. LGBTQ rights advocates said Helmer's comments prove anti-trans bigotry is behind the measure.

The Kansas Senate voted 28-10 on Tuesday to override Kellys veto of the transgender athletes bill. A House vote will follow, but it wasnt likely this week.

Republicans in at least 15 states have enacted bans on transgender athletes, and several have outlawed gender-affirming medical care for children. In Michigan, a conservative state senator accused a Democratic colleague of wanting to groom and sexualize young children, prompting a response that went viral on social media.

Helmer is a retired Wichita school counselor and nursing instructor, a conservative Republican elected in 2018 to represent a district south of the state's largest city. She participates in rodeo barrel racing and has a sign in her office that says, My horse is smarter than your honor student.

Byers, 59, is a retired Wichita high school music teacher and band director who was elected to the House in 2020.

In her email Sunday to 25-year-old University of Kansas graduate student Brenan Riffel, Helmer wrote: Now, personally I do not appreciate the huge transgender female who is now in our restrooms in the Capitol. Riffel, who describes themself as trans-feminine and uses the pronouns they/them, released the email to the Kansas Reflector, a nonprofit news provider.

Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, called on the Kansas House to censure Helmer, something that would take a formal complaint from another lawmaker and a two-thirds majority vote.

It is a new level of toxic bigotry that I have not seen in this building before," Witt said.

Equality Kansas later sent a letter to House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., a Kansas City-area Republican, demanding that Helmer be punished. The speaker can strip a House member of committee assignments, but Ryckman noted that committees no longer are meeting for the year.

Ryckman said that if another lawmakers files a complaint, the House will form a committee to investigate, adding, She will be held accountable by her constituents.

Byers said several lawmakers have moved away from her in the elevator, and that the Kansas Republican Partys last platform, drafted in 2018, declares that, We believe God created two genders, male and female.

In her email to Riffel, Helmer wrote, A doctor can inject meds and dilute but cannot destroy what God has done in the perfection of the HUMAN BEING.

Riffel said in an interview that they weren't surprised by Helmer's response, considering what it would take" to sponsor the bill banning gender-affirming care for trans youth.

The rhetoric against the LGBTQ community has been the same for years, that were a threat to society; were going to hurt people, said Riffel. I just want to go about and just be myself."

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster his nuclear forces at maximum speed and threatened to use them if provoked in a speech he delivered during a military parade that featured powerful weapons systems targeting the United States and its allies, state media reported Tuesday.

His remarks suggest he will continue provocative weapons tests in a pressure campaign to wrest concessions from the U.S. and other rivals. The parade Monday night was to mark the 90th anniversary of North Koreas army  the backbone of the Kim familys authoritarian rule  and comes as the country faces an economy battered by pandemic-related difficulties, punishing U.S.-led sanctions and its own mismanagement.

We will continue to implement measures aimed at strengthening and developing our countrys nuclear forces at the maximum speed, Kim told his troops and the crowd gathered for the parade at a Pyongyang plaza, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The fundamental mission of our nuclear forces is to deter war, but if an undesirable situation emerges on our land, our nuclear forces cannot be limited to a single mission of preventing war, Kim said. If any forces, regardless of who they are, try to infringe upon our fundamental interests, our nuclear forces will have no choice but to absolutely carry out its unexpected second mission.

The parade featured marching troops shouting hurrah! and an array of modern weapons including missiles potentially capable of reaching the U.S. homeland as well as shorter-range missiles that can be fired from land vehicles or submarines and threaten South Korea and Japan.

One of the weapons showcased at the brightly illuminated Kim Il Sung Squar,e named after Kims late grandfather and state founder, was North Koreas biggest, newly built intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17.

North Korea claimed to have test-fired that missile last month in its first full-range ICBM liftoff in more that four years. South Korea disputed that, saying North Korea launched a smaller, existing Hwasong-15 ICBM following a failed launch of the Hwasong-17. Despite the outside doubts, the missile fired on March 24 flew longer and higher than any other missile North Korea has launched, demonstrating potential ability to reach deep into the U.S. mainland.

KCNA said spectators at the parade raised loud cheers when they saw the Hwasong-17, which it said showed the absolute power of Juche (self-reliance), Korea and the strategic position of our republic to the world.

North Korea often commemorates key state anniversaries with huge fanfare to boost an internal unity. Tuesdays KCNA dispatch praised Kim for accomplishing "the historic great cause of completing the nuclear forces by making a long journey of patriotic devotion with a death-defying will in order to make sure that the people would eternally enjoy happiness free from the horrors of war generation after generation.

Kim has also been reviving nuclear brinkmanship aimed at forcing the United States to accept North Korea as a nuclear power and to remove crippling economic sanctions. Analysts say North Korea is exploiting a favorable environment to push forward its weapons program as the U.N. Security Council remains divided over Russias war in Ukraine.

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have been stalled since 2019 because of disagreements over the potential easing of U.S.-led sanctions in exchange for North Korean disarmament steps. Kim has stuck to his goals of simultaneously developing nuclear weapons and the countrys dismal economy in the face of international pressure and has shown no willingness to fully surrender a nuclear arsenal he sees as his biggest guarantee of survival.

North Korea has conducted 13 rounds of weapons tests this year, including its claimed launch of the Hwasong-19. There are also signs North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that was last active in 2017, possibly in preparation for exploding a nuclear device.

In 2017, North Korea claimed to have acquired an ability to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland after a torrid run of nuclear and missile tests. The North had halted such high-profile tests before it entered the now-dormant diplomacy with the United States.

The North has spent much of the past three years focusing on expanding its short-range arsenal targeting South Korea as nuclear negotiations with the United States stalled.

Kims aggressive military push could also be motivated by domestic politics since he doesnt otherwise have significant accomplishments to show to his people as he marks a decade in power. He failed to win badly needed sanctions relief from his diplomacy with then-President Donald Trump, and the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed further shocks to the countrys broken economy, forcing him to acknowledge last year that North Korea was facing its  worst-ever situation.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The longer Ukraine's army fends off the invading Russians, the more it absorbs the advantages of Western weaponry and training  exactly the transformation President Vladimir Putin wanted to prevent by invading in the first place.

The list of arms flowing to Ukraine is long and growing longer. It includes new American battlefield aerial drones and the most modern U.S. and Canadian artillery, anti-tank weapons from Norway and others, armored vehicles and anti-ship missiles from Britain and Stinger counter-air missiles from the U.S., Denmark and other countries.

If Ukraine can hold off the Russians, its accumulating arsenal of Western weapons could have a transformative effect in a country that has, like other former Soviet republics, relied mainly on arms and equipment from the Soviet era.

But sustaining that military aid won't be easy. It is costly and, for some supplier nations, politically risky. It also is being taken out of Western stockpiles that at some point will need to be replenished. That is why U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin convened a meeting Tuesday at Germany's Ramstein air base to work out ways to keep it going, now and for the long run. Defense ministers and top military leaders from approximately 40 countries participated.

After the meeting, Austin told a news conference at Ramstein that Germany had agreed to send 50 Cheetah anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine and that the meeting had served to unify the West's efforts to help Ukraine win today and build strength for tomorrow. He said the participating nations had agreed to continue similar consultations through monthly meetings, either in person or virtually.

We've got to move at the speed of war, Austin said.

The goal, Austin said ahead of the conference, is not just to support Ukrainian defenses but to help them prevail against a larger invading force. In opening remarks to the meeting, he said Ukraines allies will keep moving heaven and earth to meet Ukraines near-term security requirements.

We believe they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support, Austin said on Monday in Poland after returning from a visit to Kyiv with Secretary of State Antony Blinken that included discussion of Ukraine's military needs. He also said the goal is to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things it has done in invading Ukraine.

Despite its early failings, the Russian military still holds some advantages that will be put to the test in the eastern Donbas region, where they are assembling more combat troops and firepower even as the U.S. and its NATO allies scramble to get artillery and other heavy weaponry to that area in time to make a difference.

With the war's outcome in doubt after two months of fighting, the Pentagon is providing 90 of the U.S. Army's most modern howitzers, along with 183,000 rounds of artillery  and other sophisticated weaponry that could give the Ukrainians an important edge in looming battles. The U.S. also is arranging more training for Ukrainians on key weaponry, including howitzers and at least two kinds of armed drone aircraft.

On Monday, Austin and Blinken announced $713 million in foreign military financing for Ukraine and 15 allied and partner countries in Europe; some $322 million is earmarked for Kyiv, in part to help Ukraine transition to more advanced weapons and air defense systems. The remainder will be split among NATO members and other nations that have provided Ukraine with critical military supplies since the war with Russia began, officials said.

Such financing is different from previous U.S. military assistance for Ukraine. It is not a donation of weapons and equipment from Pentagon stockpiles but rather cash that countries can use to purchase supplies that they might need.

The Ukrainians say they need even more, including long-range air defense systems, fighter jets, tanks and multiple-launch rocket systems.

It will be true to say that the United States now leads the effort in ensuring this transition of Ukraine to Western-style weapons, in arranging training for Ukrainian soldiers, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, adding, and I only regret that it didnt happen a month or two months ago from the very beginning of the war.

Philip Breedlove, a retired U.S. general who led NATO in Europe from 2013 to 2016, says his shorthand summary of what Putin wants in Ukraine and elsewhere on the Russian periphery is, Weapons out, NATO back, and no America.

What has happened is, Mr. Putin is getting exactly what he did not want. He's getting more weapons forward, he's getting more NATO forward, and he's getting more America in Europe, Breedlove said in an interview.

The complexities of keeping up Western military aid to Ukraine, even as its troops are fully occupied with a brutal war, are a reminder of what is at stake. Putin said before launching the invasion that Moscow could not tolerate what he saw as a Western effort to make Ukraine a de facto member of NATO. He argued that Ukraine's interest in westernizing and in remaining outside of Russia's orbit was due to external forces such as U.S. pressure.

Putin has demanded that Ukraine forswear membership in the NATO alliance, and beyond that he has insisted on turning back the clock to 1997, before NATO had begun adding former Soviet and Soviet-allied nations to its ranks.

There is little prospect of Ukraine joining NATO, but Russia's war has in fact brought NATO closer to Ukraine. The result has been a boost to Ukraine's prospects for mounting a successful defense, even in the eastern Donbas region where the Russians hold certain advantages and where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting since 2014.

___

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
WINNIPEG, MB, April 25, 2022 /CNW/ - Robertson College is set to open its doors once more to international students this Spring. Robertson College's Winnipeg campus has seen growth despite the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presented in the past two years.

Robertson College expands its international division to offer more programs and locations to international students. Tweet this Robertson College is set to expand its programming for international students. (CNW Group/Robertson College)

"Our focus has been on expanding the program offerings and improving on the overall international student experience at Robertson," says Belinda Loschiavo, Vice-President of International and Special Projects at Education Canada Group, parent company of Robertson College. "We've added new programs, established new partnerships and further refined our post-graduation support services. We are very excited to see international students in these halls again."

The international division at Robertson was first established in April 2018. The college welcomed its first class of international students in September that same year. Since then, the division has experienced steady growth, in part, due to Canada's popular standing with prospective students abroad. Now, with restrictions lifted and international borders opening up, Robertson's international team is looking to take its programs even further with plans to expand out west into Alberta.

"Canada remains one of the most popular destinations for international students," says Helen Lee, Manager, International at Robertson College. "Many students come here because of the high quality of life that we are known for."

A new partnership with a public college in Manitoba was established in 2020 to offer international students an alternative pathway to permanent residency. Students graduating from these programs will be eligible to apply for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) allowing them to work anywhere in Manitoba. The new programs were introduced in in-demand occupations, according to Manitoba's labour market.

"Not only do we want our graduates to be able to find meaningful work here after graduation if they choose to stay, we are attracting talent into these in-demand occupations in Manitoba," adds Liz Choi, CEO of Education Canada Group. Choi was recently appointed to the Immigration Advisory Council tasked to review Manitoba's immigration system and recommending improvements to current policies and programs.

Robertson offers diploma and advanced diploma programs in business, technology, health and community services. International students at Robertson receive in-person instruction and are required to complete a Practical Applied Culture and Employment (PACE) course which prepares them for work and study in a multicultural professional setting within a Canadian context.

About Robertson College and ECG

Established in 1911, Robertson College is a distinguished post-secondary private institution delivering career-focused training and education in the areas of Business, Technology, Healthcare and Community Services. Robertson's diploma, certificate and micro course offerings are available across Canada through our complementary learning model which employs both blended and hands-on learning. Robertson College is a part of Education Canada Group.

SOURCE Robertson College

For further information: Please contact Robertson College - Communications, E: [email protected]
Red Sea Farms, the Saudi Arabia and UAE AgTech business whose one-of-a-kind technology enables sustainable commercial farming, has announced a $18.5 million strategic fund raise.

The proceeds will support Red Sea Farms global and regional expansion plans  including expansion of the fresh produce business in the GCC. Global expansion is focused on technology development, and productisation - with first generation product sales expected by Q4 2022.

The fund raise was co-led by Waed - the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco and The Savola Group - the leading strategic investment holding group in Mena food and retail, through their corporate venture capital programme.

Impact investing

Kaust Innovation Fund, one of Red Sea Farms original investors, is also participating, along with OlsonUbben LLC, an investment entity owned by Tony Olson and Jeffrey Ubben. Tony Olson is the CEO of Spins, a leading wellness-focused data company and advocate for the Natural Product Industry, and Jeffrey Ubben is the Founder and Managing Partner at Inclusive Capital Partners and a pioneer in impact investing.

Red Sea Farms, which uses low energy, zero freshwater and sustainable climate control, also announced the appointment of a new global COO and regional CEO for the Middle East, Simon Roopchand. The company will leverage Roopchands previous CEO experience with Lorne Stewart and proven track record in leading strategic growth to capitalise on the vast opportunities in the Middle East region.

Operationally, Red Sea Farms has been very active, and announced its expansion into the US in January 2022. It has also completed a new commercial-scale 6-hectare technology retrofit site near Riyadh and an R&D facility at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal  where technologies are delivering results ahead of expectations.

Impressive start to 2022

Dr Ryan Lefers, CEO of Red Sea Farms, said: We are delighted to complete this $18.5 million fund raise and build on our impressive start to 2022. To have such esteemed investors believe in our vision is hugely validating and testament to our business model and strategy. Were excited to continue on our mission to address the reliance on freshwater consumption in food production and improve food security with their support and guidance. The appointment of Simon Roopchand as COO and regional CEO for the Middle East is another key milestone cementing our position as an innovative market leader and maximising our impact across the region.

Fahad Alidi, Managing Director at Waed, commented: Red Sea Farms has developed a truly innovative and sustainable business model that not only addresses a global issue around food security and limited agricultural resources, but one that is also regionally relevant. Waed is proud to be one of the early supporters to back the pioneering team at Red Sea Farms as they tackle an emerging Agtech industry with decades long interdisciplinary research.

Dr Kevin Cullen, Vice President of Kaust Innovation, said:We're incredibly proud to see the rapid development and growth of Red Sea Farms and their impact in the Mena region. Kaust Innovation has been working with Red Sea Farms from its beginnings, confident that their world-class technology would create positive environmental, social and economic impacts. We are delighted to see these ambitions, the technology and the hard work resulting in these impacts becoming a reality.-- TradeArabia News Service
Leading Salon Studio Franchise Signs Four Development Agreements to Open Nine New Locations Across Canada; Joins Canadian Franchise Association with Plans to Attend CFA Convention

TORONTO, April 25, 2022 /CNW/ -- Sola Salons , the world's largest and fastest growing salon studios franchise, announced today the signing of four franchise development agreements that will expand its presence in key territories across Ontario, Canada, including Toronto, Durham, Kitchener-Waterloo, Markham, Richmond Hill, Hamilton and Barrie. These new signings will bring nine new Sola locations to Canada over the next several years, emphasizing the brand's aggressive domestic franchise development plans. In the past year, Sola opened 53 new locations, signed 72 franchise agreements, and reached a milestone of 18,000 independent beauty professionals across North America.

"While Canada just reopened salon businesses in late 2021 due to challenges the pandemic brought, Sola Salons continued to grow its international development, further showcasing the strength of our business model," said Christina Russell, CEO at Sola Salons."We are excited to continue to plant our roots in Canada through our membership with the Canadian Franchise Association, welcome new franchisees and watch our existing owners grow throughout Canada"

The new and existing Sola franchise agreements signed include:

Business partners Kevin Lent and John Platten currently own three locations in Ontario

and currently own three locations in Multi-unit franchisee, Ron Magnusson , owns the Calgary, Alberta location

, owns the location Denise Muller will develop one location in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario

will develop one location in Larry Lloyd and Mike McDonald will develop three locations in Ontario's Durham region

and will develop three locations in region New owner, Mike Ruthard , will develop three locations in North York , Richmond Hill , and Markham

, will develop three locations in , , and Ammar Aboulnasr recently signed an agreement to develop two locations in Hamilton and Barrie, Ontario

Identified as the world's largest and fastest growing salon studios franchise, Sola Salons is a recession-resilient franchise with an understanding of markets across Canada. The real-estate rental model requires minimal staff, drives unparalleled occupancy and is backed by 17+ years of salon studio expertise. Sola supports a growing community of more than 18,000 independent beauty professionals across more than 600 locations by providing a turnkey solution for beauty professionals to explore a better life as an entrepreneur. The model continues to grow increasingly in popularity, especially amid the pandemic as beauty professionals sought to go independent to offer their clientele more control over their salon experience, with over 2,000 new beauty professionals joining the Sola family in 2021 alone. Sola brings first-in-Canada market resources like their new BookNow engine, that allows customers to online book and customize their appointments with their independent hairdressers, nail technicians, estheticians, massage therapists, or other beauty professionals.

Sola is driven by its desire to use real estate to help aspiring business owners achieve their dreams and is looking for franchisees who feel the same way. As part of its continued franchise growth strategy, Sola Salons will be targeting a number of markets across North America. Franchise opportunities in Canada include Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, Ontario, and Saskatchewan.

To learn more about franchise opportunities with Sola Salons, contact Lori Merrall, director of franchise development, at [email protected] or visit Sola Canada franchise website for general information at www.solafranchising.ca .

ABOUT SOLA SALONS

In 2004, Sola Salons was established with the opening of its first location in Denver, Colorado. Now with more than 600 locations open in the U.S., Canada and Brazil, Sola is proud to offer 18,000+ independent beauty professionals the freedom and benefits of salon ownership without the risk and overhead of opening a traditional salon. Its innovative salon model empowers hairdressers, estheticians, nail techs, massage therapists and other like-minded professionals to take control of their lives and their careers. Sola provides beauty professionals with beautiful, fully equipped salon studios alongside the support and tools they need to launch their salon business in no time. For more information, please visit www.solasalons.ca .

Contact:

Christina Rodriguez

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Sola Salons
S Jaishankar, the External Affairs Minister (EAM) has scheduled to visit Dakha on Thursday

S Jaishankar, the External Affairs Minister (EAM) has scheduled to visit Dakha on Thursday to extend an invitation to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to visit India.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla announced on Monday that EAM will conduct a one-day visit to Dhaka on Thursday.

However, Shringla is expected to carry a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi inviting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to visit India.

At an event at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, Shringla made these remarks in answer to questions from journalists.

Previously, on the occasion of India-Bangladesh Friendship Day, Foreign Secretary and Bangladesh High Commissioner Muhammad Imran attended an award ceremony to honour the winners of a competition.

During the event, Shringla expressed his thoughts on how to develop the bilateral relationship between the two.

The ceremony further was concluded by the celebration of India-Bangladesh Maitri Diwas where both the representatives congratulated winners of the Maitri Diwas logo and background competition.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Sunday tweeted Foreign Secretary of India, Harsh V Shringla and Bangladesh High Commissioner Muhammad Imran felicitated the winners of India and Bangladesh Maitree Diwas logo & backdrop competition. Also shared views on further strengthening bilateral ties, including youth connect, innovation & emerging areas.
In connection with the arrest of Amravati MP Navneet Rana, the Lok Sabha Speaker on Monday requested a factual report from the Maharashtra government within 24 hours

In connection with the arrest of Amravati MP Navneet Rana, the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Monday requested a factual report from the Maharashtra government within 24 hours.

The letter from the Lok Sabha secretariat to the Ministry of Home Affairs states, A copy of the email complaint dated April 25, 2022, received from Navneet Ravi Rana, MP alleging obviously illegal arrest and subsequent inhuman treatment meted out to her in Khar Police Station, Mumbai.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has urged to acquire a Factual Note on the case from the Government of Maharashtra and provide it to Secretariat within 24 hours for presentation to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Navneet Rana, an Amravati MP, wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday, clarifying that she was chanting the Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackerays residence to spark the flame of Hindutva in Shiv Sena, not to cause any religious conflicts.

The statement comes as the MP-MLA couple was apprehended in Mumbai on Sunday. However, the Metropolitan Magistrate court in Bandra then placed them in judicial prison for 14 days. MLA Ravi Rana is currently imprisoned at Taloja Jail, while MP Naveneet Rana is imprisoned in Byculla Jail.

Ealier on Saturday, a row erupted after MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana announced that they planned to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree (the Maharashtra Chief Ministers Mumbai residence), prompting a large crowd to gather outside the political couples home, waving flags in an attempt to prevent them from reaching the Chief Ministers residence.
Meanwhile, China has stated it will send "immediate humanitarian assistance" to Colombo, following accusations of debt diplomacy over its big loans and investments to the island nation.

Sri Lankas foreign minister told reporters on Wednesday that India will contribute an additional $500 million in financial aid to help the country buy fuel, and that Bangladesh is willing to postpone $450 million in swap reimbursements.

Meanwhile, China, whose substantial loans and investments to the island nation have sparked accusations of debt diplomacy, has stated that it will provide immediate humanitarian assistance to Colombo, but has stayed silent on the island governments request for debt rescheduling.

Earlier, India had also provided USD 1 billion credit to Sri Lanka to support the island nations ailing economy. Colombo will benefit from a USD 1 billion line of credit to help keep food and fuel prices in check.

This is the second $500 million in gasoline credit that India has given to a Sri Lankan government grappling with the countrys greatest financial crisis in living memory.

After a shipment of 120,000 tonnes of diesel and 40,000 tonnes of gasoline earlier this month, the first line of credit was exhausted.

India has supplied approximately 400,000 tonnes of petroleum so far.

After fuel stockpiles were depleted, massive protests erupted on Tuesday.

AFP claimed that thousands of irate motorists torched tyres and blocked a major road leading into Colombo, citing police and local officials.

On the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank spring conference in Washington, DC, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.

Georgieva praised Indias assistance to its neighbours and other economically weak countries, particularly Sri Lanka.
Institute of Development Studies Professor believes that the ongoing crisis in Sri Lanka, which is the country's worst in history, is a man-made problem

Professor Mick Moore, a highly acclaimed political economist and professorial fellow at the University of Sussexs Institute of Development Studies believes that the ongoing crisis in Sri Lanka, which is the countrys worst in history, is a man-made problem because warning signs that had been visible for a year were ignored.

Moore claimed the Sri Lankan economic crisis is almost entirely caused by government policies that were highly imprudent in an interview with Amsterdam-based think tank European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) last week. Moore discussed the current political and economic situation in Sri Lanka, as well as probable future trajectories, in the interview.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in recorded history, and this crisis, while the situation became worse by falling tourism revenues due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and rising food and fuel prices, was almost entirely caused by the Rajapaksa administrations rash policy decisions.

Professor Moore explained that a rapid decline in national foreign exchange reserves has resulted in significant limits on the supply of imported common items, resulting in shortages of fuel, energy, food, and medicine.

According to the Professor, the reduction in foreign exchange reserves is the result of the government taking on an increasing amount of foreign currency loans without being financially competent of servicing the obligation.

Moore emphasized that the Rajapaksa government was not suddenly confronted with rising payment pressures, as it had been clear for more than a year that the countrys foreign exchange reserves would soon run out, and the countrys response to this looming balance of payments crisis had robbed the country of valuable negotiating time.

The majority of the debt was generated as a result of the government taking out large loans to fund politically popular domestic infrastructure projects that effectively encouraged rent-seeking behavior and patronage networks while making little economic sense.

However, talking about Chinas role in Sri Lanka, Moore stated that it is important to note that China is not the only funding body in those projects, and thus the responsibility for the status quo is shared with other actors when discussing the role of Chinese investments in infrastructure and their alleged contribution to the countrys economic and political crisis.

The current unfavorable circumstances, he claims, are the outcome of debt accumulation, governmental errors, and ill-conceived infrastructure projects financed with Chinese funding.

Professor Moore went on to say that, given Sri Lankas geostrategic importance, rivalry for economic and political influence on behalf of foreign actors is unavoidable; hence, Chinas engagement is not isolated.

Professor Moore responded to a question about long-term structural reforms by arguing that Sri Lankas long-term economic picture is not grim, since the country has profited enormously from Asias economic boom and new economic activity are growing.

When it comes to the fiscal problem, he believes that one possible answer would be to reverse the governments recent tax cut reforms.
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STAMFORD  Margaret Keane, the executive chairwoman of Synchrony, the countrys largest provider of private-label and store-brand credit cards, says extending ladders to help employees advance in their careers is a crucial part of the companys mission.

Now, Synchrony is also looking to provide those ladders to students and workers outside the organization.

Keane, other leaders of the Fortune 500 company and public officials, including Gov. Ned Lamont, gathered Monday at the firms Stamford headquarters to celebrate the recent opening of its 10,500-square-foot Synchrony Skills Academy, which is the home of digitally focused training programs for students and workers. The new hub is a key part of Education as an Equalizer, an approximately $50 million initiative funded by Synchrony and its foundation to support higher education, workforce training and financial literacy for its workforce and underserved communities.

The world has changed, and its become a digital economy, Keane, who served as Synchronys chief executive officer from 2014 to 2021, said at the ceremony. Our future depends on a new and innovative way to fill the workforce. We have to really think differently about this in the 21st century. And its especially true here in Connecticut.

Synchrony CEO and President Brian Doubles, who was not able to attend in person, made a similar argument for the skills academy in a pre-recorded video message.

Within the next decade, nine out of 10 jobs will require digital skills  and yet 76 percent of global workers feel unprepared for a digital future, Doubles said. Thats something were feeling right here in Connecticut. The reality is theres an urgent need to develop a more diverse, skilled workforce, while equally working to address the economic inequality weve all seen in our state.

The companys message found a receptive audience in the elected officials who attended. Lamont, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons and state Rep. Hubert Delany, D-Stamford, said they were grateful for the companys support of workforce development in the state.

I need to make sure that nobody is left behind, Lamont said. None of this, Those jobs are not for people like me; theyre for other people. Wrong. Weve got jobs for you right now. Our job is to make sure you have the skills you need.

Simmons said, this skillset that this academy will be providing is going to be transformative for so many students and those who are underserved in our community to be able to access jobs of the future.

The academys partners include the Governors Workforce Council, Stamford Public Schools, the University of Connecticut, jobs-training specialist General Assembly and the nonprofits District Arts and Education, and Future5.

Success is executive suites and board rooms looking the way that our classroom currently does, said A.M. Bhatt, founder and CEO of DAE, which is running the academys programs for high school students. The jobs are absolutely entry points, and theyre critical.  But what success actually looks like requires a longer time horizon  10, 20 years. We measure it in board rooms, executives and state houses.

Among the classes running at the skills academy, about 25 students from Stamford High School, Westhill High School and the Academy of Information Technology & Engineering are attending an after-school digital-training program launched in January and running until June. The students are learning web development, UX design and data analytics. In addition, students are receiving college and career assistance from Future5, the University of Connecticuts Engineering Ambassadors and Synchrony.

The academy will host a similar summer program, which will also draw from local high schools.

Adult education at the academy includes a 12-week software engineering boot camp run by General Assembly that started last month. There are seven students in the first cohort.

This has impacted the decisions for our future careers, said Westhill senior Nichole Samaniego, one of the students in the after-school program. I wanted to be a nurse; now Im going to the School of Engineering at UConn.

Fellow Westhill senior Julia Piascik, who will study computer science at Sacred Heart University, also attested to how the after-school program had instilled confidence in tackling digital assignments. During tours of the academy that guests took after the ceremony, Piascik and Samaniego presented websites they had built.

I wanted to be a physicians assistant, so its a very drastic change, Piascik said of her newfound interest in computer science. I didnt think Id be able to do these types of things. Coming here has been amazing.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott
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CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australias opposition party promised Tuesday to establish a Pacific defense school to train neighboring armies in response to Chinas potential military presence on the Solomon Islands.

The school was among a range of measures that the center-left Labor Party has promised to increase Australias engagement in its region if the opposition wins elections on May 21.

Labor has criticized Prime Minister Scott Morrisons conservative government over a security pact announced last week between China and the Solomon Islands.

Australia and the United States fear the deal could result in a Chinese naval presence less than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from the northeast Australian coast.

There are also concerns that other Pacific island countries financially weakened by the pandemic and its impact on tourism could be lured by China into similar deals.

Labor foreign affairs spokesperson Penny Wong said Australia needed to restore its place as the partner of choice in the Pacific region.

Lets be clear, the prospect of a Chinese base less than 2,000 kilometers from Australias coastline is dramatically detrimental to Australias security interests, Wong said. That has occurred on Mr. Morrisons watch.

The Australia-Pacific Defense School would deepen institutional links between the Australian Defense Force and its regional counterparts while supporting the regions needs, a policy statement said.

Opposition defense spokesperson Brendan OConnor said Australia currently only provided some training for its neighbors commissioned military officers and none for lower ranks.

In recent years, this government has been derelict when it comes to its relationship with  Pacific island countries, OConnor said.

Morrison stood by his governments record during its nine years in office, saying Australia provided the Pacific with 1.8 billion Australian dollars ($1.3 billion) a year in aid.

Australia was the only country in the world that had a diplomatic mission in each of the countries that make up the Pacific Islands Forum and has provided every country with naval patrol boats.

A Labor government would double funding for Australias aerial surveillance of its neighbors territorial waters to reduce illegal fishing and help finance clean energy infrastructure projects.

What theyre effectively saying is theyre going to keep doing what weve been doing, Morrison said, referring to Labors Pacific proposals.

Labor also promised to spend an additional AU$525 million ($379 million) over four years on aid to Pacific countries plus East Timor.

The state-owned Australian Broadcasting Corp. would be funded to take more Australian television, radio and online media content to a broader Pacific audience. Partnerships would be built with Pacific broadcasters to carry Australian voices, values and identities to the region to counter Chinese television and radio.

Changes to Australian visas would also make it easier for Pacific Islanders to work and settle in Australia.

Australia is the Solomon Islands' main security partner and largest donor of foreign aid. Labor has described the Chinese security pact with the island nation as Australias biggest policy failure in the Pacific since World War II.

President Joe Bidens administration has warned that the United States will take unspecified action against the Solomon Islands should the Chinese pact pose a threat to U.S. or allied interests.
BRANFORD  Democratic members of the Branford Representative Town Meeting are calling for a public, more inclusive process to better determine the use of the $8.2 million grant, awarded to the town through the American Rescue Plan Act.

Federal rescue plan funds are to be used to help towns and cities to recover from the effects of the COVID pandemic and follow specific guidelines.

However, First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove said the process has been public and transparent  going through the same procedure as any town appropriation.

The Democrats objection to the current process of awarding ARPA funds came at their April 13 meeting when the first request for use of these funds came before the RTM.

Presented by First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove and Finance Director James Finch, the RTM was asked to authorize spending $380,000 from ARPA on a SAN Storage Device for Information Technology and a Showmobile for Parks and Recreation. The measure passed on a voice vote, with the 17-member Republican majority supporting the Republican-led proposal.

These were the first of 13 capital items in the administration-developed $2.6 million proposal, which totals about a third of the $8.2 million received. The full initial request can be found in the RTM agenda items for April 13 at https://bit.ly/3vFZXy2.

With the approval of the expenditures, however, RTM Minority Leader Tracy Everson and Democratic representatives Chris Sullivan, Maryann Amore and Peter Hentschel, in a written statement, encouraged the administration to instead allow the citizens, businesses and nonprofit organizations to have formal input on how they would like to see the town spend the remaining $5 million.

Everson objected to how the administration is determining the funds usage.

The common element of what some other towns have done is to look at the financial impact on people and businesses that continue to struggle as we emerge from the pandemic, said Everson.

She noted that other towns have held public meetings, established task forces, surveyed the public, or held workshops, with ARPA allocations for food banks, community-based organizations, small business grants and foreclosure rental assistance, among others.

This federal funding is specifically designed to be used to assist those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Everson added.

First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove, however, stressed the administration is meeting the needs of the community through these appropriations.

Whether its sidewalks, paving or buying a new ambulance  this is all to meet the needs of the residents in our community, Cosgrove said. We are utilizing a portion of these funds to address human needs in our community.

He said the town has increased the basic needs appropriation by $100,000, which will go to the Branford Counseling Center. The ARPA money is in addition to its $58,000 budget and the town is looking to increase funding to the counseling center in later years.

Were creating a glide path so its sustainable, Cosgrove said about the increase. Were increasing the amount going to the basic needs of the community beyond the ARPA funds.

Once these dollars expire were not going to have a cliff  were building that into our budgets over a period of budget cycles to lessen the tax impact but still address the growing need in our community, he said.

Democrat RTM members who spoke out stressed that they wanted to hear from other people in town  not just from town departments and town services.

Sullivan, 6th District, said, There should be a public opportunity to help determine the items that come before the Board of Finance and the RTM.

Amore, 4th District, agreed, asking that for the remaining allocation of some $5 million that the administration, ...use this as an opportunity to hear directly from the various sectors who are providing the services around town, not just through the town departments.

During the discussion before the RTM, the Democrats calls for more public participation appeared to be met with resistance from the First Selectman, according to Democrats. The minority party members are encouraging the general public and organizations to make their voices heard now.

There has been no public appeal by the administration to ask for feedback on uses for the funding. The time to speak out is now, said Everson.

Cosgrove said the town administration had decided to use the same process to disperse ARPA money as it does with the general fund.

As I stated at that (April 13) meeting and as I stated back in May, when we first learned that we would be receiving money, that we would follow a process that our town is familiar with  the same process we do for every other appropriation.

Cosgrove said that the grant money requests from town departments are going through the Board of Finance, RTM process. He added that the process is transparent and open and it allows public engagement.

He noted that the ARPA funds do not require the town follow the same process as we do when we are appropriating funds from our General Fund dollars.

Cosgrove also said the guidelines give the towns leeway in how they use the funds.

Hentschel, 2nd District, however, said he supports a public input process, similar to how every 10 years the Plan of Conservation and Development is updated.

I would hate to see requests for this $8 million to come before the RTM with decisions already made as to how it is going to be spent, Hentschel said.

The Democratic RTM is asking residents who want to learn more or provide ideas for the best use of funds to email BranfordARPAideas@gmail.com to be forwarded to the administration.
Dubai-based Al Sharqi Shipping has received an award from Maersk line as the Most Valuable Partner for the year 2021.

The award was handed over by Christopher Cook, Maersks Line Managing Director of UAE, Oman and Qatar to Al Sharqis team, represented by Asif Rafiq, Chief Operating Officer, Sadaf Rafiq, Director of Revenue and Pricing and Wasif Rafiq, Director of Trade and Revenue.

We at Al Sharqi Shipping have shown resilience against the backdrop of Covid-19 disruption which caused huge demand and supply shocks all through 2020 till present, said Asif Rafiq.

The recovery has been bumpy, no doubt, but this has forced us to look internally to reorganise, refresh and re-energise to come out even stronger. This award is a testament to our ability to be flexible, to be innovative in our solutions and more importantly to be the voice of our customers, said Sadaf Rafiq.

-- TradeArabia News Service
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NEW HAVEN  A city pizza company has raised nearly $10,000 as of Tuesday after one of its trucks was struck in a crash on Interstate 91 in Cromwell, while police say the search for the hit-and-run driver continues.

The crash occurred around 4:20 p.m. Saturday on I-91 in Cromwell, according to a report from state police. The incident was captured on a dashboard camera of a passing motorist and police on Tuesday released a photo of the man wanted for causing the incident.

The truck from Big Green Pizza, which dispatches vehicles with built-in pizza ovens to events, was traveling north in the right lane of the highway while a 2005 Toyota Scion was speeding in the left lane, the police report stated. The Scion crossed all lanes of traffic and collided with rear end of the pizza truck, according to a crash report from state police.

By the grace of God, our boys inside are OK and were left with only minor bruises and scratches. Unfortunately, we can't say the same for our truck which is now entirely out of commission. After many beautiful messages from our community asking how you can help, we decided to create this page to accept donations to get a new oven made and rebuild our truck back, representatives of the company said on the fundraisers GoFundMe page. Any little bit helps our family-run business get back on our feet. We want to thank everyone who has called with concerns and kind words. We are so grateful for you, we are strong, and we will rebuild.

State police said Tuesday the search for the driver who fled the scene remained ongoing. The driver of the Scion allegedly ran south by exit 21 while wearing a gold Kobe Bryant jersey, according to the crash report, which stated the driver may have suffered an injury in the crash.

Liane Page, owner of Big Green Pizza, said Monday the company is looking to rebuild, but noted it is just gonna take time and patience.

The trucks also use a custom wood-fired pizza oven  each of which can fit six pies  and the vehicles have to be rebuilt for the companys needs.

Its made for the trucks itself, so its custom made, she said.

Page said it would take six to eight months for the oven to come in, but with delays during the pandemic, she predicted the company will be without the truck for a year or more.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com; reporting from Peter Yankowski is included in this story
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Michael Withers, Texas A&M University and Steven Boivie, Texas A&M University

(THE CONVERSATION) It appears Twitters board of directorsfinally warmed to Elon Musks hostile bid and agreed to a sale  but not before it took a severe beating from the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and other prominent users on their own social network.

Musk, who on April 25, 2022, sealed a deal to buy Twitter for US$44 billion, criticized board members for owning almost no shares of the company they oversee. Dorsey, who will step down from his seat on Twitters board at the end of his term in May 2022, called it the dysfunction of the company. Conservative politicians derided the board as scared of free speech.

As experts on corporate governance, we believe this feud raises two important corporate governance questions: What purpose does a board of directors serve? And does it matter if a member owns company stock or not?

A bad board will kill

Good boards dont create good companies, but a bad board will kill a company every time.

Venture capitalist Fred Destin wrote that in 2018, citing what he called an old Silicon Valley proverb. The quote has been making the rounds on Twitter recently in light of Musks hostile bid. It even seemed to get a nod from Dorsey himself when he replied to a tweet containing the quote, big facts.

These tweets and the general conversation that has emerged have important implications for understanding boards and their role in shepherding a company.

Broadly speaking, a boards most important roles include hiring, paying and monitoring the chief executive officer.

Academic research suggests that board members at large companies  who typically receive generous compensation packages  may be limited in their ability to perform these tasks effectively. In our work, we found that boards often find it impossible to conduct adequate monitoring and rein in wayward CEOs because theres just so much information for modern boards to process with their limited time. And the social dynamics involved in the board also make it difficult for directors to speak up and oppose other directors.

In a separate study involving face-to-face interviews with directors, we were consistently told that directors take their board service seriously and operate with their companies best interests in mind. But they do so with an eye toward collaborating with the CEO and the rest of the executive team rather than serving as impartial observers, as their independent status suggests they should.

While our work didnt focus on this, if the board and the CEO fundamentally disagree about the direction of company  which was often the case between Dorsey and the Twitter board  it would certainly be problematic and could lead to less than optimal decisions being made.

In other words, a board that isnt functioning effectively can definitely destroy a companys value. And some reporting suggests thats what happened to Twitter, whose shares were trading at less than half their 2021 peak before Musk disclosed he had amassed a 9% ownership stake.

A raiders lament

That brings us to the next question: Does not owning a significant stake in a company you oversee make it more likely that youll run it into the ground, as Musk seemed to suggest?

A few days after making his takeover offer on April 14, the billionaire, responding to a tweet showing how few shares Twitter board members own, posted that its directors economic interests are simply not aligned with shareholders.

Musks arguments harked back to takeover bids from the 1980s in which activist investors  or corporate raiders  would argue that executives interests did not align with those of shareholders. As Wall Streets Gordon Gekko famously railed against executives of a business he wanted to take over, Today, management has no stake in the company!

Musks words echo Gekkos greed is good speech, except in regard to independent directors, who comprise the vast majority of corporate boards. The simple definition of an independent or outside director is that they dont hold an executive role in running the company, such as chief executive officer or chief financial officer.

In reality, Twitters board share ownership is very similar to other companies.

Excluding Dorsey, independent Twitter directors held a median ownership stake of 0.003%. For comparison, we looked at equity ownership of independent directors of companies listed in the S&P 500 stock index in 2021. We found the median stake was less than 0.01%, and all but a handful of directors held less than 1% of the companys stock. Median ownership at Musks company Tesla is similarly minuscule, at 0.23%.

Whether this makes a difference to a companys success is hard to assess because research on the topic is rather sparse, in large part because board members have so little equity.

Mixed research

Academic researchers on effective corporate governance in the 1970s argued that outside directors should avoid owning many shares in the companies they oversee to maintain objectivity. More recently, management scholars have suggested that higher stakes could provide a way to motivate directors to monitor management and make decisions more in line with shareholder interests.

Some researchers have found that boards with larger ownership stakes can improve a companys operational performance and better align outside directors with the interests of shareholders.

But other work that examined multiple studies shows the impact of director stock ownership is mixed at best, with some studies suggesting higher stakes potentially lead to negative outcomes, such as excessive executive and director compensation.

Since the passage of the SarbanesOxley Act of 2002 after massive accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom and elsewhere, corporate governance issues such as board oversight have become increasingly important. This led to a number of changes intended to align the interests of managers and those of shareholders, including a focus on board independence and adjusting executive compensation.

[Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversations newsletters to understand the world. Sign up today.]

Although our research shows boards are limited in their ability to monitor management, theyre still better than nothing.

In his letter to shareholders announcing his bid, Musk vowed to unlock Twitters potential as a private company, without a public board. We may soon see if hes right.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/elon-musk-wont-have-a-board-to-watch-him-when-he-takes-twitter-private-does-that-matter-181773.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Dilek Cindoglu, Georgetown University

(THE CONVERSATION) Russias war on Ukraine is, in many ways, a war on women. The fact that most women do not fight on the battlefield does not mean that their war experiences are less traumatic than male soldiers realities.

Most of the 5 million Ukrainian refugees are women, children and the elderly, who left behind their husbands, sons and brothers to fight for their homeland.

Even once Ukrainian women reach a place of refuge, they will face problems in finding decent work, which is actually an international legal term that describes safe and fair working environments.

Female Ukrainian refugees are also shouldering new financial burdens as the single heads of household, while at the same time caring for children and elderly relatives.

As a scholar of gender and labor markets, I believe this war and its aftermath are going to be especially harmful to women, children and the elderly. Special measures are needed to help Ukrainian women find work, support their dependents and also contribute to their new host countries economies.

Migration and jobs

Refugees and migrants have been shown to improve their host countries economies over time.

But research, including my own, shows that during times of crisis, countries hosting refugees do not have many opportunities for arriving job seekers and may need to set up new social services and create new jobs to accommodate many new highly skilled workers.

This situation can create work competition between newcomers and locals, which can feed discrimination and resentment.

Turkey, for example, is home to more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, 11 years after the Syrian civil war first broke out. While Turkish people initially welcomed the early waves of Syrian refugees, public support for Syrians has decreased over the past few years.

One reason is that there is a growing concern about Syrians taking jobs from local Turks, even though Syrians are mostly doing low-paid work that most Turks would not want.

Unpaid care work

One critical problem for Ukrainian women is the likely rise in the amount of time they spend doing unpaid household tasks. This work involves child care, cleaning, cooking or other responsibilities that do not result in payment. Women generally do much more of this work than men.

Because Ukraine is barring men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country so they can fight in the war against Russia, Ukrainian women must both care for family members and work to financially support their families.

While older Ukrainian children can attend schools in their new homes in Poland and other parts of the European Union, mothers with babies and toddlers have fewer options. In some parts of Poland, for example, there are no state-run day cares, and affordable or free child care options are limited in general.

Even if host countries provide child care, Ukrainian women with professional degrees will face another challenge: finding work.

Job hunting

Before the war, women made up about 47% of Ukraines formal workforce  a percentage that has decreased from approximately 50% in the past two decades. Women also, increasingly, earn less than men for the same work in Ukraine.

Ukrainian women are, overall, better educated than the average European woman, according to U.S. Agency for International Development data on higher education.

Ukrainian womens university degrees should translate easily in other European countries, placing them in a good position to seek jobs.

The European Union said in March 2022 that it was finalizing paperwork to recognize and accept Ukrainian refugees diplomas.

The problem is that there are a limited number of white-collar jobs in European host countries.

European employers also may not be very welcoming to Ukrainians, because of existing economic crises and rising unemployment, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When womens opportunities to join a host countrys formal workforce are limited or blocked, they become more likely to be forced into early marriages, sex work and human trafficking in order to survive.

A way forward

Unless there are unique policy measures and other responses, even the most highly educated Ukrainian women will not be able to work and have independent lives.

Yet when it comes to host governments feeling public pressure to extend economic and social services  like health care and education  to Ukrainians, it is inevitable that there will be some tension and discrimination against refugees.

Ukrainian refugees integration into new countries would require specific policies that recognize and respond to their unique challenges as women and new single heads of household. This could include subsidized child care or help caring for elderly people.

Philanthropies and global corporations offering aid to Ukrainian refugees could, for example, offer remote, online work opportunities for Ukrainian women.

Ukrainian women now in exile are acutely feeling the stress of caring for children and other family members while trying to work. But these two suddenly colliding demands represent a common fear many mothers share, both in times of peace and war. Solutions to help Ukrainian female refugees support themselves and their families deserve sincere consideration.

[The Conversations Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. Sign up for Politics Weekly.]

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/even-once-female-ukrainian-refugees-reach-safety-they-face-new-burdens-as-single-heads-of-household-179544.
Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media

NEW HAVEN  A New Haven man and convicted felon pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to illegally possessing a firearm, according to federal prosecutors.

Tyrone Brown, now 26, was charged in August 2021 after police raided his home on Stevens Street and found a loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Brown has been convicted of state felonies in the past, making it illegal for him to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce, according to Leonard Boyle, the United States attorney for the District of Connecticut.
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BERKELEY, Calif. (AP)  College students squeezed by a massive housing shortage and surging rents are paying too much for moldy apartments, commuting long distances or sleeping in their cars to get an education  and that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.

For some colleges, the housing crunch was related to the pandemic, which muddied projections for who might want on-campus dorms when classes resumed in person last fall. But the lack of housing both on-campus and off has been a longstanding problem at other schools, including many in California, where homeowners and communities have sued to curb new student housing construction.

Nationally, 43% of students at four-year universities experienced housing insecurity in 2020, up from 35% in 2019, according to an annual survey conducted by The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University. Students reported being unable to pay their rent or mortgage, living in overcrowded units, or moving in with others due to financial difficulties.

For the first time since it began tracking basic needs in 2015, the survey found an equal percentage  14%  of students at both four-year and two-year colleges who had experienced homelessness in the last year.

This is a function of rents rising, the inability of communities and institutions to build enough housing for students and other costs of college going up that create a perfect storm for students, said Mark Huelsman, the centers director of policy and advocacy.

Terrell Thompson, a sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley, slept in his car for nearly two weeks at the start of the school year last fall, unable to find an apartment in his price range. The university has limited dorms and competition is fierce for nearby off-campus units, which can start at $1,600 for a 300-square-foot (28-square-meter) studio.

Academically it was hard, because Im worried about finding housing and Im worried about my clothes and Im worried about getting my car broken into all the time, said the 19-year-old Thompson, who now lives in an apartment he found last September. I was anxious 24/7.

Nationally, rents have increased 17% since March 2020, said Chris Salviati, senior economist with Apartment List, but the increase has been higher in some popular college towns. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, saw a 24% jump in rents and Tempe, Arizona, saw a 31% hike.

In some cases, the rental increases have been exacerbated by a lack of on-campus housing,

Last fall, the demand for on-campus housing was so high that the University of Tampa offered incoming freshmen a break on tuition if they deferred until fall 2022. Rent in the Florida city has skyrocketed nearly 30% from a year ago, according to Apartment List.

Rent in Knoxville has soared 36% since March 2020, and it could get worse after the University of Tennessee announced a new lottery system for its dorms this fall, saying it needs to prioritize housing for a larger freshman class.

Even two-year community colleges, which have not traditionally provided dorms, are rethinking student needs as the cost of housing rises.

Last October, Long Beach City College outside of Los Angeles launched a pilot program to provide up to 15 homeless students space in an enclosed parking garage.

They sleep in their cars and have access to bathrooms and showers, electrical outlets and internet while they work with counselors to find permanent housing. Uduak-Joe Ntuk, president of the colleges Board of Trustees, hesitated when asked if the program will be renewed.

I want to say no, but I think we will, he said. Were going to have new students come fall semester this year that are going to be in a similar situation, and for us to do nothing is untenable.

UC Berkeley and other UC campuses are fighting homeowners who oppose campus expansion plans, even as the schools accept more students.

Most students have no idea of the housing situation when they choose to attend UC Berkeley, said 19-year-old freshman Sanaa Sodhi, and the university needs to do more to prepare students and support them in their search.

The political science major is excited to move out of the dorms and into a two-bedroom apartment where she and three friends are taking over the lease. The unit is older but a bargain at $3,000 a month, she said. The housemates were prepared to pay up to $5,200 for a safe place close to campus.

You dont honestly know the severity of the situation before youre in it, she said, adding that landlords hold all the cards. They know that whatever price they charge, well inevitably have to pay it because we dont really have a choice except maybe to live out of our cars.
TOKYO (AP)  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida indicated his willingness Tuesday to mend badly strained ties with South Korea, saying relations between the two U.S. allies are crucial when the rules-based international order is threatened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

There is no time to waste in improving Japan-South Korea relations, Kishida said he told a delegation sent by South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol. Strategic cooperation between Japan and South Korea, and among Japan, the U.S. and South Korea, is more necessary than ever."
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NEW HAVEN  City clergy urged Mayor Justin Elicker Tuesday to abide by a judges order requiring Interim Chief Renee Dominguez to step down, saying that forgoing an appeal would show respect for the wishes of residents and respect for the law.

The Rev. Boise Kimber and pastor Donarell Elder previously filed suit in January, arguing that the city is violating its charter by keeping Dominguez in her temporary role heading the police force, which officially began at the end of June.

In the suit, the pair, represented by attorney Jerald Barber, noted two sections of the charter they say back up their claim  one that says no person can hold an acting role in city government for more than six months, and another that says no one may serve in a temporary employment position with the city for more than 180 days.

Judge Michael Kamp concurred Monday, ruling that while the mayor has the authority to nominate an individual to be Police Chief, the Board of Alders eventually has to approve the individual if she is to serve as the permanent holder of that office.

The Board of Alders rejected Elickers nomination of Dominguez for the full-time role in December 2021 through a voice vote that did not require them to go on record as either for or against the idea. Dominguez subsequently withdrew her candidacy for the position and the city is in the process of seeking a candidate for chief.

Barber noted Tuesday that the suit did not call Dominguezs performance into question, only her ability to hold this particular role, suggesting she could serve as an adviser or return to working as assistant chief.

Theres no valid claim that the charter of the City of New Haven is anything but plain and (unambiguous), said Barber. The charter of the City of New Haven is the authority.

Elicker Tuesday afternoon questioned the motives behind and importance of the suit, saying Dominguez was doing a good job and taking her out of the role would improperly destabilize the department.

I think its important to step back here and ask what are we all trying to accomplish? Elicker said. What Im trying to accomplish is identify the permanent Chief for the City of New Haven.

Kimber said another police officer could step into the role leading the department without significant issue.

She is not indispensable, said Kimber. There will not be a break. ... There are other competent men and women at the New Haven Police Department.

Elicker described the suit as an example of politicking in New Haven.

I think New Haven residents have seen, for decades, some of this ridiculous politics that distracts from the good work that we do, said Elicker. We have a lot of legitimate challenges in the city, and as mayor, Im focusing on those challenges.  Unfortunately, there are some people in the city that, over and over again, decide to have press conferences and criticize from the sidelines rather than focusing on working collaboratively.  I think New Haven residents are tired of that kind of politics, and Im tired of it.

Asked whether his views stemmed from his prior calls for Dominguezs resignation, Kimber said the issue was not personal, suggesting Elicker was trying to make it such.

Dominguez had been a fine assistant chief and officer, he said; the matter at hand Tuesday was the court ruling.

This is not a personal fight or dispute. This is about the order of democracy, said Kimber. This is about who is going to govern this city.

The Rev. John Lewis, echoed by Kimber, suggested that Elicker and the city should forgo a potential appeal, saying it could reinforce respect in the law.

What example is that to the community, when your leaders dont follow authority? Lewis said. She overstayed her time  its OK.

Activist and former aldermanic candidate Rodney Williams said Dominguez should step down, both for the sake of her role as a leader and to extricate herself from the politics at hand.

Im asking her as a leader  its time to leave, said Williams.

Corporation Counsel Patricia King said the city believes Kamp did not consider the entirety of the charter, saying the citys reading suggests that acting department heads should stay in office until replaced.

The city has not yet filed an appeal, King said, but will do so in the coming weeks. She and Elicker noted appeals are part of the legal process.

Kimber suggested during his press conference that Elicker could have avoided this ongoing series of events by nominating Dominguez a second time.

Asked about this, Elicker said he would be open to the idea if the Board of Alders was, as well.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
UW Announces Spring 2022 Commencement Programs

A member of Wyomings congressional delegation, a renowned mountain guide and author, and the University of Wyomings president are keynote speakers for UWs spring commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 14.

They will be joined by three student speakers for three ceremonies in UWs Arena-Auditorium.

A separate ceremony for the College of Law will take place in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts, with an Albany County district judge delivering that keynote speech. A law student also will speak.

UW is scheduled to accord degrees upon 1,451 undergraduate students, 418 graduate students, 65 College of Law students and 43 School of Pharmacy students.

Each ceremony is scheduled to last about two hours, featuring a keynote speaker, student speaker, a reading of all graduates names and presentation of diplomas to each student. The ceremonies will be broadcast live; the links for all of them are here: https://wyolinks.uwyo.edu/2022SpringComm/.

The first ceremony, set for 8:30 a.m., is for undergraduate students graduating from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the College of Business, the College of Engineering and Applied Science, the College of Health Sciences and the School of Energy Resources.

The College of Law ceremony is at 10 a.m. in the Performing Arts Center.

The ceremony for masters and doctoral degree recipients starts at 12:15 p.m.

Beginning at 3:30 p.m., another ceremony is for undergraduate students graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and the Office of Academic Affairs.

The keynote speakers and student speakers for the May 14 ceremonies are:

Keynote Speakers

-- 8:30 a.m. ceremony: Joe Kelsey, former guide with Exum Mountain Guides in Jackson and an internationally known author. His guidebook, Climbing and Hiking in the Wind River Mountains, has served as a beacon for outdoor recreationists and a magnet for those seeking to explore Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West. He has written other books that have brought Wyoming to the world as well.

-- 10 a.m. College of Law ceremony: Albany County District Judge Tori Kricken, who will leave the bench later this year to join UWs faculty. She was sworn in as a judge in the 2nd Judicial District Jan. 3, 2017. Before that, she was the staff attorney for the 2nd Judicial District for about 14 years. She also has served as a district court commissioner, circuit court magistrate and hearing examiner for the Office of Administrative Hearings. She also was in private practice at the firm of Brown and Hiser LLC.

-- 12:15 p.m. ceremony: UW President Ed Seidel, who was appointed as the universitys 28th president July 1, 2020. A relativistic astrophysicist whose specialty is colliding black holes, Seidel has led academic, research and innovation programs at multiple universities in the U.S. and internationally, as well as the National Science Foundation.

-- 3:30 p.m. ceremony: U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, the first female senator ever elected to represent the Equality State. Born and raised on a ranch outside Cheyenne, Lummis first served the state in the Wyoming House and Senate. She also served as state treasurer and, from 2008-2016, as Wyomings representative to the U.S. House. She now serves on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and the Environment and Public Works Committee, focused on everything from energy and natural resources issues to finance and technology issues such as cryptocurrency.

Student Speakers

-- 8:30 a.m. ceremony: CeeJay Berg, of Rock Springs, graduating with a bachelors degree in accounting and economics.

-- 10 a.m. College of Law ceremony: Matthew Minikus, of Raleigh, N.C., graduating with his Juris Doctor.

-- 12:15 p.m. ceremony: Alison Grendahl, of Newcastle, graduating with a masters degree in higher education administration.

-- 3:30 p.m. ceremony: Maira Sagahon, of Yuma, Colo., graduating with a bachelors degree in agricultural education.
Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media

HAMDEN  A 20-year-old woman was attacked with a knife while leaving a friends house on Warner Street Tuesday morning, according to the Police Department.

Police were called to the area around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday for a reported assault with a knife. At the scene, officers found the woman with a laceration to her head, according to Detective Sean Dolan.
KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Logan Stankoven had a goal and two assists, powering the Kamloops Blazers to a decisive 5-1 win over the Spokane Chiefs in Western Hockey League playoff action on Monday.

The victory gives the Blazers a commanding 3-0 lead in the opening-round series.
About 100,000 cases of cholera were recorded in Nigeria in 2021, the highest in recent times, the World Health Organisation said. Nigeria ha...





About 100,000 cases of cholera were recorded in Nigeria in 2021, the highest in recent times, the World Health Organisation said.





Nigeria had earlier in 2021 recorded 111,062 cases of cholera, with 3,604 deaths, figures exceeding the number of cases and deaths recorded in 2020 as released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.





Dr. Walter Mulombo, WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, gave the figure at a training session on oral cholera vaccine requests and campaign planning organised by the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC).





The Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC) is an agency of the WHO.





In the global roadmap for cholera control, especially in endemic countries, he acknowledged the role of the GTFCC and its Country Support Platform (CSP).





WHO Country Representative in Nigeria explained that the agency had proved to be effective in the development of National Control Plans, that included vaccination and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) activities.





According to him, We are mindful of the support by different partners and donors through the WHO, for the response.





He added that it includes reactive vaccination with more than 1.7 million persons vaccinated with two doses each of Oral Cholera Vaccination (OCV) in Bauchi, Jigawa, Yobe, and Zamfara states.





He believed that the recently approved GTFCC application for Nigeria would significantly mitigate the risk of and upsurge of cholera cases during this rainy season.





According to him, the application covers approximately nine million doses of OCV to implement two campaigns in 14 local government areas in nine states and the FCT.





He opined the need for speedy shipment and allocation of the vaccines to ensure early vaccination.





Dr. Walter Mulombo explained that Nigeria had demonstrated the capacity to implement vaccinations in difficult settings like insecurity, as experienced in two local government areas in Zamfara State.





According to him, the country had also addressed and improved vaccination data quality through the use of real-time reporting by campaign teams using handheld mobile phones.
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State on Tuesday paid N100 million for the purchase of the forms to contest the 2023 Presidency under the pl...

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State on Tuesday paid N100 million for the purchase of the forms to contest the 2023 Presidency under the platform of the All Progressives Congress.

The payment, according to the Director (Media and Publicity), Yahaya Bello Presidential Campaign Council, Yemi Kolapo, had made him the first to officially seal his aspiration to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023.

With the payment, Kolapo said the governor would on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, pick his expression of interest and nomination forms.

She recalled that thousands of Nigerians from all walks of life had stormed the Eagle Square in the nations capital, on Saturday, April 2, 2022, to witness the official acceptance of Governor Bello to vie for the 2023 Presidency.

The venue of the declaration was filled to the brim while an almost equal crowd was seen outside the venue, with many support groups clad in different distinct attires, chanting solidarity songs.

Kolapo said, With the payment for the forms, Governor Bellos teeming supporters should rest assured that he will be on the ballot in the 2023 presidential race. We are highly encouraged by the number of APC Governors, leaders, and stakeholders who have demonstrated their strong support for the candidacy of our Principal.

We reiterate that he is not known for betrayal. He is always very loyal to his own and his priorities have always been Nigeria, Nigeria, and Nigeria.

Though the race officially begins now, it is on record that Governor Bello has consistently been at the forefront of the contest. He has demonstrated this again by being the first to pay for the forms.

We urge delegates and indeed all Nigerians to shun divisive narratives in the interest of the nation and choose the best of the lot. We have no doubt that our tested and trusted National Working Committee members will put the interest of the party and that of Nigeria first in their activities around the process that will throw up the next flagbearer of the APC.

According to her, the last few months have witnessed persistent calls by different youth, women, and professional groups across Nigeria for the Kogi State governor to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

With Senator Jonathan Zwingina as the Chairman of the Hope 23 Yahaya Bello Presidential Campaign Organisation, and Hafsat Abiola-Costello as the Director-General, the tone is set for Hope to be actualized for Nigerians in 2023, the campaign organization said.
All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Orolu and Irepodun Local Government Areas of Osun State have kicked against moves by some members...





All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Orolu and Irepodun Local Government Areas of Osun State have kicked against moves by some members of the party to distort the zoning arrangements for both Senatorial and House of Representatives seats.





The APC members, who had gathered at the party Secretariat in Ilobu on Monday, insisted that the House of Representatives ticket of the party should be retained in Irepodun/Orolu, while the Senate ticket remained in Osogbo/Olorunda as it was agreed in 2018.





While alleging that some individuals within the party were currently scheming to have the two tickets of the party zoned to Osogbo/Olorunda, they appealed to party leaders and the State governor Adegboyega Oyetola to ensure that there is fairness and equal representation across the area.





Baring their minds through a communique issued at the end of their meeting, the members revealed that the conduct of the political affairs in the Federal Constituency had been with mutual respect and on equal partnership amongst the four local government areas that formed the Federal Constituency.





Reading the communique issued after the meeting, the Secretary of APC in Osogbo Federal Constituency, Abayomi Oyedeji insisted that for mutual respect and unity of purpose, the zoning formula agreed upon in 2018 should be maintained.





He added that maintaining the status quo was a key factor in ensuring victory for the APC in the 2022 Osun gubernatorial and 2023 general elections.
Kidnapped Delta State University (DELSU) student, Chris Oghojafor has been released by his abductors. He was freed on Monday after payment o...





Kidnapped Delta State University (DELSU) student, Chris Oghojafor has been released by his abductors.





He was freed on Monday after payment of N3 million.





Recall thatOghojafor, an Industrial Chemistry student was kidnapped on Friday, April 22, 2022.





After kidnapping him, his abductors demanded for N50m ransom, which was later negotiated to N3m.





Jospeh Oghojafor Esq, who is the father of the victim, confirmed his release.





He said his son, Chris Oghojafor, who was kidnapped in Abraka by Fulani herdsmen, since on Friday evening, has just been released now. Glory be to God.





The student was released near Ugolo-Orogun, by the railway, in Ughelli South Local Government Area of the State.





Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), in the State, DSP Bright Edafe, did not pick calls when contacted for comments.
The UK Defence Ministry has revealed that Russia has made minor advances in some areas since shifting its focus to fully occupying the Donba...





The UK Defence Ministry has revealed that Russia has made minor advances in some areas since shifting its focus to fully occupying the Donbas city of Ukraine.





It also said that without sufficient logistical and combat support in place, Russia is yet to achieve a significant breakthrough against Ukraine.





The UK Defence Ministry disclosed this in a series of tweets via its Twitter handle on Monday while providing the latest update on the situation in Ukraine.





It tweeted: Russia has made minor advances in some areas since shifting its focus to fully occupying the Donbas. Without sufficient logistical and combat support enablers in place, Russia has yet to achieve a significant breakthrough.





Russias decision to besiege rather than attack Mariupols Azovstal steel plant means many Russian units remain fixed in the city and cannot be redeployed. Ukraines defence of Mariupol has also exhausted many Russian units and reduced their combat effectiveness.





Russias Ministry of Defence has proposed compensation payments for the families of deceased service personnel be overseen by military rather than civilian officials.





The war between Russia and Ukraine started in February and a lot of casualties have since been recorded as a result of the conflict.
UW Trustees to Hold Special Meeting Wednesday

The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting via teleconference at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 27.

The meeting will begin in public session, then move to executive session to consider personnel matters.

The public session will be livestreamed via UWs WyoCast system and YouTube at https://wyolinks.uwyo.edu/trustees_special_apr_27/.
UW in the News

State, national and international media frequently feature the University of Wyoming and members of its community in stories. Here is a summary of some of the recent coverage:

Sam Kalen, a UW College of Law natural resources professor, was among legal experts who commented for a Bloomberg Law article focusing on President Joe Bidens administrations offer of oil leases that may not be enough to end legal challenges.

The Jerusalem Post, Ancient Origins and The Oman News Gazette noted that a new analysis of archaeological sites in the Americas challenges relatively new theories that the earliest human inhabitants of North America arrived before the migration of people from Asia across the Bering Strait. UW anthropology Professor Todd Surovell led the study. Wyoming News Now and The Laramie Boomerang published UWs release.

John Koprowski, dean of UWs Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, was author of a story on the importance of connectivity that was featured in The Conversation and published by more than 50 media outlets.

The Hindustan Times, News Medical Life Sciences and New Food published articles noting that scientists, including UW researchers, report that intense exercise could help to gain control over cravings for unhealthy, fatty foods. The article first appeared in the Obesity journal.

Spectrum News Buffalo and Business Today published an Associated Press article on Staten Island Amazon workers who voted to unionize. UW law Professor Michael Duff was quoted in the article. Duff said some unions have funds to help out-of-work strikers, but sustaining such support can be burdensome for unions. It also is difficult for workers to survive long strikes, something that employers know well, he added.

A recent study, led by UW doctoral graduate Michael Curran, noted that oil and gas reclamation is good for Wyomings bugs. The Casper Star-Tribune reported that the study found that disturbed sagebrush reseeded with native plants hosts many times more insects than intact reference sites nearby. The scientific journal Land first published the study.

The Adirondack Explorer reported that researchers from UW are part of a team of scientists that is studying freezing rain, sleet, hail and their variations across the Lake Champlain and St. Lawrence River valleys, an area that receives the most mixed precipitation in North America. In February and March, the team collected weather pattern data that could offer insight into mixed winter precipitation.

UW Associate Professor Haibo Zhai, the Roy and Caryl Cline Chair of Engineering, Environment and Natural Resources, has four research papers referenced in the latest international climate report. Wyoming News Now published UWs release.

The Sheridan Press and County 10 published UWs release noting that Mortar Board, the universitys senior honor society, selected 44 new members as well as award winners for outstanding advising, service and dedication, and leadership.

UW history Assistant Professor Adam Blackler recently received a grant to co-host the Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute this summer to discuss reparations in Germany. Wyoming News Now published UWs release.

The Western Farmer-Stockman published UWs release noting that UW Extension will host a two-day, hands-on grape vineyard planting and informational workshop this week in Casper.

UW students nearing completion of outdoor recreation and tourism management degrees are completing projects around the state for their professional semester capstone class. KNEB Radio published UWs media release.

KOWB Radio highlighted the annual Shepard Symposium on Social Justice at UW in its roundup of local events.
With his Sicilian heritage and fine dining chops, people frequently ask Michael Gulotta if hell ever open an Italian restaurant. Finally, his answer is yes.

The New Orleans-based chef is developing a new Italian restaurant in Old Metairie. Its called TANA, and it will be an upscale showcase for traditional regional Italian cooking.

TANA is slated to open near early in 2023 at 2929 Metairie Road, close to Causeway Boulevard. It will be part of a new commercial development taking shape along the rapidly changing business strip here.

This will be the Italian restaurant Ive always wanted, Gulotta said.

Gulotta is a New Orleans native who made his name as executive chef at Restaurant August. He left to open his Vietnamese-inspired restaurant, MoPho in Mid-City, and later opened the more upscale fusion restaurant Maypop in the CBD, as well as an outpost of MoPho at the airport.

He runs those today with longtime friend and business partner Jeff Bybee. For TANA, theyve partnered with Gabe Corchiani, a businessman who created Fat Boys Pizza, and Christopher Keene, a owner of the Rivershack in Gretna.

TANA is named for the chefs grandmother, Gaetana, and it may be familiar to some from an earlier venture. For two years, Gulotta ran TANA as the tavern kitchen at Treo, a cocktail lounge on Tulane Avenue, which has since closed.

Housemade pasta was the center of the first TANA concept, and will be again at the new restaurant. Designs for the restaurant call for a pasta rolling machine to have its own station visible in the dining room so people can watch the process.

The menu is still under development, but the guiding principles are deeply traditional Italian dishes, coastal flavors using Gulf seafood and some of the particulars from the chef's own family.

Its taking old things and making them new, traditional flavor that we brighten and refresh a bit, he said.

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It will be different from the local Creole-Italian or American-Italian standards, he said, though there will be some local touchstones.

Bruscialoni, a long-braised, rolled beef dish rarely seen outside the home, will have a place on the menu, for instance.

I grew up with it, my grandmother always cooked it, so Im doing a bruscialoni, Gulotta said.

TANA is shaping up to be a large restaurant of about 5,000 square feet. It will have a lounge, serving a separate menu of small plates and bar snacks, and outdoor patio seating.

Metairie Road has seen a flurry of new developments and an influx of restaurants. Gulotta believes its ripe for more upscale dining and that TANA can help fill that niche.

TANA

2929 Metairie Road

Projected opening early 2023

+11 'Like coming home.' Jazz Fest food vendors fought hard to bring back these favorite dishes Losing the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival back in 2020 was a staggering blow to festival food vendor Pattons Caterers. And yet, whe

+14 Pandemic, supply woes mean some Jazz Fest food missing; may return next year When the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival returns Friday, so will the vast majority of food vendors who provide such a beloved and mem
Losing the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival back in 2020 was a staggering blow to festival food vendor Pattons Caterers. And yet, when things seemed most dark, it was the spirit of Jazz Fest that provided some light.

Pattons produces the head-turning combo platter of crawfish beignets, oyster patties and crawfish sacks at Jazz Fest. In April 2020, in the era of socially distant Festing in Place, the company started a drive-thru operation at its Slidell home base to sell the plates again.

The response exceeded all expectations, with cars lining the street and people crossing state lines for a taste, and for some semblance of a Jazz Fest experience.

We thought this was the end of us, and we thought no one would come out, but we were shocked by how people responded. It was so heartwarming and mind-blowing, said Erin Merrick, part of the third generation of the Pattons family now running the business.

It was the boost, both in finances and morale, that the family needed as it coped with its full party and event calendar in sudden disarray. Now, the catering company is busy once again, and in full festival prep mode.

Coming back to Jazz Fest feels like were coming home, like weve been away for so long and were finally coming home, Merrick said.

Pattons example is one case in many of the scrambling, pivoting and collaboration that marked the path of Jazz Fest food vendors through the pandemic.

In order to return to Jazz Fest, these mostly small, local businesses had to keep intact through two years of frequent, sometimes whipsaw change.

Most have made it, and while this years Jazz Fest brings more changes than usual (see related story), this is still largely the Jazz Fest food lineup that people recognize.

Keeping doors open, hope alive

The distinctive crawfish, spinach and zucchini bisque and the merguez sausage po-boy are back at Jazz Fests Food Area 2 because Jamilas Restaurant was able to hang on as everything fell apart.

Jamila and Moncef Sbaa have been serving the French-accented North African flavors of their native Tunisia in this snug Uptown cafe for 30 years. It defines mom and pop, and that means there was little to fall back on during the crisis.

Its been one day at a time. You feel like an athlete who accomplishes something and wonders how he did it, Moncef Sbaa said. Some nights Im the waiter, the busboy, the dishwasher, and you do it.

But they kept at it. Even in takeout-only mode, regulars met them halfway. A nearby business, Langensteins grocery, even started stocking that bisque in its deli to help them out.

We keep working, for us but for the city too, Sbaa said. And thats just like the fest. The city needs its restaurants and needs its festivals.

United Houma Nation makes a stand

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It was the added burden of Hurricane Ida that has guided changes this year for the United Houma Nation.

Many from this indigenous tribe of southeast Louisiana are still coping with damage across their communities from the powerful hurricane, with took straight aim at the bayou region.

The kitchen facilities normally used for prep work before Jazz Fest are unavailable. That building, in the bayou town of Dulac, has been pressed into service as a church, while repairs to the communitys usual church progress.

At first we didnt think we could even come out this year, said tribal administrator Lanore Curole. But the Jazz Fest people said, Lets not talk about what you cant do. Lets talk about what you can do.

The result sees the United Houma Nation serving only foods they can prep on site at their stand in the Louisiana Folklife Village at Jazz Fest. Missing this year is the corn macque choux and also Indian tacos.

But theyll have an important heritage dish, fry bread - topped with honey or powdered sugar - and a new version, sweet potato fry bread bites - on their own or wrapped around strawberries.

Collaborating past obstacles

While the overall feeling is one of relief and return for food vendors, they are still managing an industry-wide reality of higher prices, unpredictable supply chains, and shortages, even for the banal basics of rental trucks to get their supplies and food inventory to the festival.

But, they are finding ways to get it done, often with help from each other, something underscored during the pandemic.

During the span when that first pandemic Jazz Fest should have happened, and to some extent the following year, many food vendors collaborated on pop-ups and special events, banding together to make it happen.

Big River Foods, the maker of Jazz Fest food staple crawfish Monica, was right in the thick of those events with Cottage Catering, maker of crawfish strudel and white chocolate bread pudding. The two now are coordinating cold storage and refrigerated truck space to pull off their respective Jazz Fest efforts.

Those of us who have been there a long time know what each other needs, so were helping out, said Pierre "Pete" Hilzim, who runs Big River Foods with his wife, crawfish Monica namesake Monica Davidson.

He said vendors cant necessarily rely on running their Jazz Fest operations the same way as before, because of problems in logistics and sourcing. But, he said, the overriding feel is excitement, and anticipation for feeding what many are projecting to be big returning festival crowds.

Theres so much pent-up demand for this, Hilzim said. Everyone is jazzed about it, all the vendors are.

+14 Pandemic, supply woes mean some Jazz Fest food missing; may return next year When the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival returns Friday, so will the vast majority of food vendors who provide such a beloved and mem

+6 How a new Jazz Fest dish points to a revival for Treme Creole restaurant Lil Dizzys When John Cannon took over as chef at Lil Dizzys Cafe last fall there was no doubt about the mandate before him. It even had a playbook.
The head of the New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce who was fired Friday after four months on the job is the subject of an investigation over "financial irregularities" at his former job in New York state.

The nonprofit networking organization for Black-owned businesses announced Executive Director Jeffrey Hunt's abrupt departure in a news release, saying only that the "board of directors released Jeffery Hunt from his duties," without offering further explanation.

"We are moving forward," Perry Sholes, chairman of the chamber, said in a prepared statement, which added that an interim replacement will be named this week as the group seeks a permanent director.

Sholes declined to elaborate on the reasons for the quick departure. But Hunt, in a phone interview Monday, confirmed that he had been fired by Sholes last week.

Hunt said the reason given to him by Sholes and Ruby Brown, a lawyer and chamber board member, was that he had omitted details about his former employment. Hunt maintained that he had informed Sholes and other chamber board members about the investigation in New York when he was being interviewed for the job late last year.

"The reason was very unclear to me and it was very disappointing seeing as I moved lock, stock and barrel to New Orleans four months ago and expected to make it my home," said Hunt, 53, who has worked as a chamber of commerce executive for over 20 years in Detroit; Fayetteville, North Carolina; and most recently in Columbia County in New York.

Hunt was fired from his job as president and CEO of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce in November 2020. At the time, that organization's board said in a statement that it occurred "in light of financial irregularities of which the Executive Board was just made aware."

Investigation ongoing

Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka subsequently opened a criminal investigation, which Hunt said he believes is still ongoing. The District Attorney's Office did not respond to requests for comment.

"I'm currently in negotiations with my attorney and the DA about a restitution agreement," Hunt said. "I haven't been charged or convicted of anything."

He said the issue in Columbia County involved intermingling personal expenses with work expenses, but he declined to go into further detail.

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Hunt said that when he was interviewed for the executive director job by Sholes and other chamber board members, he told them he had signed a nondisclosure agreement about the terms of his departure from his previous job and could only say that it was "a dispute of a financial nature for an amount over $3,000."

Matthew Griesemer, an attorney who is counsel and a board member of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce's board, said he was limited in what he could say because of "a pending criminal matter."

However, Griesemer said he wasn't aware of any NDA or severance between Hunt and the Columbia County Chamber.

Concern about effectiveness

Hunt was the third leader of the chamber in as many years, having taken over from LaVerne Toombs who had been in the job 10 months through last October.

The executive director preceding Toombs had been a contracted employee in the job for about four years.

Hunt was the first person in the organization's 15-year history to have extensive chamber of commerce experience and credentials from the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. All previous heads of the organization have come from other fields.

"The NORBCC hired him for his extensive experience doing chamber work and I definitely feel he would have been able to move the chamber to the next level," Toombs said, using an acronym for the chamber. She cited the success of the chamber's women's conference held earlier this month that attracted more than 200 attendees.

"I'm just concerned about our members and about Black businesses," Toombs added. "I'm concerned that the members won't have confidence in the effectiveness of the chamber."

The story has been corrected to show the length of service of a previous executive director of the NORBCC.
A 45-year-old man was shot Monday afternoon in Algiers by another man with a rifle, New Orleans police said.

The shooting was reported to authorities at 2:36 p.m. in the 1200 block of Casa Calvo Street (map).

The 45-year-old was standing outside, police said, when an unidentified man arrived in a vehicle and got out with a rifle. The gunman shot the other man, police said, and then left.

Paramedics took the injured man to the hospital, where his condition was not immediately available. Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.
The scene that East Feliciana Parish deputies found on Jan. 3 at the home of a town alderman in Slaughter spelled untold misery.

Lacey Ellen Fletcher, a 36-year-old shut-in, was dead, her body sunken into a crater in the living-room couch, where she'd anchored herself. When she last left the spot was uncertain, said District Attorney Sam D'Aquilla this week. It might have been years ago.

The caretakers just let her sit on the couch. She just urinated and used the bathroom on the couch, DAquilla said. It was so horrific.

D'Aquilla said in an interview that he will ask a grand jury next week to bring second-degree murder charges against Fletcher's parents, Sheila and Clay Fletcher. He said Fletcher suffered prolonged neglect, possibly for years, before her death in the house near Hog Bayou.

Second-degree murder charges carry a mandatory life prison sentence with no parole for adults upon a conviction. DAquilla said its unclear when Lacey Fletcher last left the living room, or if anyone but her parents had laid eyes on her in the years before she died.

On a murder, you have to have intent, DAquilla said. Did they want to kill her? I want to say yeah, they wanted to kill her.

Sheila Fletcher called 911 that morning from the home on Tom Drive and deputies entered to a strong stench, said DAquilla, citing police and autopsy reports.

Lacey Fletcher's feet were crossed under her, sunk deep into the hole shed worn through the upholstery and foam padding. The hole was filled with stool and urine. Severe ulcers covered her underside, which appeared rotten to the bone in photos, DAquilla said. Fecal matter was crushed into her face, chest and abdomen. Her hair was matted, knotted, and filled with maggots.

Following an autopsy, Dr. Ewell Bickham III, the parish coroner, ruled Fletchers death a homicide and pressed for an investigation, D'Aquilla said. Bickham declined to provide any information on the death, citing an ongoing investigation, and he did not respond to a public records request for the coroners report.

DAquilla, though, said the coroner found Fletcher died of severe chronic neglect, citing the ulcers, bacterial infections and other medical troubles. She weighed 96 pounds and also was positive for COVID-19, he said.

The question on everybodys mind is, how could they be caretakers living in the house with her and have her get in a condition like that? DAquilla said. Its cruelty to the infirm. We cant just let it sit.

Despite the allegation, authorities have yet to arrest either suspect. Reached by phone, the Fletchers declined to comment, referring questions to their lawyer, Steven Moore, who did not return phone and email messages.

Sheila Fletcher, 64, has worked as a police and court clerk in Baker and more recently as an assistant to the city prosecutor in Zachary, according to her LinkedIn page. A Slaughter official said she resigned her post on the towns Board of Aldermen on Jan. 24, three weeks after Lacey Fletchers death. She served for four years, most recently as mayor pro tem.

State business filings show Clay Fletcher is an officer of the nonprofit Baton Rouge Civil War Roundtable, which has a mission to educate and foster an appreciation for the sacrifices made by all during the Civil War.

Condolences poured in when Sheila Fletcher posted a short message in January with an obituary for her daughter.

Mom and Dad love you so much, she wrote on Facebook.

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The obituary was just as spare. There was a photo of Fletcher smiling wide, eyes bright, but no details to color in her abbreviated life. And while more than 400 people responded online with support and prayers, few shared memories of Fletcher, none of them recent.

Sheriff Jeff Travis said he recently turned over an investigative report to DAquilla's office. He referred questions about the case to the district attorney.

DAquilla and Travis said they agreed not to arrest the couple before the grand jury hears evidence in the case.

If we have an outright murder, we arrest the people immediately. If we have a case like this, where the parents arent going anywhere, sometimes theyre not arrested, DAquilla said. Were all of the consensus that were going to let the grand jury handle it.

Travis said it was a complex case that has specialty testimony from doctors and others, and he wanted a grand jury to hear it first before making any arrests.

Unlike murder, lesser charges such as manslaughter or negligent homicide do not require a grand jury for a district attorney to prosecute. Grand juries can indict, decline to indict or punt criminal allegations. Some prosecutors have used them for cover, to bury a politically sensitive case.

In a Jan. 18 interview, the couple told detectives that their daughter was sound intellectually to the end. Autistic, she had developed some degree of Aspergers syndrome, DAquilla said, citing reports.

The lifelong condition is part of a category called autism spectrum disorder. Symptoms include trouble with social skills and obsessive focus.

Fletcher attended Brownfields Baptist Academy in Baton Rouge through 9th grade before entering a home-school program. As a teen, she experienced severe social anxiety and met several times with a psychologist over three years. She saw a doctor years later, in 2010, while in her early 20s, but never since, her parents said.

Her parents reported then that Fletcher had anchored herself in the living room and refused to leave. They brought her meals and set up a potty. Fletcher instead relieved herself into a towel or on the floor, afraid to leave the couch.

The Fletchers considered getting a commitment order to place their daughter in a medical facility, but she balked and it never happened, DAquilla said, citing a police report. The couple reported that Fletcher hadnt seen a doctor in the past decade because shed never been sick.

I dont think they (did) anything after that, DAquilla said. I think if somebody would have seen her that something would have been done.

DAquilla said the couple was adamant that Lacey Fletcher was of sound mind to make her own type of decisions. The couple said Fletcher never complained of her sores and that Sheila Fletcher would routinely clean them.

Last fall, Fletcher began eating less, they told detectives. She ate half a sandwich and Cheetos on Jan. 2. Sheila Fletcher told detectives she last saw her daughter alive at 10 p.m. that night and awoke in a chair in the living room to find her dead.

DAquilla said he hopes the prosecution will serve as a warning.

They lost a daughter. I have, not much, but I have a little compassion for them, he said. But I think we have to send a message. You need to take care of your people better than you do your animals. I just want people to recognize, if you have a situation like that you have to take action.
Hours after New Orleans said it would be issuing a new solicitation for a multi-million dollar "smart city" project in light of the top bidders decision to pull out of the project, the second-place bidder said not so fast.

Cox Business, a subsidiary of cable giant Cox Communications, New Orleans' main internet service provider, sent a letter to the city arguing that it should be next in line to take on the job of expanding broadband access and installing internet-connected infrastructure throughout the city.

That position could thrust into doubt the citys next step on the broadband plan. The city had previously rejected Coxs plan as far too costly, but in its Monday email, Cox told the citys chief procurement officer that it should get to negotiate a deal based on the request for proposals.

"As the second-highest responsive respondent on the smart city RFP, and pursuant to the terms of the RFP itself, Cox is entitled to be awarded the contract, and looks forward to working with the city toward developing its smart city program," the company said.

A rare hearing

The apparent dispute between Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration and Cox comes as the City Council is preparing to grill one of the mayor's top aides at a special meeting on Wednesday, which appears to be the first time it has held a similar hearing since 1988.

The council has subpoenaed Jonathan Rhodes, director of the Mayors Office of Utilities, to discuss his role in crafting the technology solicitation issued in April 2021.

In a statement Monday, the city said it is attempting to address the wide gap in internet access across racial groups that was exacerbated by the pandemic.

Black New Orleanians are connected to the internet at far lower rates than their white counterparts. About 52% of households in New Orleans East and the Lower 9th Ward lack internet access, whereas nearly 100% of families Uptown and in the Garden District have reliable connectivity, said the Mayor's Office spokesperson, Melissa Newell. A digital divide separates rich from poor and black from white, and as the pandemic raged, our Administration needed to take action.

Newell said that among other goals, the administration hoped the project would provide free and affordable internet in our most vulnerable communities at no additional cost to the City.

Contract questions

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Yet critics, including Cox, have said the winning consortiums proposal was skimpy on details about how residents would benefit.

Cox has also lobbed complaints about alleged contract-steering that have drawn the attention of the City Council. The consortiums members included the telecom giant Qualcomm, the investment firm JLC Infrastructure and other vendors, including numerous local businesses.

Last week, it emerged that Rhodes had provided what the city called pro bono advice to Qualcomm on a smart city plan in Los Angeles through a private company he controls, at the same time that he was preparing New Orleans smart city solicitation.

In the Monday email, Cox Vice President Leigh King said he was aware of the ongoing investigation of Rhodes role in the solicitation process and pledged his cooperation.

Cox angles for deal

Coxs claim that it is entitled to a contract with the city appears to be at odds with the citys general position on solicitations. Under a 2020 executive order from Cantrell, the city says that if contract talks with a first-place bidder break down, it can switch to negotiations with a second-place bidder or cancel the procurement process outright.

Prior to the consortiums exit from the smart city plan, Cox had filed a protest of the citys decision to grant the right to negotiate a contract to Smart+Connected NOLA. In a formal response to Coxs protest, which was ultimately denied, Rhodes was highly critical of Coxs plan.

Rhodes said Coxs plan could have cost up to $150 million and failed to include local disadvantaged business enterprises as partners. In contrast, he said, the consortium had promised to install internet-connected street lights and traffic signals at no upfront cost to the city.

Under Smart+Connected's plan, the city would have paid the consortium back for its investments with the money saved through efficiencies like "smart" street lighting over time.

Cox proposed a fiber solution at a cost of $69 million to the city, staggeringly out of step with the type of cost-neutral approach the City was looking for, Rhodes said. In fact, all of Coxs proposed solutions would come at great cost to the City.

Cox, by contrast, said the consortium only managed to make its plan cost-neutral for the city by omitting a plan to build out the expensive fiber network that appeared to be required under the citys solicitation.

If Cox had known that fiber wasnt required, the company said that it would have presented a much different plan with "drastically lower costs."
Mayor LaToya Cantrell is shifting hundreds of thousands of dollars in city funds from a longtime city contractor to a nonprofit organization that she created after her first election, a move that has prompted the City Council to expand its scrutiny of Cantrell administration initiatives.

The non-profit, called Forward Together New Orleans - The Mayors Fund, will receive a lump sum of $568,000 from the citys general fund and the Wisner land trust for gun-violence prevention programs, according to an agreement that Cantrell signed on April 12.

Forward Together will replace the Urban League of Louisiana, which has served as the citys fiscal agent for gun violence programs for the last decade.

According to the new agreement, Forward Together is to use the money to employ staff that responds to shooting victims and their families at University Medical Center and New Orleans East hospital, along with other related human services.

Forward Together will retain an 8% administrative fee, or about $45,000, according to the agreement. That represents savings of about $23,000 from the Urban League fee, which was 12%.

The switch will occur before the end of the year, according to Josh Cox, director of strategic initiatives. In addition to saving on the administrative fee, Cox said its necessary because Forward Together is much more flexible and nimble when it comes to new programs.

An Urban League spokesperson said the administration informed the organization of the switch in December.

The agreement with Forward Together, which wasnt publicly announced, has drawn concern from City Council members, who questioned why the Cantrell administration is directing city funds to the non-profit without agreed-upon benchmarks or other ways to evaluate how the money is spent.

On Monday, council members said they are planning to consider two resolutions related to Forward Together at their Wednesday meeting, which was initially called to investigate the now-aborted smart city program.

The smart city winning bidder, Smart+Connected NOLA, pulled its name from consideration on Monday amid scrutiny of links between the consortiums companies, a consultant involved in the bid solicitation and city officials. But at-large Council members Helena Moreno and JP Morrell said they are still planning to push forward with the investigation.

Of the two resolutions related to Forward Together New Orleans, one will request that the New Orleans Office of Inspector General investigate all money awarded to nongovernmental agencies, and specifically the Smart+Connected NOLA proposal and Forward Together agreements, according to a draft copy of the resolution. Another resolution seeks to bar the mayor from distributing any funds from the Wisner Trust until an on-going court case between the administration and the council is resolved.

We really believe that somebody needs to look at this, and see if this was done properly. And is it being done for a legitimate purpose? said Morrell, who authored one of the resolutions. There's no real benchmarks that Forward New Orleans has to meet that are quantifiable in exchange for having the money.

The Forward Together New Orleans agreement does not specify the number of employees or the specific tasks they will perform, but Cox said the same 16 employees who are currently paid by the Urban League will switch over to Forward Together and perform the same tasks.

The employees are recruited and supervised by the administration, Cox said. Their tasks include intervening in conflicts to prevent retaliatory violence, and their jobs require deep neighborhood relationships. He said third-party employment is necessary because some have felony records.

Cox defended the arrangement with the non-profit, noting that similar mayors funds exist in other cities. Cantrell created it as a vehicle to support city programming for future administrations as well, Cox said.

This isnt just meant to be LaToya Cantrells non-profit. Forward Together New Orleans will be given to whoever the next mayor is, Cox said. What's great about FTNO is that it's a nonprofit that is set up to be a partner with the government while having independent controls.

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Forward Togethers origins

Cantrell incorporated Forward Together in 2018, after she was elected to her first term, and it was initially set up as part of the mayoral transition to formulate policy goals for her incoming administration. After her inauguration, the group evolved into an effort to bridge the public and private sectors and address New Orleans most pressing challenges, according to the Forward Together website.

The Internal Revenue Service designated Forward Together as a 501c3 nonprofit in September 2019, with a Cantrell-aligned political action committee staffer listed as the contact. As a tax-exempt public charity, Forward Together is prohibited from political campaigning as an organization, but its directors may do so separately, according to IRS guidance.

Two medical professionals, Eric Griggs and Kathleen Kennedy, head up a Forward Together board that now includes pollster and strategist Silas Lee and Cantrells policy director, Liana Elliot, who is designated as a board liaison on the Forward Together website.

Forward Together claims to have provided $3.2 million in direct aid through programs focused on rental assistance, Hurricane Ida relief and immigrant assistance, among other initiatives. Although it is required to publicly disclose tax filing, none are available on the IRSs website.

The Forward Together executive director, Shaun Randolph, was hired in November after a year-long fellowship with the citys Office of Economic Development. In a hiring announcement, the nonprofit described Randolph as a serial entrepreneur who is dedicated to harnessing profit-driven concepts from the private sector and retooling them into vehicles for social change and impact.

Randolph said he was not aware that his group had been tapped to replace the Urban League although he signed the recent agreement.

Wisner payment

The payment to Forward Together includes $216,018 from the Wisner Trust, a century-old arrangement that has long provided a stream of revenue for New Orleans mayors to distribute to non-profits in the city.

Currently, the Cantrell administration and the council are battling in court over whether the trust should continue in its current form or whether the millions it generates each year should go into public coffers rather than be distributed at the mayors discretion.

The Forward Together agreement, however, could bring that fight to a boil.

In 2020, Cantrell signed an agreement extending the trust indefinitely without the councils approval.

Beyond just continuing to split the Wisner revenues - the city gets about $2 million of the $8 million it now generates each year - that agreement also removed some council oversight of the distributions.

Council members have challenged the agreement in court. On Wednesday, the council is expected to step up its objections with a resolution freezing all distributions from the trust until the legal issues are resolved.

Staff writer Matt Sledge contributed to this report

Correction: This article has been updated to refer to Eric Griggs as a medical professional. An earlier version incorrectly referred to Griggs as a physician.
Hong Kong: HK reports 347 COVID-19 cases

The Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating 347 additional COVID-19 cases, of which 205 were detected by nucleic acid tests and 142 were identified via rapid antigen tests.

Among the new cases, 12 are imported while the rest are locally infected.

Since the onset of the fifth wave of the epidemic, 1,190,007 people have contracted the virus, involving 9,061 deaths.

This afternoon, the Government made a restriction-testing declaration to cover Tip Sum House of Butterfly Estate in Tuen Mun, requiring people in the restricted area to undergo compulsory testing before the specified deadline.

Separately, the Government announced that it has published the list of private doctors who can prescribe COVID-19 oral drugs Paxlovid and Molnupiravir. Private doctors must follow the Hospital Authoritys treatment guidelines and should not charge patients for these drugs.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

This story has been published on: 2022-04-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Commentary: Uncertainty-ridden world calls for closer China-France, China-EU cooperation

Xinhua) 16:29, April 26, 2022

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- In a world that is mired deep in a string of conflicts epitomized by the still raging COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine crisis and a faint economic recovery, the sound and steady development of China-France relations is all the more important.

Emmanuel Macron won the 2022 French presidential runoff Sunday to become the first French president in 20 years to win re-election, which, it is believed, is conducive to maintaining continuity in French foreign policy and thus to the further development of both France-China and European Union (EU)-China relations.

China-France friendship enjoys a profound foundation. France is the first major Western country to establish formal diplomatic ties with China, and the first to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership and conduct strategic dialogue with China. Both countries pursue independent foreign policies and share the same or similar views on a range of global issues.

During Macron's first term, France-China relations have maintained a sound and steady development. In January 2018, Macron made his first visit to China, becoming the first foreign head of state to visit China that year. In 2019, Macron attended the second China International Import Expo.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese and French people have been fighting the pandemic shoulder to shoulder. The two countries support each other on issues such as climate change and biodiversity.

Bilateral practical cooperation has been yielding concrete results. Last year, bilateral trade exceeded 80 billion U.S. dollars, hitting a new high. China's total imports of agricultural products from France increased by 40 percent year-on-year.

Against the backdrop of profound changes unseen in a century and the international situation fraught with tension and turbulence, China and France should keep up with the positive, healthy and upward trajectory, adhere to the principle of mutual respect and equality, strengthen dialogue and exchanges at all levels, enhance mutual understanding and trust, and push for new achievements in bilateral cooperation.

France, under Macron's second term, is also expected to continue to play a constructive role in advancing EU-China relations. China has maintained that China and the EU should uphold a correct understanding of each other, and stick to mutual respect, dialogue and cooperation, and mutual benefit. France and China should work together to build the greatest common ground and steer China-EU relations towards new development.

Independence, mutual understanding, foresight, mutual benefit and win-win outcomes are the original aspiration of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France.

As Macron is embarking on his second term, there are high expectations for France-China relations to bring more certainty and stability to the world at this moment of volatility.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
The WCO conducted a Sub-Regional Workshop on Regional Interconnectivity and Data Exchange for five Member Customs administrations in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) from 4th to 8th April 2022 in Gaborone, Botswana. This highly interactive workshop was delivered to the Customs administrations of Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, under the auspices of the Sida-WCO Trade Facilitation and Customs Modernization (TFCM) Programme, with funding from the Government of Sweden.

35 Customs officials from the five Administrations, with wide-ranging expertise and responsibilities, including IT, Risk Management, Post Clearance Audit and Customs procedures, were upskilled on how to adopt the WCO tools and instruments, such as Data Model (DM) and Unique Consignment Reference (UCR) number, and implement various national initiatives on Customs systems interconnectivity through the Globally Networked Customs (GNC) concept. To that end, the workshop emphasized the participants practical implementation of the WCO DM My Information Package (MyIP) by utilizing the DM App.

In that regard, the Customs administrations are now enabled to finalize ongoing projects for bilateral data exchange, using harmonized and standardized approaches based on the WCO Data Model, GNC and UCR standards. The WCO support, utilizing regional experts from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and WCO secretariat, will further contribute to the wider application of a standardized and harmonized regional approach to Customs interconnectivity in the SADC region.

The effort complements SADC regions objective to develop a regional framework for Customs interconnectivity, a priority that the Sida-WCO TFCM Programme would collaborate with SADC Secretariat to achieve.

For more information on this mission and the Sida-WCO TFCM Programme, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) is pleased to join with the international community today, 26 April, in celebrating World Intellectual Property Day 2022 under the theme IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future". This years celebration is aimed at raising public awareness of the importance of ingenuity and creativity, especially by young people around the world who, supported by proper intellectual property (IP) systems, are able to contribute to stronger economic growth by bringing their ideas to life.

With a view to promoting the important role played by intellectual property rights (IPRs) in encouraging and protecting innovation, the WCO held an online event today attended by the WCO Secretary General, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, the global Customs community and key stakeholders including other international organizations, right holders, academia, industry and media.

The event brought together more than 200 participants who discussed the wide-ranging challenges faced by Customs and right holders in the area of IPR, including those posed by e-commerce and free trade zones. It was an opportunity for the WCO to reaffirm its commitment to making Customs administrations leading actors in the international fight against counterfeiting and piracy.

The global economic impact of counterfeiting and piracy is growing more severe every year due to the ensuing adverse effects on innovation, considered to be the main driver of economic growth, said Dr. Mikuriya.

The role of Customs in combating counterfeiting and piracy is crucial for maintaining sustainable economic development, preventing unfair competition, guaranteeing equal market access for all business actors and protecting public health, particularly by promoting robust global supply chains, he added.

The WCO is working closely with the private sector and other stakeholders under its IPR, Health and Safety Programme, which strives to minimize the devastating effects of counterfeiting and piracy. A major component of the Programme is delivering capacity building and awareness-raising activities to ensure that WCO Members are fully equipped, both at a policy and an operational level, to fight counterfeiting and piracy.
Indiana University Northwest is bringing back its summer art residency for high school teachers for its second year.

The IUN School of Arts is offering its Educator In-Studio Residency Summer Program to fine arts, performing arts and communications studies teachers from across Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland.

As part of our mission, we have a commitment to engaging and working with the surrounding community, IUN School of the Arts Dean David Klamen said. We can connect people who already have expertise in the arts and expand access to our facilities.

The program aims to connect artists and teachers from across the Region. Participants get the chance to connect with other local teachers during the four-to-six-week residency. They can concentrate on their own art or research while getting feedback and mentorship from IUN professors.

They get access to university facilities, time to focus on thinking and creating independently and the chance to take part in training, critiques and group outings.

The hope is to have a lasting impact on area educators and give them the opportunity to rekindle their creativity. The program gives educators time to focus on their own artwork free of personal and professional obligations.

Artists are not always afforded the opportunity to explore their own work and dive into their own ideas, Klamen said. The camaraderie that was built among them [last year] created an environment where people felt encouraged and safe to test new ideas.

Being an artist with a studio space again allowed me to get back my perspective as a student, which in turn, has been beneficial for my students, said Ane Talevski, an art teacher at Robert A. Taft Middle School in Crown Point. I am happier with myself because of this experience.

Marquette Catholic High School teacher Edwin Shelton said the residency helped him focus more on his art.

I felt like I was back in graduate school without all the pressures; I took advantage of making my artwork for as many hours as I could manage per day," he said. "I was refreshed having dedicated time and space to focus on my artworks without the background obligations."

The hope is to grow the program.

Theres the potential to grow into exhibitions and expanded opportunities as we build up momentum, Klamen said. Im really looking forward to connecting with more art professionals in the region.

To participate, a proposal must be submitted by May 9.

For more information, visit www.iun.edu/arts.

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Several Region students were selected as 2022 Indiana Academic All-Stars.

Only 40 high school seniors were chosen from a field of 277 nominees from state public and private schools. The distinction recognizes seniors who excel in the classroom, are actively involved in their schools and communities and take on leadership roles.

Region winners include Brendan Gschwind, of Washington Township Middle/High School; Tyce Kolan, of Morgan Township Middle/High School; Alana Jardenil, of Chesterton High School; Ethan Schassburger, of Lake Central High School; and Ava Zientarski, of Marquette Catholic High School in Michigan City.

There were also three Regional Academic All-Star winners from Northwest Indiana: Nicholas Shuble, of LaPorte High School, Amber Marie Thompson, of River Forest High School, and Hunter Wood of Kouts Middle/Sr. High School.

Selection of a schools nominee is based upon student transcripts, with a focus on advanced placement, dual credit, international baccalaureate and advanced college placement courses taken and grades received. Academic achievements and honors, academic courses and extracurricular activities are considered as well. Community service and leadership qualities are also reviewed.

The program salutes academic excellence in the same way student-athletes are honored, according to a news release.

The organizations involved hope to accomplish many objectives, such as giving academic achievement the prestige it deserves, motivating students and promoting a positive image of Indianas young people.

Each accredited public and private high school may nominate one senior for consideration. The selection committee will then choose regional winners and 40 all-stars.

The program is produced by the Indiana Association of School Principals, with support from DePauw University, Purdue University and corporate partner Inter-State Studios.

More information about Indiana Academic All-Stars can be found on IASPs website.

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Over the last two years, Porter Township School Corp. has provided summer meals and free lunches to students. But this year, it will not be able to.

Federal waivers that allowed school districts around the country the ability to offer free lunch to all students and to provide grab-and-go meals are set to expire June 30.

Tonia Batesole, director of food service for Porter Township School Corp., is worried. She said that in the last two years, they have served 400 students a week. The total enrollment in the district is 1,494 as of the 2021-22 academic year, meaning they served over a quarter of students weekly.

However, only approximately 24% of students qualify for free or reduced meals, meaning those students will no longer be able to make use of the program.

Theres so many people who currently arent employed, who were looking forward to (summer meals), Batesole said. Im still getting applications for free and reduced, needing help with book assistance and stuff like that, despite less than 20 days left in the semester.

Lake Central School Corp. will operate how it did prior to COVID-19 once the academic year ends. Approximately 26% of students at Lake Central qualify for free or reduced meal status. During the 2021-22 school year, all LCSC students were able to receive breakfast and lunch for free, regardless of income.

Crown Point Community School Corp. sponsored free summer meal sites in 2021, despite only 20% of students qualifying for free or reduced meal status. According to its website, the district also offered free lunch for the 2021-22 school year.

Batesole said an additional issue in Porter Township is that families did not turn in forms to let the school know that they would qualify for free or reduced meal status due to the availability of free meals for everybody. She said that numbers could be lower and that she would like it to be a required form for all families.

In school districts where a majority of students are qualified for free and reduced meal status, they will continue to offer summer meals, but it will look different. One major change is students must eat at the feeding site rather than take meals home.

For the School City of Hammond, summer meals will continue. Approximately 73% of students are eligible, and Christine Clarahan, director of food and nutrition services, said 50% of students needed to be eligible for summer meals to be offered prior to the pandemic. But she said she thinks the district will miss so many kids.

There are still plenty of people who are not comfortable eating in group settings, Clarahan said. Why do we have to physically watch a child eat the food?

Hammond is planning to try to make summer meals entertaining by having games and events going on while meals are offered. She hopes that will attract students who are in need.

It breaks my heart to know that kids who need our meals probably will not get them, Clarahan said.

In addition, Clarahan said she sees students come from towns farther away, such as Dyer or St. John, due to the lack of summer meal programs offered. She does not understand why children should be denied free meals, even if their family can afford them.

Despite income levels, she said, it is never clear what a students home situation is, and they could be struggling despite their parents' supposed wealth.

Clarahan and Batesole are among many food service directors promoting the Support Kids Not Red Tape Act, which would allow schools flexibility to maintain child nutrition programs for another year.

The bill was introduced by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and would give the U.S. Department of Agriculture the authority to issue nationwide child nutrition waivers, which would allow schools to feed children despite pandemic challenges such as supply chain issues and school closures.

To find summer meals, text Summer Meals to 914-342-7744 or call 1-866-348-6479 to find a site. Summer meal site information is also available on the Indiana Department of Educations website, but 2022 sites are not yet released.

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CROWN POINT  A Lake Criminal Court jury convicted a defendant Monday of murdering a man who came to pick up his child's mother last fall after she'd been on an all-night drug bender with the defendant.

Antonio West, 54, didn't take the stand during his six-day trial on charges he fatally shot 39-year-old Shawn Rhyan Pewitt on Sept. 8 in the 2500 block of Connecticut Street in Gary.

West also was found guilty of a firearm enhancement, which could add an additional five to 20 years to his sentence. The possible penalty for murder is 45 to 65 years.

In his closing argument, Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Brandewie played portions of West's interview with Gary Detective Cpl. Daryl Gordon.

"Look at him. How he answers. When he pauses," Brandewie said of West. "You can tell he lying most of the time."

Prosecutors alleged West pulled a gun from his pocket about 4 p.m. Sept. 8 and fatally shot Pewitt after Pewitt arrived at West's basement apartment and told the woman, "Let's go."

The woman had been smoking crack cocaine with Pewitt and a Lowell man at a different Gary residence the night before, but she left them to go smoke crack with West, attorneys said.

After she smoked crack all night, West demanded payment, Brandewie said.

West drove the woman to Lowell twice Sept. 8, first to pick up a $400 check and a second time after a bank refused to cash the check, according to trial testimony.

"He wasn't going to let (the woman) go until she paid that money," Brandewie said.

West initially told police he took a bus to a 1:30 p.m. appointment the day of the murder, but evidence showed West took his car.

West also initially claimed he dropped the woman off in Lowell before returning to Gary and had been "putting her off."

When the detective asked West how the woman ended up at his apartment at the time of the shooting, West became agitated.

"I don't know," he said during the videotaped interview. "I would have been there. Did you see me there that day?"

One of West's neighbors testified he didn't hear a gunshot, but he saw West run out of his apartment and heard West yell, "I just shot someone. Call 911!"

The man walked over to a stairway leading down to West's apartment and saw the woman cradling Pewitt, who appeared to have a gunshot wound, the man said in a 911 call. West fled before police arrived.

Defense attorneys Kerry Connor and Sonya Scott-Dix showed the jury several photos of the apartment complex.

Connor reviewed the witness' stories and asked the jury to consider if their testimony was credible.

The woman initially told police Pewitt had been shot in the back, but evidence later showed Pewitt died from a single gunshot wound to his chest, she said.

Someone who witnesses a point-blank shooting isn't likely to mix up where a person was shot, Connor said.

The prosecutors' narrative that the woman was a "fading flower that needed to be rescued" was not accurate, the defense attorney said.

Instead, the woman repeatedly made the choice to stay with West, including during a traffic stop in Lowell, she said.

Connor suggested West's conflicting statements to police might have stemmed from his feelings for the woman.

"Who is Mr. West actually protecting?" she said. "He doesn't want to say that (the woman) may have been the one to do the shooting."

The defense attorneys showed the jury a photo of a bag the woman was carrying that appeared to have suspected blood on it, suggesting the woman was closer to Pewitt when he was shot than she claimed.

"Something is very wrong with the construct for her story," Connor said.

Deputy Prosecutor Arturo Balcazar said it was ridiculous to suggest West wanted to protect the woman.

"He's protecting himself," the deputy prosecutor said. "Of course he doesn't want to place people at the scene. Those are the witnesses."

The woman told police from the start that the person who shot Pewitt was West, Balcazar said.

No one involved was perfect, and the case wasn't a "fairy-tale story," Brandewie said.

The woman probably shouldn't have gone with West to use crack, and Pewitt probably shouldn't have gone to West's apartment to pick her up, he said.

In the end, West was the only person who shot someone to death, he said.

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Hoosiers who prefer to grind their marijuana to ensure a smoother and more consistent burn need not worry their marijuana grinder will be classified as drug paraphernalia, according to a ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals.

In a 3-0 decision, the state's appellate court on Tuesday overturned the 2021 misdemeanor conviction of a central Indiana woman after the court determined a marijuana grinder does not meet the definition of drug paraphernalia under Indiana law.

According to the appeals court, to sustain the conviction the state was required to prove the woman knowingly or intentionally possessed an instrument, a device, or another object she intended to use for: "introducing into the person's body a controlled substance; testing the strength, effectiveness or purity of a controlled substance; or enhancing the effect of a controlled substance."

At trial, prosecutors successfully asserted the marijuana grinder was an instrument used to prepare marijuana to be introduced into a person's body and it therefore qualified as drug paraphernalia, records show.

According to court records, the state abandoned that argument on appeal and instead claimed the marijuana grinder met the definition of drug paraphernalia because it enhances the effect of a controlled substance.

The appeals court rejected both ways of interpreting a marijuana grinder as drug paraphernalia, records show.

It said prosecutors provided no evidence the grinder itself could be used to introduce a controlled substance into a person's body as required to classify the grinder as paraphernalia under the statute, according to court records.

Moreover, in rejecting the state's effort to liken the grinder to a syringe, the appeals court noted a different three-judge appellate panel in 2018 issued a precedent-setting decision resolving a nearly identical case involving a marijuana grinder  making the prosecutor's argument "insufficient as a matter of law."

The appeals court also deemed "unsupported" the state's subsequent claim that a grinder enhances the effect of a controlled substance, primarily on procedural grounds.

Though the court seemed skeptical of the state's underlying argument that grinding marijuana bits to a similar size and consistency before rolling them into a joint or packing them into a bong has any noticeable impact on the effect produced by using marijuana.

"The state presented no evidence at trial to support its current theory. Indeed, in its appellee's brief, instead of citing to the trial record the state instead cites, in a footnote, two internet articles," the appeals court said.

"But those articles are beside the point. The state cannot limit its evidence in the trial court to one theory and then argue a wholly new evidentiary theory on appeal. Accordingly, we do not consider the state's argument."

Notwithstanding the grinder ruling, which the state still can appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court, marijuana itself remains illegal to possess or use in Indiana.

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Spokane Falls Community College

Michael Marquez of Lansing has earned a place on the Spokane Falls Community College honor roll for winter quarter 2022.

Trine University

The Trine University Wind Ensemble will present its spring concert beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday, in the T. Furth Center for the Performing Arts.

The concert is free and open to the public. Several Region students will perform. They include Bridget Hoffman of Wheatfield, who plays bass clarinet; Trinity Stiles of Highland, who plays the clarinet; Madysen Collins of Kouts, who plays the flute; Lucas Jackson of Valparaiso, who plays the trumpet; and Treyton Sederstrom of Cedar Lake, who plays the trumpet.

Bob Jones University

Bethany Rukes, a senior pursuing a Bachelors degree in Early Childhood Education from Bob Jones University, was hired before graduation as a first grade teacher at Inter-City Baptist School in Allen Park, Michigan. Rukes is a resident of Portage.

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Five candidates are seeking their party's nomination in the May 3 primary for LaPorte County sheriff.

Current Sheriff John Boyd is nearing the end of his second and final term.

There are three Democrats in the race: Sgt. James D. Arnold, Capt. Andrew Hynek and Capt. Allen Ott. Chief Deputy Sheriff Ron Heeg and Patrol Officer Andrew Morse are running on the Republican ticket.

Arnold has been with the sheriffs office since 1999 when he started as a jail officer. He was promoted to patrol officer two years later. Arnold is currently day shift commander of the patrol division.

His top priority is establishing a trauma response team consisting of mental health experts to help officers more effectively cope with some of the worst experiences they encounter on the job.

Arnold said the mental health professionals would be placed into a rotation for responding quickly to traumatic or high-stress events. Team members would also be made available to officers later, if necessary.

Arnold said he also wants to hire more patrol officers to more adequately cover a county that has the second-largest amount of square miles in the state.

He said there are not enough officers available for all shifts at times to consistently provide the best response to calls.

A lot of times we run at the minimum, and the minimum is way too low, he said.

Arnold said he also wants to have a more culturally diverse staff and improve relations with employees.

Hynek was a heavy equipment operator in the military before joining the sheriffs department 22 years ago as a jail officer.

He later moved up to patrol officer and then detective before joining the Fugitive Apprehension Street Team as a member of the sheriffs office in 2014.

In F.A.S.T., he worked with officers from the U.S. Marshals and other jurisdictions to arrest fugitives throughout Northwest Indiana and the Chicago area.

Hynek has been the midnight shift commander for the patrol division since 2019.

He said his top priority is reducing the percentage of inmates committing future crimes through meaningful incarceration.

We simply have way too many inmates that are repeat offenders, he said.

His strategy includes establishing a separate court where the focus at sentencing is more on requiring mental health treatment in cases where psychological or emotional well-being is a major contributor in breaking the law.

We need to institute programs and give them that little bit of hope so they stop coming back, Hynek said.

Hynek said he also wants to combat the use of heroin by having people whove overcome their additions speak to young people, an approach he believes is more effective than having a police officer talking to kids.

What does work is somebody who has lived that life and has beat addiction tell their stories, he said.

Ott, a 29-year member of the sheriffs office, has been the LaPorte County Jail commander since 2018.

Ott said what he wants to bring to the office is administrative experience gained from running a jail with a $4.6 million annual budget and 71 employees.

He also cited knowledge from working with companies that are contracted now to provide medical services and meals to jail inmates.

Ott said nobody else in the race has that level of administrative skills vital to being a sheriff because they have worked strictly as police officers, as he did prior to becoming jail commander.

Thats going to be something no other candidate is going to be able to talk about, he said.

Ott said he also wants to further address employee retention problems currently being addressed.

The proposed increase in the local income tax from 0.95% to 1.45% is expected to be approved soon and the funds used strictly to increase the pay of emergency responders and other public safety needs.

Ott said he also wants to continue efforts designed to promote the personal growth of employees, which improves service.

You empower them. We do that in the jail every day. Ive seen it and its rewarding, he said.

In 1997, Heeg began working as a jail officer for the sheriffs department, then he began patrol duty about 18 months later.

He later became a detective and was a commander for the patrol division when promoted to chief deputy in 2015.

He said his priorities include reducing crime by strengthening partnerships with various professionals to help reduce the use of narcotics and people struggling with mental health.

He said many people whose mental health issues are not being treated self-medicate by turning to alcohol and drugs, which often leads to crime.

Everybody wants to feel safe in their home, and the two biggest things affecting public safety right now is the drugs/heroin epidemic and mental health issues, he said.

Heeg also wants to invest more into developing leadership skills in young officers so theyre ready for higher-ranking positions vacated by retirement.

He wants to provide incentives for officers to take better care of themselves considering the national average lifespan of people in law enforcement is just 57 years because of the stressful nature of the job.

He would also like to see police officers invest more of their time out in the communities with more outreach programs.

Morse began with the sheriffs department in 2001 as a jail officer, then was promoted two years later to the patrol division.

Hes also a part-time school resource officer at New Prairie Middle School.

Morse said his top priority is having officers represented by the Indiana State Fraternal Order of Police and working under a collective bargaining agreement. Currently, the amount of pay and benefits are decided by the LaPorte County Council yearly.

Morse said officers would have a stronger voice if represented in contract talks by the FOP and know how much theyre going to receive from year to year until a new collective bargaining agreement has to be renegotiated.

Currently, Morse said the sheriff has to ask the council each year to give officers a raise, and there are no guarantees on whether pay will be increased or by how much.

He also said a collective bargaining agreement would help reduce turnover and make filling job openings easier at a time when departments are competing against each other for quality officers.

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Joseph Hosey, a veteran journalist and top editor at the Joliet Herald-News, will become the next executive editor of The Times of Northwest Indiana.

Lee Enterprises Midwest News Director Marc Chase announced Hoseys appointment Tuesday afternoon to The Times newsroom staff.

Hosey, 50, a native of the New York City borough of Queens, succeeds Chase, of Winfield, who was promoted in February to the corporate role of Midwest regional news director for Lee Enterprises. Chase, a 24-year veteran of Lee Enterprises news companies, served as Times executive editor for the past four years and hired Hosey to succeed him.

Joe is one of the most respected public safety journalists in the greater Chicago area and one of the most accomplished in the country, Chase said. Hes running a newsroom in a market not altogether unlike Northwest Indiana, and hes the kind of news leader who will immediately understand the issues central to our Region.

His hard-as-nails career has been built on the adept handling of high-profile cases and boldly facing down any threats to a free press.

Chase noted that Hosey took the brave stand of protecting sources who provided him with police reports that shed light on a grisly, high-profile suburban Chicago murder case.

A Will County, Illinois, judge threatened Hosey with jail time and fines if Hosey didnt disclose who provided those records, but a higher court later sided with Hosey and shielded his source.

Northwest Indiana deserves a strong news leader with a firm grasp on public safety journalism and a proven track record for taking aggressive and strong approaches to finding the truth and protecting the newsgathering process, Chase said. Joseph Hosey has been a master of these tenets in his career.

Hosey, who will begin leading The Times newsroom May 9, said hes ready to dive into the bustling news market that is Northwest Indiana.

Im looking forward to continuing the good work The Times already is doing, Hosey said. Im impressed with the news staff. The Times website is terrific. I cant wait to put my imprint on the operation.

Hosey said he fell in love with journalism as he grew up reading New York newspapers, including the Daily News and its Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jimmy Breslin.

He found his first job in journalism at the Lincoln Courier near downstate Peoria, Illinois.

Hosey first joined the Herald-News in 1999, covering courts and public corruption. He then worked on a Chicago Sun-Times investigative reporting team and was a metro columnist.

He became a field editor in 2010 of Patch, an online news streaming service, before returning to the Joliet Herald in 2017 to serve as top editor of the award-winning work by its newsrooms staff of reporters and photographers.

Chase said Hosey was lead reporter in the high-profile criminal case of Drew Peterson, the disgraced former Bolingbrook, Illinois, police sergeant who was convicted of murdering one wife and was a suspect in the disappearance of another wife.

Hoseys work covering the Peterson case led to him author Fatal Vows: The Tragic Wives of Sergeant Drew Peterson. That 2008 book was adapted by the Lifetime network for the movie, Untouchable, starring Rob Lowe.

Hosey has won a number of journalism accolades, including the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award from the National Press Club for a 2013 series about a horrific double murder.

Hosey will be part of Chases greater Midwest editors team spanning more than 20 markets in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota.

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GARY  For the next few months, Indiana State Police will be assessing and working alongside the Gary Police Department as part of a new partnership between the two agencies.

Gary Mayor Jerome Prince announced the "historic" collaboration during a Monday morning news conference. ISP will be taking a holistic look at the Gary Police Department, reviewing standard operating procedures, internal organizational structure, investigating procedures, training, evidentiary inventory and fiscal accountability.

"We will take a look at the foundation of the PD, everything about the police department, and if we find cracks we will fix them, and then when we leave they will have a solid foundation to build upon," ISP Superintendent Douglas Carter said. "We don't have all the answers, but I am willing to commit a tremendous amount of our assets and our resources to maybe help the city of Gary along the way."

As part of the partnership, ISP Major Jerry Williams will be returning to his hometown. Born and raised in Gary, Williams will be working out of the Gary Police Department for the next 90 to 120 days, though the timeline may be extended.

For the first month or so, Carter said, ISP will not be releasing much information on the partnership. During that time, Williams and other ISP personnel will be "immersing" themselves in the department, understanding what resources Gary currently has as well as what resources the department needs.

Williams will serve as a consultant for Gary police, reviewing current practices and offering recommendations.

During the news conference, Prince also announced the city will be starting a nationwide search for a new police chief.

Formerly deputy chief, Brian Evans has been filling in as interim chief for the past two years. Evans took over when Chief Richard Ligon resigned after just six months on the job. The city has had a high turnover of police chiefs; Ligon was Gary's 11th since 2006.

Prince said Evans has offered to assist with the search for a new chief and will remain in the role until a replacement is selected.

A clear-cut plan

Carter and Williams sat down with the Prince administration to discuss a partnership in the fall of 2021, though this is not the first time ISP has worked closely with Gary police.

In 2013, ISP reviewed the Gary Police Department under the order of former Gov. Mike Pence after the city saw a spike in violent crime. The final report found a lack of confidence in police leadership as well as the need for additional supervisor training and increased discipline throughout the department.

The report also said too many officers were dedicated to functions outside the frontline patrol division, such as various task forces and detention and front desk duties.

While the city took some steps to implement ISP's past recommendations, Prince said the new partnership will incorporate those recommendations along with the suggestions made by the Gary Police Reform Commission in December to craft a "clear-cut plan."

ISP's work with Gary goes back even further than 2013.

In the fall of 1995, ISP sent about 50 troopers to the city. The officers conducted night patrols, drug busts and traffic stops, making hundreds of arrests in just a few months.

Looking back, Williams said many ISP troopers have realized that the 1995 efforts were well-intentioned but ultimately not productive.

"Let's be clear: No one should expect to see troopers running up and down the street, arresting folks and giving tickets," Prince said. "This is not that. This is an attempt to take a deep, holistic look at our operations in the police department, come up with a plan and implement that plan."

ISP is not "reinventing the wheel," Williams said, explaining that Michigan State Police have engaged in similar local partnerships.

"We will learn from our partners across the country because we know that this process exists and that other agencies have used it," Williams said. "But make no mistake about it because the truth of the matter is that this is still a very unprecedented process for us because most state police agencies don't normally engage at such a local level."

Even after ISP personnel are no longer physically stationed in Gary, the relationship between the two agencies will continue.

"The hope is they can lean on us if they want to," Carter said.

The partnership in Gary could also serve as a model that is used across the state, Williams explained.

"When you see all of these officers and you think about some of the things that have happened in the past, [you may think] that this is specifically about crime, and it's not. Although crime is an element, ... our No. 1 focus is providing the very best atmosphere for not only our residents but for our police officers," Prince said. "Although it is unprecedented that we would take this kind of approach, it certainly brings with it additional personnel, additional manpower and more importantly additional resources."

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The Lake County Sheriffs Department Special Operations Unit recently teamed up with a half dozen other Northwest Indiana police departments on an overnight crackdown that resulted in multiple arrests.

The enforcement action last Thursday targeted vehicle thefts, drugs and violent crimes across Northwest Indiana. Several suspects, including a few from out of state, were arrested for various offenses.

"Lake County Sheriffs Department officers arrested residents from Illinois and Wisconsin for offenses including felon in possession of a firearm and drug charges," Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said. "Lake County officers also arrested an Indiana resident on a warrant. Officers cited an Illinois resident for reckless driving and a Georgia resident for weapon and drug offenses."

The Schererville Police Department arrested two Illinois residents on charges of resisting law enforcement and drug possession. The Gary Police Department arrested an Indiana resident on drug charges and a weapons offense.

The Merrillville Police Department also arrested an Indiana resident on drug charges. Dyer police arrested an Illinois resident on a warrant.

Gary Police Department officers arrested an Indiana resident for a weapon offense and drug charges.

"Officers from each agency that participated in this enforcement showed the true spirit of cooperation and professionalism necessary to conduct the operation safely and effectively," Martinez said. "I am so proud of the hard work and dedication of these officers."

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The property manager at an Australian home where Johnny Depp and Amber Heard stayed in 2015 during their tempestuous marriage testified on Monday about the damage he surveyed after one of their most fractious clashes.

The manager, Ben King, described touring the place after the fight and finding a scene of broken glass, blood drippings, a damaged bar top and a collapsed Ping-Pong table.

It was the aftermath of an episode that is emblematic of the dueling accusations that have filled the defamation case filed by Mr. Depp against Ms. Heard. Mr. Depp has said that during that fight Ms. Heard hurled a vodka bottle at him that shattered and severed his fingertip. She has countered that he severed it himself when he smashed a phone against a wall.

Mr. King testified that he found Mr. Depps fingertip in a scrunched up piece of paper amid the wreckage.
The Russian invasion has devastated cultural life in Ukraine, forcing renowned musical ensembles to disband and leading to an exodus of conductors, composers and players.

Now some of Ukraines leading artists, with the help of the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Polish National Opera in Warsaw, are uniting to use music to express opposition to Russias continuing attacks. They will form a new ensemble, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, and make an 11-city tour of Europe and the United States in July and August, the orchestra announced on Monday.

This is something we can do for our country and for our people, Marko Komonko, a Ukrainian violinist who will serve as the orchestras concertmaster, said in an interview. Its not much, but this is our job.

The 75-member orchestra, which will be made up of Ukrainian refugees as well as musicians still in the country, will appear at several European festivals, including the BBC Proms in London for a televised performance on July 31. It will make stops in Germany, France, Scotland and the Netherlands, before heading to the United States to perform at Lincoln Center and at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Proceeds from the concerts will benefit Ukrainian artists.
Season 6, Episode 3: Rock and Hard Place

In the history of television, no show did death scenes with more panache than Breaking Bad. Think of Guss last moments, with half his face blown off after his arch nemesis, Hector Salamanca, detonated a bomb under his wheelchair. Walter Whites slow and bloody exit as he sentimentally communes with his meth-making equipment. Hank Schraders demise at the hands of neo-Nazis in the desert, punctuated with a defiant f-bomb.

At long last, Better Call Saul has contributed to this pantheon. Nacho Vargas farewell in Rock and Hard Place, as the episode is fittingly titled, was wrenching, tense, violent, sad, filled with pathos and unforgettable. While on the run in Mexico, he decides that the only way to save his fathers life is to dutifully return and confess to the Salamancas right before they kill him. Tough assignment. But like all of Nachos tough assignments, he doesnt have a choice in the matter. And once again, he over-delivers. Had he halfheartedly mumbled the falsehood that Peruvian drug lords put him up to the Lalo hit, the cloud of suspicion over Gus would have lingered.

So instead, Nacho clears Gus by suggesting that the chicken man lacked the guts and guile to arrange Lalos murder. Whats more, he goes on, Gus saved Hectors life by intervening when Nacho tried to kill Hector by switching out his heart meds for sugar pills. (This is a nice, exculpating touch because it happens to be true.)

Nacho wanders way off script only when he cuts loose his zip tied hands and threatens to kill Don Bolsa, right before committing suicide. Nacho wanted to demonstrate a modest amount of agency in a professional life that has been dictated by a rotating group of murderous sociopaths. This was a pawn telling a king, I could kill you.
In what sense?

I wanted everybody to be whole and healthy. I wanted a win for Duke, and a win for Max, and a win for Frankie and a win for Phil. And obviously a win for Sam, but not a win that you would expect. After all everybody went through in terms of the shutdown and the world, I really wanted to leave people with a sense of hope that they could do better and be more to each other.

There seemed to be an emphasis in this season on death and rebirth. In the first episode, the statue at the top of the stairs  a constant throughout the series  smashes. And in the final episode it is replaced with something new.

You got it. At first, I thought I was going to start with the house being on fire. But I used the beanie boy statue, symbolically. So that set the tone. Im going to cry  yeah, there we go. Theres the feeling.

The show draws heavily from your life, but are there ways in which you are different from Sam?

I mean, shes fundamentally me. I cant deny it. Shes the best parts of me. And when I put something in the show, it makes me a better person. I always say that Sam is like me in a cape.

How did you strike the balance between realism and more issue-driven themes, like single motherhood and womens health and aging?

I like it all to have the same value. Were talking about menopause, were talking about death  life and death. You start the whole season with Marion [Kevin Pollak] and Sam finding out about these secrets in their family. Then you see Phil, and you realize that her brother died. Either you make the whole episode about it, or you put it as a little detail. So thats Better Things.
Employees had been frustrated that Twitter management was silent as it hashed out the terms of the agreement with Mr. Musk, who has said that he would change much about the way Twitter operates, including the policies it uses to moderate tweets. In a statement on Monday, Mr. Musk said he would focus on new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots and authenticating all humans.

Twitter workers have fretted about the impact on their stock compensation as Mr. Musk transformed Twitter into a private company, and about the cultural changes he would cause. But others have celebrated Mr. Musks bid for the company and said they believed his impact would be positive.

Mr. Agrawal told employees that their stock options would convert to cash when the deal with Mr. Musk closes, which he estimated would take three to six months. Employees would receive their same benefits packages for a year after the deal was finalized, Mr. Agrawal added, according to the two people familiar with the meeting.

In response to a question from an employee about whether former President Donald J. Trump would be allowed back on Twitter, Mr. Agrawal deferred, leaving the question for Mr. Musk to answer once he takes over the company. We constantly evolve our policies, Mr. Agrawal said. Once the deal closes, we dont know what direction this company will go in.

Mr. Taylor addressed employees concerns about his silence. I know there were a ton of twists and turns along the way, all of it in public, and I know we werent able to share all the info with you, but he and Mr. Agrawal were bound by their fiduciary duty to shareholders to keep quiet and not share updates with employees, he said.
Who introduced you to your first tuna and potato chip sandwich? A lunchroom friend? A parent? Or perhaps it was your own early culinary invention?

Despite its popularity (and undeniable deliciousness), tracking down its provenance has proved difficult.

By 1959, according to what was then the United States Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, 8 out of 10 American households served canned tuna at least once a week, often in a casserole topped with crushed chips. (Recipes for tuna noodle casserole date to the earlier part of the century.) Given the ubiquity of each ingredient, it seems likely that kids started regularly smashing the two together around this time. The timing coincides with some of the earliest tuna-and-chip sandwich anecdotes I found in my interviews.

The chef Alex Guarnaschelli told me that her late mother, Maria, who edited my first cookbook, made a version with barbecue-flavored potato chips and toasted rye bread. (The chip company Herrs, in Nottingham, Pa., introduced barbecue chips to its line in 1958, when the older Ms. Guarnaschelli was a teenager.)
David Brock, the conservative journalistic hit man turned Hillary Clinton acolyte, described how he first became a reactionary in his 2002 book Blinded by the Right. Hed arrived at the University of California, Berkeley, at the dawn of the Reagan era as a Bobby Kennedy-worshiping liberal, but grew quickly alienated by the campuss progressive pieties.

Rather than a liberal bastion of intellectual tolerance and academic freedom, the campus was  though the phrase hadnt yet been coined  politically correct, sometimes stiflingly so, he wrote.

A formative experience was seeing a lecture by Ronald Reagans U.N. ambassador, Jeane Kirkpatrick, shut down by left-wing protesters. Wasnt free speech a liberal value? he asked. The more Brock challenged the left, the more he was ostracized, and the more his resentment pushed him rightward.

By the time he got to Washington, where he became an influential conservative journalist, hed developed what we might now call an edgelord sensibility. He traveled to Chile to write a defense of the murderous dictator Augusto Pinochet. I was flippantly engaging in the extremist one-upmanship that characterized not only me, but many young conservatives of the era, he wrote.
FRONT PAGE

An article on Saturday about the slowing of momentum of the World Health Organizations goal to vaccinate the world against Covid-19 misspelled the surname of the chief executive of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. He is Dr. Seth Berkley, not Berkeley.

INTERNATIONAL

An article on Monday about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his plans for a solar plant in the village of Palli referred incorrectly to Samita Devi, who said that because of a new solar plant, We are very, very happy. Ms. Devi is a woman.

NATIONAL

An article on Saturday about a Texas National Guard soldier who is feared dead in Rio Grande misstated the day that Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas issued a statement about the missing member of the National Guard. It was Friday, not Monday.

SPORTS

An article on Monday about the success of the New Orleans Pelicans without Zion Williamson referred incorrectly to the Phoenix Suns. They are the reigning N.B.A. Western Conference champions, not the champions.
After Ms. Imeson moved out, Ms. Tarplin moved into the smaller bedroom and rented out the larger one, to minimize her own monthly costs. There were no closets, so she stashed much of the family memorabilia  photo albums, high school diaries, early D.I.Y. Halloween costumes  under her bed. The apartment was dark and cramped, but she loved the backyard: That was my Zen space, she said. The yard is why I stayed there longer than I would have otherwise. I was like, I cant give up this yard.

Last summer, Hurricane Henri brought the apartments first major flood since Sandy, and all hell broke loose, Ms. Tarplin said. Henri was the worst Id seen. Three inches of water covered the marble floors; she had to take off work to clean everything while her landlord sanitized the apartment.

She soon began to look at apartment listings online. I wanted something fabulous  I wanted a fresh start, Ms. Tarplin said. She began reaching out to brokers, but hadnt looked at anything seriously when Hurricane Ida arrived two weeks later.

Ms. Tarplin, knowing the bathroom would flood first, had lined the room with towels and armed herself with the water vacuum, waiting for the floodwaters to come. After a few hours of working the vacuum, it broke. Soon, water came rushing through the front door. At a certain point, I said, Were not gonna stop it, she said. So lets go to damage control.
Conservatives praised Elon Musks deal to buy Twitter on Monday, reflecting the way anger at Silicon Valleys content moderation decisions has become a central issue for Republican lawmakers.

Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said she was hopeful that Elon Musk will help rein in Big Techs history of censoring users that have a different viewpoint. Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, tweeted that free speech is making a comeback and posted a news article about the roughly $44 billion deal. Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado tweeted that Mr. Musk now literally owns the libs.

Former President Donald J. Trump, a prolific Twitter user before the service barred him after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, told Fox News that he hoped Mr. Musk would buy Twitter because hell make improvements to it and he is a good man.

But he told the cable network he would not return to the service. Instead, he said he would use Truth Social, the site that started in February with his backing and which had a slow start.
The billionaire, who has more than 83 million followers on Twitter and has romped across the service hurling gibes and memes, has repeatedly said he wants to transform the platform by promoting more free speech and giving users more control over what they see on it. By taking the company private, Mr. Musk could work on the service out of sight of the prying eyes of investors, regulators and others.

Yet scrutiny is likely to be intense. Twitter is not the biggest social platform  it has more than 217 million daily users, compared with billions for Facebook and Instagram  but it has had an outsize role in shaping narratives around the world. Political leaders have made it a megaphone, while companies, celebrities and others have used it to hone images and build brands.

In recent years, Twitter has also become a target of criticism, as some users spread misinformation and other toxic content on the service. Former President Donald J. Trump frequently turned to Twitter to insult and inflame, until it barred him after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol last year. The company has repeatedly created policies on the fly to deal with unexpected situations.

Mr. Musk himself has had a rocky relationship with online speech. This year, he tried to quash a Twitter account that tracked his private jet, citing personal and safety reasons. And he has gotten into trouble with regulators over his tweets.

On Monday, he tweeted that he hoped his worst critics would remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means. He added in his statement that he hoped to increase trust by making Twitters technology more transparent, defeating the bots that spam people on the platform and authenticating all humans.
No fossil evidence suggests that a giant ground sloth ever composed a symphony or that a Devonian fish split the atom even once. And yet, have human beings really proved their worth? We have brought the world calculus, the sonnet, no-knead bread. But think of what we have inflicted: environmental devastation, species collapse, atrocities of various complexions. Humans keep surviving. Were fit that way. But when you think about it  should we?

Thornton Wilders The Skin of Our Teeth, a formally inventive, constitutionally melancholy Pulitzer Prize winner from 1942, usually ticks the box for yes. An antic ode to human resilience, written as America was entering World War II, it follows the Antrobus family as they face down an ice age, a deluge and a very human catastrophe. Somehow, they always come through.

Weve come a long ways, George Antrobus, the dad, says. Weve learned. Were learning. And the steps of our journey are marked for us here.

And yet the revival that opened at Lincoln Centers Vivian Beaumont Theater on Monday, which is to say somewhere in the mid-Anthropocene, isnt so sure. Under Lileana Blain-Cruzs gorgeous, restive direction, this production sides not so much with George, the inventor of the wheel and alphabet, but with Sabina, the Antrobuses vampy maid, who maintains a healthy skepticism toward the whole of the human race.
Mr. Dowless was arrested in February 2019 on charges of ballot tampering and obstruction of justice related to the 2016 and 2018 primary races; four others faced charges. That July he was indicted on similar charges related to the 2018 general election, along with six others.

The case faced multiple delays related to the Covid-19 pandemic and Mr. Dowlesss health. That did not prevent an unrelated fraud case from going forward. In June 2021, he pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud for failing to report his income from the Harris campaign while receiving Social Security disability benefits.

Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. was born on Jan. 3, 1956, near Lumberton, N.C., where Leslie Sr. worked on a 200-acre peanut farm. His mother, Monnie (Pait) Dowless, was a homemaker. He was the youngest of 11 children in the household, though the only child his parents had together.

The familys first home, tucked into the woods near the farm, had no indoor plumbing, and Mr. Dowless later recalled bathing in a 55-gallon oil drum. When he was 10 years old, his family moved to a modern home in nearby Bladenboro, where he ran from bathroom to bathroom, turning the taps on and off in amazement, he told Michael Graff and Nick Ochsner for their book The Vote Collectors: The True Story of the Scammers, Politicians and Preachers Behind the Nations Greatest Electoral Fraud (2021).

Along with his daughter, Mr. Dowless is survived by his brother, Harry; his sisters Myrtice Johnson and Filena Carson; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Mr. Dowless Sr. ran a fertilizer store with his brother, and his son helped out after school and on weekends. And Leslie Jr. continued to work on farms, mostly growing peanuts, a prime crop in that corner of the state.

By the late 1980s he was managing a used-car lot with a girlfriend, whom he hoped to marry once he had enough money saved. When one employee died unexpectedly, they took out life insurance on him, with the check illegally backdated.
When the leading Republican candidates for Senate in Pennsylvania  the Trump-endorsed celebrity surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick, a former hedge fund executive  shared a debate stage for the first time on Monday night, they faced sharp attacks not only from each other but also from three other candidates vying to chip away at their polling lead.

With few substantive policy disagreements among the five candidates, attacks instead addressed how long each had lived in Pennsylvania (for Dr. Oz and Mr. McCormick, not much, recently); past commitments to other countries; and Dr. Ozs statements during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic encouraging people to wear masks  now a verboten position among the Republican faithful.

Dr. Oz rarely failed to remind viewers that he had won an endorsement from former President Donald J. Trump, a victory he used to proclaim himself the true America First candidate in the race. His rivals disputed the designation.

The reason Mehmet keeps talking about President Trumps endorsement is because he cant run on his own positions and his own record, Mr. McCormick said. The problem, doctor, is theres no miracle cure for flip-flopping, and Pennsylvanians are seeing right through your phoniness and thats what youre dealing with and thats why youre not taking off in the polls.
WASHINGTON  President Bidens pick for ambassador to Ukraine will bolster relations between Washington and Kyiv after years without a Senate-confirmed envoy in the post, veteran diplomats say, but a return to a U.S. diplomatic presence during a war brings new risk for the Biden administration.

After months of delays that confounded veteran diplomats, Mr. Biden on Monday announced his intention to nominate for the post Bridget Brink, the current U.S. ambassador to Slovakia. A native of Michigan, Ms. Brink joined the State Department in 1996 and has served in Serbia, Uzbekistan and Georgia.

If confirmed, Ms. Brink will become a high-level interlocutor between Ukraines government and the Biden administration, which have been communicating on an unusually direct basis. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken speaks several times a week with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, and other top Biden officials are in regular contact with their equivalents. Even though the United States has been represented by a capable acting ambassador in Kristina Kvien, analysts say there is no substitute for a designated official in the country who can coordinate among multiple departments and agencies.

For now, Ms. Brink has no obvious base of operations. The State Department shuttered its Kyiv embassy shortly before Russias invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 and subsequently ordered all U.S. diplomats out of the country. None are known to have returned.
WASHINGTON  When Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III declared Monday at the end of a stealth visit to Ukraine that Americas goal is to see Russia so weakened that it would no longer have the power to invade a neighboring state, he was acknowledging a transformation of the conflict, from a battle over control of Ukraine to one that pits Washington more directly against Moscow.

President Biden entered the war insistent that he did not want to make this a contest between the United States and Russia. Rather, he was simply helping a small, struggling democracy defend itself against takeover by a far more powerful neighbor. Direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War III, something we must strive to prevent, he said in early March, just two weeks into the war.

He has committed to keeping American troops out of the fight, and has resisted imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine that would risk putting American and Russian forces into direct combat. Yet as Russian war atrocities have become more evident, and Ukraines need for heavy armor has increased, the lines have grown blurrier and the rhetoric sharper. At the same time, in word and deed, the United States has been gradually pushing in the direction of undercutting the Russian military.

It has imposed sanctions that were explicitly designed to stop Russias military from developing and manufacturing new weapons. It has worked  with mixed success  to cut off the oil and gas revenues that drive its war machine.
They were built over layers of images cut from newspapers, books and magazines, scraps of fabric and wallpaper, stationery, copies of childrens drawings and photocopied photographs, some presented in multiple, like Warhol repetitions. A signature motif, single red roses, were usually based on photographs of tattoos. Almost everything was a generation or two removed from its source.

Mr. Baechler referred to this layered process as editing. Rather than scrape down something that he felt didnt work, he would cover it with a collage of fabric or paper, building up the crusty surface, which he saw as a kind of relief that he liked to paint on.

The separation of foreground and background elements was a formula that he had settled on in art school. It served him his entire career, in different variations and combinations. Sometimes the backgrounds might be solid white and sparse, as with a series of paintings, from the 1990s, of birds (mostly owls) that he surrounded with bright blocks of colored paper. He titled them Abstract Painting with Bird.

Sometimes the backgrounds were dense fields of related elements, like the Americana in a 1999 painting that, once he completed it, he realized should be titled Farmstead Lane, after the suburban street he lived on from ages 7 to 14. And in the last decade of his life he started painting over the collages with a full spectrum of colors and a new vocabulary of brushstrokes, splats and drips, as he did with The Ordinary Song (2017).

The works Mr. Baechler first exhibited in New York, around 1980, were drawings and paintings on paper of anonymous suburban American houses, cars and people, all copied in ink or pencil from photographs; on or around them he painted swaths of pale enamel. The combination was in step with the appropriation-prone artists of the Pictures Generation who were also emerging in the early 1980s, like Robert Longo, Sarah Charlesworth and Jack Goldstein.

For his first solo gallery show in New York, at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in SoHo in 1983, Mr. Baechler derived his large images from a book of drawings by the mentally ill, painting them in slurry lines of dark gray or fields of lighter gray.
THE BABY ON THE FIRE ESCAPE

Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem

By Julie Phillips

Where do I want my vitality to go? Susan Sontag wrote in her diary in 1962, 10 years after the birth of her only child. To books or to sex, to ambition or to love, to anxiety or to sensuality? Cant have both. In The Baby on the Fire Escape, the biographer Julie Phillips investigates the assumption in that chilling final line, exploring various ways in which 20th-century artist-mothers have attempted  often in highly fraught circumstances  to have both.

Phillips focuses on the intimate lives of six women born in the first half of the 20th century, young enough to have experienced the changes that came with feminism, old enough to have mothered for a lifetime  Alice Neel, Doris Lessing, Ursula Le Guin, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker and Angela Carter. Chapters on each subject are interspersed with shorter sections, titled The Discomfort Zone, where Phillips threads together quotations and anecdotes from a supporting chorus of voices, who offer pithy, usually sobering testimony on what she refers to as the mind-baby problem: the practical and psychological difficulty of combining motherhood with artistic (mainly literary) work. These women speak of their shattered concentration, their resentment at curtailed writing time, the ingrained societal disapproval of working mothers, the selfishness they feel on closing the door. There are also those rarer voices who describe family life as galvanizing to their creativity. Lorde saw both motherhood and poetry as part and parcel of ones daily living, while Le Guin responded furiously to a friend who described motherhood as the paradigm of brainless enslavement: To the writer, having children was terrifying, empowering and fiercely demanding on her intelligence.

The question driving Phillipss book is not whether these women were good writers or good mothers, but what conditions might enable creativity and domesticity to stand in a workable balance. The problem with motherhood, Lessing argued, is not the work itself, but the burden placed on women who are cribbed, cabined and confined by stifling expectations, their own desires and ambitions assumed to be secondary to their role in a (heterosexual, nuclear) family. Lessing chose to leave her husband, knowing that she would lose legal rights to her children: Her solo departure from Rhodesia for London, Phillips argues, was paradoxically the only route she could imagine toward an integrated life of activism, writing and motherhood, since staying would render the first two impossible. By contrast, Neel  a remarkable artist whose children were removed from her care or terrorized by a series of abusive partners  offers the most disquieting example of the cruelty unleashed when incompatible demands collide without meaningful support in place.

This is an uneasy book, which raises many more questions than it answers. Phillipss own ambivalence is palpable: questioning the project, grappling with her proclivity to judgment and asking what shes looking for. The book is primarily an inquiry rather than an argument  a miscellany of experience, conceived along the lines of Le Guins carrier bag theory of fiction  yet the group format tempts the reader to search for connections and conclusions that remain on the one hand elusive, on the other hand obvious. These artists experiences of motherhood depend on their support network, temperament, wealth and child-care arrangements; those who become mothers while in the process of defining themselves as artists tend to struggle to reconcile the pulls of different identities more than those with an established body of work, and the benefits (psychological and financial) that tend to accompany it. What emerges most strongly from Phillipss study is the fact that invisible social structures have, for generations, failed women, their children and their art. We are all the poorer for it.
Musk has said he wants more free speech and less moderation on Twitter. What will that mean in practice? More bullying? More lewd commentary and images? More misinformation?

Perhaps a window into Musks approach is a tweet he sent on Friday making fun of Bill Gates with a crude reference to anatomy, as a way to get even with Gates, who had admitted to betting against shares of Tesla.

Which raised this question: When conspiracy theorists falsely posted that Gates was paying to develop Covid vaccines to implant chips in people, Twitter down-ranked the content and added fact-check notices. If Musk were running Twitter then, would he have left those posts up to needle his nemesis?

The deal will give Musk enormous influence over politicians, celebrities and the media, with the ability to platform and de-platform them at will.

But some will have sway over him, too, in ways that could distort what the public sees on Twitter. For example, Twitter has no presence in China. Musk does: A huge chunk of Teslas growth is dependent on that country. What happens when Chinese officials tell him to remove content from Twitter that they find objectionable?

Back here in the U.S., Musks SpaceX business relies, in large part, on contracts with the Defense Department. His Tesla business is in discussions with the U.S. government about a national charging station infrastructure. His Boring Company, which digs tunnels, relies on governments for contracts. If a politician that controls the purse strings for any of Musks companies were to publish misinformation, would Musk remove it?

There are no answers to these questions just yet. But we will find out soon. Likely on Twitter.

Times coverage

More commentary

Christine Emba, The Washington Post: What we have here is a perfect example of peak billionaire  the ability of one fantastically rich person to, without accountability, make decisions with potentially life-changing ramifications for many, many people  based on nothing more than their mood and their ridiculously deep pockets.
The U.S. hopes to weaken Russias military

In a major shift, the U.S. toughened its messaging on the war in Ukraine yesterday, saying that the American aim was not just to thwart the Russian invasion, but also to weaken Russia so that it could no longer carry out such military aggression anywhere. Follow the latest updates on the war.

The messaging reflected a commitment to further arm the Ukrainians, who have battled Russian forces with unexpected tenacity, sapped Kremlin resources and flustered the hope of Russias president, Vladimir Putin, for a quick victory. Russia has demanded that the U.S. and its NATO allies cease supplying advanced arms to Ukraines military.

This past weekend, Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, and Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary, made a secret visit by train to Kyiv. Speaking in Poland, Austin said that Russia had suffered significant military losses. He added, We want to see Russia weakened to the degree it cannot do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.
Mass testing in Beijing

Faced with a growing number of coronavirus infections across Beijing, city officials are trying to test most of the Chinese capitals 22 million residents in the hope of avoiding the pain of imposing a citywide lockdown like in Shanghai.

Beijing is ordering mass testing across the city more quickly than in Shanghai, where officials started testing on a similar scale only after infections had been recorded for weeks and more than 1,000 cases had emerged. On Tuesday, officials said that 22 new cases had been found in the city.

The idea is to move faster with testing to understand how widely the outbreak has spread before seeking to impose restrictions on movement. Unlike Shanghai, Beijing does not yet appear to have interfered with established private-sector distribution and delivery.

Details: About three-quarters of Beijings population will have to undergo three mandatory rounds of testing in five days. Only those who live in outlying, mostly rural districts are exempt.
Fidelity, the nations largest provider of 401(k) plans, said on Tuesday that it would enable its participants to put a slice of their retirement money into Bitcoin  if their employers are willing to allow it.

The announcement could put millions of people closer to direct investment in Bitcoin this summer without having to set up an account on a cryptocurrency exchange. But regulators have already said theyre skeptical of the idea: Last month, the Department of Labor, which oversees workplace retirement plans, said it would cast a critical eye on plans that added digital assets to their investment menus.

Fidelity  which held $2.4 trillion in 401(k) assets in 2020, or more than a third of the market, according to the research firm Cerulli Associates  said it was introducing a digital assets account to hold Bitcoin. The account fee will be between 0.75 percent and 0.90 percent of assets, depending on several factors including the employer and the amount invested. An additional trading fee, not yet disclosed, will be competitively priced, the firm said.

We started to hear a growing interest from plan sponsors, organically, as to how could Bitcoin or how could digital assets be offered in a retirement plan, Dave Gray, head of workplace retirement offerings and platforms at Fidelity Investments, said in an interview.
The New York Post has settled a discrimination case brought by a former top editor, who said she had been sexually harassed and retaliated against by a former editor in chief of the paper.

The editor, Michelle Gotthelf, was fired from her job as The Posts top digital editor in January and sued that month. In a joint statement on Tuesday, The Post and Ms. Gotthelf said that they had amicably resolved the lawsuit and that it would be withdrawn against all parties.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

In her complaint, Ms. Gotthelf said Col Allan, The Posts editor in chief for many years and a top lieutenant of Rupert Murdoch, The Posts owner, had harassed her and propositioned her for sex. Ms. Gotthelf said she had alerted executives at the company about Mr. Allans behavior and had felt she was then sidelined.

Mr. Allan retired from the tabloid in 2016. After spending some time in his native Australia, he returned to The Post in 2019 as an adviser. He retired a second time in early 2021.
The Los Angeles County sheriff said on Tuesday that he was investigating a reporter at The Los Angeles Times who had reported allegations that he was involved in covering up a case of inmate abuse, an announcement that drew accusations that he was violating the reporters First Amendment rights.

The reporter, Alene Tchekmedyian, published an article on Monday detailing a legal claim filed by an officer who accused Sheriff Alex Villanueva of blocking an investigation into the alleged abuse and retaliating against whistle-blowers.

Ms. Tchekmedyian also published security video footage of a police deputy handcuffing the inmate, who had punched him in the face. Once the inmate was on the floor, the officer kept his knee on the inmates head for three minutes.

At a news conference on Tuesday, the sheriff said he was investigating all parties involved in the leaked video, which he said was stolen property that was removed illegally. He stood next to large photos of Ms. Tchekmedyian and two other people.
A quarter of all electricity in the European Union comes from nuclear power produced in a dozen countries from an aging fleet that was mostly built in the 1980s. France, with 56 reactors, produces more than half the total.

A fleet of up to 13 new-generation nuclear reactors planned in France, using a different design from the one in Flamanville, wouldnt be ready until at least 2035  too late to make a difference in the current energy crunch.

Across the channel, Britain recently announced ambitions for as many as eight new nuclear plants, but the reality is more sobering. Five of the six existing British reactors are expected to be retired within a decade because of age, while only one new nuclear station, a long-delayed, French-led giant costing 20 billion pounds at Hinkley Point in southwest England, is under construction. Its first part is expected to come online in 2026.

Others being considered in Eastern Europe arent expected to come online before 2030.

Nuclear is going to take so long because the projects require at least 10 years for completion, said Jonathan Stern, a senior research fellow at the independent Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

The big problem is getting off Russian gas, and that problem is now  not in a decade, when maybe weve built another generation of nuclear reactors, he added.

Advocates say nuclear power can be a solution if the political will is there.

Belgiums government, in agreement with the countrys Green party, reversed a decision to phase out nuclear energy by 2025 and extended the life of two reactors for another decade as Russia intensified its assault on Ukraine last month. The energy will help Belgium avoid relying on Russian gas as it builds out renewable power sources, including wind turbines and solar fields, to meet European climate goals by 2035.
Four days into a coronavirus lockdown in her Shanghai neighborhood, Ding Tingting began to worry about the old man who lived alone in the apartment below her. She knocked on his door and found that his food supply was dwindling and that he didnt know how to go online to buy more.

Ms. Ding helped him buy food, but also got to thinking about the many older people who lived alone in her neighborhood. Using the Chinese messaging app WeChat, she and her friends created groups to connect people in need with nearby volunteers who could get them food and medicine.

When a womans father-in-law fainted, the network of volunteers found a neighbor with a blood pressure monitor and made sure it was delivered quickly.

Life cannot be suspended because of the lockdown, said Ms. Ding, a 25-year-old art curator.

In its relentless effort to stamp out the virus, China has relied on hundreds of thousands of low-level party officials in neighborhood committees to arrange mass testing and coordinate transport to hospitals and isolation facilities. The officials have doled out special passes for the sick to seek medicine and other necessities during lockdown.
In the eyes of some influential business and legal experts, the answer is no. The companys directors should have also evaluated the qualifications of Mr. Musk to serve as a responsible steward for a vital public communications channel  and, based on the public comments made by Twitters board of directors, there is no evidence that it did so.

The board should have considered the interest of stakeholders like employees and users in evaluating the long-term value of the company, said Lenore Palladino, associate professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a fellow at the progressive Roosevelt Institute in New York.

Mr. Musk is a polarizing figure. He is a world-changing entrepreneur, responsible for companies, like PayPal and Tesla, that have revolutionized enormous industries. He has used his considerable influence  he has 85 million Twitter followers  to inveigh against what he sees as a censorious liberal culture in technology and media.

He is also at times reckless and capricious  traits that have landed him in trouble with federal regulators and on the receiving end of a defamation lawsuit, among other troubles. Just last week, he mocked Bill Gatess beer belly after the Microsoft co-founder was said to have bet against Teslas stock price.

The question is whether any of that actually or should have factored into the decision by Twitters board of directors to sell the company to Mr. Musk.
Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bob Menendez of New Jersey took aim at Zelle, the popular money transfer app, on Monday, warning that it is putting millions of Americans at risk of being defrauded.

The lawmakers, both Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee, asked Zelles operator, Early Warning Services, what steps it had taken to protect consumers from the proliferation of sophisticated scams. Early Warning, a consortium based in Scottsdale, Ariz., is owned by seven banks: Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

The senators said reports of rising fraud were disturbing and blasted Early Warning and its owners for creating a confusing and unfair situation for consumers who are scammed.

Alarmingly, both your company and the big banks who both own and partner with the platform have abdicated responsibility for fraudulent transactions, leaving consumers with no way to get back their funds, the senators wrote in a letter to Albert Ko, Early Warnings chief executive.
After lighting the nations homes and businesses for more than a century, transforming the design of buildings and even lengthening the average workday, incandescent light bulbs are finally on their way out.

The Biden administration on Tuesday adopted two new rules that set stricter energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. Those standards would effectively phase out the sale of most new incandescent bulbs  the pear-shaped orbs with glowing wire centers  in 2023.

Much of the country is already lit by LED lights, which the Department of Energy estimates last as much as 50 times as long as incandescent bulbs and use a fraction of the electricity. That revolutionary shift has already driven down electricity demand in American homes, saving consumers money and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The lighting industry is already embracing more energy efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress, Jennifer M. Granholm, the energy secretary, said in a statement.
We hear you.

You ask us all kinds of questions about the most profound challenge of our times. You ask us about the science. You ask us what policy levers have worked to bring down greenhouse gas emissions. You ask us about your everyday dilemmas.

You often ask us what you can do.

So, a few weeks ago, we invited you to share what was on your minds, and then we divvied up the questions among several of the reporters on Team Climate, based on their areas of expertise. There were too many to answer, and of those, too many to list in one newsletter. Heres a selection.

What countries, if any, have a realistic chance of meeting their Paris agreement pledges?  Michael Svetly, Philadelphia

According to Climate Action Tracker, a research group that analyzes climate goals and policies, very few. Ahead of United Nations talks in Glasgow last year, the organization found most major emitters of carbon dioxide, including the United States and China, are falling short of their pledge to stabilize global warming around 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
Headliner

Kono

Omakase, a type of Japanese meal that leaves the selection of dishes up to the chef, is most often associated with a parade of sushi bites. But it is also applied to yakitori at this restaurant from Atsushi Kono, an expert in yakitori, or grilled bird, usually skewered chicken. Mr. Kono was the executive chef of Yakitori Torishin in New York starting in 2006, having spent time working in Japan. Now he is opening his own place, where he will serve yakitori omakase as he presides over grills fueled with the binchotan charcoal frequently used in Japanese cooking. He takes center stage, surrounded on three sides by a dramatically lit counter that seats 14 people for set $165 dinners at 5:30, 6, 8:30 and 9 p.m. (Beverages, tax and tip are extra.) Various parts of organic chickens, including the heart, oyster, soft knee cartilage, tail and tenderloin, are grilled on bamboo skewers as the centerpiece of the meal. Chicken thigh roulade, chicken pate and soups are also served, with a black sugar creme brulee as the finale. Wagyu, king crab and Iberico pork are among the optional extras. The restaurant also has a table seating four to six.

46 Bowery (Canal Street), 646-524-6838, yakitorikono.com.

Opening

Laser Wolf

This new Williamsburg restaurant, run by the chef Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook, the Philadelphia restaurateurs known for their interpretations of Israeli fare, is on the heated, weatherproofed open-air roof of the Hoxton, a hotel chain founded in London. In New York, they once ran Dizengoff, in Chelsea Market, but it closed in 2018. For this, their first New York restaurant, they have teamed up with Boka, a Chicago hospitality group. Grilled meats, whole fish and vegetables are the specialties, served with side dishes and pita. The chef is Andrew Henshaw, who worked with CookNSolo, Mr. Solomonov and Mr. Cooks company. (Opens Sunday)

The Hoxton, 97 Wythe Avenue (North 10th Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, laserwolfbrooklyn.com.

Firenze Ristorante Toscano & Bar

One of the restaurants in Eatalys financial district location has pivoted, going from Southern Italian cuisine to Tuscan. Ribollita, pappa al pomodoro, pappardelle al cinghiale (wild boar) and a classic Tuscan porterhouse are the work of Diego Puddu, Eatalys head of culinary for North America, and Adam Hill, the executive chef for the markets downtown branch. Part of the wine list is devoted to Chianti Classico, and there are Florentine cocktails like the Santa Maria del Fiore made with Chianti vin santo.

Eataly Downtown, 101 Liberty Street (Church Street), Third Floor, 646-677-8580, eataly.com.

The Migrant Kitchen

Ingredients like sumac and Oaxaca cheese rarely inhabit the same sandwich. But at the Migrant Kitchen, they do. Here, youll also find dishes with minglings of zaatar, Aleppo pepper, chipotle chiles, turmeric and ginger. Why not? asked Dan Dorado, 45, whose background is Mexican, and is the business partner of Nasser Jaber, 38, who is Palestinian, from the West Bank. They met while working at Ilili in Manhattan. Jaclinn Tanney, who works on the nonprofit side, is a third partner. Pre-Covid they started a catering company serving specialties that blended Mexico and the Middle East, but with the lockdown, they were left with an inventory of meals left over from canceled events. So they donated them, and thousands more, to feed the needy during the pandemic. A pop-up on Stone Street in the financial district followed, along with smaller outlets on the Upper East Side and a counter in the Time Out Market in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Now, there is this new flagship, near Lincoln Center. They still donate meals through Migrant Kitchen Initiative, their foundation, and employ immigrants like their chef, Alex Hernandez from El Salvador. They are also hoping to find Ukrainians who need work.

157 Columbus Avenue (67th Street), themigrantkitchennyc.com.
Image The Food and Drug Administration has not yet authorized a coronavirus vaccine for children younger than 5. Credit... Kenny Holston for The New York Times

The Food and Drug Administration has not yet cleared a coronavirus vaccine for children under 5 because the vaccine manufacturers have not finished their applications for authorization to distribute doses, a top official at the agency suggested on Tuesday.

The official  Dr. Peter Marks, who oversees vaccine regulation for the F.D.A.  said the agency will release a schedule this week for outside expert review of vaccines for the nations 18 million children younger than 5. That is the only age group still not eligible for coronavirus vaccination.

Despite growing pressure, including from Congress, the F.D.A. might not rule on whether to authorize a pediatric vaccine dose for that group until June, administration officials have said.

Parents are frustrated, they are confused, and I am, too, Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, who chairs the Senate health committee, told Dr. Marks at an F.D.A. oversight hearing.

Dr. Marks said he was barred from commenting about pending requests from pharmaceutical companies. But he said pointedly: Just remember, we cant actually finish our reviews until we actually have complete applications.

Both Moderna and the partnership of Pfizer and BioNTech are developing doses of their coronavirus vaccines for very young children, but Moderna appears to be closer to filing its request for emergency authorization. A Moderna spokeswoman said last week that the company expects to file by the end of April, but did not say whether the companys application would be complete by then. Pfizer is expected to file its application in May. Many such applications involve rolling submissions of data.

In an interview Thursday with C.N.N.+, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the White House, suggested that the F.D.A. wanted to review data from Moderna and Pfizer simultaneously, in order to directly compare the merits of the companies vaccines and not confuse people. Moderna is proposing a two-shot dosing plan for children under 6, while Pfizer is developing a three-shot vaccination using weaker individual doses for children under 5.

Dr. Faucis comment prompted questions about whether the F.D.A. was deliberately holding up Modernas request to allow Pfizer to catch up. If so, then regulators would be failing millions of parents and young children, Dr. Zachary Rubin, an Illinois pediatric allergist, wrote on Twitter. If they are waiting for @pfizer to be ready, then something is rancid.

In a letter to the F.D.A. on Monday, Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina and chairman of a House select subcommittee on the pandemic, wrote that waiting for Pfizers application could delay the authorization of Modernas vaccine by several weeks. He asked F.D.A. officials to brief the subcommittees staff on their plans.

In response to a question at a news briefing on Tuesday about the potential holdup, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said that she would point you to the F.D.A. for their decision-making process.

Of course, as a parent of a child under 5, she added, I am eager to have vaccines approved and available, and I want to make sure they go through the proper protocols and process.

Authorization of a vaccine for the very young is complicated, in part because there is no agreed-upon standard for how effective a vaccine should be against symptomatic infection. In clinical trials, conducted in part during the Omicron surge, neither companys proposed vaccine performed very well.

Pfizer and BioNTech delayed seeking emergency authorization earlier this year after their trial showed that two doses were less than 50 percent effective against symptomatic disease. The company has said it expects the three-dose plan to be more successful.

Modernas vaccine also proved disappointing  it was only about 40 percent effective. The company is studying the effectiveness of a booster dose, and one of its top officials has said she expects a booster to be necessary.

On Tuesday, Pfizer and BioNTech said they had applied for emergency authorization of Covid booster doses for children ages 5 to 11.

Alyssa Lukpat contributed reporting.
Orthodox Jews assaulted on busy streets in Midtown Manhattan and in quiet neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Swastikas drawn on a Long Island home and spray painted onto Wall Streets Charging Bull statue. A bomb threat against a Jewish community center in Albany, and fliers in Dutchess County that warned residents, Jews want to take your guns.

The number of antisemitic incidents in New York increased by 24 percent last year to the highest level in decades, including a surge in the number of assaults, as well as both criminal and noncriminal incidents targeting Jews, according to an annual report released on Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.

The group said it counted 416 antisemitic incidents across the state, including 51 assaults, the most physical attacks it has recorded since it began compiling such data in 1979. The report was based on information collected from local law enforcement agencies and Jewish community leaders and individuals.

The surge was part of a nationwide trend that saw 2,717 antisemitic incidents across the United States, including 88 assaults, an increase of 167 percent from the year before. That violence came after a yearslong string of antisemitic killings, including in Pittsburgh; Poway, Calif.; and Jersey City that have left the Jewish community on edge.
Here its worth quoting A.M. Rosenthal, who was the managing editor of The Times when he wrote in 1971: No, they dont make editors like Henry J. Raymond anymore, and is that good or bad?

An editor who doubled as an elected official? It wouldnt happen now. Journalists have no place on the playing fields of politics, The Timess handbook on ethics says  and, to its credit, The Times noted even when Raymond was in charge, the paper was never used to promote its editors political fortunes.

Raymond sent Olmsted to the South before the Civil War with instructions to send back his personal observations, and Olmsted did, sometimes with dense passages packed with details  too many details, Raymond complained.

Still, as John Stauffer, a cultural and literary historian at Harvard, told me, Olmsted illuminated the South for the North. Olmsted portrayed conditions that belied the Souths reputation for elegant affluence. One of the things that struck Olmsted in the South was the backward nature, the lack of roads, the lack of hotels for a stranger going to interview people, Stauffer said. The contrast with a rapidly modernizing North was inescapable.

On the job, Olmsted did not always tell the people he encountered that he was a journalist. Anne Neal Petri of the National Association for Olmsted Parks  which is overseeing Olmsted200, the bicentennial celebration  told me that Olmsted essentially worked undercover and that not saying he was representing a Northern newspaper served him. (How different was this from what a correspondent should do now? The Timess ethics handbook says that staff members should disclose their identity to people they cover, although it also says they need not always announce their status as journalists when seeking information normally available to the public.)

Olmsted could charm people into opening up in a way they probably wouldnt have if he had shown up with a press card.

He was very disarming, Stauffer told me. He didnt alienate people. He showed this genuine curiosity. He came across as someone who didnt have any preconceived ideas. He was antislavery, but he didnt say that to planters. He probably would have been kicked out if he had.
Before it was over, the patrol officer who was less than a year away from retirement after 24 years on the job was hospitalized twice.

After being rushed to the hospital the second time, he had a foot-long blood clot removed from his lung, a procedure that prevented certain death but caused his heart to nearly stop beating. He was placed on advanced life-support while still on the operating table. For two days a machine did the work of his heart and lungs.

It wasnt long before his kidneys began to fail, requiring dialysis.

One of the many hard moments was the day his daughter, a 19-year-old college freshman, visited him for what they both feared could be a final goodbye. Conscious but hooked to a ventilator, Sergeant Talarico was unable to speak.

He would try and mouth words around the breathing tube, said Jackie Whitby, a cardiac care nurse who was also in the room. He had tears in his eyes. She had tears in her eyes.

Retelling the story more than two months later, Sergeant Talarico started to cry again.

About half of the 14 officers in his police department, in Merchantville, N.J., have been vaccinated, he said. The departments chief of police did not return calls.

Sergeant Talarico said he had tried to persuade reluctant colleagues to get vaccinated.

I say, Just look at me and look what I went through, he said.
For those who love to be on the seas, the past two years have been tough. In early 2020, as the coronavirus spread across the globe, cruise ships became petri dishes for the disease. By mid-March that year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order that effectively shut down the industry  and it stayed shuttered for more than a year. For people who make cruising a lifestyle, not just a pastime, being marooned on land was devastating. Charles Falls Jr., known as Chillie, is one of those cruisers who set sail as much as possible. He has been on 55 cruises and in recent years started hosting a YouTube show about the industry.

In January, after nearly two years without setting foot on a ship, Mr. Falls was preparing for his return to sea when Cristal Duhaime, a New York Times Opinion Audio producer, visited him. Click the audio player below to listen to the story.
Consider also Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a Jewish composer from what is now the Czech Republic who went into exile with the rise of Nazi Germany. His music  from his opera Das Wunder der Heliane to the score for the Errol Flynn movie The Adventures of Robin Hood  is intelligently luscious, not lacking complexity yet remaining accessible. But the atonal fashions hold in the mid-20th century was such that Korngolds music has been dismissed in some quarters as mere Hollywood kitsch. Mauceri justly and deftly refutes this dismissal of Hollywood music and sees the work of John Williams (Star Wars!), Miklos Rosza (Ben-Hur!) and others as a healthy, endlessly creative continuation of the post-Romantic classical music tradition.

Horowitz and Mauceris What if? reframings of classical musics trajectory helped me clarify why I have felt the way I have about various types of classical music. When I did listen to Berio 30 years ago, it left me craving Porgy and Bess. I now know why and feel no sense of musical obtuseness in that. I now know why, when I watched the 1940 adventure pic The Sea Hawk, another Flynn vehicle, I was so distracted by the wonderful underscoring that I kept forgetting to keep up with the plot  it was a Korngold score. It is esteemed enough by cognoscenti to have been recorded separately, but in a concert hall would probably still be classified as pops, despite no qualitative difference in expressiveness or gravitas from the work of Brahms.

Indeed  and I doubt Horowitz or Mauceri would take issue with me on this  Americas more structurally ambitious musical theater pieces are often as artistically rich as La Boheme or Der Rosenkavalier. When written for a traditionally composed orchestra in a style focused on melody and harmony, they stand along with the best Hollywood scoring as an American classical music that could have emerged only here, given the Black American-born strain in their musical foundations.

For example, to return to my previously noted enthusiasm for the work of Stephen Sondheim, his 1964 Anyone Can Whistle, is, to me, as essential, totemic and ineffable as any opera. It depicts a sad little town, headed by a vainglorious mayor, that harbors an asylum, with one of the asylums nurses romanced by a tortured, charismatic and oddly sexy con man. Sondheim exquisitely set this mess to music.

One of its songs, Simple, is a 13-minute smorgasbord about how elusive the definition of mental illness is (yes!) with intertwining music styles in shifting meters and tempos. It is, quite simply, genius, on very much the level as what Wagner or Strauss wrought. Another, Me and My Town, starts out bluesy and harmonically impatient and goes into a patter-y ensemble piece.

The orchestrations alone are splendid  cellos instead of violins or violas, which makes everything sound a little grimmer. There are French horns moaning menacingly to depict the brooding, hot-focus intelligent rant to come at the start of the nurses There Wont Be Trumpets; and the lonely solo flute playing low in its range  almost sounding like someone ruminating and sad to be alone  to bring on the plangent romantic duet With So Little to Be Sure Of.

The original Broadway cast recording of Anyone Can Whistle was one of my first CDs, and there was a reason. It isnt just some musical. It is a recalibration, a refraction, a gloss upon, the artistic assignment taken on earlier by Tosca and Salome: passionate, complicated and precise musical drama. Classical music has morphed into so very much all around us, including at the movies and even, as Mauceri notes, in the rich scoring of some of todays advanced video games. Its story need not be a gloomy descent into work valued by a small circle for the glum achievement of evading anything so trivial as pleasing the senses.
You dont have to be opposed to immigration as a general matter to have serious doubts about the administrations course.

Is there a practical and available legal alternative to regulating immigration through Title 42 enforcement? Where is the logic of ending Title 42 even as the administration seeks to extend mask mandates because the pandemic is far from over? Given housing shortages, how much capacity is there to absorb the next wave of migrants? Even if an overwhelming majority of migrants are merely seeking a better life, what system is there to find those with less honorable intentions?

More to the point: What does the administrations utter failure at effective control of the border say about its commitment to enforcing the rule of law?

To raise such questions should be an invitation to propose balanced and practical immigration legislation and try to win over moderate Republicans. Instead it tends to invite cheap accusations of racism, along with policy paralysis in the White House. As Politico reported last week, some think the administrations secret policy is to call for an end to Title 42 to satisfy progressives while crossing fingers that the courts continue it  which a federal judge did on Monday, at least temporarily.

Leading from behind Trump-appointed judges is probably not what Americans elected Joe Biden to do.

Which brings us back to the example of France. When Jean-Marie Le Pen made his first presidential bid on an anti-immigration platform in 1974, he took 0.75 percent of the ballot in the first round  fewer than 200,000 votes. When his daughter Marine ran on a similar platform this year, she took 41.5 percent in the second round, or more than 13 million. The Le Pens are thoroughgoing bigots. But decades of pretending that only bigots had worries about immigration only made their brand of politics stronger.

As president, Macron tacked right on immigration  not to weaken Frances historic position as an open society, friendly to newcomers, but rather to save it. He has cracked down on some asylum seekers, demanded that immigrants learn French and get jobs and taken a hard line against Islamic separatism. But hes also tried to make France a more welcoming place for legal immigration. The left thinks of him as Le Pen lite, the right as a feckless impostor. Maybe hes both. Then again, he also saved France for the free world.

Democrats could stand to brush up on their French.
To be sure, there were similar cries of despair in 2002, when Jean-Marie Le Pen made it to the second round. But the situation then was much more contained: It was considered a freak contest and a one-off accident. Jacques Chirac, who won a resounding 82 percent, was so confident of victory that he refused to debate his opponent. A million took to the streets of Paris to stop Fascism, and voters flocked to Mr. Chirac, a center-right candidate, to ensure Mr. Le Pen had no chance of victory.

Things looked very different this time. When Mr. Le Pens daughter, Marine, made it to the second round for the second election in a row, nobody was surprised  and nobody marched in protest. The republican front, an emergency coalition of mainstream voters and parties against the far right, was weaker than its ever been. Mr. Macrons victory was for a time seriously in doubt and far from emphatic when it did come. The far right may have been stopped at the ballot box this time, but its ideas and candidates are now firmly part of the mainstream.

The election in 2017 looks, in retrospect, to have been a missed opportunity. Mr. Macron, a political newcomer, spoke of upholding the French republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity. He pledged to set up more democratic political institutions and to hold elites accountable. He promised to tackle Frances colonial legacy and acknowledged French cultural and religious diversity. For many, it was a breath of fresh air. Here was a young president with a mandate and a motive to renew French democracy and society.

It didnt happen. Early in his tenure, Mr. Macron was compared to Justin Trudeau, energetically bringing progressive reform to a tired country. Today Mr. Macrons critics see him as a very different leader: a French Margaret Thatcher. His five years in office have been marked by contempt for democratic oversight, condescension for the poor and cruelty toward migrants. In the process, he disappointed and even enraged those whod hoped he would be true to his campaign promise to be the president for all.

Politically, the effects have been parlous. By siphoning off large chunks from both center-left and center-right electorates, Mr. Macron helped bring about the demise of Frances two major parties. As a result, politics has become fragmented and debates have become polarized. Traditional party oppositions on socio-economic matters have been supplanted by endless culture wars on Islam, immigration and national identity. In this atmosphere, the left under Mr. Melenchon has radicalized, winning the support of the young and multiracial but putting off more moderate left-wing voters.
In hopeful reclamation, I turned to Twitter, calling for subway memories. As the many responses came in, I reeled from laughter to tears and back. In poured absurd stories of navigating the trains in impossibly elaborate costumes; of dodging urine streams, cockroaches and rats; of in-car concerts, break dancing and a cappella. Of course, there were accounts of violence, of children followed and women groped. But more than anything else, there were stories of community: good Samaritans assisting the lost, the sick, the drunk; passengers jumping to help others with luggage; readers bonding over books; dance parties sparking on platforms; and lifelong friendships forming from chance encounters. And time and again came a seemingly unanimous conclusion: The subway is the best, most cathartic public place to cry.

If New Yorkers are unflappable, impervious and stoic on the sidewalk, we are raging, delighted, terrified, dancing, sobbing messes in the subway tunnels. How unsurprising, then, that the subway should be a pool of our collective pain amid the pandemic. The platforms are often a display of the frustrations of the unhoused and unemployed. The anxieties of those living without economic, emotional or medical support. The fears of immigrants and Asian and other nonwhite populations who find themselves scapegoats yet again.

Though the subway has a unique power to bring New Yorkers together, in the pandemic it has also pushed us further apart. When the fear of Covid reached a zenith and when I had been shouted at, spat on and shoved more than I could bear, I, like many other white-collar New Yorkers, worked at home and chose to travel by cab when I needed to go any distance too long to walk. For many months, the pandemic kept me longing for the subway, but my privilege to avoid it also ensured my safety. In 2020, ridership dropped steeply in higher-income neighborhoods and in Midtown Manhattan, but the decline was less pronounced in neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, which are home to more lower-wage earners, people of color and essential workers.
What is true is that this first wave of globalization was relatively simple and largely an exchange of advanced-economy manufactured goods for primary products like, well, wheat. The complex value chains that characterize the modern world economy, in which, for example, cars made in wealthy nations include chips from Japan and wiring harnesses from Mexico and Ukraine, is indeed a largely post-1990 development, made possible to a large extent by containerization and modern information technology, and has pushed world trade to new heights.

But it turns out that both forms of globalization depend on a relatively stable geopolitical environment  which we seem to be losing. Were not in The Guns of August territory, at least not yet, but theres a definite whiff of 1914 in the air.

And one surprising aspect of recent economic problems, at least to me, is that they seem for now to be doing more damage to old-style globalization  should we call it globalization 1.0?  than to the complex economic relationships that developed after 1990. Despite the container shortage, the backups at the ports and all that, its still fairly easy to buy electronic gadgets that include components from a dozen countries. Whats really getting hit hard now is cruder stuff, like trade in wheat and fertilizer.

In any case, even before the invasion of Ukraine, there were growing reasons to wonder about the future of globalization. Were often told that trade promotes peace, which may or may not be true. One thing thats for sure, however, is that peace promotes trade. And as the world becomes a more dangerous place, things we take for granted, like large-scale trade in food, may be far more vulnerable than anyone realized.

Quick Hits

Global trade in fertilizer isnt new  but it used to mainly involve bird poop.

The forgotten, bloody war for control of South American nitrate deposits.

A look at the lockdown nightmare in Shanghai.

 and what its doing to the global supply chain.
Its not yet clear what the Kirk brothers achievement will mean for the prospect of sourcing morels more widely and affordably. But if it happens, it will be a game changer for the food industry, said Kenneth Toft-Hansen, a Danish chef and winner of the 2019 Bocuse dOr, an international competition often described as the culinary Olympic Games.

Jacob and Karsten Kirk said they were bewitched by morel cultivation as undergraduate students at the University of Copenhagen in the late 1970s. Even as teenagers, they were ardent biologists who built themselves a home laboratory for recreating experiments and observations described in their textbooks. They also loved foraging for mushrooms and other wild foods. To merge those interests, they began raising white button and oyster mushrooms, which are relatively easy to grow. But they set their sights on morels upon learning how expensive they were and that they had never been successfully cultivated.

After graduating from university, Jacob and Karsten began to tinker. Using a specimen they found in the woods, they grew morel mycelium  the fungus equivalent of roots  in a dish and a few years later, set out to generate structures called sclerotia, hardened mycelial nuggets that store nutrients that morels and some other types of fungi rely on to fruit.

But just then, in 1986, two researchers at Michigan State University and another from California caused a hubbub in the mushroom cultivation world when they published the first of three patents describing a method for growing morel sclerotia and coaxing those sclerotia to produce morels. In 1988, the Kirk brothers found an investor to fund their efforts to replicate that method. Since then, they have rented space at the University of Copenhagens agricultural research campus for their privately funded work on what they call the Danish Morel Project.
And where theres a trend, theres an emoji: the disco ball version was released by Apple in March.

Image Inside the Disco Salon, which occupies a former church in Atlanta. Credit... Disco Salon

Libby Rasmussen, a social media and marketing director who lives in Washington D.C., always had an affinity for disco balls. Photos of them perched on a windowsill in her home would catch her followers attention on Instagram and she frequently fielded questions about where they, too, could purchase disco balls.

One day during the pandemic, I was like, maybe I should start selling them, said Ms. Rasmussen, 31. She contracted with a wholesaler and set up the LivingColorfully Etsy shop where she offers five sizes of disco balls (the largest is the Grace at 24 inches).

The first day I opened the Etsy shop I got 40 orders, Ms. Rasmussen said. And then it was 400 orders. And then it was a couple thousand. So it just really catapulted into something crazy. It was really, I think, the right place, right time.

She sold about 5,000 disco balls within a year, Ms. Rasmussen said, and business is still booming.

The interest doesnt seem to be slowing down. According to Etsy, searches for disco ball increased nearly 400 percent during the past three months, compared to the same time period last year.
We need to protect freedom of speech in order to make our democracy work, said Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. But there is a lot of distance to cover from that premise to the kinds of decisions that social media companies have to make every day.

Almost no place on the internet or in the physical world is a zone of absolute free expression. The challenge of online expression is the challenge of expression, period, with questions that have few simple answers: When is more speech better, and when is it worse? And who gets to decide?

In countries with strong courts, civic groups and news media to hold politicians accountable, it may be relatively benign when elected leaders trash talk their opponents online. But in countries such as Myanmar, Saudi Arabia and Somalia, government leaders have weaponized social media to subject their critics to relentless verbal harassment, to spread lies that go mostly unchecked or to incite ethnic violence.

If Twitter wants to pull back from moderating speech on its site, will people be less willing to hang out where they might be harassed by those who disagree with them and swamped by pitches for cryptocurrency, fake Gucci handbags or pornography?

The 2016 U.S. presidential election and the Brexit vote that same year gave Silicon Valley executives, U.S. elected officials and the public a peek into what can go wrong when social media companies opt not to wade too deeply into what people say on their sites. Russian propagandists amplified the views of deeply divided Americans and Britons, further polarizing the electorate.

During Mr. Trumps presidency  particularly in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic and then as Mr. Trump and his supporters spread false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election  Twitter, Facebook and YouTube changed their tune about the role they played in fanning anger, lies, distortions and division that left some people feeling exhausted and cynical about the world around them.

Twitter and Facebook, pressured at times by their employees, took more steps to pull down or label posts that might break their rules against false information and tinkered with computer systems to suppress viral lies from spreading far and fast. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube also kicked Mr. Trump off their platforms after the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.
If the $44 billion deal between Elon Musk and Twitter falls apart, either side may have to pay the other $1 billion, according to a securities filing on Tuesday.

The worlds richest man struck a deal on Monday to buy the social media company for $54.20 a share. Mr. Musk, who also leads the electric carmaker Tesla and the rocket maker SpaceX, has said he plans to take Twitter private and that he wants to improve the product and promote free speech on the platform.

The deal is not set to close for another three to six months, Twitter told its employees on Monday. According to Tuesdays filing, Twitter would have to pay Mr. Musk in certain circumstances if the deal goes awry. That would include if the social media company signed a deal with another suitor whose offer it deemed superior. Mr. Musk, for his part, would have to pay if his financing for the deal falls apart.

Twitter declined to comment. Mr. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Musks financing has played a key role in the deals intrigue. He initially did not appear to have any funding lined up for his bid. But last week, he revealed in a filing that he had commitments for loans from various banks. Mr. Musk is paying with $13 billion in bank loans, plus another $12.5 billion in loans against his stock in Tesla. He has pledged another $21 billion in cash, though he has not outlined the source of that money.

Requiring a buyer to agree to a fee if financing falls apart is not atypical, lawyers said. The fee Mr. Musk is on the hook for  roughly 2.5 percent of the deal  is on par with other acquisitions.

Its actually a pretty plain vanilla merger agreement, said Steven Davidoff Solomon, a professor at the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

The filing also said that if a deal does not close by Oct. 24, both sides could walk away. Should the transaction still be awaiting regulatory approval at that time, Mr. Musk and Twitter would have another six months to close it.

U.S. regulators may examine Mr. Musks purchase of Twitter but are unlikely to sue to block it, since it is not an example of a company buying a competitor, former antitrust officials have said.

European officials said on Tuesday that Twitter under Mr. Musks ownership would have to abide by its new Digital Services Act. The landmark law, which is likely to take effect by next year, requires social media companies to police their platforms more aggressively to fight misinformation and restrict certain online ads.

Mike Isaac contributed reporting.
When Elon Musk reached a deal to buy Twitter on Monday, he promised to return free speech and debate to the platform, saying it was the bedrock of a functioning democracy.

Whether a less moderated social network will be a good or bad thing has become a top topic of debate on Twitter itself among influencers and politicians from across the political spectrum.

On the right, the deal was widely celebrated. Mr. Musks ownership, many conservatives tweeted, presaged a new era of free speech  where topics that were previously moderated could now be aired openly.

Several members of the far right started testing the limits of a less regulated platform, tweeting criticism of the transgender community, doubting the effectiveness of masks, or claiming that the 2020 election results were fraudulent  topics that had been moderated by labeling or removing the false information or suspending accounts that spread it.
Ever since pandemic lockdowns ground life in American cities to an almost complete standstill more than two years ago, big questions have swirled about the future of urban centers: Will the workers who once populated cities return to offices, bringing vitality back with them? Who wants to live downtown? And can they afford it?

Many of these questions are entwined with the fate of public transit systems, which have long been buffeted by the same broad trends affecting the cities they serve. As my colleagues and I reported this week, that means cities are trying to figure out how to make people feel safe riding subways, commuter trains and buses amid rising crime and violence.

Across the country, transit officials and experts highlighted a fundamental dilemma: Riders feel more vulnerable when fewer people are around. So after ridership plunged because of the pandemic, worries about crime have made it difficult to coax passengers back. Stations and bus stops are emptier, which creates a kind of self-perpetuating cycle.

On many transit systems, including Bay Area Rapid Transit and Los Angeles Metro, data that we got reflected a similar complicated dynamic. While the raw number of crimes reported on those systems has decreased during the pandemic, ridership has also plunged, which has led to increased crime rates.
In one column are the names of more than 70 enslaved people at Harvard: Venus, Juba, Cesar, Cicely. They are only first names, or sometimes no name at all  the Moor or a little boy  of people and stories that have been all but forgotten.

In another column are the names of the ministers and presidents and donors of Harvard who enslaved them in the 17th and 18th centuries: Increase Mather, Gov. John Winthrop, William Brattle. These full names are so powerful and revered they still adorn buildings today.

The contrasting lists are arguably the most poignant part of a 134-page report on Harvard Universitys four centuries of ties to slavery and its legacy.

And they are just an appendix.

The report by a committee of Harvard faculty members, released on Tuesday, is Harvards effort to begin redressing the wrongs of the past, as some other universities have been doing for decades.
In 2019, Harvards president, Lawrence S. Bacow, appointed a committee of faculty members to investigate the universitys ties to slavery, as well as its legacy. Discussions about race were intensifying across the country. Students were demanding that the names of people involved in the slave trade be removed from buildings. Other universities, notably Brown, had already conducted similar excavations of their past.

The resulting 134-page report plus two appendices was released Tuesday, along with a promise of $100 million, to create an endowed fund to redress past wrongs, one of the biggest funds of its kind.

Here are some of its key findings and excerpts.

Slavery Was Part of Daily Life at the University

The report found that enslaved people lived on the Cambridge, Mass., campus, in the presidents residence, and were part of the fabric, albeit almost invisible, of daily life.

Over nearly 150 years, from the universitys founding in 1636 until the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found slavery unlawful in 1783, Harvard presidents and other leaders, as well as its faculty and staff, enslaved more than 70 individuals, some of whom labored on campus, the report said. Enslaved men and women served Harvard presidents and professors and fed and cared for Harvard students.
Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the White Houses new Covid-19 coordinator, said on Tuesday that as the United States sees an increase in known coronavirus cases and keeps a watchful eye for new variants, the administration was not seeking to stop every infection.

Making his first appearance at a White House news briefing since he assumed the role earlier this month, Dr. Jha cited the relatively low number of new deaths  though around 300 a day were still too high, he added  and hospitalizations at their lowest point in the pandemic. Those tallies, set against the rising number of cases around the country, amounted to a promising inflection, he said.

Asked what Americans should make of high-profile people such as Vice President Kamala Harris testing positive for the virus, Dr. Jha said that with such a contagious virus spreading, it would be hard to ensure that no one gets Covid in America.

Thats not even a policy goal, he said. The goal of our policy should be: obviously minimize infections whenever possible, but to make sure people dont get seriously ill.
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba  The youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay, a Yemeni man who has spent his entire adult life in U.S. custody, has been cleared for release, the Pentagon disclosed on Tuesday, but must wait for the Biden administration to find a country willing to offer him rehabilitation.

At a Periodic Review Board hearing on Jan. 25, an unidentified U.S. military officer described the detainee, Hassan bin Attash, as believing that his capture and subsequent detention had changed the trajectory of his life. The officer said the now-cleared prisoner was influenced by American culture during his 20 years of detention, which according to a Senate study included at least 120 days at a C.I.A. black site.

Mr. bin Attash, who was born in 1982 or 1985, was captured in a Pakistani security services raid on Sept. 11, 2002, along with a defendant in the Sept. 11, 2001, case, Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Mr. bin Attashs older brother, Walid, is also accused of helping plot the Sept. 11 attacks. But Hassan bin Attash has never been charged with a crime.

Image Hassan bin Attash. Credit... via JTF-GTMO Detainee Assessment

Of the 37 wartime detainees at Guantanamo, 20 have now been provisionally approved for transfer. Twelve have been charged with crimes, including the convicted Qaeda courier Majid Khan, who completed his sentence last month but does not have a release arrangement. Five are indefinite detainees in the war on terrorism, neither charged with crimes nor designated for transfer.
WASHINGTON  It was less than two weeks before President Donald J. Trumps staunchest allies in Congress would have what they saw as their last chance to overturn the 2020 election, and Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania, was growing anxious.

Time continues to count down, he wrote in a text message to Mark Meadows, then the White House chief of staff, adding: 11 days to 1/6 and 25 days to inauguration. We gotta get going!

It has been clear for more than a year that ultraconservative members of Congress were deeply involved in attempts to keep Mr. Trump in power: They joined baseless lawsuits, spread the lie of widespread election fraud and were among the 147 Republicans who voted on Jan. 6, 2021, against certifying President Bidens victory in at least one state.

But in a court filing and in text messages obtained by CNN, new pieces of evidence have emerged in recent days fleshing out the degree of their involvement with the Trump White House in strategy sessions, at least one of which included discussions about encouraging Mr. Trumps supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6, despite warnings of potential violence. Some continued to push to try to keep Mr. Trump in office even after a mob of his supporters attacked the complex.
Improved roads in rural areas in Chinas Tibet benefit local people

People's Daily Online) 16:35, April 26, 2022

Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region has improved rural roads over the past few years, which has enhanced the livelihoods of local people.

Pasang Tsering, a villager from Kyerpa township, Nedong district, Shannan city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, shows his strawberries. (Photo courtesy of the department of transport of Tibet)

From 2016 to 2021, the region poured 94.1 billion yuan (about $14.47 billion) into 3,123 rural road projects, and has built or renovated 38,200 kilometers of roads in rural areas. By the end of 2021, the total length of rural roads in Tibet had exceeded 90,000 kilometers, with another 280 towns, townships and 2,974 administrative villages linked by paved roads.

Duruo village, Kyerpa township, Nedong district, Shannan city, has seen its agricultural industrial parks connected by asphalt roads, and its environment improved since 2017. This has attracted large amounts of investment, and has expanded sales channels for villagers agricultural products, according to Liu Yuze, deputy head of the township.

Liu added that at present, 1,277 households from the six administrative villages of the township plant about six kinds of fruits and vegetables in 79 greenhouses, which give each household an extra 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per year, equivalent to around one third of the average household income.

I sell about 2,000 yuan worth of strawberries every week these days, said Pasang Tsering, a resident of Duruo. He added that the improved transportation network has led to an increase in the number of tourists, and residents of nearby Shannan, coming to pick strawberries in the village, greatly boosting sale.

Photo shows Nyima Ratso selling products at her roadside booth in Mainling county, Nyingchi city, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the department of transport of Tibet)

Similarly, by selling local specialties along the roads in rural areas, 36 households from Gega village, Mainling county, Nyingchi city bid farewell to poverty, according to Nyima Ratso, a villager of Gega, who sells local products, such as matsutake mushrooms and Tibetan handicrafts, at her roadside booth.

Another story has unfolded in Tashi Choden, Changzhu town of Nedong, a community rich in culture. Li Yuwei, deputy head of Changzhu town has stated that paved roads, laid in 2019, have brought a growing number of visitors to the community to enjoy local customs and culture, such as Tibetan opera, and has boosted local homestay and catering businesses.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Representative Madison Cawthorn was briefly detained by the police on Tuesday after trying to bring a loaded gun through airport security in Charlotte, N.C., in his carry-on bag, the second time in a little more than a year that the North Carolina Republican has been stopped from flying with a firearm.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department confirmed the details of the latest episode involving Mr. Cawthorn, 26, a pro-Trump congressman whose bizarre antics and missteps had already threatened to derail his re-election bid. Several Republicans are challenging him in next months primary, on May 17.

Mr. Cawthorn, the youngest member of the House, was passing through Security Checkpoint D at Charlotte Douglas International Airport around 9 a.m. when a Transportation Security Administration agent saw the image of a gun on an X-ray machine, the authorities said.

Police officers were called to the checkpoint, where law enforcement officials said that Mr. Cawthorn acknowledged that the gun, a loaded Staccato 9-millimeter pistol, belonged to him. Describing Mr. Cawthorn as cooperative, the police said they cited the congressman with possession of a dangerous weapon on city property.
In recent months Mr. McCarthy has opposed punishing Republican members of Congress who have been accused of inciting violence, including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and, most recently, Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona, who posted an animated video on social media that depicted him killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, the left-wing Democrat.

In the case of Mr. Gosar, Mr. McCarthy told reporters he spoke with him about the video and noted that Mr. Gosar had issued a statement disavowing violence. But Mr. McCarthy opposed a resolution to censure Mr. Gosar and remove him from his committee assignments.

Mr. McCarthy also ignored a remark by Mr. Brooks last year when, after a man was arrested in connection with a bomb threat to the Capitol, the Alabama Republican said he understood citizens anger directed at dictatorial socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and the very fabric of American society.

Yet immediately after Jan. 6, Mr. McCarthy saw a clear link between the comments of some lawmakers and the potential for future violence. On Jan. 10, he urged his fellow G.O.P. leaders to keep a close eye on members like Mr. Brooks and Mr. Gaetz and asked them to alert him if they saw any potentially dangerous public communications.

Mr. McCarthy said it was particularly unacceptable for lawmakers to attack other lawmakers with whom they disagreed about the outcome of the 2020 election: That stuffs got to stop.

The country is too crazy, Mr. McCarthy said. I do not want to look back and think we caused something or we missed something and someone got hurt. I dont want to play politics with any of that.

On the leadership call, Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Scalise and others discussed several other lawmakers who had made provocative comments around Jan. 6, including Mr. Moore and Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas. Ms. Cheney, who was on the call, suggested Ms. Boebert was a security risk, pointing out that she had publicly tweeted about the sensitive movements of other lawmakers during the Jan. 6 evacuation.
More than 630,000 courses of the drug  roughly a third of the supply distributed to date  are currently available, and the federal government has been sending 175,000 courses to states each week, according to federal data. Its use rapidly increased in recent weeks, federal officials said. Vice President Kamala Harris started a course of Paxlovid on Tuesday after testing positive for the virus, her press secretary said in a tweet, though it was not immediately clear whether she qualified as high risk. But data on who has received the medication  including in nursing homes, whose residents may be among those who would benefit most  remains sparse.

The White House on Tuesday announced a series of new measures to help get the pill to more eligible Americans, emphasizing the surplus and pushing doctors to stop thinking of the treatment as scarce.

The word on the street was these things are not widely available, you should restrict it to the highest-risk patients, Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said at a news briefing Tuesday. Too many physicians still have that mind-set.

Officials also said the administration would allow pharmacies to begin ordering the drug directly from the federal government, and that it would aim in coming weeks to double the number of pharmacies carrying Covid antiviral medication, to 40,000.

Of the more than 2,000 test-to-treat sites, about half are CVS MinuteClinics with in-house nurse practitioners and physician assistants who can prescribe the drug. Many of the other sites are Walgreens, Kroger and other chain pharmacies, as well as federally funded health centers.

Public health experts and patients who have tried navigating the program say that appointments can still be difficult to find, and can require long drives. Much of rural America lacks easy access to the program.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court appeared frustrated on Tuesday during arguments over whether the Biden administration can end a Trump-era immigration program that forces asylum seekers arriving at the southwestern border to await approval in Mexico.

The challenged program, known commonly as Remain in Mexico and formally as the Migrant Protection Protocols, applies to people who left a third country and traveled through Mexico to reach the U.S. border. After the policy was put in place at the beginning of 2019, tens of thousands of people waited in unsanitary tent encampments for immigration hearings. There have been widespread reports of sexual assault, kidnapping and torture.

Soon after he took office, President Biden sought to end the program. Texas and Missouri sued, and lower courts have reinstated it, ruling that federal immigration laws require returning immigrants who arrive by land and who cannot be detained while their cases are heard.

Several justices expressed wariness about wading into foreign affairs and suggested that there was no entirely satisfactory answer to the questions posed by the case, largely because the relevant statutory provisions were hard to reconcile.
Typically, one wont see dramatic jaundice until the inflammation or dysfunction of the liver has progressed quite far already, Dr. Weymann said.

What is causing the recent hepatitis clusters?

Hepatitis can have many causes, from autoimmune disease to side effects of certain medications. Most often, it is caused by one of the five hepatitis viruses (hepatitis A, B, C, D and E). Depending on the type, viral hepatitis can spread through contact with blood and other bodily fluids or fecal matter, or by consuming raw or undercooked meats. But viral hepatitis has been ruled out in the recent pediatric clusters in the United States and abroad.

Instead, the C.D.C. suspects that the adenovirus is causing the current cases, though health officials caution that the investigation is ongoing. There are more than 50 types of adenoviruses, which tend to cause mild illness, such as colds and fevers, pink eye or vomiting and diarrhea.

In Alabama, all nine children tested positive for adenovirus. And of the five cases that were genetically sequenced, all had adenovirus type 41, which typically causes vomiting and diarrhea. A majority of the affected children in Britain, though not all, tested positive for adenovirus as well.

Its interesting that were really only seeing this in children less than 10 years, meaning that most people over 10 have immunity to adenovirus, and that may be why this hepatitis is showing up in young children, said Dr. Jennifer Lighter, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist and hospital epidemiologist with N.Y.U. Langone Health in New York City.

But doctors and health officials have known that adenovirus infection can cause liver inflammation. Thats not new. What is unusual is for otherwise healthy young children to become so suddenly ill, which is why public health officials are spreading the word and continuing to probe other possible underlying causes.

What can parents do?

Although health officials are not certain the adenovirus is causing the recent hepatitis clusters, parents can take steps to prevent transmission. Adenovirus spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets or through touching a surface with adenovirus on it. Children should be encouraged to wash their hands often and avoid touching their face and mouth to the extent it is possible  many of the same measures that help prevent the spread of Covid.
Kenneth Roth said he first learned about human rights abuses from his father, whose Jewish family ran a butchery near Frankfurt in Hitlers Germany. His father, Mr. Roth recalled, would describe how the Nazis forced the Jews into segregated schools, a precursor for much worse to come.

While Nazi Germany was radically different from Mr. Roths own childhood in Deerfield, Ill., he said, I grew up with this awareness of the evil governments can do.

Now, after nearly three decades of leading Human Rights Watch from an obscure shoestring network of a few scattered offices into a well-financed organization that reports on rights abuses globally, Mr. Roth, 66, a Yale-educated lawyer and former prosecutor, said he is stepping down in August to write a book.

Word of his impending departure, announced Tuesday, was likely to reverberate through the world of human rights fund-raising and advocacy, where the group he has led is a powerful force.
SEOUL  North Koreas leader, Kim Jong-un, vowed to expand his nuclear arsenal at the fastest possible speed and threatened to use it, as his government displayed a large array of missiles and other weapons, including its newest intercontinental ballistic missile, during a nighttime military parade on Monday, the Norths state media said.

With his defiant tone, Mr. Kim appeared to raise the stakes in the stalled international efforts to curtail his nuclear weapons ambition. North Koreas growing nuclear and missile threat will probably be one of the most pressing diplomatic issues discussed during an expected meeting next month between President Biden and South Koreas president-elect, Yoon Suk-yeol.

Mr. Yoon, who takes office on May 10, has said he will align South Koreas policy on North Korea closer to that of Washingtons by reinvigorating sanctions enforcement on the North. He is expected to meet with Mr. Biden in Seoul after his inauguration and before Mr. Biden travels on to Japan to attend a regional security forum.

The nuclear forces, the symbol of our national strength and the core of our military power, should be strengthened in terms of both quality and scale, Mr. Kim said in a speech he delivered during a large parade in Pyongyang, the capital, on Monday night to mark an important military anniversary, according to the Norths official Korean Central News Agency.
LONDON  An anonymously sourced report by one of Britains freewheeling tabloid newspapers has sparked a debate over both tabloid journalistic ethics and sexism in Parliament, leading some to question whether the institution is capable of shedding its fusty reputation and becoming an inclusive workplace.

Over the weekend the tabloid, The Mail on Sunday, reported an anonymous claim by a Conservative lawmaker that Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, had tried distracting Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Parliament by crossing and uncrossing her legs, comparing her to Sharon Stones character in the film Basic Instinct.

Ms. Rayner said the article had left her crestfallen. It was dismissed by Mr. Johnson as sexist, misogynist, tripe, and prompted more than 5,500 complaints, according to the independent regulator of most of Britains newspapers and magazines. The Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, summoned the newspapers editor, David Dillon, and its political editor, Glen Owen, to a meeting on Wednesday.

The story is that there is misogyny alive and well and stalking the corridors of the House of Commons, said Harriet Harman, the longest-serving female lawmaker and a lifelong champion of womens rights. It was, she told LBC Radio, symptomatic of the backlash you always get when women are making progress, adding that there are some men that feel theyve got to put them back.
As the Soviet Union dissolved in the early 1990s, heavily armed separatists in Transnistria, which has a sizable minority of Russian speakers, fought to break away from Moldova. With Russian backing, they effectively won independence, but Transnistria is not formally recognized internationally.

There are at least 10,000 Russian and Russia-backed troops stationed in Transnistria, which reached to within 25 miles of Odesa, Ukraines chief port and third-largest city. Odesa is potentially a major target in Moscows stalled push to seize Ukraines Black Sea coast.

A Russian general said last week that Russia intended to take control of a swath of land extending not just to Crimea, the peninsula it seized from Ukraine in 2014, but all the way to Transnistria. But it was not clear that his statement reflected Kremlin policy.

The attacks in Transnistria were carried out against empty or unused buildings during a holiday, and there were no casualties, said Moldovas deputy interior minister, Sergiu Diaconu. He said explosions appeared to be an attempt to destabilize the country, and possibly serve as an excuse for a military response by Russia, not a serious bid to do harm.

In addition, Mr. Diaconu said, the grenades that were used are produced by Russia and are only used by the armies of Russia, Transnistria and Gabon. He said of the attackers, I dont think these were the Gabonese.
He and his wife, Adelaide Rochon, 33, a dental assistant who has also always voted for Ms. Le Pens party, said they believed that the vote had been rigged.

We dont know a single person around us who voted for Macron, Ms. Rochon said. Its impossible that he won.

Not impossible, actually.

In Roye, a town of 6,000 people, two out of three voters backed Ms. Le Pen in the runoff. But nationwide Mr. Macron drew many votes  47 percent, according to one poll  not necessarily because people endorsed him, but because they joined the so-called Republican front against the far right, whose politics remain anathema to a majority of French despite Ms. Le Pens persistent efforts to remake and soften her image.

For others, like Madeleine Rosier, a member of the leftist France Unbowed, a choice between Mr. Macron and what she deemed an unacceptable far-right candidate was no choice at all. She did not cast a ballot on Sunday after voting for Jean-Luc Melenchon, the veteran leftist who came in third place in the first round.

I didnt want to grant Emmanuel Macron legitimacy, she said.

The abstention rate  the highest in a runoff since 1969  reflected the widespread disillusionment with the political system that sent protesters from towns like Roye to the Champs-Elysees in Paris as part of the anti-government Yellow Vest movement in 2018, the biggest political crisis of Mr. Macrons first term.
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, GERMANY  After a daylong conference of more than 40 nations helping Ukraine with military and humanitarian aid, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said similar high-level meetings will be held each month going forward to react quickly to the changing nature of Russias war on Ukraine.

Were going to extend this forum beyond today, Mr. Austin said, announcing the formation of what he called the Ukraine Contact Group. The group will be led by the United States and will include defense ministers and military chiefs, meeting either in person or virtually.

The group will be a vehicle for nations of good will to intensify our efforts, coordinate our assistance, and focus on winning todays fight and the struggles to come, he said after the meeting Tuesday in Germany, at the Ramstein Air Base.

The groups creation is just one outward sign of how the Biden administration is adjusting to a war that has continued far longer than originally estimated and has consumed enormous amounts of munitions and money. Since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, President Biden has authorized eight drawdowns of weapons from Pentagon stockpiles for Ukraine and authorized a total of $3.7 billion in total assistance to Kyiv.
A Garda in the Midlands who was the subject of false accusations over the shooting of dog has won his High Court challenge against the Commissioner's refusal to backdate his promotion to rank of inspector.

The action was taken by Longford based Inspector Tom Quinn against the Garda Commissioner which arose after his 2019 promotion to the rank of inspector was held up for seven months while the Garda Ombudsman, GSOC investigated what were held to be false and baseless allegations against him.

He was fully vindicated by GSOC after probed a shooting incident that occurred in December 2018,

In his judgement Mr Justice Charles Meenan ruled that the Commissioner was wrong to refuse to backdate Inspector Quinn's promotion.

The court said that given GSOC's findings not backdating the promotion would "wrongly penalise" the inspector over what amounted to be false accusations against him.

When the matter was before the High Court on Monday Mr Justice Meenan said he was making orders in favour of the inspector including one quashing the refusal to backdate the promotion and directed that the Inspector's legal costs be paid by the Commissioner.

He was due to attain the rank of Inspector in January 2019.

Due to the investigation his promotion was held up until late August 2019 after GSOC's probe had concluded.

The Inspector applied to have his promotion backdated to January 2019.

He claimed that the delay had pension, pay, seniority, reputational and future promotion implications for him.

The Commissioner, however, refused his application.

As a result, the Inspector, who is stationed in Mullingar Co Westmeath brought judicial review proceedings aimed at having the Commissioner's refusal to backdate his promotion quashed.

Represented by Paul McGarry SC, with John Berry Bl instructed by Sean Costello solicitors, also claimed that the failure to backdate it beaches natural and constitutional justice.

The Commissioner opposed the action and rejected his claims that the refusal breached the Inspector's rights or impugned his good name.

In his judgement Mr Justice Meenan said that when serving in the Roscommon-Longford Division in December 2018 the Inspector, who at that time held the rank of Sergeant, attended at a property at Ferriskill near Granard in Co Longford, with a civilian.

The Inspector claimed that that the property owner Mr Edward Stokes attacked him with a slash hook and attacked the civilian.

It was also alleged that Mr Stokes goaded a Belgian Shephard Malinos dog to attack the Inspector.

The Inspector, who warned the property owner that he was armed, drew his weapon.

Fearing for his own safety after the dog came at him, the Inspector fired one shot, wounding the animal.

A ricochet from that shot caused a minor injury to the property's owner's leg.

Mr Stokes made a complaint to GSOC, and strongly rejected the inspectors account of what happened.

The incident was recorded on a mobile phone, and extracts that suited the complainant's allegations were posted on social media resulting in the inspector being the subject of intense abuse online.

Mr Stokes had also complained to GSOC that the Inspector made some remarks, and laughed at him, when they met each other at a shop some months later.

GSOC, in dismissing all the complaints, determined that Inspector Quinn had discharged his firearm in a lawful and justified manner.

The inspector went through the promotion process and was informed he was successful.

He expected that he would be promoted along with the other successful candidates to the rank of inspector when the results of that process were published in January 2019.

It was accepted by the Inspector that the complaints against him had to be investigated.

Mr Justice Meenan said it was very clear that the reason why the applicant was not promoted in early 2019 was because of Mr Stokes' complaint.

It was reasonable, the Judge said, that the proposed promotion of any Garda who is the subject of a complaint should not proceed until the truth of the matter is ascertained.

Mr Stoke' complaint to GSOC was deemed false. but Inspector Quinn faced a penalty in terms of loss of salary, and general loss of standing because his promotion was delayed for seven months.

Mr Justice Meenan said the commissioner's refusal to backdate the promotion was unreasonable and flew in the face of fundamental reason and common sense.

Inspector Quinn the judge said had a Constitutional right to equality.

If that right is to mean anything, the Judge said, then the inspector must be put in a position that he would have been had the false complaint not being made.

This can be achieved, the judge said by backdating the promotion to the date in which it should originally have taken effect.

No rational reason he said had been identified by the Commissioner as to why the backdating cannot take place, he said.

The judge accepted that this would result in the applicant being renumerated as an inspector while he was Sergeant.

The judge said he was of the view that it would be "a greater wrong to penalise the applicant for being the subject of a false complaint. "

The judge added that if the inspector's promotion had not been backdated it would have the perverse effect that the date of Inspector's promotion would not have been determined by legislation, the Garda Disciplinary Code or the Commissioner but rather by Mr Stokes.
THE sale of turf should not be banned in Offaly villages under the controversial fuel regulations, junior minister Pippa Hackett said this morning.

While the details will not be finalised until consultation with the public has concluded, the Geashill-based senator indicated that centres with populations of 500 or less will be excluded from the new rules on smoky fuel sales.

That would mean that households in villages like Clonbullogue, Cloneygowan, Geashill, Rahan or Pullough will still be permitted to buy turf from contractors, as will those living in rural areas.

However, turf burning in the larger towns including Tullamore, Edenderry, Birr, Clara, Ferbane and Banagher will be banned.

I think that's striking the balance, the Green Party Minister of State for Land Use said on Tuesday.

That's trying to come a bit of the way to strike that balance between delivering as much as we can for air quality in the bigger areas while not displacing or taking too many people away from the turf.

Speaking to the Tullamore Tribune, Minister Hackett added: I know a lot of people do rely on [turf] and a lot of people wholly rely on it but there's a certain element here that we have to engage with people to show them other opportunities or options of different fuels to burn.

Turf is cheap but it's not particularly efficient as a fuel. That's why we're not burning it in our power stations. Smokeless coal might be more expensive per bag but I think they get more bang for their buck in terms of heat. And dry timber will burn better than wet timber and briquettes burn better than sod turf.

Minister Hackett recalled when she was castigated and ridiculed during the 2020 general election campaign for pointing out the poor quality air in Edenderry which was the result of smoky solid fuel burning.

Edenderry features quite frequently on the EPA's list of top 10 poor air quality places. Birr is on it, other towns all over the Midlands as well, she said.

People just denying there is an issue, it's not right, because people are dying. I'm sure there's a good proportion of people who die are from Offaly and are from towns like Edenderry and Birr.

She said it is estimated that about 350 lives a year were saved following the ban on the use of smoky coal in Dublin in 1990.

She also pointed out that turf had to be included in restrictive proposals because the coal companies had challenged proposals that their fuel alone could be banned.

Minister Hackett also said successive governments had considered bringing in measures but had failed to do so, beginning in 2015 when Labour's Alan Kelly was Environment Minister.

It's politicians like Michael Ring, Barry Cowen and Charlie Flanagan who have stopped this happening in the past, she said.

We'd have saved thousands of people's lives and we wouldn't be having this discussion any more.

She hit out at those politicians, local and national, who were facilitating the backlash against the draft proposals.

What surprised me is people are portraying this as all out of blue and as if they never knew this was coming whereas there was a consultation last year and the current one is open now. I think that's just political opportunism and you frighten people in a sudden way and then you get support.

The Minister added: I'm sure the Government will work together, it is a coalition, but we have worked together on other issues and we will on this one.

We do have to be cognisant of those who are put out and we must do everything we can to facilitate them to move to alternatives but I think we've come a good way to allow people to continue to burn [turf] in certain areas. I think that's fair.

Meanwhile, Deputy Carol Nolan, the Independent TD in Offaly, has said herself and her Rural Independent Group colleagues in the Dail will call on the Government to provide an explicit commitment that the sale, marketing, and distribution of turf, either at a voluntary or commercial level will be permitted on a permanent basis.

Deputy Nolan was speaking ahead of a Dail debate on Sinn Feins private members motion dealing with the rising cost of home heating fuels.

An amendment tabled by Deputy Nolan also calls on the Government to investigate the possibility of categorising turf cutting and use as a protected cultural practice under such instruments as the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society, otherwise known as the Faro Convention.

There is a very clear awareness on the ground that Sinn Fein, as the main opposition party are trying to have their cake and eat it with respect to its policy on turf cutting and turf use. They keep saying things like the proposed ban is the wrong move at the wrong time, and indeed it is. The problem however is that it will always be the wrong time and the wrong move when it comes to banning the sale or use of turf, Deputy Nolan said.

The former Sinn Fein TD added: They also talk of the need for government to support people in transitioning away from turf use. But this completely and utterly misses the point. Many families who now use turf do not want to transition away from its use. It is their preferred form of heating for both practical and cultural reasons and that is a position that needs permanent protection.

There is hardly a hairs breadth in the difference between Minister Ryan and the Greens position and that of Sinn Fein. The only way in which they diverge is that of timing. Minister Ryan and the Greens would effectively regulate turf use of existence if they could. Sinn Fein just want to do it over a longer period of time. Neither of those positions is acceptable to me or my Rural Independent Group colleagues.
IT was truly the end of an era in the Rahan and Killina areas last week with the passing of Sr Oliver Wrafter, in her 100th year.

Sr Oliver was a person of generosity of spirit, determination, sense of purpose but above all kindness and humility.

She was the recipient of the Offaly Person of the Year award in 2006 for a lifetime of achievements on many different fronts including education, religious life, community involvement and local history studies.

In a tribute to the deceased Killina Presentation Resource Centre, which is located in the former convent, said Sr Oliver was treasured by our entire parish and will be fondly remembered and renowned for the legacy she leaves behind.'

Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society, of which she was a committed member for many years, said Sr Oliver will long be remembered in Killina, Rahan and Tullamore for her remarkable life full of kindness and generosity.

It was matched only by an enthusiasm to ensure that Killina schools would be a fit memorial to Maria OBrien who founded the the Killina Convent and herself became a sister in what was the first post-Reformation convent in the diocese of Meath.

The tribute added that Sr Oliver carried on that tradition of absolute dedication from the time of her entry in the 1940s and persevered in ensuring that Killinas claim for second level status would succeed and flourish.

She and her friend Sr Patrick Deegan were regular in their attendance at Offaly History lectures. In Killina she saw to the publication of several books on the parish of Rahan and ensured the collection of folk items attached to the school. This small museum was opened in the 1980s.

Born in Dublin on February 5 1923, the then Ita Wrafter came to Tullamore in 1936 as a young girl following the death of her parents when she was just 13 years old.

Her father Joe took part in the famous Tullamore Incident in 1916, widely viewed as a prelude to the Easter Rising, something of which Sr Oliver was deeply proud.

She attended the Sacred Heart Secondary School and joined the Presentation Order in Killina in 1941, thus starting a lifetime of dedication to education and of service to the wider community in Rahan and beyond.

Sr Oliver trained as a primary teacher in Carysfort College and qualified in 1944.

For the next 34 years she taught at both primary and secondary level, carrying out the duties of principal at different stages, until her retirement as principal of Killina Secondary School in 1988.

Her teaching career encompassed the many great advances in education nationally, including the introduction of free secondary education.

However, the greatest challenge came in 1972 when the Department of Education announced its decision that Killina would no longer be allowed to prepare students for the Leaving Certificate as they had done since 1953.

The threat of closure was very real as a policy of centralisation was favoured at that time.

Over the next five years, Sr Oliver along with Sr Patrick, led a number of deputations to the Department of Education lobbying to have the decision reversed.

Their perseverance and commitment to education was successful when the Leaving Certificate was restored and secondary status was conferred on the school in 1977.

The triumph demanded personal sacrifice too, as Sr Oliver returned to college and qualified for an arts degree, followed by the Higher Diploma in Education in 1977.

Sr Oliver was always fully involved in all aspects of school life and provided opportunities for the holistic development of the students. In addition to ensuring the academic and spiritual training of pupils she accompanied students on school tours throughout continental Europe and encouraged young people to become involved in sports, music and other activities.

After her retirement, Sr Oliver continued her involvement in the secondary school for many years through her work on the Board of Management.

Away from the classroom, Sr Oliver made a huge contribution to the locality through her work as sacristan in Killina parish church for over 30 years, her lifelong commitment to the Pioneer Movement, her association with the Nano Nagle Guild of the ICA and her promotion of the work of the St Joseph's Young Priests Society.

Her love for local history led to the establishment of the heritage centre in Killina and the publication in 1989 of her book Rahan Looks Back

Sr Oliver passed to her heavenly reward peacefully on Tuesday last at Shalom Nursing Home in Kilcock Co. Kildare.

Her remains reposed in the Convent Chapel in Killina on Wednesday evening followed by removal to St Carthage's Church, Killina.

Burial was on Thursday in the church grounds following the celebration of Requiem Mass.,

Deepest sympathy is extended to the Presentation Sisters, her loving cousins Conor, Carmel, Alec, Peter, Adrian and Ben, their spouses and families, relatives and a wide circle of friends.

May she rest in peace.
A technique used to slow global warming could increase the risk of malaria, according to scientists.

After an ash cloud from the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 cut world temperatures for more than a year, geoengineering is being looked at as a way to slow down global warming.

What is geoengineering?

Geoengineering involves solar radiation management (SRM)  reflecting sunlight away from the planet so less heat is absorbed. This can be carried out in numerous ways, including deploying a haze of sun-dimming chemical particles into the sky high above the Earth to reflect the sun away and slow global warming.

Critics believe this artificial planetary sunshade risks re-producing some of the worst mass extinctions in history, which have been the result of increasing both the atmospheres carbon-dioxide and sulfate levels. As The Atlantic asks:

Were already pumping CO2 into the sky... Why are we so sure that adding sulfates wont just backfire?

Syed Ali / Unsplash

Indeed, scientists have found that diffusing sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight, temporarily pausing global warming, could expose up to a billion more people to malaria. The report, published in Nature Communications, is the first to examine how geoengineering the climate might impact the burden of infectious diseases.

Colin Carlson, an assistant research professor at Georgetown University Medical Center and lead author of the study, said:

On a planet thats too hot for humans, it also gets too hot for the malaria parasite. Cooling the planet might be an emergency option to save lives, but it would also reverse course on those declines.

Weighing up 'the risks and benefits'

The technology could drastically shift the spread of malaria in tropical regions, making the deadly mosquito-borne disease spread more in hot, lowland regions including West Africa, parts of South-East Asia, and the Amazon basin. On the other hand, it could reduce risks in the highlands of East Africa and on the Indian subcontinent.

Mohammad Shafiul Alam, a malaria specialist at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh and co-author said:

It cuts both ways: some countries will benefit and other countries will suffer.

Carlson said:

Geoengineering might save lives, but the assumption that it will do so equally for everyone might leave some countries at a disadvantage when it comes time to make decisions.

If geoengineering is about protecting populations on the frontlines of climate change, we should be able to add up the risks and benefits  especially in terms of neglected health burdens, such as mosquito-borne disease.

Read more:

 Climate change: 40 years' worth of Antarctic glaciers gone in seconds, find out why

 Earth Day: Have you seen Google's new doodle? It will shock you

 The largest comet ever recorded is moving towards Earth
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will host allies at Ramstein Air Base to discuss Ukraine's security needs. Meanwhile, Russia's top diplomat said NATO is engaged in a "proxy war" with Russia. Follow DW for the latest.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is hosting allies at Ramstein Air Base to discuss Ukraine's security needs. Germany pledged to send anti-aircraft tanks to Kyiv at the start of talks. Follow DW for the latest.
The UN chief is speaking in Moscow following talks with Russian officials. Meanwhile, the US is hosting allies at Ramstein Air Base to discuss Ukraine's security needs. Follow DW for the latest.
After weeks of mounting pressure, the German government will now supply heavy military equipment to Ukraine. DW takes a look at how Berlin's position has changed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
Switzerland has turned down two requests by Germany to reexport Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine. The move has triggered a debate about Switzerland's principle of neutrality.
Exactly 36 years after the meltdown in Chernobyl, conflict has rekindled concerns about the safety of nuclear sites in Ukraine. Russian troops are still occupying another of Ukraine's nuclear power plants.
(MENAFN - The Peninsula) AP Polish and Bulgarian officials said Tuesday that Moscow is cutting off natural gas deliveries to their..

MENAFN.com 27 Apr 2022
A British man is one of two European men charged over conspiring with an American cryptocurrency developer to help North Korea evade US sanctions.
The former US president has been fined $10,000 per day until he complies with a New York court order to turn over documents as part of an investigation into his business practices.
The threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated, says Russia's top diplomat, as the West increases military support for Ukraine
The Greek government condemns Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine  but the Greek people are divided where Moscow is concerned. Leftists revel in Soviet nostalgia, while conservatives embrace the shared Orthodox faith.
Ukraine continues to absorb Russia's attacks, the Supreme Court will take on the "remain in Mexico" policy and more news to start your Tuesday.


After years of political and financial crises, Lebanese people are now also in danger of going hungry. Germany has promised more food aid as imports from Ukraine and Russia dwindle.
In his first grants of clemency, the US president pardons three people and commutes 75 sentences.
For the very first time, Russian missile attacks have killed civilians in Ukraine's port city of Odesa. Russian officials have not, however, acknowledged any civilian deaths.
Washington said it would hold similar talks on a roughly monthly basis with allies inside and outside NATO. Germany announced a major shift in policy at the event, saying it would send tanks to the country.
Residents of the Chinese capital rushed to stock up on food and supplies over the last two days, as dozens of new cases emerged in the city. Many fear a lockdown similar to what happened in Shanghai.
An intimate short documentary about the growing crisis of Americans held hostage by foreign governments, "Bring Them Home" follows one family's desperate effort to free their loved one from being used as a geopolitical pawn by Iran.
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In the wake of a rise in cases, the health department has urged residents to contact helpline number 1800492211 for any immediate Covid assistance.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday countered criticism of India's position on Ukraine, saying the Western powers have been oblivious to the pressing challenges facing Asia including last year's events in Afghanistan. "Things have been happening in Asia for the last 10 years. Europe may not have looked at it. So this could be a wake-up call for Europe to also look at Asia," he said.
The UN General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution seeking justification for the use of veto power by any P-5 country. The resolution was seen as an attempt to discourage Russia's use of its veto power, which Moscow has exercised more than any other permanent member of the UN Security Council (more than 20 times since 2010) in the recent past.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un reportedly exchanged personal "letters of friendship" with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-In who is the outgoing president of the South. The letters are believed to be an "expression of their deep trust" with each other.
A 12-year-old from the Philippines who has been banned from moving to New Zealand due to her autism - despite both her parents already having residency - has garnered the attention of a high-profile disability rights activist and...
Japan was not among nations Ukraine thanked in a social media video highlighting support it has received in its fight against Russia, with the top government spokesman saying
James Heappey says it is acceptable for Western weapons to be used to disrupt Russian supply lines.
Russia also says Nato is conducting a proxy war, while UK says strikes using Western weapons are legitimate.
The U.S. Embassy, which closed just before Russias invasion, could reopen over a couple of weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
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Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

The US buyout giant KKR & Co. wrapped up its largest-ever buyout fund - KKR North America Fund XIII - with $19 billion in investor commitments in a fundraising effort that broke an in-house record that has stood for more than 15 years.

A press release from the global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions described the fund as the largest in its 46-year history. Its predecessor fund, KKR North America Fund XII, raised $13.9 billion and closed in 2017.

North America Fund XIII, dubbed NAX3, will be investing $2 billion of capital in the Fund alongside investors through the firm's balance sheet, affiliates, and employee commitments.

NAX3 received strong support from a diverse group of both new and existing investors globally, including public and private pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, private wealth platforms, family offices, and high-net-worth individual investors, and other institutional investors.

Investors in the fund include California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento; Washington State Investment Board, Olympia; Michigan Retirement Systems, East Lansing; Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, Tigard; Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, Oak Brook; Maine Public Employees Retirement System, Augusta; Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System, Baton Rouge; and Louisiana State Poli......................

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Opalesque Industry Update - Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, today announces it has raised $5.25bn for its latest infrastructure secondaries fund - Ardian Secondary Fund VIII Infrastructure. The fund, which was significantly oversubscribed and reached its hard cap within nine months, is the largest infrastructure secondaries platform in the world. It represents a more than 3x increase from the previous generation raised in 2017. The successful fundraise is the latest of a number of innovations developed by Ardian's secondary platform in its 23-year history. The team, led by Mark Benedetti, Vladimir Colas, Marie-Victoire Roze and Jan Philipp Schmitz, now comprises over 110 investment professionals who continuously engage with General Partners, sellers, and clients to develop innovative solutions to investors' liquidity needs. Ardian's secondary AUM has increased by $8 billion to $63 billion in the last 12 months. The ASF VIII Infrastructure platform attracted over 145 investors from 28 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, comprising major pension funds, insurance companies, HNWIs and financial institutions. The fundraise demonstrates strong investor appetite in a secondary market that is poised to grow significantly in the coming years on the back of increasing investor demand for private market investments. Secondary buyers provide an important source of liquidity for investors around the world whose allocations to private markets are becoming more significant in their portfolios. Ardian continues to lead the market in infrastructure secondaries having recently completed the two largest infrastructure secondary transactions in the world. Continuing its successful investment strategy, ASF VIII Infrastructure will focus on high quality infrastructure funds and assets, managed by blue chip general partners in North America and Europe. The fund is targeting a diverse range of underlying assets, from renewable energy and telecoms to transport and utilities. Sustainability is embedded at every step of Ardian's investment and portfolio monitoring approach. The fund is already 30% committed in two infrastructure secondary transactions, including one of the largest secondary infrastructure transactions ever completed, a diversified portfolio of over 30 infrastructure funds and co-investments purchased from a financial institution.
It's official, DRC Mining Week is back in Lubumbashi from 1-3 June, and to say that the industry is excited about its homecoming is an understatement. This long-running, award-winning and flagship expo and conference returns to the heart of the Copperbelt and the bustling mining hub of the DRC to celebrate the region's unlimited resilience, successes and opportunities. The event boasts longstanding and loyal support from many sector leaders, including 
Galway, 26th April 2022 - Celtic Water Solutions (CWS), a leading supplier of water filtration & hygiene solutions, has reached an exciting milestone as the company celebrates the 20th anniversary of its founding. Since 2002, CWS has maintained steady growth and positive relationships with clients while maintaining a high quality of work and service. For the last 2 decades, CWS has been at the forefront of water filtration offering limescale removal 
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) _ Sun Communities Inc. (SUI) on Monday reported a key measure of profitability in its first quarter.

The real estate investment trust, based in Southfield, Michigan, said it had funds from operations of $162.8 million, or $1.34 per share, in the period.
Poultry owners and caretakers should watch for unusual deaths, drops in egg production and a significant decrease in water consumption, according to the Tuscola County Health Department.

Tuscola County is the most recent Michigan county with a confirmed case of the highly pathogenic avian influenza which has been spreading rapidly across the state and country.

"The first case of the HPAI has been confirmed in a tundra swan in Tuscola County," a Tuscola County Health Department press release reads.

The health department issued an advisory to warn people who work or own birds, including poultry, to be alert and take necessary precautions to avoid possible infection.

Avian influenza is spread in a variety of ways from bird to bird and flock to flock, impacting both wildfowl and poultry, along with domesticated birds. The Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development website states symptoms of birds with avian influenza, sometimes abbreviated HPAI, can include:

Sudden death

Significant drop in water consumption

Lack of appetite, energy, or vocalization

Drop in egg production

Diarrhea

Swollen comb, wattles, legs or head

Nasal discharge, sneezing, or coughing

Abnormal behavior like difficulty walking

According to the health department, the confirmation of the infected bird is the latest in a series across the state, with detection in either backyard birds or wild birds.

"To date, these include Bay, Clinton, Crawford, Gladwin, Hillsdale, Kalamazoo, Kent, Livingston, Macomb, Menominee, Monroe, Oakland, Otsego, Saginaw, Shiawassee, St. Clair, Tuscola and Washtenaw counties," the release read. "As migrating birds return to Michigan and other parts of the U.S., it is likely that many more detections of HPAI will occur. It has been detected in at least 27 states."

There have been scattered reports across social media of people finding dead birds. Michigan Department of Natural Resources is asking people to avoid dead birds and instead report them on the DNR's website at https://tinyurl.com/2p89m225 or by calling the DNR Wildlife Disease Laboratory at 517-336-5030. The reporting asks for general reporting information such as the reporter's name and contact information, where the bird or mammal was located, along with other information such as the health of the animal, and how many are involved.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is rare for avian influenza to spread to humans. There have been sporadic reports in Asia, Europe and the Middle East since 2003

"Most human infections with avian influenza viruses, including HPAI Asian H5N1 viruses, have occurred after prolonged and close contact with infected birds," the CDC report reads. "Rare human-to-human spread with this virus has occurred, but it has not been sustained and no community spread of this virus has ever been identified."

State Veterinarian Dr. Nora Wineland previously said that although it is difficult for pet birds to catch avian influenza, steps should still be taken to protect all birds.

A few steps the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recommended were:

Prevent contact between domestic and wild birds by bringing them indoors or ensuring their outdoor area is fully enclosed.

Wash your hands before and after handling birds as well as when moving between different coops.

Disinfecting boots and other gear when moving between coops.

Do not share equipment or other supplies between coops or other farms.

Cleaning and disinfecting equipment and other supplies between uses. If it cannot be disinfected, discard it.

Using well or municipal water as drinking water for birds.

Keep poultry feed secure to ensure there is no contact between the feed/feed ingredients and wild birds or rodents.

The DNR is encouraging homeowners to temporarily remove bird feeders to reduce the spread of the bird flu.

"One easy way the public can help reduce the potential spread of HPAI is to remove outdoor bird feeders," a DNR press release read. "Though there isnt yet any widespread recommendation from state agencies to do so, temporary removal of these food sources could be helpful, especially for anyone who has highly susceptible species  domestic poultry, raptors or waterfowl  living nearby. Similarly, removal could be a wise choice for those who observe high-risk species like blue jays, crows or ravens hanging around backyard bird feeders. This temporary removal of bird feeders and baths may only last for the next couple months, or until the rate of HPAI spread in wild and domestic birds decreases."

If people choose to continue using their bird feeders, please keep this guidance in mind:

Thoroughly clean bird feeders with a diluted bleach solution (and rinse well) once per week. Regularly cleaning helps protect birds against other infections, including salmonella.

Clean up birdseed that has fallen below the feeders to discourage large numbers of birds and other wildlife from congregating in a concentrated area.

Dont feed wild birds, especially waterfowl, near domestic flocks.

For more information on the bird flu visit www.michigan.gov/birdflu.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Collin Periatt.

Sunday, April 24

10:58 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to a Jerome Township residence for a domestic assault. Deputies made contact with a 54-year-old Jerome Township woman who advised she was assaulted by a 32-year-old Jerome Township man after an argument. The man fled the scene prior to the deputy's arrival

9:05 p.m.  A deputy was dispatched to a Lee Township location for reports of shots fired in the area. The deputy patrolled the area and did not hear any shots being fired. The deputy cleared the scene without incident.

8:32 p.m.  A deputy was dispatched to an Mt. Haley Township location for reports of shots fired in the area. The deputy patrolled the area and did not hear any shots being fired. The deputy cleared the scene without incident.

8:22 p.m.  Officers conducted a warrant arrest on Dartmouth Drive.

2:17 p.m.  Deputies responded to a Jerome Township location regarding a verbal argument that escalated and a firearm brandished. Concluding the investigation a 32-year-old Jerome Township man was arrested for felonious assault and transported to Midland County Jail.

9:45 a.m.  Deputies spoke to a 43-year-old man regarding the theft of gas and the catalytic converter from a local church van. The man stated the items taken were valued at approximately $450.00. No known suspects at this time.

Saturday, April 23

11:11 p.m.  A 54-year-old man called to report his 51-year-old wife had just left walking and felt she was suicidal. After reading text messages, the woman was not suicidal. The woman was located at the residence. She advised that she walked from the residence to clear her head after an argument. No assault. She advised that she was all set and did not need any assistance.

10:55 p.m.  Deputies responded to a Jerome Township residence for a verbal argument between a 64-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman. The 64-year-old man was subsequently arrested for a conditional bond violation. The man was transported and lodged at the Midland County jail without incident.

9:18 p.m.  A deputy came upon a vehicle stuck in the ditch in Jerome Township. A 44-year-old Bay City man was subsequently arrested for operating while intoxicated. The man was transported and lodged at the Midland County Jail without incident. The vehicle was removed from the ditch but sustained no damage.

7:15 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to the area of Shearer/Sturgeon Roads in Mills Township regarding a verbal between a 74-year-old Sterling man and a 25-year-old Stockbridge man. The argument started in Sterling, and continued to Bay County, and then to Midland County. The 74-year-old man had signed a purchase agreement with the 25-year-old to purchase $20,000 in logging machines. The 74-year-old man had not paid the male and the 25-year-old wanted his equipment back. Both parties were advised to handle the matter through civil court.

4:03 p.m.  Deputies responded to a Mount Haley Township residence in reference to a verbal dispute over property between a 31-year-old man and his 36-year-old wife. Upon further investigation, Deputies learned that the wife had a personal protection order against her husband. Deputies separated parties and the incident was resolved civilly.

1:38 p.m.  Deputies responded to a Mills Township residence to a report of a 44-year-old woman being concerned about the well-being of her 18-year-old daughter after leaving the house after a verbal argument. The 18-year-old daughter returned home while Deputies were on the scene.

Friday, April 22

10:33 p.m.  A deputy was dispatched to a Jerome Township school for a report of a missing juvenile after a school play. The deputy obtained information that a few members of the cast were at a Jerome Township restaurant after the play. The juvenile was located and reunited with her 64-year-old father. The deputy discussed the importance of honest communication with her parents and requesting permission before taking action.

8:26 p.m.  A deputy was sent to a Midland Township home for a verbal argument between a husband and wife. There was no assault only a verbal argument. The husband was gathering items to leave for the night. The wife had questions about obtaining a PPO and filing for divorce.

5:27 p.m.  A 64-year-old Homer Township woman had a verbal dispute with her 22-year-old daughter. The dispute was over the mother not providing her daughter with a ride to her boyfriend's. The complainant later agreed to provide her daughter with a ride.

3:11 p.m.  Deputies responded to a Warren Township residence in reference to a 71-year-old woman reporting that her 95-year-old father with dementia had gotten his tractor stuck and needed assistance getting out of it. Deputies responded and provided assistance to the 95-year-old. The 71-year-old did not request further assistance.

12:12 p.m.  Deputies performed a traffic stop for traffic violations while on patrol in Lee Township. Upon further investigation, Deputies found that a 34-year-old passenger of the vehicle had a warrant for his arrest out of Saginaw County. The man was taken into custody and transported to Saginaw County without incident.

8:24 a.m.  Officers investigated a report of larceny on East Ashman Street.
Midland County Department of Public Health will administer second booster doses of the COVID vaccine to persons ages 50 and older, and to those ages 12 and older who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, at a drive-thru clinic on Thursday, April 28. The clinic will take place 2:30-4:30 p.m. at Senior Services Trailside Center, 4700 Dublin Ave. in Midland. No appointment is necessary, but individuals are asked to bring their COVID vaccine cards. Those who have computer access may print the form from the health department's website and bring it with them to the clinic.

Pfizer remains the only COVID-19 vaccine currently authorized for those under age 18. COVID-19 booster doses may be given at the same time as other vaccines. Individuals may choose which vaccine they receive as a booster dose.
MANISTEE  A number of vendors, health care services providers and other exhibitors focused on promoting healthy lifestyles will be featured at the Manistee News Advocate Healthy Living Expo on Saturday.

The event, which is free to attend, runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the ballroom on the second floor of the Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts at 101 Maple St. in Manistee.

Michael Assink, News Advocate advertising director, said around 25 vendors will be on hand to help Manistee residents improve their health.

"There's everything from health care facilities, senior health care facilities to natural food producers," Assink said. "It's a pretty cool array of stuff to maybe help you live a little bit healthier life."

Some of the vendors on hand will include District Health Department #10; Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; New Life Health, LLC; Authentic 231; Maple Ridge Manor and more.

Assink said the event was designed to allow attendees to efficiently learn how they can improve their health.

"For folks coming, we try to make it so you can kind of get in, get a few cool ideas and get out within an hour," he said. "We don't want you to have to spend a whole Saturday wandering through 75 booths  that's not the idea. It's a free admission event that's just about trying to help the residents of the area find a few good ideas on being a little healthier."

The expo will feature demonstrations throughout the day.

"There will be I think five different demonstrations going on throughout the five-hour show," Assink said. "I believe there's a massage therapist demonstration, a holistic cooking demonstration and three or four others that will be going on. ... There will be half-hour little shows."
Two Beech Grove, Indiana men racked up numerous charges Monday during their arraignment in Midlands 75th District Court.

Paul Grimes, 37, and Andrew Baker, 20, are each facing several charges in connection with a police chase last Thursday morning along US-10. Both are lodged in the Midland County Jail. They were arraigned by Magistrate Gerald Ladwig.

Grimes was charged with four counts of felony firearm; discharging a firearm at a vehicle; delivering or manufacturing 45 kilograms or more than 200 marijuana plants; controlled substance delivery or manufacturing a non-narcotic; and fleeing a police officer third-degree. Grimes is jailed on a $400,000 cash/surety non-10% bond.

Baker is charged with three counts of felony firearm; discharging a firearm at a vehicle; delivering or manufacturing 45 kilograms or more than 200 marijuana plants; and controlled substance delivery or manufacturing a non-narcotic. Baker is jailed on a $300,000 cash/surety non-10% bond.

Grimes and Baker are charged in connection with allegedly firing weapons while they were driving at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday on US-10 from Coleman. They led deputies on a brief chase before being arrested.

Deputies located the vehicle in Sanford and a pursuit began. The vehicle was eventually stopped on US-10 near Eastman Avenue in Midland. After deputies searched the vehicle, a "large, illegal quantity of marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, two firearms and cash" were seized.

Beech Grove, Indiana is about 330 miles southwest of Midland.
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A juvenile has been charged in connection with a double homicide in Tennessee, officials said.

Charges were filed on Monday against the minor in the deaths of Sherry Cole, 59, and her grandson, Jessie Allen, 7, at a home in Greene County, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. Deputies were called to the home just before midnight on Sunday and found the pair dead at the scene, the statement said.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexicos Supreme Court struck down on Monday a 2021 law that would have required cellphone companies to collect biometric data like fingerprints or eye scans from customers.

The court ruled the law was too invasive of personal liberty, in comparison with any positive effect it could have had. The court also ruled there were other measures that could be taken to cut down on crimes involving phones.
Cameron Crowder will receive a bachelor of science degree from Olivet Nazarene University in Boubonnais, Illinois in the school's 109th commencement at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 7.

He is one of approximately 700 students to earn a baccalaureate, master's or doctoral degree this year at Olivet. His major field of study was marketing management.
MADRID (AP)  A boat carrying migrants capsized off Spain's Canary Islands, leaving one person dead and another 24 missing, authorities said.

The vessel overturned sometime between Monday afternoon and early Tuesday, Spain's marine rescue service said.

Spanish rescuers intercepted three boats heading to the islands, rescuing a total of 116 people, a spokeswoman told The Associated Press.

Two of the boats were located on Monday afternoon, drifting about 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of the archipelago, which lies off the northwest coast of Africa.

A third boat was found capsized around 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of the islands. Marine services rescued 36 people, including 10 women and two minors, and recovered the body of a woman. The search has since been halted, said the spokeswoman, who isn't authorized to be named in the media.

Authorities had been told that the sinking boat, which is believed to have set off from Cape Bojador in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, had been carrying 61 migrants, she added.

In recent years, migrants have been braving the Atlantic Ocean crossing to make it to the Canary Islands, risking one of the most dangerous routes to European territory.

Last year, 22,316 migrants arrived via the Canary Islands. From January to mid-April this year, 6,359 migrants have arrived in the Canary Islands, according to the Interior Ministry, a 60% rise compared to the same period last year.

___

Follow APs coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
TO THE EDITOR:

Some things need to be clarified for Mr. Childs and his recall group.

The reference to a small group is exactly what he referred to; 475 residents signed a recall petition. There are 4,400 residents. In most logical reasoning, 10% is considered a small group.

The reference to a premature closing of the transfer station is one of the reasons up to 475 residents signed the recall petition; misleading information. The transfer station is over 30 years old. It has never had a full renovation, and the equipment was failing on a regular basis. Most residents acknowledge that the time for the closure for the transfer station was long overdue and too costly to keep open.

The reference to a hastily made decision is an outright fabrication of the recall group. Yes, the vote was taken at midnight, after a five hour meeting. That is not hasty. The closure of the transfer station was explored and discussed all of November, December, January, February and part of March. There was nothing hasty about this decision.

The reference to the multi-year cost analysis is really simple. The township did not have the money necessary to renovate and repair the transfer station in accordance with MIOSHA and insurance company standards. Anyone with common sense can see when you eliminate the cost of maintenance, the cost of insurance, the cost of two employees with retirements and insurance, the cost of facility insurance you are saving money. When the overhead is absorbed by the curbside provider, you save money. When curbside restricts the amount of waste and eliminates illegal dumping, you save money. That is a pretty sound cost analysis if you ask me.

I think it is important for the residents of Lee Township to know that the three members did not enter into the idea of closing the transfer station lightly. They knew what was at stake. They knew the fallout. They knew there would be people unhappy with their decisions. They took all that criticism to do what they believed was in the best financial interests of the whole Township. Months of exploring, researching, talking to experts, getting opinions, all weighed in on their decision. In my opinion, the easiest and cowardly thing to do was to just let the residents vote. Then, any failure would be the residents fault. Instead, they put their political careers in jeopardy in a selfless decision to close the transfer station in spite of the small but loud group of residents who wanted it open.

Mr. Childs references follow-up questions several times. I would say there are some that should be asked.

What did the supervisor, Trustee Rippee and Treasurer Stewart stand to gain from closing the transfer station?

What did those upset residents stand to lose by the closing of the transfer station?

Who was saving a lot of money by taking items to the transfer station instead of the landfill?

Which residents were going to have to start paying to have their roof disposed of on their own and not at the township's expense?

JOE MOORE

Midland
Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union (EU) says it is appalled about reports of deadly clashes between communities in West-Darfur during the past days and weeks, resulting in a high number of casualties and the destruction of health facilities
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyan politicians have congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron on his re-election victory last Sunday over far right candidate Marine Le Pen to clinch his second five-year term
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan Ministry of Interior of the Government of National Unity (GNU) has announced that 541 illegal migrants of different nationalities have been intercepted on their way to the European coasts
Photo: (Photo : ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Chris Rock's mother, Rosalie "Rose" Rock, has finally broken her silence about Will Smith's slap on her son during the 94th annual Academy Awards. The author and motivational speaker talked to South Carolina's WIS-TV in an interview and she did not hold back when discussing the slap heard around the world.

Rose revealed in the interview that she was one of the many watching the Oscars that night. According to the matriarch, she initially believed that Will Smith's slap on her son was staged. That thinking all changed, though, when Smith started using obscenities after returning to his seat at the event.

Rock, who has attended the Oscars with her son numerous times in the past, asserted in the interview that when Smith slapped Chris, he slapped all of them, likely referring to the entire Rock family. Rose did not mince any words when talking about Smith, saying "he really slapped me."

Will Smith's slap took away from winner's moment

Rock was also asked about Smith's mindset during that time. She said that Smith reacted to his wife giving him the side-eye and he went and made her day because she was mulled over laughing when it happened.

According to Cinema Blend, Chris Rock took to the stage at the 94th Oscars to present the award for Best Documentary Feature. The comedian opened his spot with a few jokes with Rock quipping during that time that he was looking forward to seeing Will Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, in a G.I. Jane sequel.

Rock's joke was a reference to Pinkett Smith's shaved head. Shortly after Rock made that joke, the King Richard star walked on stage and slapped the Grown Ups actor. Rock declined to press charges against Smith after the slapping incident.

Questlove and co. won the aforementioned Documentary Oscar for Summer of Soul and Rose Rock said that her son was excited about the prospect of potentially presenting the award to the esteemed musician. Rose believes the slap ultimately took away from the winner's moment, saying that no one even heard his speech and that no one was able to just be in the moment because everyone was sitting there asking, 'What just happened?'

Read Also: Premature Baby Harper Jacobo, the Smallest Ever to Survive With an Incomplete Esophagus

Rose Rock joins son Tony in blasting Will Smith for his Oscars slap

Rose Rock's sentiments on the Oscars slap echoed those made by her other son, Tony Rock. The actor and comedian stated that the video of the Oscars slap "eats at" him. He added that he takes no pleasure in seeing "a loved one being attacked and there is nothing you can do about it." Rock also declared there was no reason for the slap as his brother "was no threat to" Will Smith.

Us Weekly reported that the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum apologized to Chris Rock a day after the slap and later resigned from the Academy. He made that decision ahead of being expelled from the institution for 10 years as punishment for his actions during the Oscars.

Related Article: Will Smith's Mom Says Oscars Slap of Chris Rock Was Not His Son's Normal Behavior
Photo: (Photo : STEFAN JERREVANG/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

The Atlanta police have arrested Declarence McGhee, a 31-year-old man who attempted to kidnap an infant from a babysitter in broad daylight on Thursday, April 21.

According to Newsweek, McGhee tried to snatch the baby from the stroller while the babysitter was pushing and walking on the BeltLine at around 11:00 a.m. He started shouting at the babysitter when she would not let go.

The man and the babysitter fought for control of the stroller until bystanders, including an off-duty police officer and some security guards, were on the scene to rescue the woman and the infant. They made sure that McGhee would not escape as they waited for the police to arrive.

Read Also: Pregnant Mom Gleiciane Gloria Runs After Uber Driver Who Took Off With Toddler in the Car

"There are Good Samaritans"

One person who witnessed the incident said he could not believe that someone would attempt to kidnap a baby in broad daylight along a popular stretch of the walkway, which was nearest the rail station. Arthur Harden, who was doing some landscaping work nearby, told WRDW that he saw many bikers intervene when they heard the screaming at the BeltLine.

"They came to the rescue for her," Harden said. "There are Good Samaritans out there," he added and said he would not know what would happen if the babysitter and the child were not rescued.

The babysitter and the infant's names were not identified to the press. McGhee, however, was charged with simple battery and attempted kidnapping. He has been held at the Fulton County Jail but it's still unclear if McGhee knew the babysitter or if he has a relationship with the infant.

Records show that the police arrested McGhee more than 20 times since 2008 within Fulton County and Dekalb County.. Some of his arrests were in relation to violations of his probation.

Terror on the Beltline - ATL police say Declarence McGhee approached a woman on the eastside trail and tried to kidnap an infant she was babysitting... and it all happened in broad daylight!!! A witness shares the chilling story with me tonight at 6p on @cbs46 pic.twitter.com/sp2KMqTyK9  Savannah Louie (@savannahlouieTV) April 22, 2022

The incident, however, has some parents concerned about the security measures on the BeltLine. One father said that his young son likes to run and explore the walkway but the attack has made him realize that parents should keep their children closer to them when using the path.

Atlanta Police Stops Another Attempted Kidnapping

It comes after the Atlanta police released a bodycam video of another attempted kidnapping incident. In early April, authorities were able to rescue a 9-year-old boy from a car thief who took off with the vehicle while the boy was still strapped in the backseat. The police did a PIT maneuver, leading to the car crashing to a stop, the man's arrest, and the child's rescue.

According to 11 Alive, the mother left her car running as she parked by the Goodwill store. As soon as she stepped out of the car, the man swooped in and drove fast. This led to a wild chase between the thief and the cops within five minutes of getting the report.

Police Pilot Leroy Champion, along with Detective Alexandria Ward, said their police units were flying in the streets when they found out a child was inside the car. The chase lasted for at least an hour until the PIT maneuver was laid out.

The boy was taken to the hospital as a medical precaution while the car thief will be likely charged with endangering a child, aside from kidnapping and vehicle theft.

Related Article: Lose a Child in Public? Mom Shares Helpful Tips on What Parents Need to Do
Photo: (Photo : BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images)

Lalene Malik got the shock of her life when she gave birth to a miracle baby in a hospital toilet. The West London mom did not know she was pregnant at all and Malik is now criticizing her doctor for allegedly missing chances to spot that she was expecting a baby.

ITV News reported that Malik was taken by her family to A&E at Northwick Park Hospital after suffering an excruciating stomach ache at home in Greenford back in March. The 23-year-old believed she must be constipated and did not think she was pregnant at all as she had been prescribed the contraceptive pill five months earlier and had two negative pregnancy tests back in February.

Malik's mother, Sumra, had an "intuition" that something was wrong, though. According to Malik, her mother sounded the alarm with nearby doctors when she began crying in pain after going to the hospital bathroom while waiting to be seen by medics.

Miracle baby stuck in bowl for seven minutes

Malik said she was about to flush the toilet when the tiny arm of her baby Mohammed Ibrahim was spotted in the bowl. Malik was terrified that she and her son's lives were in danger. According to a report by the Leicester Mercury, Malik believes that her baby may have been stuck in the bowl for up to seven minutes before the newborn was rescued by medics.

Malik said that she was gone and that her mind was blank during that time. She was put in another room because obviously she was crying and her mother was crying as well. Malik added that it was a complete shock and a trauma for both of them and she felt that her life was in danger.

Malik said that her mother started crying and asked her "Don't you know you have a baby?" Doctors who retrieved Malik's baby said that he "looked lifeless" and was not breathing. Fortunately for Malik, their resuscitation efforts proved to be successful as they were able to bring him back to life.

Read Also: Halifax Mom Stephanie Norman Shares Experience After 8-Month-Old Son River Gets Sick With COVID

Miracle baby Ibrahim now completely healthy after toilet scare

Dr. Ewa Grocholski, who helped save baby Ibrahim by giving him chest compressions after getting the young child out of the bowl, said that it was the "most amazing experience of her medical career."

Ibrahim was born full-term and is now completely healthy after he was monitored carefully by hospital staff and given oxygen to aid in his recovery. Malik described her son as a miracle baby but she has accused Elm Trees surgery in Greenford, her family doctor, of failing to carry out the necessary tests properly which could have revealed that she was pregnant.

Malik told Sky News that if she had known that she was pregnant, she would have cherished those moments going shopping and getting stuff ready for her baby. Malik added that her husband was abroad at the time of her surprise delivery and like them was in "complete shock" when he learned of the birth.

Related Article: Parents Hesitant to Get Their Kids Vaccinated Against COVID-19 Because of Lower Vaccine Efficacy
Photo: (Photo : Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Natalia Demish may be among those fortunate to escape the horrors of ravaged Mariupol last month but she still lives in constant worry. While the 40-year-old Ukrainian mother is now in relative safety in the city of Dnipro, Demish has been cut off from her 21-year-old son, Yuri.

The two of them got separated when she fled the ongoing fighting. According to Demish, Yuri has now been forcibly deported by Vladimir Putin's army to Russia. Demish said that her main concern right now is that Yuri will be forced by the enemy to fight against his own country of Ukraine.

Demish's story is not unique to her with many Ukrainians accusing Russian troops of forcibly deporting large numbers of Ukraine's civilians to their country. If their accusations are true, these could be considered a war crime under international law, according to the United Nations.

Mariupol residents in danger of dying because of dwindling resources

Kyiv has directly accused Russia of blocking Ukraine and other countries' efforts to send humanitarian aid to the besieged city of Mariupol. Kyiv said that even buses to evacuate civilians to Ukrainian-controlled territory has been blocked by Russian troops.

According to local officials, the city of Mariupol has now been under attack for nearly two months with thousands of its residents killed by the Russians. Reuters reported that many more are in danger of dying with Mariupol's remaining residents left with virtually no electricity, food, or water because of the Russian blockade.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Thursday, April 21, that more than 140,000 residents of Mariupol had been evacuated in the past month through humanitarian corridors, also known as temporary demilitarized zones.

Demish, who was an accountant before the war started, said that she had spent a total of 34 days hiding in a basement in Mariupol, staying there with her husband, his parents and his two daughters. With their resources dwindling, the family decided to escape to the central city of Zaporizhzhia on March 29 in a convoy of vehicles.

Read Also: Ukrainian Mom Writes Contact Details on Daughter's Body in Case Her Family is Killed During Invasion

Demish's son deported to Russian village 675 miles away from Mariupol

Unfortunately for Demish, she was cut off from her son at the time. Yuri was living with her former husband in a Ukrainian neighborhood that was badly damaged by the bombings. The heavy shelling left Yuri and the other residents in that area with no phone or internet connection. With no way to reach her son, Demish left without Yuri.

Demish told NBC News that she finally heard from her son later that day but it was not entirely good news. Yuri said that he and his father had walked to the city of Novoazovsk, which has been under the control of Russian-backed separatists since 2014.

The news Demish was dreading came on April 4, when Yuri told her that they are forcibly being transferred to Russia. Yuri told his mother that they were put on a train. Yuri called his mother again on April 15, telling her that they are now staying in the village of Semyonovka in Russia's Nizhegorodsky Oblast, which is around 675 miles northeast of Mariupol.

Related Article: Ukrainian Children With Cancer Flown to the U.K. for Treatment Remain Separated From Families
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned that a proposed 37% increase in airport charges in the Netherlands will risk significant damage to the recovery of air connectivity in the country.

Following a formal review in which IATA and several airlines participated, the Netherlands competition authority Autoriteit Consument & Markt (ACM), the regulator for airport charges at Amsterdam Schiphol, accepted the airports position that due to losses incurred during the Covid-19 shutdown, it must raise airport charges by a cumulative 37% over the next three years.

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IATA has stated that a gradual recovery of the aviation industry is underway, but that the foundations are weak; Covid-19 caused passenger numbers to fall by more than 70% in the Netherlands, at a cost of around 200,000 aviation-supported jobs.

IATAs Connectivity Index shows the Netherlands is still 35% below its 2019 peak. At this crucial time, the organization feels that ACM should support air connectivity for the benefit of the Netherlands as a whole  rather than risk the airports competitive edge. It is currently considering an appeal of the decision.

IATA has since called attention to other independent regulators in the region and their stances on the recovery of the industry. For example, in Spain, the industry regulator rejected the claims from the airport operator that it needed to recover its pandemic losses. The Spanish regulator calculated that the airport operator had sufficient cash reserves to cover the shortfall and that it would benefit from growing traffic in coming years  and it has frozen charges for the next three years. In contrast, IATA has highlighted that before the Covid-19 pandemic, Schiphol declared 742m (US$793m) of dividends over the 2015-19 period, and it has several options to cover its losses. According to the organization, Schiphol can easily finance short-term losses without increasing costs to its customers.

Rafael Schvartzman, regional vice president for Europe, IATA, said, Schiphol airport and its regulator have completely failed to consider the exceptional circumstances that were created by Covid-19. The cost recovery system was never expected to operate in circumstances where demand would totally collapse for an extended period due to government-imposed travel restrictions. It cannot be reasonable to dump a 37% increase on airlines and their passengers. Nor is it sensible to put such costs onto air transport in the Netherlands at a time when other cost pressures, including rising environmental taxes, are already damaging the competitive position of Dutch aviation.
Today is Orthodox Easter. Blessings on all those who observe the holy day.

And I am in Toledo with the Great Heartland Zen Buddhist temple which just celebrated the dedication of its new temple building. A very interesting marker in our Western Zen communities, where if a building is owned it is mostly repurposed from some other use. I recall, for instance, the rise of the barn-do, Do meaning hall.

Ill be sharing a larger reflection on the Toledo Zen community in a day or so.

Here I find myself thinking of Houn Jiyu Kennett, my ordination master, with whom I spent several intense years. I then left and have followed a rather different path. But, certainly not unmarked by my time with her. Her ordination lineage in fact has passed through me to the clerical community in Toledo.

Ive been dipping into some of her writings, taking a particular interest in her dealings with theism.

When I knew her there was no body of writing. I was one of her flunkies when putting together what would be her first book, published by Pantheon as Selling Water by the River. I actually had the task of ghosting a preface to the book. My very first published writing, actually. The book is still in print as Zen is Eternal Life, which was the working title for the manuscript. I looked at the book and that book uses the word god seven times. None of them relevant to a theory of god. Nor was this part of my time with her.

But her later writings are replete with such. And she has been criticized as being some sort of theist.

Her apologists say this is a misunderstanding. She was concerned with shattering misconceptions about atheism and theism and taking us to another place. And it her moment the issue was that most people attracted to Buddhism were trapped in atheism, or near enough. So, thats why she wrote more from that perspective. Maybe.

A casual perusal of her writings puts me more in the camp that she was in fact some sort of theist. But, I am also aware Ive been called a theist, as well. More specifically, Ive been called a Christian. Two words which almost always overlap, although I had a phase where I read a fair amount of Thomas J.J Altizer and other so-called Christian atheists. So, I know while non-normative, non theism is an option within the broad Christian camp.

What Kennett Roshi meant is left to her institutional heirs and historians of the foundations of convert Zen in the West.

What I mean when I use God language is my immediate concern. A great deal of my practice is concerned with clarification. Clarification of the great matter. And part of that includes how I use language as I approach the mystery. I am a child of the West, and even seminary educated, and Christian theological language lives deep within me. I am also a Zen Buddhist, emphasis on Buddhist, of the Mahayana school, if including a large modernist and I suppose a dash of post modernist influence.

And, as I approach the mystery, as I have approached the mystery, as I continue to do so, out of this raw encounter I reach for words. My tradition of practice calls us to the ordinary. A constant pushing away from conceptual traps. In furthering this attempt at unleashing the restrictions of our ideas, one of its conceits in language often is to use abuse as praise. In this Kennett Roshi is no doubt right, shattering our normative conceptions of reality is important. As we get closer to the heart of the matter it is even more important not to be trapped in the tangle of words.

So in Zen, contrary to what some casual readers might think, ordinary language or language of the ordinary very important. But, within the way words and language also begins to mutate and take its own shape. Prose begins to dissolve and poetry begins to replace it.

And here the traditional language of the West and its gods appear, or reappear. For me, anyway.

When we front into the empty, what are we encountering? I dont find a God in the classic Western understanding of an entity with a human-like consciousness which starts the whole ball rolling, occasionally reaching into the works, and will in time bring it all to a close. So in that sense Im a non theist.

And. When Mohammed said God is closer to you than your jugular vein, I get it. Totally. Completely. Down to the beating of the blood in my jugular vein.

The West has a long tradition of a non dual, where our encounters are all relational. The Zen line comes to mind, you are not it. But, in truth, it is you. That thing. That place. Totally ordinary. And, it calls forth hymns of praise. Lots of alleluias in the face of the mystery. Like a fire.

Today is Orthodox Easter.

Albert Camus once said I shall tell you a great secret my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment, it takes place every day.

Truth. And, heres another truth, my friend. A great secret. Easter is not a dream of the past, nor of the future. Easter takes place every day. Every moment. Every heartbeat.

We understand this, and the ancient languages of East and West, all fall short, and all point. Life and death join. Not one. Not two. And from that a great fire.

Pretty easy to call it God.

And, perhaps in that moment we find our own alleluia.
Government documents show U.S. CDC delays disclosing likely COVID-19 animal spillover event

Xinhua) 16:35, April 26, 2022

LOS ANGELES, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of pages of U.S. government documents showed that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had delayed for months publicly disclosing a suspected COVID-19 animal-to-human spillover event in Michigan in late 2020, according to a detailed report by National Geographic.

These documents include emails between the CDC and Michigan public health officials and provide the first "behind-the-scenes look" at the CDC's investigation into the suspected COVID-19 mink-to-human spillover event, said the report.

The documents and the CDC's statements in response make clear the CDC was aware that mink on a fur farm in Michigan may have infected humans at least three months before it "quietly" updated its website in March 2021, according to the report.

Emails show Michigan public health officials formally requested the CDC's help in handling the suspected spillover on Oct. 8, 2020, after the state confirmed that mink on a fur farm were infected. Within days, the CDC sent four veterinary epidemiologists to Michigan. The team took virus samples from mink at the farm and people in the surrounding area to investigate how the virus spread.

Ultimately, genome analyses of virus samples from two mink-farm workers and two people with no known connection to mink showed infection with a unique coronavirus variant previously identified in mink and mink-to-human transmission in Europe, the emails revealed.

The CDC did not make a formal public announcement of the findings and only "quietly" updated its website in March 2021. Thus the issue did not get much attention from the media and the public.

Only little media coverage was found online beyond a story in the Detroit Free Press in April 2021, which said four Michiganders -- a taxidermist, his wife and two mink farm employees -- were infected with a unique coronavirus strain connected to minks.

Michigan health officials and the CDC concluded they likely contracted the "first known" U.S. cases of so-called animal-to-human virus "spillover," said the report.

The CDC defended its decision not to make a formal announcement of the event, as spokesperson Nick Spinelli told National Geographic in an email that all "relevant information" was eventually posted on the CDC's website and that because similar cases had been documented in Europe, the news was not "surprising or unexpected."

Throughout the CDC's investigation, the agency's spokespeople repeatedly told National Geographic that there was "no evidence of mink-to-human spread in the United States," including in an early January 2021 email. Yet internal emails and statements from Spinelli indicate that was not the case, said the National Geographic report.

"Mink-to-human spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been reported in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Poland, and new data suggest it might have occurred in the United States," according to the CDC website.

Little is known about the four Michiganders infected with the unique coronavirus variant. Still, the fact that two of them got the mink-associated variant despite having no connection to the mink farm suggests the variant had spread beyond the farm and into the community and continued to circulate for months.

Coronavirus researchers said the delay in publicly sharing this suspected spillover event may have hindered their ability to effectively monitor the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which experts warn could take hold in another species, mutate and then jump back to humans as a more dangerous or transmissible variant.

Scott Weese, a veterinary internal medicine specialist and the chief of infection control at the Veterinary College at the University of Guelph in Canada, said earlier information about the suspected spillover cases could have helped other countries improve their pandemic surveillance and response.

"This should keep reminding us that transparency is important, and the quicker you know things, the quicker you can act," Weese said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
At a glance Experts Rating Pros Fast 10Gbps storage

Rugged outer skin for IP65 rating

Up to 2TB in capacity

Svelte styling Cons No 20Gbps

Not full immersion rated Our Verdict Faster than its Touch predecessor, the T7 Shield is also more rugged. It lacks fingerprint scanning, but is otherwise a faster, more durable external SSD.

Best Prices Today: Samsung T7 Shield

Retailer Price Delivery $134.99 Free View Samsung $159.99 View

If youve had your eyes on Samsungs fast USB 10Gbps T7 Touch, but werent sure it was suitable for your rough and tumble environment, your conundrum is at an end. The latest iteration in the T7 seriesthe T7 Shieldis IP65 rated to withstand a wet weather and offers additional protection against shock (though admittedly, shock is a bigger deal for portable hard drives than it is for portable SSDs). This is another top-tier USB drive from Samsung.

Design

The Samsung T7 Shield is a USB 10Gbps enclosure with an NVMe SSD inside. Were a bit surprised the latest version didnt opt for 20Gbps USB, though admittedly, such ports are pretty rare and will remain so until full USB4 implementations become the norm. The T7 Shield is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities for $160 and $290 respectively, and you can buy them with blue, beige, or black silicone-like protective coverings.

The drive measures 3.5-inches long by 2.3-inches wide by 0.5-inches thick, and weighs just under four ounces. Thats a little heavier than the T7 Touch, but wrapped in a silicone protective sleeve, its hardly surprising.

The extra weight is inconsequential in terms of transportability, and gives the T7 Shield a nice heft. Indeed, I contemplated hurling it against a wall to test shock resistance. I didnt, though I dropped it from about four feet onto a wood floor with no ill effects.

The T7 Shields USB connector is Type-C and thoughtfully, Samsung includes both USB Type-A to Type-C and Type-C to Type-C cables.

As to the IP rating, 65 is a bit unusual. Most devices claim 67. If you want the entire IP lowdown, read this article by yours truly on our sister publication TechHive. But the gist of it is

The first number, 6, means the T7 Shield can keep out just about any kind of particulate matter. The second number, 5, means you can spray it with water, but not immerse it. (7 would indicate that immersion is survivable). No doubt the Type-C port is the culprit for the lower liquid resistance rating, though weve seen them on plenty of Bluetooth speakers sporting the same port that claim IP67. Most cover the port with a captive plug, but not all.

Perhaps, Samsung is just a little more conservative in their conclusions. Im not saying drop the T7 Shield in the pool, but I wouldnt be surprised if it survived a short dipas long as its not connected and active. If it is, youve got other issues.

Samsungs Toolbox for its external drives. With the Touch you get fingerprint security. With the Shield you set the password and must have the software installed in any computer you wish to mount the drive on.

Though the Shield lacks the Touchs fingerprint reader, it can still be password secured using Samsungs Portable SSD software. Of course, you must then install said software on any computer you want to access the drive from. Thats certainly not as handy as a simple finger scan, but workable.

Performance

The Samsung T7 Shield showed a noticeable performance improvement over its T7 Touch predecessor, especially when it came to writing files. Then again, our Shield test unit was 2TB, where the Touch was 500GB. This will make a difference, especially during long writes as the drive can treat more NAND as single-bit/level, SLC secondary cache.

We recently switched to the latest CrystalDiskMark, version 8.04, and a new testbed so these charts are not direct comparable with those for previous drives. The two drives the Shield is compared to below were retested, however. That said, CDM 8 demonstrates that noticeable write speed improvement I just spoke of. (Right-click on images and choose Open image in new tab to see full-size versions.)

Quicker writing was also largely responsible for the better overall performance in our 48GB transfers shown below. The older Touch actually proved a slightly faster reader.

The T7 Shield is a fast 10Gbps SSD and significantly faster than its predecessor writing.

Having 2TB instead of 500GB to play with was a boon for the T7 Shield when it came to writing our single large 450GB file. That said, the LaCie was also 2TB and not as quick. Samsung has obviously been upping its game (or components) since the last T7 iteration.

Having lots of NAND to use as cache helps during long sustained writes.

There arent many 10Gbps SSDs that will top the Samsung T7 in performance.

External USB drive tests currently utilize Windows 11 64-bit running on an MSI MEG X570/AMD Ryzen 3700X combo with four 16GB Kingston 2666MHz DDR4 modules, a Zotac (Nvidia) GT 710 1GB x2 PCIe graphics card, and an Asmedia ASM3242 USB 3.22 card. Copy tests utilize an ImDisk RAM disk using 58GB of the 64GB of memory.

Conclusion

Though wed like to see a bit better water-proofing, the Samsung T7 Shield is indeed a much better drive for harsh environs than the Touch. Obviously, it lacks the convenience of fingerprint security that the Touch offers, but its a better performer and you can still secure it via software. Again: This is another great portable drive from Samsung, and highly recommended.
Free VPNs are a tricky business since you always have to ask how the company is covering the costs of such an offering. Some services see it as a chance to encourage upgrades or just as free advertising for the paid service. Others, however, host third-party ads, which means you may be targeted based on your browsing habitspotentially killing the point of using a VPN in the first placewhile others might be analyzing the websites you visit in the name of optimization or big data collection.

If you plan on using a VPN long term its a good idea to pay for the privilege. That way you get more server locations, more simultaneous device connections, and sometimes even better speeds. Restrictions on free services vary by service provider, but there are always restrictions of some kind.

Nevertheless, free VPNs are good if you just want to try out a service for a while, or if you only need a VPN every now and then. If youre looking for a VPN for Windows here are our top recommendations.

If and when you decide to upgrade to full-fledged paid service, check out our comprehensive roundup of the best VPN servicesour recommendations vary from this list once money is on the line.

1. ProtonVPN  Best overall Best Prices Today: When it comes to Windows and free VPNs you cant beat ProtonVPN. The free version only allows one device connection at a time per account, but thats all you need if Windows is your focus. ProtonVPNs speeds are second best in our tests of the paid services, but ProtonVPN does limit free account speeds somewhat to what it calls Medium speed. These speeds were entirely acceptable, however, for all the various things you might want to do such as video streaming or regular web browsing. Note, however, that explicit Netflix support is not part of the free offering. We also like ProtonVPNs app design, which can be expanded to a larger version with an interactive map. Alternatively, it can be reduced to something more like a smartphone app. ProtonVPN requires an email address and password to use the free version and users are limited to three country choices. Read our full ProtonVPN review 2. Windscribe  Best for multiple devices Windscribe is the value choice if you want a lot of extra features and fewer limitations than other free services with one big exception. Namely, that you only get 10GB worth of data per month. That is not enough for a lot of video streaming, but its fine for everything else. As a trade-off there are no device limits and you get 10 location choices, which is more than most free services. The Windscribe app is also pretty straightforward Windscribe requires you to sign up with an email address. Read our full Windscribe Pro review 3. Hide.me  Also recommended Best Prices Today: Hide.me is a mix of both ProtonVPN and Windscribe. Similar to Windscribe you only get 10GB per month with the free version, and like ProtonVPN you only get one device at a time. Country choices are narrowed down to four with two regions in the U.S. for a total of five location options. Read our full Hide.me review

What to look for in a free VPN on Windows

When youre shopping for a free service for Windows the criteria are similar to what youd consider for a general free VPN. You want a service that is not displaying third-party ads or harvesting your browsing habits. Privacy is key with VPNs and even on a free one theres no reason to compromise.

Next, you can consider whats important to you such as ease of use with an interface you understand, speeds, and country choices. That last point is going to be fairly restricted when going free, because thats standard practice for free VPNs. Nevertheless, if you want a U.S. connection, for example, most free services will offer that.

If youre hoping to use Netflix overseas with a free VPN you may be out of luck. Sometimes it might work on a regular U.S. server, but for the most part Netflix streaming requires specialty servers provided as part of a premium package. Other streaming services, however, may not be as picky as Netflix is when it comes to detecting VPN connections.

How we test VPNs

All VPNs tested on Windows go through a three-day process. Each day we test the VPN speeds in five different countries plus the base speed without a VPN connection. Each country is tested three times per day taking the average.

When the testing is done we take the average of the base speed, and the overall global average of the VPN speeds. Then we represent the drop from the base speed as a percentage. The idea is to show how generally good a VPN is across all locations, and not just Europe or the United States. We also dont show specific megabytes-per-second speed since those speeds can vary greatly, but how much dip to expect as a percentage can be more generalized.

Free VPNs can sometimes hamper the speeds compared to what you see on free VPNs; however, thats not as much of a concern here as all the VPNs we recommend have good speeds regardless.

Finding a good free VPN for Windows is fairly simple. It all depends on whether you prioritize features like unlimited data usage, extra features, or a higher number of country options.
Revenue generation and sources of development funding are the most topical issues dominating public discourses today in Ghana. Various development stakeholders are therefore required to assist policy-makers in search of innovative solutions to the nations economic and financial heartaches.



It is against this background that some of us, working in the Industrial Property Right Protection space, wish to uncover some low-hanging revenue fruits that the nation could innovatively harvest.



Geographical Indications (GIs) are signs used on products from a particular geographical origin, with specific qualities or a reputation that are essentially attributed to the place of origin. This form of Intellectual Property, protects the uniqueness, reputation and other characteristics that easily differentiate a product from other similar ones on the market. GIs largely protect food and non-food products, especially of rural origin. GIs increase revenues for local producers and satisfy the needs of conscious and demanding customers. The system facilitates the originality of producers and improve the quality of production using various branding tools in the form of origin labeling and Collective Trademarks.



Over 3,400 GI products have been registered within the EU, 320 in India and about 2,533 in China. Africa largely has potential products, with few registered as GI products in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Morocco, Mozambique and Guinea. A worldwide study in 2018 on the economic impact of GIs showed that on average, prices doubled (in some cases tripled) for products compared with similar products that are not GI registered.



French GI cheeses are sold at an average of 2 euro per kilo more than French non-GI cheeses. French Poulet de Bresse (a type of chicken) has a market price 4 times higher than regular French chicken. Producers of Italian Tuscano olive oil have managed to increase prices for their olive oil by 20% since it was registered as a GI in 1998. In other instances, the case of a traditionally not-export-oriented country like Spain is striking: in 1991 (5 years after accession to the EU), exports of GI products amounted to 443million, and in 1999, more than 1billion.



The Unique Case of Pona Yam as a Potential GI Product for Ghana



The yam crop (Dioscorea spp.) is an important crop generating income for over 60 million people. Nigeria and Ghana are the leading producers in the world. Global yam production increased from 15.3million tonnes in 1971 to 74.8million tonnes in 2020. Ghana produces about 8million tonnes of yam annually. The countrys yam production has increased significantly over the period. In 2018 and 2019, production was about 7,858,209 and 8,288,198 metric tonnes, respectively, compared with previous years.



Yams from Ghana are mainly exported to the United Kingdom, South Africa, Italy and the United States. The main varieties exported include #1. Pona, #2. Larebako, #3. Asana, #4. Dente and #5. Muchumudu. Although Nigeria produces high volumes of yam (over 70% of global production), Ghana exports more yam in the sub-region. There is a continuous demand for fresh yam produced from West Africa in Europe, North America and in some parts of Asia. Global exports of yam was valued at US$177m. As the lead exporter of yam, Ghana has a world share of 22.1%, with our export value to the global markets as at 2019 stands at US$39.1m.



The unique characteristics of a product is critical in building a successful GI system. The exportable varieties of Ghanaian yams mentioned above are noted to be of high quality in both domestic and export markets, with the Pona variety mostly preferred due to its unique taste, texture, and colour of flesh after cooking. The characteristic taste is most preferred. Others include the origin, (which is Ghana), and the size of the tuber as same sizes are carefully selected for the export market. These features form the specific product quality, which is key for a successful GI or origin product.



The annual value of Agri-food products protected as GIs within the European Union stands at 27.34billion. Ghana can earn more than twice the current export value in foreign exchange from export of yam. The current export value of yam is about US$39.1m. The country could earn twice this current value for the same export volumes at the same price if the yams were protected with Geographical Indications.



Having an origin label would augment prices on the global market at over US$78m. It is highly projected that this figure would increase as the countries of export may drastically increase through the current arrangement within the international corridors of trade between Ghana and her partners within the intellectual property structures for origin labelling.



The Industrial Property Office of the Registrar Generals Department has the overall mandate, to identify, develop, register and protect origin labelled products for Ghana. With the current existing legal environment, Ghana must as a matter of urgency, support the relevant agencies of state to harness this great opportunity to benefit the nation and improve her food systems, while creating lots of decent jobs and employment for the teaming youth.

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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The United Nations has called for an investigation into the reported killing of at least 168 people in clashes in the Darfur region of Sudan.



The UN special representative Volker Perthes condemned the violence in Krink region of West Darfur, during which homes have been set on fire, hospitals attacked and goods looted.



Almost 100 more people were wounded in the violence, the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur, an independent aid group, said.



Several non-governmental organisations said an individual dispute sparked the fighting between Arab nomads and members of the Massalit community in Krink.



There have been some reports that the Sudanese authorities deployed a notorious militia called the Rapid Support Forces, which was formerly known as the Janjaweed.



The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned of a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation and called for the injured and sick to be allowed to seek help.



The Janjaweed carried out widespread killings in the Darfur region two decades ago.

Source: BBC









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 Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) will on Wednesday April 27, 2022, hold a public lecture on Ghanas tenure at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).



The lecture will be held at the LECIAD Auditorium, the University of Ghana at 3 PM on the theme Collective Security in a Changing Global World Order: An Overview of Ghanas Tenure at the UN Security Council, 2022-2023



The Speaker is the Special Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Kwabena Osei-Danquah. A seasoned career diplomat, Mr. Osei-Danquah was Chef de Cabinet to the President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly.



Ghana was elected to the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member in June 2021 to serve a two-year term from January 2022 to December 2023.



Ghana will assume the presidency of the Security Council in November, this year.



This will be the fourth time Ghana is sitting on the Council, the only arm of the UN with the authority to issue binding resolutions on member states. Ghanas last tenure was in 2006-2007 when President Akufo-Addo was Foreign Minister.



The programme will be chaired by Chief Executive Officer of the John Agyekum Kuffour Foundation, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) last year secured GHS5,778,379.20 as compensation for consumers of electricity and water.



The Commission said the amount was paid to both households and industrial consumers of electricity and water across the country after it investigated complaints on quality of service, largely, power outages and water cuts.



It also recouped GHS548,383 within the same period for the utility service providers  Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) over illegal connections and non-payment of utility bills.



Alhaji Abukari Jabaru, Director, Regional Operations, PURC, said this on Saturday at the Commission's media fellowship training at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region.



He noted that the non-payment of bills was largely observed in Government agencies.



The fellowship is to make the media abreast of the operations of PURC, including tariff setting, complaint resolution and database management.



It is also to get support from key stakeholders in balancing the interest between utility service providers and consumers to ensure that while service providers were profitable, consumers were also given quality services.



Alhaji Jabaru indicated that the Commission in 2021 received 10,987 complaints and had resolved 10,701, representing 97.3 percent, with the remaining 286 in the process of being resolved.



In an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the programme, Dr Ishmael Ackah, the Executive Secretary of PURC, encouraged journalists to work closely with the Commission for the benefit of all stakeholders.







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 Nigerian authorities say they have arrested a suspected drug trafficker, described as a billionaire drug baron, while onboard a plane at Lagos' main airport.



In a statement, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said investigations had identified Chief Afam Ukatu as a major importer of large consignments of Tramadol, an opioid painkiller that the agency deemed illicit.



The arrest was made on 13 April but announced on Monday.



It's unclear whether Mr Ukatu has responded to the accusations or where he's being held.



It followed months of surveillance and evading arrest, the agency said.



Mr Ukatu is accused of owning pharmaceutical and plastic manufacturing companies that "he used as a cover to import illicit drugs into Nigeria".



"This is in addition to operating 103 bank accounts, most of which are used to launder money," the agency said.

Source: BBC









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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An Accra High Court has granted a request for a subpoena to be issued for five witnesses Dr Stephen Opuni, a former Chief Executive of COCOBOD, seeks to rely on in his defence.



Justice Honyenuga, a Justice of the Supreme Court, sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, granted the applications.



He said the Registrar of the Court should carry out the order with assistance from Mr Samuel Codjoe, the Counsel for Dr Opuni by providing the necessary addresses for service on the personalities.



"The Registrar is to carry out this order in cooperation with Counsel of first accused, the court directed.



Dr Opuni and Mr Agongo are facing 27 charges, including defrauding by false pretenses, willfully causing financial loss to the State, money laundering, corruption by a public officer and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.



They have both pleaded not guilty to the charges and are on a GH300,000.00 self-recognizance bail each.



Earlier, the Counsel in moving the application said they wanted to rely on Article 19(2)(g)(h) of the Constitution.



He said under Article 19(g), they wanted the court to issue a subpoena for Reginald Aduakwa, a Banker, who was assigned to Dr Opuni at Ecobank together with Samuel Amponsah, who was the Acting Head of Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED).



The Counsel said the next person they wanted the Court to subpoena was Peter Okyere Boateng, a Deputy Executive Director, CHED, in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation.



He said Mr Boateng was directly in charge and he officially wrote the CHED report on the evaluation of fertilizers, including Lithovit, which report was given to the court by the prosecution.



"He will talk about the effect on Lithovit on matured Cocoa," he added.



Mr Codjoe also informed the Court that they intended to subpoena Dr Gilbert Anin Kwarpong, who was the former Executive Director of Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) in 2015/16 and 2016/17 Cocoa seasons during, which COCOBOD through CRIG renewed the certificate for Lithovit fertilizer



"We also want a subpoena issue at Atta Kwasi, a farmer, who used Lithovit and whose farm is in the Ahafo Region," he said.



Mr Codjoe said they also wanted to call Mr Daniel Ohene Agyekum, who was the former Board Chair, who resided in Kumasi.



The Counsel told the court that Mr Agyekum had a health challenge by way of a spinal issue, hence they wanted his evidence taken through video conferencing.



He said although he had no problem with his voice, it would be problematic for him to be physically present in court.



The case has since been adjourned to May 9, 2022.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Elections Committee of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) will meet next week to take a decision on the report by GJAs Elections Dispute Adjudication Committee (EDAC) on the conduct of the Associations elections.



EDAC, in its report released on Monday, April 25, 2022, directed the GJAs Elections Committee to take urgent steps to initiate processes for the successful conduct of the Associations elections by Thursday, June 30, 2022.



The GJA elections and formal Handing-Over processes shall take place by Thursday, the 30th of June 2022, the Committee directed after concluding its work on the four petitions against the Elections Supervisory Committee (ESC).



In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Osei Kwadwo Adow, the Chairman of GJAs Elections Committee, said the Committee would meet next week to decide on the way forward.



I just had the report. I am on my way to a national assignment and I will return on Thursday. When I return, my Committee will meet and then we will look at the Report and look at the action points in it and then we proceed from there, he said.



GJAs elections have been embroiled in fierce disagreements and controversies over the Associations electoral register and other pressing issues, leading to continuous postponement of the elections from 2020 to 2021 and now, 2022.



Last year, four aspirants of the 2021 GJA election, namely Messrs Kofi Yeboah, Albert, Kwabena Dwumfour, Gayheart Mensah, and Dave Agbenu petitioned the EDAC over what they described as irregularities in the electoral processes.



In their petition, the four aspirants took issue with the nomination processes and election matters; the determination of credible GJA voters register, especially the eligibility of members to vote and issues around mandates and authority of key stakeholders in the election processes, including the Elections Committee, the GJA Secretariat and the Elections Supervisory Committee.



The petitioners also challenged the mandates and authority of an Adhoc body created to facilitate the transitional processes of the Association in the wake of the legal suit against the National Executive and others by Ms Caroline Boateng, a GJA member.



In its Report, the EDAC found that the GJAs Constitution was severely breached leading to adverse consequences and the current stalemate.



There was a lack of clarity in the determination of eligible voters for the next GJA elections. Some were due to challenges against persons whose membership status was unclear. Others were challenged on grounds of non-payment of dues whether as exempted parties or not, it said.



The Committee also found that the creation of the Elections Supervisory Committee (ESC) and its mandate lacked clarity and contravened the provisions of the GJA constitution.



There is a lacuna in the effective management of transitional processes and provisions to guide 'interim' situations, especially during crises and election periods of the Association, the Committee said.

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 Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye (MP) has embarked on a working visit to some cement manufacturing companies with a call on the companies to consider the use of locally available building materials such as pozzolana, in the wake of the global crisis, as a good substitute for imported clinker in their productions.



The high price of most commercial housing units has been attributed to cost of building materials which are mainly imported. Available literature has shown that approximately US$350 million is spent annually to import about 85 percent of raw materials to produce cement.



The Minister added that up to US$30 million can be saved on imported materials by increasing the production and use of pozzolana cement to help minimize the cost of construction and ultimately improve housing affordability in the country.



The working visit, which took the sector Minister to GHACEM, Diamond Cement and Dzata Cement today in Tema was meant to understand the operations and most importantly the challenges of the companies and how government can proffer the appropriate interventions.



The governments new Affordable Housing Programme is a strategic intervention that seeks to provide incentive packages such as unencumbered land banks, infrastructure services on designated lands, tax incentives and exemptions to interested private developers.



This new arrangement is expected to greatly reduce the price of housing units and make it affordable to majority of Ghanaians, who are normally priced out of the markets due to current affordability gap in the real estate industry.



Having identified the supply of cement as one of the major cost drivers in construction, Asenso-Boakye, in his remarks, during the working visit, said the success of the new programme will depend largely on the ability to manufacture companies to adequately supply cement at an affordable rate.







As a major component in housing construction, the sector Minister believes cement manufacturing companies can support the governments drive towards the delivery of the National Affordable Housing Programme by fixing a specified selling price for the supply of cement.



This, he noted, will minimize the cost of construction, and ultimately increase the affordability of the housing units when the project is completed.



My visit here today, therefore, seeks to reinforce the governments expressed the desire to partner with major cement manufacturing companies in Ghana in the delivery of the National Affordable Housing programme. The Minister stated.



The Chief Executive Officers of Dzata Cement and GHACEM, Nana Phillip Archer and Stefano Gallini both pledged their respective companys commitment to the Governments vision of providing affordable homes to the citizenry.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Ministry of Transport has assured that the government is committed to constructing the proposed Keta Port.



The government has for the past two years, initiated processes aimed at seeing to fruition, a port at Keta, which include the signing an executive instrument that demarcates the area for the port, advertising for tenders for feasibility studies and appointing a director for the proposed port.



Mr Kweku Ofori Asiamah, Minister of Transport, in an address read on his behalf by Mr Hassan Sulemana Tampuli, his Deputy, at a brief ceremony to commission a Health Centre at Asadame in the Keta Municipality said processes were ongoing for the construction of Ghanas third commercial port.



The health centre and additional community infrastructure like pavement of Keta Market, a school block, ongoing construction of 12-seater toilet facility at Adzido and rehabilitation of Keta Market formed part of the overall scope of beach landing site and port for Keta projects being implemented under governments flagship programme, coastal fish landing sites and fishing ports facilities project.



He said, Governments commitment to construct a third commercial port here in Keta is very much on course. Feasibility and other investment strategy studies have been completed and a market survey forum had been held at Alisa Hotel in Accra to announce the project to potential investors.



Mr Asiamah said processes to decide on an investor for the project were ongoing and appealed for support of all stakeholders especially the traditional authority in the area to ensure a smooth process.



With the feasibility studies now completed, the Ministry of Transport through the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority is going through the necessary processes to engage a strategic investor for the project.



I want to use this opportunity to appeal to Togbiwo and Mamawo, community members and all stakeholders including the state and non-state actors to continue to render their support to the government to deliver on this very important mandate.



The Minister said government would still deliver on the landing site for Keta just as it was being constructed at different locations across the country to boost the local economy in the beneficiary coastal communities.



He said the Keta project, scheduled to be completed in November 2021 was delayed because the site had to be redesigned due to its proximity to the main Keta Sea Port project and other coastal and environmental considerations.



The landing site for Keta with China Harbour and Engineering Company as contractors, is expected to have an administration building, a cold store, a day care centre, a fish market, an ice-making plant, a net mending hall, a premix fuel station, toilet facilities, and a workshop to boost fishing activities.





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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Three African countries, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Mozambique have called on the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) for collaboration and support for the development of cyber security in their respective countries.



The courtesy calls were by leading officials of the cybersecurity institutions of these countries on the side-lines of the Africa Union (AU) - Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) Africa Cyber Experts kick-off meeting in March 2022 in Accra and as part of improving bilateral relations with Ghana.



Within the last five years, Ghana has taken progressive steps towards the development of cybersecurity in the country and these include the ratification of international treaties like the Convention on Cybercrime, also known as the Budapest Convention and the African Union Convention on Cyber Security & Personal Data Protection, also known as the Malabo convention.



Ghana has also ensured the institutionalization of cyber security to foster Regional cooperation through the adoption of the ECOWAS Regional Cyber security Cybercrime Strategy and the Regional Critical Infrastructure (CII) Protection Policy to strengthen Ghanas international response in fighting cybercrime and to improve on cyber security.



Recognizing these and other initiatives, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in its 2020 Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI), rated Ghanas cyber security development at 86.69%, a major progress from previous ratings in 2017 which was 32.6%.



The ratings place Ghana 3rd on the African continent and 43rd globally; a development that has positioned Ghana as a leader in cyber security on the continent and hence a model for other African countries to learn from.



The Ag. Director-General of the CSA, Dr. Albert Antwi-Boasiako, who likened the visits to Ghanas post-independence era, indicated that Ghanas modest but significant cyber security development will be meaningless if other African countries do not develop along the same line as nations are interconnected and cyber insecurity in one country has a real impact on another country.



The CSA, he said, is ready to collaborate and also to learn from other African countries to develop critical areas such as awareness creation, home-grown capacity building and the protection of critical information infrastructure among others.



According to the Ag. Director-General, CSAs mandate on international cooperation is provided under Section 83 of the Cyber Security Act 2020 (Act 1038).



Dr Antwi-Boasiako added that cyber is a global commodity and thus cybercrime can only be combatted through effective international collaborations.



Mozambique



A Mozambiquan delegation of three from the National Information and Communications Technology Institute (INTIC) led by Prof. Lourino Alberto Chemane, Chairman of the Board of the National Information and Communication Technology, expressed their interest in learning from Ghanas experience in cyber security development and in establishing a relationship with the CSA.



The delegation further requested the CSA to guide them through the required guidelines to enable them to ratify the Budapest Convention, which Ghana has already ratified, and to assist Mozambique to implement their Cyber Security Policy and Strategy.



The parties agreed to draft a Memorandum of Understanding for cyber security cooperation between the two countries to initiate collaborations.



The Gambia



A three-man delegation from the Gambia, led by the Managing Director of the Gambia Telecommunications Company Limited, Mr. Lamin A. Tunkara, indicated that they were on a mission to acquire knowledge and to seek partnerships with the CSA.



They expressed confidence in Ghanas efforts in developing cyber security and stated their interest to have some cyber experts from Ghana to visit them in The Gambia and to train their personnel.



The delegation further requested the assistance of Ghana to put in place strategies that will help them to protect their critical information infrastructure.



Both parties agreed that it was necessary for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to be signed between the two institutions to facilitate the engagements.



Sierra Leone



The Deputy Director-General of the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) of Sierra Leone, Mr. Amara Brewah, led a two-man delegation to visit the CSA.



He said they see Ghana as a leader in cyber security development on the continent and want to collaborate and learn from Ghanas experiences.



He expressed their interest to learn more about Ghanas National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) Ecosystem, Protection of Critical Information Infrastructure (CII), Child Online Protection (COP) and the Safer Digital Ghana awareness creation programme.



In order to formalize the discussions, the CSA and the Sierra Leonean delegation agreed to facilitate the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries.



The CSA, through the Ag. Director-General, Dr. Albert Antwi-Boasiako expressed interest to collaborate with NATCOM to support their cyber security development in the areas they had requested.



The Ag. Director-General expressed his appreciation to the delegation for their visit and assured them of CSAs commitment to collaborate and achieve a truly secured and resilient digital Africa.









Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The election of autocratic leaders is threatening fledgling democratic states, especially in Africa.

This was the view shared by speakers at a dialogue on factors contributing to the erosion of democracy in Africa and Europe.



According to them, the emergence of autocratic governments which seek to overstay their terms in office was undermining democracy.



The speakers included the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia; a lecturer at the Department of Communications Studies of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), Dr Lawrencia Agyepong, and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Akwasi Osei-Adjei.



They expressed the views at a roundtable on: Sustaining democracy in the context of erosion: Lessons from Europe and Africa, in Accra.



The event was jointly organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) and the Centre for Democratic Development, Ghana (CDD).



Unbridled control



According to the speakers, such autocratic leaders often desired to have unbridled control over institutions such as the Judiciary and the Legislature, thereby undermining democratic governance.



Such behaviour, they added, had largely contributed to the frequent coups detat that had often destabilised the sub-region, where young people felt let down by their governments for excluding them from the governance process.



When you have elected autocrats, they attack the very institutions that are supposed to help build democracy and help them deliver the goods. Mr Nketia said.



He said elected autocrats used democratic institutions, such as the courts, the media, electoral bodies and the legislature, to kill democracy.

These are institutions that are calibrated in every democracy to regulate the use of power, but these are the very institutions which, when handed to autocrats, begin to compromise and weaken them because they see those institutions as limitations to their power, he said.



Dr Agyepong, for her part, said many young people, with the help of social media, had grown to appreciate that democracy had failed them, hence the need to mobilise and try to fight the system.



She lamented the environment where the courts were perceived to be working in favour of the government.



Democratic sham



Mr Osei-Adjei expressed concern over the way some countries were electing dictators who paraded themselves as democrats but undermined institutions that ensured checks and balances.



It is the checks that will promote democracy, but where we do not have the democratic institutions to check, then our democracy will be a sham, he said.



For his part, a Senior Mediation Advisor to the UN, Dr Emmanuel Bombande, called for holistic reforms of the democratic system in the world.









Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has eulogised the late Central Regional Communications Officer of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Robert Amissah affectionately called Staga for his dedication to the party and his home region.



The Vice President in a post on social media on Monday morning, April 25, 2022, said "Robert has contributed his quota to the party and has served the Region so well."



Staga died Saturday morning, April 23, 2022. He was reported to have suffered asthmatic attack.



Below is Dr Bawumias post



I am saddened by the sudden demise of the Regional Communications Officer of the New Patriotic Party in the Central Region, Mr Robert Amissah, also known as Staga.



His death came as a shock to me and the entire party as he has been deeply involved in the ongoing party reorganization in the Region.



On my personal behalf and that of my wife and family, we express our deepest condolences to his wife, family and the entire party in Central Region.



Robert has contributed his quota to the party and has served the Region so well. Rising through the ranks, Staga has served in the past as Assistant Secretary in Cape Coast North Constituency and became the Regional Communication Director until his untimely death.



The New Patriotic Party in the Central Region would forever remember his contributions as a hardworking officer and a loyal patriot.



May his soul Rest in perfect Peace.





Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ningo-Prampram constituency in the Greater Accra Region says the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is not ready to roll out the implementation of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) from May 1, 2022.

According to Sam Nartey George, the authority has nothing to commence the implementation of their assurance.



They are not ready. What has to be done has not been completely done, he said in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show, 'Ghana Montie'.



Commissioner-General of the GRA, Rev Dr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah has said that all the technologies needed to ensure the successful implementation of the E-Levy have been acquired.



He noted that the only thing left to do is for the Mobile Money Issuers (MMIs) and the Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) which includes Telecommunication Companies (Telcos) and Banks to integrate into the system.



 . . this system is already available and the then application programme interface which is the APIs has also been made available. We have had several engagements with the various stakeholders in terms of what we call the charging entities (The EMIs, the banks, the Telcos) who will be charging the money and transferring the money to the Consolidated Fund through the Ghana.gov platform. And so, what the entities will have to do is to ensure that they have taken the necessary protocols and will be able to interface with the system."



The system is available, the API is available, an end-to-end test has been done successfully with a number of transactions that have gone through successfully without any failure. So we are confident that it beholds on the charging entities to do the integration, he said.



But Sam Nartey George said the Commissioner-General of the GRA, Rev Dr Ammishaddai is throwing dust in the peoples eyes.



You will soon hear the challenges when they commence this policy. They are not ready for this but they wont tell Ghanaians the truth. Youll see the problems. They cant joke with peoples money. It is not right, he told host, Akwasi Aboagye.





Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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As part of initiatives by the United Nations to advance the rights of people of African Descent by promoting recognition, justice, and development, a high-level diaspora forum centered on The Return Mission was held in Accra to advocate the reconnection of Africans in the diaspora.



Vice-President of Ghana, His Excellency, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, speaking at the forum noted that every person of African descent  Afro-descendants has a story with regards to racism, xenophobia, slavery, and colonialism, only they can tell.



According to him, despite developments and civilization all over the world, persons of African descent still struggle to find a sense of belonging as racism, and xenophobia among others increases.



These deep-seated biases still prevail in the world we live. With Afro-descendants struggling to find a sense of belonging in the land where they were born but which rejects them at every turn, he bemoaned.



He appealed that Afro-descendants should not be sidelined in discussions on the advancement on the protection of rights and demand for equity, noting that Africans and Afro-descendants just like every other person in the world deserve protection and fairness.



He further applauded persons of African descent who happen to face yet resist all forms of racial discrimination from all angles and walks of life.



Join me, while I salute every single Afro-descendant who bravely challenged the order of the day by continuing to resist all forms of racial discrimination," Dr. Bawumia said.



The forum was graced by various dignitaries including the Vice-President of Costa Rica, Her Excellency Epsy Campbell Barr, and the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Natalia Kanem.



The forum which was held in Ghanas capital precedes this years International Day for People of African Descent which will be observed on August 31, 2022.























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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Chief Executive Officer of the State Transport Corporation (STC), Nana Akomea, has scolded former President John Dramani Mahama for accusing the Government of Ghana of misappropriating the COVID-19 relief funds.



According to him, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo channelled some 33 billion earmarked to offset the pandemics grave implications into his 2020 re-election bid.



Mr. Mahama added the said amount which should have brought about economic restoration is yet to be accounted for.



Ghanas fate was easy to predict with the cavalier handling of the economy by the current administration. We went into the pandemic without adequate buffers, and have emerged with a terribly battered economy.



To make matters worse, the pandemic windfall of over GH33 billion which could have cushioned the economy remains unaudited and is believed to have been used largely in the quest to win the 2020 elections at all cost, Mr Mahama made these allegations while delivering a keynote address at the 24th African Business Conference organized by the Harvard Business School.



But Nana Akomea finds Mr. Mahama's conduct disgraceful.



Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' Tuesday morning, Nana Akomea asked the former President to substantiate his allegations with concrete evidence proving the government has misused the monies.



He asked Mr. Mahama how he arrived at his assertion, when in his speech, he admitted that the monies haven't yet been audited, hence questioning his logic that 33 billion have been squandered by the government.



"From his own words, he says the money hasn't been audited. A spending that hasn't been audited, how do you come into conclusion that someone has squandered the money? A money that's not audited, how do you come to the conclusion that we have lost the money or used it for elections? How?'' he queried.



To him, it would have made lots of sense if the former President had only requested an audit of the funds, stressing, "that's what any responsible leader will do".



But for him to have jumped into conclusions, Nana Akomea cautioned Ex-President Mahama to "desist from making pronouncements like these because he's made definite pronouncement that someone has squandered the money, used it for elections without providing any evidence . . . A whole former President to be at an international forum and say that, even though we haven't conducted an audit, in your opinion; we have misappropriated the money and that used it for elections without providing any proof, it's disgraceful. It doesn't befit the status of a former President".





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Twitter page of Elon Musk is seen on the screen of a computer in Sausalito, Calif., on Monday, April 25, 2022. On Monday, Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for about $44 billion. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Eric Risberg
Premier John Horgan answers questions during a news conference in the press theatre at the legislature in Victoria, Friday, March 11, 2022. Horgan says he apologizes for "intemperate comments" he made during a heated question period in British Columbia's legislature. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Pittsburg State University is a stop on the 4th Annual Big Kansas Road Trip coming to Bourbon, Cherokee, and Crawford counties May 5-8.

What is the BKRT?

An event designed to provide the public with first-hand experiences with what there is to see, do, hear, taste, buy, and learn in rural communities in those counties  and that includes Pittsburg!

Heres how it works:

People will choose what they want to do and when.



There is no organized caravan or a single itinerary.



A Big Kansas Road Trip color guide will be available at information centers in the three counties, as well as at businesses in those counties.



Visitors also can view it at bigkansasroadtrip.com , where theyll find a list of attractions, events, scenic drives and locally owned restaurants and shops to enjoy during the four days.



"Each person or family can design their road trip around the things they like, said WenDee Rowe, project manager with the Kansas Sampler Foundation, which is organizing it. Some people may just want to do all the mining attractions, and others may want to explore one county per day. Families may have a quest to play on the playground in every town in the three counties. We just want everyone to have a good time exploring."



In other words, come to campus to view art, take in natures beauty, and see the architecture of wonderfully preserved historic buildings as well as awe-inspiring new ones. Stroll meandering sidewalks or jump on the hike-bike trail extending east from the Centennial Bell Tower by Axe Library to the sprawling Kansas Technology Center, where youll see Students Life a sculpture by world-renowned artist Tom Corbin, in the courtyard.



There are dozens of other places on campus to capture Instagram-worthy photos. Worth checking out:



G orilla statues

Pose with one of several statues across campus that embody the universitys unique mascot, the Gorilla! The mascot dates to 1920 and at the time was slang for roughnecks. Today, it represents a symbol of strength.

The Wooster Gorilla, an iconic fiberglass sculpture created in 1965 by the late Larry Wooster, an art instructor, can be seen on the south side of the Overman Student Center facing what is referred to as The Oval.

Champions Plaza boasts an enormous bronze Gorilla statue by Tom Corbin. Its the centerpiece of Champions Plaza in Gorilla Village east of Carnie Smith Stadium and is one of the most visited and photographed places on campus.

The PSU Veterans Memorial

It features a half-sized replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., and more than 3,400 engraved granite pavers, 50 state flags, a reflecting pool, and an eternal flame. The 250-seat amphitheater is a venue for special events including university-hosted Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies in collaboration with the PSU Military Science Department and ROTC. It is open to the public 24 hours a day, year-round.

Public art

The Night Song, a bronze sculpture by award-winning artist Joe Beeler, faces Overman Student Center near Porter Hall, while his sculpture The Healer is at the entrance to the Bryant Student Health Center.

Porter Hall is home to two galleries, the Harry Krug Gallery and the University Gallery, both of which offer frequent exhibitions and artist receptions throughout the year.

Timmons Chapel, which overlooks the picturesque University Lake, is beloved as a setting for special occasions, from weddings to the annual Christmas Concert held since 1968. The gothic design features stone walls, a slate roof, bronze bells cast in Holland, and a pipe organ. Take a walk across the lake on a bridge to see the Galloping Horse of Gansu," a larger-than-life bronze piece. It's a reproduction of an ancient Chinese sculpture made during the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) and was a 100th birthday gift to the University from a dignitary in China.

Two paintings by master artist Birger Sandzen are on permanent display in the lobby of McCray Hall, PSU's historic music building.

"Beethoven," by Andy Warhol, is on permanent display on the second floor of the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts, a $33 million performance space. While visiting the center, be certain to take in the exhibit on display in the art gallery: currently, its a retrospective collection of photographs marking the end of Dr. Steve Scotts 13-year presidency.

The Centennial mural by artist Mark Switlik graces the north side of Mitchell Hall in the courtyard of Lindburg Plaza at the south edge of campus.

Downtown

Pittsburg State also has a presence at Fourth and Broadway, where the university collaborated with the City of Pittsburg and the Vecino Group on an innovative mixed-use space developed in the towns most historic buildings. Its called Block22, and parts are open to the public: the restaurants TOAST and Brick+Mortar Social House, which serve lunch and dinner, and Root Coffeehouse & Creperie, which also has locally made art and locally grown plants for sale.

Beyond Pittsburg State

In Bourbon County, visit the Fort Scott National Historic Site and National Cemetery, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, and the Gordon Parks Museum.

In Cherokee County, visit Big Brutus, mined land wildlife areas, Schermerhorn Park, Tow Mater at Cars on the Route, and Historic Route 66.

In Crawford County, find an eclectic mix of diners and restaurants including several that serve the areas famous fried chicken, parks, Kiddieland amusement park, microbreweries, boutiques and bookstores, mined land wildlife areas, and museums.


888poker LIVE Returns To Barcelona From May 12; Win a Package From $0.01

April 26, 2022 Matthew Pitt Editor

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The 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event first crowned a champion in 2017. Italys Luigi Shehadeh came out on top of a 609-strong field to turn his 1,100 investment into 110,000. The following year saw 709 players buy in who were all outlasted by Romanian grinder Adrian Constantin. He walked away with 114,025 after a heads-up deal with Spains Joel Isla Gonzalo, who secure the exact same payout.

Gabriele Rossi is the reigning champion having taken down this event in June 2019. Rossi, another Italian winner, was the last plyer standing from a field of 551 entrants. He banked a cool 110,000.

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Satellites For Unibet Open Malta Are Live! Win Your Package Today!

April 26, 2022 Matthew Pitt Editor

The ever-popular Unibet Open returns to Malta for the fifth time in September and everything points to it being an incredible stop, not least because this is the 15th season of the Unibet Open in addition to Unibet Poker celebrating its 25th anniversary.

September 29 through October 2 are the dates the InterContinental Hotel in St. Julians will be packed to the rafters with poker players from around Europe. The five-star hotel features a trio of swimming pools, a fantastic spa, and even a private beach for visitors to enjoy. Winning a 2,000 Unibet Open Malta package awards you four nights in this amazing hotel in addition to money towards travel expenses, free dinner each night of the event, access to the Players Party, and Unibet merchandise.

Satellites for the 2,000 Unibet Open Malta package are in the Unibet Poker lobby now and they continue running right through to September 18, just 11 days before the tournament begins. Head to the tournament lobby right now and win your way into the weekly 250 buy-in final from as little as 0.01

Alan Carr Captures Unibet Open Malta Main Event Title

Past Unibet Open Malta Champions

Unibet Open Malta first ran in 2011 and saw Dutchman Mateusz Moolhuizen outlast 292 opponents to return home with 117,000.

Five years later, Martin Soukup of the Czech Republic came out on top and win the 65,000 top prize. That was Soukups first recorded Hendon Mob cash but he later went on to triumph in the 2019 Unibet Open Sinaia Main Event in Romania!

Daniel Jacobsen won the Unibet Open Malta Main Event in 2018 for 60,090 but it is Alan Carr who is the reigning champion having come out on top of a record-breaking 327-strong field in 2019.

Year Entrants Prize pool Champion Prize 2011 293 417,525 Mateusz Moolhuizen 117,000 2016 292 292,000 Martin Soukup 65,000 2018 273 273,000 Daniel Jacobsen 60,090 2019 327 327,000 Alan Carr 53,400

Unibet Poker Launches All Encompassing GameLab Feature

Nataly Sopacuaperu, Unibet Opens Head of Events, said: Were really looking forward to our return trip to Malta in September. Malta is one of our favourite destinations and our festivals there always have an amazing atmosphere. September is also the perfect time of year to visit Malta; its lovely weather and still warm enough to sit outside and soak up the sun!

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PokerNews Podcast Special Edition: Bryn Kenney Addresses Cheating Allegations

April 26, 2022 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S.

In a special edition of the PokerNews Podcast, Sarah Herring is joined by poker's all-time money winner Bryn Kenney, who addresses recent cheating allegations leveled by Martin Zamani.

Time Stamps

Time Topic 00:24 Welcome to the show 01:11 Disclaimer: Sarah & Bryn have prior friendship 02:20 Bryn Kenney joins the show 03:55 What does it mean to have a stable? 06:15 How did you choose people for your stable? How did you manage it? 11:20 Relationship with Martin Zamani  what went wrong? 17:00 What led to falling out with Zamani 19:10 Horses colluding in satellites? 28:18 Could you see Zamanis screen? 26:43 Why does image of your screen show Team Viewer and Nord VPN? 28:58 No time to coach; would connect potential students with others 29:25 Relationship with Sergi Reixach 31:20 Was Sergi ghosting for Zamani 34:15 Have you ever witness Zamani, Reixach or anyone using RTA? 35:45 What was your reaction to Reixach being banned from GGPoker? 37:02 Getting into the Lauren Roberts stuff 42:44 What happened with Lauren? Why the falling out? 52:00 Horses helped start satellites but not instructed to do anything nefarious 52:23 Relationship with GGPoker 54:20 Have you ever ghosted on Lauren Roberts or anyone elses account? 55:26 Why did you leave GGPoker? 56:40 Is it true people would be dropped down in stakes if they didnt do what you said? 57:55 What the hell is up with the frog poison situation? 59:20 Was there a romantic element with Lauren Roberts? 59:53 Why do you have Team Viewer on your laptop? 1:00:50 Why continue to invest in Lauren if she was a losing player? 1:02:08 Why did Lauren end up owing you money as you claim? 1:03:08 Kenney denies ever playing on or ghosting Laurens account 1:04:30 Tell us about your shaman 1:05:25 Why continue the friendship with Lauren for so long? 1:06:11 Can you elaborate on your relationship with GGPoker? 1:08:50 Is there bad blood between you and Doug Polk? 1:11:20 If you could go back what, if anything, would you do differently?

Tell us who you want to hear from. Let us know what you think of the show  tweet about the podcast using #PNPod, and be sure to follow Sarah Herring and Chad Holloway on Twitter.

Subscribe to the PokerNews Podcast on Apple Podcasts here!

Check Out Past Episodes of the PN Podcast Here!

Sharelines PN Pod: Sarah Herring (@AuntyChardonnay) is joined by @BrynKenney who addresses cheating allegations.
The history of Aikens Jewish community is an important part of the citys past, Steve Silver told the Rotary Club of Aiken during the organizations meeting Monday at Newberry Hall.

Its also, Silver said, a story about a culture of tolerance and inclusiveness, which is a part of the attractiveness of this town to everyone who lives here, Jewish or not.

Silver is a member of the board of directors of the Adath Yeshurun synagogue, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of its charter in March.

+5 Generac expanding, ramping up operations in Trenton Generac Power Systems is expanding and ramping up operations at its manufacturing, assembly and distribution center in Trenton.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the observance was delayed by a year.

In addition, Silver is the curator of A Source of Light, an exhibit about Aikens Jewish community that will be open through May 22 at the Aiken County Historical Museum.

The earliest known reference to the local Jewish community dates back to the 1850s, according to a video played by Silver for his Rotary Club audience.

During the 1890s, the first Jewish-owned merchant stores opened their doors to customers in Aiken.

By the 1950s, there were more than 20 Jewish-owned merchant stores here, the videos narrator stated.

In all, more than 50 Jewish-owned stores in Aiken were identified as part of the research that went into developing 'A Source of Light,' Silver said.

They included Julias Dress Shop, Rudnicks Furniture, Franzblaus Hardware and Laurel Hardware.

In more recent times, competition from big box retailers caused the number of Jewish-owned business in Aiken to decline.

Silver also talked about some of Aikens prominent Jewish citizens.

+5 Increase in Aiken County's property taxes 'certainly possible,' County Council chairman says An increase in Aiken Countys property taxes is certainly possible for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, said County Council Chairman Gary Bunker o

Jewish residents here kept their distinct identity, but were accepted and eventually became leaders in the broader Aiken community, Silver said.

Mandle Surasky, who died in 1986, was a two-term Aiken mayor in the 1940s and also served as president of the Aiken Chamber of Commerce.

Nathan Persky, who died in 1965, was the chairman of the local Board of Health and a strong supporter of the Boy Scouts of America.

His store in Aiken was the place to get Boy Scout uniforms and supplies, Silver said.

All children who went to Perskys business to shop ended up with what they needed, even if their parents couldn't afford it, Silver added.

Irene Rudnick, who died in 2019, was the Superintendent of Education for Aiken County. She also was the first woman elected to South Carolinas legislature, according to the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina.

As a member of the House of Representatives, Rudnick served District 81 for many years.

She helped found USC Aiken and was an attorney.

Following Rudnicks death, S.C. Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, described Rudnick as a legend in this area and in the General Assembly of South Carolina.

Often leadership in the General Assembly and citizens of this area used her as an example of fairness and inclusion, Clyburn said.
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An undocumented immigrant was arrested in North Augusta on Friday in connection to the sexual assault of a North Augusta minor.

Bryan Antonio Perez Pineda, 25, is charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 11 years of age in the first degree.

On Jan. 1, 2020, police met with the complainant who stated the victim was sexually abused by the suspect, according to an incident report obtained from the North Augusta Department of Public Safety.

The complainant stated the suspect lived with her between August 2016 and April 2020 and was deported twice during that time period but "made it back to North Augusta," according to the report.

One of the suspect's friends was using his phone and found videos of him engaging in oral sex with the victim, according to the report. The friend sent the videos to the complainant before he was deported himself, according to the report.
PERRY  Newcomers to eastern Aiken County may have experienced a cloud-level surprise during the past week, with dozens of gliders taking part in an annual competition featuring motor-free aircrafts from around the country.

Businessman Allison Tyler is always in the thick of the action, having helped organize Aiken County's first such event in 1999 at "Perry International Airport" (elevation 438), which has played host to a variety of international pilots over the decades. He and his wife, Rhonda, run the show and live on the property.

About 220 acres are dedicated to a grassy airstrip that draws dozens of motor homes, vans, pickup trucks, tents and  most importantly  gliders each spring, with license plates indicating such points of origin as New Hampshire, Texas, California, New York, Virginia, Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas, all in association with the Soaring Society of America.

This year's event ran April 18-23, with dozens of pilots testing their ability to find and benefit from "thermals"  columns of rising air to help aircraft stay aloft as long as possible, in the style of buzzards, eagles and other birds that can stay aloft with a minimum of effort. Sunny days are a must, although clouds can sometimes be helpful in terms of finding the best route possible.

Rosalita Kirkland, who lives a few steps from the airport, added, "It's good for the community, because they support local businesses. They go out to eat at the local restaurants, so that definitely helps ... Everybody's super-friendly, so it doesn't upset anybody's way of life."

Allison shed some light on the event's background. "The first one was an informal get-together in 1999. The first meet was in 2000," he said, recalling that the same competition was held in Chester, until problems arose regarding air traffic around nearby Charlotte, North Carolina.

Chester's loss was Perry's gain. The Tylers stepped in, and pilots who "were trying to escape the winter could come to South Carolina around Easter and fly gliders," he said.

The gathering now involves a maximum of 65 aircraft, representing top-ranked performers of SSA Region 5 North, as well as a few fliers from around the rest of the United States, with 10 regions spread around the country. Pilots can cover hundreds of miles in one flight without an engine aside from the one that pulls them up (via cable)

"The fastest guy around the course wins," he said, noting that competitors are spread among four classes, divided on the basis of size (wingspan). Gliders themselves, largely composed of fiberglass, carbon fiber and Kevlar, are attached to a tow rope, pulled behind a motorized airplane and released at a height of about 2,000 feet. The rest is up to the glider pilots and their ability to make the most of what technology, weather and time will allow.

Among last week's competitors was Jim Frantz, of Salem, Virginia.

"I've been flying since I was a teenager, and I love to fly," he said, noting that highlights of the Perry event include "the freedom of soaring like a bird, and doing it with a lot of your friends from all over the country who have a similar passion."

South Carolina's springtime, he said, offers nice conditions, as "the weather's nice here, and it's starting to warm up and the thermals are good and there are lots of places to land if you happen to get low and cannot get back to the home airport, at Perry."

"Old" is a key word in describing the pilots, Allison said.

"The aviation community in the United States is a bunch of old, gray-haired guys. There's a handful of young people, but the average age of the competitors here is probably in the 60s. It's not a sport that's easy to get into. You have to have a pilot's license and you have to assemble them. It's a lot of work to get out here and compete, and you have to have a lot of knowledge of the weather and other things."

Pilots and pets also tend to go together, in Allison's assessment. He pointed out that the annual event includes substantial donations to help Friends of the Animal Shelter, an organization helping keep the Aiken County Animal Shelter in relatively good shape.

Airport neighbor Cody Brodie described Allison as "super-enthusiastic" regarding the sport, and added, "The gliders are kind of sneaky. You just see them all of a sudden, and it's like, 'Oh, cool! There's one.'"

Dianne Keadle, who also lives next to the airport, said many participants approach the competition as a family event. "I guess that's their family vacation. They bring their dogs, bring their RVs, and they just go down there and have like a cookout ... fairly often, and I'm sure most of those people have been coming for years and years and years," she said.

It means substantial amount of work, Allison said. He recalled a comment he made when he first bought the property, in 1978, hoping that he would be able to cover the airstrip in grass before he was, himself, beneath the sod. "I've almost got it covered in grass," he said.
TORETSK, UKRAINE  Russia pounded eastern and southern Ukraine on Tuesday as the U.S. promised to "keep moving heaven and earth" to get Kyiv the weapons it needs to repel the new offensive, despite Moscow's warnings that such support could trigger a wider war.

For the second day in a row, explosions rocked the separatist region of Trans-Dniester in neighboring Moldova, knocking out two powerful radio antennas close to the Ukrainian border and further heightening fears of a broader conflict erupting across Europe. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukraine all but blamed Russia.

Russian missile fire also knocked out a strategic railroad bridge along a route that links southern Ukraine's Odesa port region to neighboring Romania, a NATO member, Ukrainian authorities said.

The attack on the bridge  along with a series of strikes on key railroad stations a day earlier  appears to mark a major shift in Russia's approach. Up to now, Moscow has spared strategic bridges, perhaps in hopes of keeping them for its own use in seizing Ukraine. But now it seems to be trying to thwart Ukraine's efforts to move troops and supplies.

Southern Ukraine and Moldova have been on edge since a senior Russian military officer said last week that the Kremlin's goal is to secure not just eastern Ukraine but the entire south, so as to open the way to Trans-Dniester.

Two months into the devastating war, Western arms have helped Ukraine stall Russia's invasion, but the country's leaders have said they need more support fast.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that more help is on the way as he convened a meeting of officials from around 40 countries at the U.S. air base at Ramstein, Germany, to pledge more weapons.

"This gathering reflects the galvanized world," Austin said in his opening remarks. He added that he wanted officials to leave the meeting "with a common and transparent understanding of Ukraine's near-term security requirements because we're going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them."

After unexpectedly fierce resistance by Ukrainian forces thwarted Russia's attempt to take Ukraine's capital early in the war, Moscow now says its focus is the capture of the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region in eastern Ukraine.

In the small city of Toretsk in the Donbas, residents are struggling to survive, collecting rainwater for washing up and fervently hoping for an end to the fighting.

"It's bad. Very bad. Hopeless," said Andriy Cheromushkin. "You feel so helpless that you don't know what you should do or shouldn't do. Because if you want to do something, you need some money, and there is no money now."

In its latest assessment of the fighting, the British Defense Ministry reported Russian advances and heavy fighting in the Donbas, with one town, Kreminna, apparently falling after days of street-by-street fighting.

In the gutted southern port city of Mariupol, authorities said Russian forces hit the Azovstal steel plant with 35 airstrikes over the past 24 hours. The plant is the last known stronghold of Ukrainian fighters in the city. About 1,000 civilians were said to be taking shelter there with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders.

"Russia has drastically intensified strikes over the past 24 hours and is using heavy bunker bombs," said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol's mayor. "The number of those wounded will be clear once the rubble is cleared."

He also accused Russian forces of shelling a route it had offered as an escape corridor from the steel mill.

Beyond Mariupol, local officials said at least nine people were killed and several more wounded in Russian attacks on towns and cities in eastern and southern Ukraine. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region of the Donbas, said on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces "continue to deliberately fire at civilians and to destroy critical infrastructure."

Ukraine also said Russian forces shelled Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, which lies in the northeast, outside the Donbas, but is seen as key to Russia's apparent bid to encircle Ukrainian troops in the Donbas from the north, east and south.

Ukrainian forces struck back in the Kherson region in the south, while Oleksandr Kamyshin, head of the state-run Ukrainian railway, said there were no injuries in the Russian attack on the bridge in the Odesa region.

It was not clear who was behind the blasts in Trans-Dniester, but the attacks gave rise to fears that Russia was stirring up trouble so as to create a pretext to intervene. About 1,500 Russian troops are based in Trans-Dniester, a long, narrow strip of land with about 470,000 people along the Ukrainian border.

With the potentially pivotal battle for the east underway, the U.S. and its NATO allies are scrambling to deliver artillery and other heavy weaponry in time to make a difference.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said her government will supply Gepard self-propelled armored anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has faced mounting pressure to send heavy weapons such as tanks and other armored vehicles.

Austin noted that more than 30 allies and partners have joined the U.S. in sending military aid to Ukraine and that more than $5 billion worth of equipment has been committed.

The U.S. defense secretary said the war has weakened Russia's military, adding, "We would like to make sure, again, that they don't have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict."

A senior Kremlin official, Nikolai Patrushev, warned that "the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned that if the Western flow of weapons continues, the talks aimed at ending the fighting will not produce any results.

A day earlier, Lavrov accused NATO of "pouring oil on the fire" with its support for Ukraine. He also warned against provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict "should not be underestimated."

"A nuclear war cannot be won and it shouldn't be fought," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby responded in an interview with CNN. "That kind of rhetoric is clearly not called for in the current scenario. What is called for is Mr. Putin ending this war."

Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting also continued. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticized Russia's military action in Ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbor's territorial integrity.

Guterres urged Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped in the steel plant in Mariupol. Putin said that Ukrainian troops were using civilians in the plant as shields and not allowing them to leave.

___

Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalist Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, David Keyton in Kyiv, Oleksandr Stashevskyi at Chernobyl, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.
Two upstart airlines will compete head to head this summer with nonstop flights between Charleston and the theme-park-studded Orlando market.

Utah-based Breeze Airways will offer daily flights to the home of Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort and other tourist attractions starting June 23, while Houston-based Avelo Airlines will launch service three times a week on June 30.

Both carriers will offer one-way introductory fares starting at $39. Breeze flights must be booked by May 2. Avelo's must be booked by May 3. Avelo matched Breeze's rate April 26 after earlier announcing a higher initial fare. Blackout dates and other fees may apply for both airlines.

While Breeze will offer daily service to central Florida, Avelo's flights will operate on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Fort Lauderdale-based Silver Airways also operates flights from Charleston to Orlando on Monday and Friday.

"We went ... to 10 more flights a week," from two airlines offering new service, said Charleston International Airport liaison Gary Edwards.

Airport CEO Elliott Summey called the additional air service "a win for the community" since the carriers provide more access to families wanting to visit Disney and other parks in the Orlando area.

Avelo also will launch its initial service from Charleston on May 5 to its East Coast base in New Haven, Conn. The two-hour flight will be offered on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. On May 28, a Saturday route will be added.

Avelo began flying last April, with initial flights to several West Coast destinations from its flight operations base at Hollywood Burbank Airport near Los Angeles.

Last November, the carrier set up it first East Coast base at Tweed New Haven Airport in the Constitution State with flights to six destinations in Florida.

The airline started flying shortly before low-cost competitor Breeze inaugurated service with its first flight from Charleston last May. Breeze's Orlando route will be its 19th nonstop destination from the Lowcountry, its largest base of operations.

Avelo will be the second new air service provider landing in the Lowcountry this spring.

Sun Country Airlines began offering twice-weekly flights between Charleston and its home base of Minneapolis on April 7. Those flights run on Thursday and Sunday.

Other carriers serving Charleston include Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest and United.
The Mercedes-Benz Vans plant that builds Sprinter commercial vehicles in North Charleston is now home to South Carolina's first renewable natural gas project on an industrial level.

The company said during an April 26 event that it is using energy provided by Charleston-based GreenGasUSA to maintain building and water temperatures and humidity levels at the van plant's paint shop. The renewable fuel source is replacing fossil natural gas that was previously used at the Palmetto Commerce Park site.

"Sustainability is a core pillar in our plant strategy, Axel Bense, president & CEO of Mercedes-Benz Vans, said in a written statement.

Bense said the renewable energy initiative is part of the van maker's goal of becoming carbon-neutral in its manufacturing processes. The North Charleston site is the first among all Mercedes-Benz plants worldwide to utilize renewable natural gas.

"Mercedes-Benz Vans is committed to continuously improving our environmental footprint, he said. "The use of this renewable natural gas is one more element that will help us to further reduce carbon emissions from our plant."

The gas comes from vegetable waste that decomposes in lagoons at McCall Farms in Effingham. GreenGasUSA has installed equipment to capture methane from the lagoons and then processes the gas to meet the heat content and chemical makeup standards of pipeline natural gas. The fuel is then transported from Florence County to a hub in Georgetown County, where it is injected into a pipeline for distribution to customers throughout the Carolinas.

Connecting local agriculture with global industries on the basis of shared values around sustainable business practices is at the heart of our values and mission, GreenGasUSA owner Marc Fetten said in a written statement.

The project is reducing environmental impacts while strengthening the state's agriculture industry, said Hugh Weathers, South Carolina's agriculture commissioner. The family-owned McCall Farms sources about 700 million pounds of produce a year from area farmers to produce canned vegetables under brands such as Veg-All and Glory Foods.

This innovative project shows us the path to a more sustainable future, Weathers said.

Mercedes-Benz Vans will start production in North Charleston next summer of the eSprinter 2.0  an electrified model of the popular commercial van designed on the same platform as the the current diesel option. It will be the first time U.S. customers will have a chance to buy the e-version, which is already available in Europe.

About $60 million so far has been invested in the factory  with more to come  to get the local assembly line ready to handle both diesel- and electric-powered vans. Also, body shop and production crew members are being sent to the van makers headquarters in Dusseldorf, Germany, for training.

In addition to the Sprinter, the North Charleston plant reassembles mid-sized Metris vans that Mercedes-Benz ships to South Carolina from its German factory. The site employs roughly 1,600 workers and directly supports about 600 more jobs through suppliers.
A new restaurant hoping to evoke a blended beach culture of South America and Southern California is on the way to an iconic downtown Charleston building.

Bartaco, based in Arlington, Va., plans to open at 304 King St., according to company CEO and co-founder Scott Lawton.

"I've had my eyes set on Charleston for many years," Lawton said. "It's such a vibrant city  the great weather, charming architecture, unbeatable culinary scene and friendly neighbors."

The company hasn't set an opening timeframe but he said "we're looking forward to bringing our bold flavors and refreshing cocktails to an already flourishing culinary city. We cant wait to meet our neighbors and get to know the community."

The company's website describes its offerings as "upscale street food with a coastal vibe in a relaxed environment" while patrons enjoy juices, cocktails and bottled beer.

"Bartaco evokes a visit to a stylish beach resort," the restaurant's website proclaims.

Founded in 2010, the restaurant doesn't refer to itself as a Mexican eatery or a chain, but it has 22 locations in 11 states and the District of Columbia offering tacos, soups, salads, rice bowls and desserts, among other dishes.

The building, with its arched entrance, once housed King Street Grille before it closed in 2016.

Site plans for the downtown location show a two-story restaurant and bar with an eye toward some added woodworking elements to the facade. The building is currently mostly gutted.

An affiliate of Manhattan-based Gindi Capital bought the structure in March 2021 for $2.66 million. The New York commercial real estate firm later applied for permission to add a rooftop bar but withdrew the request.

The building, which is almost across from the Apple store, dates back to around 1898. Its housed a variety of businesses, according to Historic Charleston Foundation archives.

Built by Albert Sottile, it started as Riddocks Arcade, which had a soda shop. Around 1913 it became a movie house called Princess Theater. That lasted until 1927 when it became the Louis D. Rubin Electrical Co. By 1934, it was called Carolina Electric Co. and Picketts House of Music.

The longest operating business at the site was Southern Furniture Co., which lasted from 1936-1972. In 1972, it became LeRoys Jewelers, and in 1997 Sonoma Cafe & Winery opened. King Street Grille launched in 2003.
CAYCE  A Cayce police officer shot and killed early the morning of April 24 was the victim of a calculated attack, authorities said.

Officer Roy "Drew" Barr, 27, was killed instantly after a man fired a single shot from a rifle in a second-floor window of a Cayce home, Police Chief Chris Cowan told reporters April 26.

"He was murdered  there is no ifs, ands or buts about that," Cowan said.

Authorities were called to the home on Rossmore Drive at 2:48 a.m. after being told that a man, Austin Henderson, had pointed a rifle at his wife and 3-year-old daughter.

The first officer arrived one minute later, followed closely by Barr. Henderson took up a position with his rifle in a second floor window and tracked officers as they arrived, Cowan said.

As police handcuffed a separate man in the front yard for questioning, Henderson fired one shot from the window, killing Barr instantly, Cowan said.

Officers tried to move Barr to cover and at some point, a second shot was fired from the house, Cowan said. Officers transferred Barr to an ambulance at the entrance to the subdivision, and he was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Henderson, 36, barricaded himself in the house after Barr was shot and moved his wife and child into a closet, police said. After negotiators with Columbia Police Department made contact with Henderson, he eventually released the woman and child to police.

As negotiations continued and SWAT teams from the Lexington County Sheriff's Department and S.C. Law Enforcement Division took up positions around the house, officers heard a single gunshot and found Henderson had died by suicide, according to a Cayce police incident report.

The person Barr and the other officer had detained in the front yard was a family friend who left the house when the dispute inside began, Cowan said. There had been a party at the home most of the day, the chief said.

Cowan addressed reporters the afternoon of April 26 alongside other law enforcement leaders from throughout the Midlands but didn't take questions. A Cayce spokeswoman referred ongoing inquiries about the investigation to SLED, which is handling the case at Cayce's request.

Plywood windows covered the second-floor windows of the home on Rossmore Drive two days after the shooting, and black mailbox was uprooted and lying on its side.

Cayce also released reports from two days police responded to the home on Rossmore Drive in 2020. Police visited the home in January 2020 in reference to someone with mental health issues and again in October 2020 in what was described as a family dispute, with Barr responding to that call and writing the report. Identifying information and much of the details about the incidents were redacted in the documents the city released.

Barr had been with the department since 2016 and had previously worked as a certified EMT in Lexington County and as a volunteer firefighter in Monetta.

Barr worked first as a patrol officer and traffic safety officer and had been promoted to a canine handler in October 2020, Cowan said. In the week before he died, Barr had talked to a supervisor about how he could continue to advance his career, Cowan said.

A funeral service will be held in Batesburg-Leesville High School's fine arts center at 5 p.m. on April 28, followed by a graveside service at Mt. Ebal Baptist Church in Batesburg-Leesville.
COLUMBIA  The state Department of Education came. They saw. And they decided not to slap the Richland One School District with a fiscal watch designation after a weekslong probe into the districts handling of fraud allegations against a former employee.

South Carolinas ninth-largest school system will avoid that label and the heightened state scrutiny that comes with it, according to an April 25 letter to district leaders from state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman.

The Saluda Republican scolded Richland One for waiting six months to report the matter to law enforcement but praised the districts commitment to making improvements.

The Districts failure to report the fraudulent activity to law enforcement in a timely manner is unacceptable, Spearman wrote. To ensure the publics trust, any future finding or suspicion of fraudulent activity must be reported to law enforcement immediately.

The district agreed to do that moving forward.

"Law enforcement will be notified at the point of suspected criminal actions," spokeswoman Karen York wrote in an April 25 statement.

The Education Department began taking a closer look at Richland Ones financial controls in late March. That came about a week after The Post and Courier first reported on a Columbia Police Department investigation into allegations that a former Richland One purchasing official had swindled more than $41,000 in public funds from the district.

That story revealed Richland One had allowed a procurement manager to resign in May 2021 amid accusations he spent public money on unauthorized hotel stays, an improper monthslong rental of a 2020 GMC Yukon SUV and a fraudulent no-bid purchase of COVID-19 supplies.

The article also pointed out concerns  raised by a parents group and Richland Ones own internal auditor  about how employees spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with their government credit cards.

The Education Department initially indicated Richland One would be placed on fiscal watch no matter what. State law requires that when a districts finances become the subject of an ongoing law enforcement investigation, officials reasoned.

But upon reviewing the law further, Education Department officials determined that fiscal watch designations are only required for districts that are under state or federal investigations, Spearman wrote in her April 25 letter.

Since the Richland One investigation is led by a municipal police department, no fiscal watch is required, she said.

Still, the threat of fiscal watch prompted several meetings and phone calls between state and district officials, as well as an April 8 one-page letter from Richland One Superintendent Craig Witherspoon outlining steps the district took to address the alleged fraud.

The Education Department came away convinced that Richland One had put financial controls in place to prevent a similar incident. But the agency wasnt satisfied with the districts explanation as to why it waited six months  until November 2021  to report the matter to Columbia police, who then launched an ongoing investigation. In a previous story, a district spokeswoman had blamed the failure on Richland Ones former director of security.

Spearman said her agencys meetings and communications from Richland One show the District understands the issues that led to the intent letter and has committed to making the change necessary to ensure they do not take place in the future.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.
GEORGETOWN  Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver will ask the County Council for eight new deputies and a pay raise for the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office next year during a meeting on April 26.

A report Weaver put together for council said the sheriff's office has not added any patrol or investigative officers in 15 years even as calls for service rose by nearly 40 percent from 2006 to 2020.

In 2006, a Georgetown County patrol deputy handled 725 calls for service for the year on average. That number was 843 in 2016, and jumped to 1,000 in 2020. Eight deputies would be necessary to get back to an average of 843, taking 2020 call numbers into account.

Im still working with 15-year ago (personnel) numbers, and weve grown exponentially since then, Weaver told Georgetown Times.

Weaver said that he wants two more deputies per patrol shift to keep up with growing residential development and tourism in the county's unincorporated areas.

After that, adding three total new deputies per year starting in mid-2025 would bring the department total to 100 by 2030, staying on par with growth in unincorporated Georgetown County.

Weaver said he did not get eight new patrol deputies requested last year.

I want a formula in place on what point do we get to as we move in the future where we automatically add additional deputies, he said.

Between salaries and equipment, the request has a total price tag of $10.1 million through 2030 if the council goes forward with the plan to bring the office to 100 deputies funded by the county's law enforcement fund.

Weaver said he also will ask for a 10 percent across-the-board pay increase for the office on April 26, something he said is necessary to keep the sheriff's office competitive in the hiring market. The office's salary budget for fiscal 2022 was just over $4 million.

The Sheriff's Office is the primary responding law enforcement agency for Georgetown County's unincorporated areas that comprise 804 of the county's 815 square miles on land and 52,000 of its 63,000 residents.

Weaver's report estimates that, taking rental and seasonal properties and hotel rooms into account, 80,000 to 100,000 people could be within county borders on any given day.

The report further notes that while the county overall saw a total growth rate of 5.4 percent between 2010 and 2020, its unincorporated areas saw 8.2 percent growth.

Eight additional deputies would bring the office in line with the International City/County Management Association's Rule of 60. The Rule of 60, which the report notes is used by the Horry County Police Department, recommends 60 percent of officers assigned to patrol spending no more than 60 percent of their time on calls for service and spending no more than 60 minutes on each call.

Georgetown County spokesman Randy Akers declined comment on the sheriff's budget requests.
Williamsburg County attorney Billy Jenkinson wanted to make sure he had the attention of every person in the room at the county council meeting April 19 when he walked up to the podium to address council, by saying he was going to talk about money.

Specifically, Jenkinson was going to talk about the more than $800,000 the county receives in vehicle registration fees. The legality of the fees had been threatened in a lawsuit filed in October. Jenkinson said that the county will no longer need to worry about having access to the funds as the lawsuit had been dropped. The money generated by the fees isused to help maintain roads owned by the county.

These vehicle registration fees, also known as "road maintenance fees" have been a target of a class-action lawsuit against counties across the state after a June 2021 State Supreme Court case (Burns vs. Greenville County) decided that similar fees were illegal in Greenville County.

The announcement received applause from County Council with Councilwoman Sue Ham joking that Jenkinson is owed a catfish dinner from the County Supervisor.

Josh Rhodes, the deputy executive director and general counsel for the South Carolina Association of Counties said the Supreme Court case only applied to the fees in Greenville County.

Other counties fees are imposed, specifically to those counties," Rhodes said. "So just because Greenville's are invalid doesn't mean Williamsburg's are. Rhodes added he had not yet spoken to Jenkinson at the time of the interview so he does not know the specific reasons for the lawsuit being dropped.

Jenkinsons announcement came at the end of an address to council. Jenkinson said in his speech that he and the litigating attorney had a conversation about Williamsburg County settling the case, in which the plaintiffs asked for 10 times the amount collected since the fee was imposed. Jenkinson said he told the attorney that if he found the county the money, they would settle the case. The next conversation the two had, the attorney told Jenkinson they would be dropped from the case, Jenkinson told council.

Had the county not been able to impose those fees, the county would be in worse shape than it already is for its 2022-23 budget. We would be in a mess because we have no ability to raise taxes, Jenkinson said, adding that if the county had to pay, it would "bankrupt our county."

The county wouldn't be able to raise taxes to pay for the lawsuit because of a 2008 law that stated counties cant raise taxes unless they have a growing population and a rising consumer price index. Williamsburg County is losing population and therefore cant raise taxes.

Even if the county could raise taxes, the county would just be taxing the people that would be getting the money from the lawsuit, Rhodes said.

Essentially, the argument these people are making is, you took this fee out of my left pocket, so I want you to take 10 times out of my right pocket and put it back in my left pocket, Rhodes continued. Which doesn't make much sense.

One potential reason the lawsuit was dropped was because of a bill currently going through the General Assembly that would amend the legal test that the Supreme Court used to decide the Burns case. The bill, S.984, removes made available to the payer that benefits the payer in some manner different from the members of the general public not paying the fee from the original 1976 law. That clause was cited as a key point in the decision by the court.

Rhodes said the bill, which was passed by the Senate in early April, doesnt throw out the case, it helps with the defense of the fees.

It basically puts counties back in the position they were before the Burns decision of 2021, Rhodes added.

Williamsburg County will continue to impose the fee, which for 2021-22 was set at $30. The county is expected to bring in $838,000 in the 2022-23 fiscal year in road and bridge maintenance fees.

The authority to impose user fees has never been a question. That's not what were talking about here. That authority is a completely different section of law, that was not a part of this lawsuit that came up last year, Rhodes said. So their authority and the legality of imposing fees, is not in question. What's in question is the [legal] test that a county must use when analyzing whether a tax is appropriate, or a fee is appropriate.
A man and woman charged in a child sex trafficking case involving a Mount Pleasant businessman and a 17-year-old girl have pleaded guilty to federal charges.

Jessica Michelle Mills and Cederick Riley admitted April 26 in U.S. District Court they conspired to traffic a minor for sex, a federal offense that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The U.S. Attorneys Office dismissed one count of sex trafficking a minor as a part of the defendant's plea agreements, records show. Authorities also dismissed a firearm possession charge pending against Riley.

No agreed sentence was reached in the cases. U.S. District Court Judge David Norton said sentencing hearings would be held at a later date.

Mills, 30, and Riley, 34, were arrested last fall on allegations they recruited a 17-year-old girl into the commercial sex trade, using drugs and threats of violence to entrap the girl in the lifestyle.

Authorities say Earl Dawson Caldwell IV, a wealthy Mount Pleasant businessman, was one of the girl's clients, providing her with money, drugs and clothing in return for sex at locations across the Lowcountry.

Caldwell, 52, is also accused of videotaping sexual encounters he and others had with the girl.

Mills sat at her plea hearing dressed in a blue-and-white striped jumpsuit. Her wrists were handcuffed and tied to a metal chain around her waist.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Carra Henderson detailed the cases at the defendants' hearings:

Mills met the girl at a crack house in either Beaufort or Jasper counties, afterward teaching the girl how to make money by selling sex through online advertisements.

Mills and the girl used the pseudonym "Red and Blue," a reference to their dyed hair colors, in the online ads.

Henderson read messages Mills wrote in February 2021 telling the girl that, if they were caught, the girl would suffer a minor penalty while Mills would be in more significant trouble.

Riley met the girl while she was living with Mills.

Riley had a romantic relationship with the victim, though the defendant was abusive, Henderson said. Riley gave the girl, who struggled with addiction, drugs in exchange for having sex with men.

A slew of recorded voice messages between Riley and Caldwell from 2021 were also read at his plea hearing. Riley said in the conversation the girl owed him and Caldwell money.

I will make her go back to work until I get me my money, Henderson quoted Riley as saying.

The judge asked at Riley's court hearing if the defendant received any money the girl made from performing sex acts.

His defense attorney responded: He does agree to getting the money.

Federal authorities first became aware of the sex trafficking in April 2021 after the girl visited a Georgia hospital for appendicitis. The girl revealed to hospital staff she was forced to have sex with 10 to 15 men a day.

Riley and Caldwell visited the girl while she was in the hospital.

Authorities said the two men were also seen on surveillance cameras escorting the girl in-and-out of hotels in Hardeeville and Yemassee after she was released from the hospital, Henderson said.

A nurse from the hospital called a sex-trafficking hotline to report the encounter. Two days later the girl was rescued from the Yemassee hotel.

Mills and Rileys plea hearings came a day after state officials announced the arrest of 13 people on prostitution charges as part of a commercial sex sting.

Though a person may appear to willingly engage in sex, that is not always true, officials said at the conference. They urged victims of trafficking to get in contact with law enforcement.

Caldwell remains charged with sexual exploitation of a child, conspiracy to sex traffic a child and two counts of sexually trafficking a child.

All three defendants remain held at Charleston County jail.
COLUMBIA  Gov. Henry McMaster said he will support an effort by Columbia senator and former S.C. Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian to impose harsher sentences for illegal gun possession following a string of high-profile shootings around South Carolina.

In an April 26 statement, McMaster, a Republican and the state's former attorney general, said he would back the Democrat's proposal to impose mandatory minimum sentences of at least one year for first- time offenders.

The move comes after a quick series of shootings in Richland, Greenville, Charleston and Hampton counties that left dozens injured and several dead, including an elementary school student killed by a classmate, and a Cayce police officer.

If the plan is passed, first-time offenders would face misdemeanor charges carrying penalties of at least $1,000 in fines and between one and five years in jail.

Second-time offenders would face felony sentences between two and five years and financial penalties of up to $5,000.

Currently, those convicted of illegally carrying a gun face just up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

"Law enforcement needs help keeping illegal, stolen guns out of the hands of juveniles and criminals," McMaster said. "I stand with Sen. Harpootlian and members of the Senate who are proposing no bond and mandatory minimum sentences in circuit court for illegal gun possession. Send me these reforms and I will sign them into law."

According to federal data, South Carolina ranked 11th in the nation for firearms traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2020 and remains a significant source of illicitly obtained firearms nationwide, according to federal officials.

Harpootlian's plan, first shared April 19, would build on a bill currently sitting in the South Carolina Senate that would impose new training requirements for law enforcement officers. That legislation passed the House by a more than 90-vote margin in 2021 and advanced through the Senate Judiciary committee last week.

The General Assembly is expected to adjourn May 12. Harpootlian told reporters April 26 he believed the bill had ample support to advance ahead of the deadline, even with senators beginning debate on the state budget this week.

"We've got to get a budget done," Harpootlian said. "But Harvey (Peeler, the Senate Finance Committee chairman) has done a masterful job putting a deal together."

While laws around guns are typically divisive, Harpootlian said the amendment has garnered bipartisan support that could help it survive floor debate. Backers on the bill include Democrats like Charleston Sen. Marlon Kimpson alongside conservatives like Greenwood Republican Sen. Billy Garrett.

Others to endorse the plan include Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Cunningham, who expressed support in a statement to The Post and Courier, while another Democrat in the race, state Sen. Mia McLeod, questioned the timing of McMaster's announcement.

"It is not surprising that he agrees with Senator Harpootlian since they also agreed that death by firing squad was a good idea for South Carolina," the Columbia lawmaker said. "The governors latest efforts to pander with this lackadaisical, reactive 'support' comes only after upstate constituents saw a rise in gun violence and expressed their concerns."

Nationally, sentencing reforms have had significant success with members of both parties, said Robert Spitzer, an expert on firearm laws in the political science department at the State University of New York, Cortland.

But he said research has proven that increasing penalties for illegal firearm possession has had a less tangible effect on crime than proposals such as "red flag laws," which Spitzer said allow a judge to remove guns from persons deemed an immediate risk to themselves or others.

South Carolina has considered similar proposals in the past  most recently in 2019  but they went nowhere.

"Several conservative states (like Indiana and Florida) have them," Spitzer wrote in an email. "Laws that keep guns out of the hands of non-citizens also have bipartisan support."

Some, like Cunningham, argue the legislation would not go far enough to curb the state's high levels of gun violence, and that McMaster needed to take a more aggressive approach to stemming the problem.

"We need a governor who will fully fund our law enforcement, increase community policing programs, pass universal background checks, and get illegal guns off the street, he said in a statement.

Harpootlian told reporters that gun violence is a broad societal issue encompassing not only access to illegal firearms, but deeper socioeconomic and community issues, as well.

While his bill was no final solution to ending gun violence in South Carolina, he said, it was a start.

"This isn't the solution," he said. "Right now we need to do something about the revolving door of kids with guns."
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
The woman who collapsed in front of police officers at the former Dededo precinct on Monday evening has died.

The woman was transported to Guam Regional Medical City after 7 p.m. Monday after a call was made that the woman "exhibited unusual behavior" at the scene where a Zumba class was ongoing.

When officers arrived, they attempted to talk to the woman but she collapsed, according to police.

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CPR was conducted and the woman was transported to Guam Regional Medical City nearby.

"An attending physician of GRMC identified a betel nut obstructed in her airways. She was admitted to GRMC in critical condition," according to police.

On Tuesday at 10:38 a.m., police detectives received information that the unidentified woman is dead.

The woman also had injuries consistent with a crash that she was involved in a couple of days ago, according to police.

Detectives from the Criminal Investigation Division conducted an investigation.

The investigation remains open pending the results of an autopsy.
The current (May 12) issue of the New York Review of Books carries Gary Saul Morsons chilling essay/review (behind the NYRB paywall) taking up March 1917: The Red Wheel/Node III (8 March31 March): Book 3 and Between Two Millstones: Book 2, Exile in America, 19781994, the most recent of the books by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to be translated and published in English. Professor Morson channels Solzhenitsyns thinking on the preface to the catastrophic revolution of October 1917:

Almost without exception, the members of the Provisional Government could do no more than assume revolutionary poses and make speeches inspiring to intellectuals but beyond the comprehension of workers and soldiers. The paramount principle to which Prince Lvov, the first head of the Provisional Government, adheres was belief and trust. Belief in people, all people, our holy people. To the suggestion that police should put a limit to anarchy and murder, he replies, Why does a free state need police at all? Lvov recoils at the very idea of resolute action. Ah, decisive measures, thats not our language, he thinks, it is unworthy of a free alliance of free people. My dear fellows, why so ominous?

The radical Aleksandr Kerensky, intoxicated by his own voice, supposes he can defeat anarchy and Bolshevism by sheer charisma. Only Vladimir Nabokov, the progressive politician (and father of the novelist) who was murdered by monarchists in 1922 in Berlin, acts competently. He wonders that his colleagues had no idea how to operate, how to translate thoughts and votes into legislation. A decision was approved before it had any text, unaccompanied by any figures or budget, and orders were given that made no sense or could not be implemented. Politicians neglected the most fundamental act, establishing their authority in the provinces.
The Biden administrations erasure of our southern border sets the backdrop to The lonesome death of Bishop Evans. As Victor Hanson put it in his recent column on our descent to la la land: The once secure border of 2020 vanished. Two-million people have crossed the southern border illegally in the last 12 months. Millions more are on the way. The Biden Administration unilaterally and simply destroyed existing immigration law.

It was a FOX News reporter  Jacqui Heinrich  who posed the question about Specialist Evanss death to the psychedelic Jen Psaki at yesterdays White House press briefing (transcript here). Heinrich asked:

Q Does the White House feel any responsibility for Evanss death, given that theres reporting that he lost his life allegedly trying to save two migrants who were smuggling drugs? This is a problem that, you know, the administration has been facing for some time and is obviously, as weve been discussing, getting some criticism on. Is  does the White House feel at all responsible? And what  what more can you offer to people who, you know, are on the border, in border communities, who are experiencing loss and trials like this?

Psaki sidestepped the question to philosophize disgrace, as Dylan puts it in Hattie Carroll:

Well, of course, we are mourning the loss of his life and we are grateful for the work of every National Guardsman. I would note that the National Guard worked for the states, and so he is an employee of the Tex-  Texas National Guard, and his efforts and his operation were directed by there, not by the federal government, in this  in this effort, in this apparatus. Weve  weve long stated that our immigration system is broken. There needs to be more done to invest in smarter security, to have a more effective asylum processing system. And we would welcome any efforts to  for any elected officials to work with us on that.

The exchange continued:

Q A lot of the border communities often, you know, say that they have requested more from  from the federal government  more manpower to help manage these kinds of  these kinds of issues. Is that being looked at? Is that being  is that being  MS. PSAKI: Can you give me a more specific request or a specific person or  Q Well, you mentioned that, you know, this  this Specialist was a National Guard. Obviously, you know, the state is in charge of that. States are in charge of that. But there have been requests from the Texas governor, from  you know, to send more  you know, to help people who are in this position at the border, who are now trying to deal with an influx of migrants that they know is going to only increase, as you just mentioned, after Title 42 is lifted. You talked about having a humanitarian, you know, sort of, system in place to deal with people coming across and increase vaccinations and that kind of thing. But in terms of, you know, law enforcement presence at the border. MS. PSAKI: Well, I would just say  if we just dial it back a few years to, kind of, what we inherited here  the former President invested billions of dollars in a border wall that was never going to work or be effective, instead of working towards comprehensive immigration reform. As part of the Presidents proposal he put forward on his first day in office, he proposed investing in smarter security at the border  something hed be happy to work with governors on. And  and certainly were open to having that conversation whenever theyre ready to do that.

Returning to Victor Hansons recent column, we conclude with this observation: Biden has no solutions to these self-created problems because of the ideological restraints the Left has imposed on him.[W]hen people object, this administration answers either by blaming others for its self-created mess or by seeking distractions.
Jon Levine and Miranda Devine reported in their April 23 New York Post story that Joe Biden met with Hunter Biden business partner at the White House. The business partner was Eric Schwerin: Hunter Bidens closest business partner made at least 19 visits to the White House and other official locations between 2009 and 2015, including a sitdown with then-Vice President Joe Biden in the West Wing.

Levine and Devine tactfully observe: Visitor logs from the White House of former President Barack Obama reviewed by The Post cast further doubt over Joe Bidens claims that he knew nothing of his sons dealings. We already doubted it to the max, but its good to know.

The psychedelic Jen Psaki fielded a question on the Post story at yesterdays White House press briefing (transcript here). This was the question posed by PBS reporter Lisa Desjardins:

Q On Hunter Biden: The New York Post is reporting  looking at White House visitor logs, there were 19 visits to the White House while the President was Vice President by Hunter Bidens business partner, including one with the Vice President. Could you help us understand why that business partner had access and what those meetings were about?

Psaki responded:

MS. PSAKI: I dont have any information on that. Im happy to check and see if we have any more comment.

The Posts Steven Nelson follows up today in this story. Nelson reports that the big guy wasnt any more forthcoming: Moments earlier on the White House lawn, Biden continued walking and did not verbally respond when a reporter for The Post asked him why he met with his sons business associates.

We arent holding our breath on this one. Interested readers might want to check out Devines Laptop From Hell and Peter Schweizers Red-Handed or Profiles in Corruption. They are considerably more forthcoming.

A footnote on Devines book:
Last week my pals at the Jack Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research at Berkeley held a panel on (Why) Are Democrats Losing the Latino Vote? You may pick up the subtle aspect of the way the question is presented, as lots of progressives think theres nothing to see in changing hispanic vote patternsthat the results in Florida, for example, are just those Castro-hating Cubans, who arent really Latino at all.

I wasnt able to attend because the panel was scheduled at exactly the same time as my Thursday afternoon class, but the video is now up on YouTube (below). The panel was 1:20 long, but I recommend taking in the presentation by David Shor that begins around the 47:30 mark.

Weve written before about David Shor here and elsewhere. Hes the progressive data analyst who lost his job with a Democratic data survey firm when he pointed out some uncongenial facts about the negative effects of Black Lives Matter riots, in particular, highlighting the work of Omar Wasow, another progressive scholar who is willing to question progressive dogma. Or take in David Shor Is Telling Democrats What They Dont Want to Hear from the New York Times last fall.

In this presentation, Shor goes several levels deep in the survey data, and shows, among other things, that the drift of hispanic voters to Republicans was actually detectable in the 2018 midterm election (which was otherwise a blowout for Democrats), and that the larger shift seen in 2020 was not limited just to Texas and Florida, or just among certain subgroups such as Cubans. Among other findings, hispanic women trended more toward Republicans than hispanic men, which makes a hash of the popular explanation that Trumps machismo explains his improvement with hispanic voters.

What explains this shift? Shor observes that hispanics are culturally conservative, and that the Democratic Party has shifted so far to the left that hispanics are starting to abandon their historical voting allegiance to Democrats. Most hispanic voters do not identify as liberal, Shor notes. (And by liberal he really means left.)

This is not the narrative the left wants to hear, and kudos to Shor for his objectivity and candor. (Again, scroll to the 47:30 mark to take in Shors excellent presentation.)

ChaserI think this schematic explains it well:
This Harvard Harris poll has lots of interesting results, pretty much all of which are positive for us conservatives. Among other things, it finds the GOP with a 51% favorability rating, compared with 43% for the Democrats. But I want to focus on voters perception of Joe Biden.

Anyone who pays attention knows that Biden is more or less senile. Yet the press has tried to gaslight Americans into thinking that somehow, things are normal at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Happily, most voters arent buying it. This survey finds 53% saying they have doubts about Bidens mental fitness, and 62% believing he is too old to be president:

Thus, by 63% to 37%, respondents say Biden should not run for a second term. Dont worry, he wont.

I want to focus specifically on voters attitudes toward the Biden administrations immigration policies. Illegal immigration is a huge issue for Republicans, as these numbers show. 75% of respondents say illegal immigration is a serious issue:

Two-thirds of voters say the Biden administrations policies encourage illegal immigration, while 54% say Biden is creating an open border:

By 59% to 41%, voters say Biden has effectively opened the southern border and is not trying to enforce the immigration laws:

This tallies closely with a Rasmussen survey that was reported this morning. Rasmussen found that 51% of likely voters say the Biden administration is purposefully encouraging illegal immigration, while only 34% disagree.

These are explosive findings. If the anticipated red wave materializes in November, illegal immigration will be a big reason why.

The Harvard Harris poll contains lots more interesting findings, and is well worth reviewing in its entirety. For now, here are a few more. First, this finding sheds more light on voters skepticism of Joe Biden:

Joe Biden was not just complicit in Hunters activities, he was the entire point and no doubt the principal beneficiary of those activities. I will say it one more time: no one has ever bribed the useless wastrel Hunter Biden. The money was intended for Joe. And by two to one, voters say mere complicity is ground for impeachment. That suggests that House Republicans should start drawing up articles of impeachment if they take the majority in the fall.

Who are Americas most popular politicians? Actually, since most Americans dont like politics or politicians, the question is who is least unpopular. Note that Ron DeSantis scores best at +4, with Tim Scott at +1 and Mike Pence at -1. Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Mike Pompeo, among others, do better than Joe Biden:

Finally, I cant resist adding one more. Harvard/Harris asked respondents opinions of various organizations and institutions. The results are predictable: the military and police are at the top, along with Amazon (!). The FBI scores too high, as does the Centers for Disease Control, although I assume both of those numbers are down from historic highs. They certainly should be.

But note a few things: Black Lives Matter is under water at 42%/44%, with lots more room to fall. Twitter is unpopular at 34%/45%. But, most gloriously, Antifa ranks below China and just slightly above Russia in popular esteem. Who said the voters are stupid?
Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 19 northern states and the FCT have denied endorsing any aspirant as the partys preferred candidate for 2023 presidential election.

The leaders said this in a communique at the end of their meeting in Abuja on Monday

The communique was read by former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido.

The former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, and Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State were alleged to have been shortlisted by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) as the preferred candidates among four northern aspirants seeking for consensus candidate for the PDP.

The four aspirants are Mr Saraki; Mr Mohammed; Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and the former Managing Director of FSB International Bank, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.

Messrs Tambuwal and Hayatu-Deen have since rejected the choice.

Mr Lamido said that the PDP presidential candidate would emerge from the partys national convention slated to hold from May 28 to May 29.

We will like to state from the onset that there is nothing called the northern PDP.

Our coming together as key stakeholders from the northern states is only for the purpose of debunking any notion or impression which might have been created by Prof. Ango Abdullahis statement about the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) having shortlisted consensus PDP presidential candidates.

The PDP as conceived by its founding fathers is and remains the foremost national political platform wherein the democratic aspirations of its teeming members can be actualised devoid of any sectional consideration.

Our party is neither northern nor southern, but Nigeria, he said.

Mr Lamido said that the stakeholders were happy that the NEF had through its secretary, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, disassociated itself from Mr Angos statement.

They made it clear that it is Angos personal opinion.

The aspirants have informed us that they are discussing among themselves. They are consulting other senior citizens in order to create a better understanding and unity among themselves.

Their ultimate objective is to build a national consensus that will produce a national candidate for the party.

We urge them to keep up with this commendable effort, he said.

Mr Lamido commended the PDP presidential aspirants efforts, while assuring them of their support for the PDP to win the 2023 presidential election.

Our meeting today is to reinforce on the press release issued on March 23 by me.

We maintain that all our aspirants are qualified to occupy the Nigerian presidency under the PDP banner.

We shall continue to support, promote and campaign and win the presidency by the candidate produced by our national convention scheduled for May 22 and 29, he said.

He appealed to all aspirants to be temperate in their utterances and work to promote harmony and better understanding within the PDP family.

We also want to assure all PDP members and indeed all Nigerians that we are aware of your pains, prayers, expectations and hope to be rescued.

Your abiding faith in PDP shall set us free in 2023. By the Almightys power we will not fail Nigeria, he said.

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(NAN)
The 36 state governments have urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to restrain the federal government from going ahead with the deduction of funds from the Federation Account for the settlement of the $418 million Paris Club judgement debt.

This came after the same court dismissed the state governments suit seeking an order to stop the said deductions last month.

Delivering judgment on the suit on March 25, the trial judge, Inyang Ekwo, had held that the states Attorneys-General, who jointly filed the suit on behalf of their respective states, lacked the legal standing to institute the lawsuit without their governors consent.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), however, reports on Tuesday that the Attorneys-General of the 36 states, on March 28, applied to the judge to stay execution of the judgement.

They prayed the court, in their application, to restrain the respondents from proceeding with the execution of the judgement delivered on March 25 pending the hearing and determination of their appeal by the Court of Appeal.

The application was brought pursuant to Order 32 Rule 1 and Order 56 Rule 8 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2019; Sections 120 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court.

The applicants, who listed 26 grounds why the court should grant their prayers, said the lower courts decision had been challenged at the Court of Appeal.

Part of the grounds is that the applicants have the constitutional right to appeal the said decision, pursuant to Sections 36, 240 and 242 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

According to them, the appeal, which they said, is pending before the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, raises arguable, substantial and recondite grounds of appeal with great chance of success.

The court, they added, has vires to grant the instant application to preserve the res and subject matter of the pending appeal.

Mr Ekwo fixed Wednesday for the hearing of the motion.

Background

The 36 states Attorneys-General had sued the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Accountant General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance, and others, over the planned deduction.

Other defendants sued by the plaintiffs are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Debt Management Office (DMO), Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), Incorporated Trustees of Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), among others.

There are a total of 43 defendants, including the judgement creditors, sued in the suit that was filed by the 36 state Attorneys-General on October 27, 2021.

Mr Ekwo had last November restrained the federal government from making any deduction from the federation account to settle the controversial judgment debts until his courts resolution of the issues.

But delivering judgement on the suit, on March 25, the judge, Mr Ekwo, held that the state Attorneys-General lacked the legal standing to institute the lawsuit without their governors consent.

The states Attorneys-General cannot on their own bring this suit given the provisions of Section 211 of the 199 Constitution.

This is beyond the powers of the state Attorneys-General to initiate this suit on their own.

No cause of action can flow when a plaintiff lacks the legal standing to institute a suit.

This suit does not fall within the class of suits that can be initiated by the State Attorneys-General without the consent of the governors, the judge held.

Mr Ekwo further held that the court lacked the power to review its own earlier judgement ordering the payment of the creditors.

I find no merit in this suit and it is, accordingly, dismissed, Mr Ekwo said.

The debts had accrued from court judgments awarding the creditors, who claimed to be consultants and contractors to the states and local governments, various sums of money which currently stand at $418 million.

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Some of the creditors claimed to have earned their shares of the money through consultancy services of helping state and local governments to recover funds over-deducted by the federal government from their allocations between 1995 and 2002 to service the London Club and Paris Club loans.

(NAN)
The Ebonyi State Government granted the Ezza people in Ishielu Local Government Area the status of an autonomous community in 2017 as part of measures to end a protracted bloody conflict between them and their old hosts, the Ezillo.

But almost five years after, Izzo, in Ishielu, remains a ghost community with the people displaced to other communities, a situation portending the return of violence.

When a PREMIUM TIMES reporter visited Izzo in March, shallow graves dot the landscape, monuments to the killings that sacked the community.

Although rarely reported, Izzo, formerly known as the Ezza-Ezillo  denoting the names of the now estranged neighbours  was the theatre of one of Nigerias bloodiest communal conflicts, fueled by a long history of ethnic rivalry and distrust.

Lying 40 kilometres from the state capital, Abakaliki, the community died in 2008 after then-Governor Martins Elechi ordered the evacuation of Ezza people from areas claimed by their Ezillo neighbours.

Accompanied by some members of the local militia fighting the war, PREMIUM TIMES gained rare access to the ghost Izzo community and found its schools, churches, markets places and houses outgrown by trees.

Along a road lies a mass grave of about 95 persons killed during an attack in 2010, survivors told PREMIUM TIMES. A few kilometres away is another mass grave in which an unknown number of victims of the massacre the locals call unprecedented were buried.

A peep into a compound revealed the grave of the entire family of Nwapa Owozo. They were hacked to death in their two-storey building, now in ruins. In the next compound, the reporter saw the decaying bones of a boy, his mother and his father.

We buried so many people that we started burying more than two persons in one grave, Amando Wnaleoguchi, a member of the militia, said. Mr Wnaleoguchi said the people of Ezillo want to exterminate his people, the Ezza.

A conflict steeped in history

Ironically, the relationship between the two Igbo sub-ethnic groups started on a friendly note in colonial times in the 1930s when the Ezillos invited the Ezzas to assist them in fighting the Ngbo, their neighbours whom they accused of encroaching on their land. Ezza people, who at the time were with their kit and kin in the current Ezza North and Ezza South local government areas of the state, were famous warriors.

According to historical records reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES at the National Archive, after the war, the Ezzas got a parcel of land in Egu Echara area of Ezillo community as their reward for their support in successfully battling the Ngbo. The location also made them a buffer between the Ngbo and Ezillo, to save their allies from future invasions.

The two groups lived together happily for some time and intermarried before their relationship turned sour after the Ezzas began to spread to other parts of Ezillo, acquiring land far beyond the area allocated to them. The Ezillos accused the Ezzas of dominating their hosts, setting the stage for a devastating conflict.

In 1959, the Ezillos dragged the Ezzas to the Abakaliki Colonial Customary Court, asking them to move back to Egu Echara. The court ruled in favour of Ezillo but the Ezzas did not respect the judgement. They appealed the case before a colonial district officer, Mr Gunning, but he struck out their appeal, asking them to obey the extant judgement.

Again, the Ezzas shunned the order of the district officer and continued to acquire more lands and properties in the communities, PREMIUM TIMES findings from interviews with local historians on both sides and a review of historical documents, showed. About 50 years later, the Ezzas had established a formidable community, known as Ezza-Ezzilo, amassing influence, wealth, and population that intimidated their hosts.

On May 10, 2008, a dispute between Sunday Idenyi, an Ezillo indigene, and Ezza youths over the erection of a telephone booth at the Ishimkpuma market ignited a carnage in which many people were killed.

The state governor, Mr Elechi, then set up a peace committee chaired by one Chibueze Agbo. But the violence continued, despite the efforts of the committee and government agencies.

Relocation

On October 2, 2008, Mr Elechi, in a live broadcast, ordered the Ezzas to leave Ezillo land and relocate to Egbu Echara, the 52 hectares of land initially allocated to them by their hosts around 1930. The governor then added 253.15 hectares of land to the old settlement of the Ezzas.

This decision, taken in the interest of peace and unity, calls for a lot of sacrifice on the part of the people of Ezillo and Ezza-Ezillo as well as government and all that love peace and the wellbeing of the Ezillo community and Ebonyi State as a whole, Mr Elechi said after imposing a 90-day curfew in the community.

But the Ezzas kicked against their relocation, leading to the governor allegedly sending in soldiers to use force to evacuate them.

There is currently no virgin land known and called Egu Echara as fellow Nigerians are made to believe, the Ezzas claimed in a petition addressed to David Mark, Nigerias Senate President at the time. There is no decision or order of a court of competent jurisdiction that the Ezzas should be relocated or are to be displaced from their present abodes and abandon their cultural heritage, markets, schools, and or farmlands for the Ezillos.

The Ezzas challenged Mr Elechi in lawsuits but the case languished at the Ebonyi State High Court until the end of his tenure.

After the government demarcated the boundaries between the two warring communities, Ezza-Ezillo town became the scene of bloody clashes. The two parties procured ammunition and organised militias to attack each other, an Ezza native, Samuel Okon, said.

Headless bodies in Ezillo

Jacob Ajah died in November 2009, several days after he was allegedly attacked by militants from Ezillo.

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We all thought he had cheated death but he would later die of internal bleeding, Mr Okon narrated to PREMIUM TIMES. Many of our youths were ambushed and killed like Jacob. Thousands of people have died over this matter.

Mr Okon is a teacher and a custodian of the communal war archives in Ebonyi. Donning a white native shirt and a red cap, he backed his narrative with the reports of local newspapers on the fratricidal war in Ezillo. He had collected dozens of pages of white-and-black newspapers and photographs that reported the horrific killings in the community.

One of the headlines reads: Headless bodies roll in Ezillo. Another reads: Death cheater dies at last, detailing the travails of Mr Ajah and many others killed in the clashes. PREMIUM TIMES saw gory photos of victims of the carnage from both sides but whose stories were never reported in the media.

Lifeless bodies of indigenes of Ezza and Ezillo were found along the Enugu-Abakaliki road almost on a daily basis, especially during the enforcement of the evacuation orders that turned 12,000 Ezza natives into internally displaced persons. By the end of 2012, Ezza-Ezillo had been deserted.

The killings on the Enugu-Abakaliki expressway will never stop unless Ezza-Ezillo people stop coming to Ezillo to hit-and-run, James Abbah, a former spokesman for the Ezillo youth forum, was quoted as saying in a record.

Counterclaims of genocide

However, based on on-the-ground reporting, interviews with locals, and a review of over 500-page documents submitted to the peace committee on the crisis, neither of the sides was innocent in the attacks.

On December 31, 2011, around 2 a.m, Ezza militants invaded Ezillo, killing, maiming and setting houses ablaze. The killers also took over the Enugu-Abakaliki highway from security operatives, marring the celebration of New Years day in 2012.

My general impression is not as bad as what I saw two days ago in Ezillo proper when I personally counted 26 corpses and within 10 minutes more were brought in, Mr Elechi said after visiting some of the killing grounds.

I doubt whether the people can again live together with this type of destruction that leaves permanent bad feelings. When you talk of reconciliation which we started in 2008, things were not as bad as we see them today and so, only God can heal the wounds, not human beings.

Over a decade later, PREMIUM TIMES interviewed Ezillo elders. They said hundreds of their kin were killed.

A photo gallery, shown to PREMIUM TIMES, titled: The 21st-Century Genocide in Ebonyi, documented the violence.

We were relying on the peace move Chief Martins Elechi, the former Governor, made. Unfortunately, we did not know that the Ezzas had ulterior motives against us, said David Agunyi (the last name changed for his safety), a high chief in the town. It happened that on the 31st of December, 2011, while we were preparing for the New Year 2012, these people came in their numbers with different arms and ammunition.

Hundreds of people were killed; houses were burnt. Since then, we became more worried because that was the first time the war entered our capital, he said.

Izzo is dead but Ezillo is alive

As the reporter journeyed out of the troubled Izzo community, driving past its signpost, Mr Agunyi welcomed the visiting reporter to bustling Ezillo, contrasting the situation in Izzo which is bare of human beings. The community is alive and its people said they enjoy relative peace. Although the reporter saw bullet holes in some houses, down the streets people were enjoying normal lives as though there had never been a war.

You are now in Ezillo town, Mr Agunyi said as he drove through the community with the reporter. This is where the violent conflict that eventually degenerated into a war started. This war lingered since then up till when this present government came and planted peace trees at Ishielu Local Government. Since then, we have never heard of any gunshots either by Ezzas or the Ezillos.

After his election in 2015, Governor David Umahi moved to find an end to the deadly communal war. In 2016, he declared every September 5 as a peace day to mark the end of the war in Ezillo. In 2017, he granted the Ezzas the status of an autonomous community, expanding their territory to 500 hectares. Although Ezillo youths protested granting an autonomous community to the Ezzas, the Ebonyi State House of Assembly enacted the Peace Pact Law that sought an end to the crisis.

This law stipulates the creation of Amaeze-Ezillo and Izzo Autonomous communities in Ishiellu council area of the state and should be deemed to have commenced on February 8, the day it was passed into law, said Francis Nnwifuru, Speaker of the House. I commend the committee which handled the bill for a thorough job and the House members for painstakingly reviewing its contents which guaranteed its speedy passage into law.

However, Ezillo survivors of the 2011 massacre still live under the horror of the past. They call it the fear of the unknown. Many of them said they cannot go to their farms because we may just be attacked.

PREMIUM TIMES interviewed a few of the young men who now live with their children in small rooms given to them by relatives and public-spirited people in the community.

Renewed violence looming?

When he was younger, Amado Wnaleoguchi dreamed of building a mansion in Izzo. But his dreams died when he joined an army of local warriors fighting the Ezillo community. During our reporters visit to the dead community, Mr Wnaleoguchi pulled up on his bike, speeding through the forests to show this reporter the level of ruin in the land.

This war started like a childs play but it will end more bloodily, the local warrior said, his grim face indicating a looming terror. Many people will still die; people that God gave a long life to live on earth will die before time because of this crisis.

Since the war broke out 14 years ago, Mr Wnaleoguchi and his comrades have had nothing to do but fight. They survive on donations from their well-to-do elders and sometimes on farming.

For the Ezillos and many others in Ebonyi, the war has ended since the government separated the two warring communities. But the Ezzas said they still cannot return to Izzo and rebuild the ruins.

I am not happy with how things happened, Mr Wnaleoguchi said. Even though I am among the youths fighting this war, I am not happy because it is taking my time, money, and even my career.

When it granted the community autonomy, the state government pledged to compensate victims of the attacks and reintegrate displaced persons back into society. But the promise has not been fulfilled. By July, it will be four years since this deserted area became legally autonomous but the community exists without its people.

PREMIUM TIMES witnessed a discreet meeting held on March 6 by elders in Izzo. They had gathered to express their dissatisfaction with the government for its failure to fulfil its promise to their community.

Our interaction with some of the local warriors at the meeting revealed that violence may resurface. The people are not happy with the government for not helping the displaced persons to return to the community.

Even as ominous, the Ezillos said their old foes, the Ngbo, are again encroaching on their land, felling their trees for commercial purposes.

You see them, these people can come here to fell our trees because theres no one to caution them, one of the local warriors, Amando Nwaleoguchi, said. This is an example of what causes clashes between communities. This is not right.

As our reporter and his escorts crossed from Izzo into Ngbo, the residents welcomed them with suspicion. It had been long since they last saw people from Izzo in their territory. One of them threatened to attack the visitors. The accompanying Izzo local warriors advised the group to move back to avoid being attacked.

Whats the antidote to the endless bloodshed?

While Mr Umahi has been praised for halting the Ezillo crisis, not many pay attention to the looming terror.

Stanley Okoro, a security consultant to the Ebonyi government and former Commissioner of Internal Security, Border, Peace, and Conflict Resolution, declined to comment on the states failed promises when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES. Asked to react to the abandonment of the ghost Izzo community and the looming war, Mr Okoro said he would not comment on such a sensitive issue.

Uchenna Orji, the Commissioner for Information in the state, did not respond to several calls and text messages seeking reactions to the findings in this report. Philip Levi, the deputy spokesperson to the Ebonyi Police Command, said he was not in a position to comment on the matter.

But Sampson Nweke, a human rights activist in the state, said the governments populist approach to ending the war may not produce a lasting solution.

Mr Nweke warned that there would be no permanent peace in Ezillo if the authorities fail to address the matter beyond the surface.

A community without its people is as good as a forest, the human rights activist said. You cant grant an autonomous community without school, church, market, and houses in a troubled area and expect that there will be peace forever. Whether there would be another war in Ezillo is just a matter of time. Its like a timed bomb; it will explode when its time to do so.

Editors Note: This is the first of a series on the underreported violent communal conflicts in Ebonyi State, with spillover effects on neighbouring states.

The story was done with the support of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).
A factional chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State, Stephen Ntukekpo, filed a forged document at a Federal High Court, Abuja, to outwit a rival who is seeking the same office, according to documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, is backing Mr Ntukekpos faction of the APC in the battle to control the party structure in Akwa Ibom.

Austin Ekanem leads the other faction. The former national secretary of the APC, John Akpanudoedehe, is politically supporting him.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had on March 17, sacked Mr Ekanem and other party executives, and ordered him replaced with Mr Ntukekpo.

The suit was filed by Mr Ntukekpo.

The APC and its then national chairman, Mai Mala Buni and Mr Akpanudoedehe, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), were the respondents in the suit.

Justice Taiwos court had accepted as exhibit, a summary result sheet of the October 16, 2021 APC State Congress, which showed Mr Ntukekpo as the elected chairman of the party in Akwa Ibom. The judge gave the ruling in favour of Mr Ntukekpo, based on the exhibit.

Mr Ekanem did not take part in the congress, the court said.

The purported substitution of the plaintiffs as members of the Akwa Ibom State Executive Committee of the APC, with unelected persons chosen by the 1st to 3rd defendants, and, who did not participate at the state congress of the party held on October 16, 2021 is unlawful and illegal, Mr Taiwo had said in the ruling.

It, however, turned out that the summary result sheet filed in court by Mr Ntukekpo was fake and the signatures forged, officials have said.

Ntukekpo forged my signature

Sheriff Banki, who headed a seven-man committee that conducted the APC state congress in Akwa Ibom, raised an alarm in January that his signature was forged by Mr Ntukekpo in the court document.

Mr Banki alerted the APC of the development through a letter he sent to the then national chairman, Mr Buni, on January 11.

He also sent a similar letter to the Inspector General of Police, the Director General of the State Security Service, and the chairman of INEC.

As you may recall, you appointed me as the Chairman of the APC Congress Committee to Akwa Ibom State for the Ward, LGA, and States Congresses, and I acquitted myself creditably, Mr Bank said to Mr Buni in the letter.

I submitted the results and the reports accordingly, but to my utter dismay, my attention was drawn to a suit filed in the Federal High Court, Abuja, by one Stephen Leo Ntukekpo who swore to an affidavit and attached fake results sheets where my signature was forged and he declared himself the State Chairman-elect for Akwa Ibom State, Mr Banki said in the letter.

The results sheet, which Mr Banki said was fake and his signature forged, contained names of other winners drawn entirely from Mr Ntukekpos faction.

Mr Banki said in the letter that Mr Ntukekpos action was beyond politics and that the APC should treat it as a serious criminal offence.

He also said that Mr Ntukekpos action could throw the APC into chaos in Akwa Ibom.

Mr Banki, in a live Facebook interview on January 25, reiterated the allegation of forgery against Mr Ntukekpo.

He said the state congress in Akwa Ibom was one of the best conducted by the APC, and that the exercise was commended by INEC and security agencies which monitored it.

Mr Ntukekpo did not participate in the congress, he said.

INECs position

Documents obtained exclusively by PREMIUM TIMES at INEC headquarters in Uyo corroborated Mr Bankis claims that Mr Ntukekpo forged his signature.

Ten persons contested for the office of the state chairman of the APC in Akwa Ibom, while 1,794 delegates voted in the congress.

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Mr Ekanem had the largest number of votes cast, 1, 278, according to the INEC document, followed by Otu Toyo, with 190 votes.

Another candidate, Udeme Ekot, had 50 votes.

Mr Ntukekpo had six votes, even when he did not participate in the party congress.

INEC said in its report that the APC state congress, apart from being peaceful, was conducted according to the law.

What really happened?

The APC in Akwa Ibom was already divided between the Akpanudoedehe and Akpabio factions before the party state congress.

Mr Akpanudoedehe, a former senator, wants to be the APC candidate for the 2023 Akwa Ibom governorship election, an ambition that Mr Akpabio is kicking against.

While Mr Banki-led team was conducting the APC state congress in Uyo, the APC faction loyal to Mr Akpabio  and led by Mr Ntukekpo  was having a parallel exercise somewhere in the city.

INEC, in line with its mandate, monitored the congress conducted by Mr Banki and his team, thereby rendering the parallel exercise legally, a nullity.

Mr Akpabio had shown up at the venue of the congress conducted by Mr Banki and his team and, at his request, he was given a few minutes to address the gathering.

President Muhammadu Buharis adviser on Niger Delta Affairs, Ita Enang; the Managing Director, Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority, Umana Umana; a former minister of petroleum, Don Etiebet, and a former managing director, Niger Delta Development Commission, Bassey Dan-Abia were among the APC chieftains who participated in the congress conducted by Mr Banki.

Legal battle

Mr Ekanem, sacked via a court order 10 days after he was sworn in, later got a reprieve from the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which ordered parties in the case to maintain the status quo.

The appeal was filed by Mr Akpanudoedehe.

The Court of Appeal adjourned the case to May 17 for hearing on the motion for a stay of execution of the Federal High Court ruling.

However, 72 hours after, the new National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, hurriedly swore-in Mr Ntukekpo as the Akwa Ibom APC chairman, in defiance of the order of the Court of Appeal.

The APC, also in an attempt to scuttle the case at the Court of Appeal, asked its lawyer, Solomon Umoh, SAN, to withdraw from the case. But the lawyer told the party that he was representing Mr Akpanudoedehe in the case, and not the APC.

We are of the firm view that having been sued eo nomine as a natural person at the trial court, he (Akpanudoedehe) can constitutionally exercise a right of appeal through any counsel of his choice against a judgement which he was a party, Mr Umoh wrote in a response to a letter from the APC national legal adviser.

Mr Akpanudoedehe personally wrote a letter to the APC national chairman, advising the party to stop putting pressure on his legal team to withdraw from the case at the Court of Appeal.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the APC national spokesperson, Felix Morka, for the partys reaction, he asked our reporter to send questions via a text message. He did not, however, respond to the text message sent to his phone line.

Other intrigues

Meanwhile, the former petroleum minister, Mr Etiebet was at the APC national secretariat, a few days ago, to explain to the national chairman, Mr Adamu, the forgery allegation against Mr Ntukekpo and why he (Ntukekpo) cannot lead the party in Akwa Ibom.

The minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Akpabio was reportedly informed by a party official about Mr Etiebets presence at the secretariat, PREMIUM TIMES learnt. The minister rushed to the secretariat, and reportedly had an altercation with Mr Etiebet in the chairmans office.

Mr Etiebet, having been distracted by the minister, was unable to make a presentation to Mr Adamu. He had to reschedule the appointment.

Immediately they stepped out of Mr Adamus office, Mr Akpabio addressed reporters, with Mr Etiebet standing beside him.

Mr Akpabio said Mr Adamu is leading a law-abiding party, for swearing-in Mr Ntukekpo.

Mr Etiebet refused to comment on the incident when PREMIUM TIMES contacted him on Saturday.

But he said Mr Akpabio caused the party in Abuja to swear-in Mr Ntukekpo when he (Ntukekpo) did not participate in the APC State congress, let alone elected as chairman.

He said the swearing in of Mr Ntukekpo is an illegality that is unacceptable to him and other APC leaders in Akwa Ibom.

Mr Akpabio did not respond to calls and text messages seeking his comment on the matter.

His spokesperson, Jackson Udom, declined to comment on the matter, saying it was not within his scope of work to respond to party issues.

Mr Ntukekpo could not be reached for comment, as calls to his known telephone line were not going through.

Im alive, nobody can lie against me.

Meanwhile, the secretary of the congress organising committee, Yakubu Sules signature, was also forged.

Mr Sule told PREMIUM TIMES he would present his facts in the court whenever he makes an appearance.

Mr Banki had told PREMIUM TIMES, Thursday, he would not allow Mr Ntukekpo to claim victory against Mr Ekanem, in an exercise he conducted.

You can only lie against a dead person, you cant lie against a living person. Im alive and nobody can lie against me.

The person that forged my signature will be arrested and prosecuted, he said.
The Nigerian government says it will issue a Request for Qualifications in June for bidders interested in receiving concessions to begin the production of bitumen in the country.

Nigeria holds about 42.47 billion tonnes of proven reserves of bitumen, estimated to be the sixth largest in the world, but has not yet exploited the resource, a potential huge source of revenue for the country.

Bitumen is a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons obtained naturally or as residue from petroleum distillation. It is used for road surfacing, roofing, adhesives, and insulation and is found in Lagos, Ogun, Ondo and Edo States.

After repeatedly failing in the past to harness its bitumen reserves, the government now says it will grant concessions of bitumen blocks to prospective local and international companies in a bid to end the importation of the mineral deposit in the country.

It appointed PriceWaterHouseCoopers as its transaction advisor in November 2021.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, at a pre-event press conference in Abuja on Monday, said local bitumen production would save the countrys foreign exchange and generate income for the government. He explained that with the production of bitumen locally in the country, the cost of road construction would ultimately reduce.

We have a total bitumen reserve size of 42.74 billion metric tonnes, which has remained unexploited for years, he noted. This creates a huge opportunity for domestic bitumen production to replace the countrys reliance on imported bitumen.

Population Concerns

Mr Adegbite said the World Bank projects that Nigerias current urbanization rate of 52 per cent will increase by 4 per cent annually.

He explained further that 90 per cent of goods, such as food and building materials, are transported by road to meet the demands of the countrys rising population.

This will increase demand for road infrastructure and put additional strain on the current road network, resulting in higher demand for asphalt for construction and maintenance, he noted.

Bitumen is a crucial component of asphalt that is used in road construction and once we begin to produce bitumen locally we will have a stable price that does not fluctuate with the exchange rate, the minister said.

He noted that the nation had a huge infrastructural deficit with regard to paved roads.

Nigeria currently has 200,000 km of road networks with only 60,000 km worth of road paved which presents an inherent demand for bitumen.

This considerable road infrastructure deficit presents an inherent demand for bitumen. Hence, the development of bitumen will lead to import substitution, local content development and increased value addition of the mining industry to the domestic economy, thereby creating jobs and generating revenue for the government, he said.

According to him, the country is now poised to begin the production of bitumen locally as it has appointed a transaction advisor to oversee the process.

He said: To ensure that Nigerias bitumen resources are fully harnessed for industrial and infrastructural development, I constituted a nine-member Ministerial Bitumen Development Committee on 31 January 2020.

The Committee carried out an inventory of internal existing infrastructure; compiled available geological information, re-established contact with previous interested companies and developed a framework for transparent allocation of the Bitumen resources.

An important part of the Committees recommendations was to finalize the process of engaging a Transaction Advisor to ensure the concession process is open, transparent and in accordance with global best practices as enshrined in the Nigerian Mineral and Mining Act, 2007.

The minister added that the Bureau of Public Procurement issued a notification of no-objection on June 16, 2021.

Subsequently, he said, the ministry issued a letter of award on November 11, 2021 to PricewaterhouseCoopers to act as its transaction advisor and programme manager to manage the concession of bitumen blocks to potential investors.

Investors

Mr Adegbite said many international and local investors had expressed interest in bidding for the bitumen blocks in the country.

He said: My office has been bombarded by several interested parties both locally and internationally and I have always told them to wait for when the process is opened for bidding, which would be transparent and in accordance with best international practices.

There is so much interest in our bitumen because the mineral is of the highest grade and close to the surface which makes mining less expensive.

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He assured prospective investors of the huge local demand for the mineral.

Finally, Id like to use this opportunity to encourage everyone to support the governments strategy for the development of the bitumen resource. All hands must be on deck to build the necessary synergy among all stakeholders to elevate bitumen to a critical resource for the benefit of all Nigerians, he said.

A representative of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Suleiman Ibrahim, said the organisation has carefully understudied the global best templates to ensure that the project does not experience the pitfalls of the past.

The marketing plan is critical for the survival of the programme, he explained. According to him, in no distant time, there will be targeted industry-focused sensitization programme globally to draw the needed awareness.
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, ordered the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, to appear before the Nigerian Senate for probe on allegations of misconduct brought against him in a public petition.

A 23-year-old security guard at the popular Banex Plaza, Wuse 2, Abuja, Clement Sargwak, had sent the petition to the Senate after he was assaulted by the CCT chairman on March 29 last year.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Umar was caught on camera slapping and kicking Mr Sargwak during a squabble between them over a parking space on the premises.

Mr Sargwak had petitioned the Senate through his lawyer, Timzing Ramnap, in quest of justice.

But Mr Umar filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop a probe into the matter by the Senate. He argued that the Senate lacked constitutional power to conduct a hearing on the complaint.

But delivering judgment on Tuesday, the judge, Inyang Ekwo, dismissed Mr Umars suit.

The court held that the case of the CCT chairman lacked merit and gave no cogent reason to stop the Senate from undertaking its constitutional functions.

The judge said Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 constitution under which Mr Umar sought to be protected by the court did not confer any protection on him.

The judge further said as a public officer administering law relating to conduct of public officers, the plaintiff (Mr Umar) has no reason to institute the suit to stop the parliament from investigating a public petition seeking justice on moral standards.

The court also held that the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal Act 2010 was enacted by the National Assembly and as such, he is subject to investigation by the federal legislators.

Besides, the judge said Section 2 of the Code of Conduct Bureau Act exposes Mr Umar to investigation by the National Assembly than other Nigerians.

The judge noted that it will be illogical for the CCT boss to seek to stop the senate probe as doing so will give an impression that he is above the law.

Mr Ekwo held that the declaratory prayers that were sought by Mr Umar for injunctions against the Senate could not be granted because the case lacked merit.

Suit

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Senate directed its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, headed by Ayo Akinyelure, to probe the alleged assault reported to it by Mr Sargwak.

The petition was later laid during a plenary session of the Senate by Istifanus Gyang, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator representing Plateau North, the senatorial district from which Mr Sagwak hails.

The CCT chairman appeared before the committee on May 4, 2021, when he was given two weeks to respond to the allegations.

He was asked to return on May 18, 2021.

But on July 13, 2021, the CCT chairman filed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/ 671/2021, to challenge the powers of the Senate to investigate him over the assault allegation.

The four defendants in the matter were  the Senate, Senate President, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions; and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

In the suit filed by Mr Umars lawyer, Sunday Edward, he urged the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Senate, its members and agents from conducting or continuing to conduct investigations into the allegations of assault levelled against him via a petition submitted to the Senate.

Specifically, the plaintiff wanted the court to determine whether the alleged case of assault which took place at Banex Plaza in Abuja on March 29, 2021, formed part of the matters the Senate is constitutionally empowered to investigate or police functions.

He also asked it to determine whether the Senate and its Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions were competent to investigate or invite him in relation to the investigation of the allegation of assault and whether the powers of the Senate to conduct the investigation werre not governed or subject to the provision of sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution.

The plaintiff had also asked the court to declare that the purported case of assault that took place on March 29, 2021, did not form part of the matters the Senate was constitutionally empowered to investigate.

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He further asked the court to declare that the Senates moves to conduct an investigation on the matter was unconstitutional and amounted to unwarranted usurpation of the functions of the police and of the court of competent jurisdiction.

But counsel for the Senate, Kafayat Suleyman, had urged the court to dismiss the suit, insisting that the Senate had powers under Section 88 of the Constitution to investigate alleged misconduct by any public officer.

Backstory

In a five-minute video that went viral online, Mr Danlandi was seen slapping and kicking Mr Sargwak, while police officers suspected to be attached to the CCT chairman were trying to restrain him from attacking the guard.

The security guard narrated to this newspaper that he was assaulted by Mr Umar and a policeman attached to him after he informed him (Umar) that his car was wrongly parked.

However, the CCT, in a statement last year, denied the assault allegation, insisting that it was Mr Umar that was assaulted by some miscreants who gathered at the scene of the incident.

Mr Umars conduct was widely condemned with many Nigerians calling for his prosecution.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) said in a statement that Mr Umars professional conduct had been called to question.
A month after they attacked a Kaduna-bound train killing nine people and abducting several others, the gunmen responsible for the attack have released two photos of their hostages.

The photos were posted on Facebook by Bilkisu Yero, a lecturer at the Kaduna State University.

The photos, which they released on Monday, was the third time the gunmen, locally referred to as bandits, would be releasing evidence showing that the abductees are alive.

Till now, Nigerian authorities have not been able to ascertain the exact number of those abducted.

The gunmen have previously released two video footage showing some of the passengers.

The abductees have remained with the gunmen for a month despite repeated calls by their relatives and other Nigerians for the government to secure their release from captivity.

The photos

In one of the photos, there were 23 abductees, mostly women and children. Among the children were two boys and three girls. The remaining 20 were all women.

Unlike the last video clip they released, the gunmen didnt reveal the background on the pictures possibly to prevent their location from being tracked.

The gunmen used what looked like bed sheets to hide the natural background of the photos. The abductees were seated on a tarpaulin spread on the ground.

In the other photo, there were 17 men in two rows.

The description on the photo showed it was taken with an Infinix mobile phone.

Families identify captives

Following the release of the photos, some people have identified their relatives among the abductees.

Mohammad Gamawa told PREMIUM TIMES that he could identify his aunt among the captives.

Mr Gamawa said he thought his aunt was killed during the attack and her body had not been found.

Oh my dear sister and mum, first and second on your right hand sat on the floor. Allah ya fida ku baki daya (May God save you all), said Yusuf Atta, a federal government employee with the Ministry of Information and Culture, in the comment section of Mr Yeros post on Facebook.

Oh My God, that is my mum and sis together. May God save them from these people, wrote Habiba Abdulaziz, another Facebook user

Ismael Yarima wrote I can sight my sister. May Allah protect you all

Saadatu Sani also identified her aunt among those in the photos.

Nasir Lawal said he identified his female lecturer at the Kaduna Polytechnic. She is the one in black maybe, he wrote.

Abdullahi Sani, also from Kaduna, said seeing his sister in the photo has helped to lessen the tension he had been in since the train attack.

We thank God that she is still alive, he said. The Train Tragedy: My sister is visibly looking disturbed but Alhamdulillah she is alive. This is traumatizing to us.

A family member of one of the abductees told this newspaper that they dont want to comment on the situation because they learnt the bandits are monitoring the media. Look at how they decided to change the background of the picture this time around. We were advised by some well-wishers to even stop posting their pictures on the social media or talk to you people (journalists) because the bandits are monitoring the spaces.

He, however, expressed gratitude to God that his aunt is still alive.

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Psychological war

A sociologist in Katsina State, Surajo Aliyu, said the bandits are possibly releasing the photos to create tension in the minds of family members of the abductees and possibly shame the government.

What they need from the government, we dont know but theyre surely doing this (releasing) the pictures to make the federal government uncomfortable. When family members of the abductees see the pictures, theyll definitely pressurize the government by talking to the media and may be protesting. The government will have no option than to start discussing with them (bandits).

Mr Aliyu said releasing the photos was part of the planned propaganda by the bandits to get at the government.
The Minister of Transportation and APC presidential aspirant, Rotimi Amaechi, on Monday said he tackled insecurity while he was Rivers governor by equipping the military and the police.

Mr Amaechi spoke while visiting the Deji of Akure, Aladetonyibo Aladelusi Ogunlade, at his palace in Ondo State.

He also paid a private visit to former presidential candidate, Olu Falae. Mr Amaechi later proceeded to Ibadan, where he paid a visit to the Olubadan of Ibadan, Olalekan Balogun, and met with delegates and party faithful at the Oyo State APC secretariat.

The minister said if elected as president, he would be detribalized and would ensure that the yearnings and aspirations of all Nigerians are protected, irrespective of tribe and religion.

You recognized us for who we are, you recognized us not as a Yoruba candidate, not as an Hausa candidate, not as an Igbo candidate or Ikwerre where I come from, but as a Nigerian candidate, Mr Amaechi told the Deji of Akure.

I am detribalized, I dont know Yoruba or Hausa, I just know Nigeria, and everybody should be treated like that, there should be no segregation, he said.

Insecurity

Mr Amaechi said as president, he would deploy his wealth of experience in governance and fighting insecurity.

Your Majesty sir, It is not enough to say I was a former Governor for two terms, former Speaker for two terms, and all of that. The question to ask is what did I do with those positions? Because when I say I come with experience, I actually come with experience.

Quite a lot of those who are contesting or aspiring to be the President dont come with that kind of experience that I come with. I have governed a state where there was insecurity.

When I was governor of Rivers state, they were kidnapping two months old babies.

Mr Amaechi said he was just a few weeks in office when two high-profile kidnappings took place in Rivers.

The first they confronted me with was the kidnap of a prominent Nigerian, a Rivers man, Prof. Nimi Briggs, one time Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt.

The next person they kidnapped was the wife of late Chief Lulu Briggs, prominent people, and I was barely few weeks or months old in office, I rescued them.

So we equipped the military and police, we trained them and made sure that at any point in time you kidnap anybody, we are in the position to rescue the person and punish the kidnappers.

So I am experienced in finding solutions to insecurity, he said.

Responding, the Deji of Akure, described Mr Amaechi as a grassroots politician who knows the needs of his people.

You have already passed through the hierarchy of politics, from Speaker, two times. All these two times position has a meaning, said the Deji, putting two fingers up and adding that it signifies peace.

In a good democracy setting, you should not have any problems at all, the monarch continued.

Currently, you have transformed the Ministry of Transportation, and I want the rail to come to Akure with the Seaport in Ondo. Whatever it takes for the rail to come to Akure, we will do it, and whatever it takes for the Seaport to come to Ondo, the people of Ondo will do it.

We are not doubting you at all because you passed through all the stages. You did what you were supposed to do at each stage, all those that elected you, they did because of your integrity and for the love you have for your people. Not for your people alone, but for the nation.

Like you said earlier, you are not from Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba alone, you are a typical Nigerian and we take it like that and when you get there, I know you will be a typical Nigerian not one-sided, he said.
The Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP) National Women Leader, Stella Effah-Attoe, said on Monday in Abuja that 250 female aspirants had bought the partys Expression of Interest forms for the 2023 general elections.

Mrs Effah-Attoe said this at a meeting she had with some of the aspirants at the partys Wadata Plaza national headquarters.

She urged the women to aim at winning elections and not stop at merely participating in the exercise.

She added that her office was already working with party leaders and stakeholders to ensure that a good number of the female aspirants emerged as the partys candidates.

Effah-Attoe advised the aspirants to be well-prepared to face the primary elections so as not to heap blames on the party later.

Some of us dont even relate with our wards, not to talk about our local government chapters. And when the bell rings to buy the forms we just run and pick the forms.

Politics is practiced that way; you have to prepare yourself, especially for the primary, Effah-Attoe said.

The national women leader said the meeting was to strategise on how more women would merge as candidates at the primary elections.

I desire to leave no stone unturned to ensure that our women participate meaningfully and win elections.

We have always thought about women coming out to participate.

We have been doing that over the years we have been participating but the issue now is coming out to win elections. This kind of meeting is unprecedented, she said.

Mrs Effah-Attoe said the meeting was also designed to enhance female aspirants approaches and methodologies as they go to the field.

You must understand the pros and cons inherent in our political pursuits with a view to proffering solutions to them and you must monitor the achievements of female aspirants and plan for the future, she stressed.

In her remarks, former National Women Leader of the party and also former Minister of Women Affairs, Josephine Anenih, advised the aspirants to do soul-searching on whether they wanted to contest to win or to just participate.

She noted that sometimes, because the form is almost free, women just obtained it to bargain for something or earn the title of aspirant, and not for the purpose of winning elections.

She advised the aspirants to work to win, saying: do not just rely on 35 per cent affirmative action for elective positions.

Mrs Anenih also charged the aspirants to respect party structures and leaders, including zoning, and to connect with people at the grassroots

If you are not qualified and nobody knows you in your place, you wont get the seat you are looking for.

If we ask some of us now when last they attended ward, local government or state meetings, theyd draw blank and they now want to be House of Representatives members or governors or senators. Its a tall order.

This is not to discourage anybody, but to let you know that there is no point wasting your time or that of party leaders.

The 35 per cent affirmative action we are clamouring for is not magic.

We must work hard for it. Dont give PDP a bad name by saying women are marginalised. If you are qualified you will be given a chance, Mrs Anenih said.

She also advised the female contestants not to underestimate the influence of party leaders, that of governors and the media.

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She advised them to get campaign sponsors and put other factors that could assist them in place.

Also addressing the meeting, another former PDP National Women Leader, Inna Ciroma, advised the women to prove that they could do it.

Mrs Ciroma, who said that her husband never influenced her participation in election, advised them to be united, and dogged to get the partys tickets.

(NAN)
The Court of Appeal in Lagos has ruled that a private company that receives public funds from a government agency even in one transaction is deemed to be a public institution under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, 2011.

The court made the declaration in a judgement on an appeal filed by Coscharis Motors Limited to challenge an April 28, 2015, judgement of the Federal High Court in Lagos, a statement by Media Rights Agenda (MRA), said on its website.

Coscharis Motors had appealed against the judgement delivered by Mohammed Yunusa of the Federal High Court in Lagos declaring that the FoI Act applied to the company regarding two bulletproof cars purchased from it by by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

NCAA had bought the two armour-plated BMW vehicles for the then Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, at an inflated cost of N225 million.

The scandal led Ms Oduah to resign as a minister in the then President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2013. She is, however, currently the senator representing Anambra North.

A civil society organisation, Enough is Enough (EIE) Nigeria, had, in the wake of the scandal in 2013, requested the details of the BMW cars transaction under the FoI Act from Coscharis Motors, the seller of the vehicles.

When the company failed to provide the information, the organisation filed a suit at the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court to compel the release of the requested details.

In his judgement delivered on April 28, 2015, the judge, Mr Yunusa, ruled in favour of EiE, dismissing the argument of the company that the FoI Act was not applicable to it not being a public institution.

Displeased with the decision, Coscharis Motors filed an appeal at the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal.

Coscharis Motors appeal succeeded partially, with the Court of Appeal setting aside the Federal High Courts decision compelling the company to release the information on the transaction. The appeal court, however, sustained the declaration that it is a public institution as far as the transaction is concerned.

A private company that is not at all funded by public funds and that does not provide any form of public services nor perform any form of public function may, for purposes of the FoI Act be deemed to be a public institution or body within the meaning of the Act, if that private company walks that path even for a single transaction, the lead judgement of the Court of Appeal panel delivered by Onyekachi Aja-Otisi read, in part.

The judge added, Contrary to the postulation of the appellant (Coscharis Motors), it is irrelevant if it is a one-off and never-to-be-repeated occurrence or incident.

For that one-off and never-to-be-repeated occurrence or incident, the private body or company would be as accountable as a public institution or body under the Act if it has provided any form of public services or performed any form of a public function or utilised public funds.

Mr Aja-Otisi noted that the BMW vehicles were purchased by the NCAA, a federal government organisation, with public funds.

Thus, public funds were employed or used as payment for the two BMW bulletproof vehicles purchased from the Appellant (Coscharis Motors) by NCAA.

Stretching this further, it means that the Appellant made use of or had recourse to public funds, which were given by NCAA as payment for the vehicles in the issue.

To the extent that this path was walked, the Appellant was a public institution within the meaning of the FOI Act, 2011 and thereby subject to an enquiry or request pursuant to the Act. It was not of any relevance that the path was walked only once, the judge added.

He also stressed that these facts brought the Appellant within the meaning of public institutions under Sections 2(7) and 31 of the FOI Act. On that basis, the Appellant ought to have provided the information sought.

But, according to MRA, the court held that Coscharis Motors was justified in withholding the information requested by EIE as there was an ongoing criminal investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) surrounding the purchase of the vehicles.

The Court of Appeal noted that the lower court failed to address Coscharis Motors contention that it was justified in withholding the information requested by EIE under Section 12 of the FoI Act.

Mr Aja-Otisi noted that the trial judge, Mr Yunusa, failed in his responsibility to address and resolve Coscharis Motors claim that withholding the information requested by EIE was justified.

The court ruled that a decision taken without a fair hearing is null and void, and that the Federal High Courts ruling should be overturned on this basis, especially since Coscharis was entitled to seek cover under the exceptions provided in Section 12 of the FoI Act.
Women, children and adolescents, and the health and aid workers who provide their care and support, are facing growing challenges and life threatening risks in these times of escalating conflict and humanitarian crises worldwide, according to a commentary published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) this week to coincide with World Immunisation Week (24-30 April, 2022).

While the recent devastating hostilities in Ukraine have captured the interest of the world, there are a number of other long-standing and growing conflicts that also deserve attention and political mobilisation from the global community.

In 2020, for example, a record 56 active conflicts were documented globally.

In the Sahel region, countries like Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are subject to violent attacks by extremist insurgents and unidentified armed groups, causing alarming humanitarian consequences.

Armed conflict and attacks on civilians have displaced nearly three million people, nearly one million since January 2019.

Commentary co-authors, the Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, PMNCH Board Chair and Former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Kersti Kaljulaid, UN Secretary Generals Global Advocate for Every Woman Every Child, Former President of Estonia call for a multi-sectoral response to ensure continuity of services for women, children and adolescents in conflict and humanitarian settings.

They also urge global leaders to commit to greater investment in safety and protection measures for health and aid workers who risk their own lives striving to provide services, support and care to vulnerable women, children and adolescents in the most challenging circumstances.

In periods of conflict and in challenging humanitarian settings, even the most basic health entitlements  from accessing safe midwifery services to routine childhood vaccinations  can be denied to vulnerable women, children and adolescents who need them.

The theme of World Immunisation Week 2022, Long Life for All  in pursuit of a long life well lived, provides a timely reminder that while delivering life-preserving vaccines against dangerous childhood diseases remains a global ambition, it has not yet been universally achieved, particularly for those caught up in conflict.

If an armed conflict occurs within 10 km from where a child resides, the odds that a child receives any vaccination are 47.2% lower.

Of the 8.4 million people in the North Eastern states of Nigeria: Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY states) that are estimated to need humanitarian aid in 2022, more than 30% of households report barriers to accessing essential health services.

North Eastern Nigeria also has lower vaccination rates compared to other parts of Nigeria: 42% of children in the Northeast have never received any vaccination, while this is true of only 8% in the Southeast (National Immunization Coverage Survey, 2016/2017).

As a result, many children die from vaccine preventable and other infectious diseases like malaria, acute watery diarrhoea, cholera and measles.

Burkina Faso was declared free of wild poliovirus in 2015, but in 2020 was one of 15 countries on the African continent experiencing outbreaks of paralysis cases related to other forms of poliovirus.

In chaotic and desperate situations caused by conflicts, in distressing humanitarian contexts, health and aid workers are key players in the protection and assistance system. Their intervention nurtures the hope of the right to health and well-being among victims and affected populations, says Marleen Temmerman, Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health at Aga Khan University East Africa and PMNCH Board Member.

The harms and losses caused to health and aid workers in conflict zones call for multisectoral and equitable response. It is time to act to protect those who protect the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents, even in perilous security contexts. It is time for all actors involved in the humanitarian field to take concrete and innovative actions so that health and aid workers no longer suffer damage, no longer lose their lives while carrying out their mission.

Women, children and adolescents in conflict and humanitarian crisis settings face additional threats to their lives and wellbeing.

Ten million deaths in children younger than five years between 1995 and 2015 globally can be directly and indirectly attributed to conflict. Women of reproductive age living near high intensity conflicts are three times more likely to die than women in stable settings.

Health and aid workers also risk their own security, and their lives, trying to maintain service coverage, care and support for vulnerable women, children and adolescents in conflict settings.

They may become casualties of conflict, either as accidental victims of attacks or as deliberate targets of hostile forces. Violence against aid workers claimed 484 individual victims in 2020, 117 of whom died, making 2020 the worst year on record for the second year in succession.

In Mali, the SHCC identified 11 incidents of violence against, or obstruction of, health care workers in 2020. At least four ambulances were damaged in these incidents. A common form of violence against health providers involved ambulances being shot at and damaged by armed groups. These types of attacks often targeted ambulances of aid volunteer organizations and local health care providers.

On December 31, 2021, Burkina Fasos Ministry of Health reported that 444 health facilities (307% of the total) have been impacted by insecurity in the regions most affected by the humanitarian crisis. 149 facilities are completely closed, depriving around 1.8 million people access to health care. Ninety-six per cent of these facilities closed because of direct attacks by unidentified armed groups, forcing health-care workers to abandon their work.

ALSO READ: Sahel crisis and efforts to resolve it

To protect those who protect us, there is an urgent need for targeted co-ordination of investments to promote safe service access, including delivery of vaccines and other essential services and commodities through multi-level and multi-sectoral private-public efforts, write Helen Clark and Kirsti Kaljulaid in the BMJ.

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If health workers are to provide vaccines and other essential services in these settings they require constant protection, as urged by the UN Security Council (Resolution 2286) and mandated by international humanitarian and human rights laws. The international community should hold states and armed groups accountable for upholding international humanitarian law in the territories they control.

The impact of conflict and humanitarian crises on women, children and adolescents and the health care workers who risk their own lives protecting others will be further explored in a forthcoming virtual summit hosted by PMNCH, the worlds largest alliance for womens, childrens and adolescents health.

On Thursday, 19 May, 2022, Lives in the Balance: Delivering on Commitments in humanitarian and fragile settings will bring together representation from governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, health professional associations, youth-led organizations, and grass-roots campaign groups to explore what form a global response to these challenges should take.

=========================== ==============================

About PMNCH

Established in 2005, PMNCH is the worlds largest alliance for womens, childrens and adolescents health and well-being, with 1,250 partner organizations working together through 10 constituency groups: partner governments, donors and foundations, NGOs, adolescent and youth groups, private sector organizations, health professional associations, academic and research institutions, global financing mechanisms, inter-governmental organizations, and UN agencies. PMNCH is hosted by the World Health Organization, based in Geneva.
BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The security cooperation between China and Solomon Islands is based on equality and mutual benefits. It is within the sovereignty of the two countries and consistent with the international law and international customary practice, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the comment at a press briefing after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands would be a red line for his government.

Wang pointed out that the cooperation is open, transparent, legitimate, lawful and irreproachable. "The speculation that China will build a military base in the Solomon Islands is pure disinformation fabricated by a handful of people who harbor ulterior motives."

The United States and Australian accuse the framework agreement on security cooperation between China and Solomon Islands of not being transparent. However, it is the AUKUS security partnership that is neither open nor transparent, Wang said.

"When will the United States and Australia invite South Pacific island countries and other regional countries to review AUKUS cooperation? The United States claims that China's military presence will cause grave concerns. If we follow this logic, the nearly 800 military bases in 80 countries and regions across the world run by the United States have long been of major concern for the world. When will the United States shut down those bases?" The spokesperson asked.

Island countries in the South Pacific are independent and sovereign states, not a backyard of the United States or Australia, said Wang, adding that their attempt to revive the Monroe Doctrine in the South Pacific region will get no support and lead to nowhere.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Abdulganiyu Jaji as the new Controller General (CG)of the Federal Fire Service (FFS) with effect from April 22.

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The announcement is according to a statement signed by Aisha Rufai, Secretary to the Civil Defence, Immigration and Prisons Service Board (CDIPB) on Tuesday, in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Jaji was the Deputy Controller General (DCG) in charge of Administration and Supplies at the FFS before his appointment as CG.

He is taking over from Acting Controller General, Samson Karebo, who took up the mantle of leadership after former Controller General, Ibrahim Liman, bowed out of service.

According to the report, the newly appointed CG commenced his career at the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing as Higher Technical Officer in 1991.

He held several positions in the Ministry before his redeployment to the Federal Fire Service in 1999.

He was born on the 13th August 1965 to the family of Alh. Umar Olola Jaji in Ilorin, Kwara State.

He holds a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering obtained in 1999 and he is married with children, the statement read.

(NAN)
A support group for presidential aspirant, Bola Tinubu, has said it would secure not less than 14 million votes from the South-West geopolitical zone for the aspirant at the 2023 presidential election.

The group, South West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA), expressed optimism that Mr Tinubu would pull a huge percentage of votes in the region not minding the presence of other aspirants from the South west.

The chairman of the group and former senator, Adedayo Adeyeye, stated this when he led some members of the organisation on a courtesy visit to PREMIUM TIMES head office in Abuja on Tuesday.

SWAGA, he said, was formed to consolidate Mr Tinubus agenda and that of the people of the South-west. He also said membership of the group cuts across party lines.

Mr Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is one of the leading presidential aspirants of the party.

Since his official declaration in January, he has travelled across the country seeking support and promising to bring improvements in the areas of security, anti-corruption and the economy.

Mr Adeyeye, in his address, corroborated Mr Tinibus agenda  a major reason for which, he said, Nigerians will come out to vote for the aspirant.

The goal to garner 14 million votes for Mr Tinubu comes on the heels of high voter apathy being recorded in previous elections with a higher percentage recorded in the South-west.

When asked how the group was sure of securing 14 million votes in the coming poll, Mr Adeyeye said Nigerians clamour for an end to insecurity, banditry and kidnapping is enough motivation for them to support the formal Lagos governor.

Besides his popularity and strong home base, Mr Adeyeye said Mr Tinubu already connected with and secured the support of over 300 traditional rulers in the south-west region.

Naysayers and mischievous people say Asiwaju has no home base. That is not true. He has a strong home base.

We have visited over 300 Obas (traditional rulers) and they have prayed and blessed Asiwaju. People and other groups in the South-west have keyed into this agenda. And I can tell you that if Buhari said he had 12 million votes, we already have 14 million in our pocket, he said.

He added that Mr Tinubu is popular and influential among the masses in the south-west and other major northern states like Kano and Katsina.

Zoning controversy

On the principle of rotation, the former senator said Mr Tinubu is not just right to contest for presidency but also the best candidate.

He said the only zoning policy recognised by the partys constitution is the one between the north and the south, adding there is no micro-zoning.

He urged aggrieved members who want the ticket zoned to the South-east to come out and work for the position.

The group also assured that it is an all-inclusive platform for women and youth.

With the primary barely a month away, SWAGA said it would not underestimate other aspirants such as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo but it expressed optimism that Mr Tinubu would win the primary and subsequently, the main election.

Mr Tinubu, a former senator, will contend for the APC ticket with other aspirants at the partys primary election.

Among the other aspirants are Mr Osinbajo, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State and his Kogi State counterpart, Yahaya Bello.

Others are former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha and a businessman, Glenga Olawepo-Hashim.
A minor (name withheld) on Monday told Coroner Mikhail Kadiri at a magistrate court in Ogba that there has been a history of bullying in Dowen college.

The coroners inquest aims to unravel the circumstances that led to the death of Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, a 12-year-old student of Dowen College Lagos.

For the first time since the inquest began, the coroner barred journalists and other interested parties from covering the proceedings.

A representative of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Benard Oniga, said the court would not allow journalists to cover the proceedings during the week as minors would be testifying.

The witnesses are minors and the purpose is to protect the Child Rights Acts, he said.

The coroner would only allow the lawyers and parents of the minors into the courtroom.

Testimony

At the end of Mondays proceedings, a lawyer, who requested not to be named to avoid victimisation by the coroner, told PREMIUM TIMES that the 11-year-old witness told the court that other students bullied three students in the school, leading to the parents of one of the bullied kids withdrawing him from the school.

He also said he witnessed how the students threatened the deceased.

The pupils testimony countered his earlier statement to the police, another lawyer told PREMIUM TIMES.

The minor had earlier in his statement said the school had no record of bullying, but after over five hours of cross-examination, he revealed that some students had been beaten previously.

The coroner had earlier scheduled two minors to be cross-examined, but only one could because of time.

This newspaper also learnt that the witness testified to having massaged the deceased legs with another student when he complained of muscle pull.

The coroner fixed May 9, for further hearing of the matter.
The #EndSARS panel set up to investigate cases of police brutality in Abuja, on Monday, issued arrest warrants against two police officers who have several times shunned its summons and orders.

One of those summoned police officers is the commissioner of police in charge of legal services at the Force Headquarters, Ogbeh Ochogwu. The other is an inspector a police officer, Shunku Terhermber, attached to the Bwari Police Division in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The panel, chaired by Suleiman Galadima, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, ordered the arrest of the two police officers who are wanted in respect of different cases.

Mr Terhermber, attached to the Bwari Police Division, in Abuja, had been earlier summoned through the head of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Makinde Ola.

He is named as a respondent in a case of unlawful arrest, detention and seizure of properties of Michael Uzoagba.

Mr Uzoagba, the complainant, claimed that Mr Terhember, along with other officers, invaded his shop sometime in 2020. He said the invading police officers questioned him about his sons whereabouts.

He said after he informed them he did not know where his son was, they took various electrical appliances from his shop, loaded them into a waiting police van, and drove away.

At Mondays hearing, Police lawyer, Fidelis Ogwobe, told the panel that he visited Bwari Area Council, to inform Mr Terhermber of the the panels summons against him, but failed to show up.

The panel in this circumstance could decide to proceed in the absence of the Inspector Terhember in line with the Administration of Criminal justice Act (ACJA), having been given the opportunity to defend himself and he failed to take advantage of such opportunity, Mr Ogwobe added.

A member of the panel, John Aikpokpo-Martins, stated that it was necessary to compel Mr Terhembers appearance.

The panel chairman, Mr Galadima, then issued a warrant of arrest against Mr Terhermber. The panel ordered that he be produced on April 27, 2022.

CP summoned

On his part, the commissioner of police in charge of legal affairs at Force Headquarters, Mr Ochogwu, is wanted by the panel in respect of a case of alleged unlawful arrest, detention and enforced disapearance of John Emeka Alozie.

Mr Alozie is said to have been missing from police custody since June 25, 2017.

The police officer had failed to honour several orders of the panel directing him to appear with the case file of the victim. The panel had adjourned its sitting at the instance of Mr Ochogwu five times.

Ordering the police officers arrest on Monday, the panel chairman, Mr Galadima, said his attitude was unbecoming of a lawyer and officer of the police force.

In addition to ordering the police officers arrest, the panel chairman also ordered that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report his conduct to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), the body statutorily saddled with the responsibility of disciplining lawyers found wanting in ethical and professional codes.

Mr Galadima noted that Mr Ochogwu flagrantly and repeatedly disobeyed the order of the panel having refused to turn in the said case file to enable the panel unravel the truth about the whereabouts of Mr Alozie.

The panel adjourned the petition until 27 April for progress report, according to a statement by NHRCs officer in charge of public affairs, Fatimah Mohammed.

Nnenna Alozie, the suspects wife, told the panel how her husband had been arrested since 2017 and had never been released or charged in court, despite a high court order for his release.

According to her, the police refused to comply with the order, and instead, said the suspect had died during interrogation.

With the revelation from the police, she said, the court in its judgement delivered on July 16, 2018, ordered that the police release the corpse of the victim to the family.

Almost three years after the judgement was delivered, the police have yet to comply with it or the earlier court order, Mrs Alozie had said.

She filed her petition at the panel to seek the enforcement of the court judgement.

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Police lawyer, James Idachaba, had, on March 30, 2022, in his final submission, urged the panel to stay off the case because, in his view, further investigations into it would amount to reviewing a court judgement that had already settled the case.

He said the matter had already been settled by a court of law and that it was up to the petitioner to seek enforcement at the court.

Asking the panel to stay off the case, the lawyer said the petitioner should rather explore the courts procedure for enforcement of such judicial decisions.
The House of Representatives has postponed plenary session indefinitely due to the ongoing renovation of the chambers of the National Assembly.

The lawmakers were due to resume plenary activities on Tuesday (today) after the one week Easter break.

But in a statement by the acting Clerk of the House of Representatives, Yahaya Danzariya, on Monday, the resumption has been postponed to a date yet to be decided.

Mr Danzariya cited the ongoing renovation and the need for committees to conclude work on their reports.

This is to inform all Honourable Members and other legislative Staff that the @HouseNGR Plenary earlier scheduled for Tuesday, 26th April, 2022 will no longer hold.

This is due to the early commencement of renovations in the Chambers and extension of time for Committees to file in their outstanding reports. A new date will be communicated in due course. All inconveniences are sincerely regretted, the statement posted on Twitter reads.

With the postponement, it is unclear when the lawmakers will resume because by next week there will be a public holiday for the Eid Fitr celebration to mark the end of Ramadan.

In addition, political parties have commenced activities for the primary elections ahead of the June 3 deadline by the electoral umpire, INEC.

Most of the lawmakers will be involved in the primaries as they seek to either get return tickets or bid for other offices.

Some may prefer to be at their respective constituencies to campaign to delegates.

Furthermore, by June 5, the lawmakers will embark on their customary two weeks holiday marking the end of another legislative session while they will go on the annual recess from July to September.

Renovation

In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari approved N37 billion for the renovation of the National Assembly Complex.

This was contained in the budget of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) which maintains the complex.

The approval had generated outrage from Nigerians, who criticised the humongous amount for the renovation. Also, some lawmakers condemned the allocation for the renovation.

However, following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the government reviewed the allocation for the rehabilitation project to N9 billion, with the project to be done in phases.

Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES had exclusively reported that the federal government awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of the National Assembly complex to Visible Construction Limited for the sum of N42 billion.

According to the report, the renovation will include architectural, mechanical and electrical.

Despite the billions of naira allocated to the National Assembly annually, the complex remains in a poor state due to poor maintenance.

On several occasions, lawmakers in the lower chamber had complained of heat due to the faulty air conditioning system in both the chamber and committee rooms.

In addition, lawmakers had been forced to adjourn plenary because of the faulty sound system while the stench from the toilets at the complex could be perceived metres away.
50 billion tons: enough to build a wall 27 metres wide and 27 metres high around planet Earth. This is the volume of sand and gravel used each year, making it the second most used resource worldwide after water.

Given our dependency on it, sand must be recognised as a strategic resource and its extraction and use needs to be rethought, finds a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The report, Sand and Sustainability: 10 strategic recommendations to avert a crisis, released today by UNEPs GRID-Geneva team, provides the necessary guidance gathered from world experts to switch to improved practices for the resources extraction and management.

Extracting sand where it plays an active role, such as rivers, and coastal or marine ecosystems, can lead to erosion, salination of aquifers, loss of protection against storm surges and impacts on biodiversity, which pose a threat to livelihoods through, among other things, water supply, food production, fisheries, or to the tourism industry.

According to the reports authors, sand must be recognised as a strategic resource, not only as a material for construction, but also for its multiple roles in the environment.

They stress that governments, industries and consumers should price sand in a way that recognises its true social and environmental value. For example, keeping sand on coasts may be the most cost-effective strategy for adapting to climate change due to how it protects against storm surges and impacts from sea level rise  such services should be factored into its value.

An international standard on how sand is extracted from the marine environment should also be developed, the report proposes. This could bring about dramatic improvements as most marine dredging is done through public tenders open to international companies.

Meanwhile, the report recommends that the extraction of sand from

beaches be banned due to its importance for coastal resilience, the environment and the economy.

To achieve sustainable development, we need to drastically change the way we produce, build and consume products, infrastructures and services. Our sand resources are not infinite, and we need to use them wisely. If we can get a grip on how to manage the most extracted solid material in the world, we can avert a crisis and move toward a circular economy, said Pascal Peduzzi, Director of GRID-Geneva at UNEP and overall programme coordinator for this report.

Infrastructure, homes, food and nature at stake

Sand is critical to economic development, needed to produce concrete and build vital infrastructure ranging from homes and roads to hospitals. By providing habitats and breeding grounds for diverse flora and fauna, sand also plays a vital function in supporting biodiversity, including marine plants that act as carbon sinks or filter water.

The resource will be crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and tackling the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

However, it is being used faster than it can be naturally replenished, so its responsible management is crucial.

A circular economy is within reach

The authors note that solutions exist for moving towards a circular economy for sand, including banning the landfilling of mineral waste and encouraging sand to be reused in public procurement contracts are among the policy measures cited. Crushed rock or recycled construction and demolition material, as well as ore-sand from mine tailings are among the viable alternatives to sand that should also be incentivised, the report

details.

They add that new institutional and legal structures are needed for sand to be more effectively governed and best practices shared and implemented.

Sand resources must furthermore be mapped, monitored and reported on, the report recommends.

Meanwhile, all stakeholders must be involved in decisions related to the management of sand to allow for place-based approaches and avoid one-size-fits-all solutions, the paper stresses.

The report follows a resolution on Mineral resource governance adopted at the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) that called for actions on sustainable sand management.

This mandate was confirmed at UNEA-5 in 2022 in the new resolution titled Environmental aspects of minerals and metals management, adopted by all.
Being Vice President, and at some point, Acting President, and the invaluable experience acquired over the past seven years is like training to become President, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Mr Osinbajo stated this Monday at the palace of the Deji of Akure, Aladelusi Aladetoyinbo, while on a visit to Ondo State. The monarch prayed for the VPs success in attaining his objective, noting that, had it been it were in advanced countries, in all of the APC, nobody would run (for president), they would all just support you.

Speaking on the motivation to run for the office of the President, the vice president said as we approach the coming elections, it is a time also for us to reflect on the type of leadership that we want for our country.

I have served for the past seven years as the Vice President of Nigeria, and I have also acted within that period when the President was away. I think that I am fortunate, and we are fortunate to have been given tremendous opportunities to serve, also even when I acted (as President).

In that capacity, I am probably the only person trained to be (in that duration), because if you have been a Vice President and also as Acting President, then you have been trained, and I must say with utmost humility  that that is exactly how I feel.

Continuing, he said I feel that with what God has given me within the past seven and half years, I must be able to give to my country. People die for this country every day; there are young men and women, soldiers who die for this country every day. That is the greatest act of loyalty that one can have for ones country. Those of us whom God has given some opportunities to serve must be prepared to offer that service whenever we are called upon to do so.

Which is why I declared my intention to run for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And I want to say that I am grateful to God; and I am grateful to you for all your support, advice and counselling in the past.

The vice president spoke earlier during a meeting in Akure with the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, members of the State House of Assembly, State Executive Council members and the APC leaders in Ondo State.

Mr Osinbajo noted that he was privileged to serve in different capacities, and undertake major responsibilities as VP and Acting President because of President Muhammadu Buharis generosity and open-mindedness towards him.

In those capacities as VP and acting president, in particular, I got to know so many things that many people would never have ever have come across, and I gained a lot of experience on that account. Now, the opportunity has come, Mr Osinbajo stated.

According to the VP, it would be a disservice to the nation on his part not to utilize the wealth of experience he has garnered over the years to further serve the nation in the highest capacity.

With the experience I have, the contacts and connections that I have made, locally and internationally, I think that it would be a betrayal to our country, to our nation, not to accept to serve the country.

If with all that has been given to me by the grace of God, with all of my experiences, to say that, oh, I will now retire quietly either to Lagos or Ikenne, and go and be writing my memoirs; it would be a grave injustice to our country.

That is why I decided to pour my heart into it and ensure that I make up this case for the position of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And I believe that with God helping, if God gives us the opportunity, and the will of the people also, God will make it happen; I will have the opportunity to give this nation the very best that I can give, with all of our hearts, in everything that we can, with sincerity, openness and transparency. That is the desire of my heart.

While welcoming the VP, Governor Akeredolu recalled that the emergence of Mr Osinbajo in 2014 as APC vice-presidential candidate was purely a divine thing, adding that it is God who ultimately decides who gets what position. He disclosed that the VP and himself had been friends and colleagues for a long while before politics.

At the palace, the Deji of Akure, Aladelusi Aladetoyinbo, extolled the qualities of the VP noting that we love you and appreciate you and whatever you do, we support you.

In whatever you do, we wish you good luck. God will continue to strengthen you; your going and coming would be by the mercy of God. We appreciate you for coming.

While in the state, the vice president also paid a visit to one of Afeniferes respected leaders, Reuben Fasoranti, where he received the blessings of the revered Yoruba leader for his aspiration to become President of Nigeria.

Mr Fasoranti noted, I wish the project a success, as you go about, may you continue to find favour with people and, at the end of the day, we shall say, congratulations.

The VP thanked the Yoruba leader for his contributions to the development of the country, noting that your counsel and guidance have always been extremely useful and treasured by all of us. Those of us in politics, and government particularly, find your counsel very useful; and we know you have a heart, not just for the Yorubas or the citizens of Ondo State, but for our whole country.

Laolu Akande

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
President Muhammadu Buhari will host some select leaders of the All Progress Congress (APC) to breaking of fast feast (Iftar) at the State House, Abuja.

Some of the leaders, Muslims and non-Muslims, invited include the former Governor of Lagos State and presidential aspirant, Bola Tinubu; as well as former national chairpersons of the APC, Bisi Akande, John Oyegun and Adams Oshiomhole.

Also invited are former Governors Ali Modu Sheriff (Borno), Bukar Ibrahim (Yobe), Sani Yerima (Zamfara), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Oserheimen Osunbor (Edo), Olusegun Osoba (Ogun), and Martala Nyako (Adamawa).

Abubakar Girei, Nasiru Dani, Fati Bala, Tijjanni Tumsah, Abba Aji, Lawal Shuaib and Mohammed Magoro were also invited.

The invitation was contained in a letter dated April 26 by the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, to the National Chairman of the Party, Abdullahi Adamu.

I write to inform that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that invitation be extended to the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to join Mr President to break Ramadan fast on Tuesday 26th April, 2022 at 18:30 hours in the presidential banquet hall, State House, Abuja.

In this regard, you are kindly requested to invite them to attend, The Leaders are to arrive at the Post gate by 16:30 hours for the Rapid COVID19 test at the State House Conference Centre and be seated by 18:30 hours, the letter reads in part.

Mr Tinubu is the only APC presidential aspirant invited for the Tuesday breaking of fast.

Breaking of Ramadan fast (Iftar) appears to have become a political event lately as the country moves toward party primaries and the 2023 general elections.

Shortly before and after declaring his interest to run for president, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who is a pastor, hosted governors, senators and members of the House of Representatives separately to iftar.

Last week, the first lady, Aisha Buhari, also hosted some presidential aspirants of the APC and the opposition PDP for the Ramadan fast-breaking feast.

Currently, there are about 10 aspirants jostling for the ticket of the ruling party.

Apart from Messrs Tinubu and Osinbajo, other aspirants include the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige.

Others are Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, his counterpart in Ebonyi, Dave Umahi, former Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, former senate president, Ken Nnamani and others.

On Tuesday, the former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu, pulled out of the race.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed reports of resumption of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in some local government areas of Imo State.

The commission had suspended the exercise in Ihitte Uboma local government about two weeks ago following the murder of one of its officials, Nwokorie Anthony, by gunmen.

Mr Anthony was shot dead while registering members of the community.

INEC suspended the exercise in Orsu and Njaba and Ihitte Uboma local governments due to threats to lives of personnel and properties.

However, the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, in a report widely credited to his spokesperson on Monday, said the commission had agreed to lift the suspension of CVR in the affected LGAs.

By Monday, April 25, 2022 the CVR will resume in all the designated centres while the three local governments under ban will carry out the registration at their local government headquarters.

Those who are deliberately scaring the people away from registering are enemies of the state who want to draw the state back knowing full well that the INEC registration and the population census are yardsticks for Federal Revenue Allocation to states and local governments, the governors spokesperson, Oguwike Nwachukwu, said in a statement on Monday.

Refuting the governors claim, INEC, on Tuesday, said the statement is misleading and should therefore be disregarded.

The commission made this known in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Festus Okoye.

He reiterated that the CVR exercise in Imo State remained suspended in Orsu, Njaba and Ihitte Uboma local governments and cautioned the state authorities against making such a statement that may further endanger the safety of staff and properties.

While the Commission is not unmindful of the imperative of giving every eligible Nigerian the opportunity to register and vote in future elections, the safety and security of citizens involved in the exercise is a paramount concern.

We appeal to the public to discountenance the purported resumption of the CVR in the three LGAs of Orsu, Njaba and Ihitte Uboma. Such statements are capable of misleading the public and further jeopardising the safety of registrants and officials as well as the security of the Commissions facilities, Mr Okoye said.

Since the resumption of CVR in the second quarter of 2021, the INEC said at least 5.1 million registrants have completed their registrations across the country.

In an update released on Monday, Imo State has the least number of registrants who have completed their registrations online or in person registrations.

Only 47,699 persons have completed the CVR in the the state as the country prepares for the 2023 general elections.
The State Security Service (SSS) has alerted Nigerians on alleged plans by some elements to launch bomb attacks on critical infrastructure and public places like worship and relaxation centres, especially during and after the festive celebrations.

The SSS issued the alert on Tuesday in a statement by its spokesperson, Peter Afunanya.

Mr Afunanya said the criminal elements were planning to return the country to the pre-2015 era reminiscent of IED attacks on soft and hard targets.

The warning by the SSS comes a few days after suspected Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists detonated IEDs at a popular relaxation center in Taraba State.

The police confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday that the death toll from the attack which occurred on Tuesday in a bar at Iware Community in Ardo Kola Local Government Area had risen to six.

Over a dozen were also injured during the attack.

A similar blast had also occurred at a Catholic school in January in Gassol Local Government Area neighbouring Ardo Kola, where the latest incident happened.

The ISWAP has claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

The SSS, in the statement, called on owners of such target places to be wary of this development and implement basic security measures to deter the threats.

Following these, patrons, owners, and managers of aforementioned public places are advised to be wary of this development and implement basic security measures to deter the threats.

While the Service is committed to the disruption of this trend and pattern of violent attacks, it will continue to partner with other security agencies to ensure that necessary drills are emplaced in order that public peace and order are not jeopardised,  the statement said.

The Service also enjoined residents to go about their lawful businesses and share, with security and law enforcement agencies, useful information on the activities of criminals.

Read the full statement:

PRESS RELEASE.

PUBLIC ALERT ON RENEWED BOMB EXPLOSIONS

The Department of State Services (DSS) hereby draws public attention to plans by criminal elements to return the country to the pre-2015 era reminiscent of IED attacks on soft and hard targets in parts of the country.

Though there are already reported cases of such incidents in some areas, the Service has uncovered a ploy by suspected criminal gangs to forge an alliance among themselves with a view to launching further attacks on critical infrastructure and other frequented public places like worship and relaxation centres, especially during and after the holidays and festive celebrations. The objective is to achieve some self- serving interests as well as cause fear among the citizenry. The Service, however, recalls its earlier warning that some groups and individuals were plotting to stoke violence in the country.

Following these, patrons, owners and managers of aforementioned public places are advised to be wary of this development and implement basic security measures to deter the threats. While the Service is committed to the disruption of this trend and pattern of violent attacks, it will continue to partner with other security agencies to ensure that necessary drills are emplaced in order that public peace and order are not jeopardized.

To this end, residents are enjoined to go about their lawful businesses and share, with security and law enforcement agencies, useful information on the activities of criminals.

Meanwhile, the DGSS, Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi, fwc wishes all and sundry a hitch free Workers Day and Sallah celebrations.

Peter Afunanya, Ph.D, fsi

Public Relations Officer

Department of State Services

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National Headquarters

Abuja.

26th April, 2022
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has paid the required N100 million for the expression of interest and nomination forms of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest the 2023 presidential election.

Yemi Kolapo, the spokesperson of the Yahaya Bello Presidential Campaign Organisation, disclosed this o Tuesday in a press statement.

Mrs Kolapo said the governor made the payment on Tuesday morning in a bid to show his seriousness to Nigerians on his quest to emerge as the candidate of the ruling party.

She stated that Mr Bello will be at the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja to pick up his form on Wednesday.

The Director-General of the Campaign Organisation, Hafsat Abiola-Costello, confirmed this to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday.

Mr Bello had formally declared his intention to run for president on April 2 at Eagle Square in Abuja.

While declaring his interest to contest, Mr Bello promised to create 20 million millionaires, if elected.

The governor will complete his second term in 2024.

It will be recalled that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party had released a new date for the sales of forms, after failing to meet up with the initial date set by the National Executive Council (NEC).

The date was shifted from April 23 to April 26.

The NEC also set N100 million as the cost of its presidential nomination and expression of interest forms.

The price for the forms has been heavily criticised.

This paper had reported how the exorbitant nomination and expression of interest forms of the party will contribute to high level of corruption in Nigeria, despite the change mantra of the APC ruling party

Meanwhile, there are other presidential aspirants with whom Mr Bello would contend for the APC ticket.

They include a former governor of La Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige and Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday met behind closed-doors with Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Mr Tambuwal, who was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP), has since indicated interest to contest the forthcoming presidential election on the platform of the party.

He has, however, rejected claims that a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi emerged as the PDP Northern consensus candidates of the party for the presidential election.

The governor, when accosted by State House correspondents, declined comment on the outcome of his meeting with the president, who is a member of the APC, saying his visit to the villa was private.

NAN, however, reliably learnt that Mr Tambuwal briefed Mr Buhari on the socio-economic and security developments in his state.

Bandits killed several people in Sokoto State last year.

NAN reports that the President also met behind closed doors with Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State.

Mr Bagudu, who is also the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, an association of APC governors, declined comment on the outcome of his meeting with the president.
Troops of Nigerian Army, Monday, killed two suspected members of the outlawed Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) during a gun battle in Imo State, Nigerias South-east.

The incident happened along Orsu-Orlu road in the state.

Army spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the troops intercepted the IPOB members and its militant wing, ESN, while on a routine patrol around the area.

On sighting the patrol team, the criminal elements opened fire and launched grenade attack on the troops.

The vigilant troops responded with superior firepower neutralising two of the criminal elements, compelling others to flee in disarray, Mr Nwachukwu said.

He said the troops arrested four of the fleeing gunmen following a hot chase during the operation.

One AK 47 rifle, two magazines, one police grenade launcher, two Baofeng communication radio sets, were among the items recovered during the operation, according to the Army spokesperson.

Others are: five mobile phones, one IPOB beret, two motorcycles, four SIM cards, five wallets containing different ID cards, aphrodisiac, charms and the sum of N16,460.

Preliminary investigation on the suspects mobile phones reveals gory pictures and videos depicting scenes of cold-blooded murders, corpses displayed in shrines and other heinous atrocities committed by the criminals, Mr Nwachukwu said.

Like other states in the South-east, attacks by gunmen have increased recently in Imo State. The attacks often target security agencies and government facilities.

The Nigerian government has accused IPOB of being responsible for the attacks in the region. But the separatist group has repeatedly denied involvement in the attacks.

IPOB is leading agitation for 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.

Read full statement:

TROOPS NEUTRALIZE TWO IPOB/ESN IN GUN BATTLE, RECOVER WEAPONS IN IMO STATE*

Troops of 34 Artillery Brigade, Nigerian Army(NA) have neutralized two gun men and arrested four other members of the outlawed Indigenous people of Biafra(IPOB) and its armed affiliate, Eastern Security Network (ESN) in a fierce gun battle along Orlu  Orsu Road on 25 April 2022.

The troops, while on routine patrol made contact with elements of IPOB/ESN around the general area of Aluminium Company and All Saints Church. On sighting the patrol team, the criminal elements opened fire and launched grenade attack on the troops. The vigilant troops responded with superior firepower neutralizing two of the criminal elements, compelling others to flee in disarray. In a hot pursuit that followed the encounter, troops arrested four of the fleeing gunmen and recovered one AK 47 rifle, two magazines, one Police grenade launcher, two Baofeng communication radios, five mobile phones, one IPOB Beret, two Motorcycles, four SIM cards, five wallets containing different ID cards, afrodisiac, charms and the sum of Sixteen Thousand Four Hundred and Sixty Naira only.

Preliminary investigation on the suspects mobile phones reveals gory pictures and videos depicting scenes of cold blooded murders, corpses displayed in shrines and other heinous atrocities committed by the criminals.

ONYEMA NWACHUKWU

Brigadier General

Director Army Public Relations

26 April 2022

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Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has declared support for the presidential ambition of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

A statement by the governors chief press secretary, Kunle Somorin, said Mr Abiodun and the delegates from Ogun State would support Mr Osinbajo to enable him continue with some of the laudable projects of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

The vice president is from Ogun State.

Mr Abioduns declaration for the vice president has dealt an apparent blow to Bola Tinubu, another APC presidential aspirant, who has been banking on the governors support in the southwest region.

Mr Osinbajo arrived Ogun State on Tuesday in continuation of his nationwide consultation with key personalities and party delegates ahead of next months presidential primaries.

During a meeting with Mr Abiodun at the Presidential Lodge, Ibara, Abeokuta, the governor said the vice president is eminently qualified to lead the country.

The vice presidents presence here is homecoming, the governor said.

We are pleased with his decision to run for the office of the president. He is competent and committed to lead the country in a higher capacity.

Your steadfastness, integrity and character are all well known. You are serving this country and the president meritoriously for the last seven years as the vice president.

We have no doubt that you will do well as the president and we will support you.

The governor, who extolled the VPs academic exploits, recalled how he stood behind his gubernatorial election and described him as a man who is interested in fairness, justice, equity and the rule of law.

While speaking, Mr Osinbajo said he was not in the state to campaign, but to inform his people of his intention to run for president.

The vice president said he had consulted widely across all sections of the society, including with President Muhammadu Buhari, before throwing his hat into the ring.

Recounting his contributions to the present federal government, Mr Osinbajo said he was actively involved in the judiciary reforms and its repositioning to work optimally, and ensure that judges are adequately remunerated

He said his working with President Buhari has exposed him to governance at the highest level and placed him in a position to tackle serious issues concerning economy, and security, among others.

The Vice President position is an opportunity to serve and I have served with utmost loyalty. I put everything into my work. I am a candidate who will hit the ground running when I am elected.

I have the requisite knowledge to do the job and build on what others have put in place. My presidency will bring peace, unity and development to the country.

After all, I have learnt if called upon to serve the nation, should I say no? I have decided that I will run for the office. I have sworn an oath to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is an oath to our people, our children and the future of Nigeria. I owe nobody else any allegiance outside the oath, he added.

The paramount ruler of Remoland, Babatunde Ajayi, in his remarks, said the vice president was competent with the required qualification to lead the nation, observing that his performance as the acting president is there for all to see.

Speaking on the ambition of the Vice President, the Alake of Egbaland, Adedotun Gbadebo, attested to the competence of Mr Osinbajo.

He said: the vice president has paid his dues and is eminently qualified to succeed as president.

I want to pray that you will come back to this palace as a President and Nigeria will gain tremendously under your watch.
The police in Yobe State, on Tuesday, shut down their mammy market in the state capital, Damaturu, over fear that the Islamist group, Boko Haram/ISWAP, is planning to bomb it.

The police mammy market perhaps houses the highest number of bars in the town.

The Islamist group considers the consumption of alcohol ungodly and has claimed responsibility for recent attacks on bars across the countrys north-east where it is primarily active.

The market, which is located inside the Police Area Command Damaturu, had been deserted, when our reporter visited the market around 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

PREMIUM TIMES learned that the police took the decision to close the market to prevent it from being attacked by the Islamist group.

Last Wednesday PREMIUM TIMES reported that Boko Haram claimed responsibility for attacks on bars in Geidam, in the north of the state, and Gashua town. At least six people were killed in both attacks and several others were injured.

Following the closure of the mammy market, bars in the town, especially in the Jerusalem area of the town, have also closed shop.

A security source told our reporter that the market will remain closed throughout the Sallah period until adequate security measures are in place to secure the lives and property of the citizens.

Yobe State Police Spokesperson, Dungus Abdulkareem, who confirmed the closure of the market told PREMIUM TIMES, that the police do not want to be embarrassed or caught unawares by these terrorists.

ALSO READ: SSS warns of imminent bomb attacks across Nigeria

With what happened at Geidam and Gashua, its expedient on us to act proactively by closing down the Area Command Mammy Market until further notice. The police and security agencies are also collaborating with other places to ensure adequate protection of people and property, Mr Dungus informed.

In his reaction, the Security Adviser to the governor of the state, Dahiru Abdulsalam, said the antics of Boko Haram are to draw sympathy by pitching the people against one another.

He said the recent bomb attacks on bars are to win sympathy from the larger Islamic population of the State.

The security operatives in Yobe State is concerned with protecting the lives of everyone in the state whether in a drinking joint, in the hotel, worship centre, market place etc. our concern is to stop such attacks and nip them from the bud, Mr Abdulsalam said.
The Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Kalu, has taken a swipe at presidential aspirants from the South-west and South-south.

The aspirants, he said, have no respect for the South-east and do not regard equity and fairness in their play of politics. And it is for this reason, that he will not run for presidency.

He said this in a statement titled 2023 Presidency: The Fairness I Know.

The aspirants he called out cut across all political parties.

Some of these aspirants are Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu and publisher, Dele Momodu and former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose.

From the South-south are Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.

He accused them of being unfair while pretending to talk about morals.

The lawmaker has always indicated interest to run for the office of the president in the 2023 general election.

He, however, never made an official declaration because he wanted his party, APC, to zone the ticket to the South- east.

He is one of many politicians that have called on political parties (both APC and PDP) to intentionally produce a South- eastern president in the coming poll as they did for the South-west in 1999.

Southern leaders of the main opposition party, PDP, have also made similar calls in recent weeks while they urge the party to zone the ticket to the region as well.

Mr Kalu, a former governor of Abia State, said despite his desire and intention to run for president, he cannot make an official declaration in this regard without the full support of other regions.

For this reason, he said, he shall return to the Senate and stay away from the presidential contest.

He also noted that the North is more advantageous to win elections in this democratic setting.

I am even shocked with the number of aspirants coming from the South West and the South South . It is embarrassing that these aspirants (APC and PDP) have no single respect and concern for the South East.

I had thought they would think about the South East; I thought they would support us. The amount of money being spent by these aspirants is alarming and they have forgotten that money alone cannot buy the presidency.

He said the two regions that are yet to produce a president are the South-East and the North-East.

Fairness, equity now a joke

Talks of fairness, equity and justice now sound like a joke because if there is anything like fairness, equity and justice, it should be the entire South pushing for a president of South-east extraction, he said.

ALSO READ: Orji Kalu urges APC to zone presidential ticket to Southeast

If there is Anything less than that is hypocritical, unjustifiable and inordinate. Some persons are even claiming Gods anointed choice in 2023 . Unfortunately, it is not all prayers that God answers; at least not inordinate ones.

The South west and the South south have successfully completed their tenures as President and Vice President and they should have the courage to support their brothers from the South east, Mr Kalu argued.

If the next president after President Muhammadu Buhari does not come from the South east , there would be nothing unfair and unjust if he/she comes from Daura.

Selfish takes

The lawmaker also called out Nigerians who believe that where a president comes from does not matter.

This school of thought, he said, is borne out of selfishness and greed.

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Simply because you dont want to support a president of Nigeria from the South east, but turn around to clamour for a power shift to the South? How do we explain this to the younger generation? Let the wise and courageous stay firm on their convictions and not swing on the two sides of the Atlantic.

If you are convinced that where a president comes from does not matter, let Nigerians not hear you clamour for power shift. But if you have conscience and believe in equality, then you should support the South East region that is yet to produce a president. That is what I consider as fairness, he challenged his colleagues.

He, therefore, asked the APC and PDP to be fair enough to prioritise e these regions because if power should come to the South and not the South-east or North and not the North-east, the essence for which the six geopolitical zones were created is long dead., therefore, the PDP nor the APC has zoned the presidential ticket despite calls that it be zoned to the South-east.

Although the Gov Samuel Ortom-led zoning committee in the PDP has made recommendations to the party, the latter is yet to formally announce its decision.
A prosecution witness, on Tuesday, told the Special Offences Court in Ikeka, Lagos, how a suspected fake army general, Bolarinwa Abiodun, allegedly defrauded him of about N266 million by posing as a son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The witness, Bamidele Safiriyu, who is also the complainant in the case, was testifying as the first prosecution witness in the trial of Mr Abiodun, who faces 13 counts of fraud, forgery and other charges.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed the charges against defendant and arraigned him on April 12, this year. Mr Abidoun pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The trial judge, Oluwatoyin Taiwo, had ordered the remand of the defendant after his arraignment. On Monday, the court rejected his bail application on the grounds that he was a flight-risk.

EFCC opened its case on Tuesday, with the first prosecution witness, Mr Safiriyu, taking the court through how the defendant allegedly defrauded him using Mr Obasanjos name.

The commissions spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, gave the account of the proceedings in a press statement on Tuesday.

How it started

According to the EFCCs statement, Mr Sarafiyu opened his testimony telling the court how he and the man who claimed to be the former presidents son crossed paths in April 2017.

Led in evidence by EFCCs prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, the witness, who described himself as a businessman dealing in clearing and forwarding, said it started on a Friday, sometime in April 2017, when one of his loaded trucks heading to a customers cold room hit the defendants Honda Accord.

He said: He detained the truck, because he was in a convoy of soldiers.

On Saturday the following day, I got a call from my client that some soldiers had hijacked the container.

I became troubled because it has never happened before, and that Saturday, I was to travel out, and so I was just praying because I didnt know what to do.

Mr Safiriyu said Mr Abiodun called the next day introducing himself and prefixing his name by military title, General.

He also said the defendant claimed to be a son of former President Obasanjo. Mr Obasanjo, a former military head of state in the lat 70s, also served as elected Nigerian president between 1999 and 2007.

Later in the day, I received a call from this young man, and he introduced himself as General Abiodun Bolarinwa, a General in the Nigerian Army and a son to Baba Olusegun Obasanjo, former President, the witness said.

He added: He told me in that conversation that my truck was with him, that the truck bashed his car, and his boys brought it to where he stays at Abule-Egba.

Later my team also met with him and they got the issue resolved after spending about N200,000.

Subsequent moves

The witness said, after the incident, the defendant, continued communicating with him.

He said on one occasion, the defendant came to his office in a convoy of military personnel with a banner of former President Obasanjo adorning one of the vehicles.

He said: He came with a convoy and they were shooting in the air and everywhere was scattered.

Later he sent me a message that he is going to be made the military assistant to the president at Aso Rock.

He sent me the letter and he said he would need some assistance, claiming that in the Army you are going to provide everything you need.

Later he said he was vying for the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, that he has been nominated by the President and that he needs money to press and process the appointment.

In his solitary moments, the witness said he wondered why the defendant could not get Mr Obasanjo to help him make a push to be made the Chief of Army Staff.

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So I asked him, you said youre Babas son, why cant he take care of this.

He replied and said you know that Baba doesnt want to do that, because of the polygamous home and so he doesnt want to be seen as the one financing him.

In 2013, a message came into my phone saying I, President Obasanjo. Then a few minutes later, he called me and said Baba has been trying to reach you, but that I was not picking his call.

I checked my phone, I saw only a text, no missed call, and I told him; he said that Obasanjo has been trying to reach me to thank me for all I have been doing for him.

Then later a number called me and it showed the name Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR As the caller, and I picked up the call, it was exactly Babas voice and he said to me to help my brother financially to become COAS that he will repay me.

So I said, ok, sir; and that was how at various times he kept requesting for money.

He said he needed money to travel to go and meet Emirs to make his intention known, that he has been nominated to become the next COAS.

Any time he needs money, he will use the number, sometimes he asks for N5 million, 6million.

I did not know that he was not even in the Army and never even passed through the Army, this I got to know much later.

Obasanjos birthday, and revelation

He told the court that the defendant posing as Mr Obasanjos son even invited him to the ex-presidents birthday in 2020.

According to the witness, he was able to later get an audience with Mr Obasanjo who denied any relationship with the defendant.

He said he petitioned the EFCC, when he realised belatedly that he had been duped of almost N300 million.

Transfers

Testifying on Tuesday, Mr Safiriyu detailed various money transfers he sent to the defendant, as well as several correspondences they both exchanged.

Subsequently, the prosecution tendered the mobile phone of the witness in evidence, and it was admitted as Exhibit B.

The prosecution thereafter tendered in evidence the petition along with attachments, including letters, confirmation letters and a series of photos sent to him by the defendant to deceive and defraud him.

The bundle of documents was admitted in evidence as Exhibit A.

The witness told the judge that he owned two companies  Kodef Clearing Resources Limited, incorporated in April 2008 and De-Rock Maritime Resource registered in July 2013  for his clearing and forwarding business,

The judge adjourned the trial until April 29 for cross-examination of the witness.

Charges

EFCC charged Mr Abiodun with obtaining money by false pretence, forgery of documents and possession of documents containing false pretence, among other charges.

The commission said the alleged fraud, involving about N266,500,000, was reported by a firm, Kodef Clearing Resources.

It said the defendant made false representations to the complainant, Kodef Clearing Resources, that President Muhammadu Buhari had short-listed him and one other to be appointed as the Chief of Army Staff, COAS.

He had allegedly told the complainant that he needed a short grant to press and process the appointment.

Mr Abiodun, who was arrested at his house in the Alagbado area of Lagos State on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, also allegedly forged a letter of appointment as COAS purportedly signed by the president and showed the same to the victim to further prove his claim.

In the said letter, he claimed that he needed to pay a certain amount of money into the coffers of the Federal Government of Nigeria, as part of the requirements for the appointment as COAS.

Mr Abiodun is also alleged to have, in May 2020, forged a Nigeria Army Identity Card with serial number 387140, claiming the same to have been issued to him from the Nigerian Army.

He also allegedly forged a Letter of Recommendation purportedly signed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo recommending one Adebayo Rasaq Adebola, with recruitment No 77RRI/OG/556/0032555 and Adeogun Emmanuel Adesola with recruitment No 77RRI/OG/352/0123751 for employment into the Nigeria Army.

The alleged offences are said to be contrary to section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act 2006; section 363 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015 and Section 6 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act No 14 of 2006, respectively.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Immediately, we must make our voices heard on the selection of the new Alaafin. If we botch this, the Yoruba may never recover. We should let those who appoint political allies and their likeness to sit on revered traditional stools, know that they should not toy with the Alaafin stool. We should warn those who seek to transplant or destroy the Yoruba culture by installing less than stellar characters not go near this one. Those who sell the throne to the highest bidder should please respect themselves.

The transition of Alaafin Adeyemi, who straddled the throne for fifty-two years, was an admixture of history and political astuteness. His journey to eternity brings back, once again, the conflict between tradition and an interpretation of modernity. The irony that the stool of the Oyo kingdom is once again under the beam light is not lost. For it was in Oyo that the melodrama that subsequently played out across the colonies gained prominence. In 1953, the quest for dominance in the political transition from traditional mores to the newer institutions of the colonial state and modernity played itself out. As chairman of Oyo Local Government, the urbane, engagingly clever lawyer, and deputy leader of the Action Group, Chief Bode Thomas had insisted on administrative and, indeed, supremacy of protocol over the then reigning Alaafin who, in another twinge of irony, was the father of the recently passed Alaafin. It did not end well, as it is well-known.

The suspicious tragic death of Bode Thomas eventually led to the removal of the Alaafin. Further down the road in the heady 1960s, the government in the same Western Region, with macabre humour, reduced the governments honorarium to the problematic Odemo of Ishara to one penny (1p). Thereafter, tradition and changing administrative and constitutional arrangements led to clashes all over the place. In the post-colonial consolidation of Ghana, the ruling Convention Peoples Party (CPP) enforced its supremacy, particularly in areas where it was electorally weak, by embarking on a destooling binge that continued right up to the coup detat which overthrew Osayegfo Kwame Nkrumah government in 1966.

The response in post-colonial India, after a lot of twists and turns, was the eventual abolition of the princes states and the rule of the Maharajahs, most of who sulked off to places like New York to take abode in less salubrious circumstances than the massive campus-style palaces they had been brought up in. With the aforementioned developments, one phase of the contestation for space was resolved.

Recent developments highlighted by the discord over the rites of passage of Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi a few days ago, have brought up new dimensions. This is to be expected. The tussles for cultural hegemony in the post-colonial state replicates the foreboding of the Italian political philosopher, Antonio Gramsci, a tragic figure who reached his apogee in the 1920s, who stated that, The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.

The new age of monarchs often imposed by jockeying political forces for self-serving electoral reasons and as control mechanisms, appear to be bent on the undermining, if not outright dismantling, of the traditional essence and spirituality of monarchical institutions. A lot of these new monarchs are a far cry from, say, the present Awujale of Ijebuland or Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi and Ooni Adesoji Aderemi, both of who have transited to the other realms of existence.

New conflicts have emerged in the culture clash. The tussle in the post-colonial state between the traditional institutions and the new political elite has been resolved in favour of the latter. More recently, the battleground has shifted to the contest between the Abrahamic religions and indigenous spirituality. The issue was latent in the past but it has now come up to the fore.

Which morbid symptoms are revealing themselves here? Is it the invigorated and assertive Christian Pentecostals or the burgeoning Islamic fervour, with both faiths often verging in interpretation? How about the echoes of fundamentalism rooted in the morbid symptoms? Unfortunately, indigenous religion now has to contest for a living space. All these converge and bring up issues and inconvenient questions to be answered about compatibility. Isnt it presumptuous and a contradiction in terms for the adherents of the Abrahamic faiths to ascend the traditional stool and then try (insist?) to reshape it to the mores of these Abrahamic religions? Since money and politics have replaced the Ifa oracle, maybe we should have them sign contracts with terms and conditions with the people.

The new age of monarchs often imposed by jockeying political forces for self-serving electoral reasons and as control mechanisms, appear to be bent on the undermining, if not outright dismantling, of the traditional essence and spirituality of monarchical institutions. A lot of these new monarchs are a far cry from, say, the present Awujale of Ijebuland or Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi and Ooni Adesoji Aderemi, both of who have transited to the other realms of existence. These men have been exemplars of custodial effectiveness of what they inherited, or had bestowed on them. Many of the new Yoruba kings are dodgy characters who come with baggage that the political establishments that installed them know about, and find useful, as potential means of blackmailing them  a sword of Damocles hanging over their necks to keep them in check. This machiavellian strategy is astute on the part of the politicians but has already begun to erode the Yoruba confidence and authority. Sadly, there are now few places in Yoruba land with the deep institutional roots that the Benin Kingdom has demonstrated, which is necessary to withstand their being undermined by politicians and often destructive transient personalities.

The imperative of the present generation of the Yoruba is for us to make our voices heard, to do something to counteract this incipient decadence, and preserve our traditional institutions for succeeding generations. It matters, otherwise, that there will be mass disorientation, a lack of focus will set in, making us easy preys for predators. This is already manifesting itself in the current political season.

The imperative of the present generation of the Yoruba is for us to make our voices heard, to do something to counteract this incipient decadence, and preserve our traditional institutions for succeeding generations. It matters, otherwise, that there will be mass disorientation, a lack of focus will set in, making us easy preys for predators. This is already manifesting itself in the current political season. Any society that is short-sighted, that throws away its institutional and spiritual stability buffers, is playing with extinction and engaged in a political turf war of annihilation.

The time is now, to speak out against those who seek to devalue our culture and traditions from within and without. The Alaafin stool is a revered one. The time has passed when we installed boy kings. We cannot continue. Many people are psychologically and emotionally immature these days. We the Yoruba do not want kings who advertises themselves on Instagram and YouTube. Being a king and sitting down all day, sequestered in a town for a long time, is not a job for video game playing guys. It is a serious job. We should look at the issue of age, and set the minimum age qualification at 50.

Immediately, we must make our voices heard on the selection of the new Alaafin. If we botch this, the Yoruba may never recover. We should let those who appoint political allies and their likeness to sit on revered traditional stools, know that they should not toy with the Alaafin stool. We should warn those who seek to transplant or destroy the Yoruba culture by installing less than stellar characters not go near this one. Those who sell the throne to the highest bidder should please respect themselves. They should desist now! We dont want kings who abuse psychotropic drugs, kings whose raison detre is money, kings who are land grabbers or those who can steal the crack of dawn from God. We have had enough!

Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, an advocate, strategist and political analyst, is Commissioner for Regional Integration and Diaspora Relations in Ondo State. Twitter: @BamideleUpfront; Facebook: facebook.com/Bamidele. BAO
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has increased the number of polling units in Kano State from 8,074 to 11,222 to make voting easier for electorates.

The states Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Riskua Shehu revealed this on Tuesday while delivering an address at a one-day workshop on electoral reporting in Kano.

He said as of January 14th only 77,255 of the 128,628 applicants completed their online voter registrations in Kano, leaving behind 40 per cent as invalid.

He said the incomplete registrations were mainly because the voters were ignorant of the registration process.

He added that the commission has identified over 200,000 multiple registrations in Kano during the previous exercise.

We have 481,318 both old and new PVC yet to be collected. Some people are registering more than once. I will blame that on their inability to understand that the registration is not for everyone, he said.

As of 14th of January, 2022 there were 77,255 valid registrations of all the registered figures while 40 per cent are invalid. People should understand that this registration exercise is not for everybody but for those who have not registered before, those who want to change location and those who want to correct their captured details. Those who have their permanent voters card dont need to register again unless it is lost or destroyed, he said.

Mr Riskua said people should be tolerant of their opponents in politics, adding that there was no reason anyone should die because of politics.

He called on radio stations to desist from allocating airtime to politicians who are notorious for making defamatory statements and hate speeches on air.

He said Kano is a sensitive state and violence in the state can destabilise the North-west region.

On his part, the Kano State Chapter Nigerian Union of Journalists(NUJ) Chairman, Abbas Ibrahim, solicited INECs support to make the interactive session with journalists regularly in order to keep them abreast of the current trend and fill the gap of misinformation and disinformation.

Mr Ibrahim, who was represented by the NUJ Financial Secretary, Nasiru Ibrahim, assured the commission that journalists in the state would be for fair and factual coverage of the electoral process.

Also speaking, Chairman Kano Correspondent Chapel, Ibrahim Garba-Shuaibu, said the workshop was to educate journalists on the new issues of amendment of electoral acts and effective reporting.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) says Tonye Cole has emerged as the consensus governorship aspirant of the party after a thorough screening of 12 aspirants by 19 leaders of the party.

This is contained in a statement in Port Harcourt by Chris Finebone, Publicity Secretary of the party in Rivers.

It must be stated that the leadership of APC in Rivers, consisting of 19 leaders met last Friday and chose a consensus aspirant of riverine extraction to contest the governorship primaries for the 2023 elections.

The exercise took place in the absence of Minister of Transportation, Mr Chibuike Amaechi, who declined to participate in the process.

After a thorough scrutiny of all the aspirants, Arc Tonye Cole was chosen as he scored the highest vote among the 12 aspirants that participated, the statement said.

The statement said no standard bearer to fly the partys governorship flag in Rivers has emerged yet, as such, can only happen in accordance with APC rules, regulations and the 2022 Electoral Act.

It recalled that the party was still committed to its earlier position to support the emergence of a governor of riverine extraction after 24 years of upland governorship.

All party faithful are implored to continue to go about their activities with decorum and peacefully as the next four weeks are bound to be busy and packed full with political activities, it said.

The statement said that the overwhelming interest shown by a cross section of Rivers people, Nigerians and particularly the media on the emergence of Mr Cole needed clarification.

The process was an otherwise internal mechanism activated on April 22 to pick a consensus aspirant of riverine extraction for the 2023 governorship election in Rivers by the APC.

It has become expedient and highly necessary to provide clarification to all; this is expected to clear all doubts and provide a clear summary of what happened, the statement concluded.

(NAN)
The coroner presiding over the inquest of Jumoke Oyeleke on Monday visited the scene where she was shot, allegedly by the police.

Mukaila Fadeyi, the coroner, saw the area at Ojota, Lagos, where the 25-year-old was killed.

A stray bullet hit Ms Oyeleke, 25, after police fired shots to disperse the protesters during a Yoruba Nation rally on July 3, 2021.

But the police denied responsibility for her death, saying its officers never fired a single live bullet.

Murder scene

At the scene, a witness who had earlier testified, Banjoko Philips, explained how he and a trader carried Ms Oyelekes remains from his compound outside to limit the number of people on the premises.

He said the deceased, a salesgirl, was arranging her wares when the police chased some people inside his compound.

He added that the deceased also ran when she saw theYoruba police chasing people into the compound but fell after she was hit by the gun.

She was lying chest down. The point of entry (bullet) was under the left arm, Mr Philips said, describing the posture the deceased was at the time of her death.

The civil servant said that he observed the incident from his apartments window.

He told the coroner that the shooting started immediately the (former) commissioner of police, Hakeem Odumosu, left the scene.

He also claimed that some of the residents saw some police officers searching the corpse.

In my opinion, it was the policemen that shot her. It was a stray bullet, he said.

Another witness, Okebe David, a snacks trader in the area, told the coroner that he and Mr Philips carried the corpse outside the compound because of the crowd.

The 29-year-old said when the shooting started, he and some men jumped the fence into the compound where the deceased was shot.

Proceedings

Earlier at the proceedings in Ogba, a state lawyer, Oluwaseun Akinde, told the corner that the pathologist, Sunday Soyemi, from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) earlier scheduled for cross-examination was absent.

He (pathologist) received the information late. He has a defence in LASUTH for his programme, the lawyer said.

He also told the coroner that the investigating police officer and his lawyer were also absent.

And today is the day we have all agreed to visit the locus where the deceased died, Mr Akinde told the coroner.

We have informed all the parties meant to be at the locus.We got a call from Barrister Adebesin, (police lawyer), he said he will join us at the locus.

In his response, the coroner said that Im not going to force anybody. At the end of the matter, the court knows what to do.

Whoever does not come has himself to blame at the end of the case.

Mr Fadeyi fixed May 16, for further hearing of the matter.
The Alaafin of Oyo, Lamidi Adeyemi IIIs passing, has been described as a significant loss to the entire Yoruba race.

The monarchs death has caused quite a stir on social media, just as many have wondered what would become of his wives.

However, some Nigerians have taken to social media to raise their concerns about the fate of the numerous wives of the late monarch.

What will now happene to Late King OYO Alaafin Beautiful wives ???   pic.twitter.com/2WfGG6pvvq  BIG Bliz  (@Adamsbliz) April 25, 2022

Can Alaafin wives remarry?

Asking for a friend  pic.twitter.com/3kyjOXfwx9  TUNDE  (@Tvnde20) April 23, 2022

Now that Alaafin of Oyo has joined his ancestors, what will happen to his 13 wives?  Tobaizon (@saula_tobiloba) April 23, 2022

Can Alaafin of Oyo beautiful under 30 wives remarry or are they going to remain like that for life?  ESOSA (@TheRealEsosa) April 23, 2022

Just thinking; now that the alaafin is gone, what is going to happen to his numerous beautiful wives? Are they going to remain in the palace or is the new Alaafin going to inherit them ?? pic.twitter.com/jlkpuatRbu  Berry (@unknownadah) April 23, 2022

Oloris fate

Ifayemi Elebuibon, an Ifa priest, in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, spoke about the position of the Yoruba tradition regarding the fate of the late monarchs wives.

Mr Elebuibon, based in Oyo State, said the queens could either remarry after the late kings burial rites or remain in the palace where the new king would inherit them as his wives.

He said: At present, they will be mourning the departure of their husband. After the ceremonies of the right of passage, those who wished to stay back in the palace can stay, the new oba will come and take care of them, and those who wish to remarry can go and remarry.

The new monarch would inherit them as part of his inheritance to the throne, he said.

He explained that the wives of the Alaafin could only remarry after fulfilling traditional sacred rites of atonements and disassociating themselves from the palace.

They are not allowed to marry any member of the royal family or ruling branch.

Burial rites, transition of power

The Ifa priest also said the traditional burial ceremony and rites of the late monarch have since commenced.

It is the third day already, and every day comes with its traditional rites and rituals. The ritual would last for three weeks or three months, he said.

Further explaining the roles the kings wives play during the burial rites, Mr Elebuibon, who is also a historian, said the Oloris are supposed to be indoors, away from the eyes of the people, until the traditional burial rites are entirely over.

After the rites and rituals are concluded, the queens would decide their fate; remarry or remain in the palace and become a bride to the new king.

The new King comes from the various branches of the ruling house. All the ruling houses are like one big family, so from the various branches of the ruling house, they will select a new monarch, where the kingmaker and the Ifa priest would pick him, give him some orientation, and hand over the entire palace to him, including the wives of the previous king.

According to the Ifa devotee, everything in the palace belongs to the new king when he assumes the throne, the wives and properties alike.

Runaway queens

In November 2021, the latter, Olori Damilola, tendered a public apology to the monarch on her official Instagram account.

The mother-of-one walked out of her marriage shortly after her co-queen, Aanu, left in November 2020.

For months, rumours were rife that both queens in their 20s fled to Lagos because they wanted to be free.

But this is the first time that the queen would publicly confirm speculations that she had walked out of her marriage of barely five years.

In addition to the apology, she pleaded with the Alaafin and the royal family to be allowed to return to the palace and accused her friends of leading her astray.

Burial controversies

Many Yoruba traditionalists frowned at the reports that the late monarch was buried that same day he died in accordance with the Islamic practice.

Similarly, Peter Fatomilola, a Nigerian dramatist and an Ifa priest based in Ile Ife, told our correspondent that traditionally when an Oba dies, the announcement was supposed to be made at midnight.

Immediately the Alaafin passed away, they announced it immediately, which ought not to be so, also, immediately the Alaafin died, they buried him as a Muslim, he said.

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Mr Elebuibon said the Alaafin was not buried as a Muslim, clarifying the rumours about the monarchs burial.

He said the late monarch was open to diverse religions and was given a traditional funeral.

They allowed the Imam to say the prayers. Immediately the Imam finished making the Islamic prayers, the traditional people took over, so Alaafin was buried with the Yoruba rites, the way his ancestors were buried.

Alaafins death was announced on the internet and via telephone calls. Traditionally, the announcement is supposed to be made by a particular set of people in the middle of the night; there is a certain drum which they have to beat in a certain way, and there is a trumpet which they had to blow that they use to announce his death.

Mr Elebuibon also expressed his regrets about how the news of the monarchs death broke to the public.

It is rather unfortunate that immediately the king passed on in the teaching hospital, and the news of his death went viral. Thats the problem with social media.

Immediately after they announced the Alaafins death, the traditional burial rites will commence. The head of Ifa priests will come out to commence the rituals so that he would be welcome in the domain in heaven. Some people are supposed to prepare the Kings body.

PREMIUM TIMES broke the news of the death of the prominent king on Friday shortly after he died at the university teaching hospital in Ekiti in the late hours of Friday.

A family source would later confirm that the monarch passed on after complications associated with prostate enlargement, which he managed for years.

He was 83 years old and the longest-reigning Alaafin ever, having ruled for more than 51 years.

He ascended the throne during Robert Adeyinkas tenure as the military governor of Oyo State in 1970.
The officers of So-Safe Corps, the Ogun State-owned security outfit, have arrested a mortuary attendant, Kushimo Lukman, for allegedly beheading a dead body.

The officers arrested Mr Lukman in Abeokuta, Ogun State, in the early hours of Tuesday, while on routine patrol.

Moruf Yusuf, the spokesperson of the corps, said the suspect beheaded the corpse of a male minor at the Oke Yidi cemetery in Abeokuta.

Mr Yusuf said the suspect confessed during interrogation that the beheaded corpse was brought to the cemetery from the Federal Medical Centre FMC, Abeokuta, after he died due to complications from a kidney disease.

According to the spokesperson, the suspect said the parents of the boy, who came from Ibadan, sought his assistance as a mortuary attendant to get the body buried.

After burying the boys body inside the cemetery, in the presence of his parents at about 7 p.m. on Monday, the suspect returned to the cemetery at 6 a.m. on Tuesday to sever the head of the buried boy, Mr Yusuf said.

The spokesperson said the suspect engaged the So-Safe officers in a fierce fight but they overpowered and handcuffed him.

Mr Yusuf said the suspect confessed that the fresh head was requested for by one Chief Ifalonishe (AKA Lanroye) at the rate of N50,000.

He said, it was supposed to be delivered to him at a designated point within Abeokuta.

The state commander of the corps, Soji Ganzallo, has ordered the operation department of the corps to ensure they arrest Mr Lukmans accomplices and bring them to book.

When contacted, the state police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, promised to get back to our reporter but did not as of the time if filing this report.
Hyperspectral satellite technologies enable environmentally responsible decision-making

ESPOO, Finland, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Humankind faces tough challenges: we need to improve food security and productivity while reducing the associated climate risks. This is possible with the right adaptations, but the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlights a gap between regional needs and actions taken  partly due to a lack of reliable information. Finnish space tech startup Kuva Space aims to bridge that gap with its constellation of satellites and Green Data platform so industries, governments and research institutions can make financially smarter and environmentally responsible decisions.

Kuva Space plans to build the world's most extensive hyperspectral constellation of 100 nanosatellites to capture the molecular composition of materials at scale. The company will transform this intricate space-borne data into actionable insights that customers can access via an AI-driven data platform. The company will play a critical role in land and water management, monitoring carbon emissions and measurement of carbon sequestration, and have a noticable impact in the field of climate action.

"The commercial use of nanosatellites will prove a pivotal moment in our global fight against climate change", says Jarkko Antila, CEO of Kuva Space. "We're all aware that urgent action is needed. However, it can be difficult for markets, organisations and other stakeholders to know which actions have the most positive long-term impact. Hyperspectral technologies complement field testing with highly detailed and extensive insights from space. What's more, they can unlock new applications that were previously unthinkable due to the cost of manual labour required. It's not surprising the sector is seeing rapid growth, and we're proud to say that Kuva Space is part of this growth journey."

"We've completed three successful satellite missions and are on track to launch our first commercial hyperspectral satellite in early 2023," explains Antila. "We're committed to transforming how industries respond to the urgency of climate change with data that was previously out of reach. Via our Green Data platform, companies can soon take a spaceborne data-driven approach to decision-making to reduce their impact on the climate and safeguard their financial interests. It's a win-win situation."

Industry applications

Hyperspectral nanosatellite technology solutions open up opportunities for various industry verticals, including carbon sequestration and environmental, safety and security, insurance and finance, precision agriculture and aquaculture.

Carbon management will deliver economic benefits worth 26 trillion US dollars by 2030, with the carbon credit market alone worth more than 50 billion US dollars. Organisations can compensate for their residual CO2 emissions by buying carbon credits on Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM) but reliable, verifiable and environmentally-robust data is currently lacking. Hyperspectral imaging from space will play a vital role in its development.

"For VCMs to thrive, we must help the market to develop beyond forestry to include other areas, such as agriculture where it's currently very hard to measure changes in carbon emissions accurately," adds Antila. "Spaceborne hyperspectral technologies enable the independent supervision of carbon sequestration across forests, oceans and agricultural sectors. More importantly, they will bring much-needed accountability, trust and pricing transparency to the entire market, fuelling its growth."

"The team at Kuva Space has the knowledge, experience and ambition to build the largest hyperspectral nanosatellite constellation in a relatively short period. It's exciting to see our market intelligence from space encouraging industries to take more action and implement climate-friendly policies while boosting our collective efforts to create a sustainable and prosperous future for all," adds Inka Mero, Chairman of the Board at Kuva Space.

CONTACT:

Ilonka Waterdrinker, Well PR

ilonka@wellpr.co.uk

+447946682614

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE Kuva Space
NIJMEGEN, Netherlands, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Symeres, a leading European drug discovery Contract Research Organization (CRO) and Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), today announces the acquisition of Organix Inc., a US based specialized organic chemistry services provider with a focus on lipids. As the majority shareholder in Symeres, Keensight Capital has worked together with the management team of the two companies to facilitate this business combination.

Organix, based in the Boston area (Massachusetts), is a provider of high-quality organic chemistry services dedicated to the discovery and preclinical stage of the drug discovery value chain. Its revenue is mainly generated from the sale of specialized and complex organic chemistry research services to biopharma clients. Organix is currently generating over $10 million of revenues, from a base of c.45 employees, of which the majority have PhDs in chemistry.

Symeres and Organix are highly complementary, and the combination unlocks significant strategic value. Organix brings a high-quality presence in the US market, where Symeres generates nearly 50% of its revenues. Organix broadens Symeres' drug discovery offering into the fast-growing lipids market, addressing mRNA therapeutics and vaccines. Organix's impressive client list includes some of the world's leading biopharma companies, including many based in the Boston biopharma community.

Symeres is one of the largest European small molecule CRO & CDMOs, providing R&D services from preclinical drug discovery to Phase I and II clinical stage drug development and manufacturing, to major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies around the globe. Its highly specialized services include integrated small molecule optimization efforts, complex synthetic chemistry, route scouting & API synthesis up to GMP production, solid state chemistry and ADME-Tox services.

Symeres, headquartered in the Netherlands, employs over 500 people, many of whom are PhD scientists, operating in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Nordics, along with an existing business development office in the Boston area. Over several decades, the company has enjoyed a strong growth trajectory, with revenues rising organically at a double-digit rate per annum, further complemented by strategic M&A. Proforma for the integration of Organix, the group expects to reach c.90 million in revenues.

Dr. Anu Mahadevan, CEO of Organix, stated: "We are proud to become part of the Symeres family where we have found a trusted partner that shares our values and business philosophy of strong customer focus. The added expertise that the deal brings will allow Organix to better serve our clients by providing additional access to state-of-the-art cGMP services. We look forward to being a part of this innovative and science-driven organization."

Dr. Eelco Ebbers, co-founder and CEO of Symeres, stated: "We are pleased to welcome Organix into the Symeres Group. Organix is widely known as a highly innovative and expert organic chemistry services provider that solves complex projects for top tier clients globally. Joining forces represents a fantastic opportunity for Symeres to expand our drug discovery capability offering and will provide an exceptional foothold into the US market."

Amit Karna, Partner at Keensight Capital, added: "We are delighted to support Symeres in this exciting acquisition of Organix. We are certain that the resulting business will create a truly differentiated transatlantic offering for the biopharma industry. Moreover, the scientific and cultural fit of the two organizations could not be more perfect, and we are excited to see what the management teams will do together."

Saola Healthcare Partners are acting as strategic and financial advisor, Goodwin Procter LLP as legal advisor, and L.E.K. Consulting as commercial advisor to Symeres.

About Symeres

Symeres is a leading mid-sized European Contract Research Organization for drug discovery and development needs. With over 500 employees operating in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and the Nordics, along with a business development office in the US. The company offers best-in-class solutions for drug discovery and drug development for small molecules and beyond. Their services span from preclinical hit finding all the way to the delivery of early clinical phase drug substance API. Symeres blends a deep scientific knowledge base with creativity and problem-solving skills to deliver quality results that clients need.

www.symeres.com

About Organix

Organix is a Contract Research Organization (CRO) founded in 1986, based in Woburn (US) just outside of Boston. It is a fast-growing company with c.45 employees that serves scientists in biopharma firms all over the world, providing high-quality organic chemistry services, primarily in the areas of lipids and small molecules. The company is owned and led by Dr. Anu Mahadevan, CEO and Dr. Paul Blundell, President.

www.organixinc.com

About Keensight Capital

Keensight Capital, one of the leading European Growth Buyout firms, is committed to supporting entrepreneurs as they implement their growth strategies. For 20 years, Keensight Capital's team of seasoned professionals has leveraged their knowledge of investment and growth industries to invest for the long term in profitable companies with high growth potential and revenues in the range of 10 million to 400 million. Drawing on its expertise in the Technology and Healthcare sectors, Keensight identifies the best investment opportunities in Europe and works closely with management teams to develop and achieve their strategic vision.

Keensight Capital was recently recognized with the Gold Award for "Best European Growth Private Equity Fund" by the Private Equity Exchange & Awards (2021).

www.keensightcapital.com

Media Contacts

Symeres

Russell Thomas  Russell.thomas@symeres.com  +31 615 571 132

Organix Inc

Anu Mahadevan  mahadevan@organixinc.com  +1 781 932 4142

Keensight Capital

Timothy Lee  tlee@keensightcapital.com  +44 20 4558 9021

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting

Sylvie Berrebi / Evelyn McCormack / George Underwood  symeres@medistrava.com  +44 203 928 6900

SOURCE Symeres
Fahey Steering VCA's Rapid Expansion, Helping Claims Leaders Automate Processes and Maximize Insurance Policyholder Satisfaction.

ONTARIO, Canada, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Claims management software provider VCA Software Inc., formerly known as Virtual Claims Adjuster, has hired Anthony Fahey as Vice President, National Sales to lead the company's expansion. With over a decade of insurtech experience and an impressive reputation for expanding markets, opening new verticals, and producing insurtech sales, Fahey is well-positioned for success.

Anthony Fahey, VCA Software

As a claims management platform, VCA stands apart by offering embedded digital payments, advanced analytics, policy connect, audit centers and more. The company is improving the claims journey by taking a policyholder-centric approach to digital transformation.

"We put people at the center and build out from there," says John Varghese, VCA Software CEO. "Our software ecosystem helps enhance the customer experience via digital channels so that insurers can incorporate modern SaaS technologies, grow customer lifetime value by reducing churn and drive business efficiencies. During our selection process, it became very apparent that Anthony not only understood our vision, but also had the aptitude, attitude and tenacity needed to take us to the next level," he adds.

Fahey relishes the challenge. "I was drawn to the opportunity because it offers the best of all worlds," he explains. "VCA is an established company with the spirit of an Insurtech. They relentlessly focus on innovation, with the ever-present goal of improving the customer experience. It's a mission I feel good about. The claim is the moment of truth for policyholders and VCA is changing the paradigm, providing tools to dramatically improve the journey," he adds.

The insurance industry is headed into storm season  a critical time for independent adjusting firms, TPAs, carriers, and policyholders. Fahey says that there is still time to implement a new claims system, and that doing so can enable adjusting firms to triage and distribute a massive number of claims in minutes. "With features like visual file handler assignment, auto assign and auto acknowledge, adjusting firms can save an enormous amount of time with VCA," he explains.

For insurance carriers, VCA offers a range of solutions to deliver exactly what policyholders expect: a fast, accurate, transparent, and personalized experience. "When insurers and adjusting firms see what's possible, they realize that they can't afford another day on their legacy system," Varghese says.

About VCA Software:

With a claims engine as its core, VCA Software (formerly known as Virtual Claims Adjuster) is a global SaaS platform focused on improving policyholder satisfaction and retention, while providing a next-generation ecosystem to improve intelligence and function for all stakeholders from insurance carriers to third party administrators, brokers, independent adjusters, captives and self-insured companies. The VCA platform simplifies and humanizes the claims journey  ultimately creating more customer lifetime value. Visit https://vcasoftware.com/ to learn more.

Media Contact:

John Varghese

416-706-2312

[email protected]

SOURCE VCA Software
OAKTON, Va., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- What's the news? AT&T* was awarded a task order to modernize GuardNet, the command and control network that allows Army National Guard soldiers to access the Internet, connect with other networks and databases, and support training and mission planning and execution.

The task order, awarded by the Defense Information Systems Agency's Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization is valued at $15 million over 11 years if all options are exercised. It was awarded via the General Services Administration's Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract.

Why is this important?

GuardNet has grown into one of the U.S. Department of Defense's largest, single-accredited networks, spanning 11 time zones and more than 124,000 users. It provides telecommunication services to 54 joint forces headquarters and across 2,312 geographically separated Army National Guard locations1.

GuardNet provides Army National Guard leadership with command and control capabilities across GuardNet sites in 50 U.S. states and four U.S. territories: the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

The Army National Guard helps communities recover from natural disasters, pandemics and civil disturbances, and has been doing so for nearly four centuries. Combining civilian-acquired skills and experiences with their combat training, Army National Guard soldiers bring rich and unique capabilities to the joint force.

What is the anticipated benefit of AT&T's modernization of GuardNet?

This contract is part of the Army National Guard's efforts to modernize their network to ensure best in class command and control communications in support of their mission. Under the agreement, AT&T expects to deliver virtual private networking services to support the Army National Guard's remote training services and provide the Department of Defense high-speed, highly secure cloud connectivity.

Here's what people are saying:

Lance Spencer, Client Executive Vice President  Defense, AT&T Public Sector and FirstNet

"We're bringing the right solution at the right time to modernize GuardNet. These are critical networking services that can help the Army National Guard improve mission readiness and delivery."

Where can I find more information? Go here for more information about AT&T's work in the public sector. For more information about the Army National Guard, please click here.

1  Source.

*About AT&T

We help more than 100 million U.S. families, friends and neighbors connect in meaningful ways every day. From the first phone call 140+ years ago to our 5G wireless and multi-gig internet offerings today, we @ATT innovate to improve lives. For more information about AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), please visit us at about.att.com. Investors can learn more at investors.att.com.

 2022 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T and the Globe logo are registered trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property.

SOURCE AT&T Communications
A community petition signed by more than 650 people demands Baystate Health stop focusing on profits and executive pay and invest in local care

WESTFIELD, Mass., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses from Baystate Franklin Medical Center, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will deliver a community petition on Wednesday, April 27 to Baystate Health Board of Trustees Chair Robert Bacon in Westfield seeking immediate action from Baystate on valuing BFMC nurses, protecting patients and keeping care local.

BFMC Community Petition Delivery

Time: 12 p.m.

Date: Wednesday, April 27

Location: 68 Union Street, Westfield (the corporate HQ of Elm Electric, the company led by Robert Bacon)

BFMC nurses have been negotiating a new MNA contract, their first since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Nurses are concerned about the approach Baystate Health is taking so far in negotiations, as executives refuse to commit to long-term staffing protections and have not agreed to make the improvements necessary to boost nurse recruitment and retention during these challenging times. As a result, community supporters and nurses launched a petition signed by more than 650 people so far that can be found at www.massnurses.org/BFMCpetition.

The community petition reads, in part, "Exhausted by the lack of respect and basic decency from their employer, more and more nurses have been driven out of BFMC and the nursing profession. These are our family, friends, and neighbors. They live in our communities and have our full support.

"WE, the undersigned, demand that Baystate's corporate executives address recruitment and retention so the hospital can have the staff we desperately need to provide safe, quality care. Executives must stop focusing on generating profits and giving themselves excessive pay and bonuses. They must value BFMC nurses, protect patients and keep care local!"

The petition delivery follows a March 9 virtual community forum attended by more than 100 people and featuring testimony from nurses, elected officials, and labor and community supporters. Nurses have also launched a lawn sign campaign and are holding regular banner standouts in front of Baystate Health locations.

"The lack of respect and support from Baystate Health executives during the last two years of the pandemic is driving nurses away from the hospital and the profession," said Donna Stern, RN in the BFMC mental health unit and MNA Co-Chair. "Our community understands this and has our backs in this fight to get Baystate to invest in our staff and make sure patients receive the local, quality care they deserve."

"Recruiting nurses and keeping them at the bedside at Baystate Franklin is a huge challenge right now," said Suzanne Love, RN in the BFMC emergency department and MNA Co-Chair. "Together with our community we are demanding that Baystate value its staff, protect its patients and ensure residents have access to local care."

Despite the pandemic, Baystate Health has continued to make substantial profits. The system made $44.2 million in profits in 2020 and $135 million in 2021, according to the Center for Health Information and Analysis. A significant portion of those profits are going to executive compensation. Between 2018 and 2020, CEO Dr. Mark Keroack made $6.4 million, including $2.45 million in 2020.

MassNurses.org  Facebook.com/MassNurses  Twitter.com/MassNurses  Instagram.com/MassNurses

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association
Complete data analysis confirms that the primary endpoint of improved clinical response and key secondary endpoints were met in a subprotocol under the platform ACCORD2 study where bemcentinib was added to standard of care therapy

BerGenBio to confirm the ACCORD2 data by progressing bemcentinib into EU-SolidAct, a pan-European platform COVID-19 study enrolling up to 500 patients

BERGEN, Norway, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BerGenBio ASA (OSE: BGBIO), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, selective AXL inhibitors for severe unmet medical needs, announced today that a complete data analysis of a randomized phase II study of bemcentinib in combination with standard of care (SoC) therapy, ACCORD2 (BGBIL019), in hospitalized COVID-19 patients confirms that the primary efficacy endpoint was met.

At the July 2021 European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) meeting, the Company previously presented preliminary data from the ACCORD2 study in combination with a second COVID-19 study (BGBC020) showing evidence of therapeutic benefit on meaningful clinical endpoints in a total of 177 patients. Today's announcement is the first time complete ACCORD2 data in a total of 61 treated patients has been separately reported.

Overall, 90% of patients treated with bemcentinib + SoC (26 of 29) experienced a clinical response by day 29 (median 7.0 days), as defined by either a two-point improvement in World Health Organization (WHO) category from baseline score, or discharge from hospital, whichever arose sooner. This compared to 69% (22 of 32 patients) with a clinical response to SoC treatment alone (median 9.5 days), showing statistical significance.

The data was generated under a sub-protocol of the platform ACCORD2 study (ACCORD2; EudraCT 2020-001736-95 - BGBIL019), a multi-center phase II randomized study designed to assess the efficacy and safety of candidate agents as add-on therapies to SoC for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.

Overall, 98% of patients received dexamethasone or an equivalent steroid in their SoC, and 18% received immunomodulatory treatment with tocilizumab. The antiviral remdesivir was used in 53% of those randomized to SoC alone, and in 21% of patients treated with bemcentinib.

In addition, key secondary endpoints saw statistically significant improvements for the bemcentinib + SoC arm compared to SoC alone, including avoidance of any deterioration by 1-point increase in WHO score (including death) and ventilator-free survival over 29 days. At day 29, 97% of bemcentinib + SoC treated patients were alive compared to 81% of SoC-alone.

Bemcentinib treatment was well tolerated in this patient population, with no clinically relevant safety signals in comparison to standard of care treatment.

These latest results underline bemcentinib's potential in COVID-19 and other severe respiratory infections. As previously announced, bemcentinib will be studied in the EU-SolidAct trial in up to 500 hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Professor Tom Wilkinson MA Cantab MBBS PhD FRCP FERS, Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Chief Investigator on the ACCORD program commented: "With COVID-19 still driving hospital admissions globally it is key that new, more effective treatments are being developed. These results from the ACCORD2 program indicate that bemcentinib has demonstrated real promise as a new therapeutic option for hospitalized patients and it now warrants testing in larger studies. These results are a testament to the great collaboration between the NHS, NIHR, the MEU and our Southampton research teams with more exciting results to follow from the platform."

Martin Olin, Chief Executive Officer of BerGenBio, commented: "We are highly encouraged by the final data from our ACCORD2 study in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The ability of bemcentinib to add a statistically significant benefit in clinical response over standard of care therapy is promising. We look forward to moving to the next step in the development of bemcentinib for COVID-19 through our participation in the EUSolidAct platform study, designed to enrol up to 500 hospitalized COVID-19 patients."

Contacts:

For BerGenBio: Martin Olin CEO, BerGenBio ASA

[email protected]

Rune Skeie, CFO, BerGenBio ASA

[email protected]

International Media Relations

Mary-Jane Elliott, Chris Welsh, Lucy Featherstone

Consilium Strategic Communications

[email protected]

+44 20 3709 5700

About BerGenBio ASA

BerGenBio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformative drugs targeting AXL as a potential cornerstone of therapy for aggressive diseases, including immune-evasive, therapy resistant cancers. The company's proprietary lead candidate, bemcentinib, is a potentially first-in-class selective AXL inhibitor in a broad phase II clinical development programme focused on combination and single agent therapy in cancer and COVID-19. A first-in-class functional blocking anti-AXL antibody, tilvestamab, is undergoing phase I clinical testing.

BerGenBio is based in Bergen, Norway with a subsidiary in Oxford, UK. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker: BGBIO). For more information, visit www.bergenbio.com

About ACCORD2 study

Under the bemcentinib sub-protocol of the ACCORD2 study, patients were enrolled within a calendar day after being admitted to hospital. Eligible patients were categorized by the WHO 9-point clinical scale and ranged from patients who did not require supplementary oxygen (grade 3) to those requiring non-invasive ventilation or high-flow nasal oxygen, but not intubated (grade 5). In the bemcentinib sub-protocol 29 patients were randomized and received bemcentinib treatment in addition to SoC.

For further details: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04890509

Forward looking statements

This announcement may contain forward-looking statements, which as such are not historical facts, but are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. These assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this announcement by such forward-looking statements. This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/bergenbio-asa/r/bergenbio-announces-complete-data-analysis-of-accord2-phase-ii-bemcentinib-study-in-hospitalized-cov,c3551292

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE BerGenBio ASA
DENVER, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - (TSX: CWEB) (OTCQX: CWBHF) Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc., ("Charlotte's Web" or the "Company"), the market leader in full-spectrum cannabidiol ("CBD") hemp extract wellness products, today announced management changes in finance and operations.

Charlotte's Web Board of Directors has appointed Lindsey Jensen as Chief Financial Officer replacing Wes Booysen who is departing the Company to pursue other opportunities. These changes are effective today. Ms. Jensen was most recently Vice President of Finance Sales & Operations. Ms. Jensen joined Charlotte's Web in 2019 and has more than a decade of executive financial leadership experience in the consumer-packaged goods industry at companies including Whitewave Foods and Patagonia, Inc.

Jared Stanley, Charlotte's Web co-founder and Chief Cultivation & Innovation Officer has been appointed Chief Operating Officer. Ray Kunkel, Vice President of Supply Chain, will report to Mr. Stanley. Mr. Kunkel joined the Company in 2019 and has years of experience in supply chain, including over twenty years with Procter & Gamble, and six years at Perrigo.

"I am thankful for the service and stewardship Wes has provided Charlotte's Web," said Jacques Tortoroli, CEO of Charlotte's Web. "I look forward to the incredible future we have ahead at Charlotte's Web 2.0. I couldn't be happier that Jared will serve as our Chief Operating Officer and continue to provide inspiration to our 200+ employees. He has been at my side setting our ambition and vision for CW2.0. and is the right person to take on supply chain in addition to his responsibilities leading cultivation, NPD, quality, and innovation. I am equally excited to have Lindsey leading finance. She has a keen understanding of our business and our economics that can be leveraged across the Company in her new role."

Subscribe to Charlotte's Web investor news.

About Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc.

Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc., a Certified B Corporation headquartered in Denver, is the market leader in innovative hemp extract wellness products under a family of brands which includes Charlotte's Web, CBD Medic, CBD Clinic, and Harmony Hemp.

Charlotte's Web was founded by the seven Stanley Brothers in 2013 when they famously developed a unique CBD hemp extract to help a little girl in need, and forever changed global perceptions around the wellness benefits of hemp. With its storied origins, Colorado-based Charlotte's Web is widely recognized around the world for its patented hemp cultivars which provide full spectrum entourage effects from its whole-plant extracts. Charlotte's Web is often referred to as "The World's Most Trusted Hemp Extract".

Charlotte's Web branded premium quality products start with proprietary hemp genetics that are 100-percent American farm grown and manufactured into hemp extracts containing naturally occurring phytocannabinoids including cannabidiol ("CBD"), CBC, CBG, terpenes, flavonoids, and other beneficial hemp compounds. The Company's CW Labs R&D division, advances hemp science at two centers of excellence in Louisville, Colorado, and the Hauptmann Woodward Research Institute at the University at Buffalo, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network. Charlotte's Web product categories include full-spectrum hemp CBD oil tinctures (liquid products), CBD gummies (sleep, stress, exercise recovery), CBD capsules, CBD topical creams and lotions, as well as CBD pet products for dogs. Through its vertically integrated business model, Charlotte's Web maintains stringent control over product quality and consistency. In the United States, Charlotte's Web products are distributed to more than 15,000 retail, over 8,000 health care practitioners, and online through the Company's website at www.CharlottesWeb.com.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking information"). In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Specifically, this news release contains forward-looking information relating to, among others: the future of Charlotte's Web and the impacts of management changes.

Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's current expectations, estimates and projections regarding the future of our business, future plans, strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. The material factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking information herein include, but are not limited to, the following: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the regulatory climate in which the Company currently operates and may in the future operate; consumer interest in CBD; successful sales of the Company's products; and the success of sales and marketing activities. Important factors that could cause actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking information include, among others, the factors discussed throughout the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 available on www.SEDAR.com and www.sec.gov , and other risk factors contained in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission available on www.sec.gov and filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities available on www.sedar.com. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking information, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

SOURCE Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc.
Choice's acquisition of Direct Payment Consultants expands its leading omnichannel payments platform to more than $3 billion in annual payments volume across 7,000+ customers

SAN FRANCISCO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexa Equity LLC, a private equity firm focused on scaling lower middle market software and fintech businesses, announced today that it has acquired Choice Inc., a leading global payments platform. Additionally, Choice has acquired Direct Payment Consultants, a payments provider that partners directly with merchants. After the acquisition, Choice's platform will process more than $3 billion in annual payments volume across 7,000+ customers in the United States and Canada. The founding teams of both Choice and Direct Payment Consultants each continue to hold a meaningful stake in the combined business. Financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

The Choice global payments platform provides advanced, end-to-end omnichannel commerce solutions to merchants and technology companies of all sizes. The company's modern payment integrations and business management solutions empower independent software vendors (ISVs), payment facilitators (PayFacs), enterprise merchants and independent sales organizations (ISOs) to enable their merchants to accept multiple electronic payment types and tools to scale their businesses.

Direct Payment Consultants is focused on helping merchants complete end-to-end payment transactions for their businesses. Combined with Choice's leading platform, the customers of Choice and Direct Payment Consultants will benefit from an expanded product portfolio and the shared knowledge of operators with a deep understanding of the payments space.

"Choice's mission to modernize the convergence of payments and technology to transform the future of commerce aligns well with Nexa Equity's investment strategy," said Nexa Founder and Managing Partner Vlad Besprozvany. "We look forward to scaling the Choice platform through organic initiatives while continuing to actively pursue strategic acquisitions like Direct Payment Consultants."

Nexa Equity's investment will augment Choice's go-to-market team and enhance its omnichannel fintech platform. The platform includes a payment gateway, application programming interfaces (API), point-of-sale-software, invoicing, recurring billing, embedded financing, real-time underwriting, and comprehensive partner and merchant reporting.

"We wanted to bring on a capital partner that understands our business, goals and end customer, and we found that in Nexa Equity," said Choice CEO John Paul Golino. "Choice is laser focused on providing customers with the most comprehensive and cutting-edge omnichannel payment solutions in the industry to benefit all parties in the equation. Our acquisition of Direct Payment Consultants will enable us to execute on this vision even further and I'm thrilled to have the Direct Payment Consultants team join us and to take Choice to the next level together."

"We are excited to join forces with Choice and to enhance our service to customers by offering them the proprietary software and tools in Choice's platform," added Direct Payment Consultants CEO Jim Black. "The combination solidifies our ability to deliver a leading integrated payments solution to our customers and partners, and we look forward to what we will achieve as a combined team."

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Morris, Manning & Martin served as legal counsel to Nexa Equity in connection with the transactions.

MAPP Advisors, a fintech advisory firm with a core focus on payments, and CorvinoLaw advised Choice in connection with the Nexa acquisition.

733Park, an M&A advisory firm specializing in payments, fintech, crypto, and SaaS, advised Nexa Equity and Choice on the Direct Payment Consultants transaction.

About Nexa Equity

Nexa Equity is a San Francisco, California based private equity firm that partners with founder-led, rapidly scaling SaaS and fintech companies that address markets underserved by technology to create enduring value for the benefit of its investors and portfolio companies. The firm has more than $250 million in private equity capital under management and is focused on continuing to grow its portfolio of companies. The Nexa Equity team brings substantial investing and operational experience to the table and helps management teams professionalize and scale their businesses and drive long-term sustainable growth. For more information, please visit www.nexaequity.com.

About Choice Merchant Solutions

Choice is a fast-growing payments and technology fintech that offers merchants a robust, omnichannel commerce experience. The company's proprietary technology platform integrates seamlessly into software vendor technology stacks, enabling embedded payment monetization along with fraud management tools, analytics and comprehensive reporting for ISVs and their merchants. For more information, please visit www.choice.xyz.

About Direct Payment Consultants

Direct Payment Consultants is a Pennsylvania based payments company. Direct Payment Consultants partners with businesses across the country to accept all major payment cards. The company is committed to offering customers best-in-class payment processing services, alongside cost saving measures, to enable customers to drive better business results. For more information, please visit www.dpcsales.com.

Media Contact:

Mark Semer/Nathaniel Garnick

Gasthalter & Co.

[email protected]

(212) 257-4170

SOURCE Choice; Nexa Equity
BLOOMFIELD, Conn., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cigna Corporation (NYSE: CI), a global health service company, was honored by the Business Group on Health for its commitment to advancing the health and well-being of its workforce. This marks the 15th consecutive year Cigna has been recognized with this distinction, and this year the company also received the "Best Employers: Excellence in Mental Health" Award.

Cigna rapidly innovated new ways to support its more than 70,000 colleagues globally as the pandemic unfolded, offering programs to help employees focus on their mental health, foster relationships while working remotely, and maximize workplace flexibility. Cigna also continued its annual Global Wellness Challenge which encourages all employees and their families to track time spent in various wellness activities for six weeks. In 2021, Cigna employees and their families tracked over 56 million minutes of wellness activity during the annual challenge.

"At Cigna, we believe that our culture and our benefits should support both our employees' health and well-being as well as their professional growth," said Cynthia Ryan, chief human resources officer, Cigna. "As we continue to navigate an uncertain landscape, we are committed to providing our employees the resources they need to be their best selves, both at work and in life. We strive to offer this same sense of well-being to all those we serve, and we're honored to be recognized for this important commitment by the Business Group on Health."

In addition to focusing on mental and physical wellness, Cigna also offered various financial well-being resources to employees, including Kashable low-interest loans and a $100 incentive for completing a financial wellness assessment. In terms of time off, Cigna's caregiver leave program provides for up to four weeks of paid time to care for their families. The company also offered a year-long series of events featuring external wellness experts to inspire employees to foster their own emotional well-being as part of its "Reset Your Resilience" program.

The Business Group reimagined the award criteria for 2022 to reflect a global perspective and to integrate and honor the importance of health equity and the employee experience. The criteria continue to focus on leadership and culture; holistic well-being approaches, including mental health, financial security, physical health, social connectedness and job satisfaction; and metrics and evaluation.

Learn more about Cigna's inclusive culture and commitment to employees here.

About Cigna

Cigna Corporation is a global health services company dedicated to improving the health, well-being and peace of mind of those we serve. Cigna delivers choice, predictability, affordability and access to quality care through integrated capabilities and connected, personalized solutions that advance whole person health. All products and services are provided exclusively by or through operating subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation, including Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Evernorth companies or their affiliates and Express Scripts companies or their affiliates. Such products and services include an integrated suite of health services, such as medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, vision, supplemental benefits and other related products.

Cigna maintains sales capability in over 30 countries and jurisdictions, and has over 185 million customer relationships around the world. To learn more about Cigna, including links to follow us on Facebook or Twitter, visit www.cigna.com.

Media Contact

Meaghan MacDonald

1 (860) 840-1212

[email protected]

SOURCE Cigna
The nation's largest yoga studio brand will open May 5 in the Brickell neighborhood bringing the mindfulness of yoga to the city's fitness-focused residents

DENVER, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CorePower Yoga is making its Florida debut with the opening of its first studio in the Brickell neighborhood of Miami, Florida on May 5, 2022. Since its founding in 2002, CorePower Yoga has grown into the ultimate mind-body experience and has enriched communities throughout the country with its intensely physical workouts rooted in the mindfulness of yoga.

In the $4 trillion wellness economy1, consumers have become more self-aware about the importance of prioritizing a wellness-driven lifestyle. Located in Miami's burgeoning and walkable Brickell neighborhood, the new Miami studio  featuring two practice rooms with breathtaking views of the bay from floor-to-ceiling windows, locker rooms with showers, and curated retail  will offer every skill level the brand's complete range of iconic classes which promote proper alignment and anatomical movement to motivate students to sweat, flow, breathe and sculpt in a space among a community of like-minded individuals.

"Health and fitness are a central part of Miami's DNA, which is why it was a natural decision to open a new studio in Miami as our first foray in Florida," said Niki Leondakis, Chief Executive Officer, CorePower Yoga. "Our growth is fueled by our growing community of dedicated students who choose CorePower Yoga for their fitness journey, and the commitment of our passionate teachers who are excited to offer the transformational benefits of our unique brand of yoga in Miami."

CorePower's purpose and core values will be brought to life at the new studio in Miami through the brand's best-in-class teachers, its unprecedented line-up of classes, which offer varying levels of heat and sweat, and curated playlists that capture the essence and mood of each class. Unlike traditional yoga, CorePower Yoga earned its reputation of physically intense workouts anchored in the mindfulness of yoga through a range of classes, from low intensity, foundational practices to high intensity, muscle-sculpting classes, and restorative methods that are practiced both on and off the mat.

To welcome residents of Miami to the CorePower Yoga family, new students will receive two free weeks and those who sign up for a Founding All Access Membership will get 25 percent off the regular monthly rate for life. The All Access Membership offers unlimited in-person classes across CorePower Yoga's network of more than 220 locations in 22 states, unlimited access to its Live and On Demand platforms, priority in-studio booking, 15 percent off in-studio retail purchases, and access to members-only studio events. The new CorePower Yoga app offers personalized access to studio schedules, an unparalleled content library of virtual classes, personal fitness challenges based on goals, and more.

CorePower opened two new studios earlier this year in Manhattan Beach, CA and Midtown, New York City, NY, with nine more planned, including the Brickell location, in 2022.

The Brickell studio will be located at 25 SW 9th Street, CU-4, Miami, FL 33130, and the hours of operation will be 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

For the latest news, follow @corepoweryoga on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter or visit www.corepoweryoga.com.

About CorePower Yoga

CorePower Yoga shares the transformative power of yoga with every mind, every body, everywhere through its physically intense workouts rooted in the mindfulness of yoga. CorePower Yoga is the nation's largest yoga studio brand with more than 220 locations across the country, digital livestream and on-demand classes, and thousands of passionate, accredited yoga teachers providing the opportunity for people to breathe, move and sweat together  and discover the magic that happens when physical meets mindful. For more information, visit corepoweryoga.com.

1 The Global Wellness Institute, https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/press-room/statistics-and-facts/

SOURCE CorePower Yoga
The report is to aid revenue leaders select the vendor that best meets the requirements of their business

BOSTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Creatio, a global vendor of one platform to automate industry workflows and CRM with no-code and a maximum degree of freedom, today announced it has been recognized in the CRM Technology Value Matrix 2022 by Nucleus Research.

Nucleus Research, a global provider of investigative, case-based technology research and advisory services, has analyzed the industry's top players. The matrix is to aid revenue leaders select the vendor that best meets the requirements of their business and empowers sales and marketing teams to increase the bottom line.

The vendors were evaluated by Nucleus Research based on the functionality and usability of their solutions, informed by customer and user conversations, vendor participation, and Nucleus' year-round assessment of technology deployments.

Creatio believes that the company has been recognized thanks to the genuine care it has for its clients' businesses. Genuine care has become a defining part of Creatio DNA. The Creatio team is committed to helping its customers digitize workflows, enhance customer and employee experiences, and boost the efficiency of commercial and operational teams. Its offerings include a no-code platform (Studio Creatio), CRM applications (marketing, sales and service), industry workflows for 20 verticals and marketplace add-ons.

Try Creatio for free >>

Request access to the full report from Nucleus Research >>

About Creatio

Creatio is a global vendor of one platform to automate industry workflows and CRM with no-code and a maximum degree of freedom. Millions of workflows are launched on our platform daily in 100 countries by thousands of clients. Genuine care for our clients and partners is a defining part of Creatio DNA.

For more information, please visit www.creatio.com.

Contact:

Vera Mayuk

6177657997

[email protected]

SOURCE Creatio
Michael Lyons, Christopher Simmons honored for personal injury trial work

DALLAS, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The trial work of Michael Lyons and Chris Simmons has earned the Lyons & Simmons, LLP co-founders selection among Dallas's top lawyers for 2022.

Lyons and Simmons were each named to D Magazine's Best Lawyers in Dallas listing based on their work on behalf of plaintiffs in high-stakes personal injury litigation.

This is the ninth selection for Lyons, who has previously earned recognition for both his personal injury and business litigation work from the magazine. The respected trial attorney also has earned individual honors from The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers  Texas Top 100 and DFW Top 100, Lawdragon 500, and the National Law Journal. He is a member of the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums.

Simmons' work on behalf of plaintiffs who have been catastrophically injured or killed by the negligence of others helped propel him to his third selection among Dallas' best lawyers. A member of the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums, his work has also earned recognition by Best Lawyers in America, Lawdragon 500, the National Law Journal, and Texas Super Lawyers.

Lyons & Simmons has a reputation for obtaining outstanding results in cases involving life-altering personal injuries, wrongful death, and "bet-the-company" business disputes. The firm was honored with the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association's prestigious 2021 John Howie Award, which is presented to firms that exemplify the "courageous pursuit of justice in the face of adversity."

The Best Lawyers in Dallas is based on a comprehensive selection process that starts with peer nominations and includes extensive review by the magazine's editorial staff, assisted by a blue-ribbon panel of attorneys. The complete 2022 list is featured in the May issue of D Magazine.

About Lyons & Simmons LLP

Dallas-based Lyons & Simmons, LLP is a trial boutique representing clients in wrongful death, personal injury, products liability and complex "bet-the-company" business litigation matters across the country. To learn more, visit http://www.Lyons-Simmons.com.

Media Contact:

Rhonda Reddick

800-559-4534

[email protected]

SOURCE Lyons & Simmons
Survey shows how data is becoming the critical agenda topic for all businesses

AUSTIN, Texas, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) the largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data centers, colocation and interconnection solutions, today releases the results of its inaugural Global Data Insights Survey. It offers insights into how data is becoming one of the most critical areas of focus for all businesses  and highlights the key challenges and opportunities for data management, including the need to rethink data strategies, the effects of Data Gravity1 and the importance of harnessing the explosion of enterprise data growth globally.

More than 7,000 C-level executives, business, and technology leaders across 23 countries and nine industries were asked questions designed to facilitate industry dialogue around the business needs of data.

Data is becoming the business agenda

The survey confirms that strategy and value outcomes for enterprises rely on data-driven insights. IT leaders cited data-driven insights as being essential for improving the customer experience (50%), locating data infrastructure (37%), developing new digital products (35%), and driving business growth (28%).

Data systems, infrastructure and analytics tools identified as key areas requiring investment

A key finding of the survey is that major businesses all over the world are not investing adequately into the tools and infrastructure required to handle increasing amounts of data. It reveals that 53% of global respondents cited a lack of sufficient investment in data systems or infrastructure as a key obstacle their organization faces when seeking to draw valuable insights from data. Similarly, 50% cited a lack of sufficient investment in relevant analytics tools. In order to tackle rapid data growth, enterprises need to ensure data isn't becoming siloed while drawing insights from it in a time-effective and compliant manner, all of which requires investment.

IT leaders need to upskill teams to extract value from data

The survey also reveals that 65% of IT leaders from some of the world's biggest businesses say they need to improve the data capabilities of their teams to remain competitive and extract value from data. This was higher than those who cited AI investment (59%) when asked what the most important factor was for their companies in the next two years to enable more data-driven insights. Moreover, 61% of respondents from companies with revenue of $1B+ cited educating executives on the implications of siloed data as a priority.

The Global Data Insights Survey, due to be published annually, is the next step in Digital Realty's mission to assist enterprise and service provider customers as they shift their strategies to address Data Gravity. It follows on from the findings of the Data Gravity Index DGx and the development of Digital Realty's global data center platform, PlatformDIGITAL.

Other key findings of the report include:

Data is pervasive. Data creation is multiplying at all points of business presence, contributing to a need to efficiently aggregate information. 47% of IT leaders surveyed say they are keeping data decentralized, while 52% are keeping it centralized  highlighting how strategies differ across industries on how to organize and manage data. This can have a direct impact on a company's ability to drive value and outcomes with data, confirming the need to prioritize aggregation.

Data requires aggregation and control. Regulations, privacy constraints, reluctant customers, and lack of investment in data systems are impeding the data-driven business agenda, with 35% of IT leaders citing data privacy and regulation as one of the key obstacles to data driven insights. The majority 2 also identified the need to maintain local copies of data and applications to serve a growing number of end users and connected devices, and to ensure secure and compliant business operations.

Data is localizing. Over a third of companies surveyed have at least 21 data locations, with this group growing to 97% of companies with revenues of $1B+. This number, which is growing all the time, alongside an increasing number of users and devices, is contributing to the emergence of the critical megatrend emerging  Data Gravity. This phenomenon results in barriers that impede the efficient exchange of data and must be addressed in businesses' data strategies to drive successful outcomes.

Data first strategies win. Leading companies are seeing the value of integrating data, security, and controls in multi-tenant datacenters  unlocking new intelligent workflows at centers of data exchange between employees, customers, partners, and ecosystems. 82% of IT leaders agree that a global data center provider that is able to offer global coverage, capacity and direct connectivity across major metros on a single data center platform is required. Additionally, 75% of $1B+ companies now have a formal data strategy; compared to 63% of global companies generally, suggesting that larger companies are operating slightly ahead of the curve from a data perspective, which is likely to give them an advantage over smaller competitors.

"Recently, we have witnessed the emergence of a new megatrend occurring on our platform  the explosion of enterprise data growth globally. All industries are becoming information industries via the need to create, consume, analyze, store and exchange ever-growing amounts of data. This drove us to seek to understand the effects of data in a much deeper way," explains Dave McCrory, VP of Growth and Global Head of Insights and Analytics at Digital Realty, "We are constantly looking to support our enterprise and service provider customers to better extract insights from their data as they shift their strategies to address Data Gravity. This in-depth research further contributes to our thought leadership in this area, building on the existing research we have already shared in our Data Gravity Index DGx."

About the research

The Global Data Insights Survey consisted of 13 questions covering data strategy, obstacles, and planning. Digital Realty contracted a third party to conduct research in the field from May 2021 through June 2021.

The survey garnered responses from 7,295 C-level executives & business and technology leaders, representing large multinational enterprises across 23 countries and nine industries, with revenues ranging from $100 million to more than $1 billion.

About Digital Realty

Digital Realty supports the world's leading enterprises and service providers by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers a trusted foundation and proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) solution methodology for scaling digital business and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty's global data center footprint gives customers access to the connected communities that matter to them with 285+ facilities in 50 metros across 26 countries on six continents. For more information, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contacts

Helen Bleasdale

Digital Realty

+1 (737) 267-6822

[email protected]

Investor Relations

Jordan Sadler/Jim Huseby

Digital Realty

+1 (415) 738-6500

[email protected]

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially, including statements related to PlatformDIGITAL and the Data Gravity Index DGx and projections regarding data gravity, aggregation and exchange, the company's strategy, expected growth in digital transformation, and customer demand. For a list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports and other filings by the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

1 Data Gravity is the phenomenon which sees large volumes of data continually attracting more data, making it difficult to move, manipulate or extract value from.



2 On a scale of 1 to 5, respondents averaged 4.05 when it came to the need for IT locations to maintain local copies of applications, workflow or integration systems ((5) all, (4) most, (3) some, (2) none, (1) don't know)

SOURCE Digital Realty
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Encompass Health Corp. (NYSE: EHC) today announced it will participate in the BofA Securities 2022 Healthcare Conference being held in Las Vegas May 10-12 and virtually on May 13, 2022.

Encompass Health's President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Tarr will present during a fireside chat on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, at 3:20 p.m. PT.

The presentation will be webcast live and available at http://investor.encompasshealth.com.

About Encompass Health

As a national leader in integrated healthcare services, Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC) offers both facilitybased and homebased patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. With a national footprint that includes 147 hospitals, 251 home health locations, and 96 hospice locations in 42 states and Puerto Rico, the Company provides highquality, cost-effective integrated healthcare. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit encompasshealth.com, or follow us on our newsroom, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Media Contact

Erin Wendel-Ritter | 205 970-5912

[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact

Mark Miller | 205 970-5860

[email protected]

SOURCE Encompass Health Corp.
According to Accenture , 94 percent of Fortune 1000 companies are seeing supply chain disruptions, and 75 percent of companies have experienced negative or strongly negative impacts on their businesses as a result, costing large companies an average of $184 million per year in lost revenue. Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence combined with differentiated business data from Equifax, the Interos Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform enables the real-time insights needed to help minimize this impact and decrease business disruption, helping companies preemptively identify risks before they occur.

"Supplier relationships are a key part of our customers' success, but in today's world, there are limited tools for assessing supplier stability and compliance," said William Phelan, General Manager of the Equifax United States Information Solutions (USIS) Commercial business. "By harnessing the power of differentiated business data that 'Only Equifax' can provide in combination with Interos' expertise in analyzing supply chains continuously and in real-time, our customers can realize a greater confidence in their supplier relationships. Additionally, our customers can monitor the health of their suppliers to highlight potential business disruptions before they occur, to stay out in front of problems."

The combination of Equifax's commercial credit and identity verification data on 32 million private companies, with Interos' deep domain knowledge of supply chains, is designed to lower friction in business-to-business transactions and help manage potential supply chain disruptions. Spanning almost 350 million entities and over 18 billion business relationships, Interos' living global map of the supply chain uses AI to model and transform the ecosystems of complex businesses down to any single supplier. This provides companies with continuous monitoring of six critical factors to help preemptively detect and eliminate risks  Finance; Operations; Restrictions; Geopolitical; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG); and Cyber.

"As the past two years have brought to light vulnerabilities in supply chains across the globe, it is increasingly important that companies adopt intelligent tools that enable the smart, actionable insights they need to get ahead of the next crisis," said Vinay Kapoor, Senior Vice President of Product at Interos. "Through our partnership with Equifax, our AI-powered technology combined with their suite of innovative data solutions brings real-time, continuous insight and operational resilience to every market around the world, helping customers identify and eliminate supply chain risks before they occur."

For more information, visit Equifax.com and Interos.ai .

About Equifax Inc.

At Equifax (NYSE: EFX ), we believe knowledge drives progress. As a global data, analytics, and technology company, we play an essential role in the global economy by helping financial institutions, companies, employers, and government agencies make critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered in Atlanta and supported by more than 13,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has investments in 25 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, visit Equifax.com .

About Interos

Interos is the operational resilience company  reinventing how companies manage their supply chains and business relationships  through our breakthrough SaaS platform that uses artificial intelligence to model and transform the ecosystems of complex businesses into a living global map, down to any single supplier, anywhere. Reducing months of backward-looking manual spreadsheet inputs to instant visualizations and continuous monitoring, the Interos Operational Resilience Cloud helps organizations reduce risk, avoid disruptions, and achieve superior enterprise adaptability. Businesses can also uncover game-changing opportunities to radically change the way they see, learn and profit from their relationships. Based in Washington, DC, Interos serves global clients with business-critical, independent relationships across their primary operational areas: supply chain, financial, cybersecurity, regulatory and ESG compliance, and geographical. The fast-growing private company is led by CEO Jennifer Bisceglie and supported by investors Kleiner Perkins, NightDragon, and Venrock. For more information, visit www.interos.ai.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Kate Walker for Equifax

[email protected]

Zehra Mehdi-Barlas for Interos

[email protected]

SOURCE Equifax Inc.
WASHINGTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to a request for public input on how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should apply the public charge ground of inadmissibility, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) submitted a comment yesterday.

"Public charge restrictions have been around for over a century and the principle that immigrants be self-sufficient predates our Republic," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "Immigrants must not depend on taxpayer-funded public benefits to meet their needs."

"Congress has acted to ensure that immigrants rely on their own capabilities and the resources of their families, sponsors, and private organizations, and that the availability of public benefits not create an incentive for immigration to the United States," Stein noted. "Indeed, as recently as 1996, Congress clearly declared that self-sufficiency has been a basic principle of United States immigration law since this country's earliest immigration statutes and that it should continue to be a governing principle in the United States."

In a sternly-worded, thorough public comment, FAIR recommends that DHS reform the Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility rule to require U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers to consider all means-tested public benefits provided by Federal, State, Tribal, territorial, and local government agencies when evaluating whether an alien is likely to become a public charge. DHS should further strengthen the rule by:

Requiring officers to consider an alien's receipt of public benefits regardless of the alien's immigration status;

Requiring officers to include the receipt of benefits by an alien's dependents;

Placing weight on factors, such as education and income levels, that are proven to be reliable indicators of an alien's likelihood of becoming a public charge;

Ensuring officers have no administrative incentives to issue positive or negative public charge determinations;

Ensuring the submission of sufficient affidavits of financial support; and

Applying public charge requirements to extension of stay and change of status requests.

"These changes will not only strengthen the integrity of our immigration system and ensure that immigrants are self-sufficient, but protect taxpayers and vulnerable Americans who depend on the availability of safety-net public benefits," Stein concluded.

Contact: Preston Huennekens, 202-328-7004 or [email protected].

ABOUT FAIR

Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest immigration reform group. With over 3 million members and supporters nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)
"We are very fortunate to have a commercial banking leader with Dave's experience at a time when Freedom Bank has the platform and potential for accelerated growth in the attractive Northern Virginia markets," said Joe Thomas, President and CEO. "Dave has a strong network across Northern Virginia and the Washington DC area. He brings a unique consultative approach to enable clients to manage their cash flow, finance growth, and achieve their financial goals," continued Mr. Thomas.

Dave Dockendorff added "Freedom Bank has the products and services of a big bank, but an entrepreneurial approach that provides rapid response time to client requests and creative solutions to business needs. Reporting directly to the CEO will help me expedite decisions around strategy and implementation of ideas that will enhance the client and employee experience. I have been privileged to live and work in Loudoun County my entire life and I am proud to join a thriving community bank that is bettering employees, clients, and communities in Northern Virginia."

Mr. Dockendorff was most recently Team Leader, SVP at M&T Bank in their business banking division. He was with M&T for over 17 years where he served in several positions within the retail and business banking divisions. He currently serves on the board of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and the YMCA Loudoun County. Mr. Dockendorff has a BA in International Business and Management from Dickenson College. He resides in Sterling with his wife, Lauren, and three children (Taylor, Ethan, and Austin).

About Freedom Bank

Freedom Bank (OTCQX: FDVA) is a next-generation community bank, headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, offering commercial banking, personal banking, and mortgage banking solutions using banker expertise and innovative technology to build lead relationships with clients. Focusing on businesses, real estate owners, and professionals, Freedom Bank concentrates on key industry verticals to deliver unique, sector-specific solutions to help clients meet their goals and realize their dreams. Freedom Bank had total assets of $876.8million on December 31, 2021, and sales office locations in Fairfax, Vienna, Reston, Manassas, and Chantilly, VA. The Freedom Bank Mortgage Division is headquartered in Chantilly, VA and the Freedom Bank Small Business Lending Division is headquartered in Harrison, NY. For information about Freedom Bank, visit our website at www.freedom.bank.

Contact:

Joseph J. Thomas

President & Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 703-667-4161

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE The Freedom Bank of Virginia
GUIYANG, China, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd. ("FTA" or the "Company") (NYSE: YMM), a leading digital freight platform, announced that it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 25, 2022. The annual report can be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at ir.fulltruckalliance.com.

The Company will provide a hard copy of its annual report containing the audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request. Requests should be directed to Investor Relations Department, Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd., 16F, Building T2, SOHO Tianshan, No. 1717 Tianshan Road, Changning District, Shanghai, 200051, People's Republic of China.

About Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd.

Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YMM) is a leading digital freight platform, connecting shippers with truckers to facilitate shipments across distance ranges, cargo weights and types. The Company provides a range of freight matching services including freight listing service, freight brokerage service and online transaction service. The Company also provides a range of value-added services that cater to the various needs of shippers and truckers, such as financial institutions, highway authorities, and gas stations operators. With a mission to make logistics smarter, the Company is shaping the future of logistics with technology and aspires to revolutionize logistics, improve efficiency across the value chain and reduce its carbon footprint for our planet. For more information, please visit ir.fulltruckalliance.com.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd.

Mao Mao

E-mail: [email protected]

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Emilie Wu

Tel: +86-21-6039-8363

E-mail: [email protected]

In the United States:

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Brandi Piacente

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd.
BEIJING, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gaotu Techedu Inc. ("Gaotu" or the "Company") (NYSE: GOTU), a technology-driven education company and online large-class tutoring service provider in China, today filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. The annual report on Form 20-F is available on the Company's investor relations website at https://ir.gaotu.cn/.

The annual report contains audited financial statements, management's discussion and analysis and other disclosures.

The Company will provide a hard copy of its annual report containing the audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request. Requests should be directed to Investor Relations Department, Gaotu Techedu Inc., 5F, Gientech Building, 17 East Zone, 10 Xibeiwang East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100193, People's Republic of China.

About Gaotu Techedu Inc.

Gaotu is a technology-driven education company and online large-class tutoring service provider in China. The Company offers vocational education, professional education and digital products. Gaotu adopts an online live large-class format to deliver its courses, which the Company believes is the most effective and scalable model to disseminate scarce high-quality teaching resources to aspiring students in China. Big data analytics permeates every aspect of the Company's business and facilitates the application of the latest technology to improve teaching delivery, student learning experience, and operational efficiency.

For further information, please contact:

Gaotu Techedu Inc.

Investor Relations

E-mail: [email protected]

Christensen

In China

Ms. Vivian Wang

Phone: +852 2232 3978

E-mail: [email protected]

In US

Ms. Linda Bergkamp

Phone: +1-480-614-3004

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Gaotu Techedu Inc.
DUBLIN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Acrylic Adhesives Market (2021-2026) by Product Type, Technology, Application, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Acrylic Adhesives Market is estimated to be USD 9.26 Bn in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 12.87 Bn by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 6.8%.



Key factors such as the growing automation in the electronic industry and the growing demand in the packaging and construction sector have led to the growth of the acrylic adhesives market. The ever-increasing need for miniaturization and automation in the electronics industry coupled with the technological developments in the end-use industries is anticipated to escalate the market growth. Further, the increase in UV-cured acrylic adhesive tapes owing to their benefits such as UV resistance, long life, and non-corrosive properties also drive the demand for the acrylic adhesives market.



However, fluctuating prices of raw materials and stringent government regulations are hampering the market's growth.

Company Profiles

Some of the companies covered in this report are Pidilite Industries Limited, Bostik, Sika AG, Hexcel Corporation, etc.



Countries Studied

America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas)

, , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA)

and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes a Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Acrylic Adhesives Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Influencers

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Increasing Miniaturization and Automation in Electronics Industry

4.1.2 Growing Construction and Packaging Industry

4.1.3 Increasing Demand to Enhanced Adhesives Quality and Long Shelf Life

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Harmful Effects of Acrylic Adhesives

4.2.2 Volatility in Raw Material Prices

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Development of New Products and Applications

4.3.2 Rising Demand for Eco-Friendly Adhesives

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Availability of Alternatives

4.4.2 Stringent Government Regulatory Policies



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.2 Impact of COVID-19

5.3 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Acrylic Adhesives Market, By Product Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Permanent

6.3 Temporary



7 Global Acrylic Adhesives Market, By Type

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Acrylic Polymer Emulsion

7.2.1 Pure Acrylics

7.2.2 Styrene Acrylic

7.2.3 Vinyl Acrylic

7.3 Cyanoacrylic Adhesives

7.3.1 Ethyl Cyanoacrylate

7.3.2 Methyl Cyanoacrylate

7.3.3 Other Cyanoacrylates

7.4 Methacrylic Adhesives

7.5 UV Curable Acrylic Adhesives



8 Global Acrylic Adhesives Market, Technology

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Water-Based

8.3 Solvent-Based

8.4 Reactive

8.5 Other Acrylic Adhesives



9 Global Acrylic Adhesives Market, By Application

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Paper & Packaging

9.3 Automotive and Transportation

9.4 Construction & Furniture

9.5 Woodworking

9.6 Electrical and Electronics

9.7 Consumer Good

9.8 Others



10 Global Acrylic Adhesives Market, By Geography

10.1 Introduction

10.2 America

10.2.1 Argentina

10.2.2 Brazil

10.2.3 Canada

10.2.4 Chile

10.2.5 Colombia

10.2.6 Mexico

10.2.7 Peru

10.2.8 United States

10.2.9 Rest of Americas

10.3 Europe

10.3.1 Austria

10.3.2 Belgium

10.3.3 Denmark

10.3.4 Finland

10.3.5 France

10.3.6 Germany

10.3.7 Italy

10.3.8 Netherlands

10.3.9 Norway

10.3.10 Poland

10.3.11 Russia

10.3.12 Spain

10.3.13 Sweden

10.3.14 Switzerland

10.3.15 United Kingdom

10.3.16 Rest of Europe

10.4 Middle East and Africa

10.4.1 Egypt

10.4.2 Israel

10.4.3 Qatar

10.4.4 Saudi Arabia

10.4.5 South Africa

10.4.6 United Arab Emirates

10.4.7 Rest of MEA

10.5 Asia-Pacific

10.5.1 Australia

10.5.2 Bangladesh

10.5.3 China

10.5.4 India

10.5.5 Indonesia

10.5.6 Japan

10.5.7 Malaysia

10.5.8 Philippines

10.5.9 Singapore

10.5.10 South Korea

10.5.11 Sri Lanka

10.5.12 Thailand

10.5.13 Taiwan

10.5.14 Rest of Asia-Pacific



11 Competitive Landscape

11.1 Competitive Quadrant

11.2 Market Share Analysis

11.3 Strategic Initiatives

11.3.1 M&A and Investments

11.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

11.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



12 Company Profiles

12.1 3M Company

12.2 Ashland India Pvt Ltd

12.3 Avery Dennison Corporation

12.4 Bostik SA

12.5 Dymax Corporation

12.6 Franklin International

12.7 H.B. Fuller

12.8 Henkel AG & Company

12.9 Hexcel Corporation

12.10 Huntsman Advanced Materials

12.11 Illinois Tool Works Inc.

12.12 Jesons Industries Ltd

12.13 Loxeal S.r.l.

12.14 Mactac Americas Company

12.15 MAPEI Inc

12.16 Master Bond Inc.

12.17 Parker Hannifin Corp (LORD Corp)

12.18 Permabond LLC

12.19 Pidilite Industries Limited

12.20 Royal Adhesives & Sealants, LLC

12.21 RPM International Inc.

12.22 Sika AG

12.23 Tesa SE

12.24 Toagosei Co. Ltd

12.25 UPM Raflatac

12.26 Wacker Chemie AG



13 Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pphovc

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
Company Sets Records for Quarterly Net Sales and Net Income

ST. LOUIS, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Graybar, a leading distributor of electrical, communications and data networking products and provider of related supply chain management and logistics services, today reported its first quarter results, which included its highest quarterly net sales and net income in company history.

For the first three months of 2022, Graybar's net sales totaled $2.4 billion, an increase of 25.3 percent compared to the same period last year. Net income attributable to Graybar for the quarter finished at $102.2 million, a 116.5 percent increase from the first quarter of 2021.

"After our strong performance in 2021, I am very pleased that we have sustained our momentum into the first quarter of this year," said Kathleen M. Mazzarella, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Graybar. "While economic conditions are contributing to growth, the markets we serve continue to be affected by a number of external variables. As a vital link in the supply chain, we remain focused on providing exceptional service to our customers, while we invest in our future and implement our long-term, strategic plan."

Graybar, a Fortune 500 corporation and one of the largest employee-owned companies in North America, is a leader in the distribution of high quality electrical, communications and data networking products, and specializes in related supply chain management and logistics services. Through its network of more than 300 North American distribution facilities, it stocks and sells products from thousands of manufacturers, helping its customers power, network and secure their facilities with speed, intelligence and efficiency. For more information, visit www.graybar.com or call 1-800-GRAYBAR.

Media Contact:

Tim Sommer

(314) 578-7672

[email protected]

SOURCE Graybar
Henkel honored with Diversity Award

ROCKY HILL, Conn., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Henkel, the company behind well-known brands such as Loctite, Dial, Schwarzkopf hair care and Persil laundry detergent announced today that it has been recognized by Forbes as one of America's Best Employers for Diversity 2022.

The Best Employers for Diversity were chosen based on an independent survey of over 60,000 employees working for companies employing at least 1,000 people in their U.S. operations. Respondents were asked to give their opinions on a series of statements regarding Age, Gender, Ethnicity, Disability, LGBTQA+ & General Diversity in their current workplace, and given the chance to evaluate other employers in their respective industries.

"We are honored to be ranked for the second year in a row as one of America's Best Employers for Diversity in 2022 and we appreciate this recognition, especially as it reflects the sentiment of our employees and others across the American workforce," said Clayton Sinclair, Director Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. "The award showcases our continued strides toward our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging as we seek to enhance the positive employee experience that we strive for at Henkel."

Henkel's long-standing commitment to fostering an inclusive and diverse workforce is reflected in its values and practices, and in its focus on continued improvement by enhancing policies in the workplace and supporting organizations that help address longstanding inequalities and social injustices.

"The diversity of our employees, their backgrounds, experiences, talents, knowledge, creativity, and the appreciation of all their individual differences are the foundation of our company and the way we do business. Together, we get stronger with every step we take to create a more united, equitable and inclusive workplace and world," said Sinclair. "While Henkel has always strived for an inclusive environment, we recognize there is much more to do to," added Sinclair.

In 2021 Henkel strengthened its DEI strategy implementing programs to increase diversity in the talent pipeline forming strategic partnerships to support those efforts. Additionally, the focus to inspire a sense of belonging so all employees feel empowered to bring their whole selves to work was highlighted with the expansion of its Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).

These programs will help build leadership, education, and career opportunities that support future growth and diverse representation of Henkel employees, as well as the company's efforts to empower diverse talent.

About Henkel in North America

In North America, Henkel operates across its three business units: Adhesive Technologies, Beauty Care, and Laundry & Home Care. Its portfolio of well-known consumer and industrial brands includes Schwarzkopf hair care, Dial soaps, Persil, Purex, and all laundry detergents, Snuggle fabric softeners as well as Loctite, Technomelt and Bonderite adhesives. With sales close to 6 billion US dollars (5 billion euros) in 2021, North America accounts for 25 percent of the company's global sales. Henkel employs over 8,000 people across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. For more information, please visit www.henkel-northamerica.com, and on Twitter @Henkel_NA.

About Henkel

Henkel operates globally with a well-balanced and diversified portfolio. The company holds leading positions with its three business units in both industrial and consumer businesses thanks to strong brands, innovations and technologies. Henkel Adhesive Technologies is the global leader in the adhesives market  across all industry segments worldwide. In its Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care businesses, Henkel holds leading positions in many markets and categories around the world. Founded in 1876, Henkel looks back on more than 140 years of success. In 2021, Henkel reported sales of more than 20 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of about 2.7 billion euros. Henkel employs about 53,000 people globally  a passionate and highly diverse team, united by a strong company culture, a common purpose to create sustainable value, and shared values. As a recognized leader in sustainability, Henkel holds top positions in many international indices and rankings. Henkel's preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX. For more information, please visit www.henkel.com.

Photo material is available at www.henkel-northamerica.com/press

Brian Godette

860-471-4762

[email protected]

SOURCE Henkel North America
"From people getting inked with SPAM  tattoos and finding the brand on fine-dining menus to tens of thousands of fans hitting the beaches and restaurants in Hawaii for the Waikiki SPAM JAM  festival, the SPAM  brand has some of the most ardent fans you'll find anywhere," said Jennesa Kinscher, senior brand manager of the SPAM  brand. "The world can't get enough of the unforgettable taste and infinite meal possibilities contained in this little blue can. It truly is the food of the past, present and future."

SPAM JAM festival is back

After a two-year hiatus, the Waikiki SPAM JAM festival is back April 22-May 1, celebrating all things SPAM brand, particularly Hawaiians' love affair with the famous luncheon meat. The SPAMtastic tradition is considered one of the top annual food fests in Hawaii, drawing upward of 25,000 guests annually.

The festival has pivoted to an in-restaurant event this year, highlighting 27 establishments offering unique SPAM dishes specially created for the SPAM JAM festival. It's yet another piece of evidence proving the iconic brand is anything but irrelevant, despite its launch in1937, 85 years ago.

This year's food-forward experience will celebrate and give a boost to businesses that have been hit hard by the COVD-19 pandemic. Festival-goers can experience delicious SPAM dishes ranging from candied SPAM hula pie to pineapple plantation SPAM and eggs, and even a SPAM can mai tai cocktail. Check out the list of participating restaurants here.

New on the menu

If you can't make it to Waikiki this year, don't worry. Head to the brand's website to find a restaurant near you so you can celebrate the SPAM JAM festival wherever you are. Whether you are looking for a fresh Asian fusion dish, classic American meal, savory Korean barbeque or authentic Hawaiian cuisine, the SPAM brand has you covered. With over 700 restaurants across the United States serving up SPAM brand meals, your taste buds are in for a treat.

A work of art belongs in a museum

For another memorable way to connect with the brand, stop by the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minn. Whether you visit virtually or in person, there is so much to see and do in the 16,000-square-foot building dedicated to the SPAM brand. Guests are greeted by SPAMbassadors ready to answer questions and take guests on a guided tour. And if you've never had SPAM products before, your taste buds will be delighted. SPAMbassadors are on hand to offer SPAMples (SPAM product served on a pretzel stick) throughout the day.

"Visiting the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minn., should be on everyone's bucket list. Trust us  you won't regret it," said Savile Lord, SPAM Museum and community relations manager at Hormel Foods. "Dedicated SPAM brand fans travel from near and far to take in the rich history and unique experience the SPAM Museum offers."

The brand's loyal fans have many stories illustrating their connections to the brand. From recipes passed down from generation to generation to family get-togethers, to memories of dining on the storied product during military service, people's connection to the SPAM brand are deep. The SPAM brand is even a staple in wilderness firefighting and has a life-and-death bond with smokejumpers, specially trained firefighters who parachute into some of the most challenging wildfires in the United States.

Other notable SPAMtastic things that set the brand apart include a SPAM brand partnership with Yahtzee, dedicated fans' getting the blue SPAM brand can tattooed on their bodies, a SPAM brand super hero, and a SPAM brand-themed wedding that included one loyal UK fan's legally changing his middle name to "I love SPAM."

For more information

For more information about the SPAM brand, visit www.SPAM.com and join in the #SPAMSizzle conversation at www.facebook.com/SPAMbrand, www.youtube.com/SPAMbrand, www.twitter.com/SPAMbrand or @SPAMBrand on Instagram.





ABOUT HORMEL FOODS  Inspired People. Inspired Food.

Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $11 billion in annual revenue across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Planters, SKIPPY, SPAM, Hormel Natural Choice, Applegate, Justin's, Wholly, Hormel Black Label, Columbus, Jennie-O and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named on the "Global 2000 World's Best Employers" list by Forbes magazine for three years, is one of Fortune magazine's most admired companies, has appeared on Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "The 100 Best Corporate Citizens" list for 12 years, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. The company lives by its purpose statement  Inspired People. Inspired Food.  to bring some of the world's most trusted and iconic brands to tables across the globe. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and http://csr.hormelfoods.com/.

Media Contact:

Hormel Foods Media

[email protected]

SOURCE Hormel Foods Corporation
The TerpKings Art & Graphic Design Contest offers opportunities for artists to have their work featured on cannabis product packaging

CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 1937 Group, Ltd. ( www.the1937group.com ), the first minority-owned vertically-integrated cannabis company in Illinois, announced it will launch the "TerpKings Art & Design Contest," aimed at engaging the local art community and providing opportunities to have artists' work displayed on cannabis product packaging.

The 1937 Group developed the contest in collaboration with KVL International, and allows participants to showcase their own unique vision, with a chance to have their work become the face of a national cannabis brand.

There will be a cash prize of $5,000 provided to the contest winner, along with opportunities to partner with the company to develop in-house brands. Ultimately, the artist's submission may be used in the packaging for The 1937 Group's premiere craft-grown cannabis flower line, "TerpKings."

"We are committed to creating opportunities for local artists, entrepreneurs, and those impacted by unjust marijuana laws," said Ambrose Jackson, CEO of The 1937 Group. "We've been fortunate to have been provided a national platform, and now want to extend that platform to others in our community."

The company is seeking submissions that contain a unique style and engaging depiction of otherworldly characters (The TerpKings), who personify individual cannabis strains that were selected for their unique terpene profiles.

"Our goal with this contest is not only to merge our love of the cannabis plant with local art, but also to help discover, recognize and elevate artists within our community, " said Alex Al-Sabah, Chief Strategy Officer of The 1937 Group. "There are so many talented individuals that just need a platform to help showcase their craft"

Original art submissions will be accepted beginning May 2nd and ending on June 3, 2022.

Winner will be decided by a public vote. Voting will take place on June 17, 2022, on the TerpKing's social media page on Instagram @TerpKingsOfficial.

Entrants must be a U.S. resident, age 18 or older. There are other specific rules and guidelines that must be followed. Please see company's website for contest rules and guidelines. www.1937group.com

About The 1937 Group:

The 1937 Group, Ltd., is the first minority-owned, vertically integrated cannabis company based in Chicago, and as such, is committed to creating opportunities for others whose voices often get overlooked/ The company currently has ownership of three Illinois licenses, which consist of: Retail, Cultivation and Transportation. The Company's name, The 1937 Group, Ltd., is inspired by the Marihuana Act of 1937. The Act was fueled by widespread racial discrimination against Mexican-Americans and Blacks.

KVL International is a minority-owned brand management, development and licensing company founded in Chicago, IL.

Connect with The 1937 Group and its group of companies:

Website: www.the1937group.com

Facebook:

The 1937 Group

TerpKingsOfficial

Helios Labs

Parkway Dispensary

Instagram:

@the1937group

@TerpKingsOfficial

@helios.labs

@parkwaydispensary

Media Contact:

The Innovation Agency

310-571-5592

[email protected]

www.inov8.us

SOURCE The 1937 Group
Nearly 600 Diverse Industry Professionals attended the three-day educational and networking event

ORLANDO, Fla., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Association (ADISA), the nation's largest trade association representing the alternative and direct investment space, welcomed nearly 600 industry professionals to its 2022 Spring Conference in Orlando, Florida, April 4  6. Among the educational topics discussed at the event were tax advantaged investing, impact investing, Section 1031 exchanges, multifamily and single-family investing, investment monitoring, and more.

Conference co-chairs Katie Shook from Clir Capital and Jade Miller from Bourne Financial Group, along with the conference planning committee, created an agenda that highlighted several new topics and emerging products.

Attendance was comprised of over 35% independent broker dealers, registered investment advisors, family office firms, registered representatives and financial advisors, and close to 65% investment sponsors and affiliates.

"Our follow-up attendee survey indicated high marks in all metrics with an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5," said John Harrison, ADISA's executive director. "Additionally, John Grady's crypto currency session along with the mock arbitration session with Deborah Froling scored highest of the breakout sessions."

The conference kicked off with approximately 100 attendees at the Women's & Next Generation Reception & Luncheon, featuring the co-founder and managing partner of Accendo Leadership Advisory Group, Cari Coats, who had an interactive presentation on how to establish a leadership brand.

The first general session featured an industry update with Mike Kell from iCapital, Kevin Gannon from Stanger Investment Banking, and Taylor Garrett from Mountain Dell Consulting. Kell provided a private placement overview, including key metrics such as the $15.9 billion target raise in 2021, a 79% year-over-year increase, with 297 funds. Garrett provided an in-depth look at the 1031 market, including important statistics like the $2.48 billion in equity raised in 2022 through March 15, and an estimated capital raise of $10 - $12 billion overall in 2022. Multifamily is still the most popular asset type for 1031 exchanges according to Garrett. Gannon covered record fundraising of $86 billion in alternatives in 2021, the new players and significant mergers and acquisitions, as well as updates on real estate investment trusts, business development companies and interval funds sectors.

Additional general session speakers included John Grady with ABR Dynamic Funds, who moderated a lively panel discussion on the latest legislative and regulatory updates with Joe Price of FINRA, Joseph Borg with the Alabama Securities Corporation and Tom Rosenfeld with HillStaffer. Additionally, Morgan Simon, RIA, author, and podcast host discussed the new economics of social change and how capital has the power to inspire, innovate and bring change. Another interesting speaker, Benn Steil from the Council on Foreign Relations, discussed in detail the likely investment fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lastly, Michael Seiler from the College of William & Mary covered the effects of online buyers on investment property.

ADISA welcomed several university students arranged by diversity, equity and inclusion committee member David Wilson and a new relationship with INROADS, a non-profit organization that creates pathways to careers for ethnically diverse high school and college students across the country. This augments the current student outreach program with Utah Valley University.

ABOUT ADISA

The Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Association is the nation's largest trade association representing the nontraded alternative investment space. ADISA's members are typically involved in non-traded real estate investment trusts, business development companies, master limited partnerships and private and public funds (LPs/LLCs), 1031 exchange programs (DSTs/TICs), energy and oil and gas interests, equipment leasing programs, or other alternative and direct investment offerings. The association was founded in 2003 and has approximately 5,000 members who are key decision makers, representing more than 220,000 professionals throughout the nation  including sponsor members who have raised in excess of $200 billion in equity and serve more than one million investors.

Contact: Jill Swartz

Spotlight Marketing Communications

[email protected]

949.427.1389

SOURCE ADISA
DUBLIN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Insurance Third Party Administrator Market (2022-2027) by End-User, Service Type, Insurance Type, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Insurance Third Party Administrator Market is estimated to be USD 304.1 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 408.68 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 6.09%.



Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Insurance Third Party Administrator Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals.



As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are - American International Group, Inc, Cannon Cochran Management Services Inc, Capital Group, etc.



Countries Studied

America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of - Americas)

, , , , , , , , Rest of - Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of - Europe )

( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of - ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA.

and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA. Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Insurance Third Party Administrator Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach.



The analyst analyses Global Insurance Third Party Administrator Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position.



Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.



Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Insurance Third Party Administrator Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Increased Risk of Non-Payment

4.1.2 Increasing Digitization of Financial Services

4.1.3 Increase in Business Operations

4.1.4 Growth in Strict Terms and Conditions

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Complex Governing Rules

4.2.2 Adds More Cost on Doing Business

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Advancements in Technologies

4.3.2 Demand for Customized Trade Services

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Fraud and Cyber Attacks Concerns



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Insurance Third Party Administrator Market, By End-User

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Life and Annuities Insurance

6.2.1 Life Insurance

6.2.2 Annuities Insurance

6.3 P and C Insurance



7 Global Insurance Third Party Administrator Market, By Service Type

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Claims Management

7.3 Policy Management

7.4 Commission Management

7.5 Others



8 Global Insurance Third Party Administrator Market, By Insurance Type

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Healthcare Providers

8.3 Retirement Plans

8.4 Commercial General Liability

8.5 Other



9 Americas' Insurance Third Party Administrator Market

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Argentina

9.3 Brazil

9.4 Canada

9.5 Chile

9.6 Colombia

9.7 Mexico

9.8 Peru

9.9 United States

9.10 Rest of Americas



10 Europe's Insurance Third Party Administrator Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Austria

10.3 Belgium

10.4 Denmark

10.5 Finland

10.6 France

10.7 Germany

10.8 Italy

10.9 Netherlands

10.10 Norway

10.11 Poland

10.12 Russia

10.13 Spain

10.14 Sweden

10.15 Switzerland

10.16 United Kingdom

10.17 Rest of Europe



11 Middle East and Africa's Insurance Third Party Administrator Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Egypt

11.3 Israel

11.4 Qatar

11.5 Saudi Arabia

11.6 South Africa

11.7 United Arab Emirates

11.8 Rest of MEA



12 APAC's Insurance Third Party Administrator Market

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Australia

12.3 Bangladesh

12.4 China

12.5 India

12.6 Indonesia

12.7 Japan

12.8 Malaysia

12.9 Philippines

12.10 Singapore

12.11 South Korea

12.12 Sri Lanka

12.13 Thailand

12.14 Taiwan

12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Competitive Quadrant

13.2 Market Share Analysis

13.3 Strategic Initiatives

13.3.1 M&A and Investments

13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



14 Company Profiles

14.1 American International Group, Inc

14.2 Cannon Cochran Management Services Inc

14.3 Capital Group

14.4 Charles Taylor General Agency, Inc

14.5 Coresource Inc

14.6 Corvel

14.7 Crawford & Company

14.8 East West Assist Insurance TPA Private Limited

14.9 Ericson Insurance TPA Private Limited

14.10 Exlservice Holdings, Inc

14.11 Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc

14.12 Healthscope Benefits, Inc

14.13 HSBC Securities Services

14.14 Meritain Health

14.15 Northern Trust Corporation

14.16 Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc

14.17 UMR Inc

14.18 United Health Care Parekh Insurance TPA Private Limited

14.19 United Healthcare Services, Inc

15 Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/jc45ak

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
Riccio succeeds Zhengda "Z" Shen, who is retiring after 22 years with Merkle, five years with dentsu.

COLUMBIA, Md., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Merkle ( www.merkleinc.com ), dentsu's leading technology-enabled, data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company, has named John Riccio president of Merkle Asia Pacific (APAC), which includes Greater China, South East Asia, India, as well as Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). He replaces Zhengda "Z" Shen, who has announced his retirement, effective July 1, 2022.

As dentsu continues to pursue its ambition of being the most integrated agency network, this appointment is underpinned by multiple new hires, a clear marketing activation plan, and focused investment. The announcement comes after a year of significant simplification, capability integration, and investment across all key areas of the Merkle business in order to help solve its clients' complex, enterprise-scale experience challenges with a focus on technology and data.

With more than 25 years' experience leading major digital businesses and strategic programs, Riccio is recognized as a specialist in helping clients transform the way they respond to market change and engage consumers. He is an expert at leveraging emerging technologies that support sustainable growth and scale, and he will play a critical role in leading the growth and evolution of Merkle APAC. He will continue in his existing role as CEO of Merkle's ANZ region. Riccio has an extensive background leading customer experience consulting, most recently as experience consulting partner, APAC, for EY. Previously, he held partner positions at PwC in Australia and Asia, and at IBM in the United Kingdom.

"I am delighted to confirm John as president of Merkle APAC, as further proof of dentsu's commitment to accelerating the growth and performance of our customer experience consulting, data, digital transformation, and B2B services across the region," said Michael Komasinski, global CEO of Merkle. "John's extensive regional and global leadership experience will further enable and drive growth and success in this critical region for the business."

"Since joining Merkle, I have been impressed by the technical expertise and forward-thinking, agile approach the company takes in the experiences delivered to its clients and employees," said Riccio. "I am excited to expand my ANZ role across the broader APAC region, supporting our clients who have entrusted us to create distinctly better experiences and relationships with their customers across all key technology platforms."

Riccio's promotion coincides with the departure of Z Shen, who is retiring after more than two decades on Merkle's executive leadership team.

"Over the years, Z has played an integral role in the development of Merkle's data and analytics capabilities, as well as our global operations," said Komasinski. "In recent years, he was instrumental in driving Merkle's global transformation and expansion, particularly in the APAC region, where he grew the business from USD$5 million in one market to USD$150 million across ten markets, with more than 2,000 employees. It has been a pleasure working with and learning from Z, and I want to personally thank him for his steadfast commitment to Merkle's success and wish him much happiness in his retirement."

About Merkle

Merkle, a dentsu company, is a leading data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company that specializes in the delivery of unique, personalized customer experiences across platforms and devices. For more than 30 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. The company's heritage in data, technology, and analytics forms the foundation for its unmatched skills in understanding consumer insights that drive hyper-personalized marketing strategies. Its combined strengths in consulting, creative, media, analytics, data, identity, CX/commerce, technology, and loyalty & promotions drive improved marketing results and competitive advantage. With more than 14,000 employees, Merkle is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, with 50+ additional offices throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. For more information, contact Merkle at 1-877-9-Merkle or visit www.merkleinc.com.

SOURCE Merkle
The plaintiff, represented by RMO LLP, was recorded while showering by employers

LOS ANGELES, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- National probate litigation law firm RMO LLP announced today that it recently secured a $3.65 million jury verdict on behalf of a client who was taken advantage of by her host family who videotaped her while showering.

Led by RMO LLP Partners Sean Muntz and Matthew Baker , the firm sought damages for sexual harassment, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims.

After a four-day trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, the jury returned a verdict in the client's favor, including $3 million in punitive damages and not including attorney fees and costs yet to be determined. Muntz, a co-founder and co-managing partner of RMO, said their client "finally got the vindication she deserved."

Baker added "[s]eeing the client's reaction when the verdict was read was heart-warming."

RMO LLP provides personal, cost-effective litigation services to individual and institutional clients. The firm's attorneys focus on litigation contested trust, estate, probate, and conservatorship matters. RMO has offices serving clients with probate disputes throughout California, Florida, Texas, Kansas and Missouri. For more information, please visit https://rmolawyers.com/.

SOURCE RMO LLP
VANCOUVER, BC, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lithium South Development Corporation (the "Company") (TSX-V: LIS) (OTCQB: LISMF) (Frankfurt: OGPQ) is pleased to announce the initiation of a resource expansion drill program at the Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project (HMN Li Project), Salta, Argentina.

The Company has retained Servicios Geologicos of Salta, Argentina, to conduct a 2,000-meter core hole drill program on the Alba Sabrina claim block. At 2,089 hectares, the Alba Sabrina claim block is the largest of the nine block, 5,687-hectare project. A recent TEM Study has identified a surficial halite aquifer of approximately 75 meters of depth, with a clastic brine aquifer immediately below. The TEM Study was limited to approximately 350 meters of depth, with the basement rock not confirmed. The drill program will attempt to drill to basement, limited to approximately 700 meters by the depth potential of the drill rig. The drill rig is expected to be located on site within the next two weeks.

Company President, Adrian F. C. Hobkirk is quoted, "We are excited to begin the potential expansion of the high-quality lithium brine resource at the HMN Li Project. In particular, to confirm our expectations that deeper drilling will return significant results."

About Lithium South

Lithium South is focused on developing the Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project, located on the Hombre Muerto Salar, a major lithium-producing salar in Argentina. The property is adjacent to a US$840 million lithium mine development being undertaken by the Korean multinational corporation POSCO, which acquired the raw ground from Galaxy Resources Ltd. for US$280 million. The Company completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment of the HMN Li Project in 2019, utilizing conventional evaporation extraction.

The Company is evaluating conventional evaporation as a process method, and Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) as an alternative method. Three candidates for DLE are currently being evaluated. Two, 2,000-liter bulk brine samples are being evaluated outside of Argentina. One sample is being tested by Lilac Solutions of Oakland, California. A second 2,000-liter bulk sample is being tested by Chemphys Chengdu, in China. DLE test work is also currently underway in Salta, Argentina by Eon Minerals.

The technical and scientific information in this press release was reviewed by Mr. William Feyerabend, a Consulting Geologist, and Qualified Person under NI 43-101. Mr. Feyerabend participated in the production of this press release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Adrian F. C. Hobkirk

President and Chief Executive Officer

Investors / Shareholders call 855-415-8100 / website: www.lithiumsouth.com

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. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed the content of this news release and therefore does not accept responsibility or liability for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward- looking statements. We seek safe harbor.

SOURCE Lithium South Development Corporation
WINNIPEG, MB, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Medicure Inc. ("Medicure" or the "Company") (TSXV: MPH) (OTC: MCUJF), a company focused on the development and commercialization of pharmaceuticals and healthcare products for patients and prescribers in the United States market, today announces Medicure's 2021 Year End Results Conference Call.

Conference Call Info:

Topic: Medicure's 2021 Year End Results



Call date: Thursday, April 28, 2022



Time: 7:30 AM Central Time (8:30 AM Eastern Time)



Canada toll: 1 (416) 764-8659



North American toll-free: 1 (888) 664-6392



Passcode: not required

Webcast: This conference call will be webcast live over the internet and can be accessed from the Medicure investor relations page at the following link: www.medicure.com/investors

You may request international country-specific access information by e-mailing the Company in advance. Management will accept and answer questions related to the financial results and operations during the question-and-answer period at the end of the conference call. A recording of the call will be available following the event on the Company's website.

About Medicure Inc.

Medicure is a pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapies for the U.S. cardiovascular market. The present focus of the Company is the marketing and distribution of AGGRASTAT (tirofiban hydrochloride) injection and ZYPITAMAG (pitavastatin) tablets in the United States, where they are sold through the Company's U.S. subsidiary, Medicure Pharma Inc. Medicure also operates Marley Drug, Inc. ("Marley Drug"), a pharmacy located in North Carolina that offers an Extended Supply drug program serving all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Marley Drug is committed to improving the health status of its patients and the communities they serve while reducing overall health care costs for employers and other health care consumers. For more information visit www.marleydrug.com. To learn more about The Extended Supply Generic Drug Program call 800.286.6781 or email [email protected]. For more information on Medicure please visit www.medicure.com. For additional information about AGGRASTAT, refer to the full Prescribing Information. For additional information about ZYPITAMAG, refer to the full Prescribing Information.

To be added to Medicure's e-mail list, please visit:

http://medicure.mediaroom.com/alerts

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.

Forward Looking Information: Statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "believes", "may", "plans", "will", "estimates", "continues", "anticipates", "intends", "expects" and similar expressions, may constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. federal securities laws (such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are hereinafter collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements, include estimates, analysis and opinions of management of the Company made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors which the Company believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances. Inherent in forward-looking statements are known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors beyond the Company's ability to predict or control that may cause the actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, and as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include, among others, the Company's future product revenues, expected future growth in revenues, stage of development, additional capital requirements, risks associated with the completion and timing of clinical trials and obtaining regulatory approval to market the Company's products, the ability to protect its intellectual property, dependence upon collaborative partners, changes in government regulation or regulatory approval processes, and rapid technological change in the industry. Such statements are based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, assumptions about: general business and economic conditions; the impact of changes in Canadian-US dollar and other foreign exchange rates on the Company's revenues, costs and results; the timing of the receipt of regulatory and governmental approvals for the Company's research and development projects; the availability of financing for the Company's commercial operations and/or research and development projects, or the availability of financing on reasonable terms; results of current and future clinical trials; the uncertainties associated with the acceptance and demand for new products and market competition. The foregoing list of important factors and assumptions is not exhaustive. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list of factors, other than as may be required by applicable legislation. Additional discussion regarding the risks and uncertainties relating to the Company and its business can be found in the Company's other filings with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities or the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and in the "Risk Factors" section of its Form 20F for the year ended December 31, 2020.

AGGRASTAT (tirofiban hydrochloride) is a registered trademark of Medicure International Inc.

SOURCE Medicure Inc.
AUSTIN, Texas, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mission 6 Charter Member Summit was held at The Star, headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys. Industry leaders included Digital Realty, The Dallas Cowboys, Pro Star Energy, HCA, JP Morgan Chase, Bernhard Energy, Point B (supporting companies like Starbucks and Microsoft), The Austin Chamber, Wick Capital, DivInc, and Entronix, among others.

Mission 6 Ecosystem

Mission 6 (www.mission6.io) is a profit-driven ecosystem empowering corporations to lead the world to Net-Zero. Punitive regulation and social pressure have had little impact on climate change. Mission 6 makes sustainability profitable at a global scale.

Mission 6 announces the world's first Energy Carbon Registry where everyone can participate. The new registry uses technology at scale to verify and register decarbonization projects on a global public ledger.

Mission 6 unlocks the real value of carbon. Carbon Assets can be included on the balance sheet. Emission-reducing investments are now much more attractive because they are carbon-backed digital assets. The Mission 6 carbon asset (M6) can be exchanged on cryptocurrency markets where everyone can participate in saving energy and mitigating emissions.

Kevin Carriere, CEO of Mission 6, explained how technology is at the core of the endeavor. Carriere said, "The technology behind Mission 6 was designed to overcome the challenges in the legacy carbon markets. We focus on the largest source of emissions (energy), but will add the other market segments to the platform. Mass participation is key, but currently -10% can participate. Mission 6 is here to add technology and scale, while integrating the existing carbon market. Manual processes can only take us so far, and technology is needed for global scale."

Mission 6 provides an enterprise-grade software platform using international standards. A global carbon ledger creates transparency to reduce fraud in carbon-offset markets.

Key Participant highlights:

John Hickman of the Dallas Cowboys is credited with shaping key components of Mission 6, and serves on the Mission 6 Advisory Board.

of the Dallas Cowboys is credited with shaping key components of Mission 6, and serves on the Mission 6 Advisory Board. Erich Sanchack , COO of Digital Realty, is also on the Mission 6 Advisory Board. The data center giant is a leader in sustainability. Sanchack is an industry veteran recognized for leadership in sustainability and recently won the Sustainability Champion Award by NVTC. Sanchack and several members of the executive team at Digital Realty were a contributing factor in forming the Mission 6 offering.

, COO of Digital Realty, is also on the Mission 6 Advisory Board. The data center giant is a leader in sustainability. Sanchack is an industry veteran recognized for leadership in sustainability and recently won the Sustainability Champion Award by NVTC. Sanchack and several members of the executive team at Digital Realty were a contributing factor in forming the Mission 6 offering. Ed Tinsley , CEO of Bernhard, and Rob Guthrie , CDO, presented the benefits of adding carbon assets to the project business case.

, CEO of Bernhard, and , CDO, presented the benefits of adding carbon assets to the project business case. Kelly O'Rourke , Managing Director of Point B, discussed the challenges corporations face in funding emissions reduction projects.

, Managing Director of Point B, discussed the challenges corporations face in funding emissions reduction projects. Preston James , CEO of DivInc, and an Austin Chamber board member, discussed the Chamber's upcoming role in the public launch of Mission 6.

, CEO of DivInc, and an Austin Chamber board member, discussed the Chamber's upcoming role in the public launch of Mission 6. Dr. Andrew Dessler , Harvard PhD and top climate advisor from Texas A&M , covered the alarming reality of the current climate crisis.

, Harvard PhD and top climate advisor from , covered the alarming reality of the current climate crisis. Nathan Albee , Co-Founder of Mission 6, briefed the technology behind the M6 digital asset that combines a Net-Zero blockchain with carbon offsets, creating a cryptocurrency that reduces energy and emissions when mined. "It is an exciting concept, to create a new crypto asset that is the opposite of Bitcoin's mining energy consumption footprint. M6 transforms Bitcoin's concept of mining that employs "proof of work," into a new category of mining, termed "proof of certification" creating intrinsic value based on conservation and sustainability. Efficiency projects that reduce emissions are transformed into crypto miners democratizing sustainability participation with the frictionless benefits of the blockchain."

Mission 6 is planning a public launch with the Chamber in Austin, Texas in the near future. Visit us at www.mission6.io or contact us at [email protected].

Media Contact:

Gary Hartman

[email protected]

512-234-0442

SOURCE Mission 6
Sponsored by The Remy Healthcare Foundation, Mossor Writing Camp is the first of its kind to give back through a unique charitable partnership. The inaugural camp featuring top songwriters and producers will take place in Girona, Spain from April 27-May 4, 2022, and will directly benefit the Remy Healthcare Foundation's Autism initiatives.

LOS ANGELES, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Songwriting collective Mossor is partnering with The Remy Healthcare Foundation to host an inaugural songwriting camp at Estudis Ground Studios in Girona, Spain. The camp will kick off during Autism Awareness Month, taking place April 27-May 4, 2022 and bringing together a massively talented and highly curated group of songwriters, artists and producers to create a catalog of demos that, when placed, will benefit the Autism initiatives of the foundation by allocating a portion of the publishing of each song to the cause.

Mossor's ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between non-profit initiatives and the music industry. Through providing an immersive and collaborative environment where creatives can thrive as well as the necessary infrastructure for foundations to profit from music publishing, Mossor hopes to make a measurable impact and start new waves of change in the music industry.

Founded by music industry veterans Julia Ross and Andreas Moss, the Mossor songwriting camps are designed to put purpose above politics.

"We believe that music is a powerful and healing force," says Ross. "Connecting that energy to important causes makes the creation of music that much more rewarding."

Mossor aims to create an incredible experience for songwriters and producers alike with camps in stunning locations all over the world. Says Moss, "Music is ingrained in our DNA and has always been a part of us. We are committed to preserving that beauty and shining a bright light on the value of the songwriters, producers and creators."

The Mossor Writing Camp (Spain 2022) will consist of 6 producers and 10 songwriters who will gather for 7 days to collaborate and ultimately give back. 10% of every song that emerges from Mossor will be donated.

The following songwriters, artists and producers are confirmed to participate in Mossor Writing Camp (Spain 2022):

Julia Ross , Songwriter / Artist

, Songwriter / Artist Andreas Moss , Songwriter / Artist

, Songwriter / Artist Saint Wade, Artist / Songwriter

Maurice Moore, Artist / Songwriter

Tish Hyman, Artist / Songwriter

Alma Goodman , Songwriter

, Songwriter Tone Jonez, Producer / Songwriter

Nina Nelson , Songwriter / Artist

, Songwriter / Artist Kaedi Dalley, Artist / Songwriter

Kyle Reynolds , Songwriter / Artist

, Songwriter / Artist Yonatan Watts, Producer / Songwriter

Synematik, Producer

Truls, Producer / Songwriter

Nick Lee, Producer / Songwriter

Mark Maxwell, Producer

For more information, visit www.Mossor.us .

About THE REMY HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION: The Remy Foundation's mission is to discover the unmet needs of the special needs community. At The Remy Foundation, we provide consultation services and make the pharmaceutical, emotional and physical needs of the special needs community available at the lowest possible cost.

CONTACT: Brian Mayes, [email protected]

SOURCE Mossor
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA's Human Exploration Rover Challenge will host a virtual awards ceremony for its competing teams Friday, April 29, at 9 a.m. CDT. Media wishing to attend the ceremony should contact Christopher Blair of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, by 5 p.m. on April 28.

The student competition  one of seven Artemis Student Challenges  tasks high school and college teams from around the world to design, build, and test a human-powered rover capable of traversing simulated terrain from the Moon, Mars, and other rocky planets. Along the way, teams are also required to complete scientific tasks, reflecting spacewalks that were completed during NASA's Apollo Program and may be completed during NASA's Artemis Program.

Although NASA will not be able to host teams in person this year, the students have gained significant value from the engineering, teamwork, and project tasks they have already completed.

Awards will be given for Overall Winner, Project Review, Social Media, Task Challenge, Videography, Ingenuity, Phoenix, Safety, and STEM Engagement. Teams should reach out to the HERC staff with any questions or for more details.

For more than 25 years, the annual NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge and its sponsors have encouraged student teams from the United States and around the world to push the limits of innovation and imagine what it will take to explore the Moon, Mars, and other worlds.

The Human Exploration Rover Challenge is managed by the Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. The competition reflects the goals of the Artemis program, which seeks to put the first woman and first person of color on the Moon. NASA's Office of STEM Engagement uses competitions to further the agency's goal of encouraging students to pursue degrees and careers in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.

For more information about NASA's Artemis Student Challenges, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/stem/artemis.html

SOURCE NASA
SWEETWATER, Texas, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) WWII Museum is honoring the legacy of the first females to fly military aircraft, as it celebrates the 80 years of WASP. Located in Sweetwater, Texas, Avenger Field was the training grounds for the WASP. These female pilots performed a variety of aviation jobs including ferrying aircraft, towing targets for aerial and ground air gunnery practice, and making test and demonstration flights. To honor their service, the WASP Museum will host approximately 80 planes and hundreds of guests at its homecoming fly-in April 30.

Women Airforce Service Pilots Present day WASP

National WASP WWII Museum Fly-In

Saturday, April 30, 2022

9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Avenger Field

Sweetwater, Texas

Free to the Public

The WASP flight line will include eleven BT-13s with many other WWII aircraft like the B-25 and DC-3. All-female crews will be in attendance with Air Force, Army, Marine and Navy aircraft.

Visitors will enjoy many other activities including the opening of two exhibits: a permanent exhibit on the American history of Black Pilots by historian Monica Smith and a special temporary exhibit of John and Marie Clark, B-17 and WASP pilots respectively (courtesy of the Yankee Air Museum). Other activities include author signings, special conversations, and a Cadet Zone.

Photos attached include planes from a previous WASP fly-in and members of the WASP, respectively.

SOURCE The National WASP WWII Museum
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Developing countries will access new climate funding and finance tools to address climate change, thanks to a Finance Strategy launched by the NDC Partnership in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

The Most Honourable Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica, launched the new Strategy with NDC Partnership Co-Chairs, Senator the Honourable Matthew Samuda of Jamaica, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, and The Right Honourable Alok Sharma of the United Kingdom, COP President and Member of Parliament, to support developing countries implement their climate commitments.

The Finance Strategy targets money and support for developing countries, harnessing a unique cooperation model to drive sustainable national, regional and international transformation.

The Strategy will:

Strengthen country capacity, deploying specialist advisors to sectoral ministries and national development banks,

Guide countries developing NDC financing strategies with Development and Implementing Partners to align NDCs with wider development plans, and

Facilitate private sector buy-in on financing strategies to enable the implementation of NDCs.

The new Finance Strategy builds upon the Partnership's recent work, which has seen USD1 billion mobilized to support developing countries' climate action. Yet, much more is needed. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, warns that we are not on track to meet the 1.5C target above pre-industrial levels established in the Paris Agreement.

Following COP26, countries have shifted their focus to implementation of climate commitments, but climate action requires unprecedented speed and scale. In its World Energy Transition Outlook, NDC Partnership Member, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates USD51 trillion is needed in cumulative energy investments alone to achieve the 1.5C scenario (2021-30).

"As a small island developing state, the 1.5-degree goal of the Paris Agreement is not an abstract target but a matter of survival," said Prime Minister Holness. "That is why the development and launch of the NDC Partnership's Finance Strategy is so important and timely."

"The Partnership's Finance Strategy provides a strong signal to members and global leaders that raised ambition in developing countries must be urgently matched with large-scale, predictable and timely financing," added Minister Samuda.

COP President Alok Sharma added: "At COP26 we made significant progress, but now is the time to turn commitments into action. The Partnership has shown that by combining countries' leadership with a coordinated response from international partners, technical and financial support can be mobilized effectively."

About the NDC Partnership

The NDC Partnership brings together more than 200 members - including 115 countries, developed and developing, and 80 institutions - to deliver ambitious climate action that helps achieve the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Governments identify their NDC implementation priorities and the support needed to produce actionable policies and programs. This informs a tailored package of expertise, technical assistance, and funding, for members.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1687000/NDC_Partnership_Logo.jpg

SOURCE NDC Partnership
Emerging technology brand unveils rebrand with an eye-catching, contemporary look

CARROLLTON, Texas, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NerdsToGo , a fast growing information technology (IT) solutions and technology repair services franchise for both business and home, is moving forward as fast as it's growing, with a new visual look and feel, with a new color palette, font, and restaged brand character, "Nerdy."

"By updating and reimagining our brand identity, NerdsToGo has an opportunity to stand out in the crowd more than ever, digitally and in person," said Jim Howe, Brand President of NerdsToGo. "The refinement reinforces NerdsToGo as an emerging brand in the technology industry. We are positioning the brand for the future while maintaining customer confidence in our Nerds abilities and capabilities which encompass complete business and home IT technology needs."

NerdsToGo is adding more locations in new territories. They are projected to open over ten additional locations in 2022. "The refinement of our logo and our 'Nerdy' character achieves our intent of contemporizing and elevating the brand while retaining the qualities of approachability and tech expertise the brand stands for," said Jennifer Herskind, Chief Marketing Officer.

The new logo was developed by St. Louis-based advertising agency Rodgers Townsend. The NerdsToGo franchisees were introduced to the new logo and brand refinement while attending the first annual convention in Dallas, Texas, earlier this year. "It was time. Our franchisees were ready for an updated look and feel. Coming out of convention we saw a renewed energy from our franchisees embracing the brand direction and eager to update their locations," added Herskind.

"The new refinement helps the company be more competitive in the marketplace," said Rory Dunnaback, NerdsToGo 2021 Franchisee of the Year award winner and the first adopter of the new brand identity at his newly opened Tigard, Oregon location. "The update to our look helps attract new customers in all technology areas, allowing us to evolve and grow as technological advancements continue."

For information about the NerdsToGo franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or 214-346-5679).

About Propelled Brands:

Propelled Brands is the multi-brand franchiser of FASTSIGNS, SIGNWAVE, NerdsToGo and Suite Management Franchising, LLC, the parent company of MY SALON Suite and Salon Plaza. Propelled Brands advances the strategic path for each brand, offering support, guidance and a clear vision to fully equip every franchisee, helping them maximize success.

About NerdsToGo

NerdsToGo is a growing IT services franchise brand that provides a simple path to overcoming the pain points and complexities of technology. Friendly and approachable Nerds offer solutions for efficiency and security for small to medium-sized businesses, as well as the individual who needs help with personal computers, devices and home networks. As a Managed Services Provider for business, the Nerds can assess, design and support IT networks while providing remote support and vendor management.

Propelled Brands is the multi-brand franchisor for NerdsToGo, recognized for its top-rated franchisee satisfaction in Franchise Business Review's 2021 Top 100 Culture list. With a focus on business-to-business franchises including FASTSIGNS, SIGNWAVE in Australia, MY SALON Suite and Salon Plaza brands, Propelled Brands helps each franchise confidently navigate forward based on their unique position, momentum and purpose.

To learn more, visit NerdsToGo.com . Follow the brand on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/nerdstogo/mycompany/ , or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NerdsToGoComputerService/ . For information about the NerdsToGo franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or call 214.346.5679).

SOURCE NerdsToGo, Inc.
Innovations and growth across PDI help to simplify the industry's complex technology ecosystem. Tweet this

- Consumer Engagement: PDI Sustainability Solutions, GasBuddy Loyalty Connect, and C-Store Shopper Trends Report

- Enterprise Productivity: Retail Site Management, Motor Fuel Tax Returns Avalara, Advanced Fuel Pricing, Logistics Automation, and Carrier Exchange

- Security & Platform: Wi-Fi as a Service, 5G as a Service, Digital Commerce Integration, and Managed XDR Services.

"Our industry is transforming faster than ever, and our customers are asking for help in navigating these changes," said Jimmy Frangis, CEO at PDI. "Whether we're modernizing from within, or expanding through collaboration and acquisition, PDI is committed to supporting our customers around the world. Our recent innovations join an already rich portfolio of products and services that work better together to drive more value and more business for our customers."

Coen Markets, Inc. relies on several PDI solutions to provide a quality experience for its guests and team members across nearly 60 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. As Charlie McIlvaine, Chairman and CEO at Coen Markets, shared, "During such a dynamic time of our lives, we need valuable partners to help us accelerate growth. Coen shares with PDI the values of embracing change and committing to innovation. Collaborating together, we're part of something bigger as we work to take both the industry and the consumer experience to the next level."

The latest PDI solutions arrive in market following recent strategic acquisitions, including:

- GreenPrint: Loyalty-based sustainability solutions

- Azpiral: Ireland-based loyalty and marketing solutions

- Universe Group, htec, and Celtech: Enterprise productivity in United Kingdom and Ireland, including POS and back-office products

- Koupon: Offer network and CPG brand engagement.

To learn more about the new products and recent acquisitions, visit pdisoftware.com/whats-new. For additional insights, check out the latest blog posts covering updates for each PDI business segment at pdisoftware.com/blog.

About PDI

Professional Datasolutions, Inc. (PDI) software helps businesses and brands increase sales, operate more efficiently and securely, and improve critical decision-making. Since 1983, PDI has proudly served the convenience retail and petroleum wholesale industries. Over 1,500 companies, representing more than 200,000 locations worldwide, count on PDI solutions and expertise to deliver convenience and energy to the world. Among PDI solutions are the Fuel Rewards program and GasBuddy, two popular consumer brands who together represent 15 million monthly active users. For more information about PDI, visit us at pdisoftware.com.

For more information, contact: Kelly O'Brien, [email protected]

SOURCE Professional Datasolutions, Inc.
Black Employee Network Scholarship Promotes Diversity Within Cybersecurity Field

DENVER, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Optiv, the cyber advisory and solutions leader, has announced AJ McCrory as the recipient of its second annual Black Employee Network (BEN) scholarship.

BEN is entirely employee-driven and part of Optiv's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) initiative. The scholarship, open to Black, African American identifying STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students, reflects Optiv's ongoing commitment to diversity within the cyber and information security fields.

Optiv has named Virginia high school senior AJ McCrory the recipient of its second annual Black Employee Network scholarship. The scholarship, open to Black, African American identifying STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students, reflects Optivs ongoing commitment to diversity within the cyber and information security fields.

McCrory, a high school senior from Ashbury, Va., will attend James Madison University in the fall where he will study computer science, focusing on a software development track with a goal of becoming a backend software engineer. McCrory's passion for computer science began in middle school. Since then, he's consistently maintained his Google Ads Certification and learned Java, C++, Python, and Windows Batch scripting through his enrollment in a college-level cybersecurity program at the Academies of Loudoun in Leesburg, Va. Through this program he also competed at CyberPatriot, a national cybersecurity competition hosted by the Air Force Association.

"This scholarship allows me to further my knowledge and secure my future, and I am extremely grateful to the Optiv Black Employee Network for this astounding opportunity," McCrory says. "I intend to use this as a catalyst to reaching new heights in my career and empower other black students pursuing careers in the STEM field."

McCrory will receive $10,000 each year for four years while at James Madison University.

"Optiv's BEN scholarship is a great opportunity to help promote equity and diversity in our industry. I am proud that Optiv will support AJ McCrory as he continues to work toward his goal of becoming a cybersecurity professional," says Tesfaye Williams, community outreach lead for BEN. "The exceptionally talented applicants for the BEN scholarship are proof that our industry will be in good hands going forward."

Last year's inaugural recipient, Lauren Harris, is a freshman at Princeton University.

Optiv honors and embraces the diverse perspectives, ideas, backgrounds and experiences of its people. The company's approach to DE&I is grounded in listening, learning and growing.

For the latest news and updates from Optiv, visit www.optiv.com/newsroom.

Follow Optiv

Twitter: www.twitter.com/optiv

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/optiv-inc

Facebook: www.facebook.com/optivinc

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OptivInc

Blog: https://www.optiv.com/explore-optiv-insights/blog

Optiv Security: Secure greatness.

Optiv is the cyber advisory and solutions leader, delivering strategic and technical expertise to more than 7,000 companies across every major industry. We partner with organizations to advise, deploy and operate complete cybersecurity programs from strategy and managed security services to risk, integration and technology solutions. With clients at the center of our unmatched ecosystem of people, products, partners and programs, we accelerate business progress like no other company can. At Optiv, we manage cyber risk so you can secure your full potential. For more information, visit www.optiv.com.

SOURCE Optiv Security Inc.
The Hiring Day event will include in-person meet-and-greet opportunities, featuring on the spot interviews and swag giveaways, from 8 a.m.  5 p.m. at over 670 participating Pilot Flying J travel centers, One9 Fuel Network locations, and on-premises fast food restaurants. Interested candidates can text PFJjobs to 25000 to RSVP to schedule an in-person interview for Hiring Day or apply immediately online at jobs.pilotflyingj.com . Open jobs include:

Full-time and part-time hourly and leadership roles in retail, food service and facilities

Class-A CDL company drivers to transport fuel and DEF

Corporate positions in technology, finance, human resources, recruiting, marketing, guest services and more at the Knoxville Sales and Support Center headquarters, offices in Dallas and Houston , and a new IT center of excellence in Atlanta

"Since 1958, we've fueled millions of journeys and we look forward to having more great people join us as we gear up for another busy summer and keep innovating to prepare for the future of travel," said Paul Shore, chief people officer of Pilot Company. "We're offering better opportunities, better perks and better benefits with a stable and growing company that invests in its team members to help them learn and grow. Nearly three out of four leadership promotions come from within our company  start your career with us by applying now or heading to a travel center near you on May 3."

Pilot Company offers one of the best benefit packages in the industry to support its team members, including:

New fuel discount program

Free daily meal

Weekly pay

Low-cost health plans

Tuition assistance

Award-winning training program

Career advancement and growth

Paid time off

Paid parental leave

401(k) retirement savings plan

Discounts at national retailers

Giving back to local communities

Ranked No. 7 on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies, Pilot Company continues to grow and evolve to provide its team members and guests with an exceptional experience. In March, Pilot Company launched a $1 billion initiative, New Horizons, to remodel its stores nationwide. Plans to overhaul its travel centers incorporates feedback from team members and guests to make improvements that matter to them, including several upgrades that will provide team members with better technology, spaces and equipment that make their jobs faster, easier and more rewarding.

Pilot Company is also investing more in culture and recognition programs for its team members, including best in class onboarding and training programs; wellness with a specific focus on mental well-being; and adding new perks and discounts to the company's total rewards benefit package. The company recently introduced a new fuel discount program for all team members to save at the pump at company-owned stores in North America.

"I've enjoyed my time working at Pilot Company because of the leaders that are devoted to not only help me grow in my professional life, but my personal life as well," shared Kenan Johnson, guest services leader at a Pilot Travel Center in Boonville, MO.

For more information about National Hiring Day and to apply, visit jobs.pilotflyingj.com/nhd. To find nearby travel center locations, download the myRewards Plus appTM* and to learn more about Pilot Company, visit www.pilotcompany.com.

*Data rates may apply. Other terms and conditions may apply.

About Pilot Company

Pilot Travel Centers LLC ("Pilot Company") keeps North America's drivers moving as one of the leading suppliers of fuel and the largest operator of travel centers. Founded in 1958 and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, Pilot Company has grown its network to more than 800 retail and fueling locations and as the third largest tanker fleet in North America, supplies more than 14 billion gallons of fuel per year to the market. Its energy division also supplies DEF, bio and renewable fuels and provides hauling and disposal services to the oil field sector. Pilot Company serves 1.5 million guests per day and provides over 70,000 fleet customers with solutions for fuel, credit, factoring, services and rewards. Its Pilot Flying J Travel Center network includes over 750 locations in 44 states and five Canadian provinces with more than 790 restaurants, 75,000 truck parking spaces, 5,300 deluxe showers, 6,200 diesel lanes and offers truck maintenance and tire service with Southern Tire Mart at Pilot Flying J. The One9 Fuel Network connects a variety of fueling locations to provide smaller fleets and independent professional drivers with everyday value, convenience, credit and perks. More information on locations and rewards are available in the myRewards PlusTM app.

Pilot Company is currently ranked No. 7 on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies. For additional information about Pilot Company, its 28,000 team members and commitment to giving back, visit www.pilotcompany.com.

SOURCE Pilot Company
"We recognize what an exciting moment in time this is for real estate borrowers to have a fast, modern-day lending partner designed from the ground up for today's intricate real estate markets. Futures is born from the mission to inspire, impact, educate, & streamline the lending process." said Kendra Rommel Co-Founder, Futures Financial. David added, "I couldn't be more excited to partner with Kendra, and the rest of our quickly growing team at Futures, to bring a modern-day foundation built with integrity, transparency, innovation and personalized solutions to our clients. We have a history of long-standing relationships with our investors to produce solid, risk adjusted returns."

With more than three decades' combined experience, Rommel and Rosenberg, along with their team, bring deep expertise in asset management, real estate operations and capital markets to the private lending sector. Both Rommel and Rosenberg are well recognized in the industry having led origination teams at Civic Financial Services and Macoy Capital, respectively.

For more information, please visit Futures at www.FuturesFinancial.com or investor relations at 424-453-1380 or email [email protected]

SOURCE Futures Financial
ZUG, Switzerland, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Qontigo has licensed the STOXX USA ETF Industry Index to Kiwoom Asset Management in Korea to be used as an underlying for an exchange-traded fund (ETF). This new index is the first to track the US ETF market through a thematic approach.

The index identifies US companies that are expected to benefit from the growth of the ETF market globally, including companies involved as ETF issuers, trading venues, and index providers.

"ETFs have been the fastest-growing investment vehicle in recent years, and we expect this global trend to continue as more investors seek out ETFs for their convenience, cost efficiency and transparency. Amid this trend, we are very excited to launch an ETF that is the first of its kind in South Korea and that provides exposure to US companies leading the flourishing ETF industry worldwide. Beyond this second collaboration with Qontigo, we expect many more innovative products to come from this partnership," said Kihyun Kim, Chief Investment Officer at Kiwoom Asset Management.

"The ETF industry uses indices to construct their products, and we in turn constructed an index which reflects the growing ETF industry. We are proud to say that this fund is the first of its kind, and we look forward to further collaboration with Kiwoom Asset Management," said Rick Chau, Qontigo's Head of Asia/Pacific.

The STOXX USA ETF Industry Index is comprised of 20 companies from the US exposed to the global ETF ecosystem. FactSet Revere (RBICS) data allow a detailed breakdown of the revenue sources of the eligible companies, helping the index gain accurate exposure to the targeted theme. The index universe is defined by all the stocks included in the STOXX USA Total Market Index.

This index is the latest addition to Qontigo's wide range of STOXX thematic index solutions. Find out more.

About Qontigo

Qontigo is a leading global provider of innovative index, analytics and risk solutions that optimize investment impact. As the shift toward sustainable investing accelerates, Qontigo enables its clientsfinancial-products issuers, asset owners and asset managersto deliver sophisticated and targeted solutions at scale to meet the increasingly demanding and unique sustainability goals of investors worldwide.

Qontigo's solutions are enhanced by both our collaborative, customer-centric culture, which allows us to create tailored solutions for our clients, and our open architecture and modern technology that efficiently integrate with our clients' processes.

Part of the Deutsche Borse Group, Qontigo was created in 2019 through the combination of Axioma, DAX and STOXX. Headquartered in Eschborn, Germany, Qontigo's global presence includes offices in New York, London, Zug and Hong Kong.

www.qontigo.com

About STOXX

STOXX Ltd. is Qontigo's global index provider, currently calculating a global, comprehensive index family of about 13,000 strictly rules-based and transparent indices. Best known for the leading European equity indices EURO STOXX 50, STOXX Europe 50 and STOXX Europe 600, STOXX Ltd. maintains and calculates the STOXX Global index family which consists of total market, broad and blue-chip indices for the regions Americas, Europe, Asia/Pacific and sub-regions Latin America and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as global markets.

STOXX is the administrator of the STOXX and DAX indices under the European Benchmark Regulation and exercises control over all benchmark administration processes within Qontigo.

STOXX indices are licensed to more than 600 companies around the world as underlyings for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), futures and options, structured products and passively managed investment funds.

Legal disclaimer:

STOXX, Qontigo GmbH, Qontigo Index GmbH, Deutsche Boerse Group and their licensors, research partners or data providers do not make any warranties or representations, express or implied, with respect to the timeliness, sequence, accuracy, completeness, currentness, merchantability, quality or fitness for any particular purpose of its index data and exclude any liability in connection therewith. STOXX, Qontigo GmbH, Qontigo Index GmbH, Deutsche Boerse Group and their licensors, research partners or data providers are not providing investment advice through the publication of indices or in connection therewith. In particular, the inclusion of a company in an index, its weighting, or the exclusion of a company from an index, does not in any way reflect an opinion of STOXX, Qontigo GmbH, Qontigo Index GmbH, Deutsche Boerse Group or their licensors, research partners or data providers on the merits of that company. Financial instruments based on the STOXX indices, DAX indices or on any other indices supported by STOXX are in no way sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by STOXX, Qontigo GmbH, Qontigo Index GmbH, Deutsche Boerse Group or their licensors, research partners or data providers.

SOURCE Qontigo
BURLINGTON, Mass., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Amr Salem, the Chief Executive Officer, and Board Member of Quantela Inc.  a pioneer in digital infrastructure and outcomes business models - has been accepted into Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives.

Amr was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

Amr Salem, CEO and Board Member, Quantela

"We are honored to welcome Amr into the community," said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Technology Council. "Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world."

As an accepted member of the Council, Amr has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak professional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum. Amr will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.

Finally, Amr will benefit from exclusive access to vetted business service partners, membership-branded marketing collateral, and the high-touch support of the Forbes Councils member concierge team.

"I'm honored to be selected for the Forbes Technology Council and to have the opportunity to leverage such a prestigious platform and network of peers to push the boundaries of urban digitization, and importantly, the outcomes that technology can empower cities and communities to achieve," said Amr Salem, Chief Executive Officer, Quantela.

About FORBES COUNCILS:

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

For more information about Forbes Technology Council, visit forbestechcouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com.

About Quantela Inc.:

Quantela Inc. founded in 2015, is a technology company that offers outcomes business models through the digitization of urban infrastructure. Unlike other technology companies, we tailor our offerings (what we can digitize) and the business model (how we partner with our customer to deliver that digitization) to drive measurable impact where our customers need it most. Today, working with cities and towns; utilities, and public venues, our team of 400+ experts offer a vast array of outcomes business models through technologies like digital advertising, smart lighting, smart traffic, and digitized citizen services. We are supported by our key investors, Digital Alpha, a leading alterative asset manager focused on Digital infrastructure; and Energy Impact Partners, a global investment platform leading the transition to a sustainable energy future. The company is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts in the Unites States of America with offices across Europe, and Asia. To learn more about Quantela, visit www.quantela.com.

Media Contacts:

Gill Fleming

Vice President, Marketing, Quantela Inc.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +971 508 399 362 (based in Dubai, UAE)

SOURCE Quantela
University Research Program has provided more than $4 million in funding since its inception to advance the future of material handling

GREENE, N.Y. , April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Raymond Corporation, a Toyota Industries Company, has selected three research proposals to receive funding through The Raymond Corporation University Research Program. Through the program, professors and student researchers are encouraged to apply their engineering and technical research to discover innovative solutions for the material handling industry.

After reviewing innovative research ideas from more than 30 universities, Raymond has selected three proposals to receive financial support. The research proposals selected for funding are:

Developing AR-Guided Skill Training to Improve the Performance and Productivity of Reach Truck Drivers

Proposal Author: Professor Sol Lim, Virginia Tech

Omni-Channel Facilities Supported by Modular and Moveable Robotic Platforms

Proposal Author: Professor Jennifer Pazour, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Symbiotic Vehicle Routing

Proposal Author: Professor John Carlsson, University of Southern California

The University Research Program helps to drive the next generation of technology for the supply chain, logistics and material handling industries. The mission is to encourage professors and researchers to apply their knowledge of engineering and technical fields, drawing synergies and collaboration between collegiate research and The Raymond Corporation.

The University Research Program has funded 18 projects from 16 leading universities across the country, totaling more than $4 million in funding. The selected applicants have been evaluated on several criteria, including their possible impact on the future of the material handling industry, timeline and feasibility of budget.

"Our University Research Program is reflective of Raymond's commitment to the next generation of leaders in the material handling industry," said Michael Field, president and CEO of The Raymond Corporation. "We believe partnering with academia's brightest minds will help not only solve today's challenges but lead the way for the industry into the future with innovative new technology and automated solutions. We are excited to see the impact these individuals will make on the industry moving forward."

The University Research Program will begin accepting applications starting May 2023 for the 2024-25 funding cycle.

To learn more about the University Research Program, including information on previously funded projects and how to apply, visit www.universityresearchprogram.com.

About The Raymond Corporation

The Raymond Corporation, a Toyota Industries Company, is a leading global provider of best-in-class material handling products and intelligent intralogistics solutions. Built on principles of innovation and continuous improvement for 100 years, Raymond's integrated automation, telematics, virtual reality and advanced energy solutions provide ways to optimize operations and bring warehouse and distribution operations to a new level of performance. Raymond electric forklift trucks are engineered to achieve increased productivity and efficiency and are designed to provide ecological and economic benefits. Raymond delivers solutions to material handling and logistics markets in North America and globally. Combining operational excellence, award-winning innovation and world-class global customer support, we work together to run better, manage smarter and keep our customers always on. For more information, visit raymondcorp.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Raymond is a U.S. trademark of The Raymond Corporation.

2022 The Raymond Corporation. All rights reserved.

SOURCE The Raymond Corporation
LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ScholarRx is pleased to announce that Dr. Hossam Hamdy has joined the ScholarRx Academic Advisory Board, which is chaired by Dr. Charles Prober of Stanford University.

Prof. Hamdy is Professor of Surgery and Medical Education at Gulf Medical University and is an internationally known medical educator and active Pediatric Surgeon. A scholar, professional, and leader in higher education in the Middle East and renowned internationally, he has established, contributed to, and led several medical colleges, including Suez Canal University, Arabian Gulf University, and Gulf Medical University.

Prof. Hamdy's PhD in Medical Education is from the University of Groningen, and was on "Measurements in Medical Education: Implications for Quality". He is active in medical education research and has published more than 70 studies in education and surgery and introduced several innovations and best practices in medical education. He is a member of several editorial board journals in medical education and is a member of the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) Assessors team.

His work and contributions to medicine and medical education over more than 40 years have been acknowledged and have won him many awards.

Dr. Hamdy said, "It is a great honour to be a member of the ScholarRx Academic Advisory Board and try to support the ScholarRx mission and help in achieving its vision."

Dr. Prober said, "I am thrilled that Dr. Hamdy has joined our Academic Advisory Board that now includes:

Alissa Craft , DO, MBA, Western University of Health Sciences

, DO, MBA, Robert Duvivier , MD, PhD, University of Newcastle, Australia

, MD, PhD, University of Newcastle, Stuart Flynn , MD, TCU School of Medicine

, MD, TCU School of Medicine Adi Haramati , PhD, Georgetown University Medical Center

, PhD, Medical Center David Sklar , MD, University of New Mexico

, MD, Nicole (Nikki) Woods , PhD, University of Toronto and the University Health Network

"Dr. Hamdy is an internationally recognized medical educator with extensive academic leadership experience and a global view, further enhancing the deep and broad expertise of our Board."

ScholarRx is a mission-driven organization currently serving over 150,000 medical students and physician learners annually. ScholarRx recently launched Rx Bricks, a revolutionary componentized, multi-competency curricular platform that empowers faculty and medical schools to rapidly build and deploy high-quality education experiences, even in resource-constrained environments.

Contact: Jeff Downing, [email protected]

SOURCE ScholarRx
PALMETTO, FLA, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - SeaPort Manatee and terminal operator LOGISTEC USA Inc., a subsidiary of LOGISTEC Corporation ("LOGISTEC"), are further enhancing cargo-handling capabilities with the addition of two new ecoefficient mobile harbor cranes at the thriving Florida Gulf Coast trade gateway. The pair of Konecranes Gottwald Generation 6 cranes arrived at SeaPort Manatee on April 22 via transatlantic vessel voyage from their place of manufacture in Germany.

"As SeaPort Manatee continues to grow, with all-time-high levels of cargo activity, the arrival of these cranes, along with such infrastructure enhancements as expansion of dockside container yard facilities, heralds a new era for Manatee County's hub of global commerce," said Carlos Buqueras, SeaPort Manatee's executive director. "We join longtime terminal-operating partner LOGISTEC USA Inc. in looking forward to efficiently moving even more containerized goods and other cargoes to meet consumer and industry needs throughout Central and Southwest Florida and beyond for decades to come."

"These mobile cranes will allow us to significantly increase our cargo-handling efficiencies at SeaPort Manatee, in support of our customers, the local economy and the global supply chain," stated Rodney Corrigan, president of LOGISTEC USA Inc. "By investing in ecoefficient equipment, we are further solidifying our commitment to protect the environment, reduce our marine carbon footprint and contribute to cleaner air for future generations, supporting Green Marine initiatives across LOGISTEC's North American network." Mr. Corrigan noted that the cranes arrived as Earth Day was celebrated around the world.

The newly acquired cranes accompany two Gottwald Generation 5 units and a versatile Liebherr mobile harbor crane in the lift equipment fleet serving SeaPort Manatee. Each of the new cranes is capable of lifting loads of as many as 125 metric tons, and the two units combined offer a tandem lift capability of more than 200 metric tons  the most at any Florida seaport. LOGISTEC's terminal at SeaPort Manatee handles containers, pallets, steel and break-bulk cargos.

About LOGISTEC Corporation

LOGISTEC is based in Montreal (QC) and provides specialized services to the marine community and industrial companies in the areas of bulk, break-bulk and container cargo handling in 54 ports and 80 terminals located in North America. LOGISTEC also offers marine transportation services geared primarily to the Arctic coastal trade as well as marine agency services to shipowners and operators serving the Canadian market. Furthermore, the Company operates in the environmental industry where it provides services to industrial, municipal and other governmental customers for the renewal of underground water mains, dredging, dewatering, contaminated soils and materials management, site remediation, risk assessment, and manufacturing of fluid transportation products.

About SeaPort Manatee

Located "Where Tampa Bay Meets the Gulf of Mexico," SeaPort Manatee is a dynamic global trade hub, serving as the vibrant ships-to-shelves gateway for burgeoning Southwest and Central Florida markets. The closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the expanded Panama Canal, SeaPort Manatee offers 10 deep-draft berths, proficiently fulfilling diverse demands of container, liquid and dry bulk, break-bulk, heavylift, project and general cargo customers. The self-sustaining port generates more than $3.9 billion in annual economic impacts while providing for more than 27,000 direct and indirect jobs  all without the benefit of local property tax support.

SOURCE Logistec Corporation - Communications
BOSTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The service robotics industry has grown quickly in recent years, spurred on by advances in robotics technology and artificial intelligence (AI), and maybe set to help alleviate some of the labor issues across multiple industries.

Service Robots 2022-2032: Technologies, Players & Markets, provides ten-year market forecasts by application area and region. Source: IDTechEx (PRNewsfoto/IDTechEx)

Service robots, as covered in the new IDTechEx report "Service Robots 2022-2032: Technologies, Players & Markets", can be used to automate several industries including logistics and delivery, cleaning, agriculture, underwater exploration, food service, and social interaction. Although each application presents advantages, their stages of commercialization vary significantly with some being well-developed, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, whereas others, despite their huge potential, are still emerging and may only reach full commercialization by the end of the decade.

Will regulations be a major barrier to the applications of service robots? Is COVID a chance for them to be loosened?

Compared to traditional industrial robots that work in relatively well-controlled environments, many service robots need to deal with more complicated scenarios such as limited visibility in the deep ocean for underwater robots, difficult terrain in farmlands for agricultural robots, and human intervention for delivery robots along with many other challenges. To ensure that they can operate safely and minimize the risks, regulations, and restrictions (e.g., data privacy policy, robot size restrictions, maximum running speed, and many others) are usually enforced. These regulations limit the commercialization and scaling of some market players. An example is social robots. Social robots are associated with many data privacy policies as they could easily collect information when interacting with people. To avoid a data breach, manufacturers are required to make sure that their products are in compliance with data privacy regulations. Another example is delivery robots. Although autonomous driving has been accepted by many people, fully autonomous mobile delivery robots are still at their small-scale trial stage due to the lack of users' trust and regulations from departments of transportation in many countries. However, the recent COVID pandemic has provided an avenue to loosen some of the regulations. During the past three years, COVID has caused a surge in the demand for contactless and autonomous delivery. Given the massive demand, regulators have also started to loosen some of the restrictions, and IDTechEx believes that this trend will continue as many countries have published documents implying that more logistics robots will be legally approved.

Ease of use, low technical complexity, and low price = large adoption?

Among delivery robots and cleaning robots are two leading applications due to the following reasons:

Technical simplicity  unlike other service robots (e.g., underwater robots, kitchen robots, agricultural robots, etc.) that work in a complicated environment with many uncertainties, cleaning robots and logistics/delivery robots are primarily designed to work in a well-controlled indoor environment including empty shopping malls, warehouses, and homes. The well-controlled environments enable simpler design, ease of use, and high robustness, thereby encouraging market uptake. Low price  because of the low technical complexity, manufacturers would be able to use cheaper components and simpler technologies to reduce costs, and prices, and increase affordability. The low prices significantly lower the barrier to adoption, thereby accelerating the market uptake.

Concluding Thoughts

Despite the potential to automate several industries, service robots as a whole are still relatively early in commercialization due to regulations among other challenges. However, COVID has accelerated some service robot applications, and many authorities began to loosen restrictions, allowing some service robots to be utilized in reality. Aside from regulations, another consideration for the market uptake of service robots is their technical complexity and price point. Working in a well-controlled environment typically leads to low technical complexities and low prices. Therefore, it is not a surprise to see that logistics/delivery robots and cleaning robots have the largest markets and will continue to be in a dominant position over the next 10 years.

To address these problems, the new IDTechEx report "Service Robots 2022-2032: Technologies, Players & Markets" includes emerging technologies, and stages of development for each application, regulations around social robots and logistics robots, and financial impacts on the future trends. For each type of robot, a deep dive is taken into each application area along with company examples. A 10-year granular market forecast is given for each category of robot, including social robots, delivery and logistics, disinfection, and cleaning, agricultural, kitchen and restaurants, and underwater robots.

About IDTechEx

IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research, Subscription and Consultancy products, helping you profit from emerging technologies. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.IDTechEx.com.

Images download:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8vgrha4b2emqtxg/AACMPBCiQ2gxSo5CxTVOC8kPa?dl=0

Media Contact:

Natalie Moreton

Digital Marketing Manager

[email protected]

+44(0)1223 812300

Social Media Links:

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/idtechex/

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SOURCE IDTechEx
AMMAN, Jordan, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Siniora Food Industries held recently its regular general assembly meeting, chaired by Siniora Chairman Tarek Omar Aggad, during which the distribution of cash dividends for the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2021, was approved for shareholders registered on April 19, 2022 at a rate of 17% of the paid-up capital of the company, amounting to JD 4.76 million (USD 6.7 million).

The audited financial statements for 2021 showed extraordinary growth and unprecedented achievements at all levels, with the company achieving net profits of JD 8.03 million (USD 11.3 million). Overall revenues also increased by 53% compared to the previous year, amounting to JD108.5 million (USD 153 million) in 2021, and total assets amounted to JD 100.7 million (USD 142 million) by December 31, 2021, a 12% increase compared to the previous year. Additionally, shares rose by 12% to reach JD 0.28.

Siniora Chairman Tarek Omar Aggad said that 2021 was a year full of challenges as a result of coronavirus pandemic as well as the overall economic conditions prevailing in the region and the world. However, the Siniora Group was successful in applying the vision of the Board of Directors with the acquisition of 77% of Trakya Et, the owner of the trademark Polonez brand, with an investment of 203.9 million Turkish liras, equivalent to JD 20.2 million, a move that is in line with the plans of the company's expansion strategy.

Aggad went on to add that in line with the vision to diversifying the Siniora product portfolio to meet the tastes and of consumers, the Badeel brand was launched, which was created and developed as the first of its kind soy-free and gluten-free products, and that includes four types of burgers, minced meat, sausages and nuggets. This latest product was launched in both the Jordanian and UAE markets and was produced and developed in cooperation with Siniora team members in Jordan, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates.

Aggad also spoke of the pioneering corporate social responsibility role played by the Siniora Group during the coronavirus pandemic, during which the company remained active in the communities in which it operates by supporting and assisting social, charitable and humanitarian institutions and national funds, with an investment in 2021 that totaled JD 270,000 (USD 380,000).

Speaking about Siniora's 2021 results, company CEO Mr. Majdi Al-Sharif said that sales increased in all of the company's branches, with the company witnessing a growth in chilled and frozen sales in the Jordanian market by 16%, as well as in the Palestinian market by 27%, followed by the growth of frozen meat sales, which were immensely popular among Palestinian consumers for the second consecutive year. As for the company's sales in the Gulf region, these increased by 8% compared to the previous year, despite the challenges the company faced in the Saudi market due to the restrictions imposed on registration, as well as the issuance of import permits to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the Food and Drug Authority. However, the company still achieved growth in this market.

Al-Sharif went on to add that the company will continue to work to increase its market share at the local and regional levels in order to continue achieving distinguished results, saying, "We look forward to 2022 with optimism, and expect it will be an exceptional year for the company. This year, we will promote sales of frozen products in all markets to meet the tastes of consumers, guaranteeing our leading position as a top industrial company in the region within the food industry sector. We will also advance our sales in the Turkish market, which will further advance the company's position, revenues and profits in the near future." Al-Sharif went on to add that efforts will be exerted to raise production capacity and improve and develop production lines in the Trakya (Polonez) company in Istanbul. Al-Sharif concluded his speech by thanking the company's employees at all levels for their continuous efforts to achieve the company's goals, as well as the Board of Directors for their continuous support and backing of the executive management team.

Siniora is a public shareholding company listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE: SNRA). It is a leader in the meat industry in the region, which produces through four factories equipped with the best international technologies in Palestine, Jordan, UAE and Turkey. For more information: www.siniorafood.com

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/492392/Siniora_Food_Industries_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Siniora Food Industries
WINTER HAVEN, Fla., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SouthState Bank has hired nine bankers to continue to expand its Commercial, Business and Private Banking teams across Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

SouthState has added nine bankers this quarter to support the company's continued growth across the Southeast.

"According to most recent Census data, Florida had the largest net migration gains in the country, with steady in-migration expected to continue in years to come. We continue to see significant demand for both business and Commercial banking in Florida, and we've responded by adding four bankers in the Sunshine State in this quarter alone," said Greg Lapointe, chief banking officer. "Additionally, SouthState continues to add revenue producers and top-tier talent across Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, as we support our continued growth plans."

Bankers joining the SouthState team this quarter include:

Dale Ingle  commercial real estate banker, Tampa, Florida - joins SouthState from Truist and predecessor BB&T. He has more than 22 years of experience in CRE finance in both the Atlanta, Georgia and the Tampa, Florida markets, and his CRE financing experience includes roles in commercial banking, as well as private commercial development.

Sean Murphy  commercial banker, Central Florida  has more than 25 years of experience serving respected financial and advisory brands in various leadership capacities, including Truist, Deloitte, Citigroup and Amex. Murphy served almost a decade in the Florida Army National Guard.

Lisa Peterson  commercial banker, Daytona, Florida  brings more than 30 years of banking experience to her role at SouthState, including experience in commercial lending, private wealth, business banking and consumer banking with Ameris Bank, Fifth Third Private Bank, PNC and TD Bank.

Doug Weiner  commercial real estate team leader, Central Florida  joins SouthState from Truist, where he was the Central Florida CRE manager. He has more than 25 years of experience in commercial credit and commercial real estate finance that he brings to the role, including experience gained at Seacoast Bank, CNL Bank and Wells Fargo.

Mark Smith  director of private banking, Birmingham, Alabama  comes to the role from Hancock Whitney, where he was the director of wealth management. With more than three decades of banking and wealth management expertise, including roles at BBVA USA and Regions, Smith will be responsible for running the private bank in Alabama at SouthState.

Quinn Baldree  city executive, Northern Beaufort County, South Carolina  brings more than 16 years of experience in banking to the role of city executive. For the past four years, he was a regional executive and commercial banker with Truist He also previously held commercial banking roles with TD Bank.

Meg Beveridge  commercial real estate banker, Atlanta, Georgia  has more than 20 years of banking and capital markets experience as a real estate lender and as the director of finance for a large industrial real estate developer based in Atlanta. Prior to her banking career, she spent several years in public accounting.

Jim Yantis  commercial banker, Gainesville, Georgia  brings more than 17 years of experience in business and consumer banking, as well as regional leadership, to his role at SouthState. He was most recently a business banking relationship manager with City National Bank in Atlanta, Georgia, and he also held regional manager and business banking roles with Fidelity Bank and Synovus, respectively.

Andy Krouse  business banker, Rock Hill, South Carolina  joins SouthState from Wells Fargo, where he served in business banking relationship management roles for four years. He possesses extensive sales and leadership development skills from roles with Wells Fargo.

SouthState Corporation (NASDAQ: SSB) is a financial services company headquartered in Winter Haven, Florida. SouthState Bank, N.A., the company's nationally chartered bank subsidiary, provides consumer, commercial, mortgage and wealth management solutions to more than one million customers throughout Florida, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. The bank also serves clients coast to coast through its correspondent banking division. Additional information is available at SouthStateBank.com.

SOURCE South State Bank N.A.
"We are honored to receive the support of the Richard King Mellon Foundation to further our mission of improving digital literacy skills for our children. This grant will allow us to continue our growth and serve more K-8 children in our community." Said Viv Penninti, Founder and Chairman of STEM Coding Lab.

Casey Mindlin, Executive Director of STEM Coding Lab adds: "We are deeply grateful for the support of the Richard King Mellon Foundation. In the past year, STEM Coding Lab experienced rapid growth that proved the widespread demand in the region for our organization's services. STEM Coding Lab currently serves 1,300 students annually, and with this grant, we expect to broaden program offerings to support Pittsburgh neighborhoods including Homewood, the Hill District, Braddock, and the West End."

"Computer-science learning for children from lower-income households is an important tool in our overarching Economic Mobility program," said Sam Reiman, director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation. "Our Economic Mobility program seeks to ensure that all children in our region have access to prosperity  and digital literacy is key to that work."

About STEM Coding Lab

STEM Coding Lab is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2016, with the mission of improving digital literacy skills among the less fortunate K-8 children in our community. STEM Coding Lab currently provides after-school classes in basic programming constructs, Scratch programming, web design, and other introductory courses using both online and in-person delivery formats. STEM Coding Lab currently reaches 1300+ children at nearly 20 different organizations, including several Pittsburgh Public Schools. For more information please visit our website www.stemcodinglab.org, or email [email protected].

About the Richard King Mellon Foundation :

Founded in 1947, the Richard King Mellon Foundation is the largest foundation in Southwestern Pennsylvania, and one of the 50 largest in the world. The Foundation's 2021 year-end net assets were $3.4 billion, and its Trustees in 2021 disbursed $152 million in grants and Program-Related Investments. The Foundation focuses its funding on six primary program areas, delineated in its 2021-2030 Strategic Plan.

Contact: Casey Mindlin, STEM Coding Lab, 412-426-3523; [email protected]

SOURCE STEM Coding Lab
On April 25th, representatives from Suburban Propane, Historic Tours of America and Father Joe's Villages held a donation presentation event at Shelter Island in the Port of San Diego. This donation is made in support of Father Joe's Villages' mission to prevent and end homelessness while encouraging children to get outside, play, and maintain a healthy lifestyle, all supported by a cleaner future powered by propane. Historic Tours of America utilizes clean-burning propane for 90% of its fleet, including its San Diego operation and throughout the country.

"We are so honored to be here today in beautiful San Diego alongside our valued partners at Historic Tours of America to make this donation and spread the word about propane's clean-burning capabilities," said Nandini Sankara, Spokesperson, Suburban Propane. "We hope this new playground will bring joy to the children and families served by Father Joe's Village for years to come."

"I thank Suburban Propane and Old Town Trolley for their compassionate support of our Therapeutic Childcare program, which provides critical tools for families and children to break the cycle of homelessness," said Deacon Jim Vargas, President and CEO of Father Joe's Villages. "Our longtime partnership with Old Town Trolley has provided countless special experiences for children experiencing homelessness over the years, bringing joy to those who need it most."

"At Old Town Trolley Tours of San Diego, our business is sharing the history of this amazing city with guests from all over the world. As a nationwide company, it is important that our vehicles run on clean burning propane to protect and preserve our environment and surroundings," said David Thornton, General Manager, Old Town Trolley and Seal Tours of San Diego. "In partnering with Father Joe's Villages, we invest in the future of the children of San Diego. These kids are the future leaders, teachers, doctors, and hopefully tour conductors of tomorrow and it is important for us to support their dreams."

The collaboration is part of Suburban Propane's SuburbanCares and Go Green with Suburban Propane corporate initiatives. SuburbanCares is dedicated to supporting community efforts across the company's footprint in the United States. Throughout the pandemic, SuburbanCares undertook initiatives to help children in numerous underserved communities; including Albany, NY; Boise, ID; Detroit, MI; Philadelphia, PA; Santa Fe, NM; Santa Rosa, CA; Columbia and Charleston, SC; Detroit, MI; and New Brunswick, NJ. Go Green with Suburban Propane promotes the clean burning, versatile nature of propane and renewable propane as a bridge to a green energy future and developing the next generation of renewable energy.

About Suburban Propane

Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. is a publicly traded master limited partnership listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SPH. Headquartered in Whippany, New Jersey, Suburban has been in the customer service business since 1928 and is a nationwide distributor of propane, renewable propane, fuel oil and related products and services, as well as a marketer of natural gas and electricity and an investor in low carbon fuel alternatives. The Partnership serves the energy needs of approximately 1 million residential, commercial, governmental, industrial and agricultural customers through approximately 700 locations across 41 states. The Partnership is supported by three core pillars: (1) Suburban Commitment  showcasing the Partnership's 90+ year legacy, and ongoing commitment to the highest standards for dependability, flexibility, and reliability that underscores the Partnership's commitment to excellence in customer service; (2) SuburbanCares  highlighting the Partnership's continued dedication to giving back to local communities across the Partnership's national footprint and (3) Go Green with Suburban Propane - promoting the clean burning and versatile nature of propane and renewable propane as a bridge to a green energy future and developing the next generation of renewable energy.

For additional information on Suburban Propane, please visit www.suburbanpropane.com .

About Historic Tours of America

Old Town Trolley Tours of San Diego has been entertaining visitors to America's Finest City since 1989. The orange and green trolleys cover Old Town, the Embarcadero, Downtown, Seaport Village, Barrio Logan Coronado, Balboa Park and Little Italy on the 25 mile, fully narrated tour. Old Town Trolley Tours is committed to protecting the environment by converting 90% of its fleet to run on propane instead of gasoline. Old Town Trolley Tours has been recognized by the Propane Industry with the Propane Exceptional Energy Fleet Award for our use of propane in trolleys. In addition to San Diego, Old Town Trolley Tours operate in Boston, Washington, Key West, Nashville, St. Augustine and Savannah. Old Town Trolley Tours is part of the Historic Tours of America Family of tours, attractions and themed retail marketplaces.

Old Town Trolley Tours of San Diego has partnered with Father Joes for nearly 20 years, hosting children from Father Joe's Village for an annual holiday party. Over 150 children, with one or both parents, live at the downtown San Diego shelter. CAST members and business partners donate over 150 gifts to the children at the shelter. The children enjoy pizza, sodas, pinatas and holiday fun. The highlight of the day is a personal gift to each child by Santa & Mrs. Claus. On the way home, the Trolley and its conductor take the children on an evening tour of holiday lights around the city.

About Father Joe's Village

As San Diego's largest homeless services provider, Father Joe's Villages ensures that each person can rediscover hope and leave homelessness behind. To address the complex needs of people who are homeless, the organization provides housing for more than 2,500 people each night, along with health care, substance use disorder treatment, job training, therapeutic childcare and more. For more information, please visit: https://.my.neighbor.org/.

SOURCE Suburban Propane Partners, L.P.
79% of European Advertisers Reduced Ad Impressions on Pirate Sites Following Communication by TAG's Project Brand Integrity

WASHINGTON and LONDON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), an advertising industry self-regulatory organisation aimed at fighting criminal activity and strengthening brand safety in the digital advertising supply chain, today released the first annual report for TAG's Project Brand Integrity (PBI), an initiative established to protect advertisers from negative brand association by alerting them when their ads run on pirate sites in Europe.

Trustworthy Accountability Group

The report found that direct outreach by PBI prompted a large majority of advertisers (79%) to reduce their ad impressions on pirate sites, with nearly half of that group (43%) ending nearly all ads on such sites. Among the brands that reduced their ads, there was an overall reduction of advertising on pirate sites by nearly two-thirds (66%).

"Sometimes the most powerful tool for change is actionable information," said Nick Stringer, VP for Global Engagement & Operations at TAG. "In today's complicated supply chain, advertisers and their agencies can be unaware that some of their inventory is ending up on pirate sites, thus driving illegal activity and enriching criminals. This report found that the vast majority of advertisers that TAG contacted took action to protect their ad budgets and their brands when they were alerted to such misplacements."

TAG established PBI in February 2019 as a partnership with UK-based anti-piracy and brand safety specialist White Bullet . The initiative seeks to protect brands from unwanted association with digital content theft by alerting advertisers or their agencies to ads running on high-risk websites and those that infringe intellectual property (IP) in Europe.

Through the partnership, White Bullet monitors high-risk websites that infringe on iIP in the European digital ad markets and provides information to TAG about display ads on those sites. TAG then notifies advertisers (or their agencies) privately and confidentially when a substantial number of their ads run on these sites and provides the advertiser with actionable information and tools to reduce its risk, including participation in TAG's Brand Safety Certified programme.

"Ad-supported piracy is an ongoing challenge for the digital advertising industry, and it's critical that we continue to work proactively and collaboratively to fight it," said Peter Szyszko, Founder and CEO, White Bullet. "This first annual report from Project Brand Integrity shows the progress we've made and the areas where we must focus our efforts as we seek to protect brands from unwanted association with digital content theft. Alerting advertisers to ads running on high-risk websites has had a huge impact already, but the fight is not yet over, so we look forward to continuing to work with TAG to increase the efficacy of PBI."

In 2022, TAG plans to extend PBI's efforts and further increase its effectiveness through new steps including a robust process to engage with advertisers that have  to date  been unresponsive to outreach. As part of that process, repeat offenders will be mentioned in future reports as well as be referred to the European Commission for recommendation to be included in its Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List .

Allie Wootton, Anti-Piracy Group Lead, Advertising & Payment Strategy, Sky said, "As both a content creator and an advertiser, Sky fully supports Project Brand Integrity and the broader work by both TAG and White Bullet to tackle the issue of ad-funded piracy. This is a major step forward in the bid to stop the flow of advertising revenue to criminal organisations looking to monetise stolen content, and it is something that the entire advertising industry can get behind."

The PBI annual report also outlined issues and trends in the fight against ad-supported piracy. In particular, the report found that piracy domains are rapidly changing, with 73% of all domains monitored since the programme's launch now redirecting traffic, using mirrors or proxy websites, or becoming inactive. It also found a significant shift toward programmatic advertising on pirate websites, as 64% of the advertisers appearing on such sites last year were delivered via programmatic channels vs. 24% via affiliate marketing channels and 11% via sponsored content.

"We commend TAG for their conception and execution of the Project Brand Integrity programme," said David Green, VP Public Policy, NBCUniversal. "By alerting brands that are inadvertently placing their ads adjacent to stolen content, TAG provides a vital brand safety service to advertisers and agencies. And by diminishing the profitability of ad-supported piracy, the programme benefits the creative community and the millions of jobs it sustains."

PBI builds upon TAG's Brand Safety Certified programme, which includes robust anti-piracy requirements for companies. As of 19 April 2022, 128 companies have obtained TAG;s Brand Safety Certified Seal, with 47% of them (57) applying the standard to their global operations.

PBI's direct engagement with advertisers and their agencies also includes other industry and public policy efforts, such as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Online Advertising and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) facilitated by the European Commission in 2018.

Additional information about TAG's Brand Safety Certified Programme and how companies from across the advertising ecosystem can work to reduce ad-supported piracy and theft be found at https://www.tagtoday.net/brand-safety . The annual report for Project Brand Integrity can be found at https://www.tagtoday.net/insights/pbireport2022 .

About the Trustworthy Accountability Group

The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) is the global certification programme designed to fight against criminal activity and protect brand safety in the digital advertising industry. TAG advances its mission of eliminating fraudulent traffic, facilitating the sharing of threat intelligence, and promoting brand safety by connecting industry leaders, analyzing threats, and sharing best practices worldwide. The 700+ member TAG community includes the world's largest and most influential brands, agencies, publishers, and ad tech providers. For more information on TAG, please visit tagtoday.net .

Contact:

Andrew Weinstein

202-667-4967

[email protected]

SOURCE Trustworthy Accountability Group
The Miami-based tech startup partners with Microsoft's For Startups to host their new platform in a carbon-neutral environment.

MIAMI, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Taptok has announced that it is moving its cloud applications onto Microsoft's environmentally friendly Azure service through the Microsoft for Startups program. The move is an important milestone in achieving Taptok's goal of a 100% carbon-neutral infrastructure.

Taptok runs now in a 100% carbon-neutral infrastructure

Taptok allows professionals, businesses and organizations of all sizes to engage with their audiences using a unified solution. The company has allowed customers to transform the way they connect with their physical and digital audiences using a modern and sustainable approach  with Taptok, businesses are moving away from traditional paper business cards, which are notoriously wasteful, and establish a more sustainable way to network and generate leads.

Entrepreneur and Taptok CEO Jaime Manteiga sees the Microsoft partnership as a critical step in building a totally carbon-neutral, scalable and secure platform infrastructure.

"We're consciously minimizing paper waste with our products," Manteiga says, "but to continue with our eco-responsible mission, it was critical to find a truly sustainable cloud computing environment. Microsoft for Startups gave us that opportunity."

Sustainability from a trusted source

Microsoft's environmental milestones for Azure go beyond operational compliance and renewable energy, with locally based goals to eliminate waste, neutralize deforestation from new construction, and even create a net positive impact on water supply.

Partners also value the emphasis on security that is part of Microsoft Azure's design. Data privacy is paramount, and advanced threat detection systems perform trillions of analyses daily.

Scalability without compromise

Some big names like Nokia, Kraft Heinz, and Woolworths have recently signed onto Azure, joining over 200,000 other public and private organizations.

But over half of Azure's partners are small businesses. Many, like Taptok, signed on through the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub program, which provides a four-tiered (Ideate, Develop, Grow, Scale) credit system that gives businesses room to grow from the earliest idea and prototyping phase to product maturity.

This scalable approach allows organizations of all sizes to institute sustainable practices to meet their business goals without sacrificing one for the other.

In the past, sustainability was largely a luxury that would be part of a young company's long-term plans. But with consumers demanding more eco-friendly choices and businesses acting more urgently on the call, it is rapidly becoming a necessity.

There's a perpetual competition for emphasis and investment that typically forces organizations to compromise between their environmental, security, and growth goals. But Microsoft Azure's commitment to all three is part of what attracted Taptok.

"They had the right balance for us," Manteiga says, "being sustainable, trustable, and scalable."

Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is not only providing Taptok with a reliable platform in Azure that will scale with their growing operation, but it's also helping them deliver on their promise to maintain a carbon-neutral platform for its own customers.

Learn more about Taptok at https://tt.social

Media Contact:

Rocco Arizzi

[email protected]

+1 (888) 337-0949

SOURCE TAPTOK INC
MAX Link is essential to helping property managers comply with ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) A17.1 elevator code in North America. ASME 17.1 provides requirements applying to the design, construction, installation, operation, testing, inspection, maintenance, alteration and repair of elevators, escalators and moving walks. While ASME A17.1 elevator code requires emergency phone service accessibility, updated code dictates that new elevators (2019 or later) include phone, text and video emergency communication services.

"Our MAX platform has been a game-changer for the industry, and we are happy to provide our customers with the most advanced digital emergency communications systems available. Implementing this technology is not about simply complying with code changes or saving money, it's about property managers doing what's right for their tenants and guests by providing the safest environment possible within their buildings," said Kevin Lavallee, CEO BU North America and Group COO Field.

MAX Link connectivity works with existing American Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant emergency phone systems with video observation a key element of the upgraded code. In this scenario, a wide-angle camera mounted in the cab ceiling is only activated when the emergency call button is engaged by a passenger. It then provides an encrypted video connection for privacy. The camera allows emergency personnel to visually verify the situation inside an elevator car, helping prevent false dispatching. Video can also be accessed locally from a communications panel and accessed remotely via the provided cloud services using a standard web browser when emergency services are in use. Meanwhile, battery backup provides four hours of system power in an unexpected power loss.

"By shifting traditional phone service to MAX Link, property managers can enjoy peace of mind from receiving specialized elevator emergency phone service and system monitoring from one company. This not only improves building management efficiency, but also streamlines what was a previously inefficient and expensive process," added Jon Clarine, Head of Digital Services for TK Elevator.

MAX Link is an extension of TK Elevator's cloud-based monitoring and predictive maintenance platform, MAX. Since its introduction in 2015, TK Elevator has installed MAX on more than 86,000 elevators in the U.S., collecting data on components, systems and performance, helping building owners and managers achieve higher elevator and escalator uptime as well as longer product lifespans.

In addition to its predictive maintenance capabilities, MAX also helps property managers monitor elevator traffic to improve building efficiency. In October 2021, TK Elevator North America released the industry's most comprehensive urban mobility report  the Index Outlook 2022 Report. Focusing exclusively on North America, it features exclusive insight from top experts in the commercial real estate industry, disclosing key trends as well as the digital-first technologies that will allow office buildings to thrive in a post-pandemic world.

To learn more about TK Elevator, go to https://www.tkelevator.com/us-en/.

PRESS IMAGES

Available here (credit: TK Elevator)

PRESS CONTACT

Dennis Van Milligen

Manager, Public Relations

TK Elevator North America

P +1 312 525 3190

[email protected]

www.tkelevator.com/us-en/

COMPANY BLOG

Insights

ABOUT US

TK Elevator (formerly: thyssenkrupp Elevator)

With customers in over 100 countries served by more than 50,000 employees, TK Elevator achieved sales of around 8 billion in the fiscal year 2020/2021. Over 1,000 locations around the world provide an extensive network that guarantees closeness to customers. Over the past decades, TK Elevator has established itself as one of the world's leading elevator companies and became independent since its separation from thyssenkrupp AG in August 2020. The company's most important business line is the service business represented by over 24,000 service technicians. The product portfolio covers commodity elevators for residential and commercial buildings to cutting-edge, highly customized solutions for state-of-the-art skyscrapers. In addition, it also consists of escalators and moving walks, passenger boarding bridges, stair and platform lifts. Integrated cloud-based service solutions, such as the MAX platform, are gaining in importance. With these digital offerings, there are no limits to urban mobility anymore. TKE  move beyond.

SOURCE TK Elevator
Caleb Carr Calls on U.S. Companies and Defense Industries to Supply Ukraine with More Medical, Protective, and Rescue Equipment

BROOMFIELD, Colo. and WASHINGTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vita Inclinata today announced CEO Caleb Carr's successful mission to hand-deliver his company's donated Vita Rescue System (VRS) for helicopter rescue load stabilization into the active Ukrainian war zone. On April 13, 2022with support of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Emergency Servicea Russian Mil Mi-8 twin-turbine helicopter was provided to conduct VRS medevac training in Uzhgorod. As a result, Ukrainian Special Aviation Unit crews can now airlift wounded civilians and warfighters using a helicopter hoist in two minutes versus the typical 20-minute process, a capability the Ukrainians have not been trained in before. Due to this engagement, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine has formally requested 30 VRS systems to extend this medevac capability to their fire and rescue units on the eastern front.

Caleb Carr's Heroic Journey Into Ukraine War Zone and Rescue System Training Vita Rescue System Training in Mi-8 Helicopter, with Ukrainian Special Aviation Unit Over Active War Zone

Media Page: Additional pictures, videos, quotes, and other assets at https://vitatech.co/ukraine-media-assets/

Horrified at watching daily coverage of the Ukrainian suffering and knowing that medical evacuation capabilities are not currently deployed in Ukraine, Carr realized his company's new technology would give the war effort much-needed, rapid extraction capabilities for traumatic injuries.

Accompanied by co-worker Scott Slack, Carr loaded the VRS system into an auto and proceeded from Poland to cross the border into Ukraine, then to Uzhgorod from Lviv. They were stopped and questioned along the route by armed guards at many checkpoints. Training the Ukrainian medevac crews took place approximately 20 miles from active bombing in eastern Ukraine andin Russian contested airspace. In just under four hours, Caleb introduced American-made, cutting-edge rescue technology and trained crews to conduct high-risk evacuation missions within a war zone.

Vita's mission is to provide technology that saves lives. Carr put that mission to the test, not only to aid Ukraine but also in the hope of inspiring other company leaders and the U.S. defense industry to take action and provide Ukraine with more medical, protective, and rescue equipment.

"Every defense organization, company, and individual has a responsibility to support people in need. If we can insert technology in Ukraine to help win this fight and save civilians' lives, let's do it! There's a lot of bureaucracy involved, but you need to seize the opportunity and run with it. That's exactly what Vita is doing and how we executed our mission to Ukraine," said Carr.

About Vita Inclinata

A friend's death during a rescue operationwith a helicopter close but unable to stabilize due to weather and terrainwas the genesis of Vita Inclinata. Founded in 2015 as a way to solve a real problem, Vita today controls chaotic swinging and spin and adds safety and precision for rotor-wing and fixed-wing aircraft and cranes. With the mission of "Bring them home, every time," Vita's technology changes the narrative while saving lives, time, and money across industries, including search and rescue, military, firefighting, public safety, construction, wind energy, and oil and gas. The company is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, with offices in Washington, DC, and Huntsville, Alabama. For more information, please visit www.vitatech.co .

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact:

Betsey Rogers

BridgeView Marketing

603-821-0809

[email protected]

Michael Emerton

BridgeView Marketing

603-766-3688

[email protected]

SOURCE Vita Inclinata
DUBLIN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Breathable Films Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global breathable films market reached a value of US$ 3.33 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach a value of US$ 5.34 Billion by 2027 exhibiting a CAGR of 7.50% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.

Breathable films are manufactured using thermoplastic resins via extrusion technology. They are waterproof, environment-friendly, and permeable to gases and water vapors on account of the presence of open cells throughout their mass. They are considered a cost-effective solution for manufacturing personal hygiene products, such as disposable sanitary napkins, baby diapers, and adult incontinences pads, due to their moisture locking properties. In addition, they are utilized in mattresses, protective clothing, isolation clothing, disposable supplies, and surgical gowns, which are employed in the healthcare sector. They can also be laminated with non-woven fabric composites using adhesive or a point-bonding calendar to produce soft textiles.



The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has surged the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) and other essential medical supplies across the globe. This represents one of the key factors propelling the market growth. Besides this, the increasing demand for feminine hygiene products on account of schemes and programs undertaken by governments of numerous countries to improve the distribution network of sanitary napkins is contributing to the market growth.

Moreover, regular diapers lead to a massive amount of untreated waste and land pollution. This, coupled with the rising environmental concerns and the growing awareness among parents about the proper hygiene of babies, is augmenting the application of breathable films in biodegradable diapers. Furthermore, a rise in the geriatric population with high obesity rates is resulting in the increasing incidences of adult incontinence, which, in turn, is contributing to the market growth. Apart from this, the growing investments in real estate projects are anticipated to positively influence the adoption of breathable films in the construction industry.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being American Polyfilm Inc., Arkema S.A., Berry Global Inc, Covestro AG, Daika Kogyo Co. Ltd., Fatra as (Agrofert), Mitsui Chemicals Inc., Nitto Denko Corporation, RKW Group, Skymark Packaging International Inc., Sunplac Corporation and Trioworld Industrier AB.



Key Questions Answered in this Report:

How has the global breathable films market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global breathable films market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the material?

What is the breakup of the market based on the technology?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end use?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global breathable films market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Breathable Films Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Material

6.1 Polyethylene

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Polypropylene

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Others

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Technology

7.1 Monolithic

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Micro-Porous

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by End Use

8.1 Hygiene and Personal Care

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Medical

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Packaging

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Construction

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Textile

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast

8.6 Others

8.6.1 Market Trends

8.6.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Region



10 SWOT Analysis



11 Value Chain Analysis



12 Porters Five Forces Analysis



13 Price Analysis



14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Market Structure

14.2 Key Players

14.3 Profiles of Key Players

14.3.1 American Polyfilm Inc.

14.3.1.1 Company Overview

14.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.2 Arkema S.A.

14.3.2.1 Company Overview

14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.2.3 Financials

14.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.3 Berry Global Inc

14.3.3.1 Company Overview

14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3.3 Financials

14.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.4 Covestro AG

14.3.4.1 Company Overview

14.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.4.3 Financials

14.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.5 Daika Kogyo Co. Ltd.

14.3.5.1 Company Overview

14.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.6 Fatra as (Agrofert)

14.3.6.1 Company Overview

14.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7 Mitsui Chemicals Inc.

14.3.7.1 Company Overview

14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7.3 Financials

14.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.8 Nitto Denko Corporation

14.3.8.1 Company Overview

14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.8.3 Financials

14.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.9 RKW Group

14.3.9.1 Company Overview

14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10 Skymark Packaging International Inc.

14.3.10.1 Company Overview

14.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.11 Sunplac Corporation

14.3.11.1 Company Overview

14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.12 Trioworld Industrier AB

14.3.12.1 Company Overview

14.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/z9k08i

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Since his first Prop Firm Challenge, Yuuya has been funded 11 times, making him statistically one of the best and a master in his craft. This pushed Yuuya to create The 90 Day Funded Trader Fast Track Program. Applications for the 90 Day Funded Trader Fast Track Program have just re-opened for 2022. This program helps clients:

Pass a Prop Firm Challenge Get Funded by a Prop Firm Make at least 10k in profit or members can copy trade Yuuya for FREE until they do

Included in the program is The Prop Trader Transformation  a four part seminar focused on Yuuya's trading strategy known as volume reaction trading, which differs from the standard. Most traders try to predict the market, whereas Yuuya reacts to the market. Most traders fail because predicting the markets is near impossible, but Yuuya's reaction strategy proves successful.

Next are the Live Group Sessions where each week members can trade live with Yuuya in the morning. This is a small group of serious traders who can access the same trades as Kato, ask questions, and see how he analyzes the market in real time. They will also access the Discord community; Funded Trader Mastermind. Here they can engage and communicate with other funded traders.

Yuuya sends out daily videos showing what he is observing that day in the market before trading starts.

As a member, they receive several perks including a free annual membership to Blue Edge Financial and the Consistent Trader Checklist. This checklist teaches traders to make consistent trades. Another included perk is Yuuya's 1 Trade per Day Formula. The Funded Trader Fastrack Program makes it simple by starting with one great trade per day. There's even more bonus material and the Mastermind is currently open for enrollment. Kato currently takes on 5 traders at a time. Learn more about the program here .

SOURCE Funded Trader Fast Track
"'Why didn't we think of this sooner?'," says Dagny Morrow, Senior Marketing Manager of 4505 Meats. "That's the question we were asking ourselves when this collaboration first began - the pairing of Tajin and our chicharrones just makes sense. Since its inception, 4505 Meats has drawn significant inspiration from Mexican food culture and we're overjoyed to now partner with a legendary company like Tajin to bring our customers the ultimate chicharron experience."

The new 4505 Meats Chile Limon chicharrones make the perfect low-carb replacement for chips, toppers for tacos and salads, or to pair with your favorite cerveza or michelada recipe. Both 4505 Meats and Tajin promote creativity when it comes to snack time and encourage consumers to combine the new Chile Limon chicharrones with other, fun ingredients like exotic fruits, creamy dips and more.

"We're thrilled to partner with 4505 Meats to release Chile Limon Chicharrones," says Haydee Fernandez Macias, Director of Strategic Alliances of Tajin. "Chicharrones are an iconic element of Mexican cuisine and we're happy to bring Tajin's unique flavor to such a premium snack product for all to enjoy."

The new Chile Limon flavor joins 4505 Meats' other premium chicharron favorites, including Classic Chili & Salt, Jalapeno Cheddar, Smokehouse BBQ, En Fuego, and Sea Salt - all of which are Keto friendly, Paleo friendly and naturally gluten-free.

4505 Meats Chile Limon chicharrones are now available at select Costco warehouses nationwide and on Amazon starting in May. To learn more, visit 4505meats.com.

About 4505 Meats

4505 Meats is the #1 premium chicharrones (pork rinds) brand using chef inspired techniques and the highest quality, responsibly raised pork from small family farms to create an elevated and authentic chicharron experience unlike any other. Founded in 2009, 4505 (pronounced "Four-Five-Oh-Five") was born when chef, butcher and cookbook author, Ryan Farr, began frying up chicharrones in his home kitchen and selling them at farmer markets and bars. Since then, 4505 Meats has elevated the Pork Rind/Chicharron category by using better, all-natural pork and spices with no hormones or antibiotics to make the highest quality chicharrones on the market. 4505 Meats is a whole-animal meat company sourcing pork that is humanely-raised by small family ranchers committed to responsible farming practices and sustainability. All 4505 products are Keto friendly, Paleo friendly, and naturally gluten-free. For more information visit 4505meats.com and follow on Instagram and Twitter.

About Tajin

Industrias Tajin is a Mexican-owned company and market leader in both Mexico and the United States in the chili powder category, in addition to being one of the most important brands in the production and commercialization of products derived from chili worldwide. Today, it has a presence in more than 65 countries around the world. Tajin was founded in 1985, surprising consumers with the perfect blend of mild chili peppers, lime, and sea salt. In 1993, Tajin made its first export to the United States and Tajin International Corporation was established in Houston, TX, from where all commercial activity of the brand in the U.S. is managed. The brand arrived in Central American and European markets in 2006. For more information visit www.tajin.com.

Media Contact:

JESSUP PR

[email protected]

SOURCE 4505 Meats
NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

Class Period: April 30, 2021 to August 31, 2021

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: June 6, 2022

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in ABBV:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/abbvie-inc-loss-submission-form-2?id=26304&from=4

AbbVie Inc. NEWS - ABBV NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that AbbVie Inc. made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) safety concerns about Pfizer Inc.'s drug Xeljanz extended to Abbvie's drug Rinvoq and to other Janus kinase enzyme inhibitor drugs; (2) as a result, it was likely that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 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 Company's business, operations, and prospects lacked a reasonable basis.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in AbbVie you have until June 6, 2022 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased AbbVie securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the ABBV lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/abbvie-inc-loss-submission-form-2?id=26304&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

Empire State Building

350 Fifth Avenue

59th Floor

New York, NY 10118

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Acceptance Insurance (OTCQX: FACO), a leading provider of personal auto insurance and related products, has been named to Forbes' 2022 list of America's Best Employers for Diversity. Acceptance employs over 1,300 team members and serves more than 300 neighborhoods across 13 states.

Over 60,000 U.S. employees were surveyed at companies with a minimum of 1,000 employees to identify companies most dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Based on the results of the survey, Acceptance Insurance ranks among the top 500 U.S. employers based on the following diversity criteria:

Direct recommendations: Employees were asked to give their opinions on a series of statements regarding Age, Gender, Ethnicity, Disability, LGBTQIA+, and General Diversity in their current workplace.

Employees were asked to give their opinions on a series of statements regarding Age, Gender, Ethnicity, Disability, LGBTQIA+, and General Diversity in their current workplace. Indirect Recommendations: Participants evaluated other employers in their respective industries on issues of diversity.

Participants evaluated other employers in their respective industries on issues of diversity. Diversity Among Top Executives and Diversity Engagement Indicators were also part of the evaluation.

"Just two months after being named as one of the nation's best mid-sized employers, we're thrilled to receive recognition for our commitment to diversity," said Larry Willeford, President and CEO of Acceptance Insurance. "At Acceptance, we believe that everyone is someone. The rich diversity of our team drives our company culture and helps us connect with every customer we serve in every community we call home."

"We are honored to receive this designation from Forbes as we continue to evolve our significant and meaningful work in this arena," added Burley Nelson, Senior Vice President, Human Resources.

In February, Acceptance was named to Forbes' 2022 list of America's Best Employers. Additionally, the company earned the 2021 Reputation.com 800 Award for its exceptional digital presence, designating it as one of the most consistently helpful, engaging, and responsive companies in the industry.

About Acceptance Insurance

Acceptance Insurance (OTCQX: FACO) is both an omnichannel insurance agency and insurance carrier operating in 13 states across 338 retail locations. Their team of 1300-plus focuses on developing long-term relationships with historically underserved customers and those who prefer more flexible payment schedules and greater risk tolerance. Local community engagement, supported by robust digital messaging on owned and earned platforms, gives each agency a local feel and the resources of an institutional carrier.

To learn more about career opportunities at Acceptance Insurance, visit acceptanceinsurance.com/careers .

Media Contact:

Chris Song

[email protected]

SOURCE Acceptance Insurance
"We are thrilled to welcome Adrian Matejka as the new editor of Poetry, " said Michelle T. Boone, Poetry Foundation president. "As an accomplished poet, educator, and past poet laureate, Adrian brings invaluable talent and experience. We look forward to his leadership and collaboration with the team to share new poets and poetry with the world. It feels fitting that we are able to announce this news during National Poetry Month."

Poetry was founded by Harriet Monroe in 1912, and is the longest-running monthly magazine devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. The magazine publishes new works from poets in the US and beyond, and continues to evolve alongside the art it highlights. Matejka joins the existing Poetry team after a series of guest editors who expertly helmed the magazine alongside them in 20212022: Esther Belin, Su Cho, Suzi F. Garcia, Ashley M. Jones, and Srikanth "Chicu" Reddy.

"I couldn't be more humbled or excited to be the new editor of Poetry. The 19-year-old version of me, thumbing through the magazine's pages with wonder, would have never imagined that he would one day be part of such a vital literary institution," said Adrian Matejka. "It will be my duty to work with the brilliant staff at the magazine and the Poetry Foundation to continue transforming the magazine into an engine for 21st century poetry. I am committed to reimagining Poetry not only as a venue for poetics, but more importantly, as one that is in service of poets and treats writers as the gifts that they are."

Born in Nuremberg, Germany, Matejka grew up in Indianapolis, IN, and served as Poet Laureate of Indiana in 201819. A seasoned professor and writer, Matejka has authored several collections of poetry, including his most recent collection, Somebody Else Sold the World, which was a finalist for the 2022 UNT Rilke Prize. His first graphic novel, Last On His Feet, will be published in 2023 by Liveright.

"Not only has Adrian defined himself as an influential poet writing today, having worked with him closely through our Poem-a-Day series, for which he was an inaugural guest editor, and Poets Laureate Fellowship project, I can attest to his care for other poets' work and his community-building spirit," said Jen Benka, president and executive director of the Academy of American Poets . "I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Adrian and the Poetry Foundation on this excellent addition to their team, and I look forward to reading the poems he'll help share with readers."

Tyehimba Jess , celebrated poet and president of the Cave Canem Board of Directors, had this to say about Matejka's selection: "Adrian's vision of building literary community through excellence and diversity in publication is a critical step forward for Poetry. Through his work on the page and his activism as poet laureate of Indiana, Adrian has a track record of service to history and the fullness of each reader and poet's humanity. I look forward to perusing the pages and programs of Poetry that he will curate during his tenure."

Matejka's honors include a Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, a Pushcart Prize, and a Julia Peterkin Award, as well as fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and a Simon Fellowship from United States Artists. Matejka earned an MFA at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington, where he went on to serve as a Ruth Lilly Professor of Poetry.

About the Poetry Foundation

The Poetry Foundation is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in American culture. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative literary prizes and programs.

SOURCE Poetry Foundation
Challenge Seeks Novel Ideas to Improve Travel Experience in the Metaverse with Prize Purse of $30,000

LEIDEN, Netherlands, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Airbus, the pioneer of sustainable aerospace for a safe and united world, and HeroX , the leading platform and open marketplace for crowdsourced solutions, today launched the crowdsourcing competition " Metaverse and the Future of Flight ." The challenge seeks innovative ways to use the metaverse to reimagine and elevate the traveler experience from departure to destination.

Challenge Seeks Novel Ideas to Improve Travel Experience in the Metaverse with Prize Purse of $30,000.

The digital world continues to grow in sophistication with tools like augmented reality or virtual reality and can now provide us a venue for experimenting and enhancing real-life experiences like travel. With this in mind, Airbus is looking for out-of-the-box thinkers to reenvison air travel by leveraging the metaverse's infinite range of possibility and potential.

"Innovation is part of our DNA," said Marc Fischer, SVP Cabin and Cargo Engineering, Airbus. "We have a long history of pioneering new technologies. Metaverse is an unknown world and we'd like to understand how it can elevate our passengers' experience. This challenge is a perfect start."

"We are on the verge of exciting travel breakthroughs, and the HeroX community of solvers is the perfect group to tap for innovative ideas," said Kal K. Sahota, CEO, HeroX. "I am eager to see what the metaverse and their ingenuity can offer the everyday traveler."

The Challenge: The Challenge is looking for immersive, experiential ways in which a passenger can interact with the metaverse during the travel process.

The Prize: Up to 5 participants submitting the top ideas will share a total prize purse of $30,000.

Eligibility to Compete and Win Prize(s): The prize is open to anyone aged 18 or older participating as an individual or as a team. Individual competitors and teams may originate from any country, as long as Official Sanctions do not prohibit participation (some restrictions apply).

To accept the challenge, visit www.Herox.com/AirbusMetaverse .

ABOUT HEROX

HeroX is a platform and open marketplace for crowdsourcing innovation and human ingenuity, co-founded in 2013 by serial entrepreneur, Christian Cotichini and XPRIZE Founder and Futurist, Peter Diamandis. HeroX offers a turnkey, easy-to-use platform that supports anyone, anywhere, to solve everyday business and world challenges using the power of the crowd. Uniquely positioned as the Social Network for Innovation, HeroX is the only place you can build, grow and curate your very own crowd.

Explore the latest challenges at www.herox.com/explore .

Media Contact:

Alexandra Pony

[email protected]

250.858.0656

SOURCE HeroX
Paying tribute to trailblazing advocates in the blindness field

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- At the 2022 AFB Leadership Conference, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) will recognize individuals who have made superb contributions to improving the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired with the presentations of the Migel Medal, the Llura Gund Leadership Award, and the Corinne Kirchner Research Award.

The Migel Medal was established in 1937 by the late M.C. Migel, AFB's first chairman, to honor professionals and volunteers whose dedication and achievements improve the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired. Gale Watson and Judith Dixon are the 2022 recipients.

Gale Watson has worked in clinical care, education, and research at many levels in the blindness field and is rightfully recognized as a leader and an expert. She was most recently the Director of Blind Rehabilitation Service for the Department of Veterans Affairs, having retired in 2019. She has served as Vision Rehabilitation Program Manager and Research Health Scientist at the Ophthalmology Clinic at the Atlanta VA Medical Center; a professor at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (now Salus University) and Special Educator at the Northeast Georgia Cooperative Educational Service Agency.

As a researcher, Ms. Watson published 18 times in peer-reviewed journals; contributed chapters to 12 published books; and served as a peer reviewer and editor for many professional journals, including the Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness (JVIB), for which she co-guest edited the 2008 Special Issue on Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Many of her publications have focused on new and innovative practices and equipment to enhance the independence and safety of adults with low vision and blindness. Ms. Watson has received numerous honors and awards throughout her career, including Outstanding Contribution to Low Vision Division and Outstanding Contribution to Research and Literature in Low Vision, both presented by the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired; as well as the Outstanding Public Awareness Award from the Foundation Fighting Blindness; and several service awards from the Department of Veterans Affairs, to name just a few.

Judith Dixon is a recognized trailblazer in the areas of braille reading, writing, and promotion, also including technology, and e-literacy. She has served as an advocate for access to printed information through the widest possible use of special formatsbraille, the internet, ebooks, ebraille, and other emerging technologies. She is a longtime champion of all forms of access to information, consulting with organizations of all types to provide assistive technology and braille services, while fostering the inclusion of all people regardless of their tech abilities.

Dr. Dixon worked as the Consumer Relations Officer for the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC from 1981 to 2021. Following her retirement, she was asked to return to work on special projects because of her vast knowledge and expertise. She served on several committees for various library organizations and associations, consulted with numerous states on access, made presentations at conferences and wrote extensively for the field. She has served as a member of the Braille Authority of North America. Since 2009, she has been a member of the WBU World Braille Council, was a member of the Transforming Braille Group, and has been active with the International Council on English Braille (ICEB) since 2008, when she was elected secretary. In 2020, she was elected president of ICEB, the code maintenance organization for the Unified English Braille code. She now writes regularly for AccessWorld: Technology and People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired.

The Migel Medals will be presented to the recipients during the morning general session on Monday, May 2.

The newly established Llura Gund Leadership Award recognizes an outstanding leader who has benefitted from one of AFB's employment initiatives. This individual is given $5,000 to support their leadership development beyond AFB's training programs. Rachel Longan is the 2022 recipient.

Ms. Longan is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist who owns a private psychotherapy practice in Berkeley, CA. Throughout her career, Ms. Longan has improved individuals' lives by bringing people together. She founded the Mind's Eye, a support group for individuals coping with blindness. She previously founded a support group for LGBTQ individuals coping with blindness, which she conducted at the Lighthouse for the Blind in San Francisco. Additionally, Ms. Longan directed a grant-funded program designed for families of children with special needs at the YMCA in Berkeley. She serves on the board of directors for the Alameda County Developmental Disabilities Council. Ms. Longan is a 2021 graduate of AFB's Blind Leaders Development Program, and subsequently served as a mentor in the following cohort. She holds a bachelor's degree in music from Mills College in Oakland and a master's degree in counseling from San Francisco State University. She has presented numerous lectures on treatment approaches for children on the autism spectrum at the University of California, Berkeley.

The award is so named in honor of the late Llura "Lulie" Gund, a philanthropist who, along with her husband, Gordon, was dedicated to improving the lives of those with blindness by funding research treatments and cures for blinding retinal diseases. The couple received a Migel Medal in 2016 for their work in founding and running the Foundation Fighting Blindness.

The Gund Award will be presented during a special morning session on Tuesday, May 3.

The Corinne Kirchner Research Award honors those whose leadership and dedication illuminate the most pressing needs of people with vision loss through timely, innovative, and authoritative research. The 2022 recipients are the three members of the research team comprised of Rona Pogrund, Ph.D., TSVI, COMS; Shannon Darst, Ph.D., TSVI, COMS; and Michael Munro, Ph.D., TSVI; whose work culminated in the Visual Impairment Scale of Service Intensity of Texas (VISSIT). Dr. Pogrund is a Professor and Coordinator of the TSVI Program at Texas Tech University, Dr. Darst is the Program Facilitator for the Visual Impairment Program at Stephen F. Austin State University, and Dr. Munro is the Visual Impairment Consultant in Region 6 Educational Service Center of Texas. Their groundbreaking work is changing the way itinerant vision professionals determine the appropriate type and amount of service each student with a visual impairment should receive.

Once a student is identified as having a visual impairment, teachers of students with visual impairments (TSVIs) design an educational program. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) must propose recommendations for specially designed instruction and the type and amount of service (e.g., direct instruction and educational team support and collaboration) that will ensure students and teachers are meeting IEP goals. A new tool was needed to help IEP team members and administrators make decisions based on individualized student needs related to the expanded core curriculum (ECC). The VISSIT was developed by Drs. Pogrund, Darst, and Munro, along with the other members of the Service Intensity Subcommittee of the Texas Action Committee for the Education of Students with Visual Impairments, and met this need by basing service time recommendations on student evaluation data. The scale leads to a proposed range of service delivery times, and results of the validation studies on the VISSIT have demonstrated support for its validity and reliability as a tool that can recommend appropriate type and amount of itinerant service. The VISSIT has been validated nationally and is now being implemented across the United States. This kind of guidance allows for more confidence that TSVIs will have adequate amounts of time to provide quality services to students with visual impairments and that the service time recommendations are determined by a research-based tool.

By determining service delivery time based on student need rather than size of the TSVI's caseload or previous patterns of service, the use of the research-based VISSIT significantly impacts student outcomes in ECC areas, which leads to a higher probability of success in school, career, and independent living.

The Kirchner Award will be presented during the closing ceremony on Tuesday, May 3.

About the American Foundation for the Blind

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) mobilizes leaders, advances understanding, and champions impactful policies and practices using research and data. Publisher of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness for over a century and counting, AFB is also proud to steward the accessible Helen Keller Archive, honoring the legacy of our most famous ambassador. AFB's mission is to expand pathways to leadership, education, inclusive technology, and career opportunities to create a world of no limits for people who are blind, deafblind, or have low vision. To learn more, visit AFB.org.

SOURCE American Foundation for the Blind
Coupled with the fact that nearly two out of three Americans believe online threats are growing faster than businesses and organizations can keep up, it's not surprising that more than half of consumers (51%) are worried that their personal information may fall into the wrong hands. For plenty of people, it's more than just a suspicious interaction. In fact, 44% of consumers have been victims of personal data theft themselves. As a result, nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents said that the potential risks they face by providing too much personal data outweigh the benefits of doing business.

"We are on the cusp of a new era that will be defined by who controls data. For the past two decades, companies have been gathering tremendous amounts of data on people's preferences, habits, and identities, transaction by transaction, often without customers understanding what is happening," says AU10TIX CEO Carey O'Connor Kolaja. "Lines are now converging towards a clear endpoint where individuals will soon demand to exercise full control over their personal data and for businesses to step up and take more responsibility to safeguard and protect the information that they do collect from consumers."

Amongst the key findings are:

A shift in consumer preference for security over convenience. Particularly given that Americans overwhelmingly (77%) place the responsibility of safeguarding the information they do share on the business or organization asking for it, there is a shift underway in consumer preference for security and control over convenience. Because of mounting concerns about the security of personal information, 67% of consumers are willing to sacrifice their convenience to keep their data locked down. More than 9 in 10 (92%) Americans said they would be willing to use some sort of security measure when gaining access to the organizations and services they interact with.

Particularly given that Americans overwhelmingly (77%) place the responsibility of safeguarding the information they do share on the business or organization asking for it, there is a shift underway in consumer preference for security and control over convenience. Because of mounting concerns about the security of personal information, 67% of consumers are willing to sacrifice their convenience to keep their data locked down. More than 9 in 10 (92%) Americans said they would be willing to use some sort of security measure when gaining access to the organizations and services they interact with. The new rules of data and corporate responsibility. The study also illustrated U.S. consumer attitudes towards security, prevention and recovery efforts, revealing significant expectations of businesses' anti-fraud measures. Nearly all Americans (97%) expect some sort of action from the business or organization that suffered the breach; most (70%) believe businesses should alert all current customers in the event of a breach. Nearly as many (69%) say businesses that experience a breach that exposes customer data have a responsibility to help victims recover identities stolen.

The study also illustrated U.S. consumer attitudes towards security, prevention and recovery efforts, revealing significant expectations of businesses' anti-fraud measures. Nearly all Americans (97%) expect some sort of action from the business or organization that suffered the breach; most (70%) believe businesses should alert all current customers in the event of a breach. Nearly as many (69%) say businesses that experience a breach that exposes customer data have a responsibility to help victims recover identities stolen. Trust over transaction is the new data imperative. More than four in five Americans (81%) believe there is a lack of transparency in how businesses utilize personal information shared by consumers. Data privacy laws have been passed in some states while others have not yet set out clear boundaries and laws for handling consumer data. This is giving companies more freedom to do what they want with consumer data. Given growing concerns over data privacy, now is the time for businesses to nurture consumer appetite to protect their personal information and conduct safer transactions. The new data imperative calls for businesses to not only educate consumers about how their data is being used but also provides people with greater choice over what and how they share personally identifiable information.

To view additional information, visit: https://bit.ly/AU10TIXConsumerStudy

ABOUT THE SURVEY

The AU10TIX Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 1,000 nationally representative U.S. adults ages 18+, between March 15 and March 20, 2022, using an email invitation and an online survey. The data was weighted to ensure an accurate representation of adults ages 18+.

ABOUT AU10TIX

AU10TIX, an identity management company headquartered in Israel, is on a mission to obliterate fraud and further a more secure and inclusive world. The company provides critical, modular solutions to verify and link physical and digital identities so businesses and their customers can confidently connect. Over the past decade, AU10TIX has become the preferred partner of major global brands for customer onboarding and customer verification automationand continues to work on the edge of what's next for identity's role in society. AU10TIX's proprietary technology provides results in less than 8 seconds, enabling businesses to onboard customers faster while preventing fraud, meeting compliance mandates and, importantly, promoting trust and safety. AU10TIX is a subsidiary of ICTS International N.V. (OTCQB: ICTSF). For more information, visit AU10TIX.com.

Media Contact

Jodi Einhorn

[email protected]

(917) 716-6052

SOURCE AU10TIX
GREEN BAY, Wis., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) ("Associated") today announced the results of the actions taken at its 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

The following directors were re-elected:

John (Jay) B. Williams , chairman, Associated Banc-Corp, and chairman, Church Mutual Insurance Company

, chairman, Associated Banc-Corp, and chairman, Church Mutual Insurance Company Andrew J. Harmening , president and chief executive officer, Associated Banc-Corp

, president and chief executive officer, Associated Banc-Corp R. Jay Gerken , director of 17 mutual funds associated with Sanford C. Bernstein Fund, Inc.

, director of 17 mutual funds associated with Sanford C. Bernstein Fund, Inc. Judith P. Greffin , former chief investment officer, Allstate Corporation

, former chief investment officer, Allstate Corporation Michael J. Haddad , chair of the board of directors, Schreiber Foods, Inc.

, chair of the board of directors, Schreiber Foods, Inc. Robert A. Jeffe , senior operating partner, BlackWatch

, senior operating partner, BlackWatch Eileen A. Kamerick , adjunct professor of law and consultant

, adjunct professor of law and consultant Gale E. Klappa , executive chairman, WEC Energy Group

, executive chairman, WEC Energy Group Cory L. Nettles , founder and managing director, Generation Growth Capital, Inc.

, founder and managing director, Generation Growth Capital, Inc. Karen T. van Lith, founder and CEO of APEL Worldwide, LLC

Shareholders also (1) gave advisory approval to named executive officer compensation, and (2) ratified the selection of KPMG LLP as Associated's independent accounting firm for 2022.

The Associated Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per common share, payable on June 15, 2022, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 1, 2022.

The Board of Directors also declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.3671875 per depositary share on Associated's 5.875% Series E Perpetual Preferred Stock, payable on June 15, 2022, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 1, 2022.

The Board of Directors also declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.3515625 per depositary share on Associated's 5.625% Series F Perpetual Preferred Stock, payable on June 15, 2022, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 1, 2022.

ABOUT ASSOCIATED BANC-CORP

Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE: ASB) has total assets of $35 billion and is Wisconsin's largest bank holding company. Headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Associated is a leading Midwest banking franchise, offering a full range of financial products and services from more than 200 banking locations serving more than 100 communities throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. The company also operates loan production offices in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Texas. Associated Bank, N.A. is an Equal Housing Lender, Equal Opportunity Lender and Member FDIC. More information about Associated Banc-Corp is available at www.associatedbank.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements made in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This includes any statements regarding management's plans, objectives, or goals for future operations, products or services, and forecasts of its revenues, earnings, or other measures of performance. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "estimate," "should," "will," "intend," "target," "outlook," "project," "guidance," or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on current management expectations and, by their nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements include those identified in the Company's most recent Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings. Such factors are incorporated herein by reference.

Investor Contact:

Ben McCarville, Vice President, Director of Investor Relations

920-491-7059

Media Contact:

Jennifer Kaminski, Vice President, Public Relations Senior Manager

920-491-7576

SOURCE Associated Banc-Corp
Making its Debut in Texas, Leading Coffee Franchise Brews Up Aggressive Development as it Aims to Double Nationwide Store Count by 2023

DALLAS, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii, a leading coffee franchise renowned for its premium sourcing, roasting, and quality 100% Hawaiian coffees and international blends, announces the signing of a multi-unit agreement that will bring five stores to the Dallas metro market by the end of 2024.

Behind the multi-unit agreement are business partners Ankush Agrawal and Rushik Solanki who operate as Makers LLC. As friends who both reside in the greater Dallas market, the duo was seeking a new business venture to embark on together. Agrawal brings years of construction and property management experience to the team, whereas Solanki comes from a background in business management, training, and operations. With complimentary skill sets, they are eager to grow their franchise portfolio  optimistic of adding even more Bad Ass Coffee shops in the coming years.

"The Bad Ass Coffee name caught our attention right away, and we were even more impressed as we started digging into the franchise opportunity," said Agrawal. "The Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii brand is built around a culture of 'ohana  family  and it really is just that. The entire leadership team has been amazingly supportive  there's a solid infrastructure and clear vision for growth. It is truly exciting to get in at the ground level of an emerging brand with immense opportunity, and know you're playing a part in its evolution."

Their first location will open at 3800 Miles Road in Sachse with a target opening date Q4/Q1. An additional two stores are slated to open in 2023, and the final two stores in 2024. Their openings will follow Bad Ass Coffee's debut in the state with its first Texas location opening in the greater Dallas Fort-Worth area by Q4.

"One of the key differentiators is Bad Ass Coffee's roots to Hawaiian culture," said Solanki. "Knowing they have longstanding partnerships with multi-generational Hawaiian coffee farmers is not only appealing from a supply chain perspective, but the product itself is second to none. They are harvesting some of the highest quality coffee beans in the world, resulting in a superior product that we're able to offer to our customers."

The Dallas market and the greater state of Texas are ideal for Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii's continued expansion. Target development markets for the state include Austin, Corpus Christi, Fort -Worth, Galvenston, Houston, San Antonio, and beyond. While the brand is just starting its development in the state, there is already strong brand awareness because of travel to Hawaii, Southern California, and Florida where there have been several stores open and operating for a number of years.

"We are looking for more strong operators like the Ankush and Rushik to grow the Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii brand throughout Texas," said Scott Snyder, CEO of Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii. "They are great additions to our growing base of franchise owners and have already hit the ground running as they work toward opening their first location. As we continue to penetrate markets across Texas, we're excited to welcome new franchisees to our 'ohana (family) as we aim to build a loyal fan base in every community."

Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii was born on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1989 with the dream of sharing American-grown, premium Hawaiian coffee with customers everywhere. In addition to premium coffee from the famous Kona region of the Big Island, Bad Ass Coffee also sources from Kauai, Maui and Moloka'i. Beyond premium Hawaiian coffees, Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii also serves up a full menu of popular blended drinks, signature lattes, cold brews, teas, innovative foods with a Hawaiian twist, and branded merchandise.

With rapid expansion underway, the brand has set aggressive expansion plans to open 150 new locations over the next five years, with territories available nationwide. Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii is looking to partner with qualified and engaged individuals seeking single and multi-unit opportunities. The brand offers an affordable, highly scalable opportunity with strong profit-potential. As International Franchise Association VetFran members, veteran franchisees who join will receive a $10,000 discount off the initial franchise fee.

For more information on Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii franchise opportunities, visit badasscoffeefranchise.com or call 833-205-2224.

About Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii

Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii was born on the Big Island of Hawai'i in 1989 and is dedicated to sharing premium Hawaiian coffees "with a kick" from the Hawaiian Islands through 20-plus franchise locations  with additional 70 shops in various stages of development. Today, Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii stores also serve popular blended drinks, teas, food, along with other international premium coffees and sell popular branded merchandise with exceptional service and the Aloha Spirit. Bad Ass Coffees are available in franchise stores, online and will soon be available through grocery, hospitality, and specialty retail channels. The Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii brand and franchise is owned by Royal Aloha Franchise Company, LLC. For more information, visit badasscoffee.com and connect on Facebook and Instagram @badasscoffeeofhawaii. Franchise information is available at badasscoffeefranchise.com.

SOURCE Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii
Barings Grows Industrial Footprint with South Florida Acquisition

CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Barings, one of the world's leading investment managers, announced today that it has acquired an approximately 124,000 square foot industrial property located in the high growth Coral Springs submarket of Broward County, FL.

Coral Springs Logistics Center is comprised of two Class-A shallow bay industrial buildings built in 2021, featuring 34' clear height. Located in close proximity to the Sawgrass Expressway, the property is poised to serve the rapidly expanding population base across South Florida.

Barings acquired the Coral Springs Logistics Center in partnership with Arkadia Property Group, a South Florida-based investment and development company led by Richard Kilstock and David Aaron.

"We are excited to add Coral Springs Logistics Center to our existing portfolio," said Chris Berry, Portfolio Manager for Barings U.S. Real Estate. "We believe Barings' focus on modern, highly functional industrial assets in key submarkets has translated to the firm's successful industrial track record."

Barings has conviction that there is strong relative value in infill industrial assets such as Coral Springs Logistics Center due to the growing demand for last-mile delivery and the intense competition for logistics space. This conviction is reinforced by the annual rent growth experienced in the submarket and the limited availability of new developable land. As of Q4 2021, the Coral Springs submarket had a vacancy rate of 1.6% (CBRE, Q4 2021).

"Barings continues to target high-quality infill industrial assets, and we are excited to increase our footprint in the South Florida industrial market, given the strong tenant demand and barriers to new supply," said Payton Larson, Director, Barings U.S. Real Estate.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Barings," said Richard Kilstock, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Arkadia Property Group. "Arkadia's focus on value, growth, and the South Florida market continues to yield great opportunities for our firm and our partners," said David Aaron, Arkadia Property group's Co-Founder and Managing Principal.

Consistent with Barings' commitment to sustainability, the Coral Springs Logistics Center will present the Barings team with opportunities to incorporate ESG-specific features such as high-efficiency HVAC equipment, and the property has the ability to incorporate solar onto roofs.

About Barings

Barings is a $371+ billion* global investment manager sourcing differentiated opportunities and building long-term portfolios across public and private fixed income, real estate, and specialist equity markets. With investment professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, the firm, a subsidiary of MassMutual, aims to serve its clients, communities and employees, and is committed to sustainable practices and responsible investment. Learn more at www.barings.com.

*Assets under management as of March 31, 2022

About Arkadia Property Group

Arkadia Property Group is a real estate investment and development company carrying on a long legacy of successful endeavors. The driving elements behind these triumphs are vision for and tracking of trends and market moving factors on a macro and micro scale. Arkadia is rooted in fundamental know-how, understanding of underlying mechanisms, and experience. For more information, visit https://www.arkadiapropertygroup.com.

Contact

[email protected]

22-2163416

SOURCE Barings
$300M Series D to fund continued growth of Biofourmis' innovative virtual care solutions

Dr. Omar Ishrak Appointed Biofourmis Chairman

BOSTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Biofourmis, a global leader in virtual care and digital medicine, today announced it has surpassed unicorn status with a $300 million Series D investment led by leading global growth equity firm General Atlantic. CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) and existing investors also participated in the round, which will help fuel the company's next phase of growth. Biofourmis also announced that former Medtronic CEO and Chairperson at Intel, Dr. Omar Ishrak, will join the company's Board of Directors as Chairman.

With this investment, Biofourmis plans to scale up its virtual care offerings. This includes delivering personalized and predictive in-home care to a growing number of acutely ill patients and expanding its recently announced virtual specialty care services, Biofourmis Care, to those patients with complex chronic conditions. In parallel, Biofourmis plans to fund clinical trials to advance the development of digital therapies that work in conjunction with high-value drugs to improve efficacy, while forming strategic partnerships with companies in the digital health and virtual-first care ecosystems. Through these relationships, Biofourmis plans to accelerate the growth of its virtual care platform, [email protected], which enables providers and payors to remotely manage patients across the entire care continuum.

Biofourmis also aims to use the funding to continue strengthening its position in the value-based care market. Value-based care ties payments to quality of care and patient outcomes, rewarding providers for efficiency and effectiveness. According to McKinsey, $265 billion worth of care services for Medicare FFS and MA beneficiaries could shift from traditional facilities to the home by 2025, creating value for multiple parties, including care at home providers and technology companies.

Long touted as a technology that's "going to break through tomorrow," traditional remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions have fallen drastically short of patient needs, often focusing on 'monitoring' as opposed to the proactive 'management' of patient populations. As a result, while clinical care teams glean information, they are typically left with few insights and almost no actionable clinical interventions. Because traditional RPM solutions tend to fail to view patients as unique subjects, alarm burden and fatigue are commonplace, as they focus on comparing a patient's vitals to norms of the population at large and subsequently informing clinicians of warning signs. Furthermore, traditional solutions do not include licensed health professionals who can provide high-quality clinical care to improve patient outcomes and reduce the total cost of care.

Biofourmis solutions instead use a blend of passive inputs via continuous monitoring devices, active inputs from episodic monitoring devices, and patient feedback on activity driven through the Biofourmis app to get a complete picture of the patient's status. Designed to be used at home, in acute, post-acute, and chronic care, Biofourmis' game-changing solution compares the patient as they are today to their normal state. Leveraging its core expertise in data science and novel biomarkers, Biofourmis can detect clinical deterioration early on and offer dynamic care pathways that guide therapeutic interventions. The device- and sensor-agnostic solutions use artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced FDA-approved analytics to dynamically monitor patients, establish personalized baselines, and reduce false positives. Through its 24/7 virtual clinical care team, Biofourmis' licensed health professionals can promptly confirm and respond to these alerts while communicating medication changes and updated care plans with primary care teams to ensure patient care is well coordinated.

"In recent years, we have seen a significant trend towards virtual at-home care, which has become a critical alternative to in-person care, particularly as digital adoption continues to accelerate," said Sandeep Naik, Managing Director and Head of India & Southeast Asia at General Atlantic. "Biofourmis is tapping into this global trend with a new approach to remote care management."

Robbert Vorhoff, Managing Director and Global Head of Healthcare at General Atlantic, added, "We believe Biofourmis is differentiated by technology solutions underpinned by its deep clinical research. Beyond providing key patient health insights to health systems, Biofourmis is also driving personalized treatment and better outcomes."

Biofourmis' app drives high patient engagement and compliance resulting in hospitals experiencing a 70% reduction in 30-day hospital readmissions and reduces the cost of care by 38%, all without impacting the quality of care.

"We are excited to partner with General Atlantic, which shares our vision for the future of virtual care and the urgency to bring the Biofourmis solution to customers and patients across the globe," said Kuldeep Singh Rajput, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Biofourmis. "We are also thrilled to have Dr. Ishrak join our board. His vast experience, which includes leading one of the world's most successful medical technology companies, will be an incredible asset as we look to take our business to the next growth phase."

"I'm thrilled to join Biofourmis as Chairman of the Board at this exciting time in the company's rapid rise as a leading innovator in virtual care and digital medicine," Dr. Ishrak said. "Biofourmis continues to push the boundaries as it evolves virtual care from reactive to predictive models that deliver continuous care and better health outcomes to patients while improving efficiencies and lowering costs for healthcare organizations. It's a win-win that is a true differentiator in the market."

To date, Biofourmis has raised a total of $445 million in funding. Existing investors include SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Openspace Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Sequoia Capital and EDBI.

About Biofourmis

Biofourmis, based in Boston, is a global leader in providing advanced technology and clinical support for [email protected] and digital therapies. We are driven by a passion to personalize care and predict clinical worsening before it happens. Our clinically validated platform, powered by machine learning and advanced analytics, enables better healthcare, maximizes the effectiveness of high-value drugs, and lowers costs across the entire care continuum. For more information, visit www.biofourmis.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

About General Atlantic

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm with more than four decades of experience providing capital and strategic support for over 445 growth companies throughout its history. Established in 1980 to partner with visionary entrepreneurs and deliver lasting impact, the firm combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to scale innovative businesses around the world. General Atlantic currently has over $84 billion in assets under management inclusive of all products as of December 31, 2021, and more than 215 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, Stamford and Tel Aviv. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit the website: www.generalatlantic.com.

Media Contacts

Biofourmis

Tara Stultz

Amendola Communications for Biofourmis

[email protected]

Serena Tesler

The Harris Agency for Biofourmis

[email protected]

General Atlantic

Emily Japlon & Kate Huneke

[email protected]

SOURCE Biofourmis
WINTER PARK, Fla., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bonnier LLC, a media company respected for its iconic publications in the marine category, has restructured its business across all operations to prioritize experiential events as its growth engine for the future. The Florida-based company is harnessing the power of media as a means to accelerate consumer interactions across a wide spectrum of outdoor activities. With its new mission to fuel the passion of outdoor enthusiasts, Bonnier is reshaping itself to become the nation's leading outdoor adventure company.

"We see ourselves almost back in startup mode," said Dr. Jens Mueffelmann, Executive Chairman. "We're taking on the mindset of a new company with a new mission and branding, a new leadership team and investors, a new structure and way of working, and a new future. We are now fully focused on growth. Game time!"

In adopting its new "We Are Outdoor Adventure" branding, Bonnier is doubling down on its core mission: to fuel passion for fishing, boating, sailing, motorsports, hunting and travel. This mission is also reflected in the company's new corporate website, bonniercorp.com, launched this month, which showcases Bonnier's integrated brands and category dominance.

"What we needed as a company was a strategy for harnessing our individual efforts into something powerful, something meaningful," said David Ritchie, CEO. "As we work to align our teams on the mission, we find that we are unlocking significant new opportunities. We see ourselves now on a path to double our revenues within five years."

Bonnier spent nearly 18 months working with investment bank Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips to divest off-mission brands in categories as diverse as cooking, science and corporate diversity in four transactions, thereby shaping a group with pure focus on outdoor adventure. The new structure also incorporates a legal entity change, in which management has taken equity positions in the business. Bonnier AB, based in Stockholm, Sweden, remains the company's majority shareholder.

A new five-executive leadership team was put into place, which includes Glenn Sandridge and Jonathan Moore in positions responsible for revenue growth across all properties, as well as Shawn Bean as head of creative, David Butler as lead for all digital initiatives, and Tara Bisciello to oversee financial services.

In making the appointments, Ritchie redefined each member's traditional line of responsibility. "Where previously senior managers held a specific role for a specific department, in the new organization, executive leaders hold functional responsibility across the entire organization," Ritchie said. "Our head of creative, as an example, doesn't just oversee our editorial and design teams, but he also has free purview to help shape our company culture, ideate new event concepts, pitch custom-content packages to clients, and more. His role is not limited by an org chart; it is limited only by his creativity in how he can impact the business."

Bonnier also transformed its way of working by migrating its workforce to a fully integrated virtual model. Where previously the company had office locations in New York, California, Indiana, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, today a startup-like warehouse in Florida and workshops across the nation serve for brainstorming and team collaboration.

About Bonnier

Bonnier is an outdoor adventure company that fuels passion for fishing, boating, sailing, motorsports, hunting and travel. Bonnier has the nation's leading portfolio of experiential events and iconic media brands in the marine category, and an extensive series of nationwide motorsports and hunting events. Publisher of Salt Water Sportsman, Marlin, Sport Fishing, Boating, Yachting, Cruising World and Sailing World, Bonnier produces award-winning SFTV television programming, and hosts world-class fishing tournaments, sailing regattas and educational events across the US and in Mexico, Bermuda, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Australia and the Virgin Islands. Bonnier is owned by Sweden-based Bonnier AB, a globally operating conglomerate with more than 200 years in publishing.

SOURCE Bonnier
SAN FRANCISCO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global breakfast cereal market is expected to reach USD 50.7 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 3.7% from 2022 to 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to be driven by the rising demand for convenient ready-to-eat breakfast cereal options and increasing demand from new regions such as the Asia Pacific and Central & South America brought about by westernization in consumer habits.

Key Insights & Findings from the report:

North America contributed a majority of the share in value in 2021. The high demand for convenient and healthy breakfast options is the major factor driving the demand for breakfast cereals in this region.

contributed a majority of the share in value in 2021. The high demand for convenient and healthy breakfast options is the major factor driving the demand for breakfast cereals in this region. The market segmented on the basis of product is expected to be driven by the ready-to-eat segment. The consumer preference for healthy and quick to prepare breakfast options is driving the market.

Supermarkets & hypermarkets distribution channels held the largest value share in 2021 commanding nearly 50% market globally.

Read 80-page market research report, "Breakfast Cereal Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Hot Cereals, Ready-to-Eat), By Distribution Channel (Supermarkets & Hypermarkets, Convenience Stores, E-commerce), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2022 - 2030", published by Grand View Research.

Breakfast Cereal Market Growth & Trends

Breakfast is amongst the most important meals of the day since it refuels the body after a night of fasting. A nutritious breakfast boosts both children's and adults' mental and physical performance. Breakfast mostly consists of foods that are low in fat, and cholesterol, and abundant in vitamins and minerals. The expanding demand for ready-to-eat morning cereals highlights the market. Because of the rising health risks associated with highly processed foods, cereal consumption is crucial. As a result, demand for these products has risen as a result of changing lifestyles and a booming food industry.

The ready-to-eat (RTE) segment held the largest market share in 2021 and is expected to sustain its dominance during the forecast period due to the convenience offered by it. RTE cereals consumption is majorly driven by the millennial demographics, who have fast-paced lifestyles and less time for cooking breakfast. Further, increasing awareness about the importance of a healthy breakfast is influencing consumers to switch to the convenient RTE segment.

The emergence of COVID-19 has led to an increase in online buying of breakfast cereals. However, supermarkets & hypermarkets still dominated the market sales in 2021, accounting for nearly 50% of the overall global sales. The large-scale proliferation of supermarkets in the U.S., which is now becoming a significant factor in emerging economies as well, is propelling the sales of breakfast cereals through supermarkets & hypermarkets

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, health and well-being have become key trends in breakfast cereals. Consumers are increasingly looking for foods that will help increase immunity and are rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. For instance, in July 2021 Kellogg's RX brand launched a new cereal made with a plant-based protein called RX Cereal. RX Cereal uses a mix of pea protein, almonds, and brown rice to provide its protein. Each serving of the cereal contains 11 to 12 grams of protein and three to four grams of fiber depending on the flavor. The cereal comes in three varieties: Chocolate Almond, Vanilla Almond, and Strawberry.

The global market is fragmented in nature. The major players engaged in the market include PepsiCo, Nestle, Marico, Calbee, Bagrry India Pvt. Ltd., General Mills Inc., Kellogg Co., B&G Foods, Inc., and Nature's Path Foods., and Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods among others

Breakfast Cereal Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global breakfast cereal market on the basis of product, distribution channel, and region:

Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2017 - 2030))

Hot Cereals

Ready-to-Eat

Distribution Channel Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2017 - 2030)

Supermarkets & Hypermarkets

Convenience Stores

E-commerce

Others

Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2017 - 2030)

North America

U.S.

Europe

Germany



U.K.



France

Asia Pacific

China



India



Japan

Central & South America

Brazil

Middle East and Africa

and South Africa

List of Key Players in Breakfast Cereal Market

PepsiCo

Nestle

Marico

Calbee

Bagrry India Pvt. Ltd.

General Mills Inc .

. Kellogg Co.

B&G Foods, Inc.

Nature's Path Foods.

Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods.

Check out more related studies published by Grand View Research:

Cereal Bars Market - The global cereal bars market size is expected to reach USD 17.66 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is projected to expand at a CAGR of 6.1% during the forecast period. Cereal bars are widely being consumed in developed economies. The growth in granola and nutrition bar product segment is expected to further drive the market. Rising awareness about the consumption of cereal bar is also likely to fuel the growth.

The global cereal bars market size is expected to reach by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is projected to expand at a CAGR of 6.1% during the forecast period. Cereal bars are widely being consumed in developed economies. The growth in granola and nutrition bar product segment is expected to further drive the market. Rising awareness about the consumption of cereal bar is also likely to fuel the growth. Spreads Market - The global spreads market size is anticipated to reach USD 34.0 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 3.1% over the forecast period. Use of these products in the western countries as an essential breakfast ingredient is fueling the growth of the market. Increasing demand for natural and healthy spreads and consumer preferences for artisan bakery products are further accelerating the growth of the food spread market across the globe.

- The global spreads market size is anticipated to reach by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 3.1% over the forecast period. Use of these products in the western countries as an essential breakfast ingredient is fueling the growth of the market. Increasing demand for natural and healthy spreads and consumer preferences for artisan bakery products are further accelerating the growth of the food spread market across the globe. Snack Bars Market - The global snack bars market size is projected to reach USD 31.60 billion by 2025 expanding at a CAGR of 6.64% from 2019 to 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Changing consumer lifestyles and food patterns are expected to drive the demand for convenient food products, such as snacks bar. The richness of fiber and iron in granola/muesli bars has made it the dominant product segment of the global market. Whereas, increasing awareness about the health benefits offered by energy and nutrition bars lists it as the fastest-growing product segment.

Browse through Grand View Research's Consumer F&B Industry Research Reports.

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research Helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

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SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
- Community members are invited to attend groundbreaking ceremony to kick off construction of Whitaker Park.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brennan Investment Group invites community members to a groundbreaking ceremony on April 26th at 10:30 a.m. at 4043 Reynolds Court.

Brennan Investment Group is developing a new state of the art 110,000 SF Class-A industrial building on the former RJ Reynolds HQ campus known as Whitaker Park in Winston-Salem, NC. With existing infrastructure at the 220 acre complex already nearly at capacity, there is strong demand for additional industrial development which will complement other mixed-use and retail additions also under construction. The park sits in a strategic last mile - infill location near downtown Winston-Salem, Wake Forest University, and five nearby interstates.

The Class A tilt wall building is designed to be flexible enough to demise down to as many as 4 tenants or can have as few as one tenant take the entire building.

"The team at Brennan is very excited to increase our investment in the City of Winston-Salem with this new Class A industrial project at Whitaker Park. We are big believers in this and already own several nearby buildings. We chose this area because of its business-friendly environment, access to high quality labor, the central location within the state of North Carolina, as well as its easy access to downtown and five nearby interstates. The state of North Carolina and Winston-Salem are on everyone's radar for business expansions and relocations. This project is already garnering interest from businesses looking to locate in this area because of the highly educated workforce and access to the state and region's population whether by interstate or rail," commented Rob Gage, Senior Vice President of Brennan Investment Group.

"WPDA, Inc. is excited that Brennan Investments has chosen Whitaker Park for the construction of a new 110,000 sq/ft spec building. said Bob Leak, Jr., President and CEO of WPDA, Inc. This new building, along with the 82,000 square foot building they also bought, will continue to make Whitaker Park a competitive destination for companies looking to relocate or expand in the Winston-Salem and Forsyth County area."

"We continue to receive great interest in properties at Whitaker Park whether we are working with an exisiting company or a business looking to locate here. Having a spec building ready to deliver is an extremely important asset to have in our commercial real estate portfolio for Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. The redevelopment of Whitaker Park is only continuing to accelerate, generating new jobs and investment that benefits our entire community," says Mark Owens, President & CEO of Greater Winston-Salem, Inc.

About Brennan Investment Group

Brennan Investment Group, a Chicago-based private real estate investment firm, acquires, develops, and operates industrial properties in select major metropolitan markets throughout the United States. Since 2010, Brennan Investment Group has acquired or developed $5 billion in industrial real estate in 30 states. The company's current portfolio spans 27 states and encompasses approximately 46 million square feet.

Brennan Investment Group co-invests with private and institutional capital to achieve outstanding risk-adjusted returns. The company has 11 regional offices throughout the United States and the firm's management team is among the most accomplished in its industry, having invested in over 5,000 properties covering more than 60 cities throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

For more information on Brennan Investment Group, go to brennanllc.com.

About Greater Winston-Salem

Greater Winston-Salem, Inc. supports Winston-Salem and Forsyth County's economic growth through initiatives in economic recruitment and retention, talent and workforce development, advocacy, and entrepreneurial programming. We are committed to bringing an innovative mindset and collaborative efforts to initiatives that develop a vibrant community that's good for business growth and sustainability. Our efforts are informed by our 2030 Vision: to be the top mid-sized city in the Southeast, to be a more equitable community, and to be the best place to raise a family.

Learn more at winstonsalem.com.

Media Contact: Ursula Walendzewicz, 8476308722, [email protected]

SOURCE Brennan Investment Group, LLC
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Renowned Broadway actor and Grammy Award-winner Patrick Page knew for years that he was suffering from hearing loss. Still, there he was, prior to his current run in the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown, taking notes from a director he couldn't understand.

Broadway actor Patrick Page

"This was about four years ago, before I got hearing aids. I had a director whose voice was in a range that was hard for me to hear," Page recalls. "Usually, I'd sit as close to him as I could without infringing on his space. But during notes sessions, he'd sit on one side of the room and the actors would sit on another and I had to ask a buddy to take down my notes for me. I would nod as if I understood, but then my friend would give me the notes later."

On stage, he was struggling to find the right pitch for his musical performances. And working in television was even harder.

"When I began doing more television, I realized I couldn't hear anyone I was acting with," he says. "I blamed it on modern acting techniquespeople being so naturalistic I couldn't hear thembut I soon realized they were speaking normally. I just couldn't hear them."

Today, Page wears Widex MOMENT hearing aids and they've changed his professional life for the better.

"If this technology didn't exist, my career would look different than it does today," he explains, "It wouldn't be over; I'd still do audiobooks and other things. But working the way I work nowon stage and on camerawould not be possible if I didn't have my Widex MOMENT hearing aids."

To Hear or Not to Hear?

Page wanted to be in theater as soon as he saw his father perform Shakespeare at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival. And for some 35 years, he's played many a Shakespearean role (think Hamlet, Henry V, Macbeth, Iago, Richard III, Marc Antony, Brutus, and others), led various Shakespeare companies, and received the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theater. He's also one of Broadway's leading men, starring in everything from Hadestown to A Time to Kill, and Lion King to Spider Man, Turn Off the Dark. And his TV credits include Blacklist, Chicago PD, The Good Wife, Law and Order SVU, and many others.

Page grew up in a family that understood hearing challenges. His father was fluent in American Sign Language, performed in a theater company for the deaf, and sometimes signed for the local news station. Page himself was once invited to serve as one of the hearing actors in the Deaf West Theater production of Spring Awakening on Broadway.

"It was wonderful being embraced by the deaf community," Page says. "But at the time, I was very much in denial of my own hearing loss."

Over the years, Page has been outspoken about challenges with depression and anxiety, some of which he traces to his hearing loss, which began to manifest itself more than 20 years ago. He's an advocate for others dealing with depression and believes better hearing and social interaction are critical.

"Most of the time, my hearing loss didn't affect me terribly, or so I thought," he says. "In retrospect, I realize it contributed to my social anxiety. I would be in situations at parties and in groups and I couldn't follow the conversation or what was happening. So, I would become very anxious, shy, and withdrawn, and I wouldn't want to be in those situations."

The most obvious clue his hearing was in decline came when his soon-to-be-wife, the actress Paige Davis, would beckon from the next room to no effect. Then, about a decade ago, Page suspected the unimaginable.

"I thought I was losing my voice," he says.

Page has a distinguished, resonant voice. "My calling card as an actor," he describes it. Of course, he wasn't losing his voice, just his hearing, but the implications for his career were significant.

"The cardinal sin of acting is overacting, and when you can't hear yourself, you push your voice until you can," Page says. "But then you no longer come off natural to the audience. It's a huge thing to be able to modulate your performance based on the immediate feedback you get from your own voice."

Eventually, something had to change. In 2018, as Hadestown was touring, Page finally visited an audiologist and got fitted for hearing aids. "It was like night and day," he says.

More Natural Hearing in the Big Apple

Widex MOMENT hearing aids not only allow wearers to hear more; they help them hear better, which enables them to communicate more naturally in virtually all situations.

"They're especially great in public because their ability to screen out background noise is the best I've heard," Page says. "And they sound completely natural."

Widex MOMENT hearing aids include patented PureSound technology to overcome artificial noise that results when direct and amplified sound arrive at the eardrum out of sync. Through PureSound's ZeroDelay processing, ideal for people with mild to moderate hearing loss, Widex MOMENT hearing aids eliminate distortion and other common artifacts to create a more natural sound.

In restaurants, Page changes the settings on his MOMENT hearing aids to pick up more sound from the person in front of him and minimize ambient noise around him. When driving a car, he easily switches the hearing aids' directivity to focus on the passenger to his right.

"On the streets of New York, which can get noisy with jackhammers and such, it's easy to simply turn them down," he says.

Page uses the MOMENT App to wirelessly pair his hearing aids with his smartphone and take calls. At this stage in his hearing loss, there's virtually no other way for him to phone friends, family, and colleagues. In fact, he says, he'd be at a loss without his hearing aids.

"I couldn't do my job if I didn't have the MOMENT hearing aids," Page says. "I'm better with my colleagues backstage and on set. I'm better in front of the camera and on stage. And in terms of film or televised work, there would really be no way for me to have a career without my hearing aids."

As a long-time New Yorker, Page has loved getting reacquainted with his adopted home through better hearing.

"I live right by the park, and before, I didn't realize there were birds all around all day long," he says. "For the longest time, I couldn't hear them. I can now."

For a video of Patrick's story, click here.

For high-res images, click here.

About Widex

At Widex we believe in a world where there are no barriers to communication; a world where people interact freely, effortlessly and confidently. With sixty years' experience developing state-of-the-art technology, we provide hearing solutions that are easy to use, seamlessly integrated in daily life and enable people to hear naturally. As one of the world's leading hearing aid producers, our products are sold in more than one hundred countries, and we employ 4,000 people worldwide.

Media Contact

Dan Griffin

2124813456

[email protected]

SOURCE Widex
Oscar-Nominated Actor and Native Californian Joins Immersive Experience Celebrating Inspirational National Park

NEW YORK , April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CityLights, a leader in virtual reality specializing in bringing immersive cinematic storytelling to broader audiences, today announced that Oscar-nominated actor, Bryan Cranston, has signed on to voice its upcoming project, "Experience Yosemite." Cranston, who is most known for his Golden Globe and Emmy winning performance as Walter White in Breaking Bad, will voice the viewer's immersive cinematic journey through one of the first National Parks of the United States.

"I've always felt a strong sense of adventure," said Cranston. "From a young age I wanted to explore and experience all that this world had to offer. I've traveled to a lot of incredible places. But when I first saw Yosemite my mind was blown. I was awestruck by its natural beauty and felt that everyone in the world should experience it. This experience is the next best thing it majestically captures Yosemite from discovery to sustaining its natural wonder. I'm thrilled to be a part of bringing this unique experience to the masses."

"Experience Yosemite" ushers in a new multisensory cinematic experience, communicating the ancient art of storytelling through a deeper, more powerful medium, intimately connecting viewers with this awe-inspiring place. The project details the park's rich history, taking viewers from its native heritage through the groundbreaking work of John Muir and Ansel Adams to the natural beauty that continues to inspire thousands of visitors each year. The experience utilizes cutting-edge photogrammetry that was shot using advanced climbing and hiking techniques, as drones are not allowed within the National Park systems. Written by Gabriel Gavigan, directed by Joel Newton with VR development led by Louis Silverstein, this experience tackles significant cinematic challenges, creating a fully immersive snapshot of this vast and majestic place.

"Experience Yosemite" is produced by Garland Hunt Jr., Joel Newton and Greg Downing, alongside executive producers David Ganek, Bart Gavigan, and Jeffrey Travis. The experience will be released later this summer at the Positron VR Theater at Yosemite Cinema located in Oakhurst, CA. Guests will be able to experience the project via Positron's state-of-the-art Voyager virtual reality motion chairs, precisely engineered to move on behalf of the viewer. Ticket details to follow.

For more information on CityLights, visit https://www.citylightsvr.com/

For more information on Positron, visit http://gopositron.com

About CityLights:

CityLights specializes in bringing immersive cinematic storytelling to broader audiences, showcasing the type of experience that is only available in Virtual Reality (VR). They develop, produce, and publish VR projects that entertain, inspire, and educate, crafting the highest quality productions that usher in the future of storytelling in the meta. Their mission is to become the custodians of a library of premium titles that exemplify this ground-breaking generation of immersive media. Co-founded by arts patron, collector and entrepreneur, David Ganek, and award-winning film producer and VR pioneer, Joel Newton, CityLights is uniquely positioned at the cornerstone of this dynamic and emerging industry.

Media Contact:

CityLights C/O Brandstyle Communications

Kell Cholko I [email protected]

SOURCE CityLights
File picture of Australia PM Scott Morrison. /Xinhua

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison just drew a "red line" for China. Australian media widely reported on Sunday that Morrison claimed China building a military base on the Solomon Islands would be "red line" for both Australia and the US. "We won't be having Chinese military naval bases in our region on our doorstep," he was quoted as saying, adding "I share the same red line that the US has."

Wait. Are Australia and the US, the countries which have been provoking other countries, setting the standard for a "red line?" Has NATO, which provoked Russia for decades through an eastward expansion respected Russia's red line? And has Australia, which kept sending lethal weapons to the war zone to support Ukraine, ever taken Russia's red line into account?

If the US and Australia are so eager to discuss a "red line," they should first review their own deeds. Over the years, Washington and Canberra have been constantly stirring up trouble in the Indo-Pacific region, especially in terms of the Taiwan question, South China Sea issue, and the disputes over the Diaoyu Islands. US arms sales to Taiwan island have been going on for a long time, and quite recently, Washington not only sent a high-level delegation of politicians to the island, even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - the third-ranking political figure in the US, behind the president and vice president - had reportedly planned to visit Taiwan island. Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton, on the other side, has pledged allegiance to the US in so-called defending Taiwan.

Apart from that, the two have also attempted to draw Southeast Asian claimant countries to their side to contain China. US President Joe Biden once said Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Treaty will be applied to the defense of the Diaoyu Islands, and Australia has been pointing fingers at China's claim of the South China Sea.

Yet Taiwan island, South China Sea and the Diaoyu Islands concern China's territorial sovereignty. Is the Solomon Islands part of Australian or US soil? No. The Solomon Islands is a sovereign country. When China draws its red lines based on its own territory, sovereignty and core interests, Canberra and the US are doodling their red lines far away from their borders, turning a blind eye to others' sovereignty, Xu Shanpin, an adjunct research fellow at China University of Mining and Technology, told Global Times.

Morrison said he "won't be having Chinese military naval bases in our region on our doorstep," regardless of the fact that China has cleared multiple times that the agreement with the Solomon Islands is not about establishing a military base, but focuses on security cooperation, which is the normal exchange and cooperation between two sovereign and independent countries. His wordings also triggered a question: Why could the US have its military bases worldwide, at a number of other countries' doorsteps, and can carry out its freedom of navigation operations wherever it wants? What a tale of two rules-based orders.

The relevant standard of the US and Australia has been ironic: They can provoke, but whoever fights back would be called an "aggressor." They can condemn any country, yet whoever talks back will be labeled a "wolf worrier;" They can have all forms of military cooperation with others, but China's legitimate security collaboration with others is a "threat."

When Morrison made the "red line" rhetoric, he jeopardized the red line of the Solomon Islands, an independent country, by failing to respect the latter's diplomatic sovereignty. The Australian government is so used to making decisions on behalf of Pacific island countries, with the belief that those islands should naturally follow its "guidance." Such a mentality can be viewed as Australian neo-colonialism, Yang Honglian, senior researcher at the Liaocheng University, told the Global Times.

Yet, no country has the right to set security red lines beyond its borders, as doing so would severely deteriorate regional stability, and boost uncertainties among major power interactions, Xu said. Unfortunately, what the US and Australia have been saying and doing is turning the Pacific region into a battlefield of major countries.

Some observers also noticed an interesting part in Morrison's remarks. He wanted to be tough to China, but deliberately mentioned the US to support its stance, which mirrors how much nerve Australia actually has. Western countries like to say "speak from a position of strength." Without enough strength, a country is not qualified to draw red lines for others, Yu Lei, chief research fellow at the Research Center for Pacific Island Countries of Liaocheng University, told the Global Times.
Cantourage introduces Miracle Valley's Canadian Mac 1 medical cannabis flower product to the German market

medical cannabis flower product to the German market Cultivated with a "craft growing" approach, Miracle Valley's high-quality flowers are the first Canadian cannabis flowers entering the German market via the Cantourage fast-track access platform.

Scott Mayer , CEO of Miracle Valley comments: "Thanks to our partnership with Cantourage, we are able to bring our high-quality medical cannabis flowers to an audience outside of Canada and provide patients in Europe with a new option for medical cannabis cultivated in Canada ."

BERLIN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- European medical cannabis leader Cantourage GmbH ("Cantourage") and Canada-based medical cannabis manufacturer Miracle Valley have entered a partnership that will see medical cannabis from British Columbia, Canada, brought to Germany. Starting today, pharmacies and patients throughout Germany will have access to Miracle Valley's high-THC Mac 1 cultivar.

Miracle Valley is a fully operational facility licensed under the Cannabis Act of Canada. Based in British Columbia in the Cascade Mountain Range, Miracle Valley cultivates medical cannabis in a distinctive "craft growing" approach, allowing for small batches of high-quality medical cannabis grown in a controlled indoor environment. As a privately held company founded in July 2013, Miracle Valley has made its mission to serve the needs of customers and patients alike, while setting new quality benchmarks for medical cannabis flowers.

Miracle Valley operates five flower rooms, each with an area of 1,170 ft2 (109 m2) that are sealed from environmental exposure, thus significantly reducing the possibility of microbial contamination. The team at Miracle Valley has been dedicated to perfecting its Mac 1 medical cannabis flower for the past three years, having run and conducted numerous trials that resulted in a unique product.

Cantourage processes the cannabis flowers, transforming them to medical cannabis products, and makes them available to pharmacies in Germany. The partnership between Cantourage and Miracle Valley further increases the range of international, high-quality medical cannabis products that Cantourage has been making available to the EU market.

Philip Schetter, CEO of Cantourage, commented: "We are excited about our partnership with Miracle Valley, as its Mac 1 cultivar is the first Canadian medical cannabis product to enter the European market via the Cantourage platform. Miracle Valley's 'craft growing' approach will be a valuable addition to the medical cannabis products that Cantourage has made available in Germany through its Fast Track Access platform."

Scott Mayer, CEO of Miracle Valley, added: "At Miracle Valley, we are all about setting new standards for premium cannabis cultivation and to provide patients with the highest quality cannabis strains available. Thanks to our partnership with Cantourage, we are now able to bring our high-quality medical cannabis flowers to an audience outside of Canada and provide patients in Europe with a new option for medical cannabis cultivated in Canada."

About Cantourage GmbH

Cantourage GmbH is a leading European medical cannabis company. The Berlin-based company was founded in 2019 by industry pioneers Dr Florian Holzapfel, Norman Ruchholtz and Patrick Hoffmann.

With its unique Fast Track Access platform, Cantourage enables producers from across the world to become part of the rapidly growing European medical cannabis market. Cantourage focuses on long-term collaborations and strategic partnerships: each partner along the value chain can focus on what they do best  from growers to logistics, manufacturers to pharmacies and wholesalers. All with one clear goal in mind: to provide patients in Europe with an unprecedented selection of the highest quality cannabis medicines at affordable prices. Cantourage offers products in all relevant market segments: dried flowers, extracts, Dronabinol and pharma-grade Cannabidiol.

About Miracle Valley

Miracle Valley is an uncompromising, cultivation focused-premium flower company, dedicated to the art and science of growing the best cannabis plants in Canada. As a privately held company, Miracle Valley is dedicated to the customer as its shareholders - not the public markets. Miracle valley is led by cannabis enthusiast Scott Mayer. Miracle Valley's strength and passion are cannabis flowers. Its vision is to raise the standard in the premium cannabis flower category by providing unique and exotic genetics expertly grown by passionate people.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1804754/Cantourage_and_Miracle_Valley_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Cantourage
Vegas-Based Sandwich Franchise Named to Prestigious List for Third Year In-a-Row; Leads the Field in Employee Satisfaction

LAS VEGAS, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Capriotti's Sandwich Shop (Capriotti's), the popular fast casual franchise known for its fan-favorite sandwich creations, announced today that the brand has once again been named one of the Top Workplaces by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. This now marks the third year in-a-row that the franchise has found itself among those ranked by their employees as being one of the best brands to work for in Nevada.

This year's awards wrapped up after having achieved a variety of record-breaking metrics, such as the selection of 55 companies by their employees to receive inclusion in this year's rankings, which is 13 more than what was seen in 2021. These final recipients were chosen from 91 total companies based throughout Nevada using a detailed employee survey process that was conducted by Energage, a research company based out of Philadelphia. That, too, was a record number of companies to be included in the awards extensive vetting process.

As is the case in every year past, the Nevada Top Workplaces Award consists of an in-depth survey given to employees of nominated companies as a means to assess each brand's positioning on a multitude of workplace issues, such as corporate leadership, employee appreciation, direction, team communication and company benefits. The responses for each are coalesced into a final whole and the top performers are selected.

"It's a very proud feeling to consistently find yourself listed as being one of the best places to work in the entire state. Not because there's an award to show for it but because your team regards the company and the culture we've created so highly," says Ashley Morris, CEO of Capriotti's Sandwich Shop. "There could never be anything as valuable as that."

As many fans of the brand are aware, Capriotti's has roots stretching all the way back to Wilmington, Delaware, where, in 1976, the first location was established. Back then, it was founded as a concept that put the customer first, providing them with a quality of food and overall experience that couldn't be found anywhere else. Today, the franchise still operates under that customer-first mentality, but their passion has expanded to encompass the efforts of the Capriotti's team, all of whom embody the company's core values  passion, family, integrity, profitability, and genuineness.

"The systems we have in place are meant to ensure that Capriotti's team members have a uniform experience being a part of our brand, whether they be here in Vegas or on the other side of the country," says David Bloom, Chief Development and Operating Officer of Capriotti's. "Such is the case for the entire Capriotti's family of brands, Wing Zone included. And with the growth that both franchises are predicting to see by year's end, we're eager to welcome many more people into that fold very shortly."

For more information about Capriotti's including its franchise opportunity, please visit http://www.ownacapriottis.com .

About Capriotti's Sandwich Shop

Founded in 1976, Capriotti's Sandwich Shop is an award-winning national franchised restaurant chain that remains true to its 40-year tradition of slow-roasting whole, all-natural turkeys in-house every day. Capriotti's cold, grilled, and vegetarian subs, cheesesteaks and salads are available at more than 125 locations across the United States. Capriotti's signature sub, The Bobbie, was voted "The Greatest Sandwich in America" by thousands of readers across the country, as reported by AOL.com. Capriotti's fans can also download the CAPAddicts Rewards app for iOS and Android, where they can earn and redeem rewards. Capriotti's plans to grow to over 500 locations by 2025 and was ranked on Fast Casual's Top Movers & Shakers List each of the last two years (2020-21). For more information, visit capriottis.com. Like Capriotti's on Facebook, follow on Twitter or Instagram.

Media Contact: Conner Gossel, Fishman Public Relations, [email protected], 937-545-9812

SOURCE Capriotti's Sandwich Shop
MINNEAPOLIS, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CarVal Investors, an established global alternative investment manager, today announced the addition of Scott Greenfield as managing director of Real Estate. Based in New York, Scott will manage commercial real estate loan and securities investments in North America.

"We're thrilled to have Scott join the CarVal Commercial Real Estate team given the depth and breadth of his experience in connection with both lending and CMBS opportunities," said Seth Cohen, a principal at CarVal Investors. "CarVal has been aggressively building out our CRE business over the last 18 months and we believe Scott will be an integral part of the future of our CRE platform."

Paul Mullaney, managing director of CarVal's North American CRE business, added, "In the current market environment, the U.S. CRE loan opportunity set is very attractive and we are excited to leverage Scott's expertise to help us capitalize on this and grow our business."

Most recently, Scott was a managing director in Angelo Gordon's real estate debt group, where he was responsible for the investment and asset management of the firm's commercial real estate loans and focused on the trading and surveillance of the group's CMBS portfolio. Prior to Angelo Gordon, Scott held various positions at Caxton Associates, Guggenheim Partners and Credit Suisse First Boston in the Real Estate Finance and Commercial Real Estate Debt Groups.

About CarVal Investors

CarVal Investors is an established global alternative investment manager focused on distressed and credit-intensive assets and market inefficiencies. Since 1987, CarVal's team has navigated through ever-changing credit market cycles, opportunistically investing $133 billion in 5,610 transactions across 82 countries. Today, CarVal Investors has approximately $11 billion in assets under management in corporate securities, loan portfolios, structured credit and hard assets. CarVal invested approximately $1 billion in commercial real estate loans in 2021.

For more information, visit www.carvalinvestors.com.

CONTACT: Alison Dubay, CarVal Investors

[email protected]

+1 952 444 4870

SOURCE CarVal Investors
During an inspection tour of south China's Hainan Province from April 10 to 13, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an acceleration of the development of the island province into a free trade port with Chinese characteristics and global influence, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

He emphasized the importance of leveraging the advantages of China's huge market size, fostering a favorable market environment with the rule of law, and attracting customers with trusted business operations and quality services.

Developing the Hainan free trade port is a complex and systematic project that requires long-term preparation and work as well as integrated institutional innovation.

Hainan authorities will work to ensure the smooth launch of customs operation in the free trade port, step up their construction of a modern industrial system, focusing on tourism, services industry, hi-tech industry, and tropical high-efficiency agriculture.

The island province will gradually eliminate institutional barriers in all aspects and open up wider at a higher level.

Hainan will push for stronger measures to combat pollution and more concrete efforts to develop its national ecological conservation pilot zone.

Cultural and ethical progress in Hainan will be advanced in tandem with the deepened reform and increased opening-up.

Immediate measures are expected to be taken to solve the urgent problems and worries of the people of Hainan, and local authorities are actively exploring ways to achieve common prosperity. The policies of reducing burdens, stabilizing jobs and increasing employment will be sustained.

It's important to improve the mechanism ensuring supply of, and stabilizing the prices of, essential commodities for people's livelihoods.

SOURCE Beijing Review
MISSISSAUGA, ON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cloud VMS, a new Video Management Software tool announced from Systems With Intelligence, (SWI), gives users the ability to view their remote substation sites and assets from any location, on any device.

Leveraging the power and accessibility of the cloud, this tool provides users with secure, 24/7 connection to live video feeds of any of their remote sites.

Angelo Rizzo President & CEO, Systems With Intelligence Inc.

Cloud VMS includes built-in analytics that analyzes the video in real time to detect unauthorized access to locations and provide instant alerts to the control center and operations team.

Machine learning algorithms are constantly processing the data to detect and classify objects so unnecessary alarms can be avoided.

"Today's utility workers are mobile and stretched to capacity. They don't have the time, staff or ability to physically monitor all of their remote sites," said Angelo Rizzo, president and CEO of Systems With Intelligence. "With Cloud VMS, the monitoring is done for them, and they are notified if their attention is needed. They can connect with their mobile devices and determine exactly what is going on at a remote site, from wherever they are."

Cloud VMS is a pure cloud video surveillance and analytics platform, operating on a modern redundant cloud architecture via an HTML5 Web interface with comprehensive mobile applications supporting both Android and IOS.

The machine-learning systems are constantly retraining and evolving object classification algorithms in real-time based on all enabled footage, locations, and conditions. Rules-based cloud analytics allow users to detect, track and classify objects such as a car, people, animals as well as any other of the 110+ categories available.

Cloud VMS is hosted on AWS S3 for redundancy and data security but can also be deployed on a private cloud. The deployment of pure cloud surveillance is scalable and flexible as additional cameras can be easily added into the system when expansion is required.

The built-in cloud analytics enable users to set fully customized, rules-based functions with subsequent custom alerts for email or app push notifications during a set schedule for select users.

"Utilities are part of our critical infrastructure and need to have constant awareness of what is going on at their remote sites," added Rizzo "This is not only to protect utility workers and the public from physical harm and ensure the reliable supply of electricity that is essential to support our well-being. Protection of our critical infrastructure is mandated at the federal government level and utilities need a way to manage remote monitoring in an efficient and cost-effective way."

Quick Facts

Systems With Intelligence is a Canadian company, founded in 2009

Systems With Intelligence Touchless  monitoring systems are installed in over 100 utilities worldwide

monitoring systems are installed in over 100 utilities worldwide Systems With Intelligence senior management team has over 100 years of collective experience in utility asset monitoring and communications technologies

About Systems With Intelligence

Systems With Intelligence Inc. is a global provider of Touchless monitoring solutions for electric utility applications. SWI systems collect and analyze the data that allows utilities to increase safety and reliability while reducing operating costs. Coupling thermal monitoring and visual imaging technology with advanced analytic algorithms, Systems With Intelligence solutions automate remote site monitoring and provides the data to support condition-based maintenance programs. www.SystemsWithIntelligence.com.

Media Contact:

Angelo Rizzo

289-562-0126

[email protected]

SOURCE Systems With Intelligence Inc.
This year's theme is "Connected. Supported. Safe." This reflects the enduring connection workers and leaders have to each other across the industry. Being connected builds strength because it means individual workers are not alone in building a stronger, safer industry and creating a safe, supportive environment for everyone.

The event also focuses on mental health issues among workers. Issues like substance abuse or depression can cause even the best worker to put others at risk. And less noticeable things like prolonged stress, anxiety, financial concerns, or tension with a family member can cause workers to lose focus. If we connect with and support one another, we can conquer these challenges together.

New for this year, Construction Safety Week encourages all contractors and workers to begin using safety helmets with an integrated chinstrap and lateral protection, such as those made by Kask and other manufacturers. This simple change can significantly decrease the frequency and severity of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

Construction Safety Week leaders encourage all construction companies to participate in this important industry initiative. Firms can visit ConstructionSafetyWeek.com for free planning resources, including:

Safety Week promotional materials, including job site banners, PowerPoint templates, a planning playbook and more.





Daily topics, videos and Toolbox Talks.





Toolkits to help promote Safety Week internally and externally.





New this year: a Mental Wellness Field Guide to print and distribute on job sites during Safety Week to your teams and subcontractors. It includes information on mental wellness and where to turn for help or support.





Activities for workers and their families to do at home.





Materials translated into Spanish and French.

Industry workers, families and companies are invited to share a photo representing how they stay connected, supported and safe every day, and submit their short story for a chance to win $1,000 prize. Details are available on the Safety Week website.

"I'm proud of the work we've done as an industry to encourage safety through this event," said Ken Aldridge, 2022 Safety Week Committee Chair. "I am looking forward to seeing how firms across the industry celebrate this week."

About Safety Week

Construction Safety Week is an annual event designed to raise the awareness of the industry's ongoing commitment to building a culture of safety through sharing best practices, tools and resources at job sites and offices across the U.S. and Canada. Safety Week was founded by members of The Construction Industry Safety Initiative (CISI) and the Incident & Injury Free Executive Forum (IIF) and now includes 70 of the top contractors in the industry, representing thousands of workers. Additional support comes from Safety Week sponsors, partners and advocates. For a complete list and more information, visit www.constructionsafetyweek.com

Safety Week 2022 members:

Aecom, Alberici, Aldridge Electric, Allan Myers, Ames Construction, APi Group, Arco, Atkinson Construction, Austin Industries, Baker Concrete, Balfour Beatty, Barnard, Barton Malow Company, Black & Veatch, BMWC Constructors, Boh Brothers, Brasfield & Gorrie, BrightView, Burns & McDonnell, Caddell Construction Co., Cashman Dredging and Marine, Cianbro, Clark Construction Group, Commercial Contracting Corporation, Doka USA, DPR Construction, Eldeco, Inc., Flintco, LLC, Fluor, Gaylor Electric, Gilbane Building Company, Graham, Granite, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, Hensel Phelps Construction, Herzog, Hitt, Hoffman, Hunter Roberts Construction Group, J.F. Shea, Kiewit Corporation, Lane Construction, Limbach, M.J. Electric, Manson Construction, Massman Construction Co., McCarthy, Middlesex Corporation, Mortenson, PC Construction, PCL Construction, Phillips and Jordan Inc, Rodgers Builders, Rosendin Electric, Schimenti, Skanska, Stacy and Witbeck, Structural Group, Suffolk Construction, Sukut Construction, Sundt Construction, Superior Construction, Terracon, Traylor, Turner, Walsh, Webcor Concrete, Weeks Marine, Yates, Zachry.

Safety Week 2022 sponsors:

Signature Sponsor: AGC of America, Aon, Beavers, Chubb (ACE American Holdings), CNA (Insurance), Construction Industry Roundtable (CIRT), Dr. Sally (Sally Spencer Thomas), GPRS (Ground Penetrating Radar System), Gray Construction, iHeart Radio, JMJ Consultants, John Moriarty & Associates of Virginia, LLC, Kask Helmets, Milwaukee Tool, National Academy of Construction (NAC), Stanley Black & Decker (Dewalt), Stantec, The Moles, Travelers, Triax, Zurich.

Media Contact:

Rob Pasquinucci

513.604.3556

[email protected]

SOURCE Construction Safety Week
Annual industry event held on construction sites across the U.S. and Canada

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Construction Safety Week, an annual industrywide education and awareness event originally hosted in 2014, kicks off at construction sites across U.S and Canada on May 2.

As pandemic restrictions have eased, Safety Week will be holding more in-person events, including celebrations near O'Hare Airport in Chicago and Centene Stadium in St. Louis. Media members looking to cover these events can get details by emailing [email protected].

This year's theme is "Connected. Supported. Safe." This reflects the enduring connection workers and leaders have to each other across the industry. Being connected builds strength because it means individual workers are not alone in building a stronger, safer industry and creating a safe, supportive environment for everyone.

The event also focuses on mental health issues among workers. Issues like substance abuse or depression can cause even the best worker to put others at risk. And less noticeable things like prolonged stress, anxiety, financial concerns, or tension with a family member can cause workers to lose focus. If we connect with and support one another, we can conquer these challenges together.

New for this year, Construction Safety Week encourages all contractors and workers to begin using safety helmets with an integrated chinstrap and lateral protection, such as those made by Kask and other manufacturers. This simple change can significantly decrease the frequency and severity of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

Construction Safety Week leaders encourage all construction companies to participate in this important industry initiative. Firms can visit ConstructionSafetyWeek.com for free planning resources, including:

Safety Week promotional materials, including job site banners, PowerPoint templates, a planning playbook and more.





Daily topics, videos and Toolbox Talks.





Toolkits to help promote Safety Week internally and externally.





New this year: a Mental Wellness Field Guide to print and distribute on job sites during Safety Week to your teams and subcontractors. It includes information on mental wellness and where to turn for help or support.





Activities for workers and their families to do at home.





Materials translated into Spanish and French.

Industry workers, families and companies are invited to share a photo representing how they stay connected, supported and safe every day, and submit their short story for a chance to win $1,000 prize. Details are available on the Safety Week website.

"I'm proud of the work we've done as an industry to encourage safety through this event," said Ken Aldridge, 2022 Safety Week Committee Chair. "I am looking forward to seeing how firms across the industry celebrate this week."

About Safety Week

Construction Safety Week is an annual event designed to raise the awareness of the industry's ongoing commitment to building a culture of safety through sharing best practices, tools and resources at job sites and offices across the U.S. and Canada. Safety Week was founded by members of The Construction Industry Safety Initiative (CISI) and the Incident & Injury Free Executive Forum (IIF) and now includes 70 of the top contractors in the industry, representing thousands of workers. Additional support comes from Safety Week sponsors, partners and advocates. For a complete list and more information, visit www.constructionsafetyweek.com

Safety Week 2022 members:

Aecom, Alberici, Aldridge Electric, Allan Myers, Ames Construction, APi Group, Arco, Atkinson Construction, Austin Industries, Baker Concrete, Balfour Beatty, Barnard, Barton Malow Company, Black & Veatch, BMWC Constructors, Boh Brothers, Brasfield & Gorrie, BrightView, Burns & McDonnell, Caddell Construction Co., Cashman Dredging and Marine, Cianbro, Clark Construction Group, Commercial Contracting Corporation, Doka USA, DPR Construction, Eldeco, Inc., Flintco, LLC, Fluor, Gaylor Electric, Gilbane Building Company, Graham, Granite, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, Hensel Phelps Construction, Herzog, Hitt, Hoffman, Hunter Roberts Construction Group, J.F. Shea, Kiewit Corporation, Lane Construction, Limbach, M.J. Electric, Manson Construction, Massman Construction Co., McCarthy, Middlesex Corporation, Mortenson, PC Construction, PCL Construction, Phillips and Jordan Inc, Rodgers Builders, Rosendin Electric, Schimenti, Skanska, Stacy and Witbeck, Structural Group, Suffolk Construction, Sukut Construction, Sundt Construction, Superior Construction, Terracon, Traylor, Turner, Walsh, Webcor Concrete, Weeks Marine, Yates, Zachry.

Safety Week 2022 sponsors:

Signature Sponsor: AGC of America, Aon, Beavers, Chubb (ACE American Holdings), CNA (Insurance), Construction Industry Roundtable (CIRT), Dr. Sally (Sally Spencer Thomas), GPRS (Ground Penetrating Radar System), Gray Construction, iHeart Radio, JMJ Consultants, John Moriarty & Associates of Virginia, LLC, Kask Helmets, Milwaukee Tool, National Academy of Construction (NAC), Stanley Black & Decker (Dewalt), Stantec, The Moles, Travelers, Triax, Zurich.

Media Contact:

Rob Pasquinucci

513.604.3556

[email protected]

SOURCE Construction Safety Week
MISSISSAUGA, ON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Covalon Technologies Ltd. (the "Company" or "Covalon") (TSXV: COV) (OTCQX: CVALF), an advanced medical technologies company, today announced that Ron Hebert has joined the Company as Senior Vice President of Marketing.

"We are so pleased to welcome Ron to Covalon," said Brian Pedlar, Chief Executive Officer of Covalon. "With the addition of Ron to our senior leadership team, we gain a highly creative and driven executive with strong experience in growth-focused marketing. Ron's experience engaging with physicians and clinicians in the United States, combined with his past successes in the biologics, physician services, pediatric, hematology, and anesthesiology markets, brings strong value to Covalon's growing infection prevention and advanced wound care business. Ron will be an asset to our Company as we grow."

Mr. Hebert brings nearly 30 years of healthcare sales, marketing, and hospital experience to Covalon. He has extensive experience leading national and international marketing operations within prominent global pharmaceutical and medical device companies, such as Bayer Diagnostics and Beckman Coulter. Prior to joining the Company, he served as Vice President of Marketing and Communications at VIVEX Biologics, a regenerative medicine technology company based in Florida. He also served as Vice President and Head of Growth Marketing and Sales Operations at MEDNAX (NYSE: MD) Health Solutions, a $3.5 billion Physician Services Organization. There, he was responsible for developing and executing the organization's growth strategies, marketing, communications, and sales operations for partner hospitals, health systems, and the more than 350 company-owned physician practices under various organizational sub-brands. Prior to MEDNAX, Mr. Hebert served as the Director of Global Product Management and Strategy for Beckman Coulter, a Danaher Company, where he oversaw all global upstream marketing, research and development, and general management of its $700 million hematology, hemostasis, and urinalysis business.

About Covalon

Covalon Technologies Ltd. is a researcher, developer, manufacturer, and marketer of patent-protected medical products that improve patient outcomes and save lives in the areas of advanced wound care, infection management and surgical procedures. Covalon leverages its patented medical technology platforms and expertise in two ways: (i) by developing products that are sold under Covalon's name; and (ii) by developing and commercializing medical products for other medical companies under development and license contracts. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, having the symbol COV and trades on the OTCQX Market under the symbol CVALF. To learn more about Covalon, visit our website at www.covalon.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking statements which reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events. The forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan, "estimate", "expect", "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, including the difficulty in predicting product approvals, acceptance of and demands for new products, the impact of the products and pricing strategies of competitors, delays in developing and launching new products, the regulatory environment, fluctuations in operating results, the impact and timing of COVID-19 on operating activities and market conditions, and other risks, any of which could cause results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Many risks are inherent in the industry; others are more specific to the Company. Investors should consult the Company's ongoing quarterly filings for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements. Investors should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, further events or otherwise.

SOURCE Covalon Technologies Ltd.
Tribeca Venture Partners leads round, along with Greycroft, with funds used to invest in growth and recruit top talent across departments

CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Crafty , a centralized platform for workplaces to manage food, beverage and supplies for employees, today announced its $10 million Series A led by Tribeca Venture Partners. To date, Crafty has raised over $15 million from investors, including Greycroft, OCA Ventures, Manifold, Firebrand, Rubicon Venture Capital, 7BC Venture Capital, Gaingels, and Bluestein Ventures. With the newest funding, Crafty will invest in growth with a focus on recruiting key hires for its technology, product, and sales teams.

Since its launch in 2015, Crafty has expanded to 27 markets across the globe, including New York, San Francisco, London, Dublin, Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, and Vancouver. The company manages over 260 customer offices and serves over 300,000 employees per month, both in-office and remote. Clients include companies such as Yelp, PayPal, Duolingo, Upwork, Brex, Sprout Social, and NextRoll. After facing the challenges brought on by the pandemic, in 2021 the company delivered over 800 percent top line revenue growth from pivoting operations into a more scalable, asset-light platform. Crafty launched 20 new markets that same year through partnerships with local fulfillment providers who use the company's operating system. This move allowed Crafty to give its clients a single platform to manage all consumable spend across offices and remote employees alike.

"People spend one third of their life working. Our goal is to help companies cultivate a culture of connectivity and employee appreciation through the power of food and beverage," said Nathan Rosenstock, co-CEO and co-founder of Crafty. "With growing uncertainties about the future of work, businesses need a solution that supports both hybrid and remote working models and evolves with the demands of a distributed workforce," adds Ishan Daya, co-CEO and co-founder of Crafty. "Crafty not only keeps pace with the rapid changes workplace teams face, but our team and technology are building our vision of what the future of the employee experience will look like for everyone, everywhere."

One of the new challenges for employers is equity across the remote, hybrid and in-office experiences. Many employees have a baseline expectation of the benefits and perks that top workplaces provide. A 2021 YPulse survey of Gen Z and Millennial workers shows that 65% identified free office meals as the top workplace perk that would make them enjoy working at a job more. This workplace trend highlights the importance of consumables to the workplace culture. Crafty's platform enables its clients to provide a holistic and competitive employee experience.

"Companies spend a lot of money on perks and supplies that employees consume for business-critical needs: nourishment, productivity, collaboration and connectivity," said Brian Hirsch, co-founder and managing partner of Tribeca Venture Partners. "What is so impressive about Crafty is how the company was able to pivot during the pandemic to create an incomparable and highly desirable solution for the $1 trillion market of business-to-business consumable spend."

Crafty's team is developing proprietary operating systems that arm procurement, finance, and workplace teams with a single platform that consolidates management, reporting, and ordering of consumables for employees across their offices and remote teams. Since Crafty sits at the center of employee consumption, the data collected is particularly insightful to key stakeholders. For procurement teams, Crafty consolidates services into a single, unified platform. For workplace teams, Crafty delivers a cohesive experience for employees, no matter where they work. For brands, Crafty presents an opportunity to find, activate, and convert consumers to be repeat buyers and brand loyalists.

To learn more about Crafty, visit www.craftydelivers.com .

About Crafty:

Crafty is a centralized platform for workplaces to manage food, beverage and supplies for their in-office, remote, and hybrid teams across the globe. Available in 27 markets, Crafty provides the services and technology to manage pantry, catering, cafes, and supply needs. Since launching in 2015, the company's mission is to help companies craft a better workplace by harnessing the power of food and beverage at work, whether that's fostering connectivity or increasing productivity. For more information, visit www.craftydelivers.com .

Media Contact:

BAM for Crafty

[email protected]

SOURCE Crafty
From his acclaimed series of novels featuring the detective Easy Rawlins, to his daring novel John Woman , which explored deconstructionist history, and his standalone crime novel Down the River and Unto the Sea , which won an Edgar Award for Best Novel, the rich storylines that Mosley has created deepen the understanding and appreciation of Black life in the United States.

Mosley has also written and staged several plays, including The Fall of Heaven . Several of his books have been adapted for film and television, including Devil in a Blue Dress and the HBO production of Always Outnumbered. His adaptation of his novel The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey is currently running on Apple TV+, starring Samuel L. Jackson. He is also a writer and an executive producer on the John Singleton FX drama series, "Snowfall." His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfictionlong-form essays and op-edshas appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Nation among other publications.

Concerned by the lack of diversity in all levels of publishing, Mosley established The Publishing Certificate Program with the City University of New York to bring together book professionals and students hailing from a wide range of racial, ethnic and economic communities for courses, internships, and job opportunities.

In 2013, Mosley was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. He is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, The Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award, a Grammy, several NAACP Image awards, and PEN America's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, he was named the recipient of the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement from the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and was awarded the Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award from the National Book Foundation.

"I am absolutely delighted that Walter Mosley has agreed to speak at Commencement for the Knox College Class of 2022 and to receive an honorary degree. I congratulate him, and our other two honorary degree recipients; all three all have done truly extraordinary work in their fields of expertise to drive inclusivity and equity in our world," said Knox College President C. Andrew McGadney.

2022 Commencement Honorary Degree Recipients

Dr. Joy Buolamwini is a computer scientist and poet of code who uses art and research to illuminate the social implications of artificial intelligence. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL) in 2016 to create a world with more equitable and accountable technology. Her TED Featured Talk on algorithmic bias has over 1.5 million views. Her MIT thesis methodology uncovered large skin type and gender bias in AI services from companies like Microsoft, IBM , and Amazon . In 2020, these companies stepped back from selling facial recognition technology to law enforcement. In addition to advising elected officials during U.S. congressional hearings, she serves on the Global Tech Panel to advise world leaders and executives on reducing AI harms. She is the spokesperson for Olay's #DecodeTheBias campaign appearing in September Vogue and on Good Morning America to raise awareness about the need for algorithmic justice.

Dr. Buolamwini's journey is depicted in the critically acclaimed documentary Coded Bias on Netflix, which sheds light on threats AI poses to civil rights and democracy. She has written op-eds on the impact of AI for publications like TIME Magazine , New York Times , and The Atlantic . Her spoken word visual audit "AI, Ain't I A Woman?" which shows AI failures on the faces of iconic women like Serena Williams, Oprah Winfrey, and Michelle Obama, has been part of over 20 exhibitions across 4 continents.

A Rhodes Scholar and Fulbright Fellow, Dr. Buolamwini has been named to notable lists including Forbes' 30 under 30 , The Bloomberg 50 , and Time Next 100 . Fortune Magazine named her " the conscience of the AI revolution ." She is the first Black researcher to be on the cover of Fast Company, appearing in the 2020 " Most Creative People " issue. The King Center honored her with the 2022 Beloved Community Technological Innovation award. She holds a Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab, and master's degrees from Oxford University and MIT, and a bachelor's degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Buolamwini is a world-renowned expert and speaker on issues of algorithmic justice.

She is currently working on a forthcoming book, Justice Decoded, with Penguin Random House while leading AJL as the executive director.

Barbara Stewart served as the CEO of AmeriCorps from February 2018 through January 2021, following her unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate. AmeriCorps is the federal agency for service and volunteerism, supporting nearly 300,000 AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers.

Previously, Stewart spent over a decade as a senior vice president in government relations and external affairs at JPMorgan Chase. She has chaired multiple civic and charitable organizations and helped found a charter school in Chicago. With her husband, Peter Bowe, Ms. Stewart co-founded the Bowe Stewart Foundation with a focus on closing the opportunity gap for urban residents in Baltimore and Chicago.

She earned a B.A. and MBA from Northwestern University. She is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and currently serves on the Board of the American Battlefield Trust, the University of Chicago Graham School Advisory Council and on the national advisory boards of The Policy Circle and Service Year Alliance.

Honorary Degree Recipients at the Inauguration of President C. Andrew McGadney on Friday, May 6, 2022

"These three honorary degree recipients are relentless innovators who, through their determination, creativity, versatility, and leadership have moved their respective fields, and the world, forward," said McGadney.

Sara Jane Ahmed '12 is a financial and environmental strategist leading a worldwide initiative to build clean energy economies for people in regions most affected by climate change.

Drawing upon deep expertise in financial and energy markets, Ahmed supported the creation of Climate Prosperity Plans, encompassing both economic development and reduced vulnerability to climate change, potentially benefitting more than 1.4 billion people worldwide. To promote the Climate Prosperity Plans, she founded the Financial Futures Center, which explores investment opportunities that boost economic growth and ameliorates climate-related impacts. In addition, she serves as finance advisor to the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group, an organization that now includes more than 50 of the world's most climate-vulnerable countries.

While the first Climate Prosperity Plan is now being rolled out in Bangladesh, Ahmed also led the work on a moratorium on new coal-fired power in her home country of the Philippines, as well as the Sustainable Insurance Facility, which helps small enterprises in V20 countries manage climate-related risks to their business.

In 2021, Ahmed was selected one of three winners of a Climate Breakthrough Award, the largest environmental award for individuals. Ahmed serves on the board of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and the advisory boards of the Global Renewables Congress and Climate Smart Ventures. She has held advisory and expert positions at the Climate Change Commission of the Philippines, United Nations Development Programme, Asian Development Bank, and World Resources Institute.

Ahmed has a master's degree in finance from the University of Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business. She earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Knox College, magna cum laude, with a self-designed major in development finance and energy, and won the Sylvia & Irwin Jaffe Memorial Prize for academic achievement and extracurricular leadership, and the Charles W. and Arvilla S. Timme Ford Fellowship for research.

David A. Greene, twentieth president of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, is leading transformational change at one of the nation's premiere liberal arts institutions.

Since Greene came to Colby in 2014, the college has diversified its faculty and added new academic programs in data science, computational biology, genomics, and environmental humanities, along with expanding core programs in the environment and climate change, performance studies, and creative writing.

Initiatives at Colby span the curriculum, from the Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence to the Lunder Institute for American Art. New facilities and programs include the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts, Greene Block + Studios, Paul J. Schupf Art Center, Linde Packman Lab for Biosciences Innovation, Buck Lab for Climate and Environment, Halloran Lab for Entrepreneurship, and a 500-acre island campus off the coast of Maine.

Greene's commitment to access has made Colby's financial aid program among the most generous in the country. The number of students eligible for Pell grants has nearly tripled, and the number of students of color has more than doubled. Working with the City of Waterville, Colby has spearheaded $200 million in community redevelopment, including two art centers, a hotel, and a technology center.

Before arriving at Colby, Greene was executive vice president of the University of Chicago and, prior to that, served in leadership roles at Brown University and Smith College. He serves on the boards of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole and the Kents Hill School. He received a bachelor's degree in history from Hamilton College and a master's degree in human development and psychology from Harvard University before earning a second master's and a doctoral degree in education and social policy at Harvard.

Haki R. Madhubuti is a best-selling author, poet, publisher, editor, and educator, and is widely regarded as one of the architects of the Black Arts Movement.

Madhubuti has published more than 36 books, and his poetry and essays have been selected for more than 100 anthologies. His book Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous? The African American Family in Transition has more than one million copies in print. His poetry has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and he has won the American Book Award, Illinois Arts Council Award, Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Prize in poetry for his book Liberation Narratives. His latest book, Taught By Women: Poems As Resistance Language, New and Selected (2020), pays homage to women who influenced him.

In 1967, Madhubuti founded Third World Press, the largest and oldest independent Black-owned press in the United States. In 2015, the publishing house expanded its mission as Third World Press Foundation. The Institute of Positive Education, which he co-founded with his wife, Dr. Carol D. Lee and others, operates three schools in Chicago. Madhubuti was named by Ebony magazine as one of the "150 Most Influential Blacks in America" in the field of education, and received the President's Pacesetters Award from the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education.

Madhubuti is also a founder and chairman of the board of the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent, and has been awarded the Literary Legacy Award from the National Black Writers Conference for creating and supporting Black literature and for building Black literary institutions.

Madhubuti earned his master of fine arts at the University of Iowa. He has taught at Columbia College of Chicago, Cornell University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Howard University, Morgan State University, University of Iowa, DePaul University, and Chicago State University, where he founded and directed the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing and co-founded the first MFA in Creative Writing at a predominantly Black University.

SOURCE Knox College
CrossVue's functional and industry expertise will enable organizations to achieve long-term strategic objectives and improve day-to-day efficiencies

MCLEAN, Va. and CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CrossCountry Consulting, a leading business advisory firm, today announced a spin-off of its Workday practice into a standalone company, CrossVue, dedicated exclusively to the Workday ecosystem.

As a full-service Workday deployment partner, CrossVue will remain committed to providing exceptional Workday services and solutions to drive business transformation. CrossCountry will continue to deliver business advisory and technology solutions that enable companies to transform operations, minimize risks, and achieve future growth.

Backed by RLH Equity Partners, CrossVue will further develop its position in the industry with a powerful go-to-market strategy led by CEO Jill Jones, CrossCountry's former Workday Practice Lead. As a contemporary consulting firm that provides the blueprint for modernizing client operations and processes through Workday, CrossVue will continue to provide advisory, deployment, and post-production support to clients throughout a wide range of industries including medium to large enterprise, healthcare, financial services, private equity, and nonprofit.

"Over the past 11 years, we've built a strong reputation for being fast and nimble in order to reach our goals and to serve our customers," said Erik Linn, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of CrossCountry Consulting. "Today's announcement clearly marks another significant accomplishment in our firm's history, and we look forward to continued growth and success across our advisory services and technology solutions."

He added: "Both CrossCountry and CrossVue will continue our strategic relationship and partnership as we utilize the complementary strengths of both firms to support our clients."

"This is a unique opportunity to combine the legacy, scale, and scope of a well-established business while capturing the entrepreneurial energy of a new firm to better serve clients," Jones said. "Our culture, core values, and people-centric approach are anchored on the foundation that was built at CrossCountry."

"I am excited about the future of CrossVue as its own independent company," she added. "We will continue to strategically partner with Workday and forge a new path of innovation and services for our clients."

CrossCountry's Advisory business has a demonstrated record of excellence and performance over the past 11-years. The strategic focus on advisory and technology-enabled solutions will position CrossCountry to continue to capitalize on favorable industry trends, better serve its clients, and enhance its growth.

CrossCountry Consulting is a trusted business advisory firm that provides comprehensive solutions encompassing business transformation, technology, accounting, risk, and cybersecurity. We partner with our clients to help them navigate complex business challenges and achieve goals related to improving operations, minimizing risks, and enabling future growth. For more information, visit www.crosscountry-consulting.com.

CrossVue is a contemporary consulting firm providing the blueprint for modernizing client operations and processes through Workday. As a leading Workday advisory, deployment, and post-production support firm, we drive critical results for our clients and help them reach their transformation goals through the Workday platform. For more information, visit www.crossvue.com.

Contact: Lea Hutchins, [email protected], (703) 244-8471

SOURCE CrossCountry Consulting; CrossVue
MIAMI, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CTH Group (CTH), one of the most influential companies in the Web 3 infrastructure and blockchain ecosystem announced it is establishing its global headquarters in the City of Miami.

CTH is the holding company of three distinct businesses: Fundamental Labs, a crypto venture capital firm with over 300 portfolios; IDEG, an institutional digital asset manager; and Atlas, one of the world's largest Web 3 infrastructure service providers.

Since 2016, CTH has established a global presence across North America, Asia, and Europe.

Founder of the Group, Raymond Yuan, commented on the expansion, "Miami has proven it wants to be a global leader in the Web 3 and crypto space. It was an easy decision having seen first-hand the efforts the city is making to attract the businesses, talent and capital that drive our industry."

Under Mayor Francis Suarez, Miami has set bold ambitions to be the capital for Web 3 in the same way Silicon Valley ruled Web 2. The explosion of growth of the ecosystem, at a global scale, is fuelled by a passionate and enthusiastic community that prides itself on inclusivity and collaboration. Miami seized on the opportunity during the pandemic to lure many international conferences, forums, and events focused on Web 3, blockchain and digital assets - and the institutional investment has followed. Coupled with a growing digital asset savvy population and policies to encourage greater adoption for daily commerce, the environment in Miami is primed for rapid growth and officials expect more industry leaders such as CTH to establish headquarters or operations in the city.

Mayor Suarez commented, "We are thrilled to welcome CTH Group to the City of Miami. Establishing their global headquarters in Miami underlines the city's continued growth as the 'capital of capital' for investment and Web3 technology. Moreover, locating their global headquarters in Miami will place them at the strategic epicenter of the Web3 revolution. Miami is here to help the CTH Group as it fuels this revolution."

Raymond Yuan added, "For CTH Group to be successful we need to be close to the innovators in the space. In Miami we do not have to go far to meet entrepreneurs with new ideas, renewable energy companies hoping to collaborate with Web 3 infrastructure providers, or traditional investors looking to deploy their capital in this fast-growing sector. CTH has ambitious growth targets and our pursuit for excellence has led us to Miami to achieve them."

More about CTH Group

Learn more: www.cth.group/about_us

SOURCE CTH Group
CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eagle OZ, a Chicago-based real estate investment group, announced today the launch of Eagle OZ Fund II (the Fund), an Opportunity Fund that provides investors with the chance to invest in a Qualified Opportunity Zone focused on the construction of 444-multifamily apartment rentals in the Bronzeville region of Chicago. Additionally, Eagle OZ announced its new partnership with Peak Capital Solutions.

"After the success of our Eagle OZ Fund I, we are very excited to launch Eagle OZ Fund II," said Jamie Nahon, Eagle OZ's founder and president. "We believe that the Fund is not only a way to positively impact and support Bronzeville's revitalization, but it also has the potential to provide investors with great upside, along with the added benefit of an Opportunity Zone's tax incentives. Additionally, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with industry leaders like Peak Capital Solutions. This new partnership will allow us to support more investors than ever before."

Located in the heart of Chicago, Bronzeville is a historically significant neighborhood which is currently experiencing massive revitalization efforts with more than $10 billion in economic development and 55,000 new jobs expected to form in 2022. According to Crain's Chicago Business, the region's recent five-year streak of new home sales is "unmatched", in a city where the average home price is nearly half of what it is in New York or Los Angeles. Additionally, Bronzeville plays an important role in African-American history as the birthplace of Black History Month and the one-time home of Nat King Cole, Gwendolyn Brooks and many others.

The Fund itself seeks to raise $50 million of equity for the new construction of 444-multifamily rental units in the Qualified Opportunity Zone tracks located across Bronzeville. An Opportunity Zone offers several potential tax benefits for investors, including the elimination of capital gains taxes and zero recapture.

"We are very excited to partner with Eagle OZ," said Brian Conneely, president, Peak Capital Solutions. "We look forward to supporting Eagle OZ with our full selection of services in order to maximize their fund-raising efforts for Eagle OZ Fund II."

Peak Capital Solutions is a third-party sales and distribution firm which provides multiple solutions for sponsors seeking to supplement their capital raising efforts. Peak Capital structures its model to offer an efficient use of resources in order to maximize fund-raising efforts and minimize operating costs.

Broker-dealers and registered investment advisors can submit electronic business through either the Altigo or 1776ing online platforms.

Eagle OZ's first Qualified Opportunity Fund, Eagle OZ I, is fully subscribed and currently has 24-units under construction. In 2021, Eagle OZ was named as one of two winners of the Most Impactful Project  a designation awarded to a project that emphasized the greatest amount of positive social impact  at the Opportunity Zone Expo in Denver.

About Eagle OZ

Eagle OZ is led by a seasoned team of real estate professionals with a track record of successful residential property investments in the Chicago area. The principals of Eagle OZ have more than 20 years of combined industry experience, including the sourcing of property, construction, stabilization and management. Eagle OZ was the winner of the most impactful project at the Opportunity Zone Expo in 2021.

Contact:

Rebecca Cleary

Spotlight Marketing Communications

949.427.1462

[email protected]

SOURCE Eagle OZ
"Talladega was the best experience of my career so far," says Earnhardt. "Having the opportunity to drive for RCR with Larry Mac on the box and Mike Dillon spotting was incredible. We went down there to sit on the pole and win the race and just came up one position shy from completing that mission. I'm so glad it happened in a ForeverLawn No. 3 and look forward to what the future holds for Earnhardt Nation."

Directing Earnhardt to his second-place win was a legend himself in Larry McReynolds, who returned to Richard Childress Racing as crew chief for the No. 3 Chevrolet. Under McReynolds' leadership, the team was able to secure runner up in "Earnhardt Country," dodging several wrecks and holding just enough fuel to cross the finish line moments behind Noah Gragson, driver of JR Motorsports' No. 9 Chevrolet.

"At Talladega, Jeffrey Earnhardt showed exactly what an amazing driver he is. I couldn't be more proud," says Dale Karmie, co-founder of ForeverLawnthe company which has served Earnhardt's primary sponsor since 2020. He continues: "No. 9 won the race, but Jeffrey Earnhardt won the day. Praise the Lord for such an amazing few days and thank you to Richard Childress and team for giving Jeffrey an amazing car and incredible opportunity. We are humbled."

Earnhardt's next race is at Texas Motor Speedway on May 21, where he will return to Sam Hunt Racing in the No. 26 Toyota Supra. To purchase exclusive No. 3 Jeffrey Earnhardt merchandise, visit foreverlawn.myshopify.com.

About ForeverLawn ForeverLawn improves spaces and communities through innovative synthetic grass solutions. Beginning in 2004 as the daring entrepreneurial venture of two brothers, ForeverLawn has consistently led the synthetic turf industry through groundbreaking approaches to products and practice. As the premium choice for synthetic surfacing, each product is engineered to solve unique consumer needs and desires while maintaining superior standards and natural aesthetics. Today the company services over eighty localized markets through their dealer network, with an impressive regional, national, and international project portfolio.

Want to be a part of something bigger? Learn how you can be a person of impact through business ownership opportunities with ForeverLawn. For more information, contact [email protected].

SOURCE ForeverLawn
BOZEMAN, Mont., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This Women's Health month, FirmTech celebrates all that it is to be woman: sensitive yet strong, versatile yet authentic, assertive yet kind, courageous yet compassionate and often the "better half" in relationships. As women, we are often the glue which holds our families  and relationships  together and our intimate relationships are no different.

Research has found that nearly 50% of all men will struggle with Erectile Dysfunction (ED) by the age of 50, with rates increasing 10% every decade thereafter. What does this mean for the men we love and our relationships later in life? How do we (the superior communicators) help our partners sustain and enjoy their erectile fitness when the challenge of ED occurs?

Females may often find themselves wrestling with their own insecurities when their partner is unable to get or maintain an erection. He is not unattracted to you, he is simply struggling with a common ailment. The female-led team at FirmTech is here to help. FirmTech Performance Ring and Tech Ring are revolutionary devices, designed to tackle ED head-on: resulting in longer, firmer erections and for many users, more intense orgasms for both partners. Women know how hard it is to get our male counterparts to pay a visit to the physician. FirmTech allows our male partners to start to address their ED without invasive appointments, medications, or fear of stigma. And as a result, female partners can be more satisfied  more frequently.

The expert team at FirmTech includes renowned female urologists. They know that sexual issues affect both partners equally. Additionally, ED is often the effect of other serious health concerns lying below the surface: hypertension, heart disease, prostate cancer, and diabetes, just to name a few. Talking to your partner is not only good for your sex life, it may also save a life. Sixty percent of men who end up in the ER with a heart attack reported that they had noticed signs of ED several years prior1.

Dr. Amy Pearlman, Director of Men's Health Program and Professor of Urology at the University of Iowa says, "sex toys and tools can be game-changers in the bedroom for penis and vagina owners. It's time we normalize the use of these products to optimize performance and pleasure for men and women. Sexual health IS health. None of us need to be sick or broken to want to be and perform better."

Additionally, a vibrant sex life improves brain function, and offers many psychological benefits such as reduced anxiety, better sleep, happier relationships and increased confidence for both people. The time is now to talk about maintaining Erectile Fitness and dealing with Erectile Dysfunction.

FirmTech features a discreet, soft and comfortable erection ring form, making it easy for men (or women) to wrap it on. FirmTech also features state-of-the-art data sensors which transmits directly to your FirmTech app, which can be shared with his physicianand you!

Our rings aren't just for the men. One female partner reported, "what a pleasant surprise. The placement of the sensor box has a dual purpose. The design is creative, thoughtful, and very unselfish."

Ladies: it's our turn to pop the questions and "put a ring on it"  talk to your partner about ED and help them return to peak performance.

To learn more or to order: MyFirmTech.com

1 Daniel Shoskes, MD (Cleveland Clinic)

SOURCE FirmTech
Etihad's partners will now benefit from a self-service corporate travel solution, that provides a seamless booking experience across multiple platforms, through integration with Etihad's Passenger Service Systems and the end-user's HR systems.

Premium partners will also be able to unlock exclusive discounts including extra baggage, bonus miles and priority check-in for all bookings. A configurable business rules engine will help Etihad corporates to manage user profiles and travel agreements, while ensuring compliance with employee travel policies.

Martin Drew, Senior Vice President Global Sales & Cargo Etihad Airways, said: "Etihad launched iFly Corporate to take our corporate solutions to the next level as business travel returns. The holistic solution will both streamline our internal operations and benefit our customers' corporate experience - and we are looking forward to a continued partnership with IBS Software on our joint mission to modernize the air travel experience."

Vijay R Chakravarthy, Vice President, IBS Software, said: "We are proud to be working with Etihad as the launch customer of our pioneering iFly Corporate product. The solution will further elevate Etihad's corporate services, helping the airline to enhance cost savings, policy compliance and integrated corporate loyalty. We are excited to embark on the journey into the next generation of corporate travel solutions with Etihad and believe this will be a prosperous partnership for both companies."

Find out more about IBS Software's innovative iFly Corporate solution.

About IBS Software

IBS Software is a leading SaaS solutions provider to the travel industry globally, managing mission-critical operations for customers in the aviation, tour & cruise and hospitality industries. IBS Software's solutions for the aviation industry cover flight & crew operations, aircraft maintenance, passenger services, loyalty programs, staff travel and air-cargo management. IBS Software also runs a real time B2B and B2C distribution platform providing hotel room inventory, rates and availability to a global network of hospitality companies and channels. For the tour and cruise industry, IBS provides a comprehensive, customer-centric, digital platform that covers onshore, online and on-board solutions. IBS Software is a Blackstone portfolio company and operates from 15 offices across the world. Further information can be found at https://www.ibsplc.com/ .

For media enquiries, please email the Corporate Communications team: [email protected].

About Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, was formed in 2003 and quickly went on to become one of the world's leading airlines. From its home in Abu Dhabi, Etihad flies to passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. Together with Etihad's codeshare partners, Etihad's network offers access to hundreds of international destinations. In recent years, Etihad has received numerous awards for its superior service and products, cargo offering, loyalty programme and more. Etihad is recognised as one of the world's leading airlines in response to COVID-19 and was the first airline in the world to fully vaccinate its crew on board.

Etihad sees tackling the climate crisis as the most important issue of our time, and through strategic partnerships with major global aviation brands and OEMs, Etihad is relentless in its pursuit of industry decarbonisation.

To learn more, visit https://www.etihad.com.

SOURCE IBS Software
Scientific Instrument Company Launches at the Speed of Light

DENVER, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Exum Instruments, Inc., a Denver-based company building next generation scientific instruments and software ecosystems to increase the speed and breadth of materials development and discovery, has announced the oversubscription of their $1.8M Launch Round.

Jeff Williams, CEO/CTO, said, "We have been incredibly overwhelmed with the reception our funding round has received. I believe we have found the right partners to help propel us into a strong position for an A Round later this year."

Incorporated only five years ago, Exum successfully launched the Massbox mass spectrometer and is now taking commercial orders to deploy the analytical instrument domestically.

Josh Ulla, CDO, said, "The world is realizing that tighter chemical constraints are required to develop and maintain the advanced materials of the future. While we have received interest from many different industries, our first focus will be metals testing, specifically in the additive manufacturing space. This is an aggressively expanding industry and one that is already evolving and growing at the speed of Exum."

Some investors represented in this round include Cortado Ventures, Alchemy Capital, Amerocap, Oasis Capital and FortySix Venture Capital.

"The beginning of this year marks the start of establishing a new benchmark for technology and experience in analytical instrumentation. We are delivering the Massbox to the hands of our customers, and we couldn't be more excited for them to receive Exum's vision", said Jeff Williams.

Laura Ely, Director of Programs at The Barnes Global Advisors, recently mentioned Exum in TCT's 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing Intelligence Magazine, saying, we'll likely see more emphasis on the minutia of materials and, "We're also intrigued by a new system for solid material characterization coming out from Exum...'"

Stephen Strickland, CFO, said, "I'm excited to have closed this round of funding and very proud of our team for all their hard work. We are moving fast and taking the next steps as a company. I'm thrilled by the support of our ambitious, successful investors who see how big this is going to be. I couldn't have asked for a better investment group."

About Exum

Exum builds instruments and software ecosystems to increase the speed of materials development and discovery, offering easy access to high performance at a low cost. Exum's first instrument, The Massbox, is the first Laser Ablation Laser Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (LALI-TOF-MS) on the market, capable of analyzing any sample you can throw at it - precisely, rapidly, and inexpensively.

For more information, please visit Exum's website at www.exuminstruments.com. Additional information is available about the company's founding and early successes at The Analytical Scientist.

Contact

Josh Ulla, CDO

Exum Instruments, Inc.

[email protected]

www.exuminstruments.com

SOURCE Exum Instruments, Inc.
HOUSTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Fengate Asset Management ("Fengate") today announces closing on a new development partnership with 42 Renewables and the launch of Fengate Distributed Generation Partners.

With a proven management team and unprecedented demand for renewable energy projects, Fengate Distributed Generation Partners is a new platform focused on acquiring, developing, constructing, and operating distributed generation ("DG") solar, DG solar plus battery storage, and DG battery storage projects. Target market segments include community solar; municipal, university, school district and hospital; commercial and industrial; and small utility-scale projects.

Fengate's development partner in Fengate Distributed Generation Partners is 42 Renewables, led by Ja Kao, most recently President and CEO of Onyx Renewable Partners where she built a market-leading national DG solar platform. Ja also serves as a board member for the American Council on Renewable Energy.

"We are focused on building Fengate Distributed Generation Partners into a top-ten DG solar development company with a proven development team led by Ja," said Greg Calhoun, Managing Director, Infrastructure Investments, Fengate. "The DG market is fragmented and growing, and we are excited to deliver on our targets."

"We are thrilled to begin this new partnership with Fengate and look forward to creating a company that contributes meaningfully to the goal of building accessible clean energy for all stakeholders," said Ja Kao, 42 Renewables.

Fengate is managing this partnership on behalf of its infrastructure investors, including an investment fund owned by the LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada.

About Fengate Asset Management

Fengate is a leading alternative investment manager, with $5.8 billion of capital commitments under management, focused on infrastructure, private equity, and real estate strategies. With offices in Toronto and Oakville, Ontario, and Houston, Texas, Fengate is one of the most active real asset investors in North America and the firm has been investing in infrastructure across North America since 2006. Learn more at fengate.com.

SOURCE Fengate Asset Management
DALLAS , April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Financial Literacy Council (NFEC) has released results indicating that over 70,000 people participated in a recent quiz that evaluated their financial capabilities. The 30-question test was created to measure ability to earn, save, and grow one's personal finances among teens and young adults. A total 73,171 representing all 50 U.S. states responded to the quiz, with an average score of 63.52%.

Among the entire sample of participants age 15 to 18, 52.70% failed the test by scoring below 70%. Across the 50 states from which at least 600 youth and young adults responded, Massachusetts recorded the highest average score (68.30%) and Georgia averaged the lowest (59.44%).

Other notable state results of participants between the ages of 15 to 18 years: New York  2,483 participants averaged 64.43%; California  5,022 participants averaged 62.12%; Texas  2,789 participants averaged 67.22%; Florida  770 participants averaged 64.51%; and Oregon  1,057 participants averaged 67.40%.

A list of all state results is available at: https://www.financialeducatorscouncil.org/national-financial-literacy-test/

Take the test at: https://www.financialeducatorscouncil.org/financial-literacy-test/

The test questions assess knowledge across the 10 subjects covered in the NFEC's Financial Literacy Framework & Standards. Measures were designed to evaluate comprehension across three key areas of financial wellness: learning motivation, topic understanding, and ability to recognize the first action step toward improving one's financial future.

As Vince Shorb, CEO of the NFEC, comments, "These nationwide test results indicate that, on average, many of our young people lack the basic knowledge to make qualified financial decisions. Testing is just an indicator of content knowledge. But unlike other subject matter taught in schools, financial literacy requires more than just understanding content. It requires learners to be able to modify their daily financial behaviors and have enough knowledge to make confident decisions about money."

Earlier in the month the NFEC also posted results from 3 other tests:

Advanced Financial Education Test: This more advanced test asks higher-level questions focused only on financial literacy. The average score among the 12,821 respondents was 58.14%, and 57.56% failed (scored below 70%). See the full results here: https://www.financialeducatorscouncil.org/advanced-financial-education-test-results/

Financial Foundation Test: This brief, 8-question test establishes whether respondents possess fundamental knowledge to make entry-level financial decisions; 30,847 people participated with an average score of 71.92%. Among the 5,373 15- to 18-year-olds taking the test, the average score dropped to 57.81%, with 67.05% failing (scoring below 70%). Full results available at: https://www.financialeducatorscouncil.org/financial-foundation-test-results/

Student Loan Test: This test was designed specifically for college-bound youth and current college attendees, measuring current ability to make responsible student loan decisions. Out of 8,904 respondents, the average score was 59.18% and 66.20% failed (scored under 70%). Full results at this link: https://www.financialeducatorscouncil.org/student-loans-financial-education-test-results/

Individuals and organizations with an interest in financial literacy assessment can find more than 30 complimentary tests and surveys in the NFEC's Financial Literacy Testing & Survey Center. These online tools are automatically and immediately graded upon completion. Thus, they can be leveraged both to assess individual financial health and to reach financial education program goals. Visit the Financial Literacy Testing & Survey assessment page to gain more information.

The National Financial Educators Council is a social enterprise organization committed to improving financial capabilities among the global community. A Certified B Corporation and Accredited IACET Provider, the NFEC develops tools, resources, and training to help organizations and individuals share financial wellness messaging at the community level. The Financial Literacy Test & Survey Center represents one tool the NFEC makes available for organizations to assess program effectiveness and gather baseline measures of personal finance knowledge.

Media Contact:

Trevor Stoll

702-620-3059

[email protected]

SOURCE National Financial Educators Council
Communitywide celebration marks first Black-Owned bank in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A nearly two-year effort, highlighted by unprecedented community support, culminates today in the grand opening of a Twin Cities branch of the Detroit-based First Independence Bank. One of only 17 Black-owned full-service banks in the country, this First Independence location in Minneapolis marks the first national expansion effort for the bank.

This newest bank, located at 3430 University Ave. SE, is significant as it is the very first Black-owned bank located in the Twin Cities. The public is invited to celebrate this newest business, which has enjoyed both business and community support.

The Grand Opening is on Tuesday, April 26. Bank visits begin at noon, and the Community Open House begins at 5:30 p.m. (CT) with remarks at 6:15 p.m. The Community Open House runs until 7 p.m. and will include food, financial education information, and community fun.

This expansion involved the tremendous, collaborative support of five financial institutions with major Twin Cities operations: Bank of America, Bremer Bank, Huntington Bank, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. Their support includes capital, infrastructure, research, marketing, and other services to ensure a solid start and long-term success for First Independence Bank.

"The historic act that we are witnessing today demonstrates the power of inclusion in rare form. Five competitors listed above came together to show the world how impactful they can be when we think broader about inclusion. This is an unprecedented effort that we are grateful to be a part of to positively impact Minneapolis and St. Paul as a beacon of hope. We are hopeful that there will be more instances of efforts like this to create long-term systemic change in communities around our country" says Kenneth Kelly, chairman & CEO, First Independence Bank. "We will need the collective support of individuals, small business, municipal entities, and large corporations to create a legacy together in the Twin Cities," said Kelly.

Wells Fargo donated the facility to the nonprofit Project for Pride in Living , a partnering agency whose mission is: "To disrupt poverty & inequity." PPL is leasing the property to First Independence Bank in a unique community partnership.

First Independence customers will be offered fee-free ATM and debit card use nationwide at any First Independence Bank, Wells Fargo, Huntington, Fifth Third, JP Morgan Chase, U.S. Bank, Bank of America and Bremer Bank location. This brings a combined total of 55,000+ surcharge free ATMs available to use for First Independence Bank customers. Customers will have access to the First Independence loan program to help them establish a credit score or repair their credit, as well as virtual financial education sessions, and more.

Bank of America, Bremer Bank, Huntington Bank, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, and Greater MSP, supporting First Independence Bank's arrival issued a joint statement:

"As we mark the grand opening of First Independence Bank in Minneapolis, we celebrate progress toward creating more inclusive economic opportunities in our region. Increased access to banking can be a game-changer for families, businesses, and the community. Greater ability to secure home mortgages provides the opportunity to build household and generational wealth. Financing for business ventures enhances job creation and community vitality. We continue to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion within each of our operations, but understand that collectively supporting the entry of a Black-owned bank into the community is an important step toward creating a more robust and inclusive financial services ecosystem."

 Wells Fargo, Bremer Bank, Huntington Bank, Bank of America, U.S. Bank and Greater MSP

Branch hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m.  5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m.  1 p.m. with both inside the branch and drive-up service. The bank continues to provide face masks and hand sanitizer.

About First Independence Bank

First Independence Bank is the 7th largest Black-owned commercial bank in the United States. Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, with its newest location in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it offers a variety of high-quality banking services from managing accounts to personal loans, mortgages, consumer education and investments. First Independence Bank has three locations and offers banking solutions online and digitally through its mobile app. Established in 1970, the bank continues to be a responsible leader, efficiently serving the financial needs of its community, its businesses, and its customers nationwide. First Independence Bank is a member of FDIC and Equal Housing Lender. For more information visit http://www.firstindependence.com.

About GREATER MSP

GREATER MSP is the economic development partnership for the 15-county Minneapolis Saint Paul region. Over 300 leading businesses, universities, cities, counties, philanthropies, and others are working together to accelerate the competitiveness of the regional economy and drive inclusive economic growth through job creation, capital investment and the execution of strategic initiatives. For more information go to greatermsp.org.

Media Contacts :

SOURCE First Independence Bank
Enova rising stars among 100 women receiving Moxie Awards for their leadership and community impact

CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Built In , an online platform for technology professionals, recently revealed the 100 winners of its 2022 Moxie Awards, a program which celebrates women in tech, and five of Enova 's team members topped the prestigious list. Since its inception, Built In's Moxie Awards have honored rising women in tech for their outsized contributions  through skills, leadership and accomplishments  to their places of work, communities and the industry overall. All five of Enova's team members were nominated by their peers and company leadership, and they represent Enova's ongoing commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion that has led to women comprising more than half of all roles at the company.

"Our winners not only contribute their immense talent to help Enova build and deliver responsible, innovative lending products  they demonstrate unparalleled leadership in driving the advancement of women and marginalized individuals in technology and the community at large," said Joe DeCosmo, Chief Analytics and Technology Officer at Enova. "We are proud to have an unprecedented five winners on this year's list and applaud Built In for recognizing their excellence and moxie."

The Moxie Awards showcase the best-of-the-best 100 women in tech across the United States as selected by a panel of 35 women representing a cross-section of the booming technology industry. Built In's open call for nominations saw more than 900 entries for 2022. Enova's winners are:

Nicole Frapolly is a Senior Data Services Manager of Data Infrastructure, Data Strategy and Data Warehousing and has been with Enova for eight years. Deeply committed to advancing women in tech, Nicole volunteers in a full capacity with ChickTech , a nonprofit whose mission is to support people of marginalized genders in tech. Over the past five years, she has also helped plan women-centric tech conferences for thousands of attendees, designed and taught free monthly STEM courses for young women and organized career-focused meetups for women in tech.

is a Senior Data Services Manager of Data Infrastructure, Data Strategy and Data Warehousing and has been with Enova for eight years. Deeply committed to advancing women in tech, Nicole volunteers in a full capacity with , a nonprofit whose mission is to support people of marginalized genders in tech. Over the past five years, she has also helped plan women-centric tech conferences for thousands of attendees, designed and taught free monthly STEM courses for young women and organized career-focused meetups for women in tech. Madhuri Gupta is a Manager of Customer Insights & Analytics. She joined Enova as an Analyst and earned five promotions in four years. She has been a hands-on driver of several tech programs in Chicago and nationwide. Madhuri is a current board member and past President, VP and Secretary of the INFORMS Chicago Chapter. Madhuri has organized multiple annual conferences, career fairs, webinars and workshops and has spoken at conferences aimed at celebrating and empowering women in tech and data science. She is a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) advocate and launched the South Asians @ Enova affinity group at Enova while also being active in the Women @ Enova group.

is a Manager of Customer Insights & Analytics. She joined Enova as an Analyst and earned five promotions in four years. She has been a hands-on driver of several tech programs in and nationwide. Madhuri is a current board member and past President, VP and Secretary of the Chicago Chapter. Madhuri has organized multiple annual conferences, career fairs, webinars and workshops and has spoken at conferences aimed at celebrating and empowering women in tech and data science. She is a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) advocate and launched the South Asians @ Enova affinity group at Enova while also being active in the Women @ Enova group. Cynthia Hayward is a Senior Technology Manager. Cynthia has been instrumental in growing DEI and the PRIDE @ Enova affinity group during her five years with Enova. Responsible for data security, she developed a business continuity plan and procedures for the entire company. Cynthia has consistently demonstrated moxie throughout her career, including teaching English in China , busting credit card fraud rings, leading forensic IT investigations, organizing a troop of Boy Scouts and serving as prior co-chair of DEI efforts at Enova. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of Havoc Shield, a start-up focused on reducing cybersecurity risk, and volunteers as an Executive Director of a church.

is a Senior Technology Manager. Cynthia has been instrumental in growing DEI and the PRIDE @ Enova affinity group during her five years with Enova. Responsible for data security, she developed a business continuity plan and procedures for the entire company. Cynthia has consistently demonstrated moxie throughout her career, including teaching English in , busting credit card fraud rings, leading forensic IT investigations, organizing a troop of Boy Scouts and serving as prior co-chair of DEI efforts at Enova. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of Havoc Shield, a start-up focused on reducing cybersecurity risk, and volunteers as an Executive Director of a church. Jasmine Kent is Enova's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Lead. Jasmine joined Enova as an Account Manager without a technical background and quickly earned four promotions within five years at the company. In her most recent promotion, Jasmine actively worked to create, define and step into a new role leading DEI at Enova. Jasmine leads Enova's DEI strategy, programming and the DEI Council and oversees Enova's work to drive representation and belonging.

is Enova's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Lead. Jasmine joined Enova as an Account Manager without a technical background and quickly earned four promotions within five years at the company. In her most recent promotion, Jasmine actively worked to create, define and step into a new role leading DEI at Enova. Jasmine leads Enova's DEI strategy, programming and the DEI Council and oversees Enova's work to drive representation and belonging. Courtney Stepien is a Lead Data Scientist in Analytics. Courtney leads the company's business forecasting and fair valuation modeling teams and has been with the company for three years. In an equally important manner, Courtney has led the team's focus on DEI, extending her department's analytics expertise into the Chicago community to support homeowners seeking foreclosure relief from COVID hardship.

"We're proud to offer a program that empowers the industry to join Built In's commitment to celebrating women on the rise," said Sheridan Orr, Chief Marketing Officer, Built In. "The 2022 winners represent the industry's future leaders, and we look forward to seeing how they continue to thrive as they advance in their careers. We know they'll make the industry stronger for their presence."

Enova is committed to being an awesome place to work for its talented team members and driving diversity, equity and inclusion through DEI practices, events and affinity groups. In addition, Enova founded and continues to organize the annual Chicago Women in Tech ( ChiWiTCon ) conference. Built In has recognized Enova's commitment to its people with several workplace awards in 2022. These include Built In's 100 Best Large Companies to Work For , Best Places to Work in Chicago , Best Places to Work in Colorado , and Best Places to Work in New York City .

Candidates interested in applying for open positions can do so at enova.com/careers .

About Enova

Enova International (NYSE: ENVA) is a leading financial technology company providing online financial services through its artificial intelligence and machine learning powered lending platform. Enova serves the needs of non-prime consumers and small businesses, who are frequently underserved by traditional banks. Enova has provided more than 7 million customers with over $40 billion in loans and financing with market-leading products that provide a path for them to improve their financial health. You can learn more about the company and its brands at www.enova.com .

About Built In

Built In is creating the largest platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, millions of the industry's most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, learn skills to accelerate their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves 1,800 customers, innovative companies ranging from startups to those in the Fortune 100. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them hire otherwise hard-to-reach tech professionals, locally, nationally or remotely. www.builtin.com

About Built In's Moxie Awards

Built In's 2022 Moxie Awards Program, now in its second year, celebrates outstanding women in tech whose leadership qualities, expertise and passion indicate they're likely to advance to the pinnacles of their careers. A judges' panel of celebrated women leaders in tech selected 100 winners, using scorecards with identifying information removed. To be nominated, participants must have met eligibility requirements: They must identify as women, whether through gender identity, gender expression or sex; serve in roles such as director, individual contributor or manager but not serve in executive or C-Suite roles; and work in either traditional tech disciplines, such as engineering or data science, or tech-adjacent roles, which includes any discipline that supports a company's technology.

SOURCE Enova International, Inc.
"Gary has already made an impact on Florida Poly as a committed trustee, sharing his expertise and insight over the years to successfully help the University move forward," said Dr. Randy K. Avent, Florida Poly's president. "This generous contribution will carry on his legacy of tenacity and leadership for our University for many years to come, and we are very grateful."

In recognition of the impactful contribution, Florida Poly will name a future engineering building on campus after Wendt. The forthcoming building will house spaces for engineering research, as well as new programs focused on leadership skills.

Wendt moved to Florida 20 years ago after a prominent business career. He has a civil engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin and attended Harvard Business School. Once there, he realized his leadership abilities needed help. This memory motivated him to financially support robust programs to foster leadership among Florida Poly students.

"I'm a firm believer in giving students the chance to develop leadership because it broadens their ability to access various parts of the job market and provides much wider opportunities," said Wendt, former chairman and CEO of GE Capital. "As just scientists or engineers, they're limited in those things. But if we add to the strong leadership component in the school, we can deliver a great advantage to students."

Kathy Bowman, vice president of advancement at Florida Poly, said the gift will be transformational for students hoping to lead tomorrow's tech industries.

"We are honored to have Gary's support through this remarkable gift that will be life changing for many students as they acquire necessary tools to excel in industry," Bowman said. "Gary is passionate about seeing our students succeed and become the next high-tech leaders for Florida and the nation. This investment represents his undeniable commitment to making this a reality."

SOURCE Florida Polytechnic University
G4S won the 'Best Security Solutions Provider- Bahrain, 2021'.

The felicitation ceremony will be held at the Palm Jumeirah  Waldorf Astoria in the last quarter of 2022 in Dubai.

LONDON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Brand Awards is an annual event held by Global Brands Magazine (GBM), an international publication headquartered in the UK. The award aims to recognise global brands achieving excellence in performance across a broad range of sectors while keeping its readers updated on key trends surrounding the branding world. G4S was evaluated based on customer service, satisfaction, digital innovation, strategic relationships and new business development.

Commenting on G4S winning the awards, ShivKumar (CEO of GBM) said, "G4S's performance has proved that they are a cut above the rest. Dedicated and focused in their field, G4S strives to provide unique solutions. A company that has kept innovation and customers at the forefront of its efforts; no wonder wins an award of this magnitude. We wish the team at G4S all the best for their future endeavours and hope they continue to excel and be an industry leader."

Commenting on winning the awards, Christos Volis (Managing Director of G4S) said, "We are pleased and honoured to have been recognized as the Best Security services company in Bahrain by Global Brands Magazine this year. This award is a testament to the commitment, dedication, and contribution of the G4S team to achieving our mission  for our clients to achieve their financial freedom.

We can't express our excitement and inspiration with this award. We faced many challenges due to the Covid pandemic but succeeded in overcoming them quickly - this is a real success, and this award symbolizes that success. This recognition wouldn't have been possible without the outstanding customer support, relationship, teamwork & collaboration, and excessive hard work of the team he added."

About G4S

G4S, an Allied Universal, is a leading security and facility services company that provides proactive security services and cutting-edge smart technology to deliver tailored, integrated security solutions. In 2021, G4S, a London-based global security company, was acquired by Allied Universal. This acquisition expands Allied Universal's footprint and infrastructure on a global and local level. Through the company's vast network of more than 800,000 employees, we leverage global best practices in communities all over the world. With revenues of $20 billion, we are supported by efficient processes and systems that can only come with scale to help deliver our promise locally: keeping people safe so our communities can thrive. We believe there is no greater purpose than serving and safeguarding customers, communities, and people in today's world. Allied Universal is There for you. For more information, please visit www.g4s.com or www.aus.com

About Global Brands Magazine (England)

Global Brands Magazine (GBM) has been at the forefront, bringing news, views and opinions on brands shaping the future of their industry. The UK-based magazine provides its readers with the latest news and information on 'best-in-class brands ' across the globe. Each year, GBM develops a series of awards for companies that stood out, having a unique vision, exceptional service, innovative solutions and consumer-centric products among their industry leaders.

About Global Brand Awards

Global Brand Awards honours brands for their excellence in performance and rewards companies across different sectors for the quality of their services. The Brand Awards highlight accomplishments of organisations that have performed remarkably well in finance, education, hospitality, automotive, lifestyle, education, real estate, technology and several more. Global Brand Awards recognise vital players who progress towards excellence by providing a platform to acknowledge their efforts. In addition, GBM strives to create awareness concerning the significance of such organisations and rewards them for their notable efforts with the ultimate global recognition.

Check out our social media shout outs by clicking the links below:

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3versQE

Linkedin: https://bit.ly/37AFjHX

Twitter: https://bit.ly/3rL8Yon

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3EJELvo

SOURCE Global Brands Publications Limited
"These particular measures are among many used to calculate the quality of resident care, ultimately influencing the wellness of residents and overall star rating for a nursing home. We believe our partnership can assist nursing homes in improving these quality measures enforced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)," said Frank Howard, CEO of GeneIQ.

Since joining forces over the past year, the companies have completed integrations that allow Synchrony Pharmacy to utilize GeneIQ's Live Dynamic Clinical Decision Support tools. The tools enable clinicians to interact dynamically with laboratory testing results in real-time and in the context of their practice of medicine. This system dramatically reduces prescribing risks by combining patient genetic results with dozens of other medication risk factors to illuminate more genetically optimal treatment plans for patients. In doing so, GeneIQ and Synchrony Pharmacy aim to ensure that optimal treatments will be selected, which can result in decreased care costs and improved patient quality of life due to decreased potential for adverse drug reactions.

Replacing a cumbersome, static report with GeneIQ's Pharmacogenomic Live Clinical Decision Support tools allows Synchrony's Consultant Pharmacists to make informed recommendations and provide facilities with a real-time, comprehensive polypharmacy interpretation and reporting engine that balances risk and therapeutic success for each patient. GeneIQ believes that evidence-based, gene optimized therapeutic changes are the future, and they are tracking these changes to validate medical necessity and document better patient outcomes. "This is a win-win-win. Better care and outcomes, happy residents and loved ones, and reduced system burden. This is the model of the future, today," said Howard.

Randall Bufford, CEO of Synchrony Health Services, shared, "This partnership aligns with our mission at Synchrony Pharmacy to meet the needs of long-term care residents through specialized clinical operations and an advanced patient-centric approach."

While the partnership between GeneIQ and Synchrony Pharmacy allows the groups to impact around 200 Skilled Nursing Home Facilities immediately, the two companies plan to implement these tactics in as many Skilled Nursing Homes as possible. In addition, the companies hope to assist in improving the quality of resident care measures and overall wellness in skilled nursing facilities nationwide. Learn more about what these measures mean and why they matter. .

About GeneIQ

GeneIQ is a high-volume, molecular diagnostics laboratory specializing in Pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing and real-time, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing for infectious diseases, including COVID-19. The state-of-the-art laboratory based in the Dallas area services over 500 long-term care facilities, physician practices, state and local governments, corporations, and organizations throughout the United States. They have created a highly efficient, automated lab process with a paperless, web-based system that provides a 2448-hour turnaround time of results after receipt of the specimen. At the core of GeneIQ lies the latest innovations in Pharmacogenomics, the science of determining how genetic variability influences physiological responses to drugs, from absorption and metabolism to pharmacologic action and therapeutic effect. In an effort to provide precision medicine and to serve the needs of the pandemic with molecular accuracy, the support and management teams at GeneIQ are passionate about providing the highest level of service to their clients and the overall healthcare industry.

About Synchrony Health Services

Synchrony Health Services houses Pharmacy, Therapy and Lab Service offerings under one brand. Its breadth includes Synchrony Pharmacy, Synchrony Rehabilitation, and Synchrony Lab under its umbrella. www.synchronyhs.com

About Synchrony Pharmacy

Synchrony Pharmacy serves over 500 Skilled Nursing, Assisted Living, and other healthcare facilities. These facilities serve over 35,000 licensed beds in 14 states. Synchrony Pharmacy meets the unique needs of its residents through specialized clinical operations support services. With multiple distribution centers, is large enough to meet the most demanding requirements, but small enough to offer personal service and attention. Synchrony Pharmacy includes [email protected], an employer-group solution currently providing services to 15,000 employees and dependents.

SOURCE GeneIQ
Key Market Dynamics:

Market Driver - The key factor driving growth in the generator rental market for the oil and gas industry is the need for consistent power. The production, processing, and refining are energy-intensive processes that require a constant power supply to keep the operation flow profitable. Extracting oil and gas reserves involves high-cost drilling equipment and production. With the near oil gas reserves depleting fast, companies are shifting to smaller, deep / ultra-deep reserves, and unconventional areas for oil. Extracting oil from such reserves requires more power tools as additional tools and technology must be used to keep the production efficiency. They are also used to ensure a faster delivery to keep the profit margin high. This can be achieved effectively by using diesel generators, thereby ensuring no power loss. Mission-critical applications in the oil and gas industry require reliable power. The operation of safety devices such as a blow-out preventer during maintenance outages can be mitigated through rental power. The downtime in the production will lead to monetary losses of several thousand dollars, which is why the industry relies on rental power as a backup to assist them during any emergency or maintenance. Thus, these rental generators prevent downtime, save operation costs, and also ensure the safety of the crew members on-site by avoiding any risk.

The key factor driving growth in the generator rental market for the oil and gas industry is the The production, processing, and refining are energy-intensive processes that require a constant power supply to keep the operation flow profitable. Extracting oil and gas reserves involves high-cost drilling equipment and production. With the near oil gas reserves depleting fast, companies are shifting to smaller, deep / ultra-deep reserves, and unconventional areas for oil. Extracting oil from such reserves requires more power tools as additional tools and technology must be used to keep the production efficiency. They are also used to ensure a faster delivery to keep the profit margin high. This can be achieved effectively by using diesel generators, thereby ensuring no power loss. Mission-critical applications in the oil and gas industry require reliable power. The operation of safety devices such as a blow-out preventer during maintenance outages can be mitigated through rental power. The downtime in the production will lead to monetary losses of several thousand dollars, which is why the industry relies on rental power as a backup to assist them during any emergency or maintenance. Thus, these rental generators prevent downtime, save operation costs, and also ensure the safety of the crew members on-site by avoiding any risk. Market Challenges - The declining crude oil prices will be a major challenge for the generator rental market for the oil and gas industry during the forecast period. Fluctuations in global crude oil prices influence the profitability and performance of oil and gas E&P companies. Low crude oil prices can lead to the cancelation or rescheduling of oil and gas E&P projects. From 2012-to 2014, the US produced substantial amounts of shale oil, which increased the global crude oil supply and reduced the US crude oil imports. Owing to the oversupply of crude oil, global crude oil prices started declining in 2014. In 2019, the average price of crude oil reached $61.7 per barrel, which resulted in the temporary curtailment of oil and gas production. This, in turn, has negatively impacted the demand for generator rental services. Upstream companies are affected adversely by fluctuations in global crude oil prices, as the selling price of crude oil is determined by the market, while production costs are largely fixed. Hence, investment decisions and profits are affected adversely due to the capital-intensive nature of oil and gas operations, which, in turn, resulted in slow growth or even a decline in oil and gas E&P activities, including delays and cancelations of oil and gas projects. Therefore, fluctuations in global crude oil prices pose a significant challenge to the growth of the oil and gas industry, including the global generator rental market for the oil and gas industry.

To learn about additional key drivers, trends, and challenges - Download our Sample Report right now!

Segmentation Analysis

The generator rental market for the oil and gas industry report is segmented by Product (diesel generator and gas generator), Geography (MEA, North America, Europe, APAC, and South America), and Application (onshore and offshore).

The generator rental market share growth for the oil and gas industry by the diesel generator segment will be significant for revenue generation. Power generators play a crucial role in the oil and gas industry. As the demand increases, the activities also increase, creating the need for increased power needs. The harsh conditions and remote locations of oilfields make the diesel generator a viable rental power option. With easy accessibility to diesel and low cost of adoption, the diesel generators are the most commonly used generators at the site.

Download our sample report for additional insights into the contribution of all the segments

Some Companies Mentioned

The generator rental market for the oil and gas industry is fragmented and the vendors are deploying growth strategies such as offering a broad range of products and services to compete in the market.

Aggreko Plc



APR Energy



Ashtead Group Plc



Atlas Copco AB



Caterpillar Inc.



Cummins Inc.



Doosan Corp.



Generac Power Systems Inc.



Herc Holdings Inc.



United Rentals Inc.

To gain access to more vendor profiles with their key offerings available with Technavio, Click Here

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Generator Rental Market For Oil And Gas Industry Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2019 Forecast period 2020-2024 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of almost 3% Market growth 2020-2024 USD 153.87 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) -2.57 Performing market contribution MEA at 33% Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Aggreko Plc, APR Energy, Ashtead Group Plc, Atlas Copco AB, Caterpillar Inc., Cummins Inc., Doosan Corp., Generac Power Systems Inc., Herc Holdings Inc., and United Rentals Inc. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and future consumer dynamics, market condition analysis for forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market ecosystem

Value chain analysis

Market Sizing

Market definition

Market segment analysis

Market size 2019

Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 - 2024

Five Forces Analysis

Five forces summary

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

Market Segmentation by Product

Market segments

Comparison by Product

Diesel generator - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Gas generator - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Market opportunity by Product

Market Segmentation by Application

Market segments

Comparison by Application

Onshore - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Offshore - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Market opportunity by Application

Customer landscape

Geographic Landscape

Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

MEA - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

North America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

- Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

- Market size and forecast 2019-2024 APAC - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

South America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

- Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries

Market opportunity by geography

Market drivers

Market challenges

Market trends

Vendor Landscape

Competitive scenario

Vendor landscape

Landscape disruption

Industry risks

Vendor Analysis

Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

Aggreko Plc

APR Energy

Ashtead Group Plc

Atlas Copco AB

Caterpillar Inc.

Cummins Inc.

Doosan Corp.

Generac Power Systems Inc.

Herc Holdings Inc.

United Rentals Inc.

Appendix

Scope of the report

Currency conversion rates for US$

Research methodology

List of abbreviations

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SOURCE Technavio
Sales prospects for pharma, food, and nutraceutical items through various online platforms are generating revenue streams for firms in the ginger oleoresin market

Market participants are also investing in R&D to develop extraction technologies such as SCFE and solvent extraction in order to produce improved oleoresin items

ALBANY, N.Y., April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The value of the global ginger oleoresin market is estimated to value US$ 17.3 Mn in 2022. The global market is likely to rise at a CAGR of 10.4% during the forecast period, from 2022 to 2032. The global ginger oleoresin market is anticipated to attain the valuation of US$ 46.7 Mn by the end of 2032. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, players in the global ginger oleoresin market are generating revenue streams through the sales of nutraceutical, pharma, and food products on social media and eCommerce sites. Influencer marketing is drawing the interest of ginger oleoresin producers who are shifting their focus away from traditional marketing and promotion.

Companies in the global ginger oleoresin market are likely to benefit from the growing HoReCa (Hotels, Restaurants, and Cafe) business, which provides consistent revenue sources. Market growth is being aided by rising demand for organic food items. Despite the fact that the demand for organic ginger oleoresins is expected to increase at an accelerated pace, standard ginger oleoresins now control more than 90% of the global market. As a result, companies are broadening their product lines to increase their revenue sources.

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Based on end use, the food & beverage (F&B) industry segment accounts for around 494 MT and is expected to grow to 1,242 MT by 2032. The demand for ginger oleoresin is being fueled by mass production of gingerbread, alcoholic beverages, and ginger ale.

Key Findings of Market Report

Nutraceuticals containing ginger oleoresin are becoming increasingly popular among health-conscious customers. Spending on natural product is increasing due to a host of factors, the most significant being growing awareness regarding health. As a result of growing literacy rate and urbanization, customers have grown more informed about their choices.

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Food and flavoring producers are constantly on the search for organic ingredients to include in their offerings. Ingredients that are low-cost, easy-to-handle, and efficient are particularly appealing to them. The essence of essential oils and oleoresins is not the only basis for their rising usage in different end industries; the level of convenience such ingredients provide to users is also likely to assist in market expansion. Yearly availability, operational flexibility, and shelf life of these flexible ingredients are key parameters that enable market expansion.

Aside from the food & beverage business, producers are pursuing revenue prospects in aromatherapy applications, as medicinal products evolve in tandem with customer preferences. Higher standard of living and disposable income in the Asia Pacific region are estimated to drive the global ginger oleoresin market.

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Global Ginger Oleoresin Market: Growth Drivers

Aromatherapy, although being one of the earliest therapeutic treatments, is gaining traction in science and medicine due to its demonstrated effectiveness, higher disposable income, and better standard of living. The growing popularity of essential oils produced from oleoresins bodes well for the future expansion of the global ginger oleoresin market.

Health-conscious customers are becoming more aware of the health advantages of ginger oleoresins. Expansion of the global ginger oleoresin market is being fueled by consumer knowledge of the benefits of oleoresins in relieving colic flatulence, urinary tract infections (UTIs), reducing cancer risk, joint & muscular pain, digestive difficulties, and various other ailments.

Global Ginger Oleoresin Market: Key Competitors

Bioingredia Natural Pvt Ltd.

Manohar Botanical Extracts Pvt. Ltd.

Synthite Industries Ltd.

BOS Natural Flavors Pvt. Ltd.

AVT Natural Products Limited

Ozone Naturals

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Global Ginger Oleoresin Market: Segmentation

Nature

Organic

Conventional

Extraction Method

Solvent Extraction

SCFE

End Use

Food & Beverage Industry

Pharmaceutical

Nutraceuticals

Retail/Household

Distribution Channel

Business to Business (B2B)

Business to Consumer (B2C)

Food & Beverages Industry battles Tangible Impact of Economic and Cultural changes, Explore Transparency Market Research's award-winning coverage of the global Food & Beverages:

Oregano Oleoresin Market - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/oregano-oleoresin-market.html

Freekeh Market - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/freekeh-market.html

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 3rd, High Times, the top-selling cannabis magazine in America, after a 2-year hiatus due to the Pandemic, will present its highest honor, known as the High Times 100, to Mike Robinson, better known as the "Cannabis Philanthropist."

Mike Robinson, the Cannabis Philanthropist, with former compassion patient and now daughter Genevieve. High Times Magazine picked the Cannabis Philanthropist as one of their Top 100 Most Influential People.

This award celebrates the most influential individuals in the U.S. cannabis industry, with an estimated 2022 market value of $25 billion. Robinson, a three-time Cancer Survivor, known for using cannabis oils in his battle, is the founder of the Global Cannabinoid Research Center (GCRC) and the CEO of Bay Area Nanobles, Inc. - a health and wellness entity.

Robinson is very well known for adopting one of his compassion patients, Genevieve, from an extensive program where he gave away vast amounts of cannabis oils to patients in need. While doing so, the Cannabis Philanthropist was fighting cancers, severe epilepsy, and an addiction to pain medication. Millions have read the tale of how this created his family on the website "Cannabis Love Story."

In March, David Uhalley, COO of Nanobles, settled a dispute with a pharmaceutical entity that allowed a Class 5 Pharmaceutical NANO trademark approval for Oncology Cannabinoid Medicines that Robinson formulated, allowing the team to advance in the new expansive marketplace.

"Beyond pain relief, his formulation per its trademark can allow for hair and skin growth in medicinal preparations for oncology," Uhalley stated. "Mike saw the loophole when the U.S. Government declared Cannabis essential, so we grabbed the trademarks on terpenes as essential oils. We're a team, a small team, but we get things done. Mike's deep down the R&D rabbit hole while I make sure it's all proprietary."

Uhalley, communications director for GCRC, continued. "I've watched Mike work helping the masses in need of Cannabis oils; his daughter was one of the thousands of severely ill people he's helped. It's why he's so dedicated to compassionate care, why we partnered up to create Nanobles, and why when everyone was struggling in the wake of COVID, we knew he had to get creative."

"I'm deeply honored by the High Times 100 list, but at the same time, it's bittersweet," Robinson said. "Many old-timers once involved in cannabis compassion have moved on, with few left to fill the shoes. We used to dig and scrape to get by, which I still do. It was all about giving back, and now I find myself on a list of MBAs in an industry worth Billions. I fall between the compassion and profit eras of Cannabis and have never expanded into the market with retail products. Maybe I'm living my life backward? When I was young, as a racecar driver, I was financially able to give back differently. After a decade of gifting cannabis oils, it's time to develop cannabinoid medicine for people who need options."

David said, "When I think of what his NANO formulations will mean to a frightened little girl getting cancer treatments afraid of losing her hair? I agree with High Times; he deserves this honor."

In 2018 and 2019, High Times released their Top 100 lists honoring Industry leaders. After 2 years off they're holding an awards ceremony next week.

Media Contact:

Mike Robinson

805-617-9539

[email protected]

SOURCE Global Cannabinoid Research Center
DUBLIN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Cling Films Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global cling films market reached a value of US$ 1.31 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 1.75 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.00% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, they are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use industries. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor

Cling film is a transparent plastic sheet that adheres to itself and other smooth surfaces. It is manufactured using polyethylene, polyvinylidene chloride (PVC), biaxially oriented polypropylene and polyvinylidene dichloride (PVDC). It is commonly available in cast and blow cling variants and is used for packaging edible and non-edible items. It is also widely used to keep flowers fresh, seal and secure food items, prevent freezer burns and line shelves. Cling films have high transparency, tensile strength, heat resistance and adhesive properties. In comparison to the traditionally used shrink films, cling films are more flexible and can wrap multiple products together. As a result, they are widely used across various industries, such as food and beverage, healthcare and packaging



Significant growth in the food and beverage industry across the globe is creating a positive outlook for the market. Cling films are widely used to wrap food items to prevent insect, dust and microbial contamination and minimize the risks of spoilage and wastage.

Additionally, the widespread utilization of polymer-based cling films for packaging is favoring the market growth. These films are widely used to improve mechanical handling properties, prevent the loss of moisture from the food and minimize lipid migration and oxygen absorption.

Moreover, various product innovations, such as the development of biodegradable and compostable cling film variants, are providing a thrust to the market growth. These films are environmentally friendly and aid in decreasing carbon emission. Other factors, including the increasing product demand for frozen meat and seafood products and the launch of high gloss variants, along with the widespread product utilization to wrap medical devices, are anticipated to drive the market toward growth

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being 3M Company, ADEX S.r.l., Anchor Packaging, Berry Global Inc., CeDo Ltd., Dow Inc., Harwal Group of Companies, Intertape Polymer Group, Jindal Poly Films, Klockner Pentaplast, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, MOLCO GmbH, Multi Wrap (Pty) Ltd. and Nan Ya Plastics Corporation



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global cling films market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global cling films market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the material type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the form?

What is the breakup of the market based on the thickness?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end use industry?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global cling films market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Cling Films Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Material Type

6.1 Polyethylene

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 PVC

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 PVDC

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Others

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Form

7.1 Cast Cling Film

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Blow Cling Film

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Thickness

8.1 Up to 9 Micron

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 9 to 12 Micron

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Above 12 Micron

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End Use Industry

9.1 Food

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Healthcare

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Consumer Goods

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Others

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 3M Company

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.1.3 Financials

15.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.2 ADEX S.r.l.

15.3.2.1 Company Overview

15.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3 Anchor Packaging

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4 Berry Global Inc.

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4.3 Financials

15.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.5 CeDo Ltd.

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6 Dow Inc.

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6.3 Financials

15.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.7 Harwal Group of Companies

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8 Intertape Polymer Group

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8.3 Financials

15.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.9 Jindal Poly Films

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9.3 Financials

15.3.10 Klockner Pentaplast

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11.3 Financials

15.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.12 MOLCO GmbH

15.3.12.1 Company Overview

15.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.13 Multi Wrap (Pty) Ltd.

15.3.13.1 Company Overview

15.3.13.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.14 Nan Ya Plastics Corporation

15.3.14.1 Company Overview

15.3.14.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.14.3 Financials

15.3.14.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/chr2ej

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "InfiniBand Market 2021-2027 Growth" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global InfiniBand market is anticipated to grow at a considerable CAGR during the forecast period. InfiniBand is a new resilient architecture designed to support Internet infrastructure input/output connectivity. The increasing acceptance of the InfiniBand in highly efficient computing is one of the major factors driving the growth of the market.



The global InfiniBand market is segmented based on application into residential and non-residential. InfiniBand is a standard specification for the communications infrastructure business that outlines an input and output architecture that can be used for interconnecting servers, storage, and embedded systems. Geographically, the global InfiniBand market covers the analysis of four major regions including North America (the US and Canada), Europe (UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, and Rest of Asia-Pacific), and the Rest of the World.



Market Segmentation

Global InfiniBand Market Research and Analysis by Application

The Report Covers

Comprehensive research methodology of the global InfiniBand market.

This report also includes a detailed and extensive market overview with key analyst insights.

An exhaustive analysis of macro and micro factors influencing the market guided by key recommendations.

Analysis of regional regulations and other government policies impacting the global InfiniBand market.

Insights about market determinants that are stimulating the global InfiniBand market.

Detailed and extensive market segments with the regional distribution of forecasted revenues.

Extensive profiles and recent developments of market players.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Report Summary



2. Market Overview and Insights

2.1. Scope of the Report

2.2. Analyst Insight & Current Market Trends

2.2.1. Key Findings

2.2.2. Conclusion



3. Market Determinants

3.1. Motivators

3.2. Restraints

3.3. Opportunities



4. Market Segmentation

4.1. Global InfiniBand Market by Application

4.1.1. Residential

4.1.2. Non-Residential



5. Regional Analysis

5.1. North America

5.1.1. United States

5.1.2. Canada

5.2. Europe

5.2.1. UK

5.2.2. Germany

5.2.3. Italy

5.2.4. Spain

5.2.5. France

5.2.6. Rest of Europe

5.3. Asia-Pacific

5.3.1. China

5.3.2. India

5.3.3. Japan

5.3.4. Rest of Asia-Pacific

5.4. Rest of the World



6. Company Profiles

6.1. IBM Corp

6.2. Intel Corp

6.3. Mellanox (NVIDIA)

6.4. Oracle Corp.

6.5. Virginia Tech

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xl0qd3

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
DETROIT, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) today reported first-quarter earnings driven by improved production and robust customer demand in North America. GM expects full-year 2022 net income in a range of $9.6 billion-$11.2 billion and is reaffirming its earnings guidance of EBIT-adjusted in a range of $13.0 billion-$15.0 billion.

Downloads

Results Overview



Three Months Ended

($M) except where noted March 31, 2022 March 31, 2021 Change Revenue $ 35,979 $ 32,474 $ 3,505 Net income attributable to stockholders $ 2,939 $ 3,022 $ (83) EBIT-adjusted $ 4,044 $ 4,417 $ (373) Net income margin 8.2 % 9.3 % (1.1) ppts EBIT-adjusted margin 11.2 % 13.6 % (2.4) ppts Automotive operating cash flow $ 1,635 $ (1,096) $ 2,731 Adjusted automotive free cash flow $ 6 $ (1,932) $ 1,938 EPS-diluted(a) $ 1.35 $ 2.03 $ (0.68) EPS-diluted-adjusted(a) $ 2.09 $ 2.25 $ (0.16) GMNA EBIT-adjusted $ 3,141 $ 3,134 $ 7 GMNA EBIT-adjusted margin 10.7 % 12.1 % (1.4) ppts GMI EBIT-adjusted $ 328 $ 308 $ 20 China equity income $ 234 $ 308 $ (74) GM Financial EBT-adjusted $ 1,284 $ 1,182 $ 102



__________ (a) EPS-diluted and EPS-diluted-adjusted include a $(0.11) and $0.08 impact from revaluation on equity investments in the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021.

2022 Guidance

Full-year EPS-diluted of between $5.76 and $6.76 , and EPS-diluted-adjusted of between $6.50 and $7.50

and , and EPS-diluted-adjusted of between and Full-year net income of between $9.6 billion and $11.2 billion , and EBIT-adjusted of between $13.0 billion and $15.0 billion

See below for reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures or visit the GM Investor Relations website for complete details.

Conference Call for Investors and Analysts

Mary Barra and Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson will host a conference call for investors and analysts at 5 p.m. ET today to discuss these results and the company's growth strategy. Introductory remarks will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

Those who wish to listen to the call may dial in using the following numbers:

United States : 1-800-857-9821

: 1-800-857-9821 International: +1-517-308-9481

Conference call passcode: General Motors Q1

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is a global company focused on advancing an all-electric future that is inclusive and accessible to all. At the heart of this strategy is the Ultium battery platform, which will power everything from mass-market to high-performance vehicles. General Motors, its subsidiaries and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac , Baojun and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar , a global leader in vehicle safety and security services, can be found at https://www.gm.com .

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements: This press release and related comments by management may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are any statements other than statements of historical fact. Forward-looking statements represent our current judgment about possible future events and are often identified by words such as "anticipate," "appears," "approximately," "believe," "continue," "could," "designed," "effect," "estimate," "evaluate," "expect," "forecast," "goal," "initiative," "intend," "may," "objective," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "priorities," "project," "pursue," "seek," "should," "target," "when," "will," "would," or the negative of any of those words or similar expressions. In making these statements, we rely upon assumptions and analysis based on our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, and expected future developments, as well as other factors we consider appropriate under the circumstances. We believe these judgments are reasonable, but these statements are not guarantees of any future events or financial results, and our actual results may differ materially due to a variety of factors, many of which are described in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or other factors that affect the subject of these statements, except where we are expressly required to do so by law.

Non-GAAP Reconciliations

The following table reconciles Net income (loss) attributable to stockholders under U.S. GAAP to EBIT (loss)-adjusted (dollars in millions):



Three Months Ended

March 31, 2022 March 31, 2021 Net income (loss) attributable to stockholders(a) $ 2,939 $ 3,022 Income tax expense (benefit) (28) 1,177 Automotive interest expense 226 250 Automotive interest income (50) (32) Adjustments



Cruise compensation modification(b) 1,057  Patent royalty matters(c) (100)  Total adjustments 957  EBIT (loss)-adjusted $ 4,044 $ 4,417





__________ (a) Net of net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests. (b) This adjustment was excluded because it relates to the one-time modification of Cruise stock incentive awards. (c) This adjustment was excluded because it relates to the resolution of substantially all potential royalty matters, accrued in the prior period, with respect to past-year vehicle sales.

The following table reconciles diluted earnings (loss) per common share under U.S. GAAP to EPS-diluted-adjusted (dollars in millions, except per share amounts):



Three Months Ended

March 31, 2022 March 31, 2021

Amount Per Share Amount Per Share Diluted earnings (loss) per common share $ 1,987 $ 1.35 $ 2,976 $ 2.03 Adjustments(a) 957 0.65   Tax effect on adjustments(b) (296) (0.20)   Tax adjustments(c) (482) (0.33) 316 0.22 Deemed dividend adjustment(d) 909 0.62   EPS-diluted-adjusted $ 3,075 $ 2.09 $ 3,292 $ 2.25



__________ (a) Refer to the reconciliation of Net income (loss) attributable to stockholders under U.S. GAAP to EBIT (loss)-adjusted for adjustment details. (b) The tax effect of each adjustment is determined based on the tax laws and valuation allowance status of the jurisdiction to which the adjustment relates. (c) These adjustments consist of tax benefit related to the release of a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets that are considered realizable as a result of Cruise tax reconsolidation in the three months ended March 31, 2022, and tax expense related to the establishment of a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets that were considered no longer realizable for Cruise in the three months ended March 31, 2021. These adjustments were excluded because significant impacts of valuation allowances are not considered part of our core operations. (d) This adjustment consists of a deemed dividend related to the redemption of Cruise preferred shares from SoftBank in the three months ended March 31, 2022.

The following table reconciles net automotive cash provided by (used in) operating activities under U.S. GAAP to adjusted automotive free cash flow (dollars in millions):



Three Months Ended

March 31, 2022 March 31, 2021 Net automotive cash provided by (used in) operating activities $ 1,635 $ (1,096) Less: Capital expenditures (1,645) (860) Add: GMI restructuring  24 Add: GM Korea Wage Litigation 16  Adjusted automotive free cash flow $ 6 $ (1,932)

Guidance Reconciliations

The following table reconciles expected Net income (loss) attributable to stockholders under U.S. GAAP to expected EBIT-adjusted (dollars in billions):



Year Ending

December 31, 2022 Net income attributable to stockholders $ 9.6-11.2 Income tax expense 1.6-2.0 Automotive interest expense, net 0.8 Adjustments(a) 1.0 EBIT-adjusted(b) $ 13.0-15.0



__________ (a) Refer to the reconciliation of Net income (loss) attributable to stockholders under U.S. GAAP to EBIT (loss)-adjusted for adjustment details. (b) We do not consider the potential future impact of adjustments on our expected financial results.

The following table reconciles expected EPS-diluted under U.S. GAAP to expected EPS-diluted-adjusted:



Year Ending

December 31, 2022 Diluted earnings per common share $ 5.76-6.76 Adjustments(a) 0.74 EPS-diluted-adjusted(b) $ 6.50-7.50



__________ (a) Refer to the reconciliation of diluted earnings (loss) per common share under U.S. GAAP to EPS-diluted-adjusted for adjustment details. (b) We do not consider the potential future impact of adjustments on our expected financial results.

SOURCE General Motors Co.
Chris Jennings to Oversee the Fast Expansion of Partner Ecosystem as Technical Director of Integrations

ARLINGTON, Va., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As the next-generation restaurant commerce platform GoTab continues to build and curate its fast-expanding ecosystem of best-of-breed technology partners, it recently launched its own API Developer Portal for integrated partnerships. It has also named Chris Jennings as Technical Director of Integrations to develop and implement the API strategy for the new portal, as well as build a technical path to market for new technologies and manage integrated partners pre- and post-launch.

GoTab

In a short time, GoTab has already built an impressive ecosystem of best-of-breed technology partners designed to answer operators' diverse needs. GoTab has completed over 30 partner integrations across the restaurant tech ecosystem and is forecasting to more than double this number leading into 2023. Functioning as a true aggregator, GoTab's channel and integrated partner program continues to seek out and connect with the best inventory and restaurant management platforms, point of sale and payment platforms, third-party delivery and reservation tools, marketing automation and customer engagement platforms, as well as HR and staffing softwares.

As operators continue to seek out technologies that help them face major industry challenges (tight labor market, rising costs and supply-chain issues), GoTab's partner integrated ecosystem features inventory management softwares such as YellowDog, CraftPeak, or BarTrack, allowing operators to track and optimize the availability and quality of their products alongside sales and revenue data, all in real-time and in one place. GoTab operators also rely on labor management platforms such as 7Shifts and CTUIT to forecast their staff needs, and minimize the time and effort spent working on employees' schedules. Innovative solutions such as MarginEdge, Compeat (now Restaurant365) and RASI help operators thrive, integrating key performance data from GoTab directly into their accounting, payroll, and finance platform.

Beyond the seamless back-of-house integration and connected capabilities, GoTab's partner ecosystem helps operators place their brand front and center. Connected platforms like Klaviyo and Wisely powered by Olo, deliver automated marketing and data intelligence to strengthen guest relations and increase customer engagement through various communication channels, such as SMS, web and email. In a digital world, protecting a brand's reputation is made easier through connected platforms like Marqii. With a brand that is more discoverable comes challenges around third-party delivery services, which GoTab answers through integration with third-party delivery aggregators, Novadine and Otter, and direct connections to DoorDash, UberEats and more.

After a decade in the fintech industry, Jennings will focus on spearheading the curation of these integrated partners, carefully selecting technology partners so that GoTab operators can choose the solutions that best fit their needs and allow them to operate efficiently. "We like to say that it truly takes a village to support the diverse needs of restaurants," said GoTab's Technical Director of Integrations Chris Jennings. "That's why I'm excited to continue to curate the best technology partners for GoTab operators. Each venue, each operator is unique - there isn't one software or hospitality technology solution that will meet all of their needs. GoTab is selecting the best solutions on the market for them to access, so they can truly reap the benefits of our integrated partner ecosystem," he added.

Jennings joined GoTab from Vend, where he was responsible for overseeing the retail POS software's payment partnerships strategy in North America. Prior to that, he worked at Mercury (now Worldpay at FIS) for more than 10 years, managing developer integration and building out APIs and a full portal for developers to communicate.

For more information on GoTab's integrated partners, please visit https://gotab.io/en/integrations/ . If you are interested in joining our partnership program, please visit https://gotab.io/en/gotab-partner-program/.

About GoTab, Inc.

GoTab, Inc., a Restaurant Commerce Platform (RCP), is helping large- and mid-sized restaurants, breweries, bars, hotels and other venues run lean, profitable operations while making guests even more satisfied. It integrates with popular point-of-sale (POS) systems and allows patrons to order and pay through a server, order and pay directly from their own mobile phones, or blend the two experiences all on one tab, through its easy-to-use mobile POS, contactless ordering and payment features, and kitchen management systems (KMS). The guest never has to download a mobile app or create a password. Operators get flexible features that can be rapidly applied to access new revenue streams via dine-in, take-out and delivery, ghost kitchens, retail groceries, and more. Founded in 2016, GoTab processes over $250M transactions per year with operations across 35 U.S. states and growing. For more information, consult our media kit , request a demo here or learn more at https://gotab.io/en

Contact:

Amelie Bruzat

3476539544

[email protected]

SOURCE GoTab
Leaders Strategy Investment to Support Growth of Data-Driven Advertising Software

CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm founded in 1980, announced today that it has made a strategic investment in SQAD LLC ("SQAD"), the advertising research, analytics, and media planning software company, through GTCR's portfolio company Dreamscape, Inc. ("Dreamscape"), a partnership with marketing technology veterans Scott Knoll, David Hahn and Michael Iantosca. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. As part of the transaction, SQAD's Chief Executive Officer, Marc Krigsman, will step down and Mr. Knoll will assume that position.

SQAD is a provider of dynamic software and data solutions for advertisers, agencies and brands for media planning strategies. These tools, employed by some of the largest advertisers and publishers in the world over the past 40 years, include SQAD's MediaCosts benchmarking platform, which has processed more than $1 trillion in actual transaction ad costs from advertising systems of record, its MediaTools solution, which provides advertisers with a leading media planning software tool, and its MediaLogic audience analytics research tool. This end-to-end solution allows clients to develop and deploy media strategies across network, local, & cable television, radio, out of home and internet channels that are informed by innovative research, review, planning, management, and reporting insights.

"We are incredibly excited to make this investment in SQAD alongside GTCR," said Mr. Knoll. "SQAD helps a significant number of the largest advertisers in the world plan their media and we fundamentally believe that this function is critical to the success of these businesses, particularly in a dynamic media landscape. The expertise and resources that Dreamscape and GTCR will bring to this investment will help SQAD innovate and continue to deliver actionable data in all digital formats and buying and selling platforms. Marc and his team have done a great job and we look forward to working with the SQAD team to expand the scope and functionality of its solutions to further help its customers."

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, Dreamscape was founded in May 2020 as a partnership between Messrs. Knoll, Hahn and Iantosca and GTCR. The partnership's focus is to acquire companies and assets as part of a strategy to build a leading marketing technology business. The acquisition of SQAD is the first for Dreamscape and it continues to seek opportunities across a wide range of assets in the marketing sector to continue to build its capabilities.

The formation of the Dreamscape partnership is part of GTCR's unique Leaders Strategy approach, finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Messrs. Knoll, Hahn and Iantosca are 20+ year veterans of the technology, marketing and advertising industries. They worked together from 2011 to 2019, most recently as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Revenue Officer, respectively, at Integral Ad Science ("IAS"), a leading marketing technology business that measures media quality to verify and optimize the placement of digital ads through its fraud, viewability, brand safety and optimization capabilities. During this time, they grew IAS from a startup to a global leader in the ad verification industry.

"SQAD's cost data is essential for anyone buying or selling media and we believe this is an excellent investment for the Dreamscape team," said Craig Bondy, Managing Director and Co-Head of TMT at GTCR. "Together, GTCR, Dreamscape and SQAD can grow SQAD's existing capabilities and look for new tools to further enhance its offerings. This investment exemplifies the GTCR investment approach of bringing together experienced management leaders with well-positioned companies, and then partnering to build out best-in-class services, solutions and products."

"The marketing and advertising technology industry continues to evolve and providing data-driven insights and solutions has never been more important," said Stephen Master, Principal at GTCR. "We believe SQAD is uniquely positioned in the market, and adding additional expertise, perspective and networks from the Dreamscape team will position the business to continue to grow and to meet the needs of clients in an increasingly fragmented digital and online media landscape."

"SQAD is a market leader with its cost products, audience analytics and end to end media management platform," said Marc Krigsman, Chief Executive Officer of SQAD. "Our clients look to us for the tools to plan, forecast, optimize, and automate more of the manual steps it takes to manage their media activities. Throughout my seven year term as CEO, the incredible people of TEAM SQAD have worked tirelessly to further the leadership position of SQAD and I am incredibly proud to have worked with each and every person. The vision that GTCR and Dreamscape have for the future is one I am excited about, and look forward to, as SQAD enters this new relationship."

Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal advisor and LUMA Partners acted as financial advisor to GTCR and Dreamscape. Cooley acted as legal advisor and Lazard acted as financial advisor to SQAD.

About GTCR

Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Business & Consumer Services, Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare and Technology, Media & Telecommunications industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy  finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $20 billion in over 250 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Dreamscape

Dreamscape was formed in 2020 as a partnership between Scott Knoll, David Hahn, Michael Iantosca and GTCR. Dreamscape's mission is to build a leading marketing technology business. For more information about Dreamscape, please contact [email protected].

About SQAD

SQAD LLC. has been an industry leader for more than four decades, processing more than $1 trillion in actual transaction ad costs from advertising systems of record for its MediaCosts benchmarking platform. SQAD also serves advertisers and agencies with its mission-critical MediaTools planning software, a robust and flexible end-to-end media planning solution, and publishers with its MediaLogic audience analytics research tool. Learn more at www.sqad.com.

GTCR Contact:

Andrew Johnson

(212) 835-7042

[email protected]

SOURCE GTCR
Halekulani Okinawa Receives First Five-Star Award & Becomes Okinawa's First Five-Star Hotel

OKINAWA, Japan, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Forbes Travel Guide, the only global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants and spas, today unveiled its 2022 Star Awards, recognizing Halekulani Okinawa, the acclaimed luxury resort located on the main island of Okinawa in Japan, as a Five-Star Hotel. The accolade is Halekulani Okinawa's first Five-Star Award, a status presented only to properties who deliver a guest experience across its dining venues, facilities and services as determined by an independent inspection process. This honor designates Halekulani Okinawa as the first and only Five-Star property in Okinawa and only one of 12 Five-Star Hotels in Japan. Halekulani Okinawa is one of only two new properties in Japan to earn the Five-Star honor in 2022, with the second being HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO, a luxury property within the Mitsui Fudosan Group.

"It is a tremendous honor to have our beloved property recognized as a Five-Star hotel by Forbes Travel Guide for the first year," says Jun Yoshie, General Manager of Halekulani Okinawa. "Since opening our doors in July 2019, we have strived to provide guests with personalized service and unforgettable experiences through luxury accommodations, innovative fine dining and unique cultural excursions. We are proud to be Okinawa's first Five-Star hotel and are incredibly thankful for our team of passionate and dedicated staff, who have made this exceptional guest experience possible for our guests."

Halekulani Okinawa is home to the prestigious SpaHalekulani, which received recognition for the first time from Forbes Travel Guide as a Four-Star spa. Inspired by the ancient healing methods of Okinawan culture, SpaHalekulani offers bespoke treatments that are tailored to the personal needs of each guest and incorporate traditional Okinawan ingredients. Halekulani Okinawa received top marks from Forbes Travel Guide for its Food & Beverage services, guest comfort and convenience, and luxurious pool experience.

Halekulani Okinawa opened in July 2019 on the main island of Okinawa, Japan as the second hotel from the leading Hawaiian resort of the same name and first outside Hawaii. Located on the coastline within the Okinawa Kaigan Quasi-National Park, Halekulani Okinawa offers travelers a true resort experience across 32 acres of lush natural landscape. In addition to 360 guest rooms, suites and cliffside villas, Halekulani Okinawa features eight restaurants and bars, and unique/immersive guest programming and exclusive access to Okinawa's rich culture and heritage.

Forbes Travel Guide is recognized for creating the original concept of Five-Star service, naming only most deserving properties to its illustrious annual Star Rating list. The full list of Forbes Travel Guide's 2022 Star Ratings can be found at ForbesTravelGuide.com.

For more information about Halekulani Okinawa, visit www.okinawa.halekulani.com.

About Halekulani Okinawa

Halekulani Okinawa, the second hotel from the leading Hawaiian resort of the same name and first outside Hawaii, is a luxury beach resort located in Onna Village on the main island of Okinawa. Featuring a variety of accommodations built to emphasize the geographic features of its surroundings, Halekulani Okinawa sits on 32 acres of lush land within the Okinawa Kaigan Quasi-National Park and faces approximately one mile of coastline. Halekulani Okinawa is home to a diverse array of facilities including eight restaurants and a bar. In addition, the property features the prestigious SpaHalekulani, a fitness center, a luxury boutique, over 2,550 ft2 of meeting and convention space and five swimming pools, one of which is adorned with nearly 1.5 million mosaic tiles in the shape of Halekulani's signature Cattleya orchid. Halekulani Okinawa is the third property in Japan to join The Leading Hotels of the World, an exclusive collection of the world's most extraordinary luxury establishments. For further information, please visit www.okinawa.halekulani.com.

SOURCE Halekulani Okinawa
CBD Oracle's lab study of 53 hemp delta-9 products shows that despite complying with the Farm Bill, over a third would be too strong to legally sell in a cannabis dispensary.

TUSTIN, Calif., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A lab study from CBD Oracle , a cannabis consumer research company, has found that 34% of hemp delta-9 edibles contain too much THC to be sold in states like Colorado or California  some almost four times over the limit. Due to the legal loophole they operate in, companies can sell high-THC products without safety testing (75% of products in lab study weren't tested for contaminants) and with no substantial age verification. The analysis of 53 products, representing 40% of all hemp delta-9 brands, revealed just how easy it is to get high on hemp anywhere in the country.

CBD Oracle commissioned InfiniteCAL Labs to conduct the testing. The results show that while 96% of products complied with the 0.3% THC limit imposed by the 2018 Farm Bill , 34% had so much THC that they wouldn't be allowed to be sold in dispensaries.

Dr. Erik Paulson, Lab Manager at InfiniteCAL , warned, "In California, the maximum dose of THC dispensaries are allowed to sell is 10 mg per serving and 100 mg per package of edibles. Many of the hemp-derived delta-9 THC products we've tested have been formulated to have 15, 25, 100 mg per serving or more while staying below the 0.3% THC limit."

Additionally, despite how dangerous THC can be for developing brains, there was no age verification (aside from pop-ups) in 85% of all purchases.

Mark Mellone, Chief Research Officer at CBD Oracle commented, "Our investigation reveals an industry profiting from a legal loophole, offering gummies much stronger than dispensary edibles with barely a fraction of the oversight. We bought products online without ever proving our age and all but one was just dropped at the mailbox."

The US Cannabis Council's Chris Lindsey expressed concerns many in the industry are feeling, "Our concern is that someone could take such a product and be harmed by it, thinking it is similar to regulated cannabis products safely available through state cannabis licensing programs."

The report calls on legislators to bring in regulations for high-THC hemp products. In particular, establishing THC limits for hemp products and instituting age verification for every purchase is crucial. This would bring high-THC hemp's rules in line with those for cannabis in legal states, and bring an end to the current regulatory double standard.

To view the full report, please visit: https://cbdoracle.com/news/hemp-delta-9-thc-products-lab-study-consumer-safety-and-legality/

About CBD Oracle

CBD Oracle is a consumer research company working to improve the safety and transparency of cannabis products, producing in-depth research pieces on cannabis and cannabinoids, along with analysis of social and legal issues.

About InfiniteCAL

InfiniteCAL provides analytical services prioritizing public safety, enabling brands to ensure their premium products meet the highest standards.

Contact

Mark Mellone

[email protected]

SOURCE CBD Oracle
URBANA, Ohio, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hughey & Phillips (H&P), a global leader in the airfield and obstruction lighting industry, announces a new award from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Lakehurst in support of the Navy's Expeditionary Airfield (EAF) program. The five-year IDIQ contract has options totaling $37M. The contract is estimated to create about 20 jobs initially in Florida and Ohio, with the potential to add up to 50 jobs.

This contract was awarded for an advanced lighting system that H&P co-developed with NAWCAD Lakehurst. It provides NVD compatible Approach and Runway Lighting Systems. The mission of the EAF Program is to provide the Marine Corps with the equipment necessary to support the rapid deployment and establishment of self-sustaining airfields in austere, expeditionary operating environments with a minimum of infrastructure. This new innovative system, which has been in development at our Coral Springs facility over the last three years, utilizes H&P's leading-edge designs. This new EAF systems aligns with the latest FAA and ICAO approved configurations for Category 1 Instructional Flight Rules (IFR) meteorological conditions and AN/AVS-9 Class B and C Night Vision Devices.
EL PASO, Texas, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hunt Development Group, an affiliate of Hunt Companies, Inc. (Hunt), announced today that Josh Smith has joined the Company as Senior Vice President of Public-Private Partnerships (P3). In this role, Mr. Smith will focus on accelerating Hunt's interests in social infrastructure P3 projects in North America.

"We are pleased to welcome Mr. Smith to the Hunt Family of Companies," said Guy Arnold, Chief Operating Officer of Hunt Development Group. "His depth of knowledge and unique capabilities will be an asset to Hunt's experienced infrastructure team."

Prior to joining Hunt, Mr. Smith was Senior Vice President for Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, a division of Balfour Beatty Investments. He led business development and transaction management for the company and focused on higher education P3 investments, including housing, dining, parking, and other academic-related facilities.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Mr. Smith has more than 19 years of real estate development experience, including over 14 years in infrastructure investment and project development in North America on complex P3 transactions totaling more than $2 billion.

About Hunt Companies:

Hunt, based in El Paso, Texas, is a diversified, family-owned holding company that invests in operating businesses, real estate assets and infrastructure assets. Since its founding in 1947, Hunt's size and scope have grown substantially while gaining considerable expertise across multiple real asset sectors. Hunt's reputation is built on integrity and performance. Hunt is committed to a culture of transparency for employees, clients, investors, and the communities it serves. Hunt and its affiliates employ more than 4,000 people across the United States and Europe. Learn more at www.huntcompanies.com .

SOURCE Hunt Companies, Inc.
CLEVELAND, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. (NYSE:HY) will release its 2022 First Quarter financial results and will file its 2022 First Quarter 10-Q after the close of the market on Tuesday, May 3, 2022.

In conjunction with this release, the Company will host a conference call at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 to discuss its results for the 2022 first quarter.

To register for this conference call, please use the following link: http://www.directeventreg.com/registration/event/1990075. After registering, a confirmation will be sent via email, including dial-in details and unique conference call access codes required for call entry. Registration is open throughout the live call. To ensure you are connected prior to the beginning of the call, the Company suggests registering a day in advance or a minimum of 15 minutes before the start of the call.

The call will also be webcast live on Hyster-Yale's Investor Relations website at https://www.hyster-yale.com/investors. For those not planning to ask a question of management, the Company recommends listening via the webcast. Please allow 15 minutes to register, download and install any necessary software.

Following the conference call, a replay will be available at (800) 585-8367 (Toll Free) or (416) 621-4642 (International). The replay passcode is 1990075. An archive of the webcast will also be available on the Company's website two hours after the live call ends.

About Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc.

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc., headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, offers a broad array of solutions to meet the specific materials handling needs of customers' applications. The Company's wholly owned operating subsidiary, Hyster-Yale Group, Inc., designs, engineers, manufactures, sells and services a comprehensive line of lift trucks, attachments and aftermarket parts marketed globally primarily under the Hyster and Yale brand names. Subsidiaries of Hyster-Yale Group include Bolzoni S.p.A., a leading worldwide producer of attachments, forks and lift tables marketed under the Bolzoni, Auramo and Meyer brand names, and Nuvera Fuel Cells, LLC, an alternative-power technology company focused on fuel cell stacks and engines. Hyster-Yale Group also has significant joint ventures in Japan (Sumitomo NACCO) and in China (Hyster-Yale Maximal). For more information about Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. and its subsidiaries, visit the Company's website at www.hyster-yale.com.

***

SOURCE Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc.
"Hyundai is committed to making progress for humanity, and this begins with basic human needs like food and nutrition," said Brandon Ramirez, director, corporate social responsibility and external relations, Hyundai Motor America. "By partnering with organizations like the Food Bank for Monterey County, Hyundai Hope is dedicated to supporting local nonprofits with the goal of advancing this guiding principle to improve the communities we live and work in."

Food Bank for Monterey County provides high quality food, fresh produce, and educational and nutritional resources serving 1 in 4 children and 1 in 5 adults in the county. It provides sustainable innovative hunger relief programs that addresses its community's specific nutritional concerns. With this donation, the Food Bank for Monterey County will be able to provide 60,000 meals to the community.

Hyundai Hope previously partnered with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago in support of its Buckle Up Child Passenger Safety Program (CPS). Hyundai will announce additional partnerships to support its other core pillars later this year.

Hyundai Hope

Hyundai Hope is a corporate social responsibility initiative from Hyundai Motor North America, committed to the principal of Progress for Humanity and the goal of improving the wellbeing of society. Hyundai Hope dedicates time and supplies resources to nonprofit organizations that support the health and safety of individuals and foster positive growth in communities.

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America focuses on 'Progress for Humanity' and smart mobility solutions. Hyundai offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs and electrified vehicles. Our 820 dealers sold more than 738,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2021, and nearly half were built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. For more information, visit www.HyundaiNews.com.

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America
NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

Class Period: April 4, 2017 to October 20, 2021

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: June 6, 2022

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in IBM:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/international-business-machines-corporation-loss-submission-form?id=26303&from=4

International Business Machines Corporation NEWS - IBM NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that International Business Machines Corporation made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Strategic Imperatives Revenue and growth, CAMSS and CAMSS Components' revenue and growth, and the Company's Segments' revenue and growth were artificially inflated as a result of the wrongful reclassification of revenues from non-strategic to strategic to make those revenues eligible for treatment as Strategic Imperatives Revenue; (ii) the Company's present success and positive future growth prospects concerning its Strategic Imperative business strategy were being fueled by the wrongful reclassification of revenues from non-strategic to strategic to make those revenues eligible for treatment as Strategic Imperative Revenue and, as a result (iii) the Company misled the market by portraying the Company's Strategic Imperative's financial performance and future prospects more favorable than they actually were as a result of the wrongful reclassification of revenues from non-strategic to strategic to make those revenues eligible for treatment as Strategic Imperatives.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in IBM you have until June 6, 2022 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased IBM securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the IBM lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/international-business-machines-corporation-loss-submission-form?id=26303&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

Empire State Building

350 Fifth Avenue

59th Floor

New York, NY 10118

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
TORONTO, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Ikanik Farms, Inc. (CSE: IKNK.U) (FSE: DFMA) (the "Company" or "Ikanik Farms") is pleased to announce the completion of the first tranche of a non-brokered private placement of 20,000,000 subordinate voting share units of the Company (the "Units") with Visualiza Business SL (the "Investor") at a price of USD$0.15 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of USD$3,000,000. Each Unit consists of one subordinate voting share (a "Share") of the Company and one-quarter of one Share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire an additional Share (each, a "Warrant Share") at a price of USD$0.30 per Warrant Share for a period of two years. The Shares, Warrants and, if applicable, Warrant Shares will be subject to a statutory four month hold period.

The Investor will be entitled to appoint two independent directors to the Company's board of directors (the "Board") to fill the vacancies created by the resignations of Mr. Brian Baca and Mr. JJ Thomas from the Board. Following this, the Board will consist of three independent, non-executive directors and three executive directors.

Visualiza Business SL. is an integrated management finance company with operating businesses in technology, leisure tourism, health, housing and communications across Spain. "We are proud to invest in the Company we believe has the strongest business model and the most effective indoor crop structure to supply the medicinal cannabis market in Europe" says Jose Ramon Garcia Gonzalez, CEO Visualiza Business SL.

The use of the proceeds from the issuance of Units will go directly to further the completion of four indoor cultivation Bodegas at the Company's wholly owned subsidiary Pideka SAS ("Pideka") in Bogota, Colombia and general operating expenses. The Company is aiming to complete a second tranche of the non-brokered private placement of Units for $3M in the near future.

"Pideka is on track to complete the construction of its 80,000 square foot, EUGMP certified facility with triple stacked grow rooms by Fall 2022, adding 9.8 tons to our annual output with an estimated annual production capacity of approximately 10.8 tons of THC cannabis flower said Mr. Sanz de Madrid, interim CEO. "We have been permitted to cultivate a total of 135,000 plants and derivatives for commercial exportation to the European Union for medicinal purposes and eligible for use in magistral formula nationally and internationally amongst participating LATAM countries" continued Mr. Sanz de Madrid.

"This strategic investment is an important step to secure forward sales contracts for bulk pharmaceutical grade THC cannabis flower from leading global cannabis operators and our aim to be a trusted pharmaceutical supplier for psychoactive cannabis flower" said Mr. Sanz de Madrid.

About Ikanik Farms

Ikanik Farms is multi-national operator with a medical grade indoor cultivation facility and laboratory (Pideka) in Colombia which holds GMP-PHARMA and (GACP) Good Agricultural and Collection Practice certifications, and retail operations in California.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and United States securities laws (together, "forward-looking information). All information, other than statements of historical facts, included in this news release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future is forward-looking information. When used in this news release, words such as "will", "could", "plan", "estimate", "aiming", "expect", "intend", "may", "potential", "believe", "should", and similar expressions, are forward-looking information. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements with respect to: the composition of the Board following the Investor's appointment; the use of proceeds of the non-brokered private placement; statements with respect to any future tranches of the non-brokered private placement or other financings by the Company; statements with respect to the timing of completion of construction of the Pideka facility; statements with respect to the monthly output and estimated annual production capacity at the Pideka facility; and statements with respect to the Company's ability to secure forward sales contracts for bulk pharmaceutical grade THC cannabis flower from leading global cannabis operators. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including, but not limited to: the inability of the Company to implement the changes to the Board; a change in the use of proceeds from the financing; the Company being unable to complete any additional financings on the terms described herein; material delays in the construction of the Pideka facility; the Company being unable to secure forward sales contracts as set out herein; changes in laws, a change in management, the inability to obtain additional financing, increased competition, hindering market growth and state adoption due to inconsistent public opinion and perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry and, regulatory or political change. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the results or events predicted in the forward-looking information may differ materially from actual results or events. The statements with respect to the anticipated production capacity (monthly and annual) at the Pideka facility are based on the following material factors and assumptions: the facility will be 80,000 square feet and consist of triple stacked grow rooms, with all space used for cultivation; the ratio of THC cannabis flower cultivated per square foot will be consistent with historical output; there being no material challenges with respect to pest control or diseases affecting cannabis plants; the costs to complete the Pideka facility and the facility will be completed by Fall of 2022 and there will be no material delays or stoppages in work in completing the facility. The Company believes there is a reasonable basis for the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements, however these expectations may not prove to be correct.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information in this news release is made as of the date of this release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and the Company does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein.

Related Links

https://ikanikfarms.com/

SOURCE Ikanik Farms Inc.
CALGARY, AB, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Vermilion Energy Inc. ("Vermilion", "We", "Our", "Us" or the "Company") (TSX: VET) (NYSE: VET) is pleased to announce that leading independent proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS") and Glass Lewis & Co. ("Glass Lewis") have each recommended Vermilion shareholders ("Vermilion Shareholders") vote "FOR" all the proposed resolutions at the upcoming Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting") to be held on May 11, 2022 at 3:00 pm MT.

The Board of Directors of Vermilion recommends that Shareholders vote in favour of all the proposed items

At the Meeting, Shareholders will be asked to elect the board of directors, as well as the auditors for the ensuing year, as well as approve the Omnibus Incentive Plan and an advisory resolution to accept the approach to executive compensation.

Independent Third Party Proxy Advisor Recommendations

Two leading independent, third party proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") and Glass Lewis & Co. ("Glass Lewis") have both recommended that shareholders vote FOR the all the proposed resolutions. Both ISS and Glass Lewis provide proxy-voting recommendations to pension funds, investment managers, mutual funds and other institutional shareholders.

YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT  PLEASE VOTE TODAYThe proxy voting deadline is 3:00 p.m. MT on Monday May 9, 2022

How to Vote

There are several ways to vote your shares. Due to the essence of time, Shareholders are encouraged to vote online or by telephone.



Registered Shareholders Beneficial Shareholders

Common Shares held in own name and represented by a physical certificate or DRS. Common Shares held with a broker, bank or other intermediary. Internet https://login.odysseytrust.com/pxlogin www.proxyvote.com Telephone N/A Dial the applicable number listed on the voting instruction form enclosed. Mail Return the voting instruction form in the enclosed postage paid envelope. Return the voting instruction form in the enclosed postage paid envelope.

Annual General Meeting and Webcast Details

Vermilion will hold its Annual General Meeting on May 11, 2022 at 3:00 pm MT. Our Meeting will be held as a virtual only shareholder meeting with participation electronically as explained further in the Proxy Statement and Information Circular. As a reminder, proxies must be received by 3:00 pm MT on Monday, May 9, 2022.

Shareholders can participate electronically at https://web.lumiagm.com/299274697. Please see our Virtual Meeting Guide at https://www.vermilionenergy.com/files/pdf/investor-relations/2022_Virtual_Meeting_Guide.pdf for detailed instructions on how to access the meeting, vote on resolutions and submit questions. Following the formal portion of the Meeting, a presentation will be given by Dion Hatcher, President of Vermilion. Guests may also view the event at https://web.lumiagm.com/299274697 by registering as a guest. The live webcast link, webcast slides, and archive link will be available on Vermilion's website at http://www.vermilionenergy.com/ir/eventspresentations.cfm.

Please visit the Annual General Meeting page on our website under Invest with Us for complete details and links to all relevant documents ahead of the Meeting at https://www.vermilionenergy.com/invest-with-us/annual-general-meeting.cfm.

Vermilion encourages shareholders to read the meeting material, which have been filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on the Company's website at www.vermilionenergy.com.

Questions

If you have questions about the Meeting matters, the voting instructions or require assistance completing your proxy form, please contact our strategic shareholder advisor and proxy solicitation agent, Laurel Hill, toll-free in North America at 1.877.452.7184, outside North America at 1.416.304.0211, or by email at [email protected].

About Vermilion

Vermilion is an international energy producer that seeks to create value through the acquisition, exploration, development and optimization of producing assets in North America, Europe and Australia. Our business model emphasizes free cash flow generation and returning capital to investors when economically warranted, augmented by value-adding acquisitions. Vermilion's operations are focused on the exploitation of light oil and liquids-rich natural gas conventional resource plays in North America and the exploration and development of conventional natural gas and oil opportunities in Europe and Australia.

Vermilion's priorities are health and safety, the environment, and profitability, in that order. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the public and those who work with us, and the protection of our natural surroundings. We have been recognized by leading ESG rating agencies for our transparency on and management of key environmental, social and governance issues. In addition, we emphasize strategic community investment in each of our operating areas.

Employees and directors hold approximately 5% of our outstanding shares and are committed to delivering long-term value for all stakeholders. Vermilion trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VET.

SOURCE Vermilion Energy Inc.
CHANGSHA, China, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Every year on April 26, the world celebrates World Intellectual Property Day, a day that highlights the role of intellectual property ("IP") services in fostering innovation and creativity. This year, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. ("Zoomlion"; 1157.HK), a leading high-end equipment manufacturing enterprise, is using the celebrations to reflect on how IP contributes to industrial prosperity, drives technological innovation, and helps change the world for the better.

Underpinned by the unique concept that "technology is the root and products are the foundation", Zoomlion has consistently maintained a high investment in R&D and celebrates independent innovation as a leading factor in business development. Over the years, Zoomlion has integrated product digitalization, intelligence, and green innovations to create industry-leading technologies and high-end products.

This principle that "Vision Create Futures" has enabled Zoomlion to increase its brand value for 18 consecutive years whilst also growing revenue and net profits. In 2021, the brand was valued at RMB 86.58 billion, a year-on-year increase of RMB 9.8 billion. Moreover, Zoomlion ranked 120th on World Brand Lab's Top 500 Asian Brands of 2021.

Zoomlion's growth is backed by the brand's innovative prowess and industry-leading patent strength. In 2021, Zoomlion's patent applications increased 62% year-on-year. In total, 727 patents were authorized throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 99.2%. As of December 31, 2021, Zoomlion has applied for a total of 12,278 patents, of which 9,407 have been authorized.

In addition to patents, Zoomlion actively contributes to the development and revision of industry standards. The company has formulated nine international standards, 414 national and industry-level standards, and 22 group standards. For example, ISO 19720-1, a global standard on machinery and equipment for concrete work let by Zoomlion, marked the first global construction machinery standard published by a Chinese enterprise. Zoomlion also employs 19 registered international standardization experts and has seven national innovation platforms to support R&D.

Under its development strategy, Zoomlion has formed a comprehensive ecosystem of IP creation, utilization, protection, and management, and generate innovations on green and intelligent product lines, digitalized manufacturing, and human-machine interaction technology. The company achieved operating revenue of RMB 67.131 billion, up 3.11% year over year in 2021.

In fostering innovation and development, Zoomlion will continue to promote technological and industrial progress and shape a better future for all.

SOURCE Zoomlion
DUBLIN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Polyolefin Shrink Film Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global polyolefin shrink film market grew at a CAGR of around 4% during 2015-2020. Polyolefin (POF) shrink film is a chemically inert packaging material manufactured using polymer plastic material. It covers the product and shrinks tightly when heat is applied over it. It is highly durable, exhibits high tensile strength, puncture resistance and visual clarity, due to which it is widely used for packing food products, boxes and bottles.

POE shrink film is commonly available in printed and unprinted rolls, tubes and bags. In comparison to the traditionally used materials, they are highly elastic and environment-friendly. As a result, they find extensive applications for the packaging of food and beverages, consumer goods, personal care products, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.



The growing food and beverages industry and the increasing consumer awareness regarding food safety and protection, represent as the key factors creating a positive outlook for the market. With the changing lifestyles and hectic schedules of the consumers, there is an increasing demand for ready-to-eat (RTE) and packaged food products, which are sealed using POF shrink films. These films are also widely used for the sealing of RTE meals, snacks and frozen meals in quick serving restaurants (QSRs) and cafes.

Additionally, various product innovations, such as the development of novel variants with high-gloss finish, improved barrier and airtight sealing properties and ease of printing, are acting as other growth-inducing factors. These variants enhance the aesthetic appeal of the product and aid in improving the effectiveness of the marketing and branding campaigns. Other factors, including the rising expenditure capacities of the consumers, along with extensive research and development (R&D) activities, are anticipated to drive the market growth further. Looking forward, the publisher expects the global polyolefin shrink film market to exhibit moderate growth during the next five years.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Allen Plastic Industries Co. Ltd., Amcor Plc, Berry Global Inc. (Berry Global Group Inc.), Exxon Mobil Corporation, Four Star Plastics, Harwal Group of Companies, Intertape Polymer Group Inc., Pakmarkas UAB, Riverside Paper Co. Inc. (SupplyOne Inc.), Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Sealed Air Corporation and Syfan USA.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global polyolefin shrink film market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global polyolefin shrink film market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the product?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end use industry?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global polyolefin shrink film market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Polyolefin Shrink Film Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Product

6.1 General Shrink Film

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Cross-Linked Shrink Film

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Others

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by End Use Industry

7.1 Food and Beverages

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Personal Care and Cosmetics

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Pharmaceuticals

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast

7.4 Printing and Stationery

7.4.1 Market Trends

7.4.2 Market Forecast

7.5 Others

7.5.1 Market Trends

7.5.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Region



9 SWOT Analysis



10 Value Chain Analysis



11 Porters Five Forces Analysis



12 Price Analysis



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Market Structure

13.2 Key Players

13.3 Profiles of Key Players

13.3.1 Allen Plastic Industries Co. Ltd.

13.3.1.1 Company Overview

13.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.2 Amcor Plc

13.3.2.1 Company Overview

13.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.3 Berry Global Inc. (Berry Global Group Inc.)

13.3.3.1 Company Overview

13.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.4 Exxon Mobil Corporation

13.3.4.1 Company Overview

13.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.4.3 Financials

13.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.5 Four Star Plastics

13.3.5.1 Company Overview

13.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.6 Harwal Group of Companies

13.3.6.1 Company Overview

13.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.7 Intertape Polymer Group Inc.

13.3.7.1 Company Overview

13.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.8 Pakmarkas UAB

13.3.8.1 Company Overview

13.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.9 Riverside Paper Co. Inc. (SupplyOne Inc.)

13.3.9.1 Company Overview

13.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.10 Saudi Basic Industries Corporation

13.3.10.1 Company Overview

13.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.10.3 Financials

13.3.10.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.11 Sealed Air Corporation

13.3.11.1 Company Overview

13.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.11.3 Financials

13.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis

13.3.12 Syfan USA

13.3.12.1 Company Overview

13.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/2xor1d

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Travel Insurance Market (2022-2027) by Type, Distribution, End-User, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Travel Insurance Market is estimated to be USD 19.75 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 44.35 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 17.56%.

Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Travel Insurance Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals.



As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Allianz Group, Aviva Plc, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company, Munich Reinsurance Company, Travelsafe Insurance, etc.



Countries Studied

America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of - Americas)

, , , , , , , , Rest of - Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of - Europe )

( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of - ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA.

and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA. Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Travel Insurance Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach.



The analyst analyses Global Travel Insurance Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position.



Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.



Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Travel Insurance Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's competitive positioning tool.

Report Highlights:

A complete analysis of the market, including the parent industry

Important market dynamics and trends

Market segmentation

Historical, current, and projected size of the market based on value and volume

Market shares and strategies of key players

Recommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the market

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Increase in Tourisum

4.1.2 High Cost of Medical Treatment Overseas

4.1.3 Mandate Travel Insurance in Some Countries

4.1.4 Rising Demand for Reimbursement of Expenditures

4.1.5 Increase in Mobile-Based Payment and Internet Banking

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Varied Insurance Regulations across the Globe

4.2.2 Low Clarity Of The Travel Insurance Commitments

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Incorporating Digital Tools by Insurance Market Players

4.3.2 Supportive Initiatives by Government

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Lack of Awareness Regarding Travel Insurance Policy

4.4.2 Cyber Security Concerns



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Travel Insurance Market, By Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Single-Trip Travel Insurance

6.3 Annual Multi-Trip Travel Insurance

6.4 Long- Stay Travel Insurance



7 Global Travel Insurance Market, By Distribution

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Insurance Intermediaries

7.3 Insurance Companies

7.4 Banks

7.5 Insurance Brokers and Aggregators



8 Global Travel Insurance Market, By End-User

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Educational Travel

8.3 Business Travelers

8.4 Family Travelers

8.5 Senior Citizen

8.6 Others



9 Americas' Travel Insurance Market

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Argentina

9.3 Brazil

9.4 Canada

9.5 Chile

9.6 Colombia

9.7 Mexico

9.8 Peru

9.9 United States

9.10 Rest of Americas



10 Europe's Travel Insurance Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Austria

10.3 Belgium

10.4 Denmark

10.5 Finland

10.6 France

10.7 Germany

10.8 Italy

10.9 Netherlands

10.10 Norway

10.11 Poland

10.12 Russia

10.13 Spain

10.14 Sweden

10.15 Switzerland

10.16 United Kingdom

10.17 Rest of Europe



11 Middle East and Africa's Travel Insurance Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Egypt

11.3 Israel

11.4 Qatar

11.5 Saudi Arabia

11.6 South Africa

11.7 United Arab Emirates

11.8 Rest of MEA



12 APAC's Travel Insurance Market

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Australia

12.3 Bangladesh

12.4 China

12.5 India

12.6 Indonesia

12.7 Japan

12.8 Malaysia

12.9 Philippines

12.10 Singapore

12.11 South Korea

12.12 Sri Lanka

12.13 Thailand

12.14 Taiwan

12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Competitive Quadrant

13.2 Market Share Analysis

13.3 Strategic Initiatives

13.3.1 M&A and Investments

13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



14 Company Profiles

14.1 Allianz Group

14.2 American Express Company

14.3 American International Group Inc.

14.4 Assicurazioni Generali S.P.A.

14.5 Atlas Travel Insurance Services Ltd

14.6 Aviva Plc

14.7 AXA S.A

14.8 Bajaj Finserv Limited

14.9 Battleface Insurance Services Ltd

14.10 Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company

14.11 China Life Insurance Company Limited.

14.12 China Pacific Life Insurance Co. Ltd

14.13 Chubb Limited

14.14 Mapfre Insurance Company Inc.

14.15 Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdings, Inc

14.16 Munich Reinsurance Company

14.17 Ping An Insurance Company Of China, Ltd.

14.18 Prudential Financial Inc.

14.19 Saga Plc

14.20 Seven Corners Inc.

14.21 Travelex Insurance Services

14.22 Travelsafe Insurance

14.23 USI Insurance Services

14.24 Zurich Insurance Co. Limited



15 Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6ld250

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Knowing which industry a company works in can be difficult to ascertain, but is critical information for insurance brokers to recommend the right types of coverage to their clients and develop highly profitable niches. Most brokers face serious challenges in this area, as the information in their systems is typically old, incomplete, or simply wrong.

Insurance brokers using the ennablDATA platform can now seamlessly leverage Relativity6 to enhance their knowledge of all customers and prospects

Instead of building large, rapidly obsolete databases of business classifications, Relativity6 takes a unique approach to this problem, training machine-learning technology to scan publicly available information about a business, including websites, reviews, press releases, and social media, and identify the best industry classification in real-time. Insurance brokers using the ennablDATA platform can now seamlessly leverage Relativity6 to enhance their knowledge of all customers and prospects.

Alan Ringvald, President and CEO at Relativity6 said "Accurately categorizing small business is absolutely critical for insurance brokers to best serve their clients. Our partnership with ennabl will allow insurance producers to use Relativity6 to improve their relationships with their clients."

ennabl was founded on the belief that insurance brokers spend too much time and money across disjointed systems entering and correcting data. ennabl's mission is to allow insurance professionals to get out of the data entry business and focus on their most critical assets: Their customers.

Kabir Syed, CEO of ennabl stated "We're thrilled to be working with a truly cutting-edge company like Relativity6. ennabl is the only company in the Insurtech industry to offer this revolutionary method to improve the accuracy of customer information"

With this partnership, ennabl becomes one of the fasting growing providers of data and growth solutions for the insurance industry. This partnership expands the reach of ennabl's platform, broadening its services and providing access to the world's largest network of data.

About Relativity6

Relativity6's AI platform retrieves up-to-the-second information about a business to automatically detect its 6-digit NAICS code and verify its existence. Relativity6 is the fastest and most accurate NAICS detector on the market, improving commercial underwriting workflow and overall business classification and segmentation. Relativity6 is backed by Fin VC, State Auto Labs Fund, and Vectr Ventures. For more information visit: www.relativity6.com

About ennabl

ennabl was created by Kabir Syed, founder, and former CEO of RiskMatch, and former managing director at Marsh. Syed brought together a world-class team of engineers, data experts, interface designers, and industry veterans to build a platform that will totally transform the way insurance brokers conduct business. With this tool, brokers will spend less time keeping data current and more time focusing on their clients' experiences, improving their bottom line.

SOURCE ennabl
Employing the use of digital art tools including Photoshop, Unity, and Cinema 4D to reimagine the works of modernist art through the lens of cutting-edge technology, Mamiye's ambition of reframing authorship has allowed her to push the limits of her art and creativity to new levels across the mediums of photography, sculpture, and video.

Mamiye noted the significant meaning she expects the partnership to bring to her work, commenting: "Doodle Labs has allowed me to immortalize my work within the world of digital art, adding a new level of importance and meaning to my previous multi-dimensional work. The platform acts as a conduit in connecting artists like myself with the crypto community, opening new doors for collectors and art enthusiasts alike to discover my work."

The DeCiphers collection continues the conversation of nuance and authorship within the digital age and will be available in a limited quantity and drop of 1,000 NFT minted pieces at www.deciphers.doodlelabs.io .

Press Assets: HERE

Doodle Labs Social Media: Twitter / Discord / Telegram

About Doodle Labs Doodle Labs is dedicated to bringing established IRL artists and brands to the blockchain in an authentic manner. The platform is powered by Art Blocks generative minting technology, producing high quality one-of-one-of-x NFTS written on chain. For more information, please visit doodlelabs.io

About Irene Mamiye Irene Mamiye is a New York-based artist whose work incorporates photography, video, and digital imaging techniques. With light, color and movement, Mamiye blurs the distinctions between physical and virtual reality. Influenced by her own personal history and artists as diverse as Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Gerard Richter, Mamiye employs intricate and labor-intensive processes to challenge what is expected of the photographic medium. Culling photographs from social media, Mamiye transforms the plentitude of public images into richly layered works that hint at a life lived between screens. With a playful yet mordant humor, Mamiye creates pieces packed with art historical depth and pop cultural abundance. Mamiye's extensive body of work, including digital images, videos and furniture designs has been widely exhibited across the United States, including in the Aperture Foundation's Photography is Magic, curated by Charlotte Cotton, and in the landmark show The Edge of Vision (2009). Mamiye's work was part of the Museum of Art and Design's Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography (2014), and exhibited at SCOPE Art Fair, SELECT Fair (NYC), and Art Hamptons. Her work has been featured in the following publications: Architectural Digest, Interior Design Magazine, Vanity Fair, People Magazine, Elle Decor and InStyle. Irene Mamiye was born in Marseille, France and immigrated to the US as an adolescent. For more information, please visit www.irenemamiye.com

SOURCE Doodle Labs Corp
NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report from IQT Research, worldwide revenues from sales on quantum sensors will near $800 million by 2028 and then go on to reach $1.3 billion by 2031. More details on the report, Quantum Sensors: Market Evolution 2022 to 2031 can be found at https://www.insidequantumtechnology.com/product/quantum-sensors-market-evolution-2022-to-2031/.

For a sample of this report, click on: Request Excerpt. Coverage of the report focuses on CSACs, quantum gravitometers, quantum magnetic sensors, quantum LiDAR and single-photon detectors.

Total Quantum Sensor Markets, 2022-2031 (Source: IQT Research)

About the report:

It has been three years since IQT Research published its landmark assessment of the of the quantum sensor sector; much has changed. Quantum sensors are rapidly commercializing. For example, quantum sensors will become day-to-day realities in areas as far apart as air traffic control and healthcare. Meanwhile, thousands of single-photon optical detectors will soon be used in optical quantum computers and in QKD. The new report discusses in depth how quantum sensors will be used in navigation/transportation, healthcare, financial services, telephone networks, smart grids, construction, mobility applications, oil & gas, defense, and R&D.

Our new report includes granular ten-year forecasts of quantum sensors broken out by types of sensors and end user segment. It also includes profiles of leading quantum sensor organizations including Bosch, ColdQuanta, Element6, Honeywell, M Squared Lasers, Muquans, NIST, QLM, QZabre and Single Quantum.

From the report:

The market for quantum sensors is dominated by quantum magnetometers. The most promising technologies are nitrogen vacancy center sensors, based on diamond, optically pumped vapor cell magnetometers, and SQUIDs. There are already a few (smaller) companies that produce OPMs that are routinely used for mineral and energy prospecting and unexploded ordnance detection. The number of commercial applications for SQUIDs is still limited but in recent years there have been engineering improvements and innovations that have both improved performance and relaxed the cryogenic requirements for SQUID.

Defense sector funding will be a powerful driver for quantum sensor development as the result of current global uncertainties. Almost all quantum sensor types can be repositioned as dual use system. However, there are a significant number that will primarily only be of value for military applications (e.g., quantum radar) or contingent on the military maturing the technology to a point where it becomes relevant to commercial applications. In 2021 the US Department of Defense's (DoD) Defense Science Board (DSB) concluded quantum sensing is the most mature quantum technology and is "poised for use".

Quantum sensors will integrate into the Internet-of-Things (IoT). Distributed networks of entangled quantum sensors will occur in the future, but specific quantum IoT applications are closer at hand. For example, networks of quantum clocks to significantly improve the precision of a "world clock". NIST has already established a quantum IoT study group to start considering specifications and standards.

About IQT Research:

IQT Research is a division of 3DR Holdings, and the first industry analyst firm dedicated to meeting the strategic information and analysis needs of the emerging quantum technology sector. In addition to publishing reports on critical business opportunities in the quantum technology sector, Inside Quantum Technology produces a daily news website on business-related happenings in the quantum technology field. https://www.insidequantumtechnology.com/.

3DR Holdings organizes the Inside Quantum Technology conferences. The next conference "Spring Inside Quantum Technology  San Diego" will be held May 10-12, 2022 and covers all aspects of quantum technology. It will be a hybrid event.

https://iqtevent.com/sandiego/

For more details on the report, contact:

Lawrence Gasman

[email protected]

Telephone: 434-825-1311

Press Contact:

Barry Schwartz

[email protected]

212-677-8700 ext. 118.

SOURCE Inside Quantum Technology Research
The campaign started on Thursday 11th of Ramadan, the 12th of April 2022, and lasted until Saturday 15th of Ramadan, the 16th of April 2022. During the five days of the campaign, the volunteers were able to successfully distribute around 1,100 Iftar meals to the residents of the region, who were unable to reach their homes in time to break their fast with their families and loved ones. The camping located itself around the crucial areas in the region, in: Sinaiyah Al-Jawf, Dumah Al-Jandal, Al-Jawf Airport, Al-Suq, Bike Park, Al-Nakheel Park, and Al-Jawf main traffic lights (Shalhoub, Al-Hassoun, and Sinaiyah)
BOSTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jnana Therapeutics, a biotechnology company utilizing its next generation chemoproteomic platform to address well-validated but hard-to-drug targets, today announced the appointment of Doug Pagan, MBA, as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Pagan will be responsible for spearheading the company's finance, operations and IT functions, including capital formation and allocation and investor relations.

"We are thrilled to bring Doug on board during an exciting period of growth for the company," said Joanne Kotz, Ph.D., Cofounder & Chief Executive Officer of Jnana Therapeutics. "His financial expertise and strategic business insights will be important additions to our leadership team as we continue to accelerate our PKU program towards the clinic later this year and leverage our RAPID platform to systematically discover small molecule drugs for high value targets in immune-mediated disease and oncology."

Mr. Pagan brings over two decades of experience in finance, investor relations, strategy and capital formation in the biopharmaceutical industry to Jnana. Doug has had finance and operational leadership roles in both public and venture-backed companies going through transitions from pre-clinical to clinical to commercialization. Prior to joining Jnana, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw the IT and Finance organizations and oversaw the sale of the company to Novo Nordisk for $3.3BN. Mr. Pagan also held the role of Chief Financial Officer at KSQ Therapeutics and Paratek Pharmaceuticals, and was previously Vice President of Finance at Acceleron Pharma. Additionally, he served on the Board of Directors at Ziopharm Oncology, and held roles of increasing responsibility at Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson and J.P. Morgan earlier in his career. Mr. Pagan earned his MBA in Finance & Accounting from Columbia Business School and a BSE in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.

"Jnana's pioneering RAPID platform applies unique chemoproteomic technologies to address previously undruggable targets," said Doug Pagan. "I'm looking forward to working with this exceptional team united in their mission to expand the boundaries of drug discovery and deliver transformative therapies to patients."

About Jnana Therapeutics

Jnana Therapeutics is a biotechnology company utilizing their RAPID platform to address well-validated but hard-to-drug targets. Jnana is focused on developing first- and best-in-class therapies to treat a wide range of diseases, including rare genetic diseases, immune-mediated diseases and cancer. Jnana's lead program is a potential first-in-class oral approach, targeting an allosteric site on the phenylalanine transporter SLC6A19, for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU). Located in Boston, Jnana brings together scientific leaders in small molecule drug discovery and development, a highly experienced management team and the backing of leading life science investors. For more information, please visit www.jnanatx.com and follow us on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Jnana Therapeutics
Ukraine-based alcohol producer, Global Spirits USA LLC, expands its fundraising efforts to support disabled children as the crisis continues.

NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Global Spirits USA, the leading producer of Ukrainian vodka, announced KHOR FunRaise, a charity campaign formed to support the well-being of Ukrainian disabled children most at risk during the recent unfortunate events.

KHOR Foundation partnered directly with Mama I Nemovlya, a non-profit organization based in Ukraine supporting children with disabilities facing social and medical issues.

KHOR FunRaise Campaign will consist of two initiatives:

Starting April 23rd, Global Spirits will start Khor-Dollar-A-Thon with a goal to reach $100k in fundraising by donating $1 from each bottle of Khor Platinum Vodka 1.75L sold in the US to Mama I Nemovlya.

On the same day, Global Spirits is launching a KHOR Digital Bar, giving everyone the opportunity to make a donation by purchasing "Ukrainian digital cocktails" with 100% of the proceeds going to the same charity organization.

KHOR FunRaise campaign is the latest, but not the only fundraising effort of the Global Spirits USA. Owner and CEO Evgeny Chernyak has created a special fund named KHOR Foundation to help and protect Ukrainian citizens in recent events. Since the end of February 2022, over 5,000 of the company's employees, together with their families, who are based in Ukraine, have been provided safety and humanitarian aid- including relocation, if necessary.

Global Spirits' USA spokesperson and COO, Boris K., said, "As one of the biggest Ukrainian companies, we make it our mission to provide help as much as we can to kids and families in need during these hard times. We appreciate all the support we've recently seen all over the US and Global Spirits USA guarantees for the funds to be immediately available for Mama I Nemovlya."

Global Spirits USA is one of the global leaders in alcohol production and is mostly known for its #1 Ukrainian vodka Khortytsa (named KHOR in the US market). The company operates five distilleries across Ukraine to keep up with the global demand, exporting KHOR to more than 12 countries, including the US. Khortytsa Distillery, located in Zaporizhia, currently operates at a limited capacity, however, ensures the supply of their famous vodka.

Mama I Nemovlya is the only charity organization in Ukraine to solve social and medical problems related to motherhood and childhood. Being active for over 15 years and treating hundreds of children, the organization's main focus for the past month has been the relocation of children to safe places and providing them with proper treatments.

Related Link:

https://khor.com

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE Global Spirits USA LLC
Kudelski Security launched MDR ONE, an all-in-one, cloud-native managed detection and response solution. Tweet this

"Now more than ever, businesses of all sizes need to ensure they maintain the highest level of security for their systems and data," said Andrew Howard, CEO, Kudelski Security. "Kudelski Security's new MDR ONE enables us to provide efficient, effective threat hunting, detection and response capabilities in an all-in-one offering that is easy for clients to employ and manage over time."

An alternative model for accessing high-touch MDR services, Kudelski Security's MDR ONE solution is designed for clients who also seek to reduce the complexity of handling multiple-point threat detection solutions and accelerate time to value. MDR ONE is powered by FusionDetect, the foundation of Kudelski Security's innovative XDR architecture, which streamlines security processes and technology across all Kudelski Security's portfolio of MDR offerings to increase the measurable value clients realize.

MDR ONE also leverages Kudelski Security's proprietary Use Case Manager  mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework  which covers current and latest threat scenarios, supported by precise detection rules, each customized to the client's unique environment and threat model. This makes MDR ONE a one-stop shop that covers over 90 percent of the latest attack techniques across IT, cloud, and endpoint environments to drastically reduce time to detect and respond with agility to current and emerging threats.

Olivier Spielmann, Kudelski Security VP Global Managed Detection & Response services, added, "We believe that scalable and focused threat detection and response is crucial to address the challenges of the modern threat landscape. With this turn-key solution, we are making advanced and agile threat detection, investigation, and response more accessible and seamless than ever before."

Kudelski Security continues to earn industry recognition for its MDR approach and services that deliver faster, improved security outcomes, including from Bloor Research, Forrester, Frost & Sullivan, Gartner, and IDC. The company has been recognized for five consecutive years in the Gartner Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response Services (2017-2021), three consecutive years in Gartner Market Guide for Digital Forensics and Incident Response Services. Most recently, Kudelski Security was awarded 'Champion' status in Bloor's 2021 MDR Market Update and recognized as a 'Strong Performer' in the Forrester Wave "Managed Detection And Response, Q1 2021" report.

For more information about Kudelski Security's MDR services, visit: https://kudelskisecurity.com/solutions/by-capability/managed-detection-and-response/.

About Kudelski Security

Kudelski Security is the premier advisor and cybersecurity innovator for today's most security-conscious organizations. Our long-term approach to client partnerships enables us to continuously evaluate their security posture to recommend solutions that reduce business risk, maintain compliance and increase overall security effectiveness. With clients that include Fortune 500 enterprises and government organizations in Europe and across the United States, we address the most complex environments through an unparalleled set of solution capabilities including consulting, technology, managed security services and custom innovation. For more information, visit www.kudelskisecurity.com.

Media Contact

John Van Blaricum

Vice President, Global Marketing

+1 650 966 4320

[email protected]

SOURCE Kudelski Security
The Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program will provide a minimum of $20,000 in grant funding for two years to historic preservation projects in the region. This is the first grant program Landmarks Illinois has targeted to a specific Illinois economic development region. It is also Landmark Illinois's first grant program offered to private building owners, developers and for-profit business owners.

Landmarks Illinois and Banterra Bank announced the new Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program this morning at a community event hosted by the City of Marion, Illinois. Announcement representatives were Landmarks Illinois President & CEO Bonnie McDonald, Banterra Bank President & CEO Jeff May and Marion Mayor Mike Absher. Local business owner Jeff Mayer, who owns and plans to rehabilitate the historic Goodall Building in Marion, also joined the announcement.

"Landmarks Illinois is proud to partner with Banterra Bank to provide this important grant funding for people working to restore historic places to drive economic development in their communities," said McDonald. "Southern Illinois is a unique region in our state, rich with history, outdoor attractions and charming downtowns. The region's historic places also add to its character and appeal and they deserve to be preserved."

Banterra Bank originated in Ridgway, Illinois, and today has 40 locations in six states  25 of them in Southern Illinois. Its core customer base continues to be Southern Illinois, and May said it was a "no-brainer" to support this new grant program through Landmarks Illinois.

"As a lender with small business expertise, we know that when it comes to renovating historic structures for business use, financing the unexpected can be challenging," said May. "This grant will help with some of those costs and offer credibility to a development project that may assist with further grants. We are encouraged to see how this will grow and support Southern Illinois."

Additional grant program information

Banterra Bank and Landmarks Illinois will provide $10,000 in annual grant funding for two years for the new grant program, with the partners having the option to renew the program at that time.

Commercial property owners, nonprofit organizations or governmental bodies working on a historic preservation project in or near a commercial corridor in Southern Illinois are encouraged to apply for grant funding through the Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program.

Grants will be awarded on a matching basis and range from $500 to $2,500, each based on project need. Grants are distributed twice a year. The first grant application deadline is July 15. Visit our website to read detailed grant guidelines and to submit an application.

About Landmarks Illinois

We are People Saving Places for People. Landmarks Illinois is a membership-based historic preservation nonprofit organization serving the people of Illinois. We inspire and empower stakeholders to save places that matter to them by providing free guidance, practical and financial resources and access to strategic partnerships. For more information, visit www.Landmarks.org.

About Banterra Bank

Banterra Bank began as a single bank in Ridgway, Illinois in July of 1975. Today, Banterra has $2.6 billion in assets and is ranked in the Top Ten Percent of U.S. Charter Banks and Top Five Percent for Illinois Charter Banks by asset size. Banterra has more than 40 locations in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Utah, as well as a specialty lending division that serves customers nationwide. For more information, call 866-BANTERRA (226-8377) or go to www.banterra.bank.

Media Contact:

Kaitlyn McAvoy

Communications Manager

312-922-1742

[email protected]

SOURCE Landmarks Illinois
Lawsuit funding company to handle cases ranging from $50K to $20MM involving complex commercial litigations, judgment verdict on appeals, and attorney case cost funding.

LOS ANGELES, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Legal-Bay, a leading presettlement funding company, announces a comprehensive settlement loan division specifically to handle their many commercial litigation lawsuits. These extremely complex cases require extensive funding in order for plaintiffs and their lawyers to make it across the finish line. Legal-Bay knows how to accommodate the needs of this market, funding cases that many larger companies won't even consider.

Commercial litigation loans for lawsuits were created to assist plaintiffs level the playing field against deeper-pocketed defendants who can simply outspend them, dragging a case on indefinitely. Meanwhile, the plaintiff's determination and finances get drained. Legal-Bay's experience and resources can give hope to plaintiffs and law firms who are fighting to prosecute a successful claim.

Chris Janish, CEO of Legal-Bay, commented, "We are excited to be expanding from our traditional personal injury and mass tort litigation to the much larger and more complex commercial litigation market needing hefty funding amounts. Typically, these cases have minimum requests of anywhere from $50K to $20MM and take more time to evaluate. However, our focus is to help plaintiffs regardless if the funding request is large or small."

If you're looking for pre-settlement cash from your commercial litigation lawsuit, large jury verdict on appeal, large lawsuit loans for general working capital, or simply inquiring about specific case costs, please apply HERE or call toll-free at 877.571.0405.

Legal-Bay also funds breach of contract cases, wrongful imprisonment, whistleblower or Qui-Tam, wrongful termination, and many more. Legal-Bay has now secured additional capital for these and other types of commercial litigation cases, and encourages plaintiffs or attorneys that have been denied funding in the past to apply with Legal-Bay.

Legal-Bay is one of the leading lawsuit loan settlement funding companies, offering a fast approval process and some of the best rates in the industry. Their non-recourse law suit loans are risk-free, as the money does not need to be repaid should the recipient lose their case.

If you require an immediate cash advance loan for settlement, please visit the company's website HERE or call 877.571.0405 where skilled agents are standing by to hear about your specific case.

Contact:

Chris Janish, CEO

Email: [email protected]

Ph.: 877.571.0405

Website: www.Legal-Bay.com

SOURCE Legal-Bay, LLC
Even as pandemic recovery efforts continue to progress, the senior living industry faces ongoing occupancy, operational, and staffing challenges. With the addition of LifeLoop's expansive suite of communication, experience, and operational tools, iN2L will be able to support the industry's ability to build healthy workplaces and foster thriving communities that support the overall happiness, satisfaction, and well-being of both residents and staff.

"We have long admired LifeLoop's vision to provide technology that fosters vibrant, well-connected communities," said Lisa Taylor, iN2L's CEO. "They have proven to share our vision and passion for creating possibility, enjoyment, and connections for hundreds of thousands of seniors. Together, we can leverage our enhanced solution portfolio to better support senior living communities and advance the evolving experience of aging across America."

Today, amid mounting caretaker burnout, the industry's staffing crisis continues unabated, further exacerbating existing operational and occupancy challenges. According to the National Center for Assisted Living , 96% of assisted living communities are grappling with staffing challenges today, which impacts their overall ability to engage residents and boost occupancy rates. Together, iN2L and LifeLoop's cohesive platform of well-proven features and functionalities will boost resident engagement, improve well-being, and foster deep connections, all while delivering administrative efficiencies to build workplace satisfaction and help fill gaps in the workforce.

This announcement marks the senior living technology ecosystem's first major acquisition. Together, iN2L and LifeLoop will further their joint mission to enhance the aging experience and help shape the future of senior living. For the first time, the two organizations will unite market-leading engagement technology with robust operational and administrative services in a singular platform that is uniquely positioned to address the industry's real-time needs.

As iN2L's vision grows, so too does its team. With the acquisition, the LifeLoop organization will seamlessly merge with the iN2L team to rapidly foster innovation that supports real-time community needs. Upon integration, the technology provider will be able to scale solutions across new modalities to help make an impact upon today's diverse array of senior living experiences.

"We recognized in iN2L not just a peer but a like-minded group of individuals, whose goal was to make life better for seniors in need, and for those who love and support them," said LifeLoop co-founder and CEO, Amy Johnson. "This acquisition allows us to leverage our technology, our industry relationships, and further our clear vision for the future of resident experience and engagement."

With the acquisition, Johnson will move into a new position as Chief Strategy Officer of the combined organization. "We are over the moon to welcome Amy to the executive team," said Taylor. "Over the last year, we've been focused on building out the capabilities of our leadership team, which will grow even more with her on board. She brings a keen strategic eye and a thorough understanding of the industry's biggest pain points and needs. Perhaps most importantly, she shares our team's deep passion for advancing the aging experience."

With 26 communities, Agemark Senior Living knows that prioritizing staff satisfaction, family communication, and resident engagement is key to attracting consistent occupancy and generating growth. "Our partnerships with iN2L and LifeLoop have been instrumental in creating strong resident, family, and staff satisfaction via the adoption of their communication workflow and engagement programs," said Marty Hug, COO of Agemark. "This transaction allows us to continue leveraging the instrumental workflow and engagement services we count on today, while also streamlining and reducing the workload of our staff."

To learn more about the strategic acquisition and what is next for iN2L and LifeLoop, visit us here.

About iN2L

As the market leader in content-driven engagement for seniors, iN2L, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company, has been creating possibilities, enjoyment, and connection for older adults since 1999. iN2L's expansive content library promotes wellness, empowerment, and engagement among older adults and is the foundation for activities that facilitate social interaction, cognitive and physical exercise and therapy, education, reminiscing, areas of interest, and memory support engagement. iN2L is a critical part of the resident experience in more than 3,700 nursing homes, assisted and independent living communities, memory care settings, and adult day programs across the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit iN2L.com.

About LifeLoop

LifeLoop connects senior living residents, staff, and family members with its all-inclusive senior living solutions. At work in 700+ communities across the U.S., Canada and the UK, LifeLoop is the go-to solution for communities to enhance operational efficiency, increase and simplify communication, and vastly improve resident and family engagement. LifeLoop gives both staff and family members an unprecedented level of transparency, and helps families maintain a more meaningful connection with their loved ones. The innovative organization was recently recognized as one of Inc Magazine's Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in the Midwest. For more information, visit https://ourlifeloop.com .

Media Contact

George Evanko

(703) 627-3037

[email protected]

SOURCE iN2L
The makers of the No. 1 Ranch Water hard seltzer are expanding in the agave segment with new Ranch Rita now available nationwide

NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Inspired by Far West Texas, Lone River Beverage Company announced today the launch of its new margarita style beverage, Lone River Ranch Rita. Ranch Rita, made with agave nectar and a taste of lime, is a premium take on the canned margarita style beverage, with quality ingredients, fuller flavor and a 6% ABV. The inspiration for Ranch Rita came from Far West Texas where the iconic ranch water and margarita cocktails are rooted in ranching history. Ranch Rita joins the full Lone River portfolio at major retailers nationwide this month.

Lone River Ranch Ritas ad campaign leans into the legend of Far West Texas and the origins of Rita with an energetic cantina twist. Oscar and Grammy award-winning artist and star of Yellowstone, Ryan Bingham, stars in Lone Rivers ad campaign for its new innovation, Lone River Ranch Rita. Ranch Rita joins the full Lone River portfolio and is available at major retailers nationwide. Lone River Ranch Ritas ad campaign highlights the brands authentic Western roots with a cantina twist, featuring Oscar and Grammy award-winning artist and star of Yellowstone, Ryan Bingham, with a new face of the brand, Mayans and Jungle Cruise actress Sulem Calderon. Ranch Rita is a premium take on the canned margarita style beverage, with quality ingredients, fuller flavor and a 6% ABV. Inspired by Far West Texas, Ranch Rita is made with agave nectar and a taste of lime.

Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/9042151-lone-river-ranch-rita/

Lone River pioneered the agave seltzer/ranch water segment with the launch of its original Ranch Water hard seltzer in April 2020. Today, the Lone River Ranch Water brand continues to lead the high growth segment as the No. 1 brand1. With Lone River's recent national expansion, the brand's dollar share of the total hard seltzer category has more than tripled on a national scale, with it now sitting as the No. 8 hard seltzer brand overall2.

The brand's slingshot to the top of the hard seltzer category has been accomplished despite not yet having a full summer of distribution on a national scale. Lone River Ranch Rita is an extension of this national rollout and will be launched nationwide where Lone River Ranch Water is sold.

"Lone River Ranch Water was born out of innovation and that same sentiment remains top-of-mind as we hold our position as the No. 1 Ranch Water brand in the U.S.," says Katie Beal Brown, Founder & CEO of Lone River Beverage Company. "The margarita is one of America's most beloved cocktails and originally invented in Far West Texas, so a margarita style beverage was a natural addition to our portfolio. With a cocktail as iconic as the margarita, we wanted to get as close as possible to what we love about the real thing and we've answered the call of our consumers by offering a product with quality ingredients and that indulgent salty and lightly sweetened agave flavor."

The launch of Ranch Rita will be supported by a multi-million dollar advertising campaign running across TV, digital, social, audio, out-of-home and point-of-sale nationally throughout the summer. The new campaign continues to highlight the brand's authentic Western roots with a cantina twist, featuring Oscar and Grammy award-winning artist and star of "Yellowstone," Ryan Bingham, with a new face of the brand, actress Sulem Calderon. Together, Ryan and "Rita" (Calderon) continue telling the legend of the cocktail that inspired the newest campaign. The campaign's TV-debut took place earlier this month during the CMT Awards.

Lone River Ranch Rita Margarita Style is available in 6-packs of 12 oz cans as well as 16 oz and 23.5 oz single serves, best enjoyed chilled from the can and dressed with lime and salt. The premium brewed beverage delivers on the indulgent taste of the classic margarita cocktail with significantly fewer calories and less sugar than packaged and restaurant style options (a 12 oz can contains 150 calories and 5 grams of sugar). For more information about Lone River Ranch Water and Ranch Rita, as well as to find a retailer near you, follow @RanchWater on social and visit www.loneriverbevco.com. When enjoying Lone River, please remember to drink responsibly.

About Lone River Beverage Company

Founded in 2019 by native Texan Katie Beal Brown and acquired by Diageo in 2021, Lone River Beverage Company offers two unique drink propositions, with the taste of organic agave nectar and lime, that play on the biggest tequila inspired cocktail spaces with both lighter and fuller flavored options. The brand's namesake Ranch Water hard seltzer is rooted in tradition and taste from the high desert of Far West Texas. At 80 calories and 4% ABV per 12 oz can, Lone River Ranch Water brings an easy-drinking twist to Texas' classic cocktail. Lone River Ranch Water hard seltzer is available in Original, Spicy, Rio Red Grapefruit and Prickly Pear flavors. Lone River Ranch Rita Margarita Style is a fuller flavored, 6% ABV, premium brewed beverage that delivers the indulgent taste of the classic margarita cocktail. Lone River Ranch Rita is available in the Classic flavor. Lone River products are available nationwide in major retailers as well as independent stores. Lone River is also available via delivery platforms Instacart, Drizly, and more. To learn more, visit www.loneriverbevco.com. Enjoy Responsibly.

About Diageo North America

Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan's whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One vodkas, Casamigos, DeLeon and Don Julio tequilas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Diageo is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: DGE) and their products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world.

For more information about Diageo, their people, brands, and performance, visit diageo.com . Visit Diageo's global responsible drinking resource, DRINKiQ.com , for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practice. Follow at Twitter and Instagram for news and information about Diageo North America: @Diageo_NA.

Media Contact:

TAYLOR

[email protected]

1 Source: Nielsen, Total US xAOC, 12 WE 4/2/22

2 Source: Nielsen, Total US xAOC, 12 WE 4/2/22

SOURCE Lone River Beverage Company
With the NFT-based ecommerce rewards program, customers can earn free, limited-edition, tradeable, and redeemable tokens featuring top designs from the company's catalog of iconic pop-culture products.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LookHUMAN , the flagship brand of Print Syndicate, Inc., today announced the release of RFTee (Real F'n Tees) Rewards, a groundbreaking rewards program for its customers. RFTees combines the best aspects of retail loyalty and rewards programs with the fun and authenticatable qualities that have driven the recent surge in NFT popularity.

Unlike traditional NFTs, which are typically sold (and often at very high prices), but have no intrinsic value, LookHUMAN RFTees are free, contain real value in terms of rewards and savings, and are based on original art from the company's in-house design team.

"We're excited to help usher NFTs into a new phase of fun and useful applications, while offering our customers a unique way of engaging with the designs they love," says Jim Keller, CEO of LookHUMAN's parent company, Print Syndicate, Inc. "RFTees can be redeemed for great savings on our products, as well as collected, displayed, and traded on major NFT marketplaces."

While NFTs have attracted strong attention amongst collectors and in the popular press, they have lacked a "killer app" that can drive mainstream adoption. LookHUMAN's goal is to democratize NFTs by making them seamlessly available to anyone and imbuing them with real value, while maintaining their qualities as unique, collectible, and tradeable digital objects. RFTee tokens are true NFTs minted onto Polygon's Ethereum-based blockchain where they can be shared and traded on popular NFT marketplaces. RFTees carry explicit rewards that can be used for savings and gifts on the LookHUMAN site.

LookHUMAN RFTees are:

Tradeable NFTs that can be held in a personal crypto wallet (or in a LookHUMAN account) and displayed and traded on popular NFT marketplaces such as Opensea;

Awarded for free with every LookHUMAN purchase;

Unique, limited-edition collectibles that feature new versions of some of LookHUMAN's most popular designs;

Redeemable for valuable rewards, including cash towards future purchases and special prizes, such as free T-shirts;

May include rights to purchase one-of-a-kind products that feature and link directly to RFTees; and

Provide opportunities for unique offers and tokens in the way of AirDrops directly into a customer's crypto wallet.

"We have a passionate customer base and love providing them with fun designs that allow them to express their true selves," says RFTees' COO and co-founder Mike Limes. "RFTees opens up a whole new way for us to connect with our customers and for our customers to build community with one another. We engineered the RFTee platform on top of the existing NFT infrastructure and ecosystem to bring together the worlds of gamification, social media, and crypto in a new and valuable way that we hope can be a template for new communities going forward."

LookHUMAN is a leading creator and seller of unique pop-culture merchandise, with products featured on shows such as Silicon Valley, Ballers, and Lucifer. LookHUMAN offers over 50,000 designs created by a team of artists, including many iconic designs that have been highlighted in publications such as Buzzfeed, Pop Sugar, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Men's Journal, High Times, Refinery 29, and others. RFTees are the next step in the company's journey towards making art broadly accessible through new media and technology.

ABOUT LOOKHUMAN

LookHUMAN is the flagship brand of Print Syndicate, Inc. The company prides itself on offering high quality products featuring unique designs as a medium through which customers can express their passions, identity, beliefs, and humor. With a cursor on the pulse of culture and topical trends, LookHUMAN creates new designs every day based on trending memes and events, covering everything from possums to politics. LookHUMAN's collection of over 50,000 designs is a reflection of artist diversity, reflecting the company's mission to enable self-expression through exceptional design.

MEDIA CONTACT

Kayla Spencer, Marketing & PR Manager, LookHUMAN, 781-929-5620, [email protected]

SOURCE LookHUMAN
CELEBRATING WOMEN IN CINEMA FOR 25 YEARS

The L'Oreal Paris Family Returns to Cannes

From across continents and cultures, the L'Oreal Paris spokespeople in attendance at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival will include iconic actors and actresses who embody beauty in all its diverse forms. Among them are:

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Leila Bekhti

Gemma Chan

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Viola Davis *

* Elle Fanning

Aja Naomi King

Katherine Langford *

* Eva Longoria

Andie MacDowell

Camille Razat

Nidhi Sunil

Kate Winslet *

*First time attending Cannes on behalf of the brand.

These exceptional individuals of different backgrounds reflect the diversity of L'Oreal Paris customerswhatever their age, whatever their originand uphold the feminist values at the heart of the brand.

25 Years of Beauty Expertise, Glamour, and Innovation

As Official Makeup Artist to the Cannes International Film Festival since 1997, L'Oreal Paris is proud to continue to support the world of cinema, bringing what's new in beauty to the film industry's most significant global gathering. This year the brand will host 30 makeup artists from around the world, led by L'Oreal Paris creative genius Val Garland, to create unforgettable makeup looks throughout the duration of the Festival.

Delphine Viguier-Hovasse, Global Brand President, L'Oreal Paris, says, "Twenty-five years at Cannes is an incredible milestone. Throughout this historic partnership, we have always aimed to bring our brand's beauty expertise to the forefront of the Festival, while also honouring the best cinematic talent from around the world. This year's Lights on Women Award will continue to break down barriers and encourage talented female filmmakers to achieve their dreams. As we look ahead to the next 25 years, my hope for the future is that this kind of award won't even be necessary, as women who make cinema continue to take their rightful place in the industry."

FOR PROMISING FEMALE FILM DIRECTORS

Lights On Women Award: Reshaping the Film Industry Through Recognition and Visibility

The global film industry has historically underrepresented women, both in front of and behind the camera, with only 17% of women in directorial positions on top-grossing films, and only 25% working in key behind the scenes roles[1]. Further amplifying L'Oreal Paris' message of self-esteem and empowerment, the Lights on Women Award is a unique recognition that offers the winner financial support of up to 20 000. The final awards selection will be determined and announced by Academy award-winner and L'Oreal Paris spokesperson and Juror, Kate Winslet, who will attend the prize ceremony at the Jeune Cinema dinner in person at Cannes on May 27, 2022.

Actor Kate Winslet adds, "The Lights On Women Award plays a vital role in bestowing much needed praise on today's female creatorswomen who are much too often passed over for their male counterparts in this industry. The sheer beauty and force of last years' inaugural film moved me to tears, and I am honoured to play a part in continuing this important program, which offers a pathway for women in film to propel their careers forward."

2021 Reminder: Lights On Women Award's Inaugural Winner

Aleksandra Odic from Germany took the top honour for her 22-minute film, Frida, from the 11 selected short films, depicting an encounter between a young nurse and her patient. In recognition of her accomplishment, Odic received financial support from L'Oreal Paris.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1803641/LOreal_and_Kate_Winslet.jpg

[1] https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/research/#:~:text=Overall%2C%20women%20accounted%20for%2025,up%20from%2023%25%20in%202020 .

SOURCE L'Oreal Paris
With clear entry and exit points, key target levels and transparent strategies this new product offering is well aligned with Vantage's objectives to provide simple and intuitive trading tools to their clients to deliver a market-leading trading experience.

The signals will be available in 8 languages including Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and English and across all asset classes, including single stocks and are displayed using powerful visualisations that clearly guide traders through the decision-making process.

Steve O'Hare, CEO Signal Centre, comments;

"Vantage is a recognised name in the forex trading market, delivering a transparent trading experience and highly personal service to their clients across 172 countries. Being authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Signal Centre is well aligned with the values of Vantage. It was an exciting development to integrate our signals with Hubspot and we look forward to expanding our support to help Vantage's clients in their trading journey."

Marc Despallieres, Chief Strategy Officer at Vantage says;

"I am delighted to announce our strategic partnership with Signal Centre in offering our clients an even more optimal trading experience with new trading opportunities. Our traders are always looking to be one step ahead of their peers, and are always on the hunt for more sources of analysis, more investment opportunities and better risk management. This is a strategic move for Vantage, and we look forward to seeing Signal Centre becoming a popular analysis tool for our global clients."

Vantage is the most recent broker to integrate Signal Centre's products following the acquisition by Acuity Trading in 2021; taking advantage of the enhanced AI technology, design, multiple languages and delivery channels including MT4/5, email and Telegram. Signal Centre's products are also available to Vantage Plus clients.

Singal Centre and Acuity Trading solutions can also be integrated across marketing platforms including MetaQuotes, Marketo, Salesforce Pardot, Solitics, SharpSpring, blueshift and more.

About Vantage

Vantage group of companies are global, multi-asset brokers offering clients access to a nimble and powerful service for trading CFDs on forex, Commodities, Indices, Shares, and Cryptocurrencies.

With more than 10 years of market experience, Vantage now has over 1,000 staff across more than 30 global offices.

Vantage is more than a broker. It provides a trusted trading ecosystem and a faster and simple trading platform that enables clients to take advantage of trading opportunities, in a faster and simpler manner.

Be empowered to trade on market opportunities when you trade smarter @vantage.

Follow Vantage on social via:



Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vantagemarkets.global

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vantagemarkets/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vantagemarkets/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-6WpAgZ8HnOka_ImSvBj6Q

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vantagemkts

About Signal Centre

Signal Centre is an FCA Regulated provider of independent technical analysis and market research. Founded in 2010 as PIA First, Signal Centre was created in 2018 to focus on the analytical research arm of PIA First and its expansion into the retail trading platform arena to meet the need for high quality, timely and accurate market analysis with clear, structured trade ideas and signals created by expert traders & analysts.

Signal Centre's award-winning, multi-asset signals, strategy and analysis are available in multiple languages and via multiple delivery channels including MT4/5, API, widgets, email and instant messaging services such as Telegram, Facebook, Whatsapp, WeChat and SMS.

For further information or to request a demo, please visit https://signalcentre.com or contact:

Steve O'Hare

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)7737 800133

Follow Signal Centre on social:

Twitter: @Signal_Centre

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nevertradealone

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nevertradealone/

About Acuity Trading

Acuity Trading revolutionised the online trading experience for millions of investors with the introduction of visual news and sentiment tools in 2013. Today, Acuity continues to lead the fintech market with alpha-generating alternative data and highly engaging trading tools using the latest in AI research and technology. Acuity's team of academics, scientists, news and market professionals are dedicated to delivering highly effective data products that bring value to investors of all levels and experiences. Flexible delivery options include APIs, MT/5, plug and play widgets and third-party automation services.

For further information or to request a demo, please visit www.acuitytrading.com or contact:

Nikki Carpenter

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0) 7786 513757

Follow Acuity Trading on social:

Twitter: @acuitytrading

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/acuity-trading

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acuitytradingltd/

SOURCE Vantage and Signal Centre
Leading provider of HR and financial management services to healthcare businesses expands service offering to include clinical staffing and talent acquisition

CHICAGO , April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MedHQ, a leading provider of human resources and financial management services to healthcare providers across the country, announced today the acquisition of national staffing agency, Becker Health, a leading provider of specialty nursing and allied talent acquisition solutions for the health care industry.

Together, MedHQ and Becker Health will provide healthcare staffing and executive search for clients throughout the US including contract, contract-to-hire, and direct hire positions. These services will complement MedHQ's existing HR, Accounting, and Credentialling service lines that are tailored to the specific needs of the healthcare industry.

"Staffing is mission critical for our clients, particularly now as the labor shortage continues to put pressure on healthcare organizations," said Tom Jacobs, CEO of MedHQ. "Becker Health is a leading clinical talent acquisition firm with an incredible reputation and growing footprint. We are proud to partner with this entire team, including the amazing talent pool they have developed. Founders Renee and Dan Becker share our passion for collaboration, customer service, and innovative, technology-driven solutions which are integral to healthcare."

"We are proud to join MedHQ and help healthcare businesses attract and retain talent," said Renee Becker, Pharm. D., Founder of Becker Health. "MedHQ brings the resources we need to expand our business and create more growth opportunities for our customers and our team. Our two organizations are a good culture fit. Tom and his team at MedHQ match our passion for adding value and transforming healthcare by and serving our team, clients, and partners with excellence."

In February this year, MedHQ announced the completion of a strategic investment from 424 Capital, a growth capital partner that specializes in helping healthcare businesses offering technology enabled services achieve next level growth. With the acquisition of Becker Health, MedHQ works with 2000+ employees across the US and operates in 30 states.

"424 Capital is pleased to partner with MedHQ and Becker Health," said Kyle Stanbro, Partner at 424 Capital. "These are two incredible organizations focused on patients and ensuring healthcare clients have access to the most critical functions of their business. In today's climate, talent acquisition is integral to that. We look forward to continued success for both organizations."

About MedHQ

Founded in 2003, MedHQ provides human resources and financial management services to ambulatory surgery centers and physician practices nationwide. Within its HR offering, MedHQ provides payroll, tax, benefits, insurance, credentialing, and consulting services to its clients via a tech-enabled platform. The company also provides customized accounting services including monthly reporting, KPI tracking, forecasting, AP automation and profitability analysis. MedHQ allows healthcare organizations to focus on patient outcomes rather than the administrative and regulatory burdens that come with managing a healthcare organization. For more information, please visit medhq.net.

About Becker Health

Specializing in talent acquisition and retention, Becker Health provides scalable staffing solutions for healthcare clients through the US. Recruiters are specialists in Specialty nursing and allied healthcare; placements include contract, contract-to-hire, and direct hire positions. Specialty nursing disciplines for all patient populations include but are not limited to Intensive care unit, Operating room, Medical-surgical, Telemetry, Transport and Behavioral health. Founded in 2008, by a clinical pharmacist, Becker Health was awarded the Gold Seal of Approval for health care staffing services from The Joint Commission.



Photo(s):

https://www.prlog.org/12914754



Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE MedHQ
Leading U.S. hospital upskills its team through an industry-trusted, customizable training platform

LEHI, Utah, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Carrus announced today that the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) selected its healthcare training platform to provide ongoing training and skills development for its staff. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Healthcare Occupations report issued earlier this year, healthcare will experience 16% projected growth in the next 810 years.

Finding qualified candidates to fill in-demand healthcare roles has become increasingly difficult for health systems across the entire country. MUSC has been ranked as the number 1 hospital in South Carolina by U.S. News & World Report for six years in a row, but finding qualified candidates remained a challenge.

"Retention and attracting new talent were growing problems, but ones we were determined to solve," said Kelly Crowley, MUSC Pharmacy Services' interim Chief Pharmacy Officer. "Being state certified is important to us as an employer, but there weren't enough state-certified candidates to meet our needs so we decided to find a training partner that would take a state-of-the-art approach to bridging the gap between our staff and the needs of our organization."

Carrus' integrated Healthcare Training Platform is designed to empower health systems to upskill current teams and keep organizations trained on the latest industry policies, procedures, and methods of care. The platform offers customizable online certificate programs designed to bridge the healthcare talent skills gap, so hospitals can retrain and retain their employees.

"We are honored that MUSC selected Carrus as a training partner," said Misty Frost, CEO of Carrus. "When healthcare employers give their employees the chance to gain new skills, they are able to retain staff, meet critical needs, and support improved patient outcomes. It's heartening to see the program already creating value for the hospital and its staff."

Since implementing Carrus, more than 25 pharmacy technicians have completed training and become state-certified employees with more knowledge, more skill, and more flexibility in the workplace.

About Carrus

Carrus delivers quality, trusted healthcare learning content, continuing education, and certification management to new learners, healthcare professionals, and institutions through an integrated technology platform that provides the most seamless healthcare learning experience possible. In 25+ years, Carrusthrough its CareerStep and CareerCert divisionshas trained over 150,000 learners for new careers, partnered with more than 150 colleges and universities nationwide, and educated more than 100,000 healthcare professionals.

Contact

Becky Frost

[email protected]

SOURCE Carrus
- First US Acquisition Continues to Establish MSP as North America's Premier Medical Aesthetics Platform -

TORONTO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - MedSpa Partners Inc. ("MSP") is proud to announce its expansion into the United States by welcoming top facial plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Dayan and his Chicago, IL-based team to its top-tier medical aesthetics platform. The partnership with Dr. Dayan continues MSP's track record of attracting the most successful clinicians and practices in the industry, and is the latest in a series of upcoming blockbuster acquisitions in both the US and Canada.

Dr. Dayan and his team, including pioneering facial plastic surgeon Dr. Benjamin Caughlin, are recognized worldwide as leading practitioners in both surgical and non-surgical aesthetic medicine. In addition to leading his clinical practice, Dr. Dayan is a renowned professor, researcher, and New York Times bestselling author, and has played leading roles in the advancement in the practice of aesthetic medicine throughout the United States and internationally.

Speaking on his decision to join MedSpa Partners, Dr. Dayan shared, "Like so many of my colleagues throughout North America, I had been approached by numerous platforms offering to acquire my clinic. For me, MSP was the obvious partner for three reasons. First, they have consistently proven the success of their unique model of not rebranding clinics, leaving clinical decisions in the hands of clinicians, and providing world-class practice management support through their rapid growth in Canada. Second, the quality of the other partners in MSP in terms of thought leadership, research, clinical excellence, and practice innovation is unmatched. And lastly and most importantly, MSP shares my unwavering focus on providing the best possible patient care and experience. I personally commit to each one of my patients that they will not find a surgeon more devoted to their well-being and happiness than me, and I know that by partnering with MSP I will never have to compromise on that pledge."

Dominic Mazzone, CEO of MedSpa Partners, stated, "I'm thrilled to announce MSP's expansion into the United States, especially given that our first location is in my hometown of Chicago. While MSP is uniquely positioned to manage the nuances that exist between countries and states, at its core the US medical aesthetics business is not that different from Canada's. This will allow us to leverage the proven success of our established business model, infrastructure, and processes to continue to drive rapid growth in both the US and Canada. And the only thing that could be more exciting than this expansion is having Dr. Steven Dayan as our first US-based partner. In addition to being among the world's most highly recognized and acclaimed aesthetic physicians, researchers, and educators, Dr. Dayan is also a true visionary and entrepreneur, constantly looking for new opportunities to advance patient care and practice excellence. I look forward to working closely with Dr. Dayan to help accelerate MSP's growth in the US and continue to elevate patient experience in the medical aesthetics industry."

About MedSpa Partners Inc.

MedSpa Partners is acquiring North America's leading Medical Aesthetics clinics, with the goal of allowing our industry-leading partners to achieve their personal and professional aspirations by creating world-class customer experiences through support, collaboration, and community. MSP is a portfolio company of Persistence Capital Partners, the leading private equity fund exclusively focused on high-growth opportunities in the healthcare field. Additional information on MSP is available at www.medspapartners.com, or contact:



SOURCE MedSpa Partners Inc.
MyCarrier's TMS acts as a digital bridge, providing new levels of visibility between shippers and carriers

PHOENIX, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MyCarrier, provider of the industry's top-rated transportation management system (TMS), announced today that it had eclipsed an annual run-rate of $1 Billion in freight network revenues for 2022. With the strong revenue report and over 500,000 shipments in the first quarter, MyCarrier is well-positioned to help shippers struggling with supply chain chaos. MyCarrier's TMS acts as a digital bridge, providing new levels of visibility between shippers and carriers that will lead the LTL shipping market digital transformation efforts and accelerate carrier digital scorecard initiatives.

"MyCarrier has seen on-platform shipments increase 649% since 2019, so the rapid growth into 2022 was not unexpected," said Tommy Barnes, MyCarrier CRO. "Even with the anticipated growth, we're really excited about how much traction MyCarrier is gaining in the industry. Our customers and carrier partners have recognized our vision and its value to help simplify shipping and optimize carrier operations. We expect even stronger numbers in Q2 as we continue to educate and connect with SMB shippers."

Freight industry veterans, Michael Bookout and Chris Scheid, created MyCarrierTMS in 2017 to provide a digital platform that connects SMB shippers with their carriers, creating a direct end-to-end shipping process that benefits both parties. Today, with more than 25,000 on-platform shippers, MyCarrier is poised to assist shippers in adopting carrier-friendly shipping processes, which is critically important in the current tight capacity transportation market.

"We have been investing and educating shippers about the importance of digital connectivity for some time now," said Todd Polen, vice president pricing services at Old Dominion Freight Line. "Old Dominion is committed to working with shippers who have strong digital scorecards. As a carrier, it is imperative to provide real-time shipment visibility, but as a shipper, it is just as important to tender the shipment and bill of lading electronically for automation and operational resource planning. The industry as a whole can get to real-time information exchange the more efficient we can be as a carrier, and the MyCarrier product helps get us there."

Strong user feedback has been a driving force behind MyCarrier's vision and rapid growth. This customer-led approach catapulted MyCarrierTMS into top spots on G2 for both the "Highest Rated" and "Easiest to Use" TMS categories.

According to MyCarrier CEO, Michael Bookout, "the powerful testimonials provided by MyCarrierTMS customers are helping to break down technology fears previously seen throughout the SMB market. SMB shippers know they need to evolve, and thankfully, our customers are helping us accelerate user adoptions."

One such SMB shipper is Dave McDonald, Director of Distribution at Kicker Audio. According to McDonald, the digital connection between the company and its preferred carriers has removed common barriers, creating greater visibility and eliminating inefficiencies.

"More and more, we're seeing that carriers are choosing to work with shippers who can provide them with early, accurate information," said McDonald. "This has led to streamlined pickups and a reduction in business risk, securing capacity as a shipper of choice, which is a must with the capacity issues the market is facing right now."

The recent launch of the MyCarrierTMS Pro subscription product has been another influencing factor in the company's growth, as the offering provides additional features and capabilities that go beyond the carrier connection, focused on unifying and enabling all departments involved with shipping. Future planned features include business integrations (i.e., ERP), invoice audit, advanced analytics, and more.

About MyCarrier

MyCarrier, a transformative shipping management platform, has partnered with the industry's largest carriers to provide unprecedented efficiencies and value-based visibility. MyCarrierTMS and MyCarrierTMS Pro use innovative API technology to connect shippers directly to their carriers, creating a seamless end-to-end shipping process and providing unrivaled data that leads to easier shipping management, cost savings, and increased efficiencies. To learn more about MyCarrier, click here.

SOURCE MyCarrier
Vendor Insights

The growing competition in the market is compelling vendors to adopt various growth strategies such as promotional activities and spending on advertisements to improve the visibility of their services. Some vendors are also adopting inorganic growth strategies such as M&As to remain competitive in the market.

Top Key players in Nanobatteries Market are covered as:

6K Inc.

Inc. A123 Systems LLC

Altairnano

Contour Advanced Systems BV

Front Edge Technology Inc.

Group14 Technologies Inc.

HPQ Silicon Resources Inc.

InStep NanoPower LLC

James Cropper plc

plc Log9 Materials

mPhase Technologies Inc.

Nano One Materials Corp.

Nanoramic Laboratories

Nanostructured and Amorphous Materials Inc.

Naxin New Energy Technology Co. Ltd.

Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.

StoreDot Ltd.

Toshiba Corp.

ZPower LLC

Nanobatteries market growth is fueled by factors such as fast charging and high power. Another factor driving the growth of the nanobatteries industry is the rapid development of electrified luxury automobiles. However, one of the issues impeding the growth of the nanobatteries market is the high cost of production.

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Key Market Segmentation

Nanobatteries Market Split by Technology

Nanophosphate



Nanopore



Lithium Ion

Nanobatteries Market Split by Geography

North America



Europe



APAC



Middle East and Africa

and

South America

North America will account for 38% of the market's growth. In North America, the United States is the most important market for nanobatteries. The market in this region will grow at a slower pace than the markets in Europe and the Asia Pacific.

Nanobatteries market growth in North America would be aided by the presence of a large consumer base and prominent industry players throughout the forecast period.

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What will be the size of the global nanobatteries industry in 2026?

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What are the main segments that make up the global nanobatteries market?

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The product range of the nanobatteries industry is examined based on their production chain, pricing of products, and the profit generated by them. Various regional markets are analyzed in nanobatteries market research report and the production volume and efficacy across the world are discussed.

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Nanobatteries Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 18.41% Market growth 2022-2026 $ 1.86 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 16.97 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution North America at 38% Key consumer countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and France Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled 6K Inc., A123 Systems LLC, Altairnano, Contour Advanced Systems BV, Front Edge Technology Inc., Group14 Technologies Inc., HPQ Silicon Resources Inc., InStep NanoPower LLC, James Cropper plc, Log9 Materials, mPhase Technologies Inc., Nano One Materials Corp., Nanoramic Laboratories, Nanostructured and Amorphous Materials Inc., Naxin New Energy Technology Co. Ltd. , Sila Nanotechnologies Inc., StoreDot Ltd., Toshiba Corp., and ZPower LLC Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for the forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Content:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Technology



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Technology

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Technology - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Technology - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Technology

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Technology



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Technology

5.3 Nanophosphate - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Nanophosphate - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Nanophosphate - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Nanophosphate - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Nanophosphate - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Nanopore - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Nanopore - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Nanopore - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Nanopore - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Nanopore - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Lithium Ion - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Lithium Ion - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Lithium Ion - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Lithium Ion - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Lithium Ion - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Market opportunity by Technology

Exhibit 40: Market opportunity by Technology ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 41: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 42: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 44: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 54: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 66: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 86: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 87: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 88: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 89: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 90: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 91: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 92: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 6K Inc.

Inc. Exhibit 93: 6K Inc. - Overview

Inc. - Overview

Exhibit 94: 6K Inc. - Product / Service

Inc. - Product / Service

Exhibit 95: 6K Inc. - Key news

Inc. - Key news

Exhibit 96: 6K Inc. - Key offerings

10.4 A123 Systems LLC

Exhibit 97: A123 Systems LLC - Overview



Exhibit 98: A123 Systems LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 99: A123 Systems LLC - Key offerings

10.5 Altairnano

Exhibit 100: Altairnano - Overview



Exhibit 101: Altairnano - Product / Service



Exhibit 102: Altairnano - Key offerings

10.6 Front Edge Technology Inc.

Exhibit 103: Front Edge Technology Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 104: Front Edge Technology Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 105: Front Edge Technology Inc. - Key offerings

10.7 mPhase Technologies Inc.

Exhibit 106: mPhase Technologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 107: mPhase Technologies Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 108: mPhase Technologies Inc. - Key offerings

10.8 Nano One Materials Corp.

Exhibit 109: Nano One Materials Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 110: Nano One Materials Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 111: Nano One Materials Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 112: Nano One Materials Corp. - Key offerings

10.9 Naxin New Energy Technology Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 113: Naxin New Energy Technology Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 114: Naxin New Energy Technology Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 115: Naxin New Energy Technology Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.10 Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.

Exhibit 116: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 117: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. - Key offerings

10.11 Toshiba Corp.

Exhibit 119: Toshiba Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 120: Toshiba Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 121: Toshiba Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 122: Toshiba Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 123: Toshiba Corp. - Segment focus

10.12 ZPower LLC

Exhibit 124: ZPower LLC - Overview



Exhibit 125: ZPower LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 126: ZPower LLC - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 127: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 128: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 129: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 130: Research methodology



Exhibit 131: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 132: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 133: List of abbreviations



About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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SOURCE Technavio
ISS National Lab-sponsored experiments that the Crew-4 astronauts will conduct range from projects in the life and physical sciences to those in advanced materials, technology development, and in-space production applications. This research, along with critical supplies, will be delivered to the ISS on multiple Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) missions. Examples of investigations the Crew-4 astronauts will facilitate during their mission include the following.

Procter & Gambleone of the leading consumer goods companies in the worldwill launch an investigation to aid in the development of low-resource-use laundry solutions for everyday use while also meeting consumer demands for more sustainable products. Procter & Gamble presently has an active experiment onboard the orbiting laboratory utilizing Tide Infinity for stability testing. This upcoming mission will further evaluate key ingredients found in Tide To Go Pens and Tide To Go Wraps, allowing the company to examine the viability of cleaning detergent solutions in space.

A student experiment through the Genes in Space program will help to validate a portable, low-cost biosensor that could aid in medical diagnostics and on-demand production of medicine and vaccines. Such a sensor could also support future space missions and the burgeoning market in low Earth orbit. Genes in Space is an annual research competition that challenges students in grades seven through 12 to design DNA experiments to be conducted via the ISS National Laboratory. A total of nine student investigations have launched through the program, including the first experiment to utilize CRISPR technology in microgravity. Several of these student investigations have yielded results that have been published in peer-reviewed journals.

A team from Arizona State University will send a fluid transport investigation through the ISS National Lab that seeks to develop and test predictive models of flow between proteins to better understand hydrodynamics and improve drug development. This ISS National Lab-sponsored project is one of many funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).

will send a fluid transport investigation through the ISS National Lab that seeks to develop and test predictive models of flow between proteins to better understand hydrodynamics and improve drug development. This ISS National Lab-sponsored project is one of many funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The University of California, San Francisco is launching a tissue chip investigation to examine the relationship between immune aging and healing outcomes in space. The investigation is funded by a center within the National Institutes of Health as part of an effort to develop more effective treatments for patients on Earth. Over the years, the ISS National Lab has fostered long-standing relationships with a variety of government organizations to further fundamental research through dozens of investigations conducted onboard the ISS.

is launching a tissue chip investigation to examine the relationship between immune aging and healing outcomes in space. The investigation is funded by a center within the National Institutes of Health as part of an effort to develop more effective treatments for patients on Earth. Over the years, the ISS National Lab has fostered long-standing relationships with a variety of government organizations to further fundamental research through dozens of investigations conducted onboard the ISS. LambdaVision, an innovative biomedical startup, aims to leverage ISS National Lab resources for in-space production applications to improve manufacturing of the company's artificial retina to restore vision in those blinded by retinal degenerative diseases. The company previously launched a series of investigations to station in partnership with ISS National Lab Commercial Service Provider Space Tango. LambdaVision believes microgravity could be leveraged to improve the quality of the artificial retina by limiting imperfections that occur during manufacturing on Earth.

These are just a few examples of the dozens of payloads sponsored by the ISS National Lab that the Crew-4 astronauts will work on during their time on station. Currently, the Crew-4 mission is slated to liftoff from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center no earlier than Wednesday, April 27 at 3:52 a.m. EDT. The ISS National Lab will provide further updates on research launching in the coming months. To learn more about the science supported by the ISS National Lab, including opportunities to become part of the space research community, please visit www.ISSNationalLab.org.

About the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory:

The International Space Station (ISS) is a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Lab allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research resources on the ISS are available to support non-NASA science, technology and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS) manages the ISS National Lab, under Cooperative Agreement with NASA, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National Lab, visit www.ISSNationalLab.org.

Media Contact:

Patrick O'Neill

904-806-0035

[email protected]

SOURCE ISS National Lab
HOUSTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA and members of the Manned Spaceflight Operations Association (MSOA) will dedicate a trio of benches Thursday, April 28, honoring spaceflight control teams of the past in a ceremony featuring NASA Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche.

To provide a lasting memorial, the granite benches were privately funded by 98 of the non-profit organization's members and installed outside the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center in Houston.,

The dedication will be at 2 p.m. Thursday outside Mission Control near the National Historic Landmark established in 1985 for its role in the Apollo 11 lunar landing. Media wishing to participate must contact the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111 or [email protected] no later than 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 27. The event is available only for reporters who participate in person.

Participants will include:

Vanessa Wyche , NASA Johnson director

, NASA Johnson director Gerry Griffin , former NASA Johnson director

"We would like to formally dedicate these monuments to preserve the history and perpetuate the memory of the men and women who planned, trained, and operationally supported past spaceflights from Mission Control, Houston," said Bill Reeves, former NASA flight director and president of the Manned Spaceflight Operations Association.

"We're thankful to the Manned Spaceflight Operations Association for dedicating these benches in honor of our NASA flight control teams who captured the world's attention and demonstrated the power of America's vision and technology through many historic missions spanning Gemini to Shuttle," said Wyche. "These benches will serve as a constant reminder of this lasting legacy, as we work to inspire the next generation of explorers with our Artemis Moon to Mars program."

The monuments are a tribute to all flight control teams of the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle Programs, as well as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. The International Space Station is not yet included because it is still an operational program.

A limited amount of time will be available for media interviews, and there will be an opportunity to visit the Apollo Mission Control Center that has been restored to appear as it did in the era of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

NASA's Johnson Space Center is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy committed the nation to achieve the goal of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth" before the end of the decade. NASA's Space Task Group, in charge of America's human spaceflight program, was already working on Project Mercury to put astronauts into Earth orbit, but with the additional task of a human lunar landing, it soon outgrew its facilities at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The agency decided it needed a dedicated field center for human spaceflight, and on Sept. 19, 1961, after evaluating multiple sites around the country, NASA announced that the new Manned Spacecraft Center would be built near Houston, Texas. The center was renamed for Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973.

Join NASA as it goes forward to the Moon and on to Mars -- discover the latest on Earth, the Solar System, and beyond with a weekly update in your inbox. Subscribe at:

https://www.nasa.gov/subscribe

Learn. more about the Manned Spaceflight Operations Association and the work histories of its members at:

http://www.mannedspaceops.org/

SOURCE NASA
Greenfire Group, already in the world's top third of miners using Flexpool, is slated to become one of North America's largest cryptocurrency mining companies within the next 12 months.

PHOENIX, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The industry has welcomed a brand-new cryptocurrency mining company based in Phoenix, AZ, called Greenfire Group . The innovative new company is just a few months old, but has already achieved stunning results in record time. Greenfire Group is Arizona's largest cryptocurrency mining operation - and with massive growth on the horizon, the company is likely to claim many more record-breaking titles.

Debuting just 120 days ago, Greenfire Group has wasted no time making a name for itself in this fast-paced, highly competitive field. The company is setting a new standard by building its own systems in-house rather than purchasing them, standing apart from many other crypto mining companies. Greenfire Group sources and constructs its mining rigs, boosting asset value immediately, offering an attractive position for their investors. The operation largely focuses on ETH (Ethereum), but they also mine Revencoin and ETC.

Greenfire Group has already proven to be an aggressive competitor in revenue and asset generation. Through their wholly-owned and proprietary crypto mining operation, the company can maintain a notably bold approach to accumulating assets.

In December of 2021, Greenfire Group started with just a single machine, making its rise to success even more impressive. Co-founders Babak Motamedi and Craig Heimburger have nurtured the company into a flourishing operation, with dozens of active mining rigs, hundreds of graphics cards, and waves of additional systems going live within the next few weeks and on. Within the first weeks of operation, Greenfire Group was doing half an Ether (ETH) every four days; now, that's shot up to 15 ETH coin each month. Few crypto miners can compare to quadrupling production rates within three months, which is just one of the many reasons Greenfire Group is one to watch.

Despite being in its early stages of existence, Greenfire Group is already charting a direct route towards incredible growth. Their upward success has led to plans for expansion into a new, multi-megawatt facility this summer, enabling the company to scale its crypto mining operations even more. The rapid growth of its crypto mining footprint accelerated the move-in process due to the company's incredible pace and scaling of operations. The new building has capacity for 2,000-plus miners and will allow Greenfire Group to aggressively ramp up generation of crypto assets.

Additional details about Greenfire Group LLC can be found on their website at https://www.greenfiregroupllc.com/ .

About Greenfire Group: Greenfire Group is Arizona's largest cryptocurrency mining operation and one of the state's newest. The company has achieved astounding success at an accelerated rate in just four short months. They are now in the top third of crypto miners utilizing Flexpool globally and are on track to become one of the nation's - and the world's - largest mining operations.

For more information about Greenfire Group, please contact Rachel Weber at (602) 830-5099 or [email protected]

SOURCE Greenfire Group
The Reno-Based Developer of Deep-Learning-Based Algorithms Welcomes Two New Leaders

RENO, Nev., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Algorithmic Intuition (Ai2) is excited to welcome Martyn Ansell to the newly created position of Chief Financial Officer. He has over 30 years of financial and operational experience and is responsible for overseeing the financial operations of the company and executing on the company's financial strategy.

Prior to joining Algorithmic Intuition, Mr. Ansell was the CFO at California Brazing, a Newark, CA based company providing brazing and machining services to the semiconductor and aerospace and defense industries.

Bryan Chan, Vice President of Development Martyn Ansell, Chief Financial Officer

Prior to joining California Brazing Mr. Ansell spent seven years as the CFO at Molecular Devices, a Danaher operating company based in San Jose, CA. Molecular Devices develops and manufactures equipment used in drug research and development by pharmaceutical companies, research institutes and universities.

In addition, Mr. Ansell spent over 6 years as the CFO of Vistec Semiconductor Systems, a global leader in the development and manufacture of metrology and inspection and electron-beam lithography equipment for the semiconductor industry. He also spent over 12 years at Applied Materials, a manufacturer of semiconductor capital equipment, where he held a number of senior financial management positions. Mr. Ansell has also held positions at Coopers & Lybrand, in San Jose California and Ernst & Young in Bristol, England.

As the new Vice President of Development, Bryan Chan is responsible for the technical leadership and management of Algorithmic Intuition's development team. Mr. Chan has more than 30 years of experience as a research and development leader in both medical device and consumer product industries.

Mr. Chan previously held the role of Vice President of Engineering at Docbot where he led the development of Artificial Intelligence Software as a Medical Device in detecting Gastrointestinal diseases. Prior to Docbot, Mr. Chan held various leadership roles in Miso Robotic, Biolux Research, Bigfoot Biomedical, and CNet. Prior to joining these organizations, Mr. Chan co-founded Vasona Labs with his business partner to develop mesh sensor network technology to manage outdoor lighting.

After years of pioneering the use of intelligent sensor technology, Algorithmic Intuition (Ai2) is thrilled to put these advancements to work in health monitoring devices through its CareMate product. Our goal is to help senior care organizations and families cope with the difficult realities of caring for aging family members.

Media Contact:

Steve Chenoweth

888-882-2575

[email protected]

SOURCE Algorithmic Intuition
BEIJING, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (the "Company" or "New Oriental") (NYSE: EDU/ 9901.SEHK), a provider of private educational services in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the third fiscal quarter ended February 28, 2022, which is the third quarter of New Oriental's fiscal year 2022.

Financial Highlights for the Third Fiscal Quarter Ended February 28, 2022

Total net revenues decreased by 48.4% year-over-year to US$614.1 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2022.

for the third fiscal quarter of 2022. Operating loss was US$141.2 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2022, compared to an income of US$101.5 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

for the third fiscal quarter of 2022, compared to an income of in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Net loss attributable to New Oriental was US$122.4 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2022, compared to an income of US$151.3 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Key Financial Results

(in thousands US$, except per ADS(1) data) 3Q FY2022 3Q FY2021 % of change Net revenues 614,091 1,190,498 -48.4% Operating (loss) / income (141,194) 101,470 -239.1% Non-GAAP operating (loss) / income (2)(3) (111,232) 115,892 -196.0% Net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental (122,439) 151,326 -180.9% Non-GAAP net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental (2)(3) (95,503) 163,236 -158.5% Net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental - basic (0.72) 0.90 -180.6% Net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental - diluted (0.72) 0.89 -180.8% Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental -

basic(3)(4) (0.56) 0.97 -158.3% Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental -

diluted(3)(4) (0.56) 0.96 -158.4%







(in thousands US$, except per ADS(1) data) 9M FY2022 9M FY2021 % of change Net revenues 2,581,223 3,064,553 -15.8% Operating (loss) / income (876,864) 219,628 -499.2% Non-GAAP operating (loss) / income (2)(3) (772,680) 268,363 -387.9% Net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental (998,419) 379,880 -362.8% Non-GAAP net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental (2)(3) (885,899) 416,902 -312.5% Net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental - basic (5.89) 2.33 -352.6% Net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental - diluted (5.89) 2.32 -353.7% Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental -

basic(3)(4) (5.22) 2.56 -304.3% Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental -

diluted(3)(4) (5.22) 2.55 -305.1%

(1) Each ADS represents ten common shares. The Hong Kong-listed shares are fully fungible with the ADSs listed on

NYSE. The weighted average number of ADS and earnings per ADS have been retrospectively adjusted to reflect

the ADS ratio change from one ADS representing one common share to one ADS representing ten common

shares, which became effective on April 8, 2022. (2) GAAP represents Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America. (3) New Oriental provides net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental, operating (loss) / income and net (loss) /

income per ADS attributable to New Oriental on a non-GAAP basis that excludes share-based compensation

expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of investments to provide supplemental information regarding its

operating performance. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the section

captioned "About Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and the tables captioned "Reconciliations of Non-GAAP

Measures to the Most Comparable GAAP Measures" set forth at the end of this release. (4) The Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental is computed using Non-GAAP net (loss) /

income attributable to New Oriental and the same number of shares and ADSs used in GAAP basic and diluted

EPS calculation.

Operating Highlights for the Third Fiscal Quarter Ended February 28, 2022

The total number of schools and learning centers was 847 as of February 28, 2022 , a decrease of 778 and 822 compared to 1,625 as of February 28, 2021 and 1,669 as of May 31, 2021 , respectively. The total number of schools was 111 as of February 28, 2022 .

Michael Yu, New Oriental's Executive Chairman, commented, "Although the Company is in a restructuring phase, we are pleased to see a promising trend in our remaining key businesses and a positive momentum across many of our new initiatives. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, our remaining key business, the overseas test preparation and overseas study consulting business increased by 15% year-over-year. Our domestic test preparation business targeting adults and university students recorded a rapid growth of approximately 59% year-over-year. Simultaneously, we are actively exploring various new business opportunities, including non-academic tutoring, intelligent learning system and devices, study tour and research camp, educational materials and digitalized smart study solutions, as well as exam preparation courses designed for students with junior college diplomas to obtain bachelor's degrees. These new businesses are at their early stage but we firmly believe they present a bright future for the Company, and we are confident that by leveraging our brand recognition and educational resources accumulated over our operating history, these new businesses will start to contribute meaningful revenue from the next fiscal year."

Chenggang Zhou, New Oriental's Chief Executive Officer, added, "During the last two fiscal quarters, we have largely completed our restructuring of businesses and operations to comply with the government policies in China. The total number of schools and learning centers was reduced to 847 by end of this fiscal quarter. Looking ahead, we will continue our efforts in developing and revamping our online-merge-offline teaching platform, and keep leveraging our educational infrastructure and technology strength across our remaining key businesses and new initiatives to provide more advanced and diversified educational services to our customers of all ages. Our pure online education platform, Koolearn.com, continued to expand online educational offerings to adults and university students, and actively seek business opportunities in new areas, including livestream commerce business, institutional cooperation and new intelligent learning innovations."

Stephen Zhihui Yang, New Oriental's Executive President and Chief Financial Officer, commented, " We maintained a strong cash position throughout the whole restructuring process. By the end of this quarter, our cash and cash equivalents, term deposits and short-term investments totaled approximately US$4.4 billion. In the first half of this fiscal year, the Company incurred considerable costs due to the termination of lease agreements in relation to the closure of its learning centers and employee layoffs. We believe that the loss caused by the restructuring is temporary. We are confident in the sustainable profitability of all our remaining key businesses, as well as the growth and profit potential of our new initiatives. The Company's management team will continue to work together to seek profitable growth. Our continued commitment to high quality services and operational efficiency will generate more values to our customers, society and shareholders over the long term."

Financial Results for the Third Fiscal Quarter Ended February 28, 2022

Net Revenues

For the third fiscal quarter of 2022, New Oriental reported net revenues of US$614.1 million, representing a 48.4% decrease year-over-year. Net revenues from educational programs and services for the third fiscal quarter were US$506.4 million, representing a 54.1% decrease year-over-year. The decline was mainly due to the cessation of K-9 academic after-school tutoring services in order to comply with the government policies in China.

Operating Costs and Expenses

Operating costs and expenses for the quarter were US$755.3 million, representing a 30.6% decrease year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating costs and expenses for the quarter, which exclude share-based compensation expenses, were US$725.3 million, representing a 32.5% decrease year-over-year. The decrease was primarily due to the reduction of facilities and number of staff as a result of the restructuring in the last two fiscal quarters.

Cost of revenues decreased by 30.9% year-over-year to US$372.7 million .

decreased by 30.9% year-over-year to . Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 40.0% year-over-year to US$93.7 million .

decreased by 40.0% year-over-year to . General and administrative expenses for the quarter decreased by 26.6% year-over-year to US$288.8 million . Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses, which exclude share-based compensation expenses, were US$259.6 million , representing a 32.3% decrease year-over-year.

Total share-based compensation expenses, which were allocated to related operating costs and expenses, increased by 107.8% to US$30.0 million in the third fiscal quarter of 2022. The increase is due to the grants of restricted share units of the Company to employees and directors in May 2021 with graded vesting over three years.

Operating Loss / Income and Operating Margin

Operating loss was US$141.2 million, compared to an income of US$101.5 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP loss from operations for the quarter was US$111.2 million, compared to an income of US$115.9 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Operating margin for the quarter was negative 23.0%, compared to 8.5% in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP operating margin, which excludes share-based compensation expenses, for the quarter was negative 18.1%, compared to 9.7% in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net Loss / Income and Net Loss per ADS

Net loss attributable to New Oriental for the quarter was US$122.4 million, compared to an income of US$151.3 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to New Oriental were US$0.72 and US$0.72, respectively.

Non-GAAP Net Loss / Income and Non-GAAP Net Loss per ADS

Non-GAAP net loss attributable to New Oriental for the quarter was US$95.5 million, compared to an income of US$163.2 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to New Oriental were US$0.56 and US$0.56, respectively.

Cash Flow

Net operating cash outflow for the third fiscal quarter of 2022 was approximately US$235.0 million and capital expenditures for the quarter were US$37.4 million.

Balance Sheet

As of February 28, 2022, New Oriental had cash and cash equivalents of US$1,466.8 million. In addition, the Company had US$915.1 million in term deposits and US$2,028.1 million in short-term investment.

New Oriental's deferred revenue balance, which is cash collected from registered students for courses and recognized proportionally as revenue as the instructions are delivered, at the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2022 was US$971.3 million, a decrease of 47.9% as compared to US$1,865.7 million at the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2021. The decrease is primarily due to the cessation of K-9 academic after-school tutoring services in order to comply with the government policies in China.

Financial Results for the Nine Months Ended February 28, 2022

For the first nine months of fiscal year 2022, New Oriental reported net revenues of 2,581.2 million, representing a 15.8% decrease year-over-year.

Loss from operations for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 was US$876.9 million, compared to an income of US$219.6 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP loss from operations for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 was US$772.7 million, compared to an income of US$268.4 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Operating margin for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 was negative 34.0%, compared to 7.2% for the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP operating margin, which excludes share-based compensation expenses for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022, was negative 29.9%, compared to 8.8% for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net loss attributable to New Oriental for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 was US$998.4 million, compared to an income of US$379.9 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to New Oriental for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 amounted to US$5.89 and US$5.89, respectively.

Non-GAAP net loss attributable to New Oriental for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 was US$885.9 million, compared to an income of US$416.9 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to New Oriental for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 amounted to US$5.22 and US$5.22, respectively.

Conference Call Information

New Oriental's management will host an earnings conference call at 8 AM on April 26, 2022, U.S. Eastern Time (8 PM on April 26, 2022, Beijing/Hong Kong Time). Participants can join the conference using the below options:

Dialling-in to the conference call:

Please register in advance of the conference, using the link provided below. Upon registering, you will be provided with participant dial-in numbers, passcode and unique registrant ID.

Conference call registration link: http://apac.directeventreg.com/registration/event/7678797. It will automatically direct you to the registration page of "New Oriental Third Fiscal Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call" where you may fill in your details for RSVP. If it requires you to enter a participant conference ID, please enter "7678797".

In the 10 minutes prior to the call start time, you may use the conference access information (including dial in number(s), direct event passcode and registrant ID) provided in the confirmation email received at the point of registering.

Joining the conference call via a live webcast:

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available at http://investor.neworiental.org .

Listening to the conference call replay:

A replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following number until May 4, 2022:

International: +61 2 90034211 Passcode: 7678797

About New Oriental

New Oriental is a provider of private educational services in China offering a wide range of educational programs, services and products to a varied student population throughout China. New Oriental's program, service and product offerings mainly consist of test preparation, language training for adults, education materials and distribution, online education, and other services. New Oriental is listed on NYSE (NYSE: EDU) and SEHK (9901.SEHK), respectively. New Oriental's ADSs, each of which represents ten common shares. The Hong Kong-listed shares are fully fungible with the ADSs listed on NYSE.

For more information about New Oriental, please visit http://www.neworiental.org/english/.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this announcement, as well as New Oriental's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. New Oriental may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about New Oriental's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: our ability to attract students without a significant decrease in course fees; our ability to continue to hire, train and retain qualified teachers; our ability to maintain and enhance our "New Oriental" brand; our ability to effectively and efficiently manage the expansion of our school network and successfully execute our growth strategy; the outcome of ongoing, or any future, litigation or arbitration, including those relating to copyright and other intellectual property rights; competition in the private education sector in China; changes in our revenues and certain cost or expense items as a percentage of our revenues; the expected growth of the Chinese private education market; Chinese governmental policies relating to private educational services and providers of such services; health epidemics and other outbreaks in China; and general economic conditions in China. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in our annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. New Oriental does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and New Oriental undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement New Oriental's consolidated financial results presented in accordance with GAAP, New Oriental uses the following measures defined as non-GAAP financial measures by the SEC: net income / (loss) excluding share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of long-term investments, operating income / (loss) excluding share-based compensation expenses, operating cost and expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, general and administrative expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, operating margin excluding share-based compensation expenses, and basic and diluted net income / (loss) per ADS and per share excluding share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of long-term investments. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned "Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures" set forth at the end of this release.

New Oriental believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity by excluding share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of long-term investments that may not be indicative of its operating performance from a cash perspective. New Oriental believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management's internal comparisons to New Oriental's historical performance and liquidity. New Oriental believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in allowing for greater transparency with respect to supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. A limitation of using these non-GAAP measures is that they exclude share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of long-term investments that has been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant recurring expense in our business. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from each non-GAAP measure. The accompanying tables have more details on the reconciliations between GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures.

Contacts

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Ms. Sisi Zhao Ms. Rita Fong

New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc. FTI Consulting

Tel: +86-10-6260-5568 Tel: +852 3768 4548

Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In thousands)

As of February 28

As of May 31 2022

2021 (Unaudited)

(Audited)

USD

USD ASSETS:





Current assets:





Cash and cash equivalents 1,466,779

1,612,211 Term deposits 915,103

1,214,025 Short-term investments 2,028,129

3,434,726 Accounts receivable, net 14,314

8,667 Inventory, net 30,732

31,175 Prepaid expenses and other current assets, net 207,369

269,233 Amounts due from related parties, current 29,628

4,118 Total current assets 4,692,054

6,574,155







Restricted cash, non-current 44,463

19,916 Property and equipment, net 516,938

865,030 Land use rights, net 3,859

13,989 Amounts due from related parties, non-current 1,687

4,157 Long-term deposits 36,080

74,796 Intangible assets, net 3,291

4,836 Goodwill, net 73,757

73,254 Long-term investments, net 582,703

537,749 Deferred tax assets, non-current, net 18,675

103,587 Right-of-use assets 688,234

1,857,533 Other non-current assets 7,481

22,051 Total assets 6,669,222

10,151,053







LIABILITIES AND EQUITY





Current liabilities:





Accounts payable (including accounts payable of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to

New Oriental of US$36,032 and US$25,108 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28,2022, respectively) 28,001

38,441 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities (including accrued expenses and other current liabilities of the

consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$900,877 and US$601,432 as of

May 31, 2021 and February 28,2022, respectively) 602,470

908,231 Income taxes payable (including income tax payable of the consolidated variable interest entities without

recourse to New Oriental of US$46,248 and US$64,019 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28,2022, respectively) 72,528

84,321 Amounts due to related parties (including amounts due to related parties of the consolidated variable interest

entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$33 and US$21 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28, 2022,

respectively) 21

33 Deferred revenue (including deferred revenue of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to

New Oriental of US$1,923,007 and US$969,453 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28,2022, respectively) 971,255

1,926,386 Operating lease liability-current (including operating lease liabilities-current of the consolidated variable interest

entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$501,049 and US$210,787 as of May 31, 2021 and February

28, 2022, respectively) 215,660

514,033







Total current liabilities 1,889,935

3,471,445







Deferred tax liabilities, non-current (including deferred tax liabilities of the consolidated variable interest entities

without recourse to New Oriental of US$12,924 and US$18,269 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28, 2022,

respectively) 18,551

13,172 Unsecured senior notes (including unsecured senior notes of the consolidated variable interest entities without

recourse to the New Oriental of nil and nil as of May 31, 2021 and February 28, 2022, respectively) 113,174

297,631 Operating lease liabilities (including operating lease liabilities of the consolidated variable interest entities

without recourse to New Oriental of US$1,333,961 and US$534,881 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28, 2022,

respectively) 542,980

1,350,629







Total long-term liabilities 674,705

1,661,432







Total liabilities 2,564,640

5,132,877







Equity





New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. shareholders' equity 4,022,771

4,913,275 Non-controlling interests 81,811

104,901 Total equity 4,104,582

5,018,176







Total liabilities and equity 6,669,222

10,151,053

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)







For the Three Months Ended February 28

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD Net revenues 614,091

1,190,498







Operating cost and expenses (note 1)





Cost of revenues 372,747

539,499 Selling and marketing 93,706

156,084 General and administrative 288,832

393,445







Total operating cost and expenses 755,285

1,089,028 Operating (loss)/income (141,194)

101,470 Gain/(Loss) from fair value change of long-term investments 1,072

(2,443)







Other income, net 35,702

68,077 Provision for income taxes (16,863)

(46,971) (Loss)/Gain from equity method investments (4,366)

6,509 Net (loss)/income (125,649)

126,642







Add: Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests 3,210

24,684 Net (loss)/income attributable to New Oriental Education & Technology Group

Inc.'s shareholders (122,439)

151,326















Net (loss)/income per share attributable to New Oriental-Basic (note 2) (0.07)

0.09







Net (loss)/income per share attributable to New Oriental-Diluted (note 2) (0.07)

0.09







Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental-Basic (note 2) (0.72)

0.90







Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental-Diluted (note 2) (0.72)

0.89

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES TO THE MOST COMPARABLE GAAP MEASURES (In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)





For the Three Months Ended February 28

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD







General and administrative expenses 288,832

393,445 Less: Share-based compensation expenses in general and

administrative expenses 29,222

10,108 Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses 259,610

383,337







Total operating cost and expenses 755,285

1,089,028 Less: Share-based compensation expenses 29,962

14,422 Non-GAAP operating cost and expenses 725,323

1,074,606







Operating (loss)/income (141,194)

101,470 Add: Share-based compensation expenses 29,962

14,422 Non-GAAP operating (loss)/income (111,232)

115,892







Operating margin -23.0%

8.5% Non-GAAP operating margin -18.1%

9.7%







Net (loss)/income attributable to New Oriental (122,439)

151,326 Add: Share-based compensation expenses 28,008

9,467 Less: Gain/(loss) from fair value change of long-term

investments 1,072

(2,443) Non-GAAP net (loss)/income attributable to New Oriental (95,503)

163,236







Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental - Basic

(note 2) (0.72)

0.90 Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental -

Diluted (note 2) (0.72)

0.89







Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New

Oriental - Basic (note 2) (0.56)

0.97 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New

Oriental - Diluted (note 2) (0.56)

0.96







Weighted average shares used in calculating basic net

(loss)/income per ADS (note 2) 1,696,966,183

1,689,712,150 Weighted average shares used in calculating diluted net

(loss)/income per ADS (note 2) 1,696,966,183

1,695,315,497







Non-GAAP (loss)/income per share - basic (0.06)

0.10 Non-GAAP (loss)/income per share - diluted (0.06)

0.10

Notes:











Note 1: Share-based compensation expenses (in thousands) are included in the operating cost and expenses as follows:













For the Three Months Ended February 28



2022

2021



(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)



USD

USD

Cost of revenues 48

2,393

Selling and marketing 692

1,921

General and administrative 29,222

10,108

Total 29,962

14,422















NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In thousands)







For the Three Months Ended February 28

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD







Net cash (used in)/provided by operating activities (234,965)

23,314 Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities 753,586

(1,122,254) Net cash (used in)/provided by financing activities (66,727)

13,364 Effect of exchange rate changes 9,218

23,644







Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 461,112

(1,061,932)







Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period 1,050,130

2,648,124







Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period 1,511,242

1,586,192

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)







For the Nine Months Ended February 28

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD Net revenues 2,581,223

3,064,553







Operating costs and expenses (note 1):





Cost of revenues 1,506,464

1,458,028 Selling and marketing 371,109

406,555 General and administrative 1,580,514

980,342







Total operating costs and expenses 3,458,087

2,844,925 Operating (loss)/income (876,864)

219,628 Loss from fair value change of investments (13,251)

(4,597)







Other income, net 33,344

195,578 Provision for income taxes (130,694)

(112,910) (Loss)/gain from equity method investments (46,144)

7,556 Net (loss)/income (1,033,609)

305,255







Add: Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests 35,190

74,625 Net (loss)/income attributable to New Oriental Education &

Technology Group Inc. (998,419)

379,880















Net (loss)/income per share attributable to New Oriental-Basic

(note 2) (0.59)

0.23







Net (loss)/income per share attributable to New Oriental-Diluted

(note 2) (0.59)

0.23







Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental-Basic

(note 2) (5.89)

2.33







Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental-Diluted

(note 2) (5.89)

2.32

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES TO THE MOST COMPARABLE GAAP MEASURES (In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)





For the Nine Months Ended February 28

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD







General and administrative expenses 1,580,514

980,342 Less: Share-based compensation expenses in general and

administrative expenses 106,698

34,655 Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses 1,473,816

945,687







Total operating costs and expenses 3,458,087

2,844,925 Less: Share-based compensation expenses 104,184

48,735 Non-GAAP operating costs and expenses 3,353,903

2,796,190







Operating (loss)/income (876,864)

219,628 Add: Share-based compensation expenses 104,184

48,735 Non-GAAP operating (loss)/income (772,680)

268,363







Operating margin -34.0%

7.2% Non-GAAP operating margin -29.9%

8.8%







Net (loss)/income attributable to New Oriental (998,419)

379,880 Add: Share-based compensation expenses 99,269

32,425 Less: Loss from fair value change of long-term investments (13,251)

(4,597) Non-GAAP net (loss)/income to New Oriental (885,899)

416,902







Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental-

Basic (note 2) (5.89)

2.33 Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental-

Diluted (note 2) (5.89)

2.32







Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New

Oriental - Basic (note 2) (5.22)

2.56 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New

Oriental - Diluted (note 2) (5.22)

2.55







Weighted average shares used in calculating basic net

(loss)/income per ADS (note 2) 1,696,234,912

1,630,427,098 Weighted average shares used in calculating diluted net

(loss)/income per ADS (note 2) 1,696,234,912

1,637,074,362







Non-GAAP (loss)/income per share - basic (0.52)

0.26 Non-GAAP (loss)/income per share - diluted (0.52)

0.25

Notes:













Note 1: Share-based compensation expenses (in thousands) are included in the operating costs and expenses as follows:









For the Nine Months Ended February 28

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD Cost of revenues (157)

6,229 Selling and marketing (2,357)

7,851 General and administrative 106,698

34,655 Total 104,184

48,735







Note 2: Each ADS represents ten common shares. For the three and nine months ended February 28, 2021,

the weighted average number of ADS and earnings per ADS have been retrospectively adjusted to reflect the

ADS ratio change from each ADS representing one common share to each ADS representing ten common

shares, which became effective on April 8, 2022.

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In thousands)









For the Nine Months Ended February 28



2022

2021



(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)



USD

USD











Net cash (used in)/provided by operating activities (1,309,800)

825,590

Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities 1,406,960

(1,919,054)

Net cash (used in)/provided by financing activities (179,986)

1,654,835

Effect of exchange rate changes (38,059)

105,397











Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (120,885)

666,768











Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period 1,632,127

919,424











Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period 1,511,242

1,586,192



SOURCE New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.
DALLAS, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NexPoint Advisors, L.P., investment adviser to the NexPoint Diversified Real Estate Trust ("NXDT" and together with affiliated entities "NexPoint"), today announced the extension of the offering period for its previously announced offer to purchase any and all Shares of Beneficial Interest (the "Shares") of United Development Funding IV ("UDFI" or the "Company") at a price of $1.10 per Share upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase and in the related Assignment Form for the offer (which together constitute the "Offer" and the "Tender Offer Documents"). The Offer is now scheduled to expire at 12:00 midnight, Eastern Time, at the end of the day on May 25, 2022, unless the Offer is extended or earlier terminated. The Tender Offer Documents are available at www.UDFITenderOffer.com, or from the information agent for the Offer, as discussed below.

As previously announced on December 14, 2020, the Offer is conditioned upon, among other things, the satisfaction or waiver of the following conditions: (i) there shall not have been threatened, instituted, or pending any action or proceeding before any court or any governmental or administrative agency (a) challenging the acquisition of shares pursuant to the Offer or otherwise relating in any manner to the Offer, or (b) in the sole judgment of NexPoint, otherwise materially adversely affecting the Company; (ii) NexPoint shall have received all required governmental approvals, if any, for the Offer; (iii) NexPoint shall have had the opportunity to conduct sufficient due diligence to determine whether the offered price per share is reasonable given the current financial condition and results of operations of UDFI; (iv) the Board of Trustees of UDFI shall have waived in writing the ownership limitations set forth in Article VII of the Declaration of Trust of UDFI as such limitations would otherwise apply to the Offer; and (v) NexPoint shall have received satisfactory evidence that UDFI has continued to qualify as a real estate investment trust ("REIT") under federal tax laws and thereby to avoid any entity-level federal income or excise tax.

NXDT is in the process of converting from an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 into a real estate investment trust ("REIT"). In connection with that conversion, NXDT dropped down certain of its investments to a single-member, wholly owned limited liability company subsidiary, NexPoint Real Estate Opportunities ("NREO"), which is reflected as a portfolio company of NXDT. NexPoint Advisors, L.P., external adviser to NXDT and NREO, continues to have investment and voting power over the UDF IV Common Shares. Accordingly, NexPoint continues to beneficially own the UDF IV Common Shares it had previously reported to the SEC on its last Schedule 13D.

On January 8, 2021, UDFI announced that it had reduced the percentage of outstanding Shares that a shareholder may own from 9.8% to 5.0%. The Company took such action in an effort to frustrate the Offer. It also announced it amended the Company's bylaws to require that certain legal actions could be brought on behalf of or against UDFI only in certain courts in Maryland. NexPoint is reviewing these actions and their legality under applicable law.

Shareholders should read the Offer to Purchase and the related materials carefully because they contain important information. Shareholders may obtain a free copy of the Offer to Purchase and the Assignment Form from D.F. King & Co., Inc., the information agent for the Offer (the "Information Agent"), by calling toll-free at (800) 331-7543. THE OFFER WILL EXPIRE AT 12:00 MIDNIGHT, EASTERN TIME, AT THE END OF THE DAY ON MAY 25, 2022, UNLESS THE OFFER IS EXTENDED OR EARLIER TERMINATED.

About the NexPoint Diversified Real Estate Trust (NXDT)

The NexPoint Diversified Real Estate Trust (NYSE: NXDT), formerly the NexPoint Strategic Opportunities Fund (NYSE:NHF), is a closed-end fund managed by NexPoint Advisors, L.P. that is in the process of converting to a diversified REIT. The name change became effective on November 8, 2021. On August 28, 2020, shareholders approved the conversion proposal and amended NXDT's fundamental investment policies and restrictions to permit NXDT to pursue its new business. NXDT has completed the repositioning of its investment portfolio sufficient to achieve REIT tax status and is operating during its 2021 taxable year so that it may qualify for taxation as a REIT.NXDT has also realigned its portfolio so that it is no longer an "investment company" under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "1940 Act"). On March 31, 2021, NXDT filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") for an order under the 1940 Act declaring that NXDT no longer operates as an investment company (the "Deregistration Order"). During the SEC's review process, NXDT will continue to be structured as a closed-end investment fund.

For more information visit www.nexpoint.com/nexpoint-strategic-opportunities-fund

About NexPoint Advisors, L.P.

NexPoint Advisors, L.P. is an SEC-registered adviser on the NexPoint alternative investment platform. It serves as the adviser to a suite of funds and investment vehicles, including a closed-end fund, interval fund, business development company, and various real estate vehicles. For more information visit www.nexpoint.com



Risks and Disclosures

This document is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any common stock of UDFI or any other securities. The offer to purchase common stock of UDFI will only be made pursuant to the Offer to Purchase, the Assignment Form and related documents. THE TENDER OFFER MATERIALS (INCLUDING THE OFFER TO PURCHASE, THE ASSIGNMENT FORM AND CERTAIN OTHER TENDER OFFER DOCUMENTS) WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. STOCKHOLDERS OF UDFI ARE URGED TO READ THESE DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT SUCH STOCKHOLDERS SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE MAKING ANY DECISION REGARDING TENDERING THEIR SHARES. Investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of these statements (when available) by directing such requests to the Information Agent, by calling toll-free at (800) 331-7543.

Media Contact

Lucy Bannon

[email protected]

SOURCE NexPoint Advisors, L.P.
Announcement represents the largest-ever deployment of IoT hardware devices to date in the ocean and intermodal shipping space

ZURICH and HAMBURG, Germany, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexxiot, the global TradeTech pioneer, will become one of the official suppliers to digitalize the Hapag-Lloyd container fleet. Nexxiot will equip a significant share of the 3 mio TEU fleet from Hapag-Lloyd with innovative IoT technology and analytics, enabling for the first time the worldwide monitoring of shipping containers which are indispensable for global trade. Hapag-Lloyd will be the first carrier in the world to be able to monitor and analyze the location, movements, and status of its standard containers in real-time.

Hapag-Lloyd Nexxiot Installation Nexxiot Globehopper Edge, Orange

Intermodal container shipping is the backbone of the global economy. Innovative sensor technology, such as that developed by Nexxiot and used by Hapag-Lloyd, is helping to make container transport a more resilient and transparent piece of the global supply chain puzzle.

"This is the largest deployment of active hardware monitoring devices to date in the ocean and intermodal shipping space, with the potential to create a vastly more efficient and sustainable global supply chain," said Stefan Kalmund, CEO of Nexxiot. "The location, status and associated processes of 'dry' containers on the high seas as well as during inland transportation are mostly untraceable today. TradeTech projects, such as those implemented by Hapag-Lloyd with Nexxiot as a system partner, change this paradigm."

As part of Hapag-Lloyd LIVE, the shipping company will be the first carrier in the world with the ability to provide all customers with real-time data and full transparency about every container movement.

"Nexxiot as a system partner provides us with an important technological building block," said Olaf Habert, Director Container Applications at Hapag-Lloyd. "This allows us to detect delays earlier, automatically inform the affected customers and initiate countermeasures quickly. We are firmly convinced that not only our customers benefit from the new technology, but that this new approach will revolutionize the entire container shipping industry."

The innovative IoT device powering the transformation is Nexxiot's Globehopper Edge which transmits real-time location and temperature data, monitors container impacts, and can connect to other sensors via Bluetooth. In order to ensure the safety and security of crew, cargo and ships, the devices are designed and certified in accordance with the ATEX Product Directive for use in potentially flammable or explosive environments (Zone 2). The data is processed using the latest algorithms and Big Data analytics create essential business intelligence on container fleet utilization, critical events, and supply chain processes for all stakeholders across the value network.

About Nexxiot:

Nexxiot is a driver of the digital logistics of tomorrow. By leading TradeTech and the digitalization of cargo transportation, Nexxiot empowers global shipping companies and suppliers to harness the power of their data through proprietary, cutting-edge technology and integrated data solutions to ensure accountability, security, and efficiency.

Nexxiot's solutions track, find, and protect cargo worldwide via 700 network roaming partners. The company's secure, industry-leading Cloud comprises data from over 2.5 billion traveled miles.

Headquartered in Zurich, Nexxiot operates throughout Europe and the U.S., employing people from 26 countries. Committed to sustainability through corporate and social responsibility, Nexxiot's goal is to enable a five percent reduction in global supply chain carbon dioxide emissions by increasing cargo transport efficiency and eliminating waste caused by empty runs and inefficient routes. For more information, visit www.nexxiot.com.

Press contact:

Nexxiot AG

Nick Fryer, FINN Partners on behalf of Nexxiot

[email protected]

SOURCE Nexxiot
It was music to the ears of shelter pets last weekend as approximately 500 children across the country read " What Will I Do With My Love Today ?," Chenoweth's new tale of kindness and pet adoption. The inspiring book highlights the 'made for each other' adoption of Chenoweth's rescue dog, Thunder. A vocal advocate for pet adoption, her message that " extra love in your heart and your home is waiting for someone who's all alone " aligns perfectly with Petco Love's goal to harness the power of love to propel pet adoption into the national spotlight. The book advocates, " adoption means family, and family's forever. "

"I am a firm believer that some families are made by choice. I chose my dog Thunder to adopt, become part of my family, and share my love with," said children's author Kristin Chenoweth. "Thunder inspired my book to encourage families to share their love with shelter pets," Chenoweth adds. "I'm proud to be aligned with Petco Love and their shelter partners to get that message directly into the hands, and hearts, of little animal lovers throughout the country!"

In addition to pet adoption, the theme of Chenoweth's first picture book is helping others in your community. In keeping with that theme, the book from Tommy Nelson, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, was donated to 50 participating animal welfare organizations by Petco Love and the publisher. These kid-friendly community events inspired families to show kindness to pets awaiting adoption throughout 25 states. Studies show that reading books to dogs and cats in the shelter helps calm and socialize pets and increase their chances of adoption.1 It is also proven to help children gain confidence reading out loud as animals are non-judgmental listeners. 2

Susanne Kogut, President of Petco Love, offered "Seeing the relationship between a child and a pet is magical, it's pure love. I hope Kristin's message "What Will I Do With My Love Today?" inspires children and families to put their love into action for pets in need nationwide. Bringing pets and children together will make the world a better place as pets are a positive influence on a child's physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. 3 It's a mutually beneficial, unconditional friendship."

Parents of little animal lovers not located near a participating shelter can join the fun by sharing their child's own stories about 'what they did with their love to help pets' on social media via hashtag #LoveToday. Petco Love will also be giving away autographed copies of Chenoweth's book on Instagram via @PetcoLove on April 26th in celebration of National Kids and Pets Day.

About Petco Love

Petco Love is a nonprofit changing lives by harnessing the power of love to make communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we've empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $330 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We've helped find loving homes for more than 6.5 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. Our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us.

Is love calling you? Visit petcolove.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to join the lifesaving work we lead every day.

Contact:

Petco Love

[email protected]

1 Tuozzi, Adele, et al. "Effects of Human Presence and Voice on the Behaviour of Shelter Dogs and Cats: A Preliminary Study." Animals 11.2 (2021): 406.

2 Lane, Holly B., and Shannon DW Zavada. "When reading gets ruff: Canineassisted reading programs." The Reading Teacher 67.2 (2013): 87-95.

3 Habri: Child Health and Development Research

SOURCE Petco Love
LACHEN, Switzerland, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its ongoing commitment to the global bleeding disorders community, Octapharma is pleased to be a Gold Sponsor of the upcoming World Federation of Haemophilia (WFH) 2022 World Congress, taking place from May 8 to 11, 2022. This continues Octapharma's long history of involvement and support of the WFH World Congress and the WFH community. This year's Congress will be a hybrid meeting bringing together international attendees in-person in Montreal, Canada, with select sessions broadcast through the Congress's virtual platform.

As part of its "Under the Spotlight" series, Octapharma will highlight key unmet needs of people living with von Willebrand disease (VWD) during a live symposium. Attendees will have the opportunity to raise questions during the Q&A session. The symposium will be streamed in real-time to virtual Congress attendees, and available on-demand to participants after the Congress.

VWD affects males and females equally but is diagnosed more frequently in women due to bleeding associated with menstruation and childbirth. Guidelines for managing these issues are, however, inadequate. The Octapharma symposium will follow the story of Suzanne, a young woman with VWD, and her experiences with heavy menstrual bleeding, pregnancy complications and surgery, and the transformative impact effective treatment has had on her life.

The symposium, entitled "From clinical insights to patient experience: Suzanne's journey with von Willebrand disease," will be held on Tuesday May 10, 08:0009:00 EST. The chair, Dr Fernando F. Corrales-Medina will be joined by a faculty of international experts comprised of Drs Michelle Sholzberg, Jill Johnsen and Alok Srivastava. In addition to Suzanne's story, the faculty will present recent data and ongoing studies on the management of heavy menstrual bleeding, perioperative bleeding, and childbirth in people with VWD, including the role of VWF/FVIII concentrates such as wilate in these situations.

Larisa Belyanskaya, Head of Octapharma's IBU Haematology, said, "Hearing the experiences of patients and their families affected by bleeding disorders reminds us of the significance of our work."

Olaf Walter, Board Member of Octapharma, commented, "WFH is a valuable forum for interaction, collaboration and sharing knowledge with global experts and diverse members of the international bleeding disorder community. Our contribution to the Congress reinforces our long-standing commitment to improving care for every patient living with a bleeding disorder."

About Octapharma

Headquartered in Lachen, Switzerland, Octapharma is one of the largest human protein manufacturers in the world, developing and producing human proteins from human plasma and human cell lines.

Octapharma employs around 10,000 people worldwide to support the treatment of patients in 118 countries with products across three therapeutic areas: Immunotherapy, Haematology, and Critical Care.

Octapharma has seven R&D sites and five state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Austria, France, Germany and Sweden, and operates more than 180 plasma donation centres across Europe and the US.

About wilate

wilate is a high-purity human von Willebrand factor/factor VIII (VWF/FVIII) concentrate, that undergoes two virus inactivation steps during its production[1]. No albumin is added as a stabiliser[1]. The purification processes result in a 1:1 ratio of VWF to FVIII that is similar to normal plasma[1]. wilate contains a VWF triplet structure and content of large high molecular weight multimers similar to normal human plasma[1]. wilate is exclusively derived from large pools of human plasma collected in approved plasma donation centres[2]. wilate is available in 500 IU and 1000 IU presentations. wilate is indicated for the prevention and treatment of haemorrhage or surgical bleeding in von Willebrand disease (VWD), when desmopressin (DDAVP) alone is ineffective or contra-indicated, and for the treatment and prophylaxis of bleeding in patients with haemophilia A (congenital factor VIII deficiency)[2].

Stadler M et al. Biologicals 2006; 34:281-8. wilate Summary of Product Characteristics.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1802873/Octapharma_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Octapharma
Thousands of Households Now Connected

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ohio Connectivity Champions (OCC) partnered with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) to help deploy free internet service to more than 6,000 district households during the 2021-2022 school year ensuring online access to health, employment, school, skill improvement, and the economy.

In September 2021, CMSD was awarded approximately $12 million from the Emergency Connectivity Fund, a federal $7.17 billion program that helps schools and libraries provide the tools and services needed for remote learning during the pandemic. As part of Spectrum's Stay Connected K-12 program and EmpowerCLE+, more than 6,000 high-speed modems were distributed to households in CMSD's district.

Recognizing a need to help CMSD roll out this initiative, Joe Mancini, OCC coordinator, reached out to Melissa Hirsch, executive director and advisor, IT Strategy Execution and Governance, to assist. "After speaking with Ms. Hirsch, we pulled together a team to coordinate the effort between Spectrum and CMSD," Mancini said. "The biggest challenge has been reaching each household's caregiver to confirm internet connection. To ensure that CMSD's families are connected, we call each household three times per week to attempt contact."

The Champions also help CMSD with address changes, identifying household internet needs, verifying installation of needed internet, ensuring that unneeded modems were returned, and making sure that households that do need modems are scheduled to receive one. "Ohio's Connectivity Champions are committed to removing the burdens districts face while connecting families to internet," said Geoff Andrews, chief executive officer of the Management Council, parent organization of OCC. "We are pleased to be part of an initiative that helps Ohioans connect to the internet and participate in the global economy."

OCC has made over 10,300 calls to CMSD households  completing over 4,900 requests  and will reach out again to families who have not been successfully connected. OCC assists all Ohioans with internet connection, and can be reached at www.ohio-k12.help/remotedx, email or text at [email protected], and by phone 844-K12-OHIO (844-512-6446).

Ohio's Information Technology Centers work together through a statewide network known as the Ohio Education Computer Network (OECN). The Management Council coordinates and supports the collaborative efforts of the OECN, which implements a broad spectrum of academic and administrative technologies across Ohio's PreK-12 education system.

Contact: Jessica Madison, The Management Council

614.840.9810

[email protected]

SOURCE The Management Council
Accelerator participants will learn from New York cannabis industry leaders, complete business development exercises, and earn a digital certificate of completion. The Accelerator will take place via Zoom on May 3rd ,10th, 17th and 24 th , from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. To date, more than 200 cannabis entrepreneurs from across New York State have registered for the program.

"The Cannabis Accelerator leverages our expertise supporting entrepreneurs with business education and targeted resources," said Per Stromhaug, Associate Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development at Binghamton University. "Our remote program will introduce participants to business opportunities throughout the cannabis supply chain."

"The Accelerator is designed to help make New York's adult-use cannabis industry more diverse and inclusive," said Ari Hoffnung, Founder of Opportunity Grows. "We look forward to working closely with social equity entrepreneurs, many of whom have previously been locked out of these opportunities."

The Cannabis Accelerator is open to New Yorkers of all backgrounds and individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of cannabis prohibition or who qualify as minority or women-owned businesses, distressed farmers, or service-disabled veterans are encouraged to register. There is no cost to participate in the program and registration is open online at https://southerntierincubator.com/ogaccelerator/ .

The Cannabis Accelerator will include both business and cannabis education modules. Koffman Incubator staff will introduce participants to the Business Model Canvas, a proven method to help entrepreneurs visually define and refine their business plans. Complimenting the business component of the program, participants will have the opportunity to learn from and interact with elected officials and leading cannabis industry experts including:

Ngiste Abebe, Vice President of Public Policy, Columbia Care

Ethan Anderson , Senior Vice President of Marketing, iAnthus Capital Management

, Senior Vice President of Marketing, iAnthus Capital Management Eric Greenbaum , Chief Science Officer, Goodness Growth Holdings

, Chief Science Officer, Goodness Growth Holdings Franklin Henderson , Social Equity Committee Member, New York Cannabis Growers & Processors Association

, Social Equity Committee Member, New York Cannabis Growers & Processors Association Liz Krueger , New York State Senator (District 28)

, Senator (District 28) Jeanne Mariani Sullivan , Chief Investment Officer, Arcview Ventures

, Chief Investment Officer, Arcview Ventures Bryan Murray , Executive Vice President of Government Relations, Acreage Holdings

, Executive Vice President of Government Relations, Acreage Holdings Akele Parnell , Head of Equity Partnerships, Lantern

, Head of Equity Partnerships, Lantern Peter Prevot , CPA, CIA, Chief Operating Officer, Bridge West Consulting

, CPA, CIA, Chief Operating Officer, Bridge West Consulting Jeremy Unruh , Senior Vice President, Public and Regulatory Affairs, PharmaCann

The Cannabis Accelerator is grateful for the support of Acreage Holdings, Arcview Ventures, Bridge West Consulting, Columbia Care, Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship, Cresco Labs, Curaleaf, Goodness Growth Holdings, Green Thumb Industries, iAnthus Capital Management, Lantern, Mohawk Valley EDGE, New York Cannabis Growers & Processors Association, Opportunity Grows, PharmaCann, UFCW Local 338, and The Agency.

About the Koffman Incubator

The Koffman Southern Tier incubator is a state-of-the-art facility in downtown Binghamton, NY that provides key resources to entrepreneurs developing successful startups. The Koffman's 60+ members connect and collaborate throughout 35,000 sq. ft. of offices, laboratories and co-working space. Binghamton University's Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships offers numerous programs to guide business growth and development. For more information, please visit https://southerntierincubator.com/

About Opportunity Grows

Opportunity Grows was founded by New York cannabis industry veteran Ari Hoffnung to help cannabis entrepreneurs succeed. Ari has been involved in New York's legal cannabis industry since 2014, served as the Chief Executive Officer of two New York cannabis companies and founded the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association. For more information, please visit https://opportunitygrows.co/

SOURCE Opportunity Grows, LLC
Ottobots are setting the bar for autonomous robot delivery in indoor environments; now ready to seamlessly transition to outdoor deliveries

ORLANDO, Fla., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Ottonomy.io is participating at the AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2022 conference at the Orange County Convention Center in Florida as one of the first robotics companies to release robots that can navigate completely autonomously in both indoor and outdoor environments, seamlessly, without human assistance.

Scan QR Code Ottobot closeup

"Ottobots have been in pilots with retailers and restaurants across North America. Our multiple trials have highlighted that the robots can safely navigate in crowded and populated indoor environments and outdoors on varying terrains and weather conditions," says Ritukar Vijay, CEO and co-founder of Ottonomy.io. "Now, we are looking forward to a global expansion with trials at multiple locations spread across the world aimed at solving the current labor challenges and proving economically viable use cases for robot delivery."

Ottonomy.io was born in 2019, as the pandemic placed severe and unexpected challenges on the supply chain that were further exacerbated by the global labor shortage. A report by MarketsandMarkets reveals that "the delivery robots market (food & beverages, retail, postal) size is expected to reach USD 957 million by 2026 from USD 212 million in 2021."

With regulations becoming standardized across North America, Ottonomy.io expects the need for robot deliveries in the retail and restaurant industries to grow exponentially. Ottobots have been running successfully at CVG Airport (Cincinnati) since late 2021. New pilots are beginning in Rome and Pittsburgh airports. More delivery pilots will roll out in 2022 across Europe, the Middle East, USA and Canada.

You can watch Ottonomy.io in varied environments and navigating indoor/outdoor in its latest video here: VIDEO of Ottobots at NewLab in Brooklyn, NY

You can visit Ottonomy.io to learn more about its Ottobots at the AUVSI Xponential 2022 at Orange County Convention Center, booth 1038, from April 25- 28, 2022.

About Ottonomy.IO

Ottonomy.IO is a deep tech startup, providing contactless deliveries using fully autonomous robots. Its primary focus is on helping retailers and restaurants automate deliveries. Ottonomy.IO was recognized as one of the top 50 robotics companies worldwide in 2021 by Robotics Business Review and earned the Sustainability Product of the Year Award for 2021 by the Business Intelligence Group. The company is backed by Connetic Ventures and angel investors.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Amy Ethel

[email protected]

949-229-1645

SOURCE Ottonomy.io
LOS ANGELES, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP ("PSZJ"), the nation's leading restructuring boutique law firm, announced today that it has formally established its Cannabis Restructuring Group to provide legal corporate restructuring services to cannabis industry companies, lenders, and investors, among others. PSZJ's Cannabis Restructuring Group will also provide restructuring services to ancillary companies (e.g., real estate, technology, packaging, etc.), which may qualify for bankruptcy under federal law.

PSZJ has been advising clients in the cannabis industry for half a decade and has been at the forefront of the intersection of cannabis and insolvency law, regularly representing companies, lenders, and investors in out-of-court restructurings and related merger and acquisition transactions. Most recently, PSZJ served as counsel to the ad hoc group of noteholders of Loudpack, a vertically integrated cannabis company, in connection with the three-party merger of Loudpack, Harborside, and Urbn Leaf. In addition to noteholders, PSZJ represents or has recently represented creditors involved in cannabis related insolvencies, as well as companies exploring options in this increasingly competitive industry.

"The goal of our Cannabis Restructuring Group is to continue to provide quality legal restructuring services to the cannabis industry. Although bankruptcy may not currently be an option for many companies, our law firm is able to facilitate negotiations among lenders and borrowers, which provides critical process stability in difficult times," says Jason Rosell, the partner leading the effort.

Recreational or adult-use of cannabis is legal in 18 states and the District of Columbia, while medical use of cannabis is legal in 39 states and the District of Columbia. The legitimacy of the cannabis industry can no longer be ignored.

"Our experience in the cannabis industry positions us to continue to creatively assist cannabis industry players with restructuring options as the nation warms up to legalization. We look forward to the day when bankruptcy courts open their doors to the cannabis industry. Until then, we stand ready to provide out-of-court solutions to all participants in this unique space," concludes Rosell.

For more information, please visit PSZJ's Corporate Restructuring Group website at:

https://www.pszjlaw.com/industries-pszj-cannabis-restructuring.html

About Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP

PSZJ, the nation's leading restructuring boutique law firm, currently represents or in the past year has represented companies, secured lenders, and ad hoc groups of noteholders within the cannabis industry. PSZJ attorneys are experienced in representing all major constituencies in bankruptcy proceedings and out-of-court workouts, including debtors, committees, assignees, trustees, bondholders, and asset purchasers. PSZJ also handles sophisticated business litigation and transactional matters as part of its renowned practice. PSZJ, with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Wilmington (DE), New York, and Houston, was recently named a "Bankruptcy Law Firm of the Year" by U.S. News & World Report, and a "Restructuring Powerhouse" by Law360.

SOURCE Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones
AUSTIN, Texas, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Paraiso Real Estate, a real estate rental and sales agency has launched its own token for its upcoming vacation rental portfolio. Founded by blockchain and real estate entrepreneur, Eric Klein, Paraiso Real Estate will allow exclusive access to its LATAM rental units for the firm's token holders and investors. The firm says it plans to remove centralised platforms such as Airbnb to provide a more private, upscale and exclusive experience. More details can be found in the firm's discord.

Paraiso Real Estate operates much like a traditional vacation rental company. It offers private rentals with hotel amenities in some of the world's most beautiful destinations  starting with Medellin. What separates the firm from its competitors is the branded membership experience that users will receive including access to a variety of luxury rentals, spa services, massages, business amenities, networking opportunities, and more.

"We're mobilizing the hotel industry" Eric Klein says. "Whether it's a villa, condo or penthouse, guests can expect consistent hospitality across the platform. Our vision is to provide elevated rentals with units around the world and guests have access to these properties through our token."

Paraiso Real Estate launched on Unicrypt last week with their pre-sale selling out in under 20 minutes. The token went public on PancakeSwap on April 20th. The firm is anticipating a sharper rise once listed on CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap and other leading exchanges and indexes. To date, Paraiso already has over 700 members between their discord and telegram groups.

"We've done zero marketing," Maria Caudia says, Director of Operations, "That goes to show that people are ready for a product like this. It's the way of the future. We expect to have over 60 properties by the end of 2022 and a membership base of over 1,000 token holders."

To learn more about Paraiso Real Estate, you can visit their website https://www.paraisogroup.co/. For membership inquiries, you can contact their team directly at [email protected]

SOURCE Paraiso Real Estate
VANCOUVER, BC, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Visier , the globally recognized leader in people analytics and on-demand answers for people-powered business, today announced the appointment of Murika Matz as SVP & Chief Customer Officer. Matz brings over 20 years of experience to the role, most recently serving as GVP of Customer Success at Cornerstone OnDemand.

"We are excited to have Murika join our leadership team," said Ryan Wong, CEO and Co-Founder of Visier. "From the beginning, Visier has placed tremendous value on the success of our customers, and we believe that Murika will bring the right experience to continue providing the exceptional level of customer care we've created."

Matz is an accomplished senior executive with more than 20 years of success across the computer software, IT technology & services, human capital management and people experience markets. Her broad expertise include customer relations, strategic planning, sales lifecycle, business development, company expansion/growth, and talent management. Throughout her executive career, Matz has held senior leadership positions with Cornerstone OnDemand, Saba Software, Motricity, Appirio, and SumTotal Systems.

"In my early conversations with Visier, I've been impressed with the incredible level of customer support, success and retention the company has achieved," said Matz. "It's rare to find an organization with so many raving fans, and I am looking forward to working with our customers to continue to find value in our partnerships and drive the success of their business and people investment."

This appointment comes at a time of rapid expansion, market momentum, and growth for Visier. The company recently launched Visier People Cloud , combining people insights with business data and democratizing it to people managers best equipped to impact employee and business outcomes.

Visier's previous Chief Customer Officer, Nigel Stoodley will be leading Visier's People Cloud Custom Services , a valued-added professional services offering, which provides expert and research-based best-practice guidance, custom extensions, and implementation and adoption services for the Visier People Cloud.

To learn more about Visier, visit www.visier.com or join the annual Outsmart conference, May 4-5, 2022, featuring world-renowned thought leaders and expert speakers from Visier, its customers, and partners.

About Visier

Visier is the recognized global leader in people analytics, providing on-demand answers to people-powered businesses. Behind every great brand, product, or idea is the Human Truth, and the Visier People Cloud reveals the fundamental questions and actionable truths capable of elevating your employeesand your businessto new heights. Founded in 2010 by the pioneers of business intelligence, Visier has 15,000 customers in 75 countries around the world, including enterprises like Adobe, BASF, Bridgestone, Electronic Arts, McKesson, MerckKGaA, Uber, and more. Visier is headquartered in Vancouver, BC with offices and team members worldwide.

For more information, visit www.visier.com .

SOURCE Visier
To understand more about Market Dynamics. Download our sample report

The Pharmaceutical Traceability Market size is expected to increase by USD 4.18 billion from 2019 to 2024, at an accelerated CAGR of 21% as per the latest market report by Technavio. 33% of the market's growth will originate from Asia during the forecast period. China and Japan are the key markets for pharmaceutical traceability in Asia. Market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in the European and North American regions. North America is another region showing major market growth. The prevalence and incidence of chronic diseases in North America have increased significantly. In order to reduce deaths due to chronic diseases, pharmaceutical companies are primarily focusing on the development of novel drugs that offer proper treatment to the patient population. The increasing presence of global and local pharmaceutical companies has increased the availability of drug molecules for various therapeutic applications.

Download Sample: for more additional information about the key countries in Asia

Vendor Insights-

The Pharmaceutical Traceability Market is fragmented, and the vendors are deploying growth strategies such as focusing on product delivery through multiple distribution channels to compete in the market.

Alien Technology LLC - The company offers RFID ICs, RFID readers and antennas, and RFID tags and labels.

Find additional highlights on the vendors and their product offerings. Download Sample Report

Latest Drivers & Challenges in the Market-

Pharmaceutical Traceability Market Driver:

Growing concerns over counterfeit drugs.:



The key factor driving growth in the pharmaceutical traceability market is the growing concerns over counterfeit drugs. Counterfeit drugs are medicines that are manufactured in a fraudulent manner or can be mislabeled with regard to the ingredients, sources, or other information. Illegal diversion of drugs is a major issue. Illegal diversion is the sale of drugs in countries apart from the ones where the drug is legally approved to be sold. Pharmaceutical theft can occur at any point in the supply chain, like manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor. Customers buy fake medicines either due to the lack of awareness or the low price of such drugs. This distribution of fake and counterfeit drugs has a huge impact on consumers. Currently, the sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a rise in the circulation of counterfeit drugs, especially in developing countries. The demand for various drugs from people around the world has increased. The huge disparity between the demand for and supply of drugs, owing to the shortage of raw materials as well as logistics challenges, has increased the manufacturing and marketing of counterfeit drugs. The growth in the availability of counterfeit drugs has increased the demand for anti-counterfeiting technologies that utilize various traceability systems. This, in turn, is boosting the growth of the global pharmaceutical traceability market.

Pharmaceutical Traceability Market Challenge:

No general global standards for the serialization of drugs :



No general global standards for the serialization of drugs will be a major challenge for the pharmaceutical traceability market during the forecast period. No global standards for serialization are adopted by the nations. Developing countries have come up with their own standards and regulations for serializing drugs. Different countries follow different standards when serial numbers are assigned to the drug lots or batches. Each country has separate models for serialization and track and trace. For example, in China , the serial codes are generated by the government, which can be verified with the government database. In Europe , the drug manufacturers have to upload the serial number to a central database called European Medicines Verification Systems (EMVS ). While shipping medicines to other countries, one should follow different formats for serialization. The absence of such global standards will affect the effectiveness of global pharmaceutical systems put in place against counterfeiting.

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Pharmaceutical Traceability Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2019 Forecast period 2020-2024 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of about 21% Market growth 2020-2024 USD 4.18 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 18.98 Performing market contribution Asia at 33% Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Alien Technology LLC, Avery Dennison Corp., Cognex Corp., Datalogic Spa, Dover Corp., Impinj Inc., MicroTag Temed Ltd., Mettler-Toledo International Inc., Optel Group, and Zebra Technologies Corp. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and future consumer dynamics, market condition analysis for forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market ecosystem

Value chain analysis

Market Sizing

Market definition

Market segment analysis

Market size 2019

Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 - 2024

Five Forces Analysis

Five Forces Summary

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

Market Segmentation by Type

Market segments

Comparison by Type

Barcode - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

RFID - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

GPS - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Others - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Market opportunity by Type

Customer landscape

Geographic Landscape

Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

North America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

- Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Asia - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

- Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

- Market size and forecast 2019-2024 ROW - Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Key leading countries

Market opportunity by geography

Volume drivers  Demand led growth

Market challenges

Market trends

Vendor Landscape

Overview

Vendor landscape

Landscape disruption

Vendor Analysis

Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

Alien Technology LLC

Avery Dennison Corp.

Cognex Corp.

Datalogic Spa

Dover Corp.

Impinj Inc.

MicroTag Temed Ltd.

Mettler-Toledo International Inc.

Optel Group

Zebra Technologies Corp.

Appendix

Scope of the report

Currency conversion rates for US$

Research methodology

List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

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UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Bloombox Club's new online platform comes under a new domain, https://bloomboxfrance.fr/, which integrates PlantX's signature e-commerce and innovative digital infrastructure that was designed to improve online user experience and boost customer satisfaction. All online purchases made via the French Bloombox Club platform will be fulfilled through the same centralized distribution system originating in the Netherlands that is used for the other Bloombox Club e-commerce activities in Europe.

"Market research positions France as a major player in the lucrative indoor plants market,1 which is why we are confident that Bloombox Club's latest expansion achievement will have multifaceted impacts that will accelerate PlantX's business goals," said PlantX CEO, Lorne Rapkin.

"Bloombox Club's e-commerce presence has been expanding at a rapid pace, as demonstrated by the launch of its operations in different European countries on an almost monthly basis," said PlantX Founder, Sean Dollinger. "This is a significant marker of PlantX's scalability potential due to its established e-commerce technology. We expect this innovative digital ecosystem to attract even more opportunities for e-commerce success, and we are more than ready to make the most of this strong growth momentum."

About PlantX Life Inc.

As the digital face of the plant-based community, PlantX's platform is the one-stop-shop for everything plant-based. With its fast-growing category verticals, the Company offers customers across North America more than 5,000 plant-based products. In addition to offering meal and indoor plant deliveries, the Company currently has plans underway to expand its product lines to include cosmetics, clothing and its own water brand  but the business is not limited to an e-commerce platform. The Company uses its digital platform to build a community of like-minded consumers and, most importantly, provide education. Its successful enterprise is being built and fortified on partnerships with top nutritionists, chefs and brands. The Company eliminates the barriers to entry for anyone interested in living a plant-based lifestyle and thriving in a longer, healthier and happier life.

About Bloombox Club

Bloomboxclub Limited is a UK-based indoor plant and natural product shop and subscription company that brings indoors the great outdoors to boost its customers' health and well-being. Bloombox sources, curates, and tells the story of its indoor plants and superior natural products for the home and delivers them to its customers' doors. Bloombox has created an active community loyal to its brand by curating its products and educating its customers on the plants' genus and benefits.

The Company website is http://investor.PlantX.com/.

To visit the Company's YouTube channel, click here .

Forward Looking-Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as "may," "will," "expect," "likely," "should," "would," "plan," "anticipate," "intend," "potential," "proposed," "estimate," "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy. The forward-looking information contained herein includes, without limitation, statements relating to Bloombox Club's operations in France and the business and strategic plans of the Company.

By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and that give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate; that assumptions may not be correct; and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. A variety of factors, including known and unknown risks, many of which are beyond our control, could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this press release including, without limitation: the Company's ability to comply with all applicable governmental regulations including all applicable food safety laws and regulations; impacts to the business and operations of the Company due to the COVID-19 epidemic; the conflict in Eastern Europe; a limited operating history; the ability of the Company to access capital to meet future financing needs; the Company's reliance on management and key personnel; competition; changes in consumer trends; foreign currency fluctuations; and general economic, market or business conditions.

Additional risk factors can also be found in the Company's continuous disclosure documents, which have been filed on SEDAR and can be accessed at www.sedar.com . Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date of this press release and is based on the beliefs, estimates, expectations and opinions of management on the date such forward-looking information is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE PlantX Life Inc.
"At Porter, we strive to partner with exceptional organizations that put people first when pursuing new business opportunities. Ms. Ireland, personally, and kathy ireland  Worldwide, as a company, work to do good and help other individuals and businesses succeed. We look forward to joining forces in this mission," said Marc Porter, CEO of Porter Capital.

"Marc Porter and his wonderful colleagues at Porter Capital, including John Cox Miller and Michelle Milhoan, are extraordinary leaders in the working capital sector, and are truly revolutionizing the licensing industry with this powerful new financial instrument. We are honored to forge this partnership with Porter to develop this strategic and flexible tool to empower licensors and intellectual property owners, and change the landscape of our industry  just in time for Licensing Expo! More details will be announced then, in conjunction with the most anticipated annual event in our industry," stated Ms. Ireland.

kathy ireland Worldwide works continuously to find solutions for businesses and families, is reported by WWD (Women's Wear Daily) as the "highest ranking woman-owned licensing company in American history," and led by Ireland, sells over 17,000 distinct products, totaling billions of dollars each year. kathy ireland Worldwide also owns and operates United States-based and international resorts and wedding venues and is ranked as the #15 most successful licensing company by License Global Magazine. As a resilient entrepreneur, Ireland also leads others through her Small Business Network, a collaboration of brands, each focused on growth and giving back through charitable contributions.

"As a mom, business mogul, and philanthropist, Ireland is an inspiration, and Porter Capital is honored to partner with her and the team at kathy ireland Worldwide. Both of our organizations are family-focused, and we look forward to working together to support other entrepreneurs and growing companies with business guidance and financial solutions," said Michelle Milhoan, Vice President of Marketing at Porter Capital.

Porter Capital Corporation offers working capital solutions to companies across the country in a variety of industries and has been in business for over 30 years. During this time, Porter Capital has provided over $8 billion in funding and expanded to include a transportation division, Porter Freight Funding . From startups to large companies, Porter Capital can help companies expand, acquire other companies, or simply manage unexpected cash flow issues.

John Cox Miller, Porter Capital's Senior Vice President of Sales said, "It is clear how Kathy and her team have become one of the largest licensing companies in the world. Their vision, professionalism, character, and knowledge stand out on every call we have together, and I could not be more excited to partner with kathy ireland Worldwide."

About Porter Capital Group

Porter Capital Corporation was founded in 1991 by brothers Marc and Donald Porter in Birmingham, AL. Porter offers working-capital solutions to businesses all over the country in a variety of industries. As a direct lender and factoring company, Porter Capital has provided over $8 billion in funding since its inception. Porter Capital offers Invoice Factoring and Asset Based Credit Lines up to $20 million. Since founding the company, Porter Capital has expanded to include a special transportation division known as Porter Freight Funding. The Porter businesses continue to grow by providing working-capital solutions, emphasizing personalized, dedicated customer service without sacrificing speed and efficiency. To know more about Porter Capital Corporation and how it can be a working capital solution provider for businesses, call 1-800-737-7344 or visit its official website, portercap.com.

About kathy ireland Worldwide

Founded in 1993, kathy ireland Worldwide (kiWW) celebrates individual style, communicated in the significance and fashion of every product. Their mission of ...solutions... soluciones lives in each kiWW offering, including: fashion for women, men (MIVI with co-founder Tommy Meharey) & children, intimate apparel, accessories, fine jewelry, weddings & resorts, skincare, cosmetics, furniture, lighting, flooring, decor, cookware (Friday Night and Sunday Dinner by Chef Andre Carthen), appliances for homes & offices all over the world, insurance, telemedicine, recovery centers, merchant services, fintech, investment strategies, real estate, hospitality, comfort care for pets, nutraceuticals, supplements, recreation & adventure designs for Camping World, led by Marcus Lemonis, resulting in a portfolio of ever expanding SKUs, entertainment, sports, publishing, film, television, music, artist & athlete management. Ms. Ireland's non-profit endeavors include serving as International Youth Chair for the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, Ambassador and Major Donor for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, Board Member for the NFLPI and WNBA Players Association, as well as the Madison Program at Princeton University.

SOURCE kathy ireland Worldwide; Porter Capital
MIAMI, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Porter (based in Miami) announces the launch of its website and their emergence from operating their company from the early stages in stealth mode. Porter is a healthcare technology platform, augmented by human connection, that connects members with what they need to manage at home during an illness or injury. A disruptor to the industry and groundbreaking to payers, providers, and employers, Porters Healthsphere is a complete vertical of services and solutions guiding members and caregivers to navigable content, a curated marketplace of services and products, coverage information, and a supportive online health community.

John Criswell, founder and CEO of Porter, who recently sold his previous venture, Pulse8, to Allscripts remarks, We are tremendously proud of the work weve done at Porter prior to this important website launch. The website now features Porters unique value propositions and how the Healthsphere works for members and stakeholders. Soon, continues John, Porter will introduce the healthsphere to the everyday consumer, allowing them to easily navigate the transition to care-at-home.

After suffering a pelvic fracture in a cycling incident, John discovered how fragmented the care-at-home journey was and that it needed serious improvements. He witnessed how patients were leaving care settings with minimal guidance on the next steps in their care journey. So, John set out to simplify and ease the care journey for everyone!

With a huge, ripe for reinvention digital health market opportunity, Porters technology platform guides patients and caregivers to make informed, personalized health decisions based on their own speed, quality, and cost desires. Porter empowers members and providers to easily find quality services and products, reliable suppliers, and vetted partners. Porters Care Guides help navigate the benefits of the Healthsphere to members needing one-on-one assistance. By arming caregivers and members with information and connection, Porter allows them to never lift a finger across the care continuum.

Visit with Porter at the 29th Annual National Case Management and Transitions of Care Conference & 23rd Annual ACMA Meeting in Dallas, TX between May 1-4, 2022. To schedule a meeting with a member of the porter team please call LaRane Garner at 443.624.1186 or email at [email protected].

To learn more, please visit

https://www.helloporter.com/

SOURCE Porter
Precious Moments Family of Companies, Inc. taps veteran toy & gift industry pro to lead the heritage brand's aggressive growth strategy.

ITASCA, Ill., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Precious Moments Family of Companies, Inc. announced the addition of John Plys, a veteran toy and gift industry executive, as Chief Executive Officer. Plys has spent the past 15-plus years leading toy/gift/novelty companies and has a proven track record in achieving substantial sales growth and profits, invigorating brands, driving economic value to shareholders and developing marketplace strategies domestically and internationally that connect brands to consumers while unlocking value for retailers. The appointment is effective immediately.

"We are thrilled to welcome John to our Precious Moments family," stated Don Butcher, President of Precious Moments Family of Companies, Inc. "John has expertise in everything from product design and brand development to sourcing, negotiation and sales growth. His perfect mix of leadership, experience, drive and enthusiasm will help us achieve our aggressive growth goals."

Plys comes to Precious Moments from Alex Global Products, where he was Chief Sourcing and Operations Officer. Prior to that, he was Chief Sales Officer and Chief Product Officer for MJ Holding Inc., and before that he spent 11 years as Global Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Ty, Inc. In addition to his deep toy and gift experience, Plys also spent two decades at Jays Foods/Borden Snack Food Company.

"I am honored to be able to join the team that has created this heritage brand and am invigorated by the multitude of opportunities that lie ahead," Plys stated. "The incredibly high brand recognition, combined with a fiercely loyal existing customer base and a recent focus on taking steps to make the brand even more valuable for new customers, perfectly positions Precious Moments for strong growth. I am excited to roll up my sleeves and get to work with the dedicated and talented Precious Moments teams in Chicago and Carthage."

About Precious Moments

For over 40 years, Precious Moments Company, Inc. has grown to become the cherished brand for life's most memorable moments. Precious Moments is best known for its characters with trademarked teardrop-shaped eye design featured on porcelain figurines and gifts. Precious Moments also licenses its brand to well-known consumer products companies, making Precious Moments items available worldwide in gift, specialty, mass market, chain drug, department stores, Christian bookstores, and online retailers. Visit www.PreciousMoments.com for more information.

SOURCE Precious Moments Family of Companies, Inc.
AI, ML, cloud computing and big data are the major enabling technologies supporting a strong Predictive Maintenance Market growth.

CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report the report "Predictive Maintenance Market by Component (Solutions, Services), Deployment Mode (On-premises, Cloud), Organization Size (Large Enterprises, SME), Vertical and Region - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Predictive Maintenance Market size to grow from USD 4.2 billion in 2021 to USD 15.9 billion by 2026, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 30.6%. Various factors such as increasing spending on marketing and advertising activities by enterprises, changing landscape of customer intelligence to drive the market, and proliferation of customer channels are expected to drive the adoption of predictive maintenance technologies and services.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Predictive Maintenance Market"

372  Tables

51  Figures

294  Pages

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=8656856

By deployment mode, the Predictive Maintenance Market has been segmented into on-premises and cloud. The CAGR of the cloud deployment mode is estimated to be the largest during the forecast period. Cloud-based services are provided directly through the cloud-deployed network connection. Cloud-based platforms are beneficial for organizations that have strict budgets for security investments. The cloud deployment mode is growing, as cloud-based predictive maintenance solutions are easy to maintain and upgrade.

The Predictive Maintenance Market has been segmented by organization size into large enterprises and SMEs. The market for SMEs is expected to register a higher CAGR during the forecast period. These enterprises are early adopters of predictive maintenance solutions. They are faced with the troublesome task of effectively managing security because of the diverse nature of IT infrastructure, which is complex in nature.

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The Predictive Maintenance Market by vertical has been categorized into government and defense, manufacturing, energy and utilities, transportation and logistics, and healthcare and life sciences. The energy and utilities vertical is expected to witness the highest growth rate, while the government and defense vertical is expected to have the largest market size during the forecast period. The larger market size of the government and defense vertical can be attributed to the many initiatives taken by the government to improve the lifestyle of citizens and increasing adoption rate of AI-based applications with the use of ML algorithms to predict the parts and maintenance of defense equipment.

The Predictive Maintenance Market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, APAC, Latin America, and MEA. APAC is expected to grow at a good pace during the forecast period. The region will be booming, as it is experiencing a lot of new entrepreneur setups, which would be looking forward to acquiring new customers and gaining customer trust by involving new paradigms of maintenance technologies to have a competitive advantage over the established players. Predictive maintenance vendors in this region focus on innovations related to their product line. China, Japan, India, and Bangladesh have displayed ample growth opportunities in the Predictive Maintenance Market.

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Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
With a singular focus on the Connectedness industry, Prodapt accelerates digital transformation for its clients, using technologies like 5G, cloud, SDN/NFV, edge computing, IoT, and AI/ML. Prodapt's customers include leading UK telecom operators, digital/multi-service providers (D/MSPs), and high technology companies.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, "Trade and investment between the UK and India is creating good jobs and sustaining livelihoods in both of our countries. I'm very pleased that Prodapt has decided to join the legions of Indian companies investing in the UK, boosting our technology sector, and driving economic growth."

"As the UK has become a hub for technology and innovation in the Connectedness industry, it is natural to scale up our investment and commitment in the UK region," said Vedant Jhaver, Chairman and CEO, Prodapt. "With this renewed vigor, Prodapt continues to be a preferred digital transformation partner to the enablers of the hyper-connected world," he added.

Prodapt plans to invest  100 million over the coming years in the UK and anticipates creating over 500 jobs. Prodapt, earlier this year, had established a new office in London to accommodate its growth.

About Prodapt: www.prodapt.com

Prodapt has a singular focus on the Connectedness vertical. Prodapt's customers range from telecom operators, digital/multi-service providers (D/MSPs), technology and digital platform companies in the business of connectedness.

Prodapt builds, integrates, and operates solutions enabling next-generation technologies and innovations. Prodapt works with global leaders including AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, Adtran, Vodafone, Liberty Global, Windstream, Virgin Media, Rogers, Deutsche Telekom among many others. Prodapt's customers today help more than a billion people and five billion devices stay connected.

Prodapt has offices in North America, Europe, Latam, India, and Africa. It is part of the 120-year-old business conglomerate, The Jhaver Group, which employs over 22,000 people across 64+ locations globally.

Contact:

Manian Sivaramakrishnan

[email protected]

SOURCE Prodapt
HOUSTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE: PWR) announced today that it will release first quarter 2022 financial results on Thursday, May 5, 2022, before the market opens. In conjunction with the press release, Quanta has scheduled a conference call and webcast for 9:00 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, May 5, 2022. Quanta will utilize a slide presentation to accompany its prepared remarks, which will be viewable through the webcast and available on the Investor Relations section of the Quanta website prior to the conference call (http://investors.quantaservices.com).

What: Quanta Services First Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call When: Thursday, May 5, 2022  9:00 a.m. Eastern time How: Live via phone  By dialing (862) 298-0702 or (888) 437-3179 and asking for the Quanta Services First Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call at least 10 minutes prior to the start time.

Live via webcast  By logging on to the website through the Investor Relations section of Quanta's website (http://investors.quantaservices.com)

For those who cannot participate live, an archive of the webcast will be available shortly after the call on the Investor Relations section of Quanta's website (http://investors.quantaservices.com) and dial-in information for a replay of the call will be available in the upcoming earnings release. For more information, please contact Kip Rupp at Quanta Services at (713) 341-7260.

About Quanta Services

Quanta is a leading specialized contracting services company, delivering comprehensive infrastructure solutions for the utility, renewable energy, communications, pipeline and energy industries. Quanta's comprehensive services include designing, installing, repairing and maintaining energy and communications infrastructure. With operations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and select other international markets, Quanta has the manpower, resources and expertise to safely complete projects that are local, regional, national or international in scope. For more information, visit www.quantaservices.com.

Contact: Kip Rupp, CFA, IRC

Quanta Services, Inc.

(713) 341-7260

SOURCE Quanta Services, Inc.
SAN DIEGO; ZURICH, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- QuantalRF is proud to announce that it has raised $15 million in a Series C funding led by Dara Capital Ltd. and Metellus AG, with participation from existing shareholders and high-profile private investors.

The funding round comes as QuantalRF has successfully fulfilled the initial delivery of 5G filters to a long-term strategic partner.

With the investment, QuantalRF plans to fuel commercial growth to meet the increasing demand from partners and expand its product portfolio of RF front-end CMOS solutions. The company will accelerate hiring and scale its proprietary technology platform which enables rapid customization of filters and other RF front-end products.

"I am very proud of our accomplishments throughout the last 12 months proving our Quantal technology platform capabilities to deliver highly cost-effective and custom RF solutions. Third-party silicon testing also validated our characterization in transformative filtering performance and compact size of our CMOS-SOI based RF Front-end filters for the 5G C-band" said Dr. Ali Fard, QuantalRF CEO. "2022 will see us continue to expand our world-class RFIC team and highly integrated RF Front-end products for 5G, Wi-Fi 7 and Ultra Wide Band."

About QuantalRF

QuantalRF is an emerging RF semiconductor company developing transformative wireless communication solutions to redefine the user experience. As an innovator of high-performance RF semiconductors, focused on front-end IC parts such as Power Amplifiers (PA), Low Noise Amplifiers (LNA), on-chip Filters focused on a wide range of communication systems including 5G, Wi-Fi and UWB (Ultra Wide Band), QuantalRF is creating novel solutions to address to emerging connectivity needs of RF wireless systems.

At QuantalRF we are transforming the RF front-end with ultra-compact solutions rivalling acoustic wave and GaAs performance in highly integrated CMOS-SOI technology for commercial applications, including millimeter wave. We leverage our patented Quantal Technology in disruptive RF front-end solutions that significantly improve area, cost, power consumption and overall performance.

Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, with operations in the USA and Sweden, QuantalRF has an impressive portfolio of over 250 granted patents and applications with broad geographic coverage. For more information, please visit www.quantalrf.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement includes forward-looking statements, being statements made in the announcement that are not historical fact. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words including "anticipate", "may", "believe", "estimate", "intend", "expect" and words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements contemplated by the forward-looking statements in this announcement. The forward-looking statements speak only to the date of this announcement. Neither the Company, nor any shareholder, affiliate, employee, adviser or representative of the Company shall be under any obligation to, and all of those persons expressly disclaim any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.

SOURCE QuantalRF
The brand's refresh boldly proclaims engineering seize its unique opportunity to solve the problems of today that stand in the way of tomorrow.

BENGALURU, India, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quest Global, one of the world's fastest growing engineering services firms, unveiled its new corporate brand purpose and logo today.

The visual splash of striking rich colors and new design marks the 25-year old company's declaration to be and remain the most trusted partner for the world's hardest engineering problems.

Currently hiring over 125 engineers a week, the new look is one of many steps Quest Global is taking to build a brand even more meaningful to its customers, employees, and exponentially-growing recruits.

"2022 is a landmark year for Quest Global, we turned 25!," exclaimed Quest Global's Chairman and CEO, Ajit Prabhu. "As we celebrate this glorious occasion, our new identity reflects our ambition and passion to be a centenary organization. It reflects how we have evolved over the years and how we continue to push ourselves to be better for society, our people and our customers. We embrace this new chapter with both humility and pride, while continuing to create a better future."

A Revitalized Look for a Traditional Field

The new logo retains the magnifying glass in a nod to the company's original logo in 1997, and its reputation for being skillfully precise.

"Our new corporate brand identity paves the way to engage better with our people, our customers and the community. It helps us communicate that we are not just service providers, we go beyond. Our relentless drive is to be the most trusted partner for the world's hardest engineering problems and reach newer heights. This new identity perfectly illustrates our passion and commitment, but with links to our heritage," said Yumi Clevenger-Lee, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Quest Global.

Optimistic yellow and harmonious purple combine with various new visually encoded elements to capture a global company of achievers and caregivers working with customers across many industries to solve engineering's hardest problems all around the world. The new logo truly embodies Quest Global's belief that the business of engineering is really about building a brighter future--of solving the problems of today that stand in the way of tomorrow.

"We wanted to make sure Quest Global's brand marque not only stood out from the sea of black and blue competitors, but also stood for their unique positioning of 100% Achiever blended with 100% Caregiver. It needed to be both modern and timeless, relevant but different, dependable but daring. The results speak for themselves," said David Buchan, Founder and Creative Director at Ocean Branding, the agency that designed Quest Global's logo.

About Quest Global

We are Quest Global. We're in the business of engineering, but what we're really building is a brighter future. It's not just what we do, but why we do it that makes us different. We believe engineering has the unique opportunity to solve the problems of today that stand in the way of tomorrow. For 25 years, we have strived to be the most trusted partner for the world's hardest engineering problems. As a global organization headquartered in Singapore, we live and work in 17 countries, with 56 global delivery centers, driven by 13,000+ extraordinary employees who make the impossible possible every day.

Quest Global brings deep industry knowledge and digital expertise to deliver E2E global product engineering services. We bring together technologies and industries alongside the contributions of diverse individuals and their areas of expertise to solve problems better, faster. This multi-dimensional approach enables us to solve the most important and large-scale challenges across the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Energy, Hi-Tech, Healthcare, Medical Devices, Rail and Semiconductor industries.

SOURCE Quest Global
Qualified shareholders owning Real Good Foods stock can redeem bundled perks featuring their nutritious meal products, free shipping, special access to the Real Good Foods merchandise in their Shareholder Store and Visa Gift cards. Perks are available at TiiCKER.com/RGF and can be redeemed when a shareholder creates a TiiCKER account and connects their brokerage. In addition to rewarding shareholders with free perks, Real Good Foods will now be able to directly communicate and engage with their investors.

"Community has and will always be our number one priority at Real Good Foods," said Bryan Freeman, executive chairman of Real Good Foods. "Our community relationships have grown our brand and propelled our products to over 16,000 stores nationwide. We are pleased to announce our partnership with TiiCKER, which will allow us to directly connect and build relationships with our community of investors and give them exclusive real-good rewardsbecause as a community-focused brand, we want to give back to those who support us the most."

TiiCKER has created a new industry  direct-to-shareholder marketing  by partnering with public companies and major brands to build and grow the first shareholder reward and engagement platform.

"TiiCKER offers Real Good Foods a first-ever way to verify, reward and engage with their growing shareholder baseand attract new investors to their company," said Jeff Lambert (Tii:JEFE), founder and CEO of TiiCKER. "Most consumers have no idea that the brands they love are publicly traded and they can earn rewards for owning stock. We want Real Good Foods' shareholders to taste how rewarding our mutual mission of brand loyalty and fostering community can be."

The TiiCKER mobile apps and web-based platform provide access to product discounts, VIP events and exclusive perks to shareholders, as well as commission-free trading, shareholder stores and editorial content. For public companies, TiiCKER is the only direct-to-consumer platform for CMOs and marketers previously unable to reach their millions of owners, and for investor relations executives to grow and engage their previously ignored retail investors.

To claim shareholder perks offered by Real Good Foods, please visit TiiCKER.com/RGF.

About TiiCKER

Launched in 2020, TiiCKER invented verified stock perks and direct-to-shareholder marketing through its web-based and iOS mobile app software platform, providing consumers and investors a revolutionary way to engage with the brands they love. For America's 130 million retail investors, TiiCKER provides unique access to shareholder perks, commission-free trading and custom articles and content. For its public company partners, TiiCKER creates and markets shareholder loyalty programs, helping companies engage and reward their consumers and owners to maximize Shareholder Lifetime Value. For more information, please visit TiiCKER.com.

About The Real Good Food Company

Founded in 2016, Real Good Foods believes there is a better way to enjoy our favorite foods. Its brand commitment, "Real Food You Feel Good About Eating," represents the Company's strong belief that, by eating its food, consumers can enjoy more of their favorite foods and, by doing so, live better lives as part of a healthier lifestyle. Its mission is to make nutritious comfort foods that are low in carbohydrates, high in protein, and made from gluten and grain free real ingredients more accessible to everyone, improve human health, and, in turn, improve the lives of millions of people. Real Good Foods offers delicious options across breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacking occasions available, in over 16,000 stores nationwide, including Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and Target, and directly from its website at www.realgoodfoods.com. Learn more about Real Good Foods by visiting its website or on Instagram at @realgoodfoods, where it has one of the largest social media followings of any brand within the frozen food industry today with nearly 420,000 followers.

For interviews with Bryan Freeman, Executive Chairman, email [email protected].

Media Contact

Nikole Johnston

[email protected]

Investor Contact

Chris Bevenour

[email protected]

SOURCE Real Good Foods
BELOIT, Wis., April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Louis Pinkham, Chief Executive Officer of Regal Rexnord Corporation (NYSE: RRX), announced that the Board of Directors, at its regular quarterly meeting held on April 25, 2022, declared a dividend of $0.35 per share. The dividend is payable on July 14, 2022, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 30, 2022. The company has paid a dividend every quarter since January 1961.

Regal Rexnord Corporation is a global leader in the engineering and manufacturing of industrial powertrain solutions, power transmission components, electric motors and electronic controls, air moving products, and specialty electronics, serving customers throughout the world. Through longstanding technology leadership and an intentional focus on producing the most energy-efficient products and systems, Regal Rexnord helps create a better tomorrow  for its customers and for the planet.

Regal Rexnord is comprised of four operating segments: Motion Control Solutions, Climate Solutions, Commercial Systems and Industrial Systems. Regal Rexnord is headquartered in Beloit, Wisconsin and has manufacturing, sales, and service facilities worldwide. For more information, visit RegalRexnord.com.

SOURCE Regal Rexnord Corporation
"Remilk is committed to reinventing our dairy industry in a kind, sustainable way. Eliminating the need for animals in our food system is the only way to supply our world's growing demand without destroying it in the process," said Aviv Wolff, CEO and founder of Remilk. "We intend to massively scale up our production capabilities to make nutritious, delicious, and affordable dairy that will send cows into early retirement."

Kalundborg's Symbiosis project is a pioneering industrial ecosystem with transformational economic and environmental results. Within the network, byproducts of one company become resources for another. At present, Symbiosis is a collaborative effort involving more than a dozen visionary public and private companies including industry giants such as Novozymes, Novo Nordisk and Chr. Hansen. At the new facility, Remilk will produce non-animal dairy protein for use in products like cheese, yogurt, and ice cream, in volumes equivalent to that produced by 50,000 cows each year.

"We are not just dreaming big, we are acting upon our promise to dramatically reduce the food industry's devastating impact on our planet," continued Wolff. "Ending animals' historic role as providers of food for humankind is one of the most powerful measures we can take to reduce our impact on this planet."

Remilk pioneered a yeast-based fermentation process that produces non-animal milk proteins for use in dairy products traditionally made with cow-derived milk proteins. Remilk's protein enables the production of products that are indistinguishable in taste and function from traditional dairy. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group and Blue Horizon Corporation, alternative proteins could account for 11% ($290B) of the global protein market by 2035. Dairy produced through precision fermentation requires a fraction of the Earth's resources and emits a fraction of the harmful greenhouse gas emissions of animal dairy.

After an extensive search, the company selected Kalundborg, Denmark as the site for its first full-scale fermentation facility because of the location's strategic advantage and powerful approach to industrial sustainability, as well as access to a deep pool of local talent and the strategic cooperation and support from the city and the Danish government.

"The Municipality of Kalundborg looks forward to welcoming the international company Remilk. The company's profile fits perfectly into our sustainability profile and with the Biotech City's other participants," said Mayor Martin Damm. "When Remilk's plant for production of non-animal dairy products is completed, it will also be the world's largest precision fermentation facility. I see Remilk's choice of Kalundborg Municipality as a buy-in to our commitment to sustainability, high technology and education and our ability to enter a constructive dialogue with our stakeholders."

"I am very happy to welcome Remilk to Denmark. This investment is a recognition of Denmark's position as a global leader in sustainable food production and innovation," said Anne Hougaard Jensen, director of Invest in Denmark, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. "Remilk brings important knowledge to Denmark in terms of research and development with food ingredients and dairy products. I am convinced that the opening of Remilk's production facility in Denmark will be an important step towards an even more sustainable future for the food and dairy industry."

The selection of this location was made possible through a partnership with the city of Kalundborg, Invest in Denmark (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark), the Danish embassy in Israel, and the Israeli Embassy in Denmark.

Denmark is a world leader in its sustainability efforts and achievements. When considering total power consumption, about 80% of the energy mix in the grid comes from green power sources including wind, solar and hydro according to Energinet. Denmark has stated an ambitious goal to transition its entire electricity system to be independent of fossil fuels by 2027, as set by the Danish parliament.

About REMILK

Remilk is a global leader in the development of animal-free dairy. The company was founded by Aviv Wolff, an entrepreneur behind several business and social initiatives, and Ori Cohavi, PhD in Biochemistry, who has worked in R&D at a variety of biotech firms. They founded Remilk driven by a shared dedication to improving life on earth by learning from nature, while preserving it. Remilk produces dairy-identical milk proteins through precision fermentation and has developed a unique and patented approach to scalable manufacturing which dramatically increases efficiency in production, and, for the first time in history, eliminates the need for dairy cows in industrial-scale dairy production, without compromising on taste, functionality, or nutritional values. Remilk is real dairy, no cows.

SOURCE Remilk
"Million Dollar Listing's" Kirsten Jordan Gives Insight and Advice on Hot Rental Market on New Podcast from Premier End-to-End Rental Management Software Provider

LOS ANGELES, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RentSpree , the industry's premier end-to-end rental management software provider, launched a podcast titled, It's Closing Time. Hosted by CEO Michael Lucarelli, the podcast features accomplished figures in the real estate industry, where they discuss all things renting with the people who know it best.

This first season is highlighted by Kirsten Jordan , the first female broker to be cast on Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing" and top-ranked Manhattan real estate broker and luxury home advisor. Jordan discusses getting started in real estate, tips for agents looking to begin rentals, relationship building, and the current state of the hot rental market across the country.

"Real estate agents and brokers are always busy looking for ways to better their businesses," said Michael Lucarelli, CEO of RentSpree. "Adding rentals to an agent's portfolio is one of the easiest ways to do this. With this podcast, we're excited to create a platform to provide real-life advice for agents from listing to lease in an engaging, informative, and entertaining forum.

"This is a relationship business; if you can use rentals to build relationships, it's really helpful. The more relationships you have, the more leads you have. Rentals are part of that," said podcast guest Kirsten Jordan.

It's Closing Time features a blend of real estate agents, brokers, and property technology (PropTech) leaders to fill the need for more real estate rental-related content as the market undergoes rapid changes. During each episode, Michael will tap the experts within the real estate industry to get their guidance and advice ranging from successful agents and brokers to CEOs.

Other guests of the first season include:

Maya Tuvia , real estate agent with 365 Management Group

, real estate agent with 365 Management Group Kala Laos , Co-founder and CEO of Zoodealio

, Co-founder and CEO of Zoodealio Jonathan Lickstein , Managing Broker at LoKation Real Estate

, Managing Broker at LoKation Real Estate Yansey Valdez, an Associate Broker at Julie's Realty

Matthew Kuchar , Owner of Showami

, Owner of Showami Chris Aker, Chief Sales Officer of Compass

Marc Dickow , Board of Directors at the San Francisco Association of Realtors

"In this current environment, it's tough to be an agent on your own," said podcast guest Kirsten Jordan. "The It's Closing Time Podcast is a place for agents to find common ground, learn new skills, and find new ways to uplevel themselves in the ever-changing real estate industry."

It's Closing Time is available on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Stitcher , YouTube , and other major podcast platforms. In addition, RentSpree invites anyone interested in appearing as a guest on the show to submit their contact information to itsclosingtimepodcast.com .

For more information on RentSpree, visit rentspree.com .

About RentSpree

Founded in 2016, RentSpree is an award-winning rental software known in all 50 states for its easy-to-use tenant screening process, renter management, partnership program and rental screening API. In just six years, RentSpree has grown its database by partnering with over 200 of the most trusted names in real estate and nearly a million agents, owners and renters across the country.

###

SOURCE RentSpree
OKLAHOMA CITY, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Riley Exploration Permian, Inc. (NYSE American: REPX) ("Riley Permian" or the "Company"), plans to release fiscal second quarter 2022 financial and operating results on May 11, 2022 after the U.S. financial markets close.

In connection with the earnings release, Riley Permian management will host a conference call for investors and analysts on May 12, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. CT to discuss the Company's results and to host a Q&A session. Interested parties are invited to participate by calling:

Toll Free Dial-In, 1 (888) 330-2214

Toll Dial-In, 1 (646) 960-0161

Conference ID number 5405646

An updated company presentation, which will include certain items to be discussed on the call, will be posted prior to the call on the Company's website (www.rileypermian.com).

A replay of the call will be available until May 26, 2022 by calling:

Toll Free Dial-In, 1 (800) 770-2030

Toll Dial-In, 1 (647) 362-9199

Conference ID number 5405646

About Riley Exploration Permian, Inc.

Riley Permian is a growth-oriented, independent oil and natural gas company focused on the acquisition, exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. For more information please visit www.rileypermian.com

Investor Contact:

Rick D' Angelo

405-438-0126

[email protected]

SOURCE Riley Exploration Permian, Inc.
MENLO PARK, Calif., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI) today reported revenues and earnings for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2022, net income was $168 million, or $1.52 per share, on revenues of $1.815 billion. Net income for the prior year's first quarter was $111 million, or $.98 per share, on revenues of $1.398 billion.

"We are very pleased to report another very strong quarter driven by a robust demand environment across the globe," said M. Keith Waddell, president and chief executive officer of Robert Half. "First quarter revenues grew 30 percent, and net income grew 52 percent on a year-over-year basis. Our permanent placement talent solutions operations again led the way, achieving year-over-year revenue growth of 67 percent. Our contract talent solutions and Protiviti also continued to post very strong results, growing year-over-year revenues by 30 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

"We are proud to be recently named one of only a select few companies by FORTUNE as a Most Admired Company for 25 consecutive years, in addition to making Barron's annual list of the 100 Most Sustainable Companies and Forbes' list of America's Best Employers for Diversity. This recognition would not be possible without the dedication and exemplary efforts of our employees across the globe," Waddell concluded.

Robert Half management will conduct a conference call today at 5 p.m. EDT. The prepared remarks for this call are available now in the Investor Center of the Robert Half website (www.roberthalf.com/investor-center). Simply click on the Quarterly Conference Calls link. The dial-in number to listen to today's conference call is 877-814-0475 (+1-706-643-9224 outside the United States). The password is "Robert Half."

A taped recording of this call will be available for replay beginning at approximately 8 p.m. EDT on April 26 and ending at 11:59 p.m. EDT on May 24. The dial-in number for the replay is 855-859-2056 (+1-404-537-3406 outside the United States). To access the replay, enter conference ID# 9245126. The conference call also will be archived in audio format on the company's website at www.roberthalf.com.

Robert Half is the world's first and largest specialized talent solutions and business consulting firm that connects opportunities at great companies with highly skilled job seekers. The Company offers contract and permanent placement talent solutions for finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, and administrative and customer support roles.

Named to FORTUNE's World's Most Admired Companies, the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index and Forbes' list of America's Best Employers for Diversity, Robert Half is the parent company of Protiviti, a global consulting firm that provides internal audit, risk, business and technology consulting solutions.

Robert Half has operations in more than 400 locations worldwide.

Certain information contained in this press release and its attachments may be deemed forward-looking statements regarding events and financial trends that may affect the Company's future operating results or financial positions. These statements may be identified by words such as "estimate", "forecast", "project", "plan", "intend", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", or variations or negatives thereof, or by similar or comparable words or phrases. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the statements.

These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: changes to or new interpretations of U.S. or international tax regulations; the global financial and economic situation; the duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to mitigate its spread; changes in levels of unemployment and other economic conditions in the United States or foreign countries where the Company does business, or in particular regions or industries; reduction in the supply of candidates for contract employment or the Company's ability to attract candidates; the entry of new competitors into the marketplace or expansion by existing competitors; the ability of the Company to maintain existing client relationships and attract new clients in the context of changing economic or competitive conditions; the impact of competitive pressures, including any change in the demand for the Company's services; the Company's ability to maintain its margins; the possibility of the Company incurring liability for its activities, including the activities of its contract employees, or for events impacting its contract employees on clients' premises; the possibility that adverse publicity could impact the Company's ability to attract and retain clients and candidates; the success of the Company in attracting, training, and retaining qualified management personnel and other staff employees; the Company's ability to comply with governmental regulations affecting personnel services businesses in particular or employer/employee relationships in general; whether there will be ongoing demand for Sarbanes-Oxley or other regulatory compliance services; the Company's reliance on short-term contracts for a significant percentage of its business; litigation relating to prior or current transactions or activities, including litigation that may be disclosed from time to time in the Company's SEC filings; the ability of the Company to manage its international operations and comply with foreign laws and regulations; the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; the possibility that the additional costs the Company will incur as a result of healthcare reform legislation may adversely affect the Company's profit margins or the demand for the Company's services; the possibility that the Company's computer and communications hardware and software systems could be damaged or their service interrupted; and the possibility that the Company may fail to maintain adequate financial and management controls and as a result suffer errors in its financial reporting.

Additionally, with respect to Protiviti, other risks and uncertainties include the fact that future success will depend on its ability to retain employees and attract clients; there can be no assurance that there will be ongoing demand for broad-based consulting, regulatory compliance, technology services, public sector or other high-demand advisory services; failure to produce projected revenues could adversely affect financial results; and there is the possibility of involvement in litigation relating to prior or current transactions or activities.

Because long-term contracts are not a significant part of the Company's business, future results cannot be reliably predicted by considering past trends or extrapolating past results. The Company undertakes no obligation to update information contained in this release.

A copy of this release is available at www.roberthalf.com/investor-center.

ATTACHED :

Summary of Operations Supplemental Financial Information Non-GAAP Financial Measures



ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC. SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS (in thousands, except per share amounts)



Quarter Ended March 31,

2022

2021

(Unaudited)







Service revenues $ 1,814,834

$ 1,398,380 Costs of services 1,042,988

836,669







Gross margin 771,846

561,711







Selling, general and administrative expenses 514,194

423,062 (Income) loss from investments held in employee deferred compensation trusts (which is completely offset by related costs and expenses) 30,001

(11,988) Amortization of intangible assets 417

576 Interest income, net (166)

(45)







Income before income taxes 227,400

150,106 Provision for income taxes 59,161

39,508







Net income $ 168,239

$ 110,598







Diluted net income per share $ 1.52

$ .98







Shares:





Basic 109,218

111,424 Diluted 110,591

112,496

ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC. SUPPLEMENTAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION (in thousands)





Quarter Ended March 31,



2022

2021



(Unaudited) SELECTED CASH FLOW INFORMATION:







Depreciation

$ 11,080

$ 13,962 Capitalized cloud computing implementation costs

$ 9,464

$ 8,488 Capital expenditures

$ 14,987

$ 9,739 Open market repurchases of common stock (shares)

475

797





March 31,



2022

2021



(Unaudited) SELECTED BALANCE SHEET INFORMATION:







Cash and cash equivalents

$ 550,330

$ 497,930 Accounts receivable, net

$ 1,071,608

$ 799,673 Total assets

$ 2,950,766

$ 2,565,169 Total current liabilities

$ 1,289,031

$ 1,076,586 Total stockholders' equity

$ 1,452,768

$ 1,197,699

ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC.

SUPPLEMENTAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION (UNAUDITED)

(in thousands)

The Company recently completed a multiyear process to unify its family of Robert Half endorsed divisional brands to one single specialized brand, Robert Half. This simplifies the Company's go-to-market brand structure for clients and candidates and provides leverage for greater brand awareness and allows future flexibility to expand the Company's existing practice groups without the need for new brands. In Q1 2022, the Company's financial disclosures for contract talent solutions (formerly temporary and consultant staffing) are based on functional specialization rather than the previously branded divisions. The functional specializations are: finance and accounting, administrative and customer support, and technology. Finance and accounting combines the former Accountemps and Robert Half Management Resources, administrative and customer support was previously Office Team, and technology was formerly Robert Half Technology. Protiviti and permanent placement talent solutions continue to be reported separately. What was previously referred to as staffing operations is now referred to as talent solutions. There is no change to the underlying business operations or organization.

The Company's presentation of service revenues for finance and accounting, administrative and customer support, and technology include intersegment revenues from services provided to Protiviti in connection with the Company's blended business solutions. This is how the Company measures and manages these businesses internally. The combined amount of divisional intersegment revenues with Protiviti are aggregated and then eliminated as a single line item. The Company has prepared the below schedule to provide readers with historical comparative information to better evaluate the related trends.



2020

2021

2022

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1 SERVICE REVENUES:

































Finance and accounting $ 701,762

$ 496,573

$ 506,515

$ 552,116

$ 600,387

$ 663,892

$ 732,365

$ 768,204

$ 801,690 Administrative and customer support 239,979

136,299

173,685

214,985

220,467

263,192

279,370

295,872

284,906 Technology 196,652

162,028

161,007

175,730

172,239

194,233

215,500

213,414

213,327 Elimination of intersegment revenues (46,273)

(41,514)

(59,816)

(92,393)

(103,818)

(143,036)

(172,534)

(161,004)

(144,200) Total contract talent solutions 1,092,120

753,386

781,391

850,438

889,275

978,281

1,054,701

1,116,486

1,155,723 Permanent placement talent solutions 120,489

71,030

87,203

91,387

111,703

143,640

156,444

158,133

186,782 Protiviti 294,082

283,910

321,303

362,261

397,402

458,660

501,421

495,298

472,329 Total service revenues $ 1,506,691

$ 1,108,326

$ 1,189,897

$ 1,304,086

$ 1,398,380

$ 1,580,581

$ 1,712,566

$ 1,769,917

$ 1,814,834





































ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

The financial results of Robert Half International Inc. (the "Company") are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP") and the rules of the SEC. To help readers understand the Company's financial performance, the Company supplements its GAAP financial results with the following non-GAAP measures: adjusted gross margin; adjusted selling, general and administrative expense; segment income; combined segment income; and as adjusted revenue growth rates.

The following measures: adjusted gross margin; adjusted selling, general and administrative expense; and segment income include gains and losses on investments held to fund the Company's obligations under employee deferred compensation plans. The Company provides these measures because they are used by management to review its operational results.

Combined segment income is income before income taxes, adjusted for interest income, net and amortization of intangible assets. The Company provides combined segment income because it is how management evaluates segment performance.

Variations in the Company's financial results include the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates and billing days. The Company provides "as adjusted" revenue growth calculations to remove the impact of these items. These calculations show the year-over-year revenue growth rates for the Company's functional specializations and segments on both a reported basis and also on an as adjusted basis for global, U.S. and international operations. This information is presented for each of the six most recent quarters. The Company has provided this data because it focuses on the Company's revenue growth rates attributable to operating activities and aids in evaluating revenue trends over time. The Company expresses year-over-year revenue changes as calculated percentages using the same number of billing days and constant currency exchange rates.

In order to calculate constant currency revenue growth rates, as reported amounts are retranslated using foreign currency exchange rates from the prior year's comparable period. Management then calculates a global, weighted-average number of billing days for each reporting period based upon input from all countries and all functional specializations and segments. In order to remove the fluctuations caused by comparable periods having different billing days, the Company calculates same billing day revenue growth rates by dividing each comparative period's reported revenues by the calculated number of billing days for that period to arrive at a per billing day amount. Same billing day growth rates are then calculated based upon the per billing day amounts. The term "as adjusted" means that the impact of different billing days and currency fluctuations are removed from the revenue growth rate calculation.

The non-GAAP financial measures provided herein may not provide information that is directly comparable to that provided by other companies in the Company's industry, as other companies may calculate such financial results differently. The Company's non-GAAP financial measures are not measurements of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as alternatives to amounts presented in accordance with GAAP. The Company does not consider these non-GAAP financial measures to be a substitute for, or superior to, the information provided by GAAP financial results. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is provided on the following pages.

ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES ADJUSTED SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS RECONCILIATION (UNAUDITED) (in thousands)



Quarter Ended March 31,

Relationships

2022

2021

2022

2021

2022

2021

Reported

Adjustments

Adjusted (1)

Reported

Adjustments

Adjusted (1)

Reported

Adjusted SERVICE REVENUES:





































Finance and accounting $ 801,690

$ 

$ 801,690

$ 600,387

$ 

$ 600,387

44.2%

42.9%

44.2%

42.9% Administrative and customer support 284,906



284,906

220,467



220,467

15.7%

15.8%

15.7%

15.8% Technology 213,327



213,327

172,239



172,239

11.7%

12.3%

11.7%

12.3% Elimination of intersegment revenues (144,200)



(144,200)

(103,818)



(103,818)

(7.9%)

(7.4%)

(7.9%)

(7.4%) Total contract talent solutions 1,155,723



1,155,723

889,275



889,275

63.7%

63.6%

63.7%

63.6% Permanent placement talent solutions 186,782



186,782

111,703



111,703

10.3%

8.0%

10.3%

8.0% Protiviti 472,329



472,329

397,402



397,402

26.0%

28.4%

26.0%

28.4% Total service revenues $ 1,814,834

$ 

$ 1,814,834

$ 1,398,380

$ 

$ 1,398,380

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%







































GROSS MARGIN:





































Contract talent solutions $ 461,861

$ 

$ 461,861

$ 344,931

$ 

$ 344,931

40.0%

38.8%

40.0%

38.8% Permanent placement talent solutions 186,449



186,449

111,498



111,498

99.8%

99.8%

99.8%

99.8% Protiviti 123,536

(3,846)

119,690

105,282

1,688

106,970

26.2%

26.5%

25.3%

26.9% Total $ 771,846

$ (3,846)

$ 768,000

$ 561,711

$ 1,688

$ 563,399

42.5%

40.2%

42.3%

40.3%







































SELLING GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE:





































Contract talent solutions $ 305,334

$ 23,281

$ 328,615

$ 278,547

$ (9,151)

$ 269,396

26.4%

31.3%

28.4%

30.3% Permanent placement talent solutions 146,247

2,874

149,121

94,867

(1,149)

93,718

78.3%

84.9%

79.8%

83.9% Protiviti 62,613



62,613

49,648



49,648

13.3%

12.5%

13.3%

12.5% Total $ 514,194

$ 26,155

$ 540,349

$ 423,062

$ (10,300)

$ 412,762

28.3%

30.3%

29.8%

29.5%







































OPERATING/SEGMENT INCOME:





































Contract talent solutions $ 156,527

$ (23,281)

$ 133,246

$ 66,384

$ 9,151

$ 75,535

13.5%

7.5%

11.5%

8.5% Permanent placement talent solutions 40,202

(2,874)

37,328

16,631

1,149

17,780

21.5%

14.9%

20.0%

15.9% Protiviti 60,923

(3,846)

57,077

55,634

1,688

57,322

12.9%

14.0%

12.1%

14.4% Total $ 257,652

$ (30,001)

$ 227,651

$ 138,649

$ 11,988

$ 150,637

14.2%

9.9%

12.5%

10.8% (Income) loss from investments held in employee deferred compensation trusts 30,001

(30,001)



(11,988)

11,988



1.7%

(0.9%)



 Amortization of intangible assets 417



417

576



576

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.1% Interest income, net (166)



(166)

(45)



(45)

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0% Income before income taxes $ 227,400

$ 

$ 227,400

$ 150,106

$ 

$ 150,106

12.5%

10.7%

12.5%

10.7%





(1) Changes in the Company's deferred compensation obligations are included in selling, general and administrative expense or, in the case of Protiviti, costs of services, while the related investment (income) loss is presented separately. The non-GAAP financial measures shown in the table above are adjusted to reclassify investment (income) loss from investments held in employee deferred compensation trusts to the same line item, which includes the corresponding change in obligation. These adjustments have no impact to income before income taxes.

ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC. NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES COMBINED SEGMENT INCOME RECONCILIATION (UNAUDITED):





Quarter Ended March 31,



2022

2021









Income before income taxes

$ 227,400

$ 150,106 Interest income, net

(166)

(45) Amortization of intangible assets

417

576 Combined segment income

$ 227,651

$ 150,637

ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC. NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES REVENUE GROWTH RATES (%) (UNAUDITED):





Year-Over-Year Growth Rates (As Reported)

Non-GAAP Year-Over-Year Growth Rates (As Adjusted)



2020

2021

2022

2020

2021

2022



Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1 Global















































Finance and accounting

-21.1

-14.4

33.7

44.6

39.1

33.5

-21.6

-14.5

31.0

43.5

39.8

34.6 Administrative and customer

support

-17.0

-8.1

93.1

60.8

37.6

29.2

-18.2

-8.7

89.5

60.0

38.4

30.5 Technology

-11.4

-12.4

19.9

33.8

21.4

23.9

-11.9

-12.4

17.9

33.1

21.8

24.6 Elimination of intersegment

revenues (1)

81.6

124.4

244.5

188.4

74.3

38.9

81.5

127.3

240.9

187.5

75.1

40.1 Total contract talent solutions

-23.1

-18.6

29.9

35.0

31.3

30.0

-23.8

-18.9

27.2

34.0

31.9

31.0 Permanent placement talent

solutions

-27.7

-7.3

102.2

79.4

73.0

67.2

-28.5

-8.1

96.9

77.7

73.8

68.8 Total talent solutions

-23.6

-17.5

36.1

39.4

35.3

34.1

-24.3

-17.8

33.2

38.4

36.0

35.2 Protiviti

18.9

35.1

61.6

56.1

36.7

18.9

17.9

34.7

58.8

55.1

37.4

20.0 Total

-15.2

-7.2

42.6

43.9

35.7

29.8

-15.9

-7.6

39.7

42.9

36.3

30.9

















































United States















































Contract talent solutions

-24.1

-20.3

27.5

35.5

33.4

33.4

-23.9

-19.4

27.7

35.5

33.6

33.4 Permanent placement talent

solutions

-31.3

-12.4

109.3

85.1

78.6

78.3

-31.0

-11.4

109.6

85.1

78.9

78.3 Total talent solutions

-24.8

-19.6

33.6

40.0

37.2

37.8

-24.6

-18.6

33.8

40.0

37.4

37.8 Protiviti

22.9

35.5

62.6

53.7

31.7

17.0

23.3

37.1

62.8

53.7

31.9

17.0 Total

-15.3

-8.7

41.1

43.8

35.6

31.7

-15.0

-7.6

41.3

43.8

35.8

31.7

















































International















































Contract talent solutions

-19.3

-12.3

38.6

33.0

24.0

18.5

-23.5

-17.0

25.1

29.1

26.3

23.5 Permanent placement talent

solutions

-19.3

5.2

87.8

67.3

61.9

44.7

-23.0

0.3

70.5

62.1

64.0

50.0 Total talent solutions

-19.3

-10.1

44.8

37.7

29.2

22.5

-23.4

-14.8

30.9

33.7

31.6

27.5 Protiviti

4.3

33.8

57.6

65.9

58.3

26.2

-1.7

26.1

43.5

61.4

61.2

32.3 Total

-14.7

-2.0

48.0

44.3

36.2

23.4

-19.2

-7.2

33.9

40.1

38.6

28.7





(1) Service revenues for finance and accounting, administrative and customer support and technology include intersegment revenues, which represent revenues from services provided to Protiviti in connection with the Company's blended business solutions. Intersegment revenues for each functional specialization are aggregated and then eliminated as a single line item.

The non-GAAP financial measures included in the table above adjust for the following items:

Foreign Currency Translation. The "As Reported" revenue growth rates are based upon reported revenues, which include the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. In order to calculate "Constant Currency" revenue growth rates, as reported amounts are retranslated using foreign exchange rates from the prior year's comparable period.

Billing Days. The "As Reported" revenue growth rates are based upon reported revenues. Management calculates a global, weighted-average number of billing days for each reporting period based upon inputs from all countries and all functional specializations. In order to remove the fluctuations caused by comparable periods having different billing days, the Company calculates "same billing day" revenue growth rates by dividing each comparative period's reported revenues by the calculated number of billing days for that period to arrive at a "per billing day" amount. The "same billing day" growth rates are then calculated based upon the "per billing day" amounts.

The term "As Adjusted" means that the impact of different billing days and constant currency fluctuations are removed from the revenue growth rate calculation. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP year-over-year revenue growth rates to the "As Reported" year-over-year revenue growth rates is included herein, on Pages 10-12.

ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC. NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES REVENUE GROWTH RATE (%) RECONCILIATION (UNAUDITED):

Year-Over-Year Revenue Growth  GLOBAL



Q4 2020

Q1 2021

Q2 2021

Q3 2021

Q4 2021

Q1 2022 Finance and accounting























As Reported

-21.1

-14.4

33.7

44.6

39.1

33.5 Billing Days Impact

-0.3

0.7

-0.4

-0.3

0.3

-0.2 Currency Impact

-0.2

-0.8

-2.3

-0.8

0.4

1.3 As Adjusted

-21.6

-14.5

31.0

43.5

39.8

34.6 Administrative and customer support























As Reported

-17.0

-8.1

93.1

60.8

37.6

29.2 Billing Days Impact

-0.1

1.1

0.0

-0.2

0.1

-0.2 Currency Impact

-1.1

-1.7

-3.6

-0.6

0.7

1.5 As Adjusted

-18.2

-8.7

89.5

60.0

38.4

30.5 Technology























As Reported

-11.4

-12.4

19.9

33.8

21.4

23.9 Billing Days Impact

0.0

1.1

0.0

-0.1

0.1

-0.2 Currency Impact

-0.5

-1.1

-2.0

-0.6

0.3

0.9 As Adjusted

-11.9

-12.4

17.9

33.1

21.8

24.6 Elimination of intersegment revenues























As Reported

81.6

124.4

244.5

188.4

74.3

38.9 Billing Days Impact

-0.1

2.7

0.0

-0.4

0.1

-0.2 Currency Impact

0.0

0.2

-3.6

-0.5

0.7

1.4 As Adjusted

81.5

127.3

240.9

187.5

75.1

40.1 Total contract talent solutions























As Reported

-23.1

-18.6

29.9

35.0

31.3

30.0 Billing Days Impact

0.0

1.0

0.0

-0.2

0.1

-0.2 Currency Impact

-0.7

-1.3

-2.7

-0.8

0.5

1.2 As Adjusted

-23.8

-18.9

27.2

34.0

31.9

31.0 Permanent placement talent solutions























As Reported

-27.7

-7.3

102.2

79.4

73.0

67.2 Billing Days Impact

0.0

1.1

0.0

-0.2

0.1

-0.3 Currency Impact

-0.8

-1.9

-5.3

-1.5

0.7

1.9 As Adjusted

-28.5

-8.1

96.9

77.7

73.8

68.8 Total talent solutions























As Reported

-23.6

-17.5

36.1

39.4

35.3

34.1 Billing Days Impact

0.0

1.1

0.0

-0.2

0.2

-0.2 Currency Impact

-0.7

-1.4

-2.9

-0.8

0.5

1.3 As Adjusted

-24.3

-17.8

33.2

38.4

36.0

35.2 Protiviti























As Reported

18.9

35.1

61.6

56.1

36.7

18.9 Billing Days Impact

0.0

1.6

0.0

-0.3

0.2

-0.2 Currency Impact

-1.0

-2.0

-2.8

-0.7

0.5

1.3 As Adjusted

17.9

34.7

58.8

55.1

37.4

20.0 Total























As Reported

-15.2

-7.2

42.6

43.9

35.7

29.8 Billing Days Impact

0.0

1.1

0.0

-0.2

0.1

-0.2 Currency Impact

-0.7

-1.5

-2.9

-0.8

0.5

1.3 As Adjusted

-15.9

-7.6

39.7

42.9

36.3

30.9

ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC. NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES REVENUE GROWTH RATE (%) RECONCILIATION (UNAUDITED):

Year-Over-Year Revenue Growth  UNITED STATES



Q4 2020

Q1 2021

Q2 2021

Q3 2021

Q4 2021

Q1 2022 Contract talent solutions







As Reported

-24.1

-20.3

27.5

35.5

33.4

33.4 Billing Days Impact

0.2

0.9

0.2

0.0

0.2

0.0 Currency Impact











 As Adjusted

-23.9

-19.4

27.7

35.5

33.6

33.4

























Permanent placement talent solutions























As Reported

-31.3

-12.4

109.3

85.1

78.6

78.3 Billing Days Impact

0.3

1.0

0.3

0.0

0.3

0.0 Currency Impact











 As Adjusted

-31.0

-11.4

109.6

85.1

78.9

78.3

























Total talent solutions























As Reported

-24.8

-19.6

33.6

40.0

37.2

37.8 Billing Days Impact

0.2

1.0

0.2

0.0

0.2

0.0 Currency Impact











 As Adjusted

-24.6

-18.6

33.8

40.0

37.4

37.8

























Protiviti























As Reported

22.9

35.5

62.6

53.7

31.7

17.0 Billing Days Impact

0.4

1.6

0.2

0.0

0.2

0.0 Currency Impact











 As Adjusted

23.3

37.1

62.8

53.7

31.9

17.0

























Total























As Reported

-15.3

-8.7

41.1

43.8

35.6

31.7 Billing Days Impact

0.3

1.1

0.2

0.0

0.2

0.0 Currency Impact











 As Adjusted

-15.0

-7.6

41.3

43.8

35.8

31.7

ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL INC. NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES REVENUE GROWTH RATE (%) RECONCILIATION (UNAUDITED):

Year-Over-Year Revenue Growth  INTERNATIONAL



Q4 2020

Q1 2021

Q2 2021

Q3 2021

Q4 2021

Q1 2022 Contract talent solutions







As Reported

-19.3

-12.3

38.6

33.0

24.0

18.5 Billing Days Impact

-1.0

1.4

-0.8

-0.5

0.1

-0.4 Currency Impact

-3.2

-6.1

-12.7

-3.4

2.2

5.4 As Adjusted

-23.5

-17.0

25.1

29.1

26.3

23.5

























Permanent placement talent solutions























As Reported

-19.3

5.2

87.8

67.3

61.9

44.7 Billing Days Impact

-1.0

1.7

-1.1

-0.6

0.1

-0.5 Currency Impact

-2.7

-6.6

-16.2

-4.6

2.0

5.8 As Adjusted

-23.0

0.3

70.5

62.1

64.0

50.0

























Total talent solutions























As Reported

-19.3

-10.1

44.8

37.7

29.2

22.5 Billing Days Impact

-1.0

1.5

-0.8

-0.5

0.2

-0.4 Currency Impact

-3.1

-6.2

-13.1

-3.5

2.2

5.4 As Adjusted

-23.4

-14.8

30.9

33.7

31.6

27.5

























Protiviti























As Reported

4.3

33.8

57.6

65.9

58.3

26.2 Billing Days Impact

-1.4

2.1

-0.8

-0.7

0.1

-0.5 Currency Impact

-4.6

-9.8

-13.3

-3.8

2.8

6.6 As Adjusted

-1.7

26.1

43.5

61.4

61.2

32.3

























Total























As Reported

-14.7

-2.0

48.0

44.3

36.2

23.4 Billing Days Impact

-1.1

1.6

-0.9

-0.6

0.1

-0.4 Currency Impact

-3.4

-6.8

-13.2

-3.6

2.3

5.7 As Adjusted

-19.2

-7.2

33.9

40.1

38.6

28.7

SOURCE Robert Half
NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds sellers of the common stock of Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) between March 24, 2022 and April 1, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important June 13, 2022 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you sold 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. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. 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.
Each year Forbes Travel Guide's team of professional inspectors travel the world to anonymously visit and evaluate hotels, restaurants, and spas based on 900 rigorous criteria, awarding top honors to properties that excel across the board. Recognition from Forbes Travel Guide continues to be an industry benchmark and one of the most trusted accolades by consumers.

"This latest accolade is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication from our best-in-class team  we have been committed from day one to creating one of the most exceptional resorts in the world," said Rick Caruso, owner Rosewood Miramar Beach, and chief executive officer, Caruso. "We're honored by this esteemed recognition which celebrates Miramar's unparalleled experience, one that is befitting of the resort's incomparable setting and history. This achievement would not have been possible without our extraordinary team and the Montecito community who make Miramar so special."

In addition to recognizing Rosewood Miramar Beach's status as one of the country's best luxury resorts, this latest accolade further cements the property's status as top wellness destination in its own right. At Sense, A Rosewood Spa, Rosewood Miramar Beach's team of wellness experts have created a tranquil escape for guests featuring unique treatments inspired by local surroundings and native traditions. The spa is continually unveiling new initiatives in order to best serve the needs of visitors and guests, most recently introducing new sleep-focused treatments as part of the property's Alchemy of Sleep program. Aimed at helping guests achieve the most restful getaway possible and to prioritize sleep as part of their overall wellness, the specially designed treatments include a special massage incorporating sleep aromatherapies, a Gua Sha Tension Release facial, and a special percussion release massage incorporating CDB. This enthusiasm to tap into evolving consumer needs and industry trends continues to set the property's spa team apart.

"We could not be more thrilled to be featured as a Five-Star resort on Forbes Travel Guide's prestigious 2022 Star Rating List," said Rick Fidel, Managing Director at Rosewood Miramar Beach. "Since our opening three years ago, we've been passionate about providing the best experience for our guests. Our personalized approach to service and our commitment to providing unparalleled amenities in a beautiful setting has firmly established Rosewood Miramar Beach as a leader in the hospitality space. To also be celebrated for our spa offerings makes this recognition even more rewarding."

Located on one of the most pristine and exclusive beaches in Montecito, Rosewood Miramar Beach offers guests an elevated seaside getaway with 158 ultra-luxury guestrooms and suites and state of the art amenities including two cabana-lined pools, the only Five-Star spa in Santa Barbara, a fitness center and signature dining venues such as Caruso's and The Revere Room. The property also continues to execute a robust calendar of on-property events, partnerships and activations that add to the overall Five-Star experience. Recent standouts include the iconic Dioriviera pop-up hosted during Summer 2021 in partnership with Dior, as well as the ongoing launches of exciting on-property retail offerings and food and beverage programs, such as The Manor Bar's most recently unveiled cocktail menu featuring libations inspired by literary classics. Looking ahead, the resort will also be announcing a range of specialty programming for the summer season pegged to current trends such as holistic wellness, outdoor adventure, and bespoke romantic experiences.

"A true embodiment of the Rosewood brand's guiding A Sense of Place philosophy, the team at Rosewood Miramar Beach has created a luxury getaway that is unmatched in the region, bringing guests a uniquely Californian experience paired with the highest quality service available," said Radha Arora, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts President & Co- Chief Development Officer. "We look to Rosewood Miramar Beach with continued excitement and celebrate them in this well-deserved achievement."

The only independent, global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants, and spas, Forbes Travel Guide's annual Star Ratings have been revered as a global authority on travel since its launch in 1958. The winning properties, restaurants, and spas are showcased on https://www.forbestravelguide.com/. For a detailed explanation of how Forbes Travel Guide compiles its Star Ratings, please visit https://www.forbestravelguide.com/about.

About Rosewood Miramar Beach

Situated on one of the most beautiful and pristine beaches in Southern California, Rosewood Miramar Beach is located in Santa Barbara's picturesque Montecito community known as The American Riviera. Offering 158 ultra-luxury guestrooms and suites, including beachfront accommodations, a collection of signature suites and multi-bedroom bungalows, the resort has been designed with style, grace and glamour and perfectly balances the residential and the refined. Amenities include Sense, A Rosewood Spa, a state-of-the-art fitness studio, two cabana-lined pools and bespoke beach service on the sandy shores of Miramar Beach. Home to seven distinct dining venues including Caruso's, the signature oceanfront restaurant, and Malibu Farm at Miramar, an all-day eatery, Rosewood Miramar Beach is a culinary destination in its own right for locals and visitors alike. An elevated retail experience further bolsters Rosewood Miramar Beach as the ultimate retreat for the best in luxury lifestyle, with a first-of-its-kind goop Sundries Shop as well as a new California-inspired concept store curated by designer James Perse. Expansive indoor and outdoor event space, totaling approximately 33,000 square-feet, includes the Chandelier Ballroom with over 6,500-square-feet, and the Great Lawn, which offers infinite ocean views. Personalized service makes Rosewood Miramar Beach the perfect destination for celebrating life's moments both big and small. Rosewood Miramar Beach is owned by Caruso and managed by Rosewood Hotels and Resorts.

For more information, please visit: www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/miramar-beach-montecito

About Rosewood Hotels & Resorts

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts manages 29 one-of-a-kind luxury hotels, resorts and residences in 17 countries, with 23 new properties under development. Each Rosewood property embraces the brand's A Sense of Place philosophy to reflect the individual location's history, culture and sensibilities. The Rosewood collection includes some of the world's most legendary hotels and resorts, including The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel in New York, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and Hotel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel in Paris, as well as new classics such as Rosewood Hong Kong. For those who wish to stay a little longer, Rosewood Residences offer a distinct opportunity for ownership or rent in extraordinary destinations within the brand's wide-ranging portfolio.

For more information, please visit rosewoodhotels.com

Connect with us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WeChat @RosewoodHotels

About Forbes Travel Guide

Forbes Travel Guide is the only global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants and spas. Our anonymous professional inspectors evaluate based on up to 900 objective standards, with an emphasis on exceptional service, to help discerning travelers select the world's best luxury experiences. The only way to get a Five-Star, Four-Star or Recommended rating is by earning it through our independent inspection process. For more information about Forbes Travel Guide, please visit ForbesTravelGuide.com .

Media Contact:

Krista Ritterhoff

Nike Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Rosewood Miramar Beach
Rough-Terrain Crane Market report key highlights

Estimated year-on-year growth rate: 5.74%

Key market segments: Capacity (50-80 tons, below 50 tons, and above 80 tons) and geography ( North America , APAC, Europe , South America , and Middle East and Africa ).

Key Consumer Region & contribution: North America at 39%

Rough-Terrain Crane Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Decelerate at a CAGR of 5.18% Market growth 2022-2026 $ 135.61 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 5.74 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 39% Key consumer countries US, Canada, Japan, China, and Russia Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled Liebherr International AG, Broderson Manufacturing Corp., KATO WORKS CO. LTD., Kobelco Construction Machinery International Trading Co. Ltd., SANY Group, Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd., Tadano Ltd., Terex Corp., The Manitowoc Co. Inc., TIL Ltd., Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co. Ltd., and Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. Ltd. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Do reach out to our analysts for more customized reports as per needs. Speak to our Analyst now!

Rough-Terrain Crane Market Trend

The popularity of high-capacity rough-terrain cranes

These cranes are perfect for applications that require big modular components to be lifted and maneuvered. Rough-terrain cranes with capacities of over 120 tonnes are available from several manufacturers, including Manitowoc and Tadano. Vendors are now selling light equipment that is easy to handle and can lift high weights thanks to advancements in body design. As a result, end-users are investing in these cranes since they cover all of the lift capacities of other crane types without incurring additional costs. As a result, the rising popularity of high-capacity rough-terrain cranes will aid market expansion in the future years.

Rough-Terrain Crane Market Challenge

The high maintenance and compliance costs

The vendors are required to develop a wide range of rough-terrain cranes that suit both domestic and foreign markets due to the varying nature of needs in different international markets, which is driving up the cost of production. The chassis design and axle specifications of rough-terrain crane models used in Japan, for example, differ from those used in the United States. Furthermore, strict rules such as Stage V (in Europe) that are enforced to regulate emissions from big industrial trucks raise the cost even further. Furthermore, nations like China and India are projected to implement comparable regulatory standards, posing a threat to market growth throughout the forecast period.

Get our latest sample Report for extensive insights on key market Drivers, Trends, and Challenges influencing the Rough-Terrain Crane Market.

Key Market Vendors Insights

The Rough-Terrain Crane Market is fragmented, and the vendors are deploying various organic and inorganic strategies to compete in the market.

Some of the key market vendors are:

Liebherr International AG

Broderson Manufacturing Corp.

KATO WORKS CO. LTD.

Kobelco Construction Machinery International Trading Co. Ltd.

SANY Group

Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd.

Tadano Ltd.

Terex Corp.

The Manitowoc Co. Inc.

TIL Ltd.

Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co. Ltd.

Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. Ltd.

For more detailed highlights on products offerings and the growth strategies adopted by other vendors, Download latest sample report

Key Segment Analysis by Capacity

50-80 Tons



The 50-80 tonnes segment will gain considerable market share in rough-terrain cranes. The development of new models in this segment, as well as a considerable increase in the usage of mid-size rough-terrain cranes in major end-user industries, are both contributing to the growth. For example, Terex, a well-known market vendor, just unveiled the Terex TRT 80 rough-terrain crane, which has an 80-ton maximum capacity.

Below 50 Tons



Above 80 Tons

Regional Market Analysis

North America will account for 39 percent of market growth. In North America, the United States and Canada are the most important markets for rough-terrain cranes. The market in this region, however, will increase faster than the market in other regions.

The increasing rise of key end-user industries including construction, oil and gas, and utilities in countries like the United States, as well as the presence of prominent players, will help the rough-terrain crane market in North America grow over the forecast period.

Request our Sample Report for additional highlights and key segments that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period.

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Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Capacity



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Capacity

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Capacity - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Capacity - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Capacity

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Capacity



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Capacity

5.3 50-80 tons - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on 50-80 tons - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on 50-80 tons - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on 50-80 tons - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on 50-80 tons - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Below 50 tons - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Below 50 tons - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Below 50 tons - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Below 50 tons - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Below 50 tons - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Above 80 tons - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Above 80 tons - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Above 80 tons - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Above 80 tons - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Above 80 tons - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Market opportunity by Capacity

Exhibit 40: Market opportunity by Capacity ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 41: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 42: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 44: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 50: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 66: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 Russia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Russia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Russia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on Russia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Russia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 86: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 87: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 88: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 89: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 90: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 91: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 92: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 KATO WORKS CO. LTD.

Exhibit 93: KATO WORKS CO. LTD. - Overview



Exhibit 94: KATO WORKS CO. LTD. - Product / Service



Exhibit 95: KATO WORKS CO. LTD. - Key offerings

10.4 Liebherr International AG

Exhibit 96: Liebherr International AG - Overview



Exhibit 97: Liebherr International AG - Product / Service



Exhibit 98: Liebherr International AG - Key news



Exhibit 99: Liebherr International AG - Key offerings

10.5 SANY Group

Exhibit 100: SANY Group - Overview



Exhibit 101: SANY Group - Product / Service



Exhibit 102: SANY Group - Key offerings

10.6 Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd.

Exhibit 103: Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 104: Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 105: Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 106: Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. - Segment focus

10.7 Tadano Ltd.

Exhibit 107: Tadano Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 108: Tadano Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 109: Tadano Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 110: Tadano Ltd. - Segment focus

10.8 Terex Corp.

Exhibit 111: Terex Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 112: Terex Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 113: Terex Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 114: Terex Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 115: Terex Corp. - Segment focus

10.9 The Manitowoc Co. Inc.

Exhibit 116: The Manitowoc Co. Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 117: The Manitowoc Co. Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 118: The Manitowoc Co. Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 119: The Manitowoc Co. Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 120: The Manitowoc Co. Inc. - Segment focus

10.10 TIL Ltd.

Exhibit 121: TIL Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 122: TIL Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 123: TIL Ltd. - Key offerings

10.11 Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 124: Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 125: Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 126: Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.12 Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 127: Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 128: Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 129: Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 130: Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 131: Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 132: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 133: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 134: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 135: Research methodology



Exhibit 136: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 137: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 138: List of abbreviations

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contacts

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
@SaolRx is partnering w/ @InformedDNA to offer #GeneticCounseling for children w/ rare mito disease (PDCD) #mitodisease Tweet this

This pivotal phase 3 trial administers the investigational drug dichloroacetate (DCA) to children who have a deficiency of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC). PDC deficiency is the most common cause of congenital lactic acidosis and is frequently fatal. DCA has Orphan Product designation from the FDA for congenital lactic acidosis (CLA), including patients with PDCD. (ClinicalTrials.gov link: Trial of DCA in Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency)

Some of the questions and topics addressed during the genetic counseling appointment include:

Discussion of the clinical features, progression, and inheritance of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency (PDCD)

High-level overview of the clinical trial and participation

Dr. Peter Stacpoole, Principal Investigator of the DCA/PDCD trial and Prof. of Medicine at the University of Florida, notes that "There are currently no FDA-approved treatments for patients with PDCD. This service allows them to make an informed decision about clinical trial participation, which is critical to advancing treatment options for rare diseases."

Dave Penake, CEO of Saol Therapeutics, is pleased to partner with InformedDNA to provide this valuable service. "Individualized genetic counseling offers families the insights needed to better understand PDCD and to determine if participation in this clinical trial makes sense. Completing the trial and having a potential FDA-approved treatment for PDCD will be a huge milestone for Saol and the families that have participated in the study."

"Like many rare genetic diseases, PDCD is a severe disease with no proven therapies. Many affected patients do not survive childhood. We are thrilled that Saol Therapeutics is investing in this rare disease, and we are passionate about leveraging InformedDNA's highly effective virtual screening process to engage and connect appropriate patients to the clinical trial and advance therapeutic progress in this devastating disease," said Karmen Trzupek, Director of Clinical Trial Services at InformedDNA. Healthcare providers and caregivers for children with Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency (PDCD) may request a genetic counseling appointment by visiting www.InformedDNA/Saol.

About Saol Therapeutics

Saol Therapeutics (pronounced "Sail") is a privately held, biopharmaceutical company with operations in Roswell, GA, Dublin, Ireland and Hamilton, Bermuda. Saol is focused on clinical development activity in rare diseases, with a focus on mitochondrial disorders, as well as central nervous system disorders such as spasticity and pain management. Saol is one of the collaborators on a Phase 3 trial studying the first potential treatment for pyruvate dehydrogenase complex deficiency (PDCD). More information on the clinical trial can be found at Phase 3 PDCD Trial . More information about Saol can be found at https://saolrx.com/ .

About InformedDNA

InformedDNA is the country's leading applied genomics solutions company, helping harness the full power of precision medicine. With the largest independent staff of board-certified genetics specialists in the U.S., InformedDNA ensures that health organizations have access to the highest quality, most current genomics insights to optimize clinical decisions. Our solutions, which cover evidence-based guideline development, patient experience management, and value management, have helped optimize the health benefits of more than 135 million covered lives and have navigated hundreds of thousands of people to the right treatments or clinical trials. For more information, visit www.InformedDNA.com .

Clinical Trial Contact:

Kathy Dorsey, Director of Clinical Operations, Saol Therapeutics, [email protected]

Media Contacts:

Brian Nappi, Senior Vice President Strategy, Saol Therapeutics, [email protected]

Megan Smith, MERGE for InformedDNA, [email protected] , 404-408-3379

SOURCE Saol Therapeutics
HAMILTON, Bermuda, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Seadrill Limited ("Seadrill") is pleased to announce new contract awards for the West Neptune and the Sevan Louisiana.

The West Neptune has secured a four-well extension with two one-well options with LLOG Exploration Offshore, L.L.C ("LLOG") in US Gulf of Mexico. The firm-term will commence in direct continuation of the existing contract, has an estimated duration of 200 days and is expected to keep the rig busy until August 2023. Total contract value for the firm-term is approximately $71 million.

The Sevan Louisiana has secured a three-well extension with Talos Production, Inc. ("Talos") in US Gulf of Mexico. The extension has a minimum duration of 105 days and is an extension to the existing contract with Talos, which is set to commence in August 2022. Total contract value for the three-well extension is approximately $34 million.

Simon Johnson, Seadrill's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "It's encouraging to see so much activity in the US Gulf of Mexico right now. We are proud of the safe and efficient operations we provide for our clients and are grateful for the opportunity to continue delivering for both LLOG and Talos into next year."

About Seadrill

Seadrill is a leading offshore drilling contractor utilizing advanced technology to unlock oil and gas resources for clients across harsh and benign locations around the globe. Seadrill's high-quality, technologically-advanced fleet spans all asset classes allowing its experienced crews to conduct operations from shallow to ultra-deep-water environments. The Company owns and/or operates 30 rigs, which includes drillships, semi-submersibles, and jack-ups.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes forward-looking statements. Such statements are generally not historical in nature, and specifically include statements about the Company's plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in its business and the markets in which it operates. These statements are made based upon management's current plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risks described from time to time in the Company's regulatory filings and periodical reporting. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the impact of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward looking statement.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

SOURCE Seadrill Limited
MILWAUKEE, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ademi LLP is investigating Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) for possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law in its transaction with Elon Musk.

Click here to learn how to join the action: https://www.ademilaw.com/case/twitter-inc or call Guri Ademi toll-free at 866-264-3995. There is no cost or obligation to you.

Ademi LLP alleges Twitter's financial outlook and prospects are excellent and yet Twitter holders will receive only $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. The transaction agreement unreasonably limits competing bids for Twitter by prohibiting solicitation of further bids, and imposing a significant penalty if Twitter accepts a superior bid. Twitter insiders will receive substantial benefits as part of change of control arrangements.

We are investigating the conduct of Twitter's board of directors, and whether they are (i) fulfilling their fiduciary duties to all shareholders, and (ii) obtaining a fair and reasonable price for Twitter.

If you own Twitter common stock and wish to obtain additional information, please contact Guri Ademi either at [email protected] or toll-free: 866-264-3995, or https://www.ademilaw.com/case/twitter-inc.

We specialize in shareholder litigation involving buyouts, mergers, and individual shareholder rights throughout the country. For more information, please feel free to call us. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Contacts

Ademi LLP

Guri Ademi

Toll Free: (866) 264-3995

Fax: (414) 482-8001

SOURCE Ademi LLP
BEIJING, April 26 -- According to a notice released by China's Lianyungang Maritime Safety Administration on April 24, live-fire drills will be carried out in the middle of the Yellow Sea from April 27 to April 29, 2022.

LYG0031MIDDLE YELLOW SEA GUN FIRING FROM 0000UTC TO 0700UTC DAILY FROM 27 TO 29 APR IN AREA BOUNDED BY THE LINES JOINING 34-52.0N 120-00.0E34-52.0N 120-13.0E34-44.0N 120-13.0E AND 34-44.0N 120-00.0E,ENTERING PROHIBITED. LIANYUNGANG MSA CHINA.

The screenshot shows the notice released by the Lianyungang Maritime Safety Administration on the website of China's Maritime Safety Administration on April 24, 2022.
NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of PS Business Parks, Inc. ("PSB" or the "Company") (NYSE: PSB), in connection with the proposed acquisition of the Company by Blackstone Real Estate. Under the terms of the merger agreement, the Company's shareholders will receive $187.50 in cash for each share of PSB common stock owned. The transaction is valued at $7.6 billion.

If you own PSB shares and wish to discuss this investigation or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, visit our website:

https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/psb

Or please contact:

Joshua Rubin, Esq.

Weiss Law

305 Broadway, 7th Floor

New York, NY 10007

(212) 682-3025

(888) 593-4771

[email protected]

Weiss Law is investigating whether (i) PSB's board of directors acted in the best interests of Company shareholders in agreeing to the proposed transaction, (ii) the $187.50 per-share merger consideration adequately compensates PSB's shareholders, and (iii) all information regarding the sales process and valuation of the transaction will be fully and fairly disclosed.

Weiss Law has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties. We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded clients and obtained important corporate governance relief in many of these cases. If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at [email protected]

SOURCE Weiss Law
NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK) (the "Company"), the leading global creative platform for transformative brands and media companies, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022.

Commenting on the Company's performance, Stan Pavlovsky, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, said, "We had a solid start to 2022 with continued profitable revenue growth. Our Enterprise channel is continuing to perform strongly supported by the integration of strategic solutions along with our creative content offerings. Our acquisitions are also now manifesting themselves more tangibly in our product. As a result, Shutterstock is delivering more value to our customers through our enhanced workflow applications, and we intend to launch additional features and functionalities that we believe will further differentiate our creative platform."

First Quarter 2022 highlights compared to First Quarter 2021:

Financial Highlights

Revenue increased 9% to $199.1 million . On a constant currency basis, revenue increased 11%.

Income from operations decreased 16% to $31.9 million .

Net income decreased 10% to $26.6 million .

Adjusted EBITDA decreased 3% to $54.8 million .

Net income per diluted share decreased $0.08 to $0.71 .

Adjusted net income per diluted share increased $0.02 to $1.00 .

Operating cash flows decreased 37% to $22.7 million .

Free cash flow decreased 62% to $10.2 million .

Key Operating Metrics

Subscribers increased 17% to 359,000.

Subscriber revenue increased 12% to $85.4 million .

Average revenue per customer increased 4% to $355 .

Paid downloads decreased 3% to 44.6 million.

Revenue per download increased 7% to $4.22 .

Image collection expanded 9% to over 405 million images.

Footage collection expanded 19% to over 25 million clips.

SHUTTERSTOCK INVESTOR RELATIONS MICRO SITE

Accessible at content.shutterstock.com/investor-report/index.html.

FIRST QUARTER RESULTS

Revenue

First quarter revenue of $199.1 million increased $15.9 million or 9% as compared to the first quarter of 2021. Revenue generated through our E-commerce sales channel increased 7% as compared to the first quarter of 2021, to $127.1 million, and represented 64% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2022. E-commerce revenue growth was driven by higher subscriber revenue and also benefited from our acquisitions of TurboSquid and PicMonkey. Revenue from our Enterprise sales channel increased 11% as compared to the first quarter of 2021, to $72.1 million, and represented 36% of first quarter revenue in 2022. Enterprise revenue growth was driven by our multi-asset product offerings and continued momentum in Shutterstock Studios and Shutterstock Editorial.

On a constant currency basis, revenue increased 11% in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the first quarter of 2021. On a constant currency basis, E-commerce and Enterprise revenues increased by 9% and 13%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2022, as compared to 2021.

Net income and net income per diluted share

Net income of $26.6 million decreased $2.9 million as compared to $29.5 million for the first quarter in 2021. Net income per diluted share was $0.71, as compared to $0.79 for the same period in 2021. This decrease was due primarily to increases in operating expenses partially offset by revenue growth in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to 2021. The increase in operating expenses was driven by higher depreciation and amortization expense reported in cost of revenues resulting from our 2021 acquisitions and higher marketing expenses.

Adjusted net income per diluted share was $1.00 as compared to $0.98 for the first quarter of 2021, an increase of $0.02 per diluted share.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA of $54.8 million for the first quarter of 2022 decreased by $1.6 million, or 3%, as compared to the first quarter of 2021, due primarily to higher operating expenses, partially offset by increased revenue. The adjusted EBITDA margin decreased to 27.5% from 30.8% in the first quarter of 2021.

FIRST QUARTER LIQUIDITY

Our cash and cash equivalents decreased by $55.9 million to $258.1 million at March 31, 2022, as compared with $314.0 million as of March 31, 2021. This decrease was driven by $65.6 million used in financing activities and $12.5 million used in investing activities, partially offset by $22.7 million of net cash provided by our operating activities.

Net cash provided by our operating activities was driven by our operating income, in addition to changes in the timing of payments pertaining to operating expenses. Cash used in investing activities primarily consists of $12.5 million related to capital expenditures and content acquisition. Cash used in financing activities consists primarily of $38.4 million for the repurchase of common stock under our share repurchase program, $18.5 million paid in settlement of tax withholding obligations related to employee stock-based compensation awards and $8.7 million related to the payment of the quarterly cash dividend.

Free cash flow was $10.2 million for the first quarter of 2022, a decrease of $16.6 million from the first quarter of 2021. This change was primarily driven by lower cash flows from operating activities.

QUARTERLY CASH DIVIDEND

During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company declared and paid cash dividends of $0.24 per common share, or $8.7 million.

On April 19, 2022, the Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.24 per share of outstanding common stock, payable on June 16, 2022 to stockholders of record at the close of business on June 2, 2022.

KEY OPERATING METRICS





Three Months Ended March 31,



2022

2021





Subscribers (end of period)(1)

359,000

306,000 Subscriber revenue (in millions)(2)

$ 85.4

$ 76.5









Average revenue per customer (last twelve months)(3)

$ 355

$ 342 Paid downloads (in millions)(4)

44.6

45.8 Revenue per download(5)

$4.22

$3.96 Content in our collection (end of period, in millions)(6):







Images

405

370 Footage clips

25

21

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (1) Subscribers is defined as those customers who purchase one or more of our monthly recurring products for a continuous period of at least three months, measured as of the end of the reporting period. For periods ending on or prior to December 31, 2021, subscribers excludes customers related to our acquisitions of TurboSquid and PicMonkey. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, subscribers excludes customers related to PicMonkey.



(2) Subscriber revenue is defined as the revenue generated from subscribers during the period. For periods ending on or prior to December 31, 2021, subscriber revenue excludes revenues related to our acquisitions of TurboSquid and PicMonkey. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, subscriber revenue excludes revenues related to PicMonkey.



(3) Average revenue per customer is calculated by dividing total revenue for the last twelve-month period by customers. Customers is defined as total active, paying customers that contributed to total revenue over the last twelve-month period. For periods ending on or prior to December 31, 2021, average revenue per customer excludes revenues and customers related to our acquisitions of TurboSquid and PicMonkey. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, average revenue per customer excludes revenues and customers related to PicMonkey.



(4) Paid downloads is the number of downloads that our customers make in a given period of our content. Paid downloads exclude content related to custom content, downloads of content that are offered to customers for no charge, including our free image of the week and downloads associated with our computer vision offering.



(5) Revenue per download is the amount of revenue recognized in a given period divided by the number of paid downloads in that period excluding revenue from custom content, revenue that is not derived from or associated with content licenses and revenue associated with our computer vision offering.



(6) Represents approved images (photographs, vectors and illustrations) and footage (in number of clips) in our library on shutterstock.com at the end of the period. This collection metric excludes content that is not uploaded directly to our site but is available for license by our customers through an application program interface, custom content and certain content that may be licensed for editorial use only.

2022 GUIDANCE



The Company's current expectations for the full year 2022, remain unchanged as follows:

Revenue of $835 million to $850 million , representing annual growth of 8% - 10%.

to , representing annual growth of 8% - 10%. Adjusted EBITDA of between $210 million to $217 million .

to . Adjusted net income per diluted share of between $3.65 to $3.80 .

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

To supplement Shutterstock's consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP, Shutterstock's management considers certain financial measures that are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, collectively referred to as non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income, adjusted net income per diluted share, revenue growth (including by distribution channel) on a constant currency basis (expressed as a percentage), billings and free cash flow.

Shutterstock defines adjusted EBITDA as net income adjusted for depreciation and amortization, non-cash equity-based compensation, foreign currency transaction gains and losses, interest income and expense and income taxes; adjusted EBITDA margin as the ratio of adjusted EBITDA to revenue; adjusted net income as net income adjusted for the impact of non-cash equity-based compensation, the amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets and the estimated tax impact of such adjustments; adjusted net income per diluted share as adjusted net income divided by weighted average diluted shares; revenue growth (including by distribution channel) on a constant currency basis (expressed as a percentage) as the increase in current period revenues over prior period revenues, utilizing fixed exchange rates for translating foreign currency revenues for all periods in the comparison; billings as revenue adjusted for the change in deferred revenue, excluding deferred revenue acquired through business combinations; and free cash flow as cash provided by operating activities, adjusted for capital expenditures, and content acquisition. These figures have not been calculated in accordance with GAAP and should be considered only in addition to results prepared in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, GAAP results. Shutterstock cautions investors that non-GAAP financial measures are not based on any standardized methodology prescribed by GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similarly-titled measures presented by other companies.

Shutterstock's management believes that adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income, adjusted net income per diluted share, revenue growth (including by distribution channel) on a constant currency basis (expressed as a percentage), billings and free cash flow are useful to investors because these measures enable investors to analyze Shutterstock's operating results on the same basis as that used by management. Additionally, management believes that adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income and adjusted net income per diluted share provide useful information to investors about the performance of the Company's overall business because such measures eliminate the effects of unusual or other infrequent charges that are not directly attributable to Shutterstock's underlying operating performance; and revenue growth (including by distribution channel) on a constant currency basis (expressed as a percentage) provides useful information to investors by eliminating the effect of foreign currency fluctuations that are not directly attributable to Shutterstock's operating performance. Management also believes that providing these non-GAAP financial measures enhances the comparability for investors in assessing Shutterstock's financial reporting. Shutterstock's management believes that free cash flow is useful for investors because it provides them with an important perspective on the cash available for strategic measures, after making necessary capital investments in internal-use software and website development costs to support the Company's ongoing business operations and provides them with the same measures that management uses as the basis for making resource allocation decisions.

Shutterstock's management also uses the non-GAAP financial measures adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income, adjusted net income per diluted share, revenue growth (including by distribution channel) on a constant currency basis (expressed as a percentage), billings and free cash flow, in conjunction with GAAP financial measures, as an integral part of managing the business and to, among other things: (i) monitor and evaluate the performance of Shutterstock's business operations, financial performance and overall liquidity; (ii) facilitate management's internal comparisons of the historical operating performance of its business operations; (iii) facilitate management's external comparisons of the results of its overall business to the historical operating performance of other companies that may have different capital structures and debt levels; (iv) review and assess the operating performance of Shutterstock's management team and, together with other operational objectives, as a measure in evaluating employee compensation and bonuses; (v) analyze and evaluate financial and strategic planning decisions regarding future operating investments; and (vi) plan for and prepare future annual operating budgets and determine appropriate levels of operating investments.

Reconciliations of the differences between adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income, adjusted net income per diluted share, revenue growth (including by distribution channel) on a constant currency basis (expressed as a percentage), billings, free cash flow, and the most comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, are presented under the headings "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Information to GAAP" and "Supplemental Financial Data" immediately following the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

EARNINGS TELECONFERENCE INFORMATION

The Company will discuss its first quarter and full year financial results during a teleconference today, April 26, 2022, at 8:30 AM ET. The conference call can be accessed in the U.S. at (844) 634-1442 or outside the U.S. at (615) 247-0239 with the conference ID# 9054804. A live audio webcast of the call will also be available simultaneously at http://investor.shutterstock.com.

Following completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available in the investor relations section of Shutterstock's website. A telephone replay of the call will also be available until May 3, 2022 in the U.S. at (855) 859-2056 or outside the U.S. at (404) 537-3406 with the conference ID# 9054804.

Additional investor information can be accessed at http://investor.shutterstock.com.

ABOUT SHUTTERSTOCK

Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK), is the leading global creative platform for transformative brands and media companies. Directly and through its group subsidiaries, Shutterstock's comprehensive collection includes high-quality licensed photographs, vectors, illustrations, 3D models, videos and music. Working with its growing community of over 2 million contributors, Shutterstock adds hundreds of thousands of images each week, and currently has more than 405 million images and more than 25 million video clips available.

Headquartered in New York City, Shutterstock has offices around the world and customers in more than 150 countries. The Company also owns PicMonkey, a leading online graphic design and image editing platform; Offset, a high-end image collection; Shutterstock Studios, an end-to-end custom creative shop; PremiumBeat, a curated royalty-free music library; Shutterstock Editorial, a premier source of editorial images and videos for the world's media; TurboSquid, a leading 3D content marketplace; Amper Music, an AI-driven music platform; and Bigstock, a value-oriented stock media offering.

For more information, please visit www.shutterstock.com and follow Shutterstock on Twitter and on Facebook.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding guidance, industry prospects, future business, future results of operations or financial condition, future dividends, our ability to consummate acquisitions and integrate the businesses we have acquired or may acquire into our existing operations, new or planned features, products or services, management strategies, our competitive position and the COVID-19 pandemic. You can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "may," "will," "would," "should," "could," "expect," "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "predict," "project," "seek," "potential," "opportunities" and other similar expressions and the negatives of such expressions. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, those discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as well as in other documents that the Company may file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of such risks, uncertainties and factors, Shutterstock's actual results may differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements discussed in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made only as of this date and Shutterstock assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

Shutterstock, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Operations (In thousands, except for per share data) (unaudited)





Three Months Ended March 31,



2022

2021









Revenue

$ 199,132

$ 183,281









Operating expenses:







Cost of revenue

69,451

61,832 Sales and marketing

53,329

41,921 Product development

13,626

10,731 General and administrative

30,808

30,679 Total operating expenses

167,214

145,163 Income from operations

31,918

38,118 Other income / (expense), net

758

(2,462) Income before income taxes

32,676

35,656 Provision for income taxes

6,104

6,142 Net income

$ 26,572

$ 29,514









Earnings per share







Basic

$ 0.73

$ 0.81 Diluted

$ 0.71

$ 0.79









Weighted average common shares outstanding:







Basic

36,303

36,336 Diluted

37,204

37,249

Shutterstock, Inc. Consolidated Balance Sheets (In thousands, except par value amount) (unaudited)





March 31, 2022

December 31, 2021









ASSETS







Current assets:







Cash and cash equivalents

$ 258,112

$ 314,017 Accounts receivable, net of allowance of $2,125 and $1,910

44,774

47,707 Prepaid expenses and other current assets

36,833

26,491 Total current assets

339,719

388,215 Property and equipment, net

50,206

48,074 Right-of-use assets

32,935

34,570 Intangibles assets, net

116,859

123,822 Goodwill

219,176

219,816 Deferred tax assets, net

11,559

10,512 Other assets

25,524

26,701 Total assets

$ 795,978

$ 851,710









LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY







Current liabilities:







Accounts payable

$ 7,208

$ 10,092 Accrued expenses

74,131

99,529 Contributor royalties payable

29,816

29,004 Deferred revenue

178,734

180,979 Other liabilities

13,997

14,180 Total current liabilities

303,886

333,784 Deferred tax liability, net

2,517

2,781 Lease liabilities

35,857

36,966 Other non-current liabilities

9,295

9,697 Total liabilities

351,555

383,228 Commitment and contingencies







Stockholders' equity:







Common stock, $0.01 par value; 200,000 shares authorized; 39,352 and 39,209 shares

issued and 36,138 and 36,417 shares outstanding as of March 31, 2022 and

December 31, 2021, respectively

394

392 Treasury stock, at cost; 3,214 and 2,792 shares as of March 31, 2022 and

December 31, 2021, respectively

(165,465)

(127,196) Additional paid-in capital

373,765

376,537 Accumulated other comprehensive loss

(11,674)

(10,788) Retained earnings

247,403

229,537 Total stockholders' equity

444,423

468,482 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity

$ 795,978

$ 851,710

Shutterstock, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (In thousands, except par value amount) (unaudited)





Three Months Ended March 31,



2022

2021









CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES







Net income

$ 26,572

$ 29,514 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:







Depreciation and amortization

15,065

10,091 Deferred taxes

(1,242)

(433) Non-cash equity-based compensation

7,826

8,210 Bad debt expense

361

526 Changes in operating assets and liabilities:







Accounts receivable

2,366

(5,892) Prepaid expenses and other current and non-current assets

(1,376)

(9,306) Accounts payable and other current and non-current liabilities

(26,717)

(72) Contributor royalties payable

1,030

(369) Deferred revenue

(1,162)

3,559 Net cash provided by operating activities

$ 22,723

$ 35,828









CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES







Capital expenditures

(11,775)

(8,548) Business combination, net of cash acquired



(72,165) Acquisition of content

(734)

(489) Security deposit payment

(16)

(11) Net cash used in investing activities

$ (12,525)

$ (81,213)









CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES







Repurchase of treasury shares

(38,372)

 Proceeds from exercise of stock options



1,309 Cash paid related to settlement of employee taxes related to RSU vesting

(18,496)

(13,034) Payment of cash dividend

(8,706)

(7,646) Net cash used in financing activities

$ (65,574)

$ (19,371)









Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash

(529)

108 Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

(55,905)

(64,648)









Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period

314,017

428,574 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period

$ 258,112

$ 363,926









Supplemental Disclosure of Cash Information:







Cash paid for income taxes

$ 1,666

$ 3,363

Shutterstock, Inc. Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Information to GAAP (In thousands, except per share information) (unaudited)

Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income, adjusted net income per diluted share, revenue growth (including by

distribution channel) on a constant currency basis (expressed as a percentage), billings and free cash flow are not financial measures prepared

in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Such non-GAAP financial measures should not be

construed as alternatives to any other measures of performance determined in accordance with GAAP. Investors are cautioned that non-GAAP

financial measures are not based on any standardized methodology prescribed by GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similarly-titled

measures presented by other companies.







Three Months Ended March 31,



2022

2021 Net income

$ 26,572

$ 29,514 Add / (less) Non-GAAP adjustments:







Depreciation and amortization

15,065

10,091 Non-cash equity-based compensation

7,826

8,210 Other adjustments, net (1)

(758)

2,462 Provision for income taxes

6,104

6,142 Adjusted EBITDA

$ 54,809

$ 56,419 Adjusted EBITDA margin

27.5%

30.8%

(1) Other adjustments, net includes foreign currency transaction gains and losses, and interest income and expense.







Three Months Ended March 31,



2022

2021 Net income

$ 26,572

$ 29,514 Add / (less) Non-GAAP adjustments:







Non-cash equity-based compensation

7,826

8,210 Tax effect of non-cash equity-based compensation (2)

(1,838)

(1,929) Acquisition-related amortization expense (3)

6,045

1,099 Tax effect of acquisition-related amortization expense (2)

(1,421)

(258) Adjusted net income

$ 37,184

$ 36,636









Net income per diluted share

$ 0.71

$ 0.79 Adjusted net income per diluted share

$ 1.00

$ 0.98 Weighted average diluted shares

37,204

37,249

(2) Statutory tax rates are used to calculate the tax effect of the adjustments. (3) Of these amounts, $5.5 million and $0.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, are included within cost of revenue in the Statements of Operations. The remainder of acquisition-related amortization expense is included in general and administrative expense in the Statements of Operations.









Three Months Ended March 31,



2022

2021 Total Revenues

$ 199,132

$ 183,281









Revenue growth

9%

14% Revenue growth on a constant currency basis

11%

11%









E-commerce revenues

$ 127,070

$ 118,400 Revenue growth: E-commerce

7%

19% Revenue growth: E-commerce on a constant currency basis

9%

16%









Enterprise revenues

$ 72,062

$ 64,881 Revenue growth: Enterprise

11%

5% Revenue growth: Enterprise on a constant currency basis

13%

3%













Three Months Ended March 31,



2022

2021 Net cash provided by operating activities

$ 22,723

$ 35,828 Capital expenditures

(11,775)

(8,548) Content acquisition

(734)

(489) Free cash flow

$ 10,214

$ 26,791









Three Months Ended March 31,



2022

2021 E-commerce revenue

$ 127,070

$ 118,400 Enterprise revenue

$ 72,062

$ 64,881 Total revenue

$ 199,132

$ 183,281









Change in total deferred revenue(1)

$ (2,245)

$ 3,787 Total billings

$ 196,887

$ 187,068

(1) Change in total deferred revenue excludes deferred revenue acquired through business combinations.

Shutterstock, Inc. Supplemental Financial Data (unaudited)

Historical Operating Metrics



Three Months Ended



3/31/22

12/31/21

9/30/21

6/30/21

3/31/21

12/31/20

9/30/20

6/30/20

































Subscribers (end of period, in thousands) (1)

359

343

336

321

306

281

255

223 Subscriber revenue (in millions) (2)

$ 85.4

$ 81.4

$ 81.5

$ 78.1

$ 76.5

$ 71.1

$ 67.6

$ 62.7

































Average revenue per customer (last twelve months) (3)

$ 355

$ 368

$ 361

$ 356

$ 342

$ 333

$ 328

$ 326 Paid downloads (in millions) (4)

44.6

45.0

44.3

44.9

45.8

45.8

43.4

44.0 Revenue per download (5)

$ 4.22

$ 4.29

$ 4.20

$ 4.17

$ 3.96

$ 3.91

$ 3.79

$ 3.61 Content in our collection (end of period, in millions): (6)































Images

405

400

390

380

370

360

350

340 Footage clips

25

24

23

22

21

21

20

19

Equity-Based Compensation by expense category





Three Months Ended ($ in thousands)

3/31/22

12/31/21

9/30/21

6/30/21

3/31/21

12/31/20

9/30/20

6/30/20

































Cost of revenue

$ 78

$ 54

$ (49)

$ 194

$ 164

$ 155

$ 125

$ 99 Sales and marketing

928

857

638

926

467

586

467

374 Product development

1,781

2,017

1,675

1,799

1,229

1,038

1,263

1,068 General and administrative

5,039

6,612

6,479

6,767

6,350

8,849

6,430

2,095 Total non-cash equity-based compensation

$ 7,826

$ 9,540

$ 8,743

$ 9,686

$ 8,210

$ 10,628

$ 8,285

$ 3,636

Depreciation and Amortization by expense category





Three Months Ended ($ in thousands)

3/31/22

12/31/21

9/30/21

6/30/21

3/31/21

12/31/20

9/30/20

6/30/20

































Cost of revenue

$ 13,760

$ 13,682

$ 11,343

$ 8,214

$ 8,311

$ 8,679

$ 8,222

$ 9,274 General and administrative

1,305

1,358

2,146

1,937

1,780

1,560

1,527

1,578 Total depreciation and amortization

$ 15,065

$ 15,040

$ 13,489

$ 10,151

$ 10,091

$ 10,239

$ 9,749

$ 10,852

(1) Subscribers is defined as those customers who purchase one or more of our monthly recurring products for a continuous period of at least three months, measured as of the end of the reporting period. For periods ending on or prior to December 31, 2021, subscribers excludes customers related to our acquisitions of TurboSquid and PicMonkey. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, subscribers excludes customers related to PicMonkey.



(2) Subscriber revenue is defined as the revenue generated from subscribers during the period. For periods ending on or prior to December 31, 2021, subscriber revenue excludes revenues related to our acquisitions of TurboSquid and PicMonkey. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, subscriber revenue excludes revenues related to PicMonkey.



(3) Average revenue per customer is calculated by dividing total revenue for the last twelve-month period by customers. Customers is defined as total active, paying customers that contributed to total revenue over the last twelve-month period. For periods ending on or prior to December 31, 2021, average revenue per customer excludes revenues and customers related to our acquisitions of TurboSquid and PicMonkey. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, average revenue per customer excludes revenues and customers related to PicMonkey.



(4) Paid downloads is the number of downloads that our customers make in a given period of our content. Paid downloads exclude content related to custom content, downloads of content that are offered to customers for no charge, including our free image of the week and downloads associated with our computer vision offering.



(5) Revenue per download is the amount of revenue recognized in a given period divided by the number of paid downloads in that period excluding revenue from custom content, revenue that is not derived from or associated with content licenses and revenue associated with our computer vision offering.



(6) Represents approved images (photographs, vectors and illustrations) and footage (in number of clips) in our library on shutterstock.com at the end of the period. This collection metric excludes content that is not uploaded directly to our site but is available for license by our customers through an application program interface, custom content and certain content that may be licensed for editorial use only.

SOURCE Shutterstock, Inc.
SinglePoint to start its up-listing application process to achieve the goal of a NASDAQ listing in 2022. Tweet this

This acquisition by SinglePoint strategically aligns with the growth plan we had in mind for Boston Solar. We spent the last several months ensuring we had synergy with the overall mission and vision of SinglePoint. Our shared values and corporate culture will drive exponential growth and expansion. Through Boston Solar and our strong foothold in Massachusetts, we have multiple accretive acquisitions identified that we will be pursuing," concluded Mello Guimaraes.

SinglePoint plans to continue expanding its operational footprint as it acquires additional full service solar EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) companies throughout the nation. The Company is targeting established solar companies in specific markets that can complement each other and yield synergies and economies of scale. The Company's acquisition plan will grow the revenue and profit base and will position SinglePoint for significant growth going forward. With recent government funding initiatives announced and periodic interruptions to the power grid, homeowners, business owners and small commercial owners are searching for ways to ensure that they have access to constant and dependable power.

"The addition of Boston Solar is a milestone for SinglePoint," stated Wil Ralston, CEO of SinglePoint. "This acquisition moves us in the right direction to achieve our goals of building the nation's leading solar services network. As the electrification of everything continues and the importance of obtaining consistent and reliable energy access, we see a long-term future for solar, EV Charging and Energy Storage. We are excited to welcome Boston Solar and their entire experienced professional team. With this acquisition we are addressing the massive residential opportunity with the leading residential company in the New England area which shares the common core values of providing best in class customer service and honest treatment of all customers across the board as evidenced by their impressive business history in the market and positive customer reviews."

Solar energy accounted for 46% of all new electricity generated in 2021 and the market is expected to grow at 10% CAGR over the next 5 years as per the latest report by Technavio. Solar and the Renewables market, including Energy Storage and EV Charging, is a long-term opportunity as the current addressable market for residential and small commercial market penetration remains largely underserved with reportedly less than 4% of the market covered. Over the last decade solar pricing has drastically decreased, making the transition to solar more economically attractive to consumers. Lower prices, coupled with demand for energy independence and resilience, sets the stage for SinglePoint to establish market leadership within the renewable energy space.

SinglePoint has established rigorous criteria for future acquisitions as they expand their reach and increase value for customers, the business, and their shareholders. Over the next 18 months, the Company plans to add additional high quality regional installers to build out a nationwide network of service providers. The Company aims to be the single point of contact to support homeowners and business owners as they move toward utilizing renewable energy sources, from solar panels on the roof, to energy storage, and the EV charger in the garage. SinglePoint and its subsidiaries will be the premier option with white glove service and lifelong relationships.

About The Boston Solar Company, LLC

Boston Solar, a Proud Partner of the Boston Red Sox, has installed more than 5,000 residential and commercial solar systems powering thousands of homes and businesses in New England, predominantly Massachusetts, since its founding in 2011. Boston Solar is dedicated to providing superior products, exceptional customer service, and the highest quality workmanship in residential and commercial installations. The company has been honored with the 2020 Guildmaster Award from GuildQuality for demonstrating exceptional customer service within the residential construction industry. For five consecutive years, the Company has been recognized as a Top Solar Contractor by Solar Power World magazine. The company has also made Boston Business Journal's "Largest Clean Energy Companies in Massachusetts" List. Boston Solar is a member of Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE). The company is headquartered at 55 Sixth Road, Woburn, MA 01801. Learn More at www.bostonsolar.us

About SinglePoint Inc

SinglePoint Inc. is a renewable energy and sustainable lifestyle company focused on providing environmentally friendly energy efficiencies and healthy living solutions. SinglePoint is initially focused on building the largest network of renewable energy solutions and modernizing the traditional solar and energy storage model. The Company is also actively exploring future growth opportunities in air purification, electric vehicle charging, solar as a subscription service, and additional energy efficiencies and appliances that enhance sustainability and a healthier life. For more information, visit the Company's website (www.singlepoint.com) and connect on social media for the latest updates.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential plans and objectives of the Company, the use of proceeds, anticipated growth and future expansion, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.

There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Technical complications, which may arise, could prevent the prompt implementation of any strategically significant plan(s) outlined above. The Company undertakes no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.

Investor Contact:

Tra-Digital IR

[email protected] (212) 389 - 9782 ext. 107

SOURCE SinglePoint Inc.
Applications for the sixth edition of SLINGSHOT open today

SINGAPORE, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SLINGSHOT powered by Startup SG returns for its sixth year[1]. A new immersion programme for the top 50 global startups to explore growth opportunities in Singapore, as well as an exclusive collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) which offers access to cloud expertise, mentorship and its global community of potential customers, has been introduced for the competition. Organised by Enterprise Singapore (Enterprise SG), the SLINGSHOT grand finals will be held during the Singapore Week of Innovation & Technology[2] (SWITCH), from 25 to 28 October 2022.

Connecting top global startups to collaboration opportunities through Singapore

Inaugural programmes for top 50 finalists

This year, the top 50 global startups, to be announced in September, will each win a sponsored trip to Singapore to participate in an immersion programme one week before the grand finals. This will enable participants to experience the startup and innovation ecosystem in Singapore, and better understand how it can help accelerate their growth via Enterprise SG and scale their business to the region and beyond. In partnership with Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE), the national trade association for startups in Singapore, SLINGSHOT will curate a programme comprising matching and networking sessions with investors, accelerators, venture builders, corporates and innovators, providing access to fundraising, local and overseas business and collaboration opportunities. The startups will also go on site visits and lab crawls to research, innovation and corporate facilities.

SLINGSHOT is also collaborating with AWS for the first time, on its AWS Startup Ramp programme to support the top 50 finalists. AWS Startup Ramp is a programme for early-stage startups building solutions in health, digital government, smart cities, agriculture, and space technology, and dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs as they build, launch, and grow. AWS Startup Ramp will connect SLINGSHOT's top startup finalists to AWS's global community of partners and other startup members to deepen collaboration, and provide training and AWS credits to address challenges and accelerate public sector innovation.

Deep tech startups are welcome to participate in this year's Challenge Domains[3] of i) Manufacturing, Trade & Connectivity, ii) Health & Biomedical, iii) Environment, Energy & Green Technologies, iv) Transformative Digital Technologies, and v) Consumer Media, Goods & Services (refer to Annex for more details). The call for entries officially opens today and will close on 24 July 2022. Interested parties can find out more details and submit their applications at https://go.gov.sg/slingshot2022pr.

More than US$800,000 in total grant prizes are up for grabs this year:

Grand winner grant prize of over US$130,000

First runner-up grant prize of over US$100,000

Second runner-up grant prize of over US$66,000

Over US$33,000 grant prize each for top ten domain winners

In partnership with JTC, Singapore's lead agency championing sustainable industrial development, the top three SLINGSHOT winners will win up to 18 months' rent-free space at the JTC LaunchPad @ one-north or LaunchPad @ Jurong Innovation District. These LaunchPads are homes to vibrant communities of incubators, accelerators and venture capitalists.

Ms Cindy Ngiam, Director for SWITCH, Enterprise SG said, "Since 2017, SLINGSHOT has seen more than 15,000 applications from markets including leading startup hubs such as Canada, China, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Our top 40 SLINGSHOT winners have also gone on to raise almost US$400 million in investments, post-SLINGSHOT. Through SLINGSHOT, startups have been connected to over 400 judges and mentors globally from the innovation space. Our partnerships with established industry leaders like AWS will also provide prime opportunities for startups to gain more support and opportunities to scale into the region from Singapore."

On the collaboration with Enterprise Singapore, Mr Samuel Harris, Public Sector Startup Lead, Asia Pacific and Japan at AWS, said, "We are excited to be collaborating with SLINGSHOT to support Singapore's vibrant startup community. Startups play an important role in helping governments and organisations to deliver quality citizen services and better customer experiences, innovating faster at scale. AWS is delighted to support Enterprise SG's mission to drive local startup innovation. We are committed to bringing startups and the wider industry together to experiment with new ideas built on the cloud that help solve some of the world's biggest challenges."

Co-innovation opportunities for top 250 startups

SLINGSHOT 2021's top 100 startups were connected with more than 15 corporates to explore co-innovation opportunities. These corporates included AstraZeneca, Givauden, Hyundai, P&G, Philips, Rolls-Royce, Tata and Unilever.

This year, the top 250 startups will also stand the chance to be connected to top corporates for co-innovation opportunities through the SLINGSHOT Corporate Mixer. Participating global corporates will share their problem statements during the Corporate Mixer sessions, and explore new business and collaboration opportunities with these finalists.

[1] Last year's SLINGSHOT saw over 4,500 applications from more than 150 markets.

[2] Visit www.switchsg.org for more information.

[3] Two winners from each Challenge Domain will advance into the Grand Finals on 27 October 2022 and will compete for the three grand prizes.

About Enterprise Singapore

Enterprise Singapore (Enterprise SG) is the government agency championing enterprise development. We work with committed companies to build capabilities, innovate and internationalise.

We also support the growth of Singapore as a hub for global trading and startups, and build trust in Singapore's products and services through quality and standards.

Visit www.enterprisesg.gov.sg for more information.

SOURCE Enterprise Singapore
Boulder-based private equity firm Snow Peak Capital has acquired multi-channel marketing firm Sandy Alexander. Tweet this

"We look forward to partnering with Snow Peak Capital to enhance the breadth of solutions we can provide to our customers. Our collaboration with Snow Peak will provide us with the capital and operational support we need to help guide our future growth initiatives," said Michael Graff, President & CEO of Sandy Alexander.

Steve Yager, Managing Partner at Snow Peak, commented, "We are honored to team up with Sandy Alexander during the Company's exciting next phase. This transaction presents an ideal opportunity for Snow Peak to leverage its M&A expertise, operating experience, and broad network to continue to build on the world-class marketing solutions Sandy Alexander has built over the last 60 years."

"Snow Peak has a long track-record of success with investing in businesses to achieve growth and margin improvement," stated Anthony Chirikos, Partner at Snow Peak. "We plan to support Sandy Alexander with the investments and resources it needs to achieve future growth, both organically and through acquisitions."

Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth acted as legal advisor to Snow Peak Capital. New Direction Partners and Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. served as financial and legal advisors, respectively, to Sandy Alexander. Global Endowment Management provided equity financing alongside Snow Peak in this transaction. Debt financing for the transaction was provided by PNC Bank.

About Snow Peak Capital, LLC

Snow Peak Capital is a Boulder, Colorado-based private equity firm that invests in lower middle-market businesses across the industrial, technology and business services sectors. Snow Peak Capital's founders have more than 50 years of combined M&A and operating experience, having led or been involved with more than 60 private equity transactions during their careers. Snow Peak seeks acquisition opportunities in which it can bring lasting improvements to its partner firms, either directly or through its network of operating relationships. For more information, visit: www.snowpeakcapital.com.

About Sandy Alexander, Inc.

Sandy Alexander Inc. is one of the largest independently owned, high-end commercial graphic communications companies in the nation, serving the needs of Fortune 500 companies and other enterprises from coast to coast. Sandy Alexander's broad array of services include digital solutions, sheetfed and web printing with in-line finishing/personalization, wide and grand format, and printing for retail visual merchandising. Sandy Alexander provides the most impactful and efficient printing for any campaign regardless of substrate, size or quantity. Sandy Alexander is a leader in protecting the environment with dedication to wind energy, SGP certification, and tri-certification for chain-of-custody sustainability paper. For more information, visit: www.sandyinc.com.

For Inquiries of Snow Peak Capital

Melissa Evans

Head of Business Development

(303) 883-1869 | [email protected]

For Inquiries of Sandy Alexander

Mike Graff

Chief Executive Officer

(973) 968-3113 | [email protected]

SOURCE Snow Peak Capital, LLC
Jade Leaf Partners with Select Cafes Across San Francisco, San Diego, and Portland to Offer FREE Matcha-Based Drinks Nationwide Along with Deep Online Discounts on Matcha Tea Products

SEATTLE, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Matcha serves as a great alternative to coffee for a cleaner, more sustainable, morning ritual as Americans continue to search for something different to fuel their day. Jade Leaf is perfectly positioned to act as a trusted guide through the surge of interest from matcha-curious Americans. Jade Leaf, founded in San Francisco, offers Keto friendly, Certified Organic, Non-GMO, Whole30 approved, and farm-direct Japanese matcha at a fair price. Jade Leaf is celebrating matcha on May 2nd, 2022 with FREE matcha drinks at select San Francisco, San Diego, and Portland cafes along with one of their deepest publicly available online discounts.

Poster featured within each participating cafe. National Matcha Day being enjoyed by thousands of people across select cities.

"National Matcha Day is a day for matcha lovers across the country to celebrate their love for matcha," said Marc St. Raymond, co-founder of Jade Leaf. "We are paying homage to tea farmers across Japan. May 2nd is known as Hachiju Hachiya (translating to the "88th Night" that refers to the 88th date of the traditional Japanese calendar). Tea farmers consider Hachiju Hachiya as a favorable date to begin the Spring tea harvest  it seemed natural that all matcha lovers would celebrate their [tea farmers] efforts on this momentous day."

Since 2014, Jade Leaf has amassed over 3MM+ customers through online and retail channels, earned 75K+ 5-star customer reviews while maintaining the #1 top-selling matcha brand online and in retail. Matcha is quickly moving up consumer search trends - more than doubling each year - as something new, exciting, and useful with its functional benefits of giving clean energy, boosted immunity, and helpful antioxidants. Jade Leaf most recently launched keto and paleo-friendly Collagen Matcha Latte Mixes in both Unsweetened and Sugar Free options, cementing themselves as an innovative leader in the matcha and tea industry!

National Matcha Day on May 2nd

To celebrate the second annual National Matcha Day on May 2nd people in San Francisco, San Diego, and Portland can visit these select cafe partners across select cities: [San Francisco] Home Coffee and Aura Tea, [San Diego] Naked Cafe, [Portland] Less and More Coffee, Super Joy Coffee, and In J Coffee. At participating cafes ask for a matcha-based drink, and receive it for FREE while supplies last. For a full list of participating SF, LA, and Portland cafes visit Jade Leaf's Blog at www.jadeleaf.com or follow @JadeLeafMatcha on Instagram.

Not located in any of the participating cities but still matcha-curious? Jade Leaf has got you covered with a generous offer of 25% OFF of any matcha tea products and gear on www.jadeleaf.com to celebrate between Friday, April 29th - Tuesday May 6th. Simply use code NATIONALMATCHADAY at checkout to snag your discount!

Media Contact

Dakota Anderson

818.421.5193

[email protected]

SOURCE Jade Leaf Matcha
Global space community to provide urgent humanitarian needs for Ukraine

HERNDON, Va., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders of the space community today announced the Space Industry for Ukraine (SIFU), an initiative designed to fund and execute efforts that provide immediate humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine. The initiative will be run by a steering committee, which includes HawkEye 360, National Security Space Association (NSSA), ABL Space Systems, ARKA, BlackSky, Capella Space, ICEYE, Insight Partners, Leidos, LeoLabs, Maxar, Raytheon Intelligence & Space, Rebellion Defense, Relativity Space, Riverside Research, Rocket Lab, Velos and Viasat. The steering committee will fundraise, select and monitor the execution of critical humanitarian projects throughout Ukraine and its neighboring countries. Additional participating donor companies include The Aerospace Corporation, Cognitive Space and Shield Capital.

"While space-based companies are playing a vital role through collecting and analyzing data of a defense and intelligence nature, we believe there is additional humanitarian value that our space community can provide in supporting the people and government of Ukraine," said HawkEye 360 CEO John Serafini. "After visiting the Poland-Ukraine border last month to assess the crisis situation and identify ways our community can help, I am eager to work in close collaboration with our space industry peers and NGO partners to help deliver critical aid for the people of Ukraine."

"The national security space community is uniquely positioned to address the horrific atrocities playing out in Ukraine over the past several weeks," said Steve Jacques, Executive Director of the National Security Space Association. "With SIFU, we intend to go beyond the bounds of traditional strategic support and provide humanitarian aid geared directly towards alleviating suffering and restoring the human dignity of those impacted by the events in Ukraine. NSSA is proud to partner with John Serafini and this outstanding collection of companies as we spearhead this important initiative."

Through the generous contributions of its members, the SIFU has fundraised to date nearly $1 million. In coordination with the international NGO community and with representatives of the Polish and Ukrainian governments, high-value projects have been structured to be undertaken on short notice to create immediate and material value for the Ukrainian cause. The initial projects include:

Acquisition, shipment, and delivery of medical supplies and food supplies to support populations throughout Ukraine and Poland .

and . Communication hardware and operating costs to enable NGOs operating in the region to maximize communication.

Construction and operation of mobile medical facilities for treating refugees throughout the region.

Supporting evacuation efforts of Ukrainian refugees.

All of the initiative's humanitarian projects will be managed by global NGOs, with SIFU involvement focused on partner acquisition, project selection, capital distribution and the evaluation of project effectiveness. SIFU is not intended to be a long-term initiative. Rather, the intention is for the initiative to create an immediate impact over three months to support Ukraine's most pressing needs.

Payam Banazadeh, CEO of Capella Space said, "In addition to our in-theater imaging support to the Government of Ukraine, Capella Space is proud to support humanitarian efforts to provide meaningful support to those civilians impacted most by the continued aggression in Ukraine."

"All of us at BlackSky are deeply troubled by the loss of life and the displacement of Ukrainian men, women and children due to the crisis," said Brian E. O'Toole, CEO of BlackSky. "We are honored to participate in this initiative and we hope that our collective efforts will bring assistance to those in need."

"Ukraine and the Ukrainian people remain in dire need of assistance. It is good to see the global space community come together, across borders, in support of this important cause," said Rafal Modrzewski, CEO of ICEYE.

"The United Nations (UN) estimates more than 11 million people are displaced in the current conflict," said Paul Engola, Leidos EVP for National Security Space. "These individuals need housing, medical treatment, access to education and other services. They have lost infrastructure that will take lifetimes to replace. The sheer magnitude of this crisis motivates us to act and do our part to help the Ukrainian people."

"LeoLabs is proud to partner with NSSA and members of the space industry in this campaign to provide immediate humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine," said Dan Ceperley, CEO of LeoLabs.

"Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the continued reports of countless, heart-wrenching tragedies experienced by the Ukrainian people is devastating. The defense community must unite to provide humanitarian support and relief to the Ukrainian people affected by this unjust war. Rebellion Defense is honored to be a part of SIFU, and we are committed to providing long-lasting support to Ukraine," said Rebellion Defense CEO and Co-Founder Chris Lynch.

"We're proud to stand with SIFU and do our part to support the people of Ukraine. Expanding the possibilities for the human experience is part of our mission and we believe that protecting victims of humanitarian crises around the world is a core, fundamental responsibility we all share," said Relativity Co-Founder and CEO Tim Ellis.

"As a national security nonprofit, Riverside Research is proud to participate in this important initiative to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Simply put, it is the right thing to do," said Dr. Steven Omick, President and CEO of Riverside Research.

"The space community is critical to enabling connections for people and governments around the world. As part of this, an important capability of space is supporting humanitarian and emergency response efforts to bring reliable connectivity to first responders and communities when they need it most," said Craig Miller, President of Viasat Government Systems. "Viasat is extremely proud to join other space industry leaders in collectively committing to support essential humanitarian efforts and NGO organizations in the Ukraine and Poland. Our involvement with SIFU also builds on our work in the region providing free Viasat Community Internet (VCI) to thousands of refugees in Eastern Slovakia."

"At a time where the geospatial industry is united in a concerted effort to monitor military and economic activities, analyze and explain the situation to decision makers and the general public, and to determine future intent related to the conflict in Ukraine, it's nice to see our industry also addressing the humanitarian ramifications of the conflict," said Cognitive Space CEO Scott Herman. "We're proud to be a part of this effort to help alleviate the refugee crisis in Europe."

About SIFU (Space Industry for Ukraine)

SIFU is a collective humanitarian effort of the shared space community to create immediate and material value for the Ukrainian cause. Companies in the space ecosystem each make a one-time pledge of $50,000, contributing valuable capital to finance a number of high-value projects such as medical treatment, delivery of food supplies, and supporting transportation costs for evacuation efforts. These projects are managed by qualified and certified NGOs, and are funded and monitored by a steering committee of leading space companies. SIFU is intended to create an immediate impact over 3 months to support Ukraine's present needs.

SOURCE Space Industry for Ukraine (SIFU)
CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Spaulding Ridge, leading global cloud advisory and implementation firm, today announced several appointments to its EMEA leadership team that further solidify the company's commitment to providing local market leadership by region.

Tassos Siatras, Managing Partner, appointed overall leader of EMEA

Jani Van Hecke , Associate Partner, supporting France and the UK

, Associate Partner, supporting and the UK Johan Rehnstrom, Associate Partner, supporting the Nordics

Alex De La Concha, Associate Partner, supporting Spain

"Our EMEA presence continues to grow and the need to establish a strong, cohesive leadership model is now. Our EMEA leadership team has the business management experience, deep market and industry knowledge, and true understanding of our company values and vision that will enable us to scale," says Jay Laabs, CEO, Spaulding Ridge. "As Managing Partner, EMEA, Tassos Siatras will manage and grow our EMEA presence with tight accountability and support from Jani, Johan, and Alex."

With 500 employees across the globe, Spaulding Ridge has been increasing its global investments to provide local services in key international markets, including launching offices in London, Madrid, Barcelona, Stockholm, Paris, Calgary, Toronto, Jaipur, Bangalore, and Manila. Spaulding Ridge recently completed two acquisitions in EMEA: Silvr Lining Group, a Salesforce consultancy based in the UK, and CIS Consulting, a CPM and Data Solutions company located in Spain.

Tassos Siatras, Managing Partner, EMEA

Tassos Siatras has taken the position of Managing Partner, EMEA, where he will be responsible for overseeing and growing Spaulding Ridge's EMEA business, including the expansion of key Spaulding Ridge alliance relationships across all European markets. With the support of Jani, Johan, and Alex, he will take ownership of all operations in EMEA offices in the UK, Spain, Sweden, and France, focusing on integrating Spaulding Ridge's recent acquisitions. With more than 15 years of business transformation consulting and cloud technology experience, Tassos has been with Spaulding Ridge since its start in 2018 and leads Spaulding Ridge's APAC business.

Jani Van Hecke, Associate Partner, Supporting France and the UK

Jani Van Hecke is an accomplished, people-focused leader and consultant with a track record leading rapid growth within the technology industry. He joins Spaulding Ridge as an Associate Partner, supporting the growth and management of the EMEA market, specifically France and the UK. He is experienced in leading complex CRM and CLM digital transformations, particularly in the oil and gas, financial services, and logistics industries. Jani has deep experience collaborating with global organizations to enhance and streamline complex cloud technology strategy and implementation.

Johan Rehnstrom, Associate Partner, Supporting the Nordics

Johan Rehnstrom is an Associate Partner at Spaulding Ridge and will help lead the Nordics growth strategy. With more than 20 years of experience in various finance leadership functions and building global finance functions, he is a trusted advisor to the CFO. Johan is also Spaulding Ridge's expert on complex business transformations in the mining industry.

Alex De La Concha, Associate Partner, Supporting Spain

Alex De La Concha is a solutions architect with 25+ years of experience in solving complex digital transformations for multinational companies. Alex has worked with a wide range of CPM and data analytics technologies, and his expertise covers project management, systems architecture design, and finance transformation. As an Associate Partner at CIS Consulting, a company of Spaulding Ridge, Alex will help lead the firm's growth in Spain.

About Spaulding Ridge

Spaulding Ridge is an award-winning cloud advisory and implementation firm, deploying Best-in-Cloud solutions on a global scale. They enable organizations to accelerate operational efficiency, drive digital transformation, and increase competitive advantage.

Spaulding Ridge partners with digitally savvy companies to help:

Finance gain control: Increase top-line revenue, gross margins, and profits through better insight. Connect financial planning to strategy and automate financial close processes.

Increase top-line revenue, gross margins, and profits through better insight. Connect financial planning to strategy and automate financial close processes. Sales increase productivity: Manage quota and territories more consistently and effectively, automate customer contracts and onboarding.

Manage quota and territories more consistently and effectively, automate customer contracts and onboarding. Operations drive efficiency: Improve supply chain agility, automate strategic sourcing and purchasing, deliver superior customer service experiences.

To learn more, visit spauldingridge.com.

SOURCE Spaulding Ridge, LLC
Issuer of L Bonds Says SEC's Probe Contributed to Its Demise

DALLAS, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GWG Holdings, Inc. (GWGH) voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The move was expected in the wake of the regulatory and financial woes plaguing the Dallas-based alternative firm.

GWG Holdings' bankruptcy is bad news for investors, many of whom are retail customers, including elderly investors and retirees. In February 2022, the company, which sold $1.6B in life-settlement backed bonds via independent brokerage firms, had defaulted on $13.6M in principal payments and interest it owed investors of its L Bond series.

In its bankruptcy filing, GWG Holdings said that the SEC's investigation into brokerage firms for selling L-Bonds to their customers contributed to the alternative asset firm's collapse. Some 145 broker-dealers, including managing brokerage firm Emerson Equity, sold L Bonds to investors.

GWG stated that after it resumed the sale of these high-yield bonds in December 2021, the SEC began sending subpoenas to the brokerage firms that were selling or thinking of selling GWG L Bonds. These firms then became reluctant to sell financial instruments to clients, which led to significantly low sales.

GWG Holdings said that all of this affected its ability to "access the capital markets." The company stopped selling L Bonds again in January 2022.

Our securities lawyers represent investors in FINRA arbitration against the brokerage firms that unsuitably sold these junk bonds to them and misrepresented the high risks involved.

Suspension of L Bond Sales Spelled Trouble for Investors and GWG

GWG Holdings currently has about $2B in total liabilities and over $3.4B in assets from secondary-life insurance policies and interests in two unaffiliated entities. The alternative asset firm's merger with Beneficent Co. Group, LP, a financial services firm that issues loans to those that own alternative, illiquid assets, only contributed to its problems.

In 2018, GWG stopped buying life insurance policies and began selling L Bonds backed by Beneficent ownership units. The latter used the proceeds from those sales to invest in alternative assets. Investors are saying that they were never fully apprised of these developments.

Contact:

If you purchased GWG L Bonds in recent years with Emerson Equity or another brokerage firm, please contact our GWG Holdings investment attorneys today for your free case consultation.

www.investorlawyers.com

[email protected]

US Toll Free: (800) 259-9010

SOURCE Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP
WASHINGTON, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Following is a statement by Jen Judson, President of the National Press Club and Gil Klein, President of the National Press Club Journalism Institute on the recently discovered deaths of Ukrainian Journalists Roman Nezhyborets and Zoreslav Zamoysk.

"As Russian troops pulled back from the Kyiv region last week the world discovered atrocities including bodies left behind and mass graves. Among the discoveries were the deaths of journalists Roman Nezhborets, a video technician at Dytynets; and, Zoreslay Zamoysky, a freelance journalist. As we try to track the number of journalists killed in Ukraine through public reports we find these are the 11th and 12th journalists and media workers to be killed in this conflict. Nezhyboret's body was found with gunshot wounds. His mother reported to the Committee to Protect Journalists that Russian troops had tracked him using his cell phone. He might have been killed in early March according to reports. Zamoysky last published to his Facebook account March 4."

Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. The club has 3,000 members representing nearly every major news organization and is a leading voice for press freedom in the United States and around the world.

The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire civic engagement.

Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 for the National Press Club

SOURCE National Press Club
-- Study also identifies high number of genes not previously connected with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)--

GAITHERSBURG, Md., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GeneDx , LLC, a leader in genomic analysis, today unveiled new data demonstrating positive outcomes of exome analysis for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), supporting the use of a broader genetic testing approach to diagnose ASD. This retrospective study is one of the few to examine the genetic basis of autism and current guidelines around screening and testing and is among the largest studies of genetic testing in ASD.

The study, presented in a poster session at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting, evaluated exome analysis for individuals with ASD against current testing methods and shed light on genes not previously associated with ASD. Results demonstrate that exome analysis provides higher diagnostic rates of 7.9-21.0% and shorter diagnosis wait times than traditional testing strategies, including Fragile X (FMR1) and array CGH. Though nearly 90% of the 18,911 individuals with ASD who participated in the study had at least one prior negative genetic test, researchers observed a high positive rate of exome analysis, suggesting prior testing contributed to the delay in molecular diagnosis. The results suggest that exome analysis should precede FMR1 and array CGH testing, which is also supported by the superior diagnostic yield of exome sequencing over FMR1 and CGH testing found in the medical literature.

Importantly, this study revealed a high number of emerging genes not previously connected to autism. Initial analysis identified 1,137 emerging genes,113 of which were upgraded to disease-causing starting in 2015. Moreover, 60% of genes associated with ASD identified in this study were not found in the Simon Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) Gene online database  an evolving resource for the autism research community centered on genes implicated in autism susceptibility. This further supports the use of exome analysis for the discovery and understanding of genes associated with ASD.

"Use of exome testing as a front-line test will help ensure more patients and clinicians have a more complete diagnosis sooner," said Paul Kruszka, M.D., F.A.C.M.G., chief medical officer at GeneDx. "The data reinforce that we need to update the standard of care for these patients to choose exome sequencing over panels to provide more children with a diagnosis. We will work tirelessly to help ensure all patients have access to exome, which is a more definitive tool."

GeneDx's database of more than 350,000 clinical exomes has been a major driver of discovery. This dataset, supported by carefully annotated and structured clinical information, has turned GeneDx into a key driver in understanding gene-disease relationships. Today roughly one-quarter of the clinically actionable findings provided to patients come from discoveries first made at GeneDx.

In 2021, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported approximately 1 in 44 children is diagnosed with autism, and boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed than girls. Most children are diagnosed after age four, although early diagnosis and intervention offers the best opportunities to help support children's development. Research indicates genetics influence the vast majority of cases.

About GeneDx

GeneDx, LLC, is a global leader in genomics, providing testing to patients and their families worldwide. Originally founded by scientists from the National Institutes of Health, GeneDx offers a world-renowned clinical genomics program with particular expertise in rare and ultra-rare genetic disorders. In addition to its market-leading exome sequencing service, GeneDx offers a suite of additional genetic testing services, including diagnostic testing for hereditary cancers, cardiac, mitochondrial, neurological disorders, prenatal diagnostics, and targeted variant testing. To learn more, please visit http://www.genedx.com.

CONTACT: Julie McKeough, [email protected]

SOURCE GeneDx, Inc.
ERS CEO Eric Rhodes had the following statement: "We have been working with Sumitomo Pharma's group for some time and are pleased to finally be able to announce this agreement. Sumitomo Pharma has a reputation worldwide for excellence and vision, and we look forward to seeing how CRISPR/Cas9 will enhance their internal research programs and lead to more effective drugs."

Expanding on the regional aspect of the deal, Eric added: "Japan has one of the most developed biotechnology sectors in the world and we hope this partnership with Sumitomo Pharma is a signifier of a growing presence in this country. This represents ERS's 16th license deal in Japan."

Financial details of the agreement are not disclosed.

Summit Pharmaceuticals International Corporation, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, serves as the exclusive agent for ERS Genomics in Japan.

About ERS Genomics

ERS Genomics is a biotechnology company based in Dublin, Ireland. The company was formed to provide broad access to the foundational CRISPR/Cas9 intellectual property held by Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier. Non-exclusive licenses are available for research and sale of products and services across multiple fields including: research tools, kits, reagents; discovery of novel targets for therapeutic intervention; cell lines for discovery and screening of novel drug candidates; GMP production of healthcare products; companion animal and livestock health; production of industrial materials such as enzymes, biofuels and chemicals; and synthetic biology.

For additional information, please visit www.ersgenomics.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1803591/ERS_Genomics_Eric_Rhodes.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1756881/ERS_Genomics_Logo.jpg

Media contact:

Dara O'Donnell

[email protected]

+353-1-539 0083

ERS contact:

Yasuto Ando

[email protected]

SOURCE ERS Genomics
SEATTLE, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently launched Symbol Advantage plans to make high-quality, factory-built homes available to aspiring buyers who can't currently afford to purchase their own homes.

According to the National Association of REALTORS Research Group, house prices continue to rise to record highs. "With median home prices growing by double digits year over year in many regions, this is the right time to bring more affordable, single-family homes to market and help more families start building generational wealth," explained CEO Aggie Clark. "They did it with cars, now we're doing it with homes," Symbol Advantage President James Conlin added when describing being inspired by Carvana's online sales platform and Tesla's 'reserve a car' program.

"With access to a soft allocation for 10,000 homes through 20+ factories, our leadership team's deep roots in residential real estate and consumer services position Symbol Advantage for raising capital to strategically fuel growth," explained board leader Steve Rodgers, former CEO and President of Prudential California Realty, a division of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices of America.

Upcoming projects include building master-planned and urban development communities starting in Western Washington and Southern California. Symbol Advantage plans to launch its home design and sales platform later this year, including the 'reserve-a-home' option.

ABOUT SYMBOL ADVANTAGE INC.

Founded by Aggie Clark and James Conlin, Symbol Advantage plans to help solve the affordable housing shortage by marketing high-quality, excellent curb appeal, factory-built homes that can qualify for traditional 30-year financing. Symbol Advantage creates homeownership and real estate development opportunities by leveraging fintech, proptech, and Web3 advancements.

ABOUT THE FOUNDERS

Aggie Clark served as President and COO of an industry-leading retail financial services provider with more than 100 branches and 1,000 team members during her tenure, specializing in business operations, corporate culture, and customer experience. She is Advisory Board Co-Chair for the Consulting & Business Development Center at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business and a Trustee for Cornish College of the Arts. James Conlin is a serial entrepreneur and third-generation multinational land developer. His technology company has completed team development projects for FEMA, Stripe, Solar City, Blue Homes, IRS e-File, and many more. He was CEO of the 2019 Startup of the Year International 3rd place recipient.

SOURCE Symbol Advantage Inc.
PETALUMA, Calif., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tangram Insurance Services, Inc. ("Tangram"), a Managing General Underwriter and Program Manager, announced today a partnership with Service Lloyds Insurance Company, a national workers compensation carrier, to launch a program for the security guard industry.

Tangram's program is designed to provide comprehensive workers compensation insurance and risk management services for the security guard niche, including those providing both armed and unarmed guard services, a segment that has seen significant growth in the wake of the pandemic. The program's focus is on low-mid risk operations, including, but not limited to, those engaged in private patrol, industrial/business parks, office buildings, construction sites, private security, retail, municipalities, hotels/motels, executive protection, and more. Tangram's program management approach combines a competitive insurance solution with underwriting expertise and consultative risk management around the niche exposures of this industry.

"Our launch into the security guard industry, a nearly $50 billion niche, is a great complement to our existing building services program. Tangram is excited to offer a national program in partnership with our trusted workers compensation partner, Service Lloyds Insurance Company," said Rekha Skantharaja, President and CEO of Tangram Insurance Services. "The ability to cover a broad array of exposures along with meaningful services will provide a competitive, differentiated solution in the marketplace."

To connect with a member of the Tangram team, visit tangramins.com.

About Tangram Insurance Services, Inc.

Tangram Insurance Services, Inc. is a managing general underwriter and national program manager bringing in-depth expertise and specialized program capabilities to a variety of industries. With 20 years of experience in the program space, Tangram partners with top insurance companies to deliver niche insurance solutions. For more information, please visit tangramins.com.

About Service Lloyds

Service Lloyds is a privately owned company specializing nationally in workers compensation and rated A- (Excellent) by AM Best. The company's focus is providing the client with a quality workers compensation product with the support and personal service that makes Service Lloyds a leader in the industry.

SOURCE Tangram Insurance Services, Inc.
Covid vaccine awareness campaign inaugurates foundation's mission to uplift people across the social fabric of America. Tweet this

The "Please Consider Vaccination" campaign marks the first of many initiatives The GreenShoots Foundation aims to advance, with shelter for the homeless, U.S. military veteran advocacy, and increased participation in the exercise of self-government being among the key items on its radar.

"Our credo is rooted in the principles of love and humility," states Ted Huffman. "We want to cultivate initiatives that are regarded as fundamentally human, such as faith, family, and fellowship."

The catalyst for the campaign occurred when Huffman saw a national news report from Arkansas Children's Hospital. The story revealed that cases among children were increasing, with severe infections requiring hospitalization, which wasn't the case with past variants. Meanwhile, the Delta variant was raging, particularly in areas where low vaccination rates existed, including Arkansas.

"My love for the State of Arkansas and its people has stayed with me along every step of my journey," remarks Ted Huffman. "These are the people who raised me and helped shape me into the person I am today. Covid-19's effects on our rural communities increasingly weighed on my heart, and eventually, this unrelenting force pushed me to do something."

Media outlets across Arkansas are donating airtime to broadcast the campaign's touching PSA about a father's journey overcoming vaccine hesitancy. After seeing his children off to school, he hops in his pick-up truck for a drive into town. From the farm to the church to the schoolyard, a moment of realization comes to bear at a crosswalk where a school guard is ushering students safely across the street. Reminded of his own children, his decision is revealed at a local vaccination clinic. "Let's do this," he says, before the spot fades to black with the tagline: "Life. Your Journey. Your Choice."

View "Life. Your Journey. Your Choice" at: https://vimeo.com/684005023

"Our hero's transformation is a journey, one that captures the same journey many of us are on," explains Ted Huffman. "The father's struggle with the decision to vaccinate is real. By welcoming people to experience his journey, hopefully, they find comfort in their own path to get vaccinated."

Going into the concepting phase of the campaign, two things were clear to the Huffmans: the issue of vaccination was becoming increasingly politically polarizing; and the medical realities were not moving the needle enough to overcome vaccine hesitancy in Arkansas.

"We felt that 'talking at people' had already been done, and that there must be a powerful reason why so many people across our nation were electing to not vaccinate," says Ted Huffman.

The Huffmans landed on a message they felt would resonate, leaning on two pillars: tradition and culture. "We kept falling back on our own upbringing in rural America," says Cheryl Huffman. "From our early days, tradition and culture have consistently united and guided our communities to higher ground."

They challenged DEFINITION 6 to create a PSA campaign that embraced these pillars through a visually-driven story with minimal dialogue.

"Ultimately, this campaign is a reflection and celebration of the people of Arkansas," says Ted Huffman. "Arkansans are giving, service-oriented, no-nonsense, smart, and loving people. Our mission was to reach out and connect with as many folks as possible, hoping that some would at least think about vaccination as a personal choice that's connected to values we hold close: family and community. We are eternally grateful to the Arkansas media outlets that have supported the campaign by donating airtime."

TV and radio stations in Arkansas wishing to air the PSA can download media assets here . Media in rural communities outside of Arkansas can download assets here .

About The GreenShoots Foundation

Founded in 2021 by Ted and Cheryl Huffman, The GreenShoots Foundation is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to uplifting people across the social fabric of America. An agricultural term describing the moment when a plant first breaks ground, the GreenShoots name symbolizes the renewal that springs forth after a period of winter, drought, or darkness.

www.thegreenshootsfoundation.org

SOURCE The GreenShoots Foundation
Colleges Named in Seven "Best Value" Categories Including Overall, Financial Aid, Career Placement, and Alumni Network

UCBerkeley #1 Best Value Public College Overall

Princeton #1 Best Value Private College Overall

NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Princeton Review today reported its list of Best Value Colleges for 2022. This annual project names the public and private colleges that have earned the education services company's highest ROI (Return on Investment) ratinga score the company tallies using more than 40 data points.

The Princeton Review chose 209 schoolsnine of which are tuition-free for its 2022 list based on its survey of more than 650 institutions during the 2020-21 school year. To tally the ROI ratings, the company analyzed school-reported data on academics, cost/financial aid, career services, student debt, and graduation rates. Data on the levels of job satisfaction and salary of school alumni also factored into the tallies. The list of the 209 Best Value Colleges is not ranked hierarchically from 1 to 209.

For this project, The Princeton Review reports the top public and the top private schools, in rank order, in seven categories. (A summary showing the categories and #1 schools on the lists follows.)

On the list of Top 50 Public Best Value Colleges overall, the University of CaliforniaBerkeley is #1. On the list of Top 50 Private Best Value Colleges overall, Princeton University is #1. (Note: The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University.)

Both schools also earned these distinctions on the 2021 lists. They offer exceptional academics and career services and generous financial aid. At the University of CaliforniaBerkeley, the average scholarship the university awarded to undergrads with need last year was $21,622, bringing the cost of attendance for those students down to $9,851 from the sticker price of $31,473. At Princeton University, the average scholarship awarded to undergrads with need last year was $61,928, reducing their cost of attendance to $12,262 from the sticker price of $74,190.

The Princeton Review's six other ranked lists for this project name the top 20 public and the top 20 private schools. All the lists are posted at https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-value-colleges where they are accessible for free with site registration.

"The schools we chose as our Best Value Colleges for 2022 are a select group: they comprise only about 7% of the nation's four-year undergraduate institutions," said Rob Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review. "We commend their administrators, faculties, staff, and alumni for all they are doing to educate their students and guide them to success in their careers. These colleges are also exceptional for the generous amount of financial aid they award to students with need and/or for their comparatively low cost of attendance."

Franek added, "When we launched our Best Value Colleges project in 2004, paying for college was a daunting challenge for many students and parents. Our annual College Hopes & Worries Survey, which we debuted in 2003, had revealed deep concerns about college affordability. We have seen those concerns rise every year since. Among the respondents to our 2022 surveymore than 14,100 college applicants and parents of applicants80% told us financial aid will be 'very' or 'extremely' necessary to pay for college, and their biggest worry was 'level of debt' to pay for the degree.' However, 99% of our respondents said they believe college is 'worth it.' We agree. We recommend every one of our Best Value Colleges for 2022 as well worth it."

Best Value Colleges categories and the public and private schools that are #1 on the 2022 lists

Best Value Colleges Overall

#1 Public: University of CaliforniaBerkeley / #1 Private: Princeton University (NJ)

#1 Public: University of CaliforniaBerkeley / #1 Private: (NJ) Best Value Colleges for Financial Aid

#1 Public: University of Virginia / #1 Private: Princeton University (NJ)

#1 Public: / #1 Private: (NJ) Best Value Colleges for Career Placement

#1 Public: Georgia Institute of Technology / #1 Private: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

#1 Public: / #1 Private: Best Value Colleges for Internships

#1 Public: William & Mary (VA) / #1 Private: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (IN)

#1 Public: (VA) / #1 Private: (IN) Best Value Colleges for Alumni Networks

#1 Public: Pennsylvania State University / #1 Private: University of Notre Dame (IN)

#1 Public: / #1 Private: (IN) Best Value Colleges for Making an Impact

#1 Public: State University of New YorkCollege of Environmental Science and Forestry / #1 Private: Pitzer College (CA)

#1 Public: State University of New YorkCollege of Environmental Science and Forestry / #1 Private: (CA) Best Value Colleges for Students with No Demonstrated Need

#1 Public: University of CaliforniaBerkeley / #1 Private: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Compelling Facts About Schools on the Lists

Among the 209 schools on the complete list (73 of which are public, and 136 private):

Nearly half (46%) admit 50% or more of their applicants. The school on the list that had the highest admission rate (95%) in 2021 is the University of Utah .

Among the schools on the Top 50 Public Best Value Colleges overall list:

The average grant to students with need is $13,076 .

. The median starting salary of graduates is $63,108 .

. The mid-career salary of graduates is $109,700 .

Among the schools on the Top 50 Private Best Value Colleges overall list:

The average grant to students with need is $49,854 .

. The median starting salary of graduates is $72,680 .

. The mid-career salary of graduates is $115,248 .

Methodology

The Princeton Review analyzed data from its surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges in 202021 as well as from its surveys of students attending the schools to report its list of 209 Best Value Colleges for 2022. The company also factored in data from PayScale.com surveys of alumni of the schools about their starting and mid-career salaries as well as their job satisfaction. Overall, more than 40 data points were used to tally ROI (Return on Investment) rating scores for the schools. Various data points were also used in the tallies of the project's seven categories of ranked lists. More information on the project methodology, the criteria for the ROI rating, and the basis for each ranking list may be found at https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-value-colleges/methodology.

About The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate schoolbound students achieve their education and career goals through its: online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors; online resources; more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House; and dozens of categories of school rankings. Founded in 1981, The Princeton Review is now in its 41st year. The company's Tutor.com brand, now in its 21st year, is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 21 million one-to-one tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review is headquartered in New York, NY. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com and the company's Media Center. Follow the company on Twitter (@ThePrincetonRev) and Instagram (@theprincetonreview).

NOTE TO EDITORS: Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief, is available for interviews on the Best Value Colleges project as well as on the company surveys of administrators, students, and parents on college topics. Members of the media can access the complete list of Best Value Colleges for 2022 in two formats at https://www.princetonreview.com/press/best-value-colleges/reporter-resources. One is alphabetical by state/city/school name. The other is alphabetical by school name. Each list indicates if the schools are on any of the project's ranking lists, and if so, their ranks on the lists.

SOURCE The Princeton Review
DUBLIN, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Digital Lending Platform Market (2022-2027) by Offerings, Point of Service, Deployment Mode, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Digital Lending Platform Market is estimated to be USD 16.23 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 55.53 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 27.89%.



Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Digital Lending Platform Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals.



As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Black Knight, Inc, Decimal Technologies, Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS), Fiserv, Inc., Juris Technologies Sdn Bhd, Roostify, Inc, etc.



Countries Studied

America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of - Americas)

, , , , , , , , Rest of - Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of - Europe )

( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of - ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA.

and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA. Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Digital Lending Platform Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach.



The analyst analyses Global Digital Lending Platform Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position.



Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.



Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Digital Lending Platform Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Increasing Demand for Automation in The Money Lending Process

4.1.2 Rise in Government Initiatives Toward Adoption of Digital Lending Platform

4.1.3 The Surge in Multichannel Collection Service

4.1.4 Rise in The Need to Reduce Bad Debt and Maintaining an Accurate Borrower Profile

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Higher Dependance on Traditional Lending Methods

4.2.2 High Cost of Maintenance and Investment

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Specialized Applications of AI/ML

4.3.2 Growing Demand for Commercial and Consumer Debt Recovery Services

4.3.3 The Rise in the Use of Analytics-Enabled Collections Models

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Lack of Digital Literacy in Underdeveloped Countries

4.4.2 Network Connectivity and Infrastructural Issues

4.4.3 Data Security and Privacy Concerns due to Increasing Cyber-Attacks

4.4.4 Lack of Real-Time Collaboration Between the Borrower and Collector



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Digital Lending Platform Market, By Offerings

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Software

6.2.1 Digital Lending Platforms

6.2.2 Point Solutions

6.2.2.1 Loan Servicing

6.2.2.2 Loan Organisation

6.2.2.3 Loan/Debt Collection

6.2.2.4 Limit and Collateral Management

6.2.2.5 P2P Lending Software

6.2.2.6 Others

6.3 Service

6.3.1 Consulting

6.3.2 Implementation

6.3.3 Support and Maintenance



7 Global Digital Lending Platform Market, By Point of Service

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Design and Implementation

7.3 Training and Education

7.4 Risk Assessment

7.5 Consulting

7.6 Support and Maintenance



8 Global Digital Lending Platform Market, By Deployment Mode

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Cloud

8.3 On premises



9 Competitive Landscape

9.1 Competitive Quadrant

9.2 Market Share Analysis

9.3 Strategic Initiatives

9.3.1 M&A and Investments

9.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

9.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



10 Company Profiles

10.1 Black Knight, Inc

10.2 Built Technologies, Inc.

10.3 CU Direct Corporation

10.4 Decimal Technologies

10.5 Docutech (First American Financial Corporation)

10.6 Ellie Mae, Inc. (Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.)

10.7 Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS)

10.8 Finantix (InvestCloud Private Banking)

10.9 Finastra (Misys International Limited)

10.10 Fiserv, Inc.

10.11 HiEnd Systems LLC

10.12 ICE Mortgage Technology, Inc.

10.13 Intellect Design Arena Ltd

10.14 Juris Technologies Sdn Bhd

10.15 Mambu

10.16 Newgen Software Technologies Limited

10.17 Nucleus Software Exports Limited.

10.18 Pegasystems Inc.

10.19 Roostify, Inc US

10.20 Rupeepower ind

10.21 Sageworks (Abrigo)

10.22 Sigma Infosolutions Ltd

10.23 Symitar (Jack Henry & Associates, Inc)



11 Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7zik8

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
Development is short distance from $12 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Plant

PHOENIX, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thompson Thrift, a full-service nationally recognized real estate company, announced today the acquisition of a 30-acre parcel near the new $12 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Plant (TSMC) currently under development in northern Phoenix. Thompson Thrift plans to develop a mixed-use project that will feature luxury apartment homes and 35,000 square feet of retail on the site during the next two years.

"TSMC is changing the employment landscape in north Phoenix with their new chip fabrication plant. Thousands of new jobs will be created by TSMC and thousands more are expected in the coming years with companies wanting to work alongside TSMC," said Ashlee Boyd, managing partner for Thompson Thrift Commercial. "Thompson Thrift has a significant history developing mixed-use projects that are integral to growing communities and we are excited to bring an integrated mixed-use project to this very dynamic part of North Phoenix."

Located just off Interstate 17 at the southwest corner Dove Valley and the newly approved 29th Avenue intersection, approved plans call for a 16-acre development featuring luxury apartment homes. The commercial portion of the development will contain approximately 35,000 square feet of retail space set among a series of freestanding and multi-tenanted buildings. Oregano's, a local, family-owned pizza chain, and Twisted Sugar, a gourmet cookie shop, have already committed to the site. Thompson Thrift is in negotiations with various national, regional and local retailers and restaurants for another 20,000 square feet within the project.

"The property is advantageously located along a main growth corridor in the north Phoenix area," said Chris Hake, senior vice president, director of the Southwest region for Thompson Thrift. "We expect leasing interest will continue to be robust for users seeking a high-quality option with unmatched access to the area's growth."

The remainder of the 30-acre parcel will remain as undeveloped space that is part of Skunk Creek Wash natural preserve, which will feature pedestrian amenities and running paths from Dove Valley south to Sonoran Desert Parkway. Thompson Thrift's design plan features seamless pedestrian connection to the preserve's trail as well as complementary community amenities like volleyball courts, green space for yard games and ramadas.

"Our residential, commercial and construction teams will work together this year to secure financing and prepare the site for vertical construction," said Josh Purvis, managing partner for Thompson Thrift Residential. "Having all three parties sitting at the planning table together is beneficial when working with city planners and stakeholders to deliver all components in close proximity."

Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the nation and has experienced double-digit growth in recent years thanks to large companies like TSMC, Amex, USAA, Discover, and Honeywell expanding their presence in the market.

Thompson Thrift is a full-service real estate development company focused on ground-up commercial and multifamily development across the Midwest, Southeast and Southwest. During the past 30+ years, Thompson Thrift has invested more than $3.15 billion into local communities and has become known as a trusted partner committed to developing high-quality, attractive projects.

About Thompson Thrift Real Estate Company

Thompson Thrift is an integrated full-service real estate company with offices in Indianapolis and Terre Haute, Indiana, Houston and Phoenix. Three business units drive Thompson Thrift's successThompson Thrift Residential which is focused on upscale Class A multifamily communities and luxury leased homes, Thompson Thrift Commercial which is focused on ground-up commercial development, and Thompson Thrift Construction, a full-service construction company. Through these business units, Thompson Thrift is engaged in all aspects of acquisition, development, construction, leasing, and management of quality multifamily, mixed-use, retail, industrial and commercial projects across the country. We are passionate about our customer's success and strive to ensure our projects not only meet the needs of our customers but also the communities we serve. For more information, please visit www.thompsonthrift.com

Contact:

Jennifer Franklin

Spotlight Marketing Communications

949.427.1385

[email protected]

SOURCE Thompson Thrift
NEW YORK, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TransPerfect, the world's largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business, today announced that it has been chosen by American Health Plans to streamline its document preparation process for enrollment. The solution consists of the GlobalLink Vasont Inspire CCMS platform and Vasont Inspire's Medical Benefits Starter Kit, which combine to simplify the process of managing and updating documents for plan customers.

American Health Plans, a division of Tennessee-based American Health Partners, owns and manages Medicare Advantage institutional special-needs plans (I-SNPS) in 10 states for seniors who reside in long-term care facilities. Each year, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires all Medicare Advantage providers to publish their plan documents before October 1. As American Health Plans continues to expand its membership into different states, it needed to scale its process for preparing mandatory documents (SBCs, EOCs, and ANOCs) in English and in other languages. American Health Plans required a solution that improved information consistency while minimizing unneeded changes.

Using GlobalLink Vasont Inspire, a component content management system (CCMS), American Health Plans will be able to provide its members clear and accurate plan booklets while meeting government-required deadlines through greater efficiency in preparing and translating plan documents.

GlobalLink Vasont Inspire is part of TransPerfect's GlobalLink CCMS technology group, a division focused on facilitating automated document publication in English and other languages. With this new solution in place, American Health Plans can make changes in one place that propagate across all plan documents, increasing their capabilities to serve members from diverse populations and across multiple languages without increasing the effort to prepare content.

Robin Bradley, Chief Operating Officer at American Health Plans, said, "TransPerfect is working with us to improve our process for document preparation, ensuring that all our content is up-to-date, accessible in multiple languages, and compliant with government regulations. These solutions allow us to focus less time on document preparation so we can invest more resources in providing the best possible healthcare and services for our clients to maintain their optimum health and wellness."

TransPerfect President and CEO Phil Shawe commented, "TransPerfect is proud to provide technology that helps American Health Plans better serve seniors and others seeking affordable healthcare."

About GlobalLink CCMS

TransPerfect's GlobalLink CCMS business unit provides the world's best digital foundations for helping companies comply with regulations while delivering superior customer experiences with personalized content at scale. Health-related organizations large and smallfrom Bayer, Merck, and GE Healthcare to NeuroPace, LifeScan, and BioTekrely on GlobalLink CCMS solutions. As one of those solutions, GlobalLink Vasont Inspire reduces costs in content production by 63% and production timelines by 59%. GlobalLink CCMS solutions have received numerous awards, including several appearances on the EContent 100 list of "best and brightest digital content companies." For more information, visit www.GlobalLinkCCMS.com.

About TransPerfect

TransPerfect is the world's largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business. From offices in over 100 cities on six continents, TransPerfect offers a full range of services in 170+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 6,000 global organizations employ TransPerfect's GlobalLink technology to simplify management of multilingual content. With an unparalleled commitment to quality and client service, TransPerfect is fully ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 certified. TransPerfect has global headquarters in New York, with regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit our website at www.transperfect.com.

About American Health Plans

American Health Plans, a division of Franklin, Tennessee-based American Health Partners is a leader in the provider-owned Medicare Advantage industry. Through Institutional Special Needs Plans (ISNPs) and Institutional-Equivalent Special Needs Plans (IESNPs), American Health Plans equips senior living providers with a business model that can reduce financial risk by improving clinical outcomes across all levels of care. This division currently has co-ownership and partnership agreements with long-term care providers in Georgia, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Utah, Texas and Tennessee and Idaho. For more information, visit AmHealthPlans.com or call (800) 766-9404.

SOURCE TransPerfect
15% Growth in Total Revenues to $1.2 Billion

27% Growth in Professional Service Revenues to $194 million

Net Income per Diluted Share of $2.21 and Adjusted Net Income per Diluted Share $2.55

DUBLIN, Calif., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TriNet Group, Inc. (NYSE: TNET), a leading provider of comprehensive human resources solutions for small and medium-size businesses, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022. The first quarter highlights below include non-GAAP financial measures which are reconciled later in this release.

First quarter highlights include:

Total revenues increased 15% to $1.2 billion as compared to the same period last year.

Professional service revenues increased 27% to $194 million as compared to the same period last year.

Net income was $146 million , or $2.21 per diluted share, compared to net income of $101 million , or $1.51 per diluted share, in the same period last year.

Adjusted Net Income was $168 million , or $2.55 per diluted share, compared to Adjusted Net Income of $111 million , or $1.66 per diluted share, in the same period last year.

Adjusted EBITDA was $242 million , compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $163 million , in the same period last year.

Closed acquisition of Zenefits in February 2022 .

Returned $316 million to shareholders through tender offer.

Finished the First Quarter with over 601,000 Users across our PEO and HCM products.

Average PEO WSEs increased 7% as compared to the same period last year, to approximately 343,000.

Average HCM Users for the period following our acquisition of Zenefits was approximately 253,000.

At March 31, 2022, TriNet had cash and cash equivalents of $235 million and total debt of $495 million .

"TriNet successfully executed several strategic initiatives during the first quarter, which have positioned us for a strong 2022 and beyond," said Burton M. Goldfield, TriNet's President and CEO. "Our dynamic customer base continued to grow, add employees, and drive our first quarter revenue growth. Through our acquisition of Zenefits, we diversified and elevated our SMB product offering and positioned the company for a digital transformation. Finally, we returned capital to shareholders through a $316 million tender offer optimizing our balance sheet in the process."

Mr. Goldfield added, "We strive to act in the best interests of all of our stakeholders. We are committed to helping our customers navigate the many HR complexities they are facing. Through the acquisition of Zenefits, we are expanding our product offering, serving our customers throughout their business lifecycle, all while continuing to deliver strong financial performance."

Second Quarter and Full-Year 2022 Guidance

In addition to announcing our first quarter 2022 results, we provide our second quarter and full-year 2022 guidance. Non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled later in this release. Percentages reflect the increase or (decrease) from the prior year quarter and prior year end.





Q2 2022

Full Year 2022



Low

High

Low

High Total Revenues

8%

9%

7%

9% Professional Service Revenues

14%

15%

15%

18% Insurance Cost Ratio

88.5%

87.5%

89.0%

88.0% Diluted net income per share of common stock

$ 0.69

$ 0.80

$ 3.28

$ 3.91 Adjusted Net Income per share - diluted

$ 1.10

$ 1.21

$ 4.70

$ 5.35

Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q

We anticipate filing our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q ("Form 10-Q") for the three months ended March 31, 2022 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and making it available at http://www.trinet.com today, April 26, 2022. This press release should be read in conjunction with the Form 10-Q and the related Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contained in the Form 10-Q.

Earnings Conference Call and Audio Webcast

TriNet will host a conference call at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) today to discuss its first quarter results for 2022 and provide second quarter and full-year financial guidance for 2022. TriNet encourages participants to pre-register for the conference call. Callers who pre-register will be given a unique PIN to gain immediate access to the call and bypass the live operator. To pre-register, go to: https://dpregister.com/sreg/10165328/f237e25d40. For those who would like to join the call but have not pre-registered, they can do so by dialing +1 (412) 317-5426 and requesting the "TriNet Conference Call." The live webcast of the conference call can be accessed on the Investor Relations section of TriNet's website at http://investor.trinet.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on this website for approximately one year. A telephonic replay will be available for two weeks following the conference call at +1 (412) 317-0088 conference ID: 3514623.

About TriNet

TriNet provides small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) with full-service HR solutions tailored by industry. To free SMBs from HR complexities, TriNet offers access to human capital expertise, benefits, risk mitigation and compliance, payroll, all enabled by industry leading technology capabilities. TriNet's suite of products also includes services and software-based solutions to help streamline workflows by connecting HR, Benefits, Employee Engagement, Payroll and Time & Attendance. From Main Street to Wall Street, TriNet empowers SMBs to focus on what matters mostgrowing their business and enabling their people. TriNet, incredible starts here. For more information, visit TriNet.com or follow us on Twitter.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to TriNet's financial results as determined in accordance with GAAP are included at the end of this press release following the accompanying financial data. For a description of these non-GAAP financial measures, including the reasons management uses each measure, please see the section titled "Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains, and statements made during the above referenced conference call will contain, statements that are not historical in nature, are predictive in nature, or that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions or otherwise contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, among other things, TriNet's expectations and assumptions regarding: TriNet's financial guidance for the second quarter and full-year 2021 and the underlying assumptions, and the extent, length and growth impact of economic reopening efforts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of words such as, but not limited to, "ability," "anticipate," "believe," "can," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "guidance," "impact," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "seek," "should," "strategy," "target," "value," "will," "would" and similar expressions or variations. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, TriNet's guidance and expectations regarding future financial performance, the potential impact of the strategic initiatives executed by TriNet during the first quarter, TriNet's expectations regarding client hiring rates, the financial impact of our tender offer, and the impact of our newly expanded product offerings on future growth in TriNet's installed base. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, but are based on management's expectations as of the date hereof and assumptions that are inherently subject to uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from our current expectations and any past or future results, performance or achievements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements include: the economic, health and business disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our clients and prospects, insurance costs and operations; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the laws and regulations that impact our industry and clients; our ability to manage unexpected changes in workers' compensation and health insurance claims and costs by worksite employees; our ability to mitigate the business risks we face as a co-employer; the effects of volatility in the financial and economic environment on the businesses that make up our client base and the concentration of our clients in certain geographies and industries; loss of clients for reasons beyond our control; the short-term contracts we typically use with our clients; the impact of regional or industry-specific economic an health factors on our operations; the impact of failures or limitations in the business systems we rely upon; the impact of our 2020 Recovery Credit program and 2021 Credit Program; adverse changes in our insurance coverage or our relationships with key insurance carriers; our ability to improve our services and technology to satisfy regulatory requirements and meet the expectations of our clients and manage client attrition; our ability to effectively integrate businesses we have acquired or may acquire in the future; our ability to effectively manage and improve our operational processes; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; the effects of increased competition and our ability to compete effectively; the impact on our business of cyber-attacks and security breaches; our ability to secure our information technology infrastructure and our confidential, sensitive and personal information; our ability to comply with constantly evolving data privacy and security laws; our ability to manage changes in, uncertainty regarding, or adverse application of the complex laws and regulations that govern our business; changing laws and regulations governing health insurance and employee benefits; our ability to be recognized as an employer of worksite employees under federal and state regulations; changes in the laws and regulations that govern what it means to be an employer, employee or independent contractor; our ability to comply with the laws and regulations that govern PEOs and other similar industries; the outcome of existing and future legal and tax proceedings; fluctuation in our results of operation and stock price due to factors outside of our control, such as the volume and severity of our workers' compensation and health insurance claims and the amount and timing of our insurance costs, operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements; our ability to comply with the restrictions of our credit facility and meet our debt obligations; and the impact of concentrated ownership in our stock. Any of these factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from our anticipated results.

Further information on risks that could affect TriNet's results is included in our filings with the SEC, including under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and elsewhere in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, which are available on our investor relations website at http://investor.trinet.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov . Copies of these filings are also available by contacting TriNet Corporation's Investor Relations Department at (510) 875-7201. Except as required by law, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements in this press release, and any forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. In addition, we do not assume any obligation, and do not intend, to update any of our forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Key Financial and Operating Metrics

We regularly review certain key financial and operating metrics to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance and make strategic decisions. These key financial and operating metrics may change over time. Our key financial and operating metrics for the periods presented were as follows:



Three Months Ended March 31, (in millions, except per share and Operating Metrics data) 2022

2021

% Change Income Statement Data:











Total revenues $ 1,218

$ 1,060

15 % Operating income 204

138

48

Net income 146

101

45

Diluted net income per share of common stock 2.21

1.51

46

Non-GAAP measures (1):











Adjusted EBITDA 242

163

48

Adjusted Net income 168

111

51

Operating Metrics:











Insurance Cost Ratio 80%

83%

(3) % Average WSEs 343,245

321,295

7

Total WSEs at period end 348,349

326,216

7

Average HCM Users (2) 253,766

N/A

N/A

(1) Refer to Non-GAAP measures definitions and reconciliations from GAAP measures under the heading "Non-GAAP Financial Measures".

(2) From February 15, 2022, the date on which we acquired Zenefits, to the end of the period.

(in millions) March 31,

2022

December 31,

2021

%

Change

Balance Sheet Data:











Working capital $ 305

700

(56) % Total assets 3,204

3,309

(3)

Debt 495

495



Total stockholders' equity 695

881

(21)







Three Months Ended March 31, (in millions) 2022

2021

% Change Cash Flow Data:











Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities $ 214

$ (175)

(222) % Net cash used in investing activities (213)

(3)

7,000

Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities (353)

56

(730)

Non-GAAP measure (1):











Corporate Operating Cash Flows 193

131

47

(1) Refer to Non-GAAP measures definitions and reconciliations from GAAP measures under the heading "Non-GAAP Financial Measures".



TRINET GROUP, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (Unaudited)

Three Months Ended March 31, (in millions except per share data) 2022 2021 Professional service revenues $ 194 $ 153 Insurance service revenues 1,024 907 Total revenues 1,218 1,060 Insurance costs 823 751 Cost of providing services 70 64 Sales and marketing 45 46 General and administrative 47 36 Systems development and programming 16 13 Depreciation and amortization of intangible assets 13 12 Total costs and operating expenses 1,014 922 Operating income 204 138 Other income (expense):



Interest expense, bank fees and other (5) (5) Interest income 1 2 Income before provision for income taxes 200 135 Income taxes 54 34 Net income $ 146 $ 101 Other comprehensive loss, net of income taxes (8) (1) Comprehensive income $ 138 $ 100 Net income per share:



Basic $ 2.23 $ 1.53 Diluted $ 2.21 $ 1.51 Weighted average shares:



Basic 65 66 Diluted 66 67

TRINET GROUP, INC. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) (In millions) March 31, 2022

December 31, 2021 Assets





Current assets:





Cash and cash equivalents $ 235

$ 612 Investments 154

135 Restricted cash, cash equivalents and investments 1,216

1,195 Accounts receivable, net 10

15 Unbilled revenue, net 317

324 Prepaid expenses, net 55

67 Other current assets 106

91 Total current assets 2,093

2,439 Restricted cash, cash equivalents and investments, noncurrent 163

166 Investments, noncurrent 165

168 Property, equipment and software, net 82

79 Operating lease right-of-use asset 48

42 Goodwill 433

294 Other intangible assets, net 100

6 Other assets 120

115 Total assets $ 3,204

$ 3,309 Liabilities and stockholders' equity





Current liabilities:





Accounts payable and other current liabilities $ 118

$ 86 Client deposits and other client liabilities 124

97 Accrued wages 561

369 Accrued health insurance costs, net 166

174 Accrued workers' compensation costs, net 48

55 Payroll tax liabilities and other payroll withholdings 739

929 Operating lease liabilities 15

11 Insurance premiums and other payables 17

18 Total current liabilities 1,788

1,739 Long-term debt, noncurrent 495

495 Accrued workers' compensation costs, noncurrent, net 143

135 Deferred taxes 26

11 Operating lease liabilities, noncurrent 48

41 Other non-current liabilities 9

7 Total liabilities 2,509

2,428 Stockholders' equity:





Preferred stock 

 Common stock and additional paid-in capital 837

808 Retained earnings (Accumulated deficit) (133)

74 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (9)

(1) Total stockholders' equity 695

881 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 3,204

$ 3,309

TRINET GROUP, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

Three Months Ended March 31, (in millions) 2022 2021 Operating activities



Net income $ 146 $ 101 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:



Depreciation and amortization 21 19 Stock based compensation 12 11 Amortization of ROU asset, lease modification and impairment 3 3 Deferred income taxes 2  Other 2 2 Changes in operating assets and liabilities:



Accounts receivable, net 8 13 Unbilled revenue, net 7 (94) Other assets and prepaid expenses, net (11) (19) Accounts payable and other liabilities 10 29 Client deposits and other client liabilities 28 17 Accrued wages 188 179 Accrued health insurance costs, net (8) (7) Accrued workers' compensation costs, net 1  Payroll taxes payable and other payroll withholdings (191) (426) Operating lease liabilities (4) (3) Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 214 (175) Investing activities



Purchases of marketable securities (91) (82) Proceeds from sale and maturity of marketable securities 72 84 Purchases of property and equipment (11) (5) Acquisition of Zenefits, net of cash acquired (183)  Net cash used in investing activities (213) (3) Financing activities



Repurchase of common stock (350) (60) Awards effectively repurchased for required employee withholding taxes (3) (5) Payment of long-term financing fees  (9) Proceeds from issuance of 2029 Notes  500 Repayment of debt  (370) Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities (353) 56 Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents, unrestricted and restricted (352) (122) Cash and cash equivalents, unrestricted and restricted:



Beginning of period 1,738 1,643 End of period $ 1,386 $ 1,521





Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information



Interest paid $ 9 $ 2 Income taxes (refund) paid, net $ (12) $ 2

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to the selected financial measures presented in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), we monitor other non-GAAP financial measures that we use to manage our business, to make planning decisions, to allocate resources and to use as performance measures in our executive compensation plan. These key financial measures provide an additional view of our operational performance over the long term and provide information that we use to maintain and grow our business.

The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is used to enhance the understanding of certain aspects of our financial performance. It is not meant to be considered in isolation from, superior to, or as a substitute for the directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Non-GAAP Measure Definition How We Use The Measure Adjusted EBITDA  Net income, excluding the effects of: - income tax provision, - interest expense, bank fees and other, - depreciation, - amortization of intangible assets, - stock based compensation expense, and - transaction and integration costs.  Provides period-to-period comparisons on a consistent basis and an understanding as to how our management evaluates the effectiveness of our business strategies by excluding certain non-recurring costs, such as transaction and integration costs, and non-cash charges, such as depreciation and amortization, and stock-based compensation recognized based on the estimated fair values. We believe these charges are either not directly resulting from our core operations or not indicative of our ongoing operations.  Enhances comparisons to prior periods and, accordingly, facilitates the development of future projections and earnings growth prospects.  Provides a measure, among others, used in the determination of incentive compensation for management.  We also sometimes refer to Adjusted EBITDA margin, which is the ratio of Adjusted EBITDA to total revenues. Adjusted Net Income  Net income, excluding the effects of: - effective income tax rate (1), - stock based compensation, - amortization of other intangible assets, net, - non-cash interest expense (2), - transaction and integration costs, and - the income tax effect (at our effective tax rate (1) of these pre-tax adjustments.  Provides information to our stockholders and board of directors to understand how our management evaluates our business, to monitor and evaluate our operating results, and analyze profitability of our ongoing operations and trends on a consistent basis by excluding certain non-recurring costs and non-cash charges. Corporate Operating Cash Flows  Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, excluding the effects of: - Assets associated with WSEs (accounts receivable, unbilled revenue, prepaid expenses and other current assets) and - Liabilities associated with WSEs (client deposits and other client liabilities, accrued wages, payroll tax liabilities and other payroll withholdings, accrued health benefit costs, accrued workers' compensation costs, insurance premiums and other payables, and other current liabilities).  Provides information that our stockholders and management can use to evaluate our cash flows from operations independent of the current assets and liabilities associated with our WSEs.  Enhances comparisons to prior periods and, accordingly, used as a liquidity measure to manage liquidity between corporate and WSE related activities, and to help determine and plan our cash flow and capital strategies.

(1) Non-GAAP effective tax rate is 25.5% for the first quarters of 2022 and 2021, which excludes the income tax impact from stock-based compensation, changes in uncertain tax positions, and nonrecurring benefits or expenses from federal legislative changes. (2) Non-cash interest expense represents amortization and write-off of our debt issuance costs and loss on a terminated derivative.

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures The table below presents a reconciliation of net income to Adjusted EBITDA:

Three Months Ended

March 31, (in millions) 2022 2021 Net income $ 146 $ 101 Provision for income taxes 54 34 Stock based compensation 12 11 Interest expense, bank fees and other 6 5 Depreciation and amortization of intangible assets  14 12 Transaction and integration costs 10  Adjusted EBITDA $ 242 $ 163 Adjusted EBITDA Margin 19.9% 15.4% (1) Amount includes amortization of cloud computing arrangements included in operating expenses.

The table below presents a reconciliation of net income to Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share - diluted:



Three Months Ended

March 31, (in millions, except per share data) 2022 2021 Net income $ 146 $ 101 Effective income tax rate adjustment 4  Stock based compensation 12 11 Amortization of intangible assets 3 1 Non-cash interest expense  2 Transaction and integration costs 10  Income tax impact of pre-tax adjustments (7) (4) Adjusted Net Income $ 168 $ 111 GAAP weighted average shares of common stock - diluted 66 67 Adjusted Net Income per share - diluted $ 2.55 $ 1.66

The table below presents a reconciliation of net cash provided by (used in) operating activities to Corporate Operating Cash flows:



Three Months Ended March 31, (in millions) 2022 2021 Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities $ 214 $ (175) Less: Change in WSE related other current assets (9) (85) Less: Change in WSE related liabilities 30 (221) Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities - WSE $ 21 $ (306) Net cash provided by operating activities - Corporate $ 193 $ 131

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures for the second quarter and full-year 2022 guidance.

Low and high percentages represent increases (decreases) from the same period in the previous year and excludes transaction and integration cost percentages as there is no comparative amount in the second quarter and full year of 2021, respectively, and no percentages can be provided. Adjusted Net Income excludes transaction and integration costs for 2022.

The table below presents a reconciliation of net income to Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per share - diluted:



Q2 2021

Q2 2022 Guidance

FY 2021

Year 2022 Guidance (in millions, except per share data) Actual

Low High

Actual

Low High Net income $ 91

(52)% (45)%

$ 338

(37)% (25)% Effective income tax rate adjustment (4)

(100) (107)

(10)

(90) (104) Stock based compensation 13

35 35

50

29 29 Amortization of intangible assets 9

(42) (42)

12

48 48 Non-cash interest expense 1

 

3

(65) (65) Income tax impact of pre-tax adjustments (6)

57 57

(17)

92 92 Adjusted Net Income $ 104

(33)% (26)%

$ 376

(19)% (8)% GAAP weighted average shares of

common stock - diluted 67







67





Adjusted Net Income per share - diluted $ 1.56

$ 1.10 $ 1.21

$ 5.64

$ 4.70 $ 5.35

SOURCE TriNet Group, Inc.
When asked what methods marketers use to measure advertising campaign outcomes, almost three-quarters (74%) say market mix modeling, 71% incremental sales lift, 42% multi-touch attribution, 30% last-click attribution and 13% cited other metrics inclusive of return on ad spend, site engagement and brand health tracking. Respondents were able to select multiple options. The full survey findings are available in a report prepared by Brand Innovators and NCS.

DATA CLEAN ROOMS INVESTIGATION ON THE RISE

Data clean rooms, also known as customer data platforms, have received much attention over the past year as companies become more serious about privacy, data and in-housing their applications. Among those CPG marketers surveyed, 59% indicate they evaluated a data clean room at some point over the last two years, with 20% planning to do so in the next 12 months and just 20% indicating they have no plans to do so. The reasons cited by CPG marketer respondents for exploring a clean room include:

More control over data (58%)

Support first-party data strategy (53%)

Ease of aggregating data (49%)

Privacy (45%)

THIRD-PARTY DATA CRITICAL FOR A RANGE OF MARKETING APPLICATIONS

The importance of third-party data is underscored by the range of purposes marketers noted. The top uses cited are customer acquisition (67%), first-party data enrichment (62%), personalization in campaign activations (54%) and outcomes measurement (43%).

AUDIENCE TARGETING IS UBIQUITOUS

The majority of CPG marketers surveyed (96%) use some form of third-party targeting and two-thirds (68%) specifically use purchase-based targets. Among the uses of third-party data, respondents cite that 67% use it for new customer acquisition, 62% for first-party data enrichment, 53% for personalization in campaign activations and 43% for outcomes measurement.

"The pandemic has accelerated and necessitated changes in our industry. This is the very reason we sought to collaborate with Brand Innovators on this CPG specific survey," commented Lance Brothers, chief revenue officer, NCSolutions. "CPG marketers face the eventual demise of cookies, changes to consumer privacy and the pandemic evolution of consumer behavior. This confluence of disruptions makes it critical to have the right campaign performance metrics at your fingertips. At NCS, our core business is to enable CPG brands with the right metrics like ROAS and sales lift, and empower our clients with actionable data and the right insights to be competitive."

OPTIMISM ABOUT 2022, CONNECTED TV AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The outlook for more significant investment in advertising in 2022 vs. 2021 is strong with over half of respondents (55%) expecting their budgets to increase while 18% of respondents expect a decrease in funding. Thirty percent of marketers say their budgets would increase between 1 and 10%, 10% predicted a rise of between 11-to-21% and 14% said their budgets would rise by more than 21%. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed expect their budgets to remain the same.

As for marketing channels which brands plan to increase their media budgets in this year, more than two-thirds (71%) selected connected TV. Other top picks are social media (59%), retailer media networks and searchtied (49%) and mobile (35%). Marketers were able to select as many channels as they wished.

"These types of B2B consumer packaged goods insights are incredibly useful for CPG marketers to provide visibility into how other brands are thinking and acting about advertising effectiveness in today's marketplace. We are thrilled to be releasing these B2B survey results in collaboration with NCSolutions," said David Teicher, chief content officer from Brand Innovators. "A huge thank you goes out to all the survey participants; we appreciate your insights and intelligence as we all shape the future of our industry."

Other findings:

In terms of changes they foresee in their campaigns/media strategies as a result of the active and pending Apple and Google privacy changes, the top responses cite "a greater emphasis on measuring the return on ad spend from campaigns (55%) and moving budget to addressable channels (39%)

49% of marketers feel their demand-side platform needs to optimize the bid price for their programmatic activation, 36% say it's somewhat important and 6% indicate it's unimportant

The NCSolutions team will be presenting high-level findings from this survey at the 2022 Brand Innovators Spring Media Planning Summit in New York on April 26 at 4:00 p.m.

ABOUT THE B2B SURVEY

The b2b focused survey, conducted in Q4 of 2021 by Brand Innovators, Inc. in collaboration with NCS, set out to examine CPG marketers' advertising spending plans and attitudes towards a range of next-generation marketing and advertising effectiveness tools and the various issues impacting their efficiency and the effectiveness of their ad campaigns. There were 69 CPG marketers surveyed. To read more about the findings, you can download the full report .

ABOUT NCS

NCSolutions (NCS) makes advertising work better. Our unrivaled data resources powered by leading providers combine with scientific rigor and leading-edge technology to empower the CPG ecosystem to create and deliver more effective advertising. With NCS's proven approach, brands are achieving continuous optimization everywhere ads appear, through purchase-based audience targeting and sales measurement solutions that have impacted over $25 billion in media spend for our customers. NCS has offices in NYC, Chicago, Tampa, and Cincinnati.

ABOUT BRAND INNOVATORS

The goal of Brand Innovators is to accelerate the digital transformation of the marketing and media industries. Established in 2011, the Brand Innovators community includes over 25,000 senior brand marketers from Fortune 500 and other leading brands from coast-to-coast, making it the largest professional network of its kind. The Brand Innovators Advisory Board and Professional Councils include some of the most innovative brand marketers or change agents in the marketing and media industries today.

SOURCE NCSolutions
- Trusted by 4.5 Million Monthly Users Worldwide -

TOKYO and SINGAPORE, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ubie, Inc., a healthcare AI startup with the mission "To develop a healthcare guide for everyone," has launched in the United States an "AI-powered symptom checker" ( https://ubiehealth.com ) that allows users to enter symptoms and discover related diseases.

Image:

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M107009/202204180106/_prw_PI1fl_e08qVvYw.png

Ubie, founded in Japan in 2017 by a physician and an engineer, is now based in Tokyo and Singapore. The company has seen rapid growth, ranked #1 in the 2021 "LinkedIn Top Startups." (*) Ubie's first product offering, the "AI-powered patient intake," is a service that streamlines the medical interview process for medical institutions. This service is based on a database of approximately 50,000 medical papers from around the world, compiled by more than 50 active physicians. The service, introduced at over 700 medical institutions worldwide, continues to improve the operational efficiency of medical institutions.

Ubie's second offering "AI-powered symptom checker" uses the same database as the AI-powered patient intake service and evolves daily to reflect clinical diagnosis data from physicians worldwide. Its AI selects the most appropriate questions from approximately 3,500 question data types. After users answer around 20 questions about their symptoms, they can discover related diseases and more detailed information. The system supports users' decision-making to access appropriate medical care, such as an optimal medical department to consult. The number of diseases in the service exceeds 1,100, covering a wide range of medical departments. The service is free, without the need for registration through the website.

Ubie is offering the U.S. version as a new service with customized AI algorithms for questions related to symptoms and disease names, taking regional characteristics such as disease trends into account.

Since the company was founded, Ubie has set its sights on overseas expansion and established an office in Singapore in 2020. Now, Ubie has decided to provide a U.S. version of the service after the encouraging results from medical institutions and users in both Japan and Singapore.

Ubie Co-founder and CEO Yoshinori Abe, MD, said: "During my residency at the hospital, I had a patient who had colorectal cancer symptoms that were left untreated for two years. When the patient came to see me, the cancer was already at stage 4 (an advanced stage), and the doctors had no way to help the patient. With today's advanced medical technology in Japan, the survival rate would be about 90% if the patient had visited a medical institution when the patient noticed the abnormality. This experience led me to leave the medical field and founded Ubie. Our goal is to use technology to guide people to appropriate medical care and increase the average life expectancy worldwide. I am confident that Ubie, born of Japan's advanced medical technology, will benefit the health of the American people."

(*) LinkedIn Top Startups Japan 2021

About Ubie

Ubie is a Japanese healthtech startup founded by a medical doctor and an engineer in 2017. Using AI as its core technology, the company develops and provides an AI-powered patient questionnaire that guides patients from symptoms to appropriate medical care, and improves operational efficiency in the medical field. It is promoting the creation of a society in which anyone can access medical care that suits them best.

For more information, please visit: https://company.ubiehealth.com

AI-powered symptom checker: https://ubiehealth.com ( Japanese: https://ubie.app/ )

SOURCE Ubie, Inc.
NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION FUNDS EFFORT TO STRENGTHEN CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT WITH LATINO COMMUNITIES AND CELEBRATE LATINO CULTURE, INCLUDING FAMILY NIGHT SCREENING OF OSCAR-WINNER ENCANTO

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Unidos En La Musica: A Latin American Festival returns to St. Augustine on Saturday, May 7 with a strategic partnership with Castillo de San Marcos National Monument and Fort Matanzas National Monument, thanks to support from the National Park Foundation's Latino Heritage Fund. This new partnership will bridge Latino music-goers to the city's Latino heritage sites dating back over 400 years. Taking place on Saturday, May 7 from 10:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. at Francis Field located at 25 W Castillo Dr, St. Augustine, the festival's highly anticipated Musical lineup will feature Grammy-award winning Salsa Legends Grupo Niche from Colombia, Baba Caiman, Los Ineditos del Vallenato and Fuisha Funk from Mexico.

National Park Foundation is excited to support this event that celebrates the diversity of Latino culture through parks. Tweet this Artist Karen Ceballos created this illustration to celebrate the National Park Foundation Latino Heritage Fund's support to Castillo De San Marcos National Monument and Fort Matanzas National Monument for the Unidos En La Musica festival.

"Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments are proud to join St. Augustine's largest Latino event that brings tens of thousands of Latino families together for the weekend," said Gordie Wilson, superintendent of Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments. "Through the spirit of music and culture, we join Unidos En La Musica to celebrate St. Augustine's rich Latino heritage and community and the role of Latino heritage sites within our national parks in preserving and telling these stories."

As the cultural sponsor of the Unidos En La Musica music festival, Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments will kick off the weekend event with a "Movie Night at the Fort," featuring a special screening of Disney's Oscar-winning animation film Encanto. At the music festival on Saturday, the parks will host activities including an exhibit booth with information on St. Augustine's Spanish heritage, living history volunteers depicting soldiers from the 1700s, Junior Ranger activities for kids of all ages, national park ranger law enforcement and local first responder vehicles and giveaways.

"The National Park Foundation's Latino Heritage Fund program is excited to support this wonderful event that celebrates the diversity of Latino culture through national parks," said Adrena Ifill, director of history and culture at the National Park Foundation. "Latino history is a vibrant part of U.S. history, and the Latino Heritage Fund's mission is to preserve and elevate Latino stories across the National Park System, including sites like Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas national monuments."

As St. Augustine's largest Latino event, Unidos En La Musica will feature live music, dance groups, food and games throughout the day. Guests can enjoy special salsa and bachata workshops led by World Champions Emily and Raul, as well as Romi and Alex from Miami. Over 75 authentic market vendors and 14 Latin food trucks will be on-site to showcase the distinctive style and range of Latin American food, crafts and textiles.

"As founders of Unidos En La Musica: A Latin American Festival it is a great honor to connect St. Augustine's iconic national monuments to our Festival and Heritage," said Erika Weitz, CEO of Latin Community Services 501c3 Nonprofit based in St. Augustine. "When Latino community members think of 'San Agustin,' we picture the sights of Castillo and Fort Matanzas and the sounds of Latino music coming from Francis Field in the summertime. This is a partnership committed to the celebration of Latino culture, past, present and future."

Comunicado de prensa en espanol

ABOUT UNIDOS EN LA MUSICA

A Latin American Festival: In its second year, Unidos En La Musica: A Latin American Festival celebrates Latin American culture through world class music, authentic food, dance, vendors and cultural exhibitions. Our mission is to spread knowledge of true Latino culture, to engage and inspire, to break through language barriers, to unify.

ABOUT CASTILLO DE SAN MARCOS NATIONAL MONUMENT AND FORT MATANZAS NATIONAL MONUMENT

Built by the Spanish in St. Augustine to defend Florida and the Atlantic Trade Route, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument preserves the oldest masonry fortification in the continental United States and interprets more than 450 years of cultural intersections. Fort Matanzas National Monument preserves the fortified watchtower, completed in 1742, which defended the southern approach to the Spanish military settlement of St. Augustine and protects approximately 300 acres of Florida coastal environment.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION

The National Park Foundation works to protect wildlife and park lands, preserve history and culture, educate and engage youth and connect people everywhere to the wonder of parks. We do it in collaboration with the National Park Service, the park partner community and with the generous support of donors, without whom our work would not be possible. Learn more at nationalparks.org.

SOURCE National Park Foundation
With Renogy's contribution, university professors and students build solar powered tree to spark research, conversation and collaboration on renewable energy

STORRS, Conn., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Connecticut (UConn) on Friday hosted the first public unveiling of the STEAM Tree , a solar based sustainability project launched in collaboration with Renogy , a leading commercial provider of renewable energy products. With the application of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM), the STEAM Tree is a solar powered tree designed by a cross-departmental team of students and professors with diverse knowledge and varying sets of skills.

University of Connecticut students learn about Renogy and the STEAM Tree, UConn's first solar panel tree, at the Earth Day celebration. The general public was able to take their first, up-close look at the STEAM Tree on Earth Day.

UConn's solar tree is the first of its kind on a college campus in the United States constructed solely by faculty and students. It is also the only portable solar tree that can be fully disassembled and reassembled, to be placed in various locations on and off campus.

The initiative that began in 2020 is now near completion and will be used as a research and educational tool for the university as well as a place for students and visitors to sit, relax and recharge their electronics. With joint efforts from the departments of engineering, industrial design, biology and sociology, the multidisciplinary UConn team led by Dr. Jasna Jankovic and Prof. Chris Sancomb received grant support from the UConn STEAM Innovation Grant, funded by the School of Fine Arts and the Office of the Vice President, and solar supplies from Renogy.

"The STEAM tree project represents a vast array of opportunities that can pave the way for a brighter future. Collaborative efforts from individuals, education institutions, organizations and companies like Renogy help create new approaches to education, discourse, problem-solving, community development, and more," said Dr. Jasna Jankovic, Assistant Professor at the Materials Science and Engineering Department of UConn. "We're excited to embark on more STEAM initiatives with Renogy to keep bringing diverse ideas, practices, and people together."

Inspired by nature, the team designed a clean energy system that is both artistic and functional: the 12-foot aluminum tree will feature nine large, leaf-shaped solar panels and three curved benches at the tree's base with power outlets. In celebration of Earth Month, UConn students were able to see the solar tree up close for the first time on Earth Day (April 22, 2022) and learn more about the project.

The main purpose of the initiative is to raise general awareness about clean energy sources and encourage social interaction amongst people from different personal and educational backgrounds. The STEAM Tree reflects UConn's commitment to innovation through research collaboration and thoughtful design. Environmental and sustainable projects such as these resonate deeply with Renogy, a company that initially started as an idea by students at Louisiana State University, including founder Yi Li.

"At Renogy, our mission to empower energy independence with DIY-friendly and reliable renewable energy products is always at the forefront of everything we do," said Yi Li, Founder of Renogy. "Our partnership program allows us to further encourage individuals and groups like the team at UConn to accomplish their solar based projects. We're proud to help and be a part of any endeavor and effort that goes into building a more sustainable future."

To learn more about Renogy and the STEAM Tree project, visit https://www.renogy.com/blog/university-of-connecticut-solar-steam-tree .

About Renogy

Renogy is a manufacturer of solar panels, related solar accessories, portable consumer solar products and batteries. Since 2010, we have been on a mission to change the way the world uses energy. We are committed to making a lasting impact on planet earth by removing barriers to sustainable living and energy independence. Our mission is to empower the energy independence of 50 million people with DIY friendly and reliable renewable energy products by the year 2030. As we've developed, innovated and adapted, our mission has remained the same. We are optimistic that humankind can achieve a sustainable future where renewables are at the core of our energy supply.

Learn more about Renogy at https://www.renogy.com/about-us/ .

Media Contact

Kent Ha

Firecracker PR

[email protected]

(888) 317-4687 ext. 708

SOURCE Renogy
VShell 4.7 increases security by restricting uploads by file type. On Windows, take advantage of the new copy trigger feature when adding new file transfer automation tasks

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- VanDyke Software, a developer of multi-platform secure file transfer and secure terminal emulation software, today announced the official release of VShell 4.7 server.

Restricting Upload by File Types Increases VShell Security

The VShell secure file transfer server has a full range of capabilities that enable you to restrict service access using Windows Access Control Lists, "lock down" file system access to specific folders, and limit or deny incoming connections that may post a security risk.

VShell 4.7 expands on these security features by restricting file uploads by file type. "The ability to restrict file upload by file type adds to the admin's choices to increase the security of their server," said Danielle Argiro, Product Manager for VShell. "Its flexible configuration lets you choose the approach that's best suited to your particular environment  specifying which file types you will allow or which file types you will deny."

Trigger Copy Saves Time When Creating New Triggers

A key way to increase admin productivity is with automation. VShell automates tasks with a combination of event trigger conditions, remote command execution, and command-line utilities.VShell triggers let you automate responses to file uploads, downloads, or adding new files to a folder. You can define trigger actions to execute commands, copy or move files, send email, or even transfer files to another SFTP server.

With VShell 4.7 for Windows, you can save time when adding new file transfer automation tasks. Quickly create new triggers using the trigger copy feature in the VShell Control Panel.

New Platforms

Supported platforms now include Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, and MacOS 12 (Monterey).

Updated FIPS Module

The Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 140-2 - Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules (FIPS 140-2) details the United States Government requirements for cryptographic modules. When configured to run in FIPS mode, the VShell SSH2/SFTP server will use only FIPS-approved asymmetric key algorithms, symmetric key block and stream algorithms, message digests, message authentication, and random number generation.

As part of VShell 4.7 for Windows, VShell includes an updated FIPS module for FIPS 140-2 compliance.

VShell 4.7 Includes Technical Support During Evaluation

Fully-functional evaluation copies of VShell 4.7 can be downloaded from the company's website: https://www.vandyke.com. VShell evaluators have full access to VanDyke Software's expert technical support to assist with installation, configuration, and testing during the 60-day VShell evaluation period.

Argiro said, "VShell provides security along with convenience and flexibility for file transfer using SFTP, FTPS, or HTTPS. Plus, our technical support team will be there to help when you need it. VShell lets you offer a wide range of file transfer capabilities to your organization and external partners with confidence."

About VanDyke Software, Inc.

Busy IT professionals depend on VanDyke Software to deliver rock-solid, easy-to-configure software for secure remote access, secure file transfer, terminal emulation, and remote administration. VanDyke Software offers a fully-supported evaluation of its products prior to purchase, providing both evaluators and customers with a higher level of service.

The company's product offerings include the SecureCRT Secure Shell terminal emulator, the SecureFX secure file transfer client, and the VShell secure file transfer server. For more information about VanDyke Software, visit the company's website at www.vandyke.com.

SOURCE VanDyke Software, Inc.
Track record and unique specialty in IP investigations poises company for exponential growth in 2022

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- When CEO, Tamara Rabenold, acquired 100% ownership of Vaudra International in January 2021, it transformed into one of a few women-owned investigation firms. A Fortune 100 client encouraged her to consider pursuing certification as a woman-owned business enterprise through the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the preferred certification of more than 1,000 corporations with supplier diversity initiatives. After investigating further, in July 2021, Rabenold decided to pursue two certifications, the WBENC-Certified Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) and Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) from the Small Business Administration.

In celebration of World Intellectual Property Day, April 26th, Vaudra International announces achieving recognition as a WBENC-Certified WBE and SBA-Certified WOSB. According to Rabenold, she was unaware of the WBENC network prior to her client's comments and encouragement. "Upon receiving official notice of our certification approvals earlier this month," said Rabenold, "that client was the first call I made outside of our company to share the positive news."

Under Rabenold's leadership in 2021, Vaudra realized the addition of 50 new clients representing a 163% increase over 2020. First quarter of 2022 is tracking at an even faster rate of new client engagement and reach. This growth has expanded her investigative team and global footprint, with international brands, corporate clients and law firms spanning the United States and Europe. From an investigative perspective, last year, over 80% of Vaudra's cases involved subjects of interest in any one of 40 states within the U.S., while international investigations spanned five continents, from China, India and Vietnam to the UK, UAE, and Latin America.

"Gaining the certifications is meaningless unless our company has the experience and bandwidth to manage Fortune accounts and large scopes of work," stated Rabenold. "These third-party certifications reinforce that we have built a sustainably strong and thriving company worthy of being a preferred supplier in our specialty."

According to the NAICS database, over 10,000 entities are classified in Investigation Services. Of the 90 WBENC-Certified WBE firms within this classification, Vaudra is the only firm strictly specializing in Intellectual Property (IP) investigations and brand protection services.

Rabenold's active engagement in the industry has been key to the company's growth over the past decade, long before acquiring full ownership and certifications. She currently serves on the International Trademark Association's (INTA) Anti-Counterfeiting Committee, the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association's (AASA) IP Committee and was appointed to the North Carolina Private Protective Service Board (PPSB) by the state's Governor in 2019. Her expertise will be leveraged in September of this year for CLE credits with the Carolina Patent, Trademark, & Copyright Law Association (CPTCLA) at the Association's Fall seminar in Kiawah Island, SC.

To learn more, visit www.vaudra.com.

About Vaudra International

Established in 2003, Vaudra International offers intellectual property investigations and brand protection solutions globally. A resource for creative, effective investigative strategies, the company seeks to add value with every case to support their clients' objectives. Services encompass all facets of IP protection and investigative support including anonymous acquisitions, counterfeit seller and supplier identification, ecommerce and social media enforcement, importer research, patent, third-party infringement and trademark use investigations, U.S. Customs recordation filings and evidential purchases. Clients range from entrepreneurs and boutique law firms to Big Law and Fortune 500 companies.

Photos:

https://www.prlog.org/12914524

Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE Vaudra International
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vectrus, Inc., (NYSE: VEC) will report its financial results for the First quarter ended April 1, 2022 on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, after market close. Senior management will conduct a conference call at 4:30 p.m. ET that same day.

U.S.-based participants may dial in to the conference call at 844-825-9789, while international participants may dial 412-317-5180. A live webcast of the conference call as well as an accompanying slide presentation will be available on the Vectrus Investor Relations website at http://investors.vectrus.com.

A replay of the conference call will be posted on the Vectrus website shortly after completion of the call and will be available for one year. A telephonic replay will also be available through May 24, 2022, at 844-512-2921 (domestic) or 412-317-6671 (international) with passcode 10166668.

About Vectrus

For more than 70 years, Vectrus has provided critical mission support for our customers' toughest operational challenges. As a high-performing organization with exceptional talent, deep domain knowledge, a history of long-term customer relationships, and groundbreaking technical expertise, we deliver innovative, mission-matched solutions for our military and government customers worldwide. Whether it's base operations support, supply chain and logistics, IT mission support, engineering and digital integration, security, or maintenance, repair and overhaul, our customers count on us for on-target solutions that increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve readiness, and strengthen national security. Vectrus is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., and includes about 8,100 employees spanning 205 locations in 28 countries. In 2021, Vectrus generated sales of $1.8 billion. For more information, visit the company's website at www.vectrus.com or connect with Vectrus on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Contact Information

Mike Smith, CFA

[email protected]

(719) 637-5773

SOURCE Vectrus, Inc.
NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Volta Inc. (NYSE: VLTA) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

Class Period: August 2, 2021 to March 28, 2022

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: May 31, 2022

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in VLTA:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/volta-inc-loss-submission-form?id=26300&from=4

Volta Inc. NEWS - VLTA NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that Volta Inc. made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Volta had improperly accounted for restricted stock units issued in connection with the business combination of Volta Industries, Inc. ("Legacy Volta") and Tortoise Acquisition Corp. II; (2) as a result, the Company had understated its net loss for third quarter 2021; (3) there were material weaknesses in the Company's internal control over financial reporting that resulted in a material error; (4) as a result of the foregoing, the Company would restate its financial statements; (5) as a result of the foregoing, Legacy Volta's founders would imminently exit the Company; (6) as a result, the Company's financial results would be adversely impacted; and (7) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Volta you have until May 31, 2022 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Volta securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the VLTA lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/volta-inc-loss-submission-form?id=26300&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

Empire State Building

350 Fifth Avenue

59th Floor

New York, NY 10118

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
The twenty-second annual Washington Trust Peanut Butter Drive was held to benefit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank and local food pantries across Rhode Island, Massachusetts and southeastern Connecticut. Since launching the drive in 2001, Washington Trust has collected more than 156 tons of peanut butter. That's enough to make almost 5 million peanut butter sandwiches!

"During the pandemic, our communities experienced the highest levels of food insecurity recorded in the past 20 years, so the need to support hunger relief programs is more important than ever," said Edward O. "Ned" Handy III, Washington Trust Chairman & CEO. "We're pleased with the success of this year's peanut butter drive and our ability to provide emergency food assistance to local pantries and the families they serve," adds Handy, who is also the President of the Board of Directors for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

The annual peanut butter drive kicked off during an employee appreciation event where employees generously donated thousands of dollars. The Washington Trust Charitable Foundation offered a match to employee fundraising efforts, and then the drive was opened to the public, inviting customers and community members to contribute jars of peanut butter and funds to the effort.

Several local businesses and community organizations also made donations and held peanut butter drives of their own, including ServiceMaster by Mason in Westerly, RI; South Shore Village in South Kingstown, RI, Tecta America New England in Billerica, MA; Nuts 'n More in East Providence, RI; and McQuade's Marketplace locations in Westerly, RI and Mystic, CT.

ABOUT WASHINGTON TRUST

Founded in 1800, Washington Trust is the oldest community bank in the nation and one of the Northeast's premier financial services companies. Washington Trust offers a full range of financial services, including commercial banking, mortgage banking, personal banking and wealth management and trust services through its offices located in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Washington Trust Company is a subsidiary of Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc., (NASDAQ: WASH). Additional information on Washington Trust and its subsidiaries can be found at https://www.washtrust.com/.

SOURCE The Washington Trust Company
With Fund II, Waypoint Expands its Access to High-Quality Multifamily Investments

BOCA RATON, Fla., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Waypoint Residential has announced that its subsidiary's closed-end commingled Fund II has raised over $50 million in equity, representing one-fourth of the targeted raise, within 60 days of its launch. Fund II follows quickly behind the closing of Fund I with $103 million in equity and marked the end of a highly active 2021 for Waypoint that totaled $1.94 billion in investment activity across the U.S.

"The depth of our investment activity amidst continued economic fluctuations is reflective of the strength of our team, as well as our compelling development and funding plan," said Scott Lawlor, CEO of Waypoint and the Waypoint General Partner. "This activity also demonstrates the tremendous potential of ground-up developments in strong growth-markets, especially in Florida and key markets throughout the Sunbelt, such as Phoenix, Dallas and the Carolinas.

Fund II is seeking to raise $200 million in total equity, and will be used to continue to focus on development in the Sunbelt. Waypoint has designed this funding round to appeal to both mid-sized institutional and private investors that have historically had limited opportunities to invest in a diversified pool of high-quality apartments development. Waypoint intends to begin making investments utilizing Fund II equity before the end of April.

About Waypoint Residential

Waypoint Residential is a vertically-integrated and specialized developer, owner and operator of Class A market-rate multifamily communities, focused on high-growth markets in the Sunbelt region of the United States. Waypoint was established in 2011 by Scott Lawlor, Founder and CEO, to acquire, develop and operate multifamily communities that offer value to residents and compelling risk-adjusted returns to its investors. Waypoint is headquartered in Boca Raton, FL with regional offices in Atlanta and Dallas. Since its founding, Waypoint has developed, acquired and operated over 31,000 housing units across more than 130 properties, representing over $5.1 billion of real estate value. Waypoint has managed investments on behalf of a diverse base of more than 2,100 investors, including high-net-worth individuals, family offices and institutions.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "will," "expect," "believe," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "plan" and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. The forward-looking statements are based on the Fund's and Waypoint Residential's beliefs, assumptions and expectations, taking into account all information currently available to them. These beliefs, assumptions and expectations can change as a result of many possible events or factors, not all of which are known to the Fund or Waypoint Residential or are within their control. Certain factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements, including (1) changes in political, economic or industry conditions; (2) the impact of increased competition; (3) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms, including OZ-related; (4) the performance of the Fund's investments; and (5) Waypoint Residential's ability to attract and retain key employees.

The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. For more information regarding these risks and uncertainties as well as additional risks, you should refer to the risks applicable to Fund II as described in the Fund II's Confidential Private Placement Memorandum. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date hereof. Fund II and Waypoint Residential undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events, except as otherwise required by law.

This document is not an offer to sell securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

SOURCE Waypoint Residential
Losco will help lead the portfolio through massive domestic and international growth

DENVER, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- WellBiz Brands Inc., the pre-eminent beauty and wellness franchise platform with nearly 900 franchised locations globally, recently selected Jason Losco as the company's Chief Development Officer. Losco, who is charged with accelerating the next phase of the company's growth, comes to WellBiz Brands with a successful career in franchising. He will be responsible for growing the portfolio domestically and internationally.

The WellBiz Brands portfolio features category leaders including Drybar , Amazing Lash Studio, Radiant Waxing , Elements Massage and Fitness Together.

Prior to joining WellBiz Brands, Losco held roles in finance, franchise sales and franchise ownership. Most recently, Losco served as Executive Vice President of Franchise Development for Xponential Fitness. In this role, he was responsible for secondary market sales, private equity transactions and store closure risk mitigation. With a background as a franchise owner and in franchise sales, Losco brings a unique perspective to the Chief Development Officer role.

"As a former franchise owner, I have passion and respect for what it takes to operate a successful business. I'm absolutely thrilled to be working with the WellBiz Brands team and this portfolio of category leaders," Losco said. "I also believe strongly in the mission of these brands. There's nothing more powerful than helping clients feel empowered and confident. There is an abundance of white space in both beauty and wellness, and WellBiz Brands is perfectly positioned for explosive unit growth."

2021 was a record-breaking year for WellBiz Brands, hitting nearly $500 million in systemwide sales, close to 900 locations and more than 100 franchise agreements signed across all five brands. The company also acquired the franchising rights to Drybar and Radiant Waxing. Within months of acquiring the franchise rights for Drybar, WellBiz Brands signed a franchise agreement with Harrods and opened the brand's first international Drybar location in its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London, England. Drybar services are now available in Knightsbridge and in H beauty locations in Bristol, Edinburgh, Milton Keynes and Lakeside, with more openings to come.

2022 is starting off with great momentum, with 35 franchise groups already signing deals to build nearly 100 new units. As the portfolio heads into another year of strategic expansion, Jeremy Morgan, WellBiz Brands' CEO, shared this about Losco's appointment:

"Jason is an exceptional leader with an impressive track record. Since he's joined WellBiz Brands, we've already seen incredible momentum and interest in multi-unit, multi-brand ownership," Morgan said. "His passion for helping franchisees succeed and his experience as a wellness franchise owner make him a great fit to help drive the growth of our portfolio of concepts in 2022 and beyond."

With a portfolio of beauty and wellness brands, WellBiz Brands offers opportunities to experienced and prospective entrepreneurs that fit their passions and goals. For more information, please visit: WellBizbrands.com.

About WellBiz Brands, Inc.:

WellBiz Brands Inc. is the pre-eminent beauty and wellness franchise platform catering to the needs of the affluent female consumer. The WellBiz Brands' portfolio features category leaders including Drybar, Amazing Lash Studio , Radiant Waxing, Elements Massage and Fitness Together. With an expertise in digital marketing, the company developed a cross-brand digital marketing program that drives effective member acquisition strategies, creating a world-class membership ecosystem. WellBiz One, a proprietary technology platform, enhances studio operations for franchise owners driving member engagement and retention. With in-house expertise in supply chain management, e-commerce and product innovation, WellBiz Brands provides its franchisees with a leading edge in their industries. Backed by a management team with nearly a century of combined leadership experience, WellBiz Brands is the future of customer-centric, membership-based brands. The company has received national recognition on lists such as the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies, Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 and Franchise Times Fast & Serious, among others. For more information, visit WellBizbrands.com.

Media Contact:

Jody Ryan

[email protected]

Senior Director of Communications

602.614.0744

SOURCE WellBiz Brands
DALLAS, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The third annual Global Markets Complexity Index (GMCI) was launched today by Wilson Perumal & Company (WP&C), a premier strategy and operations consultancy. The GMCI 2022 analyzes 100 countries scored across 31 measures of market, operational, and regulatory complexitythe most critical dimensions of complexity confronting businesses as they expand into new countries and strategize their global footprints.

The Global Markets Complexity Index 2022 features the top 10 most and least complex countries across market, operational, and regulatory complexity Explore the complexity of 100 countries across three years of GMCI groupings

The GMCI provides multinational corporations with a groundbreaking framework for assessing complexity across countries and exposing the impact of complexity on geographic expansion and contraction. The analysis also delivers unique country competitiveness insights to governments. For the first time, the 2022 GMCI report and interactive map offer a multi-year comparison of country complexity.

The core of the report consists of 100 countries organizedusing machine learninginto eight GMCI groups. A distinct set of capabilities is required for companies to be successful managing the market, operational, and regulatory complexity profile unique to each GMCI group.

"The last two years have highlighted the fragility of many companies' supply chains," said Stephen Wilson, co-founder and managing partner of WP&C. "Understanding geographic complexity is a critical discipline now for all multinationals, and the GMCI is a tool that executives can use to start investigating opportunities and exposure."

The GMCI 2022 reflects the challenges companies are facing in the aftermath of the global pandemic. Drawing on complexity analysis and lessons learned from multinational corporations, the forthcoming GMCI Guide for Multinationals will offer guidance on right-sizing geographic footprints, how to enter new markets the right way, M&A strategies, and alternatives to geographic expansion.

About Wilson Perumal & Company

Founded in 2009, Wilson Perumal & Company is a leading management consulting firm with depth in strategy and operations and a focus on helping companies compete in a complex world. WP&C is a complexity thought leader, with publications including Waging War on Complexity Costs and Growth in the Ages of Complexity, published by McGraw-Hill. WP&C partners with leading multinational corporations, private equity firms, and governmental entities on their toughest strategic, organizational, and operational challenges to help these organizations develop and execute strategies to thrive in a complex world.

Wilson Perumal & Company Contact

Jeannie Elliott

+1-972-716-3930

[email protected]

www.wilsonperumal.com

SOURCE Wilson Perumal & Company
Leading SaaS provider for service businesses reports explosive year-over-year revenue increase, leading to new investment and launch of innovative suite of financial offerings

HOLMDEL, N.J. , April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- WorkWave , a leading provider of SaaS software solutions that support every stage of a service business's life cycle, powered through the first quarter of 2022 with exponential revenue growth of 195% total year-over-year (YOY), and a dramatic software revenue growth of 181%.

WorkWave started off the year on the heels of an extraordinary growth year in 2021, continuing its acceleration into 2022. Its strong growth was the result of a combination of initiatives, including:

WorkWave, a leading provider of SaaS software solutions that support every stage of a service businesss life cycle, powered through the first quarter of 2022 with continuing exponential revenue growth.

Continuous progress and relentless focus on releasing robust features and easy-to-use solutions, including the launch of TEAM Lite, a solution designed for growth-oriented small cleaning businesses

The impact of a new Chief Revenue Officer and revamping of the sales team in the second half of 2021, resulting in improved sales execution and bookings performance

Further amalgamating its multiple acquisitions from 2021, expanding WorkWave's offerings and market leadership across key service industries

The continued success of its payments-related functionality, which has allowed WorkWave to begin offering its new WorkWave Financial Services instruments

"The success we are now seeing is just the first glimpse into the new level of performance that we will achieve as a result of intense work executed over the past several years," said David F. Giannetto, CEO of WorkWave. "We believe that we have built a new business model indicative of how SaaS software companies will operate in the future, combining the strength of their close, mission-critical software-driven customer relationship with the power of financial solutions, so that their customers can collectively benefit in ways that they could not individually. And we are seeing that our customers value not just this approach, but the strength of our commitment to be the best possible partner to help their business grow and succeed, regardless of their size or objectives."

WorkWave is seeing the results of its strong partnership with customers, with 96% new customer growth since Q1 2021 and a net retention rate of 127%. Q1 also marked the formal release of WorkWave Financial Services , a collection of financial offerings designed specifically to help WorkWave customers grow their business and maximize their money. Within this new offering, WorkWave launched its Business Builder Visa credit card, specifically designed to help small businesses build a strong credit rating in their company's name, positioning them for success for generations to come.

As a further indication of support, in March, Hg, a leading software and services investor, became a significant minority shareholder in WorkWave and IFS, WorkWave's sister company, in a transaction that valued the combined WorkWave/IFS fund at $10b USD. EQT remains the majority shareholder, with Hg, Serent and TA Associates as significant minority shareholders in WorkWave.

"Having the right partners supporting us has been the key to reinventing WorkWave. It has allowed us to embrace a bigger picture where software sits at the center of all we do, with additional software, services and financial solutions allowing our customers to also think bigger about new levels of growth, service and profitability. And we are still just at the beginning of what we are capable of," said Giannetto.

WorkWave has seen 344% employee growth YOY, as it continues to focus on scaling across all departments to support its rapid growth.

About WorkWave



For nearly 40 years, WorkWave has been building best practices into its market-leading field service and last mile software solutions to allow best-in-class companies to grow their business, service their customers and maximize their money. Its solutions empower service-oriented companies to reach their full potential through scalable, cloud-based software solutions that support every stage of a business life cycle, including marketing, sales, service delivery, customer interaction and financial transactions. WorkWave is a trusted partner for thousands of customers across a wide variety of industries, including pest control, lawn care, cleaning, HVAC, plumbing and electrical, and last mile delivery. WorkWave's award-winning culture and solutions have been recognized in the SaaS Awards, the Cloud Awards, the American Business Awards, the NJBIZ Best Places to Work Awards, and the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. For more information, visit workwave.com .

Media Contact

Brittany Boyle

Director of Strategic Communications, WorkWave

Email: [email protected]

Media Contact

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

(865) 977-1973

[email protected]

SOURCE WorkWave
Data suggest Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS) accounts for two-thirds of Chronic Lung Allograft Dysfunction (CLAD) deaths, underscoring need for new treatments to address primary cause of death following lung transplantation

Systematic review of lung transplant data uncovers a substantial increase in lung transplantation in Europe between 2015 and 2019

BOSTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Zambon, a multinational pharmaceutical company focused on innovating cure and care to improve people's health and the quality of patients' lives, is presenting two posters at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) Annual 2022 Meeting taking place April 2730 in Boston, MA.

The first analysis to be presented, titled Survival After Lung Transplantation in Europe - Chronic Lung Allograft Dysfunction (CLAD) as Major Cause of Death, examines CLAD's impact on patient survival rates following lung transplantation, including CLAD phenotype Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS). The presentation will take place on Wednesday, April 27 at 6:15 PM (ET).

The second analysis, titled Trends in Lung Transplantation in Europe 2015 - 2019, Type of Transplant and Organ Source, explores the change in the number of single and double lung transplantations over a five-year period, as well as how sourcing organs from donors after cardiac death impacts transplant volume. The presentation will take place on Friday, April 29 at 5:00 PM (ET).

"At Zambon, we recognize the significant impact that severe respiratory diseases can have on patients, as well as the barriers to long-term survival following lung transplantation. These data provide important insights that help us better understand survival after lung transplantation and underscore the importance of the work we are doing in the ongoing BOSTON studies  and our other programs in severe respiratory diseases  to deliver meaningful treatments to patients whose options are currently limited," said Paola Castellani, CMO and R&D Head at Zambon.

Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS)

Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is the most common form of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) after lung transplantation (also referred to as chronic rejection). In BOS, an uncontrolled immune reaction to the transplanted lung or lungs leads to chronic inflammation of the small airways of the lungs. This causes scarring and narrowing of the airways that continues to worsen over time, limiting an individual's ability to breathe. Up to 50% of lung transplant patients develop BOS within five years post-transplant.1 BOS usually leads to respiratory failure and death within 2 to 4 years after diagnosis.2 There is currently no approved treatment indicated for BOS.3 BOS commonly affects people following lung or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (alloHSCT), although it is also associated with autoimmune diseases and exposure to environmental contaminants.

BOSTON Development Program

The BOSTON development program is evaluating a treatment for BOS, with the goal of reducing the decline in lung function. The BOSTON1 and 2 phase 3 studies are currently enrolling BOS patients following lung transplantation. BOSTON-3 is an open-label extension study for eligible study participants who complete BOSTON1 or 2.

About Zambon S.p.A.

Zambon S.p.A. is a global pharmaceutical company established in 1906 in Vicenza, Italy, and built on the values of an Italian family committed to innovating cure and care to improve patients' lives. With innovative quality products commercialized in 87 countries, Zambon has a global presence with 2,400 employees across Europe, America, and Asia, including production facilities in Italy, Switzerland, China, and Brazil. Alongside its three historical therapeutic areas of focus, which are diseases of the respiratory system, urinary tract infections, and pain management, Zambon is also focused on developing treatments for Parkinson's Disease and Cystic Fibrosis. Additionally, Zambon is currently advancing its clinical development programs of potentially first-in-class treatments for Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis (NCFB) and Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS). If approved by regulatory authorities, the Company intends to launch the NCFB and BOS treatments globally, including in the U.S., which is the latest market entry for Zambon as an organization. In Europe, Zambon also plans to market and distribute, upon regulatory approval, an innovative oral formulation of riluzole for patients suffering with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). For further information, please visit www.zambon.com.

For more information, please contact:



Zambon S.p.A.

Cabiria Reina

Global Pharma Communication

+39 348 0404321

[email protected]

Zambon USA Ltd.

Bonnie Ortega

Corporate Communications, USA

+1 858 245 3983

[email protected]

Zambon USA Media Contact:

Elixir Health Public Relations

Lindsay Rocco

+1 862-596-1304

[email protected]

Zambon Global Media Contact:

FTI Consulting

Ann Bartling/Sam Purewal

+44 20 3727 1000

Weigt, et al. Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2013;34(3):336351. Chambers DC, et al. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2018;37(10):11691183. Verleden GM, et al. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2019; 38(5):493-503.

SOURCE Zambon S.p.A.
Rome, April 26 : The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine is likely to have long-term implications for Europe that go beyond energy supplies, analysts have said.

So far, the conflict's biggest direct economic impact has been on energy prices, particularly in Germany and Italy, Europe's two largest importers of Russian gas, Xinhua news agency reported.

Natural gas futures fell slightly last week, but only after hitting their highest levels in 13 years, according to media reports.

But analysts told Xinhua news agency that Europe will soon be faced with other challenges such as increasing supply chain issues, spiking food prices, environmental policy problems and fresh waves of refugees.

"We could end up with major problems in one of the important supply chains --this could be the automobile sector or something else," Lorenzo Codogno, Founder and Chief Economist of LC Macro Advisors and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, told Xinhua.

"We also have to consider food, wheat and corn," which are traditionally produced by both Russia and Ukraine, he said.

"Gas is not just used for energy generation. It is also used in the production of fertilisers, which are important for agriculture, not just in Europe but across the globe. Everything is connected to everything else." According to Riccardo Puglisi, a professor of public economics at the University of Pavia, the most widespread economic impact stemming from the conflict might be the "uncertainty" it creates.

The conflict is slowing the economic recovery from the problems created by the coronavirus pandemic, Puglisi said.

"There is no single cause here and we don't know how long this will go on and what the medium or long-term effects will be." He said one impact economies are already seeing is an increase in military spending, which he added has already doubled when measured as a percentage of the GDP of European nations to around two per cent. In the coming months, this figure could further increase to 2.5 per cent.

"Governments will be able to find the tax revenue to offset most of the increases in military spending, but the extra spending will not be enough to offset the economic uncertainty countries will face," Puglisi said.

Some environmental groups are worried that a too quick transition away from Russian energy sources could make it difficult to replace those with renewable energy alternatives. The fear is that the quest for alternatives to gas or petroleum could lock countries into long-term contracts that would stifle the expansion of clean energy.

Codogno said while crisis situations often sow divisions between countries, this does not seem to be the case this time around. He noted that if the conflict continues for many months, the situation could become more problematic because of migration.

"If the Ukrainian refugee crisis continues, it would clearly put a lot of stress on facilities like schools and hospitals," he said.

"But if countries agree to share the burden imposed by these migrants, I think it would still be a shock, but a manageable one."

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Beijing, April 26 : China's National Meteorological Center has renewed a blue alert for rainstorms in various parts of the country.

From Monday to Tuesday evening, heavy rains are expected to lash parts of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Guangxi and Guangdong, with some areas experiencing up to 120 millimetres of rainfall, said the National Meteorological Center on Monday.

Some regions are likely to encounter more than 70 millimetres of hourly precipitation, accompanied by thunderstorms, gales and hail, Xinhua news agency reported.

The center has advised local governments to make preparations for the rainstorms. Schools and kindergartens have been asked to take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of children, and drivers have been alerted to watch out for flooding and traffic jams.

China has a four-tier colour-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
United Nations, April 26 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres continues to push for a halt in hostilities in Ukraine even though a Russian UN envoy said a cease-fire is not a good option at the moment, said a UN spokesman.

"We continue to call for a cease-fire or some sort of pause. The Secretary-General did that, as you know, just last week. Clearly, that didn't happen in time for (Orthodox) Easter," said Farhan Haq, Deputy spokesman for Guterres.

"I don't want to give too many details at this stage of the sort of proposals he will have. I think we're coming at a fairly delicate moment. It's important that he is able to talk clearly with the leadership on both sides and see what progress we can make," he told a daily press briefing.

"Ultimately, the end goal is to have a halt to fighting and to have ways to improve the situation of the people in Ukraine, lessen the threat that they're under, and provide humanitarian aid (to) them. So, those are the goals we're trying, and there are certain ways that we'll try to move those forward," he said.

Guterres was on his way to Moscow from Turkey. He will have a working meeting and lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, and will be received by President Vladimir Putin, Xinhua news agency reported.

The UN chief then will travel to Ukraine and have a working meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and will be received by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

Before his trips to Moscow and Kiev, Guterres made a stop-over in Turkey, where he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the Ukraine issue.

Haq said the Secretary-General is making the trips because he thinks there is an opportunity now.

"A lot of diplomacy is about timing, about finding out when is the right time to speak with a person, to travel to a place, to do certain things. And he is going in the anticipation that there is a real opportunity that is now availing itself, and we'll see what we can make of it," he said.

Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's first Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, said on Monday that now is not the time for a cease-fire.

"We don't think that cease-fire is a good option right now. The only advantage it will present is that it will give Ukrainian forces a possibility to regroup and stage more provocations like the one in Bucha," he told reporters.

"It is not up to me to decide, but I do not see any reason in this right now."

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
United Nations, April 26 : An indigenous leader has pressed for UN investigation into alleged genocide by the Canadian government in "residential schools" for indigenous children.

"The Canadian government established what I call 'institutions of assimilation and genocide'. These institutions were designed to kill the Indian and the child by forbidding them to speak their language, which disconnect them from their families and communities," said RoseAnne Archibald, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, an organisation for indigenous rights in Canada, on Monday.

"Some people refer to these institutions as 'residential schools'. I don't call them schools anymore because no school I ever attended had children buried in unmarked graves. Thousands and thousands of our children died in these institutions," she told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York after attending a session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

"I'm calling on the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, along with other special rapporteurs, to conduct full-fledged investigations of the circumstances and responsibilities surrounding these institutions, including full redress, criminal prosecutions and sanctions and other remedies for human rights violations, including genocide," she said.

"Canada must not be allowed to investigate itself. Please help us ensure that something like this never happens again, not just to us, but to anyone," Xinhua news agency reported.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is the federal police organisation, would come into Indian communities and take children forcibly and they would threaten parents with arrest. How can that organisation investigate itself or investigate Canada? It can't, she added.

"Canada's government established those institutions through policies and legislation. How can they possibly be independent and impartial when it shows that they are culpable and guilty of the deaths of our children? So that's why we have to go this international route and why we're asking for it." She said her assembly has written to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and made a formal request for investigation. Her assembly has not heard back yet, she added.

A number of lawyers went to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2021 to ask for investigation into the possible gross human rights violations with respect to those institutions. The lawyers were turned away, she said.

"I believe that we're gonna continue to press on the ICC to also look at this situation in Canada with respect to our children, who went to those institutions and those children who died in those institutions especially." "We are seeking justice and accountability from governments and churches. Canada and the other UN member states must not look away. We invite the world community to stand with First Nations to listen, learn and reflect on this tragedy that is shared by the US and Australia, which also had similar institutions," Archibald added.
Moscow, April 26 : Russia's Defence Ministry has announced a ceasefire near the Azovstal plant in Mariupol for the safe evacuation of civilians.

Russia's armed forces and the formations of the Donetsk People's Republic "from 14:00 Moscow time on April 25 will unilaterally cease all hostilities" to ensure the safe evacuation of the specified category of civilians (workers, women and children), the Ministry said on Monday in a statement.

It added that the civilians will be taken "in any direction they choose," Xinhua news agency reported.

The decision was guided by "purely humanitarian principles," the Ministry said.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Jakarta, April 26 : Three critically-endangered Sumatran tigers have been found dead after being caught in sling snares in a private oil palm plantation in Indonesia's Aceh province, the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency said.

The agency's head Agus Arianto on Monday said the tiger carcasses were found on Sunday by a member of a non-governmental organisation, who thought that the carnivores had died for days, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We strongly condemn this incident. An investigation is underway," Arianto told Xinhua.

A medical team has taken the body parts of the tigers for necropsy, while the police are conducting a field investigation to uncover other factors causing the deaths.
Prayagraj, April 26 : The Allahabad High Court (HC) has dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (CM), Yogi Adityanath may be directed to take the oath of office of the CM again in his real name.

According to the petitioner, different names were being used by the CM like 'Adityanath', 'Yogi Adityanath', etc.

Dismissing the PIL filed by one Namaha of Delhi, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Piyush Agrawal also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner.

The petitioner's plea was that various names of Yogi Adityanath were being used in various forums, including digital, causing confusion among the people at large.

Therefore, the state government must be directed to use only one name of the Chief Minister on digital as well as non-digital forums.

Additional Advocate General (AAG), Manish Goel, appearing for the state government, opposed the plea and argued that the petition is not maintainable as the CM has been made party in his individual capacity in the petition and a PIL cannot be filed against an individual.

In addition to it, the petitioner has not disclosed his credentials as per the HC rules.

The petitioner has also not filed the petition for the benefit of the people at large but only to gain publicity, the AAG argued.
New Delhi, April 26 : After Congress G-23 group has been given prominence in the Congress' 'Chintan Shivir' panel, one of the key party leader Manish Tewari said he is not upset with the party and always believes in pluralistic idea of India as well as looks forward to working together with the party.

Tewari on Tuesday tweeted, "Neither gruntled nor disgruntled. Neither tired nor retired. As people committed to the pluralistic idea of India we look forward to working together. We were neither dissidents but hard nosed realists then & now." Congress has finally given space to 'G-23' leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Manish Tewari, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Mukul Wasnik in the committees formed to devise agenda for the party's Chintan Shivir (brainstorming camp) to be held in Rajasthan in May this year.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a former Haryana Chief Minister, will be heading the committee formed for the farmers, which is going to be the prime focus of the party in the upcoming Assembly elections, while Azad, a former Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, has been appointed a member in the political matters committee.

Former Union Ministers Anand Sharma and Manish Tewari will be members in the committee on economy, and Wasnik will be heading the committee on organisation.

The foremost important committee on political matters will be headed by Mallikarjun Kharge, the economic matters committee by P. Chidambaram, the committee on social justice by Salman Khurshid and that on youth and empowerment by new Punjab Congress Chief, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.

Former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has been given prominence by being appointed a member of the Congress' economic committee.
Kiev, April 26 : Satellite imagery have identified the presence of a third mass grave in the outskirts of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to an investigative report.

The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report said the pictures by Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based Earth imaging company, showed the appearance of a 200-metre-long grave in the village of Staryi Krym, 5 km from the devastated south-eastern city.

The first images taken on March 24 showed three trenches, one of them 60-70 metres long, Ukrayinska Pravda quoted the report as saying.

Then on April 7, the pictures revealed that the trenches became longer, and some parts that were dug earlier were covered up.

Eventually the latest images on Sunday, taken a month after the original image, showed the appearance of new trenches.

The total length of the mass graves is now estimated to reach over 200 metres.

Confirming the presence of the third mass grave, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko alleged that Russian troops "get local residents to help with the burials in exchange for food".

The village of Staryi Krym was captured by the Russian forces on March 10.

On April 21, the the Mariupol City Council announced that upto 9,000 citizens of Mariupol may have been buried in a 300-metre-long mass grave in Manhush, a village occupied by Russian troops and located less than 20 km away from the besieged port city.

Citing satellite images by Maxar Technologies, which collects and publishes satellite imagery of Ukraine, the Council had said that the "size of the mass grave in Manhush is 20 times that of the one in Bucha".

A similar mass grave was recorded by a satellite in the village of Vynogradne near Mariupol.

Earlier this month, Maxar images of the town of Bucha outside Kiev appeared to show bodies of civilians lying in the street nearly two weeks before the Russians left the town as part of a withdrawal from northern Ukraine.

Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk had said that least 300 civilians were killed in the town.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Kiev, April 26 : Weeks after occupying the major Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russian troops have now taken control of the City Council building, according to authorities.

The development was confirmed on Monday by Kherson Mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev and employees of the City Council to Ukrayinska Pravda.

According to the available information, on Monday evening Russian troops occupied the Kherson City Council building and removed the Ukrainian flag from it.

"The Russian military seized the keys to the building from the security guards... They were trying to find out what time the working day usually begins," said the Ukrayinska Pravda report.

"The Mayor and employees were given the chance to go home." The City Council will cease operations from Tuesday onwards, "given that all of its premises are now temporarily controlled by Russian occupation forces", the report added.

On March 15, Russian forces occupied the entire region of Kherson, after the territory's namesake capital city was first captured on March 3.

It was the first major city to fall to the Russian troops.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Seoul, April 26 : South Korea plans to build the country's first "floating airport" in the southern port city of Busan by 2035, the Land Ministry said on Tuesday.

Last year, the National Assembly approved a bill on a mega state project worth some 13.7 trillion won ($10.97 billion) to build the new airport on Gadeok Island, the biggest island of Busan, to handle growing air traffic demand and facilitate prosperity in the country's southeast region, reports Yonhap News Agency.

According to the detailed plan announced by the Ministry on Tuesday, the new facility will be an offshore airport, which is to be built on a floating structure at sea.

It plans to begin drawing a detailed construction plan within this year following an environment survey.

If the process goes without a hitch, the construction is expected to kick off in 2025, and the new airport will be put into operation in June 2035.

A study shows that the envisioned airport would handle some 23.36 million passengers and 286,000 tonnes of cargo in 2065, the Ministry said.

But long-drawn controversies surrounding the project could continue, as critics say the new facility is not economically feasible and would negatively affect the environment in the region.
New Delhi, April 26 : India reported 2,483 fresh Covid cases in the past 24 hours, a marginal decline against previous day's 2,541 infections, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the active caseload of the country has reported a decline at 15,636 cases, accounting for 0.04 per cent of the country's total positive cases.

In the same period, 1,399 Covid deaths were reported. Of the total deaths, 1,347 took place in Assam, said the ministry. With fresh fatalities, the nationwide death toll has mounted to 5,23,622.

The recovery of 1,970 patients in the last 24 hours took the cumulative tally to 4,25,23,311. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.75 per cent.

Also in the same period, a total of 4,49,197 tests were conducted across the country, increasing the overall to 83.54 crore.

While, the weekly positivity rate stood at 0.58 per cent, the daily positivity rate reported a considerable decline at 0.55 per cent.

As of Tuesday morning, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 187.95 crore, achieved via 2,30,89,167 sessions.

Over 2.70 crore adolescents have been administered with a first dose of Covid-19 jab since the beginning of vaccination drive for this age bracket.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, April 26 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday junked a plea seeking the setting up of a judicial inquiry commission, headed by a former Chief Justice of India (CJI), to inquire into the clashes in Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat on the occasion of Ram Navami and Ramzan.

A bench comprising Justices L. Nageswara and B.R. Gavai said: "What sort of relief? You want an inquiry under the former CJI? Find out if someone is freea. What kind of petition is this?" Advocate Vishal Tiwari, petitioner-in-person, submitted that two similar matters are already pending and it was filed in the beginning itself but it could not be numbered.

Tiwari emphasized that the situation is alarming and added that there are allegations that a one-sided investigation is being carried out.

He urged the top court to set up the judicial inquiry commission to inquire into religious clashes.

The bench said: "Don't ask for such reliefs which can't be granted by this court... dismissed".

The plea said: "The present situation prevailing at various places of the country due to the political and community tensions orchestrated by unregulated powers of the society with no action from the government pertaining to prevention of such incident along with the discriminatory bull dozer justice action of various state government requires the immediate attention of court." It said in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone, clashes between two communities took place on March 18, which saw rioting with more than 50 houses and properties being burnt and gutted.

"In response to such conflict and tension, the Madhya Pradesh government used the bull dozers to demolish and vandalise 16 houses and 29 shops of the alleged stone pelters. The government in this regard has taken the law in its hand and has imposed sanctions on the alleged stone pelter which is a sign of anarchy and a nature of tyranny. The state has the responsibility of prevention and regulation of such conflicting situations and to prosecute those individuals who have been charged with the offence after thorough investigation."
Islamabad, April 26 : Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to Saudi Arabia at his own expense, Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb said and also criticised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders for spreading "lies" about the trip set to take place later this week.

"Contrary to lies being propagated by PTI, Prime Minister will be travelling to Saudi Arabia later this week on a commercial flight at his own expense," The Express Tribune quoted Aurangzeb as saying on Twitter.

"Even during his 10 years as CM Punjab during 2008-18, he always travelled commercially and at his own expense," she added.

The Minister also advised her former counterpart Fawad Chaudhry not to make "such a baseless statement against journalists as no media person was going to Saudi Arabia at the state's expenses, Express Tribune reported.

Aurangzeb went on to say that the fake news was the hallmark of former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.

She recalled that the media used to give prominent coverage to Imran Khan when he was in the opposition, but after coming to power he targeted and victimised them.

"Now after being thrown out of power in a disgraceful manner, the PTI leadership is maligning the media." Aurangzeb also reiterated that the PTI's rule had deprived the masses of affordable flour, sugar, medicines, electricity and gas, and ruined the economy and employment opportunities.

Taking a jibe at Fawad over the ongoing case, Aurangzeb asked him to also "tweet about the watch, necklace and rings of the Toshakhana".
Moscow, April 26 : Russia has declared 40 German diplomats "personae non gratae" in a tit-for-tat move, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow announced The Ministry summoned German Ambassador to Russia Geza Andreas von Geyr on Monday in protest over Berlin's decision to declare 40 Russian diplomats working in Germany "personae non gratae" earlier in April, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Ministry called Germany's motives behind the expulsion of the Russian diplomats "unacceptable", and informed the Ambassador that 40 German diplomats would be declared "personae non grata" in a symmetrical response.

Responding to Russia's move, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that it was "expected" but was "in no way justified".

She said the Russian diplomats previously expelled by Germany "did not serve diplomacy for a single day" while those expelled by Russia had "not done anything wrong".

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Jaipur, April 26 : After facing flak, the Rajasthan government has suspended Rajgarh sub-divisional officer Keshav Meena, municipal EO Banwarilal Meena and Rajgarh municipal chairperson Satish Duharia in connection with the demolition of a 300-year-old temple in the name of removal of encroachment in Rajgarh, Alwar.

By suspending the Rajgarh Municipal chairperson, Sub-Divisional Officer and others, the state goverment is trying to send out a strict message, said officials.

As per information, Keshav Kumar Meena, the SDM of Alwar's Rajgarh, has been accused of demolishing the temple. The Personnel Department issued his suspension order. In fact, his transfer and suspension orders were taken out almost simultaneously.

On Monday night, the state government also issued transfer orders of 239 RAS officers in a major administrative reshuffle.

Keshav Kumar Meena's name is at number 186 in the transfer list of 239 RAS officers.

Alwar ADM Dr Sunita Pankaj has also been transferred.

Meanwhile, BJP Sikar MP Sumedhanand Saraswati, who went to investigate this matter on behalf of BJP, said that the temple of Rajgarh was not under encroachment.

He demanded that the government rebuild temples which have been demolished and tender an apology. Compensation should be given to those whose houses are razed a judicial inquiry ordered against the guilty officers.

The three-member BJP Inquiry Committee has submitted its report to the party's state president Satish Poonia.
New Delhi, April 26 : Every year, World Immunization Week (WIW) is observed globally from April 24-30. In observance of the week this year, the Unicef along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Tuesday held an interactive engagement session with health journalists to reinforce media support toward increased uptake of routine immunization of children.

The theme for this year's immunization week is 'long life for all', with 'long life' reflecting the importance of vaccinations for a long and healthy life and the importance of vaccine equity.

India annually targets approximately 2.9 crore pregnant women and 2.7 crore children for vaccination through the Universal Immunization Programme.

As per latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 data, Full Immunization Coverage (FIC) among children aged 12-23 months has recorded substantial improvement from 62 per cent to 76 per cent at all-India level.

Veena Dhawan, Additional Commissioner (Immunization), MoHFW, provided an update on the Universal Immunization programme and the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 4.0 launched in early 2022 to accelerate the vaccination coverage of children and pregnant women in targeted districts and blocks.

Highlighting the role of media as a crucial partner to create awareness on importance of every dose of vaccines to be taken by each child, she informed that IMI 4.0 focuses on identifying and vaccinating these vulnerable groups of children, who have missed out of any dose or who have dropped out on some doses.

The theme of the World Immunization Week this year celebrates the long history of vaccination (generating confidence though 'social proof'), in a tone of gratitude, care, and love.

The WIW also celebrates the extraordinary work of numerous people who have contributed to the creation, development and administering vaccines for the last 300 years.

A 'Love Letter' thanking the stakeholders will be shared with supporters to write their own thank-you notes for all those who made vaccination possible.

A Hero Video which takes the viewer through the epic journey of vaccination across continents and though centuries will be released.

Zafrin Chowdhury, Chief of Advocacy, Communication and Partnership, Unicef India said: "Covid -19 vaccination has demonstrated the importance of vaccination in preventing serious disease. The #largestvaccinesdrive of COVID vaccination has shown us the immense power of vaccines and vaccinators. In the same way, we must now make strides on lifesaving routine immunization for all children, especially those who have not been reached, left out or dropped out. Vaccines work. Vaccines protect children from preventable diseases giving them the gift of a healthy, active life and helps them reach their full potential.

"As we hope to emerge from the pandemic, this WIW brings us an opportunity to renew our commitment to create a fresh momentum to raise awareness and action on the importance of completing vaccination for all children and for greater investment in the health systems.

"The media and key stakeholders have a critical role in creating the momentum." Commending India's commitment to accelerate immunization coverage and achieve full immunization coverage for every child, Vivek Virendra Singh, Health Specialist, Officer In-Charge, Health, Unicef India, interacted with over 70 national and state media who had joined the discussion online.

"The WIW 2022 provides us an opportunity to remind everyone on India's success in the recent Covid-19 vaccination and earlier Polio eradication, through robust health systems driven immunization campaigns. WIW reiterates the need for routine immunization, and the collective action needed to reach every child everywhere with all necessary vaccines," he said.
Lucknow, April 26 : The Uttar Pradesh government has said that illegal loudspeakers will be removed from all religious places across the state.

Loudspeakers flouting the noise limit standards will also be removed.

According to an official spokesman, all police stations have been instructed to make a list of all such places and send their reports to the home department by April 30.

The divisional commissioners from every district will send the reports.

All illegal loudspeakers will be removed after discussions with religious leaders.

The directives come days after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that loudspeakers can be used at religious places with permission but the sound must not come out of the premises.

He further said that no new permits will be issued for loudspeakers.
New Delhi, April 26: On January 8, 2013, commandos of Pakistan's Border Action Team sneaked into Indian territory in Jammu, ambushed and killed two Indian army soldiers. Their bodies were found mutilated, one decapitated.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party raised passions over the series of such merciless killings reported from the Line of Control during the UPA rule. While visiting the soldier Hemraj's family in Shernagar UP, senior BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, said: "The incident that has happened, we should take revenge... If we don't get this (Hemraj's) head, we should get ten of theirs (Pakistani Army's).

Apart from the routine exchange of shelling, India is known to have retaliated with surgical strikes twice: first after the killing of 19 soldiers in a fidayeen (suicide) attack by Jaish-e-Mohammad on a military installation at Uri in September 2016 followed by an Indian Air Force strike on a terrorist training centre at Balakot in February 2019. The Indian action came in retaliation to the killing of 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama.

Previously on February 10, 2018, six soldiers and a civilian, along with the three suicide attackers, had died in an attack on an army camp at Sunjuwan, Jammu.

Notwithstanding the restoration of the year 2003 ceasefire on February 25, 2021, the ripple effects of the Pulwama fidayeen attack continue to persist.

While the militants' capacity to attack the Police and security forces' camps has been drastically emaciated after February 2019, they continued low intensity grenade attacks besides fatal strikes on soft targets. Over a dozen people were shot dead ahead of the Home Minister Amit Shah's visit in October 2021.

A fresh spree of armed attacks on Panches, Sarpanches, members of the minority community in Kashmir and non-local workers has started since March 19, 2022. In a dramatic development on Friday, two days ahead of the Prime Minister's scheduled visit, the Police in Jammu claimed to have killed two Pashto-speaking terrorists in suicide gear at Sunjuwan. They had reportedly infiltrated through the International Border in Samba, a few miles from the PM's venue of the public rally.

But in sharp contrast to the BJP leaders' trademark diatribe, and contrary to the common expectations, Modi's 45-minute speech at Samba on Sunday had no reference to Pakistan or that country's hostilities in Jammu and Kashmir in the last 32 years.

"I assure Kashmir's younger generation that they would not suffer the hardships their parents and grandparents did. This is my commitment. We will make it possible at whatever the cost," Modi asserted without any tangential attacks on the Pakistan-sponsored insurgency.

In his address at the Panchayati Raj Diwas, Modi didn't mention even the four Panches and Sarpanches killed in Kashmir in the last 8 weeks. He didn't make even a cursory reference to the Sunjuwan encounter which, according to senior Police officials, signalled the indication of a plan to sabotage PM's visit.

A large number of the members of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), drawn from Kashmir and Jammu, as also the BJP supporters and common people participated in the rally. It was Modi's first civilian visit to Jammu and Kashmir after taking over as Prime Minister for his second term on 30 May 2019.

It was also the PM's first civilian visit after creation of the Union Territory in 2019. Modi visited J&K's Rajouri district on October 27, 2019 and November 4, 2021 - both occassions to only celebrate Diwali with the troops.

Contrary to his post-2019 speeches, Modi remained concentrated on development which also dominates his public addresses in UP, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Also avoiding typical attacks on National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, characteristic of the BJP leaders since 2018, Modi didn't speak about corruption or 'dynastic politics'. He was content with just a cursory reference to the gains accruing out of the abrogation of Article 370.

Modi may be simply testing the intentions of the new leadership in Pakistan but there is a context to the dimmed areas of his statement.

Significantly the change in the Indian Prime Minister's tone and tenor vis-a-vis Pakistan and insurgency has been noticed after the change of government in Pakistan early this month. The new Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's positive response to Modi's greetings provided an indication of Islamabad's interest or compulsion of reconciliation with New Delhi. Delhi did not take exception to a routine filler of the 'resolution of the Kashmir issue' in Sharif's letter.

In his first speech at the National Assembly, PM Sharif said that Pakistan had been dismembered economically and it was in its history's worst condition.

He said that the total volume of the world debt on Pakistan was Rs 25,000 billion from 1947 to 2018 but Imran Khan's regime had added to it Rs 20,000 billion in just three years.

The industrialist-politician, who has served as Chief Minister of the Punjab province three times, Sharif is supposed to realise that Pakistan's real existential threat was the International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt, rather than India's military might.

Sharif is expected to realise that his country's increasing economic dependence on China would be a big compromise on sovereignty not affordable for Pakistan. His advantage is a harmonious wavelength with the Army on economic policy.

The Army is known to be the only functional and dependable institution in Pakistan that has not only maintained equilibrium with China but also saved Islamabad's nose-diving relationship with the US during Imran Khan's rule. It alone can take Pakistan out of the FATF's grey list. Diplomatic circles in Delhi insist that the recent conviction of the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba founder Hafiz Saeed would not be possible without a green signal from the Army.

India is understood to have communicated its security concern and implications thereof to the Pakistani Army in view the unabated infiltration, smuggling of arms and drugs and recruitment of fresh guerrilla cadres in Kashmir.

Reports from Pakistan suggest that in hours of the Sunjuwan encounter on Friday, the Army swooped on the headquarters of Masood Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammad and seized a quantity of arms and ammunition from the Centre.

Unlike Imran Khan, who claimed to be turning Pakistan into an Islamic caliphate (Riyasat-e-Madina), Sharif's family is known for its camaraderie with India. In June 2014, PM Modi and PM Nawaz Sharif exchanged gifts of shawl and sari for each other's mothers. However the military leadership of that period did not take it well and ultimately ensured the Sharif family's ouster from power.

One day ahead of PM's Jammu visit, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh gave the first signal of the BJP government's change of heart on AFSPA in J&K.

"Some people believe that the Indian Army does not want AFSPA to be removed. I want to say from this forum today that the Indian Army has a minimum role in the matter of internal security. Army only wants that soon the situation in Jammu and Kashmir should be completely normal and AFSPA can be removed from there too," Singh said while felicitating the 1971 War veterans and their family members in Guwahati, Assam.

In the changing ground realities, in which the August 2019 Indian interventions in Kashmir are moulding into fait accompli, Modi's muteness on Pakistan and terror could be a harbinger of detente and peace.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, April 26 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed concern at state governments for not doing enough to prevent hate speeches, as it grilled the Uttarakhand government on a proposed Dharam Sansad in Roorkee.

The top court noted that governments say they are taking preventive measures, but something different happens on the ground as incidents of hate speeches keep occurring, despite the apex court's guidelines on preventive measures.

It directed the chief secretary of Uttarakhand to bring on record corrective measures taken in view of religious meet scheduled in the state.

A bench headed by Justice Khanwilkar in its order, said: "Counsel for Uttarakhand submits that all preventive measures have been takena.and the concerned authorities are more than confident that no untoward situation or unacceptable statement is made during such event...

"We direct the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand to state the corrective measure taken by the authoritiesabefore next date of hearing".

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioners, submitted that they are holding another Dharam Sansad in Roorkee on Wednesday.

The bench, also comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and C.T. Ravikumar, said that if an announcement has been made, the state government will have to take action and follow the guidelines laid down in the Poonawalla case.

Counsel for Uttarakhand submitted that FIRs have been registered against communities A and B, and in terms of preventive measures there is a difficulty -- if they are holding the Dharam Sansad, difficult to have information on the text.

The bench replied: "If the speaker is the same. You take preventive action. Don't make us say what we don't want to speak," to which the counsel said: "We are taking measures... let them have faith in us. We are taking steps." The bench said the issue is not trust, and told the counsel to talk to the IG and secretary regarding the preventive action.

"What we see is something different on ground. Despite subsequent judgments on preventive measures, yet things are happening".

The Uttarakhand government counsel submitted that petitioners' counsel is trying to colour a particular community and told Sibal that "the community you are supporting is also doing certain things".

Justice Khanwilkar said: "What kind of arguments is this? This is not the way to argue in the court." After hearing the arguments, the bench said the government knows what are preventive measures, and if it happens, the court may ask the chief secretary to be present.

The bench told the Himachal Pradesh counsel, in connection with a religious meet which took place in April: "You have to stop this activity file steps taken to prevent ita these events do not happen suddenly, they are announced well in advance." The top court asked the hill state government to file an affidavit on steps taken to prevent it and thereafter.

The top court scheduled the matter for further hearing on May 9.

It was hearing an application filed by journalist Qurban Ali and senior advocate Anjana Prakash seeking criminal action against people who made alleged hate speeches at Dharam Sansads.
Chennai, April 26 : A class 6 student of a school in Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur has alleged that two teachers tried to force her to convert to Christianity and also mocked her.

The girl has informed the matter to her parents who have filed a police complaint.

When contacted, the Tiruppur district SP's office said that the local police are conducting a probe into the matter.

The student alleged that one of the teachers had put her hand in the water and spoke about Jesus Christ and had touched her stomach thrice with the water in hand.

The girl also alleged that the teachers used to mock the students in the class, adding that that when students would different names of gods, they would ask why they were not naming Jesus.

The student also alleged that the teacher used to ask in class who was the most powerful god and when a student answered that it was Lord Shiva, the teacher got angry and said that Jesus Christ was the most powerful among all gods.

Meanwhile, the BJP has demanded stringent action against the teachers who were involved in forcing the student to convert.

Speaking to IANS, the BJP Women's wing national president and MLA from Coimbatore, Vanathi Sreenivasan said: "We demand strong action from the state government. The BJP has been demanding an anti-conversion law in Tamil Nadu and the government must not allow the offenders to go scot-free."
Jaipur, April 26 : The Met department has warned of severe heat wave from Tuesday to Friday in Eastern and Western belts of Rajasthan.

While cities like Bharatpur, Jhunjhunu, Karauli among others will be affected the most in Eastern Rajasthan, those including Barmer, Jodhpur, Churu and Jaisalmer shall be affected by heat wave in western Rajasthan.

Meanwhile, the temperature in the last 24 hours remained above normal in the different parts of the state with almost all districts touching and crossing the 40 degree-mark in all divisions.

Barmer in western Rajasthan recorded a maximum temperature of 43.9 degrees Celsius, while Dungarpur in eastern Rajasthan had 43.2 degrees, Jaisalmer -- 43.4, Banswara and Churu recorded 43 degrees each, Bundi -- 42.8 and Bikaner registered 43.2 degrees.

On Tuesday, the met department has warned of thunderstorm/light rain/lightning/dust storm / sudden strong winds (Expected wind speed 30- 40 kilometers per hour starting at 2 p.m. which shall remain for next two to three hours) in Jaipur (North), Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Alwar, Bharatpur districts and nearby areas.
Juba, April 26 : The recent intensified fighting in South Sudan's Unity and Upper Nile states between the parties to the 2018 revitalised peace agreement is undermining efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire, monitors said.

Asrat Denero Amad, Chairperson for the Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM), said that the ongoing tension in Unity and Upper Nile states since February 11 are threatening peace, reports Xinhua news agency.

"There is tension in Unity state since Mirmir cantonment site was overrun on February 11, by Kit-Gwang elements and armed youth reportedly instigated by the Koch County Commissioner," said Amad during the CTSAMVM technical committee meeting in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

He disclosed that attacks by hold-out opposition group National Salvation Front (NAS) led by Thomas Cirilo Sawaka continue to take place in Central and Western Equatoria states.

Amad observed that tensions remain in Tambura county of Western Equatoria state where fighting since 2021 displaced nearly 80,000 civilians.

"The situation in the counties of Maban, Maiwut, and Longechuk in Upper Nile state also remains tense following the fighting in these areas since February. CTSAMVM has received reports of at least eight alleged incidents, including the ambush and destruction of two Medicines Sans Frontier vehicles near Yei on February 28," said Amad.

Martin Abucha, a member of First Vice President Riek Machar's Sudan People's Liberation Army-in Opposition, also called for a probe into these violations across the country.
New Delhi, April 26 : A 45-year-old woman died after her throat was slit and her husband received stab injuries during a fight with their neighbour over filling up water from a tap outside their house in the national capital on Tuesday morning, an official said.

The deceased was identified as Shyamkala, a resident of Dalit Ekta Camp in the Vasant Kunj area of southwest Delhi.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Manoj C said a call was received at Vasant Kunj police station around 7 a.m. stating that a Nepali had killed a woman in the said area.

"The police immediately responded and reached the scene of the crime where they found the woman's body lying outside her house," the DCP said.

Shyamkala's husband Ramesh Kumar, who sustained injuries in the incident, was immediately rushed to Safdarjung Hospital where he is under treatment.

The body of the deceased woman has been shifted to mortuary, Safdarjung Hospital for Forensic Autopsy.

The senior official said that the preliminary inquiry has revealed that the deceased and the injured had a quarrel with their neighbours.

When asked if the fight was over filling up water, the DCP told IANS that they are still verifying it. "But definitely there was an argument and they were neighbours," he said.

The son of the deceased woman alleged that the neighbour, who killed his mother, is already a criminal and an addict. "He is a native of Nepal. Even his brother is in jail," the son told media persons.

The police have identified the prime suspect as Arjun, the neighbour, who is absconding after allegedly committing the offence.

Meanwhile, the police have registered a case under section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code at the Vasant Kunj (north) police station.

A special team of southwest district police has been constituted to nab the accused.
Mumbai, April 26 : Nitin Kumar Gupta's next directorial 'Love In Ukraine' is expected to release on May 27. The film, as the title suggests, was shot in the eastern European country itself.

Nitin, who is also the writer of the film, shares his experience of shooting the project.

"We filmed inside a church that was 1,200 years old near the river city of Vyshhgorod. It is made entirely from wood and has a very unique and spiritual experience. The priest gave the entire team special blessings for the film. We also shot in the Kyiv City Center, which is very famous and filled with tourists.

"We also filmed in a cow farm, a horse ranch, other ancient churches and forests and a very old traditional village. Europe we have filmed dates back to 1,000 years and even while shooting we felt like we have been transported to a fantasy world," says Nitin, who is also known for his film Sayonee (2020) filmed in Russia, and the yet to be released 'LAC' (2022), based on Indian soldiers at the border.

Nitin shares that Ukrainians are fond of Indian cinema and have their favourites too.

"People of Ukraine are big fans of Raj Kapoor films, but 'Disco Dancer' is their all-time favourite movie. The song 'Jimmy Jimmy' still plays on the radio and there is even a locally translated version of the song. 'Baahubali' is also quite well known there," he shares.

While Ukrainians do not know much Hindi, they often did greet the 'Love In Ukraine' team with the Indian-style 'Namaste' wherever the cast and crew went, reveals Nitin.

"We also taught some of them the term 'Shukriya'. The crew also learned 'Chalo Chalo, Jaldi Jaldi' because I always shouted those words when we needed to finish the shooting schedule on time," he wraps up.
Bengaluru, April 26 : J. Manjunath, the Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban, will begin a probe on the charges of mandatory Bible study in a city school.

The investigation is being initiated on Tuesday following the directions by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

Hindu organisations have raised complaints on the Clarence High School for the imposition and the NCPCR has asked the Deputy Commissioner to submit the report within seven days.

The Commission stated that it has been brought to notice that the school has been imposing Christian religious views on children by making them study the Bible.

The school is also making it mandatory for them to attend Christian religious prayers daily in the morning, it added.

The Commission further stated that the students are involved in other Christian religious activities and the same has also been mentioned on the school's website.

As per the complaint there is prima facie contravention of the Article 25 and Article 28 (3) of the Indian constitution, provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, statement by NCPCR said.

The Hindu Jana Jagruthi Samithi had earlier alleged that the students are made to read the Bible everyday compulsorily.

All students are given a Bible which is the form of a booklet, they are told to carry it every day. If anyone objects, they will be threatened with cancellation of admissions, they alleged.

Pramod Muthalik, Founder of Sri Ram Sena reacting to the incident, had asked the school management to keep the Bible at their homes and churches.

State Education Minister B.C. Nagesh clarified that there is no provision for making the Bible reading compulsory in schools, if it is found to be true, action will be initiated against the school.
Ottawa, April 26 : The Ottawa Police said they have developed an enhanced operational approach to manage the Rolling Thunder event, a planned motorcycle convoy protest in the Canadian capital, scheduled for the coming weekend.

In a statement, the Ottawa Police said protesters won't be allowed to drive into the downtown core which includes areas near the Parliament Hill and the National War Memorial, and the policy applies to all demonstrations, rallies and events, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Rolling Thunder convoy's organiser said on the event's website that a rally and march is scheduled for Parliament Hill at 6 p.m. on Friday.

The event schedule for Saturday will include a Veterans For Freedom service at the National War Memorial, a bike roll to downtown Ottawa and a rally and march on the Parliament Hill.

"We have adjusted our overall approach to all demonstrations, protests, events and rallies. We will not allow for unsafe or unlawful conditions that could lead to another unlawful protest as seen in February," the police said, adding that any organiser of any event will be held accountable for their actions before, during and after events.

"We continue to monitor online and open source commentary related to all events. Threatening or intimidating behaviours will be investigated and subject to charges where warranted." There is no information on the "Rolling Thunder Ottawa" website about the clear reasons for the event.

Up to 1,000 motorcycles and other vehicles are expected to take part in the event.

In late January and February, downtown Ottawa was occupied by a truck convoy protest for three weeks, which resulted in a public order emergency.
Washington, April 26 : A major US think tank urged President Joe Biden to call Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and reset Washington's ties with Islamabad.

Bruce Riedel, one the writers of the Brookings report, was an adviser to the former Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations and is also close to the current Democratic set-up in Washington, says Dawn news.

The other writer, Madiha Afzal, is a fellow at the Centre for Middle East policy.

"The end of American involvement in Afghanistan and the change in leadership in Pakistan presents the US with an opportunity to reset its long-troubled relationship with the world's fifth most populous country," the writers argued in the report.

"President Biden should initiate a high-level dialogue with new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who will be in power for up to a year before the next election is held." The authors noted that because US policy was focused on fighting wars in Afghanistan, "our primary partners in Pakistan were the intelligence service and the military. Less attention was devoted to the civilian government", Dawn reported.

"Now Washington can engage with Islamabad without prioritising Afghanistan issues at the expense of our broader interests in regional stability with India and China, encouraging development in South Asia, and supporting the strengthening of the elected democratic forces in Pakistan," they argued.

"America also has an interest in balancing somewhat the influence of China, Pakistan's closest ally, on decision-making in Islamabad." The authors noted that the Biden administration, and in particular the White House, had given Pakistan a relative cold shoulder to date, "irked...ostensibly with then-Prime Minister Imran Khan publicly criticising the US".

They noted that Biden did not call Khan while he was Prime Minister, although Brookings argued he should.
New Delhi: Bulldozer being used for removing the illegal structure during a joint anti-encroachment drive by North MCD, civic bodies and Delhi Police, at the violence-hit Jahangirpuri area in New Delhi on Wednesday, Apr. 20, 2022. (Photo: Wasim Sarv Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Delhi Police stand guard as Forensic team investigate and collect samples at the incident area, after clashes broke out between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on Saturday, at Jahangirpuri in New Delhi, Monday, April 18 Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, April 26 : Central probe agencies have been scanning the alleged role of the Popular Front of India (PFI) into the Jahangirpuri communal violence on April 16, according to sources.

The sources in the intelligence network have said that the agencies have been scanning the presence of a few people connected to the PFI's student wing in Jahangirpuri and trying to ascertain with whom they met while they were in the area.

The sources also said that they have identified around 22 mobile numbers of PFI student wing members who were present in the area before the violence erupted.

They said that the probe agencies have been trying to ascertain their activities and they may be questioned by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police.

Some of these numbers were found to be active even during the February 2020 Delhi riots.

The probe agencies also want to ascertain whether these PFI members had any links with the violence in Jahangirpuri as the Delhi Police has suggested that Ansar, the main accused in the clashes, had ties with the radical organisation.

The intelligence agencies have earlier expressed apprehension that some radical organisations such as PFI might have instigated the violence.

Severe communal clashes erupted at the Jahangirpuri area on April 16 during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in which nine people, including eight policemen, were injured.

The police has till now arrested 25 people and apprehended two juveniles, while one of the arrested person's relatives was bound down for injuring a police Inspector by pelting stones at him.
New Delhi: Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur felicitates mountaineer Anshu Jamsenpa at N.Medi Center in New Delhi on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (Photo: Qamar Sibtain/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur felicitates Basanti Devi at N.Medi Center in New Delhi on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (Photo: Qamar Sibtain/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur felicitates firefighter Harshini Kanhekar at N.Medi Center in New Delhi on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (Photo: Qamar Sibtain/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur during a launch of the Azadi ki Amrit Kahaniyan, a short video collection in collaboration, at N.Medi Center in New Delhi on Tuesday, April Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur during a launch of the Azadi ki Amrit Kahaniyan, a short video collection in collaboration, at N.Medi Center in New Delhi on Tuesday, April Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, April 26 : As part of the celebration of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav,' Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur on Tuesday launched 'Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniya', a short video series created in collaboration with OTT platform, Netflix.

Also present at the occasion were Minister of State Dr L. Murugan, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Apurva Chandra, and Head of Global TV, Netflix Bela Bajaria.

Speaking on the occasion, Thakur pointed out that the Ministry of I&B has been a vital part of Amrit Mahotsav celebrations with various initiatives.

"The idea of Azadi is intertwined with women emancipation in India and the term 'Azadi' or 'freedom' holds a wider connotation for women who have to fight stereotypes and taboos in society as well. Emancipation of women was the hallmark of the emancipation index of a society, Thakur said.

On the collaboration with Netflix, Thakur said: "This initiative aims to bring out inspiring stories of Indians which shall motivate and empower more people to achieve their goals." "This was a long term partnership where different themes and diverse stories will be highlighted. Netflix will be producing 25 videos on themes, including women empowerment, environment and sustainable development and other days of significance. Netflix will produce two-minute short films for the Ministry which will be shared on social media platforms and telecast on Doordarshan network," Thakur said.

Thakur elaborated on the multiple dimensions of this partnership and said Netflix and the Ministry will continue to organise training workshops and master classes to encourage film makers in India to create inspiring content on various topics under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

"Netflix and the ministry will partner to develop a creative ecosystem by organising training programmes for post-production, VFX, animation, music production among others and will be organized on ground and virtually," Thakur said.

Women change makers Basanti Devi, Padma-award winning environmentalist from Pithoragarh known for her contribution towards revitalising the Kosi river; Anshu Jamsenpa, a Padma Shri awardee for being the first woman in the world to summit Mount Everest twice in five days in 2017 and Harshini Kanhekar, the first female firefighter in India, were also present on the occasion.

Thakur lauded the remarkable achievements of the three women on the dais and said their stories will inspire people across the country.

He also expressed hope that after this collaboration, filmmakers from across the world will come to India to make films and documentaries for not just the Indian audience but to showcase it to the entire world.

"The partnership between the Ministry and Netflix was only a beginning and will not be limited to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav," Thakur added.

Secretary ministry of I&B Apurva Chandra said that the two entities signed a collaboration agreement and these three videos released today are the first set produced under this partnership.

"A deeper collaboration featuring a long running series on our freedom struggle and the stories that need to be told to the world is in the pipeline," Chandra said.

'Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan' is an initiative which brings out beautiful stories of inspirational Indians on various themes including Women Empowerment, Environment and Sustainability, and others. The diverse set of stories seek to motivate and empower Indians from every corner of the country.

The 'Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan' videos will be available on various social media channels of the Ministry and Netflix, as well as broadcast across the Doordarshan network.
Haveri, : April 26 (IANS) Hundreds of victims of a hysterectomy scandal in Karnataka on Tuesday took out a padayatra to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's native town of Shiggaon in Haveri district.

The protest march has been organised to condemn the apathy and negligence of the authorities as Rs 40 crore compensation amount sanctioned for the victims of the scandal was sent back to the government without being distributed.

The victims, after walking a distance of 75 km, will reach the town on Wednesday.

The agitators have declared that until Bommai personally arrives and assures them of release of compensation, they won't move an inch.

The women are also demanding action against government doctor Shanta and termination of his license as a medical practitioner.

The agitators claimed that they have been protesting for seven to eight years for justice but they are not getting any positive response.

The victims were allegedly subjected to hysterectomy unnecessarily by Shanta for money. The victims are from poor backgrounds and majority of them belong to the Lambani and Dalit communities, who went to the hospital with minor health issues.

It is alleged that hysterectomy was conducted on 1,522 women.

Investigations have shown that the uterus of an unmarried woman and a woman below 40 years of age were also removed for money and an organised racket worked behind the scandal.

A victim, Lalita Basavaraj, explained that after the operation her life has turned upside down.

She can't work and her family members are seeing her as a burden. "I will hold the feet of CM Bommai, to come to their help. I couldn't even know what had happened, they took me and got the surgery done which rendered my life useless," she said.

Another victim, Manjavva explained that she had to work for livelihood and after surgery she had lost all her strength. Now the compensation amount has gone back.

"We need the compensation amount to be alive."
Mumbai, April 26 : Amid the ruckus created by the arrested Rana MP-MLA couple, with Navneet Kaur-Rana shooting off a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla of alleged police misbehaviour, the Mumbai Commissioner of Police Sanjay Pandey finally broke his silence on Tuesday.

Taking to Twitter, Pandey posted a video of the MP-MLA duo, enjoying the warm hospitality of the Khar Police, and raising questions on the authenticity of the Ranas' allegations, with his own terse poser: "Do we say anything more.." In the revealing CCTV footage, the couple, picked up from their Khar home on the evening of April 23, are in a relaxed mood, indulging in a friendly 'chai pe charcha' style chat with the cops, quite oblivious to the brouhaha raging just outside the police station.

After they were remanded to judicial custody of 14 days, the Amravati (SC reserved seat) MP Navneet Kaur-Rana penned an angry letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, alleging she was not given drinking water, not allowed to use the washroom and subjected to casteist slur.

Even as the Speaker sought a reply from the Maharashtra government within 24 hours, state Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil staunchly defended the Mumbai Police, confidently assertly that "the reality was very different from the allegations".

Shiv Sena MoS Kishore Tiwari lauded the Lok Sabha Speaker for taking serious cognisance of Navneet Kaur-Rana's letter and asking for a report from the Maha Vikas Aghadi government within 24 hours.

"Wish he had shown the same concern for the Dadra & Nagar Haveli MP, (the late) Mohan Delkar, who complained to him and finally he committed suicide," Tiwari said.

The reference was to Delkar's series of complaints to the BJP government at the Centre, in Parliament, the Speaker and other panels which failed to elicit response and he was found dead in a Mumbai hotel on February 22.

Reacting to the Pandey's video post, Congress state General Secretary Sachin Sawant said the Ranas and the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) blatant 'lies' have been exposed before the people of the state.

"The entire aim is to discredit the MVA government and Mumbai Police but their allegations have been proved false and fallen flat on thema The BJP is a truly irresponsible Opposition party in the state banking on lies and backing liars," Sawant said.

Nationalist Congress Party Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase slammed the Ranas and BJP for their falsehoods intended to demoralise the Mumbai Police and discredit the MVA government.

"We want to know from the Speaker Om Birla what kind of action will be taken against his own MPs who try to subdue the police with fake statements by making herself a 'caste-victim' in this manner?" Tapase asked.

The Mumbai Police chief's unexpected 'silent' salvo spoke volumes and not only went viral but generated a huge favourable response for the police department with many saying "they already knew it" and reposed complete faith in the guardians of the law.

The Ranas, nabbed for planning to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside the private home of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in Bandra east, have suffered other setbacks in the past three days and are currently cooling their heels in jail, as their bail plea is posted for hearing on Friday.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)
Karachi, April 26 : At least four people, two of which were said to be foreign citizens, were killed and several others injured in a explosion inside the University of Karachi campus on Tuesday, media reports said.

The incident occurred near Confucius Institute - a China-funded teaching centre, Geo News reported, citing rescue sources.

According to the reports, the blast took place in a van near the Confucius Institute. Rescue and security agencies reached the site location and cordoned it off.

Police sources said that there were seven to eight people in the van. however, an exact number of casualties has yet to be reported, Geo News said.

The blast was initially reported to have been caused by a gas cylinder; however, the police have not confirmed or denied any information over the nature of the blast.
New Delhi, April 26 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated at soon listing the petitions against the Karnataka High Court judgment, which upheld the ban on hijab in pre-university colleges.

As senior advocate Meenakshi Arora mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana saying that the matter needs urgent hearing, the Chief Justice said: "I will list the matter, wait for two days." Earlier, the apex court had declined to urgently hear petitions challenging the high court judgment. Several petitions have been filed in the apex court challenging the high court judgment.

On March 24, the Supreme Court declined to give any specific date to hear a plea challenging the Karnataka High Court order, which dismissed all petitions seeking direction for permission to wear hijab in classrooms.

Senior advocate Devadutt Kamat mentioned one of the cases on behalf of a petitioner, a Muslim girl student, and sought urgent listing of the matter. Kamat insisted that exams are approaching and urged the court to urgent hearing on the matter.

However, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ramana said this has nothing to do with exams, and told Kamat not to sensationalise the matter. Kamat contended that the girl students are not being allowed to enter the schools, and they will lose one year. However, the bench moved on to the next item.

On March 16, the Supreme Court had declined to grant an urgent hearing on a plea challenging the high court order, which held that wearing of hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practice in Islamic faith.

Then, senior advocate Sanjay Hedge, representing the petitioners, mentioned the plea before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ramana. Hedge said there is urgency in the matter, as several girls have to appear in exams. The bench said others have also mentioned and the court will look into the matter.

A plea filed through advocate Adeel Ahmed and Rahamathullah Kothwal had said the high court order creates an unreasonable classification between the non-Muslim female students and the Muslim female students and thereby is in straight violation of the concept of secularism which forms the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. The petitioners are Mohamed Arif Jameel and others.

The plea said: "The impugned order is also in sheer violation of the Article 14, 15, 19, 21 and 25 of the Indian Constitution and also violates the core principles of the International Conventions that India is a signatory to.".
Hyderabad, April 26 : Megastar Chiranjeevi revealed in an exclusive interview while promoting 'Acharya' that he wants his family to be known as the 'Kapoors' of the south.

Chiranjeevi recalls a conversation with his brother Pawan Kalyan, in which he expressed his desire for their family to be known as the 'Kapoors' of the south.

"There is a Kapoor craze in Hindi cinema. In South Cinema, I also wished for our family to be like that. I'm so happy to see how these kids (from Pawan Kalyan to Allu Arjun and others) have grown up and made a name for themselves in cinema", Chiranjeevi explained.

Chiranjeevi also recalls an incident, when he had previously travelled to the north, where he had felt humiliated.

'The 'Indra' actor explained, "Despite the fact that I had won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature film in National Integration for Rudraveena, there was little mention of the South in the award event. I felt humiliated".

"Now that I see the regional lines slowly perishing, I feel happy", Chiranjeevi conveyed.

Chiranjeevi spoke about his experience working with his son, Ram Charan, the latest pan-India sensation, and said, "Such opportunities do not come along very often for actors. I am a fortunate father who has witnessed Charan's incredible growth as an actor ".

Helmed by Koratala Siva, 'Acharya' is in theaters on April 29.
New Delhi, April 26 : The Congress on Tuesday officially announced that election strategist Prashant Kishor will not be working for the party as he declined to be part of the empowered action group for the 2024 general elections.

The declaration came a day after Sonia Gandhi had announced the constitution of the group.

Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet, "Following a presentation and discussion with Prashant Kishor, the Congress President has constituted a Empowered Action Group 2024 & invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts & suggestion given to party." The group was formed after a report was submitted by an eight-member committee on April 21.

"Congress President Sonia Gandhi received a report from the eight-member group on April 21. Today she discussed the report with the group. Based on the discussions, the Congress President has decided to constitute an Empowered Action Group for 2024 in order to address the political challenges ahead," the party had said in an official statement on Monday .

Surjewala, who did not want to comment on the members of the group, said: "But as I have said, the Empowered Action Group will strategise for the 2024 general elections."
Beijing, April 26 : China has announced plans to build an asteroid monitoring and defence system, which will help address the threats of asteroids hitting Earth, media reports said.

According to China National Space Administration (CNSA) deputy head Wu Yanhua, the country aims to carry out a technical experiment as early as 2025 on a threatening asteroid by closely tracking and attacking it to change its orbit, Global Times reported.

China will proceed to set up a near-Earth asteroid monitoring and defence system to deal with the threat of an asteroid impacting spacecraft, and contribute to protect the safety of the Earth and mankind, Wu said during an interview with the China Central Television.

The country will set up a ground-based and space-based monitoring and warning system for asteroids to catalogue and analyse asteroids that pose a threat to humanity's space activities, and then relevant technology and engineering will be developed to dispel the threats.

The CNSA is also developing a simulation software for possible impact from near-Earth asteroids and will organise rehearsals for the defence process to address the common threat and shouldering the responsibility as a major global power in safeguarding the Earth with other countries, Wu was quoted as saying Global Times.

The system is currently at the project establishment phase and being reviewed for approval, which involves the close coordination of multiple departments, the report said.

Earlier this year, in January, a white paper published by Chinese officials mentioned plans to study a planetary defence system, and last October, the country also hosted a planetary defence conference. Even as the US and Russia are also building asteroid monitoring systems, China's defence system could be an important supplement in addressing the threats of asteroids hitting Earth, Song Zhongping, a military expert and space observer, was quoted as saying.

"This is another practical solution that China proposes to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and it is the duty for a major space power to protect mankind from possible disasters that could end the entire human civilization," Song said.

To deter a potential asteroid attack, China needs a carrier rocket with exceptionally large thrust, which would put the country in the front line of the world's asteroid defence technology, said Li Mingtao, professor at the National Space Science Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Karachi, April 26 : At least four people, including three Chinese citizens, were killed and several others injured in a explosion inside the University of Karachi campus on Tuesday in what police termed a terror attack, media reports said.

The incident occurred near Confucius Institute - a China-funded teaching centre, Geo News reported, citing rescue sources.

According to the reports, the blast took place in a van near the Confucius Institute. The dead Chinese comprised two women and one man, all employees of the institute. The fourth fatality was a male driver.

Rescue and security agencies reached the site location and cordoned it off.

Police sources said that there were seven to eight people in the van.

The injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital, where the condition of three of the injured, which comprises another Chinese national is said to be critical, Geo News said.

While Deputy Inspector General of Police, East, Muqaddas Haider said it was too early to say and Superintendent of Police, Gulshan, said that an investigation is being conducted, Karachi Police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said that according to the initial investigation, it was a terror attack and a burqa-clad woman may be involved in the suicide blast.
By Hai Ning

A series of dramatic changes in Germany's defense policy has been made amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Germany has significantly ramped up defense spending at first, committing a special fund of 100 billion euros for armament projects, and announcing to up its defense budget to over 2% of the GDP every year in the future as required by the NATO. Then it blatantly supplied lethal weapons such as air defense and anti-tank systems to the "war-torn country" for the first time. Next, it has planned to send 13,700 officers and soldiers to join the NATO Response Force (NRF). As many commentators have exclaimed, Germany intends to bid farewell to its decades-long culture of military restraint spiced with a good deal of pacifism that Germany has pursued since the end of WWII, a move to reshape Europe's military and political landscape.

Indeed, it is no accident to the shift in Germany's defense policy. In addition to coping with the security pressure brought about by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Germany also considered enhancing the "strategic autonomy" of Germany and the EU and maintaining the Germany-US strategic partnership. However, observation of multiple aspects is yet to be made in regard to judge whether Germany's defense policy has completely "changed its course" or even "gone out of control".

Germany's own defense capability has to be taken into account. The accelerated investment in German defense at present is largely a compensation for the previous "arrear". Due to the long-term low proportion of military expenditure to its GDP, the problem of outdated equipment in Germanys military has been highly prominent. The "urgent need" that Germany has intended to solve in increasing its defense spending is actually to purchase the most basic individual equipment including bulletproof vests, helmets, thermal clothing and night vision goggles. According to German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, Germany is addressing its most basic defense needs, instead of building up arms.

The tolerance of Germany's Western allies has to be considered. One of NATO's main functions lies in "holding down the Germans". In other words, to ensure a "Germany in Europe" rather than a "German Europe" is one of the important functions of the EU. After WWII, Germany's General Staff Headquarters was disbanded, and Germany's overseas military operations have often been carried out under the framework of the NATO and EU.

In fact, the defense industry and command institutions on which Germany used to depend to launch wars of aggression have long been deeply integrated into the Western, especially European, defense system, trapped by the "bridle" of "integration". In order to dispel the doubts of its allies, most of Germany's major equipment R&D development projects have been in multinational cooperation, and major military purchase projects such as fighter jets have also given priority to US-made equipment or those jointly developed by European countries. For the foreseeable future, Germany will not develop conventional long-range strike weapons, let alone "nuclear weapons". So it will be difficult for Germany to get rid of the fundamental background of Homeland Defens e.

The direction of Germany's national strategy to take has to be analyzed. Germany has successfully won the understanding of its neighboring countries on historical issues and meanwhile gained universal recognition for its economic prosperity and political rise through in-depth integration into the process of European integration. Based on the above-mentioned experience, German political circles have always advocated the settlement of international disputes through multilateral consultation and considered it inappropriate to resort to force at will, as shown by its opposition to the Iraq War, distancing itself from the US in the Libyan War and the Ukraine crisis.

In regard to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, although Germany has been forced to impose sanctions against Russia under pressure from the US, the German politicians and the public have been still discussing and reflecting on the problems as follows. Is it necessary and wise to worsen the Germany-Russia relations, resulting in a panic of arms race? What has troubled the security of Germany and even Europe, its weak defense capability or structural problem at a deeper level? The answers to these questions will directly guide the direction of Germany's defense policy adopted in the future.
New Delhi, April 26 : Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday again cautioned EV makers to recall all faulty two-wheelers, saying that some EV batteries may be facing issues owing to extreme hot weather conditions the country is currently going through.

Addressing the Raisina Dialogue here, he said that the domestic EV industry has "just started" but "safety is the highest priority for the government and there can be no compromise with human lives".

"In the months of March-April-May, the temperature rises and there may be some problems with the EV battery. I feel that it is a problem of (high) temperature," Gadkari told the audience.

Stressing that the government seeks to make EVs more popular among the masses, the Minister said the EV industry has just started.

"We don't want to put a hurdle but safety is first and foremost priority," he added.

Gadkari last week warned EV makers that if any company is found negligent in their processes, "a heavy penalty will be imposed and a recall of all defective vehicles will also be ordered".

"We have constituted an Expert Committee to inquire into these incidents and make recommendations on remedial steps. Based on the reports, we will issue necessary orders on the defaulting companies," he said.

"We will soon issue quality-centric guidelines for Electric Vehicles," Gadkari added.

His comments came as the country is going through a spate of EV fires and deadly battery blasts.

In yet another tragic incident involving an electric two-wheeler, a 40-year-old man died in Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada after a blast occurred in an e-scooter belonging to Boom Motors while being charged at home.

The incident also left the Kotakonda Siva Kumar's wife and two daughters with severe burn injuries.

To date, three Pure EV, one Ola, two Okinawa and 20 Jitendra EV scooters have caught fire in the country, raising burning questions about their safety.

The unabated deadly fires in the electric two-wheelers has shaken up the entire EV industry and its stakeholders, forcing the government to direct EV makers to immediately recall faulty batches that may trigger more such incidents.

Earlier, an 80-year-old man was killed and two others injured when the battery of a Pure EV electric two-wheeler exploded in their house in Telangana's Nizamabad district.
Karachi, April 26 : A terror attack in Pakistan's metropolitan city Karachi has claimed lives of Chinese and Pakistani nationals, in what is being seen a targeted attack on Chinese nationals in the country.

As per details, the blast occurred outside the Karachi university campus of IBA (Institute of Business Administration), in a vehicle parked outside the campus building with at least three Chinese nationals and a driver aboard.

The blast set ablaze the parked vehicle in flames, killing the three Chinese nationals -- one male and two females, and a driver in what is now being suspected as a targeted suicide bomb attack, carried out by a burqa clad female bomber.

The killed Chinese nationals include Zhang Xiaoping, director of a Chinese language institute of IBA called Confucius Institute. The other two female Chinese nationals were also part of the faculty of the same institute.

Police authorities, the rangers and the bomb disposal squad cordoned off the area and later confirmed that the explosion in the vehicle was a terror attack.

"Clear marks of ball bearings can be seen on the vehicle, which confirms that it was a terror attack. It can also be seen that one side of the van is more damaged, which also signifies that the attack may have been done by a suicide bomber who exploded after reaching close to the vehicle from one side," said an eye witness.

It can also be seen that no crater emerged in the ground, which also clarifies that the attack was not done through an improvised explosive device.

Police authorities say that investigation is being done and forensics will be taken along with the CCTV footage of the institute to ascertain the actual cause of the blast.

No group has claimed responsibility of the attack as yet. However, it can be said with certainty that the attack was targeted at the Chinese nationals.

"We suspect that it's a suicide attack. A burqa-clad woman approached the van and the blast took place," said Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon, a leading media outlet reported.

"We are investigating the incident by collecting evidence, but it seems that the Chinese teachers were the actual target of the explosion," the city police chief said.

After the explosion, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah contacted the police chief. The IGP informed the CM that the blast took place inside a van near the Commerce Department of the university.

The chief minister also ordered the Karachi commissioner to submit a report on the bombing.

It should be noted that Pakistan is under a major attack by terrorist organization including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which announced its fresh offensive through terror attacks and suicide bombings during the month of Ramadan.

China's increasing influence, investments and presence in Pakistan has also been questioned and criticized by western powers and has been targeted by various terror organizations in the past.

The latest attack targeting Chinese nationals raises serious security concerns and challenges for Pakistan's security forces.
Srinagar, April 26 : "You just can't have enough of Kashmir". Two brothers, Amarnath Mehta and Ram Chand Mehta, who came to Kashmir as tourists in 1915, proved the adage. Their visit was literally a homecoming as they decided to live in Kashmir since their passion for photography could just not have a better means of expression than in the mesmerising Valley, its royal grandeur, and the simplicity of its people.

For three generations, the Mehtas have believed that Kashmir is the Mecca for a photographer and photo lovers.

Amarnath and Ram Chand had come to Kashmir from Gurdaspur (Punjab) in 1905. In 1915, they started a photo shop in a houseboat on the Jhelum river in uptown Srinagar city.

Subsequently, they shifted to a shop on the embankment of the Jhelum river, where the studio stands today as 'Mahatta and Co'. The change of name from 'Mehta' to 'Mahatta' is a story in itself. Ghulam Muhammad Sofi, who joined the studio on February 2, 1972 said: "The name 'Mehta' was mispronounced by British tourists as 'Mahatta' and that is what finally became our brand name". He said Ram Chand Mehta treated his staff, including Sofi like his own children.

"After his death in 1994, Jagdish Mehta took over. He would always tell us that since the elder Mehta called us his sons, so we were his brothers." As coincidence would have it, Ram Chand Mehta, his wife and son Jagdish all passed away on 23rd June though in different years", Sofi recalled. His 50 years at the Mahattas have been a saga in time and photography. "On behalf of the Mahattas, I was officially engaged as the photographer for VVIP functions in Kashmir. "I have taken pictures of late Indira Gandhi, Gaini Zail Singh, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and other senior leaders.

"Among the film stars, I have photographed Dilip Kumar, Saira Banu, Rajesh Khanna and Jagdeep during their visits to Kashmir".

He misses the old times like a child who has lost all his toys."Taking pictures, retouching them, processing films, marching colours etc in the studio was an art which is all vanished now. You shoot with a digital phone or camera these days and that it." Photography has ceased to be an art it used to be earlier. The Mahattas were the first to start colour photography in Delhi and Srinagar in 1957. Except for Mumbai, these were the only two places where colour photography was available those days", he said. For his incomplete venture, 'Zooni' featuring the life and times of Kashmiri Queen, Habba Khatoun, film maker, Muzaffar Ali had engaged Sofi for picking up the locales for the film. "I visited different villages with Muzaffar Ali to select the native village of Habba Khatoun. "He finally picked up a place near Harwan outside Srinagar city, but the film was never completed", Sofi said.

The passion and business of 'Mahattas' knew no bounds after 1915. The studio initially became known for portraits as it was first such place to have all kinds of props and backgrounds the customers desired to have. Their business grew exponentially. They established photo studios in Lahore, Sialkot, Rawalpindi and at the Murree hill station in Pakistan.

These studios had to be closed with the country's partition in 1947, but after that, they started a bigger photo studio at Connaught Place in Delhi which was closed just a few years back. Ram Chand Mehta's son, Jagdish Mehta managed the studio till his death in 2016 and his wife, Anita Mehta runs the studio these days. She said, "We have spent three generations in continuing our legacy. From preservation of local art, culture, crafts, customs, heritage, tourism and politics, we have all this preserved frame by frame in our gallery". She said the family wants to return some part of the greatness Kashmir has bestowed on them.

"For me keeping up the family tradition and legacy is a worship. My two sons work in Delhi and we have the largest photo stock agency in the World. So you understand that we have not been deterred by losses in business and other troubles which we faced like every other Kashmiri." Photography in its pure and traditional form has a future which cannot be taken away by anything. Technology comes as an asset and not as an enemy to the art form", she said. Her two sons come frequently to visit their mother and take keen interest in the affairs of the studio in Srinagar. "This place is our place of worship which we can never imagine to give up", she said while talking of the studio the family owns. "The first floor of our establishment is a work place for young, talented local photographers and artists.

"At the ground floor, we run a cafe where the young and old gather to view our photo gallery and discuss the events of the bygone days as also the impact of this grand heritage on the future of this place", Anita said.

The photo gallery at the Mahattas is in fact a 'who is who' of not only Kashmir, but the entire country. There are photographers of Maharaja Hari Singh, his royal Durbar, his son and first regent of the state, Karan Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Sheikh Abdullah, V.P.Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and many others. These are original photographs taken by the Mahattas and none of them is a reproduction from anywhere. Similarly, they have originals photographs of the Amarnath Holy Cave taken at different points of time. The Hazratbal shrine, the Sharika Devi Temple, the shrine of Sheikh Humza Makhdoom, the shrine of Sheikh Nuruddin Wali at Chrar-e-Sharief and other Sufi shrines of Kashmir.

The photographs of snow clad mountains, rivers, springs, artisans at work like carpet weavers, shawl makers, papier machie workers, willow wicker workers, mat weavers, potters etc also dot the gallery. Different races of Kashmir, the Gujjars, Dogras, Kashmiris, Ladakhis, Dards also known as Shinas and others have been photographed in their natural settings. Since the outbreak of armed violence in early 1990s, business for the Mahattas also took a beating like everything else.

Anita's two sons are now working in Delhi while the lady is carrying on the family legacy in Kashmir. In 2012, government of India recognised the Mahatta studio as the second oldest photo studio in the country. The Mahattas became the royal photographers of the Dogra Maharaja Hari Singh in 1930s.

"This gave us free access to the royal Durban (Court) and the palace which no other photographer had till that time", said Ms Mehta. Visiting the Mahattas on the Bund in Srinagar is like visiting the Mecca of photography in Kashmir. Within minutes of looking at the photo gallery, one is transported into the times gone by. The glory and grandeur of Kashmir is visible, frame by frame, picture by picture at the Mahattas.
Kochi, April 26 : Customs officials on Tuesday arrived at the house of a local politician as a follow-up in the case of smuggling gold concealed in a meat slicer.

The Customs officials got a tip-off three days back of gold being smuggled in from the Middle East, concealed in a meat slicer.

The packet had come through the cargo to Sirajudeen on April 17, and on Monday a person named Naukul had come to take it.

The Customs officials allowed the baggage to be cleared before taking the person into custody from outside the clearing house.

The officials used a gas cutter to open the meat slicer and recovered 2.26 kg of gold stacked inside the machine.

The Customs officials are yeat to nab Sirajudeen.

On Tuesday, the Customs officials raided the house of A.A. Ebrahim Kutty, the vice-chairman of the Thrikakara Municipality, as a follow-up investigation in the same case as they suspect the alleged involvement of his son in the smuggling racket cracked on Monday.
Karachi, April 26 : A terror attack in Pakistan's metropolitan city Karachi has claimed lives of Chinese and Pakistani nationals, in what is being seen a targeted attack on Chinese nationals in the country.

As per details, the blast occurred outside the Karachi university campus of IBA (Institute of Business Administration), in a vehicle parked outside the campus building with at least three Chinese nationals and a driver aboard.

The blast set ablaze the parked vehicle in flames, killing the three Chinese nationals -- one male and two females, and a driver in what is now being suspected as a targeted suicide bomb attack, carried out by a burqa-clad female bomber.

The killed Chinese nationals include Zhang Xiaoping, director of a Chinese language institute of IBA called Confucius Institute. The other two female Chinese nationals were also part of the faculty of the same institute.

Police authorities, the rangers and the bomb disposal squad cordoned off the area and later confirmed that the explosion in the vehicle was a terror attack.

"Clear marks of ball bearings can be seen on the vehicle, which confirms that it was a terror attack. It can also be seen that one side of the van is more damaged, which also signifies that the attack may have been done by a suicide bomber who exploded after reaching close to the vehicle from one side," said an eye witness.

It can also be seen no crater emerged in the ground, which also clarifies that the attack was not done through an improvised explosive device.

Police authorities say that investigation is being done and forensics will be taken along with the CCTV footage of the institute to ascertain the actual cause of the blast.

The attack has been claimed by Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a banned terror group operating out of Balochistan province in Pakistan.

The attack was carried out by a Baloch female suicide bomber, who belonged to the Majeed Brigade.

"The mission was carried out by first female fidayee of the Brigade. Fidayee Shari Baloch alias Bramsh today added a new chapter in Baloch resistance history," read a press release issued by BLA.

"Majeed Brigade of Baloch Liberation Army accepts responsibility of today's self-sacrificing attack on Chinese in Karachi," the BLA press release added.

After the explosion, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah contacted the police chief. The IGP informed the Chief Minister that the blast took place inside a van near the Commerce Department of the university.

The chief minister also ordered the Karachi commissioner to submit a report on the bombing.

This is a first attack by a female suicide bomber from the BLA in Pakistan, adding massive concerns over the security situation in the country, which has seen a major surge in terror attacks by various terror organisations including the Baloch separatists and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

China's increasing influence, investments and presence in Pakistan has also been questioned and criticised by Western powers and has been targeted by various terror organisations in the past.

The latest attack targeting Chinese nationals raises serious security concerns and challenges for Pakistan's security forces.
Varanasi, April 26 : The Varanasi Development Authority (VDA) has now asked the consultant company - WAPCOS Limited - an accredited public sector enterprise under the Union ministry of Jal Shakti which had finalised the plan of pilot phase project of ropeway, to re-study the alignment and feasibility of the project.

This comes after no developer had taken part in the bidding process despite the dates being repeatedly extended by the VDA.

The VDA has also sought help from the Union government to rope in the National Highway Authority of India's National Highway Logistic Management Company Limits (NHLMCL) to execute the project.

Divisional commissioner and VDA chairman Deepak Agrawal said, "Mainly, the issues of underground pipelines and other assets have forced the revision of the alignment of the ropeway. Shifting these pipelines and other underground assets for construction of pillars of the ropeway can prove to be a time-taking process. Hence, it was decided to adopt a new alignment for which no such shifting is required." "However, the ropeway for the public transport system will soon be a reality in Kashi and a number of stations proposed in the pilot phase would also not change," claimed Agrawal.

Providing details of the developments, VDA vice - chairperson Isha Duhan said, "After the completion of the basic exercises, the tender for selecting a developer to execute the project on public private partnership model was floated in November 2021.

"The state cabinet approved the ropeway project for Varanasi in December 2021. In the pre-bidding meet, many leading global ropeway and ski-lift manufacturers from the US, Austria, France and Malaysia had taken part and displayed interest in executing the Rs 410-crore ambitious ropeway venture in Kashi." She added, "However, despite extending the last date for tender filing till March 15, no developer took part." The VDA, thereafter, decided to rework the alignment of proposed ropeway and examine the technical feasibility.

Duhan said, "A fresh Lidar survey had been launched to revise the alignment. Apart from WAPCOS, a decision for roping in more consultants to make the project financially viable has also been taken. The VDA has written a letter to the Union ministry of urban and housing development to seek help for roping in NHLMCL in this regard." Duhan said that after the completion of the fresh survey for finalising alignment of the ropeway and its technical feasibility, and okaying of the decision of roping in NHLMCL and the Railway Board, the process of floating the tender for the ropeway project would soon be started again.

The VDA had decided to use the ropeway as a public transport system in Kashi following the rejection of the Metro rail plan in June 2018.

In the pilot phase of the ropeway project of Rs 410 crores, operation of cable cars was proposed between Varanasi Junction and Girijaghar crossing (Godowlia) via Rathyatra. Operation of 220 cable cars with facilities like escalator-equipped stations was also proposed.
Mysuru, April 26 : The residents of Maduvinahalli village near Nanjangud town in Karnataka's Mysuru district on Tuesday threatened to consume poison before the Forest Department office if the authorities cannot prevent elephants from entering their agricultural fields.

The wall with iron pillars constructed to prevent elephants and wild animals from straying into the village has collapsed. The work taken up to reconstruct the wall is incomplete, paving the way for elephants to come into the village and create havoc, the villagers claimed.

"We escaped the attack by the elephants by a whisker. Since the last three days, the elephants have destroyed banana and coconut trees. I am left with nothing. The forest officers come to the village, get forms filled by us and then disappear.

"At the end, they will give us compensation of Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 after we lose our entire crop. If the elephant menace is not stopped, I will go to the Forest department office with a bottle poison and consume it. I will end my life there," said Sheshappa, an aggrieved farmer.

"The elephants are coming to our fields in herds as the wall is broken. We have taken loans to grow the crop. Everything has been destroyed. The moneylenders will come to our houses and humiliate our families. The Forest Department should take some action to prevent elephants from straying into agricultural fields. It is better to die than get humiliated by money lenders in front of other villagers," rued Shivarajamma.

In another incident, the villagers of Penjalli near Hunsur town in Mysuru district have demanded a permanent solution to elephant menace. Two elephants which surfaced in the village on Tuesday morning created panic among the villagers.

The forest department officials were later successful in forcing the elephants back to the forest. Though the villagers heaved a sigh of relief, they were worried that they don't know when the elephants will enter their village again.
Chandigarh, April 26 : Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said the state require additional 3,000 MW electricity in summer and necessary arrangements are being made by the government to overcome the shortage.

About 400 MW will be produced through a short-term forecasting model, the Chief Minister said at a review meeting with officers of power distribution companies here.

Likewise, 500-500 MW would be made available through short-term model.

Besides, the process of taking power from hydroelectric power plants will be completed soon. In this way, power cut problems can be permanently resolved.

Power Minister Ranjit Singh was also present at the meeting.

To meet the increasing power consumption during summer, problems at the power station in Khedar village are being resolved and it will soon be made operational.

Also, he said, a new power plant of 750 MW would be set up in Yamunanagar. After its installation, additional power will be generated.

He said along with the generation of electricity, discoms are also improving the transmission system to ensure there is no shortage of electricity in Haryana.
New Delhi, April 26 : Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company RSC Ltd (TA'ZIZ) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) have signed the formal Shareholder Agreement for the TA'ZIZ EDC & PVC project.

Reliance is India's largest diversified conglomerate and a strategic partner with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, in TA'ZIZ EDC & PVC, a world-scale chemicals development at the TA'ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais.

The TA'ZIZ EDC and PVC joint venture will construct and operate a Chlor-Alkali, Ethylene Dichloride (EDC) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) production facility, with a total investment of over $2 billion. These chemicals will be produced in the UAE for the first time, unlocking new revenue streams and opportunities for local manufacturers to "Make it in the Emirates".

The formal shareholder agreement was signed by senior executives during a visit of Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance, to the ADNOC headquarters, a statement said.

During the visit, Ambani met Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, and discussed opportunities for partnership and growth in upstream, new energies and decarbonisation across the hydrocarbon value chain.

"I am happy to see the quick progress made by The TA'ZIZ EDC and PVC joint venture between Reliance Industries Ltd and TA'ZIZ in a short time. This joint venture is a testimony to the strong and growing ties between India and the UAE and will be a benchmark for more such projects built on strengths of the two nations," Ambani said.

"I am looking forward to implementation of the project at an accelerated pace, taking a step further in enhancing lives of our people in the region." Al Jaber said: "Reliance is a valued strategic partner and our collaboration at TA'ZIZ underscores the important role of industrial and energy cooperation as a means of strengthening the deep-rooted and friendly ties between the UAE and India."
Islamabad, April 26 : Former Prime Minister and chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has called on his supporters to be ready for a mass march and a protest sit-in in Pakistan's capital Islamabad after Eid, announcing yet another anti-government march to pressure the Shehbaz Sharif government to announce immediate and early general elections in the country.

Khan, while addressing a press conference, said he would be announcing the date of the march in the coming weeks.

"I have asked my party members to begin preparations for marching to Islamabad. I have directed party leaders, including those at village level, to prepare for the march for true freedom," he said.

"A huge sea of people would go towards the capital because I have never seen such political awareness among the people. Everyone will sit with me in protest in Islamabad until early general elections are not announced," he added.

Imran Khan's plan to begin the Islamabad march is expected after Eid. Khan said "people have begun to understand the joke that happened with them and the kind of people placed on us as rulers".

"There is an unprecedented number of criminals and those who were out of bail in the newly formed federal cabinet," said Imran Khan.

Imran Khan has been claiming that his government has been taken off power through a foreign conspiracy led by the US, and implemented through his opposition political parties. Khan claims that the findings of the National Security Committee (NSC) which has discussed details of the cypher from then Pakistan's Ambassador to US Asad Majeed, has confirmed that what he is claiming is correct.

However, the NSC's second meeting in relation to the same threat letter concluded that "there has been no foreign conspiracy" as no such evidence was found to establish the foreign intervention for regime change in Pakistan.

But Khan said that NSC confirmed that the cypher a.k.a. telegram was correct and real, adding that the language used in the cable was undiplomatic.

"NSC had confirmed that the cable was genuine and the conversation with US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia Donald Lu was real," he said.

"The language used was undiplomatic. I will say it was arrogance," he added.
New Delhi, April 26 : Delhi's most-wanted gangster, carrying a bounty of Rs 2,00,000 on his head, has been arrested, along with his three aides from the national capital.

Twenty-eight-year-old Shahrukh was wanted in multiple cases of murder, attempts to murder, firing and extortion.

DCP Manishi Chandra of the Counter Intelligence unit of the Special Cell said Shahrukh was the last major criminal of the Lawrence Bishnoi - Kala Jathedi - Sampat Nehra - Hashim Baba alliance on the run from law.

"On April 25, an information was received regarding the movements of the said criminals in Chhatarpur area," the DCP said after which a trap was laid and the accused were apprehended.

The accused persons were found in possession of sophisticated firearms and live ammunition and accordingly, a separate case under the provisions of Arms Act was registered against them.

The other three arrested gangsters were identified as -- Sameer Umar alias Umar (29), a resident of Tigri, Delhi, Yusuf-Ur-Rehman (23), a resident of Turkman Gate, Delhi and Sohail Arshad (23), a resident of Khanpur, Madangir, Delhi.

Some of the murders committed by the accused were -- in June 2020, he had murdered Yogesh, a resident of Dakshinpuri, Delhi, in a broad daylight in the Preet Vihar police station area. In March 2021, in his continuing rivalry with Ravi Gangwal, Shahrukh located one Kunal, who was brother of Ravi Gangwal's closest aide Sunny, and pumped 24 bullets into his body in the Ambedkar Nagar police station area. In April 2021, Shahrukh killed one Farman alias Nanhe, a rival of his mentor-gangster Hashim Baba, in the area of Mandawali police sttation.

In March this year, Shahrukh attempted the murder of Sunny. However, Sunny managed to escape from the scene. Following this, Shahrukh went up to the house of Sunny and opened fire at the house in order to intimidate the family members of Sunny. Pertinently, this whole sequence of events had terrorised areas of South Delhi for quite some time.
Kolkata, April 26 : After Trinamool Congress strongman Anubrata Mandal denied having a passport, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday alerted the Kolkata airport authorities and said that any possible air travel attempt by Mandal via there should immediately be brought to its notice.

The CBI officers have also contacted the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata to verify Mandal's claims of not having any passport.

According to highly-placed CBI sources, on Monday, the central agency had sought from Mandal details about his passport, but he denied having one. For the time being, the agency has procured photocopies of his Aadhaar and PAN cards.

"However, we have alerted the Kolkata airport authorities and have also contacted the Regional Passport Office here to cross-check his claims," said a CBI source on strict condition of anonymity.

According to him, till the time they are clear on when and how they will be able to get Mandal for questioning, he will be kept under surveillance as far as possible.

On Monday afternoon, Mandal gave conditions to the CBI to appear for interrogation. At around 5.30 p.m., his letters reached the offices of CBI's anti-corruption branch (ACB) and special crime branch (SCB), containing the Trinamool Birbhum district President's conditions relating to time and place of his appearance for interrogation.

In the letters to the ACB and SCB, Mandal mentioned that he will be able to appear before the CBI only after May 21. As regards to the place of integration, he insisted that it would be decided only after mutual discussion.

Mandal had been using a medical report as a shield to avoid the CBI. He has also given seven summons from the central probe agency a miss, six of which are pertaining to cattle and coal smuggling cases and one relating to post-poll violence in the state.
Delhi, April 26 : Netflix and the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting have come together to honour unique real-life stories of extraordinary individuals through a series of inspiring short videos titled 'Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan'.

The initiative was launched on Tuesday in the presence of Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, as India celebrates its rich history of people, culture and achievements with the nation set to mark 75 years of independence.

Bela Bajaria, Global Head of TV, Netflix, who was also present at the event, and she said, "Great stories can come from anywhere and are ever so inspiring when they are about people who rise against the odds. In partnership with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan focuses on celebrating remarkable individuals and their stories that can inspire people in India and around the world." Narrated by acclaimed actress Neena Gupta, these short videos capture the remarkable journey of these individuals and how they broke the glass ceiling in their respective fields, ranging from science to sports.

Here is what these achievers had to say about what "Azadi" (freedom) means to them personally.

"If something hasn't been attempted, it doesn't mean you cannot do it. To me, 'Azadi' means facing a raging fire," said Harshini Kanheker, India's first female firefighter.

"From water comes life, and water is life. I flow free like a river, and will continue to protect and serve water, that's Azadi to me," said Basanti Devi, environmentalist and protector of the Kosi river ecosystem.

"If women hold the power to create life, women also hold the power to save lives. If I have to put my life at stake to save other lives, I wouldn't think twice." - Poonam Nautiyal walked miles across the Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand to vaccinate thousands of people living in remote areas.

"Being a scientist, every moment is a learning curve. We need to face challenges, and we need to learn. I always say that science has no gender, and Azadi is when we take our nation to new horizons," said Tessy Thomas, the 'Missile Woman of India', is the first-ever woman scientist to head a missile project in India.

"I am a force of nature, I can scale great heights, and my journey has just begun. Azadi means to make your way up in the world," said Anshu Jamsenpa, the first woman in the world to summit Mount Everest twice in 5 days.

"When you dream something out of the box, it's very important to push the norms. Azadi is to be one with the wind," said Aarohi Pandit, the world's youngest person and first woman pilot to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean solo in a light-sport aircraft.

"You have the right to dream, and the right to achieve your dream. Just like the waves, be patient, be consistent, and never look back. To me, Azadi is to take a bit of the ocean wherever I go," said Tanvi Jagadish, India's first competitive woman stand-up paddleboarder.

The videos are now available on the ministry's social media platforms and Doordarshan.
Thiruvananthapuram, April 26 : A court in the Kerala capital has issued an arrest warrant against newly sworn-in CPI-M Rajya Sabha member A.A. Rahim in a case against him filed by a college professor, who alleged that she was harassed and held hostage by him and other Students Federation of India activists some years back.

The Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate's court has issued the arrest warrant after Rahim failed to appear before the court when he was asked to do so in the past.

Along with Rahim, 11 others are also accused in the case, which pertains to a 2017 incident, when he, along with other students, approached Dr Vijayalekshmi seeking release of funds for the conduct of the Kerala University Union festival.

Vijayalekshmi then said she will release the funds but before that she has to be given a utilisation certificate for the funds given previously, but Rahim and the others objected to this and restrained her for a few hours.

Then it was after lot of pressure that a case was registered and she fought hard.

Rahim, 41, was a surprise selection to the Upper House and he was sworn in early this month.

His stock rose hugely in the party ever since he became a popular face on TV channel debates defending the party at all times.
Chandigarh, April 26 : Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Tuesday said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has sold off the state's interests to Delhi "in the garb of a knowledge-sharing agreement" and now AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal has become the de-facto Chief Minister of Punjab too.

Terming the development as a black day in the history of Punjab, Badal said never before in the history of the state had outsiders been given control of the state and its future generations in this manner.

"A municipality President has been given charge of Chief Ministership of Punjab. Punjab has become subservient to Delhi which is not even a state." Asking Mann to explain why he had betrayed Punjab and its people by surrendering its autonomy to Delhi, Badal alleged that he had hurt the pride of Punjabis.

"The agreement makes it clear that all ministers and officers of Punjab will now report to Kejriwal and that the latter will have access to all Punjab government files. This is also a case of violation of the Official Secrets act even as clause 3 of the agreement binds future governments to decisions taken under it.

"We will approach the Punjab Governor and urge him to direct the Chief Minister to withdraw his assent to the anti-Punjab agreement. The party will also plan its next course of action in an emergency meeting of its core committee." Asserting the "agreement" could have dangerous repercussions, Badal said" "We apprehend that a situation could arise whereby Kejriwal could force the Punjab Chief Minister to sign away the state's river waters to Haryana and Delhi in the same manner in which Congress Chief Minister Darbara Singh was coerced into doing so by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi." He said the situation had already taken a turn for the worst. "Punjab ministers are now even finding it difficult to defend their state with the Food and Civil Supplies Minister offering only 'no comments' when asked to spell out Punjab's stand on the SYL canal." Asking Mann not to act like a rubber stamp and cancel the agreement if he had any Punjabi pride, Badal said the Chief Minister should know that Kejriwal had his eyes on the Chief Minister's chair of Punjab from the very beginning.

"Immediately after the AAP government was sworn in, Kejriwal started summoning the state Chief Secretary and police chief to Delhi and even deciding on transfers and postings. When this attracted criticism a conspiracy was hatched to institutionalise the arrangement by bringing in the knowledge-sharing agreement, which is nothing but a document designed to hand over the administrative control of Punjab to the Delhi government." Referring to press briefing in Delhi where the purported agreement between the two states was signed, Badal said the Punjab Chief Minister said he wanted to learn and take benefit of the 'Delhi Model' whereas Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had gone on record to having said Delhi copied the Meritorious School model of Punjab which was put in place by former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
New Delhi, April 26 : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that he was saddened to learn that every year 20 to 25 Indian Army personnel lose their lives, not in war or terrorist incident but in avalanches.

Interacting with a team of Tiranga Mountain Rescue (TMR) here, he said: "I am very sad to know that every year, 20 to 25 personnel of our Army lose their lives in such accidents. That is, what can be more sad than this, no war, no terrorist incident, yet so many of our soldiers lose their lives in avalanche." He commended TMR for saving the lives of the Armed Forces personnel from threats like avalanches, besides raising awareness and imparting training to them.

'Tiranga Mountain Rescue' team is a non-profit organisation affiliated with the Indian Army since 2016 and is instrumental in providing dedicated avalanche rescue and training to Indian Army personnel in mountain craft.

The team provides multiple teams of highly motivated and qualified avalanche rescue professionals who are deployed in snow bound and difficult areas during the winter season.

Rajnath Singh termed 'Tiranga Mountain Rescue' as a source of strength to the soldiers who are deployed in difficult areas and are exposed to various threats such as avalanches.

He appreciated the fact that there has been no Army casualty in the locations where it is deployed.

Stressing that 'Tiranga Mountain Rescue' has a big responsibility on their shoulders as in the coming times threats such as avalanche may increase due to climate change, he described the work being carried out by it as a shining example of partnership between the government and civil society.

He emphasised that a nation moves forward on the path of development only when the government and civil society work together. "Government and civil society are the wheels on which the country can achieve the goal of all-round sustainable development," he said.
Guwahati, April 26 : A court in Assam's Barpeta district on Tuesday rejected the bail petition of Independent Gujarat MLA and Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani, and sent him to five-day police custody, a day after he was re-arrested by the Assam police on different charges, including "outraging the modesty of a woman police officer".

The Chief Judicial Magistarte's court in Barpeta remanded the Gujarat legislator to police custody after he was re-arrested on Monday, soon after the CJM's court in Kokrajhar district granted him bail, six days after he was arrested by Assam police from his home state in Gujarat in connection with an "objectionable" tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mevani's lawyer Angshuman Bora told IANS over phone that they would decide on Wednesday whether the bail petition would be moved to a higher court.

The Barpeta police, following a complaint lodged by a woman sub-inspector, levelled several charges against Mevani. These include IPC 294 (obscene acts or words in public), IPC 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), IPC 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and IPC 354 (Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will there by outrage her modesty).

The sub-inspector in her complaint alleged that on April 21 when she was escorting Mevani from the Guwahati airport to Kokrajhar along with other police officers, the accused used slang words against her and pushed her on her seat with force.

"He (Mevani) thus assaulted me during the execution of my legal duty of being a public servant and outraged my modesty by touching me inappropriately while pushing," read the complaint accessed by IANS.

The Gujarat legislator was first arrested on April 20 in connection with an "objectionable" tweet against the Prime Minister posted on April 18.

Mevani was flown to Guwahati the next day and then taken to Kokrajhar by road.

The CJM's court in Kokrajhar district on April 21 rejected the bail petition of the Dalit activist and sent him to three-day police custody.

On Sunday, after hearing his bail petition, the court reserved its order and sent him to one-day judicial custody and asked the police to produce Mevani again in the court on Monday.

After his re-arrest on Monday, Mevani had said that it is a deep-rooted conspiracy by the BJP and RSS.

"They (BJP and RSS) are doing this to tarnish my image and are doing this systematically. They did it to Rohit Vemula, they did it to Chandrasekhar Azad, now they are targeting me," he had told the media.

The Gujarat legislator was arrested following a complaint filed by an Assam BJP leader seeking action against him under the IT Act.

Ever since the arrest of Mevani, who had earlier pledged outside support to the Congress, the party has been holding demonstrations in different parts of Assam, terming the arrest as a 'conspiracy'.

It also sent its legal teams to Kokrajhar and Barpeta districts to look into the matter.

Congress' leader of the opposition, Debabrata Saikia, on Tuesday alleged that it is a conspiracy and the Assam police is acting in a partisan manner.

A Congress delegation on Tuesday tried to meet Governor Jagdish Mukhi, but he refused to meet the Congress leaders and asked their to send their issues in writing to him.

The Assam Congress has also launched a massive social media campaign against the arrest of the Gujarat legislator.

Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor tweeted: "Political misuse of the justice system has reached a new extreme. An elected representative of the people in our democracy jailed for a tweet! Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani granted bail in Kokrajhar but was arrested again by Barpeta police for a fabricated case."
Chennai, April 26 : Actor and dance choreographer Sathish Krishnan, who was part of director Nelson Dilipkumar's 'Beast', has in his own unique way thanked actor Vijay for a dinner party the actor recently threw for the core unit of the film.

The actor, who is known as much for his sense of humour as he is for his dance moves, took to Instagram to post his thank you message.

Posting a picture of the group clicked along with actor Vijay at the dinner, he wrote, "hi, Thanks Vijay sir for the wonderful time. Will cherish this always." The actor went on to humorously remark that he would not eat the Rs 100 biryani anymore as he had eaten enough biryani for the next one month.

The actor also spoke in a lighter vein about his pose in the group picture clicked on the occasion.

In the picture, the actor is seen lovingly admiring his food while the others look prim and proper.

Referring to this pose of his, the actor remarked in Tamil that he could have avoided such a pose but that realisation dawned late on him.

He went on to thank the entire team, saying, "I thank each and everyone in this picture for giving me BE(A)ST memories."
Shimla, April 26 : With the state set to go to the polls later this year, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur said on Tuesday that about three lakh people in 154 panchayats, known as Hattis who are settled in the trans-Giri area in Sirmaur district adjoining Uttarakhand, may be given Scheduled Tribe status, a demand pending for five decades.

The community resides in four Assembly constituencies -- Shillai, Paonta, Renuka and Pachhad.

The Chief Minister said he has called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah and apprised him about the demand of the Hatti community.

He thanked the Union minister for taking up the matter of according tribal status to the Hatti community at an appropriate level and giving priority to the issue that was neglected by previous Congress governments.

Thakur said the issue is likely to be resolved soon and a favourable decision may be taken by the Centre.

He said this community enjoys tribal status in Uttarakhand, which was accorded way back in 1968 as they shared similar culture and socio economic conditions.

The Chief Minister detailed about the long struggle for getting tribal status during the Congress regimes, a proposal that was turned down many times. He said the BJP governments at the Centre and the state always took a favourable stand for the cause of the Hatti community.

BJP's election manifestos for the 2009 Assembly polls and 2014 Lok Sabha elections mentioned granting ST status to the Hattis.

The Hattis are fighting for the special category status on the lines of the residents of Jaunsar-Bawar area in Uttarakhand. Previously, the trans-Giri and Jaunsar-Bawar areas were part of the erstwhile Sirmaur princely state. Despite the Jaunsar-Bawar area getting separated from the princely state in 1815, due to marriages between the two clans, they still share cultural similarities.

Amichand Kamal, head of the central committee of the Hatti community, told IANS that the demand has been pending since 1979.

Granting ST status would help bring the people into the mainstream and ensure special budget for the area, he said.

It is the Tons river that separates the Hatti community from others in the state. The locals still follow age-old traditions like animal sacrifice and unique fairs and festivals like Budhi Divali, the festival of lights that is celebrated almost a month after the country has celebrated Divali.

The area is one of the country's prominent ginger belts that accounts for 55 per cent of state's total plantation, mainly in Paonta Sahib and Sangrah tehsils.
New York, April 26 : Mars, which was once known to contain a massive body of water, may have less water, suggests new research.

According to researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, the Red Planet faced a collision with a huge astral entity around four billion years ago.

The collision known as Late Heavy Bombardment refers to a period where it is believed that a disproportionately large number of asteroids collided with Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Many meteors and meteorites impacted Mars resulting in the large number of massive impact craters on the surface of the Red Planet. The event is also believed to have created its northern lowland - so large it's visible from space - where a significant tract of Martian land appears to be literally sliced off.

This basin is also believed to have once contained a massive body of water.

"Mars used to have a lot of water and it still has ice likely before this collision," said Mohammad Afzal Shadab, a CSEM graduate student at the Oden Institute at the varsity.

Shadab's team developed a very simple mathematical formula for predicting just how high that groundwater table would have been.

"Using curvilinear coordinates transformation and groundwater flow dynamics, we developed analytic solutions for a steady unconfined groundwater aquifer beneath the southern highlands of Noachian Mars (four billion years ago)," Shadab said.

They also used the models to explore self-consistent combinations of recharge (rainfall or precipitation) and hydraulic conductivities.

"We found that all the previously published estimates for recharge rates are orders of magnitude off from what early Mars could accommodate," he added.

Interestingly, the more "complex" mathematical model was able to produce simpler analyses than previous simulations. "Simple is the wrong word to use. I would say more elegant," he added.

"And 3D simulations on a complicated geometry with craters and putative shorelines show the same behaviour." So northern Mars is headless. But it also has very deep holes - an area known as the northern lowlands. There are also southern highlands - where higher, more mountainous ground dominates the landscape.

Shadab and the research team made a model for a hypothetical ocean in the northern lowlands that is connected, or "recharged," by a groundwater aquifer across the whole southern highlands.
New Delhi, April 26 : Preparing for the year-end assembly polls, the youth wing in Himachal Pradesh BJP unit has completed the 'One Booth 20 Youth' campaign.

The BJP youth wing has planned to connect with 20 youth who are not politically associated with any party, in each polling booth in the states.

"In four phases, we have completed 'One Booth 20 Youth' in all the 7,792 polling booths of Himachal Pradesh and throughout the campaign, the BJYM has enrolled around 1.53 lakh youth across the state," Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Himachal Pradesh president Amit Thakur told IANS.

During the campaign, BJYM Himachal Pradesh workers reached out to 20 youths who are not associated with any parties and explained to them about BJP ideology and agenda for the youth and the country, and motivated them to volunteer for us.

"Among the 1.53 lakh youth who joined us, about 1 lakh are those who are not politically associated with any political party," Thakur said.

Talking about the verification of new youth associated with the party, Thakur said that it was done digitally.

"To make Himachal Pradesh BJYM paperless, we have completed the verification process digitally by using a mobile app to reduce the chances of human error while compiling the data. Even the enrolment process was done digitally," Thakur said.

Now, the party will form WhatsApp groups of these youth to share the content which will be further spread by them to different social media platforms.

In the recent assembly polls the BJYM has successfully executed the 'one booth-20 youth' in Uttar Pradesh, where it has formed 5,000 WhatsApp groups of youth who were not politically affiliated to any party.

"Today youth play an important political role in deciding the fate of any political party and incumbent government. Through the campaign, our workers reached out to 20 youth and motivated them to volunteer for us," a BJYM functionary said.
New Delhi, April 26 : Former Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday met election strategist Prashant Kishor after the latter declined the offer to join the Congress.

After the meeting, Sidhu tweeted: "Had a wonderful meeting with my old friend PK... Old wine, Old gold and Old friends still the best!!!" Sidhu has been left out in the cold ever since the party lost the elections in Punjab earlier this year. He was asked to resign after the party appointed Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as the new President of Punjab Congress. Since then the Congress has set up a new team in Punjab, reportedly annoying the former state Congress chief.

Meanwhile, after declining the offer to join the Congress on Tuesday, Kishor said the party needs leadership and collective will to fix deep-rooted structural problems.

"I declined the generous offer of #Congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections," Kishor tweeted.

"In my humble opinion, more than me, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms," he added.

The Congress on Tuesday officially announced that election Kishor will not be working for the party as he declined to be part of the empowered action group for the 2024 general elections.

The declaration came a day after Sonia Gandhi had announced the constitution of the group.
New Delhi, April 26 : The Supreme Court said that fair investigation is undoubtedly imperative to protect the rights of the victims, as it expressed discontent over the investigation conducted into the death of a 17-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district.

The top court handed over the probe to the Inspector General of Police on a complaint by his mother alleging brutal murder in police custody in May last year.

A bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M. Trivedi said: "We are prima facie of the view that the manner in which the investigation has been conducted by the investigating officer cannot be said to be fair and impartial and the complaint of the petitioner, in our considered view, deserves indulgence of this court." The bench added that it cannot endorse its satisfaction of a fair and independent investigation and the manner in which the investigation has been conducted by the circle officer of the police station, under whose jurisdiction the charge-sheet was filed on the basis of the charges later been framed under Section 302 IPC on December 2, 2021.

The bench said: "The need to ensure fair investigation of crime is undoubtedly imperative because it protects at one level the rights of the victim and the fundamental rights of every citizen in ensuring that crime is investigated and dealt with in accordance with law." The bench said it has gone through the statements recorded by the investigating officer during investigation of various police officers under Section 161 Cr.P.C.

"No one has supported the case of the prosecution, but still the charge-sheet was filed under Section 304 IPC and the Sessions Judge has framed charges later under Section 302/34 IPC," it noted.

The boy was allegedly assaulted in police custody for violating coronavirus restrictions in the state.

The bench noted that fair investigation is the backbone of the criminal justice system and the object of the probe is to search for the truth so that it would help in meeting the ends of justice by way of fair trial in court.

The bench said it has an option either to send the matter to CBI for further re-investigation, but after it heard counsel for the parties, consider it appropriate at this stage to let a senior police officer, Bhagwan Swarup, Inspector General of Police, Intelligence, HQ, Lucknow to personally undertake further investigation.

The bench emphasised that the investigation on the complaint made by the petitioner on which FIR was registered, should be in a fair and impartial manner and report be furnished before it within a period of eight weeks.

The bench has listed the matter for further hearing on July 19. Deceased Mohammad Faisal was reportedly selling vegetables outside his house in Bangarmau town in Unnao beyond curfew timings.

According to the boy's father, the accused policeman Vijay Chowdhary and homeguard Satyaprakash allegedly started beating him for breaking curfew rules. The family alleged that he was arrested and taken to the local police station, and the police officials assaulted him further. Later, he was taken to the community health centre, where he was declared dead.

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New Delhi, April 26 : In a major initiative aimed at revitalising the core sectors of health and education, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday signed a knowledge-sharing agreement (KSA) with his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal.

Interacting with the media after having inked the agreement, both Chief Ministers Mann and Kejriwal described it as a historic initiative for the well-being and prosperity of people of both the states.

The agreement was signed between the Punjab and Delhi governments to share knowledge, experience and skills for the mutual welfare of the people of their respective territories.

It enables the two governments to send and receive officials, ministers and other personnel to learn and share their knowledge, experience and skills for public welfare.

Announcing to replicate the Delhi Model in the state, the Chief Minister said 117 government schools and an equal number of mohalla clinics will be set up with one each in every assembly segment across the state to impart quality education and the state-of-the-art healthcare facilities.

Mann said he was elated as the state has inked an agreement with the Delhi government, which has already evolved a world-class health and education model, adding it will help the residents of Punjab to avail these top class facilities.

Divulging the rationale behind this agreement, the Chief Minister said: "Every individual should learn like a student throughout his life and should never hesitate to adopt the good in life from wherever he gets." "With only this motive, they have signed the aforesaid agreement." Asserting that he will never stop here, Mann said he would certainly visit other states even some countries across the globe for the holistic development of the state whenever and wherever it is required.

Brushing aside the criticism by the Opposition, he categorically said this is not one-sided agreement but both the states would be mutually benefited from it.

Mann said that the Opposition was unnecessarily making a lot of hue and cry just for the sake of hollow criticism devoid of any tangible base.

Pointing out further, the Chief Minister said Punjab would be eventually benefitted from the health and education model of Delhi, the people of national capital would too be benefitted from Punjab's vast experience and expertise in the field of agriculture.
Dakshina Kannada, : April 26 (IANS) A unique megalithic burial site, dating back to around 800 BC, has been discovered at a cashew nut plantation near Ramakunja village in Kadaba taluk of Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district, it was announced on Tuesday.

Based on the information provided by villagers, a team of experts visited what is known as the "Pandavara Guhe" (cave of Pandavas) and found the megalithic site, which had some startling feastures.

"Usually, megalithic burials are marked by stone circles, menhirs, and stone cairns. But, it is the first time in India, a sepulchre is marked by a circle or zero. It brings up interesting questions like did megalith era people knew zero or did they invent it first?" Prof. Murugeshi T., Associate Professor and Dean of the Department of History and Archaeology, MSRS College, said.

In the case which is presently under study, there is no central opening but, a huge engraving of a circle, of about 7 feet diameter, was found above the laterite surface and exactly below this in same dimension, a hemispherical cave with a side opening of about 2 feet in height, he said.

This side entrance is designed like a doorframe and it's oriented to the north-east direction, he added.

Perhaps, it was the first rock engraving of megalithic period found from Dakshina Kannada, says Prof Murugeshi T., adding that no grave goods were found inside the cave, but, in the centre, an altar-like pit was noticed and it is also curious.

Also very small pieces of red, black, and red pottery were found in small quantities in the cave. Most probably, the cave had been robbed by the locals, the professor said.

There are 2.5 or 3 feet circular openings in the centre cut into the laterite about a metre deep and the bottom is cut into a hemispherical shape with the various depths and circumferences, he said, adding that this type of rock-cut caves are common in the southern west coast of Karnataka.

A small variation is found in Kerala, with side openings in the subsurfce, but central opening was common in both the cases.

Evidence of megalithic culture, including its burial sites and other unique features, has been frequently found in south India, including Karnataka. Coastal Karnataka and Kerala recorded a very special type of megalith phenomenon like rock-cut caves, scooped out in the laterite earth.

"I am thankful to Nischith and his family for their local hospitality and grateful to Yusuf Haider of National Gold and Diamonds, Mangalore for providing the vehicle. I also appreciate my students, Shreyas, Goutham, Shariq, Karthik, Dishanth and Vishal Rai for their 2 days of hard work in excavating the cave," Prof. Murugeshi added.
Hyderabad, April 26 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao on Tuesday cautioned people against the "cancer of communalism", saying this would bring greater destruction and undo all the progress achieved.

He said people should be alert as "some forces were doing cheap politics" in the name of religion and caste in this great country which equally respects all religions and castes.

"We should be cautious because this is like cancer. If we contract this disease, it will be dangerous," he said while addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation stone of a super-specialty hospital at Alwal.

In an obvious reference to incidents in Karnataka, he told people that every day it is being published in newspapers how some elements were calling upon the public not to buy flowers or other commodities from shops owned by members of a particular community.

"Have they ever realised what will happen if 13 crore Indians working in other countries are sent back by those governments," he asked.

KCR, as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief is popularly known, said the cancer of communalism would undo all the progress made by the country and the state.

He pointed out that Telangana attracted 2.30 lakh crore investment and provided 10-15 lakh jobs to youth in the last seven years. He said the state was also developing a pharma city and pharma university.

Stating that Hyderabad's Genome Valley is the vaccine capital of the world, the Chief Minister said that 33 per cent of vaccines in the world are produced in this cluster.

"All these investments and industries will come when there is peace and communal harmony and there is law and order. Wealth gets created and people get employment. People come from all over if all types of food are available and all languages are spoken. What happens if somebody lands at the airport and knows that there is curfew or Section 144 in the city. Will he come to invest in the city?" he asked.

KCR said while whipping up passions or creating some problems may give temporary pleasure, this would have permanent disastrous consequences for the country.

He said that during the last seven years, Telangana has achieved tremendous progress and surpassed even bigger and older states. "Our government could create wealth and distribute it among the poor. In no other state, widows, old age people and others are getting Rs 2,016 monthly pension and in no other state differently abled are receiving Rs 3,016 monthly pension," he said.

The TRS chief said while the rest of the country including Prime Minister's home state Gujarat is facing electricity shortage, there is no such problem in Telangana.

He pointed out that every household in Telangana is getting drinking water thanks to Mission Bhagiratha. The state has also taken up massive irrigation projects like Kaleshwaram and Palamuru.
New Delhi, April 26 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Assam on April 28.

During his visit, the Prime Minister will address the 'Peace, Unity and Development Rally', lay foundation stone of several initiatives in education sector and Amrit Sarovar projects in state, and also dedicate to the nation seven cancer hospitals.

Prime Minister Modi will also address the 'Peace, Unity and Development Rally' at Diphu in Karbi Anglong district.

During the programme, he will also lay the foundation stone of various projects in the education sector. Thereafter, Prime Minister will reach Assam Medical college, Dibrugarh and dedicate Dibrugarh Cancer Hospital to the nation.

Later, he will attend a public function at Khanikar ground in Dibrugarh, where he will dedicate six more cancer hospitals to the nation and lay the foundation stone of seven new cancer hospitals.

Referring to visit at Diphu, Karbi Anglong in a statement the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said that the Prime Minister's unwavering commitment towards peace and development of the region was exemplified with the recent signing of Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) by Government of India and Government of Assam with six Karbi militant outfits.

"The MoS has ushered in a new era of peace in the region. Prime Minister's address at 'Peace, Unity and Development Rally' will provide a major boost to the peace initiatives in the entire region," the PMO said.

The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of Veterinary College (Diphu), Degree College (West Karbi Anglong) and Agricultural College (Kolonga, West Karbi Anglong).

These projects, worth more than Rs 500 crore, will bring new opportunities for skilling and employment in the region.

During the programme, the Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone for more than 2,950 Amrit Sarovar projects.

The state will develop these Amrit Sarovars at a cumulative cost of around Rs 1,150 crore.

Assam Cancer Care Foundation, a joint venture of Government of Assam and Tata Trusts, is executing a project to build South Asia's largest affordable cancer care network with 17 Cancer care hospitals spread across the state.

Under the Phase 1 of the project, out of 10 hospitals, construction of seven hospitals have been completed while three hospitals are at various level of construction.

Phase 2 of the project will witness construction of seven new cancer hospitals.

The Prime Minister will dedicate to the nation seven cancer hospitals completed under phase 1 of the project.

These cancer Hospitals are built at Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Darrang, Tezpur, Lakhimpur, and Jorhat.

Modi will also lay the foundation stone of seven new cancer hospitals at Dhubri, Nalbari, Goalpara, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Tinsukia and Golaghat to be constructed under phase 2 of the project.
Kolkata, April 26 : Clashes broke out between police and BJP activists, on Tuesday afternoon, after the latter tried to approach West Bengal Education Department headquarters at Bikash Bhavan in Salt Lake to protest against the alleged irregularities in West Bengal State Service Commission recruitments.

The police used water cannons in a number of phases to stop approaching BJP activists led by BJP youth wing BJP Yuva Morcha national President Tejasvi Surya, and West Bengal unit President, Sukanta Majumdar.

However, the police, which was already ready with a three-layered barricade in front of Bikah Bhavan, was ready much before the protesters reached. However, after the BJP supporters broke through the first layer of the barricades, police used water cannons to disperse the mob.

Speaking to the media persons, Surya accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of ruining the education system in the state. "And now we are organising a protest demonstration in a democratic manner, we are being stopped by police," he added.

After being stopped by police, Majumdar, along with his associates organized a sit-in demonstration in front of Bikash Bhavan. "There had been massive irregularities in recruitment in WBSSC, where genuine and eligible candidates were denied jobs and instead confidants of the state's ruling party were offered berths. So naturally as the state's principal opposition party we will protest. But the police throttled our democratic movement by using police in an undemocratic manner," he claimed.

State Education Minister, Bratya Basu, however, said that BJP has no right to speak about alleged WBSSC irregularities, when Madhya Pradesh, under the BJP's rule, witnessed the Vyapam entrance examination scam.

The CBI is probing the scam, which reportedly took place when current state Commerce and Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee was Education Minister.
New Delhi, April 26 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday said no citizen should be deprived of his or her property without authority of law, as it would be a violation of the Constitution.

A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Vikram Nath said: "Construction/widening of road no doubt would be a public purpose but there being no justification for not paying compensation, the action of the respondents would be arbitrary, unreasonable and clearly violative of Article 300-A of the Constitutiona.

The bench said Article 300A though not a fundamental right but nevertheless it has status of being a constitutional or a statutory right and it provides that no citizen would be deprived of his property save without authority of law.

"Depriving somebody of his property, where it is land, can be made by number of modes e.g. by acquisition, surrender or by transfer and other facets also," it said, adding that in the present case, land being utilised for the road to be owned by the panchayat/municipality, could either have been voluntarily surrendered, transferred by way of title deeds, or by way of acquisition as may be provided under the statute.

The top court's judgment came on a plea filed by eight farmers challenging a Kerala High Court judgment, which dismissed their appeals for compensation for taking over their 1.7 hectares of land for widening of road by Sulthan Bathery Municipality. The high court relied on the Panchayat's contention that they had voluntarily surrendered their land for no consideration.

The top court noted that the high court proceeded on a wrong premise on shifting the burden on the appellants. "The assertion that it was surrendered voluntarily without any claim for consideration is by the panchayat/municipality. The PWD has only stated that it received the land from the panchayat and that it was given to understand that the land was surrendered voluntarily. Thus, it is the stand of the panchayat/ municipality which is to be taken note of," it noted.

The bench said the panchayat and the PWD have failed to produce a single piece of document or evidence in any other form in support of their defense that the appellants have surrendered their land voluntarily. "The consistent stand of the appellants, on the other hand, has been that they have not given their land to the panchayat voluntarily and that they were assured that they would be suitably compensated," it noted.

The top court said in this matter there is neither any acquisition proceedings nor any transfer of rights by the appellants by way of sale, gift or otherwise.

"The appellants are farmers and the land utilised is agricultural land. It was part of their livelihood. Depriving them of their part of their livelihood and also of their property without authority of law would be violative of Article 21 and Article 300A of the Constitution," it said, as it set aside the judgment passed by the division bench of the high court in 2018, and maintained the single judge bench's decision, which directed for disbursal of amount as may be determined by the Collector after ascertaining the market value of the property to the parties concerned.
New Delhi, April 26 : Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta on Tuesday claimed that the organisation's vice-president Surjit Yadav has been arrested by the Delhi Police for putting up posters outside the Congress headquarters in the national capital.

However, a senior Delhi Police official said that Yadav was only called for inquiry as the case is under investigation.

"He has been called for inquiry. Investigation in the case is underway. No arrests have been made so far," DCP Amrutha Guguloth said.

On April 24, the members of the right wing outfit put up posters outside the Congress headquarters at 24 Akbar Road here, blaming the party for its 'silence' over the attacks during Hindu festivals.

Gupta had alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party and Congress give "protection to Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, who plot such attacks".

Speaking to IANS on Tuesday, Gupta accused the police personnel at the Tughlak Road police station of harassing the national vice-president of Hindu Sena.

"The officers are raiding the houses and offices of Hindu Sena members and harassing Surjit Yadav with defamatory claims against him," he alleged.

Gupta further claimed that Delhi Police have confiscated the mobile phone, car and other valuables of Yadav by blatantly misusing public office.

He warned that the Hindu Sena will take legal action against Delhi Police officials for their repeated harassment of 60-year-old Yadav.

On April 15, members of the Hindu Sena had put up saffron flags outside the JNU campus, forcing the police to initiate legal action and remove the flags from there.

In that case, the police had registered an FIR under Section 3 of Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act 2007 and bound down three people.

In a case where a person is bound down, he/she is not booked under any legal provision but is released subject to the condition that he/she will appear before the police for further probe.
Shillong, April 26 : The Meghalaya government on Tuesday launched the Rs 121 crore "Ginger Mission", a flagship programme aimed at increasing its current production from about 60,000 MT to 1.5 lakh MT per year and to make the state the third largest producer of ginger in the country in three years.

Officials said that through the "Ginger Mission", about 50,000 farmers would be benefited and the area of production would be increased from 10,000 hectares to 12,500 hectares.

Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, launching the flagship programme, said that by the end of the mission, the state government is confident that Meghalaya would become the third largest producer of ginger in the country in three years.

"The objective of 'Ginger Mission' was to improve the overall earnings of the farmers in the state. In the past, several programmes for farmers' welfare were introduced, but the objective to enhance farmers' earning was not achieved," he said.

"As the government, we have realised that 70 per cent of the population in the state are into farming and it is incumbent on us that we introduce initiatives that directly and indirectly enable our farmers to reap its benefit." The Chief Minister said that under the "Ginger Mission", the state government would create logistic hubs and storage spaces as well as connect the farmers to bigger markets and buyers.

He also said that the indigenous variety, "Sying Makhira, which is highly medicinal would also be promoted through this programme. "Our local variety of ginger 'Ing Makhir' also has medicinal properties and through this mission we would ensure its development and promotion," he said.

Through the three-year-long mission, the Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department would introduce improved and high yielding varieties of ginger like IISR Mahima, IISR Varada and Nadia, which is currently being grown widely in the state.

During the launch of the mission, the Chief Minister also handed over the improved varieties of ginger samples to the farmers, who attended the programme.

Agriculture Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh was also present in the event, held at the Integrated Agriculture Training Centre in Shillong.
Nagpur, April 26 : Independent Maharashtra MP Navneet Rana, who is currently lodged in a Mumbai jail facing a number of charges, including sedition, on Tuesday lodged a complaint with the Nagpur Police against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut for allegedly making derogatory remarks against her.

Navneet Rana and her husband Ravi Rana, who is also an Independent MLA, were arrested on Saturday from their Mumbai residence after they announced to recite 'Hanuman Chalisa' outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's house, 'Matoshree', in Bandra.

Navneet's written complaint was accompanied by a pen drive, which reportedly contains alleged hate speech made by Raut targeting the Ranas. She has demanded that Raut be booked under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as she belongs to a minority community and Raut has ridiculed herself time and again.

The couple was picked up by the Mumbai Police for 'inciting' tension in Mumbai ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the city to receive the first Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Award.

The were also booked on charges of preventing the police from performing their duty. After spending a night in the police station, the couple was remanded to judicial custody.

During the high drama in Mumbai, Raut, who was in Nagpur, had ridiculed the couple for their attempts to recite Hanuman Chalisa before 'Matoshree' and allegedly used derogatory remarks.
New Delhi, April 26 : A major fire has broken out at a landfill site in the outer north area of the national capital, a Fire Department official said on Tuesday.

The official said the Fire Department received a call about the incident at around 5.48 p.m. at a dumping ground in Bhalswa after which as many as 10 fire tenders were immediately pressed into service.

As per the visuals from the spot, the 'hill' of trash is currently under a massive blaze.

The clouds of thick smoke, billowing out of the burning garbage mountain, have enveloped the whole area. More details are awaited.
All set for TRS plenary with focus on hat-trick Image Source: IANS News

All set for TRS plenary with focus on hat-trick Image Source: IANS News

Hyderabad, April 26 : With focus on scoring a hat-trick in 2023 Telangana Assembly polls, ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is holding its plenary here on Wednesday to mark the 21st Foundation Day of the party.

The stage is set for the crucial day-long general body meeting at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC).

Chief Minister and TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao will preside over the plenary, which will set the roadmap for the party to score hat-trick of electoral victories in Assembly polls scheduled next year.

About 3,000 delegates will attend the meeting which will begin at 11 a.m. with KCR, as the leader is popularly known, hoisting the party flag and delivering the inaugural address.

TRS Working President K. T.Rama Rao said the plenary will discuss and pass resolutions on 11 subjects. The meeting has significance in view of the next year's Assembly elections.

"The plenary will decide what should be our stand in national level politics and on national issues and what we will do in the state, how we should work and how to win elections for a third time," said KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known.

No political party in south India has scored a hat-trick but KTR is confident that the TRS under the leadership of KCR will set another new record.

Stating that it is a selected gathering, he appealed to those leaders and workers who have not been invited not to come to the venue.

KTR on Tuesday visited HICC to review the arrangements made for the plenary. He directed party leaders to ensure fool-proof arrangements.

State Cabinet ministers, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, MLCs, MLAs, TRS State Executive, Corporation Chairpersons, District party unit Presidents, Zilla Parishad Chairpersons will attend the meeting.

Chairpersons of District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) and District Cooperative Marketing Societies (DCMS), district library presidents, district Rythu Bandhu Samithi chiefs, women co-ordinators, ZPTC members, municipal Mayors and chairpersons, Mandal Parishad Presidents, Town and Mandal party unit chiefs, Agricultural Market Committee Chairmen etc will also attend the daylong meeting.

Meanwhile, the TRS has painted Hyderabad pink. It's all pink, the colour of TRS flag, on roads leading towards the venue of the plenary.

Pink flags, posters, banners, festoons and flexis have come up in various parts of Hyderabad, especially on major traffic intersections.

A boat decked up with TRS flags and posters in Hussain Sagar lake in the heart of the city was the centre of attraction on the eve of the plenary.

KTR asked the party cadre to celebrate the foundation day by hoisting the TRS flag in every town and every village. TRS village presidents will hoist the party flag in all 12,769 villages. Similarly, there will be flag-hoisting in 3,600 towns.

This is after a gap of two years that the TRS will be holding foundation celebrations on a grand scale. For the last two years, the celebrations were low-key due to Covid-19 pandemic.

In October last year, the party held its plenary at HICC. KCR was re-elected as party president.

KCR, as the TRS chief is popularly known, floated the TRS on April 27, 2001 to revive the movement for separate state.

After the formation of Telangana in 2014, he has been heading both the government and the party.
Jaipur, April 26 : Rajasthan Police on Tuesday arrested two persons on charges of raping and murdering a woman who was on the way to her in-law's place in Dausa. The woman's body was later thrown into a dry well.

The accused have been identified as Kaluram Meena (23) and Sanju Meena (18). The car used in committing the crime has also been recovered, said ADGP (Crime), Ravi Prakash Mehra.

Mehra said that a missing person's complaint was filed by the family members of the victim after she left for her in-law's place on the evening of April 24 but never reached there.

On checking CCTV footage, the police found that the woman stepped into an Etios car along with a child.

The police later traced the child who said that the occupants of the car dropped him at his village and moved ahead along with the woman.

A special team of the police was formed which tracked and interrogated the driver of the car, Kaluram Meena, who confessed to kidnapping the woman along with his partner Sanju Meena. The duo later killed the woman after gang-raping her before throwing the body into a dry well.

Taking direction from the accused, the police retrieved the woman's body from an area under the Bassi police station and handed it over to the family members after conducting a post-mortem.

The second accused, Sanju Meena, was arrested by the police with the help of technical assistance on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the opposition has slammed Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who also holds the Home portfolio.

BJP state unit chief Satish Poonia said that the CM should stop worrying about saving his chair and try to protect the sisters and daughters of the state.

"Why can't Ashok Gehlot establish the rule of law in the state," Poonia asked.

The BJP has constituted a five-member team which will travel to Dausa to collect information and submit a ground report to Poonia.
Chennai, April 26 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday announced in the Assembly that a statue of former Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi would be installed at the government's Omandarur estate on June 3, the birth anniversary of the late DMK patriarch.

He also said the government would observe the late Chief Minister's birth anniversary as a government function every year.

Noting that Karunanidhi was never defeated in any election he had contested, Stalin, the son of Karunanidhi, also recalled the contributions of the former Chief Minister to the welfare of the Tamil people and Tamil Nadu.

Senior DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister, S. Duraimurugan thanked Stalin and said that Karunanidhi was unique in all aspects including his magnanimous behaviour even towards the opposition leaders.

Leaders of all political parties, except the AIADMK but including its ally BJP, welcomed the announcement.
New Delhi, April 26 : The Delhi High Court was on Tuesday told that the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund can be set up as a trust can be set up but all "rigours of the Constitution" ought to apply.

The court was hearing a petition seeking a declaration that the fund is "state" under Article 12 of the Constitution and to restrain it from using Prime Minister of India or Prime Minister, including its abbreviations, in its name and on its website.

The PMO maintained that the PM CARES Fund comprises voluntary donations made by individuals and institutions and is not a part of the business or function of the Central government in any manner.

Appearing for Public Interest Litigation petitioner Samyak Gangwal, senior advocate Shyam Divan said the Fund is very very closely interlinked with the Prime Minister of India.

"Can you contract out of the Constitution? As long as you are ex-officio, the Constitution will drag you. You are ex-officio, you are taking the oath of office and your allegiance is to the Constitution," he said.

As the bench asked whether he meant a trust could not have been set up, Divan said the trust can be set up but all rigours of the Constitution ought to apply there.

"Today it's a trust, tomorrow it may be a private company!" he said.

According to the Centre's earlier submissions, PM CARES Fund is not a "public authority" under the ambit of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, further clarifying that no government money is credited in the PM CARES Fund and only unconditional and voluntary contributions are accepted under PM CARES Fund.

"It is reiterated that the Trust's fund is not a fund of the Government of India and the amount does not go in the Consolidated Fund of India," said an affidavit filed by the PMO.

The Centre further said that the trust functions on the principles of transparency and public good in larger public interest like any other charitable trust and, therefore, cannot have any objection to uploading all its resolutions on its website to ensure transparency.

Such a prayer is not only unheard of but is legally not maintainable, it said while urging the Delhi High Court to dismiss the petition.
Srinagar, April 26 : A terror module of proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) was busted in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district with the arrest of three terrorist associates, police said on Tuesday.

"In Kulgam, police busted a terror module of proscribed outfit HM by arresting three terrorist associates involved in the case pertaining to the killing of a Panch, namely Mohd Yaqoob Dar, son of Gh Mohd Dar, resident of Kulpora Kulgam, at his native village on March 2.

"Weapon used in the killing of the Panch including one pistol, eight pistol rounds and two grenades were recovered from their possession," police said.

Police said during the course of investigation, it was learnt that active HM terrorist Farooq Ahmad Bhat, resident of Cheki Desend Yaripora, had received directions from terror handlers based in Pakistan to target the Panchayat members of Kulgam.

"On their directions, he identified the target and further gave directions accordingly to active terrorist namely Raja Nadeem Rather, son of Ab Rehman Rather, resident of Ashmuji, to execute the terror act with the support of their associates namely Nasser Ahmad Wani, son of Bashir Ahmad Wani, resident of Srandoo, Adil Manzoor Rather, son of Manzoor Ahmad Rather, resident of Ashmuji, and Majid Mohd Rather, son of Gh Mohd Rather, resident of Malipora Mirbazar. The directions included to conduct reccee of the Panch's presence, arrange transport and provide logistics to execute the terror act," police said.

All the three associates were arrested.

Police said during further investigation, involvement of one more person - Idrees Ahmad Dar, resident of Kulpora, Kulgam has surfaced. He was also part of the crime and is still at large and reportedly joined the terrorist ranks.

"It is pertinent to mention that the said module is linked with already busted HM terror module involved in the killing of Sarpanch Shabir Ahmad Mir, son of Mohd Abdullah Mir, resident of Audoora Kulgam on March 11. Both the busted modules were received directions from their HM handlers based in Pakistan," police said.

Police said further investigation of the case is in progress and more arrests and recoveries are also expected. Besides, efforts are on to neutralise the active terrorists behind this heinous crime.
New Delhi, April 26 : The first round of India-UAE UN consultations, at the Director General-level, were held in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and saw the two nations agree to work together closely on the issues related to UN issues, including the Security Council.

Both sides exchanged views on areas of priority during their ongoing UNSC tenure. In keeping with their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, they agreed to work closely together on key issues on the UNSC agenda, in particular on their shared commitment to reformed multilateralism and counter-terrorism.

The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary, UN-Political, Prakash Gupta, along with officials from the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi, while the UAE delegation was led by Ahood Al Zaabi, Director of the United Nations Department of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation.

India also congratulated UAE on its successful Presidency of the UNSC in March 2022. Both sides welcomed their convergences and mutual support on multilateral issues.
Chennai, April 26 : The Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) is an ambitious project to preserve 'Naatu Kuttai Madugal', a local cattle breed prevalent in Chengalpattu, Tiruvallar, Kancheepuram and Villupuram districts.

The preservation is aimed to prevent the local breeds from extinction, a statement from TANUVAS noted.

The project cost is Rs 86 lakh and the conservation centre will be set up at the Post Graduate Research Institute in Animal Sciences (PGRIAS) at Kattupakkam.

The TANUVAS has already established conservation centres for local cattle breeds that include Kangeyam, Puliyur, Pargur, Umbalacherry and Alambadi.

The mission, according to TANUVAS, will prevent these native breeds from becoming extinct following cross-breeding through artificial insemination. The 'Naatu Kutai Madugal' breed weighs 170 kg and yields milk between 1 and 1.5 litres.

The farmers in the region resort to cross-breeding as the native breeds yield very little milk, while their maintenance cost too is high.

Farmers told IANS that they are not able to maintain the native breeds as the output of milk is very less as compared to the crossbreed varieties.

The Kangeyam Research Centre, which has several local breeds, has been selling urine of these native breeds as the high nitrogen content is used in organic farming.

The TANUVAS said that it is planning to set up a semen bank and supply it to the farmers who are interested to rear these cows.
Chennai, April 26 : The Tamil Nadu Social Welfare department and the police are on high alert over child marriages that are taking place in the state.

While there were many incidents of child marriages during the lockdown period, the recent instance of a 40-year-old man trying to marry a 14-year-old girl has put the social welfare department and the police on an alert.

Acting on a tip-off, Childline officials of Vellore district along with the police and revenue officials rescued a 14-year-old girl who was to be married to a 40-year-old distant relative who was entering into his third marriage.

The marriage was to be solemnised at a local temple on Monday morning but the marriage was foiled Police took the groom into custody and the girl was handed over to the District Childline authorities in Vellore district.

The victim had dropped out of school from Class VII and was living with her mother after her father passed away. The 40-year-old man was from Andhra Pradesh and a distant relative of the girl who had married twice earlier.

In another incident, a 17-year-old girl was rescued by Police and Childline authorities in the Myladuthurai district of Tamil Nadu.

Childline Vellore district coordinator, K.S. Devendiran while speaking to IANS, said: "After this incident, we are on a high alert in the district and have alerted all school authorities on whether there is any drop in girl children reaching schools. We are also in touch with the resident associations, social organisations, political parties etc." The Tamil Nadu police is also on an alert to prevent any incidents of child marriages.

Sources told IANS that the state DGP was directed by the Chief Minister to get tips from across the state using the intelligence agencies on whether child marriages are taking place in Tamil Nadu.
Jaipur, April 26 : With ace poll strategist Prashant Kishor declining Congress' offer to join the party on Tuesday, a tweet by a Rajasthan minister, considered close to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, seems to be ruffling a few feathers in the political circles of the state.

Subhash Garg from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), an ally of the ruling Congress in Rajasthan, termed Kishor as a businessman in his tweet, trying to drive home his point that workers make an organisation strong, not an advisor.

"Only leadership and workers can make an organisation strong and powerful, not advisors or service providers. Leadership needs Chanakya, not a businessman," Garg tweeted on Tuesday morning, well before the Congress announced Kishor's decision to decline the party's offer.

Garg's tweet is drawing a myriad of response from the netizens, who are tweeting in support of Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot.

One social media user said, "He should also write that no organisation will be strong until it gives fruits to those who work hard. The bitter truth is that the government of Rajasthan has been formed only with the hard work of @SachinPilot." Meanwhile, a Congress worker said that the statement by a Rajasthan minister, who's considered to be close to Ashok Gehlot, makes it clear that seniors in the party had reservations about inducting Kishor into the Congress fold.

Earlier, senior Congress leader in Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath, had said: "We started preparing for the Assembly polls six months back, and we are not dependent on PK."
New Delhi, April 26 : Google on Tuesday said it is rolling out a new data safety section in the Play Store, where developers will be required to give people more information about how apps collect, share and secure users' data.

App developers have till July 20 to add the information to their listings.

"As app developers update their functionality or change their data handling practices, they will show the latest in the apps' Data safety section," the company said in a blog post.

Users will start seeing the Data safety section in Google Play from Wednesday.

The new initiative on Google Play Store follows the launch of a similar feature on Apple's App Store in late 2020.

"We designed the Data safety section to allow developers to clearly mark what data is being collected and for what purpose it's being used. Users can also see whether the app needs this data to function or if this data collection is optional," said Google.

Google said it has also worked hard to give users control of installed apps through simple permissions features.

"The taxonomy and framework of the Data safety section on Google Play may differ materially from those used in other app stores," the company said.

The initiative is meant to "help people understand the data an app collects or shares, if that data is secured, and additional details that impact privacy and security."
Moscow, April 26 : The Russian Ministry of Defense has warned Britain that London's direct provocation of the Kiev regime to strike targets on Russian soil will result in a proportionate response.

Western advisers in Ukrainian decision-making centres will not be a problem as part of the response, Russia said, RT reported.

"The Russian Ministry of Defense drew attention to the statement of the deputy head of the British defense department, James Hippie, that 'it will not necessarily be a problem' if the weapons provided by the UK to Kiev are used to strike targets on Russian territory," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Such provocation in the event of an attempt to implement such strikes by Ukraine "will immediately lead to a proportional response", the ministry stressed.

"Advisers from among the nationals of one of the Western countries, located in Ukrainian decision-making centers in Kiev, 'will not necessarily be a problem' when Russia makes decisions on retaliatory actions," the Ministry of Defense said.

Earlier developments show that the British authorities will send 120 armoured vehicles and anti-ship systems to Ukraine as part of the next package of military assistance.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Srinagar, April 26 : Two hybrid terrorists, linked with proscribed terror outfit JeM, have been arrested from Pattan area of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, police said on Tuesday.

Police said based on specific reliable inputs regarding movement of two terrorists in a vehicle towards Srinagar, joint Motor Vehicle Checking Points (MVCPs) were established by police, army and SSB at various spots along the national highway and surrounding by-lanes.

"At one such MVCP established at Hanjiveera Bala, a speeding vehicle, swerving in a suspicious manner, was signalled to stop. However, as the vehicle stopped, two individuals (driver and co-driver) jumped off the vehicle and fled towards nearby wooded orchard area," police said.

The alert joint team chased the duo and succeeded in nabbing them.

They have been identified as Mohd Aqib Mir alias Kian Mir alias Raqib Mir, resident of Batpora, Sopore, and Danish Ahad Dar, resident of Sopore.A Police said that they were searched and two Chinese pistols, two pistol magazines, 10 rounds, and two grenades were recovered from them.

"The duo has been arrested and taken into custody for further questioning besides, the vehicle has also been seized. During the course of investigation, it has transpired that the duo belong to proscribed terror outfit JeM hybrid module and were looking for targeting of PRIs and minorities/outsiders.

"The successful apprehension of these terrorists has foiled major terror plots and busted a module that was aiding the execution of various terror attacks including the killing of sarpanchs etc," it added.
Jammu, April 26 : The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, on Tuesday chaired a pre-event consultation meeting for the forthcoming Real Estate Summit likely to be held in August in Srinagar.

At the meeting, Sinha asked the CREDAI and the concerned officials of the UT administration to explore all possibilities of providing affordable and quality housing infrastructure in J&K.

"We are making a systematic effort to improve our cities and the growth has opened up unprecedented opportunities. The effective measures should be aimed at improving city services, creating robust urban infrastructure, and improving the system of public service delivery for quality living. Study the model of other cities to create affordable, inclusive, ecologically sustainable housing equipped with best essential basic services for common man," Sinha said.

He further directed the officials to make the entire consultation process participatory with a focus on infrastructure.

During the meeting, Boman Irani, President-elect, CREDAI, briefed the chair on the vision and mission of the organisation which endeavours in transforming the landscape of real estate across the country.

He said that the main aim of CREDAI is to serve the people by acting as a bridge in order to provide the common man with good quality affordable housing.

CREDAI is also engaged in imparting knowledge, town planning, data-based studies, skilling and welfare of construction workers, he added.

The first-ever Real Estate Summit in J&K was held in December last year at Jammu, where various MoUs were signed for the urban transformation of the UT.
Patna, April 26 : A day after offering to resign from the RJD over allegations of thrashing a party youth leader, Tej Pratap Yadav plans to hold a Bihar Yatra from May 1 and also organise Janata Darbar in his official residence in Patna, a close associate said on Tuesday.

Prashant Pratap, the state chief of Chatra Janshakti Parishad (CJP), of which Tej Pratap Yadav is the national President, refused to comment on the resignation offer, while announcing the latter's programme.

"Tej Pratap Yadav, the national President of CJP, will start the Janshakti Yatra from May 1. He will go to every district and also organise Janata Darbars. Besides, he will also organise Janata Darbar in his official residence in Patna for 2 hours every day. The programme will be expected to change during Assembly sessions," he said.

Pratap also defended Tej Pratap Yadav against the allegations.

"A scripted drama is currently underway in Patna against Tej Pratap Yadav where youth (Ramraj Yadav) alleged that Tej Pratap Yadav brutally beat him up inside Rabri Devi's residence on April 22. On the invitation card of Dawat-e-Iftar, Tej Pratap Yadav's name was also mentioned along with Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav. How could a person who is the host of such a big event do an incident like that?" he said.

"There was a healthy relation seen between Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav in the Iftar party which was not a pleasing thing for other leaders. Hence, they have conspired against him. Leaders like Jagadanand Singh and Sanjay Singh are the main directors of the drama which was acted by that youth of Patna (Ramraj Yadav)," he alleged.

"Being an elder son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, he is a successor of his political and personal legacy. Still, he has always promoted his younger brother for the post of Chief Minister and also projected him for the Leader of Opposition, why would he conspire against Tejashwi Yadav," Pratap said.

Sources close to Tej Pratap Yadav claimed that the idea of his resignation was that he wanted Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi or Tejashwi Yadav to take note and is now seeking to apply more pressure through his forthcoming programmes.

Tej Pratap Yadav on Monday said that he will resign from the party after meeting Lalu Prasad Yadav. His plan was that his announcement would turn out to be an emotional card and his family members and senior party leaders may ask him to take back his decision but this did not happen.

Sources in the RJD claimed that the activities of Tej Pratap Yadav are similar to his uncles Sadhu Yadav and Subhash Yadav - now sidelined - and actually malign the RJD's image.
United Nations, April 26 : With action on the invasion of Ukraine held hostage by Russian vetoes at the Security Council, the UN General Assembly on Tuesday voted a measure seeking to make permanent members answerable for their vetoes.

While reiterating its call for a complete reform of the Council, India said the resolution is a "flawed approach is, therefore, an aberration" to the totality of the problems with the Council's role and powers, but despite reservations, went along with its unanimous adoption by the 193-member Assembly.

The resolution requires the Assembly to meet within 10 days after a veto has been cast in the Council by any of its five permanent members to debate the veto and give the vetoer a chance to speak to it.

The Council will also have to send a report to the Assembly on the veto.

The resolution proposed by Lichtenstein was co-sponsored by over 80 UN members, including permanent members US, Britain, and France.

The other permanent members, China and Russia, did not press for a formal vote on the resolution in the face of the wide support for it and went along with it even though Beijing said it was opposed to it.

India's Deputy Permanent Representative R. Ravindra drew attention to the call of several African nations to abolish the veto powers of the five permanent members or to extend it to all permanent members in an expanded Council.

Without a complete reform, the Assembly can do very little about the veto powers as the permanent members "have a veto over the veto".

"As rightly called out by our African brothers and sisters, it goes against the concept of sovereign equality of states and only perpetuates the mindset of the Second World War, to the victor belongs the spoils", he said.

"Either all nations are treated equally in context of voting rights or else the new permanent members must also be given the veto," he added.

Ravindra said that the comprehensive reform, which the leaders of UN members have mandated, has been blocked by a "vocal minority of nay-sayers".

"The only way to begin to remedy what ails the Security Council is to make it more representative, credible and legitimate by including more underrepresented voices - including from developing countries and from Africa," he said.

Those who oppose the reform process occurring in stages are, in this case, advocating a "piecemeal initiative" through the resolution, he said.

Without naming it, Ravindra took aim at a group of countries called Uniting for Consensus (UfC) led by Italy and including Pakistan, calling it "a vocal minority of nay-sayers who have held the entire process of Security Council reform hostage over the last four decades".

The UfC has blocked the reform process, known as the Inter-governmental Negotiations (IGN), using procedural gambits to prevent it from even adopting a negotiating text to be the basis of discussions claiming that it can only be done after there is consensus on all the issues.

"It is therefore ironical that the same set of Member States who argue vociferously against 'piecemeal reform' in the IGN, are today themselves supporting a apiecemeal initiative', which ignores the root cause of the problem.

"We, therefore, hope that other piecemeal efforts focusing on aspects of category of membership and working methods of the Council would be treated without any double standards and with a similar yardstick in future," Ravindra added.

At least six members of the UfC, including Canada, Spain, Turkey, and South Korea, joined Lichtenstein in co-sponsoring the resolution.

Lichtenstein's Permanent Representative Christian Wenaweser said that the resolution was being introduced without affecting the ongoing work of the IGN.

Speaking as the Council is deadlocked on Ukraine by the vetoes of Russia, which has invaded that country in contravention of the UN Charter, he said: "There has never been a stronger need for innovation in order to secure the central role and voice of the United Nations." "The veto power comes with the responsibility to work for the achievement of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter at all times," he said.

Since the UN members have given the Council primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security on their behalf, "the membership should be given a voice when the Security Council is unable to act in accordance with this assembly's powers and functions".

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
New Delhi, April 26 : Reacting to a news item in some section of the media regarding decrease in Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in the country, the Ministry of Labour and Employment said on Tuesday that employment is the primary concern of the government and various steps are being taken by the ministries/departments for generation of employment opportunities in the country.

Explaining that the LFPR is the percentage of population which is either working (employed) or seeking work (unemployed), the government said, "It is important to note that the complete working age population may not be working or seeking work." A substantial portion of the working age population is either pursuing education or is engaged in unpaid activities like production of goods for their own consumption, unpaid domestic activities or caregiving services for household members, volunteering, training, etc.

"Thus, making an inference by some sections of the media that half of the working age population has lost hope for work is factually incorrect," the ministry said in a statement.

As per the reports of the Ministry of Education for 2019-20, more than 10 crore persons were enrolled in secondary, higher secondary, higher or technical education, out of which about 49 per cent were female, the government said.

Majority of these students pursuing higher education are in the working age population, but all of them may not be seeking work. Similarly, not all females engaged in unpaid domestic services may be seeking paid work.

The government also said that the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data indicate that the labour force and work force in the country has increased steadily from 2017-18 to 2019-20, while the unemployment rate has declined.

"It is further evident from the data that the increase in female labour force as well as female working population ratio during 2017-18 to 2019-20 was higher compared to increase in male labour force and working population ratio," it said.

The government also quoted the Economic Survey 2021-22 estimates that indicate there was an increase of 4.75 crore in employment during 2019-20 as compared to 2018-19.

"The increase in labour force during 2019-20 compared to previous year was 4.52 crore. Thus, during 2019-20, more employment was generated than the increase in the labour force in the country," the government claimed.
Guwahati, April 26 : Outlawed extremist outfit, United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) has claimed that it has detained an agent of Assam police at its camp in Myanmar and unearthed the police's "undercover" move.

The Paresh Barua-led ULFA-I claimed that it detained an "Assam police agent", and identified him as Sanjeev Sarma, hailing from Muktapur in Baihata Chariali in Kamrup Rural district.

The outfit in a statement on Tuesday claimed that Sarma has recently joined ULFA-I.

"Sarma, however, is a spy of Assam police and was forced to join ULFA-I to gather strategic information about the outfit," said the statement in Assamese.

In a video message, circulated by the ULFA-I, Sarma reportedly said that he was trained for undercover operations and was sent by Kamrup District Superintendent of police Partha Sarathi Mahanta and army official Dhunumoni Saikia.

Sarma, according to the video message, stated that he was assured a reward of Rs 1 crore for the task.

Mahanta, while talking to media persons, denied any such move of sending an agent to the ULFA-I camp.

Reacting on the issue, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who holds the Home portfolio, said that he does not think there is any need to make a comment on the ULFA-I's claim.

The ULFA-I, which during the past one year has twice extended the unilateral ceasefire and also refrained from calling bandh and boycott during last year's Independence Day, and this year's Republic Day celebrations, recently recruited some youth as its armed cadres.
Pune, April 26 : Young pacer Kuldeep Sen (4/20) and senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3/17) took seven wickets between themselves as Rajasthan Royals successfully defended 144 to defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 29 runs at the MCA Stadium here on Tuesday.

After Riyan Parag's unbeaten 56 took Rajasthan to a score from which their bowlers could make a match out of, the bowling attack led by Sen and Ashwin did exactly that to skittle out Bangalore for 115 all out in 19.3 overs. The victory also means that Rajasthan are the new table-toppers in the points tally, replacing Gujarat Titans.

For Bangalore, their batting never came to the fore. The top order couldn't do much and the middle order never looked like pulling off the chase. The pursuit of 145 began on a scratchy note as Virat Kohli could have gone out thrice in the opening over against Trent Boult.

But he survived to strike back-to-back fours -- a flick through square leg followed by a thick edge going past the keeper. Kohli's luck ended at nine when he pulled a little early against a short ball from Prasidh Krishna and a thin edge lobbed to point.

Faf du Plessis got going with boundaries off Krishna, Boult and lofted well against Ashwin for a magnificent six. But Sen had other ideas, removing Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell in the seventh over to bring Rajasthan back in the match. While du Plessis slashed to a jumping cover, Maxwell drove away from the body and nicked to slip for a golden duck.

Bangalore's troubles increased when Ravichandran Ashwin uprooted Rajat Patidar's off-stump for grabbing his 150th IPL wicket and followed it up with Suyash Prabhudessai holing out to long-on in his next over. Things went from bad to worse for Bangalore as Dinesh Karthik was run-out in a big mix-up. Yuzvendra Chahal fumbled while picking up the throw at the non-striker's end. With Karthik showing little urgency to come back quickly, Chahal managed to grab the ball and broke the bails.

Ashwin came back to pick his third wicket of the night as Shahbaz Ahmed's slog was grabbed by a diving Parag at long-on. Wanindu Hasaranga struck some fours but was bounced out in a comfortable caught and bowled dismissal by Sen. Krishna and Sen took the remaining two wickets respectively to give Rajasthan their sixth win of the tournament.

Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 144/8 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 56 not out, Sanju Samson 27; Josh Hazlewood 2/19, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/23) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 115 all out in 19.3 overs (Faf du Plessis 23, Wanindu Hasaranga 18; Kuldeep Sen 4/20, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/17) by 29 runs
New Delhi, April 26 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the AIIMS Nurses Union to ensure that its members rejoin their duties with immediate effect, following which the union called off its indefinite strike.

Hearing the plea filed by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) regarding the strike, a bench of Justice Yashwant Varma listed the matter for a detailed hearing on Wednesday morning while noting that the nurses "must place the interest of patients above and beyond" their dispute with the administration.

The Nurses Union, in a statement, said: "In the view of Hon. Delhi High Court directive, a meeting of available union executives and ad-hoc members has been held on April 26 at 8.30 p.m. to discuss about the course of action. It has been decided to call off the ongoing indefinite strike and to continue the agitation and protest by other modes as the Hon. Delhi High Court directed to rejoin for duties." During the course of the hearing, counsel Satya Ranjan Swain, appeared for AIIMS, submitted that the indefinite strike is not in the public interest and termed it illegal.

Observing the alarming trend of nursing officers and other essential workers deputed in AIIMS going on strike, the court also said the development resulted in the cancellation of various emergency operations and has seriously crippled its functioning.

The union began an indefinite strike on Tuesday after its President Harish Kajla was suspended by the hospital administration, demanding the rollback of the action and stopping any kind of measures against union executives and union members of main OT.

Kajla was suspended on Monday night in connection with the April 22 incident of disrupting OT patient services.
New Delhi, April 27 : India and Maldives on Tuesday proposed to establish transmission interconnection for renewable power transfer as part of 'One Sun, One World, One Grid' initiative to facilitate Maldives' energy transition programme.

A draft agreement is being prepared for MoU on transmission interconnection under which a technical team from India would visit Maldives to assess its technical feasibility.

Thereafter a detailed project report, including for undersea cable route survey and network augmentation, in Male (capital of Maldives) would be prepared jointly with Indian and Maldives agencies.

This was announced when the Maldives' Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology, Aminath Shauna, met India's Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh in New Delhi.

Energy transition programme is an important step in combating climate change by shifting from fossil fuels to greener options, including renewable energy.

Singh appreciated the resolve of the Maldives government to achieve net zero emission target by 2030. Apart from the MoU on transmission interconnection under 'One Sun, One World, One Grid', the two leaders also proposed another MoU on energy cooperation.

Maldives' Environment Minister also met Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, who too appreciated the climate actions taken by Maldives.

Stressing the importance of concrete action on adaptation in tackling climate change, Yadav asserted that "India and Maldives should join hands to fight climate change to ensure climate justice to all, especially to the developing countries".

Both sides agreed to further strengthen ongoing bilateral cooperation between India and Maldives not only for combating environmental issues and climate change, but also explore for enhancing cooperation for greater economic integration.
New York, April 27 : US Vice-President Kamala Harris has become the highest-ranking official in the current Biden administration to be infected with Covid-19 despite vaccinations as the US tries desperately to bring a semblance of normalcy after two years of restrictions and nearly a million deaths.

Her Spokesperson Kirsten Allen said on Tuesday that Harris has tested positive for the disease but has shown no symptoms and will isolate herself in the Vice-President's official residence, the Naval Observatory.

She had the initial two doses of Covid-19 vaccine and followed it up with a booster dose.

Amid concerns for the 79-year-old US President Joe Biden, Allen added the reassurance that Harris, who has been travelling, has not been in direct contact with him or his wife Jill in recent days.

The report of the infection of Harris and several officials and lawmakers fueled by the Covid's Omicron variant and its subvariant BA.2 comes as a Federal court struck down the government mandate requiring mask on planes, other transportation and public places.

The Biden administration has been making a determined push for Covid vaccinations in a country where the preventive measure has been politicised.

The vaccination made compulsory in certain sectors of the federal, state and local governments is now accepted as not being able to completely stop infections, giving ammunition to anti-vaxers, but it prevents severe cases of the disease from developing, which has become the Biden administration's goal.

Former US President Donald Trump had contracted Covid-19 while in office and had to be hospitalised.

But with vaccinations available, none of the current top officials has had to be admitted to a hospital for treatment.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday that nearly 60 per cent of the country's population had been infected by the virus.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is 82-years-old and is next after Harris in the line of succession to the presidency, also tested positive earlier this April for the virus that is spreading through Washington.

Harris's husband, Dough Emhoff, was infected with Covid-19 in March, but she was not infected with the virus at that time.

She came to the White House, where she has an office, on Tuesday but after two tests, a rapid antigen test and PCR test, came positive she returned home.

Three cabinet members -- Attorney General Merrick Garland, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Commerce Secretary Gian Raimondo also have tested positive for Covid-19.

Garland and Raimondo were at a dinner for the nation's elite hosted by a journalists' group that turned out to be a super-spreader event infecting more than 70 people, including several members of US Congress and Harris's Communications Director Jamal Harrison.

Another such dinner hosted by the White House Correspondents Association is coming up this weekend and Biden is scheduled to attend it.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)
United Nations, April 27 : The UN General Assembly has voted a measure seeking to make the five permanent members of the Security Council answerable for their vetoes, and although India criticised it as inadequate, it went along with the unanimous approval of it.

With action on the invasion of Ukraine held hostage by Russian vetoes at the Council, the UN General Assembly on Tuesday adopted the resolution that would require it to meet within 10 days after a veto has been cast in the Council to debate the veto and give the vetoers a chance to speak to it.

While reiterating India's call for a complete reform of the Council, Deputy Permanent Representative R. Ravindra said the resolution was a "flawed approach (that) is, therefore, an aberration" that cannot address the totality of the problems with the Council's role and powers.

The resolution also demands that the Council have to send a report on the veto to the Assembly.

The resolution proposed by Lichtenstein was co-sponsored by more than 80 UN members, including permanent members -- US, Britain and France.

The other permanent members, China and Russia, did not press for a formal vote on the resolution in the face of the wide support for it and went along with it, even though Beijing said it was opposed to it.

Speaking to reporters in Moscow where he is on a mediation mission for the Ukraine conflict, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "I'm very much in favour of a moderate use of the veto, having no illusions about the possibility of changing it." Ravindra drew attention to the call of several African nations to abolish the veto powers of the five permanent members or to extend it to all permanent members in an expanded Council.

Without a reform, the Assembly can do very little about the veto powers as the permanent members "have a veto over the veto".

"As rightly called out by our African brothers and sisters, it goes against the concept of sovereign equality of states and only perpetuates the mindset of the Second World War, to the victor belongs the spoils," he said.

"Either all nations are treated equally in context of voting rights or else the new permanent members must also be given the veto," he added.

At his Moscow news conference, Guterres echoed similar ideas when asked by a reporter about the Assembly resolution.

He said, "It's important to enlarge the Security Council and to have a more equitable representation, particularly (for) the countries (in) Africa." As a "double victim of colonialism," the UN Chief said, "Africa is underrepresented in decision-making processes, in most of the multilateral institutions. And so, I do believe that a stronger representation of developing countries in many areas, from the Bretton-Woods institutions (like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund) to the Security Council, would be an important reform." But Guterres was sceptical that there would be enough votes in the Assembly or a willingness by the permanent members to abolish the veto power, which he said was introduced to prevent a situation of confrontation among permanent members that "might lead to another global war".

Ravindra said the comprehensive reform, which the leaders of UN members have mandated, has been blocked by a "vocal minority of nay-sayers".

"The only way to begin to remedy what ails the Security Council is to make it more representative, credible and legitimate by including more underrepresented voices -- including from developing countries and from Africa," he added.

Those who oppose the reform process occurring in stages are, in this case, advocating a "piecemeal initiative" through the resolution, he said.

Without naming it, Ravindra took aim at a group of countries called Uniting for Consensus (UfC) led by Italy and includes Pakistan, calling it "a vocal minority of nay-sayers have held the entire process of Security Council reform hostage over the last four decades".

The UfC has blocked the reform process, known as the Intern-governmental Negotiations (IGN), from even adopting a negotiating text to be the basis of discussion claiming that it can only be done after there is consensus on all the issues.

"It is therefore ironical that the same set of member states who argue vociferously against 'piecemeal reform' in the IGN, are today themselves supporting a 'piecemeal initiative', which ignores the root cause of the problem," he said.

"We, therefore, hope that other piecemeal efforts focusing on aspects of category of membership and working methods of the Council would be treated without any double standards and with a similar yardstick in future," Ravindra added.

Lichtenstein's Permanent Representative, Christian Wenaweser said the resolution was being introduced without affecting the ongoing work of the IGN.

With the Council deadlocked on Ukraine by the vetoes of Russia, which has invaded that country in contravention of the UN Charter, he said, "there has never been a stronger need for innovation in order to secure the central role and voice of the United Nations." "The veto power comes with the responsibility to work for the achievement of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter at all times," he added.

Since the UN members have given the Council primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security on their behalf, "the membership should be given a voice when the Security Council is unable to act in accordance with this Assembly's powers and functions." (Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
United Nations, April 27 : Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed in principle to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol of Ukraine, said a UN spokesman.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held a tete-a-tete in Moscow with Putin, said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesman, in a release of the meeting, on Tuesday.

Guterres reiterated the position of the UN on Ukraine, and they discussed the proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians in relation to the situation in Mariupol, said the release.

"The President agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol," it added.

Follow-on discussions will be held with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Russian Defence Ministry, it said.

Dujarric was with the Secretary-General in Moscow, Xinhua news agency reported.

Before his talks with the Russian President, the UN chief held a working meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

At a press encounter after his meeting with Lavrov, Guterres said "it is my deep conviction that the sooner we end this war, the better -- for the people of Ukraine, for the people of the Russian Federation, and those far beyond." The UN chief added that he had proposed the establishment of a Humanitarian Contact Group, bringing together Russia, Ukraine and the UN, to look for opportunities for the opening of safe corridors, with local cessations of hostilities, and to guarantee that they are actually effective.

On Mariupol, in particular, he proposed for coordinated work of the UN, the ICRC, and the Ukrainian and Russian forces to enable the safe evacuation of the civilians who want to leave, both inside the Azovstal plant and in the city, in any direction they would choose, and to deliver the humanitarian aid required, said Guterres.

The Ukraine conflict is sending shock waves around the world. The dramatic acceleration of the increases in the prices for food and energy is causing enormous suffering to hundreds of millions of the most vulnerable people worldwide. This comes on top of the shock of the continued Covid-19 pandemic and uneven access to resources for recovery, which particularly penalise developing countries around the world, he added.

Guterres will be flying to Rzeszow of Poland, in transit to Ukraine, where he will meet with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Derlimax The fund seeks to invest primarily in Land Development and Existing Real Estate. A portion of the fund will be deployed into a Cybersecurity IT Company and Gas to Liquid Plant.

New Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund DerliMax Launches Seeking Accredited Capital Gains Investors. The Fund is raising their Series A Round of $20,000,000.

Executive Summary

DerliMax is offering a $200 Million Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund with a triple-bottom-line approach to investing: generating return on investment; creating a positive social impact; stimulating economic activity and job creation.

The DerliMax Opportunity Fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of primarily tangible assets (or businesses with significant tangible assets) in Opportunity Zones. These investments can include (but are not limited to) new real estate development projects, redevelopment of existing projects, business expansions, and new business development. In addition, business and tangible asset investments can vary widely, from redevelopment and repurposing of existing buildings to organizations that create additional economic activity for the new development of single-family, multifamily, senior living and hospitality projects. In many cases, the fund will have a direct ownership interest in tangible assets in the Opportunity Zone.

DerliMax brings a multi-disciplinary institutional investment strategy to investing in Opportunity Zones. The DerliMax Opportunity Fund offers a diversified portfolio of investments in underserved and less appreciated markets.

The DerliMax Opportunity Fund intends to diversify its investments across a variety of industry sectors, geographic locations, and types of investments. The Fund has built an investment team of seasoned professionals with institutional investment experience in a variety of industry sectors including real estate, energy, retail, manufacturing, technology, hospitality, transportation, financial services, infrastructure and industrial.

Investment Thesis

The Fund intends to balance risk by virtue of underpinning the investment with income-producing assets whilst simultaneously ensuring that investments made in Qualified Opportunity Zone Businesses (QOZBs) are largely underwritten by tangible assets. In addition, intends only to work with highly experienced, top-performers in their respective fields regarding leadership of the QOZBs.

The Fund's strategy is to provide customized, concierge-level service to investors by employing the services of specialized professionals who provide investment analysis, due diligence, and full documentary support on a deal-by deal-basisall supported by an administration technology platform providing the investors ready access to their investment performance, financial statements and tax reports.

DerliMax Investment Projects

The DerliMax fund management team is developing relationships with various state and community governments, economic development agencies, real estate developers, business organizations, nonprofits and foundations to identify investment opportunities.

The Fund's objective is Real Estate development in Opportunity Zones with a focus on helping Veterans by providing a standard of quality, affordable housing options in underserved and less appreciated markets. Additional consideration is given to Qualified Opportunity Zone businesses interested in creating jobs to build a brighter, sustainable future for local communities.

Investment #1 Foster Development (Opportunity Zone)

This ground-up construction project consists of two (2) single-family residential properties in a Houston, Texas neighborhood minutes from the Medical Center. The Fund is currently waiting for the permits to be approved, then we will complete the project with debt financing.

Investment Strategy: Ground-up Construction; Hold for Rental

Investment #2 Clearwater Village (Opportunity Zone)

This rental portfolio consists of five (5) single-family residential properties with a contemporary design and many upgraded features. Located near the highly sought after Houston Texas Medical Center and several new developments to enhance future market values.

Investment Strategy: Buy New Construction; Hold for Rental

Investment # 3 - Augustine Square (Opportunity Zone)

This new construction real estate development consists of six (6) single-family residential properties minutes from downtown Houston in the Opportunity Zone. The focus is to set a standard for quality, affordable housing options in underserved markets. The Fund is coordinating with a local developer to bring this project to completion with an expected delivery date of late August 2022.

Investment Strategy: Buy New Construction; Hold for Rental

Investment # 4 - Silverline Midrise (Opportunity Zone)

This new construction mixed-use real estate development consists of thirty (30) residential units and six (6) retail pads in the Opportunity Zone. This project is in the due diligence phase.

Investment Strategy: Ground-Up Construction; Hold for Rental

OZ Advantage

Opportunity Zones are designed to spur economic development by providing tax benefits to investors. First, investors can defer tax on any prior Capital Gains deposited into a Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund (QOF) for up to four years. Then, after four years, they will only be required to pay taxes on the original amount". Additionally, those deferred taxes will only be assessed at the current rate of 23.5% and therefore are likely to avoid far higher future capital gains tax rates. Finally, after a required ten-year minimum term, the initial amount deposited plus all of the accrued interest derived from QOF property (real estate and business stock) can then be withdrawn from the QOF entirely tax free.

Investor Opportunity

Today 0% Tax Due - One million dollars invested today will appreciate tax free for four years.

10 Years Tax Free - If Opportunity Zone investment generates another 9 million in profit over the ten-year term, the entire 10 million can then be withdrawn tax free.

Qualified Opportunity Zones

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created Qualified Opportunity Zones ("QOZs") to provide potentially significant tax benefits to investors who re-invest capital gains in long-term investments in communities designated for economic development. There are over 8,500 QOZs across all US states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico. They offer investors the ability to positively impact communities struggling to attract capital to generate sustainable economic opportunity for their community.

Status: Open To Investors

Type of Fund: LLC

Asset Classification: Multiple Assets

Active Potential Investments: 3

Fund Administration: OZInvested.com

Anticipated Returns: +20%

Fund Terms:

Round A $20,000,000

Total Fund $200,000,000

Minimum Subscription $50,000

Invest Today!

Contact:

DerliMax LLC

Deborah Livingston, CEO and Fund Manager

Phone: (832) 406-6259

Email: Info@DerliMax.com

For more information, please visit http://www.DerliMax.com

Disclaimer:

Articles featured on this page are for informational purposes only. This is not an offer to sell nor a solicitation to buy DerliMax LLC. That can only be done by our current Confidential Private Placement Memorandum ("CPPM"). Securities offered by DerliMax LLC. For accredited Investors only. Limited liquidity. The shares being sold in this offering have not been approved or disapproved by the Securities and Exchange Commission or any state's securities division. Nor has the Securities and Exchange Commission or any state securities department passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the CPPM or the disclosures provided therein. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by DerliMax LLC. and while we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
Advanced Management Strategies Group, Inc. (AMSG) announced April 7, 2022, that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded the company a Task Order to support Operation Allies Welcome  a high visibility, must succeed effort to safely resettle thousands of vulnerable Afghans.

Jim OFarrell, AMSGs President & CEO said the following about this important opportunity for AMSG, At AMSG, we hold as a Core Value the idea that each one of us has the ability to be part of something bigger than ourselves. With the award by DHS of the Operation Allies Welcome project, we embark on one of the most important Missions in AMSGs twelve-year history. There arent too many missions more important in this world than caring for those who have been forced to flee their homeland. We are proud to support DHS and the other federal agencies involved in this complex, impactful undertaking.

To assist DHS and other federal agencies involved in Operation Allies Welcome, AMSG, along with its teaming partner, Plexus Scientific Corporation, will be providing personnel to assist a multi-agency team consisting of DHS, Department of State (DOS), Department of Defense (DOD), and several Non-Governmental Agencies (NGOs), with resettlement processing. Work will take place at both the National Conference Center (NCC) in Leesburg, Virginia, and at the Unified Coordination Group (UCG) offices.

About Operation Allies Welcome: On August 29, 2021, President Biden directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to lead and coordinate ongoing efforts across the federal government to support vulnerable Afghans, including those who worked alongside America in Afghanistan for the past two decades, as they safely resettle in the United States.

To lead the effort in support of Operation Allies Welcome, DHS established a Unified Coordination Group (UCG). The UCG reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security and coordinates the implementation of a broad range of services, including initial processing, COVID-19 testing, isolation of COVID-positive individuals, vaccinations, additional medical services, and screening and support for individuals who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents.

About AMSG: AMSG is a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) verified Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned, Small Business with substantial relevant Program/Project Management, Knowledge Management, Acquisition Management, Capability Development, Business Process Improvement, and Administrative support experience. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Dumfries, Virginia, with numerous satellite work locations across the country, AMSG supports a variety of Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Defense Health Agency, Department of the Treasury, and Federal Trade Commission program and performance management services. Our core capabilities are provided by AMSG employees, who have deep subject matter expertise, proven experience, and a desire to bring innovative and unique solutions to complex problems. In supporting federal government agencies, we develop business processes and facilitate mission requirements, helping to guide, organize and develop technology and infrastructure support and enhance business relationships.

Advanced Management Strategies Group, Inc. (AMSG)

Dumfries, VA

571.931.0435

amessenger@amsgcorp.net
Crush Wine Experiences (formerly NY Wine Events) marks its return to in-person events with the Brooklyn Crush Wine & Artisanal Food Festival on Sat., May 7 at Industry City. Info/tix: CrushWineXP.com Industry Citys courtyard setting provides an industrial chic backdrop for Brooklyn Crushs selection of wines from around the globe, spirits from U.S. makers, and delicious artisanal foods ...creating an atmosphere where guests will enjoy tasting, discovering, and experiencing all the offerings.

Crush Wine Experiences (formerly New York Wine Events) is pleased to mark its return to live events since the pandemic with its long-running Brooklyn Crush Wine & Artisanal Food Festival: Spring Edition. The event returns to Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn on Saturday, May 7, with an open-air twist; outdoors in Courtyard 1/2, under a spacious tent, protected from the elements. The sixth annual spring tasting offers a choice of two sessions: Afternoon: 2-5pm or Evening: 7-10pm, as well as a special Premium Early Access Ticket enabling guests to enter one hour prior to the start of the general sessions. A VIP Ticket includes early access plus admission to an exclusive VIP lounge located in the expansive Factory Floor space, featuring 12 high end wines and a special selection of appetizers for pairing.

Brooklyn Crush will feature a sumptuous seasonal selection of wines, spirits, artisanal foods, plus select lifestyle product and service sponsors. Artisan food companies from New York City and beyond will sample an array of baked goods, salsas and sauces, non-alcoholic beverages and juices, and other specialty items. In addition to sipping and nibbling, guests can keep their complimentary Crush WineXP custom tasting glass as a souvenir.

Tasting tables feature diverse wines including dry and crisp white wines, fruit-forward, elegant, and complex reds; along with roses, sweet, and sparkling selections. Old, new, and emerging wine regions will be showcased including France, Italy, Spain, South Africa, South America, Greece, Slovenia, California, and New York. An array of spirits will be showcased from U.S. distilleries including several located in Brooklyn and upstate New York.

Were thrilled to be back with our first in-person event since the pandemic. Returning to Industry City with Brooklyns premier tasting event held outdoors adds the perfect springtime vibe, notes Sam Kimball, founder of New York Wine Events. Industry Citys courtyard setting provides an industrial chic backdrop for Brooklyn Crushs selection of wines from around the globe, spirits from U.S. makers, and delicious artisanal foods. Crush Wine Experiences looks forward to creating an atmosphere where guests will enjoy tasting, discovering, and experiencing all the offerings.

Participating sponsors include: BMW, 90+ Cellars, 1857 Spirits, Albert Bichot USA, Altheas Tropical Delights, Balls Vodka, Ballsy, Barrows Intense, Bevos Kitchen, Brotherhood  Americas Oldest Winery, Cantina Valtidone, Coney Island Saucery, Coopers Daughter Spirits, DAG Wine, LLC, Don Tony Perez Wines, Drunken Fruit, Europvin USA, Ferreira Carpenter Winery, Fort Hamilton Distillery, Four Fights Distillery, Frankly Organic Vodka, Green Mountain Energy, LangeTwins Winery, Laureate Imports, The Long Drink, Mengler Family Wines, Molly & Mags, North Fork Crush Wines & Spirits, Papi Wines, Peconic Bay Vineyards, Perfect Blends, Pierre's Spicy, Pindar Vineyards, Provence Rose Group, River Horse Wine Imports, Salsa di Parma, Springbrook Hollow Farm Distillery, Sunset Botanica, Tropical Harvest Slushies & Juices, Two Robbers, Upstate Vodka by Sauvage Distillery, and WA Meadwerks.

Industry City restaurants sampling their specialties include Kotti Berliner Doner Kabob and Table 87, plus guests will enjoy fresh baked demi baguettes from Colson Patisserie to cleanse their palates in between sips. Additional restaurants, wineries and artisanal food purveyors will be added in the coming weeks; check website for details. As with all of Crush Wine Experiences events, artisanal food companies and New York State wineries and distilleries and will have full size items and bottles available for guests to purchase and enjoy at home.

Tickets to the Brooklyn Crush Wine & Artisanal Food Festival are on sale now ranging from $55 to $105, depending upon ticket level and time of purchase. Check the website for current ticket information and availability. Guests must be 21 or older to attend all of Crush Wine Experiences festivals. Advance purchase is highly recommended as the popular tastings have experienced sold out crowds for over a decade, and the 2022 kickoff event in Brooklyn is expected to do the same.

For complete details or to purchase tickets for Brooklyn Crush on May 7, visit CrushWineXP.com.

About Crush Wine Experiences

Since 2010, Crush Wine Experiences (formerly New York Wine Events) has built a reputation for delivering memorable food and wine experiences that participants wont find anywhere else. We share the excitement of wine discovery and education through in-person events, virtual tastings, private and corporate wine tours, educational articles, and an archive of on-demand videos. Our live wine and culinary festival experiences and weekly virtual tasting events draw thousands of wine and food-loving consumers and allow them to discover and experience craft beverages and artisan foods. With over a decade of experience, Crush WineXP is a name that guests, winemakers, distillers, brewmasters, and artisan food makers trust. Learn more at CrushWineXP.com.
Derlimax The DerliMax Opportunity Fund will invest in new real estate development projects, redevelopment of existing projects, business expansions, and new business development.

New Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund DerliMax Launches Seeking Accredited Capital Gains Investors. The Fund is raising their Series A Round of $20,000,000.

Executive Summary

DerliMax is offering a $200 Million Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund with a triple-bottom-line approach to investing: generating return on investment; creating a positive social impact; stimulating economic activity and job creation.

The DerliMax Opportunity Fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of primarily tangible assets (or businesses with significant tangible assets) in Opportunity Zones. These investments can include (but are not limited to) new real estate development projects, redevelopment of existing projects, business expansions, and new business development. In addition, business and tangible asset investments can vary widely, from redevelopment and repurposing of existing buildings to organizations that create additional economic activity for the new development of single-family, multifamily, senior living and hospitality projects. In many cases, the fund will have a direct ownership interest in tangible assets in the Opportunity Zone.

DerliMax brings a multi-disciplinary institutional investment strategy to investing in Opportunity Zones. The DerliMax Opportunity Fund offers a diversified portfolio of investments in underserved and less appreciated markets.

The DerliMax Opportunity Fund intends to diversify its investments across a variety of industry sectors, geographic locations, and types of investments. The Fund has built an investment team of seasoned professionals with institutional investment experience in a variety of industry sectors including real estate, energy, retail, manufacturing, technology, hospitality, transportation, financial services, infrastructure and industrial.

Investment Thesis

The Fund intends to balance risk by virtue of underpinning the investment with income-producing assets whilst simultaneously ensuring that investments made in Qualified Opportunity Zone Businesses (QOZBs) are largely underwritten by tangible assets. In addition, intends only to work with highly experienced, top-performers in their respective fields regarding leadership of the QOZBs.

The Fund's strategy is to provide customized, concierge-level service to investors by employing the services of specialized professionals who provide investment analysis, due diligence, and full documentary support on a deal-by deal-basisall supported by an administration technology platform providing the investors ready access to their investment performance, financial statements and tax reports.

DerliMax Investment Projects

The DerliMax fund management team is developing relationships with various state and community governments, economic development agencies, real estate developers, business organizations, nonprofits and foundations to identify investment opportunities.

The Fund's objective is Real Estate development in Opportunity Zones with a focus on helping Veterans by providing a standard of quality, affordable housing options in underserved and less appreciated markets. Additional consideration is given to Qualified Opportunity Zone businesses interested in creating jobs to build a brighter, sustainable future for local communities.

Investment #1 Foster Development (Opportunity Zone)

This ground-up construction project consists of two (2) single-family residential properties in a Houston, Texas neighborhood minutes from the Medical Center. The Fund is currently waiting for the permits to be approved, then we will complete the project with debt financing.

Investment Strategy: Ground-up Construction; Hold for Rental

Investment #2 Clearwater Village (Opportunity Zone)

This rental portfolio consists of five (5) single-family residential properties with a contemporary design and many upgraded features. Located near the highly sought after Houston Texas Medical Center and several new developments to enhance future market values.

Investment Strategy: Buy New Construction; Hold for Rental

Investment # 3 - Augustine Square (Opportunity Zone)

This new construction real estate development consists of six (6) single-family residential properties minutes from downtown Houston in the Opportunity Zone. The focus is to set a standard for quality, affordable housing options in underserved markets. The Fund is coordinating with a local developer to bring this project to completion with an expected delivery date of late August 2022.

Investment Strategy: Buy New Construction; Hold for Rental

Investment # 4 - Silverline Midrise (Opportunity Zone)

This new construction mixed-use real estate development consists of thirty (30) residential units and six (6) retail pads in the Opportunity Zone. This project is in the due diligence phase.

Investment Strategy: Ground-Up Construction; Hold for Rental

OZ Advantage

Opportunity Zones are designed to spur economic development by providing tax benefits to investors. First, investors can defer tax on any prior Capital Gains deposited into a Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund (QOF) for up to four years. Then, after four years, they will only be required to pay taxes on the original amount". Additionally, those deferred taxes will only be assessed at the current rate of 23.5% and therefore are likely to avoid far higher future capital gains tax rates. Finally, after a required ten-year minimum term, the initial amount deposited plus all of the accrued interest derived from QOF property (real estate and business stock) can then be withdrawn from the QOF entirely tax free.

Investor Opportunity

Today 0% Tax Due - One million dollars invested today will appreciate tax free for four years.

10 Years Tax Free - If Opportunity Zone investment generates another 9 million in profit over the ten-year term, the entire 10 million can then be withdrawn tax free.

Qualified Opportunity Zones

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created Qualified Opportunity Zones ("QOZs") to provide potentially significant tax benefits to investors who re-invest capital gains in long-term investments in communities designated for economic development. There are over 8,500 QOZs across all US states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico. They offer investors the ability to positively impact communities struggling to attract capital to generate sustainable economic opportunity for their community.

Status: Open To Investors

Type of Fund: LLC

Asset Classification: Multiple Assets

Active Potential Investments: 3

Fund Administration: OZInvested.com

Anticipated Returns: +20%

Fund Terms:

Round A $20,000,000

Total Fund $200,000,000

Minimum Subscription $50,000

Invest Today!

Contact:

DerliMax LLC

Deborah Livingston, CEO and Fund Manager

Phone: (832) 406-6259

Email: Info@DerliMax.com

For more information, please visit http://www.DerliMax.com

Disclaimer:

Articles featured on this page are for informational purposes only. This is not an offer to sell nor a solicitation to buy DerliMax LLC. That can only be done by our current Confidential Private Placement Memorandum ("CPPM"). Securities offered by DerliMax LLC. For accredited Investors only. Limited liquidity. The shares being sold in this offering have not been approved or disapproved by the Securities and Exchange Commission or any state's securities division. Nor has the Securities and Exchange Commission or any state securities department passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the CPPM or the disclosures provided therein. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by DerliMax LLC. and while we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
"Technology and the startup world is an exciting part of the industry. The great opportunity is to tell their stories that make them more distinct," says Zanger.

SalientMG (SMG) taps industry stalwart Doug Zanger, former Martin Agency brand and purpose communications director and editor for Adweek and The Drum, to lead the firm's creative and content team. As Senior Vice President of Brand, Creative and Content, Zanger will lead SMG's industry/content professionals as the firm positions itself to significantly grow its content and creative practice.

Since its founding over nine years ago, SMG has built an impactful reputation for helping growth-stage companies secure industry distinction; as such, several of the agency's clients have been acquired and/or have reached scalable growth. SMG has grown revenue by nearly 480% from 2019 to 2021 and has maintained an average CAGR of 66% over the last five years. The firm continues to invest in growing and developing its team and solutions.

"Startups seek to disrupt their industries; they've typically built solutions that would put the incumbents on their heels. But typical startup messaging and content is often jargony, hard to decipher and doesn't articulate their offering," says Mack McKelvey, Founder/CEO of SMG. "Zanger brings almost 30 years of global brand thought leadership and storytelling experience to SMG. This helps our clients lean into their visions and position themselves as their industry's leaders."

Zanger's content team will work in tight coordination with SMG's Product Marketing, Demand Generation and Executive Visibility teams. Additionally, Zanger will stand up a creative practice, assist in elevating SMG's brand within the industry and work with the agency's board to grow SMG's business and visibility.

"Technology and the startup world is an exciting part of the industry. The great opportunity is to tell their stories that make them more distinct," says Zanger. "Fortunately, I learned from some of the best at Martin, in my roles as an editor and during my time at Stillwell Partners working on Advertising Week. We can bring that spirit to our clients to close the marketing visibility gap."

Before Martin, Adweek and The Drum, Zanger led content and helped grow business for Advertising Week, the global leader in B2B marketing events. Based in Portland, Oregon, Zanger is on the board and chair of ThinkNW, a regional marketing trade association serving the Pacific Northwest. A dedicated champion of diversity, international trade group Women In Marketing named Zanger "Highly Commended" as its 2017 Journalist of the Year honoree. During a 15-year career in radio, Zanger built in-house creative teams, won a Radio Mercury Award and was jury president of the London International Awards.

"I've known Mack for more than twelve years and she has built a remarkable business with some gifted and passionate professionals," says Zanger. "That's a great foundation to work from and I'm excited to work across SMG to build out even more capabilities for our clients to help them establish leadership positions in their industries."

About SalientMG

SalientMG is a strategic marketing agency with team members across North America. We are senior marketers, not traditional consultants. We collaborate with our clients to identify their salient points  what makes their business truly remarkable. Growth-stage B2B tech startups partner with us to launch, accelerate, and streamline their marketing strategies and programs. Since 2013, B2B technology companies including Verizon, Etsy, Ubermedia, Sparkfly and Rovio have relied on SalientMG to create market differentiation and accelerate growth. Visit http://www.salientmg.com to learn more or engage with us via Twitter @SalientMG or Linkedin.
My Army and Me: a powerful tale of hope and the bonds of family. My Army and Me is the creation of published author Adam Kollar, a proud veteran of the United States Navy who lives in Jacksonville with his supportive wife and three amazing children.

Kollar shares, Who do you look up to? Is it a firefighter, maybe a policemanhow about a member of the military? Whoever it may be, there is a reason they are your hero. Today at Good Deeds Elementary you will get to meet someone who may be small, but by the end of her story, youll be looking up to her. Inside the classroom of Good Deeds Elementary, Lynn shares a story with her classmates about courage, strength, and faith. Throughout this story you see this strong, amazing, inspirational little girl battle the monster known throughout the world by the name of cancer. While fighting this beast Lynn will ride into battle with sword and shield in hand, and friends, family, and God by her side. Lynn will show us that no matter your size, how big or how small you are, you can do anything with the right army behind you.

We hope you enjoy another journey into the classroom of Good Deeds Elementary and maybe youll see that you, too, have strength, courage, and an army. We would love for you to share your stories about a time you had to be strong and courageous at gooddeedselementary Twitter and Facebook page. Enjoy this inspiring story and we look forward to you joining us in changing the world, one good read at a time. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from My Army and Me will benefit the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund whose mission is to provide comprehensive financial, emotional, and practical support for families tackling childhood cancer. For further information, go to http://www.tcjayfund.org.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Adam Kollars new book is a heartwarming tale of faith from the authors Good Deeds Elementary series.

Kollar offers a simple and inspiring message that is easy for young readers and those that love them to share together during difficult times.

Consumers can purchase My Army and Me at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about My Army and Me, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Jamal Knight (center), grandson of Jesse Brown, America's first Black naval aviator, joins Thomas Hudner III (right) to open a new EAA Aviation Museum exhibit. EAA's Chris Henry is at left. When we discovered that our Corsair had a direct connection to a Medal of Honor recipient, it was an easy decision to restore the airplane to its Korean War markings to honor him. This new exhibit also honors Jesse Brown as a naval aviator.

A new exhibit that opened April 23 in the EAA Aviation Museums Eagle Hangar honors the late Thomas Hudner, a Korean War Medal of Honor recipient, with a Corsair aircraft that replaced the one Hudner used in his heroic actions that earned him the Medal of Honor.

The airplane has been in the EAA collection for 40 years and was fully restored in 1994 with the markings of World War II ace Kenneth Walsh. Recent research into the aircraft log books, however, showed the Corsair was a replacement for the Corsair that Hudner crash-landed in Korea in 1950 in an attempt to save fellow pilot Jesse Brown, the U.S. Navys first Black naval aviator. Hudner logged many hours and multiple carrier landings in the EAA aircraft, which after its Navy service was owned by several individuals before it was donated to EAA in 1982.

When we discovered that our Corsair had a direct connection to a Medal of Honor recipient, it was an easy decision to restore the airplane to its Korean War markings to honor him, said Ron Connolly, EAA Aviation Museum director. This new exhibit also honors Jesse Brown as a naval aviator and the bond he forged with his squadron mates during that time.

Members of the Hudner and Brown families were at the museum as part of the formal dedication of the display, including Thomas Hudner III, son of Thomas Hudner, and Jamal Knight, grandson of Jesse Brown. They also loaned personal memorabilia that adds to the authenticity of the exhibit.

The Korean War incident that memorialized Hudner and Brown is the subject of a soon-to-be-released major motion picture titled Devotion, starring Screen Actors Guild award winner Glen Powell, as well as Jonathan Majors, Serinda Swan, and Joe Jonas. That movie is scheduled to be released later this year, and EAA has been in regular contact with the movie production team in an advisory role.

The gull-winged Chance-Vought F4U-4 Corsair was one of the finest fighter-bomber aircraft produced during World War II. It was a formidable weapon from the closing months of WWII through the Korean War. In Korea, the Corsair was outclassed as a fighter (though it shot down at least one Chinese MiG-15 jet fighter), and it was used mostly as a ground-attack fighter/bomber. Its speed and ruggedness, and its huge bomb load capacity (rivaled only by late-model P-47s) made it very effective in the ground-attack role.

Corsairs were also flown by the U.S. Navy and Marines, the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the French Aeronavale.

About EAA Aviation Museum

The EAA Aviation Museum is located just off Interstate 41 at the Highway 44 exit in Oshkosh. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EAA members receive free museum admission year-round. For more information, call the EAA Aviation Museum at (920) 426-4818 or visit http://www.EAA.org/museum.


Bold and stylish furniture franchise BoConcept is opening another South Florida location. On April 28th, Carlos Salamonovitz  one of BoConcepts largest franchisees  will hold a grand opening party for his fourth Florida store and 13th store overall in Gulfstream Park Village at 600 Silks Run , Suite1280, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009.

This new location arrives just six months after the opening of Salamonovitzs previous BoConcept opening in the River Market mall in Fort Lauderdale, which has already established a large and loyal following.

We have seen a major demand for our functional and stylish furniture at the first three Florida locations since year first store opened. Having found success quickly, we didnt waste any time moving on the fourth, Salamonovitz said. With an outpouring of customers at the Brickell, Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale locations, we knew we had a lot of untapped opportunities still available, and were excited to start meeting the demand in the Aventura, Hallandale Beach and surrounding neighborhoods.

Salamonovitz who currently oversees nine BoConcept stores in Mexico and four in South Florida, with additional locations in the pipeline for both markets, says Florida has proven to be the perfect market for the fast-growing furniture franchise. In fact, he even has a lease signed for his fifth Sunshine State location to open later this year at The Gateway at Wynwood.

Florida is a very international market, which is perfect for a global brand like BoConcept, he said. People know us from their home countries, and they know that we offer superior products to just about any other option in the U.S. or abroad. There is also a growing number of first- and second-time home buyers in Florida who are looking for high-end but affordable furniture.

Florida's Office of Economic and Demographic Research reported that Florida gained an estimated 329,717 new residents between April 2020 and April 2021. As homeowners move into the state, BoConcept is ready to help them furnish their homes through its comprehensive in-home or store interior design service.

The Gulfstream Park Village BoConcept store marks the franchises 18th store in the United States and puts the brand well on its way to reaching its goal of 350 units in countries around the world by 2023.

As BoConcept continues to grow, Steen Knigge, the franchises director of U.S. marketing, says franchisees like Salamonovitz are critical to the brands success.

Carlos exemplifies everything we look for in our franchisees, Knigge said. He knows his consumer, he knows the value of our brand, and hes always looking for growth opportunities. His consistent growth in Mexico and Florida is proof of how successful our model can be when applied by someone who truly understands it.

Originally founded in Denmark in 1952 and franchised in Paris in 1993, BoConcept is dedicated to building successful stores through entrepreneurial franchisees. The functional furniture brand is actively targeting sophisticated retail communities in major cities, including Chicago; Houston; Austin, Texas; Phoenix; and Scottsdale, Arizona.

To learn more about franchising with BoConcept, visit https://www.boconcept.com/en-us/franchise. The BoConcept Gulfstream Park Village location will have a grand opening party on April 28th. For more details, contact the store directly.

About BoConcept

Since opening its first franchise in Paris in 1993, BoConcept has become a global leader in the design of bold, stylish furniture, boasting nearly 300 locations in 65 countries around the world. Founded in Denmark in 1952, BoConcept differentiates itself by offering premium-quality, modern designs that elevate interior spaces to achieve their full potential. The company remains focused on creating functional furniture for the urban consumer through partnerships with the worlds leading interior designers. Backed by a proven global concept and strong franchise support system, BoConcepts 18 U.S locations include a flagship store, which opened in December 2017 on New York Citys famed Madison Avenue. For more information, please visit http://www.boconcept.com. To inquire about franchise opportunities, please visit https://www.boconcept.com/en-us/boconcept/franchise


The way we work has changed exponentially, and our clients need us now more than ever, but they dont just need a consultant. They need a partner.

Centric Consulting, an international business and technology consulting firm, announced it saw one of its best years of growth in 2021, with revenue increasing by nearly 20 percent, and it is already on target to hit revenue growth goals for 2022. With more than 1,400 employees in the U.S. and India, Centric continues to seek new talent, hiring across its practices to meet increasing client demand.

In the current landscape, many companies are struggling to manage organizational change, the war for talent, and how to effectively use their technologies to create a better workplace, both in the office and remote.

A virtual company since day one, Centric is well-equipped to face the challenges of this new work environment and guide its clients to do the same with a proven hybrid workplace approach.

The way we work has changed exponentially, and our clients need us now more than ever, but they dont just need a consultant. They need a partner, said Dave Rosevelt, Centric Consulting CEO. We approach each of our clients businesses as if it were our own and see ourselves as a dedicated extension of their business.

Centric plans to increase its revenue to $300M in the next five years with the support of a growing and talented workforce that embodies its unique culture. The firms culture  one that celebrates individuals, collaboration and lifelong friendships  has always been its cornerstone.

We have created one of the best cultures in the consulting industry, and there has never been a better time to join the Centric team, said Rosevelt. Were excited to continue down a path of growth, and we dont see it stopping any time soon.

Click here to see Centric Consultings career opportunities.

About Centric Consulting

Centric Consulting is an international management consulting firm with unmatched in-house expertise in business transformation, hybrid workplace strategy, technology implementation and adoption.

Founded in 1999 with a remote workforce, Centric has established a reputation for solving its clients toughest problems, delivering custom solutions, and bringing deeply experienced consultants centered on whats best for your business.

In every project, you get a trusted Centric advisor averaging over 15 years of experience and the best talent from across the United States and India. Centric deliberately builds teams that can scale up or down quickly based on client needs, industry and desired outcome.

Headquartered in Ohio, with 1,400 employees and 14 locations, Centric has been honored over the years with over 100 awards for its commitment to employees, clients and communities. Most recently, the firm was recognized as one of Fast Companys 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators.

Visit http://www.centricconsulting.com to learn more. Connect with Centric Consulting:LinkedIn|Twitter|Facebook|Instagram
I was fortunate enough to meet Jacquie Turner at the SCA Expo in Boston and sourced the coffee based on this new relationship. With its flavor notes of Blackberry, Dragon-fruit, and Marshmallow, this coffee is super special. - Brandon Bir, Director of Sustainability, Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Columbus coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is proud to introduce Kinini AA craft coffee from Rwanda.

Grown at 1,800 to 2,200 meters above sea level in the Rolando District of Rwanda, this fully washed Bourbon coffee has tasting notes of blackberry, dragon fruit and marshmallow.

Kinini means, literally, this big thing right here, said Crimson Cup Sustainability Director Brandon Bir. Its a collaboration of cooperatives that pools their efforts to improve their coffee lots. About 85 percent of the members are women.

The roaster met the Kinini cooperatives through the International Womens Coffee Alliance. The organization's mission is to empower women in the international coffee community to achieve meaningful and sustainable lives, and to encourage and recognize the participation of women in all aspects of the coffee industry.

Headquartered in Kinini town, the cooperatives and their washing station collect from the neighboring villages of Tumba and Mageragere.

At the washing station, workers ferment the beans for 24 to 36 hours, then dry them on beds using shade nets and rain tarps.

We found the lot from Tumba Village to be something worth sharing! Bir said.

Crimson Cup recommends brewing light-roasted Kinini AA coffee with a Hario v60 brewer using 24 grams of finely ground coffee to 400 grams of water, including 50 grams of bloom water.

To understand how a group can produce 87-point coffee in their first year of production, you must understand the people behind the coffee, he added. Dreamers. Thats what everyone called Jacquie Turner and Malcolm Clear when they wanted to start a school for children in Eastern Rwanda 10 years ago.

Driven by the desire to help the children of the genocide, they made that dream a reality. As they got to know that community, they realized the children needed much more than just education. So, they lobbied the local government and international donors to support construction of a local pharmacy, micro-finance credit institution, and other services.

Later, they turned their hands to creating economic sustainability through coffee, which saw a meteoric rise after Paul Kagame became the sixth president of Rwanda in 2000. The first crop yield coffee scoring 87 points.

I was fortunate enough to meet Jacquie Turner at the SCA Expo in Boston and sourced the coffee based on this new relationship, Bir said. With its flavor notes of Blackberry, Dragon-fruit, and Marshmallow, this coffee is super special. You will be pleasantly taken back by the depth and sweetness of the cup.

Crimson Cup sourced this fantastic coffee as part of its Focus on Good. The roaster creates positive change through its products and relationships around the world, inspiring coffee lovers to help make a meaningful impact with every cup.

Crimson Cup Kinini AA coffee is available for a limited time on the Crimson Cup website and at Crimson Cup Coffee Shops in Columbus, Tallmadge and West Chester, Ohio. Order for pickup through the Crimson Cup App.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Founded in 1991, Crimson Cup is at the forefront of the coffee industry. Its attentive roasting, startup support and global partnerships are consciously designed for the greater good of communities around the world. Among other national recognitions, the company has earned 2020 and 2017 Good Food Awards, the 2019 Golden Bean Champion for Small Franchise/Chain Roaster and Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year.

Crimson Cup travels the world searching for the perfect cup  driven by meaningful relationships, honesty and a shared vision for the future. Its Friend2Farmer initiatives foster respect and decency through mutually beneficial collaboration across local and global communities.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program, the company teaches entrepreneurs how to open and run independent coffee houses in their local communities. By developing a coffee shop business plan, entrepreneurs gain insight into how much it costs to open a coffee shop.

Crimson Cup coffee is available through over 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh. The company also owns several Crimson Cup Coffee Shops and a new CRIMSON retail flagship store. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com, or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.


The companys culture, record of innovation, and dedication to its blue-chip customers made this an easy investment decision

Eleven Software Inc. announced today it has been acquired by Ven Capital Partners, an industry-focused private equity firm.

Founded in 2002, Eleven is a leader in cloud software for the hospitality, multifamily, and community Wi-Fi sectors. Its ElevenOS platform enables hotel and retail brands, apartment, and condominium complexes, as well as local communities to offer consistent Wi-Fi connectivity experiences around the globe in over 50 countries with 20 million device connections every day.

ElevenOS is the #1 Wi-Fi connectivity platform for brands around the world, enabling a consistent connection experience regardless of the Wi-Fi service provider or underlying network hardware. Brands have also been leveraging Eleven to grow their in-house loyalty programs through sign-ups as part of the Wi-Fi connection experience, generating 10x enrollments compared to traditional acquisition channels. The Eleven multifamily solution enables cable and telecom operators to offer Wi-Fi as an amenity for apartments, condominiums, and student housing. And municipalities can leverage the Eleven Passpoint solution to provide automatic, hassle-free, and secure connectivity for residents and visitors alike to enjoy an always-connected main street.

We couldnt be more thrilled with the acquisition by Ven Capital. Their impressive portfolio of investors, access to capital, and focus on our core industries will create incredible opportunities for our customers and employees, commented Peri Pierone, the outgoing Eleven CEO. Were seeing an increasingly more strategic approach to Wi-Fi for networks outside the home and office, and with Vens capital backing, Eleven is well positioned to accelerate its growth trajectory and become the world leader.

Ven Capitals acquisition builds upon Elevens consistent track record of delivering innovation in the Wi-Fi management sector. Eleven has a strong reputation as a market leader and the companys impressive growth positions it well for the next chapter, said Hannah Greenberg, Managing Partner for Ven Capital and incoming Eleven CEO. The companys culture, record of innovation, and dedication to its blue-chip customers made this an easy investment decision for our firm and our investors.

Eleven will retain the entire team and continue to operate out of its headquarters in downtown Portland, Oregon.

Vista Point Advisors, a San Francisco-based boutique investment bank, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Eleven. Financial terms were not disclosed.

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ABOUT ELEVEN SOFTWARE

Eleven is a leader in cloud-based Wi-Fi management solutions for the hospitality, multifamily, and community markets. It was founded in 2002 by Josh Friedman, Andrew Yorra, and Josh Blank to solve the complexities of public access Wi-Fi networks. Friedman and Yorra grew the company together over its two decades, growing every single year, and led the divestitures of its non-core service businesses in 2016 to generate a return for investors and focus on the core software business. The companys customers include large brands like Hilton and Marriott, as well as leading telecom carriers like Charter Communications, AT&T and British Telecom. Eleven recently surpassed 7B authentications per year, 10K properties with 1.5M doors in 50+ countries, and 40 employees. Proudly founded and based in Portland, Oregon, Eleven has been ranked by the Oregonian as a Top Place to Work in 2020 and 2021. Read more at elevensoftware.com.

ABOUT VEN CAPITAL PARTNERS

Ven Capital Partners is a private investment firm focused on mission critical technologies in hospitality and adjacent industries. Investment partners include Pacific Lake Partners, Miramar Equity Partners, and Bain Capital Credit.

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Evive Logo Evives approach to boosting benefits utilization and driving engagement for Sanofi demonstrates our ongoing commitment to exceeding customer expectations.

Evive, the leader in digital engagement and communication technology, joins fellow industry leaders as a sponsor of The Conference Boards 2022 Annual Employee Health Care Conference, Elevate the Health Care Experience. The conference will take place at the New York Marriott Marquis, April 28-29, 2022.

In addition, Tuesday, April 28 from 2:55-3:40 p.m. ET, Adam Kanouse, Evives chief technology officer, and Alan Lubeck, Sanofis head of U.S. benefits, will speak about using incentive programs to encourage employee benefits utilization, especially imperative in todays largely distributed workforce. In a session titled, Need to Up Your Benefits Game? Incentives Programs Offer a Low Cost, High Return Solution, Kanouse and Lubeck take a deep dive into how Sanofis personalized incentives program, executed by Evive, boosts engagement, higher benefits utilization and measurable ROI  without additional budget.

Evives approach to boost benefits utilization and drive engagement for Sanofi demonstrates our ongoing commitment to exceeding customer expectations. Were eager to replicate that level of success for other organizations, said Prashant Srivastava, Evive president and CEO. We are excited to join a dynamic group of speakers from a diverse array of employers to share unique perspectives and tangible advice about innovative health and benefits strategies that improve employee health and well-being.

The Conference Board is a member-driven think tank that delivers trusted insights for whats ahead as work and the workforce change. The Annual Employee Health Care Conference brings together heads, vice presidents, directors and managers of human resources, benefits, compensation, wellness and total rewards to discuss their journeys of redefining health and benefits strategy.

In addition to speaking and sponsoring The Conference Boards 2022 Annual Employee Health Care Conference, Evive will also participate as a conference exhibitor. Self-insured employers interested in attending the Conference Board New York, should email contact@goevive.com for complimentary passes. For those already attending, Evive hopes youll join their speaking session on Tuesday, April 28 from 2:55-3:40 p.m. ET where they will donate $50 per person to Ukrainian relief.

Evive leverages predictive analytics and behavioral science principles to deliver highly personalized campaigns of one that help employees fully engage with their benefits. Evives communications platform gently reminds employees to act using their preferred mode of communication  email, text or push notification. Once employees act, Evives closed loop system learns what messaging style works best for that individual and determines what should be communicated next.

To learn more about Evive, its technology platform and benefits utilization solution, visit http://www.goevive.com.

About Evive

Evive changes the way companies communicate. As the market leader in data-driven, personalized engagement, Evive has extensive experience helping large and midsize companies optimize the employee experience across their diverse populations. Starting with rich healthcare and HR data sources, Evive uses proprietary predictive analytics and behavioral science expertise to deliver highly segmented, multi-modal messaging. Personalized communications connect the right person to the right resource at the right time: driving individual action and delivering measurable outcomes across the spectrum of employee experiences. To learn more about Evive, visit https://goevive.com/ or LinkedIn. Contact press@goevive.com to learn more.


Mostly Serious Ryan's web design experience and willingness to jump in and tackle new challenges have already made him a valuable addition to the team, said Sarah Jenkins, Mostly Seriouss creative director. I look forward to growing our creative capabilities this year with him on board.

Mostly Serious, a full-service digital agency specializing in custom web design, digital marketing, SEO, and content, has announced the hire of Ryan Saunders as its new UX and UI designer. A graduate of Drury University, Saunders gathered several years of experience at other agencies in the southwest Missouri region before joining Mostly Serious. He has taken on a critical role in the agency as the primary designer of client-facing UI and UX designs, including fully custom website designs and supporting assets.

Saunders joined the Mostly Serious team on April 18.

Ryan's web design experience and willingness to jump in and tackle new challenges have already made him a valuable addition to the team, said Sarah Jenkins, Mostly Seriouss creative director. I look forward to growing our creative capabilities this year with him on board.

Mostly Serious plans to hire an additional designer in 2022 to round out its creative team. To learn more about the agencys open positions, visit mostlyserious.io/careers.

About Mostly Serious

Founded in 2010, Midwest-based full-service digital agency Mostly Serious offers the latest in custom web design and development, digital marketing and advertising, and more. Mostly Serious crafts award-winning websites for Burrell Behavioral Health, CoxHealth, and other well-known entities in the southwest Mo. region. For more information about Mostly Serious, visit mostlyserious.io or email info@mostlyserious.io.
Hashcash park in Bengal Silicon Valley HashCashs success in global digital business transformation services can be attributed to skilled resources with expertise across multiple domains. The proposed HashCash Park is another step forward, upholding our commitment to excellence with talented individuals.

Global IT and software services provider HashCash Consultants announced their plans to construct a state-of-the-art HashCash Park in Bengal Silicon Valley in eastern India. The company will invest more than 10 million USD through its Indian subsidiary, Blockbase Consultants.

The upcoming HashCash Park will be spread over 2 acres of land within HIDCOs Bengal Silicon Valley Tech Hub. The company had previously stated its expansion plans, and an intent to recruit several employees for its development center in India in multiple domains.

HashCash CEO and noted blockchain pioneer Raj Chowdhury expressed his views on the upcoming development, stating HashCashs success in global digital business transformation services can be attributed to skilled resources with expertise across multiple domains. The proposed HashCash Park is another step forward, upholding our commitment to excellence with talented individuals.

The HashCash initiative will feature pioneering R&D facilities while addressing energy and environmental concerns. The construction will be powered entirely by renewable energy with solar panels. It will also comprise open natural ventilation and multiple green zones with sufficient plantation. The HashCash Park will also include a wellness center, auditorium, and care clinics for the overall well-being of its employees.

The ongoing digital age will persist, but our efforts should always be carried out with resourcefulness and foresight for the upcoming generations, concluded Chowdhury, who had previously offered his insight on blockchains potential for carbon reduction.

Based out of the US, HashCash Consultants has been a frontrunner in the Digital IT revolution and continues to enjoy a global presence with over 500 clients from more than 100 countries including its native US, Singapore, Dubai, Australia, and also India. The firm has been recognized as the top blockchain development company in a global business research list. HashCash supports innovation and collaboration instead of competition, partnering with a major US metaverse company and contributing to UAEs crypto transformation. The company also offered its expertise in building a DeFi micro-loan platform for women entrepreneurs in Morocco.

The HashCash Park will offer opportunities for economic development and employment. From the corporate perspective, the venture will also stimulate the growth of IT infrastructure in eastern India.



About HashCash Consultants:

HashCash is a global software company. HashCash Blockchain products enable enterprises to move assets and settle payments across borders in real-time for Remittances, Trade Finance, Payment Processing, and more. HashCash runs a US-based digital asset exchange, PayBito & digital asset payment processor, BillBitcoins. HashCash offers exchange and payment processor software solutions, ICO services, and customized use cases. HashCash propels advancement in technology through Blockchain1o1 programs and its investment arm, Satoshi Angels. HashCash offers solutions in AI, Big Data, and IoT through its platforms, products & services. HashCash solves the toughest challenges by executing innovative digital transformation strategies for clients around the world.
Houston Personal Injury Attorney Shane Kadlec named Top 100 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyer, 2022

Houston personal injury lawyer Shane Kadlec, founder of the Law Office of Shane R. Kadlec, has been named a Top 100 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyer by The National Trial Lawyers. Each year, high achieving lawyers are recognized from each state or region by The National Trial Lawyers for their success, knowledge, and advanced skillsets. Over the last 25 years, Attorney Kadlec has exhibited profound commitment to assisting injury victims throughout the Houston area.

Attorney Shane Kadlec is a Board-Certified Personal Injury Trial Lawyer providing superior legal services to Texas clients who have sustained injuries after dangerous accidents, including motor vehicle accidents as well as accidents occurring on construction sites and at the workplace. Mr. Kadlec has ample experience representing victims harmed due to the negligent actions of third parties, including premises liability and medical malpractice cases.

Since earning admission into the State Bar of Texas in 1996, Mr. Kadlec has received numerous accolades acknowledging his incredible work in the legal field and the support he has provided to his clients. Previously, he has been named a Texas Rising Star by Super Lawyers, and he was also recognized as a leading lawyer under 40 years old by Texas Monthly Magazine.

Mr. Kadlec demonstrates his immense commitment to the legal profession through his various memberships and pro bono work. He is on the Houston Trial Lawyers Association board of directors and serves as a sustaining member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. Shane Kadlec also provides pro bono legal services for the Houston Trial Lawyers Foundation.

About The Law Office of Shane R. Kadlec

Representing injury victims from their Houston office, the attorneys at the Law Office of Shane R. Kadlec are attentive to their clients and passionate about defending their clients rights. The law firm consists of two outstanding attorneys, Mr. Shane Kadlec and Associate Attorney Brittany Schuchmann. The legal team advocates for those in need after serious accidents and fights for the compensation their clients deserve.

The law firm also provides support to their community and future lawyers. Twice a year, the Law Office of Shane R. Kadlec offers a scholarship opportunity to college students throughout the country who are pursuing a career in public service.

To learn more about the Law Office of Shane R. Kadlec, visit https://www.injurylawyerhouston.com/ or call 281-643-2000.
Road Town, British Virgin Islands: iFOREX - a leading global financial broker with offices in the BVI - announced its partnership with One Tree Planted, a nonprofit organization dedicated to global reforestation. Under the terms of the partnership, iFOREX will ensure new trees are planted in the Amazon Rainforest when new clients make a deposit. Clients will then receive a certificate to commemorate their contribution.

A spokesperson for Formula Investment House Ltd, operator of the http://www.iFOREX.com website, said: We care deeply about the future of our planet and are pleased to be partnering up with such a proactive organization as One Tree Planted. Trees play an important role that contributes to our health and well-being as a planet, and its vital we all do what we can in light of the current climate crisis.

For over 25 years, iFOREX has remained one of the largest and most respected firms in the Fintech industry, emerging early on as an industry leader in technological innovation and with a dedication to trust and excellence. We feel its our duty to appropriate that same technology to help spread awareness of the importance of sustainability and the reforestation of our planet, in order to make a positive impact for nature, wildlife and people alike, said the iFOREX spokesperson.

About One Tree Planted

One Tree Planted is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit on a mission to make it simple for anyone to help the environment by planting trees. Their projects span the globe and are done in partnership with local communities and knowledgeable experts to create an impact for nature, people, and wildlife. Reforestation helps to rebuild forests after fires and floods, provide jobs for social impact, and restore biodiversity. Many projects have overlapping objectives, creating a combination of benefits that contribute to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. To learn more, visit onetreeplanted.org

For further information, please contact Marketing Manager Vasilis Katsikadis at 1-855-845-5883 or email pr@iforex.com
Cecelia Health and Joslin Diabetes Center today announced a collaborative program to address and overcome barriers to the initiation and use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in older adults with diabetes on complex insulin regimens. The study, building on Joslin Diabetes Centers previous work with this patient population, is funded by a grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.

Over the last few decades, the number of people with diabetes age 65 or over requiring multiple daily insulin injections or insulin pump therapy has increased due to longer life expectancy and diabetes disease state progression. In addition, research has shown that this population is at higher risk of dangerous drops in blood sugar (hypoglycemia), has less hypoglycemia awareness, and may have difficulties reporting hypoglycemia due to cognitive and physical decline. These factors have influenced the medical community to consider new technologies and novel approaches to better serve the health needs of this population.

One of the tools shown to improve glycemic control and reduce risk of hypoglycemia when used appropriately is real-time CGM. However, in spite of expanded insurance coverage of CGM in recent years, its use in the older population has been limited, with the leading barrier to adoption being a lack of technology familiarity and competency.

We are excited to participate in this important study and contribute to finding better ways to help seniors use technology to better manage their diabetes, says Dr. Ruth Weinstock, Distinguished Service Professor, Upstate Medical University and American Diabetes Association 2021 President of Medicine and Science.

This project is a collaboration between the Joslin Diabetes Center teams in Boston, Massachusetts and Syracuse, New York, and Cecelia Healths national remote care team. It will use the REST (Readiness, Education, and Sustainability of Technology) model to provide holistic and integrated care within the Geriatric and Endocrine practices. Cecelia Health will deliver patient-centered virtual support to encourage device adoption, address barriers, provide disease state education, and help establish a framework to promote long-term diabetes technology adoption and persistence at scale.

Continuous glucose monitoring plays a critical role in helping people manage their diabetes and reduce the risk of hypoglycemia and its complications, yet its uptake is still low in older people with diabetes, said Dr. Elena Toschi, Research Associate and Staff Physician at Joslin Diabetes Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. We are looking forward to starting this study to further identify barriers and find ways to address them and in doing so, increase the usage of CGM in older persons on complex insulin regimens to effect better health and quality of life.

The results of this study aim to demonstrate that remote diabetes support and monitoring is a critical component of a broader strategy to overcome barriers in CGM adoption in a vulnerable older population. Increased adoption of CGM technology in older adults on complex insulin regimens is critical in lowering hypoglycemia and mitigating its consequences on health and health care costs. Data from this study will be shared upon completion.

This is a tremendous opportunity to partner with Joslin Diabetes Center to support this vulnerable population of older adults on complex diabetes regimens and (potentially) establish a new standard in remote diabetes care. Cecelia Health is looking forward to helping these patients utilize CGM technology to better manage their diabetes and avoid the dangers of hypoglycemia. We are also hopeful this study will prove the tremendous value this technology can bring to these patients and help to develop a financially sustainable model for the provision of these services, said Dr. Arnold Saperstein, Chief Medical Officer, Cecelia Health.

The Helmsley Charitable Trust is the largest private funder dedicated to helping the T1D community around the world live safer, better, and more fulfilling lives today while funding advancements in research and technology for a better tomorrow.

The challenges that older adults face in adopting diabetes technologies are often neglected. It is important to ensure that all members of the T1D community have the support and care they need to thrive, said Deniz Dalton, Program Officer of Helmsleys T1D Program. At Helmsley, we believe that CGM, when combined with the personalized support and integrated care that helps individuals fully benefit from this technology, can change lives for people living with T1D and their families. All three of these elements are present in this Joslin-Cecelia program, which has the potential to help transform what diabetes care looks like for older adults.

Cecelia Health Media Contact: Misty Greficz, mgreficz@ceceliahealth.com

About Cecelia Health

Cecelia Health is a virtual-first provider organization delivering integrated care to patients across all chronic disease risk profiles. We address critical care gaps, reduce variability in care, and improve medication and device adherence. Our virtual specialty care solution delivers the optimal mix of clinical interventions with digital touchpoints. We offer a comprehensive suite of synchronous and asynchronous disease management capabilities including remote clinical support, device training, remote patient monitoring, and telemedicine delivered via a national network of specialty providers. We complement our virtual care capabilities with robust data and analytics that deliver meaningful insights to our partners.

About the Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston MA

Located in the Longwood Medical Area (LMA) of Boston, Massachusetts, Joslin Diabetes Center is the world's leading diabetes research, clinical care and education organization dedicated to the prevention, treatment and research towards a cure for diabetes. A part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, Joslin is a non-profit institution affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

About the Joslin Diabetes Center at Upstate Medical University

The Joslin Diabetes Center affiliate at SUNY Upstate Medical University, located in Syracuse NY, provides Central NYS communities excellence in patient care, education and research in diabetes. It is the ambulatory practice and teaching site for faculty specializing in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. Research is focused on diabetes prevention and improving diabetes management to reduce complications and enhance quality of life.
The LifeLearn integration enables DaySmart Vet users to search ClientEds library of 2,100+ pet health handouts, the majority of which are dog and cat medical, surgical and behavior topics, plus 250+ pet medication handouts and 170+ Spanish handouts.

Veterinary solutions leader LifeLearn Animal Health is happy to announce ClientEd, the pet health education library that supports efficient client education for veterinary practices, has been integrated with DaySmart Vet cloud-based veterinary practice management software.

We couldnt be happier for the opportunity to join forces with DaySmart Vet, said Mark Stephenson, DVM and LifeLearns Chief Veterinary Officer. Since our beginnings in 1994, our focus has been on providing veterinary teams with the best tools to improve the health of patients while saving staff time and improving practice efficiency. DaySmart Vet shares this focus. Making it simple and easy for veterinary teams to access ClientEd handouts through DaySmart Vet is further reflection of our commitment to provide education and efficiency solutions to the veterinary profession.

The integration enables DaySmart Vet users to search ClientEds library of 2,100+ pet health handouts, the majority of which are dog and cat medical, surgical and behavior topics, plus:



250+ pet medication handouts (with new handouts added as novel drugs come to market), which help practices in states like California comply with consultation requirements as mandated by law.

170+ Spanish handouts. (22 million pet owners in the U.S. are Hispanic, and 61% of the U.S. population is bilingual English/Spanish.) Unlike many veterinary handouts that can cause confusion for pet owners with information thats too long and technical, ClientEd handouts are written by animal health and communication experts in jargon-free language that pet owners can easily understand, which improves compliance. ClientEd handouts also come with relevant images or medical illustrations to further increase understanding.

As a complete client education solution, ClientEd further distinguishes itself from other pet health resources by its seamless integration into practice workflows and customization. Practices can tailor existing handout content, create their own handouts, add patient-specific doctors notes, and customize handouts with practice logos, whether provided digitally or on paper. ClientEd can also be integrated into any veterinary website, providing an online on-demand source of pet health information.

Detailed yet easy to understand pet health information improves health outcomes and builds trust, said Jeff Ulrich, Vice President of Operations at DaySmart Vet. The integration with ClientEd provides our customers with easy access to a set of valuable tools that will enable veterinary teams to more efficiently manage and grow their practice.

About DaySmart Vet

DaySmart Vet is a cloud-based software platform designed to help practices automate tasks, streamline workflows, and achieve better work-life balance for their team. With an easy-to-use interface and a suite of integrations, DaySmart Vet helps practices of all sizes efficiently grow their business and manage daily operations from one simplified platform so they can focus on what matters most  their patients. To learn more, visit daysmartvet.com.

For more information, contact:

DaySmart Vet:

Shaila Ortega

VP of Marketing, DaySmart

shaila.ortega@daysmart.com

About LifeLearn Animal Health

LifeLearn Animal Health strives to make the working lives of animal health professionals easier, more efficient, and more effective. To this end, LifeLearn provides affordable, customizable online software solutions for veterinary practice teams to save time, increase efficiency, and manage all aspects of operations to support improved working partnerships with pet owners and better pet health.

LifeLearns solutions include Communication (WebDVM, ALLYDVM), Education (Sofie, ClientEd), Telemedicine (Petriage, PetNurse), and Industry Solutions (custom digital education and communications products and services).

Every customizable solution comes with a no-fuss setup. LifeLearn does all the work for you.

LifeLearns award-winning competencies in digital media, combined with longstanding veterinary content expertise and customer support, are just part of why LifeLearn continues to be a leading and trusted name in the animal health industry.
Following the release of Faith Customers in May 2021, author Quincy S Jones returns to the publishing scene with Africa is NOT for sale (published by Balboa Press AU), a social commentary that addresses the worsening situation of Africa, its resources and its people.

The African continent is for sale and is on its way to being owned by the superpowers. Jones makes this bold assertion in the book, noting that those signing the sale contracts are dictators willing to kill anyone in return for fistfuls of money. Here, the author discusses the long history of dictatorship, ignorance and greediness that have been playing behind the wars and backwardness of Africa. He also examines the role that guns play in everyday life, the recent military coup in the West African state of Mali, and how various nations have responded to military coups. Ultimately, Jones concludes that roadmap for African people to control their destiny is to unite against dictators, build a military alliance within all Africa, and make one currency for Africa.

My book discusses the unspoken about, the author states. It provides all the information about what is happening to the African resources and how dictators are handing African resources to the world superpowers to keep them in power... regardless of human rights and African peoples rights on their resources.

When asked what he wants readers to take away from the book, Jones says, The superpowers have to practice what they preach and respect Africans.

Visit https://www.balboapress.com/en-au/bookstore/bookdetails/839303-africa-is-not-for-sale to get a copy.

Africa is NOT for sale

By Quincy S Jones

Softcover | 7.5 x 9.25in | 348 pages | ISBN 9781982294168

E-Book | 348 pages | ISBN 9781982294175

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Quincy S Jones is an author, politician, informational and public policy analyst, and theology researcher. Jones believes in liberal democracy and social enlightenment and is the general manager of the Liberal Democracy and Enlightenment Studies Centre. He is the author of two books, Faith Customers and Africa is NOT for sale.

Balboa Press Australia is a division of Hay House, Inc., a leading provider in publishing products that specialise in self-help and the mind, body and spirit genre. Through an alliance with the worldwide self-publishing leader Author Solutions, LLC, authors benefit from the leadership of Hay House Publishing and the speed-to-market advantages of the Author Solutions self-publishing model. For more information or to start publishing today, visit balboapress.com.au or call 1-800-844-925.
NEWPRO specializes in curb appeal, using TandoStone (shown here), Beach House Shake and TandoShake to endure harsh weather in any climate. "The ability to add natural aesthetics without the problems associated with traditional materials is tremendous. Tandos array of mixed materials add dimension and transform the home with increased curb appeal." -- Marci Katz, Chief Marketing Officer, NEWPRO

Woburn, MA-based company, NEWPRO, one of the largest siding remodelers in New England, has selected the Tando brand of exterior composite products for their exterior transformations.

The third-generation family-owned remodeling firm founded in 1945 has thrived for more than seven decades by providing outstanding customer service, along with offering quality products they want to install - and that their customers can trust.

With the current demand for exterior upgrades, the NEWPRO team creates transformative curb appeal solutions with durability and low-maintenance by relying

on the styles and colors of TandoStone, the number one brand of composite stone, to Beach House Shake, composite shingles for natural appeal, as well as TandoShakes painted wood looks.

Marci Katz, NEWPROs Chief Marketing Officer, elaborated on the design possibilities when working with the assorted palettes. Now, the mixed-material look can be achieved without the headaches of dealing with supply and labor issues, she explained. Tandos engineering and materials offer the look of natural stone or wood but without the upkeep and maintenance. New England charm can be achieved without the angstits the best of both worlds.

NEWPRO has also found Tandos Beach House Shake to be in high demand, especially in coastal communities. Katz noted, There are coastal residents who love the look of cedar shingles and will wrap their entire home in Beach House Shake knowing that it will maintain the beautyor use it as a gable accent.

TandoStone, available in Stacked Stone or Creek Ledgestone, also features the TruGrit texture which gives it the look and feel of real stone. As Katz explained, We see more attraction to the Stacked Stonewhich seems to capture the charm of our region with its clean, classic look of a dry stack profile and minimal mortar lines. TandoStone provides so many options, each resulting in a distinct design depending on the pairings. For example, the light gray shades in Glacier Bay Stacked Stone pair perfectly with many textures and colors to create very different outcomes. In fact, all ten of the TandoStone colors can be warmed up or cooled down just by working with the other color combinations on the home.

Katz concluded, Homeowners love options that go above and beyond what a residential exterior facelift once offered. The ability to add natural aesthetics without the problems associated with traditional materials is tremendous. Tandos array of mixed materials add dimension and transform the home with increased curb appeal. These designs help create a new home at the same address.

Visit http://www.beachhouseshake.com, http://www.tandobp.com and to learn more about NEWPRO, visit http://www.newpro.com

About Tando

Tando's exterior building products leverage innovation and manufacturing technology to solve market challenges such as labor shortages, long lead times, and moisture concerns all while meeting consumer demand for mixed material exteriors and low maintenance. From launching the first polymer shake over 40 years ago to developing the #1 brand of Composite Stone, Tando has a proven history of creating new categories, including TandoStone, Beach House Shake, and TandoShake. Tando is owned by Derby Building Products. For more info, visit http://www.tandobp.com or http://www.beachhouseshake.com.
SmartCert QR code provides customers quick 24/7 mobile access to review quality cert paperwork during shipping Implementing the digital SmartCert solution in one of PENCOMs manufacturing plants increases our time efficiency by approximately 80 percent over our manual paper system. It also significantly reduces the amount of paper we use, making us more eco-friendly

Aramid Technologies, developer of SmartCert, and PENCOM announced they are working on a digital transformation project to streamline and automate PENCOM's product certification quality management process using the award-winning SmartCert solution.

PENCOM, a manufacturer of components for OEM design engineers, uses SmartCert to improve internal processes and enhance its customer experience across the United States and international locations. During the project's first phase, PENCOM transitioned its product certs from a manual paper system to SmartCert's secure, cloud-based solution. Certs and documents are digitally linked to all products and stored in a centralized archive accessible 24/7 by internal departments via the SmartCert dashboard.

"Implementing the digital SmartCert solution in one of PENCOMs manufacturing plants increases our time efficiency by approximately 80 percent over our manual paper system. It also significantly reduces the amount of paper we use, making us more eco-friendly," says Mario Callejas, global quality assurance manager at PENCOM.

The second phase of PENCOM's digital transformation project improves the customer experience and gains additional internal efficiencies. PENCOM is expanding SmartCert to its customers, which totally automates the cert transfer process. Documentation for sales orders is sent to customers via the SmartCert platform.

"The fastener industry is very competitive and SmartCert gives us an edge by eliminating the problem of missing certs and providing real-time updates," says Mike Gray, chief commercial officer at PENCOM. "Our customers have universal access via the self-serve, cloud-based SmartCert dashboard from any location or mobile device. This increases efficiency for both PENCOM and our customers."

SmartCert is the industry's first cloud-based, self-service platform that allows buyers and sellers to easily manage and exchange all the required quality certs and documentation that go with a product. SmartCert benefits include:



Secure, system simplifies cert transfer process

Self-serve SmartCert dashboard eliminates missing paperwork and provides 24/7 access

Universal platform streamlines inbound and outbound cert exchange

Eco-friendly reduces paper copies

Quick onboarding process takes less than two weeks with minimal disruption

Subscription-based model expands with your business needs

"PENCOM is a global leader in the component manufacturing industry and has more than 25 logistics sites. They are well known for their innovative approach to customer service and support, which makes them an ideal customer to use the SmartCert solution," says Lyndon Lattie, co-founder and CEO of Aramid Technologies.

About Aramid Technologies:

Aramid Technologies introduced SmartCert in 2021 to digitize the cumbersome and costly traditional processes for exchanging quality certifications by paper and email. SmartCert is a cloud-based platform that enables buyers and sellers to easily and securely manage and exchange required documentation. Visit https://www.smartcert.tech to learn more. Follow SmartCert on https://www.linkedin.com/company/aramid/ or https://twitter.com/smartcert_tech

About PENCOM:

PENCOM, a privately held corporation, was founded in 1982 to provide component solutions to OEM design engineers. It has a forward-looking management style with quick and decisive decision-making to support customers' needs. Today, PENCOM is the leading innovator in supply chain management, providing technical product support, global manufacturing, localized inventory logistics, supply base consolidation, and automated inventory management. Visit https://www.pencomsf.com/ to learn more. Follow PENCOM on https://www.linkedin.com/company/pencomsf/ or https://www.facebook.com/pencomsf
ROBAM announces a partnership with Nationwide Marketing Group to bring its suite of kitchen products to the American marketplace. The brand offers includes range hoods, cooktops, ovens and much more. We have been enthusiastic about sharing ROBAMs suite of kitchen products with dealers across the nation and look forward to the opportunity to work with a great network of marketers and dealers. Year after year, the strength of our brand continues to be showcased in our quality kitchen products.

ROBAM, one of the worlds most sought-after high-end kitchen appliance manufacturers, has announced its latest dealer-focused partnership with Nationwide Marketing Group. The brand has ranked No. 1 in global sales for seven consecutive years in both built-in cooktops and range hoods, and its product line has been awarded a World Association Record for most powerful suction in a range hood. Given its established and growing presence in the international appliance market, ROBAM is excited to bring the brand and its suite of kitchen appliances to an untapped North American audience.

We have been enthusiastic about sharing ROBAMs suite of kitchen products with dealers across the nation and look forward to the opportunity to work with a great network of marketers and dealers, said Elvis Chen, Regional Director at ROBAM. Year after year, the strength of our brand continues to be showcased in our quality kitchen products, and our team is excited to impress North American customers with products we know they will love.

TWEET THIS: #ROBAM partners w/ @NationwideMG to add sophisticated suite of kitchen products for dealers to choose from. Ranked No. 1 in global sales for range hoods and built-in cooktops for 7 consecutive years, ROBAM sets sight on American market.

With a robust product offering and a highly recognized brand around the world, ROBAM seeks to bring the latest in appliance technology to showrooms throughout the United States and Canada. This led the brand to connect with Nationwide and position its top-ranked products with thousands of independent dealers across the nation, including its built-in cooktops, range hoods, wall ovens, steam ovens, ranges, dishwashers and more.

ROBAM is such a well-known brand in markets across the globe, and we look forward to helping their team solidify a presence in the United States, said Henry Farley, Merchandising Team Manager at Nationwide Marketing Group. Consumers today want options. This partnership with ROBAM will give our members access to a major player in the global appliance market that offers a vast array of product. We look forward to continuing to work together with ROBAM to support our dealers.

To learn more about ROBAM and its product offerings, visit us.robamworld.com.

About ROBAM:

Founded in 1979, ROBAM is known around the world for its high-end kitchen appliances and has ranked #1 in global sales for seven consecutive yeasr for both built-in cooktops and range hoods. From integrating state-of-the-art Field-Oriented Control (FOC) technology and hands-free control options, to embodying an entirely new design aesthetic for the kitchen that doesnt hold back on functionality, ROBAMs suite of professional kitchen appliances offer the perfect combination of power and prestige. For more information, visit us.robamworld.com.

About Nationwide Marketing Group:

Nationwide Marketing Group works on behalf of thousands of Independent appliance, furniture, bedding, electronics, specialty electronics, custom installation and rent-to-own dealers helping them grow their businesses and thrive on their own terms. With more than 5,000 members operating some 14,000 storefronts, Nationwide Marketing Group is the largest buying, marketing and business support organization of its kind, representing billions in combined annual sales across the membership. For 50 years, the organization has remained committed to the Independent channel, empowering members with the scale, sophistication and efficiencies they need to compete while delivering the unmatched business intelligence, tools and resources required to win in an ever-changing business environment. To learn more, visit nationwidegroup.org.
Rootstock Cloud ERP Economic indicators point to a promising path ahead. The Rooted-In conference is well-timed to help customers get ahead of the curve and leverage our next-generation ERP and cloud platform to scale for growth, efficiency, and service, said David Stephans, President of Rootstock Software.

Rootstock Software, a worldwide provider of cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, today announced its inaugural customer conference, Rooted-In Customer Success, which will be held May 2 - 4 in Austin, Texas. The event will bring together hundreds of Rootstock Cloud ERP users working in the manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain space, and the conference aims to equip them with the knowledge they need to navigate both the challenges and opportunities ahead.

This three-day event is designed around Rootstock customers and helping them to achieve their business objectives. It offers educational sessions and masterclasses, as well as industry panels and case studies. Keynote speakers from Rootstock Software include David Stephans, President; Ramesh Sunder, VP of Product and Technology, and Stu Johnson, Senior Director, Product Marketing. Additional featured experts include Andrew Dailey, Co-founder and Managing Partner at MGI Research; Chad Wright, CIO at Boston Dynamics; Chad Lowman, Director, Corporate Business Systems and Tyler Godsy, Corporate Controller from Fike; and Andrew Russo, CIO at BACA Systems.

Its an exciting time to launch our Rooted-In conference, said David Stephans, President of Rootstock Software. With the worst parts of the pandemic perhaps behind us, economic indicators point to a promising path ahead. Supply chains, while still tight, are starting to flow more freely, and pandemic uncertainty is ebbing. In this climate, customers want to position themselves for success. The conference is well-timed to get them ahead of the curve and help them leverage our next-generation ERP and cloud platform to scale for growth, efficiency, and service.

Were thrilled to bring our customer community together and to shine a light on their triumphs, said Praveena Khatri, VP of Marketing. In the past few years, theyve experienced historic shifts. Many had to innovate and reimagine their operations. Were looking forward to bringing those stories to the stage and sharing them with a broader audience. A common thread in their success has been a modern ERP that helped them to rapidly facilitate strategic changes, support remote work, and accelerate business transformation.

We want to empower customers to get to their next level of success, said Ramesh Sunder, VP of Product and Technology. Toward that end, we are continually building and innovating our cloud ERP platform solution. At the conference, well provide attendees with a session that showcases our latest capabilitiesmany of which customers have piloted and put into play. And well offer a sneak peek at upcoming release features on the Rootstock product roadmap.

The conference offers Rootstock customers a front seat and unmatched opportunity to:



Engage with peers and business leaders to discuss the latest trends, including the tight labor market, how automation is impacting manufacturing, and recent supply chain challenges.

Learn how to put Rootstock ERP features to work across financial reporting, sales and operational analytics, purchasing, cost accounting, and more.

Access technical sessions on API integration, Salesforce Lightning, bots and AI.

Get acquainted with the latest Rootstock ERP features and product roadmap.

Be inspired by success stories presented directly by Rootstock customers.

Meet with and build relationships with the Rootstock team and other customers.

Hear from Salesforce and leading experts about manufacturing and technology.

To learn more about the Rooted-In customer conference, please visit: https://rootedin.rootstock.com/agenda/.

ABOUT ROOTSTOCK

At Rootstock Software, we designed our Cloud ERP to help manufacturers, distributors, and supply chain organizations to digitally transform their operations. Since our solution is built on the Salesforce Platform, companies gain the benefit of an enterprise cloud environment and an ERP system that is intuitive, flexible, and digitally connected. Our team has in-depth expertise in manufacturing, and were dedicated to customer success. We offer the training, product knowledge, and support that customers need to configure Rootstock Cloud ERP to meet their needs. With this comprehensive offering, clients are empowered to deliver a superior customer experience, streamline and scale their operations, and out-service the competition. As we continue to grow, stay tuned to our new customers, career opportunities, and LinkedIn posts.
Much like Patti Engineering, Siemens is leading the digital transformation in manufacturing, said Sam Hoff, CEO of Patti Engineering. I look forward to sharing a practical guide to digitalization at the Realize LIVE event.

Patti Engineering, Inc., a leading control system integration company based in Auburn Hills, MI with offices in Texas and Indiana, today announced that Sam Hoff will participate in two presentations and an industry round table at the Siemens Realize LIVE conference in Las Vegas, NV, on May 10 and May 12, 2022.

The Siemens Realize LIVE conference is being held at Mandalay Bay, Vegas May 9-12, 2022 and will feature industry leaders from across the country that are applying Siemens solutions to transform and create a more sustainable future. This event will also include innovative keynotes, enriching technical sessions, and various networking opportunities.

Much like Patti Engineering, Siemens is leading the digital transformation in manufacturing, said Sam Hoff, CEO of Patti Engineering. I look forward to sharing a practical guide to digitalization at the Realize LIVE event.

On Tuesday, May 10 at 4:00 PM PT, and Thursday, May 12 at 10:00 AM PT, Hoff will present Digitalization: A Practical Guide in Breakers Ballroom G. Hoff will discuss the fact that competitive pressures are driving thin margins on new product sales and how todays leading manufacturers are increasingly developing services-based offerings as a new source of revenue and to deliver a competitive advantage.

Hoff will also participate in an industry round table entitled Digitalization Journeys for Industrial Machinery Companies at 1:30 PM PT in Reef B. The round table will discuss edge/cloud computing, track, trace and real-time locating systems (RTLS), digital twins, robotics, data analytics, and more. The participants will also discuss impactful steps to take now for facilities in all stages of the digitalization process.

Click here to learn more and register.

Patti Engineering has a proven track record of delivering successful results across a range of industries. Customer satisfaction and project success earned the company Control Engineering Magazines 2013 System Integrator of the Year, and placement in the Control Engineering Magazines Hall of Fame. Patti Engineering is a six-time CSIA Certified control system integrator and a recognized partner to many automation technology companies. Patti Engineering is a partner to many world-class automation technology companies including Siemens, Mitsubishi, FANUC, Ignition, ifm, and B&R Automation.

About Patti Engineering, Inc.

Patti Engineering integrates top technology in world-class industrial facilities so that businesses run faster, smarter, and more reliably. Trusted by the worlds best engineers, Patti Engineering has earned top ranks and honors from the biggest names in systems integration: Siemens, FANUC, Mitsubishi Electric, and CSIA. Patti Engineering, Inc. offers high-caliber engineering and software development services. With technical expertise in electrical control and information systems, Patti Engineering provides turnkey control systems integration for design/build, upgrade/retrofit and asset/energy management projects. Customer satisfaction and project success earned the company placement in Control Engineering Magazines Hall of Fame. For more information, visit Patti Engineerings website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Speakers at the Global Disability Summit (GDS) 2018 - Sightsavers "There is no question that for us, in IDA, this partnership with Sightsavers is a flagship partnership. In the challenging times that we live in, partnerships like ours give hope and vision for disability rights," said Yannis Vardakastanis, the IDA President.

Sightsavers has worked in a strategic and effective partnership with the International Disability Alliance (IDA) since 2013  sharing expertise and resources to advance disability rights and the inclusion agenda. The two organisations have worked together to organise two Global Disability Summits, supported the development and growth of the Global Action on Disability (GLAD) Network, and jointly led major consortium initiatives to advance inclusion of persons with disabilities.

The grant will enable the global umbrella disability network to increase its advocacy work, provide technical assistance, and deliver capacity building for the worlds 1.2 billion people with disabilities and their representative organisations (OPDs). The funding is unrestricted, which means it can be spent wherever it is needed, rather than being tied to a particular area of work.

This is the largest unrestricted grant Sightsavers has made during its 70 years of supporting partners, enabling the partnership with IDA to reach a new level. Behind this partnership lies a shared principle that persons with disabilities are in the best place to decide how and where resources should be deployed to realise their rights.

Yannis Vardakastanis, the President of IDA said on this occasion: "I would also like to thank you wholeheartedly for the financial support to IDA. There is no question that for us, in IDA, this partnership with Sightsavers is a flagship partnership. In the challenging times that we live in, partnerships like ours give hope and vision for disability rights. We are looking forward to continuing to work with you in the years to come."

Sir Clive Jones, Chair of Sightsavers, said: We simply could not do what we do without the partnership between Sightsavers and IDA. We make this unprecedented show of solidarity with the firm belief that persons with disabilities and their representative organisations, are best placed to make and influence the decisions that affect their lives. This represents a commitment to the meaningful, independent, and fully financed engagement of OPDs in the development process.

This grant allows IDA to further its focus on the fact that inclusion cannot happen if persons with disabilities and their organisations are not empowered to participate. The only successful way to ensure that persons with disabilities and their representative organisations are recognised as agents of change is by including their voices on all matters and aspects of life.

*About the International Disability Alliance (IDA)*

IDA, established in 1999, is a network of eight global and six regional organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs). IDA members, and their members, represent over 1100 OPDs from across 182 countries and the estimated one billion persons with disabilities worldwide. The 14 members of IDA are: the African Disability Forum (ADF); the ASEAN Disability Forum (AsDF); the Arab Organization of Persons with Disabilities (AOPD); Down Syndrome International (DSI); the European Disability Forum (EDF); Inclusion International (II); the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People (IFHOH); the International Federation of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (IFSBH); the Latin American Network of Non-Governmental Organizations of Persons with Disabilities and their Families (RIADIS); the Pacific Disability Forum (PDF); the World Blind Union (WBU); the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD); the World Federation of the Deafblind (WFDB); and the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP). For more information please visit http://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/

*About Sightsavers*

Sightsavers is an international organisation that works in more than 30 low- and middle-income countries to end avoidable blindness, treat and eliminate neglected tropical diseases, and promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. Sightsavers vision is of a world where no one is blind from avoidable causes and where people with disabilities can participate equally in society. It is a registered UK charity (Registered charity numbers 207544 and SC038110).

Globally 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment and of these, at least 1 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness that could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. This burden weighs more heavily on poorer countries, and on marginalised communities. And projections show that global demand for eye care is set to surge in the coming years.

In the seven decades since its foundation, Sightsavers has:



Supported more than 1.2 BILLION treatments for neglected tropical diseases

Carried out more than 7.7 million cataract operations to restore sight

Carried out more than 196 million eye examinations

Dispensed more than 4.6 million glasses

Sightsavers holds Independent Research Organisation (IRO) status, making them one of the only international non-governmental organisations to hold this status in the UK. Sightsavers conducts high quality research to address global gaps in knowledge and put research findings into practice by feeding them back into the design of programmes.

For more information, please visit http://www.sightsavers.org
Out of the Darkness: A Guided Journal: My Journey to Mental Wellness: a helpful tool for individuals exploring self-help options. Out of the Darkness: A Guided Journal: My Journey to Mental Wellness is the creation of published author Stephanie Mossi, a paramedic, a registered nurse, and a self-proclaimed mental health advocate. She plans to spend the rest of her life being an advocate for mental health conditions and breaking the stigma surrounding mental health. She is a wife and mother of two who now calls Southwestern Idaho home.

Mossi shares, Have you ever found yourself in the depths of darkness, despair, depression, or anxiety, wishing for a way out? Have you tried to handle these situations on your own, only to find yourself right back in the midst of those struggles? Have you ever thought, If I just knew what to do, I could overcome this? Look no further.

Following her debut memoir Out of the Darkness, Stephanie Mossi presents a self-help guided journal to help others find their way out of the darkness of their mental health struggles. Take a thirty-one-day journey with Stephanie as she guides you through steps that she took to build coping mechanisms and learn to overcome mental health struggles.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Stephanie Mossis new book is an encouraging guided opportunity to track and learn better emotional regulation.

Mossi shares in hopes of helping others faced with similar challenges that she has overcome in her personal life.

Consumers can purchase Out of the Darkness: A Guided Journal: My Journey to Mental Wellness at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Out of the Darkness: A Guided Journal: My Journey to Mental Wellness, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
We are privileged to welcome Angela and Jenson to the Stratus family. As the first Master Franchise location in Vancouver, we have no doubt it will be an exceptional addition to our brand. We are eager to see Angela and Jenson succeed. - Doug Flaig, President of Stratus Building Solutions

Stratus Building Solutions, the nation's leading green commercial cleaning and janitorial services franchise, has announced that Angela Le, a former pharmaceutical sales representative, and her husband, Jenson Leung, have opened the first Master Franchise location in the Northern Vancouver region of Canada.

Stratus Building Solutions is an industry-leading franchise in green commercial cleaning that uses state-of-the-art cleaning equipment, sustainable processes, and biodegradable and non-toxic branded cleaning chemicals.

Prior to this venture with Stratus Building Solutions, Le worked in pharmaceutical sales for nearly five years. While she learned a great deal in this field, she wanted to broaden her horizons and find a career where she could excel  owning her own business was the ideal opportunity. When Le and her husband sought out prospective businesses, she realized franchising was the perfect option for her family. Le loves the concept of having a business model readily available with the support needed to succeed.

What initially attracted us to Stratus Building Solutions was the culture within the franchise, said Le. Everyone is so nice and supportive. When you think of corporate culture, there can be a certain stigma surrounding the workplace environment. Such as a cutthroat mentality or a lack of support, but at Stratus its different. Its truly a team effort. You contact franchisees on a whim, and they will share their success and advice with you. If you have an issue, its likely others have gone through similar problems. Its a great feeling to have such kind people to lean on if needed.

Stratus Building Solutions offers regional Master Franchise opportunities that enable owners to operate as local sales and support centers. Master Franchisees across the United States and Canada help others uncover the potential of the Stratus Building Solutions Unit Franchise opportunity and choose the specific model and investment that fits their lifestyle and financial goals.

As an immigrant from China, I understand the difficulties families face when they move to a new country and how challenging it can be financially, Le said. My goal is to provide business ownership opportunities to interested entrepreneurs in and around our community. I plan to be very transparent with those interested in joining Stratus Building Solutions and offer my support where needed to help families seeking a better future succeed as business owners.

Le hopes the new Vancouver North location serves the needs of the people across British Columbia by creating opportunities for those who would like to join the team as Unit Franchise Owners.

We are privileged to welcome Angela and Jenson to the Stratus family, said Doug Flaig, President of Stratus Building Solutions. We are impressed by their determination and drive to develop opportunities for countless others in the community. As the first Master Franchise location in Vancouver, we have no doubt it will be an exceptional addition to our brand. We are eager to see Angela and Jenson succeed in this region.

Stratus Building Solutions, currently present in approximately 57 U.S. and Canadian metropolitan locations, provides eco-friendly, customizable commercial cleaning and janitorial services to a wide range of clients, including offices, medical facilities, warehouses, schools, religious centers, gyms, retailers, and more.

For more information on Stratus Building Solutions of Vancouver North, please visit https://www.stratusclean.com/locations/vancouver-north.

About Stratus Building Solutions:

Stratus Building Solutions is an international franchise company in the commercial cleaning industry, founded in 2006 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Stratus was developed to provide environmentally friendly commercial cleaning services driven by dedicated, entrepreneurial, small-business owners and regional support offices. Stratus has over 2,500 Unit Franchisees in 60 major cities across the United States and Canada. Stratus is setting new standards in the building services and maintenance franchise industry by being the first to offer green janitorial products with their proprietary Green Seal Certified line of cleaning chemicals. To learn more about franchising opportunities, visit https://www.stratusclean.com/.
Made4net solutions have strong third party logistics features, including multi-owner management, that are important to Summit Industrial Park, and we are glad to partner with them on this important project, said Duff Davidson, Made4net CEO.

Made4net, a global provider of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) & end-to-end supply chain execution software, announced today that Summit Industrial Park (SIP), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA), a Fortune 500 global trading and business investment company, implemented Made4nets Warehouse Management System, WarehouseExpert, to manage the storage and distribution of Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG), primarily casing and tubing used in the extraction of oil and gas in West Texas. Summit is positioned to provide last mile logistics for these tubulars for oil and gas exploration and operation companies. The Made4net solution manages the inventory at the 50-acre outdoor yard to drive operational efficiency and reduce overhead.

The project, Summit Industrial Park, is a greenfield operation to meet the growing demand for oil field equipment in West Texas. The Made4net solution manages the receiving, inventory management, and shipping of pipe and related materials at the yard, and tracks and manages the perpetual inventory. The WMS provides 3PL capabilities, including inventory tracking and management of each of their divisions assets and distribution in and out of the yard. The solution is integrated with SIPs proprietary ERP and Track and Trace System.

The WMS implementation was complete in three months, and on the first day of operation, Summit Industrial Park beat their record for the highest number of trucks shipped. Employees are using the system on mobile tablets in the yard, and they are utilizing e-signature capabilities to capture signatures in real time. Special features of the solution include a real-time tally process that gives the user the ability to record the exact length of each pipe leaving the yard.

In the fast-paced oil and gas industry, Made4nets WarehouseExpert provides the real-time inventory tracking that we need to be efficient. That, along with the ability to directly interface with our ERP, gives us the ability to track and invoice shipments to our customers faster than ever before, said Michael Thomas, General Manager for Summit Industrial Park. Made4nets platform and functionality fits well with our vision for technological alignment and seamless integration with our ERP, order management and other solutions for managing multiple owners of goods and accurately tracking inventory history.

Made4net solutions have strong third party logistics features, including multi-owner management, that are important to Summit Industrial Park, and we are glad to partner with them on this important project, said Duff Davidson, Made4net CEO. Companies like SIP are realizing the benefit of Made4nets adaptable platform and powerful supply chain solutions that are feature rich, deploy faster and are flexible to adjust as the business evolves.

About Made4net

Made4net is a leading global provider of best-in-class, cloud-based supply chain execution and warehouse management solutions for organizations of all sizes to improve the speed and efficiency of their supply chain. The companys end-to-end SCExpert offers a robust WMS solution that enables real-time inventory visibility, labor management, and equipment productivity with performance analytics that drive faster, more accurate order fulfillment and improved supply chain efficiency. In addition to the best-of-breed WMS, the platform offers integrated yard management, dynamic route management, proof of delivery and warehouse automation solutions that deliver a true supply chain convergence.

For more information, visit http://www.made4net.com.
Code.org Logo

National nonprofit organization Code.org today announced seven of the top education and technology leaders will join its board of directors. The leaders, who include officials from the nations largest school districts, a state education agency and pioneering technology companies, will help advance Code.orgs mission to expand equitable access to and participation in K-12 computer science.

We strive to ensure a quality computer science education is available to every child, not just a lucky few, said Code.org Founder and CEO Hadi Partovi. To achieve this mission, its critical to have the support and guidance from key leaders in both the education and technology sectors. The diverse, varied experiences and deep expertise of our new board members will guide us to more effectively impact the education system and provide more opportunities for students. Were thrilled to welcome them.

The new members, who will join the board this summer, include:



Alberto M. Carvalho, Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District. Carvalho has served as superintendent of the nations second-largest school district since February 2022. He is one of the most accomplished superintendents in Americas history, with honors including Floridas 2014 Superintendent of the Year, the 2014 National Superintendent of the Year, the 2016 winner of the Harold W. McGraw Prize in Education, the 2018 National Urban Superintendent of the Year, and the 2019 National Association for Bilingual Education Superintendent of the Year Award. Carvalho currently serves on the National Assessment Governing Board, appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Education.

Dr. Sharon Contreras, Superintendent of Guilford County Schools in North Carolina. A leader of one of the nations largest school districts, Dr. Contreras is passionate about ensuring every student graduates college and career ready. She has held two superintendenciesone urban and one in a county-wide district serving urban, suburban and rural students. Dr. Contreras has expanded Career Technical Education programs and access to Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Dual Enrollment programming to prepare students for the global workforce. In 2021, the GCS graduation rate soared to 91.5%. Dr. Contreras was named Superintendent of the Year by the North Carolina PTA (2019), was among Triad Business Journal's Most Admired CEOs in 2020 and is the 2022 AASA Women in School Leadership Award recipient.

Jhone Ebert, Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction. Since taking the reins as the chief state school officer for Nevada in 2019, Ebert has worked tirelessly on behalf of Nevadas nearly 500,000 students and its 750 schools. As State Superintendent of Public Instruction, her proudest accomplishment is Nevadas innovative and responsive COVID-19 recovery efforts, which enabled Nevadas districts to successfully adapt to deliver distance education and prepare for the safe reopening of school buildings. Under her direction, Nevada became the first state nationally to ensure every student participating in distance learning had an Internet connection and a learning-ready device.

Kevin Scott, Executive Vice President of Technology and Research and Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft. Prior to joining Microsoft, Scott was senior vice president of engineering and operations at LinkedIn, where he helped build the technology and engineering team and led the company through an IPO and six years of rapid growth. Earlier in his career, he oversaw mobile ads engineering at Google, including the integration of Googles $750 million acquisition of AdMob.

Aileen Tang, former Group Product Manager at Google. Tang joined Google in 2005 after earning an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She founded the Home Service Ads division and has led work in local search advertising, Google Maps monetization, and digital books publishing. Tang has a B.S. and M.Eng in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

David Treadwell, Senior Vice President at Amazon. Treadwell has been an executive in Amazons retail business since 2016 and a member of Amazons senior leadership team since 2020. Prior to joining Amazon, Treadwell worked at Microsoft for 27 years, where he led and made key contributions to many of Microsofts platform and services teams including Azure Active Directory, Windows 10, XBox One and 360, Windows Live, the .NET Developer Platform, Visual Studio .NET, WinSock, Internet Information Services, and Windows NT.

Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube. Wojcicki leads the worlds most popular digital video platform used by over two billion people across the globe to access information, share video, and shape culture. Prior to joining YouTube in February 2014, Wojcicki was Senior Vice President of Advertising & Commerce at Google, where she oversaw the design and engineering of AdWords, AdSense, DoubleClick, and Google Analytics. She joined Google in 1999 as the company's first marketing manager and led the initial development of several key consumer products including Google Images and Google Books.

See the full board of directors here.

About Code.org

Code.org is a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by young women and students from other underrepresented groups. Our vision is that every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science as part of their core K-12 education. The leading provider of K-12 computer science curriculum in the largest school districts in the United States, Code.org also created the annual Hour of Code campaign, which has engaged more than 15% of all students in the world.
Janette Parker, Vice President, Cusick Community Management Cusick Community Management is exclusively dedicated to managing homeowner associations in North and South Carolina. Supporting HOA communities to enhance home values and quality of life is the core of what we do. Having knowledgeable Association Directors is how we deliver the service they need.

Vice President, Janette Parker is celebrating her 10-year, anniversary milestone at Cusick Community Management, a management company for homeowner associations in North and South Carolina. Since joining the company in 2012, Parker has contributed to its growth and client retention by delivering training and support to elevate the quality of association management for their clients. To develop a high-performing team, Parker provides ongoing education and training for Cusicks Association Directors, giving them the knowledge they need to provide quality service to the HOA Boards they manage.

To cultivate outstanding Association Directors, Parker provides continuous training with a team of highly-skilled specialists on new laws, processes, legal opinions and changes in the industry. Armed with that knowledge, Cusick Association Directors can provide valuable guidance to HOA Board Members in these essential areas:

Financial Management



Board Training

Architectural Review

Community Work Orders

Covenant Enforcement

Violations

Customer Service

At Cusick Community Management, we believe in supporting our Association Directors. Our Vice President, Janette Parker, is 100-percent dedicated to educating, training and supporting them, allowing our company to deliver the highest-possible service to the HOA Boards we serve. Knowledge is key in this industry and we pride ourselves on having the most-knowledgeable Association Directors in the business. - Caryn Cusick, President and Founder, Cusick Community Management

To develop long-lasting relationships with the homeowner associations they manage, Janette Parker ensures the quality of service that fosters client retention.

Cusick Community Management is exclusively dedicated to managing homeowner associations in North and South Carolina. Supporting HOA communities to enhance home values and quality of life is the core of what we do. Having knowledgeable Association Directors is how we deliver the service they need. - Janette Parker, Vice President, Cusick Community Management

Cusick Community Management is a full-service professional HOA Management Company. For the past 25 years, the company has been providing HOA management for single family, townhome and condominium communities. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, service areas include the Charlotte metropolitan area, Gastonia, Hunterville, Indian Trail, Matthews, Waxhaw and Weddington. South Carolina service areas include Fort Mill and Rock Hill. To learn more, contact Cusick Community Management at 704-544-7779.
Michael Sampson and Bill Martin Jr wrote more than 30 books togetherincluding Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 and Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?between 1978 and 2004, the year that Martin died at the age of 88. Sampson subsequently found publishers for a number of the manuscripts by the duo, among them The Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry, featuring the artwork of various illustrators (Simon & Schuster); three Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat picture books, with pictures by Laura J. Bryant (Two Lions); and Listen to Our World, illustrated by Melissa Sweet (S&S/Wiseman).

Martin and Sampsons joint childrens oeuvre continues to grow, with three new books to be released by Dallas-based Brown Books Kids. Armadillo Antics is due on April 26, followed by Ten Little Squirrels (previously published by Holt in 1967, but later rewritten by Martin and Sampson) on October 4, and Bing! Bang! Chugga! Beep! in spring 2023. All three titles are illustrated by Argentinian artist Nathalie Beauvois.

Earlier this month, PW spoke by phone with Sampson, who was in Warsaw after being evacuated from Ukraine in advance of the Russian invasion. He had been teaching Ukrainian university students as a Fulbright Scholar and has subsequently returned to the States. The author talked of his friendship and collaboration with Martin, his commitment to perpetuating their creative legacy, and his future publishing plans.

What sparked your friendship and creative collaboration with Bill Martin Jr?

I first got to know Bill in 1978, at a reading conference in Tucson. I was 27 years old and was finishing my Ph.D. in reading at the University of Arizona, and the conference was a powerful experience for me. I knew immediately that Bill and I had a great deal in common. We were both educators, and I started working with him on his summer workshops for teachers, which we expanded into the Pathways to Literacy Conference, training close to 100,000 teachers over the years.

Working with teachers, Bill and I got to know each other well, even though I lived in Texas and he lived in Manhattan. We both loved to read poetry, especially the work of Robert Frost, and we internalized the work of many poets. Bill believed that you make your way to the cognitive domain by engaging with your heart and soul, and he did that in a brilliant way.

We were a good match as collaborators. Bill was an auditory person, and I am a visual person. I would say, Let me see it, and he would say, Read it to me. He always wanted to hear the language, hear the cadence. He worked to the ear, and I worked to the eye. It was sometimes a long process to get it right. We wrote 60 drafts of Chicka Chicka 1, 2 ,3 before it finally worked!

Did your collaborative process evolve over your quarter-century of writing together?

We definitely had an important turning point in 1992. It all began when my family and I were driving to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport one day to catch a flight to New York to visit Bill. My son, Jonathan, had heard about a 26-acre property for sale on a river in Commerce, Tex. We took a detour to see it, and what we found was a piece of land that was untouched by time. I immediately told my wife that I wanted to live there. Right after our plane landed in New York, I called the owner and bought the land.

When I showed Bill a map of the property, he quickly pointed to a spot by a lake and said, I want to live right here! We both built homes on the land, which we named Woodfrost in honor of Robert Frost. Bill spent the last 11 years of his life there, and we wrote together, side by side, six days a week, for six or seven hours each day, while I taught graduate school in the evenings.

What motivated you to publish this trio of titles now, and why did you select Brown Books Kids as publisher and Nathalie Beauvois as illustrator?

Bill and I generated a lot of manuscripts during those years at Woodfrostand there are still a lot that I havent shown to publishers. I placed eight or 10 books with publishers since Bill died but, with my work as an educator, I didnt have a lot of spare time. I served as a dean of education at several universities, most recently at the School of Education at St. Johns University in New York City, beginning in 2014. After I left that post two years ago, I had more time to spend on placing our manuscripts.

Armadillo Antics, Ten Little Squirrels, and Bing! Bang! Chugga! Beep! are some of my favoritesand they were among Bills favorites as well. They are all written in a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom pattern of rhyme, rhythm, and repetition, which lets kids acquire reading skills without knowing it.

I was drawn to Brown Books Kids because it is a Texas publisher, where we wrote so many of our books, and I am impressed with their team in terms of technology and production and marketing. So, I placed these three books with Tom Reale at Brown Books. He also signed up a fourth book, The Pig, the Elephant, and the Wisecracking Bird, which I co-authored with Bonnie J. Johnson, a renowned educator. That will be published in August.

When it came to choosing an illustrator for the four books, Tom suggested three possible artists, including Nathalie Beauvois, and I was blown away by her work. She has an Eric Carle-like styleyet its different, tooand it fits the texts just right. I was especially impressed at the phenomenal way she paints squirrels! Bill and I have been fortunate to have had such great illustrators for our books, and with Nathalies art we have something that is greater than the sum of its parts. She makes characters come alive.

What is next for you?

I am going to be busy promoting Armadillo Antics on a national book tour, in late April and early May, which I am looking forward to. And I will tour again in October to promote that book as well as Ten Little Squirrels.

And I have been working on a biography of Bill. Ive been writing it piecemeal, as it comes to me. I am telling his story from childhood and have been going back through archives and artifacts, many in Texas. In the process, I am constantly reminded of how remarkable Bills understanding of language is. I think this will be a very interesting book.

I am really enjoying this chapter of my career. Writing a biography of Bill is something I have always wanted to do. And I am so pleased that Armadillo Antics, Ten Little Squirrels, and Bing! Bang! Chugga! Beep! are being publishedand with such beautiful illustrations. Bill really loved these stories, and I know he would be happy to see them in libraries, classrooms, and homes.

Armadillo Antics by Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson, illus. by Nathalie Beauvois. Brown Books Kids, $18.99 Apr. 26 ISBN 978-1-61254-547-9

Ten Little Squirrels by Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson, illus. by Nathalie Beauvois. Brown Books Kids, $18.99 Oct. 4 ISBN 978-1-61254-600-1
In the months since Russia invaded Ukraine, the international publishing community has come together with a number of initiatives aimed at offering support to childrens authors, publishers, and aid organizations. Here, we continue to cover these ongoing efforts.

Just over two months since Russian forces invaded their country, more than five million Ukrainians have fled their homeland, according to UN reports. Around one half of those are estimated to be children. While refugee families have spread out around the world, more than half are currently displaced in Poland. Almost immediately after the war broke out, Polish literacy foundation Fundacja Powszechnego Czytania (Universal Reading Foundation) sprang into action to provide support for refugee children and Ukrainian publishers.

Building their existing network of publishing contacts, the foundation began receiving email files of childrens books from Ukrainian publishers, according to director Maria Deskur. Polish printers including Totem donated their services to print and distribute the books; publishers offered warehouse space and transportation. All of these services have been donations in kind. Nearly two months into the effort, the foundation has either received or been promised 88,000 books and close to 28,000 books are currently in the process of being printed. Now using the hashtag #BooksGiveRefuge for recognition, the foundations initiative is distributing books through Polish orphanages, day care centers, kindergartens, schools, libraries, and train stations where Ukrainian families are arriving, and, in some cases, sheltering for the short term.

Deskur said the foundation has raised a little more than $170,000 to date for the effort, funds that are going directly to Ukrainian publishers to help them stay afloat throughout this crisis. According to an April 22 report in Publishing Perspectives, Oleksander Afonin, president of the Ukrainian Publishers and Booksellers Association, reported that many of the countrys publishers, warehouses, printing houses, and bookstores have been destroyed by missiles, and most Ukrainian publishing professionals have been forced to flee.

To provide each refugee child in Poland with a bookFundacja Powszechnego Czytanias goalwould require $1 million. As the war continues and the refugee crisis intensifies, donations have slowed significantly, even as the need increases, Deskur said. We now need to change to a long-term, well thought-through strategy. We need financial support in order to make that happen, obviously, but my hopes are high that we will be able to do so.

Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda has pledged to provide transportation for book delivery going forward. Polish publishers including publisher Media Rodzina (Polish translator of the Harry Potter series) delivered Ukrainian translations of its bestselling KiciaKocia (Kitty, Kitty) series by Anita Gowinska. Printer Druk-Intro offered 4,000 packets of coloring and activity books and crayons. A Ukrainian translation of Hungarian author-illustrator Susan Batoris Where Is the Toilet Paper? was provided by German publisher Baumhaus. More translations and print runs are in the works.

Publishers, Booksellers, Illustrators, and Authors Offer Support

While Fundacja Powszechnego Czytanias initiative is at the forefront of providing books to Ukrainian refugee children, there are a number of other efforts underway.

With the support of the Federation of European Publishers and the Bologna Childrens Book Fair, the Ukrainian Book Institute launched a crowdfunding campaign that has raised more than $32,000 in the past few weeks. The first 6,000 books funded by the campaign have gone to press.

Bookstoresboth independents and chainshave introduced fundraising efforts to support a variety of charities benefiting kids both inside and outside Ukraine.

In Brooklyn, indie Books Are Magic offered Draw for Ukraine on April 23, an interactive event aimed at involving kids, families, and illustrators in raising money for UNICEF Ukraine and the NYC-based organization Razom for Ukraine. Created in partnership with Private Picassosan arts education organization headed by Ukrainian American artist and educator Valeen Bhatthe event included a raffle for drawings donated by childrens book illustrators including Brian Floca, Melissa Iwai, Nora Krug, Julie Kwon, and Mika Song. During the event, illustrators worked alongside children to create drawings and messages of hope for refugee children.

In Dedham, Mass., Blue Bunny Books & Toys, owned by author and illustrator Peter Reynolds, has raised more than $20,000 for UNICEFs effort to supply children in eastern Ukraine with material support including food, water, clothing, and medical care. Reynolds, the author of 85 books for children, created and sold a limited-edition print inspired by the Ukrainian flag and the countrys sunflower symbol, with all proceeds going to UNICEF. He continues to offer autographed copies of the print and digital downloads through his website.

On March 22, more than two dozen high-profile childrens authors participated in #KidLitforUkraine: Stories of Hope, an online event organized by author Marc Tyler Nobleman and KidLit TV. The event was a fundraiser for Save the Childrens efforts in Ukraine. Participants included Kathi Appelt, Dan Gutman, Donna Barba Higuera, Minh Le, Neal Shusterman, and Rita Williams-Garcia, who offered readings and encouraging messages for kids and adults alike. #KidLitforUkraine included a live feed from Save the Children UK news director Dan Stewart along the Romanian-Ukrainian border and raised nearly $15,000 for that organizations efforts for refugee children, which includes material support and medical care.

In the U.K., childrens publishers Gracie Cooper of Little Toller and Kevin Duffy of Bluemoose raised more than 75,000 to support their Packed with Hope initiative, which began delivering 10,000 backpacks to Ukrainian refugee children last week. Stuffed with scarves, hats, and water bottles in addition to activity and picture books, the backpacks are being distributed at sites along the Ukraine-Romanian border by the publishers and volunteers. Included in the backpacks are more than 40,000 books donated by U.K. publishers and printed by U.S. publishers. Waterstones recently announced its Read for Ukraine initiativeaimed at raising 1 million for Oxfams Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, but the current initiative centers on adult books.

Bonnier Books UK is donating all profits from Maya and Her Friends by author and activist Larysa Denysenko, illustrated by Masha Foya (both Ukrainian), to UNICEF. The book will also be published in Finland, Poland, and Germany. Also in the U.K., Kids Industriesa marketing agencyhas partnered with Laura Helen Brown, author and illustrator of My Emotions Activity Booka free, downloadable book aimed at helping children explore their feelingsto translate her book to Ukrainian and make it available to refugee children, partnering with DoxDirect.com for the downloads and printed hard copies, which the company is donating.

Enchanted Lion Books continues to raise funds from sales of How War Changed Rondo by Ukrainian husband-and-wife author-illustrator team Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv, translated into English by Oksana Lushchevska. The proceeds will go to UNICEFs Ukraine relief funds. The picture book, released last fall, tells the story of three children whose peaceful life is disrupted by war and ultimately offers a message of peace and hope. Numerous individual authors have offered proceeds to fundraising efforts, including adult mystery novelist Rick Bleiweiss (Pignon Scorbion & the Barbershop Detectives, Blackstone) who is donating April sales proceeds to Fundacja Powszechnego Czytanias efforts.

To donate to Fundacja Powszechnego Czytanias #BooksGiveRefuge initiative, click here.

To donate to the Ukrainian Book Institute/Federation of European Publishers effort, click here.
Maryland's library e-book law is one step closer to its end. In a filing this week, the Association of American Publishers asked federal judge Deborah L. Boardman to close the door once and for all on the law by converting her February preliminary injunction blocking the law into a permanent injunction.

[Maryland] has provided no assurance that the Maryland Act will never be enforced. The State has not taken any action to repeal the Maryland Act. Moreover, [the state] offers only attorney argument for the proposition that the State does not intend to enforce the Maryland Act, the AAP brief states. Intentions can change. An injunction precludes the State from enforcing the Maryland Act, period.

In an April 26 order, Boardman asked Maryland attorneys to respond to the AAP filing by May 9.

The AAP response comes after Boardman in February issued a preliminary injunction barring Marylands library e-book law from being enforced, holding that the states law is in fact preempted by the federal Copyright Act.

On April 11, Maryland attorneys told the court that the state would no longer defend the law. But in a final motion, Maryland attorneys asked the court to forego permanent injunction, arguing that a declaratory judgment was sufficient. The States conduct shows that injunctive relief is not necessary here, Maryland attorneys told the court in an April 11 filing. Because the State is not enforcing the Maryland Act and has no intention to do so, the threat identified by the plaintiff will not come to pass.

But AAP lawyers told the court that a declaratory judgment is simply not enough to protect publishers.

A permanent injunction, as opposed to just the entry of a declaratory judgment, is the necessary and appropriate next step in this case," the AAP filing states. "The State acted contrary to law in enacting the Maryland Act, disregarding the critically important preemption issues that the publishing and author communities had brought to its attention. The State then doubled down on its defense of the Maryland Act in this proceeding, raising a host of invalid arguments about the States authority and aggressively questioning both the principles and operation of the Nations federal Copyright Act. At each turn, the States actions reflected an unwillingness to respect the judgment of the United States Congress on copyright policy and the boundaries between states and the federal government under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.

First introduced in January 2021, the Maryland e-book law required any publisher offering to license "an electronic literary product" to consumers in the state to also offer to license the content to public libraries "on reasonable terms." The bill passed the Maryland General Assembly unanimously on March 10, and went into effect on January 1, 2022.

The law emerged after a decade of tension in the digital library market, with libraries long complaining of unsustainable, non-negotiated high prices and restrictions. More specifically, however, the law emerged as a direct response to Macmillan's (since abandoned) 2019 embargo on frontlist e-book titles, which prompted numerous appeals to both federal and state legislators to protect basic access to digital works in libraries.

The Association of American Publishers filed suit on December 9, 2021 arguing that the Maryland law infringed on the exclusive rights granted to publishers and authors under copyright. A week later, on December 16, AAP attorneys moved for a preliminary injunction blocking the law. Just days after a February 7 hearing Boardman enjoined the law.

Similar bills are currently still pending in half a dozen other statesalthough bills in at least three of those states (Missouri, Tennessee, and Illinois) appear to be all but dead. In late December, New York governor Kathy Hochul vetoed New York's library e-book bill.
A group of Llano County, Texas, library supporters have filed suit against county officials in federal court arguing that a series of book bans and other actions at the library violates their constitutional rights.

Public libraries are not places of government indoctrination. They are not places where the people in power can dictate what their citizens are permitted to read about and learn, reads the federal complaint, filed on April 25 in the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division. When government actors target public library books because they disagree with and intend to suppress the ideas contained within them, it jeopardizes the freedoms of everyone.

The suit was brought by a group of individual plaintiffs who, according to court filings, "differ in their ages, professions, and individual religious and political beliefs" but are "fiercely united in their love for reading public library books and in their belief that the government cannot dictate which books they can and cannot read."

The suit alleges that county officials have been systematically removing award-winning books from library shelves because they disagree with the ideas within them. In addition, the suit alleges that the library board also terminated access to the libraries' OverDrive account, which offered access to more than 17,000 digital books, because county officials could not pick and choose titles available to county residents. The suit also claims that county officials wrongly fired a librarian who refused to remove banned books from the library shelves.

 The right to publish and receive ideaseven politically unpopular ideas or ones that some find offensive or distastefulis enshrined in our Constitution. 

Furthermore, the suit claims the county dissolved the existing library board and "packed" a newly appointed board with "political appointees" supportive of the county's book banning efforts. The suit claims that the new library board has since ordered that "all new books must be presented to and pre-approved by the New Library Board before they can be purchased or placed on library shelves." The public has also since been denied access to library board meetings, the complaint states, in violation of the law.

The censorship that Defendants have imposed on Llano County public libraries is offensive to the First Amendment and strikes at the core of democracy, the suit argues. The right to publish and receive ideaseven politically unpopular ideas or ones that some find offensive or distastefulis enshrined in our Constitution. As the Supreme Court has said, freedom of thought and speech is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.

The suit rejects county officials public claims that the books and materials ordered to be removed were pornographic, which is a pretext, the suit claims.

None of the books Defendants have targeted is pornographic," the complaint states. "Many of these books have received prestigious literary awards and national acclaim, and many involve contemporary political issues. Such books include, for example, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson; They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, and Spinning by Eisner Award winner Tillie Walden. Privately, Defendants have admitted that they are banning books because they disagree with their political viewpoints and dislike their subject matter.

The suit asks for declaratory relief stating that Defendants have violated Plaintiffs First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, and for injunctive relief.

"Even books that are not nationally acclaimed should not be banned because of their content or viewpoint," the complaint argues. "Unfortunately, Defendants have done just thatprescribed which public library books Llano County residents can and cannot read

based on the viewpoints and ideas contained within those books."

The suit comes as a wave of book bannings has swept the nation, with the actions in Llano county drawing national attention in the press.
By Jun Sheng

While the US has always prided itself on being the guardian of world peace, preserving global and regional peace and stability is never a priority in its strategic arrangements because what it is really  and only  interested in is seeking gains for itself and consolidating its global hegemony.

In todays world, behind almost every regional conflict, there is Americas agitative diplomacy at work. It manipulates public opinions, weaponizes economic sanctions, and provides weapons to countries in conflict. The superpower is making trouble and rocking boats everywhere in total disregard of international rules just to preserve its hegemony, turning itself into the biggest disrupter of world peace and development.

The escalation and breakout of the Ukraine crisis once again proved the evil intention of Americas agitative diplomacy. Tulsi Gabbard, a former member of the US House of Representatives, said the US could prevent the Russia-Ukraine conflict as long as it made clear that it wouldnt accept Ukraine into NATO. But what did the US do? It arbitrarily pushed the eastward expansion of NATO five times, all the way to Russias doorstep.

While the Russia-Ukraine tension was at height, the US, instead of seeking to chill the crisis, kept providing Ukraine with military aid in provocation to Russia. Now as the conflict keeps worsening, it is still carrying out its agitative diplomacy and fanning the flames.

When the US was first founded, it promoted the diplomatic policy of Monroe Doctrine, drew a line to make the western hemisphere its own sphere of influence, and wantonly interfered in the internal affairs of Latin American countries. After the end of WWII, the US, having cemented its position as a superpower, was reaching its hands out even further. From Trumans containment strategy to Nixons realistic deterrence, from Bush Juniors strategy of preemption to Trumps America first to Bidens Build Back Better, US presidents over the years have all tried hard to maintain their hegemony.

American hegemony is evident to all  the starting of wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the Arab Spring it orchestrated and remotely controlled in Asia and Africa, the Color Revolution it directed in Eurasia, the neo-Monroeism it promoted in Latin America, and the peaceful revolution it instigated around the world. The list goes on. Studies show that from 1948 to 1991, the US conducted 46 military interventions worldwide, a number that grew fourfold to 188 in the period of 1992-2017; from the end of WWII to 2001, it waged 201 out of the 248 armed conflicts happening in 153 regions across the world, over 80% of the total. These conflicts and chaos either fomented or ignited by the US took away millions of innocent lives, aggravated social conflicts, and threw the public into an abyss of disaster and despair.

The people want peace. Why is it that our leaders always lead us to war? This is a question asked by many Americans and shared by the international community. The world wants peace and cooperation, not war and confrontation  thats the common wish of the majority of countries. Yet the US, always harboring something evil, is so obsessed with its hegemony that it has fallen into the habit of creating turmoil everywhere and turning itself into the most dangerous source of instability for global security. History will prove that while practicing the narrow-minded and self-centered agitative diplomacy, some American politicians are just digging their own graves.
Approximately 130 people, as well as others listening online, attended the Book Industry Study Groups first in-person annual meeting in three years, held April 22 in New York City. The meeting focused on the impact of the pandemic and continuing efforts to make the industry more inclusive.

Hachette Book Group CEO Michael Pietsch delivered the keynote and framed his remarks through a best of times, worst of times lens. On the plus side, Pietsch cited several positive trends: higher-than-expected book sales over the course of the pandemic, an increase in interest in reading, higher backlist sales fueled in part by more online sales, consumer support for different formats, the ability of publishers to adapt to remote work, the increase in sales fueled by social media, and publishing's commitment to produce more works by people of color. We learned we were more adaptable than we knew, Pietsch said.

On the down side, Pietsch said, crisis keep coming. Labor, distribution, and shipping costs are rising at rates not seen in many years, Pietsch said, while paper shortages and other manufacturing issues are forcing many pub dates to change. And while publishers successfully transitioned to remote work, the industry is facing the challenge of moving to a hybrid model, Pietsch said. (HBGs New York employees are returning to the office this week under a twice-a-week formula). He also maintains that it is all-but-impossible to replicate the excitement about a book via Zoom that can be transmitted by in-person meetings.H

He cited other issues as well. Book banning efforts are occurring at alarming rates and copyright remains under siege from companies looking to take publishers' content with little or no compensation. "Copyright challenges, from tech-company-backed entities who are coming for publishers content in every way they can, are gigantic and cannot be overstated," Pietsch said. "These challenges are backed with vast investments from companies whose business model is based on free content that they can make available and sell ads against, and who are doing everything possible to erode copyright and expand fair use." Pietsch was relieved that Marylands law that would have required publishers to offer e-book licenses to libraries on "reasonable terms" was enjoined by the courts. But, he said he expects different versions of the law to be introduced in some states. And while publishing has made strides in improving diversity, he acknowledged change has been slow to come in upper management. The industry needs a means of tracking and measuring diversity.

Publishing also needs to step up its programs to make the industry more environmentally sustainable, Pietsch said. To meet that goal, Pietsch said publishers need to consider using more print-on-demand manufacturing to print books locally and reduce emissions. For the industry to continue to thrive, publishers need to develop a better understanding of changes in consumer behavior. Publishers also need to work better with authors to develop partnerships that will keep authors interested in working with us, Pietsch said.

Spotlight on diversity

In a panel on diversity, American Booksellers Association CEO Allison Hill acknowledged that the organization has made its share of mistakes in its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, in part due to its reluctance to talk about its plans and preferring to wait until it had made some improvements. The ABA learned, Hill said, that it needed to press ahead and correct mistakes as it moves along. A crucial step, she said, was changing its End Policies to stress ABAs commitment to anti-racism. Coupled with that change, the ABA added two board seats to be filled by BIPOC store owners. Under the bylaw change, moving forward, four board seats must be held by BIPOC owners. Hill said she has been encouraged by the early results, noting that ABA has added 120 BIPOC stores to its membership ranks. She said the expansion of the board has led to different kinds of conversations and debates in meetings, something she said that could lead to more changes. She also observed that in making shifts, you are challenging the status quo and that will create resistance.

Peter Berkery, executive director of the Association of University Presses, discussed the organization's experience taken part in the Mellon University Press Diversity Fellowship Program. Today, 19 fellows out of a total of 30 who took participated have landed permanent positions in scholarly publishing, including 10 positions as acquisitions editors responsible for developing their own lists; 5 assistant editors; and 4 in production or marketing roles. This was the second fellowship grant AUP was involved with and has had more success in keeping new hires working in their new homes by developing more inclusive press environments, by opening processes to welcome the fellows perspectives and input into the daily work of acquisitions, and by providing fellows with focused career advice for job placement and professional development.

Berkery noted that AUP's participation in the original fellowship initiative led not only to more inclusive programming choices at its annual conferences and webinars, but also to the formation of a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force which has now evolved into the Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Committee to help us sustain momentum in this area of vital importance to our community, higher education, and the entire publishing industry.

Shelley Husband, senior v-p, government affairs and special projects for the Association of American Publishers, said the organization has approved resources to create a new head of DEI initiatives for the industry and will move the DEI committee from a working group to a standing committee.

In reports from the heads of BISGs committees, Rachel Comerford of Macmillan Learning said publishers should stop thinking they are in the book business, but rather realize they are now in the technology business. It was a sentiment supported by several people at the meeting, though exactly what that may mean for publishing wasnt fleshed out.

Ken Brooks of Treadwell Media Group and head the supply chain committee, said his group would like to develop a state of the industry report that would help publishers gauge such things as lead times for printers in Asia.

On a panel titled Future-Proofing Your Work(flows)," Joshua Tallent, director of sales and education at Firebrand Technologies, said while the future is difficult to predict, it will be more digital. Co-panelist Mary McAveney of Open Road Integrated Media, concurred. And while the future is hard to predict, the two speakers said publishers should stay prepared by continuing to identify new creators and getting to know their customers better. McAveney picked up on something other speakers had previously addressed, stating that achieving a more sustainable publishing environment will be difficult as long as the supply chain continues to encounter shortages. Tallent said publishers shouldnt see change as a problem, while also advising not to change for the sake of change.

Award Presentations

During BISG's award ceremony, the Sally Dedecker Award for Lifetime Service was presented to Joe Gonnella, former BISG board chair, and longtime Barnes & Noble executive. The Industry Champion Award, was presented to Pat Payton of ProQuest, and the Industry Innovator Award, was given to Wattpad.




For the quarter from 1 January to 31 March 2022, Discovery revealed total revenues of $3.159 billion, 13% compared with the prior year quarter, 15% on an ex-FX basis. US advertising revenues increased 5% on an annual basis while distribution revenues increased 11%. By contrast, non-US international advertising revenues increased 5%, or 11% ex-FX, and distribution revenues increased 4%, or 8% ex-FX.After the quarter, net income available to Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. was $456 million with total adjusted OIBDA of $1.027 billion, up 23% year-on-year. Cash provided by operating activities increased to $323 million and free cash flow increased to $238 million.The company ended Q1 2022 with 24 million direct-to-consumer (DTC) subscribers, an increase of 2 million subscribers since the end of Q4. In Q1, it generated nearly $450 million of what it called next generation revenues, that is those from DTC subscription and advertising revenues as well as revenues from TV Everywhere, GO applications and other digital properties. This represented 55% growth compared with the prior year quarter. Commenting on how the first quarter Discovery results have set up the company for the future, Warner Bros. Discovery president and chief executive officer David Zaslav said: "With Warner Bros. Discovery, we are creating a pure-play media company with diversified revenues and the most compelling IP ownership, franchises, and brand portfolio in our industry. Importantly, we also have an unrivalled global footprint of touchpoints to get our content into the hands of consumers on every screen. We are putting together the strategic framework and organisation to drive our balanced approach to growing our businesses and maximising the value of our storytelling, news and sports.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/25/2022



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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 Anna Campisi and Mursel Mistanoglu have welcomed their first child together via surrogate.Anna took to Instagram on Monday, April 25 to announce her fourth child -- but first baby with husband Mursel -- was born on April 11."Mursel and I are excited to announce the birth of our son! Gokhan John He was born 4/11/22, five weeks early. He's doing amazing!" Anna, 41, wrote on Instagram."Just a small guy at 5.3 pounds 18 inches. Our surrogate is also doing well! I was able to meet her and she's such an amazing woman!"Anna proceeded to give a shout-out to the non-profit organization called Dynamo Project, which arranged for her to meet her newborn son in Ukraine, where the couple's gestational carrier lives, amid its war with Russia."Upon arrival to Poland we spoke with the group to start logistics of our travel into Ukraine. They asked to see Mursel's Schengen Visa to see if it was a one entry or multi entry visa," Anna explained."We found out it was a one time entry visa. So from there the plan was for Mursel to stay in Poland. If he came with to Ukraine, he wouldn't be allowed to leave. So I had to go into Ukraine alone."Anna continued, "Thank God for this amazing group Dynamo Project! I didn't have to go alone. They planned the logistics including travel into Ukraine, a safe place to stay while in Ukraine and travel while inside. They were with me the entire time."Anna and Mursel apparently left Warsaw with Project Dynamo, and the group crossed across the border by foot before Anna and Mursel were transported to a safer hotel."The next day I was transported to pick up our baby and get all of the documents completed while inside Lviv, Ukraine. On our way back to the hotel, they told me Mursel was transported to the hospital via ambulance, due to heart pain," Anna revealed."A member of Project Dynamo stayed with him until I was able to meet him so he wouldn't be lost in the shuffle. Then I was transported to the border and walked across into Poland with the baby. They got me to the hospital where Mursel was."Mursel's tests came back with evidence that his heart and bloodwork were "okay.""So we went back to Warsaw after. Dynamo Project helped with that also. This is such an amazing group! They go into countries with wars and hostile environments to help people get out! They have helped numerous people in Ukraine get out of towns, they've moved surrogates and babies," Anna wrote."We will forever be grateful to them! This is a non-profit group that relies on donations to help with their missions to get people out! If you'd like to donate go to Dynamoproject.org @dynamoproject.org #ukraine #warinukraine #surrogacy @projectdynamo."Anna -- who married Mursel on Season 7 of , which aired in 2019, and is currently living in Nebraska with her husband -- is also mom to sons Joey, Gino and Leo, whom she welcomed during a previous relationship.Anna underwent IVF and egg retrieval and fertilization in the process of hiring a surrogate to carry the couple's baby.Anna and Mursel announced in January that they had a new little bundle of joy on the way."Mursel and I are super excited to announce that we are expecting a little boy this May," Anna captioned a slideshow of photos on Instagram."We are currently 22 weeks! #FutureBeekeeper."Anna posted a sonogram image, a selfie with her 40-year-old husband from Antalya, Turkey, and a picture of a yellow onesie that read, "Future beekeeper May 2022," at the time.In July 2021, Anna revealed she was feeling "so emotional" because her three fertilized embryos were "being carried to Ukraine.""We are signing with our surrogate today," Anna gushed in an Instagram post. "Keep us in your prayers!"A month earlier, Anna shared how Mursel had been living with her in the United States for two years. She called their time together in America "crazy" and "busy" in a loving June 2021 Instagram tribute.In February 2022, Anna updated her Instagram followers on the surrogate's well-being given Russia had invaded Ukraine."Our hearts are with those in Ukraine. Pray for peace!" Anna wrote at the time."We've been following everything since last night. Our surrogate had to leave her home with her family, to a safer area. We are just sick that everyone in Ukraine had their lives turned upside down."One of Anna's followers asked how the gestational carrier was doing, and Anna replied, "As of right now our surrogate and baby are OK," according to Us Weekly.Anna and Mursel, who own and operate a store that sells their homemade honey products, documented part of their journey to have a baby together on Season 2 of 90 Day Diaries, which was released last year on discovery+.During Episode 2 of the series' second season, Anna explained that since she had an ablation five years ago, her uterus was "ruined" and she can't carry a baby on her own.But since Mursel longed to be a father, she and her husband had been exploring other options.Although Anna's son Gino wasn't happy about the news, Mursel gushed in a confessional, "I want a child from me and Anna's marriage because the baby is going to be ours.""Also, it will be from my DNA," he added. "If we have a baby, it will learn Turkey's culture through trips back and forth. I mean, it will feel like a Turk. That's why I want a child."After days of IVF injections, Anna and Mursel drove 17 hours to a fertility clinic in Syracuse, New York -- on very short notice -- for egg retrieval and fertilization."If this doesn't work, we're out of money. And if this doesn't work, Mursel's heart is going to be crushed. I think just being hopeful is what's going to help make this work," Anna said.After a three-hour surgery at the fertility clinic, Anna was understandably feeling anxious.However, the doctor informed the couple he was able to retrieve seven eggs, and Anna shared how she was very happy with the results. Anna and Mursel only needed one good embryo to make a healthy baby."We're hoping to have a baby in our arms in 10 to 11 months," Anna gushed."I'm excited, our baby is coming!" Mursel added.Following the procedure, three of Anna's eggs were successfully fertilized into embryos. As a result, they began the process of choosing a surrogate.Anna and Mursel tied the knot in Nebraska on September 8, 2019, according to court records obtained by Starcasm.Anna confirmed on Instagram in November 2019 that she and Mursel got engaged on September 8, 2018.After Mursel's K-1 visa was approved and he moved to the United States, he met Anna's three sons.However, it took time for Anna's sons to warm up to Mursel, and Anna and Mursel initially lied about Anna's children to Mursel's parents, who were initially shocked to find out the truth but eventually came around to the idea.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
Rappers Chris Brown and Lil Baby are going on tour later this year.

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Brown, 32, and Lil Baby, 27, shared plans for a new North American tour, One of Them Ones, on Tuesday.

The One of Them Ones tour kicks off July 15 in Raleigh, N.C., and ends Aug. 27 in Las Vegas. Tickets go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m.

"You Got Cb & Wham On The Same Tour!! Summer Gone Be Crazzyyy," Lil Baby wrote in an Instagram post. "Coming To A City Near You!!"

Brown will release his 10th studio album, Breezy, this year. The album features the singles "Iffy" and "WE (Warm Embrace)." He said earlier this month that the album marks a "new era unlocked."

"THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING ME AND BELIEVING IN ME ALL THESE YEARS!!!!!" he wrote on Instagram.

Lil Baby has released several singles this year, including "Right On" and "In a Minute." The rapper said Saturday that he will release two new videos this week.
Apple TV+ is giving a glimpse of the new series The Essex Serpent.

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The streaming service shared a trailer for the limited series Tuesday featuring Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes

The Essex Serpent is based on the Sarah Perry novel of the same name, which takes place in Victorian-era England. The story follows Cora Seaborne (Danes), a widow who moves from London to a small village in Essex.

The preview shows Cora grow close to the village reverend, William Ransome (Hiddleston), amid strange events that the town attributes to the Essex Serpent, a mythological beast.

"[Cora] forms a surprising bond of science and skepticism with the local pastor, but when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature," an official description reads.

Frank Dillane , Hayley Squires, Clemence Poesy and Jamael Westman also star.

The Essex Serpent is written by Anna Symon and directed by Clio Barnard.

The series will have a two-episode premiere May 13 on Apple TV+.

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Hiddleston is known for playing Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Danes' most recent TV regular role was Carrie Mathison on the Showtime series Homeland.
Porterville, CA (93257)

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Mainly clear skies. Low 41F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear skies. Low 41F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
Musicians play at the Dawg Daze Music Festival on April 24, 2022 at The Southern Brewing Company in Athens, Georgia. There were 21 acts at the festival all affiliated in some part with the University of Georgia's Music Business Certificate Program. (Photo/Katie Tucker)
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.
Nearly 300 Brattleboro Union High School students gathered to show support for the Black Lives Matter flag being raised in front of the school in May 2018.
SOUTH NEWFANE  Community members have come together to facilitate the next phase for a 180-
Jared Duval is a member of the Vermont Climate Council, appointed to provide expertise in energy and data analysis. He lives in Montpelier. This commentary is a shortened version of testimony provided to the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media.
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Annette Smith is executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, based in Danby. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media.
Letter: Welch embodies all that has gone wrong with democracy
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Irish-born Emmet Moore grew up helping his parents make hand-cut fries, or chips, for their food truck and fish and chip shop. When he moved to the United States and married his wife, he craved the fries he loved from home, loaded with garlic and cheese or chicken with curry sauce.

Though Americans love French fries, he couldnt find those tastes of home in Connecticut.

There was definitely a huge opportunity there, he said. I thought I could probably selfishly set it up because I wanted to eat them again every day.

Four years after opening the first Jefferson Fry Co. in Cromwell, Moore and business partner Travis Dillon recently debuted a fourth location of the fast-casual restaurant specializing in loaded fries. The Vernon storefront, which opened in April in the towns Tri-City Plaza, joins another at the Shops at Farmington Valley in Canton and a satellite stall at Hartfords Parkville Market food hall.

A fifth location is coming to Storrs near the UConn campus in late June, and Moore and Dillon are working on franchising, with hopes to expand the brand outside of New England.

The food

Jefferson Fry Co.s fries, hand-cut on site at each location, are cooked in beef tallow. The menu of loaded fry options follows an international theme, with flavors from around the globe.

Jenna Stepleman / Jefferson Fry Co.

Theres a Canadian-style poutine with gravy and cheese curds, taco fries with spicy beef, diced tomato, onion, jalapenos and cheddar; and Greek fries with gyro meat, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, feta cheese and a tzatziki-style sauce.

Moores beloved garlic and cheese fries and chicken curry fries with mushroom and onion are there, along with BBQ, truffle parm, pesto, steak and cheese and buffalo chicken options. Guests will often start out trying a simple presentation, like bacon cheese, Dillon said, and theyll return to sample more gourmand recipes like the house favorite fusion fries  an Asian-influenced specialty with grilled shredded chicken, hoisin and sriracha sauces, crushed peanuts and cilantro.

Jefferson Fry Co. Locations in Canton, Cromwell, Hartford and Vernon



jeffersonfryco.com, @jeffersonfryco., All locations are wheelchair accessible See More Collapse

Jeffersons menu also features burgers, available as singles with toppings like bacon, cheese and sauteed mushrooms and onions, or as a JFC double with the works: bacon, cheese, onions, lettuce, tomato, fries and house JFC sauce.

Sandwiches are made with crispy fried chicken, pulled pork or portobello mushrooms and beef dirty dogs are topped with some of their French fry counterparts ingredients, like curry sauce, beef chili and taco meat. Jefferson also offers milkshakes with premium ice cream, in classic flavors and other indulgent options like Nutella and cookie butter.

Eat in or take out?

Jefferson Fry Cos restaurants in Cromwell, Canton and Vernon all have indoor seating for about 42 to 64 guests, depending on the location. Takeout and delivery are available, but Moore says he prefers people to enjoy the food on site, he said. The fries are best piping hot.
CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (AP)  The federal government is accusing a southern Indiana town of discriminating against a man with HIV who applied to become a police officer.

The Justice Department said it filed a lawsuit Monday against Clarksville, Indiana.

Clarksville police had offered a job to a man who was already working as a volunteer reserve officer but then dropped the offer in 2015 based on his HIV status, the Justice Department said.

No qualified individual should lose a hard-earned career opportunity because of misguided views about their disability that are not supported by medicine or science, said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the department's Civil Rights Division.

HIV is a virus that can weaken the immune system.

The man's HIV is well-controlled with medication and his viral load is, and during all relevant times was, fully suppressed, the lawsuit states.

Clarksvilles town manager, Kevin Baity, said the town is working with the Justice Department to "find an amicable solution."

The man spent 15 months appealing the decision. Clarksville added him back to the list but never hired him, according to the lawsuit.

The man got a job with another police department.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  The South Dakota Senate on Tuesday approved the rules for an impeachment trial of the state's attorney general for his conduct surrounding a 2020 fatal car crash, laying out a two-day proceeding in June that gives just hours to either side to argue their case.

Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, a Republican, was impeached by the House this month over the crash in which he killed a pedestrian but initially said he may have struck a deer or other large animal. The Senate trial, which will decide whether he is guilty of the House impeachment charges, is historic since Ravnsborg is the first official to be impeached in South Dakota.

The trial's rules received unanimous approval in the Republican-controlled Senate. They give both the impeachment prosecutors and Ravnsborg's defense attorney one hour for an opening statement, four hours to present evidence and one hour to close their arguments. Senators may take additional time to ask additional questions, debate the articles of impeachment and hear directly from Ravnsborg if he chooses to testify. The trial starts June 21.

These rules were designed to be a very simple and fair process, said Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, who presides over the Senate. He added that the files used in the impeachment investigation will be posted online and he expects senators to review those before the trial.

The Senate has appointed Pennington County State's Attorney Mark Vargo as the lead impeachment prosecutor. He assisted in the criminal prosecution but left the prosecutorial team before the local state's attorney charged Ravnsborg with three traffic misdemeanors. Ravnsborg has hired Sioux Falls attorney Mike Butler to present his defense, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported.

Ravnsborg last year pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors in exchange for the third being dropped by prosecutors. The 45-year-old Republican, who took office in 2019, was returning home from a Republican dinner in September 2020 when he struck and killed Joseph Boever, who was walking along a rural highway. A sheriff who responded after Ravnsborg called 911 initially reported it as a collision with an animal. Ravnsborg has said he did not realize he hit a man until he returned the next day and found the body.

Ravnsborg is facing two articles of impeachment: one for committing crimes that caused someones death and the other for making numerous misrepresentations to law enforcement officers after the crash, as well as using his office to navigate the criminal investigation.

The Senate will vote on each impeachment article, as well as a separate vote on barring him from holding future office in the state. It will take a two-thirds majority to convict Ravnsborg and bar him from holding future office.

The attorney general has stayed mostly silent during the political and legal aftermath of the crash. He did not answer an invitation to appear before a House impeachment investigation committee and did not appear at any of the criminal court hearings.

After his impeachment, Ravnsborg said he is looking forward to the Senate trial as a chance to be vindicated. His attorney and spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday on the Senate rules and whether he will testify at the trial.

Ravnsborg has faced numerous calls to resign from within his own party, most prominently from Gov. Kristi Noem. But so far, he has refused, although the state constitution requires him to take a leave of absence from his official duties until the Senate trial concludes.

Schoenbeck said that even if Ravnsborg were to resign before the trial, he believes the Senate will still act on the House impeachment charges and vote on barring Ravnsborg from holding future office.

The South Dakota Republican Party's state convention, where the party's nominee will be selected, starts the day after the impeachment trial is set to conclude.
WFO BUFFALO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Buffalo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Chautauqua County in western New York...

* Until 530 PM EDT.

* At 436 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Waterford, or

8 miles southeast of Erie, moving northeast at 50 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated. This storm has a history of producing

strong wind gusts and wind damage across northwest

Pennsylvania.

IMPACT...Expect damage to trees and power lines.

* Locations impacted include...

Findley Lake, Jamestown, Westfield, Lakewood, Falconer, Mayville,

Clymer, Sherman, and Chautauqua Institution.

This includes Interstate 86 between exits 4 and 13.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BUFFALO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Buffalo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Wyoming County in western New York...

Northeastern Cattaraugus County in western New York...

Southeastern Erie County in western New York...

Western Livingston County in western New York...

Northwestern Allegany County in western New York...

* Until 715 PM EDT.

* At 621 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Chaffee, or

15 miles south of East Aurora, moving east at 45 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to trees and power lines.

* Locations impacted include...

Yorkshire, Geneseo, Letchworth State Park, Perry, Warsaw, Mount

Morris, Arcade, Chaffee, East Concord, and Portageville.

This includes Interstate 390 between exits 6 and 7.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BUFFALO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Buffalo NY

631 PM EDT Mon Apr 25 2022

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHWESTERN CATTARAUGUS AND

SOUTHWESTERN ERIE COUNTIES HAS EXPIRED...

The storm which prompted the warning has moved out of the area.

Therefore, the warning has been allowed to expire.

A new Severe Thunderstorm Warning is in effect for southeast Erie

and northeast Cattaraugus counties.

To report severe weather, contact your nearest law enforcement

agency. They will relay your report to the National Weather Service

Buffalo.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northern Wyoming County in western New York...

Northeastern Erie County in western New York...

Northwestern Livingston County in western New York...

East central Niagara County in western New York...

Orleans County in western New York...

Genesee County in western New York...

Western Monroe County in western New York...

* Until 715 PM EDT.

* At 633 PM EDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from Middleport to 6 miles southeast of Wales Center,

moving northeast at 55 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to trees and power lines.

* Locations impacted include...

Batavia, Brockport, Medina, Albion, Darien Lakes State Park, Le

Roy, Pembroke, Bennington, Attica, Alexander, Akron and Alden.

This includes Interstate 90 between exits 48A and 47.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
Contributed / Getty

WEST HARTFORD  Police are investigating after several flyers from a neo-Nazi organization were found around town.

The flyers from a group known as the New England Nationalist Social Club were found in the Whitman Avenue, Fernridge Park, Walton Drive and Braeburn Road neighborhoods, West Hartford Police said.
Vietnam, a one-party communist state with low tolerance for public criticism or dissent that has jailed scores of journalists and bloggers, is moving to tighten content rules for social media. Amended laws will require platforms like Facebook and TikTok to remove content and services deemed illegal within 24 hours, block illegal livestreams within three hours of notice, and immediately remove content that endangers national securityor risk being banned in the country of 98 million people.
The Khmer Thavrak youth group gather to commemorate the life of Cambodian environmentalist Chut Wutty 10 years after his death, in this file photo.

Cambodian environmentalists called for authorities to reinvestigate the 2012 murder of a forestry activist, who was slain while campaigning against illegal logging, a problem that has gotten worse in the decade since his killing.

Chut Wutty was shot to death on April 26, 2012 while investigating illegal logging in southern Cambodias Koh Kong province.

He had been active in organizing communities to protect Cambodian forests against developers and campaigned against the governments granting of land concessions in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

A letter by the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association, signed by 28 separate civic society organizations, called on Justice, Interior and Defense Ministry officials and Koh Kong provincial authorities to undertake a credible and thorough investigation to hold all those responsible for his murder to account.

An official investigation into Chut Wuttys death was closed in October 2013 when a court in Koh Kong province abruptly ended its proceedings.

Student league President Keut Saray said he has little expectation that the authorities will bring any suspects in Chut Wuttys murder to trial.

It is sad that we dont hope to get justice, but as a nation for a person who sacrificed his life, the ministry shouldnt ignore it, he told RFAs Khmer Service.

We will follow up with the investigation. Not for just a few weeks; we will follow up as long as we live. Today is more about having a chance to remember the hero who protected our forests. We need to lead and sacrifice to protect the forest, he said.

In another event that commemorated Chut Wutty, hosted by the Khmer Thavrak youth group, 10 young people adorned in white ribbons decorated their motorbikes with leaves. They attempted to ride to the Ministry of Environment and Justice, but authorities stopped them and confiscated their bikes.

Chut Wuttys son Cheuy Oudom Reaksmey, who is in Lowell, Massachusetts, for a ceremony to commemorate his father scheduled for May 1, told RFA that the authorities are trying to stop activists from commemorating Chut Wutty anniversary, including by showing a documentary about him.

We are implementing undemocratic laws. People are not allowed to walk in Phnom Penh anymore, he said.

Cheuy Oudom Reaksmey noted that Hun Sen once claimed he would behead himself if he failed to stop illegal logging. But preventing activists from holding public commemorations for the forestry activist raises questions about the prime ministers commitment to protecting Cambodias forests, Cheuy Oudom Reaksmey said.

Why cant we commemorate the hero who has already been murdered? he asked. We will continue to try to show the world to know that there has been no justice, even 10 years since his murder.

Cheuy Oudom Reaksmey urged the government to allow the forestry activists to patrol the countrys protected forests, an activity that is currently prohibited. Illegal logging will continue until there is a change in policy, and his fathers case will linger until there is a new government to investigate.

Justice cant be rendered. I dont have confidence in the court, which is not independent, he said.

Neither Phay Siphan, a spokesman for Hun Sens government, and Chhin Malin, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, could be reached for comment on April 26. Phay Siphan recently told RFA that the court already closed Chut Wuttys case, but it might reopen the investigation if the family and NGOs submit more evidence.

Illegal logging in protected areas of Cambodia is a major source of social instability and helps drive rapid deforestation, which is a problem across the entire Southeast Asian region.

Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand declined to sign a global pact at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November to end and reverse forest loss by 2030, even while the region  home to around 15% of the worlds tropical forests  is among its major deforestation hotspots.

Cambodia has lost 26% of its tree cover, equivalent to about 5.7 million acres, since 2000 according to satellite imagery.

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Authorities in the central Chinese province of Henan have handed down a two-year, 11-month jail term to dissident Xing Wangli, after he visited a prominent rights attorney.



Xing was sentenced by the Xi County District People's Court, which found him guilty of "defamation," following a trial by video link to the Xi County Detention Center earlier this month.



His attorney received the sentencing decision on .



The case against Xing rested on an open letter he wrote laying responsibility for serious head injuries he received in the detention center at the door of three local government officials.



The letter, dated , 2021 and titled "To netizens and people from all walks of life," accused local officials of attacking and retaliating against him for standing up for his family's rights and interests.



It accuses local officials and law enforcement of covering up after his son suffered massive injuries in a traffic accident at the age of 5, requiring treatment in intensive care and details a self-immolation attempt by his wife Xu Jincui on Tiananmen Square, after which Xu was jailed for three years and Wang sent to labor camp for one year.



"During my detention in the Xi County Detention Center, I was subjected to inhuman treatment, hunger strike, shackles, handcuffs, and physical and mental torture," the letter reads.



Xi's mother-in-law He Zeying and his mother Xing Jiaying were jailed for three years for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," it said.



"While I was detained in the Xixian Detention Center, the deputy county magistrate of Xi county, Li Xuechao, came up with a plan and the county party secretary Jin Ping nodded along, so police chief Liu Yang arranged for the detention center to carry it out," the letter said.



"I was beaten with blunt instruments, and was later diagnosed by Xinyang Central Hospital with comminuted fracture of the brain, contusion of the lower lobes of both lungs, and bilateral pleural effusion," it said.



"I was illegally detained, sent to illegal re-education through labor, and sentenced to jail for a total of nine years and nine months," the letter said.



'Rotten apples'

Xing's wife, mother-in-law and mother and other family members have served a total of 26 years behind bars, it said, calling on CCP leader Xi Jinping to "investigate these rotten apples."



The letter said some of the retaliation was linked to Xing's refusal to stay quiet about the deaths of two petitioners in suspicious circumstances.



The court decided that the letter had been commissioned by Xing's son Xing Jian, while the officials named in it took the witness stand to say it wasn't true.



It accuses Xing of instructing his son to post the letter "containing fabricated claims" to WeChat groups, after which it garnered more than 12,000 page views.



It said Xing's "defamation of public officials" had violated the officials rights and affected their mental health.



Xing Jian, now living in New Zealand, said the trial was entirely biased in favor of the officials.



"The witnesses they found were all public officials, and they all had a relationship to the [case]," he said, adding that what his father posted was in the public interest.



"Government officials are public figures, and they need to be supervised under the law and by the public," Xing Jian said.



"Yet, if a member of the public questions, criticizes, or makes accusations against them, they put them in jail."



Canada-based dissident artist Hua Yong said Xing Wangli and his family had tried to take on the government and lost.



"This kind of thing happens so often in China," Hua said. "The lower rungs of government are willing to kill [to prevent criticism]."



"If attempts to call them out get a lot of public attention, they may get out of the starting gate, but if there is no-one paying attention, they will be attacked in retaliation ... it's all a power game," he said.



Xing Wang Li's son Xing Jian. Credit: Xing Jian. Tortured by cellmates

Xing's sentence was just one month below the maximum of three years for "defamation," and commentators have said this is likely because he tried to visit prominent rights attorney Jiang Tianyong, who is under house arrest at his Henan home after serving a jail term during a nationwide crackdown on rights lawyers.



Xing was originally detained on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" in after he tried to visit Jiang, who remains under house arrest, in .



He was formally arrested in , but for "defamation," and indicted by the county prosecutor in .



While defamation cases in China have previously been private prosecution cases, new guidelines issued in 2013 paved the way for it to be brought as a criminal charge against people accused of "spreading disinformation or false accusations online can constitute criminal acts.



If a post deemed to contain disinformation or false accusations accrues more than 5,000 views or 500 reposts, then it is considered a "serious circumstance," according to the U.S.-based rights group, the Duihua Foundation.



Jiang was "released" from prison in at the end of a two-year jail term for "incitement to subvert state power," a charge often used to imprison peaceful critics of the government.



He was allowed to return to his parents' home in Luoyang, but remains under close surveillance and heavy restrictions.



Jiang's U.S.-based wife Jin Bianling has repeatedly expressed concern for her husband's health after he was tortured by cellmates during his time in detention.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Australia and New Zealand are concerned the deal could help China extend its military reach in the Pacific.

The United States voiced concerns Tuesday over a complete lack of transparency surrounding a new security deal between the Solomon Islands and China and vowed to respond to any attempt to establish a Chinese military base in the island nation.

A draft copy of the security pact leaked onto social media in late March but neither party has made public the deal, reportedly signed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Solomon Islands counterpart Jeremiah Manele.

The deal has drawn expressions of deep concern from U.S. allies Australia and New Zealand that it could enable China to extend its military reach in the Pacific. It also prompted a hasty visit to the Pacific by two top U.S. diplomats.

U.S. National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink led a U.S. delegation to Honiara late last week where they held a 90-minute constructive and candid meeting with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.

Kritenbrink told journalists at a teleconference on Tuesday that the lack of transparency of the security agreement was our fundamental concern.

I think its clear that only a handful of people in a very small circle have seen this agreement, and the prime minister himself has been quoted publicly as saying he would only share the details with Chinas permission, which I think is a source of concern as well, the U.S senior diplomat said.

Of course we have respect for the Solomon Islands sovereignty, but we also wanted to let them know that if steps were taken to establish a de facto permanent military presence, power-projection capabilities, or a military installation, then we would have significant concerns and we would very naturally respond to those concerns, Kritenbrink said.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (standing, left) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (standing, right) attend a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct. 9, 2019. Credit: Reuters. Red line

The assistant secretary of state declined to elaborate on possible responses to security implications caused by the new agreement but said that Prime Minister Sogavare gave the U.S. three specific assurances that there would be no military base, no long-term presence, no power-projection capability."

In Washington, during a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney called the agreement alarming. In response, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he shared the senators concern. He reiterated the assurances the U.S. delegation had gotten from Sogavare, adding: We will be watching that very, very closely in the weeks and months ahead.

Sogavares words have done little to calm Solomon Islands neighbors. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that a military base would be a red line for Canberra. The Solomons occupies a remote but strategic location in the western Pacific, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from the northeastern coast of Australia.

Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), said: I think now that the security agreement has been officially signed, there is little the U.S. or Australia can do to reverse it. The key question now is how fast will China move to establish a permanent presence, leading to a base, in the Solomon Islands.

Australia and the U.S. can try to use diplomacy to convince the Sogavare government to not allow this base to be established quickly, or to constrain its size and function, but there is little chance that these efforts will succeed, as its clear that Sogavare has aligned with China, Davis said.

They can also try to contain Chinese influence in the region further by 'stepping up' the 'Pacific Step Up' and making it more effective, he said, referring to the Biden administrations push to increase U.S. engagement in the region. He added: This has greater chance of success given the regional concern about the agreement signed between Solomon Islands and China.

Norah Huang, associate research fellow at Prospect Foundation, a Taiwanese think tank, described the deal as opportunism by the Solomons prime minister. She said the best response might be candid talks with the governing parties in private to walk it back or at least neutralize the deal.

But Australia, the U.S. and New Zealand should be careful not to reward those who play opportunism, Huang said.

A file photo showing Australian Navy officers from the HMAS Canberra arriving at the Tanjung Priok port, as part of the military exercise Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2021, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Oct. 25, 2021. Credit: Reuters. Regional efforts

Japan became the latest regional power to send a representative to the Solomon Islands to express concern over the security pact. According to Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, the Solomons prime minister repeated assurances to Japanese officials on Tuesday that he had no intention of allowing China to build military bases in his country, Reuters reported.

Davis at ASPI said the China-Solomons deal could presage a move by Beijing to extend its reach in the South Pacific.

I think the greatest risk is that China would choose to extend its influence into Papua New Guinea, where it already has substantial investment, and is openly talking about a 'fishing facility' at Daru Island, which could ultimately be the basis for a port that could support Chinese Coast Guard vessels, he said.

The U.S. and Australia, as well as New Zealand, will now need to adjust their defense policies with the prospect of a forward Chinese military presence in the Southwest Pacific that certainly dramatically increases the military threat to the Australian eastern seaboard, but also severs the sea lane of communication between Australia and the United States, the defense analyst said.

Too little, too late

There have been calls in Australias political and defense circles to prepare for war, and Davis said there should be some review of Australian defense force posture, and greater investment into air, sea, and space capabilities across the Coral Sea.

Yet the efforts by the U.S. and allies may be too little, too late, said Andy Mok, senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing.

The U.S. has abandoned its embassy in Honiara for nearly 30 years and only now is talking about re-opening it.

In the Pacific, the U.S. seems to be pursuing a strategy of denial towards China. If China seeks something, the U.S. will attempt to prevent China from achieving it even if it is for the greater good, said Mok.

Chinese officials maintain that the security cooperation between China and Solomon Islands is based on equality and mutual benefits.

Foreign Ministrys spokesman Wang Wenbin retaliated on Monday to the criticism about the lack of transparency behind the security deal with the Solomon Islands, referring to the AUKUS security partnership that is neither open nor transparent.

AUKUS is a newly-established security grouping between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. China has criticized it as fueling militarization in the Indo-Pacific.

While denying that China will build a military base in the Solomon Islands, calling it pure disinformation, Wang said the nearly 800 U.S. bases across the world have long been of major concern.

When will the U.S. shut down those bases? he asked.
The Laos-China Railway is expected to reduce transportation costs, but the pandemic is delaying the benefits.

A crane places a container of goods on a railway car at the Nong Khai railway station in northeastern Thailand's Nong Khai province, March 29, 2022.

Costly and time-consuming customs-clearing procedures put in place as part of Chinas zero-COVID-19 restrictions are making it difficult for Lao traders to export products via the new Laos-China Railway, Lao officials and people involved in cross-border trade said.

Lao authorities have been negotiating with their Chinese counterparts and officials with the rail company for months in an effort to send more Lao goods by train to China, but to little avail, said a Lao transportation official, who declined to be named so he could speak freely to the media.

The U.S. $6 billion high-speed railway has been in operation for four months. Chinese goods and produce are shipped to Laos daily, while Lao goods are rarely transported to China, and fresh produce is not carried at all.

The Chinese governments ongoing enforcement of its zero-COVID policy for containing the highly contagious virus through intensive testing and tracing and lockdowns has meant that all imported goods must be fully checked and limits on the kinds of fruits and vegetables that are allowed in, the Lao official said.

The Chinese government does not allow sending fresh products and is still enforcing zero-COVID-19 procedures, he said.

Another complicating factor is that the train is not ready to carry fresh agricultural products, though it is transporting Chinese machinery, electrical equipment and housewares from China to Laos, the official told RFA on Monday.

Most Lao produce, including bananas and watermelons, havent been transported by train to China yet because these agricultural products are perishable, and the train containers are too hot for them, the official said.

Only some dried agricultural products from Laos, such as rubber, cassava and soil from Laos, can be exported by land to China via the railway, he said.

A manager of the Vientiane office of a Chinese company that offers shipping services to businesses via the new railway told RFA that the COVID restrictions in China take too much money and time to process for most shippers.

They are very strict about the shipping of fresh products, fruit and produce, he said. The import and export of goods and tax document declaration is pretty hard as strict measures to cope COVID-19 are still imposed.

RFA could not reach the Chinese Embassy in Vientiane for comment. But state-run China Radio International reported on April 12 that China continued to enforce the zero-COVID policy to prevent all means of the virus from entering the country, including through the import of produce.

A freight train from China traveling along the Laos-China Railway stops at Vang Vieng station in Vientiane province, Laos, Dec. 4, 2021. Credit: RFA

Rotten fruit

A businesswoman in southern Laos who exports white charcoal to China, South Korea and Japan said shed like to use the railway but the Chinese have made the process too difficult.

As of now, she sends goods to her customers in other countries via ships that leave from a Vietnamese port.

A truck driver in northern Laos, who provides shipping services to China, said it was still more convenient and faster to ship produce to China via truck, even though that process has also slowed.

Sending fruits via Laos-China railway is not easy or fast, he said. The process takes very long, and the fruits can go rotten if it is not sent to China on time.

It used to take truck drivers two to three days to reach China by road, but COVID-19 protocols at the border have led to huge traffic jams and added as much as three days to the journey, he said.

When we reach Laos-China border, there will be trucks from China to take fruits or produce from our trucks  because we cannot drive to the cities in China, the driver said.

These days, it is very hard to drive to China, and the COVID-19 control is very strict, and I do not understand why, he said. There will be officials in white plastic suits who will drive the trucks of fruit and produce from us into mainland China.

Phithoun Sri-inngarm, director of Nongkhai provinces customs office, told RFA that the Laos-China Railway transports goods from China to Laos and Thailand, but not vice versa.

In the past four months, transporting goods from Thailand to China through Laos is still very little when compared to goods shipped from China to Thailand through Laos, he said. The main reason is the difficult process on the Chinese side.

On March 27, the first shipment of Thai fruit  40 tons of durians in two containers and 20 tons of coconuts in one container  was transported from Rayong province, Thailand, via the Laos-China Railway to Chongqing municipality, according to a Thai media report that cited Somkiat Mansiripibul, the manager of Kaocharoen Train Transport Co., Ltd.

In January, the first shipment of 1,000 tonnes of Thai rice was delivered to China via the Laos-China railway, Thai media reported.

As of March 3, the Laos-China Railway had carried more than 1.7 million passengers  1.6 million of whom travelled on the section of railway in China  and 1.1 million tons of goods, according to the Lao News Agency.

Officials have expected the railway to cut the cost of transport through Laos by 30%-40% compared to travel by road, giving a boost to trade and investment in the impoverished, landlocked country.

The railway has operated 350 international train journeys carrying over 250,000 tons of freight since the start of 2022, Lao News Agency reported.

Translated by RFAs Lao Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Junta and opposition forces blame each other for the killings, which RFA confirmed through its reporting.

Monks and members of the Pyu Saw Htee militia train at a firing range in Sagaing region, Feb. 11, 2022.

Nearly 40 Buddhist clergy have been killed, and 40 others jailed, since Myanmars military took control of the country in a coup last year, according to data compiled by RFAs Myanmar Service.

The 38 monks and one nun were killed between Feb. 1, 2021  the day the military seized power  and mid-April 2022, RFA found through analysis of junta press releases, local media reports and interviews with sources.

A recent statement by the junta claimed that 33 monks were killed, and seven others injured, in a single April 3 attack by prodemocracy Peoples Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries, a group the military regime has accused of terrorism. RFA was unable to independently verify the claims made by the junta.

RFAs own records, based on sources and local media reports, show that at least five monks were arrested and killed by junta authorities for alleged links to PDF groups, while another 38 monks are being held in various prisons throughout the country.

Residents and Buddhist leaders from Mandalay regions Madaya township told RFA that on April 3 a PDF unit killed a monk from the townships Kin village for allegedly working as an informer for the military. In retaliation, they said, the military arrested the head of the area monastic school Pinnya Wuntha, who later died in detention after being interrogated by troops.

Than Lone, a member of the PDF in neighboring Mingin township, told RFA that with the exception of those with ties to groups such as the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia, the PDF had never killed a Buddhist clergy member.

We can boldly say that no PDF units have killed any civilians  as long as they were not Dalans (informers), he said.

No comrade would have done that kind of killing. We are all connected. We might get rid of Dalans or Pyu Saw Htee members, but no one else.

Than Lone said that the PDFs were formed to protect the public from the military and said they would never do anything that would upset the people.

Another report on the alleged killing of a monk by the military was relayed to RFA on Sunday by residents of Thabyethar village in Sagaing regions Wuntho township, who said troops shot and killed the village abbot after he tried to stop them from setting fire to area homes.

When asked by RFA about reports of the killing and arrests of Buddhist clergy, junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, said that military has only arrested monks in rare circumstances.

When it comes to arrests, the government rarely does that to monks, he said. In some places, so-called PDF terrorist fighters are operating under the guise of being monks. When we find out who they really are, we must take legal action.

Zaw Min Tun did not comment on reports of the military killing monks.

Last month, a video went viral on social media in Myanmar purportedly showing monks with the hardline Ma Ba Tha group on a tour of several pro-junta villages in Sagaing in support of forming Pyu Saw Htee units. The video appears to show the monks helping to train people and delivering Buddhist sermons.

In one clip, Ma Ba Tha leaders known as sayadaws appear to be holding guns in their hands and telling residents that the PDFs are killing people and setting fire to villages.

Sources told RFA that the footage was filmed on Feb. 27 at the Yadanar Kan Myint Htei Monastery during a Pyu Saw Htee training camp graduation ceremony in Taze townships Kabe village. They confirmed that pro-junta monks have been carrying guns and taking part in some of the fighting in the region.

A woman in Monywa region, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, blamed the deaths of the 38 clergy and many other civilians on the countrys leading monks, who she said had failed to intervene and stop the militarys crackdown on opponents to its rule.

Im heartbroken that [they] didnt stop the junta from committing violence and killings, she said.

According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, authorities have killed at least 1,782 civilians and arrested nearly 10,300 others since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.

Attempts by RFA to contact the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Group, a Yangon-based Buddhist monastic order, for comment on the reported killings went unanswered Monday.

Ashin Rajadhamma, a member of the Sangha Union in Mandalay, said true monks should not be engaged in weapons training or acting as informants for the military.

National politics doesnt call for monks to be involved in an armed struggle, he said.

Historically, the involvement of the monks [in politics] was nonviolent. We stand by doing the right thing. Thats why we express our wishes in a non-violent way. We take part in peaceful street protests. Thats how monks should be involved in national politics.

Of the 38 monks RFA confirmed to be held in prison since the coup, most are from the regions of Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago, Tanintharyi, Ayeyawaddy, Magway and Yangon.

Among them are Thaw Bita (Alinga Kyeh) and Tay Zaniya (Mandalay Hill), two prominent monks with ties to the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) party who were arrested on the day of the power grab. Thaw Bita was later sentenced to a two-year jail term by a prison court.

There are more than 500,000 Buddhist monks and 600,000 nuns in Myanmar, and while they are aligned in their veneration of the Buddha, their political interests vary. Some Buddhist clergy are outspoken proponents of democracy, while others support the junta for what they say is its protection of religious values.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Penpa Tserings visit to Washington is his first since his election as Sikyong last year.

Sikyong Penpa Tsering (right) meets with US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Uzra Zeya at the State Department, April 25, 2022.

Tibetan exile leader Penpa Tsering has met with senior State Department official Uzra Zeya for discussions on the status of the Himalayan region in the first of a series of talks this week with U.S. Congressional and government representatives.

Tsering  the Sikyong or elected head of Tibets India-based exile government the Central Tibetan Administration  will be in Washington until April 29 at the invitation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and will be following his talks there with visits next week to Canada and Germany.

Mondays meeting with Uzra Zeya, Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, was followed by a lunch hosted at the State Department and attended by seven foreign ambassadors, including ambassadors from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Special Coordinator Zeya has been active in supporting Tibets struggle for greater freedoms under Chinas rule ever since her appointment to the role last year, Tsering said in remarks following their discussions.

She had her first virtual meeting with the Representative of the Office of Tibet in Washington D.C., and has met with other groups such as the International Campaign for Tibet and the Tibet Fund, and has also been interviewed by various Tibetan media outlets such as Radio Free Asia, Tsering said.

Former State Department special representatives were never so visible or spoke so openly in raising concerns over Tibetan issues, Tsering said.

Discussions on how to resume talks between China and Tibets exile government will continue and cannot be resolved in one day, the Sikyong said, reiterating the CTAs support for a Middle Way approach that accepts Tibets status as a part of China but urges greater freedoms for Tibetan language, religious, and cultural rights.

We urge the Tibetans inside Tibet not to lose hope, as we in exile will continue to do our best to advocate for Tibet, Tsering added.

Nine rounds of talks were previously held between envoys of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and high-level Chinese officials beginning in 2002, but stalled in 2010 and were never resumed.

Also meeting with Zeya on Monday, Zeegyab Rinpoche  abbot of the South India branch of Tibets Tashilhunpo monastery, seat of Tibets missing Panchen Lama  said that he and Tsering urged Zeya in their talks to take a stronger stand and strengthen efforts to resolve the Tibetan issue and His Holiness the Dalai Lamas return to Tibet.

The U.S. must now also implement the Tibet Policy and Support Act, U.S. legislation pushing for U.S. access to Panchen Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who vanished into Chinese custody as a young boy in 1995 after being recognized by the Dalai Lama as the previous Panchen Lamas successor, Zeegyab Rinpoche said.

Following the Panchen Lamas disappearance, the Chinese government quickly put forward its own candidate, Gyaincain Norbu, calling him the real Panchen Lama. Norbu remains widely unpopular among Tibetans, who consider him a puppet of Beijing.

A significant religious figure

April 25 marked the 33rd birthday of the missing Panchen Lama, and was celebrated by Tibetan exile communities around the world. It was also observed this year by a large gathering in Ladakh, a northwestern Indian territory that shares many Buddhist traditions with Tibet.

Commenting on Mondays observance, Thiksey Rinpoche  a former member of the Indian parliaments upper house  called the Panchen Lama a very significant religious figure not just for Tibetans but for Buddhists everywhere.

Tibet and Ladakh share similar religious and cultural traditions, and any problems faced by Tibetans are also problems faced by all Himalayan communities, Thiksey Rinpoche said.

The [well-being of] the Panchen Lama remains a critical issue, agreed Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, a member of Indias parliament. It is also obvious that the Chinese government will object if the Dalai Lama himself is reincarnated in India, and as an Indian I feel we must be concerned about this.

This is not just a concern for Tibetans alone. The Indian government must address this issue too, Namgyal said.

In a statement Monday, the U.S. State Department urged authorities in the Peoples Republic of China to account for the missing Panchen Lamas whereabouts and well-being, and to allow him to fully exercise his human rights and fundamental freedoms, in line with the PRCs international commitments.

The United States supports Tibetans religious freedom and their unique religious, cultural, and linguistic identity, including Tibetans right to select, educate, and venerate their own leaders, like the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, according to their own beliefs and without government interference, the State Department said.

Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago, and the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers later fled into exile in India and other countries around the world following a failed 1959 national uprising against Chinas rule.

Tibetans living in Tibet frequently complain of discrimination and human rights abuses by Chinese authorities and policies they say are aimed at eradicating their national and cultural identity.

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFAs Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.
The group wants to accompany the UN human rights chief on a planned visit to China.

Uyghur activists (from L to R), Gulbahar Jelilova, Qelbinur Sidiq, Gulbahar Haitiwaji and Omir Bekali hold signs outside the United Nations compound in Geneva, Switzerland, April 25, 2022.

Uyghur survivors of Chinas internment camps began a weeklong rally outside the United Nations compound in Geneva on Monday, seeking a meeting with the U.N. human rights chief and urging her to issue an overdue report detailing rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Qelbinur Sidiq, Gulbahar Jelilova, Gulbahar Haitiwaji and Omir Bekali have requested a meeting with Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights. She announced last month that she had reached agreement with the Chinese government for a visit in May, including the turbulent western China region.

The Uyghurs want Bachelet to release the human rights report before she visits China. They offered to accompany the former Chilean president on the trip.

Id be happy to take them to the camps and prisons in Urumqi, Gulbahar Jelilova said, referring to Xinjiangs capital. If we dont accompany them, China will play a lot of games not to show them the reality. Thats why were requesting to go on this trip.

Gulbahar Jelilova said she could show the U.N. team a location where Uyghurs were executed and a hospital that removed organs from dead prisoners.

Jelilova said she was detained on accusations of aiding terrorism while on a business trip to Urumqi and put into three different camps over a period of 15 months beginning in May 2017.

She returned to Kazakhstan in September 2018, as a direct result of appeals from her two children in Kazakhstan, who sought diplomatic assistance from the Kazakh government.

Jelilova has since alleged since that she witnessed a number of atrocities inside the camps, including the torture and the deaths of innocent people.

Bachelets office has been under pressure from rights activists to issue an overdue report on rights violations by Chinese authorities targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and others have been held in a vast network of internment camps operated by the Chinese government under the pretext of preventing religious extremism and terrorism among the mostly Muslim groups.

We hope she discloses the truth to the world after her return, said Qelbinur Sidiq, 52, who is also known as Kalbinur Sidik.

The Xinjiang regional government has published statements discrediting Sidiq and other former Uyghur female detainees, who have testified about the abuse they endured or witnessed in internment camps in Xinjiang.

Were all fully aware that China is a very crafty and deceptive country extremely skillful at choreographing fake people and fake stages, said Gulbahar Haitiwaji.

What worries me most is that its really not useful but damaging if Michelle Bachelet does not see the real genocide and real repression, but only meets with the people and fake stages set up by China, she told RFA.

Haitiwaji was arrested in January 2017, around the time authorities began to detain Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities en masse, accusing them of religious extremism and other allegedly phony charges.

She later wrote about her brutal living conditions in prison after she was released and returned to her family France in August 2019.

If she fails to see the real genocide and real repression in our homeland but report something not truthful, then Michelle Bachelet will become complicit with Chinas genocide against Uyghurs, Haitiwaji said.

A first solid step

Omir Bekali, a Uyghur of Kazakh decent who said he was tortured by authorities during the nine months he spent in three camps on allegations of terrorist activities, said the demonstration outside U.N. headquarters was one of the first solid steps we have taken to end the ongoing genocide of our people and to free them sooner.

We decided to launch this campaign with the hope of getting more attention from international institutions and media, he said. Were hoping to expand it later to include the European Union. We also hope that camp survivors in the U.S. hold the same rally in front of the U.N. [in New York].

The United States government and the parliaments of some Western nations have declared that the Chinese governments abuses in Xinjiang constitute genocide and crimes against humanity.

Mondays action comes on the heels of tweet by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield on April 20 that Bachelet to release the report on Xinjiang, which the human rights chief previously said would be finished in September 2021.

Bachelet first announced that her office sought an unfettered access to Xinjiang in September 2018, shortly after she stepped into her current role. But the trip has been delayed over questions about her freedom of movement through the region.

International rights groups have said that Bachelets visit to Xinjiang must be independent and unhindered to be credible.

Also on Monday, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its annual report, recommending that 15 countries, including China, Myanmar, North Korea and Vietnam, be designated by the State Department as countries of particular concern because their governments engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.

The commission is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity created in 1998 to monitor and report on religious freedom abroad and make recommendation to the U.S. administration and Congress.

The report noted that the U.S. government had implemented USCIRF recommendations, including the use of targeted sanctions on religious freedom violators and genocide determinations for atrocities perpetrated by the Chinese government against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims.

Throughout the past year, the U.S. government continued to condemn abuses of religious freedom and hold perpetrators accountable through targeted sanctions and other tools at its disposal, said USCIRF vice chair Nury Turkel in a statement. Moving forward, the United States should take additional steps to support freedom of religion or belief around the world. USCIRFs 2022 Annual Report makes recommendations on how Congress and the Executive Branch can further advance this universal, fundamental human right.

Translated by Alim Seytoff for RFAs Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
President Vladimir Putin has justified Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine as a necessary move for "defending the motherland," a claim Britain said mirrored the fascism and tyranny that sparked World War II, as Russian forces pressed ahead with their offensive in the east and south of the country.

In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy promised his war-ravaged nation that Ukraine will soon have two Victory Days, as the last Ukrainian defenders at the besieged Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol vowed to fight to the end against Russian troops who have surrounded them.

Putin, who presided over a military parade in Moscow's Red Square to mark the Soviet Union's role in the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, reiterated his accusation that NATO was creating threats right next to its borders and claimed that the invasion of Ukraine was a necessary preemptive action.

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.

He also addressed soldiers fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which Russia has pledged to "liberate" from Kyiv.

"Defending the motherland when its fate is being decided has always been sacred," he said.

In his own speech marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, Zelenskiy on May 9 likened the Allies' fight against Hitler with his nation's struggle to repel Russia's aggression.

We will never forget what our ancestors did in World War II, where more than 8 million Ukrainians died. Every fifth Ukrainian didnt return home, Zelenskiy said, adding, Soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine. And someone will not have even one left. We won then. We will win now, too,'' he said.

Meanwhile, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace called out the "absurdity of Russian generals -- resplendent in their manicured parade uniforms and weighed down by their many medals," saying they were "utterly complicit in Putin's hijacking of their forebears' proud history of...repelling fascism."

"All professional soldiers should be appalled at the behavior of the Russian Army," as they not only have "engaged in an illegal invasion and war crimes, but their top brass have failed their own rank and file to the extent they should be court-martialed," he said in a speech at the British National Army Museum.

"Through the invasion of Ukraine, Putin and his inner circle of generals are now mirroring the fascism and tyranny of 77 years ago, repeating the errors of the last century's totalitarian regime," he added.

U.S. President Joe Biden on May 9 signed largely symbolic legislation to reboot the World War II-era lend-lease program that helped defeat Nazi Germany.



Before signing the bill, Biden said that Putins war was once more bringing wanton destruction of Europe, drawing a reference to the anniversary of the allied victory in 1945.

Although there had been speculation that Putin might officially declare war on Ukraine, his 11-minute speech offered no assessment of progress in the war and gave no indication of how long it might continue.

Russian forces have so far failed to complete the occupation of the strategic Sea of Azov port of Mariupol, where an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters continue to resist in the sprawling network of underground tunnels and bunkers of the Azovstal steel mill.

Azovstal has achieved a symbolic value in the conflict, as Russian forces sought a celebratory win ahead of May 9. Zelenskiy warned of more intense attacks against the remaining defenders, who vowed to fight to the end.

The complete capture of Mariupol would also deprive Ukraine of a vital port, allow Russia to complete a land corridor to the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula, and free troops up for fighting elsewhere.

On the battlefield, intense fighting raged in Ukraine's east, the port of Odesa in the south came under missile attack, and Russian forces sought to finish off the Ukrainian defenders of the steel plant, who have vowed to fight to the end.



The Odessa City Council said late on May 9 that three missiles were fired from an aircraft, destroying five buildings. Two people were injured and taken to hospital, a statement from the council said.



According to the City Council, rescuers managed to save a dog from under the debris.



"This is how they celebrate their Victory Day. Apparently, the only thing the occupiers have won is common sense and humanity," said Maksym Marchenko, head of the Odessa regional military administration.



Russian troops earlier on May 9 fired four missiles into the Odesa region from occupied Crimea. The missile strike occurred as European Council President Charles Michel visited the city.



In Washington, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said there had been indications that Ukrainians have been taken against their will into Russia."



Asked about statements from Kyiv that more than 1 million Ukrainians were being sent to Russia and placed in camps, Kirby said: "I can't speak to how many camps or what they look like." He called these actions "unconscionable" and "not the behavior of a responsible power."

On May 8, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) commemorated the anniversary of the end of World War II by pledging to "spare no effort" to hold Putin and the architects "and accomplices of this aggression," including the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Belarus, accountable for their actions.

The leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States said Putin's actions "bring shame on Russia and the historical sacrifices of its people."

WATCH: Fighting continues to rage near Vuhledar, a city in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. Because of the ongoing, unpredictable shelling by Russian forces, many people are living in basements. The buildings have been cut off from electricity, water, and gas. Civilian casualties are buried in an improvised cemetery.

The United States after the meeting announced sanctions against three Russian television stations and executives from Gazprombank along with a ban on Americans providing accounting and consulting services to Russians.

Zelenskiy also told the G7 leaders that 60 civilians had died in the bombing of a school on May 7 in the eastern Luhansk region.

"They were hiding from shelling in the building of a regular school, which was attacked by a Russian air strike," he said.

British officials announced an extra $1.6 billion in military aid for Ukraine, while Britain's Defense Ministry said in its regular bulletin on May 9 that Moscow's invasion "has revealed shortcomings in its ability to conduct precision strikes" on a large scale and has shown utter disregard for the lives of civilians.

"Russia has subjected Ukraine's towns and cities to intense and indiscriminate bombardments with little or no regard to civilian casualties," the ministry said.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and dpa
"What danger could a person who loves to play music in the forest pose for the Russian Federation?" a St. Petersburg student who did not want to be identified asked about her friend, local artist Aleksandra Skochilenko, who faces up to 10 years in prison on charges that she "discredited the armed forces" by replacing grocery store price tags with information about the Russian bombing of a theater, Ukraine. She has admitted to changing the stickers but denies the charges, arguing that the information she shared was accurate.

Another friend of Skochilenko's, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Kirill, provided an answer to the student's question: "There is real strength in her pacificism and her goodness that now really can be a weapon against all this madness."

Shortly after Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow adopted new laws and regulations aimed at stifling dissent over the war and preventing the spread of information other than that provided by the government. In addition, pro-Kremlin media and other organizations have been organizing demonstrations of support for the war, many centered around the pro-war symbol of the Latin letter Z.

As the war continued, huge banners featuring the Z symbol have festooned theaters, museums, and other cultural institutions across the country, as the government has pushed the country's cultural communities to publicly express their support for the war, the military, and President Vladimir Putin.

On April 2, the Russian Culture Ministry announced a national "charity" program called Open Curtain, in which "institutions across the country will hold events for theatergoers, including for members of youth, volunteer, and veterans' organizations, for large families, and for residents of the LNR and DNR," the announcement said, using the abbreviations adopted by the Russia-backed separatist formations in parts of eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas.

"It is very important for us today to support all those who need it," Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova was quoted as saying. "Particularly those who are defending our country."

'Just A Building'

In March, according to reports, theater management began pushing actors and other workers to make social media comments backing Putin and the war.

"Everything began with the demand for such posts," said Sergei Levitsky, the former artistic director of the Russian Drama Theater in Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Buryatia region, who was fired on March 22 for speaking out against the war. "I didn't get such requests personally, but our director did. And she tried to force our employees to do that. And we fought about it. While I was working in the theater, I said that our people will not do that. And they didn't."

Prominent Buryatia actress Svetlana Polyanskaya told RFE/RL that with Levitsky's dismissal, the theater has lost its "locomotive."

"The theater was pulsating, thoughtful, and compelled others to think," she said. "It fostered empathy and discussed some very important and necessary themes. It attracted a young generation of theatergoers. It was alive and now it is dead."

"Now it is just a building," she concluded.

Levitsky is far from the only significant cultural figure to make such a decision. On April 25, it was announced that Moscow conductor Pavel Kogan, who has not given a concert since February 24, had resigned from his post as artistic director of the Moscow State Academic Symphony Orchestra, which he had occupied since 1989. The next day, theater director Denis Azarov stepped down from his position as artistic director of Moscow's Roman Viktyuk Theater.

Earlier, the artistic director of the Meyerhold Center in Moscow, Dmitry Volkostrelov was dismissed. The director of two movie theaters in the Moskino chain, Yekaterina Dolinina, was fired in February for her anti-war statements.

"Everything we that we had built over a long time was destroyed in an hour," she said in a March 1 interview with RTVI about the impact of the war and the sanctions against Russia that ensued. "New releases of films were canceled. Aging equipment cannot be replaced."

'A Bubble Burst'

In a televised meeting with cultural figures on March 25, Putin asserted that Russian culture was being "canceled" by the West and attempted to draw a parallel with the burning of "unwanted literature" in Nazi Germany.

But artists inside Russia say it is the Russian government and its actions that are destroying the country's culture, both by silencing independent artists and by waging a war that makes it impossible to discuss anything else. They are increasingly reminded of the Russian saying that "when the cannons roar, the muses are silent."

"It seems to me that everyone has now been left isolated," Levitsky said. "Everyone must choose for themselves how to act in accordance with their conscience -- in accordance with their convictions, their principles, their values. Because we all must answer to ourselves."

Culture critic Andrei Arkhangelsky, in a recent essay for RFE/RL's Russian Service, wrote about the toxic impact of the war on Russian culture.

"The entire 30-year post-Soviet Russian culture has been, at the least, made worthless since February 24," he wrote. "On that day, all previous words died. We hear cultural figures being reproached with: 'Why are you silent?' But we must understand that this is not the silence of servility or conformity, but also the silence of helplessness."

"What has happened is so insane from the perspective of any rational person that it deprives him of the gift of speech," Arkhangelsky wrote. "In the current situation, the silence of culture is also a statement."

On April 19, the prominent playwright Mikhail Durnenkov wrote on Facebook that he hopes Russia will be defeated in its refocused effort to secure control over the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine.

"I believe that the more crushing that defeat is, the more quickly my compatriots will wake up from this shameful dream," he wrote.

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.

Immediately, Durnenkov's social media accounts were flooded with threats. Aleksandr Kalyagin, director of the Russian Union of Theater Workers, demanded Durnenkov's expulsion. Actor and State Duma Deputy Nikolai Burlyayev called for Durnenkov to be prosecuted, although Durnenkov has been living in Finland for weeks.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Durnenkov recalled that he walked through the center of Moscow a few days after the invasion and was shocked to see ordinary life going on as if nothing had happened.

"I looked into one cafe and there were beautiful couples sitting there, drinking white wine from sparkling glasses," he recalled. "They were laughing and looking like an advertisement for the European lifestyle. And this sight made some sort of a bubble burst inside my head."

Just around the corner, he said, he saw about 15 waiting police vans, standing "like white coffins on wheels."

Durnenkov said he is not surprised that more leading figures from the arts have not spoken out against the war.

"I know a lot of good theater directors who simply can't allow themselves to make anti-war statements," he said. "They understand that the next second their company would be reorganized, and everyone would be scattered."

However, he added, a theater company that survives at such a price might be making a fool's bargain.

"If you think that you just need to wait a little while, then it makes sense," he said. "But if it drags out a long time, for years, then it is a mistaken strategy. It won't lead to a quick death, but to a long suffocation, just like in Soviet times -- humiliating and inescapable."

Russian playwright and director Ivan Vyrypayev, who lives in Poland, published an open letter to Russian theaters on March 8 in which he announced that all proceeds from performances of his plays would be donated to help refugees from Ukraine. Within days, nearly 40 state-run drama theaters from across Russia had pulled his plays from their repertoires.

Vyrypayev told RFE/RL that was exactly the reaction he had been hoping for.

"You see, I can't demand that they don't produce my plays because there are contracts," he said, adding that he did not want pro-Putin actors speaking his words.

"I think that the only thing people can do now is deal with the tragedy that is going on now," he said. "For me, it is a catastrophe. I don't understand how anyone can be doing anything else. If they think they can just perform these plays and accept flowers -- I say, no."

"The consequences of what is happening are very serious," he added. "Russia has ceased to exist as a cultural phenomenon."

Russian visual artist Yevgeny Antufiyev asked Moscow's GES-2 modern art museum, whose opening in December was attended by Putin, to remove his works immediately after the invasion of Ukraine.

"It is not the time for contemporary art when people are dying and blood is spilling," he told Britain's The Guardian earlier this month. "We can't pretend as if life is normal."

Playwright Durnenkov agreed, saying "in this situation, we can't write about anything else."

"The task of the artist is to fight against dehumanization," he told RFE/RL. "Today it is easy to find an enemy or a victim. It is a lot harder to look into the face of the enemy and understand why he is acting that way. What fear motivates him? How can we fight against that fear? No one but the artist can do this work."

"To the end of our days, we will have to work on this," Durnenkov added. "To dig through this pit full of corpses in hopes of finding one living person."

Written by Robert Coalson based on reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, Caucasus.Realities, Idel.Realities, and Siberia.Realities, and Current Time
A new phase of the Ukraine war is shaping up in the eastern part of the country, where Russian troops are aiming to overcome early setbacks and pummel Ukrainian forces in a long-distance ground battle.

But succeeding with its new war goals will be no simple task for a Russian military that has lost some 15,000 personnel since its February 24 invasion, according to an estimate British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace gave on April 25.

While far larger than the Ukrainians, the Russian forces are seen by Western and Ukrainian officials as demoralized and increasingly depleted following Moscows failed attempt at a quick victory after it invaded. In addition to mounting casualty figures, Russia has already deployed large parts of its military arsenal, including some of its most modern equipment, and has fired vast amounts of its rockets, artillery shells, and missiles.

As Western countries continue to gain momentum sending more and better equipment to Ukraine, questions about the depth of Russias military stockpiles as well as the preparedness and skills of its soldiers hang over the Kremlins war effort as the conflict enters its ninth week.

To find out more about the battles ahead, RFE/RL spoke with Margarita Konaev, a fellow at Georgetown Universitys Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

RFE/RL: Russian officials have stated that one of the goals of the second phase of the war is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine as well as to create a land corridor that connects Crimea all the way over to Transdniester, the pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova. How do you interpret that and how realistic a goal does this seem for the Russian military at this point?

Margarita Konaev: Everyone following the war has observed that the Russian militarys goals have had to be adjusted given the realities on the ground and, to an extent, these most recent statements reflect some of those realities that we're seeing in the Donbas right now. [They] already control a lot of the territory [in the south]. So restating those goals gives them more attainable possibilities of what they can achieve in the foreseeable future.

At the same time, I think that statement about blocking Ukrainian access to the sea, controlling all of southern Ukraine, and then perpetuating that land bridge to the area in Moldova that is controlled by Russian forces [is] alarming. I would read it not as something that they're necessarily going to be trying to achieve in this round of fighting and this phase of the war, but something that they're positioning for as an option that they could pursue in the future.

Right now, from [their] force availability [and] from their logistical capabilities, they're simply not in a position to pursue even these types of significant military goals because of how hard the Russian military has been hit and how well the war has turned out for them [so far].

RFE/RL: As a new phase of war is ramping up, there is a lot of focus right now on Ukraine being supplied from the West. But what kind of supplies and forces does Russia have that it hasnt used yet and how does that measure up to the Ukrainian side?

Konaev: We've been paying a lot of attention to what Ukraine needs [and] to what Russia has been lacking or how [it] has been failing tactically, but weve focused less on what Russia has in reserve.

One area that they have not been using effectively -- and questions remain about whether they're able to [in the future] -- is airpower. We have not seen significant involvement of Russian airpower in this war and when they are hitting targets, they're doing it very briefly and then returning quickly back to safer Russian-controlled [areas]. More extensive involvement of Russian airpower could shift the balance a little more towards [Russia].

For Russia, a very important question is going to be manpower [and] to what extent they want to continue committing more and more of their own troops to this fight, especially at the [high] level of personnel losses that they've suffered. At a certain point, you have to start asking how you can justify those sorts of losses.

[Also] where they're going to be bringing those personnel from [is] a huge question. That's why we're hearing reports about mercenaries from the Vagner Group [and] even recruitment of some Syrian forces that they're allegedly bringing into [Ukraine]. [Although] I haven't really seen any real evidence to indicate that the numbers [of mercenaries] are as high as some reports suggestit's not impossible that they will increasingly [have to] draw on some of those sources to augment their manpower [shortages].

RFE/RL: Russia recently claimed that it has captured control of Mariupol and in towns and cities across the south we are seeing Russian forces trying to set up local pro-Russian governments. In Kherson, there is even talk about holding a referendum to declare a Kherson Peoples Republic to create another Moscow-backed entity carved from Ukraine. What do you make of these tactics being used on the ground by Russian forces as they take control of areas?

Konaev: From the early stages of the war, one of the biggest questions that's been asked is how is Russia planning to occupy Ukraine or Ukrainian areas that are clearly [not] interested in any sort of Russian rule?

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.

We know that in the east and in parts of the south there are larger pockets of Russian speaking populations, but even among them, any sort of welcome to Russian incursions has really not been to a [level that Russia] expected at the beginning [of the war]. That is why they increasingly have to rely on violence, suppression, and the destruction of those areas rather than trying to persuade or [gain] some local support. It's a tactic that they inevitably have to use if they want to retain any sort of sway or control in that region.

But I personally don't anticipate any sort of perpetuated military occupation in the south [of Ukraine] that you would see in a place like Palestine or even any sort of removal of opponent forces that we saw during the surge in Iraq. It's going to be a very different type of relationship that they're going to try to establish with the local population there. And again, they're mostly relying on the destruction of those areas so [they can] then declare victory and be able to say that they've accomplished their goals there.

RFE/RL: Given the brutal tactics weve seen during the war and then attacks like those in Bucha, what kind of a relationship is even possible for Russian forces with Ukrainians on the ground if there were to be a referendum?

Konaev: Any sort of referendum, I think it's important to clarify, is absolutely illegitimate and illegal because this is an illegal war. [Such] a referendum [would be] against international law to begin with and whatever [is] declared there should [be seen] with great skepticism.

Unfortunately, in any sort of conflict, you do have local actors that seek to benefit from the chaos. In this conflict, there have definitely been fewer [examples of this] because you have seen real unity among the Ukrainians, but what Russia is going to try to do is empower some of those [who are willing to collaborate] on the ground or even bring in people from the outside, [such as from Russia or the separatist-controlled parts of Ukraine].

Another thing to watch is population displacement and an effort to remove some of the local population that is more pro-Ukrainian. [Russian forces] could maybe resettle some people from other areas of Ukraine or even parts of Russia to give the perception of legitimacy, but right now, at this point in the war, I think legitimacy is quite low on the list of what Russia is trying to portray and accomplish.

It's something that it can claim and argue to its own population that's already been fed a lot of lies, but it's unlikely that in Ukraine or the West that there's going to be a lot of buy in [or] legitimizing of their efforts in the south or in the east, let alone throughout the rest of the country.

RFE/RL: You mentioned earlier that this next stage of fighting is going to be very artillery focused, but if you had to pick one element of this next phase of the war to pay attention to, what would it be?

Konaev: I think that our expectation of the length of this war needs to be moderated. [My assessment] is that this is going to be more protracted than decisive -- just because of the balance of forces and the political [component] that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin simply cannot afford a loss.

And on the other side, Ukraine is very reluctant to settle, let alone retreat when it's in a relatively good position to continue the fight. My advice is to not expect a decisive [battle] but to expect this protracted stalemate and to keep paying close attention to the humanitarian costs of this war because the price of reconstruction is going to surpass the price of military support that [the West] is providing now -- and that [Western governments] should keep providing -- but also paying close attention to the humanitarian needs and to the postconflict needs that Ukraine is going to require.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity
A Ukrainian-Israeli painter famous for images of her childhood in Kyiv has painted the ongoing war in her homeland. On February 24, Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi says she felt as if her own memories were being invaded as she watched news coverage, from her home in Israel, of Russian missiles exploding and tanks moving on the Ukrainian capital. Shortly afterward, the artist began painting the Russian invasion of Ukraine in images that reference her famous Soviet Childhood series.

Cherkassky-Nnadi told Israeli media that she had been in Ukraine just four months before the invasion to look for landscapes and familiar scenes that she could use in future paintings depicting her childhood.

The Israeli-Ukrainian artist had relatives inside Ukraine when full-scale war broke out and, after waiting to see if the situation would improve, her sister eventually decided to flee the country to Moldova. On March 4, the artist's sister, two nieces, and two great-nieces arrived in Israel.

Now the Israeli-Ukrainian is raising money for the Ukrainian Red Cross through sales of her art, and said in a recent Facebook comment "my body is in Israel but Im in Ukraine."

Cherkassky-Nnadi was 14 when she left Kyiv with her family for a new life in Israel just two weeks before the U.S.S.R collapsed in 1991. The artist has since been based in Berlin and Tel-Aviv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told visiting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that he still hopes for negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine.

"Despite the fact that the military operation is ongoing, we still hope that we will be able to reach agreements on the diplomatic track," Putin told Guterres in televised remarks after their meeting at the Kremlin on April 26.

Putin noted that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators made what he described as a serious breakthrough in their talks in Istanbul last month. But he said that efforts had been derailed by claims of atrocities committed by Russian forces in the town of Bucha, outside Kyiv.

"There was a provocation in the village of Bucha, which the Russian Army had nothing to do with," Putin said.

Putin also agreed "in principle" to UN and Red Cross involvement in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Ukraine's Mariupol, the United Nations said in a statement.

"Follow-on discussions will be had with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Russian Defense Ministry," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement after Putins meeting with Guterres.

Recent attempts to set up humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians have failed.

During the meeting, Guterres criticized Russias military action in Ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbors territorial integrity. He also urged Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped in the steel mill.

Putin responded by claiming that the Russian forces had offered humanitarian corridors but said the Ukrainian defenders of the plant were using civilians as shields and not allowing them to leave.

Before meeting the Russian president, Guterres had earlier talked with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and told him he was concerned about reports of possible war crimes in Ukraine and that independent investigations are needed.

He also said that the United Nations was ready to fully mobilize the world body's resources to save lives and evacuate people from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.



The sprawling steel complex at Azovstal has remained the last bulwark of Ukrainian resistance the strategic port on the Sea of Azov. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Russia continued to attack the Azovstal plant.

Ukrainian officials have said that up to 1,000 civilians have sheltered in the maze of underground tunnels there. They have repeatedly urged Russia to offer them a safe exit.

Meanwhile, as Russian forces pounded eastern Ukraine on April 26, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised to get Kyiv the weapons it needs to repel the new offensive.

Austin said that more help for Ukraine was on the way, as he convened a meeting of officials from around 40 countries at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany to pledge more weapons.



"This gathering reflects the galvanized world," Austin said in his opening remarks. He added that he wanted officials to leave the meeting with a common and transparent understanding of Ukraines near-term security requirements because were going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.

WATCH: From "When Putin leaves" or "When Putin dies," to "We need to throw more powerful weapons in there," or "Ukraine should be completely wiped off the face of the Earth," RFE/RL asked Moscow residents when they think the military confrontation with Ukraine will end.



Austin also praised a decision by Germany, which said it had cleared the way for delivery of Gepard antiaircraft guns to Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putin has shown no seriousness about diplomacy to end the war despite a series of international efforts.

"We've seen no sign to date that President Putin is serious about meaningful negotiations," Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 26.

He noted that in talks with Russia ahead of the February 24 invasion it became clear that Putin's complaints about Ukraine entering NATO were only a pretext for the invasion.

"It is abundantly clear -- in President Putin's own words -- that this was never about Ukraine being potentially part of NATO and it was always about his belief that Ukraine does not deserve to be a sovereign, independent country," Blinken said.

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.

Fighting continued on April 26 in eastern Ukraine, where the city of Kreminna in the Luhansk region has reportedly fallen to the Russians.

Street-to-street fighting had been going on for days in Kreminna, with civilian evacuations there made impossible by the war, the British Ministry of Defense said on Twitter on April 26.

The British report said heavy fighting was under way in the south of the city of Izyum, as Russian forces try to advance toward the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.

"Ukrainian forces have been preparing defenses in Zaporizhzhya in preparation for a potential Russian attack from the south," it added in the regular bulletin, also saying that Russian troops were likely to attempt to encircle Ukrainian Army's heavily fortified positions in the east.

On the battlefield, Russia's Defense Ministry said on April 26 that its forces had "liberated" the entire Kherson region in southern Ukraine and parts of the Zaporizhzhya, Mykolayiv, and Kharkiv regions, Interfax news agency reported. The claims could not be independently confirmed.

Austin -- who visited Ukraine with Blinken over the weekend and announced an extra $700 million in military aid to Ukraine -- said Washington wants to see "Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine," adding that Kyiv can still win the war if given the right support.

The United States has sent some $4 billion in military aid since President Joe Biden's term began last year, and already announced a new $800 million aid package last week.

Lavrov said late on April 25 that Western arms shipments to Ukraine mean that NATO is essentially engaging in war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy, and weapons delivered to Ukraine from the West will be "legitimate targets" for the Russian military.

Lavrov also warned of the threat of a third world war and said there was a "considerable" risk of the conflict escalating to nuclear weapons.

"The danger is serious, it is real, it must not be underestimated," Lavrov said.

But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Lavrov's comments are meant to just "scare the world off supporting Ukraine."

Earlier, Russia's ambassador in Washington told the United States to halt arms shipments, warning that large Western deliveries of weapons were inflaming the conflict.

In other developments, the president of Moldova said several alleged attacks in the Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transdniester were an attempt to escalate tensions. President Maia Sandu blamed pro-war factions" within the territory's administration.



Poland and Bulgaria said Russian state energy giant Gazprom informed them that it will halt the delivery of natural gas supplies beginning on April 27. Both countries said they had enough supplies for the time being.



Putin previously threatened to cut off gas supplies to countries that he called "unfriendly" if they failed to comply with his demand that they pay for gas imports in rubles instead of euros or dollars.



Andriy Yermak, an aide to Zelenskiy, said the move was the beginning of Russias gas blackmail of Europe."

With reporting by AP, AFP, BBC, and Reuters
Another push east as Russia seeks to replace EU markets

Uzbekistan and Russia are considering further steps to increase mutual trade turnover, according to the Uzbek Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade.

This issue was discussed on the sidelines of the Innoprom. Central Asia International Industrial Exhibition between the Deputy Prime Minister  Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov and the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov.

During the meeting, an agreement was reached to study the structure of mutual trade in order to identify specific commodity items that are promising in terms of increasing mutual deliveries of products that are in demand in the markets of both countries.

Mutual readiness for interaction to remove existing trade barriers and create favorable conditions for enhancing bilateral trade was indicated.

In addition, opportunities for deepening industrial cooperation and building interconnected value chains in high-tech and investment-intensive industries such as metallurgy, energy, engineering, production of specialized transport, agricultural and road construction equipment, chemical, pharmaceutical, and IT sectors were studied.

Uzbekistan is an important market for Russian  and Chinese  investors as it possesses a substantial trade agreement with the European Union, meaning that under certain conditions, Russian-owned or JV manufacturing units in Uzbekistan can export to the EU. Uzbekistan also recently acquired observer status with the Eurasian Economic Union, which Russia would be keen to see join. The two countries are also trade-tied by membership of the Commonwealth of Independent States, with the two having their own trade agreement.

Uzbekistan is landlocked, and is accessed from Russia via Kazakhstan by rail, or via the Caspian sea from Russias Volga River delta and via Turkmenistan rail connections.

Current Russia-Uzbekistan bilateral trade is running at about US$6 billion, with Russian exports making up about 2/3 of this. Russia exports lumber, oil, and metals, while Uzbekistan exports gas, ethylene and cotton. Bilateral trade has been growing at rates of 6% but this can be expected to increase.

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BEIJING, April 26 -- The Type-075 amphibious assault ship Hainan, China's first independently-built landing helicopter dock ship, has preliminarily formed the ability to perform amphibious operations. Commissioned on April 23, 2021, it has undergone training courses such as underway replenishment-at-sea, hovercraft docking and undocking, ship-borne helicopter take-off and landing, live-fire shooting, and multi-dimensional force delivery.
In a glass-walled room at Prager Brothers Artisan Bread in Carlsbad, customers lining up for loaves of sourdough and sunflower rye can see the bakerys newest technology at work  an old-fashioned stone mill that grinds flour in prehistoric fashion.

The slow-moving mill, which crushes grains of whole wheat between two 250-pound granite discs, is just the latest way the bakerys co-founders  Carlsbad-raised brothers Louie and Clinton Prager  are taking the art of bread-baking back in time.

Seven days a week, the siblings and their baking crew turn out hundreds of loaves of hand-formed, naturally leavened, organic whole-grain bread. Their Old World breads are made without yeast, sugar or commercial mixing machines. It takes about 36 hours to produce a loaf of Prager sourdough bread, compared with four hours at a commercial bakery.

1 / 10 Prager Brothers Artisan Breads co-owner Clinton Prager lines up loaves of bread. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 10 Prager Brothers Artisan Breads co-owner Clinton Prager uses a razor blade to cut the tops of the bread. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 10 Prager Brothers Artisan Breads co-owner Clinton Prager cleans the oven. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 10 Prager Brothers Artisan Breads co-owner Clinton Prager lines up proofed breads for baking. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 10 Prager Brothers Artisan Breads. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 10 Prager Brothers Artisan Breads workers prepare scones for baking. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 10 Prager Brothers Artisan Breads. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 10 Prager Brothers Artisan Breads co-owner Clinton Prager (right) and baker Cervando Tapia (left) prepare pretzels. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 10 Prager Brothers Artisan Breads co-owner Clinton Prager uses a razor blade to cut pretzels. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 10 Prager Brothers Artisan Breads co-owner Clinton Prager (left) ad baker Cervando Tapia (right) load pretzels into an oven. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Louie, who holds a degree in plant biology, said the companys goal isnt just to make good bread. Its goal is to educate the public on the history and traditions of growing, milling, fermenting and baking breads with traditional techniques.

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Our mission is to restore the craft of artisan breads, he said. We want people to appreciate the time, care and work that goes into this.

Since opening their first industrial bakery in 2013, the Prager brothers have been buying flour from organic mills, like Camas Country Mill in Oregon. That limited the varieties of grain they could buy, since most mills are large commercial operations that cant afford to slow down their production cycle to grind small-batch heirloom organic mixes for little independent bakeries like Prager Brothers.

So, six months ago, the brothers ordered their own 26-inch electric-powered mill from North American Stone Mills in North Carolina. Only about a dozen independent bakeries in the U.S. have their own in-house mills.

The $12,000 mill was custom-built and delivered three months ago, and ever since its been churning out all sorts of organic flours, including California-grown Yecora Rojo red wheat, Tibetan purple barley and organic cornmeal.

Louie delights in showing customers how the grains are fed into a hole between the rotating stones, pressed out the sides and swept down a steel chute. It takes about an hour to grind 50 pounds of whole grain into a light flour thats then hand-sifted to separate out the bitter bran (outer shell) of the crushed wheat kernels.

The machine, which runs all morning and most afternoons, isnt producing enough yet to supply all of the bakerys needs. But Louie said its been invaluable in helping him and his brother explore a variety of new red, white and half-size wheat grains.

Its also helped them customize some flour blends and experiment with the size of the flour granules. Using a different type of flour, more water, hand-folded dough and a slow fermentation process results in a better flavor, a more open crumb (bigger air holes inside), a chewier, more multicolored crust and a longer shelf life.

The brothers sell their breads, pastries and sandwiches from a retail shop that fronts the 3,300-square-foot bakery, which is visible through a wall-sized glass window. At any hour of the day, customers can watch the Pragers and their dozen-plus kitchen staff milling grain, kneading dough, hand-shaping pretzels, cookies and croissants, and moving trays of fresh-baked loaves into cooling racks.

Though baking is now their shared lifes work, the brothers came to it from different directions and at different times. Louie, 30, studied birds in the Peruvian rain forest before pursuing his bread-baking passion in 2011. Clinton, 29, is a classically trained guitarist who set aside his music career four years ago to help his brother as the business began to take off.

Louie started out making pizzas in the first of several homemade wood-fired ovens in their family backyard when he was in high school. While studying biology at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he trained in artisan breadmaking at 3rd Corner Bakery in Los Angeles.

Then, when he couldnt find work as a biologist after college, he decided to become a full-time baker. At first he sold loaves baked in a borrowed restaurant oven to friends and family. Then in 2012, he opened a booth at the Encinitas Farmers Market, and sales exploded.

By that time, Clinton had earned a music degree from UC Santa Cruz and was working as a musician and teacher. But when Louie asked him to come into the business as a partner in 2013, he learned the craft by his brothers side.

They arrive at their bakery every morning at 3 a.m. to get all their supermarket deliveries out before dawn. They rarely head home  Louie lives in Carlsbad, Clinton in Oceanside  before 9 p.m.

Over the past two years, the business has more than doubled in size. Besides the onsite shop, their breads are now sold at six farmers markets from Escondido to Little Italy; natural foods markets including Cardiffs Seaside Market, Jimbos and O.B. Peoples Market; and organic cafes like Baker & Olive.

The Pragers make a dozen types of bread, including nine varieties of sourdough. The top-seller is the miche country loaf, a whole wheat sourdough, as well as a walnut whole-grain, olive rosemary, rye sunflower, sesame semolina, raisin walnut and whole-grain sprouted spelt. There are also yeast-risen baguettes, flatbreads and pretzels, and a variety of European-style pastries and cookies.

In December 2015, the Pragers moved into a larger space in the Carlsbad Gateway Center, a 16-acre light industrial park on Palmer Way. Since 2013, the park has established a niche as a makers space for several food businesses that make and sell their products onsite.

Besides Prager Brothers, theres Happy Pantry, a live-culture kitchen making fermented vegetables; Leap Coffee, an artisan coffee roaster and cafe; and Oh! Juice, which makes and sells cold-pressed organic juices.

All four businesses have education programs where the public can watch the products being made, and most do private tastings. Prager Brothers will soon open another small space a few doors down where Louie said he hopes to develop the companys community outreach program.

He hopes to offer demonstrations and classes on baking, milling, sourdough fermentation, sustainable farming, crop rotation and more.

Toni Adamopoulos, property manager for the Carlsbad Gateway Center, said these and other onsite-maker businesses are building a growing buzz among customers who like a one-on-one, interactive experience with the food products they buy. The Prager brothers, in particular, have benefited significantly from this sort of open-doors concept.

Theyre very passionate about their work and they want people to know about how their bread is made, not just eat it, Adamopoulos said. Theres a really supportive network between these businesses, and theyre creating something really unique here.

Prager Brothers Artisan Bread

Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.

Where: Carlsbad Gateway Center, 5611 Palmer Way, Suite C, Carlsbad

Phone: (760) 703-1904

Online: pragerbrothers.com

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
California witnessed 367 incidents of antisemitic hate and harassment last year, part of a record national spike that observers fear will only continue in 2022, as right-wing extremism ricochets online and fringe groups pop up throughout the Bay Area.

The numbers released Tuesday in a new audit by the Anti-Defamation League demonstrate an unsettling surge across the U.S., with 2,717 antisemitic incidents logged last year  up 34% from the 2,026 documented in 2020, and the highest number since the organization began tracking this data in 1979.

A spate of disturbing local incidents appears to be consistent with this trend. On Sunday, residents of Danville reported finding antisemitic flyers on their driveways and doorsteps. Similar leaflets have appeared in Pacific Heights, Palo Alto and the North Berkeley hills. In February, the owner of two Berkeley yoga studios fired an instructor after learning that her boyfriend runs an antisemitic website that the ADL linked to at least 74 incidents of propaganda.

In the Bay Area, notwithstanding the fact that, broadly speaking, its a more progressive place ... we see antisemitism emanating from the far right and the far left, said Seth Brysk, director of ADLs Central Pacific Region, noting that each incident targets a community rather than an individual. Every swastika tagged on a wall can harm scores of people, he said.

Californias uptick from 289 incidents in 2020 included a dramatic surge in assaults  from four to 15  which reflected a national trend. Across the country assaults jumped from 33 reports in 2020 to 88 in 2021.

Apart from these attacks, vitriol against Jewish people increased throughout the U.S. across every metric that the ADL follows. Incidents at synagogues, Jewish community centers or other institutions escalated by 61%, while K-12 schools saw a 106% upswing and incidents on college campuses climbed by 21%. Harassment rose by 43%  from 1,242 incidents in 2020 to 1,776 in 2021, while vandalism picked up 14%, from 751 episodes in 2020 to 853 in 2021, according to the report.

Observers cite a number of factors contributing to the surge: the emboldening of alt-right extremist groups; the coarsening of political discourse; the use of technology to amplify hate speech; the emergence of fallacious conspiracy theories blaming the Jewish community for COVID-19; the revolts against vaccine mandates that turn Jewish people into scapegoats.

Such stereotypes have historical antecedents, according to criminal justice Professor Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University San Bernardino. He said that Jewish people often get singled out in an anti-authority climate.

One of the primary stereotypes with respect to Jews is that they control the levers of governance, Levin told The Chronicle. When governance is unpopular, Jews get hit.

Separately, opponents of COVID restrictions have poached the symbols of Nazi Germany, seeking to equate mask or vaccine requirements with a genocidal regime. In August, protesters at a Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors meeting in Yreka wore yellow stars to denounce a vaccine mandate, claiming it infringed on their civil rights.

Acts of antisemitism accelerated in May 2021, likely stemming from the military conflict between Israel and Palestine that left 256 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. Many perpetrators of threats and harassment during this period made cryptic references to the clash in Gaza and the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

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In San Francisco last June, someone scrawled offensive graffiti on the front walls of a popular Mission District cafe owned by Manny Yekutiel, a self-described liberal American Jew and member of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agencys Board of Directors.

Racist Pigz ... Zionist Pigz ... Free Palestine, the message in blue paint said.

Representatives of the ADL characterize their report as a snapshot of antisemitism nationwide, albeit a much broader representation than a study co-authored by Levin and researcher Kiana Perst, which drew similar conclusions.

Levin and Persts study relied on police reports to show that anti-Jewish hate crimes rose nearly 59% across select U.S. cities last year, from 235 reports, to 373. By contrast, ADL compiled records of criminal and non-criminal acts, drawing on information from law enforcement, victims and community leaders. The organization used this methodology to help develop a comprehensive response, including youth education and advocacy for new laws to combat antisemitic hate.

The report itself is an act of hope and defiance, Brysk said.

The point of tabulating is not to be fearful, not to be in despair, he said, but rather to say that this is the work that we all have to do together.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
A ruling that prevented California from shutting down privately owned detention centers for immigrants was set aside Tuesday by a federal appeals court, which ordered a new hearing before an 11-judge panel. The case, a challenge to a state law against private prisons, tests the limits of state authority over federally regulated immigration.

The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019, barred the housing of inmates in prisons or detention centers run by private contractors when those contracts expired, or by 2028 at the latest. Advocates said conditions at private prisons were often worse than those in state prisons and were difficult to inspect or regulate. But President Donald Trumps administration and the GEO Group, a prison contractor, filed suit, arguing that California was interfering with federal immigration authority.

A federal judge upheld the law but was overruled in October by a panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In a 2-1 ruling, the court said that the state legislation illegally targeted privately run immigration detention centers. The ruling did not affect the states ban on private lockups for prisoners serving sentences for criminal convictions.

Federal law gives the secretary of homeland security broad power and discretion to arrange for appropriate places of detention, including the right to contract with private companies to operate detention facilities, said Judge Kenneth Lee in the majority opinion, joined by Judge Bridget Bade. Both were appointed by Trump.

On Tuesday, however, the court said a majority of its 29 judges had granted the states request to void the panels decision and order a new hearing before a larger panel, consisting of Chief Judge Mary Murguia and 10 randomly chosen judges. Murguia, appointed by President Barack Obama, cast the dissenting vote in the October ruling, saying the California law was prompted by reports of substandard conditions, inadequate medical care, sexual assaults and deaths in for-profit facilities and was similar to restrictions in several other states.

All immigrants detained in California while awaiting hearings on possible deportation are held in private prisons. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not operate its own facilities in the state, because of the fluctuation in the numbers of detainees, and instead relies on contractors like the GEO Group, which runs detention centers in Adelanto (San Bernardino County) and Mesa Verde (Kern County). The two centers have a total capacity of 2,400, though their current population is far less.

The case, which could wind up in the Supreme Court, examines a potentially larger question: whether the states authority to oversee the health and welfare of those held in custody on its territory extends to a federally regulated issue such as immigration. It bears some relation to the federal vs. state issues the high court addressed in 2012, when it allowed police in Arizona to check the legal status of people they suspect are in the U.S. illegally, but barred their arrest and prosecution under state law.

For-profit, private prisons and detention facilities that treat people like commodities pose an unacceptable risk to the health and welfare of Californians, Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. Bonta, brought to the U.S. from the Philippines by his family as an infant, was the author of the California law, AB32, when he was a state Assembly member from Alameda.

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Attorney Sarah Poppy Alexander, representing the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and other advocacy groups in the case, said her clients documented the horrific conditions in the privately run detention facilities at issue here, which puts both the immigrants in their care and the detention officers hired to run the facilities at risk.

This case is about whether the state of California may dictate immigration policy to the federal government, countered GEO Group in a filing with the court.

The Biden administration found itself in the middle. President Biden supports closure of private immigration prisons, having signed an executive order in January 2021 to end the federal governments use of those prisons in the future  an order first issued by Obama and then rescinded by Trump. But in the current case, Bidens Justice Department has backed the Trump administrations position and argued that federal law does not authorize state regulation.

Congress has authorized the privately run detention facilities on which ICE has relied for decades, the Justice Department said in a court filing. The issue is not the wisdom of housing decisions for federal detainees but rather who makes those decisions, the filing said, and under longstanding law, the decision for the federal government resides with the federal government.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
With billions of dollars at stake, San Francisco has opened a federal court trial against Walgreens pharmacy and three companies that manufacture or distribute opioids.

The companies regularly overstated the benefits and trivialized the risks of the long-term use of opioids to their customers, City Attorney David Chius office said in a filing with U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco, who is presiding over the non-jury trial.

A drug manufacturers lawyer contended Tuesday, however, that the company accurately conveyed both the risks and benefits of the government-approved medications and that they are vital for the control of severe pain.

Opioids include legally prescribed painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin, and legal and illegal forms of the powerful drug fentanyl, as well as heroin. They can be highly addictive and sometimes lethal. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, quoted in the citys lawsuit, 80% of U.S. heroin users in the past decade had started with opioid prescriptions. In San Francisco, health officials say 712 people died of opioid overdoses in 2020, and one-fourth of all emergency-room visits at the citys General Hospital involve opioids.

Though legal efforts to hold companies and individuals responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic have been ongoing for years, the San Francisco case, which began Monday, is unique in a few ways.

It is the nations first trial against members of all three links in the supply chain: manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies.

Other suits have mostly targeted drug manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma, which was an original defendant in San Franciscos suit but has now settled nationwide claims while filing for bankruptcy.

The current suit, filed in 2018, accuses the companies of using deceptive advertising to boost sales, pushing more opioids into the market than were medically necessary, and failing to design and implement effective controls. The central legal claim is that the companies created a public nuisance, defined by state law as a private action that harms the public health.

In an opening statement Monday, Richard Heimann, a private attorney on the citys legal team, said that when an investigator asked Walgreens pharmacists about a huge increase in opioid prescriptions from doctors in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the typical reply was that asking questions was not their job. ... Im not a doctor, Im a pharmacist.

Heimann played part of a recording from a Walgreens pharmacist in San Francisco who told the citys lawyers she was under pressure to fill, fill, fill ... That was what the company cared about most.

We do not seek to ban opioids. We recognize their value, Aeilish Baig, another private attorney representing the city, told Breyer. But we demand the truth.

Other defendants in the suit are drug manufacturers Teva Pharmaceuticals and Allergan, and Anda, a distributor owned by Teva. All have denied responsibility for opioid addictions and deaths.

Opioids have a high potential for abuse, but their risks have always been well-known to the doctors who prescribe them, James Matthews, a lawyer for Teva and its subsidiary, Cephalon, said in an opening statement Tuesday. For some patients, pain management is the single most important treatment a physician can provide.

The medications Teva manufactures, including fentanyl, have all been approved by state and federal medical agencies and have been promoted truthfully by the company, Matthews told the judge. In fact, he said, in 2005, during the period covered by the suit, California asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reduce its restrictions on opioid prescriptions.

Other cities and counties havent been allowed to move similar suits forward.

Oakland and the counties of Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Clara made a similar claim against multiple drug manufacturers and distributors in a 2014 suit in state court. But Orange County Superior Court Judge James Wilson ruled in the companies favor last November after presiding over a non-jury trial, citing the FDAs findings that the drugs potential for abuse was outweighed by their benefits as pain relievers, and that they could be safely prescribed by experienced physicians.

But Breyer has refused to dismiss San Franciscos suit and said the citys allegations, if proven, could show violations of the law.

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Many opioid cases have settled; this one is proceeding in a trial.

San Francisco has settled its claims against several companies. The city expects to receive between $50 million and $61 million in agreements reached last fall with AmerisourceBergen Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., McKesson Corp. and Johnson & Johnson, said Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for Chiu. Last week Chius office announced a $10 million settlement with Endo Pharmaceuticals, manufacturer of the drug Percocet, with $5 million to be paid at once and the rest over the next 10 years.

In March, Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, all defendants in the San Francisco suit, reached a $6 billion settlement with a number of states, including California, which will receive $500 million from the companys bankruptcy proceedings.

Teva Pharmaceuticals, still a defendant in the case, blames Purdue and the Sacklers for abuse of prescription opioids.

They started the fire and poured gasoline on it ... created a public-health crisis, Matthews, Tevas attorney, said in his opening statement Tuesday.

Several thousand opioid lawsuits by state and local governments nationwide were transferred to a federal judge in Ohio, who approved a handful, including San Franciscos, as bellwether cases to go to trial.

The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
The ball is back in Gov. Gavin Newsom's court when it comes to creating a single-payer health care system in California.

In January, when Newsom was asked if he supported a bill to create a universal, government-run health care system in California, he dodged the question, saying he was waiting for a report from a state commission studying the issue.

On Monday, the commission finalized that report, which found that health care costs will skyrocket by 30% in nine years under the current system and advocates an overhaul that would eliminate distinctions among private and government coverage, in favor of a new system to provide health care to all Californians.

The Democratic governor has long said he supports creating such a system in California but has not endorsed specific legislation to do so. Now that the report is out, its not clear what steps he may take to get there.

We have been following the progress of the commissions work, and look forward to reviewing and discussing the final report with the Legislature and stakeholders, Newsom spokesman Alex Stack wrote in a statement. He pointed to other ways the governor has worked to expand health care access, including by expanding eligibility for the states health coverage to more undocumented immigrants.

Newsoms secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mark Ghaly, chaired the commission and committed in the report to assign staff to coordinate with President Joe Bidens administration. Thats a significant step toward overhauling Californias health care system, advocates say, because the state would need approval to repurpose the billions of federal dollars that flow into the current system.

That's really the key next step, and depends upon the governor's leadership, said Michael Lighty, a consultant working with the National Union of Healthcare Workers to advocate for a single-payer system. This is really a new day for health care reform in California.

The commissions report stops short of explicitly endorsing a universal, government-run health system in California, as proponents of so-called single-payer health care had hoped, and instead leaves the door open for private health insurers to have some role in a new system. But the report does endorse a major shakeup to a unified financing system. The report outlines several options for how that system could look, including a single-payer system that would eliminate private insurance.

Carmen Comsti of the National Nurses United union, was the lone commissioner to vote against sending the report to Newsom and the Legislature on Monday, arguing it didnt go far enough in specifically recommending to the Legislature how to implement single-payer in California.

This report falls short of presenting clear, concrete, formal actions to get us to single-payer, she said. We bury the lead on single-payer and its benefits. The report scarcely uses the phrase single-payer at all.

Newsom has long said he supports a single-payer system. Since taking office, however, he has not endorsed legislation to transition to single-payer, but has taken other steps toward expanding health care within the existing system.

He said in January that he believes its inevitable that the United States will transition to a single-payer system eventually, but stopped short of laying out a plan for how he would work toward it. He pointed to the commissions report as a critical next step.

Any overhaul of the health care system will meet major resistance from many parts of the industry. That was illustrated earlier this year when a coalition of health care organizations and business groups, including the California trade groups representing doctors, hospitals and health insurance plans, came out in fierce opposition to a single-payer bill in the Legislature.

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The bill, AB1400, was shelved by its author before coming up for a vote on the Assembly floor.

Ned Wigglesworth, a spokesman for the coalition, said the group is still reviewing the commissions report and doesnt want to comment yet. Previously, however, the group blasted the concept of single-payer health care. During the debate over AB1400, the coalition wrote that it would immeasurably disrupt the health care that millions of Californians rely on every day by forcing them all onto a government plan.

Anthony Wright, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Health Access, told The Chronicle he thinks the report could have made clearer recommendations on how to implement single-payer. Wright, who supports transitioning to single-payer and voted in favor of the report, said its still a significant step.

He said the discussions with the federal government that Ghaly commits to in the report are particularly consequential. In the meantime, he said there are many piecemeal steps the Legislature can take toward expanding health care access to more people and laying the groundwork for a big transition that will take many years.

It would be a mistake to think theres just going to be one bill.  This is too big a project, he said. Theres some fairly big conceptual pieces that need to pass the Legislature. It cant all be done piecemeal, but I think it needs to be an iterative process.

Sophia Bollag is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophia.bollag@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophiaBollag
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Hundreds of angry UC Berkeley academic student workers  teaching assistants, postdocs and researchers  shut down the intersection at Hearst and Euclid avenues in Berkeley for an hour Tuesday as part of a statewide protest over working conditions and wages at the University of Californias 10 campuses.

Forty-eight-thousand ready to fight! Postdocs, ARs, grads unite! shouted the academic researchers and other student workers who are in labor negotiations with UC. Dozens sat in the middle of the busy intersection under the late afternoon sun while hundreds more marched around them. Most motorists simply backed up and drove in the other direction until police closed the area off shortly before 4 p.m., when the protesters ended the action and walked away peacefully. The intersection then was reopened.

The traffic-disrupting action followed a raucous march across campus from the Campanile bell tower, where they waved signs and rallied against the universitys anti-union agenda. They are represented by UAW, a union representing auto and aerospace workers, which is negotiating labor contracts on behalf of 48,000 academic employees  which has become UCs largest union  and is leading the statewide action.

No protesters were arrested in Berkeley. But the Los Angeles Police said it arrested 26 protesters who sat down in the intersection of Wilshire and Westwood boulevards and did not disperse after police declared an unlawful assembly.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

Erika Cervantes, a UC Office of the President spokesperson, said the administration respectfully disagrees with the unions assertions about (contractual) takeaways and UC being intransigent.

Our overarching goal with each of these negotiations is a multiyear agreement that recognizes these employees many important contributions to the UC community with fair pay, quality health and family-friendly benefits, and a supportive and respectful work environment, she said.

At Tuesdays protest in Berkeley, the student workers said their salaries were too low, and they lambasted UC for what they said were weak family-leave policies and inadequate protections against bullying and harassment on the job.

Were here to escalate the fight, said Tanzil Chowdhury, a graduate student on the bargaining team for the unions student researchers unit. Were not going to stand for the abusive working conditions that we find ourselves in.

A research assistant at nearby Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chowdhury said hes having trouble finding an apartment with rent less than $2,000, which would be more than half his paycheck. He said too many student workers have trouble paying for child care, rely on food stamps, live in cars or even sleep in the street.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

Union organizers said thousands of academic student workers in the state were holding similar actions Tuesday.

UCs low wages and bad policies have been disrupting our lives and careers for too long, said Samuel Chan with the Berkeley chapter of UAW.

The university systems postdoctoral researchers have been in labor negotiations with UC for more than a year, the union said. Teaching assistants have been bargaining since March to update a contract that expires in July. Student researchers began negotiating their first contract this month.

No contract, no peace! the crowd chanted on the march through campus. Some banged on empty water jugs, and others carried colorful union banners.

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Isabel Penaranda, a Ph.D. student studying housing, said 55% of her income goes toward her rent, but limited housing options mean that theres nowhere for me to go.

We are being treated like were not the lifeblood of the university, she said.

Ahead of the protest, the union representing all three groups of workers accused UC administrators of trying to claw back their rights and benefits, including compensation, housing and paid family leave.

The union had announced that academic union organizing is heating up on the West Coast with workers prepared to take to the streets against what they called workplace abuse.

Until recently, I had to live out of my car while working at UCLA because I couldnt find affordable housing on my teaching assistant salary, Bernard Remollino, a teaching assistant and researcher at UCLA, said in a statement released by the union. I believe UC has the responsibility to ensure the workers who power its education and research mission arent struggling to afford basic necessities.

Many teaching assistants earn less than $30,000 a year, although compensation varies across job titles and departments, the union said, noting that the workers, all of them students, have to pay campus fees under the current contracts. Nearly all of UCs academic student employees are rent-burdened, the union said, and on average pay more than half of their income for rent.

Andy Picon and Nanette Asimov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com and nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @andpicon and @NanetteAsimov
The University of California system will fully cover in-state tuition fees for California residents who are members of federally recognized Native American, American Indian and Alaska Native tribes starting this fall, UC President Michael Drake announced in a letter to chancellors last week.

The program, called UC Native American Opportunity Plan, will advance critical efforts to expand student diversity and make the University of California more affordable and accessible for Californias Native American undergraduate and graduate students, Drake wrote.

In-state tuition at UC schools is around $13,000 per year, with $1,400 in campus fees on top of that. Estimated housing costs for those living on campus is $17,800. Housing is not covered by the program.

But the program, funded by a combination of existing state and university financial aid, applies only to federally recognized tribes, the letter says.

In California, there are 55 tribes that arent federally recognized, affecting around 80,000 people  the largest group of unrecognized tribal groups and individuals of any state in the country, according to the UCLA American Indian Studies Center. These groups are unrecognized because of treaties and policy decisions made in the 19th century as well as the 1950s and 60s.

That means Californians in these tribes would not have access to funds from the UC Native American Opportunity Plan. A UC spokesperson said that the systems ability to extend the program beyond federally recognized groups was limited by legal constraints on affirmative action programs imposed by Proposition 209, passed by California voters in 1996.

Unrecognized tribes were also left out of pandemic resources like testing supplies or vaccine allocations, NPR reported last year.

But the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria will make up for the difference with a $2.5 million scholarship fund, which will cover tuition and mandatory fees both for non-federally recognized California Native American UC students as well as any added needed support for those from federally recognized tribes, the group will announce Wednesday.

California Native American students now have a clear path to the nations top public education system with no financial roadblocks, Greg Sarris, the groups tribal chairman said. Inclusivity is our responsibility and were pleased to extend scholarships to California Native Americans from non-federally recognized tribes. Were helping to level the playing field and provide representation in higher education for all California Native American students.

Drake added that UC sincerely appreciate(s) the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria for offering scholarships to this group.

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In the fall of 2021, Native Americans made up 0.5% of the UC systems total enrollment. Native Americans make up 2.9% of the total U.S. population and 3.6% of Californias population, according to the 2020 Census.

Esmeralda Quintero-Cubillan, president of the UC Student Association and a native student, said that she is proud to see the University of California taking a massive step in expanding access to our schools.

The Native American Opportunity Plan offers a promising future and I hope to see its expansion to capture state-recognized tribal nations and our Indigenous students from all of the Americas, she added.

The University of California is committed to recognizing and acknowledging historical wrongs endured by Native Americans, Drake wrote in the letter to chancellors. I am hopeful that this new program will benefit our students and continue to position the University of California as the institution of choice for Native American students.

Danielle Echeverria is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: danielle.echeverria@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DanielleEchev
Two Berkeley men have been charged in federal court with conspiring to sell and selling fentanyl and methamphetamine to undercover police officers in San Franciscos Tenderloin District, prosecutors announced.

David Ordonez, 19, and Juan Carlos Hernandez-Ordonez, 18, were charged in U.S. District Court with engaging in a conspiracy to sell more than 40 grams of fentanyl in the Tenderloin between Feb. 9 and March 29 of this year, the U.S. Attorneys Office for Californias Northern District said in a news release Thursday.

The two men traveled several times from their shared apartment in Berkeley to the Tenderloin to sell narcotics in an open-air drug market near Seventh and Market streets, the release said.

Federal prosecutors said there were five instances in which either man sold fentanyl or methamphetamine, sometimes both, to undercover San Francisco police officers.

Each man was also charged with separate counts of selling narcotics, federal prosecutors said.

Ordonez allegedly sold approximately $1,500 worth of fentanyl to an undercover officer and $700 worth of methamphetamine. He was charged with one count of distributing 40 grams or more of fentanyl and one count of selling 5 grams or more of methamphetamine, according to federal prosecutors.

Hernandez-Ordonez sold about $1,000 worth of fentanyl to an undercover officer, prosecutors said. He was charged with one count of selling 40 grams or more of fentanyl.

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San Francisco Mayor London Breed declared a 90-day emergency in the Tenderloin in December 2021 to address the drug dealing, crime and overdose deaths in the neighborhood.

Before the declaration, she flooded the area with police officers and community ambassadors to deter drug activity, and opened a linkage center to connect people on the streets to housing, drug treatment or long-term services. However, some community groups have expressed concerns about how the city is tracking success.

Jessica Flores (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
Oakland is expected to make the case in court Wednesday that the citys Police Department is ready to enter into a transition period to end its nearly 20-year struggle under federal oversight  marking a potentially major milestone for the city.

The City Attorneys Office and attorneys in the case filed a joint statement to U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick last week saying that they are open to beginning the one-year transition period to end federal oversight. The statement said the department has complied with all the tasks required by the federal monitor except for one.

Its the first time the city and the attorneys in the case have reached an agreement that the Police Department can enter the transition period to end federal oversight. The court-appointed monitor determines whether the department has complied with the federally mandated tasks, and a judge must agree with the monitor.

There are two likely outcomes to Wednesdays hearing. The judge could agree that the department is ready to move into the one-year transition period or he could say that the department needs to come into full compliance before it transitions out of federal oversight.

The citys attorneys will likely urge the judge to allow the department to complete their final tasks during the transition period.

A class-action lawsuit in 2000 resulted in the federal oversight. The plaintiffs argued they were falsely arrested on drug charges and accused four West Oakland officers, known as the Riders, of assaulting and conspiring to frame them. The officers were found not guilty in a criminal trial, but the civil case resulted in a settlement that required the department to complete dozens of tasks to improve the way they track, train and discipline officers.

The plaintiffs attorneys, John Burris and Jim Chanin, said the Oakland Police Department still needs to address racial disparities in its discipline of officers, but said the department could come into compliance with that task within six months of the transition period beginning.

Its significant, its historic, Burris told The Chronicle. Its a milestone, no question. The only question is, why did it take so long? But it did. Hopefully, we are close to the end.

In a statement Wednesday, Burris said he anticipates that the judge will find that the department is in substantial compliance with all of the tasks of the negotiated statement agreement and will accept the terms presented by the plaintiffs counsel and the citys attorneys. Those terms state that the department has six months to complete the remaining unfinished task, but can do so during the one-year transition period.

In the court filing, the city said that it has made tremendous progress and that officials are prepared and eager to commence to the transition period.

The judge will have to agree that the city can enter into the transition period, also known as the sustainability period. During that time, the court-appointed monitor will audit the department to ensure its remains in compliance with the federally mandated tasks.

The Police Departments remaining task  to ensure consistent discipline of officers  arose after a report on internal investigation outcomes found that Black officers sustained discipline more frequently in certain investigations than white officers.

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The plaintiff attorneys called for more discussion and analysis on the issue.

The city and the plaintiff attorneys wrote in a joint statement that if the judge agrees the department can enter the transition period, the monitor should continue oversight and audit the department during that period.

In addition, they urged the monitor to meet with the Police Commission and the newly hired independent inspector general to share how the monitor tracked progress. That would allow for the Police Commission and the inspector general to take over the function of the court monitor indefinitely.

The court hearing is Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

Sarah Ravani (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
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Oakland school officials urged families to keep their children home Friday because they dont have enough staff to run schools during a planned one-day teacher strike.

Teachers have vowed to strike to protest the districts controversial decision to close schools to balance its precarious budget.

Officials said there werent enough substitutes, administrators or other adults to ensure student safety on Friday.

While school buildings will be open on Friday and all employees are still required to come to work, we do not believe that well be able to cover the high number of expected staff absences with substitutes or reassigned central office staff, Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said in a letter to parents Tuesday.

The absences will be excused, officials said.

The school board voted in February to close or merge 11 schools over the next two years, a decision made in large part to address the districts declining enrollment and ongoing overspending, which could leave the district in financial ruin in the years to come. The district has lost about 15,000 students in the past 20 years.

Union leaders said they would strike for the students and families who would suffer the most by the closure of schools, which disproportionately affect Black and brown students.

Im disappointed weve gotten to this point, Kampala Taiz-Rancifer said at a news conference Tuesday morning. Weve done everything we can think of to express how harmful these closures are.

The strike was widely supported by state and city labor groups, with other unionized district workers expected to skip work Friday as well. Although not legally authorized to strike, union officials were advising them to claim it would be an unsafe working environment given the picket lines.

Our Black and brown students deserve better, said Angela Normand, a board member of the California Teachers Association.

Hundreds of families attended the meetings to protest the closures, while two district teachers participated in an 18-day hunger strike over the issue.

The ACLU has asked state Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the closure plan, saying the disproportionate impact on Black students violates their rights.

Still, the one-day strike left many families and community advocates baffled and angry at the logic of closing schools, even for a day, to protest school closures.

Low-income and Black and brown families will suffer the most because of the labor action, said Lakisha Young, CEO and founder of Oakland REACH, a parent-run literacy-focused organization representing more than 500 families of color.

The majority of Oakland students, and specifically students of color, are not proficient in math or reading, she said, adding that student performance is what everyone should be concerned about when speaking of Black and brown kids. They cannot afford to lose a day of education, she said.

When we talk to our families, our families want their kids in school Friday, she said. The idea youre doing it for them, its just so abusive. Like, Im hurting you for your own good.

Oakland parent Megan Bacigalupi, founder of California Parent Power, which includes hundreds of local parents, said the union is essentially asking parents to stay home with their children Friday, which in many cases means not working and not getting paid.

Kids have missed a lot of school in the last two years, she added. Its what do the adults want and need and what are the adults fighting about. Kids are just pawns in this.

Brown argued the one-day walkout, which was supported by 75% of teachers who participated in the strike vote, is based on the school boards failure to engage the community in the school closure process, per a 2019 agreement. He said this constitutes an unfair labor practice, which allows the union to strike.

Typically, teacher strikes are connected to contract negotiations over salaries and benefits, or unsafe working conditions.

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Unfair labor practices are often settled through a complaint process filed with the California Public Employment Relations Board. While the Oakland union did file a complaint, the process is pending. Union officials said it would take too long and therefore a strike was appropriate.

District officials, however, said they believe the strike is illegal and have sent the teachers union a cease-and-desist letter demanding the strike be called off. They said the districts 2019 agreement did not include school consolidations.

In addition, a union filing to temporarily halt school closures was rejected by the state employment board, they said.

We respect the rights to collectively bargain, protest, and disagree with district decisions, Johnson-Trammell said in the letter to families. But it must be done within the bounds of the law. We have and will continue to strongly urge OEA to reconsider its illegal activity.

On Tuesday, Oakland Education Officials declined to stop the strike and said teachers as well as many families and other labor workers would picket every school site starting at 6:30 a.m. Friday, with an organized rally at the Lake Merritt amphitheater scheduled for 11 a.m.

Oakland educators are taking the next step to stop school closures, said Keith Brown, president of the citys teachers union. Its time to take one day of action to stand with our students to say, Enough is enough.

Not far from the news conference, parent advocate Young said she was furious about that presumption, noting none of the 500 families she works with were asked what they think about the strike or the school closures.

Her parents would not be able to just take their kids to lunch for the day, or go shopping, or to a park or just work from home.

Thats assuming a level of privilege many of our parents dont have, she said. Our families dont have time for politics. All they know is they cant take their kids to school on Friday and they cant go to work.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
A 39-year-old UC Berkeley student is facing felony charges for allegedly threatening university staff members in an incident that prompted an extended campus-wide shelter-in-place order on April 21 while authorities searched for him.

Alameda County prosecutors on Monday charged Lamar Bursey of Hayward with two counts of felony criminal threats.

The university had placed Bursey on academic suspension for an incident that occurred April 14, a week before the alleged threats to staff, according to a declaration by UC Berkeley police filed in Superior Court. Officials did not detail what happened in the earlier matter.

Then on Thursday, just before 6 a.m., Bursey sent an email to multiple university staff members in which he threatened to shoot two recipients, the document states.

He wrote that staff members were his resources and that he slept outside the day before, the document said. Bursey told staff members that he would be on campus  in the office  from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day, according to the declaration. It was unclear what office he was referring to.

Depending on who I feel was helping or not, 2 people on this email will get shot, the email said, according to police.

One of the email recipients notified a supervisor and said he was scared for his life and the life of others, the document said, while another person told authorities that she thought Bursey would shoot her if she went into work that day.

After learning about the alleged threats at 7:30 a.m., UC Berkeley police issued a shelter-in-place order at 9:30 a.m. citing a credible campus-wide threat. The order lasted more than four hours. In-person classes were canceled, buildings were locked, people were urged to stay indoors and away from windows, and anyone off campus was asked to stay away from the area.

Communications from the university during the incident were vague, Christine Wilkinson, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, told The Chronicle that day.

Because official information from law enforcement and administrators was scarce, students, faculty and staff were left to search for possible updates on social media. Rumors spread online that an active shooter was on campus, but UC Berkeley later confirmed in a tweet that it was not an active shooter incident and that police were actively looking for a person who may want to harm specific individuals.

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At about 2 p.m., UC Berkeley police arrested Bursey at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, according to the criminal complaint filed by the District Attorneys Office.

By then, university officials had alerted the campus community that the security situation has been addressed and the individual poses no immediate threat.

Classes and other campus operations resumed Friday.

Bursey remained in custody Tuesday afternoon, said Angela Ruggiero, a spokesperson for the District Attorneys Office. A plea hearing was scheduled for May 2.

Jessica Flores (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
At the end of the month, a highly anticipated festival will bring San Franciscos Chinatown and North Beach together over everyones favorite carb: noodles.

Noodlefest, coming back after more than a decade, will take place Saturday, April 30, with dishes from 29 restaurants. With diverse offerings such as Portofinos squid ink ravioli and Begoni Bistros wontons with flaming chili oil, plus dishes from some heavy hitters like Mister Jius, its not surprising that presale tickets have already sold out.

There will be some $35 tickets, which include five sample-size dishes, available on the day of the event. Festivities will be on Grant Avenue between Pacific Avenue and Green Street.

Organizers are hoping Noodlefest will be a boon for the local businesses, which were among the hardest hit during the pandemic. Restaurants were forced to close; some pivoted to takeout, many opened parklets and all constantly adjusted to new health guidelines.

In both Chinatown and North Beach, business declined significantly during the peak of the pandemic. In Chinatown, the income from restaurants and hotels declined by 67% in 2020 compared with 2019. While 2021 was a little better, business was still about half of what it was pre-pandemic. Meanwhile, the hospitality industry in North Beach saw income drop by 59% from 2019 in 2020. In 2021, business improved but was still 27% less than pre-pandemic levels, according to sales tax data from the city.

Our local recovery efforts should include direct investments in our small businesses as well as community building, said Sunny Angulo, chief of staff for Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who represents the two neighborhoods. Our restaurants and our nonprofits really stepped up during the pandemic, and the city needs to help them in this next phase, or risk losing them.

Provided by Italian Homemade Company

The festival started in 2010 in San Francisco and ran for two years. At the time, it was an all-volunteer effort, run by the Chinatown Community Development Center and the North Beach Business Association. Restaurants were not compensated for their participation, and the festival proved to be too much work to keep going.

During the pandemic, however, Peskin and Malcolm Yeung, executive director of the Chinatown Community Development Center, talked about bringing Noodlefest back one day as a way to bring people together amid the pandemic. The two were reminiscing about happier times, when the neighborhoods were more together, Angulo said.

This year, Peskin advocated for funding. With the help of the Office of Economic & Workforce Development, restaurants will be paid to participate for the first time.

Those restaurants are preparing many dishes of different shapes and sizes representing different regions and cuisines. Mona Lisa will make gnocchi pomodoro, Yarsa Nepalese Cuisine will serve fried Nepalese noodles, Taishan Cuisine will sling scallop steamed vermicelli, and VIP Coffee and Cake Shop is preparing baked spaghetti with minced beef, to name a few.

John Storey/Special to The Chronicle 2015

Festival attendees can also expect live music, noodle-making demonstrations and a chance to see celebrity judge Martin Yan, who recently won the James Beard Foundations 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award. (Full disclosure: Chronicle critic Soleil Ho is also a judge.)

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Ida Pantaleo Zoubi, president of the North Beach Business Association and co-owner of Cafe Trieste, said the event is about unity, not competition between the two neighboring districts.

Peoples routines have changed, Zoubi said. We gotta remind them: Chinatown is totally open, North Beach is totally open. It took a while to come back, but were here.

All the organizers said they were excited just to have an outdoor festival that families and local residents can enjoy after a very long two years of being inside. Tickets will be given to local residents through tenant organizations to ensure that people living in the neighborhoods feel welcome to attend, according to Amy Zhou, urban planner at the Chinatown Community Development Center.

There are so many creative solutions to keep our neighborhoods resilient and strong, especially in the wake of COVID, and this is just another solution thats really creative and activates the spaces and brings people out on the streets, she said. Thats really important after two years of this pandemic.

Noodlefest: 2-4 p.m. Saturday, April 30. Grant Avenue between Pacific Avenue and Green Street, San Francisco. Limited tickets will be available in front of New Sun Hong Kong at 606 Broadway. www.sfnoodlefest.com

Momo Chang is a Bay Area freelance writer. Email: food@sfchronicle.com
Thousands of Stanford nurses, stressed and fed up with what they say are pandemic strains on top of long shifts and compensation issues, are on strike. One nurse felt compelled to tell her story and why she supports the strike in a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed piece. Marin County is showcasing youth art aimed at hopeful messages around mental health and suicide prevention following an increase in poor mental health during the pandemic.

(For the April 27 live blog, click here.)

Latest updates:

COVID-19 absences delay 2 Biden appointees: Two of President Bidens nominees to sit on the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission are in limbo because of a spate of Democratic absences in the Senate due to new COVID-19 infections, the Hill reports. Vice President Harris, who casts tiebreaking votes in the 50-50 Senate, and Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) announced Tuesday they tested positive for COVID-19, which means they will miss Senate votes this week. That leaves Biden's nominations of Lisa Cook for the Fed and Alvaro Bedoya for the FTC on hold.

Pfizer asks FDA to authorize its COVID-19 booster for kids aged 5-11: Pfizer and BioNTech submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday for emergency use authorization of a booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 through 11. The submission included data from phase 2 and 3 of their clinical trials. "Data from this study demonstrated a strong immune response in this age group following a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine with no new safety signals," the companies said in a statement.

Louisiana advances bills to limit pandemic rules: Bills to limit government actions against COVID-19 spread are advancing in Louisiana's state Legislature. The House on Tuesday voted to exempt state-owned buildings  such as the Superdome in New Orleans  from local government emergency provisions. A day earlier the lawmakers voted to let a majority vote in either the House or Senate end or alter a governors emergency proclamation. A House-passed measure pending in the state Senate would remove COVID-19 vaccines from the list of those required to attend Louisiana schools.

BA.2 subvariant now constitutes fifth wave in Bay Area: COVID-19 case rates now surpass those during the delta surge of summer 2021, making the current swell of infections a fifth surge in our pandemic course, Marin County Public Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said Tuesday. Although this one is different in terms of the impact, because of a combination of high vaccination rates and a strain of the virus that is less virulent, less severe by and large, but much more contagious. Hospitalizations have also been ticking up the last couple weeks, though there are still zero people in the ICU with COVID-19, which Willis called a reassuring sign were not seeing the same level of severity.

Lawmakers, public health advocates decry harassment: Following last week's raucus arrival in Sacramento of a truck convoy decrying pandemic mandates -- though California has dropped most such requirements -- and abortion rights, members of Californias legislative Vaccine Work Group on Tuesday described intense harassment tactics, saying "out of state protesters continued their intimidation campaign against California legislators, their staff and advocates for public health." They demanded that Republicans denounce those tactics, which they said include threats of violence. State Sen. Scott Wiener said in a news release, It is a genuinely terrifying time to be a pro-vaccine, LGBTQ, Jewish elected official. Ive received a large number of death threats  including two resulting in criminal prosecution  and Ive been harassed and followed to the point where I feared for my physical safety. This vile behavior needs to stop. These right-wing extremists are undermining democracy by trying to scare public officials into not doing our jobs.



Birx sticks with her mask: Deborah Birx, the the former White House coronavirus response coordinator, said Tuesday that she had felt "paralyzed in that moment" when then-President Donald Trump publicly, erroneously suggested that injected disinfectants might be a possible cleansing treatment for COVID-19, a moment she characterized as tragic. In an interview on CNN, she also said that despite discontinued mandates she continues wearing a face mask, including on planes and transit, because she lives in a multigenerational household with a 93-year-old mother and 1-year-old grandchild. "We have to utilize every tool we have in our toolbox to make sure ... we don't get COVID," she said, encouraging others living with higher-risk people to do the same. Birx, publicizing a new book in a series of interviews, also described political pressure she faced in her science-oriented approach to the pandemic, recounting a pact with other doctors on the White House task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, to resign together if anyone was fired.

Mexico declares coronavirus is endemic: The Mexican government, which has not had a widespread testing program, announced Tuesday that COVID-19 has passed from a pandemic to an endemic stage in Mexico, meaning authorities will treat it as a seasonally recurring disease, according to a report from the Associated Press. It is now retreating almost completely, said President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Throughout the pandemic, Mexican leaders have resisted mask mandates or stay-at-home orders, nor have they offered widespread testing. Mexico has recorded almost 325,000 test-confirmed deaths, but government reviews of death certificates suggest the real toll is almost 490,000.

Nurses at UCSF and Tenet hospitals latest to demonstrate: Labor frustration at hospitals continues to erupt in California, with nurses at UCSF and UCLA -- who begin negotiating a new contract this summer -- planning to rally at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Nurses will also picket at nine hospitals run by Tenet, including the San Ramon Regional Medical Center in the Bay Area, from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday, according to the California Nurses Association that represents them. The actions follow a walkout Monday by thousands of Stanford Hospital and Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital nurses, who are striking indefinitely over pay, staffing and benefits as contract negotiations continue. Sutter Health nurses, also negotiating a contract, staged a one-day walkout last week.

Contra Costa County launches effort to reach zero preventable COVID deaths: Contra Costa County on Tuesday announced a new initiative to prevent all COVID deaths in the county. The county has opened free same-day telehealth appointments, at 877-661-0230, to connect anyone who's tested positive to a free antiviral prescription if they are eligible. The move comes amid a national shift to make treatments, including the oral antiviral pill Paxlovid, more accessible. County health officils will also review every COVID-19 death to see if it was preventable  whether that person had access to timely testing, vaccination and treatment. We believe we are in place now where too many people are dying who dont have to, Health Services Director Anna Roth told county supervisors Tuesday. We are fast approaching a time many preventable COVID-19 deaths should be unacceptable here in Contra Costa County. We think this is a time to be hopeful. There is prevention, really good treatment options available. Masked or not, vaccinated or not, the treatment is here for you.

San Mateo County to resume in-person meetings: The public will be able to attend in-person Board of Supervisors meetings in San Mateo County beginning May 3, county officials said. Capacity will be limited to allow for social distancing, and the public can still participate in meetings via Zoom. County supervisors have been meeting remotely since March 2020 to reduce spread of the coronavirus.

S.F. schools report the highest number of new cases in 10 weeks: San Francisco public schools reported 258 coronavirus cases among students and staff last week, a significant jump from the 101 cases reported the previous week. School officials previously noted a spike in cases following spring break activities. The latest figure is the highest the district has reported since early February. Cases among students and staff fell as low as 45 in mid-March.

New cases rise in Bay Area, California: The Bay Area is reporting an uptick of COVID-19 cases, with 21 new infections per 100,000 residents a day, according to state data published Tuesday. That marks a 110% increase from a month ago and is the highest figure since mid-February when the region was starting to emerge from the omicron winter surge. California as a whole is seeing a slower uptick in cases, with a seven-day average of 14 daily cases per 100,000 residents, up from 10 in the same period a month ago. San Francisco continues to be among the areas with the highest level of infection in the state, reporting 28 cases per 100,000 people -- more than double the 12 it was reporting a month ago. While hospitalizations remain stable, concern is growing over the lingering symptoms of long COVID, which recent studies show affects 1 in 5 people after initial infection.

Adolescent suicide rates rose in California during the pandemic: California is among five states that reported an increase in adolescent suicides during the coronavirus pandemic, according to new research published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. A survey of 14 states found California -- along with Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Virginia -- also saw an increase in suicide among children between the ages of 10 and 19 relative to suicides by people of all ages during the same period. "These findings highlight the importance of alleviating the downstream consequences of the pandemic for adolescent well-being," the researchers wrote, adding that more preventative measures were necessary.

More than half of Americans have been infected, CDC says: This winter's massive omicron surge drove the percentage of Americans who have been infected with the coronavirus over 50% for the first time in the pandemic, according to a seroprevalence study released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study looked for antibodies specific to coronavirus infection -- not antibodies from vaccination -- in blood samples collected for testing. The CDC found that after the omicron surge, 58% of Americans had been infected; before that surge, only 34% had been infected. The infection rates were highest among children 17 and under: 75% had antibodies suggesting previous infection. That was up from about 45% before omicron.

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.

Kamala Harris tests positive: Vice President Kamala Harris tested postive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, her office announced, making her the highest-ranking member of the Biden administration to test contract the virus. She does not have any symptoms. Read the full story here.

New omicron mutation causing East Coast surge is gaining dominance nationally: The coronavirus subvariant BA.2.12.1 now makes up 29% of sequenced COVID-19 infections in the U.S., according to data reported Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Scientists believe this omicron mutation spreads even faster than BA.2, with Eli Rosenberg of New York states health department suggesting that it can out-compete other strains of the virus. In the last week, BA.2.12.1 accounted for at least 58% of the reported infections in the New York region and public health experts expect it will have a similar impact nationally.

Pediatric COVID-19 cases rise for the second week: New COVID-19 infection rates among children in the U.S. are rising substantially, according to the latest data from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Childrens Hospital Association. There were 37,073 new pediatric infections reported in the past week, up about 43% from two weeks ago when cases in children started trending up for the first time since January. The figures are likely an undercount because many families now rely on at-home rapid tests with results that are not reported to public health agencies.

Biden administration moves to expand treatment availability: The White House said Tuesday it is stepping up outreach to doctors to encourage them to prescribe the life-saving COVID treatment Paxlovid to eligible patients. The drug will now be distributed directly to pharmacies, in addition to existing distribution channels run by states, the Associated Press reports. That is expected to boost the number of sites from 20,000 to 40,000 locations. The admininstration is trying to relay that there is ample supply for people at high risk of severe illness or death from COVID. Paxlovid was initially in short supply but with increased manufacturing it is much more available.

U.S. deaths creep toward 1 million: The number of Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19 is edging closer to 1 million. As of Tuesday evening, the death toll stood at 991,572, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University, although the number of daily deaths is far lower than during pandemic surge high points of more than 3,000 a day. Lately its dropped to an average of fewer than 400 per day nationally. In California, 89,255 people have died COVID-caused deaths.

Court says state does not have to make prison staff get vaccinated: California does not have to require state prison employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus because it is taking other precautions to protect health care in the nations largest prison system, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The vaccination mandate, which allowed exemptions for medical or religious reasons, was proposed by the court-appointed overseer of health care in California prisons, and approved in September by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar of Oakland who cited COVID deaths, the virus rapid spread in prisons, and low vaccination rate among prison guards. The ruling on Monday, however, said the mandate was not legally justified because it required evidence that the state had been deliberately indifferent to health in the prisons. Read the full story here.

Knowing when to quarantine, isolate: It can be hard to keep up with the changes in COVID rules and recommendations  and that certainly includes the government guidelines on when to quarantine or isolate if you test positive for the coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is attempting to clarify that question with its new Quarantine and Isolation Calculator, an online tool designed to help determine how long you need to isolate, quarantine, or take other steps to prevent spreading COVID-19. People can type in brief information about the date and nature of their positive test and symptoms, and click submit to get a rundown on when they can leave their homes and other pertinent guidance.

A nurses story of stress: A Stanford nurse tells why shes backing her unions strike, citing the pressure, exhaustion and trauma of working within a broken system. Those conditions are driving tens of thousands of nurses to reconsider our decisions to go into nursing  myself included, intensive care nurse Brittaney West wrote in a San Francisco Chronicle opinion piece. At the core of nurses uncertainty about our futures is our working conditions, and whether we will have the requisite resources and support we need to take care of ourselves, and in turn, our patients, she wrote. Read what else she had to say about being a nurse in conditions that nurses say were made worse by the pandemic.

Stanford nurses strike: Thousands of nurses from Stanford and Lucile Packard Childrens hospitals walked off the job Monday morning amid stalled labor negotiations over salary and benefits, retiree health benefits, student loan reimbursements, access to mental health counseling and nurse-to-patient ratios. Nurses in the Bay Area and throughout California describe long shifts and strain that has been exacerbated during the coronavirus pandemic. Read the full story here.

Marin County art program aims at mental health awareness: Marin County officials are inviting young people to submit art works reflecting hopeful messages around mental health struggles and suicide prevention for an art and film showcase. The goal of of the May 12 showcase is to increase awareness and conversations around mental health. Submissions are due Mmay 9 for the Youth Art Showcase, which is spearheaded by the Marin Suicide Prevention Collaboratives Youth Action Team. Submission details are on the event website. We know that youth often talk with peers about their personal struggles, even before talking to an adult. Every young person can be equipped to help one another by directing them to resources and information to get help, said Kara Conners, senior program coordinator supporting the collaborative. Officials said county youth are dealing with anxiety and depression that increased with schools shutdowns and loss of peer access during the pandemic. "Some of my friends have had their fair share of mental health struggles, and just having a chance to be open about it helps to normalize the conversation so we can help each other," said Tawny Strotz, a high school student organizer of the event.
The Chronicles editorial opposing the recall of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin (Boudin doesnt deserve recall, April 24) touched a nerve:

The Chronicle wrote that recall is a last-ditch tool for emergencies, not buyers remorse. That is a rather disingenuous claim given that The Chronicle endorsed the recall of three school board members and there was no emergency there. In fact, buyers remorse is a perfect rationale for recalling an elected official.

The Chronicle argues that we are in the middle of an experiment and we should see it through. That is a rather lame reason for retaining District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Competent scientists are always willing to end an experiment that is not producing results. And I dont think the victims of crimes think of themselves as participants in an experiment.

Hopefully, the voters of San Francisco will reject Boudin to the same degree that they rejected the three school board members.

Bill McGregor, Berkeley

An experiment gone bad

Results of the Chesa Boudin experiment are observable on the streets of our great city: more drug dealing, more car break-ins, more store looting, more home burglary, more unaddressed mental illness.

Do we have to wait another two years for a course change? Do you believe that things will get better in the next two years? I think not!

Recall Boudin on June 7. Vote yes on Proposition H and send a message to the powers across the city. We have had enough. Fix these issues with more effective police enforcement and more vigorous prosecutions. It is time to consider the victims of crime and send a message to criminals: Your free ride in San Francisco is over.

Richard Parina, San Francisco

Too soon to change

I am writing to express my complete support for The Chronicle editorial boards recommendation against recalling Chesa Boudin, for all the reasons cited.

I share the general outrage at the so-called petty crimes that plague San Francisco because they cause absolute hardship for those who have to leave their cars on the street and have housing subject to criminal break-in.

However, two years  especially in the midst of a major pandemic  is insufficient time to call for judgment on the effort to divert and/or provide treatment as an alternative to our outrageous incarceration system.

What I have not seen is a credible assessment of the diversion and treatment systems. Perhaps the editorial board could encourage an objective assessment of these programs and make it available to the public.

Marci Mills, San Francisco

Election is wasteful

Truly appreciate the enlightened, non-reactionary view of The Chronicle editorial board. I didnt vote for Chesa Boudin but I will not vote to recall him.

Elections have consequences, and the electorate needs to understand that. I resent the time and expense being spent on these actions at both the city and state level. This new pattern where duly elected officials can be treated like an Amazon return is outrageous.

Stacey Bellis, San Francisco

Data backs Boudin

I thank you for opposing Chesa Boudins recall and for supporting our democratically elected district attorney, who was chosen in a high turnout election.

And thanks for you skilled data reporter, Susie Neilson, who has given us the numbers to make informed decisions.

Robert Hall, San Francisco
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WASHINGTON  Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, her office announced, making her the highest-ranking member of the Biden administration to announce being infected.

Harris has no symptoms and is working from her home, according to her press secretary.

The former California senator and attorney general returned to Washington late Monday after spending last week in Los Angeles and has not been in contact with President Biden or first lady Jill Biden, her office said.

That trip included a stop in San Francisco last Thursday to highlight maternal health. Harris mingled with guests unmasked at the event.

According to her press secretary Kirsten Allen, Harris tested positive for the coronavirus on both rapid antigen and PCR tests on Tuesday. After isolating at the vice presidents residence, Harris will return to the White House upon testing negative.

A White House official said Harris positive test came Tuesday morning in her West Wing office, but she did not participate in any meetings or events there before going into isolation.

The White House also said Biden and Harris spoke by phone Tuesday afternoon, as he wanted to check in and make sure she has everything she needs as she quarantines at home.

Harris positive test follows a number of recent close calls of COVID cases near the president. Earlier this month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, tested positive amid a cluster of cases in the top echelons of Washington days after having attended White House events with the president. Also testing positive in that wave were the attorney general, commerce secretary and Harris communications director. Harris husband, Douglas Emhoff, tested positive last month. Neither exposure resulted in Harris testing positive at the time.

Harris received her second COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, along with President Biden, at the beginning of the month.

The high-profile case comes as the White House has sought to convince the country it is safe to emerge from most of the two-year pandemics restrictions even as cases are once again rising in many parts of the country and as it warns of dire consequences if Congress does not pass billions more in COVID aid. After maintaining strict masking rules for months, the White House has pivoted to largely eschewing masks recently even in crowded indoor gatherings since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its mask guidance nationwide after the omicron surge.

Harris diagnosis could also affect some scheduling in Washington, as she is the tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate. With the 50-50 Democrat-controlled Senate, any votes that might result in a tie will likely have to be postponed until she is cleared from isolation.

Tal Kopan (she/her) is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan
LATEST April 28, 1:15 p.m. The San Jose Police Department said Thursday it would release one of the three suspects from custody. The released suspect won't face any charges, police said. See the latest story on SFGATE.

April 26, 9:45 a.m. Baby Brandon was located and is being taken to a local hospital for evaluation, the San Jose Police Department said late Tuesday morning.

Three suspects are in custody, police said.

Police said they will release more details on the suspects in custody and charges.

April 26, 9:15 a.m. San Jose police said at a Tuesday morning press conference that they are talking to a person of interest in the alleged kidnapping of a 3-month-old baby.

Sgt. Christian Camarillo said the man who was shown on surveillance video taking Brandon Cuellar brought his own baby carrier to the apartment and this was a premeditated act.

The boy was allegedly taken from his home while his grandmother was unloading groceries from a car outside, and Camarillo said the grandmother has provided "inconsistent" statements to police. Camarillo said she is someone they are "really focused on."

"She knows more than she's telling us," Camarillo said.

April 26, 5:57 a.m. A 3-month-old baby was kidnapped on Monday from a San Jose apartment by a stranger while his grandmother unloaded groceries from the car, officials said.

The man walked into an apartment in the 1000 block of Elm Street in San Jose just before 1 p.m. and left with the child, Brandon Cuellar, the San Jose Police Department said on Twitter.

Police released surveillance footage of the man walking down the sidewalk holding a baby carrier covered by a white blanket.

"The family does not recognize this suspect," police said on Twitter.

The California Highway Patrol released a photo early Tuesday morning on Twitter of the car the suspect may have been driving and then later deleted it.

At this time we do not have a vehicle description or license plate," San Jose police told ABC 7 Tuesday morning after the photo was pulled. "When we have that info an Amber alert will be activated.

The grandmother reported the abduction. She said Brandon was taken after she returned home from the supermarket and she brought him inside while she unloaded the groceries, San Jose Police Sgt. Christian Camarillo told NBC Bay Area. The child's mother was at work at the time and the father is incarcerated.

In that short amount of time, someone entered the apartment ... and left with the baby, Camarillo said.

Police described the alleged suspect as a short-haired Hispanic man and in the security footage he was wearing a gray hat, black mask, dark blue shirt and black pants. Brandon was last seen wearing a white long-sleeved onesie with dinosaurs at the time of the alleged kidnapping, police said.

Police said to call 911 if you've seen Cuellar or the alleged suspect.

San Jose Police, CHP and the FBI are working the incident.

"At this time Officers and agents with the FBI are going door to door in the area of Elm St and surrounding streets in an effort to locate witnesses or any other info related to this case," San Jose Police said on Twitter. "We will continue updating this event until Brandon is found. All available resources are assisting with this investigation."

This is a developing story that will be updated as new details become available.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
LATEST April 29, 8:15 a.m. Hundreds of Oakland Unified teachers formed picket lines on Friday amid a one-day strike over the district's plan to reduce spending by closing and consolidating several schools.

A group of teachers marched in a circle in front of Parker Elementary School in East Oakland holding signs. One sign read "Strike to stop racist school closing in Oakland," and another said "Mobilize Oakland labor to stop privatization of the schools and the port."

Oakland Education Associated President Keith Brown released a statement on Twitter: We find ourselves facing a majority school board that has gone back on its promise to not ambush a school with a last minute closure.

The district asked parents to keep their children home Friday.

RELATED READING: 'A slap in the face': Hunger strikes and protests rock Oakland ahead of school closures

April 26, 12:30 p.m. Oakland school officials said Tuesday that families should keep their children home on Friday due to a one-day teacher strike over the district's plan to reduce spending by closing and merging several schools.

"While school buildings will be open on Friday and all employees are still required to come to work, we do not believe that well be able to cover the high number of expected staff absences with substitutes or reassigned central office staff," the district said on Twitter.

The Oakland Education Association announced Sunday that teachers will picket outside schools starting 6:30 a.m. Friday.

For months, teachers have protested the district's plan to close six schools for months that would disproportionately impact Black students in low-income neighborhoods.

On Tuesday, Keith Brown, the association's president, said the decision is racist and illegal. "Oakland educators are defending our schools and our right to defend our labor agreement, Brown said in a statement posted on Twitter.

The school district called the strike illegal. "OEA is claiming that it can strike on the basis of the unfair labor charge it brought against OUSD regarding school consolidations," the district said. "There has not been a final ruling on the unfair labor charge - the asserted basis for the strike."

The district said it's "pursuing all legal means" to keep teachers and students in school. "We are hoping that OEA will change course, but we are also putting plans in place in case the strike occurs," the district said in a statement.

Under the district's plan, Brookfield Elementary, Carl B. Munck Elementary, Grass Valley Elementary, Horace Mann Elementary and Korematsu Discovery Academy will close entirely in the 2022-2023 school year, Hillcrest K-8 will no longer have middle school grades. Rise Community Elementary and New Highland Academy are set to merge this year into one school.

The school board voted in favor of the closures in February due to increasing pressure from the state and from Alameda County Office of Education, "which has threatened to withhold funds and even seize control of the budget if Oakland fails to reduce annual school spending by $50 million," SFGATE reported previously.
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MIAMI (AP)  Carnival Corp. said Tuesday that CEO Arnold Donald will step down on Aug. 1 and be replaced by the cruise line company's chief operations officer.

Donald has led Miami-based Carnival since 2013, when he succeeded founder Mickey Arison, and is among a relatively small number of Black CEOs at major U.S. corporations. The company said Donald, 67, will become vice chairman of the board.
This article, Musk Is Twitter's 'Singular Solution,' Says Co-Founder Jack Dorsey, originally appeared on CNET.com.

Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, on Monday praised Elon Musk's $44 billion deal to take the service private as "the correct first step."

Dorsey publicly threw his support behind Musk after Twitter's board of directors earlier in the day unanimously approved the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's unsolicited offer for the social media service.

"Twitter as a company has always been my sole issue and my biggest regret. It has been owned by Wall Street and the ad model. Taking it back from Wall Street is the correct first step," Dorsey wrote in a series of tweets.

The idea and service is all that matters to me, and I will do whatever it takes to protect both. Twitter as a company has always been my sole issue and my biggest regret. It has been owned by Wall Street and the ad model. Taking it back from Wall Street is the correct first step.  jack (@jack) April 26, 2022

Dorsey went on to say that he doesn't believe anyone should own or run Twitter. "It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness," Dorsey said in his tweets.

Musk, the world's richest person, made his unsolicited offer to buy Twitter earlier this month. While the company was initially expected to reject the offer, it reportedly warmed to the idea after Musk revealed his financing plan for the bid, which included backing from investment bank Morgan Stanley.

While Musk -- with 83 million followers on the service -- is an avid user of Twitter, he's also one of its loudest critics. The entrepreneur has publicly raised questions about how Twitter moderates content and has indicated he wants looser content moderation for the platform.

"Elon's goal of creating a platform that is 'maximally trusted and broadly inclusive' is the right one. This is also @paraga's goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path... I believe it with all my heart," Dorsey said in a tweet referencing Twitter's current CEO, Parag Agrawal.

Dorsey stepped down in November as chief executive of Twitter, the company he co-founded 16 years ago, turning over the top spot to Agrawal, then the company's chief technology officer. The leadership shift came amid mounting scrutiny of Dorsey and Twitter from investors seeking better returns and from lawmakers concerned about the company's moderation policies for political speech.

Dorsey had been CEO of the social network since 2015, when he took over following the resignation of Dick Costolo. Dorsey also briefly served as Twitter's first CEO starting in 2007 but was fired 16 months later.
When Jarette Moran of San Mateo first stepped into the Brick Bar pop-up on Friday night, she made a break right for one of two Lego walls bookending the room at the Mint building on Fifth Street. She immediately grabbed a fistful of the legendary building blocks and had at it.

When I saw this come up on my feed, I was like, OK, I like to have a few drinks on the weekend, and I love to build Legos  I am going! Moran said as she began piecing together a colorful mosaic to start her creation. From there and into the night, Moran was all business while having a grand old time.

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Scenes from the Lego pop-up bar at the Mint in San Francisco. Credit: Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

Meanwhile, the steady stream of guests flocked to a bar made up entirely of oversized Legos, where bartender Daniel Schmuck poured shaken specialty cocktails into take-home blocks. Across the whole room, an onslaught of color exploded from every direction, the red, blue and yellow primaries standing out bold and bright, in harmony with the vast plastic palette of Lego hues.

The pop-up Lego bar was open for the weekend of April 22-24 at the Mint, a cavernous venue that is worth the visit for simply the spectacle of the buildings Greek Revival design alone. The high ceilings of official California Historical Landmark No. 875  first opened as a bank in 1874  made for great acoustics to throw a bash featuring DJ Jesse Lee playing smooth grooves that kept the crowd bobbing its heads and moving. Host and emcee Sam Gleeson weaved through the crowd with a wireless mic, keeping the buzz of the weekend night going with fun facts and Lego trivia with prizes.

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Scenes from the Lego pop-up bar at the Mint in San Francisco. Credit: Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

On giant beanbags in front of the Lego walls, Tamarah Zimek and Gabriella von Esmarch pieced together traditional-sized blocks. Were making abstract art  very serious, von Esmarch said with a wry smile as Zimek laughed and agreed. The duo made the trip up from Santa Clara University on Caltrain as they often do for events in the city.

At the pingpong table made up of more than 22,500 Legos, guests congregated to play or watch friendly and intense matches go down. Unexpected bounces off unforgiving Lego edges sent bright pingpong balls flying in all directions where people tossed them back to the table. Although the Olympics likely wont be switching over to Lego tables any time soon, the novelty sure works for a night out on the town. Games were nonstop throughout the night, and the vibe was good.

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE Scenes from the Lego pop-up bar at the Mint in San Francisco. Credit: Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

But what was most surprising amid grown adults boozing over Legos was that few people were on their phones mindlessly scrolling. Many times throughout the night, I looked around, and with the exception of snapping photos on the Lego throne, absolutely no one was on their phone. Everyone was just too busy working on their projects, at the pingpong table or even just saying hello and striking up conversations about their collective experiences with the nostalgic building blocks that are still very much a thing, timeless and universal across generations.

Emcee Gleeson summed it up best: Whats great about events like this is the interactivity. Its hands-on where people are doing something, talking in real life, engaging in the moment, and thats really great to see and be a part of.

Kevin Kelleher is a photographer based in San Francisco. More of his work can be found at KemilyVisuals.com.
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Wynn Bruce, a 50-year-old climate activist and Buddhist, set himself on fire in front of the U.S. Supreme Court last week, prompting a national conversation about his motivation and whether he may have been inspired by Buddhist monks who self-immolated in the past to protest government atrocities.

Bruce, a photographer from Boulder, Colorado, walked up to the plaza of the Supreme Court around 6:30 p.m. Friday  on Earth Day  then sat down and set himself ablaze, a law enforcement official said. Supreme Court police officers responded immediately but were unable to extinguish the blaze in time to save him.

Investigators, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said they did not immediately locate a manifesto or note at the scene and that officials were still working to determine a motive.

On Saturday, Kritee Kanko, a Zen Buddhist priest who described herself as Bruces friend, shared an emotional post on her public Twitter account saying his self-immolation was not suicide but a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis.

She added that Bruce had been planning the act for at least a year. She wrote: #wynnbruce I am so moved. She got sympathetic responses as well as backlash.

Kanko and other members of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center in Boulder, released a statement Monday saying none of the Buddhist teachers in the Boulder area knew about (Bruces) plans to self-immolate on this Earth Day, and that had they known about his plan, they would have stopped him. Bruce was a frequent visitor to the Buddhist retreat center in the mountains near Boulder where he meditated with the community, Kanko said.

We have never talked about self-immolation, and we do not think self-immolation is a climate action, the statement said. Nevertheless, given the dire state of the planet and worsening climate crisis, we understand why someone might do that.

On Facebook, Bruce wrote about following the spiritual tradition of Shambhala, which combines Tibetan Buddhism with the principles of living an uplifted life, fully engaged with the world, according to the Boulder Shambhala Center. Bruce also posted praise for Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh, a leader of engaged Buddhism, around the time of his death in January.

Bruces act of sitting down and setting himself on fire was reminiscent of the events of June 11, 1963, when Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese monk, seated cross-legged, burned himself to death at a busy Saigon intersection. He was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government led by Ngo Dinh Diem, a staunch Catholic.

In a letter to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr,. whom Hanh counted as a friend, Hanh wrote that he drew inspiration from the Vietnamese monks self-sacrifice, saying: To burn oneself by fire is to prove what one is saying is of the utmost importance. There is nothing more painful than burning oneself. To say something while experiencing this kind of pain is to say it with utmost courage, frankness, determination and sincerity.

In Tibet, anti-Chinese activists have employed self-immolation as a form of protest. The International Campaign for Tibet says 131 men and 28 women  monks, nuns and laypeople among them  have self-immolated since 2009 to protest against Beijings strict controls over the region and their religion.

Buddhism as a religion does not unilaterally condone the act of self-immolation or taking ones life, said Robert Barnett, a London-based researcher of modern Tibetan history and politics.

Killing yourself is considered damaging in Buddhism because life is precious, he said. But if a person self-immolates because of a higher motivation and its not out of a negative emotion such as depression or sadness, then the Buddhist position becomes far more complex.

If self-immolation is done to help the world, it might be accepted as a positive action, Barnett said. He cited a story from the Jataka Tales, a body of South Asian literature concerning the prior incarnations of the Buddha in human and animal form. In that particular tale, an incarnation of the Buddha, in an act of selfless compassion, offers himself to an emaciated tigress who was so hungry that she was ready to devour her own cubs.

But that kind of self-sacrifice is not encouraged, developed or talked about for normal people (other than the Buddha), he said, adding that this is because of the immense difficulty of cultivating positive motivation in any situation, let alone maintaining it under stress or in conditions of extreme pain.

Buddhism emphasizes emotional balance, inclusiveness, kindness, compassion and wisdom, said Roshi Joan Halifax, an environmental activist and abbot of the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

What were seeing today among many people is hopelessness, she said. What we are called to do is not to be disabled by that sense of futility, but to transform our moral suffering into wise hope and courageous action.

Despite the pessimism that some climate activists may feel, there is reason to remain hopeful, Halifax said.

You see that people are waking up to the magnitude of the climate catastrophe, she said, noting that countries and corporations are moving away from damaging practices and toward clean energy.

I feel inspired and hopeful by our ability to change and adapt in this ever-changing world, she said. My heart is heavy that (Bruce) did not have that kind of optimism.

Those who knew Bruce saw a man who was kind, playful and idealistic  an avid dancer who participated in weekly events. He was also known for biking and embracing public transportation.

Bruce, who enjoyed the outdoors, brought an intensity to whatever he did, said his friend Jeffry Buechler. On Buechlers wedding day in 2014, Bruce, on a whim, decided to go for a dip in a cold mountain lake early in the morning, he said.

Bruce also suffered lasting effects from a brain injury he sustained in a car wreck that killed his best friend about 30 years ago, Buechler said.

Marco DeGaetano, who met Bruce in the 1990s when they both attended a Universalist church in Denver, said Wynn seemed to have an affinity for people who needed help."

He recalled Bruce being kind to a church member with a mental illness when others distanced themselves.

DeGaetano said he last saw Bruce about a month ago, and he seemed outgoing and friendly as always  every time he saw Bruce, he had a smile on his face.

___

Bharath reported from Los Angeles and Slevin from Denver. Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington D.C. and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York also contributed.

___

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.
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The United States marshaled allies Tuesday to pledge more military support to Ukraine, accelerating the drive to halt Russias offensive and degrade its war machine, as Moscow accused the West of pursuing a proxy war and ignoring the considerable risk that it could spiral into a nuclear conflict.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia has portrayed the war in Ukraine as part of a broader struggle with the West, declaring when he launched the invasion in February that his bigger target was Americas empire of lies.

Both Russia and Western allies were raising the stakes, with Germany announcing it would send Ukraine heavy weapons for the first time, a day after the top Pentagon official said the U.S. objective in the war was a weakened Russia.

The German announcement came during a meeting of military leaders from 40 countries held at the U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany. After the talks concluded, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that allied military leaders planned to gather monthly so they could quickly react to the fluid battlefield situation in Ukraine.

The aim is to strengthen Ukraines military for the long haul, he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Putin in Moscow, and afterward said they had an agreement in principle to evacuate civilians from a besieged steel plant in Mariupol, though similar previous agreements have fallen through. But the Russian leader showed no sign of easing his assault, as missiles struck the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday, a day after Russian missiles hit at least five rail stations in western and central Ukraine.

In other developments:

 Russian forces have seized the City Council building in the southern port city of Kherson, the citys mayor, Ihor Kolykhaiev, said. Ukrainian and Western officials have warned that Russia is planning a staged referendum to assert its dominion over the city.

 U.N. agencies appealed to donors for an additional $1.25 billion to tackle soaring humanitarian needs in Ukraine and $1.85 billion to support the millions of Ukrainians fleeing to neighboring countries. More than 5 million people have left Ukraine during the war, and the U.N. projected that the figure would rise to more than 8 million.

 Explosions shook Transnistria, a Russia-aligned breakaway region of Moldova that borders Ukraine and where hundreds of Russian troops are deployed. Ukrainian defense officials accused Russia of causing the explosions as a pretext to invade Ukraine from the west.

 Russias state gas company has announced the complete suspension of natural gas deliveries to Poland through a major pipeline, a potentially serious escalation of the economic conflict between Moscow and European countries that are backing Ukraine.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
HONOLULU (AP)  Police charged a man with murder after finding a badly burned body in a car in a remote part of Hawaii's Big Island over the weekend.

Ammon Kaipo Spencer Stanley, 35, was being held on $1.01 million bail. Stanton Oshiro, the court-appointment attorney listed for Stanley in court records, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  The spiraling number of overdose deaths and hospitalizations among California prison inmates fell dramatically during the first two years of a program that uses prescribed drugs to treat more incarcerated addicts than any such program in the country, officials said Tuesday.

The rate of overdose deaths dropped 58% after the program began in 2020. Hospitalizations were 48% lower among those receiving the anti-craving drugs than among those waiting to begin treatment. The promising results show the program was effective even after accounting for restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, according to doctors and researchers with the state corrections system and the federal official who oversees medical care in California prisons.

The report says the large scale results are trending in a positive direction and officials are cautiously optimistic.

The findings come as Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration seeks $126.6 million in the next fiscal year and $162.5 million annually thereafter to expand treatment. The report said expanding the state's latest expensive attempt to curtail the prisons pervasive drug problem is at the highest priority level, given the impact on prisoner health, community safety upon inmates release, and drug trafficking and violence it brings to prisons.

The state's approach includes the once-controversial step of using drugs including buprenorphine, naltrexone and methadone to dampen addicts cravings and euphoria and relieve withdrawal symptoms while weening them off opioids. It took years of urging by lawmakers and treatment professionals for prison officials to try the program, although the approach is now widely used and has general support from California prosecutors and probation officers.

Early critics objected that the treatment substituted one drug for another, and that there could be a black market for some of the substitute drugs. In California, inmates are given the drugs in a sheet that dissolves under the tongue or by injection and are tested to make sure they are taking their medications.

More than 22,600 inmates have received the drugs and officials expect to eventually include 25,000 inmates annually, more than a quarter of the prison population. The program far exceeds the volume of treatments in any other U.S. correctional setting, California prison officials said.

In 2019, California's prison system had a record-high 51 overdose deaths per 100,000 inmates, more than double the overall death rate for other state prison systems. The death rate in California had been steadily climbing since 2012.

It fell to a rate of 21 deaths per 100,000 inmates in 2020 and to a preliminary estimate of 20 deaths per 100,000 inmates in 2021, with a final report on last year's deaths not expected until late this year.

Overdoses were the third-leading cause of death for California inmates before the program, but dropped to eighth in 2020, the lowest ranking in nine years.

Im not surprised at the results, because its been proven to be an effective therapy that saves lives and reduces crime, said Don Specter, an attorney for inmates in some of the largest class-action lawsuits against the prison system.

J. Clark Kelso, the federal official who oversees inmate health, called the findings a step in the right direction.

The results contrast with opioid deaths that increased across the U.S. as a whole. Driven largely by highly toxic fentanyl, overdose deaths rose from about 21,000 in 2010 to more than 100,000 last year.

Overdoses in California prisons began to drop about six months before the pandemic and continued after the department eased restrictions on visits and inmate movements, officials said. They said other state prison systems with similar pandemic restrictions did not see similar declines in overdose deaths and hospitalizations.

The results track earlier outcomes after prison officials began treating 60 inmates with medication in 2016.

Officials estimate that at least 65% of inmates have a substance abuse problem.

The use of anti-craving drugs is part of an approach that includes what is known as cognitive behavioral therapy, in which people talk with mental health counselors to identify and change their own self-destructive behavior.

The program also aims to ease former drug users' transition back into the community, helping more than 2,200 parolees so far arrange continued treatment after their release.

Steven Fama, another attorney who represents inmates and tracks prison treatment programs, said corrections officials have slowly but steadily increased treatment and reduced the waitlist over the last two years, although there still are tens of thousands of inmates awaiting screening to see if they qualify.

Corrections officials said their goal is now to reduce the backlog, while developing therapy for inmates serving short sentences. They also aim to improve the handoff of parolees to community based treatment.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)  Cambodia is lifting its mask mandate for open public places, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Tuesday.

He cited a large decline in coronavirus cases and a high level of vaccinations in dropping the requirement nationwide.

He said in an audio message on his Facebook page that it is still mandatory to wear masks in indoor public areas, especially air-conditioned buildings and crowded places such as theaters. He said it was up to individuals to decide whether they want to wear masks outdoors.

I hope that the lifting of the mask-wearing requirement will create a moment of happiness for all our people, and at the same time help them save money by using what they had been paying for masks to instead buy clothing for their children, he said, speaking after an inter-ministerial meeting to evaluate the COVID-19 situation.

Hun Sen strongly encouraged Cambodians to get booster doses, saying about 6.4 million people still have not received a third, or booster, vaccination.

Hun Sen also said he is considering providing a fifth vaccine dose to front-line workers.

For their first two doses, many Cambodians received Chinese-made Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, which are generally seen as less effective against the omicron variant.

More than 93% of Cambodias population has received at least one vaccination and more than 88% has received two, according to government statistics.

The Health Ministry on Tuesday reported two new confirmed COVID-19 cases and no new fatalities, bringing the nations total to 136,230 confirmed cases, including 3,056 deaths, since the pandemic began.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  A North Carolina appeals panel on Tuesday delayed further a lower court ruling that had ordered election officials to immediately allow felony offenders still on probation or parole the ability to vote.

But the majority on the three-judge Court of Appeals panel only blocked the order through the upcoming primary elections  potentially allowing tens of thousands of people still subject to supervisory punishments to vote in November. The order, which also would apply to any runoff elections that are needed July 26, could be heard by the full 15-member appeals court or appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Mail-in absentee voting for the May 17 statewide primary and municipal elections is already underway, and early in-person voting begins Thursday. The State Board of Elections had told the court it needed to know by last week whether any changes to registration restrictions would occur to prepare computer systems in time.

The ruling stems from a March 28 order by trial judges that struck down a nearly 50-year-old state law that prevents someone convicted of a felony from having voting rights restored while they are still on probation, parole or post-release supervision. In a 2-1 decision, the trial judge panel declared the law violates the state constitution largely because it discriminates against Black residents and said people who are not in prison or jail for a felony conviction may lawfully register and vote.

Election officials had not immediately registered these felons, setting aside their applications as incomplete" because of an anticipated appeal and a state Supreme Court order last September involving the same lawsuit.

An appeal was filed by Republican legislative leaders who were sued over the 1973 law, and three weeks ago the Court of Appeals temporarily blocked enforcement of the trial judges' order while the court examined whether a more permanent delay be issued as other appeals continued.

On Tuesday, Court of Appeals Judges John Arrowood and Allegra Collins wrote that the registration rules prior to March 28 remained in place through May 17 and July 26 elections. Thereafter, the North Carolina State Board of Elections is ordered to take actions to implement the (trial judges' order) for subsequent elections, their order read.

Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, writing a dissenting opinion, said he would have extended the stay until all appeals are exhausted, especially since he said the trial court's ruling stood a high likelihood of being overturned on appeal.

This courts order poses an unacceptable risk of diluting lawful votes and compromising the integrity of our election process, Griffin wrote. There is no reason to believe that any of the factors weighing in favor of (a ruling preserving the status quo) will change after the primary elections have ended.

Griffin also took the unusual step of urging his other colleagues on the intermediate appeals court to rehear the case. A majority of the 15-member court are registered Republicans, including Griffin. Collins and Arrowood are registered Democrats.

Also pending is a request by the plaintiffs who successfully sued over the law for the state Supreme Court to take over the case and hear the broader appeal. Four of the seven justices are registered Democrats.

More than 56,000 people in North Carolina were prevented from registering under the challenged law, according to evidence cited in a four-day trial last year.

The state constitution forbids a person convicted of a felony from voting unless that person shall be first restored to the rights of citizenship in the manner prescribed by law. The 1973 law laying out those restoration rules requires the unconditional discharge of an inmate, of a probationer, or of a parolee."

The trial judges agreed with evidence presented at trial that linked the law to Reconstruction-era efforts to prevent Black people from voting. Lawyers for legislative leaders argue the trial court got it wrong when it declared the 1973 law was approved with discriminatory intent.
BOSTON (AP)  A former Boston police officer who also once led the police union has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing six children and been sentenced to up to 13 years in prison.

Patrick Rose Sr., 67, wept in court on Monday as he listened to some of his victims deliver impact statements.

Rose had first faced child sexual abuse allegations in the mid-1990s. Criminal charges were eventually dropped, but an internal investigation concluded that Rose likely committed a crime. Yet he was allowed to keep his badge, and eventually served as president of the Boston Police Patrolmans Association before retiring in 2018.

He was charged in August 2020 with sexually abusing a young girl. Several more people then came forward alleging they were abused by Rose.

He pleaded guilty to 21 counts of child rape and sexual assault that occurred over a 27-year period, involving victims ranging in age from 7 to 16, prosecutors said.

Rose had previously denied the charges but reached a plea deal with prosecutors that victims were on board with.

I saw you for what you really are  a coward, a predator of the weak and the defenseless, one victim said in court.

Another victim said Rose has lost his reputation as a protector.

All you will ever be remembered as is another creep who has nothing going for him," the victim said.

Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden praised the courage of the victims and said he hoped the plea brings a measure of healing.

Anyone who was in that courtroom today knows the tremendous courage, fortitude and bravery that they withstood throughout this entire horrible incident. These are monstrous, monstrous acts, he said outside of court.

Rose expressed remorse in a statement he read in court.

I want to apologize for my despicable behavior," he said. I apologize to my former colleagues. I apologize to my former friends, but more importantly, the more important thing in my life, I apologize to my family. To those I hurt, Im so very sorry."
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HOUSTON (AP)  With Melissa Lucios execution put on indefinite hold by a Texas appeals court, her attorneys will now be focused on trying to convince a judge to recommend she get a new trial.

But thats expected to be a tough courtroom battle and even if they manage to get the trial judge on their side, the states top criminal court  which has the final say  might disagree and keep her conviction in place, legal experts said Tuesday.

Winning a favorable recommendation is not a done deal. ...There is still a long way to go before this case is resolved, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Lucio had been set for lethal injection on Wednesday for the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah in the South Texas city of Harlingen. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals delayed her execution on Monday. If ultimately put to death, Lucio would be the first Latina executed by Texas since 1863, and the first woman the state has put to death since 2014.

Prosecutors have maintained that the girl was the victim of abuse and noted that her body was covered in bruises when she died.

Lucios attorneys say her capital murder conviction was based on an unreliable and coerced confession and she wasnt allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession.

Her lawyers also contend unscientific and false evidence misled jurors into believing Mariahs injuries could have been caused only by abuse and not by medical complications from a severe fall down a steep staircase.

In granting the execution stay, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals asked that the Brownsville trial judge in charge of Lucios case  Gabriela Garcia  review four claims her lawyers have made: whether prosecutors used false evidence to convict her; whether previously unavailable scientific evidence would have prevented her conviction; whether she is actually innocent; and whether prosecutors suppressed evidence that would have been favorable to her defense.

Tivon Schardl, one of Lucios attorneys, said that before theres a hearing to consider new evidence in the case, rulings will have to be made on two defense motions to recuse Garcia and Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz over allegations of conflict of interest and due process violations. Lucios attorney at her 2008 trial is now a prosecutor in Saenzs office. Garcias court administrator is the wife of Lucios trial attorney, and also served as his paralegal.

We hope that going forward reason and science will carry the day and Melissa will get a recommendation from the trial court joined by the state of Texas to get a new trial, Schardl said.

No timetable has been set for when Garcia will begin reviewing Lucios case. But a final decision on whether she gets a new trial could be years away.

Saenz said Monday he welcomed the opportunity to have a courtroom review of the case. He has previously expressed doubts about claims by Lucios defense attorneys that new evidence will exonerate her.

On Wednesday, a rally was planned outside the courthouse in Brownsville to ask that Saenz drop the case against Lucio.

Shell never get another execution date. Shell be free. Its just a question of when, said Abe Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, a national anti-death penalty group thats helping organize Thursdays rally.

Stanley Schneider, a Houston defense attorney not connected to the case and who has defended death row inmates, said the appeals court ordered review shows that there are real questions that challenge the validity of the conviction.

Letitia Quinones, a Houston defense attorney also not connected to the case, said Lucios lawyers still have a very difficult task ahead of them as its rare to overturn a conviction in Texas.

If (the evidence) exists in the fashion that her defense attorneys have spelled out ... she has a really good chance, Quinones said.

But Dunham said the case of Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed is a good example of the difficulties that might be ahead for Lucio.

Reed got an execution stay and an appeals court ordered review of his case in November 2019 days before he was to be executed for the 1996 killing of 19-year-old Stacey Stites. Like in Lucios case Reeds supporters say new evidence has raised serious doubt about his guilt and he garnered support from celebrities and lawmakers.

But last year, a judge declined to recommend a new trial for Reed. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by Reed over his efforts to test evidence in his case.

Like Lucio, Reed has extraordinarily strong evidence of innocence and yet the Bastrop County judge ignored it, said Dunham, whose group takes no position on capital punishment but has criticized the way states carry out executions.

In the case of Texas death row inmate Rigoberto Avila Jr., who alleged his conviction was based on false and outdated scientific evidence, a judge recommended a new trial, but the appeals court in March 2020 rejected the recommendation, Dunham said.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
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PARIS (AP)  When Vladimir Putin congratulated Emmanuel Macron on his re-election as France's president and wished him success in your activities, the Russian leader probably was being more polite than sincere.

As he embarks on a second term, with the intention of keeping France at the forefront of international efforts to force Putin to change course in Ukraine, Macron has given a green light for the delivery of modern artillery pieces to Kyiv that could help stem Russias new offensive in the east of the country.

Firing six rounds per minute over 40 kilometers (25 miles) or more, the truck-mounted Caesar cannons will allow Ukrainian crews to pound Russian troops from afar, then move and pound them again. Used to great effect against Islamic State forces in Iraq and in other conflicts, they represent a step up in France's assistance to President Volodymyr Zelenskyys government.

In another remarkable move, Macron is talking openly about the guns, lifting a veil of secrecy he'd thrown over French military aid. The delivery and the publicity together signal a tougher line from Macron in his dealings with Putin  talking less and engaging more in brinksmanship with the Kremlin.

"Initially, we were a bit shy to show what was being provided," said retired Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France's military mission at the United Nations. But we have been escalating week after week, testing the reaction."

Macron was in the closing stages of his presidential re-election campaign when he name-dropped the Caesar cannons in an April 21 interview with the newspaper Ouest-France. He also mentioned Milan anti-tank missiles, although those supplies had already been reported.

Macron didn't give numbers. Citing unidentified French sources, Ouest-France said 12 Caesars will be drawn from the French arsenal and that 40 Ukrainian artillery soldiers were arriving for training at a military base in the south of France.

Macron said his red line remains not entering into direct conflict with Russia, but within that limit, we must provide maximum help to the Ukrainians."

We are delivering consequential equipment, he said. "We need to continue down this path.

His armed forces minister tweeted that thousands of shells would also be part of the delivery. Sunil Nair, an analyst who specializes in artillery systems for the defense publication Janes, said the cannons could be used independently of each other or together as a battery.

"It does give you firepower, no doubt about it," he said. It's a question of how they use it and where they use it.

Before and after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion, Macron had kept an open line with Putin. But the horrors discovered by Ukrainian troops as they retook control of villages near Kyiv once Russian soldiers withdrew gave Macron pause. His office said last week that the two leaders haven't spoken since March 29.

Macron says that, eventually, he'll need to pick up the phone again  because not talking to Putin will allow the leaders of China, India and Turkey to take the lead in trying to negotiate the peace, whenever that time comes.

Well have to prepare a cease-fire at some stage, and Europe will have to be around the table, Macron said last week.

In the meantime, French weapons will do some of the talking  in hopes of adding to the pressure on Putin.

The best way to have successful talks is to have successful Ukrainians throwing back the Russian invasion, said Francois Heisbourg, a French analyst on defense and security questions at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The Caesars will allow their crews to go hunting for Russian artillery pieces being used in eastern Ukraine that are indiscriminately pummeling civilian targets.

The Americans and the Poles and the Slovaks and the Belgians and the French and the Canadians are all sending heavy artillery to the Ukrainians, Heisbourg said.

That's a really, really big improvement to the situation of Ukraine in the new phase of the war.

___

Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet and Angela Charlton contributed.

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Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine and of the French election at https://apnews.com/hub/french-election-2022
GRANITE CITY  Authorities have identified the man killed in a house fire on Friday as Tony M. Peterson, 56, of Chouteau Township.

Madison County Coroner Stephen P. Nonn said Monday that Peterson lost his life following a fire at his residence in the 1200 block of Franko Lane in Granite City. The fire was reported to 9-1-1 at about 1:13 a.m. Friday.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.

Neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a close contact of Harris in recent days, said the vice president's press secretary, Kirsten Allen. Harris had been scheduled to attend Bidens Tuesday morning Presidential Daily Brief but was not present, the White House said.

She had returned Monday from a weeklong trip to the West Coast. The last time she saw Biden was the previous Monday, April 18.

I have no symptoms, and I will continue to isolate and follow CDC guidelines," Harris tweeted. "Im grateful to be both vaccinated and boosted.

After consulting with her physicians, Harris, 57, was prescribed and is taking Paxlovid, the Pfizer antiviral pill, her office said late Tuesday. The drug, when administered within five days of symptoms appearing, has been proven to bring about a 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease.

Biden phoned Harris Tuesday afternoon to make sure she has everything she needs while working from home, the White House said.

Harris, received her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine weeks before taking office and a second dose just days after Inauguration Day in 2021. She received a booster shot in late October and an additional booster on April 1. Fully vaccinated and boosted people have a high degree of protection against serious illness and death from COVID-19, particularly from the most common and highly transmissible omicron variant.

Harris diagnosis comes a month after her husband, Doug Emhoff, recovered from the virus, as a wave of cases of the highly transmissible omicron subvariant has spread through Washingtons political class, infecting Cabinet members, White House staffers and lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., tested positive on Tuesday.

Allen said Harris would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and the advice of her physicians. It was not immediately clear whether she is being prescribed any antiviral treatments.

The White House has put in place strict COVID-19 protocols around the president, vice president and their spouses, including daily testing for those expected to be in close contact with them. Biden is tested regularly on the advice of his physician, the White House has said, and last tested negative on Monday.

We have a very very contagious variant out there," said White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Aashish Jha on Tuesday. "It is going to be hard to ensure that no one gets COVID in America. Thats not even a policy goal. He said the administration's goal is to make sure people don't get seriously ill.

Jha added that despite the precautions it is possible that Biden himself will come down with the virus at some point.

I wouldnt say its just a matter of time, but of course it is possible that the president, like any other American, could get COVID," he said. There is no 100% anything.

Psaki said she would not expect any changes to White House protocols.

After more than two years and nearly a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing more than 300 people a day in the U.S., according to the CDC. The unvaccinated are at a far greater risk, more than twice as likely to test positive and nine times as likely to die from the virus as those who have received at least a primary dose of the vaccines, according to the public health agency.

Harris' diagnosis comes as the Biden administration is taking steps to expand availability of the life-saving Paxlovid, reassuring doctors that there is ample supply for people at high risk of severe illness or death from the virus.

In addition to her husband's diagnosis, Harris was identified as a close contact after her communications director tested positive on April 6.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines close contact with an infected person as spending 15 minutes or more with them over a 24-hour period. The CDC says people with close contact do not need to quarantine if they are up to date on their vaccines but should wear well-fitting masks around other people for 10 days after the contact.

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MANISTEE  From COVID-19 to inflation, supply chain issues and workforce challenges, recent economic trends have spelled trouble for many local small businesses.

Yet despite these unfavorable conditions, entrepreneurs continue to launch their businesses in the Manistee area and beyond.

The Manistee Area Chamber of Commerce provided an economic development update in April, which lists a number of recent startups in downtown Manistee.

We have been fielding a number of contacts from people who want to open or start a new business downtown, reads part of the chambers April report.

The chamber reports the following eight new small businesses opened in the downtown area since 2021.

The Purple Paintbrush

This do-it-yourself painting studio is the brainchild of Joann Snay, whose first place honors at the 2020 Spark Manistee contest helped pave the way for the Purple Paintbrush to open in 2021.

The Purple Paintbrush is located at 338 River St. in downtown Manistee.

Clean Lines Tattoo

When Clean Lines Tattoo co-owners Brandon Mecam and Kelly Stoudt opened their business in 2021, it was the only tattoo parlor in the city for over a decade.

Clean Lines Tattoo, is located at 336 River St. To reach Mecam for a piercing or tattoo consultation, call 231-655-9548.

Three Peas in a Pod

Owned and operated by sisters, Libby Zilke, Mickey Swinehart and Frankie Rasnick, this shop features artwork, crafts, holiday decorations and home decor.

Three Peas in a Pod is located at at 84 Cypress St.

Manistee Hobbies

Manistee Hobbies carries remote-controlled cars, trucks, planes, helicopters and boats; parts and accessories; hobby-grade kites; metal detectors; model rockets; and plastic model kits.

The hobby store is located at 415 River St.

Ruddiblush Gallery

This art gallery, owned by Paulette Juncker features the work of a wide variety of artists and contains a wide genre of artwork like paintings, drawings, prints, pottery, sculpture and more.

Ruddiblush Gallery, is located at 321 River St.

Downtown Delights

Downtown Delights, a downtown Manistee ice cream parlor, features shakes, malts, cups and cones, floats and specialty sundaes, and more.

The shop is located in the former Manistee County Council on Aging building, at 457 River St.

Lake Town Art

William Sievert opened his Lake Town Art Gallery in March 2021.

Located at 390 River St., the gallery features representational landscapes and more abstract works that are available for public viewing.





P&L Sammich Barista

This sandwich and coffee shop opened in 2022 at 375 River St.

Owned and operated by Patricia Shick, P&L Sammich Barista aims to cater more to local diners with its kids, senior and early bird specials.

In addition, the chamber noted the following three businesses had recently relocated downtown:

 Dwelling Realty, at 369 River St.;

 Pamelas Interiors, at 433 River St.; and

 Port City Emporium, at 354 River St.

Other business to open in 2021 and 2022 outside the downtown area include AJ's Pizzeria, Randoms Thrift & More and a slew of marijuana dispensaries.

A 2022 report from Yelp found an 8% increase in business openings nationwide in 2021, up from 517,231 new business openings in 2020. Overall new business growth decreased just 1% in 2021 from pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

In Michigan, there were 12,994 new business openings in 2021, rising 15.8% compared to 2020, when there were 11,220 new businesses.

According to County Business Patterns, a report by the U.S. Census, there were 7,936,977 small businesses establishments in the United States in 2019, up from 7,890,857 in 2018.

The survey found that in 2019, the total number of establishments in the city of Manistee was 559, a 1% decrease from the prior year.

In 2020, the city welcomed businesses including Rebels Sanctuary, a comic book store; Port City Emporium, which sells art and gift items; Miracle on River Street, a holiday boutique; and Millennial Decor, an interior decorating company. Other new businesses include Essential Real Estate and Dunegrass, a marijuana retailer.

The chamber encourages anyone who is looking to start or expand their business to reach out for assistance, or visit the chamber website at manisteechamber.com.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  The Minnesota House has passed a bill to replenish the state's unemployment insurance trust fund and get bonuses to frontline workers, in a potential breakthrough after months of stalemate.

The bill passed late Monday includes $2.7 billion to replenish the unemployment insurance trust fund and pay back the federal government for jobless aid, and Democrats $1 billion proposal for $1,500 checks for workers who took risks during the pandemic. It would also make hourly school workers eligible for unemployment benefits during the summer months.

House Democratic and Senate Republican leaders, along with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, spent months trying to agree terms but leaders failed to reach a deal by a March 15 deadline, triggering an automatic payroll tax hike on Minnesota employers.

Under the new legislation, employers who paid their tax bills before the April 30 due date would get a refund. House Democrats also included the full $2.7 billion that Senate Republicans and Walz said was needed to refill the trust fund, instead of the $1.2 billion that House Democrats have long insisted would be sufficient.

It passed on a 70-63 vote.

The bill now goes to the Senate, which passed its own bill in February on a bipartisan 55-11 vote. That version did not include bonuses or unemployment benefits for school workers. Both sides voted last year to earmark $250 million in hero pay for frontline workers but couldnt agree on how to parcel it out.

Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said Tuesday that the House had to agree to the Senates request for $2.7 billion for unemployment insurance in order to get the bonuses for frontline workers. A 10-member House-Senate conference committee was appointed Tuesday to work out a deal.

That's how we resolve differences between the House and the Senate, she told reporters. It doesn't do any good to have bills that are two ships passing in the night.

Republican lawmakers said the unemployment insurance fix should have passed on its own and indicated they would chip away at other provisions in the House bill.

While Im happy to see the House take action, they loaded up the bill with other items making it more difficult to find agreement. I remain committed to working towards a compromise agreement, Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, of Winona, said in a statement.

Walz asked lawmakers to reach a compromise during his State of the State address Sunday night, saying the issues should have been resolved in January.

___

Mohamed Ibrahim is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP)  Martine Roambas 10-month-old daughter weakly tugs at her mothers breast searching for milk.

The malnourished baby has been struggling to feed since birth as her mother hasn't had enough to eat to produce sufficient breastmilk since fleeing her village in northern Burkina Faso last year when jihadis started killing people.

Seated on a hospital bed with other severely malnourished children and their parents on the outskirts of Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, 30-year-old Roamba tries to calm her crying daughter.

Its very worrying and were praying to God that the baby doesnt deteriorate into an even worse situation, she said.

Hunger is soaring across conflict-ridden Burkina Faso, a result of increasing violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, which has killed thousands and displaced millions, preventing people from farming. Some 3.5 million people are food insecure, with nearly 630,000 expected to be on the brink of starvation, according to the latest food security report by the government and U.N. agencies. This is an 82% increase from last year of people facing emergency hunger.

The nutrition situation in (the country) is deteriorating more and more, there are more and more people in need, said Claudine Konate, a nutrition specialist for the U.N. Children's Agency, UNICEF. The country has to prepare for a growing crisis, she said.

At the hospital in Ouagadougou, the number of severely malnourished children arriving has doubled from two years ago and there isnt enough space or staff to care for them, said Clarisse Nikiema, head of nutrition at the hospital.

Because they were displaced, they are deeply impoverished and cant feed their families, so children become malnourished, she said. Sometimes after recovering, families refuse to leave because they dont want their children going hungry at home where theres no food, she said.

In January, mutinous soldiers ousted Burkina Fasos democratically elected president, and the ruling junta says that restoring security is their top priority. However, attacks have since increased with an 11% rise in incidents in February, according to the U.N. The violence is driving more people closer to starvation, say experts.

The situation is most dire in the northern Sahel region, where cities like Djibo have until recently been besieged by jihadi rebels for months, restricting the delivery of food aid. Other towns like Gorom Gorom, have almost no operating health centers. Only two out of 27 in the district are fully functioning, said Jean Paul Ouedraogo, representative for the Italian-based aid group Lay Volunteers International Association.

Jihadi rebels are also expanding and pushing south and west into Burkina Faso's breadbasket, stealing crops and livestock and chasing people from their rural farms and into cities.

The decreasing supply and increase in demand is causing prices to spike. A bag of 100 kilograms of corn has nearly doubled since last year from $30 to $50, say locals. Aid organizations are bracing for more price hikes because of the war in Ukraine. Burkina Faso buys more than a third of its wheat from Russia, according to the U.N., and while the impact is not yet visible, humanitarians say its a concern.

The crisis in Ukraine is also likely to impact soaring grain prices, making an already bad situation worse, said Gregoire Brou, country director for Action Against Hunger in Burkina Faso. Aid for the country is already underfunded  last years humanitarian response plan received less than half of the requested $607 million, according to the UN  and now agencies say donors have indicated there could be a 70% cut to funding in order to support operations in Ukraine.

Meanwhile hunger is affecting virtually everyone in the country, even those trying to defend it. During a trip to the northern town of Ouahigouya, civilians who volunteered to fight alongside the army, told The Associated Press theyre battling jihadis on empty stomachs.

The volunteers fight for the country, but they fight with hunger, said one volunteer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The lack of farming and minimal pay as a volunteer  $8 a month  isnt enough to subsist on, he said.

Malnourished people are arriving at health centers in Ouahigouya in severe condition and taking longer to recover, said Dr. Gerard Koudougou Kombassere, who works at a hospital in the town. Displaced people are the most affected and malnutrition rates among them are rising, he said. In a makeshift displacement camp in Ouahigouya where some 2,300 people have sought refuge, residents told AP they have received food assistance only once in the past 10 months.

At one of the shelters, Salamata Nacanabo said her family used to eat five times a day when they lived in their village, but now they eat just once. Mimicking the sound of gunshots, the 31-year-old recounts the day jihadis stormed her village killing eight people, seizing everything she owned and forcing her family to flee.

They stole everything, cattle, food, and they took my goats," she said. Now its very hard to take care of the children.
BOISE, Idaho (AP)  A nuclear waste treatment plant in eastern Idaho had two unanticipated shutdowns this year, U.S. officials said Tuesday, continuing a lengthy history of setbacks.

Trent Neville of the U.S. Department of Energy said they're working on the problems at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the departments 890-square-mile (2,300-square-kilometer) site that includes the Idaho National Laboratory. The plant might start operating later this year.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP)  Jurors on Monday convicted an Illinois Department of Corrections officer for violating the civil rights of an inmate brutally beaten at a western Illinois prison in 2018, but could not reach a verdict against a superior.

Alex Banta, 30, of Quincy, was convicted after a four-week trial in U.S. District Court of conspiracy to deprive civil rights, deprivation of civil rights, obstruction of an investigation, falsification of documents and misleading conduct.

Banta faces up to life in prison because jurors also indicated Monday that in finding him guilty of the civil rights and conspiracy charges, those crimes led to the death of 65-year-old inmate Larry Earvin.

Members of the eight-man, four-woman jury, while unanimous on Bantas culpability, were split 9-3 on the involvement of co-defendant Lt. Todd Sheffler.

The May 17, 2018 beating of inmate Earvin at Western Illinois Correctional Center in Quincy, 250 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, resulted in 15 broken ribs and abdominal injuries so severe a portion of his bowel was surgically removed. He died June 26.

Earvin allegedly refused to return to his cell in the housing unit known as R-1 and a disturbance there summoned dozens of officers for an escort to the segregation unit.

Testimony indicated he was kicked and handled roughly in R-1, the government contends the debilitating and eventually fatal injuries were the result of kicking, punching, stomping and jumping on a prone Earvin in the segregation units vestibule, where there are no cameras.

Banta was with Earvin for the bulk of the incident. Sheffler, 53, of Mendon, was not in R-1, but joined the escort along the way to segregation. According to jurors Kevin Sullivan, 59, of Springfield, and Roberta Clifton, 65, of Havana, three members of the eight-man, four-woman jury believed parts of the defense position that Earvin was injured in R-1.

They came to the position that Mr. Banta was alongside Mr. Earvin in the escort from beginning to end, while Mr. Sheffler joined midway. But he had to know something had happened. He had to be part of the coverup.

Those who were on the fence were on the fence because they didnt think the assault happened in (segregation), Sullivan said.

The holdouts did not believe evidence proved additional beating in the segregation units blind spot because the bulk of the testimony about it came from Corrections employees who admitted initially lying to the Illinois State Police or FBI. They included Sgt. Willie Hedden, 43, of Mount Sterling, charged along with Sheffler and Banta but who pleaded guilty and testified for the government in hopes of sentencing leniency.

Clifton and Sullivan said they didnt resent the holdouts because, in Cliftons words, Theyre trying to make sure they can sleep at night, too.

But Sullivan said, Im frustrated. I dont feel like we finished the job.

___

Follow Political Writer John OConnor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  A federal jury has rejected allegations that police in Ohio's capital city used excessive force when they fatally shot a man in 2016 during an undercover operation, an episode that led to heightened criticism of actions by Columbus police.

The city has said that 23-year-old Henry Green, who was Black, ignored commands to drop his gun by officers Zachary Rosen and Jason Bare, who are white. Court documents and depositions say Green shot at the undercover officers, who then returned fire. Greens family has argued Green fired after police shot at him.

Columbus, the state's largest city, has experienced multiple protests in recent years over the killing of Black men and children, including last year's fatal shooting of 16-year-old Ma'Kiah Bryant. A grand jury declined to indict the white officer who shot Bryant as she swung a knife at a young woman. The officer said he feared for the woman's life.

A grand jury had also declined to indict officers Rosen and Bare in Green's killing, and an internal Columbus police investigation cleared them.

A federal judge dismissed the excessive force lawsuit brought by Green's family in September 2019, finding it was reasonable to use deadly force under the circumstances. But a federal appeals court reinstated it a year later, determining that a jury could reasonably conclude there wasnt justification for the officers to use force in this context.

The first trial ended in a mistrial in November 2021. On Monday, a unanimous jury sided with the city after a short deliberation, acquitting Rosen and Bare of excessive force and assault and battery allegations.

On Tuesday, City Attorney Zachary Klein said his office respects the decision, while noting, The City Attorneys Office takes seriously all use of force cases, especially those that result in a tragic loss of life.

Klein has pushed for change in the department and, along with city Mayor Andrew Ginther, successfully requested a Justice Department review of the agency's practices. That review is ongoing.

Green's family is disappointed by the decision, which their attorney Sean Walton said doesn't reflect the evidence presented at trial.

This civil trial was the first that the city has had to defend for a police shooting in 15 years and that in itself provides hope and optimism that accountability is on the horizon, he said. However, the people of this city should not have to fight their own leaders who continue to use qualified immunity as a sword to defend bad officers.

The jury made the right decision, said Jeff Simpson, president of the police union representing Columbus officers.

The facts and the evidence of this case are crystal clear and beyond reproach, Simpson said, calling Green's actions a violent attack.

Changes to the department in recent years including the creation of a first-ever civilian review board, increased use of body-worn cameras, a pilot program to resolve 911 calls involving mental health and addiction issues with counselors instead of officers, and the hiring of Elaine Bryant, the city's first Black woman chief.

In December, the city agreed to pay $5.75 million to people injured during the 2020 racial injustice and police brutality protests.

Monday's verdict was the second time in recent months that jurors sided with police over excessive force violations. In December, a jury rejected civil rights violations alleged by Timothy Davis, who had accused Columbus officers in Ohios capital city of using improper force when they arrested him in 2017.

In November, a murder trial is scheduled for a white Columbus officer who shot and killed Andre Hill, who was Black, in December 2020 as Hill emerged from a garage holding a cell phone. The officer, Adam Coy, has pleaded not guilty.
Hassan Ammar/AP

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP)  Lebanon's government tasked the military on Tuesday with investigating the deadly sinking of a migrant boat over the weekend amid allegations by survivors that the navy was responsible.

It was still unclear what led the small, overloaded boat to sink off the coast of Tripoli on Saturday. At least seven people, including a small child, were killed and many more are still missing. The boat was carrying at least 60 passengers, many times over its capacity. At least 47 were rescued.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Bills to limit actions state and local governments can take to control COVID-19 continue to advance in the 2022 legislative session.

The full House voted 70-28 on Tuesday for a bill by Metairie Republican Stephanie Hilferty that would exempt state-owned buildings  such as the Superdome in New Orleans  from local government emergency provisions.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  Gov. Jim Justice said Tuesday he has appointed Charles Lorensen to fill a vacancy on the newly created West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals.

Lorensen must be confirmed by the state Senate for a term through December 2028. He would fill the vacancy created by the resignation last month of Donald Nickerson Jr. of Wheeling before he was sworn in.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  Maine is closer to launching its space program after Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill to create the Maine Space Port Corp., a law aimed at growing the states aerospace industry.

Mills signed the bill into law on April 19, creating a public-private partnership that would build launch sites, data networks and operations to send satellites into space, The Portland Press Herald reported Sunday.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  Maine is close to requiring screening for a potentially debilitating virus in some newborns in the state.

The Maine Senate on Monday unanimously voted to enact a bill to require screening for cytomegalovirus for some babies, sending the bill to the governor.
A Granite City man was found dead in his home after a fire ignited early Friday morning.

According to Madison County Coroner Stephen P. Nonn, 56-year-old Tony M. Peterson was identified Monday following a report of a house fire at approximately 1:13 a.m. Friday in the 1200 block of Franko Lane, Granite City.

Mitchell Deputy Fire Chief Scott Wolfe said Monday that the single-family home was already heavily involved by the time his crews arrived.

"It had a really big head start on us," he said.

Crews remained on scene for the next 7.5 hours. Mutual aid units on scene included Long Lake, South Roxana and Madison fire crews while Glen Carbon Fire Protection District units covered Mitchell's firehouse.

Peterson was pronounced dead at the scene by Kyle Burgess, investigator at Madison County Coroners Office, at 5:19 a.m. Friday. Petersons body was located within the residence and found after the fire was extinguished, according to the coroner's office.

As of Monday, preliminary findings after an autopsy show that Peterson suffered from smoke inhalation. A final cause and manner of death will be issued at a later time, pending results of routine toxicological testing.

Wolfe said the cause of the fire is under investigation, as is what fueled the fire for such a long time.

Madison County Sheriff's Office Detective Marcy Barrows has been assigned to the case. She did not immediately return a request for comment. The Mitchell Fire Department, State of Illinois Fire Marshal and the Madison County Coroners Office are assisting in the case.

Funeral arrangements for Peterson remain pending at this time.
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP)  A Pleasant Valley man has been acquitted of two felony manslaughter counts but convicted of two lesser misdemeanor counts for his role in a 2020 boat crash that killed two people.

A jury found James Theil Sr., 45, guilty Monday of two aggravated misdemeanor charges of involuntary manslaughter counts, but acquitted him of two felony involuntary manslaughter counts, the Quad-City Times reported.
NEW YORK (AP)  A 24-year-old man was shot to death following a dispute inside a New York City subway station, police said.

Marcus Bethea was fatally shot in the torso inside the Parsons Boulevard-Archer Avenue station in the Jamaica section of Queens at about 4:30 p.m. Monday, police said in a news release.

Bethea was standing near the token booth when another man engaged him in an argument that quickly turned physical, said Jason Wilcox, chief of transit for the New York Police Department, at a briefing at the shooting scene. The other man drew a gun and shot Bethea several times before fleeing, Wilcox said.

The shooting occurred less than two weeks after a gunman opened fire inside a subway car in Brooklyn, shooting 10 people.

Frank James was arrested the day after the April 12 shooting and ordered jailed without bail. Defense attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg cautioned against a rush to judgment.

All of the victims in the Brooklyn shooting are expected to survive.

The shooting inside a busy Brooklyn station raised questions about security inside New York City's transit system. Acting Metropolitan Transportation Authority Inspector General Elizabeth Keating announced an investigation on Monday into the failure of security cameras at the station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood where the shooting took place.

Wilcox said police have security camera footage from Monday's shooting in Queens and are reviewing it. No arrests had been made as of Tuesday morning.
PhotoAlto/James Hardy/Getty Images/PhotoAlto

CHICAGO (AP)  A man has been charged with stealing a Chicago Fire Department ambulance and leading police on an 80-mile (128-kilometer) chase.

The 46-year-old Chicago man entered the ambulance as it sat empty and parked on the street outside a fire station around 4:40 p.m. Monday, police said.
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Elon Musk, the worlds richest man, is spending $44 billion to acquire Twitter with the stated aim of turning it into a haven for free speech. There's just one problem: The social platform has been down this road before, and it didn't end well.

A decade ago, a Twitter executive dubbed the company the free speech wing of the free speech party to underscore its commitment to untrammeled freedom of expression. Subsequent events put that moniker to the test, as repressive regimes cracked down on Twitter users, particularly in the wake of the short-lived Arab Spring demonstrations. In the U.S., a visceral 2014 article by journalist Amanda Hess exposed the incessant, vile harassment many women faced just for posting on Twitter or other online forums.

Over the subsequent years, Twitter learned a few things about the consequences of running a largely unmoderated social platform  one of the most important being that companies generally don't want their ads running against violent threats, hate speech that bleeds into incitement, and misinformation that aims to tip elections or undermine public health.

With Musk, his posturing of free speech  just leave everything up  that would be bad in and of itself, said Paul Barrett, the deputy director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University. If you stop moderating with automated systems and human reviews, a site like Twitter, in the space of a short period of time, you would have a cesspool.

Google, Barrett pointed out, quickly learned this lesson the hard way when major companies like Toyota and Anheuser-Busch yanked their ads after they ran ahead of YouTube videos produced by extremists in 2015.

Once it was clear just how unhealthy the conversation had gotten, Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey spent years trying to improve what he called the health of the conversation on the platform.

The company was an early adopter of the report abuse button after U.K. member of parliament Stella Creasy received a barrage of rape and death threats on the platform. The online abuse was the result of a seemingly positive tweet in support of feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez, who successfully advocated for novelist Jane Austen to appear on a British banknote. Creasys online harasser was sent to prison for 18 weeks.

Twitter has continued to craft rules and invested in staff and technology that detect violent threats, harassment and misinformation that violates its policies. After evidence emerged that Russia used their platforms to try to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, social media companies also stepped up their efforts against political misinformation.

The big question now is how far Musk, who describes himself as a free-speech absolutist, wants to ratchet back these systems  and whether users and advertisers will stick around if he does.

Even now, Americans say theyre more likely to be harassed on social media than any other online forum, with women, people of color and LGBTQ users reporting a disproportionate amount of that abuse. Roughly 80% of users believe the companies are still doing only a fair or poor job of handling that harassment, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults last year.

Meanwhile, terms like censorship and free speech have turned into political rallying cries for conservatives, frustrated by seeing right-leaning commentators and high-profile Republican officials booted off Facebook and Twitter for violating their rules.

Musk appeared to criticize Twitters permanent ban of President Donald Trump last year for messages that the tech company said helped incite the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last year.

A lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech, Musk tweeted days after Trump was banned from both Facebook and Twitter.

Trumps allies, including his son Donald Trump Jr., have even pleaded for Musk to buy out the company.

If Elon Musk can privately send people into space Im sure he can design a social network that isnt biased, Trump Jr. said in the caption of a video posted to Instagram last April.

Kirsten Martin, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame, said Twitter has consistently worked at being a responsible social media company through its moderation system, its hires in the area of machine learning ethics and in whom they allow to do research on the platform. The fact that Musk wants to change that, she added, suggests that he's focused on irresponsible social media.

Twitter declined to comment for this story. A representative for Musk did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

New social media apps targeted at conservatives, including Trumps Truth Social, haven't come remotely close to matching the success of Facebook or Twitter. That's partly because Republican politicians, politicians and causes already draw large audiences on existing, and much better established, platforms.

It's also partly due to floods of inflammatory, false or violent posts. Last year, for example, right-wing social media site Parler was nearly wiped off the internet when it became evident that rioters had used the app to promote violent messages and organize the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol. Apple and Google barred its app from their online stores, while Amazon stopped providing web-hosting services for the site.

Musk himself regularly blocks social media users who have criticized him or his company and sometimes bullies reporters who have written critical articles about him or Tesla. He regularly tweets at reporters who write about his company, sometimes mischaracterizing their work as false or misleading.

His popular tweets typically send a swarm of his social media fans directly to the accounts of the reporters to harass them for hours or days.

I only block people as a direct insult, Musk tweeted in 2020, responding to a tweet from a reporter.

Evan Greer, a political activist with Fight for the Future, said Musks lack of experience in moderating an influential social media platform will be a problem if he successfully takes over the company.

If we want to protect free speech online, then we cant live in a world where the richest person on Earth can just purchase a platform that millions of people depend on and then change the rules to his liking, Greer said.
Heng Sinith/AP

BANGKOK (AP)  A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Tuesday postponed by a day delivering a verdict on the first of almost a dozen corruption cases filed against the countrys former leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The court in the capital Naypyitaw did not give any reason for delaying the expected verdict until Wednesday, said a legal official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information. Suu Kyis trial has been closed to the public, and her lawyers barred from speaking to the press.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Native American leaders said Tuesday they were excited about a series of meetings this week with land managers as the Biden administration considers prohibiting new oil and gas development on hundreds of square miles of federal land in northwestern New Mexico that several tribes consider sacred.

Top officials with the All Pueblo Council of Governors said during a virtual briefing that they will reiterate their support for the proposal during tribal consultations. The meetings are part of the public outreach being done by the U.S. Interior Department as it considers the withdrawal from nearly 550 square miles (1,425 square kilometers) around Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, cited the cultural significance of the area surrounding the national park when she first proposed the 20-year withdrawal during a visit in November. She has said many tribes in the Southwest, including her own, have a connection to the area.

Randall Vicente, the governor of Acoma Pueblo, said tribes were ready to band together to ensure more permanent protections are adopted for lands outside park boundaries.

He said the remnants of stone dwellings, ceremonial kivas, pottery sherds, petroglyphs, shrines and the other cultural resources that dot the high desert around Chaco Canyon were left there by the ancestors of today's pueblo people.

Together, this area is one irreplaceable, sacred, interconnected landscape unlike any other. We remain tied to those resources," he said, describing them as the footprints and fingerprints of our ancestors.

A World Heritage site, Chaco park is thought to be the center of what was once a hub of Indigenous civilization.

The Navajo Nation is among the Native American tribes that support increased protections, but top tribal officials have called for a smaller area around Chaco to be set aside as a way to limit the economic impact on families who rely on revenues from oil and gas leasing.

In a nod to the Navajo concerns, the pueblo leaders said the withdrawal would not affect development on land overseen by the Navajo Nation or individual Navajo allottee owners. However, allottees have argued that taking federal parcels off the board would leave them landlocked and curb the interest of oil companies in leasing their land.

Pueblo leaders said Tuesday their tribes continue to work on an ethnographic study that they hope will provide more insight for federal managers on cultural resources in northwestern New Mexico.

Ben Chavarria, historic preservation officer for Santa Clara Pueblo, said Chaco's influence can still be seen today in the pueblos' governance systems, dances, songs, prayers and other customs.

Describing its essence as independent and alive, he said the greater Chaco region is "an area of such immense cultural and traditional importance to the pueblo that it cannot be conveyed in words.
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OHAJI-EGBEMA, Nigeria (AP)  Remains of more than 100 workers and traders who died after an illegal refinery exploded in southeast Nigeria were buried on Tuesday in an official ceremony after an incident that shocked the region.

Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency said at least 110 people had died in Friday's explosion though officials believe the casualty figure could be higher.

As the days go by, most people who think their siblings travelled will now realize maybe they are victims of this (explosion), said Marcel Amadioha, chairman of the Ohaji-Egbema local government area where the illegal refinery operated.

Nigeria is Africa's largest producer of crude oil and illegal refineries and oil bunkering activities have plagued the continent's most populous nation for years.

Illegal refineries are very widespread in the West African nation mainly as a result of the collapse of the system (with) poor security system and the lack of care for the pipelines, said Nnimo Bassey, director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation environmental group in Nigeria.

Nigerias security forces are still hunting for two suspects who have been blamed by authorities for the explosion. However, local officials, including chairman Amadioha, have accused security agencies of sabotage in the incident, saying they work with the operators of illegal refineries.

They were so loose that the illegal bunkers will come here in their numbers without any kind of threat, not feeling like the police or security agencies will come, the council chairman said of the security agencies. There are some of them who are collaborators, who are sabotaging the efforts of the real ones trying to make sure this illegal bunkering stops."

Nigeria's police and military did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comments.

Tuesday's event was a hurried but solemn burial that had been delayed for four days since the explosion on Friday as local authorities made efforts to arrange for vital equipment such as excavators.

Many of the victims bodies had been carried away and buried by families with just about 50 left at the refinery site for Tuesdays mass burial, according to Bright Onyenwoke, a youth leader. My heart bleeds, he told The Associated Press.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the nations security forces to intensify the clampdown on such facilities being operated illegally in many parts of southern Nigeria, but there are concerns it would be a difficult task given insecurity in the area and a high rate of poverty.

In Imo state, many of those who worked at the refinery site did so out of frustration, according to youth leader Onyenwoke, who said the communities in the area are being marginalized despite having dozens of oil wells.

There is no good road, no good water, no electricity, he said, so, the means of survival here is hard," adding that sometimes taking part in illegal businesses becomes preferable.

Oramaru Kwintus with Nigerias disaster management agency said that authorities will embark on more sensitization of the youths on the dangers of these dangerous activities."
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)  A North Dakota oil patch worker is challenging U.S. Sen. John Hoeven in the Republican primary.

Riley Kuntz, who earlier this month filed the paperwork to run for Senate, said on his Facebook campaign page that he supports limited government, protecting life and limited taxation and spending. He said he is taking bold action to stand up for conservatives in North Dakota.

I know most of you probably have no idea who I am and thats for a couple of reasons: I enjoy my privacy and Im not even a politician, Kuntz said in a video.

Kuntz, 39, of Dickinson, led an unsuccessful bid to overturn three bills passed the 2019 North Dakota Legislature, including laws that restricted the state auditor, funded the proposed Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and shielded communications between lawmakers and public employees.

Hoeven was endorsed as the Republican party candidate for Senate during the party convention earlier this month, narrowly defeating a challenge by state Rep. Rick Becker, of Bismarck.

Democrats have endorsed Katrina Christenson, a University of Jamestown engineering professor.

The North Dakota primary election is scheduled for June 14.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Federal prosecutors say a former Mississippi pharmacist has been sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison for a $180 million health insurance fraud scheme involving unnecessary prescriptions for expensive pain creams and other medications.

Mitchell Chad Barrett, 55, now of Gulf Breeze, Florida, was sentenced Tuesday in Mississippis Southern District, a news release said. He is among more than a dozen people who have pleaded guilty or been convicted in connection with the scheme.
Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov (R) meets with the visiting Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe (L) in Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan on April 26, 2022. (mod.gov.cn/Photo by Li Xiaowei)

ASHKHABAD, April 26 -- Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov met with the visiting Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe in Ashkhabad, capital of Turkmenistan on Tuesday.

Serdar Berdimuhamedov said that Turkmenistan attaches great importance to relations with China and the two countries have carried out high-level cooperation in politics, diplomacy, trade, culture, humanities and other fields and established the Turkmenistan-China strategic partnership. China is one of Turkmenistan's largest trading partners. There are more than 1,400 Turkmen students studying in China, and many universities in Turkmenistan have set up Chinese majors. It is hoped that the two militaries will strengthen practical cooperation in equipment technology and personnel training and jointly push for new development of Turkmenistan-China relations.

General Wei Fenghe said that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Turkmenistan relations have achieved leapfrog development and are currently in the best period in history. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, China stands ready to work with Turkmenistan to build an even closer China-Turkmenistan community with a shared future. China firmly supports Turkmenistan's permanent neutral status, supports Turkmenistan's pursuit of a development path suited to its national conditions, and firmly opposes external interference in Turkmenistan's internal affairs.

General Wei Fenghe pointed out that in recent years, the military-to-military relations between the two countries have been developing steadily and the pragmatic cooperation has been deepening day by day. The Chinese military is willing to further expand cooperation areas with Turkmenistan, enhance the cooperation effectiveness and strive to elevate China-Turkmenistan military relations to a higher level.

On the same day, Turkmenistan's Defense Minister Begench Gundogdyev held a welcome ceremony for General Wei Fenghe and had a formal talk with him. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on the international and regional security situation, as well as the issues of the Ukraine and Afghanistan. Both sides agreed to maintain strategic communication, improve personnel training and strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism and equipment technology.

Turkmen Defense Minister Begench Gundogdyev (L) holds a welcome ceremony for the visiting Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe (R) prior to their talks. Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe holds formal talks with Turkmen Defense Minister Begench Gundogdyev in Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan on April 26, 2022. (mod.gov.cn/Photo by Li Xiaowei)

Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe (3rd R), who is paying visit to Turkmenistan, holds formal talks with Turkmen Defense Minister Begench Gundogdyev (3rd L) in Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan on April 26, 2022. (mod.gov.cn/Photo by Li Xiaowei)
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  Authorities are searching for a man who allegedly kidnapped a 3-month-old baby in the San Francisco Bay Area on Monday.

The man walked into a home in San Jose around 1 p.m. and left with the child, Brandon Cuellar. Police released a video clip that shows the man walking down the sidewalk holding a baby carrier covered by a white blanket.
NORTH BELLMORE, N.Y. (AP)  Five police officers were injured on Long Island over the weekend when three New Jersey teenagers rammed their police vehicles with a stolen car, authorities said Tuesday.

Some of the officers may have suffered career-ending injuries during the confrontation on Sunday, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said at a news conference. All five officers were placed on medical leave because of their injuries, Ryder said.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  Puerto Rico on Tuesday held its first public hearing on a bill that aims to restrict abortions in the U.S. territory as powerful political leaders who support the measure seek to join a similar conservative push in the U.S. mainland.

If approved, the bill would ban abortions starting at 22 weeks or when a doctor determines that a fetus is viable. The only exception would be if a womans life is in danger. Most U.S. states already have similar laws, unlike Puerto Rico, where abortions with no term limit are currently allowed.

The hearing comes amid belief that a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court could reverse or weaken a constitutional right to abortion stemming from the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. Currently 44 U.S. states have imposed a threshold on abortions, many at 20 to 24 weeks or at fetal viability.

Those who testified at Tuesdays hearing included women who gave birth to premature babies several years ago and brought them to the hearing in a bid to demonstrate they were saved.

A 22-week-old child is viable because that happened to me, said Cathy Sue Cordero as pictures of the girl she gave birth to flashed on nearby screens.

Following their testimony, the women faced sharp questions from nearly a dozen senators, the majority of whom oppose the bill.

I would love for all women in Puerto Rico to have the opportunity to make their own decisions regarding their body, said Sen. Jose Antonio Vargas Vidot, who is also a doctor.

Vargas and other senators who spoke out against the measure noted that those who testified were loving parents who wanted to have a baby and had very good health insurance, including a plan that covered an air ambulance to save Corderos baby, which she had in the U.S. mainland.

Meanwhile, Sen. Joanne Rodriguez Veve, who is one of the bills authors, said it was the governments responsibility to protect the lives of children, especially those she argued could survive outside the womb. She also dismissed concerns raised by critics who referenced children born to parents who didnt want them or who become victims of violence.

Those children will find other arms in which theyll be held, taken care of and loved, she said.

The hearing attracted a couple dozen people who remained largely quiet except for one moment in which a supporter of the bill called out, Amen! to a statement made by one of those testifying.

There are few recent polls on the issue in Puerto Rico, although according to a 2017 survey by Pew Research, about three quarters of people in the U.S. territory oppose abortion in all or most cases, a higher percentage than among Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. mainland.

Attending the hearing were members of a pro-life group who said they disagree with the bill because they support a complete ban on abortion.

In late March, a Puerto Rico Senate committee overseen by Rodriguez approved the bill in a 9-3 vote. The Senate was then expected to vote on it earlier this month but kicked it back to the committee following criticisms that no public hearings were held.
TORONTO (AP)  Roger Stone, one-time adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump, has been named as a senior strategic adviser to assist the Ontario Party in the June provincial election in Canada.

In making the announcement, Ontario Party Leader Derek Sloan called Stone a friend and accomplished American conservative political strategist.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A convicted sex offender has made a plausible claim that providing his email address and other internet identifying information to Connecticut officials violates his free speech rights, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in reinstating his lawsuit against the state.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan mirrors other court rulings around the country that determined some states' laws violated sex offenders' rights.

James Cornelio, a former New York City lawyer, was convicted in New York in 2005 for sex offenses involving a minor. He later moved to New Preston, Connecticut, and was subject to Connecticut's sex offender registration requirements.

He sued Connecticut and state police officials after he was arrested in 2015 for failing to provide an email address he was using, as required by the state's law. The arrest came after Cornelio emailed the state police sex offender registry unit using an email account not registered with the state, police said.

Cornelio claimed the state's requirements violated his First Amendment rights and accused a state police detective of malicious prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer in New Haven dismissed the lawsuit in 2020. He said the email disclosure requirement served an important law enforcement purpose in deterring sex offenders from trying to entice potential victims while remaining anonymous online  because police would have their email addresses and other identifying information.

Meyer, however, acknowledged the requirement inhibits to some degree the exercise of (Cornelio's) right to engage in anonymous speech activities on the Internet. He also rejected the malicious prosecution claim.

The 2nd Circuit Court reinstated Cornelio's free speech claims, but also rejected his other allegations including malicious prosecution.

The disclosure requirement plausibly imposes an extra burden that unnecessarily chills protected speech, the panel wrote. The government cannot normally justify a speech restriction by reference to its interest in deterring crime.

Cornelio said in a phone interview Tuesday that he was reviewing the decision and declined further comment.

State Attorney General William Tong's office, which is representing state officials in the lawsuit, said in a statement that it also was evaluating the ruling and will determine whether any new legal action is warranted.

In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a North Carolina law that barred convicted sex offenders from Facebook, Twitter and other popular sites, saying it prevented offenders from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights.

In 2020, the Louisiana Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional for the state to require people convicted of certain sex crimes to carry state-issued ID cards with the words SEX OFFENDER printed on them in orange capital letters.
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP)  One of two kayakers who did not return from a weekend trip has been found dead in the Long Tom River near Corvallis and a second kayaker remains missing, the Benton County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.

Family members identified the body of Joseph Bendix, 26, of Eugene, on Monday morning. His companion, 23-year-old Mariana Dukes, also of Eugene, remains missing, authorities said. She last had contact with her family by phone around 5 p.m. Saturday.
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BOSTON (AP)  For years, Vincent Gillespie waged a legal battle to try to gain control of hundreds of paintings by his father  renowned postwar American artist Gregory Gillespie.

On Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors say, Gillespie engaged in a very different kind of battle, joining rioters as they tried to wrest control of the U.S. Capitol from the federal government in one of the most violent confrontations of the riot.

Gillespie, who investigators say was identified by half a dozen sources from images taken that day, was among a mob trying to force its way through a tunnel at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol  an assault that almost succeeded by his own description.

We were almost overpowering them, Gillespie, blood visible on his scalp from the clash, told an Associated Press journalist at the scene that day. If you had like another 15, 20 guys behind us pushing I think we could have won it.

The AP video that captured a flushed Gillespie that day milling about outside the Capitol speaking defiantly about his role in the attack  and his lament that more like-minded individuals didnt join the fight  reveal both the depth of resolve of many of the rioters, and the uncertainty others felt about just what they would do once inside the building.

What is clear, federal investigators said, is that Gillespie participated in a violent struggle against law enforcement officials trying to prevent rioters from entering the building as a joint session of Congress was engaged in certifying Electoral College votes.

The Athol, Massachusetts, resident was spotted outside the Capitol pouring water into his eyes apparently to combat the effects of chemical spray used to try to control the crowd.

Gillespie told the AP at the scene that day that he was among those attempting to storm the building. Gillespie said he and others tried to burst through an opening.

I was with some other guys. And then we were starting to push against them and they were beating us and putting that pepper spray stuff in your eyes. But there were a bunch of people pushing behind us, Gillespie told the AP.

What you guys need to know, and no one is going to listen to this, we were very (expletive) close." If more people had been behind him, he said, "then theres that second set of doors we would have just burst through it.

What was apparently less clear to Gillespie that day was what he and the others with him would do if they had been able to take control of the Capitol.

I would hope they would flood in so theres nothing they can do. Thats what I would hope they would do. Take it over. Take it over. Own it for a few days. Im not an anarchist, but you cant let stand what happened in this election, he said, an apparent reference to former President Donald Trumps claims of a stolen election.

Although he was quick to offer up his name when asked by the AP reporter, Gillespie hesitated before saying where he was from.

Theyll come after me, man, he said, hesitating before adding, Im in Massachusetts.

Gillespie ultimately faced seven criminal counts including civil disorder, assaulting officers and disorderly conduct in the Capitol. He has pleaded not guilty.

He's one of more than 775 people arrested in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia in connection with the Jan. 6 assault in which the pro-Trump mob sought to stop the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. Rioters smashed windows, broke through doors and beat and bloodied law enforcement officers who were vastly underprepared for the mob.

Vincent Gillespie is the son of Gregory Gillespie, the artist whose self-portraits, fantasy landscapes and geometric abstractions are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and other museums.

His paintings are also at the center of a long-running and so far unsuccessful legal battle waged by Gillespie against his stepmother and her lawyers in an effort to contest control of the paintings. In a court filing from 2020, Vincent Gillespie described his father as a renowned artist who left more than 400 valuable paintings when he died.

Gillespies participation in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, appears well documented, including in photos and videos that helped tipsters identify him, investigators said.

Open-source video and security cameras captured multiple images of Gillespie participating in the riot, according to the Justice Department.

Investigators were tipped off by a former neighbor, the manager of a local hardware store and employees of the town of Athol, where Gillespie attends meetings and pays his tax bills at the town hall. In all, six witnesses independently identified him from images taken from the riot.

In the chaos of the insurrection, Gillespie shoved, yelled and pushed and fought with police, the FBI said. Images included in his court papers show him struggling through the crowd, eventually maneuvering through the rioters to the line of police officers and getting control of a police shield.

He's seen and heard on the body camera of a Metropolitan Police Department officer pushing his way through the crowd, using a police shield to ram officers and screaming traitor and treason as he points to a law enforcement officer, officials said.

After his arrest, Gillespie, 60, was ordered by a judge to stay away from Washington, except for court-related business. He was ordered not to possess a firearm or other weapons.

Gillespie's next court appearance is scheduled for April 29 before U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia.

Contacted by the AP following his arrest, Gillespie declined to comment.

My attorney advised against it. He said theres only downsides to it, he told the AP. Id like to talk. Theres a lot of stuff out there thats wrong.

It's not the first time Gillespie has been in court.

Years earlier, Gillespie made local headlines by contesting a $15 parking ticket  despite having to pay $250 in filing fees. He ended up fighting the filing fee, which was not refundable, all the way to the states highest court in 2011.

He did not receive a refund.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Sri Lankas government said Tuesday it is discussing obtaining another loan from Beijing to repay some of its debt to Chinese banks after China told the nearly bankrupt island nation it was not in favor of restructuring existing loans.

Sri Lanka has nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due for repayment this year and will need to repay $ 25 billion over the next five years. A severe shortage of foreign exchange means the country l acks money to buy imported goods, leading to shortages of food, fuel and other essentials.

The economic crisis has brought weeks of protests across the country calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksas resignation.

Government spokesman Nalaka Godahewa said Beijing was balking at restructuring Sri Lankas debt because it does not want to set that precedent. He told reporters the finance ministry will announce details of discussions with China later.

Earlier this month, the government said it was suspending repayment of foreign loans pending negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan restructuring plan.

Sri Lanka's debt problems are partly because it built infrastructure like a port, airport and road networks using Chinese loans, but the projects are not making money.

Rajapaksa had asked Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who visited Sri Lanka in January, to restructure those loans.

The government issued its statement a day after Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong said China was doing its utmost to help Sri Lanka. Qi scoffed at suggestions Beijing has Sri Lanka in a debt trap.

Western developed countries, especially those who colonized Sri Lanka in history, should also come and help, a Tweet from the Chinese embassy quoted Qi as saying.

The debt trap is only a myth, created and hyped by some foreign media and politicians intentionally, Qi said. He said China is neither the biggest nor the only lender to Sri Lanka and Beijing's projects are provided on concessional terms.

Japan, the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank are other large lenders, having begun the process of aiding Sri Lanka's economy much earlier than China.

Qi said it was unrealistic to expect all projects or loans to be flawless.

Central Bank figures show existing Chinese loans to Sri Lanka total around $3.38 billion, not including loans to state-owned businesses, which are counted separately and thought to be substantial.

Godahewa also said that the Cabinet has approved a project to offer residence visas for up to 10 years to foreigners who buy apartments in the country costing at least $75,000 and those who deposit more than $ 100,000 in local bank accounts.

He said the offer was made to help the construction industry weather the economic crisis and to attract more foreign currency.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Tennessee's attorney general is taking the one-time chief of staff of a former House speaker to court after he refused to comply with subpoenas in the investigation of a shadowy political action committee.

Attorney General Herbert Slatery asked a Nashville judge late last week to order Cade Cothren to explain why he shouldn't be held in contempt of court for not obeying the subpoenas in the investigation of the Faith Family Freedom Fund PAC. Cothren worked for Rep. Glen Casada before both resigned their top leadership roles in 2019 amid scandals.

Cothren's attorney has informed state campaign finance regulators that he is invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The attorney general's filing says Cothren's team hasn't cited sufficient reasons to do so.

Ahead of the 2020 GOP primary election, the PAC attacked then-Rep. Rick Tillis, who is the brother of North Carolina U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis. Rick Tillis lost to Republican Rep. Todd Warner, who was among those subject to FBI searches at the legislative building and other addresses in January 2021, alongside Casada, Cothren and ex-Republican Rep. Robin Smith.

In federal court, Cothren and Casada have been implicated in an alleged political consulting kickback scheme involving a different political entity that has prompted the guilty plea of another former lawmaker. Last month, Smith resigned and then pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the alleged scheme.

Federal authorities say Smith, Casada and Cothren collaborated on the separate consulting firm, Phoenix Solutions, as a way to funnel money to themselves secretively and illegally through both campaign and taxpayer-funded work. Prosecutors have so far kept Casada and Cothren unnamed and havent charged them with anything, but they described the two in easily identifiable terms in court documents.

Some fellow GOP House lawmakers have said they feel betrayed after Smith talked them into using the vendor. Prosecutors said the three claimed the firm was run by a certain Matthew Phoenix. In fact, it was Cothren using an alias because they feared lawmakers and the office of his successor, Speaker Cameron Sexton, wouldnt use the vendor if Cothrens involvement came to light, prosecutors allege.

Sexton, who has said he is cooperating in the investigation, was among those who testified along with other lawmakers in front of a grand jury last month.

Casada and Cothren had been pressured into resigning as speaker and chief of staff in 2019 over swirling scandals, including revelations they exchanged sexually explicit text messages about women years beforehand.

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, meanwhile, has referred its probes about the Faith Family Freedom Fund PAC to the Williamson County district attorneys office.

The registry decided to reopen an earlier probe into the Faith Family Freedom Fund after the PACs treasurer testified in January that she is Cothrens former girlfriend and she opened the PAC at Cothren's request. She said Cothren asked her to, saying Cothren assured her she was doing nothing wrong. She said she took no further action.

Cothren informed the registry in February that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and wouldnt abide by subpoenas for evidence and testimony in an investigation surrounding a political action committee, saying they were made in bad faith and are an abuse of process.

In its legal filing last week, the attorney general's office wrote that Cothren hasn't provided information to support those claims. The state's filing further argues Cothren's objections aren't sufficient to disobey the subpoenas and that he can't give a blanket assertion of invoking the Fifth Amendment.

Casada, who was also subpoenaed, has told the registry he wasnt involved with the Faith Family Freedom Fund.

Casada announced in November that he wouldnt run for reelection this year, and would instead run for Williamson County clerk.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will collect household hazardous waste in Dyer, Franklin and Williamson counties on Saturday.

Household hazardous waste is considered flammable, toxic, reactive or corrosive and should not be placed with regular garbage. Typical hazardous items include cleaning fluids, pesticides, mercury thermometers and thermostats, fluorescent lamps, lithium and button batteries, aerosols, adhesives, medications, brake fluid, swimming pool chemicals, paint thinner and used needles in sturdy containers.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Body camera video captured a "rage-filled" retired police officer attacking one of the outnumbered police officers trying to hold off a mob of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol, a federal prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

But a defense attorney said another video from a different angle shows that former New York City police officer Thomas Webster acted in self-defense after a Metropolitan Police Department officer punched him first.

Jurors saw both videos at the start of Webster's trial, the first among dozens of cases in which a defendant is charged with assaulting police at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hava Mirell also showed jurors a photo of Webster holding a U.S. Marine Corps flag on a metal pole in front of the Washington monument before the riot erupted.

He is smiling in that photo, but that smile would soon turn to rage, she said during the trials opening statements.

The prosecutor told jurors they will hear testimony from Noah Rathbun, the officer whom Webster is charged with assaulting with the flag pole.

Webster shoved a bike rack at Rathbun before swinging the flag pole at the officer in a downward chopping motion, striking a metal barricade in front of the officer, according to Mirell. After Rathbun grabbed the broken pole and retreated, Webster hunkered down, charged at the officer and tackled him to the ground, where Rathbun began to choke from the chin strap on his gas mask, the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney James Monroe accused Rathbun of using excessive force and provoking Webster by punching him in the face.

The government didn't tell you about that, Monroe told jurors.

Mirell said Rathbun stuck out an open palm to create space between him and Webster.

But the defendant kept getting angrier and angrier, she added.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who is presiding over Websters trial, said during a bond hearing last June that he didn't see Webster getting punched in the face on a video. The judge described Webster as an instigator.

It was his conduct that sort of broke the dam, at least in that area, Mehta said, according to a transcript.

Rathbun reported a hand injury from a separate encounter with a rioter inside the Capitol's Rotunda. A Metropolitan Police Department detective, Jonathan Lauderdale, said Rathbun initially didn't recall his encounter with Webster when he asked him about the incident. Lauderdale said other officers also forgot about key events from Jan. 6 amid the chaos.

If I could forget that, I would," Lauderdale testified.

Lauderdale acknowledged that he didn't see Webster shove an open hand at Webster's face during his initial review of the body camera video. He said Rathbun deserves credit for showing restraint based on what he saw.

The trial is scheduled to resume Wednesday with more testimony from prosecution witnesses.

Webster, now a self-employed landscaper, retired from the NYPD in 2011 after 20 years of service. He served in the Marine Corps in 1985, from 1989 before joining the NYPD in 1991. His department service included a stint on then-Mayor Michael Bloombergs private security detail.

Webster brought a gun when he traveled alone to Washington from his home in Florida, New York, a village in Orange County about 70 miles northwest of New York City. He wore his NYPD-issued bulletproof vest but says he left the pistol in his hotel room when he headed to the Jan. 6 rally where Trump spoke.

Webster faces six counts, including assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer using a dangerous weapon. He isnt accused of entering the Capitol on Jan. 6.

In his mind, this is a protest. He's not taking over any Capitol, Monroe said. He's there to have his voice heard.

Monroe also has argued that Webster was exercising his First Amendment free speech rights when he shouted profanities at police that day. The defense lawyer suggested that Webster became upset because he saw others in the crowd who were injured and bleeding.

Webster's trial in the fourth before a jury and the sixth overall. The first three Capitol riot defendants to get a jury trial were convicted of all charges in their respective indictments.

In a pair of bench trials, a different federal judge heard testimony without a jury before acquitting one defendant and partially acquitting another.

More than 780 people have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Department says over 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. More than 250 riot defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to nonviolent misdemeanors.

Jurors convicted two rioters of interfering with officers. One of the rioters, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The other, Texas resident Guy Wesley Reffitt, also was convicted of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun.

The third Capitol rioter to be convicted by a jury was Dustin Byron Thompson, an Ohio man who said he was following then-President Donald Trumps orders.
Former president Donald Trump has said he wouldn't rejoin Twitter, even if Elon Musk completes a $44 billion takeover of the company and rescinds his ban in the name of unfettered free speech.

But some of Trump's advisers don't believe he'd be able to stay away from the megaphone that fueled his rise to the presidency - even though he owns a Twitter clone, Truth Social, that has staked its existence on the exclusive use of Trump's online brand.

Trump supporters have for weeks preemptively clung to Musk's interest in Twitter as a surprise blessing - a way to overturn not just Trump's ban but what they argue, without evidence, is the systemic censorship of conservatives across the platform.

Trump himself has been telling advisers in recent weeks that he won't rejoin the social network that banned him last year after the U.S. Capitol riots, even if Musk upends the site's moderation policies. A Trump spokesman confirmed his comments Monday to Fox News that he planned to post exclusively to Truth Social in the coming weeks.

"I want everybody to come over to TRUTH - conservatives, liberals, whatever," Trump told Fox News. "The response on TRUTH is much better than being on Twitter."

Though Trump has publicly panned Twitter as boring and irrelevant, he still looks at the site often, mostly via printouts of tweets from politicians and journalists handed to him by his aides, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Trump's habits.

Trump regularly bemoans his lost reach - his Truth Social fan base is about 1% of his peak Twitter following - and complains that his comments now don't get as much pickup in public discussion or the press.

"Truth Social is working out its kinks, they are onboarding people . . . but he loved his Twitter," said a Trump adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Musk has not directly commented on Trump's potential return to the service but has repeatedly said his goal is to safeguard the platform as a vehicle of free expression - comments widely understood to mean a looming retreat from current moderation policies and enforcement actions. A person familiar with the matter said Trump had not spoken with Musk in the lead-up to the deal.

But Musk's Twitter purchase on Monday inspired celebration among Trump supporters - and dread among those who fear his return to the White House - who argue Musk has championed the idea, including in a tweet to his 84 million followers on Monday, that the platform should allow its "worst critics" to stay on the site "because that is what free speech means."

In a statement Monday, Musk said, "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated." He did not explicitly mention Trump.

Trump's Twitter ban, occurring after months in which he boosted election-fraud conspiracy theories and encouraged fans to take direct action to keep Joe Biden from the White House, lost him direct access to nearly 89 million followers and spurred anger among Trump supporters who called it Big Tech censorship.

Some observers outside Trump's orbit said they doubt he could resist the temptation to use a service that might again help him dominate the online conversation in the 2024 presidential race.

"That's just him being a spoilsport. Of course he wants to be back on Twitter," said Darren Linvill, lead researcher for the Clemson University Media Forensics Hub, which has studied the flow of online disinformation. "The thing that got him elected before has likely just been handed back to him."

But Musk's ideas of free speech do not match those of many scholars, who warn that in practice the voices of the powerful few - including both Musk and Trump - can drown out the others who make up the "town square." Moderation makes the playing field more even by curbing harassment, hate speech and amplification techniques such as automated bots that can distort the free flow of ideas.

"Everything bad that the internet gave us for so long is basically going to come roaring back," said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the nonprofit Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "And I think it's a tragedy."

As to Trump's claims of staying away from Twitter: "He is a well-known liar, as you know. I can't imagine him passing on that kind of audience."

If Trump were to rejoin Twitter, he'd probably diminish the value of his own Twitter rival, and he has turned down lucrative offers from other social media start-ups in favor of bolstering his own brand.

Trump has been telling people in recent weeks that Devin Nunes, the former California representative who left Congress to become the company's chief, is fixing Truth Social's glacially slow rollout, technical errors and other flaws.

The former president has privately griped about the app's numerous problems, leading to the resignations of three top executives and regular visits from Nunes to Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla.

Conservative lawmakers and commentators took a victory lap Monday over Musk's successful Twitter takeover, urging the world's richest man to reinstate Trump and arguing the deal could help them regain their own banned accounts.

The House Republicans tweeted to Musk directly that "it's a great week to free @realDonaldTrump," and Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., who's running for secretary of state and has pledged to rescind the valid 2020 results, tweeted, "WELCOME BACK FIRST AMENDMENT!"

But the news also pummeled the financial prospects of Truth Social, the cornerstone of Trump's lofty ambitions to build the start-up Trump Media & Technology Group into a new internet and media empire. The share price of Digital World Acquisition, a blank-check company critical to taking Trump's company public, plunged 13% after news broke of the Musk deal Monday and has lost two-thirds of its value since early March.

Trump himself has been a late adopter of the network, posting on Truth Social only once, two months ago ("Get Ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!"). People close to him said earlier this month that he had no intention of using it until it was a proven success. At a rally Saturday in Ohio, he even messed up its name, calling it "Truth Central."

Twitter executives used to boast that their company was part of "the free speech wing of the free speech party." But years of controversy - including harassment, racism, hate speech, misinformation and terrorist activity on the platform - pushed Twitter to develop increasingly sophisticated moderation policies, as well as mechanisms to enforce them.

That culminated with the move on Jan. 6, 2021, to lock out then-President Trump in the hours after thousands of his supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol. The company threatened to ban him if he didn't stop inciting violence, then made good on the threat two days later, severing Trump from a platform where he once posted dozens of times a day.

The move, as with other moderation steps by Twitter and its social media peers, provoked howls of protest from conservatives who argued that Trump's right to free speech had been abridged, part of what they portrayed as persistent bias from companies based in Northern California.

Jason Miller, a former top Trump adviser who runs his own conservative-friendly social network Gettr, said he believes Trump has no interest in returning to a platform he argues suffers from "a cultural problem . . . of political discrimination."

Miller called Musk "one of the most talented innovators of our time" but said he will "find out it's easier to put a man on Mars than it is to change the culture of Twitter."

"Anything short of Donald Trump returning to Twitter will send a signal that Twitter is not serious about ending their political discrimination problem," Miller added.

With business interests in cars, space flight, public transit, artificial intelligence and other arenas eyeing the possibility of stronger federal regulation, Musk could have an incentive to be kind to a possible future president - especially one with an established legacy of punishing his enemies.

But Camille Francois, a disinformation researcher at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, warned against the fixation on whether Trump rejoins the platform and said that lifetime bans create serious human rights concerns.

"The Trump question isn't the right one to focus on," she said. "A new management could halt lots of the hard work and progress Twitter has done on these topics without bringing Trump's account back online; or give the teams working on content moderation the space and support they need while bringing Trump's account back."
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP)  A seafood processing plant has been fined $56,000 in connection with a 2021 COVID outbreak that left one employee dead.

The Department of Labor and Industries announced the fine against Shining Ocean Inc. on Monday, Northwest News Network reported.

According to the agency, a 65-year old employee of the Sumner company died after contracting COVID at a company staff meeting on November 4, 2021. During the meeting, the investigation found most of the 23 people in attendance did not wear masks. Sixteen workers contracted COVID, including the man who later died.

In May 2021, L&I issued updated workplace masking guidelines. Under those rules, fully vaccinated employees were not required to wear masks. However, masks were still mandated for unvaccinated employees.

The agency said Shining Ocean employees told investigators that the companys president had indicated to them it was a matter of personal choice whether to wear a mask. The company, reportedly, also didnt have a process in place at the time for verifying worker vaccination status.

Management got complacent about workplace safety, and it cost a worker his life, said Craig Blackwood, assistant director of L&I, said in a written statement.

The company did not respond to a call seeking comment.

Shining Ocean has paid the fine in full, according to L&I. Because the violation is classified as willful serious, L&I said the company will face heightened scrutiny under the agencys severe violator program.

The fine is the latest in a series of COVID-related workplace safety fines and settlements assessed by the state over the past year, including a $2 million settlement reached with Gebbers Farms Operations in Brewster, Washington last August after two farmworkers died from COVID-19 in 2020. A pair of inspections found 24 egregious willful violations, including unsafe sleeping conditions. Under the settlement, one of the largest in state history, Gebbers agreed to invest the $2 million in health, safety and housing upgrades.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Three days before Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter, the world's richest man tweeted a photo of Bill Gates and used a crude sexual term to make fun of his belly.

Playful, aggressive and often juvenile, Musk's past tweets show how he has used social media to craft his public image as a brash billionaire unafraid to offend. They may also reveal clues as to how Musk will govern the platform he hopes to own.

Look at the feed: It's all over the place. It's erratic. At times it's pretty extreme, said Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University professor who studies social media and who recently assigned Musk's tweets as reading material for their students. It paints him as some sort of rebel leader who will take control of the public square to save it. That is a myth he has constructed.

Musk joined Twitter in 2010 and now has more than 85 million followers  the seventh most of any account and the highest for any business leader. He had mused about buying the site before he agreed on Monday to pay $44 billion for Twitter, which he said he hopes to turn into a haven where all speech is allowed.

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means, Musk wrote in a tweet.

As the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk uses his Twitter account to make business announcements and promote his enterprises. He muses about technology and trade, but has also posted jokes about women's breasts and once compared Canada's prime minister to Hitler. He regularly weighs in on global events, as he did in March 2020 when he tweeted that The coronavirus pandemic is dumb."

He's also used the account to punch back at critics, such as when he called a diver working to rescue boys trapped in a cave in Thailand a pedo," short for pedophile. The diver had previously criticized Musk's proposal to use a sub to rescue the boys. Musk, who won a defamation suit filed by the diver, later said he never intended pedo to be interpreted as pedophile.

A few years ago, after software engineer Cher Scarlett criticized Musk's handling of the cave incident, the tech billionaire fired back and she was soon being harassed by dozens of Musk's online fans. He later deleted the posts, but not before Scarlett had to lock down her account because she was receiving so many hateful messages.

It's ironic to me that somebody who claims they want to buy Twitter to protect free speech has such thin skin, she said. He's a very smart man, and when he replies to people that criticize him, he knows what he's doing. To me that's not championing free speech, it's weaponizing free speech, and I think that's what he'll do owning this platform.

Nineteen-year-old Jack Sweeney got Musk's attention when he created an automated Twitter account that tracked the movements of Musk's jet. Musk responded by offering Sweeney $5,000 to pull the account. When Sweeney refused, Musk blocked him on Twitter.

Sweeney said he's worried he may get kicked off the site entirely if Musk's takeover is approved. But he said he likes Musk's free speech absolutism, and hopes he sees it through.

Hell make it more open, and I think that's a good thing, Sweeney said.

Musk's use of Twitter has also led to problems for his own companies. In one August 2018 tweet, for instance, Musk asserted that he had the funding to take Tesla private for $420 a share, although a court has ruled that it wasnt true. That led to an SEC investigation that Musk is still fighting.

More recently, Musk appeared to have violated SEC rules that required him to disclose that hed acquired a 5% stake in Twitter; instead he waited until he had more than 9%. Experts say these issues arent likely to affect his Twitter acquisition.

Last year another federal agency, the National Labor Relations Board, ordered Musk to delete a tweet that officials said illegally threatened to cut stock options for Tesla employees who joined the United Auto Workers union.

Those tweets helped cement Musk's reputation as a brash outsider, a workingman's billionaire, Grygiel said. But that doesn't mean he is equipped to run a social media platform with more than 200 million users, the professor added.

Maybe he wants to burn it down, Grygiel said. I don't know. But I do know that it shows that no one person should have this kind of power.
TROY  A combination of hot temperatures, strong southerly winds and low humidity sent a commercial mulch fire into overdrive Saturday afternoon in Troy.

Troy Fire Protection District's acting chief Kevin Manso said the fire started in a two-acre commercial mulch pile at Midwest Compost and Mulch in the 2400 block of Formosa Road, at the southwest corner of Interstates 270 and 55.

Midwest Compost and Mulch did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

Manso said water does not really help with this kind of fire. The disposal company had to bring in extra rental equipment  five trackhoes  to turn the pile over. Emergency crews helped the employees with this process, which extinguished the surface fire.

Glen Carbon and Marine fire crews were called on the scene for mutual aid. Maryville Fire Department was on standby Saturday to cover any emergencies in Troy while crews handled the blaze.

No one was injured in the fire, but a pair of truck trailers that had been parked near the pile were lost. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The National Weather Service St. Louis office recorded a high of 87 degrees Saturday, with a max wind gust of 46 mph.

"Winds were definitely a factor," Manso said. He said crews were on-scene from about 3 p.m. until 9:30 p.m., putting out hotspots and ensuring the mulch pile did not re-ignite.

"We have been out there before for similar events but at a lesser intensity," he said. "The crews did a wonderful job; they kept the fire contained to the pile."

Before crews arrived at the site, the strong winds had already blown smoke from the blaze into Glen Carbon and southern Edwardsville. Manso said he heard reports of the smoke making it as far north as Illinois 143. Glen Carbon and Edwardsville residents called their respective police and fire departments to make reports about the visible smoke.

Due to the smoke reducing visibility, the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois State Police closed Interstates 55/70 and 270 between I-55/70 and Illinois 159.

"Saturday at 2:55 p.m., troopers had all lanes of I-270 east, I-55 north and south, and I-70 west shut down and re-routed," Illinois State Police Trooper Elizabeth Clausing said Monday. "At approximately 4 p.m., I-55 north and southbound were opened. At approximately 8:30 p.m. all lanes of I-270 and I-70 were opened up."

Manso said his crews left behind extra equipment, such as hoses, with the Midwest Compost and Mulch employees who continued to work on the pile Sunday. The employees returned the fire department's equipment on Monday.

According to the website Turfscape.com, in many mulch fires, smoldering mulch tunnels under the surface then breaks out into open flame. Mulch that is piled too deeply, more than a few inches, can build up heat and spontaneously catch fire.

Factors such as below-average rainfall, dry conditions, warm temperatures and high winds increase the risk of mulch fires.
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MADISON, Wis. (AP)  The Republican-ordered investigation into the 2020 election in Wisconsin that was supposed to wrap up this week will continue just as Donald Trump urged, but with no more taxpayer money to pay for it, the state's top Republican said Tuesday.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos' announcement that the probe into President Joe Biden's win in the battleground state will go on beyond Saturday, when the contract with the investigator was scheduled to end, came a day after Trump issued a not-so thinly veiled threat to Vos if he shut it down.

Vos referenced several ongoing lawsuits related to the investigation, but not Trump, in explaining the extension.

The Office of Special Counsel will remain open as we guarantee the legal power of our legislative subpoenas and get through the other lawsuits that have gridlocked this investigation, Vos said.

Wisconsins review is one of only a handful of GOP efforts to look back at the 2020 election that remain alive.

A much-ridiculed investigation wrapped up in September in Arizona without offering proof to support Trumps claims of a stolen election. Similar efforts are being pursued by Republicans in the presidential battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, also won by Biden. And in Utah, a panel of majority-GOP lawmakers in December approved an audit of the states election system. Unlike Arizona, the Utah effort will be conducted by nonpartisan legislative auditors and is not focused solely on 2020.

Vos hired former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman at $11,000 a month and launched the probe after Trump and others put pressure on him to investigate the 2020 election in Wisconsin. Biden carried Wisconsin by nearly 21,000 votes, an outcome that has survived recounts, partisan and nonpartisan reviews and numerous lawsuits.

Vos said the investigation would continue under its original $676,000 budget with Gableman agreeing to a pay cut. He didn't say how much of a cut and his spokeswoman, Angela Joyce, said details were still being finalized. She said Gableman had asked to purchase the state office equipment he had been using, and Vos agreed. She had no further details.

Vos, the longest-serving Assembly speaker in state history, has tried to appease the wing of his party that supports Trump and questions the outcome of the election, while also pushing back against those who want to decertify Biden's win.

Trump on Monday called for the investigation to go forward.

Anyone calling themselves a Republican in Wisconsin should support the continued investigation in Wisconsin without interference, Trump said in a statement.

I understand some RINOs have primary challengers in Wisconsin, Trump said without naming Vos or his primary challenger, Adam Steen. Im sure their primary opponents would get a huge bump in the polls if these RINOs interfere.

The acronym RINO refers to Republican In Name Only.

Gableman, in a series of recent appearances on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's podcasts, has urged Vos to allow the work to continue. Gableman asked listeners to call and email Vos to tell him not to have movers remove state furniture from his office on Tuesday.

Gableman did not return a message Tuesday.

Gablemans inquiry has drawn bipartisan criticism from the start. A conservative, he worked briefly in the Trump administration and said right after the election that he believed it had been stolen from Trump.

Once the investigation began, Gableman was criticized for surrounding himself with Trump loyalists, sending confusing emails, making basic errors in his filings and for meeting with conspiracy theorists. He was sued over his response to open records requests and for subpoenas of mayors and other local elections officials who said they were willing to testify publicly, but not behind closed doors. A hearing on Gableman's case seeking to jail the mayors for noncompliance is scheduled for July.

A judge last week ordered Gableman to stop deleting emails and other records. On Tuesday, the judge set a June 10 hearing to determine whether Gableman should be found in contempt. Vos has already been found to be in contempt for failing to produce records in another case.

Gableman has delivered two interim reports, most recently in March, but he has failed to meet numerous deadlines. None of his findings provided substantiated evidence that Trump actually won Wisconsin.

Gablemans recommendation that the Republican-controlled Legislature take a look at decertifying Bidens win was met with bipartisan scorn.

In recent weeks, Gableman drew new criticism for disparaging how Wisconsins top elections administrator, Meagan Wolfe, dressed.

Investigative documents posted publicly in late April showed the probe had expanded to look at the political leanings of public workers involved in elections. One unsigned memo drew criticism; it described a Milwaukee city employee as probably a Democrat because she has a weird nose ring, colors her hair and lives with her boyfriend.

Theres something wrong with him, Republican state Sen. Kathy Bernier, chairwoman of the Senate elections committee, said of Gableman in response to that memo.
WFO BUFFALO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Buffalo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Wayne County in western New York...

Northern Cayuga County in central New York...

Northeastern Ontario County in western New York...

* Until 845 PM EDT.

* At 749 PM EDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Ontario to near Bristol, moving east at 50 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to trees and power lines.

* Locations impacted include...

Geneva, Canandaigua, Fair Haven, Newark, Williamson, Marion,

Lyons, Palmyra, Clifton Springs and Clyde.

This includes Interstate 90 between exits 43 and 42.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

North central Hidalgo County in Deep South Texas...

Northeastern Starr County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 915 PM CDT.

* At 845 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near La Reforma,

or 16 miles southwest of Rachal, moving south at 10 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Puerto Rico, La Gloria, La Reforma, Santa Catarina, San Isidro,

Santa Elena and Delmita.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Small 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.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN JIM HOGG AND

SOUTH CENTRAL BROOKS COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The storm which prompted the warning has moved out of the area.

Therefore, the warning has been cancelled. However gusty winds are

still possible with this thunderstorm.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

South central Starr County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 930 PM CDT.

* At 859 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Las Lomas, or

7 miles northeast of Rio Grande City, moving south at 15 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Rio Grande City, Garciasville, La Puerta, Ringgold Middle School,

La Victoria, Fort Ringgold County Park, Starr County Sheriffs

Office, Las Lomas, Rio Grande City Fire Department and Santa Cruz.

This includes US Highway 83 between mile markers 820 and 828.

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.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, April 26, 2022

_____

FLASH FLOOD WARNING

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for...

Western Hidalgo County in deep south Texas...

Eastern Starr County in deep south Texas...

* Until 1245 AM CDT.

* At 940 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across much of eastern Starr County. Between 2 and 4

inches of rain have already fallen here. Additional rainfall

amounts of 1 to 2 inches are possible in the warned area. Flash

flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly.

HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms.

SOURCE...Radar.

IMPACT...Flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban

areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as

other poor drainage and low-lying areas.

* Some locations that will experience flash flooding include...

Rio Grande City, Palmview, Penitas, Sullivan City, La Joya,

McCook, Los Ebanos, Garciasville, La Grulla, Santa Catarina,

Citrus City, Puerto Rico, La Reforma, San Isidro, La Gloria, La

Victoria.

Public is reporting that sections of FM755 in northeastern Starr

County has water flowing over the road in several areas of around 6

inches depth.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the

dangers of flooding.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Brownsville TX

1010 PM CDT Mon Apr 25 2022

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTH CENTRAL STARR COUNTY

WILL EXPIRE AT 1015 PM CDT...

The storm which prompted the warning has moved out of the area.

Therefore, the warning will be allowed to expire. However gusty

winds are still possible with this thunderstorm.

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southwestern Atascosa County in south central Texas...

* Until 1100 PM CDT.

* At 1010 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Charlotte,

moving northeast at 15 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Pleasanton, Jourdanton, Charlotte, Dobrowolski, Amphion and Davis.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Prepare immediately for large hail and deadly cloud to ground

lightning. Seek shelter inside a well-built structure. Stay away from

windows.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, April 26, 2022

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service Brownsville TX

503 AM CDT Tue Apr 26 2022

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern Cameron

County through 600 AM CDT...

At 503 AM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over

Laguna Heights, or near South Padre Island, moving northeast at 45

mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects.

Locations impacted include...

Port Isabel City Hall, Holly Beach, Laguna Heights, Port Isabel

Lighthouse, Port Isabel High School, Port Isabel Fire And Police

Department, Laguna Vista Police Department, Garria Elementary School,

Washington Park and Bayview.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to

localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded

roadways.

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe

shelter inside a building or vehicle.

LAT...LON 2593 9730 2614 9743 2624 9729 2625 9729

2624 9728 2613 9728 2614 9726 2614 9724

2611 9730 2608 9723 2612 9722 2606 9719

2606 9717 2600 9726 2601 9716 2597 9715

TIME...MOT...LOC 1003Z 242DEG 39KT 2608 9727

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for...

Southeastern Cameron County in deep south Texas...

* Until 700 AM CDT.

* At 504 AM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across the warned area. Between 2 and 3 inches of rain

have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches are

possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is already occurring.

HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms.

SOURCE...Radar.

IMPACT...Flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban

areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as

other poor drainage and low-lying areas.

* Some locations that will experience flash flooding include...

Port Of Brownsville, Southmost, Cameron Park, Downtown

Brownsville, Brownsville, Lincoln Park, Rivera High School,

Gonzalez Elementary School, Perkins Middle School, El Jardin

Elementary School, North Brownsville Little League, Brownsville

South Padre Island International Airport, Brownsville Fire

Department Station Six, Gallegos Elementary School, Hanna High

School, Brownsville Public Library Southmost Branch, Southmost

Elementary School, B I S D Administration Building, Northside

Transfer Station and Faulk Middle School.

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the

dangers of flooding.

Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO CORPUS CHRISTI Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southeastern Duval County in south central Texas...

* Until 700 PM CDT.

* At 612 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Concepcion,

or 12 miles south of Benavides, moving south at 10 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Concepcion, Ramirez, Rios and Cruz Calle.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO CORPUS CHRISTI Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Corpus Christi TX

714 PM CDT Mon Apr 25 2022

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 745 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHWESTERN JIM WELLS AND WESTERN KLEBERG COUNTIES...

At 713 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over La Gloria, or

south of Premont, moving south at 5 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Premont and La Gloria.

This includes US Highway 281 between mile markers 702 and 708.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northeastern Brooks County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 815 PM CDT.

* At 714 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over La Colonia

Park, or over Falfurrias, moving south at 5 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Falfurrias, Falfurrias Junior High School, Pleasant Park, La

Colonia Park, Airport Road Addition, Falfurrias Fire Station,

Flowella, Brooks County Airport, Cantu Addition and Brooks County

Detention Center.

This includes US Highway 281 between mile markers 710 and 716.

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.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO SHREVEPORT Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, April 27, 2022

_____

FLOOD WARNING

Flood Statement

National Weather Service Shreveport LA

827 PM CDT Mon Apr 25 2022

...The Flood Warning continues for the following rivers in Texas...

Sulphur River Near Talco affecting Morris, Titus, Franklin and

Red River Counties.

For the Sulphur River...including Talco...Minor flooding is forecast.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Do not drive cars through flooded areas.

Caution is urged when walking near riverbanks.

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

For more hydrologic information, copy and paste the following website

address into your favorite web browser URL bar:

water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=shv

The next statement will be issued Tuesday evening at 830 PM CDT.

...FLOOD WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT TO WEDNESDAY

EVENING...

* WHAT...Minor flooding is forecast.

* WHERE...Sulphur River Near Talco.

* WHEN...From late tonight to Wednesday evening.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- At 7:45 PM CDT Monday the stage was 13.4 feet.

- Forecast...The river is expected to rise above flood stage

late tonight to a crest of 22.0 feet early tomorrow

afternoon. It will then fall below flood stage early

Wednesday morning.

- Flood stage is 20.0 feet.

- Flood History...This crest compares to a previous crest of

22.1 feet on 05/12/2015.

- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northeastern Starr County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 915 PM CDT.

* At 829 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Santa

Catarina, or 14 miles northwest of Mccook, moving south at 15 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* This severe thunderstorm will remain over mainly rural areas of

northeastern Starr County.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
Page Content

A statement from Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Charlotte Burrows in late October 2021 announced the employment agency's launch of an initiative to ensure artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging tools used in hiring and other employment decisions comply with federal civil rights laws.

"The EEOC is keenly aware that [artificial intelligence and algorithmic decision-making] tools may mask and perpetuate bias or create new discriminatory barriers to jobs. We must work to ensure that these new technologies do not become a high-tech pathway to discrimination," Burrows said.



The EEOC is not alone in its concerns about the use of AI, machine learning and related technologies in employment decision-making activities. On March 25, 2022, California's Fair Employment and Housing Council discussed draft regulations regarding automated-decision systems. The draft regulations were informed by testimony at a hearing last year the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) held on Algorithms & Bias.

Algorithms are increasingly making significant impacts on people's lives, including in connection with important employment decisions, such as job applicant screening. Depending on the design of these newer technologies and the data used, AI and similar tools risk perpetrating biases that are hard to detect. Of course, the AI conundrum is not limited to employment. Research in the US and China, for example, suggests AI biases can lead to disparities in healthcare.

Under the draft regulations, the DFEH attempts to update its regulations to include newer technologies such as algorithms it refers to as an "automated decision system" (ADS). The draft regulation defines ADS as: a computational process, including one derived from machine-learning, statistics, or other data processing or artificial intelligence techniques, that screens, evaluates, categorizes, recommends, or otherwise makes a decision or facilitates human decision making that impacts employees or applicants.

Examples of ADS include:

Algorithms that screen resumes for particular terms or patterns.

Algorithms that employ face and/or voice recognition to analyze facial expressions, word choices and voices.

Algorithms that employ gamified testing that include questions, puzzles or other challenges are used to make predictive assessments about an employee or applicant to measure characteristics including but not limited to dexterity, reaction time or other physical or mental abilities or characteristics.

Algorithms that employ online tests meant to measure personality traits, aptitudes, cognitive abilities and/or cultural fit.

The draft regulations would make it unlawful for an employer or covered entity to use qualification standards, employment tests, ADS, or other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an applicant or employee or a class of applicants or employees based on characteristics protected by the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), unless the standards, tests, or other selection criteria, are shown to be job-related for the position in question and are consistent with business necessity.

The draft regulations include rules for both the applicant selection and interview processes. Specifically, the use of and reliance upon ADS that limit or screen out or tend to limit or screen out applicants based on protected characteristics may constitute a violation of the FEHA.

The draft regulations would expand employers' record-keeping requirements by requiring them to include machine-learning data as part of the record-keeping requirement, and by extending the retention period for covered records under the current regulations from two to four years.

Additionally, the draft regulations would add a record retention requirement for any person "who engages in the advertisement, sale, provision, or use of a selection tool, including but not limited to an automated-decision system, to an employer or other covered entity." These persons, who might include third-party vendors supporting employers' use of such technologies, would be required to retain records of the assessment criteria used by the ADS for each employer or covered entity.

During the March 25 meeting, it was stressed that the regulations are intended to show how current law applies to new technology and not intended to propose new liabilities. This remains to be seen as the effect of these new regulations, if adopted, could expand exposure to liability or at least more challenges to employers leveraging these technologies.

The regulations are currently in the pre-rulemaking phase and the DFEH is accepting public comment on the regulations. Comments about the regulations can be submitted to the Fair Employment and Housing Council at FEHCouncil@dfeh.ca.gov.

Joseph J. Lazzarotti is an attorney with Jackson Lewis in Berkeley Heights, N.J. Rob Yang is an attorney with Jackson Lewis in San Francisco.  2022 Jackson Lewis. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.
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We dont need hydrogen. Hydrogen hubs are not going to defend us against military bases in the Solomon Islands, he told Sky News. We need reliable power now. And thats why we should be building the coal-fired power stations. Boyce said hydrogen technology had problems that are huge in terms of turning hydrogen into industrial production. The Coalition has promised to reduce emissions by at least 26 per cent by 2030, based on 2005 levels of greenhouse pollution, and to hit net zero by 2050. Labor has pledged to cut emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and also to hit net zero by 2050. Five Liberal MPs are under threat in formerly blue-ribbon electorates from well-funded climate independents who are campaigning for stronger emissions reduction targets. The electorates are Kooyong and Goldstein in Victoria and Wentworth, Mackellar and North Sydney in NSW.

The Nationals position on net zero and hydrogen risks creating the same dilemma that former Labor leader Bill Shorten confronted in the 2019 election, when he was accused of sending contradictory messages to urban and regional electorates. Labor is already accusing the Coalition of hypocrisy over the divisions between the Liberals promotion of net zero and the Nationals climate scepticism. Loading Joyce, however, backed the governments investment in hydrogen and said it could enable an economic transition from gas exports. Were going to build up another industry and allow you to choose between the two, he told The Australian Financial Review. The Nationals leader only signed up to Morrisons commitment to net zero after an undisclosed arrangement with the prime minister. The Nationals secured a $20 billion funding package in the March budget and an extra cabinet position. Labor leader Anthony Albanese promised there would be no carbon tax or coal job losses under the oppositions more ambitious climate policy, which includes stricter emissions caps for some of the countrys largest polluting businesses.

Whitehaven boss Flynn said Labors plan looked like a tax on carbon. Loading It certainly looks as if some in [Labor] want to turn an emissions reporting mechanism into a carbon levy by stealth, all while claiming the policy position is pretty much the same as the existing Government scheme, Flynn said. Those two things cant be true at the same time. The Coalition established the Safeguard Mechanism in 2016 to set limits on the 215 biggest industrial polluters that together generate 28 per cent of Australias emissions, but to date the limits on polluters have been so slight that industrial emissions have increased since the mechanism was established.

Labors climate policy would impose emissions caps on these big polluters to drive down national emissions, while it invests heavily to boost renewable energy. The political rift follows a split in the mining industry over climate policy. While Whitehaven criticises Labors more ambitious climate plans, Rio Tinto earlier this month cut ties with Queensland Resources Council after it expressed concerns about its advocacy for coal. BHP and Origin Energy suspended their memberships in 2020 after the council told Queenslanders to vote Greens last at the 2020 state election. The Minerals Council of Australia has said it wants to consult with Labor over its plans. Loading Whitehaven, a $4.5 billion ASX-listed company, employs 2500 workers spanning four mines across the NSW Gunnedah Basin where it produces power-station coal and steel-making coal to be exported to Asia. The company is developing two other coal projects in Queenslands Bowen Basin. Labor climate change and energy spokesman Chris Bowen has promised that the Clean Energy Regulator would tailor how emissions-intensive, trade exposed industries like coal were treated under the safeguard mechanism to ensure they were not disadvantaged by an uneven playing field with competitors overseas.

Flynn on Tuesday said it appeared Labor had not previously assessed the impact its emissions policies could inflict on the nations coal industry and its workforces. The fact the ALP sees such an enlarged role for the Clean Energy Regulator in negotiating with impacted facilities suggests some in Labor are only just beginning to turn their minds to what this policy might look like in practice and what the impacts could be across the economy, he said. Loading Bowen said Labor had announced its policy in December, backed by the Business Council of Australia and supported by the Australian Industry Group. He denied it constituted a tax. Whitehaven says it is concerned about the Clean Energy Regulator looking at each facility, but that is exactly what it does now. Labor will provide tailored treatment for emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industries. This means Australian industries wont be impacted by a greater constraint than their competitors overseas, he said.
Uber is being sued by the competition watchdog for telling 2 million customers they could be charged a fee for cancellations that were actually free and for inflating the predicted price of regular taxis booked on its platform.

The ride-sharing giant has already admitted the breach in a settlement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and the Federal Court will determine whether the agreed $26 million penalty is appropriate.

Uber typically has a free cancellation period of five minutes after a driver has accepted a trip. However, between at least December 2017 and September 2021 it told consumers wanting to cancel in that time: you may be charged a small fee since your driver is already on their way.

Uber has agreed to make joint submissions with the ACCC for a $26 million fine. Credit:AP

Uber changed it in September 2021 to read: You wont be charged a cancellation fee.
Humphrey B. Bear is watched by more than one million little Australians each week, and in the interests of explaining the phenomenon, we felt it about time parents knew what sort of man, or men, stumble around inside Humphrey. The explanation is difficult, as some adults are convinced that Humphrey is indeed Humphrey.

ADULTS intent on clinging to childhood heroes, be they Britains Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, Americas Mickey Mouse or Australias own Snugglepot and friends, must realise that a new idol has entered the toddlers pantheon.

Neil Smith, the executive producer of childrens programmes at NWS-9 in Adelaide refused us permission to speak to the inner Humphrey because of the need to preserve, the reality of Humphrey. The television station produces Heres Humphrey and occasionally we have spied the bear prancing around the continent at shopping centres and church fetes. But, Rob Carless, the coordinator of Humphrey Bear Enterprises, is loath to admit that Humphrey clones exist. There is only one Humphrey, he says. And he is a very busy bear, what with having to appear all over the country.

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Humphrey is a fairly profitable bear, making his money through network deals and sales to country television stations and licensing deals negotiated by keepers at HBE. Humphrey charges $370 for a 30-minute spot at neighbourhood shopping centres, and Humphrey products include T-shirts, sweets, biscuits, adventure playground equipment and a range of dolls costing up to $120.

Graeme Dowd and Peter Faux, freelance dancers and choreographers, play inside Humphrey B. Bear skins in Melbourne, and both are dedicated to their job. Humphrey is very important to a lot of children, Mr Faux says. He shows toddlers how to do exercises, obey parents and eat their vegetables.

Humphrey is not exactly a hyperactive bear, limiting his repertoire to rubbing his tummy and shaking his head. According to the insiders, a great deal of skill is required to operate the large awkward costume. I can see through the mouth, Mr Dowd tells us. But, of course, I have to keep it closed, otherwise the kids can see in.
Emmanuel Macrons victory in the French presidential election on Sunday was not just a victory for the young presidents vision of France and its role in the world, or centrism versus the far-right wing, although it was both of those things.

It was also a victory for fashion, especially high fashion, and the role it plays in reflecting French culture and heritage to the world.

Brigitte Macron wore custom-made cropped Louis Vuitton navy jacket with silver military detailing and matching pants to her husbands re-election night. Credit:Getty

If in doubt, simply consider the election night outfit of Brigitte Macron: a custom-made cropped Louis Vuitton navy jacket with silver military detailing and matching pants, perfectly co-ordinated with her husbands navy suit. It was a choice that reflected the couples united front as well as the ideological battleground the election had become. And it acted as a subtle signal from an administration with a bent toward big business and the free market that those relations will continue to flourish in its second term.

Luxury, after all, has been cozying up to Emmanuel Macron since his first run for president, in 2017, and Louis Vuitton has been his wifes brand of choice since she became first lady.
Well-intentioned billionaires have taken it upon themselves to turbocharge the clean energy transition  but are they really doing more harm than good?

Simon Holmes a Court is partly financing the climate-focused teal independents, but this week came under fire in The Australian for allegations of conflicts of interest due to his extensive investments in renewable energy companies.

Are billionaires helping or hurting the climate movement? Sir Christopher Hohn, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Simon Holmes a Court. Credit:

While Holmes a Court has been open about his investments, the reports were quickly seized on by Liberal incumbent Dave Sharma and threaten to cause headaches for candidates campaigning on platforms of integrity.

Technology billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes last month launched an audacious takeover bid for AGL, to shut down its coal-fired power stations early, and accelerate the companys transition to renewable energy.
After its 2008 operations in Georgia, Russia began a series of reforms that set the groundwork for its recent invasion of Ukraine.

This makeover saw a reorganisation of the Russian military from its Cold War structures to what we were led to believe was a more professional, and advanced institution of higher readiness.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has overseen a transformation of his countrys military. Credit:AP

At the same time, it issued new doctrine on warfare, and integrated lessons from operations in Syria.

But the ultimate test of such transformation programs lies on the battlefield. In this regard, the Russian military reforms appear to have been suboptimal at best.
Labor plan to train the armed forces of Pacific nations amid China threat

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Hey, want to hear about how Twitter is approaching the election? We dont either. But thats just us.

Interviews with Twitters public policy head Kara Hinesley were rescheduled after news broke that Elon Musk had bought the company. Credit:John Shakespeare

However, we do acknowledge that there are A LOT of people obsessed with the microblogging social media platform. It was to cater to that group that last week the company offered several media outlets interviews with Kara Hinesley, head of public policy for Twitter Australia and New Zealand, to discuss what the platform is doing to ensure healthy conversations during the election period.

And as the news cycle moved on and serial disruptor Elon Musk struck again and bought the social media company, it looked like even more fortuitous timing. Is there such thing as a positive disruption - after all, who doesnt want to hear how the goal of ensuring healthy conversations fits with Musks declarations about the importance of free speech?

Alas, we are now not likely to find out, this week, at any rate. Early Tuesday, the interview was urgently rescheduled to an unknown date. Complete coincidence, we are sure.
Shore School has stopped allowing students to bring their own laptops to class partly because boys were distracted by online gambling, social media and pornography when they were supposed to be listening to their teachers.

At an information evening for parents of year 12 students last month, the principal of the high-fee Anglican school, Timothy Petterson, said the Bring Your Own Device policy (BYOD) had been sub-optimal to the learning of students.

Shore has introduced a new laptop policy which is partly driven by concerns that boys are being distracted. Credit:Flavio Brancaleone

Teachers at the information night acknowledged behavioural problems in year 9, saying three boys were asked to seek an education elsewhere because they did not meet expectations. Teachers also discussed concerns about vulgar Instagram pages set up by students.

Petterson said classroom distraction was one of the reasons why the school decided to change its laptop policy, and quoted an article by a year 12 student from the class of 2021, which was written for, but never published by, The Shore Weekly Record.
In primary school, we were taught alliteration in poetry. All ears was I when our alliterative leader leapt in lately with the august and apt arc of autocracy. This linguistic leadership can only be lost or eliminated on election day but, alas and alack, what a lamentable loss to lose our own arc of alliteration. Meantime, where are our seven submarines to solve our ship shortage or shore up our Solomons slippage? Ivan Head, Burradoo Scott Morrison has repeated his glib mantra that an arc of autocracy is challenging the rules-based order our grandparents had secured, and democratic freedoms. I contend that the main threat to Australias rules-based order and democratic freedoms is not coming from China or Russia but much closer to home in the form of his government, which has failed to introduce a federal corruption commission with teeth. John Payne, Kelso On Anzac Day, we heard our PM extol the rules-based international order, yet just in 2019 he said that it doesnt serve our national interests when international institutions demand conformity rather than independent co-operation on global issues. It may surprise him that rules are supposed to be conformed to, no matter how uncomfortable that is at times. Of course, our leader is adept at adopting a variety of positions when it suits and clearly any rules-based approach to climate and emissions is always an exception. Tony Sullivan, Adamstown Heights One major Pacific relationship that Scott Morrison has mishandled is its friendship with France. The countrys strategic influence in the Pacific, with its territories of French Polynesia and Noumea, should have meant that France would be a strong ally deterring the infiltration of a totalitarian regime in the region. Glen op den Brouw, Liverpool All the pork talk is now boar-ing

Does pork-barrelling even work (Time to rule out the pork barrel, April 26)? Id like to hear from undecided voters in marginal seats. Do political commitments to local spending really change your voting intentions? If not, then thats a lot of money, time and hot air expended for no reason. Bronwyn Bryceson, Mangerton We could just turn this federal election campaign into a TV talk show a la Oprah or Ellen. No real issues, prepared soundtracks, lightweight questions, two-minute interview/sound grabs, prepped audiences ... and the winner is whoever has the biggest advertising budget. On the upside, everybody wins a car, or at least some pork from the magic barrel that never stops giving. Barry Ffrench, Cronulla Jessica Irvine is, as always, spot on. If we rule out the barrel we may have the blues on the run but the reds are under and in the same bed. Neither is likely to deliver the changes she details or a federal ICAC with real teeth unless forced by the Independents.

Graeme Stewart, Palm Beach Put simply, the age-old practice of pork-barrelling is about misuse of public money. Taxpayers or public money should be used for public benefit, assessed on merits basis, and not to benefit the incumbent party. Indeed, it is time to rule out the pork barrel. The persistent rorts and scandals surrounding the focus on winning elections inevitably decreases public trust in government.

Steve Ngeow, Chatswood Perhaps someone could let politicians and advisors know that electors now regard all those pork-barrelling promises rather like letters to Santa Claus. Most of us are not expecting those many glittering announcements to result in sporting fields and medical facilities to arrive gift-wrapped sometime after May 21. So perhaps they could stop it. Tracey Meredith-Marx, Wentworth Falls

For members of non-marginal electorates to get the same benefits as those of the marginals, there is a simple solution  vote out your current member. Paul Keys, Clouds Creek An affront to a hero Martin Clemens heroics as outlined so eloquently by Peter Hartcher (While we watched Taiwan ..., April 26) should be required reading for our politicians and diplomats. If they had the commitment to our neighbours that Clemens had, there would be no possibility of any unfriendly nation gaining a foothold in the South Pacific. If he was alive today, Clemens would have been bewildered by the way Australia treated another neighbour to its rights to oil revenue. The Timor-Leste people did so much for our country in World War II, yet this was forgotten when they needed our assistance to become financially secure. Tony Re, Georges Hall Give teachers more For too long, teachers have been plied with platitudes of gratitude and community respect alone (Teachers are experts worthy of our trust, April 26). Classroom teachers deserve all these accolades and more recently we have seen how the economy can be halted without their important duties and skills. Yet most are parents (even grandparents) with families who have their aspirations and needs. Teachers deserve guaranteed real wage increases; they cannot live on gratitude and trust alone. Janice Creenaune, Austinmer

For students to successfully achieve all the academic backflips they are capable of, they need parents and teachers who put student needs ahead of any of their self-serving priorities, and who ignore the bureaucratic demands and number crunching done for political purposes. As the world is already full of backflips, it is time now to concentrate on forward rolls. Joy Cooksey, Harrington Its time for fairness We have all felt the impact of the rise in cost of living (Supply chain woes to shift globalisation, April 26) or, to express it more meaningfully, a reduction in our standard of living. Re-organising our supply chains and keeping them closer to home, or (amazing thought) at home, will cause major ruptures in economic systems, which will probably cause further lowering of our standard of living.

As the industrial revolution has morphed into globalisation, the standard of living in the Western world has skyrocketed, but only at the direct expense of the poorer people of the world. This was never morally right, and in our hearts, we know it. We must address inequity and over-competitiveness in a generous and creative way. Can we preserve our economic security in a way that does not compound our moral laxity? I believe Australians are ready. Where are the courageous leaders to show us the way? Judith Wheeldon, Roseville Chase Toll worry rings loudest The editorial (City pays a fortune in tolls: the system needs to be better, April 26) mentions the option of broad-based road-user charges for greater fairness and efficiency. A road-user charge which could include congestion pricing could be combined with proper compensation to toll road operators to not only spread road costs more fairly, but also to ensure electric vehicle drivers pay for road use. Vehicle registration fees could be adjusted to make the changes cost-neutral for most motorists. Giving us more efficient use of our roads. An equitable road-user charge with congestion pricing is a major economic reform crying out to be done. Ross Mewton, North Bondi

In Sydney, ask not for whom the motorway tolls  it tolls for thee, and thee, and thee, and for all humanity. And it tolls repeatedly. Doug Walker, Baulkham Hills Words worthiness I will gladly join the campaign to put the l back in vulnerable (Letters, April 26). Meantime, can we please remove the chew from opportunity? Andrew Pringle, Paddington I would like to join the campaign to put the l back in vulnerable. After that, can put the l back in Australia? Dick Pollitt, Mosman I support the campaign. Im also seeking support to stop wanky airport announcements that your flight through to Sydney is ready for boarding. Justin Fleming, North Sydney

Its become prolific but the pronunciation of ceremony as ceremoany drives me to despair. Its even on the ABC. Donna Wiemann, Balmain May I add my pet peeve? The unnecessary attachment of event to various happenings. Mostly weather related. Jo McGahey, Belrose What about exactly right? Is it possible for something to be inexactly right? John Lees, Castlecrag Combined woes Thank you to your correspondent (Letters, April 26). My day is better for reading desperation and profligacy writ large. Sally James, Russell Lea
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on April 28 & May 19, 1947

Bride To Get 600 Dollars For Trip: Keeps Eye



NEW YORK, April 27

After having offered to sell her right eye to gain a passage back to Australia from the United States, an Australian war bride has now been given the fares for herself and her three-year-old son.

Ill be eternally grateful. Phyllis May Wood, husband Robert, and son Maxwell, 13, in California in April 1947. Maxwell was generally described in the press as being 3 years old, not 13. Credit:The Daily News via newspapers.com

She is Mrs. Phyllis May Wood, 29, of Richmond, California.

Her proposal to sell her eye, widely publicised, brought an offer from Mrs. Marie Wolverton, a Detroit business woman and a widow, to pay the necessary 600 dollars (A187/10/).

Mrs. Wolverton said: I almost lost the sight of one of my eyes several years ago from a cataract. I dont want that to happen to this young woman.
A six-month trial has begun for five people accused of conspiring to defraud the Tax Office of $105 million, with one of them allegedly saying it would be the biggest tax fraud in Australias history, the NSW Supreme Court has heard.

Lauren Anne Cranston, 29, Adam Michael Cranston, 35, Dev Menon, 38, Jason Cornell Onley, 51, and Patrick Willmott, 35, have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to dishonestly cause a loss to the Commonwealth and conspiring to deal with $1 million or more, believing it to be proceeds of crime.

Siblings Lauren Anne Cranston and Adam Michael Cranston leave Darlinghurst Court on Tuesday. Credit:Oscar Colman

Their trial, expected to run for six months, began at Darlinghurst courthouse on Tuesday afternoon before Justice Anthony Payne. Crown prosecutor Paul McGuire, SC, for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions told the jury he anticipates his opening address will take three days.

The Crown alleges that between March 2014 and May 2017, the five accused developed a scheme through worker payroll services company Plutus Payroll to collect PAYG (pay as you go) withholding tax and GST (goods and services tax) that should have been paid to the Australian Tax Office. Extraordinarily large amounts were instead allegedly retained and used for their benefit and those associated with them.
When the barristers Wentworth Chambers in Phillip Street was under construction in 1957, the workers when putting the formwork up around the outside of the building had to lean over, lock their knee on the inside piece of formwork and nail it as they connected everything together. It was extremely dangerous. Strikes and hearings followed.

McDonald instigated stronger health and safety practices and better working conditions in the building sector, making it one of the safest and most efficient.

Tom McDonald was a building union leader, industry reformer and a pioneer of superannuation with longstanding ramifications for all workers.

Following the intervention of McDonald, the Department of Labour and Industry committed to designing external scaffolding that workers could use. As projects were getting taller, this transformed how building workers worked around the outer extremities of buildings.

Tom McDonald was one of 10 children born to Elizabeth (Liz) Sarah (nee Davis) and Thomas McDonald. The experience of poverty, depression and war shaped Tom and many of his generation. Raised in Glebe, he left school at 14. His father was a cleaner for the Sydney City Council who died after falling from a tram in 1954.

Liz McDonald was a full-time mum; one daughter required constant care, stricken with cerebral palsy. One child died as a toddler; another, aged 23, died from glomerulonephritis (Brights disease), which if detected early and treated might not have been fatal. Those were the days before universal healthcare.

Toms mother called the stagnant water lying under broken floorboards at their two-bedroom tenement in Glebe a kitchen with water views.

He almost failed to complete an apprenticeship because he was cranky about poor work conditions on Cockatoo Island. McDonald led his first strike of the apprentices arguing for more work and for competent training. He sought to self-educate as a tradesman until he found a friendly builder who helped him complete his training.
Hey, want to hear about how Twitter is approaching the election? We dont, but thats just us.

Elon Musk and Kara Hinesley. Credit:John Shakespeare

However, we do acknowledge a lot of people are obsessed with the microblogging social media platform. It was to cater to that group that last week the company offered several media interviews with Kara Hinesley, head of public policy for Twitter Australia and New Zealand, to discuss what the platform is doing to ensure healthy conversations during the election period.

As the news cycle moved on and serial disruptor Elon Musk struck again and bought the social media company, it looked like fortuitous timing. Is there such thing as a positive disruption  after all, who doesnt want to hear how the goal of ensuring healthy conversations fits with Musks declarations about the importance of free speech?

Alas, we are now not likely to find out  this week, at any rate.
Urban designer Alison Lee remembers the outcry when she worked on a project that removed two on-street car parking spaces in Carlton, just north of Melbourne CBD.

Despite complaints from some traders and residents, in came bike-parking spaces and dining areas. They were a wild success. Cafes and restaurants revelled in the extra space while crowds spilled into neighbouring retailers.

Melburnians have seen the impact of using parking spaces for outdoor dining over the past two years. Credit:Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Sound familiar? What could easily be a recount of Melbournes pandemic-inspired parklet dining trial in fact first occurred more than a decade ago.

It was wildly successful then and I think now the concept of reallocating street space so that people, not traffic and parking, have priority is reaching those who arent just in my industry, says Ms Lee, associate director of planning firm Urbis.
Coroner Simon McGregor is examining Nelsons death as part of a five-week inquest after it was revealed the 37-year-old had unsuccessfully applied for bail on her own, without legal representation, before being held in custody at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on allegations of shoplifting. On Tuesday, the coroner heard for the first time that a nurse treating Nelson in Dame Phyllis Frost Centre had raised concerns about the inmates health and wellbeing, noting she should be taken to hospital. But the following day, Nelson was moved from a medical cell into the general population after the doctor in charge recorded that she looked generally well. Veronica Nelson died in prison in 2020. She died the following day. According to [the nurse], Veronica was unable to sit up in a chair on her own, at times she needed to be physically supported and was frequently incoherent, Lacey said.

How and why Nelson was moved and why she was not transported to hospital will be examined as part of the inquest, with more than 60 witnesses scheduled to testify. The inquest heard Nelson was one of 505 First Nations people to have died in custody since findings from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody were handed down in 1991. Five people have died already this year. Donna Nelson, mother of Veronica Nelson, with family and friends before the inquest. Credit:Joe Armao In Victorian prisons, the number of First Nations people has tripled in the past 10 years. More than one in 10 women in prisons are Indigenous, despite comprising less than 1 per cent of the states population. As of June 2021, 61.4 per cent of Aboriginal women in prison were on remand  up from 25 per cent in 2012.

When an Aboriginal person died in custody, Lacey said, the community was reminded of the gap between the health, welfare and opportunities of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. A gap that is anecdotally apparent and statistically glaring, she said. The inquest was played distressing audio and video recordings that documented Nelsons time in custody between December 30, 2019, and January 2, 2020. In the time between Nelsons arrival at the womens prison and her death, the Coroners Court of Victoria heard, she repeatedly buzzed for help, telling staff on numerous occasions she had vomited up her medication, and begged for more. She also asked for cordial and salt.

Amid her persistent calls for help, she also repeatedly asked to see a doctor before a prison officer told her things dont always go to plan. Another later told her she was disturbing other inmates. We dont have the keys to open the door, one officer can be heard saying. Another later said: Go and have another shower. I cant give you anything else. I need help ... badly, Miss, badly, Nelson replied, before she was heard calling out for her late father.

Loading Nelsons body was found about 7.30am on January 2, 2020. She was in a fetal position on the cell floor, with the shower and the cell flooded. Attending paramedics believed she had been passed for quite some time. An autopsy later found she weighed 33 kilograms and had a grossly dilated and distended stomach. She had the undiagnosed condition Wilkie syndrome, which restricts the arteries and can cause dehydration. Tuesdays inquest opened with a welcome to Country before the piercing sounds of wooden clapping sticks and a didgeridoo echoed through the building.

Friends, family and supporters of Nelson filled five rows of the courtroom where Nelsons mother  Aunty Donna Nelson  broke down as she described her daughter as a loyal woman who was deeply connected to her culture. She took the opportunity to call for change to stop people dying in custody, criticising a broken criminal justice system for letting her daughter die. Veronicas spirit lives within me, she said. The inquest continues. Images and audio contained in this story were released to the media with permission from the family. For 24/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).
Federal Labor MP Dr Mike Freelander says more men need to be enticed to work in aged care as employers warn against a high-profile wage case being turned into an argument about equal pay in the overwhelmingly female workforce.

The first day of a Fair Work Commission hearing into a union application for a 25 per cent pay rise for age care workers heard the occupation was historically undervalued due to the highly gendered nature of the work, with government figures showing women made up almost 90 per cent of staff.

Labors Dr Mike Freelander says more men need to be drawn into the sector. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In an interview parallel to the hearing, Freelander  a paediatrician who sat on a cross-parliamentary inquiry into aged care in 2018  said a number of factors contributed to the workforces poor bargaining power, including the fact it was pretty feminised.

It has traditionally been very much a female-based workforce, as has nursing generally over the years ... and a lot of the male members of the workforce have tended to go more for administration rather than into hands-on type work, said Freelander, who is recontesting the south-west Sydney seat of Macarthur at the May 21 federal election.
The head of Guide Dogs Victoria has been temporarily stood down after she appeared in Liberal Party campaign material endorsing Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

An investigation was launched after the pamphlets featuring Karen Hayes endorsing Frydenberg appeared in the Treasurers inner-Melbourne seat of Kooyong last week. The charity confirmed on Tuesday that it had stood Hayes down from her role until the investigation was completed.

Guide Dogs Victoria chief executive Karen Hayes. Credit:Paul Jeffers

The independent investigation is under way and is ongoing. The purpose of the investigation is to understand what happened and ensure it never happens again, a statement from the charity said.

The pamphlet featured Hayes, holding a puppy, with the headline, Why I am supporting Josh Frydenberg. It used the name of the charity.
The Liberal candidate for the Sydney seat of Bennelong Simon Kennedy has told a group of anti-vaxxers he would cross the floor in parliament if their individual freedoms were breached, and opposes any legislation mandating COVID-19 jabs, regardless of who proposes it.

Kennedy, a former partner at consulting firm McKinsey, met with members of A Stand in the Park  a controversial anti-lockdown group that engages in COVID-19 conspiracy theories  on April 10.

Kennedy told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in a statement that he is a strong supporter of the COVID vaccination effort that has saved the lives of 40 thousand Australians.

He said he and his family were vaccinated.
Australia must proactively recruit nurses from overseas to deliver federal election commitments to minimum aged care staffing levels, the peak training body says.

We should have no shame in wanting qualified people from other countries that bring a wealth of experience, Australian College of Nursing chief executive adjunct professor Kylie Ward told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

The College of Nursing says Australia must recruit nurses from overseas to fill gaps in aged care. Credit:Mario Borg

The college is offering to spearhead an overseas recruitment drive and calling for federal funding for the project, which would enable Australia to compete with countries such as Canada for nurses from around the world.

Health Department modelling shows an extra 14,000 nurses are needed just to deliver the federal governments commitment to require aged care homes to have a registered nurse on-site for 16 hours a day by October 2023. About 2500 more would be needed to meet Labors promise to mandate 24/7 registered nurses from July 2023.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed Labors policy on the Pacific as containing only one new idea and says most of what it has promised is already being done.

Labor has pledged to establish a Pacific defence school to train the armed forces of nearby nations, increase foreign aid, add $12 million a year for the Pacific Maritime Security program, and expand the reach of ABC broadcasting.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed Labors proposed policy for greater engagement in the Pacific, saying its barely different from whats already happening. Credit:James Brickwood

Opposition frontbenchers and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull were vocal on Tuesday morning, accusing the government of dropping the ball in the Pacific.

Morrison said he did not think Labors policy showed an understanding of the challenges Australia faced from the rise of China in the region.
Hong Kong telco tycoon Canning Fok and his wife are cashing in on Sydneys bullish trophy home market by putting their Vaucluse home up for sale for more than $41 million.

The listing comes less than a year after the long-time director of Vodafone Hutchison was appointed chairman of TPG Telecom after the resignation of the companys billionaire founder David Teoh.

The Queens Avenue residence in Vaucluse has views over Sydney Harbour.

Fok, assistant of Hong Kongs richest man, Li Ka-shing, is based in Hong Kong, where the South China Morning Post reported last year he had received an offer of about $173 million for his former family compound, made up of two neighbouring houses at the southern tip of Hong Kong Island.

The Foks three-level Sydney home has five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a swimming pool with uninterrupted views to the Harbour Bridge.
He said weapons supplied by Western countries will be a legitimate target, adding that Russian forces had already targeted weapons warehouses in western Ukraine. Lavrov accused Ukrainian leaders of provoking Russia by asking NATO to become involved in the conflict, and he said NATO has effectively entered into a war with Russia through proxies and is arming those proxies. Everyone is reciting incantations that in no case can we allow World War III, he said, adding that, by providing weapons, NATO forces are pouring oil on the fire, according to a transcript on the Russian Foreign Ministrys website. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter that Lavrovs comments underscore Ukraines need for Western help: Russia loses last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine. Thus the talk of a real danger of WWIII. This only means Moscow senses defeat in Ukraine.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, its apparent goal was the lightning capture of Kyiv, the capital. But the Ukrainians, with the help of Western weapons, thwarted the push and forced President Vladimir Putins troops to retreat. Moscow now says its goal is to take the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region in eastern Ukraine. While both sides say the campaign in the east is underway, Russia has yet to mount an all-out ground offensive and has not achieved any major breakthroughs. On Monday, Russia focused its firepower elsewhere, with missiles and warplanes striking far behind the front lines in a bid to thwart Ukrainian efforts to marshal supplies for the fight. Loading Five railroad stations in central and western Ukraine were hit, and one worker was killed, said Oleksandr Kamyshin, head of Ukraines state railway. The bombardment included a missile attack near Lviv, the western city close to the Polish border that has been swelled by Ukrainians fleeing the fighting elsewhere around the country.

Russia struck over 90 military targets in Ukraine overnight, killing at least 560 Ukrainian soldiers and destroying dozens of armoured vehicles, artillery and other military equipment, Russias defence ministry said on Tuesday. Russia also said it struck two ammunition depots in Ukraines eastern Kharkiv region. Russia also destroyed an oil refinery in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, along with fuel depots there, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said. In all, Russian warplanes destroyed 56 Ukrainian targets, he said. Philip Breedlove, a retired US general who was NATOs top commander from 2013 to 2016, said the latest strikes against fuel depots are part of a strategy to deplete key Ukrainian war resources. The strikes against rail targets, on the other hand, are a newer tactic, he said.

I think theyre doing it for the legitimate reason of trying to interdict the flow of supplies to the front, he said. The illegitimate reason is they know people are trying to leave the country, and this is just another intimidation, terrorist tactic to make them not have faith and confidence in travelling on the rails. Loading In Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova that sits along the Ukrainian border, several explosions believed to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades hit the territorys Ministry of State Security. There was no immediate claim of responsibility or reports of injuries. Transnistria is a strip of land with about 470,000 people and 1,500 Russian troops based there. Moldovas Foreign Ministry said, the aim of todays incident is to create pretexts for straining the security situation in the Transnistrian region. The US warned previously that Russia may launch false-flag attacks against its own side to create a pretext for invading other nations. Last week, Rustam Minnekayev, a Russian military commander, said the Kremlin wants full control of southern Ukraine, which he said would open the way to Transnistria.

A Ukrainian serviceman in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 25, 2022. Credit:Felipe Dana/AP An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian troops holed up in a steel plant in the strategic southern port city of Mariupol are tying down Russian forces and apparently keeping them from being added to the offensive elsewhere in the Donbas. Over the weekend, Russian forces launched new airstrikes on the Azovstal plant to try to dislodge the holdouts. Some 1,000 civilians were also said to be taking shelter at the steelworks. Loading The city council and mayor of Mariupol said a new mass grave has been identified about 10 kilometres north of the city. Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities were trying to estimate the number of victims. It was at least the third new mass grave discovered in Russian-controlled areas near Mariupol in the last week.
On the weekend, I drove to Keysborough in Melbournes south-east for an iftar dinner, the evening meal during the Muslim festival of Ramadan. The dinner was a chance to mingle with heroes, I was told.

The brave souls in question are women judges from Afghanistan: quiet flag-bearers for freedom and the rule of law before last years brutal Taliban takeover forced them to flee their homeland.

A Taliban special forces soldier stands guard at a park in Kabul, Afghanistan. Credit:AP

So often the Wests failure in Afghanistan gets discussed in abstract terms; the judges stories reveal precisely what is at stake.

The dinner was co-hosted by the Australian chapter of the International Association of Women Judges. Together with agencies and charities across the globe, the association is working furiously to get their judicial sisters and their families out of Afghanistan and permanently resettled.
Washington: Its official: the worlds richest person has assumed control of one of the worlds most influential social media sites.

And now we wait with bated breath to learn if the worlds most incendiary past president will return to the platform, just in time for another potential run at the White House in 2024.

Twitter user numbers are likely to grow after Elon Musk bought the company. Credit:AP

In news that set the internet alight, Twitter announced that it had agreed to be taken over by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, in a deal valued at around $44 billion.

But Musks private takeover has reignited a pertinent question: will he invite Donald Trump back at a time when Joe Biden can ill-afford such a distraction? And if so, will Americas former president once again use the platform as a political weapon of mass destruction?
For many who watched as China expanded its influence in the Pacific, the Labor announcement of an $8 million a year boost to the ABCs services in the region should it take power will be welcome. The question being, is it too little, too late?

Penny Wong has outlined plans to bolster Pacific engagement under a Labor government. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Labors announcement is short on detail, but the focus of what we have heard seems to be simply pushing out more Australian content and crowding the regional airwaves with Australian voices. This is soft power in a crude form  a one-way monologue when what is needed is a dialogue  a 21st century conversation in which Australia and Australians talk with and not to our Pacific neighbours.

Certainly, the people of the Pacific, ranging from leaders such as the former Vanuatu prime minister Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas to ordinary people in urban and rural settings, have been calling for more Australian public interest media (as opposed to reality TV and entertainment) and more involvement of the ABC. So, they are likely to welcome Labors announcement.

But they have also been calling for their voices to be heard and represented in the media: for the Pacific narrative to be heard, for Pacific stories to be told in a way that resonates with ordinary Australians. There has been nothing yet in the announcements from any political party about creating a sophisticated two-way conversation.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Prime Minister of Sint Maarten Hon. Silveria Jacobs delivered the keynote address at the Global Youth Summit on April 20, among others at the EarthX 2022 Conference held in Dallas, Texas.



The prime minister's keynote address focused on the importance of the next generation leadership and island leaders aligning efforts to achieve transformative global change. The address was in line with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. It was signed by 154 states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992.



The address was made to a number of conference stakeholders including YOUNGO, the official children and youth constituency of the UNFCCC. YOUNGO is a global network of children and youth activists (up to 35 years) as well as youth Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), who contribute to shaping the intergovernmental climate change policies and strive to empower youth to formally bring their voices to the UNFCCC processes.



In her keynote address, Prime Minister Jacobs thanked EarthX organizers and stakeholders for the invitation to address the meeting and pledged her continued support for youth agencies, underscoring the need to empower them and facilitate their participation at the national level. As SIDS (Small Island Development States), given our limited capacity, opportunities to engage with stakeholders ensure that the best solution, and not custom, is the basis of the decisions taken to achieve our shared global mission as leaders: improving quality of life for our people, Jacobs said in her address.



In 2009, the UNFCCC secretariat extended constituency status to admitted youth NGOs YOUNGOs vision is to empower children and youth to take action and work to enhance their skills and capacity to drive the necessary and ambitious climate actions and policies at all levels toward a livable climate just future.

YOUNGO representatives make official statements, provide technical and policy inputs to negotiations, engage with decision-makers at the UN climate change conferences, and promote youth participation in climate change projects at local and national levels.



In the beginning of Jacobs's address, the prime minister reflected: I remember fondly growing up in the 1970s eating coal pot food. By this time, an eroding manner of daily food preparation, this custom was still practiced by older persons, who looked on with contempt at the new and modern electric stoves that began to fill many homes during this era.



This custom involved a coal-filled cast-iron pot or skillet used to prepare traditional foods such as johnnycakes, the fluffy golden-colored circular-shaped breads, that we ate with steamed fish, and conchies a corn-based banana-wrapped pie...just some of the many delicacies that peppered our pallets on the sun-drenched and slow-paced life on the Caribbean Island of Sint Maarten.



Coal has been the historic and most prevalent energy source for many countries, powering our factories, moving our ships, or, as my recollection demonstrated, the means to nourish families. As my story also demonstrated, change is often hard as it accompanies a reflective, often existential review of ones habits and the impact they may negatively have not only on ourselves but on our environment as well.



The scientific community had begun to realize that despite its reliability and relative abundance, coals negative impact on the environment was concerning, and its continued use, particularly in large industrial amounts, contributed to an increase in greenhouse gases. Despite the elders relative contempt for the new, it must be stated that their individual subsistence-based use of coal had a very negligible impact on global greenhouse gas. But, if we scale up these individual points of view to a community, city, national, or even global level, we quickly see how custom or tradition, often combined with economic or financial limitations, makes bringing about change a challenge.



As an educator by profession, I have long been captivated by the youths willingness to peel back the layers to examine, critique, and question norms. This is their strength! Often unhindered by tradition and full of optimism, this willingness to dissect combined with fresh ideas means youth are often well-equipped to address the everchanging and multidimensional issues that form our common agenda.



Jacobs added that If I as an island leader only embraced the ideas and strategies of the older generation, I would be guided by ideas and strategies anachronistic and unable to address future needs, very much like the elder in my opening story who was unable to adapt to shifting energy infrastructures. If we as island leaders dont facilitate the participation of the next generation, we will only undermine our development and limit our scope to bring about sustainable development and real change at the global level.



In this regard, very much like how the (Sint Maarten) Youth Parliament, among others, remains a stakeholder with which Government consults, the work of YOUNGO, as a constituency of UNFCCC, is vital in bringing about policies that transform the structures necessary to meet the challenges of tomorrow. I am encouraged by the great work that this organization does and commend UNFCCC for recognizing the important role that youth have in climate-related discussions.



The prime minister was happy to engage with the youth at the summit and sees the opportunity for youth representatives of Sint Maarten to be at EarthX 2023 as well as other international youth forums where the country will then have a voice.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On Tuesday, April 26th, 2022 the President of the Windward Island Teachers Union (WITU) Stuart Johnson dispatched a letter to the Honorable Minister of Education drs. Rudolph Samuel.

Johnson in his letter stated, The Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) notes and with great disquiet that the timetable for the sitting of the CSEC and CAPE examinations has been released. This strongly suggests that normality has returned to the region and the lives of its citizens. However, this is not the reality on the grounds.

It must not be disregarded that our regional educational systems have been grappling with the upheaval caused by the pandemic and are now actively trying to mitigate the learning loss that has accrued. In some cases, schools, have as part of their challenge to find the students who are no longer engaged and also try to restore equity and maintain quality standards. The release of the CSEC and CAPE timetable at this time severely undermines the tremendous efforts being made by stakeholders to treat with the new normal demands.

Johnson adds, As yet, there is no suggestion from the examining body as to what accommodations and/or modifications it has made to the examination of content and leaves us to wonder if the plight of the regions students, teachers, principals, and parents were taken into serious consideration before the timetable was set and released.

In light of this, we urge the examining body to delay the timetable by three (3) weeks to allow sufficient time for the teachers, students to complete the syllabi and satisfy the school-based assessment component, (2) to reduce SBA requirements, especially for subjects with a practical component, and (3) advise of the topics to be covered by the examination. Further, we believe that a meeting with CXC Council to further examine some recommendations should be held urgently.

We seek to rebuild stronger and with the ability to withstand shocks, such glaring discrepancies and uncertainties, which came to the fore in the midst of the pandemic, must not be repeated and every effort must be made to spare our, now vulnerable stakeholder from being victims of circumstance, Johnson stated.

We urge you as Minister of Education to immediately join your regional Ministers of Education to petition the CXC Council so that the body can meet to consider the aforementioned concerns. We trust that you will have your support so that we can build back stronger, together, and to your fullest cooperation, Johnson concluded.

The WITU stands in full solidarity with the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) on this matter. Johnson is also the 3rd Vice-President of the CUT Executive Board.
EnWave Reports Successful Injunction Application Against Former CEO

EnWave Corporation (TSX-V:ENW | FSE:E4U) (aEnWavea, or the \Company\  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/enwave-corp/ ) received today the written reasoning from the B.C. Supreme Court granting an injunction application against its former CEO, Timothy Durance, his companies and affiliates. EnWave continues to pursue its civil claims in the B.C. Supreme Court against several former EnWave employees and other parties, including Timothy Durance.

On July 30, 2021, EnWave filed an injunction application seeking orders restraining Mr. Durance, his companies and affiliates from selling or supplying vacuum microwave dryers pending trial. A

On August 20, 2021, the court granted an order prohibiting Mr. Durance and his companies, and anyone acting in conjunction with them, from selling, attempting to sell, supplying, delivering or installing vacuum microwave dryers pending a more complete hearing of EnWavea?s injunction application.

EnWave\-s injunction application was heard in the B.C. Supreme Court from January 17 to 20, 2022. On April 25, 2022, the court issued reasons for judgment ordering that the injunction against Mr. Durance, his companies and affiliates remain in place until the trial of EnWave\-s action. The reasons for judgment will be publicly available through the B.C. court website later today. A trial is scheduled for September 2023.

About EnWave

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, EnWavea?s 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 companya?s 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

EnWavea?s 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 EnWave.net.

EnWave CorporationA

Mr. Brent Charleton, CFAA

President and CEOA

For further information:A

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 A

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

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
Blackstone Resources AG receives extension for filing date of audited Annual Report 2021

Posted by Publisher Internet

Blackstone Resources AG (SWX; symbol BLS, ISIN CH0460027110) today obtained an extension from SIX Exchange Regulation AG for the filing of its consolidated Annual Financials 2021.

As previously reported, the previous auditors Moore Stephens Expert (Zurich) AG have terminated their mandate for Blackstone Resources AG untimely in a letter dated 18.3.22. The consolidated financial statements 2021 can only be published after receipt of an audit opinion. Blackstone Resources AG is therefore already in final discussions with various auditing firms and hopes to announce a new mandate soon.

On March 23, 2022, Blackstone Resources AG requested SIX Exchange Regulation AG to be able to file the Annual Report 2021 until July 31, 2022 as part of the extension of the deadline.

As a result, SIX Exchange Regulation AG today granted the following temporary authorization:

The exemption from maintenance obligations and thus the postponement of the publication of the Annual Report 2021 as well as the submission of this report to SIX Exchange Regulation AG until Sunday, 31 July 2022 at the latest is approved subject to the following reservation (lit. a) and conditions (lit. b):

a. SIX Exchange Regulation AGA reserves the right to temporarily suspend trading in the securities of Blackstone if it does not publish and submit its Annual Report 2021 to SIX Exchange Regulation AGA by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, 31 July 2022 at the latest in accordance with the provisions on ad hoc publicity (Art. 53 Listing Rules in conjunction with the Directive on Ad Hoc Publicity.

b. Blackstone must publish a media release regarding the present decision by 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 26 April 2022 at the latest, in accordance with the provisions on ad hoc publicity (Art. 53 Listing Rules in conjunction with the Directive on Ad Hoc Publicity). This media release shall:

contain the full text of Section I of the present decision in a prominent place;

mention the reasons for the postponement of the publication and submission of the Annual Report 2021;

state the unaudited key figures such as net sales, EBITDA, EBIT, net profit/loss, total assets, shareholders\- equity, etc. in relation to the 2021 financial results.

In accordance with the requirements of SIX Exchange Regulation AG, we hereby disclose the unaudited consolidated key performance indicators of Blackstone Resources AG Group for the year 2021:A

Net sales: CHF 49,166,980

EBITDA: CHF 42,905,293

EBIT: CHF 41,612,696

Net profit: CHF 15,446,228

Balance sheet total: CHF 163,846,692

Equity: CHF 56,443,659

Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

Blackstone Resources is a Swiss Holding Company, with its legal domicile in Baar, Kanton Zug, and is concentrating on the battery technology and battery-metals market and offers direct exposure to the battery-technology revolution.

Presently, Blackstone Technology GmbH has build up a production-line for small series of 3D printed batteries in DAbeln, Saxony, Germany. The short-term production will be pouch-cells with the Blackstone Thick Layer Technology TM which allows a 20% higher energy density in lithium-ion cells, Blackstone Resources continues the program of development in solid state batteries and its production process.

Electric vehicles and batteries have driven the demand for large quantities of various metals. Therefore, Blackstone Resources explores, develops and trades battery-metals such as lithium, cobalt, manganese, graphite, nickel and copper.
South Africa: Flood relief: SA will not stand for acts of self-enrichment

President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent a stern warning to government departments and businesses providing goods and services, that South Africa will not stand for acts of self-enrichment at the expense of those who need relief - following a deluge of catastrophic floods in some parts of the country.

The President said this when he addressed a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday.

This comes after concerns that government funding to give affected citizens across KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape the resources to respond to the disaster would be misappropriated or wasted.

We have to ensure that all the funds used to respond to this disaster are spent effectively.

It is a great source of shame that when this disaster struck, the most burning public debate was around fears that the resources allocated to respond to this disaster would be misappropriated or wasted.

This shows us just how tired the people of South Africa have become of corruption.

It is a stern reminder to all of government and to businesses providing goods and services that the people of South Africa will not stand for acts of self-enrichment at the expense of those who have already lost so much, he said.

The Presidents address comes after the devastating rainfall left 435 people dead in KwaZulu-Natal  among them 58 learners and one educator. About 54 people are still missing and unaccounted for, while over 5 700 houses have been completely damaged.

In the Eastern Cape, at least two people lost their lives in the flooding -three people were injured and around 1 000 people were affected by the destruction of houses and other losses.

The President said several measures are being taken to strengthen oversight and accountability.

Working together with National Treasury, the Auditor-General will conduct real-time audits on the emergency flood relief funds.

This will provide independent assurance on whether public funds have been appropriately accounted for and were used for their intended purpose.

These audits aim to prevent, detect and report on the findings to ensure an immediate response to prevent leakage, potential fraud and wastage.

They will equip accounting officers and accounting authorities to act quickly on weaknesses in controls and prevent further losses. They will also enable immediate oversight and consequence management, he said.

The President said the National Treasury is also strengthening reporting requirements with respect to expenditure on disaster relief.

To improve monitoring and ensure greater transparency, the details of all disaster-related procurement by public institutions will be published on the Treasury website to allow public scrutiny of these procurement transactions.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-04-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday that China firmly opposes U.S. interference in China's internal affairs on Tibet-related issues under the pretext of religious freedom.

Wang made the remarks at a regular press briefing in response to a statement put out by the U.S. State Department urging China to disclose the whereabouts and the well-being of the "reincarnation" of the Panchen Lama.

Wang said the Chinese government pursues policies of freedom of religious belief, including respecting and protecting the reincarnation of Living Buddhas, an institution of inheritance in Tibetan Buddhism.

"For the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama and other grand Living Buddhas, a complete set of methods and procedures have been established over the centuries, and the religious rituals and historical conventions, as well as the Chinese laws, need to be complied with in this process," Wang said.

Noting that the 14th Dalai Lama is an anti-China separatist under the cloak of religion, Wang said that 27 years ago, when he was abroad, the Dalai Lama took the liberty of declaring a child to be the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama in order to carry out anti-China separatist political hype to the detriment of religious rituals and in disregard of historical conventions.

"This is illegal and invalid," Wang stressed, adding that the so-called reincarnated child is just an ordinary Chinese citizen living a normal life. He and his family do not want their normal life to be disturbed by others.

Wang said the U.S. side should fully understand and respect their wishes, rather than taking the opportunity to engage in political manipulations and attack and discredit China.

"If the United States really cares about human rights and religious freedom, why did it carry out the all-round and systematic ethnic cleansing of Indian Americans, leading to their cultural genocide?" asked Wang. "The U.S. side should provide a convincing explanation," he added.
Al-Kunetira (Morocco), 27, April 2022 (SPS)  Several Saharawi political prisoners from the Saharawi student group known as The Companions of Luali have announced their entry into a forty-eight hour hunger strike.

According to sources from Saharawi human rights activists, the student activists who have decided to go on a hunger strike are Abdelmula Mohamed Al-Hafed, Bachir Brahim Amadur, Al-Bir Kentawi, Aziz Al-Wahidi and Mohamed Dadda.

With this new hunger strike, the Saharawi students and political prisoners intend to denounce the repression suffered by Saharawi civilians in all the occupied areas of Western Sahara, as well as to demonstrate their solidarity with their compatriots Hassan Dah and Al-Husein Zawi, who are on hunger strike since last April 1, 2022, in the Al-Kunetira Central Prison.

This new gesture of protest by the Saharawi activists also seeks to draw attention to the situation of the aforementioned political prisoners, Hassan Dah and Al-Husein Zawi, who completed twenty-five days of indefinite hunger strike, as well as in support of the activists Sahrawis from the occupied city of Bojador who continue to suffer daily torture and abuse at the hands of the Moroccan forces of repression. SPS

125/090/TRA
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U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and Vice President Kamala Harris each announced Tuesday a positive COVID diagnosis.

After feeling mild symptoms overnight, I tested positive for COVID this morning, Murphy said on Twitter. We've done the contact tracing and let people know. It's a bummer, but I'm sure if I wasn't fully vaccinated, I would be feeling a lot worse.

Harris also tested positive, though the White House said she was not experiencing symptoms.

She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice presidents residence, the White House said in a prepared statement. She has not been a close contact to the president or first lady due to their respective recent travel schedules.

Harris and Murphy are the latest high-ranking politicians to test positive. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo all tested positive earlier this month.

After Gov. Ned Lamont, Lt Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong all tested positive for COVID earlier this month, Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani said their mild symptoms were indicative of the value of vaccination.

This is a testament to the vaccines, she said. These vaccines work and they're doing well.

COVID metrics have been slowly rising in Connecticut with the state announcing an additional 5,156 cases identified over the last seven days out of 60,564 reported tests, a positivity rate of 8.51 percent, the highest since the omicron surge subsided this winter.

The state also reported an increase of 41 COVID-related hospitalizations over the last seven days, for a total of 191.

But Pedro Mendes, a disease modeler at the University of Connecticut, said Tuesday he did not expect hospitalizations to increase dramatically.

He said his latest prediction is still only showing a small wave of hospitalizations that should be peaking around the first week of May.
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BRNO, Czech Republic (AP)  Of the first four shots Olha Dembitska fired from an AK-47 assault rifle in her life, one hit the target.

Its pretty difficult the first time, the 22-year-old Ukrainian woman acknowledged.

On this occasion, the target was the shape of a human body at a shooting range in the Czech Republic. Next time, it might be for real, in Ukraine, and the target could be one of the Russian troops who have invaded her homeland.

Dembitska is one of at least 130 men and women who have so far undergone free-of-charge training for Ukrainians living in the Czech Republic who want to learn how to fight the aggressor.

I might return to Ukraine if they need me, she said.

Almost none of the participants had any experience with weapons before war struck their homeland.

Since Russia launched its brutal attack, Ukrainians from all parts of the country and elsewhere have been arriving in the Czech Republic's second-largest city, Brno, attracted by courses designed to teach them essentials and skills to safely handle lethal rifles while being able to inflict damage on their enemy.

Beside learning to shoot, the courses give them the basics about guns, movement around the battlefield and a lesson in providing first aid, something that can save lives if theyre mobilized by their embattled country or decide to return home as volunteers to join the Ukrainian army.

They are all motivated.

Its horrible, Dembitska said about the situation in her homeland. She gets her news from social media and from phone calls with a friend based in the southern city of Kherson, seized by Russian troops in the early stages of the invasion.

She tells me everything. They havent received humanitarian aid. Its a horror what the Russian soldiers are doing, Im sick of it.

Michal Ratajsky, the owner of CS Solutions, a security company that offers the training program at its base on the outskirts of Brno, located some 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Prague, called it our contribution to the help for Ukrainians.

We view it as a morale boost were giving them in this situation, an effort to show were supporting them and that we will do for them what we can at the given moment, Ratajsky said. That was our motivation and goal.

A crowdfunding campaign helped secure enough money for the ammunition, while his company provides the rest, including experienced instructors, weapons and the shooting range.

Ratajsky said the brief, three-hour training cant do miracles but should be enough to introduce the Ukrainians to new, unfamiliar skills.

We know that we dont make soldiers of them in those three hours, he said. We try to do the maximum for them in the time, with the focus on their safety.

Some of the participants have returned for repeated lessons. Some have come from as far away as Vienna. in neighboring Austria. Some took the course on their way back to Ukraine from Western Europe, Ratajsky said.

He said the Ukrainians are united by anger about the Russian aggression, and determined to end it.

They take it seriously and want to do something about it.

He said that because some 80% percent of troop losses in a war like the one in Ukraine are caused by artillery and missiles, a sense of self-preservation and knowledge of first aid might be more useful for survival than shooting.

Were aware of the limits of what we can get them ready for and make no secret of it, Ratajsky said.

Yehor Nechyporenko, 38, who had traveled some 260 kilometers (160 miles) from the town of Mlada Boleslav to Brno for the second time said he is helping Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in the Czech Republic but wants to be ready to go back home to fight.

Its very useful for me," he said of the training. I really like it. I need to learn those things because I didnt do military service.

Nechyporenko said he was sure the Russians have no chance of taking the entire country.

I think the war will be over in a couple of months, he said. And if we see were losing, well all travel home.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
After a brief reprieve when the state suspended its gas tax earlier this month, Connecticuts gas prices are back to an average of $4 a gallon.

And market experts warn drivers can expect the price at the pump to not let up anytime soon.

As long as the price of oil stays elevated, the price at the pump will struggle to fall, said Alec Slatky, the director of public and government affairs for AAA Northeast. Crude oil registered between $102.86 and $105.61 a barrel Monday, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Connecticut saw gas prices at an all-time high of $4.49 a gallon on March 11, according to Slatky.

There was a sense of reprieve in Connecticut when the state suspended its 25-cent sales tax on April 1. Hearst Connecticut Media Group collected the prices at more than 90 stations statewide and found the price at the pump fell by 24 cents on average the first day of the tax holiday, or to about $4.05 for the cost of regular.

Prices continued to dip, registering at $3.90 last week. However, the price has been slowly creeping back up.

Consumers may be catching a little break from Marchs record-high prices, but dont expect any dramatic drops, Slatky said.

Gas prices were much higher nationwide, standing at $4.12 Monday. This was about 3 cents higher than last week and 12 cents lower than the previous month. This time last year, the national average price of gas per gallon was at $2.89, according to data from AAA.

Michael Fox, executive director of the Gasoline and Automotive Service Dealers of America, said he has never seen a market so unstable in his 35 years in the industry.

Ive pretty much seen it all, but Ive never seen this much volatility, he said.

For the past month, Fox has seen the price of crude oil swing upward, creating both short- and long-term consequences at the pump.

And it could get worse. He predicted prices at the pump could reach $6 or $7 by the Fourth of July weekend. He attributed this to the change from the winter to the summer blend of gasoline, as well as increased demand in the summer.

Domestic gasoline demand is already going up. It increased slightly from 8.73 million barrels per day to 8.86 million barrels per day, according to Slatky. If the increased demand in air travel is an indication, it appears driving may be no different.

Slatky warned drivers that sanctions on Russian oil could also drive prices upward. However, continued COVID-19 lockdowns in Shanghai could signal a decrease in oil demand throughout China, the worlds largest oil importer, and put downward pressure on global oil prices.

Amid the sustained high prices, customers have been voicing their frustrations. Over the last two months, Attorney General William Tongs office has received 200 consumer complaints related to gas prices. About 30 of these complaints alleged specific stations continuing to collect the gas tax, while most of the others expressed general frustration with gas prices and accused stations of price gouging.

The attorney generals office sent letters to 101 retailers requesting more information in response to the complaints. The office received 65 responses. The matters have been closed with 41 retailers, but 24 are under review.

Fox said state lawmakers could help drivers by extending the tax holiday, which runs until June 30, through the end of the year. He said the state could also suspend its other gas tax, the petroleum gross receipts earnings tax, which is an 8.1 percent tax capped at $3 per gallon, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

By suspending both taxes until the end of the year, Fox said drivers could see lower prices, but it will do nothing to the actual market cost of gasoline, which is the real problem driving these prices.

Tong reminded consumers in a statement last month that not every price increase or decrease will be related to the tax holiday or is an example of price gouging.

Its important to remember that prices at the pump will continue to fluctuate along with changes in wholesale prices, Tong said.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  Missouri senators on Tuesday passed a roughly $46 billion state budget plan bolstered by federal funding that includes extra money for K-12 public school busing and teacher pay raises.

Negotiators now have a little more than a week to hash out differences between the House and Senate's proposed spending plans before the May 6 deadline to pass a budget.

While the House left billions of dollars in surplus revenue unspent, senators sought to chip away at excess funding.

The Senate version includes $214 million more than the House in funding for public K-12 busing, which Democratic Sen. Lauren Arthur said could spare cash-strapped school districts from going to four-day school weeks.

The latest version of the budget also includes about $32 million to help school districts subsidize teacher pay.

Republican Gov. Mike Parson called for pay raises for teachers and state workers to address a labor shortage in part caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other provisions of the budget include a $42 million increase in funding for public four-year colleges and universities compared to this year, as well as a $10 million increase for community colleges.

While Senate Democrats lauded increased spending in the budget plan, Conservative Caucus members condemned it as an expansion of government.

Republican Sen. Bill Eigel called for a moment of silence on the Senate floor for the death of fiscal conservativism.

Eigel said the budget includes every wasteful instance of spending that could be thought of by 34 different members of the Senate.

The budget also includes a ban on using state spending to reimburse Planned Parenthood, including clinics that do not provide abortions, for health care for low-income Medicaid patients.

Democrats warned that the federal government could pull all of Missouri's Medicaid funding if Planned Parenthood is unfunded.

It is going to be a problem for people who are using Planned Parenthood as their provider," Democratic Sen. Jill Schupp said. "It is even against federal law and the Constitution because we are supposed to allow patients, even low-income patients accessing funding through our Medicaid program, to utilize any willing provider.
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STAMFORD  A Board of Representatives panel will hold a public hearing Thursday on proposed new boundary lines for Stamfords 20 municipal voting districts.

State law and Stamfords charter require a local redistricting process to occur every 10 years based on the latest U.S. census. The charter requires the city to be divided into 20 voting districts, each of which must contain substantially equal numbers of population, be in as compact and contiguous form as practicable and follow geographical divisions wherever practical. Each district has two members on the Board of Representatives.

Michael Cacace, one of the co-chairs of this years Redistricting Commission, said the process was a challenge compared to prior years. He has served on Stamford Redistricting Commissions three other times.

Over a decade, Stamfords population grew by more than 10 percent to about 135,000 residents, according to 2020 census data. Much of the growth was concentrated in two areas.

What made it all the more challenging from a redistricting standpoint is the fact that most of the increase in population took place in two districts: Districts 3 and 6, which are essentially the South End and the central business district, which saw a dramatic increase in the number of apartments over the last 10 years, said Cacace, who is a Stamford resident and an attorney.

The commissions target population for each district was about 6,800 residents, according to meeting minutes. A district could have a population of no more than 5 percent above or below that number, creating a range of about 6,400 to about 7,100.

The general result, Cacace said, was that Districts 3 and 6 got smaller because they were overpopulated and many of the other districts got larger.

District 3 was over the target population number by about 3,500, according to a city map. District 6 was over by about 2,500.

Maps of the proposed new district lines are available on the Board of Representatives website at www.boardofreps.org/r31003.aspx.

Total population per district wasnt the commissions only consideration. Another goal was to make sure that there was no diminution in minority voice within the 20 districts, Cacace said.

You try and make sure that in certain districts, minority populations are actually the majority of that district, he said. And on the other hand, you try and make sure that minority representation is spread throughout the districts to the extent its possible given the census tracts.

The commission also aimed to keep members of the Board of Representatives within their current numerical districts.

One board member, Democratic Rep. Sean Boeger, will be in a different district if the redistricting plan is adopted as proposed. Instead of District 15, Boeger will be in District 17, which is currently represented by Mary Fedeli, a Republican, and Bobby Pavia, a Democrat. Boeger did not return a request for comment.

Cacace said the new lines will go into effect in 2025.

The Redistricting Commission consisted of eight members  four picked by a Democratic leader on the Board of Representatives and four picked by a Republican leader. The group met a number of times starting in November and worked with a consultant to map out the new districts.

After the public hearing, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, the Board of Representatives will accept, reject or modify the redistricting plan, Cacace said. If the board rejects the plan, it will have to devise its own  but he said that has never happened while he has been involved in redistricting.

And I dont expect that to happen this time, he said.

On Thursday, members of the public will be able to make comments in person at Stamford Government Center or via Zoom. More details are available by visiting www.boardofreps.org/042822-proposed-voting-districts.aspx.

The boundaries for Connecticuts state House and Senate Districts have also been updated since the census. Stamford will get two additional voices in Hartford.

brianna.gurciullo@hearstmediact.com
An ongoing effort to allow the direct sales of electric vehicles in Connecticut faced resistance Tuesday from traditional car dealerships and unions representing auto technicians, who said the legislation would offer special exemptions to companies like Tesla and Rivian at the expense of their workers.

Most new electric vehicle manufacturers rely on a direct-sales model that avoids traditional franchise dealerships used by automakers such as Ford, General Motors and Toyota.

Connecticut, however, has a franchise law similar to those on the books in the majority of states, which require manufacturers to sell their cars through third-party dealerships. Legislation before the House would create an exemption for electric vehicle manufacturers without an existing presence in the state, benefiting companies like Tesla and Rivian.

During a news conference Tuesday morning, opponents of that bill said it would undermine Connecticuts consumer protection laws and threaten the jobs of the nearly 14,000 employees of car dealerships in Connecticut  pointing to allegations of union-busting by Tesla.

I dont see the need to do a Tesla bill, said state Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, a former regional director for the United Auto Workers union. I dont see the need to advance Elon Musk, who is already ruler of the world.

The news conference followed a similar event last week hosted by advocates for the bill, who accused car dealerships of using discriminatory lending practices and hidden fees to take advantage of minority customers.

The sponsor of the bill, state Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport, has also argued that any brick-and-mortar sales locations set up by electric car makers in Connecticut would still be subject to the same consumer protection and lemon laws that apply to traditional car dealerships.

In addition, despite Tesla being the most-popular electric car in Connecticut, customers must currently travel out of state to purchase or service their vehicles, supporters argue.

My constituents who want to go electric and buy the most popular car on the market, theyve got to drive all the way to Mt. Kisco, N.Y., Haskell said during a public hearing last month. I think our state policies should make it easier, not harder, for people to go electric.

Advocates for the dealership model argued Tuesday, however, that any barriers to Connecticuts market of affluent car buyers were self-imposed by the manufacturers.

Brian Schneck, president of UAW Local 259, said franchise laws have been in place around the country for decades  Connecticuts franchise law was originally passed in 1972  and companies like Tesla could choose to follow the franchise model rather than pushing states to allow for direct sales.

They knew that from Day 1, and theyre doing mission creep across the country, making an attempt to change the rules to favor their self-chosen business model, Schneck said. If Tesla is so confident in their product, and the other [electric car parts manufacturers] are so confident in their product, what do they fear about having franchise dealers? Whats the problem?

Representatives for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

The franchise dealer system simply will not work for Rivians business model, where vehicles are made-to-order and were ramping our production, Leslie Hayward, a spokesperson for Rivian, said in an email. As a company, we are innovating on not just the product, but also the customer experience. Furthermore, we know that the vast majority of the EVs sold in the United States are via direct sales  this is no coincidence.

Previous efforts to enact a direct-sales model in Connecticut have failed in the face of opposition from car dealerships. The latest effort passed the Transportation Committee last month with mostly-Democratic support, though a few members crossed party lines during the vote.

Haskell said Tuesday that he did not have a timetable for when the legislation may come up for a vote on the House floor. The ongoing legislative session will end at midnight on May 5.
Romanian Border Police found 15 foreign nationals trying to cross illegally into Hungary, at the Nadlac II Border Checkpoint.

According to a release sent on Tuesday by the Romanian Border Police, the attempts to fraudulently cross the border took place in the last two days.

"On 25.04.2022, at the Nadlac II Border Checkpoint, a Turkish citizen, driving a car truck registered in Romania, was transporting, according to the documents, textiles for a company in Germany. Following the detailed inspection of the means of transport, nine foreign nationals were found hidden in the cargo compartment," the release said.

Following the checks, the border police found that these nine people were citizens of Syria and Turkey.

Another attempt to cross the border at Nadlac II was recorded on Sunday, when six people walking were observed 10 meters from the border.

"Because they did not justify their presence in the area, they were taken to the headquarters of the sector for verification. Following the investigation, it was established that they are citizens of Cameroon, Nigeria and Congo, asylum seekers in our country," the release said.

In both cases, the border police carry out investigations to establish the entire criminal activity, and the necessary legal measures will be enforced.

AGERPRES.
Thirty-six years ago, the accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant led to one of the most horrific nuclear incidents in history. This long-lasting tragedy has had widespread consequences in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and in other parts of Europe, causing fatalities, human suffering, long-term health damage, food shortages, and polluting the environment. Some 350,000 people had to leave their homes in severely contaminated areas, with social and economic consequences that continue to this day.

Today, Russia's illegal and unjustified aggression in Ukraine again jeopardises nuclear safety on our continent. Russia has targeted and occupied Ukrainian nuclear sites, recklessly damaging the facilities. The unlawful occupation and the interruption of normal operations, such as preventing the rotation of personnel, undermine the safe and secure operation of nuclear power plants in Ukraine and significantly raise the risk of an accident.

On the anniversary of the 1986 Chornobyl accident, we reiterate our utmost concern over the nuclear safety and security risks caused by Russia's recent actions at the Chornobyl site. We call on Moscow to return control of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian authorities and refrain from any further actions targeting nuclear installations.

We reaffirm our commitment to the highest standards of nuclear safety, nuclear security and safeguards worldwide and we welcome and fully support the IAEA's efforts to provide assistance, upon the Ukrainian government's request.

We call on the international community and all relevant actors to immediately start a reflection on how to improve existing international instruments to protect nuclear sites in the context of war, and on whether new specific instruments might be necessary, European Commission Vice-President Josep Borrell and Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said in a joint statement.

Background

The tragedy of Chornobyl triggered a global response and generated a new awareness of nuclear safety issues. The EU has provided extensive support to ensure the safe containment of Chornobyl reactor number four, effective radioactive waste management, and assistance to the affected regions.

The EU has been among the first to react to the Chornobyl disaster. It has provided 432 million for the Chornobyl New Safe Confinement, along with loans worth 600 million, together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to Ukraine's Comprehensive Safety Upgrade Programme for safety improvements of other nuclear power plants in Ukraine.

The lessons learned from the Chornobyl accident also resulted in new international conventions and Euratom instruments, to improve the security of nuclear facilities operation, the safety of waste management as well as the exchange of information in the event of a nuclear emergency. All EU Member States are parties to those conventions and continue to support all efforts to strengthen nuclear safety worldwide.

Furthermore, EURATOM established the European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange (ECURIE) system, to exchange information in the event of a nuclear emergency and legislation was later adopted to strengthen nuclear safety of nuclear installations and to achieve the safe management of radioactive waste.
The Minister of National Defence, Vasile Dincu, reiterated on Tuesday Romania's support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, in its internationally recognized borders, condemning the atrocities committed in the cities and villages of Ukraine and highlighted the urgent need for the opening and unconditional functioning of humanitarian corridors.

Vasile Dincu took part on Tuesday in the first reunion of the Ukraine Defence Consultative Group, hosted at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, by the American Secretary of Defence, Lloyd J. Austin III, the Ministry of National Defence informed in a press release sent to AGERPRES.According to the quoted source, the meeting of the Consultative Group evaluated the security situation in Ukraine, given the continuation of the unjustified and illegal military offensive of the Russian Federation, which is now in a new stage.Furthermore, MApN specifies, the high ranking officials in the security and defence sectors discussed about ways of continuing and intensifying support for Ukraine, in accordance with the necessities of ensuring the defence and security of this country, in the short, medium, and long term.On the sidelines of the meeting in Ramstein Air Base, Minister Vasile Dincu had a short meeting with Oleksii Reznikov, the Ukrainian Minister of Defence, opportunity with which he expressed full solidarity with Ukraine and informed of the availability of maintaining a constant and open dialogue any time when it is necessary.The Romanian official presented the actions that took place nationwide regarding the solid ways of supporting Ukraine. He also highlighted the extremely important role of the humanitarian logistics hub in Suceava, used efficiently by several states, MApN says.AGERPRES
The Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) informs, on Tuesday, that it took notice with concern of the few incidents recently recorded, in still uncertain circumstances, in the Transnistria region of the Republic of Moldova.

"The Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry believes that, in the current context, it is necessary to approach the situation with caution and prudence, to clarify its circumstances, as well as to avoid commitment in any eventual provocations. From this perspective, MAE expresses full support for the appeal to calm and responsibility of the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, as well as the efforts of the authorities in Chisinau to manage these developments in a responsible, transparent and balanced manner. The attempts at an artificial, unjustified escalation of tensions do not contribute to the maintaining of a predictable and stable climate and are not in the interest of citizens on the two banks of the Nistru [River], especially in the current regional security context," MAE mentions in a release sent to AGERPRES.According to the quoted source, "on a larger scale, the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry reaffirms support for the political solving of the Transnistria issue with respect towards the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova, within its internationally recognized borders, and without affecting its pro-European orientation." AGERPRES
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca has conducted, on Tuesday, a working visit to Ukraine, in Kyiv, accompanied by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, the Government announced.

According to a release sent to AGERPRES, Prime Minister Ciuca was welcomed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and had meetings with the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk.The agenda of the visit included visits to the localities of Borodyanka and Irpin, in the proximity of the capital Kyiv, heavily affected by the illegal, unprovoked and unjustified aggression of Russia on Ukraine, the Government in Bucharest informs."Prime Minister Ciuca sent a message of condemnation in the firmest terms of the Russian invasion, of the human atrocities and material destruction, expressing the support of Romania for the conduct of an international investigation to punish those guilty of committing international crimes, including through the recent voluntary financial contribution, decided by the Government of Romania, to the Fiduciary Fund of the International Criminal Court," mentions the quoted release.According to the Government, in the discussions with Ukrainian officials, the Prime Minister of Romania reiterated support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and presented measures for multi-dimensional support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the context of the war, including to manage the over 820,000 refugees that crossed the border with Romania.The Prime Minister emphasized "the numerous administrative measures adopted since the start of Russian aggression to allow access to Ukrainian refugees on the national territory and to ensure the necessary conditions for protection, as well as the creation of refugee camps, the regulation of free access to medical, educational and transport services, as well as to the labor market."Furthermore, the Prime Minister emphasized that Romania also assumed a role as intermediary in the transfer of international aid to Ukraine, through the humanitarian hub established in Suceava on March 9, which was used until now by 32 humanitarian convoys with 163 trucks.In the context of the visit, Prime Minister Ciuca "analyzed together with Ukrainian officials new possibilities of support for Ukraine." According to the Government, the examination regarded the diminishment of the negative effects of the war on the Ukrainian economy, especially in what regards the possibilities to achieve exports of grains and products of animal origin.Among other things, Prime Minister Ciuca mentioned as a concrete measure for support the temporary liberalization by Romania on the national territory of road freighting conducted by Ukrainian operators starting April 5, 2022, starting the rehabilitation of a wide gauge railway in the port of Galati to facilitate direct access of trains from Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and to shorten the freight transfer time, analyzing the possibilities of increasing the transit capacity through the joint border crossing points and the extended facilitation of the sanitary-veterinary control at these points, extending capacities to handle freight from Ukraine through Constanta harbor.The Romanian Prime Minister emphasized the importance of developing connectivity between Romania and Ukraine through the opening of new border crossing points and reiterated that "Romania is available and interested in substantially participating in the post-conflict reconstruction process of Ukraine, depending on the parameters and priorities defined by the Ukrainian authorities a dedicated bilateral dialogue will be set up concretely on the topic."In what regards the bilateral relation, Nicolae Ciuca conveyed, according to the quoted source, the desire to advance the Romanian-Ukrainian relation to a higher level, starting with the existing potential for cooperation, joint security interests and the solidarity between the two peoples, manifested heavily, in a concrete manner, since the start of the Russian aggression.Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca reiterated the firm support of Romania for the aspirations of Ukraine to integrate in the European Union and congratulated Kyiv for sending the responses to the first part of the accession questionnaire."All Ukrainian speakers thanked the Romanian Government and Romanian citizens for the support granted in various domains of direct interest for the Ukrainian side and for the solidarity manifested, with a lot of empathy, since the start of the Russian military aggression. They presented the developments in the field of the military confrontation and the necessities for support on several levels. They hailed and claimed availability to create a new, superior partnership profile, in all dimensions, for the Romanian-Ukrainian bilateral relation and gave assurances regarding respect for identity rights of Romanian ethnics," the Government's release also shows. AGERPRES
Romania has fully achieved all the milestones in its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) that it has undertaken together with the European Commission, Economy Minister Florin Spataru told a specialist conference on Tuesday.

"We are discussing the National Recovery and Resilience Plan at a time when we have already moved through two stages, two quarters in which, as you can see, the Romanian government kept its promises. We have achieved all the milestones we have set. The economic component should probably have been much more present in such a plan, but we know very well that it was made in a first stage in 2020, after which it was revised, approved by the European Commission, and I think it is normal for the Romanian government, whatever it may be, to keep its promises, because it is ultimately our duty as a country and as a member state to show that we can carry out a plan that is challenging to many European countries. This is a two-pronged national recovery and resilience plan. The first prong is reform and it is there that we have fulfilled our obligation and drawn attention to some objectives that should be re-discussed and that we should consider moving forward. On the other hand, there is the investment component. From that perspective, I can tell you that what happened at the Ministry of Economy is that we are one of the first ministries to start that programme on micro-electronics and that we managed to complete it in record time," said Spataru.

The minister added that that Romania could have lost 500 million euros under PNRR had the micro-electronics programme not been completed on schedule, as by the deadline rolled in "absolutely nothing had been done."

"We would have had the misfortune of being unable to draw in the first 500 million euros of this National Recovery and Resilience Plan, because we had a deadline of February 25 and absolutely nothing had been done of that programme. From December to the end of February, we were able to complete the evaluation and send these programmes to the European Commission, with eight direct, eligible beneficiaries and 37 indirect beneficiaries," said Spataru.

According to him, PNRR will have a major impact on the national economy, with energy transition, digital transformation and education being the main components thereof.

The European Commission positively assessed Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNNR) in September 2021. The plan will include investment on European funds exceeding 29.2 billion euros designed for viable reforms and projects for strategic segments and industries.

Central and local administration officials, government officials, private companies and economic stakeholders attended a conference on Tuesday on opportunities and funding mechanisms under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

AGERPRES
As much as 21% of the funds under Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) is allocated for digital transformation, the equivalent of over 6 billion euros, and as far as public bodies go, we try to bring Romania into the 21st century, senior official with the Ministry of European Investment and Projects (MIPE) Csilla Hegedus told a specialist conference on Tuesday.

"MIPE is always to blame for PNRR (...) I assume that it is also to blame that 21% of PNRR funds will go for digital transformation and around 40% for green projects. There are many things that MIPE did not necessarily want, but the European Commission did. Negotiating PNRR, good or bad as it is, was a very difficult procedure, because the European Commission has very clear ideas about what should be under our PNRR. We relied on two country reports, 2019-2020, and the needs highlighted there had to be covered by PNRR. If we talk about 21% of PNRR for digital transformation, then we are talking about an amount of over 6 billion euros. There has never been so much money and I don't think it will ever be again for this sector. From my point of view, the money is needed. I hate to queue at the counter, everyone is standing and some lady is giving you a dirty look because you haven't bring a piece of paper again. Not to mention that the online form has to be filed on the 2nd floor, room 23... I hope all this doesn't happen again. MIPE here has the role of a watchdog, so that everyone can do their job. The hard part is shouldered by ministries... And from that point of view we are trying to bring Romania into the 21st century," added Hegedus.

According to the MIPE official, the government cloud is the most important among digital transformation projects.

Hegedus also said that telemedicine was an acute problem during the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania, and that funds of 470 million euros are expected for the development of this field.

Central and local administration officials, government officials, private companies and economic stakeholders attended a conference on Tuesday on opportunities and funding mechanisms under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

AGERPRES.
The European Commission approved, on Tuesday, a Romanian scheme worth 91 million euros (453 million RON) to support cattle, pigs and poultry breeders in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, informs a press release of the European Commission.

The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Framework. Under the scheme, the aid will take the form of direct grants. The measure is intended to address the liquidity problems facing livestock breeders and to offset some of the losses suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictive measures that the Romanian authorities have had to implement to limit the spread of the virus. The scheme will be open to all companies active in the bovine, porcine and poultry farming sectors.Last week, the Minister of Agriculture, Adrian Chesnoiu, announced that over 95,000 animal breeders will benefit from a financial support of about 454 million RON to set off part of the losses they registered in the last two years, caused by the sanitary restrictions and disruption of supply chains."We support livestock farmers by providing state aid to compensate for and offset some of the losses that farmers have suffered in the last two years due to health restrictions and the disruption of supply chains. By providing this support worth almost 454 million RON, in addition to the other support programs for the livestock sector, we offer farmers the help they need to carry out their activity in normal conditions," said Chesnoiu, according to a press release of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development sent to AGERPRES.The Government Ordinance on the establishment of a state aid scheme to support the activity of cattle, pig and poultry breeders in the context of the economic crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic was adopted last Thursday by the Government. The maximum total value of the state aid scheme is 453.899 million RON and is distributed as follows: 170.250 million RON for the cattle sector, 167.649 million RON for the pig sector and 116 million RON for the poultry sector.The payment of the state aid is to be carried out until June 30, 2022.AGERPRES
As many as 724 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, up 403 from the previous day, with more than 13,000 RT-PCR and rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Tuesday.

Of the new cases, 63 were in re-infected patients, who tested positive more than 90 days after the first time they recovered from the disease.

Most of the newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Romania since the previous reporting were recorded in Bucharest City - 123 and in the counties of Maramures - 72, Cluj - 68, Iasi, and Timis, 32 each.

As of Tuesday, 2,889,363 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania.

- Hospitalisations -

As many as 1,272 people with COVID-19, up 44 from the previous reporting, including 77 children, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities.

Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 224 patients, up three, including one child, are in intensive care.

Of the 224 patients admitted to ICU, 201 are unvaccinated against COVID-19.

- Deaths -

According to the ministry, another two Romanians infected with SARS-CoV-2 , both women, are reported dead in the last 24 hours.

The deaths were recorded in the age group over 80 years. One of the patients who died had comorbidities, and the second was vaccinated and had no reported comorbidities.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 65,430 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania.

AGERPRES
Chairman of the Romanian Senate Florin Citu said on Tuesday that he will pay a visit to Kyiv as he previously announced, adding that the visit will take place "at some point."

"You know very well that a visit to Kyiv is in the cards and, as I said a week ago I am telling you now we will give you the details when we have them, it is a visit that will happen at some point," Citu said when asked about the visit.

AGERPRES.
Romania wants to be the main hub for stability and security in the region, and the harbors of Constanta and Galati need to be the main strategic connection points between the two countries, between Ukraine and Europe, but also with the rest of the world, said, on Tuesday, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, to Kyiv officials.

He accompanied Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca in the working visit conducted to Ukraine."I was, on the third day of Easter, in Ukraine to express my solidarity with a people, of which numerous Romanian ethnics are part of, a people under heavy trials, who has not known peace not even on the occasion of the most important holiday of Christianity," wrote Marcel Cioalcu on his Facebook page.He mentions that the Romanian officials had talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk."Moreover, I went to see, in Irpin and Borodyanka, the destruction caused by the Russian army. During discussions with Ukrainian officials, I sent two major messages: Romania wants to be the main hub for stability and security in the region and, thus, be more actively involved in the reconstruction process of Ukraine, after the war, both at the government level, as well as with Romanian companies. Moreover, the ports of Constanta and Galati need to be the main strategic connection points between the two countries, between Ukraine and Europe, but also the rest of the world. I said that, in the accession process of Ukraine to the EU, the Romanian community in this country must enjoy all the rights that minorities in member-states of the Union and Romania enjoy - this being a natural process that any state in the accession process has gone through," said Marcel Ciolacu. AGERPRES
EDWARDSVILLE  Some workers at an Amazon warehouse here that partly collapsed during a tornado in December didnt remember participating in tornado drills, and others didnt know where to take cover in an emergency, according to a federal investigation released Tuesday.

In letters sent to Amazon and three contract employers, officials with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, outlined how workers were warned to take cover 10 minutes before a tornado touched down, ripping through the southern half of the building and killing six people.

But a megaphone, kept in the warehouse to prompt people to take shelter, was locked in a cage and not accessible that night. Instead, managers walked through the 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse and told people to take cover, according to the letter.

And some employees didnt know that only the northern bathroom was a tornado shelter, so they headed to the restroom on the southern end instead. As the twister reached the building, walls on the southern half of the warehouse collapsed. Five people died there and one was injured.

Still, OSHA found the companys severe weather policies met federal guidelines and the agency issued no fines or citations. Instead, officials recommended Amazon and three contractors who helped staff the warehouse  AB&C D.A.D. Inc., Xseed Delivery and Boxify Logistics  to take stock of their emergency plans and update OSHA on their progress.

OSHA area director Aaron Priddy said the investigations findings should serve as a warning: As large warehouses like Amazons become more prevalent in an age of online sales, employers need to have a plan and make sure their workers understand it.

During the course of an emergency is not the time to try to identify what we need to do, he said.

Amazon said in a statement that it was already doing more safety and emergency preparedness drills and pledged to carefully consider OSHAs other recommendations.

We believe our team did the right thing, moving people to shelter as soon as the warning was issued, the statement said. Our buildings  including the Edwardsville delivery station  have emergency plans that identify exit routes and shelter areas.

The three Amazon contractors did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

OSHA does not evaluate construction integrity. In the days after the collapse, federal, state and local officials started looking into the buildings condition. Structural engineering experts questioned whether buildings constructed like the warehouse were appropriate for a climate expected to see more frequent tornadoes.

Then, last week, civil rights attorney Ben Crump filed two lawsuits against Amazon, the warehouses developer, TriStar Properties, and builder, Contegra Construction, on behalf of the mother of a worker who died in the warehouse, plus three drivers who survived.

Another lawsuit filed in recent weeks included a report from an engineer with a regional search and rescue group who said he saw significant structural issues with the building that might have contributed to its failure.

It is unclear whether OSHAs findings could affect that litigation, but Priddy said the evidence found by inspectors showed Amazon handled the situation based on federal guidelines.

In this particular circumstance, Amazon reacted to this severe weather event as we would expect any responsible employer to do, he said.

Still, there is room for improvement.

We encourage them to step up and make these changes, he said.

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POTOSI  Workers at a Red Wing Shoe factory here filed a petition Monday calling for a union election.

Workers at the plant, which employs roughly 250 people, complain of inadequate health care benefits and mandatory overtime that forces them to work 55-60 hours a week.

We deserve time to spend with our families just like anyone else, said Jenny Allen, a Red Wing worker. We need to make a change.

The Red Wing employees join thousands of workers across the country who are organizing during a tight labor market that's given them bargaining power. They are also part of a broader effort to grow organized labor amid a pandemic spotlighting the issues facing lower-wage and blue-collar workers.

If they win their election, they'll be represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 in St. Louis

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WASHINGTON  Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz backed the families of passengers killed in two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes, sharply criticizing the Justice Departments deferred prosecution agreement with Boeing.

The $2.5 billion Boeing deferred prosecution agreement, a type of corporate plea agreement, was reached in January 2021 near the end of former President Donald Trumps administration. It capped a 21-month government investigation into the design and development of the 737 MAX following two crashes, in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019, that killed a total of 346 people.

Families of some of those killed in the two crashes asked Texas-based U.S. District Judge Reed OConnor to declare that the deferred prosecution agreement was negotiated in violation of their rights as crime victims under federal law and determine appropriate remedies.

Cruz, who is ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee, told OConnor in a letter made public late Monday that Boeing engaged in criminal conduct that defrauded government regulators and left hundreds of people dead in preventable plane crashes.

Boeing and the Justice Department declined comment.

Cruz said the Justice Departments position  that the relatives of those killed were not victims under the Crime Victims Rights Act  was simply nonsensical.

The settlement included a fine of $243.6 million, compensation to airlines of $1.77 billion and a $500 million fund for crash victims over a fraud conspiracy charge related to the planes flawed design.

It is likely that the crashes would never have occurred if Boeing had been honest with regulators about the problems with the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System on the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, Cruz wrote to OConnor. If the government did not think these people were victims, it is hard to see why it thought a half-billion dollar compensation fund was appropriate.

OConnor set a May 3 hearing on the families request.

The Justice Department in February opposed the families request but apologized for not meeting and conferring with these crash victims beneficiaries before entering into the deferred prosecution agreement. Attorney General Merrick Garland met with some relatives on Jan. 26.

The crashes, which cost Boeing some $20 billion and led to a 20-month grounding of the plane that ended in 2020, prompted U.S. lawmakers to pass legislation reforming new airplane certification.

A Texas jury last month found a former Boeing chief technical pilot not guilty of deceiving federal regulators who approved the companys 737 MAX.
More than 100 years ago, women in long dresses, men in silk hats and students parading with flags gathered proudly in Forest Park to celebrate.

The nations first Jefferson Memorial, sheltering a 9-foot-tall marble statue of a great Founder, was finished. Some schools and businesses closed for half a day to mark the happy occasion  a monument to the third president built with money from the 1904 Worlds Fair.

The fair itself, of course, had honored the presidents acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, including the city of St. Louis and the future state of Missouri.

In a dramatic moment, a large U.S. flag was pulled off the statue.

Behold one of the immortals, David R. Francis, the fairs director, said at the unveiling on April 30, 1913.

Oops. Fast-forward.

In the 21st century, those formerly glorious achievements and the primary writer of the nations Declaration of Independence are, if not tarnished, now held up to a different level of scrutiny.

In modern parlance: Its complicated.

Thomas Jeffersons name is still carved on the building, but its now better known as the Missouri History Museum. His statue by Karl Bitter remains, but on Tuesday it acquires interpretive panels, which explain that the president fathered at least six children with a woman he enslaved.

The panels also depict land he bought from the French as the longtime home of Americans whose presence was inconvenient to white settlers. These Native Americans would be fought, killed or eventually removed to reservations.

Should the Louisiana Purchase be celebrated? one new 6-foot-long panel asks. Another says: Can we still be moved by the words of Jefferson but horrified by his actions?

The panels, two years in the making, are part of the nations ongoing efforts to publicly reckon with flaws in men idealized as immortal heroes through monuments, statues, signs and the like.

The new panels show a better history, said Peter J. Kastor, a history professor at Washington University and a museum trustee. Times change. It was not only necessary and urgent, but a tremendous opportunity.

Kastor was part of an advisory committee for the panels, a project that also included input from at least 100 reviewers, including high school students.

Some thought the statue should be removed; others thought panels should focus on Jefferson as an accomplished leader. But most agreed with a more rounded view, said Jody Sowell, managing director of public history at the Missouri History Museum.

National criticism of some monuments often notes that they belong not in a public park, but a museum. Well, the Jefferson statue is in a museum.

We long for heroes, Sowell said. We long for people to hold up on a pedestal. But visitors would rather be told the whole story and know the 360-degree view of these historic actors.

Always controversial

Jefferson was controversial pretty much all of his public life, historian Annette Gordon-Reed said last week while giving a speech at Washington University. The author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Hemingses of Monticello, Gordon-Reed talked about how views of the president evolved over 250 years.

He was hated; he was loved. His idea on the separation of church and state made critics see him a dangerous atheist, Gordon-Reed said. Some people buried their Bibles because some were afraid Jefferson would take them.

He condemned slavery in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, but the passage was removed. Likely, too many colonists, including Northerners, had profited from it. During his life, Jefferson owned more than 600 enslaved people himself.

Although even some contemporaries knew he had fathered children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman 30 years younger, his white family members continued to deny that the pairs four adult children were Jeffersons offspring. The children, whose heritage was seven-eighths European and one-eighth African, were legally white. But they had been born into slavery because their mother was enslaved.

It wasnt until 1998 that DNA testing confirmed Jefferson as their father, and not until 2018 that the Thomas Jefferson Foundation introduced a new Hemings exhibit at Monticello, calling paternity of her offspring settled historical matter.

On the new panels at the Missouri History Museum, Hemings and Jefferson are referred to as having a relationship. More than 100 years ago, she was often called a concubine. Today, some call the coupling less a relationship than rape because of the power dynamics.

But relationship at its most basic can be used to indicate any connection between people. Sally Hemings feelings about the situation are unknown. Her son Madison recalled years later that his mother only agreed to return to America with Jefferson from France (where she was free) if Jefferson agreed to treat their children with special privileges and to free them as adults.

For Gordon-Reed, statues dont imply hero worship. To her, she said, its someone who was important to the development of the country.

U.S. expansion

The second important controversy acknowledged in the panels concerns the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the United States. In 1803, the U.S. paid about $15 million (a portion was debt forgiveness) to Napoleon Bonaparte, who had military control over at least some of the area, particularly the crucial shipping port of New Orleans.

(The Louisiana Purchase) assures forever the power of the United States, and I have given England a rival who, sooner or later, will humble her pride, Bonaparte said. Bonaparte had not, however, purchased most of the land from the people who lived on it.

In 2008, Robert Miller, author of Native America, Discovered and Conquered, phrased the sale thus: You have no doubt read that the Louisiana Purchase was the greatest real estate deal in history because the United States paid only three cents an acre. That statement is false.  Instead, the United States bought the Discovery right to a limited sovereignty over the territory, the right to be the government the Indian Nations could deal with politically and commercially, and the preemptive right, the exclusive option to purchase the real estate whenever the owners, the Indian Nations, chose to sell.

The panel says: In the years to come, the U.S. would make many treaties with the Native American nations who called the Louisiana Territory home. However, these treaties were often one sided, negotiated in bad faith, or ignored by settlers who pushed to take more territory from Native Americans.

Monumental views

Geoff Ward teaches a class called Monumental Anti-Racism at Washington University. His students followed the progress of the history museums panels.

He said visitors to the Jefferson Monument dont need to feel threatened by interpretive panels.

We have a collective interest in understanding this figure in our national story, Ward said.

Because most people arent going back to school, they often learn about evolving ideas about history through museums, films, public art.

When many monuments were first conceived, corridors of power had little to no diverse input. Now other views are being offered.

On his own campus, Ward would like to see more information added to a statue of George Washington and another highlighting the Olympic Games played in St. Louis. Hed like more discussion of street names and cities (like Clayton) named after slaveowners.

At the museum, Sowell expects that within a few years, more information will be added to the Worlds Fair gallery and to the reproduction of Charles Lindberghs Spirit of St. Louis airplane. (A panel discussion about monuments and memorials is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the museum.)

The plane and the Jefferson statue are such long-held museum artifacts that reinterpretation often took a back seat to newer exhibitions. Still, Sowell said, the panels for Jefferson should have been added years ago.

Concise and meant to appeal to all visitors, the panels still only touch on the paradox of Jeffersons life. For more, there are always a multitude of biographies and histories.

If you leave the museum saying, I never knew that or I was fascinated by that, and then you decide you want to learn more, I think weve done a real service, Sowell said.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo.  A new campaign promoting safe gun storage to prevent firearm suicides launched Monday in Missouri.

End Family Fire Missouri, a two-year campaign from the Missouri Foundation for Health, urges gun owners to practice safe storage techniques  like locking up their firearms unloaded and separate from ammunition  to help reduce gun suicides, the leading cause of gun deaths in the state and nationwide.

With firearms playing such an outsized role in suicides throughout the state, we want to start a conversation about how we can encourage safer storage and look out for one another in moments of crisis, said Jessi LaRose, a senior strategist with the Missouri Foundation for Health, in a news release announcing the campaign.

The legacy of a single suicide tears through a community, leaving untold damage in its wake. We all have a part to play in preventing suicides, and making firearm safety a part of that effort makes perfect sense.

In Missouri, six out of ten suicides involve a firearm, according to the Missouri Foundation for Health. Gun suicides have been on the rise in the state for years, and experts say easy access to guns is a major part of the problem.

In partnership with the Ad Council and Brady, a gun safety nonprofit, the Missouri Foundation for Health will produce videos and PSAs for End Family Fire Missouri. The campaign is a part of Missouri Foundation for Healths larger initiative to prevent gun suicides.

End Family Fire, a national effort that launched in 2018, is dedicated to reducing gun deaths and injuries in homes. The campaign promotes safety techniques to encourage gun owners to shift their attitudes and behaviors around safely storing their guns.

Missouris suicide rates are consistently higher than the national average. In fact, in 2020, Missouris firearm suicide rate was 1.5 times higher than the national rate, said Colleen Creighton, the Brady director of End Family Fire, in the news release.

This is a crisis, but one that is eminently solvable. We are proud to work with Missouri Foundation for Health to help raise awareness of the dangers of unsecured firearms in the home to help save lives.
Dear Dr. Roach  I am a 62-year-old female. After about two weeks (sometimes less) of taking water-soluble vitamin supplements, I experience severe abdominal discomfort or a burning sensation. It feels like I either have a UTI or a vaginal infection. I also experienced the same symptoms taking collagen. It doesnt matter which form or brand of supplements I take. I have tried most. I have gone to my doctor and have had both infections ruled out multiple times. I finally figured out that it was being caused by the supplements. When I stop taking them, the discomfort subsides within a week. I have no trouble with fat-soluble vitamins. I have asked every doctor I have seen in the past 30 years about this, and none has heard of it. Their solution is to not take them. Am I getting enough vitamins without supplements if I eat well?  S.L.

Answer  Bladder irritation can be due to urine infection, but thats not the only reason. There are many substances that can irritate the bladder, and vitamins are on the list. Water-soluble vitamins (thats all of them excepts vitamins A, D, E and K) are often formulated at such high doses that they are rapidly excreted by the kidney and concentrated in the bladder. A list of common irritants compiled by Johns Hopkins is here: https://tinyurl.com/bladderirritant.

Dear Dr. Roach  I used to have very strong nails, but in the past several years, my nails have become increasingly weak. I keep them very short, and they still get nicks and break off. I have asked different doctors about it over the years and have tried everything they suggest: silica, vitamin E, moisturizing, etc. I always wear gloves when doing dishes. The last time I was seeing the doc for something else and mentioned it, she thought that my having some arthritis in my hands might be causing some autoimmune issue with the nails.

I am an otherwise healthy 64-year-old, and this isnt totally a cosmetic issue, as it gets painful when the already short nails break off even lower! Do you have any suggestions?  S.

Answer  Just getting older might be causing the brittle nails. You are already doing a lot of what I would recommend as first-line, such as the moisturizing and avoiding chemicals by wearing gloves when washing dishes or when using any kind of household cleansers.

Going back to what your doctor said, if there is any evidence of psoriatic arthritis (which causes nail pitting), you might need treatment to protect your joints. Otherwise, a visit to the dermatologist can identify (or rule out) nail and skin diseases that can cause brittleness.

Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu or send mail to 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803.
Joe Holleman Joe Holleman is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Joe Holleman Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

If you feel compelled to contribute to KETC (Channel 9), then Amy Turck is your go-to contact.

Turck, a Granite City native, has been named as the new vice president and "chief individual giving officer" for Nine PBS.

With 13 years of managing non-profit organizations' membership, Turck will be charged with shaping the network's fundraising strategies.

Before joining STL's public television station, Turck was an executive with the Gateway Region YMCA, which covers 26 branches in the bi-state area. She also worked for the YMCA on several national projects.

Turck earned a bachelor's degree from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a master's from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

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Joe Holleman Joe Holleman is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Joe Holleman Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

The victim of a brutal lynching in downtown St. Louis will be remembered this weekend.

At 9 a.m. Saturday, the Reparative Justice Coalition of St. Louis will hold a soil collection ceremony to mark the lynching of Francis L. McIntosh, who was tied to a tree and burned to death on April 28, 1836.

The lynching ultimately forced abolitionist publisher Elijah P. Lovejoy to leave St. Louis and relocate in Alton.

Soil will be collected from the northwest corner of Kiener Plaza, the area where the lynching took place.

The soil will be placed in three jars: One jar will become part of an exhibit at the Griot Museum in St. Louis; another will be sent to the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City; and the third jar will be shipped to the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama.

Mayor Tishaura Jones is slated to speak at the ceremony.

McIntosh, a free man and steamboat cook, was dragged from jail by a mob, tied to a tree and then set on fire. McIntosh had been arrested for allegedly stabbing a sheriff's deputy to death during a scuffle on the levee.

Lovejoy's newspaper, the Observer, wrote extensively about the incident, describing it as "an awful murder and savage barbarity."

The newspaper editor stayed in St. Louis and kept writing about the incident until July 1836, when a mob ransacked his office at 85 Main Street (now beneath the Gateway Arch) and destroyed his press.

After that, Lovejoy moved to Alton and continued publishing. Pro-slavery mobs ransacked the Alton office twice and both times threw Lovejoy's press into the river. He was killed in 1837 in Alton, while defending his third printing press.

This is the coalition's second soil collection in recent months. In January, the group held a ceremony at Buder Park, near Valley Park, to remember the lynching of John Buckner in 1894.

The coalition plans to erect commemorative plaques at both the Buckner and McIntosh sites in the future.

For more information about Saturday's event, go to rjcstl.org

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Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

JEFFERSON CITY  Rodney Lincoln returned to the scene of the crime.

Here he was Friday morning, sitting in a wheelchair and connected to oxygen, outside the prison that had held him for a murder he didnt commit. Lincoln was convicted for the 1982 St. Louis murder of JoAnn Tate, but the main witness in the case, Tates daughter, later recanted. The Midwest Innocence Project uncovered a rush to judgment plus evidence, including DNA, that cleared Lincoln.

But the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled in 2016 that innocence is not enough to free a person from prison in the Show-Me State, unless they happen to be on death row; Lincoln was not. Lincolns sentence was commuted two years later by former Gov. Eric Greitens.

Lincoln showed up at the prison Friday to greet Michael Politte as he walked out on parole, having been imprisoned since he was 14. A week earlier, Lincoln had been due in the state Capitol to testify for a bill intended to make sure that what happened to him doesnt happen to others. Lincoln, 77, was hospitalized that day  his health isnt great  and so he wasnt there to testify.

But he couldnt miss greeting Politte. He stood and shook the mans hand. Politte grinned from ear to ear and gave Lincoln a bear hug. Theres a tight-knit but fairly small group of men who have been freed from prison in Missouri, either because of prosecutorial misconduct, or innocence, or both.

I asked Lincoln what it meant for him to see Politte walk out of the prison they both once inhabited.

It shows that justice may be slow, but its working, Lincoln said.

Thats the idea behind the innocence is enough bill sponsored by Sen. John Rizzo, D-Independence. As originally conceived, Senate Bill 1201 would, in effect, vacate Lincolns ruling by allowing any Missouri prisoner to make a claim of actual innocence in a petition seeking their freedom, as long as they could present clear and convincing evidence that they didnt commit the crime of which they were convicted.

The new law is meant to help people like Christopher Dunn, who has been in prison for almost 32 years for a murder that he says he didnt commit. In 2020, a Texas County judge agreed with Dunn, writing in a ruling that the evidence points strongly toward innocence, but because of the Lincoln ruling, he couldnt set Dunn free, simply because he isnt on death row.

That doesnt make sense, Lincoln says. A host of former Missouri judges agree.

Missouri is an outlier compared to how other states deal with actual innocence claims. To our knowledge, there is no other state that restricts an available freestanding actual innocence claim to those sentenced to death, a group of 16 retired judges wrote to lawmakers. The judges include former Missouri Supreme Court Justices Michael Wolff and Ray Price, former Appeals Court judges Booker T. Shaw and Lisa Van Amburg, and former Circuit Judges Jack Garvey and Barbara Wallace. They come from across the political spectrum and the state.

We struggle to see the rationale for this distinction  beyond the urgency of an impending execution. There is no moral reason to distinguish between these injustices. The law should reflect the uncontroversial notion that innocent people, no matter their punishment, do not belong in prison.

Rizzos bill passed unanimously out of committee, but not in a version that would actually fix the problem at hand. This late in the session the bill is likely dead. If it eventually becomes law the way the bill was originally written, it will join one passed by the Legislature last year that allows prosecutors to file direct actions to try to free innocent people. That would be a steady move toward bringing Missouri in line with the sort of justice measures allowed in other states.

Late last year, that law was used by Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker to free another wrongly convicted man, Kevin Strickland, after 43 years behind bars. Yet another series of bills filed this year would help people like Strickland receive some sort of compensation from the state after theyve been exonerated, but those bills, filed by both Republicans and Democrats, appear stalled in various parts of the legislative process.

As Lincoln said, progress is slow, but there appears to be some movement toward justice for the wrongly convicted.

We have seen firsthand how the legal system, despite its best intentions, occasionally fails to produce accurate and fair results, the judges wrote in their letter supporting Rizzos bill. Yet in Missouri we do not have a sufficient mechanism for a court to hear and decide freestanding claims of actual innocence. Equal justice must include the right of the innocent to be heard, no matter their sentence.

From City Hall to the Capitol, metro columnist Tony Messenger shines light on what public officials are doing, tells stories of the disaffected, and brings voice to the issues that matter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Ashley Zieser was addicted to meth in 2014 when she was sent to the Chillicothe Correctional Center, the womens prison in western Missouri. She found the place terrifying, but she committed herself to getting her GED and into work release.

It was in a warehouse, where Zieser was working, that she first encountered guard Edward Bearden. He stopped her, grabbed his penis and said, You know you want that, she said. It was just the beginning of his abuse, she told jurors in a civil case Monday.

Later, Zieser said, she was cleaning the administration building when Bearden told her to get the trash out of a break room, which she did. But then he came up behind her, slid his hands in her pants and assaulted her, she said.

It felt like forever, Zieser told the jury seated in the federal courthouse in downtown Kansas City, before recounting additional allegations against Bearden.

Zieser was the first of four women expected to take the stand this week in their consolidated lawsuits against Bearden, who they say sexually assaulted them at the prison about 90 miles northeast of Kansas City.

Bearden, who worked for the Missouri Department of Corrections from 2008 to September 2018, denies the accusations. His lawyers said the incidents never occurred and painted the women as not to be trusted.

During opening statements in front of Chief U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips, one of the womens lawyers, Susan McGraugh, warned the jurors that the allegations may shock and alarm you. Pointing across the courtroom at Bearden, McGraugh said he considered the womens prison his personal hunting ground.

The women had accepted their prison sentences, which isolated them from their children and communities, and sought to better themselves, McGraugh said. But they crossed paths with Bearden, who McGraugh claimed had a pattern: groom and compliment the women, giving them items they could not have; sexually harass them; isolate them into small spaces without cameras; and rape them.

She laid out the additional allegations.

McGraugh told the jurors they would hear from Lynnsey Betz, who alleges Bearden pushed her against the wall of a cleaning closet and assaulted her. Betz cried from the plaintiffs table, seated with the other women, as McGraugh told her story. The survivor of a previous rape, Betz suffered from anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and severe night terrors as a result, McGraugh said.

The jurors will also hear from Karen Keil, who says Beardens harassment started when he singled her out for pat downs. Then things escalated: Bearden raped her more than 20 times in a storage closet, McGraugh alleged. It left Keil with extreme mental trauma and made it painful for her to walk and use the restroom, her lawyer said.

A fourth woman, who is listed in court records as Jane Doe, is also expected to take the stand. Bearden complimented her before he followed her into a room and forced her to perform oral sex, McGraugh told the jury.

A professor at St. Louis University School of Law, McGraugh said her team will additionally call another woman who alleges Bearden inappropriately touched her; an expert who, after reviewing the womens health records, will tell of the lasting affect of the alleged assaults; and a former prison official who will testify that guards know where cameras are, and arent, located.

Nicolas Taulbee, a lawyer with the Missouri Attorney Generals Office, which is representing Bearden, told the jury the case was one of who you believe and said they will hear Bearden testify that the horrible allegations are not true.

This did not happen, Taulbee said twice during his opening arguments.

The women know each other and have convictions that include crimes of dishonesty, such as forgery and fraud, Taulbee said.

Before 2018, Bearden had been accused of nothing during his time as a guard, his attorney said. Taulbee called the prison a busy place where guards watch each other to assure they are safe. Staff is expected and obligated to report any misconduct, he noted.

No one in the correctional center, including 540 employees and 1,400 prisoners, reported the allegations at the time, Taulbee said. DOC keeps video recording from its cameras for just 30 days, unless there is reason to save it, so jurors would not see footage from that time, he added.

The womens lawyers said they did not report the abuse until they were safe.

No criminal charges have been filed against Bearden.

It happened to me, too

After Zieser said she was assaulted, she tried to collect herself. But she was in shock.

She later noticed while using the restroom that the alleged attack left her bleeding. The pain from the assault, she said, lasted a week.

Zieser said she did not tell anyone about the assault  or the one that followed a week later  because she could have lost privileges, including phone calls and the job she worked so hard to get after obtaining her GED. She thought she could get thrown in the hole, which women at CCC also call the shoe.

I didnt know what to do, she said.

DOC officials have said the department does not use phrases like the hole or solitary confinement, but instead segregates prisoners for various reasons. At times, they have said, that includes for a prisoners protection from further victimization or retaliation.

During another incident, Zieser said, she was in the administration buildings locker room  which guards are not allowed to enter  and Bearden grabbed her hair and demanded she perform oral sex. Another prisoner ran over and Bearden left, Zieser said.

Zieser requested a transfer, but she did not say why. She got moved to work in a garage.

Once out of prison, Zieser went to get her hair done by a woman who she met behind bars. As they talked, the woman asked Zieser if she had heard about Karen Keil  one of the other women suing Bearden. Zieser hadnt, and when she reached out to Keil, she told her to call John Ammann, one of the lawyers from Saint Louis University.

I said, It happened to me, too, said Zieser, who at times wiped away tears on the stand.

Zieser now has nightmares and wakes up in a sweat. She freaks out, as she put it, when anyone, including her daughter, hugs her from behind. The sound of keys  similar to the noise Beardens belt made  leaves her feeling like she is under water.

On cross examination, Abbie Rothermich, an attorney from the AGs office, went over Ziesers criminal history, which includes a conviction for assault on a law enforcement officer, in more detail. Zieser corrected Rothermich when she said she had five felony convictions; it is actually six, Zieser said.

Jurors submitted written questions for Zieser, including one that asked her if there were cameras leading to the areas where you were abused. Zieser said she did not think so.

The women are seeking monetary damages from the jury of five men and three women.

The trial resumed Tuesday morning and is expected to last through Thursday or Friday.

Other women have alleged abuse at Chillicothe before.

In 2017, John Thomas Dunn, a counselor at the prison, pleaded guilty to sexual conduct with a prisoner.

Two years later, Teresa Ketner, in a federal lawsuit, accused Dunn of sexually abusing his patients for years and preying on women with mental health issues. Dunns criminal behavior did not end until he was arrested by an outside agency, Ketner said.

Ketners attorney, Brendan Roediger of SLU, previously told The Star that as many as nine women had accused Dunn of wrongdoing, whether officially or not.

In 2019, it was disclosed in court filings that the U.S. Department of Justice, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was investigating the possibility of federal criminal charges against prison staff accused by women.

Earlier this year, a DOJ spokeswoman said the department could not comment on any potential investigation.
CLAYTON  There is no dispute that Beau Rothwell killed his pregnant wife in November 2019, tried to clean up the crime scene and led police to her body in Lincoln County.

But a St. Louis County jury will decide if Jennifer Rothwells death was premeditated murder or a crime of sudden passion. Testimony began Tuesday in Beau Rothwells trial on charges of first-degree murder, evidence tampering and abandoning a corpse.

The 28-year-old woman was six weeks pregnant when her husband reported her missing Nov. 12, 2019. He was charged in her death two days later and ultimately told police they could find her naked body partly covered in branches and brush in a wooded area off U.S. 61 near Troy, Missouri.

Assistant Prosecutor Tom Smith told jurors that Beau Rothwell, 31, smashed his wifes skull in the basement of the couples home near Creve Coeur with such violent, homicidal force that she bled out on their basement carpet. He said Jennifer Rothwell was a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend. She had just found she was going to be a mother.

After he murdered her, Smith told jurors, he cleaned up evidence, her blood with cleaning supplies and he took her body about an hour away, stripped her naked, put a trash bag over her head, secured it with duct tape and hid her in the woods.

Beau Rothwells lawyer, Charles Barberio, said in opening statements that the couple began dating while studying engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia and moved to St. Louis for work. He said the couple had struggled since 2018 to have a child, that Beau Rothwell lost interest and began having an affair. He said they learned shed become pregnant at the end of October 2019, started planning for parenthood and proposing baby names.

Beau was excited to be a dad, Barberio said. When Beau got the news that Jennifer was pregnant, he told his mistress that he was going to have to break up with her. This was stressful to Beau. He felt guilty and ashamed and it weighed on him.

On the night of Nov. 11, Beau Rothwell decided to come clean about his affair, Barberio said. His wife became upset and demanded to know the identity of his mistress but he refused to say.

Things escalated quickly, Barberio said. In the heat of sudden passion, he killed her.

Beau Rothwells efforts to conceal evidence of her death were so poorly conceived that he was arrested before police found her body, Barberio said. Beau Rothwell is expected to testify that he never planned to kill her.

Hell tell you he didnt know what he was doing, Barberio said.

On Tuesday, Jennifer Rothwells mother, brother and co-workers testified to observing what they thought was a happy marriage, with no signs of abuse. When Jennifer Rothwell didnt show up for work, relatives and co-workers created and distributed flyers around Creve Coeur, and searched potential routes between her house and her engineering job at MECS Inc. in Chesterfield.

Police found Jennifer Rothwells Hyundai Sonata parked along the shoulder of Olive Boulevard near Fern Ridge Parkway during a snowstorm. Officers testified that tire tread marks in the snow suggested the car hadnt skidded off the road. They found her cellphone inside the cars center console.

The jury heard Beau Rothwells 911 call about 9:45 p.m. Nov. 12 to report his wife missing. He told a dispatcher hed last seen her when she left for work about 6:20 a.m. The husband of one of Jennifer Rothwells co-workers testified that while accompanying Beau Rothwell on the search, he seemed unusually aloof.

A St. Louis County detective testified to seizing trash from a can at the curb of the Rothwells home on Nov. 13 that included various cleaning supplies, latex gloves, saturated paper towels and a Nov. 11 receipt from Dierbergs for various supplies. St. Louis County Detective Mike Hooten said the trash bags had an overwhelming smell of bleach.

Police have said they found multiple bottles of bleach inside the Rothwells home, along with a wet, blood-stained carpet and padding. Police also said they used DNA samples from Jennifer Rothwells parents to confirm that blood found in the Rothwells house was their daughters. According to search warrants, Jennifer Rothwell had searched the internet on her cellphone about what to do if your husband is upset you are pregnant.

Prosecutors are planning to show jurors text and Facebook messages Beau Rothwell had exchanged with his mistress.

Beau Rothwell is expected to testify later this week; the trial is expected to wrap up by Friday.

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JEFFERSON CITY  A legal challenge to a controversial new state gun law will head back to circuit court, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The case involves a challenge to the constitutionality of the so-called Second Amendment Preservation Act by St. Louis, St. Louis County and Jackson County.

Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green ruled against the city and the counties in August, saying their request for a declaratory judgment was not appropriate because other cases against the law were already pending.

But the Supreme Court overturned this judgment Tuesday based on arguments heard in February, with Judge Zel M. Fischer dissenting. The high court did not rule on the constitutionality of the law, but stated the circuit court ruled against the motion in error.

The Second Amendment Preservation Act, which bars police from enforcing federal gun laws that the state declares invalid and carries potential $50,000 penalties for violations, has drawn an array of opposition. Legal challenges have been filed by other localities, individuals and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Opponents have argued the act violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that federal law supersedes state law, among other rights guaranteed by state and federal constitutions.

In a joint statement provided Tuesday by a spokesman for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, St. Louis, St. Louis County and Jackson County said they were pleased with todays decision and look forward to a ruling that overturns this dangerous, blatantly unconstitutional legislation.

Law enforcement officials, including a coalition of 60 Missouri police chiefs, contend the act impedes partnerships with federal officers and use of national databases and resources.

But the acts sponsors Sen. Eric Burlison, R-Battlefield, and Rep. Jered Taylor, R-Nixa, along with other gun-rights advocates, say the law is needed to protect Second Amendment rights from federal infringement.

We will continue our fight to protect and preserve the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Missourians, Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement responding to the ruling.

Grace Zokovitch gzokovitch@post-dispatch.com
JEFFERSON CITY  The House on Monday approved legislation that would allow an employee to sue their employer if the worker suffers an injury due to a vaccine they received as a condition of employment.

The lower chamber advanced the Required Immunization Liability Act on an 84-58 vote, two more votes than what is required to pass the House.

With fewer than three weeks remaining in the legislative session, the measure now moves to the Senate for consideration.

More than a dozen Republicans broke with their party to oppose the bill. Two of the GOP opponents argued the legislation ran contrary to efforts to improve the states business climate.

Conservative Republicans have supported tort reform, but it seems like we decided to go in the opposite direction here, said Rep. Phil Christofanelli, R-St. Peters.

Ive consistently stood up for businesses in the state of Missouri, said Rep. Bruce DeGroot, R-Chesterfield.

It certainly doesnt say Missouri is open for business, Christofanelli said. It says the Legislature is now contriving new ways for you to be sued.

Democrats led the opposition.

Workers compensation already provides for bodily injury claims by a disease, said Rep. Steve Butz, D-St. Louis. The bill is unnecessary.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Mitch Boggs, R-LaRussell, applies to damages caused by any immunization  not just the COVID-19 vaccines.

If the vaccines are 100% sound, then theres nothing to worry about, Boggs said. Therell be no court battles.

The one-page bill allows businesses to purchase insurance that would cover them from any liability arising from a required immunization.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says severe reactions to COVID-19 vaccines are rare but do occur.

Anaphylaxis, or severe allergic reaction, had occurred in about five cases out of every 1 million doses administered. The CDC said such a reaction can occur after any vaccination.

Myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart, has also been documented in patients who received the COVID-19 shot.

A study published by the CDC this month found males and females had a higher risk of heart conditions such as myocarditis from COVID-19 infection than from a COVID-19 vaccine.

The CDC also said it had identified nine deaths causally associated with J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccination.

Nearly 573 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in the United States as of Monday, according to the CDC.

It is extremely disappointing to see this job-killing legislation advancing. This is government overreach. This is anti-business. This legislation hurts our economy and endangers our legal climate, Dan Mehan, president and CEO of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said after the House gave the plan initial approval last week.

Posted at 7:45 p.m. Monday, April 25.

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JEFFERSON CITY  The Missouri Senate approved its version of the state budget Tuesday, giving approval to a large swath of a $45.1 billion spending plan heavily loaded with money for pet projects and special programs.

Fueled by unexpected growth in tax revenue and billions of dollars in federal pandemic stimulus aid, the massive blueprint includes more than $800 million in spending over what was approved earlier by the House.

Tops among the added money is an additional $214 million for school districts to cover the states share of transportation costs.

The Senate also parted ways with the House over Gov. Mike Parsons pitch to pump $500 million into the states pension funds. The House had wanted to pay the added money over a five-year period.

Additionally, the Senate included Parsons $31 million plan to raise the starting pay for teachers to $38,000 from its current national low of $25,000. And it is poised to give public colleges and universities an added $42.8 million, representing a 5.4% increase in state aid.

The Senate tackled the 14 budget bills as the two chambers face a May 7 deadline to get the spending package for the fiscal year beginning July 1 to Parsons desk. Once the Senate version is complete, negotiators from the House and Senate will begin work to merge the two plans into one.

Unlike years when money has been tight, Parson proposed a $47.3 billion budget in January that included a $1.6 billion surplus. Now, revenue growth of more than 7% in the current fiscal year means that excess could grow even larger.

Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the added money could have a lasting impact on Missouri.

But, Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, bemoaned the added spending, arguing it was causing higher prices for taxpayers and triggering an unwanted growth of government.

I feel like were at a tipping point, Eigel said.

Unfortunately, were spending like drunken sailors, added Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg.

The additional $245 million in funding for schools is aimed at addressing staffing shortages that have led to almost one-fourth of the states school districts going to four-day school weeks.

Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City, hailed the added money for education.

Im really grateful weve included money for school transportation, Arthur said.

In addition to big ticket items like fully funding Medicaid expansion, the Senate version includes dozens of smaller additions requested by individual lawmakers. Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis, for example, won approval for a $2 million subsidy for minority business incubators.

The Senate plan sets aside $5 million for an IT training program for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency headquarters being built north of downtown St. Louis.

The budget also funnels $50 million to a program designed to upgrade the states river ports in Jefferson County, New Madrid County, St. Charles and Hannibal. Money for the Jefferson County facility was pushed by Sen. Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, who has made the expansion an issue in his bid to become the next county executive there.

The budget would spend $39.6 million to fully open the states nursing homes for military veterans, which have been operating at half capacity because of low staffing levels.

COVID wreaked havoc with our veterans homes and this will help us get back to some degree of normalcy, said Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur.

At the same time, Schupp criticized GOP lawmakers for supporting a plan to block any public funding from going to Planned Parenthood, including clinics that dont provide abortions.

Abortion opponents in Missouri have for years sought to stop any taxpayer money from going to the womens health care provider. But Schupp said the maneuver could result in the federal government cutting off billions of dollars in Medicaid funding.

It is a political statement. But it has repercussions that are far-reaching, Schupp said. This jeopardizes our health care system in the State of Missouri.

Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, failed in his attempt to restore $500,000 to Attorney General Eric Schmitts budget after it was stripped from the budget over concerns about the number of lawsuits Schmitt filed against school districts over masking requirements.

Brattin, who is running for Congress, said he agreed with Schmitts approach to stopping so-called COVID tyranny.

His colleagues disagreed, voting 22-9 to leave the money out of the spending plan.

The Senate also added $2.4 million to the Missouri Department of Transportation budget in order to restore Amtrak service between St. Louis and Kansas City to two round trips per day.

Also on tap is an additional $2 million to bolster the Livestock Export and Inspection Facility at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Hegeman said it would help boost the number of cattle flown to overseas markets.

Also among the funds inserted by the Senate is $5 million to aid the resettling of refugees and legal immigrants.

Hegeman added the funding to the Department of Social Services budget, to assist refugees from Ukraine who have been displaced as a result of Russias invasion.

Folks are expecting that well get some of the Ukrainian refugees out there, and this is to be prepared, Hegeman said.

Between Oct. 1 and April 1 the U.S. State Department said Missouri received 217 immigrants, including 20 total from Ukraine in January and February.

Other countries with high numbers of refugees coming to Missouri included Democratic Republican of Congo, Sudan and Syria.

But officials who are tasked with administering refugees say they havent had time to assess how the additional money will be used.

To the best of our knowledge, this funding will be used to support grants issued by DSS to assist programs in helping refugees and legal immigrants. We cannot assess the impact of this funding at this time, said Linda Haus, assistant state refugee coordinator with the St. Louis-based Missouri Office of Refugee Administration.

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JEFFERSON CITY  After Missouri courts threw out and rewrote the Legislatures ballot language for a proposed change to the state constitution in 2020, Republican lawmakers moved Monday night to strip judges power to rewrite ballot language.

Legislation sponsored by Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, would bar judges from rewriting ballot language for proposed constitutional or statutory changes written by the Legislature.

The measure won first round approval amid ongoing debunked GOP claims of election fraud and voting irregularities. Democrats described it as another attempt by Republicans to undermine democracy by limiting the power of the judicial branch of government.

The measure awaits a final vote in the Senate before moving to the House. A similar proposal failed to make it to the governors desk last year.

The effort follows rulings from two courts in the run-up to the November 2020 election that tossed the Legislatures wording for a question that changed the way Missouri was to draw state legislative districts after the 2020 U.S. Census.

A Cole County judge tossed and rewrote the summary, saying the language floated by Republicans was insufficient and unfair and violated Missouri law. The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, also rejected the GOP lawmakers language and made additional edits before it appeared on the ballot.

After the revisions, the redistricting question, Amendment 3, narrowly passed with 51% support.

State law requires ballot summaries to be a true and impartial statement of the purposes of the proposed measure and neither intentionally argumentative nor likely to create prejudice either for or against the proposed measure.

Eigel argued lawmakers were preventing judges from legislating from the bench, because writing the language is the Legislatures job. If judges decide the ballot language is unconstitutional, they can reject it but not rewrite it.

Democrats said the proposal would make it easier for partisan language to make its way onto the ballot.

Democrats also used debate on the measure to ease election rules, but their efforts failed to gain traction.

On a 22-10 vote, the Senate turned down an amendment offered by Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, that would have given Missourians a chance to vote absentee without an excuse.

The legislation is Senate Bill 812.

Posted at 8 p.m. Monday, April 25.

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JEFFERSON CITY  The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by Attorney General Eric Schmitt to authorize strict limits on traffic ticket revenue for St. Louis County municipalities.

In doing so, the Supreme Court affirmed its 2017 ruling that struck down the limits in question as an unconstitutional special law aimed at St. Louis County.

The ruling is a loss for Schmitt, a Republican running for U.S. Senate who sponsored the law, Senate Bill 5, as a state senator.

In 2020, his office moved to reinstate the strict limits after the Supreme Court, in a 2019 case, changed the test for how special laws may stand. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem sided with Schmitt, but the high court didnt agree.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Paul Wilson, said Tuesday its current test didnt mean it would reverse a decision it had issued under prior criteria.

A firmly entrenched aspect of our judicial system is the principle of finality of judgments, the decision said, going on to say the case didnt meet the bar for exceptions to finality laid out in court precedent.

The court said though its rules allow for vacating a final judgment when it is no longer equitable ..., a change in decisional law is neither necessary nor sufficient to warrant relief from judgment under the state court rules.

Admittedly, this Court has had few opportunities to expound upon the contours of Rule 74.06(b)(5), the decision said. This dearth of guidance led all of the parties  and the circuit court  to make an incorrect assumption as to the application and reach of this rule.

In the law finalitys a big deal, said Chuck Hatfield, a Jefferson City attorney. You dont just go back and overturn judgments from years ago for no powerful reason, and I think thats what the Supreme Courts saying.

Hatfield said the last footnote in the judgment represented the whole ball of wax.

It says that if the provisions found unconstitutional were to be reenacted, they would not be governed by the 2016 judgment.

The court said challenges to those new provisions would fail if the state could prove there was a rational basis for them  the test the court instituted in a separate case.

Our whole system depends on people having final results, Hatfield said. If the Legislature wants to enact these laws again, theyre probably going to be constitutional now.

The 2015 law Schmitt sponsored in the state Senate said St. Louis County municipalities could only generate 12.5% of their yearly operating revenue from traffic fines. The bar everywhere else was set at 20%.

Tuesdays order said the law also required municipal police forces to gain accreditation within six years, and to meet accounting and insurance standards within three years.

Because more than six years have passed, the municipalities would be forced to provide those services immediately. Gone would be the grace period the General Assembly saw necessary to provide the municipalities when it enacted SB 5 (Senate Bill 5).

The Supreme Court sent the case back to the Cole County Circuit Court for further action.

Chris Nuelle, spokesman for Schmitt, didnt say whether Schmitt would push the Legislature to reenact the statute, as the decisions footnote suggests.

Our fight against taxation by citation continues, and we look forward to presenting our arguments in front of the Circuit Court, he said.

Mark Beckmann, mayor of Normandy, the lead plaintiff in the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Posted at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, April 26.

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Jurors have heard  and rejected  an array of excuses and arguments from the first rioters to be tried for storming the U.S. Capitol. The next jury to get a Capitol riot case could hear another novel defense this week at the trial of a retired New York City police officer.

Thomas Webster, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD, has claimed he was acting in self-defense when he tackled a police officer who was trying to protect the Capitol from a mob on Jan. 6, 2021. Webster's lawyer also has argued that he was exercising his First Amendment free speech rights when he shouted profanities at police that day. Jurors were selected Monday and are expected to hear attorneys opening statements Tuesday.

Webster, 56, is the fourth Capitol riot defendant to get a jury trial. Each has presented a distinct line of defense.

An Ohio man who stole a coat rack from a Capitol office testified he was following presidential orders from Donald Trump. An off-duty police officer from Virginia claimed he only entered the Capitol to retrieve a fellow officer. A lawyer for a Texas man who confronted Capitol police accused prosecutors of rushing to judgment against somebody prone to exaggerating.

Those defenses didn't sway the juries at their respective trials. Collectively, a total of 36 jurors unanimously convicted the three rioters of all 17 counts in their indictments.

Webster faces the same fate if a federal judge's blistering words are any guide. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who will preside over Webster's trial, has described his videotaped conduct as among the most indefensible and reprehensible that the judge has seen among Jan. 6 cases, with no real defense for it.

You were a police officer and you should have known better, Mehta told Webster during a bond hearing last June, according to a transcript.

But a dozen jurors, not the judge, will decide the case against Webster, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who retired from the NYPD in 2011.

A wealth of video evidence and self-incriminating behavior by riot defendants has given prosecutors the upper hand in many cases. Mary McCord, a Georgetown University Law Center professor and former Justice Department official, said jurors often won't have to rely on witness testimony or circumstantial evidence because videos captured much of the violence and destruction on Jan. 6.

When I was a prosecutor trying cases, I would have loved to have had cases where the entire crime was on video. That just doesnt happen that often. But for jurors, it can be very powerful, she said.

Webster's trial is the sixth overall. In a pair of bench trials, a different federal judge heard testimony without a jury before acquitting one defendant and partially acquitting another.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee who acquitted Matthew Martin of all charges, said it was reasonable for the New Mexico man to believe that police allowed him to enter the Capitol. In the first bench trial, McFadden convicted New Mexico elected official Couy Griffin of illegally entering restricted Capitol grounds but acquitted him of engaging in disorderly conduct.

Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington Law School professor and former Justice Department official, said it may be difficult for prosecutors to secure convictions against defendants who merely entered the Capitol and didnt exhibit any violent or destructive behavior.

I think the people with the best chances are those who say, I was just there and I got swept up with everybody else. The government is going to have to have some way to show theres more than that or the government will lose," Saltzburg said.

Webster brought a gun and a Marine Corps flag attached to a metal pole when he traveled alone to Washington from his home in Florida, New York, a village approximately 70 miles northwest of New York City. He wore his NYPD-issued bulletproof vest but says he left the pistol in his hotel room when he headed to the Jan. 6 rally where Trump spoke.

Police body camera video captured Websters confrontation outside the Capitol with a line of officers, including one identified only as Officer N.R. in court papers.

The unnamed Metropolitan Police Department officer described the encounter in a written statement. The officer said Webster swung the flagpole at him in a downward chopping motion, hitting a metal barricade, then charged at him with clenched fists.

He pushed me to the ground and attempted to violently tear away my gas mask and ballistic helmet. This caused me to choke and gasp for air before another participant at the riot helped me to my feet, the officer wrote.

The officer said he retreated behind a police line after Webster pinned him to the ground.

His actions, attack and targeted assault caused me to fear for my life and could have easily left my wife and two small children without a husband and father, the officer wrote.

Defense attorney James Monroe has claimed the unnamed officer gestured toward Webster, inviting him to engage in a fight, before reaching over a police barrier and punching Webster in his face. Webster "used that amount of force he reasonably believed necessary to protect himself" by tackling the officer to the ground, Monroe said in a court filing.

Mehta, however, said the video doesn't show Webster getting punched in the face. The judge described Webster as an instigator.

It was his conduct that sort of broke the dam, at least in that area, Mehta added.

Webster, now a self-employed landscaper, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1985, was honorably discharged in 1989 and joined the NYPD in 1991. His department service included a stint on then-Mayor Michael Bloombergs private security detail.

Monroe claimed Officer N.R. had reached over a metal barrier and pushed a peaceful man who was blinded by pepper spray.

As a former U.S. Marine and a member of law enforcement, Mr. Websters moral instinct was to protect the innocent, Monroe wrote.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hava Mirell has argued that Webster should be held to a higher standard given his professional experience.

If he were there to protect the innocent, then he should have been fending other rioters off from the barricade, not the other way around, Mirell said at the bond hearing.

Webster faces six counts, including assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer using a dangerous weapon. He's the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge. He isn't accused of entering the Capitol.

More than 780 people have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. The Justice Department says over 245 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. More than 250 riot defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to nonviolent misdemeanors.

Jurors convicted two rioters of interfering with officers. One of them, Thomas Robertson, was an off-duty police officer from Rocky Mount, Virginia. The other, Texas resident Guy Wesley Reffitt, also was convicted of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun.

The third Capitol rioter to be convicted by a jury was Dustin Byron Thompson, an Ohio man who said he was following Trump's orders.

Even if jurors accepted that (Thompson) felt like he was doing what the former president wanted, that still wouldnt be a legal excuse, said McCord, the Georgetown professor. When juries are able to witness what happened, they can make that assessment relatively easily.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
On this 200th anniversary of the birth of Hiram Ulysses Grant, he is remembered as the 18th president of the United States, commander of the U.S. Army during the Civil War and national hero. He can also be thought of as an ordinary human being who struggled with many things that we struggle with now, two centuries later.

Grants official story is one of unrelenting service to his country. The Ohio native studied at West Point Military Academy. He graduated from West Point as a skilled horseman. Following his graduation, he was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, here in St. Louis. Not long after arriving at Jefferson Barracks, Grant met Julia Dent, the sister of one of his West Point classmates and the daughter of a plantation owner. Shortly after meeting Dent, Grant went on to fight in the Mexican-American War. After the war, Grant returned to St. Louis and married Dent in 1848. The couple had four children. Grant resigned from the military in 1854 after being assigned to a series of remote army posts, including some on the West Coast. The Grant family lived at White Haven, the Dent familys plantation.

Grants military career advanced quickly during the Civil War. After it began in April 1861, Grant reenlisted and became a colonel in the 21st Illinois Volunteers. President Abraham Lincoln soon made Grant a brigadier general. Grant had his first major military victory after his troops captured Fort Donelson in Tennessee. By 1864, Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of all U.S. armies. Grant commanded the victorious Union army and, on April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.

Grant was invited to join Lincoln at Fords Theater on the evening of April 14, 1865, but declined in order to visit family. Grant described Lincolns death as the darkest day of my life. He was convinced he would have somehow stopped John Wilkes Booth from pulling the trigger and assassinating Lincoln.

Grant served two terms in the presidency from 1869 to 1877, which was in the middle of Reconstruction. He supported pardons for former Confederate leaders while also attempting to protect the civil rights of freed slaves. In 1870 he oversaw the creation of the Justice Department. During his term, the 15th Amendment, which gave black men the right to vote, was ratified. He signed legislation limiting the activities of white terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Later in life, Grant commissioned Mark Twain to assist in the writing and publishing of his memoirs. The royalties of his memoirs totaled about $450,000, which would be more than $10 million today.

The story of one of the most extraordinary military leaders in American history is made even more remarkable when one considers his personal life.

Grant received little warmth or nurturing from his mother. he was constantly reminded by his father that Grant disappointed him. He was a mediocre student. Dents father, his eventual father-in-law, also did not approve of Grant; he opposed the marriage and went so far as to scheme ways to keep Dent from marrying him. Neither father thought Grant would ever make something of himself.

Multiple times he failed as a businessman, which required him to take whatever jobs he could to provide for his family, including walking the streets of St. Louis selling firewood. He started out his military career as an ambivalent soldier. Grant struggled with how to reconcile that his wifes family owned slaves when he considered it morally wrong. He battled with alcoholism through much of his adult life.

Grant remained honest during his presidency, but his administration tarnished him with corruption and scandal. Later in his life, he was diagnosed with cancer. He decided to write his memoirs to be able to provide for his family after he died, since he was swindled out of their savings.

Grant never used any of these personal and human experiences as an excuse. Despite his personal demons and difficult relationships, Grant rose to be a hero of our country. At the end of his life, Grant wrote I am glad to say that while there is much unblushing wickedness in this world,  there is a compensating goodness of the soul. Grant never seemed to let that wickedness stop him accomplishing great things. Endeavors that Americans should be forever grateful for.

I am not sure which I admire more, Grants professional life or his personal journey. Perhaps Twain said it best when he wrote, He was a very great man and superlatively good.

Lynn Schmidt is a Post-Dispatch columnist and Editorial Board member. lynnschmidtrn@outlook.com On Twitter: @lynnschmidtrn

EDITOR'S NOTE: This column has been updated. Ulysses Grant asked Mark Twain to publish and help in the writing of Grants memoir. The original version provided an incomplete description of Twains role.
Two recent Post-Dispatch commentaries analyzing the long-term effects of Russia's war on Ukraine raise issues that the U.S. cannot ignore. Max Boot examined Israel's dependence on Russia both economically and politically, and David Leon compared the South's control of the cotton trade during the Civil War to Russia's control of today's commodities.

Even as we gaze in horror, we must begin to understand why and how Russian President Vladimir Putin felt he could get away with these atrocities. For many years, he and his advisers have been salting away billions with the help of enablers. These enablers include bankers, real estate entrepreneurs and even friendly governments such as Great Britain and Switzerland. Putin also realizes, like a classic predatory capitalist, that he can intimidate and manipulate both foreign buyers of Russian goods as well as his subordinates.

If Ukraine fell tomorrow, Putin would not be done. Sooner or later, if he is not isolated from his economic harvest, he will have to be stopped militarily. Must we wait until he crosses the Moldova border or shoots down a Polish plane? He must be stopped now.

C.J. Zander  Richmond Heights
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Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Art. 17 Sec. 1 of the Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (Market Abuse Regulation - MAR)

Global Fashion Group S.A. resolves on invitation to all eligible holders to offer to sell for cash their convertible bonds due 2028 (ISIN DE000A3KMT51)

Luxembourg, 26 April 2022 - The management board of Global Fashion Group S.A. ("GFG" or the "Company", ISIN: LU2010095458, Frankfurt Stock Exchange: GFG) resolved today, with the approval of the supervisory board, to invite, from 10:00 a.m. (CEST) today, eligible holders of the convertible bonds due 2028 issued by GFG, ISIN DE000A3KMT51, included in the Open Market (Freiverkehr) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (the "Bonds") with an outstanding aggregate nominal amount of EUR 375 million to submit offers to sell for cash their Bonds in a modified Dutch auction procedure (the "Invitation"). The Company intends to repurchase up to around EUR 100 million in aggregate principal amount of the Bonds (the "Target Amount"). The Company reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to purchase less than or more than the Target Amount.

The purchase price per EUR 100,000 principal amount of the Bonds will be between EUR 76,000 and EUR 79,000. The final purchase price and the total number of the Bonds expected to be acquired will be determined on 27 April 2022 at 5:00 p.m. CEST. Settlement is expected to occur on or around 4 May 2022. The repurchase of the Bonds can be modified, suspended or resumed at any point in time. The Company does not intend to disclose each individual transaction. The Bonds repurchased may be cancelled or held and resold.

The Invitation is not being made, and will not be made, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States by use of the mails or by any means or instrumentality (including, without limitation, e-mail, facsimile transmission, telephone, the internet and other forms of electronic communication) of interstate or foreign commerce, or of any facility of a national securities exchange of the United States and the Invitation cannot be accepted, and no Bonds can be offered for sale, by any such use, means, instrumentality or facility or from within the United States. The Invitation is not open to any persons located or resident in the United States, or persons acting for the account or benefit of any such persons, or in any other jurisdiction where the Invitation or any participation therein would be unlawful.

- End -

Person making the notification:



Claire Higgins, Group Senior Legal Counsel

Media contact:

Press / Communications

Jovana Lakcevic, Head of PR & Communications

press@global-fashion-group.com

Investor Relations

Jo Britten, Investor Relations Director

investors@global-fashion-group.com



DISCLAIMER



This publication may not be published, distributed or transmitted, directly or indirectly, in the United States (including its territories and possessions) or any other jurisdiction where such an announcement would be unlawful. The distribution of this announcement may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons into whose possession this document or other information referred to herein should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

This publication is not an extension of a tender offer in the United States for securities of GFG. A tender offer for the sale of Bonds is not being made within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, persons located or resident in the United States.

In the United Kingdom, this document is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons who (i) are investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended) (the "Order") or (ii) are persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.) (all such persons together being referred to as "Relevant Persons"). This document is directed only at Relevant Persons and must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not Relevant Persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is available only to Relevant Persons and will be engaged in only with Relevant Persons.
As part of the latest U.S. military aid for Ukraine, the Americans are sending combat-tested artillery spotting radars as well as Sentinel air surveillance radars that detect helicopters, UAVs and cruise missiles up to 75 kilometers distant and alert ground units within range via encrypted military radio. Sentinel is particularly useful for ground troops armed with American Stinger or other manpads (Man Portable Air Defense Missile Systems) . Ukraine has a lot of Cold War era Ilga (SA-18) and over a thousand other systems from NATO nations. Ukrainian troops also have better communications than the Russians and could link nearby manpad teams with Sentinel and alert them when a likely target approaches.

In 2017 the AN/TPQ-53 FireFinder artillery spotting radar systems were updated to fix some problems discovered with early models. The TPG-53 was introduced in 2012 as the replacement for the older AN PQ-36/37 FireFinder artillery spotting radar with the new and improved AN/TPQ-53. While the new system was an improvement, the army began getting more and more reports from users in combat zones of false positives; the radar showing something incoming when there wasnt anything, as well as difficulty distinguishing between artillery shells, rockets and mortar shells. There were also reports that the new system did not handle multiple incoming shells well, being unable to provide data on where it was all coming from. The U.S. Army halted distribution after 38 of the new systems went into service and delayed production of another hundred until the problems could be fixed. A series of tests were conducted in 2015 to document the problems so the manufacturer could fix them. These fixes have been completed and verified by more tests so now manufacturing can continue.

Despite these problems, the new system was seen as an improvement. Troops in Afghanistan continued to call the new version "FireFinder" or "counterfire radar" even though the new TPQ-53 is a visibly new and different looking system, each consisting of two trucks (one for the radar, the other for the control center and backup generator). For the troops in Afghanistan the TPQ-53 was a success because the most common threat was individual mortar shells being fired at a base. The TPQ-53 was faster and more reliable at dealing with that.

AN/TPQ-53 was sent to Afghanistan for final testing in 2010. In early 2012 the army ordered 51 of the AN/TPQ-53 systems. Easier to use and repair, as well as more reliable than its predecessor (the AN/TPQ-36/37), the TPQ-53 could also scan all around (360 degrees), rather than just 90 degrees (as with the older system), and was faster as well. Americans buy TPQ-53s, for about $9 million each. The older FireFinder is cheaper and still gets the job done. This is why some countries (like Iraq) prefer the cheaper older FireFinder. Many Iraqis have seen the older FireFinder in action. They know it works and so do the Ukrainians.

FireFinder would be particularly effective dealing with Russian artillery and unguided rockets, especially if the Ukrainians have the PGK (Projectile Guidance Kit) 155mm fuze. The PGK fuze turns an unguided 155mm shell into a GPS/INS guided one. These were found to be exceptionally useful in Syria and Iraq and, in mid-2017, the U.S. Army ordered another 5,600 PGK fuzes and has been building a large stockpile. The army still uses unguided artillery shells for situations that dont require precise accuracy for each shell but the PGK provides options that can be implemented quickly to turn any dumb shell into a smart one. It is unknown if any of these PGK fuzes have been sent to Ukraine. If PGKs were available, they would work well with the new Zusana-2 8x8 155mm self-propelled artillery systems being purchased by western neighbor Slovakia. Zusana-2 is highly automated with a modern fire control system so it can, in less than a minute, halt, fire one or two PGK equipped shells with the location data provided by FireFinder to destroy Russian artillery and then move on before being targeted itself. Russia too has counterfire radars and guided shells, but no combination of radar and guided shells quick enough to catch Zuzanna-2s employing such shoot and scoot tactics. The Zuzanna-2 armor offers some protection from shell fragments and blast effects on equipment and its three-man crew. Ukraine is about to receive Excalibur GPS guided 155mm shells from several NATO countries. Excalibur is more accurate than a shell with a PGK fuze but a lot more expensive.

The older FireFinder (AN/TPQ-36/37) radar had to overcome a bad reputation it acquired when it first came to Iraq. That was often for failing to detect incoming mortar fire. These were problems that were fixed. FireFinder was developed in the 1970s, based on Vietnam experience with enemy mortar and rocket attacks but didn't get a real combat workout until after September 11, 2001.

Both the old and new FireFinders are radar systems which, when they spot an incoming shell, calculate where it came from and transmit the location to a nearby artillery unit, which then fires on where the mortar is (or was). This process takes 3-4 minutes (or less, for experienced troops). FireFinder worked as advertised but got little use until U.S. troops entered Iraq. After that FireFinder was very effective and heavily used. Too heavily used. There were not a lot of spare parts stockpiled for FireFinder and several hundred million dollars-worth had to be quickly ordered. The manufacturer also introduced some new components that were more reliable and easier to maintain.

There were still problems. Some FireFinders failed to catch incoming fire because the enemy was using tactics that fooled the radar. For example, in Iraq American bases were generally on higher ground than the mortars firing at them. Putting bases on the high ground enables you to watch more of the surrounding terrain. But FireFinder needs a line-of-sight to get a good fix on the firing weapon's position. If the mortar was too far below the radar, FireFinder could not accurately spot where the fire was coming from.

Another problem was that if the mortar was too close, FireFinder was much less likely to quickly determine where the fire was coming from. Enemy mortar teams got as close as they could before firing. This still made the mortar teams vulnerable to counterattack by coalition troops but not the immediate (in a few minutes) artillery fire that FireFinder can make happen under the right conditions.

At first, the army was going to halt further upgrades on FireFinder, which, after all, was developed back in the 1970s, and begin developing the TPQ-53, a new system that can better deal with the kinds of problems encountered in Iraq. But FireFinder had been so useful that new upgrades were pursued anyway, while work continued on the TPQ-53. The upgrades have also been made available to other users of FireFinder (including allies in the Middle East, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey). FireFinders are still doing most of the work out there, and TPQ-53 wont replace a significant number of them until the mid-2020s.

The AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel entered service in 2007 and about 300 of them are currently in use. Sentinel is light and compact enough to be trailer mounted and towed or mounted in the back of a 4x4 truck along with a generator. Sentinel can be ready for action in less than 15 minutes and ready to be moved again in less than ten. Some Sentinel users are East Europe NATO members and Ukraine may already have some Sentinels.

FireFinder and Sentinel were designed to operate together, merging their data into a single display of all aerial and ground-based threats detected and being tracked, American troops are training the Ukrainians on how to use both systems and Ukraine may also be using joint operation software for the two systems. Ukrainians have proved more adept at dealing with systems like this than the Russians and may use FireFinder/Sentinel to establish widespread protection against Russian low-altitude threats. After all, one Sentinel system can monitor a circular area 150 kilometers in diameter.
In Baghdad, Iraq hosted Saudi Arabian and Iranian officials holding their fifth round of negotiations in an effort to resume diplomatic relations. These talks were suspended seven months ago. Meanwhile Iraq along with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the other Arab Gulf Oil states are angry with the Americans because the U.S. is not only offering Iran a revival of the 2015 sanctions treaty, but also a modification of the terms to make it easier for Iran to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. While those talks are currently stalled, the U.S. quietly agreed to allow South Korea to release several billion dollars to Iran while Britain released half a billion to Iran for a payment dispute from the 1970s. A primary Iranian demand in the negotiations is that billions of dollars in frozen accounts be returned to Iran. Iran saw the 2015 treaty suspended by the Americans in 2018 because of Iranian cheating. Then came the 2020 American presidential elections, which put into power a new president who adopted more favorable policies towards Iran and reduced support for Arab resistance to Iranian violence. This caused many Gulf oil states to join an economic alliance with Russia to drive up the price of oil. This policy makes it easier for Iran to smuggle more of its heavily discounted oil to customers. That plan survived the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine and even more economic sanctions. Opposition in the United States to reviving the 2015 treaty, especially from senior military and political officials, is making a difference but the official policy is still to give the Iranians what they want in return for promises Iran has broken before. That has recently been modified to include U.S. assurances that sanctions on Iranian ballistic missile and nuclear weapons organizations and key individuals will not be expanded. Iraq, Israel and its Arab allies are not impressed.

Because of this new American attitude, Israel has carried out several major attacks on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Some earlier attacks were in cooperation with the United States but the most recent ones were done with only the help of Iranians who also oppose the nuclear weapons and the current Iranian religious dictatorship. Israel makes it clear it will launch a major air and missile strike against the Iranian nuclear program if Iran gets close to creating a working nuclear weapon. Israels new allies among the Arab Persian Gulf oil states will cooperate with such an attack, as they are already being hit by Iranian missiles, cruise missiles and guided rockets.

Israel has had locally developed nuclear weapons since 1970 and portrays these weapons as the ultimate deterrent to any serious effort to destroy Israel. The Israeli nukes can be delivered deliver several ways. This first method was aircraft-delivered gravity bombs and later air-to ground missiles. Then came ballistic missiles plus cruise missiles that can be launched via torpedo tubes from a submerged Israeli sub. Israel never acknowledged it has nukes and continues to maintain them and several delivery systems. This has deterred everyone except Iran, which since the 1980s has been ruled by a religious dictatorship that was obsessed with destroying Israel.

Iran Paralyzes New Government

Iraqi efforts to form a new government after the presidential elections in late 2021 have been blocked by a pro-Iran coalition of various Shia and Kurdish groups, plus a few Sunni factions that oppose a government dominated by powerful Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr. This opposition prevents a two- thirds quorum of parliament members from forming and voting on who gets what post in a new government. Israel has a similar form of government and often faces a stalemate in forming a new government coalition. Often a few small, often radical, Israeli factions make a quorum possible and then force the new government to meet their demands or see the government collapse. Iraq seems headed in the same direction and that is progress for Iraq, one of the few functioning democracies in the Middle East.

The election was won by pro-Sadr parties that regard Iran and Iraqi government corruption as the most serious problem facing Iraq. Most Iraqi voters agreed with Sadr, who demanded that all militias be disarmed and disbanded. This demand was aimed at Iran, which has used the militias to create a legal Iran-backed armed force in Iraq. Calls for disbanding these militias have been gaining a lot more support since 2017. The 2021 elections mean an even more anti-Iran government and, sensing what that would mean for militias in general, most militias have announced plans to disband. Disarming is another matter. Despite that, Sadrs efforts to clean up some of the corruption has made visible progress. Less corruption is often measured by international organizations. For example. in 2021 Iraq showed continued progress in reducing corruption. The pro-Iran groups see Sadrs efforts as devastating to Iranian influence in Iraq if Sadr succeeds. Some Kurdish and Sunni Arab factions see Sadr as a greater threat to them than Iran. The anti-Sadr coalition isnt large enough to form their own government but so far, the anti-Sadr coalition has prevented the formation of a government dominated by Sadr. Iraqi allies like the United States and Gulf Arab countries fear Iran more than Sadr and are trying to come up with a compromise.

April 25, 2022: In the north (Nineveh province) most of the Iraqi 9th division has been deployed around Sinjar as part of an effort to reduce violence between the Turks and PKK and YBS (Sinjar Resistance Unit). There is also one brigade from the 20th division nearby. For years the Turks have been trying to keep PKK from establishing themselves in northern Iraq, especially the town of Sinjar, which has long been dominated by the Kurdish Yazidi faction. The Yazidi were particularly hated by ISIL which tried to wipe them out. ISIL failed, in large part because support for the Yazidi from Kurds Iraqi, Turkish and Syrian Kurds as well as the American military. For that reason, the Yazidi tolerate the continued presence of the PKK. This angered Turkey which, since early 2021, has threatened to send in troops and use lots of airpower to occupy Sinjar if the Iraqi government does not remove PKK from Sinjar and northern Iraq in general. Turkey keeps reminding the Iraqi government that this invasion would occur without warning. Iraq has already sent two Iran-backed PMF (Popular Mobilization Forces) militia brigades to Sinjar as well as an army brigade. That did not impress the PKK, which is still there. This is why most of the 9th division is now arriving.

Iraqis dont want to fight the Kurds or Turks. YBS is a Yazidi Kurd militia aligned with the PKK. Despite YBS activity in northern Syria and Iraq, most Yazidis want nothing to do with the PKK aligned YBS. Separatist Kurds have been a growing problem in Turkey. Syria. Iran and Iran for over a century. The Yazidi are Kurds who practice a pre-Christian religion related to the pre-Islamic Zoroastrian religion once common in Iran before Islam and now only found in India. The Yazidis are considered pagans by ISIL and to Moslems pagans must either renounce their beliefs or die. The Kurds have always gotten along better with Yazidis, Christians and other minorities and many of those people fled to the Kurdish north. In 2015 it was the Kurds who recaptured Yazidi territory from ISIL.

April 24, 2022: In the northwest (Muthanna province) Iran-backed militia attacked an American supply convoy with a roadside bomb. There were no injuries and the convoy continued. These convoy attacks are increasingly frequent but rarely use a powerful enough or effectively placed bomb to do any real damage. This reflects the loss of competent bomb makers by most terror groups in Iraq because of increased counter-terrorism efforts.

April 23, 2022: In central Iraq (Saladin, or Salahuddin, Province) two policemen were killed and two wounded by an ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) bomb during a major sweep of the area for ISIL personnel or bases. This operation also involves Diyala, Samarra, Kirkuk provinces further north. Last month there was a similar operation in Nineveh, Saladin, and Anbar provinces.

April 22, 2022: The World Bank predicted that Iraq, despite a larger population (41 million), would enjoy the highest GDP growth (8.9 percent) in the region because of higher oil prices and improved administration of the economy despite the political deadlock over forming a new government. The 2021 elections made it clear that most voters wanted less corruption and more effective government policies.

April 17, 2022: In the Kurdish north (Metina province, near the Turkish border) Turkish troops, with artillery and air support, launched a major operation against PKK (Turkish Kurd separatists) that lasted several days and left 45 PKK men dead or captured. Three Turkish soldiers were killed and several wounded. Several PKK bases and weapons storage sites were found and destroyed. Such Turkish incursions against the PKK in northern Iraq have been going on for years.

April 11, 2022: Iran-backed Shia militias sold RPG anti-tank launchers and warheads along with two Iraqi army MRLS (multiple rocket launcher systems) and the unguided rockets it uses to Iran, which smuggled them to Russia via Iran across the Caspian Sea, a landlocked body of water bordering Iran and Russia. Russia has been more cooperative with Iranian forces in Syria because of this while seeking not to anger the Israelis. China has refused to supply Russia with weapons but Iran is already suffering many sanctions and Russia is one of the few allies it has. Iraq is one of the most corrupt nations in the Middle East and anything is available if you have the cash or enough gunmen to obtain what you want. Most Iraqis consider the corruption a flaw to be corrected while Iran considers the Iraqi corruption something Iran can make use of.

March 27, 2022: In the north (Nineveh province) work began on a border wall on the Syrian border. The first stage will be 10 kilometers long and 3.5 meters (11 feet) high. Iraq has a 600-kilometer-long border with Syria and the areas most often used by Islamic terrorists and smugglers will be the first to get a wall with new construction covering the new routes the illegal border crossers use. At the very least this makes it more difficult for those crossing the border illegally. Iraq first built a fence along the Syrian border but this was insufficient. Iraq is now joining a growing number of Middle Eastern nations (like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait) and following the example of Israel by building high-tech security fences or walls along their borders to keep out Islamic terrorists, illegal migrants, criminals and smugglers. The United States covered most of the half billion-dollar cost of the Jordan barrier along its 442 kilometers of borders with Syria and Iraq. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have done this along their Iraqi borders. Jordan has been the most successful of the Arab countries at protecting itself from Islamic terrorism. But the civil war in Syria and the growing ISIL and Iranian presence in Iraq led Israel, in late 2015 to begin building a security fence on its last unfenced border, the 307-kilometer Jordanian frontier. This project took several years and cost $1.6 billion, plus millions a year to maintain. Israel and Jordan have long cooperated closely on counter-terrorism issues so the Israeli fence also assists Jordan since any Islamic terrorists inside Jordan who are seeking to get into Israel are more likely to be detected and caught.
LAGOS, NIGERIA / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / Jumia Technologies AG (NYSE: JMIA), ("Jumia"), today announced that it will release its results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 before the U.S. market opens on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.

Management will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. US Eastern Time on the same day.

Details of the conference call are as follows:

US Dial-in (Toll Free): 888-506-0062

International Dial-in: 973-528-0011

United Kingdom Toll Free: 0800 520 0845

Entry Code: 975565

A live webcast of the earnings conference call can be accessed on the Jumia Investor Relations website: https://investor.jumia.com/

An archived webcast will be available following the call.

Please visit the Investor Relations website to view the press release and accompanying slides ahead of the conference call.

About Jumia

Jumia is the leading pan-African e-commerce platform, present across 11 countries in Africa. Its mission is to improve the quality of everyday life in Africa by leveraging technology to deliver innovative, convenient and affordable online services to consumers, while helping businesses grow as they use Jumia's platform to better reach and serve consumers.

The Jumia platform consists of a marketplace, which connects sellers with consumers, a logistics service, which enables the shipment and delivery of packages from sellers to consumers, and a payment service, which facilitates transactions among participants active on the Jumia platform in selected markets.

On the marketplace, more than 100,000 sellers offer a broad range of goods and services.

Jumia Logistics facilitates the delivery of goods in a convenient and reliable way, leveraging an extensive network of third-party logistics service providers, seamlessly integrated through the Jumia proprietary technology platform.

JumiaPay offers a safe and easy solution to facilitate online payment transactions on the Jumia platform, with the intention of integrating additional financial services in the future.

Contacts

Safae Damir

Head of Investor Relations

[email protected]

Abdesslam Benzitouni

Head of PR and Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE: Jumia Technologies AG

View source version on accesswire.com:
Warren Lichtenstein, who is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors (the Board) of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AJRD) (Aerojet Rocketdyne or the Company), and who, collectively with his affiliates and the participants in his solicitation, owns approximately 5.2% of the Company's outstanding shares and has nominated seven highly qualified candidates for election to the Board at the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the Annual Meeting), today issued the below letter in his personal capacity.

***

Fellow Shareholders,

I have served as the Chairman or Executive Chairman of Aerojet Rocketdyne since 2013 and presided over significant shareholder value creation  with the Companys market capitalization going from approximately $600 million when I joined the Board as a director in 2008 to approximately $3.3 billion today. I also serve as the Chairman of Steel Partners, which is one of the largest long-term shareholders of Aerojet Rocketdyne. We purchased stock in the Company over 15 years ago and currently own approximately 5.2% of the outstanding shares. Steel Partners is completely aligned with you, as shown by our sizable ownership position and track record of helping drive total shareholder returns of more than 250% since receiving boardroom representation over 15 years ago. That is why we have endeavored to invest our own capital and resources in a campaign to install a more aligned, credible and experienced Board that can help reverse the damage done to Aerojet Rocketdyne by rogue Chief Executive Officer Eileen Drake.

We plan to show during this campaign that Ms. Drake has broken the law and disseminated a number of false and misleading statements to shareholders.

We contend the single biggest risk to shareholder value right now is Ms. Drakes misleading, self-serving and unjustifiable attempt to hijack control of the Company. In our view, Ms. Drakes revolt began months ago, when she initiated a retaliatory internal investigation against me based on her belief that I was unhappy with her performance. She used the existence of that investigation, conducted at great cost to the Company, to avoid accountability for a number of growing performance problems and for failing to engage in any contingency planning in the event the merger with Lockheed Martin Corporation ("Lockheed Martin") fell through.

Those efforts to avoid accountability crystallized earlier this year when the merger fell through and peaked last week when she announced her effort to seize boardroom control at a special meeting of shareholders (the Special Meeting"). Ms. Drake is now trying to take control without putting forth anything remotely resembling a viable plan and without providing shareholders the opportunity to see evidence against her at an upcoming trial in May over her alleged misuse of Company resources to advance her personal interests in violation of Delaware law and a temporary restraining order (TRO) entered by the Delaware Court of Chancery (the Court).

In short, Ms. Drake is hoping to delay that trial and schedule the Special Meeting to elect directors before evidence from the litigation as it becomes public. Instead, we are proposing the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the Annual Meeting) take place on June 27, 2022, provided the Court trial has concluded 30 days earlier. This will allow shareholders the opportunity to make a fully informed decision.

Ms. Drakes position is especially contradictory when considering that she and her boardroom allies originally wanted to delay any shareholder vote until after litigation concluded. In her lawyers words, the stockholder electorate should be fully informed and have the benefit of the trial in this matter in advance of voting. Moreover, Ms. Drakes recently filed proxy statement and public letter do not address the material risks associated with a rash change-of-control, including with respect to customer contracts, lender covenants or the nearly $30 million payday she would become eligible for under certain circumstances.

We are appalled by Ms. Drakes disingenuous reasoning for seeking to call the Special Meeting. We believe Ms. Drake fears that next months trial will expose her violations of the law and failure to comply with the TRO. We suspect Ms. Drake also knows investors will not support a poorly performing CEO who owns so little stock after she has been found to have broken the law. The fact that Ms. Drake and her cohorts have been issuing their personal proxy solicitations in a manner and look and feel that make them appear to be official communications from the Company itself is shocking. She has continued to do this even after the Court explicitly rejected her request to use up to $10 million in Company resources to support her personal agenda.

I urge you to ignore Ms. Drakes campaign of misdirection. We have no interest in delaying the Annual Meeting. The timeframe we have proposed is completely fair and reasonable, and, in fact, is within one week of the date of June 21 that Ms. Drake has proposed for the Special Meeting. We believe Ms. Drakes accusation that we are intentionally seeking to delay the Annual Meeting is part of her false flag strategy of misleading shareholders.

We believe Ms. Drake lacks the credibility, ownership perspectives and strategic vision to continue serving as CEO  let alone hijack the Company at the Special Meeting by installing her own hand-picked Board. In our view, Ms. Drakes status as a rogue executive and numerous failures as the Companys CEO speak for themselves. Please note the following:

Poor Contingency Planning  Ms. Drake neglected to engage in sufficient contingency planning as the Lockheed Martin transaction faced months of mounting regulatory headwinds. We made repeated requests over the course of 2021 that the Company put in place a plan to ensure that it could continue to operate as a standalone entity from a position of strength in the event that the transaction could not be consummated. Ms. Drake ignored these requests.

Misuse of Resources  Ms. Drake and her boardroom allies were effectively rebuked by the Courts entry of a TRO and its rejection of her request for authorization to use up to $10 million of Company money to support her proxy fight, and additional uncapped funds to launch meritless litigation against me. We believe there is clear evidence that Ms. Drake and her faction went on to violate the Courts order, and we intend to present this evidence at a multi-day trial next month.

Unacceptable Underperformance  Ms. Drake presided over significant underperformance relative to the targets set by her management team in last years proxy statement for the Lockheed Martin transaction. Rather than accept accountability for these misses and the Companys poor cash flow situation, she is apparently telling investors that there are no clear opportunities for enhancing margins and optimizing operations.

Playing Numbers Games  Given that Ms. Drake's compensation is impacted by the Companys bookings, we contend she has continuously made short-sighted capital allocation decisions that put your best interests second to her attempts to line her pockets. Further, we believe that lagging cash flow, margins and revenue are the direct result of Ms. Drakes limitations as an operator, including oversight of on-time delivery and production timelines.

Unprofessional Threats  Ms. Drake has threatened to quit and take her executive team with her, reflecting her seemingly vindictive management style. She also has consistently implied that the Companys directors, including her own nominees, would be subject to litigation risks if they did not adopt her recommendations and views.

Talent Retention Issues  Ms. Drake lacks the ability to retain talent, as evidenced by high rates of historic attrition and the recent departure of her chief operating officer and general counsel.

Dissemination of Misinformation  Throughout Ms. Drakes recent campaign, she has made wildly misleading statements and omissions, including regarding my compensation and Steel Partners standard filing under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. In fact, however, my equity-focused compensation plan has always been directly tied to shareholder value creation. Steel Partners recent filing is simply a regulatory requirement for any future share purchases.

Weak Alignment with Shareholders  As far as we can tell, Ms. Drake has never  in all her years with the Company  purchased any shares on the open market. It seems outrageous for her to now seek full control of the Company when she will not even spend any of her millions of dollars in earnings to buy shares and improve her alignment with all shareholders.

Self-Serving and Wasteful Investigation  After I expressed concerns to the Board about her lack of contingency planning, Ms. Drake launched a costly, distracting and unnecessary investigation in retaliation against me  which had nothing to do with sexual harassment, operations, financial reporting or unlawful conduct. We find it odd that any corporate fiduciary could be investigated for pressing a companys senior management to engage in contingency planning.

As we have said before, this contest for the future of Aerojet Rocketdyne should come down to which side is more credible. Our more than $150 million investment in the Company and record of championing shareholders interests for over 15 years speaks volumes. We have also already laid out a vision for implementing a systematic operating plan to revitalize Aerojet Rocketdyne and carrying out a transparent review of alternatives.

We look forward to continuing to stand up for shareholders rights in the weeks ahead. In due course, we will share more details regarding the ongoing litigations and our strategy.

Thank you for your consideration.

Warren G. Lichtenstein

Executive Chairman

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc.

***

Certain Information Concerning the Participants

Warren Lichtenstein and SPH Group Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (SPHG Holdings), who together with the other participants named herein (collectively, the Steel Partners Group), intend to file a preliminary proxy statement and accompanying WHITE proxy card with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to be used to solicit votes for the election of its slate of highly qualified director nominees at the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the Company). This communication is being sent in the individual capacities of the members of the Steel Partners Group, and not by or on behalf of the Company. No Company resources were used in connection with these materials.

THE STEEL PARTNERS GROUP STRONGLY ADVISES ALL STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. SUCH PROXY MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON THE SEC'S WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV. IN ADDITION, THE PARTICIPANTS IN THIS PROXY SOLICITATION WILL PROVIDE COPIES OF THE PROXY STATEMENT WITHOUT CHARGE, WHEN AVAILABLE, UPON REQUEST.

The participants in the proxy solicitation are anticipated to be SPHG Holdings, Steel Partners Holdings L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (Steel Holdings), SPH Group LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (SPHG), Steel Partners Holdings GP Inc., a Delaware corporation (Steel Holdings GP), WebFinancial Holding Corporation, a Delaware corporation (WebFinancial), Steel Excel, Inc., a Delaware corporation (Steel Excel), Steel Partners, Ltd., a Delaware corporation (SPL), Warren G. Lichtenstein, James R. Henderson, Joanne M. Maguire, Audrey A. McNiff, Aimee J. Nelson, Martin Turchin and Heidi R. Wood.

As of the date hereof, SPHG Holdings directly owned 1,497 shares of Common Stock, $0.10 par value, of the Company (the Shares), WebFinancial directly owned 3,482,572 Shares and Steel Excel directly owned 465,427 Shares. Steel Holdings owns 99% of the membership interests of SPHG. SPHG is the sole member of SPHG Holdings. Steel Holdings GP is the general partner of Steel Holdings, the managing member of SPHG and the manager of SPHG Holdings. Accordingly, each of Steel Holdings and Steel Holdings GP may be deemed to beneficially own the Shares directly owned by SPHG Holdings. SPHG owns 100% of the outstanding shares of common stock of WebFinancial. Accordingly, Steel Holdings, SPHG and Steel Holdings GP may be deemed to beneficially own the Shares directly owned by WebFinancial. SPHG Holdings owns 100% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Steel Excel. Accordingly, each of Steel Holdings, SPHG, SPHG Holdings and Steel Holdings GP may be deemed to beneficially own the Shares directly owned by Steel Excel. As of the date hereof, SPL directly owned 60,546 Shares. Mr. Lichtenstein is the Chief Executive Officer of SPL. Accordingly, Mr. Lichtenstein may be deemed to beneficially own the Shares directly owned by SPL. As of the date hereof, Warren G. Lichtenstein directly owned 207,953 Shares. An additional 526,695 Shares are held by a rabbi trust, the receipt of which has been deferred by Mr. Lichtenstein pursuant to the Companys Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors. Such 526,695 Shares are not deemed to be beneficially owned by Mr. Lichtenstein. As of the date hereof, James R. Henderson directly owned 48,107 Shares. An additional 83,986 Shares are held by a rabbi trust, the receipt of which has been deferred by Mr. Henderson pursuant to the Companys Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors. Such 83,986 Shares are not deemed to be beneficially owned by Mr. Henderson. As of the date hereof, Audrey A. McNiff directly owned 4,787 Shares. An additional 3,988 Shares are held by a rabbi trust, the receipt of which has been deferred by Ms. McNiff pursuant to the Companys Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors. Such 3,988 Shares are not deemed to be beneficially owned by Ms. McNiff. As of the date hereof, Martin Turchin directly owned 108,066 Shares. Additionally, Mr. Turchin beneficially owned indirectly an aggregate of 12,500 Shares held in several trusts of which he is a trustee. An additional 5,886 Shares are held by a rabbi trust, the receipt of which has been deferred by Mr. Turchin pursuant to the Companys Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors. Such 5,886 Shares are not deemed to be beneficially owned by Mr. Turchin. As of the date hereof, Joanne M. Maguire, Aimee J. Nelson and Heidi R. Wood did not beneficially own any securities of the Company.
AD HOC ANNOUNCEMENT PURSUANT TO ART. 53 LR

Shareholders agreed to the Board of Directors recommendations for all proposed resolutions

Dividend of CHF 2.00 approved

All Board members re-elected and Conditional Board of Directors appointed, effective as from the date of the settlement of the tender offer by CSL Behring AG

ST. GALLEN, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

At todays 94th Annual General Meeting of Vifor Pharma Ltd., shareholders approved all proposed resolutions put forward by the Board of Directors. The Annual General Meeting was again held in accordance with the Ordinance 3 and the COVID-19 Act and has been reconfirmed in view of the current status of the tender offer launched by CSL Behring AG. Shareholders exercised their rights exclusively through the independent proxy.

Shareholder approvals

Shareholders approved the Annual Report and the Annual Financial Statements of Vifor Pharma Ltd. and the consolidated Financial Statements of Vifor Pharma for 2021 by a large majority, as well as the 2021 Remuneration Report in a consultative vote. In addition, shareholders discharged the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee for the business year 2021. A dividend of CHF 2.00, as proposed by the Board of Directors, was approved and will be paid to shareholders from 3 May 2022 on.

Re-election of Board of Directors

The Annual General Meeting confirmed Chairman Jacques Theurillat and the other members of the Board of Directors, Prof. Hon. Dr. Michel Burnier, Dr. Romeo Cerutti, Dr. Alexandre LeBeaut, Dr. Sue Mahony, Asa Riisberg and Kim Stratton in office, as well as Dr. Sue Mahony (Chair), Prof. Hon. Dr. Michel Burnier and Dr. Romeo Cerutti to the Remuneration Committee.

Conditional new elections to the Board, effective as from settlement date

In addition, the Annual General Meeting conditionally elected Paul McKenzie (elected Chairman), Greg Boss, John Levy, Joy Linton, Markus Stampfli and Elizabeth Walker as new members of the Board of Directors, to become effective as from the date of settlement under the terms of the tender offer of CSL Behring AG as of 18 January 2022. Greg Boss, Joy Linton and Elizabeth Walker have been conditionally elected to the Remuneration Committee.

About Vifor Pharma Group

Vifor Pharma Group is a global pharmaceuticals company. It aims to become the global leader in iron deficiency and nephrology. The company is a partner of choice for pharmaceuticals and innovative patient-focused solutions across iron, dialysis, nephrology and rare conditions. Vifor Pharma Group strives to help patients around the world with severe, chronic and rare diseases lead better, healthier lives. It specializes in strategic global partnering, in-licensing and developing, manufacturing and marketing pharmaceutical products for precision patient care. Vifor Pharma Group holds a leading position in all its core business activities and includes the companies: Vifor Pharma, Sanifit Therapeutics, and Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma (a joint company with Fresenius Medical Care). Vifor Pharma Group is headquartered in Switzerland and listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX Swiss Exchange, VIFN, ISIN: CH0364749348). For more information, please visit viforpharma.com

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Nathalie Ponnier

Global Head Corporate Communications

+41 79 957 96 73

[email protected]

Source: Vifor Pharma Group
MESA, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Atwell, LLC is pleased to welcome Baird Fullerton to its team as Team Leader in our real estate and land development division. Based in Atwells Mesa, Arizona office, Baird will be responsible for assisting clients with a wide range of project types, training, guiding and supervising his team members to achieve successful project outcomes, assisting with the completion of high-quality design documents with his comprehensive understanding of development requirements, and leading business development efforts and client relationships for Atwells Real Estate and Land Development market.

Bairds career spans more than 30 years managing a wide variety of project types in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. He has provided design services for residential, commercial, educational, and municipal clients. This includes master-planned communities, apartments, and commercial developments such as the mixed-use portion of Fashion Place Mall in Scottsdale, Arizona, campus development for Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, and public utility and roadway improvements for Glendale, Scottsdale, Mesa, Phoenix, Peoria, and Buckeye. He is familiar with agency requirements and excels at identifying critical path items to accelerate project delivery. Baird earned his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Arizona and a LEED Accredited Professional. He has been a self-certified professional with the City of Phoenix since the programs inception and is able to bypass the plan review process for commercial projects.

Bairds background and experience in residential, commercial, and municipal projects in the southwest partnered with his ability to train and mentor staff will make him a great addition to our team, said Atwell Vice President Mark Borushko.

Atwell, LLC is a national consulting, engineering, and construction services firm with technical professionals located across the country. Creating innovative solutions for clients in industries such as real estate and land development, power and energy, and oil and gas, Atwell provides comprehensive turnkey services including land and right-of-way support, planning, landscape architecture, engineering, land surveying, environmental compliance and permitting, and project and program management.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426006127/en/

Timothy Augustine, Senior Vice President

ATWELL, LLC

248.447.2005

[email protected]

Source: Atwell, LLC
The company expands operations to deliver Open-, Cloud-, and AI-first networking solutions based on SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud)

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Aviz Networks, a leading provider of software solutions for Hybrid Cloud & Edge Networks leveraging Multi-Vendor SONiC, announced a $4 million Seed Round today led by Moment Ventures with participation from leading network equipment vendors. Moment Ventures Founder & General Partner, Ammar Hanafi, and industry luminary Rajiv Khemani, Founder of Innovium (now part of Marvell Technology), have joined Avizs Board of Directors.

SONiC has rapidly emerged as the leader for open-source network operating system (NOS) deployments with Gartner predicting that by 2025, 40% of organizations that operate large data center networks will run SONiC in production environments. As the only open-source NOS that runs on Switches and ASICs from all major vendors today, it is the right time for private clouds in Data Centers, Retailers, and Telcos to leverage SONiC for modernizing their network infrastructure. Deployments of SONiC are accelerating and in a clear sign of the growing momentum, SONiC recently became part of the Linux Foundation.

Aviz is enabling a unified and consistent user experience across multi-vendor environments with its Aviz Certified SONiC program and a high quality application-driven support model, backed by 24/7 availability of SONiC experts. Aviz has signed partnerships with all major Switch and ASIC vendors to enable customers for interoperable multi-vendor networks. Furthermore, Aviz is accelerating SONiC adoption by making the NOS application aware and bringing Cloud-Native and AI capabilities to hybrid networks.

We are living in a world of disaggregated, platform independent applications running in the cloud, which are increasingly AI enabled. SONiC is the first-ever multi-vendor standards-based NOS and is a perfect environment to drive innovation in networking," said Vishal Shukla, CEO, of Aviz Networks. We are solving problems of orchestration, monitoring, and support across a multi-vendor ecosystem at scale. A leading web-scale enterprise customer that uses tens of thousands of devices sourced from multiple vendors is using Avizs SONiC Enterprise Suite to manage their SONiC fabric."

The Aviz founding team, with backgrounds from companies including Nvidia (Mellanox), AWS and F5 (Shape Security), has a proven track record of nurturing developer communities and delivering technology platforms that transform enterprise infrastructure. Vishal Shukla, Co-founder & CEO is leading the team, Chidambaram B, Co-founder & CTO is leading research and development, and Gautam Agrawal, Co-founder & CPO is leading product and marketing.

The founders of Aviz bring tremendous networking, cloud, and AI expertise to meet the critical needs of the rapidly growing SONiC data-center and edge ecosystem. We are proud to be working with them, said Ammar Hanafi, Founder of Moment Ventures. Avizs SONiC solutions can support the entire underlying hardware ecosystem and will make multi-vendor hybrid networks a reality.

About Aviz Networks

Aviz Networks is enabling SONiC deployments in Data Center & Edge networks by creating platform agnostic applications for network Orchestration, Monitoring, and Support. The companys vision is to drive open-source networking via disaggregated Cloud-Native applications and provide data-driven intelligence for building next generation networks. More information is available at www.aviznetworks.com.

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Ben Bronson

(602) 552-1194

[email protected]

Source: Aviz Networks
Partnership will accelerate the firms next stage of expansion and provide enhanced client service support

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Bluespring Wealth Partners, LLC (Bluespring Wealth), an industry-leading acquirer and partner of best-in-class wealth management firms, today announced the acquisition of Joule Financial, an independent, registered investment adviser (RIA) based in Lexington, Kentucky.

Established in 2001, Joule Financial is led by Quint Tatro, Managing Director and CIO, and Daniel Czulno, Managing Director and COO. The firm serves over 600 families throughout the nation, and prides itself on its ability to help all clients identify, plan, and reach their financial goals. The team at Joule Financial specializes in providing fee-only financial planning, investment management, and wealth development services.

Through this partnership, Bluespring Wealth Partners will provide the necessary support for Joule Financial to scale operations and reach its next phase of growth while maintaining its first-class client experience.

Quint and Daniel are two young, talented leaders who have built a strong reputation in the region and the broader financial services industry through their writings, podcasts, and radio and television appearances, said Stuart Silverman, President of Bluespring Wealth Partners. We are excited to partner with the duo, and look forward to further strengthening operations, expanding the Joule footprint, and accelerating their platforms growth.

The firm currently oversees $280 million in assets under management. Tatro and Czulno will expand the growing ranks of young, driven partners who have joined Bluespring Wealth Partners recently. Bluesprings platform will enable them to continue developing the business while capitalizing on larger opportunities and magnifying the positive impact they have on clients.

On the heels of one of our best years in company history, there is no better time than the present to invest in the future of our firm. Were thrilled to be doing so alongside Bluespring Wealth Partners, said Tatro. Bluespring will handle a variety of back-office functions so we can focus on client service, comprehensive planning, and executing our investment management strategy.

The team at Joule Financial has a proven passion for sharing their in-depth knowledge of personal finance with the community. Their biweekly podcast DIY Money has nearly three million downloads. Bluespring Wealth Partners is proud to be able to add these individuals to its ecosystem of like-minded firms.

This acquisition marks the sixth transaction in 2022 for Bluespring Wealth Partners.

About Bluespring Wealth Partners, LLC

Through a highly customized and people-centric approach, Bluespring Wealth Partners is dedicated to the acquisition and support of the industrys premier wealth management firms. In partnering with best-in-class wealth advisors and their teams, Bluespring Wealth Partners looks to perpetuate and enhance the value that they bring their clients, providing continuity and new opportunities in the process. Bluespring Wealth Partners was established with the express purpose of helping entrepreneurs take their business to the next level of growth through successor identification and training, industry-leading consulting and operational resources, flexible ownership arrangements, and institutional capital support. By focusing on partnership as the driver of success, Bluespring Wealth Partners empowers wealth management firm owners to elevate their business without sacrificing their entrepreneurial spirit, founding principles, and long-term vision.

Bluespring Wealth Partners is a subsidiary of Kestra Holdings.

Investment advisory services offered through Tatro Capital LLC d/b/a Joule Financial.

For more information about Bluespring Wealth Partners, please visit www.bluespringwealth.com.

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Media contact:

Gregory FCA for Bluespring Wealth Partners

Erin Jacob, 610-200-0566

[email protected]

Source: Bluespring Wealth Partners, LLC
Advanced Risk provides auto insurers powerful new variables for propriety segmentation

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), the worlds largest telematics service provider, today announced Advanced Risk, a groundbreaking risk segmentation solution that delivers next-generation telematics variables. Auto insurers use Advanced Risk to derive proprietary insights from customer driving behavior. With Advanced Risk, insurers can analyze and measure driver risk using innovative new variables like Contextual Speed, Advanced Distraction, Compound Events, and more.

Auto insurers know that driving data is the new competitive advantage. Every top insurer in the US has a telematics program today that utilizes variables like harsh braking and phone distraction to assess a drivers risk and develop customized pricing algorithms. Carriers refine their pricing algorithms over countless iterations by investigating and incorporating new variables to match rate to risk, said Lakshmi Shalini, VP of Risk & Insurance Analytics for CMT. With Advanced Risk, carriers have access to new driving data and analytics to refine their custom scores and sustain a competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

Advanced Risk gives auto insurers powerful new variables like Contextual Speed, Advanced Distraction Variables, and Compound Events:

Contextual Speed: Contextual Speed, which CMT has patented, measures a drivers speed compared to historic speeds on a road segment. Speed distribution metrics for road segments are dynamically updated based on driver speeds across the CMT DriveWell platform.

Advanced Distraction Variables: Advanced Risk offers multiple dimensions of distraction, beyond phone motion and handheld and hands-free phone calls. For example, the Context Switching variable identifies distraction-induced acceleration and braking events.

Compound Events: Advanced Risk includes new variables of overlapping events that generate the most value in a predictive risk model. Multiple combinations of risky events are available for carriers to test and analyze out of the box.

Even with dedicated data scientists, actuaries, and product leaders, it would take a leading carrier years to develop advanced risk variables on their own. To build advanced risk variables, a carrier needs to collect billions of miles of telematics data, extract and engineer variables from raw sensor data to compute the riskiest events, and then evaluate the predictive lift on claims. With CMTs Advanced Risk, carriers only need to analyze the predictive power of the new variables on their book of business to create a new proprietary score.

Advanced Risk variables offer significant segmentation lift over existing telematics variables. While precise lift improvements will vary carrier to carrier, context-based risk variables can generate incremental lift of over 15% alone. With over 50 risk variables available today, Advanced Risk can deliver even more incremental lift for carriers.

Advanced Risk also provides new benefits for consumers. With more granular risk segmentation and fine-tuned pricing models, carriers can address more segments of the market while providing pin-pointed behavioral feedback to their policyholders. With more insurers competing for their business, consumers will have a wider variety of prices and coverage ranges to choose from when shopping.

About Cambridge Mobile Telematics

Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) is the worlds largest telematics service provider. Its mission is to make the worlds roads and drivers safer. The companys AI-driven platform, DriveWell, gathers sensor data from millions of IoT devices  including smartphones, proprietary Tags, connected vehicles, dashcams, and third-party devices  and fuses them with contextual data to create a unified view of vehicle and driver behavior. Companies from personal and commercial auto insurance, automotive, rideshare, smart cities, wireless, financial services, and family safety industries use insights from CMTs platform to power their risk assessment, safety, claims, and driver improvement programs. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, with offices in Budapest, Chennai, Seattle, and Tokyo, CMT serves millions of people through 80 programs in 18 countries, including 21 of the top 25 US auto insurers.

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Cambridge Mobile Telematics

Matt Fiorentino

[email protected]

Source: Cambridge Mobile Telematics
Asset Records software streamlines aircraft documentation management allowing operators to digitize, index, and archive all maintenance records

Use of QR code technology allows airline to seamlessly connect the records and data of internal and external IT platforms

SAN RAMON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- GE Digital today announced that Connect Airlines has chosen asset records management software to streamline the new airlines management of maintenance work orders and help them to achieve a smarter, near paperless operation within their first year of operation. The operator will be the first airline operator to use unique QR code technology to speed adoption and connection to other tools and platforms within their operations.

Connect Airlines is a new regional airline based in the Greater Boston, Massachusetts area and part of Waltzing Matilda Aviation, a fast-growing private jet operator. Connect Airlines is starting its service with daily flights from Toronto, Canada to Philadelphia, and Chicagos OHare airport.

GE Digitals asset records management software, Asset Records, is designed to help operators to streamline aircraft records management. With cloud-based solutions, operators can digitize, index, and archive all maintenance records as well as effectively connect the records and data of internal and external IT platforms making them easily accessible for record search, administration, support, and processing.

Asset Records is a robust records management system that manages all the documents associated with aircraft lifecycle. Powered by Microsoft Azures technology, it requires minimal IT infrastructure: organizations can simply connect through secure web-based access. Asset Records is ideal for anyone that needs better solutions for maintaining service records for their aircraft, whether owners, operators, lessors, or MROs.

The GE Digital Asset Records software will allow us to organize, view, search, retrieve, download and transfer documents digitally to facilitate regulatory compliance within the leasing industry accepted ATA SPEC 2500 document structure, said Dave Marcontell, Chief Operating Officer for Connect Airlines. The modern, forward-thinking use of QR codes to transfer data among different IT platforms is meeting our objective to operate smarter and with a light footprint; critical for managing costs and compliance for a rapidly growing airline.

The project management module within the system enables users to create aircraft transaction projects, view dashboards to see project status, view status of multiple projects in parallel, and interactively manage the lessor checklist status of required documentation. The module has a modern interface that will provide clear identification of stakeholders, documentation management status, and a digital master issues list to give an at a glance view of the project. Included in the tool is an administration module that provides users the ability to manage permissions, assets, and checklists.

Our software enables customers like Connect Airlines to make data-driven decisions regarding real-time fleet health, said Andrew Coleman, General Manager of GE Digitals Aviation Software business. From the airport to the back office, and everything in between, our software gives customers access to the data and expertise needed to run a successful world class operation.

Click on these links for more information about GE Digitals Aviation Software.

About Connect Airlines

Connect Airlines is owned by Waltzing Matilda Airlines (WMA), a Boston based FAA Part 135 charter operator has started the process to add FAA Part 121 scheduled and non-scheduled services. WMA identified the need for a smarter airline and brought together aviation leaders and enthusiasts with over 150 years experience who share a common passion  to work and fly smarter. With the planes we fly, the technology we use, and the operations we run, Connect Airlines will deliver a quieter, cleaner, and healthier travel experience. Connect Airlines, the future of smarter, greener travel.

About GE Digital

GE Digital transforms how our customers solve their toughest challenges by putting industrial data to work. Our mission is to bring simplicity, speed, and scale to digital transformation activities, with industrial software that delivers breakthrough business outcomes. GE Digitals product portfolio  including grid optimization and analytics, asset and operations performance management, and manufacturing operations and automation  helps industrial companies in the utility, power generation, oil & gas, aviation, and manufacturing sectors change the way industry works. For more information, visit www.ge.com/digital.

 2022 General Electric. All rights reserved. GE, the GE logo, and Proficy are either registered trademarks or trademarks of General Electric in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Ellie Holman

GE Digital

[email protected]

Scott Brownrigg

Connect Airlines

[email protected]

Source: GE Digital
Highlights EQs efforts to regenerate urban spaces, preserve local culture and bring humanity into workplaces

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- EQ Office, a leader in creating inspiring workplace destinations, today released its second annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report highlighting the companys progress on its commitment to preserving local culture, regenerating urban spaces and bringing humanity into the workplace.

At EQ, our business goes beyond four walls and is rooted in putting people first, said Charlie Hobey, Managing Director and interim head of ESG at EQ Office. Every year, it is a central priority to enhance our efforts to inspire the next generation of talent, celebrate diversity, cultivate an inclusive culture and build thriving, eco-friendly communities around the country.

EQ Office launched its ESG program, EQ Impact, in 2021 to provide access and opportunities for career growth and talent development. Highlights from EQs 2021 ESG report include:

1. Social Impact: Preserving local culture

EQ Office expanded its national partnership with YouthBuild USA. Through the partnership, EQ seeks to expand job training, mentorship, and job placement to opportunity youth  young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither in school nor employed  who want a career in real estate or construction-related fields.

EQ Office launched mentorship-to-internship programs in eight cities and supported the transformation of the YouthBuild center in Compton, California into a space where generations can learn and grow. Last year, EQ Office and more than 30 vendors renovated and refurbished Compton YouthBuild, donating 5,516 hours and over $1.2 million in value. The company plans to redevelop another YouthBuild property in 2022.

2. Environmental Impact: Regenerating urban spaces

EQ Office is committed to creating sustainable spaces for tenants, team members, partners and the greater community. In 2021, the company invested $27 million in environmental capital improvements and evaluated each potential investment for its ability to enhance efficiencies, re-use local materials and lower operating costs.

The companys prioritization of responsible energy, water and waste management and procurement has led to 42 buildings achieving green certifications like Energy Star, LEED or BOMA 360 and 60% of its buildings offering composting. EQ also reduced electricity consumption by 10% across properties and doubled its procurement of clean energy to power 69% of buildings in its portfolio.

3. Governance Impact: Bringing humanity into workplaces

In 2021, over 80% of the companys vendor searches met Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) standards. Additionally, EQ Offices DEI Task Force developed a library of educational resources, coordinated multiple events that celebrate diverse heritages and planned a series of DEI workshops to offer all EQ employees in 2022.

For more information on EQ Impacts ESG program, view the companys 2nd annual ESG Report here, along with the Executive Summary Report here.

About EQ Office

EQ focuses on the experience of its 20 million square feet - how space feels, activates and performs to amplify the human experience. We're proud to work hand-in-hand with more than 1,500 customers of all sizes, from Fortune 100 companies to emerging startups, to bring humanity back to the workplace. Our diverse team of more than 200 professionals is responsible for creating inspired office environments in major cities across the country including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. As a U.S. office portfolio company wholly owned by Blackstone's real estate funds, we have the resources to lead the changes happening in work space. Explore your space for greatness at www.eqoffice.com.

About YouthBuild USA

With love and respect, YouthBuild partners with opportunity youth to build the skillsets and mindsets that lead to lifelong learning, livelihood, and leadership. At more than 275 YouthBuild programs across the United States and around the world, students reclaim their education, gain job skills, and become leaders in their communities. To date, YouthBuild has partnered with more than 180,000 young people to dedicate over 50 million hours of service benefitting urban, rural, and tribal communities. YouthBuild strives to create a world where all young people are seen for their potential, and power to transform themselves and their communities. YouthBuild USA  the support center for the YouthBuild movement  strengthens YouthBuild programs through technical assistance, leadership development, innovative program enhancements, and advocacy. YouthBuild programs located outside of the United States are supported by YouthBuild USAs international division, YouthBuild International. For more information about the YouthBuild movement, YouthBuild USA, and YouthBuild International, visit YouthBuild.org.

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Elliot Golan

Allison+Partners

[email protected]

Source: EQ Office
April 26 Marks the Ninth Annual Recognition of the Worlds Pilots

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Flexjet, the worlds most exclusive provider of fractional private jets, today paid tribute to the skill, commitment and professionalism of its pilots on World Pilots Day. Celebrated annually on April 26 for nearly a decade, World Pilots Day honors the men and women who keep passengers flying safely through the skies.

We are proud to honor our pilots, who are on the front lines of carrying out our commitment to our jet Owners, said Megan Wolf, Flexjet Chief Operating Officer. Our pilots tireless devotion to duty and dedication to the highest standards of professional excellence are an example for all of us, and we salute them as we mark World Pilots Day.

World Pilots Day originated through the efforts of the Turkish Association of Airline Pilots to honor Fesan Evrensev, Turkeys first pilot, who made his inaugural flight on April 26, 1912. The International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations proposed April 26 as a date to annually recognize the role of all pilots worldwide. Since World Pilots Day was first proposed, pilots associations, airlines and other aviation organizations globally have adopted it to honor pilots.

Flexjet currently employs more than 850 pilots to fly its fleet of nearly 200 aircraft that comprise the most modern fleet in the skies, including the Embraer Phenom 300, Legacy 450 and Praetor 500; the Bombardier Challenger 350; and the Gulfstream G450 and G650. Fifty additional aircraft will enter by the end of 2022, and the company plans to hire an additional 350 pilots to fly its growing fleet.

In our business at Flexjet, the pilots are a major component of our customer service, said Joseph Salata, Flexjet Senior Vice President, Flight Operations, and a pilot himself. Our pilots are some of the most seasoned professionals in the industry, and they also have the reputation of being the friendliest. Our (jet) Owners can always rely on our pilots to provide a safe and efficient flight, as well as an outstanding service experience. We are extremely proud of our Flexjet pilot force!

Because of its combination of high earnings potential, modern aircraft and quality of life, Flexjet has become a highly attractive destination for pilots. Flexjet pilots have among the highest pay rates in aviation, enjoy additional bonus opportunities, extensive home-based crewing domiciles, schedule flexibility and the ability to upgrade their position in a little more than one year. In addition, Flexjets Domestic Red Label and International Large Cabin programs empower pilots to select the programs that are best for them personally and professionally.

Flexjet European operations Accountable Manager Clive Richardson, who also is a pilot, said, What defines a professional pilot? Somebody who can go all the way in this career is somebody who is able to dedicate, focus and have that passion, patience and drive. The job pilots do, they are not just a machine pushing buttons on an airplane. We love pilots here. I'm one myself, and our chairman's a pilot. This is a pilots company, and I think World Pilots Day will raise that profile.

Flexjet is hiring 350 pilots this year and invites qualified pilots to apply by visiting https://www.flexjet.com/careers/pilots/.

About Flexjet

Flexjet first entered the fractional jet ownership market in 1995. Flexjet offers fractional jet ownership and leasing. Flexjets fractional aircraft program is the first in the world to be recognized as achieving the Air Charter Safety Foundations Industry Audit Standard, is the first and only company to be honored with 23 FAA Diamond Awards for Excellence, upholds an ARG/US Platinum Safety Rating, a 4AIR Bronze Sustainable Rating and is IS-BAO compliant at Level 2. Flexjets fractional program fields an exclusive array of business aircraftsome of the youngest in the fractional jet industry, with an average age of approximately six years. In 2015, Flexjet introduced Red Label by Flexjet, which features the youngest fleet in the industry, flight crews dedicated to a single aircraft and the LXi Cabin Collection of interiors. To date there are more than 40 different interior designs across its fleet, which includes the Embraer Phenom 300, Legacy 450 and Praetor 500, Bombardier Challenger 350, the Gulfstream G450 and G650. Flexjets European fleet includes the Embraer Legacy 500, Praetor 600. Flexjet is a member of the Directional Aviation family of companies. For more details on innovative programs and flexible offerings, visit www.flexjet.com or follow us on Twitter @Flexjet and on Instagram @FlexjetLLC.

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Nicholas Parmelee

The Hubbell Group, Inc.

216-406-5602 (mobile)

781-878-8882 (office)

[email protected]

Source: Flexjet
New Units Using AP1000 technology at Sanmen and Haiyang to Expand Carbon-Free Power

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Westinghouse Electric Company celebrates the recent approval by Chinas State Council to proceed with construction of four additional AP1000 reactors, increasing the global AP1000 fleet to 10 units.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005958/en/

Photo courtesy of Sanmen Nuclear Power Company

The four AP1000 reactors to be built  Sanmen 3 and 4 in Zhejiang Province, and Haiyang 3 and 4 in Shandong Province  will join Sanmen 1 and 2 and Haiyang 1 and 2 which were commissioned in 2018. The four Westinghouse units operating today utilize the most advanced, proven AP1000 technology and have set industry records with their outstanding startup, availability, and operational performance.

The Westinghouse AP1000 plant is a fantastic, versatile and proven reactor. It has unique, fully passive safety features that make it the safest, most innovative and compact reactor in the world, said Patrick Fragman, Westinghouse President and CEO. China and the United States are taking the leadership role as they each demonstrate that the AP1000s advanced nuclear technology is vital to achieving safe, clean, and reliable base-load electricity. Taking full advantage of the AP1000 plants outstanding performance in the four existing operating units, and through our successful partnership with State Power Investment Company (SPIC) in China, we expect to achieve an AP1000 plant nth-of-a-kind project with the construction cost and schedule of these next four units validating the recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) report conclusions regarding the attractive cost and schedule for future AP1000 units.

The AP1000 plant is the only operating Generation III+ reactor with fully passive safety systems and has the smallest footprint per MWe on the market, including some of the small modular reactor concepts that are being proposed. In addition to the four AP1000 units currently operating in China by Sanmen Nuclear Power Company and Shandong Nuclear Power Company, two AP1000 units are nearing completion at the Vogtle site in the United States. Westinghouse AP1000 technology also has been selected for a six-unit project in India, and multiple sites in Central and Eastern Europe including Ukraine, Asia, the United Kingdom, and utilities in the United States.

About Westinghouse

Westinghouse Electric Company is shaping the future of carbon-free energy by providing safe, innovative nuclear technologies to utilities globally. Westinghouse supplied the worlds first commercial pressurized water reactor in 1957 and the companys technology is the basis for nearly one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants. Over 135 years of innovation makes Westinghouse the preferred partner for advanced technologies covering the complete nuclear energy life cycle. For more information, visit www.westinghousenuclear.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005958/en/

Cathy Mann

[email protected]

Source: Westinghouse Electric Company
PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), announced the $201.75 million portfolio sale of three multifamily properties in the Southwest. The asset includes The Villages at Metro Center, 296 units in Phoenix, Arizona; Crystal Creek, 273 units in Phoenix; and Indigo Park, 216 units in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The combined operational strengths of the Phoenix and Albuquerque multifamily markets provide our buyer with significant upside opportunity identifiable through the implementation of a programmatic common area and apartment interior renovation, said Steve Gebing, IPA executive managing director. Gebing and Cliff David, IPA executive managing director, represented the seller, JB Partners, and procured the buyer, Bridge Investment Group. Ryan Sarbinoff, first vice president and regional manager, is Marcus & Millichaps broker of record in New Mexico.

The Villages at Metro Center was built in 1979 on 11.5 acres and is proximate to the Deer Valley and I-17 employment corridors. Crystal Creek is also proximate to Deer Valley and nearby Bell Road Retail Corridor. The property was constructed in 1985 on eight acres. Accessible from Interstate 25, Indigo Park was built in 1974 on 7.5 acres, eight miles from Downtown Albuquerque.

About Institutional Property Advisors (IPA)

Institutional Property Advisors (IPA) is a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), a leading commercial real estate services firm in North America. IPAs combination of real estate investment and capital markets expertise, industry-leading technology, and acclaimed research offer customized solutions for the acquisition, disposition and financing of institutional properties and portfolios. For more information, please visit www.institutionalpropertyadvisors.com

About Marcus & Millichap, Inc. (NYSE: MMI)

Marcus & Millichap, Inc. is a leading brokerage firm specializing in commercial real estate investment sales, financing, research and advisory services with offices throughout the United States and Canada. As of December 31, 2021, the company had 1,994 investment sales and financing professionals in 82 offices who provide investment brokerage and financing services to sellers and buyers of commercial real estate. The company also offers market research, consulting and advisory services to clients. Marcus & Millichap closed 13,255 transactions in 2021, with a sales volume of approximately $84.4 billion. For additional information, please visit www.MarcusMillichap.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426006308/en/

Gina Relva, VP of Public Relations

Marcus & Millichap

[email protected]

510-999-1284

Source: Marcus & Millichap, Inc.
Funding will help accelerate robotics solutions for global logistics

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Rapyuta Robotics, Co., Ltd., a leading developer of collaborative pick-assist robots (Rapyuta PA-AMR), or warehouse robots, and pioneers of Cloud Robotics, today announced USD 51 Million (JPY6.4 billion) in Series C funding led by Goldman Sachs to accelerate the expansion of robotics solutions and artificial intelligence technologies.

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Rapyuta Robotics employees (Photo: Business Wire)

This is Rapyuta Robotics third round of funding, bringing the total capital raised to USD 81 Million (JPY 10 Billion). The new round will further the companys growth and market presence as a leader in an industry shifting to autonomous mobile robots and cloud-based software solutions. Rapyuta Robotics is focused on making robotics useful for all logistics applications, and providing support for the development, implementation, and operation of robotics solutions.

Rapyuta Robotics will further its mission to make robots more attainable to global logistics users and to empower lives with new cloud robotics solutions, said Gajan Mohanarajah, Ph.D., CEO, and co-founder. We are grateful to Goldman Sachs and all our investors for their support of our vision to make robots more accessible by taking a platform approach.

While the global logistics industry is rapidly expanding due to rising e-commerce demand, it faces a wave of digitization and a challenge of labor shortage. As the industry seeks automation solutions to improve efficiency, we are optimistic about the growth of Rapyuta Robotics as a pioneer in cloud robotics platforms, said Stephanie Hui, global co-head of Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Goldman Sachs Asset Management has been an active investor in Japan since 1999, deploying capital across sectors such as technology, consumer, healthcare, and renewable energy.

Funds raised are earmarked for expanded development of the Rapyuta PA-AMR (pick assist robot), partner training, research and development, and increased awareness of autonomous mobile robots and their usage in the logistics industry.

Logistics companies that have introduced Rapyutas collaborative pick-assist solution have seen a doubling of productivity in their operations within five months. In Japan, where Rapyuta Robotics has the largest market share, automation solutions in logistics address the pervasive problems of an aging population, low birth rate, and chronic labor shortage. Rapyutas next-generation cloud robotics platform, rapyuta.io, utilizes the world's most advanced control and artificial intelligence technologies to improve the efficiency and safety of warehouse operations, enable multiple robots to work harmoniously together, and create a seamless, and remote-controlled, robot ecosystem.

Rapyuta Robotics is now hiring, with the intent to expand its diverse staff of talented engineers and sales professionals who emanate from more than 20 countries. The company espouses a healthy work-life balance and an open and inclusive working environment. Professionals who are interested in working on technology that empowers lives are encouraged to join us and apply here.

For insights about robotic solutions, follow Rapyuta Robotics on our blog, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Github channels.

About Rapyuta Robotics

Rapyuta Robotics is a leading provider of flexible and collaborative autonomous mobile robot (Rapyuta PA-AMR) solutions and a pioneer in cloud robotics. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Rapyuta Robotics is a Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) spin-off, that operates with a vision to be the leader in making robots more attainable and useful by taking an open, platform-centric approach to developing and operating robotics solutions. At ETH Zurich, Rapyuta Robotics founding members worked on the RoboEarth and Cubli projects.

About Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global financial institution that delivers a broad range of financial services across investment banking, securities, investment management, and consumer banking to a large and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world. Since 2003, the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management comprising more than 75 individuals has invested over $13 billion in companies led by visionary founders and CEOs.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220425006014/en/

Alysha Lobo, US/Global Marketing Manager, Rapyuta Robotics

(470) 830-0725

[email protected]

Rapyuta Robotics Co., Ltd.

PR department: Tabuchi, Suzuki

TEL: 03-6228-3852

[email protected]

Source: Rapyuta Robotics, Co., Ltd.
STRONGSVILLE, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Saint-Gobain, through its building products subsidiary CertainTeed LLC, today announced the upcoming relocation of its CertainTeed Architectural facility in Lakewood, Ohio to a new, state-of-the-art facility in Strongsville, Ohio. The relocation increases the companys manufacturing, storage and warehouse space at a time of unprecedented customer demand.

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(Photo: Business Wire)

The new facility in Strongsville is more than twice as large as the former facility in nearby Lakewood, and will allow the company to expand its offerings in specialty ceiling and wall systems. The move comes only months after the company announced its global Grow and Impact Strategy, which includes expanding its presence in key, fast growing markets.

The expansion of our Architectural business into a large, modern facility in Strongsville is an investment in the future of our relationships with our customers, and the future of our relationship with the State of Ohio, said Regan Gallo, Vice President and General Manager of CertainTeed Architectural Product Group. This relocation gives our team the space, efficiency and safety features we need to expand offerings in our specialties portfolio, maximize our impact in the market, and further our standing as a worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction.

Multiple jobs will be created at the CertainTeed facility in Strongsville as a result of the plants expansion, including roles in production, engineering, shipping and receiving and quality control. A complete list of current openings can be found at the companys careers webpage.

For more details on Saint-Gobain, visit www.saint-gobain.com and follow us on Twitter @saintgobain.

About CertainTeed

Through the responsible development of innovative and sustainable building products, CertainTeed, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, has helped shape the building products industry for more than 115 years. Founded in 1904 as General Roofing Manufacturing Company, the firms slogan Quality Made Certain, Satisfaction Guaranteed, inspired the name CertainTeed. Today, CertainTeed is a leading North American brand of exterior and interior building products, including roofing, siding, solar, fence, railing, trim, insulation, drywall and ceilings. www.certainteed.com.

About Saint-Gobain

Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Its integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance. The Groups commitment is guided by its purpose, MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME.

44.2 billion in sales in 2021

166,000 employees, located in 75 countries

Committed to achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2050

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005155/en/

Peter Clark

Saint-Gobain Corporate Communications

[email protected]

Source: Saint-Gobain
CX solution purpose-built to unify the customer journey across policy servicing, claims, and new business

Guidewire partnership and deep integrations with industry-leading CMS, PAS, and CRM systems provide a single view of the customer and extend CX capabilities

Pre-configured insurance workflows and pre-trained intent libraries automate and streamline insurers primary business processes

Visit booth #5 at Reuters EventsTM: Insurance AI and Innovative Tech USA 2022, April 26-27 in Chicago, to learn more about Talkdesk CX solutions for insurance

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Talkdesk, Inc., a global cloud contact center leader for customer-obsessed companies, today introduced Talkdesk Financial Services Experience CloudTM for Insurance. As the industrys first customer experience (CX) solution purpose-built for unifying the insurance customer journey, the unique platform features deep integrations with leading claims management systems (CMS), policy administration systems (PAS), and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

Insurers are operating within a complex environment. Volatile investment markets, emerging competitors, and natural disasters are driving them to increase focus on delivering ever-better CX and squeezing more value from their operations, said Scott Bright, vice president, financial services product management, Talkdesk. With Talkdesk Financial Services Experience Cloud for Insurance, they can unify customer journeys, enable frontline employees to work more efficiently, and be well positioned to not only navigate market challenges, but take advantage of the opportunities.

Talkdesk ResearchTM underscores the rising importance of CX among financial services and insurance organizations. In recent global surveys, 89% of customers said they expect service and support needs to be resolved quicker, and 71% stated they are more loyal to companies that invest in strengthening CX. Designed to meet and exceed these customer expectations, Talkdesk Financial Services Experience Cloud for Insurance offers a broad range of benefits:

Increases agility with a complete view of the customer

Out-of-the-box integrations and automation with CMS, PAS, and CRM systems make new business, claims, and policy servicing more convenient.

Easy modification of agent workflows and customer journeys provide flexibility to adapt to changes, such as mergers and acquisitions, new product rollouts, and evolving market conditions.

A holistic view of the client context and interactions helps accelerate new business.

Drives customer loyalty

Pre-trained artificial intelligence and insurance intent libraries lend a human touch to digital and self-service options, supporting more empathetic interactions.

Engagement across communication channels  voice, SMS, social, and email  give customers choice in when and how they want to interact.

Automated notifications alert customers to claim updates, policy renewal reminders, and more.

Empowers employees and improves retention

Process automation streamlines servicing of policies, claims, and new business.

Real-time guidance and recommendations for next best actions are derived from customer insights to enable efficient, personalized conversations.

A single workspace gives agents the exact information they need for handling policy changes, cancellation and reinstatements, FNOL, and other priority activities.

Additionally, Talkdesk has joined the Guidewire PartnerConnect program and is building an integration between its Financial Services Experience Cloud for Insurance and Guidewire ClaimCenter. This integration will be available for download in the Guidewire Marketplace once it has been completed and validated by Guidewire, one of the worlds most trusted P&C insurance platform providers.

Our partnership with Talkdesk will bring significant business value to insurers, blending the capabilities of a forward-thinking customer experience leader with the premier platform for P&C insurers, said Becky Mattick, vice president, global solution alliances, Guidewire. With the upcoming integration of Talkdesk and Guidewire ClaimCenter, insurers will gain improved automation and increased efficiency to address policy and claims servicing more effectively and deliver better experiences for their customers.

Talkdesk Financial Services Experience Cloud for Insurance joins a growing roster of Talkdesk industry-specific contact center innovations introduced by the company in recent months. Learn more about Talkdesk CX offerings for insurance by visiting booth #5 at Reuters Events: Insurance AI and Innovative Tech USA 2022, April 26-27 in Chicago. Ilya Filipov, Talkdesk director of financial services industry strategy, will also present during the session Make AI Your Most Powerful Customer Experience Tool on April 27 at 9:35 a.m. CDT.

Additional Resources:

Social Networks:

About Talkdesk

Talkdesk is a global cloud contact center leader for customer-obsessed companies. Our automation-first customer experience solutions optimize our customers most critical customer service processes. Our speed of innovation, vertical expertise, and global footprint reflect our commitment to ensuring that businesses can deliver better experiences across any industry and through any channel, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and accelerated business outcomes.

Talkdesk is a registered trademark of Talkdesk, Inc. All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005907/en/

Camille Beasley

[email protected]

(972) 896-1936

Source: Talkdesk, Inc.
Countrys Leading Independent Provider of Ad-Sales Representation to Cable TV Systems Sees Triple-Digit  and Higher  Growth in Battleground States

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Viamedia, the leading fully-integrated independent cross-media local advertising company, today announced record first quarter midterm political advertising, representing an increase of 42% vs. first quarter 2018, across all political categories  including House, Senate, gubernatorial, local races and issues  throughout its footprint across the country.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005254/en/

Viamedia is seeing a dramatic growth in midterm political ad spend, with robust activity in hotly contested states like California, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The company saw particularly robust activity in hotly contested states.

In North Carolina , Viamedia saw 266% growth for first quarter 2022 vs. first quarter 2018, driven by conservative political action committee (PAC) spending, including for the open U.S. Senate race there;

, Viamedia saw 266% growth for first quarter 2022 vs. first quarter 2018, driven by conservative political action committee (PAC) spending, including for the open U.S. Senate race there; In Georgia , Viamedia saw 277% growth, driven by spending in the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races;

, Viamedia saw 277% growth, driven by spending in the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races; In Pennsylvania , home to a gubernatorial contest and a particularly high-profile Senate race, both open-seat races, Viamedia saw 670% spending growth;

, home to a gubernatorial contest and a particularly high-profile Senate race, both open-seat races, Viamedia saw 670% spending growth; In California , Viamedia saw an explosion of issues spending around climate change and gambling, driving up the spending the company handles there 3,399%;

, Viamedia saw an explosion of issues spending around climate change and gambling, driving up the spending the company handles there 3,399%; And in Ohio the company has seen spending vault by 6,561% across various races, including another high-profile, open-seat Senate contest.

The company also saw a significant spike in digital political advertising, driving the portion of spending on digital to 18% of the total in first quarter 2022 vs. 4% in first quarter 2018  though the digital spending remains dwarfed by linear TV spending.

The data was culled from political advertising purchased on more than 60 multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) of various sizes in more than 70 markets.

What were seeing, so far this season, underscores the reliability of political advertising directed primarily at linear television platforms, said David Solomon, President & CEO at Viamedia. We have robust insights into the local ad trends around the country.

He added, Campaigns and PACs understand the power of the big-screen format  whether linear TV, CTV or OTT  for getting their messages across to constituents. All video providers are now managing record order inflows. Nothing beats local for candidates seeking to get their message out and for our clients to super-serve this cycles political advertising.

About Viamedia

Viamedia places over 1MM ads a day in more than 130 zones in 28 states across 60+ markets nationwide, aggregating all forms of TV audiences and providing a single point of sale to more than 6,000 local, regional, and national advertisers. It provides a comprehensive portfolio of audience and impression-based local video cross-media advertising solutions that bridge the gap between linear TV and digital programmatic advertising.

Viamedias patented, cloud based QTT platform utilizes a proprietary technology stack and is designed to enable ad campaigns to be more efficient and easier to execute, by utilizing rich data to deliver targeted, dynamic ads to consumers via linear television.

Viamedia also offers a complimentary suite of impression-based digital products for streaming, mobile, display, email, search, social and more. Headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, the companys success is built on its people, processes and proprietary software.

For more information, please visit https://viamediatv.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005254/en/

Andrew Laszacs

Bob Gold & Associates

310-320-2010

[email protected]

Source: Viamedia
TULSA, Okla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Williams (NYSE: WMB) board of directors has approved a regular dividend of $0.425 per share, or $1.70 annualized, on the companys common stock, payable on June 27, 2022, to holders of record at the close of business on June 10, 2022.

This is a 3.7% increase from Williams second-quarter 2021 quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, paid in June 2021.

Some portion of this distribution may be considered a return of capital for tax purposes. Additional information regarding return of capital distributions is available at Williams investor relations website.

Williams has paid a common stock dividend every quarter since 1974.

About Williams

Williams (NYSE: WMB) is committed to being the leader in providing infrastructure that safely delivers natural gas products to reliably fuel the clean energy economy. Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Williams is an industry-leading, investment grade C-Corp with operations across the natural gas value chain including gathering, processing, interstate transportation and storage of natural gas and natural gas liquids. With major positions in top U.S. supply basins, Williams connects the best supplies with the growing demand for clean energy. Williams owns and operates more than 30,000 miles of pipelines system wide  including Transco, the nations largest volume and fastest growing pipeline  and handles approximately 30 percent of the natural gas in the United States that is used every day for clean-power generation, heating and industrial use. www.williams.com

Portions of this document may constitute forward-looking statements as defined by federal law. Although the company believes any such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that actual outcomes will not be materially different. Any such statements are made in reliance on the safe harbor protections provided under the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. Additional information about issues that could lead to material changes in performance is contained in the companys annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005973/en/

MEDIA:

[email protected]

(800) 945-8723

INVESTOR CONTACT:

Danilo Juvane

(918) 573-5075

Grace Scott

(918) 573-1092

Source: Williams
Acquisition to bring together Wipros global scale with the strategic SAP consulting capabilities and deep industry expertise of Rizing

NEW YORK & BANGALORE, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting, and business process services company, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rizing Intermediate Holdings, Inc. (Rizing), a global SAP consulting firm, significantly expanding its breadth of capabilities in helping businesses transform into intelligent enterprises.

Rizing is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Wipro, underscoring the companys ambitious growth agenda. Rizings high-touch approach, along with its industry expertise and SAP consulting capabilities in enterprise asset management, consumer industries, and human experience management, will be instrumental in advancing Wipros position as a sought-after advisor for clients most complex SAP transformations.

We are thrilled to welcome the Rizing team to the Wipro family, said Thierry Delaporte, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Wipro Limited. Rizings complementary consulting capabilities and strong client relationships will significantly boost our existing offering, creating one of the most differentiated SAP services in the marketplace. Together, we will be able to expand our presence in high-growth industry sectors.

Rajan Kohli, President of Wipros iDEAS (Integrated Digital, Engineering and Application Services) business, added, Our clients digital transformation needs are rapidly evolving, and they are turning to us to help them become Intelligent enterprises. Rizings domain expertise, combined with our cloud and digital solutions, will allow us to help clients unlock new value and build agile businesses for a new era of digitalization.

As one of the leading strategic partners in the world for SAP, Rizing will become a critical extension of Wipros SAP Cloud practice and Wipro FullStride Cloud Services. The combined offering will help clients surface unique business opportunities and new competitive advantages through SAP cloud implementations. It will also help Wipro expand its leadership in oil & gas, utilities, manufacturing, and consumer industries.

This is the next phase of growth for Rizing. With Wipros backing, we will be able to enhance the value we deliver to our current clients and bring our differentiated offering to a broader universe of businesses, said Mike Maiolo, Chief Executive Officer, Rizing. Combining the two firms will allow us to scale our services and expand our footprint in the market. We are thrilled to join a company that shares our values and vision, enabling us to grow in new strategic areas.

Upon completion of the acquisition, Rizing will operate as Rizing, a Wipro company, under the leadership of Maiolo.

Rizing is headquartered in Stamford, CT, and has more than 1300 employees in 16 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Rizing was previously owned by private equity firm One Equity Partners.

Guggenheim Securities, LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Rizing for this transaction.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close before the end of the quarter ending June 30, 2022.

About Wipro Limited

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting, and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics, and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 220,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future.

About Rizing

Its the experience that matters. Rizing professionals help your business succeed at any point in your SAP journey. Rizings objective is to empower your business to unlock the intelligent enterprise with SAP cloud technologies, our geospatial solutions, and our proprietary, cutting-edge products to optimize and extend SAP such as Blueline, Lyra, Codex, Mercury, and Hydrogen. With real-life experience in business areas like enterprise asset management, human capital management, and consumer industries, we know how to simplify your digital transformation so that your business can be everything you want it to be. From targeted small business needs to full-scale large enterprise resource planning solutions, our SAP-certified consultants are focused on your growth. For more information, please visit www.rizing.com or contact: Rizing Intermediate Holdings, Inc. at +1 (203) 517-0400, [email protected].

About One Equity Partners

One Equity Partners (OEP) is a middle market private equity firm focused on the industrial, healthcare, and technology sectors in North America and Europe. The firm builds market-leading companies by identifying and executing transformative business combinations. OEP is a trusted partner with a differentiated investment process, a broad and senior team, and an established track record generating long-term value for its partners. Since 2001, the firm has completed more than 300 transactions worldwide. OEP, founded in 2001, spun out of JP Morgan in 2015. The firm has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.oneequity.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements contained herein represent Wipros beliefs regarding future events, many of which are by their nature inherently uncertain and outside Wipros control. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Wipros growth prospects, its future financial operating results, and its plans, expectations, and intentions. Wipro cautions readers that the forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, complete proposed corporate actions, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry.

Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Annual Reports on Form 20-F. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005849/en/

Wipro Media Contact:

Sanuber Grohe

[email protected]

Rizing Media Contact:

Sherryanne Meyer

[email protected]

Source: Wipro Limited
FILE PHOTO: A worker checks pipes at a gas compressor station on the Yamal-Europe pipeline near Nesvizh, some 130 km (81 miles) southwest of Minsk December 29, 2006.REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko/File Photo

By Joanna Plucinska and Marek Strzelecki

WARSAW (Reuters) -Russian energy giant Gazprom has told Poland and Bulgaria it will halt gas supplies from Wednesday, in a major escalation of Russia's broader row with the West over its invasion of Ukraine.

Poland and Bulgaria would be the first countries to have their gas cut off by Europe's main supplier since Moscow started what it calls a military operation in Ukraine on Feb. 24. The move to cut off supplies also followed sanctions imposed by Warsaw against Russian individuals and companies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that countries he terms "unfriendly" agree to a scheme under which they would open accounts at Gazprombank and make payments for Russian gas imports in euros or dollars that would be converted into roubles.

Last week, the European Commission said EU companies may be able to work around Russia's demand to receive gas payments in roubles without breaching sanctions if they pay in euros or dollars which are then converted into the Russian currency.

Poland is a staunch political opponent of Moscow. Polish gas company PGNiG, whose gas deal with Russia expires at the end of this year, has said it would not comply with the new scheme of payment and would not extend the contract.

It also did not extend its gas transit deal with Gazprom in 2020. Since then, the Russian gas provider had to take part in auctions for pipeline capacity via the Yamal-Europe pipeline from Belarus to Poland.

Poland's gas supply contract with Gazprom is for 10.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year, and covers about 50% of national consumption.

Earlier, data from the European Union network of gas transmission operators showed physical gas flows via the Yamal-Europe route had halted, but they resumed later on Tuesday.

Poland's energy supplies are secure, its climate ministry said, adding that there was no need to draw from gas reserves and that gas to consumers would not be cut.

Gazprom also informed Bulgarian state gas company Bulgargaz it will halt gas supplies from Wednesday, the energy ministry said. Bulgaria also had a contract due to expire at the end of the year. It meets over 90% of its gas needs with Gazprom's imports at around 3 bcm a year.

Tom Marzec-Manser, head of gas analytics at data intelligence firm ICIS, said: "This is a seismic warning shot by Russia."

"Poland has had an anti-Russia and anti-Gazprom stance for a number of years, which is not the case for Bulgaria, so to see Bulgaria also be cut off is also quite a development in its own right," he added.

ALTERNATIVES

Poland said it can source gas via two links with Germany including a reverse flow on the Yamal pipeline, a link with Lithuania with an annual capacity of 2.5 bcm that will open on May 1 and via an interconnector with the Czech Republic for up to 1.5 bcm.

Another 5-6 bcm could be shipped via a link with Slovakia to be opened later this year.

In addition, PGNiG can import up to 6 bcm per year via the LNG terminal in Swinoujscie on the Baltic Sea, and it produces more than 3 bcm of gas per year locally in Poland. In October, a pipeline allowing up to 10 bcm of gas per year to flow between Poland and Norway, will be opened.

Government officials said Poland's gas storage of 3.5 bcm is 76% full and it will not have to cut supplies to customers to cope with Gazprom supply halt.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria said it has taken steps to find alternative gas supply and no restrictions on gas consumption was required for now.

Analysts at investment bank Jefferies said the cut-off warning increases the risk of other early terminations for other European contracts due to expire by the year end, amounting to nearly 12 bcm a year.

Only a few Russian gas buyers, such as Hungary and Uniper, Germany's main importer of Russian gas, have said it would be possible to pay for future supplies under the scheme announced by Moscow without breaching European Union sanctions.

Germany's network regulator said it was monitoring the gas delivery situation from Russia after the threat to Poland supplies, adding that supply to Germany was currently guaranteed.

PGNiG said on Tuesday it would take steps to reinstate the flow of gas according to the Yamal contract and that any halt of supplies was a breach of that contract, adding that it has the right to pursue damages over breach of contract.

Earlier on Tuesday, Poland announced a list of 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, including Gazprom, that would be subject to sanctions under a law passed earlier this month allowing their assets to be frozen. The law is separate from sanctions imposed jointly by EU countries.

Gas traders said the Dutch gas market, the European benchmark, moved up near the end of trade on Tuesday. The front-month Dutch gas contract settled around 5.4% higher at 98.20 euros/MWh.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Joanna Plucinska, Marek Strzelecki, Marwa Rashad, Nora Buli, Christoph Steitz, Tsvetelia Tsolova, Stephen Jewkes; writing by Nina Chestney in London; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Marguerita Choy)
Infosys (NYSE: INFY) today announced its collaboration with Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: NUS), a global leader in beauty and wellness. Nu Skin will take advantage of the Infosys Equinox human-centric digital commerce platform to deliver engaging and innovative experiences for consumers and affiliates. The platform aims to help Nu Skin scale its business model exponentially with social commerce-based capabilities.

Infosys Equinox will help Nu Skin to sharpen its focus on creating unique, personalized, and innovative consumer engagement. Powered by Infosys Equinox's microservices-based, API-first and cloud-native design, Nu Skin plans to deliver engaging shopping experiences across multiple touch points, including websites, mobile apps and smart connected devices.

Ryan Napierski, Chief Executive Officer, Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. said, "We look forward to our collaboration with Infosys to help transform our business and stay ahead of changing consumer behavior curves. We believe that Infosys can help us harness the right digital capabilities to reimagine how we connect with our customers and create a new industry paradigm for personalized beauty and wellness shopping experiences."

Infosys Equinox will bring Nu Skin a choice of digital advances including conversational commerce, augmented reality, and voice commerce, which if implemented will enable the company to engage with consumers through rich digital experiences.

Joe Sueper, Chief Technology Officer, Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. said, "Infosys Equinox will give us the end-to-end social commerce capabilities we need to transform our business model and provide innovative customer engagement. We're creating best-in-class architecture foundations that will power digital experiences well into the future."

Karmesh Vaswani, Executive Vice President & Global Head Consumer, Retail & Logistics, Infosys, said, "Beauty and wellness brands are committing to bold changes in the way they connect with consumers, matched by systematic digital investments that can help them realize their aspirations to transform. We are excited to bring Infosys Equinox to help accelerate the development of Nu Skin's social commerce-based business model. We look forward to Nu Skin's creation of a new playbook for success in the beauty and wellness industry."

Amit Kalley, Chief Executive Officer, Infosys Equinox, said, "We are excited to partner with Nu Skin in their vision of transforming the beauty and wellness industry by creating personalized and socially-connected commerce experiences. Infosys Equinox's headless and cloud-native microservices will allow Nu Skin to compose unique and delightful digital journeys across ever evolving channels for their consumers across the globe."
WPP (NYSE: WPP) today announces the appointment of Kyoko Matsushita as CEO in Japan. In this new role, Kyoko will be responsible for WPPs business in Japan, strengthening its collective capabilities and bringing together people and resources on behalf of clients.

Kyoko is currently Chief Executive Officer for Essence Global, WPPs global data and measurement-driven full-service media agency, with 23 offices in 12 countries. Kyoko joined Essence in 2014 as the first CEO of the APAC region. This appointment will see her return to Asia, based in Tokyo, after a transition period as the merged EssenceMediacom business  also announced today  prepares for its launch.

Kyokos role as CEO of WPP in Japan reflects a new commitment to identify growth opportunities, drive greater collaboration and cooperation across WPP agencies, and invest in people in a market with a rich history and strong cultural identity.

As the worlds third-largest economy, Japan plays a vital role for WPP in the region and globally. Japan is a $51bn advertising market, ranked third after the USA and China and the fourth largest market globally for ecommerce. WPP companies operating in Japan include AKQA, BCW, Essence, Finsbury Glover Hering, Grey, GroupM, Hogarth, Landor & Fitch, MediaCom, Mindshare, Ogilvy, VMLY&R, Verticurl, Wavemaker, Wunderman Thompson and Xaxis. WPP has nearly 1,000 people in Japan, where its clients include Amazon, Dell Technologies, Gilead Sciences, Google, IBM, Mars, Mitsubishi, Mondelez, Nestle, Pfizer, P&G, Sony, Toyota, Uber and others.

Kyoko is a highly regarded Japanese leader with significant Asia Pacific, gaming and technology experience, and is well-positioned to lead growth and innovation in Japan for WPP. Before being named Essence Globals CEO, Kyoko served as the agency's first Global Chief Client Officer, leading the Client Services practice, client satisfaction, and organic and new business growth.

As CEO for Essence in APAC, Kyoko oversaw the management of 11 offices in the region and established Essence's presence in Beijing, Bengaluru, Delhi, Jakarta, Melbourne, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo. She previously led marketing and communications at Sony Europe and all marketing for online games at Electronic Arts in EMEA and APAC.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: Kyokos experience and work at the leading edge of technology and her appreciation for building a strong culture make her the perfect leader for our WPP business in Japan. She is highly respected across our industry, and her return to the Asia Pacific region follows a period of great success as CEO of Essence. I have no doubt she will unlock new opportunities for our people and clients in the worlds third-largest economy.

Kyoko Matsushita said: Its the opportunity of a lifetime to serve as WPPs CEO in a country with so much growth potential for us and the industry. Japan is close to my heart, and the chance to lead the WPP business in a market with tremendous opportunity for us is a real honour.
FILE PHOTO: The Raytheon stand is seen at the 53rd International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France June 21, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

By Nilanjana Basu and Mike Stone

Aerospace and defense firm Raytheon Technologies Corp lowered its full-year revenue forecast on Tuesday, blaming the loss of sales to Russia due to Western sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.

Shares in the U.S. company fell 1.7% in pre-market trading to $98.00.

As a large number of U.S. companies have severed ties with Russia following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and the introduction of Western sanctions, the aviation industry is among the sectors severely impacted.

Raytheon's Chief Financial Officer Neil Mitchill told Reuters that lowering the 2022 revenue guidance by $750 million "was strictly related to direct and indirect sales that are no longer allowed because of the global sanctions imposed on Russia."

Raytheon expects full-year revenue to be between $67.75 billion and $68.75 billion, lower than its previous forecast of $68.5 billion to $69.5 billion.

About three quarters of that lost $750 million revenue was direct sales of commercial equipment to Russia, Mitchill said, and the remainder was engine parts that would have been sold principally by Pratt & Whitney Canada.

Chief Executive Greg Hayes told analysts on a post earnings conference call that Raytheon had sold its share of a Russia-based heat exchanger joint venture for Boeing Co and Embraer SA as Russia's invasion of Ukraine unfolded.

However, the company said revenue rose 3% to $15.72 billion in the quarter, driven by a recovery in air travel demand, which boosted sales of its aerospace products and services.

Raytheon posted a net income of $1.08 billion, or 72 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31, compared with $753 million, or 50 cents per share, last year.

Commercial aerospace sales rose on a rebound in demand after being depressed during a period of slower commercial air travel during the pandemic.

Compared to the same quarter a year ago, Collins Aerospace which makes jet parts saw sales rise 10%, and Pratt & Whitney which makes jet engines saw sales jump 12% despite slower military engine sales.

Sales at Raytheon's defense-related businesses, Missiles & Defense, dropped 7% compared to the same quarter a year ago, and Raytheon Intelligence & Space saw sales fall 5% after the Global Training and Services business was sold to Vertex Aerospace.

Hayes said the company would not see a financial benefit from Ukraine-linked weapons orders in 2022. For example, Stinger and Javelin missile production would could ramp up in 2022, but larger replenishments would be in 2023 or 2024, he said.

Raytheon's adjusted earnings per share in the quarter were $1.15, versus Wall Street analysts' $1.02 forecast, according to Refinitiv data. Revenue was $15.72 billion with analysts forecasting $15.8 billion according to Refinitiv data.

(This story corrects "with" to "for" in 7th paragraph to clarify Raytheon had Embraer and Boeing as customers not JV partners)

(Reporting by Nilanjana Basu in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel, Chizu Nomiyama and Susan Fenton)
FILE PHOTO: Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market speaks during a signature ceremony regarding the Chips Act at EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, February 8, 2022. Virginia Mayo/Pool via REUTERS

By John Chalmers

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union's internal market chief said on Tuesday that Elon Musk could adapt Twitter as he wishes after he acquires the social media site but warned the billionaire that the bloc has strict rules for online platforms to tackle illegal content.

"It will be up to Twitter to adapt themselves ... to our rules," Thierry Breton told Reuters and one other media outlet on the deal sealed on Monday by Tesla's chief executive to buy Twitter for $44 billion.

"I think Elon Musk knows Europe very well. He knows very well that we have some rules for the automotive industry ... and he understands that. So in Europe, in order to protect freedom of speech and to protect individuals, any companies will have to fulfill this obligation."

Musk, the world's richest person, calls himself a free speech absolutist and has criticised Twitter's moderation of a hugely influential platform that is populated by millions of users and global leaders.

The EU has rules under which content forbidden offline is also forbidden online, Breton said.

Under a Digital Services Act (DSA) agreed by the EU's 27 member states and lawmakers last week, Alphabet unit Google, Meta and other large online platforms will risk hefty fines if they do not control illegal content.

Breton said big platforms of more than 45 million users would have to have more moderators than smaller ones, including moderators in every European language, and they would have to open their algorithms to regulators.

Under the DSA, big tech companies face fines up to 6% of their global revenue for violating the rules while repeated breaches could see them banned from doing business in the EU.

The new rules ban advertising aimed at children or based on religion, gender, race and political opinions.

Critics of Musk's takeover of Twitter fear it will mean less moderation and the reinstatement of banned individuals, including former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Breton said he had no intention of interfering in the Trump question because such matters would now be regulated in Europe and company boards would not have a say.

"Remember, the information space does not belong to any private company," he said. "The information space is part of our responsibility as politicians. Like territorial space ... airspace, our digital space is our responsibility to organize."

(Reporting by John Chalmers; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (PSG) will host a webcast for Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc. (NYSE: RA) (the Fund) on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at 4:30pm ET. PSG will provide an update on the Fund and on general market conditions.



There will be an opportunity to ask questions about the Fund during the call. Questions may also be submitted ahead of the call by sending an e-mail to [email protected].

Registration and Webcast Link:

https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1543103&tp_key=4e29c85d05

Audio Only Dial-In: 800-207-0148 or +1 323-701-0170

Participant Passcode (required): 374680

A replay will be available via this link shortly following the webcast. A transcript of the call will also be available by calling 855-777-8001 or by sending an e-mail request to the Fund at [email protected] .

Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (PSG) is an SEC-registered investment adviser that represents the Public Securities platform of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., providing global listed real assets strategies including real estate equities, infrastructure equities, energy infrastructure equities, multi-strategy real asset solutions and real asset debt. With over $20 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2022, PSG manages separate accounts, registered funds and opportunistic strategies for financial institutions, public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds and individual investors. PSG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $690 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2021. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com.

Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc. is managed by Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC. The Fund uses its website as a channel of distribution of material information about the Fund. Financial and other material information regarding the Fund is routinely posted on and accessible at www.brookfield.com.

COMPANY CONTACT

Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc.

Brookfield Place

250 Vesey Street, 15th Floor

New York, NY 10281-1023

(855) 777-8001

[email protected]

Investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Quasar Distributors, LLC, provides filing administration for Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc.
DENVER, CO, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- CBD Global Sciences Inc., dba Global Sciences Inc. (OTC: CBDNF) (CSE: CBDN) (Frankfurt: GS3.F) (Munich: GS3.MU) (the "Company") announced that Mr. Alexander McAulay tendered his resignation as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Company effective April 14, 2022.

The Company also announced that Mr. Glenn Dooley has been appointed as the interim Chief Financial Officer of the Company effective April 14, 2022. Mr. Dooley is also a director and Chief Operating Officer of the Company. He was a co-founder of Strasburg Pharms, LLC, SMBT, LLC and CannaOil, Inc., all wholly-owned subsidiaries of Global NV. He is also a co-founder/co-owner, broker and operations manager of MAC5 Mortgage, Inc. which he founded with Brad Wyatt in 2006. Mr. Dooley has an undergraduate degree from Colorado College in Colorado Springs and brings to the team a breadth of knowledge and experience in management and finance, coupled with effectively operating in a growing entrepreneurial environment.

ABOUT GLOBAL SCIENCES INC.

CBD Global Sciences, Inc., dba Global Sciences Inc. has become a multifaceted company focused on utilizing the Industrial Hemp plant to create a Healthier Way of Living. Its website can be found at www.globalsciences.ca. Global Sciences, Inc. is a hemp-based CBD producer and branding investment vehicle which currently owns multiple brands like the name Aethics www.aethics.com and CANNAOIL www.cannaoilshop.com, offering CBD Oil tinctures (liquid products), CBD capsules, CBD topicals, Hydration products, and confectionery products. Global Sciences hemp-derived CBD extracts are sold online through select distributors and brick-and-mortar retailers.

Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Global Sciences Holdings, Resinosa LLC, www.resinosa.com, and Legacy Distribution Group, www.legacydistributiongroup.com, Global Sciences is delivering quality CBD products in retail and e-commerce formats nationwide. The Direct Store Delivery (DSD) provides distribution services for multiple vendors of CBD-infused products and non-CBD products throughout the Colorado and Wyoming territories servicing over 750 C-store and large box retailers with expansion plans to exceed 5,000 stores in the next 12-24 months. In addition to Legacy Distribution, it has a manufacturing division, Resinosa LLC www.Resinosa.com, with its capabilities to provide cGMP manufacturing to the CBD industry with both private label and white label CBD and non-CBD product lines.

For further information, dont hesitate to contact Investor Relations at 720-881-2541 or email [email protected]. You can also go to www.globalsciences.ca for more information about Global Sciences.

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future developments and the business and operations of the Corporation. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; and delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Source: CBD Global Sciences Inc.
TORONTO, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Centerra Gold Inc. (Centerra) (TSX: CG) (NYSE: CGAU) will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the 2022 first quarter operating and financial results on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The results are scheduled to be released before the market opens on Wednesday, May 4, 2022.



North American participants should dial the toll-free number +1 (877) 758-1913

International participants may access the call at +1 (416) 641-6202

The conference call is being webcast by Notified and can be accessed live at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/gyd8wzg6. Presentation slides of the first quarter results will also be accessible on Centerra Golds website at www.centerragold.com.

An audio recording of the call will be made available after the call via telephone until midnight Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. The recording can be accessed by calling + 1 (416) 626-4100 or (800) 558-5253 and using the passcode 22018170. In addition, the webcast will be archived on Centerra Golds website under: www.centerragold.com/investor/events-presentations.

About Centerra Gold

Centerra Gold Inc. is a Canadian-based gold mining company focused on operating, developing, exploring and acquiring gold and copper properties in North America, Turkey, and other markets worldwide. Centerra operates two mines: the Mount Milligan Mine in British Columbia, Canada, and the Oksut Mine in Turkey. While the Company still owns the Kumtor Mine in the Kyrgyz Republic, it is currently no longer under the Companys control. The Company also owns the Goldfield District Project in Nevada, United States, the Kemess Underground Project in British Columbia, Canada, and owns and operates the Molybdenum Business Unit in the United States and Canada. Centerras shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol CG and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol CGAU. The Company is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

For more information:

Toby Caron

Treasurer and Director, Investor Relations

(416) 204-1694

[email protected]

Shae Frosst

Manager, Investor Relations

(416) 204-2159

[email protected]

Additional information on Centerra is available on the Companys website at www.centerragold.com, on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar.

A PDF accompanying this announcement is available at http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/60ec1bbc-bf05-49ab-a54a-75f7f4624911
OTTAWA, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Replacing frontline workers with exploited offshore workers, as the restaurant chain Freshii is now doing, moves us towards a low-wage economy that weakens our communities and exploits workers, according to Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

This is about replacing Canadian workers with low-wage offshore ones and using technology to skirt around our countrys labour laws and workplace standards. If this isnt illegal, it should be, said Bruske. The workers serving Canadian customers arent paying taxes in Canada and arent protected by Canadian labour standards. Companies that profit off of Canadian consumers shouldnt use low-wage offshore workers to serve customers here in Canada. Its bad for workers and bad for our economy.

Bruske said this isnt about an inability to attract workers, which can be done through competitive wages, real benefits and proper working conditions, but instead another sign of corporate greed and exploiting a low-wage offshore workforce.

Gig workers in Canada already dont have proper workplace protections. But with the use of offshore workers, the exploitation of employees and move to a low-wage economy is being super-sized, said Bruske. Companies must wake up to the long-term benefits to both the communities they operate in and their business when they invest in the people who work for them.

Bruske added that there are things consumers can do to voice their objections to this new concerning trend towards offshoring and automation.

Is an employee 3000 kms away going to know if the avocado is fresh today or whether field greens or kale would make a better salad bowl? asked Bruske. Customers should understand they can vote with their wallets on the kind of communities they want to live in.Choose companies that treat employees properly, with a fresh attitude towards workplaces, not greedy corporations with their stale approach of exploiting workers.

To arrange an interview, please contact:CLC Media Relations[email protected]613-526-7426

Source: Canadian Labour Congress
COFACE SA: Evolution of the Board of Directors proposed at the 2022 General Meeting on 17 May 2022

Paris, 26 April 2022  17.45

It will be proposed to the Combined General Meeting of May 17, 2022, to appoint Laetitia Leonard - Reuter and Laurent Musy as directors for a term of four years, in accordance with the provisions of Article 12 of the bylaws.

These appointments, which follow the expiry of the terms of office of Olivier Zarrouati and Eric Hemar respectively, will be effective at the end of this meeting for a term of four years. These terms of office will expire at the end of the Annual General Meeting called in 2026 to approve the financial statements for the financial year ended December 31, 2025.

With regard to the independence criteria of the AFEP-MEDEF Code, Laetitia Leonard - Reuter and Laurent Musy are considered as independent directors (replacing Olivier Zarrouati and Eric Hemar, both independent directors).

The Combined General Meeting will also be requested to renew the term of office of Sharon MacBeath (independent director) and to ratify the co-option of David Gansberg as a non-independent director.

As a result, at the end of the General Meeting and subject to a favorable vote, Coface's Board of Directors will consist of 10 members, 5 women and 5 men, the majority (6) of whom are independent directors.

-----------------------------------------

Biographies

Laetitia Leonard  Reuter (born on 28 June 1975 - French national)

Laetitia Leonard-Reuter is a graduate of HEC Paris, the University of St. Gall (Switzerland), and an auditor of the Institut des Hautes Etudes de l'Entreprise (IHEE)

She joined Generali France in November 2018 as Chief Financial Officer.

She was previously and since 2003 within the Axa Group where she held various positions: Corporate Finance Associate, Head of Group Capital Management, then, in 2014 Chief Financial Officer of AXA Global P&C, an entity dedicated to Property & Casualty and Property & Casualty Reinsurance activities. In 2017, she became Chief Data Officer of Axa France.

She started her career in 2000 as an M&A analyst at JPMorgan Chase, in the Telecommunications, Media and Technology sector.

Laurent Musy (born on 14 August 1966 - French national)

Laurent Musy is a graduate of the Ecole des Mines de Paris and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

He has been the CEO of the Terreal group since 2015.

He joined Terreal after spending 17 years in the aluminum industry both in France and overseas, most recently as President of Constelliums Packaging and Automotive Rolled Products and Aerospace and Transportation business units. Prior to that, he worked for Saint-Gobain and McKinsey.

In June 2018, he was elected President of the Federation Francaise des Tuiles et Briques (French Federation of Tile and Brick Manufacturers).

CONTACTS

ANALYSTS / INVESTORS

Thomas JACQUET: +33 1 49 02 12 58  [email protected]

Benoit CHASTEL: +33 1 49 02 22 28  [email protected]

MEDIA RELATIONS

Saphia GAOUAOUI: +33 1 49 02 14 91  [email protected]

Corentin HENRY: +33 1 49 02 23 94 - [email protected]

FINANCIAL CALENDAR 2021/2022

(subject to change)

Q1-2022 results: 28 April 2022 (after market close)

Annual General Shareholders Meeting 2021: 17 May 2022

H1-2022 results: 28 July 2022 (after market close)

9M-2022 results: 27 October 2022 (after market close

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

This press release, as well as COFACE SAs integral regulatory information, can be found on the Groups website:

http://www.coface.com/Investors

For regulated information on Alternative Performance Measures (APM), please refer to our Interim Financial Report for S1-2021 and our 2021 Universal Registration Document (see part 3.7 Key financial performance indicators)





COFACE: FOR TRADE

With 75 years of experience and the most extensive international network, Coface is a leader in trade credit insurance and adjacent specialty services, including Factoring, Single Risk insurance, Bonding and Information services. Cofaces experts work to the beat of the global economy, helping ~50,000 clients build successful, growing, and dynamic businesses across the world. Coface helps companies in their credit decisions. The Group's services and solutions strengthen their ability to sell by protecting them against the risks of non-payment in their domestic and export markets. In 2021, Coface employed ~4,538 people and registered a turnover of 1.57 billion.



www.coface.com









COFACE SA is quoted in Compartment A of Euronext Paris

Code ISIN: FR0010667147 / Mnemonique : COFA





DISCLAIMER - Certain declarations featured in this press release may contain forecasts that notably relate to future events, trends, projects or targets. By nature, these forecasts include identified or unidentified risks and uncertainties, and may be affected by many factors likely to give rise to a significant discrepancy between the real results and those stated in these declarations. Please refer to chapter 5 Main risk factors and their management within the Group of the Coface Group's 2021 Universal Registration Document filed with AMF on 6 April 2022 under the number D.22-0244 in order to obtain a description of certain major factors, risks and uncertainties likely to influence the Coface Group's businesses. The Coface Group disclaims any intention or obligation to publish an update of these forecasts, or provide new information on future events or any other circumstance.

Attachment
Lima, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lima, PERU, April 26, 2022 -- Credicorp (NYSE: BAP) has filed its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31st, 2021 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 2021 Form 20-F includes audited consolidated financial statements of Credicorp and its subsidiaries as of December 31st, 2020 and 2021 and for the years ended December 31st, 2019, 2020 and 2021 under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).



The 2021 Form 20-F can be downloaded from Credicorps website (www.grupocredicorp.com). Holders of Credicorps securities and any other interested parties may request a hard copy of our complete audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, by filling out the form located on the link mail request at Credicorps web page (www.grupocredicorp.com).





About Credicorp

Credicorp Ltd. (NYSE: BAP) is the leading financial services holding company in Peru with presence in Chile, Colombia and Bolivia. Credicorp has a diversified business portfolio organized into four lines of business: Universal Banking, through Banco de Credito del Peru  BCP and Banco de Credito de Bolivia; Microfinance, through Mibanco in Peru and Colombia; Insurance & Pension Funds, through Grupo Pacifico and Prima AFP; and Investment Banking & Wealth Management, through Credicorp Capital, Wealth Management at BCP and ASB Bank Corp.

For further information please contact the IR team:

[email protected]

Investor Relations

Credicorp Ltd.
MIAMI, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Community Redevelopment (OTC: CRDV) ("the Company"), a developer of community oriented real estate in urban and suburban markets with a focus on all aspects of the real estate development cycle, announced today that Christina Fischer has joined the Advisory Board Of Community Redevelopment Asset Management, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Community Redevelopment. Ms. Fischer is the founder and president of The Fischer Group, a marketing, business and financial consulting firm. Over the course of her distinguished career, she has consulted with clients on national CEO roundtables, while specializing in international real estate and global business development opportunities.

Beginning her career in New York City in 1985, her clients included major international agencies like Bozell Jacobs, McCann-Erikson, J. Walter Thompson, SSC&B Lintas VOS Direct, and Grey Advertising. She has also handled assignments for major international accounts like IBM, Daimler Benz, AT&T, Apple, Coca Cola. Ms. Fischer has consulted for numerous Fortune 500 companies and start-ups on business development, repositioning and turn around marketing, funding and global business development opportunities.

Ms. Fischer is a Wharton marketing graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating from Penn, she continued her studies at Columbia University. In addition to consulting for major, national corporations and start-ups, Ms. Fischer has been involved in numerous civic organizations and philanthropic causes and serves on various boards and organizations. As a successful realtor in Florida with decades of experience, she is actively involved in regional redevelopment with major private and public national housing developers on new projects.

Christina Fischer said, I look forward to working with Community Redevelopment and its great leadership team as part of the Advisory Board Of Community Redevelopment Asset Management, LLC. This is a pivotal time in the growth of the company, and I look forward to contributing to the growth of the Company. In addition to my professional accomplishments, I have always placed philanthropy and community service as one of my top priorities. With this in mind, I look forward to not only developing business opportunities for Community Redevelopment Asset Management, LLC, but to also playing a key role in improving the well-being of the residents of the culturally diverse communities the company plans to serve.

We welcome Christina to the Advisory Board of Community Redevelopment Asset Management, LLC as Community Redevelopment continues rapid growth and expansion. Her specialized expertise in international business, real estate and marketing initiatives combined with the strong leaders we already have in place will provide us with the foundation to take our business to the next level, said Community Redevelopment Chief Executive Officer, Charles Arnold. Mr. Arnold continued, Community Redevelopment continues to invest in bringing expertise to our business to support our explosive growth, and Christina brings a track record of delivering innovative customer-centric solutions that drive sales, revenue, profitability, brand, and market share results in highly competitive, dynamic and fast-paced environments. Her expertise will help Community Redevelopment continue deliver value to our shareholders and partners."

About Community Redevelopment

Community Redevelopment affords potential investors a significant opportunity to participate in the process of identifying and redeveloping entire communities and regional areas, via a publicly traded company. Community Redevelopment Inc. is a full-service real estate company with a management team that has extensive experience in acquiring, developing, constructing, and managing high-quality multifamily, and retail properties in attractive markets throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, as well as capital markets. The Company is focused on all aspects of the real estate development cycle including land development, design build, property operations, and site redevelopment. In addition to the ownership of our operating property portfolio, Community Redevelopment plans to develop and build desirable properties for its own account and through joint ventures with affiliated and unaffiliated partners.

Community Redevelopment, Inc. is focused on community development in urban and suburban markets and our mission is to integrate our proprietary business model by providing sustainable, long-term value to investors as we strive to provide opportunities to improve neighborhoods with residential, commercial, and industrial development projects while designing architecturally pleasing, clean, energy efficient communities and commercial structures. For more information on Community Redevelopment Inc., please contact us at (954) 233-1481, or (800) 210-9438 for those outside of the calling area. You may also visit our website at www.comredev.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include but are not limited to statements identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects" and similar expressions. The statements in this release are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences, including, but not limited to, results of clinical trials and/or other studies, the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives, the effect of any competitive products, our ability to license and protect our intellectual property, our ability to raise additional capital in the future that is necessary to maintain our business, changes in government policy and/or regulation, potential litigation by or against us, any governmental review of our products or practices, as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, our latest 10-K Report filed on April 1st, 2022. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement or any information contained in this press release or in other public disclosures at any time. Finally, the investing public is reminded that the only announcements or information about Community Redevelopment Inc. which are condoned by the Company must emanate from the Company itself and bear our name as its Source.

For Investor Relations, please contact:

David Kugelman(800) 210-9438 extension 5(404) 281-8556 Mobile and WhatsAppSkype: kugsusa [email protected]

Source: Community Redevelopment, Inc.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For an additional ($1) dollar of personal income tax revenue collected by the federal government, $2.86 is lost in economic activity because of less investment, less entrepreneurship, less spending and other behavioural changes that shrink the tax base, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

The same is true for corporate taxes, with an additional ($1) dollar of corporate income tax raised by the federal government costing Canadians more than double that amount in lost economic activity ($2.02).

When governments raise tax rates, they affect the behaviour of workers, businesses, entrepreneurs, and investors. Specifically, higher tax rates distort the decisions related to starting a business, saving and investing, work effort, and expanding an existing business, all of which impose costs on the economy in the form of foregone prosperity. So when a government raises tax rates, the actual cost to the economy is much higher, explained Bev Dahlby, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of What Are the Economic Costs of Raising Revenue by the Canadian Federal Government?

The study finds that since tax increases adversely affect the private sectors decisions related to saving, labour supply, and investment, society loses more than what the government collects in actual tax revenue.

In fact, for an additional dollar in personal income tax that the federal government collects, the actual cost to Canadiansbecause of those behavioural changesis $2.86, and $2.02 for an additional dollar in corporate income tax thats collected.

When the federal government raises taxes, the cost to Canadians is not simply higher taxes, it means less investment, less entrepreneurship, and less business activity and ultimately a smaller tax base, which imposes unseen costs on Canadians, Dahlby said.

Policymakers need to be aware of the true costs of raising taxes because this can inform cost-benefit analysis of government programs, tax reforms and designing federal transfers to the provinces.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Bev Dahlby, Senior FellowFraser Institute

To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:Drue MacPherson, Fraser InstituteTel: (604) 688-0221 Ext. 721E-mail: [email protected]

Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter and Facebook

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institutes independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org

Source: Fraser Institute
WASHINGTON, April 25, 2022  Lakeside Refrigerated Services, a Swedesboro, N.J. establishment, is recalling approximately 120,872 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O103, the U.S. Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today. The ground beef products were produced from February 1, 2022, through April 8, 2022. The complete list of products and product codes for the beef products that are subject to recall can be found here. Labels for the ground beef products can be found here. The products subject to recall bear establishment number EST. 46841 inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to retail locations nationwide. The problem was discovered during routine FSIS testing of imported products. There have been no confirmed reports of illness or adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Many clinical laboratories do not test for non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) such as O103 because it is harder to identify than STEC O157:H7. People can become ill from STECs 28 days (average of 34 days) after consuming the organism. Most people infected with STEC O103 develop diarrhea (often bloody) and vomiting. Some illnesses last longer and can be more severe. Infection is usually diagnosed by testing of a stool sample. Vigorous rehydration and other supportive care is the usual treatment; antibiotic treatment is generally not recommended. Most people recover within a week, but, rarely, some develop a more severe infection. Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure, is uncommon with STEC O103 infection. HUS can occur in people of any age but is most common in children under 5 years old, older adults and persons with weakened immune systems. It is marked by easy bruising, pallor and decreased urine output. Persons who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately FSIS is concerned that some products may be in consumers refrigerators or freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase. FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers. When available, the retail distribution list(s) will be posted on the FSIS website at www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls. Media and consumers with questions regarding the recall can contact Lakeside Refrigerated Services at 800-493-9042 or [email protected] . Consumers with food safety questions can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or live chat via Ask USDA from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Eastern Time) Monday through Friday. Consumers can also browse food safety messages at Ask USDA or send a question via email to [email protected] . For consumers that need to report a problem with a meat, poultry, or egg product, the online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed 24 hours a day at https://foodcomplaint.fsis.usda.gov/eCCF/. ###
CALGARY, Alberta, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (Gran Tierra or the Company) (NYSE American: GTE)(TSX: GTE)(LSE: GTE) announces that the Company will release its 2022 first quarter financial and operating results on Tuesday May 3, 2022, post-market, and provides the following information regarding the Companys Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Gran Tierras 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders will be held on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. (Mountain Time). Our Meeting will be held as a virtual-only shareholder meeting with participation occurring electronically as explained further in the Proxy Statement dated March 25, 2022.

How to Participate in the Virtual Annual Meeting

Shareholders can participate electronically at https://web.lumiagm.com/244491258. We recommend that you log in 15 minutes before the Annual Meeting starts. If you are a registered stockholder, to attend the Annual Meeting and vote your shares electronically and submit questions during the meeting, you will need the control number included on the Voting Instruction Form or the Form of Proxy that accompanied your proxy materials. If you are the beneficial owner of shares held in street name, you must request and obtain a valid proxy from your broker or other agent in order to attend the Annual Meeting and vote your shares electronically and submit questions during the meeting. Guests may also view the event at https://web.lumiagm.com/244491258 by registering as a guest.

Full details on how to vote, change or revoke a vote, appoint a proxyholder, attend the virtual Annual Meeting, ask questions and other general proxy matters are available in the Proxy Statement available on the Company's website at https://www.grantierra.com/investor-relations/2022-annual-meeting.at.

Whether or not you plan to attend the Annual Meeting, we urge you to vote and submit your proxy in advance of the Annual Meeting by one of the methods described in the proxy materials for the Annual Meeting.

About Gran Tierra Energy Inc.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc. together with its subsidiaries is an independent international energy company currently focused on oil and natural gas exploration and production in Colombia and Ecuador. The Company is currently developing its existing portfolio of assets in Colombia and Ecuador and will continue to pursue additional new growth opportunities that would further strengthen the Companys portfolio. The Companys common stock trades on the NYSE American, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GTE. Additional information concerning Gran Tierra is available at www.grantierra.com. Except to the extent expressly stated otherwise, information on the Company's website or accessible from our website or any other website is not incorporated by reference into and should not be considered part of this press release. Investor inquiries may be directed to [email protected] or (403) 265-3221.

Gran Tierra's Securities and Exchange Commission filings are available on the SEC website at http://www.sec.gov. The Companys Canadian securities regulatory filings are available on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com and UK regulatory filings are available on the National Storage Mechanism website at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.

Contact Information

For investor and media inquiries please contact:

Gary GuidryPresident & Chief Executive Officer

Ryan EllsonExecutive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Rodger TrimbleVice President, Investor Relations

+1-403-265-3221[email protected]

Source: Gran Tierra Energy Inc.
WAIKOLOA, Hawaii, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Expanding its footprint on the island of Kauai, Hawaii Water Service (Hawaii Water) announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Kukuiula South Shore Community Services (KSSCS). The acquisition by the California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) subsidiary is subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including approval by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (HPUC).

Located in the Kukuiula Resort region of southeast Kauai, KSSCS is a collection-only wastewater utility also regulated by the HPUC. As part of the acquisition, Hawaii Water will own and manage the utility, which currently serves about 440 residential, commercial, and resort customers, but is expected to be able to serve up to 1,500 connections upon buildout of the resort over the next 20 years. Wastewater from KSSCS is discharged to the Poipu Water Reclamation Facility owned by HOH Utilities, which Hawaii Water is also in the process of acquiring.

At Hawaii Water, we are committed to providing quality, service, and value to all of our customers and operating in a manner that supports our communities and the environment, said Martin A. Kropelnicki, President and CEO of Hawaii Water Service. We appreciate the confidence KSSCS has in our team to provide the same to its customers, and we look forward to working together to complete the acquisition and welcome KSSCS customers to our ohana.

In addition to the new KSSCS customers, Hawaii Water currently provides water and/or wastewater utility services to 6,200 customersincluding a number of large resorts and condominium complexesin the communities of Kaanapali, Pukalani, and Kapalua on Maui; Kalaeloa on Oahu; along with Waikoloa and North Kona Coast on the Big Island. Hawaii Waters employees provide services including meter reading, water quality testing, water and wastewater treatment, water system design and construction, and customer service.

Hawaii Water is a wholly owned subsidiary of California Water Service Group, which also includes California Water Service, New Mexico Water Service, Washington Water Service, and Texas Water Service, a utility holding company. Together, these companies provide regulated water and wastewater utility service to more than 2 million people in over 100 California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington communities. Groups common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CWT. Additional information is available online at www.calwatergroup.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("Act"). The forward-looking statements are intended to qualify under provisions of the federal securities laws for "safe harbor" treatment established by the Act. Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information, expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections, and management's judgment about the Company, the water utility industry and general economic conditions. Such words as would, expects, intends, plans, believes, estimates, assumes, anticipates, projects, predicts, forecasts or variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. They are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from what is contained in a forward-looking statement. Factors that may cause a result different than expected or anticipated include, but are not limited to: ability to close the acquisition of KSSCS and the acquisition of the Poipu Water Reclamation Facility, integrate the business, and operate the KSSCS system in an effective and accretive manner; natural disasters, public health crises, pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks of a contagious disease, such as the outbreak of coronavirus (or COVID19); governmental and regulatory commissions' decisions, including decisions on proper disposition of property; consequences of eminent domain actions relating to our water systems; changes in regulatory commissions' policies and procedures; the timeliness of regulatory commissions' actions concerning rate relief and other actions; changes in water quality standards; changes in environmental compliance and water quality requirements; electric power interruptions; housing and customer growth trends; the impact of opposition to rate increases; our ability to recover costs; availability of water supplies; issues with the implementation, maintenance or security of our information technology systems; civil disturbances or terrorist threats or acts; the adequacy of our efforts to mitigate physical and cyber security risks and threats; the ability of our enterprise risk management processes to identify or address risks adequately; labor relations matters as we negotiate with unions; changes in customer water use patterns and the effects of conservation; the impact of weather, climate, natural disasters, and diseases on water quality, water availability, water sales and operating results, and the adequacy of our emergency preparedness; and, other risks and unforeseen events. When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the cautionary statements included in this paragraph, as well as the annual 10-K, Quarterly 10-Q, and other reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Company assumes no obligation to provide public updates of forward-looking statements.

Contact: Yvonne Kingman, 310-257-1434 (media) Tom Smegal, 408-367-8200 (analysts)

Source: California Water Service Group
BOSTON, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LastPass, the global leader in zero-knowledge password management, today announced that Karim Toubba has joined the company as its Chief Executive Officer. The cloud security veteran will lead LastPass as it separates from GoTo, formerly LogMeIn, and increases investment to create an even more seamless user experience, modernize go-to-market functions, and continue to build industry leading password and identity management solutions for the companys customers. Toubba succeeds LastPass interim-CEO, Mike Kohlsdorf, who will continue to lead GoTo as CEO.

This is a transformational moment for LastPass, and we are thrilled to bring Karim on board to lead the next chapter of LastPass, said Kohlsdorf. He brings the right blend of security, innovation and leadership experience to lead LastPass  addressing the needs of our customers, all while ensuring we continue to grow rapidly and evolve our product offerings.

Were delighted to welcome Karim as the new CEO during this significant phase at LastPass, said Andrew Kowal, Partner at Francisco Partners. There is a critical need in the market for secure identity verification and LastPass is poised to deliver strategic value against a vast growth opportunity.

Toubba, who served as CEO of Kenna Security, which was acquired by Cisco in July of 2021, brings over 25 years of security leadership and executive management in technology companies to his new role. Under his leadership, Kenna Security leveraged machine learning and data science to disrupt a stagnant market and create a new category of Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (RBVM). He most recently served at Cisco, overseeing the Kenna Security integration, and previously led product and strategy for the Security Business Unit at Juniper Networks.

Im excited to join LastPass due to the incredible opportunity to make an impact in identity management, which is one of the largest and most important segments within cybersecurity  one that is a critical first step in how users experience online services but that is often at the forefront of cyberattacks. LastPass is already the leader in the password management category but now we have an opportunity to further innovate and deliver additional value for our 100,000 business customers and more than 33 million registered users worldwide, said Karim Toubba.

About LastPass LastPass is an award-winning password manager which helps more than 33 million registered users organize and protect their online lives. For more than 100,000 businesses of all sizes, LastPass provides password and identity management solutions that are convenient, easy to manage and effortless to use. From enterprise password management and single sign-on to adaptive multi-factor authentication, LastPass for Business gives superior control to IT and frictionless access to users. For more information, visit https://lastpass.com. LastPass is trademarked in the U.S. and other countries.

Media Contacts [email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/979d6527-9c96-47f9-9793-7ae7573bb8cf

Karim Toubba, LastPass CEO Karim Toubba, LastPass CEO

Source: LastPass
NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lee Anderson Couture has moved to the sunny side of the street to 975 Lexington Avenue, helping restore this lovely block back to pre-covid times. While multiple blocks with vacant stores plague New York City streets, entrepreneurs are slowly flocking back to the city and re-establishing businesses.

Lee Anderson Couture, established in 1980, has been servicing exclusive clients for over 42 years. The designer, despite all odds during COVID 19, not only survived- but is thriving with more demand on custom made luxury designs for clientele. Lee Anderson couture is renown nationwide for her specialty events and wedding party custom made designs. The wedding boom has created the busiest season for fashion in 40 years, resulting in limited inventory at premier department stores, and increasing demand for custom made gowns.

Lee Anderson and her staff are thrilled to welcome clients at her new location and assist them with their event needs. Lee Anderson Couture is where Italian and French fabrics meet personal styling, and are created under the supervision of a professional design team, led by the veteran designer, Lee Anderson.

About Lee Anderson

Lee Anderson is an American designer, native of Northern California. Lee moved to New York City and attended the Traphagen School of Design in 1973. After Graduating she was introduced to Seventh Avenue by Ralph Lauren (1975), then part of the Kreisler group. She began working for John Kloss a legendary creative (1975). From 1975 to 1978, Lee worked as an assistant designer and occasionally freelancing for the Ralph Lauren active wear press kits (1977) before moving to Kasper by Joan Leslie as an assistant designer (1979).

Lee Anderson designs for women who refuse to wear "label conscious" clothing that is available in each city they travel to. In 1980 Lee Anderson left Seventh Avenue behind, to establish her label in a townhouse off Madison Avenue. Her clientele includes international royalty, high profiled personalities, socialites and celebrities.

Lee Anderson is known for her fabrics, chromatic luxury, graphic details and overlays. The fitters mold garments from the collection to fit precisely and reflect the personality of the client.

Barneys, first discovered her (1981), and then competitor Bergdorf Goodman (1989) Saks (1991), Bloomingdales (1991) and fine specialty stores followed. Lee Anderson was honored with the "Design Excellence" award, by the New York Horticultural Society (2012).

More Information:

Store:

[email protected]

www.leeandersoncouture.com

Lee Anderson Couture 975 Lexington Avenue New York, NY, 10021 - 212.722.2463

Press Contact: [email protected]

Related Images

Image 1: Lee Anderson 975 Lexington Avenue, NY Interior Image 2: Lee Anderson 975 Lexington Avenue, New York Exterior

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment

Lee Anderson 975 Lexington Avenue, NY Lee Anderson 975 Lexington Avenue, NY

Source: Lee Anderson Couture
MAYFIELD VILLAGE, OHIO, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As previously announced, The Progressive Corporation (NYSE: PGR) will host an Investor Relations conference call on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, beginning at 9:30 a.m. eastern time. Consistent with past Investor Relations calls, this quarterly call, which will consist of both a conference call and an audio only webcast, is scheduled to last 60 minutes and will include a question-and-answer session with Tricia Griffith, our CEO, and John Sauerland, our CFO. Call-in participants will be able to ask questions via the phone. The webcast will be in a listen-only format and, therefore, participants will not be able to submit questions.



On May 2, 2022, Progressive expects to file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission and post its Shareholders Report, including the Letter to Shareholders from Tricia Griffith, to its website at www.progressive.com/annualreport.

To receive the necessary call-in details or link to the webcast, visit Progressives website at https://investors.progressive.com/events/default.aspx.

Replays of the conference call, both through the webcast and by phone, will be available approximately two hours after the call concludes. The archived webcast will be able to be accessed from Progressives website at https://investors.progressive.com/events/default.aspx and will remain available until May 5, 2023. The phone replay will be available until May 20, 2022; call-in details for the replay will be available on our events page.

About Progressive

Progressive Insurance makes it easy to understand, buy and use car insurance , home insurance , and other protection needs. Progressive offers choices so consumers can reach us whenever, wherever and however it's most convenient - online at progressive.com , by phone at 1-800-PROGRESSIVE, on a mobile device or in-person with a local agent.

Progressive provides insurance for personal and commercial autos and trucks, motorcycles, boats, recreational vehicles, and homes; it is the third largest car insurer in the country, a leading seller of motorcycle and commercial auto insurance , and one of the top 15 homeowners insurance carriers.

Founded in 1937, Progressive continues its long history of offering shopping tools and services that save customers time and money, like Name Your Price, Snapshot, and HomeQuote Explorer.

The Common Shares of The Progressive Corporation, the Mayfield Village, Ohio-based holding company, trade publicly at NYSE: PGR.



Company Contact:

Douglas S. Constantine

(440) 910-3563



The Progressive Corporation

6300 Wilson Mills Road

Mayfield Village, Ohio 44143

http://www.progressive.com
Superior reliability, ideal for automotive applications

Santa Clara, CA and Kyoto, Japan, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ROHM Semiconductor today announced the addition of 14 new models to their PMDE package (2.5mm  1.3mm) lineup  meeting the requirements for smaller protection and switching circuits (RBxx8 Series, RFN Series, VS Series).

Diodes are used for rectification, protection and switching circuits in a wide range of applications such as automotive, industrial, and consumer fields. Additionally, there is an increasing need to reduce package size to minimize mounting area. At the same time, higher performance is required to reduce power consumption.

However, when decreasing package size, the surface area of the backside electrode and mold also becomes smaller, resulting in lower heat dissipation. To solve this disadvantage, ROHMs PMDE package improves heat dissipation performance by expanding the backside electrode and optimizing the heat dissipation path. This achieves the same electrical characteristics as those of conventional packages in a smaller package size.

ROHMs proprietary compact PMDE package features a land pattern equivalent to that of the conventional SOD-323 type. Reviewing the backside electrode and heat dissipation path has allowed ROHM to achieve the same electrical characteristics (i.e., current, withstand voltage) as the standard SOD-123FL package (3.5mm  1.6mm) in a smaller package size, contributing to board miniaturization by reducing mounting area by approximately 42%. Furthermore, mechanical strength is around 1.4 times higher than that of the SOD-123FL, reducing the risk of solder cracking when stress is applied to the board, ensuring greater mounting reliability.

The PMDE package lineup consists of eight models in the RBxx8 series of Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs), two models in the RFN series of fast recovery diodes (FRDs), and two models in the VS series of transient voltage suppressors (TVSs). A variety of circuit applications can be achieved with compact diodes.

Going forward, ROHM will strive to further improve the quality of its semiconductor devices, from low to high voltages, while strengthening its distinctive lineup to further reduce power consumption and achieve greater package miniaturization.

PMDE Package Products

The PMDE package offers the same electrical characteristics as the conventional SOD-123FL in a smaller package size, ensuring better heat dissipation performance and mounting reliability. In addition, all automotive-compatible part numbers are qualified under the AEC-Q101 standard for automotive reliability. ROHMs new lineup of PMDE package products are listed below. (SBDs: RBR series only, in mass production from June 2021.)

1. SBDs: RBxx8 Series Features (New Products)

These SBDs deliver low V F together with high efficiency. Ten models in the PMDE package with breakdown voltages from 30V to 150V have been added to the RBxx8 series that provide ultra-low I R (reverse current) and can operate stably, even in high temperature environments.

2. SBDs: RBR Series Features (Announced in August 2021)

The RBR series balances the trade-off relationship between low V F , which is key to improving efficiency, and low I R (mass produced since June 2020). Six models in the series are available in the PMDE package.

3. FRDs: RFN Series Features (New Products)

FRDs provide high withstand voltage (up to 800V), equivalent to rectifier diodes, along with excellent trr (reverse recovery time), which is important for high frequency operation. The RFN series offers the same electrical characteristics as conventional products in a compact PMDE package.

4. TVS: VS Series Features (New Products)

TVS is a type of diode that absorbs the sudden voltage (surge voltage) that flows during engine startup or breakdown, then steps down to a constant voltage. The VS series supports a wide range of standoff voltages (V RWM ) from 5V to 130V. (32 ranks of standoff voltages are offered between 5V and 130V.)

For details, please refer to the ROHM Product Lineup tables (attached to this press release).

Availability: In mass production, through online distributors Digi-key, Mouser, and Farnell.

Application Examples

RBxx8 Series (SBD)

Primary Applications: Rectification / switching

Examples: White goods, Notebook PCs, Car infotainment, Fan motors, Factory automation power supplies

RFN Series (FRD)

Primary Application: Switching

Examples: Engine ECUs, TVs, Air conditioners, Transmission ECUs, ADAS, Car infotainment

RBR Series (SBD)

Primary Applications: Rectification / switching

Examples: Onboard chargers, Car accessories, LED headlamps, Notebook PCs

VS Series (TVS)

Primary Application: Protection

Examples: Body/engine ECUs, Industrial inverters, LED headlamps

For more information, please visit www.rohm.com.

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MENLO PARK, Calif., April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ropers Majeski, a multi-service law firm representing clients in litigation and transactions nationally and internationally, is pleased to announce the elevation of six attorneys, including one to partner.

Ropers Majeskis Chairman Geoffrey Heineman, says, We congratulate these excellent lawyers on their achievements. They offer exemplary client service and advice across a range of industries and practices. We look forward to them continuing to shape the future of the firm in their new roles.

From Of Counsel to Partner (Effective March 1) 

Mark M. Gnesin (Costa Mesa) is a trial lawyer focusing on personal injury, property damage, and construction defect litigation, including all general liability claims. He also advises corporations and insurance companies on liability, insurance coverage, and indemnity matters, drawing on his extensive training and previous experience as an insurance claims representative. Mark takes a creative approach to cases and has obtained numerous favorable jury verdicts and settlements for his clients.

From Associate to Of Counsel (Effective January 1) 

Christopher J. Gioia (New York) handles a wide array of matters, both in litigation and pre-suit counseling and avoidance of claims. He represents clients in a broad range of construction, property damage and premises claims, New York Labor Law cases, and contractual issues.

John J. Iacobucci Jr. (New York) is a litigator defending New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut insurance agents and brokers in errors and omissions litigation. He also handles insurance coverage disputes and litigation, as well as various general liability matters.

Anna Novruzyan (Los Angeles) is a business and commercial litigator, handling cases from intake through trial, including setting strategy, trial preparation, and assisting with settlement negotiations. She has extensive experience in commercial contracts and professional liability matters in a variety of industries.

From Associate to Senior Associate (Effective January 1) 

Alex Fermoso Jr. (New York) focuses on representing owners and contractors in complex and high-exposure New York State Labor Law and construction litigation claims. He is skilled in all aspects of civil litigation, from inception to pre-trial and alternative dispute resolution. Alex vigorously defends both liability and damages issues while concurrently exploring risk transfer options for his clients.

Cameron M. Miller (Los Angeles) counsels clients on all aspects of insurance matters, including those involving allegations of personal injury, wrongful death, insurance defense, and construction defect. He is experienced in trial management, from intake to depositions to motions to trial preparation and settlement negotiation.

About Ropers Majeski

Ropers Majeski began over 70 years ago, counseling clients in construction, real estate, employment law, intellectual property, and commercial litigation, and transactions. With nearly 100 lawyers in 8 offices worldwide, we offer clients coast-to-coast, full-service legal representation. Our clients include leading corporations, start-ups and emerging companies, and municipalities and government agencies. Large and established or new and feisty, Ropers Majeskis strategic legal representation helps our clients meet their goals.

Contacts:

Kalisha M. CrawfordDirector of Marketing & Business DevelopmentRopers Majeski PC(213) 312-2074[email protected]

Source: Ropers Majeski
TORONTO, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Earlier today, Ryerson Universitys Board of Governors unanimously approved a motion to rename our institution Toronto Metropolitan University effective immediately. This change marks the start of a new chapter for the university, as it moves forward with a name that better reflects its values and aspirations.

I cannot think of a better name than Toronto Metropolitan University, said President and Vice-Chancellor Mohamed Lachemi. Metropolitan is a reflection of who we have always been - an urban institution dedicated to excellence, innovation, and inclusion and who we aim to be - a place where all feel welcome, seen, represented and celebrated.

Located in the heart of Canadas biggest and most diverse city, Toronto Metropolitan University represents all that it is to be metropolitan. The university is a gathering place for people from all over the world, from all walks of life, with broad and diverse perspectives, lived experiences and ambitions. Metropolitan also defines the universitys aspirations to expand its reputation and reach, as exemplified by its new Lincoln Alexander School of Law, its first international campus in Cairo, Egypt and its plans for a future School of Medicine in Brampton.

The new name is the culmination of work carried out over several years. Following the Board of Governors accepting all 22 recommendations put forward by the Standing Strong (Mash Koh Wee Kah Pooh Win) Task Force, the university established a framework for the renaming process which included the formation of the University Renaming Advisory Committee (URAC).

It was an honour to chair the University Renaming Advisory Committee, along with Vice-Chair Tanya De Mello. I am very pleased by the strong support of the Board of Governors and excited to have played a part in the adoption of our name which allows for a new beginning, said Jennifer S. Simpson, Provost and Vice-President, Academic and Chair of URAC. Through our community engagement we learned that there was a strong desire - across all groups of students, faculty, staff and alumni - for the new name to reference our place or location. Toronto Metropolitan University reflects the feedback we heard and is in line with our values and our accomplishments that define who we are as an institution.

URAC oversaw extensive community consultations that generated responses from over 30,000 people and went on to review over 2,600 potential names. The committee produced a shortlist of names that were subject to several practical parameters including: ensuring alignment with our values, being intentionally inclusive with our diverse community, undertaking linguistic checks and trademark searches, and digital considerations.

Truth and Reconciliation is a key priority for the university, the renaming is an important and highly visible measure in the university's path toward reconciliation, and it is just one more step in the journey. The University remains committed to supporting the ongoing work of the Truth and Reconciliation Working Group and implementing all of the remaining Standing Strong Task Force recommendations.

This is a very important moment in our universitys history as we move forward with a name that better reflects our values and can take us into the future, said President Lachemi. As a university, our values have long defined who we are and they will always guide where we are going. They are the basis upon which we have built our uniquely vibrant, diverse and intentionally inclusive culture. Our new name builds upon these values and, along with our 73 years of excellence and achievement, it is intended to be a name that unifies all of us - a place where all of our community members belong.

While the university is changing its name to better reflect its values and aspirations, the universitys mission, vision and visual identity will remain in place to maintain continuity, recognizability and ease the transition to a new name.

Further information, including more background on the renaming process and ongoing updates on the action plan to implement all Standing Strong Task Force recommendations, can always be found on the Next Chapter Website.

About Toronto Metropolitan University*:Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly known as Ryerson University, is Canadas leader in innovative, career-oriented education. Urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the University is home to more than 46,000 students, including 2,900 Masters and PhD students, 4,000 faculty and staff, and 225,000 alumni worldwide. For more information, visit ryerson.ca.

*In April 2022, the university renamed and began a new chapter

Media inquiriesJessica Leach416-704-2166[email protected]

Source: Ryerson University
ANKARA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Two Turkish soldiers were killed on Tuesday in an operation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said that one soldier was killed and four others were wounded in a rocket launch attack by the PKK in the ongoing operation, dubbed Claw-Lock. One of the wounded soldiers later died of wounds at a hospital.

The Turkish military offensive in northern Iraq, which started on April 18, targets the PKK's shelters, bunkers, caves, tunnels, ammunition depots and regional headquarters in Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan.

Turkey regularly conducts cross-border operations on the PKK bases in northern Iraq. The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for over 30 years.

Iraq has protested against the latest Turkish operation in northern Iraq as a violation of its sovereignty, but Turkey defended it as a move aimed at maintaining Turkey's border security. 
Key focus on enabling prioritization and rapid progression of pipeline programs through to clinical proof-of-concept, a key milestone for value creation

Sosei Heptares will use the collaboration to turbo charge its internal discovery and early clinical development strategy, and unlock the full potential of its world-leading GPCR-based drug discovery and development platform

Weatherden is a pioneering clinical development consulting group trusted by biopharma, venture capital funds, startups, spin-outs and nonprofit organizations to deliver better drugs, faster

TOKYO and CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sosei Group Corporation (the Company; TSE: 4565) today announces a strategic collaboration with Weatherden, a pioneering clinical development consulting group. The collaboration aims to build upon Sosei Heptares world-leading G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) structure-based drug design (SBDD) platform and expertise and Weatherdens translational medicine and drug development expertise to create an agile operating model supported by best-in-class drug discovery and development teams. The goal being to accelerate the prioritization and progression of multiple pipeline programs through Phase 1b/2a trials to establish clinical proof-of-concept. This stage represents a key value inflection point that Sosei Heptares intends to achieve as part of its evolution to become a multi-program, clinical-stage biotech company.

By leveraging Weatherdens extensive experience, scientific expertise and data driven approach, together with its commercial focus on pharmaceutical asset evaluation and development, Sosei Heptares is bringing together the operational and technical expertise needed to enable a venture-like capital allocation approach to pipeline development.

In this way, the Company aims to optimize decision-making and value generation by:

creating new, efficient drug discovery and development pathways,

accelerating the translation of its world-leading science into life-changing therapeutics for patients, and

maximizing partnering transaction opportunities by taking selected in-house programs to clinical proof-of-concept stage

Sosei Heptares world-leading platform gives us access to more GPCR drug discovery opportunities than can be tackled in a lifetime. It is essential to our long-term success that we continually enhance our ability to identify and prioritize these opportunities to optimize value creation for patients and shareholders, said Chris Cargill, President and CEO of Sosei Heptares. Sosei Heptares has an exceptional opportunity to embed agile, program-centric operating practices across its discovery and early development activities to be as efficient and productive as possible. We are uniquely positioned to do this because our expanding discovery platform has the potential to produce an abundance of new, high-quality drug candidates to which VC-like capital allocation and a quick win/fast fail approach can be applied.

By focusing on translational medicine, which we see as the R&D sweet spot for investment in new programs, we will rigorously test the hypothesis earlier during more economical phases of drug development to optimize our pipeline decisions going forward. This agile approach will allow us to rapidly advance only programs we believe have the best probability of success through to proof-of-concept, with strong product profiles, and the potential to become the life-changing therapeutics of the future.

We are excited to be partnering with Weatherden, whose experience across the early development stage, and particularly in translational medicine, complements Sosei Heptares existing expertise in early-stage drug discovery. We look forward to a dynamic, and productive partnership as we look to maximize the value from our extensive pipeline and support major partnering transaction opportunities to fund our continued expansion and maximize returns.

Emma Tinsley, CEO of Weatherden, added: The sheer scale of the GPCR opportunity alongside Sosei Heptares ability to exploit this area makes this collaboration extremely exciting. Our track record in efficiently designing and delivering Phase 1b/2a clinical trials will be of great benefit to support Sosei Heptares in its transition to a multi clinical-stage asset company. We are looking forward to working closely with the Sosei Heptares team to enhance its pipeline development approach. We are confident that by combining our skills and experience, the Company will be well positioned to drive its programs forward efficiently and effectively, and to fully realise the potential of its innovative technology and accelerate the progress of much needed medicines for patients worldwide.

In March 2022, Sosei Heptares announced changes to its senior leadership designed to support its new growth strategy and the enhanced focus on translational medicine. The Company has already made progress towards this goal through the addition of expertise internally, and through entering collaborations with innovative technology companies. This has already yielded novel targets and new ways of exploring and exploiting the Companys platform and this latest collaboration with Weatherden provides another important element in maximizing the value of these advances.

The strategic collaboration with Weatherden will initially focus on supporting the translational medicine and clinical development plans for the Companys H4 antagonist and GPR52 agonist programs. There is no change to the Companys forecast R&D expense guidance for FY2022.

About Sosei HeptaresWe are an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the discovery and early development of new medicines originating from our proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities. We are advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology, and inflammatory diseases.

We have established partnerships with some of the worlds leading pharmaceutical companies and multiple emerging biotechnology companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Biohaven, Genentech (Roche), GSK, Neurocrine Biosciences, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda and Verily. Sosei Heptares is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with corporate and R&D facilities in Cambridge, UK.

Sosei Heptares is the corporate brand and trademark of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565). Sosei, Heptares, the logo and StaR are trademarks of Sosei Group companies.

For more information, please visit https://soseiheptares.com/LinkedIn: @soseiheptaresco | Twitter: @soseiheptaresco | YouTube: @soseiheptaresco

About WeatherdenWeatherden is a pioneering clinical development consulting group trusted by biopharma, funds, startups, spin-outs and nonprofits. We advise companies from the earliest stages on scientific strategy, translational medicine and clinical development, through to diligence preparation and support for M&A. Our focus is on de-risking programs early, optimizing clinical, regulatory, and commercial pathways from discovery to market and accelerating the translation of novel science into life-changing medicines for patients.

Blending more than 750 years experience across the industry, we are invested in our clients success, motivated by the opportunity to rapidly improve the chances for breakthrough therapies to tackle unmet clinical need. Combining an agile biotech mindset with the proven expertise of pharmaceutical drug discovery and development, we work at the cutting edge of clinical, scientific and technological innovation to maximize value, enhance patient outcomes and simplify paths to market.

For more information, please visit: https://weatherden.co.uk/

Enquiries

Sosei Heptares  Media and Investor RelationsJapanHironoshin Nomura, Chief Financial Officer +81 (0)3 6679 2178 | [email protected]

Shinichiro Nishishita, VP Investor Relations, Head of Regulatory Disclosures+81 (0)3 5210 3399 | [email protected]

United KingdomCandelle Chong, SVP Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy+44 (0)1223 949390 | [email protected]

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting (for International Media)Mark Swallow, David Dible, Eleanor Perkin+44 (0)203 928 6900| [email protected]

WeatherdenEmma Tinsley, Chief Executive Officer+44 (0)333 050 9157 | [email protected]

Forward-looking statementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development, and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Sosei Group Corporations actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: Sosei Group Corporation
DENVER, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STACK Infrastructure (STACK), the digital infrastructure partner to the worlds most innovative companies, announced it has joined the Infrastructure Masons (iMasons) Climate Accord to lead carbon reduction efforts in digital infrastructure. The pledge, presented at the Broadgroup Datacloud Global Awards ceremony in Monaco on Monday, April 25, is a part of an expansive mission to take a leading role in achieving planetary net zero carbon emissions.

STACK joins dozens of the worlds leading technology and digital infrastructure companies in the iMasons Climate Accord, including Amazon Web Services and Meta. These industry leaders unite to leverage their influence over market-based decisions and drive to collaboratively adopt carbon reduction standards, corporate transparency policies, and industry accountability reports.

STACKs commitment to sustainability initiatives continues to expand beyond our internal goals, and we are proud to pledge our support for the industry standards of carbon measuring and reporting outlined in iMasons Climate Accord, said Brian Cox, STACK Americas CEO and Infrastructure Masons Advisory Council member. We are thrilled to be a part of this moment in our industrys history as we unify in our efforts to accelerate global carbon reduction.

The founding coalition of companies have pledged to an open standard to account for and report carbon in data center power, materials, and products. The coalition will identify or establish an independent governing group to define the industry standard methodology for measuring carbon with a focus on transparency, traceability, and identification of the carbon history of data center power and facilities. Utilizing the standard measurement methodology, participating companies will declare the carbon footprint of a product or facility and then show the progress of reducing operating and embodied carbon in materials and products.

This announcement comes shortly after STACKs recent accomplishment of its goal to operate its entire portfolio on 100% renewable energy. In further support of its sustainability commitment, STACK is piloting more environmentally friendly technologies including low-carbon concrete and recycled steel to reduce the embodied carbon in its new facilities as well as fossil-free renewable diesel fuel, such as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), and scale battery deployments as alternatives to fossil diesel for backup energy needs.

For more information about STACK, please visit: www.stackinfra.com.

ABOUT STACK INFRASTRUCTURESTACK provides digital infrastructure to scale the worlds most innovative companies. With a client-first approach, STACK delivers a comprehensive suite of campus, build-to-suit, colocation, and powered shell solutions in the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions. With robust existing and flexible expansion capacity in the leading availability zones, STACK offers the scale and geographic reach that rapidly growing hyperscale and enterprise companies need. The world runs on data. And data runs on STACK.

Media ContactsSammer Khalaf [email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/61e0734f-8bdd-4790-94a1-f1680e48f007

STACK - iMasons Climate Accord STACK - iMasons Climate Accord

Source: STACK INFRASTRUCTURE
SALT LAKE CITY, UT and ROCHESTER, NY, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CallTower, a global leader in delivering cloud-based enterprise-class unified communications, contact center and collaboration solutions, today announced their awarding of US GSA (General Services Administration) Schedule in association with their Federal Government Strategic partner Team Consulting, Inc. (TCI).

The GSA Schedule, also known as Federal Supply Schedule, and Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), is a long-term governmentwide contract with commercial companies that provide access to millions of commercial products and services at reasonable prices to the government. This contract will save potential CallTower government customers time and money through pre-negotiated pricing and simplified government subcategorization and Special Item Number (SINs) coding.

The GSA Schedule gives customers access to a streamlined acquisition process for obtaining services through a Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). In addition, TCIs SBA 8(a) certification small business program allows federal government customers sole source contracts up to $4.5 Million. This will drastically speed up the technology implementation timeline and reduce customers procurement lifecycle.

GCC High Direct Conferencing will help our Federal Government clients meet the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) mandated M-22-09 requirement to move towards a Federal Zero-Trust Architecture (ZTA) and data encryption standards, explained TCI CEO Bruce Hargrave. GCC High will fully comply with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program at FedRAMP High and the security controls and control enhancements for United States Department of Defense Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide (SRG) for information up to Impact Level 5 (L5).

We are incredibly excited to be awarded a GSA schedule in order to provide our government customers with a smooth and streamlined purchasing experience, said William Rubio, CallTowers Chief Revenue Officer. We know that this will open the door for many new organizations to experience the enterprise-class UCaaS and CCaaS solutions and support that only CallTower can offer.

CallTower was recently recognized by Frost & Sullivan as a Leader in the UCaaS Market in the December 2021 Frost Radar Report. CallTower combines powerful voice-enabled Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solutions with Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solutions, productivity tools and network support to unleash the full power of a modern and enterprise-grade turnkey solution and digital workplace.

Since 2019, CallTower has offered Microsoft Teams Direct Routing for GCC High, which meets the unique and evolving requirements of contractors holding or processing DoD controlled unclassified information under NIST 800-171 requirements (CUI), Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), or subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Organizations leveraging Microsoft 365 GCC High environments can add voice and audio conferencing to their systems. Chats and team calls are simpler, as users can directly communicate with others who are not a part of the same workplace.

About Team Consulting, Inc.

Team Consulting, Inc. (TCI) provides strategic consulting, technology services, and managed services to Commercial, Federal, and State government organizations. Our mission is to serve our clients and find technology solutions that increase efficiency, productivity, and profitability of operations. TCI has over 20 years serving Federal and State governments and a strong track record of successful on-time delivery of service. TCI holds SBA 8(a), Hubzone certifications and VA CVE Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business status.

About CallTower

Since its inception in 2002, CallTower has evolved into a global cloud-based, enterprise-class Unified Communications, Contact Center and Collaboration solutions provider for growing organizations worldwide. CallTower provides, integrates and supports industry-leading solutions, including Microsoft Teams Direct Routing, Operator Connect, Office 365, GCC High Teams Audio Conferencing and PSTN, Cisco Webex Calling / UCM, Cisco CCPP, CT Cloud UCaaS, CT Cloud Meeting powered by Zoom and four contact center options, including Five9 for business customers.

For more information, contact [email protected]

Kade Herbert CallTower, Inc. 8003475444 [email protected]

Source: CallTower, Inc.
HOUSTON, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (www.veritexbank.com) Veritex Community Bank, a Texas headquartered bank specializing in providing depository and credit services to small to mid-sized businesses, has appointed William Ray Jr as EVP and managing director for middle-market banking, Brent Reed as EVP director of commercial real estate, and Will Richardson as EVP for private banking. All three individuals are joining from Bank of Houston, where they held senior-level positions.

Ray joins the company with more than 18 years of banking experience and a robust background in building and managing banking teams focused on core C&I banking in the Houston area. Notably, Ray spent 14 years at Amegy Bank as a commercial banking manager in Houston.

Given the recent merger disruptions in the Houston market and the strong base of locally owned commercial businesses, there is a true need for a bank that provides relationship-based solutions to middle-market companies. Hiring an experienced leader like William (Ray) to lead this segment is a natural evolution for Veritex Bank in our mission to become the premier Texas banking franchise, said Jon Heine, Veritex Community Bank Houston market president.

Reed, a Houston native, also brings 18 years of banking experience, providing financing solutions to commercial real estate (CRE) clients. CRE continues to be a core strategy at Veritex Bank representing approximately 45% of the Banks total loan portfolio.

We are excited to add more strength to this already well-established line of business at Veritex Bank, Heine said. Brents (Reed) reputation and experience in handling sophisticated credit financings across a myriad of CRE product types will keep Veritex Bank well positioned in the market for many years to come.

In addition, Richardson, also a native Houstonian, has joined as the EVP for Private Banking. With tenures at Bank of Houston and Frost Bank, Richardson brings a unique skillset of providing services to local professionals and executives.

Our Private Banking group has experienced incredible growth over the past two years. Wills (Richardson) commitment to the community and specialization in the attorney and professional services field creates another avenue for growth within this vertical at Veritex Bank. Heine said.

Veritex Bank has been known for attracting the best talent in the industry, and, once again, we are adding new team members that will make meaningful contributions to Veritex Bank. Chairman and CEO of Veritex Community Bank Malcom Holland said.

Since Veritex Community Bank committed to the growth of the Houston market in 2019, it has added a private banking department, relocated its Houston headquarters to Village Towers, and committed to sponsoring the Texas Southern University commercial banking program. For more information on other career opportunities or the Veritex college internship program, visit www.veritexbank.com.

About Veritex Bank

Veritex Community Bank is a mid-sized community bank serving its customers with a full suite of banking products and services. The bank has convenient branch locations in Houston, Fort Worth, and Dallas, Texas, with total assets of more than $8 billion. The bank, headquartered in Dallas, specializes in providing depository and credit services to small- to mid-size businesses, which have been largely neglected by national banks. The name Veritex is derived from the Latin word veritas, meaning truth, and Texas.

Contact: Patty Martinez(713) 275-8223

Source: Veritex Holdings, Inc.
Program for K-12 schools for lab-based testing along with supply and management of rapid tests is extended through the 2022-2023 school year in Texas.

Vancouver, British Columbia and Dallas, Texas--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Bloom Health Partners Inc. (CSE: BLMH) (OTCQB: BLMHF) (FSE: D840) ("Bloom" or the "Company") a global platform for operational health, announces that it has been awarded an extension of its state-wide contract for testing in Texas for K-12 schools to the end of the 2022-2023 school year. Bloom's program with schools in Texas, announced in January, includes both rapid and lab testing that covers the needs of schools as they plan for waves and variants associated with the pandemic. As previously announced, Bloom will conduct PCR testing in the Company's Dallas-based laboratory. Rapid tests will continue to be supplied to schools, with results data managed on Bloom's cloud data platform.

Management of test data and results can be supported by Bloom's cloud software platform suite called Bloom Shield. Designed for operational health for large organizations, Bloom Shield software covers several solutions in occupational health as part of the Company's platform that includes clinical, labs and secure data management.

"We're honored to be an ongoing trusted health provider to schools in Texas," said Andrew Morton, CEO of Bloom. "Our team is focused on assisting schools in Texas to manage safety in the coming year through a strong clinical practice, supported by best-in-class labs and technology. Bloom is growing its operational health-tech business with organizations to manage employee health issues in such areas as diabetes, critical illness screening, and everyday health challenges. As we grow our operational health business, our team in Texas will continue to deliver a reliable program that can help contain any pandemic-related concerns for schools across the state."

The Company has also granted 125,000 stock options to an officer of the Company, in accordance with the provisions of its stock option plan. The stock options are exercisable at a price of $0.40 per common share, have a term of five years and vest over a three year period.

About Bloom Health Partners Inc.

Bloom Health Partners Inc. (CSE: BLMH) (OTCQB: BLMHF) (FSE: D840) is a global platform for healthcare security, diagnostic testing and occupational health-tech. Our mission is to ensure that "unstoppable is possible" for businesses and their employees through innovative, customized healthcare models. Bloom offers a system for businesses and organizations that helps engage employees and creates strategies to manage health and safety. Our stable, scalable system is an integrated health-tech platform that securely manages data while delivering comprehensive workplace health and safety outcomes.

For more information: [email protected]

On behalf of the board of directors,

Bloom Health Partners Inc.

Andrew Morton, Chief Executive Officer

State of Texas Disclaimer

This project is supported by the National Testing Action Program (NTAP) of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $10B with 100 percent funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as the HHS Coordination Hubs. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by the CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the Company's forward-looking statements include the potential that milestones may not be satisfied, acquisitions may not achieve expected benefits, financing requirements, and the other risk factors described in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators on www.sedar.com. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121660
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - BMEX Gold Inc. (TSXV: BMEX) (OTCQB: MRIRF) (FSE: 8M0) ("BMEX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of its Fall 2021 drilling campaign at King Tut Gold Project ('King Tut" or the "Project") in the Abitibi region, Qubec, Canada. Significant grades include 7.07 g/t Au over 1.00 m from drill hole TUT-21-032 in a newly discovered gold zone (the Luxor Gold Zone) and 7.61 g/t g/t Au over 0.75 m within the known mineralized area from drill hole TUT-21-023. All assays from the Fall 2021 drill campaign at King Tut have been received and reported. Figure 1 shows the location of the discussed drill holes with their significant intersects. Composited gold grades are resumed in Table 1. Collar coordinates and drill holes information are listed in Table 2.

TUT-21-032, which returned the above-mentioned promising grades of the campaign, is located 700 m South-West from the King Tut showing, along the Main King Tut trend (Figure 1). This drill hole is isolated and thus defines a new gold zone (Luxor Zone) on its own. Gold in TUT-21-032 is associated to a silicified tourmaline-carbonate-pyrite brecciated zone which marks the contact between relatively ductile tuffs and more competent andesite unit (Figure 2). Fall 2021 drill holes in the heart of the known King Tut showing delivered several similar gold-bearing geological conditions to TUT-21-032. Every drill hole along the Main King Tut Trend intersected evidence of an intense deformation corridor: intensely sheared zones, complex folding of S1 and pervasive sericite-carbonate-silica alterations. As shown on Figure 1, TUT-21-032 also cuts a West-South-West lineament interpreted from the magnetic susceptibility maps. Hence, this drill hole, being isolated but potentially cross-cutting two major structures and exhibiting typical gold-bearing hydrothermal mineralization known in greenstone belts, represents a highly prospective discovery for the Company.







Figure 1 : Fall 2021 drill holes and significant assays results

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5785/121646_9f25ab6454bd7b45_001full.jpg







Figure 2 : TUT-21-032 intersection

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5785/121646_9f25ab6454bd7b45_002full.jpg

In addition to TUT-21-032's Luxor zone, gold grades were also found in TUT-21-030 which targeted the Audet-Ouest showing vicinity. TUT-21-030 intercepted 1.68 g/t Au over 1.50 m and 0.32 g/t Au over 7.50 m at 150 m East of the known surface occurrences from Audet-Ouest showing. These intersections and the historical surface gold values from the showing are aligned along a West-South-West lineament interpreted from the magnetic susceptibility maps (Figure 1). This lineament, from now mentioned as the Audet-Ouest trend, is unexplored and TUT-21-030 gold grades are the first drilling results over it. The rest of the Fall 2021 drilling results are located within the known King Tut showing.

Drill hole From (m) To (m) Core length (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) GxT TUT-21-032 56.50 57.50 1.00 7.07 0.80 7.07 88.00 89.00 1.00 0.40 0.10 0.40 61.50 64.50 3.00 0.30 0.10 0.90 TUT-21-023 102.55 103.30 0.75 7.61 0.50 5.71 63.00 66.00 3.00 0.82 0.20 2.45 127.50 137.00 9.50 0.50 0.12 4.78 Including 127.50 130.10 2.60 0.93 0.12 2.42 TUT-21-021 41.00 45.00 4.00 0.99 0.22 3.95 52.50 53.80 1.30 1.21 0.10 1.57 TUT-21-033 116.00 121.00 5.00 0.64 0.24 3.18 TUT-21-024 382.40 383.90 1.50 1.86 0.40 2.79 240.00 243.00 3.00 0.33 0.15 1.00 154.30 155.80 1.50 0.58 0.30 0.87 247.00 249.00 2.00 0.40 0.27 0.80 TUT-21-030 192.00 193.50 1.50 1.68 0.20 2.51 147.00 154.50 7.50 0.32 0.04 2.41 95.00 96.00 1.00 0.49 0.30 0.49 TUT-21-031 69.50 78.20 8.70 0.24 0.16 2.05 TUT-21-022 80.20 89.05 8.85 0.28 0.16 2.46 Including 80.20 85.50 5.30 0.42 0.19 2.22 Including 82.70 85.50 2.80 0.63 0.19 1.77 TUT-21-029 238.30 238.80 0.50 3.56 0.30 1.78 43.45 47.60 4.15 0.29 0.11 1.20 211.10 213.50 2.40 0.34 0.10 0.82 241.20 243.00 1.80 0.28 0.16 0.51 TUT-21-027 33.50 38.00 4.50 0.35 0.14 1.56 58.95 61.00 2.05 0.31 0.10 0.63

Table 1 : Fall 2021 drilling results

Drill hole Azimut Dip Final length (m) UTM NAD83 EAST UTM NAD83 NORTH Elevation TUT-21-020 145 -45 171 680206 5427223 321 TUT-21-021 145 -45 175 679599 5426879 321 TUT-21-022 145 -45 144 679912 5427035 321 TUT-21-023 145 -45 113 680225 5427191 321 TUT-21-024 145 -45 82 680539 5427347 321 TUT-21-025 145 -45 51 680852 5427502 321 TUT-21-026 145 -45 20 681166 5427658 321 TUT-21-027 145 -45 -11 681479 5427814 321 TUT-21-028 145 -45 -42 681793 5427970 321 TUT-21-029 145 -45 -73 682106 5428126 321 TUT-21-030 145 -45 -104 682419 5428281 321 TUT-21-031 145 -45 -135 682733 5428437 321 TUT-21-032 145 -45 -166 683046 5428593 321 TUT-21-033 145 -45 -197 683360 5428749 321 TUT-21-034 145 -45 -228 683673 5428905 321 TUT-21-035 145 -45 -259 683986 5429061 321 TUT-21-036 145 -45 -290 684300 5429216 321

Table 2 : Fall 2021 drill holes information

Robert Pryde, President of BMEX Gold, commented: "Overall, the results from the Fall 2021 drilling campaign are promising especially when one considers the Luxor gold zone is a new gold discovery on the property and the geology of this zone warrants follow up work. Each of the holes in the 2021 drill campaign at King Tut intersected gold values which is a very important indication of the potential for a regional scale system on the property and demonstrates potential for additional gold discoveries. Our technical team is building a strong understanding of the gold occurrence and emplacement over the known and newly discovered assets at King Tut. Accordingly, we are going back to King Tut in 2022, starting with a field prospecting and mapping survey during Summer followed by a drilling campaign during Fall 2022. We also intend to launch an exploration program on the Dunlop Bay Property this year."

Following the compilation work over the Dunlop Bay Property (Mattagami region, Quebec, Canada) the BMEX technical team has identified several base and precious metal trends that are summarized in (Figure 3).

The Dunlop Bay exploration program started in April with a surface MAG-EM survey over Dunlop Bay-Ouest and interpretation. Surface prospecting, mapping and sampling is planned over the balance of the property during summer 2022, with a focus on the 'Baie Dunlop' showing and 'Mont Laurier Est' extension. The results from these two steps will be used to target a 3,000 metres drilling campaign that is planned for Fall 2022.

Figure 3 : Dunlop Bay Property 2022 prospecting and mapping goals

To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5785/121646_9f25ab6454bd7b45_005full.jpg

Qualified Person

Maxime Bouchard, Geo, M.Sc. (OGQ #1752), an independent Qualified Person as defined by Canadian NI 43-101 standards, has reviewed and approved the geological information reported in this news release. The drilling campaign and the quality control program have been planned and supervised by Maxime Bouchard. Core logging and sampling were completed by Laurentia Exploration. The quality assurance and quality control protocol include insertion of one blank and one standard every 20 samples, in addition to the regular insertion of blank, duplicate, and standard samples accredited by ALS Canada Ltd. during the analytical process. Gold values are estimated by fire assay with finish by atomic absorption. The Qualified Person has not completed sufficient work to verify the historic information on the Property, particularly in regards to historical drill results. However, the Qualified Person believes that drilling and analytical results were completed to industry standard practices. The information provides an indication of the exploration potential of the Property but may not be representative of expected results.

About BMEX Gold Inc.

BMEX Gold Inc. is a junior Canadian mining exploration company with the primary objective to acquire, explore, and develop viable gold and base metal projects in the mining-friendly jurisdiction of Quebec, Canada. BMEX is currently fully focused on earning 100% interest in its two projects, both located in the prolific Abitibi greenstone belt:

King Tut Project consists of 120 contiguous claims on 5,206 hectares

consists of 120 contiguous claims on 5,206 hectares Dunlop Bay Project consists of 76 mineral claims that cover 4,226 hectares

BMEX common shares trade under the symbol "BMEX" on the TSX-V and under the symbol 8M0 on the Frankfurt Exchange.

For further information please contact:

BMEX Gold Inc.

Robert Pryde, President

Tel: +1 (403) 478 6042

Email: [email protected]

Dylan Sidoo, Business Development

Tel: +1 (604) 423 4499

Email: [email protected]

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. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward looking information" (as defined under applicable securities laws), based on management's best estimates, assumptions, and current expectations. Such statements include but are not limited to, statements with respect to the plans for future exploration and development of the King Tut and Dunlop Bay properties and the acquisition of additional exploration projects. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts" , "anticipates" "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "aims", "potential", "goal", "objective", "prospective", and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "can", "could" or "should" occur. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the King Tut and Dunlop Bay projects; risks related to general economic conditions, actual results of current exploration activities, unanticipated reclamation expenses; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; fluctuations in prices of metals including gold; increases in market prices of mining consumables, possible variations in resource estimates, grade or recovery rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry; delays in the completion of exploration, development or construction activities, changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations, and political and economic developments in areas in which the Company operates. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, 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. The forward-looking statements and forward looking information are made as of the date hereof and are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any forward-looking statements or forward looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as require by law. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements and information. Please refer to the Company's most recent filings under its profile at www.sedar.com for further information respecting the risks affecting the Company and its business.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121646
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Doubleview Gold Corp. (TSXV: DBG) (OTCQB: DBLVF) (FSE: 1D4)("Doubleview", the "Company")is pleased to report Scandium analytical data of previously reported major drill core intercepts of the Lisle deposit at the Hat mineral deposit complex, as well as updated copper and gold equivalents inclusive of Cobalt "Co" and Palladium "Pd" which were not previously reported.

An ongoing metallurgical analysis is underway for a broad array of metals which could have a significant material impact on how the Company's copper and gold equivalents are reported. Co and Pd are part of the copper and gold equivalent calculations as per news release dated July, 22nd 2021. Metallurgical analysis is currently underway for Scandium, Silver, and PGMs including Platinum and Rhodium. Scandium assays are not currently included in copper and gold equivalents.

The following are selected drill core intercepts from the Lisle zone:

DH From (m) To (m) Length (m)* Cu

(%) Au (g/t) Co (g/t) Sc

(g/t) Ag (ppm) Pd (g/t)*** Cu Eq(%)** Au Eq(g/t)** H009 8.2 70.4 62.2 0.29 0.66 106.5 27.1 2.7 0.91 1.17 H011 15.0 407.1 392.1 0.24 0.20 91.9 27.5 0.7 0.48 0.62 H022 45.5 463.8 418.3 0.25 0.25 88.5 30.3 0.4 0.53 0.68 Inc. 304.9 415.0 110.2 0.57 0.42 137.7 31.5 0.8 1.04 1.33 H023 56.7 470.0 413.3 0.25 0.22 89.1 29.1 0.5 0.51 0.66 Inc. 270.6 381.6 110.9 0.47 0.36 95.6 32.5 0.3 0.84 1.08 H026 4.6 804.1 799.5 0.12 0.09 53.5 29.2 0.3 0.26 0.33 H034 9.0 672.9 663.9 0.26 0.18 79.3 26.2 0.4 0.024 0.50 0.65 Inc. 326.4 561.4 235.0 0.51 0.34 105.5 23.8 0.8 0.033 0.92 1.18 Inc. 476.5 540.2 63.7 1.26 0.86 200.0 22.2 2.2 0.080 2.20 2.83 H035 9.0 495.0 486.0 0.16 0.12 58.6 27.7 0.4 0.029 0.34 0.43 Inc. 292.1 390.0 97.9 0.54 0.26 81.4 24.6 1.0 0.040 0.86 1.10 Complete table and drill plan posted on the company's website at:

https://www.doubleview.ca/scandium-2022-04-26-news/

Analytical results of the late 2021 drill campaign are pending.

- Metal equivalents should not be relied upon for future evaluations.

* Drill hole intercepts included in this news release are core lengths that may or may not be actual widths of mineralization. It is not possible to determine actual widths.

** AuEq and CuEq are calculated on the basis of long-term metal prices: Au US$1600/oz, Cu US$3.00/lb, Co US$30/lb, Pd US$1980/oz (Ag and Sc are excluded in CuEq and AuEq calculations.)

** Cu eq are calculated based on Cu eq (%) = ([(%Cu) x (22.0462) x ($3) + (g/t/Au) x (1/31.1035) x ($1600)+ (g/t/Pd) x (1/31.1035) x ($1980)+ (%Co) x (22.0462) x ($30)])  ((22.0462) x ($3lbCu))).

**Au eq are calculated based on Au eq (g/t) = ([(%Cu) x (22.0462) x ($3) + (g/t/Au) x (1/31.1035) x ($1600)+ (g/t/Pd) x (1/31.1035) x ($1980)+ (%Co) x (22.0462) x ($30)])  (($1600) x 1/(31.1035))).

*** Analytical results for Pd are available for drill holes H030 and following

Drill Plan and assay table:

Mr. Farshad Shirvani, President and CEO, remarks: "With 41 drill holes, we are still in the early stages of exploring the Hat deposit. Time and again the consistency of the results of this ever-growing porphyry system are extraordinary. With every drill campaign the Company has expand the Hat deposit's footprint. The intercepts chosen are few examples out of many, please see the complete table on the Company's website at:https://www.doubleview.ca/scandium-2022-04-26-news/

Mr. Shirvani also notes that "Metal markets are facing uncertainties of supply coupled with rapidly-expanding demands of traditional and new developing industries, many of which are related to climate change issues. The ability of global mineral resources to continue supporting the basic needs of an ever-growing population is increasingly in question and has accelerated research into the identification and extraction of all metals in a sustainable and responsible manner. Doubleview is pleased to be supporting current metallurgical research into the characteristics of the Hat deposit that will enhance its value and, incidentally, may have applications elsewhere in British Columbia's mining sector."

The Hat deposit was discovered by Doubleview and is recognised as Polymetallic deposit that contains metals which have been announced as critical and essential minerals to the United States and Canadian National Security by both countries' governments. Critical metals are considered imperative to North American economic prosperity in relation to EV (electric vehicle) and other industry needs.

Erik Ostensoe, P. Geo., a consulting geologist and Doubleview's Qualified Person with respect to the Hat Project as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release. He is not independent of Doubleview as he is a shareholder of the company.

Cautionary Note: No mineral resources have been defined at the Hat Property and there is no assurance that further work will result in the Lisle deposit or O'Zone, or other zones if present, being delineated as resources.

About the Hat Project:

The Hat Property is considered a probable polymetallic porphyry deposit with characteristics similar to those of many of British Columbia's major deposits. Hat mineralization carries many of the important North American strategic metals, including but not limited to, Copper, Cobalt, and Scandium, with unique metallurgical characteristics that differ from other base metal deposits of British Columbia's Stikine Terrane. Sulphide mineralization, primarily chalcopyrite, occurs in fracture zones in dioritic intrusive rocks and strongly altered andesitic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of Upper Triassic age.

About Doubleview Gold Corp

Doubleview Gold Corp, a mineral resource exploration and development company, is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange [TSX-V:DBG], [OTCBB: DBLVF], [GER: A1W038], [Frankfurt: 1D4]. Doubleview identifies, acquires and finances precious and base metal exploration projects in North America, particularly in British Columbia. Doubleview increases shareholder value through acquisition and exploration of quality gold, copper and silver properties and the application of advanced state-of-the-art exploration methods. Doubleview's portfolio of strategic properties provides diversification and mitigates investment risk.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Farshad Shirvani, President & Chief Executive Officer

For further information please contact:

Doubleview Gold Corp

470 Granville St. Suite 822

Vancouver, BC, V6C 1V5

Farshad Shirvani, President & CEO

T: (604) 678-9587

E: [email protected]

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. Doubleview 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 Doubleview's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Doubleview's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Doubleview 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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121707
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Goldshore Resources Inc. (TSXV: GSHR) (OTCQB: GSHRF) (FSE: 8X00) ("Goldshore" or the "Company"), is pleased to update the market on its Moss Lake Project activities for the forthcoming spring and summer exploration period.

Key Points

The Company is expanding the exploration program to 8-10 rigs as soon as possible and remains well funded with a treasury of nearly $20M;

The Company is accelerating its metallurgical test work; structural geology understanding, 3D geologic model(s) and analysis of historical core;

The 2021 VTEM survey highlighted 29 quality drill targets including potential expansion of the Moss Lake strike length; as well as the potential for a resource increase at East Coldstream; and the Company will attempt to identify maiden resources at other known mineralized targets; and

Drilling of these targets has yielded positive results including 6.3g/t Au over 58.85m News: Goldshore Drills 6.3 g/t Au over 58.85m at Moss Lake (goldshoreresources.com).

Earlier in the year, the Company released the detailed interpretation and analysis of the VTEM geophysical survey conducted in 2021 (see Press Release dated March 10, 2022: Technical Analysis: Goldshore's VTEM Results Greatly Expand the Prospectivity). This produced 29 quality drill target areas, including 11 new Moss Lake target styles that potentially expand the strike length by over 4x from 2.5km to over 11km.

Subsequently, initial drilling of several of the targets successfully intersected new gold minerlization including the hole MMD-21-008 that returned 6.3 g/t Au over 58.85 metres and interpreted to be a high grade structure in the Moss Lake Deposit. (see press release Goldshore Drills 6.3 g/t Au over 58.85m at Moss Lake).

To that end, the Company is accelerating its exploration program at the Moss Lake Project, currently having a historical resource of 1.47M oz Au Indicated and 2.51M oz Au Inferred (see Table 1). The Company is preparing to ramp up its drilling efforts to 8 to 10 rigs as soon as practicable,. It is planned that the Moss Lake area will utilize 4 to 5 drill rigs through the spring-summer period; Coldstream / North Coldstream / Iris Lake area targets will utilize 2 to 3 rigs and Hamlin Lake area targets will utilize 1 to 2 rigs.

The Company is currently well funded with approximately $19.6M in the treasury, after closing its recent funding of $10M (see Press Release Goldshore Announces Closing of $10M Private Placement).

Key Strategic Highlights

Increasing the quantum and frequency of drilling at the Moss Lake Project; and early mobilization of rigs into the north-east corridor of Coldstream / North Coldstream and Iris Lake; as well as early mobilization into Hamlin Lake area;

Accelerated re-logging and mutli-element assaying of historic North Coldstream and Moss Lake core;



Goldshore has been logging historic core throughout this campaign to maximize the value of the historic drill core. As part of this program, the team has commenced resampling of core that were not sampled in the past. This has been driven by the recognition of additional zones of mineralization that were previously ignored or missed. Recently, the team discovered visible gold in quartz-pyrite veinlets in drillhole NS-92-247 at 546.9 meters depth along the northern edge of the QES Zone (see press release Goldshore Reports Additional Step-Out Intercepts ). This highlights the potential for high grades in previously unrecognized zones parallel to the main targets.

Establishing a robust 3D geologic model of the Moss lake deposit to guide exploration and updating future resource estimates.;



Goldshore has been rebuilding the mine model for the historic North Coldstream copper mine that was mined between 1957 and 1967. This has included compiling all historic data and wireframes for the underground workings to understand the distribution of mineralization with a view to identifying the potential for additional mineralization; but also to guide scout drilling of similar geophysical targets identified by last year's VTEM/magnetics survey.



Analysis of underground data focused on copper and gold, which returned assays in the range of 1.0 to 15.0% Cu and 0.5 to 5.0 g/t Au. Of note, limited assaying for cobalt on one level returned values in the range of 0.1 to 0.5% Co. These high levels of cobalt have not been recognized in the past but clearly point to the strategic value of this deposit style.



Scout drilling of preferred mineralization trends at North Coldstream and of similar nearby targets will aim to confirm the highly mineralized nature of this deposit style.

Engaging world renown structural geologist, Dr. Brett Davis to work with the Goldshore geological team, to optimize drill targeting through both structural geology methods and through the VTEM geophysical interpretation prepared by TechnoImaging  . Dr. Davis will be on site in May and June 2022.



Dr. Brett Davis graduated from James Cook University, Australia with a Bachelor's in Geology in 1986, which was followed in 1992 with a Doctorate degree in Structural Geology. Dr. Davis has worked and consulted globally on a number of large scale deposits and has established himself as a world leader in structural geology and currently runs Olinda Gold Structural Geology Consulting. Dr. Davis also serves as an Adjunct Research Fellow at his alma mater - James Cook University.

Accelerating the geometallurgical characterization study to determine the geometallurgical domains, and commencing metallurgical test work to optimize the recovery profiles of these domains at Moss Lake;



The Goldshore geological team is working with ALS on establishing geometallurgical parameters, in an effort to optimize and guide the metallurgical test work required for use in the updated preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") intended to be published in Q1 2023.

Brett Richards, President and Chief Executive Officer of Goldshore commented: "With the recent market support to close the $10M funding; coupled with the excellent drilling and VTEM results previously shared with the market; we are pleased to be accelerating the exploration program at Moss Lake, as well as Coldstream, North Coldstream, Iris Lake and Hamlin Lake. It has been shown that all of the 29 high priority targets that have had historical drilling and/or form part of the historic resource; along with 17 gold targets identified in the VTEM interpretation need to be accelerated into this coming field season. The main purpose for this is to quantify and maximize the understanding of mineralization in all of these targets; prior to conducting a mineral resource update and updated PEA (intended to be published in Q1 2023).

About Goldshore

Goldshore is an emerging junior gold development company, and owns the Moss Lake Gold Project located in Ontario. Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. is currently a strategic shareholder of Goldshore with an approximate 22% equity position in the Company. Well-financed and supported by an industry-leading management group, board of directors and advisory board, Goldshore is positioned to advance the Moss Lake Gold Project through the next stages of exploration and development.

About the Moss Lake Gold Project

The Moss Lake Gold Project is located approximately 100 km west of the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is accessed via Highway 11 which passes within 1 km of the property boundary to the north. The Moss Lake Gold Project covers 14,292 hectares and consists of 282 unpatented and patented mining claims.

Moss Lake hosts a number of gold and base metal rich deposits including the Moss Lake Deposit, the East Coldstream Deposit (Table 1), the historically producing North Coldstream Mine (Table 2), and the Hamlin Zone, all of which occur over a mineralized trend exceeding 20 km in length. A historical preliminary economic assessment was completed on Moss Lake in 2013 and published by Moss Lake Gold1. A historical mineral resource estimate was completed on the East Coldstream Deposit in 2011 by Foundation Resources Inc2,3. In addition to these zones, the Moss Lake Gold Project also hosts a number of under-explored mineral occurrences which are reported to exist both at surface and in historically drilled holes. The Moss Lake Deposit is a shear-hosted disseminated-style gold deposit which outcrops at surface. It has been drilled over a 2.5 km length and to depths of 300 m with 376 holes completed between 1983 and 2017. The last drilling program conducted in 2016 and 2017 by Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. ("Wesdome"), which consisted of widely spaced holes along the strike extension of the deposit was successful in expanding the mineralized footprint and hydrothermal system 1.6 km to the northeast. Additionally, the deposit remains largely open to depth. In 2017, Wesdome completed an induced polarization survey which traced the potential extensions of pyrite mineralization associated with the Moss Lake Deposit over a total strike length of 8 km and spanning the entire extent of the survey grids.

The East Coldstream Deposit is a shear-hosted disseminated-style gold deposit which locally outcrops at surface. It has been drilled over a 1.3 km length and to depths of 200 m with 138 holes completed between 1988 and 2017. The deposit remains largely open at depth and may have the potential for expansion along strike. Historic drill hole highlights from the East Coldstream Deposit include 4.86 g/t Au over 27.3 m in C-10-15.

The historically producing North Coldstream Mine is reported to have produced significant amounts of copper, gold and silver4 from mineralization with potential iron-oxide-copper-gold deposit style affinity. The exploration potential immediately surrounding the historic mining area is not currently well understood and historic data compilation is required.

The Hamlin Zone is a significant occurrence of copper and gold mineralization, and also of potential iron-oxide-copper-gold deposit style affinity. Between 2008 and 2011, Glencore tested Hamlin with 24 drill holes which successfully outlined a broad and intermittently mineralized zone over a strike length of 900 m. Historic drill hole highlights from the Hamlin Zone include 0.9 g/t Au and 0.35% Cu over 150.7 m in HAM-11-75.

The Moss Lake, East Coldstream and North Coldstream deposits sit on a mineral trend marked by a regionally significant deformation zone locally referred to as the Wawiag Fault Zone in the area of the Moss Lake Deposit. This deformation zone occurs over a length of approximately 20 km on the Moss Lake Gold Project and there is an area spanning approximately 7 km between the Moss Lake and East Coldstream deposits that is significantly underexplored.

Table 1: Historical Mineral Resources1,2,3



INDICATED INFERRED Deposit Tonnes Au g/t Au oz Tonnes Au g/t Au oz Moss Lake Deposit1 (2013 resource estimate) Open Pit Potential 39,795,000 1.1 1,377,300 48,904,000 1.0 1,616,300 Underground Potential - - - 1,461,100 2.9 135,400 Moss Lake Total 39,795,000 1.1 1,377,300 50,364,000 1.1 1,751,600

East Coldstream Deposit2 (2011 resource estimate) East Coldstream Total 3,516,700 0.85 96,400 30,533,000 0.78 763,276

Combined Total 43,311,700 1.08 1,473,700 80,897,000 0.98 2,514,876

Notes:

(1) Source: Poirier, S., Patrick, G.A., Richard, P.L., and Palich, J., 2013. Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Moss Lake Project, 43-101 technical report prepared for Moss Lake Gold Mines Ltd. Moss Lake Deposit resource estimate is based on 0.5 g/t Au cut-off grade for open pit and 2.0 g/t Au cut-off grade for underground resources.

(2) Source: McCracken, T., 2011. Technical Report and Resource Estimate on the Osmani Gold Deposit, Coldstream Property, Northwestern Ontario, 43-101 technical report prepared for Foundation Resources Inc. and Alto Ventures Ltd. East Coldstream Deposit resource estimate is based on a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off grade.

(3) The reader is cautioned that the above referenced "historical mineral resource" estimates are considered historical in nature and as such is based on prior data and reports prepared by previous property owners. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current resources and Goldshore is not treating the historical estimates as current resources. Significant data compilation, re-drilling, re-sampling and data verification may be required by a qualified person before the historical estimate on the Moss Lake Gold Project can be classified as a current resource. There can be no assurance that any of the historical mineral resources, in whole or in part, will ever become economically viable. In addition, mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Even if classified as a current resource, there is no certainty as to whether further exploration will result in any inferred mineral resources being upgraded to an indicated or measured mineral resource category.

Table 2: Reported Historical Production from the North Coldstream Deposit4

Deposit Tonnes Cu % Au g/t Ag Cu lbs Au oz Ag oz Historical Production 2,700,0000 1.89 0.56 5.59 102,000,000 44,000 440,000

Note:

(4) Source: Schlanka, R., 1969. Copper, Nickel, Lead and Zinc Deposits of Ontario, Mineral Resources Circular No. 12, Ontario Geological Survey, pp. 314-316.

Peter Flindell, MAusIMM, MAIG, Vice President - Exploration of the Company, a qualified person under NI 43-101 has approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.

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.

For More Information - Please Contact:

Brett A. Richards

President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Goldshore Resources Inc.

P. +1 604 288 4416 M. +1 905 449 1500

E. [email protected]

W. www.goldshoreresources.com

Facebook: GoldShoreRes | Twitter: GoldShoreRes | LinkedIn: goldshoreres

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.

Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements relating to expectations regarding the exploration and development of the Moss Lake Gold Project, including planned drilling activities and metallurgical test work and the other matters listed under the heading "Key Strategic Highlights", intended identification of maiden resources, an update to the historical preliminary economic assessment, and other statements that are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, among others: the Company may require additional financing from time to time in order to continue its operations which may not be available when needed or on acceptable terms and conditions acceptable; compliance with extensive government regulation; domestic and foreign laws and regulations could adversely affect the Company's business and results of operations; the stock markets have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the performance of companies and these fluctuations may adversely affect the price of the Company's securities, regardless of its operating performance; and the impact of COVID-19.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in the United States. The 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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/121649
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Meryllion Resources Corporation (CSE: MYR) ("Meryllion" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has reached terms with Essex Minerals Inc. (TSXV: ESX) (OTCQB: ESXFM) (FSE: EWX1), for an arm's length option and earn-in joint venture on the Mt Turner copper-molybdenum and Drummer Fault gold projects in north Queensland, Australia.

Highlights

Previous exploration by Essex has identified a coherent copper in soil anomaly (>100ppm) flanking a molybdenum in soil anomaly (>10ppm) over a 4km x 4km area at Mt Turner. The soil anomalies are coincident with circular aeromagnetic and geological features which display classic signatures of a large copper-molybdenum porphyry system.

Mt Turner also has the potential to identify an economic gold resource along the Drummer Fault structure, which has demonstrated gold mineralization beneath six small oxide open pits, previous drilling and rock chip samples along 14 km of the identified strike length within the project area.

Essex has granted Meryllion a 90-day option to fund a minimum $250,000 on exploration at Mt Turner, including a detailed induced polarization survey to define drill targets within the porphyry system.

Meryllion will then have the right to earn up to a 70% interest in the project by funding up to a further $3,800,000 in exploration in three stages. $400,000 on exploration within 12 months from the exercise date of the Option ("First Stage Earn-In") to earn 25%; $1,400,000 on exploration within 36 months of exercising the Option ("Second Stage Earn-in") to earn 51%; and a further $2,000,000 on exploration to earn a total 70% interest.



Essex Minerals President and CEO Paul Loudon said: "Copper is expected to play a critical role in the electrification of the global economy and the transition to green energy. An independent report by Goldman Sachs last year indicated the worldwide demand for copper for transitioning to green energy alone will increase from under 1Mt in 2020 to approximately 5.4Mt by 2030 (16% of total global copper demand)."

Meryllion Executive Director and CEO Richard Revelins said: "The initial exploration undertaken by Essex has demonstrated the potential for the discovery of a large copper-molybdenum (with silver and gold) deposit at Mt Turner and Meryllion is very pleased to be entering into this option agreement with Essex. The Mt Turner and Drummer Fault Projects represent new and exciting exploration opportunities for the Company after completing its 2021 restructure and recent capital raising."

In addition to the exploration programs, Meryllion will pay Essex $25,000 for the option and $75,000 to exercise the option.

Summary Geology and Mineralization of the Mt Turner Project

The Mount Turner Property lies in the western portion of the Georgetown Inlier, which constitutes the bulk of the proclaimed Etheridge Goldfield. It consists of variably metamorphosed and deformed sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic age, intruded by Mesoproterozoic granites.

The Proterozoic rocks have been intruded by Siluro-Devonian age granitic rocks during a period of subduction and underplating that is thought to have occurred during the Tabberabberan cycle of the Tasman Orogen (ca 430-380 Ma).

The Georgetown Inlier subsequently experienced a period of felsic intrusion and accompanied sub-aerial volcanism during the Carboniferous to Permian period (ca 350-230 Ma) associated with extension and rifting that developed during the Hunter-Bowen cycle of the Tasman Orogeny. This magmatism is termed the Kennedy Association, which consists of widespread and voluminous extrusive and intrusive igneous rocks, producing a number of large volcanic subsidence structures. This magmatic event was responsible for the 5 million-ounce Kidston gold deposit located some 70 kilometres to the SE of Mt Turner and several other precious metal deposits in Queensland.

The Permo-Carboniferous Mt Turner intrusive complex, which is centred within the property, consists of multiple phases of rhyolite to micro-granodiorite dykes, stocks and associated breccias, hosted by the Meso-Proterozoic Mount Turner Granite and metasediments of the Palaeo-Proterozoic Lane Creek Formation. The overlying subaerial volcanics are postulated to have preserved the porphyry-style mineralisation.

The property was initially examined during the 1975 field season by geologists of the Australian Government's Bureau of Mineral Resources (now Geoscience Australia) and the Geological Survey of Queensland after discovery of extensive hydrothermal alteration around Mt Turner.

The subsequent report (Baker & Horton, 1982) described the intrusive complex as a porphyry copper- molybdenum system with zoned polymetallic mineralisation. The report was based on 11 widespread, shallow vertical drill holes,

A portion of Mt Turner was held by Kidston Gold Mines ("KGM") in 1994-1998 and assessed for gold only, then held by Mega Uranium in 2006-2007 and explored for uranium. No follow-up exploration has been undertaken on the porphyry copper-molybdenum potential identified in the 1970s until the ground was staked in 2019 by KNX Resources Limited, an Australian exploration company now owned 100% by Essex.

Essex currently owns 100% of the Mt Turner property.

Exploration results to date by Essex

The Mt Turner Property comprises two granted exploration permits totaling approximately 104 sq km.

Soil sampling in a 100m x 100m grid by KGM (2,336 minus 80 mesh and 2,462 BCL samples) and Essex (719 samples) has outlined a 4km x 4km soil anomaly which shows classic Cu-Mo zonation - copper in soil flanking a molybdenum core (See Figure 1). The areal size and intensity of alteration and associated anomalous geochemistry points to a significant mineralized system.

A regional aeromagnetic survey also covering Mt Turner (100m flight lines) was undertaken by Mega Uranium in 2006-7. The data was re processed by Essex's geophysical consultants resulting in a series of magnetic highs (interpreted to be associated with potassic alteration) flanking a magnetic low. Anomalous copper soil geochemistry closely follows the magnetic highs. Depth slices indicates the magnetic highs follow an annular ring to depths exceeding 800m.

In addition to the copper - molybdenum association, gold-silver and base metal soil anomalies occur on the periphery of the copper-molybdenum core zone associated with breccia bodies at Balaclava Hill, immediately to the northwest of Mt Turner, in major faults such as the 14 km Drummer Hill Fault, and in association with historically mined, high-grade Ag-Pb-Zn veins. The peripheral breccias and Drummer Fault remain excellent targets for gold mineralization.

Rock samples collected during first pass mapping by Essex field teams demonstrate the property has been subjected to multi-phase intrusive events which provides the potential for multi-stage mineralization episodes, therefore potential for higher grades.

One Queensland Government drill hole (NS4) to 295m in 1977 drilled peripheral to the porphyry target ended in near ore grade mineralization - 0.187% Cu, 0.075% Mo over an assayed 2m section.

Re-logging of the core from this hole by Essex has shown multi-lithological intrusive clasts in breccia at depth which also suggest a poly-phasal intrusive and mineralization history.

The re-logging has also demonstrated early widespread potassic alteration then an overprinting phyllic event (sericite) then a late stage second potassic event associated with multi-stage vein mineralization. This pattern of alternation conforms to the classic model for multi-stage mineralization. The later stage second potassic event towards the end of the hole also suggests that the hole ended above the main mineralization target zone.

The next phase of exploration will involve detailed ground geophysics to define the targets ahead of an initial drilling program.

Summary Geology and Mineralisation of the Drummer Fault

The Drummer Fault is a 14 km east-west structure readily visible on Lidar and satellite imagery within the Mt Turner tenements. The Fault has been active throughout geological time having displaced Proterozoic granites and schists and is disrupted by Permo-Carboniferous felsic and mafic dykes associated with the Kennedy Magmatic Association of North Queensland (genetically related to the major gold deposits of north Queensland).

This structure has been influenced by the Mt Turner multi-phase intrusive porphyry Cu-Mo system 1.4 km to the south of the Drummer Fault. Historically, a number of shallow oxide pits were mined in the 1980's. NE trending structures have intersected the Drummer Fault in a number of locations and these structures may localise higher-grade mineralisation or yet undiscovered mineralized subsidiary splay faults.

At a local scale, exposures in old pits in the oxide zone have shown a close correlation between mineralisation and lithology. In the Drummer Pits, mineralisation follows fault breccias and quartz veining at the contact between granite and meta-dolerite. The Drummer Girl Pits appear to follow a contact between brecciated granite and rhyolite dykes while the Drummer Toy Pit is localised within coarse-grained muscovite granite with meta-dolerite noted some 50m to the south. Generally, where exposed, the Drummer Fault is mineralized along its entire length.

Six widely spaced diamond and RC holes drilled by Essex in 2021 beneath two of the pits at the eastern end of the Drummer Fault confirmed hypogene gold mineralisation beneath the shallow oxide pits. The best intersections were 7m @ 1.74g/t Au and 67.7 g/t Ag from 64m in Hole 6 and 3m @ 5.1g/t Au and 51g/t Ag from 83m in Hole 2.

The western 5km of the structure appears to be dominated by uranium mineralisation in the form of coffinite associated with apatite and sulphides (dominantly pyrite) associated with Permo-Carboniferous rhyolite and mafic dykes in steeply plunging shoots to the west. A historical uranium resource of 374,000 t @ 0.16% U 3 O 8 has been established in the LC50 prospect by previous operators.

About Meryllion

Meryllion Resources is a junior exploration company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Corporation undertook a corporate restructuring and financing in early 2021. Since that time the Company has been investigating a number of exploration opportunities with drill ready targets. In July 2021, the Company announced it had entered into an option agreement in respect to the Oldham Range copper, nickel, cobalt, PGE and zinc project located 320 kms west of Wiluna, Western Australia. Technical due diligence was successfully completed in December last year. The option has been extended to December 2022. The Mt Turner and Drummer Fault Projects represent additional new and prospective opportunities for Meryllion to expand its exploration portfolio.

About Essex

Essex Minerals is an exploration and development company focused on mineral exploration and mine development and finance opportunities where it can adopt an option earn-in and joint venture model. The company identifies geological teams that have already expended the time and capital to assemble top quality, advanced projects, with a particular emphasis on gold projects in Tier 1 jurisdictions, where the company can earn an interest by funding exploration. Management's time is shared across several different projects, as the geological teams already in place at the project level manage the approved exploration and development programs. This strategy has the potential to accelerate the growth in shareholder value for Essex by earning an interest in a range of projects of merit in a much shorter time frame than otherwise would be possible.

Qualified Person

All of the scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and/or prepared by Mr. Lee K. Spencer, BSc (Hons), MSc, MAusIMM, a "Qualified Person" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Minerals Projects.

For further information please contact:

Richard Revelins

Executive Director and CEO

Meryllion Resources Corporation

[email protected]

+1-310-405-4475

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.









Figure 1



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Rritual Product Line to Launched in Gotham's Top 300 Premium Accounts

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 26, 2022) - Rritual Superfoods Inc. (CSE: RSF) (FSE: 0RW) (OTCQB: RRSFF) ("Rritual" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Rritual has signed a comprehensive distribution deal with Gotham Brand Managers, covering New York City and The Hamptons.

Rritual's relationship with Gotham provides a significant advancement toward penetrating the essential New York City and environs market, establishing the cache of Rritual Brand. Building upon their experience and deep relationships, Gotham delivers a comprehensive, best of class offering that includes:

Selling at the chain and store level

Merchandising at store locations

Implementation of all marketing and promotional initiatives

Delivery with extensive market penetration and personalized service

"I am very excited for the opportunity to work with Trent and his team at Gotham," said Warren Spence, Rritual CEO and Director. "This agreement advances Rritual's position through strategic placement and awareness with top retail establishments, putting our products in the hands of the ever-important New York consumer. We will start by focusing on Gotham's top 300 premium accounts with distribution, POS (Point of Sale) and sampling (where applicable)."

Under the agreement, Gotham will sell, deliver, merchandise and market Rritual SKUs in their top independent accounts in the New York, Bronx, Kings, Queens counties along with the Hamptons.

"At Gotham, we are very excited to get into the world of functional mushrooms and we look forward to working with Warren and the Rritual team," stated Gotham Brands Founder, Mr. Trent Moffat.

Under the terms of the Agreement with Gotham, Rritual will pay a monthly fee of US$7,000 per month.

About Gotham

Gotham Brand Managers is a dedicated, experienced team with a long-term, win-win solution for all. Gotham Brand Managers is NOT a consultant or broker, only making introductions to distributors and chains. We are able to deliver consistent results for our customers by helping to manage brands with a back-to-basics approach. This includes selling at store level with "feet on the street," people selling weekly with in-store visits to our key accounts throughout the region. Simply put, we work hard by showing up and doing what is needed every day for your brand. https://www.gothambrands.com/

About Rritual

Rritual Superfoods is the first award winning, premium brand in the emerging functional mushroom & adaptogenic superfood market. More than a functional mushroom company, Rritual is a Superfood Platform. At the forefront of innovation in the space, we have entered the market with plant-based elixirs, and continue to consistently expand our offering to meet and exceed our customer's needs. As a company, we believe in the power of plant-based nourishment and the vital life force that adaptogens, superfoods, and mushrooms can offer our bodies. Our products are made with mindfully-selected, organic functional mushrooms and adaptogenic herbs, traditionally consumed for their ability to support a healthy response to stress and help optimize mental, cognitive, digestive, and immune health. For more information, visit www.rritual.com.

Follow Rritual on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

For further information please contact:

Warren Spence - Chief Executive Officer and Director

Investor Relations:

E-mail: [email protected]

Telephone: (844) 809-5709

Functional Foods Market

According to Grandview Research*, it is estimated that the global functional food market is projected to reach $275 billion by 2025, growing at 7.9% each year with consumers putting more emphasis on health and wellness.

*https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-functional-foods-market

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements") that relate to Rritual's current expectations and views of future events. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as "will likely result", "are expected to", "expects", "will continue", "is anticipated", "anticipates", "believes", "estimated", "intends", "plans", "forecast", "projection", "strategy", "objective" and "outlook") are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. In particular and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the Company's plans to leverage third party manufacturing and logistics, the Company's broader retail distribution plans and the Company's other plans, focus and objectives.

Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Rritual's control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the impact and progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors set forth under "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the final long form prospectus of the Company dated February 26, 2021 and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Rritual undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Rritual to predict all of them or assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

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Bringing fresh energy to an enduring literary publication

CHICAGO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Poetry Foundation is pleased to announce that Adrian Matejka will join Poetry as the new editor beginning May 16. Matejka is the first Black editor to ever lead Poetry; he was selected through a national search.

The Poetry Foundation is pleased to announce that Adrian Matejka will join Poetry as the new editor.

"We are thrilled to welcome Adrian Matejka as the new editor of Poetry," said Michelle T. Boone, Poetry Foundation president. "As an accomplished poet, educator, and past poet laureate, Adrian brings invaluable talent and experience. We look forward to his leadership and collaboration with the team to share new poets and poetry with the world. It feels fitting that we are able to announce this news during National Poetry Month."

Poetry was founded by Harriet Monroe in 1912, and is the longest-running monthly magazine devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. The magazine publishes new works from poets in the US and beyond, and continues to evolve alongside the art it highlights. Matejka joins the existing Poetry team after a series of guest editors who expertly helmed the magazine alongside them in 20212022: Esther Belin, Su Cho, Suzi F. Garcia, Ashley M. Jones, and Srikanth "Chicu" Reddy.

"I couldn't be more humbled or excited to be the new editor of Poetry. The 19-year-old version of me, thumbing through the magazine's pages with wonder, would have never imagined that he would one day be part of such a vital literary institution," said Adrian Matejka. "It will be my duty to work with the brilliant staff at the magazine and the Poetry Foundation to continue transforming the magazine into an engine for 21st century poetry. I am committed to reimagining Poetry not only as a venue for poetics, but more importantly, as one that is in service of poets and treats writers as the gifts that they are."

Born in Nuremberg, Germany, Matejka grew up in Indianapolis, IN, and served as Poet Laureate of Indiana in 201819. A seasoned professor and writer, Matejka has authored several collections of poetry, including his most recent collection, Somebody Else Sold the World, which was a finalist for the 2022 UNT Rilke Prize. His first graphic novel, Last On His Feet, will be published in 2023 by Liveright.

"Not only has Adrian defined himself as an influential poet writing today, having worked with him closely through our Poem-a-Day series, for which he was an inaugural guest editor, and Poets Laureate Fellowship project, I can attest to his care for other poets' work and his community-building spirit," said Jen Benka, president and executive director of the Academy of American Poets. "I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Adrian and the Poetry Foundation on this excellent addition to their team, and I look forward to reading the poems he'll help share with readers."

Tyehimba Jess, celebrated poet and president of the Cave Canem Board of Directors, had this to say about Matejka's selection: "Adrian's vision of building literary community through excellence and diversity in publication is a critical step forward for Poetry. Through his work on the page and his activism as poet laureate of Indiana, Adrian has a track record of service to history and the fullness of each reader and poet's humanity. I look forward to perusing the pages and programs of Poetry that he will curate during his tenure."

Matejka's honors include a Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, a Pushcart Prize, and a Julia Peterkin Award, as well as fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and a Simon Fellowship from United States Artists. Matejka earned an MFA at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington, where he went on to serve as a Ruth Lilly Professor of Poetry.

About the Poetry Foundation

The Poetry Foundation is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in American culture. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative literary prizes and programs.

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SOURCE Poetry Foundation
BEIJING, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Autohome Inc. (NYSE: ATHM; HKEX: 2518) ("Autohome" or the "Company"), the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China, today announced that it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on April 25, 2022. The annual report on Form 20-F, which contains the Company's audited consolidated financial statements, can be accessed on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov as well as through the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.autohome.com.cn.

The Company will provide a hard copy of its annual report containing the audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and ADS holders upon request. Requests should be directed to Investor Relations Department, Autohome Inc., 18th Floor Tower B, CEC Plaza, 3 Dan Ling Street, Haidian District, Beijing, People's Republic of China.

The Company has also published the same annual report today for Hong Kong purposes pursuant to the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "HKEx"), which can be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.autohome.com.cn as well as the HKEx's website at http://www.hkexnews.hk.

About Autohome Inc.

Autohome Inc. (NYSE: ATHM; HKEX: 2518) is the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China. Its mission is to engage, educate and inform consumers about everything auto. Autohome provides original generated content, professionally generated content, user-generated content, and AI-generated content, a comprehensive automobile library, and extensive automobile listing information to automobile consumers, covering the entire car purchase and ownership cycle. The ability to reach a large and engaged user base of automobile consumers has made Autohome a preferred platform for automakers and dealers to conduct their advertising campaigns. Further, the Company's dealer subscription and advertising services allow dealers to market their inventory and services through Autohome's platform, extending the reach of their physical showrooms to potentially millions of internet users in China and generating sales leads for them. The Company offers sales leads, data analysis, and marketing services to assist automakers and dealers with improving their efficiency and facilitating transactions. Autohome operates its "Autohome Mall," a full-service online transaction platform, to facilitate transactions for automakers and dealers. Further, through its websites and mobile applications, it also provides other value-added services, including auto financing, auto insurance, used car transactions, and aftermarket services. For further information, please visit www.autohome.com.cn.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Autohome Inc.Investor RelationsTel: +86-10-5985-7483E-mail: [email protected]

The Piacente Group, Inc.Jenny CaiTel: +86-10-6508-0677E-mail: [email protected]

In the United States:

The Piacente Group, Inc.Brandi PiacenteTel: +1-212-481-2050E-mail: [email protected]

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SOURCE Autohome Inc.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. , April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This afternoon, Axiom-1 (Ax-1) successfully completed the first all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft (launch provider for this historic mission) splashed off the coast of Florida, carrying four Axiom Space astronauts: Commander and former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, Pilot Larry Connor, and Mission Specialists Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy.

During their mission on the space station, the Ax-1 astronauts conducted dozens of research experiments, including more than 25 investigations sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory.

The ISS National Lab-sponsored investigations on Ax-1 included a range of projects that sought to enable discoveries that bring value to humanity and further sustained business models in low Earth orbit. Axiom is an ISS National Lab Commercial Service Provider, and through this partnership, will continue to launch and support future investigations onboard the orbiting laboratory, such as:

An experiment testing a Bio-Monitor smart shirt system. The system intends to monitor the vital signs of crew members and assess the effects of spaceflight on their heart, lungs, and circulatory systems. The investigation sought to demonstrate the potential for using the platform to autonomously monitor the health of astronauts on future long-duration missions and specific applications on Earth. The system also has the potential to help those who are bedridden, housebound, or living in rural communities where there is limited access to medical support. Workers may also wear it in dangerous environments such as mines, industrial sites, and factories.

An experiment testing the EEG Sense System, a portable electroencephalography (EEG) headset used to measure Ax-1 astronauts' brain activity at rest and during cognitive tasks before, during, and after the mission. The study results will provide actionable insights for facilitating cognitive wellness assessments of astronauts on long-term space missions.

Demonstrations of TESSERAE's self-assembling space architecture, which could be used to build structures in orbit. Ax-1 astronauts studied TESSARAE's orbiting modules to assess the feasibility of in-orbit construction of satellites and future space habitats, including space hotels, to support the coming waves of space tourists.

"Congratulations to Axiom Space and SpaceX on this historic first for human spaceflight in low Earth orbit," said Ray Lugo, chief executive officer for the ISS National Laboratory. "This mission demonstrated access to space is growing, and we look forward to the results derived from this initial private astronaut mission. We hope that this mission strengthens future conversations with researchers, companies, and other organizations on the potential of not only launching research to the orbiting laboratory but actually becoming a participant in space-based inquiries themselves."

To learn more about our collaboration with Axiom, please visit our partnership page.

About the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory:The International Space Station (ISS) is a remarkable scientific platform with a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Lab allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research

resources on the ISS are available to support non-NASA science, technology, and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS) manages the ISS National Lab under Cooperative Agreement with NASA, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National Lab, visit www.ISSNationalLab.org.

Media Contact: Patrick O'Neill904-806-0035[email protected]

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SOURCE ISS National Lab
CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 14 board of director nominees were elected, with at least 92 percent of the vote cast in favor of each.

An advisory proposal on executive compensation was approved, with more than 94 percent of the vote cast in favor. Management proposals to ratify the appointment of the company's independent accounting firm and to ratify the adoption of the Delaware exclusive forum provision in the company's bylaws were also approved. No stockholder proposals were approved.

Results are considered preliminary, with final figures reported on a Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bank of AmericaBank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,100 retail financial centers, approximately 16,000 ATMs, and award-winning digital banking with approximately 54 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for email news alerts.

www.bankofamerica.com

Investors May Contact

Lee McEntire, Bank of AmericaPhone: 1.980.388.6780[email protected]

Jonathan Blum, Bank of America (Fixed Income)Phone: 1.212.449.3112[email protected]

Reporters May Contact:

William Halldin, Bank of AmericaPhone: 916-718-1251[email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bank-of-america-announces-preliminary-voting-results-from-2022-annual-meeting-of-stockholders-301533541.html

SOURCE Bank of America Corporation
BEIJING, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited Renmin University of China in Beijing on Monday, ahead of China's Youth Day which falls on May 4.

Xi went to an intelligent classroom for ideological-political courses to learn about the reform and innovation of ideological-political education.

He went to the university's museum and library to learn about the school's history, its achievements in teaching and research, and efforts to protect and use ancient documents and books as well as to promote the application of research results.

Xi then chaired a symposium with the university's teachers and students.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQvcFlglQuo

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SOURCE CCTV+
Free Hotline Connects Deaf Community Seeking COVID-19 Information, Such As Face Mask Requirements and Vaccine Locations, with Agents Who Are Fluent in American Sign Language.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD) has launched an American Sign Language-based COVID-19 information hotline in the City of Austin, Texas. This hotline gives the approximately 4 million Texans who are Deaf or hard of hearing access to the latest coronavirus health information and guidelines in their native language, American Sign Language (ASL). The hotline is available online at CSD's Austin COVID Information website or through videophone.

The Austin ASL Now Hotline, powered by CSD's Connect Direct division, is staffed by a team of Deaf agents who are fluent in ASL and trained to provide Austinites with the most up-to-date health information and guidelines in their geographic area, such as face mask requirements and vaccine locations near them. By directly connecting Deaf callers with trained Deaf agents instead of randomized, untrained Video Relay interpreters, the hotline helps curb confusion and misinformation.

"I often get calls from people who are very concerned about not understanding what is happening because statistics and data are so overwhelming," said one COVID-19 Hotline representative. "After providing support in ASL, I can see that people are feeling relieved and safer by having more accurate information to protect themselves."

Connect Direct recently launched a similar ASL-based hotline in Minnesota in March 2022, and another hotline in the State of Virginia in April 2021. Over a four-month period, Virginia's hotline agents handled more than 500 calls from Deaf Virginians seeking accessible coronavirus information.

"Our free hotline gives Deaf Austinites a resource where they can comfortably ask questions about any COVID-19 issues or concerns they may have by communicating one-on-one and in their native language," said Craig J. Radford, CSD's Vice President of Emerging Markets. "For ASL users, this allows equal access to critical information during this continuing global pandemic, which can relieve confusion, stress, and worry."

Anyone may contact the Austin ASL Now hotline in one of two ways:

Visit CSD's Austin, Texas COVID Information website and click "ASL Now."

Dial 737-304-6560 on any videophone.

Hotline agents are available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST.

CSD's Austin hotline agents will also be hosting a booth at the first ever Austin Deaf Authors Book Festival, scheduled May 6-7, 2022. The festival will be held at the Texas School for the Deaf located at 1102 South Congress Ave., Austin, TX. Anyone is welcome to attend.

CSD and the Connect Direct Austin ASL Now hotline are not medical organizations. Hotline agents are not medical professionals, nor do they provide medical advice.

About Communication Service for the Deaf Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD) is the largest Deaf-led social impact organization in the world. For more than four decades, CSD has been a leader in creating and providing accessible and innovative solutions for the Deaf community. Today, CSD continues its work to create opportunities for personal and economic growth within the Deaf community, specifically addressing leadership and employment. For more information, please visit CSD and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

About Connect DirectSince 2017, Connect Direct has been the leading provider of innovative call center solutions for communicating directly with Deaf customers in American Sign Language. Offering cutting-edge customer service through Connect Direct decreases customer frustration and opens the door to a new market of loyal clients. This expertise provides an invaluable, time-saving solution for businesses, customers, and representatives alike. To learn more, visit Connect Direct, explore our media kit, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:Leila Eltouny[email protected]

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SOURCE Communication Service For The Deaf, Inc
WALTHAM, Ma. and ARLINGTON, Va., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CorEvitas, LLC is excited to announce leadership changes for HealthiVibe, its market-leading Patient Experience business. The company continues to grow and integrate the patient voice with its real-world evidence model bringing increased value to pharmaceutical clients - from discovery through commercialization.

Abbe Steel, founder and former CEO of HealthiVibe, is moving into the role of Chief Growth Officer with CorEvitas. "I'm excited for this next phase," Ms. Steel said. "In my new role, I'll have a chance to continue to expand the CorEvitas real-world evidence model through innovative research models and projects, leveraging our capabilities across the entire organization to help our clients. At the same time, we'll stay true to the commitment to patient engagement and experience that was the impetus for founding HealthiVibe eight years ago."

The Patient Experience business will be well-positioned for the future with the promotions of Jennifer Kelly, former Vice President of Operations, and Valerie Powell, former Vice President of Research Services.

Ms. Kelly, who has over 20 years of experience supporting clinical and commercial patient-directed initiatives within the pharmaceutical industry, will be taking on the role of President, Patient Experience. "I am thrilled to take on this next challenge, and I look forward to creating new models that continue to ensure meaningful and lasting value on behalf of patients and pharmaceutical clients," she said. Ms. Kelly has been with the company since 2015 and brings continuity of leadership, as well as critical experience defining a global implementation strategy and helping to manage the growth of the business from three to seventy employees.

Ms. Powell will take on the new role of Chief Patient Officer and will lead both the Client Solutions and Delivery Teams. A key thought leader with a deep background in research, Ms. Powell will drive initiatives to deliver compelling and innovative patient experience solutions. "Now more than ever, patient participation and representation are critical components of our clients' programs. I am excited to work with teams across our industry to ensure the patient is central to all their business decisions," Ms. Powell said.

About CorEvitas

CorEvitas is the built-for-purpose, gold-standard provider of real-world evidence. Through syndicated registry data and analytic services, CorEvitas supports biopharmaceutical companies to demonstrate the value of their products to clinicians, patients, payers, and regulators. CorEvitas operates eight major autoimmune and inflammatory registries across the U.S., Canada, and Japan, collecting data from almost 500 participating investigator sites. In addition to supporting hundreds of manuscripts and abstracts, CorEvitas has supported post- approval safety commitments for multiple newly approved treatments in autoimmune diseases for both U.S. and European regulators. CorEvitas has built on its syndicated registry business with additional complementary capabilities over time. The Precision Medicine business advances the molecular understanding of disease and prognostic tools by pairing registry data with select biospecimens and 'omics data. The Patient Experience business complements and strengthens the company's strong presence in disease registries by providing market-leading expertise in supporting innovative, evidence-based patient engagement initiatives across the product lifecycle. This includes the HealthUnlocked technology platform, which hosts over 1.5 million patients in hundreds of condition-specific communities and significantly expands the scope of patient experiential data. The Specialty EMR Data business has deep relationships with the NHS and leading UK academic institutions and gives CorEvitas access to a broad range of UK and international data sets across primary and secondary care, including access to a leading retinal data set. CorEvitas is Headquartered in Waltham, MA and is a portfolio company of Audax Private Equity.

CONTACT INFORMATION:Erem Latif+1 (508) 408-5529 [email protected]

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SOURCE CorEvitas, LLC
DALLAS, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Custodia Financial today announced that insurance veteran J. Anthony "Tony" Nelson has joined the company as the Chief Diversity Officer.

Tony has had a long and impactful career in the insurance and benefits industry, including roles as Vice President and Chief Underwriter for the Caribbean Division of American Bankers Insurance Group, Director of Risk Management & Security of Breakers Palm Beach, Territorial Underwriting Manager for Allstate Insurance Company, Owner, and President of Premier Risk Services, and most recently upon a successful exit as the President of Premier, which focuses on Family Health and Wellness.

"We are thrilled to have Tony join the Custodia Financial team," said Tod A. Ruble, CEO of Custodia Financial. "Tony's experience in the industry, combined with his ability to build and grow businesses makes him the perfect person to help us increase awareness of our 401k loan protection program. As a Certified DE&I and soon to be ESG enterprise, our sole purpose is to improve retirement outcomes for all America's workers, especially those from underrepresented groups"

"I couldn't be more excited to join Custodia Financial at this critical juncture," said Tony Nelson. As a social impact company, "Custodia's innovative protection program assists all Americans but have a disproportionate benefit for underrepresented minority groups. These vulnerable employees tend to borrow and default at higher rates than the general population, and I look forward to being a catalyst to reverse the trend and significantly improve retirement outcomes."

About Custodia FinancialFounded in 2010, Custodia Financial measurably improves participants' 401(k) retirement outcomes. We offer the only available 401(k) loan protection program that automatically prevents loan defaults caused by job loss. Custodia Financial's innovative programs repay 401(k) loans in the event of separation from employment. To learn more, please visit www.CustodiaFinancial.com.

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SOURCE Custodia Financial
In a dynamic media market, where content optimization is key to staying competitive, Fincons Group has developed a single, end-to-end rights management solution for maximizing content exploitation

LAS VEGAS, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fincons Group, a leading international system integrator with key experience in the media & broadcast sector in the US and Europe, today launches its new comprehensive rights management solution at the NAB Show 2022.

This unique solution responds to urgent market demand for a unique and centralized enterprise-view of content rights that matches their fluid approach to content. AllRights is a single, modular solution, based on an extremely comprehensive set of core capabilities, combined with value-added incremental features that leverage AI, ML, innovative data-driven toolsets as well as a flexible and modern technical layer.

From a technology perspective the solution is highly configurable, cloud-native and offered in SaaS with optional multitenancy. Most importantly, however, AllRights offers a uniquely broad range of capabilities to respond to emerging market needs. Special focus was placed on providing a contemporary user interface, focused on a smooth, intuitive user experience inspired by the one of modern B2C applications.

Increasing competition for viewers fragments audience and is making the battle for valuable and appealing content increasingly tough especially considering how expensive new content can be. Add to this the fact that available rights are limited, and it is clear why many major industry players are shifting their business model from content acquisition to content production. Similarly, M&A strategies are becoming more common in a bid to enrich content catalog, reduce overhead costs and acquire market share.

As a result, traditional divisions between buyers and sellers are blurring with companies representing the producer, the seller and even the buyer depending on the context. The content value chain and the related business models have never been more fluid.

"Now any content distributors, content producers, content aggregators, broadcasters can all access the same capabilities as they shift their roles on the value chain," explains Alberto Niero, General Manager Global Business Unit Media at Fincons Group, "Unlike existing systems that were designed with only the requirements of one specific player in the chain in mind and struggle to adapt when used by other players, this tool is designed to be fluid and respond to the needs of media players today supporting all kinds of transactions and needs."

AllRights supports full content rights exploitation in a business-outcome driven paradigm, with a user-friendly configurable environment, and introducing a set of smart features, such as NLP-based Automated Contract Import, to capture the relevant T&Cs in content licensing contracts, helping to accelerate the process and reducing manual data entry errors.

"This latest solution is a natural evolution of our experience in the media sector. Over the years Fincons has been gathering and interpreting the feedback and information provided by its media clients and investing in developing and scouting new technologies to help respond to their emerging needs. We can't wait for clients to discover how much simpler and more profitable their content rights management can become," concludes Francesco Moretti, Global Deputy CEO & CEO International at Fincons Group.

About Fincons Group

With 2000 employees worldwide and 39 years of experience, Fincons is an award-winning IT business consultancy, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, digital, technology and operations to a diverse range of industries. In the Media sector, the Group has long term and successful relationships with Tier-1 clients, providing solutions and ICT services covering the entire digital supply chain, from Rights Management, Programming, Data-driven production, Metadata management, to Asset management, Advertising, Digital services, OTT, and NextGenTV. Fincons has offices in the US (New York, Los Angeles, Austin), in the UK (London), Italy (Milan, Rome, Bari, Verona, Catania), Switzerland (Lugano, Bern, Zurich, Kussnacht am Rigi), Germany (Munich) and in France (Paris, Lyon).

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1804882/Fincons_Group.jpg

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SOURCE Fincons Group
GOTHENBURG, Sweden , April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "Net sales declined by 6.4% and the order intake fell organically by 4.4% in the quarter," says Mattias Perjos, President & CEO. "However, excluding the strong sales of ventilators in 2021, we had organic growth in both order intake and net sales. The order book grew 8% during the quarter and is 21% higher now than the same period in 2021, excluding currency fluctuations".

Getinge has a strong pipeline of orders and the sales forecast for the full-year remains unchanged. The deliveries were negatively affected toward the end of the quarter as a result of temporary supply chain challenges. The company estimates that net sales corresponding to SEK 300 M have been delayed as a result of the shortage of components.

"Like many others, we have been impacted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, says Mattias Perjos, President & CEO. "We do not have any production or major deliveries in these countries, but it can indirectly result in higher costs for input goods and delays, which will ultimately affect patients and hospitals around the world. Our customers have been understanding about the situation and appreciate the products and services that we offer, which provide a solid platform for productive dialogue in the current situation".

Getinge has well-functioning methods for ensuring access to components and transportation, and expects to meet major deliveries during the second half of the year.

The gross margin could be maintained in the quarter despite lower volumes from ventilators and negative mix effects and challenges in the supply chain. The EBITA margin was adversely affected by lower volumes and an unfavorable product mix. Getinge expects to see a strong recovery in margins as volumes increase throughout the rest of the year.

January  March 2022 in brief

Net sales declined organically by 6.4%. The organic order intake declined by 4.4%.

Adjusted gross profit amounted to SEK 3,261 M (3,285) and the margin was 52.7% (53.3).

Adjusted EBITA amounted to SEK 839 M (1,079) and the margin was 13.6% (17.5).

Adjusted earnings per share amounted to SEK 2.11 (2.68).

Cash flow after net investments amounted to SEK 420 M (2,026).

Phone Conference

A conference call will be held on April 26, 2022, at 10:00-11:00 am CEST hosted by Mattias Perjos, President & CEO, and Lars Sandstrom, CFO. Please see dial in details below to join the conference:

SE: +46 8 505 583 66UK: +44 333 300 92 71US: +1 631 913 14 22

During the conference call a presentation will be held. To access the presentation through webcast, please use this link: https://tv.streamfabriken.com/getinge-q1-2022

Alternatively, use the following link to download the presentation: https://www.getinge.com/int/about-us/investors/reports-presentations/

Agenda09:45 Dial in to the conference10:00 Presentation10:30 Q&A11:00 End of conference

Recording available for 3 yearsA recorded version can be accessed for 3 years via https://tv.streamfabriken.com/getinge-q1-2022

Media contact:

Lars Mattson, Head of Investor RelationsTel: +46 (0)10 335 0043Email: [email protected]

This information is such that Getinge AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Swedish Securities Market Act. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, on April 26, 2022, at 08:00 a.m. CEST.

About Getinge

With a firm belief that every person and community should have access to the best possible care, Getinge provides hospitals and life science institutions with products and solutions that aim to improve clinical results and optimize workflows. The offering includes products and solutions for intensive care, cardiovascular procedures, operating rooms, sterile reprocessing and life science. Getinge employs over 10,000 people worldwide and the products are sold in more than 135 countries.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/getinge/r/getinge-interim-report-january-march-2022--healthy-order-book-but-supply-chain-challenges,c3552841

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/942/3552841/1568946.pdf Getinge Interim Report Q1 2022 https://news.cision.com/getinge/i/mattias-perjos---president---ceo-getinge,c3041648 Mattias Perjos, President & CEO Getinge https://news.cision.com/getinge/i/flow-i-c30-anesthesia-machine-or-800x400,c3041649 Flow-i C30 anesthesia machine OR 800x400 https://mb.cision.com/Public/942/3552841/a48adc5d7d11f803.pdf Press release Getinge Interim Report Q1 2022

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SOURCE Getinge
GLASGOW, Scotland, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Invizius Limited ("Invizius"), a biotechnology company developing treatments to suppress unwanted immune responses in haemodialysis, today announces that it has been awarded a second Biomedical Catalyst grant (Feasibility & Primer Award) by Innovate UK to research a new field of application for its H-Guard technology.

Globally there are 3.5 million patients who are solely dependent on renal replacement therapy to preserve life. These figures are increasing due to rising incidence of chronic kidney disease, diabetes and acute kidney injury. Haemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis are the two main treatment methods used today. Both have limitations due to the body's immune reaction to the procedure.

Today Invizius is developing its H-Guard Haemodialysis Priming Solution which comprises a novel protein that lines the inside of the dialysis filter and helps dialysis to take place undetected by the body's immune system. This suppresses the blood's foreign body response preventing a repetitive, hostile inflammatory reaction that increases the risk of cardiovascular and other complications.

Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) offers considerable benefits to patients, but it has a high dropout rate, which has limited its adoption compared to Haemodialysis. One of the main causes of dropout is damage to the peritoneal membrane from chronic exposure to PD solutions, and immune activation is thought to be a key driver.

The company will now assess in-vitro and in-vivo efficacy of a novel method of using its technology for PD and progress thereafter into pre-clinical development. The project will run for 18 months.

Dr Andy Herbert, Chief Technology Officer of Invizius, said: "Our Board, which comprises members with significant industry experience, together with key PD opinion leaders have encouraged us to assess how our H-Guard technology could be applied to minimise peritioneal membrane damage, a key issue for PD therapy. We are very pleased to receive this second Biomedical Catalyst grant which will allow us to research ways of addressing this issue alongside our Haemodialysis development programme which is running on track."

About Invizius

Invizius Limited is a late pre-clinical-stage biotechnology company developing treatments to suppress unwanted immune responses, focused initially on reducing the life-threatening inflammatory effects of dialysis. Founded in 2017, the University of Edinburgh spin-out is developing its proprietary H-Guard Priming Solution, comprising a novel protein that lines the inside of the dialysis filter and helps dialysis to take place undetected by the body's immune system. This suppresses the blood's foreign body response, thereby preventing a hostile inflammatory reaction. The technology can also be used with other devices or treatments such as continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), cardiopulmonary bypass, organ transplants and immunomodulating therapeutics. The company is looking to expand its product pipeline into other, high-value indications.

For more information on Invizius, please visit: www.invizius.com

About the Biomedical Catalyst

The Biomedical Catalyst (BMC) is a unique partnership between the MRC and Innovate UK, providing responsive and effective support to the most innovative life sciences opportunities regardless of scientific approach. The BMC aims to de-risk innovative science and commercialise ideas arising out of academia and industry helping UK SMEs to develop into competitive and sustainable organisations. This accelerates the progress of novel products to market, facilitates onward investment and bridges "the valley of death". For further information please visit: https://mrc.ukri.org/funding/science-areas/translation/biomedical-catalyst/

Innovate UK

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas, including those from the UK's world-class research base. They connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn these ideas into commercially successful products and services, and business growth. For more information please visit www.innovateuk.org.

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SOURCE Invizius
'This project will be important to strengthen our competitiveness and ability to develop and renew the business'

OSLO, Norway, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infor, the industry cloud company, today announced that Jernia has decided to work with Infor and its partner Columbus Norway to replace an old enterprise resource planning (ERP) system with Infor Cloudsuite Distribution Enterprise, a standardized industry solution for retail trade.

Learn more about Infor CloudSuite Distribution Enterprise: https://www.infor.com/products/cloudsuite-distribution-enterprise

Jernia was established in Norway in 1951 as a purchasing collaboration to offer home goods. Today, Jernia AS is a holding, marketing and distribution company for household items, kitchen equipment, hardware, tools, paint, grills, and interiors.

"Moving our ERP solution to the multi-tenant cloud is an important part of the digitalisation journey for the entire group and lays the foundation for tomorrow's solutions that will give us the competitiveness we need to give our customers the best help," says Sondre Eftedal, CIO at Jernia. "Infor CloudSuite Distribution Enterprise has a lot of the functionality we need today and, as a cloud solution, it covers our strict requirements for uptime, scalability and security."

Espen Enger, head of Infor solutions at Columbus, emphasizes that Infor's multi-tenant solution, powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), is very competitive with its low operating costs. "At the same time, functionality is at the forefront because the solution is developed with customers in the retail trade worldwide by solving ever-new needs and requirements for relevant functionality, reliability and stability. This combination is one of our strongest competitive advantages," Enger says.

Jernia expects that the new ERP platform will contribute to better and more efficient collaboration throughout the group. The platform, which includes a user-friendly interface, is constantly updated with new and relevant functionality as well as more integrated processes across various functions in the company.

"The ERP system is the hub of our business with touch points throughout the organization. A significant factor in this choice has been that we enable further investment in our omnichannel concept, which is already among the best in the country. That is why our ERP platform is an important driver for our competitiveness," Eftedal says.

Infor CloudSuite Distribution Enterprise is updated monthly for customers in the retail trade, with a team dedicated to IT security and a cloud solution that ensures strict requirements for uptime. In addition, Infor has a strong focus on automating and streamlining business processes using AI.

"We have chosen an established partner that has good knowledge of Jernia's organization, business processes, and how we will implement the solution together. Columbus also has the ideal conditions to assist Jernia in both the management and the further development of our business processes. And not least, we have good chemistry that makes us look forward to further collaboration," Eftedal concludes. "This project will be important to strengthen our competitiveness and ability to develop and renew the business."

About JerniaJernia strikes a blow for the long-term, the sustainable and the reliable. For generations, Jernia has been an important local team player for people to succeed at home. And we must continue to do so. We want customers to succeed in everything from cooking to fixing the small projects. With professional knowledge, services and product selection, we give customers the best help, the right solutions and goods that last. And with over 130 stores combined with an online store, we meet customers exactly where they are. Jernia is here for the long run. With tomorrow's solutions, we will not only help customers live more sustainable lives, but also ensure that our employees are taken care of and have a good time at work. https://www.jernia.no/

About ColumbusColumbus is a global IT service and consulting organization with more than 2,000 employees, serving 5,000+ customers globally. Columbus creates lasting value for large private companies by developing their core processes and business operations digitally. We specialize in companies within production, food, retail and distribution. Columbus delivers, manages and further develops key business systems that cover the entire value chain. It includes everything from ERP systems, which are the blood vessels in companies, to e-commerce and CRM solutions that provide good customer experiences and increased revenue. With our global organization behind us, we are a proactive advisor and digital partner. Through strategic digital consulting, data-driven insight and innovative use of AI and machine learning, we create new, sustainable business opportunities and are a driving force for digital transformation for our customers. www.columbusglobal.no

About Infor Infor is a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry. We develop complete solutions for our focus industries, including industrial manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, food & beverage, automotive, aerospace & defense, and high tech. Infor's mission-critical enterprise applications and services are designed to deliver sustainable operational advantages with security and faster time-to-value. We are obsessed with delivering successful business outcomes for customers, and we are continually innovating to quickly solve emerging business and industry challenges. Over 60,000+ organizations in more than 175 countries rely on Infor's 17,000 employees and their deep industry expertise to help overcome market disruptions and achieve their business goals. As a Koch company, our financial strength, ownership structure, and long-term view empower us to foster enduring, mutually beneficial relationships with our customers, employees and partners. Visit www.infor.com.

For more information:

Sondre Eftedal, CIO Jernia AS, email: [email protected]

Espen Enger, Columbus business line market unit director M3 Norway, email: [email protected] , mobile: 47 99275701

, mobile: 47 99275701 Erlend Skaar-Olsen, country manager Infor Norway, email: [email protected] , mobile: 930 39 800

Copyright 2022 Infor. All rights reserved. The word and design marks set forth herein are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Infor and/or related affiliates and subsidiaries. All other trademarks listed herein are the property of their respective owners. www.infor.com

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SOURCE Infor
All-in-one solution provides flexible, scalable Managed Detection & Response capabilities to address the growing sophistication of threats across hybrid enterprise environments

CHESEAUX-SUR-LAUSANNE, Switzerland and PHOENIX, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kudelski Security, the cybersecurity division within the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S), today announced the launch of its MDR ONE solution, a new all-in-one solution that provides cloud-native managed detection and response (MDR) solutions built on Kudelski Security's proprietary XDR architecture.

Kudelski Security launched MDR ONE, an all-in-one, cloud-native managed detection and response solution.

The enterprise shift to the cloud is accelerating, with Gartner predicting that more than half of IT spending will shift from traditional solutions to the cloud by 2025. Kudelski Security's new MDR ONE supports this trend by enabling organizations with limited or less experienced security teams, or those with smaller budgets, to access advanced, cloud-based MDR capabilities to efficiently scale security as their needs grow or change over time.

"Now more than ever, businesses of all sizes need to ensure they maintain the highest level of security for their systems and data," said Andrew Howard, CEO, Kudelski Security. "Kudelski Security's new MDR ONE enables us to provide efficient, effective threat hunting, detection and response capabilities in an all-in-one offering that is easy for clients to employ and manage over time."

An alternative model for accessing high-touch MDR services, Kudelski Security's MDR ONE solution is designed for clients who also seek to reduce the complexity of handling multiple-point threat detection solutions and accelerate time to value. MDR ONE is powered by FusionDetect, the foundation of Kudelski Security's innovative XDR architecture, which streamlines security processes and technology across all Kudelski Security's portfolio of MDR offerings to increase the measurable value clients realize.

MDR ONE also leverages Kudelski Security's proprietary Use Case Manager  mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework  which covers current and latest threat scenarios, supported by precise detection rules, each customized to the client's unique environment and threat model. This makes MDR ONE a one-stop shop that covers over 90 percent of the latest attack techniques across IT, cloud, and endpoint environments to drastically reduce time to detect and respond with agility to current and emerging threats.

Olivier Spielmann, Kudelski Security VP Global Managed Detection & Response services, added, "We believe that scalable and focused threat detection and response is crucial to address the challenges of the modern threat landscape. With this turn-key solution, we are making advanced and agile threat detection, investigation, and response more accessible and seamless than ever before."

Kudelski Security continues to earn industry recognition for its MDR approach and services that deliver faster, improved security outcomes, including from Bloor Research, Forrester, Frost & Sullivan, Gartner, and IDC. The company has been recognized for five consecutive years in the Gartner Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response Services (2017-2021), three consecutive years in Gartner Market Guide for Digital Forensics and Incident Response Services. Most recently, Kudelski Security was awarded 'Champion' status in Bloor's 2021 MDR Market Update and recognized as a 'Strong Performer' in the Forrester Wave "Managed Detection And Response, Q1 2021" report.

For more information about Kudelski Security's MDR services, visit: https://kudelskisecurity.com/solutions/by-capability/managed-detection-and-response/.

About Kudelski SecurityKudelski Security is the premier advisor and cybersecurity innovator for today's most security-conscious organizations. Our long-term approach to client partnerships enables us to continuously evaluate their security posture to recommend solutions that reduce business risk, maintain compliance and increase overall security effectiveness. With clients that include Fortune 500 enterprises and government organizations in Europe and across the United States, we address the most complex environments through an unparalleled set of solution capabilities including consulting, technology, managed security services and custom innovation. For more information, visit www.kudelskisecurity.com.

Media ContactJohn Van BlaricumVice President, Global Marketing+1 650 966 4320[email protected]

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SOURCE Kudelski Security
The Bank is expected to record a pre-tax profit of NIS 524 million from this sale

This forms part of a strategic move by Leumi to gradually transfer the Bank's entire headquarters and management to a new headquarters building in Lod, in a process expected to be completed by the end of 2023

TEL AVIV, Israel, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) announced that it is selling Beit Mani in Tel Aviv, which forms part of the complex housing the Bank's headquarters, for a sum of NIS 623 million to Sella REIT, a leading income-producing real estate investment company. The transaction involves two adjacent buildings at 30-36 Yehuda Halevi Street: a 13-story office tower built in the early 2000's, as well as a building for conservation  the historical Beit Mani building, which was built in 1910 and was one of the first buildings to be erected in the Ahuzat Bayit neighborhood. The Bank is expected to record a pre-tax profit of NIS 524 million from this sale.

The sale transaction incorporates an overall area of 13 thousand sqm, in addition to an underground parking lot with more than 200 parking spaces. This is one of the most expensive and sought-after areas in Tel Aviv, considered to be the heart of Tel-Aviv's "City", home to a large number of financial corporations, alongside leading high-tech companies. The building is located adjacent to the Tel Aviv Light Rail Red Line, construction of which is due to be completed in 2022, and also near the Park Hamesila (the Train Track Park). Omer Ziv, Head of the Finance Division, led the transaction on behalf of Bank Leumi.

The Beit Mani sale transaction is part of an extensive strategic move that Leumi has been implementing in recent years, involving the gradual transfer of all the Bank's entire headquarters and management units to a new headquarters established in Lod. The transfer process is due to be completed by the end of 2023.

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SOURCE Bank Leumi
LONDON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Localz, leading experts in last mile customer engagement, location and messaging technology, has today announced the appointment of Dean Mahoney as Sales Director. Localz has tripled its growth in the past year and is now further growing its sales team to aid its aggressive expansion plans across EMEA in 2022.

Former Managing Partner UK & Ireland at Verizon Connect, Dean Mahoney has spent the last decade driving sales and supporting business growth for various companies across the telematics and technology sectors. Dean will be leading the sales team with Gary Rosier-Taylor and will be tasked with rapidly growing Localz across the EMEA market.

"Having spent the last decade working within the technology and telematics industry I have seen first hand how a lot of platforms are heavily focused on the business and tend to neglect the customer interface which is crucial to their engagement. I am excited to come on board and work with an organisation that flips this on its head with a solution that prioritises customer engagement as well creating a platform interface that is easy to use by the business. This is the key reason for moving across to Localz, the ability to positively impact both business and customer simultaneously is an exciting prospect and a product I can get behind," said Dean Mahoney, Sales Director at Localz.

"We have spent the past two years investing in our platform, making updates and adding additional service functionalities that our customers and the industries we serve demand. This has led us to triple our growth in the past year and we are excited to continue to grow our own talent and expand our customer base into the EMEA market. Dean brings with him over a decade of experience working with a variety of well-known technology and telematics companies and we are excited to have him join our sales team," said Tim Andrew, CEO and Co-Founder at Localz.

About Localz

Localz are experts at digital customer engagement, combining real-time location tracking and multi-party customer communications. Localz takes the last mile complexity out of the day of service, offering businesses configurable solutions to make the day of service awesome.

The Localz platform enables real-time service tracking, accurate ETAs, two-way communication, and dynamic feedback. Localz increases customer satisfaction and first-time access rates, saving operational costs along the way.

Localz is used by RAC, HSS Hire, OVO Energy, Autoglass, Rentokil, and Woolworths.

For more information: www.localz.com

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SOURCE Localz
Fireside chat with O'Brien and Manulife's Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Michelle Taylor-Jones fostered candid dialogue with colleagues to drive inclusiveness and understanding

C$ unless otherwise stated TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

TORONTO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Today, Manulife welcomed documentarian, author and journalist Soledad O'Brien for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion event in Boston. The event provided an opportunity for 38,000 Manulife colleagues to participate in and listen to an important conversation about inclusion and the biases that can be prevalent in the workplace.

"Identifying and addressing biases and making inclusion a priority in the workplace, are integral to making a positive impact on the future of work. It's encouraging to witness the increasing commitment over the past decade in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion space, especially from business leaders and organizations like Manulife", said Soledad O'Brien. "There's depth to this interest and we're seeing companies committed to finding ways to solve issues, take affirmative action and accelerate progress on all fronts. The pillars and values that Manulife has outlined for their global team truly exemplify their dedication and commitment in this space."

"It's incredibly important to have open and candid dialogue about the progress we've made at Manulife on our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion journey. As we continue to drive the strategy forward, it's imperative that we remain active and intentional in our efforts to ensure a better and more inclusive future for all," said Michelle Taylor-Jones, Manulife's Chief Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer.

Manulife is focused on building a culture of inclusion, continuous learning and advancing on the journey that is Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Through events like the one hosted today, Manulife remains focused on expanding their diversity of talent and building a stronger, more inclusive culture that will help foster meaningful connections for all, and enable greater innovation, growth, and makes their company a compelling place for talented people.

To learn more about Manulife's DEI journey, visit manulife.com/en/about/diversity-equity-inclusion

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we provide financial advice and insurance, operating as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. Through Manulife Investment Management, the global brand for our global wealth and asset management segment, we serve individuals, institutions and retirement plan members worldwide. Our principal operations are in Asia and Canada, and the United States, where we have served customers for more than 155 years. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong. In the previous 12 months we made CAD$31.8 billion in payments to our customers.

Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

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SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation
NEW YORK, Apr. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PulsePoint, a technology company revolutionizing health decision-making in real-time, today announced the general availability of its programmatic approach to engaging healthcare providers (HCPs) within their point of care workflow. Clients using Life by PulsePoint, the company's media activation platform, can directly engage HCPs in real time within Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems while adhering to HIPAA and data privacy regulations. This presents another step in PulsePoint's mission to build health-first data-driven solutions that deliver impact across the care continuum.

Designed to be turnkey, this new capability allows healthcare marketers to target provider identification numbers (NPIs) on various EHR platforms and trigger communications based on a variety of identifier and treatment codes including NPI, ICD-10, and NDC codes. Once identified, HCPs can be reached using standard brand assets across various touch points within the EHR platform experience. This ensures that the messaging reaches providers at strategic treatment inflection points during the patient journey, at the point-in-time when patients are most receptive to receiving and retaining information about a treatment.

Now, healthcare marketers have the ability to build awareness with brand messaging, deliver therapeutic messaging, distribute co-pay support, and enroll patients into patient engagement programs to improve health outcomes.

Key benefits include:

Granular point-of-care targeting: Use business rules to trigger messages within the EHR system to target the HCP by NPI, specialty or location; and/or by the patient being treated, in terms of diagnosis or current or prior Rx.

Seamless contextual relevance: Align messages with relevant discussion or decision points happening in the doctor's office within the EHR workflow  during the system log-in experience, adjacent to patient charts and/or during diagnosis entry.

Continuous engagement of both HCPs and patients: Communicate important disease, clinical, brand or financial messaging throughout the patient visit.

Boost eRx and Improve Outcomes: Facilitate doctor-patient affordability and adherence discussions by providing coupon/copay and patient support onboarding information when  and where  medication is prescribed.

"This addition to our point-of-care solutions is a game-changer for health brands. It is the first time brands can display specific messaging within the HCP's actual workflow when they will find them most useful. This means your target clinician is more likely to see, read, and act on your message, increasing script lift and impacting patient outcomes like never before," said Andrew Stark, Chief Revenue Office at PulsePoint.

This EHR-integrated solution is the latest addition to PulsePoint's portfolio of point of care solutions (Point-of-Care Proximity and Point-of-Care Populations) to target specific patient populations digitally, before, during and after the doctor visit.

About PulsePoint PulsePoint is a leading technology company that uses real-world data in real-time to optimize campaign performance and revolutionize health decision-making. Leveraging proprietary datasets and methodology, PulsePoint targets healthcare professionals and patients with an unprecedented level of accuracydelivering unparalleled results to the clients we serve. The company is now a part of Internet Brands, a KKR portfolio company and owner of WebMD Health Corp. For more information, visit pulsepoint.com.

Contact: Maria Simeone, [email protected]

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SOURCE PulsePoint
The luxury resale authority continues to push boundaries to amplify the shopping experience for its clients

NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rebag, the authority in trading, buying and selling luxury accessories, including handbags, fine jewelry, watches, and more, announces the launch of Auction: a new way to procure the most investment-worthy luxury items that Rebag has to offer. Auction will further promote the idea of luxury goods as a valuable asset class, similar to how works of art are considered in the traditional auction world in that they retain or even increase in value over time.

Rebag's clients will know exactly when to expect new arrivals and benefit from fair access to must-have items in Rebag's expertly-vetted inventory, particularly rare designer styles. Every week, Rebag will list 2,000+ latest arrivals in two Rebag Auction cycles. Starting next week, from Monday 8AM EST to Tuesday 5PM EST, Rebag Rewards members will enjoy VIP Auction, during which bidding is open exclusively to them. Subsequently, all users will be able to bid on remaining items until Thursday 11AM EST. Following the two auction cycles, the collection will be available for immediate purchase on Rebag.com and at Rebag store locations.

The interactive and time-sensitive nature of Rebag Auction will increase client engagement and build brand loyalty, as those who seek one-of-a-kind items will be eager to enjoy access to weekly new arrivals and compete with other luxury enthusiasts to win the most coveted items from 50+ of the world's most sought after brands. In addition to Auction's thrilling nature, it allows clients to invest in exceptional items not only with confidence, but with ease. While many auction sites charge a buyer's fee, which can be up to 25% of the final price, no such fee exists with Rebag. Users will also benefit from setting a maximum bid and allowing Rebag to automatically bid on their behalfan effortless way to increase their chances of being the final winner. Customers who win an auction will be able to checkout as usual for 48 hours, using any form of payment, including credit cards and Affirm financing, as well as Rebag Credit and Rebag Rewards. They will also be able to take advantage of Trade by selling luxury items they own in the same transaction in order to maximize savings.

"We are thrilled to be launching Auction to redefine what is considered a collectible in the luxury resale space," says Charles Gorra, Founder and CEO of Rebag. "Given the scale of our platform, we are now able to launch Rebag Auction to optimize liquidity for our customers, while giving them access to highly coveted pieces in the most exciting way."

From the most classic and collectible Hermes pieces, such as tricolor Kellys and Kelly Cut Pochettes, to limited edition and unique bags, from Louis Vuitton Since 1854 Capucines to sequined Chanel Flaps and more, plus exceptional jewelry, watches, and accessories making their auction debut, including Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra necklaces and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak timepieces, handbag and accessory connoisseurs will be excited by the one-of-a-kind designer styles available via Auction. To learn more about Rebag Auction, visit rebag.com/auction.

The announcement follows the news of Rebag's recent partnership with Moda Operandi, featuring a one-of-a-kind digital trunkshow offering the luxury platform's clients exclusive access to more than 115 of Rebag's most sought-after styles; Rebag Rewards, a multi-tiered loyalty program offering various incentives at different levels; and Trade, a feature that allows consumers to buy and sell items in a single transaction. An extension of Clair, the company's groundbreaking pricing tool that launched in October 2019, Rebag's Trade offering empowers consumers to sell and shop seamlessly.

About Rebag:

Founded by Charles Gorra in 2014, Rebag is the authority on trading, buying, and selling luxury items. Currently one of the fastest growing retailers in the US, it has established itself as a leader in the luxury resale space. Rebag's intelligent Clair technology, which uses millions of data points to determine the resale value of designer items, enables customers to receive instant payment, a first in the resale industry. Rebag's unique Trade program offers savvy consumers the best value towards today's purchase. The digitally native company has opened retail locations in New York, Los Angeles, Greenwich and Miami. In 2020 and 2021, Rebag was named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. Rebag has been featured in the New York Times, Business of Fashion, VOGUE, TechCrunch and more. For more store information, visit www.rebag.com.

For further information, please contact:Factory PR, [email protected], 212.941.9394

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SOURCE Rebag
Rosewood Miramar Beach has been honored among the world's best luxury hotels, restaurants and spas by one of the travel industry's top authorities

MONTECITO, Calif., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rosewood Miramar Beach, the premier coastal retreat on one of the world's most exclusive coastlines, is pleased to announce that it has been named a Five-Star property on the 2022 Forbes Travel Guide Star Rating list. This esteemed accolade celebrates the resort's commitment to impeccable service, top-tier accommodations, best-in-class amenities and more. The resort, which opened in Montecito, California in 2019, has also been recognized by Forbes for its on-site wellness oasis, Sense, A Rosewood Spa, with a Five Star-rating for the third consecutive year.

Each year Forbes Travel Guide's team of professional inspectors travel the world to anonymously visit and evaluate hotels, restaurants, and spas based on 900 rigorous criteria, awarding top honors to properties that excel across the board. Recognition from Forbes Travel Guide continues to be an industry benchmark and one of the most trusted accolades by consumers.

"This latest accolade is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication from our best-in-class team  we have been committed from day one to creating one of the most exceptional resorts in the world," said Rick Caruso, owner Rosewood Miramar Beach, and chief executive officer, Caruso. "We're honored by this esteemed recognition which celebrates Miramar's unparalleled experience, one that is befitting of the resort's incomparable setting and history. This achievement would not have been possible without our extraordinary team and the Montecito community who make Miramar so special."

In addition to recognizing Rosewood Miramar Beach's status as one of the country's best luxury resorts, this latest accolade further cements the property's status as top wellness destination in its own right. At Sense, A Rosewood Spa, Rosewood Miramar Beach's team of wellness experts have created a tranquil escape for guests featuring unique treatments inspired by local surroundings and native traditions. The spa is continually unveiling new initiatives in order to best serve the needs of visitors and guests, most recently introducing new sleep-focused treatments as part of the property's Alchemy of Sleep program. Aimed at helping guests achieve the most restful getaway possible and to prioritize sleep as part of their overall wellness, the specially designed treatments include a special massage incorporating sleep aromatherapies, a Gua Sha Tension Release facial, and a special percussion release massage incorporating CDB. This enthusiasm to tap into evolving consumer needs and industry trends continues to set the property's spa team apart.

"We could not be more thrilled to be featured as a Five-Star resort on Forbes Travel Guide's prestigious 2022 Star Rating List," said Rick Fidel, Managing Director at Rosewood Miramar Beach. "Since our opening three years ago, we've been passionate about providing the best experience for our guests. Our personalized approach to service and our commitment to providing unparalleled amenities in a beautiful setting has firmly established Rosewood Miramar Beach as a leader in the hospitality space. To also be celebrated for our spa offerings makes this recognition even more rewarding."

Located on one of the most pristine and exclusive beaches in Montecito, Rosewood Miramar Beach offers guests an elevated seaside getaway with 158 ultra-luxury guestrooms and suites and state of the art amenities including two cabana-lined pools, the only Five-Star spa in Santa Barbara, a fitness center and signature dining venues such as Caruso's and The Revere Room. The property also continues to execute a robust calendar of on-property events, partnerships and activations that add to the overall Five-Star experience. Recent standouts include the iconic Dioriviera pop-up hosted during Summer 2021 in partnership with Dior, as well as the ongoing launches of exciting on-property retail offerings and food and beverage programs, such as The Manor Bar's most recently unveiled cocktail menu featuring libations inspired by literary classics. Looking ahead, the resort will also be announcing a range of specialty programming for the summer season pegged to current trends such as holistic wellness, outdoor adventure, and bespoke romantic experiences.

"A true embodiment of the Rosewood brand's guiding A Sense of Place philosophy, the team at Rosewood Miramar Beach has created a luxury getaway that is unmatched in the region, bringing guests a uniquely Californian experience paired with the highest quality service available," said Radha Arora, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts President & Co- Chief Development Officer. "We look to Rosewood Miramar Beach with continued excitement and celebrate them in this well-deserved achievement."

The only independent, global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants, and spas, Forbes Travel Guide's annual Star Ratings have been revered as a global authority on travel since its launch in 1958. The winning properties, restaurants, and spas are showcased on https://www.forbestravelguide.com/. For a detailed explanation of how Forbes Travel Guide compiles its Star Ratings, please visit https://www.forbestravelguide.com/about.

About Rosewood Miramar BeachSituated on one of the most beautiful and pristine beaches in Southern California, Rosewood Miramar Beach is located in Santa Barbara's picturesque Montecito community known as The American Riviera. Offering 158 ultra-luxury guestrooms and suites, including beachfront accommodations, a collection of signature suites and multi-bedroom bungalows, the resort has been designed with style, grace and glamour and perfectly balances the residential and the refined. Amenities include Sense, A Rosewood Spa, a state-of-the-art fitness studio, two cabana-lined pools and bespoke beach service on the sandy shores of Miramar Beach. Home to seven distinct dining venues including Caruso's, the signature oceanfront restaurant, and Malibu Farm at Miramar, an all-day eatery, Rosewood Miramar Beach is a culinary destination in its own right for locals and visitors alike. An elevated retail experience further bolsters Rosewood Miramar Beach as the ultimate retreat for the best in luxury lifestyle, with a first-of-its-kind goop Sundries Shop as well as a new California-inspired concept store curated by designer James Perse. Expansive indoor and outdoor event space, totaling approximately 33,000 square-feet, includes the Chandelier Ballroom with over 6,500-square-feet, and the Great Lawn, which offers infinite ocean views. Personalized service makes Rosewood Miramar Beach the perfect destination for celebrating life's moments both big and small. Rosewood Miramar Beach is owned by Caruso and managed by Rosewood Hotels and Resorts.

For more information, please visit: www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/miramar-beach-montecito

About Rosewood Hotels & ResortsRosewood Hotels & Resorts manages 29 one-of-a-kind luxury hotels, resorts and residences in 17 countries, with 23 new properties under development. Each Rosewood property embraces the brand's A Sense of Place philosophy to reflect the individual location's history, culture and sensibilities. The Rosewood collection includes some of the world's most legendary hotels and resorts, including The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel in New York, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and Hotel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel in Paris, as well as new classics such as Rosewood Hong Kong. For those who wish to stay a little longer, Rosewood Residences offer a distinct opportunity for ownership or rent in extraordinary destinations within the brand's wide-ranging portfolio.

For more information, please visit rosewoodhotels.com

Connect with us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WeChat @RosewoodHotels

About Forbes Travel GuideForbes Travel Guide is the only global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants and spas. Our anonymous professional inspectors evaluate based on up to 900 objective standards, with an emphasis on exceptional service, to help discerning travelers select the world's best luxury experiences. The only way to get a Five-Star, Four-Star or Recommended rating is by earning it through our independent inspection process. For more information about Forbes Travel Guide, please visit ForbesTravelGuide.com.

Media Contact:Krista RitterhoffNike Communications[email protected]

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SOURCE Rosewood Miramar Beach
PALMETTO, FLA, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - SeaPort Manatee and terminal operator LOGISTEC USA Inc., a subsidiary of LOGISTEC Corporation ("LOGISTEC"), are further enhancing cargo-handling capabilities with the addition of two new ecoefficient mobile harbor cranes at the thriving Florida Gulf Coast trade gateway. The pair of Konecranes Gottwald Generation 6 cranes arrived at SeaPort Manatee on April 22 via transatlantic vessel voyage from their place of manufacture in Germany.

"As SeaPort Manatee continues to grow, with all-time-high levels of cargo activity, the arrival of these cranes, along with such infrastructure enhancements as expansion of dockside container yard facilities, heralds a new era for Manatee County's hub of global commerce," said Carlos Buqueras, SeaPort Manatee's executive director. "We join longtime terminal-operating partner LOGISTEC USA Inc. in looking forward to efficiently moving even more containerized goods and other cargoes to meet consumer and industry needs throughout Central and Southwest Florida and beyond for decades to come."

"These mobile cranes will allow us to significantly increase our cargo-handling efficiencies at SeaPort Manatee, in support of our customers, the local economy and the global supply chain," stated Rodney Corrigan, president of LOGISTEC USA Inc. "By investing in ecoefficient equipment, we are further solidifying our commitment to protect the environment, reduce our marine carbon footprint and contribute to cleaner air for future generations, supporting Green Marine initiatives across LOGISTEC's North American network." Mr. Corrigan noted that the cranes arrived as Earth Day was celebrated around the world.

The newly acquired cranes accompany two Gottwald Generation 5 units and a versatile Liebherr mobile harbor crane in the lift equipment fleet serving SeaPort Manatee. Each of the new cranes is capable of lifting loads of as many as 125 metric tons, and the two units combined offer a tandem lift capability of more than 200 metric tons  the most at any Florida seaport. LOGISTEC's terminal at SeaPort Manatee handles containers, pallets, steel and break-bulk cargos.

About LOGISTEC Corporation

LOGISTEC is based in Montreal (QC) and provides specialized services to the marine community and industrial companies in the areas of bulk, break-bulk and container cargo handling in 54 ports and 80 terminals located in North America. LOGISTEC also offers marine transportation services geared primarily to the Arctic coastal trade as well as marine agency services to shipowners and operators serving the Canadian market. Furthermore, the Company operates in the environmental industry where it provides services to industrial, municipal and other governmental customers for the renewal of underground water mains, dredging, dewatering, contaminated soils and materials management, site remediation, risk assessment, and manufacturing of fluid transportation products.

About SeaPort Manatee

Located "Where Tampa Bay Meets the Gulf of Mexico," SeaPort Manatee is a dynamic global trade hub, serving as the vibrant ships-to-shelves gateway for burgeoning Southwest and Central Florida markets. The closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the expanded Panama Canal, SeaPort Manatee offers 10 deep-draft berths, proficiently fulfilling diverse demands of container, liquid and dry bulk, break-bulk, heavylift, project and general cargo customers. The self-sustaining port generates more than $3.9 billion in annual economic impacts while providing for more than 27,000 direct and indirect jobs  all without the benefit of local property tax support.

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SOURCE Logistec Corporation - Communications
As asset reliability collaborators within the industrial segment, SKF and AWS are taking scalability of condition monitoring and data analysis to a new level as well as collaborating on the next generation of SKF's condition monitoring technologies.

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SKF and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company have announced a collaboration to reinvent the field of industrial machine reliability and predictive maintenance with a joint solution. The engagement will deliver an easy-to-use and easy-to-scale condition monitoring and analysis solution that makes the ability to collect and analyze data using machine learning technologies available to a wider range of applications and customers.

As a first step, SKF will combine its knowledge of rotating machinery and predictive maintenance with AWS's Industrial AI services that bring industrial expertise, AI and machine learning technologies together. The solution is comprised of sensors, gateways and a machine learning service that is easy to install, commission, and scale. SKF and AWS will also collaborate on the next generation of SKF's data analysis platform.

By adding this solution to its current portfolio of condition monitoring products, SKF can help large manufacturing sites increase the number of rotating assets in the end user's predictive maintenance programs by several thousands. SKF's solution will provide these sites with machine alerts and alarms, enabling smarter, better decision making, and more efficient maintenance planning and scheduling. The same solution can also be utilized by entry-level users and small to mid-sized manufacturers, making the ability to use AI-driven analysis available to a larger portion of the industrial market segment.

John Schmidt, President Industrial Region Americas of SKF, says: "The key to maximizing the business value of machine data lies in scale. With more condition monitoring tools available for a wider variety of their assets, end users will gain more insights leading them to improved machine performance."

Vasi Philomin, Vice President of AI Services at AWS says: "AWS's engagement with SKF spotlights how machine learning technologies, combined with scalability of the AWS cloud and condition monitoring expertise, can come together to improve operational efficiencies for industrial customers. Together with SKF, we are excited to deliver scalable, easy-to-use industrial solutions that will accelerate the pace of operational innovation for industrial customers of all sizes."

Aktiebolaget SKF (publ)

CONTACT:

For further information, please contact:PRESS: Carl Bjernstam, Group Communicationtel: 46 31-337 2517; mobile: 46 722-201 893; e-mail: [email protected]

INVESTOR RELATIONS: Patrik Stenberg, Head of Investor Relationstel: 46 31-337 2104; mobile: 46 705-472 104; [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/skf/r/skf-and-amazon-web-services-collaborate-to-reinvent-machine-reliability-industrial-solutions,c3552997

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/637/3552997/1568917.pdf 20220426 SKF and Amazon Web Services collaborate to reinvent machine reliability industrial solutions https://news.cision.com/skf/i/dsc9647-190510def,c3041722 DSC9647 190510def https://news.cision.com/skf/i/skf-john-schmidt,c3041723 SKF John Schmidt

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SOURCE SKF
NIJMEGEN, Netherlands, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Symeres, a leading European drug discovery Contract Research Organization (CRO) and Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), today announces the acquisition of Organix Inc., a US based specialized organic chemistry services provider with a focus on lipids. As the majority shareholder in Symeres, Keensight Capital has worked together with the management team of the two companies to facilitate this business combination.

Organix, based in the Boston area (Massachusetts), is a provider of high-quality organic chemistry services dedicated to the discovery and preclinical stage of the drug discovery value chain. Its revenue is mainly generated from the sale of specialized and complex organic chemistry research services to biopharma clients. Organix is currently generating over $10 million of revenues, from a base of c.45 employees, of which the majority have PhDs in chemistry.

Symeres and Organix are highly complementary, and the combination unlocks significant strategic value. Organix brings a high-quality presence in the US market, where Symeres generates nearly 50% of its revenues. Organix broadens Symeres' drug discovery offering into the fast-growing lipids market, addressing mRNA therapeutics and vaccines. Organix's impressive client list includes some of the world's leading biopharma companies, including many based in the Boston biopharma community.

Symeres is one of the largest European small molecule CRO & CDMOs, providing R&D services from preclinical drug discovery to Phase I and II clinical stage drug development and manufacturing, to major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies around the globe. Its highly specialized services include integrated small molecule optimization efforts, complex synthetic chemistry, route scouting & API synthesis up to GMP production, solid state chemistry and ADME-Tox services.

Symeres, headquartered in the Netherlands, employs over 500 people, many of whom are PhD scientists, operating in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Nordics, along with an existing business development office in the Boston area. Over several decades, the company has enjoyed a strong growth trajectory, with revenues rising organically at a double-digit rate per annum, further complemented by strategic M&A. Proforma for the integration of Organix, the group expects to reach c.90 million in revenues.

Dr. Anu Mahadevan, CEO of Organix, stated: "We are proud to become part of the Symeres family where we have found a trusted partner that shares our values and business philosophy of strong customer focus. The added expertise that the deal brings will allow Organix to better serve our clients by providing additional access to state-of-the-art cGMP services. We look forward to being a part of this innovative and science-driven organization."

Dr. Eelco Ebbers, co-founder and CEO of Symeres, stated: "We are pleased to welcome Organix into the Symeres Group. Organix is widely known as a highly innovative and expert organic chemistry services provider that solves complex projects for top tier clients globally. Joining forces represents a fantastic opportunity for Symeres to expand our drug discovery capability offering and will provide an exceptional foothold into the US market."

Amit Karna, Partner at Keensight Capital, added: "We are delighted to support Symeres in this exciting acquisition of Organix. We are certain that the resulting business will create a truly differentiated transatlantic offering for the biopharma industry. Moreover, the scientific and cultural fit of the two organizations could not be more perfect, and we are excited to see what the management teams will do together."

Saola Healthcare Partners are acting as strategic and financial advisor, Goodwin Procter LLP as legal advisor, and L.E.K. Consulting as commercial advisor to Symeres.

About Symeres

Symeres is a leading mid-sized European Contract Research Organization for drug discovery and development needs. With over 500 employees operating in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and the Nordics, along with a business development office in the US. The company offers best-in-class solutions for drug discovery and drug development for small molecules and beyond. Their services span from preclinical hit finding all the way to the delivery of early clinical phase drug substance API. Symeres blends a deep scientific knowledge base with creativity and problem-solving skills to deliver quality results that clients need.

www.symeres.com

About Organix

Organix is a Contract Research Organization (CRO) founded in 1986, based in Woburn (US) just outside of Boston. It is a fast-growing company with c.45 employees that serves scientists in biopharma firms all over the world, providing high-quality organic chemistry services, primarily in the areas of lipids and small molecules. The company is owned and led by Dr. Anu Mahadevan, CEO and Dr. Paul Blundell, President.

www.organixinc.com

About Keensight Capital

Keensight Capital, one of the leading European Growth Buyout firms, is committed to supporting entrepreneurs as they implement their growth strategies. For 20 years, Keensight Capital's team of seasoned professionals has leveraged their knowledge of investment and growth industries to invest for the long term in profitable companies with high growth potential and revenues in the range of 10 million to 400 million. Drawing on its expertise in the Technology and Healthcare sectors, Keensight identifies the best investment opportunities in Europe and works closely with management teams to develop and achieve their strategic vision.

Keensight Capital was recently recognized with the Gold Award for "Best European Growth Private Equity Fund" by the Private Equity Exchange & Awards (2021).

www.keensightcapital.com

Media Contacts

SymeresRussell Thomas  [email protected]  +31 615 571 132

Organix IncAnu Mahadevan  [email protected]  +1 781 932 4142

Keensight CapitalTimothy Lee  [email protected]  +44 20 4558 9021

MEDiSTRAVA ConsultingSylvie Berrebi / Evelyn McCormack / George Underwood  [email protected]  +44 203 928 6900

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SOURCE Symeres
NEW YORK, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Syncarpha Capital, a New York-based, full-service solar developer, owner and operator of commercial and utility scale photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems is proud to announce that they have received PTO (permission to operate) for their Tewksbury, MA Landfill project On February 18, 2022. The 50-acre Sutton Brook Disposal Area also known as "Rocco Landfill" now hosts a 3.6MW DC/2.8 MW AC ballast-mounted solar array, providing clean energy to the City of Everett, Tufts University and local National Grid residents through their Community Solar program.

Join Syncarpha Community Solar At No Upfront Cost: https://www.syncarpha.solar/

Array 1 - located in the former Garage Storage Area (900 modules)

Array 2 - located on the Northern Lobe of the Landfill (4,410 modules)

Array 3 - located on the Southern Lobe of the Landfill (3,420 modules).

The PV modules will be supported by galvanized steel and aluminum brackets mounted on precast concrete foundation ballasts. The system will be connected to the National Grid electric utility grid and includes an approximately 2.0-megawatt alternating current (MWAC) battery storage system.

"We are very excited to bring this project online. It's great we are able to make a positive impact on the grid while also repurposing an environmentally encumbered tract of land" says Graeme Dutkowsky, VP of Construction - Syncarpha Capital. "There were many challenges encountered along the way and it wouldn't have been possible to overcome them without open lines of communication and cooperation among all project stakeholders."

National Grid residential customers are encouraged to sign up with Syncarpha Community Solar and receive guaranteed savings of up to 10% on their electric bill. For more information about how to sign up for community solar with Syncarpha, call or email [email protected] or 888-55-SOLAR, or visit our website: https://www.syncarpha.solar/

About Syncarpha Capital, LLC

Founded in 2009, Syncarpha Capital is a New York-based private equity firm dedicated to developing, acquiring, financing, owning and operating distributed- and utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems across North America. Partnering with experienced developers, installers, engineers, and EPC contractors, and working closely with its customers, Syncarpha designs and builds on-site solar systems for municipalities, utilities, and businesses  as well as developing community shared solar solutions for consumers and commercial customers.

Contact: Johnny Nash, [email protected]

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/syncarpha-capital-turns-rocco-landfill-into-an-operational-solar-array-tewksbury-ma-301532388.html

SOURCE Syncarpha Capital
This event will empower product development executives to construct product innovation pipelines that are based on credible and comprehensive market, customer, and competitor insights

SAN ANTONIO, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan will host a one-day eye-opening experience for business product innovators at its New Product Innovation Workshop at MIT InnovationHQ, on May 4, 2022, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This interactive event will help attendees to step out of their day-to-day bubble and get a jolt of inspiration, prepare for mind-blowing moments and see first-hand how innovation and creativity are fostered, get a grip on the practicalities of ideation through commercialization, and build a network of innovation executives.

Top industry experts will meet in Massachusetts to have an experiential opportunity to build and sustain long-term growth strategies and discuss key topics, including:

Growth Portfolio Strategies for Rapidly Changing Industries

Strategically Align Resources with Your Product Innovation Portfolio

Portfolio Agility: Balancing Breakthrough and Iterative Innovation

Building Innovation Infrastructure: MIT iHQ, Innovation Ecosystems, and the Future of MIT

Integrating New Disruptive Technologies into Your Innovation Portfolio

The line-up includes top industry firms and features the following thought leaders:

Genevieve Gurczenski, Experience Architect, Emerging Technology Innovation, W.L. Gore & Associates

Joe Batista, Chief Creatologist Business Innovation & Strategy, Dell Technologies

Jeffrey Liggett, Vice President of Product Development, UnitedHealth Group

Sean McDowell, Senior Vice President Global Product Creation, Sperry

Tim Miano, Executive Director, MIT Office of InnovationHQ

"We are all competing on product innovation and the pandemic has altered market requirements and demands," noted Caryn Brown, Vice President, Production - Global Events and Leadership Councils at Frost & Sullivan. "The needs of your customers and expertise of your employees have never been more important to achieving product innovation excellence."

To learn more about our New Product Innovation Workshop and register for the event, please click here.

About Frost & Sullivan

For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Contact: Mariana Fernandez Corporate Communications E: [email protected] https://www.frost.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/top-product-innovators-to-attend-new-product-innovation-workshop-at-mit-innovationhq-this-may-in-massachusetts-301533587.html

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
HOUSTON, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Versa Integrity Group, Inc. ("Versa"), a national leader in a wide range of non-destructive industrial inspection and testing, announced David Garibaldi has been named Chief Financial Officer. In his role, Garibaldi will drive financial planning, perform risk management, and plan financial strategy for Versa.

"David brings a deep understanding of financial planning and strategy from his experiences in the testing, inspection, and certification industries," said Versa CEO Darryl Schimeck. "Versa is fortunate to have him on board and take our financial performance to the next level."

Prior to joining Versa, Garibaldi served as a CFO and in corporate development roles where he led financial reporting, audit management, and strategic growth strategies for his organizations. "I'm thrilled to work with Versa's leadership and the team at Dorilton Capital to grow Versa into the leading provider of asset integrity and inspection solutions."

About Versa Integrity GroupVersa Integrity Group, Inc., a portfolio company of Dorilton Capital, provides a variety of inspection and testing services, including non-destructive testing, heat treatment, mechanical integrity, rope access, tank inspection, corrosion detection, advanced services, and unmanned access. Founded in 2012, Versa supports customers nationwide from over 20 regional offices. Learn more at www.versaintegrity.com.

About DoriltonDorilton is a private investment firm that invests in businesses across a range of industry sectors, working in partnership with management to grow value over the long-term. By providing funding and expertise to drive growth, Dorilton helps its companies and its people achieve their full potential. Learn more at www.doriltongroup.com.

For inquiries or relevant opportunities, please contact [email protected].

SOURCE Versa Integrity Group

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/versa-integrity-announces-david-garibaldi-as-new-chief-financial-officer-301533549.html

SOURCE Versa Integrity Group
Exhibit 99.1

A subsidiary of California Water Service Group

P.O. Box 384809, Waikoloa, HI 96738

April 26, 2022

Contact: Yvonne Kingman, 310-257-1434 (media)

Tom Smegal, 408-367-8200 (analysts)

For Immediate Release

HAWAII WATER SERVICE TO ACQUIRE KuKUIULA SOUTH SHORE

COMMUNITY SERVICES

waikoloa, HawaiiExpanding its footprint on the island of Kauai, Hawaii Water Service (H awaii Water) announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Kukuiula South Shore Community Services (KSSCS). The acquisition by the California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) subsidiary is subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including approval by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (HPUC).

Located in the Kukuiula Resort region of southeast Kauai, KSSCS is a collection-only wastewater utility also regulated by the HPUC. As part of the acquisition, Hawaii Water will own and manage the utility, which currently serves about 440 residential, commercial, and resort customers, but is expected to be able to serve up to 1,500 connections upon buildout of the resort over the next 20 years. Wastewater from KSSCS is discharged to the Poipu Water Reclamation Facility owned by HOH Utilities, which Hawaii Water is also in the process of acquiring.

At Hawaii Water, we are committed to providing quality, service, and value to all of our customers and operating in a manner that supports our communities and the environment, said Martin A. Kropelnicki, President and CEO of Hawaii Water Service. We appreciate the confidence KSSCS has in our team to provide the same to its customers, and we look forward to working together to complete the acquisition and welcome KSSCS customers to our ohana.

In addition to the new KSSCS customers, Hawaii Water currently provides water and/or wastewater utility services to 6,200 customersincluding a number of large resorts and condominium complexesin the communities of Kaanapali, Pukalani, and Kapalua on Maui; Kalaeloa on Oahu; along with Waikoloa and North Kona Coast on the Big Island. Hawaii Waters employees provide services including meter reading, water quality testing, water and wastewater treatment, water system design and construction, and customer service.

Hawaii Water is a wholly owned subsidiary of California Water Service Group, which also includes California Water Service, New Mexico Water Service, Washington Water Service, and Texas Water Service, a utility holding company. Together, these companies provide regulated water and wastewater utility service to more than 2 million people in over 100 California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington communities. Groups common stock trades on the New Yo rk Stock Exchange under the symbol CWT. Additional information is available online at www.calwatergroup.com .

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("Act"). The forward-looking statements are intended to qualify under provisions of the federal securities laws for "safe harbor" treatment established by the Act. Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information, expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections, and management's judgment about the Company, the water utility industry and general economic conditions. Such words as would, expects, intends, plans, believes, estimates, assumes, anticipates, projects, predicts, forecasts or variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. They are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from what is contained in a forward-looking statement. Factors that may cause a result different than expected or anticipated include, but are not limited to: ability to close the acquisition of KSSCS and the acquisition of the Poipu Water Reclamation Facility, integrate the business, and operate the KSSCS system in an effective and accretive manner; natural disasters, public health crises, pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks of a contagious disease, such as the outbreak of coronavirus (or COVID-19); governmental and regulatory commissions' decisions, including decisions on proper disposition of property; consequences of eminent domain actions relating to our water systems; changes in regulatory commissions' policies and procedures; the timeliness of regulatory commissions' actions concerning rate relief and other actions; changes in water quality standards; changes in environmental compliance and water quality requirements; electric power interruptions; housing and customer growth trends; the impact of opposition to rate increases; our ability to recover costs; availability of water supplies; issues with the implementation, maintenance or security of our information technology systems; civil disturbances or terrorist threats or acts; the adequacy of our efforts to mitigate physical and cyber security risks and threats; the ability of our enterprise risk management processes to identify or address risks adequately; labor relations matters as we negotiate with unions; changes in customer water use patterns and the effects of conservation; the impact of weather, climate, natural disasters, and diseases on water quality, water availability, water sales and operating results, and the adequacy of our emergency preparedness; and, other risks and unforeseen events. When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the cautionary statements included in this paragraph, as well as the annual 10-K, Quarterly 10-Q, and other reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Company assumes no obligation to provide public updates of forward-looking statements.

###
(Tribune News Service)  After an Air Force judge handed down her sentence Tuesday, the former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has a felony conviction on his record and faces a nearly $55,000 forfeiture of pay as well as a reprimand that may impact his career and retirement.

An Air Force judge sentenced Maj. Gen. William Cooley to a reprimand and ordered that he forfeit $10,910 of monthly pay for five months.

Cooley, 56, a two-star general and a former commander of AFRL, was found guilty last week of one specification of abusive sexual contact against his brother's wife.

After the sentence Tuesday morning at 88th Air Base Wing headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Cooley was spotted hugging a man in Air Force uniform outside the court in apparent relief. There was no opportunity to seek comment from him.

Cooley's civilian attorney, Dan Conway, said Cooley is "very thankful for the judge's compassion here. It's been a very trying time for the better part of the last four years."

Conway called the sentence "very significant," and he said a letter of reprimand may impact the rank at which Cooley will be permitted to retire, if he chooses to retire. But Conway also said that it's Cooley's hope that he might continue serving in the Air Force and retire on his own terms.

There are plans to appeal, Conway also said. He said Cooley has been "remorseful," but added: "At the same time, he has maintained his innocence."

As of now, Cooley retains the rank of major general. Military prosecutor Lt. Col. Matthew Neil believed Gen. Arnold Bunch, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, may write a letter of reprimand against Cooley or direct someone to write that letter.

Bunch fired Cooley from his AFRL job in January 2020 after an Air Force investigation.

The financial penalty is nearly $55,000 total. Cooley's monthly pay is $15,966. Conway declined to answer questions about Cooley's financial situation.

"I think the military judge here did send a message that she was in fact taking this seriously," Conway said. "It certainly could have an impact on his retirement if he were to retire."

Conway said Cooley's intent now is to repair relationships with his family and colleagues in the Air Force.

Cooley pleaded not guilty and in last year's Article 32 hearing read a letter in open court saying the encounter with his sister-in-law was "consensual."

Ryan Guilds, the personal attorney for the accuser in the case, said his reaction is the same as his client's: They each remain "deeply appreciative of all the hard work" military prosecutors invested in this case.

He also said: "This is not a case about the sentence." What matters most about the trial and its outcome from their perspective was the courage of Cooley's sister-in-law in standing up to the man who committed abusive sexual contact against her, he said.

"It doesn't change the bravery that the victim showed in coming forward," Guilds said Tuesday.

Historic verdict issued Saturday

Earlier, the verdict  delivered Saturday at Wright-Patterson  marked the first court-martial trial and conviction of a general officer in the Air Force's 75-year history.

"This is an historic court-martial," Neil said Tuesday in his first remarks to the press.

He said the message of the case's outcome is: "The Air Force takes seriously allegations of sexual assault or sexual offenses that are committed. Those are investigated, and where appropriate, offenders are held accountable, without fear or favor regarding someone's rank or status."

Military prosecutors had sought as a first choice Cooley's dismissal from the Air Force, then alternatively, confinement. Defense counsel Conway told Air Force Judge Col. Christina Jimenez Monday that a letter of reprimand would be appropriate.

The allegations stemmed from an encounter in August 2018, when Cooley's sister-in-law gave him a ride to his parents' house after a family backyard barbeque in New Mexico.

The charge had three specifications involving how the two-star general was reported to have touched her  forcing his tongue in her mouth, forcing her hand to his genitals and pushing his hand between her legs and cupping her breast, according to the Air Force.

After five days of a trial at Wright-Patterson, the judge found Cooley guilty of the first specification  "kissing her on the lips and tongue, with an intent to gratify his sexual desire"  while acquitting him of the latter two.

(c)2022 Springfield News-Sun, Ohio

Visit Springfield News-Sun, Ohio at www.springfieldnewssun.com

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AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar  The mission of the Air Forces largest expeditionary wing increasingly has turned to helping partner nations combat threats posed by Iran and regional militia groups, 20 years after it was reactivated to fight terrorism in the Middle East.

The 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, based at Al Udeid, supported the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, flying combat missions, transporting troops and supplies, conducting surveillance and providing battlefield communications.

At a recent anniversary celebration, the wing reflected on the experiences of the past 20 years. The look back took place against a backdrop of an immense construction project that highlights a transition for both the unit and its host country.

The relationships that we built over the last 20 years point to our future, wing commander Brig. Gen. Gerald Donohue told Stars and Stripes on Friday. When our partners need our assistance to get after combating threats to them, they know were on their side.

The unit of 8,000 airmen is a direct descendant of the 379th Bombardment Group, which gained fame during World War II. It was revived in April 2002 to provide airpower for the Global War on Terrorism.

Donohue noted that Qatar is funding a multibillion-dollar expansion at Al Udeid. He also pointed to the recent deployment of American F-22 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates, after Houthi militants in Yemen launched missile and drone attacks into the country.

Donohues comments come as the U.S. attempts to focus on preparing for a possible conflict with China and helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian invaders. With the end of the Afghan war and the drawdown of a coalition mission in Iraq, the Middle East has receded from public view, but its conflicts remain.

U.S. efforts in the region center on deterring Iran, disrupting militant groups and addressing humanitarian crises, Lt. Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of the South Carolina-based 9th Air Force, said in a panel discussion at a March symposium.

Iran and the groups it supports are launching drone or missile attacks every day, said Guillot, and the U.S. will need to reassure Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and other partners that it intends to back them.

We show that through not only our combat actions but also by performing defensive postures with the partner nations exercises, Guillot said, according to a transcript of the talk.

A campaign involving surveillance and other measures also is being conducted in Afghanistan from over the horizon, Army Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of Central Command, told Congress in March.

Previous discussions of activities originating from afar focused on bases in the Persian Gulf region such as Al Udeid. The sprawling U.S. base now buzzes with construction.

The Qatar Emiri Corps of Engineers is in charge of carrying out the multibillion-dollar project, which will transform temporary buildings on the base into more permanent concrete structures.

For a long time, Qatar avoided drawing attention to the large American base on its soil because of sensitivities among citizens about the U.S. military footprint, said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center in Washington.

But officials in Doha now tout the American presence and are happy to finance the facelift of a base that deepens Qatars partnership with the U.S., Kugelman said.

While the emirate has long maintained ties with the U.S., outreach efforts intensified after disagreements with its neighbors over the last decade.

Qatar maintains ties with a wide range of actors who are often at odds with each other, including some Sunni Islamists, Iran and groups it backs, and Israeli officials, Kugelman said.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and a few other governments severed relations with Qatar in 2017 in protest of its foreign policies, leading to an economic blockade that was only lifted this year.

Resentments remain between Qatar and its neighbors, all of whom also are U.S. allies, a recent Congressional Research Service report said.

Any deepening ties between Qatar and the U.S. military will contain a degree of risk, Kugelman said, adding that the U.S. wants bases in the Gulf as launching pads for counterterrorism operations.

The U.S. may have ended 20 years of combat operations, but it certainly hasnt lost its desire to maintain a strong capacity for power projection, he added.
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan  A kitchen fire Monday evening in a residential tower at this airlift hub in western Tokyo flooded hallways and left residents wondering if the fire alarms worked.

The blaze broke out sometime after 5:15 p.m. on the seventh floor of building 3001, according to a tenant, caused no injuries and little damage but spurred concern on the Yokota Community Facebook page that the fire alarm system failed to alert anyone to the danger.

However, the alarm system worked as expected, according to the 374th Civil Engineer Squadron.

We're still going to double check the operation, but the system is configured to notify selected adjacent spaces rather than ALL spaces, an unidentified squadron member wrote Monday evening on the Yokota Community page. So this isn't abnormal.

The towers are built of reinforced concrete, according to the post. The fire rating on the tower columns and walls allows a long time for evacuation and limits the ability of any fire to spread.

The alarm system automatically alerted the base fire department, and the sprinkler system extinguished the fire, according to the civil engineer post. It was a response to a comment that the fire alarms may have malfunctioned.

The sprinklers caused a lake on floors 6 and 7, the post said. If you have any maintenance issues, please don't hesitate to call.

The base public affairs office, which acknowledged emailed requests from Stars and Stripes on Monday evening and Tuesday, said it could not provide information on the fire until Wednesday.

Sixth-floor resident Alyssa Martin, 30, of Chester, N.J., said she heard fire alarms, maybe on the seventh floor, going off around 6 p.m.

I checked outside to see if it was coming from a different building and suddenly, we heard banging on our door and we opened it up and there were three firefighters asking if we had any flooding, which was a shock because we didnt realize there had even been a fire, she told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.

Later, soaking wet firefighters let her know the seventh-floor fire was out. We were very shocked, because we thought that means that our own fire alarm would go off, but it didnt, Martin said.

Water from the seventh floor cascaded onto the sixth, including storage units, Martin said, and into the building elevator, which was out of service Tuesday morning.

The elevator relays may have been damaged by the water in the shaft, we're going to have the elevator maintenance contractor respond as soon as able, the civil engineer squadron members post said. Thank you for your patience. As a reminder, PLEASE, attend your cooking.
CHICOPEE, Mass. (Tribune News Service)  Can one person direct planes to fly into three different airports from a remote location? What is the best way to fill the shortage of air traffic controllers? What steps can be taken to improve safety at civilian and military airports nationwide?

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is hoping to answer those questions and many more with the official opening of its Aviation Research and Training Center at Westover Metropolitan Airport.

On Tuesday morning, professors with the UMass Transportation Center were joined by U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, Gov. Charlie Baker, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy, state Sens. Eric Lesser and John Velis, UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy, UMass President Marty Meehan, Westover Metropolitan Airport Director Michael Bolton and a host of other officials to celebrate the long-awaited opening of the center.

The 8,500-square-foot center was built with $4.75 million in state Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force money and a $500,000 Buehler Foundation grant that funds the high-tech air traffic control tower simulator. It was proposed a decade ago with the idea of creating a partnership with the civilian airport and U.S. Air Force at Westover Air Reserve Base, said Michael A. Knodler Jr., director of the UMass Transportation Center.

We are really excited about this particular facility, which really signifies our emergence into air transportation, Knodler said. We are excited about unleashing the potential with the creative group of researchers we have.

The Transportation Center already does a variety of research involving creating bike- and pedestrian-friendly streets, making transportation more efficient to reduce the impact on climate change and creating safer traffic signals.

Along with research and training for traditional aircraft, the Aviation Training Center will have a division examining unmanned aircraft and drones, he said.

The centers entrance into the field of air transportation is expected to evolve and may eventually expand to offer a degree in air traffic studies, he said.

One of the top features of the center is the 360-degree traffic control simulator, which can be programmed to replicate any airport in the country. The software allows instructors to create a variety of scenarios that traffic controllers can face, Knodler said.

That simulator can be used in many ways, including offering needed training to current air traffic controllers, teaching people studying the profession and for research, he said.

With the country facing a shortage of air traffic controllers, UMass is also hoping to use it to stimulate interest in the field. For example, Springfield public schools are planning to send about 500 students to the center before the end of the academic year so they can learn about different aspects of transportation and careers in the field, Knodler said.

Westover Air Reserve Base and Air Force officials are interested in the simulators training capability and hope to use it to train military personnel from across the country, Knodler said.

The partnership between the air base and the civilian Westover Metropolitan Airport will also assist in research. For example, the center is planning to use a device on the runway to see if there is a way to shorten the distance between takeoffs and landings to increase the number of flights at an airport, he said.

We are going to be able to answer aviation human factors research questions the likes of which nobody else has the ability to answer, he said.

Baker said he was proud of the investment in the center, calling it a testament to the cooperative spirit and a great workforce asset that will help many airports across the state.

As the industry continues to evolve, this center will provide the next generation of aviation professionals with the best we can offer in training and research, and will serve as the model for how we can embrace new technology in order to accelerate the creation of new opportunities for both employment and innovation, Baker said.

The center includes a 40-person classroom and is designed so it can be expanded in the future to add a second simulator. The building, which was completed in February 2021, was constructed during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Subbaswamy said.

In celebrating this exciting facility we witness the power of bringing together infrastructure funding from the state, academic talent from the university and steady and growing sponsored research support from the federal government, he said.

Neal called the announcement superb, saying it is good for UMass, Westover, the municipal airport and the city of Chicopee.

One-third of the aviation undertaking (at Westover) is commercial transport, Neal said. It is a very important part of the economy, so I think it is very important that we look after this base, and it has grown and blossomed.

Kennealy seconded the idea that Westover plays a key role in the regions economy along with being a vital military base.

Through this series of investments, we are building on that tradition by leveraging state-of-the-art technology to create new career pathways in important fields and new opportunities for research and innovation in aviation, he said.

2022 Advance Local Media LLC.

Visit masslive.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
WASHINGTON  A 20-year-old soldier was killed and two others were injured after a single-vehicle crash Monday during a training exercise in Yakima, Wash., according to the Army.

Pfc. Joseph A. Marquez of Dover, Del., was taking part in a training exercise at Yakima Training Center when the incident occurred, according to the Army.

He was a member of the 8th Squadron, 1st Calvary, which is part of the 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 7th Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., near Tacoma. He joined the Army in 2021.

Pfc. Marquez was known for his laughter and the light he spread everywhere he went, the squadron posted Tuesday on Facebook. We knew him as a loving son and brother to his family, a faithful friend to his comrades, and a loyal soldier to his nation.

He was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, the brigade said in the Facebook post.

Two other soldiers received minor injuries in the incident, which is under investigation, the Army said. They were taken to Yakima Memorial Hospital, where they were treated and released.

The Army did not release the injured soldiers names, citing privacy guidelines.

The 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team had just participated in the 7th Infantry Division Best Warrior Competition held at the base on Friday, according to an Army video of the event.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord is a training and mobilization center, according to its website.

The Pentagon had placed some units from the base on heightened readiness orders in January to deploy to Eastern Europe as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared his forces to invade Ukraine. However, they were not tapped to deploy.
(Tribune News Service)  The 24 ships the Biden Administrations budget proposal would decommission include four based in Hampton Roads, two of which are currently deployed, according to Navy budget documents posted on Friday.

The budget proposal calls for decommissioning the cruiser USS San Jacinto, currently operating with the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group in the Mediterranean, and USS Vicksburg, which has been undergoing repairs at BAE Systems Norfolk yard. They would be taken out of service in fiscal year 2023. The remaining 17 cruisers in the fleet would be decommissioned by 2027.

The proposal also would decommission the just-deployed dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall as well as its sister ship USS Tortuga, which has recently completed an overhaul at BAE.

The four warships were commissioned between 30 and 32 years ago.

The Navys plans also call for decommissioning three San Diego-based cruisers next year as well as two dock landing ships in San Diego and Japan, nine Freedom-class littoral combat ships, two Los Angeles-class submarines and four support vessels.

The Navy says decommissioning the ships will save the expense of costly maintenance and repair work, freeing up funds for the new ships it wants to build.

Congress this year balked at an earlier Navy proposal to decommission cruisers, and trimmed the number to be idled this year. House Armed Services Committee members Elaine Luria, D-Norfolk, and Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, have criticized what they call the Navys divest to invest plans to decommission ships; both have said the Navy is idling more ships than it is building.

dress@dailypress.com

2022 Daily Press.

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Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A U.S. Navy ship that drew Russias ire, sailed multiple times in the Black Sea as a symbol of NATO strength and oversaw dozens of naval exercises is now on the chopping block.

USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the Naples, Italy-based U.S. 6th Fleet and one of two Blue Ridge-class amphibious command-and-control ships in the Navy, is set to be decommissioned in 2026, according to the services 2023 budget.

The move would result in $179.7 million in savings, the Navy said in its 2023 budget highlights book.

The Navy didnt go into detail about how it made the decision to decommission Mount Whitney. But in a section of the budget highlights book, the service said it was working to find budgetary efficiencies.

The Mount Whitney would be classified as out of commission in reserve and be kept on the Naval Vessel Register as a reactivation candidate, according to budget documents.

The other Blue Ridge-class ship, the USS Blue Ridge, is the flagship of U.S. 7th Fleet and is homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. It was commissioned in 1970.

Sebastian Bruns, McCain Fulbright scholar in residence at the U.S. Naval Academy and a maritime expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said while modern communications would enable an ashore staff to handle commanding a task group, task force or exercise, the wider political and diplomatic purpose of a command ship cant be as easily replaced.

I have a difficult time imagining that rotational (destroyer) deployments into the European theater will alleviate the lack of a forward-present afloat platform that can deploy to allied countries in the region to send a signal of American naval presence, Bruns said.

Mount Whitney serves as the command ship for U.S. 6th Fleet, and Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO.

The ship currently is deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, as part of Combined Task Force 153, which focuses on the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the connecting Bab el Mandeb waterway.

Commissioned in 1971, the Mount Whitney is homeported in Gaeta, Italy, near U.S. 6th Fleet headquarters. If decommissioned in 2026, the ship will have reached year 55 of an expected service life of 68 years, budget documents show.

In November 2021, the ship drew the attention of Russian President Vladimir Putin when it sailed in the Black Sea for routine NATO operations and port calls in Turkey, Georgia and Romania.

At the time, tensions were running high amid a buildup of more than 150,000 Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine, along with signs of impending aggression by Russian ships in the Black Sea. The Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

At a November meeting with military leaders in Sochi, Putin used the ships presence as justification for bolstering the countrys air defense system.

In August 2008, the Mount Whitney was deployed to the Black Sea to deliver humanitarian aid during the war between Russia and Georgia.

In describing the Mount Whitney as his favorite ship in the Navy, Retired Adm. James G. Foggo III acknowledged tough decisions needed to be made because there is not enough money to do all the things that the Navy needs to do to deter and defend in support of our national security interests.

The Navy and Marine Corps need more funding to build ships and maintain older platforms such as Mount Whitney, he said.

The ship is in great shape, and should the Navy continue to fund her readiness and modernization she can easily continue in active service throughout the decade of the 2030s, said Foggo, who led U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa and Allied Joint Forces Command Naples from 2017 to 2020.
CANBERRA, Australia  Australias opposition party promised Tuesday to establish a Pacific defense school to train neighboring armies in response to Chinas potential military presence on the Solomon Islands.

The school was among a range of measures that the center-left Labor Party has promised to increase Australias engagement in its region if the opposition wins elections on May 21.

Labor has criticized Prime Minister Scott Morrisons conservative government over a security pact announced last week between China and the Solomon Islands.

Australia and the United States fear the deal could result in a Chinese naval presence less than 1,200 miles from the northeast Australian coast.

There are also concerns that other Pacific island countries financially weakened by the pandemic and its impact on tourism could be lured by China into similar deals.

Labor foreign affairs spokesperson Penny Wong said Australia needed to restore its place as the partner of choice in the Pacific region.

Lets be clear, the prospect of a Chinese base less than 2,000 kilometers from Australias coastline is dramatically detrimental to Australias security interests, Wong said. That has occurred on Mr. Morrisons watch.

The Australia-Pacific Defense School would deepen institutional links between the Australian Defense Force and its regional counterparts while supporting the regions needs, a policy statement said.

Opposition defense spokesperson Brendan OConnor said Australia currently only provided some training for its neighbors commissioned military officers and none for lower ranks.

In recent years, this government has been derelict when it comes to its relationship with  Pacific island countries, OConnor said.

Morrison stood by his governments record during its nine years in office, saying Australia provided the Pacific with 1.8 billion Australian dollars ($1.3 billion) a year in aid.

Australia was the only country in the world that had a diplomatic mission in each of the countries that make up the Pacific Islands Forum and has provided every country with naval patrol boats.

A Labor government would double funding for Australias aerial surveillance of its neighbors territorial waters to reduce illegal fishing and help finance clean energy infrastructure projects.

What theyre effectively saying is theyre going to keep doing what weve been doing, Morrison said, referring to Labors Pacific proposals.

Labor also promised to spend an additional AU$525 million ($379 million) over four years on aid to Pacific countries plus East Timor.

The state-owned Australian Broadcasting Corp. would be funded to take more Australian television, radio and online media content to a broader Pacific audience. Partnerships would be built with Pacific broadcasters to carry Australian voices, values and identities to the region to counter Chinese television and radio.

Changes to Australian visas would also make it easier for Pacific Islanders to work and settle in Australia.

Australia is the Solomon Islands' main security partner and largest donor of foreign aid. Labor has described the Chinese security pact with the island nation as Australias biggest policy failure in the Pacific since World War II.

President Joe Bidens administration has warned that the United States will take unspecified action against the Solomon Islands should the Chinese pact pose a threat to U.S. or allied interests.
A private first class stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii died Sunday while swimming in the ocean near the installation on Oahu, the service said in a news release Monday.

The Marine, who was not identified in the release, was pronounced dead at a local hospital, the Marine Corps said.

First responders from the base and the Honolulu Fire Department responded to an emergency call and began searching in waters off North Beach on the base.

They located the Marine and attempted resuscitation.

"The next of kin of the deceased have been notified and a Casualty Assistance Calls Officer has been assigned to provide resources and assistance," the Marine Corps said.

The Marine Corps will not disclose his name until 48 hours after that notification.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service and local police are looking into the Marines death, according to the release.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii lies on the windward side of Oahu, about 12 miles northeast of Honolulu. The roughly 3,000-acre base takes up most of the Mokapu Peninsula.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  North Korea advertised weapons and nuclear abilities during a parade Monday, according to the South Korean president-elect, who promised before everything else to deter the communist regimes military threats.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spoke at the evening parade in Pyongyang that celebrated the 90th anniversary of the North Korean army. He said his country ought to strongly push ahead with building a formidable army and acquire military technology, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

North Koreas nuclear arsenal is the symbol of our national strength and the core of our military power, Kim said, according to KCNA. If any forces try to violate the fundamental interests of our state, our nuclear forces will have to decisively accomplish its unexpected second mission.

The next day, the transition committee of South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol, who is slated to take office May 10, said North Koreas display of weaponry belies its promises of peace.

It has been proved through the military parade that North Korea has been actually immersing itself in developing means to threaten peace, not only on the Korean Peninsula, but also in Northeast Asia and the world, while insisting on peace and dialogue outwardly for the past five years, the Commission on Presidential Transition said in a statement.

North Koreas threats are fraught and realistic and deterring them is an urgent task before everything else, according to the statement.

The president-elect pledged to develop a super gap in military technology between the North and South, while strengthening the alliance between Seoul and Washington.

North Korea claims that its nuclear and weapons programs are primarily defensive and aimed at deterring countries like the United States.

Photos of the parade released by KCNA showed rows of marching troops, military vehicles and weapons, including what the agency described as the Hwasong-17. The intercontinental ballistic missiles are considered to be the largest in the regimes arsenal and can theoretically reach the U.S. mainland.

Although North Korea said it successfully test-fired the Hwasong-17 in March, South Koreas military suggested the missile was a smaller variant.

Yoon, a former chief prosecutor and a member of the conservative People Power Party, will replace outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a member of the Democratic Party.

Yoon campaigned on responding decisively toward North Koreas provocations and separating himself from the Moon administration, which was criticized for catering to Pyongyangs interests.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
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CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  The U.S. military in South Korea dropped its mask mandate Monday on its installations as cases of COVID-19 continue to decline throughout the country.

Masks are no longer required on any U.S. installation or facility, although individual commanders may mandate them in high-traffic indoor areas, such as gyms, commissaries, libraries and similar facilities, according to an announcement by U.S. Forces Korea on its website.

USFK personnel are advised to consult their garrisons for exceptions to the updated policy.

Anyone affiliated with the U.S. military must still wear a mask while outside U.S. installations. South Korea requires people to wear face masks while outdoors and indoors in public.

Defense Department schools on U.S. bases in South Korea are also doing away with the mask requirement starting Wednesday, although students may choose to wear masks at school or on school buses, according to memos from individual school principals.

At Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas, masks will still be required for children age 2 and older and staff at the Col. Dean Hess Child Development Center, Army Col. Seth Graves, the base garrison commander, said in a Facebook video. Masks will also be required at the base's medical and dental facilities.

USFK reported 252 new COVID-19 infections for the seven-day period ending Monday, the fourth straight week of falling case numbers. The command counted 326 cases between April 12 and 18. It reached a weekly pandemic high of 1,599 cases between Jan. 4 and 10.

USFK will continue to monitor and assess the COVID-19 environment and will make additional adjustments to protect the force and our mission, said an April 19 USFK news release.

South Korea reported 80,361 new cases on Monday and 34,370 on Sunday, according to daily updates from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

The recent figures represent a significant drop from an all-time high of 621,187 daily cases on March 17 and the monthly one-day high, thus far, of 286,294 cases on April 5.

The majority of Mondays new cases, 19,363, originated in Gyeonggi province, home of Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base. Seoul, the capital city, counted the second-highest number of infections, 13,560.

USFK, responsible for roughly 28,500 troops in South Korea, lowered its health protection condition from Bravo-plus to Bravo on Thursday, allowing its fully vaccinated population to visit bars, clubs, adults-only businesses, saunas and karaoke bars. An individual is considered fully vaccinated 14 days after completing a series of vaccinations approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Those changes come amid loosened social distancing restrictions from the South Korean government. On April 18, South Korea revoked its business curfew, a 10-person cap on gatherings and the seven-day quarantine for people who test positive for COVID-19.

Nearly 88% of the countrys 51 million people have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and about 65% received a vaccine booster shot, according to a KDCA update on Tuesday.
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that allies must move at the speed of war to get more weaponry into the hands of Ukrainian forces, following meetings with dozens of foreign military leaders at Ramstein Air Base on Tuesday.

I know that all the leaders leave today more resolved than ever to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression and atrocities, Austin told reporters. And I know were all determined to do even more to better coordinate our efforts.

The gathering at Ramstein was the first monthly meeting of the Contact Group, which includes NATO and partner countries.

The Contact Group will be a vehicle for nations of goodwill to intensify our efforts, coordinate our assistance, and focus on winning todays fight and the struggles to come, Austin said.

Ukrainian forces have dealt the Russian military a severe blow since Moscows full-fledged invasion in February, inflicting a high number of casualties, Austin said.

They are weaker than when they started, he said.

The aim of the Ramstein talks was to come to a common understanding on Ukraines changing military requirements as its war with Russia enters a new phase, said Austin, who led discussions with officials from more than 40 countries.

Ukraine clearly believes it can win and so does everyone here, Austin told the assembled defense leaders as the meeting began. Ukraine needs our help to win today and they will still need our help when the war is over.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also attended the gathering.

Since February, the U.S. has provided Ukraine more than $3.4 billion in security assistance. Among the weaponry that has been dispatched: anti-tank Javelins and Stinger missiles, tactical drones, howitzers and an array of ammunition.

Other countries made additional commitments to supply Ukraine with weapons and aid at Ramstein on Tuesday.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said her country will deliver an unspecified number of Gepard anti-aircraft cannon tanks to Ukraine soon, without committing to a timeline. The systems meet priority requests by Ukrainian defense officials, Lambrecht said.

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, a German defense contractor, said it had about 50 Gepards, also called Cheetahs, ready to deliver.

Germanys plans represent a broad change from a couple of months ago, when the country was unwilling to donate weaponry and received criticism for announcing it would contribute 5,000 helmets to Ukraine. Days after Russias full-scale invasion, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country would commit about $113 billion to its national defense and would further support Kyiv.

Also on Tuesday, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand told reporters at Ramstein that Canada plans to give Ukraine M777 armored vehicles. Austin later said Ukraine would receive eight of them.

Canada will continue to send Ukraine weapons from its defense inventory and is signing contracts for more, including cameras for drones that are being used in combat right now, Anand said.

Meanwhile, a defense official from Finland indicated Tuesday that the country is more likely than ever to seek NATO membership, citing widespread public support. Swedens and Finlands militaries are already at NATO standards and the two countries would be welcomed quickly if they asked to join, alliance officials have said.

Austin welcomed the growing defense contributions.

But we dont have any time to waste, he said. The briefings today laid out clearly why the coming weeks will be so crucial for Ukraine. So weve got to move at the speed of war.

So far, weapons from allies are making their way into Ukraine unimpeded, a senior defense official said, noting that the Russian bombardments of five Ukrainian railway stations on Monday havent affected efforts.

In Austins opening remarks, he accused Russian forces of war crimes, including executing Ukrainian civilians. He called Russias war on Ukraine one of choice, to indulge the ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The stakes reach beyond Ukraine and even beyond Europe, said Austin, adding the war presents a challenge to the whole of the free world.

Allies also discussed what will be required to meet the materiel demands of assisting Ukraine over the long term, Austin said.

That means dealing with the tremendous demand that were facing for munitions and weapons platforms and giving our staunch support to Ukraine, while also meeting our own requirements, and those of our allies and partners, he said.

Austins meeting at Ramstein comes after a stop Sunday in Kyiv, where he and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russian forces are refocusing their efforts on Ukraines south and east after being repelled in their bid to seize the capital of Kyiv.

The battle ahead will put Russias larger and better-armed force on more open terrain, pitted against a Ukrainian military that has proved to be more agile and adaptive on the battlefield.

Your resistance has brought inspiration to the free world, Austin said in remarks directed to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, who also attended the meeting at Ramstein.

Stars and Stripes reporter Alexander Riedel contributed to this report.
It had taken 11 hours of driving, bargaining for passage through 20 checkpoints manned by stern-faced Russian soldiers, along with the knowledge that every mile took you farther away from home, probably for good. But by 6 p.m., the three families crammed into a worn-down Mercedes van had made it out of Mariupol.

"There were so many bombs," said Volodymyr Korotky, a 56-year-old mechanic who left Mariupol with his family and only two suitcases' worth of clothes he could save from his destroyed apartment. "I'm so happy we're in Ukrainian territory."

He and his wife, along with nine other people, arrived at the parking lot of an Epicenter store, a sort of Ukrainian Home Depot, here on the edge of Zaporizhzhia, which has become the primary node for the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Melitopol, Berdyansk and Mariupol  cities in the south and southeast that bear witness to the horror and despair of Russia's occupation.

For 14-year-old Lizza Onufrieva, the signs of what that occupation would bring came early to her family's home in Mariupol's Ilyich neighborhood, on the very first day of the war, Feb. 24.

"It was 1 in the morning, and we woke up to something exploding very close to us," she said. The teenager ran down to the basement with her mother, Oksana, and Businka, her Jack Russell terrier.

Back then, they had electricity, and the air-raid sirens were still working. But in the days that followed, the bombardment intensified; they would hide in darkness, waiting  hoping  for the sounds to subside. Eventually, the bombing almost seemed normal.

"You just get used to these explosions, and they don't seem so bad until they're near your house," Lizza said. "Businka was terrified, hiding under the table. We went to the basement. She was still very afraid, no matter if I was holding her or not."

On one of the scarier days, they looked outside their home to find a Russian tank in their yard. Russian soldiers barged in, demanding to know if they had seen Ukrainian troops. The tank then began to fire at a car, presumably with Ukrainian soldiers inside.

The worst day for Lizza was March 11, when a trio of bombs slammed into the front yard of her paternal grandparents' home. Her grandfather died that day, not from the ordnance but from the shock that followed. Nine days later, her grandmother died.

"Their hearts couldn't take it," she said.

Day by day, Mariupol turned into a hellscape, with more than three-quarters of its 450,000 people escaping the city. Lizza's mother, Oksana, a professor of probability theory and statistical mathematics at Pryazovskyi State Technical University, didn't want to leave without her own parents, who lived in another neighborhood. But she had lost contact with them March 2, when communications went down in much of the city.

Finally, when she heard of the chance to leave with a few other families, she made the decision to go.

"We were waiting for news, but the main thing is to ensure Lizza's future," she said. "And in Mariupol, I think there's no future."

Because Korotky's apartment was near a military base, he had been forced to spend about a month and a half in a basement because of the constant bombing. In the beginning, when it was possible to leave more easily, he had decided to stay as authorities in the city said that military assistance would come, that everything would be fine. Besides, though his children were grown and living in the capital, Kyiv, his father was in Mariupol, and Korotky didn't want to leave him.

But the situation kept getting worse. Though it was possible to escape from other parts of Mariupol, the Russians were hunting for Ukrainian snipers in his neighborhood.

"They were shooting at the houses from tanks," Korotky said.

Then a bomb struck the building where his father lived in a second-floor apartment; in a moment, seven floors pancaked onto it.

"I couldn't take him out from under the rubble. I couldn't bury him," Korotky said.

The fighting was incessant, transforming swaths of the city into a gantlet of bullets, tank shells and artillery. Although both Ukrainian and Russian authorities repeatedly announced humanitarian corridors, they kept falling through, each side accusing the other of attacking civilians. But with so much of what tied him to the city destroyed, Korotky had to get out.

He received word that his friend Serhiy had found a route out.

"He knew the way where you could give a bribe to someone and be able to pass," Korotky said.

Early Monday morning, Mariupol was relatively quiet, with bombing only happening around the Azovstal steelworks, where the last Ukrainian defenders were besieged by Russian troops. Serhiy called: Korotky had 10 minutes to get his things together and be ready to leave. He and his wife emerged from their basement and ran to the van.

Their route took them through 20 checkpoints. The Russians, Oksana Onufrieva said, didn't take their SIM cards, but combed through their cellphones for any military information.

"We had to pay $200 to three of the checkpoints to let us through," she said.

When they got to Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol, Ukrainian volunteers and police officers greeted them and took down their information for registration.

"It's hard, especially when families talk about what happened to them, like people being fired upon when they tried to escape," said Dmytro, a police officer standing watch as one of his colleagues talked to the new arrivals. Some people came with children who weren't their own, he added.

"You hear kids talking about how their mother and father were killed in front of their eyes. It's so sad and strange," said Dmytro, who gave only his first name for reasons of security.

Not everyone here in Zaporizhzhia had fled fighting. The situation was relatively quiet in Berdyansk, a coastal city about 40 miles southwest of Mariupol that was captured three days into the Russian invasion. But Leica Kandakova, a 36-year-old manicurist, couldn't accept living under Russian rule.

Her husband, an army medic, had gone missing April 1 during a combat mission. Some of his friends came to talk to her, urging her to leave. So on Monday, she took her 10-year-old daughter, Alexandra, and 11-month-old son, Kyril, and came to Zaporizhzhia. She didn't know where to go exactly, but she knew it was impossible to stay in Berdyansk.

"It was like living in an open-air prison. I just couldn't do it," she said.

Korotky expects he'll never be able to return to Mariupol. The next day, he boarded a train to Kyiv, where he would meet his children, and then he and his wife would continue their journey to the city of Khmelnytsky, farther west.

In the meantime, he had decided he would write a book about his experience.

"I already have a name for it," he said. "'Mariupol: Life at Zero.'"

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PARIS  When Vladimir Putin congratulated Emmanuel Macron on his re-election as France's president and wished him "success in your activities," the Russian leader probably was being more polite than sincere.

As he embarks on a second term, with the intention of keeping France at the forefront of international efforts to force Putin to change course in Ukraine, Macron has given a green light for the delivery of modern artillery pieces to Kyiv that could help stem Russia's new offensive in the east of the country.

Firing six rounds per minute over 25 miles or more, the truck-mounted Caesar cannons will allow Ukrainian crews to pound Russian troops from afar, then move and pound them again. Used to great effect against Islamic State forces in Iraq and in other conflicts, they represent a step up in France's assistance to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government.

In another remarkable move, Macron is talking openly about the guns, lifting a veil of secrecy he'd thrown over French military aid. The delivery and the publicity together signal a tougher line from Macron in his dealings with Putin  talking less and engaging more in brinksmanship with the Kremlin.

"Initially, we were a bit shy to show what was being provided," said retired Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France's military mission at the United Nations. But "we have been escalating week after week, testing the reaction."

Macron was in the closing stages of his presidential re-election campaign when he name-dropped the Caesar cannons in an April 21 interview with the newspaper Ouest-France. He also mentioned Milan anti-tank missiles, although those supplies had already been reported.

Macron didn't give numbers. Citing unidentified French sources, Ouest-France said 12 Caesars will be drawn from the French arsenal and that 40 Ukrainian artillery soldiers were arriving for training at a military base in the south of France.

Macron said his "red line" remains not entering into direct conflict with Russia, but within that limit, "we must provide maximum help to the Ukrainians."

"We are delivering consequential equipment," he said. "We need to continue down this path."

His armed forces minister tweeted that thousands of shells would also be part of the delivery. Sunil Nair, an analyst who specializes in artillery systems for the defense publication Janes, said the cannons could be used independently of each other or together as a battery.

"It does give you firepower, no doubt about it," he said. "It's a question of how they use it and where they use it."

Before and after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion, Macron had kept an open line with Putin. But the horrors discovered by Ukrainian troops as they retook control of villages near Kyiv once Russian soldiers withdrew gave Macron pause. His office said last week that the two leaders haven't spoken since March 29.

Macron says that, eventually, he'll need to pick up the phone again  because not talking to Putin will allow the leaders of China, India and Turkey to take the lead in trying to negotiate the peace, whenever that time comes.

"We'll have to prepare a cease-fire at some stage, and Europe will have to be around the table," Macron said last week.

In the meantime, French weapons will do some of the talking  in hopes of adding to the pressure on Putin.

"The best way to have successful talks is to have successful Ukrainians throwing back the Russian invasion," said Francois Heisbourg, a French analyst on defense and security questions at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The Caesars will allow their crews to go hunting for Russian artillery pieces being used in eastern Ukraine that are indiscriminately pummeling civilian targets.

"The Americans and the Poles and the Slovaks and the Belgians and the French and the Canadians are all sending heavy artillery to the Ukrainians," Heisbourg said.

"That's a really, really big improvement to the situation of Ukraine in the new phase of the war."

___

Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet and Angela Charlton contributed.
First, Germany said it couldnt spare any of its Marder infantry vehicles for Ukraine. Then it was accused of scrubbing such items from a German arms industry list of what was available for Kyiv. Berlin has since proposed sending some Marders after all but to Slovenia, so that country could in turn send its old Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine. And on Tuesday, the government said it would approve the export of German-made armored antiaircraft vehicles to Ukraine.

BERLIN - First, Germany said it couldnt spare any of its Marder infantry vehicles for Ukraine.

Then it was accused of scrubbing such items from a German arms industry list of what was available for Kyiv. Berlin has since proposed sending some Marders after all but to Slovenia, so that country could in turn send its old Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine. And on Tuesday, the government said it would approve the export of German-made armored antiaircraft vehicles to Ukraine.

Its a complete contradiction, Roderich Kiesewetter, a lawmaker with the conservative Christian Democrats, said of the governments various statements on sending heavy arms in recent weeks.

As defense leaders from more than 40 countries met Tuesday at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany, to synchronize efforts to provide military aid to Ukraine, Berlin was just managing to synchronize the position of its own government.

Two months after Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced an epochal change in foreign and defense policy for Germany, dubbed the Zeitenwende, its touted new era has been overshadowed at home by the governments hesitant stance on military assistance to Ukraine.

On Tuesday, as pressure mounted for more decisive action, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced at the Ramstein meeting that Berlin would greenlight Gepard self-propelled antiaircraft guns to be sent from industry stocks. Manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann had offered to ready and send the 50 decommissioned Gepards in February.

Germany, together with its allies, stands firmly at the side of its Ukrainian friends who are in dire need, she said, acknowledging criticism of Germany in recent weeks.

But the numbers speak a different language, she said. It is important to me that we continue to stand together here and not allow ourselves to be driven apart.

In February, Berlins announcement - two days after Russias invasion - that it would send 1,000 antitank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles was heralded as a sea-change. It had previously maintained that Germanys world war history constrained it from sending weapons to an active conflict zone.

But policy has lagged behind political and public pressure, even as evidence of Russian war crimes has built and Moscow has announced a new offensive in the countrys east.

Germany has still stopped short of approving requests from its arms industry to send more offensive heavy weaponry such as tanks and the Marders.

The German government moves under one condition and thats overwhelming pressure, Marcel Dirsus, a nonresident fellow at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University, wrote on Twitter. They cant deliver self-propelled anti-aircraft systems until they can. Its the same thing over and over and over again.

Still, he said the announcement at Ramstein was a strong signal from Germany after so much reluctance.

While Scholz had pushed ahead with plans to bring the country into a new age of military deterrence, with plans to buy F-35 fighter jets and armed drones, the decision to not send heavy weaponry such as tanks and anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine had drawn criticism not just from the opposition, but also from the ranks of the governments three-party coalition.

He has to lead, said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, head of the German parliaments defense committee, who has emerged as one of the chancellors most vocal critics. Her Free Democratic Party, a junior coalition partner in government, on Saturday voted in favor of supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons, including the rapid provision of arms from the German Defense Ministry.

The chancellor, known for his cautious public style, is suffering from a communication problem, she said. The really big problem is not that we send not enough weapons, its how you talk about it, she said.

Until just last week, Scholz had maintained that Germany sending heavy weaponry could trigger a broader conflict.

We must do everything possible to avoid a direct military confrontation between NATO and a highly armed superpower like Russia, a nuclear power, Scholz said.

However, with other members of the alliance already sending in heavy weapons, the argument didnt hold, said Carlo Masala, a professor in international politics at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. The idea of keeping some doors open and lines of communication to Russia is probably still in the minds of some people in the chancellery, he said.

Meanwhile, he said, Scholz is probably trying keep his party together on the issue, which is particularly divisive within his Social Democrats, given the partys historic ties to Moscow.

Some 55 percent of Germans are now in favor of sending heavy weapons - including tanks and fighter jets - to Ukraine, according to a recent poll commissioned by German television station ARD. Before the February invasion, polls showed that more than two-thirds of Germans were against sending defensive arms.

Despite its pacifist roots, Germanys Greens party has also backed sending heavy weaponry, with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock this month urging western countries to do more.

Now is not the time for excuses; now is the time for creativity and pragmatism, she said in a thinly veiled gibe at Scholz.

Even members of Scholzs own party had called for a change in the chancellerys position.

Almost two months after the time-turning speech, after all that has been learned of the innumerable crimes against civilians and the genocidal nature of the war, it has become clear that Germany still acts with its old mixture of reluctance, hesitation, and backsliding, Berlin based analyst Oxana Schmies wrote for the Center for European Policy last week.

After Tuesdays announcement, Scholzs reasoning as to why heavy arms deliveries werent possible looked weak, she said, but the planned deliveries are a good step. Maybe we can be cautiously optimistic, she said.

Still, the governments decision to greenlight defensive military equipment rather than offensive heavy weapons is likely not a coincidence but still a signal of lingering overcautiousness, she said.

With its own military stocks low, Berlin is using a system by which Ukraine orders from German industry and the German government pays. Dedicated funds have been boosted to $2.1 billion, Lambrecht said.

Furor over arms deliveries grew last week after the tabloid Bild reported that the Defense Ministry had excluded heavy weaponry from a list prepared by the German arms industry of what was available.

Kiesewetter, who said he saw both versions of the list, confirmed that heavy weapons, including the Marders and multiple-launch rocket systems, were removed from what was presented to Kyiv.

The Defense Ministry declined to comment, but officials had said they were focusing on supplying equipment that Ukraine can quickly use, and they were working on a deal to send Marders to Slovenia, so it can hand over its Soviet-era T-72 tanks to Ukraine.

Such backfilling may help assuage Germanys discomfort with sending heavy weapons into a conflict zone, but its not a long-term solution for Ukraine, said Masala. Germany also said Tuesday that it will train Ukrainian soldiers in Germany on how to use Howitzers sent to Kyiv by the Netherlands.

In the meantime, Germany also needs to work on its messaging, he said. While the German government is the biggest financial donor to Ukraine, Germany is still perceived as being extremely reluctant, Masala said, and it is hurting the countrys international reputation.

Germany has been very disappointing, to put it mildly, said Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraines Defense Ministry. Hopefully its a change in their approach, he said of the announcement Tuesday.
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany  U.S. military officials assess that a crucial, and perhaps decisive, phase of the Ukraine war is shaping up in the eastern part of the country, where Russian troops may surround Ukrainian forces in hopes of pummeling them in an epic, long-distance ground battle reminiscent of the last century.

New U.S. shipments of heavy artillery and counter-artillery radar, tactical drones, armored vehicles and other equipment are being rushed to Ukraine before tens of thousands of troops, amounting to up to half of the Ukrainian army, are caught in what is known as a double envelopment maneuver that would bring them under simultaneous attack from two sides.

The Ukrainians are located in a north-south crescent between deep Russian lines in the southeastern Donbas region, and a potential pincer movement to their west.

Russian success in the southern port city of Mariupol, where its forces have been battling Ukrainian resistance for weeks, would free up thousands of Moscows troops to head north and potentially meet up with additional Russian forces heading south from the area around Kharkiv, in the countrys northeast.

I think its accurate that the next several weeks will be very, very critical . . . for the outcome of this battle thats shaping up, said Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who met here Monday with U.S. European commanders.

It is anticipated that the battle will be fought at a distance. The Russians are using less armor than previously, without the blitzes that characterized some of their earlier forays into Ukraine, and returning to their more traditional doctrine of using artillery and other long-range fire.

Their front line in Donbas is heavily fortified with surface-to-air missiles that, from a Western perspective, underscore the belief that supplying the Ukrainians with more crewed, fixed-wing aircraft  despite their appeals for planes  would not enhance their prospects.

Where the front line of Russian forces ends up after what is expected to be a grueling battle lasting weeks, if not months, will go a long way to determining the Wests future force posture in Europe. If the Ukrainians cannot hold their positions  let alone push the Russians back  there would be little to stop Russian forces from again turning all of their attention to the central parts of the country and perhaps beyond.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, having initially indicated he planned to control most or all of Ukraine, has reformulated his public objective to claiming the east. But Western officials remain uncertain of his ultimate goal or any time limit he has set for it.

On Tuesday, Milley will attend a gathering of military leaders from more than 40 NATO and non-NATO countries, hosted by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Ramstein base, to discuss what Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called both the current and future defense needs of Ukraine.

As they assess the looming battle, several of the U.S. military officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the Defense Department, offered assessments of the contrasting strengths of the opposing forces.

Weight is on the Russian side, one official said, with a willingness to throw solders and units into the fight. They have the numbers. What the Ukrainians have is a very adaptive command style, adaptive tactics, with small-unit field commanders given far more decision-making authority, high morale and local knowledge.

The Ukrainians, the official said, definitely stand a fighting chance.

But that chance is largely seen as dependent on having the weaponry they need to fight the kind of long-distance battle they will face, and whether it can reach them in time. One of the subjects of discussion in the Tuesday meeting here is expected to be how to avoid traffic jams as the tempo and bulk of shipments increase, although it is the Ukrainians  who will also attend  determining the mode and routes of travel once inside the country.

The $800 million package of armaments announced by the Biden administration last week includes 72 155mm howitzers, whose range, under certain circumstances, is triple that of the Soviet-era 152mm artillery currently in the Ukrainian arsenal. Trained artillery operators have been brought out of Ukraine in recent weeks to learn how to use the more advanced weapons, in classes reduced from the normal two weeks to an average of six days, U.S. military officials said.

The howitzers come with trucks to tow them and 144,000 artillery rounds. The package also includes 10 AN/TPQ-36 counter-artillery radars, which have the ability to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire to counterattack it at its point of origin.

The United States is also sending at least 121 Phoenix Ghost tactical unmanned aerial systems, armed drones that have both reconnaissance and attack capability. The newly developed aircraft also carry a greater weapons payload, and can fly farther, than the additional Switchblade drone attack systems that are also in the package.

While far larger, the Russian force the Ukrainians will face is seen as demoralized and depleted after its failed attempt at a quick victory following the Feb. 24 invasion. One question is what the Russians have learned from their poor showing in other parts of Ukraine, where an overestimation of their preparedness and skills, and an underestimation of Ukrainian adaptability and perseverance, scuttled their plans for a quick takeover of Kyiv, the capital.

Russian units that withdrew several weeks ago from around Kyiv and other areas were in worse shape than the United States expected, the military official said, and left a trail of equipment that was either destroyed or inoperative and traveled through Belarus into Russia. Many were quickly redeployed into Donbas.

The Russians are reconstituting with poorly maintained and not-modernized equipment, the official said. Some tanks have a driver and no crew, and a number of units are believed to be undermanned, some down to 70% strength. Western military doctrine generally holds that a unit down by 10% is in bad shape, while one depleted by 30% is no longer considered combat effective.

Despite the number of long-distance weapons they have fired, the Russians targeting has been less than optimal. We are shocked when we miss something, a second U.S. military official said. The Russians are not shocked.
POKROVSK, Ukraine  Russia cut off natural gas to NATO members Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday and threatened to do the same to other countries, using its most essential export in what was seen as a bid to punish and divide the West over its support for Ukraine.

The move, condemned by European leaders as blackmail," marked a dramatic escalation in the economic war of sanctions and countersanctions that has unfolded in parallel to the fighting on the battlefield.

The tactic, coming a day after the U.S. and other Western allies vowed to rush more and heavier weapons to Ukraine, could eventually force targeted nations to ration gas and could deal another blow to economies suffering from rising prices. At the same time, it could deprive Russia of badly needed income to fund its war effort.

Poland has been a major gateway for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and confirmed this week that it is sending the country tanks. Just hours before Russia's state energy giant Gazprom acted, Poland announced a new set of sanctions against the company and other Russian businesses and oligarchs.

Bulgaria, under a new liberal government that took office last fall, has cut many of its old ties to Moscow and likewise supported punitive measures against the Kremlin. It has also hosted Western fighter jets at a new NATO outpost on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.

The gas cuts do not immediately put the two countries in any dire trouble. Poland, especially, has been working for many years to line up other suppliers, and the continent is heading into summer, making gas less essential for households.

Also, Russian gas deliveries to both Poland and Bulgaria were expected to end later this year anyway.

Still, the cutoff and the Kremlin warning that other countries could be next sent shivers of worry through the 27-nation European Union. Germany, the largest economy on the continent, and Italy are among Europes biggest consumers of Russian natural gas, though they, too, have been taking steps to reduce their dependence on Moscow.

It comes as no surprise that the Kremlin uses fossil fuels to try to blackmail us, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Today, the Kremlin failed once again in his attempt to sow division amongst member states. The era of Russian fossil fuel in Europe is coming to an end.

Gazprom said it shut off the two countries because they refused to pay in rubles, as President Vladimir Putin has demanded of unfriendly" nations. The Kremlin said other countries may be cut off if they don't agree to the payment arrangement.

Most European countries have publicly balked at Russias demand for rubles, but it is not clear how many have actually faced the moment of decision so far. Greeces next scheduled payment to Gazprom is due on May 25, for example, and the government must decide then whether to comply.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told his country's parliament that he believes Polands support for Ukraine  and the new sanctions imposed by Warsaw on Tuesday  were the real reasons behind the gas cutoff.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov called the suspension blackmail, adding: We will not succumb to such a racket.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia views gas as a weapon for political blackmail and "sees a united Europe as a target.

On the battlefield, fighting continued in the country's east along a largely static front line some 300 miles (480 kilometers) long.

Russia claimed its missiles hit a batch of weapons that the U.S. and European nations had delivered to Ukraine. One person was killed and at least two were injured when rockets hit a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv.

Western officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence findings, said Russia has made slow progress in the eastern Donbas region, with minor gains, including the capture of villages and small towns south of Izyum and on the outskirts of Rubizhne.

Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, conceded that Russia has made minor progress in its advance on Rubizhne through its nearly constant bombardment, but that Ukrainian troops are fighting back and retreating only when there is nothing left to defend.

There is no point in staying on territory that has been fired on so often that every meter is well known, he said.

The Western officials said some Russian troops have been shifted from the gutted southern port city of Mariupol to other parts of the Donbas. But some remain in Mariupol to fight Ukrainian forces holed up at the Azovstal steel plant, the last stronghold in the city. About 1,000 civilians were said to be taking shelter there with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders.

The situation is very difficult. There are huge problems with water, food, Serhii Volynskyi, commander of the marine unit inside the plant, said in a Facebook video message. He said hundreds of fighters and civilians were wounded and in need of medical help, and those inside included children, older people and disabled people.

In the Black Sea port city of Kherson, which Russian forces have occupied since early in the war, a series of explosions boomed late Wednesday near the television tower and at least temporarily knocked Russian channels off the air, Ukrainian and Russian news organizations reported.

Just across the border in Russia, an ammunition depot in the Belgorod region burned after several explosions were heard, the governor said. Blasts were also reported in Russia's Kursk region near the border, and authorities in Russia's Voronezh region said an air defense system shot down a drone.

Earlier this week, an oil storage facility in the Russian city of Bryansk was engulfed by fire.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak hinted at the country's involvement in the fires, saying in a Telegram post that karma (is) a harsh thing.

In other developments:

 The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said the safety level at Europes largest nuclear plant, now under Russian occupation in Ukraine, is like a red light blinking as his organization tries in vain to get access to the Zaporizhzhia power station for repairs.

 Amid rising tensions over gas, Moscow and Washington carried out a dramatic prisoner exchange, trading a Marine veteran jailed in Moscow for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long prison sentence in the U.S.

With the help of Western arms, Ukrainian forces managed to thwart Russian forces' attempt to storm Kyiv. Moscow now says its focus is the capture of the Donbas, Ukraine's mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland.

A defiant Putin vowed Russia will achieve its military goals, telling parliament, "All the tasks of the special military operation we are conducting in the Donbas and Ukraine, launched on Feb. 24, will be unconditionally fulfilled.

Simone Tagliapietra, senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, said Russias goal in cutting off the flow of gas is to divide and rule  pit European countries against one another as they cast about for energy.

While Poland gets around 45% of its gas from Russia, it relies overwhelmingly on coal and said it was well prepared for the cutoff. It has ample gas in storage and will soon benefit from two pipelines coming on line, analyst Emily McClain of Rystad Energy said.

Bulgaria gets over 90% of its gas from Russia, but it could increase imports from Azerbaijan, and a pipeline connection to Greece is set to be completed later this year.

Dobrin Todorov, a resident of Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, said the suspension is not a big problem.

Ultimately, the choice between freedom and dignity or gas, the answer is clear, in favor of freedom and dignity, Todorov said, adding that a lack of gas "cannot be compared to the hardship and tribulations that the Ukrainian people are currently suffering.

Europe is not without its own leverage, since it is paying some $400 million a day to Russia for gas, money Putin would lose in a complete cutoff. Russia can, in theory, sell oil elsewhere  to India and China, for instance. But it doesn't have the necessary pipelines in some cases, and it has only limited capacity to export gas by ship.

The move that Russia did today is basically a move where Russia hurts itself," von der Leyen said.

___

Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine, and Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Associated Press journalists Jill Lawless in London, Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, David Keyton in Kyiv, Oleksandr Stashevskyi at Chernobyl, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned theres a serious risk of nuclear war over Ukraine, even as he signaled the Kremlin is willing to talk to the U.S. to try to resolve the confrontation.

The danger is serious, real. It cant be underestimated, Lavrov said in a state TV interview broadcast late Monday. Invoking the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war, Moscow and Washington had understood the rules of conduct between the superpowers, he said, now there are few rules left.

Russia will continue negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys representatives to try to reach a peace agreement, Lavrov said. It would be useful to hold discussions with the U.S. too, but we dont observe any interest on their part regarding contacts on Ukraine or on other issues. Both sides have said the talks are at a dead end.

Lavrovs comment came after U.S. Defense Secretary LLoyd Austin said Monday in Kyiv that Washington wants to see Russian forces weakened to the degree that it cant do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine. The U.S. announced additional military aid for Ukraine as the war enters its 62nd day with Russian and Ukrainian armies facing off in the eastern Donbas region, where Moscow has regrouped its forces after failing to take Kyiv early in the invasion.

Austin is hosting North Atlantic Treaty Organization counterparts and other partners at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday to discuss ways of boosting weapons supplies to Ukraine. Germany will allow delivery of 50 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine in its first step to supply heavy weapons to counter Russias invasion.

Lavrov has warned previously of the risks of a nuclear confrontation over Ukraine even as he has repeatedly declared that Russias principled position is the inadmissibility of nuclear war. He isnt responsible for military decision-making in Russia and hasnt explained how he believes a nuclear conflict would begin.

Russia will continue to pursue the war aims announced by President Vladimir Putin to secure the destruction of military infrastructure and the demilitarization of Ukraine, Lavrov said in the interview.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is in Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Putin and Lavrov as he strives to secure a halt to the war. The UNs top diplomat is due to travel to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskiy on Wednesday.

In his latest daily video address, Zelensky said Russia will lose the war and called on Ukrainians to think every day about how to make the occupiers presence on our land even more unbearable.

Meanwhile, two antennas that carried Russian radio broadcasts in Moldovas breakaway Transnistria region were blown up early Tuesday, the second episode of violence reported in the Moscow-backed enclave that borders Ukraine in as many days.
Balfour Beatty Communities, which manages and maintains military housing on bases across the country, has mishandled maintenance requests and threatened the health and safety of families at bases in Georgia and Texas, according to a Senate report released Tuesday.

The findings of the report are similar to those of a federal criminal investigation made public in December. Balfour Beatty pleaded guilty to fraud charges that followed a Justice Department investigation and the company paid $65 million in fines and restitution to the military.

The report, which was compiled by a subpanel of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, detailed how Balfour Beatty continues to submit family housing paperwork with inaccurate or omitted information. The paperwork is used by military officials to monitor how the company responds to maintenance requests. The report also found Balfour Beatty ignored or delayed urgent maintenance requests and failed to clean or make basic repairs to homes before leasing them to military tenants.

These poor conditions persisted well after Richard Taylor, one of Balfours two copresidents, publicly pledged in testimony before Congress on Dec. 5, 2019, to improve Balfours ability to monitor repairs and responses to conditions such as mold, to prioritize the health and safety of residents, and to prepare homes for move-ins, according to the report from the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which spent eight months investigating the companys actions at Fort Gordon, Ga., and Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.

Investigators matched internal documents with the companys maintenance management system records to pinpoint instances where the company mislabeled requests, cut corners on repairs, or simply ignored military families calls for help.

Those actions put medically vulnerable residents and children at risk, caused damage to the personal items of military families and subjected families to allergens, hazards or filthy conditions, according to the report.

These are issues that have been out there. I think we bring more specific focus to some of our findings, said a subcommittee official speaking on the condition of anonymity. We have real evidence of what Balfour did and did not do in the time period were looking at.

The report is titled Mistreatment of Military Families in Privatized Housing and it focused on issues from 2019 to the present, which is after the time that the Justice Department investigated Balfour Beatty and charged the company with fraud. In December, Balfour Beatty pleaded guilty to fraud that occurred between 2013 and 2019 at some of the 55 bases at which the company manages housing. As part of the guilty plea, the company agreed to a three-year probationary period, which increases scrutiny to comply with regulations, according to the Justice Department.

The actions uncovered by the Justice Department involved altering maintenance records to appear as though Balfour Beatty was meeting goals required for financial bonuses from the military when the company was not.

A spokesperson for Balfour Beatty said the company is disappointed that the subcommittees report does not accurately reflect the companys level of commitment to its military residents and their families or acknowledge the significant steps that have been taken to address the small number of complaints that were discussed.

While we continually seek to improve, as an operator of 43,000 residences, we are inevitably going to have to deal with challenges. The company remains focused on the safety, health and wellbeing of its residents and on providing quality homes supported by prompt and effective customer service and maintenance support, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Richard Taylor, Balfour Beattys president of facility operations, renovation and construction, and Paula Cook, company vice president of military community management, will testify Tuesday and answer committee questions about the findings of the investigation. The company received excerpts of the 51-page report prior to the hearing, the subcommittee official said.

Two service members, a military spouse and the co-founder of a military housing advocacy group also will testify before the subcommittee. Army Capt. Samuel Choe, who will testify Tuesday, provided the subcommittee with medical records and photos of the skin rash that his then 8-year-old daughter developed while living in a Fort Gordon home from late 2019 to early 2021.

The girls physician linked the rashes to mold exposure and advised the family remedy the mold in the home or move, according to the report. The Choe family moved after becoming frustrated with Balfour Beattys lack of response, according to the report.

Congress began scrutinizing the military housing contracts, some of which span 50 years, between the service branches and private management companies following a 2018 Reuters investigation that exposed the dangerous conditions that some military families have faced in base housing, including mold growth, toxic exposure, lead-based paint and asbestos, pest and rodent infestations, and water and sewage issues. Many conditions were exacerbated by poor or slow response to maintenance requests.

Congress has since stepped in and issued reforms, but problems have persisted. Last month, executives from several housing companies, including Balfour Beatty, faced angry lawmakers during a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee subpanel on military construction, veterans affairs and related agencies. Some Defense Department officials also attended that hearing and said they do believe that despite the criminal fraud, its important to keep trying to make these contracts work.

Officials with the Senate subcommittee said they agreed that breaking ties with a company such as Balfour Beatty would be extremely difficult and costly, and that was not the focus of the investigation.

We were much more focused on what is happening to military families. Are they getting the repairs and help they need, as well as the nature of the accuracy or inaccuracy of the data, another subcommittee official said also speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The report highlights the stories of nine military families experiences living in Balfour Beatty homes  eight Army families at Fort Gordon, including the Choe family, and one Air Force family at Sheppard. Both bases are among the 55 bases at which Balfour Beatty manages housing for more than 150,000 residents. The company manages 1,000 homes at Fort Gordon and about 700 at Sheppard, according to the report.

The investigation included review of more than 11,000 pages of records from Balfour Beatty, additional documents from military families and former Balfour employees, and interviews with more than a dozen family members and former company employees. The subcommittee also interviewed 11 current employees, ranging from maintenance supervisors to the companys co-president, and received information from the Defense Department, the Army, and the Government Accountability Office, which has done several of its own reviews into privatized military family housing.

The investigation found numerous examples since late 2019 of poor conditions in Balfours military housing and disregard of safety concerns and environmental hazards that put military families at risk, according to the report. Mold was a common problem among the stories, and Balfour Beatty was seen labeling requests for mold remediation as painting, carpentry or plumbing repairs in its computer maintenance files, according to the report.

Taylor said its important for the companys maintenance system, known as Yardi, to be accurate because it is used by the military to provide oversight on the company, according to the report. Prospective tenants also receive information on a homes history through the system before signing a lease as part of newly laid out congressional mandates.

Other conditions found included families being moved into homes with broken floor tiles held together with clear packing tape, clogged air conditioning vents, carpets filled with pet hair, rusting pipes and broken appliances, including a furnace leaking gas.

In one home at Fort Gordon, the family reported a leaking roof in May 2020, which went ignored for three months until the ceiling finally collapsed. Then it still took six weeks to get a response. The company blamed the delay on the coronavirus pandemic and difficulties getting contractors to complete multiple roof repairs.

Aside from families, one employee told investigators that a Fort Gordon facility manager described asbestos-related health concerns as overblown or overstated. The manager told the employee to just glue down broken floor tiles instead of following government-regulated testing and remediation.

These are the men and women serving our country, putting it all on the line to serve others and our democracy, said one subcommittee official. It's pretty inexcusable that they face these conditions.

The report and the hearing are just the first step in a process to hold the company accountable, according to a subcommittee official.

Were still evaluating what the next steps are after the hearing, the official said.
Army Capt. Samuel Choe and his family now live thousands of miles from the home at Fort Gordon, Ga., that he said made his daughter sick. But the scars on her body remind them of her pain.

It inspired Choe to fly the 7,000 miles from South Korea to Washington to testify Tuesday on Capitol Hill and describe exactly what impact privatized military housing had on his only daughter, who he calls his heart.

In August 2019, the Choe family moved into base housing at Fort Gordon that was managed by the private company Balfour Beatty Communities, which was under a federal criminal investigation for fraud. That was not publicly known at the time.

Choe soon noticed his then 8-year-old daughters skin breaking out in rashes. She was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis that a doctor eventually linked to mold in the familys on-base residence. Choe said he found mold in the bathrooms, behind the walls, on the ceiling and in his childrens bedrooms.

My daughter, her skin once youthful and supple, is now reptilian in nature, he told senators during a hearing about the problems families have faced living in Balfour Beatty-managed base housing. There are numerous times she would wake up in the middle of the night, hands covered in blood from her scratching while sleeping in her bed, her bedsheets also covered in her own blood. How do you explain to an 8-year-old child why she should endure something like that?

Choe sat alongside Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jack Fe Torres, who told senators about his familys experience with mold in a home rented from Balfour Beatty at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. The two service members experiences were documented in a report compiled and released Tuesday by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is part of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The hearing was designed to hear their stories and question leaders from the company about the findings of the report titled Mistreatment of Military Families in Privatized Housing.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who is the chairman of the subcommittee, initiated the eight-month investigation that led to the report after visiting Fort Gordon and hearing from military families about their troubles with Balfour Beatty.

I heard stories about maintenance requests that were ignored. Maintenance requests that were never followed up on, and not just routine maintenance, but maintenance that impacted the health and safety of our service members and their families living in their homes, he said. The results of this investigation are alarming and disturbing.

Richard Taylor, president of facility operations, renovation and construction for Balfour Beatty, told the subcommittee that the testimony of Choe and Torres was their perception.

I have substantial empathy for the Choe family. I know that its hard to deal with any ailment with any child. I have a hard time drawing a conclusion.

The Choe family moved out of Fort Gordon housing in early 2021 and into a nearby community. By December, Balfour Beatty pleaded guilty to defrauding the military in a scheme to alter maintenance records that were tied to financial bonuses. The company paid $65 million in restitution and fines.

Balfour Beatty has continued to provide housing to the military at 55 bases across the country, and Choes daughter continues to suffer with the severe rashes and has become reticent to engage with new people because of the appearance of her skin.

Doctors have said the skin condition is likely permanent and could be fatal should the girl be exposed to the right circumstances of black mold and mildew, Choe said.

From Balfour Beattys perspective, the Choe family submitted 28 work orders for their residence at Fort Gordon, and a February 2020 request related to mold was inspected twice, including a joint inspection with base officials, and no evidence of mold was found, Taylor said. The doctor also never visited the home to see the conditions, he said.

But the Senate investigation found neglect and misconduct that has caused grave risks to the health and safety of service members and their families, Ossoff said.

The subcommittees investigation focused on issues from 2019 to the present, while the Justice Department focused its charges on housing issues from 2013 and 2019.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the ranking Republican of the subcommittee. How can we get this under control? This seems to be a problem that has just plagued military housing. The military doesn't want to deal with housing, so they contracted outside. Then you don't sit at the controls, so the contractors do the type of job that we all expect.

Taylor argued there is a difference between fraud and human error, and its unfair to call the problems discussed in the hearing as systemic issues within Balfour Beatty.

Theres human error in business, but to suggest that the error rate is indicative of widespread broken business is totally unfair, he said.

Since the criminal investigation, Taylor said the company has learned there was too much opportunity for employees to be incentivized to manipulate data to receive bonuses. Since then, theyve changed their policy so that all bonus payouts are tied to customer satisfaction, which is outsourced to a third-party, he said.

Ossoff closed the two-and-a-half-hour hearing by pledging further review and action for military families living in base housing.

We will continue to seek remedies for the issues discussed today, he said. It is of upmost importance that [service members and families] be provided safe housing and that there be accountability within the department and the companies responsible for providing that housing.
WASHINGTON  D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said the sniper who sprayed bullets across the Van Ness neighborhood in Northwest Washington on Friday had his sights on a nearby private school, firing more than 200 bullets out his apartment window, with about 800 unspent rounds in his residence.

The school was certainly in his crosshairs, Contee said, referring to the shooter as a lone-wolf sniper.

Raymond Spencer had six firearms in the apartment on Van Ness Street, including three fully automatic rifles, the chief said at a news conference Monday. He said police found thousands more rounds of ammunition inside another residence in Fairfax County, Va., and parts to assemble three additional firearms.

Authorities said they still have not learned of any connection Spencer had to the Edmund Burke School or a motive for the shooting that four people wounded  including a 12-year-old, two women in vehicles and a school security guard who is a retired District of Columbia police officer.

Two of the victims remained hospitalized in critical condition on Monday.

Contee and Mayor Muriel Bowser, D, provided a chilling update to Friday afternoons attack that terrorized a stretch of busy Connecticut Avenue from Van Ness to Woodley Park and plunged residences and schools along with Edmund Burke into lockdown for hours.

Authorities also revealed Spencer had set up a camera in the hallway outside his apartment door at the AVA Van Ness, apparently to see if police were coming. Spencer, 23, had also purchased two frozen dinners at a nearby Giant Food five hours before the rampage.

Police described his fifth-floor apartment as a snipers nest with a view of a glass-enclosed bridge that links two school buildings at Edmund Burke and where parents line up in cars to pick up children at dismissal. He had turned the apartment bathroom into a makeshift command center, with a laptop computer, a cellphone and a rifle and a pillow in the tub.

Police also said they learned new details about Spencer, who they said fatally shot himself in that bathroom as police breached his door about 5 1/2 hours after he opened fire around 3:20 p.m. He had attended Wheaton High School in Montgomery County, Maryland, had been a lifeguard and had briefly served in the U.S. Coast Guard in 2017, police said.

But other parts of Spencers life remain a troubling mystery to law enforcement, including how he paid for the apartments he leased in the District starting in January and in the Fair Lakes area of Fairfax County starting in February 2021, and how he afforded his expensive arsenal.

But even more critically, police said they do not know why he apparently indiscriminately fired toward the school.

Everybody wants to know, Contee said, adding, And we want to be able to provide those answers.

Bowser billed Mondays news conference as a discussion of public safety in the District, and announced the creation of a new Violent Crime Impact Team, in which local authorities will partner with federal law enforcement agencies to target violence in specific areas where shootings are most prevalent.

Contee noted that on Friday and Saturday, police responded to a total of 10 shooting incidents with 15 victims, including a shooting of a man in a wheelchair and the shootings of three people in Brightwood Park in Northwest Washington, D.C. Both attacks occurred as police were in the midst of tracking down the sniper, evacuating buildings and securing the area around Van Ness.

Also over that 48-hour period, a construction worker directing traffic was shot by a person on a ride-share bicycle who was upset with delays, and a man was fatally shot and stabbed during an argument at a birthday party.

On Monday, as the mayors briefing was wrapping up, a person was fatally shot in Northeast Washington. Police said they have seized 969 illegal guns in the District this year, a 50% increase from this point in 2021.

Contee has frequently said that people react to crime differently depending on their proximity to the pain. Of the crime experienced over the past three days, the chief said, This should be painful to all of us.

Homicides, which have trended upward in the District for the past four years, are down 10% year-to-date. But violent crime is up 26%, driven by a spike in robberies and carjackings. A recent poll by The Washington Post found that 3 in 10 District residents do not feel safe in their neighborhoods.

The crime concerns come as Bowser seeks reelection to a third term and as a June 21 primary is approaching. Public safety and the Van Ness shooting were key topics of debate the day after the sniper attack at a candidates forum, where Bowser came under criticism from opponents.

On Monday, the mayor said gun violence affects not only victims but also people who live in communities where they are fearful, where they witness crimes, where they hear gunshots, or where they cant enjoy the peace and tranquility of their own homes.

Officials at the news conference also displayed piles of firearms that police had recently seized in the District, with Bowser saying she wanted to display some of the firepower that MPD is up against on our streets. Some of those weapons were from Spencers apartment.

Authorities said they are meticulously collecting and documenting evidence, and as of Monday were still at Spencers apartment processing the crime scene. Meanwhile, police are starting to build out a rough timeline of events around the shooting.

Contee said Spencer moved into the AVA Van Ness apartment in January, filling out his lease agreement online. The chief said investigators are trying to determine how the young man could afford two residences, and how hes paying his bills and keeping the lights on.

Other tenants have said they encountered Spencer infrequently. In the days leading up to the shooting, police officials said they believe Spencer had searched Wikipedia pages on the recent attack in the New York City subway and a school shooting in Florida.

The night before the attack, Contee said, surveillance video shows Spencer wheeling a suitcase into the building, and officials have previously described his apartment as sparsely furnished, with a mattress on the floor.

Law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation have said authorities are examining internet posts that might be by Spencer, particularly on the 4chan platform, where a user going by Raymond Spencer wrote Dear God please forgive me at 3:24 p.m., shortly after the shooting began.

The user posted another message at 3:30 p.m., which Contee said appeared to be directed at police: Theyre in the wrong part of the building right now searching XD.

A final message was posted on 4chan at 3:36 p.m.: Waiting for police to catch up with me.

Separately, the Edmund Burke School Wikipedia page was revised online Friday to read, A basedman shot at the school on April 22, 2022. The suspect is still at large, according to the Wikipedia pages history, which showed a change shortly after 4 p.m. made by a user going by Raymond Spencer. Shortly after, the user replaced basedman with gunman and added (Hope they catch him soon!) next to the edit, according to the Wikipedia pages history.

It was unclear how Spencer either obtained three fully automatic rifles or modified the rifles to fire continuously with a single squeeze of the trigger. Contee said Spencers firearms were not equipped with a so-called giggle switch or auto sear, components used to convert some guns into fully automatic weapons. They are illegal but accessible on the internet and relatively easy to install.

So far, law enforcement officials have been frustrated in their efforts to establish a motive in the shooting. Contee said investigators are talking with Spencers family, who have not spoken publicly about the case, and he urged anyone who has interacted with Spencer to contact authorities.

Police officials have noted Spencer did not appear to try to hide his digital footprint and used his real name on many of his posts. But it also appears he left behind few clues about his motive.

Were trying to really put the pieces together, Contee said.

- - -

The Washington Posts Emily Davies, Alice Crites, Razzan Nakhlawi and Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.
The Air Force updated its requirements Thursday to permit transgender airmen to skip the annual physical fitness test while they undergo gender-confirmation surgery.

The policy itself is actually not new, Bree Fram, president of Servicemembers, Partners and Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All, told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday. But the update puts the information in a more commonly referenced document. The policy on transgender service members appeared in an Air Force policy memo published in April 2021.

Updates on LGBTQ inclusiveness are nothing new for the Air Force.

In December, airmen were given the option to use gender pronouns in their signature blocks. In mid-April, the Air Force said it will support airmen and their families with medical and legal help if they are affected by dozens of new state laws restricting LGBTQ rights.

"SPARTA applauds all efforts by the Department of the Air Force to support transgender Airmen and Guardians while also minimizing the potential career impacts of transition, Fram said.

As each transition can be different, having a policy in place that supports individualized consideration, if necessary, is valuable to transitioning service members, she said.

Servicemembers, Partners and Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All is a nonprofit organization not affiliated with the Department of Defense, according to its website. It is composed of transgender people who serve or have served in the military.

Airmen who are exempt from fitness testing are still required to maintain a healthy lifestyle, the policy states.

Once the service members transition is complete, they will test to the fitness standards based on the gender reflected on their records in Military Personnel Data System, according to the Air Force.
WASHINGTON  The prospect of arming Ukraine for a protracted war with Russia raised concerns among some senators on Tuesday that repeated raiding of U.S. weapon stockpiles and slow replenishment could leave the American military empty-handed.

Shipments to Ukraine of weapons such as Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles have cut into the Pentagons inventory by about one-third, according to estimates by some lawmakers and experts during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Restocking them will likely take several years, they said.

I think we have lost the luxury of time here, the closet is bare, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. The decisions we make now will determine the outcome [of the war] because these weapons will not magically appear for us or our allies or Ukraine.

Blumenthal has been a vocal supporter of invoking the Defense Production Act to fund and sustain a higher rate of munition production. He noted it would take a year to boost production of Javelins and 32 months to restock them unless President Joe Biden invokes the act. The weapon has proved crucial for the Ukrainians in repelling Russian forces.

The challenge is extraordinary and requires this kind of commitment, Blumenthal said.

David Berteau, the leader of the trade association Professional Services Council, told senators that he has not seen a single contract in place to start replenishments. The council represents service contractors that work with the government.

If the U.S. keeps pulling weapons from inventories at its current rate, stocks could be depleted within six months, he said. The White House authorized two $800 million military aid packages to Ukraine in recent weeks, though the last package does not include Javelins and Stingers.

There is no way contractors are going to deliver replacements in less than [six months] even if we started today, Berteau told senators. Were behind and you guys should push them to hurry up.

Ellen Lord, a former undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said the U.S. has sent about one-quarter of its Stinger supplies to Ukraine. She warned senators that longtime failures by the U.S. to invest in infrastructure necessary for maintaining production capacity will lead to replenishment lags of three to five years.

One of the tools to correct that neglect is the Defense Production Act, Lord said.

It allows the Department [of Defense] to move money to industry to actually make the capital investments or train the workforce or develop the supply chain, she said. Thats where you can really move the needle on this issue.

The defense industry needs a clear signal to proceed with production, Lord said, including multiyear contracts for weapons. She also proposed the U.S. share more technical knowledge with U.S. allies such as Australia to speed up munition manufacturing. Firms are still grappling with supply chain issues and employee shortages sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, she said.

Our Ukraine experience has shown how we can hope to carry out policy to provide specific munitions to support and then realize that we have not provided funding to keep manufacturing lines hot and supply chains intact and will therefore have significant delays in shipping desired quantities of specific weapons systems, Lord said.

Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser at the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an interview this month that he expects the U.S. to eventually slow down shipments of Javelins as stocks decrease.

At some point, I think the U.S. military is going to put the foot down and say sending more will endanger our ability to execute our war plans, he said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, have repeatedly assured lawmakers that stockpiles have not reached critical levels.

Were still meeting our mission requirements for Javelins, so were not breaking any of those red lines, Milley told the House Armed Services Committee this month.

The latest security aid to Ukraine is tailored for the flat terrain of the eastern region of Donbas and includes heavy weaponry such as howitzers, tactical vehicles and artillery rounds. President Biden said this month that the U.S. is prepared to continue sending munitions to Ukraine despite the pace of consecutive shipments.

We have the capacity to do this for a long time, he said.

Congress plans to take up a supplemental budget bill this week to fund additional pulling of weapons and equipment for the war in Ukraine. The White House has nearly exhausted the $3.5 billion that lawmakers allocated for dipping into weapons stockpiles for the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said issues with planning and manufacturing flexibility are evident in the lack of rapidly scalable production capacity for weapons such as Stingers and Javelins. The U.S. and the defense industry need to vastly improve how they identify defense needs and deliver them, he said.

This is being tested right now as we work to backfill our stockpiles following the enormous transfer of weapons to Ukraine, Reed said.
WASHINGTON  The Department of Veterans Affairs has fired six employees for disobeying rules that the agency put into place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said Monday.

Four employees refused to wear masks, and one employee refused to take a coronavirus test, McDonough said. Another worker wouldnt share whether he or she had been vaccinated against the virus.

To date, there have been six employees who have been separated, McDonough said. The decision at the end of the day has been a clinical one  one of how we ensure veterans that weve taken every step within our power to ensure their safety, their security.

No workers have been fired yet for refusing to be vaccinated. The VA employs more than 420,000 workers, all of whom were subject to a vaccine mandate for federal employees. As of November, about 10% of VA employees had filed requests for medical or religious exemptions.

McDonough has previously said the exemption requests would not be questioned. The VA will only deny requests in instances where there arent enough vaccinated health care workers to treat veterans, he said.

As of Monday, the VA had identified a handful of medical specialties in which exemptions might be denied, including oncology and intensive care units, McDonough said. Unvaccinated workers in those areas would be given reasonable accommodation, meaning they could be reassigned.

It was uncertain Monday how many employees might be affected. McDonough said those employees have begun the disciplinary process, which starts with counseling.

We are beginning that disciplinary process across the system, he said. Well see how that continues to play out.

Earlier this month, a U.S. appeals court reinstated President Joe Bidens executive order that mandated federal employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus. A Texas judge had issued an injunction in January that temporarily blocked the administrations ability to enforce the mandate.
A Florida man will spend time in federal prison after authorities say he stole his twin brothers identity and pocketed more than $63,000 in veterans benefits in the process.

A judge ordered Wayne Bowen, 64, of Jacksonville to serve two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft in January, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Florida announced Tuesday, April 26.

Prosecutors accused Bowen of swindling $63,773 in government benefits meant for veterans while posing as his twin, McClatchy News reported. During the years-long scheme, he used the name, Social Security card and military discharge papers of his estranged brother  an Army veteran  to apply for subsidized housing, federal prosecutors said.

The ruse netted Bowen $32,434 in medical services from Veterans Affairs, $18,905 in housing subsidies from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and $12,434 in nutritional benefits from the Department of Agriculture, according to prosecutors.

As part of his sentence, Bowen must pay back every penny.

Hes also accused of lying about his military service, initially telling investigators that he, like his brother, had served and been honorably discharged from the Army, prosecutors said.

Bowens twin told investigators that he never applied for any of the federal benefits, nor had he given his brother permission to use his name.

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The opening of the 2022-23 Great Walks booking season next week heralds 30 years of epic adventures throughout the country, says Minister of Conservation Kiri Allan.

Speaking from the Tongariro Northern Circuit, the Minister acknowledged the importance of the Great Walks for conservation, recreation and tourism in New Zealand and how they are a legacy for generations of New Zealanders to come.

The outdoors and nature are a core part of our identity as New Zealanders and the origins of these walks are testament to this," says Allan.

Over the years I have spent many, many hours tramping and overnighting on these walks. Doing so has enabled me to take time to just be and to discover and connect with the magnificence that is our backyard.

Great Walks are New Zealands most popular multi-day hikes, providing unparalleled access to some of the countrys most incredible natural landscapes, wildlife and cultural heritage.

These immersive nature experiences have become a popular drawcard for both domestic and international visitors, supporting nearby communities. With travel restrictions in place, we saw a 75 per cent increase in New Zealanders getting out on the Great Walks over summer 2020/21. This coming season we look forward to welcoming overseas visitors on these walks once again.

You dont have to undertake a multi-day tramp to enjoy this countrys remarkable landscapes and heritage. Take a stroll through history, camp by the ocean, explore an island  find your own way into nature, says Allan.

The Heaphy track. Photo: DOC.

The Great Walks were created in 1992, to manage iconic tracks that were becoming overwhelmed with walkers camping anywhere near the track. The protections put in place on Great Walks include limiting numbers through a booking service for a set amount of hut and campsite spaces, limits on concessionaire activities and the introduction of by-laws that require people to stay in huts and designated campsites.

When first established the Great Walks network included seven of New Zealands finest and most popular multi-day walks: Tongariro Northern Circuit, Lake Waikaremoana, Abel Tasman, Heaphy, Routeburn, Milford, Kepler, plus the newly formed Rakiura Track.

Several years later the multi-day canoe adventure Whanganui Journey joined the network, followed much later by Paparoa Track in December 2019.

Efforts were also increased to protect and restore the biodiversity along these walks in partnership with mana whenua - iwi, hapu and whanau, community groups and businesses  including a now 10-year partnership with Air New Zealand which invests in six large Great Walks biodiversity projects.

Through these conservation efforts weve seen huge gains such as takahe restored to the Heaphy Track and 43,000 hectares of sustained predator control alongside six of the walks, says Allan.

She reminds people keen to secure a spot on the network in the upcoming season to prepare in advance of bookings opening.

It pays to do your homework and find out which Great Walk is most suitable for you and your group before you book. Its also important to know what fitness, skills and equipment are required, expected track and weather conditions, and how to limit your impact on the environment.

There are many different ways to experience a Great Walk. You can hike, run, bike, or paddle; camp or stay in a hut; do the whole thing or just a part of it. Whichever you choose, its an experience youll never forget.

Check out Minister of Conservation Kiri Allan Celebrating 30 Years of Great Walks video:

New Zealands next Great Walk will be the Hump Ridge Track in Southland. Work is underway to make the existing walk accessible for more people in time for the 2023/24 walking season.

Bookings opening dates:

Tuesday 3 May 2022, 9.30 am

Milford Track

Wednesday 4 May 2022, 9.30 am

Lake Waikaremoana Track

Heaphy Track

Routeburn Track

Thursday 5 May 2022, 9.30 am

Whanganui Journey

Abel Tasman Coast Track

Rakiura Track

Friday 6 May 2022, 9.30 am

 Tongariro Northern Circuit

Paparoa Track

Kepler Track

Bookings on the 10 Great Walks open over the first week of May 2022 www.doc.govt.nz/greatwalks


Health researchers are hoping an ambitious new study will change what they say are unfair blood donation rules for gay and bisexual men.

Over the next eight weeks, the University of Auckland-led Sex and Prevention of Transmission Study aims to gather data from 4000 gay, bisexual, takatapui and other men who have sex with men through an online survey and optional dried blood spot test.

The researchers will use the data to estimate what proportion of sexually transmitted infections are undiagnosed.

New Zealand Blood Service rules mean men are unable to donate blood within three months of having sex with another man.

However, men also can not have taken HIV prevention drug pre-exposure prophylaxis for three months, a drug that can reduce the risk of being infected with HIV by 99 per cent.

Lead investigator Dr Peter Saxton says people find these rules "discriminatory, unscientific, and unjustified" - partly because all blood donations are screened for transmissible infections.

"Many gay and bisexual men [in New Zealand] are at very low, or no, risk of having recently acquired HIV infection".

He also notes being rejected from donating blood "can play into stereotypes about being reckless and dangerous, and into broader narratives of exclusion and discrimination in healthcare settings for gay men".

He hopes the findings will give the Blood Service the evidence it needs to change donation rules because "obviously, no change can come soon enough".

The study will also help show where HIV prevention could be better targeted for MSM to try and end transmission in New Zealand by 2025.

Saxton says prevention includes PrEP, condoms, regular testing, and getting people with HIV on treatment early and reaching undetectable viral loads (someone with an undetectable viral load can not transmit HIV to another person).

Covid-19 restrictions and the cancellation of Auckland Pride in February, where the study was supposed to launch, saw the study moved online; something that has ended up taking weeks to make work.

Saxton is confident about their research goals but says moving online is "high stakes".

The optional blood test, which would be tested for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis C, could find undiagnosed infections and researchers needed to make sure a participant, their test results, and survey responses lined up.

Kevin Haunui works for Maori sexual health organisation Te Whariki Takapou, which is a key partner in the study, and says it's important data about Maori MSM is collected because there will otherwise be gaps in the research.

Pre-existing information around HIV relating to Maori "may be outdated, it may be uninformed", he says. "In fact, it may have never been collected before."

"What we do know from other studies that have been undertaken in recent years is that Maori, in particular with regards to HIV, are likely to diagnose later."

Haunui says Maori MSM are also a "very young population", which can mean trends among that demographic may differ from the overall research.

New Zealand Blood Service chief medical officer Dr Sarah Morley says the study is "an important first step" in understanding the influences on sexual health and HIV prevention.

She doesn't think the organisation's policies are discriminatory.

"Our hope for this study is that gives us some real concrete evidence about the situation in New Zealand so that we can tailor our policies specifically to New Zealand's population."

The three month blood donation rule came into effect in late 2020 - before that men had to wait a year after they last had sex with another man.

-RNZ/Jake McKee.
Nelson-based fishing company Sealord are proposing a ban on fishing at the majority of the undersea mountains in New Zealand's exclusive economic zone.

Sealord chief executive Doug Paulin says the "Seamounts Count" proposal will see at least 127 of the 142 known seamounts protected within a conservation envelope.

It will mean that only the 15 remaining seamounts can be trawled.

Seamounts are volcanic features which rise at least 1000m high off the seafloor. Collectively, they form the largest wildlife habitat on earth, covering more of the earth's surface than rainforests, deserts, or tundra.

Fish congregate on the slopes of seamounts, as do corals and crustaceans, to eat the nutrients that are carried upwards from the depths of the oceans toward the warm surface.

Currently, just over 50 per cent of the seamounts in New Zealand's exclusive economic zone are protected.

"There's a common misconception that in the deep water we pretty much trawl wherever we want to trawl, but already there's a significant amount in conservation," says Paulin.

"But I believe it's actually not enough in order to give the New Zealand public the transparency and the confidence that we're doing the right thing."

Sealord is a major player in the deepwater fishing industry and Paulin says the closure will still leave enough other places for fishing companies to catch their quota .

"It is possible to achieve a balance; to conserve the marine environment and continue fishing a very small number of seamounts."

He says the proposal struck a balance in favour of conserving the seamounts that support a wide range of seafloor marine life.

"We only need to fish 11 per cent of the seamounts to support food, jobs and export earnings for New Zealanders."

Paulin says it means that new trawling grounds can't be opened, even if technology progressed to allow trawling at greater depths.

"I think it will give New Zealanders real confidence in the industry, knowing that almost 90 percent of those pristine biomass areas are protected."

Paulin says Sealord will discuss the proposal at the Government's Benthic Forum discussions, which begin on Tuesday.

He hopes the rest of the industry will be interested in the details of the proposal.

"I certainly wouldn't say that at this stage there's wholesale support across the board, but I do believe it's a position that we can reach agreement on amongst industry.

But the Deepwater Group, that represents the owners of fishing quota in New Zealand's deep water fisheries says the industry has always supported a balanced approach to marine conservation and sustainable seafood production.

Deepwater chief executive George Clement says trawling has only ever occurred on 15 of New Zealand's 142 seamounts.

In 2006 the government closed 30 per cent of New Zealand's exclusive economic zone to bottom trawling.

"In total, only 10 per cent of the EEZ has ever been used for food production. Annually, around one per cent of the EEZ is trawled, producing 700 million servings of natural seafood."

Clement says the most effective approach to fisheries management is to agree where to fish, what the rules are for fishing in these areas, and what ongoing research is needed to ensure these fishing activities remain sustainable.

"The future might mean that when looking at seamounts we only fish on these previously fished seamounts," he says.

"This proposition could be included in the conversation we are having with the Ministry of Primary Industries, the Department of Conservation and environmental NGOs, as part of the forum that is considering further controls on trawling within the EEZ."

NIWA has recorded 142 seamounts in New Zealand's exclusive economic zone - and is carrying out further research on underwater geographical features due to be released in May.

Half of the seamounts in New Zealand's waters are protected from bottom trawling through Benthic Protection Areas and Seamount Closure Areas.

And 71 of New Zealand's 142 seamounts are closed to all trawling by BPAs and SCAs.

Of the remaining 71 seamounts, 56 have never been trawled.

Karli Thomas of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition in Aotearoa says bottom trawling on all seamounts needed to stop.

"We are facing an extinction crisis and underwater mountains are known to be oases of deep sea corals, sponges and other ancient and fragile deep sea life. We can't leave it up to the trawl sector of the fishing industry to pick and choose biodiversity hotspots to keep trashing."

Barry Weeber of Environment and Conservation Organisations says they want to see the government ban bottom trawling on seamounts and features altogether.

He says the New Zealand trawl industry is the only fleet still trawling on seamounts in the South Pacific high seas.

"If it wasn't for a handful of New Zealand vessels, the South Pacific seamounts and the amazing deep sea life they are home to would be safe from destructive trawl nets."

-RNZ.
With the equivalent of 250,000 apples worth of food waste piling up, a new council waste minimisation initiative hopes to tackle its districts food waste woes.

Matamata-Piako District Council is pouring thousands into a waste minimisation fund which calls for the community to develop sustainable and innovative solutions for redirecting 40 tonnes of food waste from landfill.

The waste minimisation fund was included in the council 2021-2027 Waste Minimisation and Management Plan, which was consulted on in 2021.

Community proposals will have the opportunity to apply for up to $10,000 towards their waste minimisation projects from the waste levy (the tax Central Government charges for waste disposal).

Transition Matamata is a non-profit sustainability group promoting energy conservation, reducing toxic fertiliser and waste minimisation based in Matamata township.

Coordinator for the community group, Martin Louw says the waste minimisation fund is a decent initiative because instead of relying on kerbside food scraps and waste collection, there needs to be more sustainable and regenerative solutions to reduce waste.

The group would like to see council create a sustainability strategy, so theres an all-encompassing approach towards tackling waste.

Everyone should essentially be composting everything thats coming out of their kitchen, either composting or worm farms, whatever their chosen set-up is, we shouldnt need to have a universal food scrap collection.

If we can just raise awareness about the need to deal with your own waste where you can.

The projects for the fund will mainly need to focus on reducing food waste, but other ideas will be considered, council has said.

Matamata-Piako Councillor Adrienne Wilcock, who chairs the Matamata-Piako District Council Solid Waste Committee, says she's excited to see what projects come forward.

Councillor Adrienne Wilcock says its time to turn food waste reduction ideas into reality with the council waste minimisation fund. Photo: Rexine Hawes/Stuff .

Were looking for innovative ideas that could be any number of things, especially with a focus on food waste and what could be done with food waste, so it doesnt end up in landfill.

I am excited to see locals lead the charge in waste reduction through their projects that could use a kickstart through the fund.

Applications for the Waste Minimisation Fund are open until May 13.

-Stuff/ .
The government will consider a report saying a proposed law to introduce Maori seats on the Rotorua council is discriminatory.

The local bill will allow the city council to comprise three general seats, three Maori seats, four seats at large, and the mayor.

A report by the attorney general found it limits the right to be free from discrimination and cannot be justified.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson told Morning Report that while he voted for it in the first round of the parliamentary process, serious issues have now emerged and it will have to be paused and reassessed.

"It's got significant issues that I think would make it difficult to support but now we go away and have another look at it, talk to the council and see where we go from there."

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick says the bill has not been drafted out of thin air and she continues to support it.

Earlier, National called on Labour to clarify if it will continue to support the bill.

It was prepared by Rotorua Lakes Council and adopted by Rotorua-based MP Labour MP Tamati Coffey.

However, a report written by the Attorney-General David Parker says the bill is discriminatory.

The bill creates a disparity in the number of people represented by each ward council member, the report says.

"The proposed representation arrangement would make the number of council members for the Maori ward disproportionately higher than the number of council members for the general ward, in comparison to their respective populations.

"This discriminates against electors who are on the general roll and ... those who are non-Maori and cannot change rolls in future."

National MP Paul Goldsmith says it will be terrible for New Zealand if the bill became law.

"I think they should drop the bill, full stop. Also, the minister of justice or the prime minister should stand up and clearly state what they believe in when it comes to voting rights in this country, because it is confused right now."

The bill was supported at first reading by Labour, the Greens and Te Pati Maori.

Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson has since told TVNZ's Q&A programme he supports Parker's report.

"Obviously there's been some mistakes made," he says.

He put those down to an "overly enthusiastic council".

However, Chadwick told Morning Report that the council has worked with legal advisers, government officials from the Parliamentary Council Office and the Department of Internal Affairs in preparing the bill.

Photo: Supplied.

The attorney general's opinion is unexpected, she says, the council will go back to him with more information.

"This is a long and complicated journey. What we want in Rotorua is fair representation based on equality."

Asked if the bill could survive in its current form, Chadwick says the council wants to work with the attorney general in its quest to deliver "the best outcome for our district and our people".

She says the city has started with a partnership board, then voted for a Maori ward and has undertaken a representation review that councils must do every six years.

The council wants to ensure a broad mix of representation but is struggling to make it work under the Electoral Act, so decided a bill through Parliament is needed.

It will ensure a fair representation model for Rotorua, which has a high Maori population.

If more Maori went on the Maori roll for the local body elections, under the current format they will be entitled to three votes whereas those on the general roll would get six which was obviously unfair, Chadwick says.

-RNZ.
A new multi-million dollar decarbonisation initiative at one of the countrys largest wool product manufacturers is set to reduce emissions by up to 30 per cent and help boost wool product exports.

According to EECA - the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, industrial heat processes accounts for around a third of New Zealands overall energy use. An estimated 60 per cent of production heating is fossil-fuelled.

The sustainability initiative is part of a multi-year programme to reduce production related carbon emissions and improve operating efficiency at wool carpet manufacturer Bremworth.

The first stage of the decarbonisation pathway is a $2.1 million project for the Napier wool yarn spinning plant to transition from natural gas process heat to electric heat pump technology.

The initiative is designed to improve the energy efficiency of manufacturing processes, by detailed process heating measurement, minimising waste heat and optimising the heating system configurations and technology to meet future production volumes.

Production efficiencies from the use of the technology in the yarn making process are expected to help boost exports for markets where demand for New Zealand made wool carpet attracts a premium price point.

One stage of the project will see the installation of a new form of technology which uses radio waves to dry woollen yarn, as part of the production process. Photo: Supplied.

The project will also reduce emissions at the facility saving up to 1,500 tonnes of CO2 per annum.

Scientific estimates suggest a radiata pine tree absorbs one to two tonnes of CO2 in one year - meaning 800-1500 trees would be needed to match the annual emission savings from the installation of the new technology.

Greg Smith, Bremworth CEO, says the increased efficiency of the new technology will help lower operating overheads, as well as boosting production and exports.

He says the design of the technology will require a specialised team of engineers and contractors to build and then install high temperature heat pump technology of up to 800kW capacity at their Hawkes Bay facility over a 24 month period.

While wool is already an inherently natural, renewable and biodegradable manufacturing material, we have a longer-term strategic programme in place to further lower our carbon footprint - with the minimisation of gas-powered process heating being one of the key projects for the company," says Greg.

This initiative has a direct impact on the amount of carpet we can produce and consequently will help us increase export volumes.

The production gains from the new technology will complement the planned site capacity increases which will also take place over this time period, says Greg

Greg says globally there is now a significant segment of consumers where transparency and commitment to ecological stewardship in a companys supply chain is one of the primary purchase drivers.

He says improving the sustainability of New Zealands wool carpet industry is a critical differentiator from flooring alternatives for international markets.

We know that our recent move away from synthetics to natural wool fibres has been well received by our export network in Australia and the US.

However, to support the brands ongoing evolution we are researching a number of ways to further improve the products' circularity and reduce our environmental impact at all stages of production," says Greg.

With each new sustainability initiative we undertake, we are helping to position our carpet further away from competitors across a growing international market niche.

As part of our broader strategy, which extends from the primary producers who supply us to our own internal manufacturing processes, this cradle-to-gate carbon impact approach is essential to help us communicate the benefits of New Zealand wool to consumers, says Greg.

Greg says the companys decarbonisation project will be co-funded by 38 per cent - almost $800,000 - under the $69 million Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry (GIDI) Fund, which is administered by EECA.

The initiative will see one of the countrys largest wool product manufacturers install new highly efficient industrial heating technology which reduces emissions by up to 30 per cent and improves production efficiency - which in turn will boost export volumes. Photo: Supplied.

He says this initiative is expected to result in the elimination of over a quarter of the total greenhouse gas emissions at the Hawkes Bay facility, with more set to follow as other carbon reduction projects are completed across their operations.

Latest Government data indicates New Zealands total CO2 emissions are 83 million tonnes - 26 per cent higher than they were two decades ago.

Of the two main greenhouse gases New Zealand produces, carbon dioxide and methane, manufacturing industries emit the most CO2 and have the largest annual increase in emissions  reaching 11,139 kilotonnes in the last year alone.

The adoption of new energy efficient technologies has a significant role to play in reducing emissions from New Zealands industrial manufacturing sector and it is critical that organisations accelerate their introduction, says Greg.

A second decarbonisation initiative, which was also co-funded by EECA, at the companys Whanganui plant will see a gas fired dryer replaced with an alternative which uses radio waves to dry woollen yarn during the production process.

The reduction in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) greenhouse gases from the installation of the radio frequency dryer is estimated to be a further 197 tonnes annually.
The Government is helping even more of New Zealand's biggest industrial players slash their emissions faster, with one of the Governments biggest hitters when it comes to supporting decarbonisation, Minister of Energy and Resources, Dr Megan Woods announced today.

In partnering with the private sector through the third round of the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund were helping to clean up production processes, and helping business stay ahead of the curve, says Woods.

We know New Zealanders want to see lower-carbon products and services, and the proactivity these businesses are showing makes good business sense as well as being better for the environment, so we all stand to benefit.

The businesses were supporting involve some of New Zealand's biggest industrial companies, which are central to our economy and food production systems, and in some cases what we consume every day.

This third round of GIDI will achieve annual emissions reductions equivalent to taking 14,400 cars off the road, says Woods.

Todays announcement was made at Southern Paprika Limited, one of New Zealands largest capsicum growers, and a GIDI round three recipient. Southern Paprika is set to install a biomass boiler and CO2 recovery unit  understood to be a New Zealand first  replacing natural gas, a common but high-emitting source of energy. The project will reduce emissions by 70 per cent by replacing 70 per cent of the processed heat requirement with a renewable energy source.

The Fund is about encouraging innovation and supporting early adopters of technologies that can be replicated by others, says Woods.

Process heat used mainly by business for industrial processes, such as manufacturing, and processing primary products, like milk drying, makes up over a quarter of this countrys energy-related emissions.

The Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry (GIDI) Fund is administered by EECA - the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority - and focusses on investing in, and promoting, cleaner industrial processes and process heat. This is achieved through energy efficiency, applying new and innovative technologies, and fuel switching.

Over three rounds, $69m of GIDI funding has been allocated  across 53 major industrial decarbonisation projects  all contracted for completion by April 2024. As a result of these 53 projects an anticipated annual carbon abatement of 364,127 t of CO2, and a lifetime carbon abatement of 7.46Mt of CO2, will be realised.

Applicants were selected for their ability to demonstrate high value for money, a detailed broader carbon reduction plan, and the ability to complete the project within the specified timeframe.

Recipients across all rounds come from sectors including dairy processing, construction, metal manufacturing, indoor covered cropping, meat and seafood processing and textile, and leather manufacturing.

The GIDI Fund has committed $69 million to 53 projects since it began - as part of the governments Covid Response and Recovery Fund.

The GIDI Fund is already making a tangible difference to the total greenhouse gases we generate, and its great to see regions right across the country benefiting, including Southland, Otago, Canterbury, West Coast, Nelson, Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty, and Auckland, says Woods.

Climate Change Minister James Shaw says todays announcement joins a growing list of Government actions to cut emissions and limit warming.

Very soon we will release the Governments first Emissions Reduction Plan, which will be full of initiatives to drive down emissions across every sector of the economy.

In ten or twenty years time the world will be a very different place. But investments like these show we can move now to secure our part in it, and ensure the Aotearoa of the future is carbon-zero and climate-friendly, with fairness and opportunities for all, says Shaw.

Third round projects also include:

ANZCO Foods Limited  The beef and lamb producer will replace the aging coal boiler at its Kokiri site on the West Coast and install an electric boiler and high-temperature heat pump, completely electrifying its process heat and significantly reducing the site's emissions.

DB Breweries Limited  The Waitemata brewery site will install a new high-temperature heat pump, and start recovering heat from its refrigeration plant, significantly reducing its reliance on natural gas.

Auckland Meat Processors Limited - The Otahuhu based meat processor will decommission two existing gas-fired hot water boilers and install high-temperature heat pumps to generate the sites hot water for process operations. Heat from site refrigeration systems will be recovered and utilised as part of the heat pump system, improving energy efficiency.

The funding commitment follows the successful allocation of two previous GIDI rounds announced in April and September 2021.

Projects from the first two GIDI rounds are tracking well. Its encouraging that so many private sector organisations are partnering with government on this  the projects will help us move towards our Emissions Reduction goals and net-zero target, says Woods.

This is further proof that the Government is delivering on a key election commitment to tackle climate change and helping to create jobs in the clean energy sector. This is about future-proofing our planet and our economy, which is especially vital as we continue our solid economic recovery from Covid-19.
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CEF_Beasts Senior - BHPian



Join Date: Jun 2020 Location: Mumbai Posts: 1,960 Thanked: 11,643 Times

re: Which Indian cars have been the most durable over the decades? IMHO, its the Innova ( & Qualis) that has stood the test of time, and are extraordinarily durable due to their strong mechanical fundamentals.



Although, Im not denying that other similar vintage cars havent stood the test of time. Just that for me it was the Innova.



We had a 2005 Petrol Silver Mica Metallic Innova, which was sold in 2014. Our car was the G4 Petrol variant, one below the top-spec V at that time. It was out of the first 500 Innovas to be delivered in India.



Its the car that I have traveled as a kid to till I was a teenager. The bond that the car had with me was something indescribable!



Being a petrol, it was extremely silent on the outside and miles ahead in terms of performance compared to the 2.5L Diesel Innova, Scorpio, Sumo, Safari, and Taveras of that vintage, a 12.xx second 0-100kmph from an MPV in 2005 was unheard of.



With a very smooth ride quality, excellent stability at highway speeds and brilliant brakes, it was a proper highway cruiser.



And in those 8 years that the car was with us, not once did it strand us in the middle of the road, this made my parents true believers of Toyotas reliability standards and we will continue to be their customers, even if it means we have to get a base variant of their true car due to the massive price hikes in todays day and age, basically a no-nonsense point A-to-B car.



Towards the end of our ownership ie. 2013, diesel car sales had sky-rocketed and a petrol Innova at a petrol-pump would be admired by all fuel-attendants. I recall a incident where a fuel-attendant asked 5 times what diet the car had, and shouted to the other attendants dekho Petrol Innova ayi hein (see a petrol Innova has come to fill fuel). Fuel efficiency in Mumbai traffic was 7-9 kmpl.



It had run 92,000 kms in 8 years it was with us, in 2014 we decided to upgrade to a Fortuner, and had to bid good-bye to this wonderful car. The person who bought the Innova which we sold to Toyota U-Trust, has added a CNG-kit and is enjoying the epitome of reliability and durability.



Now the Fortuner was not the perfect upgrade to the Innova, which we have understood overtime, but that discussion is for another day. The ride quality being the major negative of the Fortuner compared to the Innova.



My friend has a 2005 Red Mica Metallic Petrol V Innova, and he has still kept his car with him. He upgraded his to the type-3 model and is still using it like it was since day 1.



Several other first-gen type 1 Innovas still exist on the road, one Diesel Innova in Kerala has completed 9,99,999kms and is still continuing, just speaks about Toyotas durability. And the Qualis is another Toyota that continues to be seen on roads, compared to its similar vintage competitors. FYI, Toyota still sells spare parts of the Qualis. The Fortuner will also join this league in a few years. The legendary D-4D engines will continue to live on.



PS: The Innova is the car that got me my T-BHP membership, it was the car I wrote about while registering. A car that will always be in my heart. Last edited by CEF_Beasts : 24th April 2022 at 21:32 .
mohansrides BHPian

Join Date: May 2013 Location: Mumbai Posts: 473 Thanked: 3,139 Times Infractions: 0/1 (7)

Re: Emigrating to a Foreign Land! Quote: Aceman82 Originally Posted by .... For some reason we in Team-BHP is are so negative about India....



Quote: Navinprakash Originally Posted by I live in US and own property.... Quote: sierrabravo98 Originally Posted by I generally tend to ignore such posts but the highlighted portions got my goat.... Quote: warrioraks Originally Posted by Population explosion from where our country stands today is an unlikely event... Quote: 14000rpm Originally Posted by I am a permanent resident in Finland but still own the House I purchased when I lived in Rochester Hills, MI.....



This thread has been a revelation of sorts. So many members have made excellent points. Some have talked about scenarios and circumstances and some others have used data quite beautifully to paint a vivid picture of the points that they are making. Me? I have never been much of a data guy. What captivates me are the stories; individual experiences that shape our reality. So, I am going to talk about just two of my experiences to draw a comparison that may help others make sense of the choices before them. Really, that's the only way I know how to communicate.



I am going to narrate two contrasting experiences. They are about two big moments of clarity that I experienced. The first experience is about that single moment of wakefulness when I came to fully comprehend my situation as an out-of-work H1B worker. The second experience is at the other end; when I was no more on H1B. So here goes :





Circa 2006 - I was enrolled back in school for my second masters degree. Incidentally, this is what H1B guys do when they lose their job and have to maintain legal status - they run back to the university to get themselves into legal status as students. Because this move buys them time and it is at least one thing that they can control. Anyways, I was back in school and I was leaving my Department close to midnight after one more pointless assignment. Right as I was about to exit the building, I spotted a fellow student in the lobby area. Now, normally one would not offer rides to others, especially not late at night. But, there were some mitigating factors at play here - As documented here (Asking strangers for help - what's your experience?), I had been car-less for my first 2 years in the US and I know how much of a handicap that can be. So, once I got some wheels, I have offered more rides in the US than I can count. It was my way of giving back.

University campuses tend to be sizeable and they are safer as outsiders hardly come into campuses.

I had seen her around in the Department over the last year. That made me fairly sure that she wasn't trouble. So, I walk up and offer help. She gratefully accepts. We start driving. As it turned out, her assignment had run later than she had expected and her boyfriend was waiting for AAA somewhere on I-95 after car trouble while coming to pick her up.



Her house was a good 35 minutes away. So, after the initial assessments of the circumstances, talk invariably came around to what we had in common - our field of study. She was full of enthusiasm and couldn't stop talking about the two internships that she had just finished at Big Tech and about the 3 offers she was fielding from out West. We talked about the pros and cons of each offer and I offered her my perspective after having worked for a few years. Also I had traveled to California a few times and had a lot to say to her who had never set foot outside of our state. She was all ears. I too was very engrossed in her story and her areas of concentration.



Believe it or not, as we were talking about her cornucopia of opportunities, not for a second did my mind dwell on my own lack of progress; partly because we never talked about me at all. There wasn't enough time I suppose. What's more?! Until the point when I dropped her off, I had never stopped to take stock of my own situation ever. I mean, of course I knew that I was in trouble. But, not once had I stopped to reflect. To do that would have been too scary. So, my time in the US until that evening was like being stuck in an amusement park ride. All I had been allowing myself to see was the next thing on my plate. I kept stumbling from one obstacle to the next with my problem solving hat on, and never allowing myself to take a step back to evaluate. All that was about to change in an instant.



When we finally arrived at her house, the conversation had been so interesting and she had given me so much information about her prospects that my mind was racing. I was vicariously living out her future professional journey in my head. I wasn't present in the moment at all and so was quite unprepared for what happened next.



She started getting out of my car, and just before she completely unseated herself, she swiveled around and said, "Your time; it just isn't here yet. So, don't beat yourself up and don't lose the faith."

I was STUNNED.



I had told her nothing about myself; and yet this girl, who was barely 23, had seen right thru me. She had correctly figured out that we had met at an intersection point of our career trajectories which were headed in the opposite direction. That's when the full weight of my bad choices hit me like a ton of bricks -- Almost 35. No job. No savings. No family. And pretty much no hope.



I felt emaciated and powerless. And before I had a chance to collect myself, my eyes started welling up and it was all I could do to smile and nod, and then gas the car out of her sight before the tears came running down my face.



To this day, I can go back to re-live that moment any time I want. All I need is a moment of quiet to do so. And each time I allow myself to go back there, I feel the same wave of powerlessness in all its intensity.



Circa 2011 - I had returned to India and my office asked me to help one of our guys close a sale. So once again I found myself in the US, sitting across from a prospective client in rural NC. I should mention here that our sales guy, Kapil, had been quite diligent. He hadn't given me even an hour's rest after I had landed, and had pulled me out of my hotel room at midnight to prep me for the meeting the next AM. We had agreed on what I would say and how I would say it. I was also informed as to how we came upon this prospect and about how the customer had been quite reluctant for the last 5 months. The good part was that the customer hadn't shut us out. So, the opportunity was legit. We just needed to get him to see the value that we could add.



Come the next morning, I was as prepared as can be. Or so I thought. Sitting across from the customer, I was primed to say exactly what was in the script.



But, as it turned out, the customer wasn't reading from the same script. After the initial pleasantries, he went on a bender as to how he didn't need us; and about how our prices were high; and about how he already had 25000 paying users, so what gives us the right to come into his office and tell him what needs to be done?



Now, maybe it was the jet lag and the tight scheduling, or maybe it was because this was my first ever sales call, or maybe, JUST MAYBE it was the fact that I wasn't on an H1B and wasn't afraid to lose legal status. Whatever it was, my readied script went right out the window; and this is exactly what I told him. Almost verbatim - "You know you are lucky. Your previous life in this business domain gives you good credibility. You got a great backstory. That's what's making your customers stick. Cuz, it sure ain't your product that's doing it, I can tell you that. I mean if I, with my bad luck, had written this product, I couldn't have gotten anyone to give me a dime for it.



Now, I have seen some hot messes in my life. But, this? This is by far the biggest one yet. You have one friggin' product. And its falling apart. Your codebase? It's a bunch of band-aids piled so high that the core engine underneath is not even visible. Documentation? Zip. Zero. Access control? Nada. Version control? Ha Ha!! What's that?!!



No process. No discipline. No accountability. Nothing but a prayer holding up this spaghetti mess that you call a product that your customers are churning every day and breaking every hour. You have 4 developers including yourself. All of you double-up as customer support and your phones just don't stop ringing because the product just doesn't stop breaking. And you think that you don't need us??!! Wow!! I mean, WOW!!



PLEASE. Please Reggie. WAKE UP!! If anyone needs us, it is you.



Sure, it need not necessarily be us. It can be another service provider. But, I am willing to wager that most others would not take a job this small, or even dare to come near this mess that you call a codebase. Lucky for you, we are hungry. We need this business; almost as much as you need us and maybe more, if you can believe that. If anyone can do the grunt work needed to clean up this mess and help you scale; and then stay loyal to you, it is us - another small company like yours that needs the revenues just as badly as you do. Now you can keep second-guessing yourself about our value; or you can allow us to work to unshackle you, and to help you grow. It's up to you chief."

All that came out in one go. Like projectile vomit.



I took a deep breath and looked at my sales guy who had literally turned white. He nodded to me to leave the room. I exited and waited out in the small water cooler area that doubled as a reception.



I was worried of course. But, I wasn't afraid. Not one bit. No sir. Not today. On the contrary, I felt great. Just freakin' GREAT. Whatever happens, I had gotten to speak. Even if it was just this once, I had gotten to say exactly what I thought. They can fire me if they want. But, they can't touch me beyond that. I can stay in Mumbai and in India until the world freakin' ended if need be. So bring it on!!!



I was almost frothing at the mouth when Kapil walked out. Still, I calmed my rushing adrenaline and took a conciliatory tone. I started to mouth an apology of sorts when he stopped me with an, "Idhar nahin. Gaadi mein." (Not here. In the car.)

So we walked to the car and got in. I again started to speak. In an exasperated tone, he went, "Ruk. Thoda ruk tu." (Wait. Wait a bit.)

Without another word, he drove us out of the customer's parking lot. At the first exit on the interstate, he pulled into a gas station, slotted the car into Park and turned to me. Smiling broadly, he went, "We got it."

I was stunned. I was expecting chappals and brickbats. If not that, at least a huge dressing down from Kapil. Certainly, I wasn't expecting this.



We got it? You mean... just like that? It was UNBELIEVABLE!!! We both started laughing like lunatics. Between his heaves of laughter, he went - "Kidar se tapka re tu? Mein idhar paanch mahine se ragad rahale isse. Tu idhar aaya aur usko aukaat dikhaaya aur woh mundi hila raha hai... kuch samajh hi nahin aa rahale mereko.... Maa kasam, aisa customer meeting tho life mein nahin dekha maine...." (Where did you come from? Here I am handling this from 5 months. You came and put him in his place and he is nodding his head. I can't understand anything. I have not seen a customer meeting like this in my life.)

Out went an email to HQ right from that gas station parking lot, "..this dude came and carpet bombed the whole freakin' place and got us this contract. Send him every quarter please..."

That was the start. The refrain "Mohan ko bhejega..." (Will send Mohan) became mainstream in the office. In one stroke, I had become a powerful weapon. A blunt instrument that my company repeatedly unleashed on unsuspecting customers when they had us cornered; or when they exhibited too much entitlement for the money they paid us.



It wasn't just customers, by the way. I was, just as often, pointed at delivery teams and fired like a canon. Once in 2012, with me standing far back in the room and out of sight, a senior project manager went - "Abhi yeh issue solve nahin hua tho DK (my boss) Mohan ko bhejega. Mohan apneko bajayega. Aur customer ko bhi baja daalega. Phir customer ulta apneko bajayega. This will be a mess. So, jo hona hai aaj hona hai. I want this issue closed and customer sign-off by the end of this week. I don't want to hear from the customer, or DK, or Mohan. Please." (If this issue isn't solved, DK will send Mohan. Mohan will give it to you. He will also give it to the customer. Then the customer will give it to you. This will be a mess. So whatever is to be done, should be done today.)

That was my second moment of clarity. The emaciated and powerless person from 2006? He was GONE. Disappeared. The employee that employers deemed unworthy in the US? He too was nowhere in sight. In his place was this ruthlessly effective worker that every boss wanted.



Until then, my candor had always been my Achilles' heel. It was one of the reasons that had contributed to my job losses in the US. I just couldn't get myself to speak half truths or untruths to save myself. But now? Now, that exact same candor was being lauded as my biggest strength. I was asked to bring the full force of my honesty to every situation to allow my organization and my customers to benefit.



The height of it came another two years later for the same customer in NC. We had cleaned up his portfolio by giving him a spanking new product that was being supported well by an offshore team. His user base had steadily grown by a good 40%; his revenues had shot up almost 36%. His own full-time staff engineers were now free to chart a course for their subsequent products instead of being bogged down by the baggage of their unwieldy old product.



So, when the client asked me to travel to the US again, I fully expected to discuss the next products to work on. Instead he flew me out to meet some new companies. These were orgs that my customer wanted to sign on as his customers for the product that we had just written. I asked him what he wanted me to say. He said, "Well you guys wrote the product. So, I figured that its best if you talk about it yourself."

Still, I asked if he wanted me to stay on a specific line of discussion. He said, "No. Just tell them what you see and how you feel. Go in there and bust some balls. You don't need no help with that."

So I did. And my customer signed 3 new customers that evening.



To this day that is the single biggest high of my career. I was not even his employee. I was just his service provider. And here I was getting more business not just for my org, but for my customer himself.



That my friends is the power of feeling free.





Cheers Thank you for this brilliant post Aceman. You analysis made my day. I have a lovely story about HNI status; quite the unlikely one on face value. I will save that for another post.I couldn't quote everyone I wanted. So, I chose the top five quote authors to thank. So thank you guys.This thread has been a revelation of sorts. So many members have made excellent points. Some have talked about scenarios and circumstances and some others have used data quite beautifully to paint a vivid picture of the points that they are making. Me? I have never been much of a data guy. What captivates me are the stories; individual experiences that shape our reality. So, I am going to talk about just two of my experiences to draw a comparison that may help others make sense of the choices before them. Really, that's the only way I know how to communicate.I am going to narrate two contrasting experiences. They are about two big moments of clarity that I experienced. The first experience is about that single moment of wakefulness when I came to fully comprehend my situation as an out-of-work H1B worker. The second experience is at the other end; when I was no more on H1B. So here goes :Circa 2006 -Circa 2011 -Cheers Last edited by Aditya : 25th April 2022 at 11:49 . Reason: Profanity, Rule #11, Translation
SnS_12 BHPian



Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Bombay Posts: 982 Thanked: 5,965 Times

View My Garage





Re: My Suzuki Hayabusa aka Bluebird S12



Further after the battery fiasco of last year I did manage to do some long rides last year and Bluebird performed flawlessly. Managed to get the annual service done in March this year. The bike had just run over 1k + kms since the last oil change but since that was a year back got it changed along with the oil filter. The air filter was just cleaned with compressed air and put back. Also I noticed that prices of the parts have gone up over the years and the oil filter now costs 1k plus. Also replaced the led pilot lamps as they had gone weak and were flickering at times. Wanted to change the high beam to an LED unit as well but the part was not available then and now we are in another lockdown.



During the service I carried the EBC front brake pads along with me as always thinking I would finally try them but as luck would have it the OE pads still had life in them so decided to leave them on. Would be doing the brake and clutch fluid change after monsoon so hopefully would replace them then.



Apart from this I was really looking forward to the Gen 3 but apart from the fantastic electronic package and better brakes there was nothing that really excited me about it and guess my Gen 2 would be the only Busa in the garage for a longtime to come now. Lets see how they price the Gen 3 in India when it is officially launched tomorrow 26-4-2021. Now I am considering maybe to get a hyper naked next and have been reading and watching videos of the Speed Triple 1200 RS and the Z H2. Lets see what the future has in store and maybe there might be a garage update late 2021 or early 2022







A long ride on a Sunday with the gang post the 2020 monsoon got over. However, the return ride turned out to be the most painful ever thanks to an insane traffic jam due to a massive accident which had blocked the road for good.







Look at the amount of dust collected on the bike after riding for hours in first gear in full bumper to bumper traffic something these bikes are not designed to do. I had to finally stop to take a hydration break as I had almost sweated out the fluids in my body under the harsh sun and I was not even wearing my leather jacket that day thankfully. The return journey which normally is around and hour took me over 3.5 hrs that day.







After that day I almost didnt ride any bike for well over a month and the next few rides were well within city limits and were solo thanks to the pandemic picking up again.











Two different falcons captured in one frame.







My father with my just over a year old niece. If you ask her where I have gone if I am out of the house she will say Vroom Vroom.







This is a official Suzuki accessory and the tyre valve cap costed 150 for a pair.















The OE pads still have decent life left in them.



















Replaced the old LED pilot bulbs.







The last proper long ride with the boys before we went in lockdown again.







After a three hour cleaning and detailing session.























This was the last ride on the Busa and a memorable one. We have a place in Girgaum Chowpatty where my father takes private tution. The place had been unattended to over a year and needed cleaning. So the day we were supposed to get that done he told me the previous night that we will go on the Busa and I was zapped on hearing that as he had never sat on the Busa in four years on the road. His only condition was that I dont ride fast. Looks like he couldnt give in to the temptation of experiencing what it feels like to sit on one and when we returned home he was so impressed that he wanted to do it again in the future. That day he was telling everyone who called how it felt to sit on this monstrosity of a motorcycle and how everyone on the road would slow down and keeping looking back at the motorcycle.



Thanks to the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown the usage of the Busa along with my other motorcycles has been really low. In ideal world conditions I would have crossed 10k kms on the Busa in 2020 itself but the oddo reads at 9465 kms currently and looks like I will be able to put down some kms only post monsoon now as I dont think things are going to get any better in the next two months before the monsoon starts.Further after the battery fiasco of last year I did manage to do some long rides last year and Bluebird performed flawlessly. Managed to get the annual service done in March this year. The bike had just run over 1k + kms since the last oil change but since that was a year back got it changed along with the oil filter. The air filter was just cleaned with compressed air and put back. Also I noticed that prices of the parts have gone up over the years and the oil filter now costs 1k plus. Also replaced the led pilot lamps as they had gone weak and were flickering at times. Wanted to change the high beam to an LED unit as well but the part was not available then and now we are in another lockdown.During the service I carried the EBC front brake pads along with me as always thinking I would finally try them but as luck would have it the OE pads still had life in them so decided to leave them on. Would be doing the brake and clutch fluid change after monsoon so hopefully would replace them then.Apart from this I was really looking forward to the Gen 3 but apart from the fantastic electronic package and better brakes there was nothing that really excited me about it and guess my Gen 2 would be the only Busa in the garage for a longtime to come now. Lets see how they price the Gen 3 in India when it is officially launched tomorrow 26-4-2021. Now I am considering maybe to get a hyper naked next and have been reading and watching videos of the Speed Triple 1200 RS and the Z H2. Lets see what the future has in store and maybe there might be a garage update late 2021 or early 2022A long ride on a Sunday with the gang post the 2020 monsoon got over. However, the return ride turned out to be the most painful ever thanks to an insane traffic jam due to a massive accident which had blocked the road for good.Look at the amount of dust collected on the bike after riding for hours in first gear in full bumper to bumper traffic something these bikes are not designed to do. I had to finally stop to take a hydration break as I had almost sweated out the fluids in my body under the harsh sun and I was not even wearing my leather jacket that day thankfully. The return journey which normally is around and hour took me over 3.5 hrs that day.After that day I almost didnt ride any bike for well over a month and the next few rides were well within city limits and were solo thanks to the pandemic picking up again.Two different falcons captured in one frame.My father with my just over a year old niece. If you ask her where I have gone if I am out of the house she will say Vroom Vroom.This is a official Suzuki accessory and the tyre valve cap costed 150 for a pair.The OE pads still have decent life left in them.Replaced the old LED pilot bulbs.The last proper long ride with the boys before we went in lockdown again.After a three hour cleaning and detailing session.This was the last ride on the Busa and a memorable one. We have a place in Girgaum Chowpatty where my father takes private tution. The place had been unattended to over a year and needed cleaning. So the day we were supposed to get that done he told me the previous night that we will go on the Busa and I was zapped on hearing that as he had never sat on the Busa in four years on the road. His only condition was that I dont ride fast. Looks like he couldnt give in to the temptation of experiencing what it feels like to sit on one and when we returned home he was so impressed that he wanted to do it again in the future. That day he was telling everyone who called how it felt to sit on this monstrosity of a motorcycle and how everyone on the road would slow down and keeping looking back at the motorcycle.
In a nutshell: As Microsoft continued the staged release of Windows 11 to the public, the company's Digital Employee Experience team set to work on upgrading its own fleet of PCs. The rollout, which was completed recently, was hailed as the fastest and one of the smoothest in the company's history. However, even Microsoft had to leave a few PCs behind on Windows 10 due to hardware requirements of its latest OS.

Microsoft's Lukas Velush shared some useful insights from the company's journey of upgrading its entire PC fleet to Windows 11. During the planning phase of its deployment process, Microsoft's Update Compliance and Endpoint Manager analytics determined that a total of 190,000 PCs qualified for the upgrade.

"A percentage of our devices were not upgraded,'' said Microsoft, noting that they will remain on Windows 10 until employees receive a Windows 11 PC at their next device refresh. Adoption of the latter OS has been tricky for Windows users around the world because of strict hardware requirements, and it's interesting to see Microsoft become a victim of its own doing.

Of the qualifying devices, Redmond touted a 99 percent success rate with this upgrade, attributing it to far fewer app compatibility challenges this time around and having delivery processes and tools that had already been greatly improved during the rollout of Windows 10.

Microsoft's upgrade roadmap also gave eager employees early access to Windows 11

In its efforts to reach and prepare employees for the impending upgrade, Microsoft says it used several channels such as Yammer, FAQs, email, digital signage, Teams, and Sharepoint to communicate the new look and features of Windows 11 in order to drive employee interest and excitement.

Following testing to ensure that Windows 11 met the company's stringent security requirements, Microsoft used Windows Update for Business (WUfB) to deploy and automate the upgrade process. Employees were given a flexible schedule to upgrade, with the WUfB service managing exclusions and opt-outs, as well as rollback to Windows 10 if needed.

Microsoft called its Windows 11 upgrade a "strong success story," noting that it saw no increase in support tickets and that its broad adoption of Windows 11 made for the fastest deployment in the company's history.
Why it matters: According to Trendforce, Taiwan will control 48% of the global foundry capacity in 2022, making it the undisputed leader. Even with the increasing number of countries trying to bring semiconductor production within their borders, it's expected that this figure will only drop to 44% by 2025.

Following the past few years of chip shortages caused by pandemic shutdowns and geopolitical turmoil, more and more governments are trying to create local chip production industries. Many of them are turning to Taiwanese companies to help them set up their factories.

This is because Taiwan is crucial to the global semiconductor supply chain, accounting for a 26% market share of the total semiconductor revenue in 2021, ranking it second worldwide. The country commands a 27% and 20% market share in the IC design and the packaging and testing industries, respectively. It also accounts for a staggering 64% of the worldwide foundry revenue.

TSMC currently possesses the most advanced process technology, and it plans to keep most of the production of future N3 and N2 nodes in Taiwan. Meanwhile, other Taiwanese foundries like UMC, Vanguard, and PSMC cover applications that don't require bleeding-edge nodes, such as automotive and IoT.

Currently, Taiwan has the most 8-inch and 12-inch fabs, 24 of them, followed by China, South Korea, and the US. As far as future foundries go, Taiwan still tops the list with six, followed by China with four, while the US plans to build three new fabs.

Even so, Trendforce expects that Taiwan will still control 44% of the world's foundry capacity by 2025 and as much as 58% of the worldwide capacity for advanced processes (16 nm and below).
In a nutshell: Microsoft's deal to supply the US Army with 121,500 Integrated Visual Augmentation Systems (IVAS) augmented reality glasses based on its HoloLens technology could be a $22 billion waste of taxpayer money, according to a Department of Defense oversight agency.

Back in 2018, Microsoft began prototyping the IVAS glasses and was awarded a $480 million contract by the Army for 100,000 units. In April last year, Microsoft won the contract to build the final version for soldiers in a deal worth $22 billion over ten years.

The system combines high-resolution night, thermal, and soldier-borne sensors into a heads-up display. It also leverages augmented reality and machine learning to enable a life-like mixed reality training environment, the military branch wrote.

Signs that the project could be running into trouble arrived a few months later when the AR goggles' rollout was pushed back from fiscal year 2021 to September 2022, but the Army said it remained fully committed to the deal.

Yet it seems the US Department of Defense's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) doesn't share the Army's enthusiasm, nothing that many soldiers are having issues with the devices. "Procuring IVAS without attaining user acceptance could result in wasting up to $21.88 billion in taxpayer funds to field a system that soldiers may not want to use or use as intended," it wrote in an audit report (via The Reg).

The report states that there has been both positive and negative user acceptance to the IVAS from soldiers. It never went into a lot of detail, though much of the content has been redacted. "If soldiers do not love IVAS and do not find it greatly enhances accomplishing the mission, then soldiers will not use it," the OIG concludes.

Douglas Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, responded to the report by saying the $21.8 billion figure was likely to be double what the military would spend on IVAS and represented a contract ceiling at the worst possible pricing structure.

Bush added that it's too early to tell soldiers' feelings toward the AR system, noting that most did not like night-vision goggles when they were introduced in the 1970s, but the devices are now used widely by the military. He also said feedback was subjective and influenced by factors such as fatigue and familiarity with the technology being tested.

Ultimately, the OIG argues that the Army should have ensured soldiers wanted to use the IVAS technology before spending $22 billion of taxpayer money on it, which sounds pretty sensible.
A young man sits by the body of his mother who died in a boat accident, in Tripoli, Lebanon, April 25, 2022. The families of the seven victims of a boat accident held funerals in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Monday as rescue and search efforts continue for the missing. A boat en route from Tripoli to Cyprus sank on Saturday night off Lebanon's northern coast. The boat carried dozens of illegal immigrants from Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. (Photo by Khaled Habashiti/Xinhua)

BEIRUT, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The families of the seven victims of a boat accident held funerals in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Monday as rescue and search efforts continue for the missing.

A boat en route from Tripoli to Cyprus sank on Saturday night off Lebanon's northern coast. The boat carried dozens of illegal immigrants from Lebanon, Palestine and Syria.

The Lebanese army has so far rescued 45 people and recovered the bodies of seven, Tripoli Port Director Ahmed Tamer told Xinhua.

No official figures have been released yet about the total number of migrants who were on board the boat. 

People carry the body of a victim who died in a boat accident during a funeral in Tripoli, Lebanon, April 25, 2022. The families of the seven victims of a boat accident held funerals in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Monday as rescue and search efforts continue for the missing. A boat en route from Tripoli to Cyprus sank on Saturday night off Lebanon's northern coast. The boat carried dozens of illegal immigrants from Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. (Photo by Khaled Habashiti/Xinhua)

A man carries the body of his granddaughter who died in a boat accident during a funeral in Tripoli, Lebanon, April 25, 2022. The families of the seven victims of a boat accident held funerals in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Monday as rescue and search efforts continue for the missing. A boat en route from Tripoli to Cyprus sank on Saturday night off Lebanon's northern coast. The boat carried dozens of illegal immigrants from Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. (Photo by Khaled Habashiti/Xinhua)
The big picture: Elon Musk wants to improve Twitter with a much-awaited edit button, a transparent algorithm, fewer spambots, and a more attractive environment for people who want to discuss hot topics. Buying the company was the easy part  delivering on his promises while appeasing regulators worldwide and keeping the company afloat will be a monumental effort.

Elon Musk's bid to take Twitter private has unanimous support from Twitter's board. Now everyone is busy debating the future of the social platform under the new leadership, his motivations behind the move, and even his sincerity in protecting free speech. Beyond the ground-level realization that one of Twitter's most avid (and controversial) users is the sole owner of the platform, there are several regulatory hurdles the company will need to overcome in the coming months and years.

European officials have already set their eyes on the Twitter takeover. It comes hot on the heels of a provisional Digital Services Act that will soon force tech giants to moderate the content on their online platforms more aggressively.

In other words, the new legislation will require companies like Twitter to ensure that harmful content like threats, harassment, revenge porn, and calls for violence is taken down before it has any significant negative impact on users. The company faces fines of up to six percent of its global annual revenue and even a ban from operating in the European Union for not complying.

Those are the remarks of Thierry Breton, EU's commissioner for overseeing the internal market. Breton told the Financial Times that Elon Musk's idea to turn Twitter into a "digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated" is welcome, but not without some adaptations. He noted it's not Musk's relaxed moderation rules that will apply in Europe but rather the rules encompassed in the Digital Services Act.

In the meantime, Twitter has locked down product updates through Friday to prevent things like disgruntled employees from making unwanted changes to the source code. The company's 7,000 employees have yet to be told what role they play in the new Twitter or if they'll have any at all.

Some believe a private Twitter has more potential to evolve in a positive way that just couldn't be done while catering to the interests of shareholders. Others aren't convinced this is the right direction and are still struggling to understand how things went from Musk becoming a passive shareholder to being invited on the board of directors to offering to buy the company outright.

When zooming out, it's still hard to look at the big picture and not wonder if there's some underlying strategy to this madness. The acquisition will take around six months to complete, and regulators are going to have a field trip with what will come of it. Meanwhile, management told employees at an all-hands meeting that their stock compensation was going the way of the dodo. Elon Musk doesn't have the best track record for managing employees, so "Tweeps" are rightly concerned about what is about to happen to the organization.

There is an expectation among pundits that a private Twitter will lead to some level of attrition, even as CEO Parag Agrawal maintains there wouldn't be any layoffs, at least in the short term. The company has not been able to grow beyond a certain point, and its problems have only multiplied over the past few years. Now it has a singular owner that seeks to transform it into everyone's primary destination for staying in the know about major ongoing events.

Nevertheless, how Musk structured the acquisition deal will create significant pressure to turn Twitter into a more profitable enterprise, something that calls into question a recent statement made during a TED presentation where he said he didn't care about the economics of buying the company.

In principle, I don't believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.  jack (@jack) April 26, 2022

Former Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey says Musk is the "singular solution I trust" for fixing the company's failings. He notes that moving away from the Wall Street-friendly ad model would be an excellent first step in serving the public conversation better. It's not yet clear how Twitter will be able to thrive without ads, especially since very few people seem inclined to pay for a Twitter Blue subscription to access additional features and perks.

One thing is for sure  Twitter failed as a public company, and now it has a chance to rise out of its ashes after being burned down by its attempt to appease shareholders. The big question: Is a billionaire like Musk the right person to do it?

Image credit: Brett Jordan
NASA's Axiom-1 mission is finally returning to Earth after the recent announcement of SpaceX and the national space agency that the spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station. The mission saw an extension to its supposed five-day mission in the space station, with its astronauts prolonging their stay on the ISS.

NASA Axiom-1 Mission: Undocks from the ISS with SpaceX Dragon

NASA and SpaceX provided updates for the Axiom-1 mission's undocking from the ISS, and the return trip still boards the Dragon spacecraft set for a splash on Monday. The extended mission of Axiom astronauts brings more opportunities for them to do their supposed work on the space station, but it is not meant to last forever.

According to NASA, the departure successfully undocked from the ISS last 9:10 PM Eastern Time (6:10 PM PST), beginning its descent back to the home planet. Alongside this return, Ax-1 will return hundreds of science and space supplies from the ISS to the Earth, bringing it for NASA's use and study for when it lands.

Read Also: NASA KNaCK: Lunar Backpack to Provide Navigation on the Moon, Astronauts to Bring it on Missions

Extended Mission for Axiom-1 and NASA

NASA's blog said that the extended mission for the Axiom-1 faced a delay that made them stay longer in the space station. Supposedly, this mission should conclude last April 19, but the extra five-day stay took place due to its reasons.

The Axiom-1 has a total of 17 days on the space station, more than its supposed five-day stay, now Earth-bound.

NASA's Commercial Flights

There are many missions on NASA's manifest that will launch from commercial or private space companies, and it is in partnership with the space agency. The Commercial Crew partnership involves many companies in the present, with SpaceX and Boeing at the forefront of this program with NASA for its flights to the ISS.

So far, SpaceX is the only company that fulfilled its part in the missions.

However, there are also companies like Axiom that partnered with NASA for a mission toward the International Space Station, and it aims to bring civilians to the orbiting station. Now, the recent venture of the company completed its first part by arriving and docking at the station, with its return already taking place after a long delay.

Axiom-1 is returning to NASA, and it is aboard the ever trustworthy Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX, with the goals of the company already met in its extended stay in the space station. NASA and Axiom's mission is the first of many, and it also opens up many doors for other companies that aim to have stakes in the space industry.

Related Article: NASA 's Juno Captures Astonishing Photo of Jupiter Moon's Shadow

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Announced on Monday, Apr. 25th, via the company's internal blog, Spotify is setting aside 100,000 for its new support fund entitled Free and Open Source Software Fund (FOSS Fund). The money is intended to aid specific open source development projects and is Spotify's way of targeting more free and open source concepts to better the world of technology.

Spotify explained within its blog post that its own in-house Spotify developers and engineers will be choosing the projects that will receive monetary support. The FOSS Fund will only thus far contain within the aforementioned 100,000, but Spotify aims to raise that number over the next several years into the Fund's lifecycle, as open source tech lead under Spotify, Per Ploug, details the number as only "a starting amount." The Fund's own committee will be responsible for selecting the final selections, all of whom will be announced next month.

Open source software is typically free and has its entire source code available to the public, allowing for alternative creators, developers, engineers, and more to enhance the software even further, use it in other forms of software, and more. A perfect example of open source software is OBS, which literally stands for Open Broadcast Software, a tool that more than most Twitch and YouTube streamers utilize to stream to their millions of followers.

Related Article: Spotify Account Guide: How to Delete Your Account and Cancel Your Premium Subscription

Spotify itself runs on a multitude of open source software concepts, as do many alternative tech companies, including Adobe, Facebook, GitHub, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and plenty more. As you can already tell, open source software is essentially the lifeblood of evolving technologies. Without open source considerations, many of the most recognizable tech firms across the globe wouldn't exist today, thus Spotify's FOSS Fund is certainly one of merit.

"Spotify uses open source software to power the best audio experience for creators and listeners around the world. In fact, we are like many other tech companies who rely on open source. And yet, open source developers often make these projects available for us to use without compensation. That is why today we are announcing the Spotify FOSS Fund, with the purpose of donating money and bringing attention to independent open source projects," writes Spotify in its blog post. "These projects support and enable our engineering teams to do their best work, and we want to recognize that."

The company announced several additional details about its forthcoming FOSS Fund, main among them being that it will focus on projects that are independent and still consistently maintained. Nominations will be informed via Spotify's own dependency data repositories. The Fund nominations will also disallow open source projects that were created or run by current and former Spotify employees.

The money within the Fund will go towards aiding the project in a number of different ways. The most noticeable aspect for the financial support will be witnessed via increased marketing efforts, as well as amending current security flaws in certain projects if necessary. The Fund will also be intended to simply maintain said projects over time, allowing them a full enough future with support backed by the likes of Spotify's own internal engineers.

In tandem with this news, Spotify likewise has joined up with the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) in the hopes of broadening more support for the ecosystem of open source cybersecurity measures. Its FOSS Fund, according to Spotify, will ensure both sustainability and growth for additional software solutions across the board. Its nearly 200 own internal open source platforms prove the incredible necessity in broadening support for the open source ecosystem.

Read Also: Spotify's Swipe to Queue Feature Now Available on Android

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Written by Ryan Epps

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk finally acquired Twitter following a week-long escapade that saw the two entities in a stalemate on Musk's initial buyout offer. The company will exchange hands at a $54.20 share in cash transaction that will be estimated at around $44 billion, upon which it will become a privately held company led by the Tesla CEO.

Twitter's Buyout

Twitter's buyout is estimated to be in the ballpark of a 38% premium of Apr. 1st closing stock price, according to the official press release. That date marks "the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter." Current stockholders will be awarded the aforementioned $54.20 a share in cash under the new agreement.

Sitting CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, highlighted the importance of Twitter as a driver that "impacts the entire world." He gave no official words on the buyout itself, only optimism pertaining to the employees and staff, calling their work both inspirational and "more important" than ever before.

As to the randomness of the finale between Musk and Twitter, the social media site's own independent board chair, Bret Taylor, relayed that the board eventually decided that the amount offered by Musk was concluded as enough for the board to accept. He explains that upon "a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing," Twitter's board inevitably accepted the terms as it allowed "a substantial cash premium" and was essentially "the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."

Related Article: Elon Musk finally buys Twitter: How much did the app cost?





Musk made aware of his coffers to the SEC come Thursday, evidenced via an SEC filing that concludes $21 billion was utilized of the billionaire's own personal equity while the additional $25.5 billion was loaned. News of the potential buyout in the early morning of Apr. 25th saw Twitter stock leap to ever-increasing bounds by about a 2% increase. The Tesla executive was busy over the course of the weekend, taking aim at Microsoft's head Bill Gates for shorting Tesla.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk expressed amid the press release. "I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans."

Twitter 'could cost' Musk an Annualized $1 Billion in Service Fees

According to various analysts, Twitter upkeep alone could cost the executive an annualized $1 billion in service fees. How exactly Musk plans to express these myriad alterations still remains rather unclear, but the executive did add that he is excited to work alongside both "the company and the community of users to unlock it."

The unanimously approved transaction via the board will be subject to some scrutiny, but is planned to close sometime in 2022, still subject by approval of Twitter stockholders and assorted regulatory approvals. Some saw the lining on the wall, as Q1 2022 results were estimated to be rather poor, thus Twitter stockholders sought the buyout as opposed to continuing its poison pill enacted on Apr. 15th.

The rollercoaster ride of events has finally met its conclusion, but it may well be far from over. While Musk's $44 billion offer has been accepted and awaits regulatory oversight, questions still remain on just how exactly the executive will attempt to rework the social media site and what it ultimately means for vid users.

Some worry that Musk will make Twitter a paid subscription service, while others fear his free speech mania will only cause the site to flourish in all the wrong ways. Add to those current woes headed by Twitter employees, which are brought to the forefront of the situation via The New York Times as staff grips with the volatile evolution of the company.

Read Also: Elon Musk's Twitter Name Change Suggestion Goes Viral! Other Updates the Billionaire Wants for the Platform



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Written by Ryan Epps

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Elon Musk, the CEO of huge companies like Tesla and Space X, founder of The Boring Company, and the richest person in the world, has successfully included another title to his bio - Owner of Twitter.

It was just announced on Monday that the blue bird app has now "entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk", as written in the company's press release.

The price is at $54.20 per share in cash, and the overall value of the transaction costs around $44 billion. Upon completion, which could still take several months, Twitter will officially become a privately held company, and its shares will no longer be allowed to be traded on any stock exchange.

Furthermore, the purchase price will constitute a 38% premium to Twitter's closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which happens to be the last trading day before Musk announced his 9% stake in Twitter.

Musk's takeover of the social media platform would mean that there is a likelihood that Twitter will no longer be governed by its current board and will no longer be publicly traded.

This announcement came to light a few months after Jack Dorsey left his post as CEO of Twitter after 16 years. He was eventually replaced by Parag Agrawal, former Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Twitter.

Majority of the priorities of Twitter are centered on NFT integration and cryptocurrency, wherein the NFT profile support was enabled last January. Twitter has recently launched its edit button, which has been long requested by its users.

"The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing," said Twitter independent board chair Bret Taylor.

She added, "The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."

After the huge announcement, Twitter's stock increased by 6%.

Read Also: Elon Musk Talks About Social Media Policies: Is He Hinting Twitter's Sale?

"Bedrock of a functioning democracy"

Musk has claimed himself to be a free speech absolutist and has criticized Twitter's moderation. He said that Twitter's algorithm for prioritizing tweets must be public.

He also wrote in a tweet that he was worried about what he claims as the "de facto bias" of Twitter's algorithm and its effect on public discourse. He asked his followers if the app's algorithm should be open source, majority of the respondents said "yes."

Musk stated that, "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated."

"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential - I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it," he added.

Musk follows a tradition of billionaires buying influential media platforms, such as Jeff Bezos taking over the Washington Post in 2013 and Rupert Murdoch acquiring the Wall Street Journal in 2007 and the New York Post in 1976.

Furthermore, Twitter said that Musk has amassed $25.5 billion of debt and margin loan financing and will provide a $21 billion equity commitment.

Related Article: Elon Musk Just Became The Largest Shareholder Of Twitter---What Happens Now?



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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
For one special morning, the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter will all meet for one spectacular moment before the sun rises in the sky.

Two planets kissing, One Moon watching

Viewers will have to wake up early before the day rolls in to welcome the dazzling display of the brightest objects in the night sky, which will be visible on the morning of April 26.

To ensure that you do not miss the display, you will have to set your alarm about 45 minutes before sunrise. For better viewing, you will have to look low toward the east-southeast horizon.

From that location, you will find the brightest planet Venus hovering four degrees to the upper right of Jupiter. For about a dozen degrees away from Jupiter's right, you will find a waning crescent moon that is seemingly overlooking the two mingling planets from afar.

According to Space.com, on the next morning of April 27, before the sunrise as well, there will be a "slightly thinner lunar crescent" moon that has moved in to join the two planets, which forms a stunning triangle formation of these three bright objects.

It is worth noting that the moon-Jupiter side will measure four degrees, Venus and Jupiter will seemingly kiss each other, for they will have closed the gap between them to just three degrees, and the moon-Venus side will only measure to five degrees.

Read Also: NASA's Juno Captures Astonishing Photo of Jupiter Moon's Shadow

"Illusion of perspective"

Joe Rao, the skywatching columnist of Space.com, noted that these three objects mingling with each other is of course just an "illusion of perspective." Venus and Jupiter are nowhere near the vicinity of each other since they only happen to align from Earth's vantage point.

Venus at that point will be about 90.3 million miles or 145.4 million kilometers away from our planet, while Jupiter is almost six times further away from us at 530 million miles (852.8 km). But the moon, on the other hand, is the closest object to us at only 239,000 miles (384,000 km) away.

Make sure that for better viewing, there are no buildings, trees, or any huge obstructions blocking the east-southeast portion of this sky. A clear and open morning sky would make this triangular trip a fascinating spectacle to start up one's day.

"I suspect the combination of the objects' great brightness, their closeness to one another and their low altitude will induce more than a few people to call local media outlets and maybe even police stations to report a UFO sighting," said Rao.

"Closer than ever"

However, on April 30, Saturday morning, Venus and Jupiter will be closer than ever since they will only be separated by just one-half degree, which in perspective is similar to the apparent width of the moon. Together, the planets will rise side-by-side, with Venus on the right side and Jupiter on the left.

Venus will be notably brighter because its magnitude will be at -4.1 but Jupiter will shine six times brighter since it will have a magnitude of -2.1.

Telescopes and binoculars are highly suggested in order to enjoy the spectacular views in its full glory, in the coming days around April 30. The two planets will still be close to each other by May 1 on Sunday because Jupiter will be located to the upper right of Venus until in the next mornings to come, the planets will slowly pull away to the west.

Mark your dates, set your alarms, and make your mornings magnificent with these stunning celestial displays!

Related Article: China's Venus Mission Similar To NASA's Mars Visit! New Space Race To Find Other Life Forms Now Starting

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Your website deserves the best web hosting providers, whether for professional or personal purposes. But not every hosting platform may give you what you need. Narrowing down your preferences can work: Are you looking for fully managed WordPress hosting services and similar offers? What about dedicated servers?

Truly, running a website can be complicated. But here's how you can bump the level from moderation to easy. Learn more about web hosting providers, what they do, and how to choose one that suits your preferences.

What Is a Web Host Provider?

To set the record straight, websites need reliable hosting services. That's because they need a provider to deliver them a room on dedicated servers. You can make your servers, but that would require advanced expertise. The cost required from you would also be unbearable.

A web hosting provider functions as a way to give you space on a server. You can stash all files that helped build your website in its entirety on this said server. What are those files? It might be images, files, scripts, codes, etc.

How Do I Choose a Web Hosting Provider?

There are different kinds of web hosting services. To choose which one suits you, let's try to differentiate them. So far, the most known are Virtual Private Servers, dedicated hosting, shared hosting, and managed hosting. In VPS, you have your private server, which is much more secure. Dedicated hosting means a server only stores your website. Shared hosting refers to sharing the server allocation with other websites.

Then managed hosting can be any of the three mentioned. Except, you have extra support from the provider you'll choose. Hence, the word 'managed.'

Who Is the Best Website Hosting Provider?

The best website hosting provider largely depends on what website you're trying to run and optimize. Business websites can be handy; you might want a managed hosting provider to lessen your burden. Or you could be a small business wanting security. A VPS might suit you better. Whatever you're aiming for, we might have the answers for you below. Here are the top 5 best web hosting providers for 2022:

#1 Nexcess

With over 20 years of experience in extensive testing, premium support, and hosting services, Nexcess quickly widens its gap among other platforms in the market of web hosting providers. One of its best features is the powerful experience provided by managed hosting for WordPress.

Nexcess lets you build better websites with Managed WordPress Hosting. It also comes with built-in smart monitoring tools for a faster, more secure, and scalable website of your choice. But that's not the only option you have. This hosting provider also presents Managed WooCommerce Hosting, Managed Magento Hosting, and other features you can take advantage of.

Key Features

Fully Managed WordPress Hosting, Magento, and WooCommerce Hosting:

Managed WordPress Hosting isn't the only perk you'll have together with Magento and WooCommerce. You can also access fast and reliable page loads, as well as hosting services with a multitude of built-in extras. It comes with automatic updates and round-the-clock monitoring. Plus, it offers 24/7/365 Support via phone, chat, or email if you need technical support. It guarantees 99.99% uptime and offers free WordPress migration with every plan.

StoreBuilder:

Want to get into business right away? Nexcess's online store builder crafts an impressive storefront so you can earn right away. Unlike other online stores, StoreBuilder has a lot of offers for you, including premium features for free and more customization options. This also includes no transaction fees and no expensive add-ons.

Some attributes you can enjoy are the following:

Intuitive design features so you can produce remarkable online stores that'll easily turn heads. Another thing  no need to hire a designer or write a code, too.

so you can produce remarkable online stores that'll easily turn heads. Another thing  no need to hire a designer or write a code, too. Own your store and gain complete freedom & flexibility over how you want your website to come out. Profits, designs, and everything else solely belong to you.

over how you want your website to come out. Profits, designs, and everything else solely belong to you. Easy to maintain and powered by WooCommerce, so you can obtain regular updates, access automated sales, and use performance tools.

Cloud Hosting and Enterprise Hosting:

Whether you're running a small business or well-performing eCommerce stores, Nexcess's cloud hosting solutions will satisfy your needs. You have auto-scaling, PCI compliance, and comprehensive development tools on your hand. These tools are designed to give dynamicity, flexibility, and a fully managed cloud environment.

At the same time, you also get secured and high-performing enterprise hosting. The support is best-in-class, and the uptime is utterly unrivaled. To find the right setup for your business, enterprise hosting also offers pre-sales cluster architects.

Overall, no matter what type of website you have in mind, Nexcess remains undefeated with its services. It does exceptionally well in hosting, migrating, creating a website, integrating with external platforms, etc. Plus, it is endowed with a few features on hand. You have everything you need to drive your website or business to success.

Pros

Offers the best support, be it in Magento, WooCommerce or WordPress managed hosting

Created by a group of experts while also complemented by their incessant support team

Has features like free white-glove site migration, proactive service monitoring, and Magento Master on staff

Highly scalable and ready for volume spikes in just a click

PHP optimized and PHP 7 support with 99.99% uptime

Guaranteed security to keep your website safe and secure via 24/7 Monitoring alerts, Premium SSL Certs, PCI-certified for compliance, and Proactive Patching & Updates

Faster and better than other website hosting providers

Helps drive traffic and maintains it through near-instant asset caching, auto platform & plug-in updates, customizable tech stacks, and Container add-ons.

Cons

No freemium version

A few helpful features are available but costly

There's no doubt that Nexcess exclusively caters to beginners and experienced website creators/business owners. If you belong in either category, know that Nexcess is a web hosting provider you should never miss. Try and see it for yourself and enjoy your first 30 days using its StoreBuilder for free!

#2 Bluehost

Once you do a quick search on the best web hosting provider, Bluehost surfaces on top, thanks to its popularity. People launching their first website found an ally with its beginner-friendly interface. It's suitable for both personal and professional purposes, even for those who haven't decided what to do with a website yet.

You can instantly install WordPress in just one click and the other apps downloadable in its own-built marketplace. It delivers helpful analytics and SEO tools to follow your website's ranking when it comes to specific keywords.

When upgrading from scratch to a growing website, you may want to find features to help you navigate toward success. Fortunately, Bluehost has a lot in store for you. You can have managed WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and more.

Overall, Bluehost covers all you need to start a website from the beginning to your development. It also helps that they set 24/7 phone and live chat whenever you find yourself in a whirlwind of problems.

Core Features and Benefits

Offers managed WordPress hosting

Supports WooCommerce and other websites

Comes with a website builder

Provides dedicated VPS and shared hosting

Has professional services if you need help

#3 DreamHost

Another web hosting provider with stellar offerings is DreamHost. One of its competitive edges is its multiple ways of managing its web hosts. Unlike other platforms, you won't have a standard control panel. Rather, you'll get your hands on a completely customized one so you can easily manage your website. This is a great tool for advanced website owners to oversee website controls.

What makes DreamHost a catch for newbies is their prices. A free unlimited shared hosting plan is up for grabs when running a nonprofit organization and the like. This is also helpful to novices since they won't have to invest money right away. Indeed, that's a deal you cannot beat.

Moreover, DreamHost also belongs to WordPress' roster of recommended hosts. You get a managed WordPress hosting even in its basic plans. But if you're upgrading, it also offers a managed plan with what they call DreamPress.

Should you need professional help, DreamHost's customer service leans more on traditional ways. Live chat is only open during business hours, but the email support is available 24/7. Although one of the most affordable pricing plans, technical support requires paying additional fees unless you spring for two premium plans available: the DreamPress Plus or Pro-managed WordPress plans.

Core Features and Benefits

Provides privacy and security

Offers extensive domain-management features

Has cloud hosting offerings

Provides unlimited data transfers every month

Has a useful WordPress staging attribute

#4 HostGator

Let's say you already know what your business will be about. No other choice can satisfy you than HostGator. But the thing with HostGator is you can only create simple websites without a razzle-dazzle. It helps if you think a boatload of extra features is unnecessary.

You can have a website with your contact info, a perfect landing page, and any page you wish to create. It's worth noting that this web hosting provider also functions as a portfolio. Though it provides a simple website interface, you can still use HostGator's extensive list of how-to guides for better technical support.

Speaking of support, HostGator includes it all in its plans unlike other website hosting providers. If you want a cheap hosting plan that includes support, this is the host for you. But if you're aiming for more advanced websites, there's a tad bit of a learning curve when it comes to taking advantage of their advanced option.

HostGator offers Windows, Linux, Cloud, and VPS hosting. Similar to other platforms mentioned above, it also has managed WordPress hosting and dedicated servers. Overall, it's recommendable for simple deployment and uses. It has everything you need but simpler.

Core Features and Benefits

Offers Managed WordPress hosting, dedicated servers, VPS servers, etc

Registers and transforms domains or builds a website from the start

Has one-click installation with an unmetered bandwidth

Shows serious consideration for your privacy with a free SSL cert

#5 Liquid Web

Web hosting providers aren't meant to set forth similar attributes. Liquid Web exists to provide a different hosting experience. Since its creation, it has been specializing in full comprehension of goals to engineer a perfectly-tailored solution for businesses.

Liquid Web offers a broad lineup of services built the way you wish to manage your website. Besides managed WordPress hosting and the likes, it can also custom-build an Enterprise Hosting Solution.

Aside from that, it also handles server administration comprising hardware and network management. Together, it comes with an operating system and pre-installed software support. It is then accompanied by proactive security patches and updates as well as proactive service monitoring and restoration.

Key Features

Dedicated Servers:

With Liquid Web, your website is carefully attended by 24/7/365 on-site support. But that's not the fun part yet. This hosting provider comes up with customizable dedicated servers. You get dedicated security and high-performance through real-time monitoring and a 100% power & network uptime guarantee.

In detail, here's what you can expect:

Standard DDoS protection where you can obtain real-time monitoring capacities. Doing so helps mitigate threats. In general, it protects both your website and server from sudden malicious attacks.

where you can obtain real-time monitoring capacities. Doing so helps mitigate threats. In general, it protects both your website and server from sudden malicious attacks. A backup drive pre-installed on dedicated servers acts as a secondary solution to backup all your data.

pre-installed on dedicated servers acts as a secondary solution to backup all your data. A dedicated IP address ensures that both the security and accessibility of your server are improved.

VPS Hosting:

Liquid Web's well-managed and cloud-based virtual private server or VPS hosting solutions layout the most reliable and powerful root access. It's lightning-fast compared to other platforms. At the same time, it also has a plethora of features, such as:

Plesk and cPanel so you can easily enjoy managed VPS hosting, thanks to a system-level control. You can get your hands on automated updates, application deployment, and maintenance.

so you can easily enjoy managed VPS hosting, thanks to a system-level control. You can get your hands on automated updates, application deployment, and maintenance. Tier-1 premium bandwidth that frontlines minimal latency yet swift connections to all points of the global internet.

that frontlines minimal latency yet swift connections to all points of the global internet. Scalable in which you can upgrade or downgrade your managed VPS service with minimal downtime on your server.

Not just that. Since our top pick, Nexcess, is the sister company of Liquid Web, you can also enjoy managed hosting for WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento. You also get Enterprise hosting or take advantage of their add-ons like email hosting, storage, backup, PCI-compliant hosting, HIPAA Compliant hosting, etc.

Pros

Powered by 24/7/365 support team committed to monitor your servers, mitigate risks, and help you optimize your website's performance

Has 10 global data centers, including Lansing, MI, Phoenix, AZ, and Amsterdam, NL

Trusted by over 45,000 companies in 150+ countries and counting

100% uptime guarantee

Offers auto-migrations, backups, and real-time monitoring

Every available plan has a GlobalSign SSL certificate

Cons

Can be pricey for beginners

In general, this web hosting provider lays down solid features, premium support, and fully managed WordPress hosting on dedicated VPS servers. Everything you can get on Liquid Web is highly scalable. It's one of the best VPS hosting deals in the market, judging by its capabilities. Therefore, Liquid Web got you covered, especially with their VPS hosting as low as $15/month.

Final Thoughts

Deciding on what website hosting providers are the best for you can be tricky. You have a lot of options out there. Through our extensive search, we strongly suggest Nexcess with its Managed WordPress hosting, together with WooCommerce and Magento. Likewise, you might want to try Liquid Web's managed hosting services and its VPS servers. Changing your mind on what you initially picked is often done. In case you want to reconsider, you can also try other hosting providers we chose for you.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Twitter users are now considering leaving the social media platform after Elon Musk completely purchased an online site. The popular tech CEO has already hinted at his plan.

At first, the board members of Twitter were against the bid of Musk. However, the billionaire was able to buy Twitter for $44 billion.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," said Musk via USA Today.

This means that the Tesla CEO is interested in making Twitter a completely free-speech platform. Why are users suddenly deleting their accounts if this is the case?

Twitter Users Consider Leaving?

According to The Guardian's latest report, some individuals on Twitter announced that they now want to quit the online platform.

Also Read: Elon Musk Talks About Free Speech on Social Media, New Age of Twitter-What Will Happen?

However, most of them only deleted their accounts permanently. Although Musk said that his intentions are only about free speech, Australia's Digital Rights Watch said that Elon's massive Twitter purchase could lead to some issues.

DRW Chair Lizzie O'Shea explained that there are some instances when social media platforms are required to censor posts.

She added that Elon's free-speech absolutism agenda could affect the current balance on Twitter, claiming that the billionaire only wants to be free from accountability.

Aside from this, O'Shea further explained that Musk's idea could make Twitter an unsafe platform, especially since anyone can share posts and other misleading content or contain disinformation.

Possible Things Elon Will Do To Twitter

Recently, the popular billionaire shared the things he wanted on Twitter. One of these is an edit button. Elon even posted a poll to see how many users like the feature.

Around 73% said "yes" to the Twitter edit button. On the other hand, there could also be the so-called Twitter Blue. One of the benefits that Twitter Blue can offer is no-ad experiences. Of course, users need to pay around $3 per month if they want to have this feature.

Another thing that can happen is the arrival of the Dogecoin payment option on Twitter. Once this happens, it will be strong proof that the platform will soon offer more subscription-based features.

Meanwhile, a massive Twitter scam recently appeared, fooling users into purchasing fake NFTs.

On the other hand, Elon Musk's Twitter purchase bid was previously reviewed.

For more news updates about Twitter and other social media giants, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Trusts Elon Musk! Agreed with Going Private?

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Written by: Griffin Davis

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4 ad teased that the long-awaited Google Assistant support is coming to one of the most sought-after smart wearables out there.

The tech giants, Google and Samsung, have previously announced their massive collaboration on wearable tech, which birthed the merger of the latter's Tizen and Android Wear.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Google Assistant

That said, it is somewhat surprising or, should we say--odd that the Wear OS of the Galaxy Watch 4, which the two tech giants worked on together, lacks Google Assistant.

Instead, users of the Galaxy Watch 4 only get their hands on Samsung's virtual assistant, nicknamed Bixby.

As per a news story by Phone Arena, the absence of Google Assistant is one of the most notable cons of the Galaxy Watch 4, at least according to numerous users.

Despite that, Samsung is no stranger to the highly requested feature on its Galaxy Watch 4.

In fact, Google has previously confirmed that Assistant is actually rolling out to the smartwatch of the South Korean tech giant.

According to the latest report by Android Central, Google announced that its Assistant app will be available straight from the Play Store of the Watch 4 "in the coming months."

As of writing, three months have already passed since Google revealed the new virtual assistant coming to Samsung's smart wearable.

Samsung's New Galaxy Watch 4 Ad

It appears that the long-awaited arrival of Google Assistant to the Galaxy Watch 4 is inching closer.

According to a recent report by 9to5Google, a Reddit user that goes by the username "herykmathews" was one of the first observers to notice a surprising revelation on the latest Samsung ad in Spain.

The newest Spanish Samsung ad showed a Galaxy Watch 4 user who surprisingly spitted out the words "Hey Google" - instead of Samsung's Bixby - to summon the smart wearable to play a song on YouTube Music.

The 15-second ad that the South Korean tech firm posted on its Spanish YouTube channel only spans for 15-seconds. It supposedly focused on Google Pay, but the unexpected Google Assistant cameo was also attention-grabbing.

The Samsung ad did not formally announce that Hey Google support is coming to its smartwatch in the specific ad in question. But it does hint that its arrival could likely be close approaching.

Read Also: Galaxy S22 Overheating Shall Be Blamed on Samsung Alone as Industry Insider Says it Can Also Happen to Android Flagships

Google Assistant Arriving?

It is interesting to point out that it is not the first hint that Google Assistant's arrival at Samsung is already near.

A recent Verizon update showed that Google Assistant would be released on Galaxy Watch 4 in its next software update. But the search engine tech giant outright denied its arrival, saying that "we don't have an update on timing."

Related Article: Samsung Galaxy Watch 4's Google Assistant Rollout is Delayed | Here's Why

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Teejay Boris

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
SpaceX Starlink space debris is now alarming Inmarsat. The British satellite company explained why the company's artificial mega-constellation is concerning.

Aside from SpaceX, the satellite firm also said that the cube sats launched by Amazon, as well as Chinese space operators and other space companies, can all lead to alarming space debris.

Ever since satellite constellations started becoming a trend in the space industry, various experts warned them about the negative effects of their sats.

SpaceX Starlink Space Debris Alarm Immarsat

According to Reuters' latest report, Inmarsat Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said that they welcome satellite innovations in low orbit.

Also Read: SpaceX's Falcon 9 12th Launch and Land Complete, Starlink Satellites Are in Parking Orbit

However, he explained that the existing technologies to manage these artificial constellations are still not enough. Suri further explained that a better space industry and regulatory coordination between space companies are needed.

"Mega-constellations are talking about tens of thousands of new satellites during this decade - satellites with an expected life of only five to 10 years," said Rajeev.

Inmarsat's chief executive also explained that the space debris could also affect other spaceships and rockets passing through the orbit levels where the artificial mega-constellations are forming.

As of writing, SpaceX is the leading space agency when it comes to launching cube sats. It already has around 2000 Starlink satellites that are orbiting the planet.

This number is expected to increase by 12,000, especially since SpaceX already has permission.

Effects of Space Debris

Earth.Org explained that the rising space debris in Earth's orbit could affect future space explorations. It can create obstacles that rockets will find difficult to evade.

Aside from space, these space junks can also have detrimental effects on the environment of Earth. Recently, the debris created by Russian Proton rockets affected the Altai region of eastern Siberia.

The old fuel tanks spilled some toxic fuel residue, which is quite harmful to animals, plants, as well as humans. You can view this link to see the more dangerous effects of space debris.

Recently, NASA's Juno captured an astonishing photo of the gas giant's moon shadow.

On the other hand, NASA Axiom-1 Mission's ISS undocking has been finalized.

For more news updates about space debris and other related topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: SpaceX Falcon Heavy: Ideal Spacecraft for Uranus Mission; Did Elon Musk Confirm Involvement?

This article is owned by TechTimes

Written by: Griffin Davis

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Since its founding in 1945, the WIDF has been active on issues related to anti-fascism, world peace, child welfare and gender rights.

On Monday, gender activists from America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia inaugurated the 17th Congress of the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDM) in Caracas.

This event will take place until April 30 and has as its slogan "Women unity against inequalities and violence. For the peace and health of the planet," as explained by WIDM Deputy Coordinator Wafy Ibrahim.

"Holding this congress in Venezuela is transmitting a message to the world. Arriving here and feeling the Bolivarian fervor makes us happy, honors, and gives us strength to continue fighting against imperial aggression," she said.

"The meeting includes not only collective dreams but aspirations and life projects," highlighted Venezuela's Minister for Women and Gender Equality, Diva Guzman.

Israeli occupation forces arrest and assault a number of Palestinian workers, including women, in Tulkarm. pic.twitter.com/SKGtBjIWXW  PALESTINE ONLINE  (@OnlinePalEng) April 25, 2022

The representative of the General Union of Palestinian Women, Mona Al-Khalili, asserted that the WDIM congress is a favorable setting to denounce the aggressions, harassment, and outrages that the Zionist regime carries out daily against Palestinian women and men.

The African delegations highlighted the need to speak out against the world's armed conflicts given that women and children tend to be the sectors most affected by violence.

Since its founding in 1945, the WIDF has been active on issues related to anti-fascism, world peace, child welfare and gender rights. It has also played an important role in supporting women's anti-colonial struggles in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
U.S. stocks fell in a row, and the market value evaporated by more than 14 trillion in one day, and the fall did not end until October?
Taxpayers on Monday evening got their first detailed look at 10 possible sites for a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, just weeks before the list is trimmed to three.

The gathering, at the Bluebonnet Regional Library, was the first of six open houses hosted by the state Department of Transportation and Development amid a legislative debate on whether to endorse Gov. John Bel Edwards' proposal to spend $500 million for the bridge.

Residents began pouring in to the meeting room before the 5 p.m. official start.

A total of 325 had visited the open house by 6:30 p.m., according to a spokesperson for DOTD.

"We live in University Club," said Sally Daly. "It is going to impact us. Somebody is going to be mad."

Officials are under pressure to settle on a site, in part because some top lawmakers are reluctant to commit $500 million for a bridge without a site picked.

+2 New bridge in Baton Rouge sparking new issues, 'What's taking so long?' Narrowing the list of possible sites for a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge has triggered more questions, including the 

Jay Campbell, chairman of the seven-member state panel that will make the choice, was at the meeting and said he hopes to trim the list of possibilities to three by the third or fourth week of May.

"Obviously the Legislature wants to see a level of progress," Campbell said.

"But we have to go through the processes that are mandated to get any kind of federal funding," said Campbell, who leads the Capital Area Road and Bridge District.

Seven of the 10 possible locations are in Iberville Parish.

Two would connect East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge parishes and one is in Ascension Parish.

Proposal for $500M Mississippi River bridge takes hit as lawmakers slash funding Arguments over Gov. John Bel Edwards' proposal to spend $500 million for a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge escalated Mo

The locations range from about five miles south of the current structure near Port Allen to about five miles north of the Sunshine Bridge.

One recurring worry among some at the open house is the possibility that already-crowded Bluebonnet Boulevard could become a link between Interstate 10 and La. Hwy. 30 on the east side.

"It would be a showstopper for me," said Stephen Gilchrist, who lives in Baton Rouge. "I would move."

Bill Palmer another Baton Rouge resident, raised the same concern.

"I guess a question in my mind is can we expand the existing bridge with minimal impact," Palmer said.

Despite pushback, backers of Baton Rouge bridge optimistic 'very significant' aid coming While the Louisiana House has voted to water down Gov. John Bel Edwards' plan to spend $500 million for a new bridge across the Mississippi Ri

Fred Raiford, director of transportation and drainage for East Baton Rouge Parish, sits on the seven-member panel and has said he does not want Bluebonnet to serve as a connector between I-10 and La. 30.

Judy Eits said she is bothered that the bridge may be constructed too far south, to get traffic to New Orleans.

Eits said lots of traffic on the current bridge near Port Allen, especially 18-wheelers, is trying to get to I-12 on the way east and those drivers want to avoid New Orleans.

"I don't know that is our big problem," she said, meaning making it easier for motorists to get to eastbound I-10.

Julius Cline, of Baton Rouge, made a similar point.

"I am concerned that they are going to build it so far south it is not going to help Baton Rouge," Cline said.

Officials of Atlas Consultants LLC, which has a $5 million state contract to help with the selection, have said they could trim the list to three sites now but public sessions are needed to satisfy federal and other rules.

Campbell said Monday he hopes a final site is decided by 2024 at the latest.

The Capital Area Road and Bridge District includes leaders of DOTD, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston and Iberville parishes and Campbell, who is chairman and an appointee of Edwards.

The next open house is Tuesday from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. at the St. Gabriel Community Center, 11400 Gordon Simon LeBlanc Dr.
Leaning on the nationwide crime wave, a state Senate committee without objection advanced legislation Tuesday to repeal the Raise the Age" law and send 17-year-olds to adult prisons  even though five of the senators on the panel backed the law when it was passed in 2016.

Recalling specifics about recent shootings involving teenagers, Attorney General Jeff Landry, 18th Judicial District Attorney Tony Clayton and former Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, who now works for Landry, together testified that out-of-control teenagers are largely responsible for the increase in violent crimes Louisiana is experiencing and that the hurdles put in place by the Raise the Age Act keeps law enforcement from being adequately able to handle the surge.

Give me the teeth to fight it, said Clayton, who prosecutes crimes in Iberville, West Baton Rouge & Pointe Coupee parishes. Im giving Raise the Age a break, but its not working  Let me lock his little butt up.

Clayton showed a video of some of his 17-year-old constituents showing off guns and security footage of teenagers breaking into a vehicle to steal guns. He argued the law requires him to send a 17-year-old arrestee to Alabama, at a cost of $600 a day, because his parish jails, which cost $26 a day, cant hold juveniles.

Landry added that the criminal justice system is in disarray. It is important that we get bright line rules, he said in support of Senate Bill 418.

Claytons real problem is that his parishes dont have an adequate detention facility for juveniles and he doesnt want to spend $600 a day, said Rachel Gassert, policy director at the New Orleans-based Louisiana Center for Childrens Rights.

He will continue to have this problem, even if the Raise the Age law is repealed, Gassert said. That is not a reason to repeal a law thats going to impact the entire state  They are kids.

Under existing law, trying an under-aged teenager as an adult for a violent crime, which has harsher penalties, instead of as a juvenile, is a simple procedure that the prosecutors themselves control.

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+8 How will Louisiana's Raise the Age law affect juvenile system? Officials brace for 'growing pains' After an almost one-year delay of the Louisiana bill that raises the age of criminal responsibility to 18, the first stage of the landmark law

The Raise the Age Act was signed into law in June 2016, making Louisiana the 42nd of 50 states to charge 17-year-olds as juvenile offenders, prosecute them in juvenile courts, and if convicted send them to juvenile detention facilities instead adult prisons. Studies show that youngsters in adult prisons often are preyed upon by adult inmates and are more likely to leave prison as seasoned criminals.

The legislation in 2016 was overwhelmingly approved, including yes votes from Senate Judiciary B Committee Chair Gary L. Smith Jr, D-Norco; Sens Gregory Tarver, D-Shreveport; Joseph Bouie, D-New Orleans; Cameron Henry, R-Metairie; and Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge. The two other committee members  Sens Patrick McMath, R-Covington; and Mike Reese, R-Leesville  didn't take office until 2020.

With the committee's action to advance SB418 without anyone objecting, the legislation now heads to the full Senate. If repealing the "Raise the Age" is approved in the upper chamber, the measure then would head for consideration by the House.

Murders increased 30% nationally, 35% in Louisiana in 2020. But Louisiana has had highest murder rate for 32 straight years, testified Jeff Asher a data analyst for AH Datalytics that does work for New Orleans law enforcement agencies. The statistics show large increases for violent crimes in red and blue states, big cities, small towns, and suburbs. The rates of murders started increasing in early 2020, accelerated in May 2020, and have stayed elevated since.

Those under the age of 18 account for 4.4% of all murder offenders in Louisiana in 2020  down from 5% since 2018.

Asher said the data shows no evidence that the implementation of "Raise the Age" contributed to the statewide increase in murder or gun violence.

Youre saying that for every 100 murders committed in this country roughly five are done by juveniles, Talbot said. These statistics dont make me feel better. Tony Clayton makes me feel better.
The sponsor of a bill that would allow public school students to use taxpayer dollars to leave and pursue a private school education or other options shelved her measure Tuesday.

The proposal, House Bill 824, won approval in the House Education Committee on April 6 and was set for discussion in the House Appropriations Committee.

Bill to let students leave public schools, and take the money, clears first hurdle Louisiana children would be allowed to leave public schools and take the state aid with them under a bill that won approval Wednesday in the H

But Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie, asked that she be allowed to voluntarily defer her bill  legislative parlance for setting it aside but technically still in the mix  after making a brief pitch for the sweeping changes.

She told the committee doing "different things" causes trepidation in the Legislature.

HB824 is one of a handful that would allow students to leave public schools but retain access to about $5,400 in annual state education aid while they pursue other education avenues.

Others are more targeted than Schlegel's proposal, including bills that would apply to students who have been the target of bullying and sexual assault and those with exceptionalities, both of which won approval in the committee and next face action in the full House.

They are House Bill 452 and House Bill 194 respectively.

Another measure that has won House approval  House Bill 33  would apply to children of military families, those in foster care and students in D and F public schools who have been unable to transfer.

The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

It is awaiting action in the Senate Education Committee.

Also, Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, is the sponsor of a bill that would allow students reading below grade level to qualify for the aid.

It is Senate Bill 203, won approval last week in the Senate Education Committee and is awaiting a vote in the Senate Finance Committee.

Backers say the plans would give parents more power to control their child's education.

Push to remake public schools on legislative agenda: 'Intended to empower parents' Ten years after the Louisiana Legislature approved sweeping changes in public schools, a new drive is underway that would allow students to op

Opponents contend education savings accounts  the term used for how the state aid would be set up  amount to vouchers and that Louisiana's voucher program has not performed well.

Schlegel said she was raised by a single mom with three daughters who sacrificed so she could attend a parochial school.

"And that is why i am here today," she added.
She was on a cycle of just constantly going, she was burnt out and hugely fatigued, and you cant make decisions when youre that tired, Collette adds. And I really think their relationship was potentially coming to an end. She was not happy. It wasnt an equal partnership in any way, shape or form. And I think the story holds up because you get to see her as a very, very alive person. The Peterson family, as imagined in The Staircase. Credit:HBO Collette felt that Michael Peterson has been somewhat glorified, within their family, and certainly in the documentary. In contrast, she says, Kathleen was objectified and nothing more than really a victim. So, I think that this particular version of the story, it is much more balanced in terms of its perspective. And it is just as much about the breakdown of their marriage as it is what happens after her death. The Australian actress elected not to step too far outside the script itself, which was written by Antonio Campos, Maggie Cohn, Emily Kaczmarek and Craig Shilowich. I had seen the documentary and the scripts were just so informed, she says. There were a couple of offers to talk to different people, but I dont think that was ever going to help me. The writing was amazing, and we had those words to drawn from. Collette says she felt somewhat greater freedom than her co-stars because everybody else is still very much alive and my character wasnt. Also, I think for me in the context of the stories that Ive told in the past, it was nice not to be the one grieving; everybody else went through that and I got to play with Kathleen very much alive.

What we do learn about her is just how stressed she was before she died and the strain that was on their relationship and the imbalance of their relationship. But I did not, as an actor, have to go through all of that really intense grieving, which is exhausting. One of the shows dramatic conceits is that it does not conclusively say how Petersen died. Instead, at different points, it shows a number of potential scenarios. The challenge for Collette was that all three of those scenarios had to be filmed  which means she had die for the camera. And die again. And then die again. I thought it was a really great construct, Collette says. I think its a really wonderful kind of way of being able to look at each of the possibilities. In terms of the physicality of actually falling down the stairs, there are certain places that we have very real knowledge about where she hit and where the blood was, which we had to choreograph so that it matched those specific places. In true Hollywood style, not all the tumbles were Collettes own. I had a magnificent stunt woman who did the major part of the fall, and then I struggled with the rest of the clawing around and trying to come to and trying to get up and call for help, she says. And some of it was shot at crazy times of the day, which just added a stupid amount of strain to it. Collette acknowledges that she is drawn to these kinds of dysfunctional family stories. Its inevitable, she says. We all come from family, and we are so influenced by family, whether we want to admit it or not. I think that psychologically that just makes stories so juicy. And specifically with The Staircase, its a big blended family of different personalities.

I think it is something I gravitate towards because I think in a way we all inherit wonderful things from our families, or sometimes the opposite, and we become such a hodgepodge of those experiences, Collette adds. Some people are wily enough and brave enough to make something more of their lives. And some people are really stuck in what they were born into and cant escape if they need to. I like stories about people who are able to live their own life and follow their own path. People who are ballsy enough to be authentic. There are so many influences [in the world] to just be able to stop and to be able to listen to yourself is so important. In terms of carving out your own experience. Collette does not agree that the television miniseries serves as a cautionary tale about the potential inherent biases of the documentary form but she does say it is less one-sided. If you are in a group of people, and youre getting your photograph taken, everyone cringes, and you put your smile on. So if you magnify that and think of it, in terms of a documentary, what kind of kernel of truth are you getting? she says. I think this, even though its part fiction, delves even deeper into the story, and because it isnt so presentational and Antonio really gets into the characters in a way that you would imagine it would be more real in a documentary, that he brings something potentially even true to it. The Staircase airs on May 5 on Binge/Foxtel.
Queensland Police to examine treatment of officer wrongly accused of misconduct

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Retired Supreme Court judge Peter Vickery, QC, found by the court to have sexually harassed two junior associates, has died.

Vickery died of natural causes after a battle with cancer. He had been in palliative care for some time.

Peter Vickery, QC, has been named as the retired Supreme Court judge who allegedly sexually harassed two young female associates. Credit:The Age

Vickery was at the centre of a media storm in February after The Age revealed he had sexually harassed two junior female associates during his time on the bench.

Two independent reports commissioned by the Victorian Supreme Court, written by respected barrister Kate Eastman, SC and seen by The Age, found the women experienced unwelcome sexual advances from the judge. He also subjected them to unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature and unfavourable treatment in their employment because they were women, the report found.
Western Australia will ditch its indoor mask mandate and proof-of-vaccination requirements from Friday and will remove all capacity limits at venues.

The states border control regime will also be dropped, with G2G applications to be scrapped along with the requirement for interstate arrivals to be triple-jabbed.

WA will also move into line with the rest of the country and remove the need for close contacts to isolate for seven days. Asymptomatic close contacts will instead be required to wear masks in public, test daily and avoid vulnerable settings.

Announcing the loosening of restrictions back to baseline levels on Tuesday, WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the state has secured the soft landing that we all wanted.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size T he worlds richest man, Elon Musk, is best known for running electric car company Tesla and rocket company SpaceX but he also has a long and combative history with Twitter. He has accused it of limiting the visibility of unpopular opinions, has been sued for fraud and defamation over messages he has posted, and has been a vocal critic of the companys moderation policies designed to limit hate speech. And now, since he has a spare $61 billion, hes using it to buy the social media company for himself. In Musks latest statement, he says he wants to make Twitter better. But how does he plan to do it? And what could the impact be for the services millions of non-billionaire users? Credit: Why did Musk want to buy Twitter? Twitter was founded in 2006 by tech entrepreneur Jack Dorsey (who left in 2021 and currently runs financial payments company Block). Twitter has hundreds of millions of users worldwide. About 18 per cent of Australians use the social media platform, half of them to consume news, according to the University of Canberras Digital News Report from 2021. The services influential role in political discourse and the dissemination of news has made it a target of criticism. Some think the platform doesnt do enough to encourage diverse views, or that it purposefully stifles certain views, or that it allows too much misinformation.

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Elon Musk is one of the services most prominent users, and has also been one of its chief critics. Earlier in April he became one of the companys largest shareholders with a 9.2 per cent stake, and Twitter announced he would become a member of its board. Musk immediately began promising changes at Twitter, including championing free speech and adding the ability to edit tweets. However, he ended up rejecting the board position, and returned a week later with an offer to buy the company outright. Loading On April 26, Twitter announced the sale had been approved by the board. What does Musk want to change about Twitter? Musk has said that Twitter should be all about free speech, which he thinks the company has failed to uphold. The platform plays an influential role in political discourse and the dissemination of news, but it is run by a relatively small company that has struggled with allowing complex and diverse discussion while managing issues of hate speech and misinformation. Campaigns of targeted abuse have allowed communities of people to single out and punish individuals. Racial and misogynist hate speech is rampant, often powered by how easy it is to create many anonymous accounts. And networks of inauthentic accounts pump misinformation and disinformation throughout the service, often using bots, or software posing as people. Twitters attempts to rectify this have included enforcing anti-hate-speech policies with bans and suspensions, both with human and automated moderation.

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For Musk, a self-described meme lord and free speech absolutist, Twitter is doing too much. Hes previously stated that only illegal content should be removed. But he has another idea too: his latest statements refer to authenticating all humans, which would imply that every user on Twitter would need to prove they are who they say they are. In theory, this could eliminate bots and let personal responsibility take care of the hate problem, as people would be far less likely to post abuse next to their real name and photo. But it raises a host of questions. Would people need to upload a passport or drivers licence to prove their identity? Would Twitter want to deal with the implications of holding that data? How would that work for every country? Would each person be limited to one Twitter account? What about company or brand accounts? Would Twitter give up on the idea of anonymity entirely? Loading A second major change that Musk has foreshadowed involves the algorithm that Twitter uses to decide who sees what and when. Some complain the algorithm is too easily gamed by peddlers of misinformation or that it prioritises salacious content over the factually accurate. Others, including Musk, believe the algorithm allows Twitter to shadow ban, or secretly reduce the visibility of unpopular opinions and jokes. Musk says he wants to make the algorithm open source, which in software terms generally means its posted in its entirety on the internet for experts to verify or inspect. In theory that sounds good but in reality there are big technical challenges problems with open sourcing an algorithm. They work by processing huge amounts of data, and it seems impractical for Twitter provide the public with access to its vast collection of user information. What about an edit button? Much has also been made of a potential Twitter edit button, which would allow users to tweak posted messages without needing to delete them. For Musk, who has been in legal or regulatory trouble more than once for the phrasing of his tweets, the value of an edit function is clear. And regular users prone to the odd typo would appreciate it too. But it could have serious consequences when it comes to the public holding people to account.

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Warsaw: Poland and Bulgaria say Russia is halting their gas supplies starting on Wednesday, the first such actions of the Ukraine war.

The governments of the two European countries said on Tuesday that Russian energy giant Gazprom informed them it was halting gas supplies.

The suspensions would be the first since Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that unfriendly foreign buyers would have to pay the state-owned Gazprom in roubles instead of other currencies.

A Belarusian worker on duty at a gas compressor station 130 km southwest of the capital Minsk. Officials in Poland and Bulgaria say Russia is suspending their countries natural gas deliveries starting on Wednesday. Credit:AP

Europe imports large amounts of Russian natural gas to heat homes, generate electricity and fuel industry. The imports have continued despite the war in Ukraine.
Houston: A Texas appeals court delayed the execution of Melissa Lucio amid growing doubts about whether she fatally beat her two-year-old daughter in a case that has garnered the support of lawmakers, celebrities and even some jurors who sentenced her to death.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a request by Lucios lawyers for a stay of execution so a lower court can review her claims that new evidence would exonerate her.

Texas state Representative Jeff Leach stands next to death row inmate Melissa Lucio during a visit. Credit:AP

Lucio had been set for lethal injection on Wednesday for the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah in Harlingen, a city of about 75,000 in Texas southern tip.

Prosecutors have maintained that the girl was the victim of abuse and noted that her body was covered in bruises. Lucios lawyers say Mariah died from injuries she sustained in a fall down a steep staircase several days before she died.
It had pictures of everything from bridges in South Africa and tall buildings and painting and decorating. However, when she investigated further, she could find no references to the company anywhere online. She then complained to the Elite Singles website. Joanne, lost $NZ540,000 ($500,000) to scammers going by the name of Dale Plumides, whom she met on Tinder. Credit:Mark Taylor/Stuff She was shocked to see the story about Plumides on Sunday. I was like, God, thats the guy I told all my friends about.

I think what amazed and horrified me at the time was the extent hed gone to create the fraud. Another woman, who lives in Auckland, matched with a Dale Plumides on Tinder in August 2021. The Tinder swindlers used several photos of this man, who they said was Dale Plumides. It is not known whose photo the real scammers used. I liked the look of him, and he seemed to have similar interests as me, and so you do the old swipe right thing, she said. The conversations started on Tinder, before Plumides told her he did not like typing on his phone, and asked if they could switch to email.

However, in his first email he called her Mary, which is not her name. She asked if he sent it to the wrong person. Plumides responded that he had got the name wrong. As it was a dating site, the woman decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. However, after he sent her his bio (which was the same sent to the other women), she became more suspicious. I just stopped emailing him back because it didnt ring true. It sounded too good to be true.

Then, in December, the woman matched with someone named Alan Caston. He, too, asked for her email address. When he sent her his bio, alarm bells started ringing. I thought this sounds really familiar and was sitting there thinking, Im sure I had an email from another guy. So I started going through my Gmail account and I came across it ... it was virtually an identical email. The two websites he used also looked identical, she said.

She then emailed Caston, Hello Alan/Dale, So much for honesty. You cant even be original when you lie. A photo purporting to be that of Plumides has also been used on a Twitter account for a man named Tony Rae Walker. It is not known whose photo the real scammer used. Private investigator John Borland believes multiple people are behind the online dating scam. The Plumides bio also popped up on a website about male scammers in 2015 from a woman in Sweden, suggesting the scam had operated for years. However, instead of the subjects mother being from New Zealand  which all the Kiwi targets were told  she was Scandinavian. Joanne said she felt sick when she heard about the other women who were targeted.

I am so sorry to hear that this has happened to you. Look after yourselves. If there are any other women out there, please come forward and let us know what happened to you, she said. These people are predators and it is not just happening in New Zealand. On Saturday, police told Joanne her case was closed, and would be held by police pending any additional information. However, on Sunday, they emailed to say that her case had been forwarded for further assessment. If further steps are able to be taken with your case, an officer will be in contact, the email read.

Loading Private investigator John Borland, who is looking into Joannes scam, said there was a criminal pattern emerging with the other womens experiences. Its clearly a well-planned and premeditated approach whereby they are building rapport by asking typical questions such as favourite colour, favourite food, likes/dislikes  all the normal stuff you expect to see on dating app conversations. Borland earlier said he believed those behind the operation lived offshore, with connections in New Zealand. Theres no standalone offender. There are multiple offenders  a pseudo-ring, he said.
New photos have been released of Pamela Anderson and her fellow cast members in the long-running Broadway revival of Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre.

Lana Gordon (center) plays Velma Kelly in Chicago, leading the cast in the "Cell Block Tango."

( Jeremy Daniel)

Set amidst the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, Chicago is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago's slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today's tabloids.

Brenda Braxton plays Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago.

( Jeremy Daniel)

Anderson is making her Broadway debut as Roxie. She recently told TheaterMania, "It's all new to me and I'm enjoying it so much."

Ryan Silverman plays Billy Flynn in Chicago on Broadway.

( Jeremy Daniel)

While the former Baywatch star has garnered the most attention for her Broadway debut, much of the cast of Chicago is new (or newly returned): Lana Gordon and Ryan Silverman have returned as Velma Kelly and Billy Flynn, respectively. Tony nominee Brenda Braxton, who previously played Velma Kelly on Broadway, has rejoined the cast as Matron "Mama" Morton.
"Seven of our actors have ... have been taken ill," says Mr. Antrobus near the top of the third act in Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, and for a moment we believe the news. After all, it wouldn't be the first time in recent memory that Broadway audiences have heard something similar.

But after two hours of experiencing the other metatheatrical, fourth-wall-breaking antics that Wilder baked into his Pulitzer Prize-winning play (which premiered on Broadway in 1942), we realize the gag. "Apparently, it was something they ate," continues Mr. Antrobus, or rather the fictitious actor playing Mr. Antrobus (played by James Vincent Meredith). The actors are fine, and the show will go on.

The show does go on  and so does life, despite coronaviruses, wars, and natural disasters: That's the main theme of Wilder's epic theatricalized comic strip of human history, and Lileana Blain-Cruz (making her directorial Broadway debut) has captured that timely theme in one of the most eye-popping, visually captivating productions you'll see this season. Featuring a news-reel-playing movie screen that looks big enough for an IMAX theater (stunning projections by Hannah Wasileski), an enormous Atlantic City boardwalk scene with a slide that descends dizzyingly from the flies (extraordinary set design by Adam Rigg), and impressive woolly mammoth and talking dinosaur puppets, The Skin of Our Teeth is a wild ride, even if it is a bumpy one at times.

Gabby Beans plays Sabina in the Lincoln Center production of The Skin of Our Teeth.

( Julieta Cervantes)

Part of that bumpiness has to do with the unevenness of the play itself. The three-hour, three-act saga follows an Everyfamily called the Antrobuses, a middle-class household of four, plus a maid, who live through millennia of human history in the fictional town of Excelsior, New Jersey, and survive one disaster and cataclysmic event after another  an ice age, a great flood, and a devastating war.

The first act, in which a glacier quickly approaches the Antrobuses' 1950s-styled home and threatens them with extinction, is a comic tour de force. Making her Broadway debut, the magnificent Gabby Beans, who plays the maid Sabina, is the source of much of this act's hilarity as she darts about the stage and delivers her lines a mile a minute like a madcap Eartha Kitt on roller skates.

A marvelously poised Roslyn Ruff plays the family's matriarch, whose primary job is to keep her two children in line. There's the favorite, Gladys (a radiant Paige Gilbert), and the rowdy, stone-throwing, at times murderous Henry, a.k.a. Cain (Julian Robertson in a funny and intense performance). As if they weren't enough, Mrs. Antrobus has to prevent the furniture from being trampled by the family dinosaur and mammoth (puppeteers Jeremy Gallardo, Beau Thom, Alphonso Walker Jr., and Sarin Monae West bring these fantastic contraptions to life), while her husband is at the office inventing the alphabet and the wheel.

The Atlantic City boardwalk scene in Act 2 of The Skin of Our Teeth at the Vivian Beaumont.

( Julieta Cervantes)

The nonchalant blending of the present with historical and biblical figures and events took some audience members at the performance I attended off guard, with bemused harrumphs erupting here and there. Many will know Wilder from his play Our Town, a staple of high school classrooms, and Hello, Dolly!, the beloved musical adaption of his play The Matchmaker. Out of the triad of his major plays, The Skin of Our Teeth is his most experimental (he admitted the play's indebtedness to another highly experimental work, James Joyce's Finnegans Wake), and is perhaps his least known. Blain-Cruz may help change that. In any case, this production at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre will set the standard for The Skin of Our Teeth for some time to come.

To her credit, Blain-Cruz has undertaken the gargantuan task of giving the play the grand treatment it deserves. That's not to say that the production doesn't have some dull, slow-moving parts. The second act takes the action to the Atlantic City boardwalk where the cast performs a splashy choreographed number while decked in Montana Levi Blanco's colorful costumes. The scene orbits around Mr. Antrobus's speech at a convention of the Order of Mammals (Subdivision Humans), and Priscilla Lopez's prognostications as the Fortune Teller, who makes disarming predictions for every passer-by and gives a sobering monologue about the nature of regret. Despite the festive atmosphere, thunder booms in the distance (Palmer Hefferan's sound design rumbles throughout the theater) and presages an approaching flood as we feel the fun of the first act slowly begin to evaporate.

By the third act, which depicts a world devastated by war, the play's humor all but vanishes, striking us with familiarity as our minds inevitably turn to the horrors occurring in Ukraine. Yi Zhao's lighting bathes the stage in a ghostly glow as Mr. Antrobus returns from the battlefront and confronts Henry, now a vicious warmonger who appears determined to defeat all his enemies, real and imagined. Take your pick from our modern-day autocrats and hatemongers  Henry is the analogue for all of them past and present. As the play becomes darker, it becomes a more difficult watch, and we end up longing for the playful energy of the beginning.

Roslyn Ruff, Julian Robertson, James Vincent Meredith, and Paige Gilbert in The Skin of Our Teeth.

( Julieta Cervantes)

Yet The Skin of Our Teeth retains an urgency worth paying attention to. A couple of changes have been made from Wilder's 80-year-old script: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has made modest additions to the text (works of bell hooks and Maya Angelou receive mention) to offset the play's relevant but musty quotes from the likes of Aristotle and Spinoza. And in an inspired take, Blain-Cruz has cast the Antrobuses as a Black family, which, like other families of color, has survived through the centuries despite the destructive societal forces that have conspired to break it apart.

But it's remarkable how Wilder's original words resonate whenever the topic turns to the climate, war, sick actors, or any other number of things, and you can't escape the feeling that he, like his Fortune Teller, was prophetic in his own right. Assuming we don't turn the Earth into a planetary rotisserie, yes, Wilder tells us, there is hope that humanity will continue to survive in spite of it all. But will the Henrys of the world ever stop throwing stones? He's decidedly less sanguine about that.
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by Olatunji Saliu

ABUJA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's secret police on Tuesday issued a fresh alert on renewed explosive attacks by suspected criminal gangs, a move aimed to heighten the current security crisis in the West African country.

In a statement Tuesday, the Department of State Services (DSS) said intelligence reports show criminal elements aimed to use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) attacks on soft and hard targets in parts of the country.

"Though there are already reported cases of such incidents in some areas, the service has uncovered a ploy by suspected criminal gangs to forge an alliance among themselves with a view to launching further attacks on critical infrastructure and other frequented public places like worship and relaxation centers, especially during and after the holidays and festive celebrations," the DSS said.

For many months now, the most populous African country has been beset by a series of insecurity cases, including kidnapping, terrorism, banditry and piracy, to mention a few.

Local security expert Julius Adebayo told Xinhua in a recent interview in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, that it "has almost become a tradition that attacks upon attacks occur when Nigerian general elections are approaching."

"We witnessed that ahead of the 2011 elections. It happened again before the 2015 and 2019 elections," Adebayo said.

Last week, the Nigerian government said it has opted for gathering "human intelligence" as a new means of responding to the myriad of security challenges bedeviling the country.

According to the National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno, this measure was chosen following a critical review of the prevailing security situation in the country during a security council summit, the first to be presided over by the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari this year.

To address the security crisis head-on, the recent security meeting called for "a collective effort by all, and not just those charged with the responsibility of physically securing the country," Monguno told reporters in Abuja after the security council meeting, with heads of all the security organizations in the country and other top government functionaries attending.

"The most important thing, for now, is the acquisition of intelligence," the NSA said. "Unless the wider society, right down to the local governments, are willing to give the type of information that is needed to block the activities of these criminals, this situation will continue to linger beyond whatever timeframe we are looking at."

He noted that insufficient technology and human intelligence had been responsible for the continued attacks by terrorists or bandits in the country, among other challenges.

On March 28, a passenger train en route to Kaduna from Abuja was attacked by yet-to-be-identified gunmen in Rijana, a town in Kaduna. The terrorists had planted explosive devices along the rail track, and when the Abuja-Kaduna bound train approached the point, the device exploded, causing the train to derail.

The government on March 29 confirmed that eight passengers were killed and 26 others sustained injuries in the attack, adding that investigations were still ongoing to ascertain the status of the passengers who were riding the train and remain unaccounted for.

Following the incident, President Buhari directed all the operational and intelligence elements to rescue the abducted victims immediately and unhurt. He also charged the security agencies, especially the armed forces and the police, to rescue those that are in captivity across the country.

Earlier in the year, the government launched the implementation of the community policing initiative, which has so far led to the training of 25,000 constabularies in several police colleges across the country, according to local media. 
If you're a true crime lover, you'll remember 2018 Netflix doco-series 'The Staircase', which investigated the controversial murder case of Kathleen Peterson.

Well, if you became highly invested in the case like we did, get excited because HBO have just released a trailer for their upcoming series, retelling one of the wildest true crime stories.

If you're unfamilar with the case, Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in 2001, though the questionable circumstances surrounding her death led to her husband Michael Peterson being put on trial for her murder.

The trailer sees Colin Firth play the role of husband Peterson - a famous crime novelist - as he goes through the trial.

Take a look at the trailer below.
A group of Hondurans cross the Rio Grande toward Eagle Pass, Texas, from Piedras Negras, Mexico, on April 21, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

133 House Republicans Question Whether DHS Secretary Mayorkas Is Fit for Office

A group of 133 House Republicans is accusing the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) of willfully disregarding the law and endangering American citizens by embracing open border policies.

The House representatives told Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in an April 25 letter that his actions have willingly endangered American citizens, undermined the rule of law, and our nations sovereignty.

The lawmakers allege that the DHS head is not carrying out in good faith an April 2021 federal court order requiring continued execution of the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP, or the Remain in Mexico policy) after the department suspended enrollments in the program in January 2021.

The letter says that the DHS head issued a memorandum on June 1, 2021, attempting to end the MPP and directly contradicted the April 2021 federal court order.

After the Supreme Court declined the Biden administrations attempt to reverse the court order in August 2021, Mayorkas issued another memorandum in October laying out plans to terminate the program. In their letter, the GOP lawmakers said that these memos are attempts to unilaterally reverse policy and show a willful disregard for the law and the principles of separation of powers.

This callous disregard for the judiciary and willful refusal to properly apply the law raises questions about your commitment to protecting the homeland, the lawmakers wrote to Mayorkas.

The lawmakers criticisms come amid the ongoing immigration crisis at the U.S. southern border and growing concerns that the Biden administrations announcement to repeal Title 42 in May will aggravate the surge in illegal entries into the country.

Read More Journalist Says UN Migrant Camp in Panama Being Expanded

The historic crisis at our southern border is set to worsen greatly due to the announced rescission of Title 42, which will bring a tidal wave of illegal immigrants across our southern border and overwhelm the already overworked and understaffed agents of the U.S. Border Patrol, the letter read.

According to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website, Border Patrol agents documented 221,303 encounters with illegal immigrants attempting to cross the southwest border in March and 1,217,802 encounters year-to-date through March.

Yet Border Patrol agents are bracing for an even bigger influx of illegal immigrants after the Biden administration announced in April its plans to drop the Title 42 public health provision on May 23.

Theyre preparing for us to start apprehending over 500,000 a month, a Border Patrol agent told The Epoch Times on April 4. So really, what Border Patrol is now becoming is essentially just a greeter.

The well-resourced cartels, gang members, human traffickers, and drug smugglers will exploit this crisis to further endanger American citizens, the lawmakers wrote.

They are demanding answers to several questions, including whether the law mandates detainment of illegal migrants, what authority the secretary has to release them, details on compliance with the Secure Fence Act of 2006, and costs the DHS has incurred by pausing construction of physical barriers along the southern border.

Current law requires you to maintain operational control of the southern border and detain illegal aliens. You continue to fail to do so, the lawmakers said.

During a Monday news conference in Eagle Pass, Texas, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was asked about the letter and possibly impeaching Mayorkas over border issues. McCarthy responded, if someone is derelict in their job, there is always the option of impeaching somebody. But right now, hes got 30 days.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Mayorkass office for comment.
A bank of cryptocurrency miners operates at the Scrubgrass Plant in Kennerdale, Pennsylvania, on March 8, 2022. (Alan Freed/Reuters)

2 Charged for Conspiring With North Korea to Evade US Sanctions With Cryptocurrency

Two Europeans were charged on Monday for allegedly conspiring with an American cryptocurrency expert, who has already been convicted, to teach members of the North Korean regime to use blockchain technology to evade U.S. sanctions.

Alejandro Cao de Benos, a Spanish citizen, and Christopher Emms from Britain are accused of illegally organizing the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference in 2019. They recruited U.S. citizen Virgil Griffith to give talks at the conference.

Both Cao de Benos, 47, and Emms, 30, are at large, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement.

Griffith pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to violate international sanctions. He was sentenced to 63 months in prison and fined $100,000 on April 12.

U.S. attorney Damian Williams said the three defendants allegedly conspired to teach members of the North Korean regime about using cutting-edge cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions.

In his own sales pitch, Emms allegedly advised North Korean officials that cryptocurrency technology made it possible to transfer money across any country in the world regardless of what sanctions or any penalties that are put on any country, Williams said.

The sanctions imposed against North Korea are critical in protecting the security interests of Americans, and we continue to aggressively enforce them with our law enforcement partners both here and abroad, he added.

According to the indictment, Cao de Benos founded a pro-North Korea affinity organizationnamely the Korean Friendship Associationand partnered with cryptocurrency businessman Emms in 2018 to organize the Pyongyang cryptocurrency conference.

They arranged Griffiths travel to North Korea for the conference in April 2019, during which Emms allegedly told Griffith that he had obtained rare full permission [from the North Korean authorities] for U.S. citizens to enter the country.

During the conference, Emms and Griffith allegedly taught attendees about blockchain technologies and proposed plans to create specialized smart contracts to serve the unique interests of the North Korean regime.

The three defendants intended to conduct a second cryptocurrency conference in Pyongyang in 2020, but their plans were thwarted when U.S. authorities arrested Griffith in November 2019.

The indictment states that Cao de Benos warned Griffith in an email about the legal repercussions he might face in the United States, after learning that Griffith had spoken with the U.S. Embassy in June 2019 about his travel to North Korea.

They could fine or even jail you! Thats why we never said to anyone or made public the attendants, he wrote in the email. Please understand that your permission to enter [North Korea] was absolutely exceptional and through my very personal guarantee (Because I trust Chris and he trusts you).

Both Cao de Benos and Emms are charged with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Russian and Central African Republic flags are waved by demonstrators gathered in Bangui on March 5, 2022 during a rally in support of Russia. (Photo by Carol Valade/AFP via Getty Images)

Almost Half of African Nations Abstain From Taking Sides in Russia-Ukraine War

A large number of African nations have abstained from taking a side on the issue of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Just 28 out of the 54 African countries represented in the United Nations voted in favor of the UN March 2, 2022, resolution to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Of the 35 countries that voted to abstain, 17 were Africanincluding Algeria, Angola, and South Africa, while eight others, including Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Morocco, did not submit a vote.

Eritrea was the lone African country that voted against the resolution, joining Belarus, North Korea, Russia, and Syria. Over 81 percent of non-African countries voted in favor of the resolution.

African states are not blind to the fact that Ukraine is a victim of a geopolitical war, according to David Otto, director of counterterrorism for the Geneva Centre of African Security and Strategic Studies.

Some African states that decided to either abstain or vote against the UN resolution did so in respect of their sovereign interest vis-a-vis Russia and NATO allies.

But these differential positions taken by African states are a bigger indicator of a move away from a unipolar to a multi-polar geopolitical system with Russia-China and the West competing over spheres of interest in Africa, Otto told The Epoch Times in a text.

This is a new and challenging geopolitical situation never experienced in post-colonial Africa. Its the new wind of change for Africa as far as the West and East are concernedthis time, African states are slowly but steadily calling the geopolitical shots.

Professor Adebayo Olukoshi of Wits School of Governance in Johannesburg, South Africa, believes the ideal choice by African countries would have been total abstention during the UN vote.

The real option before Africa was neither one of supporting nor opposing the resolution but rather ensuring not to get caught up in big power rivalries which, historically, only cost the continent dearly, Adebayo told The Epoch Times.

During the Cold War era, the major rivals reduced Africa to a playground for fighting proxy wars whose consequences on human life, peace, stability, and progress were adverse, he said.

As a new Cold War is taking shape, Africa must learn the lesson of history and refuse to be corralled by the rival powers into taking sides in conflicts that are primarily about each side seeking to advance what they consider to be their strategic and global geo-political interests.

From establishing a naval base on Sudans Red Sea coast, through cultivating cosy ties with leaders of the mineral-rich Gulf of Guinea and Africas Sahel regions, to embedding the Wagner mercenary forces and military assets on the ground in support of its proxies, policy experts fear Russia is transforming Africa into a theatre for its geostrategic interests.

Russias engagements in Africa are often dismissed as opportunistic by some critics, but Joseph Siegle director of research of the Washington DC-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies says the dimensions of Russias growing interest in Africa must not be overlooked.

Three priorities stand out: First, is a focus on North Africa. By establishing itself as a powerbroker in Libya on NATOs southern flank Russia is gaining naval access to key ports and hydrocarbon reserves in the eastern Mediterranean, Siegle told The Epoch Times.

Parallel efforts to negotiate port access in the Red Sea would provide Russia leverage over maritime chokeholds in the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandab strait through which 30 percent of all global container traffic passes.

Second, is the objective of being seen as a Great Power whose interests must be considered in every region including Africa. By rapidly escalating its influence in Africa in recent years Russia has gained on outsized role on the continent given its meagre economic investments (amounting to less than 1 percent of foreign direct investment in Africa), Siegle said.

This is particularly the case in the Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan, Madagascar, and eastern Libya. Russia also has growing ties to South Sudan, Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea, Zimbabwe, and Uganda.

The third priority according to Siegle is Russian President Vladimir Putins desire to usher in a post-liberal international order that validates governance models other than democracy.

Africas military juntas and authoritarian leaders have provided an easy entry point for Moscow on the continent, he told The Epoch Times, adding These African regimes, in turn, are propped up by Russias political support, Siegle said.

With its 54 representatives at the United Nations, Africa is an important region for shaping narratives of global norms and avoiding Russian isolation. Moving away from a rules-based order where legitimacy is derived from citizens and human rights are upheld naturally plays to Russias advantage.

Toward this end Russian disinformation has been very active in Africa at smearing the value of democracy.

Agenda For Survival

With no end in sight for the war in Ukraine there are fears that Africa could potentially become a source of regular economic and military replenishment for the Kremlin when such resources start to strain as long as the war may last.

It is also widely speculated that some African states stand at a strategic position to leverage on the challenges faced by the West and East over Ukraine-leveraging on economic and diplomatic interest.

Otto of the Geneva Centre of African Security and Strategic Studies believes: Russia cannot survive in a political vacuum without key allies to turn to for political, fiscal, diplomatic and economic supportAfrica is top of their agenda for survival.

Russia-Africa relations was cemented during the 2019 Russia-Africa summit. Faced with severe economic and diplomatic sanctions over Ukraine and pressure from the West, Moscow will expect friendly African nations to pay her back by providing Russia with at least a survival channel from unfriendly nationseven if that means remaining neutral, he told The Epoch Times.

The United States has recently contemplated reducing missions battling distant terrorist groups in Africa and to instead refocus on confronting so-called Great Powers like Russia and China so as to exert its economic and security goals on the continent.

Reshuffling of Power

Olukoshi doubts the United States wherewithal to stop the global reshuffling of power.

China as a major economic actor, for example, is locked in a major competition for overall dominance with the United States and its allies, he told The Epoch Times.

Militarily, China and Russia have been involved in major upgrades of capacity as to be able to project power on a global scale.

The United States may try to slow the process of the global reshuffling of power and even seek to dissuade African countries from entering into the orbit of the re-emerging powers in the global East, but the forces underlying the global shift we are witnessing are structural in nature, Olukoshi said.

Russia thus still sees Africa as the only remaining continental sphere of influence to contest and challenge Western presence by exploiting colonial history and the vulnerability of diverse leadership policies.

The Russia strategy is to provide Africa with a better choicefocusing on equitable trade, mutual respect, security partnership and a policy of non-interference into domestic affairs of African states, Otto said.

Kremlins interest in Africa is strictly geopoliticalas NATO and US allies swallow former Soviet Union states into NATO and EU membership, Russia is picking their pockets in Africaespecially in the Sahel and central Africawinning over states formerly aligned to the West using soft power.

Russia has entered the race for Africa and it is gradually gaining geopolitical speed, Otto said.
Ambulance Ramping Continues to Rise in Southeast Queensland

Almost half of all patients waited more than half an hour in an ambulance before being admitted to a hospital in southeast Queensland in December.

Queensland Ambulance Service figures show ramping rose two percent to more than 46 percent of patients in the heavily-populated southeast between November and December 2021.

There was a major COVID-19 wave in December after the states domestic borders were reopened, but ramping was still above 44 percent in the southeast in October.

Health Minister Yvette DAth released data in response to a question from Liberal National Party health spokeswoman Rose Bates in the state parliament in March.

Bates says ramping is putting pressure on frontline health workers and the government must take action.

The Health Minister must start taking real action now, she said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Palaszczuk Labor government must start listening or more Queenslanders are going to die waiting for an ambulance.

That is the sad reality they are ignoring.

At West Moreton Ipswich Hospital 66 percent of patients were ramped in December, up from 45 percent in October, according to the figures.

The same proportion of Logan Hospital patients were ramped in December, up from 64 percent.

Redland Hospital ramping rose nine per cent to 55 percent, while at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital it rose from 47 to 52 percent.

Ramping at the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital, Queenslands biggest, rose from 48 percent to half of the ambulance patients in the three months to December.

QAS figures showed ramping rose to 47 percent at Chermsides Prince Charles Hospital from 45 percent.

At the Gold Coast University ramping was almost unchanged at 57 percent, while at Princess Alexandra Hospital it rose from 38 percent to 46 percent.

Sunshine Coast University ramping rose from 32 percent in October to 56 percent, according to the figures.

Ambulance ramping also remained above 40 percent of patients at Robina, Nambour and Redcliffe hospitals between October and December.

Ramping rose from 31 percent to 34 percent in Mackay but fell from 37 percent to 35 percent in Caboolture in that same period.

It also jumped from 22 percent to 30 percent in Bundaberg and was almost unchanged at 27 percent in Toowoomba and 23 percent in Gympie.

LNP leader David Crisafulli urged the government to bring in real-time data monitoring and boost funding and resources for triaging and the front line.

These new figures are deeply concerning, he said.

However, ramping remained low or improved between October and December in Hervey Bay, Cairns, Maryborough, Townsville, Gladstone and Mount Isa.

The biggest improvement was Hervey Bay, where ramping fell from 36 percent to 28 percent.

Ramping was almost non-existent in Mount Isa where 97 percent of patients waited less than 30 minutes to be admitted.
Another High-Tech Titan Falters

Commentary

Youve probably heard of the high-flying Big Tech FAANG stocksFacebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. Among the five of them, their market cap reached $6 trillion last year, which is more than the GDP of all but a small handful of entire countries. Moreover, their net worth is larger than the entire annual output of India, with more than 1 billion people.

These companies got so big and profitable so fast that politicians on the left, right, and center started accusing them of monopolistic behavior. Break them up! shouted Democratic Sens. Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar. Some Republicans, such as Josh Hawley, endorsed the same strategy.

But has anyone noticed what has happened to the stock values of these once-invincible powerhouses?

Netflixs stock has gotten crushed of late. Just flattened.

Its share price collapsed by 35 percent in one day. This was one of the most significant single-day sell-offs in the history of stocks. For now, the rout doesnt seem to be waning. Over the past year, Netflixs market cap has tumbled from $267 billion to close to $96 billion.

Sorry if you own this stock. And most pension funds do own Netflix as part of their portfolios, so it wasnt just millionaires who got hurt.

The Netflix brass blames its demise of late on fierce competition for subscribers.

Meanwhile, Facebook has suffered even more considerable losses that exceed one-half a trillion dollars. Thats not supposed to happen to monopolies that crush the competition. Instead, the hunters have become the hunted. Facebook is confronting serious competition from other social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Chinas TikTok, which are elbowing out Facebooks dominance.

What are we to make of all this jostling to be king of the mountain in the digital domain?

I carry no water for Big Tech, and Im as frustrated with the free speech infringements against conservatives as anyone. But cries of monopoly are so early 20th century. Just as no one worries about Standard Oil, Microsoft, or General Motors taking over their industries, we see the same cutthroat survival tactics in the hypercompetitive tech sector. This kind of competition is great news for the consumer. It lowers prices and makes a mockery of the monopoly rants.

Companies such as Google better look over their shoulders. If you slip up, the marauders are coming to steal away your market share. Sometimes, the raiders arent even American companies. Globalization and free trade have dramatically lowered the prices of nearly all digital products.

That is as it should be in a free-market capitalist world. One day, you are on top of the world and seemingly in an impenetrable fortress, and the next, you lose half your market cap. We dont need trust-buster regulators in Washington, like the leftist Lina Khan of the Federal Trade Commission, policing our businesses. The market is doing that just fine, thank you.

America has gained tech dominance over our rivals, especially China, Japan and Europe, because we have allowed the digital economy to remain mostly tax- and regulation-free. Its the Wild West in Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas, which created the trillions in wealth in the first place. The high-tech industry has added value and wealth at a blistering pace, and how sad is it that when our American ingenuity and inventiveness succeed, the trust-busters want to tear it down? Then, when these tech giants start to surrender their competitive advantage, the fool politicians want to give them billions of dollars of corporate welfare handouts from taxpayers.

The late and great Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter called the process of inventing new products to challenge the extant corporate power structures in business creative destruction. The Netflix and Facebook sell-off is a jolting reminder that the market is a better way than government to keep companies honest and on top of their game. It also keeps prices low.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing in Washington on April 26, 2022. (Greg Nash/Pool/Getty Images)

Attorney General: No Interference Allowed in Hunter Biden Investigation

No interference will be allowed into the Department of Justices investigation into President Joe Bidens son, Attorney General Merrick Garland said on April 26.

There will not be interference of any political or improper kind, Garland said during an appearance before a congressional panel.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) questioned Garland on the matter, pointing out that Joe Bidens messengers, including White House chief of staff Ronald Klain, have said on national television that the president is confident his son, Hunter Biden, did nothing wrong.

The presidents already told his subordinatesclearly, these are people he can fire at willthat he and his family did nothing wrong. How can the American people be confident that his administration is conducting a serious investigation? Hagerty asked.

Because we put the investigation in the hands of a Trump appointee, from the previous administration, whos the United States attorney for the District of Delaware, and because you have me as the attorney general, who is committed to the independence of the Justice Department from any influence from the White House in criminal matters, Garland, a Biden appointee, responded.

The probe was first revealed by Hunter Biden in late 2020. He claimed that prosecutors were investigating his tax affairs.

David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, later confirmed the investigation but has declined to share any details.

A grand jury subpoena showed that prosecutors compelled banks to share financial records of Hunter Biden and the presidents brother, James Biden. Additionally, the mother of one of Hunter Bidens children has said she testified to authorities pursuant to a subpoena.

Hagerty pressed Garland on whether a special counsel is appropriate, considering the public comments by Klain and White House communications director Kate Bedingfield.

Theres an obvious conflict of interest here. Because those who are investigating the Biden family and their enterprise can be fired by the head of the family who is being investigated, Hagerty said.

Garland declined to say whether the department has or is considering appointing a special counsel, though he noted that special counsels are also employees of the Department of Justice.

He also would not answer when asked if he agreed with the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, who was tasked with investigating allegations of collusion between Donald Trumps campaign and Russia.

The question of whether to have a special counsel is one that is internal decision-making in the department, so I dont want to make any judgments one way or the other, Garland told Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) later in the hearing. Im quite comfortable with the United States attorney for that district continuing in the role that hes playing.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announces enforcement actions against Russia, during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, U.S., April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Attorney General Tight-Lipped on Hunter Biden Investigation

Attorney General Merrick Garland told lawmakers there will not be interference, but declined to say whether he has been briefed on the federal tax investigation into Hunter Biden by the U.S. attorneys office in Delaware.

Garland was questioned about the federal investigation into Biden by Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) at an April 26 Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing.

As I said during my nomination hearing, the investigation is being run by and supervised by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware. He [David Weiss] is supervising the investigation, and Im not at liberty to talk about internal DOJ deliberationsbut he is in charge of that investigation, and there will not be interference of any political or improper kind, Garland said, also declining to comment on whether other senior DOJ officials have been briefed.

Hagerty expressed skepticism at Garlands promise, given recent statements from the White House regarding Hunter Bidens innocence.

I wonder why the president is resorting to go to TV and  his surrogates. Earlier this month, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said on TV that the president is confident that his son didnt break the law, and the White House communications director said President Biden maintains his position that his son did nothing that was unethical, Hagerty said.

The senator asked Garland whether U.S. President Joe Biden had told him his son is innocent.

Absolutely not, Garland responded. He has not done that, and he has committed to not interfere in the investigation.

Hagerty pressed further, asking Garland how the public could be confident there wont be political interference in the investigation.

Because we put a Trump appointee in charge of the investigation, Garland said, referring to Weiss. And because you have me as attorney general, whos committed to the independence of the DOJ from any influence from the White House.

Hagerty then asked Garland whether the DOJ was considering assigning a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. Garland again declined to comment.

When asked under what circumstances a special counsel would be used in the investigation, Garland said, it depends on the circumstances.

Braun asked similar questions about a potential special counsel and received similar responses.

The question is an internal DOJ matter, Garland repeated. I dont want to make judgments, but Im comfortable with the Attorney from Delaware continuing.

The federal investigation into Hunter Bidens finances was revealed in December 2020, and few updates have been provided since then.

Attorney Clint Lancaster, who represented an Arkansas woman who filed the lawsuit in 2019 alleging that Hunter Biden was the father of her daughter Navy Joan Roberts, told CBS News earlier this month that federal prosecutors subpoenaed the documents from his case.

They wanted every record relating to Hunter Biden we had, he said of the paternity case, which was settled in 2020.

Lancaster said the records included Hunter Bidens affidavit of financial means during the paternity lawsuit. A financial affidavit is generally a statement showing income, expenses, assets, and liabilities.

Additionally, he said the tax records he and Roberts provided overlapped during the same time period as Hunter Bidens foreign business activities.
Australia's Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Penny Wong speaks to the media along side leader of the opposition, Anthony Albanese, in Melbourne, Australia, on May 18, 2021. (AAP Image/Daniel Pockett)

Nothing New: Australian PM Pans Oppositions Pitch to Up Pacific Engagement

The incumbent Australian Coalition government has panned the opposition Labor Partys newly released Pacific engagement policy, saying it added nothing new to existing initiatives to engage with nations in the region.

The Labor Party, on April 26, released its alternative whole of government effort Pacific strategy amid ongoing concerns about a security deal between the Solomon Islands and Beijinga development which has spurred the opposition to attack the federal governments handling of relations with the region.

Under its new plan, the Labor Party will substantially increase regional aid to $525 million (US$379.4 million) over a four year period to Timor-Leste and the Pacific, as well as double funding for aerial surveillance under the Pacific Maritime Security Program to $12 million (US$8.6 million) a year to help nations recoup losses from fishing from Chinas sizeable illegal fishing fleet.

The Labor Party would also look to establish a $6.55 million Australia Pacific Defence School to train security personnel in the region.

Further, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) would receive an additional $8 million a yearover four yearsfor broadcasting into the region, including shortwave radio broadcasting and commercial TV content. There would also be training for Pacific journalists.

The Labor plan also includes initiatives to boost funding for climate-proof infrastructure in the region, as well as regular study trips to counter Chinese interference efforts.

In this handout provided by the Australian Department of Defence, Armadale Class Patrol Boat, HMAS Armidale, sails into the Port of Honiara, Guadalcanal Island, Solomon Islands, on Dec. 1, 2021. (CPL Brodie Cross/Australian Department of Defence via Getty Images)

Labors plan will restore Australias place as first partner of choice for our Pacific family, Penny Wong, the shadow foreign affairs spokesperson, said in a statement. The vacuum (Prime Minister) Scott Morrison has created is being filled by otherswho do not share our interests and values.

Wong said the plan was developed in consultation with Pacific partners.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed it saying it was no different from the existing Pacific Step-Up and that Labor had little understanding of the regions complexities.

(Labor) think the way to solve the problem in the Solomon Islands is to send in the ABC, he told 2GB radio on April 26. Their answer to solving the Solomon Islands problem is to have Q&A in Honiara.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham told ABC the government had done many of the things in Labors plan.

We have a whole of government approach, its called the Office of the Pacific. It brings together officials from all the key departments, whether thats the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence and Home Affairs, and a number of others, he said on April 26.

Birmingham pointed to existing defence training facilities, including the Australian Defence College and Australian Pacific Security College.

We have a strong Pacific labour mobility program, a real focus on climate adaptation and resilience in a structured program. So, these [things] are all underway.

On April 24, Prime Minister Morrison said Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare had committed to ensuring there would be no Beijing military presence in the region.

U.S. and Australian leaders have scrambled in recent weeks to ensure the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not extend a foot into the South Pacific region after details of a secret security deal came to light.

According to a leaked draft of the agreement, Beijing would be able to dispatch police, troops, weapons, and even naval shipswith the consent of the Solomon Islandsto protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects in the Solomon Islands.

A move, experts warn, could lead to the militarization of the region akin to the South China Sea.
The sun rises behind the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Nov. 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Biden Administration Urges Supreme Court to Let It Drop Remain in Mexico Program

The Biden administration told the Supreme Court on April 26 that it shouldnt have to continue operating the Trump-era Remain in Mexico program that requires non-Mexican asylum-seekers arriving at the southern border to wait in Mexico for processing.

The case at hand is Biden v. Texas, court file 21-954. The high court agreed on Feb. 18 to hear the case, an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. One hour was set aside for the hearing, but it ran 1 hour and 47 minutes.

Upon assuming office, Biden halted enrollments in the program, part of the Migrant Protection Protocols enforced by President Donald Trump, created to discourage individuals from making fraudulent asylum claims.

These Migrant Protection Protocols, approved by Congress and signed into law during the Clinton administration, had not been acted upon until then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced in December 2018 that they would be implemented. She said the goal was to curtail the so-called catch-and-release system, in which individuals made fraudulent asylum claims knowing they would be let into the United States and able to stay for years before their court appearance.

Under Biden, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a memorandum providing that, effective Jan. 21, 2021, it would suspend new enrollments in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), pending further review of the program. Aliens who arent already enrolled in MPP should be processed under other existing legal authorities.

Days later, Biden signed three new executive orders aimed at undoing Trump-era immigration policies. One of the documents, Biden said during a ceremony at the White House, orders a full review of the previous administrations harmful and counterproductive immigration policies, basically across the board.

But in August 2021, at the request of Texas and Missouri, federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas, a Trump appointee, ordered the government to keep the MPP policy in effect until it was lawfully rescinded. The Biden administration had failed to properly justify ending the policy and failed to uphold a 1996 law requiring the detention of certain migrants, the trial court judge found. The 5th Circuit sided with the two states.

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said during oral arguments at the Supreme Court that Bidens Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas exercised his statutory discretion to make a policy judgment and found that the benefits of MPP were outweighed by its domestic, humanitarian, and foreign policy costs.

Yet the lower courts ordered DHS to reinstate MPP in perpetuity, requiring ongoing negotiations with Mexico to send thousands of noncitizens into its territory. That was error, Prelogar said.

Mayorkas should be allowed to finally put his policy decision into effect, she said.

Section 1225 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) gives the DHS secretary discretionary return authority  not a mandate, she said. Nothing in the statutory text or history compels DHS to use MPP.

Neither Texas nor Missouri have given examples of any official interpreting the section as a mandate. But on their interpretation of the law, every presidential administration, in an unbroken line for the past quarter-century, has been in open violation of the INA, Prelogar said.

The courts interpretation compels sensitive foreign policy negotiations and would require transformative changes to the governments border operations, she said. If Congress had wanted to mandate those results, it would have spoken clearly.

Responding to Justice Clarence Thomas, Prelogar said the lower courts rulings intrude on the federal governments foreign policy powers.

The particular interpretation of the statute that the district court adopted here implicates grave and serious foreign policy implications, she said.

Of course, the executive branch has primary responsibility for managing foreign relations and conducting those kinds of negotiations. And I think that if Congress had intended to override the executives ordinary discretion that it enjoys with respect to that kind of foreign policy relationship, then, at the very least, it should have made that intent express in the statute.

The federal official also said its impossible to detain everyone who arrives at the southern border because Congress hasnt allocated enough money to cover immigration detention beds.

Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to side with the states when he told Prelogar that while he was sympathetic to her concern that the government cant detain enough people, that isnt the Supreme Courts problem.

Youre in a position where the facts have sort of overtaken the law, Roberts said. But in that situation, what are we supposed to do? Its still our job to say what the law is. And if we say what the law is and you tell us we cant do anything about it, where do you think that leaves us?

Texas Solicitor General Judd E. Stone II said the law generally requires that the U.S. detain migrants or send them back to Mexico. If it lacks the resources to detain them, it should return them to Mexico so they can wait there for asylum processing, he said.

The Biden administration, Stone said, has admitted that its not complying with the immigration detention provisions of the INA.

Petitioners suggest that no administration, no executive, has fully complied with their detention obligations. That certainly doesnt prove that past administrations assumed those obligations could be  shirked in the event that they preferred not to use one of Congresss allowed statutory tools, but I have no reason to think that thats incorrect.

Justice Thomas pushed back, saying: Assuming youre right, wouldnt it be odd for Congress to leave in place a statute that would appear to be impossible to comply with?

No, Your Honor, Stone replied.

Congress  as my friends on the other side mentioned, had this mandatory detention obligation for over a century. It has added authorities to enable the executive to attempt to meet it additionally.

If Congress doesnt provide enough money to enforce the provisions of the law, Then the executive has to do the best it can  with the amount of money thats been appropriated to it and the other lawful  authorities its been provided.
Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) questions witnesses during a hearing of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 23, 2020. (Sarah Silbiger/Pool via Getty Images)

Biden Endorses Moderate Incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader in Oregon Primary

President Joe Biden has endorsed incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader for Oregons 5th Congressional District, marking his first midterm endorsement in the primary election cycle this year.

We dont always agree, but when it has mattered most, Kurt has been there for me, Biden said in a statement released by the Schrader campaign on April 23. And in doing so, he has helped to pass much of my agenda into lawmaking a huge difference in the lives of the Oregonians he represents and all of America.

Schrader is one of the House Democratic caucus most moderate members and has voted against several of Bidens priorities in the past, including raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and a money-saving proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate the price it pays for prescription drugs during a markup in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

He also initially opposed the American Rescue Plan but later voted for it.

Kurt Schrader has had my back from early on and played an important part in the progress we have made as a nation, Biden said in his statement endorsing the Democrat on Saturday. Thats why Im proud to endorse Kurt in his reelection campaign for Congress.

Schrader is facing progressive candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner for Oregons 5th Congressional Districtwhich represents the northwest part of the state and includes coastal communities and the state capital, Salemin the recently redrawn 5th District in the May 17 primary.

A farmer and a veterinarian by profession, Schrader is seeking an eighth term.

However, he has faced mounting criticism from progressive Democrats, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported, and some local Democratic party organizations have backed McLeod-Skinner, in some cases changing their rules to endorse her.

He was also criticized for reportedly likening an attempt to impeach former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S Capitol breach to a lynching, according to reports from ABC News.

Schrader later apologized for the remark and voted to impeach Trump.

Most recently, a private watchdog group, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee alleging that Schrader violated congressional rules against using tax-paid official resources in his reelection campaign.

McLeod-Skinner said on Twitter on April 24 that while she respects Bidens work to tackle Covid-19 & rebuild our economy she disagrees with his decision to back Schrader.

Schrader took over $1 million from Big Pharma & other corporate donorsand then voted against Oregonians. We need a leader in Congress who will finally fight for us, she wrote.

Schrader on Saturday said he appreciated Bidens confidence and support for my re-election.

I look forward to continuing to work with the President on lowering the high cost of prescription drugs, addressing the high cost of housing and childcare, and tackling climate change and the wildfires that have devastated our community, Schrader said.
President Joe Biden walks to board Air Force One at Delaware Air National Guard base in New Castle, Del., on April 25, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Uses Clemency Powers for the First Time

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the first use of his presidential powers to grant clemency, pardoning three felons and commuting the sentences of dozens more.

The U.S. Constitution grants presidents the power to forgive convictions or shorten sentences.

Biden is pardoning former Secret Service Agent Abraham Bolden, 86.

Bolden became the first black man to ever guard a U.S. president when John F. Kennedy appointed him to the Secret Service in 1961.

Bolden was charged with bribery for attempting to sell a copy of a Secret Service file in 1964. While he has maintained his innocence, Bolden was convicted and sentenced to six years in federal prison. He ultimately served more than three years with two-and-a-half years of probation.

Bolden has long been critical of the Secret Service and sought to expose misconduct within the agency.

Biden is also pardoning Betty Jo Bogans, 51, who was convicted in 1998 of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine in the Southern District of Texas. At the time of her arrest, Bogans was attempting to transport drugs for her boyfriend and his accomplice, neither of whom were detained or arrested.

Bogans, a single mother with no prior record, was sentenced to seven years in prison, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Bidens third pardon is Dexter Jackson, 52, who pleaded guilty and was convicted for charges related to allowing his business in Athens, Georgia, to be used to facilitate marijuana distribution.

Since his release from prison, Jackson has converted his business into a cell-phone repair service and hired local high school students through a program that seeks to provide young adults with work experience, according to the DOJ.

Biden is also commuting the sentences of 75 individuals, most of whom were found guilty of non-violent, low-level drug distribution crimes.

Biden has a long record of support for Americas war on drugs during his time in the Senate. Biden advocated for harsher penalties for both dealers and users of illegal drugs and authored some of the nations harshest drug laws in the 80s and 90s.

But Biden reversed course during his 2020 presidential campaign with promises of mass-clemency for marijuana users.

I think we should decriminalize marijuana, period, Biden said on a debate stage in 2019. And I think everyoneanyone who has a recordshould be let out of jail, their records expunged, be completely zeroed out.

Bidens act of clemency has won praise from Democrats in Congress.

The power of clemency & redemption is profound, wrote Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) on Twitter. Im thrilled that @POTUS is heeding our calls for bold action & pathways to healing, & I remain committed to passing critical legislation, like our #FIXClemency Act, to transform our clemency process & help end mass incarceration.

I thank @POTUS for taking this step toward repairing the damage that the failed War on Drugs has done to our country, especially our most vulnerable communities, wrote Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.).
President Joe Biden speaks at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, in Greensboro, N.C., on April 14, 2022. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

Big Tech Censored Biden Criticism 646 Times Over 2 Years: Report

Big Tech platforms have censored criticism of President Joe Biden more than 600 times over the past two years, according to a new report.

The Media Research Center (MRC), a Virginia-based American content analysis and media watchdog group, through its CensorTrack database, found that between March 2020 and March 2022, social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram deleted or censored 646 accounts or posts that criticized the president.

Of the more than 600 cases, 140 of the posts censored by Big Tech involved the New York Posts reports about the presidents son, Hunter Biden, and his allegedly corrupt foreign business dealings.

After the New York Post reported on emails and other material from a laptop believed to be owned by Bidens son, Twitter blocked the circulation of the story while other news outlets cast doubt on the veracity of the developments.

The watchdogs report also found that 232 posts that mentioned Bidens behavior with women and children were censored.

In one example, a Facebook post that claimed to show images of Biden kissing his adult granddaughter on the lips during a campaign stop in Iowa in February 2020 captioned, Find someone who kisses you the way Joe Biden kisses his granddaughter, was reportedly deleted for violating the platforms community standards on nudity or sexual activity.

In another case, news outlet Breaking 911 on Instagram quoted the president talking about COVID-19 vaccines, saying, Freedom!  I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID. No, I mean, come on! Freedom?!

That post was reportedly moved for promoting violence and incitement.

MRC Free Speech America tallied 646 cases in its CensorTrack database of pro-Biden censorship.  The tally included cases from Bidens presidential candidacy to the present day, MRC said. The worst cases of censorship involved platforms targeting anyone who dared to speak about any subject related to the New York Post bombshell Hunter Biden story.

The Post investigated Hunter Biden and the Biden familys allegedly corrupt foreign business dealings. Big Techs cancellation of that story helped shift the 2020 election in Bidens favor, it added.

The Epoch Times has contacted Facebook and Twitter for comment.

It comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday clinched a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion cash. Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist, has criticized Twitters moderation.

Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated, Musk said in a statement.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A protester holds a sign on Wellington St. in Ottawa during the Freedom Convoy protest, on Feb. 12, 2022. (Noe Chartier/The Epoch Times)

Biker Convoy a Go in Ottawa, Organizer Says, as City Councillor Concerned About Trojan Horse

A day after Ottawa police announced vehicle-based protests would not be allowed to enter the downtown area, the organizer of the Rolling Thunder motorcycle convoy said the event will still take place over the coming weekend.

Rolling Thunder Ottawa is still a go, said organizer Neil Sheard in an April 25 video, indicating hes been working with the city on the details.

So remember when youre coming in: peace, love, respect, follow the rules of the traffic, all the highway codes. Be nice people. Be the people you are.

The event organizers also released a statement saying theyre cautiously optimistic that the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) will cooperate to ensure the safe flow of traffic.

The statement also seeks to reassure the citys residents about the intention of the convoy, and warns about potential provocateurs who could attempt to tarnish its image.

We do not support blockades, obstruction of police performing their duties, damage to property, or hate & vitriol directed to the residents of Ottawa, it said. Lastly, as seen during the lawful protest in Ottawa, spread as much peace, love, and patriotism to your fellow Canadians as possible.

The lawful protest is a reference to the Freedom Convoy civil disobedience action that took place in downtown Ottawa in February, which detractors and the OPS viewed as anything but lawful.

On April 24, the OPS said that protests involving vehicles are not allowed in designated city areas as a result of the unlawful protest in February.

Some Ottawa city councillors fear the biker convoy has a secret agenda and will turn into another Freedom Convoy protest.

I will not have our community re-terrorized. I do not want our children, seniors, and other vulnerable residents re-traumatized. Our businesses should not be forced to close again, said Catherine McKenney on Twitter.

I think theres a significant concern on the part of residents, and I share it to a certain extent, that the motorcycle-based veterans convoy is a Trojan Horse with multiple groups who have different objectives, said councillor Jeff Leiper during a meeting of the OPS board on April 25.

The Epoch Times contacted Leiper for comment but didnt hear back before publication time.

OPS interim chief Steve Bell attended the board meeting and presented his plan to manage the Rolling Thunder event.

The joint position of the Ottawa Police Service and the City of Ottawa is that no motor vehicle protests, rallies, or events will be allowed in the designated downtown areas. This includes areas near and around Parliament Hill and the National War Memorial, he said.

Bell said it was too early to talk about the expected number of participants and noted that its extremely challenging to know the main objective of the event due to many different groups being involved.

The Epoch Times contacted Sheard to learn about the objectives but didnt hear back.

A number of protests have sprung up in Canada in recent months centred on the theme of freedom and reclamation of lost civil liberties due to pandemic restrictions and other government measures.

One of the partner organizations involved in Rolling Thunder is Freedom Fighters Canada, which demands the end of all government mandates; the end of all tyrannical bills and legislation.

The events website lists a rally on Parliament Hill on Friday, April 29, and on April 30 a service at the National War Memorial nearby followed by another rally on Parliament Hill. There is also a church service planned for May 1 at the Capital City Bikers Church in Vanier, a neighbourhood a few kilometres east of downtown Ottawa.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a press conference after visiting TEi engineering and steel fabrication company in the seat of Herbert, Queensland in Australia on April 26, 2022. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Bits and Bytes: Australian PM Warns Conflict With Beijing Could Be Fought in Cyberspace

A conflict with Beijing will not be limited to tanks and weapons, and instead will encompass a wide array of domains including cyber, according to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The prime minister was responding to questions over Australias readiness to confront a more aggressive Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the region, saying the AUKUS agreement with the United States and United Kingdom would help bridge capability gaps across different areas of modern warfare.

The first shot fired in any conflict is actually in bits and bytes. Its not in bullets, Morrison told 2GB on April 26 in reference to the emerging field of cyber warfare, which has seen governments invest billions in counteracting increasingly sophisticated hacking activities.

A lot of the focus has been on the nuclear-powered submarines, he said. But the AUKUS agreement is way bigger ensuring that we have a comprehensive defence in modern warfare.

The headline initiative from AUKUS is Australias potential acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and United Kingdom, a highly classified technology that was shared only once to the British in 1958.

In this handout image provided by the U.S. Navy, the nuclear-powered fast attack submarine USS Hartford is moored off the U.S, Naval Academy in 1999 in Annapolis, Maryland. (Don S. Montgomery/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

Yet, AUKUS has ushered in close collaboration between the allies in other advanced fields including quantum technology, undersea capabilities (drones), hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, and advanced cyber.

We prepare for these things to ensure we can keep stability and peace within our region. Thats why we did the AUKUS agreement  Thats why we drove the step up of the QUAD, Morrison said, referring to the security dialogue between Australia, Japan, United States, and India.

The prime minister said the efforts were designed to counterbalance the expansionist activities of the CCP in the South China Sea and more recently the Solomon Islands.

The federal opposition Labor Party has launched an ongoing political campaign criticising the Morrison government for not preventing the Beijing-Solomon Islands security deal from happeninga stance experts say is unrealistic.

The deal, in essence, would allow the CCPwith the consent of the Solomonsto dispatch police, troops, weapons, and even naval ships to protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects in the Solomon Islands.

If fully realised, it would extend the reach of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army into the heart of the South Pacific just 1,700 kilometres (1,050 miles) from Australias northern city of Cairns.

Map of Australias immediate neighbours in the western Pacific Ocean. (College of Asia and the Pacific/ANU/CartoGIS Services [CC BY-SA 4.0]) Penny Wong, Labors foreign affairs spokeswoman, called it the worst foreign policy blunder, claiming the governments lack of engagement in the region opened the door for Beijing.

The government should have acted sooner. We live in a world where the strategic circumstances we face are riskier and more uncertain than in any time since the end of World War II, she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on April 20.

Morrison however said he was one of the few Australian leaders to visit Fiji, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands in recent times, while also noting the opening of six diplomatic missions in the South Pacific.

We are concerned for all of the countries in the region, he said. There are 20 Pacific Island foreign nations  there are 20 areas which were looking to ensure we counter that (CCP) influence.

Morrison warned last week that Australias northern neighbour, Papua New Guinea, was facing pressure from Beijing to consent to a similar security agreement to the one with the Solomons.

Were the only country in the world to have an embassy in every single one of those Pacific island nations, he added. So its an area which is tightly contested, and weve always been heavily forward leaning. But were dealing with the Chinese government that doesnt play by the same rules.
Undated photo showing Russian military vehicles move on a highway in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces near Mariupol, Ukraine. (Alexei Alexandrov/AP/PA)

Boris Johnson Urged to Help Free British Fighters Captured in Ukraine

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been urged to help free two British nationals who were captured by Russia when fighting in Mariupol.

The family of Aiden Aslin told a British TV broadcaster on Monday that they hope Johnson will help and have something sorted out so the 28-year-old and his fellow Briton, 48-year-old Shaun Pinner, can be returned to their families.

Johnson previously said he hoped Aslin was treated with care and compassion when asked about him by his local MPformer housing minister Robert Jenrick.

Aslin, originally from Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, north England, and Pinner, originally from Bedfordshire, east England, are both members of the Ukrainian armed forces. The families said they have both been in Ukraine since 2018, long before the Russian invasion of the eastern European country.

The pair were captured earlier this month after their unit had to surrender after 48 days of defending Mariupol as they were running out of ammunition.

They later appeared on Russian state TV, asking Johnson to help exchange for them with Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician who was arrested by the Ukrainian secret services on April 12. Its not clear if they were under duress.

Both appeared to have bruises and Aslin appeared to have been beaten. Their families later said they were in contact with the UKs Foreign Office to ensure the Russian authorities meet their obligations to prisoners of war under international law.

Russias foreign ministry on April 21 said the Russian side [was] taking care of them, and they were fed, watered, and given the necessary assistance. Just like other foreigners who have surrendered or been detained.

A Russian national flag flies by destroyed buildings in Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 12, 2022. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)

Aslins mother Angela Wood and his brother Nathan Wood spoke to TalkTV on Monday, pleading for Johnsons help.

I would hope that, at some point, there will be a prisoner swap. However, its out of my hands. It is between Ukraine and Russia, Nathan told TalkTV.

Outlining his recent phone conversation with his brother, Nathan told the broadcaster, It was obvious that he was with the Russian people that were holding him and he was asking for me to contact Boris [Johnson] to get this prison swap done. And to keep on asking for this swap.

Asked what he would say to the prime minister, Nathan said: Act now when you got the time to act. Youve got two British citizens on the line, being forced to say whatever the Russians are putting in [their] mouths at gunpoint, whether they show it on the camera or not. And its a moral obligation to do something about it.

Angela added: I would like to hope that Boris will help. And talk to the Ukraine government [and] embassy. There can be something sorted out so that these two guys can come home.

Aslin moved to Ukraine in 2018 with his Ukrainian fiancee and now holds British and Ukrainian citizenship. He previously fought the ISIS terrorist group with Kurdish militia Peoples Defense Units in Syria and northern Iraq.

Pinners family previously released a statement through the FCDO, rebuking Russian medias characterisation of foreign fighters in the Ukrainian military as mercenaries.

They said that the former British Army soldier decided to relocate to Ukraine in 2018 to use his previous experience and training within the Ukraine military.

The statement said Pinner enjoyed the Ukrainian way of life and considered Ukraine as his adopted country where he also met his Ukrainian wife.

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly on Tuesday confirmed that Aslin and Pinner should be treated as prisoners of war.

Asked about the pair by Jenrick, Cleverly told Parliament he had discussed the issue of foreign volunteer fighters with the Ukrainian government.

They are clear, and we are clear, that those fighting under the Ukrainian flag for the Ukrainian armed forces in the defence of Ukraine should be treated as Ukrainian military and as prisoners of war, with all the protections that the international humanitarian law affords to those individuals, Cleverly said.

The UK government advises against all travel to Ukraine.

The UK government declined to offer an official statement in response to the pleas from the family.

A previous version of this report misstated the names of Angela Wood and Nathan Wood. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
A new study shows promising results for this alternative treatment

A recent systematic review published in the journal Frontiers in Neurology has found that hyperbaric oxygen may be a safe and effective treatment for mild brain injuries.

The review was conducted by Dr. Paul G. Harch, a clinical professor of medicine at Louisiana State Universitys Emergency Medicine Residency Program in New Orleans. Harch is also an expert on hyperbaric oxygen therapy, according to his website.

The review examined the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat persistent post-concussion syndrome. This syndrome occurs when patients who have had concussions experience symptoms for at least three months.

According to the Mayo Clinic, post-concussion symptoms include, but are not limited to

Anxiety

Blurry vision

Difficulty concentrating

Difficulty sleeping

Dizziness

Fatigue

Headaches that are painful and persistent and may feel like migraines

Sensitivity to noise and light

Tinnitus

The review included six randomized trials, one case-controlled study, one case series, and three case reports. All of the studies were small, involving fewer than 75 patients per study.

In analyzing the eleven studies, Harch found that using hyperbaric oxygen at 1 1/2 times the pressure of oxygen at sea level (which scientists refer to as 1.5 ATA oxygen) significantly improved the symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury.

The amount of added pressure found to be effective was 50 percent greater than normal, about the same difference as going from a mountain town like Santa Fe, New Mexico, down to sea level.

Treatments at other oxygen levels had inconsistent results.

Despite the relatively small sample sizes, the studies included in the review had low levels of bias, leading Harch to conclude that there was strong evidence for the recommendation of using hyperbaric oxygen to treat persistent post-concussion mild traumatic brain injuries.

This study adds to a growing body of scientific evidence that suggests that hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or HBOT, may be helpful in treating a variety of ills.

What Is HBOT, Anyway?

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a treatment that allows patients to breathe pure oxygen at higher than normal pressure to help heal the brain and the body.

Most people dont realize that the air we breathe normally is only about one-fifth oxygen (21 percent). The rest, some 78 percent, is nitrogen. The other one percent of our air is made up of other assorted gases, but the oxygen is the only part of the air that our bodies actually use.

So hyperbaric oxygen treatment gives patients access to air that is up to 100 percent oxygen. Then, to make this oxygen even more bioavailable, the treatment puts you under higher pressure than the surrounding air. Since your body is usually under less pressure, this pressure change forces more oxygen into your tissues.

In other words, HBOT turns you into an oxygen sponge.

Competitive athletes train at high elevations to expand their lung capacity and obtain better results when theyre flooded with the extra oxygen found at lower elevations where they compete. HBOT works in a similar way but goes further.

How Does HBOT Work?

In order to be treated with hyperbaric oxygen, you get inside a pressure chamber that can be sealed. These chambers come in a variety of sizes. If youre worried youll feel claustrophobic, you may be able to opt for a bigger chamber.

The chamber is then sealed from the outside by a technician, and the pressure is raised gradually over time to the target level. You will likely experience popping in your ears as the pressure changes, as you would if you were driving down from the mountains or landing in an airplane.

At the same time the pressure is increasing, the normal air in the chamber is slowly changed to pure oxygen. Oxygen itself doesnt smell any different from the mixed gases of normal air, so you likely wont notice this change. As the chamber pressurizes, however, you hear a whoosh-whooshing sound.

You may be sitting or lying down, depending on the treatment facility. Larger health clinics have rooms to accommodate several people at once. In a hyperbaric oxygen room, a mask or hood will be placed over your nose and mouth during the treatment.

You stay in the high-pressure oxygen for anywhere from 15 minutes to no more than two hours. Then the pressure gradually comes down until youre returned to the normal atmosphere. When you emerge from the chamber, your body is suffused with oxygen.

Ive only tried hyperbaric oxygen therapy once. It was at a health conference where a vendor was selling chambers for in-home use. A friend and I went into it together. We were both nervous about doing it, to be honest. But we were reassured by the technicians patient explanation and the fact that there was an emergency pull string on the inside of the chamber. He checked on us every ten minutes or so.

We both felt very relaxed and almost sleepy. Perhaps it was the calm inside the chamber. Once it was up to pressure we were in a bubble of quiet.

Or perhaps the sleepy feeling was because, even though outwardly we were relaxing, inside our bodies our mitochondria (the organelles inside our cells responsible for giving us energy) were hard at work. According to a 2018 article in the journal Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, mitochondrial mass is significantly increased after just one HBOT session.

What Ailments Can Hyperbaric Oxygen Treat?

For several ailments, hyperbaric oxygen is no longer considered a fringe or even an alternative therapy. Its an established treatment in conventional medicine for carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness experienced by divers, and to speed up healing time for burn victims.

Hyperbaric oxygen can also be beneficial for wound treatment, and in cases where an infection is deep inside inaccessible tissue, it can be flooded by the pressurized oxygen.

In 2017, Paul Harch and his colleague, Dr. Edward Fogarty, in the Department of Radiology at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine, published a case report in the journal Medical Gas Research showing they had used hyperbaric oxygen therapy to help a toddler who had suffered severe brain damage after falling into a pool. The toddler, Eden Carlson, was 23 months old and neurologically crippled: She could no longer speak, walk, or respond to simple commands.

As Eden Carlsons mom told a CNN reporter, she was in the shower when her daughter slipped through the baby gate and fell into their swimming pool. She was face down in the pool for an unknown amount of time, perhaps as long as 15 minutes.

Paramedics gave Eden CPR for over an hour and a half before her heart started beating on its own.

Though they managed to save Edens life, the doctors told her mother the child would likely never walk, talk, or eat without a feeding tube, according to CNN. Thats when her mom turned to hyperbaric oxygen treatments. After multiple treatments spaced out over time, Eden had an almost complete reversal of the brain damage.

This dovetails with the experience of some parents of children with autism, who have seen improvements in cognitive function after treatment with hyperbaric oxygen.

While using HBOT for autism remains controversial, Harch treated his first patient with autism in 1995 and has since seen noticeable improvements in 80 percent of autistic children who received HBOT, according to his website.

In The Autism Book, California-based pediatrician Robert Sears touts HBOT as one of the most effective advanced treatments for children with autism, which can and should be individualized to the childs needs.

Florida-based pediatrician Dr. Julie Buckley, author of Healing Our Autistic Children: A Medical Plan for Restoring Your Childs Health, agreed. Hyperbaric therapy is a credible and highly worthwhile therapy, Buckley wrote in her book.

At the same time, however, other allopathic doctors remain skeptical. For example, pediatrician Paul Offit, an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, author of Autisms False Prophets, and an outspoken critic of vaccine-hesitant families, has called for caution. These doctors believe that hyperbaric oxygen therapy may be just another expensive but ineffective treatment held out to families desperate to find ways to help their children.

Should You Try It?

A conventional allopathic physician may recommend HBOT to you if you have severe anemia, persistent symptoms due to a concussion or another brain injury, diabetic ulcers that arent responding to treatment, gangrene, or another wound or infection thats not healing.

Some recent research suggests that HBOT might help improve symptoms of Alzheimers disease.

Alternative practitioners may recommend trying it for diverse ailments, including shoulder injuries, infertility, hearing loss, and even chronic back pain.

As with many holistic treatments, the issue is often cost. While your insurance will cover treatments that are FDA approved (you can find a list of these on the FDAs web page, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Get the Facts), youll likely have to pay out of pocket to treat a health issue that isnt on the FDAs list.

Amber Sims, a busy mom, wife, and PR and branding professional based in Portland, Oregon, tried HBOT when she was in agonizing pain after tearing her right rotator cuff. She avoided the emergency room because she felt that the doctors there would just prescribe her opioids, run a scan, put her arm in a sling, and likely recommend surgery. Instead, her husband drove her to an HBOT clinic across the river from her chiropractors office the morning after the injury.

Id known about it for a long time, Sims says. But its expensive, so I never tried it.

But Sims had a small child to care for and a full-time job, so paying out of pocket for HBOT finally seemed worth it.

Anything I could possibly do to expedite healing felt like it was worth a try. By the end of the first session, I could tell this was going to make a difference, Sims said. Theres a reason why so many professional athletes use it for injury recovery.

And she was right. After just two HBOT sessions, combined with some other healing techniques (laser therapy and a levy protocol to allow her arm to be mobilized a few times a day to avoid frozen shoulder), Sims reports she was almost completely healed.

The oxygen was incredibly helpful, she said. It gave the healing process the upper hand and helped give my body what it needed to heal itself.

Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning health and science writer and a frequent contributor to The Epoch Times. Learn more and sign up for her weekly emails at her website, JenniferMargulis.net
Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a panel talk at the 2020 Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich on Feb. 15, 2020. (Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

Can Musk Buy Facebook Too?

Commentary

Two and a half cheers for Elon Musk!

He has, after some back and forth, just bought Twitter, easily the greatest achievement anyone has accomplished in years for the First Amendment and freedom of speech.

If he follows through on his pledge to end censorship at the site, he has struck a blow, possibly even a fatal one, on the evil billionaireswe all know who they arethat control virtually the entire global information flow to all the continents and all the ships at sea for their own advantage.

These billionaire owners of social media sites have been more successful in their censorship and thought control, at least by the numbers, than any dictators in history. (Population of China: 1.4 billion. Number with Facebook accounts: 2.9 billion.)

So why only two and a half cheers for Musk?

Well, there is that matter of the Tesla factory in communist China withits rumoredmuch of the companys future research to be conducted there. That would presumably include Space X, with vast military implications. Once the enemy of the totalitarians in Beijing, Musk has, alas, folded in with them.

But still, give the man his due. Becoming an international hero of freedom may encourage him to go further yet. Some of his openness may even permeate Chinanot likely, but who knows?

Musk has charisma to spare.

I may even have to buy one of his cars, even thoughcool as its technology may be, especially if it ultimately allows the vehicle to drive itself, and snazzy as the Model X looks in redIm more than a little skeptical of its contribution to the environment.

Still, two and a half cheers  going on three. Or three-plus, if he ultimately helps move the overcrowded human race to Mars, putting paid to his online adversary Bill Gates, who, it seems, would prefer to depopulate us.

But the big loser in all this is Mark Zuckerberg, who looks almost as bad as his buddy General Secretary Xi Jinping.

Facebook has an estimated 15,000 (exact numbers vary) content moderators to restrict discussion or cancel those who dont adhere to their masters approved party line, dubbing their postings as misinformation. These junior censors work for something in the vicinity of $18 an hour for what, according to many reports, is an incredibly stressful job.

Its much the same for Twitter with a lower number of censors, of course. Bad as Twitter has beenand it has been very bad (i.e., blocking reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop)Facebook is even worse, just because of its remarkable reach.

Can Musk buy Facebook too?

And Google, while hes at it, whose reach is greater still with its famous hidden algorithms that, through the ordering of links, exercise more subconscious thought control over world opinion than anything yet devised.

Maybe Oracles Larry Ellison, another billionaire with a modicum of free speech leanings, could buy one of them. We all know these guys are competitive.

As Musks deal approached closing today, lefties on Twitter erupted with #RIPTwitter and #DeleteTwitter trending, according to Fox.

I wouldnt know. I had been off Twitter for several years, long before the Hunter Biden censorship. I had, on occasion, advised fellow conservatives to get off Twitter themselves, to stop sleeping with the enemy, and bankrupt the pernicious website.

Few, if any, did. Now, things are different. Or we hope they will be.

Should I go back?

Irrespective of its evident political bias, I had compared Twitter, and social media in general, to a form of online crack. We had to go back and back and back, even though we knew it wasnt good for us, and that our time was better spent reading a book or even taking a walk.

That conundrum remains, even if Twitter becomes the town square that Musk envisions.

And what of Donald Trump? Should he return to the network that so famously excommunicated him while still giving public space to the likes of Ayatollah Khamenei?

If he does return, how would that affect his own burgeoning Truth Social?

Not simple, is it?

Nevertheless, thinking it through just a bit more, I have to relent and say, at least for now, a full-throated three cheersnot two and a halffor Elon Musk.

He has moved a moribund world forward. Facebook next?

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Celebrities Threaten to Leave Twitter After Elon Musk Takeover

A number of verified Twitter users, celebrities, and others said they would leave the platform following Elon Musks purchase of the social media website Monday.

The term leaving Twitter trended on the website for several hours, as prominent users claimed that former President Donald Trumpperhaps the most influential poster before his suspensionwould be allowed back on the website. For his part, Trump told Fox News Monday that he wont be coming back to Twitter and said he will use his Truth Social platform instead.

Looks like Im about to say goodbye to Twitter as well. Ive been pulling back a bit from social media anyway. This will be just the push I need to go all the way on this app, wrote Charles Blow, a left-wing New York Times opinion writer, on Twitter.

One good thing about Elon buying Twitter is that I will FINALLY leave and stop being a complete menace to society on here. So its win win for you all really, actress Jameela Jamil wrote. She followed up with a post that claimed it was my last tweet, including pictures of the actress and her dog.

Left-wing activist and author Amy Siskind told her 550,000 followers that she is considering leaving the social media site. In a series of Twitter posts, Siskind claimed that whatever content I provide here goes directly towards enriching one man, who I think is absolutely awful.

People need to understand that this is no longer a public company. Every post you make here is free content to enrich one man, Elon Musk. He is completely in control and answers to no one. I dont view him as a mentally stable person, she also wrote.

Yvette Nicole Brown, an actress associated with Disney, said she would join a platform called Counter Social.

Im leaving too friend. I joined a site called [Counter Social]  it appears to be fighting against what @twitter is about to become, she said.

After Mondays announcement from Twitter and Musk, several news websites published articles about how one can delete their Twitter account.

On Monday, Twitters board said it would accept the Tesla CEOs offer of $44 billion to take the company private. Musk, who has described himself as a free speech absolutist, issued a statement late Monday saying that he believes freedom of speech is a cornerstone of a healthy democratic society.

Previously, Musk has criticized Twitters content moderation practices and the suspensions of certain individuals.

In his statement, he also said the company should release the source code of its algorithm and make it open source. At the same time, Musk said that he will combat the proliferation of spam bots and automated accounts on Twitter.

Today is an encouraging day for freedom of speech, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote on Monday afternoon. I am hopeful that Elon Musk will rein in Big Techs history of censoring users that have a different viewpoint.
The Political Fallout of Elon Musk Buying Twitter

Billionaire Elon Musk has been highly critical of Twitters restrictions on speech. With his purchase of the social media platform and his goal of creating an open and transparent environment, there has been some discussion about the impact this could have on U.S. elections moving forward.

Elon Musks takeover of Twitter is a huge deal, according to Hogan Gidley, the former White House spokesman under President Donald Trump.

Members of the media, celebrities, and elected officials are among the most active users, Gidley told Steve Lance, host of NTDs Capitol Report. This is significant since the left controls the majority of those people or entities, he added.

As a result, when information reaches the platform, youll witness in unison, lockstep ideology of one side of an issue.

According to a Pew Research Center study, most tweets come from a small group of highly active Twitter users. About 10 percent of Twitter users in the United States account for almost 80 percent of all tweets. These accounts tweet 138 times every month, compared to the median Twitter user that tweets twice a month.

A separate October 2021 Media Research Center report discovered that the Big Tech firms censored far more Republican members of Congress than their Democratic counterparts: 54-to-1.

The announcement of the buyout has outraged the left, Gidley said, not because they could be blocked on Twitter, but because Twitter could refuse to censor those they disagree with.

Gidley feels that social media platforms influenced the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

During the campaign, Twitter took an unprecedented step to block the spread of reports concerning Hunter Bidens emails due to questions about the origins of the materials.

We couldnt tweet about it at the campaign. We couldnt talk about it in our direct messaging. We sure couldnt do ads on it. Even though we had ads, they wouldnt run the ads, because they collectively said it was Russian disinformation, Gidley said.

I think its a serious issue. It has really influenced the outcome of elections. And quite frankly, it is a source of true evil in this country, to rip away the First Amendment freedoms.

Conservatives cheered the news as they anticipate free speech will be prioritized once again, with the social network expected to abandon censorship measures like shadow banning and permanent bans.

Individuals on the other side of the political spectrum have expressed their concern about the risks to public discourse, despite Musks main goal to resuscitate the idea of open communications.

Lets be clear. Elon Musks effort to buy Twitter is not the only threat to free communications and debate in the United States, said the Open Markets Institute, a non-profit organization to fighting monopolies and bolstering anti-trust law and competition policy, in a statement.

The size, scope, and business models of Facebook, Google, and Amazon also pose a wide variety of often extreme threats to American democracy and the basic rights of citizens. Thats why law enforcers and Congress should view this deal as an opportunity to firmly re-establish clear bans on any manipulation of communications by essential platforms, and to eliminate all business models that rely on such manipulation.

Others have iterated the view that the public needs to be worried about Twitter in the hands of Musk. Many prominent left-leaning individuals have pledged to leave the platform, including actress Mia Farrow, former Governor Howard Dean, author and former professional wrestler Mick Foley, and New York Times columnist Charles Blow.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) decried Musks acquisition, calling it dangerous for our democracy.

One billionairewhose estimated net worth has gotten about 10 times larger since the start of the pandemicis about to have the power to decide how millions of people can communicate with each other. Its dangerous for our democracy to have so much power in so few hands, the 2020 presidential candidate posted on Twitter.

It is unclear what critics of Musks ownership of Twitter are concerned about. He stated before the announcement that he hopes that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.

Meanwhile, whether policies and practices on the website will change heading into the 2022 electoral cycle or not remains to be seen.

Twitter ignited tremendous controversy shortly before the 2020 presidential election when the website blocked links to the New York Posts story on Hunter Bidens laptop. But Twitters meddling has been apparent for years, says Jeff Brain, the CEO of CloutHub, an online networking platform for community, social, and political engagement.

It wasnt until only 2020, Brain told The Epoch Times. I was there in 2018 and I was there in 2016. As we head closer to the election, you see a lot more people who have important voices and you see stories being suppressed.

Censorship should not be incorporated into the workings of social media platforms because they are the modern-day talent squares, Brain noted.

If you dont have a voice on these platforms, then you dont matter, he added. These platforms determine the policy in your neighborhood as well as Washington D.C., and people need to be able to speak their mind and hear all the facts.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki talks to reporters during the daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on March 14, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The White House remarked that the U.S. government might need to look into reforming Section 230. This is a federal rule that says, No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.

While the Biden administration refused to comment on Musks deal to buy Twitter, press secretary Jen Psaki shared Bidens concern about the power of social media.

Our concerns are not new, Psaki told reporters Monday. The president has long talked about his concerns about the power of social media platforms, including Twitter and others, to spread misinformation.

In addition, the elephant in the room is Trumps suspended account. The former president confirmed to multiple news outlets Monday that he would not be returning to Twitter, adding that he would begin participating on Truth Social soon.

No, I wont be going back on Twitter, Trump told CNBCs Joe Kernen. I will be on Truth Social within the week. Its on schedule. We have a lot of people signed up. I like Elon Musk. I like him a lot. Hes an excellent individual. We did a lot for Twitter when I was in the White House. I was disappointed by the way I was treated by Twitter. I wont be going back on Twitter.

Emel Akan contributed to this report.
China's President Xi Jinping (R) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin attend a meeting with members of the Business Council and management of the New Development Bank during the BRICS Summit in Brasilia, on Nov. 14, 2019. (Pavel Golovkin/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

China Declares No Limit in Strategic Cooperation With Russia

China recently affirmed its intention to strengthen strategic cooperation with Russia to establish a new type of international relationship and other shared goals.

Political analysts interpret this as a public notice from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that China and Russia stand united against the Western democratic camp led by the United States.

According to an April 19 statement on the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Chinas Foreign Vice Minister Le Yucheng met with Russian Ambassador Andrey Denisov on April 18 and told him that, regardless of the international situation, the CCP will as always strengthen strategic cooperation with Russia, safeguard the common interests of both parties, and promote the construction of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.

The statement on the Ministrys website also said that Le Yucheng told Denisov it was under instructions from Xi Jinping and Putin, that the Sino-Russian New Era Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination continued to develop at a high level in the first quarter of this year and Sino-Russian bilateral trade increased by nearly 30 percent. Denisov responded that Russia is willing to deepen the partnership.

The meeting between Le Yucheng and Denisov came a day before the UN General Assembly debated a draft resolution limiting the veto power of the five permanent members of the Security Council. So far, the resolution has been supported by 57 countries, including the United States.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the UN Security Council voted on a resolution condemning Russias aggression, but it was vetoed by Russia, which is a permanent member. China has consistently refrained from publicly condemning Russia and has also fallen behind many other countries in supplying humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

China has repeatedly mentioned Sino-Russian cooperation during the past year.

Early last year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement on the Ministrys website that China-Russia strategic cooperation has no limit, no restricted area, no upper limit.

At a press conference on Dec. 24 last year, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian once again repeated that Sino-Russian cooperation has no limit, no restricted area, no upper limit. China is willing to carry out all-round mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia in accordance with the consensus reached by Xi Jinping and Putin, Zhao said.

On Feb. 4 this year, the day of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Xi and Putin issued a joint statement, saying that the friendship between the two countries has no end, and there is no restricted area for cooperation.

Furthermore, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attended the Third Afghan Neighboring Foreign Ministers Meeting in China on March 30, as well as the separate troika meeting with special envoys from China and the United States.

On the same day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin reiterated at a press conference that the China-Russia cooperation has no upper limit, explaining that there are three unlimited areasno limit to striving for peace, no limit to safeguarding security, and no limit to opposing hegemony.

New Cold War

Two Chinese political analysts, based outside China, interpret the April 18 statement by Chinas Foreign Vice Minister Le Yucheng as a public notice from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that China and Russia stand united against the Western democratic camp led by the United States.

Ji Da, a current affairs commentator and China Issues expert, called it a landmark turning point in the CCPs foreign strategy.

The CCP is publicly showing its intention of joining forces with Russia to fight the United States, and the Ukraine war is a symbolic start, Ji Da told The Epoch Times. This means that the world situation will undergo major changes in the context of the new Cold War in the U.S.-China bipolar confrontation.

Ji Da said that the CCPs decision to strengthen its strategic partnership with Russia is actually a last resort because the United States no longer trusts the CCP and regards it as its number one enemy.

Women and children who have fled war-torn Ukraine emerge from the main railway station near the Ukrainian border in Przemysl, Poland, on March 9, 2022. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Ji Da explained that Xi Jinping abandoned the strategy of hide your strengths, bide your time and never stand out, advocated by former CCP leader Deng Xiaoping, and openly competes with the United States for dominance. Statements such as wanting to establish a community with a shared future for mankind and a new international political and economic order, etc., has aroused alarm in the United States.

In response to the Foreign Ministry spokesmans statement regarding the three unlimited areas of cooperation, Ji Da said that the CCPs pledge to cooperate with Russia is unlimited, and that it opposes hegemony is an effort to unite with Russia against the rules-based international order advocated by the United States and other Western countries. Its equivalent to openly challenging the United States and starting a confrontation between the two camps, he said.

US-China Decoupling

Mike Sun, a North American investment consultant and China expert, predicts that despite the CCPs public support for Russia, it doesnt dare act rashly for its own interests.

Sun told The Epoch Times that senior officials, such as U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, have been warning the CCP that aid provided to Russia will have serious consequences. Recently, even Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned the CCP that if they publicly support Russia militarily and in other ways, the United States would impose severe economic sanctions.

In fact, the United States has already started a plan to decouple from the CCP in a comprehensive way. First, it is high-tech decoupling, then financial decoupling, and then export decoupling, Sun said.

If it wasnt for the pandemic, the decoupling of exports would have happened sooner, and the CCP would not have enjoyed the export dividends last year. The United States has long been preparing to transfer its manufacturing base to Southeast Asia, he said.

Of course, the CCP is also preparing for the U.S.-China decoupling, Sun added. For example, the CCP has been hoarding grain. In addition to importing a large amount of grain, Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that the Chinese peoples rice bowls must be firmly held in their hands, and that the bowls be mainly filled with Chinese grains.
In a coordinated legal action between a number of Hillary Clinton operatives and associates, almost two dozen separate documents were simultaneously filed in special counsel John Durhams case against former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann.

This sudden panic of mass filings included responses from campaign chairman John Podesta, campaign manager Robby Mook, Clinton lead campaign lawyer Marc Elias, Clinton campaign contractors Fusion GPS, the Clinton campaign itself, and even the Democratic National Committee.

The trigger for this flurry of filings was a request by Durham to unseal a number of emails involving these same parties. The emails are currently being withheld on very questionable grounds of attorney-client privilege. Whatever resides within those emails, based on the coordinated filings, it appears that a large number of important people associated with the Clinton campaign are very concerned about that information becoming public.

Welcome to Truth over News with Jeff Carlson and Hans Mahncke.

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Strict lockdown rules are driving foreigners out of Shanghai. A survey shows many of them plan to leaveor are debating the option.

A top supplier for Apple and Tesla faces widespread infections at its factory in Shanghai. Three workers reveal the situation inside.

Photos capture empty shelves in Beijing, as panic buying begins. Residents there say theyre worried about another possible lockdown to stem COVID-19 infection rates.

A university in New York rescinds its acceptance letter to a Chinese student, all because of a post on Chinese social media following a recent shooting.

As part of the deal in an unusual agreement between the Wuhan lab and its partner at a U.S. university, they are asking one another to erase secret files.

Topics in this episode include:

Supplier for Tesla, Apple Struggles With Infections

Is Beijing Locking Down? Locals Are Worried

Columbia Rejects Chinese Student for Hate Speech

Wuhan Lab Can Destroy Secret Files: Doc

Japan Promises a Stronger Military to Help US

Japan, New Zealand Discuss Indo-Pacific

European Union Head Meets With Indias Modi

Billionaires Son Banned From Social Media Weibo

Internet Users Question State Media Clips: Shanghai

12-Year-Old Walks 9 Hours Home After Quarantine

Remembering an Appeal Against Suppression

US Appeals to China to Stop North Korea, but China Wants to Bring the US Down: Expert

Have other topics you want us to cover? Drop us a line: chinainfocus@ntdtv.org

And if youd like to buy us a coffee: https://donorbox.org/china-in-focus

Subscribe to our newsletter for more first-hand news from China.

For more news and videos, please visit us on Gettr and Twitter.
An employee makes chips at a factory of Jiejie Semiconductor Company in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China, on March 17, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Combination of Russian Aggression and Chinese Technology Marks Epochal Shift in Global Security: Expert

The convergence of Russian aggression and Chinese technologies presents a new and unique security threat to global supply chains, according to one security expert.

Clete Johnson, a partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, says the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the partnership between Russia and China has presented an epochal shift in the security space, possibly exceeding in consequence that of 9/11 or the end of World War II.

Its a world-historically significant event and invasion, Johnson said.

Speaking at an April 26 event hosted by the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, he said the security of information and communications technologies would shape the course of the coming decades.

Johnson said that the confluence that we have with regard to the reliability and security of Chinese technology alongside the very real hard security considerations of what Russia might do presents a threat to global stability previously unimagined.

Now you have this confluence of two adversary powers, one of which is suddenly a violent aggressor, he said.

To curb the malign influence of authoritarianism, he said both the companies and governments of free-market democratic nations would need to work hand in hand as a single team.

The question for industry is, how do you navigate all of the policies, regulations, and international jurisdictions? Johnson said.

To that end, he said new policies would need to be developed internationally and built around shared expertise and standards-setting.

In this, he echoed comments recently made by former Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, who said authoritarian and democratic systems were increasingly dividing the world into distinct technospheres, wherein their technologies were being built upon mutually unintelligible languages, rules, and norms.

Johnson said the West would need to better leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect anomalies in the global supply chain, as China and Russia could leverage their influence with third parties to limit the access of political enemies to vital resources.

You need systems in place for, No. 1, threat awareness, and No. 2, anomaly detection, he said. One of the great benefits of AI and machine learning is anomaly detection.

Johnson used the example of the SolarWinds attack, wherein threat actors pushed out a bad update to thousands of system users by getting into and co-opting a legitimate update service, thus disrupting supply chains in a manner that directly affected the U.S. government.

To that end, he said new technologies would need to be constantly reevaluated for security and that a professional and legal culture would need to develop to become more accepting of finding, acknowledging, and ultimately repairing the damage from breaches and other shortcomings.

Every invention since fire has been used by good guys and bad guys, in war, and by criminals, Johnson said. That will certainly be the case through the future of supply chain security. Its in every organizations interest to get these issues right.

If you have a system that lies to itself and covers up problems, then youre not going to have a good enterprise; youre not going to have a thriving sector.
Complete Intolerance of Opposing Ideas: University Minister

Calling out British institutions for fostering a complete intolerance of opposing ideas, Minister of State for Higher and Further Education Michelle Donelan says there is a need for common sense as she pushed forward for legislation with teeth for free speech at universities.

Talking at an event held by the major British conservative think tank Policy Exchange, Donelan was referring to Januarys news that JK Rowlings first Harry Potter book had been given a trigger warning by the University of Chesters English Department to students over difficult conversations about gender, race, sexuality, class, and identity.

Harry Potter is actually a childrens book. Fundamentally it is probably a multimillion-pound industry that has been franchised into films. To say that we need to protect some of our brightest and our best from the likes of Harry Potter is to not only do our universities a disservice but to do our students a disservice, said Donelan.

Donelan added that students have to be able to live in the real world once they graduate university.

There are no trigger warnings every day as you operate. Ive not met students who have called for these trigger warnings either. They are not the issues that students are bringing up to me theyre bringing up sexual harassment, theyre bringing up antisemitism, she said.

Donelan said that it also makes you question whether they are getting their priorities right as some universities have not yet signed up to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism but have rather focused on trigger warnings on content.

It was also claimed that academics are self-censoring themselves in a climate that has seen an upsurge in physical threats and a complete intolerance of opposing ideas with graduates expected to lose out over the long term.

Who would you rather employan inquisitive, critical, open-minded graduate, or a self-contained cookie-cutter graduate who is afraid to be challenged or confront new ideas? said Donelan.

Figures provided by Policy Exchange polling showed that 32 percent of academics identifying as right-wing had refrained from airing their views in teaching or research. Fifteen percent identifying as politically centrist or left-wing also reported self-censoring.

Vice-chancellors, academics, and students should not allow the history books to record your name as part of the small cabal of the intolerant, she said, adding that professors have been harangued and hounded just for doing their jobs and prominent, well-respected guests no-platformed.

She added that supporting free speech is no longer enough and it is something that has to be actively defended.

The Conservative government has introduced legislation targeting cancel culture in UK universities, which would include the appointment of official free speech tsars on each campus. The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill tightens existing legislation to make the promotion of free speech a statutory duty. This means that if universities fail to uphold free speech, they could be taken to court.

The Bill has been carried over to the next session of Parliament as the government has run out of time to pass it into law.

Unless we have legislation with teeth free speech at universitieswhich is so importantcannot be protected. That is why we are going forward with our Bill, she said. She added that she expects the House of Lords will have a lot to say on this subject but that the Bill is less about what happens in Parliament than a culture change that will reverberate through the sector.

PA Media contributed to this report.
COVID Vaccine Injury Reporting: Logic and Ethics Out the Window, BC Doctor Laments

Group creates reporting system independent from government, citing lack of trust in current system

Canadas health-care system is not properly tracking COVID vaccine injuries, a B.C. family doctor says, and he is discouraged because his efforts to report and investigate the side effects seen in his patients have been ignored, he says.

Dr. Charles Hoffe, based in Lytton, a village 260 km northeast of Vancouver, garnered publicity after he wrote an open letter in April 2021 to B.C.s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry highlighting what he said were serious side effects in his small community from the Moderna COVID vaccine, along with the challenges he faced getting feedback from the Ministry of Health.

I had just tried to report the vaccine injuries in my own patients and Ive sort of given up, I got so despondent, he told The Epoch Times. They just arbitrarily decide this is a coincidence without ever having examined the patient.

Dr. Hoffe said this is the opposite of what one would expect from medical authorities for such a novel treatment.

The fact that the vaccines are experimental should mean they should be very, very vigilant about any possible adverse effect. You should have a much higher index of suspicion of harm from an experimental treatment than from something else thats been around for years, he said.

But it was exactly the opposite. In Canada, they would say theres no way of proving this is from the vaccine networks and it cant be from the vaccine. So they sort of gave this special dispensation of confidence to these vaccines that theyve never given to any other medical treatment before. Logic and ethics have just gone out the window.

The BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), for its part, says that post-marketing vaccine surveillance of safety on a population level is needed to help ensure vaccine safety and that such a system is in place for the COVID-19 vaccine.

In a statement to The Epoch Times, the centre said health-care professionals are required to report any serious events (i.e. requiring hospitalization or resulting in disability or death), any events that require urgent medical attention, any usual or unexpected event, and any clusters of events.

The BCCDC touted its one-page reporting form for COVID-19 vaccine adverse reactions to simplify reporting for doctors, and a provincial database to help the centre gather and identify patterns and other concerns and take action if needed.

The centre also said it files weekly reports to the Canadian Adverse Events Following Immunization Surveillance System, which is part of the Public Health Agency of Canada, and participates in weekly meetings with federal and provincial counterparts to review analyses of reported events and share information on new findings from the international vaccine safety network.

And to reassure parents, Canada has a pediatric, hospital-based surveillance system called IMPACT that monitors adverse vaccine reactions in children at a national level, the statement said,.

It Should Be Investigated

Max Daigle, spurred by similar stories in his native New Brunswick, shared Dr. Hoffes frustration, so he decided to do something about it.

Daigle created a vaccine injury reporting system for his province last December, and soon expanded it for all of Canada. After consulting with the Canadian Covid Care Alliance, he created the Canadian Adverse Event Reporting System (CAERS).

We hear about stories of under-reporting and medical doctors filing a report and then it getting denied by public health, Daigle told The Epoch Times.

If the family decided to report, then it would go up to public health. And then if [public health] decided to deny it, there was no investigation to see if the symptoms are possibly related to the inoculation for COVID-19.

Daigle cited the Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act, also called Vanessas Law. In particular, hes concerned about how the government and medical system may be disregarding one of the key parts of the actenabling the government to require strong surveillance, including mandatory adverse drug reaction reporting by health-care institutions.

Its a red flag to say something changed in their environment, they have certain symptoms, and it should be investigated, Daigle said.

Daigle says CAERS has a team of health-care practitioners from across Canada who follow up with individuals filing submissions and evaluate the claims.

But CAERS wont disclose who is part of its organization.

We wish it would be safer to have a difference of opinion and choice towards our civil liberties, but trust in government and media is currently lacking. We will not disclose any information regarding who works with CAERS until that bridge of trust is present, the group states on its website.

Dr. Hoffe was removed from hospital duty in May 2021 after speaking out about COVID vaccine side effects.

Daigle said that Vanessas Law, passed in 2014, basically states that any possible adverse event must be reported. The important words in there are must and possible. If [public health authorities] deny it, they should be able to prove it with a source that its not related to the inoculation. So right there, theyre not doing their job.
By Erin Booke

From The Dallas Morning News

DALLASRakkasan Tea Co., a veteran-owned business located in Old East Dallas, is expanding beyond its primary loose-leaf tea mission.

The company was founded in 2017 by Brandon Friedman and Terrence TK Kamauf, who served together in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s. RTC, which aims to promote peace and economic development in post-conflict countries, offers more than 40 premium loose-leaf teas from places like Vietnam, Laos, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Rwanda and Myanmar.

A sign in the front window announces the opening of Rakkasan Teas new brick-and-mortar storefront Friday, April 23, 2021, in Dallas. After gaining an appreciation for tea while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, Kamauf and fellow US Army veteran Brandon Friedman started Rakkasan Tea in 2017 to sell loose-leaf tea sourced from post-conflict countries. (Jeffrey McWhorter/Dallas Morning News/TNS)

But this month, theyve added something new: 15-count boxes of biodegradable tea sachets that appeal to the more casual, on-the-go tea drinker. Friedman says the sachets are a new vehicle for growing the company and introducing tea to more Americans.

Dallas-based Rakkasan Tea adds tea bags to their lineup. (Rakkasan Tea/TNS)

Weve always wanted to grow and have more impact, Friedman says. Weve not seen a loose-leaf tea company be able to scale. They will eventually hit a wall.

There are two sachet tea options  Rakkasan Black and English Breakfast  and both are sourced from the same tea suppliers that RTC currently works with. The English Breakfast blend comes from tea grown in volcanic soil in Rwanda, and the Rakkasan Black is a bold tea grown in Bangladesh. Both come in pyramid sachets made of biodegradable plant-based Soilon mesh. Friedman also likes the pyramid bags because the additional space inside allows for the use of higher-grade tea.

Canisters of Rakkasan Tea sit in front of photos of tea growers from the countries where the tea was sourced Friday, April 23, 2021, at the companys new brick-and-mortar store, in Dallas. (Jeffrey McWhorter/Dallas Morning News/TNS)

It can be tough for specialty tea businesses to grow and expand, as profit margins can be low. Its an operation, and its expensive, Friedman says of sourcing premium tea from small farmers overseas. But RTC has methodically grown over the last five years, adding teaware and mugs, expanding to a retail storefront in 2021, and hiring a fellow veteran, Lance John, who also served in the U.S. Armys 101st Airborne Division.

During the pandemic, RTC received financial aid from the federal Paycheck Protection Program and a COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the Small Business Administration, part of which they used to invest in marketing. The company was recently nominated for Best Innovative Marketing Campaign of 2021 at the World Tea Conference and Expo, alongside companies like Harney & Sons and The Republic of Tea. RTC partnered with veteran-owned ad agency Diesel Jack Media to produce the Tea So Good You Wont Throw it in the Harbor campaign. The nomination is a sign weve grown from a small Dallas startup to one that competes with North American tea industry giants in terms of how tea is marketed and sold to Americans, Friedman says.

TK Kamauf holds a Rakkasan Tea branded tea cup on April 23, 2021, at the companys new brick-and-mortar store, in Dallas. (Jeffrey McWhorter/Dallas Morning News/TNS)

And while RTC has focused on e-commerce and direct-to-consumer online sales for their loose-leaf tea across the country and beyond, the new tea sachets are designed for retail stores and for the Dallas-area customer. We think we can reach a lot more people in the Dallas community, Friedman says.

The company is currently looking for placements in retail stores and local groceries, but for now customers can find the new product at the Rakkasan Tea store in Dallas or online at rakkasantea.com.

2022 The Dallas Morning News. Visit dallasnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
DeSantis Fears Blue State Voters Could Begin Fleeing to Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis said hes worried that residents and companies from California are moving to Florida, which may impact the local politics of his state.

There is cause for concern, DeSantis said at an event on Monday about the phenomenon. Texas would have all these companies moved from California over the years. So youd have companies move from San Francisco to Austin, and theyd bring hundreds of employees with them. And those employees would vote the exact same way they voted that turned San Francisco into the dumpster fire that it is.

Should California voters move to Florida en masse, DeSantis said he is worried that they would not make a connection between leftist policies and some of the issues that, according to him, have been plaguing California.

They will not draw the connection between their leftist ideology and the destruction thats all around them, the Florida Republican said. It is a problem because I do think theres a class of voters who would come to Florida, and they would continue to vote the same way.

In recent years, some technology companies have moved from Californias Bay Area to Texas due to a variety of issues. One of the highest-profile movers was Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who moved from California to Texas in 2021. The company has yet to move to the state, although the electric car manufacturer has invested in a facility in Austin, the state capital.

Last week, DeSantis signed a bill into law that dissolved Disneys special governing status on a sprawling, 25,000-acre parcel of land near Orlando amid a public policy spat over a parental rights bill backed by the governor that Disney weighed in on.

During the signing event, the governor criticized Disney after its CEO, Bob Chapek, criticized the parental rights billwhich prohibits teachers from instructing very young children on gender ideologies and sexual orientationand said Disney would work to have it revoked. The company said the parental rights bill should never have passed and should never have been signed into law, and said it has a goal to have the law struck down.

DeSantis has expressed alarm at Disney getting actively involved in the states politics while noting the multinational media conglomerate has said nothing about the Chinese Communist Party, one of the most significant violators of human rights in the world, as it continues to operate theme parks and sell products in China. Disneys 2020 live action remake of childrens film Mulan drew controversy because the movie was filmed, in part, in Xinjiang Autonomous Region in light of the Uyghur genocide and concentration camps across the area.
Gwinnett County workers begin their recount of the ballots in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Nov. 13, 2020. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

Filmmaker: Documentary Proves Rampant Illegal Vote Trafficking in 2020

Filmmaker Dinesh DSouza believes that evidence presented in his new documentary, 2000 Mules, proves that large-scale, illegal vote trafficking occurred in the 2020 election.

DSouza told The Epoch Times: 2000 Mules will settle the issue beyond a shadow of a doubt by using two powerful, independent modes of investigation. The evidence is so conclusive, so decisive, that it leaves nothing to argue about.

The film opens in 300 theaters on May 2 and May 4.

DSouza, who is a contributor to The Epoch Times, said an investigative team used cellphone tracking and video footage to prove that unauthorized intermediaries called mules collected thousands of absentee ballots from voters and deposited them in drop boxes for money, which is illegal in all 50 states.

Cellphones emit a unique and identifiable signal or ping. Trillions of pings were analyzed by investigators to reconstruct the movements of thousands of mules as they went about their work in the weeks prior to the 2020 presidential election, the documentary claims.

Who would have ever thought that investigators could look back in time and discover such things? DSouza said.

Investigators also sifted through millions of minutes of video surveillance footage and were able to capture on tape numerous mules stuffing absentee ballot drop boxes, DSouza said. The videos show the mules taking selfies of themselves as proof of services rendered to their employers in order to be paid, he said.

Not all the drop boxes were under video surveillance, but enough were to provide incontrovertible evidence, much obtained from government entities, he said. 2000 Mules contains a lot of never-before-seen footage depicting glove-wearing mules moving from county to county delivering absentee ballots to drop boxes, often in the dead of night.

Much of the film focuses on the state of Georgia, where, according to True the Votethe organization that conducted the investigations242 metro Atlanta mules made 5,668 stops at drop boxes during elections in late 2020.

Similar illegal activities were found in Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Michigan, according to the group. True the Vote estimates that at least 4.8 million votes were trafficked nationally. The studies were funded by the human rights organization First Freedoms.

Election fraud has been committed by both parties throughout U.S. history, and therefore cannot be considered abnormal, DSouza said. The Democrats have a particular history of committing specialized election fraud in urban areas.

The COVID-19 pandemic created an opportunity to do fraud on a scale not imagined before. The avalanche of absentee ballots sent out and the drop boxes presented much greater opportunity.

DSouza said hes worried about the Democrats push to centralize how elections are conducted at both the state and national levels.

A united Republican opposition is the only thing thwarting Biden, Pelosi, and the Democrats from enacting their plans, he said. Across America, the Democrats are trying to get rid of election security measures imposed by the states. They want to legalize fraud.

The infusion of private money to help pay for elections is something DSouza finds very disturbing.

The money is largely coming from nonprofits funded by billionaires like Zuckerberg. They pose as politically neutral, which they are not.

Localities were pressured by the nonprofits to have things like drop boxes as a condition for receiving millions of dollars in grant funding.

DSouza said that in November 2020, nonprofits paid for programs and advertising that actively encouraged certain people to come out and vote.

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Financial Services Committee in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 23, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

According to the Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life, the money was given to help municipalities cope with public health challenges presented by the pandemic.

Through the movie 2000 Mules, we are taking on the ultimate taboo in American politics todaysaying that the 2020 election was stolen by systematic, organized fraud committed by the Democrats and the left, DSouza told The Epoch Times.

Mindful of the power of cancel culture, DSouza said great care has been taken to release the film on what he calls un-cancellable platforms.

Its hard to believe we have reached that point in America, but alas, we have, he said.

While I was a writer or a figure in a think-tank, I wasnt bothered much. It was when I began to reach a wider audience that I became a political target.

When asked why hes willing to subject himself to possible cancellation, DSouza said, I am defending the system which made it possible for an immigrant from India, a boy at the bottom, to make my way upa system that makes this kind of upward economic and social mobility possible.

DSouza has produced numerous documentaries, three of which are ranked in the top 10 highest-grossing political documentaries of all time.
John Durham speaks to reporters on the steps of U.S. District Court in New Haven, Conn., on April 25, 2006. (Bob Child/AP Photo)

Durham Should Have Enough to Pursue Conspiracy Charges, but Might Not: Former FBI Agent

Special counsel John Durham may have sufficient grounds to seek charges against multiple parties for conspiracy to lie to the government, although he may refrain from doing so, according to a former FBI special agent and federal prosecutor.

Durham is already saying there was a joint venture between various parties, including agents of the 2016 presidential campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the lawyers retained by the campaign, and their associates and subcontractors. The goal of the venture was to collect dirt in 2016 on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in order to help Clinton. That isnt illegal.

Durham also has outlined evidence that suggests he may in the future charge that a part of the venture was to peddle the dirt to the U.S. government with the understanding that liesat least lies by omissionwould be told during this process. That could be a criminal conspiracy. Yet whether such charges are forthcoming doesnt depend only on whether a law was technically broken, according to Marc Ruskin, a former FBI special agent and assistant district attorney.

I think that a strong argument can be made that there would be sufficient justification for a conspiracy charge and that it shouldnt be a surprise if one is brought. But also, there are a lot of  strategic factors that go into a determination by a prosecutor as to what charges to make, he told The Epoch Times.

If Durham, for example, intends on pursuing more serious charges or expects to have a more solid footing on a different charge, he may avoid bringing lesser or weaker charges that may prove to be a distraction, Ruskin said.

Durham has so far brought three indictments, one of which resulted in a guilty plea. He hasnt charged conspiracy, which is a federal felony with penalties depending on the seriousness of the underlying crime.

Criminal conspiracy is legally defined rather differently than how people may understand the term colloquially, Ruskin noted. The government only needs sufficient circumstantial evidence that at least two people had an understanding that they would do something that violates federal law. But they dont actually have to follow all the way through on breaking the law. At a minimum, only one of them needs to perform an overt act in furtherance of the plan.

Meanwhile, the crime of lying to the government could also be interpreted broadly. One needs to tell a government official performing his official duties something thats not true and thats material, meaning it would have a natural tendency to affect how the government performs its duties, even if the lie doesnt result in such a change. The lie doesnt necessarily need to be explicit. It could be a lie by omission, Ruskin explained, although he acknowledged such an interpretation would depend on the specific facts of a case.

That suggests Durham wouldnt even need to prove that the Clinton operatives lied. He would need to prove that they had an understanding that they would be providing information in a way that would mislead the government.

There are some indices to this effect already on record.

Durham has charged cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann, who in 2016 was working on behalf of the Clinton campaign, with lying about his motivation for bringing information to the FBI.

In September 2016, Sussmann met with the FBIs then-General Counsel James Baker and gave him reports and data supposedly showing nefarious electronic communications between the Trump Organization and Russias Alfa Bank.

Before the meeting, Sussmann emailed Baker explicitly saying he wasnt going there representing any client. But in actuality, he was billing the time to the Clinton campaign.

The FBI determined the data didnt show any nefarious communication.

Durham has said the researchers who analyzed the data as part of the alleged venture were asked to support an inference and narrative tying Trump to Russia. It appears one of the researchers praised the draft report for concealing its apparent flaws.

A DNS expert would poke several holes to this hypothesis (primarily around visibility, about which very smartly you do not talk about). That being said, I do not think even the top security (non-DNS) researchers can refute your statements. Nice! the researcher wrote in an email to Rodney Joffe, head of several cybersecurity companies, who produced the report and provided it to Sussmann (pdf).

Durham also pointed out that Sussmann and his clients had a compelling motive  to conceal the identities of such clients and origins of the joint venture because of the political nature of the exercise and the numerous doubts that the researchers had about the soundness of their conclusions.

What could seal the deal for Durham would be some communication between the parties in the venture indicating that more than one of them had an understanding that they would give information to the government, but wouldnt tell the whole story, knowingly misleading the government.

The problem is that the accused parties claim that their internal communications are covered by attorneyclient privilege and work product privilege. They say the reason that Sussmanns then-employer, law firm Perkins Coie, was hired by the Clinton campaign was to offer legal advice, including advice on potential defamation lawsuits brought by Trump against the campaign. As such, they needed to compile facts about Trump so they would be sure that what they say about him during the campaign was accurate.

However, Durham isnt buying it. Hes argued that the venture collected info on Trump primarily not to aid a legal analysis, but to disseminate the information with little regard for supposed confidentiality.

In particular, one party to the ventureopposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was hired by Perkins Coie to look into Trumpdisplayed none of the caution or markers of confidentiality that would typically accompany a legal effort to assess or avoid liability for libel or defamation, Durhams team said in an April 26 court filing (pdf).

The parties privilege theory here is akin to claiming that a homeowner pursued legal advice regarding noise complaints by having his lawyer hire a marching band to perform in his backyard, the filing says.

Durham is asking U.S. District Judge Christopher Reid Cooper for the District of Columbia to privately review a few dozen supposedly privileged emails to determine if they are indeed privileged. If they arent, these documents and potentially many others should be provided to prosecutors.

The Sussmann trial is scheduled for mid-May. He has pleaded not guilty.

Durham was tasked around MarchMay 2019 with reviewing the 20162017 FBI investigation of alleged collusion between candidate and later President Donald Trump and Russia to sway the 2016 election. No such collusion was found.

In October 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr appointed Durham as special counsel. In February 2021, Durham resigned his position as a federal prosecutor and has continued the investigation in the sole capacity of special counsel.
In Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida, local chefs, conservationists, marine biologists, and tourism officials are working to turn an environmental threat into culinary and recreational gold

Can you make a silk purse from a sows ear?

The citizens of Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida, are trying. In this case, the dubious item is no part of a pig, but an invasive, rapacious Asian fish that has mushroomed along both coasts of Florida, across the Caribbean, and into the Atlantic as far south as Brazilthe lionfish.

Lionfish reproduce exponentially. They gobble up multitudes of fish a day. Their voracious behavior is threatening the native fish stocks and reef life of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. They have no natural predators.

And theyre really good to eat.

Definitely a silver lining, right? observed Parker Destin, local restaurateur, community leader, and a sixth-generation descendant of the settler whose name the city bears.

Lionfish is one of the best flaky white fish you could serve on your dinner plate, Destin continued. If I could have it on the menu every day, I would. A literal fish-to-table experience. Take something bad and make it into something good.

A Difficult Catch

Ah, if only things were that easy: Wiping out an invasive species by culinary action. Eat em to beat em urges a slogan that apparently originated in Bermuda.

But lionfish cuisine presents several problems. First and foremost, they are not simple to harvest and thus do not readily lend themselves to commercial fishing. As solitary reef predators, hook-and-line wont workthink Ive seen a lionfish on the line twice in 10 years, reported another area restaurateur and wholesale fishmonger, Eddie Morgan. They are not school fish, so netting and trawling not only wouldnt work, it would damage seabeds and reefs.

The only practical way to harvest lionfish is by handspearfishing. Doing so requires scuba and spearfishing gear, which are not bargain items. Diving is no walk in the park. And a special bonus issue: Lionfish have venomous spines, complicating the process of cleaning your catch. (Best to snip them off with scissors.) Last but not least, divers can catch, kill, and cook however many lionfish they liketheres no limitbut to sell them, such as to Destins restaurant, requires a Florida commercial sale license. Its only $50, but still one more obstacle.

DFWBs answer is to try to make the problem a visitor attraction: Lure tourists to the area for lionfish hunting. Thus Destins annual Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Tournament, to be held this year, its third, on May 13 and 14. Tourism officials, chefs and restaurant operators, and conservationists all hope hundreds of divers will descend on local waters and snag as many lionfish as they can.

The most prolific spearfisher gets a trophy and $10,000; theres also a $5,000 prize for the biggest fish, which usually weighs in between 3 and 4 pounds. The week leading up to the tournament, May 814, six local restaurants will feature lionfish on their menus, largely using fish caught during a pre-tournament event that has brought spearfishers to northeast Florida since early February. Last year, the event drew 100 spearfishing participants and 7,000 people to the accompanying festival, and eradicated 14,000 lionfish.

Working Up an Appetite

Few if any invasive species anywhere on Earth have been erased from their new ranges, and attempts to control them have sometimes gone grievously wrong. Precious few others are edible, let alone delicious. Lionfish is a rarity: invasive but useable.

Though just mid-size18 inchesmature lionfish are conspicuous, with vividly patterned long fins jutting out at all anglesthe reason for the problem in the first place. Like so many invasives (usually plants), lionfish were and still are sold to Americans for decorative purposesin this case, in aquariums.

Sometime in the 1980s, not long after they first appeared in the Western Hemisphere, they began to show up in Southeast saltwaters, meaning aquarium owners had for whatever reason tossed them into local streams, or even just flushed them down the toilet. As Michael Crichton memorably put it in Jurassic Park, life finds a way, and this form of life was soon out of control, gobbling up young native grouper, snapper, flounder, and other prime Atlantic fish species.

We arent hoping to wipe out lionfish; thats impossible, conceded Alex Fogg, a marine biologist whos working with the areas tourism bureau. But dedicated harvesting can definitely have a beneficial impact in localized areas, helping native fishes recover, and if we manage that, great.

So how do you cook it, assuming you happen to have a platter of lionfish filets? Destin and Morgan report it is great simply grilled, deep-fried, or pan-roasted. Morgan likens it to cod or haddock, cold-water flaky white fish.

Makes great sushi, too, he added; his Harbor Docks restaurant includes a sushi bar. We do face some resistance from customers due to unfamiliarity, but if you can get them to try it, they love it.

As Alex Fogg declares, we can combat invasive species and put yummy fish on the table. Whats not to like?

If You Go: Emerald Coast Open

Eat em to Beat em: The week leading up to the tournament, May 814, is the Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Restaurant Week. Six local restaurants will feature lionfish in unique dishes on their menus.

The Mane Event: The main tournament takes place Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14. Organizers hope for as many as 200 participants.

Festive Lionizing: The Lionfish Awareness and Removal Day Festival, held May 14 and 15, brings thousands to the waterfront at HarborWalk Village in Destin. Music, lionfish tastings, filleting demonstrations, and more will be on offer from 50 vendors and organizations.

And the Winner Is: The final weigh-in takes place on Sunday, May 15 at 11 a.m. at HarborWalk Village. Will the biggest of all become instant sushi, or fish and chips? Only the winner knows.

EmeraldCoastOpen.com
Omar Mohammed and his daughter at the Shen Yun Performing Arts matinee performance at Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, in Edmonton, on April 24, 2022. (Sunny Chen/The Epoch Times)

EDMONTON, CanadaPediatric dentist Omar Mohammad called Shen Yun Performing Arts wonderful, very well put together, and multitiered. He attended the performance with his daughter on the afternoon of April 24.

Its very captivating visually, both the sound and the music,  and choreographyeverything all together, Mr. Mohammad said.

Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance and music company championing Chinese culture as it was before communism. It tours the globe each year from its home base of New York. Through story dances as well as folk and ethnic dance, Shen Yun transports audiences to different eras and regions of China.

China has a very long history of culture, and that should never be forgotten. Its not just one culture; there are multiple cultures within China itself, that all come together to make China great, said. Mr. Mohammad.

Shen Yun also highlights some of the faith traditions that have accompanied Chinese people throughout their history. Mr. Mohammed enjoyed the scenes of salvation portrayed in the show. He felt that despite the suppression of belief in modern China, the Chinese people will make sure that their traditions live on.

I think cultures and anything with passion will always come through if anybody wants to stop it, he said.

Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Companys curtain call at Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, in Edmonton, on April 24, 2022. (Hugh/NTD)

Psychologist Christina Devulyte was glad to be back in the theater after the pandemic. It was her fourth Shen Yun performance. She returns year after year to see the all-new program that comes every year.

Its so wonderful to be back in the live theater, and to see such an amazing performance, she said.

Ms. Devulyte said she loved the beauty of the dances and how the dancers interacted with Shen Yuns patented digital backdrop.

And the live orchestra, of course, its beautiful, she said. We enjoyed everythingthe dances, the stories, the message, the message behind that, understanding that the show is not possible in the communist China nowadays. So were very fortunate to watch it.

She regarded the experience as a boost for personal health.

Its very important for our self-care, for our mental well-being, Ms. Devulyte said.

I would say attending live performances is a very important part of our self-care, something thats important for us to do in order to be able to function.

She called it one way of healing.

When people struggle with depression, one thing that we always ask them to do is identify pleasurable activities that carry meaning for you, and try to book them and try to attend them, no matter if youre busy with other times, she explained.

So its a matter of making the time for attending a performance and finding that piece of self-soothing and self-care in our busy daily lives.

Reporting by Sunny Chen, Gary Bai, and Maple Lynn.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the start of the production at Teslas Gigafactory in Berlin on March 22, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)

Elon Musk Reveals More Details of His Plans for Twitter After Buyout

Elon Musk revealed more details of what he has in mind for changes at Twitter after it was confirmed that the company had accepted his buyout offer, with the tech moguls plans including new features and ways to enhance trust in the platform.

Twitters board of directors said on April 25 that it had approved Musks offer to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, in a deal worth around $44 billion.

The buyout represents a 38 percent premium over Twitters closing stock price on April 1, with Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter, saying in a statement that he believes the deal is the best path forward for Twitters stockholders.

Bedrock of a Functioning Democracy

In a statement, Musk provided some details about what kind of changes he has in mind for the social media platform, whose commitment to free speech he has repeatedly called into question.

Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated, Musk said. This dovetails with his earlier statements that Twitter functions as a de facto town square where important conversations should be able to take place with as few constraints as possible.

Musk said Monday that Twitter has tremendous potential and that he wants to work with the company and its users to unlock and make the platform better than ever.

He said he plans on enhancing Twitter with new features, which he did not provide further details on. Musk earlier created a Twitter poll asking users if they want an edit button on the platform, suggesting that this could be one of the changes he is seeking to effect.

Musk also said on Monday he wants to make the platforms algorithms open source to increase trust, while defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans.

This, too, reinforces his earlier remarks that his objective in seeking to buy Twitter and turn it into a private company was to transform it into a bastion of free speech by opening up its algorithm to public scrutiny and by making its moderation policies more transparent.

Black Box Algorithm

A self-described free speech absolutist, Musk told the audience at a recent TED event in Vancouver, Canada, that Twitter should permit unconstrained expression, though it should do so in line with the law.

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 shouting fire in a crowded theater.

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, Musk 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, he added.

Err on Side of Free Speech

Musk also expressed reluctance about permanent bans of users from Twitter, preferring instead temporary time-outs.

Im not saying that I have all the answers here, Musk said at the TED talk. But I do think that we want to be just very reluctant to delete things, just be very cautious with permanent bans. Timeouts I think are better than permanent bans.

In terms of calibrating Twitters moderation policies, Musk said hed want to err on the side of free speech.

If in doubt, let the speech, let it exist, Musk said. If its a grey area, I would say let the tweet exist. But obviously in a case where theres perhaps a lot of controversy, that you would not want to necessarily promote that tweet.

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.

We Are Concerned

Musk has repeatedly questioned Twitters commitment to free speech, after accusations that the platform suppressed some minority and politically conservative viewpoints, claims Twitter has denied.

Many free speech advocates have hailed Musks takeover bid, while those opposed have expressed fear that fewer constraints on expression on Twitter will make it too easy to abuse the platforms reach and power by, for example, spreading disinformation.

In a series of tweets reacting to Musks takeover moves, Amnesty International expressed concern about the erosion of policies meant to protect users.

We are concerned with any steps that Twitter might take to erode enforcement of the policies and mechanisms designed to protect users, Amnesty International wrote.

The last thing we need is a Twitter that wilfully turns a blind eye to violent and abusive speech against users, the group said.

As it was confirmed Musk would purchase Twitter, the Tesla founder urged his worst critics to stay on the platform.

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means, he wrote in a Twitter post.

Dan Ives, an analyst at investment firm Wedbush Securities, told the BBC that he expects most users will take a wait-and-see approach on whether they stay or leave the platform, based on the changes that take place.

Now its about courting new users and stopping defectors from the platform, Ives told the outlet.
Elon Musk Twitter Buyout Prompts Polarized Reactions

Twitter announced on Monday that it had reached a final agreement to be acquired by Elon Musk for approximately $44 billion, prompting mixed reactions as users prepare for a new content moderation policy.

The new announcement concludes a three-week saga of Musks total acquisition of the social media corporation, which began on April 4 when Musk announced that he had personally acquired a 9.1 percent stake in Twitter Inc.

After declining an offer to join Twitters Board of Directors, which would limit his stake in the company to 14.9 percent, Musk made his final offer to buy the company outright.

Throughout the acquisition process, Musk has positioned himself as a principled free speech ideologue, motivated more by his vision for an open information platform than by financial interests.

Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated, Musk said in a statement. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potentialI look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.

Musks buyout of the platform has been welcomed by many conservatives, hopeful that the new leadership will allow for the reinstatement of former President Donald Trumps oft-discussed Twitter account. However, this same hope has alarmed Trump critics, who fear that the reinstatement of the former presidents account will be an asset to him in the upcoming presidential elections.

When asked about the Twitter buyout, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, No matter who owns or runs Twitter, the president has long been concerned about the power of large social media platforms [President Biden] has long argued that tech platforms must be held accountable for the harms they cause.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem responded to news of the deal by welcoming the company to move to her state. [I]f Twitter is in need of a new HQ, South Dakota is open for business, she said.

The acquisition has given hope to all manner of political dissidents that the new Twitter could serve as a welcoming space for critics of the social and political orthodoxy, allowing for the free expression of views that have heretofore been subject to censorship and suppression.

It goes without saying that a monopoly social-media platform not beholden to the prestige media and its single synoptic perspective would be a source of enormous power that could create all kinds of tactical and strategic victories, writes tech entrepreneur and political theorist Curtis Yarvin.

At the same time, Musks critics and proponents of the status quo Twitter moderation policy have reacted with fear and hostility to the prospect of Musks proposed reforms. Several prominent journalists, many possessing the infamous blue checkmark of Twitters verified users, have contemplated leaving platform if Musk acquires it, raising the prospect of a mass exodus of journalists, politicians, and celebrities from the site.

If you get invited to something where there are no rules, where there is total freedom for everybody, do you actually want to go to that party or are you going to decide to stay home? And thats a question for Twitter users, CNNs Brian Stelter said. Some Twitter users might love the idea, that theres going to be absolutely no moderation and no rules at all. Others might not want to be anywhere near that.

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., in Los Angeles on Dec. 3, 2019. (Apu Gomes/Getty Images)

However, despite Stelters framing of the issue, Musk has not promised a total absence of moderation on the site. It is telling that even Yarvin, who welcomes the acquisition as a meaningful opportunity for dissident thought to flourish, quickly dismisses the notion of ending moderation altogether.

It is not enough to say that [Musk] should end censorship,' Yarvin writes. What is the difference between censorship and moderation? Censorship is just bad moderation. If a Musk-owned twitter ended moderation, the results might even be bad enough to destroy a stable monopoly like Twitter. Not much else could.

With the acquisition offer now a settled matter, the only thing that remains is to be seen is how Musk will use his newfound power as the personal owner of Twitter. This new purchase will give Musk an unprecedented, unilateral control over the popular social media site, leaving the future very much undetermined for the bird-branded platform.

Twitter first filed to go public in September 2013, with about 200 million users on the platform at the time. In the ensuing decade, Twitter has enjoyed widespread popularity and particular influence among media and corporate elites, but the company has struggled to translate this success into consistent stock growth or a drastically higher base of active users.

Though Twitters executives attempted to expand the platform with new features, the companys stock showed little long-term growth during its period as a publicly traded company. On April 1, the last day of public trading before Musk announced his 9.1 percent stake, Twitter closed at $39.31 per shareslightly lower than the $40.50 per share Twitter opened with on Nov. 11, 2013. Musk is buying the company at $54.20 per share.
Workers at a factory for Xinwangda Electric Vehicle Battery Co. Ltd, which makes lithium batteries for electric cars and other uses, in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu Province, on March 12, 2021 shows. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Elon Musk Wants Tesla to Mine Lithium Due to 359 Percent Year-on-Year Price Hike

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has proposed that Tesla might have to begin mining lithium, a critical element in electric vehicle batteries, given the skyrocketing prices of the chemical element.

In 2012, a ton of lithium cost $4,450. A decade later, in 2022, the price surged to $78,032 per ton, an increase of more than 1,650 percent. In the single year between 2021 and 2022, prices rose by 359 percent.

Price of lithium has gone to insane levels! Tesla might actually have to get into the mining & refining directly at scale unless costs improve. There is no shortage of the element itself, as lithium is almost everywhere on Earth, but pace of extraction/refinement is slow, Musk said in an April 9 tweet.

High lithium prices forced Tesla to raise vehicle prices in March. In Chinaa major market for electric vehiclesmanufacturers raised EV prices last month.

During Teslas Q1 earnings call on April 20, Musk stated that they are looking carefully at all the raw materials involved in manufacturing car batteries and trying to figure out how to accelerate the total amount of raw materials needed to transition the world to sustainability. Tesla will make some exciting announcements on the matter in the coming months, he added.

Musk encouraged entrepreneurs looking for business opportunities to get into the lithium business. The margins on lithium are now practically software margins, he argued while stating that he has seen cases where spot lithium prices are 10 times higher than the cost of extracting the metal.

Tesla had earlier bought 10,000 acres of lithium-rich clay deposits in Nevada. The company is building a lithium processing plant in Texas, where spodumene concentrate, processed rock containing the metal, will be converted into lithium hydroxide, which is critical in building EV batteries.

Tesla has also entered into supply deals with China-based Ganfeng Lithium Co., the worlds largest lithium metals producer, and Australia-based Core Lithium Ltd and Liontown Resources Ltd.

Joe Lowry, an expert in lithium, believes that the metal will continue to remain in short supply in the coming years, which could mean that prices might continue to remain elevated. As lithium prices spike, so will the cost of electric batteries. This will make it harder for electric cars to achieve price parity with combustion engine cars.

In the next two years, even though there will be significant growth in supply, it will be less than demand, so the gap will just continue to grow, Lowry told Bloomberg.

Its simple math. Its like, the bus in front of me is going 50 miles per hour, Im going 45 mph, but Im saying Im gonna catch it in 2025. I believe there will be a day in the future when lithium is in oversupply, but it wont be in this decade.
Elon Musk's Twitter account is seen on a smartphone in this photo illustration taken on April 15, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Elon Musk Warned by Western Governments Following Twitter Takeover

The European Union and the United Kingdom both issued vague warnings to Tesla CEO Elon Musk on content moderation following his recent takeover of Twitter.

Regardless of ownership, all social media platforms must be responsible, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnsons office told the BBC, without elaborating.

Be it cars or social media, any company operating in Europe needs to comply with our rules  regardless of their shareholding, Thierry Breton, commissioner for the internal market at the EU executive, wrote in a thinly veiled warning on Twitter.

It came about a month after the European Union in late March agreed to new Internet rules to overhaul the digital market, including regulating how Big Tech companies operate.

As Musk confirmed he would be purchasing Twitter for $44 billion, he wrote a statement saying free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. His statement was criticized by left-wing users, who alleged he would be opening up the platform to so-called extremist viewpoints.

Before the deal was officially confirmed Monday, Musk wrote that I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.

During a TED talk earlier this month, Musk said that if there is any doubt about the content, let the speech exist. If its a gray area, I would say, let the tweet exist. But obviously in the case where theres perhaps a lot of controversy, you would not necessarily want to promote that tweet, he said.

Previously, Musk has expressed alarm over Twitters content moderation policies, suggesting theyre tantamount to political censorship.

In recent years, Twitter has fielded criticism from conservatives and others who have said the company has engaged in censoring viewpoints that go against the mainstream.

Notably, former President Donald Trump was suspended from the social media site after the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, coming as Twitter spokespeople claimed he was using the platform to incite violence, although it did not provide evidence for its claims. Months later, skeptics of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, including prominent doctors, were suspended from Twitter as the company alleged they violated its content policies regarding the virus.

On Monday and Tuesday, Internet searches for delete Twitter surged as it was confirmed Elon Musk would purchase the site.

The global Google Trends search for the phrase, delete Twitter, appeared to spike starting on Monday, while several tech websites published articles about how to delete a Twitter account.

Also on Monday, Musk said he would be making Twitters algorithm open-source and enacting policies to curb what he described as automated spam accounts.

The SpaceX founder also said he wants to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features that includes authenticating all humans.

After Twitters board said Musk would purchase the site, its not clear what the next steps are, or if current CEO Parag Agrawal will remain with the company.
The Twitter profile of Elon Musk with more than 80 million followers is shown on a computer in Chicago on April 25, 2022. (Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Elon Musks Twitter: Whats Next for the Social Network?

Twitters Board of Directors officially accepted Elon Musks offer of $54.20 per share in cash, valuing the company at around $44 billion. The deal would allow Musk to take the 16-year-old social media platform private and implement a wide range of changes to the struggling tech firm.

There are still many hurdles to overcome for the transaction to be completed. It will be difficult to ascertain how long the regulatory process will take, while experts expect that it will likely be a few weeks before the stock is delisted on the New York Stock Exchange.

Looking ahead, investors, market analysts, and users have plenty of questions regarding the future of the de facto public town square.

Who Will Lead Twitter 2.0?

Will Musk keep Parag Agrawal as CEO, or will he appoint a new CEO? What about the Board of Directors?

Musk has been highly critical of Agrawal since being chosen to succeed co-founder Jack Dorsey. In December, he shared a meme that compared Agrawal taking the reins from Dorsey and Josef Stalins censors removing Soviet secret police official Nikolai Yezhov from photographic records.

Agrawal, who could receive $42 million if he is terminated from his position, was short in his remarks following the deal announcement.

Parag Agrawal poses for a picture in a file photo. (Ellian Raffoul/Twitter via AP)

Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world, he said. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.

Regarding the rest of the workforce, Elon Musk will need to determine a different structure for employee compensation since stock grants and rewards are not feasible. There is some speculation that staff members could be given equity in the next incarnation of Twitter, which would be beneficial if the tech firm goes public again.

In addition, should Musk dismantle many of the content-moderation policies, many employees might no longer be needed.

The next stage is determining how much control Musk will have over Twitter and whether he can navigate through the murky waters of social media, says Eric Dahan, CEO at Open Influence, a marketing company focused on social media platforms.

Even though Twitter has been around forever, Musk is bringing a lot of hype to it, he told The Epoch Times. The question is, can Elon innovate from a social standpoint and build features that are going to increase user engagement and usage in general on the platform?

What would some of these business strategies be with Musk at the helm?

New Twitter Possibilities

Dahan explained that social media platforms need to keep users regularly engaged and interact with one another. He notes that outlets that generate tremendous buzz and hype in the beginning can quickly fade without this tactic in place.

In a way, Twitter needs to emulate TikTok by making it more engaging and simple to use, argues Chris Tompkins, the CEO and founder of The Go! Agency, a digital marketing firm.

They need to get more people active. Twenty-five percent of Twitter users are responsible for 97 percent of the posts. For a platform that thrives on volume, it doesnt look like engagement is that important, he told The Epoch Times.

TikTok, for example, has nailed it by making it fun and simple for people to join and stay engaged, he explained.

The number of people who start using Twitter could determine the next big step in the platforms rebirth.

Since Musk has become the new owner of Twitter, there has been an exceptional expectation of returning free speech to the platform, says Jeff Brain, the CEO of CloutHub, a platform that defines itself as a non-biased social network.

But what does this entail exactly?

Its perhaps returning accounts that have been banned for reasons that they shouldnt have been, Brain told The Epoch Times. The other thing is loosening the rules about whats allowed and whats not allowed and being consistent in those rules.

That said, even if the billionaire entrepreneur fails to revitalize Twitter, Tompkins thinks some of Musks influence could potentially construct a more engaged platform that people will want to engage with, not just scroll endlessly.

What Wall Street Says

Today, Twitter still functions as a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. Investors can purchase shares for about $50 and buy and sell until the deal is finalized and the stock is delisted.

In addition to what investors can or cannot do, what does Wall Street say about the Musk-Twitter saga?

We expect Musk to face some scrutiny in the media and from regulators regarding his plans to significantly ease content moderation on the platform, wrote Ali Mogharabi, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, in a research note. While the deal is likely to go through, the market may be pricing in such a risk, as the stock is trading around 5 percent below the announced acquisition price.

Indeed, there could be a lot at stake, be it digital advertising or subscriptions.

Musk has made it clear he wants to overhaul Twitter Blue by cutting the price, removing ads for subscribers, and allowing users to pay with Dogecoin.

After years of stagnation and a lack of product innovation, some say it is unclear if conditions will improve or worsen under Musk. Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney warned of a potential advertiser exodus, projecting that users might not be interested in easing content moderation and subscription offerings.

Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey gestures while interacting with students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India, on Nov. 12, 2018. (Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images)

Were skeptical that less moderation will lead to a material rise in user growth. And interest in a subscription offering has always been limited in our surveys, with only 13 percent of respondents in our latest survey expressing interest, he stated.

That said, Musks ideas of allowing tweet edits and removing text character limits strike us as very sound and user-friendly.

Dorsey welcomed the move, posting a series of tweet on April 25, saying that Elon is the singular solution I trust.

Twitter as a company has always been my sole issue and my biggest regret. It has been owned by Wall Street and the ad model. Taking it back from Wall Street is the correct first step, the ex-CEO said, likely referring to the continuing pressure on public companies from Wall Street to maximize short-term earnings.

Musk ostensibly believes Twitter has a lot of potential, notes MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson in a report.

We did not believe another bidder was out there and that Elon Musks offer was a steal of a deal for shareholders given the operating, monetization, and valuation challenges at the company, he said. Twitters sale for $54.20 is final evidence that the idea of Twitter has been far more valuable than the actual long-run operations of Twitter!

Twitter is scheduled to deliver its first-quarter 2022 results on Thursday. The tech giant forecasts total revenues between $1.17 billion and $1.27 billion.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate suggests Twitter revenues will come in at $1.21 billion, representing a 17.01 percent gain from the same quarter a year ago.

Twitter shares tumbled about 3 percent to around $50 on Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 29, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Possible EcoHealth Alliance Cover-Up and Possible Fraud in Wuhan COVID Research Needs Probe: Republicans

House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans are demanding that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) investigate EcoHealth Alliance and its president after the organization allegedly withheld data relating to its research on COVID-19 during the grant renewal process.

According to its website, EcoHealth Alliance is a global environmental health nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting wildlife and public health from the emergence of disease.

However, the organization has been criticized by Republicans over information it provided in reports related to its experiments on mice at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, according to a letter Republicans sent to NIH Acting Director Lawrence Tabak on Monday.

U.S. intelligence officials said that the virus that causes COVID-19 may have come from the Wuhan lab, but other officials have argued it has a natural origin.

The letter was signed by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, (R-Wash.); Brett Guthrie, (R-Ky.); and Morgan Griffith, (R-Va.) and demanded an investigation into an alleged cover-up and possible fraud related to research at the Wuhan lab.

GOP lawmakers said they are calling for the investigations after a committee review of reports from EcoHealth found pervasive discrepancies, inconsistencies, and omissions, that raise serious questions about scientific and ethical misconduct, violations of NIH policies and regulations, and possible false statements and fraud, the Republicans wrote.

Accordingly, we request the NIH investigate Dr. Peter Daszak  and other EcoHealth officials to determine whether certain data related to mice deaths and other material information were intentionally withheld during the peer review process for EcoHealths grant renewal application, they said.

Lawmakers stated that the grant in question was funded for June 2014 to May 2019 and that during this five-year period, EcoHealth was required to submit annual progress reports to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

An aerial view shows the P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in Chinas central Hubei province on April 17, 2020. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

A laboratory technician working on samples from people to be tested for COVID-19 at Fire Eye laboratory in Wuhan in Chinas central Hubei Province on Feb. 6, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Such submissions typically occurred around mid-April and were required before funding for the following year was provided, lawmakers said.

Around November 5, 2018, EcoHealth submitted a renewal application to NIAID, and the grant  for $3.7 million plus a $369,819 increase over the first award  was renewed for another five years some months after in May 2019, Republicans said.

That was before EcoHealth submitted its Year 5 progress report, they noted.

EcoHealth first proposed testing chimeric SARS-like viruses in a humanized mice experiment to evaluate pathogenicity in the spring of 2016, they continued. The NIH approved this research in July 2016 with the condition that EcoHealth immediately stop its experiments and report to the NIH if there was more than one log of virus growth in any of mice groups infected with one of the chimeric viruses.

They went on to state that EcoHealth peculiarly failed to specify in its proposal to NIH how pathogenicity would be evaluated in the experiment, and that NIH did ask for such information.

Lawmakers took aim at EcoHealths use of language in reports related to the mice experiment, stating that the 2018 grant renewal application concealed the deaths of the animals in order to get money.

EcoHealth reproduced two figures from their Year 4 report but deleted the word dead from the term dead point, therefore not implying mice deaths, they said.

The renewal applications use of the word dead was defaced and deleted, they further stated. EcoHealth used dead again in its Year 5 report.

Republicans argue that there is no reason as to why the nonprofit organization would include the word dead in the Year 4 and Year 5 report graphs, but not in the graph in the renewal application, pointing to scientific and ethical concerns, and noting that peer reviewers were prevented from seeing results of the research that showed that mice were dying at high rates from the chimeric viruses in a risky experiment.

EcoHealth found itself with unpleasant choices. It could admit that it was doing gain-of-function research, or risk losing money it desperately needed from NIAID,  Republicans wrote in their letter, adding that the presentation of the humanized mice data in the renewal application appears intentional.

The NIH pulled funding for the EcoHealth grant in July 2020.

Lawmakers sent a letter to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in November 2021 requesting that it investigate Daszak for possibly violating the NAM member Code of Conduct and outlined a number of concerns while requesting an investigation into EcoHealth.

After receiving our letter, NAM notified us they had opened an internal review of Daszaks behavior, per our request, they added. We believe this letter about EcoHealths potential false statements and fraud is relevant to the ongoing investigation the NAM is conducting into Peter Daszak.

The NIH also found EcoHealth Alliance was non-compliant with eight different portions of a written agreement it entered into with the U.S. government about funding it sent to the Wuhan lab, according to a letter sent in January that was made public by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee.

The Epoch Times has contacted EcoHealth Alliance for comment.
An oil treatment plant in the Yarakta Oil Field, in Irkutsk Region, Russia, on March 10, 2019. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

European Union to Cut Russian Oil and Gas Imports to Zero by 2027

A senior European Union official said Tuesday that the bloc plans to cut Russian oil and gas imports to zero by the end of 2027, with his remarks coming as EU leaders continue to deliberate on moves to accelerate reducing the regions dependence on Russian energy.

EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told Italian daily Il Messaggero in an interview published Tuesday that European Union aims to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas by two-thirds by the end of this year and phase it out completely by the end of 2027.

Gentilonis remarks provide more clarity around the timeline for the EUs member states to wean themselves off Russian energy, with the EUs prior statements on a phase-out of Russian fossil fuels expressed an aim of well before 2030.

His remarks also come a day after EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said that theres not yet sufficient support from the blocs member states to impose a complete embargo on Russian oil and gas imports.

At the moment, we in the EU do not have a unified position on this question, Borrell was quoted as saying by German newspaper Die Welt on April 25. A final proposal for an embargo on oil and gas is not yet on the table.

Borrell added that he believed the bloc would eventually be able to cut its dependency on Russian energy and so deprive the Kremlin of a key revenue stream.

At some point it will happen and then Russia will feel painfully that the revenues from the oil and gas business are being lost, he said.

The EUs Russian energy imports were worth $108 billion in 2021, according to data from the World Economic Forum.

While all EU states have taken steps to cut imports of Russian fossil fuels, there has been little impact on Moscows earnings from crude exports so far, as Asian countries continue to buy up cheap Russian crude that European buyers dont want.

According to a Bloomberg analysis, crude oil exports from Russian ports have risen sharply in recent weeks, with the Kremlins revenue from crude oil export duty surging by 25 percent for the week ending April 22.

Bloomberg estimates that the weeks crude shipments generated around $232 million in revenue for Russia, up $46 million from the prior week.

Europe is highly dependent on Russia for its energy needs.

In 2021, Russian exports accounted for more than 40 percent of the EUs total gas consumption, 27 percent of its oil imports and 46 percent of its coal imports, according to European Commission data.

Energy represented 62 percent of the EUs total imports from Russia in 2021.

Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.
Rich Lopez has faced devastation all his life, and death three times. But artand three angelssaved him

In the creative process, we find freedom, relief, release, expressionand redemption. But for noted Southern California ceramicist Rich Lopez, the creative process and the hummingbird ceramic that became a part of his identity had to wait. He had to die first, to experience this new creative life. That second time, I tell people I committed suicide. It wasnt an attempt; I died that day, he said.

Lopez, whose life had become a series of short highs followed by deeper and protracted lows, had given up on lifetwice. The first time I tried to end my life, I was driving on the freeway. A huge semi was coming right at me. At the last second, I guess I swerved. I dont remember swerving, dont remember moving my hands, but I ended up in a ditch. I dont know what saved me.

Lopez grew up in an explosively abusive household with a brother who used him as a punching bag and a father who had been irreparably scarred by World War II. My father would run the neighborhood naked and terrorize the neighbors while alternatively terrorizing me. He passed that trait of abuse on to my brother. I had to learn to fight to be able to beat up my own brother, just to survive. I met my wife Cheryl when I was 16. I turned 65 this year, and through all but the last 20 years, I was constantly abusing drugs, alcohol  and my family, he said.

Cheryl Lopez had known and loved Rich since their sophomore year in high school. I remembered the night-school pottery classes we took as kids, Cheryl says. I remembered how Rich loved working with the clay and the wheel. I thought that maybe he could use it to help himself. He was in such mental pain, and I didnt know how to reach him.

Cheryls seemingly small act of hope led to an amazing transformation in her husbands life. But that transformation did not come easily  or quickly. For years, the wheel just sat there, Cheryl says. Lopez tried everything to stay clean and sober, just as he had tried everything he could think of to hold onto his job. Nothing worked, though he kept trying. Then came The Haven incident.

The Angels

It was about 18 years ago, and my wife and I had just moved to Beaumont, a neighboring city of Banning. The city of Banning was attempting a revitalization. My wife was not very happy with having to drive all the way to Fontana where she was a special education teacher.

We were arguing, and Cheryl said, Why on earth did we move here? I began to get nervous. I really needed a drink. I nervously picked up the newspaper, and read about a revitalization project in Banning. A voice in my head said, Drive there. Go to the city hall.' When Rich Lopez hears voices or sees visions, he follows them. I just blurted out, This is why we moved here. Lets take a ride to Banning. I had no idea why I was going, but it broke the tension.

When Lopez and his wife arrived in Banning, that same voice said, Ask for the mayor. But talk to whoever you can. The mayor wasnt in, but the city manager was. That meeting eventually led to Lopezs being promised 3.5 million dollars for a downtown arts district, and coming up with the idea for revitalizing what the city manager called the ugliest building in Banning.

Lopez said, Well call it The Haven, and it will be a place of peace and revitalization. A church was chosen to share The Haven. The city gave the church, which seemed to be the perfect place to entrust such funds, control of the 3.5 million dollars. The funds were unfortunately misused, and the entire revitalization project was scuttled. A broken, seething, disgusted Lopez walked out of the meeting after cursing all involved. He couldnt think clearly. In desperation, Lopez decided to end his life for a second time.

I was never taught how to cope with setbacks or anything negative, so one day, while no one was in the house, I drank two bottles, two full fifths of alcohol, and I downed a bottle of pills. The last thing I said was, Lets do this.

Enter an angel. Suddenly, I wasnt upstairs sprawled out on my bed anymore. An angel had taken me downstairs to show me what was going to happen. He said, Youre going to be a well-known artist. I said, Im a coffee salesman, not an artist. He quieted me with a finger, brought me downstairs, and showed me the wheel that my wife had bought years before. He reminded me that I loved to work with pottery as a child.

Ever the salesman, Lopez made a deal with his angel. He showed me the wheel, he showed me the sequence of events, the actual places where these things would play out  even the museum where I would have my own show, but I didnt believe it. I didnt know where I was at the time. I said, If all of this is real, and I wake up, prove it to me. Let me wake up without a hangover.

Lopez soon awoke needing none of the alcohol, drugs, or the many medications for PTSD-related stress, depression, and diabetes that he had needed to help keep his then-400-pound frame going.

I woke up and I felt fine. I was amazed. I rushed to tell my wife that I was done with the alcohol, the drugs, and the abuse. Lopezs wife was not so amazed, or amused.

I told Rich, Show me, dont tell me. That was pretty much the overall feeling and what I said and how I felt. I had heard those words so many times before, that I gave up on hoping and believing, says Cheryl.

The drugs and alcohol stopped immediately. The need for psychotropic drugs ended four years later. The worst case that many people, including many of his doctors, had ever seen, was and still is now, alcohol- and drug-free. Hes also down more than 200 pounds.

My comeback started the minute I sat down at the wheel. To me, the wheel is life itself, playing out in front of me.

That first night, Lopez sat at the wheel hour after hour, throwing a total of 200 pounds of clay. When he was finished, at nearly 4 in the morning, he had made figurines, bowls, pots, and dishes. I looked at my wife and said, Honey, you bought me a wheel  now you have to buy me a kiln. I smiled. She didnt smile.

Lopez had somehow managed to learn and remember his craft through every gin and drug-soaked meeting with many ceramic masters. Somehow I retained it all, and never forgot a thing. Within months, I was selling my art at the Village Fest in Palm Springs, he said. Still, Lopezs wife and children were skeptical. The weight of all the years of broken promises, shattered hopes, and bartered dreams littered the floor of Lopezs life like bits of clay thrown from his potters wheel.

Lopez applied specially created paints to his artwork.

I learned that life is like the clay: its in my handsbut I cant force it or Ill destroy it. I had to learn to work slowly and use my very life as the persuasive proof that I had changed. I tell people that I dont mold the clay into shape. I persuade it.

Lopez had gotten financial support from his rightly skeptical wifebut little else.

She had to learn to trust me, but it was painfully slow. She couldnt trust me, and I understood why, but that realization was so painful. I began to feel as if I was going to crumble, feeling like I would never be the artist I wanted to befeeling that I had failed. I lost hope in my ability. I lost my confidence. I began to cry. It was right there at a show, at my booth, surrounded by all the other vendors. I just started to cry, and I felt disgusted with myself.

Lopez was all alone with his thoughts; all alone  or so he thought.

I dont know why I said it, but I looked up, and I said, God, if you told me the truth, that I was going to be an artist, I want to make $376 today. I still have no idea why I picked that number. It was crazy: the most Id ever made at a show was 75 bucks. But I just sat there angry, disgustedand crying.

Enter angels numbers two and three. You see, in Rich Lopezs world, angels look just like ordinary folks  and two of them approached his booth that day.

They were an ordinary-looking couple, but I knew when I saw them. I felt it. She said to me Why are you crying? I looked up, aggravated, and said, Dont worry about it. She said, Id like to buy that pieceits beautiful. And Id like that piece. They were $40, $50, and $75 pieces! She said, And Id like that piece as well.

When the woman was finished, the husband spoke up. I was in shock, Lopez said. The husband said, Honey if youre done, Id like to get one or two pieces. I couldnt speak. As I was totaling everything up, she said, Will you take a check? I just looked up, tears in my eyes, and said, Are you two angels? They both smiled. I said, Youre angels! She said No, were not, but youll be fine. When I totaled it up, it came to $375. When she handed me the check, I was shaking and crying, and I just said, Thank you, thank you, over and over again. They waved goodbye and kept walking.

My wife came back to my booth and said, Who are they? I said, They were angels, My wife looked at me as if I was back on the stuff. Then she looked at the check and said, They spent $376? I said, What? What? I looked at the check: the woman had made a mistake and had written out the check for $376. Three hundred and seventy-six dollars!!

When I told my wife what had happened, we were both in shock. Every time we looked at the check, we just shook our heads. Neither of us wanted to cash the check. We finally cashed it after almost a year. My wife began to believe in me then, Lopez said with a broad smile.

But as well see, an artists life is not always easy, nor is it a straight line from failure to success.

The Hummingbird

I was feeling frustrated because my artistry seemed to be stalled; after such a rocket of a beginning, I felt blocked. My friend, mentor, and Chaffey College ceramics teacher Crispin Gonzalez said, This is California. There are a thousand guys doing pretty bowls. Claremont is filled with people who have style. You have to find your own niche. Cue another important dreamand another angel.

I had this dream: I saw myself hovering over baskets and holding a unique tool. An angel showed it to me. It was a tool thats not made for the trade. I knew it didnt exist in real life. I immediately woke up, took a steak knife, ran to my grinding wheel, and fashioned the tool that I now use to make the striations in the clay that mimic a woven basket. It came to me in a dream. It works like no other ceramics tool ever invented. But it was the angel in the dream who showed it to me.

Even when viewed up close, Lopezs baskets of pottery look as finely woven as any handmade Native American basket on the market.

After his dream, things moved quickly for Lopez, a one-time student at Mount San Jacinto and Chaffey Colleges. Lopez had his work featured at many exciting venues, including the Western Science Center in Hemet and many homes and galleries around the country. His artwork now fetches as much as $3,000 for one of his signature ceramic woven baskets. Lopez even put in time at reservations to watch local artisans. I am half Indian, and I spent over a year on the reservation learning the art of basket weaving. Its those ceramic woven baskets that were featured in my first major show at AMOCA, he said.

AMOCA, The American Museum of Ceramic Arts in Pomona, is the premier ceramics gallery west of the Mississippi and home to some of the countrys most exceptional ceramics exhibits. Lopez may have been one of the first ceramicists to have a show of his own, but it was the second time he visited AMOCA that left him speechless. When I walked in that second time, I began to cry. I realized that everything looked exactly as I remembered it in my first visit with the angel, when I almost died. I knew the walls, the floors, the steps, the furniture. I had been there before. I was too busy to realize it that first time, but suddenly I realized it. The angel and I had been there together. I began to shake and cry.

But no story of success is without its final act of drama, and heavy-duty drama was waiting just around the corner for Rich Lopez.

Just as he was beginning to establish himself as a major regional artist who was on the verge of achieving national success, the comeback story of all comeback stories held one last ugly, dramatic hurdle to overcome.

I hadnt been feeling right, but I never told my wife or anyone else. My eyesight was giving me problems. And the minute Cheryl would leave for work, Id collapse on the bed from fatigue. The only time Id get up was to vomit. Then Id crawl out of bed two minutes before she came home, so she would think everything was all right.

The Hummingbird, unfinished, became the symbol of Rich Lopezs comeback from almost dyinga third time.

Everything wasnt all right.

I hadnt taken care of my diabetes, hadnt taken the meds  and hadnt been drinking water as I should have. My liver and kidneys werent happy. Neither was Cheryl, said Lopez. But I realized I wasnt out of the woods. After two days of keeping quiet, I could no longer hide the fact that my vision was damaged. They knew something was up when I tried to pour myself a glass of water, and I spilled it all over myself.

Rich Lopez had endured a diabetic seizure and was blind in his left eye.

I was pretty much devastatedand angry. I had already suffered from depression and anxiety on and off my whole life. I shut down. I stopped making art. I was miserable, he said. Somewhere in all that darkness of the soul, slowly, I realized that my entire life was like one of those Etch-a-sketch boards. Every time I had gotten too complacent, life came and scrambled the whole thing. Like shaking that board. And every time it did, I reimagined myself. I redreamt a new life, new art. I said to myself, if Im going to be a one-eyed potter, Id better damned well get started.

And get started he did. Lopez sat at the wheel, initially intimidated. At first I was almost scared of the clay, but as I worked it, felt it in my hands, my muscle memory took over. I began to smile, he said. Then I cried. I was back.

Lopez said that in that moment, he felt inspired again, to give his life to his art.

The first piece I tried was the hummingbird. I had read somewhere that, for as small as it is, no amount of turbulence can shake the hummingbird. A hummingbird is at peace in the eye of any storm.

The first piece Rich Lopez created after coming to grips with his blindness was The Hummingbird, now a finished piece of art. I chose to carve a hummingbird, because, even in the most turbulent winds, a hummingbird finds stability and peace. So do I.

As Lopez worked the clay with a renewed feeling of love, peace, and centeredness, he remembered his early years.

When I was a student, I felt blessed to have so many people sharing their knowledge with me. I had an overwhelming zeal to create art, and to create it in their honor. One of my fellow students once said, Man, you have this power in you when you work the wheel. Its like someforce. And thats why I created [my work] Artforce, to bring artwork to children. Its a lifelong passion. I need to feed my soul, and the souls of all those kids who might be hurtingand searching.

Looking at the peaceful, vibrant, contemplative, artwork Rich Lopez has created in the almost 20 years since his epiphany, one would never realize the hurt, the pain, or the tragedy and triumph behind each piece.

And for Lopez, thats just as well. I sit at the wheel for hours on end. I tell the clay my story. It answers back, and I give thanks. When people see my work, they see a bit of me in every piece. I want them to see a part of themselves toothe best part. My world is now filled with art and, once again, with peace.

And when youre near Rich Lopez in his studio, you see the natural hues, the sun-baked umber, the call of something deeper and more timeless than the ageless act of a potter creating at his wheel; you feel the ancient peace of the calm after the storm. And in that calm, theres redemption.

Portions of this article first appeared in the Hemet San-Jacinto Chronicle.

Rich Lopez can be reached at artforcerichlopez.com.

A native of South Philadelphia, Mark Lentine has written for and helmed publications on both coasts. He now resides in Hemet, Calif.

Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter
Pro-life protesters stand near the gate of the Texas state capitol on May 29, 2021. (Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

Federal Court Dismisses Challenges to Texas Anti-Abortion Law

A federal court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit challenging a provision of the Texas anti-abortion law that was signed last year.

Having received the ruling of the Texas Supreme Court that named official defendants may not enforce the provisions of the Texas Heartbeat Act  this court REMANDS the case with instructions to dismiss all challenges to the private enforcement provisions of the statute and to consider whether plaintiffs have standing to challenge, said the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in its ruling.

The U.S. Supreme Court in January declined to intervene regarding a provision of the law that allows private citizens rather than government officials to sue abortion providers or anyone else who assists a pregnant woman in receiving an abortion after six weeks. Litigants can file a lawsuit in any Texas court and are eligible for at least $10,000 in damages.

The law, known as Senate Bill 8, was signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott last May. It went into effect in September 2021 and several other states have moved to pass similar measures.

Since it went into effect, abortions in Texas have dropped significantly. According to data released by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, there were 5,404 abortions in August 2021, but by September 2021, there were 2,197 abortions.

Kim Schwartz, a spokeswoman for pro-life group Texas Right to Life, praised the court ruling on Tuesday.

The Fifth Circuits instruction to dismiss the challenge to the Texas Heartbeat Acts enforcement mechanism confirms what Texas Right to Life has known since the beginning: the abortion industrys legal attacks are meritless, she told LifeNews.

Meanwhile, a former Texas state senator, Wendy Davis, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit against the law and claimed its blatantly unconstitutional.

S.B. 8 seeks not only to strip Texans of their fundamental right to make decisions about their pregnancies, based on their individual circumstances and religious beliefs, but also to make a mockery of the federal courts, she wrote in a legal challenge earlier this month.

She further argued that Texas is in  brazen defiance of the rule of law and should restore the ability of abortion funds and their associates to fully serve Texas abortion patients.

Separately, the Supreme Court is slated to rule this year on the legality of a law in Mississippi that bans abortion after 15 weeks. The state asked the high court to take up the case last year. Meanwhile, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch asked the justices in a filing to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling so the state can uphold its law.
Firefighters were called to a fire in an industrial building on River Way, Harlow, England, on April 26, 2022. (Dorottya Spanyik/PA Media

Fire Breaks out in Sausage Factory in England

More than 70 firefighters were at the scene of a sausage factory that had burst into flames in southeast London on Tuesday.

Firefighters were called to the scene on River Way, Harlow, an Essex town about 31 miles from London, at 5:22 on Tuesday morning.

The Essex Country Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) said crews from Essex and Hertfordshire confirmed on arrival that the 0.6 acre-Riverway Food factory was 95 percent alight and 100 percent smoke-logged.

By 7:17 a.m., there were 10 fire engines, with crews from Essex, Hertfordshire, and London in attendance.

Residents have been urged to avoid the area.

According to ECFRS area Manager Jim Palmer, more than 70 firefighters were present at the height of the fire, including aerial appliances.

Firefighters sectioned the fire into four areas, and the fire was contained to one building by 11 a.m.

By 3:30 p.m., six crews remained at the scene, working to extinguish the fire in sections using an Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) to tackle the fire from above as well as the ground, according to ECFRS.

Palmer said the crews expected to remain at the scene until at least the early evening.

Dorottya Spanyik, whose husband works for Riverway Food, told the PA news agency that her husband had been working on a nightshift when fire alarms sounded.

The fire was massive  you could see and feel the smoke all around Harlow, Spanyik said. My husband works there, he was there when the fire started before 6 a.m.

Spanyik said, the whole night shift was still there when the fire alarms went off.

She also said her husband is safe but stressed, and has not been told when he will be able to return to work.

They have no idea [when he will return]. The fire was really big and even when he left the firefighters were still working to stop the fire, she added.

He is home now and luckily no personal injury, but he is very stressed.

There has been no report of casualties in the incident and the cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

It comes as the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations Cyber Division issued a warning on April 20 about potential cyberattacks on agricultural cooperatives and food plants amid increasing media coverage of recent fires and explosions at food processing plants across the United States.

Jack Phillips and PA media contributed to this report.
Screenshot of Manatee County resident Richard Tatem addressing the Manatee County School Board during public comments at the School Board Workshop on April 18, 2022 . (Manatee County School Board Workshop video)

Florida School Officials Exposed for Pushing Social Emotional Learning and Critical Race Theory Despite Ban

Officials are 'knowingly deceiving people'

In the days leading up to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signing HB7 into law, members of the Manatee County School District were twisting the language of state law to push social emotional learning (SEL) and critical race theory (CRT) under the guise of a mental health support system and an African-American history program.

HB7also known as the Stop W.O.K.E. Act and the Individual Freedom billstates that curriculum based on race, color, sex, or national origin is discriminatory.

At an April 18 Manatee County School District workshop, school officials insisted that the districts social emotional learning curriculum is required by state law, based on Florida Statute 1003.42.

Genelle Yost, the districts executive director of Pupil Personnel Services, announced that Character Strong, an SEL curriculum in the districts Mental Health Supports Plan, would be used to incorporate SEL into K12 curriculum.

According to Yost, Character Strong is part of the required instruction of [Florida Statute] 1003.42 because two similar curriculum programs, Character Counts and Character First, are both mentioned in the statute.

Screenshot of a slide shown during a presentation about social emotional learning curriculum at school board workshop meeting for the Manatee County School District in Fla. on April 18, 2022. (Manatee County School Board video)

The law states that schools must provide a character development program in the elementary schools, similar to Character First or Character Counts, which is secular in nature, and later explains the requirements for character education in older grades.

On the website for Character Counts, SEL is listed as a core tenet, but SEL is not mentioned in the Character First curriculum objectives. Neither program is described in the Florida statute as having anything to do with SEL. The state statute simply says students should be taught a character development curriculum.

In fact, F.S. 1003.42 never mentions Character Strong or SEL.

Keith Flaugh, founder of Florida Citizens Alliance, told The Epoch Times he is convinced Manatee Countys district staff does not know what they are talking about.

HB7  strictly prohibits subjecting any student or employee to training or instruction that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels such individual to believe specified concepts constitutes discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin,' Flaugh explained.

He said F.S. 1003.42 was passed in 20042005, and that the state Board of Education adopted new rules in July 2021: Rule 6A-1-094124 and specific new Civics and Health Standards (CHS), which include student character standards.

These new standards, Flaugh said, amend F.S. 1003.42 and effectively eliminate Character First and Character Counts. More importantly, they require very thorough and specific social studies and history standards be taught as well as character standards, none of which include the framework of CRT, SEL, or Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, he said.

It appears the Manatee School Board and staff are ignorant of these new standards and hell-bent on interpreting them to support SEL, which is specifically designed to teach kids that facts dont matter, only feelings and confused interpretation of factual history matter, Flaugh said. It reminds me of a Martin Luther King Jr. quote: Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.'

The 20 pages of CHS standards include such goals as teaching students how to identify the words We the People as found in the United States Constitution, how to explain the importance of public service, voting and volunteerism, and how to recognize the role of the United States Department of State in foreign affairs, among other things.

Yost was followed by Cheryl Mathis, associate director of Exceptional Student Education for the district.

As you heard earlier, the district is using Character Strong as their social emotional learning curriculum for grades K12, Mathis said, adding that the program will be implemented districtwide by June 2023.

School Board member Chad Choate asked if the SEL curriculum had been approved by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE).

Mathis said that yes, it had. She then deferred to Yost, who deferred to Daniel Evans, Manatee County School Districts deputy superintendent of instruction.

I know you asked about HB7, Evans said. However, he noted that while Florida Statute 1003.42 does mention Character Counts and Character First, HB7 does not, so the district may have to revisit the issue in the future.

Screenshot of Manatee County School Board Chair Rev. James Golden during a meeting for the Manatee County School District in Fla. on April 18, 2022. (Manatee County School Board video)

Manatee County School Board Chair Rev. James Golden also asked as a general caveat for verification that everything being presented had been approved by the state Department of Education. Mathis said, Yes sir, that is correct. Evans said the materials were recommended.

Later, Golden asked if they had any discretion at the school board level to stray from the states list of recommended textbooks or to request exceptions to use textbooks not approved by the state.

District Superintendent Cynthia Saunders said, the state did give discretion a few years ago that any board could choose to purchase textbooks that were not on the adopted list as long as you went through an exercise.

While she did not explain the detailed submission and adoption process, Saunders incorrectly advised that the books recently rejected by the FDOE were on the state list of approved textbooks. They were not on the state list of approved textbooks. They were on the list of textbooks submitted to the state for review.

The Florida Department of Education rejected 41 percent of math teaching materials submitted for reviewthe most in Floridas historybecause they included prohibited materials such as SEL, CRT, and Common Core elements, officials said in an April 15 press release.

State officials released images from some of the rejected materials, which included a lesson plan that used the numerical results of an implicit racial bias survey to teach about polynomials.

An excerpt from one of the social emotional learning teaching materials rejected by the Fla. Department of Education uses the results of a racial bias survey to teach about polynomials. (Fla. Department of Education).

The highest number of books rejected were for grade levels K5, where an alarming 71 percent were not appropriately aligned with Florida standards or included prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies, the release stated.

In addition to discussions of the inclusion of SEL curriculum in the districts mental health education program at the April 18 board meeting, school officials also discussed recent revisions to the districts African-American history program as prepared by the Manatee School Districts African-American history task force.

Latrina Singleton, the districts director of federal programs and grants, provided an overview of the revised plan. But first, she said she wanted to address the elephant that has been in the board room recently in regards to legislation and understanding the legislation.

She said she was going to prove how the plan truly follows HB7 based on the states definition of critical race theory and what HB7 says about teaching African-American history.

But Golden interrupted her.

There is no elephant in the room because, quite candidly, we decide what the elephants are, he said, gesturing to the rest of the school board. There are a lot of people that have come with a lot of opinions and a lot of perspectives, he said, adding that he was not going to entertain partisan considerations and concerns.

I am not interested in anybody elses opinion about critical race theory, Golden said. First off, thats against the law to teach. I dont care what your theory is. We cant teach it. He said the only thing he wanted to hear from Singleton was her explanation of how we teach African-American history pursuant to the statute sent down by the state.

With that, Singleton skipped to page 15 of her presentation and displayed a slide showing the text of HB7 (pdf).

In the plan that we presented at our last board workshop, there were edits that were made to the original plan for fear of the elephant that existed in the room, she said, referring again to the inclusion of critical race theory concepts that are prohibited in Florida educational materials per HB7.

The original version of the African-American history plan (pdf) contained multiple references to diversity, equity and inclusion, including a goal of creating a District Diversity and Equity Committee, which was supposed to advise the School Board and Superintendent regarding equity and access, diversity issues.

In a section about professional development, the original plan also stated that teachers would be trained with specific emphasis on the decolonization of curriculum and inclusivity.

In an essay about the concept of decolonizing curriculum, author and cultural commentator James Lindsay explains that critical theorists view standard curriculum as an ideological project devised by the powerful in societymeaning mostly straight, white, Western men with a Eurocentric bent on things like science, reason, and rationality, and that those values must be subverted to achieve justice for marginalized groups.

These are all key terms associated with CRT, but due to severe backlash from the public, district officials removed that language from the history plan.

Singleton suggested that the people who were upset about the diversity, equity, and inclusion policy and the references to decolonizing the curriculum had misconstrued the plan as it existed compared to what they thought was happening, implying that the issue with the plan was not the inclusion of those concepts, but rather how the public reacted to them.

Latrina Singleton, director of Federal Programs and Grants for Manatee County School District in Fla., provides an overview of the districts African-American History curriculum plan at a Manatee County School Board workshop meeting on April 18, 2022. (Manatee County School Board video)

The Epoch Times reached out to the Manatee County School Board members. Responding on behalf of Golden and the district was Michael Barber, communications director for Manatee County schools.

All curriculum and instructional materials are approved by the Florida Department of Education, Barber insisted. As such, the district will adhere to and abide by any new legislation passed into law by the state legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis as it relates to education in the state of Florida.

In an email to The Epoch Times, school board member Chad Choate also insisted that district officials follow all curriculum that the state of Florida approves and all laws put into practice by the Florida Legislature and Gov. DeSantis, like FL Statute 1003.42. We have prepared an African American History Task Force based on the States example.

Board member Charlie Kennedy declined to comment, and members Gina Messenger and Mary Foreman did not respond.

Keven Chapman, director of strategic planning and initiatives for the district, said at the meeting that they are really fortunate that HB7 came out because it is the roadmap for their history plan, along with F.S. 1003.42, and that they are going to stick with that.

Kennedy said he really found the language of the statute to be useful because thats the definition of what some people consider to be critical race theory.

Messenger said the language of HB7 made it clear to anyone reading it that they are in compliance with state guidance. However, she wanted to know how the people on the committees, mentioned on page 13 of the history plan, were chosen.

Singleton said they initially came from a list provided to them by the former head of the local NAACP chapter. Others came on later as word of what the committees were doing spread through the community.

Singleton admitted she is the one who oversees the committees in charge of the curriculum to make sure everyone stays on track. What she did not address was whether the activities conducted by the various committees that are going to vet instructional materials will be open to public scrutiny, as required by Floridas Sunshine Law.

As described on page 15 of the proposed plan, Once these resources have been adopted, they will be reflected in the district curriculum documents, with their use expected in classrooms across the district.

Richard Tatem, a Manatee County citizen and a candidate for the Manatee County School Board, told The Epoch Times that curriculum developers were hired, and they decided to take a couple of lines out of Florida Statutes and develop a whole diversity, equity and inclusions program that is disguised as an African-American history program.

Its a subversive attempt to start focusing the curriculum and professional development of the school system around a very unpatriotic and, to some degree, Marxist concept, rather than just sticking to teaching good history, Tatem said.

Tatem accused Golden of also being very pro-critical race theory, stating that hes the one thats been pushing it. Hes been pushing it from the very beginning, for the past year-and-a-half.

In an email to Tatem dated April 14, Messenger asserted that Social Emotional learning is also required per FL statute 1003.42 and that HB7 clearly states that character development and social emotional health and skills and mental health must be part of our schools.

Gov. DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw told The Epoch Times there is nothing in Florida state law, including the new addition of HB7, that requires teaching social emotional learning.

There are people pushing a narrative that required instruction for mental health includes Social Emotional Learning, and this is pure spinits not factual, she said. Moreover, Social Emotional Learning is a type of teaching strategy, not a type of instruction. That is why you generally hear about Social Emotional Learning in the context of teacher guides.

So, on that basis alone, if anyone claims that Social Emotional Learning is included in required instruction, they are knowingly deceiving people.
Dolet Hill and Denton Burke are pictured in this police handout image provided following their murder in Bermondsey, London on Aoril 25, 2022. (Met Police)

Four Victims of Stabbing Horror in South-East London Officially Identified

Police have officially identified the four family members who were stabbed to death in a terraced house in south-east London.

Denton Burke, 58, and his partner, Jamaica-born NHS worker Dolet Hill, 64, were both killed at their home in Delaford Road, Bermondsey, on Monday.

Hills daughter, Tanysha Ofori-Akuffo, 45, also known as Rachquel, who lived in Kennington, and Ofori-Akuffos daughter, Samantha Drummonds, 27, who lived in Forest Hill, also died.

A 28-year-old man from Lewisham, who is suspected of carrying out the fatal attack, is in hospital in a stable condition.

He was Tasered by Metropolitan Police officers before his arrest.

A friend of Drummonds told reporters that she had temporarily moved into the house in Bermondsey while building work was carried out at her own flat.

Rudra Brambhatt told the Evening Standard: She had only recently moved out temporarily while her bathroom was done. Samantha took her cat and went back to the family home.

We are devastated. We got on so well. She loved music and worked at NatWest.

Post-mortem examinations are expected to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Guys and St Thomass NHS Foundation Trust paid tribute to Hill, who was an active trade union member.

Alastair Gourlay, Director of Estates and Facilities, said: We are devastated to hear about the tragic death of Dolet Hill, who worked as a housekeeping assistant in our pharmacy department for more than 21 years, before her retirement in 2018.

Dolet was a well-respected colleague, who also helped to improve the workplace for others as an active UNISON representative.

Our thoughts are with Dolets family, friends and all who worked with her.

Detective Chief Inspector Linda Bradley, who is leading the investigation into the deaths, warned that it will be a protracted inquiry.

She said: This was a truly horrific incident and I fully recognise that the distress for the family and the community will be overwhelming.

We are conducting a thorough and detailed investigation into the facts and we are appealing to anyone who can assist with any information to come forward.

If you know anything or saw anything that you think might help us piece together the events which led to this, then do not hesitate  please call police. You can also call Crimestoppers if you do not want to give your name.

We deeply appreciate all the help we have already received from local people, and I would like to thank them for their patience and support in what is likely to be a protracted inquiry.

We are moving as fast we can at the scene, but we need to ensure we uncover all the facts and secure every bit of necessary evidence, and this may understandably take some time.

We are aware that we have family, friends and a community that are all asking questions; we are determined to give them the answers they deserve as soon as possible.
People stand near stretchers that are prepared for dead bodies after a boat capsized off the Lebanese coast of Tripoli overnight, at port of Tripoli, northern Lebanon, on April 24, 2022. (Omar Ibrahim/Reuters)

Funerals Held in Lebanons Tripoli After Migrant Shipwreck, Dozens Still Missing

TRIPOLI, LebanonThe families of migrants who died when their vessel capsized Lebanons northern coast held funerals in the port city of Tripoli on Monday while rescue efforts continued to find dozens still missing.

A dinghy carrying Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian migrants sank late on Saturday off the coast near Tripoli when naval forces collided with the vessel as the smuggler tried to evade capture.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates the dinghy was carrying 80 people at the time it capsized. The authorities say 47 people were rescued, leaving around two dozen unaccounted for.

A seventh body was found on Monday morning, the head of the Tripoli port authority told Reuters.

Lebanons financial meltdown has pushed more than three-quarters of the population into poverty, triggering a wave of migration, including via dangerous sea journeys to Europe on overcrowded dinghies.

In Tripolis Bab al-Tebbaneh neighborhood, large crowds gathered for funeral processions of the victims, including a boy and a young man from the Dandachi family who buried their loved ones while desperate to hear the fate of another eight still missing, among them children.

Amid Dandachi, 38, said he and his wife had barely survived the shipwreck. Their children likely hadnt.

I tried to grab my son but I got a blanket instead. The water took him from me, he told Reuters, his eyes red from crying.

His brother Bilal was also still waiting to know what happened to his two children and wife, whose bodies he suspects are trapped in the sunken dinghy.

In the same neighborhood, another funeral was being held for two more victims of the disastera young girl and a woman from the Sammak family. Men on foot and atop motorcycles fired rifles in the air in mourning as they accompanied the bodies to the cemetery.

Transparent Investigation

In a press conference on Sunday, the army said naval forces had collided with the dinghy as the smuggler in charge tried to evade the military. It previously said the boat had left the coast of Lebanon illegally.

Breaking down into tears, Bilal Dandachi said Lebanons naval forces had not done enough to rescue those drowning.

I only have one request from the army commanda transparent investigation. Its the right of my children and the children of my brother and the children of all these people, he said.

In addition to the sunken dinghy, three boats carrying a total of 64 migrants had departed Lebanon this year, of which two were intercepted, according to UNHCR.

By Maya Gebeily
Germany Agrees to Send Tanks to Ukraine Amid Major Policy Reversal

The German Ministry of Defense, in a significant reversal, announced Tuesday that it would send Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine, after Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced strong opposition to the move.

The decision to send the anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine, which has been fighting a war against Russia for the past two months, was announced by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht during a meeting at the Ramstein U.S. Air Force Base in Germany.

We decided yesterday that we will support Ukraine with anti-aircraft systems  which is exactly what Ukraine needs now to secure the airspace from the ground, Lambrecht said during a public meeting at the base on Tuesday.

Lambrecht also said Germany is moving to train Ukrainian forces in Germany, saying that we are working together with our American friends in training Ukrainian troops on artillery systems on German soil, reported Deutsche Welle.

Germany, which relies heavily on Russian gas, has been reluctant to send weapons or other systems to Ukraine amid the conflict. In February, Scholz blocked the sale of heavy weapons to Kyivs government and said that such a move would escalate the conflict with Moscow.

And Scholz, who took over earlier this year from former Chancellor Angela Merkel, told Der Spiegel last week that he wouldnt send such items to Ukraine, claiming that doing so would lead to a nuclear conflict or a third world war.

We need to do everything to avoid a direct military confrontation between NATO and a heavily armed superpower such as Russia, a nuclear power, he said. I will do everything to avoid an escalation that could lead to World War IIIthere can be no nuclear war.

He added that to avoid an escalation towards NATO is a top priority for me and he doesnt focus on polls or let myself be irritated by shrill calls. The consequences of an error would be dramatic.

It comes as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Ukraine over the weekend and told reporters on Monday in Poland that the Biden administration wants to see Russias military weakened via the conflict in Ukraine.

We want to see Ukraine remain a sovereign country, a democratic country, able to protect its sovereign territory, Austin said, according to a transcript of his remarks. We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it cant do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.

The Gepard anti-air systems, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, were taken out of service about a decade ago, according to a German defense journalist, Thomas Wiegold, who spoke with Deutsche Welle.

The German army has taken them out of use almost a decade ago, not because they were obsolete, but because at that time the [army] was scaling down and they had no use for it anymore, he remarked to the publication.
GOP Senators to Biden: Dont Divert VA Resources Away From Aiding Veterans

Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), a senior member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, is leading a coalition of Republican senators demanding that President Joe Biden not prioritize illegal immigrants over U.S. veterans.

The senators are demanding that the administration not divert Veterans Affairs Department health-care personnel away from helping veterans to facilitate an expected surge of illegal immigration at the southern border.

The administration is preparing an interagency response in anticipation of a surge of 500,000 people initially expected to illegally cross the U.S. southern border next month once Title 42 is lifted. The plan includes diverting resources and personnel from a range of federal agencies to help process and release illegal immigrants into the United States instead of complying with a U.S. Supreme Court and lower court ruling to reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols, otherwise known as the Remain in Mexico policy. This policy requires those seeking asylum or applying to enter the United States to wait in Mexico as their case progresses through the immigration process.

The public health authority, which allows federal agents to quickly expel illegal immigrants during a public health crisis, is slated to end May 23, unless its halted by the courts. A federal judge said on April 25 that he will temporarily block the Biden administration from ending Title 42.

The Biden administration has been sued over halting Title 42, the MPP and over several other immigration-related policies. Title 42 has been viewed as the last measure in place limiting illegal entry as the administration has disbanded most immigration laws and policies, resulting in Border Patrol agents encountering at least 2 million people from over 150 countries in Bidens first year in office.

The administrations plan to allow in even more illegal immigrants would be facilitated by using VA personnel through an agency directive called the Fourth Mission. According to the agency, the Fourth Mission allows personnel to be used to improve the nations preparedness for response to war, terrorism, national emergencies, and natural disasters by developing plans and taking action to ensure continued service to Veterans, as well as to support national, state, and local emergency management, public health, safety, and homeland security efforts.

Sending VA personnel to the southern border is a misuse of the Fourth Mission, the Republican senators argue.

We write to express disapproval of any contingency plan which uses personnel from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to deal with the inevitable escalation of the border crisis once your Administration rescinds its Title 42 Order, the senators write. The VA is currently experiencing major staffing shortages and high workforce turnover rates. The deployment of VA personnel in a Fourth Mission capacity will impact veterans ability to receive timely care from the VA and should not be a consideration while developing your Administrations plan as a result of the failure to implement and maintain commonsense border security policies.

The Fourth Mission isnt a tool to clean up the mess from a foreseeable and avoidable crisis, especially while the VA is already experiencing record-high turnover rates and issues of workforce resiliency amongst its health care employees, they add.

The VA is also experiencing a 15-year high turnover rate with its nursing staff and increased vacancies for a wide variety of health care professionals, Boozman notes.

The burden of addressing this Administrations abject failure to contain the crisis at the southern border should not come at the expense of our nations veterans. Prioritizing the care of illegal immigrants before the needs of veterans is inconceivable and wrong. We have an obligation to provide quality and timely care to the men and women who bravely served our country. We strongly disapprove of any decisions which hinder successfully fulfilling that mission, the senators argue.

The letter was signed by fellow Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton as well as Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Marco Rubio of Florida, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, John Cornyn of Texas, Steve Daines of Montana, and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also sent a letter to the president in early April expressing similar concerns and the direct impact the administrations policies will have on Texas veterans in light of VA facilities recommended to be closed by a recent VA report.
How Panic Spread: Covid in the Early Days

Commentary

It was February 2020, and news accounts had been describing increasingly alarming information about a deadly new virus emanating from Wuhan, China. Apart from my general concern about the spread of the infection, I was confused about some of the basic numbers being aired.

The overall message coming from the World Health Organization (WHO) seemed to have obvious flaws. The extremely high risk estimates seemed very misleading. Even worstthe reported fatality rates were based only on patients who were sick enough to seek medical care rather than on the undoubtedly much larger population of infected individuals. I was stunned that this basic methodological flaw was being overlooked by almost everyone, while the resulting fatality rate of 3.4 percent was highlighted throughout the media. Every legitimate medical scientist should have called that out. Their silence was puzzling.

In the United States and throughout the world, a naive discussion about statistical models ensued. To an extraordinary and unprecedented extent, these epidemiological models were featured front and center in news coverage, with no perspective on the models usefulness. Reminiscent of other legendary frenzies in history, like the tulip bulb mania or the tech stock bubble, hypothetical extreme-risk scenarios went seemingly unchallenged and were given absolute credence.

At the same time, common sense and well-established principles of medicine were being ignored. Every second-year medical student knew that the elderly were almost certainly the most vulnerable group of people, since they were virtually always at highest risk of death and serious consequences from respiratory infections. Yet this was not stressed. To the contrary, the implication of reports and the public faces of official expertise implied that everyone was equally in danger.

Even the initial evidence showed that elderly, frail people with preexisting comorbiditiesconditions that weakened their natural immunological defenseswere the ones at highest risk of death. This was a feature shared by other respiratory viruses, including seasonal influenza. The one unusual feature of this virus was the fact that children had an extraordinarily low risk. Yet this positive and reassuring news was never emphasized. Instead, with total disregard of the evidence of selective risk consistent with other respiratory viruses, public health officials recommended draconian isolation of everyone.

The architects of the American lockdown strategy were Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx. With Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, they were the most influential medical members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

The task force quickly expanded to include a new chairman, Vice President Mike Pence. The White House also announced that Birx would be the task forces coordinator. She had worked in the State Department as the U.S. AIDS coordinator under the Obama and Trump administrationshence she was often addressed by the honorific ambassador. The task force ultimately included representation from numerous federal agencies concerned with health, science, national emergencies and logistics, the economy and many other relevant concerns.

The task force dealt with a number of issues at its origin. Since the country had not been well prepared for a pandemic, one of the primary tasks was to develop adequate testinga key public health measure in early infectious disease outbreaks. The second main set of tasks centered around the production and logistics of supportive medical equipment, including ventilators, personal protective supplies for hospitals and extra beds and personnel to accommodate sick patients anticipated to overwhelm the system.

Dr. Birx, Dr. Redfield and Dr. Faucioften called the nations top expert in infectious diseasedominated all discussions about the health and medical aspects of the emerging pandemic. One thing was very clear: all three were cut from the same cloth. First, they were all bureaucrats, with a background in various government agencies. Second, they shared a long history in HIV/AIDS as a public health crisis. That was problematic, because HIV couldnt be more different from SARS2 in its biology, its amenability to testing and contact tracing, its spread and the implications of those facts for its control. Indeed, the three of them spent many years focusing on the development of a vaccine, rather than treatment, for HIV/AIDSa vaccine that still does not exist.

Its also worth noting Dr. Faucis history in regard to AIDS. He created headlines for his alarmist speculations in his 1983 JAMA editorial that AIDS could be transmitted by routine close contact, as within a family household. It had already been known that transmission happened via fluids through blood or sexual contact. Less than two months later, on June 26 in The Baltimore Sun, Fauci publicly contradicted his own explosive claim: It is absolutely preposterous to suggest that AIDS can be contracted through normal social contact like being in the same room with someone or sitting on a bus with them. The poor gays have received a very raw deal on this. That seemed like quite a flip-flop, with no new evidence or explanation givenmore reminiscent of a politician than a reliable scientist.

Most others on the task force were juggling several concerns or had no medical background. This was one more responsibility added to their portfolios, so they deferred to those deemed medical experts. Drs. Birx and Fauci commandeered federal policy under President Trump and publicly advocated for a total societal shutdown. Instead of focusing on protecting the most vulnerable, their illogical and extraordinarily blunt responsedespite its predictable, wide-ranging harmswas instituted as though it were simple common sense.

Over those first several weeks, fear had taken hold of the public. Media commentators and even policy experts, many of whom had no expertise on health care, were filling the airwaves and opinion pages with naive and incorrect predictions. This misinformation was going unchecked, and was indeed repeatedly endorsed and sensationalized. Some whom I had previously considered among my smartest colleagues and friends expressed great confusion and a striking absence of logic in analyzing what was happening.

I asked myself time and again, Where are the critical thinkers?

After more than 15 years a health policy researcher and decades in medical science and data analysis, I had never seen such flawed thinking. I was bewildered at the lack of logic, the absence of common sense and the reliance on fundamentally flawed science.

Suddenly, computer modelers and people without any perspective about clinical illnesses were dominating the airwaves. Along with millions of other Americans, I began witnessing unprecedented responses from those in power and nonscientific recommendations by public health spokespeople: societal lockdowns including business and school closures, stay-at-home restrictions on individual movements, and arbitrary decrees by local, state, and federal governments.

These recommendations were not just based on panic; they were responsible for generating even more panic. COVID rapidly became the most important health policy crisis in a century.

Originally published on Newsweek and the authors book, reposted 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.
People shop for cooking oil made using palm oil at a supermarket in Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 27, 2022. (Willy Kurniawan/Reuters)

Indonesias Palm Oil Export Ban Leaves Global Buyers With No Plan B

MUMBAIGlobal edible oil consumers have no option but to pay top dollar for supplies after Indonesias surprise palm oil export ban forced buyers to seek alternatives, already in short supply due to adverse weather and Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The move by the worlds biggest palm oil producer to ban exports from Thursday will lift prices of all major edible oils including palm oil, soyoil, sunflower oil, and rapeseed oil, industry watchers predict. That will place extra strain on cost-sensitive consumers in Asia and Africa hit by higher fuel and food prices.

Indonesias decision affects not only palm oil availability, but vegetable oils worldwide, James Fry, chairman of commodities consultancy LMC International, told Reuters.

Palm oilused in everything from cakes and frying fats to cosmetics and cleaning productsaccounts for nearly 60 percent of global vegetable oil shipments, and top producer Indonesia accounts for around a third of all vegetable oil exports. It announced the export ban on April 22, until further notice, in a move to tackle rising domestic prices.

This is happening when the export tonnages of all other major oils are under pressure: soybean oil due to droughts in South America; rapeseed oil due to disastrous canola crops in Canada; and sunflower oil because of Russias war on Ukraine, Fry said.

Vegetable oil prices have already risen more than 50 percent in the past six months as factors from labor shortages in Malaysia to droughts in Argentina and Canadathe biggest exporters of soyoil and canola oil respectivelycurtailed supplies.

Buyers were hoping a bumper sunflower crop from top exporter Ukraine would ease the tightness, but supplies from Kyiv have stopped because of what Russia calls its special operation in the country.

This had prompted importers to bank on palm oil being able to plug the supply gap until Indonesias shock ban delivered a double whammy to buyers, said Atul Chaturvedi, president of trade body the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA).

No Alternative

Importers such as India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan will try to increase palm oil purchases from Malaysia, but the worlds second-biggest palm oil producer cannot fill the gap created by Indonesia, Chaturvedi said.

Indonesia typically supplies nearly half of Indias total palm oil imports, while Pakistan and Bangladesh import nearly 80 percent of their palm oil from Indonesia.

Nobody can compensate for the loss of Indonesian palm oil. Every country is going to suffer, said Rasheed JanMohd, chairman of Pakistan Edible oil Refiners Association (PEORA).

In February, prices of vegetable oils jumped to a record high as sunflower oil supplies were disrupted from the Black Sea region.

The price rise raised working capital requirements for oil refiners, who were holding lower inventories than normal in anticipation of a pullback in prices, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

Instead, all oil prices have rallied further.

Refiners have been caught on the wrong foot. Now they cant afford to wait for a few weeks. They have to make purchases to run plants, the dealer said.

As Indonesia has allowed loading until April 28, consuming countries will have enough supply for the first half of May, but could face shortages from the second half, said a refiner based in Dhaka.

South Asian refiners will only slowly release oil into the market as they know supplies are limited, he said.

In India, the worlds biggest vegetable oil importer, palm oil prices rose by nearly 5 percent over the weekend as industry prices in shortages in the coming months. Prices also rose in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

By Rajendra Jadhav
Homeschooling is a great way to provide your kids with a quality, personalized education while also helping them to develop a strong moral character and the essential life skills theyll need to grow and mature into thriving, independent adults.

Homeschooling is also a big commitment though. And while it does offer many great benefits, it can be challenging to be both the parent and the teacher and successfully balance home and school life.

When my husband, David, and I were considering homeschooling, we attended a local support group meeting for prospective homeschoolers. The presentation introduced us to the basics and afterward, we casually chatted with homeschooling parents in all different phases of their homeschool journey. Im now a veteran homeschool mom of 16 years, so if youre wondering if homeschooling is a good fit for your family, here are some things to consider.

What Does Homeschooling Involve?

If you have the opportunity to attend an introductory presentation as we did, please do so. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) offers a free tool to search for homeschool support groups in your area.

If not, grab a cup of tea or your favorite beverage, curl up on the couch, and learn all about homeschooling from three longtime homeschool momsCait and Kara a.k.a. The Homeschool Sisters, and Jaimie, founder of Simple Homeschool. Listen to these wonderful podcasts free on their websites or on Spotify. Cait and Kara also take questions from listeners and then answer on air.

The HSLDA also has a great beginner article series.

Even though homeschooling is legal in every state, in every province of Canada, and in many foreign countries, requirements vary widely. Youll need to read the homeschool law for your state, province, or country and be sure you fully understand what is required. If you dont understand something, get help. Your best resource for help is your state homeschool association, which is typically staffed by volunteer veteran homeschool parents. The HSLDA has a free comprehensive list of statewide associations.

Is Homeschooling Affordable?

It certainly can be.

The biggest expense is providing books and materials, which can add up depending on how many kids you plan to teach.

You do have a lot of options, though. These days, with the growing popularity of homeschooling, there are countless resources available and many are low-cost or free. Public libraries are also a great resource because they often have a variety of donated homeschool books and materials as well as fun educational programs throughout the year.

There are also reputable websites where you can buy gently used homeschooling books and materials or you can even swap materials with other homeschooling families in your area. For more tips and advice on budget-friendly homeschooling, be sure to read this article: Homeschooling the Low-Cost Way.

Is Homeschooling Compatible With Your Lifestyle?

I was already a stay-at-home mom, so homeschooling was an easy transition. Ideally, homeschooling works best when one parent is at home full time, or at the very least, the majority of the time, even if he or she works at home.

However, one of the benefits of homeschooling is its adaptability. Even if both parents work, they have a lot of leeway to get creative with the school schedule because homeschooling has no boundaries. Perhaps one parent can explore working from home or rearrange work hours or the schedule.

You can also homeschool in the evenings, on Saturdays, on snow days, and if you like, on non-religious holidays such as Veterans Day and Flag Day and spend the day learning about the history of the holiday and why we celebrate.

For those of you who travel for work, or travel often to visit family, you may want to try roadschooling. Visit the Nomads With a Purpose website and read their Ultimate Guide to Roadschooling.

Length of Commitment

While homeschooling does require a commitment, do remember, you have the freedom to start and stop at any time.

It is best, though, if you can commit to a semester or, better yet, an entire school year because this will give you ample time to decide if homeschooling is a good fit for your family.

Personality and Philosophy of Education

Do you love to learn?

When you greet each new day with an explorers spirit, you will discover that the energy and excitement are catchy. Its motivational, and its at the heart of a thriving homeschool.

What is your philosophy of education? Or maybe youve never thought about it. I didnt until I considered homeschooling my two kids. So, take some time and think about how youd like to approach teaching. What are your goals? How would you like your kids to feel about learning?

My kids were already avid explorers by the time we started homeschooling. So after a ton of research, I embraced the eclectic style of homeschoolingI blended together the philosophies of Maria Montessori, Charlotte Mason, and Reggio Emilia. We spent our days immersed in fascinating unit studies, hands-on projects, nature study, and art and music appreciation. We read folktales, biographies, poetry, and Shakespeare plays. And we used books and materials from a variety of homeschooling publishers. And, today, Im delighted to say, my two grown kids are still exploring.

If you need help, visit Eclectic Homeschooling: Raising Global Kids, and take the free homeschool philosophy quiz.

Special Circumstances

Homeschooling truly does give you abundant freedom to create an individualized course of instruction. This works especially well if you have a child with special needs. Through the Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA) children with special needs are given a free public education including any special services; however, youll need to check with your state department of education to learn if your state allows homeschoolers to receive these benefits.

Also, visit the SPED Homeschooling website, which works to empower parents and guide and assist them in homeschooling their kids with unique learning needs.

Or perhaps you have a star athlete, a violin virtuoso, a talented artist, or budding actor. Some homeschool parents create a personalized curriculum with a unique balance of academics and extra-curricular education and activities. Also, check with your local school district to find out if they allow homeschooler participation. If either of these paths is not an option, consider if your child would reap more benefits by attending a traditional school.
It Began in Academia

Commentary

It was sometime in the 1990s that academics fell in love with the idea of transgression. Not actual transgression, but the topic, the concept, the theory of it.

Most professors lead bourgeois lives, teaching classes, doing some research, worrying about money and housing, and promotion. They may fancy themselves daringly progressive now and then, but a bohemian life of genuine transgression wouldnt let them continue as steady employees of an institution as hierarchical, regulated, and conformist as higher education is. For most of them, transgression is something to analyze and discuss, not to do.

And analyze and discuss they have, starting in the last decade of the last millennium. I just checked the Modern Language Association International Bibliography for the years 197079 and found that the word transgression appeared in the titles of books, articles, reviews, and whatnot in literary studies only 33 times. The word had no special disciplinary meaning.

From 2000 to 2009, however, it popped up in the title of fully 1,138 items of literary scholarship. It was a central term of gender theory, and it had a political dimension as well (if the personal is political, as the slogan went, then small transgressions in private affairs could count as forms of political protest). The high priest of theory in the 1990s, Michel Foucault, characterized modern transgression as acts of profanation in a world with no sense of the sacred.

In that way, he said, transgression rehearsed the death of God. Small acts could be world-shakingthat was the implication. It elevated gestures contrary to conventional morality and deportment into grand critiques, and academics ate it up.

To be gay wasnt just to feel desire for the same sex, then. It struck a blow against heteronormativity. A wife straying into adultery broke her vows, yes, but she also broke free of the patriarchal institution of bourgeois marriage. Transgression was liberationit was good. The academics said so, just as in former ages when writers and artists glamorized the highwayman and the bank robber.

The main difference was that this time, the violation usually had a sexual core (Foucault singled out sexuality as the most delicate and monitored area of human behavior in a secular time). It went along nicely with the Sexual Revolution, with Womens Lib and Gay Liberation.

Academics intellectualized and valorized it. They wrote books such as Chastity and Transgression in Womens Writing, 17921897. This was a nice tack by professionals in higher education to show that they could be just as edgy and titillating and experimental as were the radical and motley characters who gathered around Andy Warhol at The Factory in the 60s.

I bring this up in order to let readers know that the current controversy over sexuality in elementary school classrooms has a context thats obscure to the American public. People are shocked at the TikTok videos created by teachers who boast of their introduction of sexual materials in classrooms and their glee at hiding them from parents. (See the many postings by Libs of TikTok on Twitter.) They dont see why any questions about gender fluidity should come up in second grade. When Florida passes the bill to keep sex issues out of K3 classrooms, they cant believe Disney opposes it.

What they dont know is that these forms of transgression have been authorized for three decades by humanities teachers at the college level. Elementary school instructors under 40 years of age got their liberal arts formation after transgressive gender and sexuality issues had become central learning goals in the fields. People behind gender curricular units for kids were taught to think this way about crossing boundaries. The whole idea of age-appropriate was precisely one of those old-fashioned limits that one was supposed to transgress.

Listen to the defenders of sex in lower grades speak and you can hear in their voices a righteousness that comes from years of indoctrination. By 2010, nobody would dare to stand up in a humanities seminar and defend a biblical conception of sexuality. To speak of protecting the innocence of children was to fall into a camp of alarmists and puritans. In this upside-down world, transgression had become the conventional position. To transgress the old ways of men and women was dogma.

Dont mistake the current controversy as fresh and new. It has ripened for decades, starting in the foggy heights of academic theory, drifting into graduate and undergraduate classes, and carried by young teachers into secondary and primary teaching units. This has been a long time coming. What happened in the crazier zones of the campus in 1990 has ended up in the mainstream of educational practice in 2022.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on Oct. 14, 2021. (Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

Japan and South Korea Agree to Improve Bilateral Ties

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have agreed to revive the countries long-strained relations, which have been plagued by disputes over wartime issues.

The visiting South Korean delegation met with Kishida for talks on April 26 and handed him a handwritten letter from Yoon expressing his hope for improved relations between the two nations.

Given that the rules-based international order is threatened, strategic cooperation between Japan and South Korea, as well as Japan, the United States, and South Korea is needed more than ever, he said. We have no time to spare in improving JapanSouth Korea relations.

Chung Jin-suk, the head of the South Korean delegation, said in the meeting with Kishida that they shared a common view of advancing forward-looking relations and pursuing shared interests, South Koreas Yonhap News Agency reported.

South Korean presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) prepares for a televised presidential debate at KBS studio in Seoul on March 2, 2022. He went on to win the March 9 election. (Jung Yeon-Je/Getty Images)

Yoon, who will take office on May 10, has stated his intention to improve relations with Japan amid nuclear threats from North Korea.

His delegation also discussed with Kishida the issue of Japans wartime sexual slavery and forced labor, which has been a source of friction between the two countries.

Yoon had previously spoken of the need for leaders of the two countries to enhance communication, but the legacy of Japans 19101945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula and wartime occupation could still foil his efforts.

The latest issue to inflame old animosity was a South Korean court ruling that Japanese companies must compensate South Koreans who were victims of forced labor during Japans occupation of the Korean Peninsula.

In 2018, South Koreas Supreme Court ordered Mitsubishi Heavy to compensate victims of forced labor, but the company refused to comply as Japan argued that the issue had already been settled under a 1965 treaty. The issue stirred anger on both sides and threatened to damage trade between the two countries and undermine security cooperation.

The seven-member delegation arrived in Japan on April 24 for a five-day visit amid speculation that Kishida might attend Yoons inauguration ceremony.

The last time a Japanese prime minister attended a South Korean presidential inauguration was in 2008.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Jeff Bezos speaks during an Action on Forests and Land Use event on day three of COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 2, 2021. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Jeff Bezos Raises Concerns About Chinas Clout Over Twitter After Musks Takeover

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos questioned whether Twitter will fall under the influence of the Chinese regime, hours after Tesla CEO Elon Musk secured a $44 billion buyout of the social media firm.

Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square? Bezos wrote on Twitter, responding to a post by a New York Times reporter who outlined the ties between Tesla and Beijing.

Teslas second-biggest market in 2021 was China (after the US) [and] Chinese battery makers are major suppliers for Teslas EVs, the post said. After 2009, when China banned Twitter, the government there had almost no leverage over the platform.

That may have just changed, the post concluded.

Bezoss town square is an apparent reference to Musks Twitter post after securing the deal. The Tesla chief wrote, Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.

Less than two hours after his initial post, Bezos decided to back away from his own question.

My own answer to this question is probably not. The more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter, Bezos wrote on Twitter. But well see. Musk is extremely good at navigating this kind of complexity.

Bezoss response to his own question caught the attention of Charles Mok, a former pro-democracy lawmaker in Hong Kong and a current visiting scholar at Harvard University.

You may be right. Maybe China did not gain more of a leverage, Mok wrote on Twitter. Twitter is not high enough on Chinas list. They already have a lot of that from Mr Musk. What he wouldnt do or say about China, already.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory groundbreaking ceremony in Shanghai, China, on Jan. 7, 2019. (Aly Song/Reuters)

Tesla has enjoyed enormous success in China, with its wholly-owned factory in Shanghai producing about half of its cars sold around the world in 2021. Its success in the Chinese market has been driven in part by cheap loans the company secured from Chinas state-run banks and tax breaks the electric carmaker obtained from Beijing.

Publicly, Musk has praised the Chinese regime on several occasions. In January 2021, Musk lauded the regime as being more responsible than the United States, a remark drawing approval from Chinas foreign ministry. The ministrys spokesperson, Hua Chungying, applauded Musk for making an objective statement during a daily briefing on Jan. 8, 2021.

On July 1 last year, Musk took to Twitter to praise Chinas economic prosperity as truly amazing, in response to Chinas state-run media Xinhuas post on remarks made by Chinese leader Xi Jinping marking the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. According to the Twitter post, Xi said China was becoming a great modern socialist country in all respects.

Musk has also built strong ties with Chinese officials. In early March, Qin Qang, Chinas ambassador to the United States, shared photos on Twitter showing Musk taking him for a drive in a Tesla Model S Plaid.

On April 26, Wang Wenbin, Chinas foreign ministry spokesperson, shut down the suggestion that Beijing could try to use leverage over Tesla to influence Twitter during a daily briefing. He said there was no basis that Beijing would do so.

A Tesla electric vehicle in Shanghai, China, on April 20, 2021. (Aly Song/Reuters)

Peter Schweizer, author of the book Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China, told The Epoch Times in March that Musk has tempered his criticism of the Chinese regimes human rights abuses because of his commercial stake in China.

Hes very outspoken on lots of issues, but hes not going to be outspoken on China because of this leverage that Beijing has over him, Schweizer said. If you look at the statements that are made by Tesla to shareholders, Chinas the future of this company.

Bezos is not the only one to raise concerns about Twitters future.

Issac Stone Fish, a visiting fellow at the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council, also took to Twitter to highlight Musks relationship with Beijing. He is also the author of America Second: How Americas Elites Are Making China Stronger.

For years, Elon Musk and Tesla have ingratiated themselves with Beijing, and even encouraged and supported censorship in China, he wrote. Retweet if youre worried that Musks cozy relationship with Beijing will hurt Twitters ability to protect freedom of speech.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Tesla for comment.
The E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington, D.C., where U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper will hear arguments about what testimony will be allowed in former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann's May 16 trial for allegedly making a false statement to the FBI. (Greg Kahn/Getty Images)

Judge Says Parties Can Defend Shielding Documents During Sussmann Probe

United States District Judge Christopher Casey Cooper on April 26 granted five petitions seeking to intervene in former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmanns upcoming trial for allegedly making a false statement to the FBI.

Special Counsel John Durham, in April 6 court filings, sought to compel the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Hilary Clintons 2016 campaign, Fusion GPS, the Perkins Coie law firm, and former Neustar senior vice president Rodney Joffe to provide documents and communications theyve refused to hand over, claiming attorney-client privilege.

Durham maintains there were 1,455 documents and communications between the parties that were withheld from federal prosecutors as privileged attorney-client communications even though only 18 involved what could be described as legal advice.

His motion seeks to have the five parties and Sussmann produce 38 privileged communications and email exchanges for Cooper to review.

Attorneys representing the DNC, Clinton campaign, Perkins Coie, Joffe, and Fusion GPSthe opposition research firm hired by Clintons campaignfiled petitions last week seeking to intervene and to argue against their clients communications being used as evidence in Sussmanns trial, scheduled to begin on May 16.

Cooper, an Obama appointee, granted those petitions April 26 and gave attorneys until April 29 to re-file their proposed oppositions to Durhams motion in anticipation of making their arguments in a May 4 hearing.

Despite Coopers rulings, the evidentiary hearing scheduled for April 27 at 2 p.m. in his Washington, D.C., courtroom will go forward as scheduled, US Department of Justice Deputy Director of Public Affairs Wyn Hornbuckle confirmed in an email.

Durham alleges Sussmann knowingly lied in claiming to be acting as a concerned citizen on September 19, 2016, when he gave FBI General Counsel James Baker documents regarding alleged DNS (Domain Name System) traffic between Russia-based Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization.

What Sussmann allegedly failed to inform Baker, according to Durham, is that he had represented Joffe in the past, recently represented the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and that his Perkins Coie law firm was general counsel for Hilary Clintons 2016 campaign.

Durham maintains that in August 2016, Sussmann and Clinton campaign lead counsel Marc Elias met with Joffewhose company was contracted to monitor DNS traffic for the Executive Officein their Perkins Coie offices and encouraged him to concoct a narrative tying the Trump Organization to the bank, the largest in Russia.

That concocted narrative was then circulated to the FBI a month later and to the CIA in February 2017, kicking off months of legal scrutiny and spurious high-profile media Russiagate speculation first about candidate Donald Trump and then President Donald Trumps, connections with Russia.

April 27s evidentiary hearing will be the second before Cooper regarding what will and wont be heard in Sussmanns trial.

During a 43-minute April 20 hearing, Cooper waded through the first set of petitions calling for restrictions on witness testimony filed by attorneys representing Sussmann.

Sean Berkowitz, Michael Bosworth, Natalie Hardwick Rao, and Catherine Yao of Latham & Watkins also argued that notes taken by two FBI officials after meeting with Baker not be entered as evidence in the case.

Sussmanns attorneys insist the veracity of the data is not relevant to the charge lodged against their clientlying to the FBIespecially since Durham had previously said it was not part of his investigation.

The government [said] it did not intend to [address] the accuracy of the data with the caveat it would do so if cross-examination made it relevant, argued Berkowitz, noting the defense has no plans to offer evidence that there was a link between Trump servers and the Alfa Bank because it has nothing to do with the false statement charge.

In response to the April 20 hearing, Cooper on April 25 barred Durham from introducing the CIA analysis or from making a lengthy exploration of data Sussmann turned over to Baker after his defense team said it will not seek to affirmatively prove the existence of a link between Alfa Bank and the Trump Campaign.

The judge also denied Durhams request to compel testimony from technicians who maintained the servers that purportedly received communications from Alfa Bank servers to testify about their involvement in the FBIs investigation.

Cooper, however, also ruled he will permit the government to put on evidence reflecting the FBIs ultimate conclusionswhich the court understands to be that the Alfa Bank allegations were unsubstantiatedas well as the particular investigative and analytical steps the FBI took to reach them.

Cooper said the evidence is relevant to the governments theory of materiality: that Mr. Sussmanns alleged statement that he was not representing a client caused the FBI to handle the subsequent investigation differently than it otherwise would have.

During the April 20 hearing, Berkowitz also questioned the extent to what FBI Special Agent David Martin, the agencys Cyber Technical Analysis Unit Chief, will testify about. He asked to restrict it to explaining basic mechanics, architecture, and terminology of the DNS system and DNS data.

Deadlines For New Arguments

By calling Martin as a witness, Berkowitz said, Durham was trying to imply that Sussmann, a specialist in cyberlaw, could not have reasonably believed the conclusions in the data he provided Baker.

Cooper, in his April 25 rulings, said he would largely deny the defenses motion against allowing Martin to testify but agreed to limit the range of what can be asked.

The judge gave May 2 deadlines for filing new arguments regarding evidence to be heard during April 27s hearing.

Sussmanns attorneys raised four procedural issues with Durhams April 6 motion to compel testimony.

First, they say, the motion is untimely because it was filed less than six weeks before the trial was set to begin and long after court-ordered discovery deadlines had come and gone.

They argue Durhams motions should have been brought before the Chief Judge of the District Court first, that he is seeking information the Grand Jury investigation allowed to remain redacted, that the compelled documents are irrelevant on their face to the charge levied against their client, and that even if attorneys were not involved the requested communications involve attorney work products and, therefore, are privileged.

In their 20-page April 25 filing, prosecutors rebut those arguments, claiming the defenses arguments about timeliness distort reality. Indeed, the opposite is true: the primary reason the government waited until recently to bring these issues to the courts attention was because it wanted to carefully pursue and exhaust all collaborative avenues of resolving these matters short of litigation.

The fact that Sussmann and other parties want the 38 documents and email exchanges shielded as privileged attorney-client communications is ironic, prosecutors note, because the government acknowledgesand indeed, the indictment alleges that the defendant maintained attorney-client relationships with the Clinton Campaign and Joffe.

No Response to Requests

Indeed, the purported privilege holders who have intervened do so in a case in which the defendant is alleged to have denied representing any client, prosecutors write.

Durhams team said, over the course of months, and until recently, the government has been receiving voluminous rolling productions of documents and privilege logs from numerous parties but, despite reaching out to each of those parties counsel numerous times, directing their attention to specific documents where possible and communicating over email and phone in an effort to obtain non-privileged explanations for the relevant privilege determinations but got no response until filing the motion to compel.

The claim that communications regarding attorney work products should remain under wraps should be rejected, they argue.

These parties are advancing a highly novel and seemingly broad theory of attorney-client privilege, namely, that Fusion GPSs political opposition researchwhich triggered a sizeable outflow of unverified derogatory information into the media, the government, and the publicwas in reality confidential expert work intended to support legal advice regarding libel and defamation, prosecutors maintain.

Even more novel, they continue, the purported privilege holders here contend that they all maintained a common legal interest in that work, despite the fact that the group includes [Joffe], with whom none of the other purported privilege holders had any formal or informal legal relationship.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly speaks during an event at the Statehouse in Topeka. Kan., on April 21, 2021. (John Hanna/AP Photo)

Kansas Judge Throws Out Newly-Drawn Congressional Map, Appeal Expected

A Kansas district court judge on Monday threw out the states newly-drawn Republican-backed congressional map as an unconstitutional gerrymander.

The 29th Judicial District Court accused Republicans of creating intentional and effective partisan and political gerrymanders that violated the Kansas Constitution, The New York Times reported. The newly-drawn map divided Wyandotte County and moved a portion of it out of the 3rd District, which it shares with Johnson County.

It was the first time a court has declared that the Kansas Constitution prohibits political gerrymandering. The state attorney generals office notified the Kansas Supreme Court almost immediately to expect an appeal of the decision.

Lawsuits over new congressional district lines have proliferated across the United States, with Republicans looking to recapture a U.S. House majority in this years midterm elections. State courts have issued decisions favoring Democrats in North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and a new GOP map in Florida is being challenged. A mid-level appeals court in New York recently declared its new districts were drawn unfairly to favor Democrats.

Wyandotte County District Judge Bill Klapper on Monday ordered legislators to draft another map as expeditiously as possible, and prohibited officials from conducting elections under the map that he struck down.

His order came a little more than five weeks before the states June 1 candidate filing deadline.

The Buddha says the only consistent thing in the universe is change. One does not have to be a Buddhist to realize change is always taking place, Klapper wrote in his 209-page opinion. We must not be naive enough to believe change can be prevented by suppressing its voice.

Klappers decision was met with criticism from Republicans.

The ruling simply means we are on to the next step, which is an appeal by the Attorney General, Senate President Ty Masterson, Vice President Rick Wilborn, and Majority Leader Larry Alley said in a statement.

Speaker Ron Ryckman, Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch, and Majority Leader Dan Hawkins issued a statement calling the judges decision erroneous.

Democrats have criticized the map as political gerrymandering.

State Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Lawrence Democrat, said that she had argued repeatedly that the map was gerrymandering that hurt minority voters.

Im glad they saw it for what it was, Ballard said.

A May 25 deadline has been set for the Kansas Supreme Court to rule on a separate law redrawing Kansas House, Kansas Senate, and State Board of Education districts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) and President Joe Biden (C) listen as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (C/R) addresses a North Atlantic Council meeting during an extrordinary summit at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on March 24, 2022. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Kremlin: Danger of Nuclear War Serious, Real

NATO Engaging War With Russia Using Ukraine as a Proxy, Russia Says

The Kremlin criticized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for engaging in a proxy war with Russia through Ukraine.

If NATO essentially engages in war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy, war means war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a wide-ranging interview broadcast on Russian state television on Monday.

He repeated Russias stance that it is legitimate to target weapons provided by Ukraines Western allies.

Lavrov claimed that the risk of a nuclear war is considerable now.

I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it, he said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin responded Tuesday that threats of the war in Ukraine escalating into a nuclear conflict are very dangerous and unhelpful.

Nobody wants to see a nuclear war happen. Its a war that all sides lose, Austin said. And so rattling of sabers and, you know, dangerous rhetoric is clearly unhelpful and something that we wont engage in.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks with reporters after returning from their trip to Kyiv and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, near the Ukraine border, in Poland, on April 25, 2022. (Alex Brandon/Pool via Reuters)

Moscows warning came as NATO members are providing more and deadlier weapons to Ukraine to confront Russia in the east and south where the two countries have been involved in disputes for years.

Germany confirmed Tuesday that it will provide Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine in a notable policy shift.

Yesterday we decided that Germany will make the delivery of Gepard anti-aircraft tanks possible to Ukraine, German Defense Minister Christina Lambrecht said in a transcript of her speech seen by Deutsche Welle.

A technician uses a welders torch to cut parts off a Gepard antiaircraft cannon tank that once belonged to the Bundeswehr at the Battle Tank Dismantling GmbH Koch in Edeleben, Germany, on April 23, 2014. Since the early 1990s, the company has dismantled over 15,000 tanks and other armored vehicles, from German, Austrian, French, and other European arsenals, as many nations reduce their military forces in accordance with the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty. (Jens Schlueter/Getty Images)

President Joe Biden announced on April 21 an extra $800 million in military aid to Ukraine.

Some heavy artillery weapons72 155mm Howitzers and 144,000 rounds of ammunitionwere listed in the package disclosed by Biden on Thursday along with 72 tactical vehicles to tow 155mm Howitzers, over 122 Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems, and other field equipment and spare parts.

Western countries are also providing training in Poland, Germany, and the United States.

The Biden administration said Monday that it wants Russias military to be weakened to the extent of not being able to launch an invasion similar to the one in Ukrainian.

When asked about the United States goals for success amid the conflict, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin responded, Ukraine remains a sovereign country, a democratic country, able to protect its sovereign territory. But then he told reporters that he wants to see Russias military capacity diminished.

It has already lost a lot of military capability and a lot of its troops, quite frankly, and we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability, Austin added.

We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it cant do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine, Austin told reporters, according to a transcript.

Reuters and Jack Phillips contributed to the report.
A newly built suburb in the Russian city of Belgorod, some 700 km south of Moscow, on April 11, 2019. (Vasily Maximov/AFP via Getty Images)

RussiaUkraine War (April 26): Blasts Heard in Russias Belgorod, Nearby Ammunition Depot on Fire: Governor

The latest on the RussiaUkraine crisis, April 26. Click here for updates from April 25.

Blasts Heard in Russias Belgorod, Nearby Ammunition Depot on Fire: Governor

A series of blasts were heard in the early hours of Wednesday in the Russian city Belgorod near the Ukrainian border, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, and an ammunition depot in the province was on fire.

Gladkov said no civilians had been hurt by the fire which broke out at a facility near Staraya Nelidovka village. Russia this month accused Ukraine of attacking a fuel depot in Belgorod with helicopters and opening fire on several villages in the province.

The Belgorod province borders Ukraines Luhansk, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions, all of which have seen heavy fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine two months ago.

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Kyiv Pulls Down Soviet-Era Monument Symbolizing Russian-Ukrainian Friendship

Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday dismantled a huge Soviet-era monument in the center of Kyiv meant to symbolize friendship between Russia and Ukraine, a response to Moscows invasion, according to the citys mayor.

The eight-meter (27-foot) bronze statue depicted a Ukrainian and Russian worker on a plinth, holding aloft together a Soviet order of friendship. The statue was located underneath a giant titanium Peoples Friendship Arch, erected in 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Soviet Union.

We now see what this friendship isdestruction of Ukrainian cities  killing tens of thousands of peaceful people. I am convinced such a monument has an entirely different meaning now, Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko said.

Workmen started by removing one of the two bronze heads, which fell to the ground with a hollow clang.

As a crane lifted the monument off its moorings and gradually lowered it to the ground, a crowd of around 100 people cheered and shouted Glory to Ukraine and other slogans.

Russia invaded Ukraine  Can we be friends with Russia? What do you think? This is our worst enemy, that is why the monument to Russian-Ukrainian friendship doesnt make sense anymore, said Serhiy Myrhorodsky, one of the designers.

We should not have any relations with the nation of aggressors  no friendship, no relations, nothing, said Diana, a young woman, who did not give her full name.

Klitschko said the arch would remain in place but be renamed the Arch of Freedom of the Ukrainian People.

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Blasts Heard in Russia s Belgorod: Regional Governor

A series of blasts were heard in the early hours of Wednesday in the Russian city Belgorod near the Ukrainian border, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram message. Gladkov said the authorities were trying to establish the location and cause of the explosions. Russia this month accused Ukraine of attacking a fuel depot in Belgorod with helicopters and opening fire on several villages in the province. ___

US Offers $10 Million Reward for Information on Russian Intelligence Officers: State Department

The United States on Tuesday offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on six people it described as Russian military intelligence officers who had conducted cyberattacks affecting critical U.S. infrastructure.

The six officers work in a cyber-focused unit of Russias Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and were involved in a 2017 global malware attack that infected the computers of several private U.S. entities, including a hospital system, the U.S. State Department said.

The 2017 NotPetya cyberattack crippled parts of Ukraines infrastructure and damaged computers in countries across the globe including France, Germany, Italy, and the United States, causing billions of dollars in estimated damage.

Russia denies any involvement in the incident.

A U.S. federal grand jury in 2020 indicted the six Sandworm unit officers on counts of conspiracy to conduct computer fraud and abuse, among other charges, the State Department said.

An award of up to $10 million would be rewarded for information leading to the identification or location of any person who, while acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government, participates in malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure, it added.

There was no immediate Russian comment.

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Russia Suspending Gas Supplies to Poland, Bulgaria

Officials in Poland and Bulgaria say Russia is suspending their countries natural gas deliveries starting on Wednesday.

The governments of the two European countries said Tuesday that Russian energy giant Gazprom informed them it was halting gas supplies.

The suspensions would be the first since Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that unfriendly foreign buyers would have to pay the state-owned Gazprom in rubles instead of other currencies.

Europe imports large amounts of Russian natural gas to heat homes, generate electricity, and fuel industry. The imports have continued despite the war in Ukraine.

Around 60 percent of imports are paid in euros, and the rest in dollars. Putins demand was apparently intended to help bolster the Russian currency amid the war in Ukraine.

European leaders said they would not comply, arguing the requirement for them to purchase rubles and then pay Gazprom violated the terms of contracts and their sanctions against Russia.

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Russia Warns Britain Over Provoking Ukraine

Russia warned Britain on Tuesday that if it continued to provoke Ukraine to strike targets in Russia then there would be an immediate proportional response.

Russias defense ministry cited statements from Britains armed forces minister James Heappey who told BBC radio that it was entirely legitimate for Ukraine to hunt targets in the depths of Russia to disrupt logistics and supply lines.

We would like to underline that Londons direct provocation of the Kyiv regime into such actions, if such actions are carried out, will immediately lead to our proportional response, Russias defense ministry said.

As we have warned, the Russian Armed Forces are in round-the-clock readiness to launch retaliatory strikes with high-precision long-range weapons at decision-making centers in Kyiv.

The defense ministry also said that if such Russian strikes were made it would not necessarily be a problem if representatives of a certain Western country were located at Ukraines decision-making centers.

Britains Heappey said it was completely legitimate for Ukraine to strike Russian logistics lines and fuel supplies and he acknowledged the weapons the international community was now providing had the range to be used in Russia.

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Kremlin Official Says Ukraine May Split Into Parts

A senior Kremlin official says that Ukraine may split into several parts.

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said in remarks published Tuesday that the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states.

The statement comes as Russia says it has focused on expanding control over Ukraines eastern industrial heartland called Donbass.

Last week, a senior Russian military officer said that along with taking control over Donbass, Russia also wants to overtake southern Ukraine, saying such a move would also open a land corridor between Russia and the separatist Trans-Dniester region of Moldova.

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US Defense Secretary: Russias Capability Weakened

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the war in Ukraine has already weakened Russias military capability.

Austin said after meeting allies and partners at the United States Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday that, since Russia began the invasion, its land forces have sustained pretty substantial casualties, as well as lost a lot of equipment and used a lot of precision-guided munitions.

He said that they are, in fact, in terms of military capability, weaker than when they started, and  itll be harder for them to replace some of this capability as they go forward because of the sanctions and the trade restrictions that have been placed on them.

Austin reiterated that we would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.

He criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs warning that the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated.

Austin said that its unhelpful and dangerous to rattle sabers and speculate about the use of nuclear weapons.

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Blinken Calls for Continued Support of Ukraine in Senate Hearing

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging Congress to fully fund the Biden administrations proposed budget for the State Department, telling lawmakers the spending is critical to ensuring that the war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for Russia and a message to other countries that might invade their neighbors.

Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the U.S.led global response to Russias invasion had underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy. He said the $60.4 billion budget proposal for the next fiscal year was needed to continue to rally partners and allies in the cause.

We will, we have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are the strategic opportunities and address risks presented by Russias overreach, as countries reconsider their policies, priorities, their relationships, Blinken said. The budget request before you predated this crisis, but fully funding it is critical in my judgment to ensuring Russias war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for the Kremlin and serves as a powerful lesson to those who might consider following its path.

Blinken did not name other nations that might be considering following Russias lead but his comment was seen as a veiled reference to China, which has sided with Russia in the Ukraine conflict and has made no secret of its desire to reunify the island of Taiwan with the mainland.

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Kremlin Says Gazprom Working on Implementing Rubles-for-Gas Scheme

The Kremlin on Tuesday said Gazprom was implementing the presidential decree on enforcing payment for gas supplies in rubles without providing further clarification, when asked about the European Commissions guidance on Russias plan.

The European Commission has said that European companies will need to fulfill extra requirements, such as a statement they consider their contractual obligations to be complete once they have deposited non-Russian currencies.

All the contacts with buyers of gas have been made via Gazprom, so Gazprom will publish information on the results of the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily conference call with reporters.

Gazprom declined to comment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that countries he terms unfriendly agree to implement the scheme under which they would open accounts at Gazprombank and make payments in euros or dollars that would be converted into rubles.

Peskov has said payments for deliveries that took place after Putins decree took effect were expected in May.

Russia announced the plan after Moscow launched what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine on Feb. 24, prompting Western sanctions against Russia, including the freezing of a chunk of its gold and forex reserves.

Most European buyers of Russian gas initially rejected the ruble payment scheme.

Moscow, however, warned Europe it risked its gas supplies being cut unless it paid in rubles and several Russian gas buyers have since said they might be able to agree to Moscows demands.

Uniper, Germanys main importer of Russian gas, said on Monday it would be possible to pay for future supplies without breaching European Union sanctions.

Hungary has said it planned to pay for Russian gas in euros through Gazprombank, which will convert the payment into rubles to meet the new requirement.

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Russian Seaborne Crude Exports Rise, Boosting Kremlin Oil Revenue by 25 Percent

Russias seaborne crude exports rose in the week of April 1622, potentially serving to further bolster President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine.

Forty tankers loaded about 28 million barrels of oil from Russian export terminals in that week, according to vessel-tracking data and port agent reports collected and analyzed by Bloomberg.

That means that the average seaborne crude flow was 4 million barrels a day, marking a 25 percent increase against the week ended April 15.

One-fifth of the volume shipped from ports on the Black Sea and the Baltic and Arctic coasts is on tankers that do not display a final destination, although the majority are expected to be delivered to Asia, Bloomberg reported.

Read the full article here

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Kremlin Reacts to Terrorist Attacks in Transnistria

The recent wave of attacks in Transnistria, which borders Ukraine, is concerning, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. The targets include a military site and a broadcasting facility.

We are watching the situation very closely, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), was placed on a terror alert on Tuesday after several attacks.

On Monday, a government building in the regions capital, Tiraspol, was shelled with rocket-propelled grenades, local officials said. Another attack hit a military site in Parkany. There were no casualties.

On Tuesday morning, two explosions occurred at a radio center in the village of Mayak.

The largely Russian-speaking Transnistria declared independence from Moldova during the breakup of the Soviet Union but has remained mostly unrecognized by the international community since then.

Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin does not plan on meeting with his Moldovan counterpart Maia Sandu at the moment.

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Russian Forces Hit Key Bridge in Ukraine

Ukrainian officials say the Russian military has hit a strategic bridge linking the southern Odesa region with neighboring Romania.

Oleksandr Kamyshin, the head of the state-run Ukrainian Railways, said the bridge across the Dniester Estuary where the Dniester River flows into the Black Sea was damaged in Tuesdays missile attack by Russian forces. He said there were no injuries.

The strike has cut off the railway connection to areas of the Odesa region west of the estuary and Romania.

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European Union to Cut Russian Oil and Gas Imports to Zero by 2027

A senior European Union official said Tuesday that the bloc plans to cut Russian oil and gas imports to zero by the end of 2027, with his remarks coming as EU leaders continue to deliberate on moves to accelerate reducing the regions dependence on Russian energy.

EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told Italian daily Il Messaggero in an interview published Tuesday that European Union aims to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas by two-thirds by the end of this year and phase it out completely by the end of 2027.

Gentilonis remarks provide more clarity around the timeline for the EUs member states to wean themselves off Russian energy, with the EUs prior statements on a phase-out of Russian fossil fuels expressed an aim of well before 2030.

His remarks also come a day after EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said that theres not yet sufficient support from the blocs member states to impose a complete embargo on Russian oil and gas imports.

Read the full article here

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Turkeys Erdogan Speaks With Putin, Urges Direct Talks With Zelenskyy

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.

The Turkish presidency said in a statement Tuesday that Erdogan proposed taking the Istanbul process to the level of leaders, a crucial threshold in the Russia-Ukraine negotiations. It sought to continue the positive progress of the Istanbul talks toward peace.

Ankara, which maintains close ties to both Kyiv and Moscow, has presented itself as a neutral broker in a bid to end the fighting.

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Poland Sanctions 50 Russian People, Entities

Polands government says it is imposing sanctions on 50 Russian entities and individuals over Russias war against Ukraine.

Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said Tuesday that the Polish measures come on top of European Union sanctions and target many Russian individuals and companies that do business in Poland.

Kaminski said the targeted companies will have their assets frozen and will be excluded from participation in public tenders, while Russian oligarchs on the list will be banned from entering Poland.

Gas giant Gazprom and Moshe Kantor, who owns a share of Polands state-owned chemicals group Azoty, are on the new list.

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Russia Expels Swedish Diplomats

Swedens foreign minister has decried as unjustified and disproportionate a decision by Russian authorities to expel several Swedish diplomats.

Ann Linde vowed in a social-media post that Sweden would respond appropriately to the expulsions announced Tuesday of four Swedish diplomats by Moscow. Separately, Russias Foreign Ministry said three diplomats from the Swedish Embassy in Russia would be expelled.

Swedish news agency TT reported that three of the diplomats were based in Moscow, where the embassy is located, and one in St. Petersburg.

Earlier this month, Sweden expelled three Russian diplomats.

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Ukrainian Officials: Death Toll Rises Amid Russian Offensive

Ukrainian officials were reporting more civilian deaths in various parts of eastern Ukraine as Russian forces stepped up attacks on Tuesday.

Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said three people died after Russian shells hit a residential building in the city of Popasna, which Russian forces have been trying to capture.

Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko of the neighboring Donetsk region said two people were killed and six others wounded in his region.

To the north in Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said shelling of civilian areas killed three people and wounded seven more.

And further south, regional authorities in Zaporizhzhia said a missile strike killed at least one person and wounded another. Russian forces fired several missiles targeting one of the factories in the city of Zaporizhzhia, they said.

The U.N. human rights office said Tuesday it has counted 2,729 people killed and 3,111 injured in fighting since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

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US Defense Secretary Claims Ukraine Can Win War With Russia

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin kicked off defense talks with more than 40 countries on Tuesday by expressing confidence that Ukraine can prevail against Russia in the 2-month-old conflict.

Your resistance has brought inspiration to the free world, Austin said, as he denounced Russias invasion of Ukraine as indefensible.

Ukraine clearly believes that it can win, and so does everyone here.

Austin is also vowing that Ukraines allies will keep moving heaven and earth to fulfill Kyivs defense requirements as the war enters a new phase.

He said this gathering reflects the galvanized world since Russias invasion, with more than 30 allies and partners joining the United States in sending security assistance to Ukraine and more than $5 billion worth of equipment committed.

Austin cautioned that we have much more to do: Ukraine needs our help to win today, and they will still need our help when the war is over.

He said of Ukraine: We know, and you should know, that all of us have your back and thats why were here todayto strengthen the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy.

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Military Base Hit by Terrorist Attack in Breakaway Region Near Ukraine: Leader

Starting Monday, a series of terrorist attacks hit the breakaway region of Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), which borders Ukraine, its leader said on Tuesday. Transnistrian President Vadim Krasnoselsky placed the region on terrorist alert, RIA Novosti reported, citing the presidents website.

Two back-to-back explosions rocked a broadcasting center in the village of Mayak on Tuesday morning, the regions interior ministry said. It added that no one was hurt, but the two biggest antennas, which were transmitting Russian radio stations, have been disabled.

Another incident occurred at a military site near the village of Parkany. Reports emerging Monday on social media said there had been two explosions.

Also on Monday, the State Security Ministry building in the regions capital, Tiraspol, was shelled with rocket-propelled grenades, but also with no casualties, according to the Interior Ministry.

Meanwhile, Moldovas president also convened an urgent security meeting on Tuesday after two blasts damaged a broadcasting center in the breakaway region of Transdniestria.

On Monday, the Moldovan government said the Tiraspol blasts were aimed at creating tensions in a region it had no control of.

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UN Chief Calls for Cease-Fire on Moscow Visit

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a cease-fire in Ukraine at his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Guterres is visiting Moscow and is then scheduled to visit the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, this week.

We are extremely interested in finding ways in order to create the conditions for effective dialog, create the conditions for a cease-fire as soon as possible, create the conditions for a peaceful solution, Guterres said, speaking in televised comments at the start of the meeting.

Guterres also said he wanted to reduce the impact of fighting in Ukraine on food security in other parts of the world. Lavrov said they would discuss the situation around Ukraine that acts as a catalyst for a great number of problems which had piled up over recent decades in the Euro-Atlantic region.

Guterres is also expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later Tuesday.

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UK: Ukraine City Kreminna Falls to Russia

The British Defense Ministry says Russian forces have taken the Ukrainian city of Kreminna.

Street-to-street fighting had been going on for days in the city in Ukraines Luhansk region, with civilian evacuations there made impossible by the war.

In a tweet early Tuesday, the British military said: The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east.

There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian government. Russia claimed days earlier to have taken the city.

Kreminna is some 575 kilometers (355 miles) southeast of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

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Ukraine Wants $2 Billion Per Month From US

Ukraines finance minister, Sergey Marchenko, has solicited at least $2 billion per month in emergency economic aid from the Biden administration. The official also revealed that Kyiv hopes to raise an additional $3 billion per month from other sources.

Speaking to the Washington Post, Marchenko said that Ukraine needs to cover this gap right now to attract the necessary finance and win this war.

During his visit to Washington last week, Marchenko met with a number of senior U.S. officials, warning them that absent the requested financial support, Ukraine would likely not be able to cope with the humanitarian crisis brought on by Russias military offensive. A total of $5 billion per month is needed to cover Ukraines immediate needs in April, May, and June, the minister explained. In addition to that, Kyiv is expected to request another tranche down the road to help Ukraine recover from all the damage incurred.

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Moscow Blames West for Stalled Ukraine Talks

There is a belief in Moscow that Washington, London, and other Western capitalsnot Kyivare the real decision-makers when it comes to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained on Monday. He said that, on advice from the U.S. and UK, Kyivs negotiators backtracked on the tentative understanding reached last month in Istanbul.

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met face-to-face in Turkey at the end of March. Russia then took Ukraines outline, put it together in a contractual format and sent it to Kyiv, only to get back radically different ideas in what was a huge step back, Lavrov said in the interview with The Great Game, a political talk show on Russias Channel One.

We know for sure that neither the U.S. nor the UKwhich is trying in every possible way to compensate for its current lonely status after leaving the EUadvised [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky to speed up the negotiations, but to harden his position each time, Lavrov said. The backtracking after Istanbul, he added, was taken on the advice of our American or British colleagues. Maybe the Poles and the Balts played some role here.

Meanwhile, Western leaderssuch as U.K. PM Boris Johnson and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell have made statements to the effect that Russia must be defeated and that the conflict needs to be resolved on the field of battle, while sending weapons to Kyiv, Lavrov noted.

These weapons will be a legitimate target for the Russian Armed Forces, the foreign minister said. Warehouses, including in the west of Ukraine, have become such a target more than once. How else? NATO is essentially going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy. In war, as in war.

While casting spells against a third World War, the West is fueling the conflict with weapons and hoping to have Ukraine fight Russia to the last man in order to bleed Moscow, Lavrov said.

You know, goodwill is not unlimited, he added. If it is not reciprocated, then this does not contribute to the negotiation process. As before, many of us are convincedas I have already mentionedthat the real position of Ukraine is determined in Washington, London, and other Western capitals, he said, noting that some political scientists have said that talks should be held with NATO, and not Zelenskyy.

Lavrov also offered a prediction how the conflict will end. As in any situation where armed forces are used, everything will end with a treaty, he said. But its parameters will be determined by the stage of hostilities at which this treaty becomes a reality.

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White Helmets Instructors Deployed to Ukraine, Moscow Claims

Ukrainian authorities and their foreign handlers are planning false-flag attacks involving weapons of mass destruction, Russias deputy permanent representative to the U.N., Dmitry Polyansky said on Monday. For that purpose, instructors of the notorious Syria-based White Helmets group have already been deployed to Ukraine, the official told reporters.

The diplomat effectively reiterated the allegations raised over the weekend by the head of the Russian Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Force, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who said the supposed plans harbored by the Kyiv regime include three scenarios, ranging from a false-flag attack on civilians to tactical small-scale use of WMDs and open deployment of such weaponry on the battlefield.

To facilitate the allegedly looming false-flag attack, overseas handlers of the Kyiv authorities have sent instructors of the notorious White Helmets group to Ukraine, Polyansky stated.

There is a well-known model in which such provocations [involving chemical weapons] are used in other parts of the world. First, a so-called chemical incident is organized. Then pro-Western non-governmental organizations, especially the infamous White Helmets, stationed nearby, quickly arrive on the scene and collect, in violation of all the norms of the non-proliferation regime, questionable evidence, and then feed this story to the Western media. We all know this technology, Polyansky said.

The White Helmets group, co-founded by late British mercenary and presumed ex-intelligence officer James Le Mesurier, rose to international notoriety amid the years-long conflict in Syria.

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Western Supply Lines in Ukraine Destroyed: Russia

Russian troops have destroyed six traction substationsunits that power the railwayswhich are being used for delivery of foreign weapons and military hardware to the Ukrainian forces in the Donbass, Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov announced on Monday.

He added that the stations were located at the Krasnoye, Zdolbunov, Zhmerinka, Berdichev, Kovel, and Korosten railway hubs, all in western Ukraine.

According to Konashenkov, 27 military targets were also destroyed by airstrikes, including four command centers.

Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said last month that pushing Ukrainian troops from the territory of the Donbass republics had become Moscows top priority at this stage of the campaign.

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Humanitarian Corridor for Civilians From Mariupol Sabotaged by Kyiv: Russia

A new attempt to set up a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians allegedly trapped at the besieged Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol has failed, the Russian military admitted late on Monday. Moscow and Kyiv have blamed one another for the evacuation attempt yielding no result.

The Kyiv authorities today again cynically disrupted this humanitarian operation. As of April 25, 2022, at 8pm (MSK), no one has used the proposed humanitarian corridor, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russias National Defense Management Center, said in a statement.

Such absolutely illogical and inconsistent behavior of the Kyiv authorities once again confirms their blatant indifference to the fate of individual peopleto the citizens of their own country, he stressed.

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Germany to Supply Gepard Anti-aircraft Systems to Ukraine

Germany will officially approve the delivery of Gepard anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine, a senior lawmaker from one of the ruling coalition parties said on Tuesday.

Johannes Vogel, of the liberal Free Democrats, confirmed a report in daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht is set to offer the weapons at Tuesdays meeting with allies at the United States Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has faced criticism at home and abroad for his governments failure to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, has pledged the delivery of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons from German military stocks, which he described however as defensive weapons.

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Britain Says Russia Tries to Encircle Ukraine Positions in East

Russia is probably attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the countrys east, the British military said in an update on Tuesday.

Reports say the city of Kreminna has fallen, with heavy fighting in the south of the city of Izium, as Russian forces try to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Britains defense ministry said on Twitter.

Ukrainian forces have been preparing defenses in Zaporizhzhia in preparation for a potential Russian attack from the south, it added in the regular bulletin.

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Russia Should Launch Next Phase of Ukraine Campaign, Separatist Leader Says

The Russian-backed separatist leader of the Ukrainian breakaway region of Donetsk said on Tuesday that Moscow should launch the next stage of its military campaign in Ukraine after reaching the regions frontiers.

Denis Pushilin, the leader of Donetsk Peoples Republic, said on a Russian talk show broadcast online that the next phase of Russias military intervention was crucial following security incidents outside the region.

He cited blasts that hit the Moldovan breakaway region of Transdniestria bordering Ukraine on Monday, as well as Russian allegations of shelling of its border regions by Ukrainian forces.

The pace at which the (military) operation reaches our borders is important to us in order to launch its next phase, which is needed after what we witnessed in Transdniestria and Russias border regions, RIA news agency quoted Pushilin as saying.

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Norway to Allocate $44 Million to British-led Ukraine Weapons Procurement

Norway will allocate 400 million crowns ($43.7 million) to a British-led initiative for buying weapons for Ukraine, the Norwegian prime minister said on Tuesday.

Norway may also make additional direct shipments of weapons to Ukraine on top of those it has already made, Jonas Gahr Stre told parliament.

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Biden, Macron Agree in Call to Rapidly Hold Detailed Discussion on Ukraine War: Elysee

French President Emmanuel Macron, who was re-elected on Sunday, and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden agreed in a congratulatory phone call on Monday to rapidly hold more detailed discussions on global issues, including the war in Ukraine, the Elysee said.

According to a readout after the call, Macron and Biden agreed to intensify their dialogue on major global issues  And in particular on global issues related to the war in Ukraine such as food security.

Biden conveyed his readiness to continue working closely with President Macron on our shared global priorities, the White House said in a separate statement.

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UK Dismisses Lavrovs Bravado, Says No Imminent Threat of Escalation in Ukraine

Britains armed forces minister played down comments by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the possible use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, dismissing them as bravado.

Earlier Lavrov told the world not to underestimate the considerable risks of nuclear conflict, and said NATOs supply of weapons to Ukraine in essence meant that the Western alliance was engaged in a proxy war with Russia.

Lavrovs trademark over the course of 15 years or so that he has been the Russian foreign secretary has been that sort of bravado. I dont think that right now there is an imminent threat of escalation, James Heappey told BBC Television.

What the West is doing to support its allies in Ukraine is very well calibrated.

Asked about the possibility of Russia using a tactical nuclear weapon, Heappey claimed he thought there was a vanishingly small possibility of that sort of escalation. He claimed that while NATO had been reinforcing its eastern flank, it was not providing military aid.

Heappey said it was completely legitimate for Ukraine to strike Russian logistics lines and fuel supplies and he acknowledged the weapons the international community was now providing had the range to be used in Russia.

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Russias Lavrov: Do Not Underestimate Threat of Nuclear War

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the West on Monday not to underestimate the elevated risks of nuclear conflict over Ukraine and said he viewed NATO as being in essence engaged in a proxy war with Russia by supplying Kyiv with weaponry.

Lavrov, in a wide-ranging interview broadcast on state television, also said that the core of any agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine would depend largely on the military situation on the ground.

Lavrov had been asked about the importance of avoiding World War III and whether the current situation was comparable to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, a low point in U.S.Soviet relations.

Russia, Lavrov said, was doing a lot to uphold the principle of striving to prevent nuclear war at all costs.

This is our key position on which we base everything. The risks now are considerable, Lavrov said.

I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it.

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US State Dept Backs Ammunition Sale for Ukraine: Statement

The U.S. State Department on Monday said it supported the approval of a possible sale of $165 million worth of ammunition to Ukraine to help the country defend itself against Russias ongoing invasion.

The Ukrainian government had asked to buy various rounds of so-called non-standard ammunition, the department said in a statement, referring to ammunition that does not adhere to NATO standards.

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4 Die, 9 Wounded From Russias Shelling of Kharkiv: Governor

Four people died and nine were wounded as a result of Russias shelling in the Kharkiv region on Monday, Oleh Synegubov, the regions governor told Ukraines public broadcaster.

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Kyiv Wants UN to Seek Mariupol Evacuation

Ukraines foreign minister on Monday urged the U.N. chief to press Russia for an evacuation of the besieged port of Mariupol, calling it something the world body is capable of achieving.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press in an interview he was concerned that by visiting Moscow on Tuesday before traveling to Kyiv, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres could be vulnerable to falling into a Kremlin trap in the war.

Kuleba said Guterres should focus primarily on one issue: evacuation of Mariupol.

An estimated 100,000 people are trapped in the seaside city while a contingent of Ukrainian fighters hold out against Russian forces in a steel mill where hundreds of civilians also are taking shelter.

Tom Ozimek, Katabella Roberts, The Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.
People stand in line for coronavirus tests in a neighborhood in the Dongcheng district of Beijing on April 26, 2022. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

Lockdown Fears Loom as Beijing Starts Testing Nearly All of Its 21 Million Residents

Chinas capital city, Beijing, on April 26 started testing most of its 21 million residents, stoking fears that a citywide lockdown was imminent.

Lines formed from the citys university district of Haidian to Dongcheng, which houses the countrys top officials, with residents waiting for throat swabs.

After recording a handful of cases, the municipal government of Beijing announced late on April 25 that residents in the citys 10 districts and one economic development zonecovering three-quarters of the citys populationhave to take three PCR tests this week.

Only five districtsless dense in population and located in suburban areasare currently excluded from the program.

The first district to order mass testing was the most populous Chaoyang, home to foreign embassies and luxury shopping centers, which completed an initial round on April 25. By the evening, more than 52,000 results came out and all were reported as negative, but officials decided to expand the scale of the program to almost the entire city.

Employees from local high-tech companies and others arrive to take nucleic acid tests at a makeshift testing site in Haidian District in Beijing on April 26, 2022.(Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Schools, stores, and offices remained open, but parts of the Chaoyang district had been sealed off since April 25. On April 26, the authorities added dozens more residential buildings to the lockdown list.

A Chaoyang resident surnamed Li believes the control measures in his neighborhood will be tightened soon, and that he might be confined in his home as well, because the authorities said the outbreak had been spreading for days before being detected.

A resident in the district of Fengtai, where only two cases have been reported since April 22, was also not optimistic.

She believes the twice-a-decade meeting of the Chinese Community Party in Beijing this autumn, during which Party leader Xi Jinping is seeking an unprecedented third term in office, is partly to blame, as authorities often tighten their grip on the populace ahead of major Party events.

It could only be tightened, the woman surnamed Wu told The Epoch Times. She said officials have already doubled down on containment efforts and locked down a village in Fengtais Changxindian residential district after a single case was registered on April 25.

The capital city is hoping to contain the fast-moving Omicron variant by acting more swiftly after learning lessons from Shanghai. The financial hub waited for weeks before commencing mass testing of its 25 million residents and imposing a lockdown in late March.

After multiple citywide testings and a month of strict curbs, Shanghai recorded 16,980 cases on April 26. Although residents and experts are skeptical of the official figures, given the regimes history of downplaying and covering up information about outbreaks across the country, new infections in Shanghai are reportedly hundreds of times higher than in Beijing, which registered 33 cases the same day.

The Chinese regime has held firm to its zero-COVID policy aimed at eliminating the virus through mandatory screening, tracing, and lockdown, despite the high economic cost and human toll.

Residents shop at a supermarket in the Chaoyang district of Beijing on April 25, 2022. (Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Having seen the struggles of Shanghais struggle to meet the basic needs of its increasingly frustrated 25 million residents, people in Beijing have been stocking up on food and supplies.

For weeks, sealed-in Shanghai residents have taken to social media to voice their discontent and struggles in obtaining basic supplies, only to have their posts quickly wiped in Chinas tightly controlled internet. Last week, videos on social media emerged showing residents leaning out of their windows to beat pots and pans in anger, or playing on flutes and trumpets Do You Hear the People Sing?a protest anthem from the musical Les Miserables.

Luo Ya, Lin Cenxin, and Reuters contributed to this report.
A vial of AstraZeneca vaccine is seen at a mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Calgary, Alta., on April 22, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh)

MP Says Vaccine Manufacturer Not Answering Basic Questions on Why Liability Clauses Were Requested

A Conservative MP says the president of the Canadian arm of AstraZeneca couldnt answer questions at a parliamentary committee as to why the company asked for clauses to be shielded from liability for vaccine-related injuries.

Indemnification clauses protect manufacturers of #vaccines from liability. Today at the Foreign Affairs Committee the President of @AstraZenecaCA could not answer basic questions about why indemnification clauses were asked for and how they apply, MP Garnett Genuis said in a tweet on April 25.

In his social media post, Genuis shared a video of his exchange with the president of AstraZeneca Canada, Kiersten Combs, who appeared before the committee as it studied issues surrounding vaccine equity and intellectual property rights.

Indemnification clauses protect manufacturers of #vaccines from liability. Today at the Foreign Affairs Committee the President of @AstraZenecaCA could not answer basic questions about why indemnification clauses were asked for and how they apply. #cdnpoli #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/VO0xIi3a6i  Garnett Genuis (@GarnettGenuis) April 25, 2022

Combs was asked to explain why her company asked for indemnification clauses, and if the related liabilities and clauses would still apply if her company had withheld information in cases when injuries were caused by their vaccines.

In his questioning, Genuis referred to previous testimony the same day from Seth Berkley, chief executive officer at Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, who told the committee that the global distribution of vaccines are subject to indemnification clauses that receiving countries have to sign on to, which shields the companies from liability in the event of vaccine injuries.

This witness further told us that [industry representatives] had asked for this protection as part of your agreements, Genuis said. So could you please explain why your company asked for indemnification clauses?

Im not privileged as to specifically the indemnification clause in the contract that you speak of, Combs answered.

What I can say is that AstraZeneca stands behind our medicines and the safety profile of our medicines, she added.

Genuis then interjected, asking Combs how she could not be aware of the details of the indemnification clauses in her position as Canadian president of the company, and repeated the question on why the clause was requested.

I think that indemnification clausesin all of my time in the pharmaceutical industryis standard part of contracting. The specific details in which you talk about, I just am not  I dont have the knowledge to answer, Combs said in response.

In December 2020, Canada introduced the no-fault Vaccine Injury Support Program to all Health Canada-approved vaccines, including those manufactured by AstraZeneca.

The term no-fault, means that financial support to eligible claimants is provided regardless of responsibility or possible fault (e.g., of the claimant, manufacturer, or health professional administering the vaccine), according to the programs website.

Indemnification Mechanism

During the April 25 committee meeting, Genuis asked Berkley how the Canadian government applies the indemnification clauses it has signed around claims that might be made against vaccine manufacturers.

Berkley told the committee that during the pandemic, his organization has helped set up the standardized indemnification liability agreementa new mechanism agreed upon by all vaccine manufacturers that indemnifies them against any losses they may incur from the deployment and use of their vaccines in countries participating in the COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access) facilities.

Gavi, a Switzerland-based organization focused on increasing access to vaccines in poor countries, has also established a no-fault compensation scheme that allows countries to receive a certain amount of financing, funded by a certain price on each dose of vaccine that is part of the COVAX facility, in the case of severe disease or death from vaccine-related effects, Berkley said.

While he did not provide a number on the amount of money paid out from that no-fault compensation fund, Berkley said that there have not been a lot of claims on that account.

He also confirmed that the funding for the no-fault compensation mechanism comes from donors to COVAX, rather than from the vaccine industry, and that no mechanisms currently exist for the industry to do so.

There currently is no mechanism, he said. Of course, normally industry does pay its own insurance costs for self-insurers against AEFIs [adverse events following immunization]. But in the case of novel vaccines, and during a pandemic, they werent willing to do that, he said.

Berkley said it is correct that the vaccine manufacturers had requested as part of their indemnification and liability, some type of no-fault compensation scheme. He noted that not every manufacturer had asked for that, but it was a desired outcome by a number of manufacturers who said they wouldnt supply vaccines to developing countries unless there was some type of no-fault compensation scheme.

Genuis also asked whether that no-fault mechanism would also cover theoretically possible cases of bad faith or where misleading information is presented or information is withheld and whether it covers all possible cases of liability or only unforeseeable, negative events.

It is events that are severe in nature, that are proposed to be related to the vaccine, Berkley said, adding that the mechanism is run by a commercial insurance operation and is managed by them in a way that allows a specific set of responses, and therefore specific payments for severe side effects and deaths.

When asked if it indemnifies companies if a company had certain information about the vaccines side effects, but withheld that information, Berkley said it was not the purpose of this mechanism to provide blanket protection to industry.

It was to make sure that if there were  severe reactions to the vaccine, unknown reactions, that there would be a compensation mechanism set up, he said.
Hawaiian Airlines airplanes sit idle on the runway at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, on April 28, 2020. (Marco Garcia/Reuters)

Musks Starlink Inks Deal With Hawaiian Airlines for In-Flight Internet

Elon Musks Starlink will provide in-flight wireless internet on Hawaiian Airlines Incs trans-Pacific fleet, the airline said on Monday.

Under the deal, the companies are in the initial stages of implementation and the wireless internet is expected to be installed on select aircraft next year, Hawaiian said.

Starlink, a unit of SpaceX, has been in talks with various airlines for months to provide the in-flight internet service as it seeks to expand its reach beyond consumers and households in rural areas of the globe with little to no internet access.

Hawaiian said it will equip its Airbus A330 and A321neo aircraft, as well as an incoming fleet of Boeing 787-9s with Starlinks satellite internet connectivity service.

Starlink signed its first deal with an air carrier, semi-private jet service JSX, last week and it involves equipping 100 airplanes with Starlink terminals.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Delta Air Lines has held talks with Starlink and had conducted exploratory tests of its technology.

SpaceX has sought regulatory approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to operate Starlink on airplanes and shipping vessels and had previously tested the internet network on a handful of Gulfstream jets, as well as military aircraft.

Hawaiian said it is not currently planning to deploy the service on its Boeing 717 aircraft that operate short flights between the Hawaiian Islands.

By Aishwarya Nair
The South Korean amphibious landing ship ROKS Dokdo and the aircraft carrier USS George Washington during readiness exercise on July 27, 2010. (Adam K. Thomas/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

Navy Investigating 7 Deaths On USS George Washington

The U.S. Navy has opened an investigation into the deaths of seven sailors assigned to the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, including three deaths that took place in a span of just a week this month.

We can confirm seven total deaths of service members assigned to USS George Washington over the past 12 months4 in 2021, and 3 in 2022. The circumstances surrounding these incidents vary and it is premature to make assumptions, as some incidents remain under investigation, Naval Air Force Atlantic spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Robert Myers said in a statement, according to the United States Navy Institute (USNI) News.

Admiral Daryl Caudle, the fleet forces commander who ordered an investigation into the matter, has asked for scrutinizing the command climate and culture issues aboard the ship.

The admiral instructed his staff to work with the Naval Air Force Atlantic, other Navy stakeholders, and the ship to assess the efficacy of the military wings Total Sailor Fitness programs.

The three deaths this month took place between April 9 and 15. Retail Services Specialist 3rd Class Mikail Sharp died on April 9. This was followed by the death of Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Natasha Huffman on April 10. These were both determined to be suicides.

Master-at-Arms Seaman Recruit Xavier Hunter Mitchell-Sandor died from suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 15.

Sharp had enlisted in June 2020, reporting for duty at the USS George Washington a few months later in October. This was his first assignment. Huffman enlisted in July 2018 and reported to the ship in May 2019.

Like Sharp, George Washington was Huffmans first assignment as well. Sandor had enlisted in August and was eventually drafted for service at the ship.

In February, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had established the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee, tasking it with analyzing efforts of the Defense Department in dealing with suicide among military personnel.

The committee is set to start work on the issue in May, visiting military installations and bases this summer. By early next year, the committee is expected to submit a preliminary set of recommendations.

At a press briefing on April 21, Pentagon press Secretary John F. Kirby confirmed that the Navy is investigating the deaths. Each death is tragic in its own right, regardless of how. And our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the families, and frankly the shipmates, because theyre affected too, theyre part of a sailors family, he said.

As we look across the force we certainly want to look at things like command climate, and culture, and mission, and OPTEMPO, the tempo at which were pushing people. All those things are stressors in life, some of them could contribute to the problem of suicides.
A 2023 Nissan Pathfinder at the 2022 New York International Auto Show in Manhattan, New York, on April 13, 2022. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Nissan Shares Slide 5 Percent After Report Renault Exploring Stake Reduction

TOKYOShares of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. slumped 5 percent on Monday, their biggest fall in more than a month, following a report that top shareholder Renault SA may consider lowering its stake in the Japanese automaker.

Bloomberg reported on Friday that Renault may consider lowering its Nissan shareholding as part of plans to separate its electric vehicle business. The French car maker has been pushing ahead with plans to split its electric and combustion-engine businesses in an attempt to catch rivals such as Tesla and Volkswagen

On Friday, Renault said all options were on the table for separating the electric vehicle business, including a possible public listing in the second half of 2023.

Any plans would be subject to approval from alliance partner Nissan, Renault finance chief Thierry Pieton said, adding the Japanese automaker was in the loop as Renault weighed up its options.

Renault and Nissan have declined to comment on the report.

Shares of Nissan fell to 509.8 yen in Tokyo, marking their biggest one-day decline since early March and underperforming an almost 2 percent drop in the Nikkei index.

The car makers two-decade-old alliance, which includes Mitsubishi Motors, was rocked by the 2018 ouster of alliance founder Carlos Ghosn amid a financial scandal. They have since pledged to pool more resources.

In January they said they would work more closely together to make electric cars. They detailed a $26 billion investment plan for the next five years.

But their unequal relationship has long been a source of friction in Japan. Renault owns 43.4 percent of Nissan, which in turn has a 15 percent non-voting stake in its shareholder. Renault bailed out Nissan two decades ago, but is now the smaller automaker by sales.
A file image of North Dakota Sen. Ray Holmberg listening during a joint House and Senate Appropriations Committee meeting at the Capitol in Bismarck, N.D., on Jan. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Will Kincaid)

North Dakota Lawmaker Ray Holmberg Resigns After Exchanging Texts With Child Porn Suspect

North Dakotas longest-serving state senator, Ray Holmberg, resigned on Monday from the state Legislature after it was reported that he had exchanged text messages with a jailed man facing child pornography charges.

Holmberg, a 78-year-old grandfather of five who became one of the states most powerful lawmakers during his 46-year career, said he would resign effective June 1, noting that this will give GOP leaders in his district enough time to find his replacement.

Recent news stories have become a distraction for the important work of the legislative assembly during its interim meetings, Holmberg said in a statement announcing his resignation. I want to do what I can, within my power, to lessen such distractions.

Consequently, in respect for the institution and its other 140 members, I shall resign my Senate seat effective June 1, 2022.

Holmbergs resignation came less than a week after The Forum of Fargo reported that he had exchanged 72 text messages in August with jailed Nicholas James Morgan-Derosier, who is facing a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment on federal child pornography and sexual abuse charges.

Morgan-Derosier is also accused of taking two children under the age of 10 from Minnesota to his home in Grand Forks without their mothers permission, with the intent to sexually abuse them, according to The Forum of Fargo.

According to the report, Holmbergs number was among those Morgan-Derosier had texted between on Aug. 23 and 24, 2021 when he was imprisoned at the Grand Forks County Jail.

At the time the report was published, Holmberg told The Forum of Fargo that the text exchanges were regarding a variety of things, including patio work that the jailed man did for him.

Holmberg also said he was unaware that Morgan-Derosier was in jail when the text exchanges occurred.

The content of the text messages is not publicly available.

Holmberg initially told the paper that he had read about the charges but in a separate interview later said that he had not, according to the Forum.

He also told the newspaper that he no longer has the text messages, and when asked, stated that they, Theyre just gone.

Holmberg has not been charged with any crime.

The Grand Forks Republicans term was scheduled to end on Nov. 30 and he had already announced in March that it would be his last, stating that the decision was based on medical issues that do not afford me the cognitive ability to accurately perform the work required and expected of a senator representing the people of Grand Forks in the 2023 legislative session.

Despite his resignation, the lawmaker will remain on the Legislatures payroll through May and on its state-funded health insurance plan through July, a benefit that is worth about $1,425 monthly.

Holmberg was first elected to the North Dakota Senate in 1976 and, up until Monday, served as chairman of the Legislative Management Committee, which decides members assignments and studies topics that often are considered for legislation.

He also served on the interim Budget Section, sat on the states Emergency Commission, which allocates funding and resources in times of an emergency, and served on or chaired several GOP-led redistricting committees.

The Epoch Times has contacted a lawyer for Holmberg for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
NY Subway Shooting Raises Stakes in SCOTUS Decision

Commentary

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently deliberating on the constitutionality of New Yorks may-issue concealed handgun law. The ruling will be made within the next few months and will determine whether people have to provide a special reason for getting a concealed handgun permit to defend themselves and their families.

But after the April 12 shooting on a New York City subway platform, the stakes are even clearer.

The question of banning guns from sensitive places was mentioned 30 times during oral arguments last November. Subways were discussed 11 times.

The idea of proliferating arms on the subway is precisely, I think, what terrifies a great many people, New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood said. Justice Elena Kagan echoed those fears. Justice Sam Alito pushed back, noting that disarming people on public transportation means that you also disarm them on their way to and from that transportation.

They have to commute home by subway, maybe by bus. When they arrive at the subway or the bus stop, they have to walk some distance through a high-crime area, he said. [They may be] scared to death.

Underwood argued that it wasnt necessary for people to carry guns on subways because transit police will protect them. Ron Noble, the secretary-general of Interpol from 2000 to 2014, has extensive experience trying to stop terrorist attacks and cautioned that even with extraordinary security, its virtually impossible to keep weapons out of soft targets. He notes that gun-free zones mean that only the terrorists will have weapons.

Creating gun-free zones just disarms law-abiding permit holders who follow the rules. They actually serve as magnets for those intent on killing as many people as possible, because they know their victims are defenseless. Frank James, the accused subway shooting perpetrator, had a lengthy criminal history of sex crimes, larceny, and making terrorist threats. He also certainly didnt have a concealed handgun permit.

Theres no recorded instance of a permit holder committing any firearm-related crime on public transportation. Concealed handgun permit holders are extremely law-abiding. Incredibly, the annual revocation rate for firearm-related violations is in the hundredths or thousandths of one percentage point.

The revocation rate is so low, in fact, that its only about one-twelfth the rate at which police officers are convicted of firearms-related crimes. Police are themselves convicted at only about one-twentieth the rate of the general population.

Most of the rare revocations happen to permit holders who accidentally entered a gun-free zone or neglected to carry their concealed handgun licenses.

Those who advocate for gun-free zones argue that permit holders will accidentally shoot bystanders. But with dozens of cases in recent years of permit holders stopping what otherwise would have been mass public shootings, there is not one example of a permit holder shooting a bystander.

Though the New York City subway is used by those from all walks of life, low-income people are relatively more likely to use public transportation. Poor blacksthe most likely victims of violent crimeare some of the most frequent users of public transit. Unsurprisingly, research shows that they are also the ones who benefit the most from having the ability to protect themselves with permitted concealed handguns.

Gun control advocates keep making the same predictions of doom and bloodshed when law-abiding citizens are allowed to have guns for protection. We are continually warned that disaster will ensue if may-issue policies such as New Yorks are replaced with right-to-carry concealed handgun laws. Public officials, after all, will no longer be able to arbitrarily decide whether applicants have a good enough reason to carry. Right-to-carry laws now exist in 43 states, and these laws go back to the 1920s, but not a single state has reversed its law.

Police officers cant be in every subway car. Even if an officer were present, an attacker could move on to another target or wait until the officer leaves. A shooter could also aim first for the uniformed officer.

Permit holders can make officers safer. If an attacker tries to kill an officer, he reveals his position and makes himself a target to any permitted bystanders.

Theres a reason that 94 percent of U.S. mass public shootings since 1950 have taken place in gun-free zones. Many of these murderers may be crazy in some sense, but they are not ignorant of local laws. They know they can kill more people in places where citizens cant defend themselves.

With 25 states now having constitutional carry laws, where it isnt even necessary for law-abiding gun owners to obtain a permit, states such as New York and California are ever more the outliers.

Gun control advocates keep trying to take advantage of the publics fear of the unknown. They would have us believe that bad things will happen when people are allowed to defend themselves and their families. But New Yorkers and Supreme Court justices dont have to guess what will happen if sensitive place restrictions are ended.

Large cities such as Philadelphia, Houston, and Atlanta already allow concealed carry on public transit and in other sensitive places. None of the pessimistic narratives have come true.

From RealClearWire

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern holds a post cabinet press conference in the Beehive theatrette at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on Feb. 21, 2022. (AAP Image/Pool, Robert Kitchen)

NZ Faces Global Pressure Over China Extradition Ruling

Politicians from Australia and European nations have penned a joint letter to the New Zealand (NZ) parliament urging against the extradition of a man to China.

They warn that the credibility of diplomatic assurances by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been consistently proven empty and that by allowing the extradition to go forward, it would be setting a dangerous precedent that may have far reaching implications beyond the borders of NZ.

Twenty-one members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), including one NZ member of parliament, wrote in concern for the extradition of Kyung Yup Kim, a NZ permanent resident who moved to the country in 1989.

The Supreme Court of New Zealand ruled on April 13 that Kim could be extradited to China to stand trial for murder after receiving two assurances from the CCP.

First, was the agreement that Kim would be held in Shanghai both before and after the trial, if convicted.

Second, was the assurance that during the investigation phase, visits from NZ diplomatic and consular representatives would be permitted at least once every 48 hours to monitor Kim and lessen the danger of being subjected to an act of torture.

A three to two majority said they were satisfied with the further assurances provided and allowed the extradition.

However, IPAC members noted that Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were subject to human rights abuses with no Canadian consular visitation allowed, which had been in violation of the CCP agreements.

Another noted example was of Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun. Australia had been given diplomatic assurances that access to Yang would be permitted, but in reality, no monitoring was allowed and Yang ended up being held for six months in a secret location where he claimed he was tortured.

Australian Ambassador to China Graham Fletcher walks out from an entrance to the Beijing Second Intermediate Peoples Court after being refused access to the trial of Australian academic Yang Jun, also known as Yang Hengjun, on espionage charges in Beijing, China, on May 27, 2021. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images)

It is noteworthy that diplomatic assurances have repeatedly failed to protect people from torture, the letter said. The widespread and well-documented practice of torture in custody throughout the PRC system, together with the absence of any reliable way of monitoring treatment ought to preclude extradition to China.

The members strongly agreed that Chinas criminal justice system is unreliable, does not respect the rule of law, and is widely known as a forum for gross human rights violations.

The politicians warned that by allowing the extradition, it would also send a chilling signal to Chinese diaspora who live in fear of persecution by the Chinese regime.

It would also set a dangerous precedent where the guarantees of the CCP would be taken at face value, they said, adding that this would put the wellbeing of their own citizens and residents in jeopardy.

On these grounds, we urge you not to agree to send anybody to be subjected to the infamies of the PRCs judicial and penal system, they said.

Human Rights Watch China Director Sophie Richardson previously described the decision by the Supreme Court to accept the Chinese regimes assurances as oblivious to reality.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Minister of Justices office for comment but did not receive a response by publication.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend the opening ceremony of the Turkstream Gas Pipeline Project on January 08, 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Burak Kara/Getty Images)

On Ukraine, Turkey Walks Fine Line Between NATO, Russia

Turkey has proven adept at maintaining neutrality in regards to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. While Ankara has condemned Russias special military operation, it has also declined to follow the lead of its NATO allies in supporting US-led sanctions on Moscow. According to local experts, its reasons for doing so are both economic and political, and reflect Turkeys varied approach to its relations with Russia.

Turkey is a neighbor to both countries, with whom it has intense economic relations, Halil Akinci, who served as Turkeys ambassador to Russia from 2008 to 2010, told The Epoch Times. So its in Ankaras interest to stay on good terms with them both.

Neutrality, he added, also left Turkey in the perfect position to mediatethus raising its international profilesince were the only ones acceptable to both sides.

Condemnation Without Sanctions

When the Russian operation first began on Feb. 24, Turkish officials condemned it as unacceptable and a violation of international law. They were also quick to stress, however, that Ankaraunlike its NATO allieshad no intention of enforcing US-led sanctions on Russia.

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, a political analyst and head of the Ankara Center for Crisis and Policy, an independent think-tank, said Turkey had reasonable grounds for declining to support sanctions.

Turkey is positioning itself as a mediator by keeping communication channels open with Russia, Erol told The Epoch Times. He went on to assert that Ankara and Moscow were closely engaged on a broad range of issues based on principles of cooperation and competition.

Akinci, when asked if Turkey was subject to pressure by NATO to adopt a harder line against Russia, said no one could reasonably expect Ankara to enforce sanctions especially given current economic realities.

Because of its massive trade dependence on Russia, Turkey isnt in a position to do this [i.e., enforce sanctions], he said. Like the rest of the world, Turkey simply cannot ignore Russias vast natural resources.

Indeed, an estimated 45 percent of Turkeys natural gas imports currently derive from Russia, along with more than 75 percent of its imported wheat. This represents a dire situation for a country that has seen its currency lose more than 80 percent of its value year-on-year, causing the prices of many staple commoditiesincluding breadto skyrocket.

At the same time, Turkey has significant trade relations with Ukraine, which supplies it with another 10 to 15 percent of its total wheat imports. Ankara and Kyiv also cooperate in the defense-industries field, including the joint manufacture of aerial drones.

Constructive Mediation Efforts

Turkish neutrality may be economically expedient, but it has also served to raise the countrys profile by positing it as the ideal mediatora role it has assumed with gusto. On March 10, the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers met in Turkeys resort city of Antalya; and on March 29, delegations from both countries held talks in Istanbul. Although hailed by all sides as constructive, the talks failed to produce any tangible breakthroughs.

Russia, for its part, which appears to have the upper hand militarily, demands guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO. It also demands Kyivs recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea (annexed by Russia in 2014), and recognition of two Russian-speaking territories in Ukraines eastern Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhasnk) as independent republics.

Based on recent signals from both camps, Erol believes it is likely that Ukraine will give up on NATO membership first, and Moscow will accept Ukraines European Union membership in return. The main sticking point, he believes, is the Donbas region. Russia demands recognition of the so-called republics, but the Kyiv administration and the international community do not seem to accept this, he said.

Because it involves major power players like Russia and NATO, the conflict could become a long-simmering proxy war lasting months or even years, Erol warned, citing past Russian entanglements in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Akinci agreed that reaching a negotiated settlement could take a long time. He added, however, that if the military equation were to change significantly on the ground, [diplomatic] positions could change as well.

In the meantime, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has extended an open invitation to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet in Istanbul for further talks. I wholeheartedly believe that a peaceful solution can be found through dialogue, he said on April 18. Three days later, Russian forces reportedly captured the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

Ties With Russia: Not Black and White

Historical rivals, the Ottoman (i.e., Turkish) and Russian empires fought at least a dozen major conflicts over four centuries, ending with the First World War. But today, Turkey, despite its 70-year-old membership in NATO, is keen to remain on good terms with Russia, with which it shares a substantial maritime border in the Black Sea.

That being said, the two have implacable foreign-policy differences, especially in the post-Arab Spring Middle East. In Syria, for example, Turkey supports anti-Assad armed groups, while Russia backs the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The two countries also support diametrically-opposing forces in war-ravaged Libya.

Turkey-Russia relations bottomed out in late 2015, when a Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian Sukhoi fighter near Turkeys tense border with Syria. But relations quickly recovered the following year, especially after a failed coup attempt against Erdogans government, for which Ankara blamed Fetullah Gulen, a US-based Turkish-Muslim preacher who claims to have an international following.

Washingtons refusal to extradite Gulen to Turkey then led to a rupture in US-Turkey ties and a concurrent improvement in Ankaras relations with Moscow.

Because Gulen resides in the US, Turkey implicitly accused Washington of supporting the coup attempt, Dr. Ilhan Uzgel, a prominent Turkish political analyst, told The Epoch Times.

This, in turn, led [Erdogans] ruling Justice and Development Party to ally itself with nationalist and Eurasianist elements who favor closer ties with Russia, China and Iran, Uzgel, a former professor of international relations, added. This combination of external and domestic factors prompted Ankaras subsequent tilt towards Moscow.

In 2017, Turkey went so far as to announce the purchase of an advanced S-400 missile-defense system from Russia. The move infuriated Turkeys NATO allies and eventually resulted in limited US sanctions being imposed on Turkey itself.

In explaining Ankaras eclectic approach to Moscow, Akinci stressed that, at least with respect to the Middle East, Turkeys differences with the US are actually deeper than those with Russia.

For example, our American allies have nurtured, and continue to support, an organization opposed to Turkeys territorial integrity, he said.

Here he was referring to the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Syrian branch of which the US has backed in its war against Assad, but which Ankara views as a terrorist group. In this case, US policy actually poses a greater danger to Turkey than anything the Russians are doing, Akinci asserted.

He added: Every state has its differences with Russia and every state has interests in common with Russia. In some areas, the US and Russia get along quite well; in others, they do not. Geopolitics is never black and white.
Victims and survivors of crime were honored during the 14th Annual Orange County Crime Victims Rally in Santa Ana, Calif., on April 25, 2022. (Brandon Drey/The Epoch Times)

Orange County Holds 14th Annual Crime Victims Rally

SANTA ANA, Calif.Tucked between the offices of the Orange County District Attorney and Sheriffs Department, victims and survivors of crime were honored April 25 during the 14th Annual Orange County Crime Victims Rally.

We have victims who passed, and we have victims who are alive today  who have to live with the grief every single day, District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. It is our responsibility to acknowledge them, fight for them, and keep them in our presence.

Filling the courtyard, a crowd of community members, elected officials, and law enforcement heard stories from families of a spouse, sibling, or child that were murdered as far back as 1977 to bring awareness and show how they continue to fight for victims rights.

Victims and survivors of crime were honored during the 14th Annual Orange County Crime Victims Rally in Santa Ana, Calif., on April 25, 2022. (Brandon Drey/The Epoch Times)

Joining a list of events held across the country for National Crime Victims Rights Week, the District Attorneys Office hosted the event along with the sheriffs department and non-profit organizations.

In attendance was Patricia Wenskunas, founder and CEO of Crime Survivors, Inc., a non-profit providing support for crime victims in Orange County since 2003, who survived a violent attack from her personal trainer 20 years ago,

Victims matter, she said. We need to stand up and speak up. We need to balance the scales of justice  because when we get to 2022 and the offends and the criminals have more rights than the victims, were losing this battle.

Ronnetta Johnson, director of Waymakers, a non-profit providing services for crime victims in Orange County since 1972, also spoke in honor of the crime victims.

We [serve] with great sorrow that our services are needed, but with great joy, that were the ones walking side by side with some of the bravest people know, Johnson said.

Eva Barrios, whose daughter Victoria was killed in 2019 at 18 years old, attended the event.

She said her daughters case is still unsolved, paralyzing her some days. But attending the hearing restored hope for her, she said, to hear how others have experienced similar situations.

Its beyond helpful, Barrios told The Epoch Times. It reminds me to keep fighting and have hope because hate will consume you if you dont.

Victims and survivors of crime were honored during the 14th Annual Orange County Crime Victims Rally in Santa Ana, Calif., on April 25, 2022. (Brandon Drey/The Epoch Times)

Also in attendance was Jenner Silva, the son of murder victim Eliu Gramajo, who was killed while working his food truck during a rival gang shootout on Fathers Day in 2016a moment he said still feels like a nightmare.

I had to arrange my fathers funeral at the age of 25, which is something I never imagined doing, Silva said.

Just last month, prosecutors found Gramajos killer guilty and will be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Going through trial, I felt emotionally, physically, and spiritually drained, Silva said. I think the hardest part was sitting in the same room with the person who killed my father. Although the trail was very difficult and helped me grievenot exactly closureits a relief to know that the killer will pay for what he did.

Carol, Samuel, and Richard Gomez are the mother and uncles of Jesse Gomez, who was killed in December 2018 by a documented gang member while walking toward a taco truck.

At the time of his death, Gomez had left his house to grab a bite to eat and to celebrate the Dallas Cowboys victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Minutes after leaving his house, shots were fired.

His uncles, who could hear the gunfire from their house, ran to resuscitate him, but it was too late.

Jesse was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, Deputy District Attorney Harris Siddiq, the familys spokesperson, said. Like many of us who live in these communities, Jesses family was aware of the gang presence in their neighborhood, but they werent involved in gangs. They thought they could be free of gang violence, but unfortunately, they found out the hard way that gang violence stops for no one.

Gomezs killer faces a maximum sentence of 35 years to life, plus an additional 35 years.

Victims and survivors of crime were honored during the 14th Annual Orange County Crime Victims Rally in Santa Ana, Calif., on April 25, 2022. (Brandon Drey/The Epoch Times)

Another attendee was Lynette Duncan, whose father and 18-year-old sister were killed in 1977.

Brett Thomas and Mark Titch, who were 18 and 17 years old at the time, were convicted of the murders.

Duncan, who was 17 at the time, said her mother was also shot but survived.

At the time of Duncans tragedy, the murders occurred one year before the death penalty was enacted in California. Both men were only expected to serve 34 yearsan average punishment for first-degree murderers in California.

Since 1977, both men have had 10 parole hearings since the first hearing in 1983almost seven years after the first murderand Duncan has been to every one of them.

At last hearing in 2015, the judge denied parole and extended his sentence for another five years.

When I walked out of that parole hearing, I was different, Duncan said. I was no longer a victim. I was a survivor. And not only am I a survivor, but my voice has power, and your voices have power, too.
President Joe Biden disembarks Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on April 25, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Oversight Committee Raises Questions About Biden Donors, Government Contracts

House oversight Republicans have launched an inquiry into whether President Joe Biden rewarded political donors with contracts and government positions, the latest allegation of misconduct against the administration as it fends off ties to Hunter Bidens activities.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget raising concerns about two major Democratic donors who have recently benefited from taxpayer funds.

Media reports indicate a pattern of businesses associated with donors receiving substantial amounts of taxpayer money, the letter reads. To ensure that political donations are not unduly influencing the Administrations management of contracts and loans, we request documents and information about what, if any, safeguards and procedures are in place to protect taxpayers.

The inquiry names Joe Kiani, who founded and leads Masimo, a global medical technology company. Kiani has been a mostly Democratic donor for over a decade, giving to a range of groups and candidates.

Mr. Kiani is a prolific Democratic donor, contributing over $1 million to the Biden Foundation in 2017, $750,000 to the pro-Biden super PAC Unite the Country, and $1 million to the Biden Inaugural Committee, the letter reads.

Now Kiani sits on the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. In addition, the letter says Kiani has received a range of federal government contracts.

In addition to receiving an appointment to PCAST, Mr. Kianis company Masimo has received nearly $3 million in federal government contracts since January 2021, the letter said. Several agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have awarded contracts to Masimo. While Masimo has received government contracts in previous Administrations, Mr. Kianis close ties to President Biden, including an appointment to a White House board, creates the appearance that he is benefiting from his political contributions.

The Republicans on the committee also pointed to another donor, Lukas Waltons solar company First Solar, which gave to Bidens campaign and the Democratic National Committee. That company later received a major loan from a federal agency.

In December 2021, the company received a $500 million loan from the [International Development Finance Institution], the letter reads. Awarding lucrative government contracts to companies led by large Democratic donors is becoming a troubling Biden Administration pattern and raises questions about whether political contributions play a role in the decision to award federal taxpayer dollars.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Hunter Biden, the presidents son, has been under scrutiny for how he made large sums of money overseas and whether the president had knowledge of the deals, was involved in them, or could be compromised in any way. The U.S. Department of Justice is currently investigating Hunter Biden.

By Casey Harper
MELBOURNE, AustraliaLawyer Leanne Sinclair said it was a privilege to experience Shen Yun Performing Arts at Melbournes Palais Theatre on April 26.

Shen Yun is currently touring Australia to present China before communism, and Ms. Sinclair said she was blown away by the scope and quality of dancing.

A world-renowned classical Chinese dance company based in New York, Shen Yuns mission is to revive Chinas traditional culture and remind people of the cultures rich spiritual heritage that once celebrated philosophies like Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism.

It does this by bringing to life stories from Chinas 5,000-year history through song and dance.

Ms. Sinclair praised Shen Yuns powerful storytelling.

The emotion that comes from the stage is just unlike anything you really see at all, she said. Being able to see these really deep messages through the dance is just amazing.

The technical ability is first class, the choreography is just stunning, the synchronicity of dancers, the costuming, I just cant rate it any higher, she said.

A Return to Spirituality

The Blake family attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, on April 26, 2022. (Mike Dang/The Epoch Times)

Jason Blake, a general manager at Leos Fine Food & Wine who was also in the Melbourne audience with his family, said that Shen Yuns presentation of China before communism was where he believes society has to go.

I think its our future, he said, because if we dont move in that direction, were not going to be progressing in our lives.

We now need to go back to what was where weve been  and morality needs to go back to that point in time.

Mr. Blakes wife, Amanda, agreed, saying, I think we have toand particularly in the Westwe have to return to spirituality. We must, otherwise, were lost.

Ms. Blake said that their son was currently studying the Three Pillars of Chinese philosophyConfucian thinking, Buddhism, and Daoismin homeschool.

Were looking at the immortal realm, so the Celestial Kingdom, and were studying the Daoist Immortals. So the show was very important for Rafaels homeschool to understand the fundamentals of Chinese thought prior to communism, she said. Its fantastic.

Reporting by NTD, Mike Dang, and Melanie Sun

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
The logo of Twitter displayed on the screen of a smartphone and a tablet in Toulouse, southern France, on Oct. 26, 2020. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images)

Report: Fake Twitter Accounts Spread Chinese Propaganda

BEIJINGA U.S.-based intelligence company says it uncovered a network of more than 600 inauthentic Twitter accounts that spread a positive narrative of Chinas far-western Xinjiang region, as the Chinese regime was being accused of human rights abuses and locking up hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities there.

According to a report released Monday by Nisos, 648 Twitter accounts posted several thousand tweets with hashtags such as #xinjiang, #forcedlabor and #humanrights, with seemingly innocuous content such as traditional dancing and scenic photos, as well as videos with individuals denying that forced labor exists in Xinjiang.

The network and its tweets appear to be intended to promote a positive narrative regarding Xinjiang and Uyghur treatment within the Peoples Republic of China and actively targeted a foreign audience, the report found.

The report comes as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is being criticized internationally for its treatment of Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group native to the Xinjiang region. In recent years, the Chinese regime held hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in what the CCP calls vocational education and training centers but are widely believed by experts and academics to be internment camps.

The CCP has also been accused of using forced labor in programs that transferred Uyghurs out of Xinjiang and assigned them to different factories around the country. Global brands across the world including Nike and H&M expressed concern over the use of forced labor, confirming that they will not use products such as cotton from the region and will strengthen oversight of their supply chains.

While Nisos researchers did not reveal who is behind the network of inauthentic accounts, they said the majority of tweets were posted during business hours in China, between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Many of the accounts were created after August 2021, using stock images for their profile pictures, and the tweets were often posted within minutes of each other.

The accounts would often quote other accounts within the network to gain visibility on the platform, although at times they would also amplify content from Chinese diplomats, such as Zhang Meifang, the consul general of China in Belfast, as well as Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, Nisos said.

Many of the Twitter accounts mentioned in the Nisos report have since been suspended for violating Twitter rules.

This is not the first time that researchers have uncovered networks of inauthentic accounts posting propaganda to influence perceptions of China.

Last year, researchers at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found that more than 2,000 Twitter accounts were pushing narratives by the CCP on what was happening in Xinjiang, many of which expressed anti-Western sentiment or labeled the accusations against the CCP as lies.

The Chinese regime often uses social media as a way to spread its messages, with an investigation last year by AP and the Oxford Internet Institute finding that armies of fake accounts amplify propaganda by Chinese diplomats and state media tens of thousands of times to reach a wider audience while masking the fact that the content is state-sponsored.

Earlier this year, the CCP launched a discreet social media campaign in which it paid a U.S.-based agency to recruit influencers in the U.S. with the aim of promoting the Beijing Winter Olympics on social media platforms Instagram and TikTok.
Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson (C) leaves with his attorney, Joshua Levy (R) after meeting with members of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committee in Washington on Oct. 16, 2018. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

Reporters Worked Closely With Fusion GPS on TrumpRussia Stories, Emails Show

Reporters from ABC News, The Washington Post, and Slate were among those working closely with an operative firm on stories about alleged links between Donald Trump and Russia, newly released emails show.

ABCs Matthew Mosk, now with CBS; the Posts Tom Hamburger; and Franklin Foer, a Slate contributor who now works for The Atlantic, were among the reporters being fed information by Fusion GPS, a firm paid by Hillary Clintons campaign and the Democratic National Committee, according to the emails.

Mosk communicated with Fusions Glenn Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, on July 26, 2016, shortly before Mosk interviewed Sergei Millian, a onetime Trump campaign foreign adviser, according to one set of messages.

Making arrangements to interview Millian on camera, Mosk told Simpson. We should chat.

Several months later, just before posting a story on Trumps ties with Russia, Mosk peddled theories about several people, including Millian, to Simpson and Jake Berkowitz, also of Fusion.

Other newly revealed missives showed that Peter Fritsch, another Fusion operative, claimed that Millian was clearly kgb, or part of the Russian secret police. Fritsch was speaking to Foer, sharing a link to a profile on Millian, who was a child when the KGB was dissolved.

Foer wrote back a day later, on June 28, 2016, providing an entire draft of an article hed written about the theory, later debunked by U.S. authorities, that the Trump Organization had a secret back channel with Russias Alfa Bank.

I have no idea what my editor will say. But can you guys scan it for omissions and errors? Foer asked.

Hamburger, meanwhile, wrote to Simpson in July 2016 telling him that a rumor that Carter Page, another Trump campaign associate, met with Russians in Moscow and was described by a Russian source as [expletive] and impossible.

Hamburger indicated that the quote was passed on by another reporter who likely doesnt like this story, prompting Simpson to say, No worries, I dont expect lots of people to believe it.

It is, indeed, hard to believe, he added.

The FBI surveilled Page in 2016 over claims he was a Russian agent but committed a number of errors and omissions in its court-cleared spying, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found. Investigators used information from an unsubstantiated dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele with Fusion GPSs help in applying for the warrants, despite agents developing details that were inconsistent with the Steele reporting, Horowitz told members of Congress after releasing his report.

Page didnt respond by press time to a request for comment.

Millian told The Epoch Times via Twitter messages that Fritsch is clearly a fool. He also said he was interviewed by ABC under false pretenses.

Instead of doing a professional interview [which] they promised they would do, they abused their journalistic ethics and started asking intruding personal questions such as where do I live, who is my girlfriend, if my girlfriend is a Russian, does she live in Brooklyn, etc., he said.

Sergei Millian in the National Press Club in Washington in February 2014. (Courtesy of Sergei Millian)

ABC released clips of the interview in September 2016. The same day, Clintons campaign used part of the recording to claim Trump may be deeply indebted to another country. The ad included a quote from Millian, who headed a U.S.Russia business group, saying that Trump had received hundreds of millions of dollars from deals with Russian businessmen.

Mosk, the ABC reporter, also was bylined on a story in early 2017 alleging with little evidence that Millian was a source for one of the dossiers most outlandish claims.

Clintons campaign also pushed a story by Foer that outlined the notion that the Trump Organization was secretly communicating with Alfa Bank, an allegation the CIA determined in 2017 wasnt possible.

Hamburger wrote multiple articles about Millian, based on unidentified sources, that were corrected in 2021 following the indictment of one of Steeles sub-sources. However, the paper has continued to refuse to name the sources.

ABC, CBS, Hamburger, Foer, Fritsch, Slate, The Atlantic, and the Post didnt respond by press time to requests for comment. Mosk couldnt be reached.

The emails were released by special counsel John Durhams team, which is prosecuting former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann for allegedly lying to the FBI; the emails were supposed to be filed under seal. The Epoch Times obtained them before they were placed under seal.

Congressional investigators have said that Fusion GPS has a pattern of seeding its opposition research into news stories and that the firm paid journalists to report on Russia and Trump. Fusion GPS has said the records are protected and have been successful in preventing their release.

Fusion GPS was paid by Perkins Coie, a law firm tapped by Clintons campaign and the DNC, to conduct opposition research on Trump. The money was funneled through the law firm to try to shield it from investigators, investigators say, an assessment recently shared by the Federal Elections Commission.

Not all reporters were taken in by Fusion GPSs claims. Jay Solomon, then of The Wall Street Journal, told operatives on July 25, 2016, that their thesis of Trump being a so-called Manchurian candidateor beholden to Russiais worse than originally presented. He asked for more information, but never published a story about it.

Solomon, who was fired in 2017 over violations of ethical standards and now works for ACPO Worldwide, told The Epoch Times in an email that he could never stand up the leads he pursued.

You can do media scan[s]. I didnt publish anything, he said. Thats the process most journalists follow: You get tips, you try and stand them up. And if you cant, you dont publish.

Hans Mahncke contributed to this report.
Meta logo is placed on a Russian flag in this illustration taken on Feb. 26, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Russia Fines Meta Platforms Over LGBT Propaganda, Ifax Says

A Russian court on Tuesday fined Meta Platforms Inc. 4 million rubles ($54,030) for failing to delete posts that contained what it calls LGBT propaganda, the Interfax news agency reported.

A 2013 Russian law, decried by Western countries as state-enforced bigotry, bans the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

($1 = 74.0330 rubles)
An employee holds a sample of crude oil at the Yarakta oilfield, owned by Irkutsk Oil Co., in the Irkutsk region of Russia on March 11, 2019. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Russian Seaborne Crude Exports Rise, Boosting Kremlin Oil Revenue by 25 Percent

Russias seaborne crude exports rose in the week of April 1622, potentially serving to further bolster President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine.

Forty tankers loaded about 28 million barrels of oil from Russian export terminals in that week, according to vessel-tracking data and port agent reports collected and analyzed by Bloomberg.

That means that the average seaborne crude flow was 4 million barrels a day, marking a 25 percent increase against the week ended April 15.

One-fifth of the volume shipped from ports on the Black Sea and the Baltic and Arctic coasts is on tankers that do not display a final destination, although the majority are expected to be delivered to Asia, Bloomberg reported.

Almost all of the crude shipments from Russias three eastern oil terminals on its Pacific Ocean coast from April 1622 went to China.

At current rates of crude oil export duty$61.20 per ton in April 2022, which is equivalent to about $8.30 per barrelshipments for the week ending April 22 would have provided Moscow with about $232 million, which is $46 million more than the previous week, according to Bloomberg.

The increase in seaborne crude exports for the week ending April 22 may have been prompted, in part, by improved weather conditions compared to the week prior, which saw a backlog of ships build up.

From April 122, Russias seaborne crude shipments averaged 3.2 million barrels per day, a dramatic increase from the full year of 2021 when they averaged 2.88 million per day.

The data appears to suggest that Russias seaborne exports of crude and oil products are resilient to sanctions issued by the West in response to its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

However, S&P Global said it still expects Russia to lose nearly 3 million barrels per day in Russian crude and product exports in the coming months as countries and companies across the globe shun Russian oil.

The jump in oil exports comes as some European Union countries are pushing for a sixth round of sanctions against Russian oil imports, aimed at preventing the Kremlin from profiting from energy sales.

However, EU officials are being cautious in drawing up such sanctions so as to ensure that they minimize damage to the economies of the 27 member states while still capping Putins main source of foreign currency.

Russia is Europes biggest oil supplier, providing slightly more than a quarter, or 26 percent, of EU oil imports in 2020, according to data from the blocs statistics office, Eurostat.

The latest sanctionswhich are yet to be agreed upon by all EU memberscould see a gradual phasing out of Russian oil, or tariffs imposed on exports beyond a certain price cap.

We are working on a sixth sanctions package and one of the issues we are considering is some form of an oil embargo, Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission executive vice president, told The Times of London on April 25. When we are imposing sanctions, we need to do so in a way that maximizes pressure on Russia while minimizing collateral damage on ourselves.

Despite the current sanctions levied against Moscow in the wake of Putins special military operation in Ukraine, Russia is expected to earn nearly $321 billion from energy exports in 2022, an increase of more than a third from 2021, Bloomberg News reported earlier in April.
People are seen on the front steps of Ryerson University on campus in Toronto, on Sept. 8, 2020. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press)

Ryerson University Renamed as Toronto Metropolitan University Amid Controversy

Ontarios Ryerson University has been renamed Toronto Metropolitan University after its board of governors approved a proposal for a name change on April 26.

The renaming process began in August 2021, after Ryersons board of governors approved recommendations proposed by a special task force created to review the history and legacy of the universitys namesake, Egerton Ryerson, who was criticized for his contribution to the establishment of Canadas controversial residential school system.

In a news release issued April 26, Ryersons president Mohamed Lachemi said he wants to give reassurance that the renaming is not about erasing our history.

As a university, our values have long defined who we are and they will always guide where we are going. Our values are the basis upon which we have built our uniquely vibrant, diverse, and intentionally inclusive culture, he said.

Instead, Lachemi said the new name was elected to celebrate the location of the university and reflect the wishes of its community members.

Located in the heart of our countrys biggest and most diverse citywe represent all that it is to be metropolitan, he said. We are a gathering place for people from all over the world, from all walks of life, with broad and diverse perspectives, lived experiences and aspirations.

As it looked for a new name, a renaming advisory committee at the university released a survey in November 2021 to collect ideas from its faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Lachemi made the recommendation to the universitys board of governors based on a shortlist of possibilities the committee selected from the survey completed with roughly 30,000 responses.

While there have been calls for renaming the university throughout the years, the voices increased following a 1,000-strong rally that erupted on the Ryerson campus last June, after the discovery of what was believed to be the remains of over 200 children buried in unmarked graves on the precinct of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. The protest led to the toppling and beheading of a statue of Ryerson, which Lachemi said wont be replaced.

In an 1847 report, Ryerson, a Methodist church minister and prominent 19th-century educator, recommended establishing industrial schools aimed at educating indigenous children. This led to the founding of two residential schools in Ontario, according to the special task force that was created in November 2020.

After the toppling of the statue, around 345 Ryerson professors and other faculty members signed a letter demanding the name be changed, saying now is the time to stop commemorating Ryerson.

However, there are faculty and students who hold opposing views of these changes, though some of them say they were afraid to speak out.

In a previous interview with The Epoch Times, Ryerson professor Patrice Dutil said there will be serious consequences to the universitys renaming, which will set a precedence for all other post-secondary education institutions across Canada, and even put historical provincial names at risk.

In Ontario alone, several schools with names that reflect the countrys colonial era could also be affected, including Brock University, Carleton University, Queens University, Centennial College, George Brown College, and Fleming College, Dutil said.

Jonathan Bradley, who was a journalism student at Ryerson and opposed the toppling of the Ryerson statue, said other students who were in favour of keeping the statue have told him that they were worried about being ostracized if they speak out.

Impacts of the Name Change

In a FAQ webpage, the university said the transition to the Toronto Metropolitan name will happen in phases. While changes to its webpages and social media have already happened, other changes will take more time, such as external signage on campus buildings and amendments to legal documents.

The Ryerson name will continue to appear on official documents such as transcripts and degrees until the universitys governing legislation is amended by the Government of Ontario, a timeline that is out of the universitys control.

Alumni who graduated prior to 2022 can choose to keep the existing award documents for their degrees, diplomas, and certificates with the Ryerson name, or request a reissue bearing the new name after it has been legally changed.
The Supreme Court heard arguments on April 28 on the Biden administration doing away with the Trump-era remain in Mexico policy. The retrial of a man charged with killing 18 women in the Dallas area began on Monday. The jury in the original trial deadlocked last fall.
Liliam Vasquez at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, in Edmonton, on April 24, 2022. (NTD)

EDMONTON, CanadaLiliam Vasquez, a designer and owner of a home staging company, is passionate about design, colour, and art and applauded those elements and more of the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton on April 24.

I love the show. Beautiful colors. The choreography is amazing. And the music so soft, and so calming. And the movement of the dancers is absolutely beautiful, said Ms. Vasquez, owner of The Staging Place, who is from a family of fine artists.

New York-based Shen Yun was founded in 2006 with a mission of reviving the traditional culture of China and sharing it with audiences around the globe through world-class performances of classical Chinese dance and music.

Its a culture with a history of 5,000 years that has deeply spiritual roots. And the costumes and colors are true to traditional aesthetics and styles and form part of the visual feast presented by every dance piece and story.

The colorstheyre contrasting and just vibrant, Ms. Vasquez said. They picked the perfect colors to bring out that beauty.

Ms. Vasquez, who is also a civil engineer by training, was impressed by the Shen Yuns patented method of integrating a 3D animated backdrop with the stage performance. It allows the performers to remarkably travel back and forth between the stage and the background projection.

I just think the creativity of the mixture of  technology and art and music is just absolutely breathtaking. I love itit takes you intoanother space and other time, she said.

The digital projection features a host of architectural styles and designs, from celestial palaces to holy temples to ancient beacon towers.

Theyre so beautiful and are brought to life in a modern way. Theyre very gorgeous! Ms. Vasquez said.

She noted that design should be simple and that Shen Yuns backdrop brings out the reality of what youre doing in a simple way  that are just so amazing.

Another unique feature of Shen Yun is its orchestra. Its the first in the world to permanently combine classical Western and Chinese instruments within a Western symphony orchestra. Shen Yun also boasts virtuoso vocalists who sing Chinese lyrics using the bel canto style.

The message from the tenor was amazing,  a story of the gods and the earth and the people, and the connection between the divinity and us, said Ms. Vasquez.

The message was capturing because its something that I truly believethat were on a path to evolve as human beings and become closer to God, she said. Right now, I think were just lost,  lost in material things.

We have to prepare too for that Creator [to come] because were living in the End of Times.  Were preparing and getting better and better [as human beings to be] ready for that, she added.

Mrs. Vasquez said if she had to sum up a Shen Yun performance in one word, it would be mesmerizing.

Braven Blackwell (R), Jamie Linn (C), and Orian at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton on April 24, 2022. (NTD)

Braven Blackwell, who is the owner of Knighton Mens Wear Fashions as well as the president of software company Seljax, was also among the audience.

Its very nice. Its very colorful and full of acrobats and interesting message as well, he said, referring to the challenging flipping and tumbling techniques performed by Shen Yuns dancers.

Shen Yuns dancers are trained in classical Chinese dance, and those techniques in fact originate from classical Chinese dance, an art form that has thousands of years of history. Those techniques were adopted over time by different forms of performing arts that we know today, including gymnastics, acrobatics, cheerleading, and even modern ballet, explains the Shen Yun website.

Shen Yun also presents story-based dances depicting the persecution of Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, a meditation and spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

The story is very beautiful, and its a little bit breathtakingsome of the hardship they have to endure, said Jamie Linn, who attended the show with Mr. Blackwell.

The Chinese communist regime launched a persecution against Falun Dafa in 1999, and adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse.

In China, theres still issues of how people are treated, and we would like to see them treated in a much better way, said Mr. Blackwell.

Reporting by NTD, Maple Lynn, Gary Bai, and Jennifer Schneider.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Diana Scott and Bonnie Cruz attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Detroit Opera House, Detroit, Mich., on April 23, 2022. (Xinxin Teng/The Epoch Times)

DETROIT, Mich.With an amazing authentic display of traditional Chinese classical dance and music, Shen Yun Performing Arts is weaving a magical aura around many of its audience members.

Shen Yun is reviving the true traditional Chinese culture which existed in the pre-communist era.

When the New York-based company performed at the Detroit Opera House, cousins Diane Scott and Bonnie Cruz were among the theatergoers who were enchanted by the beauty of the performers.

The energy emitted by the performers could be felt said the cousins.

I think its warm and glowing and exciting and it grabs you, said Scott, adding that she would certainly encourage her friends to see Shen Yun.

It was a beautiful performance that had been very beneficial for herself, she said.

Shen Yun, translated as the beauty of divine beings dancing, originates from a culture that legend says was bestowed upon the Chinese people by heavenly beings some 5,000 years ago.

Cruz, a nurse, described her own experience, after watching the performers.

They had a lot of passion. Not only were they beautifully skilled, [they were] bringing everyone in like a big hug.  Bonnie Cruz

It was powerful and very peaceful, very calming and comforting to me. I could tell that the performers were bringing something in with them, not just going through [the] motions of performing. They had a lot of passion. Not only were they beautifully skilled, [they were] bringing everyone in like a big hug, she said.

Cruz described the energy that emanated from the stage.

Its a bright  white light, so bright. And it pulls you toward it like a magnet, said Cruz.

[It comes] from the people on the stage. When the stage is empty you dont feel it, she said.

[It comes from the artists] and also the orchestra, the solo performances, all of it. You could feel they love what they do, said Cruz.

I feel strong [and purified], she said.

The ancient Chinese believed that music has the power to heal. Cruz felt so too. She explained she suffered from neck pain, but after watching Shen Yun, the pain had disappeared.

[My neck] feels beautiful. I dont even notice it, she said.

Cruz praised Shen Yuns dynamic 3D technology which enables a smooth transition between the actors on the stage and the digital projection.

I really like the technique of going into the backdrop and then back out to the stage. I found my feet moving, like Im with them, said Cruz. She was also impressed by the colors in the performance and the costumes.

Shen Yun also presents solo performances.

The vocalist who sang To Heaven in this Lifetime, which speaks of a spiritual journey, gave Cruz goosebumps, she said.

I just felt a powerful  like he was singing to the divine, she said. She had also been awed by the virtuoso who played the traditional Chinese two-stringed violin, the erhu.

Such a beautiful song, a haunting melody, she commented. It was really wonderful.

Shen Yun had been a positive experience for Cruz. It would help her with understanding the implications and meaning of Chinas long history and the beliefs of its people. Chinese culture was real and must be protected, she said.

Reporting by XinXin Teng and Diane Cordemans.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
The practice of taking ones shoes off at the door is often thought of as a cultural choice rather than a hygienic one, however, a study conducted by Australian environmental chemists suggests that this should not be the case.

Scientists from the Australian Macquarie University who are studying the household environment and what contaminants exist within it have determined that when shoes are not taken off at the door a number of harmful contaminants can be walked into the home.

The Chief Environmental Scientist of Victorias Environment Protection Authority and Macquarie University Prof. Mark Taylor who co-authored an article in The Conversation with Prof. Gabriel Filippelli from Indiana University said that they have discovered that a third of the matter that builds up inside the home is either blown in or walked in on the bottoms of shoes from the outside.

Taylor is leading the ongoing Macquarie study into household contaminants.

The study found that part of the matter coming in is drug-resistant pathogens otherwise known as superbugs. Superbugs are antibiotic-resistant organisms that are very difficult to treat and life-threatening, they are recognised by the World Health Organisation as one of the top 10 threats to global public health.

Additionally, the study found significant levels of cancer-causing agents such as asphalt residue as well as lawn chemicals that disrupt the endocrine system, which regulates the bodys biological processes.

Showing that cancers are linked to a specific single exposure would be very hard but we advocate a precautionary approach to minimising exposures, Taylor said in an email to The Epoch Times.

Well-fitting shoes can help you to feel happier and more confident. (Syda Productions/Shutterstock)

One of the studys main focuses was measuring the levels of toxic metals such as lead, arsenic and cadmium in homes across 35 nations. Lead, arsenic and cadmium are colorless and odorless so its difficult to determine the source of these metals should they be detected, its also not easy to tell whether the toxic metals are in the houses piping or on the houses floor.

However, the study found that there was a strong connection between lead in the backyard soil and the lead in the house, indicating that the toxic metal was blown or walked into the house.

Another significant pollutant that shoes can bring into the home is E. coli, which is a dangerous bacteria found in animal feces.

Although it has been argued that the wide distribution of E. coli which is found on 96 percent of shoesmeans there is no point in taking ones footwear off in the home, Taylor and Filippelli argue that even though the bacteria is widely spread, eliminating a source of it in the home is a good idea considering that high levels of E. coli can make people incredibly sick.

Other pollutants found in the home were radioactive elementsfound in fertilizer and glass; perfluorinated chemicalswhich can lower immune function and disrupt the endocrine system; and microplastics.

Microplastics are very small particles, measuring less than five millimetres in size, that are composed of mixtures of polymers and functional additives. The particles are dangerous for humans as they can damage cells and cause allergic reactions.

This wealth of dangerous pollutants brought into the home on the bottom of shoes has led Macquarie University researchers to conclude that the practice of wearing your shoes inside is more dangerous than the risks of not wearing shoes in the house, which include stubbing a toe or sterile house syndrome.

Sterile house syndrome refers to the theory that when children are not exposed to the outside world enough they develop more allergies. However, Taylor and Filippelli said these potential risks can easily be addressed by a pair of indoor shoes or taking kids on walks in nature rather than walking significantly dangerous substances through ones house.

But science is not the only thing encouraging people to stop associating the practice with cultural identity rather than hygiene. The actual history and general reasoning behind the custom point to the practices hygienic benefit in traditional societies as well.

Cultural insider and ANU lecturer Eve Chen PhD said in an email to The Epoch Times that she believes the main reason for taking off shoes in Cantonese households, at least in modern times, is hygienic considerations.

Its a conventional belief that the outdoor environment is not clean, and is full of dirt, dust, and bacteria that can cause sickness and discomfort of the body.

Keeping a home clean and away from the source of contamination is what primarily motivates the practice of taking off ones shoes before entering the home space.

Chen said that the practice of taking shoes off inside the home does not stand alone in her culture.

Its accompanied by other common Chinese/Cantonese household rules such as changing the outside clothes as soon as one arrives home, avoiding sitting on the bed if wearing outside clothes, and showering before going to bed.

The core mentality of these rules is that we should avoid bringing in anything unclean from the outside into our home.

Despite hygiene driving the custom, Chen said that for Cantonese people the mentality was somewhat cultural as well as there is a traditional understanding that a home is a private place for family, excluding outsiders.

She said that Cantonese people do not traditionally have social activities in their homes but rather in public venues.

For some, inviting guests to their home is a very rare gesture and if it happens, the gesture is to show utmost respect to the guests, implying that these guests are so valued and respected that they are treated like family.

As such, shoes as something used outside the home for social/practical purposes and may carry substances from the outside, are meant to be taken off.

From a guests perspective, Chen said that offering to take ones shoes off or taking them off without asking at the entrance of a Chinese/Cantonese home is a practical gesture of politeness, to show the host respect.

As in I value and respect your home and privacy that I will not contaminate it with anything unclean from the outside, she said.

I am not sure about the historical root of this custom, but I assume it may also have something to do with respect and honor and showing modesty, which is like taking ones hat off on solemn occasions.

The Dean of Research Engagement, Impact and Innovation at ANUs College of Arts and Social Science, Prof. Simone Dennis told The Epoch Times that the history of taking ones shoes off is an old one.

Interestingly, its a custom that arises almost universally, with varying degrees of emphasis, Dennis said. That probably means it makes intuitive sense to people.

Dennis said that she believes the universality of the practice around the world comes back to the ways that humans tend to classify the world, and how for some things like shoes the classification is the same across multiple different cultures.

Mary Douglas described this in 1966 in her Purity and Danger book that, using earlier Levi Straussian ideas, describes how people seek to organise and pattern the world in key ways, she said.

Binaries featureday/night, self/other, life/deathstuff like that. Clean and dirty is a big one.

She said that Douglas described dirt as not really a thing as it only becomes a category when something falls out of place in the human system of classification or human taxonomy.

For instance, the earth is celebrated as a rich and generative medium for growing things, but tracked inside, its dirt, Dennis said. Hair is gorgeous and lustrous on the head  absolutely disgusting in cake served to you at the cafe.

When its out of the place we have allocated it, its dirtythey have crossed a boundary.

Dennis said that shoes are seen as a threat to the cleanliness and integrity of the home because they are the main vehicle that crosses the boundary, separating the outside and all of its pollutants from the inside.

She added that the strength of that boundary has increased during the pandemic, because the epidemic has raised the significance of the homes threshold.

For Dennis, though, the custom of taking ones shoes off is more about keeping shoes in their classification than keeping the house pristine because outside pollutants enter the house in other ways all the time.

Its a bit like the five-second ruledropping food on the ground and then picking it up after five seconds doesnt render it clean, but it does a little ritual work that makes us feel better and sets things back in order, Dennis said.

Taking shoes off is similar, as well as practically removing some of the physical tracking of matter inside.
A view of the Merlion sculpture in Singapore. (Courtesy of Unsplash, Jisun Han.)

Singapore to Return Close to Pre-Pandemic Normal With Yellow Alert, Further Easing of Restrictions

Pre-departure tests for fully-vaccinated travellers and group size limits to be scrapped

Singapore authorities announced that the nations pandemic alert status will be lowered from orange to yellow, with further easing of community and border measures due to improving numbers for daily infections and hospitalizations.

In a press conference on April 22, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced that the nations Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level would be lowered to yellow in view of the countrys improving COVID-19 situation.

According to Singapores Ministry of Health (MOH), the seven-day moving average of daily case numbers have fallen from 18,300 at their peak to under 3,100 in the past week. Hospitalizations have decreased from 1,726 to 266, while intensive care unit (ICU) patients are in the single digits.

Given the improving situation, the high levels of vaccination, and the progressive easing of pandemic measures, MOH said the DORSON level would be stepped down from orange to yellow on April 26.

The color-coded DORSCON framework, which ranges from green to red alert levels, is used to reflect the current disease situation in Singapore. It was raised to orange on Feb. 7, 2020, when local COVID-19 cases unlinked to previous cases or travel history to China were detected.

Ong described the downgrade to DORSCON yellow as an important milestone.

We know the danger is of course not over, but we can all breathe easier now, he said.

In tandem with the adjustment of the DORSCON level, community and border measures have been eased, effective April 26.

Pre-Departure Tests Scrapped for Fully Vaccinated Travellers

As previously reported by The Epoch Times, Singapore introduced its Vaccinated Travel Framework on March 29 that exempted fully-vaccinated travellers from on-arrival tests and quarantine, but it still required travellers arriving via air or sea checkpoints to submit pre-departure tests within two days before they depart for Singapore.

But effective April 26, fully vaccinated air and sea travellers will no longer be subject to this requirement.

However, entry requirements for non-fully vaccinated travellers remain unchanged (pdf). They are generally not allowed entry, except for compassionate reasons or if they are medically ineligible for vaccines.

Other Measures Eased

Mask-off activities will also no longer be restricted to a group size of 10, and the cap of 10 unique visitors per household at any one time has also been removed.

With the removal of the group size limit, 1-metre safe distancing is no longer required between individuals or groups.

The limit of 75 percent staff working in office will be lifted as well.

The requirement for masks to be worn in indoor settings will remain, but workers may remove their masks when they are not interacting physically with others and when they are not in customer-facing areas.

This concession will provide some flexibility for workers as more return to the workplace, MOH said.

Vaccination-differentiated safe management measures (VDS) are also to be removed from all settings, except for food and beverage establishments such as coffee shops, hawker centres and restaurants, nightlife establishments where dancing is involved, and events with more than 500 participants.

For food and beverage outlets, VDS check-in will not be required and only random spot-checks will be conducted on people who are dining in.

In general, only fully vaccinated people are permitted to enter VDS venues.

In Singapore, to be considered fully-vaccinated, you need to have had a booster shot within 270 days after the last dose of your primary vaccination series.

Travellers vaccinated overseas may be granted a temporary vaccinated status that is valid for 30 days. For visitors who stay longer, they are required to get their overseas vaccination records injested with Singapores National Immunisation Registry.
A map showing the location of Baglarbasi neighborhood in Bursa Province, Turkey. (Google Maps/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Small Plane Crashes Into Turkish Neighborhood; 2 Dead

ANKARA, TurkeyA single-engine airplane crashed into a neighborhood in northwestern Bursa province and burst into flames on Monday, killing its pilot and a trainee pilot.

The plane, which was used for flight training, slammed into a street in the Baglarbasi neighborhood near the provinces Yunuseli Airport, Gov. Yakup Canbolat said. No one was hurt on the ground.

Huseyin Gumusoy, the neighborhoods administrator, told NTV television that two homes and five cars were damaged in the crash.

Residents rushed out of their homes into the street following the crash, and smoke billowed from the site, according to video footage from the neighborhood.

Canbolat said an investigation would be launched, adding that the cause of the crash was likely to be a technical fault.
Supreme Court Declines to Block High Schools Admissions Policy in Suit Alleging Racial Discrimination

Comes after suit alleged discrimination against Asian Americans

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to temporarily block the admissions policy of a prestigious high school in northern Virginia, after the policy was accused of being discriminatory against Asian Americans.

The parents group, Coalition for TJ, asked the high court to temporarily suspend the admissions policy of the school while the case is being considered in lower courts.

The nine-member high court on Monday denied Coalition for TJs request and gave no explanation for doing so. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas said in the brief court order they would have blocked the schools admissions policy for now.

The school, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, is often ranked as one of the best public high schools in the United States.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax, Va. (Google Maps)

The school board recently adopted a new admissions process that ended a standardized testing requirement, and also guaranteed seats for the top students from each public middle school in the surrounding area.

Asian Americans comprised the majoritymore than 70 percentof the schools student body. After the new policy was adopted, Asian American representation decreased to 54 percent, while Black and Hispanic representation increased from 1 to 7 percent and 3 to 11 percent, respectively.

Coalition for TJ sued the Fairfax County School Board last year, arguing that the new admissions policy was discriminatory against Asian American students.

U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in February sided with the group (pdf), and stopped the high school from using the admissions policy.

It is clear that Asian-American students are disproportionately harmed by the Boards decision to overhaul TJ admissions. Currently and in the future, Asian-American applicants are disproportionately deprived of a level playing field in competing for both allocated and unallocated seats, Hilton wrote.

But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, put Hiltons ruling on hold and said the policy could be used while litigation over the policys legality continues.

This prompted Coalition for TJ to file an emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the appeals court stay. The Fairfax County School Board told the Supreme Court in response to the emergency application that the admissions policy of Thomas Jefferson isnt trying to achieve racial balancing.

Coalition for TJ said in a statement Monday after the Supreme Court order: We were hopeful that we would win this battle to vacate the stay in the highest court of the land, but our struggle for justice is not over. We are not at all dissuaded.

We are disappointed by todays decision. Government cannot choose who receives the opportunity to attend public schools based on race or ethnicity, Erin Wilcox, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents the Coalition for TJ, said in a statement. We will continue to fight in the courts to end TJs discriminatory admissions policy for good.

Fairfax schools division counsel John Foster said in a statement, reported WJLA: We continue to believe our new plan for TJ admissions is merit-based and race-blind.

We are confident that after considering the facts and the law, the appeals court will decide that our plan meets all the legal requirements and guarantees every qualified student will have the chance of being admitted to the finest public science and technology high school in the country.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten addresses a 'Let's Finish the Job for the People' rally near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Sept. 14, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Teachers Union Head Caught Fabricating Quotes From Pro-Parental Rights Journalist

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten, who not too long ago campaigned against online misinformation, has been caught attributing fabricated quotes to journalist Christopher Rufo.

During an interview with MSNBC, the teachers union leader talked about Rufo, who shared his insight on the parent-led movement seeking alternatives to public schools a couple weeks ago, at the college that Betsy Devos founded, Hillsdale College.

Hillsdale College was founded by Freewill Baptists as Michigan Central College in 1844 and assumed its current name nine years later when it moved to Hillsdale, according to the school. Former Education Secretary Betsy Devos was born in 1958, 114 years after the schools founding.

Weingarten moved on to read a quote she claimed to be taken from Rufos April 5 speech at Hillsdale. To get to universal school choice, you really need to operate from a premise of universal public school distrust. To sow and grow that distrust, you have to create your own narrative frame, and have to be brutal and ruthless in pursuing it, she said, allegedly quoting Rufo.

In response, Rufo accused Weingarten of dishonestly stitching together two unrelated quotes and presenting them as one continuous quote.

The journalist pointed to the actual video footage of his speech as proof. According to the video uploaded to Hillsdales official YouTube channel, Rufo said: I think you want to create the conditions for fundamental, structural change, to appropriate some language. For example, school choiceto get universal school choice, you really need to operate from a premise of universal public school distrust. Because in order for people to take significant action, they have to feel like they have something at stake.

I think that the public schools have done a remarkable job at doing that, specifically the public school teachers unions, he continued. They shut down schools for more than a year. In some districts, half of all kids never showed up to online learning.

About seven minutes prior to the universal school choice discussion, Rufo addressed an outrage over big companies pushing their leftist agenda on children and encouraged the audience to be very aggressive in pushing back.

What were seeing, I think as the first step, is a narrative and symbolic war against companieslike Disney, for one example, he said. You have to be very aggressive. You have to fight on terms that you define. You have to create your own frame, your own language and you have to be ruthless and brutal in pursuit of something good.

After being called out for doctoring quotes, Weingarten doubled down on her remark, suggesting that the fabricated quote is in line with what Rufo would have said.

He doesnt care about truth, he cares about attacking public ed, she wrote on Twitter.

Earlier this year, the AFT announced a partnership with media credibility rating company NewsGuard. The teachers union said it purchased licensed copies of NewsGuards anti-misinformation browser extension for the unions 1.7 million members, who will then be able to share it with the tens of millions of students they serve.

For years, educators have fought battles against suspect sourcing, with their students often misled by dubious outlets and spam sites posing as news,' the AFT said in Janurary. NewsGuard offers a practical solution, alerting students and educators to those sites while also providing a valuable lesson in media literacy.

A study by conservative media watchdog Media Research Center (MRC), however, suggests that NewsGuard has an extraordinary political bias that makes left-wing news outlets more likely to get a better rating. According to the study, outlets rated left or lean left by media bias review company AllSides received an average NewsGuard score of 93, while sites considered right or lean right by AllSides had an average NewsGuard rating of 66.
Tesoro High School Witnesses DUI Crash Simulation

LAS FLORES, Calif.First responder agencies constructed a crash scene April 24 involving two damaged cars, student actors, and concerned parents in what would be the 31st year of creating a multi-casualty simulation to educate students about the perils of drunk driving.

So were going to move her body up on the hood of the car, Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Cpt. and paramedic Steve Concialdi said over a high school student acting as a car crash casualty.

A tarp will go over the vehicles until the students arrive for the presentation.

Students at Tesoro High School watch a mock DUI situation in Las Flores, Calif., on April 25, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Concialdi is the founder of Friends Against Drinking and Driving, a nonprofit which has been conducting mock DUI crashes in Orange County for 30 years.

At the crash scene, one overturned car with the bodies of bloodied student actors lay adjacent to a vehicle with a student lying through a broken windshield, lifeless on the hood of the vehicle.

Why did you just not let her drive! a female student wearing a prom dress shouted at a male student actor wearing formal attire while portraying a drunk driver.

I cannot believe this is happening!

An empty box of beer sat atop of their vehicle, while surrounded by hundreds of students watching the scene in front of Tesoro High School.

Students at Tesoro High School watch a mock DUI situation in Las Flores, Calif., on April 25, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Seconds later, police, fire, and EMT units arrived on scene.

After eliminating smoke from the vehicles, fire personnel loaded the bodies of the mock crash victims onto stretchers, while police officers simulated a field sobriety test, eventually, arresting the student portraying the drunk driver.

Several students watching the crash simulation had tears in their eyes when the mother of one of the mock victims shouted for their child, apparently dead on the ground.

Students at Tesoro High School watch a mock DUI situation in Las Flores, Calif., on April 25, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

OCFA, Orange County Sheriffs Department, California Highway Patrol, Friends Against Drinking and Driving, Mission Hospital, Trauma Intervention Program, OConnor Mortuary, Care Ambulance, and Aliso Viejo Towing all teamed with Tesoro High school staff in accomplishing the serious presentationa reality students, families, and first responders face on a daily basis due to drinking and texting while driving.

I thought the mock DUI crash today was very impactful, Concialdi told The Epoch Times. I saw many students with tears in their eyes when the program was going on and when the two obituaries were being read.
Texas death row prisoner Melissa Lucio was sentenced over the 2007 death of her daughter, Mariah. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

Texas Death Row Inmate Melissa Lucio Granted Stay of Execution

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday granted a stay of execution for a woman who was set to be judicially killed on Wednesday for the 2007 death of one of her 14 children, ordering a lower court to review new evidence in the case.

Lawyers for Mexican-American Melissa Lucio, 52, say new evidence will prove her innocence in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah.

The appeals court ordered a lower county court to reconsider the evidence that her attorneys say shows her daughter died after an accidental fall down a steep flight of stairs at Lucios rental home, not because of child abuse.

When State Rep. Jeff Leach informed Lucio that she had been granted a stay of execution, she broke down in tears, saying, Oh, thank you God, according to an audio of the conversation obtained by CNN.

Lucio would have become the first Hispanic woman executed by Texas.

I thank God for my life. I have always trusted in Him, Lucio said in a statement released by her lawyers. I am grateful the Court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence. Mariah is in my heart today and always.

Lucios lawyers in a 266-page petition presented medical and eye-witness evidence that they say proves Mariah died after an accidental fall at home.

Lucios attorneys also say her capital murder conviction was based on an unreliable and coerced confession that was the result of relentless questioning and her long history of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. They say Lucio wasnt allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession.

Her lawyers also contend that unscientific and false evidence misled jurors into believing Mariahs injuries only could have been caused by physical abuse and not by medical complications from a severe fall.

Nearly half of the jurors who sentenced Lucio to die for the death of her toddler said that had they known about the new evidence that wasnt presented at her original trial in 2008, they would have decided differently.

Melissas life matters. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and intimate partner violence, and now locked away for these past 15 years, Melissas voice and experiences have never been valued, Sandra Babcock, a member of Lucios legal team and a professor at Cornell law school said.

The Courts decision signals its willingness to finally hear Melissas side of the story, Babcock added.

Lucio wrote in a letter to Texas lawmakers that she knew that what I was accused of doing was not true.

My children have always been my world and although my choices in life were not good I would have never hurt any of my children in such a way, Lucio wrote.

The stay of execution delays Lucios execution while the trial court reviews her legal teams claims.

Lucios legal team says the evidence will be heard in trial court, which would then make a recommendation to the Texas appeals court. The appeals would decide whether Lucio should be granted a new trial.
How to implement a simple technique that can be used in any classroom or at home, and has proven able to turn a 'C' student into an 'A'with minimal time and cost (Part 2)

Last week, in part one, we looked at the simple technique of adding pauses to ones direct instruction, and saw what a powerful effect it can have. By allowing students a break, time to process and space to reflect, their achievement is boosted and learning becomes a more pleasant endeavor.

It turns out the method is incredibly simple to use and prep for, making it a win-win for both educators and students alike. Here are several strategies and options to help you get the most out of it.

What the Researchers Did

What was done in the study by Ruhl and company, described in the last piece, was to pause for just 2 minutes every 15 to 18 minutes of class. (The context of their study was lecturing in a college course.)

During the short pause, what instructors did was have students pair and share their notes with a partner or neighbors, but with the important caveat that they actively compared what one another had written down. And if any discrepancies were found, students were to discuss them, ask for clarification, or jot down whatever it was that was missed.

As described last time, this approach leads students not just to think actively about their comprehension of the material, but also to develop self-awarenessan important meta-cognitive skill.

Another approach was used in a study authored by Rowe (published in 1980) that had students clarify their thinking aloud to partners about what was just taught. In this scenario, students might be asked to summarize key points of what was just taught or quiz one another verbally.

(I personally prefer the former approach, as the end product is not just mental clarity but also more complete and accurate notesan added long-term benefit.)

When facilitating either type of activity, Ive found that its important to communicate your expectations for the task very explicitly up front if you want students to use the time well and stay on task. I also remind students that whatever the activity, its fine for them to look at their notes and amend them as they goas the whole point is to review, digest, and arrive at greater clarity. Its not a test!

Other Variations

1. Role Playing. Ive found that a particularly productive twist on the above is to have students do a short role-play as a break. For example, when teaching about a work of art, I might have students form into groups and pretend theyre at a museum and that theyve just come upon the object studied (which Ill project on the screen), and now one of the individuals must be the docent. He or she is tasked with explaining it to the inquiring tour group (played by the other students), who must not only listen, but also pose a question or two. (Again, all of them being allowedand encouragedto reference their notes, if helpful).

Students often get very creative (and sometimes theatrical!) in their roles, and quickly internalize the material on a deeper level. Not only the docent, but also the visitors must carefully think through and reflect upon the material.

(I sometimes like to nudge them, if the docent is a particularly strong student, to not let him/her off easy!which makes for an added challenge and perhaps higher-order thinking.)

Its often an energizing tonic in what might be a PowerPoint-dimmed roomand boosts learning demonstrably, as I can often see when I switch back to a whole-class format and call on one or two volunteers to tell us something interestingor perhaps unexpectedthey learned at the museum.

2. Multiple Choice or Problem Solving. Another variation is to present some kind of question or prompt that requires students to not only recall what was just taught, but better yet, apply it.

To continue the art example above, I might present a new work, not yet studied, and ask students to categorize it as either Hellenic or Hellenistic (if studying classical Greek art), and tell why or how they arrived at their decision. This way, they must make their thinking explicit.

I might then have students write their answer on an index card or mini-white board (provided at the start of class or before the activity), which they all hold up on the count of three, after being allowed time to respond. This gives me, as an instructor, a quick gauge of where students are at, and alerts me to the possibility (hopefully small!) that something was inadequately clear and needs to be retaught or sorted out. Ill typically call on one or two students to share with the class their reasoning, and perhaps invite others to build upon it, or deepen it, for the benefit of all. (I might also nudge students to add to their notes if and when they hear new insights or anything they missed.)

Other Applications

I believe the science of attention and learning that drives these activities can be applied to other things as well, including on the home front.

For example, if a student is reading a textbook as homework, his or her learning and retention could be amplified by taking active brain breaks like the above every 15 minutes or so. If studying solo, this could take the form of rereading notes, jotting down any questions that linger or points of confusion, or going back over ones own notes and annotating them to mark the key point, supporting evidence, and so onas one would when marking up a passage of text.

Or if the student was simply annotating the textbook while reading the previous 15 minutes, this would be an ideal time to peel away from the text and put those marked-up parts down on paperachieving the same effect as above. Its a nice shift for the brain, and a different kind of processing.

Another approach might be to quiz oneself on ones notes or what was just read, or ask a parent to do so.

This could also be done to great effect when watching a documentary. I often do active pauses in class when viewing these. When assessing their learning afterward, I find it has a dramatic impact.

Whatever the approach, youll want to ensure the break time doesnt extend too long and that you announceand enforcea specified length. This helps ensure focus.

Youll also want to be sure to circulate around the room (if in a classroom setting) and show your interest, such as by weighing in on any debates that pop up, throwing in a question or two, or complimenting someone on a keen insight. Show that you care, and they will, too.

With a little time and practice, youll be able to transition into these breaks quickly and smoothly, and youll see from the smiles on students faces how much theyre getting from them.
Top Democrat Asks for FDA Briefing on COVID-19 Vaccines for Young Children

U.S. drug regulators should not delay in authorizing COVID-19 vaccines for young children, a top Democrat said on April 25.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) asked Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf whether reports that the FDA is considering postponing a decision on whether to clear Modernas jab so that it can be reviewed at the same time as Pfizers shot are accurate.

Moderna officials recently announced results of a trial for its vaccine for children aged 6 months to 4 years and said it would apply to the FDA for emergency authorization by the end of April. Pfizer expects to have data ready for a request for its shot for the same age group in June.

Recent reports indicate that FDA is considering postponing its decision on whether to authorize Modernas vaccine for young children until early summer, so that it can be evaluatedand potentially authorizedat the same time as Pfizers vaccine, Clyburn wrote to Califf. He noted that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, told CNN in a recent interview that authorizing the products at the same time would help avoid confus[ing] people.

Such a decision could delay the potential authorization and administration of the Moderna vaccine by several weeks, Clyburn said. He asked for a briefing on the vaccines for young kids by May 9 on whether these recent reports are accurate and, if so, the scientific basis and any other rationale for such a delay.

An FDA spokeswoman acknowledged receipt of the letter but declined to comment further, saying the agency would respond directly to Clyburn, the House majority whip and the chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

The coronavirus, also known as SARS-CoV-2 or the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, causes COVID-19.

The House established the panel early in the pandemic, charging it with examining how taxpayer funds were being used, the development of vaccines and treatments, and other issues related to the pandemic.

All Americans 5 and older can currently get Pfizers vaccine and all Americans 18 and older can get Modernas vaccine.

Some parents and advocacy groups have been pressuring the FDA to expand authorization for one or both of the shots to children as young as 6 months old, claiming the kids need protection against severe COVID-19.

Once FDA is in receipt of one or more submission for emergency use authorization of COVID vaccines for these younger pediatric age groups, we will work diligently to review the data, to independently verify the analyses, and to bring those data to our advisory committees for discussion and consideration for regulatory action, Dr. Dorian Fink an FDA official, said during a virtual meeting on April 20 after listing to some of the parents.

Data from the pandemic show children, particularly healthy ones, are at little risk of contracting any symptoms from COVID, much less severe ones.

Those zero to 4 have had 2.3 million cases in the United States since the start of the pandemic, according to federal statistics, but just 468 deaths.

Some experts have cautioned against rushing authorization for young children, noting the data.

The FDA appeared poised to authorize Pfizers shot for the age group in February but abruptly announced a delay on the decision until more data were gathered. Updated results from a Pfizer-run trial are expected soon, and Pfizers CEO Albert Bourla said on a podcast that he hoped authorization would happen in June.

Moderna in March announced its trial for young children reached its primary endpoint, which was the triggering of an immune response similar to that seen in older groups. The company portrayed the results as positive despite a substandard protection against infection, and no outcome being available for shielding against severe illness. A number of experts told The Epoch Times that the results mean the FDA should not authorize the jab.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with the Aga Khan on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 17, 2016. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Tories Question Trudeau After Report Shows RCMP Mulled Charging PM Over Aga Khan Island Trip

Documents show RCMP considered charging Trudeau, but decided against it because it might hurt the public interest

The Conservatives are challenging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau following the release of RCMP documents that show the police had considered charging the prime minister over his 2016 vacation at the Aga Khans private island in the Bahamas.

The RCMP documents from 2019, recently obtained by the Globe and Mail through an access-to-information request, say the police had looked at whether they could charge Trudeau with breach of trust or fraud after the prime ministers family took a Christmas vacation at the Ismaili Muslim leaders private retreat in 2016.

The police investigation was based on a December 2017 report released by then-federal ethics commissioner Mary Dawson, who concluded that Trudeau had violated four sections of the Conflict of Interest Act by accepting the invitation, since some official business between the Aga Khan and the Canadian government was ongoing at the time.

The RCMP didnt lay charges ultimately, citing the lack of evidence that Trudeau had committed a breach of trust, though the police debated whether the prime minister could be charged with fraud, as they believed there were reasonable grounds to think fraud may have been committed, according to the RCMP documents.

The police decided in the end that it would not be in the public interest to lay charges due to a lack of clarity in federal rules that apply to accepting gifts.

On April 25, Conservative ethics critic James Bezan also shared a decision tree from the RCMP documents showing that section 121(1)(c) of the Criminal Code would lead to a verdict of fraud on the government.

RCMP documents reveal the only thing that stopped them from charging Justin Trudeau under Section 121(1)(c) of the Criminal Code for Fraud on the Government was whether or not he granted himself a get-out-of-jail-free card, Bezan wrote on Twitter on April 25.

RCMP documents reveal the only thing that stopped them from charging Justin Trudeau under Section 121(1)(c) of the Criminal Code for Fraud on the Government was whether or not he granted himself a get-out-of-jail-free card.

See for yourself  #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/GkEzjMOSYI  James Bezan (@jamesbezan) April 25, 2022

Tory interim leader Candice Bergen also commented on social media, tweeting a video clip of Bezan raising the issue in question period and asking whether Trudeau had given himself a free pass to avoid criminal charges.

Canadians deserve to know the truth, she wrote.

Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre also took a jab at Trudeau in a Twitter post on April 25.

Now we know why Mounties didnt charge him. They thought it would hurt public interest to jail someone as powerful as him, he wrote.

The Tory leadership candidate also posted a video of himself challenging Trudeau on the violation of the criminal code sections during question period in 2018.

An island like the one on which he vacationed,  they cost a lot of money, approximately $200,000 for the amount of time and the number of people the prime minister had vacationing as part of this gift, Poilievre said.

Back in 2018, I asked Justin Trudeau about criminal code sections he violated. Now we know why Mounties didnt charge him. They thought it would hurt public interest to jail someone as powerful as him. If you think the law should apply to all, join here: https://t.co/d9I1kyr6U1 pic.twitter.com/BAuSushgCE  Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) April 25, 2022

One of Poilievres competitors in the Tory leadership race, Jean Charest, also condemned the prime minister on social media.

We now know the RCMP was considering charging Justin Trudeau with fraud, he wrote in a Twitter post on April 25.

The rule of law is not a buffet. Parliamentarians, and especially the Prime Minister, cant pick and choose when to follow them.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Prime Ministers Office for a response, but didnt immediately hear back.

Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, was a family friend of Trudeaus father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. The fact that he is the head of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada and the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa, both active lobbyist organizations registered with the federal government that have received hundreds of millions in public funds over the years from both Conservative and Liberal governments, adds to the controversy around the trip.

Following media reports in April 2018, Trudeau called a press conference in which he apologized for the incident, saying he considered the Aga Khan a friend and didnt think the free vacation would be a conflict issue.

The Globe reported that the police were unclear whether Trudeau could be prosecuted under section 121(1)(c) of the Criminal Code, which includes a provision that allows officials to accept benefits from individuals with government dealings, provided the official has the written consent of the head of their branch of government.

Since Trudeau himself was the sitting prime minister and head of government, an investigation and prosecution under this section may not be in the public interest if it cannot be definitely determined whether or not Mr. Trudeau can simply provide consent to himself, RCMP Corporal Michael Kiperchuk said in a briefing note.

The police initiated the investigation into Trudeaus 2016 trip to the Bahamas after former Conservative MP Peter Kent wrote to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki in May 2019 to request a criminal probe. The police concluded its investigation on Sept. 25, 2019, saying in an internal document there was insufficient evidence to proceed with criminal charges, the Globe reported.




KOMARNA, Croatia, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The Peljesac Bridge, connecting Croatia's mainland with its southernmost region, is also a symbol of happiness for Croatian-born Ana Vulic, 32, and 34-year-old Talman Damtare, a native of Togo in Africa.

The two first met -- and eventually got married -- in China. But it was the bridge, built by a Chinese consortium led by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), that brought and kept them together.

Since "Talman" means "hope" in one of the local languages spoken in Togo, he was affectionately referred to as "Hope" by his Chinese colleagues during the bridge-building project.

"We would like to express our love and gratitude to China," Hope and Ana said in an interview with Xinhua.

The two met in Nanjing in 2009, where they both studied Chinese at the Nanjing Normal University (NNU).

Back then, Hope often took Ana to the traditional local folk event known as temple fair and bought her various gadget gifts.

It was in Nanjing where they fell in love, and it was also there that they both mastered the Chinese language, which would benefit them a lot in their future careers.

Hope and Ana got married in 2016 in Hong Kong. Soon after, the pregnant Ana returned to Croatia to her family's care, while Hope, who was employed by a foreign trade company based in Shanghai, traveled back and forth between China and Croatia.

"It is really a hassle to have to go back and forth between the two countries. I wanted to find a job in Croatia to enable me to take better care of Ana and the baby," Hope said.

Construction work on the Peljesac Bridge started in June 2018. The 2.4-km bridge connects Croatia's northern Dalmatian coast with the southern region of Dubrovnik-Neretva County and thus it greatly promotes the development of the whole country's economy. No wonder the locals' heightened interest in participating in its construction.

Ana was hired by the construction company in August 2018 for her skills as a Chinese-Croatian translator.

As luck would have it, the foreign trade company in Shanghai that Hope worked for also had business ties to the Peljesac Bridge project. In November 2018, he also got hired by the Chinese consortium and was put in charge of customs clearance and transportation of materials.

"Being able to work on the Peljesac Bridge project is something I never dared to think about before, and it is also the wish of many people," Hope said.

Alongside Hope and Ana, over 60 locals have been employed successively at the construction.

According to project manager Xie Jingli, the bridge project manager, the additional arrival of hundreds of Chinese builders has injected vitality into the local economy as hotels, restaurants and supermarkets are being opened one after another in the seaside village of Komarna near the bridge.

Cooperation, a quest for mutual benefits and a win-win approach have characterized the work at the site since day one, Xie said. The consortium has signed more than 1,200 purchase contracts and orders with Croatian companies with a cumulative value of over 166 million Croatian kunas (23.5 million U.S. dollars) along with 91 business subcontracts whose value has exceeded 220 million kunas.

The building of the bridge has brought together 18 design consulting firms, 45 construction companies, along with 112 equipment and material suppliers and environmental protection companies from the European Union.

This fully complies with the principle of extensive consultation and cooperation advocated by Chinese President Xi Jinping in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xie said.

Making the project even sweeter for Hope and Ana, the consortium has decided to employ both of them on a long-term basis. This means that even after the bridge opens to traffic later this year, the couple can continue to work at the bridge's maintenance service, and thus can count on a stable job and income.

"When we heard the news, we immediately informed all our relatives and friends," Ana said.

If it were not for China, Hope and Ana might not have met each other and got married, nor could they live a happy life as they do now.

"We love China, we are so grateful to China," they said. (1 Croatian kuna = 0.14 U.S. dollar)





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Trial of Quebec City Halloween Sword Attack Suspect Delayed for Second Time by COVID

The first-degree murder trial of the man accused in the Quebec City Halloween 2020 sword attack has been delayed for a second time by COVID-19.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Richard Grenier adjourned the case today until Wednesday, when the judge said the third and most recent juror to test positive for the disease would return from isolation.

There are only 11 jurors hearing evidence in the trial because one member was dismissed after testing positive. The trial was delayed for the first time in mid-April to allow a second juror who tested positive to recover.

Carl Girouard is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Suzanne Clermont, 61, and Francois Duchesne, 56, in the Old Quebec neighbourhood on Oct. 31, 2020. He is also charged with five counts of attempted murder.

The judge has told jurors that Girouard admits to killing two people and injuring five others with a sword but will argue he was not criminally responsible at the time of the events because he was suffering from a mental disorder.

The Crown wrapped its case against Girouard, 26, last Thursday, and the third juror tested positive following that hearing. According to the Criminal Code, a jury panel must consist of a minimum of 10 members to render a verdict.

Grenier told jurors today its the first time in his 50-year legal career that hes been involved in a trial that has experienced so many delays, but he said he was confident the trial would be completed.
Tucker Carlson speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, on Oct. 21, 2018. (Rich Polk/Getty Images for Politicon )

Tucker Carlson Back on Twitter After Suspension

Tucker Carlson returned to Twitter after a one-month-long suspension, according to a post from the Fox News host on Monday night.

Were back is what Carlson wrote on the platform. He was suspended for endorsing a Babylon Bee Twitter post that joked that U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, also known as Richard Levinea biological male who is described as transgenderis the sites Man of the Year for 2022.

In a statement several weeks ago, Twitter claimed that the Babylon Bee post violated the sites rules, claiming the joke was hateful content, according to the satirical websites founder, Seth Dillon. Carlsons account also re-posted a comment from Charlie Kirk saying Levine spent 54 years of his life as a man.

The move comes after tech entrepreneur Elon Musk and Twitter came to an agreement for Musk to take the company private for $44 billion on Monday.

A free Twitter would mean a direct challenge to the people in charge of our countrys institutions many of whom are incompetent, Carlson said on his top-rated Fox News program on Monday evening. For the first time in years well be able to talk honestly about our leaders. Well be able to have the kind of conversations that make democracy possible.

Musks takeover of Twitter triggered questions about whether certain users, including former President Donald Trump, would return to the platform. Trump, however, told news outlets Monday that he plans on staying with his social media site Truth Social and wont return to Twitter.

Were taking in millions of people, and what were finding is that the response on Truth is much better than being on Twitter. Twitter has bots and fake accounts, and we are doing everything we can, Trump said. So far, Trump has only made one post on Truth Social since it was launched in February 2022.

In mid-April, Trump told Americano News that Twitters become very boring in recent months because theyve gotten rid of a lot of good voices on Twitter  a lot of their conservative voices.

The deal was cemented roughly two weeks after the billionaire first revealed a 9 percent stake in the platform. Musk said last week that he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, putting pressure on the companys board to negotiate a deal.

Twitter said the transaction was unanimously approved by its board of directors and is expected to close in 2022, pending regulatory sign-off and the approval of shareholders.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Students walk through the University of CaliforniaIrvine campus in Irvine, Calif., on Sept. 25, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

UCI Cyber Security Expert, Ex-CIA Analyst Weighs in on Putin, Ukraine War

As a former senior Soviet analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency as well as ex-advisor to President George W. Bush, then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and other senior government officials, Bryan Cunninghamwho is now the Executive Director of the Cybersecurity Policy and Research Institute at the University of CaliforniaIrvinespent years studying Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a recent interview with The Epoch Times, Cunningham weighed in on Putins war with Ukraine now entering its third month.

I believe we are in more danger now [than during the Cuban Missile Crisis], he said. There really is a measurable possibility of a nuclear war.

According to Cunningham, a year ago the likelihood of nuclear war was 1 percent. Now, he says that number is likely in the double-digits, which is terrifying.

This is partly due to Cunninghams belief that Putin is less stable than Khruschev, the former Cold War Soviet leader who once challenged the United States to a missile shooting match, and that there is no one in Russia who can check Putins power or remove him from office.

Additionally, Cunningham said he believes Putins behavior mimics previous dictators, in addition to reports that he is isolating himself from advisors and foreign dignitaries both physically and politically.

Typically when youre a dictator for that long, just like Stalin  or Hitler, you stop allowing people near you who will say anything that disagrees with you, Cunningham said.

According to Cunningham, who is also an attorney with the Los Angeles-based firm Zweiback, Fiset & Coleman, Ukraine is an all-or-nothing issue now for Putin.

I think hes willing to do whatever it takes to, in his mind, win. I think he feels like this is his legacy now, Cunningham said.

His pessimism about Putin, Cunningham said, stems from his orders to use tanks and live ammunition to attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine in early March, as well as Russias military doctrine of using progressively harsher methods including nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons to avoid losing the war, no matter the cost.

A damaged administrative building of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Enerhodar, the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on March 4, 2022. (Press service of National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom/Handout via Reuters)

Cunningham has two theories for why Putin waged the attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, including that Russia may not have the technological capacity to hack adversaries that we once thought, since it could have simply hacked the plant to shut it down.

More likely, however, Cunningham said he theorizes that when Putin used extraordinary military force on the plant, he risked vaporizing his own troops as well as half of Ukraine, a move Cunningham said was Putins way of telling the West: I will do anything I have to to win this war.

Cunningham projects that if Putins efforts are successful in Ukraine he will immediately invade other Eastern European states.

This is about as high-stakes a situation as the West has faced since World War II, Cunningham said.

To prevent a third world war with Russia, Cunningham said, the U.S. needs to provide Ukraine with whatever military aid it requests, a move he said that has taken far too long.

As a cybersecurity expert, Cunningham additionally warned of the increased threat Russia poses to individuals and businesses in the U.S. through cyberattacks.

To combat this, Cunningham advises companies and individuals to update their cybersecurity software regularly and to proactively use multi-factor authentication when logging into online accounts such as email.

When discussing what the media and politicians have gotten wrong, about Putin and the conflict, Cunningham said both have incorrectly assumed that the Russian Oligarchs, or wealthy businessmen in Putins inner circle, would overthrow him.

According to Cunningham, there is a misconception these businessmen provide Putin with power and wealth, when they actually rely on him for their wealth by means of alleged corruption, and would, thus, never try to overthrow him.

I am convinced there is no limit to what Putin will do, Cunningham said regarding the recent alleged murder-suicide of two Russian oligarchs and their families.

Cunningham stated it is far more likely that Putin planned their deaths as a warning to other businessmen in his circle of their possible fates if he is unhappy with them.
A nurse loads a syringe with a vaccine against hepatitis at a free immunization clinic for students before the start of the school year, in Lynwood, California, on Aug., 27, 2013. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

UK Officials Examining Links Between Adenovirus and Hepatitis in Children

Health officials in the UK say they are focusing on a possible adenovirus link to cases of severe hepatitisor liver inflammationin children.

There have been at least 169 cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin recorded worldwide, and one death, while 10 children in the UK alone have needed liver transplants.

Hepatitis can be life-threatening if left untreated.

The cause of the spike in cases among children remains unknown, but British health officials say a strain of adenovirus called F41 could be the most probable cause.

Adenovirus, a viral infection that usually causes the common cold, was detected in 75 percent of the confirmed cases tested, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in a statement on Monday.

Adenovirus, a common group of viruses, is now circulating in children at higher than average levels after dropping to unusually low levels during the pandemic. One avenue of inquiry being explored is that the outbreak may be linked to a surge in common viral infections after COVID-19 restrictions were phased out. Children who werent exposed to adenovirus over the last two years may now be getting hit harder when they are exposed to the viruses.

Information gathered through our investigations increasingly suggests that this rise in sudden onset hepatitis in children is linked to adenovirus infection, said Dr. Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA. However, we are thoroughly investigating other potential causes.

The British health agency said in a briefing Monday that there may be a cofactor causing a normal adenovirus to produce a more severe clinical presentation in young children.

This could be an increased susceptibility due to reduced exposure during the pandemic, prior SARS-CoV-2 or other infection, or a yet undiscovered coinfection or toxin, it said.

Alternatively, there may have been emergence of a novel adenovirus strain with altered characteristics, UKHSA said.

The majority of children affected are under the age of 5 and have presented symptoms of gastroenteritis illnessdiarrhoea and nauseaas well as jaundice, which is the yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes.

UK public health officials have ruled out any links to COVID-19 vaccines, saying none of the affected children were vaccinated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health advisory last week after children in Alabama were discovered to have adenovirus and hepatitis infections.

The CDC said that five pediatric patients with significant liver injury, including three with acute liver failure, who also tested positive for adenovirus, were reported to the agency by an Alabama hospital.

The CDC added that the children were previously healthy and that none had COVID-19.

Two cases were also identified in North Carolina, health department officials said.

Cases have also been found in Denmark, Spain, and the Netherlands, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Jack Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Police body-worn video footage of Angharad Williamson, 31, (L) on the doorstep of their home in Bridgend on July 31, 2021 and an undated police handout image of her murdered son Logan Mwangi. (South Wales Police/PA)

UK Prosecutor Says Child Cruelty Register Is Good Idea

A woman whose adopted son had to have both legs amputated because of abuse by his birth parents says she will meet a British government minister next month to iron out the details of how a child cruelty register would work.

Paula Hudgell, whose adopted son Tony had to have his legs amputated because of injuries inflicted by his birth parents, said a child cruelty register was needed to ensure people like Tonys birth parents were prevented from having access to other children in the future.

She said Tonys birth parents were due to be released in August and at present there is little to stop them from changing their names and moving to another part of the country, having a child, and repeating the cycle of abuse.

The child cruelty register is proposed to work in a similar way to the sex offenders registerwhich was set up in 2003and would require those convicted of the murder or manslaughter of a child, causing or allowing the death of a child, causing or allowing physical harm to a child, cruelty or neglect, to notify the police on their release from prison and whenever they change names or addresses or begin to live in a household with a child.

Ed Brown QC, a prosecutor who recently secured two separate convictions of two men for murdering young children, told The Epoch Times, In principle, its a good idea.

Harrowing Recordings Of Abuse

Brown led the prosecution team in the case of Phylesia Shirley and her boyfriend Kemar Brown following the death of two-year-old Kyrell Matthews, who suffered 41 fractured ribs. The jury, who heard harrowing audio recordings of the abuse, convicted Shirley of manslaughter and Brown was jailed for life for murder.

A few weeks later Kamran Haider was jailed for the murder of his girlfriends 16-month-old daughter.

If a child cruelty register was in existence Shirley, Brown, and Haider would be released from prison but would remain in reputation jail for life and would have to notify the police of any change of address, name or relationship.

Brown said: I would have thought that, with the experience of the sex offenders register it could be administered pretty easily. When I heard of the idea I thought it was a very positive move.

Last week the mother and stepfather of five-year-old Logan Mwangi were convicted, along with a 14-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, of murdering him in Sarn, near Bridgend.

Logan had been on the at-risk register of his local social services department but was taken off it a month before his death. On the day before he died a social worker visited his home but was refused entry and left without seeing him.

Arthur Labinjo-Hughes with his father Thomas Hughes and Thomas partner Emma Tustin. (Family handout/West Midlands Police/PA)

The Logan Mwangi case has been just one of a number of horrific child cruelty cases which have come to trial in the last six months.

National Review Of Child Protection

In December the government commissioned a national review, led by the independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, into child protection systems in the wake of the high-profile deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, who were both abused and murdered by the partners of one of their parents.

The panel is set to publish its report by the end of May.

The Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said: It is vital we learn from this tragic case.

But Paula Hudgell says a child cruelty register is needed to ensure peoplelike the birth parents of her adopted son Tonyare prevented from having access to other children in the future.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge talk to Tony Hudgell and his adoptive mother Paula at Westminster Abbey in London on Dec. 8, 2021. (Heathcliff OMalley/PA)

She told The Epoch Times: I feel its vital. This idea has not come from me. Its come from police officers. They say its the one thing they need. Would it have made a difference in Tonys case? No. But when his birth parents come out of prison in the summer it would prevent them being around children. At the moment they can just change their names, move to another part of the country and get on with their lives.

Hudgell met Justice Secretary Dominic Raab in November to discuss the possibility of introducing a child cruelty register, which would work in a similar way to the sex offenders register and she has lined up a follow-up meeting next month with junior minister Will Quince to discuss the finer details.

She said when she raised the idea Raab was surprised to learn Britain did not have a child cruelty register.

Tougher Sentences For Abusers

Hudgell, from Kent, has successfully campaigned for the introduction of tougher sentences for people convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child. Tonys Lawnamed after her adopted sonis part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Bill which is awaiting Royal Assent.

After they met in November, Raab wrote to Hudgell and said: In The National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panels review of the deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson provides an opportunity to consider whether the establishment of a child cruelty register would help prevent such horrendous crimes happening again. I am pleased to confirm that the Education Secretary has shared my request with the Panel Chair, Annie Hudson, to consider how the Review can further our thinking in this space.

Asked whether there was a danger of state overreach, Hudgell said that would not be the case and the only people on the register would be those convicted of child murder, manslaughter, causing or allowing death, or offences involving child cruelty or neglect.

Steve Crocker, President of the Association of Directors of Childrens Services (ADCS), told The Epoch Times in an email: Local authorities are committed to working with our safeguarding partners to protect children from harm. ADCS has not discussed the establishment of a national child cruelty register and would need more detail about this before commenting. The government has initiated an independent review in childrens social care and ADCS looks forward to seeing the outcomes of this.

In 2011 Professor Eileen Munro published a government-commissioned report on child protection which made a number of recommendations about how social workers could be freed up from paperwork in order to carry out more face-to-face meetings with vulnerable children and their families.

Eleven years later it is unclear how many of the Munro Reports recommendations were implemented but in several recent cases, social workers have said they were over-stretched by their workload.

This article has been updated to include comments from ADCS
Protesters throwing the statue of Edward Colston into Bristol harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Bristol, England, on June 7, 2020. (Ben Birchall/PA Media)

UK School Renamed As Colston Airbrushed Out Of History

The governors of one of Bristols most famous schools have chosen to rename it, dropping any reference to merchant and slave trader Edward Colston.

Colstons School, a private institution that was set up more than 300 years ago, will now be known as Collegiate.

According to Bristol City Councils museum website Colston, a 17th-century merchant and philanthropist, profited from his shares in the Royal African Company (RAC), in which members traded gold, ivory, and enslaved Africans. He had also been an active member of RACs governing body for 11 years.

The governors of the 15,000- ($18,000)-per-year school, which was founded in 1710, announced in December 2021 they intended to change its name.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Bristol, a key port in the west of England, became one of the main centres of the British Empires slave trade. But while many of those involved have been forgotten, Colstons name lived on because he became a philanthropist.

As well as the famous statue of Colstonwhich was pulled down and thrown into the harbour by Black Lives Matter demonstrators in June 2020the city was also home to Colston Hall, a popular music venue.

In September 2020 it was rechristened the Bristol Beacon, three years after the famous Bristol band Massive Attack refused to perform there until it was renamed.

The governors said the new name, Collegiate School, Bristol, was one of hundreds suggested by students, parents, staff, and alumni and would come into use in September.

The chair of the schools board Nick Baker said: We believe it is important that students attending the school continue to be taught about the schools history, specifically, Edward Colstons involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. In order to assist with this, some historical aspects of the school, for example the crest and motto, will be retained and explained, rather than removed.

A survey about the what the schools name should be garnered 2,500 responses and 81 percent of the members of the public who took part said it should retain the name of Colston.

In January four people involved in toppling the statue of Edward ColstonMilo Ponsford, 25, Jake Skuse, 36, Sage Willoughby, 21, and Rhian Graham, 29were acquitted of causing criminal damage by a jury, despite having acknowledged their involvement.

The Court of Appeal has been asked by the Attorney General, Suella Braverman, to clarify the law following the verdicts.

PA Media contributed to this article.
Visual effects technical director Dmitrijs Cernagovs attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, on April 25, 2022. (Rita Li/The Epoch Times)

MELBOURNE, AustraliaDmitrijs Cernagovs, a technical director, was looking forward to seeing Shen Yun on April 25and what he experienced after watching the performance at Melbournes Palais Theatre left a lasting impression on him.

At some point, you were feeling emotional, Mr. Cernagovs said.

The storytelling is really nice, the narrative, and the storytelling with the dance is very impressive.

Mr. Cernagovs has been involved in making visual effects for many blockbusters such as Fast and Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, Avengers: Endgame and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. He was inspired by the colours of the costumes, and the emotions expressed by the performers.

This was Mr. Cernagovss first time seeing Shen Yun, and while was not familiar with Chinese culture he said that the performance helped him learn more about China and its history.

He also praised the coordination of the performances and said he enjoyed how the story unfolded in many performancesincluding a piece in which the performers used cooking tools and towels.

I dont know how much work they put in. Its a tremendous amount of work they have done before going on the stage. I dont know how much they did, but it looks like very hard work, Mr. Cernagovs said.

Shen Yun has a unique orchestra, which combines both Western and Chinese musical instruments, producing beautiful melodies that have inspired countless audience members across the world.

Mr. Cernagovs was particularly impressed by the erhu, an ancient two-string Chinese musical instrument with thousands of years of history, saying that it was memorable for him.

Shen Yuns mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture, which was said by ancient Chinese people to be divinely inspired.

For 5,000 years, China was a place where harmony between heaven, earth, and humankind was the central belief of society. China was known as the The Land of the Divine.

However, this culture was almost destroyed by communism, according to Shen Yuns website.

Mr. Cernagovs was moved when he learned of Shen Yuns mission.

I think what they are trying to do is deliver the Chinese culture to the rest of the world because its very rich, very colourful. I think its very emotional. I found it very emotional, he said.

Over the past couple of years, Mr. Cernagovs has studied Buddhism, which allowed him to further understand the spirituality of the Chinese culture presented in Shen Yun.

He added that it was surprising to learn that Chinese people were traditionally very spiritualunlike in todays modern China.

I think what they are trying to do is deliver the Chinese culture to the rest of the world because its very rich, very colourfulI found it very emotional, he said.

Summing up his Shen Yun experience in a few words he said Phenomenal, emotional, and I would say colourful.

Reporting by Rita Li, and Alfred Bui.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
The diagnosis of breast cancer is inevitably a very emotional event. As your mind races a hundred miles an hour, dozens of questions come to the surface. You wonder about your course of treatment, what the outcome will be and how you and your family will make it through it all.

I deal with these issues all the time, and I can tell you that emotional stress does inhibit immune function and increases your risk of cancer. In fact, Essential # 4 of The 7 Essentials System for healing the body naturally is about healing your emotional wounds as you work towards healing your body. But just what do the emotions have to do with breast cancer?

Even the American Cancer Society Admits There Is an Emotional Connection to Disease

Inquiry into the mind-body connection within the scientific community goes back further than you may think. Dr. Predergast, an eminent oncologist that was president of the American Cancer Society, said in 1959:

There is some evidence that the course of disease, in general, is affected by emotional stress. It is my sincere hope that we can widen the quest to include the distinct possibility that within ones mind is a power capable of exerting forces which can either enhance or inhibit the progress of this disease.

Dr. O. Carl Simonton was often called the father of mind-body medicine for cancer patients and is best known for his pioneering research in the field of psychosocial oncology beginning in the 1970s. He developed a model of emotional support for the treatment of cancer that introduced the concept that a patients state of mind could influence their ability to survive the dis-ease. His emotional intervention program was even approved by the Surgeon Generals Office.

While he was in practice, Dr. Simonton applied this emotional support program to his patients and saw improvements in survival time and quality of life. He believed that emotions are a strong driving force in the immune system and other healing systems.

Understanding How Chronic Negative Emotions Can Trigger Cancer Cell Growth

Research abounds that centers on the connection between the mind and health. The following are four common emotional patterns specifically found in people who have cancer. The list is based on the work of Douglas Brodie, MD:

1) A significant loss, such as divorce or the death of a loved one, between 6 and 18 months prior to diagnosis

2) Poor self-image

3) A strong tendency to hold on to resentment

4) A poor ability to develop and maintain long-term, meaningful relationships

Emotional Healing Can Help You Heal From a Cancer Diagnosis

How does one go about healing lifelong emotional patterns? There are two must-haves as you start your emotional and physical healing journey:

1) The first must-have is the DESIRE for change. No change is possible without the intention to improve not only your physical life but your emotional and spiritual health as well.

2) You must also have FAITH. For many individuals, this also includes faith in a higher power. Whatever your beliefs, however, faith in yourself and the belief that you have what it takes to turn your health around is vital.

In addition, you must also possess a strong belief in the course of treatment you have chosen.

This Is Important: Get the Support You Need for Emotional Health

Part of the emotional healing process is distinguishing what mind-body support you may need and then taking action to get that support. The practice of meditation is fundamental for whatever path you take.

A study by Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital showed that meditation could actually rebuild grey matter in as little as eight weeks. The results were based on 30-minutes of meditation a day.

One meditation tool I personally used after my own breast cancer diagnosis (and still do today) is called the Silva Method. Founder Jose Silva believed that 90% of illnesses originate in the mind and therefore can, to some extent, be reversed by the mind. After working with tens of thousands of students, Silva identified three essential requirements for effective mind-body healing:

1) Functioning at the Alpha and Theta levels:

Going to the Alpha and Theta levels has the same basic effect as meditating. When someone meditates, scientifically they are reducing their brain wave frequency to Alpha or Theta. Jose Silva found that people who can remain at these levels are able to put themselves in a state where cells repair, stress dissipates, the immune system strengthens, and physical symptoms of illness are in some cases reduced.

2) Harnessing the power of healing imagery:

Healing Imagery (or Visualization) involves visualizing the end result of your goal or desire while you are in the Alpha or Theta state. Visualizing the tumor shrinking and eventually disappearing is a powerful exercise!

3) Mastering the D-B-E thought process:

The ability to Desire, Believe and Expect that healing will occur is the first step in making it a reality. When you commit to healing your whole body  physically, emotionally, and spiritually  and begin to act on that commitment, you will inevitably see real-time positive outcomes in your life.

Why not give a mind-body tool like meditation a try  and see for yourself!

Republished from NaturalHealth365

Sources for this article include:

BreastCancerConqureror.com

HealingCancer.info

SilvaMethod.com
Hunter Biden (L) and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden cheer on stage during a rally in Wilmington, Del., on Nov. 7, 2020. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)

White House Visitor Logs Reveal Meetings Between Hunter Biden Business Partner and Joe Biden

The White House is so far not commenting on reports that a close business associate of President Joe Bidens son, Hunter Biden, made several visits to the White House while the elder Biden was serving as vice president during the Obama administration.

Eric Schwerin, the former president of Hunter Bidens now-dissolved investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, visited the White House at least 19 times from 2009 to 2015, according to White House visitor log records reviewed by The Epoch Times and first reported by the New York Post.

The logs show that Schwerin met directly with then-Vice President Joe Biden in the West Wing on Nov. 17, 2010. And Schwerin also had several meetings with White House aides during times when Hunter Biden was securing multi-billion dollar deals overseas, including in China.

The meetings call into question claims made by Joe Biden that he was not involved in Hunters business affairs.

I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings, Joe Biden said in 2019.

When asked by a reporter Monday why Schwerin had access to the vice president and what the meetings were about, White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not offer any details.

I dont have any information on that, said Psaki. Im happy to check and see if we have any more comment.

Hunter Biden walks to Marine One on the Ellipse outside the White House in Washington on May 22, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Schwerins involvement in the personal and professional lives of the Biden family was first revealed by the Post citing emails from a laptop abandoned by Hunter Biden at a Delaware computer repair store in April 2019.

The Posts initial reporting on the laptop during the 2020 election detailed how Hunter used his fathers political power as leverage in overseas business dealings. The article was banned for a time by Facebook and Twitter, labelled as unsubstantiated by other news outlets and as Russian disinformation by intelligence agents and members of the Biden campaign.

The New York Times published a report last month, more than a year after the fact, claiming to authenticate the emails from the laptop by citing anonymous sources.

The White House has refused to comment on the laptop in the wake of The New York Times article.

Republicans in Congress are renewing promises to investigate Hunter Biden with the latest revelations about Schwerins access to the White House.

Not everyone gets to meet the vice president of the United States in the White House. The press should be asking why Hunter Bidens business associateslike Eric Schwerinhad that privilege and were given access to the Obama White House, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told the New York Post. This is additional evidence that Joe Biden lied when he said he never discussed Hunters foreign business dealings. Its well past time for the corporate media to demand the truth from Joe Biden. The corruption of Biden Inc. must be exposed.

Its increasingly obvious that Hunter Bidens business revolved around providing access to his father and the highest levers of power. It reeks of pay-to-play. The clear solution is a Special Counsel investigation to fairly investigate the disturbing allegations of Biden family corruption, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also told the Post.

There is currently an active Department of Justice investigation into Hunter Bidens tax filings. House Republicans have vowed to subpoena the younger Biden before Congress to answer questions if the party takes back control of the House in 2022.
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Irish-born Emmet Moore grew up helping his parents make hand-cut fries, or chips, for their food truck and fish and chip shop. When he moved to the United States and married his wife, he craved the fries he loved from home, loaded with garlic and cheese or chicken with curry sauce.

Though Americans love French fries, he couldnt find those tastes of home in Connecticut.

There was definitely a huge opportunity there, he said. I thought I could probably selfishly set it up because I wanted to eat them again every day.

Four years after opening the first Jefferson Fry Co. in Cromwell, Moore and business partner Travis Dillon recently debuted a fourth location of the fast-casual restaurant specializing in loaded fries. The Vernon storefront, which opened in April in the towns Tri-City Plaza, joins another at the Shops at Farmington Valley in Canton and a satellite stall at Hartfords Parkville Market food hall.

A fifth location is coming to Storrs near the UConn campus in late June, and Moore and Dillon are working on franchising, with hopes to expand the brand outside of New England.

The food

Jefferson Fry Co.s fries, hand-cut on site at each location, are cooked in beef tallow. The menu of loaded fry options follows an international theme, with flavors from around the globe.

Jenna Stepleman / Jefferson Fry Co.

Theres a Canadian-style poutine with gravy and cheese curds, taco fries with spicy beef, diced tomato, onion, jalapenos and cheddar; and Greek fries with gyro meat, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, feta cheese and a tzatziki-style sauce.

Moores beloved garlic and cheese fries and chicken curry fries with mushroom and onion are there, along with BBQ, truffle parm, pesto, steak and cheese and buffalo chicken options. Guests will often start out trying a simple presentation, like bacon cheese, Dillon said, and theyll return to sample more gourmand recipes like the house favorite fusion fries  an Asian-influenced specialty with grilled shredded chicken, hoisin and sriracha sauces, crushed peanuts and cilantro.

Jeffersons menu also features burgers, available as singles with toppings like bacon, cheese and sauteed mushrooms and onions, or as a JFC double with the works: bacon, cheese, onions, lettuce, tomato, fries and house JFC sauce.

Sandwiches are made with crispy fried chicken, pulled pork or portobello mushrooms and beef dirty dogs are topped with some of their French fry counterparts ingredients, like curry sauce, beef chili and taco meat. Jefferson also offers milkshakes with premium ice cream, in classic flavors and other indulgent options like Nutella and cookie butter.

Eat in or take out?

Jefferson Fry Cos restaurants in Cromwell, Canton and Vernon all have indoor seating for about 42 to 64 guests, depending on the location. Takeout and delivery are available, but Moore says he prefers people to enjoy the food on site, he said. The fries are best piping hot.
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LOS ANGELES (AP)  The Los Angeles County sheriff on Tuesday disputed allegations he orchestrated a cover-up of an incident where a deputy knelt on a handcuffed inmates head and said a Los Angeles Times reporter who used leaked documents and video to first report on the case is part of his criminal investigation.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva's comments at a news conference Tuesday brought immediate criticism from the newspaper's leadership and First Amendment advocates. Hours later, the sheriff clarified in a series of tweets that his agency has no interest in pursuing, nor are we pursuing, criminal charges against any reporters.

The paper's general counsel sent a letter to the sheriff protesting the investigation and the top editor condemned Villanueva's remarks, calling it an illegal attempt to criminalize news reporting."

Sheriff Alex Villanuevas attack on Alene Tchekmedyians First Amendment rights for doing newsworthy reporting on a video that showed a deputy kneeling on a handcuffed inmates head is outrageous, Executive Editor Kevin Merida said in a statement. We will vigorously defend Tchekmedyians and the Los Angeles Times rights in any proceeding or investigation brought by authorities.

The incident with the inmate occurred in a county courthouse on March 10, 2021  two days after jury selection began for the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murder for pressing his knee against George Floyds neck for up to 9 1/2 minutes.

The video shows Deputy Douglas Johnson directing inmate Enzo Escalante to move up against a wall in the courthouse. Escalante swings at Johnson and punches him repeatedly in the face. Three other deputies help Johnson wrestle Escalante to the ground and handcuff him.

The LA Times reported that Johnson had his knee on Escalante's head for more than three minutes, even after the inmate had been handcuffed, placed face-down and did not appear to be resisting. Escalante  who was awaiting trial on murder and other charges  was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Johnson was removed from duty months later and is under criminal investigation, Villanueva said during Tuesday's news conference. No charges have been filed against the deputy.

Escalante has pleaded not guilty to two counts of resisting an officer. He is being represented by the public defenders office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Escalante has filed a federal lawsuit against members of the sheriffs department, including Villanueva, that alleges his civil rights were violated.

On Monday, Commander Allen Castellano filed a legal claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, that accused Villanueva of first blocking and stalling the investigation into Johnson's use of force, and then working to cover up the incident and retaliating against whistleblowers.

Villanueva, who oversees the nations largest sheriffs department, is up for reelection and Castellano's claim states the sheriff was seeking to avoid bad publicity during his campaign.

The sheriff on Tuesday said he did not see the video until eight months after the incident, but Castellano wrote in his claim that Villanueva had viewed it within days.

Villanueva called Castellano a disgruntled employee who made false claims. The sheriff also said the video obtained by the Times was stolen property that was removed illegally and all parties" to the act are subject to his investigation of the leak.

She received the information and then she put it to her own use," he said, referring to Tchekmedyian. "What she receives legally and puts to her own use and what she receives illegally and the LA Times uses it, Im pretty sure thats a huge complex area of law and freedom of the press and all that. However, when its stolen material, at some point you have to become part of the story.

During his news conference Villanueva displayed photos of Tchekmedyian, LA County Inspector General Max Huntsman and former sheriff's Commander Eli Vera under the heading: WHAT DID THEY KNOW AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT?

In Tchekmedyian's original story, Vera said Villanueva viewed the video at an aides desk within days of the incident. Vera is running against Villanueva and also was commander overseeing court services where the incident occurred. Huntsman is investigating the allegations Villanueva lied about the incident and issued a subpoena ordering Villanueva to either testify or turn over records.

Tchekmedyian, who regularly covers the sheriff's department, attended the news conference and Villanueva ignored her questions.

The sheriff has previously targeted other reporters for their work, including when his deputies arrested a KPCC public radio reporter in 2020 while she was filming an arrest during a protest.

David Loy, legal director of the California-based First Amendment Coalition, said Villanueva's probe into Tchekmedyian was an assault on press freedoms.

The press has an absolute right to report on and publish information of public concern, even if that tape is otherwise confidential and leaked to them," Loy said. "This is bedrock First Amendment law.
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CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. (AP)  Police investigating the death of a 10-year-old girl in western Wisconsin arrested a juvenile suspect known to the victim, they announced Tuesday evening.

The body of Illiana Lily Peters was found Monday morning near a walking trail in Chippewa Falls. Police said her death was a homicide.

Chippewa Falls Police Chief Matthew Kelm during a brief news conference declined to provide the age or sex of the suspect, whether the suspect was related to the girl or where the arrest occurred. He said there was no longer any danger to the public.

While nothing will bring Lily Peters back or change what happened, we are very grateful to be able to deliver this news for the family and for the community, Kelm said.

Officers executed a search warrant at an address in the block where Lily had gone to visit her aunt on Sunday, when she went missing. Kelm said. He did not disclose whether the search yielded any evidence of value.

Kelm thanked the community for more than 200 tips that were provided to law enforcement and were critical to the investigation.

Lily's father called police about 9 p.m. Sunday after she didn't return home.

Chippewa County sheriff's deputies and Chippewa Falls police used search dogs and a drone in searching for Lily. Police say a bike believed to be Lily's was found near a walking trail.

Lily was a fourth-grader at Parkview Elementary School, where an outdoor memorial of flowers, stuffed animals and balloons continued to grow, KSTP-TV reported.

The school district superintendent, Jeff Holmes, sent a note to parents recommending that children who usually walk to or from school, instead be dropped off and picked up by family members or trusted friends until further notice.

Chippewa Falls, with a population of about 13,000, is approximately 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of the Twin Cities.
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Newly infected COVID-19 patients have two treatment options that can be taken at home. But that convenience comes with a catch: The pills have to be taken as soon as possible once symptoms appear.

The challenge is getting tested, obtaining a prescription and starting the pills in a short window.

U.S. regulators authorized Pfizer's pill, Paxlovid, and Mercks Lagevrio late last year. In high-risk patients, both were shown to reduce the chances of hospitalization or death from COVID-19, although Pfizer's was much more effective.

A closer look:

WHO SHOULD TAKE THESE PILLS?

The antiviral pills arent for everyone who gets a positive test. They are intended for those with mild or moderate COVID-19 who are more likely to become seriously ill. That includes older people and those with other health conditions like heart disease, cancer or diabetes that make them more vulnerable.

Both pills were OK'd for adults, while Paxlovid also is authorized for children ages 12 and older.

WHO SHOULDN'T TAKE THESE PILLS?

Mercks Lagevrio is not authorized for children because it might interfere with bone growth. It also isn't recommended for pregnant women because of the potential for birth defects.

Pfizer's pill isn't recommended for patients with severe kidney or liver problems. It also may not be the best option for some because it may interact with other medications.

The antiviral pills aren't authorized for people hospitalized with COVID-19.

WHAT'S THE TREATMENT WINDOW?

The pills have to be started as soon as possible, within five days of the start of symptoms. Cough, headache, fever, the loss of taste or smell and muscle and body aches are among the more common signs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers a website to check your symptoms.

Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious disease specialist at Duke University Hospital, advises getting a test as soon as you have symptoms of COVID-19.

If you wait until you have started to get breathless, you have already to a large extent missed the window where these drugs will be helpful, Wolfe said.

WHERE CAN YOU GET THE PILLS?

Pharmacies, community health centers, hospitals and urgent care centers are among the sites stocking the antiviral pills, but prescriptions must come from a doctor or other authorized health worker.

The oral treatments are currently available in about 20,000 locations around the country, but President Joe Biden's administration expects that total to jump to around 40,000 in the next few weeks.

The administration also is working to expand the number of sites that can test patients and then provide the treatments in one visit. There are currently 2,200 of these so-called test-to-treat sites, including all 1,200 MinuteClinic locations inside CVS drugstores. Patients can find find test-to-treat locations by checking the U.S. government's COVID.gov website.

Supplies of the pills were limited initially, but ample amounts are now available.

ARE THERE OTHER OPTIONS FOR NEW COVID-19 PATIENTS?

Yes, but it isnt as easy to use as a pill.

In February, the Food and Drug Administration authorized a new injected drug from Eli Lilly, bebtelovimab, that targets the omicron variant with virus-fighting antibodies. Regulators cleared that drug for adults and adolescent patients with mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19 who are at high risk of hospitalization and death.

Earlier this year, regulators revoked emergency use authorization for another Lilly treatment and drugs from Regeneron and GlaxoSmithKline because they were no longer effective against the evolving virus.

WHAT OTHER TREATMENTS MIGHT BE COMING?

Japanese drugmaker Shionogi is testing another antiviral pill.

Unlike Paxlovid, the companys drug does not require taking a second antiviral to boost its effectiveness against COVID-19. That could reduce some of the potential drug interaction problems associated with the Paxlovid combination.

The Shionogi drug is also designed to be taken once daily for five days. Thats simpler than Paxlovids dosing, which must be taken twice daily for five days.

In mid-stage testing Shionogi said its drug significantly reduced COVID-19 viral levels and shedding in patients treated within five days of symptoms. The company is conducting a large global study in patients with increased risk of hospitalization or death due to age or other health issues. Early results from that study  which is being funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health  are expected by the fall.

The company has already requested approval in Japan and plans to also file applications with regulators in the U.S. and Europe.

___

AP Health Writer Matthew Perrone contributed to this report. Follow Tom Murphy on Twitter at @thpmurphy.

___

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.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  A court in Iran has sentenced two students to 16-year prison terms each on charges of endangering national security, the judiciarys spokesman said Tuesday.

According to the spokesman, Zabihollah Khodaeian, the two sabotaged public facilities, tried to cooperate with opposition groups and spread propaganda against the system. These actions translated to 10-year, five and one -year prison terms, he added.
Sue Ogrocki/AP

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  A Republican lawmaker who wanted to refer to himself as The Patriot on the ballot cant use that nickname, the Oklahoma Election Board has ruled.

The board decided Monday that term-limited state Rep. Sean Roberts can still run for Oklahoma Labor Commissioner, but he can't refer to himself by that nickname on the ballot.
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That release could not be found.
...Wike's candidacy, others, a game to divide South for Northern presidency - Afenifere

...It's illegal for the south west to seek presidency in 2023 - Middle belt forum

The Yoruba socio cultural group-Afenifere, the Middle Belt forum, Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF)and other leaders in the Southern region have pledged their support for an igbo president in the 2023 general elections.

The groups stressed that an Igbo President is the only key that will drive peace, unity and inclusion as well as national development; adding that 2023 presidency rightfully belongs to the south east region.

Edwin Clarke, Elder statesman and leader, PANDEF decried the attitude of regions who see themselves as "winners" taking it all, feeling that they own the country, and are born to rule; and that, except they rule, the country will burn. This, according to him, unjust and unacceptable.

While stressing that an Igbo president will guarantee the peace and progress of Nigeria the elder statesman pointed out that the south east, like any other region, have the men and women, who are competent, patriotic, loyal, intelligent, industrious, healthy and active, whom Nigerians will be proud of, to occupy the position.

"The Motto of Nigeria is "Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress". Where is the Unity I ask, where is the Faith in our beloved Country Nigeria; where is the Peace; and are we really progressing? Let us not deceive ourselves. I am a strong advocate and believer in the Motor of our dear Country, and that is why my doors are open to all. But are we really working towards the attainment of this Motto? You cannot marginalize and oppress a people, and expect them not to speak out," he said..

"The people of the South East deserve to have a sense of belonging in this Country. So, the clamour for a president for the South last geo-political zone is supported by me. Today, with no other tangible reason for still wanting to hold on to power, some people are talking about merit and competence.

let us accommodate one another, and be fair to one another. Let all other Nigerians support a South-Eastern Candidate President, come 2023. I repeat, very soon, I will be 95 years old. I have spent more than 70 years of this period in Nigerian affair. I have seen it all. For the peace and sanity of the country, I appeal to all, in the name of the Almighty God, to make this concession to the Igbos, to present a President Nigeria," Clarke urged.

Chief Ayo Adebanjo, leader, Afenifere disclosed that the reason why the South East region have not ruled is because the Northern people do not want to give up power and have further devised a means to ensure that the Southern region remains divided.

The leader warned that the declaration for presidency by some Southern candidates is a game that would further divide the south and pave way for the North to rule again.

"I aksed Tinubu, do you believe they will make you president? They have asked Osinbajo to contest, they wanted to divide the west first, then they went to the south. I am appealing to South South candidates Wike and others, they are not helping the issue, they are helping the North , its a game to divide us, even in the South-East. The North doesn't want to yield power and they know the way to do it is to divide the country . The problem is ourselves, let us unite" he cried.

He regretted that the same Northern region which cried in 2019 that it was the turn of the North, and after ruling for eight years are now claiming that competence should be the yardstick for presidency to further marginalise the Eastern region.

He, however stressed that even if competence is the yardstick for presidency, the east remains the most qualified

"In 2019, they said it was the turn of the North, now that it is the turn of the South east, they are now propounded a new theory, the question of merit. If it was a question of merit, who in the North? From Balewa to Shagari, if its for merit who will stand there?. If it was based on merit today, till kingdom come, the east alone will produce the president", the Afenifere leader said.

He, however urged the south east leaders to unite in this fight for presidency.

Dr. Pogu Bitrus, Chairman, Middle belt Forum who delivered the keynote speech, described as clumsy and even illegal for the south west to seek the presidency at this time , after Obasanjo ruled as president for eight years and Osinbajo ruled for eight years as vice president.

He stated that by design, the zoning and rotation policy is supposed to make it possible for each of Nigeria's six geopolitical zone to occupy the seat of president for eight years over a 48 year period.

He also recalled that in 1999, the political class had a consensus that political power has to shift to the Southern part of Nigeria. "We micro zoned to the south west, to address a national problem, don't we here agree that the situation we are in calls for a similar approach?"

"It will be disingenuous for anyone to argue that where the president comes from does not matter, zoning does matter. Its only fair and equitable that the presidential position is only occupied by a Nigerian, not of Buharis zone, the south should decide," Bitrus further said.

The leader further decried that the Nigerian constitution that is scheweed to favour the North. "We dont say this because people say "don't say that", but that is one of our problems in this country. We should think twice, Nigerians are not fools , it is the turn of the south east irrespective of the situation on ground. Nigeria cannot be stable and prosperous country of our dream, if some of its constituents behave like they are they are the masters .

Earlier, the president, Nzuko Ummunna, Senator Chris Anyanwu stated that equity, justice, inclusiveness and mutual respect, which according to her, are the glue that bond together nations is weakening in Nigeria.

"That is why the cries for equity, justice and inclusiveness will ring higher and higher and the restiveness in the Nigerian society will grow more and more and the tears and pulls from all directions on the fabric that holds the nation together will become more forceful and more desperate until it is completely shredded. Today, we will talk. Those who know better will talk. Those who have seen it all with talk. And we hope, that those who have ears will hear. Equity will decide the future of Nigeria," she said.

"Now , no one wants to make the sacrifices necessary to make Nigeria work better. Now, the "give and take" that engenders social harmony and peace has disappeared. Those who think they are stronger are gourging themselves on our national cake; taking and taking without seizing, while probing the others of the right to also take. This unbridled hunger and brutish disregard for the rights of others has thrown Nigeria into multi-fronted, multi-layered social unrests. Those left behind; those denied their rights; those robbed of a sense of belonging and driven to the flanks of society are coming back to take their pound of flesh. Now we cannot sleep with two eyes closed. Now, we cannot travel safely; they are coming for us in our homes and demanding their share of the national cake.

"Without Equity and Justice; without Inclusiveness; without mutual respect among the component units of this society, the future is bleak for Nigeria. All parts of Nigeria have woken up to the fact that they have equal rights and therefore hold equal stakes in the Nigerian enterprise. Therefore, no group is willing to sit at the sharing table and watch others gorge themselves on of the fruits of our patrimony and not partake. The political parties will decide this year either to go for a Greater, more inclusive and more united Nigeria or a weaker, more frightening, more fragmented pseudo-Nigeria," she stressed.

According to the president, the conference is designed to explore the issues and hammer on that one essential step that must be taken now to restore hope for a Greater Nigeria which is South East Presidency.
The Board of Trustees of Christian Solidarity Worldwide in Nigeria (CSWN) elected new leaders during a board meeting held in Abuja from 21 -23 April.

Rev Dr Jeremiah M Gado was elected board chair following the demise of the previous incumbent, Rev Dr Wilson Badejo. Rev Dr Gado, who was previously vice chair of the CSWN board, comes with wealth of experience, having served as the immediate past president of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA).

Also elected was The Most Rev Daniel Okoh, who assumes the role of vice chair. Dr Okoh is currently General Superintendent of the Christ Holy Church International, as well as the International Chairperson of the Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC), with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. He has also served as vice president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on two previous occasions.

The CSW family worldwide congratulated the new leaders, wishing them success as they take the organization forward.

Mervyn Thomas, the Founder President of CSW, said: I warmly congratulate Rev Dr Gado and The Most Rev Daniel Okoh on their elections. CSWN is in excellent hands, and I look forward to working closely with them in the future to advance the right to freedom of religion or belief in Nigeria and across the world.

CEO of CSW UK Scot Bower, who is a member of the CSWN board, concurred: I was delighted to attend the board meeting in person, and to participate in the election of Rev Dr Gado and The Most Reverend Okoh. They bring a depth of experience and abilities which will be invaluable as we work together to ensure everyone everywhere is free to believe.

Rev Dr Jeremiah M Gado. Credit: CSW
Negotiating parties are now within touching distance of reinstating the JCPOA, but a period of stasis threatens to undo the progress made. In this open letter, over 40 former top European officials urge the U.S. and Iranian leadership to see the negotiations through to a successful outcome.

This open letter has been signed by members of the European Leadership Network, Board members of the International Crisis Group and Council members from the European Council on Foreign Relations.

We write to express our growing concern that negotiations to restore Iranian compliance with, and U.S. return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) appear to have entered a period of stasis that threatens to undo the real and welcome progress made in recent months toward reinstating a non-proliferation achievement that is crucial for international peace and security.

At a time when transatlantic cooperation has become all the more critical to respond against Russias unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, for U.S. and European leaders to let slip the opportunity to defuse a nuclear crisis in the Middle East would be a grave mistake.

The JCPOA was a success. Persistent multilateral diplomacy, in which several of the undersigned were personally engaged, secured an agreement that advanced our shared non-proliferation goals. Preserving the benefits of a deal limiting Irans stockpiles of enriched uranium, capping its levels of enrichment and extending the timeline for the accumulation of fissile material that could be used for a potential weapon, all under the watchful eyes of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is the reason why European governments rejected the Trump administrations reckless decision to abandon the deal without a viable alternative and have worked hard to keep the deal alive following the 2018 U.S. withdrawal.

The strategy that the U.S. followed for more than two years after this withdrawal, based on maximum pressure alone, yielded little but nuclear escalation, dangerous regional sparring and economic deprivation for the Iranian people. The legacy of this strategic error can today be measured in the tons of enriched uranium Iran has since accumulated, including uranium enriched to near weapons-grade; in the thousands of advanced centrifuges it is spinning; and in the rapidly dwindling timeframe for Iran to reach a breakout capability. President Biden rightly identified a mutual return, by the U.S. and Iran, to their respective commitments under the 2015 deal as a necessary course correction.

Since April 2021, negotiations in Vienna have painstakingly but productively forged a draft document that will reverse Irans nuclear advances, in return for relief from U.S. sanctions imposed during the Trump administration that are inconsistent with the JCPOA. As the EUs Josep Borrell put it over a month ago, a final text is essentially ready and on the table.

There are two possible scenarios ahead. In one, the U.S. swiftly shows decisive leadership and requisite flexibility to resolve remaining issues of political (not nuclear) disagreement with Tehran. In the other, the parties enter a state of corrosive stalemate, serving neither sides interests, that risks devolving into a cycle of increased nuclear tension, inevitably countered by the further application of coercive tools.

We know that the politics of this issue are difficult, particularly on issues like the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, which is reportedly the last lingering issue of contention. While the details are of course for U.S. policymakers to determine, we believe that there are ways to provide the counter-terrorism benefits of the current designation while still accommodating Iran's specific request, and consider it imperative that these be fully explored. For its part, Iran should not expect a nuclear deal to address broader areas of disagreement between Tehran and Washington. Both sides must approach this final phase of negotiation with an understanding that the strategic implications of failure would be grave and profound.

Based on our long experience in diplomacy and statecraft, we see a deal as eminently possible. Having come within touching distance, we urge President Biden and the Iranian leadership to demonstrate flexibility in tackling an issue of vital significance to the global nonproliferation regime and regional stability, and see these negotiations through to a successful conclusion.

Signatories:

Czech Republic

Jan Kavan, former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, former President of the UNGA, and Chairman of the Board, Czech-Slovak-Iranian Chamber of Commerce (CSIOK)

Denmark

Mogens Lykketoft, former Foreign Minister and President of the UN 70th General Assembly

France

Gerard Araud , former Permanent Representative of France to the UN, former Director-General for Political and Security Affairs

, former Permanent Representative of France to the UN, former Director-General for Political and Security Affairs Michel Duclos , former Ambassador and Special Advisor, Institut Montaigne (Paris)

, former Ambassador and Special Advisor, Institut Montaigne (Paris) Jean-David Levitte, former Permanent Representative of France to the UN

former Permanent Representative of France to the UN General darmee aerienne (ret) Bernard Norlain, former Commander of Air Defence Command and Air Combat Command

Germany

Wolfgang Ischinger , former Ambassador and Chairman of the Munich Security Conference

, former Ambassador and Chairman of the Munich Security Conference Joschka Fischer , former Foreign Minister and former Vice-Chancellor

, former Foreign Minister and former Vice-Chancellor Angela Kane , former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs

, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Karsten D. Voigt , former Chairman of the German-Russian parliamentary group in the Bundestag and former President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly

, former Chairman of the German-Russian parliamentary group in the Bundestag and former President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly General (ret) Klaus Naumann, former Chief of Defence Germany and former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

Hungary

Balazs Csuday, former Permanent Representative of Hungary to the UN (Vienna)

Italy

Giancarlo Aragona , former Ambassador and former Secretary-General of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

, former Ambassador and former Secretary-General of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) General (ret) Vincenzo Camporini , former Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Chief of Defence General Staff

, former Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Chief of Defence General Staff Admiral (ret) Giampaolo Di Paola , former Minister of Defence

, former Minister of Defence Dr Nathalie Tocci , Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and former Special Advisor to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borell

, Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and former Special Advisor to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borell Stefano Stefanini, former Ambassador and Executive Board of the European Leadership Network

Netherlands

Prof Klaas de Vries, former Minister of Home Affairs

Norway

Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister and former Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Deputy Chair of The Elders

Poland

Bogdan Klich , former Minister of National Defence

, former Minister of National Defence Andrzej Olechowski , former Minister of Foreign Affairs

, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Prof Adam D. Rotfeld, Warsaw University and former Minister of Foreign Affairs

Serbia

Goran Svilanovic, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and former Secretary-General of the Regional Cooperation Council

Spain

Javier Solana, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and former NATO Secretary-General

Sweden

Carl Bildt , former Prime Minister and former Foreign Affairs Minister

, former Prime Minister and former Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Hans Blix , former Foreign Minister and former Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

, former Foreign Minister and former Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rolf Ekeus, former Chairman of the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, and former Ambassador of Sweden to the United States

Turkey

Vahit Erdem , former Under Secretary of the Defence Industry and former Vice President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly

, former Under Secretary of the Defence Industry and former Vice President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Ahmet Uzumcu , former Permanent Representative of Turkey to NATO and former Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)

, former Permanent Representative of Turkey to NATO and former Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Tacan Ildem, former Assistant Secretary-General, NATO and former Ambassador

United Kingdom
A team of policemen from Imo State Police Command have attacked and brutalised Mr Michael Ogar, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Commandant in Owerri, Imo State.

In a press briefing, Mr Ogar said the police officers also carted away phones, damaged his official vehicle and confiscated exhibits belonging to his command.

The commandant said, the police attack on the NSCDC headquarters was sequel to a policeman, one Nonso Ezenwanne, who obstructed his convoy on Sunday in Owerri, while coming back from the scene of oil explosion at a Forest in Abaezi community in the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of the state.

He said the cop was detained because he claimed to be a policeman, but with multiple identification cards.

Ogar said, My personnel had an altercation with Ezenwanne following the disruption of my motorcade while returning from the scene of the inferno at an illegal oil bunkering site in the state on Sunday.

As though that wasnt enough, he trailed us to Owerri and blocked my motorcade again and brought out a pistol threatening to shoot us, but he was later disarmed and arrested.

I had reached out to the former acting Commissioner of Police, DCP Giwa, to identify the suspect, which is the norm, but it yielded no result as he said he had been transferred to Kaduna. We didnt see anybody to identify him.

It was on my way to see MOPOL 18 Commander, just about 10 meters away from the NSCDC office, that I saw eight vehicles that blocked me and started shooting into the air and my vehicle.

They dragged me out, flogged and battered me, and later took me to their command where they continued to beat me with sticks and batons, the commandant said.

Mr Ogar said after about three hours, an Assistant Commissioner of Police in-charge of Operations later came to his rescue and took him home.

He said, I came back to my office to see the extent of damage caused and then realised that two of my personnel got bullet injuries and were receiving treatment in hospital. Some items were also missing from the office.

They accepted that the items were in their custody and that the matter will be resolved today.

I told them that this incident is a disgrace to security agencies; I was surprised. I dont think we are here to flex muscles or pursue work ego but to defend our fatherland.

I was highly disappointed and embarrassed by the action of MOPOL 18, Ogar said, while noting that the detained man was also taken away by the attackers during the incident.

Narrating his ordeal, the NSCDC Head of Operations, Deputy Commandant Benjamin Nwaokafor, who was receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, told the News Agency of Nigeria that he only found himself in the hospital after the incident.

I was shot in my hand and left leg. I cant move them now.

The spokesperson for the police in the state, Micheal Abattam, had yet to respond to an inquiry concerning the incident as of the time of filing this report.
There is no denying the fact that the relationship between Journalists and PR practitioners has since formal public relations birthed in Nigeria, when the colonial government established a government information office in 1943. Aptly put, it has been peevish as differences of goals and objectives often characterize the relationship. For the sake of clarity, goals are the outcomes you intend to achieve, whereas objectives are the specific actions and measurable steps that you need to take to achieve a goal.The word formal in the foregoing unarguably suggests that the key function of the information office established by the British colonial government was public relations.

Not only has there been marked differences of expected goals and objectives between both professionals, there have been debates and, at times, vehement opinions, particularly among most Nigerians who erroneously have the notion that ability to write essays and speak somewhat good English is what it takes to become a Journalist. Worse still, some other Nigerians also hold the erroneous view that disingenuously greeting people, beaming imbecilic smile and hypocritically extending a hand of handshake to any guests and Journalists in sight atcorporate events are behaviors that make anyone qualified to become a PR practitioner.

Much of the discussions that usually take place in the newsroom on the relationship between both professionals indicate that the majority of attitudes and perceptions PR practitioners, or rather Corporate Affairs practitioners hold towards Journalists are generally negative. Some researchers believe PR practitioners often make fundamental mistakes when they interact with journalists. Such mistakes include being ignorant about the needs of a journalist, offering media releases and story ideas that lacknews value or relevance to Journalists target readership, contacting journalists when they are frantically busy on deadline and being obstructive. These mistakes and tactics frustrate and annoy journalists and often result in them viewing PR practitioners negatively.

Most humiliating and ridiculous of all is when PR practitioners see Journalists as beggars. Whenever a Journalist put a call through to any of them, what predictably comes to his or her mind is money! A Journalist ones told yours sincerely that he called the head of a public relations department of a popular bank on phone for an issue that was outside story he has done for the bank, only to hear from the him sigh and complainfrom the other end of the phone call thus, Ooooooo God, this Journalist again, I know say na money Im wan beg oblivious of the fact that the Journalist (who initiated the call) has already picked the call as he was busy discussing with someone in his office, and by that virtue heard him clearly, and worse still he phone was on recorder.

To anyone that is not a Journalist, the foregoing may sound unbelievable, but that is the experience most Journalists pass through by each passing day, even when PR practitioners are called on phone to verify some facts in about to be published story.

Dispassionately analyzing this bitter-sweet relationship between Journalists and PR practitioners, a professional colleague opined that the relationship is inseparable as they, more often than not, interact with each other as part of the news production process. PR practitioners suggest stories and provide journalists with information they have shaped that they would like to see published in the newspaper or on virtual platform. Journalists contact PR practitioners with requests for information or interviews to help produce news stories they are writing. While this may, from the outside, seem like a simple and smooth transaction, it is often not the case. Instead, the relationship that journalists and PR practitioners have can often be troubled, on account of their mutual dependence, but often, they experience conflicting goals.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is expedient to say that anyone that has literarily never embarked on a journalistic journey, and who does not understand the dynamics of Journalism profession will be unable to come to terms with the fact that the political economy of the media has an impact on journalists attitudes towards PR practitioners. This is because increasing commercial and economic constraints placed on newsrooms means journalists are required to do more with less, particularly as they are hardly paid salaries as at when due. Some of them arepresently owed for more than one year by their employers. The situation, no doubt, fosters a reliance on PR practitioners and their PR materials which, to some extent, include Brown Envelope. If you like scold yours sincerely that he is encouraging unethical practice. But the fact cannot be denied that it is an open secret, except youwant to play the ostrich.

Despite constraints faced by virtually all Journalists, they are been asked to do more with less resources, thus forcing them to rely more and more on information from public relations practitioners. This, no doubt, increasinglypushes some of them that are not patient and resilient enough into reactive and passive positions rather than pursuing their own investigations.

Traditionally journalists have wielded power and control over what is published. As news organizations have made cutbacks on editorial resources, the PR industry and the abundance of PR materials has grown significantly, resulting in a shift in the balance of power.

Some stakeholders in both professions argues that this causes friction in the relationship because journalists traditionally pride themselves on being more powerful than and superior to PR practitioners. Rather than believing PR is a positive, helpful source of information, journalists feel conflicted about using PR materials, needing them on the one hand, while resenting them on the other. Not only that, some Journalists may even resort to vengeance by angrily and mischievously writing dirty or negative storiesagainst the organization been represented by any PR person that finds delight in humiliating them or seeing them to be beggarly.

At the juncture, someone may be compelled to ask, Why is it that Journalists and PR practitioners are in most cases not working on the same page, and always on bitter-sweet relationship? The answer to the foregoing question cannot be farfetched as the nature of each industry is traditionally in opposition to each other.

At this juncture, it expedient to remind PR practitioners, of which majority of them were once Journalists, that their colleagues who are still active in the profession equally have PR skills, and that they are trained to strive for objectivity, fairness, accuracy, and balance, and do not withhold information, hide or advocate for particular agendas, or act unethically as some of them erroneously think. Whereas PR is regarded as more subjective, serving the interests of the client first and foremost. The foregoing causes some unethical journalists to monetize news report, and makes ethical-minded Journalists to view PR in a negative light because they believe that for PR practitioners to be able to do their jobs they may have to deny the whole truth. This leads to conflict of interest. From personal observation, when you see people obsessively complaining about Journalists, know that the Journalists in question have refused to do their biddings.
Anutin: goverment will not legalise e-cigarettes

BANGKOK: Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul insists the Public Health Ministry will not support legalising electronic cigarettes in the country.

health

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 26 April 2022, 09:11AM

A staffer puts e-cigarettes, their chemical flavourings and other related materials on display before a press briefing by the Consumer Protection Police Division on Jan 27, 2021. Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb

He made his remark yesterday (Apr 25) during a meeting with board members of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) to discuss tobacco control.

Anutin, in his capacity as chairman of the ThaiHealth board, said he has noticed e-cigarettes trending among teenagers and some of them are aiming to have sales legalised, reports the Bangkok Post.

The ministry will not support the legalisation of e-cigarettes, he said.

To help boost e-cigarette control, Anutin said he has assigned a tobacco control panel under the Department of Disease Control (DDC) to review current regulations to determine whether they should be revised or new rules should be issued.

However, current laws can still suppress the e-cigarette grade, he said.

The DDC has also been instructed to coordinate with police to come up with a solution in preventing e-cigarettes from becoming more popular in the future, he said.

Dr Surachet Satitniramai, second deputy chairman of ThaiHealth, said that currently, many business operators are attempting to legalise the import of e-cigarettes to the country, which is a topic of concern among members of the committee.

E-cigarettes will have a widespread effect on tobacco farmers in the country, he said. As the materials of e-cigarettes dont consist of tobacco but chemical, farmers will suffer income loss.

It also affects [public] health and the governments plan in steering the economy for agricultural groups, he added.

Nicotine-based e-cigarettes come in a wide array of flavours. Many of them deliver amped-up forms of nicotine beyond what traditional cigarettes contain.

Unfortunately, the popularity of these products has outpaced regulations and oversight, which leaves most of their ingredients a mystery.

E-cigarettes are still relatively new, so facts about the short and long-term health effects of inhaling the chemicals they contain are just beginning to emerge.

According to researchers at New York University, the use of e-cigarettes doubled the risk of erectile dysfunction in men aged 20 and older.

However, the effects of cigarette smoking are well-established.

Smoking is the leading risk factor for early death and disability in the country, and almost 50,000 Thais die due to tobacco use each year - far greater than the mortality rate from COVID-19.

Worldwide, about half of smokers die of a smoking-related disease.

According to the UKs Royal College of Physicians, e-cigarette use is 95% safer than smoking cigarettes. The hazard to health arising from long-term vapour inhalation from the e-cigarettes available today is unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm from smoking tobacco, it said in a report.
An American bloke got instant-karma after robbing a hotdog stand in Chigaco, USA, recently.

19 year-old Terrion Pouncy held two workers of Maxwell Street Express at gunpoint early Monday morning and demanded money from their wallets and the cash register, Chicago Times reports.

One worker, who had a gun to his head, was reportedly trying to hand over stacks of $1 bills, but was also holding a large bucket of grease at the time. The grease bucket slipped out of his hands, and so did the money.

Pouncy grabbed the money and tried to secure it to his waist as he began to run away, but while doing so, he accidentally fired the gun off, shooting at his own hotdog.

The thief obviously didn't make it far after that - he ended up collapsing out the front of a house nearby.

The bloke was taken to hospital and arrested by the Chicago Police.

Unluggy.
EDWARDSVILLE  An Alton man was charged with home invasion and domestic battery after a March 22 incident.

Octravion Stewart, 24, of Alton, was charged April 25 with home invasion, a Class X felony; aggravated domestic battery and offenses relating to motor vehicles, both Class 2 felonies.

The case was presented by the Alton Police Department.

According to court documents, on March 22 Stewart allegedly entered a home in the 3200 block of Hawthorn Boulevard in Alton, knowing the resident, a household or family member, to be present and strangled the victim.

On April 24 Stewart allegedly had a reported stolen 2013 Nissan Rogue.

Bail was set at $100,000.

Other felony charges filed April 25 include:

 Michael R. Parker, 47, of Granite City, was charged with aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony, domestic battery (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony; and resisting a peace officer, a Class A misdemeanor. According to court documents, on April 24 Parker allegedly strangled a household or family member and resisted a Granite City police officer attempting to place him under arrest. Parker has a 1996 conviction for domestic battery out of Madison County. Bail was set at $30,000.

 Brandon E. Blake, 33, of Alton, was charged with aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony; and aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. According to court documents, on April 22 Blake allegedly strangled a household or family member and punched her in the head knowing she was pregnant. Bail was set at $75,000.

 Johnathan I. Williams, 24, of Edwardsville, was charged with unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, a Class 2 felony. The case was presented by the Glen Carbon Police Department. On April 23 Williams allegedly had a Hi-Point 9 mm handgun. He has a 2019 conviction for armed robbery out of Macoupin County, making him ineligible to possess weapons. Bail was set at $50,000.

 David M. Cox, 65, listed as homeless out of Wood River, was charged with unlawful failure to register as a sex offender, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the East Alton Police Department. On April 23 Cox allegedly failed to register with the Alton Police Department. According to the Illinois State Police sex offender database, Cox is listed as a noncompliant sexual predator with a conviction for predatory criminal sexual assault out of Madison County in 2001. It was noted his victim was 12 and he was 45 at the time of his offense. Bail was set at $25,000.
The Biden Administration this week announced another installment in its student-loan forgiveness plan to fix longstanding failures in the program.

Translation: Taxpayers will pay again for the mistakes of Congress and the Obama Administration.

Congress created income-based repayment plans in 2007 to help borrowers manage mountains of debt they cant repay. Initially borrowers could cap monthly payments at 15% of their discretionary income and discharge their remaining balance after 25 years. Those who went to work in public service had to pay 10% for 10 years.

Democrats made the terms more generous when they nationalized the student-loan market to pay for ObamaCare, reducing payments for new borrowers after June 2014 to 10% of their income and canceling debt after 20 years. In the runup to the 2016 election the Obama Administration expanded these plans to older borrowers.

Many of the eight million or so borrowers now enrolled in these plans arent paying enough to reduce their balances and have continued to accrue interest. This is one reason federal student debt has more than doubled since 2010, even though the number of borrowers has increased by only some 25%.

The plans have also been a headache for loan servicers that have to certify income, which can change. Rather than enroll in the plans, many borrowers have opted to pause payments for a time, though this means their loans wont eventually be forgiven. Progressives have lambasted servicers for following borrowers wishes.

The Education Department is now riding to the rescue by announcing it will credit up to three years of paused payments toward loan forgivenesson top of the two-years-and-counting pandemic pause. The Administration is taking the income and repayment out of income-based repayment.

About 3.6 million borrowers will benefit. Who knows how much it will cost, but an internal Trump Administration analysis projected that the government would lose $435 billion on the $1.4 trillion federal loan balance in 2018, mainly due to these loan forgiveness plans. That was before the pandemic pause.

The Administration has already canceled more than $100 billion in student debt by discrete regulatory actions and extending the pandemic pause through August. None of this has been authorized by Congress or satisfied the demands of progressives. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tipped last week that the pause will be extended again or were going to make a decision about canceling student debt.

Progressives wont sleep until President Biden erases all $1.6 trillion in federal student debt. As ever, the saps are those who worked to repay their debt on time.
Weve previously frowned on the idea of medical marijuana.

Its a Schedule I drug that has more potential for abuse than it has value for medicine. Other medicines exist for the conditions for which it is used, and not enough research has been done on it. Plus, the largest doctors group, the American Medical Association, opposes it.

But Missouri voters felt otherwise. They legalized medical marijuana in 2018.

But should Missouri take the extra step and approve the use of recreational marijuana? The more apt question might be: How should we approve the use of recreational marijuana.

Weve always believed the medical marijuana issue was a way for many marijuana supporters to get their foot in the door, with the ultimate goal of legalizing it in general. And thats whats happening. It could be approved as early as this year.

The push for legal recreational marijuana is occurring on two fronts: in the legislation and through the initiative petition process.

As we recently reported in a Missouri Independent story, Rep. Ron Hicks is sponsoring a bill to legalize possession and use of marijuana for individuals 21 and older. Its process has slowed due to a pair of amendments that have been tacked onto the bill.

Supporters of recreational marijuana are also pushing to get the issue on the statewide ballot. With a May 8 deadline to come up with the needed 170,000 signatures, theyre making a last-minute push for supporters. That includes appeals to medical marijuana businesses to donate to the cause and to lend employees to help gather signatures.

The bottom line is societys views on marijuana have changed substantially over past generations. It appears its just a matter of time before either lawmakers or the public legalize it.

We dont believe legalizing marijuana will create a better society, but we do believe in personal freedom. So does the issue of recreational marijuana rise to the level that we need government to save us from ourselves?

Alcohol overdose can cause death, while marijuana overdoes typically does not. On an average year, more than 10,000 people die from drunk-driving crashes. We couldnt find a comparable statistic for marijuana, but we suspect its a small fraction of that.

Does it make sense for alcohol to be legal and marijuana illegal? Marijuanas supporters cite studies showing it is not as toxic or addictive as alcohol, less harmful to the body and less likely to contribute to reckless/violent behavior.
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EDWARDSVILLE  Two Democratic judicial candidates plan to run as write-ins in the June 28 primary election after being kicked off the ballot by the Madison County Board of Elections.

Former associate judge Barry Julian and Alton-based attorney Ebony Huddleston announced their plans at a press conference Tuesday morning in front of the Madison County Courthouse.

If successful, in November Julian would oppose sitting Circuit Judge Christopher Threlkeld for the open seat created by the elevation of Circuit Judge David Dugan to a federal judgeship. Huddleston would face sitting Circuit Judge Amy E. Sholar for the seat vacated by retired Circuit Judge Richard Tognarelli.

In early April, Julian and Huddleston were removed from the primary ballot after objections to their candidacy were upheld by the Board of Elections.

The objections to Julian and Huddleston were filed by Madison County Board member John Eric Foster.

Because she had circulated petitions for the judicial candidates Madison County Clerk Debra Ming-Mendoza recused herself and County Treasurer Chris Slusser took her place on the Electoral Board.

She said the objections revolved around the date of circulation on the petition, which the electoral board called a fatal flaw.

One of the criticisms by Julian and Huddleston was that the Board of Elections was made up of three Republicans: Slusser, Circuit Clerk Tom McRae, and Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine.

This is a miscarriage of justice, Julian said.

Julian is an Edwardsville resident, a retired associate judge and a founding partner in Gori Julian and Associates.

Every vice president wants to be president; every assistant principal wants to be principal, he said. Deep down inside every associate judge wants to be a circuit judge.

Huddleston said becoming a judge is something she has considered for some time.

Its a natural progression for me, she added.

Both noted that running a write-in campaign during the primary will probably be easier than if they had remained on the ballot. They also criticized the Board of Elections for its actions.

Because they would be unopposed in the primary, to earn a place on the November ballot, each has to receive at least 345 votes, the same as the minimum number of signatures required on nominating petitions.

All I have to do is get more than 334 votes, Julian said.

Both added that their original nominating petitions had several times the required number.

If I can get half of the people (who signed her petition) to write their name in, Ill win, Huddleston added.

Both said they would not got to court to reverse the Board of Elections decision.

Well spend energy on campaigning, Julian said.

The judicial election has been contentious for a number of reasons.

Earlier this year the state created judicial subcircuits in Madison County, causing an outcry from Republicans, who claim it was done as a way to subvert a growing trend toward Republicans in Madison County.

Supporters said it was to create more diversity among judges.

Haines office filed a court challenge to the legislation, in part because it singled out Madison County as taking effect during the 2022 election cycle, rather than 2024 like other areas impacted by the law.

Because of that, the two said Haine should have recused himself.

Both sides have characterized the others actions as a power grab.

Julian also said it represented an attempt by Republicans to oppose a broader representation in the 3rd Circuit.

Huddleston and Julian said any concerns about the law itself should be addressed to the Illinois General Assembly.

In the other 3rd Circuit judicial race, Associate Judge Ryan A. Jumper, a Democrat, and Wood River attorney Tim Berkley, a Republican, will be running to fill the opening created when Chief Circuit Judge William Mudge announced he was retiring at the end of the year.
MOUNT OLIVE  The Mount Olive Union Miners Cemetery Care Committee and supporters, including the Friends of Mother Jones Museum, will be placing a memorial bench near the grave of the legendary Irish firebrand, Mother Jones, at noon on Sunday, May 1.

The bench is in honor of her husband and four children who died of yellow fever and were buried in paupers graves in Memphis.
LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP)  Two inmates escaped a North Carolina prison Monday, but were caught hours later, officials said.

Craig Guess Jr., 39, and Arlo Swink Jr., 38, escaped from the Robeson Confinement in Response to Violation Center in Lumberton shortly before 3 p.m. and were found nearby on foot three hours later, the Department of Public Safety said in a news release Tuesday. Officials are investigating how they escaped.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Bulldozers were busy Monday scraping through New Mexico's high country as firefighters scouted more rugged terrain, looking for places where they could wield tools to dig lines that stop what has grown into the largest wildfire burning in the U.S.

Nearly a dozen new large fires were reported over the weekend across the nation  four in New Mexico, three in Colorado and one each in Florida, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas. With more than 1,350 square miles (3,496 square kilometers) burned so far this year, officials at the National Interagency Fire Center said the amount of land singed so far is outpacing the 10-year average by about 30%.

Hotter, drier weather has combined with a persistent drought to worsen fire danger across many parts of the West, where decades of fire suppression have resulted in overgrown and unhealthy forests and increasing development have put more communities at risk.

In northern New Mexico, evacuations remained in place for several communities Monday and conditions were still too volatile for authorities to assess the damage caused Friday and Saturday as fierce winds pushed flames across tinder-dry mountainsides in multiple counties.

Fire officials said they were able to protect pockets of homes threatened by the largest fire, which had joined over the weekend with another blaze that was sparked in early April when a prescribed fire escaped containment. Together, they have charred more than 88 square miles (228 square kilometers).

Operation sections chief Jayson Coil said Monday that crews working on the complex were trying to take advantage of better weather to keep the flames from moving closer to the villages and homes that dot the valleys along the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Theres a whole bunch of effort going on around this fire right now, Coil said during a briefing.

In Arizona, firefighters were taking advantage of lighter winds to boost containment of a more than 33-square-mile (85 square-kilometer) blaze that has been burning outside of Flagstaff for more than a week. Strong winds that had fueled the fire are expected to return later this week. Meanwhile, hundreds of residents who were evacuated were given the OK on Sunday to return home.

Crews in Nebraska continued securing fire lines Monday after a blaze that started last week near the Kansas border had spread rapidly  moving nearly 30 miles (48 kilometers) in a short period of time. The blaze killed one person and injured at least 11 firefighters.

Elected officials in Arizona and New Mexico have declared emergencies related to the latest wildfires, freeing up disaster aid. Meanwhile, local, state and federal land managers in some areas have started to impose burn bans and fire restrictions, citing the continued dry conditions that plague much of the region.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Monday signed an executive order urging municipalities and counties around the state to ban the retail sale of fireworks. While state statutes don't allow the governor to implement a statewide ban on fireworks, the executive order follows the implementation of statewide fire restrictions prohibiting fireworks, outdoor smoking, campfires and open burning for all non-municipal, non-federal and non-tribal lands.

Lujan Grisham called the situation extremely dangerous.

"Its essential that we mitigate potential wildfires by removing as much risk as possible, she said.

The latest blazes follow one earlier this month in southern New Mexico that destroyed more than 200 homes in the mountain community of Ruidoso. Two residents who were attempting to evacuate were found dead outside their charred home.

___

Associated Press writer Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP)  Syrian air defenses were active early Wednesday as Israel fired several surface-to-surface missiles at military positions near the capital, Damascus, state media reported. There was no immediate word on casualties.

State media quoted an unidentified Syrian military official as saying that the missiles were fired from northern Israel shortly after midnight and that most of them were shot down. It added that the military was still looking into the results of the aggression.
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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Britons are being squeezed by the cost of living crisis and many will be looking for smart ways to make their money go further.

One such route is to use a debit or credit card with access to a decent rewards scheme.

American Express, Virgin Atlantic and Barclaycard Avios cards currently have pretty generous sign-up bonuses to help start a pot from scratch.

Free money: Certain credit cards offer a host of rewards - including points that can be used towards flights

They can go under the radar because you may need to convert your points into another loyalty currency to get your reward.

This is Money has scoured the market and picked the best rewards schemes currently available.

We have chosen these deals because we think that they offer something that makes them stand out from the crowd.

Virgin Money's current account switch incentive offers new customers 20,000 Virgin Points to spend via its rewards club Virgin Red.

Virgin Red is a rewards club that turns everyday spending into points. Once you are a member, you can earn and spend Virgin Points across 250 different rewards.

It has partnered with a number of brands including John Lewis and Partners, eBay, Asos and Just Eat, which means you will get Virgin Red points when you shop with these brands.

While there are some deals offering large amounts of points for every 1 spent, other purchases offer much less.

For example, customers can earn eight Virgin points for every 1 spent with Booking.com, four Virgin Points per 1 spent with John Lewis & Partners or just one point per 1 spent with Boots or eBay.

Virgin Red is a rewards club that turns everyday spending into points.

Another issue is that there is no cash conversion for the points with the value varying from partner to partner depending on the reward on offer.

This could make it tricky for people to understand how much benefit they are actually getting from the scheme, although if you run the numbers on some of their rewards you'll see that you are getting roughly 0.5p per Virgin Point.

Customers can choose from across 250 rewards including a return flight to the Caribbean, a case of Virgin Wines, or if you're a Greggs enthusiast, 100 sausage rolls.

Those taking advantage of the current account switching deal will also benefit from 2.02 per cent interest on their current account balances up to 1,000.

Customers will also have access to a linked savings account paying 1 per cent on balances up to 25,000 and 0.5 per cent thereafter.

What can 20,000 Virgin points buy you:

There are more than 250 rewards to choose from with Virgin Red.

For example, it is currently offering a 12-bottle case of Virgin wines for 16,000 points.

You could also opt to buy a Greggs sausage roll for 200 points each time - that could equate to 100 sausage rolls.

At the other end of the spectrum you could book a return Virgin Atlantic flight to New York, Barbados or The Bahamas for 20,000 points, although taxes, fees and surcharges are paid separately.

You can find out more about the options available here.

Spoilt for choice: there are more than 250 rewards to choose from with Virgin Red.

Worth noting:

You'll need to apply online for an M Plus or Club M current account with Virgin. Although the M Plus account is free, the Club M account charges 14.50 a month.

You'll need to switch your existing current account using the Current Account Switch Service and set up at least two Direct Debits.

You'll also need to save 1,000 into the linked savings account and keep this in your account until Virgin emails a Virgin Red promo code to you. You'll need to then join Virgin Red if you aren't already a member.

Unlike with some rewards offers, Virgin points don't expire, however, your Virgin Red promo code to claim your points will expire on 30 April next year, so make sure you redeem your Virgin Red promo code before that date.

Expert view:

Rob Burgess, founder of frequent flyer miles website Head for Points, says: The problem with Virgin Points was, historically, Virgin Atlantic's limited route network.

A new tie up with Air France and KLM has vastly expanded your options for redeeming for flight rewards.

The new Virgin Red app also offers lots of new ways to redeem for everyday spend, including Greggs food.

Virgin Red redemptions are generally poor value - you get around 0.5p of value per point - but there are some gems.

You could recently get a 12 night full board Virgin Voyages cruise, from Portsmouth to Spain, for 2 people for just 80,000 points - this was selling for 2,500.

Barclaycard's two new credit cards offer customers the opportunity to collect Avios points for every 1 they spend.

This card is a Mastercard, offering more flexibility than the long-running British Airways American Express cards.

Avios points are a way for you to turn your everyday spending into flights with BA, Aer Lingus, Iberia, among other airlines.

The free version of the card will give you 5,000 Avios points if you spend 1,000 in your first three months.

Existing Barclaycard customers who switch to this card collect 1,000 points if they spent 1,000 in the first three months.

Separate to the introductory offer, you will also collect 1 Avios for every 1 you spend - the same rate as the existing free BA Amex.

Barclaycard's two new credit cards offer customers the opportunity to collect Avios points for every 1 they spend.

Those who opt for the Barclaycard Avios Plus will collect a whopping 25,000 Avios if they spend 3,000 in the first three months.

Existing customers will collect 5,000 points if they spend 3,000 over the same period.

They also get an improved return on their spending - 1.5 Avios for every 1 spent.

However, they will be subject to a 20 monthly charge. This is an important factor - because unlike the equivalent American Express rewards cards, which charge annually, once the bonus is secured you could downgrade to the free option. You can even downgrade via the Barclaycard app with no need to call up.

Avios points can be converted into flights, flight upgrades and hotel stays - but the perks don't just stop at Avios points.

Spend 20,000 on the free card within 12 months and you'll receive a British Airways cabin upgrade voucher to use on an Avios Reward Flight booking. For those using Avios Plus, the requirement is only to spend 10,000 in the first year.

Cashback: You can book a Reward Flight starting at just 1 and 18,500 Avios points.

You can also get up to five months of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade for free with the new Barclaycard - although this turns into a paid subscription after the trial so you'll need to cancel if you wish to avoid being charged thereafter.

It's also worth noting that a new Barclays Premier current account holder joining Barclays Avios Rewards (12 per month), in addition to taking out the new Barclaycard Avios Plus card (20 per month) as a new customer, could earn over 80,000 points and two cabin upgrade vouchers in the first year  enough for a return flight to New York, Tokyo or Dubai.

They would also receive 5 back into their current account, each month, for holding both products.

What are the rewards worth?

The answer to this question is similar to most rewards schemes. It depends.

A partnership launched with Nectar in early 2021, lets you trade 250 Avios for 400 Nectar points, worth 2.

This means that each Avios point is worth 0.8p when used to shop at Sainsbury's, Argos, eBay and other participating companies.

Therefore, the advice is to not redeem your points for flights if you get less than 0.8p.

However, you can spend your Avios on all kinds of travel experiences and this will typically be the more lucrative way to use Avios points - although not always.

It will depend on what class you choose to fly in, whether you are flying peak time or off-peak time and on which airline you decide to fly with.

You can book a Reward Flight starting at just 1 and 18,500 Avios, or you can reduce the cash price of your flight with as little as 1,000 Avios, albeit you will still need to pay taxes, fees and carrier charges.

An off peak return flight for one passenger from London to Milan will cost 18,500 Avios and 1 for an off peak ticket.

However, flights to North America will start from 100 and 50,000 Avios points for a return flight.

Watch out:

The 20 monthly fee for the Barclaycard Avios Plus - 240 a year may be too terrifying for some to stomach.

It's also worth noting that if you fail to pay the balance off each month you will be hit with a 72.4 per cent APR. That makes it absolutely essential to pay off as you go along, or end up with a hefty penalty.

Expert view:

Rob Burgess says: The new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard, launched last month, should be top of the 'next credit card' list for all points collectors.

You can use it instead of, or alongside, a BA Amex card to earn points whenever you shop, even if Amex is not taken.

There is a big sign up bonus which you qualify for even if you already have a BA Amex.

It is actually the most generous Visa or Mastercard in Britain, at 1 Avios per 1 spent on the free card.

Even if you are a non-flyer, you would get 0.8 per cent back by moving the Avios to Nectar points which is triple what the average rewards Visa or Mastercard earns.

With flight prices likely to remain high for some time and with BA now guaranteeing at least 14 Avios seats per long haul flight (12 on short haul) the chances of getting good value are high.

American Express credit card holders can benefit from a limited time bonus offer when they invite friends or family to become a new Cardmember.

Running from 7 April to 19 July, 2022, existing Gold Cardmembers will have their points doubled with 12,000 Membership Rewards points for each eligible referral compared with the standard 6,000 Membership Rewards points.

The invited friend will then receive at least 32,000 Membership Rewards points if they select the same Card, compared to the standard 22,000 Membership Rewards Points.

Those signing up without a referral can still potentially secure 30,000 rewards points as part of a bonus deal currently on offer.

For those who don't sign up using the referral bonus it is currently possible to take advantage of an introductory offer of either 20,000 or 30,000 bonus points when you spend 3,000 in their first three months.

The amount of points will depend on what offer Amex shows you when you go on the site. They are targeting certain people with an extra 10,000 points based on browser history etc.

30,000 points is enough for a 150 gift card from Amazon. For frequent flyers, it can also be converted into Avios points.

The Amex Gold card is great for rewards, but beware of the 140 fee after year one.

It's worth noting that if you sign up from someone's referral you won't be eligible for the 20,000/30,000 bonus offer as well.

You also earn one Membership Reward point for every 1 you spend, and two points for any airline or foreign currency purchase.

There is also the added benefit of getting 5 back twice every month by spending on Deliveroo, which is worth 120 per year for regular Deliveroo users.

Finally, you can take advantage of two complimentary lounge visits per year at over 1,300 airport lounges globally.

Watch out:

It comes with a 140 annual fee after the first year. However, if you cancel before your first year is up, you'll essentially have enjoyed this card for free.

If you fail to pay your balance off each month, you'll be hit with a 60.1 per cent APR.

It's also worth noting that there are other American Express cards with limited time offers at present.

New and existing American Express Preferred Rewards Gold cardmembers can tuck into an exclusive new benefit with Deliveroo.

The Platinum Card is offering 60,000 points when you spend 6,000 in your first six months of membership, although the card comes with a whopping 575 annual fee.

For those put off by the annual fee Platinum Cashback Everyday Credit Card is currently offering 5 per cent cashback on all spending for the first three months of card membership, up to a maximum of 100 with an additional 20 cashback bonus.

Each year, you'll also receive 0.5 per cent cashback when spending up to 10,000 and 1 per cent cash back on everything you spend after that.

As long as you spend a minimum of 3,000 in each given year, every full 1 you spend on purchases qualifies for cashback.2

The American Express Platinum cashback everyday credit card currently offers 5% cashback on any purchases for the first three months of card membership, up to a limit of 100 + 20.

Expert view:

Rob Burgess says: American Express Membership Rewards points often fly under the radar but this is a mistake. They offer something unique - flexibility.

Get an Avios or Virgin Points credit card and you are committed to that scheme. This can be an issue if the scheme devalues or drops your preferred flight route.

Membership Rewards points can be transferred 1:1 to Avios, Virgin Points or many other airline schemes, plus various hotel loyalty programmes and Club Eurostar.

Transfers are instant or usually within 24 hours, depending on partner, so the chance of losing a reward due to a slow transfer is minimised.

Flexibility has real value but people often don't appreciate this.
My care-worker daughter had her identity stolen just after Christmas. She then received letters from four mobile phone providers welcoming her to new contracts, for which she had not signed up.

The letters came from O2, Three, Tesco Mobile and iD Mobile. We sent letters to inform each provider of the fraud.

Three and Tesco quickly confirmed a fraud had indeed occurred. But O2 has been sending default notices, disconnection notices, notice of enforcement letters and arrears notices.

Identity theft: Crooks were able to set up four mobile phone accounts using a reader's stolen financial details

We rang on January 29 and were told the case was being sent to the fraud department.

When we called two weeks later, we were informed this had not happened but it would be dealt with.

By March, and after several calls, we were told the case had not been sent to the fraud team until February 24, and that we should allow 30 days for investigation. Weve still heard nothing.

Meanwhile, iD Mobile sent a letter asking for details, which my daughter sent by email. But she has since received two letters from a debt collection agency.

We would be grateful for any help as this is causing a great deal of stress. I worry every time the post arrives. L. R., Swindon.

Sally Hamilton replies: It is not only shocking that a crook was able to set up so many contracts in your daughters name, but surprising that this kind of scam is still going on.

Its been a problem for years, often perpetrated in person by a fraudster brazenly visiting a shop armed with all the personal details required to pose as a genuine customer, setting up a contract and walking out with an expensive phone.

Scammers increasingly ply this trade online and arrange for devices to be redelivered to a different address. They typically do not use a victims bank details, but when the impostor fails to pay the bills, the provider chases the debt via the victims address.

Your daughter was not aware of having her personal details compromised, but it is likely they were stolen following an online data breach.

Three accounts were set up with O2 alone, including one for an Apple iPad Pro at a cost of 76.50 a month for 48 months.

The payments on all the scam accounts amounted to about 200 a month which, assuming all were set up for 48 months, would mean a total 10,000 fraud.

Scam Watch Beware fraudulent emails claiming that your TV Licence could not be automatically renewed. In one message doing the rounds, scammers posing as TV Licensing wrote that they had been unable to take the latest payment from a customers account and directed victims to click on a link to set up a new direct debit. But the link takes you to a fake website where you give crooks access to your personal details.

While two of the providers put your daughter out of her misery quickly, O2 and iD Mobile (part of Currys) were dragging their heels  until I got involved.

Money Mail has previously warned of a spate of complaints about fraud at O2, but the firm denies its processes are at fault, with a spokesman saying: We have thorough checks in place for signs of fraud at all points of sale, and in fact, UK mobile operators generally perform very similar checks to one another.

O2 says the correct fraud reporting process had not been followed by customer services in this case. It adds its agents have now had refresher briefings on how to deal with these situations.

A spokesman says: We apologise for the delay in resolving this issue. Weve closed the fraudulent accounts, wiped all debt, updated her credit file, and will be offering a goodwill gesture for the inconvenience caused. The goodwill gesture turned out to be a hamper, which left your daughter underwhelmed, but she was glad the ordeal was over.

Meanwhile, Currys says the rogue iD Mobile account was not actioned when reported as fraudulent, meaning your daughters name ended up in the hands of debt collectors.

A spokesman tells me her account will be cleared and her credit file updated  though there was no offer of a hamper.

John Webb, of credit reference agency Experian, says: Most victims of this type of fraud will be unaware of it until they check their credit report or receive a bill through the mail.

If it happens, its important to speak to the lender immediately or contact a credit reference agency to get these debts queried and removed from your credit report.

Straight to the point Please can you ask EDF Energy to reissue a refund cheque to my 90-year-old uncle? His late wife was the account holder, but he has paid the bills since she died. P. A., Gloucestershire. EDF has requested that the 46.66 cheque written out to the executor of her estate is cancelled and reissued in your uncles name. It has also cleared an outstanding balance of 7.49 and offered a 25 goodwill payment. *** I signed up to a free trial with video website Vimeo. But when I cancelled, I did not receive confirmation and have now been charged 1,008 for a one-year subscription. F. G., via email. Vimeo refused to answer my questions about the ease of its cancellation process, but a spokesman has agreed to refund you the full amount. *** My husband and I used to have our pensions paid into our Post Office Card Accounts. When we were told these were closing, we set up a bank account with the Co-op. So why has the Department for Work and Pensions sent me a card in the post? G. W., Stafford. You were sent a Payment Exception Service card by mistake. These are only supposed to go to people who do not have bank or building society accounts. A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman apologises for any distress caused. *** After my cruise was cancelled, I chose to leave my 411 deposit with Princess Cruises to benefit from Future Cruise Credit, which I can use on another trip. However, the money was mistakenly returned to my travel agent, Iglu Cruise, and now no one seems to know where it is. Please can you help track it down? C. Y., Sutton. Both firms agreed there had been a system error somewhere. The money has now been sent back to Princess Cruises and the Future Cruise Credit has been applied.

Too much noise at the inn

I stayed at the Broad Street Premier Inn in Birmingham for two nights in February.

During the second night, I was awoken in the early hours by excessive noise coming from people in the corridor above me. In the morning, the receptionist told me about Premier Inns Good Night Guarantee and suggested I make a claim. Immediately I did so. Yet my claim was rejected on the grounds that I didnt report it in good time.

I would like to say that the staff at the hotel were amazing and I have no complaints. It was the response of the customer relations team that put the company to shame.

J. M., by email.

Sally Hamilton replies: I looked up the guarantee, which says: At Premier Inn, were so confident youll have a great nights sleep that if you dont, well give you your money back.

It states that a guest has seven days after their stay to make a complaint and have the room payment refunded. So you hadnt dreamt it.

I asked Premier Inns parent company Whitbread why your claim was denied, as you had not only acted within hours of the incident taking place but on the suggestion of the receptionist.

I was told your claim did not meet the parameters of the guarantee as the disruption wasnt reported at the time, when staff would have been able to put things right by shushing the noisy guests staying above you.

Youd have had to read the small print to know this is an exclusion.

However, on my intervention, Whitbread has agreed to refund your second nights bill of 38, as a goodwill gesture.

A spokesman says: We are sorry for the confusion caused on this occasion and hope to welcome J.M. again soon.
In Accra, the capital of Ghana, a Chinese acupuncture clinic has been assisting malaria patients and saving lives since 1988. Artesunate, an anti-malaria medicine developed by Chinese researchers, is one of the major weapons they use to combat malaria, and has made significant contributions to malaria treatment in the West African country.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service








The "Partners" statue sits in front of Cinderella's Castle at Magic Kingdom on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. (Allie Goulding/Tampa Bay Times/TNS)
Moscow accused NATO of engaging in a proxy battle against Russia by arming Ukraine, saying this had created a serious and real risk of nuclear war.

In a marked escalation of Russian rhetoric, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was asked on state television about the importance of avoiding World War Three and whether the current situation was comparable to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The risks now are considerable, Lavrov said, according to the ministrys transcript of the interview.

I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it, Lavrov said.

NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.

Lavrovs remarks came as U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin was set to convene a meeting of more than 40 countries at a German air base to discuss arming Ukraine to help it fight off Russias latest military assault in the east.

The next several weeks will be very, very critical, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told reporters traveling with him. They need continued support in order to be successful on the battlefield. And thats really the purpose of this conference.

The aim is to coordinate aid that includes heavy weapons such as howitzer artillery, as well as killer drones and ammunition, General Milley said.

Ukraines Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he regarded Russias scaremongering as a sign of weakness.

Russia had lost its last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine, Kuleba wrote on Twitter after Lavrovs interview. This only means Moscow senses defeat.

Britain also played down the Russian threat.

Lavrovs trademark over the course of 15 years or so that he has been the Russian foreign secretary has been that sort of bravado. I dont think that right now there is an imminent threat of escalation, Armed Services Minister James Heappey told BBC Television.

The U.S. State Department on Monday approved the potential sale of $165 million worth of ammunition to Ukraine. The Pentagon said the package could include ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers.

Moscows ambassador to Washington told the United States to halt shipments, warning Western weapons were inflaming the conflict.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was due in Moscow on Tuesday to meet President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov, the highest profile peace mission since the war began, although Western countries have said they have little hope of a breakthrough.

Russias two-month-old invasion of Ukraine has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced more than 5 million people to flee abroad.

Moscow calls its actions a special operation to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West call this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression.

Russia has yet to capture any of Ukraines biggest cities. Its huge invasion force was forced to pull back from the outskirts of Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance last month. But it has since announced new war aims to focus mainly on the east, and sent more troops there for an assault on two provinces where it has backed a separatist revolt.

It is obvious that every day  and especially today, when the third month of our resistance has begun  that everyone in Ukraine is concerned with peace, about when it will all be over, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Monday.

There is no simple answer to that at this time.

Ukraines general staff said on Tuesday that Russias offensive continued in the eastern Kharkiv region with Russian forces trying to advance towards a village called Zavody.

While focusing on the east and south, Russia has also been striking targets in other parts of Ukraine with missiles and air strikes. Its defence ministry said it had destroyed six facilities powering railways used to deliver foreign weapons to Ukrainian forces.

The head of Ukraines state rail company said one railway worker had been killed and four injured by Russian missile strikes on five railway stations on Monday.

Ukrainian forces have repelled five Russian attacks and killed just over 200 Russian servicemen, said the Ukrainian military command in the southern and eastern sectors. Five tanks were also destroyed, along with eight armoured vehicles, it said in a statement. The reports could not be verified.

Russia is probably attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the countrys east, the British military said in an update on Tuesday.

Reports say the town of Kreminna has fallen, with heavy fighting in the south of the city of Izyum, as Russian forces try to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Britains defence ministry said on Twitter.

The governor of Russias Belgorod border province, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Ukraine had fired on two villages across the frontier and at least two people were wounded.

Russian forces kept up their bombing and shelling of the vast Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where fighters are hunkered down, Ukrainian presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych said.

Source: Reuters
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POKROVSK, Ukraine  As Russian forces intensify their shelling of eastern Ukraine, more people are leaving their homes in search of safety.

In Pokrovsk, a town in the Donetsk region, people lined up Tuesday to board a train headed to the far west of the country along the border with Hungary and Slovakia. One person was lifted onto the train in a wheelchair, another on a stretcher.

The passengers took with them cats, dogs, a few bags and boxes, and the memory of those who did not flee in time.

We were in the basement, but my daughter didnt make it and was hit with shrapnel on the doorstep during shelling on Monday, said Mykola Kharchenko, 74. We had to bury her in the garden near the pear tree.

He said his village, Vremivka, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) from Pokrovsk, was under heavy fire for four days and everything was destroyed. With tears in his eyes, Kharchenko said he somehow held himself together at home, but once he reached the train station he fell apart.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Nuclear chief: Russias Chernobyl seizure risked accident

 Poland, Bulgaria say Russia suspending natural gas supplies

 Putin gets what he didnt want: Ukraine army closer to West

 Top Russian diplomat warns Ukraine against provoking WWIII

 Frances victorious Macron boosts weapons, stakes in Ukraine

 Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra organized by Met, Polish operas

Follow all AP stories on Russia's war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed in principle that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians from a besieged steel plant in Ukraines southeastern city of Mariupol.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that during their one-on-one meeting Tuesday, Guterres and Putin discussed the proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians from conflict zones, namely in relation to the situation in Mariupol.

The sprawling Azovstal steel plant has been almost completely destroyed by Russian attacks but it is the last pocket of organized Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.

An estimated 2,000 troops and 1,000 civilians are said to be holed up in bunkers underneath the wrecked structure.

Dujarric said that following the Guterres-Putin agreement in principle, discussions will be held with the U.N. humanitarian office and the Russian Defense Ministry on the evacuation.

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WASHINGTON  The State Department says U.S. diplomats have begun returning to Ukraine by making day trips to temporary offices in the western city of Lviv from neighboring Poland.

The department said the first group of diplomats crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border and traveled to Lviv on Tuesday morning before returning to Poland later in the day.

The step came just two days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Ukrainian leaders during a secrecy-shrouded visit to Kyiv that the U.S. would start restaffing its diplomatic facilities in Ukraine this week.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the agency has accelerated its review of re-opening the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, which was closed shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. He said operations at the embassy would resume as soon as possible depending on the security situation in the capital.

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UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned about reports of new security incidents in a Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova and urges all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions that could escalate tensions.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Tuesday that Guterres has called for efforts to lower tensions throughout Trans-Dniester. Explosions rocked the region for the second day in a row, knocking out two powerful radio antennas close to the Ukrainian border. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukraine all but blamed Russia.

Russian speakers of the strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine nominally seceded from Moldova in 1990, one year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, fearing the country might shortly merge with Romania, whose language and culture it broadly shares.

The separatist region fought a brief war with Moldova in 1992 and declared itself an independent state, though it remains unrecognized by any country, including Russia which bases about 1,500 troops there, calling them peacekeepers. Concerns are high that those forces could be used to invade Ukraine from the west.

Haq said the U.N. continues to fully support efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to reach a political settlement of the Trans-Dniester conflict in the so-called 5+2 process which comprises Trans-Dniester, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE with the United States and the European Union as observers. The aim is to strengthen Moldovas independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, with a special status for Trans-Dniester.

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BERLIN  Germanys vice chancellor says his country has come very, very close to independence from Russian oil and an embargo on deliveries would now be manageable.

Germany, which has Europes biggest economy, has said so far that it aims to end Russian oil imports by the end of this year.

Speaking Tuesday during a visit to Poland, Economy Minister Robert Habeck  who is also the vice chancellor and responsible for energy  said that his country has cut Russias share of its oil supply from 35% before the war in Ukraine to about 12%.

Habeck said the situation is such that an embargo has become manageable for Germany. He added that the problem that just a few weeks ago seemed very big for Germany has become significantly smaller  so that independence from Russian oil imports has come very, very close.

Russian gas imports, however, are a bigger issue for Germany. Berlin has said that it will need longer to do without gas supplies from Russia.

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LONDON  Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain does not want war to escalate beyond Ukraines borders, and rejected an allegation by Moscow that the West is fighting a proxy conflict with Russia.

But Johnson said Ukrainians are being attacked from within Russian territory and have a right to protect and defend themselves by striking inside Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused NATO of pouring oil on the fire with its support for Ukraine, and said the risk of World War III should not be underestimated. Russia has singled Britain out for criticism after a U.K. government minister said it was legitimate for Ukraine to hit fuel depots in Russia with U.K.-supplied weapons.

In an interview with British station Talk TV, Johnson said its very, very important that we dont accept the way that the Russians are trying to frame what is happening in Ukraine.

He said: They are trying to frame this as a conflict between Russia and the West, or Russia and NATO. Thats not what is going on.

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia  Slovakias President Zuzana Caputova released a video addressing the invading Russian soldiers, their commanders and all whom it may concern, urging them to stop the war in Ukraine.

In the three-minute video in Russian with the subtitles in Slovak, Caputova condemned war crimes against women, children and civilians.

You justify your invasion by talking about liberation, Caputova told them. How were you intending to liberate Tatiana from Irpin, killed by a Russian grenade together with her two children? Or Olena from Hostomel, raped by one of you in a car? she asked.

Referring to testimonies of women who have survived, Caputova says they find that words are not enough when they try to describe the pain you have made a part of their lives simply because... Well, why even? None of us knows Do you?

She says with each passing day, you are only increasing the army of wounded souls and bodies of women, children and innocent people.

If you still feel any leftover of humanity in you, bring it to life and end this horrible war.

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MOSCOW  Russias President Vladimir Putin says Moscow still hopes to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Ukraine, even as the fighting has continued.

Speaking at a Kremlin meeting Tuesday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Putin noted that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators made what he described as a serious breakthrough in their talks in Istanbul, Turkey, last month. He claimed, however, that the Ukrainian side later walked back on some of the tentative agreements reached in Istanbul.

In particular, Putin said Ukrainian negotiators have changed their position on the issue of the status of Crimea and separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, offering to leave it for the countries presidents to discuss. Putin charged that the shift in the Ukrainian stand makes it hard to negotiate a future deal. Ukrainian officials have been evasive about the details of talks and the Russian claims of Ukraine walking back from its earlier proposals.

Putin has demanded that Ukraine recognize Russias sovereignty over Crimea and recognize independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as part of a future agreement on ending the hostilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that those issues could only be decided by a future nationwide vote.

During Tuesdays Kremlin meeting, Guterres criticized Russias military action in Ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbors territorial integrity. He also urged Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped at a giant steel mill in Mariupol surrounded by the Russian forces.

Putin responded by claiming that the Russian forces have offered humanitarian corridors to civilians holed up at the Azovstal steel plant, charging that the Ukrainian defenders of the plant were using civilians as shields and not allowing them to leave.

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KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about the tensions in a Moscow-backed separatist region of Moldova.

The ministry noted that an attack on an administrative building in Tiraspol, the center of the separatist Trans-Dniester province of Moldova, along with explosions that hit broadcast antennas and other facilities in the region follow a Russian officers statement about Moscows intention to fully take control of Ukraines south and build a land corridor to Trans-Dniester.

It said in a Tuesday statement that Ukraine resolutely supports Moldovas territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and condemn attempts to draw the Trans-Dniester region of Moldova into the full-fledged war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine and call for deescalating tensions.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land with about 470,000 people, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, nominally as peacekeepers.

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WARSAW, Poland  The Polish climate minister gave assurances on Tuesday that the country has plenty of natural gas on reserve, following reports that Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland.

Anna Moskwa, minister for climate and environment, tweeted: Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security  we have been effectively independent from Russia for years. Our warehouses are 76% full. There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes.

Her tweet followed reports by the Onet news portal that Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract. Onet reported that a crisis team had gathered at the Ministry of Climate to deal with the matter. Onet said, citing unnamed sources, that Russia had insisted on a Friday deadline for payment in rubles and that Poland has said it would not pay in rubles.

Poland has been working to wean itself off of Russian energy sources and was due to end its reliance on Russian gas this year.

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RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany  U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the war in Ukraine has already weakened Russias military capability.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Austin said after meeting allies and partners at the United States Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday that, since Russia began the invasion, its land forces have sustained pretty substantial casualties, as well as lost a lot of equipment and used a lot of precision-guided munitions.

He said that they are, in fact, in terms of military capability, weaker than when they started, and  itll be harder for them to replace some of this capability as they go forward because of the sanctions and the trade restrictions that have been placed on them.

Austin reiterated that we would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.

He criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs warning that the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated.

Austin said that its unhelpful and dangerous to rattle sabers and speculate about the use of nuclear weapons.

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MOSCOW  A senior Kremlin official says that Ukraine may split into several parts.

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said in remarks published Tuesday that the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states.

The statement comes as Russia says it has focused on expanding control over Ukraines eastern industrial heartland called Donbas. Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian troops there since 2014 when conflict erupted following Russias annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula.

Moscow launched military action in Ukraine on Feb. 24, days after recognizing the separatist regions independence.

Last week, a senior Russian military officer said that along with taking control over Donbas, Russia also wants to overtake southern Ukraine, saying such a move would also open a land corridor between Russia and the separatist Trans-Dniester region of Moldova.

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MADRID  Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Tuesday he was very worried by the explosions this week in the separatist region of Trans-Dniester, adding that they reminded him too much of occurrences in the Donbas region immediately prior to Russias invasion of Ukraine late February.

I remember before Feb. 21, there have been some series of false-flag operations in Donbas region, so called people republics, that were used as the pretext by Russia to recognize and then to sign the so-called friendship and assistance treaties and then to start the military operation, Rinkevics told reporters in Madrid.

Im very worried about the current trend in Trans-Dniester because that resembles a little bit that pattern that we have seen, he added.

Police in Trans-Dniester say two explosions Tuesday in a radio facility close to the Ukrainian border knocked two antennas out of service. On Monday, several explosions were reported to have hit the Ministry of State Security in Tiraspol, the regions capital.

Trans-Dniester, a strip of land in Moldova, has been under the control of separatists since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops there. The United States has warned that Russia could launch false-flag attacks in nearby nations as a pretext for sending in troops to those nations.

Rinkevics was in Madrid to meet his Spanish counterpart and discuss the Ukraine war and the upcoming NATO summit in the Spanish capital.

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The Russian military has warned it could strike Ukrainian decision-making centers in the Ukrainian capital and said wouldnt be stopped by the possible presence of Western advisers there.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused the U.K. of making statements encouraging Ukraine to use Western weapons to carry out strikes on the Russian territory, warning that if it happens the Russian military could retaliate by hitting government structures in Kyiv.

It directly pointed at U.K. Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, who told Times Radio that it was not necessarily a problem if Ukraine British-donated weapons were used to hit sites on Russian soil.

The ministry said in a statement that the Russian armed forces are ready to deal retaliatory strikes with long-range precision guided weapons on Kyiv centers that would make such decisions. It noted that the presence of citizens of one of Western countries in the Ukrainian decision-making centers wont necessarily pose a problem for Russia in making a decision to launch retaliatory action.

The Russian military so far has avoided striking presidential, government and military headquarters in Kyiv during its campaign in Ukraine that has entered a third month.

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WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging Congress to fully fund the Biden administrations proposed budget for the State Department, telling lawmakers the spending is critical to ensuring that the war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for Russia and a message to other countries that might invade their neighbors.

Blinken said his weekend visit to Kyiv with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had left him with the indelible impression that Ukraine is winning, particularly in the capital. It was right in front of us: the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv, he said.

Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the U.S.-led global response to Russias invasion had underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy. He said the $60.4 billion budget proposal for the next fiscal year was needed to continue to rally partners and allies in the cause.

We will, we have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are the strategic opportunities and address risks presented by Russias overreach, as countries reconsider their policies, priorities, their relationships, Blinken said. The budget request before you predated this crisis, but fully funding it is critical in my judgment to ensuring Russias war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for the Kremlin and serves as a powerful lesson to those who might consider following its path.

Blinken did not name other nations that might be considering following Russias lead but his comment was seen as a veiled reference to China, which has sided with Russia in the Ukraine conflict and has made no secret of its desire to re-unify the island of Taiwan with the mainland.

___

CHERNOBYL, Ukraine  The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency says it was possible that an accident could have occurred when Russian troops seized control of the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster during the war in Ukraine.

Speaking on a visit to the former nuclear power plant Tuesday on the 36th anniversary of the meltdown, Rafael Mariano Grossi said the situation in 1986 was completely different. In this case, what we had was a nuclear safety situation which was not normal, and could have developed into an accident.

Russian troops moved into the radiation-contaminated Chernobyl exclusion zone in February on their way toward the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and withdrew late last month as Russia switched its focus to fighting in eastern Ukraine. The site is now back in Ukrainian hands and communications which were disrupted have been restored.

Russian forces continue to hold a working nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia plant, where there was fighting nearby in early March which damaged the plants training facility.

Clearly, the physical integrity of one nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, was compromised, we also had situations where the external power was interrupted including here (Chernobyl) so there were a number of events that were compromising the normal operations of any nuclear power facility, Grossi said.

Those were avoided but of course, as I was saying, the situation was not stable and we have to stay on alert.

___
Bloomberg | Getty Images

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has now been two months old and what many anticipated would be a confrontation that would last only a few days has turned into a complex event with implications for the entire world. In recent days, news has emerged confirming that the tension is increasing and that little by little the conflict goes beyond the borders of Ukraine. Today the Russian gas distribution company Gazprom announced that it will stop supplying gas to Poland and Bulgaria as of this Wednesday, April 27.

Last Friday, the president, Vladimir Putin , signed a decree by means of which it was established that the enemy countries of Russia that consume gas must pay for it in rubles, opening bank accounts in the country's institutions. The measure aims to counteract the economic sanctions and the exchange of goods imposed by the West since the conflict began.
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ALBANY  When Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this month said the state was suspending part of its gas tax, New York motorists breathed a modest sigh of relief.

Starting June 1 through the end of the year, Hochul is suspending the states 16-cent-per-gallon tax, which takes some of the sting out of gas prices that have risen above $4 per gallon.

But depending on which county you live in, you may see further reductions, as at least 11 counties so far have agreed to limit their local sales taxes on gasoline as well.

Its unclear if any Capital Region residents will see this local relief though.

The Schenectady County Legislature was scheduled to debate a sales tax limit on Monday. If approved, it would cap sales taxes above $2 per gallon.

Albany, Rensselaer and Saratoga counties havent yet made any decision on the matter.

We have not come to a consensus, said Todd Kusnierz, chairman of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors.

One of the concerns that we have is if we move forward with that, how do we pass savings on to consumers? he said.

Kusnierz said officials have concerns that gas stations wont necessarily pass on the savings if the countys 3 percent sales tax on gas is suspended or cut.

Mary Rozak, spokeswoman for Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, said officials also are discussing a cut or suspension of the countys 4 percent sales tax. They need, however, to resolve the question of whether the tax can be cut through a resolution or by instituting a local law, a process that would take at least a month (The state Association of Counties says the tax could be cut by resolution based on state laws. But local county laws may differ).

In Rensselaer County, Rich Crist, spokesman for County Executive Steve McLaughlin, said in an email that, like Saratoga County, lawmakers worry about whether the cut in their 4 percent sales tax would get passed along to consumers.

There have been some discussions with county and local officials about the gas tax issue, but there is a concern over whether residents would actually see a drop in the price at the pumps and if funds would be taken from needed services and efforts to keep property taxes stable," he said.

Counties can cap their gas sales taxes at $4, $3 or $2 per gallon, which would yield different levels of savings, and subsequent revenue loss for the counties.

According to the state Association of Counties, 11 counties so far have moved to cap their local gas taxes by June 1.

That list is fluid, though, and counties will need to do so by May 1 in order to reduce the taxes starting in June. If they dont hit that deadline they can do so later in the summer, though.

So far Nassau, Suffolk, Onondaga, Oswego, Monroe, Dutchess, Oneida, Ulster, Rockland, Erie, and Westchester counties have have opted to limit gas taxes at the local level.

Stephen Acquario, Association of Counties executive director, echoed Kusnierzs concern about making sure consumers see the savings that could stem from a gas tax cut.

County leaders number one concern is making sure that any action they take provides a direct benefit to consumers, without negatively impacting services like road repair, senior and veterans programs, or 9-1-1 communications. Its a balancing act, he said.

Wayne Bombardiere, executive director of the state Association of Service Stations and Repair Shops, which includes many gas stations, said the group is neutral on the idea. If a particular gas station or convenience store/filling station didnt lower its prices in line with the tax cut, it would likely lose business to competitors.

Sales taxes and property taxes are typically the major local revenue sources for counties, so any decision on those income streams are difficult.

With food exempted from sales taxes, gas is one of those items that people purchase on a regular basis, meaning taxes paid on it generate a substantial portion of local revenues.

Money saved on gas though, could presumably be spent in other ways which could add to a countys sales tax revenues.

Hochuls suspension of the state gas tax could be extended beyond the end of 2022 and counties can suspend or drop the taxes for as long as they like.

As of Monday afternoon, gas prices in the Capital Region, according to the Gas Buddy website, were all above $4 per gallon for regular, with prices as low as $4.13 and as high as $4.29 in various locations.
LAKE GEORGE  Officials will move forward with a plan to combat invasive Eurasian watermilfoil with an aquatic herbicide, overruling public concerns about potential long-term harm to human health and the lake ecosystem.

Lake George Park commissioners on a 6-2 vote Tuesday approved a $39,000 contract to apply ProcellaCOR EC to two bays on the eastern shore of the northern half of the lake. Officials are eyeing the application in June at Sheep Meadow Bay and Blairs Bay before native plants emerge.

Most commissioners argued the plan relied on scientific evidence finding the herbicide had negligible risk to the public health and was effective against the invasive plants that choke out native varieties.

If the science was negative, we wouldnt be here today, said Commission Chair Ken Parker.

Commissioners Bill Mason and Dean Cook cast the dissenting votes, arguing they did not have enough information to be confident the herbicide was safe.

One of the things that is lacking in this is we dont really know what it does to human beings over the long haul, Cook said.

Many lake residents and a coalition of advocacy groups, including the Lake George Association and the Adirondack Council, have opposed the plan and Tuesday expressed disappointment with the commissions decision. The Hague Town Board unanimously opposed the plan. A petition circulated in recent weeks generated over 1,000 signatures in opposition.

Detractors at Tuesdays meeting, who were given a chance to speak after the commissions vote, cited a history of other chemical treatments that were found to have serious public health and environmental consequences decades after their regulatory approval and widespread use.

Long-term studies only bear themselves out in the long term, said Tom Morhouse, a former park commissioner.

Cathy McDonald, who lives near one of the planned application sites, said she didnt think it would be safe to swim in or drink the water after the herbicide was used and asked commissioners if they would let their kids swim in the treated waters.

Carol Collins, a limnologist who lives on Lake George, worried that various species would be harmed by the herbicide and said the monitoring plan would not measure many of the ways it could influence the ecosystem.

This is in my opinion a test, but it doesnt have the benefit of learning from it, Collins said.

Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky said there remained unanswered questions about how the herbicide will affect the lakes broader ecology and the many species that make up the food chain. Navitsky also highlighted a narrow vote of approval by the Adirondack Park Agency and the widespread public concerns he said had not been adequately addressed.

Eric Siy, president of the Lake George Association, vowed to continue fighting use of the herbicide, calling for more analysis of potential impacts to the lake.

Even though todays vote is not unexpected, but truly disappointing, its not going to deter those who are intent on keeping this chemical out of the lake until we know more, Siy said in public comments.

A legal challenge may be the only path left to stop or delay application. The association stated it will consider any and all options available to put this premature plan on pause for the protection of Lake George.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Park commission leaders, though, cited state and federal approval of the herbicide and its widespread success in other lakes fighting milfoil. New Hampshire has used the herbicide in numerous lakes, including in drinking water source Lake Winnipesaukee, and in some places has seen a return of long-missing native plant species.

The herbicide has also been used in Minerva Lake and Glen Lake near Lake George, where it eliminated nearly all of the invasive milfoil for multiple years.

The APA approved a project permit for Lake George earlier this month, despite opposition from Chairman John Ernst and three other board members. Ernst said he was uncomfortable using this as an experiment, and Zoe Smith said she wanted to see more robust analysis of the potential impacts.

On Lake George, the park commission and other organizations have been battling milfoil since it was first spotted in 1986, running up a bill in the subsequent decades of over $7 million. The commission spent over $400,000 in 2021 to remove milfoil by hand and by using teams of divers.

Dave Wick, executive director of the park commission, said hand-harvesting has been effective in many parts of the lake but the milfoil persists in some sites of dense growth. Even when crews attempt to remove the plants, fragments are able to reestablish large infestations. The commission gave up altogether on hand-harvesting efforts at the two sites included in the approved plan.

Wick highlighted a guarantee that milfoil plants wont return to herbicide-treated sites within three years, calling it a strong statement.

It really could be a game changer for helping control milfoil on Lake George, Wick said.

This story was first published by the Adirondack Explorer, a nonprofit news organization covering news and policy inside the Blue Line.
ANDES  When an elementary school student told her parents she had been touched in an unwelcome manner by the district's superintendent, the parents wanted to file a complaint. But they found themselves stymied.

The Andes Central School District superintendent, Robert Chakar, not only held the top position in the tiny Delaware County district, but he was also the district clerk, tasked with advising the school board and performing a multitude of other responsibilities. More troubling, Chakar also served as the district's Title IX coordinator  the person responsible for receiving and examining complaints about gender discrimination and sexual harassment.

Chakar has been on administrative leave since mid-February after the school board hired a law firm to investigate the complaint, which is not the first of its kind to be made against him.

The episode points to problems in small, rural districts, where a single person can hold multiple positions of power and potentially derail checks and balances.

School board Chair Kelly Bauer said Friday the panel would be releasing as much of the investigators' report as possible, but Iliana Konidaris, the attorney for the complainant, said the investigation was only "a step in making change" in the district.

The complaint to the U.S. Department of Education, a copy of which was provided to the Times Union, states Chakar put his hand on the fifth grader's shoulder while they were alone in a school foyer, and the student considered it unwelcome. The complaint is dated Feb. 14.

The investigation is being handled by Robert H. McKertich of the Binghamton-based law firm Coughlin & Gerhart, Bauer said Monday.

Phone numbers listed for Chakar in public databases did not work or went to voicemail; no one answered the door Monday morning at a home in Andes that is listed as a possible residence for him.

The state Council of School Superintendents is providing Chakar with legal representation, according to the district. The organization, which did not respond to a request for comment, previously provided legal assistance to former Schenectady superintendent Larry Spring as he faced allegations of sexual misconduct prior to his sudden resignation in in March 2020.

As the district's Title IX coordinator, Chakar was charged with receiving complaints of sexual harassment, according to the Andes student handbook. The handbook, however, lays out in more detail what should happen if a student believes they've been subjected to alleged sexual harassment at the K-12 school.

"The district encourages students who believe they are being harassed to clearly and promptly notify the offender that his/her behavior is unwelcome," according to the handbook.

It says that if the student "does not wish to confront the offender directly, or if such a confrontation does not successfully end the harassment," they are encouraged to tell a teacher. The handbook does not address who the student should tell if the teacher is the harasser.

The teacher who hears the complaint is then supposed to tell the superintendent  in this case, Chakar.

Because there didn't seem to be an traditional way to file a complaint, the parents of the fifth grader filed their grievance with the federal Department of Education, as well as with the Andes school board on Feb. 15, then followed it with a second complaint a few days later that dealt with how the initial complaint was handled.

The school board notified parents on Feb. 19 that Chakar had been placed on administrative leave, and in a Feb. 27 follow-up letter "regarding the complaints received against Dr. Chakar," the board said investigators would be conducting interviews for several weeks.

During the investigation, at least one additional complaint was made, a copy of which was provided to the Times Union. It was also submitted to the law firm retained by the school board.

In that complaint, a parent states the superintendent commented on her daughter's body, "remarking on her maturing 'breast buds,'" a statement the parent called "profoundly disturbing and inappropriate."

The parent also stated she had been "ogled" by Chakar in the past, to the point where the parent dressed conservatively when she knew she would be interacting with him, according to the complaint.

The parents had not mentioned the incident previously because they feared retaliation, according to the complaint.

This is not the first time Chakar has been investigated.

In 2000, he was forced to resign as assistant principal at Chippens Hill Middle School in Bristol, Conn., after an internal investigation found he had repeatedly sexually harassed staff and made inappropriate comments to students, according to a news report and documents.

A report on the internal investigation was obtained by the Hartford Courant and explained in an April 2000 article.

Chakar, then 31, was accused of inappropriately touching several staff members at the school, according to the article.

"Mr. Chakar's sexually laden conversations, comments and/or gestures had an equally chilling effect,'" the article quotes from the report. "Mr. Chakar's style of interaction involving hands on shoulders and waists of female staff members while speaking to them or standing in extremely close proximity to their bodies while speaking or not speaking to them, clearly made those staff members who came forward very uncomfortable."

Chakar had been spoken to on five different occasions about his behavior during his Connecticut tenure, but it continued, according to the report.

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"Mr. Chakar's comments and actions concerning female students are most disconcerting," the report continues. "At best they demonstrate an immaturity and unprofessional attitude that call into serious question his judgment."

Chakar was forced to resign after the investigation was completed, but threatened to sue, according to a letter from the district's then-superintendent, Ann Clark.

"The investigation established there were reasonable grounds for commencing termination proceedings," according to Clark's letter. "As a courtesy, and to avoid the embarrassment and expense of those proceedings, I offered you the option of voluntary resignation."

The letter was written in response to one by Chakar that objected to the superintendent's unwillingness to provide a letter of recommendation.

Though Clark wrote she had "no interest" in making the findings public, someone leaked word of the investigation to the press, according to the letter.

Twenty-two years later, Chakar is undergoing another internal investigation over unwelcome touching.

Konidaris, the attorney for the first Andes complainant, said investigators had interviewed her young client in March.

The investigation "itself is not the solution," she said, urging the district to improve its complaint process.

"Now is the time for the school and the board of education to implement change, and now is the time for them to review their policies, conduct sexual harassment training, and to ensure that they have in place an unbiased, accessible and fair reporting process for discrimination and sexual harassment complaints," Konidaris said.

She also expressed concerns about the school board's authority over the investigation. The investigation being conducted by a law firm hired by the school board, which will receive its findings.

"It's important to us ... (that) the findings be communicated very clearly to the community, and that there is transparency in the process, because these allegations are not just about one individual's wrongdoing, but systemic problems in addressing sexual misconduct and harassment at a small school," Konidaris said.

Bauer, the school board chair, said it would release "as much as the attorneys will allow to be released."

With Chakar on administrative leave, an interim superintendent was installed in February. Bauer said a second interim superintendent, Patrick Darfler-Sweeney, started work Friday.

Bauer said investigators were still conducting interviews, and she did not know when the investigation would conclude.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the person an Andes Central Schools parent said was "ogled" by Superintendent Robert Chakar. The parent of the second complainant said she herself had been "ogled" by Chakar.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  Candidates in West Virginias May 10 primary are hoping for the chance to earn their partys nominations for the U.S. House or the state Legislature. The overall ballot in the midterm election may be smaller, but the voting landscape changed after the state's once-a-decade redistricting was completed last fall. Early voting in West Virginia runs from Wednesday through May 7.

U.S. HOUSE

West Virginia lost one of its three U.S. House seats based on results of the 2020 U.S. census, which showed a 3.2% decline in the state's population over the past decade  the biggest drop of any state in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The new 2nd District features a race between incumbents in the former 1st and 2nd districts. The new district will run from Wood County along the Ohio River to the Eastern Panhandle and include the Northern Panhandle.

Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney will be joined in the GOP primary by Susan Buchser-Lochocki of Morgantown, Rhonda Hercules of Wheeling and Mike Seckman of West Union. McKinley is seeking his seventh term and Mooney his fifth.

In the 2nd District Democratic primary, security operations manager Angela Dwyer of Falling Waters faces former Morgantown City Council member Barry Lee Wendell.

In the new southern 1st District, formerly the 3rd District, incumbent U.S. Rep. Carol Miller faces Republican challengers Scott Fuller of Kenova, James Edwin Houser of Mount Nebo, Zane Lawhorn of Princeton and Kent Stevens of Milton. Second-time candidate Lacy Watson of Bluefield is unopposed in the Democratic primary. Watson lost in the 2020 Democratic primary in the former 3rd District.

Miller is seeking her third term.

HOUSE OF DELEGATES

The entire 100-member state House of Delegates is up for election. Republicans hold a 78-22 supermajority. More than half of the incumbents have no opposition in the May primary.

For the first time, the chamber is split into 100 single-member voting districts after the passage of a 2018 bill. Previously, the House had 67 districts with more than half of the chamber elected from multiple-member districts.

Democrats complained loudly last year when the GOP-led House passed its own redistricting map and the Senate concurred. Prior to the House vote, Kanawha County Democrat Mike Pushkin said the new map wasn't what he envisioned when he voted in 2018 for the single-member district bill.

Id really like to know who we have consulted in drawing this map, Pushkin said. What we have before us is a gerrymandered mess. If your goal is to protect political power well into the future, it was done quite well.

Republicans countered that the House redistricting committee held more than a dozen hearings across the state to receive public input and that lawmakers tried to avoid splitting counties and municipalities into separate districts where it was requested.

STATE SENATE

Half of the 34-member Senate is up for election. Republicans hold a 23-11 supermajority in the chamber, whose districts changed in configuration but not in numbers during redistricting.

Contested primary races include those between Republican Sen. Rollan Roberts and current Delegate and former Democrat Mick Bates; Democratic Sen. Owens Brown and former Delegate Randy Swartzmiller; and Republican Mike Azinger and Delegate John Kelly.

Former Senate Democrat Mike Oliverio plans to seek office again, this time as a Republican. Also running for the 13th District seat is fellow Morgantown resident Barbara Evans Fleischauer, a longtime House Democrat. Both have primary opposition.

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 U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart has one opponent in the GOP primary for a seat held by Democrat Ron Stollings, who is running unopposed.

Former GOP Delegate Josh Higginbotham moved to Kanawha County to seek a Senate seat among a field of four candidates.

Eight senators have no primary opposition and four others are not seeking reelection.

VOTING OPTIONS

Voters can cast an early ballot at their county courthouse, an annex or a designated voting location during normal weekday business hours or on the two Saturdays before the primary. All 55 counties offer early voting. More information on voting, including a list of early voting sites, is available on the Secretary of State's website.

Residents who wish to vote by absentee ballot must fill out and return an application to their county clerk's office by May 4.

Polls will be open on the day of the May 10 primary from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET.

Voters who arent affiliated with a recognized political party may participate in the primary of the party of their choice. Unaffiliated voters must ask poll workers for the specific partys ballot they desire, according to Secretary of State Mac Warners office.

VOTER TURNOUT

With no presidential, gubernatorial or U.S. Senate races this year, the lines at the polls are anticipated to be light. In nonpresidential election years, the primary election turnout statewide was 26% in 2018, 20% in 2014 and 24% in 2010.
ALBANY  After the New York inspector general's office revealed alleged mismanagement within the Catskill Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation, lawmakers are considering how to reform the public corporation, including discussing a possible merger between the embattled organization and the Capital District Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation.

If a merger is approved, the new off-track betting corporation would collect horse racing wagers from Rockland County to the Canadian border.

Emma Fuentes, a spokeswoman for state Sen. James Skoufis, D-Woodbury, told the Times Union Monday that the conversations about a possible merger are "ongoing" with "stakeholders."

Skoufis told the Mid Hudson News: "We are also talking preliminarily about whether it makes sense to merge Catskill OTB with a neighboring OTB and get the organization integrated with a neighboring organization that has a history of more effective and better management." He said that OTB would most likely be the Capital District organization, which is based in the Albany area.

Skoufis was previously advancing legislation to remove and replace all the members of the Catskill OTB's board of directors as a result of the mismanagement scandal, but now the senator is exploring whether a merger is a better path, Fuentes said.

Catskill OTB President Donald Groth and Capital District OTB CEO John Signor could not immediately be reached for comment Monday afternoon. The board of directors for Catskill OTB is scheduled to meet on Tuesday for the first time since the inspector general's office released its findings.

In March, the inspector general's office released a 2018 report detailing findings that Groth, who has lead Catskill OTB for decades, engaged in mismanagement of the corporation, including spending millions of dollars to rent warehouses filled with worthless equipment and trash. He also was accused of misusing his company car, dating a subordinate employee and collecting a state pension alongside his salary. Groth denied wrongdoing in a recent interview and defended his leadership of the corporation.

The report's release resonated with many local lawmakers, some of whom demanded a leadership shake-up in response.

New York also considered OTB mergers in 2019, when then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo suggested in a budget proposal giving OTBs the authority to merge. That recommendation never passed in the final budget. At the time, Signor said Capital District OTB would consider a merger under the right circumstances, while Groth said his corporation was not in "active pursuit" of a merger.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Catskill OTB operates horse racing betting parlors and kiosks, as well as online wagering throughout the Hudson Valley, The Capital District OTB offers the same services in counties to the north and runs a horse racing television station. As public benefit corporations, both make distributions from their revenues to local counties, the state and the horse racing industry.

Catskill OTB consistently collected the least revenues of the five New York regional off-track betting corporations for several years, while the Capital District operation has posted significantly stronger revenues, state Gaming Commission reports show.

Groth testified to the state Legislature in 2018 that Catskill OTB was in "financial peril." In a recent interview with the Times Union, Groth blamed the company's money woes on a declining interest in horse racing and said the Legislature must award Catskill permission to operate video lottery terminals to turn its business around.

In this year's budget, the state gave Catskill and Capital District OTBs more financial flexibility by allowing the corporations to draw from their capital funds to cover operating costs and their statutory obligations. Catskill has millions saved in its capital fund, sources said.
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FAIRFAX, Va. (AP)  Actor Johnny Depp concluded a grueling four days on the witness stand Monday, telling jurors in a calm voice that he filed his libel lawsuit against his ex-wife because it was his best chance to reclaim his reputation, just hours after they heard audio clips of him berating his wife with coarse vulgarities.

It was the only time I was able to fight back and use my own voice," Depp said of his decision to sue Amber Heard for a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post in which she refers to herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse."

He continued to deny that he ever hit Heard, and accused her of hitting him and throwing items including paint cans and vodka bottles at him. And jurors heard an audio clip of a conversation between Depp and Heard in which she seems to taunt him and suggests he won't be believed or respected if he were to publicly cast her as an abuser.

Tell them, I, Johnny Depp, I'm a victim of domestic abuse ... and see how many people believe or side with you, Heard says on the recording.

Earlier Monday, though, they heard recordings in which Depp referred to the violence that could ensue if their arguments were allowed to escalate.

The next move, if I don't walk away ... it's going to be a bloodbath, like it was on the island, Depp says on the recording.

In other clips, Depp loudly shouts vulgarities at his wife, calling her a degrading name and yelling, You stupid f- at her.

Depp winced on the stand as one of the clips was played; Heard appeared to fight back tears at several points as she listened to the recordings.

Heard's op-ed never mentions Depp by name, but he argues that he was defamed nonetheless because parts of the piece clearly refer to allegations of abuse she made in 2016 when she filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order.

The clips were part of a lengthy cross-examination of Depp that began last week and concluded late Monday morning.

Heard's lawyers focused throughout the cross-examination on Depp's drinking, drug use and charged interactions with Heard during their relationship.

During Monday's cross-examination, Depp actually said very little. Most of the questioning consisted of Heard's lawyer playing audio clips or reading vulgar text messages sent by Depp and asking Depp if he'd read them correctly.

Throughout the cross-examination, Depp showed his displeasure with Rottenborn's questions. When Rottenborn interrupted one response, Depp said, I was talking. When Rottenborn said he considered the question to be fully answered, Depp responded, as long as you're happy.

Depp also expressed disapproval as Rottenborn read headlines from a series of negative articles written about the actor, some dating back to 2014.

These are all hit pieces. These are dreck, Depp said.

Rottenborn introduced the articles to try to demonstrate that it was Depp's long history of bad behavior, not the 2018 Post article, that damaged his reputation.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

While the libel lawsuit is supposed to center on whether Depp was defamed in the article, most of the trial has focused on ugly details of the couple's brief marriage. Heards attorneys say Depp physically and sexually abused her and that Depp's denials lack merit because he was often drunk and high to the point of blacking out.

On redirect Monday afternoon, Depp sought to explain some of his coarse language. He said he was often speaking figuratively or making inside jokes with friends, but added, I'm ashamed that that has to be spread on the world like peanut butter."

And he again denied that he cut off his own finger during a fight with Heard, even though he told people as much at the time. He now says the finger was severed when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him.

Why would I start lopping off digits in my 50s? he said, showing his right hand to the jury. I cant take responsibility for what I now call Little Richard, my chopped finger.

The jury has seen dozens of Depp's texts to friends regarding his drinking, drug use and interactions with his then-wife, as well as his notes of contrition to Heard and her father.

He called the drug addiction accusations against him grossly embellished, though he acknowledged taking many drugs.

Depp says the Post article contributed to an unfairly ruined reputation that made him a Hollywood outcast and cost him his role in the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. Heard's attorneys say only Depp is to blame for his marred career.

___

Associated Press writer Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, contributed to this report.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  LGBTQ rights advocates called Tuesday for a Kansas state lawmaker to be formally censured after she publicly said she didn't want to share the women's restrooms at the Statehouse with a transgender colleague.

The Kansas House's top Republican called GOP state Rep. Cheryl Helmers comments unfortunate and Democrats condemned them. The state's leading LGBTQ rights lobbyist saw a new level of toxic bigotry in Helmer's emailed remarks to a University of Kansas student and subsequent interviews about Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Byers.

The furor over Helmer's remarks shadowed GOP lawmakers' attempt to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a bill that would ban transgender athletes from girls' and women's K-12 and college sports.

We know this has been going on in offices, and back rooms and conversations since the day I was elected, Byers said Tuesday. The shocking part is that it came out, that someone actually said it.

Helmer stood firmly by her comments while defending a bill she co-sponsored that would make it a felony for doctors to provide hormones or do gender transition surgery for children under 18. She also said she worried about the safety of young children who visit the Statehouse and decried what she called an in your face approach to promoting transgender rights from Byers, the state's first elected transgender lawmaker.

The 70-year-old Republican lawmaker also said she tried to make a point when she mistakenly entered a mens restroom in the House in early 2021. The men, she said, were surprised and upset, so she asked them how they would like it if a woman regularly used their restroom. Pressed on the issue Monday evening, she said parents shouldnt be allowed to change their childs gender.

You cant lop a penis off and then expect, you know, a little boy to now live his life, she said. Hell be in regret for the rest of his life.

Supporters of the bill on transgender athletes have said they want to preserve fair competition and are not attacking transgender girls and women. LGBTQ rights advocates said Helmer's comments prove anti-trans bigotry is behind the measure.

The Kansas Senate voted 28-10 on Tuesday to override Kellys veto of the transgender athletes bill. A House vote will follow, but it wasnt likely this week.

Republicans in at least 15 states have enacted bans on transgender athletes, and several have outlawed gender-affirming medical care for children. In Michigan, a conservative state senator accused a Democratic colleague of wanting to groom and sexualize young children, prompting a response that went viral on social media.

Helmer is a retired Wichita school counselor and nursing instructor, a conservative Republican elected in 2018 to represent a district south of the state's largest city. She participates in rodeo barrel racing and has a sign in her office that says, My horse is smarter than your honor student.

Byers, 59, is a retired Wichita high school music teacher and band director who was elected to the House in 2020.

In her email Sunday to 25-year-old University of Kansas graduate student Brenan Riffel, Helmer wrote: Now, personally I do not appreciate the huge transgender female who is now in our restrooms in the Capitol. Riffel, who describes themself as trans-feminine and uses the pronouns they/them, released the email to the Kansas Reflector, a nonprofit news provider.

Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, called on the Kansas House to censure Helmer, something that would take a formal complaint from another lawmaker and a two-thirds majority vote.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

It is a new level of toxic bigotry that I have not seen in this building before," Witt said.

Equality Kansas later sent a letter to House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., a Kansas City-area Republican, demanding that Helmer be punished. The speaker can strip a House member of committee assignments, but Ryckman noted that committees no longer are meeting for the year.

Ryckman said that if another lawmakers files a complaint, the House will form a committee to investigate, adding, She will be held accountable by her constituents.

Byers said several lawmakers have moved away from her in the elevator, and that the Kansas Republican Partys last platform, drafted in 2018, declares that, We believe God created two genders, male and female.

In her email to Riffel, Helmer wrote, A doctor can inject meds and dilute but cannot destroy what God has done in the perfection of the HUMAN BEING.

Riffel said in an interview that they weren't surprised by Helmer's response, considering what it would take" to sponsor the bill banning gender-affirming care for trans youth.

The rhetoric against the LGBTQ community has been the same for years, that were a threat to society; were going to hurt people, said Riffel. I just want to go about and just be myself."

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
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HOUSTON (AP)  A Texas appeals court on Monday delayed the execution of Melissa Lucio amid growing doubts about whether she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter in a case that has garnered the support of lawmakers, celebrities and even some jurors who sentenced her to death.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a request by Lucios lawyers for a stay of execution so a lower court can review her claims that new evidence would exonerate her.

Lucio had been set for lethal injection Wednesday for the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah in Harlingen, a city of about 75,000 in Texas southern tip.

Prosecutors have maintained that the girl was the victim of abuse and noted that her body was covered in bruises. Lucio's lawyers say Mariah died from injuries she sustained in a fall down a steep staircase several days before she died.

I am grateful the court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence," Lucio said in a statement provided by her lawyers. Mariah is in my heart today and always. I am grateful to have more days to be a mother to my children and a grandmother to my grandchildren. I will use my time to help bring them to Christ. I am deeply grateful to everyone who prayed for me and spoke out on my behalf.

Lucio's mother, Esperanza Trevino, tearfully thanked all of her daughter's supporters, saying, Thank God for the miracle."

Lucio was first told her execution had been delayed in a phone call with state Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican who has helped lead a bipartisan effort to halt her execution, said Vanessa Potkin, one of Lucios attorneys who is with the Innocence Project.

She sobbed. She was just overwhelmed," said Potkin.

In a statement, Leach said he was grateful the appeals court had pushed the pause button on her execution, saving the state of Texas from the irreversible blunder of potentially killing an innocent citizen."

The execution stay was announced minutes before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had been set to consider Lucio's clemency application to either commute her death sentence or grant her a 120-day reprieve. The paroles board did not review her clemency petition because of the execution stay. If the case were to come back before the board in the future, Lucio's lawyers would have to file a new petition.

Lucios attorneys say her capital murder conviction was based on an unreliable and coerced confession that was the result of relentless questioning and her long history of being sexually, physically and emotionally abused. They say Lucio wasnt allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession.

Her lawyers also contend that unscientific and false evidence misled jurors into believing Mariahs injuries could have been caused only by abuse and not by medical complications from a severe fall.

It would have shocked the publics conscience for Melissa to be put to death based on false and incomplete medical evidence for a crime that never even happened," said Potkin. "All of the new evidence of her innocence has never before been considered by any court. The courts stay allows us to continue fighting alongside Melissa to overturn her wrongful conviction."

Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a statement he expected the execution to be delayed because various legal issues remain unresolved.

I welcome the opportunity to prosecute this case in the courtroom: where witnesses testify under oath, where witnesses may be cross-examined, where evidence is governed by the rules of evidence and criminal procedure ... That is our criminal jurisprudence system, and it is working," said Saenz, who was not in office when Lucio was tried in 2008.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

During a sometimes contentious Texas House committee hearing on Lucios case this month, Saenz had said he disagreed with Lucios lawyers claims that new evidence would exonerate her. Prosecutors say Lucio had a history of drug abuse and at times had lost custody of some of her 14 children.

In its three-page order, the appeals court asked that the trial court in Brownsville that handled Lucios case review four claims her lawyers have made: whether prosecutors used false evidence to convict her; whether previously unavailable scientific evidence would have prevented her conviction; whether she is actually innocent; and whether prosecutors suppressed evidence that would have been favorable to her defense.

It was not immediately known when the lower court would begin reviewing her case. Tivon Schardl, one of Lucio's lawyers, said they hope to convince the trial judge to recommend a new trial. If such a recommendation is made, that would then be sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which would make the final decision on a new trial.

More than half the members of the Texas Legislature had asked that her execution be halted. A bipartisan group of state lawmakers traveled this month to Gatesville, where the state houses female death row inmates, and prayed with Lucio.

One of those lawmakers, El Paso Democratic state Rep. Joe Moody, tweeted that he was relieved for Lucio. A stay confirms what weve said all along: Melissa Lucio shouldnt be on death row," he wrote.

Five of the 12 jurors who sentenced Lucio and one alternate juror have questioned their decision and asked that she get a new trial.

Lucios cause also has the backing of faith leaders and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, and it was featured on HBOs Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
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SCHOHARIE  Amid questions about the relationship between local agents and the longtime informant who owned the doomed limousine, the FBI has opened an internal investigation into the 2018 Schoharie limo crash that left 20 people dead, according to U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko's office.

In a April 22 letter to Tonko's office, Assistant Director Jill Tyson said the bureau's Inspection Division opened the investigation after questions arose about whether the FBI was involved in the initial investigation of the Oct. 6, 2018 crash.

"In recent months, concerns have been raised about this incident and whether there was any FBI involvement in the investigation. As a result, the director ordered that the FBI further review the matter," Tyson wrote.

Tyson's letter to Tonko, an Amsterdam Democrat, did not provide details about the scope of the investigation. It was unclear if the internal review would could go beyond what, if any role, FBI agents played in the crash investigation.

Tonko said after the FBI dismissed his original request for an investigation, he continued to pressure the bureau to take further action.

"I look forward learning more from the FBI about the results of this investigation and will continue to do all I can to search for answers into this senseless tragedy, he said in a statement.

Tyson's letter appears to say the FBI investigation would be circumscribed to whether the FBI was involved in the post-crash investigations  which were done by the State Police and the Schoharie County district attorney, as well as a parallel probe conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board.

But Tonko spokeswoman Rachel Dejean said the congressman believes the FBI is looking into the agency's involvement even before the crash when the limousine company's owner, Shahed Hussain, was an undercover informant working for the FBI on anti-terrorism cases.

Family members of crash victims said they are encouraged by the FBI's decision to investigate its potential role in the crash, the nation's worst road transportation disaster in at least a decade. The limo, its brakes nonfunctional, crashed into a ditch after careening through the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store, killing all 17 passengers and the driver as well as two pedestrians.

Kevin Cushing, whose son Patrick died in the crash along with his girlfriend Amanda Halse, said Tonko reached out to the families early Monday morning to tell them the news. Cushing said the families were grateful to the congressman for persisting after being denied by the FBI at first. Cushing often speaks on behalf of many of the families.

"Its heartening to believe that the FBI is taking the allegations of possible FBI culpability seriously regarding the limousine accident," Cushing told the Times Union. "Transparency would be a welcome respite."

The FBI originally declined to investigate the crash earlier this year after Tonko demanded that FBI Director Christopher Wray release any information the bureau may have had, and asked whether federal agents may have had protected Hussain in any way.

In March, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, grilled Wray about the Hussains at a congressional hearing.

"This FBI informant had multiple run-ins with the law and various state and federal agencies that miraculously were brushed away again and again and again," Stefanik said to Wray. "I believe that this deadly limo tragedy ... could have been avoided had we addressed the illegal acts of this FBI informant. And the FBI owes families answers."

Hussain currently lives in Pakistan. His son, Nauman Hussain, operated the company in his absence and pleaded guilty to charges of criminally negligent homicide in September 2021.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Tonko wrote to the FBI in January, demanding to know of any involvement federal agents may have had in protecting Shahed Hussain.

Tonko asked the FBI to release any documents it has on Hussain and Prestige Limousine, along with any communications related to the crash among the bureau and the state Department of Transportation and law enforcement agencies involved in investigating the tragedy  as well as with Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery, who took criticism for her handling of the case against Nauman Hussain.

The crash has been covered intensely by the Times Union, which has also written extensively about Shahed Hussain and his work for the FBI's anti-terrorism units in New York and elsewhere.

A January article in New York magazine, which reported that Tonko declined to answer writer Ben Ryder Howe's questions about the limo owner's involvement with the FBI, ignited a firestorm of new interest in the case.

The FBI has repeatedly refused to comment on Hussain and his relationship with agents, even after investigative reporting by the Times Union revealed that Hussain had avoided responsibility for running the illegal limousine company for years out of a decrepit motel in Saratoga County that lacked state permits and was cited repeatedly for health and safety violations by local officials  all while failing to pay any of the school or property taxes on the motel for years.

The Hussains not only falsified their DMV registration documents for the Excursion, but they failed to obtain operating authority from the DOT to carry passengers in the massive limo, which weighed nearly seven tons. They also failed to get the limo inspected by the DOT as required every six months, and they failed to do drug testing on the drivers of the limo.

The Times Union's reporting also found that Hussain would often use his status as an FBI informant to scare away code enforcement officers and business partners who claimed Hussain had cheated them.
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TORETSK, Ukraine (AP)  The U.S. pressed its allies Tuesday to move heaven and earth to keep Kyiv well-supplied with weapons as Russian forces rained fire on eastern and southern Ukraine amid growing new fears the war could spill over the country's borders.

For the second day in a row, explosions rocked the separatist region of Trans-Dniester in neighboring Moldova, knocking out two powerful radio antennas close to the Ukrainian border. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukraine all but blamed Russia.

In other developments, Poland and Bulgaria said the Kremlin is cutting off natural gas supplies to the two NATO countries starting Wednesday, the first such actions of the war. Both nations had refused Russia's demands that they pay in rubles.

Poland has been a major gateway for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and confirmed this week that it is sending the country tanks.

The potential effect of the gas cutoff was not immediately clear. Poland said it was well-prepared for such a move after working for years to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

Poland also has ample natural gas in storage, and it will soon benefit from two pipelines coming online, analyst Emily McClain of Rystad Energy said.

Bulgaria gets over 90% of its gas from Russia, and officials said they were working to find other sources. McClain cited a Bulgarian deal to purchase gas from Azerbaijan.

Two months into the fighting, Western arms have helped Ukraine stall Russias invasion, but the country's leaders have said they need more support fast.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin convened a meeting Tuesday of officials from about 40 countries at the U.S. air base at Ramstein, Germany, and said more help is on the way.

This gathering reflects the galvanized world, Austin said, adding that he wanted officials to leave the meeting with a common and transparent understanding of Ukraines near-term security requirements because were going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.

After unexpectedly fierce resistance by Ukrainian forces thwarted Russia's attempt to take Ukraine's capital, Moscow now says its focus is the capture of the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region in eastern Ukraine.

In the small city of Toretsk in the Donbas, residents are struggling to survive, collecting rainwater for washing up and fervently hoping for an end to the fighting.

Its bad. Very bad. Hopeless, said Andriy Cheromushkin. You feel so helpless that you dont know what you should do or shouldnt do. Because if you want to do something, you need some money, and there is no money now.

Russian advances and heavy fighting were reported in the Donbas, with one town, Kreminna, apparently falling after days of street-by-street fighting, according to the British military.

In the gutted southern port city of Mariupol, authorities said Russian forces hit the Azovstal steel plant with 35 airstrikes over the past 24 hours. The plant is the last known stronghold of Ukrainian fighters in the city. About 1,000 civilians were said to be taking shelter there with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders.

"Russia has drastically intensified strikes over the past 24 hours and is using heavy bunker bombs, said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol's mayor. The number of those wounded will be clear once the rubble is cleared.

He also accused Russian forces of shelling a route it had offered as an escape corridor from the steel mill.

Beyond Mariupol, local officials said at least nine people were killed and several more wounded in Russian attacks on towns and cities in the east and south. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region of the Donbas, said on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces continue to deliberately fire at civilians and to destroy critical infrastructure.

Russian missile fire also knocked out a strategic railroad bridge along a route that links southern Ukraines Odesa port region to neighboring Romania, a NATO member, Ukrainian authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Ukraine also said Russian forces shelled Kharkiv, the countrys second-largest city, which lies in the northeast, outside the Donbas, but is seen as key to Russia's apparent bid to encircle Ukrainian troops in the Donbas from the north, east and south.

Ukrainian forces struck back in the Kherson region in the south.

The attack on the bridge near Odesa  along with a series of strikes on key railroad stations a day earlier  appears to mark a major shift in Russias approach. Until now, Moscow has spared strategic bridges, perhaps in hopes of keeping them for its own use in seizing Ukraine. But now it seems to be trying to thwart Ukraines efforts to move troops and supplies.

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 southern Ukraine coastline and Moldova have been on edge since a senior Russian military officer said last week that the Kremlins goal is to secure not just eastern Ukraine but the entire south, so as to open the way to Trans-Dniester, a long, narrow strip of land with about 470,000 people along the Ukrainian border where about 1,500 Russian troops are based.

It was not clear who was behind the blasts in Trans-Dniester, but the attacks gave rise to fears that Russia is stirring up trouble so as to create a pretext to either invade Trans-Dniester or use the region as another launching point to attack Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the explosions were carried out by Russia and were designed to destabilize, with the intention of showing Moldova what could happen if it supports Ukraine.

Austin, the U.S. defense secretary, said the U.S. was still looking into blasts and trying to determine what was going on, but added: "Certainly we dont want to see any spillover of the conflict.

With the potentially pivotal battle for the east underway, the U.S. and its NATO allies are scrambling to deliver artillery and other heavy weaponry in time to make a difference.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said her government will supply Gepard self-propelled armored anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has faced mounting pressure to send heavy weapons such as tanks and other armored vehicles.

Austin noted that more than 30 allies and partners have joined the U.S. in sending military aid to Ukraine and that more than $5 billion worth of equipment has been committed.

The U.S. defense secretary said the war has weakened Russia's military, adding, We would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.

A senior Kremlin official, Nikolai Patrushev, warned that the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned that if the Western flow of weapons continues, the talks aimed at ending the fighting will not produce any results.

Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting also continued. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the U.N. said they agreed in principle that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians trapped in the steel plant in Mariupol. Putin said Ukrainian troops were using civilians in the plant as shields and not allowing them to leave.

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Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalist Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, David Keyton in Kyiv, Oleksandr Stashevskyi at Chernobyl, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

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Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Kay Ivey was serving as lieutenant governor of Alabama in 2017 when Robert Bentley, then the governor, resigned following revelations of an extramarital affair with an aide. When Ivey took office as the accidental governor, she hewed closely to the contours of her partys right-wing politics, and that was enough to get her elected to a full term in 2018. Alabama Republicans have dominated state politics for years now, and Ivey was expected to continue its traditions of thinly veiled bigotry, contempt for the poor and ostentatious religious piety.

But Ivey didnt pander to the paranoid or play the role of the Mad Hatter for those ultraconservatives who have adopted lunacy and lying as political fundamentals. Last year, she kept a mask mandate in place longer than some of her fellow Southern Republican governors. She also urged Alabama residents to get vaccinated in a July press conference, blurting out her frustration with those who refused as COVID deaths rose in her state.

Folks (are) supposed to have common sense, but its time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. Its the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down, she said at the time.

That was then.

A 77-year-old lung cancer survivor, Ivey is campaigning for reelection, and she is desperate to win. So she has thrown aside decency, ethics and even truth to embrace the lies, the bigotry and the antidemocratic tendencies that are now hallmarks of the Republican Party. Winning is everything, apparently. If you have to abandon reason, champion falsehoods and wallow in racism to succeed, well, so be it.

She is hardly the only Republican who has decided to follow the well-trod road of political expediency, to cast aside reason and morality, to value victory over all else. The party of Lincoln is unrecognizable  a mendacious Trumpist cult that no longer even pretends to champion democracy.

Just take a look at the all-out effort by party leaders to ostracize and defeat Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. The family is well known for its steadfast conservatism, but the congresswoman simply will not embrace the Big Lie, the outrageous notion that President Joe Biden stole the election. She has also joined Democratic efforts to investigate the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. For that, she is a party pariah.

By contrast, party leaders have had little to say about the racist antics and paranoid lies of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Greene has praised Vladimir Putin, quoted Q-Anon nonsense and had her Twitter account suspended for spreading COVID vaccine disinformation. She has also enthusiastically endorsed Trumps Big Lie about election fraud. She drew mild criticism from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for speaking to a white nationalist group in March, but she barely noticed.

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Ivey, for her part, began to move further rightward as soon as she announced her reelection campaign. She made TV commercials denouncing Bidens vaccine mandates, and she joined other Republican governors suing to overturn them.

Ivey had resisted the Big Lie until recently, when, perhaps, one of her challengers, Lynda Blanchard, began to get a bit too close in the polls. (Ivey faces eight challengers in the May Republican primary, but the only one of any note is Blanchard, who served under Trump as U.S. ambassador to Slovenia.) Blanchard is running a well-funded campaign that began with an embrace of Trumps lie about election fraud. She also criticized Ivey as welcoming Joe Biden with open arms. Ivey had done no such thing, but she also had not yet drunk the Big Lie Kool-Aid.

Now she has. One of Iveys ads claims, The fake news, big tech and blue-state liberals stole the election from President Trump, but here in Alabama, we are making sure that never happens. She also has an awful ad denouncing immigrants that ends with No Way, Jose.

Many people Iveys age start to think about what sort of legacy they will leave. If the governor has thought about it, she clearly wants hers to be a record of winning at any cost. It doesnt matter if she has to channel George Wallace to do it.

Cynthia Tucker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2007. She can be reached at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com.
ALBANY  The state's highest court is set to decide whether Democrats engaged in gerrymandering to draw new political boundary maps for political gain, an issue that could have consequences on who can represent New Yorkers in their respective districts and also influence the political balance in Congress over the next decade.

The Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments in the case on Tuesday morning.

A group of Republican voters, who filed a lawsuit challenging the outcome, say the recently drawn political maps are unconstitutional. The argument is two-prong: the Legislature did not have the legal right to draw the maps and the maps the Democratic supermajority agreed to were drawn with the purpose of favoring a political party.

So far both a lower court and a mid-level appeals court have ruled, at least partially, in favor of the Republican petitioners. Last week, a majority of justices on the Appellate Division in Rochester said the congressional map was "drawn to discourage competition and favor Democrats." One judge agreed with a Steuben County judge who ruled that the Legislature did not have the right to draw the maps at all after the Independent Redistricting Commission failed to do its job.

Democrats have rejected any assertion that their maps were intended to favor them.

"Petitioners put all of their eggs in two unpersuasive baskets  their dubious computer simulations methodology, and the testimony of a second 'expert' whose analysis was so obviously wrong that he disappeared from the case," attorney Eric Hecker, who is representing state Senate Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins, wrote in a court filing this week.

The computer simulations, run by a graduate student, do not factor in "communities of interest," a required standard for fair maps in New York. Democrats argue that without that component, the maps cannot be taken seriously. Republicans and the majority of justices in the appellate division said that even if that information is taken into account, it doesn't explain how egregiously the maps favor Democrats.

Determining how to code for "communities of interest" and then having a standard to base it on is part of the problem, said Steven S. Elliott, a Delmar political scientist. Elliott had worked on redistricting for the Republican Party in the 1980s and for the Democratic Party in the 1990s and 2000s.

"There's no measure of that," Elliot said Monday.

Maps are intended to be drawn to provide voters with equal political representation. Depending on how or who draws the maps, they can lead to potentially multiple more districts that favor Democrats over Republicans based on the makeup of voters in an area.

"It's certainly not a very fair map if you look at it from an objective standpoint," Michael Li, a counsel at the Brennan Center, said Monday in an interview. "But the court is bound by the record and the question is what did Republicans put in and is that enough?"



The initial ruling by a judge in Steuben County found that the Republican argument was correct. In fact, the judge found that not only were the congressional maps drawn with political intent, but the maps altogether were drawn without the clear right of the Legislature, therefore voiding all of them, including the new state Senate and Assembly lines.

The mid-level court partially disagreed. That panel said the process was legal but not the outcome.

A decision from the Court of Appeals can set precedent on the state's current redistricting process, which was updated in 2014 to include the redistricting commission and also altered the standard of what constitutes gerrymandering.

Although this year was the first time in about a century that Democrats had the ability to draw their own maps in New York, it could fall back to a map drawer appointed by a judge in Steuben County. He selected a political scientist who is known for assessing maps, not drawing them.

The Court of Appeals could also determine the election calendar needs to be pushed back or any changes need to be made to the election process. The case is expected to be resolved within days, if not hours. The primary ballot is set to be certified by May 5 and the primary is June 28.

Changes in Capital Region and elsewhere

The Democrat-drawn map excludes the city of Rensselaer from the Capital Region 20th congressional district, but includes Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls.

Rensselaer would then fall into the 19th congressional district, which U.S .Rep. Antonio Delgado, a Democrat, currently represents. The new district would stretch south to New Paltz and west to Binghamton. Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican, is challenging Delgado.

A Republican-proposed "remedial" map, offered in recent days, would include Rensselaer but exclude Glens Falls. The 19th district would then no longer include New Paltz, stopped at Kingston, but still stretch to Binghamton.

One notable but subtle change proposed in the remedial map is on Long Island, based on maps produced by The Graduate Center at the City University of New York.

The village of Mineola, where former Republican state Sen. Jack Martins lives, would be included in the third congressional district, which U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, a moderate Democrat, is vacating to run for governor. Martins, who is now running for his old state Senate seat, was the head Republican on the Independent Redistrict Commission.

One of the final commission disputes over where boundaries should fall, before it failed to vote on a final set of maps, was over lines in Nassau County. Republican petitioners later on challenged the maps on whether they were constitutional because the commission failed to agree to a final set of maps.
ALBANY  U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, unveiled a proposed government reform plan on Tuesday that would overhaul New Yorks embattled ethics, campaign finance and budgetary regulations.

A number of Suozzis proposals are aimed at issues that have emerged during Gov. Kathy Hochuls eight months in office. Hochul is the frontrunner in the June Democratic primary for governor, and Suozzi has sought momentum by highlighting Hochuls record-breaking campaign fundraising from major donors, as well as the recent corruption indictment of her former lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin.

"The system's broken and Kathy Hochul has made it worse," Suozzi said during a news conference on Tuesday.

In a separate news conference on Tuesday, Hochul defended her choice of Benjamin in August, which she made despite published reports that raised questions about his campaign fundraising and spending. She noted that Benjamin had undergone a thorough background check.

"My critics, not unexpectedly, because they're political opponents  and have a different agenda  are mischaracterizing what happened," Hochul said.

Suozzi held his event with the candidate hes backing for lieutenant governor, former New York City Councilwoman Diana Reyna, whos own electoral odds were boosted by the indictment and subsequent resignation of Benjamin, who pleaded not guilty. Benjamin's name is likely to remain on the June Democratic primary ballot, although Hochul on Tuesday said she is pressing the Legislature to take steps to have it removed.

Suozzi noted that Benjamin's federal charges involve campaign fundraising and said he would lower campaign donation limits for New York elections to the same levels as Congress: $2,900 for both a primary and general election. A candidate for statewide office in New York can accept about $70,000 from an individual donor during an election cycle.

Another point of criticism: Hochuls plan to use taxpayer dollars to help build a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills  which she unveiled March 28, four days before the state budget was due. The timing gave the Legislature and public little time to scrutinize the details of a deal that may steer more than $1 billion into the stadium's development.

Suozzi said as governor, he would adopt a policy where any budget item over $10 million  the Bills' proposal hadnt been included in the governors executive budget, or the Assembly's or Senate's one-house budget resolutions  will be subject to a public hearing.

Following reporting by the Times Union, Hochul also has repaid taxpayers more than $30,000 for flights taken on state aircraft where the trips involved campaign activity. Suozzi said he would cease using state aircraft for "mixed use" trips involving government duties and campaign activity.

Suozzi has also criticized Hochul for not releasing her full schedule of activities in a timely manner; the Times Union requested Suozzis schedules on Mar. 16, but hasnt received any documents from Suozzis campaign concerning his own schedules.

Suozzi said that a plan crafted by good-government groups to replace the Joint Commission on Public Ethics should be adopted. In the state budget, Hochul and the Legislature created a new commission to replace JCOPE, but with members still appointed by the governor and legislative leaders. That proposal has been harshly criticized by reform groups as lacking structural independence.

Suozzi also faces an ongoing investigation from the U.S. House Ethics Committee over an alleged failure to disclose stock trade transactions. Suozzi says his portfolio is managed through independent advisors with full control over all transactions. The investigation will likely remain unresolved until after the June primary.

Suozzi said that for five years he had filed annual financial disclosure forms that detailed all of his stock transactions. He recently said that he and many other congressional members were unaware that under new rules they are also required to do periodic disclosures of every stock transaction within 45 days.

"It's funny how the same guy under an ethics investigation for failing to disclose $11 million in stock transfers now wants to tell us how to clean up Albany," said Ravi Mangla, a spokesman for the state Working Families Party, which is backing New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams in the Democratic primary for governor.

On Tuesday, JCOPE held one of its final monthly meetings before its replacement is scheduled. Commissioner Jim Yates disclosed new details about a recent lawsuit filed against JCOPE by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo during the meeting.

Yates said that state Attorney General Letitia James office  which normally represents state agencies in civil litigation  is declining to represent JCOPE, apparently over a disagreement concerning JCOPEs means of attempting to claw back $5.1 in book deal proceeds paid to Cuomo by his publisher. Instead, JCOPE is being represented by an outside law firm in the litigation with Cuomo, Hogan Lovells.
A "danger to society" who led a campaign of abuse against his neighbour before leaving her permanently paralysed in an attempted gun murder that "obliterated" her life has been jailed for 15 years.

The Central Criminal Court has heard that Dean McCarthy (33) "burst into" Sinead Connolly's (34) home with a gun "in a rush of adrenaline" and repeatedly shot his neighbour - someone he has known since childhood - while her eight-year-old daughter hid under the kitchen table.

Sentencing McCarthy today, Mr Justice Paul McDermott had set the headline sentence at 21 years in prison before considering the mitigating factors. He said the circumstances of the case were "shocking" and the consequences "devastating" for Ms Connolly and her daughter.

He added: "She sustained injuries which appear to doctors are unlikely to be reversible and that would change her life and that indeed is the case. She has suffered the most catastrophic injuries and almost died. Her life expectancy has been reduced and she has a permanent injury, that is the devastation caused by this case."

The judge said the extreme nature of the violence which erupted in the residential area, the "simmering undercurrent" of threats and bullying by McCarthy on the victim in the lead up to the shooting and the fact that a loaded firearm was summoned by the defendant within minutes was "not the situation that any community should be subjected to".

In her victim impact statement earlier this month, Ms Connolly called McCarthy "an evil, sadistic and cowardly bully". She said: "Dean McCarthy is a danger to society. He tried to kill me and even though he didn't he has obliterated both mine and my family's life. He deserves the severest punishment in law."

The court has heard that in the lead-up to the shooting, McCarthy had subjected Ms Connolly to a campaign of abuse where he regularly called her a "whore" and had grabbed her by the throat and spat in her face. McCarthy also told her he was going to "leave her in a body bag".

The sentence hearing on April 8 also heard that McCarthy was accidentally shot and seriously injured when receiving the firearm he tried to murder Ms Connolly with.

"Very menacing" CCTV footage of four masked men outside McCarthy's flat moments before the shooting was shown to the court earlier this month. One man can be seen holding up his fingers "like a pistol or a gun sign", the court heard.

Dean McCarthy, who is Ms Connolly's neighbour, with an address at Bernard Curtis House, Bluebell Road, Dublin 12 appeared in court today to be sentenced, having pleaded guilty last January to her attempted murder on March 6, 2021.

McCarthy also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm, to wit, a G9A Grand Power semi-automatic handgun, with intent to endanger life on the same date at the same location.

He further pleaded guilty to having in his possession Luger Barnaul ammunition, in such circumstances as to give rise to a reasonable inference that he had not got in his possession for a lawful purpose on the same occasion.

McCarthy has 12 previous convictions, all at District Court level, which include possession of knives, criminal damage and road traffic matters.

Defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC, for McCarthy, previously read a letter of apology to the court on behalf of his client saying: "Things got out of hand quickly and although four masked men tried to force entry to my home that morning to bring me harm, you did not deserve to be hurt like that. I sincerely hope you and your daughter fully recover and I wish you both the very best".

Mr Grehan stressed that this was not "a planned event" and that the case exemplified most "that people should never take the law into their own hands".

The court has heard Ms Connolly sustained a ballistic wound resulting in a burst fracture of the T3 vertebra and required surgical fixation of her spinal fractures. As a result of this injury, she is paraplegic and has a neurogenic bladder and bowel. She requires a wheelchair for all mobility and needs to use alternate methods to manage her bladder and bowel. Her life expectancy is also reduced by the injury and she will remain with all of the above impairments.

Mr Justice McDermott today set the headline sentence at 21 years in prison before considering mitigation factors.



McCarthy was sentenced to 16 years in prison with the final year suspended for a period of two years. It was backdated to when he went into custody on April 30, 2021.

The defendant was also sentenced to eight years in prison for possession of the firearm and six years for possession of ammunition. These sentences are to run concurrently with the sentence imposed for the charge of attempted murder.
LGBTQ-rights advocates are calling for a Kansas state lawmaker to be formally censured after she said she didn't want to share the womens restrooms at the Statehouse with a transgender colleague
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Alaska Airlines says its canceling nonstop flights between Anchorage and Honolulu during the summer months, primarily because of limited staffing
For those who haven't seen it yet . . . The Vietnam War by Ken Burns is an EXCEPTIONAL documentary which speaks to the divisive conflict that tore apart the U.S. in many ways that it still haven't been acknowledged.

While most of us hope the Ukraine conflict won't escalate . . . And as the 50 year anniversary of this American war approaches . . . The shadow of Vietnam looms over every U.S. military engagement.



And that leads us to a current local real estate fight and the struggle to build a new jail that has mostly been bungled by the current administration.



Here's a part of the argument that stands out to us . . .



Jackson County officials said the vast majority of residents relocated without major issue. So far 94 out of 106 have already been relocated -- with another eight of those tenants scheduled to leave within the week.



The rest face evictions.



But there's new deadline to leave for remaining tenants at the Heart Village Mobile Home Park. Jackson County said that date is now May 1.



KC Tenants claims the county has compensated some and supported some in their efforts to find new places to live. But the group said others have not received full compensation.



Urban Schaefer lives on social security and a VA pension. During Monday's Jackson County Legislature meeting, he said that it has been hard navigating his relocation process from Heart Village because of his disability.



"I got shot three times in Vietnam, and so my mobility is very limited," Schaefer said.



The veteran said the county damaged his trailer during the move and has yet to build a wheelchair ramp that he was promised.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Evictions loom for remaining residents at new Jackson County jail site KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Residents with disabilities at Heart Village Mobile Homes with disabilities say their lives are being ruined to make way for a new Jackson County jail. More than 100 households are being moved from the trailer park after Jackson County purchased the land.

Some Heart Village mobile home residents say Jackson County mismanaging their relocation Jackson County leaders say time is running out for the last of those remaining at the Heart Village Mobile Home Park, where the county plans to build a new jail.The county filed these two eviction notices against some of the few people left at the mobile home park but even more showed up to the Jackson County Legislature to voice their concerns and frustrations."It's like being in prison.

Developing . . .
Right now we play catch-up with Missouri's firebrand politico who has friends in high places according a recent report . . .



Conservatives might dismiss the slant of this report but the financial data checks out and is worth a peek for so many voters who don't take orders by way of political talking points . . .



Hawley  who is widely regarded as a prospective 2024 presidential contender  has now thrown his support to two of the most outspoken Republican populists running for Senate this year: Masters and Ohio Republican J.D. Vance. In both cases, Hawley is inserting himself into competitive primaries and backing candidates with notably anti-political establishment rhetoric and ideology.



The Missouri Republican lavished praise on Masters in a statement to be released Monday, saying he understands the threats our country faces  from the Chinese Communist Party to the corrupt Big Tech monopolies to the political elite determined to take apart our way of life, and adding: We need new leaders who will fight for this country.



Hawley, Masters, and Vance share deep ties  including a common benefactor: tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel has contributed $10 million to a super PAC backing Masters, his former de facto chief of staff, as well as $13.5 million to another group bolstering Vance, a venture capitalist and the author of the book Hillbilly Elegy. Thiel, a PayPal co-founder and early Facebook investor who has emerged as one of the Republican Partys most prominent donors, gave six figures to Hawleys 2016 campaign for state attorney general and cut max-out checks to his 2018 Senate campaign.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
To start this conversation . . .

Let's not forget that there's a former veteran and many of his friends who are frustrated with Kansas City Mayor Q blocking a great deal of their criticism. To be fair, this blog has been critical of Mayor Q and he's never blocked us.

Accordingly . . .



Many conservatives and quite a few locals believe that Elon Musk buying Twitter and taking it private will help protect right-wing "free speech" and offer more opportunities for advocacy. As always, we're skeptical but we'd like to throw the question out there to our blog community who might not be so gullible as to believe a great deal of hype about promises from billionaires . . . Moreover, I think we're all just waiting around to see if he puts former Prez Trump back on the glorified message forum website."



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Twitter accepts Elon Musk's buyout deal Twitter's board has accepted an offer from billionaire Elon Musk to buy the social media company and take it private, the company confirmed. The announcement ends a weeks-long saga Musk kicked off when he disclosed a large stake in the company.

EXCLUSIVE Twitter set to accept Musk's 'best and final' offer-sources Twitter Inc is nearing a deal to sell itself to Elon Musk for $54.20 per share in cash, the price that he originally offered to the social media company and called his 'best and final', people familiar with the matter said.

Trump will not return to Twitter even if Elon Musk purchases platform, will begin using his own TRUTH Social EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump told Fox News that he will not return to Twitter, even if Elon Musk purchases the social media company and reinstates his account, and instead, will use his own TRUTH Social as the sole platform for his voice.

Everything Elon Musk wants to change about Twitter Twitter on Monday agreed to be acquired by Elon Musk for around $44 billion in cash. The news came just weeks after the tech mogul launched his unsolicited, take-it-or-leave-it offer. State of play: Before he announced he had made an offer for Twitter, Musk had talked about the things he would want to change about the social media platform, from adding an edit button to limiting content moderation.

Could Elon Musk break Twitter or fix it? Tesla's CEO is reportedly in advanced talks with the social media platform, and a deal could be made as early as today.

You decide . . .
The incident happened at Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute on Monday afternoon, shortly after school ended for the day.
A city report recommends allowing fireworks in public parks for authorized events like the Ashbridges Bay show, and proposes to allow members of the public to set off fireworks on private property without a permit on Victoria Day and Canada Day. - Steve Russell / Toronto Star
The Hospital for Sick Children no longer provides PCR tests to schools, as per guidance from the ministries of health and education, but it still processes tests received from schools in its catchment area. - Andrew Francis Wallace/Torotno Star
Hundreds of people yet again had to line up for hours outside of a Service Canada office on College Street. With COVID restrictions ending, people came to renew passports and renew other documents. - Richard Lautens / Toronto Star
Toronto seeing dramatic spike in anti-Asian hate crimes, new police data says

Police say the COVID-19 pandemic remains a "key" contributing factor to a jump in hate crimes that began in 2020.
On April 25, 2022, Russian invaders again opened fire on Sumy Regions Bilopillia community from across the state border.

The relevant statement was made by Sumy Regional Military Administration Head Dmytro Zhyvytskyy on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The Bilopillia community. Tonight, our territory has come under provocative enemy fire from Russia. No casualties were reported, Zhyvytskyy wrote.

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 Ukrainian defense forces have liberated 931 settlements since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine started.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his video address, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

As of this time, 931 settlements have already been de-occupied. Many cities and communities are still under the temporary control of the Russian army. But I have no doubt that it is only a matter of time before we liberate our land, Zelensky told.

In his words, this war has truly become a peoples war for Ukraine. And it showed that all across Ukraine  from east to west, from north to south  the Ukrainian idea is equally strong, equally national.

According to the President of Ukraine, Russia can spend enormous resources to support the war, oppose the entire free world, take away from its people everything that could have been used to develop Russia itself, and focus this potential on destroying its neighbors. But, the lessons of history are well known, Zelensky stressed.

If you are going to build a millennial Reich, you lose. If you are going to destroy the neighbors, you lose. If you want to restore the old empire, you lose. And if you go against the Ukrainians, you lose, the President of Ukraine noted.

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.

Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine

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UN humanitarian organizations have launched a renewed appeal for war-ravaged Ukraine that calls for $2.25 billion to provide assistance and protection to nearly nine million people.

That's according to the UN's press service, Ukrinform reports.

Earlier, a few days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the UN called for $1 billion to be raised for Ukraine.

According to the report, Ukraine has a population of 44 million, and the war has left some 15.7 million in need.

The conflict has caused the worlds fastest-growing displacement crisis since the Second World War, uprooting nearly 13 million people. More than seven million are internally displaced while 5.2 million have crossed into neighboring countries, such as Poland, and beyond.

The updated flash appeal targets 8.7 million people, more than half of whom are women.

The assistance includes, in particular, the delivery of humanitarian aid to the most affected areas and payments to displaced persons.

On February 24, Russia launched a new phase of its eight-year war against Ukraine - a full-scale offensive. The enemy is shelling and bombing peaceful Ukrainian cities, towns and villages. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Territorial Defense Forces and the entire Ukrainian people are effectively resisting Russian troops and inflicting heavy losses on them.
The German federal government has agreed to allow the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

The Federal Ministry of Defence wrote this on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

Germany will send Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine," the statement says.

Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced this during a meeting of the military departments of the partner countries on assistance to Ukraine, which is being held at Ramstein Air Base in western Germany.

Read also: Pentagon to expand training for Ukrainian military

In addition, it became known that Germany would provide Ukrainian troops with training for the PzH 2000, a self-propelled, rapid-fire artillery system, which the Netherlands is sending to Ukraine.

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An international round table on "How to Resist Russian Terror and Genocide in the Occupied Territories of Ukraine" will be held on April 27 at 10:00.

Organizer: Accent Charitable Foundation with the assistance of the Amber Way CO.

The discussion will be attended by: Oleksandr Pavlichenko - political scientist and executive director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union; Ihor Semyvolos - Director of the Center for Middle East Studies; Mykola Davydyuk - political scientist and activist; Serhiy Danilov - Deputy Director of the Center for Middle East Studies; Stasis Kausinis is a human rights activist of the Citizens' Protection Assistance Foundation (Lithuania).

Moderators: Dmytro Levus - co-coordinator of CO "Amber Way", director of CSD "Ukrainian Meridian"; Oleh Lisny is the executive director of the Accent Charitable Foundation. Invited experts, lawyers, journalists from Ukraine and Europe.

The liberation of the territories of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Zhytomyr by the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Russian occupation opened a horrific picture of genocide and total terror perpetrated by Russian invaders. The world is beginning to recover from what it saw and react to the crimes committed by Russia. At the same time, the Russian army continues to occupy Ukrainian territories in the east and south of our country. According to information coming from there, the invaders have established a harsh occupation regime, war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed, Ukraine is being looted, and various terrorist practices are being used by Russian troops. The coordination of this practice at the highest level in Russia is unequivocal. All this requires a reaction from the world, the inevitable punishment of Russian criminals, as well as the development of effective mechanisms for bringing information about Russia's crimes to the world community. At the same time, Russia remains a permanent member of the UN Security Council with the right of veto, which is one of the factors complicating the application of mechanisms of punishment and sanctions. What should Ukraine and the world do to effectively punish the aggressor?

Additional information by phone: (050) 385 16 03. Contact person: Dmytro Levus.

Event format - online (Zoom) Journalists will be able to ask questions online through ZOOM.

Accreditation of media representatives: pressroomu@gmail.com Accreditation will last until 9:30 on April 27, to confirm you need to specify the name, surname, title of the publication, after which you will have access to the link to the event in Zoom.

The event will be broadcast on Ukrinform's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/UkrinformTV

Ukrinform address: Kyiv, street Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 8/16

Use of any materials from the official Ukrinform YouTube channel is possible only if the copyright established by the channel is respected. Demonstrating the video during the live broadcast, it is necessary to refer to the author - Ukrinform - to show its name on the screen and say it out loud.
The Russians are trying to involve cadets from Libya and participants in hostilities in Syria and Chechnya in the war against Ukraine.

According to Ukrinform, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported this on Telegram.

"Students of the Mikhailovskaya Artillery Military Academy (St. Petersburg), who are undergoing internships in Libya, may soon join the occupation army. The command of the academy is taking measures to return students to the Russian Federation and involve them in hostilities against Ukraine," Ukrainian intelligence said.

The Russians are also looking for servicemen who can agree to take part in the armed aggression on Ukrainian territory. To this end, they are even reducing the composition of the Russian grouping in Syria. In recent days, organizational and staffing changes have been made in this grouping. As a result, 200 positions in the Aleppo tactical grouping have been cut, intelligence said.

It is expected that after the return of the dismissed servicemen, they will be immediately sent to the areas of hostilities.

In general, the Russian military command is showing considerable interest in the military personnel who took part in the fighting in Syria and Chechnya.

"Currently, measures are being taken to involve them in the composition of the occupation army. The main regions where the mobilization campaign is going on are the Krasnodar Krai, Perm Krai, the Republic of Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kalmykia. These actions are accompanied by a powerful propaganda campaign against the 'Nazi/punitive' regime in Ukraine. The financial aspect is also important, which is tangible for the population of Russia in the context of restrictive sanctions imposed by the United States and Western countries. The information has been confirmed that participants in the hostilities on Ukrainian territory are additionally motivated by the opportunity to improve their financial situation at the expense of 'trophies'," the Main Intelligence Directorate said.
Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzheppar and Iceland's Foreign Minister Thordis Gylfadottir have discussed ways to strengthen cooperation and joint action to stop Russian aggression.

Dzheppar announced this on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

"On the margins of UNGA 76 with Iceland Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrun we discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation, joint actions to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine, including in the UN. Grateful for Iceland's steadfast solidarity with Ukrainian people," 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 and residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers, and ballistic missiles.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, more than 2.8 million Ukrainians have left for Poland. In particular, more than 300,000 people currently live in Krakow alone.

Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova said this following a monitoring visit to Poland, where she attended the Center for Assistance to Ukrainians in the Galeria Krakowska Center together with Consul General of Ukraine in Krakow Viacheslav Voynarovsky, Ukrinform reports.

"Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale aggression, more than 2.8 million Ukrainians have left for Poland and found temporary shelter there. In particular, more than 300,000 Ukrainian citizens, who left the country due to the war, temporarily live in Krakow, Denisova said.

According to her, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Galeria Krakowska Center provided support to 40,000 Ukrainian citizens every day, and more than 500 volunteers in Krakow continue to provide daily assistance to Ukrainians.

"I am grateful to the government of the Republic of Poland, the citizens of Poland and the volunteers for their help to our citizens during their stay in Poland. I would like to express special gratitude to the Consul General of Ukraine in Krakow and the staff of the Consulate General, who provide a full range of consular services on a daily basis, necessary for our citizens who left the country because of the war. Glory to Ukraine! The ombudsman wrote.

On February 24, Russia launched a new phase of its eight-year war against Ukraine  a full-scale invasion. 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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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that the Armed Forces of Ukraine understand the strength of Russian troops in the temporarily occupied territory of Moldova, Transnistria, and are ready for any developments.

He said this at a joint briefing with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi following their meeting in Kyiv, Ukrinform reports.

"As for Russian troops that are constantly located in the temporarily occupied territory of Moldova, namely in Transnistria, for many, many years, we know that they are in constant readiness, waiting for an order. We understand their power and the Ukrainian armed forces are ready and are not afraid of them, Zelensky said.

The President said he fully shares the assessment of the situation by Moldovan President Maia Sandu. He also said he discussed that issue with Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca who was in Kyiv on Tuesday.

"We clearly understand that this is one of the steps of the Russian Federation. The special services are working there. It's not just about fake news. The goal is obvious - to destabilize the situation in the region, to threaten Moldova. They show that if Moldova supports Ukraine, there will be certain steps," the President said.

As Ukrinform reported, on April 26, explosions were reported at a radio broadcasting facility in the village of Maiac, Grigoriopol district, in self-proclaimed Transnistria.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine stated that the explosions in Tiraspol were a planned provocation by Russian special services.

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Canada will purchase eight armored vehicles for Ukraine, according to Canadas Defence Minister Anita Anand.

Canada has finalized a contract for eight armored vehicles manufactured by Roshel. We will send them to Ukrainian friends as soon as possible," Anand wrote on her Twitter account, Ukrinform reports.

She added that Canada "will continue to provide Ukraine with diverse military assistance."

As reported, the Government of Canada approved the delivery to Ukraine of a number of M777 howitzers and associated ammunition.

In its budget 2022, Canada also allocated more than $400 million in direct military assistance to Ukraine.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has announced the creation of an international contact group on Ukraine's defense with the participation of more than 40 states, which met for the first time at the Ramstein Air Base on Tuesday.

Austin said this at a press conference in Germany, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

Were going to extend this forum beyond today, Austin said, announcing the formation of Ukraine Contact Group that will be held each month going forward.

The group will be a vehicle for nations of good will to intensify our efforts, coordinate our assistance, and focus on winning todays fight [against Russian aggression] and the struggles to come, he said.

As Ukrinform reported, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a visit to Ukraine, where they met with the Ukrainian leadership.

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Poland sends tanks to Ukraine and will receive armored vehicles from Great Britain instead.

Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki confirmed this information on the air of Polsat News TV channel when asked whether the statements by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about Warsaws delivery of tanks to Kyiv are true.

"Yes," Morawiecki said.

At the same time, he refused to reveal the exact number, citing security concerns.

"We will inform about this at the appropriate time, but given the security of primarily our Ukrainian neighbors and friends, we will not talk about this today," Morawiecki said.

He noted that the issue of Poland's delivery of MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine was "closed".

"There is no such necessity, there are no such demands, there are no such requests," said the head of the Polish government.

Earlier Morawiecki said that Poland sent arms worth PLN 7 billion ($1.6 billion) to Ukraine.

A few days ago, the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that London would deliver Challenger 2 tanks to Poland to replace T-72 tanks that Poland would send to Ukraine.

Earlier, Warsaw announced its readiness to hand over its MiG-29 aircraft to the Americans at Ramstein Air Base with a possible transfer to Ukraine. However, the United States rejected the proposal.

It is known that Kyiv has repeatedly asked Western allies, in particular the countries of the former socialist camp, to give Ukraine Soviet-made fighter jets, which are either in their arsenal or in warehouses.

According to several media outlets, Poland sends about 100 upgraded T-72M1R tanks to Ukraine.

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In a phone call, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres discussed the need to facilitate humanitarian efforts for Ukraines areas besieged by Russian forces, such as Mariupol and Kherson.

The relevant statement was made by the UK governments press service, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

They discussed their shared concerns on attacks in areas besieged by Russian forces, such as Mariupol and Kherson, and the need to secure a ceasefire, facilitate humanitarian efforts and allow civilians to leave, the report states.

Johnson made clear the importance of global solidarity with Ukraine, with the UK continuing to work closely with international partners to support Ukraine to defend itself.

A reminder that the Russian armed aggression has caused one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the city of Mariupol. Russian invaders are bombarding unarmed civilians and blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid. About 120,000 civilians are remaining trapped in the city.

The Azov Regiment, Ukrainian marines and motorized riflemen continue to fight against the prevailing Russian forces within the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, defending women and children. The Ukrainian side is making every effort to evacuate its civilians and servicemen.

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Norway will allocate 400 million crowns ($43.7 million) to a British-led initiative for buying weapons for Ukraine.

Thats according to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, Ukrinform reported citing Reuters.

Norway may also make additional direct shipments of weapons to Ukraine on top of those it has already made, Jonas Gahr Stoere told parliament.

Read also: Norway to send about 100 Mistral air defense missiles to Ukraine

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops are shelling and destroying key infrastructure facilities, massively shelling residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages, using artillery, MLR systems, ballistic missiles, and air bombs.
The war of choice that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine was the decision of one man, President Putin. Being neutral is a false concept here. One country has invaded another one. Putting them on the same footing fails to differentiate between the attacker and the attacked.

Thats according to a blog by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell.

Defending Ukraine from Russias invasion is rejecting the law of the jungle, the notion that might makes right. Being neutral is a false concept here. One country has invaded another one. Putting them on the same footing fails to differentiate between the attacker and the attacked. Such neutrality may respond, of course, to a variety of reasons, from hidden alignment to fear of reprisals, but it becomes in practice support to Russia and its war of aggression, Borrell wrote.

He noted that the present conflict is not the outcome of centuries old hatreds: it is a war of choice, which is based on Vladimir Putins own interpretation of history and is not adapted to realities of the 21st century.

At the same time, Putins assumptions have proven clearly wrong: that the Ukrainian government would crumble and Russian forces would take Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities swiftly; that the European Union would be at pains to show resolve and respond to this aggression; that the Western world would be divided and uncertain in its reaction; and that the broader international community would not condemn Russias invasion.

Instead, Putin saw a consolidated and swift response on the part of the EU and its key international partners, as well as a powerful manifestation of Euro-Atlantic solidarity.

Up to now, polls coming from Russia show significant support to the war, or rather the special military operation as baptised by the Russian leadership. However, this support rests on false information. If the Russian population knew what is happening, they would not be backing this awful conflict, The EU High Representative said.

He recalled that the Russian Duma had passed an impressive number of laws in the last weeks curtailing all possible freedom of reporting or expressing views on the war and imposing heavy penalties on anyone who does not accept the official version of events. Rallies against the war in multiple Russian cities have been repressed and the remaining free media have been fully silenced..

The authorities continue to peddle a false narrative of de-Nazification, coupled with allusions to undetermined threats against Russian security. Atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine are shamelessly re-attributed to the Ukrainians.

Such an accumulation of lies and falsehoods will backfire at some point. The Russian society is paying a high price for this war in many ways, and although the sanctions imposed by the EU and others in trying to end the conflict may initially help build a bunker mentality, the reality of events will one day be clear to Russian citizens. Tens of thousands have already left the country due to the war, the stifling censorship and the repression, Borrell said.

In addition, this is even truer because so far military activities have not favored Russia, despite its overwhelming military capacity when compared to Ukraine. Its Northern operation has been a failure and it has had to adjust its plans to concentrate its attacks on the Donbas and the South.

History has repeatedly shown that wars of invasion are rarely successful. Even when weaker or less organised, the entire population of the invaded country often ends up rising against the invader or supporting those that fight against him, Borrell recalled.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi met with the Prime Minister of Romania Nicolae Ciuca, who was on a Kyiv visit April 26.

"Your visit is an important, clear signal of support for Ukraine in the war against the Russian Federation," the president stressed, according to his press service.

The Ukrainian leader briefed his interlocutor on the situation at the front line and the heroic defense of Mariupol.

Volodymyr Zelensky especially thanked the Romanian government for the assistance it provides to Ukraines defense forces.

During the discussion of the issue of countering Russian aggression, it was noted that one of the critical elements of such efforts is the sanctions pressure on the aggressor, which needs to be strengthened and which should become a key element in coercing Russia to peace.

"Thank you for your clear position on the sanctions policy against the Russian Federation during the war it unleashed against our territory," the president said.

Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his conviction that the next, sixth, package of EU sanctions against Russia should contain truly effective solutions, especially in the energy sector.

The president praised Bucharest's assistance in organizing a critical transit to Ukraine of international humanitarian aid, the goods the country needs, as well as energy resources. Further steps were agreed to deepen such cooperation.

To this end, it has been agreed to soon hold a separate meeting at the ministerial level.

The head of state noted Romania's readiness to join Ukraine's post-war development.

The European integration agenda was discussed separately. Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Nicolae Ciuca for Romania's clear support for the Ukrainian people's aspiration to become a full member of the European family as soon as possible. An important component of the common European future will be the absolute protection and development of national minorities  the Ukrainian community in Romania and the Romanian community  in Ukraine.

The parties also discussed other topical issues on the agenda, and touched upon regional issues.

Following the talks, the president expressed his conviction that Ukraine and Romania should reach a new level in all key areas of bilateral relations.
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Published April 26, 2022

Elizabeth Shaw as a student performs with the Sound of Today Marching Band in 1977. Shaw bequeathed her collection of instruments and music to the University of Louisiana Monroe School of Visual and Performing Arts.

Chacahoula 1977

Elizabeth Shaw loved music, and she loved the University of Louisiana Monroe.

Through her will, Shaw, who died in July 2021, bequeathed her instruments and musical items to the ULM School of Visual and Performing Arts in the College of Arts, Education, and Sciences.

Shaw earned a Bachelor of Music from ULM in 1979.

The Elizabeth Shaw Collection of 770 items valued at more than $78,700 includes seven musical instruments:

A Steinway baby grand piano

Gemeinhardt flute and piccolo

Haynes flute

Conn-Selmer alto saxophone

Alexander French horn

Wagner tuba

The collection also includes sheet music, vinyl and CDs, and musical accessories.

The Steinway Company is one of the most renowned makers of fine pianos, said Derle Long, Ph.D., VAPA Director. We think the one donated by Elizabeth Shaw is around 100 years old. It is a 6-foot model and is placed in Bon Aire, the presidents home.

The Steinway is valued at $45,000. Sergei Rachmaninoffs signature is inscribed in the piano as records state he played it during his Oct. 20, 1939, recital in Syracuse, N.Y.

Long said the brass instruments are from top manufacturers, particularly the Conn-Selmer alto saxophone with a silver finish. There were some surprises in the collection, too.

Included in the recordings are around 155 vinyl LPs. When the boxes arrived, we had a student worker serendipitously reach in and grab a record. The first LP the student pulled out was an original Beatles Abbey Road, which is a popular collectors item, said Long.

This semester, students used the brass instruments, and the alto sax will debut in the fall with The Sound of Today Marching Band.

Elizabeth Shaws love for music and ULM lives on each time a note is heard, or a piece of sheet music is played from her remarkable, generous donation, said Susan Chappell, Executive Director of ULM Advancement, Foundation and Alumni Relations.

About Elizabeth Shaws musical life

A special time in Shaws musical life was from 1975-79. At ULM, then-NLU, she studied music, marched in The Sound of Today, performed in the university orchestra, and was first horn in the wind ensemble. Her instructors and mentors were the late Jerry Vance and the late Director of Bands Emeritus Jack White.

As a student, Shaw shared her remarkable talent for playing almost anything brass with the Monroe Symphony Orchestra (first assistant horn) and performed with the South Arkansas Symphony.

With her ULM diploma in hand and French horn and grandfathers alto saxophone in tow, Shaw traveled north to the University of Akron, Ohio, to earn her Master of Music.

Shaw returned to Shreveport and studied to become a paralegal. Music remained her passion, performing with Red River Brass, Shreveport Symphony, Lake Charles Symphony, and Rapides Symphony.

She would go on to a successful 30-year career with the federal government in the Washington, D.C. area, most of it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Shaw performed with the Frederick Symphony Orchestra and the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic (formerly the Mt. Vernon Orchestra).
MISSOULA  Filmed in and around the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, the fourth season of the hit television series Yellowstone brought more than $70 million in additional spending to the state, according to a study conducted by the University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

The study found that because of Yellowstone, the Paramount global hit TV series starring Kevin Costner, there were:

527 permanent jobs in the state, not including the 624 Montana residents who were employed during filming as extras.

$25.3 million in annual personal income for Montana households.

$85.8 million in additional gross receipts for Montana businesses and non-business organizations.

Additionally, annual revenues of state government were higher by $10.6 million, according to BBER Director Patrick Barkey.

The production activities of Yellowstone season four in Montana supported jobs and income well in excess of its own economic footprint, making Montanas economy larger and more prosperous than it otherwise would have been, Barkey said. The high-paying nature of the production-related jobs, and the considerable demand for locally produced goods and services, are the main reasons why the economic impacts were so sizable.

The report found that Montana has experienced growth in television and film in the last 10 years, with 122 productions filmed in 2019. Some of those films qualified for tax credit. More than 30 states, including Montana, currently offer some form of tax credit, often transferrable, to studios in return for locating activities within their states.

The BBER study on Yellowstone was sponsored by the MEDIA Coalition of Montana and Paramount.

We felt it was important to have accurate data as to the impacts of the media industry in Montana, said Steve Grover, CEO of Montana Studios and co-founder of the MEDIA Coalition of Montana.

During five months of filming in western Montana, the studios significant spending on everything from lodging and rental cars to veterinary and animal services benefitted a broad spectrum of Montana businesses. The business we got from Yellowstone really helped our bottom line, said Lynn-Wood Fields, owner of the Montana Media Center, a locally based services provider.

Barkey said economic gains should continue if Montana becomes a more regular site for large-scale film productions with a similar scale and scope to Yellowstone.

To view the full study findings, visit the Bureau of Business and Economic Research website at www.bber.umt.edu. Based in the UM College of Business, BBER was founded in 1948 to monitor Montanas economic and business conditions.

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Contact: Patrick Barkey, director, UM Bureau of Business and Economic Research, 406-243-2723, pat.barkey@mso.umt.edu.
Photo taken on April 25, 2022 shows the signing ceremony for the technical assistance plan of the China-aided Lao Rural E-commerce Project in Vientiane, capital of Laos.(Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

VIENTIANE, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The signing ceremony for the technical assistance plan of the China-aided Lao Rural E-commerce Project has been held here in Lao Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Chinese Ambassador to Laos Jiang Zaidong and Khampheng Xaysompheng, Lao Minister of Ministry of Industry and Commerce, attended the ceremony held on Monday.

Zhao Jun, the chairman of the project contractor, Anhui Easy Business Digital Technology Co., Ltd., said by the online conference that it will strictly implement the requirements of the management departments of China and Laos, complete the task with high quality on time, and contribute to the friendship and joint development of China and Laos.

The contractor told Xinhua Tuesday that the project, based on the successful experiences of China's rural e-commerce system, adheres to the principle of "guided by the government, operated by the enterprise and abiding by market rules," to build an e-commerce platform for Lao agricultural products, create a rural e-commerce development model that meets the needs of Laos, promote the export of Lao produce, help Lao farmers increase income and improve the livelihood of the Lao people.

The project will promote the concepts, standards and systems of "Chinese e-commerce", "Chinese technology" and "Chinese service" in Laos, as to deepen the bilateral pragmatic cooperation and interconnection between China and Laos in e-commerce and standardization. 
April 26 2022

A historic building in Glasgow's east end has become the latest to succumb to a spate of unexplained fires.

Twelve fire appliances were called out to douse flames at the B-listed Queen Mary Street Nursery on Bernard Terrace, Bridgeton, on Friday night, with the blaze being brought under control in the early hours of Saturday.

Within an hour of emergency services departing the scene Safer Scotland was on hand to seal off the dangerous site with mobile security including CCTV towers while a risk assessment of the surviving structure is carried out.

Managing director Phil Bunting said: In what is becoming an all too familiar occurrence, proven security companies such as Safer Scotland are being called in to secure the remains of yet another historic building destroyed by what might well prove to be arson.

We think enough is enough and believe our offer to support government and local authorities with security measures to protect Scotlands historic buildings before they fall victim to arsonists should be taken up more widely.

Glasgow and its environs have been beset by regular suspicious fires in historic buildings, notably a blaze at the B-listed Troon Station; a B-listed Territorial Army Drill Hall in Paisley and of course the Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School of Art.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu called for holding a meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday due to explosions in Transnistria, the republic's presidential office said

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2022) Moldovan President Maia Sandu called for holding a meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday due to explosions in Transnistria, the republic's presidential office said.

"Moldovan President Maia Sandu convenes a meeting of the Supreme Security Council today due to explosions in the Transnistrian region.

The meeting will begin at 13:00 (10:00 GMT,)" the presidential administration said in a statement.

After the meeting, the president will make a statement to the press.
(@FahadShabbir)

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said that the shadow market for the purchase of human organs from Ukraine for black market transplantation operations to European patients had revived

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2022) Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said that the shadow market for the purchase of human organs from Ukraine for black market transplantation operations to European patients had revived.

"The West has already encountered a revival of the shadow market for the purchase of human organs from socially vulnerable segments of the population of Ukraine for black market transplantation operations for European patients," Patrushev said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Trafficking in orphans taken out of Ukraine for subsequent illegal adoption will receive a fresh momentum in Europe, Patrushev said.

"Such a widespread business as the trade in orphans taken out of Ukraine for subsequent illegal adoption in Europe will also get a new breath," he said.
Russian Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin said on Tuesday that Ukraine has a potential to create chemical weapons

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2022) Russian Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin said on Tuesday that Ukraine has a potential to create chemical weapons.

"When Ukraine joined the chemical convention, it did not declare the presence of chemical weapons on its territory, but I think that, one way or another, the Ukrainians will play this card, I already spoke about encroachments regarding chemical provocations against our country," Shulgin said during a press conference at the Rossiya Segodnya information agency, adding that Kiev has potential, including "chemical industry."
The United States vowed Tuesday to move "heaven and earth" to help Ukraine win its battle against Russia's unprovoked invasion, as allies from 40 nations met to bolster Kyiv's defence against Moscow

Ramstein Air Base, Germany, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Apr, 2022 ) :The United States vowed Tuesday to move "heaven and earth" to help Ukraine win its battle against Russia's unprovoked invasion, as allies from 40 nations met to bolster Kyiv's defence against Moscow.

The meeting called by the US at its Ramstein airbase in southwestern Germany aims "to help Ukraine win the fight against Russia's invasion and to build up Ukraine's defences for tomorrow's challenges", said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as he opened the talks.

"Ukraine clearly believes that it can win and so does everyone here," he added.

The US is already the biggest supplier of international military aid to Ukraine and Austin said Washington is "going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet" Kyiv's needs.

At the talks, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said Berlin has agreed to give the go-ahead to the delivery of used Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine.

The move towards heavy weapons deliveries marked a turning point from Germany's timid backing for Kyiv which has put Chancellor Olaf Scholz under fire at home and abroad.

Lambrecht admitted that the Bundeswehr's weapons stocks are limited, but said it will turn to the inventory of Germany's armaments manufacturers.

"Ukraine orders and Germany pays," she said.

Kyiv has been asking for heavy artillery and tanks to repel Russian forces trying to seize complete control of its vast southern plains and the eastern region of Donbas.

But the Russian-made equipment which Ukrainians have been trained to use is now rare.

Some countries in eastern Europe which still had stocks have sent them to Kyiv, sometimes in exchange for newer generation US equipment.
Ethical Challenges in the Battle Against COVID-19 Focus of May 2 Lecture on Hattiesburg Campus

Tue, 04/26/2022 - 15:05pm | By: David Tisdale

Dr. Gregory Pence, a bioethicist, author, public speaker, and professor at The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), will give a talk exploring answers to fundamental questions about COVID-19, titled Unmasking the Hidden Ethical Challenges of Fighting COVID-19 Monday, May 2 at 7 p.m. in the Liberal Arts Buildings Gonzales Auditorium, (room 108) on the Hattiesburg campus. Admission is free, and the public is invited.

Dr. Pences presentation is sponsored by USMs newly created Center for Ethics and Health Humanities and supported through the Fairchild Lecture Funds. He will address such questions as: What did we do right, and what did we get wrong in fighting COVID-19? How has it changed us? How did it make everyone a bioethicist? How did it reveal inequities in our medical system? Are we likely to do better in the future?

"We are delighted to have noted bioethicist Greg Pence for the inaugural event sponsored by the University's new Center for Ethics and Health Humanities, said Dr. Sam Bruton, director of USMs Office of Research Integrity, professor of philosophy and an affiliate faculty member in the center. The topic of Dr. Pence's talk is timely and will be of wide interest to students, health practitioners, and local residents. Drawing upon themes from his recent book Pandemic Ethics, he will discuss the pandemic's hidden ethical challenges, that is, issues that most of us have not heard of or thought much about. "

Dr. Pence has been involved in Bioethics for almost 50 years, often writing about controversial subjects, including human cloning, genetically modified food, alcoholism and addiction, and the COVID-19 pandemic. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and California Senate, given talks in bioethics across the globe, and won every teaching award at UAB. For 33 years, he taught a required course in bioethics to medical students. He has published more than 70 essays in national newspapers and magazines. Dr. Pence is also a previous guest speaker for University Forum, when he gave a talk on Dolly the Sheep and the ethical controversies related to cloning.

For more information about this event, email usmhumanitiesFREEMississippi.

About the Center for Ethics and Health Humanities

The Center for Ethics and Health Humanities sponsors a wide range of educational opportunities on important issues in ethics and bioethics. It sponsors lectures and workshops featuring nationally known sponsors, supports three academic minors, and offers continuing educational opportunities for health professionals. usm.edu/humanities/center-ethics-health-humanities.php
Monsignor Marco Sprizzi, charge d'affaires at the Apostolic Nunciature in Timor-Leste hopes the country under the new president will maintain and build further ties with the Holy See for the common good.

By Robin Gomes

The Holy Sees mission to Timor-Leste, or East Timor, has commended the Catholic-majority country for holding a peaceful and democratic presidential election, hoping the good relations between the Holy See and the south-east Asian nation will continue to grow.

The common good

Monsignor Marco Sprizzi, charge d'affaires at the apostolic nunciature in the capital Dili, expressed satisfaction over the April 19 election, saying it was realized in a very democratic and peaceful way.

We hope that in the future and the following months the political life and public institutions in Timor-Leste would continue to function efficiently for the service of the people, he told reporters in Dili on April 25 after holding talks with Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhaes, chairman of the Council of Ministers.

The election

Incumbent president Francisco Guterres sought a second term in the March 19 presidential election. As none of the presidential nominees received at least 50% of the votes cast, a runoff was held on 19 April 2022 between the top two candidates, Guterres and Jose Ramos-Horta, the 72-year-old former prime minister and president.

Ramos-Horta won the runoff with 62.1 per cent of the votes. Guterres issued a statement on April 22 accepting his defeat, which was welcomed by many as a democratic gesture.

The campaign was described as "largely peaceful and competitive" by EU electoral observer Ruiz Devesa.

Independence leader Ramos-Horta, who shared the 1996 Noble Peace Prize with Salesian Bishop Ximenes Belo of Timor-Leste for working "towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor," served as president from 2007 to 2012, and prime minister and foreign minister before that. He will be sworn into office on May 20, the 20th anniversary of Timor-Lestes independence.

Asias most Catholic nation

With over 98 per cent of its 1.3 million population professing Catholicism, Timor-Leste is Asias most populous Catholic nation after the Philippines, which is some 86 per cent Catholic. However, with 84 million faithful out of a total population of some 109.6 million, the Philippines is home to Asias largest Catholic population in absolute numbers.

A Portuguese colony since the 16th century, Timor-Leste declared independence when the Portuguese left on 28 November 1975. However, neighbouring Indonesia invaded and annexed it on 17 July the following year. An often violent 24-year resistance movement led Timor-Leste to independence on 20 May 2002 following a 1999 United Nations-backed referendum.

Saint Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit Timor-Leste in October 1989, when the country was still under Indonesian control.

Holy See-Timor-Leste ties

The Holy See has long been considered one of Timor-Lestes closest diplomatic partners. Their relationship was strengthened by the signing of a concordat in 2015, when Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin visited the country on the occasion of 500 years of the Catholic Church in the country.

The agreement defines specific areas in which the Church can serve the countrys people freely and openly, including providing spiritual assistance in prisons, hospitals, clinics, and orphanages, doing charity work and establishing schools at every level.

Monsignor Sprizzi stressed that Timor-Leste and the Holy See will continue maintaining strong diplomatic ties for the good of the nation.

Reiterating the stand of the East Timorese bishops in the 5th election of the nation, the Vatican diplomat stressed that the Holy See never favoured a particular candidate. Both candidates were Catholics and we express our great appreciation for both of them.

We will continue cultivating these relations in the same spirit, and the Holy See is always there to support the government of Timor-Leste to have better development," East Timorese state news agency Tatoli quoted Msgr. Sprizzi as saying. "Our only interest is for the common good of the people, he stressed.

The Catholic Church

Meanwhile, Salesian Archbishop Dom Virgilio do Carmo da Silva of Dili commended the people for their participation in the election and that "the new president will work hard to get the country out of poverty."

Some 42% of East Timorese live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank's report. This is a result of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Archbishop da Silva asked the new president to stand above vested interests and act "as a universal leader." "We must maintain the Constitution and instil discipline in all residents to permanently convert our nation into a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic society," he said. (Source: UCANEWS)
As World Immunization Week is observed from 24-30 April with the theme Long Life for All, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its vaccine champions continue to support sharing accurate information about vaccines as well as access to vaccines across the globe.

By Lisa Zengarini

The last week of April marks World Immunization Week, a yearly event bringing together the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF and other organizations, including Churches, to reiterate the importance of vaccines against diseases and spur greater engagement around immunization globally.

Long Life for All

This years week is focused on the theme Long Life for All which is intended to convey the historical significance the development of vaccines has had on the world and their importance to a long and healthy life.

1.1 billion children immunized in 20 years

For the past two decades, more than 1.1 billion children have been immunized, saving 4-5 million lives each year and helping to reduce child deaths by half. Vaccines for common diseases like measles, diarrheal diseases and pneumonia are enabling more children around the world to live longer and more fulfilling lives. Vaccines have also been crucial against the new coronavirus , though injustice and inequity remain in their distribution and have yet to benefit those most in need.

The impact of the COVID-19 on vaccine coverage

At the same time, COVID-19 has impacted negatively on immunization coverage for other diseases. Indeed, the pandemic has contributed to about 23 million children missing out on basic vaccines in 2020 alone.

Global vaccine coverage also continues to be hampered by conflicts and climate crisis-induced events which disrupt livelihoods, health services, and infrastructure.

WCC commitment to immunization

Among the many organizations involved in World Immunization Week is the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its member Churches who have long been engaged in raising awareness on the benefits of immunization, in supporting governments to implement high-quality immunization programmes and in advocating for universal access to vaccinations.

As the Week kicked off on 24 April, nine Church leaders from different continents joined a team of 300 specially assigned Vaccine Champions, mobilized by UNICEF to support sharing accurate information about vaccines as well as access to vaccines across the globe.

We must exercise the considerable influence and trust we enjoy as church leaders in a worldwide fellowship, and do everything we can to save lives and ease the burdens on health care workers.

Challenging misleading information

Among them, Reverend Ioan Sauca, the World Council of Churches acting general secretary, who said the campaign offers an opportunity for faith actors to encourage people to get vaccinated and to counter misleading information, especially on COVID-19 vaccines.

As a Christian fellowship it is our duty and moral obligation to publicly challenge rumours and myths and confront them with facts, he explains. We must take up responsibility and advocate for what is right from a medical, ethical and human rights perspective, Sauca says.

This view is echoed in the reflections shared by the other eight members of the WCC team. We have a long history of vaccinations saving millions of lives, and as such we should reject the conspiracy theories against scientific evidence and advocate for everyone to get vaccinated against the deadly COVID-19 virus, avoiding nationalistic tendencies which may isolate countries without many resources, says Rev. Dr Fidon Mwombeki, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC).

Solidarity

According to Archbishop emeritus Dr Anders Wejryd, WCC president for Europe, vaccination is simply about solidarity. Until everyone is safe, no one is safe. Together we can reach that day, says Jrgen Skov Srensen, general secretary, of the Conference of European Churches (CEC).

Read also 17/03/2022 Holy See reiterates call for universal access to Covid-19 vaccines In a statement released during the 49th Session of the Human Rights Council the Holy See reaffirms the need to temporarily suspend intellectual property rights so as to ensure ...

A Christian responsibility

For his part, Jim Winkler, president and general secretary of National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCCUSA), points out that it is our faithful responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ to take the vaccine against COVID-19 so that we can be part of the global effort to overcome the pandemic.

Dr Mathews George Chunakara, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), points to the alarming disparities in the access to vaccines across the world, noting that the dearth of adequate vaccines and lack of awareness and trust in vaccination are often hindering successful vaccination drives in Asia.
JAKARTA, Indonesia  Indonesia is prepared to widen its ban on exports of refined palm olein if it faces domestic shortages of derivatives used in the production of cooking oil, according to details presented at a meeting between government and industry officials.

The world's biggest palm oil exporter plans to halt shipments of refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm olein but will allow exports of crude palm oil or other derivatives from Thursday, senior government official Musdhalifah Machmud, who verified the details presented, told Reuters.

RBD palm olein accounts for about 40% of Indonesia's total shipments of palm oil products, according to analysts' estimates, which means the ban could significantly affect export earnings in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Indonesia typically exports about $2.5 billion to $3 billion of palm oil products per month.

Authorities will strictly monitor domestic supply of refined palm oil and crude palm oil, which are used as raw materials to make RBD olein, according to presentation slides.

"If there is shortage of refined palm oil, then further export bans can be carried out," read the text on a slide shown to palm oil companies on Monday.

RBD palm olein is extracted by crushing palm fruit and is then processed to remove impurities to create a material used in many products, including cooking oil and snacks.

China, India, the Philippines and South Korea, source between 46% and 58% of their total palm oil imports from Indonesia, Nomura said in a research note, adding that China was the top buyer of Indonesia's RBD olein.

President Joko Widodo announced the ban on exports of cooking oil and its raw material on Friday to help control soaring domestic prices, but provided no details.

The announcement has sent global edible oil prices soaring as supplies were already choked by other factors such as drought and shortages from Russia's invasion of major crop producer Ukraine.

Markets had previously thought the ban would cover a wider range of palm oil products, sending the rupiah IDR= and shares of Indonesian palm oil companies tumbling on Monday.

The rupiah rebounded 0.3% on Tuesday, while palm company shares also gained. Malaysian benchmark crude palm futures FCPOc3, which had reversed gains after details of the ban emerged, rose 1.5% by 0900 GMT on Tuesday.

PRESIDENT'S APPROVAL RATING FALLS

Suhanto, secretary general of the trade ministry, said the government was preparing regulations on the export ban, but declined to divulge details.

An official at Musim Mas, a Singapore-based private palm oil company, said while the smaller scope of the ban showed the government had considered the impact on the industry, it could also mean the ban may last longer.

Some analysts, however, expect the ban to be temporary due to limited domestic palm oil storage capacity.

The Indonesian government has been criticized by some analysts and politicians for erratic policymaking to contain the rise in cooking oil prices, having already implemented and revoked an export restriction this year.

The government seeks to lower the price of bulk cooking oil to 14,000 rupiah per liter, government official Machmud said later on Tuesday. She did not respond when asked if the export ban will be lifted when the price target was reached.

Bulk cooking oil was offered at about 20,000 rupiah per liter at online marketplaces on Tuesday.

Approval ratings for Jokowi, as the Indonesian president is popularly known, dropped to 59.9% this month from 75.3% at the beginning of 2022, due to rising prices of necessities including cooking oil, independent pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia said.

More than 60% of respondents in the survey, which was conducted before the export ban was announced, also supported halting cooking oil shipments.

Students have held street demonstrations in several cities across the archipelago this month to protest against high cooking oil prices.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told employees Monday that he is uncertain of the direction the company will go after Tesla CEO Elon Musk takes over.

Musk reached an agreement Monday to buy Twitter for $44 billion, promising to make the platform more supportive of free speech. The move has raised questions about how far Twitter will go to relax restrictions on users' speech and led critics to fear new policies would make it easier for people to spread disinformation and hate speech.

Agrawal answered employee questions Monday in a town hall that was heard by Reuters.

The news agency reported that Agrawal told employees, "Once the deal closes, we don't know which direction the platform will go." The CEO was answering a question about whether former President Donald Trump would be allowed to rejoin Twitter despite his permanent suspension.

"I believe when we have an opportunity to speak with Elon, it's a question we should address with him," Agrawal said.

Twitter banned Trump after the U.S. Capitol was stormed on January 6, 2021, citing a risk of more violence.

Musk has proposed relaxing the type of content restrictions that led Twitter to suspend the former president's account.

Musk, who is also CEO of rocket developer SpaceX, has said Twitter needs to become a private company so that it can realize its potential for free speech. He has described himself as a "free-speech absolutist."

Reuters reported that Agrawal deferred many staff questions to Musk, who he said would join Twitter staff for a question-and-answer session at a later date.

Agrawal also told employees there were no plans for layoffs.

Musk said in a securities filing this month that he did not have confidence in Twitter's management.

He said in a statement Monday that "free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated."

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
Police in Pakistan said Tuesday three Chinese nationals and their local driver were killed in a suicide bombing of a van in the southern city of Karachi.



Senior police officers told reporters the victims had been traveling to the city's Chinese-built Confucius Institute when the blast hit their van at the entrance.



Those killed included the director of the institute, which offers Chinese language graduate classes, and two female teachers. Also killed was their Pakistani driver. Another Chinese national was injured in the attack.

Ghulam Nabi Memon, the Karachi police chief, said the blast might have been the work of a suicide bomber but an investigation was underway. He noted that an initial review of closed-circuit video from the site showed that a person dressed in a black burqa walked up to the van just before the explosion.

Local television channels later aired footage showing a female attacker detonating the bomb as the slow-moving van was entering the institute.



An outlawed separatist group known as the Baluch Liberation Army reportedly took responsibility for the bombing, saying a woman carried out the attack.



It was not immediately possible to verify the militant group's claims from independent sources.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry condemned the Karachi attack as a "reprehensible terrorist" act.



"The cowardly incident is a direct attack on the Pakistan-China friendship and ongoing cooperation. Pakistan and China are close friends," a ministry statement said.

Later Tuesday, in a video message sent to reporters, a masked BLA commander claimed that his group has formed a "special unit" to target Chinese officials and installations to ensure CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) projects "will fail miserably" in Baluchistan.

"President Xi Jinping, you still have time to quit Baluchistan, or you will witness a retaliation from Baluch sons and daughters that you will never forget," warned the militant commander while addressing the Chinese leader.

The BLA had taken credit for staging a 2018 gun and bomb attack against the Chinese consulate in Karachi that killed two Pakistani security guards.



The militant group, along with other Baluch separatists, operate mainly out of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province. The militants are opposed to Beijing's economic investments under the multibillion-dollar CPEC.



The CPEC, an extension of Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, has built roads, power plants and the deep-water Gwadar port in Baluchistan.



Pakistan accuses rival India of supporting and funding Baluch militants to undermine CPEC, charges that New Delhi rejects.

In February, the BLA attacked two Pakistani army bases in Baluchistan, and the ensuing clashes lasted three days, killing nine soldiers and 20 assailants.

BLA militants tried to storm the Karachi Stock Exchange building in 2020, where a Chinese consortium has a 40% stake, but security forces engaged the assailants in the parking area and killed all of them.



The insurgent group is designated as a terrorist organization by Pakistan and the United States.



"Pakistan remains the most dangerous place for overseas Chinese workers, which is a real problem," tweeted Adam Weinstein, a research fellow at the U.S.-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.



In July, a suicide car bombing of a bus convoy transporting Chinese workers to a China-funded Dasu hydropower project under construction in the northern region of Kohistan killed nine of the workers and three security guards. It was the largest loss of life of Chinese nationals in Pakistan.
The first all-private astronaut team ever flown aboard the International Space Station (ISS) safely splashed down in the Atlantic off Florida's coast on Monday, concluding a two-week science mission hailed as a landmark in commercialized human spaceflight.

The SpaceX crew capsule carrying the four-man team, led by a retired NASA astronaut who is now vice president of the Texas company behind the mission, Axiom Space, parachuted into the sea after a 16-hour descent from orbit.

The splashdown capped the latest, and most ambitious, in a recent series of rocket-powered expeditions bankrolled by private investment capital and wealthy passengers rather than taxpayer dollars six decades after the dawn of the space age.

The mission's crew was assembled, equipped and trained entirely at private expense by Axiom, a five-year-old venture based in Houston and headed by NASA's former ISS program manager. Axiom also has contracted with NASA to build the first commercial addition to and ultimate replacement of the space station.

SpaceX, the launch service founded by Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, supplied the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule that carried Axiom's team to and from orbit, controlled the flight and handled the splashdown recovery.

NASA, which has encouraged the further commercialization of space travel, furnished the launch site at its Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and assumed responsibility for the Axiom crew while they were aboard the space station. The U.S. space agency's ISS crew members also pitched in to assist the private astronauts when needed.

The multinational Axiom team was led by Spanish-born retired NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, 63, the company's vice president for business development. His second-in-command was Larry Connor, 72, a technology entrepreneur and aerobatics aviator from Ohio designated the mission pilot.

Joining them as "mission specialists" were investor-philanthropist and former Israeli fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe, 64, and Canadian businessman and philanthropist Mark Pathy, 52.

Connor, Stibbe and Pathy flew as customers of Axiom, which charges $50 million to $60 million per seat for such flights, according to Mo Islam, head of research for the investment firm Republic Capital, which holds stakes in both Axiom and SpaceX.

Fiery reentry

The splashdown, carried live by an Axiom-SpaceX webcast, was originally planned for last Wednesday, but the return flight was delayed, and the mission was extended to about a week due to windy weather. The potential costs of such an extension were factored into Axiom's contracts with NASA and its customers, so none of the parties bore any additional charges, the company said.

The return from orbit followed a reentry plunge through Earth's atmosphere generating frictional heat that sends temperatures surrounding the outside of the capsule soaring to 1,927 degrees Celsius.

Applause was heard from the SpaceX flight control center in suburban Los Angeles as parachutes billowed open above the capsule in the final stage of its descent  slowing its fall to about 24 kilometers per hour  and again as the craft hit the water off the coast of Jacksonville.

In less than an hour, the heat-scorched Crew Dragon was hoisted onto a recovery ship before the capsule's side hatch was opened and the four astronauts, garbed in helmeted white-and-black spacesuits, were helped out one by one onto the deck. All were visibly unsteady on their feet from over two weeks spent in a weightless environment.

Each received a quick onboard checkup before they were flown back to Florida for more thorough medical evaluations.

"Everybody looks great and is doing reasonably well," Axiom operations director Derek Hassmann told a post-splashdown news briefing, describing the astronauts as being "in great spirits."

'Low-Earth orbit economy

Axiom, SpaceX, and NASA have touted the occasion as a milestone in the expansion of privately funded space-based commerce, constituting what industry insiders call the "low-Earth orbit economy," or "LEO economy" for short.

"We proved that we can prepare the crew in a way that makes them effective and productive in orbit," Hassmann said. "What it demonstrates to the world is that there is a new avenue to get to low-Earth orbit."

Launched on April 8, the Axiom team spent 17 days in orbit, 15 of those aboard the space station with the seven regular, government-paid ISS crew members: three American astronauts, a German astronaut and three Russian cosmonauts.

The ISS has hosted several wealthy space tourists from time to time over the years.

But the Axiom quartet was the first all-commercial team ever welcomed to the space station as working astronauts, bringing with them 25 science and biomedical experiments to conduct in orbit. The package included research on brain health, cardiac stem cells, cancer and aging, as well as a technology demonstration to produce optics using the surface tension of fluids in microgravity.

It was the sixth human spaceflight for SpaceX in nearly two years, following four NASA astronaut missions to the ISS and the "Inspiration 4" flight in September that sent an all-private crew into Earth orbit for the first time, though not to the space station.

SpaceX has been hired to fly three more Axiom astronaut missions to ISS over the next two years.
Turkey faces growing domestic and international backlash over the conviction of Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was imprisoned for life without parole on Monday on charges of seeking to overthrow the government. The case, widely condemned as politically motivated, could strain ties with Turkey's Western allies.

Seven co-defendants were sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey representative of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, criticized the sentencing.

"There is nothing in this trial that bears any semblance to evidence. It's a trial built on wild assertions. And it's really a warning not just to human rights defenders and to civil society, but to the whole society that criticism and oppositional statements and activities will be targeted," she said. "It's a warning to everyone that this government will come after you if it wants to."

Many of Turkey's Western allies also condemned the conviction. In a statement, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price called for Kavala's release, saying the verdict was "deeply troubling" and "unjust."

France and Germany also criticized the decision, calling for Kavala's immediate release.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag responded, saying the countries had no right to criticize Turkey's judiciary. The 64-year-old Kavala, a Paris-born Turkish businessman, is one of Turkey's most important philanthropists, supporting civil society, backing projects including seeking to heal ethnic divides in Turkish society, and advocating human rights.

Kavala's prosecution has become a symbol of what critics say is Turkey's authoritarian slide under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule, an accusation the president strongly rejects.

In 2019, Kavala's prosecution was ruled politically motivated by the European Court of Human Rights, which called for his immediate release. Meanwhile, the Council of Europe has opened a rare disciplinary case against Turkey over Kavala's prosecution. But with Erdogan playing a pivotal role in seeking to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Sezin Oney, a columnist for the Politikyol news portal, said pragmatism may prevent any serious consequences for Turkey.

"Well, at this time, the Ukraine invasion and the war in Ukraine is such a serious issue, that I don't think any Western government, neither the U.S. nor the EU countries, can be able to take really viable action against Turkey, such as sanctions or something else. This is a period when the government feels strong vis-a-vis the West," Oney said.

Underscoring Turkey's role in peace efforts Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Erdogan in Ankara to discuss Ukraine. Analysts suggest Erdogan, who strongly backed his judiciary in the Kavala case, is likely calculating that the diplomatic fallout will be confined to angry rhetoric but, with Kavala and his co-defendants expected to appeal their convictions, the controversy is likely to continue.
Antisemitic incidents reached an all-time high in the United States in 2021, the Anti-Defamation League said in its annual assessment released on Tuesday.

There were 2,717 incidents last year, representing an increase of 34% over 2020 and the highest on record since the New York-based Jewish civil rights group started tracking such cases in 1979. The ADL divides antisemitic incidents into harassment, assault and vandalism.

The ADL said it received a sharp increase in reports of antisemitic incidents during the 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in May of 2021.

As anti-Israel protesters around the world took to the streets, including in dozens of U.S. cities, 387 incidents were reported to the ADL in May 2021, up 148 from a year earlier. The incidents included the violent beatings of Jews in the streets of New York City and Los Angeles, home to the two largest Jewish communities in the United States.

"While we have always seen a rise in antisemitic activity during periods of increased hostilities between Israel and terrorist groups, the violence we witnessed in America during the conflict last May was shocking," Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the ADL, said in a statement.

"Jews were being attacked in the streets for no other reason than the fact that they were Jewish, and it seemed as if the working assumption was that if you were Jewish, you were blameworthy for what was happening half a world away," Greenblatt said.

The conflict killed 261 Palestinians and 10 Israelis, while 2,200 Palestinians and 710 Israelis were injured, according to a recent U.N. report.

The violence between Israelis and Palestinians was one of several drivers of antisemitic activity last year, with the ADL attributing the bulk to "actions by domestic extremists."

While "no single ideology or belief system" was responsible for the surge in antisemitism, "we do know that Jews are experiencing more antisemitic incidents than we have in this country in at least 40 years, and that's a deeply troubling indicator of larger societal fissures," Greenblatt said.

Harassment was the largest category of antisemitic incidents last year, with a total of 1,776 cases reported. The ADL defines harassment as cases where one or more Jews are harassed with antisemitic slurs, stereotypes or conspiracy theories.

Meanwhile, anti-Jewish hate crimes in 20 major U.S. cities surged to 373 incidents last year, an increase of nearly 59% from 2020, according to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

The bulk of the incidents took place in New York City, where 207 anti-Jewish hate crimes were registered last year, up from 121 in 2020, the report said.


U.N. member states voted Tuesday to hold the five permanent Security Council members more accountable when they cast their vetoes.

The General Assembly adopted the draft resolution by consensus  or without a vote. It was put forward by Liechtenstein and co-sponsored by more than 100 countries.

The resolution requires the president of the General Assembly to convene a meeting of the 193 U.N. member states every time one or more of the five permanent Security Council members casts a veto. The assembly would then hold a debate on the situation on which the veto was cast, and those who vetoed would be invited to address the assembly to explain their action.

The five permanent Security Council members are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The U.S. and Britain were among the co-sponsors of the measure. Russias representative said after the adoption that his delegation had no desire to join the consensus.

The veto power comes with the responsibility to work for the achievement of the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter at all times, Liechtensteins ambassador, Christian Wenaweser, said in introducing the text. He said the entire membership should be given a voice when the Security Council is unable to act.

The veto has been cast 295 times since the U.N. was created in 1945. The USSR/Russia has cast most of them. Britain and France have used it the least, last in 1989. It has stalled action most recently on Ukraine, but also for the last decade on Syrias conflict, as well as crises in other parts of the world.

While the resolution was adopted without a recorded vote, several delegations said they were abstaining, and at least one, Belarus, said it was disassociating itself with the outcome.
Chinas new security accord with Solomon Islands, a Pacific archipelago northeast of Australia, has caused alarm in Canberra.

The pact would allow Beijing to send armed forces to the islands to protect Chinese investments and maintain social order. Authorities in Solomon Islands have insisted that China would not be permitted to establish a permanent military base on their territory.

However, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been accused of diplomatic incompetence over his governments failure to stop the agreement being signed.

Australia is Solomon Islands main aid donor and traditional security partner.

As the country prepares to vote next month, the opposition Labor Party has outlined its plan to restore Australias position in the region.

There would be more money for aid, military training with island nations in the Pacific and surveillance flights.

Labors foreign affairs spokesperson, Penny Wong, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the initiative would boost Australias standing with its neighbors.

We will use the resources of government and apply ourselves to the job of government, which is to restore Australias place as the partner of choice in the Pacific, and we do that because we understand in the face of Chinese increased assertiveness and aggression one of the key ways in which you ensure Australias security is to secure our region and Mr. Morrison has dropped the ball on that task.

Morrison dismissed Labor's plan for the Pacific as farcical and said it showed the opposition did not understand the challenges Canberra faces in the Pacific.

National security has  because of Chinas pact with Solomon Islands  emerged as a key election issue, along with the economy and climate change.

Australians vote in a federal poll on May 21.
Russian state news agencies say a gunman opened fire in a kindergarten in the nations western Ulyanovsk region, killing two students and a teacher before killing himself.

The Tass news agency, citing a regional law enforcement official, said the attack occurred in the village of Veshkayma. They said the gunman burst in during quiet time, when the children were sleeping. From his Telegram account, regional State Duma deputy Sergei Morozov said the two children were 5 and 6 years old.

The regional Ministry of Health said another kindergarten employee was wounded in the hand and was being treated. The law enforcement officials suggest a domestic conflict may have been the motive for the shooting. They said the identity of the attacker has been difficult to establish.

Rosgvardia, Russias national guard, said the shooter was not the owner of the weapon and the rightful owner of the gun had obtained it legally.

Tass reported regional that Governor Aleksey Russkikh is flying to the site of the shooting and has ordered regional officials to provide emergency assistance to the families of the victims.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
The U.S. government is giving an additional $200 million to support humanitarian initiatives in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, where more than 20 million people are in need of food, water and medicine. Lack of rain in the region has led to the driest conditions in 40 years.

Speaking online to journalists, Sarah Charles of the U.S. Agency for International Development outlined how drought has impacted the lives of millions in the Horn of Africa.

"The frequency and severity of drought in the region and the scale of humanitarian needs are increasing, exposing the devastating trend of climate change that disproportionately affects the world's poorest communities. Already 1.5 million livestock has died, and crops are non-existent in affected areas. In some areas, including Kenya and southern and south-eastern Ethiopia, conflict has broken out over scarce resources. An alarming number of children are acutely malnourished and we are also seeing a devastating report from Somalia of young girls being forced to marry in exchange for food and water, she said.

Charles said Tuesday the U.S. government is providing another $200 million to help get food and medical supplies to millions in the region. The aid will boost U.S. government aid for drought victims to more than $360 million this year.

However, that number is just a fraction of the funding needed. U.N. humanitarian agencies say they will need $4.4 billion to fully scale up their relief efforts in the region.

According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than six million people in the Horn are feeling the impact of the drought. It says more than 750,000 have left their homes in search of water, food and pasture. Some 3 million people are internally displaced in Somalia alone.

In even more dire news, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said 2 million children in the Horn are at risk of starving to death.

Aid agencies trying to help hungry people in northern Ethiopia have been hampered by the regions volatile security situation. Charles said the problem is especially acute in the Tigray region.

We are facing in Tigray almost unprecedented challenges with access obstruction in terms of bureaucratic obstruction, conflict, violence, difficulty reaching those who are most in need of assistance. And we have seen over the last two weeks a small convoy of assistance, the latest one yesterday reached Mekele for the first time in several months, she said.

A poor start to the rainy season has heightened fears the drought and its impact in the Horn will get worse.

Humanitarian agencies say that even if good rains arrive, they cannot quickly reverse the suffering the drought has caused to millions.
For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:

9:15 p.m.: Drone giant DJI Technology said it will temporarily suspend business in Russia and Ukraine, making it the first major Chinese company to halt sales to Russia since the country invaded neighboring Ukraine in February.

"DJI is internally reassessing compliance requirements in various jurisdictions," the privately held company said in a statement late Tuesday, Reuters reports. "Pending the current review, DJI will temporarily suspend all business activities in Russia and Ukraine."

Although Western firms have pulled out of Russia in protest, many Chinese companies have stayed there, taking a cue from Beijing's stance of refraining from criticism of Moscow over the invasion.

DJI is the world's largest maker of consumer and industrial drones.

8:30 p.m.: Germanys vice chancellor says his country has come very, very close to independence from Russian oil and an embargo on deliveries would now be manageable, The Associated Press reports.

Germany, which has Europes biggest economy, has said so far that it aims to end Russian oil imports by the end of this year.

Russian gas imports, however, are a bigger issue for Germany. Berlin has said that it will need longer to do without gas supplies from Russia.

7:59 p.m.: Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to supply Ukraine with Leopard battle tanks, adding that Germany should speed up the delivery of weapons to Kyiv.

"I am not in the position of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. I can only say what I would do in his place: I would deliver tanks," Nauseda was quoted by Funke media group as saying on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

On Tuesday, Germany announced its first delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off Russian attacks, after weeks of pressure at home and abroad.

7:23 p.m.: Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday dismantled a huge Soviet-era monument in the center of Kyiv meant to symbolize friendship between Russia and Ukraine, a response to Moscow's invasion, Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko said.

The statue was underneath a giant titanium People's Friendship Arch, erected in 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Soviet Union, Reuters reports.

As a crane lifted the monument off its moorings and gradually lowered it to the ground, a crowd of around 100 people cheered and shouted "Glory to Ukraine" and other slogans.

6:48 p.m.: India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is struggling to find a vessel to ship 700,000 barrels of crude from Russia's Far East, in a growing sign that complex trades involving one of Moscow's biggest partners are being interrupted by Western sanctions, sources say.

Several Indian companies including ONGC have stakes in Russian oil and gas assets, and India has been buying more Russian crude since Moscow invaded Ukraine, snapping up the popular Urals crude grade, while other buyers have shunned Russian exports, Reuters reports.

However, Moscow's ability to ship that grade, which requires vessels that can break through ice, is becoming harder because shippers don't want to risk their reputations and the increasing difficulty for Russian assets to find insurance coverage.

6:22 p.m.: The United States on Tuesday offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on six people it described as Russian military intelligence officers who had conducted cyberattacks affecting critical U.S. infrastructure, Reuters reports.

The six officers work in a cyber-focused unit of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and were involved in a 2017 global malware attack that infected the computers of several private U.S. entities, including a hospital system, the U.S. State Department said.

The 2017 "NotPetya" cyberattack crippled parts of Ukraine's infrastructure and damaged computers in countries around the globe, including France, Germany, Italy and the United States, causing billions of dollars in estimated damage.

Russia denies any involvement in the incident.

5:50 p.m.: The Ukrainian city of Lviv has become a temporary home to thousands of Ukrainians as they fled the fighting after Russia invaded on February 24.

So, too, has Liv become a refuge for thousands of pets, domestic dogs and cats, that have been lost or abandoned since Russia attacked.

In one of the shelters where animals are taken from war zones, 150 dogs and almost 200 cats are currently being looked after. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Current Time has the story.

5:21 p.m.: Thanks at least partly to the censorship within Russia, President Vladimir Putin has the "political space" to end his invasion of Ukraine, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday.

"Given the massive Russian backing for what he is doing, given the apparent obliviousness of the Russian media about what is really happening in Ukraine, the paradox is that Putin has far more political space to back down (and) to withdraw," Johnson told TalkTV, Agence France-Presse reports.

As a result, Putin could tell the Russian people that the operation launched in Ukraine has been "accomplished," and that it has been "technically a success," Johnson said.

4:42 p.m.: Officials in Poland and Bulgaria said Tuesday that Russia is suspending their countries' natural gas deliveries after they refused to pay for their supplies in Russian rubles.

The governments of the two European Union and NATO members said Russian energy giant Gazprom informed them it was halting the gas supplies starting Wednesday, The Associated Press reports.

The suspensions would be the first since Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that unfriendly foreign buyers would have to pay the state-owned Gazprom in rubles instead of dollars and euros.

4 p.m.: Canada will change its sanctions law so that seized and sanctioned foreign assets can be redistributed as compensation to victims or to help in rebuilding a foreign state from war, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said, Reuters reports.

Canada is among a number of countries to have imposed sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a "special operation."

The changes that Canada aims to bring to its sanctions law will mean that funds or property seized from Russia could be paid out to help rebuild Ukraine or to those impacted by Russia's invasion.

3:15 p.m.: When 10-year-old Zahar Shvets fled Mariupol, he could not leave behind his beloved pet parrot, Sonic. Now, along with his mother, Halyna, they have found sanctuary in Montenegro after the owner of an apartment reached out on social media, saying that her own memories of the 1990s Balkan wars prompted her to provide them accommodation. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has this story.

2:30 p.m.: Thousands of domestic dogs and cats have been lost or abandoned since Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24. One of the shelters where animals are taken from war zones is in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where 150 dogs and almost 200 cats are currently being looked after. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has this report.

2:14 p.m.: With the backdrop of Russia's war in Ukraine, an increasing number of experts are warning of worldwide food shortages. Some experts say the war will put long-term food security in jeopardy. Azerbaijan's food supply relies heavily on imports from Russia and Ukraine. Officials and analysts agree that basic food prices have risen dramatically during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Prime Minister Ali Asadov stated at a recent government meeting that food inflation had climbed 18% in the past three months. VOAs Tapdig Farhadoglu and Dilshad Aliyarli have this report.

2:01 p.m.: Russias President Vladimir Putin says Moscow still hopes to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Ukraine, even as the fighting has continued, The Associated Press reported. Speaking at a Kremlin meeting Tuesday with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Putin said Ukrainian negotiators have changed their position on the issue of the status of Crimea and separatist territories in eastern Ukraine. Guterres criticized Russias military action in Ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbors territorial integrity. He also urged Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped at a giant steel mill in Mariupol surrounded by Russian forces. Putin responded by claiming that the Russian forces have offered humanitarian corridors, charging that Ukrainian defenders of the plant were using civilians as shields and not allowing them to leave.

1:56 p.m.: A new phase of the Ukraine war is shaping up in the eastern part of the country, where Russian troops are aiming to overcome early setbacks and pummel Ukrainian forces in a long-distance ground battle. But succeeding with its new war goals will be no simple task for a Russian military that has lost some 15,000 personnel since its February 24 invasion. While far larger than the Ukrainians, the Russian forces are seen by Western and Ukrainian officials as demoralized and increasingly depleted. To find out more about the battles ahead, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty spoke with Margarita Konaev, a fellow at Georgetown Universitys Center for Security and Emerging Technology.



1:43 p.m.: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the war in Ukraine has already weakened Russias capability, The Associated Press reported. Austin said after meeting allies and partners at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany Tuesday that, since Russia began the invasion, its land forces have sustained pretty substantial casualties, as well as lost a lot of equipment and used a lot of precision-guided munitions. He said that they are, in fact, in terms of military capability, weaker than when they started, anditll be harder for them to replace some of this capability as they go forward because of the sanctions and the trade restrictions that have been placed on them. Austin reiterated that we would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.



1:35 p.m.: The United States and its allies pledged new packages of ever heavier weapons for Ukraine during a meeting on Tuesday at a German air base, brushing off a threat from Moscow that their support for Kyiv could lead to nuclear war. U.S. officials have switched emphasis this week from speaking mainly about helping Ukraine defend itself to bolder talk of a Ukrainian victory that would weaken Russias ability to threaten its neighbors, Reuters reported.



1:29 p.m.: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is following with concern reports of new security incidents in the Transnistrian region of Moldova and on Tuesday urged all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions that could escalate tensions, VOAs U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer reported. The United Nations continues to fully support the OSCE-led Transnistrian Settlement Process in the 5+2 format, based on the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Moldova, the U.N. Secretary-Generals spokesman said.



1:23 p.m.: The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about the tensions in a Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova, The Associated Press reported. The ministry said in a statement Tuesday that Ukraine resolutely supports Moldovas territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders and condemns attempts to draw the Trans-Dniester region of Moldova into the full-fledged war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine. Trans-Dniester, a strip of land with about 470,000 people, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, nominally as peacekeepers.



1:14 p.m.: The U.S. Secretary of State said Tuesday that getting military equipment to Ukraine is now happening in as little as 72 hours after making the decision, VOAs Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reported.

1:10 p.m.: From "When Putin leaves" or "When Putin dies," to "We need to throw more powerful weapons in there," or "Ukraine should be completely wiped off the face of the Earth," Moscow residents shared with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty their ideas of when they think the military confrontation with Ukraine will end.

12:25 p.m.: Two U.N. agencies are launching multi-billion-dollar appeals to assist the soaring number of refugees from Ukraine and people displaced inside the country. VOAs Lisa Schlein has this story.

12:16 p.m.: Russia was removed Tuesday as host of the 2023 world championship in mens ice hockey that was to be played in Vladimir Putins home city of St. Petersburg, The Associated Press reported. Citing concern for the safety and well-being of all participating players, officials, media and fans, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced the decision after its ruling council met.



12:10 p.m.: One of the most famous anti-war protesters in St. Petersburg is 77-year-old artist Yelena Osipova, who is known by many as the conscience of the city. Osipova openly expresses her views even though more than 15,000 people have already been detained in Russia for participating in peaceful protests. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has this story.

11:56 a.m.: Nuclear engineer Liudmyla Kozak was part-way through a 12-hour overnight shift at the defunct Chornobyl plant when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and workers heard loud explosions from the edge of the so-called exclusion zone around the site. The workers were about to witness the most dramatic events at the plant since the 1986 nuclear disaster, whose 36-year anniversary was marked by a vigil on Tuesday. They captured us, then let us return to our work stations after long negotiations, said Kozak. As days went by, the Ukrainian authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly called for the release of the exhausted staff, who operate radioactive waste facilities. Kozak said Russian troops used a facility on the plants territory as a base for attacks closer to Kyiv, which is 62 miles from the plant. Reuters has this story.



11:48 a.m.: The International Atomic Energy Agency tweeted a video clip of Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaking with reporters at Ukraines Chernobyl nuclear power plant Tuesday. He said, there is a lot of work to be done after the occupation of this plant by Russian forces in February and March. He said his team has been working with the Ukrainian regulator, and that they expect to assess the situation, to do some repair work, and to plan ahead for more activities.

11:40 a.m.: Ukrainian farmers in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia which borders the frontline of the military conflict with Russia are now wearing body armor to plough their fields, Reuters reported. A week after the war started, grad rockets began falling right next door to the fields where contract farmer Yuri worked. He now drives a tractor in a bulletproof vest and a ballistic helmet provided by his employer - kit he says he is used to from time spent doing military service. Farmers in the surrounding fields are following suit. Although shelling in the area has increased in recent weeks, Yuri, 41, and his colleague Oleksii are determined to plough the fields this spring.



11:34 a.m.: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke at Ramstein Air Base in Germany Tuesday after hosting defense talks involving more than 40 countries, calling the meeting productive and saying Were all determined to help Ukraine win today and build strength for tomorrow. He said allies will now hold monthly meetings to coordinate aid to Ukraine, adding We dont have any time to wasteWeve got to move at the speed of war. Addressing the possibility of more nuclear threats from Russia, he said We certainly will do everything in our powerto make sure it doesnt spin out of control and Nobody wants to see a nuclear war. Nobody can win it. Its unhelpful and dangerous to rattle sabers. VOAs National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin monitored Austins remarks and shared the details on Twitter.

11:29 a.m.: The Russian military has warned it could strike Ukrainian decision-making centers in the Ukrainian capital and said it wouldnt be stopped by the possible presence of Western advisers there, The Associated Press reported. The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused the U.K. of making statements encouraging Ukraine to use Western weapons to carry out strikes on Russian territory. It directly pointed at U.K. Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, who told Times Radio that it was not necessarily a problem if Ukraines British-donated weapons were used to hit sites on Russian soil. The Russian military so far has avoided striking presidential, government and military headquarters in Kyiv during its campaign in Ukraine.

11:21 a.m.: The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine on Tuesday posted a message on Twitter commemorating the 36th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and noted  in the context of the current Russian military assault on Ukraine  that disregard for nuclear safety in Ukraine is extremely reckless.

11:13 a.m.: The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency says it was possible that an accident could have occurred when Russian troops seized control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant recently, The Associated Press reported. Russian forces moved into the radiation-contaminated Chernobyl exclusion zone in February, and withdrew in March. Russian forces continue to hold a working power plant in Zaporizhzhia. Speaking on a visit to the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant Tuesday, on the 36th anniversary of the meltdown there, Rafael Mariano Grossi said Clearly, the physical integrity of one nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, was compromised, we also had situations where the external power was interrupted including here (Chernobyl) so there were a number of events that were compromising the normal operations of any nuclear power facility, Grossi said.



11:02 a.m.: Global food and fuel price shocks linked to the Russia-Ukraine war are set to last until at least the end of 2024 and raise the risk of stagflation, the World Bank said in its latest Commodities Market Outlook report. In its first comprehensive analysis of the wars impact on commodity markets, the bank, which provides loans and grants to low- and middle-income countries, said the world faces the biggest commodity price shock since the 1970s. It is being aggravated, it said, by restrictions in food, fuel and fertilizer trade that are exacerbating already elevated inflationary pressures around the world, Reuters reported.



10:32 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, reading an opening statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, said his recent trip to Ukraines capital Kyiv with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin left an indelible impression, VOAs Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reported. Blinken said in Kyiv, they saw the signs of a vibrant city coming back to life, people walking, sitting and eating outside. The Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv, he said.

10:26 a.m.: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the world was galvanized against Russia's two-month-old invasion of Ukraine as he hosted defense talks at Ramstein Air Base in Germany Tuesday involving over 40 countries, Reuters reported. "Ukraine clearly believes that it can win, and so does everyone here, Austin said at the start of talks. U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cautioned that Ukraine needed more security assistance to help it defend against an unfolding and potentially decisive Russian onslaught in the east. He said the coming weeks were "critical." "Time is not on Ukraine's side," Milley said during closed-door remarks provided to reporters traveling with him. "The outcome of this battle, right here, today, is dependent on the people in this room." Milley added: "The Ukrainians will fight. We need to make sure they have the means to fight."

10:18 a.m.: The International Atomic Energy Agency posted a message on Twitter Tuesday commemorating International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day. The IAEAs chief is in Ukraine this week to lead the IAEAs first full-fledged assistance mission of safety, security and safeguards experts to the country, according to an IAEA statement. The team will arrive at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) on Tuesday to deliver equipment, conduct radiological assessments and restore safeguards monitoring systems, it said.

10:12 a.m.: The powerful secretary of Russia's Security Council said on Tuesday that Western and Ukrainian government policy was leading towards the break-up of Ukraine, Reuters reported. The comments from Nikolai Patrushev amounted to a warning that Russia's war in Ukraine could lead to a carve-up of the country, for which Moscow would seek to pin the blame on its opponents. His comments, nearly nine weeks into the war, provided the latest indication that Moscow - despite saying at the outset that it had no intention to occupy Ukraine - is set on breaking up the country.

9:50 a.m.:

9:46 a.m.: As Russian forces tightened their siege of Mariupol and missiles rained down, Mykhailo Puryshev drove into the city six times last month to evacuate its citizens, somehow surviving despite his red van being all but destroyed. The 36-year-old Ukrainian, who once ran a nightclub in the city, said he evacuated more than 200 people on his six perilous trips and others began to join him in convoy into his hometown. Reuters has this story.



9:28 a.m.: Ukrainian officials were reporting more civilian deaths as Russian forces stepped up attacks Tuesday, The Associated Press said. Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai noted three people died after Russian shells hit a residential building in Popasna. Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko of the neighboring Donetsk region said two people were killed and six wounded in the region. To the north in Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said shelling of civilian areas killed three people and wounded seven more. Further south, regional authorities in Zaporizhzhia said a missile strike killed at least one person and wounded another. The U.N. human rights office said Tuesday it has counted 2,729 people killed and 3,111 injured in fighting since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, though that is likely to understate the real toll.

9:01 a.m.: Gallup released polling data Tuesday indicating that Americans widely favor admitting up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees to the country, a policy the U.S. government is pursuing. It said 78 percent of those polled between April 1-19 favor the move, the highest level of support for any refugee situation Gallup has polled on. Americans' approval today for admitting Ukrainian refugees is widespread, with large majorities of all major demographic subgroups -- by gender, age, education and region -- in favor of the proposal, Gallup said in a statement. Support for admitting Ukrainian refugees is also bipartisan with 92% of Democrats, 79% of independents and 61% of Republicans approving, the polling organization noted.

8:42 a.m.: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday dismissed Kyivs proposal to hold peace talks in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and said it was too early to talk about who would mediate any negotiations. Lavrov, speaking after a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Moscow, said Russia was committed to a diplomatic solution via talks on Ukraine, Reuters reported.

8:33 a.m.: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Russia's foreign minister on Tuesday that he is ready to fully mobilize the organization's resources to save lives and evacuate people from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. "Thousands of civilians are in dire need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance, and many have evacuated," Guterres told a news conference with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "The United Nations is ready to fully mobilize its human and logistical resources to help save lives in Mariupol," he said, proposing coordinated work with the Red Cross to allow those holed up inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to leave. Speaking about reports of possible war crimes in Ukraine, Guterres said he was concerned, and that they required an independent investigation, Reuters reported.

8:20 a.m.: Ukrainian forces in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol say that Russia launched 35 airstrikes overnight on the steel plant where they are based, injuring civilians there, the Kyiv Independent reported Tuesday.

8:12 a.m.: A Moscow court has ordered the seizure of $7 million worth of Google's property and funds in Russia, news agencies said, in a lawsuit concerning restrictions the U.S. tech firm has placed on the YouTube channel of a prominent television firm. Alphabet Inc.'s Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported. YouTube, which has blocked Russian state-funded media globally, is under heavy pressure from Russia's communications regulator and politicians. Russia has blocked some other foreign internet firms, including Meta Platforms Inc.'s Facebook and Instagram, as it battles to control information flows after sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24. YouTube remains available for now.



8:01 a.m.: Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, The Associated Press reported. The call comes in the wake of Turkish diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis over Russias war in Ukraine, including by hosting Ukrainian and Russian negotiators for talks in Istanbul late last month. Talks stalled after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops of committing war crimes. Putin later said peace efforts were at a dead end. Ankara, which maintains close ties to both Kyiv and Moscow, has presented itself as a neutral broker to end the fighting.

7:57 a.m.: Russia already has a weakened military and is in a weakened state after its war on neighboring Ukraine, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said on Tuesday before a meeting of NATO allies and partners. They are a weaker military. They are a weaker state right now they are and again further isolating themselves, Kirby said in an interview with CNN. We want Russia not to be able to threaten their neighbors again in the future. He added, Its economy is in tatters. Its military has been depleted in many ways, not completely, but certainly they have suffered casualties and they have suffered losses in this invasion of Ukraine. Kirby did not give further details on his assessment of the state of Russias military, Reuters reported.



7:43 a.m.: Germanys defense minister says her country will enable the delivery of self-propelled armored anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine, The Associated Press reported. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht made the announcement at a U.S.-hosted meeting on arming Ukraine at the United States Ramstein Air Base in Germany, according to the text of her remarks Tuesday provided by her ministry. Lambrecht also reiterated plans for eastern European allies to send Soviet-era material to Ukraine, and then have Germany fill the resulting gaps. She said Germany is working together with the U.S. to train Ukrainian troops on artillery systems on German soil.

7:21 a.m.: Ukraine's state-run atomic energy company said Russian missiles flew at low altitude over Europe's largest nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on Tuesday, and reiterated warnings that Russia's invasion could lead to a "nuclear catastrophe," Reuters reported.



Energoatom said cruise missiles had flown over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during an air strike which local authorities said hit a commercial building in the city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least one person. "Missiles flying at a low altitude directly over the site of the ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant), where there are 7 nuclear facilities with a huge amount of nuclear material, poses huge risks," Petro Kotin, Energoatom's acting chief, said.



Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was due to visit the Chornobyl nuclear power plant on Tuesday, the anniversary of the explosion and fire there on April 26, 1986. Grossi is leading a team of nuclear safety and security experts to Ukraine this week to deliver equipment, conduct radiological assessments, and restore safeguards monitoring systems, according to the IAEA.



7:05 a.m.:

6:53 a.m.: Shoulder-fired Stinger missiles are in hot demand in Ukraine where they have successfully stopped Russian assaults from the air, but U.S. supplies have shrunk and producing more of the anti-aircraft weapons faces significant hurdles. Challenges include complications related to ramping up production, reluctance by the U.S. to redirect valuable manufacturing capacity to decades-old technology, and fears among defense firms that they would be stuck with unwanted arms when the Ukraine war winds down, according to interviews with U.S. officials and defense firms, Reuters reported.



6:47 a.m.: A top British government official says Russia is making unsound military decisions because of President Vladimir Putins desire to secure some kind of victory in Ukraine by May 9, when Russia marks its victory in World War II, The Associated Press reported.

U.K. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said Tuesday that Russian forces were giving away whatever advantage they may have won by launching an offensive in Ukraines eastern Donbas region before enough troops were assembled. He told Sky News that Putins desire to stand there on the steps of the Kremlin on May 9 and be a hero, means that thousands of Russian lives are going to be lost and the Russians are going to hand over the numerical advantage that they should have.



Heappey also rejected Russias claim that NATO is provoking Russia by arming Ukraine, calling accusations of aggression by the alliance utter nonsense.

6:38 a.m.: Poland is imposing sanctions on 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, the interior minister said on Tuesday, as it seeks to increase pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. Poland this month passed a law allowing it to freeze the assets of Russian entities and ban imports of coal from Russia, above and beyond sanctions imposed jointly by European Union countries, Reuters reported.



6:21 a.m.: Moldovas government convened a special security meeting as the Transdniester region went on high alert Tuesday following more incidents there, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. President Maia Sandu has convened Moldova's Supreme Security Council after authorities in separatist Transdniester claimed that two radio relays were damaged by blasts and a military unit was targeted in the latest alleged incidents in the Moscow-backed territory amid rising tensions in the region, which borders war-torn Ukraine. Sandu is scheduled to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. local time (1200 GMT/UTC) on Tuesday. The Kremlin, meanwhile, said it was closely following events in Transdniester.



6:17 a.m.: Three Russian pilots suspected of bombing civilian buildings in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions are among at least seven Russian military personnel that Kyiv is preparing war crimes charges against, the Ukrainian prosecutor generals office told Reuters. It said the other individuals include two operators of a rocket launcher who allegedly shelled settlements in the Kharkiv region and two army servicemen suspected of murdering a Kyiv area resident and raping his wife. The prosecutors office said it had notified the individuals that they are suspects and the investigations are ongoing, adding no charges had been filed with the court. It didnt name the suspects or provide evidence to support the allegations. It said some of the suspects were held as captives, without specifying where, while other charges were being prepared in absentia.

6:05 a.m.: U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that he wants to do everything possible to end the war as soon as possible and to do everything possible to minimize the suffering of the people.

Citing the impacts on vulnerable populations in other parts of the world, Guterres said the war is impacting food, energy and finance with price increases accelerating amid the conflict. Lavrov accused Western countries of flouting the principles of multilateralism in favor of a unilateral approach to the world.

5:30 a.m.: U.N. Secretary-General was set to meet with Putin and Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday as part of a diplomatic push that includes a scheduled visit to Kyiv on Thursday.

Ultimately, the end goal is to have a halt to fighting and to have ways to improve the situation of the people in Ukraine, lessen the threat that theyre under and provide humanitarian aid towards them, Guterres spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.

Ahead of Guterress trip, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch called on senior Russian officials to ensure safety for civilians in Mariupol as part of the port city is now under Russian forces. Russian forces now occupying most of Ukraines southeastern port city of Mariupol should ensure that civilians remaining in the city can leave in safety to Ukraine-controlled territory if they choose, HRW said in a statement on April 26.

5:15 a.m.: The U.N. refugee agency said it expects the conflict could eventually drive 8.3 million people to flee Ukraine. So far, nearly 5.3 million refugees have left the country since Russia invaded in late February, with more than 2.9 million going to Poland.

5:00 a.m.: The U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Tuesday that her country plans to send additional ambulances and fire engines to Ukraine to assist civilians impacted by Russias invasion.

4:50 a.m.: Reuters reported that Russia and Belarus will hold joint drills of their air forces and air defense forces in Belarus, Minsks defense ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The drills are said to take place from April 26 to 29, the ministry added.

4:30 a.m.: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin convened a meeting of more than 40 countries to discuss security assistance to Ukraine, saying the aim was to help Ukraine to win the fight against Russia's unjust invasion and to help build up Ukraine for tomorrow's challenges. Lloyd added that Russian President Vladimir Putin "never imagined the whole world would rally behind Ukraine so swiftly and surely." The meeting at Ramstein Air base in Germany follows Lloyd's trip, along with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to Kyiv to hear from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about what his country needs.

3:30 a.m.: Police in the Moldovan separatist region of Transnistria say two explosions on Tuesday morning in a radio facility close to Ukrainian border knocked two powerful antennas out of service, The Associated Press reported.

The incident occurred in a small town of Maiac roughly 12 kilometers (7 miles) west of the border with Ukraine, according to the regions Interior Ministry. It comes just a day after several explosions believed to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades were reported to hit the Ministry of State Security in the city of Tiraspol, the regions capital. No one was hurt in the explosions, officials said.

Transnistria, a strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 troops there nominally as peacekeepers, but concerns are high that the forces could be used to invade Ukraine. A senior Russian military official, Rustam Minnekayev, said last week that Russian forces aim to take full control of southern Ukraine, saying such a move would open the way to Transnistria.

2:30 a.m.: British armed forces minister James Heappey said Tuesday he did not think there was an imminent threat of escalation in the war in Ukraine, dismissing comments by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as bravado, according to Reuters.

Earlier Lavrov told the world not to underestimate the considerable risks of nuclear conflict, and said NATOs supply of weapons to Ukraine in essence meant that the Western alliance was engaged in a proxy war with Russia. Lavrovs trademark over the course of 15 years or so that he has been the Russian foreign secretary has been that sort of bravado. I dont think that right now there is an imminent threat of escalation, Heappey told BBC Television.

What the West is doing to support its allies in Ukraine is very well calibrated ... Everything we do is calibrated to avoid direct confrontation with Russia.

1:40 a.m.: Reuters reported that the European Union aims to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas by two-thirds by the end of the year and to zero by the end of 2027, the blocs Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told Il Messaggero daily in an interview published on Tuesday.

Gentiloni also told the paper that the EU would cut its own growth estimates for 2022 from a previous target of 4%, adding however that it is too early to say if the slowdown will lead to a stagnation. EU will release its Spring Forecast on May 16, Reuters added.

1:30 a.m.: Russias invasion of Ukraine, one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat, has led to bread prices soaring in importing countries around the world. Zimbabwe is one of the countries affected by the war in Ukraine and the Grain Millers Association of in the country has warned of possible bread shortages after Ukraine was forced to suspend shipping. For VOA, Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, Zimbabwe.

1:10 a.m.: Ukraines Antonov An-225 Mriya, a cargo-lift plane with an 88-meter wingspan and the largest of any aircraft in operation, mauled by Russian blasts on April 8 has now be honored with a new stamp, the countrys postal service said.

The plane  Mriya means "dream" in Ukrainian  was once a source of national pride but it was reported destroyed on the fourth day of the fight for the airport according to the Agence France-Presse. The stamp was designed by 11-year-old Sofia Kravchuk, who participated in a competition before Russias invasion of Ukraine, the postal service said.

1:00 a.m.: Britains defense ministry said Russian forces are likely attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in eastern Ukraine. A ministry statement said the eastern city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and that Russian forces are moving toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.



12:30 a.m.: The United States is planning to host dozens of countries in Germany on Tuesday for talks focused on arming Ukraine. Nike Ching reports.

12:00 a.m.: In the highest-profile U.S. visit since the war began, two of President Joe Bidens top Cabinet members visited Ukraines capital to offer President Volodymyr Zelenskyy another large arms package and to announce a new top U.S. diplomat  as Russia continues its deadly advance. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports. 
Al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali say they have captured at least one Russian mercenary from the Wagner Group, a private military company with alleged links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Extremists linked to al-Qaida say in a statement they have abducted at least one Russian mercenary, who they describe as a soldier of Russian Wagner forces.

An Arabic version of the group's statement claimed they abducted one Russian fighter, who they called a "criminal," while the French version said they had taken more than one.

The statement also claims that Wagner forces took part in an operation in Moura, Mali, which it says killed hundreds of innocents.

Several countries have accused Malis military government of working with forces from the Wagner Group, a shadowy private company that has provided Russian mercenaries to several countries, including Libya, Syria and the Central African Republic.

The Malian government denies any links with the Wagner Group, saying it only works with official Russian trainers.

The Moura military operation mentioned in the extremists statement was the subject of a report by Human Rights Watch.

The report quoted witnesses who said white soldiers working with the Malian army killed 300 civilian men, some of them suspected Islamist fighters, during a five-day operation.

On Saturday, the French army released drone surveillance video, which they say shows mercenaries burying bodies in the sand near Gossi, Mali, where the French army withdrew from a military base last week.

Similar video circulated on Twitter two days earlier and accused French forces of killing the people seen in the video.

Speaking to AFP, the French military said the mercenaries staged the mass grave to tarnish the image of France.
Tesla CEO Elon Musks $44 billion deal to buy Twitter Monday met mixed reactions as observers speculated how digital speech on the service might change under his leadership.

Musk, a prolific Twitter user who has criticized Twitter's management in tweets, said in the press release Monday announcing the deal that "Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated."

Musks takeover of Twitter was applauded by some U.S. conservatives who have alleged that internet firms  including Twitter  promote a liberal political agenda and suppress conservative voices.

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, tweeted that its "amazing to watch the Left panic at the prospect of free speech on Twitter."

But others expressed concern that Musks takeover would mean less moderation of hate speech and misinformation on the site.

Sumayyah Waheed, senior policy counsel with Muslim Advocates, a national civil rights organization, told VOA that Twitter doesnt have a good track record of taking down hateful speech against Muslims.

"We already face threats and regular harassment on Twitter, and a weaker content moderation system will just make that even worse," she said.



Twitter, with more than 400 million monthly active users, has a smaller audience than Facebook, with 3 billion users, and YouTube, with over 2 billion.

Twitter is primarily used in the U.S. and Western Europe, where it is influential among journalists, political leaders, celebrities and other thought leaders. Because powerful people use Twitter, it has an outsized influence, observers say.

Twitter allows people to post anonymously and is credited with helping marginalized voices around the world speak. Musk has talked recently of wanting to "authenticate all real humans" on the site, raising concerns among digital rights advocates that Twitter will require accounts to be tied to a persons identity.

Twitter under Musk

Michael Posner, director of the New York University Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, said that Musks statements about free speech "are not very well developed."

"We have to hope that once he gets into the drivers seat, he understands that social media platforms need to be moderated by people who own them and run them," he told VOA. "A site where content moderation is not taken seriously is going to yield spam, pornography, hate speech and disinformation, and all kinds of things that are not good for society."

Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council, a U.S. think tank, said Twitter will probably change under the new leadership.

"Musks absolutist view of freedom of speech, his unfamiliarity with the challenges that many people face around the world in expressing their political points of view, these two things are going to clash," he said in an interview with VOA. "And I expect that the Twitter of the future will look quite a bit different and quite a bit less inviting for many people."

Concentration of power

Evan Greer, director of the digital rights organization Fight for the Future, said Musks acquisition exposes another issue: A handful of companies have a monopoly on "what can be seen, heard and done online," she said.

"If we want a future of free speech, its not a future where the richest person on Earth can purchase a platform that millions of people depend on and then change the rules to his liking," she said in an interview with VOA.

Theres been speculation that under Musk, former President Donald Trump, whom Twitter banned permanently in 2021, could return to the site. But Trump told Fox News prior to the announcement of the deal Monday that while he hoped that Musk would buy Twitter, he would not return to the service. Instead, he will join his own social media site, Truth Social, he said.

For his part, Musk appeared to acknowledge the varied reactions about his new role, tweeting Monday: "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means."
Days ago, Semina Samuel's two-year old son woke up with a burning fever. She quickly took him to the community clinic where malaria was detected.

Samuel says this is the second time this month alone that she's had to treat her son for the disease.

We live close to the bush and there's dust bin and stagnant water here," Samuel said. "That's what attracts the mosquitoes ... we spent the night at the at the hospital and he was given some drugs."

Health experts said Nigeria recorded more than 200,000 deaths from over 61 million cases of malaria last year.

The World Health Organization says 96% of malaria deaths occur in Africa and that Nigeria alone accounts for 31.9% of them. Children under five years old are the most vulnerable.

Last year, the WHO launched the first malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, after tests showed it was safe and effective.

In a WHO broadcast Monday, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for the vaccine to be adopted across Africa. "Today, WHO is recommending the broad use of the world's first malaria vaccine. This is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control.

However, the WHO warns that a vaccine roll-out could face hesitancy and accessibility issues.

Olanrewaju Akintobi is a program director at Wellahealth, a Nigerian tech-startup focusing on rapid malaria testing and treatment.

"If you're introducing a new vaccine, it still has to go through the community acceptance process for them to really be sure of what you're giving, and the vaccine is still at the pilot phase," Akintobi said. "Is it going to be a one-time thing or a continuous vaccination process? Because mosquitoes are still very much around."

Akintobi said vaccines do not eliminate the need for anti-malaria drugs just yet.

"I think beyond the vaccine, there's still need for us to have a scalable system for people to have access to the medication, access to quality treatment when malaria cases happen and making sure there's a quality health care service across board," Akintobi said.

Pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) agreed to donate 10 million doses of Mosquirix for the pilot study nations and has pledged a yearly output of 15 million doses. But experts say more doses will be needed every year to reach the millions in need.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to strengthen his country's nuclear force at the "fastest possible speed." His comments during a nighttime military parade were broadcast by North Korean state television late Tuesday, as VOA's Bill Gallo in Seoul, South Korea reports.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to strengthen his countrys nuclear force at the "fastest possible speed," during a nighttime military parade flaunting Pyongyangs largest-known ballistic missiles.

Kim, who has gradually increased regional tensions with several major weapons tests, also warned during a parade speech that any country that attempts military confrontation with North Korea will be destroyed.

The fundamental mission of our nuclear forces is to deter a war, but our nukes can never be confined to the single mission of war deterrent, Kim said, implying that he could also use the weapons if provoked.

The parade, held late Monday in central Pyongyang, was part of North Koreas celebrations on the anniversary of the founding of the countrys army.

Kim has now held four military parades in the past two years. Many analysts say the frequency of the parades could be a sign Kim faces serious domestic problems and wants to bolster political support.

State television coverage of the event, which aired late Tuesday, was highly polished by North Korean standards, interspersing sweeping parade drone shots with flashy, pre-produced features highlighting many of the weapons displayed.

Kim, whose country is among the worlds poorest, entered the event in what appeared to be a Mercedes-Benz Maybach sedan. He and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, were greeted by throngs of cheering children  a mainstay of propaganda in North Korea, where three generations of Kims have been portrayed as mythical, almost god-like figures.

The parade featured some of the countrys most advanced missiles, including the Hwasong-17, its largest-known ICBM that North Korea claims to have tested last month. It was the Norths first long-range missile launch since 2017.

North Korea also showed off what it refers to as its hypersonic missile. The weapon, tested earlier this year, has a maneuverable warhead that makes it more difficult to intercept, but analysts say it does not likely fly at faster speeds than many ballistic missiles.

The only new weapon unveiled at the parade appeared to be a solid-fuel, submarine-launched ballistic missile, which analysts said appeared slightly longer than previous versions.

For all the hype and months of practice, Monday's North Korean military parade didn't really show many novel capabilities, tweeted Chad OCarroll, a Seoul-based journalist and founder of the NK News website.

More tests soon?

U.S. officials have said they expect North Korea to soon conduct another long-range missile launch or even a nuclear test, which would significantly raise regional tensions.

North Korea has been systematically working through a wish list of strategic weapons laid out last year by Kim. The list includes tactical nuclear weapons, hypersonic missiles, and ICBMs that can carry multiple warheads.

North Korea has several possible motivations for testing missiles, including shoring up domestic political support, ensuring the performance of new weapons, demonstrating deterrence, and provoking the United States and its allies.

In the coming months, many analysts expect North Korea to use its oft-repeated strategy of trying to create a sense of crisis on the Korean Peninsula to gain leverage for future negotiations with the United States.

If Kim Jong Un is using the same tactic this year, then we have to wait until the end of this year with the expectation that Kimis going to do everything tokeep the security conditions on the Korean Peninsula as dangerous as possible as it did in 2017, said Bong Young-shik with Yonsei Universitys Institute for North Korean Studies.

In 2017, Kim and former U.S. president Donald Trump exchanged threats of nuclear war, before Kim eventually decided to engage in a series of unprecedented talks the following year. However, the Trump-Kim negotiations broke down in 2019 over disagreements on how to pace sanctions relief with steps to dismantle North Koreas nuclear program.

Under U.S. President Joe Biden, North Korea has rejected or ignored invitations to return to talks.

No matter how much political, economic, diplomatic incentives might be given to the North Korean regime, theres no good way of reducing the obsession of the leadership in North Korea with nuclear warheads and long-range missiles as the best and most reliable means of its own security and survival, said Bong.

South Koreas incoming president, former chief prosecutor Yoon Seok-youl, has vowed a tougher approach to the North. In a statement, Yoons transition team said the parade proved North Korea aims to threaten peace in Korea, the region, and the world.

North Koreas nuclear and missile threats have become a serious and realistic threat to us, so building the capability to deter them is the most urgent task, read the statement.

As part of that effort, Yoon has promised to resume full-scale joint military exercises with the United States. Since 2018, the drills had been spread out or scaled down to preserve the chances for diplomacy and because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A security pact signed this month with the Solomon Islands will clear a lane for the Chinese military to access the South Pacific despite opposition from the West, experts say.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said April 14 that Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Solomon Islands counterpart Jeremiah Manele had signed the agreement.

The deal allows both sides to maintain social order and protect lives and property in the South Pacific archipelago, said Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington. A draft of the deal said it would let China send armed forces and dock warships.

Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United States all expressed fears that the Sino-Solomons deal would smooth the deployment of Chinese military forces among the sparsely populated and often poor nations of the South Pacific after years of diplomatic efforts by Beijing, analysts say.

"Who initiated this agreement? If it was Beijing, then Beijing is trying to get a foothold in the Pacific, perhaps not in the form of a military base but in the form of an agreement that would facilitate the international extension of its security apparatus," said Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, associate Pacific Islands studies professor at University of Hawaii at Manoa.

China initiated the deal, according to White House sources.

Strategic region

The vast South Pacific, which extends from northeastern Australia to the waters off Peru, matters to China if it wants to be a global military force, said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank. China has been building up naval strength beyond the seas near its coasts, as its rival the U.S. and other Western powers have done.

"We know that currently China doesn't have the security alliances or the bases that would give China global power projection capability," Yun said.

Any Chinese base could incite strong dissent in the Solomons and in the West, Kabutaulaka said. China would find it hard to acquire land because most of it is communally owned by tribes, he added. But he said the lack of a base wouldn't stop Chinese naval ships from mooring in the Solomons and moving farther into the South Pacific.

Step by step

Per the security deal, police or military personnel could visit the Solomons at the South Pacific country's request, Kabutaulaka said.

That could mean helping Chinese citizens affected by rioting, he said.

Chinese business owners suffered "disproportionately" during riots last year and the unrest in 2006, said Denny Roy, senior fellow at the East-West Center think tank in Hawaii.

Chinese businesspeople are behind the Solomon Islands' logging industry, most retail in the country and the imports of daily necessities, Kabutaulaka said.

"You've got the premise of economic ties, and basically China is saying, 'In order to get those economic goodies, you have to allow us to send (our) police and armed forces to protect those resources,'" said Andrew Reddie, deputy director of the Berkeley APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Study Center at the University of California.

Officials in smaller countries such as the Solomons often accept the premise, he said.

Chinese authorities sometimes use bilateral deals to target their own citizens. In 2017, for example, they arrested Chinese citizens in Fiji on suspicion of fraud.

China had sought a dual-use port facility in Vanuatu as well but killed the idea after media found out, the research organization Brookings said in a 2020 study. Beijing has sought deals for dual-use ports in the South Pacific on other occasions, Roy said.

China already has agreements with several South Pacific governments to allow Chinese fishing in nearby waters.

Ultimately, China wants to be seen as an offset to Western powers, said Fabrizio Bozzato, senior research fellow at the Tokyo-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation's Ocean Policy Research Institute. "Beijing is trying, and has succeeded, (in) installing itself into Australia's immediate Pacific neighborhood and taking up the role of alternative security partner," he said.

Overcoming opposition

In November, anti-government protesters in the Solomons called out concerns about the country's links with China, which the government had established in 2019. Peaceful protests escalated into riots.

In Australia, a U.S. ally that's 2,000 kilometers from the Solomon Islands, the country's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was "deeply disappointed" by the security deal.

Compared with China, Australia has historically had closer ties with nations in the South Pacific. It has provided more funding to the South Pacific than any other country, Roy said. Sino-Australian relations are strained now by their own trade and political issues.

Australia fears that a nearby Chinese military base would be a "concrete threat to Australia's security," Roy said. New Zealand's prime minister questioned the reason for the security deal, and Japan's chief Cabinet secretary said it could upset regional security.

A White House National Security Council spokesperson accused China of "offering shadowy, vague deals with little regional consultation" in the South Pacific.

China's cooperation with the Solomons targets no other party, said Liu, the Chinese embassy spokesman. "While the Pacific Island countries such as the Solomon Islands can conduct security cooperation with Australia, New Zealand and Japan, they of course have the right to cooperate with other countries," he said.


U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday considered whether to let President Joe Biden rescind a hardline immigration policy begun under his predecessor Donald Trump that forced tens of thousands of migrants to stay in Mexico to await U.S. hearings on their asylum claims.

The justices heard nearly two hours of oral arguments in a Biden administration appeal of a lower court ruling that reinstated Trump's "remain in Mexico" policy after the Republican-led states of Texas and Missouri sued to maintain the program. Biden suspended the policy, which changed longstanding U.S. practice, shortly after taking office last year.

Some of the conservative justices, who hold a 6-3 majority on the court, questioned the extent of the administration's discretion to release migrants into the United States, but also Texas's use of the courts to constrain the U.S. government in an area over which typically there is broad federal authority.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts said the Biden administration's view of the law seems to have "no limit" on the number of people who can be released. Roberts also told Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone that it seemed a "bit much" for Texas to "substitute itself" for the federal government to determine the best way to comply with U.S. immigration law.

Trump's administration adopted the policy, formally known as the "Migrant Protection Protocols," in response to an increase in migration along the U.S.-Mexican border in 2018. The policy prevented certain non-Mexican migrants, including asylum seekers fearing persecution in their home countries, from being released into the United States to await immigration proceedings, instead returning them to Mexico.

The dispute centers on how much discretion the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, thinks Biden and his administration have to change course on immigration policy.

In its appeal to the justices, Biden's administration said it is being "forced to reinstate and indefinitely continue a controversial policy" that exposes migrants to safety risks, harms relations with Mexico and is not the best tool for deterring illegal immigration.

The administration also said that the lower courts are unacceptably interfering with the historically broad authority that U.S. presidents have held over immigration and foreign affairs  a principle that the Supreme Court has long endorsed including in cases when Trump was president.

At issue in the case is the meaning of a provision of a 1996 U.S. immigration law that says U.S. officials "may return" certain immigrants to Mexican territory pending immigration proceedings. Biden's administration said the provision is "unmistakably" discretionary and that the lower court's decision means that every presidential administration "has been in open and systemic violation" of the law since it was created.

Administrations prior to Trump's presidency had used the provision on a limited basis. For migrants who do not pose a security risk, immigration law separately allows their release into the United States pending a hearing, a practice that officials have followed for decades.

Roughly 68,000 people fell under the "remain in Mexico" policy from the time it took effect in 2019 until Biden suspended it in 2021.

Biden's fellow Democrats and immigration advocates criticized the Trump policy, saying migrants stuck in Mexican border cities have faced kidnappings and other dangers.

The number of migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has reached record highs recently. Republicans have criticized Biden's immigration policies and contend that the "remain in Mexico" policy effectively deterred unlawful migration.

Texas and Missouri challenged the Biden administration's move to scrap the policy, including a memo terminating the program issued last June.

After a federal judge reinstated the program, the Supreme Court last August refused a Biden administration request to block that ruling while the government pursued an appeal.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in December that because the government does not have the capacity to detain all migrants who are not eligible for admission pending a hearing, it must maintain "remain in Mexico."
Two U.N. agencies are launching multi-billion-dollar appeals to assist the soaring number of refugees from Ukraine and people displaced inside the country.

The worsening situation in Ukraine has prompted the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, to double its initial $1.1 billion appeal. That appeal was launched soon after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Since then, OCHA estimates the number of people needing humanitarian aid inside Ukraine has increased from 12 million to 15.7 million.

OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said his agencys revised appeal for $2.25 billion will assist 8.7 million of those worst-affected people over the next six months.

The appeal covers a range of support from cash assistance, food security and livelihoods, health, shelter, protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene, to mention some of the larger interventionsContinued international support will be essential to enable humanitarians in Ukraine to continue to reach those whose lives have been upended by the war, he said.

The U.N. refugee agency also has revised its initial appeal upwards. It now is seeking $1.85 billion to support a projected 8.3 million Ukrainian refugees and communities hosting them in eight neighboring countries of asylum.

The number of expected refugees is more than twice the estimated figure of four million the UNHCR had predicted would need help when the war broke out.

UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo calls the current situation highly dynamic and fluid. In just two months, she notes, 5.2 million refugees have fled Ukraine in search of international protection.

It is anyones guess to say exactly when we will reach this 8.3 million figure. But if we are looking at the trends so far, this displacement has been on such an expansive scale. And the rapidity of this we have not seen in recent times. So, these displacements are still occurring every day. Every hour we are seeing people continue to flee Ukraine, she said.

The appeals are being launched against the backdrop of continued fighting, destruction and displacement inside the country and flight to safer areas abroad.

The UNHCR calls the human impact and suffering already caused by the war staggering.

It warns the trauma of war will have a lasting impact on many forced to flee their homes, 90 percent of whom are women and children. It adds humanitarian needs will continue to grow, displacement, and the human tragedy will not cease until the war is brought to an end.
The United States condemns recent attacks at mosques and education centers in Afghanistan that targeted civilians and schoolchildren.

It's a huge concern to us right now in the middle of Ramadan, said a senior State Department official. It is inhumane, unjust and unacceptable to target Afghan women, children and vulnerable populations.

Last Friday, Afghanistans Taliban authorities said a bomb blast inside a packed mosque in northeastern Kunduz province has killed at least 33 worshipers, including children.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility, though officials suspected Islamic State militants could be behind the bloodshed.

The deadly assault came a day after a bomb ripped through a Shiite Muslim mosque in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, and days after attacks on the Mumtaz Education Center and the Abdul Rahim Shaheed School in Kabul.

The Taliban recognize that the security in Afghan and the rights of vulnerable populations are issues that the U.S. takes very seriously, said the official, while stopping short of elaborating on whether there has been direct communication with the Taliban on recent attacks.

Monday, U.S. Special Envoy Rina Amiri spoke to VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching about women, girls and human rights in Afghanistan.

She said the Taliban should emphatically be held accountable for a decision March 23 to renege on their commitment in girls education, continuing to bar girls in grades seven to 12 from attending school.

The U.S. has made it clear to the Taliban that they have to implement on concrete deliverables to the Afghan population, including getting girls the right to school, said Amiri when asked if the Talibans ban on girls education has made it even less likely for the U.S. to release frozen Afghan funds.

The following are excerpts from the interview. It has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: First, Id like to get your response on recent attacks against schools and mosques in Afghanistan, where children and civilians were among the victims. How worried is the U.S.?

Amiri: Oh, We're deeply  first, we extend our deep condolences to the families that have suffered so immensely, that are suffering even more devastating losses right now. It's a huge concern to us right now in the middle of Ramadan, and at a time that is holy for Muslims throughout the world. Afghan women, children and vulnerable populations are being targeted is inhumane. It's unjust and it's unacceptable.

VOA: Is there any communication with the Taliban regarding recent attacks?

Amiri: The Taliban recognize that this is an issue that we take very seriously. We are particularly concerned about the situation of the vulnerable populations, ethnic and religious groups that have been under increasing attack. And the situation of women and children are continuing to go in a very negative direction. The longer this continues in this way without robust response from the Taliban, the greater the country is going to suffer more devastating consequences.

VOA: In late March, the Taliban reversed their commitment and barred Afghan girls from attending school beyond sixth grade. You have joined other senior U.S. officials to condemn such [a] decision. But in reality, how would the Taliban be held accountable?

Amiri: The Taliban should emphatically be held accountable. The Taliban made commitments to the Afghan population and the international community that they would open up girls' schools on March 23. They did it repeatedly, they made the statement repeatedly even a week before they reneged on their decision. They had said that they would open up girls schools.

This is a decision that has been made from the top. And it's coming directly from the Taliban. There is no excuse for it. It's unacceptable. It has put Afghanistan in a reverse position and makes the situation - not just Afghan women and girls, but the population - it puts them at risk of greater poverty, greater suffering and greater instability.

If you look at anywhere in the world, the greatest indicator of a country's ability to progress - at an economic level in terms of peace in terms of stability - is the degree to which women and girls are engaged, are allowed education, are allowed the opportunity to work and to contribute to the viability of their country. You cannot just completely take away the rights of 50% of the population and expect to have a better outcome.

VOA: Why did the Taliban make such [a] decision? Is it a reflection of [an] internal rift?

Amiri: I don't... I cannot speak on behalf of where the Taliban stands on these issues. But what I can say is that the decision that they're making is bad for the country. It's bad for the Taliban as a group, and it's bad for the viability of a secure and stable Afghanistan.

VOA: So this decision has made it even less likely [for the U.S.] to release the frozen Afghan funds?

Amiri: The Taliban understand that not only in the last six, seven months, but for the last several years, what has been very clear to the Taliban is that: They have to deliver on their commitments. They cannot just deliver on in terms of rhetoric. They have to implement on concrete deliverables to the Afghan population, including getting girls the right to school, for women to have the right to work and to create a culture of hope rather than a culture of repression.

The direction that they're taking the country - by making these decisions - that's going to lead to greater instability, greater conflict, greater migration, a greater brain drain. Its a direction that's going to take Afghanistan on an even more negative course.

VOA: On March 14, 12 women received [the] State Department's International Women of Courage Award. But there was not an Afghan honoree, which was rare. How do you respond to critics who [say] its sending a disappointing message to Afghan women?

Amiri: There's a collective recognition - not just by the U.S., but globally, the international community - that the Afghan women are the bravest women.  Quite honestly, I think what I understand in terms of the deliberations is that it was very hard to come back and say we're going to pick one woman out of hundreds of thousands of brave Afghan women.

VOA: Does the fact that the U.S. does not maintain an embassy in Kabul make it more difficult to recommend an Afghan awardee?

Amiri: There were a host of different challenges and that certainly was one of them. Its a situation [that] changed overnight on August 15, all of the efforts that were underway inside the country. There was a fundamental reorientation that had to be done in terms of how do you support them? How do you engage with the women inside the country and those that have been recently in exile? Given the situations with the Taliban and what they've done on women's rights, its appropriate to have an office (at the State Department) that is exclusively focused on these issues.
The United States and its allies signaled Tuesday they are moving swiftly and powerfully to support Ukrainian forces and escalate pressure on Russia's economy amid its two-month invasion of neighboring Ukraine, while the United Nations said Russia's president agreed to let international aid groups help civilians leave the besieged port city of Mariupol.

The U.S. at first "needed weeks" to move military equipment and munitions to Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, but it now it often dispatches new armaments to the Ukrainians within three days.

Blinken said since he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv over the weekend, the two countries were "largely aligned in what they say they need and what we think we're able to provide."

Economic strikes

The U.S. and Russia continued to trade economic jabs, with Moscow on Tuesday announcing it would cut off supplies of natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria.

And in Washington, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland told Congress that he supported legislation that would allow seized Russian assets to go "directly to Ukraine."

Heavy weapons

Germany's government said Tuesday it would send heavy weapons to Ukraine for the first time. Austin, meeting at a U.S. air base in Germany with officials from 40 countries, including NATO members, said Russian President Vladimir Putin "never imagined the whole world would rally behind Ukraine so swiftly and surely."

"We're seeing more support every day" to combat the Russian invasion, he said Tuesday. "We don't have any time to waste. We've got to move at the speed of war."

The White House said Germany's decision signaled unprecedented unity in the face of Russian aggression.

"The announcement by Germany is in line with announcements we've seen by a number of European countries in providing assistance they have never before provided, which is part of the significance here," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. "So, this is an unprecedented change to provide lethal aid to another country, and that's the significance here from Germany. But I'd also note that Norway provided Mistral anti-aircraft missiles, that a number of countries have provided types of assistance that they have never done in the past, and that really speaks to the significant unity of NATO."

The U.S. defense secretary also said allies supporting Ukraine would meet monthly to coordinate further aid. As he opened the talks, he said the aim was to "help Ukraine to win the fight against Russia's unjust invasion and to help build up Ukraine for tomorrow's challenges."

Austin also rebuked Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for suggesting that the war could evolve into a nuclear conflict between Russia and the West.

"We certainly will do everything in our power  to make sure it doesn't spin out of control," Austin said. "Nobody wants to see a nuclear war. Nobody can win it," he said, adding that "it's unhelpful and dangerous to rattle sabers" over a nuclear threat.

Austin's appeal to allies for more help for Ukraine came a day after he said the U.S. objective in supporting Ukraine was to leave Russia with a "weakened" military. He described Russian casualties so far as "pretty substantial," with some military analysts saying as many as 20,000 Russian troops have died.

Moscow accused the West of carrying out a proxy war against Russia by sending more munitions to Ukraine and warned of a "considerable" risk that the fighting could evolve into a nuclear conflict.

Diplomatic efforts

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met Tuesday in Moscow with Putin and Lavrov in an attempt to broker a cease-fire agreement, even as Russia launched new attacks on eastern and southern Ukraine. Guterres then headed to Ukraine, stopping first in Poland to meet with that nation's president in a city along the Ukrainian border used as a base for American troops and humanitarian efforts.

During the two-hour meeting with Guterres in the Russian capital, Putin agreed "in principle" to allow the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross to assist with the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal iron and steel plant in Mariupol, said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesman.

The U.N. chief said that while Russia and the U.N. had "different interpretations of what's happening in Ukraine," there was still the possibility for a serious conversation about working to minimize suffering and "end the war as soon as possible."

Guterres said he wanted to further address the wider impacts of the conflict on the world's most vulnerable populations amid rising food and energy prices.

Lavrov welcomed Guterres and the U.N.'s desire for dialogue, while accusing Western governments of flouting principles of multilateralism and instead undertaking a unilateral approach to the world.

Russia's "goals are primarily to protect the civilian population, and here we are ready to cooperate with our colleagues from the U.N. to alleviate the plight of the civilian population," Lavrov said.

But Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have repeatedly blocked the attempted creation of humanitarian corridors to let civilians escape from the devastation of Mariupol.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Putin to agree to direct talks with Zelenskyy. Turkey, which shares a maritime border with Russia and Ukraine, has unsuccessfully attempted to broker an accord to end the fighting.

Also on Tuesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said American diplomats have taken concrete steps to reestablish a U.S. diplomatic presence in Ukraine.

"I can confirm that the deputy chief of mission and members of the embassy team traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, today, where they were able to continue our close collaboration with key Ukrainian partners," he said. "Today, they met with interlocutors from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

While in Kyiv, Blinken and Austin also pledged more military assistance, offering $713 million for Ukraine and 15 partner nations.

"Russia's invasion is indefensible, and so are Russian atrocities," Austin said Tuesday. "We all start today from a position of moral clarity. Russia is waging a war of choice to indulge the ambitions of one man. Ukraine is fighting a war of necessity to defend its democracy, its sovereignty and its citizens."

National security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
The U.S. government strongly reacted to a statement made by a group of 14 independent United Nations experts who say certain U.S. policies regarding Afghanistan contribute to the sufferings of ordinary Afghans, particularly women and children.

The freezing of $7 billion in Afghan assets in the United States, as well as the international financial sanctions imposed on the Taliban, have worsened the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the experts warned.

While gender-based violence has been a long-standing and severe threat to women and girls, it has been exacerbated by the measures imposed by the U.S., together with the drought and widening gender-based discrimination adopted by the de facto authorities, the experts said in a statement Monday.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson called the statement inaccurate and misrepresenting.

The statement by independent experts who advise the U.N. Human Rights Council but are not U.N. staff contradicts members of the U.N. leadership who have publicly welcomed the February 11 executive order, understanding that it is part of an effort to protect and facilitate access to $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets for the benefit of the Afghan people, the spokesperson told VOA.

In the executive order, President Joe Biden released half the frozen Afghan assets for a humanitarian assistance trust fund for Afghanistan but kept the other half for ongoing litigation made by some U.S. families that lost loved ones in the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. A federal judge will decide if the remaining $3.5 billion can be given to the plaintiffs.

The February 11 actions marked a significant step forward in the United States effort to facilitate access to a significant portion of the funds for the benefit of the Afghan people. If we hadnt taken action, all of the reserves would have been inaccessible indefinitely, the spokesperson said.

Sanctions

As a group, the Taliban have been under strict terrorism-related U.S. financial sanctions for more than two decades.

With the Taliban now in power in Afghanistan, the U.S. sanctions are extended over the Afghan central bank and other financial institutions controlled by the group.

While the sanctions target Taliban leaders and policies, their enforcement also hurt the Afghan economy and contribute to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the country, aid agencies say.

Humanitarian actors face serious operational challenges due to the uncertainty caused by banks' zero-risk policies and over-compliance with sanctions, the statement said.

U.S. officials maintain that they work closely with the U.N. and U.S. allies to respond to the crisis in Afghanistan.

We have worked with the U.N. and a private-sector company to ship cash into Afghanistan to provide liquidity for humanitarian assistance activities, the State Department spokesperson said.

To facilitate humanitarian aid delivery to Afghanistan, the U.S. Treasury Department has offered waivers from sanctions, but experts say the waivers have not been effective.

Hungriest nation

Afghanistan has the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world, according to relief agencies. About 95% of the countrys estimated 36 million population cannot afford enough food.

To tackle the crisis, donors have pledged $2.4 billion toward a U.N. call for $4.4 billion in humanitarian assistance to Afghans in 2022.

Now, with most Western donors focused on responding to the crisis in Ukraine, the Afghanistan humanitarian appeal has only received 13.5% of the pledged funding.

The U.S., which has pledged $720 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan since August 2021, is the single-largest humanitarian donor to the country.
The Biden administration is set to ask Congress for legislative changes that would make it easier for the U.S. Justice Department to seize Russian oligarch assets and transfer part of the money to Ukraine, Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Tuesday.

"We've been very carefully examining that question, and I expect that there will be requests for legislative changes," Garland told members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee when asked if the Justice Department needed any additional authorities to target Russian oligarchs tied to the Kremlin.

"These could go particularly in the way that we do the forfeitures, to make it easier for us to do the forfeitures," Garland said. "Also, the possibility of taking the money out of the forfeiture fund that we collect this way and sending it to Ukraine."

Asset forfeiture is a court-authorized legal proceeding that allows the government to take possession of property that is used illegally, obtained from illegal activity or used to facilitate a crime.

Properties and other assets of wealthy associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin that are seized and forfeited by the Justice Department are put into the department's Assets Forfeiture Fund. The proceeds are typically used for investigative purposes, asset forfeiture operations and other expenses.

Garland said the administration would support allowing some of the Russians assets subject to forfeiture to "go directly to Ukraine."

"We're hard at work on it, and I expect very soon, within days, probably, that the administration will be able to present some request," Garland said of the administration's proposal.

Members of the subcommittee expressed support for stepped-up efforts to target Putin's associates.

"I think there will be a receptive audience to give you more money if that's what it takes to go after the people who profited from destroying the Russian economy," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Garland.

The U.S. proposal comes amid growing calls for the Biden administration to liquidate and transfer the seized Russian assets to Ukraine, with some legal experts suggesting that Biden already has the authority to act under a 1977 statute.

Spokespeople at the Justice Department and the White House did not immediately respond to questions about the proposal.

Last month, the Justice Department set up Task Force KleptoCapture to help enforce sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs, targeting their yachts, jets, real estate and other assets.

The goal was to pressure Putin to end his devastating invasion of Ukraine by targeting his closest associates who have faced wide-ranging U.S. and international sanctions since the start of the Ukraine war.

As part of their effort to seize and freeze Russian oligarch assets, the Justice and Treasury departments have also created a separate outfit known as REPO  Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs. Garland said international cooperation to enforce sanctions against Russia has been heartwarming.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department said its first seizure was a $90 million, 77-meter luxury yacht belonging to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg that Spanish law enforcement took control of at Washington's request. Vekselberg is one of 50 Russians the Treasury Department has identified as priorities for U.S. sanctions enforcement.

"Together, with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war," Garland said in announcing the seizure.

During his testimony on Tuesday, Garland condemned Russia's war in Ukraine, saying that the "horrible atrocities" that are being seen in videos and photos from the country "are the kinds of things anybody growing up in the 20th century never expected to see in the 21st again."
The United States will launch a high-level strategic dialogue with Solomon Islands in September to address mutual security concerns and enhance cooperation in public health, finance and other issues.

The latest U.S. diplomatic push came after the Pacific island nation signed a security deal with China that U.S. officials described as a complete lack of transparency.

I think it's clear that only a handful of people in a very small circle have seen this agreement, said Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has been quoted publicly as saying he would only share the details with China's permission, which I think is a source of concern as well, Kritenbrink told reporters in a phone briefing Monday night.

Kritenbrink and White House Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell led a U.S. delegation that included Pentagon officials to Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands last week.

In a 90-minute meeting between American officials, Sogavare and two dozen members of his Cabinet on April 22, the United States made it crystal clear that it would respond accordingly to any attempt to establish a military base in Solomon Islands under its recent agreement with China.

U.S. officials declined to elaborate when asked if a U.S. military action can be ruled out if China tries to establish a military base in the south Pacific nation.

Citing Chinas problematic behaviors that range from advancing unlawful maritime claims to militarizing disputed features to engaging in illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, Kritenbrink said the U.S. purpose was to communicate in a very candid way about the concerns over the security pact between Solomon Islands and China.

Monday in Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the speculation that China will build a military base in Solomon Islands is pure disinformation. Wang insisted the security deal between China and Solomon Islands is open, transparent, legitimate, lawful and irreproachable.

Regional experts, including Richard Herr who is a law professor at the University of Tasmania, said there are reasons for a valid concern over the security deal given the way the draft was phrased.

It gave the Chinese maybe the right to support any intervention in the event of domestic turbulence, Herr told VOA.

So in case Sogavare found himself losing an election, maybe he would want either a coup or as he suggested: postpone the elections in order to stay in power. And that's why the agreement in so many ways is fraught with danger for China, as well as for Australia, and the friends of the Solomon Islands in the Pacific, said Herr, who has advised several Pacific governments, including on democracy and governance issues

Sogavare has reiterated specific assurances that there would be no military base.no long-term presence, no power projection capability under the security agreement with China.

According to a leaked draft, China could send armed police and military forces if requested by the government of Solomon Islands. China could also be allowed to base its navy ships off the coast of the Pacific island nation, which is just several-thousand miles away from Australia.

VOA Seoul Bureau Chief William Gallo contributed to this report.
Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for COVID-19, though she is experiencing no symptoms, her office announced Tuesday.

In a statement, the vice presidents Press Secretary Kirsten Allen said Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on rapid and PCR tests. The statement said she will isolate and continue to work from her residence.

Allen said the vice president has not been a close contact to U.S. President Joe Biden or First Lady Jill Biden, due to their respective recent travel schedules.

She will follow CDC guidelines and the advice of her physicians. The Vice President will return to the White House when she tests negative, the statement said.

The 57-year-old vice president has been vaccinated and received two booster shots, the latest shot on April 1.

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press and Reuters.
Heavy-handed government action, self-censorship and physical threats against journalists have left Hong Kong's media freedoms in a "dire" state, a UK-based campaign group said Tuesday.

Hong Kong Watch urged Western countries to defend journalists in the former British territory, including by offering them visas and outlets for Cantonese-language programming.

The governments of both Hong Kong and China were guilty of "dismantling media freedom in Hong Kong, in part through a sweeping National Security Law imposed by Beijing in 2020, the group said.

"The situation for media freedom in Hong Kong is dire," it said in a new report.

"The international community must not allow those responsible for these violations to get away with impunity and without consequence."

Hong Kong Watch also hit out after the territory's Foreign Correspondents' Club on Monday scrapped its annual human rights awards, citing fears it could be prosecuted for crossing "new red lines.

"This is yet another serious blow to press freedom in Hong Kong," said the campaign group's chief, Benedict Rogers, in a separate statement.

"It is not just a loss for Hong Kong, but for the cause of human rights and freedom across the whole of Asia.

"Never has being a journalist in Hong Kong been more dangerous than now," added Rogers, who has himself been threatened with prosecution under the National Security Law despite living in Britain.

The Hong Kong Watch report detailed violence against reporters by police and pro-Beijing thugs, a climate of fear in newsrooms and arrests under a wider crackdown against pro-democracy campaigners.

RTHK, a once-respected broadcaster modelled on the BBC, had become "simply a government propaganda outlet, the report said.

Pro-Beijing media outlets had benefited under the government's crackdown, which has also seen the police redefine who qualifies as a journalist and envisages a new law against so-called "fake news, it said.

Former RTHK journalist Steve Vines, who moved back to Britain last year after 35 years in Hong Kong, said the territory had undergone a "breathtakingly rapid destruction of freedoms."

Hong Kong's fate was "a vital reminder to the rest of the world of the dangers posed by the Communist regime as it spreads its influence in the international community, he wrote in the report.
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On 25 April 2022, an RPG attack was launched on the Ministry of Security Services Building in Transnistrias capital city, of Tiraspol.

On 26 April 2022, the most powerful radio and television antennas in the country, located in Mayak, were pulverized.

The 2019 plan drawn up by the Rand Corporation to weaken Russia by forcing her to become embroiled abroad called for a war in Ukraine, followed by one in Transnistria.
The bodies of victims autopsied by international coroners in Bucha (Ukraine) all bear the same signature: metal darts. This ammunition had been used on a large scale during the First World War and in the jungle during the Vietnam War.

Ukrainian artillery units made use of it to attack their compatriots in the Donbass in 2014.

This report contradicts the Ukraine governments version according to which Russian soldiers had fired on the civilians with automatic weapons.
Its hard to identify the exact point when Nacho realizes hes meant to die  that its an absolute certainty, part of the plan  but its before Rock and Hard Place begins, perhaps at the motel where hes being monitored. Watching him fight for survival throughout the episode turns poignant, then, both because its important to him to set the terms of his own death and because of his regrets over the short life hes chosen to lead. Movies and television dont often give us the stories of henchmen like Nacho, who are usually the disposable minions of more charismatic heels, and truth be told, his stoicism has made him a less accessible character than the other comparable players during his run on Better Call Saul. He was an extremely capable drug dealer who got himself into a spot and now cant get out of it. And it humanizes him.

Today, you are going to die, says Juan Bolsa to Nacho. But there are good deaths, and there are bad deaths. Nacho would agree with that statement, but their ideas of what constitutes a good death differ, and its important to Nacho that he depart on his own terms rather than the ones set by Gus or the Salamancas. And thats the rock and hard place of the episode title: Nacho was sent to Mexico to carry out a hit on Lalo, but he could never be allowed to live no matter what happened in the operation. The Salamancas obviously want to kill anyone responsible for Lalos murder (or attempted murder), but Gus cannot allow Nacho to get captured and reveal he ordered the hit. Though little else unfolds how Gus scripted it  most conspicuously, Lalo lives  the way Nacho goes out does more or less follow the plan. If hes the one to deliver this traitor to the Salamancas and offer a false confession, then the whiff of betrayal is off Gus for now.

None of these monsters deserves the courtesy, but Nacho makes the simple calculation that he has one playable card in his dwindled hand, which is to save his father from the forces that have engulfed him. What stands out in this moving episode are the extensions of kindness and connection that greet this condemned man as he stares into the abyss. It starts with a mechanic at a service station who has every reason to fear and reject the stranger hosing oil off his body but instead offers him a rag to clean himself up and a phone to use free of charge. This leads to a devastating scene in which Nacho calls his father just to hear his voice, even if all he gets back is a familiar, scolding speech about how he needs to go to the police. (That last, tender Adios, hijo hits particularly hard.)

Once Nacho gets smuggled back to the States, hes a death-row inmate, getting his final meal in a carryout box with plastic silverware before Mike, his jailer and chaplain rolled into one, escorts him to the chamber. Mike is not a sentimentalist by any measure  when Nacho angrily accuses him of knowing he was sent to Mexico to die, Mike gruffly responds, Not my call  but he does have a lingering sense of honor and human dignity that separates him from Gus, who could have Nachos father killed and not lose a wink of sleep over it. When the order comes down that Nacho looks too pretty, its Mike who takes responsibility to rough him up, but not before sharing some liquor first. And when Mike is dropped off at a snipers nest above the meeting place where Nacho is to be delivered to the Salamancas, the two have an extended moment of acknowledgment together. Mike is the last sympathetic face hell ever see.

Last week, a hairline crack started to develop in the relationship between Jimmy and Kim over their treatment of Kettlemans. Jimmy, the carrot, wanted to give them financial incentives for moving forward on their scheme to paint Howard as an addled coke fiend. Kim, the stick, threatens to expose them for running a phony, exploitative tax-preparer operation. Shes Mike to Jimmys Gus: It matters to her more that the little guy is getting ripped off, and shes going to get aggressive about seeking justice regardless of whether it affects their plans for Howard or not. Kim usually leaps to Jimmys defense at every opportunity, but in Rock and Hard Place, she listens intently when a prosecutor, Suzanne, asks her to convince Jimmy to break his lawyer-client privilege from Lalo and talk about his associates in the area.

Later, Kim poses Jimmys dilemma to him: Do you want to be a friend of the cartel, or do you want to be a rat? She tells him he should do whatever he wants, but Jimmy is the guy who did take cartel money in the first place and did not know that Jorge de Guzman was a made-up guy with a made-up family. Hes not going to help the authorities, but Kim clearly wishes he would. Saul Goodman can pretend to be a man of the people and still take Lalo Salamancas money, but is Jimmy all the way there yet? And once Saul Goodman stops being a role hes playing, what will be left of the Jimmy who Kim cares about?

We can guess Kim will find out the answers to those questions and not like what she hears. For now, though, we have to wait in agonizing anticipation for that shoe to drop.

Slippin Jimmies

 Some really subtle work with time in this episode, starting with the opening sequence, a long shot in which the camera maneuvers around the desert brush as a storm approaches before setting first on a blue flower then on a piece of broken glass as its pelted with rainwater. Later we learn thats the spot where Nacho has died, and life has bloomed in his place. Theres also a little trickery in looping back to a scene between Gus and Mike where Nacho is on the other end. We finally hear Nachos part of that conversation.

 Nachos head emerging from the oil sludge seems to be a visual reference to one of the most famous shots of Apocalypse Now, when Martin Sheens Willard pokes up from the water with his face camouflaged. In both cases, the men know that their fate is sealed. This is the end / My only friend, the end.

 Jimmys moral equivocation is well demonstrated by a brief conversation with Huell, who wonders why he and Kim, two legit lawyers, are getting themselves involved in shenanigans like boosting Howards car. A couple months from now, Jimmy replies, there are people whose lives are going to be way better because of this.

 Nachos last words to the Salamancas recall the scene in True Romance in which Dennis Hopper, realizing hes about to be killed, loosens his tongue for a nasty, racially loaded monologue aimed at his attackers. Alvarez has been paying me for years, but you know what? Nacho says. I would have done it for free because I hate every last one of you psycho sacks of shit. Heres to going out with a bang.

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We Own This City is not a sequel to The Wire. Based on the nonfiction book by Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton about the Baltimore Police Departments corrupt Gun Trace Task Force, it is its own compelling story in limited-series form.

That said, it is impossible to watch We Own This City without thinking of The Wire. The six episodes were adapted for the screen by The Wire creator David Simon and author George Pelecanos, who also worked on the previous Baltimore-set HBO drama, as did several of We Own This Citys other executive producers: Nina K. Noble, Ed Burns, and William F. Zorzi. Given its interest in Baltimore policing, there are multiple scenes  of cops and feds listening in on wiretaps or interrogations of potential suspects and sources  that feel reminiscent of moments from The Wire. Numerous actors from that seminal drama, which aired from 2002 to 2008, appear in roles that feel extra meaningful in light of the parts they carried before.

Several of the actors who once played drug dealers  Jamie Hector, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Tray Chaney, and Jermaine Crawford, among others  are now portraying cops, while Delaney Williams (Sergeant Jay Landsman in The Wire) takes on the role of actual onetime Baltimore police commissioner Kevin Davis, and Domenick Lombardozzi (formerly Herc, a sergeant in the Major Crimes Division) is the head of the police union. These casting choices underline certain realities conveyed elsewhere in the series: Guys who look like Williams or Lombardozzi will always hold positions of power, and the line separating cop behavior from criminal behavior has dissolved almost entirely.

That said, We Own This City differs from The Wire in both intention and execution. While the previous series showed us both good police officers and ones who did not always act in the best interests of the public, the new show is explicitly an indictment of policing gone all the way off the rails. Thats reflective of actual events in postFreddie Gray Baltimore as well as the evolution in public consideration of policing during the Black Lives Matter movement. We Own This City isnt a sequel to The Wire, but it certainly feels like a complement, one that quickly encourages us to be suspicious of every cop we encounter rather than warm to them despite their flaws. There are few, if any, Bunk Morelands or Lester Freamons in this Baltimore.

At the center of We Own This City is Sergeant Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal), whose rise from rookie officer to amoral head of the Gun Trace Task Force is tracked via flashbacks to past incidents. His misconduct  which ranges from physically assaulting suspects to planting drugs on innocent citizens to skimming significant amounts of cash from money discovered during weapons busts  is disturbing and runs deep, prompting police in the Harford and Baltimore Counties to begin investigating what eventually becomes a case for the FBI. (Dagmara Dominczyk of Succession plays the lead fed.)

Before the GTTF probe heats up, Nicole Steele (Wunmi Mosaku), an attorney for the Department of Justices Civil Rights Division, is conducting her own inquiry into police practices in the city. Ultimately, we learn what we know about Jenkins and his unscrupulous colleagues through evidence uncovered by Nicole, police from neighboring counties, and the feds. Because of that structure, We Own This City is an extremely procedural procedural. There are moments when the show seems more interested in making a case than telling a full-fledged story, and the timeline-jumping can get confusing despite the text from incident reports used as transitions and designed to to keep us grounded in the chronology of events.

Nevertheless, its a vivid, richly detailed series, shot with gritty intimacy by director Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard) and worth watching for a host of reasons. A big one is Bernthals performance. An actor with an impressively elastic range, Bernthal infuses Jenkins with distinctly Baltimorean swagger. Speaking with boastful, rounded os and walking with a sway that suggests hes ready to spring into attack mode at any time, you cant take your eyes off the guy even when his behavior is so abhorrent you want to. His cockiness is what draws his direct reports to him; its also his downfall. Cant fuck with Superman, he confidently tells a colleague mere moments before hes taken into custody. Its a high-voltage, Emmy-worthy performance.

Its also not the only strong work in this massive ensemble cast. As Daniel Hersl, another walking red flag of a cop with multiple complaints on his record, Josh Charles is persuasively cocky but less of a showboat than Bernthal. His arrogance is quiet until it explodes out of him, making Hersl the scarier figure. And Charles, himself a Baltimore native, gets his accent just right. In contrast to Bernthal and Charles, Hector grants detective Sean Suiter the demeanor of a man trying to do the right thing, then cuts through it with jitters suggesting he may be dealing with some demons. He, too, is an eyeball magnet every time he enters the frame.

We Own This City is careful to demonstrate that, as corroded as the GTTF ultimately was, Baltimore Polices inability to curb crime and create trust between civilians and police is a failure of a much broader system uninterested in addressing how race, economics, and other factors dictate who is and is not targeted by law enforcement. Just as Simon did in The Wire, he eventually traces the start of the brokenness back to the war on drugs.

That war, retired police officer Brian Grabler (Treat Williams) explains to Nicole in the sixth and final episode, was lost when I got there. Are you people ready to say that out loud? Is anybody?

Arriving 20 years after The Wire, We Own This City presents more pronounced versions of the same old problems. It offers no answers to all the questions it raises and does not attempt to end on any kind of pat, hopeful note. While the work of the FBI investigation into the Gun Trace Task Force eventually concludes, Nicoles broader efforts dont follow such a tidy trajectory. In the end, the series suggests it will take multiple generations to solve the issues with policing in this country, if they can be solved at all.
International Workers' Day falls on a Sunday in 2022.

Italy celebrates Labour Day - known as the Festa dei Lavoratori or Festa del Lavoro - with a nationwide public holiday every year on 1 May.

This year the holiday falls on a Sunday so will not result in an extra day off for Italy's schools or public offices.

The annual event, marked in more than 80 countries, is held in commemoration of the labour movement and the social and economic achievements of trade unions on behalf of workers.

The Primo Maggio holiday is marked in Rome with a free May Day concert which will once again be open to the public after the last two editions were curtailed by the covid-19 pandemic.

Organised by Italy's trade unions, the concertone attracts established acts along with rising stars from the Italian music industry and is used as a platform to promote workers' rights.

The concert, in its 32nd edition, kicks off at 15.00 in Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano and will be broadcast live on Rai3, Radio2 and RaiPlay.

The 2022 line-up includes Ariete, Carmen Consoli, Coez, Enrico Ruggeri, Le Vibrazioni, Max Pezzali, Tommaso Paradiso and many more.

The event will result in numerous traffic diversions in the area on Sunday as well as the closure of S. Giovanni metro station.

Those wishing to arrive by subway are advised to get out at either Manzoni or Re di Roma. For more information about the concert see Primo Maggio website.
Italy sees return of tourists behaving badly.

Rome police fined two Dutch tourists a total of more than 1,000 for entering the waters of the Trevi Fountain on Friday afternoon.

The two men, both in their 30s, attempted unsuccesfully to evade police by mingling in the crowds, according to local media reports.

Before the covid pandemic, such behaviour at the Trevi Fountain occurred on a semi-regular basis however as tourism returns to Rome so do the negative headlines.

Over the weekend police fined an Argentinian tourist after he crashed his drone into the roof of Palazzo Venezia in the city centre, days after Mexican tourists hit the Leaning Tower of Pisa with a drone.

Although popularly associated with the iconic scene with Anita Ekberg from Fellini's classic film La dolce vita, it is forbidden to enter the waters of the Trevi Fountain.

The offence carries a fine of 450 as well as a temporary 'daspo' ban from returning to the Baroque monument which was completed in 1762.

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La Sapienza is 113th in the world in CWUR university rankings.

Rome's Universita La Sapienza is the top university in Italy according to the 2022-23 ranking by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), a leading consulting organisation and publisher of the largest academic ranking of global universities.

The rankings, released on Friday, show that La Sapienza is in 37th place at a European level and 113th position in the world out of the approximately 20,000 higher education institutes surveyed.

The "prestigious and significant" result is a "recognition of the excellence and work of our entire community", La Sapienza rector Antonella Polimeni said in a statement released by the university.

CWUR rates world universities based on criteria including quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty, and research performance.

The 2022-2023 ranking confirms the top three positions worldwide, with Harvard University in first place, followed by MIT in Boston and Stanford University.

In Italy, after Sapienza there is the University of Padua in 164th place, University of Milan (179) and University of Bologna (181).

The news comes a couple of weeks after La Sapienza confirmed its position as the top university in the world for Classical Studies and Ancient History in the 2022 edition of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.

One of the oldest universities in the world, La Sapienza was founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303.

For full international university rankings see CWUR website. Photo credit: Enzoartinphotography / Shutterstock.com.
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Coffee was wildly popular in Sweden in the 17th century  and also illegal. King Gustav III believed that it was a slow poison and devised a clever experiment to prove it. He commuted the sentences of murderous twin brothers who were waiting to be beheaded, on one condition: One brother had to drink three pots of coffee every day while the other drank three pots of tea. The early death of the coffee-drinker would prove that coffee was poison.

It turned out that the coffee-drinking twin outlived the tea drinker, but it wasnt until the 1820s that Swedes were finally legally permitted to do what they had been doing all along  drink coffee, lots of coffee.

The cornerstone of the scientific revolution is the insistence that claims be tested with data, ideally in a randomly controlled trial. Gustavs experiment was noteworthy for his use of identical male twins, which eliminated the confounding effects of sex, age and genes. The most glaring weakness was that nothing statistically persuasive can come from such a small sample.

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Today, the problem is not the scarcity of data, but the opposite. We have too much data, and it is undermining the credibility of science.

Luck is inherent in random trials. In a medical study, some patients may be healthier. In an agricultural study, some soil may be more fertile. In an educational study, some students may be more motivated. Researchers consequently calculate the probability (the p-value) that the outcomes might happen by chance. A low p-value indicates that the results cannot easily be attributed to the luck of the draw.

How low? In the 1920s, the great British statistician Ronald Fisher said that he considered p-values below 5% to be persuasive and, so, 5% became the hurdle for the statistically significant certification needed for publication, funding and fame.

It is not a difficult hurdle. Suppose that a hapless researcher calculates the correlations among hundreds of variables, blissfully unawarethat the data are all, in fact, random numbers. On average, one out of 20 correlations will be statistically significant, even though every correlation is nothing more than coincidence.

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Real researchers dont correlate random numbers but, all too often, they correlate what are essentially randomly chosen variables. This haphazard search for statistical significance even has a name: data mining. As with random numbers, the correlation between randomly chosen, unrelated variables has a 5% chance of being fortuitously statistically significant. Data mining can be augmented by manipulating, pruning and otherwise torturing the data to get low p-values.

To find statistical significance, one need merely look sufficiently hard. Thus, the 5% hurdle has had the perverse effect of encouraging researchers to do more tests and report more meaningless results.

Thus, silly relationships are published in good journals simply because the results are statistically significant.

 Students do better on a recall test if they study for the test after taking it (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology).

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 Japanese-Americans are prone to heart attacks on the fourth day of the month (British Medical Journal).

 Bitcoin prices can be predicted from stock returns in the paperboard, containers and boxes industry (National Bureau of Economic Research).

 Elderly Chinese women can postpone their deaths until after the celebration of the Harvest Moon Festival (Journal of the American Medical Association).

 Women who eat breakfast cereal daily are more likely to have male babies (Proceedings of the Royal Society).

 People can use power poses to increase their dominance hormone testosterone and reduce their stress hormone cortisol (Psychological Science).

 Hurricanes are deadlier if they have female names (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).

 Investors can obtain a 23% annual return in the market by basing their buy/sell decisions on the number of Google searches for the word debt (Scientific Reports).

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These now-discredited studies are the tip of a statistical iceberg that has come to be known as the replication crisis.

A team led by John Ioannidis looked at attempts to replicate 34 highly respected medical studies and found that only 20 were confirmed. The Reproducibility Project attempted to replicate 97 studies published in leading psychology journals and confirmed only 35. The Experimental Economics Replication Project attempted to replicate 18 experimental studies reported in leading economics journals and confirmed only 11.

I wrote a satirical paper that was intended to demonstrate the folly of data mining. I looked at Donald Trumps voluminous tweets and found statistically significant correlations between: Trump tweeting the word president and the S&P 500 index two days later; Trump tweeting the word ever and the temperature in Moscow four days later; Trump tweeting the word more and the price of tea in China four days later; and Trump tweeting the word democrat and some random numbers I had generated.

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I concluded  tongue as firmly in cheek as I could hold it  that I had found compelling evidence of the value of using data-mining algorithms to discover statistically persuasive, heretofore unknown correlations that can be used to make trustworthy predictions.

I naively assumed that readers would get the point of this nerd joke: Large data sets can easily be mined and tortured to identify patterns that are utterly useless. I submitted the paper to an academic journal and the reviewers comments demonstrate beautifully how deeply embedded is the notion that statistical significance supersedes common sense: The paper is generally well written and structured. This is an interesting study and the authors have collected unique datasets using cutting-edge methodology.

It is tempting to believe that more data means more knowledge. However, the explosion in the number of things that are measured and recorded has magnified beyond belief the number of coincidental patterns and bogus statistical relationships waiting to deceive us.

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If the number of true relationships yet to be discovered is limited, while the number of coincidental patterns is growing exponentially with the accumulation of more and more data, then the probability that a randomly discovered pattern is real is inevitably approaching zero.

The problem today is not that we have too few data, but that we have too much data, which seduces researchers into ransacking it for patterns that are easy to find, likely to be coincidental, and unlikely to be useful.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Gary Smith, an economics professor at Pomona College, is the author of The AI Delusion and the forthcoming Distrust: Big Data, Data-Torturing, and the Assault on Science.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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London is such an appealing place to bring defamation claims that it has been jokingly referred to as a town called Sue. There have been some attempts at reform, but up to now, governments have just shrugged while lawyers made a killing. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight In an extraordinary letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken last week, U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee and co-chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, has demanded that six U.K. lawyers be banned from the U.S., a measure aimed at sending a message and deterring abusive lawsuits that harass and intimidate Vladimir Putins critics. The oligarchs who hire lawyers to engage in abusive lawsuits against journalists to silence them, cannot exert malign influence in our system and the systems of democratic allies without their enablers, Cohen wrote.

Opening salvo in the war on Putins western enablers has started, tweeted Bill Browder, the former Russian fund manager turned human-rights advocate. His new book contains riveting detail of his many battles with lawyers acting for various Kremlin interests. Its hard not to cheer along, especially if you read the U.K. parliamentary testimony in March of Catherine Belton (author of Putins People) and Tom Burgis (author of Kleptopia). They recounted the barrage that they and their publisher, HarperCollins, were subjected to from London lawyers hired by oligarchs or their companies.

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Lawsuits aimed at shutting out revelation or discussion are often referred to by the acronym SLAPPs  strategic lawsuits against public participation. The term has various definitions, but as Belton or Burgis would say, you know one when it hits you.

The use of SLAPPs is a Europe-wide problem, but England is particularly rich pickings for those looking to prosecute claims, partly because the large number of law firms willing to take those cases, the potential for big damage awards and the sky-high costs that can cripple defendants. The backlash against intimidation using London-based law firms isnt just coming from Washington. Tory lawmaker Bob Seely used parliamentary privilege to name names in March, calling for a crackdown on what he termed legalized gangsterism.

A free press should be intimidating kleptocrats and criminals, Seely said. Why have we got to a position in our society, a free society, the mother of parliaments, where we have kleptocrats, criminals, and oligarchs intimidating a free media?

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Cohens letter names Nigel Tait of Carter-Ruck (who represented oil firm Rosneft in its suit against Belton); John Kelly of Harbottle & Lewis (who represented the sanctioned oligarch Roman Abramovich against Belton and HarperCollins); Hugh Tomlinson (who acted for Abramovich, Mikhail Fridman and Peter Aven, all sanctioned now); Geraldine Proudler of CMS (who represented Fridman and Aven along with Russian interior ministry official Pavel Karpov in a lawsuit against Browder that was thrown out); Keith Schilling of Schillings, who Cohen cites in relation to fugitive Malaysian businessman Jho Low, who is accused of embezzling billions of dollars from the Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB; and Shlomo Rechtschaffen, who is cited for representing Walter Soriano, a former Israeli intelligence agent who has been linked to sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska and others.

The firms named in Cohens letter  and by Seely in March  have all strongly denied all allegations of acting unethically or improperly.

The Foreign Policy Center, a U.K.-based think tank which has just published a report with detailed proposals for reform, found 73% of the 63 investigative journalists working on corruption stories across a number of countries had experienced legal threats as a result of information they had published. In its consultation document, the government cites estimates of 14 SLAPPs cases in the U.K. in 2021, two more than in 2020.

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The assassination of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who faced 47 civil and libel suits at the time of her death, was a grim reminder that intimidation isnt limited to the courtroom. A public inquiry found the state must bear responsibility for her assassination.

The question raised by Cohens letter is whether to blame (and punish with bans) the lawyers or try to change the system itself.

The argument for sanctioning the lawyers themselves is that the kind of attacks that Belton, Burgis and others have been put through are so egregious and the battle against Putins aggression so existential, that waiting for the grinding wheels of reform to make a quarter turn is wholly inadequate.

But banning lawyers, however deplorable their ways, is also an uncomfortable direction of travel in a democracy. Even unsavory people are entitled to legal representation. Britains cab rank rule requires barristers (those who argue in the courtroom) to take on cases within their expertise without regard to the identity of the client or the nature of the case or their own beliefs about the character or reputation of the client. That rule doesnt apply to solicitors, who can earn lucrative sums from reputation management work, but the public naming-and-shaming may have largely done the job of closing many of these doors for now. But what about in the future?

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who worked in journalism before turning to politics, has said he is live to the problem. The government has launched a consultation with the aim of strengthening legislation to protect defendants against spurious suits or introduce new court checks that allow them to be dismissed earlier in the process.

Clearly, the current set-up has been open to abuse. The law favors claimants, who are not required to prove that what was published is false; journalists and their publishers cannot use the fact that the allegations had been previously published as a defense. Litigants can rack up eye-watering costs and in multiple jurisdictions (Belton was also sued in Australia). For many journalists and their publishers, the stress and expense and the time it takes to resolve a dispute is prohibitive. Thats the whole idea.

Even where cases are thrown out, or settled with minor changes to texts or statements, the claimant can exact enormous costs and delays that impact the effect of publication as well as serve as a warning to others. Belton and her publisher faced five libel claims, which she says cost 1.5 million pounds ($1.9 million) to defend; that figure would easily have been far higher had they not agreed to make some small changes to the book to settle claims with the the now-sanctioned oligarchs Fridman and Abramovich.

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Britains defamation law was, in fact, reformed in 2013 to reduce libel tourism and protect publications and journalists from lawsuits that were intended merely to shut down critical publication. It didnt go far enough. Caroline Kean, founder of Wiggin LLP and the litigator who defended both Belton and Burgis in the libel actions, says case law has defanged the changes introduced by those reforms and that the defense that publication serves the public interest has become a tool for the inquisition of the journalist, not a defense to a claim.

Not all those bringing libel action are Putin-enabling oligarchs, of course. The BBC had to apologize and pay damages to former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko after it wrongly alleged that he paid money to Donald Trumps former lawyer, Michael Cohen. Public figures, celebrities and others rely on those laws, too. Changing the law to increase the hurdle for abusive claims could make it harder for those who have real cause for redress to get justice. Libel laws are also a ring of defense in a country with a strong tradition of tabloid exposes.

Tweaks to the law, such as allowing judges to strike out an accusers claim early where there is no reasonable basis to proceed  and compelling claimants to show serious harm right away  could end abusive claims early without discouraging genuine cases. Strengthening the public interest defense might also be a sensible way forward. Reversing the burden of proof (which rests with the defendant in the U.K., unlike in the U.S.) would be a more controversial measure in Britain.

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Cohens letter and the work of Seely and others have highlighted what most media outlets reporting on Russia have long known; that London has been a key destination for those using litigation to stifle scrutiny into dirty money and how Russias oligarchic networks operate. Johnsons government is finally asking the right questions; it now needs to fix the system that has provided Putins enablers with a welcome mat.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Bankers Had Their Crisis. Now Its Lawyers Turn: Chris Hughes

 Is Wimbledons Ban on Russians a Double Fault: Therese Raphael

 Russia Exploits Two Big Holes in Financial Sanctions: Paul Davies

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Singapore is shedding key pieces of its pandemic armor with relative alacrity. While officials have long been adamant the city-state would never have a U.K.-style Freedom Day, sweeping changes that take effect Tuesday get pretty close. It may just be a question of semantics. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight In what the nations health minister called a happy day, Singapore abandoned limits on group size, jettisoned social distancing and dropped curbs on the number of people who can work from offices. Many venues will no longer require folks to check in with the government contract-tracing app. Vaccinated visitors can forgo pre-departure tests.

Reopening in Singapore happened gradually and then all at once. Only a month ago, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a doubling of permitted group sizes to 10, ended compulsory masking outdoors and lifted restrictions on late-night sales of alcohol. At that time, Lee cautioned against expecting more big changes soon. So the latest news was as stunning as it was welcome. The government tends to eschew swift shifts in policy. But after two years of uber-caution that sometimes bordered on inertia, Singapore is sprinting toward a semblance of normal. Why? One reason may be that, despite earlier concerns, hospitals are coping with the disease. This development is partly thanks to very high vaccination rates, with more than 90% of eligible residents having received both shots. A surge in cases since the arrival of omicron has probably built up some degree of immunity, too. Its hard for me to think of a household that hasnt had at least one infection, including my own.

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But the most likely explanation is FOMO. Proud of its perch as a premier aviation hub, Singapore saw the resurgent travel in other advanced economies and feared getting left behind. Onerous rules on testing and group sizes  and the insistence on masking  didnt make for a great welcome mat. Before the pandemic, Singapore was an easy place to visit and its airport among the most user-friendly in the world. The costs of two years worth of Covid restrictions were outweighing benefits.As a trade-dependent economy, Singapore cares deeply about its reputation abroad. After topping Bloombergs Covid Resilience Ranking early last year, Singapore has slipped in part because of its slow travel reopening and the stringency of curbs. It was ranked 26th in March, behind Argentina, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, with Norway as No. 1. The carousel of lockdown-like episodes followed by small-scale reopenings also dented Singapores image as an administrative state par excellence, a place that excelled in technocratic execution. At times, the country seemed to be floundering from one message to the next with great frequency. Will we remember only the successes of Singapores Covid response and be encouraged to forget the fumbles?Its important we not get too giddy with the pace of change. Singapores leaders take care to remind us that another dangerous pathogen will surely arrive at some point. Nor has Covid disappeared. These changes will bring us almost all the way to how things were, Lee said in a Facebook post over the weekend. I trust everyone will remain socially responsible  wearing masks when indoors, self-isolating if you feel unwell and watching out for one another.

Officials have been making preparations for this new era. Red tape marking safe-distancing areas at taxi stands was gone from Orchard Road by Sunday. At Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, a popular chain of cafes, counter staff didnt bother to ask for my vaccination status or give me the bright purple sticker to show I was inoculated. As a practical matter, the post-Covid era has arrived.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Daniel Moss is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian economies. Previously he was executive editor of Bloomberg News for global economics, and has led teams in Asia, Europe and North America.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka  Sri Lankas government said Tuesday it is discussing obtaining another loan from Beijing to repay some of its debt to Chinese banks after China told the nearly bankrupt island nation it was not in favor of restructuring existing loans. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Sri Lanka has nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due for repayment this year and will need to repay $ 25 billion over the next five years. A severe shortage of foreign exchange means the country l acks money to buy imported goods, leading to shortages of food, fuel and other essentials.

The economic crisis has brought weeks of protests across the country calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksas resignation.

Government spokesman Nalaka Godahewa said Beijing was balking at restructuring Sri Lankas debt because it does not want to set that precedent. He told reporters the finance ministry will announce details of discussions with China later.

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Earlier this month, the government said it was suspending repayment of foreign loans pending negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan restructuring plan.

Sri Lankas debt problems are partly because it built infrastructure like a port, airport and road networks using Chinese loans, but the projects are not making money.

Rajapaksa had asked Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who visited Sri Lanka in January, to restructure those loans.

The government issued its statement a day after Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong said China was doing its utmost to help Sri Lanka. Qi scoffed at suggestions Beijing has Sri Lanka in a debt trap.

Western developed countries, especially those who colonized Sri Lanka in history, should also come and help, a Tweet from the Chinese embassy quoted Qi as saying.

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The debt trap is only a myth, created and hyped by some foreign media and politicians intentionally, Qi said. He said China is neither the biggest nor the only lender to Sri Lanka and Beijings projects are provided on concessional terms.

Japan, the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank are other large lenders, having begun the process of aiding Sri Lankas economy much earlier than China.

Qi said it was unrealistic to expect all projects or loans to be flawless.

Central Bank figures show existing Chinese loans to Sri Lanka total around $3.38 billion, not including loans to state-owned businesses, which are counted separately and thought to be substantial.

Godahewa also said that the Cabinet has approved a project to offer residence visas for up to 10 years to foreigners who buy apartments in the country costing at least $75,000 and those who deposit more than $ 100,000 in local bank accounts.

He said the offer was made to help the construction industry weather the economic crisis and to attract more foreign currency.

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A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research is causing quite a stir. It provocatively suggests that executives with MBAs oversee a decline in employee pay while failing to increase company profits or sales. Its lead author is MITs Daron Acemoglu, an economist whose work cannot be ignored. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Acemoglu and his coauthors point to practices and values acquired in business education for these managerial shortcomings. Business school professors will find this conclusion disturbing and assert that this is not what they teach. They would argue that they teach future leaders to grow sales and profits, and that when they do, they will be able to pay their employees more.

But the studys depressing findings are unsurprising to me as a former longtime dean of a prominent business school. Thats because embedded in many of the tools MBA students are taught is the doctrine that sound business decisions are based on rigorous data analysis. By the time they graduate, lots of MBAs feel that a decision based on anything else is beneath them. They are never told it in that many words. But after they have been taught data analytical methods in every course for every conceivable problem, they get the point.

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These data-obsessed MBAs optimize anything they can analyze  as if the future will behave like the past, including employee costs. They dont imagine that grinding costs down by chopping head count and suppressing wages will hurt performance. And they believe the cuts are justified because theyre based on rigorous analysis.

The same numbers-driven approach hurts their ability to grow sales and profits. In relying so heavily on data, theyre implicitly assuming that the future will be identical to the past. It usually isnt.

The other major teaching method in business schools, the case study method, is also backward-looking. Students read a story of a historical business dilemma and try to figure out what the boss should do. This might seem as if it takes creativity and imagination, but the professor is relying on a teaching note that describes a precise learning pathway. The professor carefully guides the class to the predetermined answer during what masquerades as a free-form case discussion.

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In the real world of business, the future is notoriously different than the past. There are no predetermined answers. Steve Jobs  who never got an MBA, but did enjoy calligraphy  understood this. So do Brian Chesky and Joe Geggia, who were classmates at the Rhode Island School of Design before cofounding Airbnb. And so does Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder of The ActOne Group, a billion-dollar staffing company. She majored in English.

Perhaps this is one reason for the pushback in MBA programs on the absolute dominance of science over imagination. MBA students are clamoring for design content to be imported into their programs, which some schools are doing  including Darden, MIT and Rotman. In these business design courses and co-curricular activities (taught mainly by non-tenured stream faculty), students are taught to use ethnographic techniques to develop deeper customer understanding, to listen to diverse viewpoints to broaden their range of creative possibilities, and to use rapid iterative prototyping to fine-tune customer offerings.

The notion that rigorous decision-making must always be based on data analysis is one example of a model  a framework or way of thinking. This model took hold in 1959, when business education went all-in on science in response to harsh criticism from studies by the Ford and Carnegie foundations. Sixty-three years later, the model still dominates. The result is rigorous stupidity.

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Ironically, the father of Western science himself, Greek philosopher Aristotle, was clear on the limits of his data analytical methodology. It should only be used in situations in which the future will be identical to the past  as in the physical world, where the force of gravity or the atomic weight of copper doesnt change. Were he alive today, Aristotle would be appalled that MBA students are being taught to use his methodology in territory way outside its proper domain.

The point is not only that its time to retire the model that demands universal application of data analysis, but that it is crucial for all business leaders  not just MBA students  to avoid being captured by their models and instead cultivate new ways of thinking.

More from Bloomberg Opinion:

 Workers Are Winning the Return-to-Office War Because Theyre Right: Adrian Wooldridge

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 Return to the Office? Managers Shouldnt Overstate the Benefits: Sarah Green Carmichael

 They Failed a Trust Test, Then Chose Finance. Any Questions?: Justin Fox

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Roger L. Martin, an author and adviser, is the former dean of the University of Torontos Rotman School of Management. His new book is A New Way to Think.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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After decades of neutrality, Finland may decide as early as next month to apply for NATO membership. Neighboring Sweden could soon follow. Unsurprisingly, Russia has threatened serious military and political consequences in response. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight A larger and more potent North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Russias doorstep may well heighten President Vladimir Putins insecurity and paranoia. For that, he has only himself to blame. The question is whether its a good idea for the alliance itself.

Finland remained neutral between East and West during the Cold War. Even after joining the European Union in the mid-1990s, Finns overwhelmingly opposed NATO membership; as recently as 2017, fewer than 20% backed the idea. Since Russias invasion of Ukraine, public opinion has shifted dramatically. Support for NATO membership is now 68%. If, as expected, the government files for membership, the Finnish parliament appears likely to endorse it before the NATO summit meeting in June.

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For Finland, the benefits are clear. Full membership would bring the country under NATOs collective-defense umbrella, guaranteeing that the alliance would use force in the event of a Russian attack  a once-remote possibility that, in the wake of Putins invasion of Ukraine, now seems more plausible. Finland would be fully integrated into Western intelligence and defense planning arrangements, enhancing its ability to monitor Russian military deployments along its border.

As for NATO, the Finnish bid would certainly make sense militarily. Although it has a small standing army, Finlands reserve force is Europes largest; some 900,000 Finns have military training. The countrys air force and intelligence services are among the most advanced in Europe. If Sweden joins, its militarys air-defense and submarine prowess would bolster NATOs ability to counter hostile Russian activity in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic.

There would be political benefits as well. Its true that previous rounds of expansion, particularly to less-developed democracies in southeastern Europe, have strained the alliances resources and forced it to do business with illiberal governments. But adding Finland and Sweden, both prosperous democracies, would only bolster NATOs credibility as a defender of liberal values. It would also help distribute the long-term costs of maintaining European security, allowing the U.S. to devote more attention to the Pacific. Despite Putins repeated threats, history shows that a larger alliance provides greater deterrence against Russian aggression in Europe, not less.

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That said, the risks involved must be confronted openly. Expanding the alliance requires approval from the governments of all 30 member states  including Hungary, whose recently re-elected prime minister, Viktor Orban, has made little secret of his admiration for Putin. In the U.S., two-thirds of the Senate would need to approve. A protracted debate in Western capitals could create a dangerous interregnum in which the Nordic countries will have renounced their neutrality but not yet received any collective-defense guarantees.

NATOs leaders can prepare for this possibility. Once Finland and Sweden make their intentions clear, President Joe Biden should make a public case for why their membership in NATO would benefit Americas national security and press wavering senators to quickly ratify the agreement. European governments should strengthen their defenses against Russian disinformation campaigns and other interference. While the ratification process plays out, the U.S. and U.K. should broaden defense-cooperation agreements with Finland and Sweden and coordinate with both countries to take action against any Russian provocations.

A final risk is that Russia will respond belligerently to NATOs expansion  perhaps by deploying additional nuclear weapons in the Baltic region. Such a move would undoubtedly raise tensions and risk miscalculations. As a precaution, the U.S. and Europe should reiterate that the alliances purpose is purely defensive  but that their commitment to collective security is unshakable. The prospective new members should also adopt a membership model similar to Norways, under which they would adhere to the alliances treaty obligations but not host permanent U.S. bases or nuclear weapons on their soil.

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Expanding NATO is not without potential hazards. But the costs of backing down in the face of Russias threats and aggression are likely to be far greater. A bigger NATO is a stronger NATO.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Macrons Win Is an Opportunity for France and the EU: Lionel Laurent

 In Germany, Scholz the Bold Reverts to Scholz the Smurf: Andreas Kluth

 Ukraine War Is Depleting Americas Arsenal of Democracy: Hal Brands

The Editors are members of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Arthur Wang, 17, realized the severity of covid-19 months before most of his classmates when he got updates about the coronavirus from his uncle, who is a doctor in China. It inspired the Columbia resident to come up with an effort to better support teachers and other workers in Howard County, where he is a junior at River Hill High School, and beyond.

We wanted to help the community, he said. I realized how hard it was for the teachers to switch from virtual to in-person classes. Some teachers said it was like flying a plane with no direction.

Wang inspired 42 other students in the county to form the nonprofit Clarksville Youth Care Group. The organization has donated more than 1,400 protective kits to teachers at 62 schools. And hes not done yet.

The kits include a handmade colorful cloth mask in assorted designs that features a pocket where a filter can be inserted for additional protection; an ear saver, which reduces the strain that masks place on the ears; a thank-you card and a mask lanyard. Each kit takes about three hours to make.

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I realized that we should account for how tough it would be for the teachers. We expect them to be such a strong figure. We needed to appreciate all the hard work they do, said Wang, who previously raised $13,000 in an effort to make 3,600 face shields that were donated to 101 hospitals, clinics, dental offices, urgent-care centers and first responders in seven states.

For this project, Wang raised $5,000.

Wangs efforts were recently recognized when he was one of two Marylanders out of 25 national high school students named as Prudential Emerging Visionaries.

Faaris Zuberi, 17, of Rockville, also was recognized for leadership of Financial Literacy Introduction Program, which offers financial literacy training to student members of the Youth Economic Initiative.

The award recognized the students for their outstanding, innovative solutions to pressing financial and societal challenges in their communities, according to Prudential Financial.

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The students were honoring have a sense of possibility that drives them to look beyond themselves, Charles Lowrey, the firms chairman and CEO, said in a statement. Their vision and dedication are key to creating fully inclusive communities, and we are humbled and inspired by their work.

Each of the 25 winners will receive $5,000 in funding.

Mikaela Lidgard, the principal at River Hill High School, learned about Wangs project last year while working at another school. She said the project has reached other schools in Howard County and Maryland.

Seeing young people take the lead and move forward and being compassionate about others was really inspiring, she said. They are going to lead us in ways that are exciting, uplifting and reinforce our faith in humanity.

Amanda Wang, a 14-year-old freshman at River Hill, said she is proud of her brothers ability to lead and inspire others in the effort. She also helps run the group with him.

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His hard work inspired me and others to work harder and make sure this project was going at a smooth pace, she said. Their parents, she said, have been supportive.

They have been really proud of us, she said. We needed their help for a few things  such as material costs and design  but its mostly us doing this.

The group has 300 kits remaining that it wants to donate to teachers.

Arthur Wang said he plans to expand the efforts to bus drivers and other community members who are in direct contact with the public. He also wants to inspire more students to join in the effort.

I think we can really take our stuff to the next level and expand to more and more people, he said.

 Baltimore Sun

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KARACHI, Pakistan  An explosion ripped through a van inside a university campus in southern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing three Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver, officials said. A separatist militant group claimed responsibility and said the attack was carried out by a woman suicide bomber. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight The bombing at the University of Karachi also wounded a fourth Chinese national and a Pakistani guard accompanying the van, according to university spokesman Mohammad Farooq.

Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said an initial investigation showed a suicide bomber was behind the attack. He said that closed circuit television footage from the site showed a person dressed in the female burqa head-to-toe covering walking up to the van, followed by an instantaneous explosion.

The Chinese fatalities included the director of the Chinese-built Confucius Institute, which offers Chinese language graduate classes, and two teachers.

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The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan confirmed the deaths of three Chinese teachers in what it called a terrorist attack Tuesday evening, saying an additional teacher was injured.

The Chinese embassy and consulate in Pakistan strongly condemn this terrorist act, express deep condolences to the victims of the two countries and sincere condolences to the injured and their relatives, and will make every effort to deal with the incident along with the Pakistani side, a statement on the embassy website said.

The embassy asked Pakistan to make every effort to treat the wounded, conduct a thorough investigation of the attack, and severely punish the perpetrator. It called on Pakistan to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in the country.

Hours after the bombing, the U.S. Consulate in the port city of Karachi on Twitter condemned the attack, saying: This cowardly act stands in direct contrast to the peaceful spirit of Ramadan, and we offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their families and those who lost their loved ones.

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In Islamabad, Pakistans Foreign Ministry in a statement condemned the attack and the killing of Chinese in Karachi. The cowardly incident is a direct attack on the Pakistan-China friendship and ongoing cooperation, it said and added authorities were investigating the incident to apprehend the culprits and bring them to justice.

Pakistans Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the attack calling it heinous saying the perpetrators will surely be brought to justice. He also visited the Chinese Embassy along with Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah in Islamabad to convey his condolences to Beijing over the killing of the Chinese in Karachi.

The Baluchistan Liberation Army, a militant group in nearby Baluchistan province, has targeted Chinese nationals in attacks in the past.

The groups statement that followed Tuesdays attack identified the bomber as Shari Baluch or Bramsh, saying she was the groups first female bomber. The attack marks a new chapter in the history of Baluch resistance, the statement said.

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Baluchistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by armed Baluch groups demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the regions natural resources if not outright independence from Islamabad.

However, the Pakistani Taliban have also targeted Chinese interest in the past. Last July, the group  also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan  claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus that killed nine Chinese nationals in Pakistans northwestern Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province. Four Pakistanis also died in that attack.

The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group from the Afghan Taliban, their allies who have seized power in neighboring Afghanistan.

Thousands of Chinese workers are living and working in Pakistan, with most of them involved in Beijings multibillion-dollar One Belt One Road Project that is to connect south and central Asia with the Chinese capital.

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A key road linking Pakistans southern port of Gwadar, in southwestern Baluchistan province, with Chinas northwest Xinjiang province, is part of what is known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The project includes a number of infrastructure projects and several power projects.

___

Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan contributed to this report.

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ISLAMABAD, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Two soldiers were killed when terrorists targeted security forces in South Waziristan district of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an army statement said on Tuesday.

The troops responded promptly following the attack. During an intense exchange of fire, two soldiers of the Pakistani army lost their lives, the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in the statement.

Area clearance is being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found in the area, said the ISPR statement.

"Pakistan Army is determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve," it added. 
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OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso  Martine Roambas 10-month-old daughter weakly tugs at her mothers breast searching for milk. The malnourished baby has been struggling to feed since birth as her mother hasnt had enough to eat to produce sufficient breastmilk since fleeing her village in northern Burkina Faso last year when jihadis started killing people.

Seated on a hospital bed with other severely malnourished children and their parents on the outskirts of Burkina Fasos capital, Ouagadougou, 30-year-old Roamba tries to calm her crying daughter.

Its very worrying and were praying to God that the baby doesnt deteriorate into an even worse situation, she said.

Hunger is soaring across conflict-ridden Burkina Faso, a result of increasing violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, which has killed thousands and displaced millions, preventing people from farming. Some 3.5 million people are food insecure, with nearly 630,000 expected to be on the brink of starvation, according to the latest food security report by the government and U.N. agencies. This is an 82% increase from last year of people facing emergency hunger.

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The nutrition situation in (the country) is deteriorating more and more, there are more and more people in need, said Claudine Konate, a nutrition specialist for the U.N. Childrens Agency, UNICEF. The country has to prepare for a growing crisis, she said.

At the hospital in Ouagadougou, the number of severely malnourished children arriving has doubled from two years ago and there isnt enough space or staff to care for them, said Clarisse Nikiema, head of nutrition at the hospital.

Because they were displaced, they are deeply impoverished and cant feed their families, so children become malnourished, she said. Sometimes after recovering, families refuse to leave because they dont want their children going hungry at home where theres no food, she said.

In January, mutinous soldiers ousted Burkina Fasos democratically elected president, and the ruling junta says that restoring security is their top priority. However, attacks have since increased with an 11% rise in incidents in February, according to the U.N. The violence is driving more people closer to starvation, say experts.

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The situation is most dire in the northern Sahel region, where cities like Djibo have until recently been besieged by jihadi rebels for months, restricting the delivery of food aid. Other towns like Gorom Gorom, have almost no operating health centers. Only two out of 27 in the district are fully functioning, said Jean Paul Ouedraogo, representative for the Italian-based aid group Lay Volunteers International Association.

Jihadi rebels are also expanding and pushing south and west into Burkina Fasos breadbasket, stealing crops and livestock and chasing people from their rural farms and into cities.

The decreasing supply and increase in demand is causing prices to spike. A bag of 100 kilograms of corn has nearly doubled since last year from $30 to $50, say locals. Aid organizations are bracing for more price hikes because of the war in Ukraine. Burkina Faso buys more than a third of its wheat from Russia, according to the U.N., and while the impact is not yet visible, humanitarians say its a concern.

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The crisis in Ukraine is also likely to impact soaring grain prices, making an already bad situation worse, said Gregoire Brou, country director for Action Against Hunger in Burkina Faso. Aid for the country is already underfunded  last years humanitarian response plan received less than half of the requested $607 million, according to the UN  and now agencies say donors have indicated there could be a 70% cut to funding in order to support operations in Ukraine.

Meanwhile hunger is affecting virtually everyone in the country, even those trying to defend it. During a trip to the northern town of Ouahigouya, civilians who volunteered to fight alongside the army, told The Associated Press theyre battling jihadis on empty stomachs.

The volunteers fight for the country, but they fight with hunger, said one volunteer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The lack of farming and minimal pay as a volunteer  $8 a month  isnt enough to subsist on, he said.

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Malnourished people are arriving at health centers in Ouahigouya in severe condition and taking longer to recover, said Dr. Gerard Koudougou Kombassere, who works at a hospital in the town. Displaced people are the most affected and malnutrition rates among them are rising, he said. In a makeshift displacement camp in Ouahigouya where some 2,300 people have sought refuge, residents told AP they have received food assistance only once in the past 10 months.

At one of the shelters, Salamata Nacanabo said her family used to eat five times a day when they lived in their village, but now they eat just once. Mimicking the sound of gunshots, the 31-year-old recounts the day jihadis stormed her village killing eight people, seizing everything she owned and forcing her family to flee.

They stole everything, cattle, food, and they took my goats, she said. Now its very hard to take care of the children.

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JERUSALEM  Israeli police said Tuesday they have launched an investigation into a death threat made against the countrys prime minister. The police issued a statement saying that a letter containing a death threat and a live bullet was sent to Naftali Bennetts family. The police said the special crimes department and the Shin Bet internal security agency opened an investigation.

Additional details about the case were under a gag order. The Prime Ministers Office said in a statement that the Bennetts family has been given an increased security detail because of the letter.

Writing on Twitter, Bennett said that political conflict, no matter how deep, doesnt need to come to violence, thuggery and death threats.

I am prime minister and a politician, but I am also a husband and father, and my obligation is to protect my wife and children, he said. We must lower the flames of the political discourse.

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Bennett formed a government last year following four successive deadlocked elections. He heads a coalition of eight parties ranging from ultranationalists to a small Islamist party that were all united in their opposition to longtime prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bennett and other leaders of the coalition received death threats and were provided with additional security in the run-up to the formation of the new government last June.

One of Bennetts predecessors as prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated in 1995 by a religious nationalist extremist following a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

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BEIRUT, Lebanon  Lebanons government tasked the military on Tuesday with investigating the deadly sinking of a migrant boat over the weekend amid allegations by survivors that the navy was responsible. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight It was still unclear what led the small, overloaded boat to sink off the coast of Tripoli on Saturday. At least seven people, including a small child, were killed and many more are still missing. The boat was carrying at least 60 passengers, many times over its capacity. At least 47 were rescued.

The military has been tasked with conducting a transparent investigations into the circumstances behind the incident, under the supervision of the judiciary, said Information Minister Ziad Makari following an emergency Cabinet session Tuesday.

Search and rescue efforts were still underway to locate those still unaccounted for.

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Survivors have accused the Lebanese navy of deliberately ramming the vessel while trying to force it back to shore. Lebanese officials have blamed reckless smugglers for deliberately overloading the boat and eschewing safety precautions. President Michel Aoun said the incident must be investigated due to these conflicting accounts of events.

Top military officials, including army chief Joseph Aoun, navy commander Col. Haitham Dnaoui and head of military intelligence Brig. Gen. Tony Kahwaji were summoned to present the findings of their preliminary investigation. The report has not been made public.

The Cabinet also tasked the governments Higher Relief Commission with providing assistance to the families of victims and survivors and appealed to the Social Affairs Ministry to communicate with international organizations to provide health and psychological assistance.

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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size We are not long into the new Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds, before we are confronted with the image of a bare-chested Spock. Back in 1966, when the original Star Trek was unfurled, it did not take long for fans to begin a long fascination with the sexual side of the cool and logical Vulcan. Spocksploitation, anyone? For Ethan Peck, the actor playing Spock in this spin-off/prequel series (more on that later), those scenes, and another where Spock, who suppresses his emotions, is heard to laugh, are a sign that by dialling the clock back to Stardate 1739.12  less than a decade before the 1966 setting of the original series  we are in unfamiliar territory. Rebecca Romijn as Number One, Anson Mount as Captain Pike and Ethan Peck as Mr Spock in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Credit:CBS Studios Theres a certain amount of fun that hes finding in being himself, in being these strange and disparate halves of himself, says Peck. (Spock is, if you know your Star Trek canon, half-human, half-Vulcan.) Hes really trying to balance his two sides, which is what I think makes him such a compelling character. I think it also speaks to so many of us who are constantly drawn between our emotional and impulsive sides and our more civilised parts that we must present ourselves in a way, and behave in a rational manner. Theres a certain amount of fun to be had in discovering that. What is too rational? What is too emotional? Were provided with an opportunity on Strange New Worlds, to really get into his inner life and more deeply understand his conflicts, his insecurities, his doubts, his romantic curiosities. Hes so mythical at this point. If you like Star Trek, Strange New Worlds beats a path back to the core of the half-century old franchise. A television series, episodic in nature, set on the iconic starship which started it all, the USS Enterprise, going boldly where no one has gone before to seek out new life forms and visit strange new worlds. If you find the long-form storytelling of the newer Star Trek shows too ponderous, then this is your show; the Star Trek franchises The Mandalorian.

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Anson Mount as Captain Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Credit:CBS Studios Commanding the ship is Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), who audiences first met in the 1965 Star Trek pilot The Cage, when he was played by actor Jeffrey Hunter. Pikes first officer, Number One (Rebecca Romijn), is an update of The Cage character played by Majel Barrett, the wife of Star Treks creator Gene Roddenberry. In Strange New Worlds she even gets a name, Una Chin-Riley. And, of course, there is Mr Spock, played here by Peck, but played in the original series and films by the legendary Leonard Nimoy, and in the Kelvin-timeline films (see breakout) by Zachary Quinto. At this point in the storys canonical history, Spock is just the ships science officer, fresh off the shuttle, as it were, and finding his way. In a way, ironically, Spock has become something of a Rosetta Stone for Star Treks stories, like Hamlet or Macbeth, a characteristic anchor through whose struggle we can open a window into the storytelling. In his third incarnation, he feels like the most recast of the Star Trek characters, though there are certainly as many Captain Kirks. Each is different, but all are quintessentially Spock. Thats a flattering comparison, not just for the actors playing him, but for the character himself, and a wonderful one, Peck says. I am just trying to do my best to discover him every day that I work. With each new script, Im presented with new challenges, and Im quite often frightened. But I have given myself over to this unknown that occurs every single day that we work. Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Melissa Navia as pilot Erica Ortegas in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Credit:CBS Studios The remainder of the crew are a mixture of Original Series reboots, such as Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) and Dr MBenga (Babs Olusanmokun), and new characters, including security chief Laan Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), pilot Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and chief engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak). In the second season, which has already begun filming, we will even meet young James T. Kirk, to be played by Paul Wesley.

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The series begins not quite as you might expect, with Captain Pike on Earth  in Bear Creek, Montana  somewhat resistant to hopping back in the captains chair. He has his reasons: recent events, seen in early episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, have exposed him to glimpses of his future, including his death, and he is a troubled man as a result. But, says Mount, its Earth-bound kick-off is also an homage to Roddenberrys original vision for Star Trek. Gene said many times that Star Trek was really a show about the old wagon trains moving west, says Mount. Its that same sense of exploration he wanted to tap into, and bring into a science-fiction setting. Were starting on a horse, both literally and metaphorically. Perhaps the most striking thing about the series is its physical structure. One of the challenges setting Star Trek projects in the close-to-Original Series era is they simply cannot replicate the 1966 television series too closely, lest they look dated. Strange New Worlds has struck that balance magnificently, delivering a USS Enterprise which serves as a piece of future tech, without departing too dramatically from the mid-century aesthetic which informed the original series. Babs Olusanmokun as Dr MBenga in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Credit:CBS Studios Loading Architecture is one of the most misunderstood, underappreciated, aspects of acting, Mount says. Knowing and being able to use ones environment in relationship to a camera and other people. Every time, every space I walk into, one of the things Im thinking about is architecture. Every single time. In this case, there is such a legacy there that we really wanted to find a balance, a call back to something, and yet something that is still going to feel not only futuristic today, but is going to meet the very high standards of todays television. How do you balance all of that?

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Though the subtle design notes have changed, the Strange New Worlds bridge is essentially the same bridge introduced in early episodes of Star Trek: Discovery which set up the new series. This bridge is smaller, more reflective of the Original Series bridge, and has more tactile controls. For the three actors who first appeared in Discovery  Peck, Mount and Romijn  the pinch-me moment was back on Discovery when they first walked onto the bridge. We had a very physical reaction to it, Romijn recalls. Like, what is happening right now? Is it possible that they built this set for one episode? We had no inkling where this would take us. Anson Mount as Captain Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Credit:CBS Studios It reflects one key point, adds Mount, which is that the USS Enterprise is a character in the story. I am not the star of the show, Pike is not the star of the show, the cast is not the star of the show, the Enterprise is the star show, he says. Loading As is the big idea of the week. Television is at its best when it serves as a metaphorical platform in which we can talk about other stuff. And Star Trek was one of the shows that has done that the best. Its really a mandate to us to continue to do that, so hearkening back to the episodic structure clears out space for the big idea, or the big planet, of the week. What I loved about the Original Series was every Sunday night, at six oclock on channel 13, that sense of excitement I got turning on the TV. Because not only did we not know where the Enterprise would end up, we didnt even know where the Enterprise would start.

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I wasnt tuning in to find out what happens in this relationship or with this cliff-hanger or with that plotline. I was tuning in to see the new discovery. And hopefully, weve managed to bring that sense of excitement to our episodes. Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock, Nichelle Nichols as Lt Uhura and William Shatner as Captain Kirk in the 1966 Star Trek. Credit:CBS WIBBLY WOBBLY TIMEY WIMEY: MAKING SENSE OF THE STAR TREK TIMELINE The Original Series Era The era of what fans consider to be classic Star Trek, that is, the adventures of Captain Kirk, Mr Spock and Dr McCoy, and the crew of the USS Enterprise, including Sulu, Uhura, Chekov and Scotty. The three-season original series produced from 1966 was set between the years 2266 and 2269, the two-season Star Trek: The Animated Series covered 2269 to 2270 and the era of original Star Trek movies, including The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock and The Undiscovered Country, produced in the 1980s, and featuring the original TV cast, were set around 2273 to 2293. Strange New Worlds Considered a prequel to the Original Series for two reasons: firstly, it is set on ostensibly the same USS Enterprise, Starfleet registry NCC-1701  though because Strange New Worlds is a contemporary production, it has been tricked up substantially, but still holding on to a sort of mid-century retro chic. And secondly, Captain Pike, who commands the ship, was in the very first Star Trek pilot The Cage, then played by Jeffrey Hunter, in 1965. Strange New Worlds is set about four years after The Cage, which puts it in the calendar of (roughly) 2258. The Next Generations When the Star Trek franchise was rekindled in the 1980s, Star Trek: The Next Generation picked up the story almost a century after the classic Star Trek era. TNG, as it was known, was set in the calendar years of 2364 to 2370, following the USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-D, the fourth ship in the line, commanded by Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). This era of Star Trek includes the spin-off shows Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (set between 2369 and 2375), Star Trek: Voyager (set between 2371 and 2378) and Star Trek: Picard (set between, so far, 2399 and 2401.) Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis. Credit:Paramount Pictures

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Its no secret that I love a good villain. Or villainess, to be more precise. Years ago, when fashion guru Maggie Tabberer came to my home, she was somewhat aghast at my collection of Niagara Detroit paintings of pin-up style women with weapons and evil slogans such as violence is golden. I found the works ironic and subversive, Maggie found them a touch disturbing. But this was hardly the first clue as to my darker leanings. As a child, my favourite Star Wars character was not the virginal Luke or Princess Leia, but Darth Vader, whose costume I wanted to inhabit, and I was by then already drawn to Disneys darkest  Maleficent, Cruella, The Evil Queen, Ursula and her pet eels (so badass). A new generation of girls now have a more rounded view of Maleficent, and Cruella. Vindication, you see. They arent all bad. Just mostly. And I, for one, could watch them all day.

But just how bad, how disturbing, would a more realistic villainess be? One seen not as a caricature, a monster or a cyborg, but as a human woman? This is where Villanelle steps in. From the very first scene of season one of Killing Eve, the Emmy award-winning hit TV series starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer, we see a prototypical psychopath hiding in plain sight as Comers fresh-faced, well-dressed and eerily calm Villanelle sits in a cafe eating ice cream. She smiles at a child, prompting the child to smile back, building trust, the two seemingly enjoying a friendly exchange. Only this wasnt friendly for Villanelle, this was study. She was perfecting another mask to wear, another expression to use to fit in, to fake common empathy and cover for her shallow affect. And as she walks out, she callously flicks the girls ice cream over, grinning to herself, knowing she could just as easily have sliced the childs throat as she glided past because for her these are just actions, each equal to the next  little pleasures that come with her powers, her considerable skills.

Seasons later, having seen those considerable skills of hers put to both good use and shockingly bad girl bad use, we see Villanelle reintroduced in a very different light in the latest and final season, as she sings to a church congregation. She wants to be good, perfectly, irrefutably good, it seems. Just what game is she playing, we wonder? Whatever it is, we know it will end in blood. (And my goodness, does it.)

Sandra Oh (left) and Jodie Comer in a scene from the final season of <i>Killing Eve</i>. Credit:

The character of Villanelle, according to Codename Villanelle author Luke Jennings, is somewhat based on a hitwoman for a Basque nationalist paramilitary group nicknamed La Tigresa (The Tigress) for her legendary sexual prowess. He describes her as a psychopath and completely without empathy. This classic aspect of the psychopathic psyche looms large in Killing Eve, that lack of empathy makes Villanelle genuinely terrifying. It makes her unpredictable. Unreachable.

What is also terrifying, is how she slides so easily and believably into non-threatening social roles to get close to her prey, weaponising her youth, her womanhood, whiteness and a killer dress sense to morph into one of those sweet, pretty, one-dimensional creatures from whom we are used to expecting not much. We know, as viewers, that we wouldnt clock her as a psychopath until its too late. Whether as a pretty waitress, ditzy student, rich alcoholic, nurse or sex worker, she is eerily believable, able to switch accents and body language to fit the role that will best help her to dispatch her commissioned targets, and anyone else who may be unfortunate enough to get in her way  or simply irritate her. The unsettling, emotionless ease with which she snuffs out life is central to her character. And the fact that she  and other psychopaths  are hiding in plain sight instead of under Darth Vaders mask, or the nefarious slogans in the paintings on my walls, is what makes them most frightening.

I had the privilege of studying psychopaths in the 1990s and early 2000s for my original Mak Vanderwall crime series, spending time with Dr Robert Hare at his UBC Psychopathy Lab at UBC. Hare created the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R). At that time, he estimated that psychopaths make up about 1 per cent of the population. They would be found equally in each gender, he argued, though psychopathy  like so much else  is a spectrum. A score of 25 or 30 and above were the ones to watch. The way it manifests as behaviour varies wildly from unfeeling Wall Street white-collar criminal to full-blown serial killer. Eve Polastri mentions Dr Hares checklist in the first season, theorising that Villanelle would score high. But though psychopaths exist among all genders, women who kill are notably rare. Psychopathic women who kill professionally, even more so. This means Villanelle is unique, but not entirely without precedent.
The head of a Melbourne-based organised crime gang has been charged with directing a massive drug smuggling operation from inside Barwon Prison following a phone tapping sting by the Australian Federal Police.

Federal police allege underworld figure George Marrogi, 33, pretended to be speaking to his lawyer over a prison phone, but was instead directing criminal operations for a drug syndicate from inside prison during daily calls to associates, including Melbourne woman Antonietta Mannella.

George Marrogi. Credit:Facebook

After Australian Federal Police tapped Mannellas phone, discovering the alleged drug smuggling operation, officers seized $55 million worth of methamphetamine and heroin in February.

In a wave of raids in Mickleham, Taylors Hill, Greenvale and Essendon on Saturday, federal police also seized a black and gold Night Rod special custom Harley-Davidson motorbike, white Mercedes G-Wagon, black and green Kawasaki, a jet ski, several mobiles phones, computers, storage devices, jewellery and watches.
Small businesses that have seen a 30 per cent dip in turnover this year are eligible for a grant worth up to $37,500 in a boost to state government assistance packages.

It comes as hospitality businesses with payrolls worth between $4 million and $20 million will also receive a three-month payroll tax waiver if they can prove a 40 per cent drop over a four-week period, and the eligibility criteria for other businesses grants is expanded.

Perths CBD has suffered due to COVID restrictions. Credit:Duncan Wright

WA Health reported 43,408 active COVID cases in the state on Wednesday, with 8392 new cases and 253 people in hospital with the disease  nine in intensive care.

With mask mandates over from Friday, Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas expects an influx of city workers heading back to their CBD offices and a boost in clientele for struggling city businesses.
London: Former US president Donald Trump says he personally warned both Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese ruler Xi Jinping against invading their neighbours, claiming that neither nation would have even considered the option if he was still in the White House.

Trump said the stupid war in Ukraine was also proof he was vindicated in his fierce criticism of former German chancellor Angela Merkel while the pair were in office. He revealed he had presented her with a white flag of surrender in the form of a very luxurious napkin during a heated meeting over her countrys heavy dependence on Russian oil and gas.

Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan in 2019. Credit:AP

In a lengthy interview with British broadcaster Piers Morgan to mark the launch of Rupert Murdochs new British channel talk TV, the 75-year-old gave a cryptic response to whether he would contest the next US presidential election, saying people are going to be very happy but added others would be unhappy.

Leaving few world leaders unscathed, he said he liked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson but was worried hed become a little bit liberal and a little bit green. He said America was now run by stupid people and feared the world was going to be blown to pieces.
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As an independent filmmaker, Ivan Hughes has tackled a variety of subject matters.

However, his latest behind-the-scenes project might be his most challenging.

Hughes was recently appointed the executive director of the Winnipeg Film Group.

His appointment comes in the wake of the March 2021 dismissal of ex-director Greg Klymkiw, who was accused by former WFG employee Ben Williams of creating a "toxic" environment and using profane, socially backward and mean-spirited language in the workplace.

Hughes is determined to address and rectify any past issues, vowing to learn from what transpired. He says it was "difficult to hear" talk about the toxic workplace.

"I want to be able to put whatever happened then in the past. I dont want to forget about it; I want to create a safer space where ideas can be shared free from judgment, and get back to what we all love doing, which is appreciating independent cinema," he said in a recent interview.

While he has yet to speak with Williams, Hughes says they are good friends. He calls the circumstances of Williams leaving the group "sad" and is determined to address and rectify past issues.

"Ben Williams and I are solid," Hughes says. "He is a good person with a huge heart who loves film and filmmakers. He does everything with energy from a place of goodness. Nothing can properly make up for what he went through. Im looking forward to reconnecting with Ben, having a coffee and a talk, and continuing the legacy of the work that he initiated at the WFG."

Prior to taking on the role Hughes was, and continues to be, a documentary filmmaker and freelance camera operator and editor. He has taught workshops in filmmaking and editing, co-ordinated outreach programs to remote communities and filmed in Nepal, Tibet, Nunavut and all over Canada.

"The projects I have been working on have been great. They have allowed me to learn some amazing skills, see some incredible places, but they all usually end up with me back in my basement, editing away in solitude."

This isnt the first time Hughes has held a role at the WFG. Ten years ago he worked there as the production centre director, a job he says he loved, as he got to work directly with aspiring filmmakers as they learned the craft and made their own films.

"The film group is a great place for this because the space allows for people to have these casual interactions while picking up gear, or taking a class, or watching a film, and its through these interactions that creativity is shared and grows resulting in some really incredible work," he says.

Hughess work has screened nationally and internationally in festivals, broadcast and online. He hopes to bring his extensive experience to elevate the WFG and is keen to get started.

"I am really looking forward to connecting with the independent filmmaker community in a bigger way. I am looking forward to working with filmmakers, organizing workshops, attending screenings, helping audiences increase their cinematic literacy.

"We are at a pivotal time not only for the WFG, but also for independent film. We have finally begun to understand the historical injustices and prejudices that have created barriers to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) and (LGBTTQ+) filmmakers and I am acutely aware of my position of privilege and understand the need to see representation from traditionally underrepresented groups in places of power in the arts."

Twitter: @nuchablue
TORONTO - Canada and governments around the world could scuttle Elon Musk's plans to ease restrictions on Twitter in the name of free speech, say social media and anti-hate experts.

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, attends the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Patrick Pleul/Pool Photo via AP, File

TORONTO - Canada and governments around the world could scuttle Elon Musk's plans to ease restrictions on Twitter in the name of free speech, say social media and anti-hate experts.

They believe Musk, a self-described "free speech absolutist" whose US$44-billion bid to take over the platform was approved by Twitter's board on Monday, will face several regulatory hurdles as he works to create "an inclusive arena for free speech."

Among the challenges are Canada's plans to reintroduce a bill aimed at reducing hate speech on online platforms like Twitter, and the European Union, which already warned Musk on Tuesday that the company must obey local content rules targeting harmful and false information.

"The broad sounding principles of free speech become much more complicated because one has to take into account questions around the types of moderation that are already happening ... and what different governments already do to put pressure on Twitter and how Twitter tries to respond to that," said Heidi Tworek, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and a Canada Research Chairat the University of British Columbia.

"That will not just be a U.S. question. It will be an India question, an EU question, et cetera, et cetera."

Musk's bid to buy the platform still requires sign off from shareholders and U.S. regulators, but he has already tweeted that he plans to make the platform's algorithms open source to increase trust, defeat spam bots and authenticate all humans.

"But how much of it is publicity and how much of it is reality?" questioned Carmen Celestini, a University of Waterloo instructor specializing in religion and conspiracy theories.

"There are no borders online or on Twitter and so he will still have to meet the individual laws as they're being created."

With Musk's bid to take over Twitter not due to close until later this year, how he will tackle regulation is still unknown, but Tworek feels his approach is worth watching because Musk has engaged in alleged online harassment.

She cites incidents where Musk faced a 2019 defamation suit after he compared British cave diver Vernon Unsworth to a pedophile on Twitter and other times when he lashed out at journalists who criticized him.

Michele Austin, Twitter's public policy director for Canada and the U.S., faced questions from MPs on the public safety committee Tuesday about the potential impact of Musk. She said: "I can't speculate on what Mr. Musk may or may not do," adding that the deal was still going through.

At the same committee, Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said Musk's takeover of Twitter was "an incredibly terrible development" and that the power he will have is very concerning.

Fareed Khan, founder of Canadians United Against Hate, feels Musk's track record coupled with his Twitter bid should have regulators, governments and Canada on guard.

"Putting complete control of one of the worlds most influential social media megaphones, with hundreds of millions of followers, in the hands of a man who believes in absolute free speech is dangerous, would have major negative social and political repercussions, and could lead to those with a huge Twitter following destabilizing societies if they chose to," he said, in a news release.

He pointed out that former U.S. president Donald Trump managed to incite attacks at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. in January 2021 with his tweets, after spending months on the platform to falsely claim the U.S. election was fraudulent.

"That happened under restrictions put in place by the current leadership of Twitter, so we can only imagine what might happen without any restrictions under Musks ownership," Khan said.

Though many believe Musk's ownership of Twitter will only attract more harmful material to the platform, Celestini said those posts are already proliferating the website.

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Instead, she looks at the whole situation as if Musk were a "brilliant spokesperson" because of the hype he is drumming up for himself.

Because of his Twitter bid, she has seen people on the political left worried about being surrounded with extreme material online promoted under the guise of freedom of speech, but those on the right are feeling victorious and like they will get an avenue to spout their views.

"So what it's creating is this sort of moral panic and vindication on both sides of the political spectrum," she said.

"In some ways, we're falling into the publicity that he wants and creating speculation that fires up both sides."

 With a report from Marie Woolf in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2022.
Its around 8 a.m. in Tokyo.

Its around 8 a.m. in Tokyo.

Its March 16, and Avery Hastings has had a long night. There was an earthquake near Fukushima, and she temporarily lost power. But, shes alright, so shes video calling her mother  and business partner  back in Manitoba.

SUPPLIED Bonsai Cha Co-founder Donna Hastings pours chai tea with the companys chai maker.

Both sip matcha tea. They say they fell in love with the green drink in Japan, and they want Canadians to have the same experience. So, theyve created Bonsai Cha.

"We get to try a bunch of great teas and introduce them to our friends, and I think thats been the most fun part," Avery said.

Donna Hastings, Averys mother, sips a matcha latte from her East Selkirk home during the call. An ocean away, Avery dumps water and a spoonful of matcha powder into Bonsai Chas matcha maker. After hitting a button and waiting 90 seconds, Avery pours herself some tea.

Neither family member guessed theyd start a business based on their mother-daughter meet up in Japan.

"I had always wanted to work overseas," Avery, 32, said.

Shes been in Japan for four years, working at an international bank. She originally transferred to Fukuoka, a city near Japans southern tip. She spent free time exploring.

SUPPLIED Donna Hastings, co-founder and Averys mom, enjoys a matcha latte, which she made using the companys matcha maker (middle right). Prices for Bonasai Chas teas range from $35 to $66 per 30-gram pacakge.

Avery said she attended a tea ceremony in Kyoto, in a traditional tea house.

"The matcha that they served me there was unlike anything Ive ever had in my entire life," she said. "It has this beautiful balance of flavours."

Donna visited in 2019. She tried Japanese matcha tea with Avery.

"Its like night and day (compared to Canadas)," Donna, 58, said. "I said, You know what, weve got to do something here. Weve got a product here that we have to bring to Canada."

The idea was put on a shelf. Then, COVID-19 struck and slashed Donnas income: she runs Windsock Lodge, a fishing camp in Nopiming Provincial Park, and her customer traffic hit zero.

She and Avery resumed talks about a matcha tea business in 2020.

Avery said she began meeting with farmers in different regions of Japan.

"I dont know how many teas Ive sampled already," she said. "I think my cupboards are still full of samples from all of our different partners."

Shes been learning Japanese and said she converses with her colleagues in the language. What she doesnt understand, her husband  whos Japanese  can translate for her, she said.

SUPPLIED Prices range from $35 to $66 per 30-gram package.

Bonsai Cha has chosen matcha from several areas, including Kyoto, Fukuoka, Shizuoka and the island of Kyushu. They take tea leaves from the first harvest, which is typically in May, Avery said.

The leaves are then steamed, dried, deveined and ultimately ground into a fine powder, she said.

"Once we had found the exact teas we were looking for It was actually Donnas idea to come up with something a little bit more convenient," Avery said.

Matcha drinkers must boil their water and whisk powder in to make the tea.

"I said to (Avery), Thats going to take too much time. Im not going to be making any matcha," Donna said.

She dreamed up a matcha maker; then, the Hastings reached out to manufacturers. The product is patent pending, Donna said.

The pair talk daily. While building their brand  creating a website, sourcing teas, networking with potential buyers  they make sure to video call often, they said.

Donna might phone at 2 or 3 a.m. Manitoba time if an idea arises.

"Were a 24-7 operation," she said with a laugh.

She and Avery have been co-workers before. A young Avery worked in Windsock Lodge, helping her mother in the kitchen.

"Getting into a food business just seemed like a natural fit," Avery said, adding its "been so fun" working with her mom again.

They sell the tea on Bonsai Chas website and in BREWTeas on Dakota Street. A 30-gram pack costs $35 to $66, which is comparable to other high-quality matcha powders, Avery said.

"Its like fine wine," she said, adding the matchas flavour is influenced by how and where its grown.

Avery said there are health benefits to matcha, and that she doesnt feel the caffeine crash she does when drinking coffee.

Good quality reviews have shown green tea  which includes matcha  can lower blood pressure by a small extent, according to Dylan Mackay, a food and human nutritional sciences professor at the University of Manitoba.

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There are many studies associating green tea with positive health outcomes, but they arent necessarily reliable, he added. Some studies are based off work done on animals, while others have small clinical trials or "not always optimum" designs, Mackay said.

"Most of the associations show that (green tea) doesnt do anything, or that when it does, it does something positive, but not a huge impact," he said.

Still, green tea is Mackays tea of choice.

"Theres certainly no evidence that its bad," he said.

A pop-up shop could be part of Bonsai Chas future, according to Avery.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  The death toll from two coal mine accidents last week in southern Poland has risen to 13 after another injured miner died Tuesday, a doctor said.

An airborne ambulance waiting for some of the 10 rescuers injured by new methane explosions at the Pniowek coal mine while seeking for seven people missing after initial blasts there the day before, in Pawlowice, in southern Poland, Thursday night, April 21, 2022. Following Thursday explosions the search for those missing was suspended doe to the danger of more blasts in the area. (AP Photo)

WARSAW, Poland (AP)  The death toll from two coal mine accidents last week in southern Poland has risen to 13 after another injured miner died Tuesday, a doctor said.

The miner died at the Siemianowice Slaskie hospital, which specializes in treating burns, where 20 other coal mine workers were still being treated for injuries from methane gas blasts, Dr. Przemyslaw Strzelec said.

The man's death means that seven miners and rescuers were killed by repeated blasts Wednesday and Thursday at the Pniowek mine, near the Czech border.

The search for seven others who remain missing was suspended after Thursdays blasts hurt 10 rescuers.

In the nearby Borynia-Zofiowka mine, 13 teams of rescuers are searching for four miners gone missing after a tremor and methane gas discharge on Saturday. Six miners died in that accident.

Prosecutors have opened investigations into the accidents. The mines are operated by the Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa, JSW.

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Most Polish coal mines are in the southern Silesia region and many have a high presence of methane in the rock.

Some 70% of Polands energy comes from coal, a proportion that has been sharply criticized by the European Union and environmental groups who are concerned about CO2 emissions and meeting climate change goals.

Poland has been trying to scale down its use of coal. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently said Poland has stopped coal imports from Russia and its ally Belarus in response to Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

For years Poland has been reducing its dependence on Russian energy sources that was built in communist-era times before 1990, when Poland was Russia's satellite.

___

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TORONTO - Twitter's board accepted Elon Musk's US$44-billion bid to take over the social media platform on Monday.

The Twitter page of Elon Musk is seen on the screen of a computer in Sausalito, Calif., on Monday, April 25, 2022. On Monday, Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for about $44 billion. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Eric Risberg

TORONTO - Twitter's board accepted Elon Musk's US$44-billion bid to take over the social media platform on Monday.

The blockbuster offer made by the controversial Tesla and SpaceX leader, who has Canadian citizenship, will see Musk pay US$54.20 per share, a 38 per cent premium to the closing price of Twitters stock on April 1.

Musk has vowed to transform the company by taking it private, reducing content moderation and launching a long-requested edit button on Twitter.

How did the deal materialize?

In January, Musk began buying significant shares in Twitter, racking up a five per cent stake in the company in March and just shy of 10 per cent in April.

The more than 73.4 million shares he owned made him the company's largest shareholder, though he failed to notify the Securities and Exchange Commission that his stake in the company surpassed five per cent within the required time, violating U.S. laws. Some Twitter investors have sued him for failing to disclose the size of his stake promptly.

Musk was due to join Twitter's board on April 9, though the arrangement prevented him from owning more than 14.9 per cent of Twitter's outstanding stock.

By April 10, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal had tweeted Musk had decided not to join the board and "this is for the best."

But Twitter had not seen the last of Musk. On April 13, he filed his bid to buy the company.

How does Canada figure into the bid?

Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce are two of the 12 banks offering Musk financing for the bid, shows a commitment letter filed by Musk's X Holdings III LLC. RBC offered US$750 million and CIBC has pledged US$400 million.

How did the board arrive at its decision to accept the offer?

Approving bids like the one Musk made largely comes down to money, said Dave Valliere, a professor at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management.

"The job of Twitter's board of directors is to do whatever is in the best interest of shareholders, and so when somebody comes along and offers a big premium over the existing value of the shares, it's pretty hard to turn that down," he said.

What will Musk do with the company?

Musk has mused about making several changes to Twitter.

At an April 14 TED Talk, he said the company should be reluctant to delete tweets and mentioned that it should be "an inclusive arena for free speech."

Musk has also suggested the company should offer users who pay for the company's premium subscription product Twitter Blue a verified mark, allow longer tweets and depend more on subscriptions than advertising for revenue.

Perhaps his most popular recommendation has been an edit button, which he polled users on earlier this month. Twitter has long been working on the feature but has never rolled it out.

While these ideas have generated Musk plenty of attention, Valliere said, "it's not automatically clear to me that he's got any great business strategy that does well for Twitter, the company.'

How will Musk's ownership affect Twitter users?

Just after Musk's bid was accepted, Musk tweeted that he plans to "make Twitter better than ever" by making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots and authenticating all humans.

Valliere believes the deal is really about Musk being "a rich guy that wants to control the megaphone."

"He wants a platform that he has some control over and so that people aren't going to hold him accountable in certain ways that maybe exists now," the professor said.

"I don't see that there's a huge benefit to the other users of Twitter. I don't see the huge benefits for the existing shareholders of Twitter, other than you've already paid them a lot of money."

Musk has a reputation for being a volatile leader known for Twitter rants and rash business decisions. What will this mean for Twitter staff?

Some who see Musk as successful will stick with the company or try to join, said Valliere.

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But others may leave because they doubt he has shareholders' best interests at heart and Valliere expects "turmoil at the top."

"Certainly some of the upper management can be expected to depart because if this goes through, this is a vote of non-confidence in the existing team."

How will Musk handle running a company that is being circled by regulators and international governments looking to restrict harmful materials from being posted online?

Valliere believes Musk won't help Twitter weather such conditions better because he is known for picking fights with his critics.

"He's going to try and stick a stake in the ground and so it's going to be an interesting thing because the legislative agenda is pointing towards greater accountability, but he's got lots of money, so which one would you want to bet on?"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2022.
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP)  UC Berkeley sophomore Terrell Thompson slept in his car for nearly two weeks at the start of the school year last fall, living out of a suitcase stashed in the trunk and texting dozens of landlords a day in a desperate search for a place to live.

University of California, Berkeley freshman Sanaa Sodhi talks with a friend in her on-campus dorm room while searching online for apartments in Berkeley, Calif., Tuesday, March 29, 2022. Millions of college students in the U.S. are trying to find an affordable place to live as rents surge nationally, affecting seniors, young families and students alike. Sodhi is looking for an apartment to rent with three friends next fall, away from the dorms but still close to classes and activities on campus. They've budgeted at least $5,200 for a two-bedroom. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP)  UC Berkeley sophomore Terrell Thompson slept in his car for nearly two weeks at the start of the school year last fall, living out of a suitcase stashed in the trunk and texting dozens of landlords a day in a desperate search for a place to live.

The high-achieving student from a low-income household in Sacramento, California, was majoring in business administration at one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Yet, Thompson folded his 6-foot frame into the back seat of his Honda Accord at night, wondering how he would ever find a home in the exorbitantly expensive San Francisco Bay Area city.

Academically it was hard, because Im worried about finding housing and Im worried about my clothes and Im worried about getting my car broken into all the time, said the 19-year-old Thompson, who now lives in a studio apartment he found last September. I was anxious 24/7."

College students across the U.S. are looking for housing for the 2022-23 school year and if 2021 was any indication, it won't be easy. Students at colleges from California to Florida were denied on-campus housing last fall and found themselves sitting out the year at home or living in motel rooms or vehicles as surging rents and decades of failing to build sufficient student housing came to a head.

For some colleges, the housing crunch was related to increased demand by students who had been stuck at home during the pandemic. For others, including many in California, the shortage reflects a deeper conflict between the colleges and homeowners who don't want new housing built for students who they say increase congestion and noise.

In March, the University of California, Berkeley, said it would have to cap student enrollment because of a lawsuit brought by irate neighbors over the school's growth. State lawmakers fast-tracked a fix to allow the campus to enroll as many students as planned for the 2022 fall semester, but the legislation does nothing to produce more housing.

Nationally, 43% of students at four-year universities experienced housing insecurity in 2020, up from 35% in 2019, according to an annual survey conducted by The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University. Students reported being unable to pay utilities, rent or mortgage, living in overcrowded units, or moving in with others due to financial difficulties.

From left, University of California, Berkeley students Sofia Howard-Jimenez, Jennifer Lopez, and Aisha Wallace-Palomares talk in a loft bedroom of the apartment they share with one other in Berkeley, Calif., Tuesday, March 29, 2022. Millions of college students in the U.S. are trying to find an affordable place to live as rents surge nationally, affecting seniors, young families and students alike. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

And for the first time since it began tracking basic needs in 2015, the survey found an equal percentage  14%  of students at both four-year and two-year colleges who had experienced homelessness in the last year, said Mark Huelsman, the centers director of policy and advocacy.

This is a function of rents rising, the inability of communities and institutions to build enough housing for students and other costs of college going up that create a perfect storm for students, he said.

For some students, the lack of affordable housing could mean the difference between going to college or not. Others take on massive debt or live so precariously they miss out on all the extracurricular benefits of higher education.

Jonathan Dena, a first-generation college student from the Sacramento area, almost rejected UC Berkeley over the lack of housing, even though it was his dream program. He found a studio at the heavily subsidized Rochdale Apartments for under $1,300 a month, but he might have to move because the bare-bones units may close for a seismic renovation.

Dena, 29, wants to continue living within walking distance of campus for a robust college experience.

But the urban studies major and student government housing commission officer said it's kind of scary how high rents are near campus. Online listings showed a newer one-bedroom for one person at $3,700, as well as a 240-square foot (22 square-meter) bedroom for two people sharing a bathroom for nearly $1,700 per person a month.

If I go to school in Berkeley, I would love to live in Berkeley, he said.

Nationally, rents have increased 17% since March 2020, said Chris Salviati, senior economist with Apartment List, but the increase has been higher in some popular college towns. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, saw a 24% jump in rents and Tempe, Arizona, saw a 31% hike.

From left, University of California, Berkeley students Sofia Howard-Jimenez, Jennifer Lopez, and Aisha Wallace-Palomares talk in the dining room of the apartment they share with one other that is now used as Sofia's bedroom in Berkeley, Calif., Tuesday, March 29, 2022. Millions of college students in the U.S. are trying to find an affordable place to live as rents surge nationally, affecting seniors, young families and students alike. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

In some cases, the rental increases have been exacerbated by a lack of on-campus housing.

Last fall, demand for on-campus housing was so high that the University of Tampa offered incoming freshmen a break on tuition if they deferred until fall 2022. Rent in the Florida city has skyrocketed nearly 30% from a year ago, according to Apartment List.

Rent in Knoxville has soared 36% since March 2020, and it could get worse after the University of Tennessee announced a new lottery system for its dorms this fall, saying it needs to prioritize housing for a larger freshman class.

Even two-year community colleges, which have not traditionally provided dorms, are rethinking student needs as the cost of housing rises.

Last October, Long Beach City College launched a pilot program to provide up to 15 homeless students space in an enclosed parking garage. They sleep in their cars and have access to bathrooms and showers, electrical outlets and internet while they work with counselors to find permanent housing.

Uduak-Joe Ntuk, president of the colleges Board of Trustees, hesitated when asked if the program will be renewed.

I want to say no, but I think we will, he said. Were going to have new students come fall semester this year that are going to be in a similar situation, and for us to do nothing is untenable.

California prides itself on its robust higher education system, but has struggled with housing at its four-year colleges. Berkeley is notoriously difficult, with cut-throat competition for the few affordable apartments within walking distance to campus.

University of California, Berkeley junior Sofia Howard-Jimenez, studies at a desk in her converted dining room bedroom of the apartment she shares with three others in Berkeley, Calif., Tuesday, March 29, 2022. Millions of college students in the U.S. are trying to find an affordable place to live as rents surge nationally, affecting seniors, young families and students alike. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

"I definitely was not prepared to be this stressed about housing every year, said Jennifer Lopez, 21, a UC Berkeley senior from Cudahy, in southeastern Los Angeles County, and the first in her family to attend college.

She imagined she would spend all four years on campus in dorms, but found herself in a scramble for a safe, affordable place to sleep. The urban studies major currently splits an attic space in what is technically a one-bedroom apartment shared by four undergraduates, one of whom sleeps in the dining room.

The total monthly rent is nearly $3,700  laughably high in most U.S. cities  but she's grateful for it.

If I hadnt heard about this place, I was either going to end up living in a basement, or in this other apartment I know (where) the girls are struggling with leaks and mold, Lopez said.

The Basic Needs Center at UC Berkeley, which operates a food pantry for students and faculty, found in a snapshot survey that a quarter of undergraduates reported they lacked a safe, regular and adequate nighttime place to stay and sleep at some point since October.

Thats huge, said Ruben Canedo, co-chair of UCs systemwide Basic Needs Committee. This generation of students is navigating the most expensive cost-of-living market while at the same time having the least amount of financial support accessible to them."

Thompson, the business administration major, started looking for an apartment last May, after spending his first year at home taking classes remotely to save money. He quickly realized that his rental budget of $750 was wildly inadequate and as a second-year student, he no longer qualified for priority in the dorms.

By the time classes began in late August, he was in a panic. He tried commuting from his home in Sacramento, leaving before 6 a.m. for the 80-mile (130-kilometer) drive to Berkeley and returning home around midnight to avoid traffic.

But that was grueling so he took to sleeping in his car. Initially he parked far away in a spot without parking limits. Then he parked at a lot between two student dorm complexes closer to campus, where exuberant partying kept him up at night.

He attended classes, studied and ate sparingly to save on ballooning food costs. He looked at apartments where five people were squeezed into two bedrooms with pared-down belongings stored under beds.

He slept in his car for almost two weeks until a sympathetic landlord who had also grown up in a low-income home reached out, offering a studio within walking distance of campus. The rent is $1,000 a month, and he hopes to stay until he graduates.

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"I think I have a little bit of a PTSD factor, he said.

Most students have no idea of the housing situation when they choose to attend UC Berkeley, said 19-year-old freshman Sanaa Sodhi, and the university needs to do more to prepare students and support them in their search.

The political science major is excited to move out of the dorms and into a two-bedroom apartment where she and three friends are taking over the lease. The unit is older but a bargain at $3,000 a month, she said. The housemates were prepared to pay up to $5,200 for a safe place close to campus.

You dont honestly know the severity of the situation before youre in it, she said, adding that landlords hold all the cards. They know that whatever price they charge, well inevitably have to pay it because we dont really have a choice except maybe to live out of our cars.

-

AP journalist Terence Chea contributed from Berkeley, California.
HALIFAX - Several key governance reforms to the Atlantic Lottery Corporation recommended more than five years ago still havent been implemented, the regions auditors general said in a report released Tuesday.

Nova Scotia Auditor General Kim Adair fields questions at a news conference in Halifax on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX - Several key governance reforms to the Atlantic Lottery Corporation recommended more than five years ago still havent been implemented, the regions auditors general said in a report released Tuesday.

The four Atlantic provincial governments have not implemented four of nine recommendations intended to improve the corporations governance and business agility, the officials said in a followup to their 2016 report.

One of the non-implemented recommendations is a call to update the corporations shareholder agreement and bylaws, reforms the auditors general say haven't been carried out in 10 years. The shareholders of the corporation are the gaming commissions of the region's four provinces.

The board needs direction from its shareholders and thats why the (shareholder agreement) is an important document, Nova Scotia auditor general Kim Adair said in an interview Tuesday. "It is the overriding agreement that sets the framework and objectives of the organization.

The report also noted the region's governments have not completed a review of the corporations underfunded pension plan, which has swallowed up $87 million in potential profit in order to cover a shortfall between 2012 and the end of 2021. The auditors, however, say a pension committee has been authorized to administer the plan and implement amendments.

We continue to encourage the shareholder governments to complete implementation of plan amendments to address the pension shortfall and to ensure the financial sustainability of the pension plan, the report said.

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The auditors said a long-standing disagreement over whether elected officials and government employees should be excluded from the board has not been resolved. The issue was also noted in a 2019 followup report. The region's provincial governments, the report said, maintain that it is in their best interests to continue having civil servants as voting members of the board.

The report noted that the four governments have agreed to appoint eight independent voting shareholder representatives and keep the remaining four spots on the board for senior public servants. They have also agreed, the auditors said, to creating staggered three-year terms for members of the board.

However, the report said there is no term limit for the chairman of the corporations board, who has been in his role since 2007 after having served as vice-chairman since 2000. The auditors said the chairman's tenure has been much longer than best practices recommend, adding that the corporation should implement term limits for that position.

Adair said she and the other three auditors general think their recommendations are necessary to ensure the proper operation of the corporation, which has been around since 1976.

It has functioned very well, but they are in a very dynamic and competitive industry, she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2022.
Elon Musk, the worlds richest man, is spending $44 billion to acquire Twitter with the stated aim of turning it into a haven for free speech. There's just one problem: The social platform has been down this road before, and it didn't end well.

The Twitter page of Elon Musk is seen on the screen of a computer in Sausalito, Calif., on Monday, April 25, 2022. On Monday, Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for about $44 billion. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Elon Musk, the worlds richest man, is spending $44 billion to acquire Twitter with the stated aim of turning it into a haven for free speech. There's just one problem: The social platform has been down this road before, and it didn't end well.

A decade ago, a Twitter executive dubbed the company the free speech wing of the free speech party to underscore its commitment to untrammeled freedom of expression. Subsequent events put that moniker to the test, as repressive regimes cracked down on Twitter users, particularly in the wake of the short-lived Arab Spring demonstrations. In the U.S., a visceral 2014 article by journalist Amanda Hess exposed the incessant, vile harassment many women faced just for posting on Twitter or other online forums.

Over the subsequent years, Twitter learned a few things about the consequences of running a largely unmoderated social platform  one of the most important being that companies generally don't want their ads running against violent threats, hate speech that bleeds into incitement, and misinformation that aims to tip elections or undermine public health.

With Musk, his posturing of free speech  just leave everything up  that would be bad in and of itself, said Paul Barrett, the deputy director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University. If you stop moderating with automated systems and human reviews, a site like Twitter, in the space of a short period of time, you would have a cesspool.

Google, Barrett pointed out, quickly learned this lesson the hard way when major companies like Toyota and Anheuser-Busch yanked their ads after they ran ahead of YouTube videos produced by extremists in 2015.

Once it was clear just how unhealthy the conversation had gotten, Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey spent years trying to improve what he called the health of the conversation on the platform.

The company was an early adopter of the report abuse button after U.K. member of parliament Stella Creasy received a barrage of rape and death threats on the platform. The online abuse was the result of a seemingly positive tweet in support of feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez, who successfully advocated for novelist Jane Austen to appear on a British banknote. Creasys online harasser was sent to prison for 18 weeks.

Twitter has continued to craft rules and invested in staff and technology that detect violent threats, harassment and misinformation that violates its policies. After evidence emerged that Russia used their platforms to try to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, social media companies also stepped up their efforts against political misinformation.

The big question now is how far Musk, who describes himself as a free-speech absolutist, wants to ratchet back these systems  and whether users and advertisers will stick around if he does.

Even now, Americans say theyre more likely to be harassed on social media than any other online forum, with women, people of color and LGBTQ users reporting a disproportionate amount of that abuse. Roughly 80% of users believe the companies are still doing only a fair or poor job of handling that harassment, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults last year.

Meanwhile, terms like censorship and free speech have turned into political rallying cries for conservatives, frustrated by seeing right-leaning commentators and high-profile Republican officials booted off Facebook and Twitter for violating their rules.

Musk appeared to criticize Twitters permanent ban of President Donald Trump last year for messages that the tech company said helped incite the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last year.

A lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech, Musk tweeted days after Trump was banned from both Facebook and Twitter.

Trumps allies, including his son Donald Trump Jr., have even pleaded for Musk to buy out the company.

If Elon Musk can privately send people into space Im sure he can design a social network that isnt biased, Trump Jr. said in the caption of a video posted to Instagram last April.

Kirsten Martin, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame, said Twitter has consistently worked at being a responsible social media company through its moderation system, its hires in the area of machine learning ethics and in whom they allow to do research on the platform. The fact that Musk wants to change that, she added, suggests that he's focused on irresponsible social media.

Twitter declined to comment for this story. A representative for Musk did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

New social media apps targeted at conservatives, including Trumps Truth Social, haven't come remotely close to matching the success of Facebook or Twitter. That's partly because Republican politicians, politicians and causes already draw large audiences on existing, and much better established, platforms.

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It's also partly due to floods of inflammatory, false or violent posts. Last year, for example, right-wing social media site Parler was nearly wiped off the internet when it became evident that rioters had used the app to promote violent messages and organize the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol. Apple and Google barred its app from their online stores, while Amazon stopped providing web-hosting services for the site.

Musk himself regularly blocks social media users who have criticized him or his company and sometimes bullies reporters who have written critical articles about him or Tesla. He regularly tweets at reporters who write about his company, sometimes mischaracterizing their work as false or misleading.

His popular tweets typically send a swarm of his social media fans directly to the accounts of the reporters to harass them for hours or days.

I only block people as a direct insult, Musk tweeted in 2020, responding to a tweet from a reporter.

Evan Greer, a political activist with Fight for the Future, said Musks lack of experience in moderating an influential social media platform will be a problem if he successfully takes over the company.

If we want to protect free speech online, then we cant live in a world where the richest person on Earth can just purchase a platform that millions of people depend on and then change the rules to his liking, Greer said.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Polish and Bulgarian officials said Tuesday that Moscow is cutting off natural gas deliveries to their countries due to their refusal to pay in Russian rubles, a demand made by President Vladimir Putin after sanctions were levied against his nation over the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during their meeting in the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (Vladimir Astapkovich, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Polish and Bulgarian officials said Tuesday that Moscow is cutting off natural gas deliveries to their countries due to their refusal to pay in Russian rubles, a demand made by President Vladimir Putin after sanctions were levied against his nation over the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom informed the two EU and NATO member nations that gas supplies will be suspended starting Wednesday, their governments said.

The suspensions would be the first since Putin's announcement last month that unfriendly foreign buyers would have to transact with Gazprom in rubles instead of dollars and euros. Only Hungary has agreed to do so, with other countries rejecting the demand as an unacceptable, one-sided breach of contracts and a violation of sanctions.

If deliveries are halted to other countries as well, it could cause economic pain in Europe, driving natural gas prices up and possibly leading to rationing  but it would also deal a blow to Russia's own economy.

Wednesday's cutoffs will affect deliveries of Russian gas to Poland through the Yamal-Europe pipeline, according to Polish state gas company PGNiG, and to Bulgaria via the TurkStream pipeline, that country's Energy Ministry aaid.

The Yamal-Europe line carries gas from Russia to Poland and Germany, via Belarus. Poland has been receiving some 9 billion cubic meters annually, fulfilling some 45% of the countrys need.

PGNiG said it was considering legal action over Moscows payment demand.

FILE - A Belarusian worker on duty at a gas compressor station of the Yamal-Europe pipeline near Nesvizh, some 130 km (81 miles) southwest of the capital Minsk, Belarus, Dec. 29, 2006. Officials in Poland and Bulgaria say Russia is suspending their countries natural gas deliveries starting on Wednesday. The governments of the two European countries said Tuesday April 26, 2022, that Russian energy giant Gazprom informed them it was halting gas supplies. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)

But Climate Minister Anna Moskwa said Poland is prepared to make do after having worked to reduce its reliance on Russian energy sources. Several years ago the country opened its first terminal for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, in Swinoujscie, on the Baltic Sea coast, and later this year a pipeline from Norway is to become operational.

There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes, Moskwa tweeted.

Analyst Emily McClain of Rystad Energy concurred, saying that Poland has ample natural gas in storage and has the capacity to ramp up imports.

Bulgaria said it was working with state gas companies to find alternative sources and that no restrictions on domestic consumption would be imposed for now, even though the Balkan country of 6.5 million people meets over 90% of its gas needs with Russian imports.

One feasible and relatively immediate option available to the Bulgarian government would be to increase their imports of Azeri gas.

Poland has been a strong supporter of neighboring Ukraine during the Russian invasion and has acted as a transit point for weapons the United States and other Western nations have provided to Kyiv.

Warsaw said this week that it, too, was sending weaponry to Ukraines army, in the form of tanks. On Tuesday it announced sanctions targeting 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, including Gazprom.

Bulgaria, once one of Moscows closest allies, has cut many of its ties with Russia after a new, liberal government took the reins last fall and also in the wake of the invasion. It has supported sanctions against Russia and sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Bulgaria has been hesitant to provide military aid, but Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and members of his coalition government were expected in Kyiv on Wednesday for talks about further assistance.

Europe buys large amounts of Russian natural gas for residential heating, electrical generation and the fuel industry, with Germany particularly dependent on it. The imports have continued despite the war.

Around 60% of imports are paid in euros, and the rest in dollars. Putin's demand was apparently intended to help bolster the Russian currency against Western sanctions.

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In Washington, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. had been preparing for such a cutoff by Russia.

Some of that has been asking some countries in Asia who have excess supply to provide that to Europe, Psaki said. Weve done that in some cases, and its been an ongoing effort.

___

Associated Press writers Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Zeke Miller and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
VIDALIA, La. (AP)  An Australian companys Louisiana subsidiary can get up to $107 million in U.S. Department of Energy loans to expand a plant that produces materials for electric car batteries the department said Monday.

VIDALIA, La. (AP)  An Australian companys Louisiana subsidiary can get up to $107 million in U.S. Department of Energy loans to expand a plant that produces materials for electric car batteries the department said Monday.

The loan to Syrah Technologies LLC would be the Biden administrations second clean energy loan.

The money is expected to enable the plant to produce enough graphite-based active anode material for about 2.5 million electric vehicles by 2040, saving an estimated 970 million gallons of gasoline, according to a department blog post.

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It would reactivate a program last used more than a decade ago during the Obama administration to lend money to auto makers and would be the programs first use for a supply chain project, the department said. It said previous Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loans went to Ford, Nissan and Tesla.

Importantly, this project also provides a socially and environmentally responsible U.S. supply chain for graphite, the Energy Department said.

Syrahs plant is in Vidalia, a city of 4,000 on the Mississippi River about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Baton Rouge. It uses graphite from Syrah's huge mine in Mozambique.

Tesla signed a contract in December 2021 with Syrah Resources of Melbourne, Australia, and Syrah Technologies announced plans for a $177,000 expansion in Vidalia two months later. Gov. John Bel Edwards office said Syrah would add 36 jobs to the 19 employees it had at the time.

The federal loan will create 98 permanent and 150 construction jobs, the Energy Department said.

Several steps remain, and certain conditions must be satisfied before the Department issues a final loan, the blog post said. It did not say what those are.
VICTORIA - British Columbia Premier John Horgan says he apologizes for "intemperate comments" he made during a heated question period in the legislature.

Premier John Horgan answers questions during a news conference in the press theatre at the legislature in Victoria, Friday, March 11, 2022. Horgan says he apologizes for "intemperate comments" he made during a heated question period in British Columbia's legislature. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

VICTORIA - British Columbia Premier John Horgan says he apologizes for "intemperate comments" he made during a heated question period in the legislature.

During a debate Monday with Opposition Liberals in the legislature over the province's shortage of family doctors, the premier used the F-word.

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The question period ended shortly afterwards with Speaker Raj Chouhan calling for the members to refrain from making debates personal and saying, "Let's behave like adults, please."

Liberal House Leader Todd Stone rose in the legislature shortly afterwards requesting a point of privilege to discuss the matter further at another time.

Horgan initially posted a statement on his Twitter account saying "If my mom was still around, she'd be on her way to the legislature with a bar of Irish Spring."

But the premier returned later to the legislature to make a full apology.

"Earlier today at the end of question period, my passion for health care got the better of me and I made some intemperate comments that may well have offended members of this house or others," Horgan said. "I apologize for that and withdraw those remarks unreservedly."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2022
OTTAWA  The Trudeau governments climate agenda risks leaving behind rural Canada and Indigenous communities, according to federal audits that found those areas unfairly burdened by the carbon tax, and no real plan to get oil workers into green jobs.

OTTAWA  The Trudeau governments climate agenda risks leaving behind rural Canada and Indigenous communities, according to federal audits that found those areas unfairly burdened by the carbon tax, and no real plan to get oil workers into green jobs.

In audits tabled Tuesday in Parliament, federal environment commissioner Jerry DeMarco warned the oil patch could be headed for a repeat of Newfoundlands devastating collapse of the cod fishery in the 1990s, unless Ottawa finally tables a detailed plan for a green transition.

"Theyre just making their work harder for themselves, because theyll generate debate and discontent if they close doors without opening (others) at the same rate," DeMarco told reporters.

"Canada needs to be transparent; whether its with respect to the disproportionate impacts of carbon pricing, whether transparent as to their modelling for emissions."

Shortly after taking office, the Trudeau government signed the 2015 Paris Agreement that called for "a just transition" of workers in carbon-intensive industries into quality, green jobs.

The Liberals have since tabled plans for Canada to reach net-zero emissions, which hinge in part on pivoting some oil and gas workers into other industries, but with little detail on how that will happen.

One of the few initiatives that have started is a program to phase out coal plants, and the results havent been encouraging. DeMarco found Ottawa had no way to track how many coal workers in the Prairies and Maritimes found other quality jobs.

Instead, many fell onto employment insurance programs that arent designed to get someone into a new field. Ottawa did fund economic development projects in those regions, but many didnt seem to have any link to hiring coal workers.

"Some communities and workers will require more help, if the transition to a low-carbon economy is to be equitable for all Canadians," the audit reads. "Often, these communities are in rural Canada, and workers might not directly benefit from the low-carbon jobs of the future."

Economists have estimated roughly 170,000 carbon-intensive jobs have no clear replacement. The auditor said that risks leaving 50 communities with no key industry, citing an analysis by the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices.

That charitable think tank considers four per cent of Manitobas workforce to be in "transition-vulnerable sectors" such as emission-intensive manufacturing, mining and building gas-dependent vehicles.

DeMarco argued the Liberals have been dragging their feet: "If the will had been there, they could have got a lot further along on this."

Bureaucrats at Natural Resources Canada told him DeMarco were instructed to instead work on COVID-19 pandemic programs, which he noted ended up subsidizing the fossil-fuel industry.

"They chose to redirect the resources towards direct payments to industry during COVID, and put a pause on Just Transition. Thats a choice they made."

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault would not explain why his government has taken so long to table a plan it promised in 2015.

"I completely agree with the commissioner, that there is still a lot to do," he told reporters, saying cabinet colleagues "are working on a Just Transition bill, which will be presented to Parliament in the not too distant future."

Meanwhile, DeMarco found the existing carbon levy punishes Canadians living in rural areas and Indigenous communities, despite Ottawa exempting certain agriculture tasks from the tax and offering more more rebates outside of cities.

Ottawa collects a carbon tax on fuels and remits all the revenues to each province, mostly through income tax rebates and also in funding green retrofits. Rural homes get a 10 per cent bump up on the rebate, using a definition that in Manitoba covers all households outside the Winnipeg area.

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But DeMarco found Ottawa had done no analysis to determine that 10 per cent figure. In fact, there is evidence rural communities are paying far more into the carbon tax than what theyre receiving back, despite limited opportunities to choose less carbon-intensive ways of getting around or heating homes.

In addition, the carbon tax rebates only come to those who file income taxes. Auditors noted Indigenous people are less likely to file taxes, in part due to mistrust toward the federal government.

DeMarco also found larger companies are also often getting charged more favourable rates under the carbon tax than small-scale businesses.

"The federal government has not done enough to address inequalities and that could include Indigenous people, people in small and medium businesses, including for example, many people in agriculture and rural areas," said DeMarco.

"Were asking them to do that calculation, check whether it adds up  and to report publicly on it."

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Is it really all that surprising that Manitoba is way behind in our COVID-19 booster shots?

Is it really all that surprising that Manitoba is way behind in our COVID-19 booster shots?

Testing and vaccination supersites have been closed. Mask and vaccine mandates have been terminated. COVID-19 briefings have become infrequent and the information provided extremely limited. There is no current and comprehensive public education campaign.

All in all, it would be hard to design a better strategy to dampen enthusiasm for booster shots.

Only slightly more than half of all Manitobans aged 12 and up who are eligible for a booster (third) shot have stepped forward. That is below the national average of 54 per cent, and only slightly better than Saskatchewan and Alberta, both of which have less than half of all eligible residents boosted.

Our pointed and growing ambivalence about boosters has become so chronic that Canadas chief public health officer delivered a warning late last week to start ramping up efforts to convince more Canadians to get a booster shot or risk plunging the country back into crisis.

ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam delivered a warning late last week to start ramping up efforts to convince more Canadians to get a booster shot or risk plunging the country back into crisis.

"We would love to get people mobilized once again, like they did the first round and the second round, to get that booster dose," Dr. Theresa Tam said Friday. "Were trying to do that once again, and give it another shot, as it were."

Why is Tam so anxious about boosters?

Although vaccines cannot stop even fully vaccinated people from contracting most of the Omicron variants circulating in Canada right now, they are still remarkably successful at preventing serious illness and hospitalization. Without boosters, however, those of us with only two doses will slowly become more and more vulnerable to the worst outcomes of COVID-19.

Facing a growing risk like that, Manitoba has fashioned one of the most illogical and impractical responses ever. And thats saying something given the fatal mistakes we made over the past two years.

The dismantling of PCR testing capacity is among the most illogical. Rapid antigen tests are now widely available but they are not a substitute for the more accurate PCR tests. Should a new and even more dangerous variant emerge, its unlikely government will be able to rebuild testing capacity quickly enough for us to meet the challenge head-on.

Rapid antigen tests are now widely available but they are not a substitute for the more accurate PCR tests.

The termination of mask and vaccine mandates was also devoid of logic. The legal and administrative infrastructure was already in place, and the science backed up the efficacy of both. Masks slow the rates of infection, and vaccine mandates  which limit what the unvaccinated can do and where they can go  are the single-most effective way of encouraging booster shots.

The deliberate decision to withhold data about the state of the pandemic in Manitoba is nothing short of immoral. How can people make informed decisions about protecting themselves if they dont know the magnitude of the risk they face?

Manitobas PC government, along with provincial governments across the country, are fully and completely culpable for both the inadequate uptake of booster shots and the disease and death that will surely follow.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Without boosters, however, those of us with only two doses will slowly become more and more vulnerable to the worst outcomes of COVID-19.

Even without a regular and reliable flow of information from government, the evidence of the risk we face can be seen.

Wait times in Winnipeg emergency rooms have reached historic levels, while the number of health-care workers unable to report to work is growing. Doctors Manitoba last week reported 55 physicians in isolation because of COVID-19, double the number of the previous week.

And even though many provinces have stopped reporting daily hospital admissions, the federal government has continued to track the situation. Tam said last week that Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta  the three provinces with the lowest booster uptake  also had the highest rates of hospitalization in the country.

As we struggle with booster laggards, were also gaining new insight into the continuing threat posed by the unvaccinated.

As we struggle with booster laggards, were also gaining new insight into the continuing threat posed by the unvaccinated.

New research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows that although Omicron variants can still infect fully vaccinated people, the risk of contracting the virus is still much lower. The study found that the rate of infection among fully vaccinated people was between 10 and 15 per cent; among the unvaccinated, it was 79 per cent.

This information is important because fully vaccinated Canadians who go without a booster shot will, in the very near future, lose the immunity gained through their first two doses. Current modelling suggests that at some point this year, many "fully" vaccinated people will end up almost as vulnerable as the unvaccinated, which means greater risk of serious illness and death.

Given that most medical and scientific experts see a future where regular COVID-19 booster shots will be needed to protect the health-care system from implosion, our indifference to third-dose boosters is a worrisome trend.

Given that most medical and scientific experts see a future where regular COVID19 booster shots will be needed to protect the healthcare system from implosion, our indifference to thirddose boosters is a worrisome trend.

It seems clear now that when the PC government began to dismantle its pandemic controls, it did not anticipate the impact it would have on booster shots. There seems to have been an assumption that with nearly 90 per cent of eligible Manitobans getting two doses, the uptake for a third shot would be just as robust.

It might have been, if government had not chosen to signal its lack of concern by ending mandates and removing all restrictions.

From this point on, both government and citizen will share in one inescapable reality: regardless of how bad things get, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca

Dan Lett | Not for Attribution A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world that is sent every Tuesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.
A platinum jubilee is unprecedented for the British Royal Family. While historic, this years celebration of Queen Elizabeths 70 years on the throne comes at an awkward time for the monarch.

Opinion

A platinum jubilee is unprecedented for the British Royal Family. While historic, this years celebration of Queen Elizabeths 70 years on the throne comes at an awkward time for the monarch.

It coincides with concerns about her declining health, ongoing campaigns to remove the Queen as head of state, controversy over Prince Andrews return to the public eye and calls for the Royal Family to apologize for its role in colonialism and slavery.

But this is not the Queens first annus horribilis (horrible year), and she has proven adept at coming back from low points.

Jubilees are critical to renewing the Royal Familys relationship with the British people. They simultaneously reinforce the separation of the monarch from her subjects and attempt to integrate the monarchy into everyday life.

A history of royal jubilees

Queen Victorias first 25 years on the throne were not celebrated with a jubilee because she was mourning the death of her husband, Prince Albert. In 1887, however, Queen Victorias Golden Jubilee was an ambitious event that set the tone for future celebrations.

Her Golden Jubilee reinforced Britains imperial status with visits from colonial dignitaries, an elaborate procession through London and celebratory events across the British Empire.

Queen Victoria was in poor health when it was time for her Diamond Jubilee in 1897, but the celebrations were still elaborate and emphasized the Queens role as mother of the British Empire.

Britains first Silver Jubilee honoured King George V in 1935 and provided a model for current celebrations. His reign was marked with a month of royal addresses, religious services, a procession through London and festivities throughout the British Empire and Commonwealth.

In the midst of the Great Depression, the jubilee attracted some criticism, but was considered a great success overall  both a welcome distraction and reinforcement of Britains global reach.

As Queen Elizabeths Silver Jubilee approached in 1977, there were questions about the wisdom of celebrating the monarchy during a period of economic crisis, growing nationalism in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and significantly reduced global power for Britain.

The Silver Jubilee proceeded nonetheless, with a calendar of events that emphasized tradition and unity, both at home and abroad. The Queen travelled to all parts of the United Kingdom, including a risky trip to Northern Ireland, and visited every country of which she was head of state.

Jubilee Week featured the lighting of a symbolic chain of bonfires across Britain, a royal boat trip on the river Thames and thousands of street parties. It demonstrated the capacity of a jubilee to redirect public attention to the stability and legitimacy of the monarchy.

Modern royal jubilees

Recent royal jubilees have shifted from an emphasis on tradition to more community-focused events. In 2002, the Golden Jubilee was an opportunity for the Queen to thank her people for their support and loyalty over her reign after widespread criticism of the Royal Familys response to the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales.

The Queen reprised her travels throughout the U.K. and many parts of the former British Empire as millions turned out for a Jubilee Weekend. The Queen also showed her willingness to modernize and connect with the public by hosting a Party at the Palace pop concert, which was watched by over 200 million people worldwide and has become a fixture in subsequent jubilees.

Despite predictions the Golden Jubilee would fail as a result of declining public support for the monarchy, the success of the celebrations could not be denied. A decade later, a similar combination of tradition and innovation for the Queens Diamond Jubilee pushed her public approval ratings to a new high.

As the Queen marks her 96th birthday and undertakes only light duties, it will be difficult to replicate such celebrations with the Platinum Jubilee.

This years jubilee

The Queens personal popularity remains high, but support for the monarchy is waning both in Britain and the Commonwealth.

The challenge for this years jubilee is to promote respect for the Queens unique status, while also building public support for her successors  so far, the signs are not positive.

Prince Williams recent tour of the Caribbean was received much more critically than his grandmothers earlier visits. Commonwealth countries, such as Canada, have replaced large-scale jubilee celebrations with DIY resources and grassroots events, while the Jamaican government has refused to celebrate, citing the jubilee as a symbol of colonialism and oppression.

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William acknowledged that his tour had brought into sharper focus questions about the past and the future, but this years calendar of events doesnt suggest a reckoning with Britains colonial past, no matter how necessary.

Instead, Platinum Jubilee celebrations will draw on many of the traditions that have bolstered support for monarchs since the early 1800s: the lighting of beacons, the presentation of Jubilee medals, a festive Jubilee Weekend and the Platinum Pageant.

New and old will also come together in more community-oriented events, such as the Big Jubilee Lunch, the Queens Green Canopy and the Platinum Pudding Competition.

This combination of tradition and novelty has served the Queen well in past jubilees. It could succeed again.

Catherine Ellis is an associate professor in the department of history at Ryerson University.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.
KIEV -- A missile strike carried out by Russian forces has damaged a key road-railway bridge over the Dniester Estuary in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, the Odesa City Council said Tuesday.

The bridge connects the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district with other districts of the Odesa region, local authorities said in a statement on Telegram.

The circumstances and information about the victims are being clarified, the statement said.

- - - -

MOSCOW -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and visiting United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday agreed on the need to continue the negotiation process and seek a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis.

"We stand in favor of a negotiated solution," Lavrov said during a joint press conference with Guterres after their talks in Moscow, noting that Russia agreed to begin negotiations in early March immediately after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had proposed.

- - - -

MOSCOW -- Russia said Tuesday that it is expelling three Swedish diplomats in response to the "unjustified" expulsion of three Russian diplomats in Stockholm and Sweden's military support for Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to Russia on Tuesday and declared three diplomats of the Swedish Embassy in Russia "persona non grata," said the ministry in a statement.

- - - -

ANKARA -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday once again urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to hold a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

During a phone talk, Erdogan told Putin that the "continuation of the positive momentum achieved in the Istanbul talks" to reach peace in Ukraine is in the interest of everyone, the Turkish presidential press service said in a statement.

The president reiterated his proposal to increase the level of the "Istanbul process, which is a very important threshold in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, to the level of leaders," said the statement. 
The freshwater priorities included in the federal Liberal Partys 2021 platform amounted to one of the most ambitious commitments ever made to preserving and enhancing Canadas freshwater resources.

Opinion

The freshwater priorities included in the federal Liberal Partys 2021 platform amounted to one of the most ambitious commitments ever made to preserving and enhancing Canadas freshwater resources.

Justin Trudeaus Liberals promised an independent, robust Canada Water Agency to drive national water policy, an update to the Canada Water Act, which has not been revised for 50 years since its passage in 1970 under Pierre Trudeaus government, and most breathtaking of all, a commitment to invest $1 billion over 10 years in a Freshwater Action Plan to revitalize river basins and lakes.

The fact Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid, well known for his commitment to the environment in general and Lake Winnipeg in particular, co-chaired the platform committee likely had a great deal to do with the centrality of water in Liberal campaign commitments.

But the hurrahs of water advocates across Canada for the 2021 Liberal plan turned into a chorus of boos after the federal budget was released on April 7. Rather than the expected annual $100-million investment to fulfill the commitments in the Freshwater Action Plan, Chrystia Freelands budget announced only $19.6 million for an extensive list of water bodies that includes the Great Lakes, the Mackenzie River and Lake Winnipeg.

That tiny down payment of $19.6 million will have to cover an awful lot of water.

Many in the water community feel they are seeing a replay of an abiding weakness of the Justin Trudeau governments: a propensity to over-promise and under-deliver. Lake Winnipeg Foundation executive director Alexis Kanu, for example, told the Winnipeg Free Press that reading the budget, I was stunned. The foundation promptly revised its report card on how authorities were meeting water commitments by giving the federal government an F.

Duguid defended the governments plan, maintaining the money in the budget was simply to tide us over until the Freshwater Action Plan is properly fleshed out. But perhaps its not surprising the government was not given more of the benefit of the doubt on the Freshwater Action Plan, because it has virtually no defense on why the far simpler commitment to create a Canada Water Agency has also not yet been fulfilled.

The government promised such an agency in its 2019 platform and renewed the pledge in 2021. It has now been three years since the original commitment to a relatively minor reorganization of the Department of the Environment and Climate Change, and we are still waiting.

Environment and Climate Change Canada is consumed with how to achieve Canadas targets on reducing greenhouse gases and how to mitigate the effects of global warning. The Prairie Climate Centre at the University of Winnipeg, among many other research institutions, argues climate change and extreme conditions such as flooding are inextricably linked, but for whatever reason, the departments responses on water have always been reactive and underwhelming.

That is why we need an independent Canada Water Agency to champion the priority of water in Ottawa.

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Consultations on the water agency have been held across Canada (some of which I organized). Fifty leading research institutes on water have endorsed the concept of the agency, and detailed plans have been submitted on what units should be moved and how dynamic leadership can be recruited.

But still, stasis reigns: most likely, the department is too busy with other priorities to give the agency the attention it requires, or it is playing the oldest bureaucratic game in the book, which is to hold onto control at all costs and prevent independent entities from acquiring influence.

Either way, the clear direction of the last two Liberal platforms is being thwarted.

Budget allocations for big programs such as the Freshwater Action Plan are indeed complicated, but creating the Canada Water Agency is not. The environment minister need only summon his officials and utter three words: Do it now.

Until he does this, the Liberal government will be receiving many more F grades from Canadians seeking action on water.

Thomas S. Axworthy is public policy chair at Massey College.
French voters decided on Sunday to stick with the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance. They refused to dance to the tune of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their decision kept the Euro-American coalition in support of Ukraine intact, and may have halted the advance of right-wing populism among the western democracies.

French voters decided on Sunday to stick with the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance. They refused to dance to the tune of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their decision kept the Euro-American coalition in support of Ukraine intact, and may have halted the advance of right-wing populism among the western democracies.

The French re-elected their centrist president, Emmanuel Macron, despite his cold, technocratic manner. They rejected, by a margin of 59 per cent to 41 per cent, the appeal of Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate of the National Rally party. She wanted to preserve friendship with Mr. Putin, despite his continuing war against Ukraine, pull France out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military wing and weaken the European Union.

The French election may have a sobering effect on Republicans in the United States. Former president Donald Trump, since his defeat in November 2020, has been warmly praising Mr. Putin and publicly asking him to dig up dirt on Democratic President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

CP French President Emmanuel Macron and French first lady Brigitte Macron celebrate with supporters in Paris on Sunday. (Christophe Ena / The Associated Press)

Some Republicans in Congress and the Senate have been quietly sidling away from Mr. Trump in recent weeks. Most of them voted to ban U.S. purchases of Russian petroleum and to provide military aid to Ukraine. The French election result may encourage them to conclude they will win no friends among U.S. voters by echoing Mr. Trumps support for the Russian president.

Mr. Trump had been dominant in his party, compelling colleagues to endorse his theory that he actually won the 2020 election and to defend his actions in support of the mob attack on the U.S. Congress in January 2021. Ms. Le Pens failure in France may help reduce the Trump supporters to a crackpot minority within the Republican party.

The re-election on April 3 of Viktor Orban, right-wing populist prime minister of Hungary, had created an impression that admirers of Mr. Putin were on the march in the western democracies. Frances emphatic rejection of Ms. Le Pen on Sunday showed that is not the case.

The French re-elected their centrist president, Emmanuel Macron, despite his cold, technocratic manner. (Lewis Joly / The Associated Press)

The waning of "Putin-mania" among U.S. Republicans suggests Mr. Orbans success was a local oddity, not a symptom of a rapidly-spreading virus.

Ms. Le Pen was pleased by Sundays vote tally because she had raised her electoral support to 41 per cent from 34 per cent in 2017, and from 18 per cent in the first round of presidential voting in 2012. These results show a large increase from a small beginning, but they still leave her and the right-wing populist movement far from power in France.

For Canadians, the French election result means NATO and the EU remain strong and united. It means western support for Ukraine is undiminished. The March 2 vote of the United Nations General Assembly on a demand for full withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine passed, with 141 votes in favour and five against, with 35 abstentions. The result stands as an expression of what the world thinks of Mr. Putins war.

If Mr. Putin could read the writing on the wall, he would see his attempt to bludgeon Ukraine into submission is going to get more difficult. His army is weakened already by a failed assault toward Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and his attempts at disinformation and election-meddling in countries friendly to Ukraine are paying no dividends.

By pursuing this senseless war, Mr. Putin is ensuring decades of international hostility against Russia and the continuing decline of his nation. He should cut his losses and abandon this cruel and fruitless struggle.
Unacceptable emergency room wait times may be linked to rising COVID-19 cases, but Manitoba Health Minister Audrey Gordon isnt planning to reimpose public health restrictions  until the experts tell her to do so.

Unacceptable emergency room wait times may be linked to rising COVID-19 cases, but Manitoba Health Minister Audrey Gordon isnt planning to reimpose public health restrictions  until the experts tell her to do so.

We continue to look to the leadership of public health in terms of the measures that need to be taken, Gordon told reporters Monday at the Manitoba Legislative Building after question period.

Up until today, theres been no request for any changes, so Ill continue to look to the experts in public health for direction on that, the minister said, adding she last spoke Monday with chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin.

At the same time, Gordon was asked about lengthy waits at city emergency rooms, after Winnipeg Regional Health Authority chief executive officer Mike Nader sent a letter to staff April 22 about concerning wait times and rising COVID-19 cases leading to increased hospitalizations and absenteeism.

In short, our ability to transition admitted patients from our emergency department/urgent care is seriously impacted right now, says the letter sent to staff one day after the Free Press reported ER doctors concerns on the issue.

The main drivers of the problem, the WRHA letter said, include the novel coronavirus continuing to spread and leading to a higher-than-normal increase in COVID-positive patients in medicine (beds) and creating additional pressure.

Patients who have avoided seeking care during the pandemic are sicker when they do go to hospital and require more and longer care, according to the memo.

Patients are remaining longer in the ER while awaiting results of a COVID-19 test to ensure they are placed in an area appropriate for their health-care needs and COVID status, it said.

In a Zoom call with reporters late Monday, Nader said COVID-19 may not be the reason patients are hospitalized, but if they have it, it severely disrupts our work flow.

Its posing a challenge because they need to be kept in isolation units and staff are required to deal with more personal protective equipment measures.

His letter to staff said absenteeism due to illness is at a historic high, including those with symptoms or confirmed cases of COVID-19.

In efforts to address the problem, the WRHA is changing ambulance transport protocols to divert more lower-acuity patients to urgent care centres when its appropriate. It has launched a pilot project to test new ER and urgent care arrivals for COVID-19 right away to streamline the process and the flow of patients, and are asking staff for ideas on how to improve the situation.

There are a number of factors impacting our emergency departments, Gordon said Monday. Im very concerned about the wait times and the number of individuals who are having to wait long periods of time.

When asked what she intends to do about it, Gordon said shes given out her marching orders.

One of the things Im doing is insist they fix it, she said. My expectation as a health minister is that they will address this.

Its unacceptable that Manitobans are waiting eight to 10 hours  Ive heard, from some people, longer than that. Weve got to fix this and streamline the care.

Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Kristjan Thompson, an emergency medicine physician at St. Boniface Hospital, said hes encouraged Nader is engaging with hospital staff because its the first step to solving a massive health-care issue.

Its the actions that follow that will mean the most, though, Thompson said in a statement.

Doctors remain willing to collaborate on the many issues in Manitobas health-care system, from concerns about ICU capacity to the risks for elderly patients being transported to far-away hospitals, and we hope to see more open communications and invitations to help in the weeks ahead.

On Monday, the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals says system leaders reaching out to staff in troubled times for their ideas is nothing new.

Weve heard this a thousand times before: We want to hear from you, said president Bob Moroz.

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However, their input over the years has been ignored, he added.

Meantime, the health minister telling system leaders to fix it without imposing any public health measures or tracking COVID-19 cases indicates the government doesnt have a strategy to resolve a complex problem, Moroz said.

We dont know how many positive cases we have in this province, he said. They are turning a blind eye to it. Theyre hoping for the best. Theres no plan.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said the government isnt addressing the emergency room staffing shortages in its latest budget  a problem that predates the pandemic and is the result of Progressive Conservative cost cuts.

The PCs created the crisis in our emergency rooms and now they want us to believe theyre going to fix it, scoffed Kinew.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
WASHINGTON (AP)  Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan in Harris' ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, April 15, 2022, in Washington. Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to revert to pre-pandemic normalcy. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

WASHINGTON (AP)  Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.

Harris press secretary Kirsten Allen said neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a close contact of Harris in recent days. Harris had been scheduled to attend Bidens Tuesday morning Presidential Daily Brief but was not present, the White House said. Because of their travel schedules, the last time Harris saw Biden was Monday, April 18.

The vice president returned on Monday from a weeklong trip to the West Coast.

FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House complex in Washington, , April 13, 2022. Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to revert to pre-pandemic normalcy. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Harris tested positive on both rapid and PCR tests but has exhibited no symptoms," the White House said. She will isolate at her residence but continue to work remotely, and will return to the White House only when she tests negative for the virus.

Harris, 57, received her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine weeks before taking office and a second dose just days after Inauguration Day in 2021. She received a booster shot in late October and an additional booster on April 1. Fully vaccinated and boosted people have a high degree of protection against serious illness and death from COVID-19, particularly from the most common and highly transmissible omicron variant.

Harris diagnosis comes a month after her husband, Doug Emhoff, recovered from the virus, as a wave of cases of the highly transmissible omicron subvariant has spread through Washingtons political class, infecting Cabinet members, White House staffers and lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., tested positive on Tuesday, his office said.

Allen said Harris would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and the advice of her physicians. It was not immediately clear whether she is being prescribed any antiviral treatments.

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The White House has put in place strict COVID-19 protocols around the president, vice president and their spouses, including daily testing for those expected to be in close contact with them. Biden is tested regularly on the advice of his physician, the White House has said.

After more than two years and nearly a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing more than 300 people a day in the U.S., according to the CDC. The unvaccinated are at a far greater risk, more than twice as likely to test positive and nine times as likely to die from the virus as those who have received at least a primary dose of the vaccines, according to the public health agency.

Harris' diagnosis comes as the Biden administration is taking steps to expand availability of the life-saving COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid, reassuring doctors that there is ample supply for people at high risk of severe illness or death from the virus.

Paxlovid, when administered within five days of symptoms appearing, has been proven to bring about a 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease.

In addition to her husband's diagnosis, Harris was identified as a close contact after her communications director tested positive on April 6.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines close contact with an infected person as spending 15 minutes or more with them over a 24-hour period. The CDC says a (person with close contact does not need to quarantine if they are up to date on their vaccines but should wear a well-fitting mask around other people for 10 days after the contact.
TORETSK, Ukraine (AP)  The U.S. pressed its allies Tuesday to move heaven and earth to keep Kyiv well-supplied with weapons as Russian forces rained fire on eastern and southern Ukraine amid growing new fears the war could spill over the country's borders.

Relatives attend the funeral of Illya Shklyaruk, 25, an Irpin citizen involved in evacuations of his neighbours from the town and killed inside his car by a gun shot by Russian Army on March 8, at the cemetery of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Monday, April 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

TORETSK, Ukraine (AP)  The U.S. pressed its allies Tuesday to move heaven and earth to keep Kyiv well-supplied with weapons as Russian forces rained fire on eastern and southern Ukraine amid growing new fears the war could spill over the country's borders.

For the second day in a row, explosions rocked the separatist region of Trans-Dniester in neighboring Moldova, knocking out two powerful radio antennas close to the Ukrainian border. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Ukraine all but blamed Russia.

In other developments, Poland and Bulgaria said the Kremlin is cutting off natural gas supplies to the two NATO countries starting Wednesday, the first such actions of the war. Both nations had refused Russia's demands that they pay in rubles.

Poland has been a major gateway for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and confirmed this week that it is sending the country tanks.

The potential effect of the gas cutoff was not immediately clear. Poland said it was well-prepared for such a move after working for years to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

Darya Piven, 33, looks as her daughter Zlata, 6, as she visits the graves of her parents Nadiya Myakushko, 69, and Volodymyr Cherednichenko, 75, who were killed by Russian army in Irpin on March 24, in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Monday, April 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Poland also has ample natural gas in storage, and it will soon benefit from two pipelines coming online, analyst Emily McClain of Rystad Energy said.

Bulgaria gets over 90% of its gas from Russia, and officials said they were working to find other sources. McClain cited a Bulgarian deal to purchase gas from Azerbaijan.

Two months into the fighting, Western arms have helped Ukraine stall Russias invasion, but the country's leaders have said they need more support fast.

An elderly woman waits at a train station before boarding a train at a train station in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, Monday, April 25, 2022, to flee the war in Severodonetsk and nearby towns. Russia unleashed a string of attacks against Ukrainian rail and fuel installations Monday, striking crucial infrastructure far from the front line of its eastern offensive. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin convened a meeting Tuesday of officials from about 40 countries at the U.S. air base at Ramstein, Germany, and said more help is on the way.

This gathering reflects the galvanized world, Austin said, adding that he wanted officials to leave the meeting with a common and transparent understanding of Ukraines near-term security requirements because were going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.

After unexpectedly fierce resistance by Ukrainian forces thwarted Russia's attempt to take Ukraine's capital, Moscow now says its focus is the capture of the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking industrial region in eastern Ukraine.

An elderly woman sits on a train at a train station in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, Monday, April 25, 2022, before departing to flee from the war in Severodonetsk and nearby towns. Russia unleashed a string of attacks against Ukrainian rail and fuel installations Monday, striking crucial infrastructure far from the front line of its eastern offensive. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

In the small city of Toretsk in the Donbas, residents are struggling to survive, collecting rainwater for washing up and fervently hoping for an end to the fighting.

Its bad. Very bad. Hopeless, said Andriy Cheromushkin. You feel so helpless that you dont know what you should do or shouldnt do. Because if you want to do something, you need some money, and there is no money now.

Russian advances and heavy fighting were reported in the Donbas, with one town, Kreminna, apparently falling after days of street-by-street fighting, according to the British military.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks in a building near a frontline position in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

In the gutted southern port city of Mariupol, authorities said Russian forces hit the Azovstal steel plant with 35 airstrikes over the past 24 hours. The plant is the last known stronghold of Ukrainian fighters in the city. About 1,000 civilians were said to be taking shelter there with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders.

"Russia has drastically intensified strikes over the past 24 hours and is using heavy bunker bombs, said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol's mayor. The number of those wounded will be clear once the rubble is cleared.

He also accused Russian forces of shelling a route it had offered as an escape corridor from the steel mill.

A building heavily damaged by multiple Russian bombardments stands near a frontline in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Beyond Mariupol, local officials said at least nine people were killed and several more wounded in Russian attacks on towns and cities in the east and south. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region of the Donbas, said on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces continue to deliberately fire at civilians and to destroy critical infrastructure.

Russian missile fire also knocked out a strategic railroad bridge along a route that links southern Ukraines Odesa port region to neighboring Romania, a NATO member, Ukrainian authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Ukraine also said Russian forces shelled Kharkiv, the countrys second-largest city, which lies in the northeast, outside the Donbas, but is seen as key to Russia's apparent bid to encircle Ukrainian troops in the Donbas from the north, east and south.

U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, delivers a speech as he hosts the meeting of the Ukraine Security Consultative Group at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein, Germany, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Ukrainian forces struck back in the Kherson region in the south.

The attack on the bridge near Odesa  along with a series of strikes on key railroad stations a day earlier  appears to mark a major shift in Russias approach. Until now, Moscow has spared strategic bridges, perhaps in hopes of keeping them for its own use in seizing Ukraine. But now it seems to be trying to thwart Ukraines efforts to move troops and supplies.

The southern Ukraine coastline and Moldova have been on edge since a senior Russian military officer said last week that the Kremlins goal is to secure not just eastern Ukraine but the entire south, so as to open the way to Trans-Dniester, a long, narrow strip of land with about 470,000 people along the Ukrainian border where about 1,500 Russian troops are based.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov attends the meeting of the Ukraine Security Consultative Group at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein, Germany, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

It was not clear who was behind the blasts in Trans-Dniester, but the attacks gave rise to fears that Russia is stirring up trouble so as to create a pretext to either invade Trans-Dniester or use the region as another launching point to attack Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the explosions were carried out by Russia and were designed to destabilize, with the intention of showing Moldova what could happen if it supports Ukraine.

Austin, the U.S. defense secretary, said the U.S. was still looking into blasts and trying to determine what was going on, but added: "Certainly we dont want to see any spillover of the conflict.

Relatives of Mykola Moroz, 47, gather during a funeral service at his home at the Ozera village, near Bucha, Ukraine, on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Mykola was captured by Russian army from his house in the Ozera village on March 13, taken for several weeks in an unknown location and finally found killed with gunshots about 15 kilometres from his house. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

With the potentially pivotal battle for the east underway, the U.S. and its NATO allies are scrambling to deliver artillery and other heavy weaponry in time to make a difference.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said her government will supply Gepard self-propelled armored anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has faced mounting pressure to send heavy weapons such as tanks and other armored vehicles.

Austin noted that more than 30 allies and partners have joined the U.S. in sending military aid to Ukraine and that more than $5 billion worth of equipment has been committed.

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team member pulls suitcases with equipment as he arrives with others to Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

The U.S. defense secretary said the war has weakened Russia's military, adding, We would like to make sure, again, that they dont have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict.

A senior Kremlin official, Nikolai Patrushev, warned that the policies of the West and the Kyiv regime controlled by it would only be the breakup of Ukraine into several states.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned that if the Western flow of weapons continues, the talks aimed at ending the fighting will not produce any results.

People wait in vehicles to cross the border seen from the Moldovan side of the Varnita-Bender crossing between Moldova and the Moldovan separatist region of Trans-Dniester, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Police in the Moldovan separatist region of Trans-Dniester say two explosions on Tuesday morning at a radio facility close to the Ukrainian border knocked two powerful antennas out of service just a day after several explosions believed to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades were reported to have hit the Ministry of State Security in the city of Tiraspol, the region's capital. (AP Photo/Aurel Obreja)

Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting also continued. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the U.N. said they agreed in principle that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians trapped in the steel plant in Mariupol. Putin said Ukrainian troops were using civilians in the plant as shields and not allowing them to leave.

___

Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalist Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, David Keyton in Kyiv, Oleksandr Stashevskyi at Chernobyl, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Measures are being taken to ensure the safety of Chippewa Valley children following a horrific tragedy.

The Chippewa Falls Police Department is increasing its presence at schools in the area after the body of Parkview Elementary fourth-grader Lily Peters was found Monday in Chippewa Falls. The police department said patrol efforts will increase especially during drop-off and pick-up times when children are out in the open the longest.

The district also sent a letter to parents Monday afternoon, encouraging CFAUSD families to pick up their children personally and not allow them to walk anywhere alone. The district also said their buildings are on high alert, as they continue to remain vigilant and alert.

During a press conference Monday afternoon, CFPD Police Chief Matthew Kelm said Peters body was found at 9:15 a.m. near the Duncan Creek Trail in downtown Chippewa Falls. She was reported missing Sunday, and her missing persons case was changed to an active homicide investigation Monday morning.

No suspect is currently in custody, and the Chippewa County coroner confirmed the deceased body to be that of Iliana Peters.

At 9 p.m. Sunday, the Chippewa Falls Police Department was contacted by Lilys father who advised that Lily had not returned home from a visit to her aunts house in the 400 block of N. Grove St.

Officers learned that Lily was last seen by family members in the evening. She was supposed to be heading home to the 50 block of E. Birch St. Officers and family checked the area and contacted family and friends.

After dark, officers learned that a bicycle believed to belong to Lily was located in the woods a short distance from her aunts residence near the walking trail between the end of N. Grove Street and the Leinenkugels brewery parking lot.

K9 teams from the Chippewa County Sheriffs Department and the Lake Hallie Police Department were called in to search the area Sunday night. Also, the Chippewa County Sheriffs Departments drone was used to search the wooded area.

Law enforcement and fire/EMS search teams searched this area and conducted door to door canvassing overnight. The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation was contacted.

Anyone with information should contact the new tip line at 1-800-263-5906.

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Reedsburg Public Library

If cabin fever has you desperate for the great outdoors, Reedsburg Public Library can cure what ails you.

Reedsburg Public Library makes available for checkout the Discover Wisconsin DVD series as seen on TV. Travelogs include DVDS for Viroqua, the Kickapoo Valley, Prairie du Chien and the Trempealeau, the St. Croix, Marquette County, the Hayward Lakes, Madison, and Milwaukee as well as the one that includes Reedsburg, Slip into Sauk County. The library owns an extensive collection of DVDs about the National Parks, as well as other U.S. and foreign destinations.

Travel guides in print form may also be found at the library with many of them having been recently updated. The library has guides for the 50 states as well as overseas locations from such publishers as Fodors, Frommers, DK Eyewitness, and National Geographic. Specialized guides to hiking, biking and canoeing in Wisconsin and other regions are part of the librarys collection.

In magazines, the librarys subscriptions to such titles as National Geographic, National Wildlife, Midwest Living and Wisconsin Natural Resources may further your interest in nature and travel. The new monthly publication Our Wisconsin features colorful photographs of scenic areas around the state and interesting feature articles. Magazines may be checked out for two weeks, with two renewals.

Satisfy your spring fever at the library. For more information, call 608-768-READ (7323) or email info@reedsburglibrary.org.

The Reedsburg Public Library is located at 370 Vine St. in downtown Reedsburg. The library is open 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.

The Reedsburg Public Library is located at 370 Vine St. in downtown Reedsburg. The library is open 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.
W&M recognizes set supervisor, fiscal coordinator with Duke Award

For their unfailing attention to detail, dedication and compassion for others, William & Mary will honor Student Unions & Engagement Set Crew Supervisor Ray Burks and Economics Department Fiscal Coordinator Kathy OBrien with the 2022 Charles and Virginia Duke Award.

The award recognizes "outstanding employees for exemplary individual accomplishments in their professional lives and service to the William & Mary community. Burks and OBrien will officially be recognized at Commencement on May 20-21.

Ray Burks

In his 26 years at W&M, Burks worked briefly in several jobs before settling in as the set crew supervisor for Sadler Center as well as supporting Campus Center and outdoor activities. He had previously spent four years in the Army, which he said serves him well.

Coming from a military background, you like to see things go right, Burks said. You want to make sure they do. So my mindset is pretty much is to think that each and every day that I come to work.

He and a small group that includes student workers take plans and set up furniture according to how the client wants a room configured for an event. Sometimes multiple setups a day are required in the same space, with spare pieces organized and stored.

Describing Sadler Center as the heartbeat of student engagement, Associate Vice President for Student Engagement and Leadership Drew Stelljes wrote in his nomination letter that more than 10,000 events occur there yearly with Burks responsible for the set for each one.

Over the 25 years of the Sadler Center being in operation, Ray has assisted with, provided oversight or completed all of the room sets, Stelljes wrote. He always greets people with a smile even when hes altogether swamped with activity.

During the pandemic, Burks has stepped up time and again to go out of his way to re-create, re-design, build, assemble, paint or drive to purchase items for the student experience, Stelljes wrote. He is the implementor behind most of the activity for activating the outdoor space, he added.

Burks also mentors and serves as a listening ear for student employees as he takes a special interest in not only adding to their education but supporting them when needed.

For a lot of the students its sometimes their first job, coming from home, being independent for the first time, Burks said. So they get a little bit more structure working with us. They pick up a lot.

Sometimes they may have (personal) issues going on, and Im pretty sure it helps them just by talking to somebody on the outside looking in, as opposed to if theres something going wrong with their academics. Theyre feeling really bad for themselves, and then theyve got to turn around and share this with their parents about things that are going on with them. So its good to have a talk.

Nominators described Burks as an upbeat, flexible presence who is supportive and encouraging of everybody in the midst of hectic schedules and numerous moving parts. He is anchored by a student-centered philosophy while liaising between numerous groups all over campus, including clients and student employees.

What separates Ray in particular is his capacity to lift people up and inspire others during periods of adversity, Richard Thompson, associate director in the Office of Community Engagement and Burks former supervisor, wrote in his nomination letter, adding that the epitome of Burks is seeing the positive and determining what we can do in the service to others.

Taking on additional duties during COVID-19 and figuring out how to set up the outdoor areas for activities just as he had previously the indoors was the ultimate example of a pivot.

We watch his good deeds and his work ethic, and it inspires us to be better, Stelljes wrote. Were better because of Ray. Ray is a man of consistent focus for the greater good.

Its clear that Burks is bringing much more than placement of banquet tables, chairs and podiums to campus each day.

Ray is at William & Mary because he believes in our ability to change the world together, wrote Eric Margiotta, director of Student Unions & Engagement. Ray has dedicated his W&M career to service  boundary-transcending service to faculty, staff, students and the William & Mary community as a whole.

Burks love of his role and the people he works with on campus is evident.

Right now, even though the masks are there, I enjoy hearing someone smile, of course, and a thank you, Burks said. Thats the best part of the job.

Kathy OBrien

Whoever shows up at her door gets help with what they need, OBrien said.

Nothing could be more true, according to faculty members in the economics department who rely on her for a combination of fiscal, administrative and general management.

We do a little bit of everything, OBrien said. When youre in an academic department, there isnt just one thing you do. You do whatever comes up. And you just figure it out and you do it. So its a lot of processes.

Now in her 27th year at W&M, OBrien has worked in numerous departments but has spent most of her years in English and economics. She has served on committees and mentored new administrative employees and worked everything from clearing copier jams on weekends during finals to planning events to testing out new programs and systems.

I enjoy the faculty and the students, OBrien said. Theyre all unique, and Ive worked with a lot of them across the campus. And you just learn to understand them and what their needs are. And then hopefully you can assist them through what they need.

Organization, accuracy and timing are important in her role, she said.

Its just part of what I do, and so it comes naturally, OBrien said. You just sit down in the morning and you look at your to-do list and you look at your schedule, and you say, OK, this is what I have to do today. Hopefully Ill get it all done.

Sarah Stafford, CSX Professor of Economics and Public Policy and department chair for economics, described OBrien in her nomination letter as generous with her time and she makes sure that individual faculty members have what they need to be effective in their classrooms. She is also extremely patient and helpful with the students she serves.

This includes typically more than 300 economics majors at any given time, approximately 60 minors plus interdisciplinary students, according to Stafford.

OBriens duties include managing faculty searches and people administration, serving as dossier manager for faculty members who have tenure and promotion and interim reviews and assisting with faculty travel plans. On a recent morning, she helped a student find a major advisor.

She serves as building administrator for all of Chancellors Hall, which is where economics is located.

Everything she does, she does to make the lives of our students, faculty and staff easier and more rewarding, Stafford wrote.

Mark Greer, visiting assistant professor of economics, in his letter described OBrien starting her workday extremely early to arrange all the furniture back to where it belongs and offering to pack up and move his office two separate times while he was overseas.

On countless occasions, Ms. OBrien has undertaken efforts extending well beyond what anyone could reasonably expect of her in order to assist my colleagues and me as we attempt to perform our duties, Greer wrote. I cannot imagine that we have a staff member more conscientious, dedicated and caring than she.

Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy Peter McHenry referenced the numerous processes OBrien helps with in his letter.

Kathy is incredibly meticulous in her work and seems to do everything correctly, McHenry wrote. She always knows which account can pay for what, which form I need to complete for permission to do something and when something just isnt going to be approved.

The contexts of myriad bureaucracy are made much more bearable with perspicacious guidance from an expert like Kathy. She makes our faculty more productive every day.

On hearing such praise, OBrien shrugged and smiled.

I just think of myself as just a department administrator trying to get the job done, she said, and do whatever it takes to do it. I think most of us do that.
Poster of the 2022 Space Day of China Photo: Courtesy of CNSA

Having bagged numerous milestones in the space sector in 2021 and in the middle of a busy schedule for China's space station construction missions, China kick-started its annual Space Day of China celebrations themed "Space inspires dreams" on Sunday in South China's tropical island province of Hainan, home to Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, known as the home port of space station launch missions.

China designated April 24 as Space Day of China in 2016 to mark the anniversary of the country's first satellite launch, Dongfanghong-1 in 1970.

During an inspection tour in Wenchang prior to the Shenzhou-13 crew's return from a six-month mission in the Tiangong Space Station, Chinese President Xi Jinping demanded efforts to elevate the spacecraft launch site into world-leading standards on April 12.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspected the launch tower and other facilities. He spoke highly of a series of key space missions launched from the site, including the launch of the space station's core module, the Tianhe, the Chang'e-5 lunar mission and the Tianwen-1 Mars probe.

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

Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of China's Tianwen-1 Mars probe, Wang Yaping, the star-picking mom and a member of the just-returned Shenzhou-13 mission crew, and Shan Jixiang, former curator of the Palace Museum, were named as ambassadors for China's space industry.

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare, Director General of the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites Phil Evans, Russia's space agency Roscosmos Director Dmitry Rogozin, and officials with Pakistan's space agency Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission sent congratulations to China for Space Day on Sunday.

One Launch Per Week

China successfully conducted 55 orbital launches in 2021, and China will further advance its pursuit of space dreams, planning more than 60 launches in 2022, Wu Yanhua, deputy head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA,) told the Global Times on the sidelines of the event.

The 2022 launch schedule includes six for the in-orbit building of the country's first space station including launches for the Tianzhou-4, Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft and Wentian and Mengtian laboratory modules. China plans to launch space infrastructure satellites including the Gaofen-01A remote sensing satellite as well as ones tasked for environment monitoring services, per the CNSA deputy head.

Wu revealed that China will officially launch research and studies for its Phase-4 lunar explorations, including the launches of the Chang'e-6, -7, and -8 probes to the moon, during which work on tackling key technology issues and those related to the construction of the China-Russia proposed International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) would be carried out.

Chang'e-6 is planned as a lunar sampling and return mission from the dark side of moon and China will invest in efforts in the proposition of building a satellite constellation around the moon with the functions of both communication and navigation in space.

Chang'e-7 will probe the lunar polar region, especially looking into water distribution on the moon. These two missions will be launched around 2025, during which the development for the Chang'e-8 mission will start simultaneously, Liu Jizhong, director of the China Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, said during a press conference in January with the release of the long-anticipated fifth edition of a new white paper, titled China's Space Program: A 2021 Perspective.

China's Chang'e-7 mission includes an agreement with Russia's Luna-26 mission, and the two sides will explore the moon together, Liu said.

Chang'e-8's launch, according to Liu, could be expected before 2030, and would involve verifying key technology for the lunar station.

Pang Zhihao, a Beijing-based senior space expert, predicted that to meet such requirements, multiple relay satellites with communication and navigation functions would be launched into lunar orbit. They are to support the future Long March-8 carrier rocket for the building of the ILRS.

China, in the next five years, plans to complete key technology work for major missions such as an asteroid probe and a Mars sampling and return missions. The development of a heavy-lift carrier rocket and a new-generation manned launch vehicle will also be carried out in this period.

China is also planning to explore the edges of the solar system and other more distant space in the long term, including sample retrieval from Mercury, and probing Jupiter's satellite moons, Wu added.

Wu stressed that China's space exploration would always adhere to the principle of joint consultation, joint construction and sharing, with an emphasis on openness and win-win purpose, and always be devoted to the building of a shared future of mankind in space.

Eyeing Asteroid Defense

To practice these principles, Wu told the Global Times that China is eyeing building a system for near-Earth asteroid defense, organizing the drafting of development plans and developing near-Earth small celestial body defense simulation software.

"It is to contribute China's wisdom to the human beings' joint response to the threat of small near-Earth objects, taking on the responsibility of a great country and safeguarding the safety of Earth and peaceful development of humanity together with other countries," Wu underscored.

A ground-based and space-based monitoring and warning system for asteroids will be set up to catalog and analyze asteroids that pose a threat to humanity's space activities, and then relevant technology and engineering will be developed to dispel the threats.

China will hopefully carry out a technical experiment as early as 2025 on a threatening asteroid by closely tracking and attacking it to change its orbit, Wu disclosed on Sunday.

Mission insiders revealed to the Global Times on Sunday that the system is currently at the project establishment phase and being reviewed for approval, which involves the close coordination of multiple departments.

Song Zhongping, a military expert and space observer, told the Global Times on Sunday that currently the US and Russia are also building asteroid monitoring systems, and China's defense system could be an important supplement in addressing the threats of asteroids hitting Earth.

"This is another practical solution that China proposes to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and it is the duty for a major space power to protect mankind from possible disasters that could end the entire human civilization," Song said.

The latest asteroid impact incident happened in 2013 in Russia's Chelyabinsk, when an approximately 18 meter-diameter near-Earth asteroid entered the atmosphere and exploded 30 kilometers above the ground. Its power equaled to about 30 atomic bombs, which caused over 1,500 injuries and damaging over 3,000 houses.

(Source: People's Daily Online)
BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua)  Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory message to Emmanuel Macron on his re-election as French president.

In his message, Xi said over the past five years, the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership has maintained a high level of development under the guidance of the two heads of state.

The two sides have continued to deepen practical cooperation in various fields, combated the COVID-19 pandemic shoulder to shoulder, jointly upheld multilateralism and improved global governance, injecting new impetus to the development of China-European Union relations and making new contributions to world peace, stability and prosperity, Xi said.

Noting that both China and France are major countries with a tradition of staying independent, Xi said the strategic significance of the sound and stable development of China-France relations has become ever more prominent as the international situation is undergoing profound and complex changes.

Xi said he always views the bilateral ties from a strategic and long-term perspective, and stands ready to continuously work with Macron to uphold the original aspiration of the establishment of the diplomatic relations featuring independence, mutual understanding, foresight, mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, work together to push China-France relations to new heights and bring benefits to the people of the two countries and the rest of the world.

(Source: Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, waves to teachers and students during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi]

BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua)  President Xi Jinping on Monday called for blazing a new path to build world-class universities with Chinese characteristics.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing.

Xi stressed following the Party's leadership and passing down revolutionary traditions in running universities. He also said China's universities should be deeply rooted in China and avoid simply copying foreign standards and models.

The visit came ahead of China's Youth Day, which falls on May 4 every year.

On behalf of the CPC Central Committee, Xi extended festive greetings to young people of all ethnic groups nationwide.

Xi also expressed hopes that all young people in the country can keep in mind the Party's instructions, strive for national rejuvenation, and work hard for the best results possible.

The history of Renmin University of China can be traced to Shanbei Public School, founded in 1937. The university has grown over the decades, with a focus on humanities and social sciences, as well as Marxism studies.

During his visit, Xi first went to a smart classroom for ideological-political courses. He sat with students, listening attentively and joining their discussions.

Stressing that ideological-political classes should play their due role in fostering morality, Xi called for tailoring such education to the needs of young people at different developmental stages.

Xi called on Renmin University of China to offer more exemplary ideological-political courses for schools across the country, and urged universities nationwide to cooperate more with middle and primary schools in carrying out ideological-political education.

Visiting the university's museum, Xi asked it to carry forward its glorious revolutionary traditions and distinctive "red" heritage.

At a square outside the museum, Xi met with senior professors, experts, and representatives of outstanding young and middle-aged teachers and talked with them.

Xi said building world-class universities requires first-class teachers, underscoring the importance of training competent teachers.

At the library, Xi inspected the display of revolutionary literature and ancient books and heard briefings on the university's efforts to protect and use literature and ancient books and turn theoretical research into application.

Xi called for enhancing the protection, restoration, and comprehensive utilization of the university's ancient books via modern sci-tech means, thus building a world-class academic resources information platform and boosting the country's cultural soft power.

Later on, Xi sat down with representatives of teachers and students at a symposium and delivered an important speech.

Xi stressed that building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics would not work by blindly following others or simply copying foreign standards and models. It requires blazing a new path instead.

Xi said there is a pressing need to answer questions of the times, such as "What happens to the world?" and "Where should humanity head?"

The priority of developing the philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics is to establish an independent knowledge system, Xi said.

He urged efforts to make the philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics an important part of the world's academic society.

Xi encouraged relevant researchers to try their best to achieve progress in addressing the overall, fundamental, and key issues of the Party and the country.

Faculties of universities should not only master their disciplines but also nurture their virtue. They should become true tutors for their students and role models for society and the public, Xi said.

He called on young people to follow the Party's call and develop themselves into a generation capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation.

Wang Huning and other leading officials of the central authorities attended the events.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sits with students, listening attentively and joining their discussions, at a smart classroom for ideological-political courses during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. [Xinhua/Ju Peng]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sits with students, listening attentively and joining their discussions, at a smart classroom for ideological-political courses during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. [Xinhua/Yan Yan]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits the library of Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. [Xinhua/Yan Yan]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits the museum of Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with senior professors, experts, and representatives of outstanding young and middle-aged teachers at a square outside the museum of Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sits down with representatives of teachers and students at a symposium and delivers an important speech during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. [Xinhua/Ju Peng]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sits down with representatives of teachers and students at a symposium and delivers an important speech during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. [Xinhua/Ju Peng]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sits down with representatives of teachers and students at a symposium and delivers an important speech during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, waves to teachers and students during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. [Xinhua/Ju Peng]

(Source: Xinhua)
[Xinhua]

Shouan, a town in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, is the largest osmanthus-production base in Southwestern China. Due largely to the saturated market, the traditional seedling industry, which used to be one of the pillar industries of Minjiang (a village in Shouan), has suffered from "severe winter"  the depressed market resulted in the stagnation of the seedling trade  during the past decade.

Villagers' well-being has been Tao Xunhua's top concern since 2010, when she was elected secretary of Minjiang's general Party (Communist Party of China) branch. "Our village was in a poor condition a decade ago. For example, its infrastructure was backward. Many women had a hard time finding jobs. Also, given the villagers' lack of awareness about the importance of environmental protection, Minjiang's environment was dreadful," recalls Tao. "Since I married my husband, a resident of Minjiang, dozens of years ago, I have received help from many warmhearted villagers. Therefore, I want to do something to repay them for their care and assistance."

Given the fierce competition in the seedling market, the price of an osmanthus tree fell from more than 3,000 yuan (US $462) to slightly more than 100 yuan (US $15). Tao had a hard time helping villagers sell the trees. In 2015, a university student took home a mini-potted landscape. That gave Tao an idea: Use osmanthus to develop creative cultural products. After discussing her idea with several young villagers, and outstanding entrepreneurs (in Minjiang), who helped villagers escape poverty by developing production, Tao and other village officials decided to help the residents use osmanthus to create cultural, agricultural and sideline products, so they could earn profits. During the past few years, the villagers have developed various osmanthus-related cultural products, including fragrant sachets (filled with osmanthus) and mini-potted landscapes, decorated with small osmanthus trees. The villagers have also created osmanthus wine, osmanthus cakes and other agricultural and sideline products. Young villagers have developed a mobile app, to promote the products' sales. Development of the products has not only contributed greatly to Minjiang's economic development, it has also promoted the local tourism industry.

[Xinhua]

Minjiang during the past several years has established several collectively owned companies, which have been dedicated to developing rural tourism. The village has also provided training to villagers, to help them improve their ability to provide homestay services, and/or to serve as baristas (in cafes) or waiters/waitresses. Given their sound development, companies are now able to employ many of the villagers. For example, one company has hired women to create woven dolls (at home), so the company can export the dolls to other countries. Given their efforts to develop production and/or create crafts, the villagers' per capita annual income increased from more than 10,000 yuan (US $1,538), in 2013, to more than 35,000 yuan (US $5,385), in 2020.

[Xinhua]

Since she was elected a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress in 2018, Tao has made several proposals to promote rural revitalization. "We will try our best to expand our business. In turn, our villagers can live happy, content lives ... I hope more people (from other regions) will be attracted to Minjiang by its reputation. They will be proud to be Minjiang's villagers, if they settle down in our village," says Tao.

[Xinhua]

(Women of China English Monthly March 2022 issue)
Rapid City has often been referred to as the "City of Presidents." It is considered the second-most populous city in Pennington County in the US State of South Dakota and serves as a gateway to nearby Mount Rushmore National Memorial. However, the term "City of Presidents" doesn't stop at Mount Rushmore; throughout downtown Rapid City are 42 life-sized bronze statues of other unmentioned Presidents who have served as Chief Commander of the United States. Nonetheless, before the faces of Mount Rushmore filled the Black Hills, Rapid City got its fame for another reason aside from its unique rock formations, cavernous canyons, and winding creeks. Alas, it would be the gold-rich pay dirt of Rapid Creek that led to the establishment of Rapid City and nearby historic Deadwood. This, in turn, fuelled the Black Hill Gold Rush and paved the way for Rapid City's mining industry and the charming city that stands today.

Geography And Climate Of Rapid City

Aerial view of Rapid City, South Dakota during winter.

Rapid City is situated within a geographic area known as the Black Hills, which is split into east and west divisions by the Dakota Hogback, an eastern fringe of the Rocky Mountains that passes through Wyoming, Colorado, and Northern New Mexico. Located close to Rapid City is the 2,207m high Black Elk Peak, which is the state's highest point as well as the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains. Rapid City encompasses a total area of 143.71 sq. km, of which only 0.2 sq. km is occupied by water, and 143.5 sq. km is occupied by land.

Rapid City experiences a temperate semi-arid climate, closely bordering a hot summer continental climate experienced in the state's northern part close to the grassland plains. Its location on the Black Hills makes its seasonal weather unique, with long dry summers and winters with a short temperature fluctuating spring and autumn. Annual precipitation amounts to 17.44 inches. Winter temperatures are milder than that observed in the northern part of the state, attributed to the Chinook winds. These warm westerly winds are common from December to February and can bring winter temperatures to 10 degrees Celsius. Although snowfall is received in the winter, it is light, with the coldest month of the year being January. Alternatively, July is the warmest month of the year, with an average temperature of 22.4 degrees Celsius.

Brief History Of Rapid City

Tourists at the entrance of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Rapid City, South Dakota. Editorial credit: nyker / Shutterstock.com

The Lakota Sioux Native Americans roamed the lands around the Black Hills for thousands of years. By the mid-19th century, the Great Migration saw settlers taking up land. The Treaty of Laramie of 1868 prevented white Americans from entering the area around the Black Hills as it was recognized as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. Interest in this gold-bearing geological area increased with gold being discovered in nearby Custer and Deadwood Gulch. Rapid City was founded by a group of miners in 1876 and named after the fast-traveling limestone creek. The Sioux people felt their hunting lands were stolen, and the treaty that the US government and Sioux Nation laid out was being ignored. Therefore, many confrontations were documented between the new American settlement of Rapid City and Lakota Sioux Native Americans from the 1860s to the 1870s. By 1886, Rapid City became a major railroad hub and served as the eastern gateway to mining.

The Population And Economy Of Rapid City

The South Dakota Air and Space Museum is located in Box Elder, close to the main gate of the Ellsworth Air Force Base, about 16km northeast of Rapid City. Editorial credit: EQRoy / Shutterstock.com

With a population of 74,703 inhabitants, Rapid City is the second-most populous city in South Dakota. On the US list of most populous cities, Rapid City ranks at 488th. The median household income is $53,760, with a gross rent of $855. Sadly, 16.2% of the total population of Rapid City lives below the poverty line. The average age of a Rapid City resident is 37.2 years old, with 50.2% of the population female and 49.8% male. On the cost of living index, Rapid City is rated at 92.9, whereas South Dakota comes in at 88.3 overall. Rapid City has a population density of 546.99 inhabitants per sq. km.

Like other cities in South Dakota, Rapid City has a 0.0% income tax rate, whereas the US average is 4.6%. The most significant economic drivers in Rapid City are the following sectors: health care and social assistance (16.3%), retail trade (12.5%), and accommodation and food services (11.0%). Rapid City is home to the Ellsworth Air Force Base, which has 8,000 active members, including civilian employees, and houses 3,000 veterans. Here one can find 2 B-1B Lancer planes along with the 28th Bomb Wing, which has been active for 60 years and served as Strategic Air Command during the Cold War.

Attractions In Rapid City

Crazy Horse Memorial

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a carving of an Oglala Lakota Warrior, and once completed, the arm of the warrior will point towards native tribal lands. The art is commissioned by the Lakota Elder, Henry Standing Bear, and is found at Thunder Mountain, part of the Black Hills that are sacred to the Lakota Sioux people. Crazy Horse is recognized as a patriotic figure among the Lakota Sioux Native American people. Thus, his image was considered suitable to share with the nearby Presidents of Mount Rushmore. The monument is open year-round, with a laser show in the evenings from Memorial Day to the end of September.

Badlands National Park

Mystic Rock formations inside Badlands National Park.

Located an hour from Rapid City is the 244,000-acre canyon system known as the Badlands. The erosion and flooding taking place over 75 million years created the unique fossil-bearing rock deposits of today. Badlands National Park is known for many things, but among the largest are its archaeological discoveries such as an ancient rhinoceros, a skull of a saber tooth tiger, turtles shells, camels, and three-toed horses. One can come during the afternoon and drive the Badlands Loop Scenic Highway. If one stays for more than a day, one should try hiking, camping, photography, stargazing, or digging up fossils.

Today, Rapid Creek still flows through the heart of Rapid City. A reminder of how this extraordinary landscape ignited the Black Hill Gold Rush and later paid homage to its identity as the City of Presidents with nearby Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Nonetheless, there is much to be discovered in Rapid City, from scenic views and geological mineral deposits to fossils of prehistoric animals and dinosaurs.
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Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Black man who was a native of Congo, was killed after a struggle with a police officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on April 4, 2022.
Russian strikes on Borodianka were more intense than in most other areas around the capital Kyiv, with entire multi-story buildings raised to the ground.
A view from Wrexhams Member of the Senedd

Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South constituency Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. (You can view an archive here).

Wrexham MS Lesley Griffiths writes



Tackling child poverty has always been a priority for the Welsh Labour Government. In April 2020, Wales became the first UK nation to guarantee free school meal provision would be made available through the summer holidays, with the extra investment benefiting an additional 15,000 children nationwide. As the cost-of-living crisis escalates, the Welsh Government has announced it will invest a further 25m in school kitchens and dining facilities as part of its plans to provide free school meals to all primary school children. From September, some of the youngest children in primary schools will begin receiving free school meals as the policy is introduced in a phased way. Working with schools and local authorities, the Welsh Government will plan and prepare the infrastructure needed for all primary aged pupils to receive free school meals by September 2024. Every child, no matter what their background, deserves the best possible start in life.

No child should ever go hungry. Weve announced 25m to kick-start #FreeSchoolMeals for all primary school children in Wales. This money will be used to improve dining infrastructure before rollout starts for the youngest pupils in September.  https://t.co/cAoEdLu7du pic.twitter.com/GmyRU9r5cj  Welsh Government  (@WelshGovernment) March 30, 2022

We are facing an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis and families in Wrexham are feeling the squeeze. Im proud the Welsh Government is continuing to lead the way, with the extension of the free school meals programme just one of several measures taken to support people through this difficult time.

Right across Wales many families are facing a cost-of-living crisis. Well continue to do everything we can to help you during these difficult times. Find out if youre eligible for any of our support here https://t.co/VPY8VovWou pic.twitter.com/I7CzCuT4Kj  Welsh Government  (@WelshGovernment) April 25, 2022

Based on the Wrexham Industrial Estate, Air Covers is a world-leading manufacturer of protective covers for aircraft. In recognition of the companys year-on-year growth, the business was awarded the Queens Award for International Trade, the highest independent business accolade in the UK. It was a pleasure to attend the ceremony and I believe Air Covers are fully deserving of this prestigious award. I have closely followed their progress since they moved to Wrexham several years ago and I am pleased the business is moving from strength to strength, despite the difficulties brought about by the pandemic.

Many congratulations to #Wrexham-based @aircovers for winning the prestigious Queens Award for International Trade. Im proud a local business is manufacturing state-of-the-art products that are recognised and sought after all over the world. pic.twitter.com/XDb1AgshhX  Lesley Griffiths (@lesley4wrexham) April 12, 2022

Members of the local community and businesses have contacted me in recent months expressing their concerns regarding the lack of facilities on and around the Wrexham Industrial Estate for HGV drivers. The situation isnt ideal for the drivers or local residents so I have worked with Wrexham Council to explore possible solutions. Earlier this month, I went on a fact-finding mission to Formula Premier Truck Stop in Ellesmere Port, along with representatives from the Local Authority. The tour was interesting and informative and I believe the facilities in Ellesmere Port would be ideal for the Industrial Estate. I will continue to work with the relevant bodies on the matter and hope to help bring about these improvements, which are certainly needed.

At the beginning of this week, the National League confirmed this years playoff final will be held at the London Stadium, much to the disappointment of many Wrexham AFC fans. I have written to the Chairman of the National League on the matter and will share his response when I receive it.

Obviously no guarantee @Wrexham_AFC will be involved but still disappointed by todays announcement that the London Stadium will host the National League playoff final. I struggle to see how it can be the perfect fit for fans and I look forward to receiving a response  pic.twitter.com/mcssnGzeZm  Lesley Griffiths (@lesley4wrexham) April 25, 2022

Im pleased the Welsh Government has confirmed it will extend the NHS Wales Bursary scheme until at least 2024. Student nurses, midwives and allied healthcare professionals who commit to working in Wales up to two years after qualifying are eligible for the bursary. The support is non-repayable and covers tuition fees in full, as well as living costs. By continuing to fund the bursary scheme, the Welsh Labour Government is demonstrating its ongoing commitment to training the next generation of nurses and midwives, helping safeguard the future of the NHS.

Health Minister @Eluned_Morgan has confirmed the extension of the NHS Bursary until 2024. Support covers both tuition fees and payment towards living costs. Read more here 

(1/2)https://t.co/avJoB3bpQF pic.twitter.com/gL4IvctYCx  Welsh Government Health and Social Care (@WGHealthandCare) April 19, 2022

Bus services provide important access to essential services and provide vital links for communities. However, there are issues in Wrexham and constituents have regularly contacted me about withdrawn services or reduced timetables in areas such as Hightown and Coed-y-Glyn, Llay and Gwersyllt. To help tackle the problems, the Welsh Government is bringing forward legislation which aims to transform the way buses are governed, allowing all levels of government in Wales to work together to design the bus networks our communities need. The impact of the pandemic, coupled with the climate change emergency, means we cannot simply carry on as normal and I firmly believe reform is needed. We are in the very early stages and this is a long-term, nationwide proposal but I do hope this move will enable the authorities and operators to make wholescale, lasting improvements to Wrexhams bus network, ultimately ensuring buses are a more attractive option for people. A consultation has been launched and if any residents have any views, I encourage them to take part.

Buses are an essential service for many people, but bus networks dont currently meet people's needs. We want to make public transport more accessible for everyday life encouraging people to move away from using cars. Find out about our new plan here https://t.co/zuq9FF5LXg pic.twitter.com/YSDfjkkzSn  Welsh Government  (@WelshGovernment) March 31, 2022

If youre a constituent in Wrexham and there is anything I could help you with, please email me: lesley.griffiths@senedd.wales or call 01978 355743. You can sign up to my regular e-newsletter by clicking here.



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Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South constituency Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. (You can view an archive here).
New plan to tackle NHS waiting times in Wales to be released today

A plan to cut NHS waiting times and prioritise the most urgent cases will be unveiled by the Welsh Government today.

It comes as the health service continues to face ongoing pressure as it deals with coronavirus pressures, a growing backlog and demand from the public seeking healthcare.

Figures released last week revealed that the number of people accessing emergency departments in Wales had sharply increased in March.

The lowest performance on record against the four and 12 hour waiting targets were also recorded last month.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board continued to see the worst waiting times in Wales.

In Wrexham just over 46 per cent of the 4,819 attendees seen within a four hour period.

This afternoon Health Minister Eluned Morgan will unveil the Welsh Governments plan to cut waiting times over the next four years.

It includes an extra 60m  15m a year  for health boards. The Welsh Government has now committed more than 1bn this Senedd term to help the NHS recover from the pandemic.

The Health Minister said the plan aims to ensure no one will be waiting more than a year for treatment in most specialties by Spring 2025.

A series of targets for health boards will be set out in the plan, including waiting times and waiting lists for planned care  routine referrals and non-emergency care  have been hugely affected by the pandemic across the UK.

At the start of the pandemic, the majority of appointments and treatments were postponed to enable the NHS to focus on caring for the large number of people with Covid-19. Subsequent waves of coronavirus infections have also affected activity levels in the NHS.

Infection control measures in the NHS, especially in hospitals, have changed the way services are delivered and have reduced the number of planned appointments and surgeries which can be performed.

The plan builds on these changes and sets the goal of 35% of all new appointments and 50% of follow-up appointments being delivered virtually in future. This will help to free up clinicians time so they can see and treat more patients.

Another element of the plan is delivering more diagnostic tests outside hospitals and closer to peoples homes in primary and community care settings.

Plans for two community diagnostic centres will be developed this year, with more to follow by the end of this Senedd term.

An online website will be created where patients can get the information and support to manage their own conditions, helping people to manage their own health and reducing the number who need to be readmitted to hospital for treatment.

Ms Morgan said: We need a determined effort to ensure people waiting for appointments and treatment are seen as quickly as possible and in order of clinical priority.

We are committing 1bn this Senedd term to help the NHS recover from the pandemic and to treat people as quickly as possible.

Reducing waiting times will require new solutions, more equipment, new facilities and more staff to help diagnose people quickly as part of an effective and efficient planned care service.

This plan sets out how we will transform planned care so the most urgent cases are prioritised.

Unfortunately waiting times and waiting lists have grown during the pandemic and will take a long time and a lot of hard work to do but we are committed to working with our fantastic NHS to ensure no one waits longer than a year for treatment in most specialities by spring 2025.

Together with reducing waiting times, we also want to help people understand and manage their conditions and to feel supported while they are waiting for treatment.

This is a big task  but it is our focus for the rest of this term.

The plan will be released by the Welsh Government at midday. Health Minister Eluned Morgan will also hold a press conference this afternoon.
New trains could be operating from Wrexham from May  but no green light for service increase

Transport for Wales (TfW) is aiming to bring a number of its new Class 230 trains into service on the Wrexham  Shotton  Bidston line next month, three years later than first planned.

However a two train per hour service promised by TfW from December 2021 is yet to be approved by the rail regulator due to an ongoing conflict with a freight operator.

The hybrid diesel/battery trains  which use the bogies and aluminium bodyshells of withdrawn London Underground trains  were first announced in 2018 with TfW initially stating they would be in service by mid-2019.

TfW only took delivery of units from Vivarail in July 2020 but staff training requirements have been hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic leading to further delays.

Other delays have been caused by technical issues, in July last year, training was temporarily suspended after a small fire on one of the units

Some additional services are now showing on journey planners from mid-May, when national rail timetables change, these appear to be dependent on a number of Class 230s coming into service.

Passengers should start to see a mix of the new trains and the existing Class 150s next month on the line which services a number of Flintshire railway stations including Shotton, Hawarden and Buckley.

A Transport for Wales spokesperson told our sister site, Deeside.com: We are still aiming to have the Class 230 fleet enter into service on the Borderlands Line from May.

There were issues earlier in the year with the availability of drivers as a result of Covid (which have now been resolved), along with some technical issues affecting the units which have impacted the programme.

However, we are working these through with Vivarail and are committed to bringing these trains into passenger service as soon as possible.

The Wrexham Bidston Rail User Association (WBRUA) told Deeside.com the additional services from May 16 timetable change will require a Class 230 to start from Bidston in the early morning and 2 trains to remain on the line during the evening  currently one of the Class 150s comes off the line in the evening to work other services. A spokesperson said.

Rail freight operator objects

In November local business and council leaders urged the Office of Rail & Road (ORR) to authorise a proposed two trains per hour increase in passenger services on the Borderlands Line after a rail freight operator objected to the plans.

The increase is seen as a core part of the Welsh governments North Wales Metro scheme but GB Railfreight (GBRf), which operates freight trains into Hanson Cement near Penyffordd, formally objected to the additional passenger trains as they would conflict with new daytime freight traffic to and from Padeswood.

WBRUA said the promised two trains an hour service will require all five of the new Class 230s to be in service but this cant go ahead throughout the day until the issue with the conflict of additional freight traffic has been resolved.

GBRf claims that the new freight traffic has to run at set times during the day and blocks the northbound line between Penyffordd and Buckley for the best part of an hour due to the need to shunt in order to split trains going into the short sidings and combine them coming out. The WBRUA said.

GBRfs objection is now sitting with the ORR for a decision regarding track access despite the Department for Transport clearly identifying a service of two train an hour on the Wrexham-Bidston line a few years earlier when it devolved the Wales and Borders Franchise to the Welsh Government. The WBRUA said.

An ORR spokesperson told Deeside.com The two applications (TfW and GBRf) for use of capacity on the Borderlands Line are currently awaiting Network Rail completing some further timetabling work.

Network Rail will not have the necessary work completed in time for ORR to make its decision on granting of access in time for the May 2022 timetable change.

When this work is complete and Network Rail has provided further information, ORR will then be in a position to complete its independent view of the use of capacity and make decisions on these applications.

The WBRUA said it had previously responded to a planning application for improvements to rail traffic facilities at Padeswood, welcoming the potential increased use of the railway.

WBRUA asks that any additional freight trains serving this facility are timed to run so as they have minimal impact on the operation and reliability of the current and any increased passenger train service on the Wrexham-Bidston line.

A spokesperson said: The Victorian era infrastructure associated with the Padeswood connection is the root of the problem and, if freight and a more frequent all day passenger service are to coexist during passenger hours, investment is needed.

A Levelling-Up bid for funding to address the connection into Padeswood together with Deeside Parkway and a Park-and-Ride Facility at Penyffordd was unsuccessful in the Autumn of 2021 and the WBRUA understands that an updated bid is going forward in the spring of 2022. A WBRUA said.

In November last year, the leader of Flintshire Council, Cllr Ian Roberts said it is essential that TfWs plans to double the frequency of passenger services are implemented to provide an attractive alternative to the private car and open up employment opportunities throughout our cross-border community.
Over 26,000 given to cancer patients facing financial hardship in Wrexham

More than 26,000 was given to people living with cancer in Wrexham who are facing financial hardship in the last year.

Macmillan grants helped 72 people in Wrexham pay for essentials such as heating bills and hospital transport costs, after they were diagnosed with cancer or underwent cancer treatment.

A cancer diagnosis often brings increased and unexpected living costs, such as requiring wigs or post-surgery clothing, a new bed for someone who can no longer climb the stairs to their bedroom, or fresh bedding for those experiencing incontinence and other treatment side-effects.

As many cancer patients on low-incomes struggle with the financial fallout of a diagnosis, compounded by the current cost of living crisis and Covid-19, Macmillan is urging anyone in need to seek their support.

Research by the charity found that across the UK, 83 per cent of people diagnosed with cancer suffered a financial impact.

However, one of the biggest expenses facing people with cancer is higher energy bills. Many people undergoing cancer treatment need to have the heating on for longer periods due to the side-effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

With domestic energy prices due to rise by as much as 50% in April, and further increases expected in October when the energy price cap is raised again, this year could present a triple threat for people with cancer, who are already struggling with the financial impact of their diagnosis and the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In recognition of the extraordinary challenges facing cancer patients in 2022, Macmillan has made an extra 3.5 million of emergency funds available to help pay escalating fuel bills. In the first six weeks of 2022, Macmillan has given out over 1.6 million[iii] in grants to support vulnerable patients across the UK  an increase of 33% on the same time last year[iv].

Richard Pugh, Head of Partnerships for Macmillan Cancer Support in Wales, said: Its been an incredibly tough few years for people with cancer.

Covid-19 continues to cause great challenges for the clinically vulnerable and now cancer patients are having to contend with a cost of living crisis that has seen prices for fuel and food rocket.

Macmillan is here for everyone with cancer. But we know there are always more people that we could be helping. So, if you are someone in need of our support, we will do everything we can to ensure you get the practical advice and help that can make life with cancer not simply about survival.

Across the UK, Macmillan gave more than 12.3m to over 33,000 cancer patients in 2021.

Macmillan grants are a one-off, means tested payment of 350 to help with the extra costs that living with cancer can bring. Anyone over 18, who has been diagnosed with cancer or undergoing treatment can apply.

To find out more about Macmillan grants, including who can apply, call the Macmillan Support Line on 0808 808 00 00 (open seven days a week, 8am to 8pm) and talk to the Macmillan Welfare Rights Team. Or, speak to your Macmillan nurse, or other healthcare professional, who can help you apply for a Macmillan grant.
The state persecution of parents for trying to protect their children from COVID-19 has stepped up a gear.

Single mother Sarah Paxman was summoned to Guildford Magistrates Court last week, charged with failing to ensure regular school attendance of her 8-year-old son Stanley under Section 444 (1) of the Education Act 1996. She pled not guilty and is to appear again on May 4 when her trial date will be set. She faces a fine up to 2,500 and a possible jail sentence.

Eight-year-old Stanley is autistic and attends a specialist school. He suffers from several underlying health conditions, which are potentially life threatening. They include Cold Urticaria, which means that even breathing in cold air for a short period of time has caused him to become unconscious on several occasions. Because of the danger of anaphylaxis, he is required to take a medication four times the adult daily dose and to always have two EpiPens at handtwo at school and two at home.

Sarah Paxman with son Stanley (Credit: Sarah Paxman)

Sarah herself suffers from the debilitating effects of Long COVID and was enduring a particularly bad bout when she appeared in court, undoubtedly aggravated by months of threats. Although Sarah has taught her son at home since March 2020 and Surrey County Council are aware of her understandable concerns, she has been relentlessly pursued by the education authorities, despite her efforts to cooperate in trying to find a solution that will keep Stanley safe. Sarah is insistent that she wants her son to return to school but that this cannot be at the expense of Stanleys health and safety.

She has bravely stood up against this persecution. Summoned to a meeting at her sons primary school in December, she stressed that her concerns were based on scientifically valid data and that it was the educational authorities and the government who were acting irrationally and against childrens best interests by insisting on the return to unsafe schools.

Opposing the policy of herd immunity she told the meeting, I would not send my son into school if the water was unsafe and very likely to make him ill, even mildly ill. So, I refuse to send him in to breathe unsafe air.

Our poor children of this country, especially the vulnerable, have been let down so badly during this pandemic. They have been an afterthought and used to ensure rapid and widespread infection by the virus. The whole thing is a scandal.

She concluded, All I am doing is protecting my son. I will always do so as I see fit. If that is a crime, then I am happy to be a criminal.

There is no question that Sarahs defiant stand against letting COVID rip in schools has made her a target for persecution. She is to be made an example of to intimidate thousands of families and educators across the country who oppose the reckless reopening of schools and workplaces.

Mask wearing, free testing and COVID sick pay provisions have all been ended. While the government declares the pandemic officially over, infections and death rates have once again gone through the roof.

The number of people testing positive in the week to April 22 was 185,625. Under conditions in which people are being actively discouraged from testing, the real total will be much higher. This is proven by the death toll over the same period, which at 1,956 was almost 20 percent up on the week before. Almost 192,000 people have died in the UK and more than 6 million globally according to official figures.

At least 175 children have died from COVID in the UK and thousands are suffering from Long COVID. Moreover, the full implications of an infection are still unclear, as underscored by instances of a new, unknown form of hepatitis in young children now occurring across Europe, the US and the UK, with prior COVID infection not ruled out as a contributing factor.

All the reported cases in the UK are below the age of 10 and several had required liver transplants. Three-year old Lola-Rose Raine fell ill in March this year and was given only hours to live after doctors found that her liver was failing. Her life was only saved by her father, Alan, donating half of his own liver to save her.

Dr. Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser, UK Health Security Agency, told Sky News Seeing eight transplants in the first three months of this year is out of sync of what we would normally see. Thats more than we would see normally in an average year in this age group and in children, and therefore when we see that we need to investigate and understand the cause. These cases are rare and unusual.

This is why Sarahs prosecution has caused justified anger. Mother of two, Lisa Diaz, who is a founding member of campaign group SafeEdForAll (Safe Education for All) and who herself has been threatened with prosecution, appealed for support on Twitter.

Single mum @sarahpaxman4 is being taken to court for refusing to send her vulnerable child into a Covid riddled classroom until he is fully vaccinated. She needs expert witnesses willing to testify. Could anyone pls help?

Lisa explained, Her case is groundbreaking as the only reason her son is NOT in school is specifically related to Covid - because schools are NOT Covid safe - these are our children, not lab rats.

We need to win this not just for Sarah, but for all families across the country who object to the Governments murderous Covid policies. They can gaslight and lie all they like but the reality is that over 1,600 people have died in the U.K. over the past three days. Pretending Covid is over is not enough. Whats happening is abhorrent. Unmitigated schools continue to fuel the pandemic.

Since then, Lisa and Sarah have been inundated with messages and pledges of support, including from leading doctors and scientists prepared to provide expert testimony in Sarahs defence.

This support is critical and the WSWS calls on all its readers to come to Sarahs aid.

Her prosecution underscores that there is one law for the rich and another for the working class.

After months of stalling, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was finally given a paltry 50 fine for breaking his own lockdown rules, in the so-called partygate scandal. While patients died alone in hospital because their families respected isolation measures aimed at containing the virusnotwithstanding the huge personal costJohnson and other ministers partied in defiance of the law.

But while there is speculation Johnson may receive further fines, the real question is how it is possible that the Prime Minister, and others, are not being held criminally accountable for 192,000 plus deaths.

Responsibility for this rests with the Labour Party and the trade unions who have backed the Tory governments herd immunity policy throughout the pandemic. In August 2020 Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer demanded the reopening of schools no ifs, not buts and it is the trade unions that have enforced this demand so that parents can be forced back into unsafe workplaces in the interests of big business.

It is for this reason that Sarahs prosecution has gone unmentioned and unchallenged by the Labour Party and the trade unions.

Sarah told the WSWS, Im being treated like a criminal for protecting my child while the real criminals are getting away with murder, literally. But Im not backing down. I will stand up against them whatever they throw at me because this is not only about Stanley. This is about all the children, the education staff and their families who are knowingly and deliberately being put in harms way by government policy. I know that I am not on my own and that is why they are trying to make an example of me.
Anzac Day, marking the disastrous landing of Australian and New Zealand troops in Turkey one hundred years ago, has always been used to promote militarism and war. But not since World War II has the public holiday been so openly linked to preparations for a major new war whose horrors would dwarf those of the 20th century conflagrations.

The Liberal-National Coalition government and the Labor Party opposition spent yesterday competing with one another over who would be best placed to join the US in an aggressive war against China. Amid what has been dubbed a khaki election, both made more public and explicit than ever before decade-long preparations for Australia to play a front-line role in Washingtons war drive against Beijing.

Peter Dutton at the Australian War Memorial on Anzac Day [Credit: Facebook, PeterDuttonMP]

The day began with defence minister Peter Dutton declaring, on breakfast television, that The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war, and be strong as a country. Not to cower, not to be on bended knee and be weak. Thats the reality.

The government has dispensed with even a pretence of diplomacy. In earlier years, it would refer to rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific region and insinuate that they were the product of supposed Chinese aggression, without naming that country. Now, there are no such qualms.

Dutton stated: The Chinese, through their actions, through their words, are on a very deliberate course at the moment, and we have to stand up with countries to stare down any act of aggression.

The Coalition, together with Labor, has fully supported the US-NATO proxy war against Russia, including through the provision of more than $150 million in weaponry to Ukraines far-right government. Australias particular contribution to the US campaign has been to link the issues of Russia and China, which the government has begun describing as an arc of autocracy.

Dutton said that the period today was very similar to the 1930sWe have to be realistic that people like Hitler and others arent just a figment of our imagination or that theyre consigned to history. We have in President Putin, at the moment, somebody who is willing to kill women and children. Thats happening in the year 2022. China, he suggested, was little different.

The gratuitous description of Putin relativises the Holocaust and turns reality on its head. Putins reactionary invasion is a desperate response to the encirclement of Russia by the US and NATO, which, over the past 30 years have carried out illegal wars, the criminality of which are unprecedented since the Third Reich.

But more significant than the falsifications contained in Duttons statements were their implications. If the Australian government, together with the US, declares that Putin and Chinese President Xi are akin to the Nazis, the logical conclusion is that war is inevitable.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made clear that such a conflict is not in the distant future but something that the government is actively stoking in the present.

Amid a hysterical furore over the signing of a security pact between China and the Solomon Islands last week, Morrison has repeatedly declared that the establishment of any Chinese military presence in the tiny Pacific Island nation would be his governments red line. The term is unambiguous. If a red line is crossed, war is launched.

A journalist noted this and asked Morrison how his government would enforce such a red line. Morrison responded by pointing to the AUKUS agreement, an aggressive military pact between the US, the UK and Australia, unveiled last September. Its purpose was not just to facilitate Australias acquisition of a new fleet of nuclear armed submarines. Instead it extended to every area of military preparation.

The government is collaborating closely with Washington and London on a vast expansion of cyber-warfare capabilities. At the same time, it has initiated a program to acquire a range of conventional missiles, and is planning on the establishment of a new naval military base on the countrys east coast. AUKUS announced last month that it was turning to the development of new generation hypersonic missiles, which could potentially be armed with nuclear weapons.

Australias military spending sits at over $600 billion this decade, and more than two percent of annual gross domestic product, as the country is placed on a war footing.

The aggressive statements on Anzac Day were immediately condemned by Chinese officials, who said claims that Beijing was preparing to establish a military base on the Solomons were fake news. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who has been hectored and threatened by the US and Australia, similarly declared his government would not permit any base.

The real driving force of the US-led confrontation was hinted at by Morrison. He said that the arc of autocracy was challenging the rules-based order our grandparents secured, i.e., in WWII. Put into plain English, the threats against China are aimed at ensuring the US imperialist hegemony secured through war 80 years ago, including the transformation of the Pacific Ocean into what leading military generals described as an American lake.

The most striking aspect of the governments open preparations for war, is that they are not opposed in the slightest by any section of the political and media establishment. The Labor Party, in particular, is not condemning the Coalition from the standpoint that its threats risk a catastrophe. Instead, it is pitching itself as a more reliable vehicle for implementing the demands of the US and Australian military-security establishments.

Labors foreign affairs shadow minister Penny Wong has accused the government of the greatest foreign policy failure since WWII, because it failed to scuttle the China-Solomon agreement. Today, she is touring the increasingly militarised north of Australia, which would play a key role in any conflict with China, to advance Labors alternative policy in the Pacific. It entails a campaign to link the militaries of the various Pacific Island nations to Canberra and a major soft power campaign that will amount to sweeping interference in their internal affairs.

Labors deputy leader, who is also in Darwin, where the previous Labor government established a US marine base in 2010, accepted entirely the premise that it was necessary to plan for war. [C]ertainly, we need to prepare, but we have not seen the preparation under this government, he stated.

In other words, Labor is effectively criticising the government from the right, condemning it for not pursuing the military build-up with sufficient speed. Albanese has bemoaned the fact that there is not yet a near-term timetable for the acquisition of a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines. He has suggested fitting the existing diesel-powered vessels with Tomahawk missiles in the interim.

Last week, Labors shadow defence minister Brendan OConnor denounced the government for abandoning a $1.3 billion program to purchase unarmed drones. This decision was bewildering, he said, and would be reviewed by a Labor government as a matter of urgency.

OConnor stated: It is incumbent upon any government to assess our capability gaps now, not just in the medium to long term. Wed be looking at increasing firepower and certain defence assets where we are deficient, and I would suggest one of the areas thats deficient includes uncrewed, armed drones. That is, Labor would prepare for imminent war.

The open discussion of the war preparations express how advanced they are. It is also an attempt to condition public opinion under conditions of widespread hostility to militarism. The government and Labor are in their deepest crisis in decades. Both are widely despised for their massive handouts to big business, cuts to health and education, and refusal to address a cost of living and low wages crisis.

But the danger is that absent a political movement of the working class, the war preparations are able to proceed, even as they are overseen by unpopular parties with no mandate for their criminally reckless policies. The Greens, the various independents, right-wing populists, the media and the trade unions have no opposition to war, and, in one form or other, line up with the preparations for conflict.

The Socialist Equality Party is the only party in the election fighting to transform the widespread anti-war sentiment into a political mobilisation of the working class, directed against all of the pro-war parties and the source of conflict, the capitalist system they defend. Sign up to our campaign today!

Contact the SEP:

Phone: (02) 8218 3222

Email: sep@sep.org.au

Facebook: SocialistEqualityPartyAustralia

Twitter: @SEP_Australia

Instagram: socialistequalityparty_au

TikTok: @SEP_Australia

Authorised by Cheryl Crisp for the Socialist Equality Party, Suite 906, 185 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000.
On Friday, Floridas far-right Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed repressive legislation for public schools and businesses that bans the introduction of what Republicans call woke indoctrination on concepts related to sexism, racism or nationality in classroom teaching and employee training programs. The latest bill, otherwise called the Stop Woke Act, is the latest in a wave of reactionary laws pushed through the Republican-led legislature as part of brutal attacks against democratic rights.

The language of the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (Stop W.O.K.E.) act mirrors similar laws that have been passed in at least a dozen other Republican-led states that aim to eliminate teaching on historical struggles against racial and sexual discrimination and for social equality, under the guise of a fight against Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other divisive concepts. Floridas anti-Woke law builds on legislation passed in the summer of last year that banned classroom instruction of Critical Race Theory and the New York Times 1619 project in Floridas schools.

A goal of the bill is to eviscerate protections for academic freedom and free speech in K-12 schools and universities, as many educators already report refraining from covering topics on civil rights history or other courses related to racial issues out of fear of provoking reprisals and sanctions.

Jeremy Young, senior manager of free expression and education at PEN America, argued that the law has ominous implications for academic freedom of education in K-12 schools and public colleges and universities. Young told Time magazine, it prohibits the promotion of these ideas by public university faculty, it is almost certainly unconstitutional.

In January, Floridas Osceola County school district canceled a workshop for teachers about the civil rights movement in light of the current conversations across our state and in our community about critical race theory. The history professor, Michael Butler, who was scheduled to lead the seminar, said his presentation was not about critical race theory, the Associated Press reported.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Feb. 24, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. Gov. (AP Photo/John Raoux, file)

The purpose of the legislation is to whitewash and erase significant portions of American history that concern the legacy of social inequality and national and racial oppression. Furthermore, an overriding aim of suppressing free speech is to ensure no discussion is held among students and workers which might encourage dissent that challenges the status quo. A precedent for this was set last summer when DeSantis signed into law several reactionary education bills aimed at vilifying socialism, with the fascistic governor denouncing communist and left-wing beliefs as evil ideologies.

The same anti-democratic restrictions also apply to training, workforce education and other diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) programs. The bill would prevent companies from subjecting any individual, as a condition of employment  to training, instruction or any other required activity that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates or compels such individual to believe a long list of concepts related to race or sexual orientation. It also prohibits employers from teaching concepts that suggest an individual should feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex or national origin.

The bill amounts to a reversal of many of the significant gains won through years of bitter struggles during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, whose mainspring was the striving for greater racial and gender equality and working class solidarity.

In a news release last December announcing the law, DeSantis declared: We wont allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other. Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez said: As the daughter of Cuban exiles who fled from Marxist ideology, I am proud to stand alongside Governor DeSantis and support this proposed legislation that will put an end to wokeness that is permeating our schools and workforce.

The campaign towards censorship in schools also intensified earlier this month when state education officials banned 41 percent of textbooks reviewed for student use due to their supposed inclusion of critical race theory (CRT) and other race-related educational material. A news release by the Florida Department of education on April 15 noted that 54 of the 132 reviewed textbooks were impermissible with either Floridas new standards or contained prohibited topics.

The driving force behind the Republicans fascistic campaign is to exploit the hostility towards the racialist and identity politics of the Democratic Party and pseudo-left, which seeks to pit workers and youth against each other to derail a united fight against capitalism. The anti-CRT campaign was motivated in large part as a reaction of the far-right faction of the US ruling class led by Donald Trump to head off the widespread multiracial and multi-ethnic protests that erupted in the summer of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. The police murder of this African American man, caught on cellphone video, triggered massive demonstrations among millions of workers and youth in opposition to police killings.

A central focus of the Democrats was diverting such popular opposition along racial lines, out of fear the protests would inspire a far broader movement of the working class that threatened the interests of the capitalists.

In fact, despite denunciations by the Democrats of DeSantis right-wing assault on free speech, the liberal section of the ruling class and purveyors of racial politics have spearheaded their own filthy attacks on history through the New York Times 1619 project. Its author, Nikole Hannah-Jones, proclaims that racism against blacks runs in the very DNA of this country, while she falsely characterizes the American Revolution as a movement aimed at defending slavery.

In recent weeks, DeSantis has spearheaded a far-right agenda based on imposing the most ferocious and retrograde attacks on the democratic rights of the entire working class.

Earlier this month DeSantis signed into a law a bill that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a move aimed at massively restricting the constitutional right to the procedure. The new law does not allow any exemptions for pregnancies that arise from rape, incest or human trafficking. Instead, it contains exemptions only if the abortion is seen as necessary to save a mothers life, prevent injury or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality.

Another far-right assault came from the signing of HB-1557, commonly referred to by opponents as the Dont Say Gay bill, which banned classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through grades 3 in primary schools. HB-1557 allows for parents to sue school districts over alleged violations of the policy, while the broad language in the bill regarding what is considered age- or developmentally-appropriate education effectively bars any teaching or discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity. This leaves already greatly underfunded public schools further at risk of suffering financial losses due to politically motivated lawsuits.

Just days prior to the signing of the anti-Woke bill, the Florida State Senate passed by a party line vote of 24-15 a new congressional map drawn by DeSantis to strengthen Republican control over the Florida delegation to the US House of Representatives in national elections. The new map, heavily partisan and racist, would violate the state constitutions Fair District Amendment, which bans intentional partisan gerrymandering and the diminishment of voting power for minorities.

The new map would carve up two congressional seats traditionally held by African American Democrats and districts with substantial black voters, including a north Florida district that runs from Tallahassee to Jacksonville, represented by Rep. Al Lawson. DeSantis map would dissolve the seat into several Republican districts and also diminish the African American voting population in another district with a significant number of black voters, currently represented by Val Demings of Orlando, now a candidate for the US Senate. That would leave the state with just one majority-black voting district.

DeSantis advanced a new map after he vetoed a version approved in March by state legislators that would have added two Republican seats and subtracted just one from the Democrats. The new proposal would create 20 seats that favor Republicans and 8 for Democrats, resulting in the G.O.P. (Grand Old Party, Republican Party) likely holding 71 percent of the seats. Clear evidence of the right-wing and anti-democratic character of these Republican plans is that Donald Trump carried Florida in 2020 with 51.2 percent of the vote.

The new map is also intended to personally benefit DeSantis, as he has emerged as one of the Republican Partys leading figures and has not ruled out challenging Trump for the partys 2024 presidential nomination.

In response to the redrawn map, Democratic lawmakers shut down the states special legislative session for more than an hour with a pray-in and sit-in inside the House chamber. A fight against the far right, however, cannot be waged under the command of the Democratic Party, which has refused to hold Trump and his Republican co-conspirators, including Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, politically and criminally responsible for their efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election during the January 6 insurrection, a fascist attempted coup aimed at blocking the certification of Joe Biden.
Last week, Turkey announced an invasion code-named Claw-Lock into areas of northern Iraq controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Air strikes and Special Forces raids targeted the Kurdish-nationalist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). While Turkey declared over 50 militiamen dead, the PKK claimed it had killed nearly 30 Turkish soldiers so far.

This takes place as US-led NATO powers escalate a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and surging energy and food prices worldwide intensify anger in the working class in every country. President Recep Tayyip Erdogans Turkish government faces an unprecedented economic and social crisis and an increasingly militant working class at home.

Turkish soldiers conduct patrol on outside Manbij, Syria. (Wikimedia Commons)

Last Monday, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said the Turkish air force hit shelters, bunkers, caves, tunnels, ammunition depots and so-called headquarters belonging to the terrorist organization, referring to the PKK. He said the Turkish army used artillery, ATAK helicopters, and armed drones in the Metina, Zap, and Avasin-Basyan areas of Iraqi Kurdistan.

This invasion is part of a series of Turkish military operations against PKK positions in Iraqs Duhok province: Operation Claw in 2019; Operation Claw-Tiger in 2020; and Operation Claw-Lightning and Operation Claw-Thunderbolt in 2021. Turkey has had a permanent military presence in the area since 2016 with over 35 military points, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency in 2020.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Soon there will not be a place called Qandil, referring to the PKKs central headquarters. Murat Karaylan, a PKK leader, said this is not an operation, but a major war. He said the current fight against the Turkish army is for survival. Another PKK leader, Duran Kalkan, threatened to turn all cities in Turkey into a war zone. Afterwards, two attacks occurred in Istanbul and Bursa. The Turkish Interior Ministry blamed the PKK and its allies.

The Turkish state-owned TRT World reported that the latest Turkish invasion is proceeding with direct support from KRG Peshmerga forces. It wrote, With the start of the operation, and even days before, Kurdish Peshmerga forces were deployed to the area to block routes and prevent the PKK from going underground in Kurdish towns and villages.

It added, The offensive began days after [Iraqi] Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzanis Ankara visit last week. On April 13, just before this visit, US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Joey Hood met with Masrour Barzani and KRG President Nechrivan Barzani in Erbil.

However, Baghdad sharply denounced Turkeys illegal invasion of Iraqi territory. On Tuesday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador, handing him a firmly-worded note of protest urging Turkey to put an end to acts of provocation and unacceptable violations. Iraqi officials denied Erdogans claims that Iraq supported the Turkish invasion.

The Turkish invasion in Iraq is accompanied by operations against the US-backed Peoples Defense Units (YPG) militias, the PKKs allies in Syria. The Turkish Defence Ministry claimed its forces killed 50 YPG militiamen in Mare, a district north of Aleppo. Kurdish fighters also claim that they killed 10 Turkish special forces in the district. The Turkish army has occupied parts of northern Syria since 2016 to prevent the formation of a YPG-led Kurdish enclave on its southern borders.

Turkeys invasion of Iraq comes amid multiple US-backed maneuvers to reduce Europes energy dependence on Russia. Among these is the sale of natural gas from Iraqi Kurdistan to Europe via Turkey, reportedly with Israeli support.

Kurdish Prime Minister Barzani met with Boris Johnson last Tuesday in London. According to a statement from Johnsons office, Prime Minister Barzani spoke about his aspiration to export energy to Europe, and the Prime Minister lauded his efforts to help reduce Western reliance on Russian oil and gas.

Currently, there is no gas pipeline between Turkey and Iraq. According to the Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA), work on building a pipeline stopped after the 2017 Kurdistan independence referendum crisis. On February, AA cited an Iraqi official saying, KRG will start selling natural gas to Turkey in 2025.

However, Iraqs Federal Supreme Court ruled last February that the Erbil administration cannot export oil and gas independently from Baghdad, so that Baghdad must be included in future plans.

According to Rudaw in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Energy Ministry of the Kurdistan Region signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with KAR Group in December 2021 for the expansion of the natural gas pipeline network towards the Turkish border. The Kurdistan natural gas pipeline would thus reach to within 35 kilometers of the Turkish border.

The region from which Ankara is seeking to expel PKK militias in Iraq is apparently of critical importance for the planned gas pipeline.

However, NATOs goal of escalating its proxy war against Russia in Ukraine while paralyzing the Russian economy is putting pressure on Europe to end its oil and gas imports from Russia even sooner. This was a major topic in Turkey, Greece and Cyprus during visits by US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland in early April.

During her visit, she reiterated that Washington has withdrawn its support from the EastMed pipeline project between Greece, Cyprus and Israel, which excludes Turkey. Speaking to the Greek daily Kathimerini, she said it will be very expensive and take 10 years to build. Everybody needs energy now, needs gas, needs electricity. So thats why we are changing focus now towards LNG. She added, this part of the world can also be an energy engine for Northern Europe.

Nuland also referred to the Floating LNG Terminal in Alexandroupoli. That allows Greece to be an energy hub not just for your own needs, but for all Southeastern Europe at the key moment. The terminal would become operational by the end of 2023, according to the Greek-owner company Gastrade.

While visiting Turkey, Nuland activated the Strategic Mechanism, a new instrument aiming to improve bilateral ties and resolve problems between Washington and Ankara. Speaking to Hurriyet Daily News in Turkey, she referred to the ongoing normalization of Turkish-Israeli relations based on potential energy supply projects from the eastern Mediterranean.

She said, First of all, its strongly in our interest, we believe its in the interest of both Israel and Turkey to have good strong relations, trade relations, energy relations, adding: Among the things that this war highlights is the need for all countries that still have a high amount of imports of oil and gas from Russia in their mix to find ways to diversify and to diversify fast.

At the end of March, Erdogan announced that a gas pipeline from Israel through Turkey to Europe is on the agenda. Israeli President Isaac Herzog made a state visit to Ankara, the first for an Israeli president since 2007, in early March. Erdogan said that possible Turkish-Israeli gas cooperation was one of the most important steps we can take together for bilateral ties.

The Leviathan field in the eastern Mediterranean, Reuters reports, already supplies Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Its ownersChevron and Israeli firms NewMed Energy and Ratio Oilplan to crank up production from 12 to 21 billion cubic meters (BCM) a year. By comparison, the European Union imported 155 billion cubic meters of Russian gas last year, covering close to 40 percent of its consumption.

Reuters cited Israeli officials saying that a potential under-sea pipeline between Turkey and Israel would run 500550km and cost up to 1.5 billion to build (the EastMed pipeline cost 6 billion). However, such a pipeline would raise decades-long issues and new potential conflicts over Cyprus and the NATO-led war of regime change in Syria because it would need to cross waters of either Cyprus, which Ankara does not recognize, or Syria, with which Ankara has no diplomatic relations and has backed rebels fighting the government in Damascus.
The imperialist powers in North America and Europe are preparing to dramatically intensify their military encirclement of Russia aimed at regime change by accepting Finland and Sweden into NATO. The ruling elites in both Scandinavian countries, which maintained formal neutrality after World War II, have seized on the Russian governments invasion of Ukraine to overcome long-standing popular opposition to the aggressive US-led military alliance.

Finlands parliament, with the approval of the countrys Social Democrat-led government under Prime Minister Sanna Marin, began debating NATO membership last week. The outcome is a foregone conclusion, with observers expecting that Helsinki could formally apply for NATO membership as soon as mid-May. The political establishment has exploited the war fever whipped up by the imperialist powers against Russia and public opinion polls ostensibly showing a substantial growth in support for NATO membership to impose a policy they have long sought to adopt.

Newspaper reports Monday confirmed that Sweden will submit its application simultaneously with Finland, possibly during the week of May 16, when Finlands president is scheduled to make a state visit to Stockholm.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, center, participates in a media conference with Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, left, and Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde, right, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

Finnish membership in NATO will extend the military alliances border with Russia by 1,300 kilometres (about 800 miles), more than the current border Russia shares with the imperialist military alliance. A train journey from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, Russias second city, takes just three-and-a-half hours. The country will become yet another staging ground for aggressive NATO operations to subjugate Russia to the status of a semi-colony.

In their rush to join NATO, the Finnish and Swedish ruling elites are reviving their historic role as servants of the most rapacious imperialist powers. Every article dealing with Helsinki and Stockholms imminent NATO membership repeats uncritically the fact that both countries remained neutral after 1945, as if they have only now been awoken from their naive peaceful slumbers by the Russian aggressor Putin. But an examination of Finland and Swedens history refutes such claims.

Both countries ruling elites were among the bitterest opponents of the 1917 Russian Revolution and collaborated first with Nazi Germany and then the US Cold War against the Soviet Union.

Finland never existed in modern times as an independent state until the Bolshevik government under Lenins leadership extended it the right of self-determination following the successful conquest of power by the Russian working class in October 1917. Less than three months later, the Finnish bourgeoisie used its independence, based on a dependent and subservient relationship to German imperialist militarism, to wage a brutal civil war against its own working class to prevent a socialist revolution.

The prospects for such a revolution loomed large. Finnish workers had responded to the Bolsheviks taking of power in Petrograd by launching an indefinite general strike in November 1917 that directly posed the question of which class would rule society. But it was betrayed by Finlands Social Democrats, a party that loyally followed the pro-imperialist Second International.

The Finnish white terror in the winter and spring of 1918 was the most savage display of butchery since the Paris Commune of 1871, with tens of thousands of workers, including women and children, massacred in one-sided battles and in concentration camps. In addition to German military expertise and weaponry, the Finnish bourgeoisie received military support in the civil war from Sweden, which had ruled Finland as a colony as part of the Swedish Empire until its defeat by Russia in the Swedish-Russian war of 1808-09.

Advocates of Finnish NATO membership invariably cite the 1939 Winter War with the Soviet Union, which was the result of Stalins nationalist policies that stood diametrically opposed to the principles of Soviet democracy fought for by Lenin and Trotsky when they granted Finland independence from Russia in 1917. The conflict was a disaster for Soviet forces, who faced stiff Finnish resistance and suffered 321,000-381,000 casualties, including 120,000-170,000 deaths. Finland suffered around 70,000 casualties and 26,000 deaths by comparison.

As Trotsky wrote in his Open Letter to the Workers of the USSR in April 1940, (T)he infamous oppressive regime of Stalin has deprived the USSR of its attractive power. During the war with Finland, not only the majority of the Finnish peasants but also the majority of the Finnish workers, proved to be on the side of their bourgeoisie. This is hardly surprising since they know of the unprecedented oppression to which the Stalinist bureaucracy subjects the workers of near-by Leningrad and the whole of the USSR.

However, none of the present-day proponents of Finnish and Swedish NATO membership care to mention the Continuation War between 1941 and 1944, when Finnish divisions participated in Nazi Germanys war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, which claimed the lives of at least 27 million Soviet citizens and made possible the Holocaust of European Jewry. Both Finland and Sweden were notified in advance of Operation Barbarossa, with Finnish officers travelling to Germany in May 1940 for consultations so they could coordinate their attacks on the Soviet Union. Stockholm granted passage by train for German troops to deploy from Norway to Finland to support the Finnish offensive, which would go on to play a key role in the blockade of Leningrad.

Adolf Hitler with Marshal Mannerheim, Supreme Commander of Finland's armed forces and Risto Heikki Ryti, President of Finland. Hitler visited Mannerheim on his 75th birthday, 4 June 1942. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The continuity between the Finnish white terror of 1918 and the Continuation War was personified by the man who led the Finnish army during both, Supreme Commander Karl Mannerheim, a former general in the Tsarist Russian army who headed the Finnish white army in 1918 when it exterminated Finnish workers. Mannerheim celebrated his 75th birthday in 1942 in the company of Adolf Hitler, who paid a surprise visit to Finland to mark the occasion. Mannerheim, known for his aristocratic tendencies and inability to speak the Finnish language fluently, went on to serve as Finlands president between 1944 and 1946.

Swedish neutrality during World War II was based on Stockholms supply of iron ore and other critical raw materials to Nazi Germanys war machine. After occupying Norway and Denmark in the spring of 1940, Hitler saw no reason to waste additional military resources on a takeover of Sweden, which was cut off from the possibility of receiving allied military aid and more than willing to do business with the Third Reich. Stockholms cordial relations with Berlin were assisted by an affinity with fascist ideology in Swedish ruling circles, a fact underscored by the countrys continuation of eugenics policies long after World War II. Protected from the ravages of modern warfare, Swedens economy boomed during and after the war, laying the basis for the ruling elites substantial concessions to a radicalized working class to safeguard capitalist rulethe so-called Swedish model.

Finnish and Swedish neutrality after the Second World War was motivated not by some altruistic commitment to peace, but by political necessity and military expediency. The Finnish bourgeoisie, thoroughly discredited by its collaboration with Nazism, saw neutrality as the price to pay for maintaining the existence of a capitalist state, avoiding the fate of the ruling elites in the Eastern European buffer states, which the Stalinists removed from power and replaced with loyal servants of the Moscow bureaucracy as the Cold War intensified. For its part, Swedish neutrality did not prevent it from serving as a key player in US imperialisms spying on the Soviet Union. Documents released by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013 revealed that Swedish intelligence signed a top-secret agreement with the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealandthe so-called Five Eyes alliancein 1954 to share intelligence on the Soviets.

With the Stalinist dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and restoration of capitalism, the Finnish and Swedish ruling elites sought to return more openly to their counter-revolutionary traditions of the first half of the 20th century. They began to shift more directly into the orbit of the major European and North American imperialist alliances. Both countries joined NATOs Partnership for Peace during the 1990s, a framework that allowed non-alliance members to participate in NATO exercises and training. They also joined the European Union.

Swedens formal break with almost two centuries of neutrality came in 2002, when the Social Democrat government led by Goran Persson agreed to dispatch troops to Afghanistan as part of the US-led occupation of the Central Asian country. Swedish Saab-Gripen fighter jets flew missions in NATOs savage bombardment of Libya in 2011, which plunged the North African country into a bloody civil war that continues to the present day.

In 2015, representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden signed a multilateral Nordic defence agreement explicitly aimed at confronting Russian aggression. The deal included the coordination of military equipment production and joint military exercises conforming to NATO standards.

In March 2015, the Nordic Defence Ministers conducted a Ministerial meeting in the North of Sweden and visited the Army Ranger Battalion I19. From the left: Policy Director Arnor Sigurjonsson (Iceland), Defence Minister Carl Haglund (Finland), Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist (Sweden), Defence Minister Nicolai Wammen (Denmark) and State Secretary ystein B (Norway). (Credit: Jimmy Croona/Swedish Armed Forces)

Swedish and Finnish troops have played a prominent role over recent years in some of NATOs largest military drills, including exercises involving tens of thousands of troops in the Baltic Sea and in Arctic conditions in Norway. They also joined some of the provocative manoeuvres organised by NATO with Ukraine in the Black Sea in the months leading up to President Vladimir Putins invasion. Swedish forces participated in Exercise Sea Breeze in June and July 2021, a massive NATO-led provocation that saw over 5,000 troops from more than 30 countries practice amphibious, air, and naval warfare manoeuvres co-hosted by Ukraine and the US Sixth Fleet.

US imperialism and its European allies see the integration of Finland and Sweden into NATO as crucial in opening a new front in their efforts to cripple Russia and turn it into a semi-colony. As former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen wrote in the New York Times, Finland and Sweden represent a convenient buffer zone between Russia and current NATO members, which would make it easier to react to any incursion by Russian forces into the Baltic states. He continued, At NATO headquarters, membership could be approved overnight.

In December 2021, two months prior to Russias invasion of Ukraine, US officials concluded with the Finnish government the largest single military purchase in the countrys historyHelsinkis procurement of 64 F-35 fighter jets from US military contractor Lockheed Martin. To give a sense of the extraordinary scope of the deal for Finland, a country of just 5.4 million people, it would equate to a country the size of Germany buying over 900 warplanes.

Beyond Finlands lengthy border with Russia, both Sweden and Finland have Baltic coasts, providing ideal locations for NATO to launch aggressive provocations and attacks on Russian forces. Of strategic significance is the Swedish island of Gotland, which lies about 90 kilometres off the Swedish east coast in the Baltic Sea. A NATO presence there would give the alliance the opportunity to directly strike the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which lies between Lithuania and Poland about 300 kilometres southeast of Gotland and is home to Russias Baltic fleet.

Magnus Christiansson, a researcher in military strategy at the Swedish Defence University, told France 24 in January that Gotland could function as a launching pad for NATO attacks on Russia. Couching his prediction in the language of an altruistic United States rushing to the defence of the tiny republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Christiansson commented, To help its allies, the Americans would have to send jets overfastand fly over the Baltic Sea. But if the Russians gained control of Gotland, they could use anti-aircraft missiles and coastal robots, making it extremely difficult for the Americans to reach and defend the Baltics.

Fabrice Pothier, former head of NATO policy planning also noted, Its big deal militarily, but its an even bigger deal politically. Putin has lost two valuable on-the-fence countries Appeasement has failed.

The claim that Sweden and Finlands ruling elites performed a 180-degree turn in their foreign policy the morning after Putins invasion of Ukraine is nothing but self-serving propaganda. Their joining NATO has long been in the works, but they have confronted the hurdle of widespread popular opposition. Their headlong rush into NATOs arms is designed to present the Swedish and Finnish populations with a fait accompli: the transformation of both countries into frontline states in the imperialist war drive against Russia. As Petteri Orpo, head of the conservative opposition National Coalition Party in Finland, put it during a visit to Washington for consultations with Biden administration officials, For 16 years, we have supported NATO membership, and now its possible. Thanks, Putin.

Orpo and the rest of the political establishment know very well that it is not Putin, but US President Joe Biden, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that they must thank for their opportunity to join NATO. Putin, the representative of the bankrupt Russian oligarchy that emerged due to the Stalinist restoration of capitalism, was goaded by the imperialist powers through a succession of provocations and threats to launch his reactionary invasion of Ukraine. The US-NATO war with Russia threatens to escalate into a broader global conflagration, including the Baltic and Nordic regions.
On 18 March, the Berlin Administrative Court rejected an emergency application by the left-wing daily newspaper junge Welt that it no longer be described as left-wing extremist in the annual report of the secret service, which subjects it to state surveillance.

The significance of this decision goes far beyond the immediate case. It underscores the fact that in Germany anyone who professes Marxism or even calls the class division of society by its name is to be persecuted and its operations massively obstructed by the state.

Judge Wilfried Peters (left) before the start of the SGP trial in 2011 (photo WSWS)

A judgement in the main proceedings is still pending, but the grounds for the decision in the summary proceedings, which the World Socialist Web Site has seen, leave no doubt that the outcome will be the same.

junge Welt had initiated summary proceedings and applied for a temporary injunction because being named in the report by the Verfassungsschutz (Office for the Protection of the Constitution), as Germanys secret service is called, impairs its work and threatens to destroy its economic existence. The main proceedings can often drag on for years.

The Administrative Court recognised that junge Welt had credibly demonstrated that being named in the secret service report made distribution of the newspaper more difficultamong other things because paid advertising was refused, pictures were not available, and access to and cooperation with the newspaper was restricted.

junge Welt stated: For example, Deutsche Bahn and various municipalities and radio stations are refusing to rent advertising space with reference to the Verfassungsschutz entry, libraries are blocking online access to the newspaper, and a printing company refused to produce another print publication with an advertisement by the junge Welt.

This is also intentional, as the federal government stated in response to a parliamentary question on the surveillance of junge Welt by the intelligence agencies last year. Such discrimination against left-wing publications is a task for society as a whole and is intended to deprive them of [a] further breeding ground.

Nevertheless, the Administrative Court questioned the urgency of the application. It then decided that it did not even matter because the application was also substantively unfounded. This was mainly because junge Welt is a Marxist-oriented daily newspaper.

Taken as a whole, the left-wing extremism of junge Welt resulted from its propagation of the class struggle, its presentation of socialist-communist states and societies as preferable and its demand for overcoming of capitalism and a socialist alternative.

The blueprint for its decision against junge Welt had previously been created by the Administrative Court itself. In November last year, the same court, presided over by the same judge, its vice-president Wilfried Peters, had rejected the complaint of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) against its naming in the Verfassungsschutz report. In the case brought by junge Welt, the court has now adopted the wording of that earlier judgement in part verbatim.

In the judgement against the SGP, the court declared anti-democratic and anti-constitutional statements such as that screaming social inequality is not compatible with democracy; the power of the big banks and corporations stands in the way of real rule by the people; and the state organs serve the interests of the rich.

Since according to the constitution all state power emanates from the people, the court declared, all state institutions were also democratically legitimised. Thus, it was illegitimate to question by name the Verfassungsschutz and the Bundeswehr [Armed Forces]. The court also found the reference to the class struggle to be anti-democratic and extremist, as was the reference to Marx, Engels and Lenin and the advocacy of a socialist alternative to capitalism.

As in the ruling against the SGP, in the case of junge Welt the administrative court also referred to the discredited ban on the German Communist Party (KPD) by the Supreme Court in 1956. The Administrative Court constructed its own version of Marxism-Leninism, which it accuses everyone who refers to Marxism and a revolutionary socialist perspective of advocating.

Accordingly, communist state models following the teachings of ideologists such as Marx, Engels and Lenin envisage one-party systems with all-powerful state parties, meaning there is no room for general and equal elections. There are no limits to the judicial imagination. The Berlin Administrative Court provides no evidence of where, when and how Marx, Engels and Lenin envisaged such systems.

Nor does it show where junge Welt advocated such a state model. The decision merely states that it portrays the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and Cuba in a positive light. For example, on the Day of German Unity on 3 October 2010, under the headline Against the distorted image, it had stated, among other things: As long as the GDR existed, no war emanated from the whole of Germanywhich is obviously true.

As evidence of junge Welts supposed hostility to democracy, the court also cited its support for the elected Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, who has had to fend off several right-wing coup attempts.

The court also tried to somehow link junge Welt to violence and terrorism. However, it was unable to prove that the newspaper called for violence or endorsed terrorism. It merely referred to the publication of interviews with various organisations and individuals and the documentation of letters of confession, which thus offered a platform.

The Administrative Court did not cite any concrete evidence that the newspaper identifies with the politics of the Islamist Hamas, for example, because one of its representatives gave it an interview.

However, according to Supreme Court case law regarding the intelligence surveillance of press organs, this is mandatory: Freedom of the press also covers the decision to provide a forum only for a certain political spectrum, but to grant the authors great freedom there and subsequently not to identify with all individual publications.

It would therefore require, wrote the Supreme Court in a 2005 decision on the right-wing Junge Freiheit, special indications as to why the editorial staff does not identify with these articles but does identify with the articles referred to by the courts.

The Administrative Court does not cite such special indications but resorts to a classic circular argumentwhat is to be proven is assumedto make conclusions as to an overall view of the articles and to the political orientation of the editorial staff.

This is legally untenable. The aim is to slander, criminalise and silence any left-wing criticism of the capitalist system and government policy as anti-democratic, even ifas the federal government and the Administrative Court also admit in the case of junge Weltit uses exclusively democratic and peaceful means to do so.

In this case, the court has adopted the anti-communist tirades against Marxism, against the overthrow of capitalism, against socialism and against the appeal to class struggle, partly word for word over several pages from the judgement against the SGP. It thus expressly confirms the SGPs warning at the time:

The judgement targets the SGP because it provides this opposition with a voice and a socialist perspective, but it is also directed against anyone who criticises capitalism and rejects the governments right-wing policies. Based on this judgement, every author who refers positively to the Marxist classics, every sociologist who examines the effects of social inequality on society, every journalist who sheds light on the right-wing terrorist networks in the armed forces and every striking worker could be declared an enemy of the constitution.

This is exactly what has now taken place with the ruling against junge Welt. The SGP and the World Socialist Web Site call on all readers to defend junge Welt and all other groups that are being spied on and attacked by the Verfassungsschutz for left-wing opposition to capitalism, militarism and imperialism.
The following video includes a brief interview with the wife and daughter of Chaminda Lakshan who was shot dead by Sri Lankan police on April 19 during a protest in Rambukkana, about 95 kilometres north-east of Colombo. Twenty-four other people were injured, three of them critically, in the vicious police attack on demonstrators opposing high fuel prices and shortages.

Video report from funeral of Sri Lankan protester Chaminda Lakshan killed by police

Protests are taking place throughout the island over acute shortages and high prices for food, fuel, medicines and other essential items.

Lakshans wife, R.N. Priyanganee, and her daughter, Piyumi Upekshika Lakshan, spoke to WSWS reporters before the last rites at her house at Karandagasthanne, Naranbedda in Rambukkana on April 23. The video also includes an eyewitness account of the police assault and a short speech to the funeral meeting by Socialist Equality Party Political Committee member W.A. Sunil.
A little-reported six-day visit by senior US military commanders late last month particularly focussed on the US satellite surveillance and missile guidance facility at Pine Gap in central Australia.

Two days of talks were held with military and intelligence officers at Pine Gap, one of the most important American war bases globally. That underscores the accelerating preparations for war against China, with Australia as a key launching platform.

This points to the reality behind the increasingly incendiary comments by Prime Minster Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Peter Dutton about preparing for war, and the response of the Labor Party, which has criticised the Liberal-National Coalition government for not moving fast enough to acquire missiles, drones and other weaponry.

For fear of triggering popular opposition, the top-level US delegations trip to Pine Gap, just 20 kilometres southwest of Alice Springs, was kept out of official press releases. No coverage appeared in the major Australian corporate media outlets.

However, the US military chiefs involved spoke to the Financial Times of London, a newspaper of the corporate elite, about the war capabilities being expanded at Pine Gap.

The head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino, who last year declared that war against China was much closer than most think, described Australia as an extremely high-end partner.

Referring to Pine Gap, Aquilino said enhanced visibility in space would help counter Chinese hypersonic weapons. The ability to identify and track and defend against those hypersonics is really the key, he said.

Aquilino heads the largest US command, comprising some 380,000 military personnel armed with warplanes, warships, submarines and the latest weaponry. His visit sent a threatening pre-election political message against any wavering from the bipartisan commitment to these preparations.

According to the Australian Defence Department press release, the purpose of his visit was to demonstrate unequivocally the strength and depth of the AustraliaUnited States Alliance.

Accompanying Aquilino, the head of the US Space Command, General James Dickinson, said Australia was a critical partner in space warfare, including to monitor Chinese space operations. This is the perfect location for a lot of things we need to do, he told the Financial Times.

Casting aside the facade that such operations are purely defensive, the deputy head of the US Cyber Command, Lieutenant General Charles Moore, openly referred to offensive capabilities. He said digital convergence between the US and Australia gave the US the potential to perform offensive operations and an asymmetric advantage over China, which lacked such global reach.

Behind the backs of the Australian population, and with the complete support of the Labor Party, the Liberal-National Coalition government has allowed Washington to undertake a major expansion of the Pine Gap facility.

Authorised by Australian governments, both Labor and Coalition, since it was established in 1970, Pine Gap has long given the US military satellite coverage of a wide swathe of the world, including China, Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.

Now, with its 40 or so giant domes and access to more powerful satellites, the base is being more closely integrated into the Pentagons preparations for hi-tech warfare against China including the use of long-range hypersonic missiles and space weapons being developed by the US.

The danger of nuclear conflict is rising. The US is testing highly manoeuvrable and virtually undetectable hypersonic missiles that can travel at more than five times the speed of sound, while saying China is doing the same, with missiles that can be launched from space.

Writing in the Saturday Paper, Brian Toohey reported that Pine Gap now had at least four advanced satellites connected to it. From Pine Gap, a vast volume of military data is fed into the US war fighting machine in real time, he noted.

The satellites intercepted a huge array of electronic signals for intelligence analysis, as well as from weapon systems, such as surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft artillery, fighter planes, drones and space vehicles. Added capabilities now allowed the satellites to detect and track the heat from spacecraft, as well as from missiles and military jets.

American National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed in documents published in 2013 and 2017 that Pine Gap plays a critical role in assisting US military operations, including identifying targets for missile attacks and drone assassinations, and in NSA programs to collect electronic data on people around the world.

As part of the US-led Five Eyes global intelligence networkincluding Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealandintelligence agencies have high-level access to the NSA data, including on Australian citizens, which could be used to target opponents of the US war drive.

One Australian government after another has shielded Pine Gaps activities. In 2009, the last Labor government made it a crime, punishable by up to seven years imprisonment, to enter the bases perimeters, fly over it, or acquire a photograph, sketch, plan, model, article, note or other document of, or relating to Pine Gap.

As part of the Obama administrations pivot to Asia to confront China, the Gillard Labor government also offered Darwin as the site for annual rotations of US Marines, plus northern airfields for extensive use by American long-range bombers, and ports for more visits by US warships and submarines.

These facilities, now being expanded, thoroughly integrate Australia into US war plans. As a result, any war or military attack by Washingtonwhether against China or Russia, or in the Middle Eastautomatically involves Australia.

Last Septembers AUKUS military pact between the governments of the US, UK and Australia was an historic step toward a confrontation with China. AUKUS initially featured the supply of nuclear-powered long-range attack submarines to Australia, and the construction of bases in Australia for such submarines, including those from the US and UK.

On April 6, the AUKUS leadersMorrison, Biden and Boris Johnsonwent further. They announced they would develop hypersonic missiles and subsurface robots, and site such missiles in Australia.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is the sole party standing in the May 21 federal election opposing the explosion of militarism and war, including Australias frontline participation in the US-led war drive.

As we say in our election statement, only a unified anti-war movement of the international working classincluding Chinese, American, British and Australian workerscan halt the reckless US-led plunge toward a nuclear catastrophe.

We call for the repudiation of the US-Australia alliance and all military basing arrangements with the US and other countries. The military-intelligence apparatus must be disbanded, and the vast resourcesmore than $600 billion this decadebeing squandered on war preparations reallocated to urgently needed social programs throughout Australia and the Indo-Pacific region.

These demands raise the necessity for the working class to seize the reins of power. Workers governments have to be established to reorganise society along socialist lines as part of the fight for socialism internationally. Register for the ICFIs international online May Day rally this weekend to join this crucial struggle.

Contact the SEP:

Phone: (02) 8218 3222

Email: sep@sep.org.au

Facebook: SocialistEqualityPartyAustralia

Twitter: @SEP_Australia

Instagram: socialistequalityparty_au

TikTok: @SEP_Australia

Authorised by Cheryl Crisp for the Socialist Equality Party, Suite 906, 185 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to Ukraine, where Austin effectively stated that the United States is a party to the Ukraine war.

After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky, Austin declared in prepared remarks, our focus in the meeting was to talk about those things that would enable us to win the current fight and also build for tomorrow.

In using the first-person plural to describe both the United States and Ukraine as engaged in a fight against Russia, Austin effectively admittedfor the first time by a US officialthat the United States is a combatant in the war.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at a meeting Sunday, April 24, 2022, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev (Photo: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office)

This statement is especially striking given the declaration by Biden in March that Direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War III, something we must strive to prevent.

Combining the statements of Austin that we are engaged in a fight against Russia, and Bidens declaration that a war between the US and Russia would mean World War III, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the proxy war between the US and Russia over Ukraine threatens to rapidly spiral into a world war.

Austin then said, We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it cant do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.

Austins statement echoed the declaration by US Army Europe Commander Ben Hodges that the US should aim for breaking the back of Russia. A recent New York Times editorial also invoked the prospect of bringing Russia to its knees.

Commenting on the statements by Austin, the New York Times David Sanger wrote,

Mr. Austins comments, bolstered by statements by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken about the various ways in which Mr. Putin has already lost in the struggle over Ukraine, reflect a decision made by the Biden administration and its closest allies, several officials said on Monday, to talk more openly and optimistically about the possibility of Ukrainian victory in the next few months.

Sanger continued:

There is a second risk: that if Mr. Putin believes that his conventional military forces are being strangled, he will turn to stepped-up cyberattacks on Western infrastructure, chemical weapons or his arsenal of tactical, battlefield nuclear weapons. It is a possibility that was barely conceivable eight weeks ago, but is regularly discussed today.

Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setback 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, William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, warned earlier this month.

In other words, the Biden administration is consciously leading the population of Ukraine, Russia, the US and the world down a path that risks nuclear war.

Yet there is no public discussion of the implications of these policies, nor has the Biden administration alerted the population about the vast danger posed by its escalation of the war. Rather, for months it has systematically worked to chloroform public opinion about the dangers of nuclear war. Thus, Biden recently declared, I dont think he [Putin] is remotely contemplating using nuclear weapons.

Russian officials, by contrast, have repeatedly threatened the use of nuclear weapons and have stressed the immense dangers posed by the present conflict. On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned about the risk of nuclear escalation, stating, the risks now are considerable.

Lavrov concluded, NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.

The remarks of Blinken and Austin made clear the massive scale of US involvement in the war. The strategy that weve put in placemassive support for Ukraine, massive pressure against Russia, solidarity with more than 30 countries engaged in these effortsis having real results, Blinken said.

On Sunday, Blinken and Austin announced over $322 million in new weapons financing for Ukraine, bringing the total US weapons shipments to $3.7 billion since the start of the war, Reuters reported. US weapons deliveries include Javelin missiles, artillery, ammunition and drones.

On Monday, the US defense department announced that it was using an emergency declaration to approve the sale of $165 million of ammunition to Ukraine. The Pentagon said the sale would include ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers.

Reuters reported that the plan could include artillery ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers such as 152mm rounds for 2A36 Giatsint; 152mm rounds for D-20 cannons; VOG-17 for automatic grenade launcher AGS-17; 125mm HE ammunition for T-72 and 152mm rounds for 2A65 Msta.

Today, the US will host a meeting of dozens of countries centering on arming Ukraine.

Now, two months since the outbreak of the war, US officials are stating publicly what they previously admitted only in secret: The United States is the driving force in a war aimed at crippling and subjugating Russia and overthrowing its government.

Austins de facto admission that the two countries with the worlds largest nuclear arsenals are both parties to the military conflict in Ukraine must be treated as a stark warning by workers all over the world. The present crisis poses immense dangers and raises the urgent need to mobilize the international working class in opposition to war.
Addressing the Colombo media from Washington last Friday, Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ali Sabry signalled that harsh austerity measures were being dictated in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sabry is leading the negotiating team seeking emergency loans and debt restructuring to help deal with the immense economic crisis confronting the country.

Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ali Sabry (Photo: Facebook)

Sabry said: Although it is going to be painful couple of years, I think the IMF opportunity is a moment for us to seize irrespective of all differences. The government and the political establishment as a whole will accept the IMFs terms, but the pain will inevitably be imposed on the vast majority of the populationworking people and rural toilers.

The finance minister tried to put the best possible face on the situation, declaring: I am confident that Sri Lanka can overcome this economic crisis. He then added: Of course, it is going to be worse before it gets better. Given the global economic turmoil, workers can have no confidence that the social disaster they confront will get better in two years.

Sabry said: For emergency financing, the Government is considering options from various countries such as India, China and Japan in addition to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The World Bank is supposed to provide $US300-600 million bridging finance immediately, while ADB has indicated it will provide $21 million to import medicines.

Sri Lanka is not able to raise commercial funds, as rating agencies including Moodys, Fitch and S&P have downgraded the countrys credit rating to junk status. The Sri Lankan rupee has depreciated by almost 70 percent, to 340 rupees to the US dollar, in less than two months. The country has already declared a temporary default on its foreign loans.

Sri Lankas worsening economic crisis is an acute expression of the global economic downturn that has been exacerbated by the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and now the US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, along with the associated crippling economic embargo against Moscow.

Sabrys comments come as the island is engulfed in mass protests demanding the resignation of President Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and the government over the economic and social crisis. At the main protest site, Galle Face Green in central Colombo, thousands have been protesting day and night since April 9.

Working people must wait in long lines for hours just to buy the basics, which are not always available or affordable. Prices are soaring. The price of cooking gas cylinders and other everyday items doubled over the past week, putting them out of reach of many. At least six people have died queuing for essentials.

The protests have further escalated as a result of the widespread anger over the police shooting at protesters against fuel price hikes in the provincial town of Rambukkana on April 18. A worker, Chaminda Lakshan, was killed and two dozen others were injured.

The escalating protest movement has deepened the political crisis of the Rajapakse government, which has effectively lost its parliamentary majority with the desertion of more than 40 of its MPs. The police killing of Chaminda Lakshan is an ominous sign that it is prepared to resort to police state measures to try to crush opposition to the IMF austerity agenda.

IMF Sri Lanka Mission chief Masahiro Nozaki told Reuters: The country needs to take steps to restore debt sustainability prior to any IMF lending, including the emergency Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI).

The IMFs insistence on debt sustainability as the precondition for any fund release is to ensure that the countrys international creditorshalf of them commercial investment housesare paid while the full burden of the crisis is imposed on working people.

The finance minister is to appoint financial and legal experts to speak to the creditors within the next 15 days. One such expert, Lee Buchheit, specializing in imposing hardship in South American countries, has already briefed the Sri Lankan delegation. In Belize for instancea country which declared bankruptcy in 2020public sector wages were slashed and a broad-based general sales tax was imposed.

Sabry has already foreshadowed fiscal, institutional and tax reforms. The measures include raising income and value-added taxes; increasing fuel prices and electricity prices; instituting a market-determined flexible exchange rate; cutting the fiscal deficit, i.e., slashing social spending; and restructuring the state sector through privatization, corporatization and contracting-out, which will drastically destroy jobs and working conditions.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Sabry said Sri Lankas present tax revenue had to be increased from 8.6 percent to 13-14 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). This can only be done by widening and increasing direct taxes on working people in addition to increases in indirect taxes on food and other essentials.

The working class, youth and rural toilers will not passively accept new harsh austerity measures dictated by the IMF. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have protested against the already intolerable conditions they face and demanded the resignation of the government.

However, matters cannot be left in the hands of the Colombo political establishmentthe government or the opposition parties, which all agree that the burden of the economic crisis must be imposed on working people.

The Socialist Equality Party urges workers to form action committees in every workplace, plantation and neighborhood, independent of the trade unions that have sabotaged the wave of strikes over the past two years.

The SEP has elaborated a series of demands around which the working class can wage political fight including the repudiation of the foreign debt. Workers and the poor should not starve to pay off debts incurred by the corporate and financial elite in Colombo.

A powerful movement of the working class would win the support of large sections of the rural poor and establish the basis to fight for a workers and peasants government to implement socialist policies to meet the pressing needs of the majority, not the profits of the super-wealthy few.
Four children died when their mobile home caught fire early Thursday morning in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Rosalynn Goff, 2; Jefferson Goff, 3; Johnnie Mann-Goff, 5; and Matthew Damron, 10 were were killed by smoke inhalation and thermal burns.

City of Fort Wayne Fire Department fire station (Credit: City of Fort Wayne Fire Department)

Four adults were able to escape the fire, Jessica Mann, mother of the four children; Audrey Kistler; her boyfriend Samuel Barnett and Travis Garrison.

According to reports, Garrison awoke to the blaze and attempted to exit through the front door, but the deadlock was not working. Garrison screamed fire as he attempted to help the family escape. While he ran out the back door, Barnett and Kistler escaped through the window and Mann in a separate room pushed out an air conditioning unit to escape.

However, trapped in a separate room were the four children. Garrison attempted to rescue them. I was running to the front door to try and break it open and it wouldn't open, Garrison told WTHR. I kept hearing the kids screaming. Screaming and I couldn't do anything about it. We tried our best to get the kids out. We did everything we could.

Neighbors joined the family in the rescue effort while calling emergency services. Shelby Wright, a neighbor across the street, attempted to break through the window and direct the children towards her. She was unable to rescue them as the flames and smoke engulfed the mobile home.

I heard the kids screaming and then after a second, I couldnt see anything else. The flames got bigger, and I finally had to back up because the gust of smoke just came and I couldnt breathe. All I heard was, Help, mom! and just the babies crying, and the dog was crying. Thats all I heard, Wright explained to WPTA21.

Another neighbor, Wesley Desjardins, attempted to pull the air conditioner out when the flames turned in his direction, injuring his hand and ankle in the process.

The four adults were sent to an area hospital with Mann sent to the Indianapolis burn unit suffering internal and external burns. The cause of the fire has not been determined by firefighters.

This marked the second fire within a week at the Dupont Estates Mobile Home Park located on the citys far-northeast side. On April 16 the Fort Wayne Fire Department responded to another fire and was able to evacuate an adult and child. There has been an outpouring of support by neighbors and those in the surrounding area towards the family and their four children.

Reviews left on Google Maps give a sense of the state of the conditions which prevail in Dupont Estates and are not uncommon in neighborhoods across the US where working class residents seek to make do on meager wages. Not a great place 2 live unless u can't afford much more, wrote Amal Waggoner. Kind of rundown but easy to own a home there, noted James Solliday.

Local media attempted to hold the adults in the home responsible for the children trapped inside. Garrison countered this, telling Fox 55, We all were trying to get back in there. We couldn't get into the house. The fire was too high. The smoke was too thick. We could not get back into that house. He told the local news outlet that he heard the propane tank making a whistling noise before the fire became worse.

The US Fire Administration reports that there have been 922 people killed in house fires across the US so far this year. There are no requirements for local authorities to report fire deaths. The US Fire Administration, part of FEMA, collects information based on media reports which means the data is undercounted.

Last month, Dawn Michelle East Bottoms, 33, and her 4-year-old daughter died in a fire that consumed their mobile home in Madison, North Carolina.

On April 2, 20-year-old twin brothers died in a house fire in the predominately working class city of Trenton, New Jersey. Five teenagers, ages 14 to 17, died on April 11 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.

Housing fires are an issue which confronts workers around world.

Most infamously, in London, the UKs wealthiest city, the 2017 Grenfell Tower block building fire killed 72 people as the flammable aluminum cladding panels caught fire engulfing the 24-story building. The building stood in the richest borough in London providing social housing for workers. For cosmetic purposes the building was coated in flammable cladding despite warnings of the dangers.

The phenomenon of house fires cannot be understood outside of the context of the decades-long assault on working class living standards. Between 1979 and 2019 the bottom 90 percent of workers in the US saw their income increase less than $9,000, forcing families to crowd together and seek out cheap, unsafe living conditions. Poorer families squeezed by rising costs confront utility shutoffs which force them to rely on alternative sources of heating in cold weather, increasing the likelihood of fires.

The median wage in Fort Wayne is just above $51,000 according to US Census data while more than 15 percent of the population lives below the meager official poverty line.

The role of the trade unions in the dismantling of working class living standards has been on display recently in Fort Wayne at auto parts manufacturer Dana Inc. The company and the union bureaucracy of the United Steelworkers (USW) and United Autoworkers (UAW) work to continue sweatshop conditions despite a rejection of a sellout contract by a rebellion of the rank and file.

At GM Fort Wayne Assembly, while outbreaks of COVID-19 cases continued, the UAW peddled the lie that there was no workplace transmission to keep the factory running and profits flowing into the corporate coffers. Workers at the assembly plant make starting wages just above $16 an hour building trucks which sell for close to $50,000.
(l-r) Lea Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen, and Kristen Stewart in David Cronenbergs Crimes Of The Future

[Update 5/6]: Following its premiere at CinemaCon last week, the trailer for David Cronenbergs Crimes Of The Future has finally been shared online:







Aside from David Lynchs nonexistent film, David Cronenbergs Crimes Of The Future might be the film that attendees of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival are most excited to see. On Tuesday, distributor Neon films screened the first full trailer for Cronenbergs latest, which was preceded by a brief introduction from producer Robert Lantos and Cronenberg himself.



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While the trailer itself was so authentically Cronenbergian that it almost felt like parodyfull of measured, bone-dry line deliveries, odd, talisman-like objects, and an uneasy but endlessly intriguing nexus between sex, horror and technologyhe and his producer teed it up in a way that should excite fans who havent seen this particular Cronenberg in a long time.



Lantos opened by discussing how he and Cronenberg first met in 1975 while the filmmaker was promoting Shivers, and they went on to work together on Naked Lunch and Crash. Crimes of the Future is our fourth collaboration, Lantos said. Each one has been a memorable roller coaster ride, and I can guarantee you that this one will be no exception.

This is my first time in Vegas, said Cronenberg as he stepped to the podium. I have to thank the fabulous people at Neon for introducing me to the Caesars Palace. And it seems an appropriate place to launch our attack on the world. He said that he first wrote the script for Crimes Of The Future more than 20 years ago. Mr. Lantos on me and said, have you ever read that old script that we didnt actually get to make? And I said, No, why would I? Im sure its irrelevant now. And he said, no, its more relevant than ever.

Well, well see about that, said Cronenberg modestly, before discussing its unique shooting locations in Greece. I think I was very lucky to end up shooting the film in Athens. I had written it for Toronto 20 years ago, and it was very exciting to have a production in an ancient city which was old, but Toronto is not 3000 years old. So the texture the of the of the city and the feeling of the Mediterranean and so on, we very much absorbed into the film.

Without further ado, Cronenberg set up the trailer, making an ominous promise: You are about to see the trailer for Crimes of the Future, he said. It is very much what the film is.
In a surprise to no one, Kimmel devoted much of his opening monologue on Mondays Jimmy Kimmel Live! to roasting Marjorie Taylor Greene after the far-right congresswoman testified last week in a Georgia court about her role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Kimmel  who was in Washington, D.C. over the weekend to present the Mark Twain Prize to Jon Stewart  began with a reference to his ongoing feud with the Georgia Rep., who earlier this month claimed she reported the comedian to the Capitol Police over a joke involving her and Will Smith.

People there were worried I might get locked up, being in the same town as the Klan mom, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimmel joked in his opener. I actually met some of the Capitol police. I think Im gonna be OK. There was no APB put out. I was able to walk freely around the city.

He then turned his attention to Greenes recent testimony about Jan. 6, after a lawsuit brought by Georgia voters to remove her from the ballot for her reelection bid, contending she violated a 14th Amendment clause, which would disqualify her from public office.

So the Green Goblin had to testify under oath for almost four hours, where she played even dumber than she actually is, Kimmel quipped. And footage from Greenes testimony gave the late-night host plenty to work with  including getting called out for ripping off a line from the film Independence Day when a lawyer questioned her about the origins of her quote We arent people that are going to go quietly into the night.

Of course she quoted Independence Day, to her thats a history book, Kimmel said.

He also took aim at Greenes many, many instances of being unable to recall or remember various statements over the years when she was questioned about them during her cross-examination.

She very conveniently failed to recall a great deal of what she said, Kimmel said before playing a supercut of the forgetful footage from the testimony, fashioned as an advertisement for a mock pharmaceutical product called Treasonel.

Its been a busy news cycle, so Kimmels Monday monologue also addressed the more than 2000 newly unearthed text messages from Republican officials during and regarding the Jan. 6 insurrection and Elon Musks hostile takeover of Twitter  and President Trumps insistence that he still wont return to Twitter, which opened the door to riffing on Trumps languishing Truth Social app. Watch the full monologue in the video above.
The incoming 16th King of Malaysia, the sixth Sultan of Pahang, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah Ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah Al-Musta'in Billah, salutes beside Queen Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah binti Al-Marhum Al-Mutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj, while Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (C) observes during the welcoming ceremony at the Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur on January 31, 2019.

MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty King Abdullah and Queen Azizah

Queen Azizah of Malaysia's journey to motherhood has inspired her to help others.

After marrying King Abdullah of Malaysia in 1986, Queen Azizah underwent many rounds of IVF before becoming pregnant with her eldest son in 1995.

"I had 16 rounds of IVF, and on the 17th I succeeded," she told The Telegraph. "I never thought I'd go on to have five more [children], including twins."

She went on to set up the Tunku Azizah Fertility Foundation to help fund fertility treatments in 2004.

"My foundation sponsors treatment for poor and middle-income couples," she said. "I know how much it costs, and the emotional struggle people go through. You go for a treatment and you come home and cry."

Queen Azizah, 61, continued, "We are Asian and we don't share our problems. But I decided it was time we started talking about it, and doing something about it."

RELATED: From Britain to Bhutan  Meet the Cutest Royal Kids Around the World!

King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and Queen Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah of Malaysia arrive to attend the Enthronement Ceremony Of Emperor Naruhito of Japan at the Imperial Palace on October 22, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.

Carl Court/Getty King Abdullah and Queen Azizah

Queen Azizah's husband, King Abdullah, was installed as king in 2019, a position he will hold until 2024 due to Malaysia's system of rotating monarchs every five years.

The royal explained, "There are nine royal households in Malaysia. We take it in turns, for five years each. So now I have to observe protocol, but when I was just a crown princess, I'd go everywhere, to conferences, to see the Girl Guides, to the UN, with just one guy to accompany me."

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

His Majesty Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah of Malaysia and Her Majesty Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah of Malaysia attend The Sovereign's Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on December 13, 2019 in Camberley, England. The Sovereign's Parade at the end of each term marks the culmination of 44 weeks training and the passing out of Officer Cadets who have completed the Commissioning Course.

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty King Abdullah and Queen Azizah

The couple has four sons and two daughters, all of whom attended prestigious schools in England.

"One wants to be an accountant, one wants to join the police," she said. "I just want them all to work, to be exposed to real life, to know what it's like for other people."

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Their oldest son, 26-year-old Prince Regent of Pahang Hassanal, attended Sandhurst, the same Royal Military College where Prince Harry had his training to be an Officer Cadet.

According to his mom, Prince Regent of Pahang Hassanal is passionate about conservation  just like Prince Harry and Prince William.

"He's very 'Save the tigers.' He loves the jungle," she said.
McConnell was exhilarated after January 6 since he thought Trump had been discredited, a book says.

"He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger," he said after the Capitol riot, the book adds.

McConnell added that Trump, whom he hasn't spoken to since December 2020, was "despicable," it says.

In the immediate hours after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was optimistic that the violent riot had finally discredited former President Donald Trump, according to two New York Times reporters.

"I feel exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself," McConnell told the New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin in the hours after the attack, adding that Trump was "was pretty thoroughly discredited by this."

That's according to an excerpt from "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future," a forthcoming book from Martin and his fellow Times reporter Alex Burns, that was published by The Washington Post on Monday.

Related video: Texts show Mark Meadows' role, Donald Trump's inaction on Jan. 6

"He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger," McConnell said while standing in a doorway of the Capitol after midnight, according to the excerpt. "Couldn't have happened at a better time."

The book says McConnell also asked Martin, "What do you hear about the Twenty-Fifth Amendment?" hoping to gain insight into whether members of Trump's Cabinet were interested in removing the president.

According to the book, McConnell called Trump a "despicable person" in a meeting with staffers late into the evening after the attack.

But while McConnell hasn't spoken to Trump since December 2020  once the Electoral College had affirmed then-President-elect Joe Biden's victory  he later backed down from the idea of impeaching Trump, citing a legal argument popular among Republican senators that impeaching a former president was not appropriate.

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"I didn't get to be leader by voting with five people in the conference," McConnell told a friend, according to the book.

"If President Trump were still in office, I would have carefully considered whether the House managers proved their specific charge," McConnell said on the floor the day the Senate acquitted Trump. "But in this case, that question is moot. Because former President Trump is constitutionally not eligible for conviction."

A spokesperson for McConnell declined to comment to The Post.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Nicaragua, a country widely criticized for human rights abuses and unfair elections under the Sandinista-led regime, abruptly withdrew from the Organization of American States (OAS) on Sunday night.

Foreign Minister Denis Moncada announced the news on April 24 in a surprise press conference from Nicaraguas capital, Managua. He said the country had withdrawn its permanent representative to the OAS and closed its mission, there. He also announced that all OAS staff in Nicaragua had been expelled and were required to leave, immediately. Moncada said that Nicaragua would no longer be a member of the of all the deceitful mechanisms of this monstrosity, the so-called Permanent Council, so-called commissions, so-called meetings, so-called Summit of the Americas.

Nicaraguas decision came after the OAS General Assembly adopted a resolution last week declaring that Nicaraguas most recent presidential election, on November 7, was not free, fair or transparent and have no democratic legitimacy  appearing to undermine President Daniel Ortegas claim to the office. Only one member, Nicaragua itself, voted against it.

The election saw Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, re-elected for a fourth term with 76 percent of the vote. Ortega leads the Sandinistas, a revolutionary socialist party that overthrew the U.S.-backed government in 1979. During the Reagan Administration, the U.S. had formed and funded the Contras, a domestic militia group to oppose Ortega, which later became the subject of the Iran-Contra Affair.

Shortly after Novembers election, observers and foreign leaders, including President Joe Biden, were quick to describe the process as neither free nor fair, with over 40 opposition leaders being imprisoned prior to the vote. The U.S. and other OAS member-states have since sanctioned Nicaragua and Ortega following the election, with the Biden Administration announcing a raft of travel bans on Nicaraguan officials and financial sanctions on Tuesday.

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Nicaragua in November had stated that it would attempt to leave the organization  a process that takes two-years to complete, but which the country appears to have hastened unilaterally. In March, Nicaraguas Ambassador to the OAS, Arturo McFields, publicly condemned his government at the OAS Permanent Council, calling it a dictatorship where free speech was absent. His credentials were revoked by Nicaragua shortly afterwards.

The OAS, founded in 1948 to facilitate cooperation among Western Hemispheric states, has 34 member-states and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. All nations in the Western Hemisphere are members, except for Cuba  which was controversially excluded from joining during the Cold War in a vote by member-states  and French Guiana, an exclave of France. Venezuela, which had moved to withdraw from the OAS in 2017, is currently represented by a delegate from the Juan Guaido-led National Assembly faction. Venezuelas disputed President Nicolas Maduro praised Nicaraguas move as courageous and called the body an instrument of U.S. imperialism.

For its part, the OAS considers Nicaragua to be a full member of the organization, and must fulfill all its commitments, said Secretary-General Luis Almagro.

Separately, Nicaragua has been controversial for human rights abuses of protesters against the Ortega-led regime and a rise in gang violence across the country. These actions have recently prompted large scale migration out of Nicaragua towards the U.S. Per data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, over 50,000 Nicaraguans were apprehended along the Southern Border in 2021 attempting to enter illegally, an increase of over 2000 percent from 2020.

More from National Review
Russia has agreed in principle to evacuating Ukrainian civilians and troops holding out in a Ukrainian steel mill in the port city of Mariupol following a meeting between United Nations (U.N.) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The President agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for Guterres, said of Putin.

Over the weekend, Russian forces attempted to storm the steel plant, which housed troops and civilians in Mariupol. Putin later ordered troops to ensure that no one escaped from the facility.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously spoken of the devastation at the hands of Russian forces in the hard-hit port city, calling it inhuman.

The situation in Mariupol remains as severe as possible. Just inhuman, Zelensky said earlier this month. This is what the Russian Federation did. Deliberately did. And deliberately continues to destroy cities. Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there in Mariupol.

Following the meeting in Moscow, the secretary-general said of Mariupol, Civilians are in dire need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance and many of evacuation

The United Nations is ready to fully mobilize its human and logistical resources to help save lives in Mariupol, he said.

Guterres, who also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, indicated that the war in Ukraine was not near an end amid fundamental differences over what is happening in Ukraine.

I had a very frank discussion with the foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and it is clear that there are two different positions on what is happening in Ukraine, Guterres said, noting that to Russians the attack is a special military operation but that the U.N. believes it is a violation of its territorial integrity and against the Charter of the United Nations.

The U.N. chief is also scheduled to visit Kyiv later this week as Russias war on Ukraine rages in the east.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Tottenham signalled their intentions by agreeing a 16.5million deal to sign Luka Modric from Dinamo Zagreb on April 26, 2008.

The then 22-year-old agreed a five-year contract to move to White Hart Lane following his appearance at that summers European Championship with Croatia.

Modric said: Im happy to be joining such a big club. It will be a real pleasure to play in the English league, which is the best in Europe, with three English clubs in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

The midfielder had reportedly attracted interest from the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal after signing for Dinamo in 2005.

Modrics signature was a major boost to Tottenham in their quest to break the stranglehold of the Premier Leagues big four and secure Champions League football.

Modric made his competitive Premier League debut in a 21 defeat by Middlesbrough in August 2008 but had a slow start to life in England, suffering with a knee injury and struggling to adapt to the physical nature of the league.

Luka Modric is now in his 10th season with Real Madrid (John Walton/PA)

Under manager Harry Redknapp, Modric began to shine, helping Spurs to that elusive top-four spot in 2009/10 and signing a new six-year contract.

The worlds biggest clubs began circling and, in August 2012, Modric signed for Real Madrid, where he has cemented his status as one of Europes best ever midfielders.

In 2018, Modric won the FIFA award for the worlds best player along with the Ballon dOr.
Company Logo

Global Commercial Insurance Market

Global Commercial Insurance Market

Dublin, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Commercial Insurance Market (2022-2027) by Type, Distribution channel, Enterprise, Industry Vertical, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Global Commercial Insurance Market is estimated to be USD 709.9 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 1147.46 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 10.08%.



Market Dynamics

Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Commercial Insurance Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals.



As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Allianz, - American International Group, AON, AVIVA, AXA, Chubb, Direct Line Insurance Group, Marsh, etc.



Countries Studied

America (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, United States, Rest of - Americas)

Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Rest of - Europe)

Middle-East and Africa (Egypt, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Rest of MEA.

Asia-Pacific (Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

Story continues

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Commercial Insurance Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach.



The analyst analyses Global Commercial Insurance Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position.



Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.



Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Commercial Insurance Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Increase in need for insurance policies among the enterprises

4.1.2 Increase Trend of Start-Up Business

4.1.3 Increasing Digitization in Insurance Industry

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Varied Insurance Regulations across the Globe

4.2.2 High insurance premium

4.2.3 Lack of Awareness among Small Sizes Enterprises

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Rising Usage of Automatic and Complex Devices In The Retail, Construction and Healthcare Industries

4.3.2 Adoption of Advanced Technology in Commercial Insurance

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Data Security and Privacy Concerns Due to Increasing Cyber-Attacks



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Commercial Insurance Market, By Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Commercial motor insurance

6.3 Commercial property Insurance

6.4 Liability Insurance

6.5 Marine Insurance

6.6 Others



7 Global Commercial Insurance Market, By Distribution channel

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Agents and Brokers

7.3 Direct Response

7.4 Others



8 Global Commercial Insurance Market, By Enterprise

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Small Scale Enterprise

8.3 Medium scale Enterprise

8.4 Large scale Enterprise



9 Global Commercial Insurance Market, By Industry Verticle

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Manufacturing

9.3 Energy and Utilities

9.4 Construction

9.5 IT and Telecom

9.6 Healthcare

9.7 Others



10 Americas' Commercial Insurance Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Argentina

10.3 Brazil

10.4 Canada

10.5 Chile

10.6 Colombia

10.7 Mexico

10.8 Peru

10.9 United States

10.10 Rest of Americas



11 Europe's Commercial Insurance Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Austria

11.3 Belgium

11.4 Denmark

11.5 Finland

11.6 France

11.7 Germany

11.8 Italy

11.9 Netherlands

11.10 Norway

11.11 Poland

11.12 Russia

11.13 Spain

11.14 Sweden

11.15 Switzerland

11.16 United Kingdom

11.17 Rest of Europe



12 Middle East and Africa's Commercial Insurance Market

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Egypt

12.3 Israel

12.4 Qatar

12.5 Saudi Arabia

12.6 South Africa

12.7 United Arab Emirates

12.8 Rest of MEA



13 APAC's Commercial Insurance Market

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Australia

13.3 Bangladesh

13.4 China

13.5 India

13.6 Indonesia

13.7 Japan

13.8 Malaysia

13.9 Philippines

13.10 Singapore

13.11 South Korea

13.12 Sri Lanka

13.13 Thailand

13.14 Taiwan

13.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Competitive Quadrant

14.2 Market Share Analysis

14.3 Strategic Initiatives

14.3.1 M&A and Investments

14.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

14.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



15 Company Profiles

15.1 Allianz

15.2 American International Group

15.3 AON

15.4 AVIVA

15.5 AXA

15.6 Chubb

15.7 Direct Line Insurance Group

15.8 Marsh

15.9 Willis Towers Watson

15.10 Zurich

15.11 Travelers Group

15.12 USAA Group

15.13 Nationwide Group

15.14 American Intl Group

15.15 Famers Ins Group

15.16 Hartford Ins Group

15.17 Tokio Marine US PC Group

15.18 CAN Ins Cos

15.19 Munich-American

15.20 W.R. Berkley Group



16 Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ypdky1

Attachment

CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




Mint Juleps

Brent Hofacker / Getty Images

Working at a food publication, you quickly find out which holiday is which editor's favorite. Associate Food Editor Bridget Hallinan waxes rhapsodic about the pizza rustica her family makes for Easter. Senior Editor Kat Kinsman thinks you should up the ante with your Thanksgiving spread with a gravy fountain at the head of it. And around Super Bowl time, it takes very little to get Associate Editorial Director Sean Flynn going about the merits of an authentic Buffalo wing.

Me, I'm a Kentucky Derby girl  always have been. Growing up in Lexington, Kentucky, this celebration of horse racing on the first Saturday in May was an extra holiday in early spring, a frivolous bonus between Easter and Mother's Day, and an easy one, at that. There would be a certain amount of buzz in the weeks preceding the race as the slate of horses was finalized, maybe a little banter about the merits of various jockeys. But otherwise, the Derby does not ask much of its celebrants. There are no expectations that you navigate through a crowded airport, buy piles of gifts, attend religious ceremonies or prepare a massive dinner. You can put on a big fancy hat or preppy tie, but both are extremely optional. You don't even have to follow the sport or pay attention that long; the Super Bowl may be three hours long, but the Kentucky Derby requires just two minutes of your time. All you need to do is turn on the TV, pick a horse, and cheer it on. It's that easy.

I don't come from generations of Derby-watchers. My parents immigrated to America a couple of years before I was born and picked up the Derby-watching habit after moving to Kentucky a few years into their time in this country. We didn't always fit in with the community; in a place infatuated with heritage and legacies, we could count our years in the area on one hand. And we weren't necessarily a horse-obsessed family, despite living down the road from a small farm that boarded horses and being surrounded by some of the best horse farms in the world. But you don't have to be a horse person to love the Derby. The tradition is in the air each spring as much as the smells of bluebells popping up in the growing bluegrass, and yes, sometimes a hint of manure.

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And so, each year, my parents threw a small Derby party for our family. It wasn't fancy; most years my father was still in the old suit pants and shirts he wore on weekend afternoons spent tending to his rose bushes. My mother didn't put on any of the hats she'd brought over with her when they moved here from London. My parents would each sip a Mint Julep before reverting to their usual (a glass of Chablis for my mom and a Scotch and soda for my dad  what he sipped on Saturday late afternoons while watching Hee Haw, no doubt contemplating how much his life had changed since leaving his hometown in India). My brothers and I would drink bottles of Ale-8-One, a Kentucky-made soda best described as the Fast & Furious of soft drinks, or "kiddie cocktails," a concoction of ginger ale, 7Up and maraschino cherries that makes my teeth ache as I write this but was the height of sophistication in our world.

Our snacks were simple. My Irish mother was still actively mourning the scarcity of a decent sharp cheddar in America at that time and did not make or buy pimento cheese (which wasn't as popular back then anyway). We nibbled mixed nuts and crackers while sipping our cocktails and watching the crowd at Churchill Downs, where the race has taken place since 1875. Mom would cut out the names of horses from the special section of our hometown newspaper, and we each drew a couple of those slips, printed in colors to match the jockeys' silks. We hoped each year would produce a racing icon, a horse whose name would one day grace one of the streets in town, like Man O'War or Alysheba. We sang "My Old Kentucky Home" as the horses were led onto the track, then leapt up from the beat-up blue plaid sofa as the race began. The winner in our house was handsomely rewarded  I recall a $5 prize one year  and the celebratory spirit stayed with us through the evening. It was an easy, fun day, but those memories are as meaningful to us as any Christmas or landmark birthday.

I say that the Derby comes with few expectations, but, of course, I and a lot of other people have plenty of ideas about what you should eat and drink that day. After I moved to Chicago, I met my friend Amanda, a native of Louisville who became my Kentucky sister. We threw epic all-day Derby parties with fried chicken, bacon-topped deviled eggs, spicy cheese straws, angel biscuits, and slices of Derby Pie, a chocolate- and bourbon-laced pecan concoction whose recipe (from a community cookbook my mother bought in the 70s) calls for a lavish hand with both bourbon and Karo Syrup. Amanda made the most prized bite at those parties: chocolate cupcakes topped with green sugar frosting, each featuring a small plastic horse on top with a chocolate chip strategically placed behind the horse's rear on the green sugar grass. Our friends wore seersucker suits and large-brimmed hats and placed bets with my brother's friend Steve, our self-appointed Derby bookie stationed in the corner of the dining room. On any given year as many as 50 people, unfamiliar with horse racing and the Derby but up for a party, sipped Mint Juleps and belted out "My Old Kentucky Home" before the raucous two-minute race.

We haven't thrown one of those parties in a while, but still celebrate the Derby every year in some fashion. The years my family is together on Derby Day  for the wedding of a family friend or my nephew's graduation  we pick horse names from a hat, ante in a few dollars each, and watch the race together, even if it means huddling in the corner watching on someone's phone. (You can't invite Kentucky people to a wedding on Derby Day without giving us a few minutes to watch the race.) Even the babies and toddlers get a piece of the action. (Note to my niece Adeline: Your parents owe you $100 from when Always Dreaming won in 2017.)

When we're not together on Derby Day, race chatter dominates the family WhatsApp group that spans from Chicago to Kentucky to Charleston to Kenya, where my oldest brother now lives with his family. My younger brother assembles his children in front of the TV and lets them pick horses, just like we did when we were kids. We place bets over text, nibble on Pimiento Cheese and Fried Chicken, and sip bourbon. These days, I turn my Mint Julep into a spritz, mixing in a little Topo Chico to lighten it up and cut some of the syrupy sweetness. It's not a blowout like in years past, but my appreciation for this tradition remains in full force. The details don't matter as much as the fact that we pause on a busy weekend for a few minutes of cheering on horses and teasing each other about the race. Now, more than ever, we all deserve a bonus afternoon of fun.
Weather Alert

...FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM PDT TUESDAY... * WHAT...Overnight temperatures expected to drop into the low to mid 30s with sub-freezing temperatures as low as 30 to 32 in the cold prone areas of these zones. * WHERE...In Washington, Kittitas Valley and Yakima Valley. In Oregon, Foothills of the Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon and Foothills of the Southern Blue Mountains of Oregon. * WHEN...From 2 AM to 8 AM PDT Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Frost and freeze conditions will kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Sensitive plants and vegetation should be protected. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. To prevent freezing and possible bursting of outdoor water pipes they should be wrapped, drained, or allowed to drip slowly. Those that have in-ground sprinkler systems should drain them and cover above- ground pipes to protect them from freezing. &&
Fifty years ago, the national networks CBS, ABC and NBC dominated television screens in America and were the primary way voters obtained information: Each network, along with newspapers and radio, told its audience facts first, and all agreed on what the facts were. That meant Americans had a shared understanding of the truth  which is what led to the erosion of both Democratic and Republican public support for then-President Richard Nixon during the Watergate investigation.

But the time of Democrats and Republicans agreeing on facts is no more. In the early 1980s, cable news networks emerged. The late 80s and early 90s brought the internet, and Six Degrees became the first social media platform later in the 90s. With each development, avenues for information grew more abundant. People werent confined to newspapers and the three news stations for information. Instead, we gained the ability to access information anywhere  and with less and less scrutiny.

As access to information without oversight expanded, misinformation skyrocketed. Readers, viewers and listeners became increasingly vulnerable to believing falsehoods. Consider the aftermath of the 2020 election: Donald Trump took to social media and, with the help of far-right platforms and news networks, at one point persuaded nearly 70% of Republicans to believe that Joe Biden was not duly elected president, a poll by Suffolk University and USA Today found. But there is hope for the truth to prevail  and our effort begins by providing students the tools necessary to effectively navigate the information ecosystem and discern fact from fiction.

I am a member of Generation Z, and we are more plugged in than any previous generation. Born between 1997 and 2012, members of Gen Z do not know of a world without social media and the internet. From the day we were born, we instantly became connected with each other virtually. With 97% of those ages 13 to 17 using at least one of seven social media platforms, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center Survey, Gen Zers are defined by social media because it is deeply embedded into our identity.

Gen Zers do not merely use social media to connect with others  we use it to create change. Take, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Social media became an essential tool for young people to organize and promote information about racial justice and equality. Using features such as Instagrams story or posting short, digestible videos on TikTok, young people recognized that social media platforms are one of the most effective ways of getting information to others quickly and easily.

However, as savvy as Gen Zers are with social media, we are not immune to the effects of misinformation. While there are plenty of young people using social media to promote facts, there are just as many employing social media to promote lies. In fact, researchers have found that anti-science and anti-vaccine videos on TikTok have reportedly been viewed by people as young as 9 years old. Coming upon misinformation while scrolling through social media is dangerous  no matter the age.

Misinformation will never be extinguished  especially in the free-for-all of undermoderated social media platforms and channels such as Fox News whose bottom line depends on retaining an audience that believes its extreme statements. To counter this, we should look to the classroom. For students like me and members of future generations who will spend a lot of time online  and therefore will be particularly susceptible to seeing misinformation  information literacy classes could be exactly what is needed to help young people become better stewards of information.

At its core, information literacy classes would be designed to give students critical thinking skills for analyzing information on the internet: In other words, knowing how to evaluate information, distinguish between a lie and a fact, and conduct a fact-check. And fortunately, this is a concept that is underway across the country. Illinois became the first state in the country to require an information literacy class for high schoolers starting with the 2022-23 school year. Better yet, eight states including Massachusetts and Florida are considering bills that would require media literacy education. One antidote to misinformation is understanding what it is and how to combat it.

Reaching consensus on basic facts is becoming increasingly more difficult  to the point in which democracy has become precarious. It will take all hands on deck to reverse course, and the best place to start may just be in the classroom  endowing young people with the skills to identify lies whenever they encounter them.

Information literacy classes for students may well be our nations best hope of returning to an era of mutually agreed upon truths.
Victims of the Holocaust were commemorated at the March of the Living in Budapest on Sunday. The march started at a memorial on the banks of the Danube and ended at the Hajos Alfred Aquatics Complex on Margaret Island.

Dani Dayan, the chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem, addressed the March of the Living participants in a video message.



Yacov Hadas-Handelsman, Israels ambassador to Hungary, noted that the March of the Living is an educational programme that aims to teach young people about the past through the stories of Holocaust survivors. The choice of the aquatics complex was symbolic.



The Olympic champion Alfred Hajos, the buildings designer, was himself a Holocaust survivor.



Click here to learn more about March of the Living





MTI Photo: Zoltan Mathe
A Budapest court has sentenced a foreign national to seven years in prison for assaulting and raping a woman in the capital last summer, the Budapest Municipal Court said on Monday.

In its non-binding ruling, the Buda Central District Court also ordered the man to be expelled from Hungary for a period of six years.



According to the ruling, the defendant struck up a conversation with the victim on the corner of Krisztina Boulevard and Csaba Street in downtown Budapest as she was on her way home on the night of June 18.

The man followed the woman before assaulting and raping her.



The court took into account as a mitigating circumstance the fact that the defendant provides care for a young child.



Meanwhile, his prior criminal record and the fact that he had committed the offence while under criminal investigation were counted as aggravating factors.
The ruling Fidesz party has proposed dividing parliamentary positions based on the proportion of seats won by the governing parties as opposed to the opposition parties.

Fidesz argues that the governing side should control two-thirds of the positions while the opposition parties should capture one-third.



Two of parliaments six deputy speakers may be delegated by the opposition based on party lists, and, just like in the previous cycle, fifteen committees are planned to be set up under the same headings, Mate Kocsis, Fideszs group leader, said on the sidelines of negotiations preparing for the formation of the parliament.



The heads of ten committees will go to government representatives, with the same proportion of deputy heads, with twenty opposition MPs and forty government lawmakers.



Opposition members will head committees on national security, sustainable development, budget, welfare, and enterprise development, he said.



Kocsis Accuses Opposition Parties Of Hypocrisy



Fidesz parliamentary group leader Mate Kocsis complained that Democratic Coalition members had indicated several times that they would hold out on negotiations and had declared publicly an unwillingness to attend the inaugural meeting.



Yet they had turned up to the meeting on allocating committee seats, he said. Meanwhile, Kocsis also blasted Momentum politician Andras Fekete-Gyor for getting tangled up in the contradictions of his partys stance on attending the inaugural session of parliament, and that he had tried to square

attaining committee positions with a refusal to attend by setting out conditions in a letter in an attempt to save face.



Kocsis said there were expected to be seven opposition and two government groups in parliament, adding that the opposition was likely to benefit from this arrangement.



The opposition will get to make seven speeches before the agenda as against two speeches from the government side, though interpellations and questions will be made according to the two-thirds to one-third formula.



Parliamentary sessions are expected to be longer than hitherto, he added. It will be up to the opposition parties themselves whom to appoint as committee heads and deputy heads, the Fidesz politician said.
SCOTTSBLUFF  Banner County commissioners took the unusual step to censure the countys treasurer and assessor during the boards meeting last week.

What led to the vote was even more surprising.

On April 4, Treasurer Monty Stoddard, Assessor Bernice Huffman and county employee Caily Reece entered no contest pleas to amended charges of attempted public indecency.

The misdemeanor charges stemmed from a night of drinking alcohol and having sex at the county courthouse Dec. 28.

According to a statement read by Banner County Commissioner Bob Gifford during last week's meeting, commissioners had refrained from publicly commenting on the incident beforehand in order to afford those criminally accused ... the opportunity to have their cases proceed unimpeded by the making of extra-judicial comments or conclusions about these events and to ensure the presumption of innocence and other constitutionally guaranteed rights were not infringed upon.

Some two dozen community members packed into the courthouse in Nebraska's Panhandle, listening as the commissioners decided on the exact wording of the censure.

In the end, commissioners said, the pair not only displayed poor judgment but also failed to protect and preserve public property. It said Stoddard and Huffman engaged in conduct that was not only lewd, lascivious, inappropriate and reprehensible, but also offensive and disrespectful to the public, a betrayal of public trust unbecoming to Banner County elected officials.

But Gifford said the officials resignations would not be in the best interests of the county, and he disagreed with a recommendation that Stoddard and Huffman not run for reelection.

Thats not up to us, he said. I think thats up to the people of the county.

Currently, Stoddard and Huffman are running unopposed in this year's campaign cycle and a recall position isn't possible this close to an election.

Reece, the employee involved in the case, works in the office of County Clerk Lisa Cross. The commissioners said they could not take action regarding her employment; only Cross could do that.

After the board's vote, Stoddard apologized but said he didn't plan to resign.

Im not a quitter, he said. No one feels worse about the events of that night than I do. Im disappointed in myself. I have owned this. Im trying to move forward.

He said he apologized to his family and reached out to community members.

Im going to let 12 years (in office) and, hopefully, the future define me, not one night that was a bad decision, he said.

Community member Deborah Genz said shed lost all trust in Stoddard and Huffman.

Theyre well-grown, mature people, she told the board. Theres some things that fall in the category of a bad decision, but, for me, thats far beyond a bad decision. To me, its a blatant disrespect of this courthouse.

She said she was disappointed the commissioners had not publicly censured the officials earlier.

The misdemeanor charge is punishable by up to three months in jail, a $500 fine or both. As part of a plea agreement, the prosecuting attorney has agreed to request only a fine.
YORK  Jonathan Graham, 37, of York, has been formally charged in a case where he is accused of conspiring with an inmate at the Nebraska Center for Women in York to smuggle drugs inside the prison.

Graham appeared for arraignment this week, in York County District Court, where he pleaded not guilty to two Class 2A felonies  delivery of a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit a Class 2A felony.

According to the affidavit and application for the issuance of an arrest warrant, filed with the court, a criminal investigator with the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services was contacted about an envelope found in the cell of inmate, Anika Pfannenstiel. Investigators say there were two strips of Suboxone hidden underneath the stamps on the envelope, which was confirmed by the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab.

Suboxone is also known as Buprenorphine and is classified as a Schedule 3 drug under the Nebraska Controlled Substance Act.

During the investigation, two emails sent from Pfannenstiel to Graham indicated a plot was put in place for the drug to come through the mail.

Investigators also say a recording of a phone call, made by Pfannenstiel to Graham includes a conversation in which she could be heard explaining to Graham they could make a lot of money. (The investigator) said she told Graham how to lick specific stamps and where her stamps were located and to send a card, with specific instructions.

Another person was named as a point person in the conspiracy, who allegedly confirmed Grahams involvement, according to court documents.

A jury trial for Graham has been set for the end of August.

If convicted, each count carries a possible maximum prison sentence of 20 years in prison.
NEW DELHI: Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani was on Tuesday remanded to five-day police custody by a court in Assam in connection with an assault case against him filed by a woman police officer, said news agency PTI.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Mukul Chetia remanded Mevani to police custody when he was produced in his court in the afternoon, according to PTI.

Mevani has been booked under IPC sections 294 (uttering obscene words in public), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assaulting a public servant in the execution of duty) and 354 (using criminal force on a woman intending to outrage her modesty).

The Assam Police had on Monday re-arrested Independent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani, soon after a court in Kokrajhar district granted bail to him, six days after he was arrested by Assam police in connection with an "objectionable" tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The police from the Barpeta district arrested Mevani on different charges, including outraging the modesty of a woman police officer.

A woman sub-inspector had filed a complaint with the Barpeta Road police station on April 21 against Mevani alleging "on April 21 while I was escorting the arrested accused person, Jignesh Mevani, from Guwahati airport to Kokrajhar along with other police officials, the arrested accused person uttered slang words towards me".

The Gujarat legislator was first arrested on Wednesday night in connection with an "objectionable" comment against the Prime Minister he made through a tweet on April 18.

Mevani was flown to Guwahati on Thursday morning from where he was taken to Kokrajhar by road. The Chief Judicial Magistrate`s court in Kokrajhar district on Thursday rejected the bail petition of the Dalit activist and sent him to three-day police custody.

On Sunday, after hearing his bail petition, the court reserved its order and sent him to one-day judicial custody and asked the police to produce Mevani again in the court on Monday. Before his re-arrest, Mevani said that it is a deep-rooted conspiracy by the BJP and RSS.

The Gujarat legislator was arrested last week from his home state following a complaint filed by an Assam BJP leader seeking action against him under the IT Act. Ever since the arrest of Mevani, who had earlier pledged outside support to the Congress, the party has been holding demonstrations in different parts of Assam, terming the arrest as a `conspiracy`. It also sent its legal team to Kokrajhar to look into the matter.

(With Agency Inputs)
After ordering SpiceJet to clean the plane before putting it on flying duty, India's aviation regulator DGCA has now asked Tata Group-owned Air India to repair its aircraft over a passenger complaint. A passenger flying on an Air India plane, had on Monday, posted photos of shabby interiors of Air India plane and complained about a broken armrest.

Following the complaint, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asked the airline to check and rectify the problem as soon as possible. The passenger was flying on Air India's Airbus A320 aircraft with registration number VT-EDF, officials said.

Also read: Top domestic airlines in India passenger traffic wise - IndiGo, Air India and more

Air India grounded the plane on Monday night after the flight reached Kolkata and the repair works were completed. Last week, an Air India flight was delayed as a rat was spotted inside a plane.

DGCA, had last Wednesday grounded a SpiceJet aircraft over a passenger's complaint of dirty seats and malfunctioning cabin panels. The SpiceJet plane took to the skies a day later after all the suggested repairs were effected.

The Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27, after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year. A DGCA circular issued on April 19 said Air India has lost its preferential access to bilateral rights that are needed to operate flights to another country.

Air India had preferential access to bilateral rights, which are granted under air services agreements signed between two countries, as it was the government-owned national carrier.

With inputs from PTI

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A man took a private airline to consumer court because of a missing wheel on his trolley bag. The case he filed ended with the airline paying the man Rs 8,000. The court case was filed by a man named Rabi Kumar Padhy. It is to be noted that the legal battle between the two parties lasted for four years. The incident of the "missing wheel" happened at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).

The judges who heard the case reportedly reprimanded the airline for poor service and ordered that the customer be compensated for his luggage and given an additional Rs 3,000 to cover his court costs within 45 days.

Padhy was travelling to Bengaluru from Vishakhapatnam and checked his trolley bag when the incident occurred in July of 2017. However, when he received it back from the KIA conveyer belt in Bengaluru, he allegedly discovered that one of his bag's four wheels was missing.

Also read: Indian-origin entrepreneur opens UK's first-ever airport for flying taxi

As his first response, Padhy filed a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) with KIA's ground staff. Later on, after two days, he received a response from the airline representative to hand over the bags to a vendor to get them fixed. Moving ahead, he received no answer until three months after the handover when he was told that the bag could not be repaired. To compensate for the damage, the airline offered Rs 1,000 to the man, later increasing the amount to Rs 3,000 as the final settlement.

Dissatisfied with the offer, Padhy filed a case against the customer service manager of the airline in Bangalore Urban 2nd additional district consumer disputes redressal commission in Shantinagar.

The airline employees' lawyers said that Padhy's complaint was without merit and sought for the case to be dismissed when the hearings began in November 2017. According to the airline, the detached wheel was apparently replaced, albeit in a different colour. As a result, the airline changed the colour of all the wheels on the trolley bag to match.

The judges heard both parties' arguments and determined that, despite the passenger's failure to submit a bill to support his claim of Rs 20,000 for the luggage, he was entitled to the Rs 8,000 compensation because the airline waited three months to find a solution and failed to explain why in court.
The UK is getting its first mini-airport or vertiport open for demonstrations. The opening of the vertiport is being celebrated by an Indian-origin entrepreneur, as the "fire of the starting gun" for futuristic transportation. Air-One is the UKs first mini-airport in Coventry, which will be open to the public for demonstrations until the middle of May.

Ricky Sandhu, Founder and Executive Chairman of Urban-Air Port, said the opening of Air-One in Coventry, central England, is momentous for Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles such as air taxis and autonomous cargo drones. Air-One is expected to provide a blueprint for more than 200 vertiports planned worldwide by Urban-Air Port over the next five years.

"The opening of Air-One is a momentous moment" is the starting gun for a new age of transport, an age of zero-emission, congestion-free travel between and within cities that will make people healthier, happier, and more connected than ever before," said Sandhu.

Also read: Rakesh Jhunjunwala-backed Akasa Air to start operations from July 2022, June plan delayed

"Cars have roads. Trains have rails. Planes have airports. Now, eVTOLs have an Urban-Air Port. From design, through to fabrication and now into operation, Urban-Air Port has delivered Air-One in just 15 months, setting the standard for deployment globally and opening up a world of possibilities for rapid response air mobility," he said.

"Air-One is just the first model in our infrastructure fleet, and our order book is not only open but already growing. The interest is turning into recognition of the need for our technology and into demand," he added.

Urban-Air Port is backed by the UK government and supported by Hyundai's Supernal, a US-based smart vehicles service provider.

Air-One is designed to demonstrate how purpose-built ground infrastructure can unleash the potential of advanced air mobility (AAM) to decarbonise transport and cut air pollution and congestion whilst providing seamless passenger journeys and deliveries.

"The opening of Air-One, backed by government funding, will revolutionise the way people and goods travel across the nation. This step forward puts Britain at the vanguard of clean transport, bringing investment and high-skilled, green job opportunities to the nation while levelling up opportunities in the Midlands," said Robert Courts, UK Minister for Aviation.

Despite a booming market and a strong pipeline of eVTOLs entering commercial operations this decade, the lack of ground infrastructure remains one of the biggest barriers to growth, according to an analysis by NASA.

Urban-Air Port said it is accelerating its plan to develop 200 similar 'vertiports' worldwide, and the company's order book for additional sites is growing, with vertiports already planned in the UK in the West Midlands and London, and internationally in the United States (Los Angeles), Australia, South Korea, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and southeast Asia.

Air-One serves as a valuable, tangible asset to help build stakeholder confidence and trust in emerging mobility technology and supporting systems," said Mike Whitaker, Chief Commercial Officer of Supernal.

"The Coventry demonstration is an important first step forward to re-imagining how people across the world will move, connect and live. Developing a scalable system to support advanced air mobility operations requires collaboration from all industries and corners of the world. Supernal's support of Urban-Air Port reinforces our belief in fusing technology and innovation to enable humanity and society to reach new levels of potential," said Whitaker.

During the course of the next few weeks, Air-One will demonstrate aircraft command and control, eVTOL charging, cargo loading for unmanned drones, and will host demonstrator flights.

West Midlands Police and Skyfarer will be among the first to operate flights from the site, showcasing how Urban-Air Port's vertiports can provide drone bases for 'sky protection' and high-value cargo deliveries in the near future.

Flights of large cargo drones will also be demonstrated by UK-based drone developer Malloy Aeronautics, reportedly the first time a drone of this size has flown in such a dense and built-up urban environment.

Acting as a single solution to support the uptake of zero-emissions transport, Air-One will also host charging infrastructure for other modes of electric transportation, including electric vehicles from some of the world's biggest and most well-known automotive brands to "seamlessly integrate low carbon transport".

A series of public engagement events at Air-One is envisioned as bringing future air mobility to life for the public and form part of Coventry's City of Culture celebrations.

According to Urban-Air Port, Coventry was chosen for the site due to its location in the heart of the UK, with most parts of the country within four hours of travel, and its "historic leadership in the automobile and aerospace industries".

Following the programme in Coventry, Urban-Air Port said it will redeploy Air-One to other locations in the UK and internationally to undertake a variety of demonstrations in different environments and settings.

With inputs from PTI
Akasa Air, backed by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, will begin commercial flying operations in July rather than June. The commencement of operations has been pushed back since the airline will receive its first plane in early June 2022. As a result, the start date for operations is set for July 2022.

Vinay Dube, CEO of Akasa Air, told PTI, "As we get closer to the airline launch date, we can now confirm refined estimates on our timelines. We expect our first aircraft delivery by early June 2022, with the intention to start commercial operations in July 2022".

Notably, there will be no impact on "later aircraft induction", and Akasa Air remains on plan to fly 18 aircraft by the end of March 2023, said Dube, who is also the Founder and Managing Director of the carrier.

Also read: Air India passenger complains about dirty cabin, broken armrest; DGCA orders repair

On March 26, Dube had, at an aviation event, said that the airline is planning to launch its commercial operations in June.

Akasa Air -- which, along with Dube, is backed by ace investor Jhunjhunwala and aviation veteran Aditya Ghosh -- got the no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation in the first half of August 2021 to launch commercial flight operations.

With the aviation regulator DGCA giving its green light to Boeing Max aircraft in late August, Akasa Air signed a deal with Boeing on November 26 last year to purchase 72 Boeing 737 Max planes.

Dube said on Monday, "With respect to starting the airline, we are extremely thankful to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA for their guidance and support on all required regulatory clearances."

"We have received our NOC, and our next key milestone is the Air Operators Permit. We are working closely with the regulatory authorities and following all the required processes to comply with the requirements to obtain this certification. We hope to satisfy all regulatory requirements for this certification at the earliest," he added.

Aviation consultancy firm CAPA said in November 2021 that the disruption in the Indian aviation sector due to Akasa Air will possibly be felt from 2024-25 onwards "once it has the scale and achieves a competitive cost base".

With inputs from PTI
SpiceJet has announced that flights linking Bhavnagar, Gujarat, with Pune and Mumbai would begin on May 5. Additional flights on the Ahmedabad-Pune route will also begin, according to the airline. The UDAN scheme will be used to operate the Bhavnagar-Pune flight, as previously stated.

SpiceJet will deploy its Q400 aircraft for the flights. Under the UDAN scheme, financial incentives from the Centre, state governments and airport operators are extended to selected airlines to encourage operations from unserved and underserved airports and to keep airfares affordable.

SpiceJet has recently started to cover many new domestic flight routes. Earlier, the airlines started flight services between Delhi and Pantnagar, preceding that, they started flights between Gorakhpur and Varanasi as part of the UDAN scheme to increase tourism and connectivity in the aforementioned places. These new domestic flights come as part of the announcement by SpiceJet to launch 60 new domestic flights this summer.

Also read: Indian-origin entrepreneur opens UK's first-ever airport for flying taxi

Earlier, In a statement, the airline said it will launch eight industry-first flights, which will operate on the Gorakhpur-Kanpur, Gorakhpur Varanasi, Jaipur-Dharamshala and Tirupati-Shirdi sectors, in the summer schedule.

Under the UDAN scheme, financial incentives from the Centre, state governments and airport operators are extended to selected airlines to encourage operations from unserved and under-served airports and keep airfares affordable.

With inputs from PTI
NEW DELHI: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi on Tuesday issued a warning to its employees and faculty members, saying that no staff will "cease work for any reason."

Through its notice, the reputed medical institute also banned the use of loudspeakers and shouting slogans inside its premises. The warning from the AIIMS came a day after the nursing staff at AIIMS Delhi decided to go on an indefinite strike in protest against the suspension of Harish Kajila, the President of the Nurses Union.

The agitating nurses have demanded that AIIMS management immediately revoke Kajla's suspension.

No employee of staff or faculty member will cease work for any reason whatsoever or disrupt the work or aid or abet such disruption or cessation. No use of loudspeakers or shouting of slogans, demonstration, Dharna within the campus, AIIMS, Delhi said in its warning.

No employee of staff or faculty member will cease work for any reason whatsoever or disrupt the work or aid or abet such disruption or cessation. No use of loudspeakers or shouting of slogans, demonstration, Dharna within the campus: AIIMS, Delhi pic.twitter.com/CTaZHaeB2u  ANI (@ANI) April 26, 2022

The said 'CODE OF CONDUCT' reproduced below, are once again being notified for information of and adherence by all the Nursing Officers/Sr. Nursing Officers of the Institute, irrespective of their grade & cadre and also the various Unions/Associations representing them in order to maintain peace & harmony in the campus and the smooth functioning of the Institute," its notice said.

"In response to your unilateral decision to suspend Harish Kajla, president of AIIMS Nurses Union, without even citing proper reasons, the union has called an emergency executive meeting and decided to go on indefinite strike from 8 a.m., 26/4/2022 demanding immediate revocation of suspension of Harish Kumar Kajla and stopping of all kinds of retaliative measures against union executives and Union members of main OT", said nurses union in a letter to AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria.

In a statement, the union said, "The union has always been receptive and open to expressing our genuine concerns and version throughout this issue. But unfortunately, we were neither called, nor contacted via any communication which forced us to go on an indefinite strike to safeguard the basic rights of our members."

However, the AIIMS RDA said that the suspension of Kajla is an action taken against his misbehaviour and the use of abusive language against a resident doctor. "Whoever is diverting this matter for political gain, be aware that the RDA, AIIMS is going to fight for the self-respect of residents always", said RDA AIIMS.

(With Agency Inputs)
Delhi: Streaming giant Netflix and The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting have joined hands to honour unique real-life stories of extraordinary individuals through a series of inspiring short videos titled Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan. This was launched today in the presence of Shri Anurag Thakur, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India.

Bela Bajaria, Global Head of TV, Netflix, who was also present at the event, said, Great stories can come from anywhere and are ever so inspiring when they are about people who rise against the odds. In partnership with The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan focuses on celebrating remarkable individuals and their stories that can inspire people in India and around the world.

Narrated by acclaimed actress Neena Gupta, these short videos capture the remarkable journey of these individuals and how they broke the glass ceiling in their respective fields, ranging from science to sports. Here is what these achievers had to say about what Azadi (freedom) means to them personally.

If something hasnt been attempted, it doesn't mean you cannot do it. To me, Azadi means facing a raging fire.  Harshini Kanheker, Indias first female firefighter.

From water comes life, and water is life. I flow free like a river and will continue to protect and serve water, thats Azadi to me.  Basanti Devi, Environmentalist and protector of the Kosi river ecosystem.

If women hold the power to create life, women also hold the power to save lives. If I have to put my life at stake to save other lives, I wouldn't think twice.  Poonam Nautiyal walked miles across the Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand to vaccinate thousands of people living in remote areas.

"Being a scientist, every moment is a learning curve. We need to face challenges, and we need to learn. I always say that science has no gender, and Azadi is when we take our nation to new horizons."  Tessy Thomas, the Missile Woman of India, is the first-ever woman scientist to head a missile project in India.

I am a force of nature, I can scale great heights, and my journey has just begun. Azadi means to make your way up in the world.  Anshu Jamsenpa, the first woman in the world to summit Mount Everest twice in 5 days.



When you dream something out of the box, its very important to push the norms. Azadi is to be one with the wind.  Aarohi Pandit, the world's youngest person and first woman pilot to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean solo in a light-sport aircraft.

You have the right to dream, and the right to achieve your dream. Just like the waves, be patient, be consistent, and never look back. To me, Azadi is to take a bit of the ocean wherever I go. Tanvi Jagadish, India's first competitive woman stand-up paddleboarder.

The videos are now available on the Ministry's social media platforms and Doordarshan.
New Delhi: Sixteen YouTube news channels, including 10 Indian and 6 Pakistan-based channels, have been blocked by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Reason: The channels were reportedly spreading disinformation related to India's national security, foreign relations, and public order.

According to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, YouTube channels were spreading false, unverified information to create panic, incite communal disharmony, and disturb public order in India. The blocked social media accounts include six Pakistan-based and 10 India-based YouTube news channels, having a cumulative viewership of over 68 crores. None of the digital news publishers had furnished information to the Ministry as required under rule 18 of the IT Rules, 2021, the government said.

Commenting on the ban, I&B minister Anurag Thakur said, "The government has blocked 16 YouTube channels for spreading false, unverified information to create panic, incite communal disharmony, and disturb public order in India. We will continue to take similar action in the future also to protect Indias national security."

Govt has blocked 16 YouTube channels for spreading false, unverified information to create panic, incite communal disharmony and disturb public order in India. We will continue to take similar action in the future also to protect Indias national security: I&B min Anurag Thakur pic.twitter.com/7DPrS9r5sb  ANI (@ANI) April 26, 2022

The ministry said that the content published by some of the India-based YouTube channels referred to a community as terrorists, and incited hatred among the members of various religious communities. Such content was found to have the potential to create communal disharmony and disturb public order. Moreover highlighting the content published by Indian YouTube channels, the release stated, "Examples include false claims related to the announcement of a pan-India lockdown due to Covid-19, thereby threatening the migrant workers, and fabricated claims alleging threats to certain religious communities, etc. Such content was observed to be detrimental to public order in the country."

As per the release, multiple India-based YouTube channels were observed to publish unverified news and videos having the potential to create panic among various sections of society.

YouTube channels based in Pakistan were found to have been used in a coordinated manner to post fake news about India on various subjects such as the Indian Army, Jammu, and Kashmir, and India's foreign relations in the light of the situation in Ukraine among others, it said. The content of these channels was observed to be completely false, and sensitive from the perspective of national security, sovereignty, and integrity of India, and India`s friendly relations with foreign States, it added.

Here is a list of the 10 channels from India and 6 from Pakistan that were blocked :

The baned India-based channels:

1) Saini Education Research

2) Hindi Mein Dekho

3) Technical Yogendra

4) Aaj te news

5) SBB News

6) Defence News24x7

7) The study time

8) Latest Update

9) MRF TV LIVE

10) Tahaffuz-E-Deen India

The baned Pakistan-based channels:

1) AjTak Pakistan

2) Discover Point

3) Reality Checks

4) Kaiser Khan

5) The Voice of Asia

6) Bol Media Bol

(With ANI inputs)
A day after Hindu Janajagruti Samiti accused a private school in Bengaluru of imposing students to read Bibles, Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh on Monday took cognisance of the incident and sought a response from the institution, reported ANI.

Whatever decision was taken by the school is wrong. It is against rules. Karnataka State Education Act clearly says that no school can teach religious books or practices. Don't know why the school forced students to take Bible along, said Nagesh

The school has clearly specified Bible on its website. A reply is awaited...Will take action after seeking opinion from legal department: Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh pic.twitter.com/XJVNET2LVP  ANI (@ANI) April 26, 2022

The school has clearly specified Bible on its website. A reply is awaited...Will take action after seeking opinion from the legal department, the minister added.

The statements came after Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, a right-wing Hindu group, accused Bengalurus Clarence High School, of forcing Bible reading on students BY making it compulsory for them to carry the scripture to school every day.

Meanwhile, Jerry George Mathew, Principal of Clarence High School said that the school doesnt intend to break the law and will consult its legal team on the matter.

We're aware that some people are upset about one of the policies of our school.We're a peace-loving & law-abiding school. We've consulted our advocates on this matter & we'll follow their advice. We won't break law of the land: Jerry George Mathew, Principal, Clarence High School pic.twitter.com/mlOyl50be6  ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2022

We're aware that some people are upset about one of the policies of our school. We're a peace-loving & law-abiding school. We've consulted our advocates on this matter & we'll follow their advice. We won't break law of the land, said Mathew.

Meanwhile, a probe has already begun by the Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban.

The investigation was initiated on Tuesday following the directions of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

As per the complaint, there is prima facie contravention of Article 25 and Article 28 (3) of the Indian constitution, provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the statement by NCPCR said.
New Delhi: For Class 10 and Class 12 students of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the d-day is here. CBSE Class 10, 12 Board Exams 2022 will start shortly today - April 26, 2022. While Class 10 CBSE term 2 exams will start with the Painting, Rai, Gurung, Sherpa, Tamang, and Thai papers, the Class 12 term 2 CBSE exam will begin with the Entrepreneurship, and Beauty and Wellness papers. The first major paper, CBSE Class 10 English, is scheduled to be held tomorrow.

Notably, the CBSE is conducting the board exams for classes 10 and 12 in two terms. CBSE term 1, which comprised MCQ (Multiple choice questions), was already held in the month of January and CBSE term 2 will commence today. Students are required to reach the examination hall well on time with tests set to begin at 10.30 am.

CBSE is going to conduct the Class 10 examination for 29 days, which will end on May 24, 2022, while the Class 12 examinations will carry on for 51 days and will end on June 15, 2022.

On April 25, the CBSE conducted a Live Webcast on modalities for the conduction of CBSE Term 2 Exams 2022. An official release by CBSE read, CBSE has made elaborate arrangements for the conduct of examinations in India and in 26 countries abroad. As the examinations would be conducted after Covid hence CBSE has made all arrangements for the smooth conduct of the examination.

The board has said that the timetable for the exams has been set in such a manner so that there is sufficient time for students to prepare for each paper. A total of 21,16,209 candidates will appear for CBSE Class 10 term 2 board exams while CBSE Class 12 term 2 board exams will see 14,54,370 candidates.

Here are some of the guidelines issued by the board:

- Students must follow social distancing norms and wear masks, covering the nose and mouth

- No electronic device should be carried by students inside the exam hall

- Admit card and photo ID card must be carried by students appearing for the exam. Click here to know how to download admit card.

- Students can carry a bottle of water, sanitiser and mask along with pen

- Students will get extra time to read the question paper
New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday decided to remove former Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar and Kerala leader K V Thomas from all party positions and suspended five of its MLAs in Meghalaya for anti-party activities, sources said.

The Congress Disciplinary Committee recommended action against Jakhar and it was initially decided to suspend him for two years but later toned down their decision keeping in view his seniority in the party.

The panel, which met here this morning, recommended the suspension of the five Congress MLAs in Meghalaya for supporting the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) in the state, defying the party's directives.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the disciplinary panel's recommendations. Sonia Gandhi had received a letter from the president of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee, Vincent Pala, regarding the actions of five MLAs in supporting the present BJP-backed government there.

The committee has said that it discussed the issue extensively and resolved to suspend the MLAs Amrareen Lyngdoh, P T Sawkimie, Kimfa Marbaniang, Mayralborn Syiem and Mohendro Rapsang for a period of three years from the date of this meeting, the sources said.

Regarding Thomas, the panel decided to remove him from the state political affairs committee and the executive committee of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.

On the issue of Jakhar, it was discussed and resolved at the meeting to remove him from all party positions, the sources said.

The sources pointed out that the panel earlier decided to recommend his suspension for two years and removal from all party positions, but later toned down their action and dropped his suspension.

Some members also raised concerns over singling out Jakhar for suspension as other Congress leaders had also publicly made accusations during the election, they said.

Jakhar is considered close to former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and his suspension would have paved the way for him to quit, and the party does not want its leaders to leave at this critical juncture, the sources said.

"Both Jakhar and Thomas will continue to remain in the party. The committee has decided not to take any harsh action against them, keeping in view their seniority and contribution to the party," Tariq Anwar, a member of the panel, said.

The five-member committee is chaired by senior party leader A K Antony and Tuesday's meeting was attended by members Anwar, J P Aggarwal and G Parameswar, besides Antony. Ambika Soni was not present during the meeting. Soon after the Congress disciplinary panel's recommendations, Jakhar wished his party "good luck" while refusing to reveal his own plans.

"I wish the Congress good luck," he said when reporters sought his reaction to the panel's recommendation. He refused to comment when asked what would be his next step.

Ahead of the Congress disciplinary committee meeting, Jakhar had said those who still have a conscience will be punished.

"Aaj, sar kalam honge unke jinme abhi zameer baaki hai. (Today, those with a conscience will be beheaded). (My apologies to Javed Akhtar Saheb)," Jakhar said in a tweet.

Jakhar had criticised former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and termed him a liability for the party after the Congress lost to the AAP in the state. He has also been critical of the party leadership in the run-up to the assembly elections in Punjab, which the Congress lost to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Thomas, a former Union minister and senior leader from Kerala, had attended a seminar organised by the CPI(M) on April 9 in the state against the party's wishes and local state leaders had been seeking action against him.

The sources said the five Congress MLAs in Meghalaya had joined the BJP-backed ruling alliance in the state, for which a show-cause notice was sent to them and an explanation sought from them.

The state unit of the Congress had also sought strict action against the MLAs for supporting a BJP government in the state, they said. The legislators had joined the MDA in February, which brought the two arch-foes together in a ruling coalition and left Congress leaders fuming.

The disciplinary panel had issued a show-cause notice to Jakhar, Thomas and the five MLAs, and had asked them to explain why action should not be initiated against them for their actions. While Thomas had explained, Jakhar preferred not to reply to the panel's show-cause notice.
Amid the threat of a possible fourth wave of Covid-19 with an uptick in infections, the Delhi government has decided to continue the services of all additional doctors and staff hired for vaccination, testing, surveillance and management of the infection in Covid hospitals and district health centres till June 30.

Ajay Bisht, deputy secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department, issued an order in this regard in compliance with the directions of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

"...The competent authority is pleased to order the continuation of the services of all additional doctors and staff hired for vaccination, testing, surveillance and management of COVID-19 in Covid hospitals and district health centres (DHCs) of the Government of NCT of Delhi till 30.06.2022," Bisht said in the order dated April 12.

This comes as Delhi is witnessing a rise in Covid-19 cases over the past few days, with the number of active cases increasing to 3,975 on April 25 from 601 cases on April 11.

Hospitalisation remains low

The hospitalisation rate, however, has so far been low in this surge, accounting for less than 3% of the total active cases, according to official data.

Meanwhile, the number of containment zones in Delhi has more or less remained constant and has not seen any significant increase. The number of such zones has declined from 741 on April 11 to 656 on April 24, it said.

Last Friday, the Delhi government re-introduced the mask mandate in the national capital and imposed a fine of Rs 500 for the defaulters.

However, the DDMA decided not to shut schools and come up with separate Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in consultation with the experts for them.

Recently, the city government announced that precautionary doses would now be available for free at state-run vaccination centres.

(With PTI inputs)

Live TV
Bengaluru: With Covid-19 concerns growing across the country, and amid a fourth wave scare, several states in the country are asking its people to once again, mask up!

The Karnataka government on Monday (April 25) issued guidelines making the wearing of face masks and maintaining social distancing compulsory. The decision was taken at a meeting headed by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with senior ministers, officials and the Covid-19 technical advisory committee (TAC) consisting of experts here, to review the situation in the State amid concerns over a possible fourth wave.

"Masks should be worn compulsorily, especially at places where there is a crowd and in indoor places, social distancing has to be maintained. Guidelines will be issued today to this effect. We have not taken any decision regarding imposing any penalty immediately," Health Minister K Sudhakar said. Speaking to reporters after taking part in the meeting, the Minister said the number of positive cases has slightly increased in Bengaluru, where the positivity rate is 1.9 per cent, and the situation would be monitored and supervised with guidelines about the treatment if required.

"On April 27, the Prime Minister will be holding a video conference with Chief Ministers and Health Ministers of all States, where more guidance and information may be shared. After that, we will hold another round of meeting here and further measures, if required, will be taken," he added.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai also tweeted on the need to follow Covid protocols:

Due to recent upsurge in #COVID19 cases,we have made wearing of face mask compulsory in public places, work places & during transport. Individuals to maintain a social distancing of 2 feet in public places. Lets join hands to defeat Covid by adopting Covid appropriate behaviour. pic.twitter.com/Iii2wBTiah  Basavaraj S Bommai (@BSBommai) April 26, 2022

Meanwhile, the Chandigarh administration on Monday made a mask compulsory in a closed environment, and non-compliance of the order would invite a fine of Rs 500, reported IANS. The closed environment comprises public transport buses, taxis, cinema halls, malls, shops, educational institutes, all government and private offices, and all types of indoor gatherings.

The Chhattisgarh government had around two weeks ago done away with the need to mask up. But it also issued a circular to all divisional commissioners and district collectors to ensure implementation of Covid protocols on Monday, though there'll be no fine for not wearing a face mask in public places, the order reportedly said.

At a virtual meeting on Monday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin reportedly asked district collectors to make sure people wore masks in public places and vaccination coverage was boosted. In Kerala, during a high-level Covid-19 evaluation meeting, State Health Minister Veena George said instructions have been given to the authorities to closely monitor the situation in the districts. "There is no need for concern in Kerala but we will continue to remain vigilant since other states are reporting an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases. Instructions have been issued to closely monitor the situations in the districts. Only Kochi has witnessed a slight increase in cases," the Minister said in a release.

Currently, there is a surge in cases in Delhi, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu, and a slight increase in daily cases in Karnataka. Residents of the national capital now have to compulsorily wear masks in public places, failing which they can be penalised Rs 500. The Uttar Pradesh government made it compulsory for people to wear a face mask in public places in the capital Lucknow and six NCR districts amid a rise in Covid cases in some adjoining states, an official said. The Haryana government also made the wearing of a face mask mandatory in four districts falling in the National Capital Region.

(With Agency inputs)
Delhi and Punjab government sign knowledge sharing agreement to enable better health, education infrastructure and facilities, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal said.

Delhi | A Knowledge Sharing Agreement signed between the governments of Delhi & Punjab. pic.twitter.com/zavLFK5FDv  ANI (@ANI) April 26, 2022

"The Knowledge-Sharing Agreement is a unique incident in the history of India; governments are signing an agreement to share knowledge... our goal is to learn from each other and move forward; it's a big development," Kejriwal said.
New Delhi: As Covid-19 infections see a spike in some parts of India again, Uttar Pradeshs Noida logged 120 new cases on Monday (April 25), accounting for over 55 per cent of the total infections across the state in a day.

The total number of active cases in Gautam Buddh Nagar stands at 656, PTI reported citing the official data. As many as 490 people have lost their lives in the district since the Covid-19 pandemic broke in March 2020.

While Uttar Pradesh registered a total of 210 new coronavirus cases on Monday while the active cases in the state reached 1,277, as per the official figures.

Amid a surge in coronavirus cases, residents can contact helpline number-- 1800492211-- if they require any Covid-19-related assistance, the health department said.

In a bid to stem the transmission of the coronavirus, more than a thousand people were penalized across Noida and Greater Noida in a day for allegedly not wearing face masks in public places. "Action is also being ensured against those not following the rules and on Sunday, challans were issued to 1,018 people for not wearing masks in public places," a police spokesperson said on Monday.

After rise in Covid-19 infections in Gautam Buddh Nagar this month, the Uttar Pradesh government earlier made wearing face masks mandatory in public places.

Meanwhile, Noida has stepped up its Covid-19 vaccination drive in the wake of the increase in Covid-19 cases. The number of vaccination camps for children in the district is also been ramped up.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: Nearly a week after a handful of Covid-19 infections were detected at a hostel within IIT Madras in Chennai, the total number of cases has now touched 111.

Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan on Tuesday (April 26, 2022) informed that the Indian Institute of Technology Madras has recorded 32 new coronavirus cases.

He had earlier pointed out that the infection had possibly broken out in the hostel after some students had come to campus from other states.

Radhakrishnan had added that the daily testing in Tamil Nadu would be gradually ramped up from 14,000 to 18,000 and eventually 25,000.

Earlier on Monday, Tamil Nadu recorded 55 new Covid-19 cases and the active cases now stand at 362.
Baramulla: Two hybrid terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were arrested on Tuesday (April 26) in the Pattan area of Jammu and Kashmirs Baramulla averting many incidents of target killings, the police said.

Jammu and Kashmir Police spokesperson said, Based on specific reliable inputs regarding movement of two terrorists in a vehicle towards Srinagar, on 26 April, joint MVCPs (mobile vehicle check posts) of 29 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), Jammu Kashmir police & 2 SSB were placed at various spots along the national highway and surrounding and by-lanes.

He said further, A speeding Tavera, moving in a suspicious manner, was signalled to stop however, the vehicle stopped abruptly, and two individuals (driver & co-driver) jumped off the vehicle and fled towards nearby wooded orchard area. They were successfully nabbed later.

The accused have been identified as Mohd. Aqib Mir alias Kian Mir alias Raqib Mir of Batpora, Sopore and Danish Ahad Dar of Sopore.

The police spokesperson said, The seizure and search of the vehicle led to the recovery of incriminating materials including 2 Chinese pistols, 2 pistol magazines, ammunition 10 rounds, Chinese grenades 2 as well as the vehicle in which they were travelling has been seized.

The officer revealed that as per the initial investigation, the duo belongs to JeM hybrid module and were seeking to target Panchayat representatives and minority/outsiders.

The successful apprehension of the terrorists has foiled major terror plots and busted a module that was aiding the execution of various terror attacks including the killing of sarpanches etc. he said.

Further investigation is underway and more arrests cannot be ruled out, the police added.
The commission probing the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and popular South leader J Jayalalithaa has finally wrapped up the inquiry and is set to submit the report to the state government, reported PTI

Notably, it took the commission more than four years in preparing the report on the circumstances of Jayalalithaas death

According to sources, the Commission is set to commence preparation of its report for submission to the state government as its tenure, which was extended several times, is set to end on June 24.

On Tuesday, former AIADMK spokesperson V Pugazhenthi appeared before the panel and made his submissions reportedly he had requested that former Chief Minister K Palaniswami should be inquired.

However, commission sources did not confirm it. Pugazhenthi was expelled from the AIADMK last year.

Who all were involved in the inquiry

In total, 159 witnesses have deposed before the commission, which includes AIADMK top leader O Panneerselvam, Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa and nephew Deepak, doctors, top officials and AIADMK's C Vijayabaskar, M Thambi Durai, C Ponnaiyan and Manoj Pandian.

Deepa and Deepak had raised doubts over the circumstances surrounding their aunt's death. V K Sasikala, a confidante of the late Chief Minister had filed an affidavit through her counsel in 2018.

Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry

The Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry, constituted by the previous AIADMK government, commenced its hearing on November 22, 2017. Justice Arumughaswamy is a retired judge of the Madras High Court.

Sasikala's affidavit was related to, among other points, the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation (admitted in Apollo Hospitals) in 2016.

The purpose of the committee was "to inquire into the circumstances and situation leading to the hospitalisation of the late Chief Minister on September 22, 2016, and subsequent treatment provided till her unfortunate demise on December 5, 2016.

The suspicion was raised by Jayalalithaa's nieces about the circumstances of the former CMs death and alleged a political conspiracy behind her death.

The Apollo hospital doctor, however, who attended Jayalalithaa said she was extremely ill and died of a cardiac arrest.

Live TV
Kulgam: Police on Tuesday (April 26) claimed to have busted a Hizbul Muzahideen terrorist module by arresting three of its associates, who were also involved in the killing of Panch in Kulpora village in Kulgam district of South Kashmir. A police spokesperson in a statement said, "On March 2 terrorist shot dead a Panch namely Mohd Yaqoob Dar of Kulpora Kulgam. In this regard, investigation got conducted through a special investigation team."

During investigation, it was learnt that an active terrorist of Hizb namely Farooq Ahmad Bhat resident of Cheki Desend Yaripora had received directions from terrorist handlers based in Pakistan to target the panchayat members of Kulgam.

On their directions, he identified the target and gave direction accordingly to active militant namely Raja Nadeem Rather resident of Ashmuji to execute the act with the support of their associates namely Nasser Ahmad Wani, Adil Manzoor Rather and Majid Mohd Rather.

The spokesperson further said that the directions included conducting recce of the Panch's presence, arranging transport and providing logistics to execute the terror act.

After strenuous efforts, Kulgam police arrested above mentioned terrorist associates involved in this terror crime and seized 02 Grenades and 1 Pistol with 08 Rounds.

It is pertinent to mention that the said module is linked with already busted (HM) militant module involved in the killing of sarpanch namely Shabir Ahmad Mir resident of Audoora Kulgam on 11th March of this year, he said.

The investigation of the case is going on and based on the investigation more arrests and recoveries are also expected. Efforts are on to neutralise the active terrorists involved in this heinous crime, reads the statement.



Live TV
New Delhi: The BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) will launch a month-long anti-encroachment drive in a number of areas under its jurisdiction, civic authorities said on Monday, adding that the dates are yet to be decided.

According to SDMC Mayor Mukesh Suryan, the areas where the drive is likely to be conducted include Okhla, Tilak Nagar, and Shaheen Bagh, among others.

This comes after Delhi BJP Chief Adesh Gupta wrote to the mayors of South and East corporations on April 20 seeking the removal of encroachments "by Rohingyas, Bangladeshis, and anti-social elements" in their areas.

Suryan said that regular meetings are being held to "zero in" on the areas where there is heavy encroachment leading to traffic snarls and other issues.

ALSO READ | AAP claims Centre planning to demolish temple in Delhi, BJP calls it rumour

"A meeting was held today (Monday) as well and a month-long plan has been prepared to remove encroachments from roads, footpaths and government land. Encroachments can be seen in many areas such as Okhla, Madanpur Khadar, Tilak Nagar and Shaheen Bagh, among others. Sites are still being identified and a final list will soon be prepared," the mayor said.

He added that the dates for the anti-encroachment drive are yet to be decided by the civic body.

Last week, an anti-encroachment drive conducted by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation in Jahangirpuri area, which witnessed violence between two communities on April 16, drew widespread criticism. The Supreme Court had to intervene to stop the action there.

Suryan said removing encroachments from roads and government land is an "obligatory function" of any civic body and the same approach is being adopted by the SDMC.

"Encroachers will not be spared," he said, adding that before the anti-encroachment drive is launched, notices will be sent to those who have encroached upon public land, roads and footpaths.

Meanwhile, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) continued its anti-encroachment drive in a number of areas including IP Extension, Patparganj, Pandav Nagar, Vinod Nagar, Seelampur, Shakarpur, Ganesh Nagar, Rajgarh Colony and Ambedkar Park, according to the civic authorities said.

EDMC Mayor Shyam Sundar Agarwal said as part of the drive, illegal temporary structures were removed from footpaths in these areas.

"The EDMC is committed to removing any encroachment on public land, roads and footpaths. Encroachment not only leads to traffic jams and restricts the movement of people but also makes an area dirty. Our anti-encroachment drive will continue," he said.
New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sought a detailed factual report from the Maharashtra government regarding independent Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana's allegation about her arrest and "inhumane treatment" meted out at Khar Police Station in Mumbai, top government officials said on Tuesday.

The officials said the MHA took the action following a request made by Lok Sabha Privilege and Ethics Committee. "MHA has sought a factual report from the Maharashtra government regarding independent Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana's allegation about her arrest and "inhumane treatment" meted out at Khar PS. Lok Sabha Privilege and Ethics Committee had asked MHA to seek a report earlier," said the officials.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has also sought details from the Maharashtra government within 24 hours on the arrest of independent MP Navneet Rana in Mumbai, after receiving a letter from the Amravati lawmaker that she had been subjected to "inhuman treatment" by the police following her "illegal" arrest two days ago.

In her letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, the MP accused Mumbai Police of not providing her drinking water in custody while allegedly citing her "neechi zaat" (lower caste), and abusing her on the basis of caste.

Navneet and her husband Ravi Rana, who is an independent MLA, were arrested on Saturday from their Mumbai residence after declaring that they would recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's home in Bandra.

Rana, who was lodged after her arrest at Khar Police Station, was later moved to the Byculla women's prison on Sunday evening.

The two were booked in two FIRs lodged on charges of sedition, promoting enmity, and assaulting a public servant to prevent discharge of duty.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the contributions of Sree Narayana Guru, a saint-cum-social reformer from Kerala, in the fight against caste discrimination on Tuesday (April 26).

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of year-long joint celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Sivagiri pilgrimage and the Golden Jubilee of Brahma Vidyalaya, the PM said the social reformer refined the religion and changed it according to the times.

"If people follow Sree Narayana Guru's teachings and message of 'one caste, one religion and one God', then no force in the world would be able to divide the country," PM Modi said, as per PTI, adding that the guru's message showed the way towards an 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat'.

Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan and Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar also participated in the event. The event, organised by the Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom Trust in Delhi, was held at the official residence of the Prime Minister of India.

PM Narendra Modi participated in the inaugural ceremony of the joint celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Sivagiri Pilgrimage and Golden Jubilee of Brahma Vidhyalaya via video conferencing from Delhi. pic.twitter.com/073oz5AFOi  ANI (@ANI) April 26, 2022

As per the Prime Minister`s Office (PMO), Modi also launched the logo marking the year-long joint celebrations.

A little about Sivagiri pilgrimage and Brahma Vidhyalaya

The Sivagiri pilgrimage and Brahma Vidhyalaya began under the guidance of great social reformer Narayana Guru. Sivagiri pilgrimage, which began in 1933, is held three days every year from December 30 to January 1 at Sivagiri, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. Every year, lakhs of devotees from around the world visit Sivagiri to participate in the pilgrimage.

On Monday, PM Modi shared pictures of his visit to the Sivagiri Mutt in 2013 and 2015 on Twitter and said that India is extremely proud of the monumental contribution of the Mutt. India is extremely proud of the monumental contribution of the Sivagiri Mutt in different fields. They have popularised the teachings of Sree Narayana Guru and done great work in healthcare, education and service. I fondly recall my visits to the Mutt in 2015 and 2013, the PM wrote.

"According to Narayana Guru, the aim of the pilgrimage should be the creation of comprehensive knowledge among the people and the pilgrimage should help in their overall development and prosperity. The pilgrimage, therefore, focuses on eight subjects viz education, cleanliness, piety, handicrafts, trade and commerce, agriculture, science & technology and organised endeavour," the Prime Minister`s Office (PMO) said, as per IANS.

The Brahma Vidhyalaya of Sivagiri was set up to realise the vision of Narayan Guru who had envisioned a place to teach the principles of all religions with equanimity and equal respect. Brahma Vidyalaya offers a seven-year course on Indian philosophy, including the works of Narayana Guru and scriptures of all important religions of the world," the PMO added.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen on Monday (April 25, 2022) held talks in New Delhi and discussed the Ukraine-Russia situation.

They also reviewed the progress in the India-EU Strategic Partnership, including the forthcoming re-commencement of negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement and Investment Agreement.

"It was agreed to institute a high-level Trade & Technology Commission to provide political-level oversight of all aspects of the India-EU relationship, and to ensure coordination between different areas of cooperation," Prime Minister Modi's Office said in a statement.

Delighted to hold talks with President of @EU_Commission @vonderleyen earlier today. We reviewed the full range of India-EU ties including economic and cultural linkages. pic.twitter.com/Vc5jv1Lrqa  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 25, 2022

"Several geopolitical issues of topical importance were discussed during the meeting, including the situation in Ukraine and developments in the Indo-Pacific region," the PMO added.

Modi and Ursula Von der Leyen also had an extensive discussion on climate-related issues, including on possibilities of collaboration between India and the EU in areas like Green Hydrogen.

"They also discussed the continuing challenges of COVID-19 and stressed efforts to ensure equitable access to vaccines and therapeutics to all parts of the world," the PMO stated.

The leaders agreed that as large and vibrant democratic societies, India and Europe share similar values and commonality of perspectives on many global issues.

Prime Minister Modi and the President of the European Commission also attended the inaugural session of Raisina 2022 on Monday.

PM Modi thanked the EC President for consenting to deliver the inaugural address at the Raisina Dialogue this year.
New Delhi: On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Sivagiri pilgrimage and the Golden Jubilee of Brahma Vidyalaya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a programme today (April 26) at 10:30 AM.

PM Modi took to Twitter on Monday (April 25) to announce that he will address the event and asked people, especially those connected with the Sivagiri Mutt to share their insights for the programme.

"Will address a programme to mark the 90th anniversary of the Sivagiri pilgrimage and Golden Jubilee of Brahma Vidyalaya tomorrow at 10:30 AM. Requesting everyone, especially those connected with the Sivagiri Mutt to share their insights for the programme," he tweeted.

In another tweet, sharing pictures of his visit to the Sivagiri Mutt in 2013 and 2015, Modi said that India is extremely proud of the monumental contribution of the Mutt. India is extremely proud of the monumental contribution of the Sivagiri Mutt in different fields. They have popularised the teachings of Sree Narayana Guru and done great work in healthcare, education and service. I fondly recall my visits to the Mutt in 2015 and 2013, the PM wrote.

Sivagiri pilgrimage, which began in 1933, is held three days every year from December 30 to January 1 at Sivagiri, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. Every year, lakhs of devotees from around the world visit Sivagiri to participate in the pilgrimage.

"According to Narayana Guru, the aim of the pilgrimage should be the creation of comprehensive knowledge among the people and the pilgrimage should help in their overall development and prosperity. The pilgrimage, therefore, focuses on eight subjects viz education, cleanliness, piety, handicrafts, trade and commerce, agriculture, science & technology and organised endeavour," the Prime Minister`s Office (PMO) said, as per IANS.

"Narayana Guru had also envisioned a place to teach the principles of all religions with equanimity and equal respect. The Brahma Vidyalayam of Sivagiri was set up to realise this vision. Brahma Vidyalaya offers a seven-year course on Indian philosophy, including the works of Narayana Guru and scriptures of all important religions of the world," the PMO further said.

(With agency inputs)

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Election strategist Prashant Kishor on Monday announced that he will not join Congress as a party member.

Taking to Twitter, Kishor, who was in talks with the senior Congress leadership for his entry in the party, wrote, "I declined the generous offer of #congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms."

I declined the generous offer of #congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms.  Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) April 26, 2022

The strategist, however, may extend his consultancy to Congress for the 2024 General Elections.

The Congress party has also made an official announcement saying that Prashant Kishor won't be joining the party.

The declaration came a day after Sonia Gandhi had announced the constitution of the group.

Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet, "Following a presentation and discussion with Prashant Kishor, the Congress President has constituted an Empowered Action Group 2024 & invited him to join the party as part of the group with defined responsibility. He declined. We appreciate his efforts & suggestion given to the party."

The group was formed after a report was submitted by an eight-member committee on April 21.

"Congress President Sonia Gandhi received a report from the eight-member group on April 21. Today she discussed the report with the group. Based on the discussions, the Congress President has decided to constitute an Empowered Action Group for 2024 in order to address the political challenges ahead," the party had said in an official statement on Monday.

Surjewala, who did not want to comment on the members of the group, said: "But as I have said, the Empowered Action Group will strategise for the 2024 general elections.

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New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Education has written to the Rajasthan Education Department over a class 12 political science question paper that reportedly asked six questions about "achievements of Congress party".

"A news item has appeared in section of press along with relevant copies of the question paper, which is self explanatory. Comments and inputs of state government on the news item may be sent to the department," the ministry said in a letter sent on Monday.

Slamming the Rajasthan's Congress government over the question paper, the state BJP asked whether it was a political science paper or a Congress history paper. The party also took a dig at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over the issue.

"Seeing this question paper of political Science, many students did not even understand whether the examination was about Political Science or the history of Congress! Perhaps Gehlot ji has now considered Congress as a part of history," the party tweeted in Hindi.

Last November, a question in the CBSE sociology exam on Gujarat riots had courted a controversy following which the board issued an apology and promised strict action against those responsible.

The question was: "The unprecedented scale and spread of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 took place under which government?" The MCQ-based paper had four options -- Congress, BJP, Democratic and Republican.
New Delhi: The women of Ambavali, a village in Jawale gram panchayat in Mandangad taluka of Ratnagiri district are no strangers to struggling with water woes. Day and night they toiled to collect water for their family's needs. This village is situated on the Kelashi creek, 30 km from Mandangad taluka and has a population of 413 and a total of 173 families. Water problems were a source of great trouble for the people of the region.

But now in Ambavali village, water is being supplied to the villagers through gravity tap water supply scheme. Earlier the women of the village had to fetch water from faraway public taps everyday leading to considerable hardship.

This led the youth of the village, the women's group and some villagers to work together towards a better quality of life and provide individual tap connections to each family of Ambavali.

With public participation, the excavation of the tap water supply pipeline was completed and today individual tap connections are provided to each and every family in Ambavali village.

Water is supplied to the village 24 X 7 by gravity. The additional benefit for the villagers is that there are no electricity charges for this supply of tap water.

Also, under Jal Jeevan Mission's program, five women from the village were selected and trained for water quality testing. This gave villagers confidence to use the tap water for their daily needs.

The village now has an adequate and purified water supply through the tap due to Jal Jeevan Mission's Har Ghar Nal Se Jal Yojna.

Project Director of Jal Jeevan Mission Hrishikesh Yashod says, "JJM Maharashtra is committed to provide potable piped drinking water to every house in rural Maharashtra by 2024".

Since the village has been given 100% personal tap connections, the Ambavali village panchayat has been honored by Zilla Parishad Ratnagiri.

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Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Tuesday will introduce the 11 resolutions of its government on the occasion of the partys 21st Foundation Day.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will release the vision and introduce 11 resolutions tomorrow at the TRS formation day, announced IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao.

"We will discuss how the Covid-19 situation was dealt with the demonetisation and the Centre`s incompetence will be discussed. Discussion on farmers` problems and unemployment will also be held," he added.

According to IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao more than 3000 members have been invited to the celebration.

The general body meeting will be held where elected representatives, MLA, MPs and ministers will come and Hyderabad corporators, Zilla Parishad Chairman and Municipal Chairman, ZPTC and MPP.

"We apologise for not inviting the party Karyakartas," said KTR.

KTR has asked all the panchayats heads and district division heads to hoist the party flag across 12,900 Gram Panchayats and celebrate it as a festival.

Meanwhile, addressing a gathering a day ahead of the event, KCR on Tuesday emphasised the transformation his government brought about in Telangana.

Seven years back, there were power cuts in Telangana. Now, if there's a power cut in Telangana it becomes news...The 7-yr-old Telangana is giving 24 hrs current to every district. Giving water across all districts with mission Bhagiratha, Kaleshwaram, Palamuru projects, said KCR.

(With agency inputs)

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Srinagar: After the New Government took charge in Pakistan sources in Intelligence say that the Kashmir policy of Pakistan once again seems changed. A top official said five to six terrorist launch pads have become active in PoK near the Line of Control after the government changed and terrorists are waiting for an opportunity to Infiltrate into Kashmir Valley.

Security forces have dual challenges at hand as the Infiltration routes have cleared of the snow, especially in the Neelam Valley of PoK.

Sources say that there are three launch pads in the Neelam area and in each launchpad there are 100-150 terrorists and its also believed that Afghan fighters who after the USA left Afghanistan are stung ideal may also try to infiltrate this side.

The whole Line of Control has been put on high alert and forces have increased the vigil along the border. The vigil has been increased in the hills as well as the forest area of the border. The Indian army says that every year the vigil is increased during this period. But this time things are taken more seriously

"The challenges increase after the snow melts. Because with the melting of the snow, the infiltration attempts increase, but we will respond to their nefarious designs accordingly. We increase our readiness. We increase the fence patrolling as well as the night patrolling. Whoever tries to infiltrate, we make sure to foil those bids." said Havildar Amit Kumar, an Army jawan posted along the Line of Control in Keran Sector



Security forces say that Lashkar and Jaish terror outfits have been asked to intensify and carry out attacks. One of the reasons being the increase in the anti-terrorist operations of the security forces in the Kashmir valley.

Security forces say that these operations have weakened their roots and that's why Pakistan will push more terrorists into the Valley. However, the Indian Army has completely sealed the borders leaving no scope for Infiltration.

The counter-infiltration grid is prepared by the Indian Army. Apart from physical surveillance, latest equipment is also used to keep track of the LoC. These include thermal imagers, P2G cameras, night vision devices, etc.

''We are using the latest technology and equipment to keep a vigil on the LoC. The vigil is kept day and night. Patrolling keeps happening all through the border and we make sure no intruder succeeds in crossing the LoC. We want to tell everyone in the country to not worry about the borders, if we are guarding these borders, people can sleep peacefully. '' said Havildar Umesh, Indian Army.

According to the latest data, Kashmir valley witnessed the lowest number of active terrorists in the last 30 years. The number was recorded below 200. In 2021, Security forces killed 184 terrorists.

And since January this year, the forces have killed 59 terrorists in 40 encounters. Around 30 terrorists have been arrested while 169 OGW's have been apprehended as well.



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Lucknow: Even as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked power officials to maintain routine power supply in the state, Uttar Pradesh is likely to face a bigger electricity crisis as the backup coal stocks for thermal power plants have started depleting this month. The coal shortage may worsen during the monsoon when the supplies fall short annually due to rain and floods that disrupt mining and transportation.

A senior power official said that thermal plants face coal shortage during the monsoon every year between June and September. But this time, the coal shortage started in April largely due to lesser supply from coal companies that are facing a shortage of wagons for ferrying coal to plants. The situation may only get worse with the rains and floods in the coming weeks.

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) Chairman M. Devraj said thermal plants were unable to maintain the coal stocks as per the norms. However, he maintained it was not affecting power production. "We are making all efforts to maintain the coal inventory as per the norms by bringing coal by road also to avoid delays often caused when coal is transported by rail," he told reporters.

The All-India Power Engineers' Federation Chairman, Shailendra Dubey said the coal shortage in the state has been affecting power production. He said that this has forced UPPCL to order emergency load shedding in villages and smaller towns. Citing an internal report, Dubey said the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (UPRVUNL)'s thermal plants at Harduaganj, Parichha and Obra lost over 13 million units of generation on April 22 because of an inability of plants to run on full steam due to lack of availability of backup coal.

Also read: Mumbai, Dombivili, Thane face power outage amid deficit in Maharashtra

According to a Central Electricity Authority's report available on its website, most of Uttar Pradesh`s thermal plants had coal stocks in the critical and super-critical range as of April 22. The state-owned UPRVUNL's four thermal plants, with an installed capacity of over 6,000 megawatts, are short of 21 per cent of the normative level they are mandated to maintain. The Anpara plant had 39 per cent of the normative coal reserves while Harduaganj, Obra, and Parichha had merely 15 per cent, 18 per cent, and 5 per cent. The normative coal stock is calculated based on the requirement at 85 per cent plant load factor.

The norm for the number of days of coal stock to be kept in the power plant depends on the distance of the power plant from the minehead. The coal stock at a power plant is categorised as "critical" when it is for less than five days in the case of pithead plants and seven days of non-pithead plants or when the stock is less than 25 per cent of the normative level.
San Francisco: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Tuesday took the first test of Elon Musk's commitment to allow free speech on the platform, posting that Tesla's business interests in China could give the government leverage over Twitter via its new owner.

A New York Times reporter tweeted that "After 2009, when China banned Twitter, the government there had almost no leverage over the platform. That may have just changed".

Bezos replied: "Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?"

The Amazon founder further said that his own answer to "this question is probably not".

"The more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter," Bezos said.

"But we'll see. Musk is extremely good at navigating this kind of complexity," he kept trolling the Tesla and SpaceX CEO.

Musk, who is worth $282 billion and over $100 billion richer than Bezos, has frequently criticised the latter on Twitter.

From calling him 'Copycat' to after Bezos announced plans to launch a new satellite-based broadband service to trolling him on the micro-blogging platform, Musk is facing fierce competition in the affordable satellite-based internet market from Amazon.

Amazon this month announced the biggest rocket deal in the commercial space industry's history, signing a pact with three rocket companies for up to 83 launches under its Project Kuiper internet satellites.

The contracts total up to 83 launches over a five-year period, providing capacity for Amazon to deploy the majority of its 3,236-satellite constellation.

Just before Twitter announced it is accepting Musk's $44 billion buyout bid, the world's richest man tweeted: "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means."

Will Bezos remain on Twitter or whether Musk will let him stay? Only time will tell.

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New Delhi: Following Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, the microblogging network's Indian-origin CEO, has said that the microblogging platform has a purpose and importance that affects the entire world.

"Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important. I know this is a significant change and you're likely processing what this means for you and Twitter's future," Agrawal tweeted.

Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important. https://t.co/5iNTtJoEHf  Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 25, 2022

Musk has already said he doesn't have faith in the management of Twitter. Musk had criticized board members for owning almost no shares of the company they oversee. Dorsey, who will step down from his seat on Twitter's board at the end of his term in May 2022, called it the dysfunction of the company.

Musk said "free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated".

The decision to sell the platform to the Tesla CEO also signals that the board is somehow not reportedly convinced in Agrawal's capabilities, who took over from Jack Dorsey in November 2021, as the company is not making enough profits.

Agrawal had earlier said the Tesla CEO had decided "not to join our board which I believe is for the best".

He was set to address Twitter employees in a town hall on what this takeover means to them and allay their fears.

The Twitter buyout casts doubts on the future of Agrawal, and it is still unclear whether he would like to remain at the helm, with Musk now being at the very top of the platform.

With IANS Inputs

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SRINAGAR: In a major breakthrough, the security forces on Tuesday busted a terrorist module linked to banned Hizbul Mujahideen and arrested three terror associates in Kulgam.

According to the J&K Police, the three terror associates, who were arrested today, were also involved in the killing of a sarpanch in Kulpora village in the Kulgam district of South Kashmir.

A J&K police spokesperson said in a statement, On 2nd March, terrorists shot dead a Panch namely Mohd Yaqoob Dar of Kulpora, Kulgam. In this regard, the investigation got conducted through a special investigation team.

During the investigation, it was learnt that an active terrorist of Hizbul namely Farooq Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Cheki Desend YariPora, had received directions from terrorist handlers based in Pakistan to target the panchayat members of Kulgam, it added.

On their directions, he identified the target and gave direction accordingly to active militant namely Raja Nadeem Rather resident of Ashmuji to execute the plan with the support of their associates namely Nasser Ahmad Wani, Adil Manzoor Rather and Majid Mohd Rather, the statement said.

The spokesperson further said that the directions included conducting recce of the Panch's presence, arranging transport and providing logistics to execute the terror act.

After strenuous efforts, the Kulgam police arrested the above-mentioned terrorist associates involved in this terror crime and seized 02 Grenades and 1 Pistol with 08 Rounds.

It is pertinent to mention that the said module is linked with an already busted (HM) militant module involved in the killing of the sarpanch namely Shabir Ahmad Mir resident of Audoora Kulgam on 11th March of this year.

The investigation of the case is going on and based on the investigation more arrests and recoveries are also expected. Efforts are on to neutralise the active terrorists involved in this heinous crime, the statement said.
New Delhi: Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) will release the Haryana Civil Service (HCS) Judicial Branch Mains Admit Card 2021 today (April 26). Candidates who will appear for the mains examination can download the admit card from the official HPSC site on hpsc.net.in.

HPSC said in a notification, The Admit Cards for the Main Examination will be available on Commissions website from 26.4.2022 and the candidates can download the same from the Commissions website. No separate Admit Card will be sent to the candidates by the Commission through Post/ Courier.

HPSC HCS Judicial Branch Mains Admit Card 2021: How to download

1. Visit the official HPSC site on hpsc.gov.in.

2. On the homepage, click on HPSC HCS Judicial Branch Mains Admit Card 2021 link.

3. Login using credentials and submit.

4. HPSC HCS Judicial Branch Mains Admit Card 2021 admit card will appear.

5. Download the admit card and take a printout for future need.

The HCS main examination will be conducted from May 6 to May 8, 2022 at Panchkula. It was earlier scheduled to be conducted from December 3 to December 5, 2021, however, it was postponed.
New Delhi: The 94th Academy Awards trended for days this year, after actor Will Smith lost his cool on presenter Chris Rock for making a joke on his wife Jada Pinkett Smiths bald head. Will walked up on the stage and smacked Chris for the same. The actor however later apologised for his behaviour on Instagram. But the damage was done by then. Will, who bagged his first Best Actor Oscar for King Richard has been banned from attending the Oscars or any other academy event for 10 years. Will Smith is currently in India. He is supposedly here to meet Sadguru.

Recently Oscar winning music composer A R Rahman attended The Kapil Sharma Show to promote Tiger Shroff and Tara Sutaria starrer Heropanti 2 along with film director Ahmed Khan. Rehman has sung the song Dafa Kar for the action-drama. In one of the segments an old photo of Rahman sitting with Smith was pulled out from his Instagram and Kapil asked him to comment on the same.

He is a sweetheart. He is a nice person, A R Rahman said about Will Smith. Commenting on his Oscars 2021 controversy, he added, Sometimes such things happen. Rahman was also in attendance at the Oscars ceremony this year.

The music maestro also opened up about his inspiration for music. Rahman shared that many people have inspired him in his journey but revealed that recently he is discovering the old music now like Madan Mohan sahab, SD Burman sahab, Hridaynath Mangeshkar and all the greats.

He also praised current lot of musicians like Shankar, Amit Trivedi, Vishal-Shekhar and added that Bengali, Malayalam and Tamil composers are bursting with talent.

Heropanti 2 is scheduled to release in theatres on April 29. Tiger Shroff has also sung a song in a film for the first time. The actor crooned Miss Hairan, composed by A R Rahman.
New Delhi: Actor Zayed Khan recently took to social media to share pictures of his physical transformation and also thanked Bollywood actor and his ex-brother-in-law Hrithik Roshan in the post and called him his 'mentor' in the post.

He also mentioned about taking his acting career to the next level.

He wrote: "Hello People, the resurrection took time but in the bargain taught me so much about self belief , hard work, razor focus and that love in all its forms is around you. All you have to do is reach out and perceive and it will be yours."

The actor further mentioned about his journey: "I am finally taking my journey as an actor to the next level and quite honestly I did miss it deeply. Going to be sharing a series of a fabulous association of pictures taken by non other than my sister Tina Dehal who has managed to capture the essence of who I really am underneath... every 5 days I will share a new array of pictures that exposes the transformed `Zayed Khan`."

He showed his gratitude towards a number of people in his life including his wife Malaika Khan and other family members.

"I have a lot of people to thank during this transformative journey. Starting with my wife Malaika, my parents Sanjay Khan, Zarine Khan my sisters Farah Khan Ali, Sussanne Khan, Simone, a brother and a mentor Hrithik Roshan, Satya Barbarian Fitness (he truly metamorphosed my body and I owe him a special thanks).

"And last but not least my kiddos Zidaan and Aariz who are my honest sounding boards. As I release more of the series i wish to here from all well wishers as you guys are truly what`s worth this journey. Big hug to all of you`ll. Stay blessed and strive for simple happiness the rest will follow."
New Delhi: Actor Shahid Kapoor is currently busy promoting his latest release Jersey that also stars Mrunal Thakur and his father Pankaj Kapur. While on a promotion spree, Shahid in an interview revealed that his spending habits have changed over the years. The actor said earlier he would spend money without thinking but has become more cautious now and takes his wife Mira Rajputs permission before doing it. Shahid adds that he is a family man now.

In a new interview with Curly Tales, when asked if he saves money or spends all of it, Shahid said, Pehle all out ho jata tha main magar ab nahi (previously, I used to spend all my money but not now). I am a family man now, mere bachhe hain, biwi hai (I have a wife and kids). Permission leni padti hai, sochna padta hai (I have to take permission and think about it before spending money)."

The Kabir Singh actor added, "I didn't take her permission for my boys trip though, that's my right. I think every guy deserves a boys' trip once in a while.

In the same interview, Shahid also spoke about Miras culinary skills. She makes Thai food really well. She makes continental food really well. Shes very good with sandwiches, excellent with salads. But in these 7 years of marriage, I have probably eaten 2 of each, he said.

Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput got married on July 7, 2015, in an intimate ceremony in Delhi. The couple is parents to daughter Misha (5 years) and son Zain Kapoor (3 years).

On the work front, Shahids Jersey released in theatres on April 22. The film is a Hindi remake of 2019 Telugu blockbusterof the same name starring Nani. Jersey is directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri and is distributed by Yash Raj Films, Geetha Arts, Pen India Limited, Balaji Motion Pictures. Shahid will next be seen in Ali Abbas Zafar Bloody Daddy.
New Delhi: After the recent cabinet nod on Dearness Allowance, DA has now become 34% of the basic income. With the hike in DA, now reports being widely circulated in the media that 4 other allowances that are decided based on the DA level, may also increase. Here's the list.

1. The DA is proportional to the base wage. As a result, a raise in DA will also raise central government employees' monthly provident fund (PF)

2. The gratuity amounts of the employees will also be increased due to the hike in DA.

3. The hike in dearness allowance has also cleared the path for hike in Travel/Transport Allowance and City Allowance of the employees.

4. There have also been speculations in the media that the government is contemplating a hike in the HRA as the DA has been hiked.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on March 30, 2022 given its approval to release an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. 01.01.2022 representing an increase of 3% over the existing rate of 31% of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise.

This increase was approved in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief would be Rs.9,544.50 crore per annum. This will benefit about 47.68 lakh Central Government employees and 68.62 lakh pensioners.

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New Delhi: Lakhs of farmers who have been eagerly awaiting the latest update on PM KISAN's 11th instalment must know about an important thing regarding the Aadhaar-based eKYC. The Aadhaar-based OTP authentication which had been temporarily suspended is now back at the official PM KISAN portal again.

As per the PM KISAN official website the following three things must be noted. The website says:

1. eKYC is MANDATORY for PMKISAN Registered Farmers. OTP Based eKYC is available on PMKISAN Portal.

2. You may also contact nearest CSC centres for Biometric authentication based eKYC.

3. Deadline of eKYC for all the PMKISAN beneficiaries has been extended till 31st May 2022.

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme was launched by PM Modi in 2019. The Scheme aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to certain exclusions.

Under the Scheme, an amount of Rs 6000 per year is released in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs 2000 each directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. In a financial year, PM Kisan installment is credited thrice through --Period 1 from April-July; Period 2 from August to November; and Period 3 from December to March.

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New Delhi: Megastar Chiranjeevi revealed in an exclusive interview while promoting 'Acharya' that he wants his family to be known as the 'Kapoors' of the south.

Chiranjeevi recalls a conversation with his brother Pawan Kalyan, in which he expressed his desire for their family to be known as the 'Kapoors' of the south.

"There is a Kapoor craze in Hindi cinema. In South Cinema, I also wished for our family to be like that. I`m so happy to see how these kids (from Pawan Kalyan to Allu Arjun and others) have grown up and made a name for themselves in cinema", Chiranjeevi explained.

Chiranjeevi also recalls an incident, when he had previously travelled to the north, where he had felt humiliated.

`The `Indra` actor explained, "Despite the fact that I had won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature film in National Integration for Rudraveena, there was little mention of the South in the award event. I felt humiliated".

"Now that I see the regional lines slowly perishing, I feel happy", Chiranjeevi conveyed.

Chiranjeevi spoke about his experience working with his son, Ram Charan, the latest pan-India sensation, and said, "Such opportunities do not come along very often for actors. I am a fortunate father who has witnessed Charan`s incredible growth as an actor ".

Helmed by Koratala Siva, `Acharya` is in theaters on April 29.
New Delhi: Are you excited to get your hands on your first iPhone? Perhaps this is the best moment to get your long-awaited iPhone. Given the exorbitant cost of Apple products, it is still a faraway dream for many. Buying an iPhone, on the other hand, would not be a difficult task at a time when several e-tailers compete for consumer attention.

Amazon and Flipkart, both e-commerce behemoths, have reduced the prices of iPhone 12. Amazon is offering a discount of up to Rs 11,000 on the iPhone 12 64GB model, while Flipkart is offering a discount of Rs 8,900.

Amazon discounts

The iPhone 12 is priced at Rs 65,900 for the 64 GB model, according to an Amazon listing. The e-tailer is offering a 17% discount, which translates to a savings of up to Rs 11,000, bringing the price down to Rs 54,900.

Consumers can also get a discount of up to Rs 2,000 on credit cards from specific banks, such as Federal Bank Credit Card, Bank of Baroda, Standard Chartered, Yes Bank, and others. On select cards, Amazon also offers a no-cost EMI option. Additionally, customers can exchange an old smartphone for a discount of up to Rs 11,350.The iPhone 12 can be purchased for Rs 43,550 on Amazon.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 12 128GB model, which is listed at Rs 84,900 on the site, is discounted by 29%. The 128GB variant will cost Rs 59,999 after the discount. Amazon's exchange scheme also offers a discount of up to Rs 11,350.

The iPhone 12 64 GB model is available at a discount of up to 13% on Flipkart, bringing the price down to Rs 56,999 from the MRP of Rs 65,900. An instant Rs 4,000 discount is available to those who have an HDFC Credit Card, Credit Card, or Debit Card. A 5% reward is available to Flipkart Axis Bank Card users.

Several no-cost EMI options are also available from the e-tailer. Meanwhile, Flipkart has joined the bandwagon by offering up to Rs 13,000 discounts on outdated cell phones. Consumers can get the iPhone 12 for Rs 43,999 if they combine the 13% discount and the additional discount on the exchange scheme.

Flipkart is also offering discounts on the iPhone 12 128GB model, which is priced at Rs 70,900, by 12%. The 128 GB model can be bought at Rs 61,999 after the discount. The exchange scheme also offers an additional discount of up to Rs 13, 000. When the discount and exchange scheme are combined, the iPhone 12 128GB model can be purchased for Rs 48,999.

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The much-anticipated tech deal of the year has been sealed with Elon Musk clinching a deal to buy Twitter Inc for $44 billion. This means that the world's richest man will soon be controlling the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders.

"I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means," Elon Musk tweeted on Tuesday early morning (India Time). The 16-year-old company, which emerged as one of the world's most influential public squares, now faces a string of challenges.

Musk, who has called himself a free speech absolutist, also tweeted a statement of his where he says he wants to make Twitter "better than ever by enhancing the product with new features...Twitter has tremendous potential - I look forward to working with the company and community of users to unlock it."

Musk has always criticised Twitter's 'moderation'

Musk has repeatedly complained that free speech is restricted on Twitter. He said in a statement after the deal was reached that Twitter is a "digital town square" where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. Musk also said Twitter has tremendous potential to unlock and he intends to enhance the platform with "new features, making algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating spambots, and authenticating all humans."

Will Donald Trump get back on Twitter?

Meanwhile, according to reports, the Joe Biden administration officials are concerned SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk will allow former US President Donald Trump to return to Twitter after he reached a deal to acquire the social media company. The report said on Monday, citing sources, that Biden administration officials are concerned that misinformation on Twitter will increase under Musk`s control, which could be critical in the upcoming 2024 US presidential election. Trump had 88 million followers on Twitter before he was banned from the platform, which accused him of spreading false information that was blamed for fueling the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The former US President, however, told Fox News that he will instead focus on his own platform, Truth Social, which has been mired in problems since its launch earlier this year. "I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on Truth," Trump was quoted telling the network. "I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth."
New Delhi: In a bizarre incident a restaurant in Saudi Arabia was shut after it was found out to be making 'Samosas' and other types of snacks in its toilets for the past 30 years. Following a tip-off regarding the unprofessionalism of the restaurant, the Jeddah Municipality raided a residential building where the eatery was operating for almost three decades, according to Gulf News.

The Gulf news also reported that the restaurant was also using expired food materials like meat and cheese to prepare cuisines and some of the edible items were dated back two years.

Workers in the restaurant had no health cards and the eatery was found to be violating the residential laws. Along with the unprofessional practices, some rodents and insects were also spotted in the restaurant, reported the Gulf News.

However, this is not the first time that a restaurant has been exposed for its malpractices, earlier in January, a famous Shawarma restaurant in Jeddah was shut down after a rat was seen eating meat on top of a skewer.

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New Delhi: Elon Musk, the chief executive of electric car maker Tesla Inc and aerospace company SpaceX, on Tuesday (April 26, 2022) clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc for $44 billion cash (around Rs 3.3 lakh crore).

Discussions over the deal, which last week appeared uncertain, accelerated over the weekend after Musk wooed Twitter shareholders with financing details of his offer. Under pressure, the 16-year-old company started negotiating with the world`s richest person to buy the company at his proposed $54.20 per share price.

Musk, who has 84 million followers on the microblogging site, said that Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," the Tesla chief said in a statement.

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

Musk has advocated user-friendly tweaks to the service, such as an edit button and defeating "spam bots" that send overwhelming amounts of unwanted tweets.

Netizens have now flooded the internet with memes on Musk and his acquisition of Twitter.

Suspended accounts coming back after Twitter takeover by Elon Musk pic.twitter.com/1tJD66El3i  Sagar (@sagarcasm) April 25, 2022

How Elon Musk walking into Twitter pic.twitter.com/2CXIG6iRrG  Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) April 25, 2022

This is exactly how Elon Musk buying twitter feel to me pic.twitter.com/xu5re0p4dp  JOL (@Saitamagoated) April 25, 2022

Im not gonna lie, Im Living for the Elon Musk Meme & meltdowns

Its Glorious pic.twitter.com/Eela5qQOFp  Kel (@Kels__Tweets) April 25, 2022

Elon Musk has finally set the blue bird free: pic.twitter.com/LXjzYCS2ZU  Mikey (@MikeDulaimi) April 25, 2022

Meanwhile, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey weighed in on the deal with a series of tweets that thanked both Musk and current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal for "getting the company out of an impossible situation."

"Twitter as a company has always been my sole issue and my biggest regret. It has been owned by Wall Street and the ad model. Taking it back from Wall Street is the correct first step," he said.

Musk, who is worth $268 billion according to Forbes, has said he is not primarily concerned with the economics of Twitter.

"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 had said in a recent public talk.
Omaha: Firefighters across the country are battling multiple wildfires as tinder-dry conditions and high winds whip up flames from Arizona to Florida including a prairie fire in rural southwestern Nebraska that has killed one person, injured at least 15 firefighters and destroyed at least six homes.

A break in the weather in parts of the Midwest and West allowed crews to make progress Monday on some of the nearly dozen new large fires that were reported in recent days across the nation four in New Mexico, three in Colorado and one each in Florida, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas.

With more than 3,496 square kilometres burned so far this year, officials at the National Interagency Fire Centre said the amount of land singed to date is outpacing the 10-year average by about 30%.

ALSO READ: New Mexico declares emergency in wake of multiple wildfires

Hotter, drier weather has combined with a persistent drought to worsen fire danger across many parts of the West, where decades of fire suppression have resulted in overgrown and unhealthy forests and increasing development have put more communities at risk.

In northern New Mexico, evacuations remained in place for several communities Monday and conditions were still too volatile for authorities to assess the damage caused Friday and Saturday. The blaze has grown into the largest wildfire burning in the US, charring more than 228 square kilometres.

Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation joined Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on a call Monday with officials from the White House and federal agencies to appeal for more federal ground resources ahead of another blast of strong fire-fuelling winds expected later in the week.

Thanks to lighter winds in the Midwest on Monday, firefighters made significant progress on the fire that's burned about 181 square km of mostly grasslands and farmland near the Nebraska-Kansas state line. It's now estimated to be about 47% contained.

They made the most of the opportunity Monday to dump water in dry creeks and draws filled with cottonwoods where dense fuels and brush have built up ahead of the return of more dangerous conditions expected on Tuesday, said Jonathan Ashford, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team. It's supposed to be about 20 degrees warmer tomorrow, with lower humidity and increased wind, he said Monday night.

In Arizona, firefighters also took advantage of lighter winds to boost containment of a more than 85 square-kilometre blaze that has been burning outside of Flagstaff for more than a week.

Strong winds that had fuelled the fire are expected to return later this week. Meanwhile, hundreds of evacuated residents were given the go-ahead on Sunday to return home.

About 160 firefighters, emergency management personnel and others twice as many as the day before were helping fight the fire in Nebraska by Monday evening.

Known as the Road 702 Fire, it has destroyed at least six homes and threatened 660 others, along with 50 commercial or farm buildings, Ashford said.

A retired Cambridge, Nebraska, fire chief who was helping as a fire spotter in Red Willow County died Friday night after his truck went off the road in a blinding haze of smoke and dust. The body of John Trumble, 66, of Arapahoe, was recovered around early Saturday.

Trumble was the second person in a month to die while fighting a wildfire in southwest Nebraska. Elwood Volunteer Fire Chief Darren Krull, 54, was killed in a collision with a water tanker on April 7 in Furnas County as smoke cut visibility to zero.

Nebraska remains critically dry, said Ashford, who urged residents to use caution when doing anything that could spark a fire.

The last thing we need is to have another fire started that we have to then fight, he said.

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Pakistan's government on Tuesday condemned the bomb blast in Karachi that led to the death of four people, including three Chinese nationals, and called it a terrorist attack.

In a statement released by the Pakistan government, the administration ensured strict actions against perpetrators adding that its security agencies are probing the terrorist explosion.

We strongly condemn the reprehensible terrorist attack in Karachi which claimed innocent lives, including those of Chinese nationals working at the Confucius Institute. The Government and people of Pakistan extend their deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of victims who lost their lives in the incident, read the statement.

The law enforcement agencies are investigating the incident to apprehend the culprits and bring them to justice. Local authorities are also providing all possible assistance to the injured, it added.

Calling the attack a direct wound to the Pakistan-China relationship, the government added, the cowardly incident is a direct attack on the Pakistan-China friendship and ongoing cooperation. Pakistan and China are close friends and iron brothers. Pakistan attaches great importance to safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan.

Former PM Imran Khan reacts

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was recently ousted from power, also took to Twitter to condemn the terrorist attack in Karachi.

Strongly condemn the terrorist attack targeting Chinese teachers of Karachi University. This is yet another attack with a specific agenda of trying to undermine Pak-China strategic r'ship. We must ensure defeat of this foreign-backed agenda of our enemies.  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 26, 2022

"Strongly condemn the terrorist attack targeting Chinese teachers of Karachi University. This is yet another attack with a specific agenda of trying to undermine the Pak-China strategic partnership. We must ensure the defeat of this foreign-backed agenda of our enemies," wrote Khan.

About the attack, a burqa-clad woman suicide bomber struck a van inside the premises of the University of Karachi in Pakistan's financial capital, killing three Chinese nationals and their local driver on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the banned Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack that took place near China-built Confucius Institute - a non-profit institute teaching the Chinese language to local pupils in the university.

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Lviv, Ukraine/Kyiv: Russia told the world not to underestimate the considerable risks of nuclear war that it said it wanted to reduce and warned that conventional Western weapons were legitimate targets in Ukraine, where battles raged in the east.

"The risks now are considerable," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russia`s state television according to a transcript of an interview on the ministry`s website.

"I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it."

Lavrov had been asked about the importance of avoiding World War Three and whether the current situation was comparable to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, a low point in U.S-Soviet relations.

Russia had lost its "last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine," Ukraine`s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter after Lavrov`s interview. "This only means Moscow senses defeat."

During a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised more military aid for Ukraine.

The U.S. State Department on Monday used an emergency declaration to approve the potential sale of $165 million worth of ammunition to Ukraine. The Pentagon said the package could include artillery ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers.

Moscow`s ambassador to Washington told the United States to halt shipments, warning Western weapons were inflaming the conflict.

Lavrov said: "NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war."

Russia`s two-month-old invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced over 5 million people to flee abroad.

Moscow calls its actions a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West says this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.

The United States is due to host an expected gathering of more than 40 countries this week for Ukraine-related defence talks that will focus on arming Kyiv, U.S. officials said.

Britain said all tariffs on goods coming into the country from Ukraine under an existing free trade deal will be axed and it would send new ambulances, fire engines, medical supplies and funding for health experts to help the emergency services.

WAR RAGES IN SOUTH, EAST

Russia has yet to capture any of the biggest cities. Its forces were forced to pull back from the outskirts of Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance.

"It is obvious that every day - and especially today, when the third month of our resistance has begun - that everyone in Ukraine is concerned with peace, about when it will all be over," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Monday.

"There is no simple answer to that at this time."

Having failed to take the capital Kyiv, Moscow last week launched a massive assault in an attempt to capture eastern provinces known as the Donbas, which if successful would link territory held by pro-Russian separatists in the east with the Crimea region that Moscow annexed in 2014.

Russia`s defence ministry said its missiles destroyed six facilities powering the railways that were used to deliver foreign weapons to Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region. Reuters could not verify the report.

The head of Ukraine`s state rail company said that one railway worker had been killed and four injured by Russian missile strikes on five Ukrainian railway stations on Monday.

Ukrainian forces have repelled five Russian attacks and killed just over 200 Russian servicemen, said the Ukrainian military command in the southern and eastern sectors.

Five tanks were also destroyed, along with eight armoured vehicles, it said in a statement

Reuters was not able to immediately verify the reports.

Russian forces were continuing on Monday to bomb and shell the vast Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where fighters are hunkered down in a city ravaged by a siege and bombardment, Ukrainian presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych said.

Moscow said it was opening a humanitarian corridor to let civilians out of the plant but Kyiv said no agreement had been reached.
Moscow: Russia's President Vladimir Putin says Moscow still hopes to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Ukraine, even as the fighting has continued. Speaking at a Kremlin meeting Tuesday (April 26) with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Putin noted that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators made what he described as a "serious breakthrough" in their talks in Istanbul, Turkey, last month.

He claimed, however, that the Ukrainian side later walked back on some of the tentative agreements reached in Istanbul.

In particular, Putin said Ukrainian negotiators have changed their position on the issue of the status of Crimea and separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, offering to leave it for the countries' presidents to discuss. Putin charged that the shift in the Ukrainian stand makes it hard to negotiate a future deal.

Putin has demanded that Ukraine recognize Russia's sovereignty over Crimea and recognize independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as part of a future agreement on ending the hostilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that those issues could only be decided by a future nationwide vote.

During Tuesday's Kremlin meeting, Guterres criticized Russia's military action in Ukraine as a flagrant violation of its neighbor's territorial integrity. He also urged Russia to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped at a giant steel mill in Mariupol surrounded by the Russian forces.

Putin responded by claiming that the Russian forces have offered humanitarian corridors to civilians holed up at the Azovstal steel plant, charging that the Ukrainian defenders of the plant were using civilians as shields and not allowing them to leave.

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Moscow: The Russian military has warned it could strike Ukrainian decision-making centres in the Ukrainian capital and said wouldn't be stopped by the possible presence of Western advisers there.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday accused the UK of making statements encouraging Ukraine to use Western weapons to carry out strikes on the Russian territory, warning that if it happens the Russian military could retaliate by hitting government structures in Kyiv.

It directly pointed at UK Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, who told Times Radio that it was not necessarily a problem if Ukraine's British-donated weapons were used to hit sites on Russian soil.

The ministry said in a statement that the Russian armed forces are ready to deal retaliatory strikes with long-range precision-guided weapons on Kyiv centres that would make such decisions.

It noted that the presence of citizens of one of the Western countries in the Ukrainian decision-making centres won't necessarily pose a problem for Russia in making a decision to launch retaliatory action.

The Russian military so far has avoided striking presidential, government and military headquarters in Kyiv during its campaign in Ukraine that has entered its third month.

Meanwhile, a powerful secretary of Russia`s Security Council said on Tuesday that Western and Ukrainian government policy was leading toward the break-up of Ukraine. The comments from Nikolai Patrushev amounted to a warning that Russia`s war in Ukraine could lead to a carve-up of the country, for which Moscow would seek to pin the blame on its opponents.

In an interview with government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Patrushev - a key ally of President Vladimir Putin - said the United States had for years been trying to instil hatred for everything Russian in Ukrainians.

"However, history teaches that hatred can never become a reliable factor in national unity," Patrushev said. "If anything today unites the peoples living in Ukraine, it is only fear of the atrocities of nationalist battalions," Patrushev said - a reference to units of Ukraine`s armed forces that Moscow has branded as Nazis as part of its stated rationale for invading the country.

Therefore the result of Western and Kyiv policy could only be the disintegration of Ukraine into several states, he was quoted as saying. His comments, nearly nine weeks into the war, provided the latest indication that Moscow - despite saying at the outset that it had no intention to occupy Ukraine - is set on breaking up the country.

Having been beaten back in an initial attempt to storm Kyiv, Russian forces have regrouped for what Moscow says is a campaign to "liberate" the eastern Donbas region.
Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.

The call comes in the wake of Turkish diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis over Russia's war in Ukraine, including by hosting Ukrainian and Russian negotiators for talks in Istanbul late last month.

The Turkish presidency said in a statement on Tuesday that Erdogan proposed taking the Istanbul process to the level of leaders, a crucial threshold in the Russia-Ukraine negotiations. It sought to continue the positive progress of the Istanbul talks toward peace.

READ ALSO: Russia says danger of World War Three serious, real amid war with Ukraine

Talks stalled after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops of committing war crimes. Putin later said peace efforts were at a dead end.

Ankara, which maintains close ties to both Kyiv and Moscow, has presented itself as a neutral broker in a bid to end the fighting.

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RTHK: UN chief ready to save lives in Mariupol

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Russia's foreign minister on Tuesday that he was ready to fully mobilise the organisation's resources to save lives and evacuate people from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

"Thousands of civilians are in dire need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance, and many have evacuated," Guterres told a news conference in Moscow after talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"The United Nations is ready to fully mobilise its human and logistical resources to help save lives in Mariupol," he said, proposing coordinated work with the Red Cross to allow those holed up inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to leave.

Guterres said he was also concerned about "repeated reports of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and possible war crimes", adding that they called for an independent investigation.

Ukraine has accused Russian troops of committing atrocities when they retreated from towns outside the capital Kyiv. Moscow says the accusations are designed to derail peace talks or serve as a pretext for the West to impose more sanctions against it.

"We are extremely interested in finding ways in order to create the conditions for effective dialogue, create the conditions for a ceasefire as soon as possible, create the conditions for a peaceful solution," Guterres said.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour's military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-04-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
14:36 | Chachapoyas (Amazonas region), Apr. 26.









The government agency stated that the proposal is being reviewed by the Decentralized Culture Directorate (DDC) in Amazonas region.





Afterwards, the document will be forwarded to the Decentralized Directorate of the National Civil Defense Institute (Indeci) in said region for its opinion.





The Ministry of Culture reported that the newly-appointed head of the Decentralized Culture Directorate (DDC) in Amazonas, Jesus Esther Lozano Maldonado, performed a comprehensive inspection of the archeological monument last Friday, April 22.





During the inspection, Lozano focused on the affected area, following the perimeter wall collapse on April 10, situated in the eastern sector of the Southern Perimeter Wall to determine the appropriateness of reopening the monument to the public.





As a consequence of such wall collapse, visits to Kuelap have been suspended until visitors' safety is guaranteed.





Kuelap is Amazonas' and northeastern Peru's principal tourist attraction.





Various international publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal refer to it as an important destination that stands out above the rest for its prominent architectural beauty, as well as its privileged view and geography.





(END) NDP/MAO/RMB/MVB

The team of experts responsible for the Kuelap archaeological site has prepared a proposal to create a new internal tourist circuit, which seeks to guarantee visitors' safety and the protection of said monument situated in the rainforest region of Amazonas, the Ministry of Culture has reported.Publicado: 26/4/2022
?? En vivo | El presidente Pedro Castillo, junto al titular de la @CancilleriaPeru, participa en la ceremonia de presentacion de cartas credenciales de los embajadores concurrentes de nueve paises. https://t.co/R2m7te1cYd#SiempreConElPueblo
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. There is international pressure on the recognition of the Armenian genocide, but in order for more countries to recognize the Armenian genocide, more Armenians must work for it in their countries and put pressure on their governments, former member of the Parliament of Sweden Murad Artin said in an interview to ARMENPRESS, stating that it must be done with facts.

He emphasized that the Diaspora-Armenians should seek alliances with human right defenders, researchers, historians and politicians to push the process of recognition and condemnation.

It is shameful for the Turkish state apparatus to deny the blatant genocide of the Armenian people in 1915. Conversation and diplomacy are important, but we must find better strategies since the recognition of the genocide is about human rights. It is important to seek alliances with other ethnic groups, human rights defenders, parties that respect human rights, historians, researchers both in countries and internationally to exert pressure. Human rights must take precedence over trade relations with Turkey. The European Union has to put pressure on Turkey to stop denying the genocide, he said.

Murad Artin said that with the government that rules Turkey today, it will be difficult to meet with facts. But there are many democratic forces and ordinary people in Turkey who want to come to terms with their history and want to look for truths. As democrats, we must work with these forces and give them all their support to come to power and change their policy of denial, he added.

Recognition of genocide is a part of human rights that is also universal and should never be negotiated away. We who care about human rights should never compromise on that matter, we must continue to fight for the recognition of the Armenian genocide. The struggle for democratic freedom and rights is important for many countries, organizations, politicians and ordinary people, therefore we must always invoke them no matter what geopolitical situation we are in, he noted.

Touching upon the current dialogue between Armenia and Turkey, the former Swedish MP said normalization of relations between countries should never prevent talking about human rights, it should never prevent dealing with history and the past - otherwise one can never move forward.

I have absolutely no objection to the countries as Armenia and Turkey having good relations, but one should not negotiate away the genocide, one cannot close one's eyes to the crime against humanity that the young Turks have committed against the Armenians and other Christian groups. It is good that the countries can now approach, but that it is important that the issue of the genocide of 1915 is included in those discussions. Otherwise, this unresolved conflict will be like a boil over the peoples. Recognition of the genocide would facilitate negotiations and free the Turkish people from Erdogan's history denial, Murad Artin said.

Asked what actions other than resolutions and calls the international community should take, Mr. Artin said that the international community must be able to punish those who commit these crimes against humanity.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague must be able to operate freely and without endorsements from superpowers. Criminals must be investigated, prosecuted and punished, regardless of the country. But it is not enough with sanctions and punishments of those who commit crimes against humanity, instead of talking about globalization which means that companies unite across borders, we must start talking about internationalization which means that - in addition to companies - also unions and social movements close together, he said.

Interview by Anna Gziryan
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Member of Parliament Vladimir Vardanyan (Civil Contract Party) and delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) delivered a speech at PACE condemning Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglus Grey Wolves salute in Uruguay directed at an Armenian demonstration demanding recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

In his speech, Vardanyan said that the Gray Wolves radical terrorist organization is responsible for a series of terroristic attacks and other crimes committed against Armenians, Kurds, other minorities, an organization which is allegedly connected to the assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II.

April 24 Armenians all over the World were commemorating the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide organized and perpetrated by the Ottoman authorities in such cruel and inhuman manner that the international community was obliged to invent a new term for qualification of such international outrages  crimes against humanity. Despite the fact that the consequences of the Armenian genocide are still echoing within all the Armenian community and despite the fact that even today 107 years later this issue is still quite sensitive for all of us, the Republic of Armenia from the very beginning of its independence has declared its policy of normalization of relations with Turkey without any precondition. We are consecutively following this path and reiterating our willingness to normalize bilateral relations. But are our counterparts as sincere in this process as we are? I would like to show you something. This is a sign of Bozkurt, so called Grey Wolves, a radical terrorist organization responsible for a series of terroristic attacks and other crimes committed against Armenians, Kurds, other minorities, an organization which is allegedly connected to the assassination attempt of John Paul II, the Pope and so on. You may ask why I am showing you this sign and what is the interrelation between my speech and progress report. No dear colleagues, I am not deviating from the discussion. We are discussing the progress of our Organization, progress of fulfillment of obligations, progress in protecting our values. I am showing this to you because just two days ago Mr. Mavlut Chavusoglu, the incumbent Turkish Foreign Minister has shown this to the participants of the peaceful demonstration in Uruguay demanding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. It is strange that a high level European diplomat and politician promotes such a sign. It becomes even more unacceptable when it is done by a former President of the Parliamentary Assembly, a person who here in this hemicycle spoke about democracy, human rights and rule of law. The person whom all of us gave support and right to represent us all and disseminate ideas of the Council of Europe and protect the European values allows himself to promote such a radical symbol.

Its also worth mentioning that this kind of actions endanger the possible confidence building process among the two societies.

Here I would like to once again state clearly that we in Armenia are very devoted to the European values and we are continuing to do our best to normalize Turkish-Armenian relations expressing hope that our Turkish counterparts will have enough will to open the mutual border and establish normal relations with Armenia and contribute to the de-escalation and building of sustainable peace in our region, Vardanyan said.

During a visit to Uruguay on April 23, Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu mocked demonstrators in Montevideo who gathered to demand recognition of the Armenian Genocide on the eve of the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

In a video posted on Twitter Cavusoglu is seen smiling and making the gesture of the ultranationalist Turkish Grey Wolves organization, taunting the demonstrators.

Cavusoglu's move was condemned by the President and Foreign Minister of Uruguay.
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. Member of Parliament of Armenia from the opposition Armenia faction Armen Gevorgyan delivered remarks at the PACE spring session, touching upon the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and Turkeys denial of the Armenian Genocide.

Gevorgyan said that the Armenian Genocide is a crime against humanity that is denied by two members of the Council of Europe  Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The International Association of Genocide Scholars calls the denial the last stage of the crime of genocide. There is also another thing that nowadays Azerbaijan, with the support of Turkey, denies the right of Armenians to live in their historic homeland.

After the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan in autumn 2020, the Armenian people in the Republic of Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh are facing a dilemma: either to continue the path of their independent development and dignified life by preserving their national identity, or repeat the terrible fate of our compatriots who have lived in a region called Nakhijevan that is now part of Azerbaijan.

Within 70 years in Soviet Azerbaijan, the entire Armenian population of Nakhijevan has been completely eliminated. The Armenian cultural and religious heritage of Nakhijevan has been totally destroyed. Now Azerbaijan is trying to force the Artsakh-Armenians to suffer the same fate, Gevorgyan said.

The MP called on the Council of Europe to send a clear and strong signal to all sides of the Karabakh conflict that the international community will continue supporting the three main principles of the conflict settlement, set by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

One of that principles - the non-use of force or threat of force, has been repeatedly violated and continues to be violated these days. Therefore, the international community cannot demand the Armenian people of Artsakh to live under the rule of Azerbaijan, which is conducting a state policy of ethnic cleansings against Armenians. A country which has unleashed three large-scale wars against them within three decades. A country which is trying to rewrite the history of the region to deny the pure existence of the Armenian heritage and culture. And finally, a country that is not ashamed to publicly announce also its territorial claims against Armenia, Armen Gevorgyan said.

The lawmaker believes that peace in the region has no alternative.

Mutually acceptable solutions are necessary for long-term and stable peace, he said.

Gevorgyan also commented on Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglus Grey Wolves salute in Uruguay directed against Armenians.

It was shock to see that Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu, a person who chaired this Assembly for two years, is communicating with the descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors with gestures of a well-known Turkish nationalist terrorist organization. Such behavior must be unacceptable and condemned by the Council of Europe. I call on the representatives of Turkey to start working with the same diligence towards the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, he said.
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. On April 26, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Alen Simonyan received the delegation led by the Chair of the Syria-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Peoples Assembly of the Syrian Arab Republic Lucy Iskenian, the parliaments press service reported.

Welcoming the guests, the RA NA President highlighted the historical brotherhood with friendly Syria and the availability of multi-polar ties, underlining the practical role of the Syrian Armenian community.

Touching upon the presence of the deputies of the Armenian origin in the parliament of Syria, Alen Simonyan welcomed their involvement also in the Friendship Group with Armenia.

Thanking the RA NA President for the warm reception, the Head of the Syria-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group conveyed to Alen Simonyan the address of the Speaker of the Peoples Assembly of the Syrian Arab Republic Hammouda Sabbagh, which reaffirmed the mutual trust and cooperation formed between the parliaments.

The parties touched upon the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Syria, in this context stressing the implementation of the joint programmes of the parliaments of the two countries. Both sides recorded the inter-parliamentary cooperation in strengthening of the bases of the mutually beneficial cooperation.

At the meeting the situation in the region, in the post-war Artsakh, as well as the mission carried out by the Armenian peacekeepers in Syria were referred to.

At the end of the meeting the Syrian colleagues remembered the popular truth spread in their country that we answer to the faithfulness with faithfulness, underscoring that it has appeared as a result of the peace and mutual trust of the Armenians and Syrians.
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. President Vahagn Khachaturyan received today Ambassador of Brazil Agemar de Mendonca Sanctos, who is completing his diplomatic mission in Armenia, the Presidential Office said.

President Khachaturyan thanked the Ambassador for the efforts made aimed at strengthening and developing the mutual partnership between the two countries.

The sides highly valued the Armenian-Brazilian bilateral relations, highlighting the role of the Armenian community in the strengthening of these ties.

The Ambassador said he leaves Armenia with the best impressions.

The President wished success to the foreign diplomat in his future activities.




YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. On April 26, on the margins of the working visit of the Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan to India, the Armenian-Indian business forum was held in New Delhi. At the opening ceremony of the event, the Foreign Minister delivered remarks.

Honourable guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to welcome you all to the Armenian-Indian business forum and I thank the Confederation of Indian Industry for hosting us today.

It is the first time that such numerous and solid Armenian business and investment delegations travel to India to meet and greet their counterparts, establish mutually beneficial cooperation, collaborate to overcome the challenges of todays world and create value for our societies. Indeed, today we open a new page in the history of Armenian-Indian economic cooperation and let me say, revive excellent traditions of trade, development, and shared prosperity between our nations.

Throughout the years, India has become an important economic partner of ours. At the same time, there is a huge untapped potential, for the utilization of which we must work together.

India - the worlds sixth-largest country by nominal GDP and the fastest-growing economy among major powers, can become a land of unlimited opportunities for Armenian businessmen, technologists, and startupers. In its turn, Armenia, being situated at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, has a lot to offer to India. Armenia's membership in the Eurasian Economic Union with a population of around 200 mln and 1.8 trillion US dollars GDP, Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with the European Union, as well as the GSP regime with the US, Japan, Canada, Norway and Switzerland, are tangible advantages in the investment attractiveness of Armenia and for effective cooperation with foreign partners.

I would also like to note that our Government is continuously undertaking the necessary steps to ensure a positive business environment in Armenia so that businessmen, entrepreneurs, and investors can have favourable conditions to work and create. In this regard, I would like to mention the ambitious reforms aimed at the promotion of rule of law, the fight against corruption, and the establishment of a free, truly competitive economy and market relations.

Dear friends,

Armenia and India can establish mutually beneficial cooperation in nearly every sphere of the economy, but especially high-tech, IT, education, tourism, aviation, logistics, and pharmaceuticals are among the most promising and forward-looking areas for partnership. Today all the best and the brightest people from these spheres are gathered here, hence I am sure that the success of todays event is guaranteed.

In conclusion, dear participants, I wish you productive and interesting work. And I think this is the very correct time for politicians to step back and give the floor to businesses.



Thank you, FM Mirzoyan said in the speech published by the foreign ministry.

Representatives of the Confederation of Indian Industry, the director of the Enterprise Armenia Foundation, the director of the Tumo Creative Technology Center and others delivered presentations and remarks during the business forum.
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. Member of Parliament of Armenia, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of Foreign Relations and member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Eduard Aghajanyan delivered a speech at the PACE spring session.

In his remarks, Aghajanyan said that Azerbaijan exploited the fact that the international community was pre-occupied with the Ukrainian crisis and undertook blatant actions in breach of European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Below is the full speech:

Indeed, the crisis in Ukraine and its humanitarian consequences are of utmost importance for the Council of Europe at this point.

Unfortunately, as one could anticipate, Azerbaijan took advantage of the total preoccupation of international community with the Ukrainian crisis, undertaking blatant actions in breach of European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

More specifically, based on the Governments request, the European Court of Human Rights indicated interim measures by calling on Azerbaijan to refrain from actions that would contribute to breaches of civilians Convention rights and to respect their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Despite the foregoing, even after the indication of the interim measures by the Court, Azerbaijan has continued to violate its obligations under the Convention.

As such, Since February 2022, Azerbaijani armed forces have continuously terrorized the population of the bordering villages of Artsakh through various criminal acts of physical threat and psychological pressure, through direct, threatening and intimidating statements addressed to the civilian population using loudspeakers. In regularly played statements the population of bordering villages are being told to stop farming and leave their homes, otherwise being threatened by physical reprise of their families.

During the same period, On March 7, the gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh was disrupted, leaving over 150,000 people without heating, with 1.5 meters of snow on the ground and at an unprecedented freezing condition.

With much international pressure, Azerbaijan restored the gas supply on March 19 only to cut it out again after 2 days.

Dear colleagues, all of the abovementioned is a classical example of an act of ethnic cleansing. And while on international platforms, Azerbaijani officials often state that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is over and that Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh can live peacefully in their homes, on the ground Azerbaijan is attempting to force a final round of ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, taking advantage of international communitys distraction by the Ukrainian crisis.

Despite this, Armenia remains committed to an agenda of peace in the South Caucasus and sees the final and peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship.
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. On April 26, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan met with heads of parliamentary factions in the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, the Artsakh Foreign Ministry said in a news release.

A wide range of issues related to the recent regional developments, the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict and the foreign policy of Artsakh were discussed.

David Babayan stressed that the priority issues of the foreign policy agenda of Artsakh remained unchanged; the international recognition of the independence of Artsakh, comprehensive settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict with the full-fledged participation of official Stepanakert, as well as the expansion and consolidation of bilateral relations and preservation of the status of Artsakh as a geopolitical actor.

The Minister noted the importance of maintaining the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora trinity and the perception of Artsakh as a supreme value by the Armenian people in the context of providing effective solutions to the aforementioned issues.

Minister Babayan also highly appreciated the role of parliamentary diplomacy as an effective means of achieving foreign policy goals.
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan held a meeting on April 26 with NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy and NATO Secretary Generals Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina, the Ministry of Defense said in a press release.

Issues related to regional security were discussed at the meeting.

The Minister of Defense of Armenia presented to Colomina the security situation and existing challenges after the 44-day war in Artsakh.

Papikyan and Colomina also discussed issues related to international security and Armenia-NATO cooperation.
YEREVAN, 26 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 26 April, USD exchange rate down by 3.38 drams to 463.14 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 5.48 drams to 495.05 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 6.39 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 4.16 drams to 588.79 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 904.13 drams to 28217.11 drams. Silver price down by 15.00 drams to 350.15 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.
YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina, ARMENPRESS was infomred from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Welcoming Mr. Colominas visit, the Prime Minister noted that Armenia attaches importance to the partnership with NATO, especially within the framework of peacekeeping missions and is interested in deepening it. Touching upon the regional situation, Nikol Pashinyan noted that it is quite tense, and Armenia is taking steps to resolve the existing problems, considering necessary the support of international partners to that process.

Javier Colomina, thanking for the reception, noted that Armenia is an important partner for the NATO and conveyed the greetings of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to the Prime Minister of Armenia. He stressed that the North Atlantic Alliance highly appreciates the activities of Armenian peacekeepers in the Kosovo peacekeeping mission, and his visit is an opportunity to discuss the prospects of partnership, as well as regional developments. Mr. Colomina noted that NATO is committed to peace and stability in the South Caucasus and is ready to assist in that process.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the Armenia-NATO partnership. The sides also touched upon regional and international security issues and the situation around Nagorno Karabakh.

The Prime Minister presented Armenia's positions on the delimitation and demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the unblocking of communication routes, and the Armenia-Turkey dialogue process. Nikol Pashinyan referred to the agreements reached as a result of the meetings mediated by international partners and stressed once again the importance of the international community's targeted response to actions aimed at destabilizing the region.
YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. On April 26, President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with a group of students of the Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia headed by School Director, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Vahe Gabrielyan, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press servic eof the Artsakh President;s Office.

During the meeting, the Head of the State presented the issues facing Artsakh in the domestic, foreign, socio-economic spheres, the main directions of the policy pursued, as well as the latest regional and global developments.

President Harutyunyan also answered the questions of the participants. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Artsakh Republic David Babayan and other officials partook in the meeting.
YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired a consultation at the Government, during which the state program for the development of education in Armenia until 2030 was discussed, which was amended based on the results of the previous consultation, as well as the main provisions of the draft law on Higher Education and Science, ARMENPRESS was infomred from the Office of the Prime Minister.

In particular, reference was made to the changes made in the above-mentioned state program as a result of amendments, the vision and goals of the program. The officials stressed that the main goal of the program is to provide a competitive education that meets international standards.

It was noted that the program was developed in cooperation with international partners.

In the context of presenting the main provisions of the draft law on "Higher Education and Science", the provision of quality education by the universities, their compliance with the clear standards to be still defined, and the consistent solution of the existing problems in the university system were emphasized.

A number of issues related to the licensing and accreditation processes of the universities, the future activity of the departmental universities, the training of qualified personnel meeting the professional requirements of the labor market, the development of a new complete list of professions were touched upon. Various suggestions and observations were presented, around which an exchange of views took place.

Prime Minister Pashinyan specially emphasized the implementation of consistent work aimed at improving the quality of education, noting that a person should be able to satisfy the needs based on the education he received. A person should be endowed with knowledge and skills from childhood, so that he can build a dignified life in his own country. We must rule out a situation in which any student with progress is dismissed from the university due to financial problems," said the Prime Minister, considering it necessary to have a clear plan of development measures for universities, which will solve the existing problems in a targeted way and will foster the development of the higer education system. At the same time, the head of the government attached importance to the existence of a research component in the universities, the link between science and higher education. "The future of our country depends on the development of education, it is of strategic importance for us," said the Prime Minister, considering it necessary to continue the discussions on the state program for the development of education until 2030 and draft law on "Higher Education and Science" for finalising them.
The Chinese authorities are not seeking World War III and are in favor of resolving the conflict in Ukraine through diplomacy, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday, Tass informs.

April 26, 2022, 14:31 China not interested in World War III, favors peace in Ukraine  Foreign Ministry

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 26, ARTSAKHPRESS: "No one wants to see World War III, it is necessary to support the process of promoting peace talks [between Russia and Ukraine]," he said at a briefing, responding to a Western journalist's question about how the Chinese foreign ministry assesses Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's recent words about the threat of World War III.

According to Wang Wenbin, the armed conflict in Ukraine should not be allowed to become protracted. He pointed to the need to prevent negative consequences that could result in the Ukrainian conflict affecting not only Europe but the entire world.

"We hope that all parties concerned will show equanimity and prevent escalation," the Foreign Ministry spokesman concluded.
Statements made by Polish authorities clearly indicate Warsaws intent to send its forces to Ukraine under NATO peacekeeping flags, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Russian TV Monday, TASS reports.

April 26, 2022, 17:38 Poland Wants to Send Its Forces to Ukraine as NATO Peacekeepers: Lavrov

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 26, ARTSAKHPRESS: Statements made by Polish authorities clearly indicate Warsaws intent to send its forces to Ukraine under NATO peacekeeping flags, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Russian TV Monday, TASS reports.

"When shipping weapons and basically advertising their efforts in this area, all leaders state that sending NATO troops [to Ukraine] is not an option. Except for Poland, whose Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki proposed some peacekeeping operation in Ukraine, being clearly interested in sending its servicemen there under peacekeeping flags," Lavrov said.

The US and other Western states seek to devalue the veto power in the UN Security Council, but it is a dangerous trend, Russian Foreign Minister said.

"Right now, the Americans and other Western states are trying to devalue this veto power by delegating UN Security Council prerogatives to UN General Assembly, where, [] by twisting arms, blackmailing, threats, up to threats against delegations bank accounts, places of education of their children, [] they gain a forced, forcefully achieved majority. This is a dangerous trend, because the Security Council, with its five permanent members that have veto power, is the last remaining island of international law," he said.
President Macron won by a fairly comfortable margin of 58.2 per cent to 41.8 per cent for Ms Le Pen

The French presidential elections last Sunday had more than the normal significance for many reasons. Under the two-stage system, the run-off between the two leading candidates had thrown up extreme right-wing populist Marine Le Pen against incumbent President Emmanuel Macron. The election was held against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

President Macron won by a fairly comfortable margin of 58.2 per cent to 41.8 per cent for Ms Le Pen, but it was smaller than when he had won the presidency for the first time in 2017. However, this is the first time in two decades in France that a President has been re-elected. Since Charles de Gaulle created the Fifth Republic, only two other Presidents have been elected to multiple terms  Socialist Francois Mitterrand in 1988 and Gaullist Jacques Chirac in 2002.

However, the fact that Ms Le Pen had garnered 13.3 million votes cannot be ignored by the winner, who was seen as lacking in empathy and perceived as a technocratic, distant figure. France remains deeply divided and needs healing. It is estimated that 70 per cent of affluent people voted for Mr Macron, while 65 per cent of the poor went with Ms Le Pen. Even more significantly, around 70 per cent of the 18-24 age group voted for leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came third in the first round and got eliminated.

The whole of Europe appeared to heave a sigh of relief after President Macrons win as a Le Pen victory would have been a setback for multiple reasons. Ms Le Pen has been known to lean towards Russian President Vladimir Putin, and sceptical towards both the European Union and Nato. Her victory could have dealt a death blow to the idea of Europe, which was already severely damaged by Brexit, after the British decided to leave the EU.

US President Joe Biden, in his congratulatory message to Mr Macron, put his finger on the other important factor. He said Mr Macrons win will help to defend democracy. The victory earlier of Viktor Orban as President of Hungary had raised concerns in Europe about populists capturing more space in the EU. Mr Orban claimed after his win: The whole world has seen tonight in Budapest that Christian democratic politics, conservative civic policies, and patriotic politics have won. We are telling Europe that this is not the past. This is the future.

Coincidentally, in Slovenia, a three-term populist Prime Minister Janez Jensa was also defeated by an alliance committed to liberal democracy.

From the foreign policy perspective, Ms Le Pen as President would have caused disunity in Natos collective stand on firmly opposing Russias aggression on Ukraine. Ms Le Pen has always been an unabashed fan of President Putin.

Unsurprisingly, a Hungarian bank lent money to Ms Le Pens party for the French election. The populists were holding hands to spread their control over more and more EU nations. France is holding the presidency of the EU till end June. It is expected that Mr Macron will steer the EU towards an oil embargo on Russia.

Mr Macrons personality and style have invited analysis as a lead-up to the election. The Economist magazine summed it up as follows: He is solitary, he decides everything alone. That approach covers policy, diplomacy, appointments, etc. This may make Mr Macron appear like a distant emperor, but it helps him deliver on pledges in his election manifesto. He could act, sometimes not successfully, to loosen the labour market, cut taxes, end the pension privileges of railway workers, and to encourage investment. He also sometimes succeeded when defying the conventional approach. He reopened schools two months into the Covid breakout. He imposed a Covid Pass that most people felt would not work, but saw vaccination rates rise above the levels in other EU nations.

So, what does the second Macron presidency mean beyond Europe? His basic vision will be same, encompassing multilateralism, the rule of law, Nato and a commitment to European strategic autonomy. The last may be contested as most European nations are happy to have the US involved with European security after the Ukraine war. India has, since the days of Indira Gandhi, felt comfortable in dealing with France due to its being half-in and half-out of the European alliance system. When India conducted its nuclear tests in May 1998, the French foreign minister was in India. France protested the least out of the five UN Security Council permanent members. That is why, besides Russia, for big defence platforms like Air Force planes, India used France to reduce dependence on a single nation. India will be more comfortable with a strategically independent France, even within Europe.

Mr Macron may now try to be more collegial in running France but by temperament he is a technocratic doer. On environment, he will push harder as not only does he believe in it, but he also needs to woo younger voters on the Left and the Greens. His diplomacy often leaves his partners in EU scratching their heads. He has been keeping a channel open to Mr Putin and may try peace-making again.

India can feel reassured that a known pair of hands are at Elysee Palace to keep Indo-French relations on an even keel. France is an important source for technology in the defence, aerospace, and civil nuclear sectors.

Mr Macrons centrist positioning holds lessons for India. Since 2015, 245 people have died in Islamist terror attacks, some conducted brutally in public. He has still not let the extremist right-wing hijack French politics. True, Ms Le Pen has increased her vote percentage, but countering a populist leader who uses a mix of bigotry and xenophobia is no cakewalk. Mr Macrons personality-based, highly centralised, pledge-oriented politics, neither left nor right, can be compared to Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party. Mr Macron also instituted school reforms, which halved the class size and introduced school breakfasts.

Mr Macron is also looking at some populist measures that provide relief to the common man like gasoline rebate. He probably realises the danger of governance from within a bubble. He has elections to the National Assembly coming up in June. If the Opposition seizes control there, he will find it more difficult to implement his agenda. France was angry but has voted with its head, realising that a Le Pen presidency would cause great disruption in times of war and pandemic, that Mr Macron handled well. Punjab voted with its heart and may yet regret it. Meanwhile, India needs to search for a Macron of its own.
The heightened fiscal and external risks as well as the challenging political situation pose significant uncertainty to the economic outlook

Sri Lankan university students march during a protest over the country's worst economic crisis in decades in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 24, 2022. Banner in Sinhalese reads, "lower taxes and prices" (AP/Eranga Jayawardena)

Colombo: More Sri Lankans will slip into poverty this year, the World Bank has warned, as it urged the debt-ridden island nation to undertake urgent policy measures to address the high levels of debt, trim the fiscal deficit, and mitigate the adverse impacts on the poor and vulnerable.

Sri Lanka is currently in the throes of an unprecedented economic turmoil since its independence from Britain in 1948.

The crisis is caused in part by a lack of foreign currency, which has meant that the country cannot afford to pay for imports of staple foods and fuel, leading to acute shortages and very high prices.

Around 11.7 per cent of people in Sri Lanka earn less than USD 3.20 per day, the international poverty line for lower-middle income countries, up from 9.2 per cent in 2019, the Bank said in its Spring Update on the South Asian region.

The other reason for the increase in poverty rates in the country was because the government's Samurdhi programme, which covers around 1.2 million poor families in the country, remained inadequate.

Less than half of the poor were beneficiaries of the Samurdhi, Sri Lanka's social safety net programme, and benefit amounts remain largely inadequate, it said.

Due to the pandemic, the Sri Lankan economy has contracted by 3.6 per cent in 2020, it stated.

The World Bank's April 2022 update of Macro Poverty Outlook for Sri Lanka asserted that the heightened fiscal and external risks as well as the challenging political situation pose significant uncertainty to the economic outlook and the country faces an external financing gap in 2022 and beyond.

Sri Lanka's economic outlook is highly uncertain due to the fiscal and external imbalances. Urgent policy measures are needed to address the high levels of debt and debt service, reduce the fiscal deficit, restore external stability, and mitigate the adverse impacts on the poor and vulnerable, the international development lender said in its twice-a-year regional update.

The necessary adjustments may adversely affect growth and impact poverty initially, but it will correct the significant imbalances, subsequently providing the foundation for stronger and sustainable growth and access to international financial markets, it added.

Last week, the World Bank readied a USD 10 million package to Sri Lanka for the purchase of medicines and other essentials.

Sri Lanka needs at least USD 4 billion to tide over its mounting economic woes, and talks with international institutions such as the World Bank as well as countries like China and Japan for financial assistance have been going on.

Sri Lankan officials led by Finance Minister Ali Sabry were in Washington last week to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

India has agreed to extend an additional USD 500 million credit line to help Sri Lanka import fuel.

India has already agreed to defer USD 1.5 billion in import payments that Sri Lanka needs to make to the Asian Clearing Union.

Last week, the Sri Lankan government said it would temporarily default on USD 35.5 billion in foreign debt as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine made it impossible to make payments to overseas creditors.

Thousands of demonstrators have hit the streets since April 9, clamoring for the removal of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, blaming him for the gross mismanagement of the economy.
By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU (Reuters) -Ukraine accused Moscow on Tuesday of trying to drag Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria into its war on Kyiv after authorities in the Moscow-backed region said they had been targeted by a series of attacks.

Authorities in Transdniestria, an unrecognised sliver of land bordering southwestern Ukraine, said that explosions had damaged two radio masts that broadcast in Russian and that one of its military units had been attacked.

It provided few details, but blamed Ukraine, raising its "terrorist" threat level to red and introducing checkpoints around its towns.

"The traces of these attacks lead to Ukraine", Russian news agency TASS quoted Vadim Krasnoselsky, the self-styled president of Transdniestria, as saying. "I assume that those who organised this attack have the purpose of dragging Transdniestria into the conflict."

Reuters could not independently verify the accounts of the attacks.

The Kremlin, which has troops and peacekeepers in the region, said it was seriously concerned.

Ukraine fears the region could be used as a launch pad for new attacks. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy blamed Moscow, saying Russia was showing Moldova what to expect if it continued to support Kyiv.

"We have seen that another step is being planned by the Russian Federation ... it is clear why, really, to destabilize the situation in the region," he told a news conference with the visiting head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Ukraine "condemns the desperate attempts to draw the Transdniestrian region of Moldova into the full-scale war against Ukraine," the foreign ministry said earlier.

It noted that the incidents followed recent comments from Russia about extending its reach in the region.

Moldova, which is sensitive to any sign of worsening security in the enclave, called an emergency security council meeting after the reports.

"From the information we have at this moment, these escalation attempts stem from factions within the Transdniestrian region that are pro-war forces and interested in destabilising the situation in the region," President Maia Sandu told a news conference.

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She said the Moldovan security council had recommended stepping up the combat readiness of forces, increasing the number of patrols and checks near its border with Transdniestria and monitoring critical infrastructure more closely.

Russia has had troops permanently based in Transdniestria since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

KREMLIN CONCERN

Last week, a senior Russian military official said the second phase of what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine included a plan to take full control of southern Ukraine and improve its access to Transdniestria.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow was following events in Transdniestria closely.

Later on Tuesday, the Russian foreign ministry said that Moscow wanted to avoid a scenario in which it had to intervene in Transdniestria, the RIA news agency reported.

Moldova's Sandu described the situation as "complex and tense," but said she had no plans to hold direct talks about it with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Washington was looking at the cause of recent violence in Transdniestria, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

"Not really sure what that's all about, but it's something that we will stay focused on," Austin said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged "all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions that could escalate tensions" in the region, U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said.

(Additional reporting by Luiza Ilie, Michelle Nichols, Phil Stewart and David Ljunggren; Writing by Tom Balmforth and Alessandra Prentice, Editing by Timothy Heritage, Angus MacSwan and Tomasz Janowski)
Two visitors pose on a carousel in Brighton, England, on 31 May 2021

Business leaders have urged the prime minister to make this year's extra bank holiday marking the Queen's Platinum Jubilee permanent.

In an open letter, the CBI, UK Hospitality and a host of well-known brands said a "thank holiday" would honour the monarch and public service.

They argued that the new holiday would provide an economic boost after Covid.

Research by PwC also says government figures have overestimated the cost of a new bank holiday by about 500m.

This year's extra day off is set to take place on 3 June.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, signatories said that making the holiday permanent would "provide a moment every year for individuals and communities to come together, to thank those who have contributed in ways big and small to making our country a better place to live".

They included the bosses of Siemens and Punch Pubs and the chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale, as well as investor and entrepreneur Deborah Meaden, who is leading the campaign.

The Dragons' Den star said the move would provide "the country with a social and economic stimulus we need after a difficult few years".

Any decision to make the extra bank holiday permanent would be taken by ministers at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (Beis), and there are no plans to make such a move.

Ministers are concerned that an extra bank holiday would come at a significant cost to the UK economy.

It comes as research by PwC commissioned for the campaign suggests that the government's existing figures have previously overestimated the potential cost of a new bank holiday.

Government modelling would put the cost of an extra bank holiday at 1.36bn, PwC says, taking into account the impact on business of closures, disruption to production schedules, and premium payments to staff working on the bank holiday. However, PwC has estimated the cost to be about 831m.

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How are bank holidays created?

Bank holidays are created under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, or are created by royal proclamation - that is, by the Queen, who acts on government advice.

The department responsible for bank holidays is the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Bank holidays are not actually statutory holidays, although most workers do get the day off.

Read more: Nine things you might not know about bank holidays

PwC points out that social positives might have been missed out, and that sectors such as retail and hospitality, which were badly affected during the pandemic, would benefit from an uplift in demand.

The findings also suggest that any knock-on costs would be lower if the new bank holiday were scheduled for a Friday because fewer hours are worked that day on average.

England and Wales currently have eight bank holidays annually, in comparison with the European Union average of 11.

But in many countries if a bank holiday falls at the weekend, workers are not entitled to an additional day off. So in practice workers don't always enjoy as many holidays as the officially listed days suggest.

Table comparing bank holidays across European countries

According to analysis by Visit England of the 2019 August Bank Holiday, about a third of people used the opportunity to visit friends or family, or go out for a meal.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said that the sector would be "ready to embrace this important tribute", although opening hours may be restricted during a new bank holiday and businesses might need to find additional staffing cover.

The campaign has also been backed by the TUC, Iceland and the Royal Voluntary Service.

The trade union previously called for four additional bank holidays per year, describing the current number as "stingy".

At the time, the Department for Business said that the cost to the economy was "considerable", even if certain sectors might see additional income.
Auburn Orthopedic Specialists is now offering a non-operative option for arthritis knee pain, and a treatment prior to knee replacement to help with post-operative pain, reducing the need for narcotics.

Drs. Brian D. Tallerico and Steven C. Kieb, an orthopedic surgeon and an orthopedic physician assistant, are using Iovera technology to administer controlled doses of cold through a portable, handheld device. Using the body's natural response to cold, the FDA-cleared technology can block sensory nerves from sending pain signals. Pain relief with Iovera is immediate and can last up to 90 days, the hospital said in a news release.

"This is a simple outpatient procedure, and the Iovera safely and effectively allows patients with knee pain to leave the office experiencing less pain than they had when they walked in. Nothing is injected into the body, so there are no systemic side effects," Tallerico said. "The treatment is done in the office and is minimally invasive with no sedation."

Kieb said the technology should lead to 85% of knee replacement patients being able to go narcotic-free after surgery.

"I am excited about this new technology. This is another way Auburn Community Hospital is investing in new technology to care for patients, while also playing a role in addressing the opioid epidemic in our area," said Scott Berlucchi, the hospital's president and CEO.

For more information, contact Auburn Orthopedic Specialists, 77 Nelson St., Auburn, at (315) 567-0750 or visit auburnhospital.org.

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The Auburn YMCA-WEIU has strengthened our community for over 163 years by empowering youth and encouraging healthy living. Your Y is more than a place to work out  its a community of men, women and children from all walks of life. From volleyball to volunteerism, lunges to learning the alphabet, squats to learning to swim or skate. The Y helps our community become stronger every day.

The Y is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) charity that works side by side with our neighbors every day to make sure that everyone, regardless of age, income or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive. One of the ways we do that is by providing financial assistance to children, adults and families who may be unable to afford a membership or participation in our programs. The Y counts on the generous donations from the public to ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate in our services.

The Auburn YMCA-WEIU recently launched its annual fundraising campaign. Our annual Support Campaign is about so much more than just raising money. It is about people. It is about community. It is about the families, children and seniors the Y serves every day. Their stories show the true impact of the Y and all that we do. Every dollar donated to the Y has a lasting impact on the people in the community we serve and provides an opportunity for us to move forward together to make a difference.

Chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure are nondiscriminatory and can strike anyone. The Y offers opportunities and programs that support the management of and aid in preventing obesity and contributing factors for such illnesses. Cancer is a lifechanging disease that takes a tremendous physical and emotional toll on those affected. Livestrong at the YMCA is a research-based program designed to help adult cancer survivors reclaim their total health. This program focuses on the emotional well-being of survivors and their families by providing a supportive community where people can connect during treatment and beyond.

Your financial support also helps to provide programs for children and families. Our Y Pals mentoring program makes a difference for elementary-age children by providing qualified high school and college mentors. Mentoring, at its core, guarantees young people that there is someone who cares about them, assures them they are not alone and makes them feel they matter.

Y before and after-school child care programs help keep children safe after school and provide peace of mind for working parents and fun safe spaces for children.

Our early education programs (preschool) create a safe, warm and caring environment where children learn and lives are enriched through day-to-day experience with committed and passionate adults and classroom friends. Our day and resident camps at Camp-Y-Owasco provide fun, enriching, carefree camp experiences while developing essential life skills and opportunities to make new friends.

The Y has a unique ability to provide opportunities to create healthy lifestyles. Your financial support assures that Y membership is accessible to all, regardless of their circumstances.

We all share a common desire to strengthen our community. On behalf of our local YMCA, I would like you to consider supporting our efforts in bringing the YMCA to all regardless of their ability to afford it.

As a staff member of the YMCA, I have seen how the Y is making a difference in the lives of youth and families in our community. Please join me by donating to the annual Support Campaign, join the cause, and together we can make a difference.

To make an online donation, visit auburnymca.org or mail a check to the Auburn YMCA, attn: Amy Wallner, 27 William St., Auburn, NY 13021.

Amy Wallner is branch executive director of the Auburn YMCA-WEIU, 27 William St., Auburn. For more information, visit auburnymca.org or call (315) 253-5304.

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Almost every day someone overdoses in Cayuga County on one of a variety of substances. Suicides have more than doubled since 2019. Fatal overdoses and completed suicides in women have disproportionately increased over the past three years. In 2021, we have also seen suicides shift toward younger ages. These trends in our county are deeply troubling and frightening. They're even more so because they do not follow national trends that showed a 3% drop in suicides in 2020.

We can speculate about the COVID-19 pandemics impact and how social isolation, economic uncertainties and reverting family responsibilities have disproportionately affected youth, young adults, women and people with substance use and mental health disorders. The data the HEALing Communities team has analyzed illustrates a county in crisis, one that does not seem like it will dissipate any time soon and needs to be addressed with urgency. Our community members are hurting and looking for different ways to cope. Their desperation shows in the amount of alcohol, pills and drugs they are consuming, and their actions when they feel they dont have any hope left.

Hope is just a call away

In its final grant year, the HEALing Communities team is providing funds to expand the 24/7 Cayuga Crisis Line (315) 251-0800 and make it available for individuals or loved ones experiencing any level of mental health and substance use crisis. A crisis is loosely defined as someone experiencing an emotional or substance-related stressor that cannot be managed without the intervention of a trained professional. The crisis line is now open to the public and all calls are received by trained crisis specialists who provide crisis support and triage to determine the most appropriate level of crisis response. Our local crisis response can include a referral to a local provider, phone support, deployment of a mobile crisis team and/or deployment of emergency services.

Mobile crisis specialists meet you where you are

Liberty Resources is the designated mobile crisis provider for central New York (Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties) with offices in Auburn. The benefit of a mobile crisis intervention is that most individuals can be stabilized in the community, be diverted from unnecessary hospital visits, and receive a direct linkage to recommended services in the community. In 2020 and 2021, Liberty Resources mobile crisis specialists provided close to 800 crisis interventions to over 500 youth and adults experiencing a mental-health-related crisis. Eight out of 10 folks were diverted from unnecessary hospitalizations or arrests. The mobile crisis team is composed of licensed therapists, certified alcohol and substance abuse providers, certified peer specialists and qualified mental health providers that come to the home or location of the youth or adult in crisis. The crisis team can provide crisis intervention, mental health first aid, safety planning, needs assessments and linkages to recommended supports and services, and short-term follow-up.

When a mobile crisis team arrives at your or a loved ones home, you can expect two trained professionals in plain clothes ready to empathetically listen, assess and support. The individual in crisis is not the only person the team connects with. It is a priority to identify existing and natural supports such as family members, friends, clergy, etc. It truly takes a village to support loved ones who are suffering. The more that are involved, the less strain it is on one particular person. The team will talk you through options to cope with the immediate trigger/stressor, develop a safety plan and make referrals and linkages to appropriate services. The team will also conduct follow-up calls and in-person visits to further assist with stabilization and community connections.

Start the conversation now

If you suspect someone is struggling, it can be daunting to broach the subject. Acknowledging in a nonjudgmental way that you feel something is not OK can go a long way in building trust. Here are some tips on how to start this conversation:

 I see that you are suffering and I am here for you.

 It seems like you are going through a difficult time. How can I help you?

 I am worried about you. Do you want to talk about what is going on?

 I care about you no matter what and we are going to get through this together.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! Come out and join in some local events that might make you smile. It'll be good for you.

Monika Salvage works for the Cayuga County Mental Health Department as the project director for the HEALing Communities Study, a multi-year, multi-state research study to reduce opioid overdose deaths through the implementation of evidence-based practices. Theresa Humennyj, a native of Auburn, is chair of the Cayuga County Community Services Board and the central New York regional director of Liberty Resources' mobile crisis team. She is an advocate for mental wellness and community cohesion. If you are interested in learning more about the HEALing Communities Study, or getting involved, please call (315) 253-1522 or email msalvage@cayugacounty.us.

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In court, Josh Riley is defending himself against fraud allegations that could get him kicked off the ballot in the 22nd Congressional District race.

Outside the courtroom, the Onondaga County Democratic Committee is facing criticism for what some party leaders and progressive groups believe is their involvement in the challenge.

Five Democratic county chairs in the 22nd district  John Hurley (Ontario County), Michael Lausell (Schuyler County), Liz Moran (Madison County), Tim Perfetti (Cortland County) and David Wood (Seneca County)  signed a letter accusing the Onondaga County Democratic Committee of efforts to "tilt the scales" in the primary process.

"The voters of CD22 deserve the opportunity to evaluate the candidates and vote for the one who best reflects their values," the chairs wrote. "Infusing this democratic process with libel and smears does not reflect well on your committee and may tarnish your preferred candidate."

Onondaga County Democrats have endorsed Francis Conole in the 22nd district. Conole, D-Syracuse, was viewed as the front-runner, but Riley's fundraising prowess has made him a legitimate contender in the primary.

Another concern for the five Democratic chairs is who filed the lawsuit against Riley. Diane Dwire, a member of the Onondaga County Democrats' executive committee, initially filed objections against Riley's petitions. She followed that up by filing the lawsuit alleging fraud was committed by members of Riley's campaign staff. Specifically, she claims that the staffers who signed petitions did not actually witness at least some of the signatures they collected.

The chairs called it "deeply disturbing" that a member of the party's executive committee would file the challenge.

Pamela Hunter, chairwoman of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee, told The Citizen that while the lawsuit was filed by a member of the committee, "it was not filed by the county committee itself."

"New York state election law is simple and clear: A designating petition to place someone on the ballot must be signed by the person who witnessed the voter signing the petition," she said. "The witness statement is the equivalent of a sworn affidavit. If the person who is signing the petition as a witness did not actually see the voter sign the petition, that person is committing a fraud and is violating the law."

Hunter added, "We must all work to foster confidence in our electoral process and fraud has no place in our electoral system. When a voter opens their door to sign a petition, they should be able to trust the process as outlined by the law."

Hunter's counterparts in other central New York counties were joined by six progressive groups  Greater Syracuse Democratic Club, Indivisible Cayuga, Indivisible Onondaga County, Indivisible Syracuse, Cazenovia Call to Action's steering committee and Tompkins County Progressives  in panning the Onondaga County Democrats' purported support for Dwire's lawsuit against Riley.

"What you are doing is beyond the bounds of standard political gamesmanship," they wrote. "Levying a charge of fraud against a campaign, a candidate and young campaign staffers is not the same as the petition signature challenge that is standard issue in today's politics. This is a transparent attempt to use intimidation tactics with potentially serious legal consequences to force a qualified and competitive candidate out of the race."

Conole, Riley and four other candidates  Vanessa Fajans-Turner, Sarah Klee Hood, Chol Majok and Sam Roberts  are vying for the Democratic nomination in the 22nd district. The primary election is scheduled for Tuesday, June 28.

The lawsuit against Riley isn't the only legal challenge that could affect the race. The state Court of Appeals will hear arguments in a lawsuit against the congressional district maps. Democrats in the state Legislature are accused of engaging in partisan gerrymandering. The court could rule that the maps must be redrawn, which could shake up the primary election contest in central New York.

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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April 27, 1997

(No paper April 26, 1997)

AUBURN  The Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency may soon have another address to call home.

Adding to its 65 State St. headquarters and buildings at 85 and 87 North St., the agency has agreed to purchase the former St. Francis of Assisi Catholic school building on Clark Street.

The agency will pay $160,000, all of which is funded by a low-interest loan made available through the city's Office of Planning and Economic Development.

An additional $150,000 loan from Cayuga Bank will go to renovate the 32,178-square-foot school and accompanying 5,504-square-foot church building.

"I am too excited," said Gloria Griffin, executive director of the agency. "I just feel like this will allow us to do so much more than we already have."

By Jan. 1, 1998, the agency plans to move its weatherization, emergency services, thrift shop, Head Start, housing and Take A Step Ahead (TASA) program to its new building.

Those programs are spread between the North Street facilities and the State Street building the agency bought about three years ago, Griffin said.

"When we purchased this, we thought it would be the answer," she said.

The new space will dramatically increase the number of individuals in need the agency will be able to serve, Griffin said.

 Compiled by David Wilcox

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ALBANY  Judges on New York's highest court peppered attorneys with sharp questions Tuesday as they considered whether to throw out new congressional district maps that Republicans say were unconstitutionally gerrymandered.

The Court of Appeals heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by a group of Republican voters challenging the legality of the new district maps, which were widely seen as likely to help Democrats gain seats in Congress and knock some incumbent Republicans out of office.

The court's decision  which could come at any time  could play a crucial role in the battle for control of the U.S. House, where Democrats now enjoy a thin majority.

Judges repeatedly asked the Democrats' attorneys about what should happen next if the high court decides to strike down the maps. But they also seemed wary about overstepping their authority.

"I'm again having difficulty with your argument that you're driving the substantive work of drawing district lines into a judicial forum," Judge Jenny Rivera told a lawyer for the petitioners.

The voters contend in their lawsuit the Democrat-controlled Legislature violated provisions in the state constitution that barred the redrawing of districts for partisan gain. New York's governor and legislative leaders deny they bent the rules, but two lower courts have already ruled the district maps were drafted specifically to give Democrats an advantage.

Court of Appeals to decide reapportionment amid deep political polarization When the Court of Appeals on Tuesday morning considers the complicated case filed earlier this year by Republicans claiming they were shut out of the reapportionment process, some now wonder if even the state's high court can insulate itself from the nation's increasing political polarization.

A midlevel appeals court last week gave the Legislature a deadline of April 30 to come up with revised maps, or else leave the redrafting in the hands of a court-appointed expert.

A third ruling against the maps could potentially upend the state's planned congressional primary, now scheduled for late June.

Attorneys for Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and legislative leaders from her party say the maps address population shifts and unite similar minority and geographical communities. The attorneys urged the judges to allow lawmakers to fix any errors with particular districts.

The Democrats have also criticized computer simulations run by an elections analyst who testified for the Republican plaintiffs that the maps were gerrymandered.

Political district maps across the nation have been redrawn in recent months as a result of population shifts documented in the 2020 Census.

Democrats had been counting on New York lawmakers producing a map heavily favorable to their party to help offset expected Republican gains in other states.

New York's new maps would give Democrats a strong majority of registered voters in 22 of the state's 26 congressional districts. Republicans, who represent about 22% of registered New York voters, currently hold eight of the state's 27 seats in Congress. New York will lose one seat in 2021.

Partisan gerrymandering of political district maps is an age-old tradition in the U.S., but New York voters attempted to limit the practice through a constitutional amendment in 2014.

A politically appointed commission was supposed to draw the new maps. But that body, comprised of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, couldn't reach consensus. The Democrat-led Legislature then stepped in and passed new maps of its own design.

Among other issues, the Court of Appeals was weighing whether the Legislature had the authority to do so. Some judges on Tuesday questioned whether Democrats followed the spirit of the reforms.

"It seems the people said they believed this would be real reform," Judge Michael Garcia said. "We would be telling them it wasn't."

So far this election cycle, courts have intervened to block maps they found to be Republican gerrymanders in North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and a Democrat gerrymander in Maryland. Such decisions have led to delayed primaries in North Carolina, Ohio and Maryland.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Colleen Lamie was sitting in her bedroom in her home in Elba when she heard a disturbing sound behind her house Tuesday afternoon.

She said she heard a series of "whoops" and "clicks," then a loud explosion all within a few seconds.

"I thought I could feel the vibration of the boom," Lamie said.

It was a Mercy Flight helicopter that crashed at about 1 p.m. in a field off Norton Road in the Town of Elba, killing two people on board.

The helicopter was on a training exercise and had taken off from the Genesee County Airport located about four miles away.

The crumpled wreckage of the aircraft could be seen in a field near a road lined with emergency vehicles Tuesday afternoon.

Authorities don't yet know the cause of the crash, which took place north of the intersection of Norton and Edgerton roads in Elba, close to Route 262.

They had not released the names of the two people killed early Tuesday evening.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are working with state police to investigate the cause of the crash.

State Police Major Eugene Staniszewski said the helicopter appeared to have hit power lines as it descended but that authorities don't believe that was the cause of the crash.

Mercy Flight provides air and transportation for medical emergencies in the Western New York area. Their services were suspended following the crash, according to a statement from Kaleida Health.

On its website, Mercy Flight said it has helicopters based at the Genesee County Airport, about 4 miles from the scene of the crash.

Another Mercy Flight helicopter was involved in an accident on Oct. 6, according to documents released by the NTSB on Jan. 4. In that incident, a Bell 429 helicopter contacted the ground just north of the Genesee County Airport at 9:10 p.m. and bounced 60 feet, landing upright in a field, the NTSB report said.

In the October incident, an ambulance flight crew was returning to its base in Batavia after dropping a patient off at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester at 9 p.m. In the 10-minute flight back to Batavia, the pilot lost visual reference to the ground in fog at 200 feet above ground level as he attempted to land on the runway, the documents state. The NTSB found the helicopter in that incident landed upright with no damage to its main rotor or tail rotor blades, though the fuselage support stringers were cracked, as was the carbon fiber skin in that area.

Tuesday's crash shocked the quiet, rural town of Elba.

Steve Richenberg, a retired contractor in Elba, was working in his yard when he said he saw the helicopter dive straight down. He said he'd been watching it most of the day.

After the crash he immediately drove over to the crash site to offer help.

The crash happened right by the shoulder of the road, Richenberg said, but the tail of the helicopter ended up in the field several yards away. He did not see any smoke when the helicopter first went down but he later saw firefighters using an extinguisher for a small fire.

Dawn and Paul Hough, who live about a half-mile from crash site, said they saw a helicopter flying around their home on Edgerton Road on Tuesday morning, well before the 1 p.m. crash. Paul Hough said these kinds of training missions are fairly common, and that planes have landed in open fields here before.

Its the country. Not much happens around here," said Dawn Hough, who said she and her husband have lived in Elba for 46 years.

Dawn Hough said she was at Walmart in Batavia when Lamie, her friend, called and asked if she had heard the crash.

Lamie told Dawn Hough: It sounded like an atomic bomb.

"This makes me sick to stomach," Dawn Hough said. "I could see the image in my head.

Condolences poured in from the Western New York emergency responder and hospital community, all of whom worked closely with Mercy Flight crews.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Mercy Flight team and their loved ones," said a statement from Kaleida Health.

The Mercy Flight crash on Tuesday followed two high-profile aviation incidents that killed Western New York residents in the last three years. On Jan. 8, 2020, Buffalo businessman Mark Croce and his passenger, his friend Michael Capriotto, were killed when Croce's helicopter broke apart midair and crashed in central Pennsylvania. On Oct. 2, 2020, personal injury attorney Stephen Barnes was flying with his niece, Elizabeth, when they were killed in a small plane crash in Pembroke on the western edge of Genesee County. Barnes was piloting the aircraft from New Hampshire to Buffalo.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Beijing (Gasgoo)- Chinas automotive electronics supplier Joyson Electronics saw its net profit attributable to shareholders plummet 171.32% year on year in the first three months of 2022, according to its report issued on April 25th.

Photo credit: Joyson Electronics



From January to March, Joyson Electronics brought in RMB11.73 billion ($1.8 billion) in revenue, notching down 4.53% from a year ago. Its net loss attributable to shareholders amounted to RMB157.97 million ($24.18 million).

The company explained that the slow resurgence of the global auto industry had affected its operations. Specifically, the pandemic and the crimped chip supply caused a 4.9% year-on-year decline in lightweight vehicle production volume worldwide by the end of the first quarter this year, affecting Joyson Electronics business successively.

Moreover, Joyson Electronics gross profit shrunk by RMB439 million ($67.2 million) in the first quarter of 2022, due to the hike in upstream raw material prices, energy prices, and transportation costs.

In addition, Joyson Electronics sales in Europe were also subjective to external conditions. During the first three months of this year, the companys European business sector saw an estimated RMB350 million ($53.57 million) decrease in sales, and an RMB80 million ($12.25 million) decline in gross profit.

Nonetheless, Joyson Electronics has also achieved several highlights in its business operations in the first quarter. In the first two months of 2022, the companys automotive safety sector landed new orders valued RMB4.2 billion ($642.87 million) in China and RMB4.5 billion ($688.78 billion) in Europe.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In March 2022, there were 40,681 China-made passenger vehicles (PVs) registered in Shanghai, representing a 36.6% year-on-year decrease, while showing a 22.9% month-on-month jump, according to the data compiled by Gasgoo Auto Research Institute (GARI).

By March registrations of China-built PVs, Shanghai ranked fourth among cities on the Chinese mainland, dropping three spots from the previous month.

For the first quarter of the year, Shanghai's registrations of locally-made PVs amounted to 134,884 units, sliding 22.4% compared to the corresponding period in 2021.

Among the top 10 brands by March homemade PV registrations in the megacity, BYD moved up to the top place with 99.7% of its registrations contributed by new energy vehicles (NEVs). Compared to February, Tesla climbed three spots to the runner-up place, while Volkswagen dropped one spot to the third. Besides, the three German luxury auto brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audistill occupied the No.7 to No.9 spots, the same as that of the month-ago period.



In terms of March 2022 registrations in Shanghai, there were only three oil-fueled models among the 10 top PV models, namely, the Lavida, the Buick GL8, and the Mercedes-Benz GLC, but none of them entered the top 5 list. The top 4 places were evenly occupied by the models under Tesla and BYD, including two all-electric models, and two plug-in hybrid electric ones.



Qin PLUS DM-i; photo credit: BYD



Last month, there were 20,851 domestically-built new energy passenger vehicles (NEPVs) registered in Shanghai, representing a 9.4% decline year-on-year, while reflecting an upward movement of 48.9% over a month ago. The megacity's March NEPV registrations were composed of 14,437 all-electric vehicles, 6,413 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (including 726 range-extended electric vehicles), and 1 fuel cell vehicle.



In March, a total of four brands recorded a NEPV registration volume of over 1,000 units in Shanghai, of which BYD and Tesla were honored the top 2 with more than 5,000 units registered respectively. The three leading Chinese NEV startupsNIO, XPeng, and Li Autoall cracked the top 10 brand rankings by March NEPV registrations.

Among the top 10 best-selling NEPV models in Shanghai last month, six spots were occupied by full-electric products. BYD had five models on the top 10 list. Ranking eighth, the Li ONE was the only model under a Chinese start-up brand.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- On April 26th, GAC Group-backed mobility platform On Time announced the completion of its series A financing round, raising over a billion yuan.

Photo credit: On Time



The round was led by GAC Group, and participated by domestic autonomous driving developers Pony.ai and WeRide, SPARX Group, Pilgrim Partners Asia, Guangzhou Industrial Investment and Capital Operation Holding Group, Lingnan Group, and GIIHG.

According to On Time, the funds will help the company further its dual-axle drive strategic layout, and accelerate its Robotaxi commercialization progress. The company plans to use the funds to build a VaaS platform that links the entire industry, enhancing its technology competitiveness globally.

In addition, On Time plans to build a Robotaxi fleet of over 200 vehicles for demonstration operations and a V2X fleet with more than a thousand vehicles. According to Pony.ai, the company will provide On Time with autonomous new energy vehicles that are powered by its self-developed virtual driver technology and L4 autonomous software and hardware solution. Meanwhile, by virtue of On Times high-efficiency ride-hailing platform and massive data, the partners will conduct systematic fleet management, forming a Robotaxi fleet open to the public.

Through the cooperation, users are able to hail a Pony.ai Robotaxi through On Time's mobile application.

Moreover, On Time has facilitated an one-stop super service platform and opened up its first offline store in Guangzhou. The company will explore the automated aftermarket maintenance field for autonomous vehicles.

Founded in June 2019, On Time provides ride-hailing services for public users and businesses, aftermarket services, and Robotaxi operations in the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macau greater bay area. The companys operations currently cover Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Dongguan, accounting for 30% of the user demographic in core cities of the greater bay area.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On April 25, Honda Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd., (Honda China) held an online event to announce the e:N brand declaration that embodies the automaker's 70-year car-building genesand the brand slogan reshaping the driving fun of EV.

Photo credit: Honda China



At the event, the automaker unveiled the market launch plans for its first mass-produced e:N-branded models in China. To be specific, the e:NS1 managed by Dongfeng Honda would formally hit the market on April 26, while the presale of GAC Honda's e:NP1 would begin in May.

In October 2021, Honda announced its electrification strategy in China, under which it would introduce the first 10 Honda-brand EV models in China, namely the e:N Series, by 2027.

Photo credit: Honda China

The first set of e:N Series models, the e:NS1 and the e:NP1, are manufactured and sold by Dongfeng Honda and GAC Honda respectively. Both models ride on the e:N Architecture F, Honda's front-wheel-drive (FWD) pure electric platform.

The e:NS1 is now available for presale. Coming with two trim levels, the model's presale prices range from 180,000 yuan ($27,440) to 190,000 yuan ($28,965). The model comes with two FWD power solutions, which deliver a CLTC range of 420km and 510km respectively.

As the sister model of the e:NS1, the e:NP1 made its debut at the Auto Guangzhou 2021 in November last year. Its Chinese name Ji Pai 1 was unveiled on March 29, when GAC Honda launched the new all-electric vehicle brand e:NP (named Ji Pai in Chinese).

According to Honda China, both the e:NS1 and the e:NP1 will utilize the e:N OS full-stack smart control ecosystem, which integrates the Honda SENSING driver-assist system, the BEV-dedicated Honda CONNECT 3.0 in-car connected system, and a smart digital cockpit. They will be equipped with an advanced HMI (human-machine interface) system, which consists of a 15.1-inch high-definition ultra-thin-frame display mounted at the center console, a 10.25-inch color full-liquid digital dashboard, and streaming media rearview mirrors.
LOS ANGELES  Vibratex, the sole North American importer of the Magic Wand brand, on Tuesday announced two new ways to showcase love for the all new Magic Wand Mini. Hello Mini T-shirts are now available. Vibratex is also providing in-store marketing support items for all four Magic Wand models.

High quality cotton T-shirts are now available for all retailers selling the Magic Wand Mini. The shirts declare Hello Mini in white lettering on hot pink fabric. For all the design-heads out there, this hot pink shade  the Minis signature accent color  is technically known as spinel.

All new interchangeable signage featuring Magic Wands new branding is also available. The signage fits existing white acrylic countertop displays with a product cradle. The new signs can be rotated to display information about any of the four Magic Wand models. Retailers can request new acrylic displays  or, just replacement signs if they have displays already. Product testers are also available with qualified orders.

Retailers interested in obtaining shirts, acrylic in-store displays, or both should contact Director of Business Development Eddie Romero ([email protected]) or their preferred distributor for more information.

Powered by a rechargeable battery, the Minis 6,000 RPM brushless motor delivers those deep, rumbly vibrations that all Magic Wands are known for. It's compact enough for travel, but powerful enough to be anyone's MVP. The Magic Wand Mini offers up to 2.5 hours of continuous cordless use on a full charge, and the intuitive buttons provide seamless control of its three intensity levels.

Retailers interested in offering the all-new Magic Wand Mini should contact Director of Business Development Eddie Romero ([email protected]) for more information.

Magic Wand Mini HV-135 resources are available here. Simply follow that link to find product imagery, including the new color wave images, web banners, product description, and a printable sell sheet with training information.

To learn more about Magic Wand, visit magicwandoriginal.com. Join Magic Wand on Instagram at @truemagicwand.
They say that the fire splits the cones and releases the seeds, said Edward Leazier as he looked at the pinyon pines that encircled his home. Maybe well get some new pinyons.

A few of the old pines were still perfectly evergreen. Two were nothing but spidery black branches. Another kept its needles but they were baked brown, flash-fried into their last living position. By Monday the winds had shifted south and west. These needles were pointed northeast, still blowing in the gales from a week ago, when the Tunnel Fire tore through the Leazier family home.

Twelve years ago, the Leazier family watched the Schultz Fire burn up to their backyard. Firefighters drove up the driveway, marched up in here and shut it down, Edward said. Their home was saved.

With the Tunnel Fire, they were not so fortunate. The Leaziers evacuated alongside hundreds of their neighbors. Of the two dozen structures claimed by the blaze, their home was one.

The fire came on winds unlike anything Edward Leazier had seen in his 34 years in northern Arizona. Some estimate that they blew in at 70 mph. They were so strong that when it came time to evacuate, his elderly sister-in-law Sheila Dobson needed physical help to stay on her feet between the house and the car.

I had to make sure they walked me out of there, Dobson said.

The fierce winds that drove the Tunnel Fire gave it a speed that outpaced expectations. Jessie Leazier, Edwards daughter, said she didnt even remember getting a Go, signal  the fire was in the backyard almost as soon as she realized what was happening.

They didnt have time to get ahead of this one, said Trisha Peralta, another daughter of Edward.

When it came out from between them hills, it just exploded to the side, Edward said. It was like a blowtorch.

Edward saw the fire ignite the pinyons a hundred feet from the house, and in that moment knew they had no time left.

When we went down the driveway, there was fire over here and fire over here, he said, gesturing all around.

The Leazier family returned to their property on Monday. It was unrecognizable. Steels beams twisted and sagged in the three-bedroom footprint. Rubble of blackened metal, tile and glass filled the spaces between the beams. A washing machine, water heater and bird cage could be made out among the mangled mess. A fork stuck out from the debris where the kitchen once was. A ceramic teapot shaped like a cat lay nearly whole among the wreckage.

Signs of extreme wind were just as abundant as signs of fire. An unburned swing set lay toppled in the ashy dirt. Cast iron benches had fallen onto their backs. A shed near the eastern end of the property had lost its roof and a wall, but was untouched by flame.

It was clear how the flames had been carried by the wind. There was evidence of a leapfrogging fire -- gaps a hundred feet or more between burned areas. In some places, the fire appeared to move on as quickly as it ignited. In the case of one particular sagebrush, half the bush burned while the other half stayed intact.

Slowly, the family spread out among the scene. Aside from taking pictures for insurance adjusters, there was nothing they could do but look. They couldnt even pick through the ruins of their home  to do so might interfere with the insurance adjustment. They wandered around the ashen remnants, pensive.

Edward stayed a long time near the scorched pinyons.

It was like an arboretum, he said, and thought of his wife Monica. My wife used to be able to look out the kitchen window when she was doing dishes. And it was just like a bird farm out there.

Jessie and Trisha walked the perimeter of the house, photographing the debris. When Edward unmoored from the pinyons, he walked to the stone footer that outlined the T-shape of their modular home. Made of field stone and cement, it was the only thing still standing. Edward explained that the stone footer was Monicas choice.

She wanted that, so we had them just set the thing on jacks and build the footer around it, he said.

Almost everything else above the footer had also been Monicas choice. She commissioned the custom design of the modular home 34 years ago. She collected the antiques that had adorned the mantelpiece. She got a sliding glass door for the back.

She argued with people to get the fireplace where she wanted it, Trisha said. Jessie talked about how she finally gotten her big kitchen.

There used to be a stump here, said Edward, pointing to a pile of ash. My wife would put them in the ground, upside down. He pointed across the charred yard to a blackened crown of skyward roots encircled by stone. Thats another one of my wifes stumps.

Monica was crucial to the Leazier family and the home that they shared. Shes the brains of the operation, Edward said. All the family spoke ardently about her love for the home. Jessie hoped that when it came time to clean up the rubble, she might find a memento of her mother. In a way, their return home became more about Monica than the fire.

I did forget to grab her, Jessie said. When we left. Her ashes. We were going to spread them. But she went down with the house.

Monica died about four months prior to the Tunnel Fire. Her death was hard on the whole family, especially Edward, who said he had to go numb in order to survive her loss. For him, the Tunnel Fire is an incomparable grief.

Id torch the place all over again, he said, for one more hour with my wife.

But Monicas absence also had bittersweet relief. Edward explained that after the Schultz Fire, Monica always dreaded coming home to see the house she loved burned to the ground.

She didn't have to see it, he said. And now she's part of it.

Life goes on for the Leazier family. Through the loss of their matriarch and now the loss of their home, they keep their eyes on the future.

Theres no way to go but forward, said Jessie. Thats the way we were raised.

Edward intends to rebuild on the plot and, if possible, keep Monicas field stone footer. He hopes to rebuild with Jessie  and her son  in mind.

Basically this place will belong to her, he said. Shes a single mom. I cant leave her out. I got to rebuild this.

Jessie joked that maybe they could rebuild it with a fourth bedroom. By the time the family had walked the full perimeter of the house, Edward speculated about new furniture, a new home, one that would come up with the growth of new pinyons.

These forests, he said. They actually need the fire.

A GoFundMe in support of the Leazier family can be found at www.gofundme.com/f/help-after-tunnel-gire.

Sean Golightly can be reached at sgolightly@azdailysun.com

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Update: 26-04-2022 | 12:51:43

Pathet Lao Newspaper run by the Lao New Agency (KPL) on April 25 published an article on the special Laos-Vietnam relationship is developed throughout the history of national construction and defence, highlighting the long-standing solidarity and sound traditional friendship between the two neighbouring countries over the past more than nine decades.

President Ho Chi Minh (R) receives head of the LPRP delegation Kaysone Phomvihane (File photo: VNA)

With over 2,000km of the shared border, Vietnam and Laos have shown strong mutual support, especially during hard time, the article noted, stressing that the two nations have maintained sound neighbourliness and close ties through all historical periods.

It said that the founding of the Communist Party of Indochina - the predecessor of the Communist Party of Vietnam - opened the first chapter of the glorious history of the special relationship between Laos and Vietnam, paving the way for the special solidarity between the two countries.

The ties, founded by President Ho Chi Minh, President Kaysone Phomvihane and President Souphanouvong, have become an invaluable treasure of both nations and the common development rule of the two countries during their path of developing towards a prosperous country with rich and happy people.

During the struggles against invaders, Vietnamese and Lao peoples coordinated closely with each other for the same purpose of regaining national independence and freedom, the article said.

Right after gaining power, the Vietnamese and Lao governments signed a treaty on Laos-Vietnam mutual support and another on the Vietnam-Laos Alliance, laying the first legal foundation for their cooperation to fight their common enemy. President Ho Chi Minh once said: We consider the happiness and prosperity of Laos as our own, while the spirit of helping our friend is helping ourselves has been maintained throughout the history of both countries.

Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien (left, front) and his Lao counterpart Khampheng Xaysompheng exchange an agreement on border cooperation in Vientiane on April 11 (Photo: VNA)

During the wars, a great deal of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers joined the Pathet Lao armed forces, shedding their blood for the victory of the revolution in both countries with the signing of the Geneva Agreement in 1954 on the restoration of peace in Indochina.

The article also reviewed the close coordination and the growth of solidarity between Laos and Vietnam since 1954, highlighting the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relations on September 5, 1962.

It said that since 1986 when the two countries started national reform cause, their special relationship has been further lifted up, focusing on optimising their advantages and strength and giving each other highest priority.

The 21st century has witnessed the comprehensive expansion of bilateral ties in both depth and width. Achievements of bilateral cooperation in politics, external relations, defence-security, economy, culture, science, technology, and collaboration among localities have contributed to strongly promoting the national construction, development as well as regional and international integration in each country, the article underlined.

It said that this year, as Laos and Vietnam are celebrating the 60th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations, 45 years of the bilateral Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, and the Laos-Vietnam, Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Solidarity Year, is a good chance for the two sides to reinforce and further lift up their great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation, thus making positive contributions to the national construction and defence in each country as well as to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world over./.

VNA
Update: 26-04-2022 | 16:25:26

Returning to the former lockdown area because of Covid-19, seeing children, who lost their fathers, lost their mothers due to the disease, are trying to overcome tough months and days, everyone is heartbroken. Therefore, the Provincial Labor Confederation has been trying to mobilize each business and benefactor to care for and give meaningful gifts with the desire to help children grow up every day.

Representatives of Binh Duong Customs Department and the Provincial Labor Confederation present 10 savings books to Covid-19 orphans having difficult circumstances, with a total cost of VND 200 million.

To share difficulties

In March and April, delegations of the Provincial Labor Confederation and Binh Duong Customs Department came to each lodging houses, everybody was so touched as listening to difficulties of fathers and mothers who are carrying burdens, raising their children alone. The gift-givers had tears in their eyes. The gift-receivers also cried. The tears were full of humanity, bigger than all words.

Receiving the support of VND 20 million from the delegation, Dang Thi Diem's hands trembled, her voice choked and was not able to say thank you. Months after Nguyen Phuc Thanh (Diem's husband), a worker of Hai An Company (Thuan An City), died from Covid-19, all four mother and children still live in a small lodging room in Khanh Hoi quarter, Tan Phuoc Khanh ward, Tan Uyen Town. The eldest child is over 10 years old, and the youngest is less than 2 years old. Diem used to be at home to take care of her children, now her husband is dead, hence she has to go to work to earn money to support her children. Assuming the heavy burden from her husband to raise and teach the children, earn money to cover the familys expenses, and also the lack of warmth, the laughter of a breadwinner makes her much older. Thinking about the future of her children, she couldn't hold back tears.

In order to earn money, every day Diem does outwork at home. Every day, she tries to work until late, but receive only 70,000 - 80,000 VND. She also mends clothes to earn a little more income. Working throughout the day, her soft, tiny hands have become rough day by day for the sake of her children.

Le Thi Hanh, a worker at Poong in Vina Company (Tan Uyen Town), cried as talking about her family's circumstance. Hanh's husband was also a worker, unfortunately died from the Covid-19 in September 2021. Currently, she is raising two young children alone, with a tiny income of 6-7 million / month to cover expenses of food, school fees, and bank debts. Hanh said, "My husband's death was so sudden, so I still couldn't help it. Two years ago, my husband and I borrowed money from our families, borrowed a loan to buy house. I thought that we would work together and pay off the debt and take care of the kids. But then the pandemic came, now I am raising my children alone and incurring a debt of nearly VND 500,000 million."

The 10 families that the delegation visited have poor circumstances. The pandemic, not only took fathers and mothers away from many children, but also stole the beautiful future from children. The amount of VND 200 million from the program "Giving savings books to orphans" launched by Youth Union of the General Department of Customs is a timely and meaningful activity of trade unions and customs workers to help children overcome difficulties at this time.

Continue to take care

Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial Labor Confederation, said: "After the pandemic, the Provincial Labor Confederation carried out many activities to care for and support workers, children of workers, especially children whose parents died as a result of the pandemic. The Provincial Labor Confederation continues to call for and collaborated with benefactors and businesses in the province to support the children in the coming time."

Some practical support activities of Provincial Labor Confederation were handing over 65 savings books of Vietnam Trade Union to Covid-19 orphans, worth VND 10 million/book; make a list of 74 children sent to Labor Confederation of provinces and cities throughout the country to give more savings books to many orphans. As of April 24, the Provincial Labor Confederation in collaboration with Vietinbank instructed workers to complete the procedures to soon open the Vietnam Trade Union savings book (second phase) for Covid-19 orphans. These units assessed and approved more than 80 applications to support the children during The Workers' Month.

Recently, trade unions in the province have also called for benefactors, units and businesses to give many meaningful gifts to orphans, especially in the early days of the new school year after the pandemic and the Lunar New Year 2020, such as: Awarding scholarships, donating computers, mobile phones and school supplies, clothing; to repair lodging rooms, shop for Tets goods. These activities partly helped the children in their lives, as well as feel the warmth after the great pain caused by the pandemic.

Reported by Quang Tam  Translated by Ngoc Huynh
Van tai uong bo, uong sat tren ia ban tinh en nay co ban a tro ve trang thai binh thuong, nhu cau i lai cua nguoi dan tang tro lai sau mot thoi gian dai bi anh huong boi dich Covid- 19. ay la tin hieu tich cuc cho thay su phuc hoi cua cac doanh nghiep van tai hanh khach.
One of Beatrices largest employers celebrated two major milestones on Tuesday morning.

Joined by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, Exmark honored its 40 years in the community and held a dedication for its two-year-old headquarters. Employees also led attendees through the building on tours of the facility.

Vice President of Exmark and Intimidator Group Daryn Walters said the company had originally planned on a ribbon cutting ceremony for May 2020. Employees had just moved into the building in December, and by the spring, they started working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, two years later, Exmark got the chance to strike at two birds with one stone.

This has been beyond exciting, Walters said. I think its really energized our team. There was a real hop in everybodys steps the past couple of weeks. Its a really big deal for us Theres so much symbolic importance to this event. We have tremendous pride.

Walters said it isnt easy for a company to break into its 40s.

Ricketts spoke about the importance of manufacturing jobs in Nebraska.

Exmark started in 1982 with seven people and a garage, Ricketts said. And now we can see how it has grown up and created all this opportunity in the city of Beatrice Agriculture is our number one industry in the state, but manufacturing is our second biggest industry In fact, manufacturing is seeing a huge resurgence in our state over the course of the last few years. Manufacturing jobs in Nebraska are over 101,000 Manufacturing jobs create great jobs for our families here in the state.

Ricketts discussed Exmarks history of giving back and how foundational companies can be in communities.

Rick Olson, CEO of the Toro Company, also spoke at the event.

The city of Beatrice, Gage County and the great state of Nebraska have been so supportive of Exmark, the Toro Company and our employees here, Olson said. We are deeply appreciative. This new facility wouldnt have been possible without their partnership in addition to the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development.

Olson served as general manager and vice president of Exmark from 2010 to 2013.

I know firsthand what a special place this is, he said.

Exmark, which manufactures commercial mowers and equipment for the landscape professionals, became part of the Toro Company in 1997. Since then, Olson said the company experienced incredible growth.

That growth inspired the construction of its new facility, Walters said.

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A 22-year-old man faces 40 separate counts of sex crimes in Yellowstone County District Court, including 14 counts of rape and 21 counts of sex abuse of a child, after he called to report himself to Phoenix police in November.

Adam Michael Seery allegedly called the Phoenix Police Department on Nov. 14, 2021 to confess to raping a girl in Colorado and Billings over the course of years.

Seery has not had an opportunity to answer the charges and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning in Yellowstone County district court.

In November, he waived his right to remain silent and have counsel present while Phoenix police interviewed him. Seery admitted to raping a girl born in 2005 multiple times in Billings while she was under age 16, according to charging documents. He also admitted to raping the same girl in Colorado before that.

Later that same day, Billings police spoke to the young victim about the rapes and other abuses. The girl described how, in Billings, the rapes began to occur regularly and occurred with such frequency she had trouble distinguishing specific details about each instance or event, she told police. She would later state she believed she had been raped or abused over 200 times while Seery lived in Billings.

Throughout the investigation more details arose and the girl disclosed in a forensic interview later that month, how the rapes began when she was just 13-years-old while in Colorado.

When describing the first rape, [the victim] stated she felt hurt, that something had been taken away from her, charges stated. She was raped again the day after and countless other times since. Seery would photograph the girl nude and film himself raping her in Billings. Those images and videos would be discovered on his phone and Google account by investigators.

Seery also controlled and manipulated the girl to keep her silent. As she aged over time, he would limit her access to other people and threaten to kill her and her family if she ever disclosed the crimes to others, charges alleged. He would threaten to kill himself if the girl spent time with other people. He would threaten the girl often, choke her and call her derogatory names, charges stated. The threats were so real to the girl, she believed he would follow through if she reported him.

When Seery left Billings for Phoenix, charges said the girl told investigators she felt free and she revealed she has nightmares about the defendant stabbing, strangling, and killing her.

A forensic review of Seerys phone completed in December confirmed his own admissions and the girls account of the rapes and abuse, charges alleged. Text messages show Seery berating the girl and blaming her for his panic attacks. Missing photos and videos in Seerys phone led investigators to file for search warrants to access and recover the data from Google. In the files, police found child sex abuse material showing Seery raping, groping and abusing the girl in 16 different videos. They also found four photos of the girl nude while she was less than 16-years-old, charges alleged.

If convicted of any of the rape charges, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison or at least four years to 100 years and a $50,000 fine. Each of the sex abuse of a child charges carries a similar life in prison or four to 100 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Seery was also charged with four counts of sexual assault, which also carries a possible sentence of life imprisonment or four to 100 years in prison and a $50,000.

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A Billings man shot dead over the weekend in the parking lot of a local bar has been identified.

Domonic Shawn Dale Morgan died of a single gunshot to the torso early Saturday morning, Yellowstone County Deputy Coroner Rich Hoffman said Tuesday.

Billings police responded to a shooting at Americas Wild West on Southgate Drive at around 1 a.m., the Gazette previously reported. They identified the shooter as a 19-year-old Billings man, but did not report any arrests. The investigation remains ongoing. Photos taken by the Gazette showed dozens of people filing out of the bar and into the parking lot. Billings investigators were also inspecting a red sedan that had crashed into a nearby ditch.

Everyone involved in the shooting has been accounted for, Billings Police Lt. Matt Lennick told the Gazette on Tuesday, but no additional details could be released at this time.

Morgans death has been ruled a homicide, Hoffman said. Morgan was pronounced dead while he was being treated at a local hospital. A memorial for Morgan was assembled on Southgate Drive the morning after the shooting.

Morgan's death is at least the third homicide investigation conducted by the Billings Police Department so far this year.

Homicides in Billings hit a record high in 2020, Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said at a press conference earlier this month. During the press conference, which centered on the department's annual crime report, St. John said weapons complaints were on an upward trend throughout 2021. Specialized BPD units alone recovered more than 350 weapons by the end of the year.

Were seeing a prevalence of weapons, the propensity of people to use them, and the result is we have more serious injuries out the backend of that," St. John said.

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A Harlem social studies teacher was arrested Friday on suspicion of rape and other sex crimes against children, according to the Blaine County Sheriffs Office.

Harlem High School teacher Jack G. Young was arrested after a sexual assault complaint on a minor was filed with the sheriffs office on April 13. A county investigation aided by the FBI and Montana Division of Criminal Investigation revealed a sexual relationship between Young and a girl.

After ample evidence was gathered, the county was granted a search warrant for Youngs residence where they also interviewed him, according to a press release issued Monday. Following the search Young was arrested for sexual abuse of a child, indecent exposure, sexual assault and sexual intercourse without consent.

Young is currently being held at the Valley County Detention Center. As of Monday afternoon charges had not yet been filed with the Blaine County District Court but were expected later in the week, according to the Sheriffs press release and the Blaine County Attorneys Office.

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Two men were arraigned Tuesday in Yellowstone County District Court in separate cases alleging child sex abuse.

Gary Richard Jones, a 31-year-old from Billings, pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent. Prosecutors allege that Jones sexually assaulted a child under age 10 over the course of a year.

Jones allegedly sexually abused the child beginning in August 2020, and continued to do so on several occasions until the following August, according to charging documents. The charge against Jones followed an investigation by the Billings Police Department, Yellowstone County child advocates and a medical examiner.

District Judge Jessica Fehr set Jones bail at $150,000. He is currently in custody at Yellowstone County Detention Facility, and appeared in court via teleconference. Should he be released on bail, Fehr also required that Jones be monitored by GPS and refrain from any contact with the victim or the victims family, who currently have a restraining order against Jones.

Also appearing for arraignment via teleconference from YCDF was Adam Michael Seery, a 22-year-old man charged with 40 sex crimes in Yellowstone County.

Seery allegedly confessed to raping a girl under age 16 over a period of several years in Billings and Colorado, the Gazette previously reported. He made his confession to police in Phoenix in November 2021 after waiving his Miranda rights and the right to counsel. The charges against Seery include sexual intercourse without consent, child sex abuse and felonious sexual assault.

County prosecutors requested that Seerys bail be set at $300,000. Judge Fehr, noting both the gravity of the allegations against Seery and his living outside of Billings might make him flight risk, set his bail at $750,000.

Should he make bail, Fehr required Seery also be monitored by GPS and not have any contact with anyone under age 18. When asked where he would stay upon release, Seery said hed live with his parents in Colorado. Fehr required that Seery get approval from the court before going to his parents home.

In Montana, a conviction for sexual intercourse without consent can result in a maximum penalty of life in prison or at least four years to 100 years and a $50,000 fine.

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This story has been updated.

HOUSTON (AP)  A Texas appeals court on Monday delayed the execution of a woman amid growing doubts about whether she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter in a case that has garnered the support of lawmakers, celebrities and even some of the jurors who sentenced her to death.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a request by Melissa Lucio's lawyers for a stay of execution so a lower court can review her claims that new evidence would exonerate her. It was not immediately known when the lower court would begin reviewing her case.

Lucio had been set for lethal injection on Wednesday for the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah in Harlingen, a city of about 75,000 in Texas' southern tip.

The execution stay was announced minutes before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had been set to consider her clemency application to either commute her death sentence or grant her a 120-day reprieve.

Lucio's attorneys say her capital murder conviction was based on an unreliable and coerced confession that was the result of relentless questioning and her long history of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. They say Lucio wasn't allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession.

Her lawyers also contend that unscientific and false evidence misled jurors into believing Mariah's injuries only could have been caused by physical abuse and not by medical complications from a severe fall.

Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, whose office prosecuted the case, has said he disagrees with Lucio's lawyers' claims that new evidence would exonerate her. Prosecutors say Lucio had a history of drug abuse and at times had lost custody of some of her 14 children.

Here's an earlier explainer of the case:

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Article audio file:

The right to keep and bear arms is probably the most contested  and, sadly, the most successfully infringed  of the various guaranteed liberties explicitly named in the Bill of Rights. But as many have said these last couple of months, Russias invasion of Ukraine shows the value and merit of our Second Amendment. One of the things the Founders took into consideration was that arming the people makes for a secure nation.

Not so sure thats true? Despite two world wars, nine other officially declared wars and myriad military conflicts on foreign soil, the Cold War, and some terrorist attacks here and there over the many decades since, the United States has not faced a full-scale invasion by a foreign power since the War of 1812  which we won. Yes, geography, Americas military might, and international politics play a large part in that. But none of those considerations  especially not Americas then-unformidable military might  stopped the British from attempting to reconquer this land twice, only to fail both times.

A Walk In Ukraines Shoes

But let us put ourselves in the shoes of the Ukrainian people for a moment. What would happen if we didnt have two vast oceans or Earths most powerful navy at our command separating us from Europe and Asia? What if we didnt have the third-largest army by active-duty troops in the world? The latest from Reuters has the total death toll of the Russia-Ukraine war at no fewer than 46,000. Another 12,000 have been injured but not killed, 400 or more are missing, and a whopping 13 million Ukrainians have been displaced.

As Liberty Nation previously reported, Ukrainian citizens enjoyed no right to self-defense before the invasion: .....
A team of 80 people is currently working in the village. They are available 24/7 to provide legal and psychological assistance and any essentials the temporarily displaced families might need. Also, they organize classes and entertainment for kids. Like in 1946, locals are actively getting involved, too. The religious community has arranged for buses to meet the Ukrainians at the Swiss border and get them to their destination. Doctors are ready to provide medical services free of charge. Local residents donate money, clothes, and other things.

Paula Bialski has lived in Trogen with her husband for a little under a year. She has also joined in to support Ukrainians. Previously, we sold bikes or spread the word about upcoming fairs in our chats, and now every message is about how to help the Ukrainians. Once, I read about a family of 9 that used to live near Kyiv was looking for a home, she recounts. I knew there were houses at Pestalozzi Village but wasnt sure if any free accommodations were left. So I just e-mailed the village administration. They quickly answered, writing there were vacant accommodations, and they could accept people. We contacted the family, picked them up at the Swiss border, and brought them here. But this is not the kind of help thats, like, meet them once, pat them on the shoulder, and forget. We commit to staying in touch with the people that arrive here. This is how I discovered that one of the girls in that family was seriously into ballet. A local teacher has noticed her and currently helps her find an instructor who could train her.

Maryna Hryshai, a film director who evacuated with her mother and little daughter from Kyiv, described her experience in the village: We live in a house built in the 1940s. The wife of a local man who helped build it is still alive  she is 103 years old, and everyone knows her. I often think about this man and imagine how he worked here and how the kindness of his heart keeps us warm through the years. The volunteers are incredible. They are always nearby, available 24/7, quickly answering our any inquiry, but still leaving private space for us. They make us feel at home, if only temporarily. Every day, we get food for cooking. Also, locals have set up a kiosk, where we can get household goods and even home decor free of charge. Psychologists work with us. There are many activities for children, classic music concerts, as well as a dedicated space where people can pray, meditate or have some me-time in silence.
Gov. Doug Burgum has declared a statewide emergency and a statewide disaster in the wake of two historic blizzards in the span of two weeks.

The emergency is related to flooding in eastern North Dakota and widespread damage to electrical infrastructure that has cut power to thousands of people in the west. Thousands of utility poles were downed in last weekend's blizzard that brought heavy snow, freezing rain and strong winds to the region, according to the governor's office. Montana-Dakota Utilities spokesman Mark Hanson has said it's the worst damage the century-old utility has seen on its system.

Burke-Divide Electric Cooperative General Manager Jerry King estimated damage to that co-ops system at $10 million to $20 million, with more than 1,000 utility poles downed and 14 miles of transmission lines damaged.

Were in an emergency restoration phase right now, which is about getting lights on to the homes, said King, who also serves on the City Council in Crosby, a town that Hanson said has "extensive damage" but might be back online Thursday.

The disaster declaration is for areas impacted by record snowfall during the three-day blizzard earlier this month. That storm dumped 2-3 feet of snow in western North Dakota, and an Easter Sunday storm that followed a few days later added several more inches. The storms and cooler weather set more than two dozen records in the state, including nearly 10 in Bismarck alone, according to the National Weather Service.

The governor's declarations are a necessary step toward getting federal assistance. Burgum said he plans to request presidential disaster declarations for both blizzards to help unlock aid to help pay for snow removal and infrastructure repairs.

Burgum traveled to Divide County areas including Crosby on Tuesday to see the situation firsthand. He was joined by Maj. Gen. Al Dohrmann, adjutant general of the North Dakota National Guard and director of the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, and state Homeland Security Director Darin Hanson.

As is always the case when severe weather strikes North Dakota, we saw incredible examples of neighbors helping neighbors and communities pulling together to overcome unprecedented obstacles, Burgum said in a statement.

Poweroutage.us late Tuesday afternoon estimated that about 8,000 people remained without power in North Dakota, but it does not track all of the rural electric cooperatives in the region that were impacted by the weekend storm. North Dakota Emergency Services spokesman Eric Jensen on Tuesday afternoon said the state's most recent estimate is about 10,775, down from 15,500 in the morning and 19,000 on Monday, but he qualified that tracking outages is a complicated process.

MDU is a major electrical supplier in western North Dakota and eastern Minnesota and at one point estimated 18,000 customers without power. That number was down to about 1,050 on Tuesday, but Hanson has said some communities might not have power restored for days.

MDU has 15 of its own crews and 10 contracted crews in the Williston region.

"Our contract crews have some large, tracked equipment to help move through the deteriorating ground conditions," Hanson said. "Montana-Dakota Utilities also is working with the state ... to get additional large, tracked equipment to the affected area."

Burgum said Dohrmann and Hanson worked with local officials to identify needs such as generators, heavy equipment and drones to survey damage in areas where roads are still impassable.

Linemen from elsewhere in the state and private contractors have gone to western North Dakota to help with the restoration efforts, according to the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives. Local officials have set up several shelters in the region for people with no electricity, according to the governor's office.

The disaster declaration covers the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and 16 counties: Billings, Bottineau, Dunn, Golden Valley, Grand Forks, McHenry, McKenzie, McLean, Mercer, Morton, Mountrail, Oliver, Renville, Sheridan, Stark and Ward.

While snow removal costs typically arent eligible for federal assistance, exceptions may be granted for a historic storm if snow removal costs exceed the states infrastructure damage threshold for receiving a presidential declaration. In North Dakota, that threshold is about $1.3 million statewide, according to the governor's office.

The weather service has deemed that blizzard historic due to its scope, which includes a hard hit to the ranching community that's dealing with damaged buildings and fences, and livestock illness and death.

Officials are still tabulating cattle deaths from the storms, but North Dakota Stockmen's Association Executive Vice President Julie Ellingson said many producers are reporting "double-digit losses."

The Stockmen's and its Foundation have launched the Hope After Haley Disaster Relief Fund with an initial contribution of $40,000. The nonprofits are inviting others to contribute. More information is at https://bit.ly/397m5tG.

In eastern North Dakota, heavy rain over the weekend has led to overland flooding and swelled waterways in the Sheyenne and Red river basins. Some roads have been closed.

Burgum's emergency declaration makes National Guard resources available if needed for the flood flight. The state also has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide technical assistance with flood levee construction in Valley City, which is threatened by the rising Sheyenne River.

Officials in Grand Forks and neighboring East Grand Forks, Minnesota, have activated some of their permanent flood protection measures put into place after the devastating 1997 Red River flood, according to The Associated Press. Forecasters expect a crest of 48 feet later this week on the Red in Grand Forks. Flood stage is 18 feet. The city has protection to 57 feet.

"The ongoing flooding across much of the Red River Valley of the North is due to a series of events that unfortunately keep adding up," AccuWeather Meteorologist Matt Benz said. "The heavy rainfall late last week that helped rapidly melt snow from the blizzard earlier this month dumped a large amount of moisture on already saturated soil from the earlier snowmelt from late March and early April.

"This led to a direct injection of meltwater right into area streams and rivers and is helping to drive up the Red River to near historic levels in places from Grand Forks on north," he said.

More rain is in the forecast for the weekend. A warning for moderate to major flooding is in place for much of eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota from the Fargo region north.

Reach News Editor Blake Nicholson at 701-250-8266 or blake.nicholson@bismarcktribune.com.

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A Bismarck man on Tuesday was sentenced to six years in prison for a 2021 New Years Day crash that killed a South Dakota woman.

Kenyon Eagle, 20, must also spend three years on probation, court records show. He pleaded guilty in January to criminal vehicular homicide, two counts of criminal vehicular injury, and one count of reckless endangerment.

Authorities said Eagle drove a pickup truck east in the westbound lanes of Bismarck Expressway. The pickup collided head-on about 2:15 a.m. with a car driven by Tiffany Shaving, of Cherry Creek, South Dakota.

Shaving died at the scene, the North Dakota Highway Patrol said. Her two passengers -- Ryan Whitebull, 28, and Carlin Mellette, 25, both of Bismarck -- were seriously injured and required hospitalization and surgery. Eagle also was taken to a hospital for treatment after the crash.

Eagles blood alcohol content was 0.213% at the time of the crash, Assistant Morton County States Attorney Gabrielle Goter said at Eagles change-of-plea hearing. The legal limit for driving is 0.08%.

South Central District Judge Cynthia Feland suspended all but six years of a 15-year prison sentence. She ordered that restitution be left open for 60 days.

Eagle was to begin serving his sentence at 2 p.m. Tuesday, court records show.

Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or Travis.Svihovec@bismarcktribune.com

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Police say an altercation over a debt turned deadly in Rapid City. Officers responded to an alley about 8:30 p.m. Friday where they found a man with a gun shot wound. Medical units arrived and administered aid, but the man died at the scene. Officers and detectives from the Rapid City Police Department and the Pennington County Sheriffs Office investigated throughout the night by watching surveillance video and interviewing witnesses. A 26-year-old Rapid City man was arrested on a possible charge of possession of a firearm as a felon. According to police, the man who was arrested was being beaten with a blunt instrument when he shot the other man.
A major donor to the planned Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library near Medora gave far less to the project than initially announced.

Rob and Melani Walton, of the Walmart fortune, were to give $50 million to the project but donated $15 million. Melani Walton also has left the library's board of trustees following the end of her term.

Library organizers still surpassed a $100 million private fundraising goal to access $50 million in state money. The 2019 Legislature approved the operations endowment for the library, dependent on the $100 million being raised.

Library CEO Ed O'Keefe said $10 million of the Waltons' donation went to Dickinson State University's Theodore Roosevelt Center, and $5 million supported the project's initial efforts.

"When the history of this remarkable institution is told years from now, Melani and Rob will occupy a significant place in that story," he said. "We wish them nothing but the best."

He didn't say why the Waltons gave less than expected, referring questions to them.

Melani Walton did not return a phone message left by the Tribune. A spokesman for the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation provided a statement from the couple: We believe strongly in the importance of honoring the extraordinary legacy of Theodore Roosevelt -- which is why we are so pleased to have supported this project from its inception."

O'Keefe did not comment on what protections might be in place to ensure benefactors follow through on pledged or committed money. Governor's spokesman Mike Nowatzki did not immediately respond to an email inquiry regarding how the governor's office ascertained the $100 million was raised.

The October 2020 announcement of the $100 million being raised named the Waltons as a "founding benefactor" to the project.

O'Keefe said the Waltons are not the project's largest benefactor, whom he didn't identify.

"The TR library is very fortunate to have a number of generous benefactors. We have surpassed $100 million in funds raised without any additional funds from the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation," O'Keefe said, addressing what he called "the loss of $35 million" from that foundation.

"So importantly, even without the additional funds from the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation, (the library foundation) has met its obligations under the state endowment legislation, so in this case, literally surpassing the $100 million goal and then some," he said.

O'Keefe declined to say how much money has been raised, citing "the quiet phase of the capital campaign."

"I can assure you it is in excess of $100 million," he said.

The project has garnered contributions from thousands of donors in 48 states, including amounts of 26 cents and unsolicited checks for $10,000, according to O'Keefe. Roosevelt was the 26th president.

Melani Walton, a 1998 Dickinson State alumna, left the library's board Dec. 31, when her term ended. She had been a board trustee since June 2018.

O'Keefe said "it's common" for board members to move on after their terms end, "particularly when someone has a number of philanthropic priorities."

The Waltons and the library's organizers remain on good terms, he said.

The Arkansas couple last year purchased 1,936 acres of the Medora-area Hellickson Ranch for $3.8 million, intending to preserve and continue to graze its land.

A sale of 90.21 acres of U.S. Forest Service land for the library near Medora is expected to be complete by Saturday, O'Keefe said. A ceremony on the land is planned for fall. The Roosevelt family is expected to attend.

The library's groundbreaking is set for June 2023, with construction planned for 2  years and a grand opening set for July 4, 2026.

The 11-member library board next meets May 3.

Reach Jack Dura at 701-250-8225 or jack.dura@bismarcktribune.com.

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The images are stark and gut-wrenching.

They alternately cause your throat to swell, your eye to tear, your stomach to resist nausea.

Police in Ukraine report that more than 900 bodies have been found as Russian troops pulled back from Kyiv, the capital. Most of them had been shot in the head, their bodies left in the streets or tossed into mass graves, apparently for the lone offense of being a distraction to Vladimir Putins henchmen.

Thats nothing compared to the carnage in Mariupol, where its been impossible to count the bodies of children, women and men who have violently perished as their homes, businesses, schools and hospitals have been bombarded by Russian weaponry.

David Hume Kennerly wrote about the inhumanity of it all in a New York Times essay titled Photographing Hell. A Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who has documented horrors in Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan, India and Jonestown, and has photographed every president since Lyndon Johnson, Kennerly wrote about what his friends and colleagues have found while documenting war in Ukraine.

As the advance on Kyiv stalled, Russian forces began to torture, rape and kill civilians in Bucha, survivors and investigators say.

Particularly striking to him was a photo by Carol Guzy, who just a few years ago came to North Dakota to speak to newspaper folk. She showed dramatic photos and talked about the mental health toll she survived during a career in which she has won four Pulitzers for photographing disasters in Haiti, Kosovo and Colombia. Many remember her seminal photo of Haitians desperately passing a baby through a barbed wire fence to safety.

In Ukraine, Guzy photographed a man who had been killed, his bruised and bloodied face peeking out from a body bag, his eyes wide open.

This image of a man with both eyes open is one of the most compelling and disquieting photos to come out of Bucha, Kennerly wrote. Its an intimate and puzzling image of death, and Ive never seen anything like it. What did this man see at the moment of his death? Whatever it was, his resolve remained.

Just as emotional is Lynsey Addarios photo in the New York Times of soldiers trying to aid a woman, her two children and a family friend whose lifeless bodies laid in the gutter of a Kyiv street.

The point of Kennerlys essay is that photos like these, disturbing and alarming, are the documentation the world needs to understand what is happening and to be moved to some kind of action.

Its working for me.

Perhaps its because my best friend since college is a third-generation Ukrainian American who grew up in the Ukrainian church in Wilton.

There also are heart-wrenching atrocities in Darfur, and Myanmar, and South Sudan, and Syria, and other places. But Ukraine stands out because it is being perpetrated by a merciless murderer with one hand on nuclear weapons launch pads.

And yet in the politically charged United States, there inexplicably are American apologists for Putin, people who believe Ukraine is the hub of a world cabal of money and human traffickers, and that Russian bombs have been aimed at nefarious bio labs, not civilians. Some go so far as to suggest that its actors who are posing in body bags and that Kennerlys photography friends are being paid off or blackmailed.

How sad that political cynicism can run so deep. How distressing that there are those who find ways to explain away the humanitarian crisis documented by Kennerlys photography friends.

It is heartwarming and inspiring, though, to see that the entirety of the free world has extended a hand of support and friendship, supplied food and military might to the victims of unprovoked attack, and has offered shelter and beds to hundreds of thousands of people who have fearfully and tearfully fled a beloved homeland.

The images of these atrocities were taken by trusted photojournalists, Kennerly wrote. They are the truth, and a record of the mendacity and brutality of the Russian military.

And most of the world is watching with horror and disgust.

Steve Andrist, Bismarck, is co-chair of the North Dakota News Cooperative and former executive director of the North Dakota Newspaper Association.

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When I open up Pinterest, Im in trouble.

Thats because I know I could potentially sit there for hours on end browsing pictures and videos beautiful decor for my apartment, fun new workouts to try, outfits I want to buy, and much more.

In the past, Ive purchased items directly from Pinterest. Ive also pinned content to my boards so I can refer to them in the future, use them as inspiration, or share them with my friends.

Marketers target Pinterest users by sharing content thats too irresistible for us to pass up. And with over 250 million people on Pinterest, why wouldnt marketers want to be on the platform? Not to mention 90% of users say they look to content on the network to make purchase decisions.

So, how can your business use Pinterest as a marketing tactic to help improve your brand awareness and conversions?

In this guide, well cover the answer to that question as well as which Pinterest marketing strategies you should implement, how small businesses can benefit from the platform, and which tools you can use to ensure your Pinterest marketing strategy works for your business.

But first, well review what the platform is and how it works  lets get started.

What is Pinterest? Pinterest is a social media platform in which users explore, share, and store visual content they find inspiring, helpful, or entertaining.

Users add, or Pin, their chosen content to boards with a common theme to keep it organized and so other users can discover new content related to their interests.

If you haven't yet opened a Pinterest account, learn more about that process here. Once you sign up, you can begin sharing content and, therefore, social media marketing on the platform.

To make the most of the platform, upload your businesss content from your computer or mobile device, Pin content you find on the platform, and add content you find on the web using the Pinterest browser button.

Engagement is key. Follow the boards of your friends and competitors, Like, and comment on others Pins, re-Pin (or repost) content, and share links to your website and blog in your Pins.

Its important to note there are personal and business accounts on Pinterest. Choosing a business account will allow you to gain access to Pinterest Analytics and other features including a visual search tool, a native video player, and the ability to run Pinterest ads if you choose  making the platform ideal for marketers.

Now, lets review some Pinterest marketing strategies to help you improve your influence with and impact on your audience.

How to Use Pinterest for Marketing Distribute your content. Build a community. Educate customers. Drive website traffic and boost online sales.

These strategies represent ways to add Pinterest to your greater marketing efforts. Here are a few benefits to using Pinterest for marketing.

1. Distribute your content.

85% of Pinners search for and prefer visual content. This makes Pinterest a uniquely strong place to distribute all types of content, including written blog content. Unlike Instagram, users can click-through live links.

On Pinterest, you share content on Pinterest boards. Boards save all of your Pins and distribute your content for your followers to explore. You can have as many boards as you want, and they can be organized into themes, ideas, plans, or types of inspiration to make it easy for your audience to find the content theyre looking for.

You can also invite people to join your boards  which would make your board a group board  if you want other contributors to add content they believe works with your boards theme. This is a great way to increase engagement and interaction on your profile.

2. Build a community.

Online communities bring together like-minded people and serve as helpful hubs for businesses.

With a Pinterest community, you can count on your followers and fans to interact with your boards, consume your content, and make their way to your website  driving traffic in the process.

There are over 335 million people who use Pinterest every month. By treating your Pinterest board as a two-way street through which you can interact with and engage users (not like a one-way billboard), you can build a loyal community of Pinterest users who may become customers, too.

How to Build Your Pinterest Following

Although you can search for and add specific friends via their name, Facebook account, and other identifiers, this is time-consuming and would make it nearly impossible to substantially grow your following.

Instead, consider the following methods to build out your base of fans and followers on Pinterest.

Promote your Pinterest account via your other social networks.

Follow accounts you believe would want to follow you back.

Watch what your competitors are doing to increase their base of followers and learn from their techniques.

Use keywords and hashtags in your posts (well discuss these tactics in more detail later).

Ask influencers to re-post some of your content to gain the attention of their followers.

Pay for a Pinterest ads account to run ads on the platform.

3. Educate customers.

Pinterest is rife with tutorials, infographics, how-tos, and links to additional educational content. Given its propensity for visual content, its a powerful channel to educate and engage customers.

While creating and sharing content for your Pinterest profile and marketing to users, be sure to keep your target audience in mind.

Similar to the way you would when creating new products, developing your branding, or posting to other social networks, you want to ensure youre pushing out content that appeals to your target audience, current customers, and buyer personas on Pinterest.

You can do this in a few different ways:

Research your buyer personas to determine what type of content would be most helpful and appealing to them.

Survey and ask your current followers and customers for feedback on what they want from your company on Pinterest.

Look at what your competitors are doing well (or not) to help you think about new ways to push out your content and make it unique.

View the boards of your current followers and customers to aid in your understanding of who your audience is and what they're most interested in.

4. Drive website traffic and boost online sales.

Pinterest, unlike Instagram, allows you to link your visual content to another website  namely, your website. This feature allows you to share both written and visual content and direct users back to your website in the process.

This is a powerful addition to your marketing as it can boost online sales, too. Many brands use Pinterest to showcase product images while sharing content.

For example, this board, created by the clothing company Madewell, serves as a source of travel inspiration and is paired with real products they sell to get their audience excited about their brand, the lifestyle they promote, and the idea of purchasing some clothing.

Source

By integrating Pinterest on your website, youll be able to easily drive traffic from one of your web pages directly to your Pinterest profile so your leads and customers can begin viewing your content in seconds (and hopefully follow you!).

These Pinterest widgets and buttons allow your website visitors to interact with your Pinterest page via your website and give them the ability to view and follow your profile or go directly to a specific Pin or board. The networks widget builder helps you quickly customize, create, and add this feature to your site.

Source

Pinterest Marketing Strategies Sign up for a business account. Choose the right categories for your content. Use unique images and videos. Leverage keywords. Add hashtags to your content. Share your content on other social networks. Follow, engage, and interact with other accounts. Use social media best practices. Analyze your results.

These 9 Pinterest marketing strategies hold value for businesses of any size, in any industry. This universal approach to marketing is one reason Pinterest is such a valuable social media tool.

1. Sign up for a business account.

To market to your target audience, you should create a Pinterest business account. As mentioned, this free account provides you with access to Pinterest Analytics (which well review in more detail shortly) and other handy marketing features such as a profile that clearly states youre a business, Pinterest widgets, and Pinterest tag. If you already have a Pinterest account and want to convert it into a Pinterest business account, you can also do that without losing any of your content or work.

Note: If youre looking to enhance your business account and run ads on Pinterest, you can do so by upgrading your account  and setting up your method of payment because this part of Pinterest is not free  to target your audience more aggressively with the help of the platforms Ads Manager.

2. Choose the right categories for your content.

By choosing the right category for your content to be shared in, your Pins and boards will become more searchable for users looking to discover content similar to that of your business. Users can search for specific categories on Pinterest or simply go to the Categories section of any profile on the platform to view all content related to the topic theyre searching.

Source

Some of the most popular Pinterest categories include travel, health and wellness, and beauty.

3. Use unique images and videos.

Similar to other social networks, Pinterest contains a plethora of images and videos. Not only do you want to ensure youre posting images and videos that will help you promote your brand and market your products/ services, but youll also want to ensure they stand out against all of the others on the platform. Otherwise, why would a user choose to follow you over your competition?

Here are some ways to ensure youre sharing great and unique visual content on Pinterest:

Use branded images without faces  these receive 23% more Pins on the platform than those with faces.

Create and share branded videos to promote your products and company. 75% of Pinterest users say theyre likely to watch branded videos about topics that interest them.

Pay to use Pinterests Promoted Video feature if you have the budget.

Share images and videos that show your products in action so viewers can more easily envision themselves using them.

Avoid excessive blank (or white) space in your images  images with 30% less blank space in the background are pinned most.

Create videos between 30-90 seconds long because theyre proven to have the highest performance.

Create specific boards to share images of your companys most helpful data visualizations and infographics if you have them for your audience to use as resources for their businesses.

4. Leverage keywords.

By using keywords throughout your profile, posts, Pins, and boards, youll be more likely to organically appear in users feeds and searches. Keywords and phrases on Pinterest are related to specific niches being searched by users.

For example, if you sell suitcases, you might use keywords and phrases like vacation or going on a trip throughout your profile and Pins. This way, when a user searches one of those terms, your profile and images of your suitcases will appear on their feeds.

Here are some locations in which you can insert keywords on Pinterest to improve your chances of organically ranking through search:

Bio and profile

Pin descriptions

Board titles

Board descriptions

Image-Alt-Text

For those of you who choose to pay for Pinterest ads, theres also an option to use the platforms keyword targeting tool to help you reach your audience through your ads.

5. Add hashtags to your content.

Hashtags  which are keywords and phrases preceded by the # symbol  are another great way for you to organically market to and reach your target audience. Hashtags on Pinterest work the same way they do on most other social media sites (like Instagram, for example) and when leveraged, make your content more search-friendly.

Hashtags on Pinterest are used to help users identify Pins and boards about a specific topic theyre searching. When users click on a hashtag you include on a Pins, theyre brought to a page in which they can view all content ever posted on the platform tagged with that specific hashtag. You should add hashtags to your Pins, boards, and promoted content (if you have any) to ensure the greatest amount of visibility.

6. Share your content on other social networks.

To promote your Pinterest account and content, you should share your Pins, images, and videos in other areas to improve your chances of being seen and followed. For example, you can claim your business Pinterest account on Instagram, Etsy, and YouTube so your followers can easily learn about the other platforms youre on and how they can view more of your content. Additionally, claiming your account will provide access to analytics and data on all of these Pins so you can see the other networks your audience is most interested in.

You can also link your Pinterest profile to your Facebook and Google accounts so you can easily add and find friends, share content across networks, speed up your login on all accounts, and backup your profile in case you lose or forget your password details.

7. Follow, engage, and interact with other accounts.

When you follow and interact with other Pinterest users and their accounts, youre able to initiate and maintain personal relationships between them and your business. This type of engagement has the potential to make your followers feel a level of loyalty towards your brand that keeps them coming back to your profile for inspiration, ideas, and to buy products.

Here are four ways you can build strong and lasting relationships with your target audience through your marketing tactics on Pinterest:

Follow new accounts of users who state or show they have interests related to the work your business does and the content you post (you can do this by searching keywords and hashtags or reviewing the people who follow your current audience members).

Re-Pin, Like, and comment on the content your followers and fans share.

Respond to the messages your followers write on your content to personalize their experience on your profile and make them feel heard.

Create engaging posts that showcase your expertise in your industry, teach your followers how to do something, or get them involved (in a giveaway or contest for example).

8. Use social media best practices.

When using Pinterest, be sure to follow the same social media practices you would on other social networks. Examples of this include remembering to interact and engage with your followers, regularly post to (and update) your account, and avoid blatant self-promotion that feels pushy and forced to your audience.

Additionally, you can focus on the following five best practices to boost engagement on Pinterest.

Encourage your followers to feature your brand in their content (and maybe offer to repost them or re-Pin their content if they do).

Provide your audience with an incentive  such as a prize  for choosing to follow and interact with you as well as create posts featuring your products and branding.

Offer your audience discount codes, coupons, as well as details about your latest products and updates to existing products to keep them coming back to your profile.

Ensure your content is helpful and useful for your audience members  all content should have a purpose and/ or meaning.

9. Analyze your results.

If youre putting all of this effort into marketing on Pinterest, its probably safe to assume youre going to want to ensure the work youre doing improves your business conversions and brand awareness.

So, youll need to analyze the results of your Pinterest marketing efforts to keep track of your referral traffic, number of engagements, leads generated, and anything else youre interested in learning more about. The easiest way to do this is through Pinterest Analytics.

Pinterest Analytics provides you with four major types of information including:

Metrics about your profile as a whole.

Insights about the number of people who save and re-Pin your content.

Platform metrics to understand how people interact with your content via both desktop or mobile.

Data about your most popular Pins.

Pinterest for Small Businesses

If you have a small business, you may be wondering whether or not putting all of this effort and time into implementing Pinterest marketing strategies is actually worth it.

Short answer? Yes, it is.

Pinterest is one of the more versatile, affordable, and impactful marketing tools for businesses that are looking to convert more leads, drive traffic to their websites, and increase brand awareness to use.

Plus, Pinterest users have the highest purchase intent of any other social media users. Lets discuss some more ways small businesses, like yours, can benefit from creating a presence on Pinterest.

Tell a visual story.

Pinterest helps you tell a visual story about your brand. Through pictures and videos, youre able to show  rather than tell  your audience what youre about as a company, the things you value, what and who you support, and the types of products and services you sell.

Pinterest provides you with a unique and engaging way to introduce your small business to platform users.

Humanize your brand.

Social media of any kind can help you humanize your brand and give it some personality  Pinterest is no exception. On the platform, youre able to reach out directly to your audience members, chat with them one-on-one or as a group, and assist them through any difficulties or roadblocks they encounter while doing business with you.

Youre also able to show your audience and followers how much their support and business mean to you through giveaways, videos of your behind the scenes work, latest company news, product information, promotions, and discount codes.

Creating and maintaining these business-to-customer routines early on humanizes your brand, sets the tone for what your company will be known for, and shows customers how you intend to grow with them in mind.

Feature your blog posts.

You can use Pinterest to feature your inbound marketing efforts such as your blog posts or content offers. For example, you can Pin a photo or video to a board and include a link to blog post about that visual content. This not only promotes your blog posts but it also drives traffic directly to your website.

Source

Display your work and showcase your expertise.

Pinterest is a great way for your small business to display your work and showcase your expertise in your industry. Examples include Pins with images and videos of your work, infographics, data visualizations, and blog posts.

Due to the fact you might not be a recognized brand yet, doing this is important. Thats because as your business grows and you become more well-known, youll be more likely to be recognized as an industry leader and a business with helpful and applicable content for audience members.

Drive traffic to your website.

Pinterest is a great way to drive traffic to your business website  this will help your small business generate leads and conversions. You can share URLs in your profile as well as on your Pins and boards. For example, you may choose to post content with a link to your email sign up page, About Us page, or blog.

Conduct market research.

Pinterest is a great resource for conducting market research. Its especially helpful for small businesses that may not have a large following quite yet or the experience to know exactly what their audience members expect and want in terms of content.

With Pinterest, you can easily review what your competitors  and the companies in your industry that are more established than yours  are doing. This will allow you to discover which tactics theyre using on the platform and see whats working for their audience members. You can also look at the content your audience Pins as well as who theyre following and interacting with.

Pinterest Marketing Tools

There are a number of tools you can use to help you reach your target audience and engage users on Pinterest. There are three major types of resources to help you accomplish this  account management tools, image design and creation tools, and follower count and community growth tools.

1. Social Media Management Tools

Social media management tools help you schedule posts and organize your content on any social network, including Pinterest, prior to actually posting it.

This way, you can ensure everything is shared and pushed out as planned. Social media management tools often have analytics capabilities as well, which you can use in tandem with Pinterest Analytics.

Some popular social media and Pinterest management tools include:

Hootsuite gives you the ability to schedule your Pins in advance, gain insights into your data and analytics, and measure your results on Pinterest.

Tailwind provides you with analytics about your Pinterest profile, a data reporting system to help you determine whats doing well with your audience members, and advice about the best days and times to share your Pins.

Sprout Social allows you to take advantage of a range of features to help you reach your target audience and buyer personas through Pinterest. These include platform analytics, engagement tools, post scheduling capabilities, and details about the type of content your audience wants.

2. Pinterest Image Design and Creation Tools

Pinterest image design and creation tools allow you to design, edit, create, and publish professional-looking photos and images for the platform (along with any other social media site and your website).

Considering Pinterest is a visual social network where users discover eye-catching, beautiful, and creative images and videos, its important your content looks perfect so you can attract more followers and engagement on your profile.

The following three tools are great for anyone who doesnt necessarily have a background in fields like graphic design or art but still wants to share unique and polished content on their profile.

Canva allows you to create professional images for Pinterest with their over 1 million images, graphics, templates, and icons available to choose from.

Pablo provides you with a way to create beautiful images for Pinterest in under 30 seconds with easy-to-use effects and templates.

PicMonkey gives you the ability to create and edit images and has advanced image editing tools such as masking, mirroring, and double exposure.

3. Follower Count and Community Growth Tools

Follower count and community growth tools on Pinterest are available to help you promote your profile and content as well as increase your number of followers and engagements. The following three tools were created to help you accomplish this specifically on Pinterest.

PINGROUPIE provides you with the number of Pins, users, and followers on different group boards on the platform so you can determine whether or not you want to join and Pin your content on it.

Loop88 helps you to create shareable content theyve determined is ideal for Pinterest to help you attract your target audience and grow your following.

PinFollow gives you a detailed look at whos following your Pinterest account, who youre following back, who you follow that isnt following you back, and how your follower count is growing over time.

Start Marketing On Pinterest

Pinterest is a powerful marketing tool with the ability to help you organically increase brand awareness, boost conversions, increase sales, and create long-lasting relationships with your target audience and buyer personas.

You can achieve all of these things for your business by following the Pinterest marketing strategies we reviewed and incorporating the available tools and resources to help you succeed as a business on the platform.

So, sign up for a business account and begin creating unique and engaging content to market to your customers and followers on Pinterest.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in January 2012 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
Do you want to optimize your website but have trouble communicating with the technical folks running it? Then, you need an SEO glossary.

Jargon alone shouldn't stop you from making your site the powerful marketing tool it can be.

This is a list of the most essential search engine optimization (SEO) terms to help marketers communicate with developers and understand how to optimize their websites.

# | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | W | X |

40 SEO Terms You Must Know!

Numbers

2xx status codes  Code sent by the server to say that the request was successful.

301 Redirect  The process of permanently redirecting a webpage from one URL to another.

302 Redirect - The process of temporarily redirecting a webpage from one URL to another.

4xx status codes - Code sent by the server to say that the request was unsuccessful and the information was not found.

5xx status codes - Code sent by the server to say that there was a problem with the server.

A

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) - An open source project by Google to help publishers create webpages and content that are optimize for all devices.

ALT Text/Alt Attribute - A description of an image in your site's HTML. Unlike humans, search engines read only the ALT text of images, not the images themselves. Add ALT text to images whenever possible.

Anchor Text - The actual text of a link to a web page. On most websites, this text is usually dark blue and underlined, or purple if youve visited the link in the past. Anchor text helps search engines understand what the destination page is about, it describes what you will see if you click through.

Authority - How reliable a website is based on search engine's algorithm.

B

Backlink - A link pointing to an external webpage.

Black Hat - Practices that go against Google's webmaster guidelines.

Blog - A webpage that includes blog posts related to specific topics and/or industry.

Bookmark - A link to a website saved for later reference in your web browser or computer.

Bot - A software application that is programmed to complete specific tasks.

Bounce Rate - The amount of users who leave a webpage after only viewing one page.

Branded Keyword - A search query (keyword) that refers to a specific brand. E.g.: "Nike shoes"



Breadcrumb - A web link that lets you know where you are on a website and how far you are from the homepage.

Broken Link - A link that leads to a 404 error page. This can happen if a webpage is removed without a redirect. (See 4xx status codes)

Browser - Software that allows you to access information and data on the internet. The most common browsers include Google Chrome, Safari, and FireFox.

C

Cache - A storage location that collects temporary data to help websites, apps, and browsers load faster.

Canonical URL - The canonical URL is the best address on which a user can find a piece of information. Sometimes you might have a situation where the same page content can be accessed at more than one address. Specifying the canonical URL helps search engines understand which address for a piece of content is the best one.

ccTLD - Stands for country-code top-level domain and is used to define the domain for a specific country or region. E.g. www.mysite.co.uk

Cloaking - A black hat practice used to display different information on a webpage than what was expected.

Conversion Form - A form through which you collect information about your site visitor. Conversion forms convert traffic into leads. Collecting contact information helps you follow up with these leads.

Crawler - A program used by search engines to gather information on websites and accurately index them.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) - The part of your code that defines how different elements of your site look (examples: headers, links).

D

Deep Link - This can refer to two things: A link pointing to content on a mobile application or a link pointing a webpage other than a homepage.

De-Index - When a search engine removes a website or webpage from search results.

Disavow - When you tell Google to ignore links because they're low-quality, spam, or artificial.

Do-follow - A hyperlink that instructs search engines to follow the link instead of the "nofollow" attribute. (See nofollow)

Domain - The main web address of your site (example: www.yoursite.com).

E

External link - A hyperlink that points to a webpage on another domain. This is also known as a backlink. (See backlink).

F

Featured Snippet - Highlighted excerpts that appear at the top of some Google search results, known as position 0.

The Fold - The "fold" is the point on your website where the page gets cut off by the bottom of a users monitor or browser window. Anything below the fold can be scrolled to but isnt seen right away. Search engines place some priority on content above the fold since it will be seen right away by new visitors.

G

Google My Business - A local business directory from Google.

Google Search Console - A free Google tool that allows you to monitor how a website is performing.

Guest Blogging - The practice of publishing a blog post on a website owned by someone else.

H

Header tag - Code used to designate headings and subheadings from paragraphs.

Headings - Section headers on your website that are placed inside of a header tag, such as an H1 or H2. This text is often presented in a larger and stronger font than other text on the page.

HTML - The code part of your website that search engines read. Keep your HTML as clean as possible so that search engines read your site easily and often. Put as much layout-related code as possible in your CSS instead of your HTML.

I

Image Compression - The practice of reduce an image's file size to speed up a web page.

Indexing - A process used by search engines to analyze the content of website and catalog files.

Inbound Link - A link from another website to yours.

Internal Link - A link from one page to another on the same website, such as from your homepage to your products page.

Indexed Pages - The pages of your website that are stored by search engines.

J

Javascript - A scripting language that allows website administrators to apply various effects or changes to the content of their website as users browse it.

K

Keyword - A word that a user enters in search. Each web page should be optimized with the goal of drawing in visitors who have searched specific keywords.

Keyword Difficulty - Refers to how competitive a keyword is and how difficult it will be to rank for it.

Keyword Research - The process of searching for keywords to target in your content based on volume, keyword difficulty, and other factors.

Keyword Stuffing - The overuse of keywords in your content in an attempt to rank higher.
Santa Rosa County, Florida sheriff Bob Johnson held a press conference about an alleged burglar who had been arrested after an unknown homeowner shot at him. Johnson celebrated the shooter and encouraged others to do the same:

"If somebody's breaking into your house, you're more than welcome to shoot them in Santa Rosa County, and we prefer that you do actually. Whoever that was, you're not in trouble. Come see us. We have a gun safety class we put on every other Saturday. If you take that, you'll shoot a lot better, and hopefully, you'll save taxpayers money."

From WSET:

Florida's "stand your ground" law says that "a person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony."

(Thanks, Charles Pescovitz)
This morning, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (RNC) was once again caught trying to bring a loaded handgun onto a plane. Again it was a 9 millimeter handgun, this time discovered by the TSA at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. He was cited but not arrested.

In February 2021 the North Carolina congressman was also found with a 9 millimeter handgun when going through security at Asheville Regional Airport. This is the same MAGA Christian who made news in March after he was charged for driving with a revoked license, and then again for accusing Republican colleagues of coke and orgy soirees.

From WSOCTV9:

Rep. Madison Cawthorn was cited for having a gun at Charlotte Douglas International Airport Tuesday morning, three sources tell Channel 9. According to the TSA, a 9 millimeter handgun was discovered at Checkpoint D. TSA declined to identify the person who had the gun. It's unclear if Cawthorn will face any criminal charges. A spokesperson for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department couldn't immediately comment. This is not the first time a gun has been discovered on Cawthorn at an airport. In February 2021, TSA found a 9 millimeter handgun in Cawthorn's carry-on bag at Asheville Regional Airport. Cawthorn did not face any criminal charges for the incident.

Good thing for Cawthorn he's above the law.
Press Release

April 26, 2022 De Lima warns against use of 4Ps by unscrupulous candidates Re-electionist Senator Leila M. de Lima denounced the continued use of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act by unscrupulous politicians and party-lists, who have no connection whatsoever with the government program, to gain mileage in the elections. De Lima, known as "Ina ng 4Ps" for being the author and principal sponsor of Republic Act No. 11310 or the 4Ps Institutionalization Act, warned the public against local politicians and a party-list group using the name of the 4Ps program of the government as they have nothing to do with the law. "I condemn the threats made to 4Ps beneficiaries that they will no longer be included in the program if they do not vote for certain candidates. The 4Ps Act is clear that local government officials have nothing to do with 4Ps beneficiary-selection," De Lima, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, said. "4Ps beneficiary-selection is the sole mandate and authority of the DSWD as the primary implementor or focal point agency in charge of the 4Ps program. "I therefore urge all 4Ps beneficiaries not to believe the threats made by candidates, especially those running for local positions, that the latter can either withdraw or insert their names from the list of 4Ps beneficiaries," she added. A DSWD regional office has reportedly received information that politicians have allegedly threatened to remove potential voters, who are beneficiaries of various DSWD programs, from the DSWD list. In particular, DSWD-6 Assistant Regional Director for Administration Delia Bagolcol said that most of the reported threats of politicians involve 4Ps. "Kahit kailanman mula noong isabatas ang 4Ps, hindi kailangan maging kapalit nang tulong galing dito ang paghalal sa kahit sino mang Mayor, Vice-Mayor, o Konsehal ng mga bayan o siyudad," De Lima said. Election watchdog Kontra Daya, meanwhile, warned of party-list groups bearing identical names with government programs, particularly the Pagtibayin at Palaguin ang Pangkabuhayang Pilipino (4Ps) which has a similar logo and acronym with the 4Ps. Setting the record straight, De Lima stressed: "4Ps beneficiaries should likewise be informed that a party-list group using the name of the 4Ps program has nothing to do with the same." "Ang dapat iboto ninyong party-list ay mga grupo na totoong kumakatawan sa inyong mga sektor, at hindi isang mapanlinlang na grupo na ginagamit ang 4Ps para makuha ang inyong boto. Huwag po kayong magpapaloko sa kanila," she added. De Lima, in collaboration with Senator Antonio "Sonny" Trillanes IV as her Vice Chairman in the Senate Committee on Social Justice, pushed for the passage of 4Ps Act that was signed into law on April 2019.
TM Montante Development's aspirations to convert the former Millard Fillmore Hospital campus at Gates Circle into the new Lancaster Square neighborhood just received a financial boost from a state appeals court.

Citing a technicality, the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court last week overturned a lower-court ruling from December 2020 that found the city of Buffalo had acted improperly when it designated the Gates Circle neighborhood as an "Urban Development Action Area."

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That new decision effectively reinstates the controversial designation by the city, which makes the 6.7-acre hospital campus, streets and surrounding property eligible for a lucrative set of special tax incentives that were designed to assist in redeveloping formerly city-owned blighted properties acquired through foreclosure or abandonment.

State judge again annuls designation of Gates Circle as 'blighted' for tax incentives That designation by the Common Council from April 2019 created the Linwood Lafayette Urban Development Action area around the former Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital site.

Those benefits  including a generous 20-year break on property taxes  were a key part of the financing package that Montante was counting on for its multiple redevelopment projects, particularly the renovation of the homeopathic hospital buildings that still remain.

But the designation was challenged by a local resident and development critic, Daniel R. Sack, who ridiculed the idea that the tony Gates Circle neighborhood could be considered "blighted." Sack sued the Buffalo Common Council and Montante, claiming that their action was illegal.

Buffalo pursuing blight designation tax breaks for Gates Circle redevelopment City officials, eager to support a planned redevelopment at Gates Circle that could yield $30 million of business for minority- and women-owned contractors over several years, are still pursuing opportunities to help the developer obtain more lucrative tax breaks than it would otherwise be eligible for. Brendan Mehaffy, executive director of the citys Office of Strategic Planning, said the

State Supreme Court Justice Mark A. Montour ruled in Sack's favor in November 2019 and again a year later, annulling the city's resolution after determining that Sack had legal standing to sue as a taxpayer under common law. The judge described the UDAA zone as "gerrymandered" by including city streets and rights-of-way to meet the 60% threshold of public ownership, and he rejected the idea of the surrounding neighborhood as anything but wealthy.

But the Fourth Department of the Appellate Division disagreed that Sack had either common law or traditional standing to challenge the city's action, so it dismissed the complaint on the city's appeal without ruling on Sack's other claims.

"We are disappointed," said Sack's attorney, Arthur J. Giacalone, adding that Sack may appeal. "The Fourth Department is making an impenetrable barrier to that important issue by saying that Dan doesn't have standing, and saying it without explaining why."

Judge rejects controversial plan to label Gates Circle 'blighted' A controversial plan to accelerate private development at the site of the former Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital complex was blocked Friday by a State Supreme Court judge, raising new questions about the future of the 6.7-acre parcel immediately adjacent to the Elmwood Village. The plan, first proposed in February 2019, would have used an obscure state law to

TM Montante is spending $150 million to redevelop the Gates Circle site, which it acquired from Kaleida Health a decade ago after the health system closed the hospital and moved it into the Gates Vascular Institute at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Since then, the developer has been working to convert the sprawling campus into a mix of more than 500 residential units, senior housing, Class A office space, a small urban grocery store and a fitness center. Six major buildings are planned over time, including reuse of the original homeopathic buildings, as well as new construction.

Montante has sold pieces of the campus to Canterbury Woods and People Inc. for new senior housing projects, and it converted a former medical office building at 1275 Delaware into 33 apartments and commercial space. The developer also bought, renovated and reopened the 750-space Lancaster Square Parking Garage at 1277 Delaware.

It also has plans for a six-story apartment building adjacent to Canterbury Woods, as well as two additional new buildings to the south. And it is teaming up with Belmont Housing for Western New York on a $40 million plan to revive the remaining historic buildings into a mix of affordable and market-rate housing.

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BEIJING (AP)  Police and new fencing restricted who could leave a locked-down area in Beijing on Tuesday as authorities in the Chinese capital stepped up efforts to prevent a major COVID-19 outbreak like the one that has all but shut down the city of Shanghai.

People lined up for throat swabs across much of Beijing as mass testing was expanded to 11 of the city's 16 districts.

Another 22 cases were found in the last 24 hours, Beijing health officials said at a late afternoon news conference, bringing the total to 92 since the outbreak was discovered five days ago. That is tiny in comparison to Shanghai, where the number of cases has topped 500,000 and at least 190 people have died. No deaths have been reported from the still-nascent outbreak in Beijing.

An initial announcement of testing in one Beijing district had sparked panic buying in the city of 21 million on Monday, but the situation appeared to calm on Tuesday even as testing was expanded. Public transport appeared to be running largely normally and roads were filled with commuters.

Im not worried that Beijing would suffer from a shortage of supplies so I dont plan to stock up, said Zhang Yifan, who was on his way to get tested in Dongcheng district. "Because if people stock up blindly, it may cause a waste of resources. If people keep too much supplies at home, it will cause a shortage.

Beijing has locked down some apartment buildings and residential complexes and on Monday added a larger urban area measuring about 2 by 3 kilometers (1 by 2 miles). Workers put up blue metal fencing along part of the area Tuesday, and police restricted who could leave. Residents are being kept inside their compounds.

Fears of a total lockdown have been fed by disruptions in the supply of food, medicine and daily necessities in Shanghai, a southeast coast business hub whose 25 million residents have only gradually been allowed to leave their homes after three weeks of confinement.

However, 86-year-old Beijing resident Chen Shengzhen said the capital had been given more time to prepare than its southern cousin.

Shanghai's lockdown came all of a sudden, so the policies and other aspects were not able to be in place, leading to short-term hardships in the city, Chen told The Associated Press.

My daughter works in a government department and they have prepared very well, such as beds, quilts, and articles for womens use. Even if we need to go into lockdown, we will be fine, said Chen.

Shanghai residents, confined to their complexes or buildings, had trouble ordering food deliveries and also faced higher prices. The lockdown of China's largest city has had ripple effects elsewhere as goods have backed up at Shanghai's port, affecting factory production, global supply chains and China's own economic growth.

Zhong Xiaobing, the general manager of the Lianhua Supermarket chain in Shanghai, said that shipments of goods from elsewhere in China have gotten smoother since the government organized trucks 10 days ago to bring in goods from key transfer stations, but that imports remain slower because of port and other transport restrictions.

Other cities have also been locked down in China as the omicron variant proves difficult to control, with Baotou in Inner Mongolia the latest to enforce one.

Beijing tested nearly 3.8 million people in an initial round of mass testing in Chaoyang district on Monday. All the results were negative except for one in a group of five that were tested together, a Chaoyang official said. Those five people were being tested to determine who among them is infected.

Chaoyang has had the most cases in the Beijing outbreak, but authorities decided to extend the testing to 10 more districts on Tuesday.

Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang and researcher Yu Bing in Beijing and researcher Chen Si in Shanghai contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
When New York voters approved a 2014 constitutional amendment to prevent gerrymandering, they entrusted a 10-member Independent Redistricting Commission with drawing nonpartisan district lines for the House of Representatives and State Legislature.

But what happens when the commission evenly splits on a plan? What if it never submits another plan? Shouldn't the IRC somehow be required to fulfill the will of the people? And if unable, should the responsibility fall to the Legislature representing the entire state? Or to one judge elected by a sliver of voters?

These are the questions submitted by Democratic and Republican litigators appearing before the Court of Appeals on Tuesday as the state's high court wrangles with the latest accusation of gerrymandered district lines  this time, as Republicans claim, by the supermajority of Democrats controlling New York State government. A decision in the fast-tracked case is expected soon to accommodate a primary election slated for June 28.

On Tuesday, the high court heard final arguments in the case after the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Rochester. Last week it declared unconstitutional the congressional maps devised by legislative Democrats and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. That legislative action followed a deadlocked IRC's inability to devise another plan.

Court of Appeals to decide reapportionment amid deep political polarization When the Court of Appeals on Tuesday morning considers the complicated case filed earlier this year by Republicans claiming they were shut out of the reapportionment process, some now wonder if even the state's high court can insulate itself from the nation's increasing political polarization.

The Appellate Division's ruling validated a Republican argument hinging on voter approval of the 2014 amendment that prohibited redistricting "to discourage competition or for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring incumbents or other particular candidates or political parties."

A procession of lawyers steeped in constitutional law appeared before the Court of Appeals in Albany to make their case. Craig R. Bucki, a Buffalo attorney representing the Assembly, told the seven-judge panel the IRC fulfilled its initial task of drawing new maps, but failed to follow up with new maps when it became deadlocked.

"Then it was the Legislature's responsibility," he said.

But judges peppered lawyers for both sides with a series of probing questions, constantly interrupting with "what ifs?" and drilling into various points of law. Much of the back and forth concentrated on earlier testimony by election analyst Sean Trende, who argued the map shoved Republicans "into a few Republican-leaning districts, while spreading Democratic voters as efficiently as possible."

Trende developed 5,000 computer-generated maps for potential use in New York, spurring the Appellate Division to say of the Legislature's congressional map: "The result is exactly what gerrymandering looks like, i.e., where the voters of the disfavored party are disproportionately 'packed' into districts already favoring that party in order to make the districts around them either flip or become less competitive."

But Eric Hecker, representing the Democratic Senate, said the lower court relied too heavily on Trende.

Appeals court rules New York congressional map to be unconstitutional "The 2022 congressional map was drawn to discourage competition and favor Democrats," the court concluded.

"This would be the first court to strike down a redistricting plan without analysis," he said. "They put all their eggs in the basket of Sean Trende."

And Jeffrey Lang, representing Hochul, said the job of drawing new maps ultimately  and appropriately  fell to the Legislature.

"The people did not anticipate where the IRC would be deadlocked a second time around and then failed to submit [new] maps," he said. "The Legislature properly stepped in."

That prompted Judge Jenny Rivera to note her "difficulty" in the Legislature failing to "move forward" under such circumstances.

But for the GOP, attorney Misha Tseytlin argued the legislatures of other states with similar systems have complied with their responsibility to draw new and fair maps, citing Maryland's experience.

"That could happen very quickly," he said.

And in court papers submitted before the hearing, Tseytlin contended the lower courts got it right.

"If this Court nevertheless usurps the role of the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division by overturning the factual finding that the Legislature acted with partisan intent, beyond a reasonable doubt, the message will be clear: the State of New York will not enforce an express constitutional prohibition on partisan gerrymandering," he said.

The appellate justices voted 3-2 to uphold a March decision by State Supreme Court Justice Patrick F. McAllister in Steuben County that also deemed the congressional map drawing process unconstitutional. The Appellate Division ruling did not find evidence of unconstitutionality, however, in the drawing of the new district lines for the State Legislature.

Democrats, Republicans, political candidates, Boards of Elections and voters throughout the state now await the ruling by the seven-member panel, all appointed by Democratic governors Hochul and Andrew M. Cuomo. It could upend plans for at least the June 28 congressional primary, as Republicans seek a delay, possibly sending the party contests into August. Republicans also have argued against delaying the 2022 election until the Legislature can address the situation again in time for 2024, maintaining such a remedy provides a "free pass" to Democrats this year.

The case challenges the map that divided the state into 26 congressional districts, some of them oddly shaped. The state previously had 27 districts, but lost a seat because of nationwide population shifts determined in the 2020 census.

The GOP argues the Democrat-drawn map ensures that Republicans of only four likely wins in the 2022 House elections: in the Southern Tier district, in the North Country, in a district that stretches from Niagara County to Watertown, and on Long Island. The state currently has eight Republican House members.

The effects of that approach can be seen clearly in Western New York. The Southern Tier's 23rd District, now represented by Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, was redrawn to exclude the Democrat-dominated Ithaca area  but expanded to include the heavily Republican towns of southern Erie County and other rural swaths of the state.

Similarly, what's now the 27th District  represented by Rep. Chris Jacobs, R-Orchard Park  was redrawn into the oddly shaped 24th District, which stretches from the shores of the Niagara River to the shores of the St. Lawrence, with a huge cutout for another Democratic district in Rochester.

Meanwhile, Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, is set to run for re-election in a redrawn 26th District that includes all of the heavily Democratic City of Buffalo.

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On the afternoon of Dec. 8, frantic text messages and phone calls began to spread among a group of active and retired teachers from Lafayette High School and P.S. 65 in Buffalo.

This was hours after an international audience had watched, captivated, as a Coast Guard rescue swimmer dangling from a helicopter pulled a woman from a vehicle lodged in the raging Niagara River, just yards from the brink of the American Falls, and carried her in bracing winds to the riverbank.

Now, colleagues were asking each other in disbelief:

Was that Miss Bell who went into the water?

Amanda Jordan, who taught English to refugee students at P.S. 65 with Bell, tried reaching her friend.

I knew when Miss Bell didnt answer her phone that thats what happened, Jordan said in an interview.

Authorities determined a 69-year-old Williamsville woman drowned after intentionally driving into the river but otherwise have shared little about her and declined to reveal her name.

A police report released in response to a public-records request, along with interviews with family and former colleagues, offer previously untold details about the victim and that day's events.

Beverly C. Bell is described as a bright, talented musician who grew up downstate and later taught French, Spanish and English as a second language here for 20 years.

At an age when many peers are long retired, Bell continued teaching through the Covid-19 pandemic before going on medical leave last fall.

An only child who never married or had children, Bell had suffered health issues. But friends and family dont understand what led her to steer her sedan into the river on that frigid morning.

And they struggle to reconcile their warm memories of Bell in life with the painfully public way she died.

Things had to have been impossible for her to bear, said Patricia Laing, who taught with Bell for several years. I just, I just can't imagine.

Long Island to Buffalo

Bell's mother, Wavie Maye Cook, moved to this country from Canada after marrying Edward Bell, who worked for the Long Island Rail Road, said Geoffrey Drew-Brook, a first cousin of Bells.

Drew-Brook remembered her regular visits to Canada and the occasional trips his Canadian contingent made to visit Bells family and spend time on Long Islands beaches.

She liked playing with the younger cousins. And she was also very active on the piano, said Drew-Brook, who was six years younger than the cousin known as "Cheri" for her middle name, Cheryl.

Drew-Brook said he doesnt know when she moved to Western New York. Records show she lived on East Spring Street in Williamsville.

Bell began teaching in Buffalo in 2001, according to district records.

She initially taught French and Spanish but transitioned to English as a new language  primarily working with refugee students.

Bell spent many years as a substitute and thats one reason she kept teaching into her late 60s, colleagues said.

A quiet talent

The longest stretch of Bells time with the district was spent at Lafayette and, most recently, at P.S. 65, the Roosevelt Early Childhood Center, in Riverside.

She was quirky. A lot of quirks. But she was also very intelligent and talented, especially with music, said Alyssa Wallace, who taught English as a new language with Bell at Lafayette. Her colleague shunned the spotlight but, Wallace said, everyone knew Beverly.

On one occasion, Laing and Bell were in a classroom during a planning period at Lafayette when a skeptical colleague asked Bell if she really could sing.

Challenged, Bell launched into a beautiful rendition, in the original French, of Dominique, a 1963 hit by the performer known as the Singing Nun, Laing recalled, stunning their colleague.

She was not a joiner. She was kind of a quiet person, said Laing, who worked with Bell from around 2011 to 2015 and remembered anxiety that drove Bell to arrive at school 90 minutes early.

During the pandemic, when classes shifted online, Jordan invited Bell to her Town of Tonawanda home, where she helped Bell teach virtually.

It was an adventure, I'll say that, said Jordan, who was decades younger but considered Bell  always Miss Bell, not Beverly  a friend.

Jordan said Bell didnt like to cook, loved showing off clothes she bought on sale at Macys and occasionally purchased stuffed animals to give to her elementary-age students.

She taught me a lot and I taught her a lot, said Jordan, recalling Bells flashes of wit.

Recent health concerns

In mid-September, Bell hurt herself when she fell, or fainted, in a bathroom at P.S. 65, Jordan said, badly injuring her hip.

This came on top of other health issues Bell developed in recent years, friends said, including vision problems and a diabetes diagnosis that prompted her to throw all sugary items out of her apartment.

Bell went out on medical leave and moved into Beechwood Continuing Care for rehabilitation to try to return to the classroom, friends said.

To be honest with you, she should have retired, Laing said. But she did not want to retire. She wanted to keep teaching.

Drew-Brook said he had talked to his cousin several times in November. He said he was aware of some of her health issues but Bell didnt seem overwhelmed by any of it.

On Dec. 6, Bell called to ask Jordan to take a day off from work to ferry her from Beechwood to a medical appointment. Jordans husband and mother ended up taking her.

Before they left, an employee at Beechwood urged them to take Bell directly from the rehab unit to the appointment and back again  even if Bell asks to stop somewhere else, Jordan recalled.

This instruction sticks in Jordans mind given what happened two days later.

Retracing her steps

A State Park Police incident report shows that a friend of Bells, whose name is redacted, had picked Bell up from Beechwood about 8:35 a.m. Dec. 8 to take her to another medical appointment.

Afterward, this friend  who wasn't Jordan  took Bell to her apartment. The friend went inside to get clothes and mail for Bell, presumably to take to Beechwood, while Bell remained in the friends vehicle.

By the time the friend returned, around 10:30 a.m., Bell had driven off in her own car and was gone.

Bells car wasn't spotted again until 11:45 a.m., when a witness saw it in downtown Niagara Falls, with its trunk open, near the Seneca Niagara Casino and about to enter Niagara Falls State Park. Police found no evidence she had been inside the casino.

Witnesses did not see the vehicle enter the river, but investigators found tire tracks in the snow on the riverbank, between the Goat Island pedestrian and vehicle bridges, with no skid marks or other indications Bell tried to stop.

The responding officer found Bells 2018 Toyota Camry sedan in the rapids, about 60 yards from the brink. Witnesses said they saw at least one woman yelling for help in the car.

Officials, after determining it wasnt safe to attempt a rescue from shore, called in a Coast Guard rescue copter from Detroit, setting up the scene replayed on social media and on the news around the world.

Park Police said she had drowned before the swimmer reached Bell, who had an iPhone, a bank card and medical discharge papers on her. Three days later, her vehicle was swept over the Falls in a windstorm.

Hard to understand

Drew-Brook said Park Police called him as a family contact to inform him of Bells death.

I was shocked, and so were the rest of the cousins, Drew-Brook said. We just didnt see that coming.

All these months later, friends and family say theyre still grappling with Bells death. She did not leave a suicide note.

I couldnt imagine her doing that because she was scared of a lot of things, Wallace said. So I couldnt imagine her, like, willing herself to do that.

Celia Spacone, coordinator of the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Erie County, said suicide is the 12th leading cause of death in the United States but the rate declined from 2019 to 2020.

This trend, also seen in Erie County, might appear counterintuitive, Spacone said, given the myriad pandemic-induced personal and professional stresses.

But, she said, she suspected more people grew comfortable discussing mental health concerns and reaching out for help.

Loved ones tend to look for one specific trigger for a suicide attempt but, Spacone said, Its usually multifaceted and very complex.

Jordan, in hindsight, pointed to her friends lingering concerns about her health.

She recalled Bell telling her: I tried praying. I tried going to the doctors. Nobody can tell me what's wrong. I don't understand.

Jordan remembered her friend as stubborn, once she made up her mind, but she still wonders about Bells intentions.

I'm not even sure If she knew what she wanted to do, as she did it, Jordan said. She could have just, in frustration, hit the gas and really didn't mean it.

Drew-Brook is left to plan a memorial service for his cousin that should take place later this spring or early summer.

It just doesn't make any sense, he said.

Anyone contemplating self-harm can call the 24-hour National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255.

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An appeals court has dismissed an appeal of a lower court ruling that allows testimony from a retired teacher accused of sexually abusing 39 of his students to be used as evidence in lawsuits against the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda school district.

The school district had appealed, arguing that Arthur Werner was incompetent to testify due to dementia.

Attorneys debate mental ability of accused molester to testify at Child Victims Act trial Arthur Werner has been accused of molesting more children than any other person in the state since lawyers began filing lawsuits under the Child Victims Act in 2019.

A four-judge panel of the Appellate Division ruled Friday that State Supreme Court Justice Deborah Chimes' decision could not be appealed at this stage.

Werner's testimony could be a key part of the evidence if the first of the cases goes to trial in September, as is currently scheduled.

But the district is permitted to raise Werner's competency as an issue again when the cases go to trial, said Julia Hilliker, an attorney representing the district.

Retiree named in 35 Child Victims Act suits is 'mentally incompetent,' Ken-Ton argues Retired social studies teacher Arthur F. Werner, now 87, is accused of molesting 35 boys at Hoover Elementary School between 1965 and 1989.

Werner, 88, has been accused in Child Victims Act lawsuits against the district of molesting more children than any other person in the Buffalo region. He's accused of sexually abusing 39 boys  ages 10 through 12  at Herbert Hoover Elementary School between 1963 and 1992. The accusers say Werner molested them in his social studies classroom, sometimes as they sat or stood in front of an entire classroom of students.

He has never been criminally charged with molesting children.

The district has neither confirmed nor denied that Werner molested children, but has said school officials were unaware of any alleged incidents until long after Werner retired in 1993.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs questioned Werner about the allegations at a videotaped deposition on July 15, 2020.

Portions of a transcript of Werner's testimony were made public by attorneys for the plaintiffs and the school district in court papers as they argued about his competency.

Mom said she warned Ken-Ton about abusive teacher decades before lawsuits The former PTA leader said it is tragic and upsetting that officials of the Kenmore Tonawanda School District failed to put an immediate stop to alleged abuse of

"He confirmed details of putting boys on his lap and touching their inner thighs (although he claims the touching was inadvertent), noted attorney Christopher O'Brien, who represents most of the accusers.

But when Werner was asked whether he ever became sexually aroused by students sitting on his lap, he answered Good Lord, no, O'Brien wrote in court papers.

"I think the fact that we opposed the motion (to block Werner's testimony), and argued against the appeal, gives insight into our thinking about the value of his testimony," O'Brien said.

Hilliker said the Appellate Division ruling means that the plaintiff's ability to use Werner's testimony at trial "is still up in the air."

"I think it will come up at trial," she said.

She said it is possible that the first trials on the 39 lawsuits will begin in late 2022, but it is likely that the trials will be delayed until 2023.

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A suspended deputy at the Erie County Holding Center has been indicted on a misdemeanor stemming from sexual contact with a female inmate. And he faces other charges for conduct while he was both on duty and off duty outside the county jail.

A grand jury accused Robert M. Dee, 41, of Eden, with forcible touching for touching the intimate parts of female inmate sometime between March 19 and May 14 of 2019, the District Attorneys Office said Tuesday.

Dee also obtained the inmates phone number and called her after she was released from custody, knowing that violated the Sheriffs Offices protocol, District Attorney John J. Flynn said.

The Buffalo News reported in November 2020 that Dee had been the focus of two internal investigations that year into accusations of improper contact with female inmates, neither of which involved episodes occurring between March and May of 2019.

Dee told the internal investigators he had never touched a female inmate inappropriately, and no administrative charges were lodged. However, the revelations about Dee and other Jail Management Division staff sparked legal action by the state Commission of Correction and the state Attorney Generals Office. To settle the matter, then-Sheriff Timothy B. Howard signed an accord agreeing to better investigate reports of sexual contact between his staff and inmates.

The grand jury also indicted Dee on three counts of official misconduct. The charges stem from accusations that while on duty in October, he drove his government vehicle to a park in the town of Hamburg, picked up a woman there and they had sex in his home, Flynn said.

In December, Eden police charged Dee after a domestic disturbance in his home while he was off-duty. Officers accused him of trying to choke a woman and charged him with criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, a misdemeanor, and ordered him to stay away from the victim, Flynn said.

However, Dee was found to have violated the order of protection when Eden police responded to another domestic disturbance in his home on the evening of Jan. 4 and found the woman there, Flynn said. That led to a charge of criminal contempt.

A criminal contempt charge was lodged again, along with tampering with a witness, related to incidents on Jan. 18 and Feb. 20. Flynn said Dee communicated with the victim, violating the order of protection, and asked her not to comply with court orders related to his charges.

Dee remains suspended without pay, and an internal disciplinary hearing will be scheduled, Sheriff's Office spokesman Scott Zylka said after the indictments were announced.

Because the woman in the matter has domestic-violence charges pending, Flynns office has recused itself from her case. It is being handled by prosecutors from Wyoming County.

While the sheriff's internal investigations in 2020 led to no internal charges against Dee, they generated concerns that he should not be supervising females. Holding Center supervisors were instructed to keep him out of womens units as much as possible, Thomas Diina, the Jail Management Division superintendent in 2020, said at the time. Sheriffs officials also acknowledged that Dee had met his first wife while she was an inmate. She died after the two split up.

Dee later married an assistant district attorney, and for that reason Flynn stayed out of any criminal matters concerning him. Flynn had been urged to consider whether criminal charges should be lodged in the gruesome homicide of an inmate, Richard Metcalf Jr., in 2012. The Commission of Correction said Metcalf was asphyxiated when jail deputies tied the strings of a spit mask around his neck so tightly he could not breathe. Dee was one of two sergeants supervising Metcalfs handling that evening. A special prosecutor never lodged charges in Metcalf's death. Robert Dee and Sara Dee now have a divorce case underway.

Dee remains free on the $25,000 bail he posted in Eden and is to appear before State Supreme Court Justice Deborah A. Haendiges of the Integrated Domestic Violence Court on May 9. Flynn's team said the misdemeanors against Dee could lead to a year in jail if convicted.

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A Buffalo man who pleaded guilty in 2019 to selling heroin was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.

Victor Quinones, 25, appeared before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.

According to prosecutors, Quinones sold heroin to "an individual working with the FBI" on July 16, 2019. Two days later, federal authorities raided his home on Leroy Avenue and took him into custody.

Investigators found drug packaging and an unspecified quantity of butyryl fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

In December 2019, Quinones pleaded guilty to distributing heroin, admitting he had been selling heroin for about a year including to someone who overdosed and died.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Buffalo Police Department.

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A poll worker was charged with a felony for allegedly prestamping ballots with Byron Brown's name in the hotly contested mayoral election last fall that Brown won as a write-in candidate against the Democratic nominee, India Walton, the Erie County District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.

Luz Pena, 58, was arraigned Monday morning before Buffalo City Court Judge Andrew C. LoTempio on one count of "unlawful use of pasters upon ballot"  a felony  and one misdemeanor count of unspecific violation of election law.

If convicted, she faces up to four years in prison.

Prosecutors alleged that between 6 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. on Nov. 2, Election Day, Pena, who was working at the Belle Center on Maryland Street, used a stamp to place Brown's name as a write-in candidate on "numerous ballots"  a violation of state election law.

On Election Day, the Erie County Board of Elections dismissed a team of poll workers at the Belle Center after receiving an allegation of a ballot that was prestamped for Brown, The Buffalo News reported in November.

At the time, both the Brown and Walton campaigns said there was no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities.

This was the only situation that weve heard of this occurring," said Ralph M. Mohr, Republican elections commissioner, in November. "We heard about it, took action immediately on it. It doesnt appear to be any type of widespread situation, even at that location.

Poll worker prestamped ballots with Byron Brown's name, but no proof of widespread fraud "On Election Day and these two days after, we havent heard of any other instance in which an irregularity like this occurred, Republican Elections Commissioner Ralph M. Mohr said.

The board was alerted by a 36-year-old West Side voter named Allison. She spoke to The News on the condition that her last name be withheld because she has small children and did not wish to get involved in the controversy of a divisive mayoral race.

Allison told The News an elections inspector handed her a ballot that was already stamped with Browns name on it, though it was not stamped in the proper box for write-in votes.

I took it back up to the table and said, Hey, I noticed, like, did somebody stamp these? And shes like, Oh yeah, I went through and stamped them all,  she said.

Mohr confirmed that the elections inspector admitted to stamping the ballot with the mayor's name.

Allison, who supported Walton, said it appeared the election inspector might have made a mistake. She said she perceived no ill-intent from the woman.

It didnt strike me as anything covert or malicious," she said.

The district attorney's office said Tuesday the charges against Pena stemmed from the same incident.

Pena is scheduled to return to court at 9:30 a.m. May 16. She was released on her own recognizance.

After losing to Walton in the June primary, Brown waged a fierce write-in campaign. His "Write Down Byron Brown" campaign included distributing thousands of stamps with his name outside polling places. Brown won by a margin of 38,338 to 25,773.

The Pena case is the second involving allegations of election law violations connected to the mayoral race.

Former Erie County Legislature Chairwoman Betty Jean Grant is charged with a misdemeanor and a violation. She is accused of violating state election law on Oct. 23 during early voting inside the Delavan Grider Community Center when she allegedly encroached on the space of a voter who was marking her ballot, in what county prosecutors have described as entering "an occupied voting booth."

Grant, 73, who also streamed live video of the incident on Facebook Live, "observed the preparation of another person's ballot," according to the Erie County District Attorney's Office, which announced the charges Nov. 23.

Grant has maintained she recorded the incident because she believed a woman improperly volunteered to help a voter fill out her ballot.

The woman who helped the voter was a supporter of Brown, while Grant was a supporter of Walton. Carolette Meadows, the Brown supporter, said she was helping two elderly sisters who did not know how to use a rubber stamp to write in Brown's name on the ballot.

Grant's next court appearance is scheduled for May 3.

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Colleen Lamie said she was sitting in her bedroom Tuesday afternoon when she heard a disturbing sound behind her house in the Town of Elba  a series of "whoops" and "clicks," then a loud explosion, all within a few seconds.

"I thought I could feel the vibration of the boom," she said.

It was a Mercy Flight helicopter. It crashed during a training exercise at about 1 p.m. in a field off Norton Road, killing Mercy Flight pilot James E. Sauer, 60, of Churchville, and Stewart M. Dietrick, 60, of Prosper, Texas, a Bell Helicopter employee/pilot. They were pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the Monroe County Medical Examiner's office.

The helicopter had taken off from the Genesee County Airport about four miles away, where Mercy Flight bases some of its aircraft. In a statement, Mercy Flight said the accident occurred during its annual Bell Helicopter factory training. Sauer, a retired New York State Police pilot, began working with Mercy Flight in October 2020.

"It goes without saying that our attention needs to be focused on the families of those lost and on our own employees as we deal with this unspeakable tragedy," Mercy Flight president Margaret Ferrentino said in a statement. "This is a very dark day for the Mercy Flight family, we are so grateful for the expressions of love, concern and support expressed by many."

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are working with state police to determine the cause of the crash north of the intersection of Norton and Edgerton roads, close to Route 262.

State Police Major Eugene Staniszewski said the helicopter appeared to have struck power lines as it descended, but that authorities don't believe that was the cause of the crash.

In a statement, Bell Helicopter said it was unable to answer questions or share information at this time, out of respect for the privacy of the families involved.

"All of us at Bell are extremely saddened to hear the news of the accident that resulted in the loss of two pilots, including one of our Bell teammates," Bell spokesperson Lindsey Hughes said.

Sauer, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, retired as New York Army National Guard chief warrant officer 4 in 2020 after 40 years in the military, according to an article on the National Guard website. He joined the Army in 1979, graduated from Warrant Officer Flight School in 1987 as a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot and was a medical evacuation pilot in South Korea.

He later was assigned to Fort Drum as an assault helicopter pilot with the 10th Mountain Division. He had been deployed to Somalia, the Horn of Africa and Latin and South America, according to the National Guard.

Sauer left active duty in 1993 and entered the New York Army National Guard in 1995. Celebrating his final military flight in 2020 were his wife, Marie, daughter Laura Ames, four grandchildren and other family members, according to the National Guard article, which said Sauer's son, Josh, was serving in the Air Force Reserves 914th Air Refueling Wing in Niagara Falls.

Mercy Flight provides airlifts and other transportation for medical emergencies in the Western New York area. Following the crash, operations were temporarily suspended "in order to allow time for our employees to process the event, and to ensure the complete safe mechanical operation of our other helicopters pending a preliminary accident team investigation," said Scott Wooton, Mercy Flight's executive vice president.

The Mercy Flight Communications Center remained operational and was referring any requests to other area resources, he added.

This was the second Mercy Flight helicopter involved in a crash in Genesee County in the last seven months.

Another Mercy Flight helicopter was involved in an accident on Oct. 6, according to documents released by the NTSB on Jan. 4. In that incident, a Bell 429 helicopter contacted the ground just north of the Genesee County Airport at 9:10 p.m. and bounced 60 feet, landing upright in a field, the NTSB report said.

In the October incident, which resulted in no serious injuries, an ambulance flight crew was returning after dropping a patient off at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester at 9 p.m. In the 10-minute flight back to Batavia, the pilot lost visual reference to the ground in fog at a height of 200 feet as he attempted to land on the runway, the documents state.

The helicopter in the October crash sustained "substantial damage," the NTSB said. Ferrentino said that helicopter is being replaced, and Mercy Flight expects delivery of a new aircraft in mid-to-late summer.

Tuesday's crash shocked the quiet rural town of Elba.

Steve Richenberg, a retired contractor, said he was working in his yard when he saw the helicopter dive straight down. He said he'd been watching it most of the day. After the crash, he immediately drove to the crash site to offer help.

The crash happened right by the shoulder of the road, Richenberg said, but the tail of the helicopter ended up in the field several yards away. He did not see any smoke when the helicopter first went down, but he later saw firefighters using an extinguisher for a small fire.

Dawn and Paul Hough, who live about a half-mile from the crash site, said they saw a helicopter flying around their home on Edgerton Road on Tuesday morning, well before the 1 p.m. crash. Paul Hough said these kinds of training exercises are fairly common, and that planes have landed in open fields here before.

Its the country. Not much happens around here," said Dawn Hough, who said she and her husband have been Elba residents for 46 years.

Dawn Hough said she was at Walmart in Batavia when Lamie, her friend, called and asked if she had heard the crash.

Lamie told Dawn Hough: It sounded like an atomic bomb.

"This makes me sick to my stomach," Dawn Hough said. "I could see the image in my head.

Condolences poured in from the Western New York emergency responder and hospital community, all of whom worked closely with Mercy Flight crews.

"At Rochester Regional Health and United Memorial Medical Center, our thoughts are with the brave caretakers lost in todays Mercy Flight helicopter crash," Dan Ireland, president of United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia, said in a statement. "Our deepest condolences go out to their friends, colleagues, and loved ones."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Mercy Flight team and their loved ones," said a statement from Kaleida Health.

The Mercy Flight crash on Tuesday followed two high-profile aviation incidents that killed four Western New Yorkers in the last three years. On Jan. 8, 2020, Buffalo businessman Mark Croce and his passenger, Michael Capriotto, were killed when Croce's helicopter broke apart midair and crashed in central Pennsylvania. On Oct. 2, 2020, prominent personal injury attorney Stephen Barnes and his niece Elizabeth died in a small plane crash in Pembroke on the western edge of Genesee County. Barnes was piloting the aircraft from New Hampshire to Buffalo.

News Staff Reporter Barbara O'Brien contributed to this report.

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Maki Becker Chief of the Breaking News/Criminal Justice Desk I've worked at The Buffalo News since 2005. I previously worked as a reporter at the New York Daily News and the Charlotte Observer and was a special correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. Follow Maki Becker 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

Ben Tsujimoto Reporter Houghton College alum from Elma, NY. Follow Ben Tsujimoto 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
Crime is the top issue in New York State six months ahead of the next election for governor, and that ought to be a worry for Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who hopes to be the party's candidate in November.

Those were among the main conclusions of a Siena College poll released Monday. The survey of 806 registered voters found that crime was the top issue for 24% of them, and that 40% of voters surveyed said Hochul is doing a poor job of handling the issue.

Crime ranked as the top issue in every part of the state, although far more New York City residents  more than a third of those surveyed  put crime at the head of the list of issues they would consider in casting their vote for governor this fall. The poll was conducted between April 18 and 21, about a week after a Brooklyn subway shooting in which 10 people were wounded.

In contrast, only 14% of upstate voters ranked crime as their most important issue, yet it still topped the economy as the most important concern for upstate residents, too.

In Buffalo to tout state budget, Kathy Hochul defends stadium deal: 'We got the job done' "We have a large state with a lot of different interests, and I know this is important to the identity of Western New York," she said. "It's a small market team, and it's really hard to keep a team ... here, and we got the job done."

There are some demographic differences  such as about one-third of Black, Latino and New York City voters identifying crime as the top issue, significantly higher than white voters and those from outside New York City," said Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg. "However, crime and economic issues were identified as the top issue by between 43% and 57% of voters of every region, party and race.

Hochul made clear in Buffalo on Monday that she's alert to the crime issue.

"We have to make our streets safer," she said. "From Buffalo, all the way to New York City to Long Island, we have to focus on public safety because something else happened during this pandemic. A lot of people gave up hope or they felt that there were no more constraints on behavior. And we've seen an increase in crime all over the nation. This is not Western New York. This is not New York State. This is all over the nation."

Hochul insisted on changes in the state's controversial 2019 bail reform law be included in the state budget passed earlier this month. Three years after New York ended cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, Hochul persuaded the legislature to give judges the option to consider the "danger" a suspect poses before releasing that person on bail or on conditions.

We are now for the first time going to allow judges to set bail for gun charges that were previously subject only to release," while also questioning bail eligibility for repeat offenders, Hochul said earlier this month.

The Siena poll found that by a 67% to 14% margin, those surveyed favored the bail reforms that Hochul backed. Voters of every party, race and region in the state backed the moves.

Kathy Hochul embarks on a race that's still hers to lose Despite a brutal few weeks that saw her lieutenant governor arrested, her Buffalo Bills stadium plan criticized and her budget seen as risking a rift with the left, Hochul still can campaign with two advantages her challengers can't match: her incumbency and her money.

On whether voters think these changes will affect the crime rate  by better than two-to-one, they think the 2019 bail law resulted in an increase in crime  the jury is still out, Greenberg said. While twice as many voters think the changes will decrease rather than increase crime, a plurality says the changes wont affect the crime rate.

Hochul didn't appear to benefit politically from her changes to the bail law. Nearly a quarter of Democrats and nearly half of independents, along with 71% of Republicans, said she had done a poor job combating crime.

Overall, 45% of those surveyed said they would vote for "someone else" for governor in November if Hochul is the Democratic nominee, while only 40% committed to backing her for a full term.

Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island is the leading Republican candidate for governor, but the poll found that 59% of voters don't know who he is or have no opinion of him. Two other GOP gubernatorial candidates  Rob Astorino and Harry Wilson  also were largely unknown to voters polled.

The one Republican candidate who was well known by a majority of voters  Andrew Giuliani  was rated favorably by about a quarter of them and unfavorably by nearly half.

The poll has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

News political reporter Robert J. McCarthy contributed to this report.

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Press Release

April 26, 2022 De Lima camp dismayed over cancellation of hearing anew Re-electionist Senator Leila M. de Lima's camp expressed dismay over the cancellation anew of her hearing in one of the two remaining trumped-up illegal drug cases filed against her before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 256 due to the failure of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) to physically bring to the court an inmate, convicted murderer Joel Capones. Capones was supposed to be presented for continuation of cross examination as Prosecution witness but the NBP stated that they could not physically present him because of what they claimed as "high-risk security concerns." "They're alleging that the transport entails security issues so they requested that the witness be presented via videoconference, but we insisted that he should be presented physically. Kindly note that prior naman, all witnesses were presented onsite, so this is the first time that they are raising security concern," said Atty. Rolly Peoro, one of De Lima's legal counsels. "We and the court should be able to watch the demeanor of the witness to avoid any miscarriage of justice, so it's very critical that the witness be presented in court, and it's our right. All accused--that is their right to confront the witness face to face. So, the Prosecution was constrained to reset the hearing," he said. Asked about the Senator's condition, Atty. Peoro said she remains high-spirited, brave and hopeful. "Si Senator Leila, tulad ng dati, palaban pa rin. She's prepared and hopeful naman sa kaso na 'to. Tulad ng nabanggit namin, lahat ito ay trumped-up charges lang. So, we want to see the witness face to face dahil alam namin kapag nakaharap namin sila, we can pinpoint all their mistakes and all the wrong statements in their testimonies," he said. De Lima, the most prominent political prisoner under the Duterte regime, was escorted by members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) when she attended the hearing yesterday, April 25. On the sidelines of the hearing, her supporters were able to ask the Senator for her message to the public, to which she replied: "Laban lang!" "Gaya ng sinabi ko noon, handa akong harapin ang mga gawa-gawang kaso laban sa akin, dahil alam ko ang totoo; kaya kong tingnan kahit sino, mata sa mata, at sabihin na ako ay inosente. "Hindi gaya ng mga pekeng testigo laban sa akin, na ang iba ay pinilit, tinuruan, o binigyan lang ng pribilehiyo o reward para lang idiin ako, pero kapag sinuri naman ay maraming butas at bali-baliko ang detalye," De Lima said in a separate statement. Last July 9, 2021, De Lima and her lawyers filed separate criminal complaints against Capones and his 13 mayores for trading and selling illegal drugs inside the NBP. As a witness for the Prosecution in one of De Lima's bogus drug cases, Capones confessed in open court to packing and selling shabu with his mayores. Capones waived his right against self-incrimination before making the confession. Yet, for reasons apparently known only to the Prosecution and the NBP, they could not produce Capones in court last April 25 to continue his testimony, which includes the opportunity for him to be subjected to further cross-examination by the defense to test the veracity of his claims, despite him being in the legal and physical custody of the DOJ. Previously, the Office of the City Prosecutor (OCP) of Muntinlupa City dismissed the criminal complaints De Lima and her lawyers filed against Capones and his gangmates. The trial of Sen. De Lima in said case has been delayed for more than a year already, the last hearing for the taking of Capones' testimony having taken place back in February 2021. This failure on the part of the Prosecution to present their witness further delayed it for another thirty-five (35) days, at which time De Lima would have been unjustly detained for 1922 days. Notably, one of the three cases originally filed last 17 February 2017 was dismissed because of the Prosecution's failure to present any evidence of the Senator's alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade.
Its a figure that should make Western New Yorkers stop in their tracks: In some 12% of police disciplinary records reviewed by The Buffalo News, an officer resigned, was suspended or fired after facing allegations of misconduct. Some had faced previous complaints.

Thats over just the past five years. What private-sector employer would tolerate that level of wrongdoing?

The analysis make a powerful case to reconsider how police are disciplined, including the structure of arbitration hearings and the expectations of police brass who shield their bad apples.

The News reviewed police disciplinary records in 15 of the largest police departments in Erie and Niagara counties after the state repealed Civil Rights Law 50-a. For decades, that law had hidden those records from the public. The state repealed it in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. With The Newss research, it is obvious why some cops liked that secrecy and why the taxpayers who fund police salaries needed the information.

This wasnt an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink analysis. The Newss database was restricted to allegations of serious infractions such as excessive use of force, false arrests, sleeping or drinking alcohol on duty, sick time abuse, domestic disputes, drunken driving, allowing prisoners to escape, falsifying records, insubordination and workplace harassment.

The database excluded cases in which the outcome was unclear, where the allegations were withdrawn or where the cases are still being reviewed by police agencies. Departments included Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Niagara Falls, Amherst, New York State Police and the sheriffs offices of Erie and Niagara counties.

Most often  in 52% of the cases  officers were given a verbal or written reprimand. Its certainly a fair approach, depending on the nature of the infraction and the number of previous offenses. Most of us deserve a second chance most of the time, though standards need to be high for public employees authorized to carry guns and deprive citizens of their liberty.

But among all of these serious infractions, only about 12% of officers resigned, retired or were fired. That is, at least in part, a consequence of the arbitration system that envelops police disciplinary hearings and the labor contracts that enable them.

Arbitrators often side with police, who belong to powerful unions, as former Niagara County Sheriff Thomas A. Beilein observed. That makes it difficult for police chiefs and sheriffs to fire officers who abuse their positions, he said.

The problem is compounded by police officials who dont even want to discipline their bad apples. Too often, they protect their worst officers as vigorously as they do their best ones, said attorney Miles Gresham, a member of the Erie County Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Task Force, appointed by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz to review the countys poorly performing Sheriffs Office.

If you got rid of those officers  I think public opinion towards the police would change significantly, he said.

Erie County residents saw that destructive phenomenon in action three years ago, as former Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard publicly supported then-Deputy Kenneth Achtyl who was on trial for assaulting a civilian. It didnt matter to Howard that video had documented the assault or that his own actions stood to diminish confidence in the office.

The repeal of 50-a came as an unwanted shock to some police agencies. Niagara Falls dragged its feet for more than 17 months before providing the data request by The News under the states Freedom of Information law. Others were more prompt, including Cheektowaga. Its police chief, Brian J. Gould, understood both the value of repealing 50-a and the stress it put on some officers.

Its been a challenging thing for police officers to get used to that change, but I think it does absolutely help with public confidence in the profession, Gould said. Along with the advent of body cameras, it imposes a level of transparency that will serve police well. Indeed, it will be interesting to compare the previous five years of reports with those of the coming five years to evaluate if and how increased transparency affected discipline.

This is surely a taxing time for police. But, as they adjust to the reasonable requirements of public service, they will gather new support and find their jobs a least a little less stressful. Thats the benefit to everyone of dropping the cloak of 50-a.

  

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 invasion and deliberate and systematic destruction of Ukraine should be a wake up call to the danger that autocratic and dictators and those who want it represent.

Democratic and free nations are facing constant threats from autocratic countries like Russia and most likely China too when it eventually makes its move against Taiwan. I predict by January 2025 that China will take action against Taiwan taking advantage of a likely confused, discombobulated and distracted United States after what will probably be a stressful and unnerving 2024 presidential election.

I fear the United States and its voting population will not take this danger to democracy seriously. Democracy has been under constant threat in the U.S. especially during the time of the maniacal, narcissistic, dictator want to be former President Donald Trump.

The fact is Trump could run for President again in 2024 and probably win easily. More disturbing is that Trump loves Russian President Vladimir Putin.

If the United States reelect Trump or his son or another one of his minions, then I believe the American people should be held accountable and face whatever severe consequences for electing that person will cause on the home front and the international stage. The United States simply cant afford a bad voting decision from its people again if it wants to keep its democracy. We luckily had a reprieve with current President Joe Biden but I believe he is only a one term pony. The scary thing now there is still clearly a significant portion of the American population, electorate and of course the Republican Party that wants US democracy gone in favor of a dictator want to be like Trump.

Before the 2020 election, the United States was really behaving (domestically and internationally) like the worlds number one pariah nation. Right now, Russia decided to take that label. However, in two years, the U.S. and its people will have to make a decision if it wants to be the international pariah once again or not.

Look at how countries like Hungary, for example, which has drifted from democracy. Remember the old saying  Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Marcus Costello

Kenmore
Nilorngruppen AB

Completed proposals for decision-making points at the Annual General Meeting of the Nilorngruppen on 3 May 2022; new election proposed by Ann-Christine Hvittfeldt and Magnus Johansson

Prior to the Annual General Meeting of Nilorngruppen on 3 May 2022, the company's main owner AB Traction has submitted the following supplementary proposal in accordance with the notice published on 25 April 2022. Traction owns approximately 58% of the votes in the company.



Item 9. The number of board members is proposed unchanged at five and no deputy board members.

Item 10. The fee for the board is proposed to be SEK 120,000 (SEK 100,000) per member and SEK 240,000 (SEK 200,000) to the chairman, a total of SEK 720,000.

Item 11. Re-election is proposed by the board members Henrik Lange, Johan Larsson, and Petter Stillstrom. New elections are proposed by Ann-Christine Hvittfeldt and Magnus Johansson. It is proposed that Petter Stillstrom be re-elected Chairman of the Board.

Ann-Christine Hvittfeldt is currently working as a supervisor for the West Swedish Chamber of Commerce's CEO network EXEC, chairman of Bralanda Industri AB, Berlex AB and Netgroup Engineering AB. In addition, a member of i.a. Luftfartsverket, Skaraborgs Ortopedservice AB, Vadsbo SwitchTech Group AB and Intereast Transport AB. Former member of several companies including Green Cargo. Ann-Christine has significant operational experience in transport and logistics in companies such as Volvo, Speedcargo AB and Hemtex. Ann-Christine, born 1966 with a degree in economics.

Magnus Johansson is today global marketing manager at Picadeli AB, market leader in self-picking salad through its high-tech salad bars with operations in seven markets in Europe and the USA. Former marketing director at, amongst others, Gina Tricot AB and MQ Retail AB. Magnus has significant operational experience in brand strategies and digitization. Magnus, born 1973, has a master's degree from the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg.

Story continues

Both Ann-Christine Hvittfeldt and Magnus Johannsson are independent of the Nilorngruppen and its main owners and do not own any shares in the Nilorngruppen.

Boras the 26th of April 2022

Nilorngruppen AB (publ)

The Board

General about Nilorn Group

Nilorn Group is a global company, founded in the 1970s, with expertise in how to add value to brands through branding and design in the form of labels, packaging and accessories, primarily to customers in the fashion and clothing industry. Nilorn Group offers complete, creative and tailor-made concepts in branding, design, product development and logistical solutions. The Group operates through its own companies in Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Hong Kong, India, Turkey, China, Bangladesh, Italy and Pakistan. Partner companies are located in Tunisia, the United States and Switzerland. See also: www.nilorn.se

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A local high school is breaking tradition and trying something new theatrical this week.

McDonell Central Catholic High School will stage Bill Springers murder-mystery comedy Murder Me, Murder Me Not for the first time. The production will open May 12 at 7:30 p.m. at McDonell, with performances on May 13 and 14 set to begin at 7:30 p.m. as well.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for seniors. Tickets are available now online at mcdonellhs.booktix.com and will be available at the door prior to the performances.

Director Frank Rineck said choosing to put on the production of Murder Me, Murder Me Not, was a slight leap of faith, as it doesnt have the instant name recognition of the classic plays the high school usually puts on every year.

I was looking for something light-hearted and funny, and would attract people to it based on that fact, Rineck said. This is something quite different than the usual golden age musicals we put on here. Every piece of theater written has literary merit, so I think its a good challenge to put that merit on display when you dont have the instant respect youd get from a production with more name recognition.

This is the 42nd consecutive production McDonell Central Catholic High School has put on and the first non-musical the school has greenlit. The play features quick entrances and exits, physical humor and a ton of twists and turns primed to keep the audience guessing. The cast features six students, and 16 total students involved in the production.

In addition to working to make Murder Me, Murder Me Not a memorable theatrical experience, Rineck said he and his co-workers are working to establish a broader theatre department at the school. He said working on a few productions every year is fantastic, but having students be involved in the arts from the start-to-the-end of the year is a broader goal he wants to see thrive.

I want people to be in stitches from the beginning to the end, Rineck said. Its a hilarious show. I hope people enjoy themselves so we can continue to foster this new tradition and have people continue to come back year-after-year.

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UW-Madison did not publicly advertise a newly created position before giving the $125,000-per-year post to a former executive with Foxconn, a company that has fallen far short of its promise to build a massive manufacturing plant in Racine County, recently released records show.

The universitys decision to waive the typical recruitment process followed university policy because the position is a temporary appointment lasting two years or less. Most UW-Madison jobs are required to be publicly posted for a period of time to allow all potential candidates an equal opportunity to apply.

UW-Madison earlier this year hired Alan Yeung, Foxconns former director of U.S. strategic initiatives, to be a professor of practice for entrepreneurship, according to the universitys offer letter. His official title is Internal Consultant I in the College of Engineerings research office.

Yeungs hiring, first reported in late March by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has drawn criticism from Foxconn skeptics. He was deeply involved in a deal approved by state lawmakers in 2017 to build a massive manufacturing plant in Racine County with the help of some $4 billion in taxpayer incentives. The company in 2018 also pledged to donate $100 million to UW-Madison to help fund a new engineering building and company-related research.

So far, both commitments have faltered. Last year was the first time the company created enough jobs to begin tapping state tax credits, and records show Foxconn has so far only given $700,000 to the university  less than 1% of the companys commitment more than three years into the five-year agreement.

UW-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank said last summer that she wasnt expecting the Taiwanese technology company to honor its pledge, citing the trade war between the U.S. and China and other problems taking place in markets where Foxconn operated as reasons why the gift fell through.

Foxconn representatives, provided more than two business days to respond to submitted questions, declined to say if the company ever plans to honor its promise to UW-Madison and whether Yeungs hiring changes its relationship with the university.

Yeungs position is expected to last a year or less and is being paid for with funding from the Grainger Institute for Engineering, a private gift from the Grainger Foundation, UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas said.

Yeung, a 1984 UW-Madison alumnus who holds multiple patents and has served as a senior executive in Silicon Valley, started the UW-Madison job on April 1. The job description shows he will lend advice to the College of Engineering on commercializing university research.

Alan brings invaluable experience in new business venture and technology commercialization, College of Engineering Dean Ian Robertson said in a statement. Taking more of our world-class research to market more quickly is a top priority, and Alans leadership and expertise in addressing opportunities and achieving alignments make him the right person to begin this effort.

Expanding industry research is an area UW-Madison has long targeted for improvement. Among other institutions in the top 10 nationally for research spending, the level of business funding in the 2020 fiscal year ranged from $177 million at the University of Pennsylvania to $50 million at Harvard University. UW-Madison came in last with $30 million, according to National Science Foundation research spending data.

Yeung will help establish the College of Engineerings new Technology Entrepreneurship Office, which he said will collaborate with the College of Letters and Science and the School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences. He said he will help recruit and hire the offices director and work on other staffing.

He declined in an interview to explain why Foxconns promise to UW-Madison fell through and whether, as a UW-Madison employee, he is disappointed by Foxconns level of investment in the university. He said his new job doesnt entail working with large corporations partnering with UW-Madison on technology-related research, so it would not be (his) role to try and persuade Foxconn to honor its $100 million pledge.

Instead, Yeung said his work will focus on forming relationships with alumni and others affiliated with UW-Madison who have business experience. The new office plans to offer an entrepreneurship-in-residence program that will connect these executives or entrepreneurs with faculty, postdoctoral researchers and students.

Yeung also said hes hoping to build a fund to keep the entrepreneurship-in-residence program running so that it doesnt rely on grants in the long term.

Yeung isnt UW-Madisons first Foxconn hire. The university last year hired John Garnetti, the companys former deputy director of U.S. strategic initiatives, to lead the universitys Office of Business Engagement after a monthslong search that yielded a significant pool of applicants, officials said. Garnetti was hired at a $145,000 annual salary.

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Business owner Tim Michels, the latest entrant in the crowded Republican gubernatorial field, said Monday he will not seek large individual donations and will refuse contributions from political action committees and lobbyists  underscoring that the millionaire plans to run a largely self-funded campaign.

Michels, 59, joins former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, business owner Kevin Nicholson and state Rep. Timothy Ramthun, R-Campbellsport, in the Aug. 9 GOP primary. The winner will face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is seeking a second term this year, in the general election on Nov. 8.

Today begins a new era in Wisconsin, Michels told a crowd of about 200 supporters, family members, Michels Corp. employees and others gathered inside a company maintenance building in Brownsville on Monday.

Enough of the political bickering, Michels said. Enough of the left and right not getting along. We need to bring people together.

In a Monday interview with WISN-AM, Michels positioned himself as a political outsider seeking to address weak leadership in Madison, similar to campaign stances already taken by Nicholson and Ramthun, who entered the race earlier this year.

The U.S. Army veteran, who registered his gubernatorial campaign on Friday and launched a television ad buy over the weekend, said he will never ask anyone for a donation and will limit individual contributions, which can be as large as $20,000 under state law, to no more than $500.

Im not going to owe anyone anything, Michels said. I dont give a rip about the lobbyists, the special interests, the PACs.

Michels is co-owner of Michels Corp., a family-owned international energy and infrastructure construction business. He last ran for office in 2004, when he lost to Russ Feingold in the U.S. Senate race.

Speaking with conservative radio host Jay Weber Monday, Michels confirmed he had recently met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago and he would certainly welcome any support from the former president. Trump has not formally endorsed a candidate in the race.

Michels said he aims to turn Madison upside down in a campaign video posted online over the weekend.

The radical left, theyre destroying everything we love about America, Michels said. And too many establishment Republicans, theyre along for the ride. Im not some career politician, Im a self-made businessman who doesnt give a rip about the special interests or their money.

The candidates

Kleefisch  a former television journalist who served eight years as lieutenant governor under Scott Walker and who strategists say is the odds-on favorite to win the nomination  has primarily focused her campaign on unseating Evers.

Nicholsons campaign has included a focus on challenging what he has dubbed the Madison machine of established Republicans, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, who earlier this year urged Nicholson not to run while deeming Kleefisch the best choice to defeat Evers.

Nicholson ran for U.S. Senate in 2018, but lost in the Republican primary to Leah Vukmir, who went on to lose to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison.

Ramthun, who has falsely claimed that Trump won Wisconsins 2020 election, has drawn praise from the former president, who called the state lawmaker in early December to thank him for his efforts to overturn the election, according to Rolling Stone. Trump has continued to falsely claim he won the 2020 election, despite recounts, audits and court decisions affirming that President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes.

A February Marquette Law School Poll found that 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 or have no opinion of Kleefisch, compared with 80% for Nicholson and 86% for Ramthun.

The other Republicans in the race have remained quiet on Michels since he entered the field, but Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said in a statement Monday the field of GOP candidates represents a case of quantity over quality.

Tim Michels is the fourth candidate to enter this mess of a nomination fight  and the Republicans still dont have a single candidate who isnt too divisive for Wisconsin, Wikler said.

Michels positions

Michels served on Kleefischs advocacy group, the 1848 Project, a nonprofit she launched in 2020 leading up to her gubernatorial campaign. The group put out a list of more than 50 policy ideas last year dubbed The Forward Agenda. They include a few that have riled up the partys base recently, such as banning critical race theory from classrooms and shifting responsibility for election rules from the Wisconsin Elections Commission to the state Legislature.

A lot of people have questions about the last election. So do I, Michels told Weber. We have to have, in Wisconsin, in any state, in the United States, fair and transparent elections.

Michels said he would also support GOP efforts to ban private funding for administering elections, expand private school vouchers and prohibit instruction about systemic racism. He also said he would back anti-abortion bills and efforts to limit firearm restrictions  measures Evers has adamantly opposed.

Michels also defended his previous stance on state labor laws, a topic that could result in GOP criticism as the primary election heats up. Michels Corp. was a member of the Wisconsin Contractor Coalition, which fought Wisconsins right to work law, which prohibits employers and unions from requiring the payment of monthly union dues by nonunion members at unionized worksites. The law was passed in 2015 under the Walker/Kleefisch administration.

Michels told Weber he supports right-to-work laws, but added he also works with unions. Michels Corp. is also a member of the Construction Business Group, which partners with International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139. The union launched ads in 2018 targeting Walker over the former governors level of transportation funding. The ads accused Walker of failing to properly address potholes, which were dubbed Scottholes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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With people staying at home more during the COVID-19 pandemic, some started hobbies they typically wouldnt, such as birding. Although COVID appears to have slowed down, birding reportedly remains popular.

The most interesting thing that I've seen within about the last six months was that not only has it increased dramatically, it's continued to increase and it's sustained so people are remaining with birding as a hobby, said Bob Wells, past president of the Audubon Society of Omaha.

The groups mission is to bring environmental awareness to the area through education and conservation, especially birds and their habitats. Wells said the Audubon Society sells large volumes of birdseed to the public, mostly individuals.

In the fall of 2020, we saw a 45% increase in people ordering birdseed, he said.

During the pandemic, people could still take part in outdoor activities as long as they werent too close to others. Birding is something that can be done by yourself, as well as with friends, or at home, Wells added.

The thing that in general that brings people to birding is that it's something that you can do in a fairly solitary fashion, it doesn't rely on a lot of equipment and it allows you to do it outdoors, Wells said.

It also does not require expensive equipment  someone can put bird feeders in their yard and enjoy birding from the comforts of their own home, he said.

Marc Parnell, whose field guide on Nebraska birds released Tuesday, noted that Columbus Lake Babcock is a great migratory hotspot for waterfowl such as geese, ducks, grebes and coots. There is also Franklins gull, which is found in the Great Plains.

The confluence of the Loup and Platte rivers flushes nutrients to the surface and draws in birds as well, he added.

It really creates a really great opportunity for birds to hunt for fish, he said. You'll see a lot of bald eagles inherent in that in that immediate area as well which is a pretty neat sight.

Birding is one of the many solitary outdoor activities that people took up during the pandemic, Parnell agreed.

Birds are one of those things where it's almost inevitable that you will have direct contact with them in some capacity when you're outdoors. A lot of people began to appreciate it in the same way that I've grown to love birds, Parnell said. Even since the pandemic has ended, they've continued with that passion. So I think birding as a pastime and as a study will continue to grow and flourish.

Parnell has spent the past five or six years on his book series, The Birding Pro's Field Guides, each individual novel of which focuses on a different state. Birds of Nebraska is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other places where books are sold.

Parnell said he wanted to create a field guide specifically for Nebraskans because there really isnt one for Nebraska birds.

A lot of the field guides in the market will have Florida birds, Maine birds, New Mexico birds thrown in there, but really you just want to know what's in your backyard or in your pond or fields and when it's going to be there and some interesting facts about it, he said. I was just excited to do that for Nebraska.

Parnells book series features a monthly birding forecast for every species. It shows readers month by month when a specific species is likely to be in the United States, he said.

It's been really well received by readers so far, so I'm really looking forward to hearing Nebraskans' feedback on that, Parnell said. Also it's unique in that each species that's likely to visit feeders has detailed bird feeding information  which feeders, what kinds of food they prefer, in order to serve the needs of your everyday backyard birder.

Additionally, the field guide will have a birding by comparison approach. He said its a new method of bird identification that helps people identify new birds by comparing them to those they already know.

It's a really memorable visual identification exercise that allows people to go out in the field and quickly and accurately determine new bird species without a lot of difficulty in rigmarole that kind of comes with flipping through a 600-page field guide and trying to study it with the world in front of you, Parnell said.

Parnell, who currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio, has been interested in ornithology for about 20 years. He said he got his start with a reptiles and amphibians field guide.

From there I was very excited about how many species I could find in my backyard, he said. I went to a number of nature camps and educational opportunities for the outdoors and for biology.

Parnell took courses in biology and biochemistry in college but found that birds were his true calling.

I was very captivated by their powers of flight, the fact that they can migrate to such an extent and you can see one bird in March but it wouldn't be there in May, he added. I was very excited about all the different interactions with each other certain birds, protecting others, attacking another species, all the different ecological relationships that are really interesting to observe once you sort of break beneath the surface of the everyday.

Hannah Schrodt is the news editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach her via email at hannah.schrodt@lee.net.

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Columbus has a long history of entrepreneurs whove built some extraordinary success stories. From historical figures like the Behlen brothers, the Zimmerer family and George Risk to their more modern counterparts like Scott Mueller, Nicole Frauendorfer or the Hellbusch family, the creativity and risk-taking that characterize entrepreneurs have always been in the water in Platte County.

That culture will be on display this week as Columbus hosts the Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference. Entrepreneurs and those who serve them will descend on Columbus from around the state Wednesday and Thursday. Theyll not only learn in various sessions, but also experience downtown Columbus as the sessions are held in various downtown venues. The conference is hosted by Rural Prosperity Nebraska, which is part of the University of Nebraska, and they move the conference to a different Nebraska community each year.

RPNs timing couldnt be better, because what these attendees will experience is a renaissance in downtown Columbus. Beyond the (really) obvious investments made by the citizens in the new library, city hall and police station, Id submit that there is an equally important rebirth of attitude and investment from local businesspeople as well. There are new and vibrant businesses from one end of 13th Street to the other, alongside established anchors that continue to thrive. There is an energy in downtown Columbus today that is palpable.

Speaking of new entrepreneurial energy, Id share that the same thing was experienced in the recent Peer Learning Session in Holt County hosted by the Energizing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (E3) project. In just 24 hours, participants saw some really extraordinary things in Stuart, Atkinson and ONeill. Anyone who thinks communities or businesses arent thriving in Greater Nebraska hasnt been to Holt County. We experienced a volunteer-run movie theater in Stuart (a town of 600) in which tens of thousands of people have seen first-run movies in the last few years. The E3 teams heard the amazing long-term small-town retail success story of Something Special by Marilyn and were blown away by the recent investment in the Keating Building, just blocks apart in downtown Atkinson. Im sure many have heard of Handlebend, but to hear their story first-hand and see how theyve transformed a space in ONeill is quite something. And no less inspirational, La Costenita restaurant and market is truly a testament to hard work and the story being written by Leydi, Henry and Anais is truly the American Dream in real life.

The E3 project aims to enhance those stories and recreate many more in Holt County, Valley County, Sidney, Red Cloud, McCook and Keith County. And as those success stories are written, Nebraska Community Foundation and our E3 partners are asking those communities to share the education and inspiration with their neighbors.

Through that work and through events like the CEC conference this week, it is the intention of many Nebraskans to build a cohort of entrepreneurship believers that will help evolve Nebraskas approach to economic development, making a little more room for efforts that support these homegrown business titans (at whatever size) who are making dreams come true for themselves and their hometowns.

So welcome to Columbus to those who are attending CEC tomorrow and Thursday. Get ready to be inspired!

K.C. Belitz is the chief operating officer of the Nebraska Community Foundation.

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Press Release

April 26, 2022 Reinforce tourism workforce as PH opens up to travelers - TESDAMAN Sen. Joel "TESDAMAN" Villanueva welcomed the positive forecasts for the Philippine tourism industry by the latest economic impact report from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), and said that the Filipino tourism workforce should be ready to address the resurgence of the sector. Villanueva urged the Department of Tourism (DOT) to develop a roadmap with the Department of Labor and Employment and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the training, upskilling, and reskilling programs to address the surge of demand for tourism jobs in the country. The senator also proposed that this roadmap should be part of the next update of DOT's National Tourism Development Plan. "This is a time for us to step up our tourism game, as neighboring countries are also opening up their travel destinations. The tourism industry should remind the world of the top-class Filipino brand of hospitality by upgrading its workforce," Villanueva said. In a press conference last week, the WTTC forecasted an average annual growth rate of 6.7 percent over the next 10 years for the country's tourism industry, exceeding the expected 5.6 percent overall average growth rate for the Philippine economy. The WTTC also sees employment in the local tourism sector growing annually by an average of 3 percent over the next 10 years, generating 2.9 million new jobs, and accounting for 21.5 percent of all jobs in the country. The author and sponsor of Republic Act No. 11230, or the Tulong Trabaho Act, said that the tourism sector can get the reinforcements through skills training programs offered by TESDA. "The tourism industry can take part of the Php 1.515 billion we have allotted this year for the Tulong Trabaho Fund to address the training needs of our workforce. This way we can remain globally competitive and responsive to the demands of this priority industry," Villanueva said. The senator also called on the Department of Health to include tourism workers as a priority sector for vaccination booster shots against COVID-19 as they are "economic frontliners" for the country. Villanueva appealed to national and local health authorities to enforce pandemic protocols especially in tourist spots, and noted that "health workers have become a crucial part of the tourism industry". The DOT reported about 272,000 foreign arrivals from Feb. 10 to April 17 as the country opened up to more international tourists with lowered pandemic alert levels. In addition, Villanueva sought the help of the Small Business Corporation under the Department of Trade and Industry to fast track the support for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the travel and tourism sector through the continuous and uninterrupted processing of loan applications for the Php 4 billion allocation under Bayanihan 2 Act. "Supporting our MSMEs and skills development are crucial in the reemergence of the tourism sector from the pandemic. It's now a matter of implementation for the current administration, and continuity for the upcoming administration," the senator said. The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that, as of 2021, around 49,368 MSMEs in the accommodations and food service activities industry are considered permanently closed, while 13,756 are temporarily closed. Tourism workers, pagalingin at paramihin! - TESDAMAN Ikinatuwa ni Sen. Joel "TESDAMAN" Villanueva ang positibong pahayag ng World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) sa economic impact report nito tungkol sa industriya ng turismo sa bansa. Sinabi rin ng senador na dapat maging handa ang tourism workforce sa muling pagsigla ng sektor. Dahil dito, hinimok ni Villanueva ang Department of Tourism (DOT) na gumawa ng roadmap kasama ng Department of Labor and Employment at Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) para sa training, upskilling, at reskilling para sa tourism jobs sa bansa. Iminungkahi rin ng senador na gawing bahagi ang roadmap na ito sa susunod na National Tourism Development Plan ng DOT. "Ito ang tamang panahon para galingan pa natin sa turismo, lalo na't bukas na rin sa mga turista ang ating mga karatig-bansa. Ipaalala natin sa mundo na meron tayong top-class Filipino brand of hospitality dahil sa ating skilled tourism workforce," sabi ni Villanueva. Sa isang press conference noong isang linggo, itinataya ng WTTC na magkakaroon ang tourism industry ng Pilipinas ng 6.7 porsyentong growth rate sa loob ng sampung taon, na higit pa sa tinatayang 5.6 porsyentong average growth rate ng ekonomiya ng buong bansa. Inaasahan din ng WTTC na lalago ang sektor sa susunod na sampung taon sa average na 3 porsyento, na gagawa ng 2.9 milyong bagong trabaho na bubuo sa 21.5 porsyento sa lahat ng trabaho sa bansa. Sinabi ng author at sponsor ng Republic Act No. 11230, o Tulong Trabaho Act, na maaring palakasin ng tourism sector ang mga hanay nito sa pamamagitan ng mga skills training program na mula sa TESDA. "Maaring makibahagi ang tourism industry mula sa nakalaang Php 1.515 bilyon para sa Tulong Trabaho Fund sa taong ito para sa training ng ating mga manggagawa. Sa tulong nito, mapapanatili tayong globally competitive at matutugunan natin ang demands ng industriya," sabi ni Villanueva. Nanawagan din ang senador sa Department of Health na isali ang mga tourism worker bilang priority sector para sa booster shots laban sa COVID-19 dahil sila ay "economic frontliners" ng bansa. Umapela rin si Villanueva sa mga pambansa at lokal na health officials na ipatupad nang maayos ang mga pandemic protocol lalo na sa mga tourist spots, at sinabing "health workers have become a crucial part of the tourism industry". Ibinalita ng DOT na umabot na sa 272,000 foreign arrivals ang bansa sa pagitan ng Pebrero 10 at April 17, habang nagbubukas pa ang Pilipinas para sa mga turista dahil sa pinababang pandemic alert levels. Humingi rin ng tulong si Villanueva mula sa Small Business Corporation ng Department of Trade and Industry para sa mabilis na pagproseso ng mga loan applications ng mga micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) sa travel and tourism sector mula sa Php 4 bilyong pondo na galing sa Bayanihan 2 Act. "Mga importanteng bahagi ang MSMEs at skills development sa pagpapasiglang muli ng tourism sector mula sa pandemya. It's now a matter of implementation for the current administration, and continuity for the upcoming administration," sabi ng senador Ayon sa Philippine Statistics Authority, na sa 2021, may 49,368 MSMEs sa accommodations and food service activities industry ang itinuturing na permanently closed, samantalang 13,756 naman ang temporarily closed.
Information is from police reports and may be incomplete depending on the status of an investigation. Phone numbers are nonemergency.
WEST CHESTER  A man faces life in prison in the shooting death of a teenager authorities said died trying to protect three children during an armed robbery 4 years ago in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Jurors in Chester County deliberated for a little over four hours Friday night before convicting Ricardo Rivera, 28, of second-degree murder and related charges, the Daily Local News of West Chester reported. He faces a mandatory life term without possibility of parole.

Prosecutors said Rivera fired two shots while grappling with 17-year-old David Doyle III, known as Davey Mike, in his familys apartment in North Coventry Township in September 2017. Prosecutors said the children  ages 9, 8 and 3  were having a sleepover at the home and Doyle died trying to protect them.

Davey Mike knew his family needed to be protected, Senior Deputy District Attorney Carlos Barraza said during his closing argument, adding the teen had told the robbers to put their guns away because there were children in the apartment.

He knew what he was supposed to do, Barraza said. But being the only adult in the room cost him his life.

Defense attorney Albert Sardella pointed to a description of the gunman that didnt fit Rivera and challenged the credibility of prosecution witnesses, including a woman prosecutors said set up the failed robbery.

Rivera was also convicted of robbery, burglary, and conspiracy after the five-day trial. He has been held in the county prison without bail since his arrest in April 2018.

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An area man was sentenced Friday to more than 20 years in prison after a St. Francois County jury found him guilty of statutory sodomy at the conclusion of a two-day trial held in February.

At the sentencing hearing on Friday, Circuit Judge Wendy Wexler Horn sentenced Joshua Paul Hankins, 44, of Bonne Terre, to serve 24 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for his convictions on two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy.

Judge Horn had accepted the jurys recommendation of 12 years in prison for each count and ordered the sentences to be served consecutively.

Special Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kathi Alizadeh and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Matt Brown tried the case on behalf of the state. Hankins was represented at trial by Defense Attorney Christopher Hartmann.

We hope for healing for the victim and family and are very proud of the bravery shown by all, the St. Francois County Prosecutors Office said in a statement following Fridays sentencing.

Hankins was charged with the crimes in June 2020 after a juvenile family member, then 12 years old, reported the man had previously performed sex acts on her when she was younger.

A probable cause statement filed in the case states that on May 1, 2020, the young girl disclosed that Hankins had molested her for several years.

The report states the child reported to a social worker that Hankins had performed a sex act on her on two occasions after she turned 11 years old.

Bobby Radford is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at bradford@dailyjournalonline.com

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Authorities in Park Hills are looking for information as they investigate instances of break-ins and property damage at a local business and at an Ameren electric substation.

Park Hills Police Chief Richard McFarland said the latest occurrence happened at Lee Mechanical Contractors on Industrial Drive just after midnight in the early Tuesday morning hours.

The suspect could be seen on the businesss surveillance camera using a blunt object to break through the glass on the front door. After the glass is broken, the man is seen walking away from the entrance.

The surveillance footage was posted to the Park Hills Police Departments Facebook page and has been shared by hundreds of people.

McFarland said the incident is being investigated along with two other recent reports involving property damage with nothing stolen.

The chief explained that the Ameren Electric substation on 700 Marty Dr. had been broken into last Thursday and possibly again sometime Monday night  it was unclear, the chief indicated, whether two break-ins occurred or whether further damage from the Thursday break-in was discovered as workers began making repairs.

McFarland said property damage at the substation was extensive. The intruder reportedly broke into the stations motor operator cabinets and potential fuse boxes. The chief said the police report indicated the intruder had cut wires, leaving the station unable to transfer.

Ameren reportedly told police it would take three employees eight hours to repair the three motor operators.

In one of the reports, McFarland noted that repair costs for the damage were estimated to be $1,800. He said the repair costs for the other damage reported would amount to $14,132.

McFarland asked that anyone with any information regarding the damages contact the Park Hills Police Department at 573-431-3131.

Bobby Radford is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at bradford@dailyjournalonline.com

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DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois (1860). Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon of California (1968). Hubert H. Humphrey (1968) and Eugene McCarthy (1972) of Minnesota. John Lindsay and Shirley Chisholm of New York (1972). Pete DuPont and Joe Biden of Delaware (1988). Paul Simon and Jesse Jackson of Illinois (1988). Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio of Florida (2016). Kirsten Gillibrand and Bill de Blasio of New York (2020).

And now Donald J. Trump, Ron DeSantis and maybe Rick Scott and Marco Rubio of Florida -- presidential candidates from the same state at the same time.

Florida, modern mother of presidents.

It's no Virginia, with eight presidents -- and four of the first five chief executives. Not exactly Ohio either, with seven. Massachusetts had four, with two unsuccessful nominees in the 21st century alone.

But Florida -- which never has sent a president to Washington -- has a resident former president and a pack of ambitious presidential candidates. Trump is firmly ensconced here, and DeSantis definitely is girding for a campaign. The Florida governor is one of the few Republicans who have not foresworn a campaign if Trump decides to run in 2024 -- despite Trump's taunts that DeSantis owes his career to his endorsement four years ago.

This potential intrastate struggle shines a bright light on the coming of age of Florida as a vital political state.

For decades, the Sunshine State was a political backwater. A century ago, it had fewer than one-seventh the electoral votes of New York, a state it recently surpassed to become the third biggest prize in a general election. Nebraska had more power in the 1924 election than did Florida.

In those days, nobody cared about Florida politics. Hardly anyone campaigned here. It didn't much matter; it voted Democratic in every election but one from 1880 (when it went for Winfield Scott Hancock) to 1948 (when it sided with Harry Truman). Its only importance in national politics was as the staging ground for the marauding of Andrew Jackson (attacking the Seminoles); as the place where Franklin Delano Roosevelt was almost assassinated (in a 1933 attack just before Inauguration Day); and where presidents (including Warren G. Harding, FDR, Truman, John F. Kennedy, Nixon and George H.W. Bush) sought relaxation and fishing.

In the Truman years, his Key West cottage was known as the Little White House. After Kennedy defeated Nixon in 1960, the victor flew south from Palm Beach to meet the vanquished, and amid rumors that the defeated candidate might win a role in his rival's administration, they met at the Key Biscayne Hotel. That position never materialized, but their session was cordial.

Now Florida is a different sort of political staging ground. In this century, it's been a vital part of presidential politics, its electoral votes often swinging a political contest (as it did in 2000 for George W. Bush) or providing an important election night signal of the country's direction (as it did for Trump in 2016). Since 2008, Florida has voted Democratic twice and Republican twice.

The New Deal-era Federal Writers Project guide to the state characterized Florida as "at once a pageant of extravagance and a land of pastoral simplicity, a flood-lighted stage of frivolity and a behind-the-scenes struggle for existence."

Now the behind-the-scenes struggle for existence occurs in the old bridal suite of Mar-a-Lago that Trump, operating as a modern ward heeler, transformed into a Republican power center.

There, in a mansion built a century ago by Marjorie Merriweather Post, the former president is attempting to be a kingmaker in races -- secretary of state, governor, senator -- across the country. Candidates come beseeching Trump for his endorsement. Some win it, others return home empty-handed. The first test of the value of his endorsement comes in about 10 days, when in the Ohio GOP Senate primary, the Trump-endorsed candidate, J.D. Vance, faces former state Treasurer Josh Mandel and investment banker Mike Gibbons.

DeSantis once was one of those supplicants. No longer.

The governor is respectful of Trump but at the same time is trying to remain independent of him, regarding him the way Georges Clemenceau of France regarded Prince Bismarck: "a dangerous enemy but perhaps a more dangerous friend." He wants maximum latitude to make his own decision about a presidential race rather than to respond to the former president's moods, inclinations and plans. It's a difficult maneuver, a bit like encountering an angry alligator in a Florida swamp: Don't play dead, but get out of the way.

Trump today is mostly a man of talk, DeSantis a man of action. The governor is appealing to the Trump base with his defiance of mask and vaccine mandates, his support of Don't Say Gay legislation and his signature, just this month, on legislation banning abortion after 15 weeks. On Monday, he praised the rejection of 54 math textbooks for including banned social topics. The next day he took on Disney's special status in Florida.

In a conventional era, he would be set up to inherit the base created by a formidable figure, like Truman did from FDR in 1948 and George H.W. Bush did from Reagan in 1988. But this is an unusual time in the American passage, and Trump as the lion in winter still covets a national roar.

In this circumstance, DeSantis must win a tough reelection race against the nominee selected by the Democrats, who themselves have a spirited race between, among others, Charlie Crist, a former governor and House member, and Nikki Fried, the agricultural commissioner. At the same time, Rubio is running for a third Senate term; it remains possible the onetime 2016 presidential candidate might mount a 2024 campaign. So might Scott.

Florida is, at the very least, the mother of potential presidential candidates.

In the state's first presidential vote in 1848, the 4,120 residents who voted for Zachary Taylor helped him defeat Lewis Cass. Florida has voted for the winner in 21 of the 24 elections since 1928. What happens in Florida doesn't stay in Florida. And who emerges as a force in Florida could travel a long road outside the state.

David M. Shribman is the former executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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Just when you thought it was safe to go to the theater in the waning days of the pandemic, the virus takes a curtain call.

The final performance of Western Albemarle High Schools spring musical was canceled after several students at the school tested positive for COVID-19.

As of Monday morning, 21 students in the shows cast and crew were isolating at home because of a positive COVID test.

The schools iteration of Broadway ABBA-fest Mamma Mia! premiered Thursday and the school learned of one positive test on Friday, according to an email sent to families. On Saturday, another three reports of positive tests came in.

Sundays matinee, which was supposed to be a sing-along for the jukebox musical set to tunes from the 70s Swedish pop music megagroup ABBA, was then called off. The school is working to refund those who purchased tickets.

School drama programs have worked throughout the pandemic to find safe ways to stage performances, including moving performances outdoors. Theyve worked around COVID precautions that didnt allow props to be shared among cast members.

Western Albemarle was the first county school to hold its spring musical since the state ended mask requirements for students. They are not alone, however. Albemarle High School students are set to perform Tuck Everlasting next month while Monticello High School students are going to stage Urinetown.

Division spokesman Phil Giaramita said no changes are in the works for those two musicals, but that theyll likely learn from what happened at Western Albemarle.

Giaramita also noted that Mamma Mia! involved a fairly large cast of students.

Since returning from spring break, the school division has seen an increase in positive cases among students and staff members. Last week, 50 cases were reported, up from 47 the preview week. The division averaged 25 new reported cases a week in March.

These cases remind us that although overall in our county, COVID cases were declining, they now are beginning to increase and the pandemic itself remains a public health risk, WAHS principal Jennifer Sublette wrote in an email. We should continue to closely monitor our health and that of our families for any COVID-19 symptoms including.

After the school received reports of the positive tests, school custodians conducted a deep cleaning and disinfection of all areas where students were present, according to the email.

Face masks also were made available to any student as an additional precaution.

Our teachers and counselors are communicating with all students who are at home to ensure that their instructional needs are being met virtually, Sublette wrote. We know that we are moving into an important time of the year in terms of testing and classwork.

School counselors are working with affected students to reschedule AP exams as needed, officials wrote in the email.

Albemarle County is considered to be at medium risk for COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions community levels. The levels are determined by looking at new cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period, new hospital admissions and the percent of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.

The school division has relaxed several measures that were put in place over the last two years, such as contact tracing for individual cases, which were aimed at slowing or stopping the viruss spread in school buildings.

Giaramita said that despite the changes in mitigation measures, COVID is still around, and he urged vigilance.

The pandemic has a way of reminding us that you dont want to declare victory too early, he said.

As of April 1, the division has limited contact tracing efforts to situations involving an outbreak or sustained transmission from person to person to person in a school or department. The division also is no longer updating the number of students who are quarantining because of a possible exposure to someone with COVID-19.

Giaramita said that so far one student is quarantining as a result of exposure to one of the 21 cases. Only unvaccinated students in Albemarle County are required to quarantine.

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Jason Kessler, a key organizer of both the 2017 Unite the Right rally and a preceding torch march on the grounds of the University of Virginia, has been banned from the schools Grounds until further written notice, according to a spokeswoman for university police.

UVa police renewed a no-trespassing order against Kessler last week, prior to the expiration of one the department issued in 2018.

That order was issued after Kessler reportedly clashed with students at the UVa School of Law library.

In making the original order, officers cited multiple reports from students that Kessler 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.

In a statement issued by UVa on Tuesday, it said the new notice, which supersedes the former notice, was issued April 20 for the same reasons.

Keeping students, faculty, staff and visitors safe is the universitys highest priority, the statement said. UVa has and will continue to take action to limit disruptions or threats to health and safety on or around our Grounds.

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.

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.

Those warnings 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.
The Fullerton city council voted unanimously on the Fullerton police department's use of military equipment on April 19. (Eliza Green / Daily Titan)
Since October 2020, Rebekah Gasperino  the Albany mom accused of killing her 3-year-old daughter  and her husband Scott Gasperino have been going through a divorce, and court paperwork shows both he and the Oregon Department of Human Services sounded the alarm on the suspect's potential mental health issues.

Rebekah has a spiritual vision in which Sophia is dead and she is unsure how Sophia is killed in her vision, a Department of Human Services caseworker wrote in a March 23 protective action plan.

Meanwhile, twice during Linn County Circuit Court proceedings, Scott Gasperino filed motions seeking custody of their daughter Sophia Saffron Gasperino by asserting that she was in immediate danger from her mother, court paperwork shows.

The alleged murder

The Albany Police Department arrested Rebekah Gasperino, 32, Saturday, April 23 on suspicion of first-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and first-degree criminal mistreatment.

At around 2:30 a.m., according to a news release, an officer stopped a vehicle occupied by Rebekah Gasperino. During the traffic stop, police learned the suspect could pose a danger to herself or others and officers decided to check on Sophia immediately.

Arriving to the 2000 block of Sun Place Southeast in Albany, officers searched the cul-de-sac home where they found Sophia already dead. No other children were in the home.

Court documents filed Monday, April 25 allege the murder was unlawful, intentional and premeditated.

In the news release, Albany police said Scott Gasperino and extended family members were cooperating with the investigation.

Sophia's death comes after more than a year of marital conflicts in court between her parents during which Scott Gasperino expressed concern for his daughter's safety.

Divorce and custody battles

In November 2020 court filings, Scott Gasperino said he believed the marriage could be repaired with help, but he also reported his wifes alleged mental health problems.

My wife has been observed to be unfit to be alone with our daughter by her family and by others at Mercy House Shelter. She had been hearing voices, and obeyed said voices to make dangerous choices, Scott Gasperino wrote.

In related paperwork, he wrote there was an Oregon Department of Human Services case against Rebekah Gasperino. She was not seeking the counseling the agency wanted her to get or the psychological evaluation it had recommended multiple times, he said.

Based upon a preponderance of the evidence presented in 2020, Judge Thomas McHill ruled that Sophia Gasperino was not in immediate danger at the time, and he denied the motion.

The court process to dissolve their marriage continued, and on March 31, Scott Gasperino again signed a motion for order of immediate danger against his wife.

He wrote that DHS had created a protective action plan that called for Sophia to live with him at his parents house, and for Rebekahs parenting time to be supervised.

DHS has requested I take legal action to extend the plan past its expiration date of April 3, 2022, Scott Gasperino added. The protective action plan, attached to the court filing, included details about Rebekah Gasperinos aforementioned vision of her daughters death.

A hearing on the motion was held on April 1 before Judge Rachel Kittson-MaQatish, and the parties stipulated that Scott Gasperino would move back to the family residence and that his motion for an order of immediate danger would be dismissed.

However, in an April 12 letter to Kittson-MaQatish, Rebekah Gasperino requested that the dissolution of marriage proceed to trial because she had concerns that werent being addressed.

She claimed it was her husband who had mental health issues and said she tried to file for a restraining order when Scott Gasperino took custody of Sophia between March 21 and April 3.

Scott has been saying I have poor mental health, he used that as an excuse to have Sophia and keep her from me for the most part, Rebekah Gasperino wrote.

I feel like Scott is robbing me of parenting Sophia because of his claims about my mental health and I feel like he is not being fair. He stopped letting me watch Sophia like I normally would. He also wont let me take Sophia to the store and to Church (sic), she wrote, later in the letter to the judge.

Rebekah Gasperino believed that if she finalized the divorce without a trial, her husband would try to bully her and keep Sophia from her in the future, like he did when he took Sophia to live with his parents for two weeks from March 21 and April 3, she added.

Kittson-MaQatish responded on April 13 via letter: Because you have an attorney, I need you to communicate with your attorney. I believe the court is waiting for one of the attorneys to file a stipulated general judgment of dissolution with the court, Kittson-MaQatish wrote.

That divorce case remains open, according to Oregons online court database.

Arraignment

More than a dozen family and friends of Scott Gasperino gathered in a Linn County courtroom Monday afternoon for Rebekah Gasperino's arraignment. During the proceedings, Rebekah Gasperino was arraigned on one charge of aggravated murder, the conviction of which could result in a sentence of 30 years to life.

Linn County Circuit Court Judge Keith Stein ordered Gasperino be held without bail at the Linn County Jail.

During the court proceedings, prosecutor Jessica Cooney alleged Rebekah Gasperino admitted to killing Sophia in a probable cause affidavit for the case.

Stein ordered that an attorney from the Oregon Office of Public Defense Services be appointed as Rebekah Gasperino's defense attorney.

The next court appearance in the matter is scheduled for at 8:30 a.m. May 9.

Maddie Pfeifer covers public safety for Mid-Valley Media. She can be contacted at 541-812-6091 or Madison.Pfeifer@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter via @maddiepfeifer_

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Maddie Pfeifer Reporter Maddie Pfeifer is the public safety/crime and courts reporter for Mid-Valley Media. She has a bachelor's degree in communication studies from the University of Portland. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies and spending time outdoors. Follow Maddie Pfeifer 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
A former Oregon State University faculty member accused of committing multiple sex crimes in Virginia was taken into custody Wednesday, April 20 in preparation for extradition.

The Benton County Sheriffs Office arrested Brett Merrick Tyler, 66, on suspicion of being a fugitive from justice. According to Oregons online court database, Tyler is to be held in custody until he is extradited to Virginia.

Tyler was the director of the Center for Quantitative Life Sciences at OSU. He started working at the university in January 2012 and resigned from the university, effective Nov. 30, 2021.

According to court documents, Tyler is accused of two counts of forcible sodomy, two counts of taking indecent liberties with children and one count of aggravated sexual battery. Court documents allege the victim was younger than 13. The alleged crimes are said to have taken place in Virginia.

Tyler was booked into Benton County Jail on Oct. 7, 2021 for reportedly being a fugitive of justice, according to court paperwork, due to the out-of-state sex crime accusations.

In October, Montgomery County Commonwealths Attorney Mary Pettitt told Mid-Valley Media the crimes are alleged to have been committed between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2009, in Montgomery County.

Paperwork filed with Benton County Circuit Court this week shed more light on the accusations.

The alleged abuse

According to an affidavit from an officer with the Blacksburg Police Department, on Aug. 12, 2021, the victim of Tylers alleged crimes came forward to follow up on a previous report he had made regarding sexual abuse accusations against Tyler. The victim said he was a child living in Blacksburg, Virginia at the time of the incidents.

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The affidavit explains that Tyler had frequent access to the victim and the alleged abuse took place over multiple years.

After deciding to confront Tyler, the victim told police Tyler confessed to him about the alleged abuse. This conversation took place during two separate occasions, according to the affidavit, and the victim recorded the second instance, reportedly provided police with the recording.

The arrest and extradition

Montgomery County Magistrate Robert Keller issued a warrant for Tylers arrest Oct. 7.

After local authorities arrested Tyler, he posted bail and was released. He returned into custody following an April 20 court hearing in which Benton County Circuit Court Judge Joan Demarest ordered Tyler to be held in jail until he is extradited to Virginia.

The extradition has required the requests and approval of multiple agencies.

On Dec. 9, Pettitt submitted an application to Ralph Northam, who was governor of Virginia at the time, for the return of Tyler.

On Jan. 10, in a letter to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Northam respectfully demanded that Tyler be apprehended and delivered to the state of Virginia.

Three days later on Jan. 13, Brown signed a warrant authorizing and commanding that Tyler be taken into custody and delivered to Virginia.

According to BCSO Undersheriff Don Rogers, Tyler wasnt taken back into custody in preparation for extradition until April simply because he didnt have his extradition court hearing until April 20.

The department does not share details or dates regarding extradition due to safety concerns, Roger said in an email.

Maddie Pfeifer covers public safety for Mid-Valley Media. She can be contacted at 541-812-6091 or Madison.Pfeifer@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter via @maddiepfeifer_

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It would appear that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis harbors ambitions to become the new Donald Trump. Whether a new Donald Trump could win the presidency in 2024 is in question. In 2020, the old Donald Trump lost the popular vote by a not-insignificant 7 million.

But even if a Trumpy candidate remained a political draw two years from now, DeSantis has a problem. He is not a Donald Trump. Try as he might, he will never be.

It's not enough to just be obnoxious. Trump was also an entertainer. His raffish wit let him get away with a lot of things. He knew how to deliver his lines. Say what you want about Trump, he had a certain charisma.

DeSantis, sadly, was born without a sense of humor. Almost every picture of him shows a scowling face with mouth open. There is no charm to smooth over the meanness.

Nor is he good at conveying the absurdity required to win over much of the Trump base. Yale and Harvard Law ruined that for him. DeSantis really underestimates Trump's following, which could hear the in-your-face intention behind their leader's ridiculous grunts. DeSantis does it straight.

When Disney objected to his "Don't say gay" bill, DeSantis punished the company in a flamboyantly stupid way  by shooting his own taxpayers in the foot. He stripped Disney World of its self-governing status. Not only had that been what brought the massive development to Orlando in the first place, but the deal also had Disney picking up lots of the bills normally covered by local taxes  to the tune of $163 million a year.

Orange County's tax collector is not amused. "Road maintenance, flood control, they (Disney) have their own power plant, wastewater, drinking water facility," Scott Randolph said. "All of that debt and obligation goes over to Orange County the minute that Reedy Creek (the arrangement DeSantis attacked) is dissolved. There is no extra tax money that comes with that."

Last time we looked, disagreeing with a governor was legal. But really, was a weekend of media attention worth it? After all, DeSantis was bashing the company that employs 80,000 Floridians and provides the economic engine for an entire region.

But DeSantis has a record for making life hard for his state's biggest employers. Recall his going after the state's huge cruise industry for insisting that passengers be vaccinated against COVID-19. It was the height of the pandemic, and ensuring their customers' safety was a business imperative. This wasn't any culture war flare-up as much as DeSantis tried to make it one.

One of the golden rules of economic development is "Never do unto your tax base what you'd like other states to do unto theirs." Leaving Florida would be tough for Disney, but it does have alternatives.

Louisiana could become the New Florida. Before Disney landed on Orlando as the site for its massive development, it was also considering New Orleans. The company reportedly went as far as to buy up land in nearby towns across Lake Pontchartrain.

As for the cruises, Louisiana hosts a growing industry and would like more of that, too. Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and, yes, Disney already offer Caribbean and Central America cruises leaving from the fun city of New Orleans. And that's in addition to all those trips up the Mississippi River.

And while some prefer the beach, others want the mountains. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis offered Disney a "Mountain Disneyland" free from "Florida's authoritarian socialist attacks on the private sector."

DeSantis may have more clever things to say such as his condemnation of Disney for being "a corporation based in Burbank, California." Other governors can only hope.

Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com.

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TUESDAY

Academy for Lifelong Learning, 9:30 a.m., online. Melissa Harder, Corvallis School District assistant superintendent; Amy Lesan, CSD elementary schools coordinator; and Nikki McFarland, CSD secondary schools coordinator, will present "Inclusive Math Education in Kindergarten: Seventh Grade." Given local evidence of inequitable systems in mathematics, the district has collaborated with teachers, administrators, math professionals and students to develop a plan for inclusive math education in K-7 classrooms that is aligned to the Oregon Department of Education goal. Presenters will discuss how inclusive math education helps ensure a deep understanding of mathematical concepts and math reasoning. New math pathways at the high school level will also be presented. ALL invites nonmembers to attend one or two classes at no charge; email ALL at admin@academyforlifelonglearning.org if you are interested.

Academy for Lifelong Learning, 1:30 p.m., online. Corvallis native Niko Hansen, a student in chemical engineering at University of California, Davis, will present "SPOCS Bacteria Resistance Research on the International Space Station." NASA offered Student Payload Opportunity with Citizen Science to undergraduate student-led teams to develop experiments focused on bacteria resistance and sustainability in space. Hansens talk will discuss his experience with the SPOCS program in developing an experimental module to investigate the efficacy of bacteria-resistant polymers in microgravity and sending said module to space via the SpaceX-24 launch last December. ALL invites nonmembers to attend one or two classes at no charge; email ALL at admin@academyforlifelonglearning.org if you are interested.

"Moving to Pollution-Free Buildings: Electrify PNW," 7 p.m., online. The public is invited to attend a virtual forum to learn more about electrifying our buildings, why it's important and what all of us can do to help pass policies and build community campaigns to electrify the Northwest. The forum will offer perspectives on the health and climate impacts of utilizing gas appliances in homes and commercial buildings, the need to transition to all-electric buildings and insights about ensuring an equitable transition. Registration: www.sustainablecorvallis.org.

Holocaust Memorial Week: "Escaping the Holocaust  A Survivor Story," 7 p.m., Zoom. In early 1939, Joe Hess and his older sister were taken to Britain in the famous Kindertransport (childrens transport) evacuation. Joe lived out the war in England and after it ended, immigrated to the U.S. He is now a frequent speaker at the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles, as well as in area schools. This talk will focus on his early life in Fulda, his journey on the Kindertransport and his wartime experiences as a refugee in Britain. Presented by the Oregon State University College of Liberal Arts, Center for the Humanities, donations to the OSU Foundation's Holocaust Memorial Fund, the city of Corvallis, the OSU Provost's Fund for Excellence and Beit Am. Registration: erin.sneller@oregonstate.edu.

WEDNESDAY

Academy for Lifelong Learning, 1:30 p.m., online. Jackson Street Youth Services Executive Director Ann Craig will present "How Do Youth Become Homeless and What Can You Do About It?" ALL invites nonmembers to attend one or two classes at no charge to see if they are interested in becoming a member. Email admin@academyforlifelonglearning.org if interested. Adult homelessness seems to be everywhere lately, but youth, as well as families with children who are homeless, are often invisible to the community. Craig will share the latest national research to better understand the causes, symptoms and solutions to youth homelessness.

Holocaust Memorial Week: "Stalin and Mao, and Two Cataclysms They Engineered," 7 p.m., Horizon Room, Memorial Union, 2501 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. Lecture by Hua-yu Li of the Oregon State University School of Public Policy. Li will discuss the role that Stalins brand of socialism played in Maos thinking. Livestream also available at https://youtu.be/GkwpuSnjrXQ. Presented by the College of Liberal Arts, Center for the Humanities, donations to the OSU Foundation's Holocaust Memorial Fund, the city of Corvallis, the OSU Provost's Fund for Excellence and Beit Am.

Items for this calendar are pulled from the user-generated calendar that runs on our websites. For further information, write to jane.stoltz@lee.net.

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RTHK: Germany to send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine

Germany will authorise the delivery of tanks to Ukraine, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Tuesday, in what would be a clear switch in Berlin's cautious policy on military backing for Kyiv.

The government has agreed to sign off the delivery of used Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, Lambrecht told an international meeting of defence ministers at the US Ramstein airbase.

Forty countries are holding emergency talks at the airbase in southwestern Germany on bolstering the defence capabilities of Ukraine.

The meeting, held at the invitation of the United States, is "focused on doing things to generate additional capability and capacity for the Ukrainian forces", according to US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

France is delivering Caesar cannons with a range of 40 kilometres and Britain has provided Starstreak anti-air missiles and tanks.

The Gepard tanks will not come from the German army but from stocks held by the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) arms group, government sources said

They were taken out of service 10 years ago and need to be technically upgraded, the sources said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has come under fire for refusing to directly send heavy weapons to Ukraine, despite announcing a "turning point" in German defence policy in response to the war.

Critics have accused Scholz of weak leadership and say his Social Democrats (SPD) are too reluctant to break from their historic policy of detente towards Moscow.

Scholz has even faced criticism from within his own coalition government, a partnership between the SPD, the Greens and the liberal FDP.

The chancellor has justified his cautious approach by saying he wishes to avoid a direct confrontation between Nato and Russia, a nuclear power.

But according to a draft document seen by reporters on Tuesday, the three coalition parties now plan to present a joint proposal in parliament calling for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

The document calls on the government to "continue and, where possible, accelerate the delivery of necessary equipment to Ukraine, including extending the delivery of heavy weapons and complex systems".

It also suggests that Ukrainian soldiers should be trained in Germany and other Nato countries to operate the weaponry. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2022-04-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
MEER: Maryland Emergency Education Relief Grant

Main_Content

Purpose

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) through the Office of Statewide Broadband (OSB) is administering funding for the Maryland Emergency Education Relief Grant Program (MEER).

The OSBs MEER program is a grant opportunity to further the states efforts in helping schools, libraries and other anchor institutions provide the tools and services their communities need for educational purposes. This grant opportunity is designed to provide relief to K-12 students and related school staff to close the gap for students who lack necessary internet access or the devices they need to connect to classrooms. This NOFA pertains only to the funding allocation for MEER and provides a preview of the application which will be available online at: https://dhcd.maryland.gov/Broadband/Pages/Provider-Resources.aspx.

Applicant Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to apply, an applicant must meet one of the following criteria:

Schools

Elementary/Middle/High school: a non-profit institutional day or residential school, including a public K-12 charter school, that provides elementary/middle/high school education, as determined under state law.



Secondary school: a non-profit institutional day or residential school, including a public secondary charter school, that provides secondary education, as determined under state law except that the term does not include any education beyond grade 12.

Libraries

Public Library offering schoolwork/homework programs for K-12 students.

Anchor Institutions

Community Centers offering schoolwork/homework programs for K-12 students.

Eligible Uses of Funds

Funding may be requested under two categories:

Equipment - Eligible equipment includes, but is not limited to:

Wireless access points;

Wi-Fi hotspots;

Modems (including air cards);

Routers, devices that combine a modem and router;

Signal amplifiers/extender;

Connected devices (laptop and tablet computers for use solely within the purchasing institution).

Service  Eligible service includes:

Internet services to a school, library, or community centers necessary to provide student connectivity;

Internet service costs covered by E-rate or similar funding are not eligible for reimbursement.

Services that deliver internet access within schools and libraries (internal connections, basic maintenance of internal connections, and managed internal broadband services);

Construction of new networks to provide remote learning and the equipment needed for data casting services (only if the institution can demonstrate it has no existing available service options sufficient to support remote learning).

Miscellaneous

Installation, activation, and initial configuration costs, taxes, shipping charges, and other reasonable fees incurred with the purchase of the eligible equipment and services.

Covered Populations

While the grant program and its funding offer the ability to serve all K-12 students in Maryland the following covered populations are identified as most at need:

Economically disadvantaged students;

Vulnerable children (students who often encounter challenges in receiving a quality and equitable education. Vulnerable youth may face many barriers, including traumatization, high mobility, and undiagnosed behavioral and health conditions.);

Students who might have chronic conditions; and

Students who do not have other access to the internet.

Funding Criteria

The maximum grant request amount is $350,000 per application and the minimum amount is $50,000.

Funding will be provided for qualifying expenses and projects completed between September 1, 2021 and September 15, 2022. Applicants may apply for multiple projects. While not required, we highly encourage applicants to identify other funding sources to leverage the available grant funding.

Only applications that are fully complete at submission will be considered for funding.

The MEER grant program is a competitive funding opportunity and individual grant amounts may be reduced relative to requests and/or based on the impact of the applicants intended population and ability to deploy funds responsibly and as soon as possible.

Application Process

NOFA release: Wednesday, April 20, 2022



Application submission to OSB via email opens: Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Application submission closes: Friday, May 20, 2022

Funding announcements to be made on or before June 17, 2022.

All applications and supporting documents must be submitted via email to: OSB.MD@Maryland.gov.

Application Requirements

In addition to basic organizational information and completion of the application form, the following information and attachments will be required in order for an application to be considered complete.

Executive Summary: The executive summary should provide a brief, comprehensive summary of the overall project, the needs of the population to be served and how the funding will contribute to a solution. The executive summary will additionally require the following information:

Project Overview;

Potential barriers;

Partners and local engagement;

Intended outcomes and metrics;

Statement of experience and past accomplishments;

Network Design;

Community Profile;

Schedule.

Funding scope & budget: A scope of work related to the funding must be provided. The scope of work should be specific to the funding requested. Include a simple budget that illustrates how you plan to spend the funding. The budget should be in the following categories:

Operations (payroll, supplies, materials etc.)

Contracted services (payments to independent contractors, external organizations, etc.)

Travel (must be related to program deployment)

Please also include any other funding necessary for the project including the anticipated source of the funds.

Application Attachments

All of the following attachments will be required in the application submission in order for the application to be considered complete:

Completed & signed Application Form

Application requirements as mentioned above

IRS Determination Letter of nonprofit status (if applicable)

Official State of Maryland Good Standing Certificate filed stamped within 60 days of date of application (if applicable)

IRS W-9 Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Form

Dun & Bradstreet DUNS Number for your organization

Unique Entity ID from SAM.gov


With less than a month left for voters to apply for absentee ballots ahead of the May 24 primary election, things are a little slower than they were two years ago when a record 7,000 absentee ballots were cast in Houston County.

Of course 2020 was a presidential election year, and the country was in the midst of a pandemic with many voters choosing to vote by absentee ballots over going to the polls on Election Day.

Its very slow at this point, but I think some of that may be also that Im comparing it to 2020 when we had absentee amongst COVID, Houston County Circuit Clerk Carla Woodall said Tuesday. Im hoping that people are not disinterested and that they are just excited and want to go to the polls instead of voting absentee and that people are just ready to get out.

Woodall, who serves as the countys absentee election manager, said the absentee application process is up and running.

To vote by absentee in the May 24 primary election, voters must complete an application and return it to the absentee election manager.

The last day for completed absentee ballot applications to be received by mail for the primary election is May 17, while the last day voters can return an application in person is May 19. Voters have until May 23 to deliver an absentee ballot in person. Mailed absentee ballots must be received by noon on May 24.

According to the Alabama Secretary of States office, absentee ballot applications can be downloaded online or requested by visiting or calling the local absentee election managers office. Voters can also contact the Secretary of States Elections Division at 334-242-7210 to request an absentee ballot application. Voters who are eligible to vote pursuant to the Uniformed and Overseas Absentee Voting Act will have until May 24 to postmark an absentee ballot.

There is a list of each countys absentee election manager with mailing addresses and contact information at www.sos.alabama.gov/city-county-lookup/absentee-election-manager.

For Houston County, voters can call 334-671-8700 or visit the absentee election managers office located in Room 417 of the Houston County Courthouse, located at 114 N. Oates St. in downtown Dothan. Hours are Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to noon and 1-4:30 p.m.

You can come to the courthouse and vote in person or you can do it all by mail, whichever you prefer, Woodall said.

In a primary election, Woodall said its important for voters to remember to ask for a specific party ballot.

You have to select either Democrat or Republican, she said. Thats very important for people to understand that.

Absentee ballot applications must include a copy of a current valid photo ID unless the voter is exempt, and the application must be signed or marked by the voter. The application does not have to be witnessed unless the voter signs by a mark rather than their name. Completed applications can only be delivered by the voter or by mail  a family member cannot deliver your application for you.

The major change for the upcoming primary is the actual absentee ballot application deadline. It used to be that all completed applications were due five days prior to the election date. Now, mailed applications are needed seven days prior to the election date while ballot applications delivered in person are still due five days before the election.

Another common mistake to avoid: Each application must be mailed separately. Multiple applications from the same household cannot be placed in the same envelope.

When it comes to returning your absentee ballot, the affidavit on the absentee voter envelope has to bear the signatures of two witnesses or a notary. Woodalls staff can notarize the affidavit for those who deliver them in person.

If you miss the deadline to return your absentee ballot application, Woodall said you can still vote at your polling place on the day of the election.

As long as the ballot did not come back to me, they can still go to the polls and vote, she said. Now, they would vote a provisional ballot, and the board of registrars would make sure that their absentee ballot was not received by me.

However, she warned, do not put your absentee ballot in a voting machine. Instead, youll be given a ballot at the precinct.

We have to reconcile the number of ballots issued and the ballots received, Woodall said. Every precinct is assigned ballot numbers, so if somebody takes one in that messes up the entire reconciliation.

Peggy Ussery is a Dothan Eagle staff writer and can be reached at aussery@dothaneagle.com or 334-712-7963. Support her work and that of other Eagle journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at dothaneagle.com.

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A woman picks watermelon from a flooded farm in Quang Nam Province in early April, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh

The number of storms affecting Vietnam will drop against last year but it is likely that heavy rains will result in extreme flooding.

According to the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration (VMHA), 10-12 storms could form in Vietnam's East Sea this year, with around half expected to hit mainland Vietnam.

"The number of storms is lower than last year and the average of previous years, but under the impact of La Nina, which will stay until autumn, heavy rainfalls could occur and lead to extreme flooding," Tran Hong Thai, head of the VMHA, told a meeting on preventing natural disasters on Monday.

The administration forecast that the rainy season would come earlier this year for northern, southern and Central Highlands regions.

In the central region, home to popular tourist cities like Da Nang, Hue and Hoi An, the amount of rainfall in October and November is expected to be higher than the average levels of previous years, causing flooding for the area.

Between March 30 and April 2, the central region had recorded abnormal heavy rains, with a rainfall volume ranging from 200 mm to 600 mm. In some places of Thua Thien Hue Province, the volume rose to over 800 mm.

Floods triggered by rains killed four people in the region and caused an economic loss of VND2.3 trillion ($100.85 million).
Completing health declarations, one of Vietnam's five protocols to contain the Covid-19 spread, will be removed, said Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long.

"Vietnam has not tracked down any Covid-19 related cases and is returning to normalcy, which means health declaration for domestic travel is unnecessary," Long told a meeting Tuesday.

He said the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the ministry will soon provide specific guidance on removing the protocol.

In August 2020, the Ministry of Health issued a protocol to contain the spread of Covid, warning people to wear masks, disinfect their hands frequently, keep a safe distance from each other, avoid crowds and complete health declarations, commonly known as 5K protocol.

Since then, given the "complicated" developments of the pandemic, the protocol has become a mandate and those who fail to follow it are seen as law breakers to be dealt with accordingly.

Yet in recent months, with Covid-19 has been gradually brought under control, with many cities and provinces proposing the Health Ministry adjusts the protocol and require people to wear a mask and disinfect their hands in public places only.

In a talk with VnExpresson Monday, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son said the ministry is considering moving Covid-19 out of Group A, which comprises dangerous infectious diseases with the ability to spread quickly and widely, have a high mortality rate or an unknown causative agent. Some others in this group include influenza A - H5N1, plague, smallpox, dengue fever, and cholera.

However, "the government will make the final call," he said, refusing to share further information.

Last Tuesday, Son told a ministry meeting that if Covid-19 patients "are willing to go to work," employers should make arrangements to separate them and avoid cross-infection. Son made the statement just several days after the ministry announced the lifting of all isolation measures previously applied for Covid close contacts.

Official data from the ministry showed that the average number of new infections recorded in the past week was 10,936 cases per day, down 45 percent compared to the previous week.
Cebu Pacific to resume flights to Hanoi next month

A security guard stands near Cebu Pacific passenger jets at the tarmac of Terminal 3 at the Ninoy Aquino International airport in Pasay city, Metro Manila Philippines, April 1, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Erik De Castro

Filipino budget carrier Cebu Pacific announced it would resume regular flights between Manila and Hanoi from next month.

The carrier said it plans to operate three weekly flights on the Manila-Hanoi route from May 2 as part efforts to revive its international flight network, Philstar newspaper reported.

From January to April, Cebu Pacific restarted flights on six international routes connecting Manila with Bangkok, Fukuoka, Jakarta, Dubai, Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City.

Currently, it operates one weekly flight every Tuesday between Manila and HCMC.

Early this month, the Philippines started accepting fully vaccinated foreign travelers and offering quarantine-free entry. It also allowed visitors to freely travel to reopened destinations around the country.

Vietnam also reopened inbound tourism from March 15 and allowed quarantine-free entry after nearly two years of border closures.

Foreigners entering Vietnam only need to furnish a negative Covid-19 test certificate.
Press Release

U.S. Department of Commerce Invests $2 Million in American Rescue Plan Funds to Provide Critical Infrastructure to Support Business Growth in Carlsbad, New Mexico

WASHINGTON  Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo announced that the Departments Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $2 million grant to the city of Carlsbad, New Mexico, to replace critical water infrastructure on the Double Eagle Waterline. This grant is funded by the American Rescue Plan.

The investment will increase local water security and sustainability and support business growth. The EDA investment will be matched by $500,000 in local funds and is expected to create 200 jobs and generate $233 million in private investment.

President Bidens American Rescue Plan offers direct relief to American communities as they work to respond to and recover from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, said Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. This EDA investment will attract new businesses to the city of Carlsbad, creating a resilient regional economy.

Economic Development Administration investments play an important role in advancing locally-led economic development strategies that drive critical workforce and business expansion efforts, said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Y. Castillo. This EDA investment will provide critical water infrastructure to support new and existing businesses in Carlsbad, creating good-paying jobs for the community.

Modernizing water infrastructure is a critical step toward protecting both public health and the environment. These funds will support this important work in Carlsbad and create jobs in the local community, building on the work the state is doing to strengthen and expand infrastructure and climate resiliency across the state, said Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. My thanks to President Biden for his leadership and to our delegation members for supporting these investments in New Mexico.

The Double Eagle Water System is critical to the long-term water security for the community of Carlsbad, said Senator Martin Heinrich. I am proud to welcome these federal resources from the American Rescue Plan that will help maintain this vital water infrastructure for southeastern New Mexico.

The American Rescue Plan continues to make investments in New Mexico communities where its needed the most, said Senator Ben Ray Lujan. Im glad this EDA grant will ensure Carlsbad and surrounding communities have access to clean water while creating more job opportunities in the process.

This project was made possible by the regional planning efforts led by the Southeastern New Mexico EDD (SENMEDD). EDA funds SENMEDD to bring together the public and private sectors to create an economic development roadmap to strengthen the regional economy, support private capital investment and create jobs.

This project is funded under EDAs American Rescue Plan Economic Adjustment Assistance program, which makes $500 million in Economic Adjustment Assistance grants available to American communities. The Economic Adjustment Assistance program is EDAs most flexible program, and grants made under this program will help hundreds of communities across the nation plan, build, innovate, and put people back to work through construction or non-construction projects designed to meet local needs.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)

The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA invests in communities and supports regional collaboration in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.
El Salvador was until recently infamous for its gang-related violence. In 2015, the most violent year due to gang violence since the turn of the century, El Salvador registered 105 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Over the next six years the numbers steadily declined, reaching a record low in the first two months of 2022. But everything changed in March. In the span of three days between March 25 and March 27, 87 Salvadorans were murdered. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele blamed the killings on street gangs which use violence to extract protection taxes from neighborhoods they control as well as for political leverage over elected governments.



March 27 was a Sunday. Nonetheless, that morning President Bukele called in the legislature and declared a State of Emergency. Soldiers set up roadblocks in some neighborhoods and, as of April 14, rounded up and arrested some 10,000 men, women and children for suspicion of being gang members or associated with these criminal groups.



The state of emergency allows the government to suspend some constitutional rights, including extending the time allowed for pretrial detention and immediate access to a defense attorney, due process, and freedom of assembly. Roughly a week later, on April 5, the Salvadoran legislature passed a vaguely worded law severely restricting freedom of the press: anything that could be interpreted as reproduction or dissemination of messages from gangs is now punishable with 10 to 15 years in prison.



The United States government is concerned about violence in El Salvador and the passage and implementation of the April 5 Criminal Code amendment by the Legislative Assembly criminalizing reporting on certain gang activities, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a written statement. The law lends itself to attempts to censor the media, prevent reporting on corruption and other matters of public interest, and silence critics of the Salvadoran government. Journalists must have the freedom to do their jobs without fear of violence, threats, or unjust detention, he said.



We continue to support El Salvador in its efforts to reduce the proliferation of gangs. Since 2008, we have invested 411 million dollars to improve citizen security and help the Salvadoran government combat gang violence, said Secretary Blinken.



We urge El Salvador to address this threat while also protecting vital civil liberties, including freedom of the press, due process, and freedom of speech.
ELKO  An Elko man convicted of second-degree murder following a 2012 shooting in the downtown parking corridor has been granted parole.

Patrick Dunn of Spring Creek was 22 when he shot Erik Espitia, 30, following an argument between two groups of four people leaving two different bars.

He was charged with open murder. At his trial, District Attorney Mark Torvinen argued that someone in Dunns group yelled a racist epithet and a fight broke out. After the fight ended, Dunn retrieved a .40-caliber pistol from his car and shot Espitia.

Defense attorney John Ohlson claimed Espitia was aggressively moving toward Dunn when the shooting occurred.

Jurors listened to a recorded interview in which Dunn told police he was repeatedly kicked and knocked down.

I honestly blacked out, he said. I remember being kicked to the ground and then being in the car on my way home.

Dunn took police to a location near his home where he hid the gun.

The jury found Dunn guilty of second-degree murder. Dunns request for a new trial was denied, and he was sentenced in January 2013 to 11 to 30 years in prison, with parole eligibility after 11 years.

A Nevada Supreme Court panel upheld his conviction in March 2015.

Dunn was incarcerated in Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City. He was granted parole last month and is to be released from custody in May.

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ELKO  A major drive to improve mental health services is underway using $3.4 million in COVID-fund grants from the City of Elko, but the effort still faces challenges when it comes to recruiting for key positions.

Mental health issues have had an impact on drug abuse, crime, homelessness and suicide, both locally and nationwide. Dr. Bryce Putnam, chairman of the Elko County Health Board, said this month that behavioral health issues were beginning to be addressed in the county prior to the start of the pandemic.

This month, Putnam brought together representatives to discuss the steps being taken to build Elkos upcoming and progressive infrastructure to serve mental health needs.

Vitality Center counselor Barbara Caskey told the board that over the past 50 years It has not been any secret that anybody that comes in with a substance abuse disorder has probably a mental health issue as well.

Nevada Health Centers received $1,913,805 from the City, and Putnam said they are in the process of remodeling to house a new Behavioral Health Center.

Health Board member Delmo Andreozzi noted that five years ago the county transferred the former Elko Clinic building to Nevada Health Centers and it has undergone impressive remodeling since then.

Patrick Rogers, clinical director of behavioral health services, said NHC has hired a case coordinator, Stephanie Contreras, and will be adding an outreach specialist, Erin Bernius, in May.

We are in the process of recruiting for a licensed clinical social worker, Rogers said.

Filling such positions has been a challenge in the past and remains so in the present.

Marianne McKown, outreach and partnership development specialist for Vitality Unlimited, said Vitality is using its ARPA funds to increase staff  including her own position.

We now have dual-licensed counselors that are mental health therapists as well as able to treat addiction for substance abuse, McKown said.

Still, it takes up to two weeks for new patients to get in to see a therapist.

We have a hard time getting clinicians, McKown said, because many dont want to work in rural Nevada.

Ray Smith, director of special services Elko County School District, said schools also have issues finding qualified counselors.

Putnam said the County Board of Health would be researching ways to improve recruitment.

If we dont tackle that one problem, we have all this wonderful infrastructure coming into place but we need the providers to be able to give the services, he said.

Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital was awarded $500,000 from the City for its 2022 behavioral health initiative, but CEO Steve Simpson told the board that more study is needed before the hospital can commit to an in-patient facility.

NNRH opened a Behavioral Health Center on its third floor in May 2011. The 16-bed geropsychiatric unit was designed to treat patients 50 years of age and older for behavioral illnesses such as depression or bipolar disorder. But the program was unsuccessful in recruiting a psychiatrist and ended in 2015.

Simpson said this week that NNRHs parent company, Lifepoint Health, has acquired Kindred Healthcare, which provides in-patient rehab and other behavioral health services throughout the country.

It was determined that we have the capacity to stand up a 16-bed inpatient unit, Simpson said, but more study is needed before proceeding.

He said the hospital is looking forward to working with Nevada Health Centers, Vitality Unlimited and other agencies. We all agree that one thing that will be key for us moving forward with all these services is continuity of care between the organizations.

McKown said Vitality provides comprehensive mental health, addiction, primary care and wraparound services, including for adolescents.

Before COVID happened we had quite an increase in visits for anxiety, depression, stress, PTSD, she said. When COVID hit, there was a decline of 3.4% in patients coming into the facility but also a 144% surge in telehealth services.

Vitality received $1 million from the City, with about $878,000 dedicated to behavioral health and addiction treatment, along with increasing mobile and crisis response. McKown said they will purchase a van to be converted into a mobile therapy office.

Vitality has a crisis line available 24/7, but McKown noted that in July a nationwide program will be launched with a 988 crisis number. Anyone with a mental health issue will be able to reach local help through the number. Vitality has been putting crisis flyers around town to raise awareness of the new hotline.

The facility also has been doing assertive community treatment for people with severe mental illness, including residents of the City of Elkos Humanitarian Camp.

In his report on the school district, Ray Smith said all schools have guidance counselors and seven schools now have social workers.

The district also partners with Communities in Schools to connect students 12 and older to tele-counseling at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Medicine. Younger students have access to tele-therapy in connection with Nevada Health Centers.

While resources are currently stretched thin, Keith Clark of the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine said mental health services have lagged in the past as well.

Weve seen some very sad things, even before COVID hit, he said. Mental health care providers have faced challenges throughout the pandemic.

Some of them have lost their own family to COVID, and then to have to talk to other family members that have lost loved ones is a real struggle for them, Clark said.

After the presentations, Putnam said he sees a bright future for behavioral health services in Elko County, but right now we need that little stopgap of connecting professionals and networking to find short-term solutions.

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Recently, 15 members of the 12th Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent to South Sudan received the Sector Commander's Commendation conferred by the Sector West Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Brigadier General Measho Hagos Seyum for their outstanding achievements and great contributions in recent peacekeeping work.

For a long time, China's Blue Helmets have built a strong defense line to safeguard peace in regions beset by conflict, demonstrating China's sense of responsibility as a major country.

Peace is an aspiration and lofty goal shared by all mankind. UN Peacekeeping, as instrument developed for peace and began in 1948, is aimed at helping countries torn by conflict to create conditions for lasting peace, and has become an important means of safeguarding world peace and security.

Over the past more than 70 years, UN peacekeepers have made selfless devotion and sacrifices in some of the toughest and most dangerous places in the world, while Blue Helmets have become a symbol of peace and hope in war-ravaged lands and Chinese Blue Helmets have grown into a key force in the UN peacekeeping operations (UNPKOs).

In April 1990, China's armed forces dispatched five military observers to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) and embarked on a new voyage as a participant in the UNPKOs. On April 16, 1992, China dispatched its first formed military unit of Blue Helmets to Cambodia for UN peacekeeping mission.

Over the past 30 years or so, China's armed forces have contributed a growing number of peacekeepers across an expanding range of deployments. From a few military observers at the outset of its involvement, China's armed forces are now sending both formed units and military professionals. Chinese military peacekeepers serve on the UN missions in engineer, medical, transport, helicopter, force protection and infantry units, and as staff officers, military observers and seconded officers.

Batches of Chinese military peacekeepers have embarked on one mission after another with courage and fortitude, becoming steadfast guardians of world peace.

Since 1992, China has sent nearly 50,000 peacekeepers to 25 UNPKOs in more than 20 countries and regions, including Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Liberia, Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus, South Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic.

China is the second largest contributor to both peacekeeping assessment and UN membership fees, and the largest troop-contributing country (TCC) among the permanent members of the UN Security Council.

There are many touching stories about how Chinese peacekeeping forces have brought with them peace, security and the light of hope and warmth to people in war-torn areas.

Since 2013, China has dispatched nine peacekeeping units to Mali, where they carried out duties including armed patrols and armed escorts and earned the reputation of "des troupes d'elite" of Sector East of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Over the past 16 years since the deployment of Chinese peacekeeping troops in Lebanon, Chinese peacekeepers successfully completed tasks including engineering construction and maintenance, providing medical services and humanitarian assistance, as well as clearing mines and explosives, during which they created the record of zero casualties for such tasks.

The Chinese medical units in the DRC have run a twinning project in SOS Children's Village Bukavu to offer help for 19 years. Touched by the love and care from the units, children in the village called the female members their Chinese mothers.

In UNMISS, Chinese military peacekeepers have provided agricultural techniques, farming tools and vegetable seeds to local people. They were invited by local middle schools to teach lessons on Chinese culture and language.

Chinese military peacekeepers are not only guardians of peace but also messengers of friendship.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said China's contribution to UNPKOs is "very important".

Peace needs to be fought for and safeguarded. China is a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of international order. And China's armed forces will always be a force of justice safeguarding world peace.

China's Blue Helmets have constantly injected positive energy into world peace and will continue forging ahead courageously and unswervingly to safeguard peace with a strong sense of discipline and responsibility.
Bananas being packed for export at MTV Kizuna Co in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.

(Photo: VNA)

Specifically, the country sets an annual average export growth goal of 8-9 percent between 2021 and 2025 and 5-6 percent in the subsequent five years.

Meanwhile, annual import growth is expected to average 5-6 percent in 2021-30. The growth will be 7-8 percent in 2021-25 and 4-5 percent in the following five years.

Under the strategy, the State expects to achieve a trade balance by 2025 and a sustainable trade surplus by 2030 period.

Manufactured and processed products will account for 88 percent of export turnover by 2025 and 90 percent by 2030 with the proportion of exported medium and high-tech goods reaching about 65 percent by 2025 and 70 percent by 2030.

By 2025, Asia will make up 49-50 percent of the country's total export turnover, 46-47 percent by 2030. It will be followed by the Americas with 32-33 percent by 2025 and 33-34 percent by 2030 and Europe with 16-17 percent by 2025 and 18-19 percent by 2030.

The Government targets increasing the proportion of value-added, high-tech, green, and environmentally friendly products, pursuant to the strategy.

For agro, forestry and fishery goods, the strategy's goal is to increase the proportion of deeply processed products with high economic value; improve their abilities to meet regulations, quality standards, food hygiene and safety, standards of social responsibility and environment; proactively adapt and overcome trade barriers and trade remedies in foreign markets.

In terms of the industrial goods, the top priority will be given to increasing the domestic value of exported goods while reducing dependence on imported raw materials, spare parts and components.

The strategy also emphasises the importance of controlling the export of domestically produced goods, luxury goods, and non-essential products while facilitating the import of modern machinery and equipment, and advanced production lines from countries with developed industries. This will create a premise to improve the productivity, quality and competitiveness of export products and carry out an in-depth restructuring of export goods.

Furthermore, greater efforts will be made in diversifying export markets in order to avoid excessive dependence on one market and ensure a healthy and reasonable bilateral trade balance.

Effectively exploiting opportunities brought by international economic integration commitments in free trade agreements (FTAs) to boost exports to major markets such as the EU, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and ASEAN and deeply penetrating into potential markets like the US, Russia, India, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America are parts of the strategy.

Both imports and exports rose strongly in the first quarter, according to the latest updates of the General Statistics Office.

Total trade stood at 176.35 billion USD, up 14.37 percent year-on-year, with exports rising by 12.9 percent to 88.58 billion USD and imports by 15.9 percent to 87.77 billion USD.

Most key exports achieved high growth, helping the trade balance climb into positive territory.

Major markets like the US, EU, the Republic of Korea, and Japan increased their imports of Vietnamese goods. The US was the largest export market of Vietnam in the first quarter of this year, with a revenue of 25.57 billion USD, up by 15 percent from the same period last year.

Exports to the US reached 11.21 billion USD, up 16.3 percent, ASEAN 8.1 billion USD, up by 19.9 percent, the RoK 6.26 billion USD, up 21 percent and Japan 5.4 billion USD, up 10.6 percent.

Both exports volume and value were up, especially for agricultural produce, crude oil, fertilisers and plastics.

Another 16 products joined the 1 billion USD list, in which five saw exports of more than 5 billion USD.

Experts forecast that the nation's total import-export revenue might hit a record 700 billion USD by the year-end, driven by the enforcement of new-generation FTAs.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade targeted that Vietnam would maintain a trade surplus this year and exports would grow by 6-8 percent to reach around 363 billion USD./.
Photo for illustration. (Source: VNA)



During the period, the market imported 8,900 tons of vegetables from Vietnam, valued at 8.8 million USD, up 3.3% in volume and 27.2% in value. The proportion of imports from Vietnam increased 3.8%.

Meanwhile, imports from the US reached 5,500 tons, valued at 3.8 million USD, down 13.8% in volume and down 2.2% in value.

In the first 3 months, Taiwan (China) imported many types of onions, shallots, leeks and other garlic and onion vegetables, fresh or chilled coded HS0703, representing 12,800 tons, worth 10.5 million USD, down 29.3% in volume and 63.7% in value from the same period last year.

Vietnam is the main supplier of this product to Taiwan (China), followed by Argentina and Australia.

Dried beans, whether or not shelled or broken (HS code 0713) was the second largest vegetable type Taiwan imported in the three months, reaching 9,450 tons, worth 8.6 million USD, up 14% in volume and 48.7% in value over the same period last year. Canada, China and Myanmar are the 3 main markets supplying this product to Taiwan (China)./.
Cambodian Ambassador to Vietnam presented flowers at the event (Photo: TDO)

Speaking at the program, Dr. Nguyen Huy Quang, Vice Chairman of the Union of Friendship Organizations of Vinh Phuc Province, said that 55 years ago, Vietnam and Cambodia officially established diplomatic relations. This is an important event, marking a new historical page in the relationship between the two countries, he said.

According to Mr. Quang, on June 23, 1967, in a telegram sent to Cambodian President Norodom Sihanouk, President Ho Chi Minh stated that the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries is a brilliant expression of close friendship and struggling solidarity. It was a historic event in the relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia, a positive factor in peacekeeping in Indochina and Southeast Asia.

He stressed that Vinh Phuc province always expands friendly relations with all countries in the world so that Vinh Phuc people and people of other countries have the opportunity to understand each other better. Cambodia is one of the countries with which Vinh Phuc province has established a relationship of solidarity and friendship. Recently, Vinh Phuc province has organized many delegation exchange programs and welcomed many Cambodian delegations to visit and work. Especially, Vinh Phuc province has established the Vietnam - Cambodia Friendship Association, which is a bridge for the friendship and solidarity between Vinh Phuc and Cambodia.

The province sent thousands of volunteer veterans and former military and civilian experts who helped the Cambodian revolution. Currently, there are more than 100 Cambodian international students studying in the area, and Vinh Phuc province always pays special attention to consolidating and developing friendly relations with Cambodia.

Over the past year, the Vietnam - Cambodia Friendship Association in Vinh Phuc Province has well implemented peace, solidarity and friendship activities such as sending officials to join the delegation to visit and work with the Central Committee of the Vietnam - Cambodia Friendship Association in Cambodia; mobilizing businesses in the province to contribute to the flood-affected Cambodian people and the poor in Svayreng and Bien Ho with a total amount of VND30 million; and visiting and congratulating Cambodian students at Tang Thiet Giap School on the occasion of the traditional Tet holiday in Cambodia.

Addressing the event, Cambodian Ambassador to Vietnam Chay Navuth expressed deep gratitude to the leaders of Vinh Phuc province for organizing a meaningful meeting to celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Cambodia (June 24, 1967-June 24, 2022).

The ambassador advised Cambodian students to study well and contribute to developing the friendly relationship between the two countries./.
During his working visit to Laos, on April 25, Nguyen Trong Nghia, Secretary of the PCC, and Head of the PCC Commission on Popularization and Education, was received by Lao Party General Secretary and State President Thongloun Sisoulith, Lao National Assembly Chairman Saysomphone Phomvihane, and Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence, General Chansamone Chanyalath.

Nguyen Trong Nghia, Secretary of the PCC and Head of the PCC Commission on Popularization and Education, was received by Lao Party General Secretary and State President Thongloun Sisoulith. (Photo: baoquocte.vn)

Congratulating Laos on the great and comprehensive achievements of historical significance won in more than 35 years of renewal, Nguyen Trong Nghia affirmed that the Party, State and people of Vietnam fully support Laos renewal process, expressing his belief that the Lao people will continue to achieve many new and greater achievements in the renewal process.

Lao leaders showed their deep thanks to Vietnam for the great, timely and effective support and assistance so far, and at the same time expressed their belief that under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Vietnamese people will continue to achieve many new and greater achievements in the renewal process.

Lao leaders suggested the two sides continue to closely coordinate and enhance the exchange of theoretical and practical issues of cooperation in training cadres, especially in the training of successive cadres at all levels of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party; sharing information and experiences in Party building, contributing to implementing the Resolutions of the Congress of each Party; closely coordinating to organize practical, meaningful activities with profound, relevant and pervasive contents to celebrate the Vietnam-Laos Solidarity and Friendship Year in 2022.

The Lao Party General Secretary and President said that he always follows the development situation in Vietnam and believes in the success of Vietnam despite the complicated situation of COVID-19, as well as the complicated situation in the world and the region. He also thanked Vietnam for its close attention and valuable help to Laos in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.

He suggested the two countries strengthen the multi-faceted cooperation, especially improving the efficiency of economic, trade and investment cooperation; attracting large Vietnamese corporations to invest in Laos, for economic cooperation commensurate with political and security cooperation; and boosting cooperation between the two Commissions on Popularization and Education in disseminating the relations of the two countries, in order to educate and raise awareness of the people of the two countries about the relationship of special solidarity between Vietnam and Laos, especially the younger generation.

Lao National Assembly Chairman Saysomphone Phomvihane thanked Vietnam for its aid to Laos for the new National Assembly Building, evaluating it as a historic work with four best features, including "the most modern, the most harmonious with the national identity, the most solid, and the greatest investment value.

He pledged that the country will use and manage the building most effectively to show his appreciation for Vietnam's valuable help; and at the same time, will promote cooperation between the two National Assemblies and coordinate with the National Assembly of Vietnam in multilateral mechanisms.

Leaders of the Lao Party and State said they would direct the relevant departments, ministries and branches of Laos to pay attention to the historical relics and symbols of the relations of the two countries, such as the Western Truong Son relic and the Ho Chi Minh Trail, considering this as a symbol and a living proof of the solidarity between Vietnam and Laos.

According to Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence, General Chansamone Chanyalath, the Lao Ministry of National Defence and Vietnamese authorized agencies are working together to develop a documentary film on the historical relics./.
At the meeting (Photo: congthuong.vn)

The Netherlands is Vietnam's second largest export market in Europe. The Dutch market has always been evaluated as a gateway and one of the transshipment centers for goods entering the European market, helping to connect ports and industrial zones with Europe, a significant part of Vietnam's exports entering the Netherlands to go to other European countries.

According to statistics from the General Department of Customs, in the first three months of 2022, Vietnam exported more than USD2.25 billion to the Netherlands, up 18%; and imported more than USD139.9 million, down 9.8% from the same period in 2021. Total two-way trade turnover reached USD2.39 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15.9%.

In terms of investment, the Netherlands ranks 8th out of 140 countries and territories with direct investment capital in Vietnam. Currently, Dutch enterprises invest in 380 projects, with a total direct investment capital of USD13.55 billion.

Despite many positive results, according to Deputy Minister Dang Hoang An, the bilateral trade relationship between Vietnam and the Netherlands still has a lot of room for development, especially since the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has taken effect.

Affirming that the relationship between the two countries has developed continuously over the past time, Deputy Minister Schuiling expected her visit this time to contribute to further promoting the relationship between the two countries.

Regarding the EVFTA, she emphasized the importance of the agreement and confirmed that there is still plenty of room for businesses of the two countries to strengthen cooperation.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Schuiling also expressed support for Vietnam's green energy transformation program, asserting that the Netherlands is ready to support, share and cooperate with Vietnam in the fields in which the Netherlands has experience.

Deputy Minister Dang Hoang An welcomed the close cooperation between Vietnam and the Netherlands in many fields, including fields in the charge of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, such as trade, green energy transformation, circular economy and logistics.

He affirmed that the Netherlands is an important trade partner of Vietnam and suggested that in the coming time, the two sides should take concrete and more effective cooperation steps in the fields that already have a good cooperation background.

He added he hoped that Ms Schuiling would pay attention to and actively promote activities so that the Dutch Parliament would soon put the ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) on the agenda; and suggested the Netherlands consider asking the EU to soon remove the "IUU yellow card" on Vietnamese seafood.

At the end of the meeting, the two sides agreed to continue to strengthen cooperation and promote specific projects in the fields of trade, logistics, sustainable energy and circular economy in the coming time./.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the European Union (EU) is one of the five largest seafood export markets of Vietnam. For the EU, Vietnam is the second largest seafood supplier in Asia, just behind China. The EUs seafood import demand is very large, reaching over 50 billion USD a year.

Photo for illustration. (Source: VNA)

From August 2020, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) officially took effect and has created many opportunities for Vietnamese seafood exports to the EU market, thanks to several commitments on tax incentives. According to the EVFTA, about 220 tax lines for seafood products have a base tax rate of 0-22 percent. The remaining tax lines will be reduced to zero percent following a roadmap from three to seven years, opening up opportunities for seafood companies to increase their price competitiveness compared to products in other countries.

After the COVID-19 vaccination campaign and the economic stimulus package from the beginning of 2021, significant recovery in seafood demand in the EU market, along with the tariff advantage from EVFTA, offer an opportunity for Vietnam to promote exports of most aquatic products to this market.

Aiming to fully exploit the advantages of the EVFTA and the potential and great demand of the EU, an online conference on seafood trade between Vietnam and EU is being held on April 25 and 26 to support localities, businesses and cooperatives that supply Vietnamese seafood products to strengthen their search for partners, business opportunities and seafood export to the EU market./.
The event was organized by the Vietnamese Embassy in Brazil and the Union of Hotels, Restaurants and Bars (SINDHOBAR), and sponsored by Brasilia Bank, the National Vocational Training Service Center (SENAC), and BAT Brazil tobacco production company.

Some dishes introduced at the event (Photo: baoquocte.vn)

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Jael Antonio Da Silva, President of SINDHOBAR, said that this is the first time the union has coordinated with the Vietnamese Embassy to organize a large-scale food festival across the capital.

The festival was formed from the idea of connecting Vietnamese cuisine and Brazils Federal District to introduce the special dishes of Vietnam to the people of Brazil.

The event promises to bring Asian food lovers new dishes with a variety of flavors and colors by the city's chefs who have learned from experience and from the members of the Vietnamese Embassy and rehearsed at Same Same restaurant.

There are 14 restaurants participating in the festival, including Same Same But Differente, Makisan, Grande Muralha, Capim Dourado, Fred, Taypa, Gran Bier, Sagres, Mayer Sabores do Brasil, Downtown Senac, Capim Dourado, Universal, Osteria Vicenza and Casa Baco.

On this occasion, restaurants will introduce dishes such as spring rolls, fried spring rolls, beef noodle soup, fried noodle, rice with fried chicken, and more, especially, customers can experience dessert with fried banana cake and egg coffee.

Deputy Federal Governor Paco Britto would like to thank the Vietnamese Embassy for the initiative in instructing chefs on how to make unique Vietnamese dishes, and SINDHOBAR for co-organizing the ceremony, thanks to the sponsors for the program and the enthusiastic participation of the restaurants.

He also emphasized that this event will not only connect the culinary culture in particular, but will also bridge the cultures of the two countries in general, promote mutual understanding and further cohere the friendship between Vietnam and Brazil.

Ambassador Pham Thi Kim Hoa affirmed that diners will experience the feeling of excitement when enjoying dishes with their own unique and very new flavors and colors. Through the event, people in the capital will understand more about Vietnamese culinary culture and further love to explore Vietnam.

The festival is also a cultural cooperation activity to mark the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the capital Brasilia (April 21, 1960 - April 21, 2022)./.
The activity aims to mark the 132nd anniversary of President Ho Chi Minhs birthday (May 19, 1890), towards the the 60th anniversary of the Traditional Day of the Peoples Police Force (July 20, 1962).

Major General Nguyen Hong Nguyen offered incense to President Ho Chi Minh. (Photo: cand.com.vn)

At the launch ceremony, Major General Nguyen Hong Nguyen, Deputy Chairman of the Central Public Security Party Committees Inspection Commission, emphasized that in response President Ho Chi Minhs call and the program to plant one billion trees for a green Vietnam in 2021 - 2025, over the past time, the police forces nationwide have planted millions of trees every year, contributing to creating a green, clean and beautiful landscape public places.

He requested Party committees and commanders of units to further popularize, educate and raise awareness for officers and soldiers about the role, great significance and human values of the implementation of Uncle Ho's teachings on tree planting, afforestation, forest protection, and ecological environment protection.

On this occasion, the delegation also visited and donated laptops to Ea Tul Secondary School and gave 20 gifts to 20 students of ethnic minorities who overcame difficulties at Nguyen Cong Tru Primary School, Phan Chu Trinh Primary School and Ea Tul Secondary School in Cu M'gar District, Dak Lak province, with a total value of more than 30 million VND.

The gifts contribute to easing difficulties for teachers and students, promoting the movement to overcome difficulties in life./.
Poland's Ministry of the Interior has imposed sanctions against Russian gas companies Gazprom and Novatek, as well as the latter's Krakow-based subsidiary Novatek Green Energy Sp. z o.o., the ministry said.

The sanctions against Novatek call for the freezing of assets and the exclusion of its Krakow subsidiary from government procurements.

The sanctions against Gazprom, which owns a 48% stake in STG EuRoPol GAZ SA, a Polish company that is a co-owner of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, call for freezing rights to shares and other securities, as well as dividends.
The Ministry of Health has called on foreign pharmaceutical companies to stop supplying their drugs to Russia, which have analogues of Russian production, First Deputy Minister of Health Oleksandr Komarida said.

He explained that the Ministry of Health has analyzed the range of medicines of the vast majority of international pharmaceutical companies that supply their products to the Russian Federation, compared it with the range of medicines that are produced in Russia itself and appealed to foreign manufacturers of medicines registered in the territory of the Russian Federation with a request to stop the supply of analogue medicines to the territory of the aggressor country.

"Such actions will make it possible to reduce revenues from the sale of medicines in the Russian Federation, and, accordingly, revenues to the state budget of the Russian Federation, and hence the possible amount of funding for the war in Ukraine," he told Interfax-Ukraine.

Komarida also said that the Ministry of Health, together with the National Security and Defense Council and people's deputies, are working on another important legislative initiative.

The matter concerns amendments to the law on medicines, which provide for the possibility of refusing state registration of a medicinal product or canceling such registration due to a reduction in the validity period of a registration certificate for a medicinal product.

Refusal or cancellation of registration will occur in the event that, based on the results of the examination and/or consideration of the registration materials added to the application for state registration, re-registration of the medicinal product or amendments to the registration materials for the medicinal product, it is found that one, several or all the stages of production of the medicinal product are carried out by enterprises whose production facilities are located on the territory of the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus.

At the same time, according to Komarida, the state registration in Ukraine of medicines (all or selectively determined by the Ministry of Health) of the applicant can be temporarily canceled (the registration certificate is terminated) if it is established that this applicant or his representative is directly or indirectly associated with business entities, which are directly or indirectly involved in the production of medicines on the territory of the aggressor state (the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus).
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the launch of a new payment program for internally displaced persons (IDPs) under the auspices of the Mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS), Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

"The government, with the participation of the Mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, will launch a new payment program for internally displaced persons. We made a decision at a government meeting," Shmyhal wrote on the Telegram channel.

It is noted that financial assistance under the program will amount to UAH 2,500 per person. And it will be paid based on the available data of the information base of the displaced persons.

"That is, no applications will need to be submitted to receive payments. We expect that about 1 million people will receive payments. Preference will be given to IDPs from the occupied territories and war zones," the prime minister added.

As reported, the ICRC will form a budget of up to UAH 1.9 billion (CHF 59 million), and the Ukrainian Red Cross Society  a budget of up to UAH 500 million (CHF 15.6 million) to provide financial assistance to the displaced and socially vulnerable persons living in areas affected by hostilities. Financial assistance will amount to UAH 2,500 (about CHF 80) per person per month for at least one month.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will establish a working group to coordinate assistance and support for personnel ensuring the safety of Ukraine's nuclear facilities, agency's director general Rafael Mariano Grossi has said.

"IAEA to set up a working group to coordinate assistance and support staff who are working hard to keep Ukraine nuclear sites safe and secure," he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday during a visit to the Chornobyl nuclear power plant on the 36th anniversary of its accident.

According to a video recording of his communication with journalists, also posted on Twitter, the IAEA mission that arrived at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant intends to carry out the planned work in close cooperation with Ukrainian specialists and authorities.

"I came with some colleagues, nuclear security experts who worked with Ukrainian security colleagues. We are going to compare our performance, we are going to monitor not only the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, but also the entire exclusion zone. And, of course, we will coordinate our work with the Ukrainian authorities," Grossi said.

He noted that there is a lot of work to be done in the exclusion zone after its occupation, including the need to carry out repairs in order to connect the agency's monitoring system.

According to Grossi, this is not only a symbolic visit, but also a working one, during which a lot of necessary nuclear safety equipment was delivered to the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

"We are going to continue to provide our assistance," Grossi said.
The Moldovan government's Bureau for Reintegration has expressed concern over the explosions that occurred in Tiraspol, the capital of the self-proclaimed Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic, on Monday.

"The information available indicates that unknown persons fired grenade launchers on the headquarters of the institution in charge of security issues in the region. According to preliminary reports, no one was killed or injured. The Bureau for Reintegration is concerned about the incident that occurred in Tiraspol," the bureau's press service said in a statement.

The Bureau for Reintegration "calls on people remain calm," adding that "it is following the situation together with the relevant national agencies."

"The goal of today's incident is to create pretexts for an escalation of the security situation in the Transdniestrian region, which is not controlled by the constitutional authorities," it said.
Over the past day, rescuers of Kharkiv garrison of the State Emergency Service made 26 operational trips, 23 of which were to eliminate fires, including 14 fires caused by shelling.

"Rescuers went to put out fires in multi-storey and private houses, garages and cars. Fires occurred in Kyiv (3) district of Kharkiv, as well as Kharkiv (9), Chuhuiv (1) and Bohodukhiv (1) districts of the region," the press service of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service in Kharkiv region reports.

In addition, rescuers went out nine times to extinguish fires in ecosystems, the private sector and at facilities that arose for reasons not related to shelling, three times - to help the population and eliminate the consequences of an accident.

During the day, the pyrotechnic units of the State Emergency Service made 61 trips to neutralize ammunition and other explosive objects.
As a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, 217 children were killed, 391 children were injured, the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office reports.

"More than 608 children suffered in Ukraine as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. According to official data, 217 children were killed and more than 391 were injured. Children suffered the most in Donetsk region - 127, Kyiv region - 114, Kharkiv region - 93, Chernihiv region - 66, Kherson region - 44, Mykolaiv region - 43, Luhansk region - 37, Zaporizhia region - 27, Sumy region - 17, in Kyiv - 16, Zhytomyr region - 15," the message published on the telegram channel on Tuesday says.

It is noted that these figures are not final, since work is underway to establish them in places of active hostilities, in temporarily occupied and liberated territories.

On April 25, as a result of the shelling of residential buildings by Russian invaders in the city of Lyman, Donetsk region, two children, aged nine and 13, died from the injuries.

As a result of daily bombardments and shelling of Ukrainian cities and villages, 1,508 educational institutions were damaged by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. At the same time, 102 of them were completely destroyed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said every Ukrainian must fight for Russia to seek peace and an end to war.

According to the head of state, every Ukrainian is concerned about when peace will come and what might be a victory for Ukraine.

"There is and at the same time there is no simple answer to this question. When we gain a victory, everyone will feel it. When peace comes, everyone will see it. But for this to happen - and happen faster - we need to think not about when and what it will be. We must think every day about how to make the stay of the occupiers on our land even more unbearable, " Zelensky said in his traditional video address on Monday.

He added that Ukraine is ready for peace. At the same time, Ukrainians must fight for it.

"It was ready even when the war was going on in Donbas. It is ready even now, when the Russian invasion has become full-scale. But for Russia to seek peace, every Ukrainian must still fight. They must defend freedom. Because every day of struggle now adds years of peaceful life after this war. After our victory," the president noted.
Enemy tries to establish full control over Donetsk, Luhansk regions, establish corridor between territories, occupied Crimea - General Staff

The aggressor continues offensive operations in order to establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and ensure a land corridor between the territories and the occupied Crimea, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports on Facebook.

On Volyn, Polissia and Seversk directions, the enemy did not carry out offensive movements.

In Slobozhansky direction, the enemy partially blockaded the city of Kharkiv and fired at units of Ukrainian troops and critical infrastructure facilities. The occupiers are trying to advance in the direction of Zavody settlement. Fighting continues.

In Donetsk and Tavriiske directions, the occupiers exert fire influence on the positions of Ukrainian troops using mortars, cannon artillery, and multiple launch rocket systems along the entire line of collision.

In Severodonetsk direction, hostilities are underway in the area of Rubizhne.

On Popasna direction, the enemy is trying to take possession of Popasna, military operations are being carried out.

In Avdiyivka direction, the aggressor is trying to conduct offensive operations, but has no success.

In Kurakhove direction, the enemy launched an offensive in the direction of Novomykhailivka and Maryiynka, but failed.

In Zaporizhia direction, the enemy continues fighting and offensive military operations in the direction of Trudoliubivka.

The aggressor continues to exert a massive fire impact and blocks Ukrainian units in the area of Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

In Pivdenny Buh direction, the enemy makes single shelling of Ukrainian units, reconnaissance activity was recorded in the area of administrative border of Mykolaiv region.

"In the area of Velyka Oleksandrivka, Kherson region, the defenders of Ukraine destroyed a warehouse with ammunition and a large number of enemy personnel (more than 70 people were killed). The exact number of dead is being specified. Also, the occupier's units suffered losses in personnel in the area of the settlements of Novodmytrivka and Bilousove," the General Staff reported.
On Monday, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace promised that London would make efforts to provide Ukraine with long-range artillery and anti-ship missiles.

"Ukraine needs more long-range artillery and ammunition, and both Russian and NATO calibre types to accompany them. It also seeks anti-ship missiles to counter Russian ships that are able to bombard Ukrainian cities. It is therefore important to say that, if possible, the UK will seek to enable or supply such weapons," Wallace said in an address to the House of Commons of the British Parliament.

"The MOD is working day and night, alongside the US, Canada and the EU, to support continued logistical supplies, but not all the aid is lethal," he noted in his speech posted on the Downing Street website.

Wallace also said that London proposes to place Challenger 2 tanks in Poland on a temporary basis to replace the equipment transferred by Warsaw to Ukraine.

The minister recalled that Britain had already supplied Ukraine with over 5,000 anti-tank missiles, five anti-aircraft guns with more than 100 missiles, as well as 4.5 tonnes of plastic explosives.

Earlier, the Daily Express newspaper reported with reference to sources that the British authorities will send to Ukraine 20 self-propelled artillery systems AS-90 and 45,000 shells for them.

In addition, the newspaper recalled that the USA had earlier decided to send Ukraine 72 towed howitzers and 144,000 shells. France, in turn, will transfer 40 self-propelled CAESAR artillery systems to Kyiv.
Russian invaders attacked Zaporizhia, the regional state administration reports, all the circumstances are being investigated.

"Zaporizhia! In the morning, at 6:50, 'arrivals' were recorded. The circumstances are being clarified. Details later," the message posted on Facebook said on Tuesday morning.

Later, a message on the Telegram channel of National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom appeared, that the regional center was fired upon by cruise missiles that flew over the city of Energodar, Zaporizhia region, captured by the invaders on the night of March 4.

"Today, at 6:41 and 6:46, two cruise missiles of the enemy flew at low altitude over the site of Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the direction of Zaporizhia. Subsequently, explosions from Russian cruise missiles were recorded in Zaporizhia," the report says.

According to head of Energoatom Petro Kotin, the flight of missiles at low altitude directly over the nuclear power plant site, where seven nuclear facilities are located, creates huge risks. "Missiles can hit one or more nuclear installations, which threatens the whole world with a nuclear and radiation catastrophe," he said.
The German company Rheinmetall applied to the German Federal Government with another application for the export of 88 tanks Type 1A5 Leopard to Ukraine, the Welt newspaper reported, citing documents provided by the manufacturer.

According to the edition, the application was submitted at the end of last week. Delivery could take place in a few weeks if German Chancellor Olaf Scholz decides.

In addition, earlier bids from Rheinmetall for 100 Marder armored personnel carriers and from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann Group for 100 PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers were sent for approval.

It is noted that the decision on deliveries is approved by the Federal Security Council, which is headed by the chancellor. So far, Scholz has not agreed to direct deliveries of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

The cost of used Leopard 1A5 tanks, which can be delivered to Ukraine, is about EUR 115 million. Together with Marder BMPs and self-propelled howitzers, the amount of heavy weaponry aid to Ukraine could amount to more than EUR 2 billion.
Kuleba calls on UN Secretary General to put pressure on Russia to carry out evacuation from Mariupol

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who will visit Moscow on Tuesday, to put pressure on Russia to evacuate besieged Mariupol, AP reports.

"[Guterres] should focus primarily on one issue: the evacuation of Mariupol... This is really what the UN is capable of. And if he demonstrates political will, character and integrity, I hope this will allow us to take one more step forward," Kuleba said in an interview with AP on Monday.

At the same time, the minister noted that he was concerned that the UN Secretary General, visiting Moscow on Tuesday before his trip to Kyiv, could fall into the Kremlin's "trap" in the war.

"Many other foreign officials were trapped visiting Moscow and played around just to show the supremacy of Russian diplomacy and how great they are and how they dictate the world how to behave," Kuleba said.
[April 26, 2022] Top Talent Migration to Dialpad Continues With New Additions From Contact Center and Communications Industry Dialpad, Inc., the industry leader in AI-powered communication and collaboration, expands its cloud communications expertise with the additions of John Finch as Senior Vice President, Solutions, Customer, and Product Marketing, Homero Salinas as Senior Vice President, Global Commercial Sales, and Sangeeta Walsh as Vice President, Partnerships and App Ecosystem. This trio of industry leaders brings nearly 50 years of combined experience within the contact center, business communications, and mobile communications industries to further establish Dialpad as the one platform for a truly unified Communications as a Service (TrueCaaS) experience. John Finch returns to Dialpad after a five years away leading Zendesk's enterprise product marketing and RingCentral's strategy and execution of global customer service marketing. Prior to his first stint leading product marketing at Dialpad (2015-2017), Finch served in product marketing leadership roles at Serenova (LiveOps) and Genesys - launching leading enterprise cloud-based contact center solutions into the market. In his new role, Finch will lead product marketing, vertical solutions, customer marketing, and analyst relations as Dialpad scales and expands its global reach. Homero Salinas joins Dialpad to lead the global expansion of its commercial sales department beyond its current customer base of 25,000 brands and millions of individual users in more than 70 countries. Salinas has built a distinguished career within the contact center and business communications industry through a strong track record of success. Over 15 years at Five9, Salinas advanced from director to senior vice president within the sales organization. During his Five9 tenure, Salinas' responsibilities included regional, national and global accounts for small-to-midsize businesses to the commercial and enterprise level. In addition to direct sales and team management, Salinas oversaw Five9's sales and performance. Prior to joining Dialpad, Salinas spent more than three years at unified communications provider, 8x8, where he led the global commercial sales department. Sangeeta Walsh brings nearly 20 years of experience in mobile and cloud partnerships, marketing, and platform technology integrations to her leadership role with Dialpad. Walsh led product operations, product marketing, and strategic partnership teams at startup and Fortune 500 companies including Motorola and Nokia. Most recently at RingCentral, Walsh's work led to an 80% growth of integrated app adoption and contributed to significant revenue growth through increased app gallery engagement, worldwide go-to-market activities, and award-winning developer products. At Dialpad Walsh will lead the company's go-to-market strategy for its independent software vendor (ISV) partners and developers to maximize value and expand the Dialpad footprint worldwide.

"We are thrilled to welcome John Finch, Homero Salinas, and Sangeeta Walsh to leadership roles at Dialpad as we prepare for our next period of hypergrowth. I am humbled that these industry experts recognize the massive opportunity Dialpad is facing and that we are poised to succeed," said Craig Walker, founder and CEO of Dialpad. "These incredible hires validate the momentum Dialpad continues to show and we are honored to welcome major talent from worthy competitors. The addition of John, Homero, and Sangeeta strengthens our leadership staff and will contribute significantly to Dialpad's bright future." Dialpad ushers in a new wave of readiness for its next phase of evolution with the addition of Finch, Salinas, and Walsh to the leadership team. Alongside high-profile executive moves over the past 12 months, including Chief Marketing Officer, Morgan Norman, who returned to Dialpad from RingCentral in 2021 and the addition of successful and influential sales leaders, Dialpad is well-positioned for rapid acceleration as more companies unify business communications on a single TrueCaaS platform for cloud-based voice, video conferencing, and contact center solutions designed for the mobile and modern workforce. Additional Resources Learn how the industry's only truly unified communications platform improves both the user and customer experience

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On February 24, 2022, the international community was once again convinced that the totalitarian regimes that were the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation pose a threat to the nuclear safety of the world, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine said in a commentary on the 36th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.

"The Russian armed forces carried out a cynical and brutal military invasion, followed by the seizure of the territory of the exclusion zone and the industrial site of Chornobyl nuclear power plant. The capture of Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the occupation of Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest one in Europe, once again put the world under the threat of a nuclear catastrophe. This danger is still real because of disordered rocket attacks and bombings resorted to by the aggressor country on the territory of Ukraine," the commentary emphasizes.

The Foreign Ministry stressed that the amount of damage inflicted by Russian troops at the Chornobyl NPP site should be properly determined, and those responsible should be held accountable.

"The international community could clearly see who is working to improve the level of nuclear security in Europe and the world, and who is irresponsibly leveling all these efforts. Ukraine, in spite of everything, is ready to achieve further success jointly with international partners in overcoming the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster and prevention of new nuclear catastrophes," the foreign ministry said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law on simplifying the provision of social services in crisis situations and financing such services for internally displaced persons, Deputy Head of the President's Office Yulia Sokolovska said.

"Today, the President of Ukraine signed a law that simplifies the provision of social services in crisis situations and provides for the financing of such services for internally displaced persons at the expense of the state budget, international assistance and other sources. Thus, in the near future, the government and I will present modern mechanisms to support citizens that require care," Sokolovska said at a briefing on Tuesday posted on the Telegram channel of the President's Office.

According to her, a number of UN agencies and government organizations have already joined the social payments to IDPs.

"According to the results of negotiations that I held together with the government, three UN agencies have already joined the state programs of social payments to internally displaced persons or provided assistance to families with children. What does this mean in practice? At the moment, about $300 million will be directed to cash assistance for those in need, and this amount will increase. Similar payments are planned or are already being made in the east of the country by non-governmental Ukrainian and foreign organizations," the Deputy Head of the President's Office said.

According to Sokolovska, UN agencies are currently purchasing medicines, medical products and kits, blankets, generators, equipment, water and food and donating them to Ukrainian hospitals and military administrations.

"Evacuation assistance is also provided, including for people with disabilities or people in need of care. Together with the World Health Organization, rehabilitation centers are being created for people who have received injuries, burns or lost limbs, and a network of providing psychological assistance is being developed," she said.
Erdogan again invites Putin to hold talks with Zelensky in Istanbul

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, reiterated his proposal to raise talks in Istanbul to the level of leaders, the Turkish presidential administration reported.

"President Erdogan reiterated his proposal to elevate the Istanbul process, an important step for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, to the level of leaders," the Turkish presidential administration said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.

Drawing attention to the importance of a ceasefire, effective humanitarian corridors and safe evacuations, Erdogan said Turkey would continue to make every effort to end the current state of affairs, which is damaging to everyone, and to establish a lasting peace.

"President Erdogan noted that a continuation of the positive momentum achieved at the Istanbul talks in order to pave the way for peace would benefit everyone," the message reads.
Head of the National Police of Ukraine Ihor Klymenko reports that during the war 1,200 people were found guilty of looting, a total of 5,500 criminal cases on property crimes are being investigated.

"The Russian military, who are glorified in Russia, has shown itself to be the most common thieves. At the end of March, four occupiers broke into the house of local residents in Sumy region. At gunpoint, the tied-up hosts told them where they kept their money. The occupiers took more than $150,000 from the people. Luckily, the victims survived," Klymenko wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

According to him, the occupiers took cars from Ukrainians en masse. "Often even with vital humanitarian aid, which people in occupied cities were waiting for. They shamelessly stole the property of Ukrainian entrepreneurs. Only from one gas station in Poltava region the occupants stole more than 140,000 liters of fuel," said the head of the National Police.

He stressed that several hundred crimes of this kind have been recorded. "And these are only those that are now known with certainty... All crimes by enemies, including property crimes, the police continue to document thoroughly," Klymenko pointed out.

He expressed regret that Ukrainians, mostly citizens with criminal records, also took advantage of the war for profit.
The enemy launched a missile attack on Odesa region, damaged the bridge across the Dniester estuary, information about the victims is being specified, Odesa City Council said.

"A missile strike was carried out in Odesa region. There is a defeat of the bridge across the Dniester estuary. The circumstances and information about the victims are being specified," the city council said in the Telegram channel.

The bridge has been closed for safety reasons.

"We ask drivers to choose alternative routes in advance," the council said.
In the first 17 days of April, almost 600,000 people became internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine, bringing the total number of IDPs since the start of the war to over 7.7 million or 17% of the population, according to a report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), released on Tuesday.

The number of displaced people increased by 8% compared to April 1 and by 19% compared to March 16.

At the same time, as of April 17, some 4.9 million Ukrainians went abroad, and 1.3 million are actively discussing leaving their places of residence due to the war. Of the remaining 38%, they say that they see no obstacles to leaving, 9% say that it is dangerous to travel, 9% that they do not have money for this, 6% do not want to leave family members alone, and 1% cannot leave because of problems with health or disability.

Most internally displaced persons are from Kharkiv region (21%), Kyiv city (19%), Kyiv (18%), Donetsk (15%), and Luhansk (5%) regions. At the same time, as for macro-regions, the relative majority of migrants are from the east of the country (45%).

Dnipropetrovsk (11%), Kyiv (10%), Lviv (9%), Vinnytsia and Poltava (7%) regions received the most internal migrants. At the same time, as for macro-regions, the relative majority of migrants went to the west of the country (37%).

At the same time, 2.8 million Ukrainians who left their homes since the beginning of the war have already returned to their places of permanent residence, 31% of them  in the northern regions, 20%  in Kyiv, 15%  in the western regions, 12% each  in the eastern and southern regions, and 9%  in the central ones. Some 73% of returnees do not intend to leave their place of residence in the future.

A study conducted from April 11 to April 17 shows that at least 60% of the displaced population are women. Some 61% of displaced persons said that the war separated them from their loved ones.

Since the start of the war, more than half of the IDPs  mostly in eastern Ukraine  have reported shortages of some food items; 28% of families with children under five have problems providing their children with food, compared to 25% in the April 1 report. The most urgent needs of the displaced population include financial support, as well as medicines and medical services.

Some 15% of the displaced population plans to return to their homes within the next two weeks, mostly residents of Kyiv and the north of the country. At the same time, 8% of the population of Ukraine report that their houses have been damaged as a result of the war.

IOM has identified the cash aid program as one of the most effective ways to support people both in Ukraine and in other countries. Preparations are ongoing for the expansion of this program in close coordination with other UN agencies, the government of Ukraine and local authorities.

Since the beginning of the war, at least 150,000 people have received direct assistance from IOM in Ukraine, including food, non-food and hygiene items, funds, psychological and psychosocial support.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has discussed the prospects for post-war cooperation with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Ukraine sees Japan as an important member of the anti-war coalition and future security agreements.

"Continued dialogue with PM Kishida. Informed about heroic resistance to Russian aggression. Thanked Japan for the important support. Discussed prospects of post-war cooperation. We see Japan as an important participant in the anti-war coalition & future security agreements of Ukraine," Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
A new batch of humanitarian aid with essential goods from Poland has been delivered to Kharkiv region, Head of the regional military administration Oleh Sinehubov has said.

"We received 30 wagons of essential goods from InPost Group. These are food, medicine, sleeping bags and blankets, and many other necessary things. We are especially grateful for the prompt response to our request and detailed accounting of needs," Synehubov said in his Telegram channel.
Ukraine strongly supports the territorial integrity of Moldova within its internationally recognized borders and condemns attempts to drag Transnistria into a full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine, Spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Oleh Nikolenko has said.

"Ukraine strongly supports Moldova's territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. We condemn attempts to drag Moldova's Transnistria region into Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. We call for an immediate de-escalation of tensions," Nikolenko said on his Twitter.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said a wave of reports on April 21 to April 26 about the mining of educational institutions, an attack on the building of the so-called "Ministries of State Security," the destruction of two radio towers in Grigoriopol region and explosions at the airfield in Tyraspol coincided with the statements of the Russian military command about their intention to seize the entire south of Ukraine and establish a land corridor with Transnistrian region of Moldova.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine continues to closely monitor the further development of events. The Armed Forces of Ukraine reliably protect our state and are ready to destroy any further insidious plans of the aggressor on Ukrainian territory, including in Pivdennobuzk direction," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
The medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the Ministry of Health and Ukrzaliznytsia have launched a new evacuation medical train to evacuate the injured and the wounded to Lviv region.

As reported on the website of the Ministry of Health, the mini-hospital train includes several cars, including an intensive care car.

According to the Ministry of Health, in total, MSF has already transported almost 300 patients, along with their families, by special medical trains from the war zones to safe areas, and they continue to do so.

The Ministry of Health said that to continue the evacuation project, MSF is increasing its staffing and looking for Ukrainian specialists who can join the work of the evacuation train team when transporting patients.

In particular, there is currently a need for critical care nurses who can easily adapt to work in new conditions and are ready to work in different regions. It is desirable that candidates have experience in trauma care, post-orthopedic care, and/or working knowledge of intensive care.

MSF is an independent international humanitarian organization that unites people who seek to support others in crisis situations and provides assistance in more than 60 countries around the world.

Currently, the MSF team in Ukraine has about 120 international and more than 200 Ukrainian employees. They continue to provide medical assistance to all victims of the war waged by Russia against Ukraine.
AFP: The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said there is a real threat of a third world war breaking out following his countrys invasion of Ukraine. Does China share Mr. Lavrovs view on that? And what preparations is China taking in case the scope of the war grows larger?

Wang Wenbin: No one wants to see the outbreak of a third world war. We hope that relevant parties can keep cool-headed and exercise restraint, prevent escalation of tension, realize peace as soon as possible and avoid inflicting a heavier price on Europe and the world. Under the current circumstances, all parties should, first and foremost, support dialogue and negotiation to prevent the expansion and prolongation of conflicts. At the same time, we should reflect on why Europe has got caught up in another geopolitical conflict more than 30 years after the end of the Cold War, on how to build a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture, and on how to strengthen the global security governance system.

Hubei Media Group: According to US media, a surge of mass shootings in recent days that caused many casualties has served as a reminder of how little the US government has done in fulfilling the commitment of gun control. What is your comment?

Wang Wenbin: I have noted that some US media commented that gun violence is a pandemic of the US society that leaves the American people in despair. With 4.2% of the worlds population, the US has 46% of the world's civilian-owned guns, or 393 million. In 2020, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the US, up by 43% compared to 2010. The Gun Violence Archive website shows that 13,115 people have died in gun violence-related incidents in the US this year by April 22. Guns overtook car accidents as the top killer of US children and teenagers in 2020, according to a research from the University of Michigan. Up to 75% of American youth report mass shootings as a significant source of stress.

The gunshots shattered the American dream that all men are endowed with the unalienable rights to life and liberty, and lead people to reflect on the US-style human rights. Do US-style human rights mean everyone has the right to pull out a gun and fire at others at will? Are arbitrary killings that plunge the people into horror and despair also part of the US-style human rights?

The US media report you cited highlights the inaction of the US government in fulfilling its gun control commitment. I also noticed that some media reported long ago that there is a sophisticated industrial chain and interconnected interests behind the gun proliferation in the US. Pro-gun interest groups provide generous political donations for elections and manipulate policies by influencing politicians through lobbying activities. This is why various US administrations failed to honor their gun control commitment and many gun control bills eventually fell apart.

The right to life is the biggest human right. Some US politicians have long treated the American peoples right to life with indifference and turned a blind eye to gun proliferation and rampant gun violence in the US, but at the same time pointed fingers at the human rights condition in other countries. How ridiculous! What the US should do is earnestly face up to and address the serious flaws in its system and human rights issues so that the American people can truly live free from the fear of gun violence.

Reuters: Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reached a deal to buy Twitter. Its been suggested that China could exercise leverage over Tesla given Teslas manufacturing presence here in order to influence the content on Twitter, including its ban on advertising by Chinese state media such as Xinhua. Does the Chinese government have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: I can tell you are very good at speculating, but without any basis.

CCTV: According to reports, a statement by 14 UN independent rights experts on April 25 blamed the US government for making life worse for Afghan women by blocking billions of dollars of assets of the Afghan central bank. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: The US invasion of Afghanistan that lasted for two decades has killed more than 174,000 people in the country, including over 30,000 civilians. Nearly one third of Afghans have become refugees and more than half Afghans face extreme hunger, causing rare humanitarian disasters. The US has shattered a country and a generation, then walked away, and now even takes the last reserves of Afghan peoples life-saving money as its own. This fully exposes the barbaric and brutal nature of the US so-called rules-based international order.

The US has no right to talk about democracy or human rights whatsoever. What it should do is immediately stop the illegal freezing of Afghanistans central bank assets, offer apology and compensations for the lost two decades of the Afghan people and hold accountable those who perpetrated atrocities against the Afghan people.

AFP: The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country would strengthen its nuclear weapons capabilities at the fastest pace. Is China in close communication with Mr. Kims government? Are you urging the North Koreans to stop nuclear provocations and nuclear tests? Whats Chinas position on statements like Mr. Kims recently?

Wang Wenbin: China is committed to maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, realizing denuclearization of the Peninsula and resolving issues through dialogue and consultation. Based on the above-mentioned position, we will continue to strengthen communication and coordination with relevant parties and work together for the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue.

TASS: According to Australian media reports, Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said it is very likely that a regional conflict will break out in the near future and Australia should now prepare for war. According to reports, he also said that Chinas ambition is growing. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: Certain Australian politicians often seek selfish political gains by making wild remarks to smear China and clamor for war. Such despicable moves are seen through by the Chinese people and the international community.

Reuters: On Twitter again, whats the Chinese governments comment on Elon Musk purchasing Twitter?

Wang Wenbin: I just responded to your interpretation.

The Paper: On April 25, President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the International Forum on the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Artemisinin and on Building a Global Community of Health for All held in Beijing. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the forum and delivered a speech. Can you share more details on that?

Wang Wenbin: The forum, with the theme of Strengthening international development cooperation on fighting malaria by artemisinin, jointly building a global community of health for all, was co-hosted by the China International Development Cooperation Agency, the National Health Commission, and the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Fifty years ago, Chinese scientists represented by Tu Youyou first discovered and successfully extracted artemisinin by unremitting efforts, creating a new method of malaria treatment and significantly reducing the fatality rate of malaria patients. Artemisinin embodies a success story of mankind's arduous struggle to defeat diseases. It is also Chinas successful practice in committing itself to the building of a community of health for all, strengthening solidarity with fellow developing countries and benefiting the world with its own development. Since its discovery, artemisinin has helped China successfully eliminate malaria within its borders. In the meantime, China also extended a helping hand to the world by launching large-scale international anti-malaria assistance with artemisinin at the core. By the end of 2021, China had provided billions of doses of artemisinin medicines, trained tens of thousands of anti-malaria professionals for developing countries, assisted in the construction of malaria prevention and treatment centers for 30 countries, and sent 28,000 medical team members to 72 developing countries for malaria prevention and treatment by widely using artemisinin drugs and therapies. Artemisinin has become a shiny poster for Chinas small yet smart assistance programs in other countries.

China has been proactively promoting the use of artemisinin, which has saved millions of lives in the world, especially in developing countries, and has made important contribution to the global prevention and treatment of malaria and the protection of human health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in sub-Saharan Africa alone, about 240 million people have benefited from artemisinin-based combination therapies. From Asia to Africa, and from Europe to America, countless lives have been saved and innumerable families have been taken good care of thanks to artemisinin.

At present, malaria is still threatening the health of people in many countries, and COVID-19 remains the biggest challenge facing the international community. China calls on all countries in the world to put aside their differences and get united so as to make unremitting efforts to eliminate major infectious diseases such as malaria, defeat the COVID-19 pandemic globally, and improve the international health governance system. China stands ready to work with the international community to have closer exchange and cooperation in public health, join hands in responding to global threats and challenges, work to build a global community of health for all, and make greater contribution to protecting the health of people of all countries.

AFP: The US State Department put out a statement yesterday urging China to disclose the whereabouts and the well-being of the so-called reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. Do you have any comment on that statement by the United States?

Wang Wenbin: We firmly oppose the US sides interference in Chinas internal affairs on Tibet-related issues under the pretext of religious freedom. The Chinese government pursues policies of freedom of religious belief, including respecting and protecting the reincarnation of Living Buddhas, an institution of succession in Tibetan Buddhism. For the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Erdeni and other grand Living Buddhas, a complete set of methods and procedures have been established over the centuries, and the religious rituals and historical conventions as well as the Chinese laws need to be complied with in this process.

The 14th Dalai Lama is an anti-China separatist under the cloak of religion. Twenty-seven years ago, when he was abroad, he took the liberty of declaring a child as the reincarnation of the Panchen Erdeni in order to carry out anti-China separatist political hype to the detriment of religious rituals and in disregard of historical conventions. This is illegal and invalid. The so-called reincarnated spiritual child is just an ordinary Chinese citizen living a normal life. He and his family do not want their normal life to be disturbed by others. The US side should fully understand and respect their wishes, rather than taking the opportunity to engage in political manipulations and attack and discredit China.

If the US really cares about human rights and religious freedom, why did it carry out systematic ethnic cleansing against American Indians in an all-round way, which leads to their cultural genocide? The US side should give a convincing explanation.

Reuters: Since Tesla runs some factories and does business in China, will China consider allowing Twitter in China as Elon Musk has purchased it?

Wang Wenbin: That's a lot of guesswork without any factual basis.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the U.S.-initiated Ukraine's Defense Consultative Group will develop a framework to continue working together to help Ukraine not only win the war Russia is waging against it, but its completion.

Austin, who is chairing the meeting, made this known to the present heads of the defense departments of more than forty countries. The meeting was held with the participation of Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov at the U.S. air base in Germany on Tuesday.

"I know we are all determined to do everything that we can to meet Ukraine's needs as the fight evolves. And that includes talking today about a framework for continuing to work together and look ahead. We have much more to do. Ukraine needs our help to win today. And they will still need our help when the war is over," the U.S. Secretary of Defense said.

He cited U.S. President Joe Biden that security assistance is being sent directly to "the frontlines of freedom  to the fearless and skilled Ukrainian fighters who are standing in the breach." "My Ukrainian friends: we know the burden that all of you carry. And you should know that all of us have your back. And that is why we are here today  to help strengthen the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy," Austin said.

The head of the U.S. Defense Department said that since Russia's invasion on February 24, "more than 30 of our Allies and partners from across the globe have joined the United States to rush security assistance to Ukraine." "Together, we have committed more than $5 billion of equipment to support Ukraine's self-defense. That includes some $3.7 billion that President Biden has committed to help Ukraine since Russia's invasion began," he said.

Austin believes that Ukraine "has done a magnificent job defending its sovereignty against Russia's unprovoked invasion. And Ukraine's valor and skill will go down in military history." " Your resistance has brought inspiration to the free world, even greater resolve to NATO, and glory to Ukraine. We have provided our assistance at record speed. And the whole world can see the difference that is making on the battlefield. Putin never imagined that the world would rally behind Ukraine so swiftly and surely. After Russia's defeat at the Battle of Kyiv, the war is now entering a new phase. But nobody is fooled by Putin's pretexts or his phony claims on Donbas. So let us be clear. Russia's invasion is indefensible. And so are Russian atrocities," the minister said.

He reiterated the well-known U.S. assessment that Russia is "is waging a war of choice to indulge the ambitions of one man. Ukraine is fighting a war of necessity to defend its democracy, its sovereignty, and its citizens." "Russia's invasion is baseless, reckless, and lawless. It is an affront to the rules-based international order. It is a challenge to free people everywhere. As we see this morning, nations of goodwill from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russias imperial aggression. And that is the way it should be," Austin said.
Some 169 officers of the National Guard of Ukraine, who guarded Chornobyl nuclear power plant, are in captivity of Russia, negotiations are underway on their exchange, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky has said.

"Unfortunately, there are many members of the National Guard in captivity who were at Chornobyl nuclear power plant, and then were taken out. Some 169 National Guardsmen. Some of them are on the territory of the Russian Federation, some on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. But we are now negotiating to make an exchange, so that our guys will definitely return to Ukraine," Monastyrsky said at a briefing for journalists in Chornobyl on Tuesday.

He said, according to the information available in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there were no wounded among the Ukrainian prisoners.

According to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the department has data on the approximate locations of the captured officers of the National Guard.
Kyiv is not ready to sever economic ties with Belarus in the near future, Adviser to the head of the presidential office of Ukraine Oleksiy Arestovych has said on Tuesday.

"Belarus provides essential, critical resources for us, the same diesel fuel, electricity, and so on. We are not ready to break these ties yet," he said on Euroradio.

Arestovych said that economic ties between Belarus and Ukraine would be maintained, including through the conduct of a cautious policy towards Belarus by the team of Volodymyr Zelensky. "Any careless step in the Belarusian direction throws Lukashenka into the arms of Russia," Arestovych said.

It was precisely this policy of Ukraine towards Belarus, according to Arestovych, that was the reason why the meeting between the leader of the Belarusian opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and the Ukrainian president has not yet taken place.
The Russian invaders are trying to involve in the war with Ukraine the trainees of the artillery academy, who come for training in Libya, and the participants in the hostilities in Syria and Chechnya, the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said.

"Students of Mikhailovskaya Military Artillery Academy (St. Petersburg), who are undergoing training in Libya, can replenish the composition of the occupying army in the near future. The command of the academy is taking measures to return students to the territory of the Russian Federation and involve them in military operations against Ukraine," the Main Intelligence Agency said in Telegram on Tuesday.

According to the agency, the Russian military command is looking for servicemen who may agree to take part in armed aggression on the territory of Ukraine, and for this it is reducing the composition of the Russian group on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. In recent days, as a result of the organizational and staffing changes in the Aleppo tactical group, 200 posts have been reduced.

"It is expected that after the return of the reduced servicemen, they will be sent to the areas of hostilities," the agency said.

The Main Intelligence Agency also said the Russian military command is showing significant interest in the military personnel who participated in the hostilities in Syria and Chechnya.

"Currently, measures are being actively taken to involve people to the occupying army. The main regions where the mobilization campaign will be held: Krasnodar and Perm territories, the Republic of Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kalmykia. These actions are accompanied by a powerful propaganda campaign regarding the 'Nazi/punitive' regime in Ukraine. The material and financial aspect also remains significant... Information is confirmed that the participants in the hostilities on the territory of Ukraine are additionally motivated by the opportunity to improve their financial situation at the expense of trophies," the agency said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida, the press service of the head of state reported.

Zelensky thanked for the consistent position of Japan in support of Ukraine and the personal active role of Prime Minister Kishida.

"We appreciate Japan's clear position in increasing sanctions pressure on Russia, as well as humanitarian and financial support for Ukraine in overcoming the consequences of Russia's large-scale aggression," the president said.

The Ukrainian president and the Japanese prime minister exchanged views on additional measures that Japan can take to support international efforts to counter Russian aggression.

Zelensky also noted the importance of joint efforts to strengthen the international anti-war coalition and expressed the hope that Japan would become one of the parties to future agreements on the security of Ukraine.

Separately, the president noted the symbolism of the conversation on the day of the 36th anniversary of the Chornobyl tragedy.

"Today, during the aggression against Ukraine, Russia resorts to "nuclear terrorism", as evidenced by the seizure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the threat of using nuclear weapons," Zelensky said, adding that Japan, like no one else, understands the price of nuclear tragedies.

Zelensky also invited Japan to join the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced her country's intention to continue arms supplies to Ukraine.

"We will continue to explore each possibility to further support Ukraine," Lambrecht said Tuesday at the U.S.-sponsored conference at Ramstein Air Base.

She confirmed the delivery of 50 anti-aircraft self-propelled guns of the Gepard type to Ukraine. The minister said "Gepard" is exactly what Ukraine needs now to protect the airspace from the ground. If Ukraine urgently needs such defense systems, Germany is ready to support it, Lambrecht said.
US diplomats return to Ukraine for first time since Russian invasion

For the first time since the start of the Russian invasion, American diplomats have returned to Ukraine, CNN said.

"The U.S. diplomats returned to Ukraine today for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the matter. The diplomats crossed into the country from Poland and traveled to the western city of Lviv for a day trip," the source said.

The source said the Department of State plans to constantly review the security situation during one-day trips of diplomats to Lviv.
Russia cannot sign security guarantees for Ukraine without resolving the territorial issue of Crimea and Donbas, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"We managed to achieve quite a serious breakthrough at the Istanbul talks because our Ukrainian colleagues did not link Ukraine's international security requirements to a notion such as Ukraine's internationally recognized borders, leaving Crimea, Sevastopol and the Donbas republics recognized by Russia with certain reservations behind the brackets [of talks]," Putin said at a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, after these agreements were reached, Russia faced a provocation in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, which "the Russian army has nothing to do with," he said.

"We know who did it. And the position of our negotiators from Ukraine on further settlement changed dramatically after that. They stepped back from their previous intentions to leave [the issue] of the territories of Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Donbas republics behind the brackets of the issues of security guarantees. They simply abandoned it. And in their draft agreement on this matter, which was presented to us, they simply pointed out in two articles that these issues should be resolved at a meeting of the heads of state," Putin said.

"It is clear to us that if we refer these issues to the level of the heads of state without resolving them beforehand, at least as part of the draft agreement, they will never be resolved. In this case, we simply cannot sign under security guarantees without having resolved the territorial issue of Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Donbas republics," the Russian president said.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin believes that in the future Ukraine will again request NATO membership, and now the main thing is that Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to end the war he started.

He said this at a press conference after the meeting of the International Coordinating Group for the Defense of Ukraine, which took place at the U.S. air base in Germany, answering the question of whether it is possible for Ukraine to become a member of NATO in the future.

The U.S. Secretary of Defense said it will be a sovereign decision of Ukraine. According to him, NATO will follow the principles of the open door policy. Austin said he believes that in the future, if there is an opportunity, Ukraine will again request NATO membership.

In his opinion, the first step should be to end the war that Russia is waging against Ukraine. He said the first step is to end this conflict. According to Austin, in order to put an end to this conflict, Vladimir Putin needs to make such a decision; he is the one who started it, which was unreasonable, and it will be his decision to de-escalate and to return to the negotiating table. The secretary said all want to see it happen.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Ukraine Defense Consultative Group will meet every month to coordinate assistance to Ukraine.

"The briefings today laid out clearly why the coming weeks will be so crucial for Ukraine, so we got to move at the speed of war. I know that all the leaders leave today more resolved than ever to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression and atrocities. And I know that we are all determined to do even more to better coordinate our efforts," Austin said at a press conference following a meeting of Ukraine Defense Consultative Group with defense ministers from more than 40 countries at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday.

These monthly meetings can take place in person, virtually or in a mixed format, he said.
Q: It is reported that a van of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi was hit by a suicide terrorist attack. Please brief us on the relevant situation and measures China has taken in response.

A: On the afternoon of April 26, a van of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi was hit by a suicide terrorist attack. So far, the incident has left three Chinese teachers dead and one injured. There are also casualties on the Pakistani side. The Chinese side expresses strong condemnation and indignation over this major terrorist attack, and extends deep condolences to the victims and sympathies to the injured and bereaved families. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and diplomatic missions in Pakistan have activated the emergency response mechanism immediately after the incident. Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Jianghao made an urgent phone call to the Pakistani Ambassador to China to express extremely grave concern. He demanded that the Pakistani side should immediately make thorough investigation of the incident, apprehend and punish the perpetrators to the full extent of the law, and take all possible measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in Pakistan and prevent such incidents from happening again. The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan and Consulate-General in Karachi are working with the Pakistani side to deal with the follow-up matters of the casualties.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan on the evening of April 26 to convey condolences, saying that the Pakistani government will conduct an in-depth probe into the incident, give exemplary punishment to the perpetrators, and strengthen security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan in an all-round way. He said his government will never allow any force to undermine Pakistan-China friendship. Local authorities in Sindh and Karachi have launched a full-scale investigation to hunt down the perpetrators.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Chinese diplomatic missions in Pakistan will continue to urge relevant Pakistani departments to handle properly the follow-up matters of those killed, treat the injured, and resolutely crack down on the terrorist organization involved. The blood of the Chinese people should not be shed in vain, and those behind this incident will surely pay the price.
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 the past 24 hours of April 25th, based on an analysis of open sources.

1. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing for the decisive battle for the Donbas area.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the enemies are focusing their efforts on the Kherson-Mykolaiiv and Kherson-Kryvyi Rih directions in the Pivdennyi Buh area.

In the Donetsk and Tavriia directions, the enemy, having intensified shelling with available means of fire destruction, tried to advance deep into the territory of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Korovii Yar and Rubizhne, to continue an attack in the direction of Zaporizhzhia. The enemy was unsuccessful and sustained losses.

In Mariupol, the russians continue to destroy the city, blocking locals and some Ukrainian defenders near the Azovstal plant.

In the Slobozhanshchyna region, Kharkiv is being partially blocked, its infrastructure is being destroyed, and the positions of the defenders of the Kharkiv region are being destroyed with the use of aircraft and artillery.

In the area of the city of Izium, the enemy tried to improve the tactical situation in the directions Andriyivka - Zavody and Dibrovne  Kurulka. The enemy carries out measures of logistical support for the group of occupiers.

In the temporarily occupied territories of the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, the occupiers are engaged in looting, theft and robbery of the local population. Special attention is paid to the "removal" of alcoholic beverages and food.

In the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region, in the urban settlement of Velyka Oleksandrivka, the occupiers announced to the local population that it was necessary for them to leave the settlement by April 28th. Forced evacuation will be applied to residents who do not comply with the order.

In the temporarily occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region, in the city of Enerhodar, the FSB continues to conduct filtering activities.

The total combat losses of the enemy from February 24 to April 24 were approximately: combatants - about 21,900 people were eliminated (+100 from the previous day ), tanks - 884 units (+11), armoured combat vehicles - 2258 units (+20), artillery systems - 411 units (+3), MLRS - 149 units (+2), air defence - 69 units, aircraft - 181 units (+2), helicopters - 154 units, automotive equipment - 1566 units, ships / boats - 8 units, fuel tanks - 76, UAV operational and tactical level - 201 (+10), special equipment - 28, launchers TBM / BRBM (tactical ballistic missile / battlefield range ballistic missile) launchers  4.

The heavy losses of the enemy of the past day were observed in the Severodonetsk direction (30 separate motorised infantry brigades of the 2nd Military Army of the russian federation).

2. Information summaries, reviews and assessments of foreign, Ukrainian intelligence and think tanks.

According to the reviews of UK intelligence, russia aims to organise a pseudo-referendum in Kherson, which is key for the invaders to justify their occupation. The city is key to russia's goal of establishing a land connection with the Crimea and dominating southern Ukraine. The UK believes that russia has achieved very little success after deciding to shift the focus of their assault to the full occupation of the Donbas.

It is impossible to talk about a tangible breakthrough without the necessary logistics and combat support. russia has decided to block rather than storm the Azovstal plant, which stifles many russian units in Mariupol and these cannot be redeployed.

Also, according to the intelligence of the UK Ministry of Defence, the russian Ministry of Defence wants to control the payments to the families of those killed in Ukraine in order to hide the real scale of losses.

According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, russia has not abandoned plans to use chemical weapons against Ukrainian defenders and civilians stationed at the Azovstal plant.

In order to avoid casualties among the servicemen of the russian armed forces, the so-called "smoking out" of Ukrainian defenders and civilians from the company's premises may be carried out. Besides, the groups of radiation, chemical and biological protection will use aerosols with chemical weapons.

Another confirmation of the kremlin's plans to use chemical weapons is that russia has already spread false information about the alleged presence of chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine.

3. The russian occupiers are violating international humanitarian law and committing genocide against Ukrainians.

International and national investigation into the genocide of the russian occupiers against Ukrainians. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has joined a joint investigation team into Ukraine's war crimes over russia's invasion. The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Khan and the Prosecutors General of Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine signed an agreement on the first-ever participation and accession of the ICC Prosecutor's Office to a joint investigation team.

According to the prosecutor's office, as of April 25th, 3,818 civilians were killed and more than 4,000 were injured in Ukraine.

This number, which is available to the prosecutor's office, is the same as the one presented in UN statistics, as it does not take into account the blocked Mariupol and those places in the Kyiv region where the prosecutor's office could not have yet reached.

According to the prosecutor's office, 5,730 Ukrainians were forcibly relocated to the occupied territories and the russian federation, excluding Mariupol. It is not yet possible to verify this data by investigation.

Satellites Planet Labs recorded the third mass burial of civilians in the suburbs of Mariupol. In the village of Staryi Krym, 5 kilometers from Mariupol, satellites took a picture a new trench of more than 200 meters long, which may be another place of mass burial of killed Mariupol residents.

The russian aggressors kill Ukrainian children. As of the morning of April 25th, 606 children were injured in Ukraine as a result of armed aggression by the russian federation. According to officials, 215 children were killed and more than 391 injured.

Most children were affected in the Donetsk (124), Kyiv (114), Kharkiv (93), Chernihiv (66), Kherson (44), Mykolaiiv (43), Luhansk (37), Zaporizhzhia (27), Sumy (17), Zhytomyr (15) regions and in Kyiv City (16).

On April 24th, as a result of shelling by russian troops in the village two girls aged 5 and 14 died in Krasnohorivka, in the Donetsk region.

On April 23rd-24th, the occupiers fired on the Kharkiv region again. An 11-year-old boy was injured in the shelling in Chuhuiiv.

April 23rd, due to shelling, a 12-year-old child was injured in Turove, in the Bohodukhiv district of the Kharkiv region.

The russian occupiers kill and abduct civilians, hold them hostage and torture them. In the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the russian occupiers are introducing measures restricting the rights and freedoms of civilians, including freedom of movement.

On April 24th, when the Orthodox celebrated Easter, the russians deported residents from the blockaded Mariupol to russia  in general, 149 people, including 23 children.

In Melitopol, information is spread that the occupation authorities have decided to completely close the entrance and exit from the temporarily occupied Crimea from April 30th. The decision was made to prevent the disruption of the spring conscription campaign in the occupied territories, as many Ukrainian men travel to the peninsula in transit with a subsequent route to Georgia, Poland and the Baltic countries.

The heads of two communities in the Zaporizhzhia region, Novouspenivska and Kyrylivska, Ivan Senyk and Ivan Malieiev, have been released from russian captivity.

The russian invaders are launching missile and bomb strikes on civilians, towns and villages. On the morning of April 25th, the russian occupiers fired on five railway stations in central and western Ukraine. Two missiles flew over the Khmelnytskyi NPP. Because of enemy shelling, 5 people were killed and 18 were injured.

As a result of the missile strike, an explosion occurred at the traction substation of the Krasne railway station in the Lviv region. Due to the damage to traction substations, there was no voltage in the cables on the sections Shepetivka - Koziatyn, Zhmerynka - Koziatyn, Koziatyn - Fastiv.

The russian aggressors struck 2 oil refineries and facilities in 6 regions of Ukraine.

The Poltava region: on Sunday evening, 9 missiles hit the Kremenchuh refinery and Kremenchuh CHP . One person died and 7 were injured. All fires are localised, almost all areas of the city are without hot water.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, there were several air alarms per night. At midnight, the occupiers fired on the Shyrokivska community bordering the Kherson region from the Urahany and hit the surrounding area. Previously, no one was injured.

The Kharkiv region: artillery shelling of the most residential areas of Kharkiv continued on the night of April 25th. Information about the victims is still being clarified, in the morning, there was information about one victim.

The shelling in Chuhuiiv, Zolochiv and settlements of the districts were intensive during Easter. During the day, in the area 2 people were killed and 11 were injured.

Because of the enemy shelling on April 25th, three residents of the village of Bezruky near Derhachi in the Kharkiv region were killed.

The Luhansk region: the entire region is under heavy russian fire. Three high-rise buildings and four private houses were burnt down. For the third time, the russian army has hit an oil refinery in Lysychansk.

The Donetsk region: there was heavy shelling of settlements along the demarcation line. As a result, 5 civilians were killed, including two children. Since the night of April 25th, shelling has continued in Maryinska territory, Toretsk, near Avdjiivka and Lyman. At least one civilian was killed and four wounded in the morning - in Lyman, in the villages of Shandryholove and Serednie.

4. Evacuation of civilians, exchange of prisoners.

The russian Ministry of Defence has assured that their armed groups will not fire from 2 pm (Kyiv time) on April 25th and will allow civilians to leave the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, and claims that the humanitarian corridor has been operating for 36 days - while, according to the Ukrainian side, the shelling did not stop.

Deputy Prime Minister for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk denied russia's statement that there were agreements on humanitarian corridors with Azovstal in the blocked Mariupol.

She said that "today the russian side has once again announced the existence of a corridor for civilians to leave Azovstal. This could be believed if the russians had not disrupted the humanitarian corridors many times before. "Unfortunately, Azovstal has no agreements for today."

Iryna Vereshchuk says that the Ukrainian authorities have appealed to UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres having asked him to initiate and guarantee the Azovstal humanitarian corridor for civilians. Official Kyiv hopes for the effectiveness of the UN Secretary General's talks with russian representatives.

The head of the Luhansk region, Serhii Haidai, once again called on residents to evacuate so as not to fall victim to forced deportation to russia.

More than 20 tons of humanitarian and technical cargo needed for the operation of nuclear and thermal power plants were delivered to Enerhodar.

Ukrainian Su-25 pilot Roman Vasyliuk, who was shot down by enemy air defences in the Donetsk region in March, was released from russian captivity.

5. Political and socio-economic situation in Ukraine, economic losses due to Russian aggression.

Signs of recovery of the Ukrainian economy. The Kovalska Industrial and Construction Group is assessing the feasibility of relocating part of its production facilities to the western region. At the same time, Kovalska resumes production lines at three plants in Kyiv, quarries in the Zhytomyr region and a construction hub in the Lviv region.

Restoration of infrastructure in the occupied territories. According to the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko , 11 temporary bridges were built in the Kyiv region instead of those destroyed during the russian army's attacks.

In the past 24 hours alone, electricity supply has been restored in 16 settlements in the Kyiv region, and more than 80,000 subscribers have been replenished. Gas distribution in 106 settlements has been fully or partially restored. Almost 170 km of streets were cleared in the liberated settlements.

The Nova Poshta postal service resumed operations in the deoccupied Kyiv region and opened branches in Bucha, Irpin, Makariv and Kolonshchyna.

6. International support and assistance to Ukraine.

Political support for Ukraine. During a secret visit to Kyiv, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Pentagon chief announced the return of US diplomats to Ukraine and the appointment of diplomat Bridget Brink as the new US Ambassador to Ukraine. As Information Defence experts state this will intensify the cooperation between two countries.

Blinken said on Monday after a visit to Kyiv that a sovereign independent Ukraine would last much longer than russian president putin.

The United States believes that Ukraine can win the war against russia with the right equipment and support. Defense Minister Lloyd Austin told reporters on Monday after a visit to Kyiv, CNN reports .

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

Johnson and Guterres discussed the need to ensure a ceasefire, promote humanitarian efforts and allow civilians to leave Mariupol and Kherson. Boris Johnson called putin's actions in Ukraine disgusting and outright aggression, which has devastating consequences for the Ukrainian people.

Military assistance to Ukraine. During a visit to Kyiv on April 24, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin announced foreign military funding for Ukraine and 15 allied and partner countries worth $713 million. About $ 322 million is provided for Kyiv .

Such funding differs from previous US military assistance to Ukraine. This is not a donation from the US Department of Defense, but real money that countries can use to buy supplies that they may need.

The new money, along with the sale of $165 million in non-US and non-US-compatible weapons, has increased total US military aid to Ukraine to $3.7 billion since the invasion.

The Pentagon will expand training for the Ukrainian military, in particular on the use of new weapons provided to them as part of Western military assistance.

The United Kingdom is handing over to Ukraine a small number of Stormer armoured personnel carriers equipped with Starstreak anti-aircraft missile launchers to strengthen the country's air defences. The Minister of Defence Ben Wallace stated this in the House of Commons, according to the BBC .

7. Statements, provocations and fakes of russian aggressors.

At about 10:00 a.m. on April 24th in Vasylivka, shelling began. The rockets, according to locals, flew to the places where the consecration of Easter cakes was announced the other day, and the attack began immediately with the start of service. At the same time, russians are spreading false information which alleges that Ukrainian soldiers are shooting at civilians.

The Security Service of Ukraine reports that it was curious to see another "creativity" of the FSB, who "heroically detained neo-Nazis" who allegedly planned to assassinate public figure Vladimir Solovyov at the behest of the Security Service of Ukraine, and, therefore, wants to report the following:

First. The Security Service of Ukraine is systematically working to strengthen the security of our state and does not intend to seriously comment on the new fantasies of the russian secret services.

Second. Solovyov is not a public figure, but an ordinary propagandist - a russian version of Goebbels - who will be held accountable for his crimes in international courts after Ukraine's victory.

Third. The Security Service of Ukraine has no plans to assassinate Solovyov.

8. Political and socio-economic situation in russia, the impact of international sanctions on it.

New sanctions and restrictions against russia. Member States of the European Union do not agree on a full embargo or increase in tariffs on imports of russian oil and gas. Borrell said the issue would be discussed at the next EU summit in late May, and that he did not expect any decision on the matter before.

According to Information Defence analysts, the sixth package of the EU sanctions will not unanimously agree on the application of a full oil and gas embargo against russia.

Azerbaijan State Oil Company SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic) stated that Azerbaijan will not pay for russian gas in rubles.

The negative impact of sanctions on the russian economy. In russia, the shortage of expensive drugs is growing. At the beginning of April, the Ministry of Health of the russian federation has almost exhausted the budget for this year for the purchase of drugs under the state program for 14 high-cost disease treatments - the deficit of funding for the program is growing.

The largest russian IT companies have problems with the purchase of foreign computer equipment - servers and storage systems: VK asked the Ministry of Digital Transformations of the russian federation to help with the purchase of "several thousands of servers" against the background of a shortage of imported equipment.

russian oil trader Rosneft was unable to sell 6.5 million tons of oil during the tender because it demanded a full prepayment in rubles. Reuters reported this with reference to 5 traders.

The passenger traffic of the Aeroflot Group, which in addition to the airline of the same name includes the low -cost carrier Pobeda and the charter carrier Russia, fell by 20.4% in March compared to the same period last year (!).
Egypt recorded a daily average of eight coronavirus infections over the past week, the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population announced on Saturday, with the countrys daily infections dropping to their lowest levels since the start of the pandemic.
As the EU poises to mark its anniversary on Monday, it is morphing into a more muscular global actor, a transformation accelerated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
China began its most extensive lockdown in two years Monday to conduct mass testing and control a growing outbreak in Shanghai as questions are raised about the economic toll of the nation's ``zero-COVID'' strategy.

China's financial capital and largest city with 26 million people, Shanghai had managed its smaller, past outbreaks with limited lockdowns of housing compounds and workplaces where the virus was spreading. But the citywide lockdown that will conducted in two phases will be China's most extensive since the central city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected in late 2019, first confined its 11 million people to their homes for 76 days in early 2020. Millions more have been kept in lockdown since then.

Shanghai's Pudong financial district and nearby areas will be locked down from Monday to Friday as mass testing gets underway, the local government said. In the second phase of the lockdown, the vast downtown area west of the Huangpu River that divides the city will start its own five-day lockdown Friday.

Residents will be required to stay home and deliveries will be left at checkpoints to ensure there is no contact with the outside world. Offices and all businesses not considered essential will be closed and public transport suspended.

Already, many communities within Shanghai have been locked down for the past week, with their housing compounds blocked off with blue and yellow plastic barriers and residents required to submit to multiple tests for COVID-19. Shanghai's Disneyland theme park is among the businesses that closed earlier. Automaker Tesla is also suspending production at its Shanghai plant, according to media reports.

Panic-buying was reported on Sunday, with supermarket shelves cleared of food, beverages and household items. Additional barriers were being erected in neighborhoods Monday, with workers in hazmat suits staffing checkpoints.

Some workers, including traders at the city's stock market, were preparing to stay within a COVID-19 ``bubble`` for the duration of the lockdown.

Li Jiamin, 31, who works in the finance industry, said she had packed several days of clothing and supplies, and her company was sorting out sleeping and eating arrangements.

``The overall impact is still great,`` Li told The Associated Press, pointing especially to losses suffered by workers in the informal sector who have no such support.

Huang Qi, 35, who works at a local university, said he had undergone a lockdown at home before and prepared for the new round by stocking up.

``I think if the closure continues like this, our school workers will not be affected much, but what about those who work in the real economy? How can their business be maintained?`` Huang said.

``I still hope that our society can find a better balance between ensuring normal life and epidemic prevention and control,`` Huang added.

Shanghai detected another 3,500 cases of infection on Sunday, though all but 50 were people who tested positive for the coronavirus but were not showing symptoms of COVID-19. While people who are asymptomatic can still infect others, China categorizes such cases separately from ``confirmed cases'' those in people who are sick leading to much lower totals in daily reports.

Nationwide, 1,219 new confirmed cases of domestic infection were detected on Sunday, more than 1,000 of them in the northeastern province of Jilin, along with 4,996 asymptomatic cases, the National Health Commission reported on Monday.

China has reported more than 56,000 confirmed cases nationwide this month, with the surge in Jilin accounting for most of them.

Jilin province is enforcing travel bans and partial lockdowns in several cities, including Changchun, one of the centers of the Chinese auto industry. Although the province has seen more than 1,000 new confirmed cases per day, prevention and control measures taken there do not appear to have been as extreme as in other places.

As has become customary, Jilin has been building pre-fabricated temporary wards to house COVID-19 patients and those under observation as suspected cases. The city of Suzhou, about an hour from Shanghai, as well as Changsha in the country's center and Shenyang in the northeast are also erecting such structures capable of housing more than 6,000 people.

China has called its long-standing ``zero-tolerance'' approach the most economical and effective prevention strategy against COVID-19.

The new measures being enforced in Shanghai aim to ``curb the virus spread, protect people's life and health, and achieve the dynamic zero-COVID target as soon as possible,'' the city's COVID-19 prevention and control office stated in an announcement Sunday evening.

That requires lockdowns and mass testing, with close contacts often being quarantined at home or in a central government facility. The strategy focuses on eradicating community transmission of the virus as quickly as possible.

While officials, including Communist Party leader Xi Jinping have encouraged more targeted measures, local officials tend to take a more extreme approach, concerned with being fired or otherwise punished over accusations of failing to prevent outbreaks.

Most recently, Hunan province, which has seen relatively few cases, ordered punishments against 19 officials for ``failure to vigorously consolidate anti-pandemic policies,`` state broadcaster CCTV reported Monday.

With China's economic growth already slowing, the extreme measures are seen as worsening difficulties hitting employment, consumption and even global supply chains. With a 21-day curfew in place for all foreigners arriving from abroad, travel between China and other countries has fallen dramatically.

On Friday, the International Air Transport Association announced it was moving its annual general meeting from Shanghai to Doha, citing ``continuing COVID-19 related restrictions on travel to China.``

``It is deeply disappointing that we are not able to meet in Shanghai as planned,`` IATA Director General Willie Walsh said in a news release.

Still, Shanghai's announcement of the dates when the two lockdowns would be lifted appeared to show a further refinement in China's approach. Previous citywide lockdowns had been open-ended.

Although China's vaccination rate is around 87%, it is considerably lower among older people.

National data released earlier this month showed that over 52 million people aged 60 and older have yet to be vaccinated with any COVID-19 vaccine. Booster rates are also low, with only 56.4% of people between 60-69 having received a booster shot, and 48.4% of people between 70-79 having received one.

Older and unvaccinated people are more likely to become seriously ill if they contract the virus.

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Fears of a hard Covid lockdown sparked panic buying in Beijing on Monday, as long queues for compulsory mass testing formed in a large central district of the Chinese capital.

China is already trying to contain a wave of infections in its biggest city Shanghai, which has been almost entirely locked down for weeks and reported 51 new Covid deaths on Monday.

Shanghai has struggled to provide fresh food to those confined at home, while patients have reported trouble accessing non-Covid medical care and the rising cases in the capital triggered fears of a similar lockdown.

Downtown Beijing's most populous district Chaoyang, home to around 3.5 million people, ordered mass testing from Monday for residents and those coming to work there. The area hosts embassies and the headquarters of many multinational firms.

Queues snaked around malls and outside office complexes as people waited to be swabbed for samples by health workers in protective gear.

"If a single case is found, this area could be affected," said office worker Yao Leiming, 25, as he headed for a testing site in Chaoyang with a group of colleagues.

The mass testing order, and warnings of a "grim" Covid situation in the city, sparked a run on Beijing's supermarkets overnight as residents rushed to stockpile essentials.

Many items on grocery delivery apps sold out briefly on Sunday night after the testing order was announced, but stocks were replenished on Monday.

People are anxious

Beijing resident Zhao picked up several bags of groceries including eggs and fresh vegetables from a grocery store on Monday.

The 31-year-old said he wanted to make sure his toddler would have enough to eat if the family was ordered to stay home.

"Adults can survive for a few days, but it's not the same for children," Zhao, who only wanted to be known by his surname, told AFP.

Wang, another supermarket customer, said she was concerned that "things will become like in Shanghai".

"People are anxious... everyone is snapping up goods and we're worried that items might run out," the 48-year-old Chaoyang resident said.

Her family had secured enough food to last a week, she added.

Local media also reported soaring sales of storage appliances in Beijing. One online retailer told the state-owned Beijing Evening News that it sold 300 freezers on Sunday what is normally sold in a month.

The city government on Sunday tried to ease fears, with an official saying supply and distribution was "stable".

The capital has reported dozens of cases over the past week with 19 new infections on Monday including asymptomatic ones after a warning from authorities that the virus has been circulating undetected.

A Tencent Maps compilation of restricted zones indicated multiple buildings were sealed off, while several fitness studios in the capital have also temporarily closed.

Travellers into the city are required to have a negative Covid test from within 48 hours. On Monday, state media said authorities have suspended local group tours in Beijing.

- 'Hard lockdown' fears -

Beijing's numbers pale in comparison with Shanghai, which has recorded over half a million cases since March 1.

The economic hub of 25 million people is struggling to defeat China's worst outbreak in two years, despite weeks of strict measures.

Under its zero-Covid strategy, China has imposed lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions to stamp out infections.

Officials say this policy has helped avoid the public health crises seen elsewhere in the world during the pandemic, but the approach has taken a heavy toll on businesses and public morale.

Shares in Hong Kong and mainland China plunged Monday on growing fears about the impact of the outbreak on the world's second-largest economy.

The term "hard lockdown" began trending on Chinese social media over the weekend after images emerged from Shanghai of what appeared to be officials sealing off building entrances with metal sheets.

A residential building fire on Saturday had sparked fear and criticism about the barriers, with Chinese business magazine Caixin reporting that multiple Shanghai neighbourhoods were blocking smaller roads using barriers and fences.

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The business climate in Germany improved slightly in April as Europe's largest economy absorbed the initial shock of the war in Ukraine, an economic think-tank said on Monday.

"The German economy has shown its resilience," Ifo president Clemens Fuest said after the closely watched index rose to 91.8 points from 90.8 points in March.

Companies were less pessimistic about the outlook for the economy, after the mood plunged in March following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ifo said.

The overall indicator lost almost eight points in March, while forecasts took a bigger knock than at the start of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago.

The assessment of current conditions was "minimally better", Fuest said, adding that sentiment among businesses had "stabilised at a low level".

"The initial shock of the war seems to have abated somewhat, but given the multitude of risks, it is too early to start talking about a turning point," said Elmar Voelker, an analyst at LBBW bank.

The continuing impact of the conflict in Ukraine was "hard to estimate", including the possibility of Russian gas supplies being cut off, Voelker said.

Germany, like many European countries, is highly dependent on deliveries of natural gas from Russia to meet its energy needs.

In the chemicals sector, where the impact of the taps being turned off could be significant and lead to production stops, expectations worsened, according to the Ifo survey.

Confidence in the construction sector also plunged against the overall trend to its lowest level since May 2010, as the sector wrestled with persistent disruptions to supply.

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The British government says it believes 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion two months ago.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said 25% of the Russian combat units sent to Ukraine ``have been rendered not combat effective,'' and Russia had lost more than 2,000 armored vehicles and more than 60 helicopters and fighter planes.

Russia has acknowledged 1,351 military casualties.

Wallace said Russia had failed in most of its military objectives so far. He told British lawmakers that ``we anticipate this next phase of the invasion will be an attempt by Russia to occupy further the Donbas in order to connect it via Mariupol`` to Russian-controlled Crimea. He said international aid and weapons are crucial to help Ukraine withstand the anticipated onslaught.

Wallace said Britain had sent more than 5,000 antitank missiles, as well as air-defense systems and anti-air missiles, and would soon send ``a small number'' of Stormer armored vehicles equipped with missile launchers.

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Israeli forces on Tuesday shot and killed a 20-year-old Palestinian man during a raid in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority's Health Ministry said.

The PA said the man, Ahmad Oweidat, was shot in the head. The army confirmed it carried out an arrest raid overnight at the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp, south of Jericho. It said troops opened fire after dozens of Palestinians threw rocks and firebombs at soldiers.

In a separate statement, the army said 11 Palestinians suspected of militant activity were arrested in the West Bank.

The shooting came after days of rising tensions between Israel and the Palestinians following a string of deadly attacks inside Israel, arrest raids in the West Bank, clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site, and the heaviest fighting along the Gaza frontier since a war last year.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, which includes major holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, along with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state.

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After nearly eight years of hard work, whether in fighting terrorism, restructuring the economy, rebuilding the infrastructure or confronting regional challenges, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi announced recently that he was about to launch a new political dialogue that suits the notion of building the new republic.

The new republic is the motto of the national project that Al-Sisi has been working on since he took office in order to allow Egypt to stand on firm grounds, providing a dignified life for more than 103 million Egyptians. In doing so, he has been in a race against time to confront huge challenges on nearly all levels.

The political turmoil that rocked the region in 2011, with several popular revolts against leaders who had been in power for decades, resulted in a state of instability that lasted for years. This outcome was a sharp economic depression and a steep fall in Egypts income from nearly all sources, as well as its reserves.

In remarks he delivered to editors of newspapers and presenters of popular talk shows on 21 April, President Al-Sisi reminded the public of how terrorist organisations managed to build a large-scale infrastructure in Sinai, even years before the 25 January, 2011 Revolution.

The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, after their removal from office in July 2013, sought to build an alliance with those same terrorist groups in Sinai in a failed attempt to come back to power. They refused to recognise that the vast majority of Egyptians had rejected their rule, which had pushed the country to the brink of a civil war.

Fighting vicious terrorist organisations was no easy task, and hundreds of heroic army and police officers lost their lives together with innocent civilians. The days when explosions rocked police headquarters in Cairo and other major cities, as well as assassination attempts were made on top officials, are now long gone. Even in Sinai terrorist attacks have nearly stopped. Before achieving that level of security, any talk of economic reform or restructuring would have meant little.

At the same time, the decaying state of the countrys infrastructure could have in no way suited the ambitious plans the government had to revitalise and modernise the economy. Working on improving power stations, and ensuring that electricity was provided on a constant, 24/7 basis was not only an economic requirement, but also a popular demand that stood as a litmus test in the peoples relation with the government. In 2022, and after several mega power projects were built, stable electricity is not only available to all Egyptian homes and industries, it is also available for export to nearby countries.

Roads, ports, airports, bridges, new cities were constructed in record time. As Al-Sisi stated, the reason for working fast on those many projects at the same time was that the gap between the peoples reality and their needs was very wide. More than one million acres of desert land were reclaimed to provide much needed agricultural products. Meanwhile, Al-Sisi recognised the tough conditions many of Egypts poor suffer, and launched several social programmes that aim at improving the lives of nearly 60 million Egyptians, particularly in rural areas that had long been ignored.

Without such achievements, it would have been impossible for Egypt to sustain its economy and, equally important, to survive the two very difficult crises that hit the world over the past three years: the Covid-19 pandemic, and the more recent Russia-Ukraine war. Both were enough to slow down the entire world economy, but Egypt was among a very small number of countries that managed to maintain a positive growth rate nevertheless. The recent World Economic Outlook report issued by the IMF predicted an increasing growth rate in 2022, though it will probably go down in 2023 because of the effects of the Ukraine war.

After standing on solid ground on both the economic and security fronts, the time has obviously come for similar political reforms, starting with the national dialogue the president suggested in his recent statements. The Egyptian government has nothing to fear, and the president has enough confidence in the support he enjoys among Egyptians despite difficult economic reforms that started with floating the local currency in November 2016.

What is likely to make such dialogue more productive and promising is the release this week of over 40 political prisoners who had been in held in pretrial detention on charges of spreading false news and abusing social media. This is an extremely important confidence-building measure, and has no doubt resulted in the families and friends of the people in question feeling much joy and happiness. More releases were promised in the near future, and the president said he would reveal more details about his initiative for political dialogue when he meets with Egyptian families for Iftar this week.

The president has made it clear that he is not against freedom of expression and the right of every Egyptian, man and woman, to their own views. Exceptional measures had been taken in order to ensure what Al-Sisi described as the one thing that all Egyptians must agree to: to maintain the integrity and security of the country. From this point on, there will be plenty of room in the new republic for debate and disagreement, as enshrined in the Egyptian Constitution and expressed in the Human Rights Strategy sponsored by the president and launched in September.



*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The president made the remarks during a meeting held on Tuesday with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli and Finance Minister Mohamed Maait along with Deputy Finance Minister for Financial Policies Ahmed Kouchouk and Deputy Minister of Finance for Treasury Affairs Ehab Abu Aish.

This came before his attendance of the Egyptian Family Iftar banquet, which is held every year since 2017 with the participation of all segments of society.

The meeting tackled the key financial results achieved during the period from July 2021 to March 2022 which were improved significantly, compared to the same period of the year before with the total deficit-to-GDP ratio dropping to 4.9 percent.



Tax revenues went up by 12.8 percent, with the state budget posting a preliminary surplus.



Meanwhile, the finance minister reviewed the outcome of his ministrys delegation visit to Washington to attend the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings, during which they met with many government officials and international financial and economic experts.



The minister said the IMF has revised its projections for Egypt's real GDP growth in 2022 to reach 5.9 percent, hailing the social protection package that Egypt has adopted to address the economic repercussions of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.



Highlighting the state budget's performance indicators for the 2021/2022 fiscal year, Maait said a preliminary surplus of EGP 91 billion is expected to be achieved and total deficit-to-GDP ratio is projected to drop to about 6.2 percent.



The meeting also touched on the Finance Ministrys efforts to achieve digitization in all government transactions and services, as well as to shift to non-cash transactions.



In this regard, President El-Sisi instructed the government to expedite the operational steps to apply digital transformation and financial inclusion.



The president also ordered enhancing efforts to upgrade tax measures and develop electronic systems in a way that would help improve the business climate.

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Scientists have long understood that plate tectonics, the drift of separate, rigid plates that make up the Earth's crust, formed continents and mountains and was crucial to the evolution of the planet's surface from one of molten lava and rock to an environment hospitable to life.

What's been less clear is when it began.

A team of Harvard-led researchers have analyzed some very rare, ancient, and nearly indestructible crystals the size of small grains of sand called zircons for chemical clues about the onset of plate tectonics. The study, published in AGU Advances, suggests that 3.8 billion years ago there was a major transition in the geochemistry of these zircons that make them look much more like the zircons that are formed today in the red-hot environments where plate tectonics happen.

"Prior to 3.8 billion years ago, the planet doesn't seem to be as dynamic," said Nadja Drabon, a Harvard assistant professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the paper's first author. "Today, there's lots of crust that gets constantly destroyed in what are called subduction zones and new crust is created. Many [previous] zircons showed that back then once the early crust formed, it lived for a really long time --about 600 million years in this case. While there was some internal reworking, we never created new granitic crust.... Then 3.8 billion years ago, everything changes."

Think of Zircons as tiny time capsules that retain chemical clues of the Earth's first 500 million years. Some were formed in the magma of the planet more than 4 billion years ago when the Earth, geologically speaking, was still in its infancy. It makes them the oldest known materials on Earth. Their secrets can be understood by zapping them with lasers, which is what the researchers did for their analysis.

The scientists saw that 3.8 billion years ago as the planet was cooling a lot of new crust was suddenly being formed and that the geochemical signatures of zircons began to look like those generated in subduction zones, the places where two colliding tectonic plates meet and one slides under the other and into the mantle where it is recycled (code word for burned to a crisp).

The researchers say it's not clear whether there were subduction zones 3.8 billion years ago, but what is known is that the new crust being formed was likely a result of some type of plate tectonics.

The study adds to growing research that tectonic movement occurred relatively early in Earth's 4.5 billion year history. It offers hints about how the planet became habitable and the conditions under which the earliest forms of life developed.

Today, the Earth's outer shell consists of about 15 shifting blocks of crust, which hold the planet's continents and oceans. The process was key to the evolution of life and the development of the planet because the process exposed new rocks to the atmosphere, which led to chemical reactions that stabilized Earth's surface temperature over billions of years.

Evidence of when the change began is hard to come by because it's so scarce. Only 5 percent of all rocks on Earth are older than 2.5 billion years old, and no rock is older than about 4 billion years.

This is where the zircons come in.

The team of researchers, which included geologists from Stanford and Louisiana State University, gathered 3,936 new zircons from a 2017 expedition in South Africa. Thirty-three of them were at least 4 billion-years old. It was quite the haul because zircons from that time period are difficult to find because of their size.

Researchers essentially have to get lucky after grinding down rocks they've collected into sand and separating the resulting finds. The South Africa zircons ranged from 4.1 billion to 3.3 billion years old. The team looked at three different geochemical features of the zircon crystals they found: the hafnium isotope, oxygen isotope, and trace element compositions. Each gave them a different piece of the puzzle.

For instance, the hafnium isotope offered hints about the formation and evolution of the Earth's crust; the oxygen isotopes about whether there were oceans; and the trace elements about the composition of the crust. The data suggested that the rate of crust formation started picking up almost 4 billion years ago.

The researchers also looked at data from other studies on ancient zircons that have been found around the world to see whether they saw evidence of a similar shift. They did when it came to data on hafnium isotopes.

"All of them show this shift between 3.8 and 3.6 billion years ago," Drabon said.

Drabon says there wasn't much data on the other two geochemical features and hopes to focus on those next, including looking at when oceans started forming.

"I don't even know where to start," Drabon said laughing. There's so much to do, she said.

Destabilization of Long-Lived Hadean Protocrust and the Onset of Pervasive Hydrous Melting at 3.8 Ga, AGU Advances

Astrobiology

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The Mustafa Madbouli government can boast of many fine accomplishments thanks to Madboulis excellent choice of ministers. Their efforts have modernised and improved government performance in many areas.

Unfortunately, rapid and strategic communication with the public is not one of them. Tendentious rumours still reach the public first, which constantly puts the government on the defencive and forces it to dedicate a large portion of its communications to refuting them.

The latest example of this involves the recent import ban on a number of non-essential goods that have locally produced alternatives. The government merely published the decree, listing the goods and the companies affected, with no further explanation. This left the field open for the rumour mill to kick in.

The misinformation, the source of which we know too well, enumerated the alleged harm done by the decree, such as factories shutting down and workers dismissed. Yet, a look at the actual government list tells us that none of the banned goods are raw or intermediary materials on which our local factories depend.

What we find are some electrical gadgets, readymade clothes from Turkey, energy drinks from Austria (which are unhealthy to begin with), ceramic tiles made in the UAE and other such products  all of which have Egyptian-made alternatives. The misinformation also conveniently overlooked the fact that local currencies around the world are struggling with an exchange rate crisis. The governments decision will save us millions of dollars while prioritising basic commodities the Egyptian people need.

I was told that a government official appeared on TV to refute the misinformation and explain the facts to the public. However, as long as the government is working to modernise and upgrade performance, it needs to develop a modern and effective communication strategy. This is one that takes the initiative and arms people with the facts before rumours can do their damage. It means that when a decision is to be announced, a media and communication plan will already be in place in order to inform the public.

Taking sound decisions is not enough; they have to be properly marketed. This is how to protect the public against the wiles of those who exploit hardship to further their own political agendas, which they now do furtively through rumour mongering after the people rebelled against them when they were in the open.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The global food system has faced many shocks over recent years, from the Covid-19 pandemic to extreme weather events and conflicts that have led to higher food prices. These are likely to remain high for the foreseeable future, exposing millions of people to food insecurity.

At the same time, unsustainable farming approaches have led to ecosystem vulnerability and competition for land and water resources, putting agricultural growth and food security at risk.

Organic farming can be one of the solutions, as it not only helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change, but can also help increase exports of agricultural products by meeting current international standards.

Experts at the Cairo Climate Talks, organised last week in cooperation between the German Embassy in Cairo, the Egyptian Ministry of Environment, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), discussed adaptation to climate change through sustainable agriculture in Egypt.

They stressed that the COP27 meeting on climate change, which will be organised in Egypt in November, will be a good opportunity to focus on sustainable agricultural practices.

Agriculture contributes about 50 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainable agricultural practices will help to decrease emissions, said Shaimaa Hatab, an associate professor of agriculture at Heliopolis University.

However, she added, initiatives to teach small farmers ways to become more sustainable in their methods are urgently needed.

Changing from conventional to organic agricultural methods is not an easy process, she explained, adding that changing the traditional mindsets and behaviours of farmers could be a challenge because their practices have been taking place for generations.

We need to work on changing the mindsets of farmers by creating awareness about the challenges and opportunities. We also need to change the mindsets of consumers to see them become more sustainable, Hatab said. Awareness and education are very important.

Organic farming is normally more expensive, commented Helmi Abul-Eish, CEO of Sekem Egypt, an organic producer, adding that serving the ecosystem and improving livelihoods were main drivers of organic farm owners.

There should be more support for organic farmers and for the ecosystem services they are providing to help in mitigating the effects of climate change, he added.

Abul-Eish said that organic farming has been increasing rapidly in Egypt over the last few years to constitute about 10 per cent of agricultural land. But more is needed through creating awareness among small farmers to ensure better future practices, he added.

Organic and sustainable farming can enjoy the benefits of improved access to more markets, noted Myriam Fernando, head of project agriculture innovation at GIZ Egypt.

However, she added that increased consumer knowledge about the importance and benefits of organic crops was needed, as more demand would mean more farmers would be willing to cultivate organic products.

The private sector was key in mobilising resources and expertise, working to channel private investment towards climate-change adaptation efforts, Fernando said, adding that it could also help scale up adaptation practices and create more jobs in the process.

Hussein Abu Bakr, founder and CEO of Mozare3, an agricultural technology startup that aims to digitise the agricultural sector in Egypt and the Middle East, said that climate change was an opportunity for small farmers, as a lot of crops had been introduced to Egypt leading the country to become a food hub for international markets.

Small farmers are at the heart of the climate change dilemma, as they are part of both the problem and the solution, he added, explaining that small farmers consume about 79 per cent of Nile water, but can help cultivate high-value crops and grow more wheat to help solve the food crisis and even export to new markets.

Experts participating in the Talks agreed that unsustainable farming methods led to ecosystem weakness and competition for land and water resources in Egypt. Climate change is expected to reduce the productivity of some crops like wheat and maize, because of water scarcity, sea level rises, and salt water intrusion.

Food security is at the heart of Egypts 2030 Vision as a national security issue, and the government is working on expanding agricultural land, reducing imports, and increasing climate change adaptation efforts.

The agricultural sector accounts for 28 per cent of all employment in the country and contributes around 11 per cent of Egypts GDP. By 2024, Egypt aims to increase agricultural production by 30 per cent.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The Arab League has asked the UN Security Council to prevent Israeli incursions on Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Arab League, which convened on Monday to discuss the situation in the Middle East, with a focus on Palestine, has called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to take clear steps against provocative Israeli actions in Jerusalem.

Maged Abdel-Fattah, the Arab representative to the UN, told the Security Council that the Israeli government is continuing its colonial policies in flagrant defiance of international will and of UNSC resolutions, including Resolution 2334.

Abdel-Fattah called for building on the results of the fourth meeting of the Arab Ministerial Committee for the Defence of Jerusalem in confronting Israeli violations held last week in Jordan.

Resolution 2334, in December 2016, states clearly that Israeli settlement of occupied land violates international law.

Israel has continued its ferocious attacks against the Palestinian people, violating the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque by supporting extremist settlers who attacked the mosque and worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan, Abdel-Fattah continued.

A day earlier, while meeting in Cairo, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, Jordans King Abdullah II and Abu Dhabis Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan had underlined the legal and historical status of Al-Aqsa Mosque and called for sustained efforts to restore calm.

They also called for the Hashemite Kingdoms historic role as custodian of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem to be respected, and for a halt to all Israeli measures that undermine the viability of a future two state solution.

As well as the situation in Jerusalem, the three leaders discussed ways to enhance trilateral relations and other pressing regional matters, including the impacts of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the region.

A diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity warned that post pandemic economic problems and the war in Ukraine should not be allowed to distract attention from the Palestinian crisis.

Arab countries, and especially Egypt and Jordan given the direct impact of the issue on them, have no choice but to remind the world of the plight of the Palestinians and their right to an independent state within the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, he said.

This is the second time the three leaders have met this year. In March they gathered in Al-Aqaba in Jordan, along with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

This weeks trilateral meeting came less than a week after Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri headed to the Jordanian capital Amman to attend the emergency meeting of the Arab Ministerial Committee for the Defence of Jerusalem. The committee condemned Israeli attacks and violations against worshipers in Al-Aqsa Mosque and called on the UNSC to assume its responsibilities for maintaining international peace and security and implement all resolutions pertaining to East Jerusalem.

The committee mandated Arab foreign ministers and Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Abul-Gheit to coordinate with Arab capitals to clarify to the international community the dangers posed by Israeli practices in Jerusalem.

Israel is violating a centuries-old policy according to which non-Muslims may visit Al-Aqsa compound, Islams third most sacred site after Mecca and Medina, but not pray there, Abul-Gheit said.

The committee, which included Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Qatar, Morocco, and the UAE, called for removing all restrictions on the Jordanian Department of Endowments in supervising the affairs of Al-Aqsa Mosque, including the visits of non-Muslim to Al-Aqsa area.

In a related development, King Abdullah discussed recent efforts to stem the violence in Jerusalem with US President Joe Biden.

Both men underlined the need to preserve the historic status quo of Al-Aqsa.

Last week, Jordans Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and met senior US State Department officials touring the region to discuss ways to reduce the tensions. Safadi later stated that he had received assurances Israel would stop Jewish worshippers entering Al-Aqsa during in the last 10 days of Ramadan.

Jerusalem, and especially the area around Al-Aqsa Mosque, is the most sensitive site in the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. Tensions this year have been heightened by Ramadan coinciding with the Jewish celebration of Passover.

More than 50 Palestinians were injured and hundreds arrested late last week in clashes with Israeli police within the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. At least 25 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and dozens wounded since clashes started more than two weeks ago.

The surge of violence in Jerusalem has raised fears of a repeat of last years war in Gaza.



*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The outbreak of World War III and the use of nuclear weapons is now a real danger as a result of the escalation of the war in Ukraine, Moscow warned this week

Officially, negotiations are still ongoing between Russia and Ukraine to reach a political solution to the devastating war in the country, which has now entered its third month. However, on the ground very few still believe in the possibility of a diplomatic solution.

The vital question now is how the parties involved in the war are preparing for a long, costly, and cross-border conflict that is open to extension on other fronts, and, worse, the possibility of using nuclear weapons.

This question is being asked more than ever in Western capitals after reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin has put diplomacy on the shelf and is now focused on achieving the largest possible military gains on the ground. It also comes after the announcement by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, following a visit to Kyiv with Secretary of State Antony Blinken where they met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, that Americas ultimate goal is to weaken Russia strategically so that it will no longer be able to launch any war like the Ukrainian war.

We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it cant do the kind of things that it has done in invading Ukraine, Austin said at a news conference at an undisclosed location in Poland near the Ukrainian border after the visit to Kyiv, while Blinken told reporters that Putin has failed in achieving his goals in Ukraine.

Russia has sought as its principal aim to totally subjugate Ukraine, to take away its sovereignty, to take away its independence  that has failed. It has sought to assert the power of its military and its economy. We, of course, are seeing just the opposite, a military that is dramatically underperforming and an economy... as a result of sanctions that are in shambles, Blinken said.

We dont know how the rest of this war will unfold, but we do know that a sovereign independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin is on the scene, he said.

The explicit statement that Washington aims to see Russias military capabilities weakened could be a moment of reckoning in the conflict. Blinken and Austins remarks are the most outright by US officials challenging Putins longevity as Russias president. They also emphasise the US goals of encircling, containing, and isolating Russia as long as Putin stays in power.

The remarks could suggest that even if Russian forces withdraw from the Ukrainian territory they have occupied since 24 February, the US and its allies would seek to maintain the sanctions to stop Russia from reconstituting its forces.

The statements also reflect the fact that NATO will take more hawkish policies towards Moscow by increasing military spending, deploying more troops to countries like Poland that have borders with Russia, and supporting the inclusion of more countries in the alliance such as Sweden and Finland.

The potential consequences of the statements and the ambiguity about whether they reflect a shift in Washingtons policy raise questions about why they were declared so bluntly.

Some Western diplomats argue that the forthright statements could weaken Russias incentive to withdraw from Ukraine, reinforcing Moscows narrative that NATO is waging a proxy war in Ukraine aimed at weakening Russia and even regime change and deepening Putins paranoia.

Isolated and under pressure, Putin, suffering from painful international sanctions, with questions even in his inner circle about the logic of the war, whose military campaign is faltering and moving slowly even in eastern Ukraine, could be very dangerous if he has nothing to lose, observers say.

One European diplomat told Al-Ahram Weekly that he was not sure that officials in France or Germany would have used the same language as the US defence secretary, describing it as counterproductive.

The pressure on Putin is increasing to quickly end the war and not expand it, but the American rhetoric might push Moscow to make disastrous choices if it felt that the head of the regime was targeted alongside the capabilities of the Russian army, he said.

These statements, if they reflect a new policy, will be a prelude to a long and open conflict with Russia not only in Ukraine but anywhere from the Middle East to Latin America, he added.

Nonetheless, on Tuesday Austin doubled down on the US stance as Washington vowed to move heaven and earth to help Ukraine win its battle against Russias invasion as he hosted defence talks in Germany with allies from 40 nations.

Speaking at the Ramstein Airbase in southwestern Germany, Austin pledged to help Ukraine win the fight against Russias unjust invasion and to build up Ukraines defences for tomorrows challenges.

As we see this morning, nations from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russias imperial aggression. Ukraine clearly believes that it can win and so does everyone here, he said.

The US is already the biggest supplier of international military aid to Ukraine, and Austin said Washington will keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet Kyivs needs.

The US-hosted meeting would focus on doing things to generate additional capability and capacity for the Ukrainian forces, according to the US defence secretary.

General Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said a key goal of the talks was to coordinate mounting security assistance to Kyiv that included heavy weaponry such as howitzers, as well as armed drones and ammunition.

The next several weeks will be very, very critical, Milley said. They need continued support in order to be successful on the battlefield. And thats really the purpose of this conference.

The US has been rushing more weapons to Ukraine and has said that the assistance from its Western allies is making a difference in the war. Blinken said Washington had approved $165 million in arms and would also provide more than $300 million in financing to buy more supplies.

More than half  $1.9 billion  of the US military aid to Ukraine since the war started has come in the last two weeks. More than 60 per cent of US military aid to Ukraine since the war started has come in the last month, amounting to $2.3 billion.

In another blow to Moscow, the German defence minister said Germany would authorise the delivery of tanks to Ukraine in what would be a switch in Berlins hesitancy to provide Kyiv with heavy weapons.

The German government has agreed to sign off on the delivery of used Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, Christine Lambrecht told the meeting at the US Ramstein Airbase.

Meanwhile, Russias top diplomat Sergei Lavrov warned Ukraine against provoking World War III and said that the threat of a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated. In a television interview, Lavrov warned that deliveries of Western weapons to Ukraine meant that the NATO alliance was in essence engaged in war with Russia.

In an apparent response to Austin, he said Russia has a feeling that the West wants Ukraine to continue to fight and, as it seems to them, wear out, exhaust, the Russian army and the Russian military-industrial war complex. This is an illusion.

Weapons supplied by Western countries will be a legitimate target, he said.

Storage facilities in western Ukraine have been targeted more than once [by Russian forces]. How can it be otherwise? Lavrov asked. NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.

He accused Ukrainian leaders of provoking Russia by asking NATO to become involved in the conflict. NATO forces are pouring oil on the fire, Lavrov warned, according to a transcript on the Russian Foreign Ministry website.

Everyone is reciting incantations that in no case can we allow World War III, Lavrov said, adding that he would not want to see risks of a nuclear confrontation artificially inflated now when the risks are rather significant.

The danger is serious, he said. It is real. It should not be underestimated.

With the ongoing war and the diminishing prospect for diplomacy, the declared US goal of weakening Russia as a strategic goal raises more questions than answers.

I think we are at a crossroads. Moscows threat of a nuclear war may be a hollow threat, but the world cannot bear to test Russias intentions if the war escalates and things get out of hand, warned the European diplomat.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Not far from Al-Aqsa Mosque, the site of repeated incursions and the violation of worshippers and those in seclusion, stand the Israeli barricades and obstructions that have robbed Christians of the Eastern Church of the joy of celebrating Holy Saturday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the struggle intensifies between the Palestinians and Israelis who are both trying to impose their will in the holy city.

The Israeli authorities impeded the arrival of worshippers hoping to participate in the Easter Vigil at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by erecting barricades and closing a number of the Old City gates in their faces. These measures are part of Israels escalation in Jerusalem and occupied Palestinian territories, under the pretext of security tensions in the city, which run parallel to tensions in the Gaza Strip.

While the Covid-19 pandemic restricted Easter celebrations over the past two years, Israeli security measures this year prevented a large number of Christians from participating in celebrations. An Israeli court had previously ruled that 4,000 worshippers could participate, but at the last minute Israel changed its mind and only allowed 1,500 people to go through. Eventually, Jerusalem residents broke through security barricades set up by the Israeli police that blocked access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Head of the Sebastia Diocese of the Greek Orthodox in Jerusalem, says Israel has turned the city of Jerusalem into a military barracks. Hanna also accused the occupation forces of savage aggressions against those celebrating Holy Saturday. The occupation army stormed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with weapons, he exclaimed.

Hanna told Al-Ahram Weekly the purpose of Israels recent actions at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is to provoke Christians, targeting an unprecedented Christian convergence on Jerusalem. He further accused Israel of transforming Jerusalem from a place of worship to a military barracks.

Hanna went on to say that the Israeli occupation is sabotaging religious occasions and committing crimes against everything Palestinian and Arab. He insisted that this constitutes a violation of the sanctity of the holy city, and requires immediate international intervention to save Jerusalem.

Hanna believes that the way Israel has sabotaged Ramadan festivities, which coincide with Easter, by repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Temple Mount, demonstrates that the Israeli occupation wants to exclude everyone, and has no desire to achieve peace in the world.

Israeli escalation was met with warnings by Palestinian factions who believe Israel is trying to impose a fait accompli on the ground, by violating holy sites for Palestinians, whether Al-Aqsa Mosque or Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Israeli escalation in Jerusalem increases the likelihood of renewed military confrontations between Palestinian factions in Gaza and the Israeli army. At the same time, sporadic firing of rockets from Gaza towards Israeli settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip will probably hasten confrontations.

In recent days, primitive rockets were fired towards Israel from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, but did not result in any losses on the ground. They did, however, open up all possibilities for Israeli officials. In response to these rocket attacks from Gaza, the Israeli army began preparing for a large-scale operation in Gaza, including a list of targets that will be presented to the political leadership, according to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

The newspaper said this is despite a political decision to respond to rocket attacks from Gaza with civil sanctions, and that the army  while ready to take action  supports these sanctions.

Israeli assessments suggest Hamas may not want large-scale military confrontations with Israel at this time, and prefer limiting escalation to Jerusalem and the West Bank. However, rapid developments in occupied Jerusalem brought the option of confrontation sooner.

Hamas wants to prove what it claims as a new dynamic between the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem, and the state of calm and tensions there. Meanwhile, Israel deals with the Palestinians using carrot and stick logic, by returning to policies of strangling Gaza by closing the Beit Hanoun-Erez crossing. Consequently, thousands of workers are deprived of working in Israel, and Gaza is deprived of the funds that these workers would bring in.

Tensions between Hamas and Israel due to attempts to impose new rules of engagement and achieve the greatest possible gains is a dangerous game according to analysts, because it may force the two sides to engage in a battle that neither side wants right now.

Riyad Al-Ayla, political science professor at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, argues that military escalation between Palestinian factions and the Israeli army depends on conditions in Jerusalem. Al-Ayla stated that the current situation could lead to new military confrontations that neither side wants. He told the Weekly that firing rockets from Gaza towards Israel is a message from the factions, since the battle in Jerusalem is not far from the Gaza Strip. Its an attempt by the factions to pressure Israel into calming the situation in Jerusalem, Al-Ayla stated.

He believes that military escalation between factions in Gaza and the Israeli army currently depends on Arab and international mediation efforts, stressing that US and Arab moves confirm that no one wants the situation between the Palestinians and the Israelis to worsen.

Several Arab countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel, especially Egypt, are exerting efforts to restore calm in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It is attempting to avert another military escalation in Gaza since Cairo oversees this issue, and is working on massive infrastructure projects in the Gaza Strip that it hopes will be completed without further obstructions.

Israel is under tremendous pressure from the radical right to promote the Judification of occupied Jerusalem, and impose more changes as a fait accompli. However, this plan collides with Palestinians rallying around Jerusalem at Christian and Muslim holy sites. This makes for an explosive situation for Israel, whether in the West Bank or Gaza.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Finnish president Sauli Niinisto is in hospital for monitoring due to "prolonged Covid-19 symptoms," his office said Tuesday.

"President Niinisto is feeling reasonably well and is continuing to work remotely," the office said.

The 73-year-old head of state was diagnosed with coronavirus on April 19, leading to the postponement of a visit to Nordic neighbour Norway.

The president's illness comes as Finland's politicians mull a potential application to join NATO, which would be a historic reversal in policy for the country.

Finns have traditionally been against joining the Western military alliance, but opinion polls have recorded soaring support and even majorities in favour following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Niinisto is scheduled to visit neighbouring Sweden, where the issue is also being debated, on May 18, and the two countries are widely expected to act in unison.

Since the end of the Cold War, the two Nordic nations have remained non-aligned, but they have deepened ties and are close partners with NATO, stopping short of membership.

Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin, on a visit to Sweden in mid-April, said a decision on a membership application was expected "within weeks."

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The Ptolemaic Dynasty that ruled Egypt between the first and fourth centuries CE had many powerful and famous queens.

The Ptolemaic Dynasty, sometimes referred to as the Lagid Dynasty (after Ptolemy Is father Lagus) was a Macedonian Greek royal dynasty that ruled the Ptolemaic kingdom in ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic Period. Its rule lasted for 275 years from 305 to 30 BCE and was the last dynasty of ancient Egypt.

Ptolemy, one of the seven somatophylakes (bodyguard companions), a general, and a possible half-brother of Alexander the Great, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexanders death in 323 BCE In 305, he declared himself the Pharaoh Ptolemy I, later known as Soter or Saviour.

The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemys family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BCE, during which there were many famous queens of the Ptolemaic Dynasty.

Arsinoe II: Queen Arsinoe II had a strong personality and unparalleled ambition. She had a great influence on her husband Ptolemy II and his politics during her life and after her death. She was the most famous and most powerful woman in her lifetime.

Arsinoe was the first Ptolemaic queen to be officially deified during their lives  hers and that of her husband Ptolemy II  under the title Philadelphus, which means loving for her brother or loving for his sister. Her husband was the actual founder of the cult of the Ptolemaic royal family, when he declared the deification of his father and mother and Alexander the Great and of himself and his second wife Arsinoe II in his lifetime.

Arsinoes marriage to Ptolemy II was her third marriage. Since she had no children from Ptolemy II, she raised the sons of Arsinoe I as her own. One of them ruled Egypt as king Ptolemy III Euergetes after the death of his father Ptolemy II. Arsinoe II was the unchallenged queen of the country for five to seven years and the undisputed first lady. On many occasions, she was involved in Egypts domestic and foreign policy and participated in ruling the country.

Despite Ptolemy IIs love for Arsinoe II, he was not satisfied by her alone, and he had a large number of beautiful concubines. After her death, her husband, sad at the death of his beloved, deified her using attributes strongly influenced by the religion of the ancient Egyptians and thereby increasing his popularity among the Egyptian people. The cult of queen Arsinoe II flourished. Her priestesses performed rituals and commemorated her long after her death. With her political prominence and high visibility, Arsinoe II presented a new model of queenship in Egypts long and civilised history

Berenice II: Queen Berenice II was the wife of the third Ptolemaic king, Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-221 BCE). A militarily active king like his grandfather Ptolemy I, Ptolemy III expanded the Ptolemaic kingdom to include parts of Syria, Libya, and northern Nubia. The king himself led the Egyptian army in 246 BCE and occupied northern Syria.

Queen Berenice II was Ptolemy IIIs only wife. She was the daughter of the Macedonian Greek Magas, king of Cyrene (Cyrenaica in present-day Libya), and Queen Apame II, of Syrian origin. After her fathers death, Berenice married a Macedonian prince known as Demetrius the Beautiful.

A sinful relationship arose between Apame II and Demetrius, and Berenice assassinated Demetrius in the bed of her mother. Berenice did not have children from Demetrius. However, she was rewarded by her marriage to Ptolemy III, with whom she bore about four sons and two daughters, most importantly king Ptolemy IV (221-205 BCE).

Berenice had several titles, namely the Mother of the King and the Sister and Wife of the Son of the Egyptian god Re. This demonstrates a strong interest in the ancient Egyptian religion. She was depicted in Alexandrian mosaic art as a symbol of the eternal city of Alexandria. She may have ruled Egypt on behalf of her husband, Ptolemy III, for about five years during his absence in his Syrian war. She owned land and racehorses, won victories in chariot races, and may have ridden on the battlefield.

Berenice II was murdered in the power struggles that took place after the death of her husband Ptolemy III in 221 BCE. Berenice II and Ptolemy III were deified during their lives under the royal title Euergetes, meaning Two Benevolent Gods. The queen was worshipped after her death in the city of Alexandria.

Queen Cleopatra II: Queen Cleopatra II (185-116 BCE) was the daughter of king Ptolemy V Epiphanes (meaning the Apparent) and queen Cleopatra I, of Syrian origin, whose reigns began a period of a weakened and unstable Ptolemaic state. Her brothers were Ptolemy VI and Ptolemy VIII Euergetes.

After Ptolemy V died in 180 BCE, queen Cleopatra I ruled with Ptolemy VI until her death four years later. On her deathbed, she appointed Eulaeus and Lenaeus, two of her close associates, as regents of the nine-year-old Ptolemy VI. Eulaeus, a eunuch who had been Ptolemy VIs tutor, was the more senior of the two, even minting coinage in his own name. Lenaeus was a Syrian slave who had probably come to Egypt as part of Cleopatra Is retinue when she got married. He seems to have been specifically in charge of managing the kingdoms finances.

In early 175 BCE, Eulaeus and Lenaeus arranged Ptolemy VIs marriage to his sister Cleopatra II. Brother-sister marriage was traditional in the Ptolemaic Dynasty and was probably adopted in imitation of earlier Egyptian Pharaohs. Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II were still young children, so the marriage was not consummated for many years. The couple were incorporated into the Ptolemaic dynastic cult as the Theoi Philometores (the Mother-loving Gods), named in honour of the deceased Cleopatra I.

In Egyptian religious contexts, this title recalled the relationship with the pharaohs as Horus and his mother Isis. Cleopatra II took the titles of the Sister and Wife of the Son of Re and Lady of the Two Lands. She bore Ptolemy VI four sons: two sons by the name of Ptolemy, and two daughters by the name of Cleopatra. She later married her other brother king Ptolemy VIII.

* The writer is director of the Antiquities Museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Egypt's Permanent Representative to the UN Osama Abdel-Khalek warned during a meeting of the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) on Monday that Israel's continued attempts to "Judaise" East Jerusalem and change the historical and legal status quo for its holy sites portend a dangerous escalation.

The UNSC's meeting comes in light of the recent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces during religious holidays.

Over the past three weeks, Israeli forces have repeatedly stormed the mosque to evacuate it of Palestinians secluding there, as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan has coincided with Jewish Passover.

"Radical Jewish groups are storming into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound daily under the protection of Israeli occupying forces during Ramadan, which is reminiscent of the events of 2021 that led to hundreds of deaths and injuries," he added, referring to last year's 11-day Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip.

The Egyptian representative called on all parties to show restraint and fully protect Muslim worshippers, noting that worshippers "must be allowed to practice their faith in the mosque."

He also highlighted Egyptian efforts to pave the way for resuming the Middle East peace talks, the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.

Egypt has been in talks with several regional and international players to revive the long-frozen Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, and has repeatedly called for a two-state solution that involves establishing an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Abdel-Khalek stressed the need to cease all unilateral measures in the West Bank, including settlement expansion, as well as attempts to expel Palestinian families from the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan and the demolition of Palestinian buildings.

On Sunday, the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, and the UAE held a meeting in Cairo where they stressed the importance of respecting the historical legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, calling for sustained efforts to restore calm.

The Arab leaders called for respecting the role of the historical Hashemite custodianship in protecting the Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.

They also underscored the importance of stopping all Israeli measures that undermine the two-state solution and the need to find a political horizon for resuming serious and effective negotiations to resolve Israeli-Palestinian tensions in accordance with international law.

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Egypts Food Safety Authority (FSA) announced on Tuesday that it has given Indomie Egypt 48 hours to pull from Egyptian markets its chicken and vegetables flavoured instant noodles as well as instant noodles with chili packs as they are are unfit for human consumption.

According to the statement issued by FSA, periodic food safety tests revealed Indomies chili packets and the chicken and vegetable flavors packets were found to be unsuitable for human consumption due to the presence of aflatoxins and pesticide residues in quantities that exceeded safe limits.

Other than those three products, Indomie instant noodles were generally found to be safe for human consumption.

The FSA stated that following its findings it decided to pull the products in question from the food supply chain, banning the sale of non-conforming chili and flavour packs and giving Indomie Egypt 48 hours to withdraw the products from store shelves.

It also ordered the company to remove claims on its products packages that they contain vitamin B, iron, zinc and calcium.

The FSA ordered Indomie Egypt to stop dealing with the company producing the chili powder until corrective measures are taken to ensure that the product is free of contaminants and pathogens.

Indomie Egypt has already withdrawn 733,340 cartons of flavoured instant noodles since it was informed of the FSAs decisions, according to the statement.

In addition to withdrawing the non-conforming products, Indomie Egypt is also offering instant noodles without the chili packs.

Indonesian company Indomie is a popular instant noodles brand in Egypt that inaugurated its first factory in Egypt in 2009.

In early April, complaints from parents spread about their children who became sick after eating the quick and cheap flavoured noodles.

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Egypts Minister of Manpower Mohamed Saafan said the countrys recent national development projects created a multitude of job opportunities and contributed to reducing the rate of unemployment.

The minister hailed President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis latest decision to increase the minimum wage for public sector employees to EGP 2,700  up from EGP 2,400  starting July as part of a broader package to address the ongoing global economic challenges and their repercussions as historical.

Most private sector workplaces nationwide  estimated at 3.7 million institutions  are committed to the EGP 2,400 minimum wage, with only 3,028 institutions requesting an exemption due to financial considerations, the minister said in an interview with Egyptian state news agency MENA on Tuesday.

These requests, he noted, are currently under examination, emphasising that no request will be accepted from any facility unless it submits documents indicating its eligibility for the exemption.

As for female workers, Saafan said that the ministry is providing appropriate working conditions for women and implementing a number of awareness-raising programmes on the role of women in the workplace and their rights and duties as stipulated in the constitution and the law.

The ministry will also soon launch the national plan for gender equality at work to integrate females into the labour market and provide a supportive framework for women to work in the private sector and enhance opportunities for their economic participation, the minister noted.

As for Egyptians expats, the minister assured that the number of Egyptian workers abroad is increasing despite global economic challenges, such as the coronavirus pandemic.

As many as 320,848 job opportunities abroad were provided for Egyptians over the course of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 despite the pandemic, according to Saafan.

He added that his ministry has also recently launched an electronic link system to regulate Egyptian labours entry into Libya and help reconstructing its western neighbour.

Furthermore, Egyptian workers will only be allowed to return to Libya through the new system, he stressed, saying that it is estimated that Libya will need millions of Egyptian workers for its reconstruction efforts.

Saafan also pointed out that efforts are underway to activate electronic link systems with other countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, in order to regulate the entry of Egyptian labourers there.

Additionally, the ministry is currently preparing a comprehensive strategic report on future jobs in Egypt over the next two decades, which Saafan said will witness changes due to the tremendous technological development in the production process.

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A double ridge cutting across the surface of Europa is seen in this mosaic of two images taken by NASAs Galileo during the spacecrafts close flyby on Feb. 20, 1997. Analysis of a similar feature in Greenland suggests shallow liquid water may be ubiquitous across the Jovian moons icy shell. Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

Parallel ice ridges, a common feature on Jupiter's moon Europa, are found on Greenland's ice sheet - and could bode well for Europa's potential habitability.

Parallel ice ridges in Greenland bear a striking resemblance to ridges on Jupiter's ice-encased moon Europa, suggesting the moon's icy shell could be riddled with pockets of water.

This similarity could greatly improve the odds of NASA's Europa Clipper mission detecting potentially habitable environments on the Jovian moon. The spacecraft's ice-penetrating radar instrument REASON (short for Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface) will be ideal for conducting such a search.

"If there are pockets of water under the ridges, we have the right instruments to see them," said Dustin Schroeder, a Stanford University associate professor and coauthor of a new study comparing Greenland's "double ridges" with those of Europa.

Scientists say evidence gathered so far shows that Europa harbors a deep liquid ocean, hidden beneath an ice shell that could be 10 to 15 miles (15 to 25 kilometers) thick. Because the ice is so substantial, a big question about the moon is whether anything from the deep ocean makes contact with the surface - or if contact goes the other way, with surface material filtering down to the ocean water.

"It's exciting, what it would mean if you have plenty of water within the ice shell," said coauthor Gregor Steinbrugge, a former Stanford researcher who is now a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "It would mean the ice shell on Europa is extremely dynamic. It could facilitate exchange processes between the surface and the subsurface ocean. It could go in both directions."

Potential life-sustaining nutrients on Europa's surface - perhaps deposited there by another Jupiter moon, volcanic Io - might find their way to the subsurface ocean, he said. And chemicals or other material from the subsurface indicating a habitable ocean environment could end up on the surface.

How Ridges May Have Formed

During a presentation on Europa's ridges, the study's lead author, Stanford graduate student Riley Culberg, said he noticed similar landforms in Greenland. Ice-penetrating radar data collected from 2015 to 2017 by NASA's Operation IceBridge, an aerial observation campaign, showed not only the existence of a double ridge in northwestern Greenland, but also details of how it evolved.

The double ridges observed on the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet formed when water from nearby surface lakes drained into a layer of impermeable ice within the ice sheet. Once there, the water pocket refroze and fractured the overlying ice, forcing peaks to rise on either side.

Something similar could be happening on Europa, but instead with water forced up toward the surface from the subsurface ocean. The ridge features on Europa, while similar to the Greenland ridges, are much larger and with taller peaks, perhaps due in part to lower gravity on Europa.

Europa Clipper's REASON instrument is designed to make the same kind of measurements at Europa that the IceBridge radar made in Greenland. Both use radio waves that can penetrate deeply into ice. The same waves, however, cannot penetrate liquid water and are instead reflected back to the radar instrument. Water shows up as a bright patch in the radar images. These radargrams can therefore provide a vertical profile of water and ice deep below the surface.

"You get reflections that are a thousand times brighter for water as opposed to ice," Schroeder said.

Schroeder, a co-investigator on REASON and part of a group that studies Europa's interior, said the new study could help the Europa Clipper team design observations to determine whether the ridges on the moon and in Greenland arose from the same underlying causes - and whether water pockets are common within Europa's icy shell.

The study also highlights the growing synergy between scientists who study our planetary neighbors in the solar system and those who focus on Earth.

"This research will help us either use Earth to understand what we will see on Europa or, when we get to Europa, help us interpret what we see when we get there," Schroeder said.

More About the Mission

Missions such as Europa Clipper contribute to the field of astrobiology, the interdisciplinary research on the variables and conditions of distant worlds that could harbor life as we know it. While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will conduct detailed reconnaissance of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon, with its subsurface ocean, has the capability to support life. Understanding Europa's habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.

More information about Europa can be found here: https://europa.nasa.gov

Astrobiology

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Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi assigned on Tuesday the National Youth Conference to conduct political dialogue with all parties and youth political powers on the current priorities of national action and to present its outcomes to him personally.

El-Sisis remarks came during the Egyptian Family Iftar banquet, which has been held every year since 2017 with the participation of all segments of society.

Following El-Sisis statement, the National Training Academy announced its adoption of his directives and that it would hold a number of meetings between all elements of the various political and youth forces within a national dialogue aimed at developing a national ideas agenda to deal with all pressing issues.

Leaders of Sinai tribes and representatives from farmers and political parties, in addition to artists, intellectuals, academics, businessmen, youth and women attended the event.

During his speech, El-Sisi spoke about the current economic crisis in the country, issuing a set of economy-related directives, chief among which was directing the government to hold an international press conference to declare the Egyptian states plan to deal with the crisis.

He also assigned the government to support local wheat farmers in Egypt  which used to get 80 percent of its wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine  and provide them financial and service incentives to increase Egypts local wheat production and reach self-sufficiency.

Earlier in March, upon El-Sisis directives, Egypts cabinet decided to grant wheat farmers an incentive of EGP 65 for each ardeb (1 ardeb is equivalent to 150kg) to encourage them to increase the quantities they sell to the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade.

The government also decided to start the wheat season early this year, at the start of April, to shore up the country's strategic reserves.

The president also called on the ministries and institutions to continue to offer basic commodities nationwide at subsidised prices to the citizens till the end of the year.

Moreover, El-Sisi stated that the upcoming period would witness a double support to the private sector to allow it to be able to do its role in supporting the development of the economy.

He also assigned the government to announce a program for the private sector to participate in state-owned assets with a target of $10 billion annually for a period of four years as well as to start offering stakes from state-owned companies on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.

The government was also assigned to list companies owned by the Armed Forces on the stock market before the end of this year, El-Sisi announced, echoing his 2019 statements in which he said "Egyptians will buy shares in these companies. It is an opportunity for them.

Re-activating Presidential Pardon Committee

During his speech, El-Sisi also announced the re-activation of the Presidential Pardon Committee, which was initially formed in October 2016, to review the cases of those imprisoned for political crimes and others who meet certain other conditions, such as families who have more than one relative in jail.

The new formation of the committee will compromise the Deputy Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee in the House of Representative Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, MP Tarek El-Kholy, former member of the 2016s committee Karim El-Sakka, human rights lawyer Tarek El-Awady, and Egypt's former manpower minister Kamal Abu Eita.

The committee will start its work on Tuesday to receive the names of the imprisoned youth from various parties and political forces, the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) and the Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives. Its scope of work will be expanded to include imprisoned male and female debtors.

Thanks to 2016s committee, thousands of prisoners were granted presidential pardons.

El-Sisi also expressed his happiness for the decision of the public prosecution to release several pre-trial prisoners on Sunday, noting that Egypt as a homeland accommodates all Egyptians.

He also directed the government to resume payment of private debts owed by imprisoned debtors.

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"There is no question that London is the dirty money capital of the world," a recent video report by The Financial Times (FT) said.

This is taking place near or in countries not far from international bodies and organisations specialised in combating money laundering, where they direct accusations against many other countries, but at the same time turn a blind eye to what is happening in London, according to Western economic sources.

The origins came with the big bang under Margaret Thatcher when she started liberalising the financial services sector, and then that carried on under the labour government with a commission on deregulation, the report said.

The Financial Times published a lengthy investigation that revealed the involvement of British banks and law firms in money laundering operations. It said that London had for decades represented an incubator for corruption and criminals from all over the world, and that it did not turn a blind eye to Russian money, but rather welcomed it.

The Financial Times report said that 31 law firms, 86 banks and 177 educational institutions in Britain accepted or moved dirty money from around the world back home. It added that the London Stock Exchange welcomed many Russian companies, turning the United Kingdom and London to their European base.

There are statements on the record from Boris Johnson, the prime minister, from when he was the mayor of London, saying that he wanted to make London a hub for Russian money. The Stock Exchange welcomed lots of Russian companies, and wanted them to make the UK and London their European base.

Let's say you wanted to bring dirty money into the City of London and integrate it into the system, there are basically four key stages, placement, layering, integration, and defence. So let's start with bringing your money from, say, a Latvian bank account, a Cayman bank account, you want to then move that into a UK shell company, the report said.

You're supposed to tell the Companies House registry who the real owners, the beneficial owners, of the companies are. But in practise, it's really easy to evade those rules. And fundamentally, no one goes after companies that just lie.

"It is essentially a Wild West of information, which is unverified, and in some cases ludicrous," the report said.

"You can put forward any name, hide your identity. There are Adolf Hitlers, and Donald Ducks, and Mickey Mouses. It is so easy to register a company on Companies House, costs 12, you can do it in minutes. And crucially, no one checks the information."

Usually, the applications are approved within 24 hours. They do not actually have the statutory power to check the information, to investigate false information, or remove it from the register.

"The next stage you want to layer to move this money around in a series of complicated financial transactions that will distance you from the money and from your source of wealth. That's where the UK banks come in. Some 86 banks have been involved in obtaining, moving corrupt wealth around the world," the report said.

The cash, by the time it arrives in London, has probably already gone through a couple of British overseas territories like the British Virgin Islands.

"Step three is you want to integrate your wealth into the UK system. You want to buy assets, including UK property. Lawyers, real estate agents are on hand to help you do that," the report said.

The report detailed that one can own UK property through a shell company, even an offshore shell company.

"And if you do own it through an offshore shell company, you don't have to say who really owns that property."

Lawyers are on hand to advise on these complicated transactions, which creates an opaque ownership structure of some of the most valuable UK homes. Roughly 84,000 homes in the UK are owned anonymously. Some 6.7 billion of UK property has been bought with suspicious wealth, the report said.

One of the attractions of being in London is the network of lawyers, accountants, oligarchs, and kleptocrats, according to the report. English law provides a stamp of legitimacy.

"We've identified 81 law firms, 86 UK banks, and surprisingly 177 UK education institutions that have accepted or moved dirty money from around the world. Russians own our newspapers, their children are in the elite public schools. Their properties are in Mayfair."

The value of money laundering every year is between 23 billion and 57 billion, in Britain; one of the largest economies in the world.

Veteran Labour MP Margaret Hodge said that what is "very worrying is that the government has held extensive consultations on this issue, and had a bill literally waiting on the shelves for years, however, it left many holes in it. We closed some of them, and we were unable to close others. There are many points in it that we cannot achieve."

"I feel uncomfortable that it took the tragedy of Ukraine to get the government to act on the issue of dirty money," she added as quoted by Independent Arabia.

The same newspaper quoted Joe Powell, the co-founder of the Kensington Against Dirty Money campaign as he asserted that ministers have to act now against the illicit wealth stored in the United Kingdom.

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Two Iraqi soldiers were killed Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up during an army raid targeting Islamic State group militants north of Baghdad, security sources said.

A trapped militant "detonated his explosives belt, killing a major and another soldier, also wounding three others", an interior ministry source told AFP, asking not to be named.

A second Islamist militant was killed when he also tried to set off a suicide bomb in the army operation in the rural area of Tarmiya, the source said.

IS overran large swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014, declaring a "caliphate", before Baghdad declared victory in late 2017 after a grinding campaign.

But a low-level jihadist insurgency has persisted, particularly in rural areas north of Baghdad around the city of Kirkuk and in the eastern provinces of Diyala and Salaheddin.

On Tuesday, Iraqi military command spokesman Yahya Rassoul said "43 Islamic State elements" had been killed in a recent operation in the northern province of Niniveh, of which the former IS bastion Mosul is the capital.

According to a UN report last year, some 10,000 IS fighters remain active in Iraq and Syria.

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A veteran Tunisian opposition figure announced Tuesday the creation of a new alliance to "save" the country from deep crisis following President Kais Saied's power grab last year.

Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, 78, a prominent left-wing politician who opposed dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali's rule, said the new National Salvation Front aimed to unite political forces, re-establish constitutional and democratic processes and guarantee freedoms and rights in the country.

"We want a return to legitimacy and democracy," he told a news conference in the capital Tunisia.

Saied -- a former law professor elected in 2019 amid public anger against the political class -- on July 25 last year sacked the government, suspended parliament and seized wide-ranging powers.

He later gave himself powers to rule and legislate by decree and seized control over the judiciary.

He dissolved parliament last month, dealing another blow to the political system put in place after the North African country's 2011 revolution.

Chebbi opposes Saied's moves and describes them as a "military takeover".

The new alliance comprises five political parties including Saied's nemesis the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, along with five civil society groups involving independent political figures.

The Front's priority is to rescue an economy ruined by a "rotten" political system that puts off investors, Chebbi said.

It also aims to involve other political groups and "influential" figures before launching a national dialogue on reforms to "save the country", he added.

Chebbi called for a "salvation government" to lead the country during a "transition period" before new elections.

Last week Saied assigned himself the power to appoint the head of the electoral commission, a move critics say aims to create a tame electoral body ahead of a referendum slated for July on constitutional reforms, and legislative elections due in December.

Last month, Saied also inaugurated a "temporary" council of judges to replace an independent watchdog he abolished when seizing sweeping powers over the judiciary.

Saied's initial power grab last year was welcomed by many Tunisians sick of the often-stalemated post-revolution political system.

But an increasing array of critics say he has moved the country down a dangerous path back towards autocracy.

Saied has argued that the North African country's 2014 constitution allowed him to take "exceptional measures".

The country is also in talks with the International Monetary Fund aimed at securing a financial bailout.

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The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) launched on Tuesday the 13th round of its annual Export IT Programme, which aims to support Egyptian IT companies in developing their resources, leveraging their competitiveness, and reducing their export-related costs.

Under this programme, the eligible micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will receive a direct export incentive on the collected proceeds of their value-added exports, according to the ITIDA.

Accordingly, micro companies are to receive a 35 percent incentive, small-sized companies a 15 percent incentive, and medium-sized companies a 10 percent incentive.

In this edition of the programme, the ITIDA classifies the companies based on a single criterion, which is the total annual revenue, with a ceiling value of EGP 1 million for micro-companies; a value exceeding EGP 1 million and a capital of EGP 20 million for small companies; and a value exceeding EGP 20 million and a capital of EGP 150 million for medium companies.

The programme also offers an additional 5 percent incentive to support companies specialised in emerging technologies, including the internet of things (IoT) and blockchain, cyber security, embedded software, chipset design, Robotics Process Automation (RPA), Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

An additional 5 percent incentive is also given to companies that have realised growth in their approved value-added exports, and to companies holding level three CMMI-DEV or CMMI-SVC certificates.

An extra 10 percent incentive is given to companies with IPR Certificates, and companies operating in tier two cities or governorates other than Cairo, Giza, and Alexandria.

The ITIDA formed a committee to thoroughly update and develop the programmes terms and conditions to realise its objective, maximise the support presented to micro and small companies, as well as develop a mechanism to govern the support provided to companies and avoid duplication of support with other programmes, CEO of ITIDA Amr Mahfouz stated.

Mahfouz added that the ITIDA is keen on boosting the growth of the IT market in Egypt and help local MSMEs operating in this field to develop their resources, enhance their competitiveness, and help them reduce their export-related costs.

The programme accepts local ICT companies with more than 50 percent of Egyptian ownership that have a headquarter in Egypt and export ICT services and IT-enabled services such as contact centre services, consultation, and training services related to the IT industry.

Companies, as per the ITIDAs classification, whose total annual revenue exceeds EGP 150 million are not eligible for participation in the programme.

In the previous rounds of its Export IT programme, the ITIDA disbursed EGP 550 million to 250 local Egyptian companies. The programme supports ICT exports, channels exporters to increase their competitiveness, and helps reduce export-related costs.

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The United States was occupied for 12 hours with a terrorist incident in Texas, where a British person held hostage a synagogue rabbi and three worshipers for long hours. The terrorist claimed to be the brother of Dr. Afia Siddiqui, and demanded her release in exchange for the release of the hostages. The terrorist was killed in the incident and no one was injured.

Who is Afia?

Afia Siddiqui was born in 1972 in Pakistan. She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the prestigious Brandeis University. Neuroscience is divided into 25 branches, which range from emotional neuroscience to biological, clinical, cognitive, developmental, and molecular. The branches of that important science extend to neuroengineering, neurochemistry, neurophysics, neurogenetics, neuroimmunology, and a number of other branches.

Neuroscience studies the biological basis of learning, memory, behaviour, cognition, and consciousness." While the successes of biology seem to have taken it to an unprecedented level, the field of neuroscience still has a lot to do. According to the great scientist Eric Richard Kandel, Nobel Prize winner in 2000, Neuroscience represents the final challenge for biology.

A lethal moisturising cream

Siddiqui had a precious opportunity to serve humanity and serve her country. She was very fortunate to study that impactful science in the world's major universities. Her duty could have been to return to Karachi to establish a modern institute of neurosciences, to benefit her country with that with which she had been blessed, and to return to her homeland what she had been given.

Siddiqui chose a different path, however. She started working with terrorist groups on engineering a lethal recipe: science in the service of murder.

The Pakistani neuroscientist lived in Boston. She was trying to convince her husband to join her in the path of terror. She spent many years preparing to use what she had learned to support terrorist operations, based on her expertise in neurology.

In 2003, a long chase began between the security services in the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan, trying to cut off the path of Afia Siddiqui, stop her perilous intentions, and bring her to trial. Neither Washington nor Islamabad succeeded. However, the local police in Afghanistan succeeded in arresting her in 2008. This was not, of course, during the Taliban era.

According to the Afghan police, Siddiqui was carrying dangerous materials in bottles of moisturising cream, and she was in possession of diagrams for chemical warfare. She was accused of planning a chemical assault and of possessing blueprints for the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building in New York.

Siddiqui was imprisoned in the infamous American Bagram base in Afghanistan. She was interrogated after her arrest. According to the Afghan media and the testimonies of witnesses, Siddiqui had succeeded in seizing a gun and firing shots, injuring a number of American soldiers.

In 2010, the American judiciary sentenced Siddiqui to 86 years in prison. She was incarcerated in a military prison near Dallas. The three countries witnessed demonstrations for her release. And when her radical supporters claimed her innocence, ISIS offered Washington, in return for the handover of the scientist, the release of American journalist James Foley, who had been kidnapped by the organisation. That offer was rejected by Washington.

So, Siddiqui continued to serve her sentence, and ISIS executed the American journalist. ISIS then demanded that Afia be extradited in exchange for another American journalist. More offers were made in exchange for her extradition, revealing the importance of the Pakistani neuroscientist to ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

Many sources, not including her family, indicate that Siddiqui, who was divorced from her husband, remarried the nephew of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The Western media calls Siddiqui the lady of Al-Qaeda, and others call her the lady of ISIS. No one calls her the lady of science.

The picture of the young woman in her MIT graduation attire presaged the future of a scientist. But the trajectory she took was too far afield from that joyful spectacle. She chose blood over science.

May Moser: The successful neuroscientist

Siddiquis story represents the exact opposite of that of Norwegian neuroscientist May-Britt Moser.

Moser was born in 1963. She studied at the universities of Edinburgh and Oslo. She married Dr. Edward Moser, who was a year older than her and who also studied at the same universities.

Siddiqui conspired with her husband on the journey of terror, while Moser collaborated with her husband in the journey of science. Siddiquis road ended in prison, and the Mosers path ended with the Nobel Prize. Siddiqui was trying to develop neuroscience for the sake of death, and May was trying to develop neuroscience for the sake of life.

GPS is used by millions around the world to identify locations and find ways to pinpoint them, but not many people have thought about the human positioning system. This system helps a person store roads in their memory. That is how they knows how to get to their house, their work, and to a large number of sites in many areas. What is this human GPS that helps the brain determine locations?

Moser and her husband, Edward, did research on the "locational mechanism of the human brain. The great success of their research led to them being awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize.

The Mosers studied how humans make a mental map of a place, how they find their way in that complex ocean, and how they store information so they can find their way a second time around. The Mosers discovered the "intracerebral positioning system", and they were able to determine precisely the types of neurons that generate that system inside the brain.

If the satellite navigational system is called the GPS, the Mosers and famous neuroscientist John OKeefe, with whom they were awarded the Nobel Prize, named the location system within the brain the Network Cells".

Two scientists, two paths

In Pakistan, the neuroscientist Siddiqui cooperated with the Al-Qaeda network and the ISIS cells. In Norway, the Moser established the Memory Revival Centre and co-founded the Institute of Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Siddiqui was focused on the work of the terrorist groups and organisations, while Moser focused on the work of the Network Cells inside the brain.

The Islamic world is faced with the same two options: either its scientific elite works on its progress and development, or they work to sabotage and destroy the very same. Either the influential Muslim scholars choose the path of Afia Siddiqui, or the path of May Moser.

This is not the tale of two scientists. It is the tale of two opposing vocations and the future of two civilisations.

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Egypt signed multi-billion dollar agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) this week to encourage the creation of global consortia and alliances specialising in green fuel production. Green fuel is produced using renewable processes and from renewable resources.

The aim of these MoUs is to prepare a [suitable] investment climate for global alliances to start the financial, technical, and legal studies necessary to contract with Egypt ahead of the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Yehia Zaki, chair of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) told Skynews Arabia.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli said that Egypt was keen on attracting foreign investments in green hydrogen ventures and plans to introduce a package of incentives to press ahead with the countrys strategy to increase green fuel in its energy mix.

The premier said that this came as Egypt was becoming more determined than ever to implement huge green hydrogen projects to become a regional hub for energy.

The UN meeting, slated to be held in November in Sharm El-Sheikh, is gaining international momentum, especially from investors interested in green energy, seen as the holy grail in the battle to halt climate change.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) plans to produce between five and six million tons of green fuel products through projects that are currently being agreed upon with global consortia during the current period, with an expected date of production by mid-2024, Zaki added.

Over the past week, Hassan Allam Utilities signed two MoUs with the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) to build hydrogen plants in the SCZone and on the Egyptian Mediterranean coast, with a production capacity of up to 480,000 tons of green hydrogen annually in various stages until 2030.

Under the two MoUs, Masdar, one of the worlds leading renewable energy companies, and Hassan Allam Utilities, the investment and development arm of the Hassan Allam Holding Group, will form a consortium to develop green hydrogen production plants in the SCZone and on the Mediterranean coast, a cabinet statement said.

The MoUs were signed as part of efforts to encourage global, Arab, and local companies to enter Egypts green energy investment market, added the statement. These agreements represent a vital step forward in the development of the green hydrogen economy for both the UAE and Egypt and will play a significant role in our two nations decarbonisation efforts, CEO of Masdar Mohamed Jameel said.

Egypt and the UAE are slated to host the next two sessions of the COP27 and COP28 meetings.

CEO Hassan Allam said that the first phase of the project will establish a green hydrogen production plant to be operational in 2026. The plant will produce 100,000 tons of green methanol annually to supply marine transport ships in the Suez Canal, along with 2.3 million tons of green ammonia for export by 2030, in addition to supplying local industries with green hydrogen.

Earlier this week, a consortium led by EDF Renewables and UAE-based Zero Waste signed an MoU worth $3 billion for cooperation on the joint development of a green hydrogen and green ammonia mega-project to be located in the SCZone.

The project, signed by the Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), the General Authority for the SCZone, and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, will see the production of 350,000 tons of green fuel per year.

Another MoU was signed during the week by the Egyptian government and AMEA Power UAE, affiliated with the Al-Nowais Group, to set up a project to produce another 390,000 tons of green ammonia annually within the SCZone.

Last month, Egypt and Norway signed two agreements to construct and operate a project to produce green hydrogen with a 100 MW capacity in the SCZone and another agreement on the purchase of hydrogen. The deal comes within the framework of an MoU that Egypt signed with Norways Scatec earlier in March for the construction of Egypts first ammonia plant at a cost of $5 billion.

On 10 March, the cabinet said that this project would have a production capacity of one million tons annually, with the potential to expand to three million tons. The project, expected to start production in 2025, will aim to export green ammonia to European and Asian markets.

The agreements were signed by a consortium of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, Egypts Orascom Construction, the Norwegian Scatec company, and the UAE-based ammonia producer Fertiglobe, a joint venture between the UAEs Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and the Netherlands chemical producer OCI.

The partnership further solidifies the Funds commitment to investing in the energy transition value chain in line with Egypts roadmap towards zero-emission targets, Ayman Suleiman, CEO of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, commented. We are thrilled to play an active role in the green transformation towards a more sustainable future, he said.

The Sovereign Fund of Egypt, Norways Government Pension Fund Global, and Scatec also signed a framework agreement on cooperation in developing renewable energy, green hydrogen, and green infrastructure in a number of African countries, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Ghana, South Sudan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Djibouti, and Uganda as a first phase, with expansion into other African countries in a second.

In the meantime, the US company Honeywell announced that it was seeking to pump $200 million in investments into Egypt for the production of green fuel and petrochemicals for jet fuel production in cooperation with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), according to a statement by the cabinet.

The announcement came during a meeting between Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek Al-Molla and a delegation from Honeywell to discuss future cooperation and investment opportunities in the fields of green energy.

Honeywells Country President for Egypt Khaled Hisham said that the country had the potential to become a pivotal centre linking Europe with the Middle East, especially in green fuel projects to refuel ships and produce hydrogen and ammonia.

The company also seeks to establish a centre to follow up on projects and provide consulting services in Egypt, Hisham added. Honeywell wants to expand its business portfolio in Egypt and participate in strategic projects, especially in the fields of green fuels and providing advanced technologies to reduce emissions. It could also contribute to initiatives being prepared for launch at COP27.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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French President Emmanuel Macron was, and is, very difficult to handle. Nevertheless, all Western leaders were relieved when he scored a neat victory in the second round of the French presidential elections last Sunday, winning the race with 58.5 per cent of the vote.

His competitor, Marine Le Pen, had all the characteristics that Western establishments dislike. First of all, she has close ties with the Kremlins Vladimir Putin, and she said, in a most untimely statement, that she would seek an alliance with Russia after the Ukraine war. Her dive in the polls started after this announcement.

Second, she wants to withdraw France from the integrated NATO command. She no longer wants a Frexit, a French exit from the European Union, but all her detailed proposals mean she would have been on a collision course with other European leaders. She has also said some nasty things about Germany.

The economic programme she presented in her campaign was at best unrealistic, at worst absolutely mad. But it was appealing to one of the three Frances we are seeing today: the France of the countryside, the villages, and the middle-sized towns that have lost their industrial base during the last three or four decades. Worryingly, a lot of French workers like her. Macrons best scores were with the young and the old, those who have yet to work or who have stopped working. But his electorate is also more diverse than Le Pens.

That said, dealing with Macron has been terribly difficult and will remain so. First of all, all powers are concentrated in his hands, and French ministries like foreign affairs and defence seldom know what he is planning or what his current thoughts are or next moves will be. More often than not, he relies on two-track diplomacy and seeks advice from many sources, including former presidents and foreign ministers, former politicians, academics, think tankers, intellectuals, people from NGOs, and old friends. But he does not use the French Foreign Ministrys incredible expertise.

Nobody can claim to be his main adviser. He frequently surprises other Western leaders and the French state with blunt and ill-timed statements, unexpected and astonishing proposals, and sudden U-turns. He intervenes in topics and areas where he exerts no influence. He permanently brainstorms, is a workaholic, does not sleep much, and has an incredible memory. He also exerts relentless pressure on his colleagues and subordinates. He wants clear answers and options, and he wants to lead.

I cannot claim that his ideas are not mainstream in France, but there is something that is both stimulating and irritating in his behaviour and in his insistence and in the way he focuses that does not pay attention to his partners concerns. The main source of tension with his own Foreign Ministry has been Russia.

Macron firmly believes that Russia is a part of Europe and that it would be a mistake to antagonise it and let it opt for an alliance with China. He thought Russias security concerns should be addressed, or at least understood. In the French foreign policy community, a clear majority was sceptical of this. In theory, Macrons reasoning was sound. There is, however, a huge caveat: you need two to tango. You need to be two to be friends. If I decide we are enemies, I do not need your approval. We are enemies. Russian President Vladimir Putin decided long ago that Russia and the West were irreconcilable foes.

I do not want to discuss Macrons assessment of Russia here. He thought he could succeed where so many others have failed in engaging Russia. Many specialists politely warned him against it. He did not listen, and he was wrong. He invested a lot of time and energy in it with no returns, as we all now know.

Macron is a firm believer in the European Union project. He believes in it for many reasons, the main one being his belief in Frances universal mission and in its independence and strategic autonomy. He understands that if France wants to remain a top-league player, it needs to be European, in other words, a leading part of a large and efficient European Union. Alone, it is not large enough.

In our information and data age, for instance, the big players are either American or Chinese. On security issues, Europe is too dependent on US arms and good will. But European and US interests often diverge. For instance, the situation in Libya and in the Sahel and Sahara is a huge challenge for Europe. Moreover, the US wants to focus on China and will reduce its presence in Europe. Europe must be in charge of its own defence.

Macron is probably right in his diagnosis, but things are much more complicated than this. First, he needs Germanys support if he wants to achieve progress. He earlier understood this, of course, and started his first mandate as president by working hard to secure former German chancellor Angela Merkels support. He achieved some progress, but he compromised everything with two statements: one on a European army in November 2018 and then one on NATOs cerebral death in November 2019.

The timing of the first one was awful, as Merkel had difficult negotiations in hand with other German political forces. Moreover, it looked like an endorsement of her competitors views. And, of course, the French administration was as surprised as Berlin at what Macron said. The second one targeted the destructive role played by Turkey, but the Europeans and Americans understood it as an attempt to separate the US from Europe.

There are two ways of building the case for a European defence system. You can say this it is needed to strengthen NATO and the alliance with the US, or you can say that it will allow Europe to free itself from Washingtons tutelage. French diplomacy oscillates between the two, and this disturbs its European partners, who clearly see they need and will continue to need the protection provided by the US.

On the other hand, France has a point when it says that the US does not pay enough attention to some other countries concerns.

The main problem with Macrons approach, however, has been its apparent lack of concern for the interests of the Eastern European countries. This is probably changing now, thanks to Putins unprovoked war against Ukraine.

Macron has seemed to assume that the interests of all the European countries were the same, or that they could at least be reconciled. Worse, he kept on criticising countries governed by forces he did not like. But if you want a United Europe, you cannot criticise Poland, Italy, Hungary, and so on. You need to have a better understanding of Germany. And, above all, you have to show respect for all the European countries.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The Iranian media has hailed the last round of Baghdad-mediated talks with Riyadh as positive, writes Ahmed Mustafa. But the Saudi media is indifferent. Will the Iraqis manage to bring the two regional powers closer?

No official statements have been made about talks between Saudi and Iranian officials in Bagdad, but the semi-official Iranian media is upbeat about the positive atmosphere in which they were held. Some media reports said Omani officials were present. An Iraqi government source could not confirm that though he conceded that the talks were a success.

Four rounds of talks have been held in Iraq, starting last year almost simultaneously with the Vienna talks between Iran and world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. But the talks were stalled for months. This fifth round was supposed to be held last month but Iran postponed it. Though some reports spoke of a secret Saudi-Iranian meeting in Muscat, Iraq seems to be the best choice for both sides.

Iraqi political researcher Khaled Al-Yaakoubi told Al-Ahram Weekly that both sides were keen on the talks with a strong desire to reconcile. He also reiterated the significance of the setting: They chose Iraq for its good relations with both parties. There is also a growing trust in Iraqi mediation. Dont forget that Iraq is a main setting for the proxy struggle between the two regional powers.

An Iranian media outlet known to be close to Irans Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) reported that the talks might lead to a breakthrough in Saudi-Iranian relations. Nour news tweeted, The fifth round of talks between the high representatives of Iran and Saudi Arabia were held in Baghdad. The positive atmosphere of the recent meeting has raised hopes for the two countries to take a step towards the resumption of relations  It is expected that a joint meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries will be held in the near future. The tweet was accompanied by a picture showing Saeed Iravani, deputy secretary for the SNSC, and Khaled bin Ali Al-Humaidan, Saudi Arabias director general of General Intelligence, with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi between them.

Since talks began the main focus has been security, according to different sources. But some Iranian media reports mentioned that officials from the Iranian Foreign Ministry took part in the last round. Al-Yaakoubi was not sure if there will be a high-level meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries. But it is highly expected that diplomatic representation in Tehran and Riyadh could be resumed in a better way than before.

The Saudi media was not as upbeat about the Baghdad meeting, however. Sources in Riyadh downplayed the high hopes of resuming diplomatic relations with Iran very soon. Saudi commentator Abdul-Aziz Alkhames is not optimistic about the results of the talks as the Iranian media portrays it. He told Al-Ahram Weekly, It is not the will to restore or normalise relations that is at issue, it is Irans intentions that are the problem. It is a repeated pattern. They create problems then seek reconciliation, and so on. The problem with the Iranians is that they have a doctrine on which they calibrate politics. They have a sectarian vision of Islamist polarisation. They see political reconciliation as a battle for influence. Even if they normalised relations, it would be just transitional as they would resume their interference in internal affairs of other countries in the region. That is why there is little optimism about restoring full relations.

Some Western analysts argue that the reason for hope is an American condition in the Vienna talks that Washington will not rejoin the nuclear deal unless Iran mends its relations with its Arab Gulf neighbours. But the US official statements stops short of making this a condition though placating Americas Gulf allies is repeatedly mentioned. Another reason for the apparent warmth between Tehran and Riyadh is the Ukraine war, as Al-Yaakoubi notes: This is a consequence of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. This war is changing regional relations, especially when it comes to countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Turkey. Things are changing.

But the Ukraine war is not the main catalyst for a possible Saudi-Iranian normalisation of relations. As Alkhames said, Yes, it could be in the Saudi Arabias interest to settle some regional issues like the conflict in Yemen, Syria and Lebanon. But the resumption of diplomatic relations would most likely be only transitional. Iran is not giving up on its expansionist goals.

Al-Yaakoubi thinks otherwise. He attributes the cause for optimism to the fact that the Gulf parties need the reconciliation just as much as Iran: The Iranians are more comfortable than others, they actually bank on crises. It is the other parties who feel under pressure. The Iranians got used to living under siege. They learnt how to deal with more severe pressures. Iran has been under a heap of sanctions for almost 40 years. They are also known for patience and deliberation. The other parties might be the ones who need a quick conclusion.

Despite Irans apparent optimism and Iraqs contentment that its mediation is working, the concrete outcome of the last round of talks in Baghdad is that the dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Iran is back. Any breakthrough such as the resumption of full diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran or a spectacular meeting of foreign ministers is yet to be seen.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan is deepening as the autonomous region becomes snowed under by its own crushing dysfunction, writes Salah Nasrawi

Until recently, the leaders of Iraqi Kurds showed their pride in being in the forefront of their community and a guiding light in the national-liberation movement in Greater Kurdistan that extends through Iran, Syria, and Turkey.

The Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq that they rule was also basking in the glow created by a friendly media in the West, which termed it a Middle Eastern Switzerland and an oasis of calm, freedom, and prosperity in a tumultuous region.

Today, this is certainly no longer the case as the autonomous region sinks deeper into political infighting and economic troubles and remains enmeshed in chaotic policies and faces increasing threats from its powerful neighbours.

Iraqi Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) is grappling with the worst crisis it has known since it became a federal region of Iraq after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, resulting in a political impasse. There is barely a citizen of the region who has not felt the bite of the catastrophic meltdown.

The region has long been beset by divisions between the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The two groups, which have long fought for political supremacy, remain determined political rivals.

The KDP, led by the Barzani clan, controls the presidency along with Irbil, Kurdistans provincial capital, and Dohuk, while the PUK, led by the Talabanis, retains its grip on power in Sulaimanya and large swathes of Kirkuk, which remains outside the KGRs authority.

The latest dispute between the two centred around the election of a new president for Iraq, a post allotted to the Kurds and held by a PUK leader since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The KDP has attempted to take over the largely symbolic post.

An unofficial agreement divides political power in the northern Kurdish enclave between the KDP, which maintains the presidency of the region as well as some ministries in Baghdad, and the PUK, which controls Iraqs presidency.

After the elections in Iraq last October, KDP President Masoud Barzani pushed to give the post to one of his associates, sharpening the divide between the two rival parties and plunging the region into further turmoil.

In another sign of friction, the two parties have been engaging in a new squabble over the regional elections in Iraqi Kurdistan due later this year, with the PUK and several other parties demanding a new voting law that they hope will trim the KDPs monopoly on power.

The KDP, which controls 60 seats in the 111-member Kurdish regional parliament, has been blocking attempts by the PUK and its allies to overhaul the regions election law by replacing the current one-district voting system to one using multiple districts.

The KDPs opponents also want to name a new independent election commission in the region.

As a result of KDP objections, the parliaments speaker, a PUK member, has been refusing to call the assembly to session, virtually leading it to a standstill.

The squabble comes amid an acute economic crisis in the region despite an increase in oil prices and an expansion in energy production and exports in addition to further revenues coming from lucrative customs dues and the Kurdish regions share of the Iraqi federal budget.

The Kurdistan region has a population of more than five million people, some 1.3 million of whom are employed by the government. Many families suffer badly when the government fails to pay its employees for several months.

The economic hardships suffered by the Iraqi Kurds are in sharp contrast to the accumulated wealth and overseas properties that the regions oligarchs, including Barzani family members, own or have hidden in secret accounts abroad.

Widespread corruption, cronyism, mismanagement, a lack of public services, rampant unemployment, low pay, falling living standards and poverty have continued to trigger public protests.

The demonstrations have swept through the region, with protesters demanding an end to corruption, the paying of salaries to employees and pensions to retirees, and the opening of an investigation into the wealth of members of the two main parties in the region.

Some of the protests have become violent, with people setting fire to government buildings and the offices of political parties. While the security forces have used excessive force against the demonstrators, the government has responded to criticisms of its response with intimidation, restrictions on free speech, and arbitrary arrests.

Meanwhile, the crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan is forcing thousands of Kurds to seek refuge in places as far away as the UK, braving dire conditions in their attempts to reach them, with many drowning en route and others being rescued just minutes from death.

Many of the 27 men, women, and children who lost their lives in the English Channel in December as they tried to cross from France to the UK in an inflatable dinghy are believed to have been Kurds from Iraq. Others have also died in recent months on the border between Belarus and Poland, while hundreds more are still trying to get into Europe from Turkey.

Numerous external interventions, some by invitation, are also contributing to the instability. Irans relationship with Iraqi Kurdistan is complicated, but in a general term Tehran has built strong bases for influence in the region.

Iran attacked Irbil last month with a barrage of ballistic missiles in an assault on the regions capital. Irans powerful Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for the unprecedented attack, which it said was against an Israeli strategic centre of conspiracy in the city.

Pro-Iran Shia militias have occasionally targeted US diplomatic mission in Irbil and facilities of the US-led Coalition against the Islamic State (IS) terror group in Iraq.

On the other hand, Ankara maintains ties with Iraqi Kurdistan and especially the KDP as junior and compliant allies and partners in its war against the Kurdish insurgency in Turkey.

Turkeys army routinely carries out incursions into the mountains that straddle the Turkish-Iraqi frontier to attack bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel group there. Escalating hostility from both Iran and Turkey are main sources of instability and are believed to be driving displacement from border areas and emigration abroad.

However, instead of taking action some Iraqi Kurdish leaders have chosen to put the blame on international politics and the federal Iraqi government in Baghdad for their failure to deliver on their promises.

Their favourite game is to harp on national sentiments whenever they face criticisms of their incompetence and leadership failures.

Last week, Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said that the regions problems stem from what he termed foundational issues such as the arbitrary drawing of Iraqs borders after World War I and the decision-making process in Baghdad that he said was not truly independent.

He told an audience of experts and journalists at the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, that Iraq should be declared a confederation instead of continuing with its current system which gives the Kurds autonomy under a federal government.

After the address, Bafel Talabani, the leader of the rival PUK Party, gave his vision of a Kurdistan region still divided politically, geographically, and linguistically. Talabani referred to the KDP-controlled provinces as Badinan, an old name for the area, in contrast to the provinces under the control of his PUK Party, known as Soran.

As the in-fighting escalates amid the many disappointments and missed opportunities, there is plenty at stake in Iraqi Kurdistan. Its leaderships miscalculations have overshadowed the mythical oasis of calm and prosperity supposedly represented by the region.

Shasawr Abdul-Wahid, the head of the New Generation Movement in Iraqi Kurdistan, made a passionate appeal to the international community to intervene in Kurdistan.

One way he thinks the world could help is by assisting the Iraqi Kurds in holding free and fair elections. Without those, there are no guarantees of peace and stability in a situation that is moving towards explosion, he said in a statement.

In the absence of such help, we will be forced to take other steps to defend freedom and democracy and the rights of our citizens, said Abdul-Wahid, whose movement is seeking to break the two-party establishment that has dominated politics in the region for decades.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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By Trend

Russia's Azimuth Airlines JSC is ready to carry out regular passenger transport on the Astrakhan-Baku route up to four times a week, Governor of the Russian Astrakhan region Igor Babushkin wrote on his Telegram channel, Trend reports.

The governor expressed hope the direct flights would be resumed.

He also noted that the issue of expanding interregional cooperation was addressed during his visit to Baku.

"We are interested in signing an agreement with Azerbaijan's Absheron region. Our regions have a lot in common: we develop agriculture, process agricultural raw materials and are prepared to cooperate actively. I am sure that establishing direct contacts at the regional level will open up new prospects for us," the statement said.
The Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa is one of the most venerable institutions in Egypt and is continuing its dynamic activities in a new era. During this period around Orthodox Easter, celebrated this year during the holy month of Ramadan, it is useful to remember the patriarchates historical trajectory, social offerings, and centuries-old ties to Egyptian history and culture.

Located in the beautiful historical city of Alexandria, the patriarchate has a history of two thousand years in Egypt and Africa and is one of the five historical patriarchates of Christianity. In terms of the ecclesiastical status of the Orthodox Patriarchates, it is second in the hierarchy after the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

In the 19th century, the Patriarchate entered a new era, having reorganised and revived the ancient synodical system and thus re-establishing its geographical jurisdiction. Today, the patriarchate is active not only in the national territory of Egypt, but also throughout the continent of Africa, which lies under its spiritual jurisdiction.

The church authorities appeal to every African in a true spirit of solidarity and international cooperation with respect to the distinct cultural traditions of the African peoples. The patriarchate has worked tirelessly in humanitarian work in Egypt and Africa, assisting many segments of society regardless of religious belief or nationality.

Over the last decade, Egypt under the prudent leadership of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi has created the kind of internal stability and order that is necessary for the peaceful development of every doctrine in modern society. Egypt is the natural leader not only of the Arab world, but also of Africa, and the patriarchate is a valuable institution in this regard. His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, has consistently spoken of the valuable support he has received from President Al-Sisi and the excellent climate of modern Egypt.

The patriarchate is also an important intermediary agent between Egypt and Greece, two countries that enjoy excellent relations and have established fruitful cooperation in many fields. In April, Theodoros II officially visited Athens, where he met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Egypts Greek and Cypriot communities, with their leaders and institutions, are very active, contributing to the countrys new dynamism. The patriarchate can function as an additional cultural institution ensuring cooperation between Egypt and Greece.

The past is a fundamental aspect of current national identity. Egypt is a nation that has a rich and multifaceted historical identity that includes all historical periods. Greece is the inheritor of ancient Greek culture and the Orthodox Christian tradition. The patriarchate is a juncture between the traditions of these two states. The unity of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Africa under the leadership of the patriarchate is fundamental for the preservation of its historical role and social mission. Its integrity and the maintenance of its influence throughout Africa without any external interference is completely in line with the foreign policy priorities of Egypt.

As Egypt and the rest of the world continue to face many unprecedented challenges, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and international geopolitical disorders, the Alexandria Patriarchate can offer both meaningful ways of cooperation across borders and valuable social work that stems from its rich history and centuries-long tradition in Egypt.

* The writer is a lecturer in geopolitics at the University of Athens in Greece.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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World attention will focus on Egypt during the COP27 Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in November, the culmination of years of work on environmental protection and action against climate change.

The international communitys choice of Egypt as the venue for the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP27) in November this year is a recognition of the stability and development Egypt has achieved over the past seven years and a landmark in the recovery of its international status.

But the choice has not sat well with those who do not wish well to Egypt and its people. They maintain that Egypt cares little about environmental protection and that it has made no progress in this domain, a claim that is patently false, as I know from personal experience.

Some years ago, I had the good fortune to meet with and learn a lot from three leading international environmental experts, all of them Egyptian, Abdel-Fattah Al-Qassas, Mustafa Tolba, and Rushdi Said. Out of my concern for the issue, I presented a motion to discuss the issue in parliament. After I spoke, a fellow MP complimented my speech, then adding that fortunately, we live in a good and decent environment, thank God. At the time there was little awareness about environmental issues. In fact, the man thought I had been talking about the social environment.

The disappointment only increased my determination to draw attention to crucial environmental concerns. Along with like-minded colleagues, I pressed for the creation of a national council or Ministry of the Environment. A ministry was then created and was headed by Laila Iskander, a social entrepreneur long involved in promoting environmental and social development projects. She was concerned by global warming, and she urged measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She presented proposals to this end, but unfortunately the cabinet at that time was not interested.

But Egypt was not alone at that time in its lack of concern for environmental dangers. Since then, however, the question has become of paramount importance, and Egypt has made great strides at the governmental, parliamentary, and civil society levels in raising awareness and taking the necessary actions to address environmental problems.

Under President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, the environment has acquired the priority it merits. His personal concern has been practical and exacting. On opening a cement factory, for example, when given a presentation that covered the technical and financial aspects of the project, he said, now tell me about the environmental impacts. Without the proper precautions, cement production is an environmentally pollutant industry.

Al-Sisi also attended the Biodiversity Conference hosted by Egypt, making him the first Egyptian president to place the environment high on the national agenda and on the agenda of the presidency. Soon after coming to power, he issued a presidential decree on producing electricity from renewable energy sources, the first of many similar acts to promote clean and renewable energy.

In case some think I am blinded by pro-government bias, I will turn to other media sources to testify to the new political will and the consequent progress in environmental matters.

The US channel CNN, known for its biases in favour of Israel, Turkey, and Qatar and its inclination to ignore Egypts achievements, has recently hailed a number of developments in Egypt such as the new desalinisation plant at Gabal Al-Asfar, the initiative to replace old petrol-guzzling cars with more environmentally friendly natural-gas powered vehicles, the new green public transport network, the clean energy awareness-raising campaign targeting women in rural Egypt, and the grassroots project started by a group of women to recycle used cooking oil in energy production.

In addition, there is the monorail project that operates on electric power and the new battery powered microbuses that have begun to replace those operating on diesel.

The Egyptian government is applying the latest international standards for sustainable, smart, and green urban development. One example is the New Administrative Capital, which according to one report is a model of integrated sustainable development with interconnected systems for waste management, clean energy, and green lungs. According to the report, there is 17 m2 of green space per capita, in keeping with international standards.

New legislation is now in place to stimulate and regulate investment in green energy. The government has increased investment in green projects and is expected to raise it again soon. In September 2020, Egypt became the first Arab country to issue green bonds, selling $750 million worth of the five-year bonds to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability and to investing in the green economy to ensure a healthy environment with a minimal carbon footprint for future generations.

In 2020, Egypt chaired the Conference on Biological Diversity. It is co-chair of the African Group of Negotiators on the Climate Change Agreement and co-chair with the UK of a coalition on climate adaptation and resilience. To my knowledge, Egypt is the only country that has a group of environmental activists called Youth Against Coal.

Successful work speaks for itself. But it is also important for Egyptians to be aware of these developments. In her recent meeting with Al-Sisi, Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, lauded Egypts progress, noting that it was one of the first developing nations to adopt decisive policies on climate change. She added that she looked forward to the COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, which she believes will be a milestone summit on climate change.

Al-Sisi expressed his appreciation of the fruitful cooperation with the UN and his hopes for the forthcoming collaboration in preparing for the conference in Sharm El-Sheikh. Egypt, he said, is eager to build on the outputs of the COP26 Glasgow meeting last year with the aim of promoting practical and internationally applicable solutions and commitments regarding actions related to reducing carbon emissions and marshalling the necessary funding.

The worlds attention will be focused on Egypt in November this year, and I have no doubt that the Egyptian government and people will rise to the task of hosting a successful conference.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The Wests double standards on Israeli actions in Palestine and the war in Ukraine explain why the silent majority in Egypt and the Arab world does not support its reaction to the Russian invasion.

On 17 April, Roman Catholic Pope Francis delivered his Urbi et Orbi message on the occasion of Easter. It was a much-needed speech about peace in which he called for peace for ever-torn Ukraine, adding that in this terrible night of suffering and death, may a new dawn of hope soon appear. May the leaders of nations hear the peoples plea for peace.

The Pope referred to the victims of the war in Ukraine, stressing particularly the fate of orphaned children and pointing out that we cannot help but hear their cry of pain, along with that of all children who suffer throughout the world and those dying of hunger or a lack of medical care.

The Pope, unlike other Western leaders, also said something very relevant as well as very significant for the Middle East and especially for the Palestinians, without naming them specifically. He expressed the hope that the conflict in Europe would also make us more concerned about other situations of conflict, suffering, and sorrow. He called for peace in the Middle East, a region which has been racked by years of conflict and division, and added let us ask for peace upon Jerusalem and peace upon all those who love her, Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

I for one share the ideas set out in the Popes Urbi et Orbi message of 2022. The laudable ideas in it have led me to reflect on two siege situations, one dating back to 2007 and the other starting only recently in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. You have probably guessed the first one that goes back to 2007 when Israel for fictitious security reasons laid siege to two and a half million people in the Gaza Strip. These people are no different from the Ukrainians currently suffering from the siege of Mariupol.

The population of Gaza has been suffering the grave consequences of an unprecedented and inhumane siege by the Israelis for the last 15 years. Gaza has become the worlds largest prison as a result, and the world should never have allowed any country to subject two and a half million people to such an ordeal and one which has no end in sight.

Yet, the Western powers that have been pouring military and economic assistance into Ukraine for the last six months at least in order to fight against what they have dubbed the Russian invasion of that country have not taken any firm or responsible position in rejecting the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip.

From our perspective in Egypt and the Middle East, we consider the Western reaction to the war in Ukraine and the never-ending sanctions on Russia plus the military escalation orchestrated with the Ukrainian government to be a true measure of the double standards that work against the rights and interests of the Palestinians and the Arabs, and, I would add, of Muslims everywhere.

The Western powers decry the Mariupol siege and the Russian invasion and occupation of Ukraine. They have called for financing the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war is over by using part of the Russian foreign reserves that have been blocked in western banks. But while they go along with the Israeli doctrine of attacking any country near or far that could be a threat to Israeli security, they deny the Russians the same right.

In justifying its special military operation in Ukraine, Russia has claimed that it has had to act in this way to forestall future threats to its security  which is the same justification used by Israel in attacking the Palestinians, whether in Gaza or the West Bank or neighbouring countries that it considers to pose a threat to its existence. The irony is that whereas the Israeli arguments are unfounded, the Russians have points that should be discussed and considered.

This policy of double standards employed by the Western powers plays a great part in explaining why the silent majority in Egypt and the Arab world does not buy the Western reaction to the war in Ukraine. They see the inhumane Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip continuing without the West doing anything to help the population of Gaza or pressure the Israelis to lift the siege.

To their credit, the Egyptians, Arabs, and Muslims have called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine as a prelude to the peaceful resolution of the differences between Russia and Ukraine. They also hope that the kinds of pressures and sanctions imposed on Russia to stop the war in Ukraine can also be considered as a way of contributing to ending the Israeli siege of Gaza and Israels occupation of the West Bank and Golan Heights.

*The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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April is Arab American heritage month. It may not be a big deal to some, but for those of my generation this recognition represents a half century of struggle to overcome outright bigotry, political exclusion, and ignorance about who we are, our history, and our contributions to American life.

Unlike many other new ethnic communities struggling for acceptance in American life, Arab Americans have had to not only build up ourselves and our community institutions, but also confront unique challenges and roadblocks that have been placed in our way. In media and popular culture, Arabs were negatively stereotyped, depicted in crude caricatures. When we organised as a national political movement, powerful forces were arrayed against us, insisting that we be excluded from the political mainstream. And in our education, the contributions made by Arabs to human civilisation were ignored, as were the roles played by Arab Americans in politics, culture, and business.

The trajectory of our communitys growth during the last half century has been a steady ascent. Hundreds of Arab Americans have been elected to significant governmental posts, served in presidential cabinets, and been appointed to high-level positions. Exclusion from politics has become a thing of the past, as Arab Americans today play key roles in US politics on the national and state levels.

Not only that, but we are proudly manifesting our identity and our culture and cleansing them of the negative stereotypes that had been imposed to tarnish them. Our history and language are being taught. Our heroes are now known. And we are even fighting to reclaim our food from those who have sought to culturally appropriate it (as Israeli) or strip it of meaning (calling it Middle Eastern or Mediterranean).

Those who mobilised to exclude us were afraid that should our voices grew stronger we would challenge their exclusive control of the debate over Israel/Palestine. They even went so far as to refuse to see us as an ethnic community, caricaturing us instead as a single issue anti-Israel lobby. We have overcome their narrow-minded bigotry and established ourselves as a key constituency in political coalitions on issues ranging from Middle East policy to civil liberties, hate crimes, immigration reform, and voting rights.

When we first sought formal recognition of an Arab American heritage month on the national level, the effort failed because some political leaders feared the political repercussions of acknowledging us. That is no longer the case. This year, President Biden issued a proclamation from the White House in which he wrote:

The history and story of the Arab American community is deeply woven into the diverse tapestry of America. This National Arab American heritage month, I thank the community for all that you have done to help move us forward and for representing the best of who we are.

The National Education Association and the chair of the Democratic Party issued similar statements, as have governors and legislatures in 28 states (with more to come). Additionally, the White House is planning a number of briefings for community leaders on a number of policy concerns.

As I noted at the start, some may cynically dismiss these as hollow gestures. But in the context of our struggles to earn respect and recognition, the significance of these statements becomes clear. We most certainly have more to do to change American policy, to secure the full democratic rights of our community, and to ensure that future generations learn the truth about our history and culture. The important fact to remember, however, is that we are now better positioned than ever before to take up these critical tasks.

On hearing me make this case, a critic sarcastically commented that I was just seeing the glass as half full. I responded that it wasnt about the glass being half full or half empty, because I remember when we didnt have a glass at all. Now we do and were working hard to fill it. Weve gone from being ignored, defamed, and excluded to being recognised and honoured as a respected American constituency. Thats called progress.

The writer is president of the Arab American Institute.



*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Of the four main questions prompted by the war in Ukraine  why now? what is the cause? how did the battle proceed? what lies ahead of the guns falling silent?  the May/June Foreign Affairs addresses the last. The periodical has attempted to answer all four questions in its articles and studies in recent months, but under the headline The World After the War it focuses on the future. But, bearing these questions in mind, the more immediate question relates to the current turning point in the war and what seems to be a transition away from Russias maximalist campaign to occupy the whole of Ukraine, to subordinate it politically to Moscow, especially with regard to the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas region which wants to become part of Russia, and, more importantly, to keep Ukraine out of NATO, neutral and minimally armed.

In brief, the Russian aim was to bring Ukraine back into the Russian embrace, with a status more or less equivalent to Belarus. However, this remained out of reach during the first phase of combat, which began two months ago. The Ukrainian leadership withstood the onslaught and is still in power. The capital has not fallen and Russian troops have sustained heavy losses. But the price of Ukraines success has been heavy too, both in terms of human lives and the destruction of cities the Russian forces failed to enter. In addition, some five million Ukrainians have been turned into refugees in neighbouring countries - Poland above all - while nine million have been displaced inside Ukraine to the relatively safe areas in the West.

During those two months, it was also clear that the war was unfolding at two levels: on the ground in Ukraine between Russian and Ukrainian forces, and across the divide between Russia and the US and the West in general. At this level, there was no direct confrontation but other tools were brought into play, most notably economic sanctions and support for Ukraine through arms, money and whatever else was needed as long as it did not trigger World War III.

The most salient feature of the first part of the war on the ground was the relatively poor performance of the Russian forces despite their enormous advantage in materiel. Their main weak point was the length of supply lines, a reminder of what one writer termed the tyranny of distance. Historically, this factor had been to Russias advantage because of its large strategic depth. It was where Napoleons forces met their defeat, and where the Nazis floundered in World War II. In Ukraine, distance worked against the Russian forces which lacked the necessary logistic support in food, fuel, ammunition and medical aid because the logistical support lines were vulnerable to attack once the Ukrainians realised that this was Russias Achilles heel. In addition, Russian tanks and other equipment suffered frequent breakdowns. But perhaps the biggest surprise was the ferocity of the Ukrainian resistance and the strength of their defence technology, especially their anti-tank and anti-aircraft missilery.

The second phase of the war began less than two months after the beginning of the invasion. This is when Russia shifted its strategy to focus on eastern Ukraine and the Donbas region in particular, thereby eliminating the tyranny of distance. Russian forces had also already been present in that area, especially in the Russian speaking Donetsk and Luhansk, which are culturally and geographically linked with Russia. The strategic shift coincides with the appointment of General Aleksandr Dvornikov as commander of Russian military operations in Ukraine, thereby unifying the commands of forces sent in to accomplish different missions. Dvornikov has a reputation for using extreme force, which was demonstrated in Syria, not just against the resistance but also against its civilian support bases. The Russian aim in the second phase was to take control of eastern Ukraine and its territorial and maritime links with the Crimean peninsula; hence, the strategic importance of Mariupol. A week ago, President Vladimir Putin announced that Mariupol had fallen to Russian forces. However, the victory was not complete because the Ukrainian resistance, consisting of military forces and about a thousand civilians, held out in the Azovstal steel works complex.

If the second stage reduced Russias goals to a victory more costly than the liberation of Crimea in 2014, it also saw Ukrainian goals raised to full liberation of Ukrainian territory whereas previously there had been some openness to negotiating with Moscow over Ukrainian neutrality. Thus, unlike the first phase, the second phase of hostilities unfolded in a complete diplomatic vacuum while all sides escalated. It was more violent, especially in terms of civilian casualties claimed by the Russians, and it brought a massive influx of Western military assistance. Moreover, the armaments included major offensive machinery, such as Mi-17 helicopters, howitzers, drones plus suits to protect personnel in the event of chemical, biological or nuclear attack. By last week the Pentagon had nearly finished delivery of the last instalment of the $800 million security aid package Biden had approved on 16 March as well as $100 million worth of arms shipments which included Switchblade drones that can be fitted out with explosives, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles.

Clearly, the forthcoming phase of the war will be more violent while a settlement or even a truce will move further out of reach. Meanwhile, the second phase brought about harsher economic pressure  and not just on Russia. The economic fallout has been felt in the US, Europe and the rest of the world. Under such circumstances, recourse to the military solution is tempting to some, which means that the future of the war in Ukraine will remain as hazy as it has been so far. It is unlikely that the Battle of Donbas will be the last battle, because even if the Russians win the other side will not stop fighting and the West will keep supplying Ukraine with more arms to help it reverse the Russian victory. Finding a new equilibrium will be very difficult and perhaps impossible if NATO enlargement turns to Finland.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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A new Paris exhibition is celebrating Jean-Francois Champollion, the French decipherer of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics at the beginning of the 19th century and one of the founding figures of modern Egyptology.

The story of the decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics  the pictorial writing best known from the walls of ancient Egyptian monuments and tombs  was one of the main achievements of the heroic age of 19th-century Egyptology, when not only were the foundations laid for a modern understanding of the ancient civilisation, but new discoveries from it also seemed to be found in ever-greater numbers with every passing year.

Following the French Expedition to Egypt at the end of the 18th century and the installation of a new and outward-looking regime in Cairo that eagerly invited foreign interest in the country, scores of budding Egyptologists poured into Egypt from across Europe, making what had once been a difficult destination into one exerting a new and powerful magnetism over all those having an interest in the ancient world.

The publication of the famous Description de lEgypte in Paris in the early decades of the 19th century, eventually occupying dozens of folio volumes covering virtually every aspect of the modern and ancient country, stimulated this interest further. It gave rise to the kind of Egyptomania in many European capitals that perhaps only really returned with the same intensity after the discovery of the tomb of the ancient Egyptian boy-king Tutankhamun a century later.

Cairos new government, led by the pro-European Mohamed Ali, made visiting Egypt easier for such new Egyptologists. Some of them turned out to have only a temporary interest in ancient Egypt, among them Giovanni Belzoni, originally a circus strongman, who wound up in Egypt by chance in 1815 and turned himself into an Egyptological entrepreneur. He opened an exhibition of ancient Egyptian finds in London that attracted thousands of visitors and ran for the best part of a year.

However, in addition to the adventurers and other elements from the Egyptological underworld, there were also those who had a more sober interest in the country and hoped to uncover secrets lost for thousands of years thanks to its new openness to investigation and the application of new scientific techniques. Few early Egyptologists better exemplify this second type than French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion, the decipherer of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and thus the man who perhaps did more than anyone else to set the new discipline of Egyptology on its feet.

As a new exhibition, entitled Laventure Champollion, on Champollions life and work at the French National Library in Paris makes clear, without the deciphering of hieroglyphics, and with it that of the other two scripts used by the ancient Egyptians to record their language, commonly called the hieratic and demotic, work on separating out fact from fiction in ancient Egyptian history could never have progressed.

At the beginning of the 19th century, little was known with certainty about the history and civilisation of ancient Egypt, and what was known came from mostly ancient Greek or Roman sources. A few decades later, this situation had changed out of all recognition as for the first time in nearly 2,000 years it was possible to read the writing that covered the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs and monuments and the many papyrus fragments, sometimes entire scrolls, that were then being discovered.

Suddenly, what had appeared to be an insoluble mystery only a few decades before was opened up to scientific investigation. The ancient Egyptian king lists, now readable thanks to Champollions work, allowed a chronology of ancient Egyptian history to be drawn up. Temples and monuments whose function had earlier been largely unknown suddenly began to be understood as newly readable ancient Egyptian texts provided information on religion and with it on the gods and goddesses whose names had previously only been known from Greek equivalents.

If anyone has the right to the title of the founder of modern Egyptology it is surely Champollion, the exhibition says. It emphasises the rags-to-riches elements in his biography, showing how a talented young man from the provinces, at first making his way only with difficulty in the capital, eventually ended up as the first professor of Archaeology at the prestigious College de France and curator of the Egyptian collections at the Musee du Louvre in Paris.

It underlines his exceptional application and industry, presenting him almost as a typical figure of an age that had seen a Corsican soldier without connections  Napoleon Bonaparte  become the emperor of France and slotting him into the work of the generation of French scholars and scientists, many of them still remembered today, which had produced the enormous Description de lEgypte.

Perhaps some visitors to the exhibition, balking at the gallocentrism, will remember that at the time there was controversy, not settled today, about whether it was the Englishman Thomas Young or the Frenchman Champollion who first cracked the hieroglyphic code. Young earlier made the kind of moves that Champollion later built upon in his deciphering of the ancient Egyptian script, though he is scarcely mentioned in the exhibition.

But few will want to dwell unduly on this question of national priority. All visitors to the exhibition will come out of it with their interest in ancient Egypt rekindled by the extraordinary story of human ingenuity in the decipherment of hieroglyphics it presents.

Possibly, it will also remind them of earlier encounters with Champollion, whether in the name of Champollion Street in Downtown Cairo, a stones throw from the Egyptian Museum in Tahir Square that his work helped to establish, or in the statue of Champollion that today stands in the centre of the main courtyard of the College de France in Paris.

DECIPHERING THE CODE

The exhibition begins by taking visitors back to the aftermath of the French expedition to Egypt, the development of Egyptomania in Paris and other European capitals, and the discovery of materials promising a solution to the mystery of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, including the famous Rosetta Stone.

Found by French soldiers near Rosetta in 1799, this is an ancient Egyptian stele inscribed with three versions of a decree issued by king Ptolemy V Epiphanes in 196 BCE, one in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, one in the demotic script, and one a Greek translation of the ancient Egyptian text. The stone was confiscated by the British in 1801 and sent to the British Museum in London, where it remains today. It was quickly realised that it could provide clues to the decipherment of the ancient Egyptian scripts, and copies of the inscription were circulated to scholars across Europe, including Champollion in Paris.

From there, the story of the decipherment of the scripts and then of the understanding of the ancient Egyptian language is well known. After the early recognition that the three versions on the stone were all of the same text, two in ancient Egyptian and one a translation into ancient Greek, it became a relatively simple matter to plot correspondences between blocs of letters in the Greek text, whose meaning was known, to blocs in the demotic and hieroglyphic versions of the same text.

The names of kings and queens were particularly fertile starting points since these are surrounded by a rectangular frame in hieroglyphics called a cartouche, meaning not only could correspondences be found between such names in the Greek text and cartouches in the hieroglyphics, but also that the phonetic values of the latter could be worked out.

As Stephane Polis, a professor of ancient Egyptian at the University of Liege in Belgium, writes in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, two centuries later the deciphering of hieroglyphics by Champollion remains the paradigm of every other decipherment.

While the deciphering of cuneiform writing [from the ancient civilisations of what is now Iraq], of Mayan and Aztec, and of Linear B [an early form of ancient Greek] are famous later successes, Champollions work was fundamental in that it brought together the conditions necessary for being able to make sense of an otherwise unreadable script, including the existence of translations into and out of the language concerned, a reasonably large selection of texts, and a working hypothesis on the grammatical and phonetic features of the language represented in the unknown script.

The exhibition presents Champollions work in deciphering hieroglyphics as well as on the grammatical and phonetic characteristics of the underlying language, which he was able to deduce not only from his study of the large number of texts in ancient Egyptian then being discovered and made available to European and other scholars, but also from his knowledge of the Coptic language, a descendant of ancient Egyptian and used mostly for religious purposes and written in an alphabetical script derived from Greek. It shows how Champollions efforts did not stop with the decipherment of the hieroglyphic and then the hieratic and demotic scripts but extended to what the exhibition calls an Egyptological encyclopaedism as he made himself familiar with virtually every aspect of ancient Egypt.

There were journeys across Europe in search of ancient Egyptian materials, for example, with Champollion spending extended periods in Turin in Italy studying ancient Egyptian texts such as the king lists kept in the citys museum. There was also a visit to Egypt itself in 1828-29, during which Champollion conferred with Mohamed Ali on the need to safeguard the countrys ancient sites, eventually sending him an extensive list, and travelled the length of the Nile from Alexandria and Rosetta on the Mediterranean coast to Abu Simbel in Upper Egypt.

There was Champollions work as first curator of the Egyptological collections at the Louvre, leading to the opening of the museums first Egyptian galleries in 1827. This was part of the extension of the institution away from simply being a showcase or repository for European art and towards its more familiar later role as an encyclopaedic museum of the worlds civilisations, including, of course, the ancient Egyptian. The important synoptic works that Champollion was also somehow finding time to work on during these years, among them his Grammaire egyptienne, the first overall account of ancient Egyptian, and Dictionnaire egyptien, the first comprehensive dictionary of hieroglyphics, were published after his early death in 1832.

The Paris exhibition takes visitors through these and other aspects of Champollions life and work by drawing on the unparalleled collection of Champollion papers on deposit at the French National Library as well as on the Egyptological collections of the Louvre. It sets Champollion against the background of the world he lived in, one in which the secrets of ancient civilisations were finally emerging into the light of day after having been hidden in obscurity for thousands of years and where great efforts were being made not only to uncover and understand these secrets but also to present them to the wider world.

* Laventure Champollion. Dans le secret des hieroglyphes, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Paris, until 24 July.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo is under restoration three decades after the last renovation campaign.

In the religious compound in Old Cairo containing the Amr Ibn Al-Aas Mosque and the Hanging and St Sergius and Bacchus churches stands the Ben Ezra Synagogue named after Abraham Ibn Ezra, a Jewish religious scholar and philosopher.

More than three decades after its last restoration, the synagogue is now being restored again to remove the toll of time on its walls, ceilings, and decorations.

Mustafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said that the ceiling of the synagogue had been suffering from a high level of humidity due to heavy rain.

The aim of the restoration project is to strengthen the ceiling and stop the leakage of rainwater into it. The work will also include the restoration of the Holy of Holies, the removal of cracks, the reinforcement of the walls and ceilings, and the cleaning and desalination of decorations.

Osama Talaat, head of the Islamic, Coptic, and Jewish Antiquities Sector at the Ministry of Antiquities, said that the Ben Ezra Synagogue, located on Mar Girgis Street in Old Cairo near the Coptic Museum and the Church of Saint Sergius and Bacchus, was originally a church known as the Al-Shammaain Church that the Coptic Orthodox Church sold in 882 CE to the Jewish community.

It is said that the Ben Ezra Synagogue marks the site upon which Moses prayed for the lifting of the plague that afflicted the ancient Egyptians and that is mentioned in the Bible. It was built in the basilical style, meaning that it is composed of three halls, the middle being the largest and tallest.

The central hall is surmounted by an octagonal dome. The sanctuary is on the east wall of the synagogue, which is also where the Torah case, made of wood inlaid with pearl and ivory, is located. A few steps lead up to the marble pulpit, which lies at the centre of the synagogue.

The upper level is reserved for women and overlooks the prayer area. On its north side is the geniza, which was sealed and could only be reached through an aperture in its roof.

Every synagogue has a geniza, a repository for old documents mentioning the name of God. Since it was impermissible to throw away texts or documents bearing the name of God, these were all once kept in genizas.

The Ben Ezra Synagogues geniza was discovered in 1896, and its contents were moved to the University of Cambridge in the UK for study and research.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Muslims in the diaspora are celebrating the holy month of Ramadan together again this year after two years of Covid-19 restrictions

Two years after the Covid-19 pandemic forced isolation on expatriate Muslims around the world, perhaps especially in the US, celebrations of the holy month of Ramadan have made a comeback this year.

Celebrating Ramadan is often different for expatriates living in non-Muslim countries, and not necessarily in a good way. It has been worse over the past two Ramadans due to the pandemic and social-distancing measures. How are expat Muslims celebrating Ramadan this year?

Islam is the third-largest religion in the US after Christianity and Judaism. There are 3.45 million Muslims in the US or 1.1 per cent of the population, according to

worldpopulationreview.com. US Muslims are an ethnically diverse religious group, without a majority race. They are divided into 25 per cent Black, 24 per cent White, 18 per cent Asian, 18 per cent Arab, seven per cent mixed, and five per cent Hispanic, according to website figures.

Muslims in general, and Arabs in particular, celebrate Ramadan overseas differently from the usual ways back home. There is no adhan (prayer call) heard beyond the doors of mosques, for example, or bright lanterns marking the joy of the holy month, or the family gatherings that are a staple back home.

Ramadan here is very different from Ramadan back home, said Yosra Mahmoud, an Egyptian who has lived in Virginia in the US for six years. There are no signs of festivities in the streets or at work. But since our first Ramadan here, we have tried to invoke the spirit of the holy month in the diaspora.

Mahmoud said she gets ready for the month by buying Ramadan drinks and food from Arab stores, such as qamareddin (dried apricot), tamarind, and dried fruit for khoshaf. We put up Ramadan decorations at home and bring out lanterns for the children. We always gather on the first day with Muslim friends to make up for being abroad, she noted.

Sahar Ali, a Mauritanian in her 40s, often feels lonesome during Ramadan even though this is her fourth month of fasting in the US. Ramadan here is very different from back home, Ali said. In Mauritania, it is very spiritual, and I miss that here. I felt even more lonely when mosques were closed over the last two years, and there were no gatherings because of the pandemic.

She added that she tries to shop for Ramadan goodies that are common in Mauritania in order to recreate part of the Ramadan feeling she is used to back home.

In fact, shopping is a Ramadan ritual for many Muslim expats, and a few miles outside the US capital is Halalco, the largest Arab food store in an area that includes Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The store is very popular with Arab and Muslim shoppers during Ramadan.

Mai Abdel-Azim, an Egyptian customer, said she needs to go to Arab food shops every week during Ramadan, which is unusual because normally she would only go once or twice a month. For Abdel-Azim, Ramadan gatherings give the holy month more flavour and remind her of home.

The things we buy the most of during Ramadan are tamarind, sambousa, konafa and qatayef, types of sweets, she said. We usually have many gatherings during Ramadan to experience the festivities of the holy month.

In Egypt, she would attend many family gatherings and feasts in Ramadan and host only one at her home. But here it is different, she said, explaining that now I host three or four Iftar gatherings so we can feel the Ramadan atmosphere. We dont have family here, and there is no fasting atmosphere. We try to compensate for this by watching Egyptian satellite television, going to the mosque for taraweeh [late night] prayers, and meeting other Egyptians and Muslims.

At Jenin, a famous Arab dessert shop in the area, there is an influx of customers during Ramadan. The owner has even had to change the working hours in order to meet demand. Every year, Muslims in Virginia flock to Jenin for Ramadan treats and delights.

We prepare for Ramadan every year with many treats, such as konafa with cream, qatayef, and othmanliya, said Mohamed Ibrahim, the shop owner. We extend the working hours as well. So, instead of closing at 10 at night, we stay open until midnight. And instead of starting work at ten in the morning, we begin at six so we can meet demand.

Ibrahim said that his customers come from all Arab nationalities, especially during Ramadan when there is high demand for desserts. The Ramadan atmosphere has always been present, even during the pandemic. He added that Muslims in the US try to compensate for some of the Ramadan rituals they miss from home, such as eating Ramadan desserts every day, which is what his shop provides.

RAMADAN AS AN EXPAT: Gathering at the mosque for taraweeh prayers or community Iftars is a tradition that many Muslim expats enjoy during Ramadan.

Karim Yasser, an Egyptian who has lived in the US for 10 years, said he is used to performing the taraweeh prayers and breaking the fast at least three times at the mosque during Ramadan.

The mosque is the only place that makes us feel that it is Ramadan, Yasser said. There are special rituals. We gather for a community Iftar and pray taraweeh together. The children around us play, and the mosque hosts religious competitions for young and old. We also encourage each other to complete Quran readings.

But outside the mosque, life is completely normal and there are no Ramadan festivities.

In Virginia, home to the second-largest Muslim community in the US at 2,663 Muslims per 100,000 people, the large Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Centre is located in Falls Church. Along with the mosque, the centre provides services for nearly 40,000 Muslims in the area, according to its website.

Two years ago at the start of the pandemic, the Centre closed its doors, as did the mosque, in compliance with guidelines at the time and as a precautionary measure. During Ramadan 2020, expat Muslims were in total isolation. There were no Ramadan celebrations; the mosques were shuttered, community Iftars and taraweeh prayers were banned, and expats had to endure the associated hardships.

By Ramadan 2021, the vaccine rollout had begun, however, and mosques started to partially reopen and hold late night prayers. Dar Al-Hijrah and mosque officials required social-distancing during prayers, mask-wearing, hand-sanitising, and bringing ones own prayer rug from home.

Seif Abdel-Rahman, in charge of public and government relations at the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque, said that over the past two years Ramadan activities at the Centre changed significantly. This year, however, they have made a comeback.

During Ramadan 2020, the mosque closed its doors in compliance with health guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19, Abdel-Rahman said. It was a Ramadan without

taraweeh prayers, or Iftar gatherings.

During Ramadan last year, things gradually began to open up but not completely. Instead of Iftar gatherings inside the mosque, we boxed food for everyone to take home so we didnt gather.

Taraweeh prayers were divided into two groups; one group would perform the isha prayers and briefly begin the taraweeh. Then worshippers left to continue them at home. The second group would follow and perform isha, taraweeh, and witr prayers.

This year, Ramadan has returned to normal due to the high rate of vaccinations in the US, and Dar Al-Hijrah is celebrating the holy month with ease. Abdel-Rahman said there are some rules that the centres officials are implementing at the mosque and other buildings during Ramadan. These include 75 per cent of the Muslim congregation being vaccinated, so people can pray without social-distancing and hold community Iftars.

We found that 77 per cent of the congregation have received three vaccine doses, said Abdel-Rahman. So, we are able to hold prayers and taraweeh without dividing everyone into two groups. Daily community Iftars are a ritual that Dar Al-Hijrah is keen on continuing to enhance the spirit and traditions of the holy month for expats in the area, he said.

He added that some 600 Muslims attend Iftar at the mosque every day and 750 at weekends, which is very special after a two-year hiatus. Some people dont come to Iftar every day for personal reasons, so we send them food to their homes, he said.

Dar Al-Hijrah holds a variety of activities that are also making a comeback after the pandemic. These include a weekly Iftar for Muslims incarcerated in nearby prisons, and a weekly Iftar for local officials from the police force, fire department, and emergency medical services.

There is also a weekly programme to attract non-Muslim friends to join Iftar at the mosque.

US ADMINISTRATIONS: On the first day of Ramadan on 2 April this year, hundreds of Muslims gathered in New Yorks Times Square for taraweeh prayers, in an unprecedented event in the history of the US.

Holding the prayers in Times Square was not because there are no other places for prayer, since there are more than 250 mosques in New York alone. But the spectacle, which outraged some people, revealed the status of Muslims under the administration of US president Joe Biden, compared to his predecessor Donald Trump.

Since the start of the 2020 presidential race, various groups in the US held a critical mass of votes, including Arab-Americans, some of whom are Muslim. According to the Arab American Institute, a think tank in Washington, in the 2016 elections Arab-American support for Trump rose by ten per cent, and the Arab-American vote was split.

Even though the majority of states with a substantial number of Muslims later voted for Biden, opinion polls revealed that Muslim votes for him were only slightly higher than those for Trump.

It is difficult to explain this support, since Trump made many Islamophobic statements before the 2016 elections, saying that we have problems with Muslims. We have problems with Muslims coming into the country. Soon after taking office, Trump issued a travel ban on Muslims for the first time, and it was renewed three times and endorsed by the US Supreme Court in June 2018. The ban blocked nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from travelling to the US.

Trumps Islamophobic statements and decisions had an effect on the rate of hate crimes against Muslims in the US during his tenure. According to FBI figures, in 2019 out of the 1,715 victims of reported religiously-motivated hate crimes in the country, 13.2 per cent were anti-Muslim.

According to a 2020 survey by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), a Washington think tank, some 60 per cent of Muslims in the US reported they had personally experienced religious discrimination.

Salam Al-Marayati, president and co-founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a US Muslim advocacy organisation, said in press statements that American Muslims had endured four years of Trumps stigmatisation, tactics and intimidation under the former president as he sought to appease white nationalists during his presidency.

Al-Marayati praised Bidens decision to repeal the Muslim ban as soon as he came to power, saying that the repeal is evidence that the Biden administration considers Muslims an equal part of the country, which is a welcome change from the previous administration.

Muslims in the US now have more space under Biden, including the right to hold taraweeh prayers in some major public squares. The Minneapolis City Council has allowed the call to prayer to be broadcast over loudspeakers from seven in the morning until 10 at night all year round, starting this Ramadan, for the first time in US history.

Some states now schedule the Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha holidays as public-school holidays. But a number of Muslims and Arabs still assert that life under the Trump administration was better for them.

Tahani Abdullah, a Saudi national, who has lived in the US for ten years, said that social practices and values were better under Trump. As a Muslim, I agree with Trump on conservative policies on abortion and same-sex marriage and preventing the spread of these trends in society, Abdullah said. Im very surprised by Muslims who support Biden and approve of abortion or gay marriage, both of which are against religion.

Said Fadl, a Lebanese Muslim who has lived in the US for four years, agreed with Trumps decision to ban Muslim refugees, because they are troublemakers. Also, an influx of refugees would put a strain on the country, its resources and opportunities for residents, whether at work or life in general.

But Nour Radi, an Egyptian who has lived in the US for seven years, described Trumps practices as racist against certain groups. His decisions and statements were racist and provocative against Muslims, Blacks, Arabs and others, recalls Radi. As the leader of the country, his statements were reflected on the street, in the attitudes of some individuals, and in transgressions at some institutions.

If Muslims oppose the views of the Democratic Party, whether regarding abortion or a womans right to control her own body, they are not obliged to adopt them. They have the freedom to make their own decisions and choices, without discrimination or racism.

Clear evidence of this are the public prayers being held in Times Square for the first time in US history continuing without harassment, she said.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 28 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Kyiv on Tuesday demolished a monument symbolising historic ties between ex-Soviet Ukraine and Russia, an AFP correspondent reported, more than two months after Moscow's troops invaded their pro-democratic neighbour.

"It took some effort but the Soviet sculpture of the two workers -- symbolising the reunification of Ukraine and Russia -- was dismantled this evening," Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement on social media.

He had earlier explained the decision citing what he called Moscow's "barbaric desire to destroy our state and peaceful Ukrainians", with Moscow's full-scale invasion launched on February 24.

"The Russian worker's head came off when they tried to lift the sculpture," Klitschko recounted, saying workers had initially struggled but ultimately succeeded in removing the large figures.

"In the same way, we have to pick up and expel the enemy and the Russian occupier from our land," he said.

Klitschko said a second component of the sculpture would be removed later and the giant arch above the workers would be renamed and illuminated with the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

He proposed a new title of "The Ukrainian people's freedom arch".

Klitschko also said city authorities were working on plans to demolish around 60 monuments in the capital related to Russia and the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, Klitschko added, some 460 streets and other objects in the city are slated for renaming.

Since Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and Moscow threw its political clout behind separatists in the east of the country, Kyiv has worked to remove Soviet symbols from the country.

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Nearly 5.3 million Ukrainians have fled the country since Russia launched its invasion two months ago, the UN said Tuesday, warning that three million more were expected to follow this year.

In total, 5,264,767 people have fled Ukraine as refugees since February 24, according to the latest data from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

That marks an increase of 32,753 over Monday's figure.

While the outflow has slowed significantly since March, UNHCR said Tuesday it now projects that three million more Ukrainians could become refugees by the end of the year.

UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo said the new projection of 8.3 million Ukrainian refugees was a planning figure, and that it was unclear when it would be reached amid a "highly dynamic" situation.

"This displacement has been on such an expansive scale, and the rapidity of this we haven't seen in recent times," she told reporters in Geneva.

The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said an additional 224,975 citizens of third countries -- largely students and migrant workers -- have also escaped to neighbouring countries since the invasion began.

Women and children account for 90 percent of those who have fled abroad, with men aged 18 to 60 eligible for military call-up unable to leave.

Beyond the refugees, the IOM estimates more than 7.7 million people have been displaced within Ukraine.

Almost two-thirds of Ukrainian children have had to flee their homes, including those who remain in the country.

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.

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 -- 2,922,978 so far -- have crossed into Poland, according to UNHCR numbers up to April 25.

Many of them have travelled on to other states in Europe's Schengen open-borders zone.

Meanwhile, more than 800,000 people have crossed from Poland into Ukraine, Polish border guards said.

Before the war, Poland was home to around 1.5 million Ukrainians, chiefly migrant workers.

Romania

A total of 782,598 Ukrainians have entered the EU member state as of April 25, 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 614,318 refugees have sought shelter in Russia, according to data last updated on April 25.

In addition, 105,000 people crossed into Russia from the separatist-held pro-Russian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine between February 18 and 23.

Hungary

A total of 496,914 Ukrainians had entered Hungary as of April 25.

Moldova

The Moldovan border is the closest to the major port city of Odessa. A total of 435,275 Ukrainians have crossed into the non-EU state, one of the poorest in Europe, with a population of 2.6 million. Most have moved on.

Slovakia

A total of 357,560 people had crossed Ukraine's shortest border into Slovakia as of April 25.

Belarus

Another 24,578 refugees made it north to Russia's close ally Belarus as of April 24.

Returns

At the same time, many Ukrainians have also travelled back into Ukraine. UNHCR said that between February 28 and April 25, Ukrainian border guards had registered 1,185,500 Ukrainians returning to the country.

UNHCR stressed though that "this figure reflects cross-border movements, which can be pendular, and does not necessarily indicate sustainable returns as the situation across Ukraine remains highly volatile and unpredictable.

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Azerbaijan and Israel have discussed the prospects for expanding and developing bilateral cooperation in the economic and financial fields.

The discussion took place during the meeting between Azerbaijan's Finance Ministry with a delegation led by visiting Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

The parties noted that Azerbaijani-Israeli relations are developing on a growing line in political, economic, and other spheres. They also discussed prospects for expanding cooperation in the fields of cyber security, new payment systems and next-generation payment instruments, public finance management, best practices, and technologies.

Azerbaijan's Finance Minister Samir Sharifov congratulated his Israeli counterpart on Israel's adoption to the Asian Development Bank a few days. He expressed confidence that the interaction between Azerbaijan and Israel will expand within international interstate financial organizations, as well as in other areas.

In turn, Avigdor Lieberman thanked Azerbaijan for its support in Israel's admission to the Asian Development Bank.

The sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.

Azerbaijan and Israel have been expanding bilateral cooperation over the years.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan and Israel's cooperation is founded not only on economic partnership but also on traditional historical and cultural roots, as well as mutual respect and trust. Israel was one of the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan's state independence and establish diplomatic relations.

Furthermore, during the 44-day Second Karabakh War, Israel was among the first countries to express support for Azerbaijan's just position and territorial integrity. Azerbaijan expressed its willingness to involve Israel in the restoration of the country's newly liberated territories in January 2021. As a result, Israel will construct a buffalo farm in Azerbaijan's liberated Zangilan region.

Azerbaijan established its first Trade and Tourism Representative Office in Israel last year.

In 2021, the two countries' trade turnover totaled $928.4 million.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.

The call comes in the wake of Turkish diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis over Russia's war in Ukraine, including by hosting Ukrainian and Russian negotiators for talks in Istanbul late last month.

The Turkish presidency said in a statement Tuesday that Erdogan proposed taking the ``Istanbul process to the level of leaders, a crucial threshold in the Russia-Ukraine negotiations.'' It sought to continue the ``positive progress of the Istanbul talks'' toward peace.

Talks stalled after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops of committing war crimes. Putin later said peace efforts were at a dead end.

Ankara, which maintains close ties to both Kyiv and Moscow, has presented itself as a neutral broker in a bid to end the fighting.

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Hyundai won six of the 10 most prestigious automotive awards in North America and Europe this year, more than any other automaker in the world, the company said on Wednesday.

Hyundai's all-electric Ioniq 5 was named the German Car of the Year last month, beating Audi and Porsche. It was the first time that Germany -- an auto manufacturing powerhouse -- selected a Korean brand as its best car. Earlier, the EV was also crowned Auto Express Car of the Year.

British automobile magazine Top Gear named Hyundai's high-performance i20 N as Car of the Year and Hyundai the Manufacturer of the Year.

"Hyundai is smashing it right across the board. We've known for a while that the Koreans are coming. Well, they're not anymore. They're here, and they're doing it better than anyone else," the magazine said.

The Elantra (sold as Avante in Korea) won the North American Car of the Year early this year, while the premium Genesis GV80 SUV was picked as Canadian Utility of the Year and the GV70 as MotorTrend's SUV of the Year.
North Korea began a much-anticipated military parade in its capital on Monday to mark the 90th anniversary of its army's founding, with outside experts saying it was likely to display powerful missiles and other weapons capable of targeting the United States and its allies.

South Korea's military said the march began late Monday evening in Pyongyang after a pre-parade ceremony. It didn't immediately provide other details, such as whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was present.

NK News, a North Korea-focused news site, cited unidentified sources as saying that 12 illuminated flying objects, possibly drones or helicopters, were seen in the sky above Pyongyang, followed by the sounds of fireworks.

In past parades, North Korea has often displayed newly built nuclear-capable missiles and goose-stepping soldiers in an attempt to intimidate its rivals and bolster internal unity. Kim has also given speeches highlighting his commitment to boosting the armed forces to cope with what he calls U.S. hostility.

The parade comes as Kim is reviving nuclear brinkmanship aimed at forcing the United States to accept North Korea as a nuclear power and remove crippling economic sanctions. Analysts say North Korea is exploiting a favorable environment to push forward its weapons program as the United Nations Security Council remains divided over Russia's war in Ukraine.


KYODO NEWS - Apr 26, 2022 - 21:08 | World, All

A spokesman for Philippine presidential race front-runner Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Tuesday that his Facebook account was suspended the previous day for not following the company's community standards.

The suspension came as Meta Platforms Inc., the operator of Facebook, said it has removed over 400 accounts, pages and groups in the Philippines that violated their community standards, calling their content "harmful" to the May 9 Philippine presidential election.

But the spokesman, Vic Rodriguez, said in a statement that Meta suspended his account, claiming, "This action is censorship of the highest degree."

Marcos Jr.'s election campaigners have been accused by experts and civil groups of spreading lies online to rewrite the history of atrocities committed by his father's authoritarian regime from 1965 to 1986 to boost support for Marcos.

Earlier this month, Meta also flagged a Facebook post by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and deleted posts by state media Philippine News Agency, prompting Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. to demand an explanation from Meta's Philippines branch.

In a statement released Tuesday, Revilla said that Meta went "overboard" and insinuated partisan politics influenced its actions.

On April 6, Meta said it has developed stronger policies against hate speech and misinformation to "help keep people safe during the upcoming Philippine general election."

Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the late dictator, and Vice President and opposition leader Leni Robredo are top contenders in the race to succeed President Rodrigo Duterte, whose single six-year term ends on June 30.

Related coverage:

Philippines enters final leg of 2-way presidential race

FOCUS: Duterte's China appeasement makes pushback difficult for Manila

Duterte's party backs Philippine presidential bid of Marcos Jr.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 26, 2022 - 15:58 | All, Japan

Apple Inc. lodged a protest Tuesday following the release of a Japanese government report that indicated the possibility of regulations being introduced to ensure fair competition in the smartphone operating system market, which has been dominated by two major U.S. tech firms.

The U.S. technology giant said in a statement, "We respectfully disagree with a number of conclusions" in the government report released the same day that expressed concern over the strong influence of Apple and Alphabet Inc.'s Google LLC in the OS market.

Apple added that it is facing "intense competition in every segment" in which it operates, adding that it will continue to "engage constructively with the Japanese government."

Meanwhile, Google said in a separate statement that it has been actively cooperating with the government, highlighting how much it has contributed to the industry, and added it will further examine the contents of the report.

In the interim report released following discussions about digital market competition, the government sees the Google and Apple internet browsing apps being preinstalled in smartphones as a problem.

The report proposed the introduction of rules to prohibit acts that prevent users making decisions and choices, as such practice could eliminate the room for competition.

The government also expressed concern over application developers paying a high fee to Apple as they can only distribute their products through the company's store and called for allowing OS providers to allow users to select the app store of their choice.

"In order to realize fair and equal competition, we organized various issues and options," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said during the meeting.

The government will solicit opinions from the public and hold more discussions before compiling a final report.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 26, 2022 - 22:51 | All, Japan

Part of a human skull has been found near a mountainside campsite in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, where a 9-year-old girl went missing over two and a half years ago, investigative sources said Tuesday.

Police are working to determine if the remains belong to Misaki Ogura, from Narita, Chiba Prefecture, who disappeared shortly after arriving at the campsite in the village of Doshi with her family in September 2019.

According to the prefectural police, a man in his 40s found the remains on the side of a mountain trail around 600 meters east from the campsite on Saturday, reporting it to the police in the village two days later together with a photo.

An autopsy performed Tuesday identified the bones as part of a human skull. The police searched the area with a team of 40 the same day, and plan to continue in the days ahead.

Ogura went missing after eating snacks near a tent around 3:40 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2019, as she followed other children heading to another spot.

Her mother, Tomoko, and the prefectural police have appealed to the public for any information, but no promising leads have been found. The 39-year-old mother tweeted Tuesday that she believes "Misaki will come home safely."
KYODO NEWS - Apr 27, 2022 - 04:02 | All, Japan

A Chinese navy vessel has been spotted in Japan's territorial waters near islands of the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

A survey ship entered Japanese waters from west of Kuchinoerabu Island at around 11 p.m. Tuesday and sailed out of the territorial waters south of Yakushima Island at around 2:10 a.m. Wednesday, the ministry said.

It is the first such intrusion by a Chinese navy vessel that the Defense Ministry has confirmed and announced since last November. The Japanese government lodged a protest with China through diplomatic channels.

The Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Japan Coast Guard monitored the passage of the Chinese vessel.

Chinese ships have repeatedly entered Japan's territorial waters or navigated in adjacent areas, most notably near the Senkaku Islands, a group of East China Sea islets controlled by Japan but claimed by China under the name Diaoyu.

China's growing military presence in the South and East China seas has been a source of friction with countries in the region, with some having overlapping territorial claims.
By Mie Sakamoto, KYODO NEWS - Apr 26, 2022 - 12:09 | Arts, Feature, All

A Japanese documentary film that follows a couple lovingly looking after their severely disabled daughter who was declared "near" to being brain dead at birth poses important questions to audiences about how they understand life and the meaning of existence.

The parents of Honoka Nishimura, now 14, were told by doctors that she would never exhibit consciousness when she was born in 2007. But, although she would require medical attention around the clock, the couple brought her back to their home in the city of Saitama, north of Tokyo, when she was 9 months old.

The 72-minute film called "Honoka" shows her from age 3 and her parents over three years. Like any parents, they shower her with affection, taking her on outings and reading picture books in her presence, while her mother, Risa, 45, also takes charge of her medical care.

Under a 2010 law that allowed organ transplants upon recognition of brain death from children under 15, a brain death diagnosis is made if a series of criteria are met: an individual is in a coma so deep that they do not feel pain; their brainstem reflexes have disappeared, such as not coughing when the throat is stimulated; their brain waves are flat; and they are unable to breathe on their own.

But Honoka was never officially diagnosed as brain dead, having been born before the law took effect.

The director, Yugo Kunitomo, said he began to think about the issue of brain death before he started filming the family, at a time when debate was raging in Japan over the revised law.

"Although brain death is often associated with death, the body of a brain-dead person is warm and their nails and hair grow. I was asking myself whether such a state can really be defined as being dead," Kunitomo, 38, said in an interview.

What also motivated him was footage of his mother, now deceased, who used to teach at a school for disabled children. One of her students appeared to be in a similar condition to Honoka.

"When I saw the footage, I was shocked that he was actually living in such a state, but my mother was treating him with affection," Kunitomo said, adding that he had even wondered for one moment whether there was a point to the child being alive.

"When such a thought occurred to me, though, I felt disgusted with myself," he said. "I wanted to know what my mother thought about disability and life."

In the film, Honoka's father, Hidekatsu, 45, confesses his bewilderment when learning about his daughter's condition. Risa told the director that she wanted to confirm to herself through the camera lens that what she was doing every day really mattered.

Risa's hands appear rough due to the medical care she provides daily to Honoka with the assistance of helpers, including inspecting her respirator, feeding her through a tube, massaging her to help her urinate, removing phlegm, and frequently changing her position to prevent bedsores.

But much of the film is filled with the family's joy in raising their daughter, featuring a trip to a zoo and birthday celebrations. The parents often speak to her and ask her what clothing she wants to wear.

The film presents Risa as "communicating" with Honoka, interpreting nonverbal messages from the expressions and sounds her daughter emits through the respirator. One scene shows Honoka wearing toy cat ears equipped with sensors that are supposed to move when they detect brain waves. In the scene, the ears move.

"I have felt Honoka's temperature, her life, and her power to be alive," Kunitomo said. "Through creating this film, I discovered the great existence of life, seeing that Honoka is certainly alive at such a particular time and age."

After finishing filming the family in 2014, it took seven years for the production team to edit the movie, which omits narration and captures the family's daily life unobtrusively. The director's aim was to try to let audiences connect with the family through him and his experiences of being around Honoka.

Before the film's release in January this year, Risa was concerned about how audiences would perceive the family. They had already been subjected to criticism, such as accusations that the parents are "keeping Honoka alive only to satisfy their ego," for instance, Kunitomo said.

Her anxiety only grew after a 2016 mass murder at a care home for the mentally disabled in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, and the way she believed Japanese society "seemed to distance itself from the incident," according to Kunitomo.

But after seeing some of the positive reactions from audience members via social media and other news sources, Risa told Kunitomo her family felt more accepted, allowing her to rebuild trust in society.

The film distributor is considering showing the movie online after screenings at theaters in other parts of Japan, including Niigata and Saitama prefectures.

A teacher visits Honoka, now a junior high student at a special needs school, at home three days a week. The activities include showing her video footage.

According to Kunitomo, Honoka appears to show a reaction to footage concerning environmental issues. When such images are shown, the alarm of her saturation monitor, a device used to measure oxygen saturation in the blood, often sounds.

She is also connected online with other students and goes on field trips with her parents. Her physical condition stabilized as she grew, although she used to get sick every year, he said.

Her parents say they are now leading a spiritually fulfilling life after building new relationships with people related to Honoka's school -- enabling them to have associations in society that had been limited largely to relatives and those who support the family.

"This film poses a question," Kunitomo said. "There may be people who are shocked by watching it. But at the same time, children like Honoka are actually living in the same world."

Kunitomo says he is not seeking answers by posing the question of how to view and treat such children but believes it is critical that audiences ask themselves questions about the life of severely disabled people.

"I want audiences to cherish the emotional turmoil when seeing this film," he said.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 25, 2022 - 22:57 | All, Japan

Japan and Russia have inked a deal on Tokyo's fishing quota for salmon and trout spawned in Russian rivers, Japan's Fisheries Agency said Monday, in an agreement that comes despite Japan's economic sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

The two countries agreed on a quota of 2,050 tons within Japan's exclusive economic zone for 2022, the same level as last year, and payment to Russia of a "cooperation fee" of between 200 million yen ($1.5 million) and 300 million yen, depending on the actual catch.

The lower end of the fee was reduced by 60 million yen from last year due to declining yields in recent years. Tokyo must pay the fee to Moscow as salmon and trout, according to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, belong to the country in which they were spawned.

With the agreement signed Monday, Japanese fishermen are expected to start operating in the EEZ near Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, in early May.

The agreement between the two governments over Japan's fishing quota for salmon and trout came late Friday despite Tokyo stepping up sanctions against Moscow to pressure Russia to stop its war in Ukraine.

In Hokkaido, the ban on net fishing for salmon and trout is normally lifted on April 10, with negotiations usually held every spring before the deadline. However, this year, fishing has not been allowed as the ban remained in effect pending the outcome of talks.

In last year's talks, the two countries agreed on a payment to Russia of between 260 million yen and 300 million yen depending on the catch, with the actual fee being about 260 million yen.

Japan's quota within Russia's EEZ, which is usually discussed along with the allocation within Japan's EEZ, remains undecided, and adjustments for the schedule of negotiations are ongoing.

The negotiations are part of many similar frameworks surrounding fishing between Tokyo and Moscow.

The two countries discuss their quotas for fish resources, such as saury and squid, within each other's EEZs throughout the year, but arrangements are not expected to proceed smoothly this year.

Related coverage:

Japan, Russia strike deal on salmon, trout fishing despite sanctions
KYODO NEWS - Apr 26, 2022 - 06:05 | All, World

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk will acquire Twitter Inc. for around $44 billion as the social media app's board said Monday it has agreed to sell it to the U.S. billionaire.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said in a statement announcing the deal, vowing to improve the platform so as to "increase trust."

As part of its content moderation efforts, the social media giant has banned users believed to be spreading dangerous falsehoods or inciting violence, including former President Donald Trump.

Musk has been among the critics of companies that have deplatformed controversial users such as those fighting against vaccine and mask mandates amid the pandemic.

The statement also quoted Bret Taylor, the company's independent board chair, as saying, "The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."

Musk aims to complete the transaction by the end of 2022 and Twitter will become a private company.

Twitter's board decided unanimously to accept Musk's buyout offer. Shareholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share.
By Trend

Representatives of Russia's Astrakhan region and Azerbaijan held a meeting to discuss the prospects for fulfilling orders of the Azerbaijani side by the Astrakhan shipbuilders on the terms of industrial cooperation, the regions governor Igor Babushkin said on Telegram, Trend reports.

According to Babushkin, the parties considered the possibility of implementing joint projects for the construction of small dry cargo ships, and ships for the transport of chemical cargoes, ferries and tankers.

An Azerbaijani delegation is expected to visit Astrakhan in the near future to discuss all the details of joint work on the spot.

The governor also suggested Azerbaijani partners to boost work to increase cargo transportation between the Alat seaport in Azerbaijan and the ports of the Astrakhan region, including with the use of the capacities of the port's special economic zone.

The parties also expressed interest in promoting Astrakhan goods on the Azerbaijani market, including fish and flour products, he added.

The foreign trade turnover of the Astrakhan region with Azerbaijan in 2021 increased by 18 percent compared to 2020, exceeding $17 million.
MOSCOW, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Russia has sent a diplomatic note to the United States calling on Washington to stop supplying Kiev with weapons, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said Monday.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the United States will provide Ukraine with additional security assistance worth 800 million U.S. dollars to bolster its defense against Russia's military operation.

Antonov noted that Washington's decision did not contribute to finding a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis.

Russia "emphasized the unacceptability of the situation where the United States is pumping weapons into Ukraine and demanded an end to this practice," local media reported citing Antonov.

The ambassador said the United States was "aggravating the situation" and "adding fuel to the fire" with its actions, ultimately causing more deaths due to their supply of weapons.

According to the diplomat, the United States has not yet responded to Russia's note. 
NUR-SULTAN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and visiting Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe voiced common readiness on Monday to step up bilateral cooperation.

At a meeting with Wei in Nur-Sultan, Tokayev said Kazakhstan and China will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year, and over the past three decades, the two countries have become permanent comprehensive strategic partners, maintained high-level coordination in the international political arena, and achieved remarkable results in cooperation in various areas.

Tokayev recalled that he has frequently interacted with Chinese President Xi Jinping in recent years, injecting strong impetus to the development of bilateral relations.

The Kazakh president said he believes that relations between the two countries will see greater breakthroughs and achievements.

Tokayev said Kazakhstan attaches great importance to the military cooperation with China and hopes that the two militaries will continue to strengthen practical cooperation in peacekeeping operations, joint exercises, personnel training, military technology and other fields.

Wei said that Tokayev, an old friend of the Chinese people, has made outstanding contributions to the establishment and development of China-Kazakhstan permanent comprehensive strategic partnership.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Kazakhstan, Wei said, adding that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, bilateral relations have maintained a momentum of vigorous development and enjoy a very bright future, setting a good example of good-neighborly friendship and mutual benefit.

China firmly opposes external forces deliberately instigating a "color revolution" in Kazakhstan and backs the Kazakh side in taking strong measures to safeguard national security and social stability, Wei noted.

The senior Chinese official called for vigilance about certain major powers interfering in Central Asia to disrupt and undermine regional security.

Wei said his visit demonstrated that China attaches great significance to and firmly supports Kazakhstan, noting that no matter what risks and challenges the two countries may encounter, they will jointly maintain regional stability and push ahead with the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

In recent years, the exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese and Kazakh militaries in various fields have been fruitful, he said, adding that the Chinese military is willing to continue to expand cooperation areas with the Kazakh side and deepen military-to-military relations between the two countries.

On the same day, Kazakh Defense Minister Ruslan Zhaksylykov held a welcome ceremony for Wei and had formal talks with him.

The two officials exchanged in-depth views on the international and regional security situations, the situation in Ukraine and the Afghan issue, and agreed that the two militaries will continue to strengthen strategic communication, conduct joint drills and training, and carry out practical cooperation. 
Meet Torkhunbay Mahuxi, a music producer working at a troupe in China's Xinjiang. He is not only good at creating songs but also playing a melody of sweet life.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service




UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland (on screens) speaks via a video link at a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at the UN Headquarters in New York on April 25, 2022. Tor Wennesland on Monday called for real progress in the peace process to stem violence. (Mark Garten/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland on Monday called for real progress in the peace process to stem violence.

"The violence and spiraling tensions of the past month have underscored, yet again, that efforts to manage the conflict are not a substitute for real progress toward resolving it," he told the UN Security Council in a briefing. "We must work immediately to lower tensions and maintain calm. In parallel, collective efforts are needed to address the conflict drivers."

Reducing violence and halting settlement activity, while shoring up the Palestinian Authority's fiscal stability and strengthening Palestinian institutions, are crucial. Steps to improve economic conditions must be implemented in a way that lays the foundation for a return to a meaningful political process, he said.

A serious escalation is avoidable. A sustained calm can open the space for more serious discussions about further improvements and perspectives, he said.

"We must not lose sight of the imperative to end the occupation and advance toward a two-state reality. The ultimate goal remains clear: two states, living side-by-side in peace and security, in line with UN resolutions and international law. The United Nations remains committed to supporting Israelis and Palestinians to move toward that future, even as they address pressing political, security, economic and humanitarian concerns and needs. We will continue to work with the parties and with regional and international partners to achieve this goal," said Wennesland.

As the holy month of Ramadan coincided with the Christian Easter and Jewish Passover celebrations, violence broke out in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and terror attacks took place in Israel, he said.

"Let me be clear: there is no justification for acts of terrorism or violence against civilians. Violence, provocations and incitement must stop immediately and be unequivocally condemned by all," said the UN envoy. "I also reiterate that political, religious and community leaders on all sides must continue to do their part to reduce tensions, uphold the status quo at the Holy Sites, and ensure their sanctity is respected by all."

Security forces must exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life, he said.

The security, humanitarian and economic situation in Gaza remains deeply troubling. Palestinians in Gaza continue to suffer as a result of years of severe economic and movement restrictions resulting from the Israeli closure regime, as well as the nature of Hamas rule and the ongoing threat of violence, said Wennesland.

After several months with no rocket fire, militants in Gaza launched five rockets toward Israel, with one landing in the Israeli town of Sderot and causing property damage. In retaliation, the Israel Defense Forces conducted airstrikes against what it said were Hamas targets in Gaza, with no injuries reported, he noted. "I reiterate that the indiscriminate launching of rockets toward Israeli population centers violates international law and must stop immediately."

The fiscal condition of the Palestinian Authority (PA) remains precarious. While PA revenues have risen in recent months, expenditures continue to grow and adequate budget support from donors has not been forthcoming, making it increasingly difficult for the PA to address outstanding debts and make critical investments in the economy and its people, he said.

Following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, rising prices and market disruptions, which are taking place across the Middle East, threaten food security levels of vulnerable families in the occupied Palestinian territory. Spiking international prices for construction materials will also impact reconstruction efforts in Gaza. Without additional funding, the World Food Programme and the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees will not be able to meet the food needs of the Palestinian population this year, which can have a destabilizing impact across the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in Gaza, he warned.

The parties and regional and international partners must work in concert to move the PA onto a firmer fiscal footing, while addressing broader systemic issues, he said. 
Photo taken on April 25, 2022 shows the groundbreaking ceremony of a China-aided educational facility project in Vientiane, capital of Laos.

(Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

VIENTIANE, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The construction of a China-aided educational facility project at the Lao Institute of Posts and Telecommunications has started in the Lao capital Vientiane.

The Chinese Ambassador to Laos Jiang Zaidong and Boviengkham Vongdara, Lao Minister of Technology and Communications, attended the groundbreaking ceremony held on Monday.

The project includes the construction of a teaching building, with a total construction area of about 5,500 square meters. The five-story building accommodates classrooms, laboratories and libraries, among others.

Project contractor China Railway Construction Group Co., Ltd. (CRCG), which was also the contractor of the China-Laos Railway project, told Xinhua that its engineering team will integrate the elements of traditional Lao culture into modern architectural style.

Jiang said in his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony that China will continue to help Laos in the education sector, serving the economic and social development of Laos and the cooperation between the two countries.

Boviengkham thanked the Chinese side for its contribution to the development of information technology and education in Laos, saying it will help enhance the level of cooperation between the two countries. 
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- China will speed up the construction of charging piles for new energy vehicles at expressway service areas, the Ministry of Transport said Tuesday.

The country has built 13,374 charging piles at over 3,000 expressway service areas, said Zhou Rongfeng, an official with the ministry, at a press conference.

Compared to the more developed eastern regions in the country, the western and the northeastern parts still lag behind in terms of charging pile coverage at the service areas, Zhou said.

The ministry will work with other government departments to improve the infrastructure and build a network of both fixed and mobile charging facilities along the expressways, Zhou said. 
SAN FRANCISCO, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Twitter announced on Monday it has accepted Tesla CEO Elon Musk's offer to acquire the company at 54.20 U.S. dollars a share, valuing the social media platform at 44 billion dollars.

"The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing," Twitter's Independent Board Chair Bret Taylor said.

"The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders," he added.

The company said that the transaction was unanimously approved by the board, and it might likely close this year following shareholder and regulatory approval and "the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions," adding that It's not a done deal until the matters are resolved.

Musk repeated his refrain that "free speech" is key to Twitter's future. "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means," he tweeted.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk noted in Twitter's statement announcing the deal.

"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential - I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it," he added. 
People wearing masks play at Easter Family Fun Festival in Auckland, New Zealand, on April 15, 2022. (Photo by Zhao Gang/Xinhua)

"I am literally losing 200 dollars a day now," says Sonny Sun who owns a small retail shop in Auckland CBD as New Zealand has relaxed COVID-19 restrictions.

WELLINGTON, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Sonny Sun who owns a small retail shop located in the central business district (CBD) in New Zealand's largest city Auckland, is not sure of the business outlook.

Small businesses have suffered a lot amid COVID-19 in New Zealand, and they are still struggling as New Zealand has loosened COVID-19 restrictions nationwide.

Sun's business used to be brisk before the pandemic when white-collar workers, tourists and international students were swarming across the busy commercial area.

"Business was very good in 2017 and 2018. I used to have four employees working for me," Sun said.

To avoid being infected amid COVID-19, many people in New Zealand have worked at home to reduce social activities. Now walking down the once busy Queen Street in Auckland CBD, it is not uncommon to find homeless people and rough sleepers sheltering themselves in front of many of the empty shops. News of crime was heard now and then.

"I have to shorten the business hour of my shop. It is very unsafe at night time here. I can't risk my employees' or my safety for just several dollars of income," said Sun.

People wearing masks walk in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, on April 15, 2022. (Photo by Zhao Gang/Xinhua)

Sun has already lost most of his customers, some employees and revenue amid the pandemic. "My deficit reached 70,000 New Zealand dollars in 2020," said Sun.

Sun got wage subsidy and business support from the government during the lockdowns and the highest Red settings under the country's COVID-19 Protection Framework. "Even with subsidies, incomes can't cover the rent costs," Sun said. "I am literally losing 200 dollars a day now."

With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, there will be no subsidy to businesses, and the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions has not yet worked to bring many customers to Sun's business. "People just don't visit the CBD anymore," he said.

Earlier this month, New Zealand moved down to the second highest Orange settings under the COVID-19 Protection Framework, which sets no indoor capacity limits. The New Zealand borders are reopening in stages.

However, New Zealand reported its first case of the Omicron XE variant of COVID-19 on Saturday. The Health Ministry said the case was a person who traveled from overseas to New Zealand.

A woman wearing a mask passes by a theater in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, on April 16, 2022. (Photo by Zhao Gang/Xinhua)

Experts have warned that New Zealand could possibly see another spike in cases.

"It's a good approach to not get rid of all our public health measures in one go as some countries have done, because that does create a risk that you get a big rebound, and a second wave," New Zealand COVID-19 modeler Professor Michael Plank told local media.

Professor Michael Baker said, "I think governments have taken too many restrictions off too early. I think we're going to see more waves of omicron -- hopefully not as bad, but I'd strongly recommend that we keep some of the basic restrictions in place, the ones that are not too disruptive."

"Certainly masks in public places, certainly people should make an effort to keep their distance," the New Zealand epidemiologist was quoted as saying.

As uncertainty over COVID-19 looms, and earning money is more difficult, the living expense in New Zealand is soaring for the average people.

A woman pays for parking fee on a street in Wellington, New Zealand, April 22, 2022. (Photo by Meng Tao/Xinhua)

New Zealand's consumer price index (CPI) increased by 6.9 percent in the March 2022 quarter from a year earlier, the largest movement in about 32 years, showed official data. Meanwhile, consumer confidence is at a low level.



Kenny Teo, a Malaysian Kiwi, sold his motel business in central Auckland last month, just 12 months after he bought it from the previous owner. The spacious and beautiful villa used to be a well-known Airbnb, but in the past two years witnessed three swaps of the business owners.

"We just can't afford to lose more money. We already lost too much. No business here for far too long as nobody comes here. I decided to break losses and to do something else," Teo said.

For now, Sun is still hanging on. When asked about his next move, Sun remained silent for a while, and said, "I don't know."
Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), speaks during an exclusive interview with Xinhua at the headquarters of the IAEA in Vienna, Austria, April 25, 2022. TO GO WITH "Interview: IAEA chief expects deepened cooperation with China on nuclear law" (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

VIENNA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), spoke highly of China's nuclear law system on Monday, saying he expects the "constructive and permanent conversation" with China on nuclear energy to further deepen in the future.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the agency's first International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate, Grossi said he appreciates the "emphasis on safety" in China's nuclear law system, which covers relevant standards in production, transportation, waste and radiological protection, among others.

He noted that all these aspects are also covered in the atomic energy law that China is currently formulating.

The IAEA has maintained an "extremely constructive dialogue with China" and has kept in permanent contact with the Chinese nuclear regulator and major Chinese nuclear energy companies, the chief of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said.

"The issue of nuclear energy is of paramount importance for China," he said. "We (the IAEA and China) are here as good partners, each having its own role in supporting the other in this indispensable work."

Regarding China's development of nuclear energy, Grossi said China is one of the world's leading nuclear energy users that boast a developed nuclear industry, and the country has been developing its domestic nuclear energy sector to advance its decarbonization drive and has also been exporting relevant technologies to other countries.

The first International Conference on Nuclear Law: The Global Debate opened here on Monday has brought together lawyers and representatives of national authorities, international organizations, nuclear industry and civil society from 127 countries to discuss emerging issues and trends in nuclear law and the applicable legal frameworks.

"At this time of change and growth and increased need for nuclear energy in all its aspects, the legal side of the (nuclear) activity must also be strengthened," Grossi said.

He added that the IAEA nuclear law conference, by bringing together representatives of countries worldwide, would help "make all voices heard" and help the IAEA "take the legal normative framework forward at pace with the development of nuclear energy."

The IAEA conference, which includes forums, exhibitions and other sideline meetings, will run until Friday. 
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for blazing a new path to building world-class universities with Chinese characteristics during a visit to Renmin University of China on Monday.

The subject was a recurring theme in Xi's inspection visits to universities over the past few years.

The following are some highlights of his remarks:

-- To blaze a new path to developing world-class universities based on Chinese conditions and with Chinese characteristics, we must stay committed to the Party's leadership and the guidance of Marxism and serve the cause of the Party and the people.

-- For China to build world-class socialist universities with Chinese characteristics and to cultivate the next generation of socialists, there must be world-class professors.

-- In China, a country with a unique history, distinctive culture and special national context, we cannot blindly follow others or simply copy foreign standards and models when we build world-class universities of our own. Instead, we must proceed from our country's realities and blaze a new path to building world-class universities with Chinese characteristics.

-- We should constantly promote the creative transformation and development of fine traditional Chinese culture, and step up knowledge innovation, theoretical innovation and method innovation, so that China's philosophy and social sciences can truly stand in the academe of the world.

-- The need for higher education, and for scientific knowledge and talented people, is more pressing than ever before for the development of the cause of the Party and the country.

-- The world-class universities we are building are world-class universities of socialism with Chinese characteristics. China's socialist education cause aims at nurturing a new generation of capable young people who have a good and all-round moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetical grounding and are well-prepared to join the socialist cause. 
By Azernews





Azerbaijan is a point of attraction and a unifying force for all compatriots living around the globe, Saadat Kadirova, director of the Azerbaijan pavilion at VDNKh (All-Russian Exhibition Center, Moscow) has stated.

Kadirova, who attended the 5th Congress of World Azerbaijanis in Shusha, told Day.Az that the event was significant for all Azerbaijanis around the world because it was the first congress held after Azerbaijan's lands were liberated from Armenian occupation.

She emphasized that the Azerbaijani diaspora was highly active and united during the 44-day war and that this is a major sign that the Azerbaijani diaspora has an impulse, a pivot, and a point of attraction, which is Azerbaijan itself. Despite the fact that many Azerbaijanis left the country a long time ago or have never lived there at all, Azerbaijan remains a unifying force for all Azerbaijanis around the world.

New tasks for the diaspora have been identified and President Ilham Aliyev's speech at the congress contained important messages in this regard, she highlighted.

Kadirova emphasized that the information war should continue and that the diaspora should actively participate in the public life of the countries where it was born, conveying the truth and informing the population, public officials, and political leaders.

There are some countries where the Armenian lobby is particularly strong and active, and it has traditionally had a strong chance of influencing this agenda. It's no secret that the Armenian lobby enjoys a strong presence in Russia, France, and the United States.

Therefore, the diaspora in these countries should be strengthened and contribute as much as possible to spreading the truth about Azerbaijan and its history. This truth is based on nothing else than international principles and resolutions, which have repeatedly confirmed Karabakh as Azerbaijans integral part.

Shusha is a symbol that every Azerbaijani carries in their hearts. It is Azerbaijan's cultural capital, as well as the cultural center of the Turkic world. This is a sort of uniting axis that binds all Azerbaijanis across the world with a special affection for all of Karabakh, especially Shusha, on a subconscious, mental level, she stressed.

The organization of the congress in Shusha created another very valuable unifying platform. A year ago, I was in Shusha at the Kharibulbul festival and I can say that big changes are being felt today. A lot of work has already been done in the city. The soil of Karabakh itself appears to be rejoicing in its independence, in the fact that its rightful owners have returned to their homes, Kadirova highlighted.

There was a wonderful, warm and friendly atmosphere at the congress. The emotions that reigned there were also a unifying force, she noted.

"To many, the prospect of liberating the occupied territories appeared to be a pipe dream. But this became possible thanks to President, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani soldier, his spirit, his will, and those who developed this agenda in the diplomatic field," Kadirova said.

The Victory Road made a huge impression on me personally. We went to Shusha on the old road a year ago, and this time on the new one. This, of course, is a huge job, just a crazy prospect, considering what funds and efforts are being invested in the revival of the liberated territories. . While driving, I thought about the warriors who paved this road with their willpower, blood, and love for Motherland. Only love and a very strong fortitude could drive someone to go down such a path and climb the rocks in order to free Shusha. To be honest, this made the biggest impression on me. "The Azerbaijani soldier's feat will go down in history, she added.
Photo taken on April 22, 2022 shows a damaged building in the port city of Mariupol. (Photo by Victor/Xinhua)

- UN chief pushes for truce in Ukraine

- Russian forces seize Kherson city council building: media

- Russia asks U.S. to stop arming Ukraine

- Erdogan underlines Istanbul process in talks with Guterres to end Ukraine crisis

UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres continues to push for a halt in hostilities in Ukraine even though a Russian UN envoy said a cease-fire is not a good option at the moment, said a UN spokesman.

"We continue to call for a cease-fire or some sort of pause. The secretary-general did that, as you know, just last week. Clearly, that didn't happen in time for (Orthodox) Easter," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for Guterres.

"I don't want to give too many details at this stage of the sort of proposals he will have. I think we're coming at a fairly delicate moment. It's important that he is able to talk clearly with the leadership on both sides and see what progress we can make," he told a daily press briefing.

- - - -

KIEV -- Russian forces seized the building of Kherson city council in southern Ukraine, Ukrinform news agency reported Monday, citing Kherson mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev.

"Tonight, armed men entered the building of the Kherson City Council, took away the keys, and replaced our guards with their own," Kolykhaiev said.

An armored vehicle is seen near a damaged building in the port city of Mariupol, April 22, 2022. (Photo by Victor/Xinhua)

- - - -

KIEV -- At least five people were killed and 18 others injured on Monday as a result of Russia's airstrike on transport infrastructure in Ukraine's central Vinnytsia region, the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

According to the statement, rockets hit transport infrastructure facilities near the towns of Zhmerynka and Kozyatyn.

- - - -

MOSCOW -- Russia has sent a diplomatic note to the United States calling on Washington to stop supplying Kiev with weapons, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said Monday.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the United States will provide Ukraine with additional security assistance worth 800 million U.S. dollars to bolster its defense against Russia's military operation.

Antonov noted that Washington's decision did not contribute to finding a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) meets with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Ankara, Turkey, April 25, 2022. (Turkish Presidential Palace/Handout via Xinhua)

- - - -

ANKARA -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that all parties should support the Istanbul process for a solution to the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, Turkey's presidency said.

Guterres met with Erdogan in the Turkish capital Ankara, before heading to Moscow and Kiev for talks on resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sits down with representatives of teachers and students at a symposium and delivers an important speech during a visit to Renmin University of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, arrived at Renmin University of China (RUC) for inspection on Monday morning in Beijing, ahead of China's Youth Day, which falls on May 4.

On behalf of the CPC Central Committee, Xi extended festival greetings to the youth of all ethnic groups nationwide, and gave sincere wishes to all faculty and students of the RUC, all people working in the education sector and all those on youth work. Xi said that he hopes all young people will bear in mind the Party's instructions, commit themselves to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and live up to the prime of their lives, to their mission of the times and to the expectations of the people. They should run with all their might on the track of youth, and win the best results the youth today are supposed to get.

Xi stressed that the fundamental issues of education have always been "the education for whom, to whom, and how to educate." To blaze a new path to developing world-class universities based on Chinese conditions and with Chinese characteristics, we must stay committed to the Party's leadership and the guidance of Marxism and serve the cause of the Party and the people. We will also ensure that education performs its fundamental mission of fostering virtue, while passing on the traditions of Chinese revolution. Young people should be staunch believers and active disseminators of the core socialist values, and exemplarily act them out. Learning from heroes, forerunners and role models, the youth should endeavor to become a new generation who will shoulder the mission of national rejuvenation and forge ahead determinedly to realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The RUC is the first modern university founded by the CPC. Its precursors were Northern Shaanxi College founded in 1937 amid the war against Japanese aggression, then North China Union University, North University and North China University. During decades of dedication to higher education, the RUC has focused on humanities and social sciences studies and the teaching and research of Marxism, therefore regarded as "a flagship of China's higher education in humanities and social sciences."

At around 9:20 a.m., accompanied by Zhang Donggang, Party committee secretary of the RUC, and Liu Wei, president of the university, Xi first arrived at the Lide Building to observe an ideological-political class in a smart classroom. Xi sat among young students, listened carefully and joined their class discussions. He affirmed the university's continuous efforts to leverage its unique strength and push forward reform and innovation of teaching to provide top-notch courses.

Whether the ideological-political course can play its due role in fostering virtue or not depends on the level of attention it receives, as well as its adaptability and quality, Xi stressed. The essence of the course is reasoning, and attention should be given to the way of teaching to reason in an insightful, thorough and flexible way. Both teachers and students should be involved attentively to make heart-to-heart communications, enlighten and nourish the mind, and motivate themselves.

Xi said the education on ideological-political theories for the youth is a consecutive process, which should be tailored to different stages of their growth and carried out in a targeted way. He expressed the hope that the RUC would work solidly and persistently, strive for excellence, and provide more "golden courses" in ideological-political theories in colleges, secondary and primary schools across the country. He also encouraged colleges nationwide to jointly develop ideological-political curriculums with secondary and primary schools to push for integration of the subject through all levels of education.

Xi also encouraged the RUC students to remain confident in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive to be trailblazers on the new journey to build China into a modern socialist nation in all respects.

An exhibition on the RUC's history is being held at the school's museum. Xi visited the museum to learn about the school's history and development, and its achievements in teaching and research in recent years.

The RUC was founded in the midst of the war against Japanese aggression and has been developing with the support of the CPC, boasting a glorious tradition and distinct heritage of revolution, which must be carried forward to hold this important ground for the Party, Xi stressed. It is essential to step up efforts to explore, collect and study materials on the RUC's history so that we can tell the stories well of the CPC and its efforts to establish the RUC, and encourage faculty and students to pass on the school's fine traditions and revolutionary legacy.

On the square in front of the museum, Xi met with representatives of senior professors and experts and young and middle-aged teachers, and had cordial exchanges with them. Xi was very pleased to see that the senior professors and experts are all in good shape both physically and mentally.

Xi pointed out that the RUC has long been an intellectual reservoir of talent and masters. Senior professors and experts have devoted all themselves and made great contributions to the Party's education cause. Young and middle-aged teachers should learn from them, aspire to become great educators, and continue to deliver in teaching, research and innovation.

For China to build world-class socialist universities with Chinese characteristics and to cultivate the next generation of socialists, there must be world-class professors, Xi stressed. The RUC should attach high importance to the training of teachers, especially the cultivation of young and middle-aged ones with high competence, and build itself into a hub of talent and innovation in the research and teaching of humanities and social sciences.

RUC Libraries have a collection of more than 4.1 million books, which consist mainly of academic literature in humanities and social sciences. Here, Xi inspected an exhibition of selected books on the CPC history and Chinese classics, as well as digital academic resources such as a modern search portal and e-copies of newspapers and journals. He was also briefed on the libraries' protection and use of literature and ancient books, as well as the application of theoretical research results.

Xi stressed that, RUC Libraries' collection of books on the CPC history, as records of the CPC's endeavors to establish higher education in China, are precious memories that everyone of us must cherish. It is essential to carefully protect these books and digitalize them step by step, to let them enlighten and inspire more and more people.

Modern technologies should be employed to strengthen the protection, restoration and comprehensive utilization of ancient books. What implied in these books such as the philosophical ideas, humanitarian spirit, values and moral norms, should be fully exploited to promote the creative evolution and development of fine traditional Chinese culture.

It is also important to build depositories of academic resources to better disseminate, collect, integrate, edit, expand and share academic literature. We will establish world-class information platforms for academic resources with Chinese features and improve the nation's cultural soft power.

Then, Xi met with representatives of the RUC's teachers and students at the north hall of the Century Gymnasium and gave an important speech. Zhang Donggang, secretary of the RUC Party committee, Gao Mingxuan, laureate of the national honor "People's Teacher", Zhao Feng, professor at the School of Economics, Zhou Xiaohui, PhD candidate in journalism, and Wang Hairong, undergraduate at the School of Philosophy, also gave speeches in a lively and warm atmosphere.

Xi stressed that in China, a country with a unique history, distinctive culture and special national context, we cannot blindly follow others or simply copy foreign standards and models when we build world-class universities of our own. Instead, we must proceed from our country's realities and blaze a new path to building world-class universities with Chinese characteristics.

The RUC has remained committed to cultivating talent for the Party and the country. Dating back to its founding, the RUC was aimed at cultivating "the revolutionary vanguard" when Northern Shaanxi College was launched; "tens of thousands of officials for the nation" shortly after the People's Republic was founded; "model citizens and pillars of society" during the period of reform and opening up; "pioneers for the national rejuvenation and vanguards for a great country" in the new era. All the time, the RUC has demonstrated an ethos of "living up to the Party and the people's trust as a university run by the Party and the people."

The RUC will fulfill the fundamental task of fostering virtue as every institution of learning should and carry forward the traditions of Chinese revolution. The RUC's faculty and students will remain true to the Party conscientiously, Xi hoped.

Xi said universities form an important part of research institutions of philosophy and social sciences in China. At present, upholding and developing the theory and practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics has presented a large number of new issues that need to be addressed urgently.

He noted that the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation. It is imperative to answer the questions of our times: What has happened to the world? Where will mankind go?

He said we must continue to integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with China's actual conditions and with the fine traditional Chinese culture, and continue to adapt Marxism to the Chinese context and our times, bearing in mind the overall strategy of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and profound changes unseen in the world in a century.

Xi added that developing philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, is all in all to construct China's independent knowledge system. We should take China as a reference, take our times as a reference, and base ourselves on China's realities to solve China's problems.

He said we should constantly promote the creative transformation and development of fine traditional Chinese culture, and step up knowledge innovation, theoretical innovation and method innovation, so that China's philosophy and social sciences can truly stand in the academe of the world.

Xi called on researchers in philosophy and social sciences to have a clear orientation, true principles, profound knowledge and upright moral conduct, conscientiously take the questions of China, the questions of the world, the questions of the people and the questions of our times as their academic responsibilities, and take highlighting China's path, governance and principles as their ideals and pursuits.

They should apply their expertise to and achieve fruitful results in studying and addressing major issues of overall, fundamental and critical importance to the Party and the country, he added.

We should give full play to the unique role of philosophy and social sciences in integrating Chinese and foreign cultures and enhancing exchanges among them, Xi said, calling for spreading China's voice, theories and thoughts, making China better understood in the world, and contributing to building a community of shared future for mankind.

Xi stressed that good schools have their own features, but they all share something in common that they have a team of outstanding teachers. For teachers, if they would like to foster their students into a certain kind of people, they should be that kind of people themselves first.

To nurture the next generation who will join and carry on the socialist cause, it is urgent for teachers to be proficient in professional knowledge and exemplary in moral characters. As lecturers of knowledge and paragons of virtues, our teachers should strive to help students solve their doubts with learning, behaving and thinking, Xi said.

Education is a cause that embodies benevolence and love. Only if teachers love their students and the career, they will take corresponding responsibilities. Teachers should be strict with and love their students at the same time. They should provide psychological care for students with the charm of their personalities, and help students gain more wisdom with guidance of their academic achievements. Teachers should love and care every single student, let every student grow healthy and sound, and enable every child to have opportunities to live a rewarding life, Xi said.

What they say should serve as guides for learners and what they do should serve as examples of the times - these are code of conduct for teachers. They should constantly cultivate their moral characters and influence students with their own examples. They should act as masters for students in learning, pursuing career and conducting oneself. Teachers should try to be role models respected and followed by all of society.

Xi pointed out that on the new journey in the new era, the goals of Chinese youth can be boiled down to one point: following the Party, heeding its call and working hard to become a new generation capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation. He said he hoped that all China's youth will measure the motherland with their feet, discover the Chinese spirit through their eyes, listen to the people with their ears and feel the pulse of the times with their hearts. They should integrate their love for the motherland and the people into the pursuit of their study and career, Xi said.

When Xi was leaving the university, both sides of the road were crowded with teachers and students, who greeted the general secretary with excitement. They cheered with one voice, "We will remain faithful to the Party and we will live up to the trust of the people," "We will work hard to become pillars of the national rejuvenation and vanguards for a great country." Xi waved to them amid applause and cheers.

Wang Huning, Ding Xuexiang and leading officials from relevant central departments were also present. 
A baby receives the intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) at the Soa neighborhood of Yaounde, Cameroon, on April 25, 2022. Cameroon on Monday began giving children doses of antimalarial drugs even before the children are infected, as part of a new approach to curb malaria in the Central African nation. (Photo by Kepseu/Xinhua)

YAOUNDE, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon on Monday began giving children doses of antimalarial drugs even before the children are infected, as part of a new approach to curb malaria in the Central African nation.

It was the first time the country was initiating the intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) since it was first launched in 2005 by the World Health Organization, Dorothy Achu, the permanent secretary of the National Malaria Control Program in the Ministry of Public Health, told reporters while officially launching the new strategy at the Soa neighborhood of Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.

"In Cameroon, we were waiting for the preliminary results of the impact of this intervention and to see whether we can also deploy in our country and recently we have seen an updated recommendation from which says it's very impactful. We think we need to protect these children who are very vulnerable. On top of the intermittent treatment is the distribution of bed nets so we can have a complete protection of the children," Achu told reporters during the campaign to mark the World Malaria Day in the country.

IPTi could save tens of thousands of lives every year across Cameroon, said the WHO Representative in Cameroon Phanuel Habimana.

"It can reduce the incidence of malaria in children and also reduce the magnitude of death in children under five. So this is an important day for Cameroon in the fight against malaria because in addition to existing strategies the intermittent preventive treatment ... is a new strategy, a new fighting mode to deal with malaria," Habimana told reporters during the ceremony.

According to the Ministry of Public Health, 3.1 million people tested positive for malaria in Cameroon last year and 3,782 died of the disease. The Central region where the capital, Yaounde is located has the highest number of malaria cases, according to Achu. 

Parents wait to let their babies receive the intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) at the Soa neighborhood of Yaounde, Cameroon, on April 25, 2022. Cameroon on Monday began giving children doses of antimalarial drugs even before the children are infected, as part of a new approach to curb malaria in the Central African nation. (Photo by Kepseu/Xinhua)

A baby receives the intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) at the Soa neighborhood of Yaounde, Cameroon, on April 25, 2022. Cameroon on Monday began giving children doses of antimalarial drugs even before the children are infected, as part of a new approach to curb malaria in the Central African nation. (Photo by Kepseu/Xinhua)
A resident collects goods from an unmanned delivery vehicle in a community of Jiading District, east China's Shanghai, April 25, 2022. Many communities in Shanghai have been using unmanned delivery vehicles to distribute supplies to residents amid challenges caused by the recent resurgence of COVID-19. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

A worker sets up routes of an unmanned delivery vehicle in a community of east China's Shanghai, April 25, 2022. Many communities in Shanghai have been using unmanned delivery vehicles to distribute supplies to residents amid challenges caused by the recent resurgence of COVID-19. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

A worker sets up routes of an unmanned delivery vehicle in a community of east China's Shanghai, April 25, 2022. Many communities in Shanghai have been using unmanned delivery vehicles to distribute supplies to residents amid challenges caused by the recent resurgence of COVID-19. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

A resident collects goods from an unmanned delivery vehicle in a community of Jiading District, east China's Shanghai, April 25, 2022. Many communities in Shanghai have been using unmanned delivery vehicles to distribute supplies to residents amid challenges caused by the recent resurgence of COVID-19. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

A worker arranges packages on a shelf in a community of Jiading District, east China's Shanghai, April 25, 2022. Many communities in Shanghai have been using unmanned delivery vehicles to distribute supplies to residents amid challenges caused by the recent resurgence of COVID-19. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

Workers unload and disinfect packages at the gate of a community of Jiading District, east China's Shanghai, April 25, 2022. Many communities in Shanghai have been using unmanned delivery vehicles to distribute supplies to residents amid challenges caused by the recent resurgence of COVID-19. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

A worker disinfects packages on a shelf in a community of Jiading District, east China's Shanghai, April 25, 2022. Many communities in Shanghai have been using unmanned delivery vehicles to distribute supplies to residents amid challenges caused by the recent resurgence of COVID-19. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)
Visitors walk past the France pavilion during the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, east China, Nov. 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

Emmanuel Macron won the 2022 French presidential runoff Sunday to become the first French president in 20 years to win re-election, which, it is believed, is conducive to maintaining continuity in French foreign policy and thus to the further development of both France-China and European Union (EU)-China relations.

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- In a world that is mired deep in a string of conflicts epitomized by the still raging COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine crisis and a faint economic recovery, the sound and steady development of China-France relations is all the more important.

Emmanuel Macron won the 2022 French presidential runoff Sunday to become the first French president in 20 years to win re-election, which, it is believed, is conducive to maintaining continuity in French foreign policy and thus to the further development of both France-China and European Union (EU)-China relations.

French incumbent President Emmanuel Macron waves to supporters at a rally after the presidential runoff in Paris, France, on April 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

China-France friendship enjoys a profound foundation. France is the first major Western country to establish formal diplomatic ties with China, and the first to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership and conduct strategic dialogue with China. Both countries pursue independent foreign policies and share the same or similar views on a range of global issues.

During Macron's first term, France-China relations have maintained a sound and steady development. In January 2018, Macron made his first visit to China, becoming the first foreign head of state to visit China that year. In 2019, Macron attended the second China International Import Expo.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese and French people have been fighting the pandemic shoulder to shoulder. The two countries support each other on issues such as climate change and biodiversity.

Bilateral practical cooperation has been yielding concrete results. Last year, bilateral trade exceeded 80 billion U.S. dollars, hitting a new high. China's total imports of agricultural products from France increased by 40 percent year-on-year.

People visit the France Exhibition Area in the Fashion Life Exhibition Hall of the first China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, May 7, 2021. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

Against the backdrop of profound changes unseen in a century and the international situation fraught with tension and turbulence, China and France should keep up with the positive, healthy and upward trajectory, adhere to the principle of mutual respect and equality, strengthen dialogue and exchanges at all levels, enhance mutual understanding and trust, and push for new achievements in bilateral cooperation.

France, under Macron's second term, is also expected to continue to play a constructive role in advancing EU-China relations. China has maintained that China and the EU should uphold a correct understanding of each other, and stick to mutual respect, dialogue and cooperation, and mutual benefit. France and China should work together to build the greatest common ground and steer China-EU relations towards new development.

Independence, mutual understanding, foresight, mutual benefit and win-win outcomes are the original aspiration of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France.

As Macron is embarking on his second term, there are high expectations for France-China relations to bring more certainty and stability to the world at this moment of volatility. 
TRIPOLI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomed the release of 35 illegal migrants from a detention center in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

"UNHCR welcomes the release of 35 persons from Ain Zara detention center (southern Tripoli), including women and children," UNHCR said on Monday, adding that the group has been provided with medical aid and cash assistance.

The UN refugee agency reckoned that it has secured the release of 129 persons from detention so far this year.

On Monday, the International Organization for Migration said that in 2022, 4,215 illegal migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, including 390 women and 172 minors.

Libya has been suffering insecurity and chaos since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, making the North African country a preferred point of departure for illegal migrants who want to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores. 
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- At an ideological and political class on Monday, graduate student Wang Tongtong found herself sitting next to a very unusual guest -- President Xi Jinping, who was paying a visit to the campus of Renmin University of China (RUC).

"He sat in the middle of us," said Wang, describing this special "classmate" as someone who was very nice, listened attentively, and took heed of both the teacher's lecture and what the students said.

It was a seminar session. Students sat in small circles. A video was played. It was about the university's history, dating back to the 1930s when the Communist Party of China was leading a revolution to save the nation from foreign aggression and poor governance of the Chinese Kuomintang party.

The lecturer reviewed how the history of the university was deeply intertwined with that of the country, and engaged class participants in heated discussions. Xi also joined in.

Gao Jialu, a junior at the School of Marxism, said he was very inspired. "His [Xi's] speech integrated history and theory and offered real-life instructions," he said. "I now know better how to explain Marxist theories and convince others with the theories."

To observers, it was little surprise that Xi chose to drop in on the ideological-political class, as the president once called the teaching of this subject an "issue close to [his] heart."

In the 1990s and early 2000s, when working in the provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, Xi had personally taught ideological-political lessons to college and university students. As the country's top leader, Xi talked about ideological-political education in multiple speeches. In 2019, he convened a rare symposium with teachers of ideological-political courses.

Xi said that ideological and political courses are not only fundamental to building strong moral character but also irreplaceable. And he had stressed making the courses more engaging and dynamic instead of "dull and dry reading of documents."

Ideological and political courses, including "basic principles of Marxism," "outline of modern Chinese history," "values, morality, and the rule of law," are listed as compulsory for undergraduate students.

At the RUC, ideological and political modules are taught through large lectures and intimate group seminars. The small workshops often involve students from different majors to encourage a diversified exchange of views.

"Whether the ideological-political course can play its due role in fostering virtue depends on the level of attention it receives, as well as its adaptability and quality," Xi said.

"Both teachers and students should be involved attentively to make heart-to-heart communications, enlighten and nourish the mind, and motivate themselves," he added.

The far-reaching significance of the ideological-political education, Xi once said, is to nurture generations of talent who uphold the Party's leadership and the country's socialist system and strive for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

During the RUC visit, Xi expressed hopes that all young people in the country can remember the Party's instructions, strive for national rejuvenation, and work hard for the best results possible. 
Medical staff work at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the southern branch of Renji Hospital in Shanghai, east China, April 24, 2022. The southern branch of Renji Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine was notified to be a designated hospital and started to receive and treat patients from April 7, mainly treating children, hemodialysis patients, pregnant women and adult COVID-19 patients with underlying health conditions. (Photo by Huang Xing/Xinhua)

SHANGHAI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- At the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, elderly COVID-19 patients are receiving careful treatment, with indexes such as heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration monitored around the clock.

"We adopted an individualized strategy both in treatment and nursing, which can help the elderly patients recover faster," said doctor Liu Chenghao.

Liu is a member of a medical team fighting COVID-19 at the center. The team has just saved the life of a senior patient with a history of lung cancer who was in a fatal situation, he said.

Medical personnel in Shanghai are making every effort to ensure the proper treatment of severely ill patients to reduce the fatality rate of COVID-19.

Zhang Boli, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said people aged over 60 accounted for 30 percent of the confirmed cases in Shanghai. Most of these elderly suffer from underlying diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and uremia.

"A combination of these problems and COVID-19 can lead to severe, rapidly-progressing disease that can easily turn into severe and critical illness," he said.

Zhang said it is vital to distinguish the high-risk groups and pay attention to the development of their underlying diseases. He also called for an individualized strategy, a multidisciplinary approach, early intervention, and integration of traditional Chinese and western medicines to treat severe cases.

Wang Xingpeng, director of Shanghai Shen Kang Hospital Development Center, said nine medical teams have been dispatched to eight designated hospitals to treat severe COVID-19 cases. They are composed of over 360 experts with rich intensive care experience.

The city has also established a treatment mechanism featuring early monitoring and early intervention for critically ill patients. The municipal-level designated hospitals have been promoting individualized treatment and multidisciplinary consultations, Wang said.

Working side by side with Shanghai medical staff, medical teams from different provinces nationwide are also on the front line of treating critical cases.

"For the elderly patients with underlying diseases, doctors should keep an eye on the changes in their condition," said Xu Min, from the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Hunan Province.

"We have various advanced equipment to treat critically ill patients with serious heart and lung function damage," he said. "We will do our best to treat the seriously ill, reduce the death rate, and raise the cure rate." 
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday held a virtual seminar with 22 Francophone countries in Africa under the theme "Exploration and Practice of Democracy in the Legislatures of China and Africa."

Ding Zhongli, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), attended and addressed the two-day seminar's opening ceremony. He said that the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation has forged an unbreakable brotherhood and built a partnership of full coordination between China and Africa. It will also open up bright prospects for a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era, he said.

The NPC is willing to uphold the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, communicate frankly with the African side, learn from each other, build consensus and gather strength, and jointly explore the road of democracy in line with their own national conditions, said Ding.

He added that the NPC is ready to work with African legislatures to contribute to realizing true democracy and good democracy in relevant countries, continuously improving the welfare of people of all countries and promoting the democratization of international relations. 
China's research icebreaker Xuelong arrives in east China's Shanghai, on April 26, 2022. China's research icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, returned to Shanghai on Tuesday, marking the end of the country's 38th Antarctic expedition. Two icebreakers participated in the 174-day Antarctic expedition, with the Xuelong 2 arriving in Shanghai six days ago. (Polar Research Institute of China/Handout via Xinhua)

SHANGHAI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- China's research icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, returned to Shanghai on Tuesday, marking the end of the country's 38th Antarctic expedition.

Two icebreakers participated in the 174-day Antarctic expedition, with the Xuelong 2 arriving in Shanghai six days ago.

This is the second time that China has sent two icebreakers to the Antarctic since the 36th polar expedition.

The scientific venture involved a range of tasks, including the replenishment of materials and staff rotation at China's Zhongshan Station and Great Wall Station in the region, as well as marine observations and oceanic ecosystem investigations.

The two vessels carried a total of 255 researchers taking part in the expedition. 

China's research icebreaker Xuelong is moored at a port in east China's Shanghai, on April 26, 2022. China's research icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, returned to Shanghai on Tuesday, marking the end of the country's 38th Antarctic expedition. Two icebreakers participated in the 174-day Antarctic expedition, with the Xuelong 2 arriving in Shanghai six days ago. (Polar Research Institute of China/Handout via Xinhua)
By Azernews





By Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijani Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Mukhtar Babayev has called on international organizations and forum participants to provide support in preventing pollution of the Okhchuchay River.

He made the remarks at the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Forum in Japan dedicated to improving water management, held in the Japanese city of Kumamoto, joining it online.

The forum was attended by heads of state, government representatives of a number of countries, leading international organizations, local media has reported.

He noted that the Okhchuchay River is heavily polluted as a result of the activities of the mining industry in Armenia.

The minister stressed the importance of cooperation with neighboring countries, as well as international organizations in the field of transboundary river management.

The Okhchuchay River, an 83-km left tributary of the Araz River, has a basin area of 1,175 square kilometers. The river begins on the Zangazur ridge's Gapidzhig mountain (3,285 meters).

The river flows through liberated Zangilan into the Araz River, with the majority of it located in Armenia's Syunik region (Azerbaijan's historical Zangazur region).

Because of transboundary water flows, approximately 70 percent of Azerbaijan's groundwater resources are formed in neighboring countries. The transboundary river Okhchuchay, which serves as a collector of industrial waste in Armenia, is constantly polluted by waste from the Gafan and Gajaran mining industries.

These industrial wastewaters are discharged into the river untreated, which occasionally increases the level of pollution. As a result, these water resources are deemed unfit for use on Azerbaijani territory. Furthermore, Okhchuchay flows into Araz, the second largest river in the South Caucasus, and pollution has a direct impact on its quality and water reserves.

Azerbaijan had previously urged responsible companies to halt operations at the Zangazur copper-molybdenum plant in Armenia's Syunik region due to the environmental disaster caused by the latter.

It should be noted that the plant's main shareholder is Germany's Cronimet Mining Company, which massively pollutes the transboundary Okhchuchay River.

On April 12, President Ilham Aliyev stated at a meeting dedicated to the results of the first quarter of 2022 that a special report on Armenia's environmental terror against Azerbaijan was prepared and adopted a few years ago by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

He stated that the rivers in Azerbaijans Karabakh were occupied and mercilessly exploited by Armenians.

The catastrophe of the Okhchuchay River is before the eyes of the world now. We have raised this issue, he said.

Noting that when he raised the issue, Azerbaijan was promised that the company responsible for the disaster would come and clean it up, he emphasized that a year has passed and no proposals have been received.

Cronimet is the company that contaminated the Okhchuchay River. It is a large company, and according to some foreign media, it had an illegal business relationship with representatives of Serzhik Sarkisyans former junta regime using corruption schemes. Together they operated the copper plant there, he said.

Aliyev noted that the preparations for a legal claim in this regard with the involvement of international experts are underway.

Armenias three-decade occupation of Azerbaijani territories extensively damaged the ecosystem, wildlife and natural resources in and around the 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 that stipulated the return of Azerbaijans occupied territories.

The clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated for the second time in 2020 after Armenia's forces deployed in the occupied Azerbaijani lands targeted Azerbaijani civilian settlements and military positions, causing casualties among civilians and the military. In the early hours of September 27, Azerbaijan launched a counter-offensive operation that lasted six weeks. The operation resulted in the liberation of Azerbaijan's occupied lands.

A Russia-brokered ceasefire deal that Azerbaijan and Armenia signed on November 10, 2020, brought an end to the 44-day war between the two countries. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it had occupied.
The enforcement vessel from China, which is participating in the 88th Mekong River joint patrol, pulls out Guanlei Port in southwest China's Yunnan Province, Nov. 19, 2019. (Xinhua/Wu Han)

KUNMING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Law-enforcement authorities from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand joined forces on Tuesday to start the 116th Mekong River joint patrol.

Three Chinese vessels departed at 9 a.m. from Jingha Port, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, according to the provincial public security bureau.

During the four-day patrol, the four countries will carry out non-contact operations to safeguard safety and stability along the river basin.

The Mekong River, known as the Lancang River in China, is a vital waterway for cross-border shipping.

China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have been conducting joint patrols on the river dating back to December 2011. 




* Both history and military alliance theory seem to predict that once the Cold War had ended, NATO would have disintegrated. Unfortunately this has not been the case. Far from being fully disbanded, NATO has been bent on expansion.



* The relationship between the United States and its European allies within NATO is fundamentally unequal. NATO contributes to the United States' hegemonic position in Western Europe by allowing U.S. military bases and troops to be stationed in the region.

* Since 1999, NATO has expanded eastward five times, advancing more than 1,000 km all the way to the Russian border, gradually pushing Russia into a corner.

* NATO forces launched 78 days of bombardment against Yugoslavia in 1999, killing or injuring over 8,000 civilians and displacing approximately 1 million people. Other countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, have also fallen victim to the U.S.-led NATO's belligerence and violations of human rights.

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- As the Russia-Ukraine conflict rages on, tensions between NATO and Russia have verged on downright hostilities.

The gloomy reality on the ground brings up a question as to why, more than 30 years after the end of the Cold War, the world appears to have regressed to where it ever was.

Thanks to their intentionally neglected nuance in depicting the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Western media have framed Russia as the lone villain. Close scrutiny of regional geopolitics, however, makes clear that NATO, a remnant from Cold War days, bears responsibility for precipitating the current crisis, not least for its relentless expansion at the expense of Russia's security concerns.

Photo taken on April 6, 2022 shows a sculpture and flags at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)





TOXIC OBSESSION WITH EXPANSION

Both history and military alliance theory seem to predict that once the Cold War had ended, NATO would have disintegrated. Unfortunately this has not been the case. Far from being fully disbanded, NATO has been bent on expansion.

"From the Russian point of view, NATO's expansion into eastern Europe is a breach of a promise" made in the 1990s, Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of state at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, told Xinhua.

What Geraci referred to was then U.S. Secretary of State James Baker's famous "not one inch eastward" assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990.

Since 1999, NATO has expanded eastward five times, advancing more than 1,000 km all the way to the Russian border, gradually pushing Russia into a corner.

Analysts say NATO's disregard of Russia's legitimate concerns on security issues and its continuous expansion is the root cause of the outbreak and escalation of this conflict. If it continues to slim down the small buffer zone left between Russia and itself, the situation will undoubtedly go worse.

The culpability of the United States and its NATO allies is "sizable," wrote Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out.

"Moving an alliance that one great power dominated to the border of another major power is inherently destabilizing and provocative," Carpenter observed.





U.S. HEGEMONY AT PLAY

The relationship between the United States and its European allies within NATO is fundamentally unequal. In order to counter the Soviet Union, Washington persuaded some European countries to form NATO in 1949 under the banner of "common defense." Since then, Washington has kept a tight grip on NATO's leadership.

As David Calleo, a political scientist based at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, has pointed out, an American general is NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, and Europe's defense "depends upon the willingness of the United States to initiate a nuclear war rather than see Europe overrun, even by conventional forces."

"Militarily, NATO is a hegemonic American protectorate," Calleo commented.

In return, NATO contributes to the United States' hegemonic position in Western Europe by allowing U.S. military bases and troops to be stationed in the region. It also tragically panders to Washington's obsession with NATO expansion by ignoring Russia's security concerns.

As it grew, NATO became a vehicle to address new global issues that worried U.S. leaders, commented the U.S. news and opinion website VOX.

"Enlarging NATO becomes the gift that keeps on giving," VOX quoted Joshua Shifrinson, an international relations scholar at Boston University, as saying.

"It was a way of incentivizing liberalization in countries that had been in the Communist bloc, showing that the United States still has a mission in Europe, and a way of the United States projecting power and checking alternative systems like the European Union," Shifrinson said.

To justify Washington's leadership, to present a unitary front in NATO, and to justify big increases in western (especially German) military budgets, "Russia must be presented as the common enemy," Robert Wade, professor of Global Political Economy at the London School of Economics, wrote in March.





GLOBAL PEACE DISRUPTOR

Russia has long been accused by the U.S.-led NATO of violating basic international rules and norms and stoking global instability. Ironically, it is precisely what people in many parts of the world believe Washington and NATO have been doing.

Speaking in March at a ceremony marking the Remembrance Day of victims of the 1999 NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic condemned the NATO attack as "brutal, horrible, criminal, (and) inhuman."

Though that small country "hardly did anything wrong to anyone... that small country and great people just wanted to be on their own, to guard their hearths, and nothing more," Vucic said, "some others, 19 big ones, wanted to show all their courage, arrogance and brutality on a small unconquered people like the Serbs."

NATO forces launched 78 days of bombardment against Yugoslavia in 1999, killing or injuring over 8,000 civilians and displacing approximately 1 million people.

Other countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, have also fallen victim to the U.S.-led NATO's belligerence and violations of human rights.

In the two-decade-long Afghanistan war fought nominally to protect civilians, NATO's airstrikes have killed thousands of civilians.

Din Mohammad, a 73-year-old Afghan man from the hamlet of Lakani in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province in south Afghanistan, still remembered the night ten years ago when the U.S. military unleashed airstrikes on his hometown, killing 63 civilians and injuring dozens more.

"The bodies of men, women and children were lying in blood and the crying of the injured was heard from every corner of the house," he told Xinhua.

"Innocent people were killed in their beds without committing any crime," said Mohammad, who lost 17 family members, including five children, that night.





After the U.S.-led NATO intervention in 2011, Libya sank into civil war and became a breeding ground for instability and terrorism.

As Alan Kuperman, associate professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, has noted, "Libya has not only failed to evolve into a democracy; it has devolved into a failed state. Violent deaths and other human rights abuses have increased severalfold" after the NATO military attacks.

In Iraq, between 184,382 and 207,156 civilians have died from "direct war-related violence caused by the United States, its allies, the Iraqi military and police, and opposition forces" from the time of the invasion through October 2019, according to the Costs of War project at the U.S. Brown University.

The death toll is "likely much higher," as not all war-related deaths were accurately recorded, it said. (Video reporter: Lu Jiafei, Feng Yasong, Shu Chang, He Fei; Video editors: Lin Lin, Cao Ying, Zhu Cong)
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif (C, front) visits the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad to express his deepest condolences to the families of victims and the government and people of China after the terrorist attack inside a university, Islamabad, Pakistan, April 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

ISLAMABAD, April 26 (Xinhua) -- China strongly condemned the terrorist attack Tuesday afternoon inside a university in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan said in a statement.

An explosion ripped through a shuttle passenger van of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi, leaving three Chinese teachers killed and one Chinese teacher injured so far, the statement said.

"The Embassy and Consulates General of China in Pakistan express deep condolences to the victims from both countries and sincere sympathy to the injured and the bereaved families, and will make every effort to handle the incident with the Pakistani side," the statement said.

The Chinese embassy and consulates general in Pakistan has launched an emergency plan immediately, requesting the Pakistani side to make every effort to treat the wounded, thoroughly investigate the attack, and severely punish the perpetrators, said the statement.

The Chinese embassy and consulates general in Pakistan require relevant departments at all levels in Pakistan to take practical and effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Pakistan, and to ensure that similar incidents do not happen again, according to the statement.

After the terrorist attack, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad Tuesday afternoon to express his deepest condolences to the families of victims and the government and people of China.

Strongly condemning the attack, Shahbaz said he is deeply grieved by the loss of precious lives of the Chinese friends in the heinous terrorist attack in Karachi.

The prime minister said he has instructed that the attack be thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice, adding that the Pakistani side will provide all possible assistance to the injured.

Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, said Shahbaz, adding that such vicious acts against the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between Pakistan and China will never dent the iron brotherhood between the two countries or hinder bilateral cooperation. 

Security personnel inspect the blast site of the terrorist attack inside a university in Karachi, Pakistan, April 26, 2022. (Xinhua)
Residents in Tibet can cruise down country lanes thanks to a huge road renovation project.

Let's take a ride through the past six years to see the plateau region move toward smoother transportation.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service 
UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres continues to push for a halt in hostilities in Ukraine even though a Russian UN envoy said a cease-fire is not a good option at the moment, said a UN spokesman.

"We continue to call for a cease-fire or some sort of pause. The secretary-general did that, as you know, just last week. Clearly, that didn't happen in time for (Orthodox) Easter," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for Guterres.

"I don't want to give too many details at this stage of the sort of proposals he will have. I think we're coming at a fairly delicate moment. It's important that he is able to talk clearly with the leadership on both sides and see what progress we can make," he told a daily press briefing.

"Ultimately, the end goal is to have a halt to fighting and to have ways to improve the situation of the people in Ukraine, lessen the threat that they're under, and provide humanitarian aid (to) them. So, those are the goals we're trying, and there are certain ways that we'll try to move those forward," he said.

Guterres was on his way to Moscow from Turkey. He will have a working meeting and lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, and will be received by President Vladimir Putin. Guterres then will travel to Ukraine and have a working meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and will be received by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

Before his trips to Moscow and Kiev, Guterres made a stop-over in Turkey, where he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the Ukraine issue.

Haq said the secretary-general is making the trips because he thinks there is an opportunity now.

"A lot of diplomacy is about timing, about finding out when is the right time to speak with a person, to travel to a place, to do certain things. And he is going in the anticipation that there is a real opportunity that is now availing itself, and we'll see what we can make of it," he said.

Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said Monday that now is not the time for a cease-fire.

"We don't think that cease-fire is a good option right now. The only advantage it will present is that it will give Ukrainian forces a possibility to regroup and stage more provocations like the one in Bucha," he told reporters. "It is not up to me to decide, but I do not see any reason in this right now." 
BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Pony.ai, a self-driving start-up in the southern city of Guangzhou, has become the first entity of its kind in China to receive a taxi license.

Beginning in May, the license allows the company to operate 100 autonomous vehicles as taxis in the city's Nansha District over an area of more than 800 square km, the company said.

It also has plans in the works to launch similar services in two other large Chinese cities next year.

In late 2021, the start-up was authorized to launch commercial trials of its autonomous vehicles in Beijing. Along with Chinese tech giant Baidu, it was among the first companies nationwide permitted to launch such pilot services. 
ANKARA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that all parties should support the Istanbul process for a solution to the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, Turkey's presidency said.

Guterres met with Erdogan in the Turkish capital Ankara, before heading to Moscow and Kiev for talks on resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Erdogan emphasized that the Istanbul process, which "preserves its character as the most credible way to reach peace," should be supported by everyone, said his office after the meeting.

Along with efforts to cease the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Turkey will continue to work closely with the United Nations to end the humanitarian crisis by contributing to the evacuation of civilians and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region, Erdogan told Guterres.

The secretary-general, for his part, expressed support for Turkey's ongoing diplomatic efforts concerning the Ukrainian crisis, the UN said in a statement.

Guterres and Erdogan "reaffirmed that their common objective is to end the war as soon as possible and to create conditions to end the suffering of civilians," the statement said.

They stressed the urgent need for effective access through humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and deliver much-needed assistance to impacted communities while agreeing to stay in contact to follow up on ongoing initiatives.

Erdogan and the UN chief discussed the impact of the crisis on regional and global issues, including energy, food and finance.

At a press conference after a cabinet meeting on Monday, Erdogan said he will have a phone talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as part of the efforts for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The UN chief will meet Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 26 and 28 respectively, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Guterres, said on Friday.

Guterres will visit Moscow on April 26 and have "a working meeting and lunch" with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said Dujarric.

During his trip to Ukraine, Guterres will have a working meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and meet with staff of UN agencies to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people, Dujarric said.

Turkey has been playing a mediator role to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as Ankara has close ties with both countries.

Previously, Lavrov and Kuleba met in a resort town of Turkey's southern province of Antalya on March 10, for the first high-level talks between Moscow and Kiev since the former launched a special military operation in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The negotiation teams of Russia and Ukraine also had a face-to-face meeting in Istanbul on March 29.

Erdogan is referring Istanbul process since Ankara wants to continue the dialogue between Kiev and Moscow with a leaders' summit in this city in order to reach a final peace deal.

Turkish authorities said earlier that Ankara welcomes the proposal of becoming a guarantor country in terms of the security of Ukraine. 
Chinese Nobel laureate Tu Youyou receives an interview with Xinhua at home in Beijing, capital of China, June 12, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhou Ning)

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) have been widely used to treat malaria over the past two decades, employing Chinese wisdom to save millions of lives around the world.

Malaria, an ancient acute infectious disease caused by plasmodium parasites, is still a threat to human health. According to the 2021 world malaria report released by the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 241 million malaria cases were recorded globally in 2020, and of these, 627,000 malaria patients have died.

In ancient Chinese medicine, the sweet wormwood plant was used to treat various illnesses, including fevers typical of malaria. Around five decades ago, Chinese scientists identified its active ingredient, artemisinin.

In 2005, the World Health Organization recommended ACTs as the most effective malaria treatment available.

In order to achieve the WHO's goal of reducing malaria incidence and mortality by at least 90 percent by 2030 compared with 2015, Chinese researchers have spared no effort in conducting further artemisinin research.

Tu Youyou, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015 for the discovery of artemisinin, is leading a new research team, using new technologies to help artemisinin research play a greater role in malaria control.

The team is focusing on the treatment of the most harmful form of the illness, falciparum malaria. It is also studying artemisinin's mechanism of action and its drug-resistance mechanism. The team has published the relevant research results in a series of papers.

A staff member of a company shows artemisinin derived from the artemisia annua in Rongan County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, June 17, 2019. (Photo by Nong Guanbin/Xinhua)

The global malaria epidemic has rebounded in recent years, partly due to disruptions in prevention, diagnosis and treatment services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global demand for artemisinin has increased, but the quality and supply of the substance have not been stable.

The preparation of artemisinin still depends on extraction from sweet wormwood. The researchers have improved the varieties of sweet wormwood available for this purpose, increasing the artemisinin content to about 2 percent.

Another Chinese research team, from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a new technology for producing artemisinin on a large scale.

Compared to the traditional process, the time required to produce the same amount of artemisinin concentrate is reduced by 87.5 percent. Meanwhile, the purity of the final product is greater, reaching more than 99 percent, with less energy consumed in the process.

"This technology solves the main shortcomings in the traditional artemisinin production process and could also provide ideas for the production of other natural products," said Zhang Suojiang, IPE director.

Used in conjunction with other prevention approaches, ACTs have contributed to the global reduction of malaria morbidity and mortality. According to the latest WHO data, the fight against malaria saved an estimated 10.6 million lives globally from 2000 to 2020.

Through developing ACTs, China has contributed its wisdom to the global battle against this disease.

China's contribution can also be seen in the practical application of treatment methods in places where malaria poses a serious health challenge.

It has built a malaria prevention and control center in the African island nation of Comoros, training over 4,000 medical workers there. The number of malaria cases has dropped by 98 percent in Comoros, while the number of deaths from the illness has been reduced to zero.

The experience of anti-malaria cooperation between China and Comoros has provided a useful model for other African nations, such as Kenya, Togo and Gambia.

According to Zheng Zhijie, an official with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the "Chinese experience" in anti-malaria cooperation is highly adaptable and has established an innovative malaria prevention and control model. 
MOSCOW, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that the West had failed in its attempts to divide Russian society and destroy it from within.

During an expanded meeting of the Prosecutor General's Office Board, the president noted that the West and its allies were urging Kiev to use all its resources to win on the battlefield.

After realizing that this goal was impossible, the United States and its allies focused on "splitting Russian society, destroying Russia from within," the Kremlin said, citing the Russian leader.

"Our society has demonstrated maturity, solidarity, and has shown support for our armed forces, who are ensuring Russia's unconditional security," he said.

Russia is fully capable of sustaining a stable economy under the current conditions, by supporting major production sectors and at the same time ensuring entrepreneurial freedom and creating flexible mechanisms for business activities to prevent commodity shortages and rising prices, according to the president. 
Daniela Sena (R) sells products with her colleague through livestreaming in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Jan. 19, 2022. (Xinhua)

HEFEI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- At a cross-border e-commerce industrial park in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, workers from Shangyan Trading Company are busy loading clothes into trucks after quality inspection.

The goods will be transported thousands of miles away to overseas warehouses and will be shipped to North America for sale.

"Despite the pandemic headwinds, our cross-border e-commerce sales have continued to grow in recent years," said Jiang Yebing, general manager of Shangyan, adding that the company's sales volume rose by 60 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2022 and goods were delivered each day.

Driven by factors including smoother logistics channels and more convenient customs clearance policies, cross-border e-commerce in landlocked Anhui has gained momentum. This impetus offers a glimpse into China's rapid growth in this field against the backdrop of the pandemic.

Cross-border e-commerce, featuring online marketing, online transactions and contactless payment, has boomed in China over the past few years, particularly during the last two years when the pandemic impeded business travel and face-to-face contact.

Data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed that China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports grew by 0.5 percent year on year to 434.5 billion yuan (about 66.57 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of this year, with exports increasing by 2.6 percent to 310.4 billion yuan.

"In recent years, as a new form of foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce has shown strong development vitality," GAC spokesperson Li Kuiwen told a press conference recently.

Earlier this year, China's State Council issued a statement, approving the establishment of additional cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in 27 cities and regions.

This brings the overall tally of pilot zones to 132, covering almost all provincial-level regions in China from coastal industrial powerhouses such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong to inland areas.

In these pilot zones, local governments provide a variety of trade services ranging from logistics, payment, law, taxation and customs clearance to facilitate enterprises' cross-border e-commerce businesses.

"In January, the export orders of our park exceeded 480,000, up more than 40 times from the same period in the previous year, marking a brilliant start," said Wang Weidong, director of Anhui (Shushan) Cross-border E-commerce Industrial Park in Hefei, one of the pilot zones.

With the pandemic inducing new challenges such as rising raw material costs and disruptions in international logistics, local governments in China are actively rolling out measures to cope with difficulties facing cross-border e-commerce.

The measures include subsidies for transportation, streamlining of export clearance procedures and a division mechanism to fully utilize logistics capacity, among others.

The favorable policy environment for cross-border e-commerce has led to a continuous increase in the number of cross-border e-commerce companies. So far, China has seen the establishment of more than 30,000 enterprises related to cross-border e-commerce, with the volume soaring every year.

The massive market entities of cross-border e-commerce also provide opportunities for industry innovation, with new marketing tools such as the advent of cross-border e-commerce livestream sales.

Chinese consulting firm iiMedia Research has predicted that the market scale of China's cross-border e-commerce livestream sales will exceed 100 billion yuan in 2022.

"China has actively developed cross-border e-commerce and other new forms of foreign trade to promote sustained growth of foreign trade," said Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics.

Despite the complex and uncertain international environment, China's strong resilience and great potential in foreign trade will remain unaffected and the country's foreign trade is expected to maintain stable development, Fu noted. 
By Azernews





Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and the Russian Foreign Ministrys special representative for the Azerbaijani-Armenian normalization Igor Khovayev have discussed regional peace, the ministry reported on April 25.

At the meeting, the sides exchanged views on steps taken to normalize Azerbaijan-Armenia relations.

The parties addressed the present state of negotiations for a future peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the opening of all communication lines and the beginning of the border delimitation process.

Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan is ready to take appropriate steps to ensure peace and security in the region.

Khovayev also reiterated the readiness of Russia to support progress in all mentioned areas.

The sides also discussed other issues of mutual interest.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and European Council President Charles Michel met in a trilateral format in Brussels on April 6.

The meeting was held for a continuation of the discussions on the situation in the South Caucasus region and the development of EU relations with both countries.

The leaders took stock of developments since their last meeting in Brussels in December 2021 and their videoconference, together with French President Emmanuel Macron, in February 2022. They reviewed progress on the implementation of undertaken commitments. The leaders discussed the recently reported tensions and reiterated the necessity of adhering fully to the provisions of the 9/10 November 2020 trilateral statement.

Both Aliyev and Pashinyan have expressed a willingness to work quickly toward a peace agreement between their countries. To that end, it was decided to instruct foreign ministers to begin work on drafting a future peace treaty that would address all of the issues.

At the same time, it was also agreed to convene a Joint Border Commission by the end of April. The Joint Border Commission's mandate will be to: delimit the bilateral border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and ensure a stable security situation along and in the vicinity of the borderline.




Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) meets with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Ankara, Turkey, April 25, 2022. (Turkish Presidential Palace/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to ending the conflict in Ukraine and to creating conditions to end the suffering of civilians, said a UN spokesman.

Guterres met Erdogan in the Turkish capital Ankara on Monday. The UN chief expressed his support for Turkey's ongoing diplomatic efforts in relation to the conflict in Ukraine, Farhan Haq, Guterres' deputy spokesman, told reporters in New York.

"He and President Erdogan reaffirmed that their common objective is to end the war as soon as possible and to create conditions to end the suffering of civilians. They stressed the urgent need for effective access through humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and deliver much-needed assistance to impacted communities," said Haq.

They agreed to stay in contact to follow up on ongoing initiatives, he added.

Guterres and Erdogan also discussed the impact of the Ukraine conflict on regional and global issues, including energy, food and finance, said Haq.

Guterres was in Ankara on Monday before traveling to Moscow and Kiev. Turkey, a major mediator, has also indicated its willingness to become a security guarantor of Ukraine.

The UN secretary-general will visit Moscow and have a working meeting and lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday. He will be received by President Vladimir Putin.

Guterres then will travel to Ukraine, where he will have a working meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and will be received by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday. He will also meet with staff of UN agencies in Ukraine to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance. 
Combo photo of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Xinhua)

"The president agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol," said a readout of the meeting.

UNITED NATIONS, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed in principle to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol of Ukraine, said a UN spokesman on Tuesday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held a tete-a-tete in Moscow with Putin, said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesman, in a readout of the meeting.

Guterres reiterated the position of the United Nations on Ukraine, and they discussed the proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians in relation to the situation in Mariupol, said the readout.

"The president agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol," it said.

Follow-on discussions will be held with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Russian Defense Ministry, it added.

Dujarric was with the secretary-general in Moscow.

Before his talks with Putin, Guterres held a working meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

At a press encounter after his meeting with Lavrov, Guterres said that "it is my deep conviction that the sooner we end this war, the better -- for the people of Ukraine, for the people of the Russian Federation, and those far beyond."

Photo taken on April 20, 2022 shows a view of the Azovstal plant in the port city of Mariupol. (Photo by Victor/Xinhua)

Guterres said he had proposed the establishment of a Humanitarian Contact Group, bringing together Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations, to look for opportunities for the opening of safe corridors, with local cessations of hostilities, and to guarantee that they are actually effective.

On Mariupol, in particular, he proposed for coordinated work of the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Ukrainian and Russian forces to enable the safe evacuation of the civilians who want to leave, both inside the Azovstal plant and in the city, in any direction they would choose, and to deliver the humanitarian aid required, said Guterres.

The Ukraine conflict is sending shock waves around the world. The dramatic acceleration of the increases in the prices for food and energy is causing enormous suffering to hundreds of millions of the most vulnerable people worldwide. This comes on top of the shock of the continued COVID-19 pandemic and uneven access to resources for recovery, which particularly penalize developing countries around the world, he said.

Guterres will be flying to Rzeszow of Poland, in transit to Ukraine, where he will meet with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday. 
ASHGABAT, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and visiting Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe voiced common willingness on Tuesday to promote bilateral cooperation.

At a meeting with Wei in Ashgabat, Berdimuhamedov said that Turkmenistan attaches great importance to its relations with China, and the two countries have carried out high-level cooperation in the fields of politics, diplomacy, trade, culture, humanitarian and people-to-people exchanges, and established a strategic partnership.

China is one of Turkmenistan's largest trading partners, the president said, adding that there are more than 1,400 Turkmen students studying in China, and students can major in the Chinese language in many Turkmen universities.

Berdimuhamedov expressed the hope that the two militaries will strengthen practical cooperation in equipment technology, personnel training and other fields, and continuously push foward bilateral relations with new development.

For his part, Wei said that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Turkmenistan relations have achieved leap-forward development and are in their best period in history.

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties, China stands ready to cement solidarity with Turkmenistan and jointly build an even closer community with a shared future for the two countries, he said.

China firmly supports Turkmenistan's permanent neutral status, firmly supports its pursuit of a development path suited to its national conditions, and firmly opposes external interference in Turkmenistan's internal affairs, Wei stressed.

In recent years, military-to-military relations between the two countries have been developing steadily and their pragmatic cooperation has been deepening day by day, he noted.

The Chinese military is willing to further expand areas of cooperation with Turkmenistan, enhance the effectiveness of cooperation and strive to elevate military-to-military relations to a higher level, Wei said.

On the same day, Turkmen Defense Minister Begench Gundogdyev held a welcome ceremony for Wei and had formal talks with him.

The two officials exchanged in-depth views on the international and regional security situations as well as the Ukrainian and the Afghan issues, and both agreed that the two militaries will continue strategic communication, conduct personnel training, and strengthen anti-terrorist and equipment technology cooperation. 
UNITED NATIONS, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed in principle to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol of Ukraine, said a UN spokesman on Tuesday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held a tete-a-tete in Moscow with Putin, said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesman, in a readout of the meeting.

Guterres reiterated the position of the United Nations on Ukraine, and they discussed the proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians in relation to the situation in Mariupol, said the readout.

"The president agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol," it said.

Follow-on discussions will be held with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Russian Defense Ministry, it added.

Dujarric was with the secretary-general in Moscow.

Before his talks with Putin, Guterres held a working meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

At a press encounter after his meeting with Lavrov, Guterres said that "it is my deep conviction that the sooner we end this war, the better -- for the people of Ukraine, for the people of the Russian Federation, and those far beyond."

Guterres said he had proposed the establishment of a Humanitarian Contact Group, bringing together Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations, to look for opportunities for the opening of safe corridors, with local cessations of hostilities, and to guarantee that they are actually effective.

On Mariupol, in particular, he proposed for coordinated work of the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Ukrainian and Russian forces to enable the safe evacuation of the civilians who want to leave, both inside the Azovstal plant and in the city, in any direction they would choose, and to deliver the humanitarian aid required, said Guterres.

The Ukraine conflict is sending shock waves around the world. The dramatic acceleration of the increases in the prices for food and energy is causing enormous suffering to hundreds of millions of the most vulnerable people worldwide. This comes on top of the shock of the continued COVID-19 pandemic and uneven access to resources for recovery, which particularly penalize developing countries around the world, he said.

Guterres will be flying to Rzeszow of Poland, in transit to Ukraine, where he will meet with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday. 
UNITED NATIONS, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Human activity and behavior, on top of climate change, are contributing to an increasing number of disasters across the world, finds a UN report.

The number of medium- to large-scale disaster events is projected to reach 560 a year, or 1.5 disasters a day, by 2030 if the current trends continue, according to the Global Assessment Report released by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) on Tuesday.

An additional estimated 37.6 million people will be living in conditions of extreme poverty due to the impacts of climate change and disasters by 2030. A worst-case scenario will push an additional 100.7 million people into poverty by 2030, according to the report.

Between 350 and 500 such disasters took place every year over the past two decades. This is five times higher than the previous three decades. The cost of these disasters has averaged roughly 170 billion U.S. dollars per year over the last decade, says the report.

This impact is focused on low-income and lower-middle-income countries, which lose on average 1 percent of their national GDP to disasters per year, compared to 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent in high-income countries and upper-middle-income countries respectively.

The greatest share of economic loss is borne within the Asia-Pacific region. Countries in this region lose on average 1.3 percent of GDP to disasters each year. Africa is the second-most affected region, losing an average of 0.6 percent of GDP to disasters, says the report.

Despite the fact that more countries are adopting disaster risk reduction strategies, more people have been killed or affected by disasters in the last five years than in the previous five, it says.

"There is no time to waste. The current uncertainties around our world must not be a barrier to action. Delay is not an option. We can no longer afford delaying investments in disaster risk reduction. The systemic challenges of the 21st century require systemic thinking, coordination and response if we are to create a more sustainable, more resilient, and more equitable future for all," said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, who presented the report at UN headquarters in New York.

Mami Mizutori, head of UNDRR, said at the launch of the report, "If we want to significantly reduce disaster losses by 2030, then we must face the fact that the next eight years require transformation in governance, finance and behavior." 
BAGHDAD, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran held in Iraq may pave the way for the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Iraqi Foreign Ministry's spokesman said on Tuesday.

The 5th round of talks between Tehran and Riyadh was held in Iraq's capital Baghdad last Thursday in "a peaceful atmosphere and showed positive understanding," Ahmed al-Sahaf was quoted as saying by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA).

The talks, which were also attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, covered a variety of topics, including security issues, the INA reported.

By hosting such talks, Iraq hopes to create a platform for similar rapprochement dialogues in the region, according to al-Sahaf.

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in early 2016 in protest against the attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran following the Saudi execution of a Shiite cleric.

The tense ties between the two rivals have shown signs of improvement since they resumed direct talks on normalizing diplomatic relations in April 2021. 
Pedestrians walk through Grand Central Station in New York, the United States, March 28, 2022. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

"When it comes to a deadly virus, ignorance is not bliss. The WHO continues to call on all countries to maintain surveillance," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

GENEVA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Even though the number of globally reported COVID-19 cases and deaths continues to decline, largely due to a drop in testing rates, the pandemic is not over, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned here on Tuesday.

Last week, just over 15,000 coronavirus-related deaths were reported to the WHO, the lowest weekly total since March 2020, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing.

A woman puts a flower on the National COVID Memorial Wall in London, Britain, March 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

However, the encouraging trend should be interpreted with caution, as many countries have scaled back on testing, and as a result "the WHO is receiving less and less information about transmission and sequencing," he said.

"This makes us increasingly blind to patterns of transmission and evolution. But this virus won't go away just because countries stop looking for it. It's still spreading, it's still changing and it's still killing," Tedros said.

"When it comes to a deadly virus, ignorance is not bliss. The WHO continues to call on all countries to maintain surveillance," he said.

A man has a COVID-19 test at a test station in Berlin, capital of Germany, on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)

Responding to the European Union's (EU) recent decision to enter a new post-emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, cautioned that this is not the time to lose focus on the virus nor on its potential to continue to evolve.

"The fact is that we're not out of this yet," he said.

Maria van Kerkhove, technical lead for the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said that despite the recent positive trends, she had "little confidence in the number of cases being reported around the world" due to the massive changes in testing strategies and the huge reductions in the number of tests being performed around the world.

"On the positive side, we do see a change. We are in a different phase of this pandemic, certainly, but we are still very much in the middle of this pandemic, and this is still a global problem," she said.

Performers participate in a street parade celebrating the Songkran Festival in Ayutthaya, Thailand, April 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

"Now is not the time to retreat. Now is the time to really strengthen what we have put in place and ensure that we keep people alive, and we get our economies back on track and we save people's livelihoods," she noted. 
WINDHOEK, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism on Tuesday said they had put down a 10-year-old problem-causing lion that has been terrorizing communities in the Sesfontein and Puros area in the country's Kunene Region.

"The lion has been notorious for killing people's livestock since 2019. He has caught 12 cattle, 13 donkeys and 9 goats. The lion has on numerous occasions been observed moving into people's settlements at night posing a threat to their lives. He was also displaying traits that he was not scared of people," spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said in a statement.

He said the ministry had to put some preventive measures before the lion was declared a problem-causing animal, adding that the lion was trophy hunted and generated about 10 000 U.S. dollars for the affected communities through conservancies.

"Destruction of problem-causing animals is part of our conservation methods particularly in mitigating Human-Wildlife Conflict. Communities who live with wildlife know how crucial this activity is in providing them with relief from destructive and dangerous animals," Muyunda said. 
KHARTOUM, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Three weeks into April, Sudan is ushering in an earlier summer as daytime temperatures climbed to over 45 degrees Celsius.

The sudden rise in temperatures augurs badly for the African country because it means an earlier than usual rainy season, and more mosquitoes spreading malaria in the country.

Liu Hongbo, 38, still sweating in his air-conditioned office in northern Khartoum, was lost in his thoughts on the production plans of his company "Shanghai-Sudan Pharmacies LTD," one of the leading producers of artemisinin-based drugs in the country.

Liu said the production of artemisinin-based drugs in his company had been at full speed and capacity since early April, and this year's output of the major product Artemether & Lumefantrine Tablets would be no less than 9 million, equivalent to the level of 2021.

"We are trying to build up an artemisinin umbrella for the Sudanese people against malaria, which still poses one of the gravest threats to public health in Sudan," Liu said.

Liu is the general manager of an eight-member Chinese team managing the Shanghai-Sudan Pharmacies LTD, which was established in 1998 by Shanghai Pharmaceuticals and the Sudanese health ministry.

Now the joint venture is selling anti-malaria drugs in all of the country's 18 states and enjoys some 80 percent share of the anti-malaria medicine in the country.

Esmat Nagi, 31, the Sudanese manager of the company, told Xinhua that 220 Sudanese people were working on the production lines of the company, which was a house-held name in his neighborhood and communities.

Artemisinin drug represents the first-line treatment for malaria and is available in most pharmacies in Sudan, according to Sudanese pharmacists.

"The Artemisinin drug has proved to be highly efficient," said Ahmed Abdalla Khidir, a pharmacist and owner of El Nadi pharmacies group in Khartoum, told Xinhua.

Al-Wathiq Mohamed Ahmed, a drug and toxicology expert in Sudan, said Chinese artemisinin medicines, particularly from the shanghai-Sudan pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, are more competitive than their counterparts from other countries in terms of quality and price.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that more than 240 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have benefited from artemisinin treatment, and about 1.5 million patients have escaped death thanks to the treatment. 
ADDIS ABABA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The African Union welcomed a recent decision of East African Leaders to deploy a regional peacekeeping force to unrest-hit parts of Democartic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In a press statement released on Monday evening, the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said he welcomes the recent decision by regional leaders to send peacekeepers to the DRC.

"The AU welcomes the outcome of the second heads of state conclave on DRC held on Thursday in Nairobi, particularly the decision to immediately deploy a regional force to restore peace and stability in the DRC," the statement said.

"The AUC Chairperson commends Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the east African leaders for their common efforts towards finding a sustainable solution to the situation in eastern DRC and the Great Lakes region as a whole," the statement further said.

Mahamat also said the AU will continue its commitment to be one of the guarantors of peace efforts in DRC and the wider region.

Five African countries on Thursday resolved to deploy a regional force to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to fight a rebel insurgency in the country.

The presidents including Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Evariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi, Felix Tshisekedi of DRC and Paul Kagame of Rwanda represented by foreign ministers, directed all armed groups in the DRC participate unconditionally in the political process to resolve their grievances.

The eastern part of the DRC has been troubled for decades by multiple militia groups, in particular rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and those of the March 23 Movement (M23), common nightmare for countries in the region. 
By Trend

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Ilia Darchiashvili will pay an official visit to Azerbaijan from April 26 through 27, Trend reports citing the press office of the Georgian Foreign Ministry.

During the visit, the Foreign Minister is expected to hold meetings with Prime Minister Ali Asadov, Chair of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova and Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.

Issues of strategic relationship between Georgia and Azerbaijan will be discussed during the visit, Georgian Foreign Ministry said.
YAOUNDE, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon on Monday began hosting the Regional Ministerial Conference on solutions to forced displacements related to the armed conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR).

The three-day conference co-hosted by the UN Refugee Agency and the government of Cameroon will identify actions in response to the problems caused by displacements in CAR.

"We need to find real, effective and simple solutions to the refugee crisis in Central African Republic. As of Dec. 31, 2021, Cameroon hosted 335,587 Central African Republic refugees. They have been provided shelter, education and food," Cameroon's Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji said while opening the conference in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.

"There is (an) urgent need for stronger regional and international support so as to better assure the immediate humanitarian response to the needs of these displaced persons and crucially to upgrade prospects for solutions in the Central African Republic and in the countries of asylum," said UN Refugee Agency's Regional Bureau Director for West and Central Africa Millicent Mutuli.

Senior government officials of the main countries hosting CAR nationals including Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and South Sudan are attending the conference that will end Wednesday. 
DAR ES SALAAM, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Tuesday pardoned 3,826 prisoners as a gesture to commemorate the 58th Anniversary of the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged on April 26, 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania, a deal which was witnessed by Tanganyika's founding President Julius Nyerere and Zanzibar's founding President Abeid Karume.

A statement by the Minister for Home Affairs, Hamad Masauni, said the presidential amnesty benefitted prisoners who have served over a quarter of their jail terms and those that were jailed before Feb. 22, 2022.

The statement mentioned other inmates to benefit from the presidential amnesty as those suffering from chronic diseases and approved by qualified medical personnel.

Prisoners aged over 70 years and women with breastfeeding children and pregnant women will also gain the presidential pardon, said the statement.

According to the statement, other beneficiaries of the presidential amnesty include prisoners jailed for economic sabotage but have served more than 20 years, those jailed for money laundering who served more than 20 years in jail and those convicted of embezzlement of public funds and property who have served over 15 years jail terms. 
ABUJA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict resulting in the disruption of wheat exports has pushed wheat prices higher by 60 percent in Africa, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwunmi Adesina said in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, on Tuesday.

Adesina, in a meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, said the conflict would create global problems, particularly for Africa, which imports a huge percentage of its food from the two countries.

"Already, the price of wheat has gone up about 60 percent. Maize and other grains will also be affected. There may be a fertilizer crisis, as there would be about a 2 million metric tons deficit. And that will affect food production by about 20 percent," he said, noting Africa will lose up to 11 billion U.S. dollars worth of food.

"And coming shortly after COVID-19, that would be rather serious," the Nigeria-born Adesina said, disclosing the AfDB has developed a 1.5-billion U.S. dollars Africa Emergency Food Plan, which is now awaiting approval by the AfDB's top management.

To avert a food crisis on the African continent while mitigating the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said the AfDB plans to help farmers in Africa cultivate wheat, maize, rice sorghum, and soybeans through the plan.

Speaking specifically of Nigeria, Adesina, a former minister of agriculture in the West African country, said in the wet season of 2022, at least 5 million smallholder farmers would be helped to cultivate 1 million hectares of maize, 1 million hectares of rice, and 250,000 hectares of sorghum and soybeans, respectively.

"In total, our support will help Nigeria to produce 9.5 million metric tons of food," he said, adding "we want to ensure Nigeria won't feel the impact of the food crisis."

Buhari gave plaudits to the AfDB for planning ahead of whatever negative consequences may come from the Russia-Ukraine conflict in terms of food security.

"We are very much aware of the need for food security, and to encourage our local farmers, that was why we closed our borders for about two years to curb smuggling. We made some progress," he added. 
BANGKOK, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's domestic auto sales rose 9.1 percent year on year in March, but auto exports fell 10.21 percent from one year earlier due to a shortage of auto parts and semiconductors for certain car models, data from the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) showed.

The country's auto sales in the first quarter of the year jumped 19.09 percent year on year to 231,189 units, helped by recovering economic activity in the country following the government's easing of pandemic control measures, according to the FTI.

During the first three months of the year, the country's auto production climbed 3.06 percent from one year earlier to 480,078 units. In March alone, its auto production expanded 6.25 percent from one year earlier and rose 10.93 percent from February this year, according to the FTI.

The shortage of auto parts and semiconductors has affected exports of many car models to the Australian, European and Asian markets, and the FTI expressed concerns that the Russia-Ukraine conflict might further exacerbate the shortage of raw materials, auto parts and semiconductors.

Thailand's auto exports during the January-March period decreased 5.81 percent year on year to 243,124 units, with the export value increasing slightly by 0.86 percent to 144.17 billion baht (about 4.21 billion U.S. dollars), according to the FTI. 
People ride on the road in Bangalore, India, April 26, 2022. After local governments across India lifted all the pandemic related restrictions and even dropped the mandatory wearing of face masks, the country is once again witnessing an increase in the daily number of COVID-19 infections. On Tuesday, 2,483 new cases were recorded during a 24-hour time span. (Str/Xinhua)

by Peerzada Arshad Hamid

NEW DELHI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- After local governments across India lifted all the pandemic related restrictions and even dropped the mandatory wearing of face masks, the country is once again witnessing an increase in the daily number of COVID-19 infections.

For the first time since the devastating second wave that ravaged the country around this time last year, India has for a few weeks early this month recorded daily COVID-19 infections below 1,000 cases a day.

But there is an uptick again at a time when markets have been reopened, businesses returned to normalcy and travel activities resumed to the pre-pandemic levels. Schools and colleges have been open for in-person classes and there is no bar to gatherings.

COVID-19 cases rose again in India at a time when a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases is being seen in many countries around the world.

On Jan. 20, daily cases surged to 347,254. Cases quickly nosedived thereafter.

From March 19 this year, daily COVID-19 cases began to drop below 2,000. On April 3, the daily caseload went below 1,000 cases and it hovered around the mark until April 16.

However, from April 17, an uptick was witnessed, the daily caseload breached the 2,000 mark again and since then the cases have been increasing. On Tuesday, 2,483 new cases were recorded during a 24-hour time span, just weeks after falling to the lowest in nearly two years.

MANDATORY FACE MASK RULE RETURNS

Experts say the spike in cases has been attributed to the reopening of schools, increased social activities, gatherings and relaxed rules amid low COVID-19 numbers.

Amid concerns about rising daily COVID-19 cases, many states have reinstated the mandatory face mask rule in public places to counter the spread of infections and even warned to penalize violators.

The local government in New Delhi last week made wearing face masks mandatory in public places and brought in a rule to penalize violators with a fine of 500 rupee (6.53 U.S. dollars). The order has been reimposed in the city within three weeks of its withdrawal. And some states followed suit.

While there are no immediate signs of India's health care system getting overwhelmed like it did last year when daily cases topped 400,000 as the delta variant ripped through the populous nation, the World Health Organization has warned of emergence of new variants, calling for maintaining vigilance.

Officials say India was also putting in place other measures to prevent another wave of the pandemic.

The federal health ministry wrote a letter to some states, asking them to continue with the five-fold strategy, which includes testing, tracking, treatment, vaccination and adherence to COVID-19 appropriate behavior.

CHILDREN FALLING SICK

Ever since schools were reopened almost after two years' gap, a huge number of school children across India have fallen ill and are frequently suffering from cold, fever, cough and body aches. Doctors say children, mostly younger ones or those with pre-existing health conditions, are complaining of cough, allergies, viral infection, water-borne diseases, respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal infections.

According to parents across locations, the school-going children pass on the infection to smaller children at home and even sometimes to the adults after they show various symptoms like cough, cold, running nose and fever.

Doctors say the COVID-19 pandemic had a wide-ranging impact on children's health and staying at home for two years has taken a toll on their immunity.

They said young children develop immunity to various viruses and bacteria by regular exposure to a small inoculum of these microorganisms from their school and playmates during their close and prolonged interactions.

"Because of this exposure children either develop the disease or subclinical infection. This in turn leads to the formation of antibodies and cellular immunity. Both of these protect them from subsequent infections and disease," said Nisar Ahmad, a health officer.

During the lockdown period when children were at home, their bodies did not get an opportunity to go through this process at a natural pace, Ahmad said. "So when schools were reopened, immune systems of children were suddenly bombarded by these infections and they fell ill very frequently."

COVID-19 DEATH COUNT

According to data released by the federal health ministry on Tuesday, 1,399 COVID-19 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Official data showed that over half a million deaths have taken place in the country due to COVID-19.

Health experts say that in view of the spike in many countries, there is definitely a scare of the fourth wave coming to India. The experts base their assertions on the rise of cases in Delhi and other states.

Experts say that new variants are emerging of the Omicron and they are being sequenced.

"Yes, a fourth wave might come," said Anitha Ramesh, a medical oncologist. "It is quite natural with the viral history, it might come."

"Last Omicron peak was smaller and not everyone was tested," Ramesh said. "We didn't know how fast it went, how high it went and how fast it came down. The XE variant is more transmissible than the Delta variant, but regarding the virulence of how bad it is, we don't have the data." 

People ride on the road in Bangalore, India, April 26, 2022. After local governments across India lifted all the pandemic related restrictions and even dropped the mandatory wearing of face masks, the country is once again witnessing an increase in the daily number of COVID-19 infections. On Tuesday, 2,483 new cases were recorded during a 24-hour time span. (Str/Xinhua)
PHNOM PENH, April 26 (Xinhua) -- More than 90 percent of the construction work on the Chinese invested Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway has been completed, Cambodia's Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said on Tuesday.

The construction of the 190-km long and 24.5-meter wide expressway began in March 2019.

As of Friday, the completed construction had reached 90.95 percent and would be ready for trial use in July 2022, he told reporters while leading a group of 300 students at the Techo Sen Institute of Public Works and Transport to visit the project.

Invested by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), the expressway links the capital city of Phnom Penh and the deep sea port province of Preah Sihanouk in the country's southwestern part.

Chanthol said the road will be open to traffic for free for the first month, after which 12 dollars will be charged for small cars per single trip in the first year.

He added that the normal cost of traveling on this road is 10 cents per kilometer for small cars, so the usual price is about 19 dollars.

The Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, the first expressway project in the southeast Asia country and the most important strategic route in the kingdom, will reduce travel time between Phnom Penh and Preah Sihanouk province from five hours to two hours.

It is one of the Cambodia-China cooperation projects under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. 
ANKARA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday once again urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to hold a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

During a phone talk, Erdogan told Putin that the "continuation of the positive momentum achieved in the Istanbul talks" to reach peace in Ukraine is in the interest of everyone, the Turkish presidential press service said in a statement.

The president reiterated his proposal to increase the level of the "Istanbul process, which is a very important threshold in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, to the level of leaders," said the statement.

Erdogan pointed out the importance of achieving a ceasefire, the effective operation of humanitarian corridors and safe evacuations, saying Turkey will continue to do its best to establish a lasting peace.

The phone talk came one day after United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had met with the Turkish president in Ankara.

Guterres departed for Moscow, and then he will visit Kiev in a bid to mediate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Erdogan has long been engaging with both Putin and Zelensky, as Turkey, having close ties with both countries, has been playing a mediator role to end the conflict.

Previously, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met in a resort town of Turkey's southern province of Antalya on March 10, for the first high-level talks between Moscow and Kiev since Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The negotiation teams of Russia and Ukraine also had a face-to-face meeting in Istanbul on March 29.

Erdogan refers "Istanbul process" since Ankara wants to continue the dialogue between Kiev and Moscow with a leaders' summit in this city to reach a final peace deal.

Turkish authorities earlier said that Ankara welcomes the proposal of becoming a guarantor country in terms of the security of Ukraine. 
MOSCOW, April 26 (Xinhua) -- An armed man opened fire at a kindergarten in Russia's Ulyanovsk region on Tuesday, killing a nanny and two children, the TASS news agency reported.

The attacker then committed suicide, TASS said, citing a source in law enforcement agencies.

According to the source, a domestic conflict could have been the cause of the shooting. 
KIEV, April 25 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and 18 others injured on Monday as a result of Russia's airstrike on transport infrastructure in Ukraine's central Vinnytsia region, the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

According to the statement, rockets hit transport infrastructure facilities near the towns of Zhmerynka and Kozyatyn.

Separately, Oleksandr Kamyshin, chairman of Ukraine's State Railways, said on Telegram that five railway stations in central and western Ukraine came under the attack on Monday.

Zhmerynka and Kozyatyn are the key regional junction stations of Ukraine's State Railways. 
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of State said in a statement Tuesday that it has determined an "emergency" exists in Ukraine that becomes a "national security" concern of the United States, therefore the department bypassed Congress to approve the sale of ammunition to Kiev.

The decision to sell the approximately 165 million U.S. dollars' worth of "non-standard" Soviet-era ammunition was made after Secretary of State Antony Blinken "has determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to Ukraine" of ammunition including grenade launchers, mortars and D-20 cannons, the statement said.

The sale, according to the statement, is "in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving the Congressional review requirements" under federal law.

"The proposed sale will improve Ukraine's capability to meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness of its forces," said the statement. "Ukraine already has these items, or variants thereof, in its inventory and will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces."

The announcement came just after Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited Kiev and held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom Blinken notified of the arms sale. 
By Azernews





By Sabina Mammadli

The construction of a "Zefer" reservoir on the Zarisli River, which will supply water to Shusha, will be completed by late May, hydrologist Ahmed Mammadov has said.

He said that the reservoir will mainly serve the development of tourism.

"The volume of the reservoir will be 10 million cubic meters. The reservoir will be filled once for use solely for tourism purposes," the scientist noted.

Mammadov added that a bridge will be built next to the reservoir.

"The reservoir will have a capacity of 7 million cubic meters. In the future, all the villages of the city of Shusha will be provided with water. In prospect, it will be done until 2040," he stated.

Now Azerbaijan is restoring all the reservoirs that were under occupation - Khudafarin, the largest reservoir with a capacity of 1.6 billion cubic meters, Giz Galasi, Sugovushan, Khachin, Kondalanchay-1, Kondalanchay-2, Ashaghi Kondalanchay and Aghdamkand. The construction of a new reservoir - the Hakarichay reservoir is on the agenda.

The Sugovushan water reservoir and canal will be renovated as well. The length of the canal is 5.2 km, and after the repairs, it will be possible to supply water to a large area. The Khachinchay reservoir and a 7-km canal, which is right under Mount Farrukh, will also be renovated.

The reconstruction of the Tartarchay Left Bank canal, the water management complex of Aghdam, Fuzuli and Jabrayil regions, as well as the identification of water sources is also on the agenda.

Additionally, a new reservoir is to be built in either Zangilan or Gubadli region, and the construction of these canals will allow the opportunity to irrigate 10,000 hectares of land in the near future.

In short, the issue of land reclamation and irrigation in Azerbaijan is very acute today. Azerbaijan has a favorable climate and fertile land, which means that with the right approach and using advanced technology, the country will achieve its goals very soon.
Srinagar: With the killing of two Pashto-speaking foreign terrorists in the Jammu encounter on April 22, intelligence agencies suspect that the attack with the help of the Haqqani network could be the handiwork of the ISI. The Haqqani network operates mostly in eastern Afghanistan and north-western Pakistan, which has close links with the ISI.

ADGP Mukesh Singh had said after the Sunjuwan encounter that one of his arrested associates, Shafiq Ahmed, who had sheltered terrorists in his house, had informed the police that both the militants spoke Pashto. The presence of Pashtun terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir has also put an alert for the central and state intelligence agencies. The agencies are trying to know about the involvement of the dreaded terror group Haqqani Network behind the raising of terrorists in Jammu.

Let us tell you that since the establishment of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, there were apprehensions that due to the lack of local recruitment in the valley, the militants may be diverted to Kashmir by the ISI. According to media reports, military intelligence sources from the Udhampur-based Northern Command said that there were apprehensions that the terrorists were part of the Haqqani network as their details fit perfectly with the insurgent group.

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KARACHI: In what appears to be a targeted attack on Chinese people in Pakistan, a terror incident in the city of Karachi has claimed the lives of Chinese and Pakistani citizens.

According to reports, the incident occurred outside the IBA (Institute of Business Administration) campus in Karachi, in a vehicle parked outside the campus building with at least three Chinese nationals and a driver inside.

In what is now being suspected of being a targeted suicide bomb assault carried out by a burqa-clad female bomber, the blast burned ablaze the parked vehicle, killing the three Chinese nationals, one male and two females, and a driver.

Zhang Xiaoping, the director of the Confucius Institute, an IBA Chinese language institute, was among the Chinese nationals killed. The other two female Chinese nationals were also members of the same institute's faculty. The area was blocked off by police, rangers, and the bomb disposal team, and it was later proven that the explosion in the truck was a terror act.

"Ball bearing marks can clearly be seen on the vehicle, indicating that it was a terror attack. It's also clear that one side of the van is more damaged than the other, implying that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who blew himself up after approaching the vehicle from one side "said a bystander.

Massive explosion at Pakistan's Karachi University kills 5 people

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged more investment and innovation in the fight against malaria.

The WHO reported on Monday that over 1 million children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi had been immunised against malaria with the world's first malaria vaccine. It is estimated that if the vaccine is widely used, it will save the lives of an additional 40,000 to 80,000 African children per year.

Global progress in lowering malaria incidence and fatalities has slowed or stagnated in recent years, according to the WHO's 2021 World Malaria Report, particularly in the nations hardest afflicted by the disease.

The report emphasises the necessity for sustained innovation in research and development of new instruments if the world is to meet the WHO malaria strategy's 2030 targets. The WHO has requested an average annual Research and Development investment of $851 million from 2021 through 2030 to reach the targets, up from $619 million in malaria-related R&D in 2020.

Apart from more financing, the WHO has urged greater use of current malaria-fighting equipment. For example, malaria-affected countries have been collecting and analysing data to better understand the disease's geographic distribution.

Instead of taking a blanket approach to malaria management, several countries are contemplating tailoring intervention packages based on local data. Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease spread by bites from infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.

The number of deaths from the disease is expected to reach 627,000 by 2020. According to the World Health Organization, Africa bears a disproportionately large percentage of the global malaria burden, accounting for 95% of cases and 96% of fatalities from the disease in 2020.

World Malaria Day 2022: Ministry organises awareness programme across India

Mosquito bite has caused swelling and itching, then apply these things

Malaria- Cause, Symptoms and Treatment
* Both history and military alliance theory seem to predict that once the Cold War had ended, NATO would have disintegrated. Unfortunately this has not been the case. Far from being fully disbanded, NATO has been bent on expansion.

* The relationship between the United States and its European allies within NATO is fundamentally unequal. NATO contributes to the United States' hegemonic position in Western Europe by allowing U.S. military bases and troops to be stationed in the region.

* Since 1999, NATO has expanded eastward five times, advancing more than 1,000 km all the way to the Russian border, gradually pushing Russia into a corner.

* NATO forces launched 78 days of bombardment against Yugoslavia in 1999, killing or injuring over 8,000 civilians and displacing approximately 1 million people. Other countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, have also fallen victim to the U.S.-led NATO's belligerence and violations of human rights.

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- As the Russia-Ukraine conflict rages on, tensions between NATO and Russia have verged on downright hostilities.

The gloomy reality on the ground brings up a question as to why, more than 30 years after the end of the Cold War, the world appears to have regressed to where it ever was.

Thanks to their intentionally neglected nuance in depicting the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Western media have framed Russia as the lone villain. Close scrutiny of regional geopolitics, however, makes clear that NATO, a remnant from Cold War days, bears responsibility for precipitating the current crisis, not least for its relentless expansion at the expense of Russia's security concerns.

TOXIC OBSESSION WITH EXPANSION

Both history and military alliance theory seem to predict that once the Cold War had ended, NATO would have disintegrated. Unfortunately this has not been the case. Far from being fully disbanded, NATO has been bent on expansion.

"From the Russian point of view, NATO's expansion into eastern Europe is a breach of a promise" made in the 1990s, Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of state at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, told Xinhua.

What Geraci referred to was then U.S. Secretary of State James Baker's famous "not one inch eastward" assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990.

Since 1999, NATO has expanded eastward five times, advancing more than 1,000 km all the way to the Russian border, gradually pushing Russia into a corner.

Analysts say NATO's disregard of Russia's legitimate concerns on security issues and its continuous expansion is the root cause of the outbreak and escalation of this conflict. If it continues to slim down the small buffer zone left between Russia and itself, the situation will undoubtedly go worse.

The culpability of the United States and its NATO allies is "sizable," wrote Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out.

"Moving an alliance that one great power dominated to the border of another major power is inherently destabilizing and provocative," Carpenter observed.

U.S. HEGEMONY AT PLAY

The relationship between the United States and its European allies within NATO is fundamentally unequal. In order to counter the Soviet Union, Washington persuaded some European countries to form NATO in 1949 under the banner of "common defense." Since then, Washington has kept a tight grip on NATO's leadership.

As David Calleo, a political scientist based at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, has pointed out, an American general is NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, and Europe's defense "depends upon the willingness of the United States to initiate a nuclear war rather than see Europe overrun, even by conventional forces."

"Militarily, NATO is a hegemonic American protectorate," Calleo commented.

In return, NATO contributes to the United States' hegemonic position in Western Europe by allowing U.S. military bases and troops to be stationed in the region. It also tragically panders to Washington's obsession with NATO expansion by ignoring Russia's security concerns.

As it grew, NATO became a vehicle to address new global issues that worried U.S. leaders, commented the U.S. news and opinion website VOX.

"Enlarging NATO becomes the gift that keeps on giving," VOX quoted Joshua Shifrinson, an international relations scholar at Boston University, as saying.

"It was a way of incentivizing liberalization in countries that had been in the Communist bloc, showing that the United States still has a mission in Europe, and a way of the United States projecting power and checking alternative systems like the European Union," Shifrinson said.

To justify Washington's leadership, to present a unitary front in NATO, and to justify big increases in western (especially German) military budgets, "Russia must be presented as the common enemy," Robert Wade, professor of Global Political Economy at the London School of Economics, wrote in March.

GLOBAL PEACE DISRUPTOR

Russia has long been accused by the U.S.-led NATO of violating basic international rules and norms and stoking global instability. Ironically, it is precisely what people in many parts of the world believe Washington and NATO have been doing.

Speaking in March at a ceremony marking the Remembrance Day of victims of the 1999 NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic condemned the NATO attack as "brutal, horrible, criminal, (and) inhuman."

Though that small country "hardly did anything wrong to anyone... that small country and great people just wanted to be on their own, to guard their hearths, and nothing more," Vucic said, "some others, 19 big ones, wanted to show all their courage, arrogance and brutality on a small unconquered people like the Serbs."

NATO forces launched 78 days of bombardment against Yugoslavia in 1999, killing or injuring over 8,000 civilians and displacing approximately 1 million people.

Other countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, have also fallen victim to the U.S.-led NATO's belligerence and violations of human rights.

In the two-decade-long Afghanistan war fought nominally to protect civilians, NATO's airstrikes have killed thousands of civilians.

Din Mohammad, a 73-year-old Afghan man from the hamlet of Lakani in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province in south Afghanistan, still remembered the night ten years ago when the U.S. military unleashed airstrikes on his hometown, killing 63 civilians and injuring dozens more.

"The bodies of men, women and children were lying in blood and the crying of the injured was heard from every corner of the house," he told Xinhua.

"Innocent people were killed in their beds without committing any crime," said Mohammad, who lost 17 family members, including five children, that night.

After the U.S.-led NATO intervention in 2011, Libya sank into civil war and became a breeding ground for instability and terrorism.

As Alan Kuperman, associate professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, has noted, "Libya has not only failed to evolve into a democracy; it has devolved into a failed state. Violent deaths and other human rights abuses have increased severalfold" after the NATO military attacks.

In Iraq, between 184,382 and 207,156 civilians have died from "direct war-related violence caused by the United States, its allies, the Iraqi military and police, and opposition forces" from the time of the invasion through October 2019, according to the Costs of War project at the U.S. Brown University.

The death toll is "likely much higher," as not all war-related deaths were accurately recorded, it said. (Video reporter: Lu Jiafei, Feng Yasong, Shu Chang, He Fei; Video editors: Lin Lin, Cao Ying, Zhu Cong)

Second Ebola patient died in NW DR Congo WHO

Japan PM unveils USD 103 billion rescue package to combat rising prices

Massive explosion at Pakistan's Karachi University kills 5 people
Home  Business  Intellectual property rights violation is rife in Nepal. But, people are hardly aware

Have you ever seen a bottle of Cold Cola, a local brand in Nepal?

If you have not, there is no need to even try as the bottle looks similar to the world-famous Coca-Cola, with a similar brand name designed in a similar way as if intellectual property rights do not exist in Nepal.

These days, you can see various products whose logos and names look similar to the products that are already well-established. Cold Cola is just one example. Other beverages also have their cheap lookalikes in the Nepali market, with almost similar names. Fanta has become Fantu and Funny, Sprite has become Sport and Strike while Mountain Dew has become Maintain Dew.

Recently, the Nepal Academy of Fine Arts organised the National Fine Arts Exhibition. The exhibition rewarded seven of the best arts from seven provinces. Hours later, Umesh Shrestha, a fact-checker, reported on his blog that one of the awardees had copied a Thai painting created nine years ago.

In 2021, Tribhuvan University took action against its seven teaching staff including a professor in a plagiarism case. They had reportedly copied a research paper by a French professor Armel Le Bail in their journal article.

These all incidents show the state of intellectual property rights in Nepal. From a member of the public to university professors, from a homeworker to a business tycoon, everyone is in the same boat when it comes to the violation of intellectual property rights. What frustrates stakeholders more is the level of awareness about the issue is nominal in the country.

Everyone does it

Sketch for representation: Fake Coca-Cola

Since the beginning of the last fiscal year (mid-July 2020), the Department of Industry has recorded around 900 offences related to trademark infringement, a key form of intellectual property rights violation in Nepal.

Of late, the trend of trademark infringement is increasing, says Dipak Ghimire, under-secretary in the law section of the department.

On the other hand, in the last 17 years, Nepal Copyright Registrars Office, a government body that works for copyright protection, has recorded 2,029 offences related to copyright infringement, one of the major offences under intellectual property rights violation. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, it has already recorded 127 cases.

Each year, the office records over 100 offences related to copyright infringement, says Lal Bahadur Basnet, the offices information officer.

Both forms of intellectual property violation are punishable offences.

According to the Patent, Design and Trademark Act, 1965, if anyone violates the law, they may be punished with a fine not exceeding Rs 100,000 and articles and goods connected with such offences will be confiscated on the orders of the department as per the gravity of the offence.

Likewise, the Copyright Act, 2002, states the infringer of any protected right shall be punished with a fine of Rs 10,000 to Rs 100,000 or six months imprisonment or both as per the nature of the infringement. The repetition of the violation will be subjected to double the punishment with the seizure of the unauthorised materials.

Nominal awareness

Copyright. Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

The key reasons behind increasing intellectual property rights violation cases are a lack of awareness about the issue and illiteracy about original products among the consumers, according to officials.

People also want to earn easy money, so they prefer to sell and manufacture something that sounds and looks exactly like a product that is already well established, says Ghimire.

Ghimire also points to weak legal provisions as the fine up to Rs 100,000 is not a big money at present. Hence, people are liable for committing intellectual property rights violation, he says.

Obsolete law

Dugar Group of Companies is fighting a case against Pepsi Co after Pepsi Co claimed that it stole its product.

Ghimires argument triggers the necessity to revise the law, which lawyers looking into such cases agree. They say existing laws are not powerful enough to address the issues related to intellectual property.

Ravi Shankar Chaudhary, an assistant government attorney at Birgunj High Court, says, The existing laws are not updated well, hence they do not address many new aspects of the cyber sector such as ethical hacking, coding, decoding and others.

The laws should be revised, and with that, we need to increase the amount of the punishment related to the infringement of intellectual property rights.

Chaudhary believes, that due to the lack of legal research, the parliament has not been able to revise the laws.

Advocate Udayan Regmi, who has a masters degree in business and international trade law, also echoes Chaudhary.

Further, the country has also been unable to implement the existing law effectively, says Regmi. With that, we havent been unable to recognise and protect the international trademark.

If the country does not protect the international trademarks, the multinational companies will be reluctant to run their outlets in our country, he warns.

Similar to Chaudhary, Regmi also urges the concerned body to revise the acts related to intellectual property rights.
Alphamin Resources Corp.

GRAND BAIE, MAURITIUS, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



26 April 2022  Alphamin Resources Corp. (AFM:TSXV, APH:JSE AltX, Alphamin or the Company), a producer of 4% of the worlds mined tin1 from its high-grade operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is pleased to announce the latest drill results from its Bisie Tin Complex.

HIGHLIGHTS

Mpama South high-grade assay results received 2 , including: BGH 110 : 17.5 metres @ 5. 57 % Sn from 459.2 metres, including 8.6 metres @ 10.35 % Sn from 468.1 metres, the best intercept to date; BGH 111 : 1 5 . 3 metres @ 4.3 7 % Sn from 334.4 metres, BGH 107 : 7 .2 metres @ 6.0 % Sn from 496.9 metres, including 4.0 metres @ 10.31% Sn from 498.2 metres BGH10 4 : 16.2 metres @ 3.01 % Sn , including 5.75 metres @ 6.94 % Sn , both from 459.4 metres

Mpama North high-grade assay results 2 received, including: MND019: 14.4 metres @ 21.75% Sn from 432.2 metres, including 6.8 metres @ 40.57% Sn from 436.4 metres MND020: 14. 4 metres @ 5. 92 % Sn , including 11.0 metres @ 7.51 % Sn, both from 484.9 metres

Significant additional resource growth potential at Mpama South - drilling is on-going with considerable mineralisation intercepted beyond the updated Mineral Resource boundary announced on 29 March 2022.





Chief Executive Officer, Maritz Smith comments:

These thick and high-grade extension results underpin our confidence in Mpama Souths on-going resource growth prospects and further justifies our decision to commence with development activities without delay.

Mpama South Drilling Update

Mpama South is the high-grade tin development project adjoining the southern end of Alphamins operating Mpama North mine. Subsequent to the updated Mineral Resource for Mpama South announced on 29 March 2022 based on 102 drillholes, the Company has received results for a further 12 drillholes.

The majority of the newly received assays are extensional in nature and comprise intercepts outside of the current Mineral Resource. They will be incorporated in an update to the Mpama South Mineral Resource targeted for release during Q2 2022 (Figure 1). Mineralisation remains open in multiple directions at Mpama South and management are confident in the projects on-going resource growth prospects. The drilling program switched to an infill focus in March 2022 in order to increase the confidence of Inferred and Indicated Resources at Mpama South. Subsequent drilling outside of the current Mineral Resource area has intersected visual cassiterite and batches of results expected to be received in the coming months will be for areas outside of the current Mineral Resource as well as in-fill (Figure 1).

Story continues

Figure 1: Mpama South Exploration Results and Visual Cassiterite Intercepts Awaiting Assay



Source: Alphamin 2022

The recent batch of results include the best intercepts received to date at Mpama South with several thick and high-grade intercepts on the down dip side of the deposit. Selected significant intercepts from the most recently received batches of drillhole assays are listed below as apparent widths:

BGH110: 17.5 metres @ 5.57% Sn from 459.2 metres, including 8.6 metres @ 10.35% Sn from 468.1 metres, the best intercept to date at Mpama South;

BGH111: 15.3 metres @ 4.37% Sn from 334.4 metres,

BGH107: 7.2 metres @ 6.0 % Sn from 496.9 metres, including 4.0 metres @ 10.31% Sn from 498.2 metres

BGH104: 16.2 metres @ 3.01% Sn, including 5.75 metres @ 6.94 % Sn, both from 459.4 metres

The complete list of assayed intercepts to date is shown in Appendix 2.

Mpama North Drilling Update

Expansion drilling re-commenced on the Mpama North Mine in July 2021, starting with the Mpama North Deeps target. The first drillholes showed increased structural complexity associated with a cross-cutting fault limiting the extents of the target. However, several thick and high-grade intercepts of visual cassiterite were intersected at the Deeps target between this cross-cutting fault and the deepest intercepts from the 2015 drilling, extending known mineralisation along strike northwards.

The most significant intercepts from the recently received batches of drillhole assays in the Deeps target are listed below as an apparent width:

MND019: 14.4 metres @ 21.75% Sn from 432.2 metres, including 6.8 metres @ 40.57% Sn from 436.4 metres

MND020: 14.4 metres @ 5.92% Sn, including 11.0 metres @ 7.51% Sn, both from 484.9 metres

Drilling of the East-Extension target at Mpama North commenced in April 2022. The target is immediately below and to the east of the current Mineral Resources at Mpama North which remain open in this area. Several drillholes in the pre-mining exploration drilling campaigns did intercept the tell-tale alteration associated with mineralisation as well as thin mineralisation in the area and expectations are that mineralisation continues eastwards.

Qualified Persons

Mr Jeremy Witley, Pr. Sci. Nat., B.Sc. (Hons.) Mining Geology, M.Sc. (Eng.), is a qualified person (QP) as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. He is a Principal Mineral Resource Consultant of The MSA Group (Pty.) Ltd., an independent technical consultant to the Company.

____________________________________________________________________________

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Maritz Smith

CEO

Alphamin Resources Corp.

Tel: +230 269 4166

E-mail: msmith@alphaminresources.com

____________________________________________________________________________

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Information in this news release that is not a statement of historical fact constitutes forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements contained herein include, without limitation, statements relating to the anticipated future exploration and resource estimation activities and outcomes and the timing thereof. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made. 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. Although Alphamin has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from expected results described in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: uncertainty of future exploration and assay results and consistency with past results and expectations; uncertainties inherent in estimates of Mineral Resources, global geopolitical and economic uncertainties, volatility of metal prices, uncertainties with respect to social, community and environmental impacts, uninterrupted access to required infrastructure, adverse political events, impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic as well as those risk factors set out in the Companys Management Discussion and Analysis and other disclosure documents available under the Companys profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and Alphamin disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.



Appendix 1: SAMPLE PREPARATION, ANALYSES AND QUALITY CONTROL AND QUALITY ASSURANCE (QAQC)

For sample preparation, analyses and quality control and quality assurance, see the Companys news release dated 07 March 2022 entitled ALPHAMIN ANNOUNCES MAIDEN MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE AND POSITIVE PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT FOR MPAMA SOUTH

Appendix 2: SIGNIFICANT INTERCEPTS (0.5% Sn lower threshold)

Mpama South Drillholes prefixed BGH

Mpama North Drillholes prefixed MND

Hole



Easting Northing RLm



Azi ()



Dip ()



From



To



Sn %



Width Sample Position GPS GPS (m)1 mid_x mid_y mid_z BGH017 582535 9884822 732 55 -10 237.8 238.8 4.99 1 582,732 9,884,966 678.6 BGH018



582535



9884822



732



93



0



141.2 144.35 2.07 3.15 582,691 9,884,820 727.9 145.75 151 0.76 5.25 582,696 9,884,820 727.9 BGH019 582535 9884822 732 85 -5 147 152 2.05 5 582,696 9,884,837 715.8 BGH020



582535



9884822



732



84



-15



160.6 164.4 1.45 3.8 582,704 9,884,846 689.3 169.3 171.1 5.42 1.8 582,711 9,884,846 687.7 BGH021



582535



9884822



732



93



-15



109.15 110.25 3.2 1.1 582,654 9,884,821 700.1 164.6 167.32 3.29 2.72 582,708 9,884,818 687.6 BGH022







582554







9884785







732







90







0







75 80.53 3.99 5.53 582,633 9,884,784 729.3 109 110 1.35 1 582,664 9,884,785 729.9 119.22 122.1 2.22 2.88 582,676 9,884,785 730.1 BGH023



582535



9884822



732



75



-15



171.43 174.32 1.72 2.89 582,710 9,884,859 683.7 175.85 178 1.09 2.15 582,714 9,884,860 683 BGH024



582554



9884785



732



103



-5



127.7 129.6 0.54 1.9 582,679 9,884,749 717.2 137.95 142 1.13 4.05 582,690 9,884,746 716.2 BGH025











582535











9884822











732











55











-20











212.25 213.4 0.6 1.15 582,724 9,884,919 662.3 218 221.45 2.29 3.45 582,731 9,884,921 660.7 222.7 223.7 13.05 1 582,734 9,884,923 659.9 228 234.8 2.73 6.8 582,741 9,884,926 658 BGH026







582554







9884785







732







113







-10







103.71 108 3.3 4.29 582,649 9,884,735 713.7 134.8 136.45 3.72 1.65 582,676 9,884,722 708.6 161 162.5 5.61 1.5 582,699 9,884,711 704.5 BGH030











582554











9884785











732











115











-20











110 111.4 7.24 1.4 582,655 9,884,753 692.2 141.9 152.5 4.85 10.6 582,686 9,884,745 680 158 161.2 3.61 3.2 582,699 9,884,742 675.3 174.45 175.8 11.03 1.35 582,713 9,884,738 670.5 BGH032















582554















9884785















732















125















-20















177 178.72 1.7 1.72 582,692 9,884,684 671.3 182 188.25 3 6.25 582,697 9,884,679 669.1 190.25 193 0.95 2.75 582,702 9,884,676 667.2 194.4 202 1.37 7.6 582,707 9,884,672 665.3 203.5 208 2.67 4.5 582,713 9,884,668 663.2 BGH034



















582554



















9884785



















732



















115



















-25



















174.8 178 11.99 3.2 582,689 9,884,696 653.3 195.7 200 1.21 4.3 582,706 9,884,686 644.8 202.37 206.65 1.86 4.28 582,711 9,884,683 642.3 208 213.3 1.4 5.3 582,716 9,884,680 640.1 216.25 221.3 1.42 5.05 582,722 9,884,676 637.3 225.65 231 0.7 5.35 582,730 9,884,671 634 BGH027







582544







9884822







732







68







-27







212.35 214 0.58 1.65 582,729 9,884,879 634 226 229.3 1.32 3.3 582,741 9,884,883 628.4 235.45 236.58 1.54 1.13 582,749 9,884,885 625.2 BGH028











582554











9884785











732











90











-10











125 126 1.72 1 582,676 9,884,772 700.9 136.1 137.18 1.85 1.08 582,687 9,884,770 698.4 140.28 142 1.03 1.72 582,691 9,884,770 697.4 147.46 151.25 2.88 3.79 582,699 9,884,769 695.5 BGH029







582544







9884822







732







93







-25







126 128.35 4.66 2.35 582,663 9,884,826 678.5 178.9 184.05 1.25 5.15 582,713 9,884,827 657.7 193.7 196.05 3.95 2.35 582,726 9,884,827 653 BGH031



582544



9884822



732



75



-25



208 211.53 0.99 3.53 582,729 9,884,876 639.9 219.4 222.38 1.16 2.98 582,739 9,884,879 636 BGH033



582544



9884822



732



60



-27



259 265.46 7.32 6.46 582,756 9,884,929 612.8 268.53 270.52 1.02 1.99 582,762 9,884,931 610 BGH035







582554







9884785







732







90







-25







152 165 2.96 13 582,686 9,884,816 665 171 173.6 1.47 2.6 582,703 9,884,815 657.4 176.6 180.08 2.4 3.48 582,709 9,884,814 654.9 BGH036



582544



9884822



732



65



0



147.45 151.35 2.31 3.9 582,687 9,884,878 724.8 156.63 160.65 0.93 4.02 582,696 9,884,881 724.7 BGH037















582554















9884785















732















105















-30















154 157 3.81 3 582,680 9,884,741 647.5 194.6 197.55 1.54 2.95 582,712 9,884,730 626 207.95 211.18 1.29 3.23 582,723 9,884,726 619.3 216.25 220.15 2.79 3.9 582,730 9,884,723 615.1 222.4 226.7 1.77 4.3 582,735 9,884,721 612.1 BGH038







582544







9884822







732







75







-30







151.7 154.6 5.22 2.9 582,677 9,884,851 654.3 218.3 223.65 3.38 5.35 582,735 9,884,861 621.4 226.7 231.5 1.95 4.8 582,743 9,884,862 617.6 BGH039











582554











9884785











732











100











-22











112.08 113 2.12 0.92 582665.1 9,884,755 687.6 116.3 120.95 3.33 4.65 582,661 9,884,753 686.1 145 166 2.2 21 582,696 9,884,744 674.2 174.5 176 0.95 1.5 582,713 9,884,739 668.9 BGH040



582544



9884822



732



60



-30



232 233 0.95 1 582,725 9,884,922 618.2 273.7 277.05 3.79 3.35 582,761 9,884,937 600 BGH041 582500 9884847 732 55 -25 340 344.5 3.03 4.5 582,807 9,885,002 599.5 BGH042







582544







9884822







732







60







-35







277.35 280 1.93 2.65 582,751 9,884,922 569.4 308.5 312 0.62 3.5 582,776 9,884,932 552.6 313 315.55 1.52 2.55 582,779 9,884,933 550.5 BGH043







582544







9884822







732







100







-10







102.5 104.15 2.69 1.65 582,644 9,884,808 709 123 124 1.06 1 582,663 9,884,805 704.8 163.64 167 2.82 3.36 582,704 9,884,798 696.7 BGH044 582500 9884847 710 70 -35 330 334.13 1.31 4.13 582,764 9,884,941 533.4 BGH045







582544







9884822







732







100







-20







120.65 121.75 31.55 1.1 582,656 9,884,806 687.4 156 159.4 0.56 3.4 582,689 9,884,799 674.7 176.7 183.62 3.24 6.92 582,708 9,884,795 668.1 BGH046











582544











9884822











732











100











-30











195.18 206 2.85 10.82 582,712 9,884,795 630.5 212.53 215.18 1.9 2.65 582,723 9,884,793 623.7 218 220.6 7.16 2.6 582,728 9,884,792 620.8 225 226 4.36 1 582,733 9,884,791 617.7 BGH047



582565



9884535



718



60



0



121.58 124.57 0.91 2.99 582,653 9,884,879 739.2 147.09 148.09 1.28 1 582,675 9,884,889 741.1 BGH048



582567



9884509



727



90



0



140.75 143.05 0.9 2.3 582,708 9,884,496 727.7 146.53 148 0.74 1.47 582,713 9,884,495 728 BGH049 582565 9884535 718 65 -15 145.4 147.4 4.27 2 582,689 9,884,599 674.5 BGH050 582567 9884509 727 105 -5 160 161.38 1.06 1.38 582,722 9,884,469 711.7 BGH051











582565











9884535











718











40











0











134.8 137 2.23 2.2 582,662 9,884,630 712.3 151 156.3 1.2 5.3 582,675 9,884,642 711.4 164.18 169.45 3.95 5.27 582,685 9,884,651 710.8 171.27 172.57 4.08 1.3 582,688 9,884,655 710.6 BGH052 582567 9884509 727 120 0 205.9 207.1 1.86 1.2 582,732 9,884,385 722.9 BGH053



















582565



















9884535



















718



















40



















-15



















173.73 176.93 9.58 3.2 582,685 9,884,653 669.2 178.55 181.43 4.07 2.88 582,688 9,884,656 667.9 192.41 196.86 3.28 4.45 582,698 9,884,666 664 198.86 206.77 2.45 7.91 582,704 9,884,671 661.8 207.53 209.5 5.04 1.97 582,708 9,884,675 660.3 214.65 216 2.32 1.35 582,713 9,884,680 658.6 BGH054 No significant intercepts BGH055 582565 9884535 718 80 -15 145 146 0.62 1 582,705 9,884,549 682.7 BGH056 No significant intercepts BGH057 No significant intercepts BGH058 582565 9884510 727 95 -5 153.35 155.6 1.98 2.25 582,717.30 9,884,501.20 703.9 BGH059 582567 9884536 718 95 0 165 166 3.63 1 582,732.30 9,884,528.30 714.4 BGH060 No significant intercepts BGH061 582567 9884536 727 130 -10 157.57 159.19 1.22 1.62 582,719 9,884,525 677.7 BGH062 582567 9884537 718 95 -15 154 156 2.18 2 582,695 9,884,589 650.2 BGH063



















582782



















9884646



















829



















270



















-70



















186.25 194.37 0.82 8.12 582,719 9,884,661 650.5 197.42 202.45 1.12 5.03 582,715 9,884,661 641.8 205 209.05 0.83 4.05 582,712 9,884,661 635.4 211.13 218.9 2.06 7.77 582,709 9,884,661 628.3 220.4 222.55 0.86 2.15 582,706 9,884,661 622.5 231 233 0.87 2 582,701 9,884,661 613 BGH064 582888 9884976 839 270 -50 220.8 222.6 0.63 1.8 582,746 9,884,976 668.9 BGH065



582913



9885057



819



270



-60



271 275.95 2.93 4.95 582,769 9,885,057 586.1 291.56 292.56 1.7 1 582,759 9,885,057 570.9 BGH066



582888



9884976



839



270



-60



276 278.59 8.49 2.59 582,754 9,884,965 596.1 300 301 1.78 1 582,742 9,884,965 576.6 BGH067







582913







9885057







819







270







-67







295.75 300.47 3.21 4.72 582,789 9,885,065 548.1 303 304.62 1.56 1.62 582,786 9,885,065 543.1 337 338 0.55 1 582,769 9,885,068 514.3 BGH068



582913



9885057



819



270



-50



247 248.2 2.1 1.2 582,749 9,885,051 633.1 251.8 255.1 1.75 3.3 582,745 9,885,051 628.8 BGH069 582888 9884976 839 270 -70 321.8 324.73 3.84 2.93 582,779 9,884,962 534.7 BGH070 582913 9885057 819 270 -73 331 336.35 3 5.35 582,802 9,885,040 505.2 BGH071 No significant intercepts BGH072



582852



9884845



831



270



-67



274.6 279.7 2.7 5.1 582,749 9,884,847 574 290.4 294.8 3.61 4.4 582,742 9,884,847 560 BGH073 582731 9884691 838 280 -60 121 123 0.72 2 582,671 9,884,702 731.9 BGH074











582944











9885130











798











270











-67











278.9 283.93 2.85 5.03 582,810 9,885,137 551.2 285.49 289.1 1.6 3.61 582,807 9,885,138 546.3 294.51 297.3 7.14 2.79 582,802 9,885,139 539.1 299.65 303.34 0.53 3.69 582,799 9,885,139 534.5 BGH075











582731











9884691











838











270











-70











115.4 116.65 6.76 1.25 582,690 9,884,690 729.4 119.5 120.8 15.22 1.3 582,688 9,884,690 725.7 125.09 129.8 3.56 4.71 582,684 9,884,690 719.3 162.55 164.63 8.94 2.08 582,667 9,884,689 687.8 BGH076











582752











9884801











849











300











-40











108 109 0.84 1 582,682 9,884,844 779.6 118.8 119.45 3.71 0.65 582,675 9,884,848 772.7 128.15 131 2.82 2.85 582,668 9,884,852 765.8 136.7 137 0.97 0.3 582,663 9,884,855 761 BGH077















582944















9885130















798















270















-72















316.84 321.2 2.57 4.36 582,830 9,885,130 501.7 323 328.36 2.56 5.36 582,827 9,885,130 495.8 329.06 330.13 0.52 1.07 582,825 9,885,130 492.4 335.25 337.36 9.63 2.11 582,822 9,885,130 486.5 339.77 340.07 7.07 0.3 582,820 9,885,131 483.4 BGH078







582752







9884801







849







280







-40







102 106 1.88 4 582,674 9,884,816 782.6 108 109 0.62 1 582,671 9,884,817 779.7 115 117.15 0.8 2.15 582,665 9,884,818 774.8 BGH079



























582852



























9884845



























831



























270



























-73



























290.15 294.4 1 4.25 582,765 9,884,842 552.6 296.3 302.3 9.46 6 582,763 9,884,841 546.1 304.81 305.7 18.75 0.89 582,761 9,884,841 540.5 312 313 1.08 1 582,758 9,884,841 533.8 316.9 321.63 4.65 4.73 582,755 9,884,840 527.5 322.57 328 5.41 5.43 582,753 9,884,840 522 328.95 329.48 1.59 0.53 582,751 9,884,840 518.4 340.68 341.42 4.29 0.74 582,747 9,884,839 507.6 BGH080







582944







9885130







798







270







-75







339.9 343.6 1.05 3.7 582,853 9,885,141 469.2 345 346.55 4.11 1.55 582,851 9,885,141 465.5 360.7 361 11.95 0.3 582,846 9,885,143 451.5 BGH081a



583022



9885299



776



270



-50



269 274.56 1.99 5.56 582,838 9,885,306 578.6 275.56 275.86 0.64 0.3 582,835 9,885,307 576 BGH082a







583013







9885209







752







270







-50







263.83 266.3 3.43 2.47 582,836 9,885,222 556 268.35 269.15 3.32 0.8 582,833 9,885,223 553.5 276.97 277.27 15.65 0.3 582,827 9,885,224 547.9 BGH083 No significant intercepts BGH084



583023



9885299



776



270



-57



278.95 280.9 6.25 1.95 582,857 9,885,307 552.8 283.06 286.31 1.28 3.25 582,854 9,885,307 549.2 BGH085 583023 9885299 776 270 -65 294.65 298.35 0.83 3.7 582,890 9,885,304 512.9 BGH086



583013



9885208



752



270



-57



275.35 280.78 3.07 5.43 582,847 9,885,214 530.1 286.05 286.51 18.9 0.46 582,841 9,885,215 524.4 BGH087 583023 9885299 777 270 -75 263.75 264.28 0.59 0.53 582,946 9,885,305 525.0 BGH088







































583012







































9885208







































752







































270







































-67







































297.74 299.46 11.93 1.72 582,876 9,885,221 487.3 301 301.77 6.79 0.77 582,875 9,885,221 485.0 303.7 304 2.47 0.3 582,873 9,885,222 483.0 305.7 306 1.66 0.3 582,872 9,885,222 481.4 307.2 307.55 6.66 0.35 582,871 9,885,223 480.2 308.26 308.93 12.15 0.67 582,871 9,885,223 479.2 309.46 309.77 1.98 0.31 582,870 9,885,223 478.3 310.35 310.68 17.65 0.33 582,869 9,885,223 477.6 313 313.85 2.82 0.85 582,868 9,885,224 475.3 324.48 324.86 5.77 0.38 582,861 9,885,226 466.3 325.43 325.83 10.40 0.4 582,861 9,885,226 465.6 BGH089











582951











9885352











779











270











-50











198 199 4.58 1 582,822 9,885,357 628.9 202.65 203.45 12.25 0.8 582,819 9,885,357 625.5 205.1 205.54 7.96 0.44 582,818 9,885,357 623.7 217.45 218.45 31.90 1 582,809 9,885,358 614.1 BGH090







582951







9885423







769







270







-50







168.8 170.48 2.45 1.68 582,843 9,885,424 638.3 170.88 171.48 12.55 0.6 582,842 9,885,424 637.1 172.97 173.3 5.05 0.33 582,841 9,885,424 635.6 BGH091 582951 9885352 779 270 -65 222.1 223.5 4.02 1.4 582,850 9,885,358 581.3 BGH092 583021 9885430 752 270 -55 193.5 193.88 17.15 0.38 582,913 9,885,431 591.9 BGH093







583013







9885345







759







270







-70







224.25 224.75 4.06 0.5 582,932 9,885,341 549.9 225.8 226.72 1.81 0.92 582,931 9,885,341 548.3 227.7 228.3 2.75 0.6 582,930 9,885,341 546.7 BGH094







582990







9885055







810







270







-65







381 384.81 3.84 3.81 582,808 9,885,054 473.5 389.74 390.25 5.95 0.51 582,805 9,885,054 467.4 408.45 411 5.82 2.55 582,795 9,885,054 450.4 BGH095











582960











9884759











831











270











-60











391.57 399.6 4.56 8.03 582,773 9,884,762 482.7 400 401 1.85 1 582,770 9,884,761 478.6 405 411.97 4.47 6.97 582,766 9,884,761 471.9 414 414.3 1.36 0.3 582,763 9,884,761 467.2 BGH096 No significant intercepts BGH097



583013



9885345



759



270



-58



242 245.5 1.10 3.5 582,879 9,885,344 555.7 247 250.1 2.66 3.1 582,876 9,885,344 551.8 BGH099 No significant intercepts BGH100



583013



9885345



759



270



-79



226.76 231.27 2.09 4.51 582,965 9,885,347 535.2 233.08 235 1.58 1.92 582,964 9,885,347 530.3 BGH101















582990















9884975















813















270















-65















387.37 388.62 2.66 1.25 582,802 9,884,968 474.7 392.33 394.68 1.49 2.35 582,799 9,884,968 470.1 396 398.24 0.53 2.24 582,797 9,884,968 467.1 402.74 410.2 3.68 7.46 582,792 9,884,967 459.3 423.64 425.48 13.48 1.84 582,781 9,884,967 444.5 BGH102 No significant intercepts BGH103







582960







9885430







762.79







270







-64







161.87 167.04 1.71 5.17 582,882 9,885,425 618.5 167.83 172.12 1.11 4.29 582,880 9,885,425 613.4 173.35 177.00 1.71 3.65 582,877 9,885,425 608.7 BGH104















582990















9885055















810.38















270















-72















459.35 463.00 10.19 3.65 582,829 9,885,047 378.1 464.80 465.10 8.35 0.30 582,827 9,885,047 374.8 471.38 475.53 1.72 4.15 582,823 9,885,046 367.3 477.58 478.00 0.96 0.42 582,821 9,885,046 363.5 485.85 486.22 2.12 0.37 582,817 9,885,045 356.3 BGH105







































582967







































9884845







































832.27







































270







































-70







































406.52 407.00 0.98 0.48 582,807 9,884,837 458.9 410.20 413.00 1.20 2.80 582,805 9,884,836 454.6 416.90 421.35 1.66 4.45 582,802 9,884,836 447.9 421.79 425.00 4.33 3.21 582,800 9,884,836 444.1 427.70 431.25 0.80 3.55 582,797 9,884,836 438.7 434.60 437.37 1.11 2.77 582,794 9,884,835 433.0 442.30 442.60 1.98 0.30 582,791 9,884,835 427.3 446.00 446.30 1.24 0.30 582,789 9,884,834 424.1 453.68 453.98 0.62 0.30 582,785 9,884,834 417.4 457.76 459.93 5.03 2.17 582,783 9,884,833 413.0 461.69 462.62 0.91 0.93 582,781 9,884,833 410.2 BGH106 No significant intercepts BGH107 582990 9884975 813.31 270 -75 496.94 502.15 8.21 5.21 582,826 9,884,984 343.4 BGH108



















582962.68



















9884904.79



















827.86



















270



















-62



















377.19 377.50 11.95 0.31 582,786 9,884,895 495.2 381.53 381.83 7.40 0.30 582,784 9,884,895 491.5 385.27 387.47 4.50 2.20 582,781 9,884,895 487.6 391.00 394.96 2.09 3.96 582,777 9,884,894 482.1 401.00 402.00 1.44 1.00 582,773 9,884,894 475.1 405.34 409.39 2.40 4.05 582,769 9,884,893 470.3 BGH109 No significant intercepts BGH110











582967











9884845











832.27











270











-70











459.24 467.38 1.00 8.14 582,799 9,884,879 397.0 468.13 476.71 10.35 8.58 582,795 9,884,878 389.2 485.50 486.20 10.30 0.70 582,788 9,884,876 377.8 489.79 490.91 2.01 1.12 582,786 9,884,875 374.0 BGH111



















582970



















9884760.42



















830



















270



















-55



















334.41 341.30 4.24 6.89 582,768 9,884,745 553.1 342.35 350.00 4.92 7.65 582,762 9,884,745 547.0 352.52 357.27 0.67 4.75 582,756 9,884,744 540.6 358.27 361.30 0.63 3.03 582,753 9,884,744 537.0 362.70 367.20 0.58 4.50 582,749 9,884,744 533.3 368.00 370.16 3.15 2.16 582,746 9,884,743 530.4 BGH112



582870



9885355



792.66



270



-55



130.27 130.57 2.32 0.30 582,797 9,885,360 681.8 135.30 135.74 5.69 0.44 582,794 9,885,360 677.7 BGH113



582910



9885205



776



270



-62



213.00 216.60 0.94 3.60 582,810 9,885,204 590.1 229.00 230.00 4.49 1.00 582,803 9,885,204 577.3 BGH114











582870











9885355











792.66











270











-63











138.54 138.90 4.40 0.36 582,807 9,885,358 666.2 143.30 143.60 6.84 0.30 582,805 9,885,358 662.1 146.95 147.60 3.83 0.65 582,803 9,885,358 658.8 151.50 151.80 0.82 0.30 582,801 9,885,358 655.0 MND001 No significant intercepts MND002 No significant intercepts MND003 No significant intercepts MND004 583392 9886283 682 270 -52 524.76 525.06 0.67 0.3 582,994 9,886,250 347 MND005 No significant intercepts MND006 No significant intercepts MND007 583100 9886210 726 270 -75 402 402.45 0.58 0.45 582,987 9,886,211 340.5 MND009 582881 9886200 752 270 -65 96.35 96.75 2.28 0.4 582,842 9,886,200 667.3 MND010 No significant intercepts MND011



583103



9886211



726



270



-83



419.26 428 21.85 8.74 583,021 9,886,194 312.7 430.6 438.9 17.52 8.3 583,018 9,886,193 302 MND012 582950 9886140 765 270 -60 64.7 65.35 12.2 0.65 582,916 9,886,142 699.8 MND013



582945



9886142



759



270



-50



142.7 142.98 10.05 0.28 582,852 9,886,146 651.2 177 178 1.02 1 582,829 9,886,146 625.5 MND014 No significant intercepts MND015a 582950 9886140 755 270 -70 172.32 172.68 6.34 0.36 582,887 9,886,144 594.8 MND016 583063 9886162 741 270 -50 249.42 253 0.62 3.58 582,895 9,886,161 554.1 MND017 583200 9886170 745 270 -50 385 386 1.02 1 582,952 9,886,164 450.4 MND018 583063 9886162 741 270 -60 284.7 285 11.7 0.3 582,912 9,886,160 499.2 MND019



583200



9886170



745



270



-64



432.24 444 25.94 11.76 582,996 9,886,161 357.6 445 445.55 15.3 0.55 582,993 9,886,160 351.6 MND020



583200



9886170



733



270



-72



484.90 492.26 7.08 7.36 583,024 9,886,160 288.3 495.00 499.25 7.50 4.25 583,020 9,886,159 280.6 MND021 583200 9886170 733.15 270 -57 425.30 425.60 10.50 0.30 582,962 9,886,178 388.9 1. Apparent widths, not true thickness





1 Data obtained from International Tin Association Tin Industry Review 2020

2 All intercepts are reported as apparent widths and are not true widths




ReportLinker

Automotive Gearbox Market Research Report by Number of Gear (68 Gears, Above 8 Gears, and 35 Gears), Vehicle Type, Electric Vehicle, Off-Highway Vehicle Type, Application, Region (Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa) - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19

New York, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Automotive Gearbox Market Research Report by Number of Gear, Vehicle Type, Electric Vehicle, Off-Highway Vehicle Type, Application, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261383/?utm_source=GNW



The Global Automotive Gearbox Market size was estimated at USD 99.73 billion in 2021 and expected to reach USD 103.22 billion in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 3.67% to reach USD 123.86 billion by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2019 and 2020 are considered historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Automotive Gearbox to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Number of Gear, the market was studied across 68 Gears, Above 8 Gears, and 35 Gears.



Based on Vehicle Type, the market was studied across Buses, Light Commercial Vehicles, Passenger Cars, and Trucks.



Based on Electric Vehicle, the market was studied across HEV and PHEV.



Based on Off-Highway Vehicle Type, the market was studied across Agricultural Tractors and Construction Equipment.



Based on Application, the market was studied across Automated Manual Transmission (AMT), Automatic Transmission (AT), Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT), and Manual Transmission (MT).



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.



This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Automotive Gearbox market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Automotive Gearbox Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Automotive Gearbox Market, including Aisin Seiki, Allison Transmission, Bonfiglioli, Borgwarner, Continental, Eaton, GKN, Hyundai Dymos, Jatco, Magna, Magneti Marelli, Oerlikon Graziano, Schaeffler, and Zf Friedrichshafen.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Automotive Gearbox Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Automotive Gearbox Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Automotive Gearbox Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Automotive Gearbox Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Automotive Gearbox Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Automotive Gearbox Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Automotive Gearbox Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261383/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




ReportLinker

Automotive HUD Market Research Report by Dimension Type (2-D HUD and 3-D HUD), Technology, Vehicle Type, HUD Type, Vehicle Class, Channel, Region (Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa) - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19

New York, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Automotive HUD Market Research Report by Dimension Type, Technology, Vehicle Type, HUD Type, Vehicle Class, Channel, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06261415/?utm_source=GNW



The Global Automotive HUD Market size was estimated at USD 1,645.16 million in 2021 and expected to reach USD 1,947.08 million in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 18.52% to reach USD 4,562.14 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2019 and 2020 are considered historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Automotive HUD to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Dimension Type, the market was studied across 2-D HUD and 3-D HUD.



Based on Technology, the market was studied across Augmented Reality HUD and Conventional HUD.



Based on Vehicle Type, the market was studied across Commercial Vehicle, Heavy Commercial Vehicle, and Passenger Car.



Based on HUD Type, the market was studied across Combiner HUD and Windshield HUD.



Based on Vehicle Class, the market was studied across Economy Vehicle, Luxury Vehicle, and Mid-Segment Vehicle.



Based on Channel, the market was studied across Aftermarket and OEMs.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.



This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Automotive HUD market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Automotive HUD Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Automotive HUD Market, including Alps Electric Co., Ltd., Clarion Co., Ltd., Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A., Continental AG, DENSO Corporation, Garmin Ltd., Harman International Industries, Inc., HUDWAY LLC, Japan Display, Inc., LG Display Co., Ltd., Magna International Inc., Magneti Marelli S.p.A., MicroVision, Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Nippon Seiki Co., Ltd., Panasonic Corporation, Pioneer Corporation, Renesas Electronics Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Valeo S.A., Visteon Corporation, Yazaki Corporation, and ZF Friedrichshafen AG.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Automotive HUD Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Automotive HUD Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Automotive HUD Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Automotive HUD Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Automotive HUD Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Automotive HUD Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Automotive HUD Market?

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Mar 17, 2022; Buffalo, NY, USA; South Dakota State Jackrabbits guard Baylor Scheierman (3) drives against Providence Friars forward Justin Minaya (15) in the first half during the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

The transfer portal finally got to the Jackrabbits. Baylor Scheierman, who has entered the NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility, has entered the portal, both he and South Dakota State coach Eric Henderson confirmed Monday.

The deadline to enter the portal is May 1. The deadline to withdraw as an early entrant in the draft is June 1. That gives Scheierman, a 6-foot-6 guard, a little more than a month to field offers before deciding on whether to stay in the draft. Scheierman, whos been working out in Atlanta, called Henderson to inform him of his decision before it went public.

Its disappointing, but I totally understand, Henderson said. At the end of the day, this is where were at in college athletics. Its an ever-changing landscape, and to blame the kids would be wrong. Im not mad at Baylor at all. He wants to play this game for a really long time and make money doing it and so he wants to explore all of his options. Staying in the NBA Draft was always Baylor's No. 1 priority and that continues to be the case."

Due mostly to their success as a program and devoted fan base, South Dakota States basketball team has had more luck than most mid-major schools in keeping their best players from testing the waters of the NCAAs transfer portal, which allows players a one-time free transfer without the previous penalty of having to sit out a year.

More: South Dakota State basketball's Baylor Scheierman all-in on preparing for NBA Draft

South Dakota, Omaha, North Dakota, Western Illinois  well, pretty much all of the Summit Leagues mens teams  have seen elite players choose to test the portal waters. And even before the new rules, the Summit League and other mid-major conferences saw their rosters poached by the graduate transfer rule, which allowed players to transfer with immediate eligibility if theyd earned their degree.

That was the rule that allowed Matt Mooney to leave USD for Texas Tech, while former Jackrabbit star Mike Daum, in the same class as Mooney, chose to stay at SDSU for his senior year. Mooney played in the national championship game and later in the NBA. Daums senior year ended in the NIT and his pro career has been limited to overseas.

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(Then again, John Konchar of Fort Wayne, another Summit Leaguer from that class, resisted the portal, stayed with the Mastodons for four years and is now in his third NBA season.)

More: Baylor Scheierman uses football skills to lead South Dakota State's high-powered hoops offense

It was perhaps with those situations in mind that Scheierman made this choice. Scheierman, who politely declined an interview request on Monday, was the best player in the Summit League this past year, and it wasnt particularly close.

He averaged 16.2 points per game, shot better than 50 percent from the floor and 47 percent from 3-point range, and led the league in rebounds and assists.

Hes a 6-foot-6 guard who was a record-setting quarterback in high school, he has a high basketball IQ, is a model teammate and student. Its possible that whatever feedback Scheierman got from scouts, agents and others in Atlanta, where hes working out in preparation of the draft, indicated there wasnt much left for him to prove at the mid-major level.

Taking on the challenge of a full season against major conference competition will be Scheiermans opportunity to prove hes NBA caliber.

Mar 16, 2022; Buffalo, NY, USA; South Dakota State Jackrabbits guard Baylor Scheierman (3) takes a layup during practice before the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Another factor that could be in play is NIL (name, image, likeness) opportunities. Athletes across the country are signing endorsement deals that become more and more lucrative every day. Its possible that a bigger market could mean better NIL options.

As for the Jacks, the departure is no doubt a huge blow.

With Wisconsin transfer Matthew Mors having just come on board, SDSU was bound to field a loaded roster in 2022-23, one that likely wouldve dominated the Summit League similarly to this past year, in which they won 30 games, went undefeated in conference play and reached the NCAA tournament. Theyll still be in good shape even without Scheierman, as Mors joins a roster that returns starters Zeke Mayo, Alex Arians, Charlie Easley, Luke Appel and Matt Dentlinger, among others.

More: With Matthew Mors on board, South Dakota State looking loaded for next season

With a scholarship open the Jacks will explore the transfer portal, but Henderson said theyre always monitoring it, anyway, so there wont be a renewed focus on finding Scheiermans replacement.

Were gonna worry about the guys that are in our program, Henderson said. We feel very confident in the group we have.

For SDSU and the rest of the Summit League and beyond, its another reminder of the new reality for mid-major and sub-Division I schools. Theres always going to be a fear going forward that if a player finds enough success, theyll soon be poached by a higher level program, and the exposure and NIL opportunities that would offer.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Baylor Scheierman enters transfer portal, dealing blow to South Dakota State Jackrabbits
Big Tex's all-new dump trailers are loaded with tons of features and a whole lot of muscle.

ADDISON, Texas, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Tex Trailers has launched two all-new Mega Duty Tandem Axle Dump Trailers that are helping meet a growing need across construction, junk removal, and landscaping industries. Starting at an impressive 20,000 pound GVWR, these heavy-duty dumps will also help round out Big Tex's dump trailer lineup for professional-grade owners looking for added strength and features.

Big Tex 20GX and 20LP

"These new dump trailers were built with strength and performance in mind," said Robert Posey, Dealer Sales Manager for Big Tex Trailers. "From their professional-grade materials to their user-friendly features, these new Mega Duty Dumps are a direct result of our team's dedication to giving our dealers smart trailering solutions that their customers can rely on day in and day out."

Both the 20GX and 20LP come standard with features to help tackle nearly any job, including two 10,000 pound torsion axles with Super Single Wheels, a self-contained electric hydraulic scissor hoist, a crank-style roll tarp, and a multi-functional rear gate that gives owners multiple options for spreading loose gravel, dirt, and other aggregates.

Each dump trailer also features a low-profile, 30-inch deck height for easy loading and unloading of debris and heavy equipment. The heavy-duty dump box includes 36-inch tall sides built with heavy-duty 10-gauge steel and a 7-gauge steel floor.

These Mega Duty Dumps can also be upgraded with several popular Big Tex options, including the ramp package that comes with 6-foot slide-in ramps to help with loading and unloading heavy equipment into the dump bed.

The 20GX is the gooseneck model and comes standard with a 10-inch I-beam neck, a round adjustable pin 2-5/16-inch gooseneck coupler, and a spare tire mount in the neck.

The 20LP is the bumper pull model and comes standard with a 10-inch I-Beam main frame and an adjustable 2-5/16-inch Demco EZ Latch coupler.

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Learn more about the new Mega Duty Tandem Axle Dump Trailers at BigTexTrailers.com or reach out to your local Big Tex Trailers Dealer.

About Big Tex Trailers

Since 1982, Big Tex Trailers has established its place as America's #1 professional grade trailer manufacturer by focusing on the needs of their customers and delivering industry-leading quality, durability, and value. As a manufacturer, Big Tex provides its dealers with all the necessary resources to grow their business and boasts the nation's largest inventory. Big Tex Trailers is a brand of ATW, North America's leading manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of professional and consumer grade trailers, truck equipment, parts, and accessories.

Contact

Lauren Andrich

lauren.andrich@atw.com

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SOURCE Big Tex Trailers
By Azernews





Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro have discussed media freedom and the regional situation, the ministry has reported.

The parties discussed the work done in the sphere of media freedom in Azerbaijan during the meeting, the report added.

Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan highly appreciates cooperation with the OSCE in all areas, including media freedom.

The minister informed the opposite side about the situation in the region after the conflict, the steps taken to normalize relations between the two countries, as well as the work carried out by the Azerbaijani government in the liberated areas, the landmine danger the victims of which are also journalists, landmine clearance, and the role of media in building trust in the region, the ministry said.

In turn, Ribeiro highlighted the rich program of her visit to Azerbaijan and thanked Bayramov for providing detailed information about the situation.

She stressed the importance of media freedom in confidence-building measures, emphasizing that it is also an important component of peace and security and that the OSCE can help Azerbaijan in this regard.

The need of maintaining communication between the parties was stressed at the meeting.

Azerbaijan joined the CSCE (named OSCE since January 1, 1995) on January 30, 1992. This was the first European organization for Azerbaijan to join.

Since February 1992, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict has become the focus of OSCE in line with the principles of this organization.

As OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries Russia, the U.S. and France had been mediating a peaceful solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Groups efforts resulted in no progress as Armenia refused to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of its troops from Azerbaijani territories, which was the main obstacle to the resolution of the conflict.

The trilateral ceasefire deal signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders on November 10, 2020, ended the three-decade conflict over Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region which along with the seven adjacent regions came under the occupation of Armenian armed forces in the war in the early 1990s.
SLIEMA, Malta, April 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lead generation company Blexr has bought the New Zealand-based website CasinoReviews.net.nz as part of its ongoing drive to expand its portfolio.

Blexr intends to make its Casino Reviews site the most trusted resource for players in New Zealand

The site provides honest and thorough reviews of reputable online casinos which accept players from New Zealand, helping people make better online decisions.

Blexr, which has its headquarters in Malta, plans to make the website the most comprehensive casino resource for Kiwi players.

Blexr acquired https://www.casinoreviews.net.nz/ for a seven-figure sum, demonstrating its commitment to owning properties that will further enhance its offerings to its customer base.

Koen Bongers, Blexr's Head of Marketing, said: "We believe this acquisition will blend very well into our existing product portfolio while increasing our presence in our target markets.

"New Zealand has a high interest in slot machines  called 'pokies' locally  and our bespoke free casino games technology allows us to create a highly localised offering in the market that will stand out from the competition.

"We have big plans for this website and are excited to see how it will grow in the coming months."

SOURCE Blexr
BEIJING, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited Renmin University of China in Beijing on Monday, ahead of China's Youth Day which falls on May 4.

Xi went to an intelligent classroom for ideological-political courses to learn about the reform and innovation of ideological-political education.

He went to the university's museum and library to learn about the school's history, its achievements in teaching and research, and efforts to protect and use ancient documents and books as well as to promote the application of research results.

Xi then chaired a symposium with the university's teachers and students.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQvcFlglQuo

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SOURCE CCTV+
Market Data Centre

According to the report, the global CO2 Laser Marking Machine Market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 7.4% from 2022 to 2030.

Pune, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Such significant market growth can be attributed to the increasing adoption of laser marking for various applications and enhanced performance of laser marking over traditional marking techniques. Moreover, factors such as technological advancements aimed toward increased precision & sophistication of such devices along with the increasing use of CO2 laser technology in healthcare applications are further anticipated to boost market growth during the forecast period. Furthermore, extensive research & development initiatives by major companies and research institutions across the globe to increase the precision & sophistication of such devices are further expected to contribute to market expansion. On the other hand, the availability of alternatives for CO2 lasers marking machines is expected to hamper market growth.

A broad spectrum of surgical procedures and dental practices involve a high level of precision. This requirement further leads to the need for making accurate markings on the skin and tissues. CO2 lasers serve as a convenient means to make such markings when compared with scalpels or lancets. Also, incisions or markings made using traditional surgical methods take a longer time to heal whereas those made using CO2 laser marking machines reduce the healing time and infection risks considerably. Owing to some of the major advantages that are mentioned above, CO2 laser markings are in great demand for medical & surgical procedures.





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Key Companies Profiled

Han's Laser Technology Co. Ltd., Lumenis Ltd., Coherent Inc., MLT GmbH, 4JET Technologies GmbH, Directed Light Inc., GSI Group Ltd., Gravotech Engineering Pvt. Ltd., and others.

Vendor Assessment

Vendor assessment includes a deep analysis of how vendors are addressing the demand in the Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market. The MDC Competetive Scape model was used to assess qualitative and quantitative insights in this assessment. MDC's Competitive Scape is a structured method for identifying key players and outlining their strengths, relevant characteristics, and outreach strategy. MDC's Competitive Scape allows organizations to analyze the environmental factors that influence their business, set goals, and identify new marketing strategies. MDC Research analysts conduct a thorough investigation of vendors' solutions, services, programs, marketing, organization size, geographic focus, type of organization and strategies.

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Technology Assessment

Technology dramatically impacts business productivity, growth and efficiency. Technologies can help companies develop competitive advantages, but choosing them can be one of the most demanding decisions for businesses. Technology assessment helps organizations to understand their current situation with respect to technology and offer a roadmap where they might want to go and scale their business. A well-defined process to assess and select technology solutions can help organizations reduce risk, achieve objectives, identify the problem, and solve it in the right way. Technology assessment can help businesses identify which technologies to invest in, meet industry standards, compete against competitors.





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Business Ecosystem Analysis

Advancements in technology and digitalization have changed the way companies do business; the concept of a business ecosystem helps businesses understand how to thrive in this changing environment. Business ecosystems provide organizations with opportunities to integrate technology in their daily business operations and improve research and business competency. The business ecosystem includes a network of interlinked companies that compete and cooperate to increase sales, improve profitability, and succeed in their markets. An ecosystem analysis is a business network analysis that includes the relationships amongst suppliers, distributors, and end-users in delivering a product or service.

Regions and Countries Covered

North America (US, Canada), Europe (Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (Japan, China, Australia, India, Rest of Asia-Pacific), and Rest of the World (RoW)

Report Coverage

Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market Dynamics, Covid-19 Impact on the Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market, Vendor Profiles, Vendor Assessment, Strategies, Technology Assessment, Product Mapping, Industry Outlook, Economic Analysis, Segmental Analysis, Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market Sizing, Analysis Tables.





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Vendor Profiles Covered

All Major Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3 companies are covered in this Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market report (25 Vendor Profiles)

Key Questions Answered in This Report:

What is the potential of the Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market?

What is the impact of COVID-19 on the global Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market?

What are the top strategies that companies adopting in Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market?

What are the challenges faced by SMEs and prominent vendors in Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market?

Which region has the highest investments in Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market?

What are the latest research and activities in Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market?

Who are the prominent players in Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market?

What is the potential of the Carbon Dioxide Laser Marking Machine Market?

Additional vendors profiles can be added based on client business requirements

At MDC Research, we offer research solutions to help businesses break the barriers of doubt or uncertainties when they plan to expand their growth. Our researchers compile data and information that help chief executive officers decide which growth opportunities in a market to pursue.

MDC Research is known for conducting well-researched reports, and the expertise of our researchers contributes to the outstanding quality of our reports. MDC Research enables businesses to make impactful decisions by blending innovation and analytical thinking. Our unique blend of these two skills assures you access to the most complete and up-to-date information about your industry.

MDC Research has a wealth of experience using the latest methodologies to develop reports for a wide range of clients in diverse markets. Our commitment to delivering high-quality research and creating innovative reports is one of the reasons why MDC Research is such a trusted name in the business world today.





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Market Data Centre offers complete solutions for market research reports in miscellaneous businesses. These decisions making process depend on wider and systematic extremely important information created through extensive study as well as the most recent trends going on in the industry .The company also attempts to offer much better customer-friendly services and appropriate business information to achieve our clients ideas.

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ReportLinker

The dermatology OTC medications market is expected to grow from US$ 15,456. 63 million in 2021 to US$ 21,313. 40 million by 2028; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4. 7% from 2021 to 2028.

New York, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Dermatology OTC Medications Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Product Type, Route of Administration, Indication, and Distribution Channel" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06269990/?utm_source=GNW

The high prevalence of skin problems and rising income of middle-class population are expected to boost the global market growth. However, the inappropriate use of OTC medications is restraining the growth of market.



The COVID-19 pandemic has been adversely affecting several businesses across global.The supply chain disruptions and the huge demand for efficient treatments of COVID-19 have critically impacted the healthcare research industry in China.



Prohibitive measures have been taken to resist the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.The pandemic is expected to impact the dermatology OTC medications market significantly.



For instance, Indias manufacturers rely heavily on imports of their APIs from China.The lockdown has slowed the production of APIs, resulting in less availability and higher costs for the materials required for the products.



Owing to the high demand for essential OTC drugs, the government has restricted the export of a few essential medicines. Due to the countrywide lockdown, the traditional supply chain of OTC drugs is facing several challenges. Many of these drugs are not available. Even after the specific guidelines and support of the state government to transport the essential OTC drugs, many retail pharmacies are experiencing a shortage of stock. On the other hand, the online purchase of OTC drugs has increased.



Most of the population agreed that fear of contracting SARS-CoV-2 would be a standalone factor for not undergoing any skin disease treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.This has resulted in a drastic drop in demand for dermatological treatment.



On the other hand, a cross-sectional study conducted by Al Saud et al., published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open Journal, in September 2020, reveals that over two-thirds (~69.5%) of OTC dermatology drugs indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had negatively affected practices in Saudi Arabia. For example, surgeons in private practices were affected more significantly than the public sector due to fear and future uncertainty, leading to surge in utilization of different technical means for maintaining such a high patient pool.



As per European Union, the middle-class population is expected to reach 5.3 billion by 2030, and the Asian population of middle-class people is likely to be at the forefront. According to the World Bank Group, by 2030, China and India are expected to represent ~66% of the global middle-class population and ~59% of middle-class consumption. With significant changes in consumer behavior and consumption patterns, the middle-class expansion will drive global economic development. In addition, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that disposable income in the US increased from US$ 10,036.9 billion in 2006 to US$ 13,968.6 billion in 2016; it is further expected to reach US$ 21,178.2 billion by 2026. Increased disposable incomes and better after-care treatment have led to the growing adoption of dermatology OTC medications to treat skin conditions. Thus, a surge in the adoption rate of OTC medications supports the growth of the dermatology OTC medications market.



The approval is likely to enables the company to sell these products in the global dermatology OTC medications market.Similarly, the key companies are focusing on strategic initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions, new product development, and geographical expansions.



For instance, in July 2016, Galderma received FDA approval for Differin Gel 0.1 percent (adapalene), a once-daily topical gel for the over-the-counter (OTC) treatment of acne, in July 2016. Differin Gel 0.1 percent is licensed for usage in people aged 12 and up.



The high prevalence of the skin disease support the growth of the dermatology OTC medications market. Acne affected 5.6 million Canadians, or ~20% of the population, according to the Canadian Dermatology Association in 2021. Similarly, ~80% of acne patients are aged between 12 and 24. Acne affects ~90% of teenagers and 20-30% of adults aged from 20 to 40. Similarly, as per a study published in the journal Actas Dermo-Sifiliograficas in 2019, the prevalence of psoriasis in France was 5.2% of the entire French population. Moreover, according to 2020 US census data, ~7.55 million US individuals are suffering from psoriasis. The prevalence of psoriasis was similar in men and women, with 3.2% in women and 2.8% in men.



The rising healthcare expenditure supports the growth of the dermatology OTC medications market during the forecast period.Pharmaceutical spending includes prescription medications and self-medication, also known as over-the-counter (OTC) items.



In 2019, pharmaceutical products spending accounted for 14.3% and 11.9% of Germanys and Frances total healthcare expenditure, respectively.



Indication-Based Insights

The dermatology OTC medications market is segmented into product type, route of administration, indication, and distribution channel.Based on indication, the global market is segmented into dermatitis, acne, psoriasis, skin bleaching, fungal disease, warts, and others.



The acne segment held the largest share of the dermatology OTC medications market in 2021; it is estimated to register the highest CAGR in the dermatology OTC medications market during the forecast period.



The Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization, the European Commission, the American Academy of Dermatology, the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the Canadian Skin Patient Alliance, the Skin Science Foundation, the European Society for Dermatological Research, the Economic Co-operation and Development, and the Canadian Dermatology Association are among the primary and secondary sources referred to while preparing the report on the dermatology OTC medications market.

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Elon Musk is embarrassing himself on the global stage again by proudly bruiting a grade-school level of familiarity with the immensely complex concepts of free speech, censorship, rights and privileges of individuals and government authorities. The fact that this aggressively ignorant person is likely to take over one of the largest communication platforms on Earth should scare the shit out of you.

Here is what the richest man in the world said earlier today, on the platform he intends to acquire:

By 'free speech,' I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.

Elon's got one thing going for him. He has demonstrated an apparently innate facility to pack more willful and privileged ignorance into a single sentence than almost anyone on the planet.

These statements are so fundamentally wrong  factually, ethically, practically, and in every other way, that I hardly know where to begin.

For one thing, he might want to look at the most elementary descriptions of what constitutes free speech and censorship. Censorship is when state authorities limit the speech of the people under their power. Free speech is the guarantee that no action defined as speech is illegal outside a few harmful examples, like harassment, hate speech and other special cases (under constant negotiation) that we as a society have decided constitute or exacerbate crimes.

But this is an unbelievably complicated and nuanced concept, not a big thick line with censorship on one side of it and gratuitous lack of any restriction on the other. The courts are constantly  as in, at all times in legal history there are huge cases setting new precedents  literally defining and redefining what is meant by "that which matches the law." We have a whole branch of government whose job it is to interpret the law. There is no simple solution or algorithm or set of hard and fast rules that govern this, and the idea that Elon seems to either assume there is or, propose one be drawn up, is the first sign that he has zero clue what he's talking about.

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Next is "censorship that goes far beyond the law." Presumably he means "censorship" such as moderation by private actors like companies, which isn't censorship (only governments can be censors) but actually, by definition and legal precedent, an expression of free speech by those companies.

By seeking to limit what private companies (as they are considered under the law Musk seems to care so much about) do in this context, he is proposing limits on their free speech. By suggesting that the government be the one to define and impose these limits, he is literally proposing a system of censorship.

This isn't some weird twist of logic, it's what the words he said actually mean. He just had no goddamn idea what he was saying.

Next up, "If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people." OK! There actually are lots of proposals along these lines, Elon. Right now the country is in the thick of a real and terrifying battle over actual free speech in which teachers are being told  by their govenments, which makes it censorship!  which topics they can and cannot teach in schools.

Florida and Texas and others want to limit free speech; in fact they've succeeded. Who asked them to do that? "The people"? Did "the people" will that math textbooks that mention black mathematicians from history be banned from use? Or that explaining why someone might have two dads is forbidden by law? The idea that government action is by definition the will of the people is one of the most naive things I've ever encountered. Is Elon aware that voting rights are being systematically dismantled and bills are being written by lobbyists? Does he know the history of gerrymandering, redlining, voter suppression and general ratfuckery that makes up the history of "asking government to pass laws"?

What the fuck do you know about "the will of the people," Elon? Born rich and now rich beyond measure, this is a man who has no idea who "the people" are. He thinks they want vacuum tunnels they can load their $80,000 cars into to shorten their LA-SF commute or bicoastal lifestyle.

He may be surprised that "the will of the people," outside the sycophantic bubble of his replies, is that billionaires probably shouldn't exist at all. "The people" may very will tell him, if he asked, that his unfathomable riches should be liquidated and directed to reducing things like world hunger  the thing Elon said he'd solve if someone sent him a plan, and then forgot about. Probably because he has no idea what it's like to be hungry, either!

More relevant to the Twitter news, this baby's-first-free-speech-debate take on one of the most complex and contentious topics in history means the plans he has for the social network must be truly, truly foolish and uninformed.

You may be surprised to hear this, Elon, but "the people" have been talking about this for centuries. Maybe audit a freshman course on ethics and philosophy, or just have someone summarize the reading list into a few bullets. Other people, like the brightest minds of every generation since we've been able to record it, have considered these topics in detail long before you were born into fortune and privilege. Your take is beyond ignorant, because it asserts knowledge where there is none, asserts superiority over something you have never even considered. You could run a Hyperloop through the vacuum that is Elon Musk's knowledge of civics. A Dragon spacecraft could safely float in the void that is Elon Musk's understanding of the cultural and legal labyrinth of expression and identity in a free society.

What this all portends is an incredibly simplistic and harmful take on free speech and moderation on a platform that desperately needs a sophisticated, humane and responsive one  something that Twitter, Facebook and everyone else have been trying (and failing, but slowly advancing) to do for over a decade. Something Elon Musk appears uniquely unqualified to ideate or administrate.

Elon, your ideas on free speech are not what I would call evil or abhorrent, by a long shot  they're just wrong. They're wrong because you are ignorant of the most basic context and precedent surrounding these concepts, as well as the highly specialized situational knowledge that informs the creation and management of a modern communication platform. You simply have no goddamn idea what you're talking about.
"A" grade awarded by independent certifier after review of methane emission management programs

Certification process expanding to other U.S. shale operations

Independently certified natural gas helps meet customer demand for energy produced with fewer methane emissions

IRVING, Texas, April 26, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ExxonMobil said today that approximately 200 million cubic feet per day of natural gas produced from its Permian Basin facilities at Poker Lake, New Mexico have been independently certified and received the top grade for methane emissions management. The certification from MiQ helps the company meet customer demand for energy produced with fewer emissions. ExxonMobil is the first company to achieve certification for natural gas production associated with oil.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005091/en/

MiQ awarded the highest "A" grade certification for ExxonMobils extensive multi-tiered technology approach to methane monitoring and mitigation at its Poker Lake facilities in New Mexico. Responsible Energy Solutions performed ExxonMobils assessment using the MiQ Standard. (Photo: Business Wire)

"This certification further validates the steps we have taken to reduce methane emissions, which is part of our plans to achieve net zero Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse emissions in our Permian Basin unconventional operations by 2030," said Tom Schuessler, senior vice president of unconventional at ExxonMobil. "Certification gives our customers confidence that we are responsibly producing natural gas with best-in-class emission management programs to help them meet their emissions goals."

MiQ awarded the "A" grade certification because of ExxonMobils extensive multi-tiered technology approach to methane monitoring and mitigation at its Poker Lake facilities in New Mexico. These efforts include a combination of fixed monitoring systems, aerial imaging technology, optical gas imaging cameras, proprietary acoustic sensors, and robust leak detection and repair practices. Responsible Energy Solutions performed ExxonMobils assessment using the MiQ Standard.

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"Its widely accepted that its now the time to take steps to limit the effects of climate change and reducing methane emissions is one of the most significant actions we can take," said Georges Tijbosch, CEO of MiQ. "MiQ is pioneering Independently Certified Gas to help accelerate methane reductions from the natural gas industry and, as one of the worlds largest energy companies, ExxonMobils expansion of the certification program demonstrates that Independently Certified Gas is rapidly becoming the status quo."

ExxonMobil is expanding the certification process to other operating areas, including Appalachia natural gas operations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It is now selling commercial volumes to customers, including Xcel Energy, which plans to use the natural gas to power homes, schools and businesses in southeastern New Mexico with fewer lifecycle emissions than non-certified natural gas.

"Xcel Energy is committed to delivering net-zero energy by 2050 across all the ways our customers use energy, and that includes powering our generating fleet with natural gas purchased only from suppliers with certified low-methane emissions by 2030," said David Hudson, president of Xcel Energy in New Mexico and Texas. "Fueling our New Mexico power plants with ExxonMobils certified natural gas is an important step in that direction and enables us to achieve the cleaner energy future were all envisioning."

ExxonMobil has played a leadership role in methane mitigation and supports strong measurement, reporting and verification standards as part of a broad suite of regulations to help reduce methane emissions. ExxonMobil is a founding member of the Methane Guiding Principles, and in 2020 introduced a model regulatory framework for industry-wide methane regulations. ExxonMobil supports the U.S. and European Unions Global Methane Pledge, the proposed U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan and the Oil and Gas Climate Initiatives Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions.

Mitigating methane emissions is an important component of ExxonMobils plans to achieve net zero Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gas emissions in the Permian Basin unconventional assets by 2030. Other parts of the plan include electrifying operations using renewable and lower-carbon power sources, eliminating routine flaring by year-end 2022, upgrading equipment and enhancing processes.

Similar GHG emission-reduction road maps are being developed for the companys major operated upstream, refining and chemicals assets around the world. ExxonMobil has announced an ambition to achieve net zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions for its major operated assets by 2050, as detailed in the 2022 Advancing Climate Solutions Progress Report.

About ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil, one of the largest publicly traded international energy and petrochemical companies, creates solutions that improve quality of life and meet societys evolving needs.

The corporations primary businesses - Upstream, Product Solutions and Low Carbon Solutions - provide products that enable modern life, including energy, chemicals, lubricants, and lower-emissions technologies. ExxonMobil holds an industry-leading portfolio of resources, and is one of the largest integrated fuels, lubricants and chemical companies in the world. To learn more, visit exxonmobil.com and the Energy Factor.

Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cautionary Statement

Outlooks; projections; goals; descriptions of strategic plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. Similarly, emission-reduction roadmaps to drive toward net zero are dependent on future market factors, such as continued technological progress and policy support, and represent forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include plans to capture methane and detect leaks ; achieve ambitions to reach Scope 1 and Scope 2 net zero from operated assets by 2050, or Scope 1 and Scope 2 net zero in Upstream Permian operated assets by 2030, the elimination of routine flaring in-line with World Bank Zero Routine Flaring, or the completion of major asset emission-reduction roadmaps. Actual future results could differ materially due to a number of factors. These include the effectiveness of third party certifications; development and pace of supportive market conditions and national, regional and local policies relating to emission reductions, including methane leaks; changes in laws and regulations including laws and regulations regarding greenhouse gas emissions, carbon costs, and taxes; trade patterns and the development and enforcement of local, national and international mandates and treaties; unforeseen technical or operational difficulties; the ability to bring new technologies to commercial scale on a cost-competitive basis, including large-scale hydraulic fracturing projects and methane leak detection technologies; changes in supply and demand and other market factors affecting future prices of oil, gas, and petrochemical products; and other factors discussed in this release and under the heading "Factors Affecting Future Results" on the Investors page of ExxonMobils website at exxonmobil.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220426005091/en/

Contacts

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Godfather ltd

GODFATHER, a web3 lifestyle app concerning social-fi and game-fi elements has unveiled the highest paying DeFi yield of 387,173.50% APY.

Brasilia, Brazil , April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GODFATHER, a web3 lifestyle app concerning social-fi and game-fi elements has unveiled the highest paying DeFi yield of 387,173.50% APY. The number 387,173.50% of Fixed APY speaks the loudest about GODFATHER PROTOCOL - The evolution of Defi 3.0. With its revolutionary technology and innovative Buy-Hold-Earn mechanism, holders of the $GF token generate auto-staking and rebase rewards worth 0.000786% every five minutes in their wallets.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has brought up various additional prosperous opportunities across the entire blockchain industry. Since then, the successful DeFi 1.0 protocols have attracted billions of dollars in financing and helped build many of crypto's most successful startups. The appearance of DeFi 3.0 protocols is a new revolution, offering token holders better levels of simplicity and safety, as well as improved fixed rewards through staking. In this broadening trend, an increasing number of investors over the world are chasing low-risk, high-yield profits. It paves the way for GODFATHER to dominate the promising area with its innovative technologies.

GODFATHER is a decentralised financial asset that rewards users with a sustainable fixed compound interest model using its unique GAP system. The GODFATHER Protocol does not require users to stake tokens on its website or any other third-party application. Alternatively, simply holding the $GF token in Wallet, users can receive auto-staking and rebase rewards worth 0,00786% every 5 minutes, owing to its manageable yet cutting-edge mechanism, BUY - HOLD - EARN.

Interestingly, GODFATHER Protocol offers the highest fixed annual percentage yield in the cryptocurrency industry at 387,173.50%, which implies that users may earn up to $3,871,735 in $GF with just a $1000 investment over a year.

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Back of the sustainably high APY of GODFATHER protocol:

GODFATHER Insurance Fund (GIF)

5% of all trading fees moves to the GODFATHER Insurance Fund, which pays a 0.00786% rebase rate to every $GF holder every 5 minutes to ensure the price stability and long-term future growth of the GODFATHER protocol.

Auto Burning Mechanism - The Fire Pit

THE FIRE PIT is the unique burning mechanism of the GODFATHER Protocol. 1% of all $GF traded, whether buying or selling, is burnt here. It is a self-fulfilling Auto-Compounding that increases the fire pit size, diminishing the circulating supply, and maintaining the GODFATHER protocol.

GODFATHER Auto-Liquidity Engine (GALE)

4% of every purchase or sell transaction goes into the Auto-LP wallet. Every 48 hours, the smart contract will spend this amount to replenish the existing liquidity pool. It stabilises APY, until the maximum supply is reached.

The GALE empowers $GF token holders to sell their tokens at any moment with little to no market slippage.

Long Term Interest Cycle (LIC)

The Long Term Interest Cycle (LIC) component provides $GF token holders with perpetual compound interest, ensuring long-term sustainability and growth.

Each Interest Cycle is 5 minutes and is referred to as an EPOCH.

There are 35,040 EPOCH in 1 year. 

EPOCH 1 - 35,040: 0.02358% every EPOCH (First 12 Months)

EPOCH 35,041 - 70,080: 0.02253% every EPOCH (Next 12 months)

EPOCH 70,081 -105,120: 0.00018% every EPOCH (Next 12 months)

EPOCH 105,120: 0.002% every EPOCH (In Perpetuity until max supply is reached)

GODFATHER Protocol protects investors:

The Treasury backs the GIF in the event of a sharp decline in the price of the $GF token. Additionally, the Treasury funds investments, new GODFATHER projects, and GODFATHER marketing.

The marketing strategy and community-building initiatives of GODFATHER Protocol set it apart from other projects. GODFATHER recently partnered with many well-known crypto KOLs, influencers, and crypto communities to help promote the identity. Additionally, GODFATHER executes large-scale campaigns for communities, such as video production contests and shilling contests, to increase the number of holders/users.

GODFATHER Protocol strives for the best to continuously upgrade the features followed by advanced services, such as Cross-Chain Integration, Merchandising, gamefi projects, NFTs collections, and NFTs marketplace, to generate additional profit and attract more users, investors, and holders to the project.

$GODFATHER smart contract is well verified on Binance Smart Chain and audited by KISHIELD.

GODFATHER smart contract: https://bscscan.com/token/0xc100099bc314aed676a03634587c2c39e0af961f

Audit KISHIELD: https://www.kishield.com/assets/pdfs/KISHIELD_Godfather_Audit_20220421.pdf





GODFATHER Protocol will host a FairLaunch on Pink Sale from 13.00 (UTC) on April 29th, 2022 to 17.00 (UTC) on May 13th, 2022, and list $GF on PancakeSwap on May 14th, 2022.

About GODFATHER protocol

GODFATHER is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization dedicated to DEFI innovation that generates advantages and value for holders of $GF tokens. The GODFATHER Auto-Staking Protocol (GAP) is a new financial protocol that simplifies and accelerates staking while providing $GF token holders with the highest steady returns available in cryptocurrency.

Links:

Website https://Godfather.app

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGodFather2030/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GodfatherHi

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/GodFather-107748885242257

Discord: https://discord.gg/aDnfA4b6ST

Telegram Channel: https://t.me/godfatherANN

Telegram Community: https://t.me/godfatherchat





Media Contact:

Contact Person: Vito Corleoni

Company Name: Godfather ltd

Email: hi@godfather.app

City: Brasilia

Country: brazil

Website: https://Godfather.app/

This is not an investment advice. Please conduct your own research when investing in any project.

Disclaimer : There is no offer to sell, no solicitation of an offer to buy, and no recommendation of any security or any other product or service in this article. Moreover, nothing contained in this PR should be construed as any recommendation. Readers are encouraged to do their own research. Newsroom: socials.submitmypressrelease.com






WINNIPEG, MB, April 26, 2022 /CNW/ - National historic designations reflect the rich and varied heritage of our country and provide an opportunity for Canadians to learn more about our diverse history.

Today, the Honourable Daniel Vandal, Member of Parliament for St. Boniface  St. Vital and Minister of Northern Affairs, recognized the national historic significance of the Winnipeg Falcons Hockey Club. A special ceremony was held in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame at the Sport Manitoba Centre to unveil a commemorative plaque. The announcement was made on behalf of the honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada.

Through incredible determination and talent, the Winnipeg Falcons rose up from their Icelandic-Canadian roots in Winnipeg's West End to win Canada's senior amateur championship, known as the Allan Cup, in 1920. Following this achievement, the team went on to represent Canada at the 1920 Antwerp, Belgium Olympics  and on April 26th that same year, the Winnipeg Falcons defeated Sweden in the final to become the first-ever Olympic gold medalists in ice hockey.

Named after Iceland's national bird, the Falcons were formed in 1909 with the merging of two Icelandic-Canadian teams. The team's early years were spent playing in an intermediate league - and despite tying for first place in their inaugural season and applying for inclusion in the city senior league, they weren't accepted until their strong showing in the 1914/1915 Allan Cup playoffs.

By this time, the First World War was raging in Europe and the entire Falcons lineup enlisted  where six players saw active duty and two were killed. Despite losing two of their beloved players and coping with the aftermath of war, the determination, pride and strength of the team continued to shine - eventually taking them to their triumphant Olympic victory. This inspirational win provided Canadians with the opportunity to unite and celebrate as a nation. Upon their return to Canada, the Falcons were welcomed back to their hometown of Winnipeg with a grand parade and celebration in the streets, as well as accolades in parliament and from media.

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The Government of Canada, through the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, recognizes significant people, places, and events that shaped our country as one way of helping Canadians and youth connect with their past. The commemoration process is largely driven by public nominations. To date, more than 2,200 designations have been made.

Quote

"On behalf of the Government of Canada, it is an honour to recognize the national historic significance of the Winnipeg Falcons Hockey Club. A team made up of almost entirely of new Icelandic-Canadians, the Falcons displayed heart, skill and determination, as they rose from their community roots in Winnipeg to become the first Olympic gold hockey medalists at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. With two of the Winnipeg Falcons lost to the war before their historic Olympic triumph, it was an emotional and poignant victory, not only for the team, but for all Canadians."

The Honourable Daniel Vandal,

Member of Parliament for St. Boniface  St. Vital and Minister of Northern Affairs

Quick Facts

The Winnipeg Falcons' triumphant story was memorialized in 2015 as the subject of a 60-second short film produced by Historica Canada, known as a Canadian Heritage Minute.

The Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium were summer games, as the first Winter Olympics were not held until 1924. Because of this, the hockey competition in Antwerp had to be held early to take advantage of natural ice.

Established in 1919, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada advises the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on the historic importance of persons, places and events that have shaped Canada's history.

National historic designations illustrate our country's defining moments. Each of these designations tells its unique story, contributes to the greater story of Canada and helps us better understand our country and our identity.

Related Document

Backgrounder: Winnipeg Falcons Hockey Club

Related Links

Parks Canada Agency

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada

SOURCE Parks Canada

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Indonesia may widen palm export ban to combat shortages Palm oil plantation in Kampar regency as Indonesia announced a ban on palm oil exports effective this week

By Bernadette Christina

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia will ban exports of RBD palm olein from midnight on April 28 until prices of bulk cooking oil drop to 14,000 rupiah per litre, a senior minister said on Tuesday, while a document showed it was prepared to widen the ban if there are shortages.

The export ban will be imposed on all producers of refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm olein and applied on products under three HS codes, chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto said in a statement.

RBD palm olein, which is produced by crushing palm fruit and then processed to remove impurities, accounts for about 40% of Indonesia's total shipments of palm oil products, according to analysts' estimates, which means the ban could significantly affect export earnings in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

The export ban will stay "until bulk cooking oil price reach the targeted 14,000 rupiah per litre throughout Indonesia," Airlangga said.

Bulk cooking oil was offered at about 20,000 rupiah ($1.39)per litre at online marketplaces on Tuesday. In some traditional markets, they were sold at around 17,000-19,000 rupiah per litre, state news agency Antara reported.

The policy will be evaluated periodically and will continue to be adjusted according to the most current situation, he said.

The government is prepared to widen its ban on exports of refined palm olein if it faces domestic shortages of derivatives used in the production of cooking oil, according to details presented at a meeting between government and industry officials.

The world's biggest palm oil maker will allow exports of crude palm oil or other derivatives from Thursday, senior government official Musdhalifah Machmud, who verified the details presented, told Reuters.

Indonesia typically exports about $2.5 billion to $3 billion of palm oil products per month.

Authorities will strictly monitor domestic supply of refined palm oil and crude palm oil, which are used as raw materials to make RBD olein, according to presentation slides.

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"If there is shortage of refined palm oil, then further export bans can be carried out," read the text on a slide shown to palm oil companies on Monday.

China, India, the Philippines and South Korea, source between 46% and 58% of their total palm oil imports from Indonesia, Nomura said in a research note, adding that China was the top buyer of Indonesia's RBD olein.

President Joko Widodo announced the ban on exports of cooking oil and its raw material on Friday to help control soaring domestic prices, but provided no details.

The announcement has sent global edible oil prices soaring as supplies were already choked by other factors such as drought and shortages from Russia's invasion of major crop producer Ukraine.

Markets had previously thought the ban would cover a wider range of palm oil products, sending the rupiah and shares of Indonesian palm oil companies tumbling on Monday.

The rupiah rebounded 0.3% on Tuesday, while palm company shares also gained. Malaysian benchmark crude palm futures, which had reversed gains after details of the ban emerged, rose 1.5% by 0900 GMT on Tuesday.

PRESIDENT'S APPROVAL RATING FALLS

Airlangga said a trade ministry regulation will be issued soon.

Indonesia's ban on palm oil exports is unlikely to last more than a month as Jakarta has limited infrastructure to store the surplus oil and the country faces mounting pressure from buyers to resume shipments, industry officials said.

The Indonesian government has been criticised by some analysts and politicians for erratic policymaking to contain the rise in cooking oil prices, having already implemented and revoked an export restriction this year.

Approval ratings for Jokowi, as the Indonesian president is popularly known, dropped to 59.9% this month from 75.3% at the beginning of 2022, due to rising prices of necessities including cooking oil, independent pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia said.

More than 60% of respondents in the survey, which was conducted before the export ban was announced, also supported halting cooking oil shipments.

Students have held street demonstrations in several cities across the archipelago this month to protest against high cooking oil prices.

($1 = 14,410.0000 rupiah)

(Additional reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman, Fransiska Nangoy and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta and Tom Westbrook in SingaporeWriting by Gayatri Suroyo and Fransiska NangoyEditing by Ed Davies, Jacqueline Wong and David Evans)
(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos posed a provocative question after Elon Musk clinched a $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc.: whether that will make things difficult for Tesla Inc. in China.

Most Read from Bloomberg

In a series of tweets, Bezos drew attention to the EV giants close ties with China, the worlds biggest electric vehicle market and home to Teslas first overseas factory. About half the companys cars sold globally last year were produced at its plant in Shanghai, and Musk has said that figure may double.

Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square? tweeted Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post.

My own answer to this question is probably not, he added in a followup. The more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter.

Read more: Elon Musk Loves China, and China Loves Him Back  for Now

A representative of Musks family office didnt immediately respond to a request for comment after business hours.

Musk championed free speech on the platform in one of his first tweets after sealing the take-private deal. But Twitter -- like most American social media platforms -- is banned in China by officials wary of the impact on public discourse.

Tesla has boomed in China thanks in part to tax breaks, cheap loans and the green light to wholly own its domestic operations. But the company last year came under fire after state media and regulators questioned Teslas attitude toward customers. Bezoss company also operates in the country, but its a distant competitor to local leaders Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc.

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Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
By Azernews





The Azerbaijani armys artillery units are conducting forward observation training courses, the Defence Ministry reported on April 26.

The training is being held with the commanders of fire support groups in rocket and artillery units in line with the approved annual combat training plan, the report added.

Servicemen study the tactical and technical characteristics of modern artillery surveillance means available in the armament, and the rules for their use. Moreover, artillery scouts are improving their practical skills in detecting target coordinates using optical devices, and in firing control, the ministry said.

The artillerymen completed professional assignments on shooting at assigned targets of an imaginary enemy following the theoretical classes.

Azerbaijan periodically holds drills 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.

Earlier, the Defence Ministry reported that Azerbaijani servicemen will take part in the Efes-2022 multinational drills to be held in Izmir, Turkey in May-June.

The ministry underlined that Azerbaijani servicemen will participate in over 30 international drills and competitions in the 2022 academic year.

Apart from Efes - 2022, the servicemen will join the Eternity - 2022, Indestructible Brotherhood - 2022, Winter Training  2022, International Army Games - 2022 and other international training and competitions, which will have a positive effect on the improvement of their professional skills, the ministry said.

Moreover, the servicemen are expected to participate in various international seminars and conferences in 2022 as well.




MARION, Fla., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Landmarks Illinois has launched a new grant program focused on preserving historic places in Southern Illinois in partnership with Banterra Bank, the largest, locally-owned bank in the region. The Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program will provide monetary assistance to preserve or rehabilitate historic structures in downtowns and other commercial corridors of Southern Illinois to support economic development.

Landmarks Illinois President & CEO Bonnie McDonald announces the Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program at a press conference in Marion on April 26, 2022.

The Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program will provide a minimum of $20,000 in grant funding for two years to historic preservation projects in the region. This is the first grant program Landmarks Illinois has targeted to a specific Illinois economic development region. It is also Landmark Illinois's first grant program offered to private building owners, developers and for-profit business owners.

Landmarks Illinois and Banterra Bank announced the new Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program this morning at a community event hosted by the City of Marion, Illinois. Announcement representatives were Landmarks Illinois President & CEO Bonnie McDonald, Banterra Bank President & CEO Jeff May and Marion Mayor Mike Absher. Local business owner Jeff Mayer, who owns and plans to rehabilitate the historic Goodall Building in Marion, also joined the announcement.

"Landmarks Illinois is proud to partner with Banterra Bank to provide this important grant funding for people working to restore historic places to drive economic development in their communities," said McDonald. "Southern Illinois is a unique region in our state, rich with history, outdoor attractions and charming downtowns. The region's historic places also add to its character and appeal and they deserve to be preserved."

Banterra Bank originated in Ridgway, Illinois, and today has 40 locations in six states  25 of them in Southern Illinois. Its core customer base continues to be Southern Illinois, and May said it was a "no-brainer" to support this new grant program through Landmarks Illinois.

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"As a lender with small business expertise, we know that when it comes to renovating historic structures for business use, financing the unexpected can be challenging," said May. "This grant will help with some of those costs and offer credibility to a development project that may assist with further grants. We are encouraged to see how this will grow and support Southern Illinois."

Additional grant program information

Banterra Bank and Landmarks Illinois will provide $10,000 in annual grant funding for two years for the new grant program, with the partners having the option to renew the program at that time.

Commercial property owners, nonprofit organizations or governmental bodies working on a historic preservation project in or near a commercial corridor in Southern Illinois are encouraged to apply for grant funding through the Landmarks Illinois Banterra Bank Preserve Southern Illinois Grant Program.

Grants will be awarded on a matching basis and range from $500 to $2,500, each based on project need. Grants are distributed twice a year. The first grant application deadline is July 15. Visit our website to read detailed grant guidelines and to submit an application.

About Landmarks Illinois

We are People Saving Places for People. Landmarks Illinois is a membership-based historic preservation nonprofit organization serving the people of Illinois. We inspire and empower stakeholders to save places that matter to them by providing free guidance, practical and financial resources and access to strategic partnerships. For more information, visit www.Landmarks.org.

About Banterra Bank

Banterra Bank began as a single bank in Ridgway, Illinois in July of 1975. Today, Banterra has $2.6 billion in assets and is ranked in the Top Ten Percent of U.S. Charter Banks and Top Five Percent for Illinois Charter Banks by asset size. Banterra has more than 40 locations in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Utah, as well as a specialty lending division that serves customers nationwide. For more information, call 866-BANTERRA (226-8377) or go to www.banterra.bank.

Media Contact:

Kaitlyn McAvoy

Communications Manager

312-922-1742

kmcavoy@landmarks.org

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SOURCE Landmarks Illinois
Fireside chat with O'Brien and Manulife's Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Michelle Taylor-Jones fostered candid dialogue with colleagues to drive inclusiveness and understanding

C$ unless otherwise stated TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

TORONTO, April 26, 2022 /CNW/ - Today, Manulife welcomed documentarian, author and journalist Soledad O'Brien for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion event in Boston. The event provided an opportunity for 38,000 Manulife colleagues to participate in and listen to an important conversation about inclusion and the biases that can be prevalent in the workplace.

Manulife (CNW Group/Manulife Financial Corporation)

"Identifying and addressing biases and making inclusion a priority in the workplace, are integral to making a positive impact on the future of work. It's encouraging to witness the increasing commitment over the past decade in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion space, especially from business leaders and organizations like Manulife", said Soledad O'Brien. "There's depth to this interest and we're seeing companies committed to finding ways to solve issues, take affirmative action and accelerate progress on all fronts. The pillars and values that Manulife has outlined for their global team truly exemplify their dedication and commitment in this space."

"It's incredibly important to have open and candid dialogue about the progress we've made at Manulife on our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion journey. As we continue to drive the strategy forward, it's imperative that we remain active and intentional in our efforts to ensure a better and more inclusive future for all," said Michelle Taylor-Jones, Manulife's Chief Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer.

Manulife is focused on building a culture of inclusion, continuous learning and advancing on the journey that is Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Through events like the one hosted today, Manulife remains focused on expanding their diversity of talent and building a stronger, more inclusive culture that will help foster meaningful connections for all, and enable greater innovation, growth, and makes their company a compelling place for talented people.

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To learn more about Manulife's DEI journey, visit manulife.com/en/about/diversity-equity-inclusion

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we provide financial advice and insurance, operating as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. Through Manulife Investment Management, the global brand for our global wealth and asset management segment, we serve individuals, institutions and retirement plan members worldwide. Our principal operations are in Asia and Canada, and the United States, where we have served customers for more than 155 years. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong. In the previous 12 months we made CAD$31.8 billion in payments to our customers.

Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com .

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SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation

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Minister Miller issues statement on documents related to residential schools

Minister Miller issues statement on documents related to residential schools

Canada NewsWire

OTTAWA, ON, April 25, 2022

Taking care: We recognize this news release may contain information that is difficult for many and that our efforts to honour Survivors and families may act as an unwelcome reminder for those who have suffered hardships through generations of government policies that were harmful to Indigenous Peoples.

A National Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support to Survivors who can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-Hour National Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.

Indigenous Peoples can also access the Hope for Wellness Help Line by phone at 1-855-242-3310 or via online chat through the website at www.hopeforwellness.ca.

OTTAWA, ON, April 25, 2022 /CNW/ - The Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of CrownIndigenous Relations, today issued the following statement:

"Recently, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada officials were made aware of a third-party secure storage locker in the Northwest Territories that contained claimant documents from the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) Independent Assessment Process. The storage locker belonged to a not-for-profit organization that provided health supports to claimants under the IRSSA. The organization was funded by the Government of Canada and is no longer in operation.

Given the confidential nature of these documents, the Government of Canada sought guidance from the IRSSA Supervising Courts. Based on direction from the Courts, the documents are now in a secure Government of Canada site and will be reviewed by the IRSSA Court Monitor. The Court Monitor will report findings to the Courts and recommend appropriate next steps to ensure that all documents containing confidential information are protected in keeping with existing direction from the Courts.

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At this time, I would also like to provide an update on the internal document review announced in December 2021. In order to support this process, a formal directive was issued within the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs that requires all officials to preserve and retain all relevant documents regarding former residential schools. As part of this review, officials are also reviewing documents that were previously held in a secure storage in Vancouver. Upon initial review, these documents are believed to be hard copies of information contained in the Government's Residential Schools Historical Database, which were shared with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by 2015. Should any new documents related to the history or operation of residential schools be identified, the Government of Canada remains committed to sharing them with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) while respecting Survivors' wishes, legislation, court orders, settlement agreements and ongoing litigation processes, in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement signed with the NCTR on January 20, 2022.

We understand that for many, sharing the stories of what happened at residential schools is a difficult and triggering process. Our Government is taking steps to ensure that other organizations who may no longer be in operation took appropriate measures to manage confidential documents related to the Independent Assessment Process. As we support Survivors and their families in their search for the truth, we are committed to ensuring that all relevant historical documents are retained and preserved, while protecting their privacy."

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SOURCE Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
(Bloomberg) -- Even Elon Musk was skeptical that hed win. Im not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it, Musk said in an interview at a TED conference on April 14.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The worlds richest person proved the naysayers, including himself, wrong Monday when he clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc. for about $44 billion, using one of the biggest leveraged buyout deals in history to take private a 16-year-old social networking platform that has become a hub of public discourse and a flashpoint in the debate over online free speech.

Investors will receive $54.20 for each Twitter share they own, the company said in a statement Monday. The price is 38% more than the stocks close on April 1, the last business day before Musk disclosed a significant stake in the company.

Reaching the agreement was the culmination of a months-long saga that saw Musk amass 9% of Twitters shares; launch a fusillade of criticism at Twitters management; rebuff an invitation to join the companys board; and then announce an offer that many people first construed as a weed joke. Twitter was so cool on the proposal that it adopted a so-called poison pill defense that would effectively dilute Musks stake if it got much bigger. Twitters board soon came around, persuaded by an elaborate $25.5 billion debt financing plan from Morgan Stanley and a whos who of other global investment banks.

Getting to yes with Twitters directors, though, is only the first step in whats likely to be an arduous experiment for Musk. The outspoken entrepreneur has hinted at a long list of changes he wants to make at the social-media platform, including removing restraints on speech, while at the same time casting doubt on the advertising model that accounts for the bulk of Twitters revenue. Hes on record as saying hes not in it for the money. I dont care about the economics at all, Musk said at TED.

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Musk is going to want to grow users and monetize, but the challenge of Twitter is that you have a highly engaged base that doesnt generate a lot of revenue, said Gene Munster of Loup Ventures. When Elon talks about unlocking value, is he talking about free speech, or making money?

While profit may be a luxury for the 50-year-old billionaire, its a central concern for the employees that Musk will need to keep Twitters engines running. And with Twitter going private, management will no longer be able to use options on publicly traded shares as compensation to lure and retain the hard-to-find coders all too ready to jump ship for a rival.

User growth could also prove tricky. Musks promise to ease content-moderation policies is a welcome change for some people, but it has alarmed Black, Muslim, LGBTQ+ and other groups who have voiced worry about increased harassment on the platform.

The easy for part for Musk was buying Twitter, Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in an interview. The hard part will be turning it around. Its a social media arms race, and the advertising model has been lagging. Engagement has been lackluster. Freedom of speech is one thing, but Musk just bet 20% of his net worth on Twitter--and nobody else wanted to buy it.

Musk reiterated his preoccupation with speech policies Monday in the statement announcing the deal. Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated, Musk said. Twitter has tremendous potential  I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.

Musk, one of Twitters most-watched users with more than 83 million followers, began buying shares in January. By March, he had ramped up his criticism of Twitter, alleging that the companys algorithms are biased and feeds cluttered with automated junk posts. He also suggested Twitters user growth was inflated by bots. After rejecting an invitation to join the companys board, on April 14 he offered to take Twitter private, saying hed make the platform a bastion of free speech and dropping other hints about the changes hed make as owner.

The ideas verged from the practical -- say, letting users edit tweets and combating the spread of bots -- to the peculiar, such as a proposal to turn the companys San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter.

He hasnt said who he wants to run the business, but its likely Musk himself will have a hand in setting direction. All while he continues to run Tesla Inc., Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and other businesses.

The deal was unanimously approved by the companys board, and is expected to be completed later this year. Musk, the worlds richest person, secured $25.5 billion of debt and margin loan financing and will provide about $21 billion in equity to fund the deal, according to the statement.

Musks deal to buy Twitter includes a provision that the billionaire is required to pay the company a fee if he were to walk away or the deal falls apart, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal does not include a go-shop provision, meaning Twitter isnt allowed to solicit offers from other potential bidders. When they resumed trading after a halt for the news, Twitter shares jumped 5.7% to $51.70 at the close in New York.

Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal sent an email to Twitter employees as the news was announced, informing them of a companywide meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. to talk about the deal. I know this is a significant change and youre likely processing what this means for you and Twitters future, he wrote. At the all-hands meeting, he sought to reassure workers that until the deal closed, it would be business as usual.

The debate around free speech on social media has been raging for years -- some political conservatives say Twitter, Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. and other internet companies have too many rules, while liberals dont think social networks go far enough to prevent hate speech and attacks on their services. Its a conflict that has led to numerous congressional hearings over the years and a movement to overhaul U.S. regulations around online content.

Read more: Acquiring Twitter vaults Elon Musk into the realm of media moguls

Going private marks a dramatic turnabout for a company that got its start as a messaging service for sharing your status updates with friends, but quickly blossomed into a way for people to broadcast short posts of 140 characters or less to a public following. Twitter caught fire among politicians, celebrities and journalists and took its place alongside social media stalwarts Facebook and YouTube as a standard bearer of a new, more interactive way of using the web that came to be known as Web 2.0.

Following its birth in 2006, the company weathered a series of crises, including management upheaval that saw the removal of co-founder Jack Dorsey in Twitters early days and his eventual return in 2015. After an initial public offering in 2013, the company considered selling itself in 2016, drawing the interest of companies from Walt Disney Co. to Salesforce Inc. Dorsey in 2020 tangled with an activist investor that forced Twitter to set specific growth targets and add greater board accountability. That served as a catalyst for Dorseys eventual second departure so he could focus on his other company, the digital-payments company Block Inc. Agrawal, formerly the companys chief technology officer, took the helm in November.

Read more: Jack Dorseys post-Twitter quest to become Bitcoins spiritual leader

As recently as last week there was little clarity on whether Musks bid would succeed. Though the stock initially jumped on news of Musks stake in the company, shares have traded well below the original offer price of $54.20 since its announcement -- a sign investors were skeptical a deal would come to fruition.

Twitter on April 15 adopted a shareholder rights plan -- a measure known as a poison pill -- to fend off unwanted bidders. But a turning point came last week when the Tesla Inc. CEO pulled together a financing plan that included 12 banks, led by Morgan Stanley. Just days after revealing the plan, Musk met with Twitter executives as the company turned more receptive toward a deal, a person with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News on Sunday.

After accepting Musks bid, Twitter locked down changes to its platform through Friday, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. Twitter imposed the temporary ban to keep employees who may be miffed about the deal from going rogue, according to one of the people. Many of the companys employees have expressed uneasiness about the idea of Musk taking charge.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
NuLegacy Gold Corporation

RENO, Nev., April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NuLegacy Gold Corporation provides guidance on its 2022 corporate objectives and exploration plans for its 100% controlled 108 sq. km. Red Hill property located in the Cortez gold trend of north-central Nevada. To view this news release with its graphics displayed please link to: https://nulegacygold.com/news/news-releases/nulegacy-gold-provides-guidance-for-2022-programs/



Highlights:

After an extended period of review NuLegacy is planning: An initial 6 (of a possible 12) hole reverse circulation with core-tail drilling program totaling approximately 12,000 ft. (3,700 meters for the first 6 holes) to test newly defined targets within favorable host rock in the Mid-Rift corridor between the Western Rift (focus of 2020-21 drilling) and the Serena/North and Central Iceberg corridor (see map below and linked). An additional 5 holes into the Western Rift to follow up on the widely spaced 11-hole 2020-21 drill program which encountered significant intervals of Carlin-style alteration, trace element geochemistry and important intercepts of anomalous gold in favorable host rocks and structural settings. This data is interpreted as the margin of a robust Carlin-type gold system, or systems. With gold approaching US$2,000/ounce, 5 to 7 infill RC drill holes in the Serena/North zones to further evaluate a possible gold resource in the Iceberg corridor by drilling the ~ 430-meter gap between hole SR (Serena) 18-02 (16.9 grams gold over 8.7 meters) and WS (Western Slope) 19-02 (9.6 grams gold over 5.1 meters). (See news releases  Aug. 27/18 and Feb. 18/20).

A leaner, focused exploration and corporate management team.

A modest cash position to commence exploration and evaluate potential strategic alternatives.

2022 Summer Drill Program: Over the fall and winter, our exploration team worked diligently to complete a full review of NuLegacys exploration and drill results from the past 12 years, including re-logging of 150,000+ feet of core and RC drill chips, analyzing countless assays and multi-element geochemistry results and reviewing and re-mapping of key geological structures and formations to update and refine the exploration model and vector the drill plans towards the most prospective target zones within our district scale 108 sq. km. Red Hill property.

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https://nulegacygold.com/site/assets/files/6936/nulegacyredhill_drillplanmap_2022.png

Mid-Rift: As highlighted above, the geo-team has identified key high priority drill targets in the area between the Western Rift zones and the previously discovered Serena, North and Central Iceberg zones (Iceberg corridor) and submitted permit applications for these targets as well as new road construction.

Cretaceous diorite intrusive bodies occur as approximate north-northwest oriented dikes coincident within the Iceberg corridors South, Central and North zones (associated metamorphic alteration likely is enhancing host rock favorability). One dike trend roughly follows the Iceberg fault, and another is evidenced about 200 meters to the west.

The newly identified NNW trending fault zone within the Mid-Rift targets is supported by air photo linears and mapping data and is coincident with a change in CSAMT characteristics of the Miocene basalt flows (western edge of stronger alteration)  the same fault zone probably had high fluid flow in the Eocene, and likely produced the Carlin-type mineralization below.

The planned 2022 holes will be considerably shallower (and much less expensive) than the deep 2,500 to 4,000-foot core holes drilled in 2021.

Charles Weakly said, Much of the Carlin-style alteration, structure and pathfinder element geochemistry we are seeing in our exploratory drilling is consistent with what is seen in holes just outside the deposits at Goldrush/4-Mile. I

Western Rift : While the 11-hole 2020-21 program failed to discover significant amounts of gold mineralization, all that deep drilling provided NuLegacys geo-team with excellent data instrumental to their understanding of key geological structures, trends and zones of Carlin-style alteration and multi-element traces for defining the 2022 drill targets.

This data, along with Colog, core logging, and cross section work, points to a series of uplifted and down-dropped blocks in the Paleozoic section caused by a swarm of west dipping low angle faults that are favorably laden with deep tapping lamprophyre type dikes.

Dr. Roger Steininger, NuLegacy Director, Exploration, says, We have the Central-mineralized zone type low angle faults and have found numerous en-echelon faults like it, and are now seeking steep Iceberg-type cross-faults (on echelon to the west of the Iceberg fault) intersecting them to locate a possible gold deposit in the Mid-Rift and Western Rift.

Iceberg Corridor : With gold prices approaching US$ 2,000/ounce we intend to complete 5 to 7 infill RC drill holes in the Serena/North zones to further evaluate the potential for a gold resource in the Iceberg corridor.

The Iceberg gold bearing corridor (deposit) is approximately 3 km long and several hundred meters wide. Drilling has defined three centers of gold concentrations (North, Central, and South zones) with limited drilling between the higher-grade intervals in the Serena and Western Slope zones just to the west.

Much of the mineralization in the Iceberg deposit is near surface and oxidized. Construction of cross sections is in progress to determine the potential quantity of gold mineralization in the deposit(s).

Drilling: More complete presentations on the prospective targets will be provided as we prepare to drill them. We are actively negotiating contract arrangements for drill rigs and road construction for a planned start of our initial 2022 drill program in late May-early June as final permits are received.

Leaner Exploration and Corporate Finance Team: Over the fall and winter of 2021, the Company reduced its exploration team from seven members (whilst drilling with 4 rigs at Red Hill in summer 2021) to three key members required to review and refine NuLegacys drilling model and exploration plans for 2022. Charles Weakly, NuLegacys Exploration Manager, continues to lead our exploration team and remains fully focused and excited by the Red Hills prospect for hosting a significant Carlin-style gold deposit.

NuLegacy also reduced its corporate management and associated overheads by approximately 40% and marketing budget by close to 80% over the past 24 months to conserve cash and is now undertaking certain strategic corporate hires and re-introducing a modest marketing budget as we gear up for the 2022 summer drilling and exploration program. We also plan to supplement the exploration team as necessary to ensure its ability to carry out the 2022 summer-fall drill program and process results in an effective and timely manner.

NuLegacy also announces that Mr. Edward Cope has stepped down as a director of the Company for personal reasons. The board of directors of NuLegacy expresses its sincere gratitude and thanks to Ed for his faithful commitment and services during the past five years, and Albert Matter, NuLegacys CEO, adds his appreciation for Eds sound guidance and the quality of people he helped to attract to NuLegacy over the past five years. We wish him all the best in his retirement.

NuLegacys board of directors now consists of four directors, Albert Matter, Alex Davidson, Roger Steininger and John Budreski, and the Company plans to continue with this leaner corporate structure for the foreseeable future.

Corporate Objectives: NuLegacy currently has a modest cash position of C$5 million to commence its initial 2022 drill program and carry out corporate operations. Our immediate focus is to finalize drill targets, engage contractors and complete permitting with a view to commencing the 2022 exploration program in late May or early June while preparing to augment the treasury when appropriate.

After 12 years and ~ $50 million spent exploring the Red Hill property, management is acutely aware of the challenges facing a junior exploration company searching for elephant sized Carlin-style gold deposits. The directors and corporate management of NuLegacy are encouraged that the geo-teams work continues to support the Red Hills potential for hosting a significant deposit. The highly concentrated, narrow footprints associated with these large-ounce high-grade Carlin-style gold deposits in the Cortez and Carlin trends of Nevada illustrate the elusive nature of these elephants, as evidenced by the fact all seven of the largest multi-million ounce deposits1 in the Carlin and Cortez trends are owned by majors (Barrick and Newmont).

As part of NuLegacys corporate objectives, management and the board of directors intend to explore alternative corporate and strategic initiatives for financing the continued exploration of the Red Hill property. This includes a possible merger and/or buy-out by a Nevada focused mid-tier gold producer and/or exploration company with the necessary funding capabilities and additional expertise to carry out the continued exploration and drilling necessary to fully explore the Red Hill propertys potential for hosting a large Carlin-style gold deposit.

Stock Options : NuLegacy has granted stock options to certain key directors and officers to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,075,000 common shares exercisable for a period of five years at a price of $0.05 per share, subject to certain vesting requirements.

On trend: NuLegacy Gold is focused on confirming potential high-grade Carlin-style gold deposits within its flagship 108 sq. km (42 sq. mile) district scale Red Hill Property in the Cortez gold trend of Nevada. The Rift Anticline target is located on trend and adjacentI to three, multi-million ounce Carlin-type gold deposits (the Pipeline, Cortez Hills and Goldrush deposits) which are ranked amongst the worlds thirty largest, lowest cost and politically safest gold mines and are three of Nevada Gold Mines most profitable mines.II

1 All seven are amongst the world's thirty largest gold mines.

I The similarity and proximity of these deposits in the Cortez Trend including Goldrush are not necessarily indicative of the gold mineralization in NuLegacys Red Hill Property.

II As extracted from Barricks Q4-2013 and Q1-2014 reports. As reported by Barrick, the Goldrush resource contains 8,557,000 indicated ounces of gold within 25.78 million tonnes grading ~10.57 g/t and 1,650,000 inferred ounces within 5.6 million tonnes grading ~9.0 g/t.

Dr. Roger Steininger, a Director of NuLegacy, is a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG 7417) and the qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, responsible for approving the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.

On Behalf of the Board of NuLegacy Gold Corporation,

Albert Matter, Chief Executive Officer & Founding Director

Tel: +1 (604) 639-3640; Email: albert@nuggold.com

For more information about NuLegacy visit: www.nulegacygold.com or www.sedar.com.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains forward-looking information and statements under applicable securities laws, which information and/or statements relate to future events or future performance (including, but not limited to, the prospective nature of the Red Hill Property and its potential to host a significant Carlin-style gold deposit; the current modeling and proposed 2022 exploration and drill program for the Red Hill Property including potential locations and number of drill sites/ targets, the nature and type of drilling, number of holes, total meters, and the timing and costs thereof; the existence of potential mineral resources; and potential strategic alternatives to support future exploration including the possible merger and/or buy out by a strategic mid-tier gold producer or otherwise) and reflect managements current expectations and beliefs based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking information and statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to, actual results of exploration activities, unanticipated geological, stratigraphic and structural formations, environmental risks, operating risks, accidents, labor issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, delays in receipt of assay results from third party laboratories, the availability of financing, market conditions, inflation, future prices for gold, changes in personnel and other risks in the mining industry. There are no known mineral resources or reserves in the Red Hill Property, any proposed exploration programs are exploratory searches for bodies of ore and the presence of gold resources on properties adjacent or near the Red Hill Property including Goldrush is not necessarily indicative of the gold mineralization on the Red Hill Property. In addition, as of the date hereof, the Company has not entered into an understanding or arrangement with any potential strategic partner for the continued exploration of the Red Hill Property, whether by way of merger, buy-out or otherwise, and there are no assurances that the Company will in fact pursue such an arrangement or successfully complete same on commercially satisfactory terms or at all. There is also uncertainty about the continued spread of COVID-19 and the current war in Ukraine and the impact they will have on the NuLegacys operations, personnel, supply chains, ability to access properties or procure exploration equipment, contractors and other personnel on a timely basis or at all and economic activity in general. All the forward-looking information and statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information and statements in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information and statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.




NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will have another mission after it drops off a sample from the asteroid Bennu. The agency has extended the probe's mission to have it study the near-Earth asteroid Apophis for 18 months. The mission will be renamed OSIRIS-APEX (OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer), and the craft will maneuver toward the space rock 30 days after its September 24th, 2023 Earth fly-by. It won't gather a sample, though. Instead, it will blast the surface with thrusters to expose the subsurface for examination.

Apophis originally drew interest over fears it would strike the Earth in 2029. Researchers put that worry to rest, but it's still a highly valuable subject. It will have the closest approach of any known asteroid its size (about 1,000ft), and scientists are eager to study the effect of Earth's gravitational pull on the object. And unlike Bennu, which is tied to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, Apophis is associated with the regular chondrite variety.

The extension won't come cheap. A visit to Apophis will add $200 million to the cost ceiling of a mission that's already expected to cost $1.16 billion. Even so, it might be worthwhile if it helps humanity better understand asteroids and the risks they may pose to Earth.
By Marek Strzelecki, Phil Stewart and Pavel Polityuk

WARSAW/ RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany/KYIV (Reuters) - Kyiv accused Russia of blackmailing Europe by cutting off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria as the crisis in Ukraine deepened, with tensions surging in nearby Moldova and Moscow warning the West to back off.

NATO member and staunch Kremlin opponent Poland is among the European countries seeking the toughest possible sanctions against Russia for its invasion. Fellow alliance member Bulgaria is almost completely reliant on Russian gas imports.

Poland's state-owned PGNiG said supplies from energy giant Gazprom via Ukraine and Belarus will be cut at 0800CET (0600GMT) on Wednesday, but Warsaw said it did not need to draw on reserves and its gas storage was 76% full.

"The gas system in Poland is balanced and customers can feel safe," Minister in Charge of Energy Security Piotr Naimski said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on "unfriendly" countries to pay for gas imports in roubles, a move only a few buyers have implemented so far.

Gazprom said it had not suspended supplies to Poland but that Warsaw had to pay for gas from it in line with its new "order of payments." It declined to comment regarding Bulgaria.

Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Russia was "beginning the gas blackmail of Europe".

"Russia is trying to shatter the unity of our allies. Russia is also proving that energy resources are a weapon. That is why the EU needs to be united and impose an embargo on energy resources, depriving the Russians of their energy weapons."

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched on Feb. 24, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced more than 5 million people to flee abroad.

Moscow calls its actions a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists.

Ukraine and the West call this a false pretext for an unprovoked war to seize territory in a move that has sparked fears of wider conflict in Europe unseen since World War Two.

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Russia's ambassador to the United States has warned Washington to stop sending arms to Ukraine, saying that large Western deliveries of weapons were inflaming the situation and would lead to more losses.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned late on Monday that: "NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war," saying the risks of nuclear conflict should not be underestimated.

U.S. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said there was no reason for the conflict in Ukraine to escalate to nuclear war. "A nuclear war cannot be won and it shouldn't be fought," he said.

Ukraine also accused Moscow on Tuesday of trying to drag Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria into the conflict after authorities in the Moscow-backed region said they had been targeted by a series of attacks.

Reuters could not independently verify the accounts. The Kremlin, which has troops and peacekeepers in the region, said it was seriously concerned.

FIGHTING RAGES

Meanwhile fighting continued in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Russia's defence ministry said its forces had "liberated" the entire Kherson region in southern Ukraine and parts of the Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv regions, Interfax news agency reported.

If confirmed, that would represent a significant Russian advance.

One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies, Nikolai Patrushev, said Ukraine was spiralling towards a collapse into "several states" due to what he cast as a U.S. attempt to use Kyiv to undermine Russia.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, welcoming officials from more than 40 countries to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, headquarters of U.S. air power in Europe, said: "Nations from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia's imperial aggression."

Germany, which had come under pressure after refusing Ukrainian pleas for heavy weapons, announced it would send Gepard light tanks with anti-aircraft guns.

Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters while flying to Tuesday's meeting in Germany that the next few weeks in Ukraine would be "very, very critical".

"They need continued support in order to be successful on the battlefield," he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in Moscow on Tuesday, made a proposal on how to evacuate people from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, involving a "Humanitarian Contact Group" of Russia, Ukraine and U.N. officials.

Ukraine said no corridors were operating on Tuesday due to continued fighting.

The United Nations said Putin had agreed "in principle" during talks with Guterres to U.N. and Red Cross involvement in evacuating civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, scene of the worst fighting of the war.

Authorities in Transdniestria, an unrecognised sliver of land in Moldova bordering southwestern Ukraine that has been occupied by Russian troops since the 1990s, said explosions had damaged two radio masts that broadcast in Russian and that one of its military units had been attacked.

It provided few details, but blamed Ukraine, while Moldova's pro-Western President Maia Sandu blamed the "escalation attempts" on "pro-war" factions in Transdniestria.

Moldova, an ex-Soviet republic with close cultural ties to NATO member Romania, expressed alarm last week after a top Russian general said Moscow aims to forge a path through Ukraine to Transdniestria.

(Additional reporting by Reuters journalists; Writing by Peter Graff, Gareth Jones and Costas Pitas; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Mark Heinrich and Rosalba O'Brien)
Sosei Group Corporation

Key focus on enabling prioritization and rapid progression of pipeline programs through to clinical proof-of-concept, a key milestone for value creation

Sosei Heptares will use the collaboration to turbo charge its internal discovery and early clinical development strategy, and unlock the full potential of its world-leading GPCR-based drug discovery and development platform

Weatherden is a pioneering clinical development consulting group trusted by biopharma, venture capital funds, startups, spin-outs and nonprofit organizations to deliver better drugs, faster

TOKYO and CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sosei Group Corporation (the Company; TSE: 4565) today announces a strategic collaboration with Weatherden, a pioneering clinical development consulting group. The collaboration aims to build upon Sosei Heptares world-leading G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) structure-based drug design (SBDD) platform and expertise and Weatherdens translational medicine and drug development expertise to create an agile operating model supported by best-in-class drug discovery and development teams. The goal being to accelerate the prioritization and progression of multiple pipeline programs through Phase 1b/2a trials to establish clinical proof-of-concept. This stage represents a key value inflection point that Sosei Heptares intends to achieve as part of its evolution to become a multi-program, clinical-stage biotech company.

By leveraging Weatherdens extensive experience, scientific expertise and data driven approach, together with its commercial focus on pharmaceutical asset evaluation and development, Sosei Heptares is bringing together the operational and technical expertise needed to enable a venture-like capital allocation approach to pipeline development.

In this way, the Company aims to optimize decision-making and value generation by:

creating new, efficient drug discovery and development pathways,

accelerating the translation of its world-leading science into life-changing therapeutics for patients, and

maximizing partnering transaction opportunities by taking selected in-house programs to clinical proof-of-concept stage



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Sosei Heptares world-leading platform gives us access to more GPCR drug discovery opportunities than can be tackled in a lifetime. It is essential to our long-term success that we continually enhance our ability to identify and prioritize these opportunities to optimize value creation for patients and shareholders, said Chris Cargill, President and CEO of Sosei Heptares. Sosei Heptares has an exceptional opportunity to embed agile, program-centric operating practices across its discovery and early development activities to be as efficient and productive as possible. We are uniquely positioned to do this because our expanding discovery platform has the potential to produce an abundance of new, high-quality drug candidates to which VC-like capital allocation and a quick win/fast fail approach can be applied.

By focusing on translational medicine, which we see as the R&D sweet spot for investment in new programs, we will rigorously test the hypothesis earlier during more economical phases of drug development to optimize our pipeline decisions going forward. This agile approach will allow us to rapidly advance only programs we believe have the best probability of success through to proof-of-concept, with strong product profiles, and the potential to become the life-changing therapeutics of the future.

We are excited to be partnering with Weatherden, whose experience across the early development stage, and particularly in translational medicine, complements Sosei Heptares existing expertise in early-stage drug discovery. We look forward to a dynamic, and productive partnership as we look to maximize the value from our extensive pipeline and support major partnering transaction opportunities to fund our continued expansion and maximize returns.

Emma Tinsley, CEO of Weatherden, added: The sheer scale of the GPCR opportunity alongside Sosei Heptares ability to exploit this area makes this collaboration extremely exciting. Our track record in efficiently designing and delivering Phase 1b/2a clinical trials will be of great benefit to support Sosei Heptares in its transition to a multi clinical-stage asset company. We are looking forward to working closely with the Sosei Heptares team to enhance its pipeline development approach. We are confident that by combining our skills and experience, the Company will be well positioned to drive its programs forward efficiently and effectively, and to fully realise the potential of its innovative technology and accelerate the progress of much needed medicines for patients worldwide.

In March 2022, Sosei Heptares announced changes to its senior leadership designed to support its new growth strategy and the enhanced focus on translational medicine. The Company has already made progress towards this goal through the addition of expertise internally, and through entering collaborations with innovative technology companies. This has already yielded novel targets and new ways of exploring and exploiting the Companys platform and this latest collaboration with Weatherden provides another important element in maximizing the value of these advances.

The strategic collaboration with Weatherden will initially focus on supporting the translational medicine and clinical development plans for the Companys H4 antagonist and GPR52 agonist programs. There is no change to the Companys forecast R&D expense guidance for FY2022.

About Sosei Heptares

We are an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the discovery and early development of new medicines originating from our proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities. We are advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology, and inflammatory diseases.

We have established partnerships with some of the worlds leading pharmaceutical companies and multiple emerging biotechnology companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Biohaven, Genentech (Roche), GSK, Neurocrine Biosciences, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda and Verily. Sosei Heptares is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with corporate and R&D facilities in Cambridge, UK.

Sosei Heptares is the corporate brand and trademark of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565). Sosei, Heptares, the logo and StaR are trademarks of Sosei Group companies.

For more information, please visit https://soseiheptares.com/

LinkedIn: @soseiheptaresco | Twitter: @soseiheptaresco | YouTube: @soseiheptaresco

About Weatherden

Weatherden is a pioneering clinical development consulting group trusted by biopharma, funds, startups, spin-outs and nonprofits. We advise companies from the earliest stages on scientific strategy, translational medicine and clinical development, through to diligence preparation and support for M&A. Our focus is on de-risking programs early, optimizing clinical, regulatory, and commercial pathways from discovery to market and accelerating the translation of novel science into life-changing medicines for patients.

Blending more than 750 years experience across the industry, we are invested in our clients success, motivated by the opportunity to rapidly improve the chances for breakthrough therapies to tackle unmet clinical need. Combining an agile biotech mindset with the proven expertise of pharmaceutical drug discovery and development, we work at the cutting edge of clinical, scientific and technological innovation to maximize value, enhance patient outcomes and simplify paths to market.

For more information, please visit: https://weatherden.co.uk/

Enquiries

Sosei Heptares  Media and Investor Relations

Japan

Hironoshin Nomura, Chief Financial Officer

+81 (0)3 6679 2178 | Hironoshin.Nomura@SoseiHeptares.com

Shinichiro Nishishita, VP Investor Relations, Head of Regulatory Disclosures

+81 (0)3 5210 3399 | IR@SoseiHeptares.com

United Kingdom

Candelle Chong, SVP Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy

+44 (0)1223 949390 | IR@SoseiHeptares.com

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting (for International Media)

Mark Swallow, David Dible, Eleanor Perkin

+44 (0)203 928 6900| SoseiHeptares@medistrava.com

Weatherden

Emma Tinsley, Chief Executive Officer

+44 (0)333 050 9157 | services@weatherden.co.uk

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development, and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Sosei Group Corporations actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.




ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla., April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tolan Group (TTG), a Hunt Scanlon Top 50 Healthcare & Life Sciences Executive Search Firm, is pleased to announce the successful placement of Jerry Copeland as the Chief Financial Officer of Bristol Hospice based in Salt Lake City, UT. Kaye Johnson, Managing Partner, and Jennifer Chee, Vice President, lead the search efforts for TTG.

The Tolan Group (PRNewsfoto/The Tolan Group)

Jerry Copeland is a hands-on CFO who is an approachable executive leader with the experience to help grow and scale organizations within the hospice sector. Before joining Bristol, Jerry Copeland was the CFO at Reliant at Home in Plano, TX, and Sage Hospice in Dallas, TX. As Chief Financial Officer, Jerry had full financial oversight and responsibility for monthly financial reviews with operators, financial reporting, preparation, and presentation to the Board. In addition, Jerry oversaw the annual budget, cash flow projection, Revenue Cycle Management, and Billing for the organizations he served.

As a growth-oriented executive, Jerry will play a vital role in managing capital for the growth and expansion of Bristol's services. His expertise in M&A activity will help guide Bristol Hospice to achieve its robust expansion plans and expand its service area.

Kaye Johnson said, "Having worked with Bristol Hospice on a previous search assignment, we were excited to work with them again and see Jerry Copeland join the executive team there. Jerry was a perfect match given his experience, track record, and desire to succeed. We know he will be instrumental in carrying on the success that Bristol has become known for throughout the hospice community."

About Bristol Hospice

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, and founded in 2006, Bristol Hospice is a leading provider of hospice and palliative care services serving patients, families, and communities across multiple locations in over 12 states.

The Tolan Group's mission is to be the preferred source of recruiting services for clients and candidates serving the private equity market, focused on placing leadership for healthcare services, healthcare technology, and the behavioral health segments of the healthcare market.

Story continues

Cision

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SOURCE THE TOLAN GROUP
Elon Musk appears at a press conference at SpaceX's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas on February 10, 2022. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk is buying Twitter for $44 billion.

The acquisition needs to be approved by regulators, and isn't expected to close until later this year.

The news alone is already impacting Twitter's ability to recruit employees, according to a new report.

The world's richest man is buying Twitter.

On Monday afternoon, billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk added another title to his resume: Twitter owner. Musk will pay $54.20 per share for Twitter  a grand total of $44 billion.

If the deal successfully passes through regulators and closes, which it's expected to do later this year, Twitter will become a privately held company once again.

But in the meantime, Musk's proposed acquisition is said to be impacting Twitter's ability to hire new employees.

Hiring managers are being told to record how many potential new hires turn down employment due to uncertainties about the company under Musk's leadership, according to internal documents from Twitter, seen by the New York Times.

Those potential new hires reportedly cited two major concerns with working at Twitter under Musk: his plans for moderating the platform, which are based on his free-speech absolutism stance, and what would happen to the Twitter shares in their offer letters when Musk takes the company private.

When contacted by Insider, Twitter representatives declined to comment on the report.

Musk has repeatedly referred to Twitter as "the de facto public town square" of the modern era  the digital equivalent of a public forum.

To that end, he's been critical of Twitter's decision to permanently ban former President Donald Trump from the site, following the insurrection at the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021, and he's repeatedly referred to himself as a "free speech absolutist."

He demonstrated the sentiment at least once in recent weeks: At his satellite internet startup, Starlink, he refused requests "by some governments (not Ukraine)" to block news broadcasts from Russia.

Story continues

"We will not do so unless at gunpoint," he said. "Sorry to be a free speech absolutist."

In announcing his acquisition plans on Monday, Musk said he wants to, "make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans."

Got a tip? Contact Insider senior correspondent Ben Gilbert via email (bgilbert@insider.com), or Twitter DM (@realbengilbert). We can keep sources anonymous. Use a non-work device to reach out. PR pitches by email only, please.

Read the original article on Business Insider
According to Fortune Business Insights, the global virtual power plant market was valued at USD 0.71 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach USD 6.74 Billion by 2028, growing at CAGR of 32.89% from 2021 to 2028.

Virtual Power Plant Market Size

Global Virtual Power Plant Market Size

Pune, India, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global virtual power plant market size is expected to grow from USD 0.88 billion in 2021 to USD 6.47 billion by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 32.89% during the forecast period. The market size stood at USD 0.71 billion in 2020. The increasing acceptance of innovative technologies such as cloud platforms and the internet of things (IoT) applications in the power industry will have an excellent impact on the markets development, states Fortune Business Insights, in its report titled Virtual Power Plant Market, 2021-2028.

A virtual power plant is a cloud-powered distributed power plant that combines distributed energy resource capacities to trade, generate, and sell power sources in the market. The rising demand for reliable power sources and increasing acceptance of IoT and cloud platforms are likely to foster the products demand. Further, the decline in solar power generation and energy storage costs and power generation mix is likely to foster market development in the upcoming years.





Request a Sample Copy of the Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/virtual-power-plant-market-101669





Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2021-2028 Forecast Period 2021 to 2028 CAGR 32.89% 2028 Value Projection USD 6.47 billion Base Year 2020 Market Size in 2020 USD 0.71 billion Historical Data for 2017-2019 No. of Pages 207 Segments covered Technology, End-user, Region Growth Drivers Growing Shift towards Distributed Generation to Aid Market Dynamics Increasing Demand for Combined Renewable Energy & Growing Investments in Energy Storage to Foster Growth





Market Growth Driving Factors:

Energy is created and delivered utilizing small-scale technologies such as wind turbines, solar cells, geothermal systems, and micro hydropower plants in today's decentralized energy distribution networks worldwide. During power outages and periods of high energy demand, distributed generating systems, especially when coupled with heat and power and emergency generators, can be utilized to provide electricity. Increased attention on decarbonization, electrification, digitalization, and improvements in power production and storage technologies are major reasons hastening the transition to distributed energy.

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Due to the cost-effectiveness of renewable technology, distributed generating is becoming more popular. Furthermore, local and state government policies and laws support the greater deployment of renewable technologies because of their benefits, such as cheaper CAPEX and energy security driving the virtual power plant market growth.

Market Segments:

Based on the technology, the global market is classified into demand response, distributed generation, and mixed asset.

Based on end-user, the market is categorized into residential, commercial, and industrial. The residential segment is expected to hold the largest virtual power plant market share due to the increasing application of smart meters, smart home appliances, and interoperability with home energy management systems (HEMS).

The market is divided across five key regions: North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East & Africa, Europe, and Latin America.

Regional Analysis:

North America is expected to have a substantial market share because of the huge number of VPP deployment projects sanctioned in the United States and Canada. SimpliPhi Power, for example, launched a virtual power plant demonstration project in Louisiana in May 2020.

Growing Use of Renewable Energy to Bolster Growth in Europe. The European Union is investing heavily in renewable energy and energy storage systems, driving demand for VPPs. Statkraft's virtual power plant in Germany, for example, is Europe's largest and first of its type. It produces more than 10,000 megawatts of power, which is the equivalent of ten nuclear reactors. As a result, Europe's rising use of renewable energy increases demand for VPPs in the area.







To get to know more about the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this market, please visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/virtual-power-plant-market-101669





COVID-19 Impact:

The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly spreading throughout the world. Almost every country is experiencing the epidemic at a different level. Developing economies like India and China were successful in the early phases of COVID-19 containment and are continuously deploying new steps to reduce the virus's harmful effects. European countries have also seen a major drop in IT infrastructure investment. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), due to the COVID-19 issue, which continues to affect the European economy, European IT investment in software, hardware, and IT services is expected to fall by 4.7 percent in 2020 USD 487 billion.

What does the Report Include?

The market report includes quantitative and qualitative analysis of several factors, such as the key drivers and restraints that will impact growth. Additionally, the report provides insights into the regional analysis covering different regions, which contribute to the market's growth. It includes the competitive landscape that involves the leading companies and the adoption of strategies by them to introduce new products, announce partnerships, and collaboration that will further contribute to the growth of the market between 2021 and 2028. Moreover, the research analysts have adopted several research methodologies such as PESTEL and SWOT analysis to extract information about the current trends and industry developments that will drive the market growth in the forthcoming years.







Quick Buy - virtual power plant market Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/101669





Competitive Landscape:

Major Companies Focus on Mergers and Acquisitions to Strengthen their Position



The market is consolidated owing to the remarkable distribution network of major companies in developed and emerging economies. ABB, Autogrid, Next Kraftwerke, and AGL Energy are the leading players in the market, accounting for a dominant share in 2020.



Small players such as Limejump, Flexitricity, and Kiwi Power hold a small stake in the global VPP market. Supportive government initiatives for the growing renewable industry and an increasing number of mergers and acquisitions have led to intense competition in the market.

Key Development:

July 2020: In Portland, Oregon, the Portland General Electric Company announced a pilot initiative to encourage the installation and connection of 525 home energy storage batteries. This project will generate up to four megawatts of electricity. The distributed assets will build a virtual power plant of tiny units that may operate independently or in concert to service the grid.





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The Report Lists the Key Companies in the Virtual Power Plant Market:

ABB (Switzerland)

Siemens (Germany)

General Electric (U.S.)

AGL Energy (Australia)

Schneider Electric (France)

Enel X (U.S.)

Cisco Systems, Inc. (U.S.)

Bosch (Germany)

IBM (U.S.)

Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan)

Next Kraftwerke (Germany)

AutoGrid Systems, Inc. (U.S.)

Blue Pillar, Inc. (U.S.)

Enbala Power Networks, Inc. (U.S.)

Table of Content:

1. Introduction

1.1. Research Scope

1.2. Market Segmentation

1.3. Research Methodology

1.4. Definitions and Assumptions

2. Executive Summary

3. Market Dynamics

3.1. Market Drivers

3.2. Market Restraints

3.3. Market Opportunities

4. Key Insights

4.1. Key Emerging Trends  For Major Countries

4.2. Latest Technological Advancement

4.3. Regulatory Landscape

4.4. Industry SWOT Analysis

4.5. Porters Five Forces Analysis

5. Qualitative Analysis  Impact of COVID-19

5.1. Impact of COVID-19 on the Virtual Power Plant Market

5.2. Steps Taken by the Government to Overcome the Impact

5.3. Key Developments in the Industry in Response to COVID-19

5.4. Potential Opportunities and Challenges due to COVID-19 Outbreak

6. Global Virtual Power Plant Market Analysis (USD Billion), Insights and Forecast, 2017-2028

6.1. Key Findings / Summary

6.2. Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Technology

6.2.1. Demand Response

6.2.2. Distributed Generation

6.2.3. Mixed Asset

6.3. Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By End-user

6.3.1. Industrial

6.3.2. Commercial

6.3.3. Residential

6.4. Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Region

6.4.1. North America

6.4.2. Europe

6.4.3. Asia Pacific

6.4.4. Latin America

6.4.5. Middle East & Africa

7. North America Virtual Power Plant Market Analysis (USD Billion), Insights and Forecast, 2017-2028

7.1. Key Findings / Summary

7.2. Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Technology

7.2.1. Demand Response

7.2.2. Distributed Generation

7.2.3. Mixed Asset

7.3. Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By End-user

7.3.1. Industrial

7.3.2. Commercial

7.3.3. Residential

7.4. Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Country

7.4.1. U.S

7.4.2. Canada

Continued

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Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them to address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in.

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Though I managed a bookstore for years before becoming a librarian, I was never interested in reading graphic novels. So the first one I ever read was required for a grad school literature class when I was in my 30s. That graphic novel was Maus: A Survivors Tale by Art Spiegelman, and both the class and the book taught me the value of reading and appreciating graphic novels.

Despite what some people say, graphics novels are indeed real books. Reading a graphic novel requires reading text and comprehending illustrations simultaneously. And for people who arent avid readers, are just learning English, or are struggling with reading, graphic novels provide an accessible way to enjoy books. Even if youre a staunch reader of print or a lover of audiobooks, you can still appreciate the experience of reading a graphic novel.

Im highlighting some well-known classics that have been reimagined as graphic novels. These works are impressive, as it requires distilling the text of an entire novel into bite-sized chunks while keeping the essence of the story. Then, the author/illustrator must create original images that accompany said text, making sure the artwork and colors complement the words. Even if youve already read these in print, I encourage you to give these graphic novel adaptations a try.

Octavia E. Butlers Kindred by Damian Duffy and John Jennings. Kindred, a 1979 masterpiece by African American science fiction legend Butler, is reimagined by respected academics and artists Duffy and Jennings. Butlers most critically acclaimed work tells the story of Dana, a young Black woman who is suddenly transported from 1970s California to the pre-Civil War South. Through Dana, Butler skillfully explores the brutality and loss of humanity caused by slavery in the United States, and its complicated and lasting effects on the present day.

The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel by Fred Fordham, Aya Morton and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Another Fordham adaptation, this time illustrating the wealthy, excessive lifestyles featured in Fitzgeralds 1920s classic. After World War I, Nick Carraway moves to West Egg, New York, where his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom introduce him to the luxe life. But their lifestyle doesnt hold a candle to that of Nicks East Egg neighbor, Jay Gatsby, who throws frequent, boisterous parties at his colossal mansion. Fordham deftly pares down the narrative while his illustrations reflect the Art Deco period with careful attention to detail.

To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel by Fred Fordham and Harper Lee. Lees 1960s novel is already well-known and required reading for most high school students, yet this graphic adaptation provides a fresh take on a classic story that makes it worth revisiting. Fordham uses text from the original novel and focuses his illustrations on the characters and dialogue, rather than scenery, to highlight the deeply rooted racial injustice on which the story is based.

Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation by Tim Hamilton. Endorsed by Bradbury himself, Hamiltons adaptation of this classic tale of censorship will entice anyone who hasnt read the original to seek it out. This is the story of Montag, the fireman whose job it is to eliminate forbidden books by burning them, only to become intrigued by the books themselves, a treason that sets off a chain of consequences. Hamilton creates a moody, dark atmosphere with his fitting vision of the 1950s version of the future, using two-tone palettes that explode into red sickles during more heated moments.

The Handmaids Tale: The Graphic Novel by Renee Nault and Margaret Atwood. Written in 1985, The Handmaids Tale is a dystopian tale that continues to capture our imaginations as a novel, an award-winning Hulu series and as a graphic novel. In the Republic of Gilead, womens identities and freedom are stripped away to make them nothing but property. Handmaids, whose purpose is to bear children for Gilead officials and their infertile wives, are emotionally and physically beaten into submission by Aunts before being released to a household. Handmaid Offred finds herself in the house of the lead Commander and must obey every rule for fear of punishment, even death. But Offred remembers a time when she lived freely with her own daughter and husband, and finds small ways to rebel against, and undermine, the leadership of Gilead.

Central Rappahannock Regional Librarys seventh annual CRRL-Con kicks off on Saturday, May 7, with live, virtual events. Participate in virtual and in-person CRRL-Con events for all ages all month long. Visit librarypoint.org/crrl-con for details and information on Comics Plus, which offers thousands of streaming graphic novels and manga for all ages.

Tracy McPeck is Adult Services coordinator for Central Rappahannock Regional Library.
In response to requests from community partnersand in an effort to reach neighborhoods with lower vaccination ratesthe Rappahannock Area Health District is holding four free COVID-19 vaccine clinics this week.

Preregistration is encouraged, but not required. Those interested can get links and QR codes on the health districts Facebook page or call 540/899-4797 during weekday hours. The clinics are not likely to run out of shots as each of three local events in March averaged about 17 participants, said Erin Perkins, COVID-19 planner for RAHD.

All types of COVID vaccines are offered at the following locations:

Thursday:

34:30 p.m. at Dixon Park, 1300 Dixon St., Fredericksburg.

Friday:

9 a.m. to noon at Fredericksburg Baptist Church, 1019 Princess Anne St., Fredericksburg.

Saturday:

8:3010:30 a.m. at White Oak Primitive Baptist Church, 10 Caisson Road, Stafford County, and noon to 4 p.m. at Howell Library, 806 Lyons Blvd., in Stafford.

There's also an event offering free COVID-19 testing on Thursday from 34:30 p.m. at Dixon Park, 1300 Dixon St., Fredericksburg.

The clinics are being held as COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations are rising slightly in the local health district, state and nation. In the RAHD, which includes Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford, the daily average of new cases was up to 40 per day last week compared to 35 per day the week before.

Other metrics are following a similar trend. There were 14 patients in the areas three hospitals being treated for COVID-19 on Friday compared to 11 the previous Friday. In addition, the positivity rate, which measures the percentage of positive tests among all those taken, stood at 6.9% Friday, up from 5.4% the previous week.

Even so, all localities in the area are considered to have a low transmission rate, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions most recent measurement. It focuses more on the number of people hospitalized and the regions positivity rate rather than case numbers alone.

And, the state seems to have finally caught up with the high number of death reports from the winter surge. There were two new deaths reported last Friday for the Rappahannock Area Health District, the lowest number in months.

Since home test kits became more readily available earlier this year, health officials have stressed that the official reports of COVID-19 counts probably are undercounted. People who test positive at home are asked to report the findings to their area health district, but its not known how many people actually do.

In addition, vaccination rates, natural immunity from getting the virusalthough its not clear how long that lastsand new oral medications that can be given within five days of the first symptom of COVID seem to be reducing the number of severe illnesses and hospitalizations.

However, theres a lot of focus on BA.2, a subvariant of the highly contagious omicron variant, that is gaining ground across the Northeast United States and our region, stated the weekly report of the Three Rivers Health District, which includes Westmoreland County and other localities in the Northern Neck and Middlesex Peninsula.

Hospitalization ratean indicator of disease severityis the metric we are watching most closely at this point in the pandemic, the newsletter states, adding that hospitalization rates are increasing in the Northeast, especially among people over age 55.

In Virginia, there were 168 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday compared to 153 patients the Friday before.

In late March, the Federal Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated recommendations to allow a second booster for people 50 and older and those with compromised immune systems. That includes people whose underlying conditions may affect their bodies ability to mount a defense against the virus.

People can get a second booster four months after they got their first booster of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, according to the federal agencies.

In its community newsletter distributed on Friday, the Rappahannock Area Health District noted that Dr. Ashish Jha, the new White House COVID-19 response coordinator, is recommending the second booster for all people in the United States over age 60. He cited pretty compelling data from a study in Israel that indicated a fourth dose of vaccine significantly reduced cases and deaths among older people there.

The RAHD also included a recommendation from a CDC panel that most people under 50 should wait for the new generation of booster shots rather than get a fourth dose at this point. However, those 50 and over who have underlying health risks, live with others at high risk or have jobs that put them at high risk, including mandated travel and gathering in large groups, should consider getting a second booster sooner rather than later, according to the RAHD newsletter.

Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Virginia State Police investigators are seeking the publics help in trying to identify two males whose remains were found in Caroline County more than 33 years ago.

Sgt. Jessica Shehan said that on Nov. 10, 1988, two hunters were walking through the woods in the Ladysmith area near the 112-mile marker of Interstate 95 when they came across skeletal remains. State police responded to the discovery and found a second set of remains.

Forensic analysis confirmed that both victims were Hispanic males who apparently went missing between 1987 and 1988. One victim is believed to have been between 40 and 60 years old, while the other was estimated to be between 15 and 30. A leather belt with the word SILVANO on it was found with the older victim.

Despite more than three decades of actively working this case, we have still not been able to identify either individual, Capt. Norman Gray said in a news release. We are still hopeful that someone will ... help us find their families and let them know what happened to their loved one so many years ago.

Police are investigating the cases as homicides, but no cause of death has been released. Police have also not been able to match the victims with any missing person report.

Facial reconstruction models have been developed for both males that police hope will eventually lead to an identification. Anyone with information is asked to call state police at 804/609-5656 or email questions@vsp.virginia.gov.

Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
After more than four years, the University of Mary Washingtons former dining hall, Seacobeck, has been reopened as the new home of the College of Education.

Where generations of college students once gathered to eat Belgian waffles or pizza at any hour of the day, UMW students now gather in model classrooms to learn how to teach the students of the future.

Where a cavernous kitchen once churned out thousands of hot meals, there is now a two-story circular atrium with shiny wood stadium stairs now cuts through, ringed with glass-paneled study rooms that are always full.

Theres a Maker Space outfitted with 3D scanners and printers, sewing machines and robotics kits; a greenroom style Imaginarium; a gleaming performance space; and a curriculum lab filled with books and math manipulatives.

This building says: teaching matters, said Pete Kelly, dean of the College of Education. That we have this now is remarkableand we need it now more than ever.

Seacobeck was built in 1930 as a dining hall and, along with nearby Monroe, Willard and Virginia halls, it makes up the core of UMWs original campus.

When first built, it featured a dome room and two adjacent dining rooms.

Seacobeck is an Algonquin word meaning at the foot of the rock. According to Edward Alveys History of Mary Washington College 19081972, an Indian village bearing the name was once located in Fredericksburg and the rock that the name refers to is the rock formation that prevented Capt. John Smith from traveling farther up the Rappahannock River in 1608.

By 2015, after a century of feeding hungry college students, the building was showing its age and was no longer able to meet the needs of the growing campus.

But the history and architectural significance of the buildingwith its massive white Corinthian columns, ornate plaster crown molding and floor-to-ceiling arched windowsmeant it was important for the university to find a respectful new use for it and that any renovation preserve its historic details, Kelly said.

Hanbury Architectswhich also designed UMWs Hurley Convergence Centerdesigned the new Seacobeck Hall, reconfiguring the inside without changing the outside at all, he said.

The original dome room has been restored to how it looked in 1937. The massive exterior windows have been completely rebuilt and glass panels have been added inside the building to reflect the light they let in.

Kelly said much of the original plaster molding was wrecked and that resurrecting it was a labor of love for the contractors.

Nostalgic alumni can now view the crown molding up close from the top row of seats in the new flex event space adjacent to the dome room.

Anchoring the 140-seat performance space is a custom-built Steinway piano, which was gifted to the new Seacobeck Hall by an anonymous alumni.

The building isnt just aesthetically pleasing, Kelly said. It was designed from the beginning with the input of faculty and students in the College of Education.

We sat down with Hanbury in focus groups to figure out, what does a classroom look like, especially one for teacher preparation? Kelly said.

Seacobeck has three model classrooms that maximize teamwork and technology and mimic the features of K12 classroomssuch as a sink for cleaning up after elementary art projects and a kidney-shaped table for testing small groups of students.

In addition to the College of Education, the building houses UMWs Office of Disability Resources.

Kelly said about 11 percent of the universitys student population is registered with the officea higher percentage than is found at most higher education institutions and one that is closer to that found in K12 school populationsso its fitting that the two programs are co-located.

The new Seacobeck opened for classes this semester and hosted an official ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month.

Kelly said there is already a great sense of pride and ownership among current and former students and faculty for the building.

He hopes it will be a place for ideas and collaboration between UMW and local K12 school divisions and that it will inspire both a love for teaching and an appreciation of what teachers do.

When I take students and parents through here, their eyes light up, Kelly said. I want every kid who is thinking about becoming a teacher to see this place.

Kelly said the new Seacobeck Hall carries forward the original mission of UMW, which was founded 1908 as a normal school, or institution created to train teachers.

People need to understand our commitment to teacher preparation, he said.

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The Spotsylvania School Board on Monday unanimously adopted a $360.7 million budget for fiscal year 2023which begins July 1that includes $5.65 million in new local funds from the county government.

According to the budget documents presented by school division staff at Mondays School Board budget workshop, the new funding will be used to implement a modernization of the teacher salary scale.

The modernization efforts, according to budget documents, include raising the starting salary for new teachers to $48,000 per year; implementing an average raise of 9 percent (which includes the 5 percent minimum raise required by the state); addressing compression issues between new and mid-career teachers; and rewarding years of experience and higher education.

School Board member Dawn Shelley attempted to include language specifying that the new $5.65 million be used to implement the salary modernization.

Shelley said she worries that the board will redirect the new funding to something else.

She pointed to the fact that School Board in December 2021 approved $1,000 bonuses for all school division employees using carryover funds from the preceding fiscal year, but the board last month approved changing the bonus amount for certain staff groups.

I apologize if this doesnt sound nice, but the [Board of Supervisors] approved the carryover with specific items and then this board changed that, Shelley said. The BOS approved the $5.6 million for a teacher modernization. I want to make sure that doesnt change.

School Board members Kirk Twigg, April Gillespie, Lisa Phelps and Rabih Abuismail voted against approving the budget with Shelleys stipulation.

Abuismail said it is his understanding that $5.6 million has already been approved for teacher salary scale modernization.

Chief Business Officer Prashant Shrestha said during the meeting that the section of the budget resolution relating to teacher compensation was authored by school administration to cover all the potential scenarios that were discussed and that it could be more specific to include the $5.65 million.

Immediately after the motion to adopt the budget with Shelleys added stipulation was defeated, Phelps made a motion to adopt the budget and it was approved.

Also on Monday, the board unanimously approvedwith the exception of Abuismail, who left the meeting earlythe use of a portion of the $28 million in remaining federal pandemic relief funds for teacher recruitment and retention.

The incentives include signing bonuses of up to $2,500 for new licensed teacher hires, compensation for new teacher work days and unspecified employee recognition.

We are anticipating over 200 vacancies for licensed personnel for the (202223) school year, and incentives are needed to bring candidates to SCPS to prevent further loss of learning for our students, staff noted in the presentation given to the board on Monday.

Staff proposed redirecting relief money that is no longer needed to purchase personal protective equipment to human resources initiatives.

Phelps supported the motion to approve the incentives, but said she has asked repeatedly to use pandemic relief funds to recognize staff who were already here who worked brick and mortar during COVID.

At the end of the meeting, Shelley made a motion to use lapsed dollars from the current year to extend a $1,000 bonus to all staff.

The board last year approved $1,000 bonuses for all staff using carryover funds, but in March approved restructuring the bonuses to extend the full amount only to employees who work 20 or more hours while excluding administrators and those who make over $100,000 per year.

Staff who work fewer than 20 hours per week will receive $500 or $250 bonuses.

I care about our administrative staff. They were not part of that bonus, Shelley said.

Twigg determined that Shelleys motion was invalid, based on a provision in Roberts Rules of Order that states a board member must be on the prevailing side of a motion in order to bring that motion back up.

No one from the prevailing side of the motion approving the bonuses wanted to bring it back up Monday.

Im telling you, this issue is dead, Twigg said.

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Charles Fitzhugh looked at the brick fireplace and hand-hewn logs in the 18th-century kitchen, set off from the main house of the former plantation, and went back in time.

When I walked in here I was thinking, my ancestors ate soup or something made in here and carried it to the house, he said. I get goosebumps when I think about it.

Just outside the building, known as a dependency, Linneall Naylor took in all the sights and sounds of a spring day at the Marmion home in King George County. Her ancestors were enslaved at Marmion and probably prepared the food eaten by the Fitzhughs long ago.

However, the connection between Naylor and Fitzhugh goes beyond their families being at the same plantation at the same time.

Theres a good chance that her ancestors are also my ancestors, Fitzhugh said.

Fitzhugh is white and descended from William Fitzhugh, often referred to as William the immigrant to differentiate him from other Williams in the family. Naylor, who is Black, also is a direct descendant from the same ancestor but hasnt connected all the dots on that branch of the family tree. Like others trying to trace AfricanAmerican heritage, shes discovered the task is more arduous than for her white counterparts because of limited records on enslaved people.

About five years ago, she created a Facebook group called Descendants of the Enslaved from Virginia Carter and Fitzhugh Plantations. Charles Fitzhugh and other white descendants have joined the group to share information, and, as they did on Saturday, to visit the ancestral homes of some of the first families of Virginia.

Naylor was curious to walk on the land connected to her enslaved ancestors. She wanted to understand how they lived, see where they were buried.

It gives me a deeper respect on who they were as a people, said Naylor, who lives in Lake Ridge in Prince William County. Right now, its breathtaking to be connected to some of the land they toiled.

As she started filling out her family tree, she found connections to Fitzhughs, Carters and Lees. She wanted to share her discoveries with others whose ancestors might have come from Africa or immigrated from England as William the immigrant did in 1670.

The dozen people on Saturdays tour of Marmion also visited nearby Eagles Nest, where hes buried.

Naylor said she regularly finds new cousins through ancestry websites and shares the connections with Charles Fitzhugh, who has been so open to the discoveries.

Every time I get a Fitzhugh match, he just laughs and says, Yeah, we all look alike, Naylor said.

Charles Fitzhugh, who grew up in Arizona and lives in Loudoun County, traced his family roots to Fredericksburg and the Northern Neck. He and his brother, Delson, are the only ones in their family interested in their past, and on Saturday, the two were eager to get a close look at Marmion.

This place has so much history, thats why weve been trying to come here for 16 years, Charles Fitzhugh said.

Marmions owner, Larry Tomayko, helped lead the effort to save Ferry Farm from commercial development in the late 1990s. Marmion once belonged to George Lewis, the nephew of George Washington, and on Saturday, Tomayko showed his guests a looming pecan tree in the backyard. The first president didnt plant the tree thereor try to chop it downbut he did suggest the location for its planting, Tomayko said.

He showed visitors the smokehouse where wooden hooks once held slabs of meat. In the kitchen, he pointed out cast iron skillets, andirons and fireplace grates that he believes date back to the main homes construction in 1755.

Beth Stenstrom gasped at that. Shes an unofficial member of the Fitzhugh family, as well as a volunteer with the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

I gasp a lot, she admitted. I get excited about original stuff like that.

Tomayko also took the group to the family cemetery, the perfect setting to talk about Marmions resident ghost. He said a young woman named Kate died in childbirth, and she and her infant son are buried nearby. Hes a little miffed that hes never seen her ghost, as others have spotted her in a window or hallway.

But he says he has definitely sensed her presence, including the Easter a few years ago when a pot of tulips started swaying mysteriouslyeven though there were no open windows or doors to let in a breeze. Theres never been anything sinister about the ghost, Tomayko said.

Shes friendly, she watches out for Marmion, he said.

As he talked, Naylor felt a change in the atmosphere.

Have you all not noticed the wind picked up when we came to the cemetery? she asked. I just wanna put that out there.

She feels attuned to the energy of those who came before her, as does another group member, Ellen Thaxton of Gainesville. Both have visited numerous plantations to see how their enslaved ancestors lived and each has an unusual story to tell.

At one Fredericksburg property, Thaxton felt a force around her and couldnt enter a room. She had to walk away, crying. After visiting a Stafford County site and slave dwelling on land slated for development, Naylor said she became feverish and began to cough up blood.

I barely made it down (Interstate) 95, she said. I had to call Charles, and he told me some wicked stuff happened on that plantation. I will never go back there again.

Naylor had a totally different reaction to Marmion, where she said both the spring weather and surrounding energy were beautiful. After she left the cemetery, she stopped on a hillside overlooking a pasture, dotted with buttercups.

She ends such visits with libations, a ritual in honor of the dead that traditionally includes a drink, but she doesnt carry liquor. So, she stops to say a prayer and to thank her ancestors, both AfricanAmerican and European.

I dont know the relationship of how my ancestors got here, but I just thank them for their work, their spirituality, she said. Because of their strength, because they didnt give up, Im here. And I live to tell their stories.

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TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  Volunteers and government workers in Shanghai erected metal barriers in multiple districts to block off small streets and entrances to apartment complexes, as China hardens its strict zero-COVID approach in its largest city despite growing complaints from residents.

In the city's financial district, Pudong, the barriers  thin metal sheets or mesh fences  were put up in several neighborhoods under a local government directive, according to Caixin, a Chinese business media outlet. Buildings where cases have been found sealed up their main entrances, with a small opening for pandemic prevention workers to pass through.

In Beijing, authorities announced a mass testing starting Monday of Chaoyang district, home to more than 3 million people in the Chinese capital.

The announcement set off panic buying Sunday evening, with vegetables, eggs, soy sauce and other items wiped off grocery shelves.

A fresh outbreak has infected at least 41 people, including 26 in Chaoyang district, state broadcaster CGTN reported.

China reported 21,796 new community transmitted COVID-19 infections on Sunday, with the vast majority being asymptomatic cases in Shanghai. Across the country, many cities and provinces have enforced some version of a lockdown in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.

The latest outbreak, driven by the highly contagious omicron variant, has spread nationwide, but has been particularly large in Shanghai. The city, a financial hub with 25 million residents, has counted hundreds of thousands of cases but fewer than 100 deaths since the outbreak began nearly two months ago.

An Associated Press examination of the death toll found that despite a history of narrow criteria for linking deaths to particular diseases, especially COVID-19, authorities have changed how they count positive cases, leading to wiggle room in how they arrive at a final death count. The result is almost certainly an undercount of the true death toll.

On social media, people posted videos of the new barriers being put up Saturday, with some expressing anger over the measures. The barriers are meant to leave main roads unblocked, Caixin reported.

In one video, verified by the AP, residents leaving a building in Shanghai's Xuhui district broke down the mesh fence barricade at their front entrance and went looking for the security guard they believed to be responsible for putting it up.

Shanghai is using a tiered system in which neighborhoods are divided into three categories based on the risk of transmission. Those in the first category face the strictest COVID-19 controls and were the main target of the new heightened measures. In the third category, some buildings allow people to leave their homes and visit public areas.

In Shanghai, authorities reported 39 new COVID-19 deaths, raising the official death toll to 4,725 as of the end of Saturday, the National Health Commission said Sunday.

The city's lockdown has drawn global attention for its strict approach and sometimes dangerous consequences. Many residents in the city have had difficulties getting groceries, resorting to bartering and bulk buying. Others have been unable get adequate medical attention in time, owing to the strict controls on movement.

On Friday, Chinese internet users shared a six-minute video called Voices of April that documents some of the most challenging public moments the city has experienced in the nearly month-long lockdown. One part features audio of residents in one Shanghai community who protested on April 8, screaming: "Send us food! Send us food! Send us food! in unison.

The video blanketed WeChat timelines before it was abruptly removed by censors Saturday.

Chinese authorities have continued to say that the zero-COVID strategy is the best way forward given low vaccination rates in people over age 60, and that omicron would result in many deaths and severe illnesses if the country ended its strict approach.

Associated Press journalist Penny Wang in Bangkok 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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Four Fremont High School seniors have signed on with local industry partners.

They will work part-time while taking classes at Metropolitan Community College or Southeast Community College and graduate with a full-time job.

This is a great example of the partnership between Fremont Public Schools, community colleges and local industry to meet our students needs, Todd Hansen, executive director, student services at MCC, said in a news release.

The students are:

Damon Jordan.

Damon Jordan signed with Sid Dillon as an automotive employee. He will be taking MCC classes and will graduate debt-free and continue his career with Sid Dillon.

Im thankful Dillons has begun working with me to get ahead and experience in the workforce, Damon said.

Damons mother, Charlene Jordan, said she is really glad this kind of opportunity for students is being recognized.

Josh Brandt, service manager at Sid Dillon Chevrolet, expressed the importance of teaching Jordan and other students that the car business isnt just for selling or fixing cars, there is much more to it, such as marketing and finance.

Samuel Wulf.

Samuel signed with Lozier as a tool and die apprentice.

Lozier expressed pride in being part of this partnership and having the opportunity to make a difference in students lives.

Sponsorships are an important part of our business to help industry students get started. We will provide two years of tuition, tools and a part-time job for Sam, said Linn Kroeger, tool and die manager at Lozier.

Wulfs parents, Jennifer and Aaron, said they are thankful for this unique opportunity for Sam and other students who are on their way to gaining mentors in their respective fields.

Kroeger, a Fremont High School graduate, said these types of partnerships benefit the students and their families while strengthening the workforce.

Henry Hiebenthal

. Henry, who is a Nebraska State SkillsUSA Champion Welder, signed with Platte Valley Equipment in the JDTech Program.

Jeremy Vrana, career development lead at the dealer, said this sponsorship helps students learn the whole gamut of Platte Valley Equipments business; sales, marketing, accounting and repairs.

I am thankful for this sponsorship with Platte Valley to complete my training without acquiring debt and the multiple career opportunities this represents moving forward, Hiebenthal, said.

Jonathan LaDay.

Jonathan signed with Platte Valley Equipment as a diesel technician in the JDTech Program. LaDay also will learn all aspects of Platte Valleys business.

Im thankful for this opportunity and to Todd Hansen for helping me find the right business sponsorship for my future, LaDay said.

Laura LaDay, Jonathans mother, expressed her thanks and appreciation as well.

We are thankful for Todd and MCCs help guiding Jonathan toward a career path he is excited about, she said.

This partnership is an example of collaboration between schools and community.

Our community businesses are giving life-changing opportunities to these students and these are not the only companies that offer this type of opportunity, said Mark Williams, director of counseling at FHS. Our community employers see the talent that our young people possess and want to work to build on their skills.

Business and industry education sponsorships are getting more popular, Hansen said. Employers are making an investment on the front-end to recruit students to develop and expand their business.

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The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has launched its first phase of a new benefit application, the iServe Nebraska Portal, that will provide a modern and easy-to-use system for Nebraskans to apply for DHHS benefits and services.

The new portal is a single online application for Nebraskans to apply for Medicaid and Economic Assistance benefits. This online application will help save time for those applying for benefits, as they will only need to enter their basic information once.

The new iServe Nebraska Portal will:

 Provide an option for Nebraskans to apply for benefits using their mobile phone, tablet, or computer

 Offer an anonymous pre-screen option to help Nebraskans determine all the benefits for which they may qualify

 Be easy to find and navigate online and accessible for all

 Protect Nebraskans private information

 Provide self-service security options such as password resets

The new portal is expected to launch in three phases. Phase one will include a new branding and login feature. Beginning April 25, Nebraskans will see a new benefit application look and feel once they access the portal via the DHHS homepage to apply for or manage benefits. On the new portal homepage, Nebraskans will be able to access all of the features currently available through ACCESSNebraska. In addition, Nebraskans will notice a change to how they log into their existing account, manage their password and set security questions. DHHS has enhanced the account management system by providing self-service capabilities. This is the first phase.

Be on the lookout for more information regarding future phases and additional functionality.

You can access the new benefits portal via the DHHS homepage or directly through https://iserve.nebraska.gov. If you have questions or general inquiries, send an email to iServeNebraskaOCM@Nebraska.gov.

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By Trend

It is unacceptable if Armenia decides to try sabotage on the border with Azerbaijan, in Zangilan district, Iranian political expert Hamid Godsi Azar in an article written for Tasnim News Agency, Trend reports.

According to the article, this would be a clear provocation to prevent the planned steps related to delimitation and demarcation of the borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"In fact, the detention of Armenian provocateur Eduard Matirosov in Azerbaijans Zangilan gives the Azerbaijani side the opportunity to address the violation of the border agreement by Yerevan to Brussels and Moscow, thus forcing Armenia to implement the Brussels agreement.

Godsi Azar says it is likely that significant progress will be made, if a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia is signed.

"This initiative of the European Union has played a very important role in terms of how Yerevan thinks, since it has no choice but to reach an agreement with Baku. This can be felt, judging from Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan's last speech in the parliament," he said.

However, Godsi Azar believes it was impossible for Pashinyan to remain committed, following his visit to Moscow.

"President of the European Council Charles Michel's telephone conversation with Pashinyan a day before his visit to Moscow can be considered by the West as a warning to Armenia," he said.

Iranian analyst believes that in his speech at the parliament, the Armenian PM tried to reassure the European Union and Azerbaijan that Yerevan is committed to its promise and will evaluate Azerbaijan's five-point peace proposal.

"Of course, the second main reason for Pashinyan's such speech in the parliament was related to the messages of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, addressed to Armenia and its supporters at the 5th Congress of World Azerbaijanis in Shusha. President of Azerbaijan reiterated Azerbaijan's goodwill by proposing a peace agreement based on 5 principles and warned the anti-Azerbaijani forces in Armenia that this peace is the last chance for Armenia," Godsi Azar said.

If Armenia refuses, Azerbaijan will not officially recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia and will officially announce so, he said.

The analyst went on to remind that two days ago Charles Michel held phone talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, to discuss preparation of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the opening of transport lines.

"During this conversation, President Ilham Aliyev drew attention to the fact that the Azerbaijani side has determined the composition of the National Commission for the delimitation and demarcation of borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the staff to prepare the initial text of the peace agreement between the two countries," he said.

"So, Azerbaijan is ready to talk over details with Armenia. This means Baku is no longer in favor of direct third party intervention in the peace talks," Godsi Azar said.
Liana Sendetska was scared.

Russians were invading Ukraine and she couldnt reach her parents.

Sendetska is from Kramatorsk in the eastern part of Ukraine. Shes been attending Fremont High School as a foreign exchange student set to graduate in May.

Earlier this year, Sendetska knew an invasion of her country was possible.

I was concerned, but nobody believed it would actually happen, she said. It seemed crazy for a country to invade another country without a reason.

But on the morning of Feb. 24, the Russians began bombing Ukrainian homes where civilians had been sleeping.

Sendetska was on her phone at about 9 that night, when she learned of the invasion.

I started panicking, because I couldnt get to my family. They didnt pick up the phone, she said.

****

Two months later, Sendetska was sharing her experiences at Fremont Church of the Nazarene, along with two other Ukrainian foreign exchange students, Oksana Yaremenko and Davyd Samoilenko.

The students were part of the Interfaith Prayer for Ukraine service on Sunday night. Almost 90 people attended the event during which $1,000 was raised for Save the Children, a humanitarian organization providing lifesaving food and supplies in Ukraine.

****

Sendetska said she was able to reach her parents about 30 minutes after she started calling them.

Her mother is glad shes in the United States, but Sendetska deals with the emotions of being away from her war-torn country.

Sometimes, I feel guilty for having a good time here and being so warm and safe and having food, she told the Tribune. I understand that its not my fault, but I cannot help it.

Sendetska was supposed to leave Nebraska on May 11, but now its impossible, she said. It could be June before shes able to leave.

While some might want her to stay in Nebraska, Sendetska wants to go back to her family members, who are now in Poland.

Sendetska also said her house in Ukraine is intact, but her city is in danger of being heavily bombed.

I dont know if its going to stand or whats going to happen next, she said.

The hardest part has been not knowing what will happen to her family and friends.

Im fearful every day, because you cannot really do anything about it, she said.

Sendetska said shes lost some friends from Russia, who didnt reach out to her or support Ukraine.

But at the same time, I can see so many people here in America who support me and make me feel better, she said.

****

Some of these Americans gathered at the Nazarene church for the ecumenical prayer event organized by First Lutheran, First United Methodist and the Nazarene churches.

Here, people prayed together as a large group, then individually or in small groups.

The three Ukrainian foreign exchange students shared part of their story at the event.

Later, the three were asked to stand in the center aisle, where they were surrounded by attendees, who held lighted candles. During the event, attendees sang, Let There Be Peace on Earth.

After the prayer service, attendees were invited to stay and hear the students give a presentation about Ukraines history, traditions and culture, which includes many poets, writers and artists.

Guests also had the opportunity to taste a variety of Ukrainian foods, such as Honey Cake, which the students had made.

During the prayer service, Sendetska expressed gratitude for herself, Yaremenko and Samoilenko, to those attending the event.

All of us are really appreciative of you coming today and we are all thankful that we can see so many faces of people who are not indifferent about whats happening in Ukraine right now, Sendetska said.

Sendetska asked attendees to continue thinking about Ukraine and speaking out about the horror thats happening there.

Yaremenko, a junior at Cedar Bluffs High School, told the Tribune about how much she appreciated the event.

Its very important for me to feel the support from people in from this community, Yaremenko said. Seeing so many people here, it means a lot to me, because I see people still care and they want to help.

Sunday was the Orthodox Easter in Ukraine.

Sendetska said Russia didnt agree to stop the violence on that holiday.

Yaremenko said shed hoped there could have been a truce similar to what happened during World War I, when the Germans and the British stopped fighting on Christmas Eve.

I thought maybe this miracle would happen this Easter in Ukraine, but unfortunately, no, she said.

****

Yaremenkos family lives in Obukhiv, south of Kyiv, the capital city. They are safe right now as the main part of the fighting has been occurring in the countrys eastern region.

But its hard to say if anybody in Ukraine is safe right now, Yaremenko told the Tribune. I still have fears that something may happen.

Yaremenko remembered in May 2021 when her mom was involved in training in regard to how shed get to a bomb shelter from her workplace.

Its not like we never knew this may happen. Personally, I didnt want to believe this would happen, Yaremenko said.

****

Samoilenko, who is from Kremenchuk in central Ukraine, is a senior at Parkview Christian School in Lincoln. His parents, 5-year-old brother, and grandparents live in Ukraine.

When the conflict began, Samoilenkos mother took his brother and went to Poland as refugees.

His father couldnt go with them, because of a law stipulating that no man between the ages of 18 and 60 is allowed the leave the country in order to be drafted if needed for military service.

Samoilenkos grandparents wouldnt leave either.

His mother and brother were in Poland for about two weeks, but returned to Ukraine.

Samoilenko said he gains confidence from his father, who is a calm person.

The young Ukrainian is looking for another year of high school or college in the United States or Europe.

****

During the presentation about their country, Sendetska shared that Ukraine is called the Breadbasket of Europe, because of all the wheat it exports. She talked about holidays, including the countrys Independence Day on Aug. 24.

Several prayer guests waited in line after the presentation to try Ukrainian foods.

Samoilenko smiled when he said he accidentally burned a treat, which in English would be called crunches.

An older man tasted another treat.

This is really good, he told Sendetska.

The students laughed, ate and talked with friends and other guests after the program.

It was a time when they could be teens removed  at least for a little while  from thoughts of war and uncertainty.

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A city employee in Waverly who was digging out a damaged road sign post uncovered a live grenade that had likely been buried there for decades, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff.

Sheriff Terry Wagner said the grenade's pin had been pulled, but the years of dirt and rust likely prevented the explosive from detonating when the worker picked it up at about 2:30 p.m. Monday near 148th Street and Waverly Road.

Once he realized what he was holding, Wagner said the employee put the grenade back and called 911.

Local authorities summoned the Nebraska State Patrol's bomb squad, and later called in the Air Force's Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team, which later detonated the grenade in a nearby field, Wagner said.

The sheriff described the grenade as a pineapple-style model used in World War II and the Korean War, which he said hasn't been manufactured since the 1960s.

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The city will pay $497,500 to a Lincoln woman injured by a rubber bullet during racial justice protests in May 2020 as part of a settlement of the federal lawsuit she filed against it.

Elise Poole, now 20, participated in demonstrations south of downtown Lincoln on May 30-31, 2020, with thousands of others as part of a nationwide reaction to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

During those protests, on May 31, just after 10 p.m.  roughly two hours after a curfew set by Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird  Poole was kneeling with friends on the sidewalk near 12th and H streets as protesters were confronted by officers in riot gear from the Lincoln Police Department and Lancaster County Sheriff's Office, according to the lawsuit filed in February 2021.

The lawsuit alleges Poole was attempting to flee tear gas fired by police when she was struck in the face by a projectile fired by an unknown officer, who was acting to disperse the crowd through the use of rubber bullets.

After she was hurt, friends helped Poole to a hospital, while she applied pressure to keep her "partially detached nose" attached to her face until she could get medical aid.

Doctors later determined the bone, cartilage and internal valve of her nose were destroyed by the impact of the projectile. They performed emergency reconstructive surgery to reattach her nose.

Poole will need further surgeries in order to be able to regain normal breathing functionality, her attorneys said in a news release.

"If my case protects just one other person from going through what I experienced, it was worth it," Poole said in a statement. "Our protest was about protecting Black lives and calling out police violence.

"Those messages are just as important today and I hope my case plays a small role in making our city safer for everyone," she added.

Daniel Gutman, a contract attorney litigating the case on behalf of the ACLU of Nebraska, said the lawsuit was successful in holding law enforcement accountable and ensuring Poole is fully compensated for the harm she suffered.

"We are pleased that her case has ended in a fair agreement," Gutman said in a statement. "Elise was severely injured while exercising her First Amendment right to free speech and assembly. Law enforcement must understand, and this lawsuit shows, that our constitutional rights must be respected."

The lawsuit named the city, Lancaster County, Jeff Bliemeister, who was police chief at the time, Sheriff Terry Wagner and unknown officers working that night.

The city does not admit liability and makes no admissions of wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which cannot be used as admission or evidence of illegal conduct in any other case or dispute. Each party will pay its own attorneys fees, and Poole will pay her medical bills.

We do not know what caused Ms. Pooles injury, City Attorney Yohance Christie said. Gasoline, fireworks and other dangerous objects were thrown at our Lincoln police officers repeatedly. Just like we do not know who threw these dangerous objects at our Lincoln police officers, we do not know who or what caused Ms. Pooles injury.

More than two dozen officers were injured during the May 29-June 1 protests, police said.

Overall, Christie said, police did a good job managing the unprecedented incident" in the city.

We do not know what truly happened, he said, but there are many factors to consider when settling a case such as this.

In an effort to move our community forward, in an effort to help us heal as a community, and in an effort to not force our officers and our community to relive these unfortunate events, we have reached an amicable settlement in this matter, he said.

The Journal Star informally asked Lincoln Police to view footage captured on body cameras by several officers working the nights of the protests, but was denied.

"As of today we have not received any additional guidance from city law regarding the release of (body worn cameras)," Police Capt. Todd Kocian said. "At this time I cannot provide you with a final decision or possible timeline, however, it's not likely to be released in the near future."

Following the denial, the Journal Star filed a public-records request with the department for the footage.

The suit alleged law enforcement agencies acted with deliberate indifference in their response to days of protest and that there was "no reasonable basis" for firing at Poole or others who were gathered on the sidewalk.

Officers who did so, the lawsuit alleged, were negligent, and the actions of law enforcement deprived Poole of her First Amendment right to assemble, protest and demonstrate peaceably.

"We have alleged throughout this lawsuit that law enforcement responded to peaceful demonstrations with dangerous weapons," Gutman said. "As a result of this response, Elise suffered traumatic and life-changing injuries. We stand by the allegations in the complaint and are happy that Elise is able to move forward and close this chapter of her life."

Poole's attorneys said Bliemeister and Wagner approved the use of various "less-lethal" weapons, including rubber bullets, in advance of the May 31 demonstrations in downtown Lincoln.

As they attempted to disperse the largely peaceful protesters, the lawsuit states, "the actions and inactions" of officers resulted in severe injuries.

Reports from sheriff's deputies indicated they were supplied with various "less-lethal" weaponry, including bean bag guns and pepper spray, which they used on protesters.

The lawsuit notes Wagner later acknowledged sheriff's deputies did not have the equipment or proper training to control the crowd.

An internal review by Lincoln Police found nearly 300 instances where officers used force during the protests in late May and early June of 2020, but the department determined nearly all were justified.

Gaylor Baird has noted that since the protests, the city has undertaken several policy reviews, including implementing diversity and inclusion training, revising police use-of-force policies and strengthening accountability measures such as its Citizen Police Advisory Board.

Wagner also said he found no instances of excessive force by deputies.

Pooles case was one of dozens of lawsuits filed nationwide in the aftermath of the 2020 demonstrations alleging law enforcement used excessive force in dispersing crowds that had gathered to protest the murder of Floyd.

The ACLU of Nebraska previously reached a settlement with the City of Omaha challenging Omaha polices use of pepper balls and mass arrests during protests between May-July 2020.

As part of the settlement, Omaha city officials agreed to drop charges against more than 100 protesters who were held for hours in crowded jail cells during a COVID-19 outbreak.

Omaha police also agreed to conduct further training on the use of chemical agents such as pepper spray and provide annual reports detailing compliance with the agreement.

A Council Bluffs, Iowa, man sued Sarpy County, Sheriff Jeff Davis, and four deputies in August 2021 for shooting him in the eye with a pepper ball at a protest in Omaha on May 29, 2020.

According to the lawsuit, Adam Keup was at the protest with his partner, who was taking photos when they were approached by deputies in riot gear.

One of the deputies shot Keup in the eye and shoulder, then pulled him behind police lines and poured water into his eye, which Keup said activated the chemical agent and caused further damage to his vision.

At about the same time the City of Lincoln reached an agreement with Poole earlier this month, a federal jury in Denver awarded $14 million to protesters struck by pepper balls and lead-filled bags during protests there.

The 12 protesters who sued argued the projectiles were fired indiscriminately, including intentionally at some individuals who were filming polices actions responding to the protests.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSreist

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Three Chinese citizens and their Pakistani driver were killed on April 26 in a blast carried out by an apparent suicide bomber on a van belonging to a Chinese language and cultural center that is part of the University of Karachi, officials said.



The attack at the entrance of the Confucius Institute at the university was claimed by the ethnic separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which operates in nearby Balochistan Province.



The university said the director of the Confucius Institute, which teaches Chinese language classes, was among the dead. The other two Chinese nationals killed also were teachers at the institute, which opened six years ago and is also affiliated with a Chinese university in Wuhan.

Two people were injured. One was another Chinese national, also a teacher at the institute, and the other was their bodyguard, according to police.

Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said the initial investigation suggested a suicide bomber may have been involved.

"The information we've got is that the female bomber was most probably a student at the university," Memon told local Geo News TV.

A spokesman for the university, Zeeshan Azmat, told RFE/RLs Radio Mashaal that a bomber struck the van. A video captured by a security camera and obtained by Radio Mashaal showed what appeared to be a woman standing along a street and an explosion as the van turns in front of her.

Police did not verify the footage. Hours later, the charred remains of the van and other debris from the blast stood behind yellow police tape as authorities collected data.

The BLA, which has targeted Chinese nationals in attacks in the past, said earlier in a statement that the attack was perpetrated by a female suicide bomber. BLA also issued what it said was a photo of the alleged suicide attacker.

The "Baloch Liberation Army accepts responsibility for today's self-sacrificing attack," the group's spokesman, Jeeyand Baloch, said in a statement published on Telegram.

The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan confirmed the deaths of three Chinese teachers in what it called a terrorist attack.



A statement on the embassy website condemned the attack and expressed "deep condolences to the victims of the two countries and sincere condolences to the injured and their relatives, and will make every effort to deal with the incident along with the Pakistani side."



The U.S. Consulate in Karachi also condemned the attack, saying: This cowardly act stands in direct contrast to the peaceful spirit of Ramadan, and we offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their families and those who lost their loved ones."



Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack.

"I am deeply grieved on the loss of precious lives including of our Chinese friends in the heinous attack in Karachi today," he said on Twitter. "My heartfelt condolences go to the bereaved families. I strongly condemn this cowardly act of terrorism. The perpetrators will surely be brought to justice."

Much of the violence carried out by the BLA is seen as a reaction by Baloch militants to China's investment plans in the region that envisage linking its Xinjiang Province with the Arabian Sea through a network of roads and railways.

The proposed $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor plan is meant to give Beijing access to markets in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Dawn
Denver Mayor Michael B Hancock (center) and other city officials shovel dirt to mark the start of the 16th Street Mall renovation project Thursday, April 14, 2022 at the corner of 16th and Welton Street in Denver, Colo. (Evan Semon, Special to the Denver Gazette)
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO - NOVEMBER 14: Andrew Harmon, interim director of pharmacy at UCHealth Northern Colorado, holds up three of four vials containing the first rounds of the Covid-19 vaccines at UC Health Poudre Valley Hospital on December 14, 2020 in Fort Collins, Colorado. The first Covid-19 vaccines were administered in Colorado to frontline health care workers in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs today. Governor Jared Polis joined these nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and other frontline workers in the cafeteria of hospital as one by one they got the vaccine. A total of twenty vaccines were administered to a variety of doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and others from Northern Colorado medical facilities. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post, Pool)
The state House on Monday passed sweeping changes to the state's laws around fentanyl, but the measure, a priority of the chamber's leadership, split the majority caucus and received strong opposition from some of the Democrats' ranking members.
By Trend

The next flight of Turkmenistan Airlines from Ashgabat to Moscow is scheduled for April 29, 2022, said the statement of the Russian embassy, Trend reports citing Turkmenportal.

The cost of the ticket is $600.

The sale of tickets for the specified flight will begin on April 27 at the offices of Turkmenistan Airlines in Ashgabat.

It was also possible to purchase transit tickets for further travel across Russia at the ticket offices of S7 Airlines in Ashgabat.

When flying to Russia, foreign citizens must have a negative PCR test valid for 48 hours.

Turkmenistan organizes charter flights to the Turkmenabad International Airport several times a month from countries such as Turkey, Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, India, Kazakhstan and EU countries to return its citizens to their homeland.

Regular flights between Turkmenistan and other countries of the world were discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
By the fall of 2023, all 4-year-old children in Colorado will be able to attend preschool for free, thanks to new legislation signed into law on Monday.

House Bill 1295 will establish the long-promised universal preschool program and a new Department of Early Childhood. Under the bill, the program will begin in 2023, providing 10 hours per week of free preschool for all children the year before they enter kindergarten.

Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill on Monday, applauding the legislation as an accomplishment of his administration. Polis has called for free preschool since he was running for governor in 2017.

Today, we are celebrating the final milestone of turning the vision of free universal preschool for every child into a reality in Colorado, Polis said. There is no better investment than an investment in education and our kids.

The universal preschool program will save Colorado parents an average of $4,300 per year in child care costs, according to state estimates. Under the bill, parents may choose a preschool provider themselves within their community.

The state Senate passed the Democrat-sponsored bill in a 24-11 vote in April, following the Houses 43-19 vote in March.

We are doing something historic, said Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, who sponsored the bill. Success for Colorado starts with support for the youngest Coloradans. As we continue to build back from this pandemic and folks across the state continue to return to work, we need to be able to provide parents with child care opportunities that are easy to navigate and also wont break the bank.

Though the bill received some bipartisan support, only Republican lawmakers voted against it.

Republican lawmakers proposed nearly a dozen changes to the bill on the Senate and House floors, all of which were rejected. This included efforts to delay the bills implementation a full year. Some opponents raised issue with the Department of Early Childhood that will be established under the bill.

Government continues to grow and grow and grow dramatically. Since 2019, we have added 14 offices of government, said Sen. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, on the Senate floor while voting against the bill. This creates a new department, a massive department. Friends, colleagues, beware. Government is growing fast in the state of Colorado.

Supporters of the bill said the Department of Early Childhood will seek to boost access to early education by creating a one stop shop of state services.

Advocates for kids with disabilities say bill regulating rideshare companies lacks safety provisions

Currently, early childhood programs are spread across multiple agencies with different eligibility requirements and funding streams, making it difficult for families to navigate, supporters say. Under the bill, the programs will be consolidated under the new department to streamline the system and create a single application for all early childhood programs.

Now families can go to one place, fill out one application and not leave anything on the table when it comes to services for their children, said bill sponsor Sen. Janet Buckner, D-Aurora. I couldn't be happier and I couldn't be more proud.

The universal preschool program and Department of Early Childhood will cost more than $365 million through 2024, according to state estimates. More than $190 million will come from taxes on tobacco and nicotine products passed by Colorado voters in 2020. Another $127 million will come from the states general fund or education fund.

HB-1295 comes after legislation passed in 2021 and 2022 to create and fund the Department of Early Childhood, as well as to create a transition plan and recommendations for universal preschool.
In this undated photo provided by Jeffry Buechler shows Wynn Bruce in Longmont, Colo. Bruce set himself on fire in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, April 22, 2022, prompting a national conversation about his motivation and whether he may have been inspired by Buddhist monks who self-immolated in the past to protest government atrocities.
Pikes Peak Library Districts wide array of digital resources is now available to more than 77,000 students in El Paso County, according to a Monday news release.

The library system recently partnered with School District 49 to give each of its 12,899 students a PowerPass  an electronic library card, just for students, that grants access to thousands of digital materials including e-books, homework assistance, live tutoring and SAT preparation.

D-49 is the fifth school district to participate in the PowerPass program since its 2019 inception, officials said. Colorado Springs School District 11 was the inaugural participant, followed by Harrison School District 2, Academy School District 20 and Calhan School District.

With this latest expansion of the program, more than 10% of El Paso Countys population now has PowerPass access, the release stated.

We are thrilled to be partnering with PPLD to provide access to Library resources with PowerPass for all D49 students, said Stacey Franklin, D-49s coordinator of literacy performance. As a district, we are committed to engaging with parents and the community in literacy improvement efforts.

The PowerPass program was launched as an effort to provide library access to students who might not have the resources to physically visit the library and check out materials, according to Elyse Jones, PPLDs community partnership coordinator.

The idea behind (PowerPass) was to come up with a way to reduce barriers for student access, so they have what they need to succeed academically, Jones said. Parents might not always have the time, or the ability, to physically bring their student to one of our locations. With PowerPass, they dont have to.

Students in participating districts can also access foreign language courses, get help with projects, listen to audiobooks and even read digital comics, officials said. Practice driving courses are also available for high school and middle school students.

PowerPass is not a physical library card, but it performs most of the same functions, officials said. PowerPass holders can check out up to five physical items at a time  including books, DVDs and games  from any of the systems 16 locations or mobile libraries. Possession of a PowerPass does not preclude students from having a traditional library card, Jones said.

The long-term plan is to eventually partner with every school district in PPLDs service area, officials said.

Our goal is to serve as many students as we can with this program, said Joanna Nelson Rendon, PPLDs Director of Young Adult Services. We look forward to partnering with more public, charter, and private schools over the next few years as PowerPass is an effective way to lay the foundation for a lifelong relationship with the people in our communities.
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By Trend

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a meeting with Chinese State Councilor, Minister of National Defense General Wei Fenghe who arrived in Kazakhstan for an official visit, Trend reports citing Kazinform.

At the start of the conversation, the Kazakh Head of State positively assessed the implementation of important agreements reached during his State visit to Beijing in September 2019 and working visit to China in February 2022.

It was noted that the key guidance in this work is the Declaration on long-term strategic partnership between the two States approved at the highest level.
FILE PHOTO: The World Health Organization logo is pictured at the entrance of the WHO building, in Geneva, Switzerland, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
FILE PHOTO: The U.S. flag flies over the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S. April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
The shareholders of two of the UAEs largest Islamic insurance companies, Dubai-based Dar Al Takaful (DAT) and Abu Dhabi-based Watania, voted today in favour of a merger that will result in the creation of the UAEs largest Takaful provider, by market share.

The merger is expected to unlock value for all stakeholders, as a result of considerable cost and revenue synergies, and on the back of optimized sales channels, reduced operating expenses and enhanced IT platforms, said a statement.

The combined entity will be strongly positioned to expand its product offerings, and geographical footprint whilst offering competitive terms to policyholders, along with improved customer service, backed by the ability and ambition to invest in new ideas and technologies, it said.

Based on the proposed structure, the merger will involve a share swap, whereby shareholders of Watania, now listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, will receive shares in DAT, which would be the remaining entity that will continue to be listed on Dubai Financial Market.

Under the terms of the merger, Watania shareholders will receive 0.734375 DAT shares for every Watania share that they own, valuing the merged company at about AED260 million.

All DAT and Watania policies would be held by two DAT subsidiaries: Noor Takaful Family and Noor Takaful General, with DAT being the holding company that owns the two entities.

Matar Hamdan Sultan Hamad Al Ameri, Chairman of DAT, said: The proposed merger will bring new energy and dynamism into the UAE fragmented Takaful market. DAT and Watania would build great synergies together, acting as an Islamic insurance powerhouse for the benefit of policyholders, shareholders, and other stakeholders. The transaction would enable DAT to expand not only within the UAE, but potentially across the region, fulfilling a core objective of takaful by broadening its base of policyholders and supporting profitability in the pool. The merger would also support the UAEs expanding role as a global leader in Islamic finance.

Dr Ali Saeed Bin Harmal Aldhaheri, Chairman of Watania, said: This compelling strategic transaction will allow DAT to leverage its scale as a takaful champion to further develop new and innovative insurance offerings, meeting the ever-changing needs of the market and the publics requirements for flexible and imaginative Takaful solutions. Our enhanced financial base and the substantial revenue and cost synergies expected to arise from the merger, would enable us to offer reliable and more comprehensive coverage with terms that are highly favorable for policyholders and to create substantial long-term value to our shareholders.

The new entity will benefit from many cross-selling opportunities through the increased geographic reach, as well as through capitalising on larger underwriting capacity, to negotiate improved terms with reinsurers.

The integration process is currently being rigorously managed by a Merger Committee, comprising board members of both DAT and Watania, which continues to collaborate with independent valuation and financial advisors to arrive at beneficial and equitable terms for all parties. The process would include seamless transfer of policies to the Noor subsidiaries, whilst efficiently integrating the functions, systems, processes, policies and procedures, in order to establish an optimal operating model for the combined entity.

The proposed Chairman of DAT after the completion of the merger will be Dr Ali Saeed Bin Harmal Aldhaheri and the Vice Chairman will be Matar Hamdan Sultan Hamad Al Ameri. Gautam Datta will remain the Chief Executive Officer of DAT.

The merger proposal has received approval from 100% of DAT shareholders and 99.9% of Watania shareholders at the Annual General Meetings of both companies.

Preliminary regulatory approvals have already been obtained and following the shareholders approval, the merger will be subject to final approvals from the Central Bank, the UAE insurance regulator, and SCA, the regulator of listed companies. The merger is expected to complete by end-June 2022. - TradeArabia News Service
Unrepentant: Colorado Springs Republican state Rep. Shane Sandridge boasts of writing a 2019 law that allows anyone to have four grams of deadly fentanyl without fear of a felony. Sandridge has decided not to seek re-election to his House District 14 seat. (via coloradochannel.net)
After a court-ordered re-do of the House District 21 Assembly Saturday, the Republican primary race to represent southern El Paso County in the state house will be competitive.

Current House District Rep. Mary Bradfield, who is running for reelection, will now join Karl Dent, a private security company owner, on the ballot.

Bradfield said in an email Monday afternoon she was "very confident" the process to hold a new assembly was fair. Dent disagreed, saying he felt the lawsuit that ordered Saturday's assembly was "brought in bad faith."

At the second assembly, Dent garnered 48% of the vote and Bradfield captured 35%. A minimum of 30% is needed to make the ballot.

At the first assembly held in March, Dent, who is embroiled in several legal cases, was the only one to capture more than 30% of the vote. At that assembly, Bradfield missed the ballot by .08% of the vote of 41 delegates.

Another candidate, Juli Henry, also did not make the ballot in March and she again did not receive enough votes to make the ballot Saturday.

Judge Marie Moses earlier this month ruled in Denver District Court the results of the March assembly would be overturned because El Paso County GOP Chairwoman Vickie Tonkins "had no authority to unilaterally and covertly" add a voting delegate to the House District 21 assembly.

Court documents said the voting delegate in question was not present at the precinct caucus where she was nominated. Tonkins added her later at the request of Dent and another person. The two said they nominated the delegate in question to serve.

Tonkins has denied all allegations of bias in the past.

Dent's candidacy has also caused some controversy within the party because he was convicted of felony trespassing related to a domestic violence case. Dent is appealing that conviction. He was also recently found guilty of violating a civil protection order related to the same incident. Additionally, Dent faces animal abuse charges related to a dog fight that he argues he cannot be held responsible for because he was not present.
Beauty and history in the Texas panhandle | Get Out of Town
Global inspection specialist, Element Materials Technology (Element) has invested $1 million in a new laboratory in north western Saudi Arabia to provide civils and environmental testing for the Neom new city project.

The project will create a futuristic destination and community incorporating smart city technology and entirely fuelled by renewable energy.

Elements Neom laboratory will support the new technology and development of the planned location. Element will principally conduct civils testing, including soils, concrete and other construction materials, to support the major construction and infrastructure works taking place during the project.

It will also be the only laboratory within project boundaries to conduct environmental testing, including seawater and marine sediment; air quality; potable and wastewater analysis; stack, generator and heavy vehicle emissions monitoring; and environmental microbiology.

Proximity advantages

Elements proximity to the project limits both the transportation time and cost of sending samples, improving overall efficiency of the testing programme.

Matt Hopkinson, Executive Vice President at Element, said: Opening the new laboratory in Saudi Arabia is a significant investment in the region as part of our global built environment strategy. It will enable us to support the Neom project with greater efficiency for our customers and will also provide strategic geographical reach to the central and western regions of Saudi Arabia where we expect more projects to take place in future.

Adrian Pettitt, General Manager, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) at Element, said: We are proud to work on the Neom city project and the investment in the new laboratory is in response to the needs of our customers. Neom is the cornerstone of Saudi Arabias 2030 vision. Our new laboratory positioned at the heart of this prestigious development will present opportunities for Element to support Neoms team of Engineers, Consultants, and Contractors on upcoming exciting projects such as The Line and Oxagon.

Network of facilities

Element has a network of accredited environmental testing facilities located throughout the Middle East, the Americas, UK and Africa. Elements team of engaged experts help customers to meet their environmental obligations through a comprehensive range of laboratory and field-based environmental testing services.

They specialise in testing drinking water, groundwater, surface and waste water; testing soil, sediments, solid waste and drilling waste; ambient air quality testing; the management of hazardous materials (including asbestos); and stack emissions sampling.-- TradeArabia News Service
Oman Water and Wastewater Services company has started of the trial run for a new water pipeline project worth RO150 million ($388 million) from Sohar desalination plant to ADhahirah.



Ibrahim Hamad Al Hasani, Senior Manager of the project said that the water pipeline is 230 km long and that 15 water tanks were built (with a capacity of 451,000 cu m) in the wilayats of Sohar, Ibri and Dhank.



Four pumping stations were also set up, with a total pumping capacity of 144,000 cu m per day, reported Oman News Agency (ONA).



The water pipeline is constructed in parallel with the current water pipeline between Sohar and the Governorate of Al Buraimi, which will contribute to providing future water needs.




OXFORD (AP)  Arlo the bull was born with neurological damage. He can walk, but he needs help.

Faith is a cow who was born into the meat industry. She suffered from frostbite so severe that it caused her to lose a rear hoof. Her disability made it unsafe for her to live with other cows, so she was turned over to a neighboring farm in western Iowa, where she was destined to be slaughtered.

She met Arlo there, and they formed a bond.

Arlo was rescued by the Iowa Farm Sanctuary. The Oxford-based nonprofit negotiated to take Faith as well, so they could keep their friendship intact.

They now live on 40 acres of land, sharing the open space with chickens, pigs, sheep, barn cats, ducks, turkeys, one well-known miniature zebu and plenty of goats  including one particularly chatty newborn named Fawn.

On a recent weekday, sheep wandered across a field shared by cows and goats. Some cows curled up inside the barn, where a cat walked across the loft above them. Other animals, like the pigs, enjoyed some enclosed land just for them.

The efforts of IFS, which stand out in the heart of farm country, recently resulted in international recognition.

Iowa Farm Sanctuary is the first in the state to be accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. The organization received the designation Feb. 1.

There are more than 150 GFAS-accredited and -verified sanctuaries, rescues and rehabilitation centers worldwide.

"It's a huge accomplishment, and there's so much buildup to it. We were confident that we are accreditation-worthy, but it was just all the work that we put into it," Katie Valentine, assistant director of operations at the Iowa Farm Sanctuary, told the Press-Citizen.

The Iowa Farm Sanctuary was founded by Shawn and Jered Camp in 2016. The nonprofit focuses on helping animals with special needs like Ellie, a cow who was born blind.

Not all residents at the farm sanctuary have special needs. Many come from dangerous situations like Kathy the goat, who was rescued from a hoarder in Pennsylvania. She's also Fawn's mom.

Fawn is a fitting name for the young goat whose tan and white coloring resembles a young deer. Fawn kept the barn at IFS noisy with her many "baas," comfortably trotting up to a reporter and waiting with other goats nearby.

Valentine said that the application process for accreditation was "rigorous." The farm sanctuary began the process just over a year ago, she said.

"It was a big deal for us. It instills confidence in our donors, so they know their money is going to a reputable organization, where we do everything we can to take care of these animals," Valentine said.

GFAS offers verification and accreditation. The Iowa Farm Sanctuary was in a position to skip verification and go straight to accreditation based upon the work it was already doing.

"GFAS is really the only global sanctuary accreditation program, and part of what sets us apart is that we visit every single sanctuary that we accredit in person," Jessica Harris, program director of farmed animals at GFAS, told the Press-Citizen.

Accreditation from GFAS vouches for organizations with stakeholders, whether that's donors or a foundation.

"Anybody who has any interest in knowing whether a sanctuary is reputable and operating ethically can see the GFAS seal right there on their website and understand at a glance what caliber of organization they're engaging with," Harris said.

At minimum, the accreditation process takes several months, but it's usually dependent on how prepared an organization is to take on this process.

It involves a written application and providing numerous documents like insurance, financial documents, policies on animal care and so on.

Iowa Farm Sanctuary reported $282,000 in revenue on its 2018 tax form, the most recent available. It had five employees and 25 volunteers that year, none of whom drew a salary from the nonprofit. It earned a gold rating for transparency from the nonprofit watchdog group GuideStar.

An organization must meet the GFAS Standards of Excellence to be accredited. The standards are specified to each order of animals, like testudines, the order that turtles and tortoises fall under, or canids, which includes foxes or wolves.

The standards contain guidelines for housing, veterinary care, well-being and handling, financial stability and more. Standards of Excellence also extend to the operational side of an organization.

The standards are continually updated and revised but were originally put together by an array of experts in various species, animal protection advocates, sanctuary managers and more.

"In Iowa, which is a state known for having a lot of animal agriculture, Iowa Farm Sanctuary really stands out, because unlike (in animal agriculture) they are providing individualized care to their residents," Harris said.

Harris said Iowa Farm Sanctuary's focus on taking on special-needs animals stood out to GFAS, complimenting the farm's ability to come up with "creative and caring" solutions for animals that might not otherwise have a home.

"Animal care is of utmost importance," she said. "But on the other side, you have to have some of those other operational and financial and organizational pieces to make sure that the sanctuary is sustainable."

The federation looks to see that organizations are treating animals as "individuals" and providing them with high-quality veterinary care.

Iowa Farm Sanctuary conducts a general health check for all residents every two weeks with a local veterinarian, Valentine said.

The Iowa Farm Sanctuary receives its residents from organizations that reach out, often when an animal is born with a disability or is ill, according to Valentine.

The sanctuary's capacity for care fluctuates depending on the number of volunteers and staff, Valentine said. It serves 111 animals currently, compared to the 70 cared for when it moved to this location from Marengo almost two years ago.

When an animal comes to the farm sanctuary  not needing urgent medical care  they are put into a designated quarantine space for 30 days.

They are assessed, vaccinated and will slowly be introduced to a herd of other animal residents.

From there, the animals live out their lives at the sanctuary cared for, like the miniature zebu named Angel, who lounges outside on the grass wrapped in a blue polka dot blanket to protect her against the chill. Angel's back legs don't work, so she'll get strapped into a rear wheelchair to get around. She can also be carried, thanks to her smaller size.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that red meat production in 2020 was 55.8 billion pounds. Commercial cattle slaughter in America in 2020 was 32.8 million head, and commercial hog slaughter was 132 million.

Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas accounted for 49% of America's commercial red meat production in 2020, according to the USDA. In Iowa, more than 40 million commercial hogs were slaughtered.

"I think a huge, very important piece that I touched on, but really want to point out is their location, which they themselves say is sort of the epicenter of animal agriculture, and it really is," Harris said.

"So it is a very powerful position that they hold to be able to make change for farm animals and change some hearts in that region. Because it is a very different perspective of what a farm animal  and we use the term farmed animal, it's something that's being done to them  of what a farmed animal really is and who they are."

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As we continue to feel the effects of a global pandemic and our planet sits precariously on the edge of another world war, some people are asking this important question: Why does an Oreo cookies cream stick to just one wafer when twisted apart?

MIT wants to solve the mystery. No, not a rapper known as The Notorious MIT. And no, not Mitt Romney, who enters the initials MIT into the Donkey Kong machine each time he gets a high score in the GOP game room.

The actual Massachusetts Institute Technology, a school I could not attend even if I earned 1,000 extra SAT points for spelling my name correctly, turned its collective brainpower toward Oreo cookies.

According to an April 19 news release, the research was supported in part by the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program, which makes we wonder if the Russians are secretly working on advanced cookie technology we need to counter.

From the news release:

When you twist open an Oreo cookie to get to the creamy center, youre mimicking a standard test in rheology  the study of how a non-Newtonian material flows when twisted, pressed, or otherwise stressed. MIT engineers have now subjected the sandwich cookie to rigorous materials tests to get to the center of a tantalizing question: Why does the cookies cream stick to just one wafer when twisted apart?

In reality, this isnt much different than other conversations that go on at many colleges and universities across the nation.

Dude, you know this Dorito is made up of molecules and stuff. What if each of those molecules was an individual universe with its own planets and junk. And if our universe was part of a grand Dorito  hey, thats the RA! Dude, I told you to put a towel under the door!

Back at MIT, the serious students were getting down to cookie business.

Theres the fascinating problem of trying to get the cream to distribute evenly between the two wafers, which turns out to be really hard, said Max Fan, an undergraduate in MITs Department of Mechanical Engineering.

You know what else is really hard? Realizing that when Max graduates he will immediately make twice as much money as I do because he went to freakin MIT and studied Oreos.

Way to go, Max! You made the right choice. Youre going to keggers, chasing brainy coeds and shoving free Oreos down your goozle while I m in the twilight of a doomed career in the dying newspaper industry with nothing but a cabinet full of stale knock-off Hydrox cream-filled wafers 

Um, Im sorry, Max. Nothing personal, kid. Its just been a bad week.

Back to important Oreo research. Why does the cookies cream stick to one side rather than splitting evenly between both? The manufacturing process may hold the answer, according to the news release.

Videos of the manufacturing process show that they put the first wafer down, then dispense a ball of cream onto that wafer before putting the second wafer on top, said Crystal Owens, an MIT mechanical engineering PhD candidate who studies the properties of complex fluids and will also makes twice as much money as I do. Apparently that little time delay may make the cream stick better to the first wafer.

And there you have it. Another of lifes mysteries solved, thanks to the smart folks at MIT.

Scientifically, sandwich cookies present a paradigmatic model of parallel plate rheometry in which a fluid sample, the cream, is held between two parallel plates, the wafers, Owens said. When the wafers are counter-rotated, the cream deforms, flows, and ultimately fractures, leading to separation of the cookie into two pieces.

Yep, twice as much money.

Hollifield is editor/general manager of The McDowell News in Marion, North Carolina, and a humor columnist. Contact him at rhollifield@mcdowellnews.com.
No one plays absolutely beautifully all the time  unless youre my cousin, Rodney, says Wynton Marsalis, a member of Americas First Family of Jazz  a talented group of relatives who had a major impact on jazz in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Audiences in Danville will experience the internationally known Rodney Marsalis and The Philadelphia Big Brass this week between their tour stops in the western United States and the Cayman Islands.

Hosted by the Danville Concert Association, the 11-member ensemble includes a diverse makeup of men and women playing trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba and percussion, who believe music is a gift to be enjoyed by all.

They are especially dedicated to encouraging young musicians to follow their dreams.

Concert association board member Russell Scruggs elaborates on how this will happen in the Danville area.

The day before their public concert, they will present a mini-concert at Chatham High School for brass players from four Pittsylvania County High School bands and a Danville high school band, he said. A primary goal of Rodney Marsalis and his ensemble is to teach and inspire young people. This event is in partial fulfillment of that self-imposed obligation.

Mixing classical, big band jazz and New Orleans swing, the group had its genesis during the 1980s on the sidewalks of the French Quarter in New Orleans. Over the decades, their musical sounds have travelled around the globe and into the worlds most prestigious concert halls in the United States, France, Spain, Germany, England, Greece, Rumania, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and others.

I hope their musical message of goodwill will permeate the entire area, said Jean Carol Vernon, president of the concert association. Presenting this world-renowned group in Danville is extraordinary.

Despite the international fame, the man who is known as a trumpet prodigy has never forgotten the lessons learned as a child living in the Crescent City.His musical studies began at the age of 6. He made his solo debut with the New Orleans Symphony at 15, attended Curtis Institute of Music and reached national attention at 19 when he was a soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra.

However, it was the different ethnic groups of his native city that taught him valuable life lessons.

New Orleans is a huge mix of cultures. Growing up there, I never saw that as strange, he said. Thats whats underneath it all: Were all one big human family. Music can make these connections.

With that in mind, Marsalis and The Philadelphia Big Brass are looking forward to connecting with a full audience when they perform in Danville and adding Southern Virginia friends to their one big human family.
Danvilles former director of economic development is heading back to the city to lead the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.

Telly Tucker will take over as president effective May 31, the Institute announced Tuesday morning.

On behalf of the search committee and the board of trustees, I want to share our excitement with the selection of Telly Tucker as the first President of IALR, Roy Ford Jr., chair of the Institute board of trustees, wrote in a statement. We have full confidence in Tellys ability to successfully steer IALR to help realize Southern Virginia as home to a dynamic economy where all can live and thrive.

After serving Danville for five and a half years, Tucker departed for a position of director of the economic development department in Arlington County in northern Virginia.

During his time in Danville, Tucker and his team had 21 economic development announcements  10 of which were in partnership with Pittsylvania County  that totaled 1,645 new jobs and nearly $450 million in capital investment.

While in Arlington County, he led an economic development team of more than 50 employees, the news release stated. The staff built on the momentum of Amazons corporate headquarters to attract more businesses, grow existing business and support the tourism sector and the arts community.

I am honored to have been selected as the first president of IALR, said Tucker. The opportunity to lead a premier institution engaged in meaningful and impactful economic development, applied research, advanced learning, conference services and advanced manufacturing is truly a privilege.

His career in economic development, education and leadership spans 18 years in Virginia at both the state and local levels, the release reported.

After a seven-month planning process, the new president position was created. The search committee worked with Korn Ferry in Washington, D.C., to conduct a national search

Tucker was one of five finalists for the job.

The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research touts itself as a regional catalyst for economic transformation with applied research, advanced learning, economic development, advanced manufacturing and conference services.

Learn more at ialr.org.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Zoos across North America are moving their birds indoors and away from people and wildlife as they try to protect them from the highly contagious and potentially deadly avian influenza.

Penguins may be the only birds visitors to many zoos can see right now, because they already are kept inside and usually protected behind glass in their exhibits, making it harder for the bird flu to reach them.

Nearly 23 million chickens and turkeys have already been killed across the United States to limit the spread of the virus, and zoos are working hard to prevent any of their birds from meeting the same fate. It would be especially upsetting for zoos to have to kill any of the endangered or threatened species in their care.

"It would be extremely devastating," said Maria Franke, who is the manager of welfare science at Toronto Zoo, which has less than two dozen Loggerhead Shrike songbirds that it's breeding with the hope of reintroducing them into the wild. "We take amazing care and the welfare and well being of our animals is the utmost importance. There's a lot of staff that has close connections with the animals that they care for here at the zoo."

Toronto Zoo workers are adding roofs to some outdoor bird exhibits and double-checking the mesh surrounding enclosures to ensure it will keep wild birds out.

Birds shed the virus through their droppings and nasal discharge. Experts say it can be spread through contaminated equipment, clothing, boots and vehicles carrying supplies. Research has shown that small birds that squeeze into zoo exhibits or buildings can also spread the flu, and that mice can even track it inside.

So far, no outbreaks have been reported at zoos, but there have been wild birds found dead that had the flu. For example, a wild duck that died in a behind-the-scenes area of the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa, after tornadoes last month tested positive, zoo spokesman Ryan Bickel said.

Most of the steps zoos are taking are designed to prevent contact between wild birds and zoo animals. In some places, officials are requiring employees to change into clean boots and don protective gear before entering bird areas.

When bird flu cases are found in poultry, officials order the entire flock to be killed because the virus is so contagious. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has indicated that zoos might be able to avoid that by isolating infected birds and possibly euthanizing a small number of them.

Sarah Woodhouse, director of animal health at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, said she is optimistic after talking with state and federal regulators.

"They all agree that ordering us to depopulate a large part of our collection would be the absolute last-ditch effort. So they're really interested in working with us to see what we can do to make sure that we're not going to spread the disease while also being able to take care of our birds and not have to euthanize," Woodhouse said.

Among the precautions zoos are taking is to keep birds in smaller groups so that if a case is found, only a few would be affected. The USDA and state veterinarians would make the final decision about which birds had to be killed.

"Euthanasia is really the only way to keep it from spreading," said Luis Padilla, who is vice president of animal collections at the Saint Louis Zoo. "That's why we have so many of these very proactive measures in place."

The National Aviary in Pittsburgh  the nation's largest - is providing individual health checks for each of its roughly 500 birds. Many already live in large glass enclosures or outdoor habitats where they don't have direct exposure to wildlife, said Dr. Pilar Fish, the aviary's senior director of veterinary medicine and zoological advancement.

Kansas City Zoo CEO Sean Putney said he's heard a few complaints from visitors, but most people seem OK with not getting to see some birds. "I think our guests understand that we have what's in the best interests of the animals in mind when we make these decisions even though they can't get to see them," Putney said.

Officials emphasize that bird flu doesn't jeopardize the safety of meat or eggs or represent a significant risk to human health. No infected birds are allowed into the food supply, and properly cooking poultry and eggs kills bacteria and viruses. No human cases have been found in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

***

World Penguin Day is April 25. Here are some pics of the lovable birds:

Associated Press Writers David Pitt contributed to this report from Des Moines, Iowa, Lindsay Whitehurst contributed from Salt Lake City, Julie Watson contributed from San Diego, Chris Grygiel contributed from Seattle and Tom Tait contributed from Las Vegas.
RICHMOND  As Virginia-based Dominion Energy seeks to build what it calls the countrys largest offshore wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean, the company and its supporters have touted the economic development opportunities expected to accompany the 176-turbine project.

But state regulators, who are currently considering whether to grant approval for the massive project, say the economic picture might not be so rosy.

In testimony filed earlier this month, regulators said that in claiming the wind farm will create jobs and tax growth, the company relied on a stale study that didnt account for the impact of its Virginia electric utility ratepayers bearing the cost of the nearly $10 billion project. The State Corporation Commissions own analysis found the project was expected to come with an economic cost  including 1,100 lost jobs in the first five rate-years of the project  that might negate any speculative benefits.

Any economic benefits that are likely to arise will do so as a result of new investment in industries in Hampton Roads and Virginia that support offshore wind facility development. The degree to which this new investment occurs is speculative, according to the commission analysis from Mark Carsley, a utilities manager in the division of public utility regulation.

In a rebuttal filing Friday, Dominion took issue with Carsleys testimony and argued that under a 2020 law called the Virginia Clean Economy Act, or VCEA, that helped pave the way for the wind farm, such a cost-benefit analysis doesnt need to be considered.

Dominions wind farm, which would be located about 27 miles (43 kilometers) off the coast of Virginia Beach, has been years in the making. The company announced its specific plans for the commercial-scale project in September 2019. At the time, Dominion had a two-turbine offshore wind pilot project underway.

Dominion then filed its application for the full project with the commission in November. Interested parties ranging from the Sierra Club to Walmart have since joined the case as intervenors, and an evidentiary hearing is set for May 17. The commissions decision on whether to approve the project and allow the costs of it to be recovered from ratepayers is due by Aug. 5, a spokesman said, and a separate federal review process is also underway.

The project will help Dominion meet the goals of the VCEA, a sweeping overhaul of the states energy policy enacted by Democrats that included a number of renewable energy mandates intended to help address the threats of climate change. The wind farm will also help the company meet its own pledge to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The VCEA directed Dominion to submit a plan to the commission for review that addresses the economic development benefits the project is expected to bring to Virginia.

Instead of conducting an independent study, Dominion met that requirement by relying on a study prepared for a nonprofit economic development organization, the Hampton Roads Alliance, Carsley wrote.

The company, citing that report from 2020, estimated the project would support about 900 jobs annually and over $143 million in annual economic output during the construction phase. Once in operation, the report projected the wind farm would create 1,100 jobs and yield $209.8 million in annual economic output.

But SCC staff was not able to verify those results, Carsley wrote. They sought data supporting the conclusions of the report from Dominion and was told the company did not have any such models or data.

The SCC called the report Dominion relied upon stale and noted that the cost data it used was derived from data in the United Kingdom.

In a rebuttal, John Larson, Dominions director of public policy and economic development, responded that claiming that the information is somewhat stale does not present an argument against reliability of the data or its substantive analysis.

Larson wrote that relying on UK data should not present a concern and was practical and necessary, given that the U.S. offshore wind industry is nascent. Larson also wrote that the commissions analysis relied on an overly simplified assumption that a rate increase will cause Virginia residents to reduce household spending in other areas.

Some customers might not change their spending if the increase is small, or some might just reduce their savings, he wrote.

Furthermore, nothing in the VCEA requires the company to perform its own analysis of economic development costs or requires the commission to consider such an analysis, Larson wrote.

The General Assembly has established clean energy standards and goals for the Commonwealth and based on the inherent nature of public utility service, there will be customer-borne costs, he wrote.

Other testimony in the case from outside parties has raised concerns about the projects price tag and Dominions relative inexperience in the offshore wind industry. There have been calls for the commission to consider a range of ratepayer protections, including a possible independent monitor, a performance guarantee and a cost cap.

In rebuttal testimony, a Dominion executive argued against each of those proposals and defended the company as an an acknowledged leader in the development of offshore wind in the United States.

Company spokesman Jeremy Slayton said in a statement Monday that Dominion was pleased all parties to the case have focused on ways to have the best possible project and none have opposed it.
Individuals involved in the forage industry in South Dakota are making steps to start a forage association in the state.

South Dakota is one of the top forage-growing states in the nation, and we really dont have much of a voice on a regional or national level, says Sara Bauder, an agronomy field specialist with South Dakota State University Extension. I think forage growers and buyers in our state could benefit greatly from a formal place to go to for networking, advocacy of their industry, accessible educational opportunities, and producer-driven research information.

In March, Bauder and Jeff Jackson, an alfalfa and forage specialist for Croplan, hosted a meeting for any individuals throughout the state interested in starting a forage association. The group chose to move forward by creating a board that will focus on setting up goals and objectives with a plan of action, choosing a name for the organization, and recruiting membership. Anyone in South Dakota with an interest in the forage industry will be welcome to join.

Forages are so important to our agriculture systems and economy in South Dakota, and those involved in the industry deserve a voice and opportunity to network with others in their field, Bauder says.

According to Jackson, it became apparent at the initial meeting that there is a need for more time spent talking and learning about management practices and current strategies. People are hungry to find out whats new, and not just with alfalfa and corn silage, but also encompassing areas such as cover crops, he says. We want to avoid being close-minded and include all the aspects of forage production.

They hope an association will not only advocate for the local industry, but offer opportunities for people to learn from one another, resulting in a more resilient and sustainable forage industry in South Dakota.

When we bring different groups together, we get feedback from people in the industry and from the local growers in different geographical pockets, Jackson says. This will provide an opportunity to hear the voice of the local forage grower and find out what their concerns are, so we can help bring relevant information to them.

For more information, contact Sara Bauder at sara.bauder@sdstate.edu or Jeff Jackson at jcjackson@landolakes.com.

Sydney Meyer

The author is a freelance writer based in Brookings, S.D., who earned her agricultural communications degree from South Dakota State University. She grew up on a cow-calf operation in Spearfish, S.D, and served as the 2016 editorial intern for Hay & Forage Grower.
The childrens book Chicken Little is a tale about how unreasonable fear can lead to disastrous results. Various political figures throughout history have been credibly accused of Chicken Little Syndrome, usually around the time of a consequential election. Judging by the persistence of Rep. Brad Tschida in continuing to pursue a false narrative of election irregularities in the Missoula County 2020 election results, he joins the afflicted.

Rep. Tschida began his ill-fated quest to undermine the Missoula County election results months after the 2020 election. As Montana recalls, Republican candidates swept the state in that election. Most of us predicted the red wave, but the overall margin in excess of 10 points was compelling. Republicans did an excellent job at getting out the vote in a largely all-mail election. Yet, despite the clean sweep by Republicans, Tschida chose to condemn election practices in Missoula County thereby causing new and old Republicans alike to question the validity of their votes. Of course, when one questions whether their vote matters, the likelihood of that voter reengaging in the next election wanes considerably. So, Tschidas choice to sow division and chaos has the net effect of alienating Republican voters. Yet ironically, Tschida claims to be Republican.

More concerning is Tschida makes his claims of election irregularities with zero firsthand knowledge of how voting occurs in Missoula County (and the rest of the state). Tschida wasnt present to oversee the initial vote counts in November 2020. He was also not present for the recount performed by a group of people who made up their own rules of procedure for a hand count in January 2021. After the bogus hand count, Tschida boldly proclaimed to the Montana Legislature that serious irregularities affecting election integrity in Missoula County exist. Because of Tschidas persistent salacious allegations, the Missoula County Republican Central Committee was forced to respond with a coordinated and professional recount in order to assure Republicans that they should continue to vote and their votes matter. While invited to supervise the recount, which was performed consistent with state law and procedure, Tschida couldnt be bothered to attend. Yet, after the recount affirmed no irregularities existed in the 2020 election, Tschida continues to cry foul.

Tschida promises to keep crying about election integrity despite not having darkened the doorways of the election office during an actual count of the votes he contends have been tainted. If ever there was a time for Montana GOP leadership to condemn Tschidas actions, it's now. By allowing baseless allegations to permeate the headlines under the Republican brand, the Montana GOP lends credibility to Tschidas willful ignorance thereby rendering the professional and competent efforts of the Missoula County Republican Central Committee futile.

Tammi Fisher is an attorney, former mayor of Kalispell and the host of the Montana Values Podcast.

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Dubai Trade, DP Worlds single window platform for cross border trade, has joined forces with health and safety training provider SaveFast, and logistics and supply chain consultation provider 4D Supply Chain Consulting.



Through this collaboration, Dubai Trade will offer its employees and partners health and safety training, as well as supply chain efficiency courses to benefit the entire trade and logistics community.



Dubai Trade will work with 4D Supply Chain Consulting to provide courses on Bills of Lading, Letters of Credit, and Incoterms 2020. It will also work with SaveFast to offer courses including Fire Safety, Emergency First Aid, and Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) & National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH).



Hussain Alblooshi, Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Trade said: Since its inception, Dubai Trade has been supporting companies and individuals to comply with local and international regulations. The training and courses we offer are in line with the entitys ultimate policy of ensuring supply chain efficiency, while causing zero harm to people and the environment. They are also backed by market case studies and scenarios, giving them a competitive edge, and adding much value to our partners.



The health and safety training courses are the cornerstones of our approach towards Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) issues, forming a critical part of our S&E Framework. In pursuit of this, we strive to ensure that the business activities of our partners are conducted in a manner that avoids and minimises adverse health and safety impacts and reduces workplace accidents. Furthermore, through the supply chain efficiency courses, we aim to provide accredited training content to enhance the competency of industry professionals in developing effective supply chain strategies," he added.



Dubai Trade has added new courses to improve learning experiences, making it significantly more impactful and effective for its 240,000 active users from over 180,000 registered companies.



All courses include engaging content to accelerate the learning process. Coupled with E-learning, the platform also allows partners to learn on the go. In the 14 years since it was established, Dubai Trade training has won five industry accolades and awards and has transformed the professional lives of over 28,000 graduates.  TradeArabia News Service
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 76F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 76F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
BRISTOL, Tenn.  Tennessee High School (THS) and the Robinette Co., along with Northeast State Community College, formalized their new preapprenticeship program Monday.

Representatives from THS and the Robinette Co. kicked off their partnership agreement by introducing Anthony Campbell, the first student enrolled in the preapprenticeship program, and having a signing ceremony in Tennessee High Schools auditorium.

Carolyn Ferrell, the vice president of human resources and community relations for the Robinette Co., welcomed Campbell to Robinette as the companys first-ever manufacturing preapprentice.

The Robinette Co. is thrilled to have Anthony as the very first manufacturing preapprentice, not only in East Tennessee but the whole state of Tennessee, Ferrell said.

Campbell, highlighted the various reasons he jumped at the opportunity to work at the Robinette Co. in a video. He said the reasons range from the joy he gets from working with his hands to his familys history in manufacturing and helping her family financially. He said he is eager to continue honing his craft.

Im happy and nervous all at the same time, Campbell said. Its been wonderful. Honestly, my supervisors, Bill and Tim, have been helping me out a lot, just teaching me how to do everything, and its been great.

Campbell is not too worried about having to balance his time between school and working at Robinette Co.

Its been fine. I keep my grades up and go to work, nothing too stressful, Campbell said. Ive really enjoyed coming to work, and the day just kind of flies by for me. I enjoy it so much.

Through the manufacturing preapprenticeship program, students will complete 180 skills certification modules and obtain an OSHA10 Manufacturing Industry Certification. Upon completion of the preapprenticeship, students will be guaranteed, based on their attendance and disciplinary record, an interview with the partnering company. Contractors J.A. Street have also signed onto the THS preapprenticeship program.

For Sheena Kayton, Anthony Campbells mother, the preapprentice program is important because it has opened the door for her son to have a successful future. She encourages other students at THS interested in the program to enroll.

It means he has a jump-start on a bright and successful future, I see my son going places above and beyond what I could ever dream of doing myself, and that makes me happy, Kayton said. Its a phenomenal program for any student looking to have a career, and I encourage them to take advantage of it and do the best they can.

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And theyre off, as the callers of horse races say, but in this case, it means the government will no longer enforce mask mandates on airplanes, trains, buses, subways and other forms of public transportation.

U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a judge for the Middle District of Florida, said the rule exceeded the authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Transportation Security Agency. To complete the analogy, perhaps we can say that the government behaved like a horses patootie.

Videos of airline passengers ripping off their masks and cheering appeared on websites as flight attendants made the announcement. The attendants, too, must feel relief as too many suffered abuse while telling passengers to wear masks or to wear them properly.

As people began to grow tired of what many believed to be this arbitrary and ineffective mandate, growing numbers of airline passengers (me included) took advantage of the option to lower their masks while drinking and eating the snacks airlines offer these days. Some prolonged their munching and sipping to extend the time they could remain unmasked. Did anyone believe that if the virus were on a plane, it would suspend infecting people while they ate and drank with their masks down?

Airlines had touted the air filtration systems they had installed near the start of the pandemic as state of the art. The International Air Transport Association said, The risk of catching an infection on an aircraft is typically lower than in a shopping center or office environment.

It didnt matter to the federal government, which seems to seize any opportunity to limit our freedoms and ability to make our own choices. The conflicting information coming from the CDC added to widespread confusion and contributed to the distrust and animus many felt toward Washington. The Justice Department has just announced that it intends to appeal Mizelles decision if the CDC thinks mask mandates are still needed.

What should concern all of us is how easily freedom can be lost. Too many Americans behaved like sheep, abiding by what they were told by so-called experts. These scientists claimed divinelike wisdom. Dr. Anthony Fauci went so far as to proclaim that attacks on him were actually criticizing science. Objections to Faucis pronouncements were not treated seriously. Gods are not to be doubted. When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote a book questioning the efficacy of vaccines and the motives of the pharmaceutical companies, he was immediately cast out among the anti-vaxxers rather than having his concerns addressed.

This is what freedom looks like: If you want to wear a mask, wear one. If you dont want to wear a mask, dont wear one.

Ive seen people driving alone in their car with a mask on. It makes me laugh, but its their choice.

The government hates giving up power over its citizens. Thats probably why the CDC tried to extend the mask mandate for public transportation an additional 15 days.

I know people who have been vaccinated three times but still became infected with the current COVID-19 variant, which appears to me to be the least harmful of them all when it comes to hospitalizations and deaths. As with the flu and common cold, people can take precautions but decide for themselves what those precautions should be.

Many will wonder what the reaction will be the next time the federal government tries to adopt one-size-fits-all mandates. Will we again resemble sheep, or will we have learned some lessons this time around? Will we, as they said in the 60s, be more aggressive to question authority?

By the way, Judge Kathryn Mizelle was appointed by former President Trump. Elections have consequences, and in this case the consequences are good for travelers.

Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.
Tal Talton

HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga.  Only a few short weeks into 2022, Houston County Commissioner Chairman Tommy Stalnaker and Commissioner Jay Walker, III, announced that they would not be seeking reelection. Following their announcements, Post 4 Commissioner Dan Perdue announced that he would be stepping down from his place on the board so he could seek a campaign for the Post 1 Chairman seat. Following the final day of qualifying, only one candidate qualified for Post 1: Dan Perdue. A number of candidates, however, qualified for Posts 2 and 4.



A Primary election will take place on May 24 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Early voting will take place from May 2 to May 20, with two Saturdays available for voting on May 7 and May 14. Voting locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Here are your Post 4 candidates:

Tal Talton can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that he was born and raised in Houston County, that he has lived here his whole life and that much of his family can say the same.

He graduated from Warner Robins High School and went on to study at Macon State College. He met his wife here, who graduated from Houston County High School.

Professionally, Talton is a fourth-generation dairy farmer. His wife works in the community as well, as a nurse, and both of his children attend Houston County schools. Talton and his family participate in worship at Second Baptist Church.

In addition to his personal life and professional career, Talton has already taken a vested interest in the community of Houston County. He is a member of the Houston County Board of Planning and Zoning, the Bonaire Community Cemetery Committee and the Georgia Milk Producers Board.

Talton told The Journal that he believes his decision to stay and work in Houston County is, to a large degree, what has led to his success in life thus far.

"I love Houston County probably more than anybody I know, Talton said. "Its made me who I am  this county is the best place to live, in my opinion.

When asked about his campaign, Talton simply said: "I plan to be a part of the great group of leaders we have today  as well as the employees  to continue to allow Houston County to be a safe, thriving community that it is today; to ensure we have the infrastructure necessary to support the current growth as well as future growth.

In his efforts to best serve the citizens of Houston County, Talton hopes to lead with honesty and integrity, providing listening ears and a working voice so that citizens of Houston County have their needs met.

As a member of the countys Planning and Zoning Board, Talton already has an existing relationship with much of the countys leadership. He plans to work in tandem with them to build on top of a foundation that was built by a number of former county commissioners.

"I think weve always had, and have, a great group of commissioners and leaders; Im excited to be a part of that, Talton said. "The current and past commissioners both have done an outstanding job paving the way for the next generation of leaders; Im very thankful for that.

Finally, all while taking into consideration the concerns of the citizens of Houston County, Talton hopes he can play a part in county development.

"I want to maintain, and its going to be done by maintaining a sound, fiscal policy, Talton said. "I think being wise with tax dollars keeps our community moving forward; it helps attract new business and industry into the area.
Civil Rights Icon Ada Lee

WARNER ROBINS, Ga.  With the four-year anniversary of the passing of civil rights icon Ada Lee approaching on next Tuesday, her family and loved ones will be hosting a balloon release that day at the park in Warner Robins dedicated to her name.



Ada Lees grandson, Gary Lee, spoke with The Journal on Monday to share some insight about the event and the accomplishments of his grandmother.

"My aunt Vircy Anne  my grandmothers daughter, her oldest daughter  came up with this [event] here and asked me about it, and I said: Yeah! Why not? Lee said. "So, she put it together, and I know we would want to do something for what would have been her 100th birthday  but we wanted to do something a little sooner; so thats how it actually came about.

Known to her friends and loved ones as "Mama Lee, Mrs. Ada M. Jackson Lee was born on March 26, 1924, in the small farming community of Wellston, Georgia, to the late Mr. Lewis D. Jackson and the late Mrs. Annie B. Jackson.

She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta and the Culinary Arts Program at Fort Valley State University, going on to work for the City of Warner Robins as an urban renewal specialist where she later retired.

She married the late Sylvester D. Lee, and the lovers had three children together: Daron Lewis Lee, Vircy Anne Ferguson and Dorethea Rita Scott.

In Warner Robins, Ada made wholesome contributions to her surrounding community and county, including: Becoming the first director of the Warner Robins Day Care Center, forming the first Girl Scout Troop for African-American girls and becoming the first director of the Head Start program in Warner Robins.

Even though she did not have any grandchildren living in her community, she approached the mayor at that time about the city investing in a safe space in the form of a park for the children. She ended up having a park named in her honor.

As life went on for Ada, she accumulated many different accolades and honors, including: the Jefferson Award established by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for Outstanding Volunteer Services, the NAACP Trailblazer Award, Ms. Senior Warner Robins as well as one of the Fifty Most Influential Women in Middle Georgia.

Along with these achievements, Ada served as a board member of the Family Support Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Warner Robins Housing Authority, Houston County Democratic Citizen Advisory, Warner Robins Day Care Center, NAACP, SCLC and served as a member of the Christian Women United Association and the Georgia Council on Human Relations. She was also an honorary member of the Order of Eastern Star, Cinderella Chapter #406.

Ada was a member of the CME church, donning her Sunday "Go to Meeting Hats for services and enjoying praising the Lord by clapping her hands, nodding her head and saying "Amen. She served with the Stewardess Board, Missionary Board, Lay Council, We Care-Golden Age, Social Concerns, Hospitality Circle and served as the founder of the Pastors Aide Board.

She was preceded in death by her brothers: John Lewis Jackson, Warren Jackson, and Calvin Jackson; sisters: Lillian Canion Reed and Alice Felder; daughter, Johnnie Wiggins and one great granddaughter, Keona LeAda Brown.

Ada was survived by her son, Daron L. Lee (Rosalee); daughters: Vircy Anne Ferguson (Milton) and Dorethea Rita Scott (Willie); and grandchildren: Janester Lee, Coqueese Ferguson Rodriguez (Walfrido), Gary Lee, Milton Ferguson, Daron Dewane Lee, and Durrell Scott; great grandchildren: Brinson Cain, Jasmine Ginyard, Cori Lee, Asha Lee, Javier Rodriguez, Clayton Powell Lee, Jace Ferguson and Jaya Ferguson; three nieces: Diane Tharpe, Dorothy Clay and Annie Abrams; Wendy Roberts, her adopted granddaughter; Mrs. Lucille Little, her god sister; and a host of nieces and nephews.

Below is a speech written by Adas grandson, Gary. He told The Journal he wanted to give the speech at her funeral, but the moment had him so emotional he could not bring himself to do it. This is the first time he has shared it with anyone:

"I am Gary Lee, Ada Lees oldest grandson.

As I stand before you, ready to share my moments in time with my Grandmother, I want first to acknowledge and thank my mother, Rosa Lee, for her unselfish love for me as it relates to the incomprehensible relationship I developed with my grandmother. Momma, thank you and I love you!

I remember my grandmother always traveling or going somewhere. Sometimes I was with her. Other times, she was with someone else on a bus, car or plane. I can recall, as early as seven, riding in the car with her. More so, her, teaching me how to drive.

We had a Dodge Dart with bucket seats. She would turn onto what was once Talton Road and then slide over for me to steer the car as she would operate the gas and brake pedals... I also recall her persistent and insistent nature. Particularly when she needed to get her license at 90 years of age, I had told her, along with others in my family, that she did not need nor was she going to get her license. We would make sure she got to where she needed to be. She told me, You cant tell me what to do. I got grown one day, and Im gone get my license.

Well, she rolled through her Rolodex of resources to 1. Acquire her birth certificate, which is what I was banking on her not getting 2. Made sure that Sheriff Cullen Talton knew she was coming 3. Found a ride, someone, to take her to complete the task.

When I got home from work, she held up a piece of paper in my face. I asked her what it was, and she boldly told me, "I got my license! Now this is where the problem and realization came for me and many others who knew my grandmother, Ada Lee. When her mind is made up, it is full steam ahead; get out of her way or get ran over if you dont aim to help.

Another fond memory of my grandmother was when the police called me and stated she had been in an accident. I jumped into my car and raced down to the corner of Moody and Russell Boulevard. When I got there, she was out of the car, but she made her way to me pointing and stating, It wasnt my fault, it wasnt my fault, Gary. I told her it didnt matter, that she shouldnt be driving. Well, again, if you know my grandmother, you know she quickly went from explaining herself to defending herself.

She told me, I aint got time to be waiting on yall to do what I need to do. I aint handicap, and I done told you, I got grown one day! As you can see in these moments, she was always determined, persistent and focused on getting the job done.

The impact of my grandmother, Mrs. Ada Lee, will forever live on in Houston County and in Georgia. You can see it in the educational system, city halls, communities, churches, recreation departments, when you sit at counters and when you seek housing opportunities. Much like Delta Airlines, she chose to keep climbing to make our fight in life, to decrease the impact of the disruptions that would surely come.

Will you keep climbing, or will you be like Greyhound and leave the driving to others? What are you going to do with your voice is the question she leaves for us today.

The balloon release event celebrating the life and memory of Ada Lee will take place on Tuesday, May 3, at 6 p.m. at Ada Lee Park, 203 Scott Blvd. in Warner Robins.
HICKORY  Catawba Valley Community College music student Noah Messick has advanced to the national level of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition following his placement at the regional NATS level.

Messick placed second in the classical music category and third in the musical theater category after competing against students from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Messick said the auditions leading up to him reaching the national level were stressful, but well worth it.

It is overwhelming, but its motivated me, Messick said. In our country as a whole, community colleges arent known to have outstanding music programs. I think people overlook community college music programs, especially here at CVCC since for so many years its had so many outstanding students who have dominated competitions and then dominated at the four-year schools they went to. I feel like  we as a nation  need to be taking community college music programs very seriously. Were going against all of these four-year schools.

Messick becomes the seventh CVCC music student in the past six years to qualify for nationals  joining Austin Medlin, Sylvester Stroud, Brendan Hanks, Corey Knighton and Ishmael Parsons (Parsons qualified twice). The previous six reached the top eight nationals with one  Knighton  taking first-place honors.

I never thought I could achieve something like this in my lifetime, Messick said. I never really competed a lot when I was in high school. I only got super competitive when I went to college. Being a part of that list is an absolute honor. Im very blessed and very fortunate for my voice teacher, my accompanist and all of the people who have supported me. Without them I wouldnt be where Im at.

CVCC Director of Music Caroline Simyon said Messicks regional placement is a product of dedication to his craft.

Noah works hard. Practice pays off. Hard work pays off, Simyon said. Were very proud of him.

CVCC music instructor Freda Herrell agrees with Simyon.

When the students start working and put their heart into it, its amazing what they can do, Herrell said.

As part of his regional audition, Messick performed six total pieces  three in each musical category (musical theater and classical).

Musical theater pieces selected by Messick included Be Prepared from The Lion King, Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffanys and I Cant Stand Still from Footloose.

In the classical category, Messick chose The Dodger by Aaron Copland, Du bist wie eine Blume by Robert Schumann and Gia il sole dal Gange by Alessandro Scarlatti.

Messick said deciding what pieces he should perform was a team effort by himself and his instructors.

My instructors specifically helped me out with picking my classical pieces, but with my musical theater pieces one of the pieces I asked for was Be Prepared, Messick said. Everyone plays a part in picking those pieces and what fits best for me. When I listen to a piece and I love it, it literally clicks for me. I can connect with pieces very easily and fall in love with them.

In the first round of NATS national competition, Messick will be competing with 30 first- and second-year students in each category for the right to advance.

Messick submitted his video audition for the nationals NATS level earlier this month. He will find out out if hes making the trip to Chicago for an in-person audition when the first round results are released on May 15.

If he reaches the second and final round of nationals, Messick will perform in Chicago  a place hes already performed at when he was 12 years old singing in the Crossflame Youth Choir at St. Lukes United Methodist Church for Minister of Music Ron Sinclair.

Its very overwhelming, Messick said about the national level. Its nerve-racking waiting more than a month to get these results, especially since Im going against people from all over the country. This is something Ive never done at all. I thought regionals was crazy because Id never gotten this far competing against people. I can only work harder from here. Its all about working hard, trying to get to Chicago and doing the best I can.

Two other CVCC alumni  Ishmael Parsons (Brevard College, spiritual and musical theater) and Caleb Wilson (UNC Charlotte, classical) are also competing, but in the junior and senior categories.

For more information on the Associate in Fine Arts in Music at Catawba Valley Community College, visit https://bit.ly/3xIYeL6 or contact Simyon at 828-327-7000, ext. 4305 or email csimyon@cvcc.edu.
Three changes were approved for the renovation plans at St. Stephens High School, including aluminum soffits to replace the old plaster soffits around parts of the school courtyard.

Two of the changes were for the first phase of the 10-phase process. At the end of the first phase, the district had $42,667 left of a $250,000 contingency budget for phase one, Catawba County Schools Assistant Superintendent of Operations Daniel Moore said.

The phase one improvements to St. Stephens High School include a 33,000-square-foot addition which includes spaces for career and technical education classes such as welding, automotive and health science classrooms and labs, Catawba County Schools Director of Marketing and Communications Kim Jordan said in an email.

The phase one improvements have been completed.

Four general purpose classrooms and a new administrative suite are also included with a new entrance containing a security vestibule with electronic access control. A traffic circle is also included to improve traffic flow, Jordan said.

In the courtyard of the school, 6-foot-wide plaster soffits hang over the walls of the older sections of the building. These soffits will be removed and replaced with aluminum soffits, Moore said. The aluminum soffits will cost $35,683. The change is to create a seamless transition between the old building and new construction, he said.

School board member Ronn Abernathy asked if the aluminum soffits would have ridges or be smooth like the plaster. Moore explained the aluminum soffits would be flat, interlocking panels with two rows of holes lining the edges.

We want to see how this performs, Moore said. If we like it we may use it in other areas of the building where we have that blend from old to new.

The other change to phase one is the deduction of $450 from the construction contract, since the district provided a Knox Box. A Knox Box holds keys for emergency responders and law enforcement to access the building in case of an emergency, Moore said.

The change to phase two included eliminating a canopy that was deemed unnecessary and using phenolic resin countertops instead of epoxy counter tops for science labs, Moore said. This change will save a little over $50,000.

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NEWTON  Nine students from Catawba County Schools have been selected to attend the 2022 session of the prestigious North Carolina Governors School. Held annually at two sites, Governors School East is at Meredith College in Raleigh and Governors School West is at Winston-Salem State University.

The program runs June 19 through July 16. Governors School is a summer enrichment program for 650 students from across the state. It is the oldest statewide summer residential program for academically and/or intellectually gifted high school students in the nation.

The experience provides an opportunity for outstanding students to explore the latest developments, problems, and theories in the various fields of the arts and science.

Nominations for Governors School are made by each local high school, reviewed by a local committee, and submitted to a state committee for final selections. The selection process is extremely competitive. Students are chosen based on academic standing or ability to perform in an area of concentration such as dance, art, music, and drama.

CCS Superintendent Matt Stover stated, We would like to congratulate our students who were selected to attend Governor's School. This is a significant achievement and a great opportunity to continue to develop your talents and knowledge as you prepare for your future. We are proud of your accomplishment.

A faculty chosen from public and private schools, colleges and universities, and private businesses and organizations serve as teachers in the program. Nationally recognized consultants also provide instruction.

The following students from Catawba County Schools were chosen to attend Governors School this summer. The list includes their high school and area of study.

Governors School  East

 Nathaniel Pope, Bunker Hill High School, instrumental music, clarinet

 Madison Cleary, Challenger Early College High School, social science

 Kathryn DeHart, Challenger Early College High School, English

 Viyada Soukthavone, Challenger Early College High School, English

 Makayla Hensley, Maiden High School, English

Governors School - West

 Ashley Hinostroza-Villacort, Challenger Early College High School, social science

 Joseph Keller Thomas V, Maiden High School, social science

 Madison Swank, Fred T. Foard High School, theater

 Payce Sherrill, St. Stephens High School, math
" " This rusting Ferris wheel in an abandoned amusement park in Pripyat has become an iconic symbol of the nuclear disaster of April 26, 1986. NurPhoto/Getty Images

In early February 2022, as Russian troops massed on the Ukraine-Belarus border a short distance away, Ukrainian soldiers trained for the confrontation that was to come. They roamed through a deserted city, firing their guns and launching grenades and mortars in the shadows of abandoned, decaying buildings, some of which displayed the old hammer-and-sickle symbol of the defunct Soviet Union. As they went through their drills, a special radiation control unit monitored the levels to which the soldiers were being exposed, as this Reuters dispatch detailed.

The site of this eerie scene was a place called Pripyat, located near the heart of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a circle with a radius of nearly 19 miles (30 kilometers) around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that suffered a catastrophic accident April 26, 1986. The area was evacuated because of high radiation levels, and Pripyat, once a thriving city of 50,000, including many workers at the nuclear plant, was abandoned. Over time, its urban landscape became overgrown with trees and vines.

Though in recent years, people increasingly have ventured into the zone, the onetime Soviet atomgrad  Russian for "atomic city"  has never been repopulated. Instead, its crumbling buildings serve as a reminder of the danger of nuclear power when it's not properly managed and safeguards prove inadequate.

" " Servicemen take part in a joint tactical exercise of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ukrainian National Guard in Pripyat, Feb. 4, 2022. SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images

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Pripyat Was a Modern City Before Disaster Struck

There was a time when Pripyat was a showcase of Soviet atomic-age futurism. "It was a very nice place," recalls Andrei Korobkov, a professor of political science and international relations at Middle Tennessee State University, who visited the city in the late 1970s, less than a decade after it was built to accommodate nuclear workers. "It was a very modern city, built from scratch." Pripyat's modern architecture  a contrast to the much smaller town of Chernobyl, which dated back to the late 12th century  was designed "to emphasize that it was associated with high-tech, and modern achievements."

Pripyat was a complete community with a shopping district, medical facilities, schools and a residential area composed mostly of apartment buildings, Korobkov recalls. Unlike some other atomgrads, Pripyat wasn't connected to the Soviet nuclear weapons program, so it wasn't closed to outsiders.

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How Much Radiation Was Pripyat Exposed To?

When the accident at Chernobyl occurred, Pripyat  located just under 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the nuclear plant  was in a perilous spot.

"Since the radiation doses and levels of contamination are generally highest in the region within a few miles of an radiological release, individuals located that close were clearly in serious danger from both exposure to the radioactive plumes and to contamination of the ground and structures," explains Edwin Lyman, a physicist and director of nuclear power safety for the Union of Concerned Scientists, who visited the city 20 years later.

"However, at the time of the Unit 4 explosion early in the morning on April 26," he says, "the prevailing winds were to the west and did not blow directly in the direction of Pripyat, so fortunately the town did not encounter the highest dose rates immediately following the accident, and the residents were largely spared the worst consequences."

" " Dolls and a gas mask were left behind in a kindergarten in Pripyat. SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images

Even so, Lyman notes, air dose rates ranged up to 0.01 rem per hour in Pripyat on the day of the explosion  hundreds of times the normal background rate.

"To put that in perspective, international standards generally recommend that members of the public do not receive more than 0.1 rem from artificial sources in an entire year, and standards such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's protective action guides recommend evacuation if the expected dose will exceed 1 rem (whole-body exposure) in four days," Lyman writes in an email. "In addition, there was a distinct risk from inhalation of radioactive iodine in the plume. Thus, prompt evacuation of these areas was clearly appropriate."

The authorities hesitated to order an evacuation until late evening on the day of the accident, Lyman says. Though the town was cleared of people by the following day, the average whole-body dose to the Pripyat evacuees was estimated at around 2 rem, according to Lyman.

"This was well below the dose at which acute effects occur, but could increase the lifetime risk of cancer by a few percent," Lyman says. "However, thyroid exposures were more significant, especially for young children. Even though the evacuees were given stable potassium iodide, they delayed taking it until it was too late."

How much the radiation affected their health remains unclear. A 2021 paper published in Frontiers in Endocrinology found that the rate of thyroid cancer increased in people who lived in the Chernobyl region, but the health of Pripyat's evacuees wasn't broken out in the study.

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What Is the Town Like Now?

In recent years, adventurous travelers have been visiting the uninhabited city to get a peek at the ruins. Adam Mark, an urban explorer whose YouTube channel, Adam Mark Explores, is devoted to abandoned places, roamed around Pripyat in the fall of 2021, months before the Russian invasion.

"Exploring Chernobyl and Pripyat was something I've always wanted to do," Mark explains in an email. "I didn't really think of the danger. When considering the trip, I thought of some of the guides that have been entering the exclusion zone for years that seem to be fine, which did put my mind at ease as well. I didn't experience any after effects; we were constantly checked when entering and leaving the zone."

Mark found that even 36 years after Pripyat was abandoned, evidence of the everyday lives of its inhabitants remained. "One of the most surprising things I saw was the kindergarten. Seeing all the children's toys, cots and shoes still left was a real eye opener and the closest thing I've seen to an apocalyptic world," he says. "The whole city was surreal. Another surprise was seeing the hospital with the equipment left, and the morgue."

But Mark also saw abandoned buildings in various states of decay. "It was eerily beautiful seeing nature do what it does and take back these huge [human]-made structures," he recalls.

Mark was careful to monitor the radiation levels to which he was exposed during the visit, and not to stay for too long. Living there for an extended period would be more hazardous, according to Lyman.

" " People gather on the central square of Pripyat early on April 26, 2021, to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images

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Will Pripyat Ever Be Reinhabited?

"This area received some of the highest contamination levels," Lyman says. "After a few years, the main isotope of concern for habitability is cesium-137, which emits a powerful gamma ray, and has a half-life of 30 years, meaning that today about half the cesium-137 released during the accident is still in the environment, although much of it has been dispersed and some of it has been removed and buried. Even so, the average dose rates in the area today remain several times above typical background levels, and there are numerous hot spots. Therefore, the risk to a casual visitor for a short time is pretty low, which is why tourism has been allowed. But most of the area has not been resettled. However, when I was there in 2006, I did see some signs of people living in the exclusion zone, although not in Pripyat proper."

Though it's conceivable that Pripyat someday could be resettled, Lyman doesn't think that's a good idea.

"Over time, the radiation levels are decreasing, and it's always possible to decontaminate an area  it's primarily a matter of cost," he says. "But given its location, its proximity to the ruined reactor site, and its location near the center of the exclusion zone that still has more highly contaminated areas, I don't think there is much reason to try to restore it to habitability."

Instead, "perhaps it's best left as a museum and a stark reminder of the consequences that can occur if nuclear power plants are not regulated and operated to the highest safety standard," Lyman says. "It is a chilling place to visit -- a once-thriving town that is a snapshot in time of a terrible moment in history and has been left to be reclaimed by nature."

Now That's Interesting Mark said he was startled to see that invading Russian soldiers were venturing into Chernobyl's Red Forest, where they reportedly dug trenches and disturbed the radioactive soil, according to TheDrive.com. "The readings we got there were into the double figures, so I don't know what possessed them to dig the ground up," he says.
" " Chief Plenty Coups said, "Education is your most powerful weapon. With education you are the white man's equal; without education you are his victim." Library of Congress/HowStuffWorks

For the Native American tribes of the Great Plains, the "coup stick" held special significance. In French, the language spoken by the first European trappers to interact with the Plains Indians, coup means "a strike" or "a blow." In battle, young Native American warriors would attempt to "count coup"  to touch or strike the enemy with their coup stick and ride away safely  an act of supreme bravery.

Chief Plenty Coups was certainly brave. As a child, he was called "Buffalo Bull Facing the Wind," but he earned the name Plenty Coups for his valor in the many battles between his people, the Crow (or Apsaalooke), and their longstanding enemies, the Cheyenne, the Sioux and the Blackfeet. (Some say his name was given to him as a young man by his grandfather, who proclaimed he would have many achievements. "Plenty Coups" is the English translation of his new name, which meant "many achievements.") For his valor, Plenty Coups was named chief of the Mountain Crow (one of three Crow clans) at just 28 years old.

But Plenty Coups was much more than a warrior. When faced with an entirely new type of enemy, namely the U.S. Army and a wave of white settlers, he could have gone to battle like the Sioux and other tribes and fought the theft of Native lands with hatchets and arrows. But Plenty Coups chose another path.

Guided by a powerful vision, Plenty Coups became an ally of the U.S. Army, and he used his status as a trusted ambassador to secure a permanent home for his people on a portion of their ancestral lands in central Montana and Wyoming.

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With the Crow at a Crossroads, a Chickadee Pointed the Way

Plenty Coups was born in 1848, when Plains Indians like the Crow had been devastated by smallpox, a European disease to which they had no natural immunity. The National Park Service estimates that the total number of Crow had dwindled 80 percent to just 2,000 individuals at most by the mid-19th century. In addition to disease, the Crow were also under continual threat from neighboring tribes.

Plenty Coups was orphaned at 10 years old, making his fate as uncertain as his people's. At crossroads like these, Crow people might go on a "vision quest" to gain answers from spirits and sacred beings, says Tim McCleary, a professor at Little Big Horn College on the Crow Reservation in Montana. To receive a vision, the individual retreats to a mountain and fasts, sometimes for days, as a form of sacrifice.

"Plenty Coups went to the Crazy Mountains, which are thought to be very potent spiritually," says McCleary, who has lived on the Crow Reservation for 30 years. "All mountains are sacred, but the Crow will say that anybody who fasts successfully in the Crazies will become a chief."

Plenty Coups received his sought-after vision. He saw the disappearance of the buffalo and their replacement with cattle. Then he saw a great windstorm that blew down all of the trees in a dense forest except for one. In that last tree was a chickadee. Plenty Coups then saw a vision of himself as an old man seated next to a house.

For Plenty Coups and the tribal chiefs, the vision was clear. The great storm represented the white men, who would hunt the buffalo to extinction and destroy any tribes (the trees) that stood against them. The Crow would be the last tribe standing, but only by following the example of the chickadee, a peaceful bird.

McCleary says that the vision wouldn't have been "shocking" to the Crow, who must have understood that it was better to side with the U.S. Army in the coming Plains Wars than with the Crow's traditional enemies, the Sioux. But over the generations, the Crow have placed great importance on Plenty Coups' vision as the moment they decided to work with the U.S. government instead of against it.

Plenty Coups himself served as a scout for the U.S. Army during the Plains Wars of the 1870s, as did many other Crow. Asked later in life why he chose to help the U.S. government, Plenty Coups said: "[W]e plainly saw that this course was the only one which might save our beautiful country for us."

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A Railroad Through Yellowstone Valley

Yet even being a loyal ally of the U.S. government didn't save the Crow from continued attempts to steal their land or move them to a distant reservation. In 1880, Plenty Coups traveled to Washington, D.C. as part of a tribal delegation and met with President Rutherford B. Hayes at the White House.

Hayes told Plenty Coups that they were planning on building a railroad through Yellowstone Valley, the heart of Crow country, and he asked Plenty Coups to move the Crow to a reservation in South Dakota.

Plenty Coups was put in a terrible position. How could he save his people's ancestral lands without angering the government? While he pondered how best to respond, Plenty Coups visited George Washington's historic home, Mount Vernon. In his autobiography, written with the Western writer Frank Linderman, Plenty Coups says that he was moved to seek guidance from the departed spirit of Washington, the "Great White Chief."

"I said: 'Great Chief, when you came into power the streams of your country's affairs were muddy. Your heart was strong, and you led them through the war to the peace you loved... As you helped your people, help me now, an Apsaalooke chief, to lead my people to peace. I, too, have a little country to save for my children."

Eventually, a compromise was struck. The Crow agreed to sell some land to the government for the railroads, but Plenty Coups refused to move to North Dakota, and he wouldn't allow any railroad or telegraph lines through sacred Crow hunting grounds.

At Mount Vernon, Plenty Coups was also inspired to build his own homestead on 320 acres (130 hectares) of land allotted to him in Montana. He saw it as a realization of the vision in which he was seated next to a house. Later in life, Plenty Coups followed Washington's example and bequeathed his homestead to Montana to be made into a state park and National Historic Site.

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His Greatest Battle Was Against a U.S. Senator

By the turn of the 20th century, the Crow's tribal lands had been greatly reduced from 38 million acres (15.3 million hectares) to just 1.8 million acres (728,434 hectares), but at least they had secured control of a portion of their ancestral lands in central Montana. Then, in 1910, a Montana senator named Thomas Walsh introduced a bill that would open the entirety of the Crow Reservation to white homesteaders.

To fight Walsh's bill, Plenty Coups needed help, and he found it in Robert Yellowtail. As a child, Yellowtail was forcibly removed from the Crow Reservation and sent to an "Indian school" in California, where he was forbidden to speak Crow or practice his traditional culture. A brilliant student, Yellowtail excelled in school and went on to earn a law degree via extension courses from the University of Chicago.

Over the course of seven years and 13 separate trips to Washington, D.C., Plenty Coups and Yellowtail were finally able to pass the Crow Act of 1920, which officially prohibited the sale of Crow lands without tribal consent.

"That's probably the most important action that Plenty Coups took in his entire career," says McCleary.

" " Chief Plenty Coups stands with other dignitaries at the interment of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, November 11, 1921. Library of Congress

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The 'Last Chief' Blessed the Unknown Soldier

One of the many ways in which Plenty Coups earned the respect of the U.S. government was his patriotic support of World War I. As many as 15,000 Native Americans served in the U.S. military during World War I, even though some weren't considered U.S. citizens at the time. Plenty Coups was vocal about young Crow men proving themselves in battle with the foreign enemy, just as they had done in earlier times against the Sioux or Cheyenne.

When the war was over, Plenty Coups was chosen by the U.S. government to represent all Native American tribes at the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. Plenty Coups gave a speech and said a prayer over the tomb, then he placed his coup stick and war bonnet  the magnificent feathered headdress worn by chiefs  on the casket.

When Plenty Coups died in 1932, the Crow people decided to honor him by making him the last traditional chief. While Plenty Coups had several wives, none of his children survived to adulthood, something that he also said was prophesied in a vision.

"Plenty Coups took that to mean that all of the Crow people will be his children," says McCleary.

Today, McCleary says that the total Crow population is around 14,000, with about 80 percent living on the reservation lands in Montana. Plenty Coups fought hard, in war and peace, to make his vision of a lasting Crow homeland a reality.

Now That's Interesting A famous quote from Plenty Coups concerned the value of education: "Education is your most powerful weapon. With education you are the white man's equal; without education you are his victim," he said.
The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) intends to shed light on the UAE's and Sharjah's role in supporting and empowering Emirati women, developing their capabilities, and providing them with tools for success and leadership.

For this SCCI, in cooperation with the European Women Association (EWA), will organise the Sharjah-Europe Businesswomen Forum themed Women Entrepreneurship...Be one of them on May 10, with the goal of promoting a culture of entrepreneurship and encouraging women to start their own businesses, as well as increasing women's participation in the economy.

The forum is the result of a recently signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Chamber and the EWA.

Events and business forums

In addition to participating in exhibitions and trade conferences on each side, the MoU provided for the organisation of events and business forums that encourage the exchange of trade delegations and the creation of a business network to highlight available business opportunities.

The SCCI is eager to provide all forms of assistance to female entrepreneurs through a variety of initiatives that aim to adopt their ideas, train them, improve their skills, promote their products, and open new markets for their projects.

This is in addition to introducing them to the best experiences in collaboration with relevant public and private sector partners.

Tijarah 101

The SCCI's Tijarah 101 Centre is an important programme in this regard, consisting of Emirati female entrepreneurs, where the Centre played a key role in encouraging them to engage in commercial and economic business and creating a work environment that had a positive impact on achieving their ambitions.

The forum provides an opportunity for Emirati businesswomen to meet with their European counterparts to exchange experiences and learn about the best practices used in establishing, managing, and developing businesses, as well as to open channels of communication with women's economic communities in Europe to explore new prospects for joint action.

The SCCI also aims to highlight investment opportunities, incentives, and facilities, and the inspiring economic business environment Sharjah offers to women and startups.

Furthermore, the Chamber hopes that the forum will result in a paradigm shift in economic cooperation between the UAE and the European Union, as well as increase trade flow.-- TradeArabia News Service
" " Tiia Monto /Wikimedia Commons/( CC By-SA 3.0 The bidet is a piece of toiletry hardware with a long history, though far more common in Europe than in the U.S.

Americans are very interested in hygiene, and yet the country that popularized hand sanitizer does not, in general, support the use of bidets. But what's more hygienic than really, actually cleaning your butt after you poop? Not much, but though Europe and Asia have been on the bidet bandwagon for a long time, Americans are fine cleaning their bottoms less well than the natives of other lands.

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Humble Bidet Beginnings

This might have to do with the bidet's long, illustrious history. Popular in fancy European households since the 1600s, the original bidet was a little chair or stool with a tub of water built into the seat. The user, after doing all his or her chamberpot business, straddled this device and performed a really deep clean on the old undercarriage. In fact, the word bidet means "pony" in French, which goes a long way in helping the user understand how to use it.

Over the centuries, bidets became popular in bathrooms all over the world  eventually, they were a plumbed fixture in the bathroom, sitting right next to the toilet  but they never took off in the U.S. One reason for this might be that, during World War II, American soldiers visiting brothels in Europe and Japan noticed bidets were common in these establishments and began to associate bidets with sex work  it's possible they thought bidets were used as a douching method, which was thought at the time to be a legit contraceptive practice (for those of you who have not benefited from adequate sex ed, it is not!). So, even though the style of bidet most commonly used throughout the world today was developed in the States, it had to be exported somewhere else to become truly great.

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A Brave New Bidet

"The old type of bidet  the style that's a separate unit that sits next to the toilet  is harder to work on, they require a few thousand dollar remodel to install and they take up a lot of space," says Sarah Shearer, owner of Clear Water Bidets in Sequim, Washington, in an email interview. "Most Americans only see them when they're on vacation in Europe, but they're still sold sometimes."

More common these days are the bidet seats  an attachment that affixes to your toilet, replacing your old toilet seat. This device sprays your bum with a jet of water (it can be warm or cold, depending on how much you want to pay) and there's a front wash for cleaning the lady parts. Not only is the bidet attachment less expensive  you can buy a nice one and stick it on your toilet yourself for less than $400, and some more basic models for much cheaper  it's more accessible than a traditional bidet, which requires the user to do their business on the potty, stand up, scooch over to the bidet and sit back down to do the freshening up. Here's a helpful video that demonstrates the ease of installation of the typical seat-model bidet attachment:

"The first rudimentary bidet attachment was created in the U.S. in the 1920s," says Shearer. "It didn't get very popular in America, but it really caught on in Asia, where it has been engineered into what it is today. In Japan, for instance, bidet attachments can be found in 80 percent of homes and in public restrooms. Most are produced in South Korea and some in China."

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Steps for Using the Bidet

Using a bidet may sound like a difficult process and may be a bit intimidating at first, but it's really very simple and depends on the type of bidet that you are using:

Use the toilet as you normally do, both for urination and for defecation. The bidet can be used after you wipe with toilet paper or without the use of toilet paper  a totally personal preference.

Locate the bidet. There are three basic types of bidet: standalone, seat mounted or wall hanging. For the standalone type, you must move off the toilet and straddle the bidet, either facing the water jet or with your back to it. Again, personal preference. For the type of bidet attached to the toilet seat, locate the controls, which will either be mounted on the wall or attached to the seat itself. The wall hanging type of bidet will function much as a hand-held shower device.

Dry yourself after you are finished. Some bidet models have an air drying system, which you will operate with the controls and which can, of course, be used in combination with toilet paper should you feel the need. Some models don't include the air dry feature and necessitate the use of toilet paper.

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Medical Uses  and Possible Downsides  of Bidets

Although bidets definitely can't ward off pregnancy or STDs, they're a healing balm for other private-parts-related sorrows.

"We see them used most in the U.S. for people who have a medical need," says Shearer. "Crohns, colitis, colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome  the symptoms that make life hard with these conditions can be alleviated with bidet seats. General Practitioners, OB-GYNs and occupational therapists send patients to us for a variety of conditions. We have people who used to get urinary tract infections (UTIs) once or twice a month come in and tell us they're down to three or four times a year after getting a bidet seat. It can make an extreme difference."

Not only that, as we age, it's more difficult to keep clean down there, particularly if old age is exacerbated by arthritis  it's harder to maneuver a wipe or wash when our hands don't work properly. Bidets can help with this.

"For a lot of aging people, the main thing that's going to keep them independent and at home the longest is their ability to toilet themselves," says Shearer.

One major reason for this is that a UTI, which is pretty manageable (or even asymptomatic) for a youngster, can really make life hard for an older person, resulting in trips to the hospital. Although there's little research supporting the connection between bidet seats and fewer UTIs, hormonal changes during and after menopause can affect the way a woman's body grows bacteria, and many doctors recommend bidet seats for keeping clean. Regardless, increased ease in staying fresh can't be a bad thing for a population that needs a little extra assistance in a department that young people take for granted.

And although some research shows bidet seats can ease the symptoms of hemorrhoids, anal fissures and itchy anus (it's a real thing), preliminary research suggests at least one type of anal fissure stopped only after the patients quit using a bidet. Similarly, a 2011 study in Japan suggests habitual use of a warm-water bidet seat can actually knock vaginal microflora communities out of whack, resulting in more vaginal bacterial infections.

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Bidets Save Water and Trees

When it comes down to it, though, bidets might be low-key to saving the planet.

"In places like Japan where there's more concern about conservation than in the U.S., bidet seats help them manage in a place where space and resources are very limited, they can't take showers as often as we do, but there's a need in their society to stay clean and hygienic," says Shearer.

And it's true that bidets use water, but it's not as much as a luxurious shower. But the real savings come in when you consider how much toilet paper you don't have to use if you're using a bidet.

Almost 90 percent of toilet paper sold in the U.S. comes from the virgin boreal forests of Canada, which cover about 60 percent of the country. They're making the air we breathe, in addition to the toilet paper, and the American lack of interest in bidets means that although the country accounts only about 4.5 percent of the world's population, its citizens use about 20 percent of the world's toilet tissue.

Which is why America probably needs to jump on the bidet bandwagon.

Now That's Interesting It's said that, as Marie Antoinette was awaiting her turn at the guillotine in a "dank, fetid jail cell," she was at the very least allowed a bidet.
To mark International Womens Day 2022, Information Age is publishing a special series, Women in IT Leadership. We speak with 15 women in various tech roles across Australia about how they got their start in the IT industry, their approach to leadership, and how to encourage more females into technology careers.

Today we speak with Jane Livesy, CEO for Cognizant ANZ.



#iwd2022 #breakthebias

**

A curiosity to immerse herself in different cultures combined with a strong work ethic have taken Jane Livesey around the world.

From a young age, Ive always been really interested in the world and different cultures.

For the New Zealand-born technology leader, now Cognizant CEO for ANZ, living and working all over the world is about discovery, something she now shares with her husband and children.

We travel as a family and take our children to different countries.

Its her upbringing that instilled in her the value of applying yourself to things.

I grew up in a working-class family, and from a young age we were helping our parents. I had my first job at 14 and worked through school and university. For me, it's always been about achieving things and contributing, and a work ethic is something that was ingrained in me from a young age.

An interest in others and passion for making things happen is now very much part of her DNA as a leader.

I love seeing other people achieve things. I've had incredible opportunities to lead amazing people and nothing excites me more than watching people be able to live their aspirations, grow their careers and have pride in what they're doing.

Its also understanding the importance of acting as a role model, both in her own family and in her professional sphere.

A big part of that for me, although it wasn't the reason I got into technology, is the opportunity to be a role model. I've got young daughters, who are my biggest cheerleaders, and I came into technology at a time when there weren't a lot of women, and that opportunity to really be a leader and to actually show other women that there are incredible careers in technology is something that I'm incredibly passionate about.

We really need the diversity of thought that comes from having a diverse team.

Never losing sight of people

For Jane, working with technology is about improving processes and systems to have a positive impact on peoples lives.

Its a dynamic environment and the thing I love most is when we're working with technology to solve some really important problems. Ive had the benefit throughout my career to work on child protection and reporting, disability case management and during the pandemic its been vaccinations and contact tracing,

IT started in a first job out of university at a New Zealand healthcare company.

I worked on a really interesting program that was about achieving better health outcomes for patients and the community.

And it was that that sparked my interest in data and technology because we were trying to join the dots between different pieces of information.

I took this leap into building and deploying technology.

From there, her course was set, with many different roles to follow.

Thats what excites me because I think we get this incredible opportunity to have a huge impact.

I love the fact that it's constantly changing and every day we're dealing with new innovations and different problems to solve, but also different technologies and different ways of solving things.

Wear the pink jacket with pride

Jane believes its important to anchor yourself in who you are, what your strengths are and what you bring to a leadership role.

I think if you wake up in the morning and you are needing to play a role of somebody you're not, I think any job would be difficult in that circumstance.

Its why her advice to women entering the industry is simple.

Build your network of people who are going to give you great advice, cheer you on and tap you on the shoulder when its time to think about taking on a new role."

Its the importance of owning your own authenticity.

"I remember standing up at an International Women's Day event wearing a very bright pink jacket and saying: I'm not going to dress as a masculine leader. Im feminine and proud of being feminine and the traits that being a woman brings to being a leader.

As the woman and the leader of today, Jane credits a grounded, down-to-earth early life with standing her in good stead.

I'm always deeply connected to home and my roots and I think that's very much shaped who I am as a person.

Growing up in New Zealand  it was an inclusive culture and community, so for me it's always important to be self-aware and authentic.
District: Cabarrus County

Question 1: Why do you want to run for this position?

Answer: I am running for District Court Judge because I want to serve the citizens of Cabarrus County and keep our community safe by holding criminals accountable. I also want to ensure that the law is applied to each case  as written  and that each person, defendant, or victim truly has the opportunity to be heard. I believe that one of the best ways I can serve our citizens is to use my education, experience and temperament to assist in the administration of justice with this position.

Question 2: What makes you qualified to fill this seat?

Answer: The Board of Elections indicates that in order to be qualified as a judicial candidate in the election, the candidate must be a licensed attorney in North Carolina.

I am licensed to practice law in both North and South Carolina. I am also licensed in Federal Court in the Western District of North Carolina. In my private practice, I have handled thousands of cases ranging from the most basic of traffic tickets to the most severe crime in the state, First Degree Murder. Additionally, I spent time drafting wills in private practice as well as volunteering in a pro bono wills clinic for law enforcement across the state of North Carolina.

Question 3: What do you consider to be the most pressing issues for this community?

Answer: My answer to this is two-fold. From a courtroom aspect, I believe that one main issue in our community is the backlog of cases in our court system, due to the pandemic. The court backlog and delays impact a victims access to justice and the sense of closure that they  and their families  are entitled to. Additionally, the backlog means that there is a delay with regards to the accused defendants and their right to a speedy trial, and a delay with cases heard in family or juvenile court. If elected, I would do everything possible to help address this issue, under the direction and guidance of the Chief District Judge.

The backlog in criminal court is also worsened by an increase of crime in Cabarrus County. Criminals traveling into our community from more violent neighboring counties can impact our citizens, police officers, and inundate court dockets.

Being able to help clear the backlog of cases and ensuring that criminals are held accountable are some of the ways that I would personally assist in addressing the rising issues of crime and court backlog in our community.
District: Cabarrus County

Question 1: Why do you want to run for this position?

Answer: I am actually running for reelection. I am currently one of the six District Court Judges in Cabarrus County. I believe my experience, which includes nearly 45 years in the Cabarrus County court system, including the life experience from working with people during that time gives me the perspective to make the decisions which affect peoples lives. I am running for reelection because it is important to have a well-qualified judge who has the knowledge and communication skills to help people confronted with the court system understand their cases.

Question 2: What makes you qualified to fill this seat?

Answer: A judge must be experienced in the law, knowledgeable, dependable and able to communicate with people. I have mentioned my experience. District Court includes cases involving misdemeanors and traffic, custody, child support, distribution of property, domestic violence, abuse and neglect, juvenile and many other matters. It is the court where most people are exposed to the court system. I have handled countless cases involving all of those issues in my career. I have a very good grasp of the law and the knowledge and experience to continue working with people. I am also dependable which, in the law, means that I can be relied upon to apply the law as it is written to the facts of a particular case. Finally, a District Court Judge must be able to communicate with people. Communication is not just talking to people but actually helping them to understand. The court system can be intimidating. Folks in the court system are worried enough about their case, whether criminal or civil (domestic). The judge must be able to communicate what happens in the cases to the people involved. These attributes  experience, knowledge, dependability, and communication skills uniquely qualify me to be reelected as District Court Judge.

Question 3: What do you consider to be the most pressing issues for this community?

Answer: Im not sure that a judge is the right person to answer this question; it seems more like a legislative question than a judicial one. I will tell you that the most pressing issue for the court system is accessibility and understanding. Too many people come through the court system not understanding what happened with their case. With more and more folks representing themselves, the court system has made instructions available. There are also internet instructions, but they are not always reliable. We must make sure folks understand what happens with their case and must be able to communicate with them so they know and understand how and why their case was decided. The person involved may or may not be happy with the outcome but they must feel like they have been heard and their issues fairly considered. A judge who listens and communicates with folks is helpful with this issue.
Scam prevention program at Cabarrus Arena

Scams and Illegal Jams is a program offered for the community, hosted by Cabarrus County Extension and Community Association (ECA) on Thursday, April 28.

The program will feature Cabarrus County Sheriff Van Shaw and attorney Jazmin G. Caldwell, of Elder Law and Estate Planning Solutions of Concord. It will focus on timely and current scams in our area.

The program will be held at Cabarrus Arena and Events Center, Cabarrus Rooms. Doors open at 9 a.m. for registration, coffee and pastries and to view and shop the Win Me Opportunities. The program will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude with Win Me Winners and door prizes.

Register in advance by calling N.C. Cooperative Extension, Cabarrus County Center, at 704-920-3310 weekdays. Leave your name and a daytime contact phone number.

Stanly Band concerts coming up

Stanly County Concert Band presents Extraordinary Journey on Thursday, April 28, at 7 p.m. at the Stanly County Agri-Civic Center. Free admission. For more information, visit stanlycountyconcertand.com.

The Stanly County Band will also perform Thursday, May 5, at 7:30 p.m. at Market Station (Albemarle Train Depot).

Rowan Big Band concert at Calvary Lutheran

Rowan Big Band All-Stars Jazz Concert & Cookout will be held Sunday, May 1, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church, 950 Bradley St., Concord.

Everyone is welcome to join us out on the lawn for an evening of live music and free hot dogs with all the fixings.

The Rowan Big Band All-Stars will entertain everyone with big band jazz and a little Dixieland music. Bring a chair or blanket and your family and friends to this free, outdoor, all-ages event.

Cabarrus ECA offers college scholarship

Cabarrus County Extension and Community Association (ECA) has announced that they will be awarding one college scholarship of $1,000 this spring.

One scholarship will be awarded to a youth applicant who is currently in their senior year of high school or in college with no break in his/her formal education. Previous applicants and/or recipients can reapply each year that they remain in school.

The purpose of the scholarship is to assist students in obtaining a degree at any North Carolina college, in any field of study, with priority given to Family, Consumer and Human Sciences and other related fields such as: nutrition/foods, human development, aging, clothing and interior design. Part-time students must carry no less than six hours per semester and full-time students must carry no less than 12 hours per semester.

Applications are available at North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Cabarrus County Center, 715 Cabarrus Ave. W., Concord, weekdays. Applications must be completed and returned by Thursday, April 30, to ECA Scholarship Committee, 715 Cabarrus Ave. W., Concord, NC 28027. Applicants should include three letters of reference and official high school/college transcripts.

For additional information, contact NC Cooperative Extension at 704-920-3310 weekdays, or any Cabarrus County Extension and Community Association member.
The widow of fallen Concord Officer Jason Shuping has a goal to award as many scholarships from her newly established memorial fund as possible, and she is asking the community to help.

Haylee Shuping established the Officer Jason Shuping Memorial Public Safety Scholarship fund for Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) program cadets at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College earlier this month.

It aims to help encourage BLET cadets to pursue their goals of becoming a law enforcement officer by making the program more financially accessible.

Shuping said she established the endowed scholarship to honor her husbands legacy in building a strong community of new law enforcement talent that aspires to make a difference in the lives of others.

There is a great need in our local communities for new law enforcement officers that are looking to make a difference, she said. This scholarship hopes to alleviate financial barriers cadets face when deciding to enroll in the program and encourage those that would not have enrolled if this scholarship did not exist.

Before this endowment scholarship was established, there were no other funding options available to assist BLET cadets at Rowan-Cabarrus. Haylee said she remembers her husband going through the program.

Many cadets are unable to be employed in the program due to the long hours in class as required and have to rely on their partners or parents for financial support, she said.

Shuping has personally donated $25,000 to establish the endowment fund. She also donated an additional $1,500 to be awarded to the Fall 2022 cohort.

But she hopes the fund will grow to offer multiple scholarship awards per disbursement.

I would like to have the opportunity to be able to award more than one scholarship a year to create the biggest impact in honoring Jasons legacy, she said. I am asking the community to please come together in supporting my initiative in helping to make that goal a reality.

There are two ways to contribute to the scholarship fund. A donation link is available on the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College website to donate directly at https://4agc.com/donation_pages/0edc7f73-43ad-46a4-8fc8-d054ebfc2960.

Donations can also be mailed to:

Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

P.O. Box 1595

Salisbury, NC 28145

Donations written as a check should indicate funds intended for Jason Shuping Scholarship in the memo line.

There is also a memorial T-shirt fundraiser currently running for the endowment fund. Shuping designed memorial T-shirts in partnership with Grunt Style in honor of her husband. They are available for purchase until May 2 at 4 p.m. EST at https://www.gruntstyle.com/collections/customs/products/officer-jason-shuping.
Two high schoolers are raising awareness and funds for Atrium Healths cancer research at the Carolina Raptor Center this Saturday.

McKinley Sheets  a freshman at Cox Mill High School  experienced first-hand the affect cancer can have on a family when her dad was diagnosed with stage III rectal cancer in 2021.

After undergoing radiation and chemo he had surgery in July last year.

Sheets said her dad was recovering, but the cancer returned a few months ago, requiring another surgery that lasted 24 hours. Her dad is still in the hospital.

After watching her dads journey, she wanted to do something to give back and help. That is why she and Jack Rodgers  a freshman at Lake Norman Charter  started Flight from Cancer.

After seeing my dad go through so many surgeries, radiation and chemo, I was really motivated to find a way to help. Supporting Atriums cancer research will help so many families just like mine, she said. With continued focus on cancer research, hopefully we can find a cure and get rid of this horrible disease.

The fundraiser will be the groups inaugural event, and the group is partnering with the Carolina Raptor Center.

Rodgers, the co-founder for the group, began volunteering at the raptor center in 2019. He and his family were also affected by cancer when his mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018.

Cancer affects the patient and everyone around them, Rodgers said. I want to raise money for cancer research so other kids can have their moms and dads focused on them, not on battling a disease.

Rodgers and Sheets said they chose to work with the raptor center because, to them, birds in flight represent freedom. And they want families to have freedom from cancer.

The proceeds from donations and the fundraiser will be split equally between Atrium Healths cancer research and the raptor Center.

The fundraiser will be at the Carolina Raptor Center Saturday, April 30, from 10 a.m.  4 p.m.

In addition to the raptor trail and trainer talks, there will be face painting, a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction. The Food Geeks Food Truck will also be at the event.

Cox Mill High School's American Cancer Club will also be volunteering at the event.

Tickets can be purchased on the Carolina Raptor Center website https://raptorcenter.simpletix.com/.

The Carolina Raptor Center is located at 6000 Sample Rd. Huntersville, NC 28078.
Looking after a loved one with dementia and finding long-term care options can be overwhelming to family members. Thats where the Behavioral Recovery Outreach (BRO) team at Salisbury VA Health Care System can lend a hand.

Licensed Clinical Social Worker and BRO Team Coordinator Autumn Edmiston is part of an interdisciplinary team comprised of two psychologists, two nurse managers, a behavioral neurologist, a recreation therapist, a social worker and a pharmacist. The group meets weekly to discuss care options for the most vulnerable veteran population.

Our goal is to work with veterans who have behavioral issues either from a mental health diagnosis or from cognitive impairment such as dementia, said Edmiston.

BRO works with inpatient teams to take non-pharmacological approaches to stabilize behavioral issues such as aggression or verbal outbursts. Team members work to manage those behaviors and follow veterans for at least six months after they leave VA. In order to be eligible, veterans must need a caregiver, whether that is at home, skilled nursing, or an assisted living facility.

For Veronica Lilly, whose husband  a Navy veteran  suffers from dementia, the diseases progression was especially rough.

I am a retired teacher of special needs children and that made it very difficult for me to see my husband deteriorate the way he did, said Lilly. I was in denial. Id go to work every day for nine hours with special needs kids and Id come home to a husband I was starting to not really recognize.

For Lilly, the BRO team has been invaluable.

This program really helped my husband and me, she said. It brought a level of simplicity to the situation we were going through. They explained all the specifics of the disease and how to address certain situations that may arise when interacting with my husband.

While her husband was an inpatient at Salisbury VA, the team gave Lilly in-depth medical notes. These helped her understand how he interacts with medical staff. Her husband was very leery of people he didnt know and relied on Edmiston to help him.

Thank god for her because she was at many of his doctor appointments and that gave him a sense of calm, said Lilly. BRO team has been phenomenal. Autumn calls regularly to make sure Im doing OK. In fact, the team did extensive research to find an appropriate long-term facility for my husband that we feel safe about.

A dementia patients mental health can change when they leave the hospital. An inpatient mental health unit is the highest level of care there is, so when they transition to a lower level, environmental changes really can affect them. Its BRO teams goal to make that switch as seamless as possible for the new caregivers. One way they do this is by developing a behavior plan.

We brainstorm interventions with the new care team, said Edmiston. For example, does the veteran always refuse to brush his teeth? Well, there are things that can be done to improve this behavior. Do we have the toothbrush and toothpaste he likes? How are staff approaching him? Are we circling back later in the day and possibly pairing it with music he likes? What can we do to make it a more enjoyable experience?

Edmiston measures success in several ways. First, the team has consistently demonstrated a decrease in hospitalizations because they know what has been tried and where to go next. They also have found that compared to community hospitalizations, a veterans VA stay with BRO involved is much shorter. The teams goal is to extend time between hospitalizations.

I love when inpatient teams tell us were helpful, said Edmiston. We get lots of positive family feedback. We have seen veterans go from irritable, anxious, and restless to happy, content, and at the appropriate level of care. I see BROs role as reducing stress for everyone involved. And I see my personal calling as finding a way to reduce suffering in the world. BRO has a unique way of doing that at a systemic level.

For more information on the BRO team and how it can assist a loved one suffering with dementia, call Autumn Edmiston at 704-638-9000, ext. 14683.
The nations top agricultural official told a roundtable of North Carolina farmers and industry officials Monday that the nation is more prepared to handle a fast-moving avian flu now than it was in 2015.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who was serving in the same role during the 2015 outbreak, said this years response includes quicker detection, quicker quarantine, better biosecurity, more testing and (faster) disposal.

This years avian flu has been found in 21 states and led to the deaths of more than 31 million birds that had been in commercial poultry operations. In North Carolina, the flu has been detected in nine commercial flocks clustered near each other in Johnston and Wayne counties, forcing farmers to kill 371,352 broiler chickens and 110,213 turkeys.

When the avian flu enters a commercial farm, it can spread rapidly. In an effort to prevent transmission, the N.C. Department of Agriculture has been calling for strict biosecurity measures for months.

Those include asking farmers to limit visits to barns; wearing clean shoes and clothes when entering a new barn; and preventing wild animals and birds from coming into contact with the commercial birds.

Steve Troxler, North Carolinas longtime agriculture commissioner, said that during the previous outbreak, he and the state veterinarian joked with each other that in a similar event, they should go fishing.

It was your worst nightmare then, Troxler said. Is it my worst nightmare now? No.

North Carolina did not have any cases at commercial poultry operations during the 2015 outbreak, but, Troxler noted, sent assistance to states suffering outbreaks to help the state develop a plan.

Hopefully we have handled it here and in other states in the way that we quickly shut it down and it becomes something that we are really, really good at, Troxler said.

North Carolina agriculture officials have not reported any cases in commercial flocks for two weeks.

Both Troxler and Vilsack said additional lab capacity is key in identifying cases and quarantining flocks before the virus can spread. All of North Carolinas initial tests have taken place in the Agricultural Sciences Center on Reedy Creek Road, the same building where Mondays roundtable took place.

Vilsack and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan visited Raleigh together to tout the Biden administrations bipartisan infrastructure law, specifically its potential benefits to rural communities.

The bill, which President Joe Biden signed into law in late 2021, allocates more than $1 trillion over several years. The White House has said that under the funding allocation formulas, North Carolina can expect to receive $7.2 billion over five years for highways; $452 million for bridge replacement and repairs; $910 million to fund public transportation; and $109 million to add electric vehicle chargers.

Regan formerly served as secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality during Gov. Roy Coopers first term in office. Regan is from Goldsboro and is a graduate of N.C. Agricultural and Technical University.

The EPA administrator stressed that the agency received $50 billion in the infrastructure law to help with water infrastructure. That includes $15 billion to remove all of the nations lead pipes.

North Carolinas allocation for 2022 is nearly $200 million, with much of the funding guided by the states clean water and drinking water revolving funds.

A good portion of that, we believe, should go to communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate change and storms, Regan said. A lot of those communities are our rural communities.

In December, Regan sent every governor a letter calling for them to prioritize disadvantaged communities when allocating funds from the infrastructure law. To that end, the EPA is offering technical assistance to help those communities receive loans through the revolving funds.

The assistance and funds will be welcome, Troxler said, particularly in Eastern North Carolina, which he said has seen increased flooding due to development in the states Piedmont region.

After Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, North Carolina officials started to think about how to protect low-lying communities from flooding and heavy rainstorms, including $20 million in the state budget for a statewide flood blueprint that will be used to prioritize mitigation projects.

Its possible that we are 20 years behind before we get started, so its going to take a while but I think its a solvable problem, Troxler said.

During Mondays roundtable, Regan also told the assembled agricultural officials about his recent rechartering of the EPAs Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Advisory Committee.

That committees tasks, Regan said, will include identifying opportunities to reduce methane emissions on farms; finding ways that managing nutrients can benefit both water and the climate; and managing water scarcity. It will consider how public-private partnerships or voluntary incentives can accomplish those goals.

EPAs mission is to protect public health and the environment, which is a responsibility that I take very seriously, Regan said, but I also believe that this mission goes hand in hand with food production.

This story was produced with financial support from 1Earth Fund, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
Food and Drug Administration bans on menthol traditional cigarettes and cigars could be announced this week, according to industry analysts and anti-tobacco advocates.

However, it remains highly likely that tobacco manufacturers will have years to adapt to a menthol-free industry, if a menthol ban ever takes force.

The FDA likely will face multiple lawsuits from tobacco manufacturers and anti-smoking groups considering that in 2009, Congress exempted menthol from banned flavorings in traditional cigarettes in the federal Tobacco Control Act.

The White House signaled Thursday that its review on expected bans for menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars is complete. The FDA said on April 29, 2021, that it planned to publish its proposed rule on a menthol ban within a year.

The FDA has said 30% of all adult smokers and more than 40% of all youth smokers consume a menthol style. About 85% of Black smokers prefer menthol flavoring, compared with 30% of white smokers, the agency said.

FDA reasoning

Banning menthol in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars will help save lives, particularly among those disproportionately affected by these deadly products, acting FDA commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a statement.

With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products.

Analysts and industry experts anticipated the FDA clamping down on menthol flavorings as one dramatic regulatory shift from the Trump administration to the Biden administration.

According to Barclays analyst Jain Gaurav, menthol cigarettes account for 35% of cigarettes sold in the United States. That includes more than 50% of cigarette volumes for both Reynolds American Inc., which makes No. 2-overall traditional menthol cigarette Newport and Camel menthol brands, and for ITG Brands Inc., which makes Kool and Salem menthol brands.

Gaurav said U.S. menthol cigarette sales account for 25% of overall profits for Reynolds parent company, British American Tobacco Plc., as well as 15% of ITGs parent company Imperial Brands Plc.

Reynolds said in a May 2021 statement that the published science does not support regulating menthol cigarettes differently from non-menthol ... nor does it support that menthol cigarettes adversely affect initiation, dependence or cessation.

Reynolds will evaluate any proposed regulation and will participate in any consultation and the rulemaking process by submitting robust, science-based evidence.

Next steps

Gaurav provided Friday how he sees the next steps unfolding.

We are on step 3/4 of a 9-step process, Gaurav said.

Every step of this process takes at least four months. This will mean that any final rule by the FDA is at least two years and more likely three years away.

Among the FDAs considerations are addressing scientific, legal, law enforcement, public health, industry and budgetary stakeholders.

Gaurav said the FDA will need to respond to all the comments in an iterative process before it can publish a final rule.

The industry will also likely pursue litigation once a final rule is published, he said. This can add another 1-3 years. The industry can request an injunction on implementation of a menthol ban during the time the issue is under litigation.

Piper Sandler analyst Michael Lavery said we consider the U.S. regulatory environment to be manageable. We expect any menthol ban, if one comes, to be years and years away.

Gaurav said that from recent menthol bans in Canada, Europe and the United Kingdom, menthol cigs were in the mid-high single digits of European and Canada cigarette volumes.

However, Gaurav cautioned that neither Europe nor Canada saw an acceleration in cigarette volumes decline post-menthol cigarette bans, as 99% menthol smokers simply migrated from menthol cigs to regular cigs.

Health coalitions

Last week, a coalition of 77 public health, medical, education and community organizations wrote to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf to express strong support for banning menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars.

As the FDA stated, these actions will launch us on a trajectory toward ending tobacco-related disease and death in the U.S., the coalition wrote.

Separately, the NAACP also expressed its support for the bans.

We do not agree with the tobacco industrys message and strategy presented by a few Black leaders: prohibiting menthol cigarettes would be discriminatory. We reject this view, the NAACP said in a news release.

The failure to prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes and products would be discriminatory and counter the goal and function of the FDA to protect and promote public health for all, including the African-American community.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Nik Modi said some of the issues facing the FDA include unintended consequences having to be considered, such as will consumers self-mentholate and does a ban encourage illicit trade?

Modi said because nicotine is the addictive element in cigarettes, he projects smokers will just shift to traditional tobacco-flavored cigarettes rather than quit smoking.

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Abu Dhabi Chemicals Derivatives Company (Ta'ziz) has signed the formal shareholder agreement with India's oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for setting up the Ta'ziz EDC & PVC project.

Reliance is a strategic partner with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, in Ta'ziz EDC & PVC, a world-scale chemicals development at the Ta'ziz Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais.

The Ta'ziz EDC & PVC joint venture will construct and operate a Chlor-Alkali, Ethylene Dichloride (EDC) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) production facility, with a total investment of over AED7.34 billion.

These chemicals will be produced in the UAE for the first time, unlocking new revenue streams and opportunities for local manufacturers to "Make it in the Emirates".

The formal shareholder agreement was signed by senior executives during the visit of Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance, to ADNOC headquarters.

There Ambani met Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC, and discussed opportunities for partnership and growth in Upstream, new energies and decarbonisation across the hydrocarbon value chain.

Dr Al Jaber and Ambani exchanged a signed framework agreement between ADNOC and Reliance to explore collaboration in the exploration, development and production of conventional and unconventional resources in Abu Dhabi as well as in decarbonisation of operations, including in carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration.

Ambani was also briefed on the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) which is set to be held in the UAE in 2023.

Dr Al Jaber said: "Reliance is a valued strategic partner and our collaboration at Ta'ziz underscores the important role of industrial and energy cooperation as a means of strengthening the deep-rooted and friendly ties between the UAE and India. We are building on this partnership and the progress at Ta'ziz to unlock more opportunities to drive the UAEs industrial and manufacturing growth, while advancing cooperation on decarbonisation, new energies and upstream production."

The Ta'ziz EDC & PVC project is making solid progress towards the detailed design phase in advance of the Final Investment Decision (FID) which is expected to be taken later this year.

On the deal, Ambani said: "I am happy to see the quick progress made by the Taziz EDC and PVC joint venture between Reliance Industries Limited and Ta'ziz in a short time."

"This joint venture is a testimony to the strong and growing ties between India and the UAE and will be a benchmark for more such projects built on strengths of the two nations. I am looking forward to implementation of the project at an accelerated pace, taking a step further in enhancing lives of our people in the region," he added.

The Ta'ziz EDC & PVC project is well positioned to strengthen domestic supply chains and support the UAEs national strategy to empower the industrial sector and become the driving force of a dynamic and robust domestic economy over the next 50 years. It is anticipated that the Ta'ziz complex will benefit from the free trade agreement between India and the United Arab Emirates, which was signed in February of this year. Bilaterial trade between both nations will be boosted as new trade and development opportunities, such as Ta'ziz, are further unlocked.

Ambani also met Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, to explore potential opportunities for collaboration in renewable energy and green hydrogen, both of which are key priorities for the UAE and India.

Ambani was briefed on the UAEs ambitious plans to grow its world-leading renewable energy portfolio and strengthen its clean hydrogen production capabilities, as described in the countrys "Hydrogen Leadership Roadmap".

In December 2021, it was announced that the UAE will create a global clean energy powerhouse, under the Masdar brand, consilidating the efforts of ADNOC, TAQA and Mubadala in renewable energy and green hydrogen to create a new world-class entity.

During his visit in Abu Dhabi, Ambani was briefed on strong progress made at the Ta'ziz Industrial Chemicals Zone. The development of Ta'ziz continues at pace, supporting the UAEs national strategy to empower its industrial sector, driving growth and diversification of the countrys economy for many years to come.

Chemicals is a priority sector for the UAEs industrial growth strategy, championed by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology. The chemicals set to be produced by the Ta'ziz EDC & PVC joint venture with Reliance have a wide range of industrial applications, enabling local supply chains and meeting growing demand in key export markets.

Chlor-Alkali enables the production of caustic soda, crucial to the alumina refining process. EDC is used in the production of PVC, which is used to manufacture a wide range of industrial and consumer products including pipes, windows fittings, cables, films and flooring.

The production of Chlor-Alkali, EDC, and PVC will create opportunities for export to target markets in Southeast Asia and Africa, as well as providing local industry with a source of critical raw materials manufactured in the UAE for the first time, strengthening In-Country Value. Final Investment Decision for the chemical project is expected later this year and is subject to relevant regulatory approvals.-TradeArabia News Service
Winston-Salem police are asking for help locating a homeless man who was last seen in 2019 in the area of Peters Creek Parkway, where they said he spent the night at various locations.

Police said Michael Ward Nichols, 68, stands about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs around 153 pounds. He was first reported missing in 2020. Police said that, while he spends most of his time in the Winston-Salem area, Nichols has been known to travel to Wilkesboro and has ties to West Virginia. However, he has not been seen in West Virginia recently.
Kalvin Michael Smith, who claims innocence in the 1995 brutal attack on Jill Marker, cannot get his appeal to move forward because a prosecutor has not taken up the case. The Forsyth County District Attorney's Office has a conflict, and the N.C. Attorney General's Office has declined to handle it. According to Assistant District Attorney Penn Broyhill, his boss, Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill, has not had any luck in getting any outside prosecutors to take the case.
As consumer beef prices continue to shoot up and the nations producers get an ever-shrinking share of those dollars, Nebraska U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer said she sees rising bipartisan support for her bill seeking to bring more competition to the nations cattle markets.

The Senates agriculture committee is set to hold a hearing in Washington on Tuesday on a Fischer bill that would require beef packers to buy more of their cattle in open, competitive markets.

Fischer and many in the cattle industry believe a lack of competition due to heavy concentration in the meatpacking industry is giving packers too much market power, to the detriment of both consumers and farmers and ranchers. Some 85% of the more than 30 million head of cattle raised for slaughter each year in the United States are processed by just four leading meatpackers.

Im really pleased to see the forward momentum for our cattle market reform bill, Fischer said of the measure, which now has a total of 19 co-sponsors in the Senate, including nine Republicans and 10 Democrats.

Cattle producers shrinking share of the beef dollar compared to packers was the subject of a series of stories in the World-Herald last year. An updated World-Herald analysis of year-end figures for 2021 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows the trend has not abated.

Producers in 2021 did see a 10% increase in the price they received for their cattle, ending three straight years of declining prices. But producers share of the beef dollar continued to fall, as retail beef prices went up 11% and the packers share went up another 31%.

Over the last four years, the price of beef is up $1.34 per pound. But farmers have received less than 2 cents of that increase, with the packers netting $1 of it. The rest went to retailers.

Packers argue there is nothing inherently wrong with cattle markets, attributing the price changes to natural supply and demand forces and market disruptions like the pandemic.

But Fischer said the persistence of the trends makes that hard to accept.

You cant blame the pandemic for everything, she said. Its a result of 85% of meat going to four packers. Its the result of continued consolidation.

Today, meatpackers acquire the majority of their cattle by contracting with individual producers. Fischers Cattle Market Transparency Act would require more public disclosure of what packers are paying for their cattle and also require the packers to buy more cattle through competitive cash markets.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa had a competing proposal with the same aim but has now joined forces with Fischer, a fellow Republican. Democrats Jon Tester of Montana and Ron Wyden of Oregon are the other main sponsors of the bill.

Fischer said she and other co-sponsors recently met with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. He and President Joe Biden have been supportive of the concept of the bill, and shes hopeful they will formally endorse it.

While the Senate has previously held hearings on conditions in the nations cattle markets, this will be the first on Fischers bill, which she believes has the votes to emerge from the agriculture committee.

Fischer said she has made accommodations to the packing industry in the latest version of the bill. That includes expanding the types of cash sales that would count as competitive, including online sales.

But packers continue to fight the measure. The North American Meat Institute has pointed to the recent increase in cattle prices, which they say have reached a seven-year high. And they say Fischers bill would limit the flexibility of cattlemen who want to sell their cattle by contract.

Supply and demand has already driven the cattle markets back into balance without the radical government interference and convoluted mandates called for in the latest draft of the Grassley-Fischer bill, said NAMI president and CEO Julie Anna Potts. Make no mistake, the bill still contains government mandates directing how producers market their cattle.

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A Lincoln woman who allegedly robbed a man of his cellphone at knifepoint identified herself to police using the name of her twin sister, according to authorities.

Lincoln Police Capt. Todd Kocian said Karisma Tomlin, 31, was arrested on suspicion of robbery near Ninth and G streets at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday  but police didn't learn her true identity for several hours.

Officers responded to the area at about 8:20 a.m., when a 51-year-old man reported that he had let Tomlin borrow his phone to make a call, but the woman began walking away from him as soon he handed the phone over, Kocian said.

When the man asked Tomlin for the phone back, she brandished a box cutter.

Minutes later, police arrested her a block away.

And hours after that, Tomlin was cited again, this time with criminal impersonation after police learned her true identity.

She is being held at the Lancaster County Jail on a $7,500 percentage bond. Tomlin must pay $750 to be released.

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A city employee in Waverly who was digging out a damaged road sign post uncovered a live grenade that had likely been buried there for decades, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff.

Sheriff Terry Wagner said the grenade's pin had been pulled, but the years of dirt and rust likely prevented the explosive from detonating when the worker picked it up at about 2:30 p.m. Monday near 148th Street and Waverly Road.

Once he realized what he was holding, Wagner said the employee put the grenade back and called 911.

Local authorities summoned the Nebraska State Patrol's bomb squad, and later called in the Air Force's Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team, which later detonated the grenade in a nearby field, Wagner said.

The sheriff described the grenade as a pineapple-style model used in World War II and the Korean War, which he said hasn't been manufactured since the 1960s.

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WAVERLY  Under a newly proposed plan, Waverly would see the construction of a pedestrian truss bridge, just west of the existing Canongate Road bridge. Also included in the plan is a significant extension to the citys trail system. The price tag is just over $800,000.

When completed, the project would alleviate hazards facing pedestrians crossing U.S. 6 and would promote public wellness and fitness.

Those were the priorities not of a big-name engineering firm, but of the Visionary Vikings, Laurie Earnest-Littles High Ability Learners (HAL) team of sixth- and seventh-grade students, who were tasked with engineering a project that would address a problem within their community.

The team of eight girls entered their project in the Society of American Military Engineers Student Mentoring Program competition April 7 at the University of Nebraska at Omahas Scott Conference Center.

After presenting and answering questions from engineers and architects at firms like HDR, Leo A. Daly and Lamp Rynearson, the Visionary Vikings beat out 16 other teams from across the state and came home with first prize and a $500 award.

We havent talked about what were going to do with the money, Earnest-Little said. But weve got a couple ideas.

On April 13, the team presented again, this time at Waverly Middle School to teachers, media and city government. They received applause for their achievements, praise from longtime engineers and an invitation to present in front of the Waverly Planning Commission.

The team includes Whitney Darling, Marissa Sutter, Stella Theis, Reagan Glassburner, Katie Sullivan, Maylie Jones, Laney Sears and Lennon Keim. They were mentored by Brian Jueneman of Olsson Engineering.

Earnest-Little said the team started its preparation for the project in November and spent countless lunches and homerooms in the Waverly Middle School HAL classroom, going over the finer details of the project.

So not only did they have commitment, tenacity, but it was important to them, and thats where the hard work came from, Earnest-Little said.

They thought about the project from many angles  other possible locations, how the trail would be maintained, how the trail could highlight nature. By the end, the team had a full cost estimate, potential project funding avenues and a first-place plaque.

Sullivan said she felt a little strange when the team first arrived at the competition. Some kids wore suits and ties. The Visionary Vikings wore green shirts that read We build our dreams.

The project may have taken hours of work, but Sutter said it was easy to stay motivated because she and her team could see how much the pedestrian bridge and trail would help the community.

I think the best part was knowing that this could possibly happen and knowing that we were doing it for a reason, not just because we had to, Sutter said.

Darling also connected to the projects practicality  that it could really make a difference in Waverly. She said she often sees people walking on the shoulder over the Canongate Road bridge, and she thinks about how dangerous it is. There had to be a better way.

I love the feeling that we could help them, Darling said.

If all goes to the Visionary Vikings plan, the project would become part of the citys six-year master plan.

We think it would be so cool if we could even get it started before we graduated, Darling said.

Waverly City Administrator Stephanie Fisher liked the idea enough that she invited the team to present their project to the Waverly Planning Commission.

I would like to thank you guys for doing this project, Fisher told the Visionary Vikings. I think you can really make an impact in your community, and thats really awesome.

The Visionary Vikings were one of two Waverly HAL engineering teams to take the top prize, as the eighth-grade team of Alyssa Jones, Delaney Kutschara, William Gonser, Braxton Culver, Caleb Jueneman and Braxton Jelinek won first-place with their Homeless Honeycomb Housing project.

Using a 3D-printed design, the team presented a concept that would create portable, stackable housing units to remedy homelessness in major cities.

Earnest-Little said the eighth-grade team didnt get the opportunity to present to city officials and teachers because their project didnt apply directly to Waverly. But she said she would love to see the team be able to present for Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird.

They rocked it, Earnest-Little said.

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The dependent children of Nebraska state employees will be able to attend in-state community colleges for free through a program announced Monday.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said the plan to provide 100% tuition reimbursement to children of state employees who enroll in community colleges is an effort to teach students workforce skills that can lead to employment in Nebraska.

"We need to get people the skills to get available jobs in the workforce," the governor said at a news conference.

Paul Illich, president of Southeast Community College, said the state's community college system "provides a skilled workforce (that is) vital to economic development" in Nebraska.

Ninety percent of its graduates stay in the state, he said, and help strengthen the economy.

As many as a thousand children may be eligible for the assistance, with costs to the state estimated at $500,000 in the first year and $1 million in the second year. The benefit will provide 100% tuition support up to age 25 and begin this summer.

In answer to a question, Jason Jackson, director of the Department of Administrative Services and the state's chief human resources officer, said the same benefit is not being extended to students who enroll at the University of Nebraska, but that the state would "evaluate the first two years (of the new program) before considering expansion."

Jackson said the program will provide a new benefit for state employees while addressing the state's workforce, economic development and youth retention needs.

"Jobs are available," Ricketts said, and Nebraska is "competing for talent" to fill them.

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

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Plans for a large luxury, resort-style apartment community in Waterford Estates near 98th and O streets moved forward Monday, after weeks of delay over a yet-to-be-built, right-hand turn lane.

Like a large apartment complex planned at Dominion at Stevens Creek east of Waterford Estates, this development faced some opposition from homeowners in the east Lincoln neighborhood.

But the thing that held up a use permit and zoning change was just who should pay for a right-hand turn lane at 98th Street and Waterford Estates Drive and when it should be built.

On Monday, the Lincoln City Council approved a use permit and a zoning change, with an amendment spelling out that the developer will build the right-hand turn lane on 98th Street when Waterford Estates Drive is extended there as part of the development, and will be reimbursed for the cost with city impact fees once the development reaches that area.

The reimbursement wont happen until impact fees cover a roundabout at 104th and Holdrege streets, a project just getting underway, said Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Director David Cary.

Luckily, he said, theres enough development in the area that there will be sufficient impact fees to pay for both road improvements.

Developers pay impact fees to help fund infrastructure in new developments.

Aristos Apartments wants to build a 505-unit complex at approximately 98th Street and Boathouse Road, with the possibility of adding 48,000 square feet of commercial space on the 24-acre site if the market dictates, Ann Post, an attorney representing the developers, told the council at an earlier meeting.

The complex, which is similar to one the same group built near 40th Street and Yankee Hill Road, would include green space, a swimming pool, parking and a dog run.

Post said residents of the apartment complex would not have access to Waterford Lake for recreational purposes  one of the concerns of residents.

The other concern of developers was having to pay for a street on the south end of the development, near land owned by Southeast Community College. At an earlier meeting, the council approved a zoning change to make that land semi-public. At some point, the college will likely develop the land, Cary said, though nothing is planned immediately.

Initially, developers argued that the road would be used more by SCC than apartment residents, but Cary said no changes had been made to the plan and when development reaches that area, the developer will pay for the roadway.

Construction of the Aristos project would likely not begin until 2024, and it would be built in three to four phases, Post said, with full buildout likely taking 8-10 years.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSreist

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OMAHA -- Helicopter parenting, Lindsay Rogers says, doesnt happen in the wild.

Parents are too busy foraging for food to hover around their newborns. Staying close can also attract predators.

Which is why people shouldnt immediately think something is wrong and try to intervene if they find a nest of baby bunnies and no parent in sight, for example, said Rogers, education administrator for the Nebraska Game and Parks.

Leave those fledgling songbirds you spot on the ground alone, too. Their parents are watching and theyll soon learn to fly.

Most of the time, mom and dad, they are around, Rogers said. If you love wildlife, leave it alone. Thats the best thing you can do with it.

Many people do the opposite.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says from now until at least mid-June, its field offices will be inundated with hundreds of phone calls and scores of deliveries regarding "orphaned wildlife."

Most calls, officials say, begin with something like, "We were walking in the park when ...," or "I looked out my window and saw ..." In nearly every instance, the scenario ends with the animal being "rescued" from its mother.

Many wildlife babies die soon after capture from the stress of being handled, talked to and placed into the unfamiliar surroundings of a slick-sided cardboard box. Should the animal have the misfortune of surviving the trauma, they often succumb more slowly to starvation from improper nourishment, pneumonia or other human-caused sicknesses.

Its really better off for the young to hang out and let mom and dad go out and forage for food and come back only for feeding, Rogers said.

Foraging for hungry babies is why there are so many more reports of animals such as foxes being seen in the daylight, she said.

If you have already intervened, dont try to care for wildlife babies on your own, Rogers said.

Nebraska Wildlife Rehab is the best place to take youngsters in need.

We are getting lots of them, rehab board president Phyllis Futch said. The animals have increased by a couple of hundred in the last 30 days.

Spring is the best time for wildlife to bear young, Rogers said. The weather is getting nicer, the babies arent going to freeze and there is more food.

Sometimes they are in need and then it's appropriate to intervene. But before removing any baby animals from the wild, visit nebraskawildliferehab.org or call 402-234-2473 to make sure it's the right thing to do.

"People should never try to raise wild animals by themselves. It is illegal without a permit and often leads to very bad outcomes for the babies, including metabolic issues, not being able to be released into the wild and even death," Nebraska Wildlife Rehab director Laura Stastny said.

The surge at the rehab facility has also created a need for more supplies. Anyone willing to help can go to amazon.com for a list of items.

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Dubai has issued over 18,013 e-Trader licences from March 2017 till the end of March 2022, a recent report by the Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) sector at the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), Dubai, said.

The growth in the number of e-Trader licences reflects the emergence of e-commerce as an important economic activity in Dubai, according to a WAM report.

The e-Trader licence enables start-ups and freelancers in Dubai to conduct business activities online and across social networking accounts. Of the total licences issued, 13,671 are Professional and 4,342 are Commercial.

Promoting e-commerce

The BRL sector also reported that the total number of e-Trader licences issued during Q1 2022 reached 1,605 (1,334 Professional and 271 Commercial). This reflects the continuous focus on promoting e-commerce and the competitiveness of Dubais economy, as well as the commitment to realising the vision of the government to drive digital transformation and build awareness about the e-platforms that facilitate commercial activities.

e-Trader aims to licence startups and business activities that operate from their place of residence, online or on social networking sites. The licence, which is issued electronically, empowers and guides traders to successfully enter the business world.

According to the BRL sectors report, Portal, Marketing Services Via Social Media, Marketing Management, Web-Design, Social Media Applications Development and Management, Project Management Services, Fashion Designing, Blogging Services, Ladies and Men Garments Trading, Internet Content Provider, Calligraphers and Painters, and Perfumes and Cosmetics Trading, topped the list of activities of the licences issued during Q1 2022.

Enhancing ease of doing business

Through e-Trader licence, the BRL sector seeks to regulate and enhance ease of doing business electronically by providing a platform that supports and develops trade as well as connect customers with traders. The licensee cannot open a shop/store but can avail of three visas if the ownership is 100% Emirati and legal liability falls under the licence holder. The sector focuses on providing support to e-Trader licence holders by signing partnerships with government and private sectors, providing facilities for their business growth as well as opening new channels by enhancing cooperation with major sales outlets.

The benefits of acquiring the e-Trader licence include: receiving Dubai Chamber membership for commercial activities; privileges/offers from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Mashreq Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Emirates Islamic and Dubai Islamic Bank; receiving Customs Client Code, which facilitates import and export via dubaitrade.ae, temporary employment services, participation in exhibitions and conferences and training workshop, displaying of products in consumer points of sale and providing work space.-- TradeArabia News Service
In what was likely their final chance before the May 10 primary election, three Republican candidates for Nebraska governor faced off in central Nebraska on Monday at a debate colored by current events.

While candidates offered their thoughts on standard fare, such as property tax reform and workforce issues, journalists at the NTV News debate also posed questions on less frequently discussed topics, including medical cannabis and the changing climates impact on farmers.

And issues of the day  including raging wildfires, allegations against one candidate, and even Elon Musk buying Twitter  all were brought up.

One of the audience questions: What is your stand on medical marijuana?

Sen. Brett Lindstrom said he has supported medical cannabis in the Legislature because he has heard concerns from military veterans with PTSD and from mothers of children with epilepsy. He also mentioned the opioid crisis, saying it could address reliance on narcotics for pain medication.

I think we could do it in a very responsible way, he said.

His stance stood in contrast to the other two debate participants, former Sen. Theresa Thibodeau and Conklin Co. CEO Charles W. Herbster.

Thibodeau said that, if its introduced in Nebraska, we need to make it a medicine, like every other medicine that we receive. She mentioned concerns about opening up the door for a black market.

Were seeing a lot of marijuana come into our country laced with fentanyl, and that is killing our children, she said.

Herbster also talked about fentanyl coming over the border.

Just go to Colorado, ask the State Patrol, ask the sheriffs, ask the people in Colorado what the pathway was with starting out with medical marijuana, he said.

He said the issue will be on ballots in November, and if Nebraska voters choose to legalize medical cannabis, he would tax it and put the revenue toward property tax relief.

Candidates were asked what they would do to support farmers as they battle extreme weather that fuels fires, blows away dry cropland and caused catastrophic flooding in 2019. The debate took place in Holdrege, northeast of the Road 702 fire in southwest Nebraska that burned more than 40,000 acres as of Monday.

Thibodeau said she would go to the areas devastated by wildfires, listen, and make sure they have what they need to fight the fires and deal with the aftermath. Herbster, a born-again Christian who brought up religion several times throughout the debate, took off his cowboy hat and said a prayer for people affected by the fires.

Lindstrom said he supported Gov. Pete Ricketts efforts to take the first steps in building a canal that diverts water from the South Platte River in Colorado to Nebraska and emphasized the importance of protecting the states water.

We need to make sure that we're protecting our water rights as Nebraskans, even if it means that we're gonna have to sue Colorado and keep fighting Colorado to protect those producers in agriculture, he said.

Another important topic in central and western Nebraska: access to health care and assisted-living facilities.

Herbster talked about investing in health care and said any tax plan has to be revenue-neutral, so the state can invest in areas such as the State Patrol, broadband and roads.

Lindstrom said part of the solution is rural broadband, especially when it comes to telehealth and tele-education. He mentioned his successful efforts to pass a Social Security tax cut for seniors. He said the state needs to increase health provider rates, especially in rural Nebraska, and address a shortage of health care workers, likely via a tax credit or other incentive.

Thibodeau said she would do a study to make sure that, when patients need to be in the hospital longer than 72 hours, they can stay in their community hospitals. She pledged that under her leadership, all providers would receive the same reimbursement from Medicaid.

Unlike forums, debates often offer candidates the chance for rebuttals  an opportunity Thibodeau took advantage of Monday. She used rebuttals to question Lindstroms voting record as a state senator, echoing attacks that hes not truly conservative.

Among her criticisms, Thibodeau brought up his vote for a 2015 gas tax increase, which was supported by Lindstrom and other Republicans as a means of funding bridge and road work, and his endorsement from the Nebraska State Education Association.

Lindstrom was asked to comment on that line of attack during a part of the debate when each of the candidates faced one individualized question. He talked about his support for anti-abortion policies, gun rights and tax cuts.

I'm not sure why people are saying what they do other than, I can only think that we're having a good showing, Lindstrom said. Any time you do that, you tend to draw some fire.

Herbster was asked how he would work with women in the Legislature, considering they all called on him to drop out of the race following allegations he groped eight women, including a state senator. He has denied the allegations.

As he has before, he drew parallels between his situation, and those of former President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Herbster, and U.S. Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas. He said he wouldnt have a problem working with female legislators.

I never hold a grudge, because, as a born-again Christian, there's two things that are necessary to live and that's to forgive but, more importantly, forget, he said.

Herbster brought up Musk's purchase of Twitter. In his closing statement, he said "we should smile" about that news, because Musk "believes in freedom."

"Finally, we have someone on our side who invested money," he said, before launching into the rest of his statement.

All three participants were also asked to comment on the absence of Jim Pillen, a Columbus livestock producer and University of Nebraska regent who also is vying for the Republican nomination. Pillen has participated in forums with other candidates but has refused to debate.

Lindstrom, who has committed to running a positive campaign, declined to comment on Pillens absence, while Herbster and Thibodeau criticized Pillen's choice.

I think it's a disservice to our citizens, Thibodeau said. And I think that it shows that he's not going to be available to you, the citizen. And, as a citizen, I'm sick of not being listened to by our elected officials. And that's one of the reasons that I stepped into the race.

Said Herbster: Its very difficult to lead if you dont want to communicate, and debating is part of communication.

During the debate, Pillen hosted a tele-town hall. He did the same during a debate last month.

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Less than an hour.

Thats how little time a northeast Nebraska couple had before their home caught fire in one of last weekends fast-moving wildfires.

Sharon and Roger Kenaston had lived on their acreage near Lyons for 17 years, when on Saturday afternoon, a firefighter came knocking.

A fire was approaching and they needed to evacuate immediately, the couple was told.

In less than an hour, their home was burning.

More than 15 fires burned across Nebraska over the weekend, whipped up by dry winds that gusted in excess of 60 mph. The Kenastons home, along with another in Burt County, are among an unknown number of homes burned in the fires.

Kenaston said she saw flames rolling down the hill toward the house. It wasnt long before thick, black smoke filled the air.

I knew it was going to be a total loss, Kenaston said. There was no doubt in my mind. It was so dry. But part of me thought there might be tools or dishes or some treasure left. Nope.

The couple managed to save most of their vehicles, a camper and a treasured guitar. Otherwise, they were left with the clothes they were wearing.

After fire swept through, only the chimney was left from their three-bedroom home.

The house, outbuildings and their collection of antique tractors had sat on about 4 acres and was surrounded by a grove of trees and cornfields.

The tractors were destroyed, as was a 1966 convertible. Lost inside the house was a collection of about 40 instruments, including fiddles, guitars and banjos.

Kenaston said they are living out of their camper. They will get a smidgen of normalcy this weekend when they play a gig with their band.

The show must go on, she said.

In southwest Nebraska, teams of firefighters, the Nebraska National Guard and others continued Monday to tamp down a massive fire known as the Road 702 fire.

Pockets of unburned vegetation on the perimeter of the 702 fire could further fuel the blaze, officials said.

Based on the latest survey, the size of the fire has been scaled back to 41,155 acres, officials said. It started in Kansas and raced through Red Willow, Furnas and Frontier Counties.

More than 100 people are helping fight the fire, according to the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team, which is overseeing the response.

Firefighters are concentrating on two fronts. To the west, which encompasses an area from Cambridge south to Lebanon, the fire is burning in timbered draws, which are heavy with fuel, officials said. Bulldozers were knocking over fire-weakened trees to ensure firefighters can safely work in those areas. Monday, firefighters mopped up hot spots that threaten control lines.

On the fires east side, which spans an area from Cambridge south to Wilsonville and into Kansas, bulldozers and firefighters were similarly working the fire edge in an effort to secure the fire line.

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RACINE  Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, a historian, antiracism scholar and bestselling author, addressed the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on Wednesday.

The event was hosted by the Center for Ethnic Studies and was promoted as an interactive conversation with the theme, How to Be an Antiracist Campus and Community.

The discussion borrowed themes from Kendis bestselling book, How to Be an Antiracist.

Antiracism

Kendis address to UW-Parkside was livestreamed to multiple locations, including the Racine Public Library, where members of the community was invited to watch the conversation.

Dr. Sheronda Glass, UW-Parkside assistant vice chancellor of human resources and employee engagement, was the moderator.

Kendi explained the ideology behind the use of the term antiracism.

He said the construct about racism doesnt really have any meaning. In contrast, antiracist is the opposite of racism.

A racist idea suggests a racial hierarchy, he continued, and the opposite of a racial hierarchy is racial equality.

In an antiracist society, there is nothing inferior or superior in any racial group.

Were equal, he said.

In Kendis discussion, there was a focus on public policy, especially those policies that create or maintain racial inequality.

The opposite of a policy that creates and/or maintains racial inequality are antiracists polices; that is, polices that create racial equity.

Banning

Kendi was asked about discussions surrounding antiracist education, with special reference to books.

He explained that most Americans do not realize that about 15 years ago a white supremacist wrote an article that argued antiracism was code for being anti-white.

Kendi said that idea was popular among white supremacists and the belief has since gone mainstream. Some of those supremacists believe they might very well be the victims of genocide, perhaps in the near future.

You have some people who are thinking that those of us who are trying to create equity and justice for all are actually trying to harm white people, he said, noting the assertion was inaccurate.

Kendi continued and noted when racial injustice and inequity are examined, it is black and indigenous people who are facing the barriers created by inequitable policies.

As one example, he noted the inequities in health care, where black and indigenous people are dying at much higher rates than others from common diseases.

The challenge is to help white people  who still make up around 60% of the U.S. population and hold 86% of U.S. wealth, according to Federal Reserve data  understand that an equitable society does not mean something will be taken away from them.

Many American have been taught, he said, that equality in society means theyre going to lose something as opposed to gain.

As an example he pointed to the school system. People whose kids are in the best schools fear their children will have to attend lesser schools if the public schools were run with equitable principles.

Panel

The group who gathered at the Racine Public Library to watch the discussion were invited to stay for a panel discussion on the issues.

The panel included three people active in the antiracist community:

Nick Demske, county supervisor and Racine Public Library deputy director

Quashana Foster, associate pastor at the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church

Jamie McClendon, a private defense attorney with extensive experience in juvenile law

McClendon agreed that one of the barriers is the belief among some that a more equitable society means that someone is going to lose something.

I do agree that once people realize there isnt a negative for them, and they see that positive, theyre going to gravitate to a more progressive (understanding), she said, adding that would lead to the kind of systemic changes that need to be made.

Black teen sentenced for his part in 2019 Racine beating gets harsher punishment than white accomplice Attorney Jamie McClendon said that, in the 10 years she has been practicing law, she had not once brought up race because she learned long before she would be met with disdain and a lack of understanding if she tried. That changed Friday.

As an attorney, especially one serving juvenile clients, McClendon sees first-hand some of the systemic problems in the system that lead to inequitable outcomes, with specific reference to the incarceration of black men and teens.

She pointed to the public dollars spent on incarceration and noted how difficult it was to get public money for programs that many need outside of incarceration.

Demske said it costs taxpayers $500 every day a person is incarcerated, and the county jail averages 450-500 people daily.

He continued, noting that one of the problems with the system was cash bail. People who can afford the bail are out immediately, with fewer consequences.

Those who cannot afford bail often face losing their jobs, housing, and sometimes custody of their children. The consequences just pile up  not just for the individual but also the community.

City Council President John Tate II noted the destabilization that can occur in communities with high incarceration rates.

Foster said, The roads that lead to poverty are easy to travel but you cant get out.

For members of the black community, she continued, this is problematic because their roads to poverty are shorter, they get their faster, and oftentimes start there.

Policies are not designed for black people to win, she said.

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RACINE  A Racine man accused of shooting a gun into the air Sunday evening allegedly admitted to police I kinda drunk.

Jonathan Peet Jr., 34, of the 1700 block of 12th Street, was charged with a felony count of possession of a firearm by a felon and misdemeanor counts of possession of a firearm while intoxicated and disorderly conduct.

According to a criminal complaint:

At 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, officers were sent to the 1700 block of 12th Street for a man with a gun.

Upon arrival, an officer saw a man, later identified as Peet, who matched the description of the man with the gun. Peet removed a gun from his waistband and put it on the porch. The officer could smell the odor of alcohol coming from his breath and saw he had glossy eyes.

Peet said that a gray SUV drove by his house and the driver pointed a gun at him and said Im at you.

He said he did not know who it was or why they pointed a gun at him. He called someone to bring him a gun to protect himself. The SUV came back around, so Peet said he pointed the gun in the air and fired a shot. He admitted to having three Captain Morgan and Cokes, and he told the officer I kinda drunk.

Peet was given a $750 cash bond in Racine County Circuit Court on Monday. A preliminary hearing is on May 5 at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave., online court records show.

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Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Mostly clear early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low around 75F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low around 75F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low near 75F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low near 75F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph.